The Washington herald., 1913-01-19

Iod are BOlnB IOrWdrQ, Iuen, bIep Dy
STEP" i said. unto an unknown coun-
try7'
Not at all; but into a country which
we think We can see and the geography
OF which We fully understand" Mr..
Gompers replied. Every step is taken
with an object; each act is part Of a
project for a fuller development To-
day however, concerns US the most, as
their own day above all others must con-
Germ our successors. The old practice OF
tyrants was to assure the poor. through
their preachers, that happiness, liberty,
and comfort would come to them in the
trick played on the ignorant and the
guiIeless. Obey your masters tyranny
counseled and promised, and heaven will
be your reward The scheme worked
for centuries.
We'll, union labor breaches something
entirely different. We demand a glimpse
Of heaven right here on earth. So we
are planning for to-day. I am bound to
say. however. that 1 can and do look
ahead. What I see is my own affair. 1
am not a fatalIst Things don't happen
Just by chance All that the workers
get must be wrought out by them
selves.
4 story of Two Hunters.
Two men went out hunting. One OF
them believed in fate. What was to be.
he argued would surely come to pass
The other man. a skeptic. fired into a
covey of pheasants and a big, fat bird
tumbled to the ground.
There, he exclaimed TO his compan-
ion, is the pheasant. shot through the
head. But for the gun II would be alive
and not dead at my feet
"'Oh. pshawr the fatalist answered.
The fall would have killed II anyway"
IF all labor were organized and fed
Grated. would 1t be a trust?" I asked.
Certainly not Mr.. Gompers an
swered There can be trusts only in
tangible things like oil. iron. wheat.
wool. or land-in products. you under
stand. There can be no trust in a mans
power to work or in his skill
IT am not seeking a debate" / said.
MY purpose is to obtain your views.
But IL all labor were organized could II
not say: Our wages hereafter must be
so and So Wouldn't that be putting an
arbitrary price on labor and consequent
~ would not the price, there being no
competition, and there being monop-
oily. constitute a workable and working
trust?
The power of labor is not a material
commodity" Mr. Gompers replied with
more than his customary emphasis.
There cannot be a trust in anything
which is yet to be produced. Labor power
Is not a product; it is flesh and blood,
brain and Drawn; II is a part OF the hu-
man being There can be no trusts in
human beings. The trust. even at Its
best. as ] have said more than once, is
an organization OF a few to monopolize
the production and control the distribu-
ton Of material products. Though the
unions Of workers endeavor to control
tl.c disposition of the labor power or
their members. the fact must be remem-
bered that the power OF labor Is not a
ma terial commodity.
How would you describe the American
Federation of Labor
1T Is a federation. as its name defines.
OF the union workers of the United
States-an kinds of workers. It Is
democracy, and was patterned after the
government of the United States. There
is a President at the Capital of the ma
tiCn and there is Congress There are
governors of States and State Legisla-
tires There are rrayors and other OH
GERS in municipalities. Such. in its gov
ernmental scheme, is the American Fed
Grafton of Labor. Local unions in towns
and cities correspond with municipalities.
International unions correspond with
States. The Federation itself is similar
to the government in Washington
SAYS They Fight Their Enemies.
The objects of our organization look
toward obtaining larger rights for LABOR
rights which are. just, you must recol-
Icct-and toward increasing the intelli-
nee and developing the character of all
American workers. Accordingly We are
Interested in economical, financial, po-
Iitical and social questions
And YOU go into Congressional dis
tricts to help your friends and punish
your enemies?'' I ventured to say.
in the language of Shakespeare, You
can bet cher life We do. II there is oc-
casion. We act from the Presidency
downward to the Legislatures of the
various States.
You came to this country when you
vere thirteen years old?' / said, sound
ing my way into his personality.
''Guilty,'' Mr.. Gompers answered ener-
ceticallv. MY father was a c:garmaker
in London. He moved there from Hol-
land. But his eyes were on the West
and he came to the United States. We
went to live in a tenement on the East
Side of New York. 1 left school in Eng
land at the age of ten. There were SIX
children in our family, and II was neces-
sary for me to learn trade. The
Gompers have always been workers.
There are no drones of our blood. 1 was
apprenticed first to shoemaker. The
empIoyment. however, was distastetu
and a bargain was struck whereby l
was released from the contract. 1 then
learned TO make cigars, mastering the
trade by the time we emigrated to New
York. And that was the way I earned
nv living for twenty-six years.
How did you drift into the labor
movement
81 didn't drift; I was born into 1T Ny
father was a union man in England. 1
saw much poverty in London, living as
we did in the silk weaving region at the
time when machinery was displacins
hand labor. a great procession OF idle
men. of hungry and gaunt-eyed men,
marched through the streets In our
neighborhood. / shall never forget their
faces nor the Tnournful sound Of their
voices We have no work. they said,
each man for himself, at almost every
step.
Talks About Battles with Tyrants.
''On the East Side of New York, 1 saw
poverty and distress, and / caught the
philosophy of the labor movement from
the scenes l witnessed and from what I
heard and read. / quit school, as 1 said,
when 1 was ten years old, but l studied
at night, borrowed many books, talked
with workers. and listened to my father,
who was a wise and well-informed man.
Since there was no qualification as to
age, Joined a cigarmakers' union In my
fifteenth year. / early understood the
long struggle of the people upward to-
ward better conditions.