Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-21
IN LABOR CIRCLES
G.

Whoever may be the presidential nomi-
nee of the republican, the democratic or
any other political party two years hence,
he will be asked to pledge himself as
friend of organized labor, it is said 1t is
not known whether the questions that were
presented to the candidates for Congress
and the legislatures In the recent election
will be presented to the presidential candi-
dates, but 1t Is certain, according to a
prominent labor leader, that the men who
vii! contest for the honor of occupying the
White House the next term will have
demand made upon them to place them
selves on record as to 1.-The rights of the
workingman."
This demand, it is added will be made
by the American federation of Labor
which VIII soon begin campaign Of politi-
cal education among Its millions of men,
bers and their friends. The statement was
made on good authority that the working
men Will Inquire as an important factor in
the great national struggle of 1908 and
that they will have to be reckoned with by
the political managers of all parties
In connection with TINS matter, President
Gompers made the following statement at
the convention of the A. F. L. now in ses-
sion at Minneapolis:
AS time goes on the consensus of opinion
Is agreed that the exercise by labor Of its
economic power is. after ali, certainly the
IL.
discussion quite immaterial to the point of
this part of my report. the chief Of the Mas
sachusetts bureau of labor statistics in a
recent report, says:
Trade unions possess TODAY through
the influence of their immense membership
capacity to affect seriously the welfare OF
the community, should they resolve to
utilize all their energies and means toward
the accomplishment of definite object No
better illustration of this Is needed than the
recent great coal strike. Whether the unions
are right or wrong in their claims and de-
mands is immateral in this discussion The
fact is that they are powerful organizations
and may become controlling agencies in the
community.
1T does not affect the point that the
author of that quotation states that the
trade unions may affect seriously the well
fare of TIE community, or that he with an
apparent impartiality presents the POSSIBLE
fty that 1t is probable that the trade unions
may be wrong as we'll as right in their
claims. The fact is that If our movement
may affect seriously the welfare of the
community, 1t must inevitably seriously
promote the general welfare. and that, as
matter OF fact, inasmuch as the labor
movement acts in the interests and for the
benefit Of the great masses Of the people, It
necessarily follows that despite any Incl
dentai error or mistake in it's high and
great purposes. 1t is in the right.
However, the quotation Is simply given
as an additional evidence to that which Is
manifest among the thinking men the world
over, tnat the TRACE unions possess In their
| makeup. character and capacity the power
and influence that is possessed by no other
organization on earth.
"It is the possession of this power and
the consciousness of its possession. and the
wisdom. care and responsibility in its ex-
ercise, that have made the trade union
movement as understood and expressed by
the American Federation of Labor the tower
of strength 1t is earning and deserving as
1t does the confidence. respect and well
wishes not only of the wage-workers, but
OF so large a part of our people.
Thinking men now realize that which Ne