New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-05-24
Conpers Calls
For Overturn
OF Congress

outstripped incomes by reason Of
this era Of frenzied profiteerine and
gambling. This must be done with
out delay.
second-Immediate effective action
must be taken to prevent continued
increases IN the cost Of living.
Th1rd-There must be an end to
the enactment Of tho kind Of lerisla-
ton typifed by the Esch- Cummins
railroad law and the Kansas> Court
OF Industrial Relations law. There
must be an end to legislative repres-
sion, restriction and coercion. Not
only must there be an end to the
enactment Of legislation Of this char
acter, but there must be repeal Of
legislation already enacted.
Fourth-The Congress Of the
United States will do we'll to give
immediate and effective considera-
tton to the proposal Of the American
labor movement, that control of
credit capital be taken from private
hnanciers and placed In the hands
OF pubic trust, to be administered
operative in character. This will
strike a vital blow toward eliminat-
ing the abuses Of profteerinr and
exploitation.
Nfth-The Congress should pro-
vide Immediately FOR full publicity
for income tax returns.
Holds Wages Unfair
While the workers have been asked
ito be patient IL the name Of patriot-
Ism and business welfare and In the
name OF almost everything else that
could Dc INVOKED by men who have q
genius for that kind Of thing" Gompers
asserts that latest available official
statistics show the average union waos
the highest wage for workers-to
nave advanced only 55 per cent since
1914, against an average advance in the
cost Of living of SO per cent
Ihousands OF American people have
had little or no increase in income
since 1914 and have actually been com
PEELED, therefore, to accept reduction
IN real wages of approximately so per
cent" he declares. Against these con-
ditions Mr.. Gompers names twenty-one
great corporations of the country
reaping last years profit averaging
4a6 per cent above the gains of prsvi.
cost Of living appeal Of President VII
son before Congress on August s, 1919
with specific suggestions to curb prof
teering and enforce the Lever act and 8
second appeal by the President along
the same lines on December. 2, 1919.
$50 far as effectiveness is concerned
says Mr.. Gompers, ~the President may
as we'll have stood en the steps of the
Capitol and spoken 10 the automobiles
usually parked on either side"
The present Congress may be in.
dicted fairly as Congress Of incom.
petence on the cost IF living issues. 1t
n IN
has been negligent of duty and
thoughtless of this welfare of the
people.
Attorney General Scored
The government departments, as for
example the Department of Justice
may be indicted for incompetency on
the same grounds. What has been more
ludicrous in American public life dur
ing the past year than the announce
ment Of the Department of Justice to
the effect that it has abandoned its
high cost Of living campaign because
Prosecution of those seeking to con-
troll supplies and prices in contraven-
tion of the Lever act has constituted
one Of the saddest comedies of the last
few months.
There is no neea to review the rec
ords of the Department of Justice in
the prosecution of big profteers. There
is, in fact, no record to review.
Perhaps there never has been a time
in American history when this kind OF
treebooting was conducted on such q
large scale as at present. If Congress
had seen fit to respond to the wishes
of the President and enact some of the
legislation suggested by him, it would
have been possible to curb, at least tc
some extent, this unlicensed plumber
ing of the necessities of life. For Con.
gress to deny that relief is possible is
for Congress to confess the incompe-
tency of which the evidence convicts 1t
"The Attorney General has found il
possible to indict corner grocers and
small haberdashers for offenses which
are of no moment at all in comparison
to the whole situation. He has
found it possible to do number of in.
effective things, but seems to have
found it beyond his capacity to do eff.
fective things.
Discusses Anti-Labor Bills
"Proof Of legislative incompetence
accumulates and the indictment Of the
66th Congress grows" says Gompers in
branding, as "repressive legislation
against the workers, the Esch- Cum.
Minis railroad law, which disallows