The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1907-11-21
PRESIDENT GOMPERS'
OPENING ADDRESS
To The American Federation of Labor at Norfolk
Says Organized Labor Stands for Universal
Peace and Prosperity.

Following is President GompuS'
opening address to the A. of L.
Convention:
II am sure that no one. icould
have been within hearing distance
of the magnificent addresses that
have been delivered to us this
morning without being impressed
so deeply by them as to make that
impression last so long as life shall
remain. And for Il moment / was
transported back third of CEN
tury, and it seemed to me 1 could
see again the doors of decent So
ciety closed against the men who
had the intelligence and tho cour-
age to face autagonism, bitterness
and prejudice, the men who had
the courage to associate themselves
with the few in the labor movement
who proclaimed the rights of labor:
and who pledged themselves and
their lives TO the task Of trying to
bring about the knowledge and
conception among the toilers ofour
country that unity was essential to
their common uplift.
In those days, to speak in the Ian
guage of to-day, the men who
spoke of united labor were regarded
as having had a "brainstone. -
Passing through the years since,
aye, and looking farther back into
the days when men not only had
their toreheads branded with red
hot irons to designate their con-
tumacy against their masters, but
TO the jails and to the gibbets.
We find ourselves here in grand
Ola Virginia to day with a trans
formation that has not only honor
ed, but i'll return honors the in
telllSencc Of the men who have
come here and welcomed us in
their presence and in their speech.
No man can speak of that wonder
tul progress without feeling some
cXultation that the day of real free.
dom is near at hand, or that it's
coming events are casting their
shadows before or that there is a
ray OF sunlight that is peering into
the homes and lives of the working
people OF our country and of our
time the world over and that
Justice and liberty in their truest
and best acceptance will reign
among the people of the earth.
l am always proud to be in
Virginia; its history is so interest
ing, Its influence is so great, and
ilS men have done SO much. They
nave coined language that has had
il magical effect upon the destinies
oi mankind. No man can read
with unmoved emotions the de-
G.arltlon of the immortal Patrick
''eiry, who preferred, in the last
aliaI ySls, death rather than the loss
oI freedom. No man can read the
"cc!aration of Thomas Jefferson
Without feeling that he lived for
MS fcllowmen. No man can read
ana study and think over
,he wonderful declarations made in
III" three conventions in which was
""he the foundation work for the
r'lhciples enunciated in that
I|'hous document the Declaration
.! Independence. We know
'rSInla as the mother of presi-
uehtS, the mother of statesmen, and
'he mother ofstates. Virginia has
gwen us glorious men and glorious
people, and when the time came
lor a contest for that which her
P"opIe believed to be right. no
matter how much we may differ
WIN them as to the merits of it. no
one VIII dispute either the mental
opacity or the physical courage of
any OF them. And l venture this
preclctlon, that when any grave
o'lslS IlslS shall arise in the affairs of
o"i conntry or our people. Vir-
s,ii Sin!a VIII make good her quota of
ail that may be essential to the
piVgress or the protection of our
sns; And 1 want to say that
.,Is .taI thls does not apply to Virginia
+a3, ,Tne, nor are my words intended
70 De tiattery; they are simply a
+"iL Just estimation of the makeup
oo lrglnla's people, but apply al
20 all our people.
W" word in reference to this
s s'eaI exposition. I very we'll re-
mem, rneln per one of the earliest ex-
rIsillons of the whole world, some
Lli5 Lnere In the neighborhood of 1860,
neld In England. workingmen
permitted to go to that ex-