The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1916-08-10

| NAlh tue speaker m parts AN'he,
years ago or thereahouts ! visited Barr
for the first time. The wonderful an
, gratifying changes that ! see on the oc
easion OF this visit are 20 me most sig
nllicant, significant may ! say, Of th
rapid strides that organized labor ha
made IN America To be- with YOU herr
20 night IS a real pleasure and | count
myself peculiarly fortunate in being abl'
to accept the generous invitation OF YOU
committee
"ln the first place | am going TO dis
abuse Your minds of any suspicion that
am great man referring to com
IplimentarF reference made by the chair
mani. What has been said | prefer q
describe as tribute TO the great labor
movement in America and not to any
personality connected Herewith. We
ARE all doing our level best for the up
Int of the masses and what better meas
IRE OF success can be- eXpectcdY II il
strange but true, nevertheless, that OF
the many groups, labor is the only enc to
be judged by the comparatively few who
90 wrong within its fold. A minister
may go wrong, but the cloth is not
| Judged by his shortcomings. A doctor
may make mistake, but who shall
Judge harshly OF the profession because
he was derclict 10 his duty. And so on
in other groups But ii a laboring man
stray from the beaten path OF righteous.
ness, the whole type is stigmatised by
| the. same Characterization Of the man
who went wrong. NIayhap ! speak with
seeming egoism but let me say here
land now that taken as type, you will
lind laborng men measuring well up
over the average every time.
"Preudiees OF all time are the OBJ
stacles we encounter. In the days of
long ago men subdued other men by
war like weapons that were also used
for labor To put in the hands OF the
conquered the instruments OF labor was
to equip them with the weapons Of war
fare Hence. TO conquer was to kill.
Times changed and the weapons that
were used for warfare were not the in
struments of toll and the conquerors be-
came more humanitarian And vet all
through the ages the workers have been
in the mass and the exalted few have
been the shirkers And the women
without whose services the race must
have persisted, were placed among the
lower classes Many say that the Amer
lean workingmen, instead OF organizing
into groups should assert themselves in
dividully. Man would gladly assert
himself il he had the opportunity. but
in this day Of concentration and special |
ization what chance has a man for as
serting himself as an individual2 Under |
modern conditions he is stripped of bis I
L
industry he loses his personality. He is
a mere cog in the machinery Of piece
work and the moment he slips he is rele. I
gated to the scrap heap. The secret lies
here The individuality that the Amer
ean workingman has lost in the concen
iration OF capital and industry he has
-eganed in organization when he is 50
as TO present a solid front to
The employer Antsgonism is expressed
n various ways because he is organized,
Nho is not organizing to-day? TIL law
Ter, the minister in his county and state
associations, organization in government,
organization everywhere
where would our republic have got
'f as the saying goes 90 wears ago, if
t had NOT been sufficiently organized to
ounteract the efforts on the part Of sew
raj states TO leave the union1 Organ /.
zation is expressed in our chambers of 5
commerce and our boards OF trade. Prob I
bly YOU have one or the other in Barre j
nd 70 a good purpose. II employers find I
{ necessary to organize to protect their
interests why is it not even more essen
ial that workers should so organize to
rotect the only thing they own, their |
over to labor /
"Thev say we are selfish and never q
1ove unless il is to promote our own !
elfsh interests. In answer to that. let J
ne say that there never was a move I
lade by organized labor that did not
eueit All members of any trade, organ t
.ed or uuorganized" Whereupon the :
peaker gave several graphic instances to i
ear out his contention Going no far I
her back than tho strike Of New York p
arment workers he declared that thous- a
nds and thousands of un9rganized ;
orkers are henetiting by the conditions p
imposed by the organization in bringing f,
lie employers to terms. Again he cited e
he street car employees in New York, a
any of them unorganized, who are to /
now. now, what il is 10 receive fair 81
lNlpfuSd Ll0n fbT Ian udN NoFk IN a
ords that were nothing if not thrilling q
he speaker told OF the abolition of fl
yeat shops, OF the bringing of relief TO o.
lousands OF tenement women workers III
no never knew Of organization until VI
lie strike came. [
That's our iobto bring hope into fc
e lives Of the men and women Of la 10
~ said President Gompers. He went
to relate epochal chapters in the his Il
~ Of labor's struggle for recognition &c
the industrial fields of America. Chap al
rs that conferred around the conten eli
Gus struggle in the coal fields, in the lC
gar making trade and in the boot and Ii
oe factories He gave his hearers the VI
neft of first hand information con 81
ming the inner workings of confer pc
ces bearing on the situation in the coal de
Ids Of Pennsylvania He referred TO tn
G situation in the granite industry. OF
nat organized labor has achieved in the
" of lowering the tuberculosis mortal
Z By the elimination of man killing p,
1ehines. II it hadn't been for men OF
e older generation in Barre unionism.
said. the death rate would be even
cher than it is to-day Ii
Turning to the charge that labor's cry Pr
e that of the Turkish beggar, is More, as
,re," Mr. Gompers said that everybody de
business and out is out for more. The