A Labor Editor Called a Traitor for Backing the Wrong Candidate

Over in Denver, the headquarters of the Western Federation of Miners, a weekly labor publication is printed called The Miners' Magazine. It is the official organ of the Western Federation of Miners. Its editor is a writer of ability, forceful, keen and satirical. But he is never happier than when he has some victim impaled on the spit and is roasting him before a slow fire. It doesn't make much difference whether the victim is a member of the hated 'capitalist' class or a labor leader who is not 'class conscious.' Directly after the Washington state election, the Miners' Magazine editorially attacked this paper over the overwhelming victory of Poindexter. It said such publications as The Labor Journal of Everett, Washington, are more dangerous to the working class than the official organ of a manufacturers' association or the subsidized forum of capitalism. 'A Judas or a Benedict Arnold in the ranks of labor is more to be dreaded than an open enemy,' it wrote. It called us an 'ignoramus' and a traitor to the labor movement. If a refusal to sing the Marseillaise and cry with trumpet voice, 'Up dogs and at them,' be treason, make the most of it. It is impossible to convince some men that there can be a labor movement that does not base its genuineness on its ability to appeal to men's passions and prejudices. We supported Poindexter. Sure! Proud of it. So did the rest of the trade union papers of this state and 95 per cent of the union voters of the state. Proud of that, too. So we indulged in 'glittering generalities,' but were careful to make no specific reference to any acts that Poindexter performed in the interests of labor. If the editor of the Miners' Magazine had read former issues of The Journal as assiduously as he did the one he criticised, he would have discovered that The Journal DID refer to labor measures before Congress, giving title and number, that Poindexter voted and worked for in Congress. The head officials of the A.F. of L. said of Poindexter: 'He is one of the men in Congress we depended upon to advance our measures; he responded to our every call without evasion or hesitation.' We say this with no expectation of making any impression upon the editor of the Miners' Magazine. He has shown many times through the columns of his paper that he had but little respect for the political or economic views of the A.F. of L. leaders, even though he is at present urging re-affiliation of the Western Federation of Miners with the A.F. of L. We would welcome the ocean liner, but we would not despise the spar, and that homely illustration marks the difference between the so-called 'radical' and the so-called 'conservative' in the labor movement.