Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-10-24
Tri-Gr0up Failure
Due to Make-Up
Continued From PaEe One


example of indiscriminate selection,
Properly it should have been designated
MS the "miscellancous' or composite
sroup.
Tt was composed OF bankers, farmers
aud lawyers who certainly could not be
ciassed as employers. TO be sure there
we're great employers. like Homer l..
Ferguson, of the Newport News Ship
building Company; Herbert F. Per
kins, of the International Harvester
Company John J. Roskob. of the du
Popt Powder Company, and s. Pembcr
ton, Hutchinson, of the Wcstmoreland
Coal Company There were railroad
employers of labor. l.. +. Loree. pres
jident Of the Delaware and Hudson
Carl II. Grey. and representatives OF
great trade bodies like Ernest 7. Trigg,
nresident of the Philadelphia Chamber
: Of Commerce.
But Of the three farmers. arbitrarily
Tpiaced in this group. one was member
Of union and another publicly asserted
that he regarded himself as union
labor man and could not understand
why he had been assigned to a place
among the employers.
Labor was the ouly solidly united.
one idea. delegation. Its lines were
never broken. It knew what it wanted,
asked for it, fought for it. and fail
iugfto get it, bolted the conference.
The most unenviable position oc-
cupied by any set Of delegates was
that of labor. 1t was understood be-
fore the conference assembled that
there was ill-concealcd dissension in
nYty Of 1ah n nuOTN n
and some of his associates had been
bitterly opposed by the radical element
The 7. W. w. and the halfba lead
ers of the foreign element with Bolshevik
tendencies were fighting TO GUST the
conservative American leaders and gain
control. The extremists and syndicalists
are threatening the stability of the or
ganiZation.
Conservative labor leaders quite as
much as employers and capitalists fear
this radical element Labor leaders are
going along in many things, not
that they prefer to. but because they
must or else turn the labor ship over
10 those who ultimately would scuttlc
it or run it on the rocks
I.abor's Mistakes
In their zeal 10 demonstrate the
strength of their leadership they made
serious mistakes in the conference. The
second resolution introduced, which
called for arbitration of the steel strike
by six members of the conferehcc was n
mistake. II was foredoomed to defeat.
The conference was new. 1t had de-
veloped no program and the strike reso =
lntion plunged it into a hopeless con
troversy that could get it nowhere.
Then the peoples group, foolishly and
without careful consideration, started
another back fire. 1t was as harmful
TO the orderly conduct OF the confer
ence as the Gompers resolution. 1t was
the now famous resolution defining col e
lective bargaining, Russell, the So
cialist, was the author of il. II was a
regular Pandora's box. It Let loose
not only the question of collective bar
gaining, but the vital issue of the 'opcu
shop" the rights of nonunion workers
and the issue precipitated by Judge
Gary whether or not an employer was
obliged TO negotiate with individuals
who were not in his employ.
Never for moment did the two
groups most vitally interested. employ
ers and labor, get into close and con
fidential conference, much less direct
personal touch. where they could dis
cuss their differences. Their repre- .
sentatives on the steering committee
were their only means of contact Then
labor, disregarding the request of the
President, walked out of the conference
very well knowing that its action would
disrupt the organization.
Compelled to Do 1t
But labor was compelled to pursue
this course.
To have accepted the defeat of the
two measures quietly and continued ir
the conference would have furnished tho
radicals. the Bolsheviki and the !. w
w. with n war cry that would hav,
been direful in all probability to th,
present leadership of the American Fed
eration of Labor, Mr.. Gompers and hi'
associates had the choice of leaving thu
conference or risking their supremacy
IA leaders of the American FeedratioI
Of Labor.
IL has been charged that Gompers
was springi1g the jack in the box o
holshevism on the employers and tn
ecnference but no man who has talked
heart to heart with conservative laboI
leaders but knows that the fear o.
the "Red terror" with them is a very
present thing.
Whether or not President Wilson viii
view this wreck of his idea by tn,
labor group with eomplacency is o ques
tiep. Mr.. Compers and President vii.
4en have been close friends. Mr.. vii.
x3n'a broader view and intimacy witt
~ head of the American Federation