The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, December 1, 1919, Page 10

N 7 S ST e S . tives present as dele- ¢ o . ' S Class Against Class , | Lawyers in Office Themselves Most Active in Aligning Groups of Citizens | Against Each Other to Hold Their Places—Play for Soldier Vote BY JOHN AMES HE congress of the United States contains an overwhelming ma- jority of lawyers. So do the legislatures of every state in the Union—except North Dako- ta. To speak more correctly, however, these legislative bod- ies are composed in the main of men who started as lawyers, with politics as a sideline, and now are politicians, with law as a sideline. This combination of busi- ness has almost from time immemorial been in op- eration, because the majority of lawyers have a good deal of time to spare. Getting out into poli- tics gets them advertising and enables them to make acquaintances that they could not have other- wise. The three most numerous classes in the United States, by occupations, are manual workers, farm- ers and clerical workers. These occupations have extremely small representation in the law-making bodies of the nation and states. It is largely be- cause of ignorance of what these groups really want and need that there is so little legislation passed in their interest. It is unreasonable to ex- pect that a congressman, who has lived in Wash- ington for a number of years, away from his peo- ple, can know what they want and need, especially if he has never been one of ‘them, confronted with their daily life. The ideal plan, of course, would be to send more manual workers and more farmers and more cler- ical workers to congress. But every time an at- tempt is made to do this, whether by means of the Nonpartisan league or a Labor party or by pro- portional representation, some pompous lawyer- politician arises in con- gress and declares that someone is trying to “set class against class” and the papers -throughout the country take up the cry and brand the re- formers as disloyalists, Socialists and persons who would “tear down the bulwarks of our Con- stitution.” This is merely prelim- inary to explaining what the situation is in poli- tics in the United States today. The lawyer-poli- ticians who control po- litical affairs are them- selves endeavoring to set class against class, with a view toward securing their own return to of- ficee. The classes that they are trying to ma- nipulate at the present time are the returned soldiers and the classes affected, directly or in- directly, by the labor sit- uation, POLITICS AT LEGION MEETING The recent national convention of the Amer- ican Legion was an in- teresting study of the workings of the under- ground political system. Both the Republican and Democratic national com- mittees had representa- gates. The Legion was originally organized as the result of the activi- ties of some 20 officers in - France, principally lieutenant colonels and majors, of whom the most active were Theo- dore Roosevelt Jr., Ben-- nett Clark, son of Repre- sentative. Champ Clark, George A, White, Frank- Lt Recent elections in the United Sta o L et T e SR lin. d’Olier and Eric Fisher Wood. Practically all of the original organizers were Republicans, Clark being the only notable exception. When the Le- gion was first organized it was accordingly decided to send Clark to the United States to introduce it there and thus make it seem more nonpartisan. Clark was an active organizer, the Legion was given a big boost by all the papers, Republican and - Democratic alike, and before the recent national convention it had close to a million members. In the meantime Republican party chiefs had decided to include compulsory military training as a part of their 1920 platform. To bolster up this_plank-it was necessary to secure a show of support from the service men, so it was de- cided to seek indorsement from the Legion con- - vention. g COMPULSORY TRAINING MEASURE FORCED THROUGH The Democratic party, meantime, was undecided on the militray training issue. At the Legion con- vention -Clark, recognized as the Demccratic spokes- man, proposed that instead of indorsing compul- sory military training the Legion submit a refer- endum to its membership. But the Roosevelt- D’Olier-White-Wood forces had done their work of organizing the convention better than Clark, who did not even have opportunity.to speak at length in favor of his plan, while a delegate who declared flatly against compulsory training was howled down and not allowed to speak at all. The result of the election of officers left the Le- " gion firmly in the hands of the old officers, with Clark eliminated. Although, according to its con- stitution, the Legion can not take part in politics | A REBUKE ' | | * BuLLeT:- RECENT ELECTION GIVE BIG \IICTORY‘. | To“LAW anD ORDER THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY! 'PAGE TEN —Drawn expressly for the Leader by Congressman John M. Baer. tes returning “law and order” candidates is a blow to the violence, practiced in the name of patriotism, which was prevalent during the war. feather artist, is not -to be tolerated in America any more than the man who advocates wanton de- struction to gain his political ends. “Judge Lynch” is t The mobbist, the tar-and- he jurist chosen by those with unclean hands. A Political Dodge to the extent of indorsing candidates and the like, the Republican leaders feel confident that it will be of great service to them in the campaign, At the Minneapolis convention, besides indorsing mili- tary training, resolutions were adopted criticizing the administration of practically every governmen- tal bureau mow in the hands of the Democrats. With the present. officers in charge a further use of the Legion is probable. Its officers may be ex- pected to issue statements in interviews and com- munications to the membership which will after- ward be picked up by Republican -politicians as parts of their platforms. 4 Much of the membership of the Legion, especial- ly in the western states, has joined through a prom- ise that the organization would assist them in get- ting a bonus or “equalization compensation” to make up for the difference between the pay that they got during the war and what they would have earned if they had been at home. However, many of the employing interests of the country, espe- cially in the South, are opposed to payment of a bonus. They believe that if the soldiers, who are principally workingmen, are paid money by the gov- ernment there will be a likelihood of more strikes than if the men are kept shert of money. This feeling is especially strong among southern em- ployers, who claim that negroes would not work at all if supplied with money from the government. Accordingly the Legion control dodged the bonus question as carefully as possible, declaring for it in general terms but smothering everything that could be pointed to as a definite demand. - 5 The probabilities are that if the labor situation is somewhat more settled in a few months the Re- publican congress will pass a soldiers’ bonus meas- ure of some kind, in a further effort to get the soldiers’ votes, inside and outside of the Le- gion. It will be passed late enough in 1920 so that the country will not be called upon to pay the increased taxes until after the 1920 election. Then, if the Democrats should win the election, the Republicang will take the credit to themselves for the bonus and blame the Democrats for the increased taxes. LABOR PROBLEM AS VOTE GETTER The labor situation is the other issue in which efforts are being made to handle votes along class lines. The labor situation is bound up, at least politically, with the cost-of-living question. The increased cost of liv- ing is due primarily to decreased production, secondarily to enormous profits demanded by cap- " ital, and thirdly to in- creased wages granted to labor. Politicians of both parties, however, have agreed to say little about the first cause, nothing at all about the second and to blame the cost of living entirely upon the increased wages of labor and the increased prices being received by farm- ers for their products. The Boston police strike, the steel strike and the coal miners”_strike have been seized upon’by the politicians in an . effort' to set the un- - organized consum- ing public—the larg- est voting class in © the country—against organized labor and,