The Connecticut labor news., 1924-11-22
,1lvlnrEk0 lS SUKKY FOR THIRD PARTY
 IS PAPERS VIEW
New Haven Journal Sees in Announced Retirement Acknowledged
 Loss of Power.

1 President Samuel Gompers' an
 nouncement at the opening of the A. F.
 of L. convention in Fl Paso this week is looked upon by the New Haven | Journal Courier as his acknowledg- ment that he has lost his power in the executive circles of the Federation, due
 to his increasing age and loss of vital 1 itv and that he was practically forced
 to agree to the endorsement of La Fol 1ette and is now sorry for it. In an
 editorial article published Tuesday morning following the intimation that
 he must soon drop his office, the Jour lnal-C Courier says:
 "The Retirement of MT. Gompers
 While the address of MT. Gompers before the annual convention of the American Federation of Labor on Monday was not exactly a swan song it was unquestionab1y the prologue to a resignation from the office he has held for so many years and now inn poses upon him burden which ad- vancing years forbid him to carry longer It was significant of his physi- cal condition that he gave his address to another to read, an admission of enfeebled health which he never made before.
 'sIf we are not mistaken, there was D1o ad- dress which is open, almost, to the suspicion that he was apologizing for recent acts to which he subscribed re- 1uctantly and for which he is sorry. At the time the executive committee of the Federation declared for the third party with MT. La Toilette as its head we questioned if that step had met with the cordial approval of the veteran la bor leader so contrary was 1t to the attitude he had hitherto taken on all occasions. He has been strenuous in his counsel to labor not to indulge in partisan politics though reserving the right to oppose men of all parties who had shown a lack of sympathy with the labor program. The approval of La Toilette was a distinct and definite approval of a partisan undertaking and
 to that extent a distinct and definite
 repudiation by MT. Gompers of poll icy consistently advocated by him for years. He now returns to that policy and in these words, the significance of which cannot be misunderstood: No lasting gain has ever come from com pulsion If we seek to force, we tear apart that which, united, IS inv1nc1ble. fnothing more than a conci1iatory gesture, which is claimed, 1t IS open to the interpretation we put upon it.
 Accepting the view that the posi- ton in which MT. Gompers has found himself plunged as a result of his loss of power through reduced fighting strength, there is touch of the tragic ill his approaching retirement from the presidency of the Federation at mo ment when its membership has been greatly reduced from the peak at tained in 1920. In that year the mem bership of the Federation was 4,078,761. The loss in membership now recorded is 1,2O2,765. In the reflections which these figures are likely to provoke Ill his mind he will regret more than ever the failure of his office to stem the current of inside opposition, which 1t now appears were unsuccessful, and yet seek deserved consolation in the fact that he never ceased to combat 1t until the weariness of age made his protest ineffective American labor or ganizations will be fortunate indeed if his successor possesses the genius for leadership which has been his in a high degree; most unfortunate if the Gompers standard is lowered. He has been a great leader of his forces whose place it will be most difficult to fill.