The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1947-09-04
So 9 Ms
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III CIC PdoI lew uhyS udS1
passed by the little triangle in
Washington wherein stands the
monument of the late Samuel
Gompers.
1t has been matter of interest,
two or three times, to observe
those who pass by this monument,
in which the great old chief sits in
the midst of group.
Nobody pays much attention to
the huge monument. Probably most
of those who pass by know who
Samuel Gompers might have been,
or what part he played in the af-
fairs of the nation in the pioneer
ing days of labor and on through
the days of World War |.
When the monument was dedi-
Gated there were many who felt
that here was a monument to
man whose memory would be liv-
ing part of the history to come.
1t looks now as if they were mis-
taken.
Il
AS you look back, there are a
few men in all the nations history
who are remembered as those
whose memory is living part of
our current life. They would in
clude Washington and Lincoln and
Jefferson and to a lesser extent
Woodrow Wilson. We shall have to
wait bit to know about Franklin
ID. Roosevelt.
Even the vigorous Teddy Roose-
welt, who coined so many phrases
and who made such a fetish of the
swashbuckling way of life, doesn't
actually live in the thinking and
the doing of today. Some will re-
member his faith in the soundness
of speaking softly but carrying a
big stick and some will recall that
he said that when we wanted the
Panama Canal zone we took it.
No, out of the millions, there are
but few whose lives continue to af-
feet, stimulate or modify our cur
rent life as nation-just a small
handful. But be the memories what
they may, few exerted so profound
as effect over so long a period as
did Samuel Gompers.
But, anyway, there stands the
monument. And scant block and
half away there stands the home
of the American Federation of La
Dor. That home, too, is evidently
destined for little further use, as
time goes, for the Federation has
bought a plot for much more pre-
tentious structure within sight of
the White House. E.sa
Nobody expects history to stand
still in the making. History is a
very dynamic thing, as it gets
made from day to day. And surely
it is moving at high speed in these
times.
However, while events continue
to happen and to get themselves
written into that thing which gets
itself called history, principles re-
main constant.
Tactics may change, as the needs
of the hour require. But principles
are sacrificed at peril.
1t was during the regime of
Samuel Gompers that the great
and basic principles of the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor were laid
down.
So, the monument that stands on
Massachusetts, Avenue, in Wash
ington, is a monument to a certain
group of principles, as well as a
monument to a person.
Where there has been violation
of the principles espoused by Sam
uel Gompers, there has been, quite
often, failure, or retribution. They
have pretty well stood up under
fire and in the stern mill of exper-
ience.
There are a considerable number
who could go and stand where they
could look into the face of the
great central figure in that monu-
ment and ask, "Well, am l doing
right ?"
Mostly nobody does that, because
self examination is not a common
thing.
Well, whether people pay heed
to the monument and it's memories,
the solid fact remains that, as time
passes, the Importance of the man
will grow and that nobody can get
away safely from the sound prin-
ciples which he enumerated and
for which he stood, with courage,
nobility and challenge always to
those who defied the right to daily
with the wrong.