The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1905-01-22
PLATE PRINTERS
ENJOY BANQUET
Gompers and Other Labor
Leaders as Guests.
HEROES IN RANKS OF LABOR
Head of Cigarmakers Thinks Fall River
Strikers Better Than Military
Celebrities.

Samuel GorlperS, twenty-one times re-
elected to the presidency of the Ameri-
can Federation OF Labor. was the guest
of honor last night at the annual BAN
quet and smoker of the Plate Printers
Union of this city, at which 600 printers
and their friends Were present. The
banquet was held in the Light Infantry
Armory which was tastefully decorated
with United States flags, the insignia
of the union and vari-colered bunting.
In the eoursesof the speech winch Mr..
Gompers made at the close of the EVEN
ing he said he was in sympathy with
the common people in Russia. who are
on the verge OF revolution, and said he
thought the IS. GO textile operatives at
Fall River, who have been on strike. had
done snore good for the cause of slli-
manity than alb the soldiers that fought
the battles of the world.
Prominent Speakers. =
Ranking next TO President Gompers
! as n guest OF honor was James Wignaii-
fraternals delegate from the British
Trades Union Congress to the. American
Federation of Labor. Mr.sWTfgna11, who
/ is from Swansea, Wales, took occasion
to praise highly Mr.. Gonpers, in whose
honor the banquet was given.
" I
dress, in which he praised Sam Com
pers, that grand and glorious leader of
labor .
During the evening a musical program
was rendered by several weIl-known 10
cal singers.
This labor movement" said Mr..
Gompers, means much-it is the high
est and most influential expression OF
the discomfort of the people at wrongs
that have been borne too long, and it is
"a demand for relief from tyranny. AS
We are assembled here tonight there is
lin progress in Russia a movement thai
bodies no good to tyranny in that coun
try.
II have often been asked why 1 am {
trades unionist. / am trades unionis
here for the same reason that ] wo1i,
be a trades unionist in Great Britain
and revolutionist in Russia Tha
country is now stirred from center t
circumference by the demands of TIL
people for human rights. Here we hav
guarantees of liberty in our freedom o
the press and freedom of assemblage.
u know that there are some Speopl
who claim that the passages in the Dec
laration of Independence which refer Z
the rights of man and the equality o
-
such l will say that we, the labor move
ment, intend 20 make those 'gi1tterini
generalities realities before we hav
finished.
Workaday Heroes.
Liberty is but an empty phrase whel
a workman. as an individual, is pitte
against big corporation Hence. tn
better bargain is to sell by a collectiy
sale the labor in and by the union.
is a mistake to say that labor union
want to tear down. They seek to main
tain and to build up.
Il would not if l could, and / coul
not if / would, take the smallest fowe
from the wreaths of soldiers who hay
fought upon the battleheids of histor.
but I say that greater heroes than a
of them are the 1900 textile operative
of Fall River who have been on strik
SO long for their rights.
THEY fought the good fight again:
the deterioration Of their trade The
preferred to die by starvation rattle
than live as serfs. They have checke
the greed and avarice that has hithei
to made the textile operative PRACTICAL
a serf.
They viii be benefited by their az
ton, and they have done great wor
for humanity"