Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-02-09
Mr.. GOMPERS IN POLITICS
is A.BlT TOO EXCLUSIVE
Should Modern Statesmen Worry About
All Workers or only About
Few OF Them2

FeW OF hen
IT Is doubtful whether Mr Gompers
really believes in his heart that men
elected to high Offices solely because of a
pledged devotion to trade-union principles
and causes would be able to render the
best possible service either to the country
| or to those who work for living. Yet
today's call from Washington for a con-
certed labor movement in national poll
tics seems to have been written to dis
may all candidates who are not true
and tried friends of organized labor
What. precisely, are organized labor
interests? How shall they be defined?
Who actually knows-doeS Mr.. Gompers
actually know-how they may be best
conserved in these mercurial times? Are
organized labor's causes different from
the causes to which Mr.. Wilson and Mr..
Taft Mr. Hoover or the militant Senator
, Hi Johnson give their energies in their
various ways? Are they, in a word, differ
ent from the causes of the mass of toiling
humanity?
Certainly the chief Of the federation
and his colleagues would not pretend that
! they are. Mr.. Gompers and his advisers,
! if they were confronted by the necessity
| of choice between any able progressive of
! the hour end man whose only claim to
! recognition lay in his union affiliations
would find it extremely difficult to square
! their own best beliefs with the terms of
! their call for trades union "block' in
American politics.
/ 1t is fairer to the federation leader to
| suppose that he is playing his own inevi-
! table game of politics with his supporters
! and doing a good service to the public
meanwhile His summons to the unions
will bear analysis and invite approval only
! when it is viewed as wholesome political
| criticism in realistic form. 1t ought to
! have a stimulating eject in quarters
| where mental and spiritual stmulantS
! are greatly to be desired. 1t may go far,
! for the time at least, to make bunk less
! fashionable among seekers after conspic
uous offices.
!, more alert political intelligence
among all people who work IS sorely
needed in the United States. A better gen.
cra habit of political thinking is all that
( is needed to settle two-thirds of our
troubles. If anybody can work toward
such ends he ought to be applauded and
encouraged. And only a very stupid poll
tician will fail to recognize the very real
| trend Of feeling that lies below the. appeal
| to the unions and the recent movement in
| tended to mobilize the sentiment of
| workers in this state in new and en-
elusive voting organization
Such cropping about for a new means Of
expression was inevitable not only in
trade unions but in the vast majority of
people who work-which means the larg
est part of the population. It is due to
many causes. And it is one of the results
of the blunders, the ignorance, the lazy
mindedness and the fragrant hypocrisy of
those routine politicians whose failure to
deal constructively or nationally with
the complications left by the war has been
almost as depressing as the war Itself.
Even Mr.. Gompers appears to realize
that the complications of the hour are toe
general and too difficult to be settled by
anv one party or through any new code
He, too. is temporarily foundering.
The cry for union partisans in office is
an easy way around an obstacle. Yet II
NAV prove to be unfortunate.
Voters are asked to believe that unior
leaders in Washington and elsewher'
have a monopoly of the social virtues
They will not believe this, though in fair
ness TO the men who wrote the appeal t
+he unions it may be assumed that the!
hoped to help all workers by helping
themselves. They risked the announce
ment of a policy that may drive othe
noyerfu voting units TO defensive action
against thom,
, The text Of their program seems Ike
,, wide departure from sound logic an
| -or,J political doctrine
p, To appeal for labor is right and just
since TO do so is to appeal in the inter
estg Of nine-tenths of the population o
the country.
: To appeal in the name of a small an
exclusive part of the working majorit
: which has new and untried doctrine
which il desires to force into effect is
. different matter altogether,
: Yet the question of sincerity cannot b
l raised against those who now captain tn
e labor unions. The question that may ris
2 IN trouble them is one of political wis
e dom. It is not necessary to 20 far back
n ward into history to prove that they ar
u not always wise in their choice Of men,
S MIR. Gompers and his group approve
Mr.. Foster - and for that reason the
NAV properly be charged with respons
bility for the loss Of the steel strike. !
= Mr. Foster was misunderstood and lie
>, about it was his own fault. In the fnf
Il anaIvsis he proved to be young man VII
- had vibrated like a straw in the wind b.
q. tween various radical political beliefs an
- Who. after infinite travail and experienc
was unable to make up his own mir
u about anything of importance. The ste
= strike was lost primarily because Of NJ
Il Fosters leadership, which happened to
3, erratic and emotional.
- The coal strike was lost by leaders WI
- insisted on steering the miners into vi
p lent conflict with the government at
~ time when the government was proper
=. determined TO protect the nation again
10 methods of aggression tolerable only
" warfare.