The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1907-11-23
FEDERATION
OF LABOR, ANNUAL
CONVENTION, NOV. II, 1907.
Continued from page 3.

want fortunes in America piled up like
snow In a storm. When I was a
country boy used to go out and see
the snow piled up in great heaps by
the wind, while out In the fields were
spaces bare and without snow. Am
erica does not want such conditions
We want the great accumulations Of
wealth in America justly and fairly
distributed between labor and the en-
ployers Of labor. You can not get rich
by legislation. You can take a sorry,
trifling member Of the American Fed
GRAFTON of Labor, let him sit here in
Norfolk on a dry goods box and chew
tobacco and spit, and Abraham Lincoln
might be president, all the statesmen
control the destinies Of this nation,
and that man will have nothing to eat
at home and nobody to credit him.
Labor must produce wealth; there Is
NO wealth except that produced by
labor. Governments cannot create
wealth, but they can distribute it
when once created I am not going
to make political speech, don't .be
uneasy.
What is honest government? Hon.
est government is one that will take
the toll and sweat Of one man and
let 1t stay in the pockets Of the man
that produced the wealth. Dishon-
est government is the one that will
take the sweat and toll Of one man
and put in the pockets Of another;
that will take the earnings of labor
and put it in the pockets Of the man
who did not produce it. Edmund
Burke, one Of the greatest statesmen
that ever lived, said that when a bill
came before him his first question
was whether it left the wealth stay
in the pocket of the man who pro-
duced it. An honest public man is
a public man who will not unite with
the labOring man to rob a rich man,
or assist the rich man by any sys-
tenn of legislation to rob the laboring
man. This is the great principle that
should animate this organization.
Work for the nation, work for the
flag, and when you do that you will
work for yourselves, because the great
glory Of America is inseparably wound
up in the government. AS long as
the masses Of the people are honest,
as long as they can have sweet homes,
unmortgaged, as long as they can
spend hours with their children and in
educating themselves, the future of
America is assured and her past g!o-
ries are but a prelude to greater pow
er, greater glory and greater achieve
ment.
We have made a wonderful prog
ress in three centuries. Hhe SETTLE
ment of Virginia was peculiar. Among
the 107 men who came here were
three bricklayers, three carpenters
and one barber. The rest Of them
were gentlemen who never did any
work. The greatest man who ever
lived at that time was John Smith
and he said to these gentlemen, mo
work, no food" and the sons Of these
dukes and lords went out and cut
down trees, and soon began to- vie
with one another to see who could
cut down the most. He taught these
men Of gentle blood the lesson that
labor gives dignity, that labor gives
position. This principle was estab-
lished here three centuries ago, and
1t has been the principle Of the coun-
try ever since; by the sweat of your
brow shall you earn your bread.
The pioneer as he advanced across
the continent constructed with his
log cabin the log church and the log
schoolhouse. We give more money
today for schools, we have education
more generally diffused than any
country in the world, and we propose
that this great system Of education
shall continue to be invigorated and
strengthened until there is not a CHILD
In the country who has not the bless
ing Of splendid education.
Whether by a laboring man or a
public man, whether in the higher
walks of life or the humber ones,
let us be true to our calling and our
country; let us feel as our fathers
felt, that public honor is private honor.
that public disgrace is private dis
grace, that public success is private
success. Let us put that principle
above money and carry this great
country to that goal which God and
opportunity has pointed out to US.
President Gompers: l am sure that
no one could have been within hear
ing distance Of the magnificent adj
dresses that, have been delivered to uA
this morning without being impressed
so deeply by them as to nakee that
impression last so long as life shall
remain. And for a moment was
transported back third OF century,
and it seemed to me I: could see again
the doors Of decent society, closed
against the men who mad the INTEL
ltgence and the courage to face an
tagonism, bitterness and prejudice, the
; men who had the courage to associ-
ate themselves. with the few in the la
Dor movement who proclaimed the
rights Of labor, and who pledged tnem-
selves and theirlives to the task Of
trying to bring about the knowledge