The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-02-11
MORGAN DENIES
THE INTERVIEW
Financier Alleged to Have Said
Workmen Must Accept Less
Wages or Starve.
G0MPERS MAKES A SPEECH
URGES HIS HEARERS TO FIGHT
AGAINST REDUCTION.

Washington, Feb. 10.-Seventy-fi
delegates met here today to inaugu-
rate d movement for the organization
of a department of building trades of
the American Federation of Labor, in
accordance with a resolution adopted
at the last annual convention of the
i Federation. President Gompers of the
Federation welcomed the delegates Mr.
Gompers, among other things, said:
Yesterday there appeared in the
newspapers an interview with ]. Pier
pont Morgan, the greatest finaneier of
our country. The interview was pub
lished in two newspapers. One of them
sent me telegram asking for an an
sWer to Mr.. Morgan's statements.
sball read the telegram-that gives the
substance of the interview-and shall
want to say a word or two in regard
to it:
Submit or Starve
In AN interview published today,
j. PierpOnt Morgan declares labor
must learn that it cannot control in
dustry. Renewals of employment are
not wanted now. He declares the Fed
Grafton will be poWerless to prevent
wage reduction, because work is part
ly stopped. WOrkingmen cannot strike,
because they have no jobs now. There
are no stocks on hands, you know,
says Morgan, and we do not want to
take UP work now. So what can they
do? They will have to submit or they
will starve. The question is to be set
tied. They are to learn that they can
not control Industry
This morning l saw published Mr.
MOrgan's reputation of that inter
view. OF course, Mr. Morgan is a null
u-mlllionaire and l am not, but not
Wlthstanding the opposite positions oc-
| eupled by him and myself, | am free
10 say that when Mr.. Morgan saws he
| did not give utterance to that state
ment, l believe him.
But it is the thought itself to which
L want to call attention-that notwith-
standing Mr.. Morgan may not have
said what is attributed to him. / know
that that thought has been in the
minds of large number of employers
for considerable time. And that is
the thing. .
Children Cry for Bread.
In the same paper in which that in
terview is published is a statement
that in New York City thousands of
| children go hungry to school and, as a
result, are not only Incapable of learn
ing the lessons satisfactorily, but that
they cry for food and sometimes faint
at their benches because of hunger
In the newspapers is a statement of
an interview with a gentleman who
has made a study of conditions of New
| York, in which he says that one out
| OF every three men in New York City
| is idle. Idle for what? The material
is there, the machinery is there, the
brain is there, the Drawn is there, and
| the hands of intelligence are there and
| needs of the people are there and yet
men are idle and children in the
| schools cry for food. 1t is not only
inhuman and brutal, but it is treason
to our country and to the human race.
for anyone to think. much less give ex-
preston TO the idea, that the working
people must submit further or starve
viii Not Submit.
The American workingmen have
come to the conclusion, if l have any
conception of their thoughts, their
hopes and their expressions, that the
condition that obtains in other coun-
| tries, where there are large armies Of
unemployed, will not obtain in the
| United States; it will not be tolerated.
/ If we permit it, it will be our own
fault, and we will have failed in our
duty to each other, TO our fellow citi-
zens of today and the days to come.
But we are true to each other; we are
intelligent and we are sympathetic We
are earnest and honest, loyal citizens
of the United States, and true to the
traditions of our country, true to the
unions of labor. I appeal to you and
all labor as we build up our unions to
build up a sentiment of fraternity and
! solidarity in the hearts of the men of
/ I orlyi,,
| have come to the conclusion that they
will not submit to any reduction in
their wages-there is no necessity for
| it, there is no excuse for it. 1t is not
helpful; on the contrary, it is HARM
] full. injurious and destructive"