The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1918-09-04
HAR FOR FREEDOM.
LABOR LEADER SENDS GREET
ING TO AMERICAN PEOPLE.
Federation President Says Workers
are Conscious Of Their Part in
Making Victory Possible.

New York, Sept Twin the war
for freedom is the keynote of labor
day symposium of Greeting to the
American People written by Samuel
Gompers and other labor leaders and
issued tonight by the American Al
lance for Labor and Democracy as d
pledge Of organized labor's 100 per
cent. support OF the cause OF the re-
public.
Win the war for freedom is in
scribed upon the banners of Amer
ica's workers today in every city and
hamlet" wrote the president of the
American Federation Of Labor who
is now on mission to England.
France and Italy. "It is the message
that will be spoken from every plat
form. It is the song Of every heart
1t is a war >of freedom because only
through victory can there be free
dom.
1.-The working people of America
are conscious of their vital part IN
making victory possible. and they will
dc their part, not as a task, but as a
right to share in the work Of secur-
ing forever that freedom which they
prize above ali things.
I'VE need have no recourse to rhet-
| eric to state our case. The facts are
simply stated, but Of supreme impor-
tance Our democracy is assalled,
our liberty is in jeopardy, Autocracy
challenges our sacred rights.
| I'VE count it our most sacred duty
to win safety for our freedom and
our democracy, for only when they
| are safe can life give to US its op-
portunities and its value. Win the
war for freedom To that propo-
sition. we dedicate our labor and Our
lives as Americans and as workers.
II is the supreme purpose of our lives
on this Labor Day.
Messages of similar tenor were
written by the heads Of the Typo
graphical. Street Railway, Mine
Workers, Pattern Makers, Cigar
Makers, 'Trainmen's, Letter Carriers
Musicians, Railway Telegraphers'
Locomotive Firemen's and Carpen-
ters' organizations.
A warning against over confidence
based on the retirement of the Ger
man army was voiced by George
Creel, chairman of the committee or
public information at pre-Labor
Day meeting of the New York Post
office Clerks Union here today. The
war, he. said, can not be lost in
Franee,' but can only be lost in the
United States. Continuing, he said:
ultimate victory is as certain as
the coming of the dawn, but in the
very@joy Of present successes there is
:, danger that is as menaeing as Ger
manEarnns.
Already, from numberless sources
we are receiving information that
proves that the disintegrating forces
of over. confidence are at work. Peo-
pie arEsaying, What is the use of the
new draft law and What is. the use
of another Liberty loan? The war
will soon be over
Germany could we'll afford to
spend millions to spread this point OF
view. In the essence it is defeatism
Of the worst sort. 1t weakens the
will to save, to serve. to give and
above all it weakens the will to fight
and the will to win.
Let no one ask. When will the
war end?' for it is question that
tears at the very heart of resolve. This
war will end when we win, and not
until then"
Local officials of the American
Federation of Labor tonight complet-
ed preparations for great Labor
Day demonstration here. They estl-
| mated that 100000 workers would
march AS a part Of the Labor Day
exercises in New Jersey, a monument
to the memory of President James A.
Garfield will be unveiled in the after
noon at Long Branch, where he died
in 1881.