Workmen's advocate., 1890-12-20

| they are not allowed to meet or vote and yet they maintain their uuluns
 The President of this A, F. of l., has
 uttered words that he will be sorry for and that this body will be sorry that he l ever uttered. Mr. Sanial has shown you that the Europen n labor movement 1 k thoroughly Suclalistic. Now Mr.
 GomperS tells Us in his annual report that he Ina, received no reply from | Europe to his invi atiOn to hold here an International Congress; does he expect that his utteranCes of to-day will i'm. | prove his prospects tf getting any? l 1 like 10 remain in tourn with my fellow 1 men. but not at the expense of being | cluhbed. You do not want independent | political acton; you want trade-unIOn. ism pure and simple; but the trade unions have been repeatedly traded of 10 the Democratic and Republican par | ties. We have yet to hear any Cuudem | nation of this, but we have heard the l N0ciahst Labor party condemned. In 1 Chicago labor parties have sold out periodically to the Republicans or to the | Democrats. lu 1886 labor was organized Ill that clty politically and cast 5000 votes But PoWderly sent around orders | that all who took part in politics would be expelled; in less than two years | thereafter the K. of l.. was dead. | Pc derly on one occasion did something | akin tU what our president has done to- | day. He pulled little American flag | from under his COat,talls, waved 1t and ! thanked God there was nothing anarch- | istC among WOrkingmen. Such non sense should be repudiated by all honest wage workers. "S0cijlsn, he said in conclusion, lis coming, and if you can not be friendly, be far'
 Nor was reactionism, and worse, worst, | ed during this great debate alone. The transactions of the Convention show a | long list of positive and immediate vic tories ny the straightforward cause of | labor, and
 LAYING LOW GOMPERs' PET SCHEMES.
 In the first place the Convention | turned deaf ear to the proposal of establishing and publishing an official l journal, hnttd at If not recommended Ill President GomperS' annual report. Such an official organ, it was shown, 1 would not only entail heavy financial
 
 | ing edited and controlled by the presi | dent, would be such powerful weapon | in the hands of the officer that it might 1 become a danger Go the organization by | giving the president the power to influ- l encc the members for his personal ad- vantage and to silence opposition
 Secondly, pet plan, redolent of cor rnption, turned up in the shape of recommendation to obtain favorable legislation by means of q Legislative Committee The Convention jumped upon and squelched this recommends tlon; and some plain language was used by the pure element among the dele gates, who, amidst the wincing of the 1 corruptionists. showed the scheme to be a proposition for lobbying, for begging for capitalist favOrs that never would be granted and could only be obtained when w0rkingmen elected their own representatives; proposition, in short, which would he fruitful of corruption as shown by the legislative committee of the K, of L., two out of every three members of which had received political jobs.
 Furthermore, proposal to raise Presi. dent GOmpers salary to Sl,S0O on the ground of his extra expenses, arising from calls, visits, etc, was summarily thrown out; the opinion being that such additional expenses were iilegiUmate, that if incurred should be footed by the officer himself, and finally, that it was the most dangerous of policies Go separ- ate the president, by means of high salary, from the average wage worker
 Again, the disposition of the Conven- ton was exemplhed hy its casting l262 votes in favor, and only 6il against proposal reducing the presidents powers by deprlving him of vote in the Execu- tive Council. This proposal worked, however, an amendment to the COnsti- tution,an was lost only because it failed of the necessary twO-thlrds vote.
 Among other matters of general inn portance the following
 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CONVENTION
 deserve special notice. The Convention granted the appeal of the Rochester Trades Assembly in behalf of the strik ing and locked out shoemakers of that city; the request that the acts of the Federation bc conducted with q view to the abolition of the wage system; the recommendation to the unions to assist the o. L. P in its battle agalnat capital in all cases where It k deemed expedient to obtain legislation; the motion 10 print the proceedings of the Convention in both Engliah and German; a resolution against fraudulent advertisements en- couraging the immigration of working men: a resolution prohibiting the decia. ration of a boycott before investigation of the matter by the Executive Com mittee and failure of all means for 1 peaceable settlement; d resolution favor ! ing female suffrage; resolution in favor of national control of the railroads and telegraphs; resolution to adopt measures that will protect the unions ] against attacks from tine k. of La mo-