The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1902-08-17
CHILDLABOR DEPLORED
SAMUEL GoMPERs SPEAKS AT
CHAUTAUQUA ASSEMBLY.
Declares That Bones Of Innocents
are Ground Into Dollars in
Textile Observation-Disclosures
Success of Miners.

Mountain Lake Park, Md. Aug. 10
Several thousand persons greeted Samuel
Gcmr President of the American Fed
ersticn of Labor. who delivered an ad-
less today before the Chautauqua AS
sembly on labor ana Capital-The
Nvorkmnii's Slds Of the StorS.'g W. -
President Mitchell of the United Mine
Workers OF America was unable to be
present on account of the serious situa-
ton in the anthracite fields.
Mr.. Gompers prefaced his remarks by
Saying that the average mind looks con-
trary on labor's side of the question.
THE newspapers without any attempt
on my part to charge them with unfair
ness he said. usually present the lator
question from the standpoint of the en-
ployer. They either get their informI
tion from employers or their representa-
tives. 1t is the same old story, the men
and women, the representatives of labor,
who suffer from the same old wrong.
There is no short cut to emancipation"
Mr. Gompers declared that the labor of
young and innocent children is the great
evil that needs reformation.
Many States. particularly in the South,
have no law whatever to prevent the
practice. Men get rich" he declared.
from the labor of children whose bones
are ground into almighty dollars. 1t is
q SAD commentary Men Wink tnG streets
in idleness in the textile districts while
the mills are filled with busy children.
Instead OF labor being crowned with hon
or and dignity. its rightful heritage. 1t is
q question of how much labor can be
squeezed out of the laborer and how lit
tie wages he can be forced to accept IN
return.
Mr.. Gompers discussed the question of
shorter hours at length, declaring the
countries of long hours were decidedly
backward and denied th0fallegation that
the movement to shorten hours meant
the decadence of the United States as a
great producing power. He declared that
there was no greater conservator of the
peace than the labor organization.
"One hundred thousand men in the an
thracite field have been engaged in a
silent struggle for three months and there
has been less violence than is committed
at a picnic Of ordinary people upon or
binary occasions" he said. THE men
have been reduced to a state of serfdom
but in the past three years they have
been recast and their characters remould-
ed. Their manhood is aroused and 1 be-
lieve as God is my judge the worst the
miners have had to confront is past"
Mr.. Gompers declared that the lawyer
was incompetent to discuss the industrial
question.
The lawyer lives in and studies the
past" he declared. while being faced
physically forward he Is mentally in the
dark ages"
This observation was brought out by
the alleged remark of Mr.. Ross, a legal
representative of the Delaware, Lacka-
wanna and Western Railroad. recently
that there can be no arbitration. that
the miners must first return to work and
then the companies will discuss the mat
ter with them.
I'VE demand the right to be card by
the counsel" declared tho speaker. Just
imagine the miner being forced back to
work with all the prievance he may have
had squeezed and starved out of him."
Mr.. Gompers predicted the success of
the anthracite strike.