The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-05-18
PREDICTS THAT
 ALL LABOR WILL BENEFIT BY WAR
End of Conflict and Triumph of Democracy Means
 Uplift of Worker.

triumph of democracy in this war;"
 That is the prediction of James
 William Sullivan, who for 30 years has been one of the active men in the American Federation of Labor.
 He has recently returned from Europe, where at the suggestion of Samuel Gompers, president of the
 American Federation of Labor, he attempted to arrange conference
 of representatives of organized labor in the belligerent countries to be held coincidentally with the peace conference, whenever and wherever it is held.
 While MT. Sullivan is assistant to
 MT. Gompers as member of the ad- y1sory committee of the Council of Naional Defense, he has for years been friend of MT. Gompers, and it Is to be specifically stated that he consented to this interview only in the capacity as member of the Ameri--
 can Federation of Labor.
 Two questions were put to him: What part will American labor
 take in the work of preparing for the war?
 What will be the effect of the war on labor as class ?'' MT. Sullivan anticipates that for an indefinite and prolonged period after the war wages will be much higher than ever before, both for skilled and unskilled workmen. The demands of ficeitn explanation.
 General prosperity may be assum- ed to follow, thanks to the genera! speeding ur of commerce and the increased idiffusion of money through the wa ge channa1
 The statisticians of the American Federation of Labor have been able to. demonstrate that social prosperity follows each increase of the wage scale.
 Give 1000 workmen two dollars more each week, and 200 merchants
 will benefit,'' is his illustration. An increase in class propsperity in variab1y means greater soliditary and
 hence greater political power for the
 workman.
 The history of San Francisco in the years following the fire is cited as an example. Not onfy have wages
 remained at a higher level there than at any previous period, '.but the working class obtained control of the city politically" MT. Sullivan said. Broadly speaking, betterment in social conditions has followed each addition in political power gained by organized lahor
 We fought for child labor laws
 and for the protection of wo1rsan worekrs long before any of the so- cietics now advocating these reforms were in the fie1d." said he. s.rne funda mental law is now with us. We | take as a matter of course that we will win each injunction case in the
 higher courts, for we only ask free l dom O. speech, press and movement The trend Of law-making is with us.'' ' Mr.. Sullivan anticipates that f.tho l unequal distribution of wealth will
 be to some extent corrected" Great I Britain has set the example Death duries there take large proportion l of the greater estates and incor1a l taxes take an incrfeasingly larger | part of an income in proportion as I it increases.
 I He believes something of the same
 sort will be developed in Amer1ca
 There will be the conscriptioa oi I wealth in some folm. Taxation will ! be reduced to a more exact science N than it has ever been.''
 Perhaps his most. striking sugges- ton IS that the soldier will run the
 world.
 II The fighting mans eyes have beer
 opened He is accustomed to belc- I ness. He has learne,. to couple nf-
 act to his thought. When this var
 ends the men who have done the \ fighting will have thought out the N causes and will have the courage to II destroy those causes. The men who have been disciplined will refuse to submit to that discipline further Having seen what militarism brous hi
 to. Germany, they will demand free dom of speech, because that puts and
 end to militarism.
 \ "This war would never have come
 if the people had ruled themselves
 instead of having been ruled. The T one thing that can ensure future peace in democracy in government
 That democracy is already on the
 way. There are labor representa-
 tives in the British Cabinet and many I in the House of. Commons. The same v is true of France.
 I At MT. Gompers' suggestion two l representatives of British labor are
 now on their way to the United
 States, to cooperate with the Fri 4 tish mission now here. One is com
 ing from Cuba and representatives
 aree expected from Canada and
 
 France.
 l Leaders of organized labor here
 will cooperate With the A!linlins+ca- tion, as is being cone in Great Bri-
 .ain and France, to mae sure there
 shall be no change in the standards of labor duning inc wac. Wage. siial1 be increased in proportion as
 the cost of living increases. If an emergency forces a speedins up or other alteratio n in labor condi tious which would be resented f1 peace, that alteration shall only bt for the period of the war. Whatever losses individual work
 CTS may sustain during tie war tht
 power of the class will ceI tainly D. , increased. Labor il representing it self before the government. It is , part of the xcvcy nment.' The war has demonstrated that cer- tain once widely held theories were fallacioEs. It had been hoped tha
 a union of all organized labor agains war would prevent the war, but tht German Socialists, who number 4(
 per cent of the Nation, forgot they were Socialists, and only remembered , they were Germans when the tes : came.
 MT. Sullivan thinks that laborins
 men will never again be deluded bl