Gllbs I'd say fundamentally that the old corps of th« 

 labor moveraent was more conservative than the 

 Socialists, 



Cogginst I remember when Gon^ers fought the Old Age Security. 

 He said that was iin-American* He was really our 

 opponent* He had been a Socialist* But you know 

 these people* Socialism is slow-moving* You don't 

 have to expect any results in your lifetime, and 

 these people have other things to do* So when 

 someone like Hiram Johnson would be elected with a 

 fairly liberal battleory, they felt this was a 

 aoveaasnt* The same with Voodrow Wilson* 



Oilb: The Socialists backed both of those men? 



Coggins: No* But some Socialists deserted to them* 



Gilbt Oh, I see* 



Coggins: I remember one of our members went to one of the 

 meetings of Hiram Johnson* He said, "Up there on 

 the platform was most of our party*** Sitting on 

 the chairs* 



Qilht That is a little paradoxical, because I feel that 



Johnson was really quite a conservative in many of 

 his basic ideas* 



