The Connecticut labor news., 1922-07-28
IF YOU GET ARAP ON
 NOSE, CALL POLICE,
 NOT ARMY, GOMPERS
Veteran Labor Leader Tells Report. CTS That Troops Are
 Unnecessary.

l Seated at the head of long assem-
 ply table in the executive board room l of the American Federation of Labor | sat Samuel Gompers, veteran leader of American labor Before him were l more than a score of alert, expectan1 young men, the pick of Washington ] news writer's
 There had been a long, impressive pause, broken finally by Mr. Gompers who is now speaking in measured words, punctuating them with his forehnger gently tapping the table top:
 "I want to say in conclusion" he began, that the strike of shopmen is in every sense just and righteous Back of them is the entire labor movement We will give these men every support within our power. l wanted you to know this, because it is we'll that the public with which you are in touch shall learn just where we stand in this momentous strug- gle"
 That statement climaxed most ia1 voice of labor, speaking in behalf of labor, and telling the public labor's aims and aspirations.
 
 vastly more than any interview could be- It was challenge to those who sought to create an impression that the workers are fighting their government.
 An hour and a half earlier Mr. Gompers greeted the reporters with the statement that he wanted to speak through them to the great public be- yond and clear up matters about which he feared there might be some misapprehension.
 He had called them there, he said, that they might confer with him free ly, asking any questions they deemed pertinent, in the assurance that he would answer as frankly as his in- formation would permit.
 "This strike is against the railroad arrangements" declared MT. Com pers, in reply to one question. "Any attempt to make it appear otherwise is not only unjust, but Is doomed to failure. This is still America, and no agency dare say that men must work against their will"
 "The Labor Board has not, can not, and will not bring peace to the indus try. It foments strife. We protested against the board when it was being created because we knew what the results would be- Before the Labor Board came into existence there had not been a nationwide strike of rail men Now we have the board and a nationwide strike. Labor's wisdom has been vindicated. If the men and the homogeneous could be brought into conference this strike would soon be settled" .--....
 "Has the interventoin of the Presi- dent improved or made the situation worse?" asked reporter.
 ''It has not clarified the situation Is all 1 may say" responded MT. Com pers.
 What have you to say in reply to the threat of calling out the army?' MT. Gompers was asked.
 q would not" he slowly responded, "wish to see any mans skin cut or his hair ruff1ed the wrong way. But if some man should receive blow oh the nose I should call policeman and not the soldiers"
 During the hour and half of rap id-hre questioning MT. Gompers placed the workers case squarely be- fore the news gatherers. .
 He reviewed the patience and tact with which the men had placed their case against the Labor Board, "jug- handled tribunal" he called it, where the odds are six to three against the men.
 These men, MT. Gompers declared, did not want to strike. They know only too we'll what a strike means to them and their families. But they ] were left no recourse.