Denver labor bulletin., 1918-08-10
PATRIOTIC ADDRESS OF
GOMPERS IN ST. PAUL
WIN THE WAR IS FIRST DUTY OF
AMERICAN WORKERS.
Men and Women of Labor in America Are
Heart and Soul in This Struggle Max
ir~ Common Cause With the Peo-
piles of Our Allied Nations

his morning as we participated in and later
reviewed the parade OF the ranks OF the pros
pective fighting men, OF the women and the
girls who marched behind them the first col
umns organized to fight the enemy of labor
and freedom and progress, the other following
to assuage the pain and suffering of the in
lured, it presented picture of combined will
ingness to sacrifice. 1t was an inspiring pic
ture, men and women, boys and girls entwined
with one single thought dominating their en-
tire being and with our national anthem and
martial music stirring every and woman
to the very depths.
When met in the thirty-seventh annual
convention OF the American Federation of La
Dor at Buffalo, n. Y that convention was
appropriately designated as "Labor's War
Convention And there was set forth in TN
mlstakable terms the purpose of the American
workers in this great human struggle. 1t was
a ratification OF the declarations OF the re-
sPonsible representatives of organized labor
OF America made month before our country
entered into the world struggle And after
the lapse of eight months from the holding
OF that conference at Washington on March
IL, in November, in official session. the voice
OF organized labor representing the toilers of
this North American continent emphasized
with unanimous vote that with the insistence
and maintenance OF democratic institutions at
home we would stand behind the government
and her allies to fight and sacrifice in order
that freedom and democracy might prevail
over the whole world.
Somehow or other this thought has made
a very weighty impression on nv mind All
over the world, in each OF the countries there
had grown up separatist movement among
the workers. There is not country outside
OF the United States, except in Germany
where there was not division among the or
ganlzed labor forces. 1t seemed to me that
along with the preparation and plans of the
autocratic, militarist government OF Germany
for the greatest military machine that has
eve rcd in tbe -
time propaganda inaugurated thruout
the world to divide the organized labor forces
within these countries. The attempt had been
made long ago to bring about the same stua-
ton in America
1t is not necessary that should now more
than refer to the way and the manner and the
means by which the world war was begun in
1914 1t is doubtful whether there were many
men in all the world who loved liberty who
were not shocked when the war began There
were numbers OF and women in the
United States who were impatient because we
had not entered into the world war to make
that struggle shorter and so that liberty and
the meaning of liberty should be safeguarded
at once But, be that as it may, more than
two years elapsed, and the democracies of
france and Britain were in the struggle and
made the supreme sacrifice which nations
could AT last there came the blows admins
tered TO the people and the government OF the
United States Innocent men and women and
cnlluren were sent to an untimely grave thru
the ruthlessness, the brutality and the atroci-
ties of the German imperial government And
Yet our government hesitated. 1t put the men
OF America to severe test that they might
withhold their patience
| wonder whether there was not in the mind
OF those in governmental authority in our
country the thought that, after ALL with the
makeup OF our people in the United States,
whether the working people OF our country
could be relied upon in the hour of peril l
wonder whether there was not lurking in the
mind OF the master spirit of our time the
thought that, after all, if the working people
of the United States were not a unit behind
him and the government. whether it would be
wise to enter into the struggle The confer
ence of the executive council OF the American
Federation of Labor was held on March O. 10,
II, and the great conference on March IL.
1913. where that famous declaration was
adopted by unanimous VOTE will stand as a
monument to the loyalty, the devotion of the
American labor movement and as a monu-
ment to the activities and the worthiness OF
the cause OF organized labor. That unanimous
declaration made March Ie was heralded
the world over, and on April q about four
weeks after the conference, the President of
the United States appeared before the Con
gress and laid before that body the Indictment
which America, in behalf of her people and
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