Workmen's Advocate

THE WOULD-BE POPULAR LABOR EDITOR.

We despise the man who, as editor of a labor paper, dare not speak his convictions. It is bad enough for the little would-be capitalist sheets to jump from one side of the question to the other, in their endeavor to keep on the popular side and float like a dead dog with the current, but when a man who professes to be running a paper for the people and against monopoly, shifts his gait because public opinion happens to change a little on some particular point, he is too weak in the back for any organization to tie to. We have noticed of late that some of our labor exchanges try to be popular by hopping on to their brothers in the K. of I. and finding fault with them because they have made some mistakes. Such editors, we presume, think it will make them appear to have a big head to find fault with their brothers, after any movement has been made and proved a failure. Yet, these same editors hadn't brains enough to see the danger in season to advise against it. We are not surprised that mistakes have been made by the K. of I., and expect to see many more made, but we have no desire to blame those who made them, for they did what they believed to be right and that is all anyone could do. We do not expect to win every fight. It would get to be too monotonous if we should. There would be nothing to keep up the interest. We might become like monopolists and want the whole after a while, which would not be right. But when a mistake has been made that we were not smart enough to see beforehand, we don't propose to come out and say, "I told you so," for the sake of being popular.