The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-11-12
LABOR MEN
 IN SESSION Federation Convenes at Jamestown Fair. NOTABLE ADDRESSES MADE President Gompers Makes Appeal
 for Industrial Peace. FuiIy Five Hundred Delegates and Members Attended the Opening
 Exercises--Governor Swan
 son Given an ovation.

Norfolk, Va, Nov. 1I.--The first ses- sfons' of the American Federation of
 Labor. which began its twenty-seventh annual convention at the Jamestown Exposition today, were devoted entire- | 1y to speechmaking and the reading
 of reports When adjournment came
 tonight. President Gompers. Secretary Morrison and Treasurer Lennon had submitted their reports and partial report of the Credentials Committee had
 been heard.
 come by Governor Swanson and Expo- sition President Tucker. Mir. Gompers paid tribute to Virginia and to the exposition, holding out the fact that | it is the first exposition of the kind built entirely by organized labor. He | confined his remarks chiefly to general
 matters but toward the end came down
 to labor principles and said: T know of no organization that | makes so little pretense of patriotism
 but in which true patriotism prevails
 to such large extent as in organized
 labor We want peace; we love peace and are working for peace and in the proportion that our working people are better organized. we will secure peace. But we are not supine; we are not driveling sycophants; we know our rights or we think we do, and that is just as gooi, and we are going to stand for them.
 .T don't want to discuss any military CT naval affairs or the policies of our Government--not just now, anyway but we all know that the Federal Gov ernment authorities have decided that the navy of the United States Is going to be transferred from the Atlantic to the Pacific; that action or proposed ac- tion has created considerable comment, most of it favorable. some adverse. Even that, l do not want to discuss, but there is a man chosen to boss the job of taking the entire fleet from one ocean to the other of whom I want to
 speak. That is Fighting Bob Evans. and he said in. connection with trans ferring the fleet:
 don't know what will De the re-
 suit of this cruise have only onn mission and that is to see th8t the fleet goes to the Pacific coast whethsr it IS tc De for fun or froltc or hght, we all will be there.'
 "It is to that I want to refer and make the application to the labor move ment. If 1t Is to be peace. if 1t is to be fun. or If 1t is to be a fight, we will all be there.
 Peace is Essential.
 q don't think there is any man who
 loves peace more than I do. believe
 that individual peace Is essential to our
 people-just as essential as air to lung
 breathing animals; but the time is past
 when the possessors of wealth,
 the employers of labor who consider
 themselves masters, can look down up-
 on the Iaboring man who stoops with
 bent shoulders and accepts the order
 of the master.
 Labor today stands erect looking
 the whole world in the face. insisting
 upon equal opportunity and resenting
 any attempt at injustice or wrong." Fully 500 members and delegates at- tended the opening exercises. Many of
 the most prominent men in organized
 labor circles had seats on the stage, as did Governor Swanson, of Virginia;
 Hon. h. St. George Tucker. Director
 General Martin and other officials of
 the Exposition Company.
 H. s Scott. Chairman of the Central
 Labor Union. of Norfolk, and James O'Connell. President of the Virginia
 Federation of Labor. made telling speeches.
 Governor Swanson was the recipient
 of an ovation and during his speech
 was frequently interrupted by hearty
 applause. The oration of the day was
 delivered by Samuel Gompers. MT.
 Gompers was rendered a tremendous ovation.
 At the afternoon session. MT. Gom- pers read his annual report. after which Secretary Morrison read the rec ports Of the secretary and treasurer
 The Committee on Credentials held a | session tonight in Norfolk and took uD | seven contests
 GomDers' Report. Norfolk, Va, November Il, 1907. | To the officers and Delegates to the
 Twenty seventh Annual Conven-
 tion of the American Federation of Labor:
 Fellow Trade Unionists--In obe- l f9 of Oiir VV
 I submit to you a report upon some Of | the more important matters which nave | transpired since our last convention.
 In it occurs such suggestions and rec | concentrations which to my mind should | receive your earnest consideration and | action. Of course, you will appreciate | the fact that 1t Is impossible In an an
 nual report such as' this to deal with | the mu,tifarlous questions which have | transpired and the action taken there l on during the entire year. In the prep aration of the tentative report Tor the consideration of the Executive Council I have endeavored to have 1t include the more detailed transactions in con- nection with our movement Tor the past year. Nor therein is 1t possible to enumerate.. much less comprehensiVely report, upon the thousand and one matters Of importance, perhaps of equal importance. to those incorporated in the report. Indeed though in these reports and in the American Fedora | tionist I endeavor to publish much of 1 the thought and many of the transac- | tions in connection with our real movo-
 ment. the real history exists in the | archives of our offices and in the mem- orles of men. It awaits the coming of | the man who will record and interpret | for all time the great struggles made, | the prejudice, the ignorance. the big otry. the selhshness with which labor | has had to contend, and the antagonism | of greed which has been overcome; the | glorious achievements which have dis pelled the gloom and brought the light | of life into the homes of the toilers | and the spirit of selfreliance, unity and fraternity which our movement | have engendered.
 When the true historian shall pre- | sent to the world the great struggles
 of the past and of the present, when the tinsel and false coloring shall have been removed from the real figures and events. there will be revealed to
 mankind's sstonished gaze the contin-
 uous struggle of labor against tyran- nv, brutality and injustice: the struK- gle for the right, for humanity. for