Judas Reward of “Labor Leaders”.
And the result generally is that the politicians generally conclude, in order to insure the success of their capitalist parties, to bait their political hooks with some prominent “union leaders” whom they nominate for some insignificant office on their tickets, and the mass of deluded workers, out of misplaced loyalty to their brother-union man, swallow bait, hook and all, dividing their forces between the leading capitalist parties.
Another form of rewarding the union leaders, who succeed in advertising their value on the political market or who render valuable services to capitalists, is to have them supplied with good political jobs. Not to mention smaller instances of local character, few of the many instances of prominent appointments could be cited as illustrations.
Ex-President Taft, following the example of his predecessors, as soon as he assumed power, appointed a “labor-leader,” Daniel O’Keefe, of the Longshoremen’s Union, to the office of Federal Commissioner of Immigration, with a fat salary and fatter emoluments. President Wilson appointed two prominent “labor leaders” to positions on the Federal Commission on Industrial Relations—they were: John B. Lennon, of the Journeymen Tailors’, an anti-Socialist and member of the National Executive Committee of the capitalist organization, known as the “National Civic Federation,” and James O’Connell, of the International Association of Machinists, and also a member of the National Executive Committee of the reactionary “Militia of Christ,” organized by the Roman-Catholic political machine to fight Socialism. The Commissioners are paid more than liberally by the Government.