The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-11-15
& NUMBER AZ IS
EXCELLENT : B J |, / ] HOST /! Q. !
PRINTERS BANeuET FEDERAr1oN
VISITORS AND GUESTS.
Night Of supreme Good Fellowship Is
Seasoned with Words Of Wisdom from
Lips ofSMen High in Union Labor
Councils Some Of the Speakers.

Minneapolis local No. AZ Of the In
ternational Typographical union enter
tanned at banquet in the National
hotel last night its. International presi-5
dent, James Lynch, President ,Gompers
of the American Federation Of Labor,
and about dozen more members Of the
printing craft, who are in Minneapolis
for the federation convention. It was
the most successful social event in the
history Of & No. A. with 200 or more
persons present. Naturally it was dis
tlncttly a union affair, with good fel-
lowship abounding. The printers were
proud Of the showing made for their
union, and the after dinner speeches
were exceptionally Interesting.
Frank N. Gould, president of the.
local union, gave the speech Of well
come and then roduced John p. Ken
nedy as POSTMASTER, who, in turn, in
troduced President Gompers.
The labor union. and politics fur
.nlshed President Gompers with sub
iect which was of vital interest. He
denied emphatical1y that the activity
Of the American Federation Of Labor
from it's established policy or that tho
trades union had no place in politics.
Union in Politics.
"There is no act which a trades
union can do but must have its reflex
action in our body politic," said Pres
ident Gompers. Given when outlawed
and prosecuted, the trades union di-
rected it's every effort to breaking
down the old notions of government.
We hold that the trades union is broad
enough, sensible enough and fair
enough to, use every factor Of its power
f0r tho oH1yo 70 ~ %ha r1y
pie, and that it's field is political as well
as economic.
s"The people who depend upon the
government to do for them what they
should do for themselves usually get
the least. We ask only that the gov
eminent do for us those things we can
not do for ourselves. We ask only
that it give us a free path to work
out the solution Of the labor problem.
In seeking this, the trades union pro-
poses to take whatever political action
the trades unionists may deem wisest,
not only fighting it's enemies, but also
supporting It's friends.'' -
Frank K. Foster of Boston was the
next speaker. He admitted that he
had had notice that he would be called
on, but thru an error in the notifca-
tion he had come loaded with an i'm.
prOmptu speech on "The Open Shop''
instead Of "The Closed Shop,'' az
called for by the POSTMASTER. In a
speech full Of brilliant side play he
eulogized the closed shop as the epit-
ONE of all that trades unionism stood
for. ~. -. W..
~ ..~& Lynch Law Good.
sHWhile the /. T. U. has always been
a law-abiding organization, we must
still admit that of late we have been
faithfully following Lynch law" said
Toastmaster Kennedy in introducing
James Lynch. the International presi-
tory of the printers strike ke' for shor aa
hours and predicted final and sweep
ing yictory.# &. - 8 *
Introduced asian editor who is al.
ways fair, j.. s. McLain acknowl-
edged hisso Obligations to Ht;the men who
have SO much to do with correcting
my copy and enabling me to appear
before the public with credit. - He
spoke Of the entrance Of organized la
Dor into politics as a perfectly legiti-
mate use: of the power Of labor and
fully Justified by precedent.
Frank Morrison, secretary Of the
American Federation of Labor traced
the history Of the printers battle for
shorter hours Of labor and said that the
which, once it was established, there
would be no recession. '7s>.,rr., -
Responding. to the toast, ttThe Press
room" Martin P. Higgins, information
|al president of the. pressmen, urged the
cooperation of compositors, pressmen
and binders for the common good Of all.
Some Good .Toasts.
E. Gerry Brown of Brockton. Mass,
rose to the toast g Unionism, the Pro.
moter Of Best Citizenship, in the place
Of John Mitchell of the mine work ers,
who was unable to be present. His
| address was mastery exposition of
the way in which the trades union
trained men for self government, mi
tiated the foreign born into American
politics and developed citizens of the
best type. &..-
Michael Colbert, national organizer,
lauded organization as the keystone of
the union arch, and paid a tribute to
the fast vanishing tramp printer, as the
apostle Of unionism among the printers.
NC. O,,Connor, secretary of the local
union, spoke briefly on the union print:
ers home, saying that he who carried
an L. T.@U. card would never go to the
poorhouse. Hugh Stevenson Of Toron-
to said that in trades unionism there
were. no imaginary lines and that the
boundary was no barrier to the frater-
nal feeling of the Canadian printers for
their Yankee brothers. H. j. GottIob
Of Newark cut his toast to the labor
press short because of the late hour and
J. A. McElroy and j. III. McNally, who
spoke for the state federataion and the
trades assembly, followed his example.
It was after 1:30 am. when the ban
quet ended. .s...5 r.
R1eck Hills Saas Re1ieS :.,4