The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-04
The Mind OF GOmpers.

The affair Of the Allentown boiler
makers, Of which due record was made
in THE SUN Of August 70, suggests some
very painful thoughts to the friends and
admirers Of the Hon. SAMUEL GoMPERs.
OF course anything that touches the
Hon. SAMUEL strikes chords Of ecstasy, or
sorrow, as the case may be, in the bosoms
Of untold thousands Of his fellow country
me They rejoice in his triumphs; they
shed the hot, salt tear into the abysses
Of his sethAcks. All OF which moves us to
say, though we still hope our afectionate
solicitude has betrayed US, that the affair
Of the Allentown boilermakers seems 10
warrant some alarm as to the mental,
moral or intellectual condition Of the
president Of the American Federation
Of Labor.
An ~irreverent person, after studious
contemplation Of that incident, might
offer the sentiment that the Hon. SAMUEL
GoMPERs Is, so to speak, losing his grip.
The boilermakers in question were loyal
adherents Of the union. They had come
from Allentown TO This city, engaged to
rivet plates on certain tanks for the
East River Gas Company at 13sth street,
The Bronx. They had come prepared,
also, IL we may draw conclusions from
authenticated history, TO exterminate
all -scabs" and other villains, horse
thieves and traitors to the cause of or
ganized labor. Nevertheless, it appears
that they were set~upon, ravaged and
generally beaten up by thirty local iron
workers and some Of them are in a crit
lcal condition at this moment. Pre-
sumably the assailants were union men
on a strike, to whom the spectacle Of
other American citizens at work while
the former were idle was an intolera-
BILE outrage and provocation. However
that may be, the striking union men sue
cumbed to a rising gorge at the sight Of
other men daring to work while they
loafed. and the result, as we have already
indicated, must be sought in the hospital
and mortuary records of this town.
These are mere details, however, and
comparatively u~nimportant. We have
long known, OF course with becoming
duIllT dJlOu, lldI Ilc ClllCl puI DObc VI
organized labor is to prevent morgan
lied labor from earning an honest and
independent livelihood. Any base wretch
who refuses to pay tribute to the Fed
Grafton" obey the orders of the council,
quit work when ordered, and starve his
wife and children in the interests of a
tactical demonstration by the Hon.
SAMUEL GoMPERs-any base wretch OF
that particular brand is by the common
consent Of really high minded persons
denied the sympathies Of his kind and
offered up as tribute to the deity OF the
horny handed and the righteous. A
-scab" has mo right to live When he
works he takes the bread from the
mouth Of the idle. But for him the Hon.
SAMUEL GoMPERs and his coadjutor
band Of salaried assistants would be able
to arrange the business affairs and regu-
late the business policies Of the men and
the corporations that employ labor and
pay to workingmen the wages wherewith
they feed themselves and their depend
ents. Nothing, therefore. could be more
logical than the thirst for determination
on the part Of the organization" BY
no other expedient can that honorable
and potent trust perpetuate itself.
But the Hon. SAMUEL GoMPERs cannot
afford such blunders as that Of the Allen
town boilermakers. The latter were not
"scabs." They we're all ticketed and
labelled, all chipping in to the fund from
which GoMPERs and his delegates and.
organizers draw their salaries, their
travelling and hotel and carriage ex-
penses, &C. To have another lot of
noble and intelligent contributors to the
same fund fall foul of them by mistake
was an error which turns our marrow into
gall. The incident suggests to an anx-
ious mind that the Hon. SAMUEL CON-
PERs is trying TO do too much. So long
Is he devoted himself to the task of
eliminating non-union labOrers he did
fairly well. The casualty record speaks
for him with an eloquence which it were
feeble to describe as irresistible. But,
now that he has bulged in upon the arena
Of national politics and has engaged
himself in the enterprise of making or
unmaking Congresses and Governments,
he seems TO he ~neglecting those delicate
and fine methods which formerly OBJ
tanned for him the confidence and affec-
ton of his following.
We begin to fear that there are limits
even in the case Of GoMPERs's giant
intellect. Apparently he cannot at the
same time direct the destiny Of the ma
ton and arrange for a harmonious and
thoroughly effective extinction of nom
union laborers. But for the impiety Of
the thought involved. one might say
that GoMPERs seems to tumble.