The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-12-14
G0MPER'S ANNUAL REPORT
READ AT SESSION OF, AMERICAN
 FEDERATION OF LABOR.

Mentions Growth of Organization and an
 Effort Made to Divide Labor Movement
 Coal Miners Strike Involving Nearly
 10000 Men the Most Notable of the Year
 A Shorter Working Day.
 Nashville, Tenn, Dec. 13.-The Amer ican Federation of Labor began it's an- nual session in this city to-day with an attendance of more than one hundred delegates from different states and an equal number of visitors. Edward Hartford and Havelock Wilson, dele gates from England, were introduced by the president. MT Wilson is a member of parliament and MT. liar ford is ex-secretary of the railway em- ployes' organization. After the meet ing had been called to order MT. Will liam Aimison of the local typographical union delivered an address of welcome in behalf of the labor organizations of the city. President Gompers respond
 ed.
 Later he read his annual report. He dealt with the several strikes and con-
 tentions with which the officials of the
 American Federation of Labor have
 had to deal during the past year and
 also outlined the numerous problems that in his opinion confront the wage earners. He said in part:
 During the last year number of
 local trade unions and federal labor
 unions were organized and chartered. New central bodies were organizedsand
 old ones, which had become defunct, re- yived. Charters to eighteen central bodies, 1S9 local unions and eight na- tional unions were issued.
 With but two exceptions all our affil- lated national unions report a large in crease of local unions and in member ship. There Is an increase of about 34,- 900 members in the organizations atfil- lated, and for whom per capita tax is paid, over the number at the end of
 the last fiscal year. There can be no doubt but the gains are due to several
 causes, among which may be mention ed that our organizations maintained
 their existence during the industrial stagnation of past years; the recogni- ton by the workers that there is only
 one means by which they can defend, protect or advance their interests, that is by organization.
 During the early part of the year my attention was called to the fact that there was an effort being made to di- vide the labor movement of the coun- try on geographical lines. This was
 studiously fomented and afterward openly avowed. The employing class, | the wealth possessors the corporate | power of our country, allow no geo. graphical lines to interfere with the recognition of the identity of their in- terests. In everything that affects them alike they stand a unit. They do not allow mountains, mountain passes or l oceans to divide them They recognize l the identity of their interests as attest ed by the unity of their action, the sol i idarity of their direction,
 I Among the most notable strikes of
 the year was that of the coal miners, | involving nearly 140,000 men At the | time when the strike occurred there
 were few miners organized, and the na- l tional organization had no means with
 which either to support the men in- volved nor to conduct the affairs of the | general office, nor had the organiza- | tion the means to place in the field l the organizers which experience dem | onstrated so necessary to attain suc-
 cess. Above all, however, stands out 1 in bold relief the success attending the l miners contest-an increase of g per 1 cent. in wages for eighty thousand of
 them and some increase for all other | miners.
 | The movement to reduce the hours of | labor is always one which commands
 the first attention of organized labor The daily improvements in machinery, | in methods of production and distribu- 1 ton, the extension and application of
 the forces of steam and electricity, the | improvement in the tools of labor the | division and subdivision of labor and the intense desire of the employing
 class to utilize machines to their full
 est possible extent, that is, the longest
 number of hours per day, must, of ne-
 cessity, tend to supplant labor and | throw numbers of our fellow workers 1 out of employment. A shorter work i ing day is a means by which the evil of
 long hours of labor on the one hand
 and a lack of employment on the other
 may both be remedied at one and the
 same time.
 | It is worthy of note that a greater public spirit is being manifested all l through our municipal life. And mu- ] ncipal ownership of public works, a l bugaboo of decade ago, when first de- ! manded by labor, is now fast becoming
 popular. It is safe to say that there is
 now more extensive municipal own
 ership and control of waterworks, gas
 and electric light systems, and other features which, in their natures, are
 monopolies, than is extant elsewhere in the world. Our fellow unionists should
 urge, with renewed vigor, the extension
 and practical application of this princi-
 pie so conducive to our general well be- | ing. President Gompers went into the 1 question of legislation at some length He dealt briefly with the antitrust 1 laws, convict labor, postal telegraph and savings banks, compulsory arbit-
 ration, immigration and judicial in-