Evening star., 1925-10-18
LABOR CONVENTION
COMPLETES WORK
Less Spectacular But More
Constructive Than Any
Recent Meeting.
snccIal nisnatch 10 The Star.

special Dispatch to The star.
ATLANTIC CITY. October 1.-THE
executive council of tho America n
Federation Of Labor today cleaned UP
It's post-convention duties. designated
November II as the date on which ii
will meet in Washington TO prepare
for the opening of Congress. and ad-
iourned. leaving the 45th annual con-
vention n matter Of history.
From the standpoint of the spec
taCular, the convention compared
poorly with the conventions of other
Years. From the standpoint of con
struction. it must rate high; for the
first time in the memory of most of
the delegates. there was nothing Of
the factionaliSm that marred other
years. There was a man in the chair
who AT all times had the delegates
well in hand with him.
FeudS Settled Amicably.
over il all. and at all times, there
was much the spirit of revival-in-
deed some described il as Il revival
rather than Il conVentiOn-and Il spirit
of good Will. eNemplitied in the settling
around tables of interunlon feudS that
in other years would have gone 10
the floor for bitter battle, and decisions
,thut would leave the dispute on the
.t!uurStCp Of TIM, next convention.
i~ed battle was that between the In
teruational RrnIhcrhood Of TeamSterS
and the Nmal-amatCd tSSoClat tiOn OF
street ana Electric Railway Carmen.
Thursday night before the two
groups met with President Green,
members Of each said they de.paired
Of settlement. At midnight the same
Iueu gleefuIly announced an agree
mont satisfactory To both sides.
because of this together spirit
the convention was able To dispose of
"a large volume Of business. the more
important Of which. perhaps. was the
advice to unions to spend more time
rpnn trades union matters and less
lIn"n eNtrancouS subjects of an uplift
character. the decision to launch
patton wide organizing campaign
covering 20 weeks and a re-State-
mcut of lahor'S age-old position on
waGeS-that with increasing use of
machinery and consequent increase
in individual productivity, wages
should he increased and hours of la
bor progressively decreased.
Linked up with the great increase
in use of Waterpnwer. this decIara-
tiou seems impressive. Actually il
represented nothinG new. or anything
that viii in any way change the
course Of Wage negotiations in which
the object Of the unions will continue
To he. aS always has been. The secur-
in- of the highest possible wa@e and
the best possible WOr king conditions.
Antitrust Laws Hit.
Less impressive. but more i'm
puTtaut. was the declaration for the
rcpcal Of antitrust laws and of laws
forhiddinc associations of employers
and unions To work together in trade
matters. The antitrust laws were en-
acted largely on the inSstanCe of the
unions. which of bate Years have
f"und them invoked against their aC-
tivitieS almost if not quite as often
as against employers.
With the orGa nHiuG campaign is
linked another most important prof
cCt-that of drive for the 1926 con
CreSSional Campa ign. which the more
optimistic hope will result in a House
ma jority dcpendahly responsive to la
bor'S demands.
The practical shelving of action fer
or against the World Court in a large
sense reflected the spirit of the dis
tinctiVe characteristics of the conven-
tion - tendency to stick TO trades
union matters to the exclusion of
others.
The tendency will be regretted by
many outside the movement. but il
WAS welcomed by those who see Wis
ions of 4 larger and more compact
and more powerful movement
ftUuNright 1929