Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-06-25
SAMUEL GOMPERS
REELECTED

- old man of the labor union
movement, got reelected the other
day as the head of the American
Federation of Labor without oppo-
sition. At the last election he had
quite a fight on his hands, but beat
his opponent, John Lewis OF the
coal miners organization, by a
comfortable margin. Mr.. Gompers
has had a good many fights on his
hands during his long experience
as a labor leader. The socialists,
the communists, the bolshevists,
the l. w. w. and the radicals gen.
orally, hate him. Again and again,
these more violent and radical ele-
ments in trades unionism have tried
to displace him as the head of the
greatest labor union organization
in the world, and without success.
During the wal he was a tower of
strength to the Wilson administra-
ton that was conducting that war.
and to the country generally. He
was wise, patient and patriotic, al
ways. His influence helped to hold
the labor unions loyal to the nation
during that mighty conflict.
There has been considerable
abuse heaped on the head Of Samuel
Gompers by employers of labor
who encountered strikes. and by
the conservative and business ele-
rlent. We always thought that was
a mistake on their part. Mr.. Comp
crs is intensely loyal to the inter-
ests Of the wage-earning class. He
has devoted his whole life to eff
forts to improve their condition
He has been their official spokes-
man and representative often, and
the general who conductd their
battles. 1t is natural and to be
expected that he sees most ques-
tons through their eyes. If it
were not SO. he would not be con
tinually kept at the head of the
greatest labor union organization
in the world. 1t is not to be ex-
pected that interests remote from
union labor interests or frankly
antagonistic to them will always
approve of the attitude of Samuel
Gompers on public questions that
affect them. But we arc of the
opinion that the business inter
ests," so-called, Of this country
who are opposed to the policies of
Mr.. Gcmpers and the American
Federation of Labor can count
themselves lucky that their chief
opponents are men Of such CON-
mon sense, wisdom and real patri-
otisn as Samuel Gornpers and sup
porters and associates III the Amer
lean Federation of Labor. They
are the active force that holds back
a flood of radicalism that might
bring on a crisis in this country.
Not that we believe for a moment
that any repetition of the Russian
revolution could be brought about
in this country. There is too much
sanity and wealth is too widely dis
tributed in this republic to make
that possible. But we might we'll
have an attempt, abortive though it
would doubtless prove, to bring
about just that thing. Sporadic
instances in local communities
where many foreign-born workers
are, have too frequently given evil
dcnce of the fact that a desire to
overturn the law and substitute
force, exists. Toward all revolu-
tionary tendencies of this sort
Samuel Gompers has turned a face
of granite. He demands reforms
and special privileges and advan-
tagcs for those he represents
class legislation, perhaps-but he
demands it through orderly pro-
cesses of law. He wants the CON
stitution changed, or new statutes
passed, but he would do this
through the power of the ballot
and not with force of arms or
breaking of the law. If union labor
had followed his advice more close.
ly in the use Of their ballots, they
would have had more than they
now have lawfully and fairly
gained.
The election Of Mr.. Gompers as
president Of the American Fedora.
ton of Labor without opposition
to the man. but it is an evidence OF
this time is not only a compliment
wisdom on the part of the members
of the organization that might well
be copied elsewhere. There is &
Tendency in our nuhIic life &c