Evening star., 1907-10-24
C0MPERS ON TRUSTS
Federation President Talks of
labor's Attitude
AT CHICAGO CONFERENCE
Sees in Reform the Hope of Solu-
ton of Problem.
A LOGICAL, CERTAIN FEATURE
Disorganized and Violent Denuncia-
ton More Harmful Than
Helpful.
A LOGICAL, CERTAIN FEATURE

1HNAGo, octOD2T Gf.-lI is III tiuse
reform that Samuel Gompers. president
Of the American Federation of Labor,
sees hope OF solution of the trust prob
/ lem The belief was expressed by Mr.,
| Gompers during the course of an add tess
! on Labor and Its Attitude Toward the
! Trusts" at the conference on trusts and
/ combinations in this city yesterday after
noon. He said this reform, to be effective,
must come from another source than that
now generally accepted-that it must come
! through the creation of public opinion
| which will see to it that the will of the
people and not the mandate of corporate
influences shall be paramount. We be-
lieve this could be brought about through
organized association of the masses.
The problems which confront US are
serious ones indeed. but they are not
hopeless said he. I'm intelligent and
associated use of the powers of the many
will be found the solution. Disorganized
and violent denunciation is more harmful
than helpful. Constructive and associated
effort must check and correct the abuses
which have grown so rapidly in this era
of concentrated methods of production
and distribution. We cannot, II we would.
turn back to the primitive conditions of
industry which marked the early part of
last century. 1t, therefore, is Idle chatter
to talk Of annihilating trusts. The trust
is. economically speaking. the logical and
inevitable accompaniment and develop
ment of our modern commercial and in
dustrial system.
Our Modern System of Industry.
Asserting that the trust Is a logical
and inevitable feature of our modern sys-
tenn Of industry is merely stating that our
modern plan of production, which for
|
system, is the most perfect yet attained
We do not, however, mean to imply by
this that the individuals who form trusts,
who manipulate them, who profit by them,
are logically and inevitably right in many
of the methods they employ or the lengths
to which they go. Neither do we con-
cede the argument that these individuals
who form and manage trusts are so SUI
per1or class of beings that they are en-
titled to the enormous largess which many
Of them claim from the profits of economi-
cal production. Quite the contrary Is the
fact.
The trade union finds its greatest de-
velopment under the same economic con-
ditions which product the trusts: that is,
the Introduction of machinery, the SUBJ
division of industry, the adoption of vast
and complicated systems of production
which obliterate the individuality of the
worker and thus force him into an asso-
citation, but not trust. with his fellows
in order that collectively they may pro-
tect their rights as wage workers and as
citizens and also guard the interests of all
workers. The trade union is the volun-
tary association of the many for the
benefit of all the community. The trust
Is the voluntary association Of the few
for their own benefit.
Mastered Economic Truth.
THE workers of the country have
pretty thoroughly mastered the broad
economic truth that organization is the
watchword of modern industry Labor
comedies the right of organization among
employers. 1t Is perfectly willing to deal
with such associations, provided its own
rights are not denied or invaded. To put
it more strongly, provided it's rights are
recognized and conceded. When we take
up the case of the worker as a consumer,
still speaking for the mass:s, the s.tua-
ton is more complicated. The worker
has not yet developed the same capacity
to protect himself as consumer that he
has as a producer, or rather, to put it
more accurately, trust abuses are more
pronounced in the realm of distribution
The control of vast distributing powers
by certain trusts has been acquired
through means which are only beginning
to be understood by the people at large
the consumers.
I'm the past two years so much public
ity has been given TO trust association
with railroads In order to fleece the people
that ii is hardly necessary to refer to that
phrase here, except to say that honest in
vestgation and truthful exposure of
wrong conditions are as invigorating and
heathful to the growth of correct pub
lie opinion as fresh ar and sunlight let in
upon the gloomy den o. the sweater of
human labor.