The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-01-20

| Washington, D. c.
 Do you know anything about work yourself?'
 Did you ever work for wages?" | asked these questions of Samuel l Gompers as we chatted together in his office yesterday afternoon. Mir Com pers Is uncrowned king of organized la bor in the United States. He is presi- dent of the American Federation of La- bor, which embraces more than 24.O00 diff fercnt labor unions. and has member | ship of 100000 workmen, representing the brawn and muscle of the country. Work! I have never known much else but work" was the reply. "I have been working all my life and most of 1t at my | trade. My father was cigarmaler. , went into the shop at ten years of age and in time became a journeyman, and continued to work at making cigars for | twenty-six years"
 What kind of. workman were you, MT. Gompers?" "I think may say was a fairly , good one. I was never out of a job ex- 1 cept at my own volitioh. and I received as high wages as any of my fellows"
 oompers as cigarmaksr. | Could you make a cigar to-day?" l 'T made some at Boston few weeks ago while attending our last annual con | 1 to the largest union cigar factory in the world. which was not far from the con- | vention hall. One of the men asked me | the same question you have asked. In | reply I took off my coat, sat down at | the bench and made three cigars. have a son who has cigar factory near here, and if you wish will go there and make | you one now."
 did wish, and Mir, Gompers went with kt,n RuAA 1< the benches and rapidly rolled out a choice Havana. It took him less than two minutes by my watch to put the l tobacco into shape, and the cigar which lies before me as I write this is as good looking an article as any cigar sold any where in the United States. It Is a big. fat cigar and contains a good. honest smoke. After this MT. Gompers rolled a cigar for himself and smoked this while we talked. He told me that he still re- tained his membership in the cigar-mak. CTS union. and showed me his union date. He has been member of sthai union for thirty-nine years, and pays his regular dues of 30 cents a week to keeI up his membership.
 The Evolution of Unionist. When did you first become interested in the labor movement?' asked.
 When I was fourteen years old," was the reply. My father had been a mem; Der of the union, and at that age I join ed. have been a union man ever since. Have you ever been in a striker
 Many times. Sometimes when I ap proved of the strike, and again when did not. Some of the strikes were harS ones and have actually suffered froa hunger during such times, but ,neve regretted them. When went on strilk considered the shop door closed, a <n- T 4 hr. , was settled. and for that reason I al, not want to strike without due cause.
 Strikes and the Workingman.
 Do you think strikes pay the work ing mani"
 They most certainly do, although the should be avoided if possible - Still
 hope the time will never come when W shall so lose our manhood as to refus to strike. Strikes are an element of civ ilization. In barbarous times and bar barous countries the people do not strike There are no. strikes in China. Tn wages there are 10 cents a day and tn workmen live in mud huts and feed upo rice and an occasional rodent"
 When has the laboring man the righ to striker"
 He has the right to do so at any tim and for any reason or for no reason a all. Strikes are an evidence of hbert
 
 the right to strike at any time. I ar not discussing the policy. We have tn right
 What is the present outlook as to la bor. Mir. Gompers? Times have bee good. There have been many strikes an wages have gone up. It is now said tfia times are becoming Dad will they no go down?"
 "As to times" said the President of th a TH.I- f.-Rz A.. shows me that there is a change for tn worse. We have a number of unions which pay benefits to their unemploye and therefore keep track of those out c work. These unions embrace differen branches of trade Tn many parts of tn country and their reports form an exec lent barometer of industrial condition! From them I can see clouds in the 1T dustrial sky, and l look for a period ( depression during the next few years. will not be as bad as in 1857, in 1873 or 1894. but 1t will be felt more or less q over the country. -
 Workmen Advised to Resist ReduC
 tions.
 Now, as to the second part of you question: MT. Gompers went on, .I don think wages ought to be reduced in coi sequence and I have advised our union to resist all attempts at such reduction advise them to strike against any cv ih wages and think the employers shoul see that such cuts will increase the ba times rather than lessen them. |"
 Prosperity depends upon the markets. continued MT. Gompers. and they dc pend upon the consuming power of til people. If you cut wages you lessen tn consuming power. The men will have les to spend, The factories. must make stl less. resulting in more discharges an more cuts and making the times wors than ever. I believe it Is better to strik in, such cases even if we are defeated Every strike In a time of decreased pros perity prevents further attempts to re .l.. E. Al.i.