Within the last two weeks I have talked to at least two hundred men with regard to this threatened strike-all intelligent, English speaking workmen, some from my own parish, and some outside, and I could not find one instance among these two hundred men who wanted to go on strike. They all stated positively and clearly on the other hand that they were well treated and satisfied with conditions. There was just one possible exception -a simple-minded Irishman. This fellow said to me, "Father, don't you think they ought to reduce the price of food and the cost of living?" I told him that I didn't think the mills and factories here had much to do with that. They do not grow wheat or produce flour, potatoes, or tomatoes; they have no cattle, sheep, sows, or pigs; they are not in that business, hence have nothing to do with the reduction of the price of eatables.

There is one thing I have noticed about these strike leaders, as I suppose most of you have, and that is-with very few exceptions, if any at all-never a one of them ever had on a workman's blouse in his life-never went to a mill in a pair of overalls-these men were never seen with the honest sweat of toil on their brows. The tan of brawn is not on their hands. They are a lot of smooth, oily-tongued talkers with a kind of sympathetic whine appealing to you. They are royal gentlemen of leisure; they always wear fine clothes.

They remind me of the steward who worked for my grandfather, Morris O'Connell. He was always arrayed splendidly, and one day my grandfather said to him, "I never met a man with more respect for the Sabbath than you, John." "How so?" asked John. "Why, you wear good clothes for three days before Sunday in honor of the day, and for three days after Sunday in honor of Sunday." That is the case with these strike leaders.

William Z. Foster, the transplanted strike leader and fomentor of trouble among the steel workers, is a rank, bloodthirsty socialist. His philosophy is that of a mad-house. calls himself a syndicalist; I consider him both a fool positive and an ass superlative. The wonder is that so many apparently sen

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sible people stand to listen to the braying of this donkey; but of course those that do listen to him are of that class that think with their mouths open.

This country is not to be Europeanized by a handful of vulgar fanatics. THEY will have to become Americanized, to become Americans in the true sense of the word, to act like Americans, to speak like Americans, and to think like Americans.

Now, here is another view of the situation; we have at present, say, one hundred young men, the picked choice of the youth of our parish. They were taken from their homes and sent abroad to a foreign land, where they were subjected to every kind of hardship, cold, and hunger. Whether sick or well they had to be on deck and on duty. They got no compensation or reward for that, but while they were abroad these semi-barbarians were earning fat salaries-earning the money that should belong to these boys.

Now, when these poor boys come home, destitute, weary, some of them without a change of clothes, some almost naked - now, before they have earned enough to buy even a suit of clothes, these barbarians tell them that they have to go out on strike with them whether they like it or not.

Now, if any of these men talk to you-it's just like the catching of a mouse they make their call-if you hear any cackling of these fellows, do like a bashful girl; tell them you don't speak to strangers, and that you have never been introduced to them. Tell them that it has always been considered politeness to wait until people ask you for advice before you give it; to follow their own advice, as you are not in need of any, and go your way. We are on the threshold of winter. You have your work to take care of; your family must be provided for; the house must be heated; the children must have shoes and clothes.

A strike should be the last resort for redress of a grievance. and all other means should be exhausted before men resort to a strike. A strike is a very serious thing and entails very serious consequences on the family and the home. Mest of you remember the Homestead strike of 1892, and you know and realize that the effect of that strike is still felt in this community.

We have men in this community who, to my knowledge, for 30 years have left their homes early in the morning in despite of winter's frost or summer's heat, have taken their dinner buckets to the mills, and earned a living for their wives and little children. They have been able to clothe their families decently and to enjoy many of the comforts of life. Many of them have paid for homes, and have been helped in paying for these homes by loans from the steel companies. These men are just as contented today as they have been during the last thirty or forty years. These honest workingmen should not for a moment be compared with the hoodlum, the Bazzibazooks, the cackling geese who come among us trying to tell us what to do. These workmen are to be respected and honored, and here these hoodlums. threaten their very lives if they go to work! The very idea of 29,800 men in this commuinty being afraid of a few hoodlums! It is preposterous! What do they take us for? Cowards? We will show them that they cannot dictate to us or hinder us, nor deprive us of our rights. We will stand to a man for our rights.

I have gone through these mills around here occasionally, when I have been called on, say, to attend men injured in accidents, and I have seen a great deal of the different departments and met the officials of the works. If, after one of these visits, I were asked who was the hardest working man I saw in that mill, I should say, if I told the truth, that the manager or the general superintendent was the hardest working man in the plant. He has to look after all the details of every departmentlook after everything, with one man always asking him questions on one side and another on the other.

Another thing I have observed with pleasure is that no man could be more solicitous for those under him than the leaders of these mills are. They have left nothing undone to provide for the welfare of their men that could be done. I think they have reached perfection in this way.

And sometimes, when I have been talking with them, I have been surprised to find how much they know about each man who works under them. They seem to care for their men with a tenderness equal to that which a mother has for her child. They know their men's habits, their ways, their families-everything. These men, these leaders and superintendents, are the very best friends of those that work in the mills. It is not these hoodlums that are your friends, it is the men that are over you in the works.

Another thing I want to tell you, that you may not have thought of, is this; you own these mills, these factories. They are yours inasmuch as they give you employment and a means of earning a livelihood. They are yours, inasmuch as these mills pay most of the taxes in this community which provide the funds to pay for our highways, schools and institutions that shelter the aged, the poor, the insane, the needy, that pay for the hospitals for sick and afflicted. All this is done, in large part, by the mills and factories. Hence, you own them, in a way, and when you go to New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, or Chicago, and naturally speak of "our" homes, "our" schools, "our" institutions, you are speaking the truth when you also say "our" mills and "our" factories. You own them, they are yours as a member of society.

I have talked to a lot of people to find out what this strike was about, what complaint they have to make. No one seems to know. Perhaps there is no real complaint to make!

*** But you can't reason with these people (the strike leaders). Don't reason with them. You can't, any more than you can reason with a cow or a horse. They remind me of a Hollander who became angry at an Irishman and gave him an awful tongue lashing. Pat took it all very meekly, and when it was all over they said to him, "Pat, why didn't you tell that fellow what you thought of him?" "Oh," said Pat, "the only way I could have made any impression on that fellow was to knock him down! And that's the only way you can reason with these people; knock them down!

These fellows, strike leaders, hoodlums, that try to keep you from work, live on the bread earned by other people. They

don't want to work themselves. They will tell you these mills ought to belong to you. Tell them they do! Some of them say the mills ought to be driven out. Drive them out, and what will you have? Weeds, cobblestones, rattlesnakes, waste, and desolation!

But I know it is not necessary to tell you intelligent young men these things; you are Americans. I know when it comes to the test you will be on the side of civilization, on the side of law and order, that you will remember the sacrifices our fathers made to build these homes and institutions, and that you wil! be found on that side-not on the side of those blood-thirsty, semi-barbarous Bazzibazooks that come here to dictate to us.

What we must make these fellows understand is that we are not going to let them violate the rights of any individual in this community-that whatever they do elsewhere, our men will protect their homes and institutions. If it comes to a test, we will drive out these fellows-the whole lot of them and never stop driving till we get them on the other side of the River Styx, to the land from which no traveler returns.

What if they start to pillage or destroy? If you see a man take from a store or house something that is not his, do not reason with him, knock him down! If you have a revolver, shoot him. right then and there. Don't hesitate, for that is your duty as a citizen. They talk about sympathy for the workman, and no one has more human sympathy than myself-when there is an occasion and a just call for sympathy. But here the facts are too plain, and we are face to face with facts.

In case this strike should take place, and there is a riot, I want to give you people a solemn warning: smother your curiosity. Let the women keep off the streets with their children, and give the men a clear field, and we will show these hoodlums what we are. I want all these men that have been abroad to put themselves at once under the direction of the men in authority who can use them. Show them that you fought for liberty abroad, and will maintain liberty at home!