Evening star., 1941-11-07
Lewis Compared With
Other Labor Leaders
Writer Tells How Mitchell
Called Strikes and Gompers
Was a True Dictator
BIZ Bertrdm Benedict.

By Bertrdm Benedict.
Is John L. Lewis riding for fall?
His hold upon his miners seems firm,
but what the c. l. O. as a national or
ganization thinks of him may be another
story. For one thing, Lewis has been
hurting invective in the direction of
Sidney Hillman, who as associate dl-
rector of o. P. M. directs the Govern
ment's policy toward labor, and many
C. T. o. unions swear by Hillman as fer
vently as Lewis sWears at him. The
1941 annual convention of the C. I. @.
opens on November IT.
What the future holds for Lewis, of
course, cannot be foretod with any
confidence but the rise and fall of cer-
tain American labor leaders in the past
may give some inkling of Lewis's future.
There was, for instance, John Mitchell,
who also was president of the United
Mine Workers. In his day the miners
called him the greatest labor leader
America had ever seen. The bituminous
miners finally turned against him but
the name of John Mitchell is still one to
conjure with in the anthracite regions of
Pennsylvania.
John Mitchell became president of the
miners union in 1898. At that time the
union was a sorry affair, weak. dispirited,
rent by racial and religious differences.
Mitchell did wonders in organizing.
Then, in 1902, he called a strike in the
anthracite mines which had the entire
country by the ears for five months.
If President Roosevelt in the recent
strike in the captive coal mines, had
ordered the Army to take over the mines
and operate them, he would have had
a precedent For in that great anthracite
strike called by Mitchell in 1902, the
President of the United StateS-another
Roosevelt, by the way-Was on the very
point Of taking over the mines. 1t was
that threat which finally brought the
operators 10 consent to arbitration.
BY the terms Of the arbitration,
Mitchell got for his miners concessions
from the employers almost mheard of
hitherto But several years later Mitchell
called strikes which were less successful
Finally he was defeated for the presl-
dency OF the United Mine Workers in
1908 after 10 years in that Office and
withdrew altogether from the ranks of
labor.
In personality Mitchell was at the op-
poslte pole from John L. Lewis. who so
far has been the miners president for 81
years Where Lewis is domineerlng and
uncompromising Mitchell was suave and
moderate President Theodore Roosevelt
said Mitchell was the only man who had
acted like a gentleman, not excepting
the President himself, in the White
House conference which led TO arbitra-
ton Of the 1902 anthracite strike.
One American labor leader of the past
somewhat like John L. Lewis in per-
| sonahty was Daniel De Leon. Few per-
sons today will even recognize the name,
but in his heyday De Leon was the in
tellectual leader OF the American radi-
| calls. He was graduated from the Column
bia University law school, and afterwards
| held for six years a lectureship at Co
| lumbia on Latin American problems.
| Lenin himself was to say, years after
ward, that De Icons writings on labor
| were magnificent. and incorporated the
germ of the Soviet system which Lenin
| had set up in Russia.
| But De Leon squabbled with everybody.
| He got and retained control of the So
| cialist Labor party, but never could hold
more than handful of members with
| in its ranks. Attacking the oldline
unions. he led a secession movement
| out of the knights Of Labor. and found
! ed a rival national labor body, only TO
have that fold up on his hands.
Some associates whom De Leon an
| tagonized finally left him and formed
in 1899 what soon became the Socialist
Party Of America. De Leon helped to or
| ganize the Industrial Workers of the
World Il. w W. In 1905. but several
| too.
The greatest American labor leader of
| all Samuel Gompers. was not unlike
| John L. Lewis in bearing and personality.
| Gompers organized the A. F. of L. in
1886. and was it's president for every
year except one up to his death in 1924
Gompers, q true dictator, brooked no
| ODpOSlllO1l. ne UcilhNCu - 4utiilOSSiy 4AA
administering his personal machine in
the A. F. OF L. as does Lewis in admin
istering the United Mine Workers today.
Gompers completely dominated the
hard boiled leaders who made and make
up the individual unions within the A.
F. of L. When John L. Lewis as head
of the U. NJ w, then the largest single
of 40 n
against Gompers for the A. F. of L.
presidency in 1921, Gompers beat him
hands down.
| Gompers could be flre-eater on oc-
casion. In 1908 he defied a court in
| junction against a strike tthe Bucks
Stove and Range case). and was SEN
fenced to Jail for his pains. He was pre-
pared to go to Jail. too, as labor martyr
Eventually the Supreme Court probably
recognizing that the situation was full
of dynamite, found way out by de-
claring Gompers protected by the statute
Of limitations.
Because his views and his program
were essentially moderate, Gompers got
by. His fight was for hours, wages and
union organization, and he was glad
to cooperate with any political party
or leader who would cooperate with
him. He necessarily fought the radicals
in the labor movement, derided the Red
intellectuals and theorists, waged cease
less war against the Socialists and the
L w. w.
Gompers Loyalty supported the United
States in the war against Germany In