The Washington herald., 1916-11-22
LABOR'S HOSTS
TO AID RAILWAY
men IN BATTLE
Gompers Pledges A. F. Of L.
to Back Up Demands of
Four Brotherhoods.
ACCEPTS THE CHALLENGE
Announcement Comes as Dramatic
Climax to Speeches of Car
Leaders.
By the Ister,stionaI New. s.rvts.D

(By the IsternstienaI views servte&D
Baltimore. Nd, Nov. Z--orSanized
labor threw its millions Of workers into
the scale against the railroad millions
OF dollars here today in one Of the most
tumultous days in labor's history.
Accepting the challenge" as President
Gompers termed ft-the American Fed
Grafton Of Labor pledges the undivided
and unqualified support Of every man an6
woman in the federation, whatever may
arise. whatever may betide Ito the four
great railroad brotherhoods I'm the ap-
preaching crisis over the Adamson law
Thus was practically the entire force OF
organized labor pledged to support the
brotherhood chiefs in whatever action
they may tske-strike or no strike
No definite action was taken toward a
consolidation Of the federation and the
brotherhoods. But President Gompers
and the brotherhood chiefs declared col
lectively and individually that they were
closer together now than ever before
and il Is probable that some definite steps
will be taken in the near future
Makes Dramatic announcement.
Gompers' declaration Of faith was drs-
matte In the extreme II came after the
|
engineers: Lee, Of the trainmen; Carter,
of the firemen, and Sheppard, Of the con-
ductors-had stated their cases
| Quivering with emotion and shouting
at the top Of his voice, Gompers de-
| clared: -
"An / can say in answer to you men
Of wealth (the railroads) IL this: BE
careful-you are going too far. You
throw down the gauntlet to the working
/ r ~ A.
\ and fight We will say to you IN the
strongest power we possess: Lay on
MacDun, and damned be he who's first
/ to cry enough"
Highly elated at their reception, the
brotherhood chiefs. with the exception Of
/ to Washington TO resume their delibcrz-
! tons Garter went to New -Cork on
mission about which he would say moth
I I.4erU was little doubt expressed BY la
Dor leaders here tonight but that the
| railroad brotherhoods will strike on Jan
uary IL the Adamson law does not be
come effective. Such was the inference
drawn from statements made by Stone
and Lee in their addresses to the fedora
tion.
Threatens to Fight.
We're going to have universal
ceed in stopping us in what We ALREADY
have then wen fight" declared Lee,
! And wen fight so long as there Is
breath left in us TO fight against com
pulsory arbitration"
Stone declared that If the AdamSon
/ law does not become operat tive on the,
! 1rst day OF January there will be Ict
4 OF unfinished business TO attend to" He
! declined to amplify the statement in ary
| way. saying that lit goes as il lays"
| The policy Of the brotherhoods in the
approaching legal battles over the Adam
son law was clearly stated by Stone.
The railroads." he said. have tried TO
! bankrupt the unions by starting 1900 in-
junction suits against US instead Of play
ing fair and making one a test. They
! thought TO compel us to furnish lawyers
TO fight these 5000 cases. Well. were
not. We're going to sit on the side lines
and watch them fight the government un-
der which they live and operate
When that is over. when the govern
! mcnt has either lost or won then IL will
be time for us to act
Legal Bureau Proposed.
The federation Immediately got started
in on preparedness campaign" John
p. Frey, of the International MoIders
Union OF Cincinnati, introduced a resolu-
tion authorizing the creation OF a legal
( bureau to be operated in conjunction
with the federation headquarters to dis
seminate authentic information concern
ing labor's battles in the courts wherever
they may be fought One Of labor's great
needs. he stated, was a centralized legal
bureau, such as is maintained by
chambers Of commerce and other as
sociations of business men and en-
ployers to protect their interests
After a prolonged debate, the resolu-
ton was referred to the committee on
laws with instructions that the commit
tee bring In a report on the best way
TO accomplish the object of the resolu-
tion.
J. Late in the afternoon the convention
which up to that time had been proceed
ing TRANQUILITY with routine business was
thrown into a turmoil OF discussion over
a resolution declaring against the intro
lduction OF military training in the high
schools OF the country. The executive
council, the governing body Of the fedora
ton. advised that the convention not con-
cur in the resolution and Immediately
there arose a dissension.
Joseph Cannon, Of New York, led the
G.-l.g .EaN.