The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1921-06-22
HAPCOOD ASSERTS
VICTORY FOR LEWIS
IS BEST FOR LABOR
Compers, An Old Leader Behind
Times, Should Be Dropped,
Says Writer.
NJ NORMAN HAPGOoD.


What chance Lewis has against
but / do know that the victory of
Lewis would be the best thing that
could happen to labor.
Toward Mr.. Gompers rs an individ-
ual my feelings have always been
friendly, but his usefulness 10 gone.
He 10 behaving today exactly as ne
behaved a quarter of a century ago.
Comprehensive indeed Is the 10y
| atty that makes so many followers
stick to him, even against their bet
ter judgment, because they wish not
to humiliate him after his Lifetime OF
service. We can appreciate personal
loyalty, and yet deplore II when u
acts as an obstacle in the largest
movement In the world.
For the question of what labor IL
to gain in the struggles of today Is
the most important question confront
| ing us II II were well led In TINS
country it's chances of rapid progress
| in responsibility and shared controi
would be excellent
Led as Mr.. Gompers leads IL. the
probability Is that IL will lose almost
every trick in the diplomacy between
IL and capital
THINGS FOR LABOR TO WATCH.
At the old game the present era OF
depression favors those elements that
want to weaken the unions. MT.
Gompers seems to understand moth
ing except wages and hours. Those
were the proper hghting points TWEEN
ty years ago. but no man Is ieader
who connens his attention exclusively
to them today.
Money wages must come down for
"a 70 Lab n a
to see that real wages do not come
down; that is to say. money wages do
not come down faster than cost OF
living An even more important
thing is to see that in such readjust-
ments labor gains other essentials,
such as regularity of employment and
such as increasing share in manage
ment and a consequently increasing
knowledge of the inside of business.
There are plenty of big organize
tons that / shall take up from time
to time. with none of these big Or
PLANTATIONS has labor shown itself
capable of dealing to the greatest
permanent advantage. This is true
in the organizations that are union
lied and in those that refuse to al
low uniona-
AFRAID OF NEW IDEAS
Serious faults have crept into the
unions themselves-the survival and
fossilizing of measures that once
grew out of emergencies, but now
serve merely to deprive the unions
of much confidence that might be
theirs.
Mr.. Gompers IL afraid OF these new.
creative, daptive ideas. He feels that
IL he ventures on any ground except
the long familiar ground of wages and
hours he will be outplayed in the ne
gotiations- II that fear is justified 1t
merely shows that he is not the
leader for the present day.
The extent to which fear of the
rev absorbs him was shown at DEN
yer when he choose for one of his
subjects an attack on German labor.
Cannot he understand that when he
helps to keep alive these divisions he
is playing directly into the hands of
the worst enemies of labor? Raising
an issue of 1914 in 1921 can do moth
ing but injury to the labor cause
HIS RUSSIAN STAND.
So with his readiness to throw a
bolshevist At on every possible and
impossible occasion expect him
within a day or two to issue a state
ment asserting that our lost vessels
were pcfsoudhy ucstroycu ny r~iCcidi
Lenin.
In this Russian matter he is just
as unintelligent as in the German
matter. He is the most useful ad-
junct the State Department has in it's
Russian policy. He is the most use
full assistant to the worst exploiting
capitalists in their determination to
use bolshevist foreworks to make the
country distrustful and alarmed over
all the claims of labor to a large
share in the determination of its own
destinies.
wish Mr.. Gompers well. wish he
would realize voluntarily that his
time has gone by and voluntarily
make place for new men with con-
temporary ideas. When he went to
England during the war and lee
tured the leaders there they were
filled with amazement. II was stun
they outgrew two decades ago.
What Denver ought to do II to
thank Mr.. Gompers cordially for tho
past and put him where he cannot
block the future. y