The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-12-13
FEDERATION OF LABOR
EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL CONVENTION
OF THE ORGANIZATION.
President GOmpers ON the Growth Of
Annexing the Philippines.


order in Strope's Hall to-day. About one
hundred and fifty delegates from all parts
of the country and two from across the
water, namely, William Thorne and William
Inskip, of London. representing the British
Trade Union Congress, were present. Dele
gate Inskips mission is to plead for a closer
alliance between the United States and
Great Britain along industrial as well as po-
litical lines. President Evans of the Kan
sas City Commercial Club, welcomed the
delegates, President Gompers responding.
After the usual preliminary matters of or
ganization, President Gompers delivered
his address. He was accorded the strictest
attention. Referring to the growth of In
ternationality, Mr.. Gompers said:
With view of a closer bond of sympa-
thy and unity among the organized workers
OF the different countries, correspondence
with many of them has been maintained,
and entered into with a number of others.
We should endeavor, by every means within
our power, to cultivate fraternal feeling and
interest in the welfare of the Wage-earners
of all countries, to aid and encourage every
movement calculated to materially, morally
ana socially improve the conditions of the
workers, no matter where they may be To-
Gated, and particularly to lend that aid
which may be in our power to those who
show disposition to stand on the common
policy of our movement.
From the officers of our affiliated unions
come the satisfactory reports that they are
in closer touch with their fellow-trade-un-
ionists everywhere and it is additionally
gratifying that the mutual recognition, ex-
change and acceptance of union cards is be-
ing adopted internationally with each step
taken in the direction to cement the bond OF
fraternity and the recognition of the prin-
ciples of solidarity in the international labor
movement, we shall not only help to bear
each others burdens, but continually make
those burdens lighter, and be the lever for
the international brotherhood of man when
the wars of nations shall be a thing of the
past, and the song of the poet, the dream
OF the philosopher and the hope of the phi
lanthropist and humanitarian be achieved
FRATERNAL DELEGATES.
Our fraternal delegates to the British
Trade Union Congress, James Duncan and
Harry L. Lloyd report that greetings which
they received at the hands of our fellow
trade unionsts abroad were of a marked
and gratifying character. Their report, the
most interesting document, will be sub
mitted to you. We have with us to-day two
fraternal delegates from the British Trade
Union Congress to our congress-William
Inskip and William Thorne, men who have
given the best years of their lives to the or
ganization of the workers and the uplifting
of the masses of labor.
For the first time the convention last
year elected a fraternal delegate to the
Trade and Labor Congress of Canada
Thomas l. Kidd, who too, reports the cor
diality of his greeting and the interest in
his mission. Our Canadian fellow-unonists
have honored us by electing a delegate to
attend this convention in the person Of d
A. Carey. 1t should require no words at
my hands that our fraternaI delegates are
heartily welcome; that their stay among us
may be full of interest to them and of adj
vantage to our common cause"
Under the head of mo Duality; Greater
Federation" Mr.. Gompers said: "As a re-
suit of the engineers strike of Great Britain
combination and amalgamation of union
with union and closer federation of all is
the one point to which the labor movement
there is at present directed, and duality of
organization in one trade, so long prevailing
IN Great Britain, is fast passing away. Our
declaration that no two organizations of one
trade, claiming equal Jurisdiction can
exist without conflict and injury, the prin-
clple long ago recognized and established of
one union OF one trade has been taken as
the slogan of the labor movement of Great
Britain, and we shall soon see a SOldihed
army of labor there upon the most perfect
lines TO achieve success. And this state of
aHalrs teaches US a lesson. too that, in
struggling for the upbuiidng of national
Tor maintaining the integrity and entity of
the trade union, and with the development of
INDUSTRY and the concentration of wealth, it
becomes the bOunden duty of our trade
unions to not only morally but financially
concentrate their efforts in a battle of of
Tense Tense and defense when any allied organiza-
ton is engaged in conflict"
Mr.. Gompers repeated his we'll known
views on expansion. He is opposed to an
nexing any of the conquered Spanish terri
tory. We cannot annex the Philippines"
he said, without a large increase in our
standing army. A large standing army is
repugnant to republican institutions and
menace to the liberty of our own people If
we annex the Philippines, we shall have to
conquer the F'ilipinos by the force of arms,
ana thereby deny to them what we claim for
ourselves-the right of self-government We
shall surrender the present safe and indie
pendent position by which we are guaran-
teed the tranquility and the fruits of peace,
and force ourselves into European and
Asiatic entanglements, implying war and the
preparation for War We shall become
militant instead of a peace-Ioving Nation.
We shall seek to conquer by the force of
arms instead of by our own industry COM
merce and superior mentality and ciViliZa-
ton. We shall be compelled to open the gates
and admit the Chinese, Malays and Slave
possessions since the Constitution of the
United States forbids the Introduction of the
free entry 60, OF men and their products be-
tween our States and our Territories.
AN ALLEGED PERIL.
"Our Constitution requires the judges of
our Federal Courts to make their decisions
general and applicable to all the States and
Territories; and the contracts for the specific
enforcement of labor and the performance of
personal service will necessarily have to be
interpreted in the light of these laws and
may become generally applicable to the
workers of the United States The decision
of the Supreme Court in the case of Robert
son against Baldwin, rendered last year.
paves the way for a broader decision on
these lines, and increases the peril. The de-
mand for expansion of trade abroad is
based upon the idea that manufacture to
a larger extent than we consume, when
there are so many of our people who are
voorhees,, ahungered and ragged. Expansion
Of trade abroad has for its basis the con-
traction of the stomachS of men, women and
children at home. The policy of imperial-
ism is a declaration that self government
has failed and that the people cannot be
trusted that the dollar is OF more conse-
Quence than man, and plutocracy and mill
tarism nobler than humanity. The attempt
to divert the attention of our people from the
eign questions will fail. The principles of
liberty and justice have been imbibed by
our people too many years to permit them
to be cheated out of their brthright. The
institutions of our Republic have taken root
too deeply in the minds and hearts of our
people to permit us to become a nation OF
conquerors, or to dominate by force of arms
a people struggling for liberty and indie
pendence"
Treasurer John b. Lennon submitted his
annual report, showing total receipts of $2l,-
$50, and total disbursements of $l9 1877, leaving
a balance on hand of 1881, with addl-
tiODal sum of 81 coo in the hands of the secre-
tary.