The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1901-12-14
GoMpfRS ON LABOR

COMpfRS ON lAb0R
OF HTS REPORT TO THE
SCRANTON CONVENTION.
Owells ON the Organization of the |
Workers-Chlld and Women Labor |
Question-Internatio Peace !
and the Federation Of the Work. |
er.-Anti-Injunction Bill-Chinese
Exclusion Act.
President Gompers report to the con-
vention Of the American Federation OF
Labor now in session at Scranton was
perhaps the strongest and most COM
plete ever prepared by that efficient
officer. We give below certain parts Of
1t that are Of interest to the workers
in this community.
After dwelling upon the growth Of
organizations, the use and success Of
the weapons Of labor, he speaks as fol-
lows on the child labor question.
OF the many injustices and wrongs
growing out of our modern industrial
system, none is so grievous or so mex
cusable as that Of the employment Of
young and innocent children who
should be in the schoolroom, the play
ground or the home; developing their
physical. mental, and moral well-being.
Surely, in our day, with the wonderful
>S ~
triclty. and the highest developed ma
chinery found anywhere on the globe,
there is not even semblance of an ex-
cuse to exploit the labor of children Of
tender years for profit and private
gain to the detriment Of the manhood
and womanhood of our day, and the
future of those who are now too often
dwarfed through the rapacity of con-
scienceless employers.
From the earliest period our modern
trade unions have always been in the
forefront to demand the protection and
safety Of the children, insisting that
inasmuch as they are liable to the GU
pidity Of the profit-mongers as we'll as
the ignorance Of some parents, they
should be regarded as the wards Of the
state; that 1t, with it's power, should
step in and see to 1t that its future
citizens, men and women alike, should
not become mental or physical defor-
mites or derelicts on the body polite.
Conforming to this purpose, the
American Federation Of Labor at the
last convention, issued instructions
that further and strenuous efforts be
made to secure the enactment of laws
In those states Of the union which have
none for the prohibition or restriction
of the labor Of children. Pursuant to
this instruction the cooperation of the
organized workers and sympathizers
with our movement in the southern
states was sought and obtained. Bills
were introduced in the legislatures in
Georgia. North and South Carolina,
Alabama and Tennessee. Despite our
strenuous efforts. we were unsuccessful
In securing the passage Of these laws
in the four ffrst-named states.
The committee has reported favorably
on the child labor bill in Alabama. With
strenuous efforts we hope that it will
be enacted into law. 1t would be an
advantage and honor to the people
of Alabama which we hope will soon
be followed by similar humane, safe,
and economically sound laws, upon
the statutes of every state In the
union. .... ,..|.. e gs.s. Is
In South Carolina the min owners
induced the legislature to defeat the
bill by a promise to inaugurate the S.
hours week rule, providing no law on
the subject was passed. When, by in
direction, it is thus made manifest that
children are required to work more
than II hours per day, and the employ
ers, fearing the enactment Of a 10
hour a day law, prevent the enactment
Of 10 hour limit, it is not difficult to
determine how necessary it is that our
work shall be prosecuted with ear
nestness and Vigor until we shall have
secured the passage Of just and hui
name laws, and that the present we'll
being and future safety of children
shall not be subjected to the whims or
the tender mercies of those who have
no conception of their duties to the hui
man family and whose only divinity
Is the almighty dollar or a per cent Of
the dividends.
In Tennessee. through the co-opera-
tion of all 1abor's forces and with the
aid Of sympathizers with our cause, we
were enabled to secure the passage Of
a law prohibiting the labor Of children
under fourteen years Of age, and re-
stricting the labor of minors above
that age to ten hours per day.
In those states in which laws upon
the subject are not on the statute
books, and whose legislatures are in
session, efforts on these lines have been
renewed and are now being vigorously
prosecuted. In the interests Of the
children as we'll as of all our people,
now and for the future, the American
Federation Of Labor will persevere un-
til success has finally crowned our ef-
forts.
In my experience it has been demon
strated that the state branches and the
local central bodies have proved them
selves valuable auxilaries to obtain leg
1slation in the interests Of the workers.
and to maintain splendid spirit and
discipline in the ranks Of organized
labor throughout the country.
Realizing the continued increase OF
woman's labor in industry commerce
and in office work, we have always
given every encouragement and made
strenuous efforts to secure for them
considerate treatment and it's corre-