The Portland daily press., 1892-04-02

comb and McCone, of the Carpenters
and Joiners' Union; Megquier, Homer,
Alden, Daniels and Walsh, of the Paint
ion; Felix, Montgomery and Mullin, of
the Cigarmakers' Union; Rounds and
Skillings, of the Steam Railroad Men;
Jordan and Rowe, of the Lasters; t. H.
and j. j. Gorham. of the Shoeworkers;
and Hatch and State, OF the Typograph-
ical Union. A large placard bearing the
label of the Cigarmakers' Union was
placed at the rear of the stage.
William II. Looney, Esq, was chair
man OF the evening, being introduced by
President Healey of the Union. In tax
ing the chair, he spoke at some length
upon the relations of organized labor to
society and the state. He dwelt espe-
cially on what he termed the relations of
certain quasi-public corporations to the
state. He was not Socialist, he said,
but he believed that railroads, water and
light companies, ETC., should be conduct
ed by reformed methods. He was not
prepared to go the extent Of some, who
claim that railroads should be owned by
the state; but he thought that legisla-
lures should see to it that railroads are
run in the interests of the public. Light
companies and water companies should
be owned by municipalities; and Mr..
Looney thought that if this had been
done by Portland long ago all the people
would be much better off. Mr.. Looney's
remarks were frequently applauded.
Mr.. Gompers
received a cordial greeting as he was in
troduced. He began by telling his hear
ers OF certain occasion when lie was in
vited by club of gentlemen to discuss
the question whether or not the laboring
men of America have any real grievance.
Some of those men did not think there
were grievances except in the minds Of
agitators. ''But I asked them,'' said
Mr.. Gompers, ito go with me to the coal
fields of Pennsylvania, where the men
delye all day in the bowels of the earth,
only to come home at night to homes of
abject poverty and despair-homes
where dollar is never seen because the
miner is forced to buy everything at the
pluck me- stores; and / will show you
whether there is real grievance or not"
In the coal fields of Illinois, the "sweat-
ing' work of New York, and the factory
towns of New England, Mr.. Gompers
found additional answers to the ques-
ton whether the laboring man has
grievance.
The speaker said that labor was the
creator of all the wealth of the world.
How was it, then, that labor received SO
little of it. Wherever fine houses arise,
with their frescoed ceilings and delicate
furnishings, they are produced by labor,
but labor owns them not Labor makes
the fine garments as well as the coarse,
yet the fine clothes go to the backs OF
others. When all things are produced
by labor, there must be something
wrong at the foundation of society when
labor gets so little. Applause.
He was ready to say this at the risk Of
being called an agitator. AS between
agitation and stagnation he preferred
agitation every time. A despotic Gar
was once able to declare that order
reigned in Warsaw; but it was a peace
procured by bayonets. We want no
such peace as that among the friends of
organized labor. We insist upon being
larger sharers in the products of our
labors. [Applause.] 1t is the dream
and hope of mankind that some time the
conditions Of life will be easier; and we
believe that it will come by gradual i'm
provement in the condition Of the masses.
And we of the orders of organized labor
aim to forward this improvement by our
own methods. We think the time will
come when even the possessors of wealth
will admit that there is not only reason
but divine inspiration in the ideas of
organized labor. Applause By work
ing in an orderly way by orderly means
we are really the conservators of order
and the preventers of anarchy.
The theory of the law of supply and
demand, which is so much used by the
capitalist classes in their arguments, is,
in Mr.. Gompers's opinion. a humbug,
since the trusts and combinations re-
gulate the product and SO establish the
prices. What then is the theory of sup
ply and demand good for in argument if
the law is evaded? Mr.. Gompers
thought the laboring men should follow
the example of the capitalists, and by
organizing get control OF the supply
of labor Then they could so
uIubC ILLS supply go w ee'iO' eo
to the hundreds of thousands now idle.
[Applause].
At this point the fire alarm bell rang,
and there was rush for the door by
considerable number of the younger ele-
ment in the audience. Mr.. Gompers
took the exodus good naturally, saying
that there were things more dangerous
to the 1aboring men than a IRE.
Speaking of the Australian ballot sys-
tenn, Mr. Gompers said that it was a lit
tie strange that this system had come
| from Australia, one of the latest lands to
| be settled There was reason in this. In
Australia q years ago, organized labor
obtained the eight-hour day. And that
boon gave the laboring men the leisure
in which to bring forward and have
adopted the reformed ballot idea. And
| today, in Australia there are many rep
resentatiyes OF organized labor in the
Australian parliament.
| Mr. Gonpers spoke of the increase in
wages and improvement in morals which
| had been found to follow reduction i'll
the hours of TABOR.
| He said he used to make cigars in the
old days when they had to work all day
and ali the evening. After work they
]