The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-17
GOMPERS IS
 A WITNESS Qualities as Expert on
 UniOniSm. BELIEVES IN THE BOYCOTT Does Not Think Labor Unions Should Incorporate. He Declares Indirectly That the Coal Companies are Responsible for Bringing Immigrants Into
 the Anthracite Field.
BELIEVES IN THE BOYCOTT

hSNA cAbOib 0st DcCs Iu.-lNOt ing the fact that the mine workers an- nouneed yesterday that they had closed their case with the exception of calling one more witness. the entire two sessions Of the strike commission today were oon- sumed in hearing three witnesses for the men. They were John c. Paddock, an individual operator: Rev. Dr. Peter Roberts. who Is assisting the miners. and President Samuel Gompers of the Ameri- can Federation of Labor.
 The principal point in Mr. Heddocks . testimony was that he favored siving the mine workers concessions under certain conditions He looked upon labor organizations as a necessity and had no objection to dealing with them If they were properly conducted. He also be- lieved in combinations of capital.
 The miners made another attempt today to have the commission admit as evidence a large mass of testimony tending to show that the anthracite coal carrying roads charge extortionate and discriminating freight rates and that a monopoly exists In the anthracite mining industry which keeps the wages of men at an unnatural ly low level. The commission again de- cfded that the evidence must be limited to the scope of the commission and that If 1t did take up the claims made in the evidence proposed to be submitted, the Jusdhableness of the mine workers de- mands would still remain to be proven.
 Gompers as an Expert.
 Presdent Gompers testified as an expert on the trade union movement He created stir when he strongly implied during his examination that the coal companies are responsible for bringing immigrants to the coal region. When one of the lsw- yers for the coal companies asked him if he knew from personal knowledge. he said he could prove 1t If necessary. President GomperH began his testimony by giving the history of the Federation of Labor and followed this with a brief sketch of the progress and influence of organized labor which, he said, has been very great.
 The hours of labor of the workmen gen. erally throughout the country, he con- tinued, have been materially reduced.
 Regarding trade agreements Mir. Com pers said they have always been ad- vantageous to both the workman and his employer.
 Chairman Gray. who Is taking an especial interest in boycotts, asked MT. Gompers what he thought of such methods.
 The witness said he would boycott a man WnO chooses 10 oO DuElneSS .Wltn the person that Is boycotted.
 The question of the recognition of unions was then taken up and Mir. Comp CTS said that employers made a mistake when they refused to recognize organized labor. The employer. he said. has no moral right to refuse to confer with a committee of his employees.
 In reply to Bishop Spalding, Mir. Comp CTS said he would not favor incorporat- ing union.
 NE. Gompers was then cross-examined by James Torrey counsel of the Della ware and Hudson Company. Asked if he did not believe that members of the Uni ted Mine Workers should be 2l years of age and able to read and write before they were admitted to membership in the union, the witness replied:
 Importation of Labor.
 Yes. Ten years from now and when the companies stop bringing illiterate for eigners to this country. They are brought here by the companies and the labor union must protect them and see that they get their rights"
 Mir. Torrey asked him if he can prove that the coal companies were guilty of such a thing, and the witness replied that he felt certain it was true because he had seen copies of circulars which have been sent around in Southern Flu rope asking people to come into Pennsyl- yania and stating that there was plenty of money to be earned in the mines.
 MT. Torrey asked him. if steamship companies were not the authors of those circulars to which MT. Gompers replied that he had seen ten, twenty and thirty men huddled together in huts in the an thracite coal fields and he noted that 1t was not long after they arrived here that they were given employment in the mines.
 He offered to give to the committee the name of a man who could give the facts to the Committee. He did not care to make his name public.
 Tbe cross-examination continued to 4:sO o'clock when the. commission ad- inn,rned until morning.