Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-04-24
HANDS OFF,"
GoMPEl['R!S SAYS
Tells Lockwood Committee
Labor Wants No Union
Regulations.

VI NewsYork, April 24.-SAmuel Com
pers, president of the American Fed
Grafton Of Labor, Saturday appealed to
the Lockwood investigating commit
tee to keep hands off organized labor
and let unions OF the building trades
industry put their house in order
When Samuel Untermyer, counsel
for tho committee, asked eMr. Gompers
what he would say II he knew the
committee contemplated recommend
Ing to the state legislature that laws
be- enacted 70 halt the abuse Of pow
or by labor unions by holding MO
members responsible as individuals
for loss sustained to contractors
through these abuses" the veteran
leader replied:
Il should not only object. 1 should
protest such action"
Asked what alternative there might
be, no said patience while organized
labor exsrts itself to correct abuses
within the organization
Would Stop Unfair Practices.
Then, at the suggestion OF Mr. I'm
termyer, he offered to do all in his
power to bring unions of h build
Ing trades industry to practices
which, he confessed. were unfair,
unw1se, uncalled for and not in keep
ing with the principles of organized
labor"
Mr.. Gompers declared. however,
that relief must come from within
the American Federation of Labor,
not from new laws, asserting you
can't bring the American workmen
Into a legal straight-jacket."
Mr.. Gompers had been On the stand
since Friday when, as "a voluntary
but unwilling Witness he appeared
at the opening Of the committees
investigation into Tabor and labor
abuses in the building trades" At the
close Of Saturdays session the COM
mfttee adjourned until May 3, when
Mr.. Gompers will be asked to resume
his testimony.
In the meantime. Mr.. Untermyer
announced, he would ask MI. Gompers
to make good his offer to aid the COM
mittee by suggesting how the building
trades might be purged of labor abus-
es without interference by the state.
Listens to Record of Alleged Obstruc-
tiOn.
The labor leader sat for three hours
Saturday and listened to a long recital
Of acts which, according to testimony
offered by union officials, contractors
and workers before the committee in
the Is months of it's existence, has
~obstructed building and. according to
Mr.. Untermyer, blocked attempts to
relieve congestion, house shortage and
excessive rents by the construction OF
cheap dwellings.
Mr.. Gompers said that he had not
known that, as recited by Mr.. Inter
myer, the bricklayers on six such
buildings in Brooklyn struck at the
lunch hour last Monday for an in
crease of from SO to $12 per day,
and got it. He also was not aware.
he said, that a similar strike under
like circumstances occurred in New
York Friday, where the workmen
exacted promises of $13 per day be-
fore returning to the job.
He did not know, he declared, that
plumbers unions OF New York had
been closed to candidates except
brothers and son of members since
1920; that plumbers refused to install
certain modern fixtures because they
required less labor hours than other
kinds; that one union had compelled
an employer to pay his men several
hours overtime because they waited
ten minutes after the whistle for their
weekly wages; that p~lasterers' unions
forbade the use OF moulds for in&eri-
or decorations in n building than
the one for which designed in order
that the mould makers might remain
steadily employed; or that certain
unions had a rule that when only one
man was required for the job he
should receive a foreman's wages.
'7Unwise," "RegrettabEc," Gompers
Says.
All these practices Mr.. Gompers de-
clared to be "unwise, regrettable and
unjustffiable."
But when, at the recital Of each in
stance Mr.. Untermyer asked. ''since
all your efforts at moral uplft within
the American Federation of Labor
have failed to stop suc practices dc
o believe the state should be given
power to grant the suffering contrac-
tor redress in the courts?" the labor
leader replied: II certainly do lot
Mr.. C~nrernnyer' sought to compare
trad organizations of employers with
labor unions, saying: you believe one
should he regulated. but the other
should not" to which Mr.. Gompers
replied:
II believe business men have a. nat
: ural right to organize for mutual ben
eft, but ] am in favor of their regu-
lation when, as price fixing combina-
tons they work to the detrimcnt OF
h public"
Regulation of the unions would not
4 do. however. he asserted. because
whereas an employers organization i.
formed for profit, and deals in pro-
ducts. commodities and inanimate
things made by laborers. the unior
deals in the disposition of human af.
fort. and is engaged in an eaerna,
q struggle to improve conditions
for the laboring man"
Unions should hold their contract.
sacred, he said. and should discipline
members who violated them. But, hi
asserted. it would be wrong for a con.
tractor to break an agreement, Will.
q union man was justified in violating
his side of the pact if another con.
tractor bid for his services at a high,
er. figure.
A these abuses OF labor power
MI. Gompers asserted, Originated IL
the b~riberysof our men by bushes:
agents"