Great Falls daily tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1895-1921, 1919-09-27
DEN|ES LEADER
FOSTER RST|LL|s
REVOLUTIONARY
Senate Investigators De-
eide to Hear Gary Be-
fore Ex-I. w. w.
At HEAD ISN'T SURE
8-HOUR DAY WILL STAY

Washington Sept. 26.-The issue in
the nationwide steel strike was defin-
ed, today, by Samuel Gompers, president
of the American Federation Of Labor.
as recognition Of the right Of employees
ito be heard, to organize and to have
some voice in determining conditions
under which they labor" He appeared
as labor's second witness in the senate
labor committees investigation of the
steel strike. When he finished, the com
mittee adjourned until next Wednes
day. when Elbridge Fl. Gary. chairman
Of the board Of directors Of the L. S.
steel corporation viii be heard.
President Gompers, in the course of
his remarks, Condemned unsparingly
civic authorities in the western Pennsyi-
vania steel centers.
Whatever helps the corporation
Of Pennsylvania will be found doing
Gompers said at one point.
Full responsibility for the strike he
laid at the door of Judge Gary, who
could have stopped it, he said. by grant
ing conference to the strike com
mittee.
Counter charges against the steel
workers. involving the revolutionary
radicalism Of William u. Foster, the
strike committee secretary in particular.
was met by Gompers with the assertion
that Foster no longer was a syndicalist
or an l. w. w.
'.The right to be heard is what the
Ill
else" Gompers said. THE right to
speak with their employees through their
own representatives. to have some voice
in determining conditions under which
they work.
'.The right Of workers to associate
has been dened-denied with all the
power and influence and wealth of the
steel corporation-denied by brutal and
unwarrantable means.
Many Aliens; Brought by Trust.
1T has been said that most of the
men taking part in this strike are Of
foreign birth and not naturalized
citizens. That may be and no doubt il
true. The largest proportion Of steel
corporation employees are of foreign
birth, but these men were brought here
by the companies
There was for years systematic
effort to bring in these gangs from
Europe. There was systematic effort
to eliminate Americans. They have a
harvest to reap now. These steel com
panies brought about the state Of which
they now complain.
Complains of Slave Hours.
Under efforts of the steel corpora
ton. the hours of labor were always
abnormally long. They never seemed
satisfied until they had their men toll
ing seven days a week. 365 days a year
When the shifts changed. from day to
night, they got them working "a hours
a day.
THE right Of association, the attempt
to organize, met with the sternest op-
position of the steel corporation.
'9The appeals coming to us from their
employees were for help in organizing.
But most of the efforts were slaughtered
by the detectives and the agencies in
the company pay. More than 60 per
cent of all the private detective agency
effort in this country has been devoted
to spying On employees. in mines and mills.
They have been used as agents provo
cateurs to induce men to some overt act
to get them to strike too soonn
Detectives Used to Provoke.
AS be described the "dogging" of en-
ployes by detectives, Gompers empha-
sized his words by pounding frequently
on the table
In the steel industry" he continued,
"men were discharged for merely talk
ing Of organization. or for grumbling."
There have been numbers Of men
watched SO closely that when they rented
hail. the proprietor was told to lock
the doors against them. Their meetings
on rented ground have been broken up,
the men were run down, dispersed and
Immediately assaulted
Can you give instances Of that last
practice? z" asked Senator Sterling, re-
publican, South Dakota.
Trust Bosses Towns, He Says
Yes. at McKeesport." Gompers re-
sponded "Since this strike the offices
of the iron and steel workers there have
been closed against them"
Only in the event of war, the labor
leader declared, should the rights Of free
speech and assembly be restricted. They
should not be. be said, for "privateer-
ing corporation
u know that many Of the public au-
CONTINUED fago Two.)