Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-11-11
ELECTION SEEN AS
BLOW TO GOMPERS
Collapse of His Campaign Plans
May Undermine Prestige
With Labor.
yr. Es-ary in Baltimore sun.

Washington. Nov. 10 The collapse oi
orrnuixcs labor's strategy in the recent
campaign. a campaign marked by iali,
ure in almost every quarter, has dealt
n serious blow to the prestige Of Samuel
Compers, veteran president of the Amer
ican Federation Of Labor. and may prove
embarrassing e. HIM in his effort TO keep
his hand upon the vast body OF men Tor
whom he is the spokesman.
Notwithstanding Mr.. Gompers clam
uf few DAYS ago that labor had de-
fcated no less than '5o-time servers
in the last election, the American Fed
Grafton lost virtually every important
fight IL made, beginning with Governor
Cox and extending down the line.
The results of the campaign do not.
of course. represent a defeat for all Ia
Dor. since the heavy Republican vote IN
almost every industrial center shows
clearly that tens of thousands of union
workinpmen as well as non-union workers
disregarded the fiat of their leaders and
voted for Harding and Coolidge.
But there results represent defeat
for the political chieitains of labor, the
head of whom is MIR Gompers. lt was
he who created labor's "non-partisan
committee and presided over 1t. II was
he who appeared upon the hustings and
advised his followers TO support Cow
ernor Cox The blacklist OF candidates
for the House and Senate was made up
in the national headquarters of the
American Federation in this city.
Mr.. Gompers has Indicated that hall
. hundred men whom he ard his ASSOC
ciates opposed went into the discard a
week ago. but it is regarded as signifi-
, cant here that lie has not called the
names of these men. although q score or
more of newspaper correspondents have
rcoursted that they may be made public
80 FAR ~ the surface Is concerEed,
labor has ver, lttlr to show for the
efforts pat forth IA the campaign. Its
candidat. for the Presidency Went down
under al avalanche of votes A House
and SENATE. both Overwhelmingly Rcpub-
hcan. have been elected, and almost every
inan against whom the t,omprrs non
partisan committee arrayed itself has
heru returned 90 Congress with an IN
,uased majority.
There may bc many candidates, of
cniIrSa. who were not cor spicuous ing
ur.s. whom organized labor killed Oft.
hu ID i certainly true that m the most
important contests Mn Gompcrs ana
hl- pohticai organizers wetc unsucc 'ssiul.
~ thia com. .ction the ease oi Gov.
Heury J Allcn. OF hsusas Is parpcu-
afly interesting As the author and
foremost champion Of the Kansas In
dustTial Court, he was more bitterly
nssailcd hy organizcd labor than any
other candidate IN the country. not OK
c.pting SENATOR Harding All the
torc,s uf labor were thrown iuto the
right agaims, him, and az ore time Ger
tain of the governors friends were APP
ttrab,Y1,k-, COR fhf, ItqpuNp
But Allen was reelected by majority
slightly in excess 0f 100000. lie was
voted for by Democrats and Republicans
aike. who did not spropose to see him
driven from public life because Of his pro
gram for industrial peace IN his State.
Senator Cummins of Iowa, also was
marked for defeat He was not frowped
upon 80 much because of his authorship
Df the railroad reorganization bill as
because Of his plan for the compulsory
arbitration IF Tabor disputes. q plan
WHICH failed of enactment, but for which
Nr. Cummins never made an apology.
The labor politicians employed every
possible means Of preventing his return
to the Senate. but, he, too, was Reelected
py a decisive majority.
Likewise Senators Curtis. of Kansas
Wadsworth. OF New York and Brande-
ZEE Vi ttblfttAftNtts WIZ DttttN-tt1tt& Ab4
their votes on the arbitration section of
me Cummins-Esoh bill. but in each
Instance they were reelected by heavy
!najoritics Senator Nason. of ln-s
diana, was another on that list, as waf
spencer, of Missouri, and Lenroot, q
Wisconsin. The first against Lenroot
was particularly bitter, but he Won even
with his party split against him.
In the House Representative Elsch
was defeated in the primaries by a com
bnation between labor and the la Fol-
lctte forces While the Congressman
friends insist that labor played only
minor part in the contest, the primary
esult undoubtedly was labor victory.
potentially if not actually
But labor gained mighty little by Mr.
Ilsch's defeat. He viii be succeeded as
chairman of the House Committee on
Interstate and Foreign Commerce by
Representative Winslow of Massachll-
aetts. wealthy manufacturer and man
who voted for a far stronger anti-st'ik
provision in the Railroad bill that MIR.
Esch was willing TO stand for.
Representative Stanley Webster, Of
Washington, who offered straightolt
anti-strike provision in the bill, a pro-
vision which Mr.. Esch rejected, and Who
tttf4EttEts AltultFu A4tt ubolltiLN Di iUkSsf4
in most violent form, was reelected by
large majority.
Mr. Blanton. of Texas, the CHEF labor
''bait e." in the House and the pet aver
son of Mr. GOmpeTs, was renominated
aud reelected. whereas Representative
sims, Of Tennessee. who was author Of
ihe Plumb Plan bill was defeated for
denomination.
A. q appears 70 the casual observer
the elections Just held Also il is more
apparent nov than ever before that
the labor vote Is not a deliverable ele-
ment Some of them NAV be influenced
~ their leaders. but the great bulk of
them 60 their own way