Norwich bulletin., 1914-01-30
Bearded Lions
 in Their Den
GoMPERS AT THE MINE WORK
 FRS CONVENTION
REPLIES TO CHARGES
Declares Statements of Mover and Mcdonald Are uniust-Unions Un- able to Stand an Assessment.

Indianapolis, Ind, Jan. 29.-Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, defended it's or ganization and its executive council in @ speech late today before the conven- ton of the United Mine Workers Of America, against churges made by Western Federation of Miners, Duncan Mcdonald of Illinois and others in the convention. MT. Mover several days ago charged that if the copper strike in Michigan should be lost, 1t would 1e due to the inactivity of the execu- tive board of the American Federationa of Labor.
 Mir. Gonpers declared it would be impossible to levy an assessment for the copper mine strikers of Michisan and denied that the organization is "reactionary,'' fossilized, worm eaten and dead. He also repudiated the statement that the executive council is made up of booze fighters"
 Mcdonald Fathers Accusation.
 Taking the newspaper reports as criterion" MT. Gompers began, the most important work this convention has done has consisted of attacks on tre American Federation of Labor and itS .f1cers and discussing whether ihe pres.f,l.t's salary shall be increaSea $.Ut9 a year. l don't know if He charges in the newspaper are true, but It was pIInted that it was declared in the convention here that the Ameri- can Federation of Labor is reaction ary, fossilized, worm-eaten and dead Is the newspaper statement true
 Amid loud cheers, Mcdonald said: 'I made those statements, and others like them"
 Eight of Executive Council TeetotaIers
 "Only Mcdonald answers" MT. Gompers continued. "Of the eleven men who compose the executive coun- cil, eight are teetotalers who never touched a drop of liquor Two of the men are as moderate drinkers as any men who ever take drink. For my self, l take a glass of beer, when the days work is done. I challenge any man to prove otherwise than that am as good man. mentally and physi- caIly, as I ever was. and reached my 64th year last Tuesday.
 "Fossiiized and dead mean the same, but I submit that an organization can't be these and at the same time .reac- tionary, for that means going back wards. The history of the organiza- tion shows that it is not dead"
 Mir. Gompers read from letters sign ed by Mcdonald and published in a Chicago newspaper in 1911, one of which tended to show that the cost of living in the 14 years preceding had increased 50 per cent and that the in crease in wages amounted to 20 per cent
 
 Mcdonald interrupted to say that he obtained the figures from statistician employed by the federal government and that they applied to all classes of labor.
 Ut is absurd to say that the miners. the tailors, the carpenters, the women who work in the sWeatshops, or any of the toilers of the land. if you please, are worse off now than 14 years ago." exclaimed GomPers. The statement is so bereft of reason that l prefer to leave it with you rather than try to answer it myself"
 MT. Gompers denied that the fedora tion had placed obstacles in the path of industrial unionism, but, on the contrary, he said. had encouraged it wherever possible, and had urged the amalgamatfon of kindred trades.
 Gompers Turns Fire on Mover.
 'The American Federation of Labor cannot say You must amalgamate.' he continued. Would the miners obey if the federation said You must sep arate" We have as much authority one way as the other It is an outrage to lay the failure of industrial union ism to the federation. The men and women in the labor movement are hu- man beings and cannot be moulded in an instant to suit the desires of any one. They must be made to see the advantages of the movement first"
 Gompers then asked Mover if his speech had been correctly reported. 1 Receiving an affirmative reply, MT l Gompers then turned to the charge that the executive board had been in- active in regard to the copper strike.
 q have given and will continue to 1 give ali that is in me to further the strike of the copper miners" he de- clared NO accusation could be more 1 unjust than that of MT. Mover.
 Unions Can't Stand Assessment.
 '"Talk about the American Fedora 1 ton not raising the Dnoneyi You may l not know that the miners only pay | nine cents year to the American | Federation of Labor. That is all the | other organisations affiliated with the l federation pay also. Do you think we | can accumulate a large defense fund i on that tax?"
 MT. Gompers said an assessment i would mean the disintegration Of the i n1erican-Federation of Labor, for the | constitution of the organization pro | vides for the expulsion of any union | which does not meet the assessments, | and only about two thirds of the un- ions could pay. In all the history of | the federation only 12 assessments had i been levied, he added.