Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-26
CAPITAL OF LABOR
Headquarters of the Ameri-
can Federation.
ITS BUSY PRESIDENT
OUTLOOK FOR THE FUTURE IS
MOST PROMISING.
Plans for Bettering the Condition of
the Workingmen of Wash
ington.
ITS BUSY PRESIDENT

Washington is now designated as the ma
tional capital of the labor movement, as
well.as the national capital of the republic.
This designation was brought about by the
fact that the headquarters of the American
Federation of Labor, the great confedera-
ton of the organized bodies of Workingmen
of the United States, are located in this
city, and President Samuel Gompers, the
head of that vast organization, has his Of
fees here, with those of the secretary, Frank
Morrison. Mr.. Gompers is at all times one
of the busiest men at the capital with his
multiplicity of duties, and on several au-
spicious occasions he has been referred to
as 1.-The uncrowned king of the labor world -
The headquarters of the federation are
located in Typographical Temple on G
street between 4th and 9TH streets north
west, a most picturesque structure which
was erected by Columbia Typographical
Union, No. 101, and which stands as a
monument to the progressiveness and zeal
of the printers of Washington. On the first
floor are the offices of President Gompers
and Secretary Morrison, the adjoining
rooms, like human beehives, being
filled with clerks, women and men,
and the incessant rattle of two score type
writing machines. Mr.. Gompers was found
by Star reporter in his private office with
a mass of communicate and other buSl-
ness matters piled high on his desk. With
and future, and many other veXed questions
to be settled by the magic of his pen and
the logic and reasoning of his brain, his life
is most strenuous one indeed.
In addition to being a forceful and grace
full writer, and the editor of the Federation
list, the official organ of the American Fed
Grafton of Labor, Mr. Gompers is also rated
as an orator, and is frequently called upon
to address labor gatherings in addition to
his many other duties.~ Quite recently he
delivered an address inSRfchmond, Va. be-
fore a large and distinguished audience,
which included the governor of the state,
the lieutenant governor, prominent clergy
men, the mayor of Richmond and leading
professional men and artisans.
The Outlook for Labor.
President Gompers iszoptirnistic as to the
labor outlook. In contrasting the present
conditions with those Of the past he says it
is healthful sign of the times to see that
the greatest men in The land are mani
Testing the deepest Interest in organized
labor; when the social problems are dis
cussed in every respectable magazine and
newspaper, when the young men at college,
instead of giving their. attention to abstract
questions of politics and the merits of the
civil war, base their debates on the relations
CT capital and labor
One of Mr. Gompers' pet contentious is
that organization is universal principle.
1t is the principle of all governments. Men
in all the professions, he said, and in COM
mercial life find organization necessary for
their own protection. The union or work
ing card of the lawyer or the doctor is
called diploma, because perhaps 1t sounds
better. Doctors have formed organizations,
one of the fundamental principles of which
is that no doctor shall take another's job.
That is the principle of the labor union.
One of President Gompers' axioms is that
in every mercantile transaction the seller
fixes the price. Certainly, them" he adds.
the nottingham should have at least a
voice In fixing the price of the one thing he
has to sell-his labor and his capacity to
produce. Labor differs from the other COM