The Washington herald., 1913-01-19
INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF WORLD STARTED
IN LUNATIC ASYLUM, SAYS SAMUEL GOMPERS
Socialists and Tells Aims of Union Labor-Re-
fuses to Talk of Own Castles in Spain"
BY JAMES B. MORROW.


for an hour or more toward the last
question. He was smoking thick, dark
cigar, the odor of which suggested Porto
Rico, or it may have been Connecticut
Where" 1 asked, did the organiza-
tion known as the Industrial Workers
of the World originate?"
In a lunatic asylum" Samuel Com
pers the grand old man OF labor" as
he is called, answered. He stopped,
looked at me across his orderly desk, but
went no further at the moment
A little earlier he had said: The So
cialists hold out the hope OF wonderful
things in the sweet bye and bye. Union
labor wants taste of heaven now TO-
day"
THE Socialists" another person in the
office had previously observed, ARE like
a certain line of pickles and preserves
they are split into fifty-seven varieties
And what have they ever done construc-
lively? Nothing up to the present time.
They tried to run Milwaukee, failed
and the voters turned them out"
You referred to the Industrial Work J
ers as an organization" Mr.. Gompers
presently said, in continuation of his
answer. Smoke hung over his head un-
til he looked. shoulders upward, much
like a smudging brush heap of early
spring. 1T is not an organization; 1t
is a conglomeration. Union labor be-
tion. The Socialists look off and into
the future, and think they behold an
ideal state of matters for the enjoyment
of coming generations. The Industrial
Workers of the World seek to upset
everything-labor, capital, and govern
ment.
Union labor is constructive; the In
dustrial Workers are destructive Union
labor builds on what is now in exist
ence seeing a better day when the
world shall be perfectly splendid place
In which to live. But" and the Com
perian jaw, huge and warlike. burst
through the smoke. like the PROV of
ship in a fog, 'union labor maintains
that the physical, material, political. |
moral and social uplift OF American
workers should begin in the present and
not be postponed until those who are
living and battling are dead"
Gompers an Industrial EyoIutionist.
1t will be seen. then, that Samuel
GOmpers is a practical man and an evo-
lutionist He accepts the order estab- |
lished by civilization. but he would i'm
prove it. There must be a starting point, |
he understands. for all deV elOpment. |
Nothing, he knows, because he is a stu
dent, happens by accident. Order can
be called the principle which governs
his work He would patch leaky roof, |
instead of pulling the building to pieces. |
The world is growing better all the time, !
in his opinion. Those VINO say it is
not putting down his own words as
spoken TO me. "maliSn the courage, wis
dom, and intelligence of the human race. |
Nor have they read the history Of man.
kind"
The producers of the United States. |
skilled and unskilIed, are massed in four
divisions-union men, nOnunion men. So
ciaIists, and Industrial Workers. They
are competing with one another. The
union men. the Socialists. and the In
dustrial Workers are organized. Compe-
tition among these three divisions has
grown exceedingly energetic. BY the in
ter7retation of Samuel Gompers, as
caught his meaning, unionlsm WouId
complete the social structure. living In
II and getting all possible comfort out
Of il while the work is going on. So
rialism dreams of a beautiful temple to
he inha bfted by men turned angels in.
a glorious day that is yet to dawn. The
Industrial Workers would burn and tear
down. and begin to build anew ca the
bare ground.
So Samuel Gompers is facing other
forces than capital He was one or the
creators of the American Federation OF
Labor, and. except for a single year
he has been its president since lSS2. FOR
a decade, and until the closing months
of 1912, he was unopposed in his head
shin over the organization. now COM
posed or 10000 members and growing.
rs his figures show. at the rate OF 49,
Cr1 members annually.
Thr Attempt to Defeat GcmPcrs.
LAST November Max s. Hayes, OF
Cleveland, a printer by trade. and the
editor of a weekly publication, was
candidate against him. Hayes is an out
and-out Socialist. Whether he is
nickIe or preserve is not of pressing in
torcst In to the first Bryan campaign
he was a Populist- That Re was en-
abled TO get about 90 per cent of the
vote cast at the last yearly convention
OF the American Federation OF LABOR Is
Significant And the vote, representing
nearly 800 delegates, was cast, it must
he remembered, in opposition TO Samuel
Gompers.
Clearly, If Mr. Gompers' definitions are
correct as I understand them, the tri-
umph of Socialism would mean the
breaking down of the machinery of civ
nization. to be followed by a painful and
Chastened period of reconstruction along
old lines and according to old dimen-
sions. The triumph of the Industrial
Workers would be worse. Chaos would
be the result Society would be stripped
OF everything. The law of the jungle, as
among wild beasts, would be the law of
man.
Can Samuel Gompers hold his place as
the capta ain-general of a great and po-
tential host? Will his philosophy be re-
jected by the body OF workers, which he,
more than any other man, was respon-
sibIe for establishing? He will be sixty
three years old on Monday, January q.
His eyes, the color of gun barrel, are
as alert and young. nevertheless, as
ever His short, thick body looks strong
enough for many a campaign in the fu-
ture. Seemingly. there is as much fight
in him as heretofore. Solomon, his faith
er, is still living. The days of the Com
pers. as a family, are uncommonly long.
All the adversaries of Samuel, so far,
have surrendered their arms to him and
returned to their homes under parole.
Yet, II would appear, his most strenuous
experience. not with capital, but with
labor, is to come.
What would be the ideal situation
and condition of American labor?' I
asked him.
'T have my day Dreams he answered.
land I build my castles in Spain. but
my dreams and my castles are nobody
business. They are my own"
Refuses to Outline His Plans.
The question, I perceived, though it
was asked in good faith, looked like a
trap Mr.. Gompers, no doubt. thought it
a clumsy attempt to uncover his hand.
The unfriendly critics of union labor say
that once the eight-hour day prevails
;r a1itation will