Evening star., 1919-10-04

! faced with one line to the effect that
| the SyndicaliSt worker will not be
. held back from direct action by the
capitalistic code of ethics. duty. honor,
patriotism" he told the committee:
Put quotation marks around some
| of those, and I'll stand by them yet.
| They'll show how the words are
used
Defends Some Statements.
Other excerpts, from later writings.
| stating that government as we konw
| it will shrivel up and die" and in
| duStrieS now in the hands of the
| state, municipalities, and the nation,
Will be given completely over to the
workers in them" he was quite well
prepared to defend.
| Il have my own ideas about gov
ernment," he said of the first. and of
| the second:
That's not SO startling nowadays"
We'll, that's syndicalism, pure and
| simple, isn't it?" Senator Sterling, re-
| publican of South Dakota one of his
most, persistent interrogaters, de-
manded.
Indorses Race Suicide Idea.
The witness Endorsed his own ad-
statement that "it is foolishness for
workmen to undertake. to raise big
families" S.-..
President Gompers. with apparent
amusement, listened to senators read
Fosters essays on the American Fed
Grafton of Labor-written before he
joined it as an organizer--wherein he
asserted that the American labor
movement is infested with hordes of
dishonest officials and labor takers.
These men must CO." He explained
that today he considered the blanket
charge not tenable.
One letter. written to solidarity"
the true duy of revolutionary to
work throug existing trade unions and
quit trying to buildtnp new organi-
cations, interested the committee
considerably. Foster admitted author
ship, but would not say it described
his present course.
Ali these things, these doctrines.
spelled violence, didn't they?" Sem
ator Mcclellan asked him.
They spelled fight" Foster re-
turned
Talks of Present Strike.
His remarks on the present strike
were comparatively brief. 1T came
because the workers were denied op-
portunity to present their grievances.
he said. 1t could not be delayed at
President Wilson's request, because
of the Steel Corporations policy in
instituting wholesale discharges"
Gompers Attacks Gary's Points.
President Gompers came back before
the committee when Foster concluded
ITO straighten. out a few matters"
he said, and attacked briefly some of
the points Judge Gary, chairman of
the Steel Cooperation, eng nasized in
his testimony before the committee.
'The Steel Corporation in 1901 pass
ed resolution declaring itself un-
alterably opposed to union labor"
MIR. Gompers said. notifying all of its
subsidiary officers that 1t stood
against any extension"
He defined an "open shop" as "a
place where the principle of collec-
tive bargaining cannot exist"
Steel Corporation hospitals-'T have
been informed by newspapermen" as
he put it-are places where workmen
are confined incommunicado after
accidents"
He described the corporation "as a
federation of companies and corpora
tions. which does not allow its work.
men to organize and be heard through
representation"
So late was the committee held by
its hearing Of Foster. that plans to go
to Pittsburgh to conduct an investi-
cation in the field were set over until
next week.