The demoralizing and corrupting effect of the general character and the whole atmosphere of the American Federation of Labor, the celebrant of the Labor Day, is also seen in the matter of “controlling the jobs by the workers.” One of the aims of the Labor Movement is to secure such changes in the run of things that “the workers should own their jobs.” Well, some of the unions of the A. F. of L., bakers, printers, etc., have secured such a hold upon their trade in certain localities that they succeeded in putting into their contracts with the employers provisions that the union is to act as the employment agency for the employer, and the latter, whenever he needs help, must take whomever of its membership the union will send to him. On the face of it it looks as though “the workers control their jobs,” a step to “the workers’ owning their jobs.” In reality this “victory” is only an additional source of corruption in these unions. The actual power of distributing the jobs is in the hands of the business agent of the union and his hangers-on, or of the chairman of the union chapel of the shop. This power to manipulate the assignment of certain members of the union to more steady, easier and better paying jobs, and others, on the contrary, as mere “subs” to jobs for only few hours or days or for half-time jobs, or for harder and poorer paid jobs, inevitably leads in the selfish and corrupt atmosphere of the A. F. of L. unions to exactions of bribes by the leaders from the unemployed union members, to favoritism, to keeping of the “kickers” against leaders on the unemployed lists or on bad jobs. This ulcer upon the American Labor Movement has led even to the formation among the union printers, under the leadership of the above mentioned Jas. T. Lynch, of a secret malodorous organization, known as “Wahneta,” within the International Typographical Union. In view of the above features of the American Federation “unions,”—and they by no means exhaust the list—it is only natural that when the “hosts of Labor” are marching in Labor Day parades they do not march to the strains of the battle-hymn of the modern revolutionary proletariat,—the “International” or the “Marseillaise”—unless some misguided Socialists disgrace Socialism by participating in such parades. No, it is to the tune of the vulgar rag-time and of the stale, capitalist patriotic hymns that the “organized labor” forces are marching on Labor Day. These rag-time melodies and patriotic hymns send the cheer of joy and hope and triumph to the hearts of capitalists and politicians. But to the ears of awakened class-conscious wage slaves and revolutionists these tunes are worse than a funeral dirge for the hopes and aspirations of the proletariat! Such is the true character, aim and spirit of the American Federation of Labor under whose auspices Labor Day is celebrated. How Different the May Day!