Arizona republican., 1920-02-23
PARTY
 IMPRACTICAL
 SAYS G0MPERS
F or m a tion Of Political Party Would Be Detri- mental To Interests Of Labor, Declares President Of American Federation Of Labor

WASHINGTON, Feb. 2z.-Forma- tion of a political labor party would be detrimental to the interests of labor and exactly in line with that which is most ardently desired by hose who seek to ~oppress labor V Samuel Gompers declared in letter to William Mitch of Terre Haute, Ind, a leader of the Indiana state labor party, made public here today.
 MT. Gompers wrote in reply to a telegram from Mitch and his asso- ciates, supporting the action of the Indiana state labor party in opposing the political declaration of the Ameri- can Federation of Labor, calling on or ganized workingmen to elect their friends and defeat their enemies.
 Mitch's telegram declared in favor of making the fight solely through labor party.
 By what right" wrote MT. Gompers, do you assume to declare the work and the policy of the American Fed eration of Labor to be impractical? Surely, the results achieved in the in- terests of the workers demonstrate the utter fallacy of your assumption.
 By your declaration you assert the practica bility of the course you de- clare you will pursue. What eXperi- ence have you had with your political party upon which to base so absurd a claim?
 Day of Reckoning Here
 ''Of this one thing you may rest as- sured; that the day of reckoning is at hand for all of those who in am tagonism to the cause of labor and for those who are subtle and equally guilty. even though they clothe their actions in the robe of pretended friend ship.
 When you shall have learned the lesson of the real struggle of labor and the cause for which our movement stands. you may become penitent for 'the gross injustice you have done by your pretention and your course.
 The effect of a separate political labor party can only be disastrous to the wage earners of our country and to the interests of all forward looking people. The votes that would go to a labor party candidate would. in the absence of such candidate, go to the best man in the field. In no case would they go to an enemy of labor
 No Hope For La5or Party
 There can be no hope for success of labor party candidates. The effect therefore of a political labor party will be to defeat our friends and to elect our enemies.
 Labor can look upon the formation of a political labor party only as an act detrimental to the interests of labor and exactly in line with that which is most ardently desired by those who seek to oppress labor
 
 demands in this hour of national crisis that there be success at the polls. This is no time for experimenting with po- litical theories which are proven false at the outset. The workers of America must use the tactics of success They must have results:
 Results will not be obtained by in- jecting a labor party, so-called, into the struggle.
 Those who are determined to be blind to the facts of the present and past will. of course, rush on to dis aster and calamity. This the Ameri- can labor movement will not do. It rejects and repudiates the fallacies of blind theories and will have. nothing to do with those treacherous follies which are suited only to the policies of labor enemies.
 Your telegram is an affront to the labor movement and an assault upon the interests of that great body of Americans who are determined that the present campaign shall result not in the destruction of our liberties. but in the opening of the way to national progress and the enlargement of op- portunities for welfare and safety" I