The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1898-06-18
COLLINS REPORT.
Tho President of the State Fed
GRAFTON of Labor Makes an
: Excellent Address,.
Considered the Best Yet DeIiv-
cred Before That Body
Good Suggestions.

The following address was delivered
at the sixteenth annual convention OF
the Minnesota Federation of Labor al
the recent convent ton held at Winona:
Delegates Sisters:
In the name of 10000 organized mer
andawomen of the state of Minnesota
whose welfare brings you to this beauti
full city today; in behalf of those depend
ent upon them for the necessaries of life
in the interest of the laboring classes ae
a whole--producer and consumer, organ.
lied and unorganized; in remembrance
of the patriotic trades unionist who at
their country's call gave up position and
all they held dear to take up arms that
the .workmen in Cuba, loaded down with
the chains of Spanish oppression, might
obtain freedom; in memory Of the wage
earners at Hazelton, shot down in cold
blood by Sheriff Martin and the hired
assassins of the mine-owners; in SYM
pathy with the widows and orphans,
who after vain appeal to man-made
law, now cry to Almighty God for ven
geance on the cowardly murderers of
their protectors; in behalf of those in
the cities of Minnesota who through the
competition of workhouse prison and
other public institutions with legitimate
business enterprise have BEEN reduced
to penury; in the name of the down
trodden and oppressed, the unemployed
and the starving, welcome you to the
Sixteenth Convention of the Minnesota
State Federation Of Labor.
May your deliberations be governed by
harmony and brotherly consideration
one for the other, to the end that what
ever may be accomplished by your
united thought may rebound to the
credit of organized labor, create better
social and financial conditions for your
selves and those who look to you for
sustenance,s and also bring into your
ranks those who either through ignor-
ance of the benefits to be secured there
by, or through fear of the attitude of
the employing classes toward them, are
still without the pale of the labor move
ment. + 81
I warn you that unfriendly eyes are
today turned toward Winona from near
ly every city in the State of Minnesota,
whose owners hope your deliberations
will come to naught; that your conven-
ton will be disrupted through dissen-
sions; that the onward march of organ
lied labor in this state will be forever
stayed; that when you leave for your
respective homes, instead of brothers
welded together by bands of fraternal
love, you will depart as enemies. hope
lessly divided among yourselves, your
magnificent strength destroyed your
influence for the amelioration of the
condition of the wage Garner forever
lost.
Although the constitution of the State
Federation of Labor nowhere provides
that the incumb bent of the Office Of Pres
ident shall submit a report, following
the example set me by my predecessor
at the convention held in ST.. Paul, Dec.
13, 1896, 1 consider it my duty to render
you an account of my stewardship for
the past year, as we'll as to make a few
suggestions for your thoughtful consid-
Grafton. The duties required of me dur
ing the year just closed have been com.
parative]y light, confined mainly to the
signing of bills approved BY the Fedora
ton Council. inditing the call for this
convention, the appointment of organic
ers in five of the principal cities of the
state, and of my own volition, the pro-
mitigation in the official organ of two
addresses to organized labor.
With the approval of the Federation
Council I appointed the following organ
izers: On Aug. 10, 1897, w. E. McEwen
of Duluth; Aug. II, John Swift of Min
neapolis; Aug. 81, w. H. Franklin of St.
Paul; Aug. 30, John Spuhler of Winona;
and Oct. 4, Morgan F'laherty of st.
Cloud. Later Organizers Franklin and
Spuhler rendered their designations and
as their successors I appointed J. B.
Woods of st. Paul and George Hess of
Winona. That they have rendered ex-
cellent service-taking into considera-
tion the financial depression which has
prevailed throughout the entire country
for the past several years. the ccnse-
quent closing down of factories, necessi-
tating the throwing out of employment
of large numbers of workingmen resi-
dent in the cities-I believe when Sec-
retary McEwen makes his report you
will readily concede.
Laboring under the impression that il
came within the routine of my duties to
appoint two delegates to the convention