Evening star., 1926-05-09
By FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

1.-The American labor movement is
not a laboratory for trying out the
cries. We are concentrating over
here on practical things" That
TO this writer by the most influential
labor leader in the United States
when asked to discuss, from the
standpoint of American workers. the
crisis now paralyzing the life of
Great Britain. The leader in ques
ton had before him. when he spoke,
the statement made by William
Green, president of the American
Federation Of Labor The statement
says that working people in the
United States will observe with keen
interest this experimentation in the
use of the sympathetic strike as q
means of bringing about the settle
ment Of a wage controversy In a
single industry But beyond the eX-
preston of such interest, the fedora
ton executive made it Enthusiastically
plain that the British general strike
is a measure to which American labor
is altogether unlikely ever to resort.
Labor chieftains like William Green
point out that It is American work
ers' devotion to the principle of "ob-
servance Of wage agreements that
makes a general strike practically i'm
possible in this country. The Fed
Grafton of Labor is strongly commit
ted to the policy of collective bargain
ing, of wage contracts and Of keep
ing wage scales. Having achieved
its greatest progress through what
President Green calls religious OBJ
servance Of contract obligations" he
is convinced that American organized
labor will not depart from that we'll
established policy. Mr.. Green is per
suaded that the United Mine Work
ers and the great railroad brother
hoods, which are affiliated with, but
do not belong to, the Federation Of
Labor, are determined to adhere to
the same program.
British Trouble Political
The British upheaval strikes Amer
ican labor leaders as essentially
political, rather than economic, in
character and purpose. That is an
other score on which the working
men Of this country look at their
problems through different eyes from
their British comrades. The question
of approaching these problems from
a political standpoint was thrashed
out at the last annual convention of
the American Federation Of Labor at
Atlantic City, in October, 1925. Reso-
lutions urging the formation of a
labor party were defeated by a prac-
tically unanimous vote. The resolu-
tions favored the formation of such
a party, biased upon the trade unions
and including as affiliated sections all
other politicpl organizations Of a
working-claSs nature"
President Green led the opposition
to the resolutions. He compared the
successes of tho American labor move
ment in resisting wage reductions with
the acceptance Of wage reductions by
the British labor movement. The
American labor movement, Green
said, relied upon it's economic power
to advance the interests Of the wage
earners, while in Great Britain prac
tfcally all the efforts were confined
to attempts to gain political power. y
Green went on to argue that ex-
perience has taught the working peo
nle of America not to aspire to a
betterment of their standards of labor
and living through politics., There
are those" he said, "who eXtol the
political experiences of Great Britain
and who attempt to persuade the
workers of America to follow the ex
ample of British workers. But what
has Great Britain done through an
Independent labor party that is In
advance of what American workers
have accomplished through their
purely trade union movement? have
iust read the report Of the president
of the British Trade Union Congress
(the bodysnow conducting the general
strike) The one distressing note that
stood out more prominently than
other distressing notes In that address
was the reference to reduction ir