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Show I tq, , f I American Alliance for Labor and Democracy A Wo, your executive board, to whom I was referred tho appeal of the Belgian working men, and other matters, beg ; to report as follows After carefully I considering tho subject matter of the appeal of t h Belgian working man, the facts sel forth therein, and corroborated corrob-orated by evidence from other sources, I of the cowardly and inhuman treatment treat-ment of these loyal people by the German Ger-man government In deporting them Into German) and compelling them to follow pursuits which release German I soldiers to fight their own people on the Belgian front, and subjecting them to physical conditions which no slave, I of which we have any history, was etei compelled to endure; therefore, be it Resolved, by the Ogden Trades and I Labor Assembly, that we call upon all people everywhere, to ostracise from i heir BOClet anyone, either in Germany, Ger-many, the United stales, or any other country, who sanctions, tries to excuse, ex-cuse, or refusesto condemn, these inhuman in-human barbarities, lhaf we demand that the German government put a stop to such practices, under pain of universal reprobation for their people both during and after the present war. Adopted by the OgfleTCl Trades and I Labor Assembly, May 27. lftis (Spei iai to Standard!.) PHILADELPHIA, Pa., May 31 ! Hugh Frayne, eastern representativo of i!ie American Federation of Labor. I gave his message on Labor's Part in the War here before the Win-lhc-War- 1 for Permanent - Peace convention IB Independence hall, and thrilled the vast audience with his reflection of labor's la-bor's determination to dp Its share in the war. I Labor wants no special favors, hi told the world; it wants only justice and a proper recognition of its serv-1 serv-1 Ices, together With t h r customary 1 safeguards and protection while at j work Mr Krayne's address follows Mr. Frayne's Address I bring you a message this morning ! from the workers, men and women, of our country, and to say for them, j through the American Federal Ion of 'Labor that labor is loyal and that la -I bor will do its full duty until victory ! comes. In the mills and factories and workshops of our country the men and women of labor are doing their J full task, and as each day goes on, they are becoming more efficient, more interested and more determined to produce to the highest maximum all that is necessary to carry on this war successfully (applause), so that our boys at the front will be equipped and supplied in every detail with the things that they need in order to flghi The men in the cantonments who i are being trained and prepared are also being supplied with that which they need. We hear that "food will win the war." that "money will win the war " that "patriotism will win ' the war," but I think you will agree iwith me that labor will win the war (applause) and all labor asks, and 1 make that appeal for them this morn- ing it does not ask special privileges, privi-leges, it asks no favors, it asks no ex-; ex-; enintlons. it asks no other rights but that which is accorded to any one else it asks nothing but simple justice and lair play (applause). Attitude of Employers. I am sorry to say that there are ' still in this country, some employers who feel that this is a good time, under the guise of patriotism, under j the guise and pretense that labor 1 not doing its duty, to take advantage of that situation and exploit it. That Is not fair, it is not in line with the ireal patriotism that we know and be-i be-i lieve in. We not only want labor to 'be fairly and decently treated now. but that it may remain 100 per cent efficient when the war is over, and J when the reconstruction period begins. ' labor and capital can go on and make land maintain this great country of ours, keep it in the place it has al 1 1 1 I. 1. L.kA. ways nau, anu iuaKc il Liif imtni muv the refuge for the downtrodden and oppressed, and so that the flag of our I country will wave to the world, welcoming wel-coming them to the folds and say. "Under this flag you will receive jus-j jus-j tice. protection and fair play, because we are a real patriotic country Am-I Am-I erica." I have no apologies to make for any one who is not doing his full duty In ', this crisis, whether it is the man in (the workshop, the man in the bank 'or In any other institution. There is no division of responsibility so far as our jduiy is concerned. It is true that some Ot :s may be so situated that we maybe may-be able to give a greater service and do It much better than some one else, but so far as our loyalty and our patriotism pat-riotism and our willingness to give our all, whether it is great or small, there should be no distinction. (Applause.) Labor at Work for the War Labor is at work in the workshops, and In the mines to produce the minerals min-erals that make the powerful guns and the shells and the ammunition necessary for our men to fight. There are ihe men in the coal mines who produce the coal so necessary to make the Steam that, operates the plant: and t he engines on the railroad that transports not only the soldiers but I the supplies necessary to feed and ' equip them, as wll as to furnish the civil population of our country. Naturally, labor is Interested in j work. They are eontributlng more each da . You have read of 'he j shortcomings of a few, and when the truth was learned, it was found that men who had not yet been efficient! ' trained expected to do a much higher task than they had been equipped to do But have you not read within the last few days where men in the ship-ards ship-ards and other places are doing tasks so great that it was absolutely unheard of in pre-war times? (Applause.) And these men. realizing that we must have soldiers first, many of them are contributing their sons, some three, four and fie. for that cause. Tho fathers and the brothers of the ' workingmen in large numbers have gone to the army to serve in this cause. They have contributed out of their small earnings to every cause and purpose that had for its purpose the victory which we all are so anxious anx-ious to see. ! Labor Will Not Be Exploited. i Labor, in every' phrase of life, Is going to do its duty, but labor is not going to be exploited. The man who takes advantage of labor in this crisis the man who fails to recognize that justice belongs to labor, not only now., but at all times, does not come up to i he 100 per cent citizen that we all ex-peri ex-peri and hope and want to see. Hence he has failed In his duty in that re-Jspect re-Jspect (Applause.) In the workshops, in the mines and I in the factories, this work is being one. and in order thai It will he ol Di lently done w. want labor to be satisfied sat-isfied that It will receive a wage that will give it a decent living ;-nd keep them and theirs up to the proper maximum of efficiency Let them not only feel that In their work in producing pro-ducing the things necessary to win the war. but with each gun. with enrh shell, with each pair of shoes, with each uniform, or with anything else that goes out of the factory or workshop, work-shop, not only should ii be well don. land a 100 per rent good, but let labor; I feel, by realizing that it is recognized1 properly, that their very hearts and1 I souls are in thai work, and in thel highest enthusiastic manner thev aie American citizens, first, last and all! , the time. (Applause.) A few days ago. we read in the pap-1 er RDOUl i tremendously large gun, that the Germans had shooting some! seventy 'five miles. Bvery one marvel , ed. Some were not ready to believe I'. Our greatest scientific men and men who understood things of this kind could hardly believe that there was such a thing possible. Vet I believe we haftre all come to realize that It is trn-We trn-We may not be able to built a gut i to shoot as that particular gun has been shooting, but I have in mind th..i the American people could build a gun. I by a united determination that will not only shoot seventy-five miles, but will shoot from the United States of America Amer-ica Into the very heart of the city of Berlin, Germany. (Applause.) And that j I gun should be made out of and con-' structed of the patriotism of the Am- erican people. (Applause) Echo of Americans. j The shells which it should fire would I be made from the voices, from the de-j j termination of the American people.! and its echo from Berlin throughout i Germany to the trenches on the western wes-tern and other fronts, to our boys in the trenches and to our allies, should be the voice of the American people ;when that shell exploded, the voices of jail our people ringing out to the world that we are united, determined that this war shall be won. that there is no dlvifioln among us. that the rich and the poor will give everything merial that they possess In order to bring this i about, and fl necessary, we will place t upon the altar of sacrifice our verv lives In order that the world may be i safe for Democracy. (Applause.) This war is going to do more to humanize the world than anything I else ihat ever came into it up to the present time. While it Is a terrible! price to pay by the sacrifice of thousands thou-sands upon thousands of oung lives, the flower of this and other countries-yet countries-yet it seems that it could not be helped. help-ed. Our great, our wonderful presi-I i dent, (applause), tried his best andl after he tried by every method known , to human being, and failed, then it' became necessary to say that natural j ' word that wo are nt war And while I have been opposed to' (war all my life, when that word was spoken, when the. nation that had I striven by every honest means to I j evade a conflict, became involved, not 'in order that we might advance our! own cause for any selfish purpose, but In order that we might step In and save, not only the ideals of our own! country, but that of others, in order ( that we might prevent the inward march of that despotism sometimes called a system of government in Ger-! Ger-! many, in order that that might be pre- I vented, in order that the world may i not become contaminated and controlled, controll-ed, we were compelled to go into the I ' war. i mugs worse i nan war. j Let me say there are things sometimes some-times that are worse than war. and to have remained out would have ben I worse (applause). The honesty of a j nation must be protected at all hazards 'and ai any cost. And that is what we j are fighting for. That is what we are uniting on, When we organized labor through its representatives on the 12th day of last March, months prior to our going into this war. said in the form of a resolution, signed by its leaders, rep-j rep-j resenting nearly three million men and women workers, to the president and people of the L'nited States, that if 1 we had become Involved In (lie war. Tabor would take its place and stand squarely behind the president in this conflict. ( Applausi The American Federation of Labor ( sent, and there is at this very moment, mo-ment, a commission of men and worn en in England who hae visited the trenches in France and have talked i to our boys and their boys, bringing the message of labor and that message mes-sage has been one of hope, one of inspiration, in-spiration, because they have told them , "you are here fighting in the trenches, Buffering the privation, and hardships I that a soldier must endure and we brine; ou this message that the men 'and women of labor at home, in the mines and the mills and the won: j shops have commissioned us to say to you that we will stand loyally be I hind you in the production ot the things thai you need in order to carry on your fight, that we will support everj movement, the Red Cross, the I Knights of Columbus, the Y. . C. A, 'and all these wonderful uplifting and helpful movements to the soldiers, we art joining with them, and if we can't j work physically, we will give them our; encouragement and vc will say "we are in accord with you. not sympathetically, sympathet-ically, but lOu per cent American in everything we do." I To you members of the League for : Peace, to its honored president, and ; those who may become membcis later on, I wish every success in your splen-j splen-j did work, because it is only through , organizations of this kind that we can hope to bring together all of the great units that go to make up this great cosmopolitan country of ours. |