The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-06-11


 hoarded such quantities of hides that
 it was impossible to find proper stor age room for them. The development of Armour & Company is discussed at length, but no definite recommen- dations are made by the Executive Council.
 Brief sketches are given by the Council of the progress of legislation dealing with tax exemption for CO., ! operatives, national war housing, pro- posed amendments to the Seamen's Bill, initiative and referendum, con | vict labor. workmen's compensation, government employees, payments ana | privileges for soldiers and war work | CTS wheat prices, excessive public | borrowings, motion pictures censor | ship, postal wage legislation, navy l yard and arsenal services, and educa- | tional systems.
 | A complete report of an investi- | gatton made of the elaborate educa- | tional system of the International | Ladies Garment Workers Union also | was submitted.
 On the subject of health insurance | the Executive Council recommended ! that 1t be given further time to com | plete it's study of the various consid- | cratfons involved. and be authorized | to make public It's views at a later | date in the name of the American | Fedration of Labor.
 | Considerable progress was reported | in the matter of securing a shorter | worllda for various trades and oc | equations, 1t being added that the rapid trend toward the general es- | tablishment of the shorter workday | developed during the war must not be | allowed to wane during the period of ! reconstruction"
 l The Executive Council recommend ! cd that the entire matter be taken | up by the convention for its consid- l ation and action.
 The labor reconstruction program | formulated by a committee appointed | by the St Paul convention, and made 1 public last December is printed in | full and endorsed in the Executive l Councils report. International labor | relations are discussed at length and <, the results accomplished, which have | been announced from time 10 time | are set forth.
 | Under the heading Labor and | Peace" the report quotes the declara- | ton issued by the American Fedora l ton of Labor March 12, 1917, discus | ses labor's effort to win the war and | continues:
 | Turning from war to peace upon ! the signing of the armistice a con | ditiou soon became apparent to 1 everyone that had long been feared [ by organized labor. It was made ap- | parent very early that there had been | no adequate forethought and pro | vision made for the transition from a 1 war basis to a peace basis in industry and that as a result a period of in | dustrial confusion and unempIoym er t | was at hand.
 Tn addition there were pronounce l ments from high sources among em- | ployers that extensive reduction of | wages would be undertaken The ! taunt also was thrown al working people that they should have been ! able during the war, because of in | creased wages, to save enough to
 carry them through the period of | readjustment. These statements be- ! tray either ignorance or a desire to ! wilfully deceive because they com pletely ignored the fact that the ris- | ing cost of living had absorbed what ever increase In wages had been se-
 cured and in many cases went much ! beyond the point of absorption ef- | fecting an actual decrease in the pur- l chasing power of the individual 1 Declarations of a policy of wage | reduction came to our attention at
 Laredo, Texas. President Gompers
 there introduced the subject in open
 conference and declared that Labor would resist to the utmost any policy
 of wage reduction.
 This position has been affirmed
 since that date on many occasions
 and it is due to this prompt and de
 cisive answer to this challenge fully
 sustained by labor that there has not
 been a general assault on wages by
 employers who cannot comprehend
 the trend of the times
 The position of labor must be
 maintained and advanced at all haz.
 ards. It is the opinion of your Ex-
 ecutive Council that no wages paid tc
 American workmen today are toe high, but that on the contrary wages : far too low still are paid. in many in
 dustries. Progress is the word to-
 day and the progress worth most and
 best understood is the kind thai
 reaches the individual in the form ot
 a better life. a freer and larger op-
 portunity, and more Of the things b,
 which life Is sustained and enriched The progress of our movement i: ! realizing these things for the workers , is not to be denied by any influence or obstacle"
 Formation of the Pan American Federation of Labor at Laredo. Tex. as. last November Is reported with z recommendation that the AmerIcar
 Federation of Labor continue it's par. . tcipati6n and send delegates to the , meeting in July. The many war ac.
 tivities of Samuel Gompers, Presiden I of the American Federation of Labor . are recounted.
 The Council also reported the re. suit of its Investigation of suits b,
 the Coronado Coal Company agains . the United Mine Workers of America a which have been before the court. slnce 1914 and recommendation i. made that the Federation give the I miners union such assistance as DOS 2 sible in appealing the case to thc I United States Supreme Court
 After setting forth the valuable p work done during the past year b, : ' official trade union journals. Ameri
 can Federation of Labor publications 7 and organizers, the report of in. s Council concludes as follows:
 NO question of great natfona { policy or of great national interes . Is decided today without a contri