The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1938-09-22


of the law and submit reports at the
regular meetings on its administration
and provisions so that delegates could
then inform the membership Of their
Unions.
mously as president of the American
Federation of Labor.
Since then Green has been elected
president of the federation each year.
Each election was unanimous. Over a
span of 13 years not a single conven-
tion vote has been cast against him
for reelection. No greater tribute could
be paid to a leader by democratic
organization.
The first few years of Green's
regime were auspicious. The rising tide
of prosperity and boom times brought
gains to labor in the form of higher
wages and full employment.
1929 Crash Brings Labor Crisis
Then came the crash of 1929. 1t
meant potential disaster to labor.
Wage cuts and widespread unemploy-
ment threatened to wipe out in few
months most of the gains scored by
organized labor since the war. Those
we're trying days.
The election Of President Roosevelt
and the beginning of the New Deal in
1882 brought new hope to labor and
the country. The President joined
whole-heartedly with labor in a drive
to bring about recovery by raising liv-
ing standards. He called upon Green
and the federation for help and the re-
sponse was instantaneous and ef-
fective.
With the passage of the national re-
covery act, the federation was swamp
ed with the new responsibilities and
work. Never before in history had
Government and labor cooperated more
closely. Never before did labor have
such an authoritative voice in the high
councils of the nation. Never before did
president of the American Fedora
tion of Labor face more severe test.
Tells of Green's Work
The story of those days was we'll
summarized by delegate to the fed
eration's 1888 convention. He said
from the convention platform:
at has been given to me to know,
along with many others within the
sound of my voice, that there is no
man in America today, save perhaps
the President himself, who has given
more to this great task of saving our
American republic than has been the
case of our own William Green.
Through long days and nights he
has labored with his associates in the
ranks of organized labor, in the coun-
ellis of the nation upon which he has
sat and held membership, endeavoring
at all times to promulgate policies, to
point and chart the way in the inter-
ests not alone of those who give ad-
herence to the standards of organized
labor, but in the interests of all of the
people of our great nation.
"Suffce to say that in this conven-
ton at this time, faced with the prob
lens which we know are before us, it
is fitting indeed that organized labor
again by its vote in this convention
demonstrate to the world at large that
labor has faith in its leaders and la
Dor has again elected to the proud Of
flee of president of the American Fed
Grafton of Labor that great champion
of human rights, that great proponent
of the ideals of labor, and that great
defender of human hberty-William
Green"
Opportunity for Labor
The delegate who spoke those
words was John l.. Lewis, president of
the United Mine Workers.
In the next two years, labor was Of
fered glorious opportunities to work
for legislation emancipating the work
ers, offering all citizens measure of
social security and placing the ma
tion's economic life in better balance.
These opportunities were not allowed
to slip by. The record of legislation
accomplished in that period speaks for
itself.
In NRA was included for the first
time in the Federal laws a guarantee
to workers of the right to bargain col
lectively. When the NRA was invali-
dated by the Supreme Court, this sec
ton of the law was salvaged and .ex-
planned in what is now known as the
National Labor Relations act, called at
the time of its passage the Magma
Charta of labor.
CIO Borne in 1885
While the trade union movement
was still cheering this momentous ad-
vance, a group of labor leaders, ex-
hibiting the same sort of impatience
Gompers warned against, attempted a
coup to grasp control of the
federation.
Advocating the policy of unrestrict-
ed industrial unionism as against