Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-10-29
MEANS
TOCRUSH LABOR.
GOMPERS SAYS
Considers Time Ripe For the
Final Blow, He Tells
Workers
Bu Associated Press


Washington, Oct. 29.-More than
ten thousand organized workers of
the District of Columbia who pa
raded down Pennsylvania avenue
last night in honor of Samuel Comp
ers, president of the American FEEDER
alton of Labor later heard the vet
eran labor leader assert that Dig
| business" definitely had determined
| ito give labor because of its growing
strength a blow between the eyes"
The attitude of the United States
/ Steel Corporation toward the steel
workers unions, he added, was only
/ one manifestation of this determi-
| nation on the part of industry. Mr..
/ Gompers said that while at the be-
ginning of the steel strike he con-
sidered it ''untimely since learning
of the plans of the steel companies
! in common with all large employers
he had changed his mind and now
the steel strikers had his utmost
sympathy" AS evidence of this SYM
pathetic attitude he appealed to the
! District of Columbia workers to con-
tribute to the support of the strik-
ers.
Mr.. Gompers declared that he pre-
ferred to interpret what had been
said and done in his honor, as n tri-
butte to the labor movement rather
than to himself. The American
! Federation of Labor, he said, was
| mo one man movement"
| You know of the troubles which
are before u.s." he told the union
men, These include the steel
strike. l regarded the Inauguration
, of that strike not as wrong but as
untimely. You will note that | am
speaking in the past tense"
Mr.. Gompers added that at the
time the steel workers walked
out, information had come to him
from two sources which he could not
| disregard that big busines" had
met and consulted and had deter
er one to administer u blow to or
ganized labor. Labor was gaining
so much power and influence, he
! said, that business determined to
crush it once and for all. Inasmuch
as the industrial situation was pass
! ing from Il war to a peace basis Mr..
Gompers charged the United States
Steel Corporation considered that in
the midst of this transition period
| the moment was ripe for show
down. The decision was made, he
added, to provoke deliberately the
workmen to strike in order to de-
| feat them.
Il don't believe in strikes when
| the boss wants it," he asserted. 1T
is a science to know when and when
not to strike"
Charging that the steel corpora
ton had discharged thousands of
men for no other reason than be-
cause of their connection with or
) gani2ed labor, he said the workers
, became apprehensive and they could
not be kept from going out, even
though the strike appeared to be Il
plan of the steel interests.
Yet, if they had not walked out
when they did" he continued, they
would undoubtedly have fallen,
sooner or later, under the malignant
influence of the l. w. w. and Boil
sheviki so that there was the fur
ther issue involved of preserving
these workers in the ranks of order
ly organized labor or of seeing them
abandoned to the disorderly forces
arising in their midst"
The federation president charged
that the foreign language press had
long endeavored to prejudice the
cause of organized labor.
Such newspapers" he declared
are suborned and subsidized by the
| financial interests and especially by
e. !.
All the aSgr eSsions which have led
to anything like disorder have been
made possible by this concern"
He expressed as his belief that the
steel strikers We're in n better posi-
ton to-day than at any time since
the strike occurred.
The steel strike is not lost as
Mr.. Gary has asserted" the speaker
added. 1T will be won if the proper
support is given them"
AS what he termed second sub
ject of contemporary interest to the
working man, Mr.. Gompers read
one of the bills recently introduced
in Congress to prohibit strikes. Say
ing that he with the late John Nit
J chell and Secretary Morrison, of the
American Federation of Labor, onCk,
had been sentenced to prison, he
affirmed that he could never be for
hidden to express his conscientious
judgment on any issue concerning
| the rights of the American people.
Neither will the barking and
bowling of industrial interests af
feet me-" he went on. This bill
would reintroduce industrial servi-
tude in the United States. 1t could
not and would not prevent strikes
Strikes should be avoided; so should
wars. What man regrets the revo.
lutionary war? The working people
, of America have a right to stop work
when their interests impel them tc
stop work. The strike is only ar
aspiration for a higher and better
life"