New-York tribune., 1919-04-13
German Propaganda Still
A Menace, Warns Gom,pers
Labor Leader Cites Bolshevism Standpatisn and
Profteering Evils That Must Be Guarded
Against at Home-Taft i'm Plea for Leasue

Warming against German propa
ganda, which he declared is now as
active and more insidious than at any
time prior to or during the war, Sam
uel Gompers, president of the Ameri
can Federation of Labor, told the mem
bers of the National Civic Federation
yesterday they must also guard against
triple evils at home Bolshevism,
standpatism and profiteering.
Mr.. Gompers, who has just returned
from the international Labor Confer
ence in Paris, with Frank Duffy, James
Duncan and William Green, associated
with him in the mission, were guests
of the federation at luncheon given
in the Holland House V. Everit Macy
presided, and the speakers, besides Mr..
Gompers, were William Howard Taft
and Mr.. Duncan. About 400 were
present.
B. r. T. Position Criticised
Since my coming ashore" said Mr..
Gompers, referring to the Brooklyn
situation, II find a situation right
here where men intrusted with
the management of great trans
portation system have said to
the employees: You cannot talk
with US. We will not discuss with
you the terms of your employment
nor the conditions under which you
work. The industrial autocrat who
thinks he is master of all that he sur
veys is a real menace to our institu-
turbance. No man in this day can
say that he is master of all he sur
veys. If he is not willing to concede
something he has learned nothing by
the war"
Mr.. Taft, the first speaker, intro
duced himself as '|rogatory, gyratory
animal, ever on the wing" and de-
clared that few realized how much the
American people are indebted to Mr.
Gompers and his associates for their
work in keeping labor stabilized dur
ing the war
II fancy" said he, chat few under
stand what labor commissions sent
abroad did in the matter Of preserving
the morale of the laboring classes in
England, France and Italy Had that
morale yielded no one knows what
the result of the war would have been
1t was through labor missions sent
abroad that we were able, with other
factors, to win the war"
Pledge to Labor Asserted
"A league of nations to prevent further
wars was one of the things promised
the labor of these countries bv these
missions, Mr.. Taft said, which fact
he cited as an additional reason why
Americans should now stand for such
league.
II conceive it to be a duty of those
who occupy somewhat adverse position
to realize the changes the war has
made said Mr.. Taft. eve must all.
capital and labor and the people in
between, welcome and encourage the
of labor which has sense
OF responsibility to the entire govern
ment and the country"
AS part of this he urged that en-
ployers recognize the right of en-
ployes to be consulted on working con-
dltons and wages and to collective
bargaining. This, he declared. was in
dustrlal democracy. Collective bar
gaming was not q solution of labor
problems, but it is. he insisted, a stem
IN the right direction.
Speaking of Mr.. GompersAs part in
the war, Mr.. Taft declared, mo pro
German ever extracted comfort from
any act or word of his
W hen YOU consider the cross-cnr-
rents and what he had to meet and on
pose, zsald Mr.. Taft, no man who un-