Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1918-11-08
PRES. GOMPERS
Didn't Favor Compulsory Health
Insurance

dent GOmpers as chairman of the
committee on labor, advisory COM
mission, council of national defense,
has issued this statement:
During the month of July last Mr..
Samuel Gompers, chairman of the
committee on labor, advisory commits
sion, council Of national defense,
recommended to Secretary William
B. Wilson, of the department of la
Dor, that medical examination of ap-
plicants for employment should be
made one of the functions of the gov
ernment labor recruiting agencies.
inadvertently, or by design, the
Interpretation was Immediately sent
out from an unknown source ex-
pressing it as the belief that this
action opened the way for the early
adoption of social health insurance.
1t is to be regretted that over
| Jealous advocates of compulsory
health insurance should thus en-
deavor to misinterpret the recon-
!
committee on labor and create in the
public mind the erroneous impression
that Mr.. Gompers favored compulsory
health insurance and had undertaken
to open the way for this sort of legis-
lation. 4
The purpose for which physical
examination was urged was clearly
and Enthusiastically set forth in the
resolution adopted at a conference
attended by representatives of labor,
employers, industrial physicians, and
public health workers, and presided
over by Mr.. Gompers, and held in
New York city July Is, wherein the
following purpose was clearly ex-
pressed:
at is the sense of this conference
that the physical examination of
workers is primarily a measure of
health conservation and also essential
to maximum production-a war ne
cessity.
THAT the purpose of a medical
examination is not to eliminate the
worker from industrial service, but
to adopt him to the work he is phys
ically fitted for
AS a matter of fact and of peril
nent information the question of
inaugurating health insurance
scheme was very recently considered
by the navy department and an effort
made to introduce it at the Hog Is
land navy yard plant Protests were
immediately ly presented by the workers
involved, who resented this condition
al employment scheme.
The Executive Council of the Amer
lean Federation of Labor was also ap-
pealed to by these workers, resulting
in the following declaration by the
executive council of the American
Federation of Labor, adopted at its
meeting held July % to % at At
lantic City, N. j.:
"Resolved, That the executive coun-
Gil OF the American Federation of La
Dor is opposed to any plan of COM
pulsory insurance So long as wage
earners are capable of performing
their work in satisfactory and eff
cient manner this should be sufficient
qualification for them to secure and
retain employment in ship yards or
elsewhere without further restric-
tionS."
The st. Paul convention of the
American Federation of Labor, held
during the month of June this
year, also considered this subject and
expressly declined to indorse compul-
sorry health insurance, and directed
instead the appointment of a special
committee to investigate this entire
subject and report its findings and
conclusions to the next convention.
1t is clearly evident from the fore
going definitely expressed attitudes
that the committee on labor, of which
Mr.. Gompers is chairman, and the
American Federation of Labor. of
which he is president, have at no time
declared themselves in favor of COM
pulsory health insurance, either as
applied by the state or by private
concerns, and that no action or recon-
mendation made by Mr.. Gompers had
for its intent or purpose, or can be
correctly interpreted and logically
construed as opening the way for the
adoption of compulsory health in
surance, either state or private, not
withstanding any reports to the con-
trary and regardless of from what
ever source they may emanate.