The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1906-10-06
GOMPERS TELLS STORY OF LABORS
FIRST SkIRMISH IN POLITICAL WAR
AGAINST IT'S ENEMIES IN CONGRESS

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one else can convince me that he is !
anything but an honest and sincere
man. You are against the interests of
the people. You may not find many
who will tell you so to your face, but l
can not and will not vote for you, and
have been a Republican all my life"
One of the devices of the Littlef1eld
campaign was to try to divert my at
tention from Mr.. Littlefeld to side
issues. One, "Col" Plummerf, attor-
ney for the marine branch of the
Parry-Post organization, challenged
me to debate and asked that I divide
my time with him at my meetings. OF
course, I paid no attention to him
other than when I came to his home
city, Bath, where I was told in most
impressive manner by one whom /
can not now recollect that COL"
Plummer had gone out Of the city.
The statement that he had left the
city was published in the afternoon
papers, and he was seen to consp1cu-
ously walkup the main street of Bath
with grip In his hand and board a
train. This was intended to impress
upon my mind that he had left the
city. He evidently believed that un-
der that impression / would say OF
him that which I would not dare to
say If he were present.
That evening I had been speaking
about As minutes and occasionally
made some reference to "Col." Plum
mer, all of which called forth great
response from the audience. When I
referred to Mr.. Littlefield's suborning
two wOrkmen to commit perjury and
said that "Col." Plummer aided and
abetted, the statement was received
with great demonstration of ap-
proval. One Of the AUDIENCE stand
Ing on the side of the hall, called out
to me, mention their names" l an
swered that I did not care to heap
further ignominy upon the two work
men who had been made the dupes
and victims Of Mr.. Littlefields and
Col" Plummers contemplate con-
duct. This answer, to my utter as
tonishment, called forth the greatest
demonstration of approval Mr. Coils
Lovely, one of my associates, was on
the platform. During the applause,
he came and whispered in my ear. that
the man who interrupted me was
co., Plummer. Then I understood
the demonstration and sailed into
co., Plummer to the delight and
satisfaction of every one, except, per-
haps, the gallant colonel. OF course,
he abused me in the press later, but
no one paid any attention to him.
Attempts to MisIead Labor.
pretending to pose as a friend to
Labor, Mr. Littlefeld sometimes de-
clared that he was not opposed to
| labor organizations, and went so far
! as to secure on his ticket the nominal
t1on OF union man as a representa-
tive to the Maine legislature. It may
be interesting to note that this candi-
| date was not elected.
Yes, In his desire to be a friend
to labor" he even organized a 'labor
party" consisting of "Col." Mllhall
ana Charles 3. Hartman Anyone
caring to know of "Col." Mulhall
might write to the Baltimore Fedora
tlon OF Labor, to President Calvert of
the Philadelphia Typographical Union.
or to former Senator McComas. of
Maryland, and there are others too
numerous to mention who could give
information. From some of those the
inquirer may learn of matters which
we would not care to publish here, but
from President Calvert can be OBJ.
tanned the information that COL"
Mulhall, during the printers strike
Tor the eight hour day. acted as an
agent to secure strike-breakers in
Philadelphia for New York, and in
new York strike-breakers for Phila-
delph1a. AS for Charles E. Hartman,
ne wrote to me last March that
Charles e. Littlef1eld was an enemy to
labor, that he Gittlefeld) went to
Augusta, Me-, to prevent the passage
OF the eight hour law for laborers in
government employ that he (Harrf.
mani was going to fight Littlefeld.
and that he could see "his finish," that
he could and would be defeated for
reelection to congress.
L1ttlefeld's labor party" consist
ing OF Mulhall and Hartman, had Har-
riman nominated for member of the
; legislature and in the entire district
he received the magnificent number
of IL votes.
One of the favorite species of attack
on me was to charge that was Meth.
er citizen nor voter Prejudices of
all sorts were appealed to in order to
destroy confidence in the cause I rep
resented. My answer to such attacks
was, substantially, that; in 1872, just
after I had attained my majority, I