Denver labor bulletin., 1917-08-04

continuously since its organization,
which he helped found, in 1882. He
has been an agitator for the rights of
labor since the age of fourteen. He
was born in London on January 27,
1850. His father was a cigarmaker,
and the boy left school at the age of
ten to be apprenticed to a shoemaker,
coming to America three years later.
He had no liking for shoemaking, and
learned his fathers trade, which he
followed until he was thirty-seven.
1t has been noted by strangers see
ing him for the first time that he looks
more like kindly old country parson
than the militant leader of an army
of 100000 workmen. His head is
brushed tightly back to conceal as
much of his badness as possible, tho
he always wears a black skullcap in
doors. He speaks as he walks, slowly
and deliberately, with a ponderous
solemnity that makes the most COM
monplace utterance sound important.
Gompers' public career has been an
almost continuous round of fighting.
He is a great fighter, both on the plat
of the man made up solely by reading
headlines would be shaped by such ex-
pressions as Presidents Slight an
Honor, says Gompers," "Gompers De-
fies the Court to Jail Him." "Gompers
in Riot at Garment Workers Meet
ing" "Gompers Threatens Manufac-
turers with Ruin" His job has been
exceedingly difficult because of the
diversified interests of the men who
make up the unions. In fact, some of
the great leaders hardest fights have
been with elements in the American
Federation trying to unseat him. At
| convention of tailors he was charged
with wearing non-union clothing, and
had to show the union label on all of
his garments before disorder could be
quelled.
For the first time in all these temp
estuous years employers are beginning
to see Gompers as a real agency for
good. They have had the patience to
analyze his views. In season and out
he has championed the rights of un-
ions to dictate working conditions and
terms, but he has also done great
deal for capital in restraining union
members from acts of violence, inso-
far as lay in his power. Utterances
of his that seemed the extreme Of rad
icalism twenty years ago are today eN-
pressions Of the opinions now held by
many big employers. He used TO be
regarded as a Socialist, as an Anarch-
ist, as the arch foe of efficiency, as a
breeder of strikes, with their attend
ant disorders. But Gompers is not a
Socialist, and has never minced words
in telling why. He has studied social
ism, and this is his summary of its
value:
u want to say that l am entirely at
variance with your philosophy. l de-
clare ii to you. ] am not only at vari-
ance with your doctrines, but with
your philosophy. Economically, you
are unsound; socially, you are wrong:
industrially, you are an impossibility."
Nor has Gompers ever any more use
for the anarchist school. Extreme as
he was he was too conservative for
these radicals, and he regarded them
as enemies of labor. He has always
opposed the violence connected with
picketing by organized labor. He said
to the Chicago Federation:
1--WE cannot win by violence or thug
gerry. Brutality only grows. If we
had to win by that method it would be
better to lose. Violence and thuggery
only hurt our movement"
Gompers has usually tried to keep
the American Federation of Labor out
of politics, tho he worked hard for the
election of Bryan and Wilson and
fought both Roosevelt and Taft with
all of his influence among working
men. His stand in the war might have
been foreseen from a letter he wrote
just two years ago this week; in that
he said:
Il have always stood for peace and
have had an abhorrence of war, with
all of the brutality which it entailed,
but have no hesitancy in saying there
are some things that are even more
abhorrent than war, that is, to be
robbed of the birthright of freedom,
justice, safety, and character" An
other evidence of his desire to be fair
was supplied in remarks he made when
honored with medal for labor's part
in the California exposition. He said:
Labor is a part of this country.
not apart from it. We are Americans
by birth or adoption and loyal to the
principles on which the Republic is
based. We think no other course is
comparable to this. Believing that,
we feel that there is still room for
Improvement, and that it is the duty
of labor to struggle for that improve
ment."
Gompers' voice may be heard in the
weighty discussion at Petrograd over