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 3 1924 069 587 388 
 
 
 DATE DUE 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 QAYLORD 
 
 
 PRINTED IN U,SA 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tlie Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924069587388 
 
LABOR MOVEMENTS AND 
 LABOR PROBLEMS IN AMERICA 
 
 LABOR AND 
 THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
LABOR MOVEMENTS AND LABOR PROBLEMS IN AMERICA 
 
 LABOR AND 
 THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 BY 
 
 SAMUEL GOMPERS 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE AMERtCA'STBiTBEkATION OF LABOR; 
 
 VICE-PRESroENT OF THE NATIONAL CIVIC 
 
 FEDERATION 
 
 COMPILED AND EDITED BY 
 
 HAYES ROBBINS 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 E. P. BUTTON & COMPANY 
 68i FIFTH AVENUE 
 
Copyright, 1919, 
 By E. p. button & COMPANY 
 
 All Rights Reserved 
 
 IB yy^ B<^ 
 
 Firtl printing. . . .December, 1919 
 Second printing.. .January, 19S0 
 
 Printed In the United States of America 
 

 FOREWORD 
 
 J The men and women who work for wages will largely shape 
 the fortunes of America during the next generation.^ No other on« 
 fact stands out so sharply in the aftermath of the world war. 
 According to the point of view, it is an outlook of menace or of 
 confidence. There is apprehension in many minds that this vast 
 emergence of labor, like the rising of a new continent out of the 
 sea, means the sinking of civilization all about it under a wave 
 of revolution and anarchy. On the other hand, there is a growing 
 perception among people who think carefully and see far, that 
 there are foundations under this new continent, that tremendous 
 stabilizing forces have been at work. tPerhaps we have only 
 half believed that the welfare of mankind really is most secure 
 when the pyramid rests broadly upon its base inrtead of balanc- 
 ing on its apex; that the safest thing in human society, ultimately 
 the only thing that is safe, is freedom, under the self-control of 
 democracy.^ 
 
 The growth of just this saving power of self-control, right in 
 heart of the labor problem itself, is what most reassures those 
 who see the future of democracy mainly as an industrial issue. 
 That the trade union has been and is a great training school iii 
 every-day working democracy, whatever else may be said of it, is 
 at last dawning on the general consciousness. Through a hun- 
 dred years of fierce controversy, against the bitter hostility of 
 most of the community instead of with its help, workingmen 
 have been learning in their own way the one thing which in 
 1919, this crucial day of reconstruction, has come to stand be- 
 tween civilization and anarchy — the settled habit of self-govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Especially in the last generation the labor movement in Amer- 
 ica has proved to itself, as to the whole body politic, that a vast 
 betterment in working and living conditions is actually possible 
 through the orderly processes of self-help and free association, 
 with no necessity of wrecking the economic and political system 
 
vi FOREWORD 
 
 under which our common problems are working out. These men 
 of the forge and the loom and the mine and the rail, whom so 
 many in their wisdom have insisted must be helped up out of 
 ignorance and taught the laws of economics and the "natural 
 limits" of working-class progress, have themselves taught us how 
 to make the industrial and wage system meet the universal de- 
 mand for a rising standard of life. And in doing that they have 
 shown us, in the really fundamental sense, how to make the 
 world safe for democracy. 
 
 For this supreme demonstration America is indebted, more 
 than to any other one force, to the industrial statesmanship of 
 Samuel Gompers. The term itself has come into men's minds 
 instinctively in the effort to characterize Mr. Gompers' philosopfiy 
 and life work. It is as the world's first industrial statesman that 
 he has made and is making his impress upon his time. In the 
 modern world, the right appraisal of new forces is swift; it no 
 longer requires a centiuy to estimate unerringly either great inven- 
 tion, great art or great leadership. 
 
 In the critical years just ahead, men of affairs in the business 
 world, in the labor movement, in public life, young men and 
 women in the schools and colleges, sincere idealists in every group, 
 will need the inspiration and guidance of broadly constructive 
 ideas, grounded upon reasoned experience. The world convxilsion 
 has sent a wave of emotionalism over public sentiment. With its 
 recession will come the settling down to actual decisions, the slow 
 and painful finding of workable solutions in a complex of actual 
 men and women as they are. It will not be a mental exercise 
 in designing new worlds. But the issues and adjustments that 
 face us and will face us are not new. They have taken on new 
 edge and urgency, but in all essentials they are the same that 
 have been fought out in our industrial relations and the clash 
 of |odal ^eorieg for more than a generation — almost the exact 
 period, in fact, of the rise of labor organization in America and 
 of Mr. Gompers' manifold activities. 
 
 In all this tremendous broadening of the base of the pyramid, 
 all this hard fought struggle away from old and narrow concep- 
 tions of democracy, all the re-appUcation of old truths to new 
 and unforeseen conditions, no other man has continuously played 
 so active and influential a part, so humanly constructive, so high 
 in educational meaning to the workers and nation builders of 
 
FOREWORD vii 
 
 the next generation. Thirty years ago our national development 
 was still mainly a problem of science, of invention, of industrial 
 organization. From now one we have the more far-reaching, more 
 searching and critical task of so shaping our industrial life that 
 all the human elements within it share justly in the net results 
 and are thereby enabled to work together in the spirit of co- 
 operation and mutual respect. 
 
 Very few, even of those whose sympathies lie with organized 
 labor, comprehend what it means to be freely accorded and to 
 hold the post of guidance in this "freest democracy in the world." 
 Here, if nowhere else in our social organization, every step must 
 be taken in broad daylight, every motive is under scrutiny, every 
 grant of power is under recall, every policy must win on its 
 merits in the fire of debate which, if not always brutal, is certainly 
 never less than frank. To have maintained a firm leadership in 
 such a movement for almost forty years, grappling at first hand 
 with the ugliest front of every big and little issue of labor concern, 
 guiding an all but outlawed group of a few hundred unpopular 
 "agitators" to a powerful and respected self-governing body of 
 nearly four million men and women of every race, language, trade 
 and condition, is an achievement without precedent in the history 
 of working-class movements in any country or any time. 
 
 It goes without argument that a creative work of such pro- 
 portions, particularly its underlying philosophy, deserves careful 
 and unprejudiced study. Mr. Gompers' ideas and practical coun- 
 sel on a wide range of topics, as grouped for the first time in 
 these volumes, reveal from the beginning an extraordinary single- 
 ness of aim, consistency of logic and tenacious hold on funda- 
 mental principles through this entire period of swift and changing 
 currents in our national life. The educational value of so unique 
 an experience, interpreted in the ripened thought of the man him- 
 self, will become clearer in the parting of the ways just ahead. 
 
 Thus far there has been no satisfactory means of conveying 
 Mr. Gompers' message as a logical whole, in orderly relation to 
 the problems on which most men are groping in the dark. It is 
 believed that the difficulty is met to a large extent in the selections 
 from his writings and addresses of the last thirty-five years, 
 grouped respectively in the volumes "Labor and the Common 
 Welfare" and "Labor and the Employer." As the titles suggest, 
 the first discusses certain broad general phases of the labor prob- 
 
viii FOREWORD 
 
 lem in its relation to the life of the community as a whole; the 
 second will deal with more specific issues and facts of every-day 
 working relations, including the history, aims and achievements 
 of the American Federation of Labor, its contact with various 
 employers' associations, the questions of wages and hours, of th§ 
 so-called open shop and union shop, of child labor, women in in- 
 dustry, imemployment, insurance, compensation, strikes, lockouts, 
 boycotts and blacklisting, mediation, arbitration and collective 
 bargaining, the labor view of profit-sharing, cooperation, efficiency 
 systems, and of the true democratization of industry. 
 
 To crystallize in this way the intellectual output of a lifetime 
 necessarily sacrifices much of value in the full discussion of ques- 
 tions from which only the net conclusions can be drawn. Th6 
 gain lies in the focusing of Mr. Gompers' best thought upon 
 many of the problems a hard-pressed public opinion must 
 solve almost in the moment it attempts to study them. Even 
 the selections from earlier years bear upon matters still very 
 much with us, and hold as well a definite historic interest of 
 their own in marking from point to point the position organized 
 labor has taken on significant issues of universal concern. Par- 
 ticularly, they reveal the development of Mr. Gompers' philosophy 
 to the level of sure leadership and intellectual force which proved 
 in the hour of supreme peril the chief factors in labor's firm 
 resistance to subtle propaganda, its tremendous and decisive mass- 
 ing on the side of civilization. Here industrial statesmanship 
 rose to world vision, saw the opportunity of the centuries to 
 rid the world's burden bearers of autocracy and militarism, and 
 did not flinch from all it would cost to do it. 
 
 Hayes Robbins. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 PAGK 
 
 I. THE PHILOSOPHY OF TRADE UNIONISM .... i 
 
 II. LABOR AND THE COMMUNITY 23 
 
 Labor and Public Opinion 23 
 
 "Friendsof Labor," Philanthropic and Doctrinaire ... 29 
 
 The National Civic Federation 36 
 
 Labor and the Farmer 40 
 
 Labor and Good Citizenship 42 
 
 III. LABOR AND THE LAW 45 
 
 Government and Legislation 45 
 
 Rights and Liberties ... 57 
 
 The Courts and Labor Injunctions 61 
 
 IV. LABOR'S STAND ON PUBLIC ISSUES 78 
 
 Immigration 78 
 
 The Trusts and Labor 89 
 
 Control of Capital and Finance 93 
 
 Govenmient Ownership 95 
 
 Industrial Education loi 
 
 Woman Suffrage 107 
 
 Free Speech and Public Assembly 108 
 
 Convict Labor and Prison Reform no 
 
 Health and Sanitation 115 
 
 Conservation of Resources 121 
 
 V. THE POLITICAL POLICY OF ORGANIZED LABOR . .123 
 
 VI. LABOR'S PLACE IN MODERN PROGRESS .... 147 
 
 Vn. ORGANIZED LABOR'S CHALLENGE TO SOCIALISM AND 
 
 REVOLUTION I7S 
 
 Socialism and Socialist Tactics 175 
 
 TheLW.W., and "One Big Union" 196 
 
 Bolshevism 206 
 
 Vm. LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY AND LIBERTY 211 
 
 Patriotism, True and False 211 
 
 Labor's Bond of Fratemalism 218 
 
 Twenty Years Ago . . 223 
 
 Pacifism and Internationalism 225 
 
 Preparedness — not Militarism 239 
 
 When the War Came 247 
 
 Through the Heat and Burden 253 
 
 The League of Nations 270 
 
 Peace and Reconstruction. 277 
 
 ix 
 
LABOR AND 
 THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
The Author is indebted to George H. Dor an Com- 
 pany, publishers of his volume entitled Ameri- 
 can Labor and the War for permission to reprint 
 here numerous quotations from his speeches on 
 labor problems, delivered during the war. 
 
LABOR AND THE COMMON 
 WELFARE 
 
 THE PHILOSOPHY OF TRADE 
 iUNIONISM 
 
 Modern industry evolves these organizations [trade unions] 
 out of the existing conditions. . . . Trade unions are not barbar- 
 ous, nor are they the outgrowth of barbarism. On the contrary 
 they are only possible where civilization exists. ... In semi- 
 barbarous countries they can hardly exist, if indeed they can exist 
 at all. But they have been formed successfully in this country, 
 in Germany, in England, and they are gradually gaining strength 
 in France. In Great Britain they are very strong; they have been 
 formed there for fifty years, and they are still forming, and I 
 think there is a great future for them yet in America. " Wherever 
 trades imions are most firmly organized, there are the rights of 
 the people most respected^; A people may be educated, but to me 
 it appears that the greatest amount of intelligence exists in that 
 country or that State where the people are best able to defend 
 their rights and their liberties as against those who are desirous 
 of undermining them. Trade unions are organizations that instil 
 into men a higher motive-power and give them a higher goal to 
 look to. The hope that is too frequently deadened in their 
 breasts when unorganized is awakened by the trades unions as it 
 can be by nothing else. 
 
 From testimony before United States Senate committee upon 
 the Relations between Capital and Labor (Henry W. Blair, 
 chairman), August i8, 1883. 
 
 Wherever the working people have manifested their desire 
 for improvement by organization, there improvement has taken 
 
2 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 place. Wherever the working people are the poorest, most 
 degraded and miserable, there we find the greatest lack of or- 
 ganization; and in the same degree as the basis of the organiza- 
 tion is improved, we see the greater improvement in the material, 
 moral and social condition of the people. There are some who 
 believe it is necessary that the condition of the people shall 
 become worse in order to move them to action, to bring about 
 the best results. How far from the truth, how illogical this 
 proposition is can be easily seen when we follow it out to its 
 legitimate conclusion. If the poverty of the working people 
 of the world was the factor that moved them to action and more 
 prosperous conditions, China ought to be at the head of civiliza- 
 tion. On the contrary we see that it is through the gradual 
 process of evolution, the improved habits and customs, that there 
 is instilled into the minds of the people a recognition of the 
 wrongs from which they suffer. The more the improved con- 
 ditions prevail, the greater discontent with any wrongs that may 
 exist. It is only through the enlightenment begotten from ma- 
 terial prosperity that mental advancement becomes possible. 
 — From Annual Report to A. F. of L. Convention, St. Louis, Mo., 
 December 11-15, 1888. 
 
 Of all the struggles of the human family for freedom, order 
 and progress, the trade unions are the direct and legitimate heirs 
 and successors. It is their mission to continue, the battle for the 
 right until the term rights shall lose its relative significance by 
 the abolition of injustice and wrongs. ... To protect the 
 innocent and young, to raise man and woman from the sloughs 
 of poverty and despair to a proper appreciation of their rights 
 and duties is worthy of our best efforts, our highest aspirations 
 and our noblest impulses. — From Annual Report to A. F. of L. 
 Convention, Boston, Mass., December ti, i88q. 
 
 There are those who, failing to comprehend the economic, 
 political and social tendencies of the trade union movement, 
 regard it as entirely "too slow," "too conservative," and desire 
 to hurl it headlong into a path which, while struggling and hoping 
 for the end, will leave us stranded and losing the practical and 
 beneficial results of our efforts. I maintain that the working 
 people are in too great a need of immediate improvements in 
 
THE PHILOSOPHY OF TRADE UNIONISM 3 
 
 their condition to allow them to forego them in the endeavor to 
 devote their entire energies to an idealistic end however beautiful 
 to contemplate. I maintain further, that the achievement of 
 present practical improvements for the toilers places them <mi 
 so much vantage ground gained and renders them more capable 
 to deal with the various problems it is their mission to solve. 
 In the language of that foremost of economic and social thinkers, 
 Ira Steward, "The way out of the wage system is through higher 
 wages, resultant only from shorter hours. . . ." 
 
 It has been charged that I am trying to drive the socialists 
 out of the movement, that I am intolerant of others' opinions. 
 I desire to take this opportunity of saying that I have ever held 
 that the trade unions are broad enough and liberal enough to 
 admit of any and all shades of thought upon the economic and 
 social question; but at the same time the conviction is deeply 
 rooted in me that in the trade union movement the first con- 
 dition requisite is good-standing membership in a trade union, 
 regardless of to which party a man might belong. 
 
 Those who have had any experience in the labor movement 
 will admit the great work and forbearance, tact and judgment 
 requisite to maintain harmony in organization. The trade unions 
 are no exception to this rule. In the trade union movement I 
 have ever endeavored to attain that much-desired end, and recog- 
 nize that that in itself is of a sufficiently important nature and 
 requirement as to preclude the possibility of jointly acting with 
 organizations based upon different practical workings or policy. 
 
 I am willing to subordinate my opinions to the well being, 
 harmony and success of the labor movement; I am willing to 
 sacrifice myself also in the furtherance of any action it may take 
 for its advancement; I am willing to step aside if that will 
 promote our cause, but I can not and will not prove false to 
 my convictions that the trade unions pure and simple are the 
 natural organizations of the wage-workers to secure their present 
 material and practical improvement and to achieve their final 
 emancipation. — From Annual Report to A. F. of L. Conventiort, 
 Detroit, Mich., December, 1890. 
 
 In the fourteenth century all organizations of workmen were 
 prohibited as "conspiracies." In fact, less than a hundred years 
 ago, until 1795, no workman could legally travel in search of 
 
4 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 employment out of his own parish. But restrictive laws and 
 enactments to fix wages always end in failure. The day had 
 passed when toilers could patiently submit. As W. T. Thornton 
 tersely says: "Men are seldom collected together in large masses 
 without speedily discovering that union is strength; and men 
 whose daily avocation obliged them to be constantly using, and 
 by use to be constantly sharpening their wits, were not likely to 
 be backward in making this discovery." As a result of this 
 determined opposition of the British workmen, trade unions are 
 now legal societies there, with due protection given to their funds, 
 thus becoming constitutionally incorporated as institutions of 
 that country. — From address before the American Social Science 
 Congress, September 2, i8gi. 
 
 We can make of the trade unions exactly what the intelligence 
 and progress of our members will permit. These organizations 
 are of the most elastic character, and whatever action is agreed 
 upon by the organized wage-earning masses can be formulated 
 and achieved by and through the trade unions. It is expected 
 that the leaders of the movement must exercise their best judg- 
 ment. To artificially and prematurely expand the scope of the 
 organizations is to encounter the danger that the whole fabric 
 may be rent asunder and thus leave all in a phght of misery and 
 despair. — From Annual Report of A. F. of L. Convention, Phila^ 
 delpkia. Pa., December 12-17, i8q2. 
 
 Another impediment to the establishment of correct indus- 
 trial relations has resulted from the vicious interference of the 
 political economists with their unscientific analogy between com- 
 mercial commodities and human labor. The falsity of their 
 analogy was exposed in 1850 by a Parisian workman who was 
 being examined before a commission appointed by the French 
 government to inquire into the condition of the working people. 
 One of the commissioners took occasion to impress upon the 
 witness that labor was merely a merchandise. The workman 
 replied, "If merchandise is not sold at one certain time it can 
 be sold at another, while if I do not sell my labor it is lost for 
 all the world as well as myself; and as society lives only upon 
 the results of labor, society is poorer to the whole extent of that 
 
THE PHILOSOPHY OF TRADE UNIONISM 5 
 
 which I have failed to produce." — From addr-ess at International 
 Labor Congress, Chicago, III., September, i8g3. 
 
 You can not weigh a human soul in the same scales with a piece 
 of pork. You cannot weigh the heart and soul of a child with the 
 same scales upon which you weigh any commodity. 
 
 "For this we hold the species human 
 "Excels in value webs of cotton, 
 "Or all the gold by wealth begotten." 
 
 From address Logansport, Indiana, February 11, i8qi. 
 
 To-day we find it just as necessary to defend the faith that is 
 within us that the trade union is the natural and legitimate 
 organization of the working classes as at any time since their 
 first organization. Nor need this cause surprise. As a rule the 
 trade unions have no platform of principles declaratory of pur- 
 poses to which the flights of the imagination often soar, but 
 which so frequently, but simply, appeal to the passionate, the 
 nervous, or the sentimental. The trade imions are the business 
 organizations of the wage-earners, to attend to the business of 
 the wage-earners; and while the earnest; honest, thinking trade 
 unionists must necessarily be sentimental, theoretical, self-sacri- 
 ficing, and brave, these if needs be they must sink for a time in 
 order that the best interests of the wage-earners may be advanced. 
 Even if but to gain a milestone on the thorny road of 
 emancipation. 
 
 The trade unions have the serious work of labor's difficulties 
 to deal with. They must contend for the toiler's rights and 
 against the toiler's wrongs of to-day; to take up the gauntlet 
 when it is thrown down to us; to throw it down in earnest battle 
 to save the lives of our young and innocent ghildren; to rescue 
 them from the factories and work-shops where their bones and 
 sinews are freely coined into dollars of the soundest kind; to place 
 them in the play-ground and school-room, to make the labor of 
 man so remunerative that it will enable the bread-winner to main- 
 tain his loved ones as becomes a man and citizen; to wrest from 
 the profit mongers of all kinds the greatest monopoly on earth, 
 the monopoly of the worker's time; to secure for the toilers, re- 
 lief from the long hours of burdensome toil, and find work for 
 those who can not find work at all, to fight for full enfranchise- 
 
6 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 mcnt of labor, not only at the polls, in the halls of legislation, but 
 far more important than all these, in the factory, work-shop, mill, 
 mine, or field. 
 
 These are some of the questions that the trade unions have 
 daily confronting them; winning battles and secxuring concessions 
 here and there, sometimes a struggle lost, yet ever keeping up the 
 contest until victory is fully and finally achieved. No wonder 
 that the trade unions have little time and care less for declarations 
 of principles, which though high-sounding phrases mean little, 
 fade away and leave the workers demoralized and desperate, with 
 hopes deferred and destroyed, indeed, too often made their hearts 
 sad. 
 
 At best the struggles of labor, the obstacles in the path of 
 progress of the working-class are severe enough, without their 
 being continually called upon not only to defend the knowledge 
 of and the faith in our organizations against the antagonism of 
 pelf, avarice, and greed, but also to defend them against covert 
 attack from pretended friends of our organizations and our move- 
 ment. No wonder that the trade imions with these ever recur- 
 ring struggles and contentions ever commanding their attention 
 are more concerned in deeds than words, achievements than 
 promises, practical results than theories. — From Annual Report 
 to A. F. of L. Convention, Cincinnati, Ohio, December, i8q6. 
 
 The trade unions are the legitimate outgrowth of modem 
 societary and industrial conditions. They are not the creation 
 of any man's brain. They are organizations of necessity. They 
 were born of the necessity of the workers to protect and defend 
 themselves from encroachment, injustice and wrong. They are 
 the organizations of the working class, for the working class, by 
 the working class; grappling with economic and social problems 
 as they arise, dealing with them in a practical manner to the end 
 that a solution commensurate with ihe interests of all may be 
 attained. 
 
 From hand labor in the home to machine and factory labor 
 witnessed the transition from the trade guilds to the trade unions; 
 with the concentration of wealth and the development of in- 
 dustry, the growth from the local to the national and the inter- 
 national unions, and the closer affiliation of all in a broad and 
 comprehensive federation. 
 
THE PHILOSOPHY OF TRADE UNIONISM 7 
 
 There are some who, dissatisfied with what they term the slow 
 progress of the labor movement, would have us hasten it by what 
 they lead themselves to believe is a shorter route. No intelligent 
 workman who has passed years of his life in the study of the 
 labor problem, expects to wake up any fine morning to find the 
 hopes of these years realized over night, and the world on the 
 flood-tide of the millennium. With the knowledge that the past 
 tells us of the slow progress of the ages, of trial and travail, 
 mistakes and doubts yet unsolved; with the history of the work- 
 ing class bedewed with the tears of a thousand generations and 
 tinged with the life-blood of numberless martyrs, the trade 
 unionist is not likely to stake his future hopes on the fond chance 
 of the many millions turning philosophers in the twinkling of 
 an eye. 
 
 Much of our misery as enforced wage-workers springs, not so 
 much from any power exerted by the "upper" or ruling class, as 
 it is the result of the ignorance of so many in our own class who 
 accept conditions by their own volition. The more intelligent, 
 realizing their inability to create a millennium, will not descend 
 to trickery or juggling with terms. They seek to benefit them- 
 selves and their fellow men through trade unions and trade union 
 action, and, by bearing the brunt, be in the vanguard in the 
 cause, and hasten on the process of education that will fit hu- 
 manity even to recognize the millennium when it arrives. 
 
 Each "ism" has stood but as an evanescent and iridescent 
 dream of poor^umanity groping blindly in the dark for its ideal; 
 and it has caused many a heart-wrench to relegate some idealism 
 of movements which do not move, to the dead ashes of blasted 
 hopes and promises. 
 
 Throughout all these dreams and hopes and fears and attacks, 
 vituperation and misrepresentation, the trade unionists have 
 plodded along their weary way since the miner of Laurium, three 
 thousand years ago, laid down his pick; and, though phantas- 
 magorias and dreams have lived and died, the wage-earner, with 
 pick and shovel, with hammer and saw and plane, with hands 
 on the lever of the highest developed machines, kept, and ke^w, 
 organizing and plodding along toward better conditions of Kfe. 
 . The trade unions not only discuss ecwjomics and social prob- 
 lems, but deal with them in a practical fashion calculated to bring 
 about better conditions of life to-day, and thus fit the workers 
 
8 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 for the greater struggles for amelioration and emancipation yet 
 to come... 
 
 No one having any conception of the labor problems — the 
 struggles of life — would for a moment entertain the notion, much 
 less advise the workers, to abstain from the exercise of their 
 political rights and their political power. On the contrary, trade 
 union action upon the surface is economic action, yet there is no 
 act which the trade unions can take but which in its effect is 
 political. 
 
 But, in the exercise of the political power of the workers, that 
 is, the casting of the ballot, we are sometimes urged to throw to 
 the winds the experience and the tangible results of ages, and to 
 hazard the interests of labor in a new era of political partisanship. 
 
 We want legislation in the interest of labor; we want legisla- 
 tion executed by labor men; we want trade unionists in Congress 
 and more trades unionists in the State legislatures, in our munici- 
 pal councils and in our executive offices; we want trade unionists 
 on the magisterial benches, and those convinced of the justice of 
 our cause, with the courage of their convictions, in the highest 
 offices of our land. We shall secure them, too, by acting as trade 
 unionists rather than turning our trade unions into p^tisan 
 ward clubs. 
 
 Our movement is of the wage-earning class, recognizing that 
 class interests, that class advancement, that class progress is best 
 made by working class trade union action. That we shall receive 
 the cooperation of others, goes without sa3ang; but only as the 
 trade unions grow in numbers, in power and in intelligence, shall 
 we disenthrall the minds and freedom of action of sympathizers 
 with our cause, who gladly await the hour to place the best 
 sheaves of their laurels of learning at the feet of the advancing 
 hosts of organized labor. 
 
 Spencer has said that it has always been the remnant in society 
 which has saved it from reaction or barbarism. To-day modem 
 society is beginning to realize that the trade unions are the only 
 hope of our civilization, and to regard them as the only power 
 whose mission it is to evolve order out of our social chaos, to save 
 us from reaction, brutality and perhaps barbarism. Our progress 
 may be slow, yet it is the fastest, the safest and best evolved 
 from the human mind; and even in its present form, is the germ 
 of a future state which all will hail with glad acekiiin. Then te 
 
THE PHILOSOPHY OF TRADE UNIONISM 9 
 
 nurture it, to concentrate our energies in order that its progress 
 may be sure, that its advancement may be unimpeded, that its 
 development may be unrestricted and its success unimpaired, is 
 the duty of every intelligent worker, every lover of the human 
 race. 
 
 The toilers of our country look to you to devise the ways and 
 means by which a more thorough organization of the wage-earners 
 may be accomplished, and to save our children in their infancy 
 from being forced into the maelstrom of wage slavery. Let us 
 see to it that they are not dwarfed in body and mind, or brought 
 to a premature death by early drudgery; give them the sun- 
 shine of the school-room and playground, instead of the factory 
 and the workshop. To protect the workers in their inalienable 
 rights to a higher and better life; to protect them, not only as 
 equals before the law, but also in their rights to the product of 
 their labor; to protect their lives, their limbs, their health, their 
 homes, their firesides, their liberties as men, as workers, and as 
 citizens; to overcome and conquer prejudice and antagonism; to 
 secure to them the right to life, and the opportunity to maintain 
 that life; the right to be full sharers in the abundance which is 
 the result of their brain and brawn, and the civilization of which 
 they are the founders and the mainstay; to this the workers are 
 entitled beyond the cavil of a doubt. With nothing less ought 
 they, or will they, be satisfied. The attainment of these is the 
 glorious mission of the trade unions^ No higher or nobler mis- 
 sion ever fell to the lot of a people than that committed to the 
 working class — a class of which we have the honor to be members. 
 • — From Annual Report to A. F. of L. Convention, Kansas City, 
 Mo., December, i8g8. 
 
 ■ I believe that as time goes on the wage-earners will continue 
 to become larger sharers per dollar of the wealth produced. I 
 have no fear as to the future of organized labor. I have no fear 
 as to the future of labor. This morning I indicated the fact that 
 there is a constant struggle which has been going on from time 
 immemorial between the wealth possessors and those who pro- 
 duce wealth, and that struggle has manifested itself in different 
 forms, at different times, in different countries. That struggle 
 has continued up to date, and will continue so long as there are 
 diverse interests between the two. . . . There is something I 
 
lo LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 want to obviate, that I am trying to give my life's work to ob- 
 viate, that the struggle shall not be so bitter and costly. — From 
 testimony before United States Industrial Commission, April i8, 
 1899. 
 
 What is your city but a union of men and women surrendering 
 a portion of their rights and privileges in order that the great 
 good of all may be conserved? What is your state but a greater 
 union? and what is the United States but a vast union ?-i-Fro»w 
 address at Portland, Oregon, August 4, 1902. 
 
 Labor is often spoken of as a commodijy, but there is another 
 phase to be considered. . , . You may buy a pound of pork, 
 or a yard of cotton, and calculate upon such a transaction with- 
 out heart, but when you discuss the question of labor and labor 
 power there is an element of human nature that goes with it. 
 You can not differentiate the labor from the laborer. You can 
 not take labor and disregard the one who performs it. He is 
 made cold by the same blast and made warm by the same sum- 
 mer sun; feels the same pain and is made glad by the same 
 influences; he has the same hopes and the same aspirations; and, 
 as a human being, as a man, as a father and as a fellow-citizen 
 associated with us all, in whose hands is placed the destiny of 
 our republic, the beacon light to the down-trodden of all the 
 earth — it behooves us to look upon the laborer as something 
 more than a hewer of wood and a drawer of water, a mere com- 
 modity upon the market. — From address at Buffalo, N. Y., be- 
 fore the Independent Club, January 8, 1903. 
 
 Professor Leroy, one of the greatest sociologists of our time, 
 said that after years of study and remaining in the slums of the 
 great city, he found that the labor unions were the greatest 
 factors in improving the conditions of the lowest grades of human 
 society. 
 
 President Lincoln, in a speech at Hartford in i860, referring 
 
 to the New England shoe workers' strike, said: 
 
 Thank God, we have a system of labor where there can be a strike. 
 Whatever the pressurp, there is a point where the workingmen may 
 stop. 
 
THE PHILOSOPHY OF TRADE UNIONISM ii 
 
 Thorold Rogers, the greatest historian of economics, says: 
 
 I look to the trade unions as the principal means for benefiting the 
 condition of the working classes. 
 
 On another occasion he said: 
 
 Capital is the fruit of labor and could not exist if labor had not 
 first existed. Labor, therefore, deserves much the higher consideration. 
 
 Wendell Phillips said: 
 
 I rejoice at every effort workingmen make to organize. I hail the 
 labor movement; it is my only hope for democracy. Organize and 
 stand together. Let the nation hear a united demand from the labor- 
 ing voice. 
 
 Gladstone said: 
 
 Trade unions are the bulwarks of modern democracies. 
 
 The National Association of Builders says: 
 
 It is eminently dangerous and destructive to the best interests of the 
 individual wage-worker to proceed as though there were no other 
 wage-workers, and infinitely to his advantage to seek for and adopt 
 measures by which he may move so as not to jar and perhaps over- 
 turn himself as well as others. 
 
 Dr. Ingraham, doctor of philosophy, said: 
 
 Attacked and denounced as scarcely any other institution has been, 
 the union? have thriven and grown in face of opposition. This healthy 
 vitality has been due to the fact that 'they were a genuine product of 
 social needs, indispensable as a protest:and a struggle against the abuses 
 of industrial government, and inevitable as a consequence of that con- 
 sciousness of strength inspired by the concentration of numbers under 
 the new conditions of industry. 
 
 From Labor Day Address, Indianapolis, Ind., ^goj. 
 
 The great good any movement has accomplished in the uplift- 
 ing of the masses has never been accorded it during the militant 
 stages of its achievement; and ours is not and can not be an 
 exception. It must remain for the student and historian of the 
 future to portray the struggles, the burdens, the heroism, the 
 hopes, the aspirations, and marvelous achievements of our great 
 movement. AH we can do in our day is to keep on and on, true 
 to our highest conception of duty, hence true to our fellows, 
 consciously and confidently relying upon the future, unhampered 
 by prejudice and sordid avarice, to accord our purposes, efforts, 
 and achievements in the interest of humanity the place in history 
 
12 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 which they justly deserve. — From Annual Report to A. F. of L. 
 Convention, Boston, Mass., November, ipoj. 
 
 A man can, upon the prairie, build himself a hut and apply the 
 torch to it. Let him attempt to do that in any one of our metro- 
 politan cities and he will be arrested and put into jail, for out 
 upon the plain he does himself the only injury that is being done; 
 in the city he endangers the life, and the property, and the p»eace 
 and tranquillity of his neighbors.. If in the old, old time a man 
 wanted to sell his labor to another, under the old and primitive 
 conditions; if he desired to accept poor economic conditions as 
 the result of his work, he injured no one but himself. In our 
 day of highly developed industry, with concentrated wealth under 
 the direction of the few — or comparatively few — the individual 
 workman who attempts to make a bargain with the directors or 
 the representatives of such a directorate simply places himself in 
 the position of a helpless, rudderless craft on a tempestuous 
 ocean. If he but did himself a wrong, we might pity him and 
 concede not only his legal but his moral right; but for the work- 
 man who toils for wages, and expects to end his days in the wage- 
 earning class, as conditions seem to point, it will be a necessity 
 — ^his bounden duty to himself, his family, to his fellow-men, and 
 to those who are to come after him — to join in the union with 
 his fellow-craftsmen and fellow-workmen to uphold the standard 
 of life and to make joint effort for the uplifting of the wage- 
 workers, and with them the whole social fabric of our time and 
 for the time to come. — From address before The National Civic 
 Federation, New York, N. Y., December, ipoj. 
 
 ' The theory of the Knights of Labor, when alive, was the or- 
 ganization of the wage-earners primarily, but others were ad- 
 mitted, except lawyers and bankers; and the organization of all 
 those who accepted its platform of principles, the organization of 
 these in bodies regardless of their trade, occupation, vocation, or 
 profession. It undertook to wipe out the lines of industry and 
 make one whole organization of all classes of labor. 
 
 I took occasion at one time to say, in making comparison, that 
 that theory was not only untenable, but that it was unnatural; 
 that it would be just as impractical for purposes of achieving 
 anything in the interest of the working people as it would be if 
 
THE PHILOSOPHY OF TRADE UNIONISM 13 
 
 applied to the different divisions of men in an army corps, 
 perhaps cavalrymen, artillerymen, infantrymen, foot and horse 
 soldiers, all being mixed up in a great potpourri. Chaos and 
 confusion would reign if an order were given to it to advance. 
 The greatest safety for such an army corps, made up in such a 
 fashion, would be in remaining stationary. An order to advance 
 would be its own annihilation. — From hearing before Committee 
 on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, January ij-March 
 22, igo4, on bill to limit meaning of the word " conspiracy y 
 
 ■ That so long as man shall live and have his being, so long as 
 there shall dwell in the human heart a desire for something better 
 and nobler, so long as there is in the human mind the germ of 
 the belief in human justice and human liberty, so long as there 
 is in the whole makeup of man a desire to be a brother to his 
 fellow-man, so long will there be the labor movement. 
 
 . It expresses all of the struggles of the past, all the sacrifices 
 and bitterness that the human family has tasted in its experience. 
 The movement embraces all the tenderness of the human family, 
 all of its hopes and all of its aspirations for the real liberty of 
 mankind. ; 
 
 The labor movement is founded on the bedrock of opposition 
 to wrong. It is based on the aspiration for right. I want you, 
 and all of us, to cooperate with the best that is within us to 
 make the labor movement strong and powerful and influential, 
 and that it may grow day by day. And the day that comes shall 
 see for it a better and brighter path than the day that has gone, 
 and open up a new vista of light and life and happiness for the 
 home and fireside and the wife and the children. And that the 
 burdens of labor shall be lighter and man shall be a brother to 
 his fellow-man. — From address at Firemen's Convention, Wash- 
 ington, D. C, August, 1Q04. 
 
 It is the duty of man to work, but work was never designed 
 and ought never to be so prostituted as to lead to debasement 
 or slavery. — American Federationist, November, 1904. 
 
 I am trade unionist here for the same reason that I would be 
 a trade unionist in Great Britain, for the same reason that I 
 would be a revolutionist in Russia. 
 VThe people of Russia have too long borne the t3n-anny from 
 
14 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 which they have suffered. In Russia, without the freedom of 
 speech or of the press, the thoughts of the discontented must 
 find their vent somewhere or somehow, and we find it, to-day 
 when Russia is stirred from center to circumference, in the de- 
 mand of the people there for human rights. 
 
 We are trade unionists in the United States, we are trade 
 unionists in Great Britain, because opportunities are afforded for 
 free association, for free speech, the free assemblage, and the free 
 press, and because we have these guarantees of freedom we find 
 in our movement in the United States the opportunity for evolu- 
 tion rather than revolution. — From address at meeting of Plate 
 Printers Union No. 2, Washington, D. C, January 21, ipoj. 
 
 During former periods of industrial crises or trade stagnation, 
 when labor complacently acquiesced in wage reductions, the po- 
 litical economists of the day proclaimed and employers generally 
 followed the theory that the law of "supply and demand" 
 governed all things; that "labor is a commodity to be bought m 
 the open market" and that the wages paid to labor were of 
 necessity controlled by the law of supply and demand. 
 
 The laborers seemed defenceless; they were compelled to abide 
 by that inexorable so-called law, cruelly and heartlessly applied; 
 hutaan hearts, manhood, womanhood, childhood, with all that 
 these imply, were entirely denied consideration. 
 
 .That the law of supply and demand has its place in nature 
 and in primitive, natural conditions, no thinking man will dis- 
 pute; but when we realize what science has done and what prog- 
 ress has been made to overcome the primitive conditions of 
 nature; what has been accomplished in machinery and tools of 
 labor, in the means of transportation of products and of man, 
 the means of transmission of information and intelligence, the 
 fact becomes immediately patent that man has made nature con- 
 form to his wants and that the original conception of the law 
 of supply and demand has been largely overcome, and can be 
 still further overcome by intelligent, comprehensive and deter- 
 mined action of the wage-earners, who by their associated effort 
 shall refuse to have their brain and brawn, their hearts and the 
 hearts of those beloved by them, weighed in the same scale with 
 the side of a hog or a bushel of coal.^ 
 
 For quite a period of years we have not heard the claim of 
 
THE PHILOSOPHY OF TRADE UNIONISM 15 
 
 the inexorability of the law of supply and demand discussed, 
 particularly so far as its application to labor is concerned. I 
 have looked in vain for nearly ten years for an argument to 
 be made on that subject by the old school of political econo- 
 mists and the antagonists to labor. It may even seem strange 
 that I should discuss it in this report, but my purpose in address- 
 ing myself to this is to rivet your attention to the fact that the 
 improvement in our lives and in our homes is due to the organized 
 effort of the working people of our country and to it alone. The 
 reason for the absence of discussion by our opponents of the 
 so-called law of supply and demand is that the conditions of 
 labor have gone onward and upward; that we are in deadly 
 earnest and that we shall not permit ourselves to be forced back- 
 ward or downward. — From Annual Report to A. F. of L. Con- 
 vention, Norfolk, Va., November, igo?. 
 
 It must be remembered that the trade union while not a trust 
 is just as inevitable and logical a development as the trust itself. 
 The trade union finds its greatest development under the same 
 economic conditions which produce the trust; that is, the intro- 
 duction of machinery, the subdivision of industry, the adoption 
 of vast and complicated systems of production which obliterate 
 the indiyiduality of the worker and thus force him into an asso- 
 ciation, but not a trust, with his fellows in order that collectively 
 they may protect their rights as wage-workers and as citizens and 
 also guard the interests of all workers. 
 
 Let me reiterate most emphatically here and now that the trade 
 union is not, and from its very nature can not be, a trust. It is 
 sometimes derisively called a trust by those who expose their 
 own ignorance of economic first principles in making stich a 
 statement. 
 
 „ The trade union is the voluntary association of the many for 
 the benefit of all the community. The trust is the voluntary 
 association of the few for their own benefit.. The trade union 
 puts no limit upon its membership, except that of skill and char- 
 acter, it welcomes every wage-worker. In fact, its strength and 
 influence rest in its universal adoption by the wage-workers as 
 the permanent and potent method of voicing their needs. Were 
 every wage-worker in the country a member of organized labor, 
 still would there be no labor trust. 
 
i6 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 Trusts consist of organizations for the control of the products 
 of labor. Laborers have not a product for sale. They possess 
 their labor power; that is, their power to produce. Certainly 
 there can not be a trust in anything which has not been pro- 
 duced. Hence, for this if for no other potent reason, it is econom- 
 ically unsound as well as it is untrue to designate organizations 
 of labor as trusts. — American Federationist, November, igoj. 
 
 Doing for people what they can and ought to do for themselves 
 is a dangerous experiment. In the last analysis the welfare of 
 the workers depends upon their own initiativ?. Whatever is 
 done under the guise of philanthropy or social morality which in 
 any way lessens initiative is the greatest crime that can be com- 
 mitted against the toilers. Let social busy-bodies and profes- 
 sional "public morals experts" in their fads reflect upon the 
 perils they rashly invite under this pretense of social welfare. — • 
 From pamphlet, "The Workers and The Eight-Hour Work-day" 
 1915- 
 
 Suppose the trade and labor unions of America could be crushed 
 and driven out of existence by legislation and court decrees; 
 what then? Is it not true that each worker would become an 
 irresponsible man without association with his fellows, without 
 opportunity for consultation, and without the restraining as well 
 as the constructive influence which open and voluntary organiza- 
 tion gives? Then would the workers seek their own redress in 
 their own individual way. Is such a condition desirable, or 
 tolerable to the normal, rational, intelligent, peaceful organiza- 
 tions of labor of our day? — From Annual Report to A. F. of L. 
 Convention, Denver, Col., November, igo8. 
 
 Non-unionists who reap the rewards of union effort, without 
 contributing a dollar or risking a loss of a day, are parasites. 
 They are reaping a benefit from the union spirit, while they 
 themselves are debasing genuine manhood. Having rights, they 
 are too cowardly to stand up for them — the right of being one 
 of the parties to a two-party contract; the right to take a share 
 in the world-wide struggle of labor for the advance of the work- 
 ing classes ; the right to speak up for labor, before the employer, 
 before the public, before the lawgivers, before the oppressors of 
 
THE PHILOSOPHY OF TRADE UNIONISM 17 
 
 working women and children. What would become of the general 
 movement for factory and mine inspection, safety appliances in 
 regard to machinery, for enforcing labor bureau laws, for com- 
 pensation In case of injuries, for increasing the age when children 
 may go to work, the limitation of their hours of labor, etc., etc., 
 were it not for the trade unions? Every non-union employee 
 knows the truth which such questions must evoke in reply. The 
 consequence must be, and sooner or later always is, that the still, 
 small voice of honor, working without cease and secretly in each 
 man's mind and heart, causes him to yearn for the fellowship 
 of the men of courage gathered together in the unions, and finally 
 impels him to seize the occasion to break away from his feudal 
 relations with his employer and convert the latter from a master 
 into a fellow-creature who is in the market to buy something 
 from his equal — the man who sells his labor power. — American 
 Federationist, June, igio. 
 
 Competitioii among mankind is to be encouraged or dis- 
 couraged as it proves helpful or harmful to the race. By the 
 tests of helpfulness or harmfulness it is legitimate or illegitimate. 
 It is legitimate, and presumably will by necessity exist in all 
 future society, of whatever form, when practiced under equal 
 conditions of just opportunity to obtain the objects competed for 
 among the human beings in any given group. It is illegitimate, 
 'in the present economic conditions of society, wherever men, 
 deprived of their just opportunities for existence and self-develop- 
 ment and the full products of their past labor, are obliged to 
 compete through a forced sale of their labor power with other 
 men similarly situated, to gain the necessaries of life. Dr. Eliot 
 may unfairly select and quote, to the extent this globe affords, 
 illustrations that lie in the class of beneficial competition, such as 
 is seen "in family, school, and college," and prove with every case 
 his argument for competition. But he must avoid, as he has 
 knowingly done, illustrations of the economic struggle. In this 
 domain, unrestricted competition among the masses of wage- 
 workers, possessed individually of but a short-time purchase of 
 independent existence, reduces them to work-place conditions and 
 to a wage which, if not slavery and starvation, are deprivative 
 to a degree abhorrent to all men moved by a sense of social 
 justice. Especially true is this fact in the presence of the wealth 
 
i8 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 produced in so great measure by the wage-workers and of the 
 practical possibilities of production in the present age. — Ameri- 
 can Federationist, November, 1910. 
 
 "The narrowness of trade unionism." This phrase passes 
 current, at full face value, in every camp and even in every 
 grouplet of "intellectuals." In going the whole round of the 
 "isms," sociological, ethical, legal, political, reformatory, played- 
 out popular crazes, or "just-out" social panaceas, one will hear 
 expressed by the leaders a sentiment that the trade unionists are 
 hide-bound conservatives — because they decline to rush in a 
 body to take the magic medicine for social ills offered by the 
 particular "ism" advocated by the critic in each particular case. 
 
 It is a fact that trade unionism in America moves on in its 
 own set and deliberate way. In so doing, it has outlived wave 
 upon wave of hastily conceived so-called "broad" movements 
 that were to reconstruct society in a single season. And it hais 
 sufficiently good cause for continuing its own reasoned-out course. 
 
 A full defense of trade unionism against the charge of narrow- 
 ness would require many volumes, were each to be separately 
 devoted to counter-statements and argumentation addressed to 
 every critic advocating his own special "ism" as against trade 
 unionism. But there is one broad bottom fact underlying all the 
 criticisms of trade unionism based on its alleged narrowness. 
 That fact is, that trade unionism is not narrow. 
 
 The locomotive engine is not "narrow" because it is not fitted 
 to run on highways and by-ways and waterways as it is for rail- 
 ways, nor is the steamship "narrow" because it can not be made 
 to run on land. But steam, the motive power, can be so applied 
 that it is effective on both land and water. An engine is adapted 
 to a special use; steam in its applications is universal. 
 
 Similarly, a trade union is not a machine fitted to the work of 
 directly affecting all the civic, social, and political changes neces- 
 sary in society. But it first of all teaches the working classes 
 the power of combination. Thenceforward it disciplines them, 
 leads them to perform tasks that are possible, and permits the 
 members of any of its affiliated bodies to attempt any form of 
 social experiment which does not imperil the organization as a 
 whole. The spirit of combination has the immediate effects of 
 self-confidence for the democratic elements in the unions, of 
 
THE PHILOSOPHY OF TRADE UNIONISM 19 
 
 growth in the loyalty of workingman for workingman, of con- 
 stant progressive achievement not confined to restricted limits. 
 It is therefore a motive power continuously and variously ap- 
 plicable as the masses move forward and upward in their indi- 
 vidual and collective development. 
 
 The spirit of combination in the wage-workers has as a motive 
 power many points of resemblance to that of steam (or for that 
 matter electricity) in the mechanical world. One of these points 
 is that the machine to be moved must not be too big or too 
 complex for the engine. Theorist social reformers beyond enume- 
 ration have in vain offered their Utopian inventions to the masses 
 because the latter, endowed with common sense, have, on due 
 observation, refused to supply the needed wasteful power to 
 make the inventions go. If they had done so for a time, they 
 could but have exhibited the folly of going to greater pains and 
 troubles than the present social machinery requires. The history 
 of the United States is plentifully illustrated with millennial ex- 
 periments, illusory for the reason that their maintenance in some 
 way overtaxed their supporters, accustomed to making progress 
 in the freedom and opportunity of America even as it is. 
 
 No other mechanism for carrying out the will of the wage- 
 workers in the domain in which they can especially benefit them- 
 selves has equaled the trade union and the trade union move- 
 ment in bringing desired results. No other has equally stood the 
 test of time. No other has thrown anything like the light upon 
 the state of mind of the masses with respect to their economic 
 education. No other has been able to show how intensely prac- 
 tical the workingmen are — ^nor how devoted they can show them- 
 selves to a clearly defined principle, nor how ready they are to 
 trust to their own leadership, nor how they invariably refuse, as 
 a class, to embark in fiction-bom Utopian ventures. The trade 
 union has been broad enough for all practical purposes. 
 
 And yet trade unionism is the soundest base yet laid for every 
 project that gives promise to the working class for a firm and 
 solid advance. Moving step by step, trade unionism contains 
 within itself, as a movement and as a mechanism, the possibilities 
 for establishing whatever social institution the future shall de- 
 velop for the workers as the predestined universal element in 
 control of society. — From Annual Report to A. F. of L. Conven- 
 tion, St. Loms, Mo., November, igio. 
 
20 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 A hundred times we have said it, and we say it again, that 
 trade unionism contains within itself the potentialities of work- 
 ing-class regeneration. It is practical democracy; it affords 
 within itself daily object lessons in ideal justice; it breathes into 
 the working classes the spirit of unity; it provides a field for 
 noble comradeship, for deeds of loyalty, for self-sacrifice benefi- 
 cial to one's fellow- workers. 'In contending for the political and 
 economic rights of its members, the trade union teaches those 
 rights to the entire working class. And on a knowledge of those 
 rights, society will establish its future development.H«-i4j»erfca» 
 Federationist, Jidy, zpii. 
 
 The ground-work principle of America's labor movement has 
 been to recognize that first things must come first. The primary 
 essential in our mission has been the protection of the wage- 
 worker, now; to increase his wages; to cut hours off the long 
 workday, which was killing him; to improve the safety and the 
 sanitary conditions of the work-shop; to free him from the 
 tyrannies, petty or otherwise, which served to make his existence 
 a slavery. These, in the nature of things, I repeat, were and 
 are the primary objects of trade unionism. 
 
 Our great Federation has uniformly refused to surrender this 
 conviction and to rush to the support of any one of the numerous 
 society-saving or society-destroying schemes which decade by 
 decade have been sprung upon this country. A score of such 
 schemes, having a national scope, and being for the passing day 
 subject to popular discussion, have gone down behind the horizon 
 and are now but ancient history. But while our Federation has 
 thus been conservative, it has ever had its face turned toward 
 whatever reforms, in politics or economics, could be of direct 
 and obvious benefit to the working classes. It has never given 
 up its birthright for a mess of pottage. It has pursued its avowed 
 policy with the conviction that if the lesser and immediate de- 
 mands of labor could not be obtained now from society as it is, 
 it would be mere dreaming to preach and pursue that will-o' 
 the-wisp, a new society constructed from rainbow materials — a 
 system of society on which even the dreamers themselves have 
 never agreed. — From Annual Report of A. F. of L. Convention, 
 Atlanta, Ga., November, igii. 
 
THE PHILOSOPHY OF TRADE UNIONISM 21 
 
 These three demands of organized labor are comprehended in 
 this larger and ultimate ideal — to enrich, enlarge, and magnify 
 humanity. The influence and the potency of the American 
 Federation of Labor are so well appreciated by the thinkers and 
 leaders in our nation's affairs, that almost every considerable 
 movement for humanitarian, economic, or political reform has 
 endeavored to enlist our approval and support. Men of labor, 
 we play an honorable and important part in the affairs of this 
 great nation. We are daily helping to determine its destiny.^ 
 From Annual Report to A.F. of L. Convention, Rochester, N. Y., 
 November, 1912. 
 
 Under the old feudal system^ it was not within the power or 
 within the right of workingmen to heed, to take counsel about, 
 to discuss questions of wages, hours of labor and conditions of 
 employment. Then it was held to be a violation of the property 
 right of the master for the workers to attempt to discuss or to 
 determine upon wages and hours and conditions of labor. In- 
 deed, if workingmen, or an individual workingman, attempted 
 to shirk duty, to go elsewhere in search of employment, or what 
 not, so long as he absented himself from the domain of his 
 master, according to the laws and the power of govermnent he 
 was subject to arrest, to be brought back for trial upon the 
 charge of robbing his master of the labor to which that master 
 was entitled, and he was, if found guilty, whipped, publicly 
 whipped, publicly branded on the forehead with the letter "V," 
 which declared him forever a villain. If he repeated the offense 
 one of his ears was cut off and he was branded on the forehead 
 with a red-hot iron with the letter "S," which marked him for- 
 ever a slave. For the third offense he was hanged to the gibbet. 
 These customs were based on denial to the worker of the right 
 to assert or to claim that he had any right of ownership in him- 
 self or his labor power. — From address at Conference on Anti- 
 Trust Law, New York City, December 12, 1913. 
 
 In improving conditions from day to day the organized labor 
 movement has no "fixed program" for human progress. If you 
 start out with a program everything must conform to it. I With 
 theorists, if facts do not conform to their theories, then so much 
 the worse for the facts. Their declarations of theories and ac- 
 
22 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 tions refuse to be hampered by facts, a We do not set any 
 particular standard, but work for the best possible conditions 
 immediately obtainable for the workers. When they are obtained 
 then we strive for better. 
 
 It does not require any elaborate social philosophy or great 
 discernment to know that a wage of $3 a day and a workday of 
 eight hours in sanitary workshops are better than $2.50 a day 
 and a workday of twelve hours under perilous conditions. The 
 working people will not stop when any particular point is reached; 
 they will never stop in their efforts to obtain a better life for 
 themselves, for their wives, for their children, and for all hu- 
 manity. The object is to attain complete social justice. — From 
 abstract of testimony before United States Commission on In- 
 dustrial Relations, New York City, May 21-23, 191 4. 
 
 The question propounded centuries ago, "Am I my brother's 
 keeper?" is being answered by the labor movement and the 
 social conscience it arouses. Yes; you are your brother's keeper, 
 and unless you help to lighten his burden yours will be made so 
 much the heavier. — From address at Wilmington, Del., Janttary, 
 27, igi6. 
 
 Class is no assurance of genius, ability or wisdom. No man 
 is fit to control the lives of his fellows. The trade unions are 
 the agencies through which wage-earners are working out their 
 destinies and interposing a check upon arbitrary power in in- 
 dustry. The spiritual effect of industrial freedom is of incalcu- 
 lable potency in determining the moral fiber of the nation. — 
 American Federationist, November, igi6. 
 
II 
 
 LABOR AND THE COMMUNITY 
 
 LABOR AND PUBLIC OPINION 
 
 The efforts of the. toiling masses of our country to carry on 
 the struggles for improved conditions have been met in the spirit 
 of the bitterest antagonism. Our methods to gradually improve 
 the condition of the masses have been regarded and treated as if 
 we were the enemies rather than the friends of the human family. 
 War has practically been declared against the labor organiaa- 
 tions, and war measures resorted to in the effort to crush them. 
 
 But will they be crushed? We answer No. A thousand times 
 No. .The labor movement is the manifestation of that unrest 
 bom of the conviction that injustice prevails which needs remedy- 
 ing and supplanting by justice and right. : The labor movement 
 voices the aspirations of the toiling masses as well as lays bare 
 their wrongs. It is the means through which tyranny is held in ' 
 check; it lives in their minds and hearts, and will not and cannot 
 be crushed. — From Annual Report to A. F. of L. Convention, 
 Philadelphia, Pa., December, i8q2. 
 
 During the year our movement has been assailed with more 
 bitterness from theoreticians than during any preceding year of 
 the existence of our movement. Upon entering upon my present 
 term of office, I issued an appeal to the different schools of 
 thought connected with our movement asking them in the name 
 of all that appeals to our sense of justice to cooperate with us 
 in our efforts to unite and bring relief and success to the masses 
 of labor. I confess no disappointment that this proffer of peace 
 and good will was spurned. In fact, so intense was the malevo- 
 lence toward the interests of labor displayed, that a few of those 
 whose whole connection with the movement has been that of 
 destruction, sought to inaugurate another movement to undermine 
 
 23 
 
24 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 and destroy the trade unions of the country and the American 
 Federation of Labor itself. In a number of instances, local 
 unions attached to nationals affiliated with us, have been rent 
 asunder, and brother workmen have been organized into hostile 
 camps, to the destruction of their own interests and to the dehght 
 of all enemies of labor. 
 
 It has been the purpose of our movement to look with kindness 
 akin to sympathy upon all efforts of others to organize workers, 
 and with indifference upon those who sought to destroy our 
 movement. It seems to me that the time has come when men 
 who will prostitute the noble purpose of our cause, and in the 
 garb of friendship seek to destroy the trade-union movement, or 
 pervert it into channels by which its power becomes ineffective, 
 and its influence for good impotent, should be pilloried as the 
 enemies of labor, and held, now and forever, in the contempt 
 they so justly deserve. 
 
 It behooves our active men to warn our fellow workers from 
 the dangers which lurk in the sophistries of labor's emancipation 
 without the power and influence, the struggles and sacrifices of 
 the trade-union movement. The most effective answer that labor 
 can make to the pessimist, to the would-be union wreckers, is 
 organization, and organization upon a permanent basis. With 
 the growth and permanency of the trade-unions, the power for 
 evil toward our movement and all else will diminish in the exact 
 ratio. Our movement is based on the justice of labor'sr cause. It 
 is economically, socially and morally sound. It is the champion 
 and defender of the otherwise weak and defenseless; it lives in 
 the hearts and minds of the people. It may meet occasional 
 reverses, but they are simply retreats for more advantageous 
 positions for advances, it is enduring for all time. — From Annual 
 Report to A. F. of L. Convention, Cincinnati, Ohio, December, 
 1896. 
 
 The change in public sentiment and the public conscience as 
 manifested in the newspapers, magazines, schools, colleges and 
 universities, which discuss economic and social problems is the 
 best attestation to the intellectual improvement caused by the 
 trade union movement. Trade unionism is neither fantastic nor 
 visionary, but real, practical and substantial in securing increase 
 in wages and the purchasing power of wages and improvement 
 
LABOR AND THE COMMUNITY 25 
 
 in the condition of the workers. With increasing incomes and 
 purchasing power of wages, we have decreasing mortality and 
 increasing consumption of all articles produced, heightening the 
 stature of the people and compelling their more general educa- 
 tion. The unions develop manhood and establish fraternity, so 
 that organized workers voluntarily assist themselves and con- 
 tribute to help their fellow-workers of other trades to balk 
 tyranny and attain their rights. — From Lecture at Cornell Uni- 
 versity, January, igoi. 
 
 In connection with every strike of any moment, though not, 
 we have observed, in connection with lockouts or blacklisting, a 
 certain portion of the press takes up the cry of "public rights." 
 What, it is asked, becomes of the rights and interests of the 
 "third party" to a labor-capital-controversy, the great, helpless 
 public? The workmen have the right to strike for any reason 
 whatever, good or bad, wise or foolish; and they claim the right 
 to boycott those who have offended them. Employers have the 
 right to discharge men at will, and thus precipitate difficulty. 
 Have the bystanders, the consumers, no rights that the classes 
 named are bound to respect? 
 
 Thus runs the argument, and it is plausible. As a rule, those 
 who make it end by advocating some form of compulsory arbi- 
 tration, or state regulation of wages, hours, and conditions of 
 labor. . . . ; A great strike entails inconvenience and hardship; 
 but is the public entitled to insist that a man shall work on terms 
 that are unsatisfactory to him, simply because it needs his 
 product? 
 
 Men work or engage in business to earn a livelihood, not from 
 motives of altruism. They may stop when they please, just as 
 the farmer may refuse to raise crops without regard to the needs 
 of the consumers. . . . The "public" does not provide for the 
 wage-workers; it leaves them to pursue their interests as best 
 they may, and all they owe the public, legally speaking, is respect 
 for the law..: 
 
 But, of course, in addition to legal responsibilities and limita- 
 tions, there are moral responsibilities. " Not everything that is 
 lawful is expedient and reasonable; "the extreme of law is the 
 extreme of injustice," it has well been said.. It is certainly 
 pertinent to ask whether organized labor has shown itself reck- 
 
26 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 less of these moral obligations to the public, whether it has 
 insisted in any considerable number of cases on the letter of the 
 law regardless of all considerations of propriety and reason in a 
 comprehensive sense of these terms. 
 
 We have had many strikes of late, some of them of a serious 
 character from the public standpoint. Which side was it which 
 defiantly and scornfully disregarded public opinion and talked 
 about "managing its own business in its own way?" Which side 
 declared that it was impertinent and impudent and outrageous 
 for the "third party" to make its influence felt for peace and 
 adjustment? Which side said that the law was all-sufficient, 
 and that other considerations were mere foolish sentiment and 
 harmful weakness? 
 
 In the strike of the anthracite miners, who said: "No con- 
 cessions, no arbitration?" The presidents of the coal-carrying 
 railroads. Who offered to accept arbitration of the strictly im- 
 partial kind? The representatives of the 147,000 miners. The 
 operators and railroads opposed the efforts of the conciliation 
 committee of the industrial department of the Civic Federation, 
 and even the suggestion of President Roosevelt's intervention 
 under a supposed statute, discovered to have been repealed, was 
 resented and characterized as dangerous and vicious. And all 
 this in spite of the fact that railroads enjoy exclusive and valuable 
 privileges from the public, and that the coal-carrying roads were 
 notoriously parties in an illegal monopoly, as shown by the plain 
 statements of the Industrial Commission! 
 
 If moral obligations are operative anywhere they are surely 
 operative in cases where the industry affected by a strike is a 
 natural monopoly, where franchises have removed the natural 
 check of supply and demand. 
 
 In Chicago there was a strike of teamsters employed by the 
 big packing companies, which are under public accusation of 
 unlawful monopoly. The strikers demanded recognition of their 
 union, an increase of pay and some other things. The packers 
 declined to "deal with strangers" or to recognize the union in 
 any way. The people of Chicago were practically all against the 
 packers, and they had to yield; but they, not the teamsters, at 
 first rejected arbitration and friendly mediation. . . . 
 
 It is forgotten that the workman, too, has his "business" to 
 manage, and that to say the least his part in production is as 
 
LABOR AND THE COMMUNITY 27 
 
 essential as that of capital. - When workmen insist on certain 
 terms, they are not seeking to control the employer's business, 
 biit to lay down the conditions of their own participation in that 
 business. Too many still assume that the employer is to be 
 thanked and regarded as a benefactor for paying wages at all, 
 and giving his employees workl This miserable fallacy is back 
 of every arrogant claim put forward by capital. But for it, 
 everybody would see that if the workman has something to arbi- 
 trate, so has the employer. 
 
 In fine, a candid examination of the facts will satisfy reasonable 
 men that the interests and rights of the public are seldom dis- 
 regarded by organized labor, and that the obstinacy, supercilious- 
 ness and bigotry of certain types of employers are responsible 
 for the number, duration and character of strikes and labor 
 contests. Assuredly, no sane man will ask workmen to accept 
 any terms employers choose to grant them. What more can labor 
 do than to agree to accept mediation and arbitration? What 
 more does consideration for the "third party" require? 
 
 Let, then, the champions and spokesmen for the public, address 
 their protests and appeals to the backward and short-sighted 
 employers whose name, alas! is still legion. Organized labor 
 needs no conversion. It is ready to do the right thing at the 
 right time. — American Federaiionist, July, IQ02. 
 
 Consider for a moment who are "the people?" Nothing mythi- 
 cal, I suppose. They are human beings, men and women and 
 children; and of what do they consist, so far as their activities 
 in life are concerned? You say: "Well, this gentleman is a 
 banker." 'Tis true; but, in fact, is he not an employer? Be 
 he an attorney, is he usually not an employer? A man of leisure, 
 is he not usually an employer? As a matter of fact, take the 
 whole gamut of human society, and we find that whatever divi- 
 sions exist in the economic relations, to each other they constitute 
 employed and employers. It is, therefore, absurd to even imagine 
 that there is in fact a "people" or a "public" outside the pale 
 of those I have enumerated; regardless of which business you 
 may take, aye, even in the professions. — American Federation- 
 ist, February, igo8. 
 
 After all, is the public disinterested? Do we not rather find 
 it composed of different groups, some whose interests are similar 
 
28 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 to those of the employers involved, and who hence naturally 
 sympathize with them and their position? There are many whose 
 financial welfare is identical with that of the employer, who are 
 dependent upon his prosperity. There are many whose industrial 
 experience as workmen would inevitably predispose them to 
 approve the actions and demands of the employees upon any 
 question. There are many selfish and indifferent to the moral 
 and ethical values of any issue that conflicts with their own 
 comfort. There are some few with broader sympathies and 
 keener and deeper understanding of human nature, who try to 
 maintain the dispassionate attitude of justice toward both, but 
 upon some critical and vital issue can they completely overcome 
 the formative, determining influences of environment, instruction, 
 and the indefinable psychic influences of their own kind? It is 
 a serious and dangerous matter to entrust the determination of 
 issues which concern the life, the happiness, the welfare, and 
 freedom of the workers into the hands of other men who do not 
 and can not know the toilers' world in which they live, move, 
 and have their heing.i-American Federationist, January, 1913. 
 
 To public opinion is often attributed a sort of sanctity, a 
 divine origin, an attribute that formerly was attributed to con- 
 science. We have learned that the individual's conscience de- 
 pends upon his environment, his inherited qualities, his educa- 
 tion, and is not something absolute, divine, or different in nature 
 from other faculties. So we also know that vox popidi is not 
 necessarily vox dei, but may be made to approach it as freedom 
 of expression, openness of mind, and truths are allowed to pre- 
 vail. Public opinion is not a unity but there are various opinions 
 held by different groups making up the public. That group 
 which presents its convictions most persuasively or most insis- 
 tently, controls the prevailing policy. Conceptions of truths vary 
 with the opportunities and the understanding of the individual 
 or the group. As a group that is a part of the public becomes 
 more influential, able to express more forcibly and clearly its 
 ideals and concepts of justice and truths — things the group has 
 evolved from its labor and daily life with other men — that group 
 may alter the trend and scope of public opinion until it reflects 
 more completely the life and welfare of all mankind. Frequently 
 public (pinion is only a prevailing sentiment, determined by 
 
LABOR AND THE COMMUNITY 29 
 
 convenience or ignorance. Sometimes it is only a "snap" judg- 
 ment based on incorrect data. . . . Until all elements exert 
 proportional influence in determining public opinion, until all 
 individuals that make up the public become genuinely and un- 
 selfishly desirous of continuously striving for justice to all man- 
 kind, public opinion will not become an infallible dispenser of 
 jxistice.-^American Federationist, February, igij. 
 
 The unorganized public opinion, after all, may be evanescent, 
 and it may change in 24 hours; or, if it does not, and the 
 workers are defeated in any projected movement by reason of 
 this expression of unorganized public opinion, they may at some 
 time in the future make a new movement in order to secure their 
 demands and aspirations. On the other hand, with the organized 
 expression of public opinion, as I understand it, through a law 
 or a governmental agency, if such a governmental agency shall 
 authoritatively determine that the demands of the working people 
 are unjustified, it puts the seal of disapproval upon the whole 
 movement, and makes it practically impossible for a decade or 
 more for the men and women of labor to give expression to their 
 discontent in some form that shall make for the achievement of 
 their demand and their ideal in that particular movement. — 
 From hearing before Senate Committee on Interstate Com- 
 merce, on "Government Investigation of RaUivay Disputes," 
 January 11, 1917. 
 
 "FRIENDS OF LABOR," PHILANTHROPIC AND 
 DOCTRINAIRE 
 
 We have often a very grave complaint to make against many 
 of our charitably inclined. The first thought of those known to 
 belong to some charitable organization is, so far as it affects the 
 wage-earners, to get them to work, to get them a job. Of course, 
 we realize that not only is it desirable for men to work, but we 
 recognize that it is an absolute necessity and a duty for a man 
 to work. But when, for example, there are a number of men 
 who may have engaged in a dispute with their employer relative 
 to a matter of wage, relative to the condition of employment, we 
 protest against you or any one finding a job for another work- 
 man in that establishment. .... 
 
30 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 I do not want you for a moment to imagine that I under- 
 estimate the earnestness and the zeal that the charity workers 
 manifest in their efforts to allay and alleviate the misery which 
 comes from our present economic state of affairs. But, after 
 all, I think you will agree that it is no remedy for the social and 
 economic ills from which the people suffer. And for all that, as 
 was suggested, what are you going to do with the undeserving 
 poor? What do you do with them? (and they are always with 
 you). No charity worker, I think, will dispute the fact that 
 after all it is simply a patch upon the awful sore of the body 
 economic of our time. . . . 
 
 Why not help us as an auxiliary to your charity? Why not 
 have a Union Label League? Why not have a Consumers' Union 
 Label League, and endeavor, not only by your own precept and 
 example, but through your friends, to encourage better wages, 
 better conditions and surroundings for the workers? You would 
 find the union label on your printing, and you would know that 
 union men and women had been employed, and at least that a 
 comparatively fair wage had been paid, rendering them less liable 
 to your charity. There are a thousand and one things in which 
 you can be helpful. — From address before the Monday Evening 
 Club, Boston, and Representatives of Organized Charities of 
 New England, March 20, i8gg. 
 
 We have on previous occasions called attention to the fact 
 that the trade unions and the federal labor unions under the 
 banner of the American Federation of Labor, are composed 
 exclusively of. wage- workers, men who work for wages; and the 
 exclusion of others does not necessarily reflect upon them. If 
 professions of sjmipathy on the part of some who are not wage 
 workers, are at all sincere, they can render the movement mudi 
 more assistance, and be of far greater service to our cause, by 
 aiding and encouraging the organizations and the work on the 
 outside than by attempting to become members, and in the 
 circles of the meeting endeavoring to control the counsels, deci- 
 sions and actions of the unions. We court the sjmipathetic aid of 
 all, but we resent the attempt on the part of any one not a wage 
 worker to try to formulate the policy of the trade imion 
 movement. 
 
 "The emancipation of the workingmen must be achieved by 
 
LABOR AND THE COMMUNITY 31 
 
 the workingmen themselves" is an adage long ago recognized by 
 the trade union movement; and if there are friends of our cause 
 who are ineligible to membership in the trade unions and federal 
 labor unions they will best demonstrate their sympathy by re- 
 straining their zeal to become members, and seeking by their 
 supposed "superior" intelligence to fasten themselves upon the 
 wage-workers' movement. 
 
 It may be true that some organizations at some time may fall 
 into error; but it is better that we may err and learn by experience 
 to avoid errors in the future than to have men whose interests 
 are not identical with those of the wage-workers direct the affairs 
 of any of our labor organizations or of our general movement. 
 The lesson thus far learned is that those other than wage-workers 
 who seek membership in any of our organizations are either eaten 
 up with their own vanity, or are self-seekers; and in either case 
 it is destructive of the best interests of the workers. That from 
 the counsel of many comes wisdom has long been recognized; 
 and this wisdom is much more far-reaching in its influence for 
 good than the supposed "superior" intelligence of either the pro- 
 fessoriat, the business men, the theorists, the self-seekers, or the 
 camp followers. — American Federationist, April, igoo. 
 
 An increasing number of the ministry are paying attention to 
 labor. They speak about Labor Day, recognizing the movement 
 in the interest of labor. This is exceedingly gratifying. "There 
 was a time — and not so long ago, either — when the ministry 
 belonged to the host that prayed for us one minute on Sunday 
 and preyed on us all the rest of the week.. It shows that they 
 are becoming anxious about us. They are becoming acquainted 
 with us, and no longer study to learn concerning us from our 
 employers or superintendents. 
 
 I noticed that one of the preachers of yesterday asked and 
 pleaded that Sunday be a day of rest and quiet, a day for 
 worship. He implored organized labor to assist in bringing about 
 this state of affairs. I would say to this minister that organized 
 labor is against Sunday labor, and always has been. He had 
 better turn toward those in his own pews, those who spend Sun- 
 day on their marrow bones, and blame them for Sunday labor. 
 If the laboring man should refuse to work, this man would dis- 
 charge him. It has been said that the labor unions are 
 
32 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 antagonistic to the church, that they hold their meetings on 
 Sunday at hours which conflict with divine service. Tell me, 
 then, when could they hold their meetings? What's that I hear? 
 Monday mornings? What would your employer say to that? 
 Consider the street car men. When can they hold meetings? 
 The company looks after that detail very well in their case. 
 
 One minister has asked organized labor to dose the saloons. 
 Organized labor has always looked on the saloon as an evil. It is 
 always the overrich who get drunk and also the very praor. The 
 first demands intoxication for excitement; the second, on five 
 cents' worth of whiskey, forgets his hunger, forgets his long 
 hours, forgets distress. "I say that comfortable people do not get 
 drunk. The man who has moderate hours of labor does not 
 indulge to excess in liquor. The charge that labor unions antag- 
 onize the church is unfounded. The fact is, that instead of 
 antagonizing the church, our modern church has antagonized the 
 working-men. Let the minister try and come among us and learn 
 who we are. — American Federationist, October, igoo. 
 
 In connection with this question of labels should be mentioned 
 the fact that in some cities some well-meaning, philanthropic 
 ladies have organized consumers' leagues. These leagues were 
 originally intended to be helpful to secure amelioration in the 
 condition of some of the working people. Lately some of these 
 leagues have issued a label to employers simply because the 
 sanitary conditions in which the employees work were improved, 
 and these labels issued without regard to any consideration as 
 to wages, hours, and other conditions of employment, and in 
 some instances in rivalry to the union label of the organization 
 of the craft. I do not believe that these consumers' leagues have 
 intended to work counter to the labor movement, and as a result 
 of a conference recently had with a representative of a con- 
 sumers' league, when the matter was explained, the assurance 
 was given that the issuance of the league's label would be dis- 
 continued. Our union labels stand for improved sanitation as 
 one of the conditions necessary to entitle an employer to their 
 use. Further efforts in this direction will, I hope, eliminate this 
 unintentional injury. — From Annual Report to A. F. of L. Con- 
 vention, Boston, Mass., November, igoj. 
 
LABOR AND THE COMMUNITY 33 
 
 If all the welfare workers, the social uplifters, the social legis- 
 lative enthusiasts would apply the efforts and money they are 
 now diverting to other causes to the work of promoting organiza- 
 tion, they would greatly shorten the time necessary to put all 
 workers in a position where they could solve their own problems, 
 fight their own battles, and promote their own welfare as free, 
 equal men and women. — From pamphlet "The Workers and The 
 Eight-Hour Work-day," 191 5. 
 
 While we appreciate the difficulties in the administration of 
 charity organizations, we have more than once had our gorge 
 rise at the lack of discrimination by contributors to the Stervey 
 between the working classes and the pauperized classes, and at 
 the assumption that the rich as a class were the givers and the 
 workers as a class the receivers of charitable benefits. The fact 
 is, the workers perform infinitely more service for the unfortu- 
 nate than is done by the rich. For one thing, it is undoubtedly 
 taxation bearing on the workers that pays the larger part for the 
 maintenance of public institutions. And it is the workers who 
 day by day, without fail, both in their organizations and as 
 individuals, help their weaker brothers and sisters in the struggle. 
 — American Federationist, August, igio. 
 
 ' Many a plain, unschooled toiler in the ranks has an under- 
 standing of industrial conditions and forces that makes him an 
 authority in that field. Though their terms may not be as nicely 
 discriminating as those of the more conventional "economist," 
 yet they know the realities of economics, what is practicable, 
 and what is merely theoretical and speculative. Culture does not 
 consist wholly of book learning but is an attitude of mind, alert 
 and aware of tendencies, able and willing to discern the real from 
 the false, the enduring from the ephemeral. ■' Nor would we dis- 
 credit the work of the colleges, universities or social workers, 
 nor undervalue the constructive work done by these agencies in 
 helping to establish a more sympathetic, democratic understand- 
 ing of social and industrial problems among all the people. It is 
 because we deprecate any action or policy that detracts from the 
 value of that work, that we deplore the assumption of censorship 
 and arrogance on the part of any. . . . The workers are not 
 bugs to be examined under the lenses of a microscope by the 
 
34 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 "intellectuals" on a sociological slumming tour. The men and 
 women of labor are not only willing to be examined, but will 
 examine themselves and in turn reverse the lens and examine 
 the examiners at the other end. — American Federationist, Febru- 
 ary, 1Q13. 
 
 For several years the workers in the American labor movement 
 have manifested their competency to deal with the gravest situa- 
 tions and problems, and while willing to give heed and careful 
 consideration to any suggestion or proposition coming from any 
 other agency, desirous of being helpful to the labor movement 
 and to the labor cause, it will not jaeld any field of activity 
 directly affecting the workers to any agency other than the work- 
 ers themselves. We commend to the consideration of the self- 
 constituted guardians of labor the fact that the American labor 
 movement has had to contend with organized antagonism of no 
 mean caliber; with enemies avowed and pseudo; with hypocrit- 
 ical pretenders; with subsidized institutions and associations, and 
 that the labor movement has never run away from the battle or 
 the contest, and is now in a stronger, more powerful and influ- 
 ential position for service than at any time in its history. — Amer- 
 ican Federationist, April, igi6. 
 
 The American labor movement has insisted upon the inherent 
 dignity and ability of wage-earners, and has declared that they 
 are intelligently competent to deal with their own affairs in a 
 democratic fashion and to determine and formulate their own 
 policies. 
 
 This long-established practice of American labor has pro- 
 voked criticism and hostility on the part of that group who have 
 sympathy but whose understanding of labor problems is aca- 
 demic. This group in other countries is called the "Intellec- 
 tuals" and whenever given opportunity sought and seeks to dom- 
 inate the labor movement. 
 
 The American labor movement has always been willing to 
 accept the sympathetic cooperation of this group but has rejected 
 all attempts at leadership or domination. 
 
 /•■American workers insist that it is an essential application of 
 democratic prirTciples that they work out their own problems in 
 their own way. — American Federationist, April, igiS. 
 
LABOR AND THE COMMUNITY 35 
 
 There is a group of faddists in this country who advocate ultra 
 aims and who are intolerant of and hostile to the bona fide prac- 
 tical and constructive labor movement. It is part of their stock 
 in trade to be "different," thereby creating a scope of activity 
 for themselves. Their livelihood depends upon subsidies; they 
 are professional friends of labor. 
 
 The labor movement does not discount the service to civiliia- 
 tion rendered by intellectual ability, but it is equally convinced 
 that there is a vast supply of important fundamental knowledge 
 that can be secured only through the slow accumulation of deduc- 
 tions from experience. In understanding and solving labor prob- 
 lems, information gained in the college lecture room or in doc- 
 trinaire discussions is not a substitute for the knowledge gained 
 through solving labor problems in the shop, in the mill, or in the 
 mine. Intellectuals usually suspend their labor programs from 
 sky hooks. Their practical efforts are confined to criticizing the 
 achievements and the methods of workingmen. They can find 
 nothing good in the practical structure of labor organization which 
 workers have built upon solid foundations resting upon the ground 
 where the labor problems exist and extending upward as far as 
 the foundation structure will sustain. 
 
 Many of the "intellectuals" have joined in a campaign of carp- 
 ing criticism, either direct or indirect, and insidious attack upon 
 the A. F. of L. Instead of carrying out a wholly destructive pol- 
 icy in an endeavor to weaken the influence of the A. F. of L., and 
 lower the morale of the only organization that can render effective 
 service to the government in this critical period, the true intel- 
 lectuals have another and a legitimate field. They can act as 
 advisers and the formulators of constructive plans and policies to 
 be submitted to democratic consideration and decision by the 
 workers themselves in the American labcr movement. 
 
 Let them return to their rightful work and acquiesce in the 
 right of the labor movement to detennine its own aims and pol- 
 icies and to organize and determine its own agencies and methods. 
 Friendly constructive criticism is always welcome from any 
 source, but the attempt to bulldoze or dominate the labor move- 
 ment by others than the workers themselves will be resisted £ind 
 resented to the uttermost. — American Federationist, May, 
 1Q18. 
 
36 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 The New Republic has constituted itself the self-appointed 
 director of the American labor movement. It has sought to sim- 
 ulate a seeming friendship by articles helpful in their interpre- 
 tation of the purposes to be achieved by collective action. These 
 articles were the leverage by which the New Republic hoped to 
 establish a relation to the trade union movement that would 
 enable it to dictate policies. By criticizing existing policies and 
 leadership in the labor movement the New Republic has per- 
 sistently endeavored to create misunderstandings and division 
 between the British labor movement and that of the United 
 States, and to divide American workers upon domestic and for- 
 eign labor policies. The New Republic always speaks upon labor 
 matters as one having superior revelation and therefore speaking 
 with authority to those who perforce must accept masked advice 
 and admonitions. The New Republic fails to project itself into 
 the facts and experiences of workers' lives, but from a safe meta- 
 physical distance hands down policies and plans which the work- 
 ers must adopt or incur the displeasure of this new overlord. — 
 American Federationist, August, igi8. 
 
 THE NATIONAL CIVIC FEDERATION 
 
 I think I can without vanity claim to be one of the earliest 
 members of The National Civic Federation, long before it was 
 known as The National Civic Federation. I had faith in it; I 
 had faith in the idea; I believed that it was capable of accom- 
 plishing a very great deal of good. ... I would not have one 
 believe that we can solve all the problems of our economic life 
 by the Civic Federation. No man surrenders one jot of his 
 opinions or his rights in becoming attached to the Civic Federa- 
 tion. I believe that the greatest strength of the concerted move- 
 ment lies in the fact that we strongly hold to the principles and 
 convictions that we held before we became associated with the 
 Civic Federation, and that our best common interests are con- 
 served by meeting in the conciliation board and our endeavors 
 to bring about a common understanding upon contested points. 
 — From address at meeting of The National Civic Federation, 
 New York City, December 12, igo6. 
 
 The men of labor realize that while in this forum are men who 
 gjrongly differ on matters of interest, of policy, of philosophy, of 
 
LABOR AND THE COMMUNITY 37 
 
 principle, and who may all strongly contend for the faith that 
 is in them, no man surrenders his point of view by his asso- 
 ciation in The National Civic Federation. I imagine that many 
 of you ladies and gentlemen who are here this evening have 
 participated in. other meetings and I believe that you will agree 
 with my statement when I say that the representatives of labor 
 have not been jpealy-mouthed in the assertion of the faith which 
 they hold, and we are not going to be so to-night. I am ready 
 to acknowledge, and I do gladly acknowledge, that by reason of 
 our coming together much strife has been avoided, and many 
 reconciliations established where the relations between employer 
 and employee have been ruptured. There is now, due to the 
 organized effort of the working people and of our Civic Federa- 
 tion, a better general concept among all the people of this country 
 of the duties we owe to one another. For instance, there is a 
 better understanding and a more ready acquiescence in the 
 thought that the labor of children must be restricted, and we are 
 united in the common effort to so restrict it. And as to the dis- 
 cussion of these past few days, and particularly to-day, of the 
 question of compensation for accidents and their prevention, I 
 ask our h3^ercritical friends where on earth they can find a body 
 of men in which large employers of labor, great captains of 
 industry, sit in counsel with the representatives, and true repre- 
 sentatives, of labor, to try and devise ways and means by which 
 injury and accidents may be prevented and compensation given 
 where accidents are unavoidable. — From address at annual meet- 
 ing of The National Civic Federation, New York City, January, 
 igii. 
 
 Why should C. W. Post and the other radicals of the Manu- 
 facturers' Association rail at organized labor and the Civic Fede- 
 ration? The socialists are doing their work in this respect most 
 faithfully. There is a striking similarity in the tone and phrase- 
 ology in the attacks on the trade unionists and the Civic Federa- 
 tion in Post's advertisements and in the similar attacks of the 
 socialists. There are the same bitterness, the same baseless 
 assertion, the same unreasonableness of attitude. Post, on indit- 
 ing his most furious articles against the employers and organized 
 workers who believe in systematized methods in endeavoring to 
 
38 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 maintain all possible industrial peace might count with certainty 
 on having them inserted without charge if he were to send them 
 in some socialist's name to the Chicago Daily Socialist, the New 
 York Call, the International Socialist Review, the Milwaukee 
 Democratic Herald, and the New York Volkszeitung or the New 
 York Vorwaerts. Post and the socialists are in this instance the 
 proverbial "strange bedfellows" that are made by politics, for in 
 both these parties the animus of their onslaughts is a base form 
 of politics which includes the weakening, if not the destruction, 
 of the two institutions which stand in the way of their designs, 
 namely, the trade union movement as governed by its present 
 principles and the Civic Federation. It is really a fortunate thing 
 for the trade union men in the Civic Federation that they can 
 point on the one hand to the venomous Post and on the other to 
 the bitter-tongued socialists and direct the attention of the 
 country to the resemblances between them, which are the reverse 
 of flattering to either. 
 
 John Kirby, Jr., president of the National Association of 
 Manufacturers, recently denounced the Civic Federation because 
 Samuel Gompers and John Mitchell were "not only participants, 
 but moving spirits in the movement as well as officers in good 
 standing," and because of the "doctrines they preach." Kirby 
 hoped the day was not far distant when the Civic Federation 
 would "clear its literature of the union label." He quoted a 
 manufacturer as telegraphing to him: "I am opposed to our 
 sending delegates to Gompers' convention" — the annual meeting 
 of the Civic Federation — and another as saying: "I agree abso- 
 lutely with your action in declining to appoint delegates to The 
 National Civic Federation of Gomperism," and another, "There 
 ought to be some way to enlighten the innocent or assumed 
 innocent members of the Civic Federation that they are the tools 
 of organized labor." C. W. Post had the following, August, 1909: 
 "The Square Deal has persistently called attention to the fact 
 that The National Civic Federation has almost uniformly lent 
 itself to the support of the 'Labor Trust' in its attacks on the 
 industry of the country and the general welfare of the people. 
 We can recall no instance in which it has failed to obey the 
 wishes and behests of Gompers and Mitchell," etc. . . . 
 
 When a man like President Seth Low of The National Civic 
 
LABOR AND THE COMMUNITY 39 
 
 Federation, who for a quarter of a century has systematically 
 given time to this work, comes forward and lends his influence, 
 his honored name, his experience, his judgment, his character, to 
 this purpose, the act to our mind should command the respectful 
 attention of the entire American public, and when the history of 
 the last decade shows that The National Civic Federation has, 
 time and again, by bringing together the representatives of the 
 employing class and of the employed class, prevented losses 
 amounting to millions that can not be calculated — and when any 
 such conference has been held due to the efforts of the Civic 
 Federation, the results have ever been to the advantage of labor 
 — it seems to us that this fact should further arrest the attention 
 of the public and insure commendation of the movement. There 
 is a field for the work of such an institution. — American Federa- 
 tionist, March, igii. 
 
 The Civic Federation has a department of mediation. It 
 undertakes no effort to arbitrate unless voluntarily called to do 
 so by both sides. It has brought together employers and work- 
 ingmen engaged in tremendously important disputes, who it 
 seemed could not be brought together for the purpose of meeting 
 and discussing their diverse points of view and diverse interests. 
 The result has been that agreements have been reached between 
 large bodies of workers and large employers and that terms and 
 conditions of labor have been improved at least to the temporary 
 mutual satisfaction of both parties to the dispute. . . . 
 
 The National Civic Federation is a purely voluntary organiza- 
 tion. There is no such thing as membership in the ordinary sense 
 of the term. Men who are willing to give or to secure aid, 
 simply attend. The officers are simply for the purpose of admin- 
 istration. Those who come to the annual meetings elect the 
 officers. 
 
 The relations existing between the men in this organization 
 and the representatives of the national labor movement have no 
 parallel in any other country. ... I am not prepared to say 
 as to the motives of the men of the Civic Federation; but they 
 have been instrumental in bringing together the representatives 
 of the employers and the representatives of the workingmen after 
 all other agencies have proved futile in bringing them together. 
 The agencies of that organization have succeeded time and time 
 
40 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 again when no other means were available. — From abstract of 
 testimony before United States Commission on Industrial Rela- 
 tions, New York City, May 21-23, ^9^4- 
 
 Though a man of means [Seth Low] it was his aim to bring 
 a proper reward to the toilers for their services. He had a deep 
 regard for their rights as men and as citizens. As a mediator 
 and conciliator in disputes between workers and employers he 
 brought to his aid his wonderful mentality, the sympathetic pul- 
 sations of his being and the dominating characteristic of ability 
 to find solutions of great problems. In my whole life I have 
 never met any other man who had such mastery of himself and 
 who had so much sympathetic influence to persuade men to take 
 his point of view; and though not infallible and, like all humans, 
 likely to err in judgment, yet his success lay in the fact that his 
 good sense and earnestness and the sympathy of his character 
 guided him aright. I had the pleasure of counting him a friend. 
 I know by long years of intimate association with him in his 
 work that he rendered untold and incalculable service to mankind 
 — to the workers particularly. 
 
 In the passing of Seth Low, America has lost one of her greatest 
 sons. — From statement prepared for meeting of The National 
 Civic Federation in New York City, January 22, 1917. 
 
 LABOR AND THE FARMER 
 
 When the farmers are organized, I have no hesitation in be- 
 lieving that they will formulate the propositions and the means 
 by which relief can come to them. I believe that their hours of 
 labor should be reduced. May I be permitted to say in connec- 
 tion with this, that I know that the general notion of the farmer, 
 of the employing farmer, is that you can not finish the work on 
 the farm unless you start in at sun up and work until sun down, 
 and then work around the farm house or around the house and 
 in the kitchen and in the bam. — From testimony before United 
 States Industrial Commission, April 18, iSgg. 
 
 Considerable correspondence has been had with the representa- 
 tives of the American Society of Equity, the Farmers' Educa- 
 tional and Co-operative Union of Texas, and other representative 
 
LABOR AND THE COMMUNITY 41 
 
 bodies of farmers. Much has been done to bring the men of the 
 farms and the men of the factory and workshop into closer touch, 
 better understanding and reciprocal relations to aid each other in 
 the advancement of their rights, and to protect each other against 
 aggression of opponents. 
 
 The Farmers' Educational and Co-operative Union of Texas 
 adopted resolutions pledging the farmers of the State to give 
 their patronage to the products of union labor and particularly 
 those bearing the union label. . . . 
 
 We can in this convention do nothing of greater promise for 
 tangible results in the interests of labor in factory, field, work- 
 shop or mine than to establish the most fraternal relations and 
 bring about mutual reciprocal aid between the organizations of 
 labor and the organizations of farmers. — From Annttal Report to 
 A. F. of L. Convention, Norfolk, Va., November, igoj. 
 
 We have frequently interchanged fraternal delegates between 
 the organizations of the farmers of our country and our Federa- 
 tion, and there has grown a closer bond of unity and action in 
 these respective movements. On many occasions invitations have 
 been extended to me to attend the conventions of the organized 
 farmers, the last one being from the National Farmers' Union 
 (Farmers' Educational and Co-operative Union) to attend its 
 annual convention at Fort Worth, Texas, September i. 
 
 By authority and direction of the Executive Council, this 
 invitation was accepted. I attended the convention, and apart 
 from conveying the fraternal greetings of the men of labor in 
 the industrial field, I delivered two addresses to the convention, 
 and one to a mass meeting of farmers while at Fort Worth. 
 
 It has been gratifsnng to me to have been well received at 
 many conventions and meetings, but such enthusiasm and sincere 
 appreciation as that accorded to me by the farmers at their na- 
 tional convention have never been excelled. In addition to a 
 unanimous, rising, and spontaneous expression of confidence and 
 gratitude, the convention later manifesting its earnest desire for 
 cooperative action with the union workers in our Federation, 
 adopted the following report and resolutions: 
 
 "The interests of the farmers and of the industrial workers are not 
 only closely allied, but they have been, and can be, further promoted 
 by mutual assistance and cooperation nationally, as they have in the 
 states ; and we, therefore, recommend the following : 
 
42 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 "Resolved, That a national legislative committee be created for the 
 purpose of furthering such legislation that will protect and promote 
 the rights and interests of the farmers and to prevent the enactment of 
 legislation inimical to our interests. 
 
 "Resolved, That this convention of the Farmers' Educational and 
 Cooperative Union of America hereby instructs its officers and legis- 
 lative committee to cooperate with the American Federation of Labor 
 along economic legislation and other lines of mutual benefit and ad- 
 vantage." 
 
 The Farmers' Union elected fraternal delegates to this conven- 
 tion, and I recommend that the appointment of a special com- 
 mittee from this convention be authorized to confer with these 
 delegates as to how best the interests of the toilers upon the field 
 and farm, the factory, workshop, mill, and mine, may be mutually 
 protected and advanced. 
 
 Authority should also be given to the officers of our Federa- 
 tion to accept in a fraternal spirit the Farmers' Union declaration 
 to cooperate along the lines of legislation and in such other 
 practical spheres where we may be enabled to more thoroughly 
 cultivate the best interests of all. — From Annual Report to A. F. 
 of L. Convention, Denver, Col., November, iqo8. 
 
 LABOR AND GOOD CITIZENSHIP 
 
 How do the wage-workers as a mass get their opinions on the 
 subjects which most closely affect themselves? What in this 
 respect are the sources of their information? Do they read with 
 sufficient attention the trade union reports, the testimony of 
 experts, the evidence of official bureaus, the "dry statistics" which 
 embody facts of the utmost importance relative to the working 
 classes? Or do they merely glance at occasional daily newspaper 
 sensational stories or the disconnected meager or misleading sum- 
 maries of serious writings regarding their own general condition? 
 
 These are queries not infrequently put to trade union officials 
 by men interested in sodal problems. In reply, it is to be said 
 that the work of educating the rank and file of union members 
 in such matters has of recent years made much progress. Most 
 of them are to-day qualified judges of testimony respecting state- 
 ments of fact bearing on labor questions. The primary school 
 in this education is the union meeting. There the members 
 listen to reports of their own committees that deal with such 
 subjects as wages, hours of labor, conditions of employment, 
 
LABOR AND THE COMMUNITY 43 
 
 unemployment, sickness, industrial accidents, state of the labor 
 mariiet in their respective occupations, and the proceedings of 
 all sorts of societies that on occasions connect up with their own 
 union work. A sufficient number of union members are readers 
 of the general run of publications on social questions to be 
 enabled to take the floor at a meeting when any particular point 
 on such questions is up and give the rest of the members the 
 practical information regarding it necessary to intelligent action. 
 — American Federationist, February, IQ12. 
 
 The conversion in our country of our poorest class of South 
 European laborers from serfdom to freedom is a social phenome- 
 non in America most encouraging to all of our wage-workers. 
 It teaches that there is to be no permanently degraded class of 
 laborers in this country. The civilization of our masses forbids 
 the thought. That civilization is practically expressed by them 
 in the institution of trade unionism. In every place where the 
 immigrant goes to work he finds that it is the trade union which 
 establishes standards of wages and living conditions, which as- 
 similates the foreigner in American life, and which sanctions and 
 nourishes in the working class thoughts of independence, mutual 
 protection, and a democratic citizenship making for the common 
 uplift. — American Federationist, April, 1Q12. 
 
 Workmen, many of whom have been denied the opportunity 
 of even a common school education, by the discussion of problems 
 which are continually arising in their unions, become frequently 
 ready and logical debaters, and are valuable assets in the cause 
 which we are all endeavoring to do our level best to strengthen 
 and make still more effective. — American Federationist, May, 
 igi2. 
 
 What institution is there in all our country that makes an 
 effort to educate the great number of immigrants that have come 
 to our country? Who makes the effort to reach them? Except 
 the great corporations; I do not mean them. They have reached 
 for them on the other side; they brought them here. We are 
 proud, and justly proud, of our free schools; but with the millions 
 and millions of immigrants that have been brought to our shore 
 within this past ten or twenty years, no effort is made to reach 
 
44 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 them. Why, my friends, it is the organizations of labor that send 
 out their missionaries to these poor fellows and that try to bring 
 them within the fold of organization and thus within reach of 
 education. — From address at Chicago, III., May i, igo8. 
 
 It is the duty of the Jewish workers of America to become 
 citizens of this land, to adopt its customs and ways and with 
 whatever effectiveness is within their power to help in the develop- 
 ment and progress of higher ideals and institutions for this land 
 which has helped them so much in the struggle for better things. 
 Let the members of the United Hebrew Trades adopt this as their 
 fatherland and give it the same fervent devoted loyalty that they 
 have ever given to all that they have held dear. Let them turn 
 their backs upon the old Zion and the old conceptions and turn 
 their faces toward liberty and freedom, industrial and political, 
 and in their united might fight for the realization of this new 
 purpose, a new Zion that shall mean for them and all Jewish 
 workers better lives in this world and better lives for their chil- 
 dren and their children's children. 
 
 Put into the daily task and into the relations of fellow workers 
 the same glorifying spirit of poetry and exaltation that has given 
 Jewish music and literature its rare inspiration and power, and 
 by so doing make the United Hebrew Trades organization a 
 power that shall sweep all injustice from the lives of all Hebrew 
 workers, however humble, native bom or strangers in our gate- 
 way city. Hebrews have been ever mighty men and women in 
 the world's history, may you be like the great of the race. — From 
 address at meeting of United Hebrew Trades, New York City, 
 May 10, 1915. 
 
 The whole purpose of education is to develop the best men 
 and women to be the most high-minded, resourceful and effective 
 citizens of our republic. Upon the citizens will depend the destiny 
 of the nation and its contribution to institutions of liberty and 
 progress. Citizens under a democratic government must be able 
 and competent to express and maintain their ideals. — American 
 Federationist, March, jgi6. 
 
Ill 
 
 LABOR AND THE LAW 
 
 GOVERNMENT AND LEGISLATION 
 
 tWe have seen laws passed ostensibly in the interests of the 
 people, and particularly in the interests of labor, construed by 
 the courts to apply with particular severity upon labor. J The 
 Interstate Commerce Law, enacted with the avowed purpose of 
 protecting the people from discrimination at the hands of trans- 
 portation companies, has been utilized for no other purpose than 
 to imprison union men employed in transportation service. The 
 so-called Sherman Anti-trust Law, ostensibly enacted to protect 
 the people from unlawful combinations of capital, has simply 
 resulted in the arrest and indictment of union workmen, because 
 in their effort to protect their common interests, their action has 
 been construed to be in restraint of trade. These two laws have 
 been cunningly devised by our antagonists (foolishly acquiesced 
 in by men believing themselves reformers), and have proven 
 to be the incubators of our modern injunction, trial without jury, 
 and imprisonment. — From Annual Report to A. F. of L. Convene 
 tion, Detroit, Mich., December ii, i8gg. 
 
 Some say that the state is an agency through which the people 
 obtain results — that it exists for their service. But the state is 
 not some impersonal thing.: It has no existence outside the people 
 that compose it. Its policies and movements can be directed 
 only by those who are organized and therefore able to exercise 
 power and exert influence. The working people who are unor- 
 ganized have no part in determining the affairs of state — they 
 may beiiefit or suffer from policies but they have no voice in 
 them. . . . 
 
 . If the workers surrender control over working relations to leg- 
 islative and administrative agents, they put their industrial liberty 
 
 45 
 
46 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 at the disposal of state agents. They strip themselves bare of 
 means of defense — they can no longer defend themselves by the 
 strike. To insure liberty and personal welfare, personal relations 
 must be controlled only by those concerned. 
 
 But after all, even if it is the quicker way, is the quick way 
 always the best way? Suppose you have a boy for whom you 
 are fondly ambitious. You wish him to be a business or a pro- 
 fessional success — do you start him in either at the age of ten, 
 or do you wait upon the process of education? When he finally 
 embarks in business or a profession, do you dictate and regulate 
 each feature, or do you advise and leave the boy to solve his own 
 problem and make his own decisions? 
 
 So with the eight hour or shorter work-day in private employ- 
 ment. It is as stated in the beginning, the fundamental objective 
 for workers who are seeking better things. But when forced upon 
 them by law, or given them without their appreciating its value, 
 they frequently look upon it as injustice or hardship. They have 
 not been able to make agreements for the adjustment of wages, 
 hence they apprehend that decreasing the hours of work means 
 to them decreased pay. — From pamphlet "The Workers and The 
 Eight Hour Work-day," 1915. 
 
 For years the toilers have asked legislation of Congress and 
 the state legislatures, which these law-making bodies can grant, 
 and which can be obtained in no other way. The workers have 
 not sought to secure by legislation, or at the hands of govern- 
 ment, what they could accompUsh by their own initiative and 
 activities. 
 
 We have presented legislative measures justified by the de- 
 velopment of industrial needs and the conditions of our people, 
 founded upon the essentials of justice and equaJity before the 
 law, which have for their object the restoration and perpetuation 
 of individual liberty and human freedom. . 
 
 We have asked Congress for the following legislation: 
 
 Amendment of the eight-hour law, so as to extend its provisions 
 to all government employees and to the employees of contractors 
 and sub-contractors doing work for or on behalf of the 
 government. 
 
 A law to regulate the labor of convicts,' that the states may 
 
LABOR AND THE LAW 47 
 
 protect their fr^e citizens from the unfair competition of the 
 products of convict labor. 
 
 General employers' liability law. 
 
 A law to protect American workmen from the wholesale and 
 unrestricted immigration of foreign workmen who are brought 
 to our country to lower the American standard of life. 
 
 A law that shall safeguard not only American workers but 
 American civilization from all Asiatic immigration. 
 
 A law creating a Department of Labor independent of any 
 other department of the government, with a secretary at its head 
 who shall have a seat in the President's Cabinet, on an equality 
 with the secretaries of all other departments, and who, in the 
 President's councils, may have the opportunity to advise a 
 rightful course and to say the right word at the right time for 
 the men and women of labor of our coimtry, the men and women 
 who are performing so great a service to society. 
 
 A law that shall accord to the seamen employed on privately 
 owned vessels the rights conceded to all other workmen, when 
 their vessels are in safe harbor. 
 
 Laws promotive of the protection and advancement of the 
 material interests of the workers, in such instances only where 
 the object sought could not be secured through the initiative and 
 the activities of the workers themselves. 
 
 Each and all of these laws have been denied at the hands of 
 Congress. 
 
 But in the recent past, questions of more transcendent im- 
 portance have arisen. The decision of the Supreme Court of the 
 United States in the Danbury Hatters' case has, as already 
 reported to you, placed our voluntary organizations of labor in 
 the category of monopolies, trusts, and combinations in illegal 
 restraint of trade. As that law now stands, it outlaws and makes 
 civilly liable in three-fold damages and in prosecution by the 
 federal government by fine and imprisonment, the members of 
 labor organizations who collectively exercise their normal, natural 
 functions and activities of organized existence in furtherance of 
 their natural and personal rights. . . . 
 
 In consequence of the executive orders forbidding employees of 
 the Post-Office Department to seek redress of grievances through 
 direct appeal to Congress, a large number of the railway postal 
 clerks organized and affiliated with the American Federation of 
 
48 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 Labor. This effort was made in order to enlist the assistance of 
 the American Federation of Labor in an effort to secure remedial 
 legislation. A number of these organizations were chartered by 
 the American Federation of Labor. As soon as this became 
 known, the Post-Office Department undertook to destroy them. 
 Men employed in the service were victimized and compelled to 
 seek other employment. Realizing the helplessness of the rail- 
 way postal clerks, and desiring to render them all the assistance 
 possible, the American Federation of Labor secured the introduc- 
 tion in both Houses of Congress of bills which, if adopted, would 
 nullify the obnoxious executive orders to which reference is here 
 made and restore to all employees of the Government their rights 
 as American citizens. 
 
 While these bills did not reach consideration by either House, 
 yet by an amendment to the Post-Office Appropriation bill, which 
 is now a law, the right of petition, a right guaranteed to all citi- 
 zens, was restored. Representatives of organized men in the 
 classified civil service and in other departments of the Govern- 
 ment, may now seek legislative relief from onerous conditions for 
 these employees. 
 
 The effect of this amendment to the Post-Office Appropriation 
 bill will be far-reaching and will preclude the possibility of the 
 Post-Office Department assuming that men in the employ of the 
 Government who organize for the protection of their interests, 
 have no right to join the American Federation of Labor. The 
 assumption of the officials of the Post-Office Department that 
 they had the right to designate the organization or organizations 
 of which the employees of the postal department should become 
 members is at variance with the American idea of government. 
 The American Federation of Labor is working out its destiny 
 within the law, and will contest the assumption by Government 
 officials of the right to dictate to the employees of the Govern- 
 ment to which organizations they shall or shall not belong. The 
 American people are not yet ready to take the position that 
 because an individual accepts employment from the Government 
 he thereby forfeits the rights guaranteed to him by the Constitu- 
 tion of the United States. . . . 
 
 That great English statesman, William Ewart Gladstone, is 
 credited with saying that the Constitution of the United States 
 is the greatest work ever written by the hand of man. The 
 
LABOR AND THE LAW 49 
 
 organized labor movement accepts this as a truism, but it sug- 
 gests the thought that the Constitution, good as it is, and wonder- 
 fully comprehensive as its provisions are, was not expected nor 
 intended by its authors to extend to the people of the United 
 States for all time; neither was it ratiiied by the people of the 
 several States after presentation to them as the last word in the 
 progress of human government.' Indeed, that this is true is 
 evidenced by the provisions in the Constitution itself by which 
 that instrument can be changed. 
 
 We, who are the accredited responsible representatives of the 
 producers of our country, take issue with those who, in the lan- 
 guage of the gambler, "stand pat," and who refuse to see or 
 expect any thing good in the minds and hearts of the present 
 generation. . , . We must have restored to the people the 
 unrestricted power of changing their statutory or organic laws 
 whenever they find the occasion and necessity warrant it, regard- 
 less of whether the "elder statesmen" should term it the "voice 
 of clamor" or "the voice of the mob." As intelligent, aspiring 
 American citizens, we resent such outrageous aspersions as are 
 hurled at us when we urge humane social legislation, judicial 
 restriction, and executive restraint. The safety of society impels 
 us to seek for ourselves the safest and sanest way to preserve our 
 institutions. — From Annual Report to A. F. of L. Convention, 
 Rochester, N. Y., November, igis. 
 
 In the "twilight zone" of federal and state jurisdiction, it is 
 most difficult to have constructive legislation enforced that shall 
 deal with the industrial affairs of our working people. My experi- 
 ence has been that appearing before the committees of state leg- 
 islatures to urge reformatory or constructive legislation in the 
 interest of the workers, we are told that after all this industry 
 or commerce is interstate rather than intra-state, and hence juris- 
 diction of the federal government applies; and then appearing 
 before the committees of congress upon the exact same proposi- 
 tion, we are told that these are matters that are not conceded by 
 the states and hence under the state jurisdiction, and between 
 the two it is a case of shuttlecock and battledore. — From address 
 before The National Civic Federation, New York, December 
 IS, igo8. 
 
so LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 In establishing the new nation the great statesmen who reared 
 the structure of our republic conceived the idea of providing 
 three separate, distinct and coordinate departments of govern- 
 ment, the legislative, the executive and the judicial. Each of 
 these departments was designed to be within itself absolutely 
 independent of the other, exercising supreme and exclusive juris- 
 diction in its respective sphere, and yet all were intended to be 
 interdependent. 
 
 No similar experimentation with government had ever been 
 attempted in other lands. This new plan was born out of the 
 iron law of necessity. It was ideal in form, although somewhat 
 cumbersome in operation when compared with the monarchical 
 form, which it was designed to replace. The cardinal idea, the 
 thought that inspired all, the intent that riveted the attention of 
 those pioneers, was to show the whole world that no one man 
 was or could ever be wise enough or good enough to control the 
 destinies and the welfare of other men. That cardinal point must 
 be clearly understood for a comprehension of the basic principles 
 upon which our republic was founded. 
 
 In connection therewith these early pioneers of the new govern- 
 ment saw farther than merely exhausting their energies by mak- 
 ing protests which were heard around the world; they coupled 
 with those protests one of the most constructive features of self- 
 government. The central thought was that the destinies of the 
 people of the new nation should be left in the hands of the people 
 themselves. For want of better machinery, with which the people 
 might express their will, the old English system of expressing 
 their collective will through representatives, our representative 
 form of government, was established. 
 
 For years the fathers wrestled with this great problem of 
 self-government. The spirit that had called forth the sentiments 
 and principles of the Declaration of Independence struggled and 
 contested for a popular government in all that that expression 
 implies. The opposition, fearing to intrust the people with full 
 sway, exerted their greatest efforts to limit the people's power. 
 Yet all agreed upon one point, and that was, that the source of 
 all power, of all new legislation, of every vital principle of law, 
 should rest in the hands of the people through their representa- 
 tives in Congress; aye, and by a two-thirds vote even over the 
 veto of the President. In short, the Congress, composed of the 
 
LABOR AND THE LAW 51 
 
 House of Representatives and the Senate, was charged specifically 
 under the basic laws contained in the Constitution to make pro- 
 vision for revenues and expenditures, to establish a fiscal system, 
 and above and beyond all to form a code of law, in respect to 
 which the executive and judicial branches of the Government 
 were and are required to yield obedience, these branches on this 
 point being not coordinate, but subordinate. For example, the 
 executive was granted no authority to create law; the judicial 
 department was granted no prerogative to make law; the law 
 was to be made solely and distinctly by the people's representa- 
 tives in Congress, and then it was designed that the judicial 
 department should administer the law as it found it, and the 
 executive should execute the law as it was clearly written and 
 interpreted. 
 
 If present conditions were not so serious, it would appear 
 absurd that at this late day such a restatement of fact and prin- 
 ciple should be found necessary. But flagrant departures from 
 the Constitution in the recent past not only justify but compel 
 criticism and protest. When others who should speak are silent, 
 when others are willing to allow the vital principles of self- 
 government to be either misapplied or betrayed, it is time that 
 the men of labor should speak, directing the attention of their 
 fellow-workers and fellow-citizens to the evils that threaten. 
 
 One of the greatest dangers now confronting the people and the 
 people's government is the effort to overrule, to disregard, to 
 treat with contempt that part of the Government nearest the 
 people — the House of Representatives. This is not generally 
 understood, but it is a fact nevertheless, and the character and 
 the composition of the House in the last decade are chiefly to 
 blame. For sake of party, of party harmony; for patronage or 
 its possible loss; for the sake of a reelection, the members have 
 sat idly by, closed their eyes, refused to listen to the voice of 
 duty, until such weakness has culminated in establishing the cus- 
 tom by Representatives of "holding their tongues" for fear they 
 might lose caste with the Speaker whom they periodically and 
 mechanically elected as their servant, yet to whom they have 
 submitted as their master. For fear they might be considered, 
 fault-finders, for fear they might be called "irregular," for fear 
 of their non-appointment on important committees, for fear they 
 might lose the patronage the President has to bestow, they have 
 
S2 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 acted as though paralyzed.; Fear! Fear! Fear! Always the 
 ghostly apparition of fear haunts the life of the average Con- 
 gressman, and while this unAmerican attitude prevails the privi- 
 leges, the dignity, the unquestioned prerogatives of legislation, 
 the bedrock basis of constitutional rights, the fundamental re- 
 quirement of fearless, faithful representation that gave this nation 
 birth — these precious, valued, and holy elements of liberty are 
 being gradually alienated from the House of Representatives by 
 the courts and by the Presidents, and all that is now left of the 
 power of the House is a theoretical recognition by the other de- 
 partments that the House shall "hold the money bag" and pro- 
 vide revenue for the operation and continuation of the Govern- 
 ment. That the House has not availed itself of even this power 
 is current history patent to any observer. — From Annual Report 
 to A. F. of L. Convention, St. Louis, Mo., November, igio. 
 
 The Canadian act recently passed, to regulate and control 
 industrial combines, excludes the organizations of the working 
 people from its operations, and in Great Britain, after the Taff 
 Vale decision was rendered, Parliament, in 1906, passed a law 
 exempting labor organizations from the operations of a similar 
 law. This same exemption the American organized workers have 
 asked at the hands of Congress. ... To say to us that such 
 suits will not be often brought means nothing. They are a con- 
 stant menace. To say that the Federal Government will not 
 prosecute under the criminal provisions of the Sherman Anti- 
 Trust Law does not allay our apprehensions. The fact is we 
 decline to exist at the sufferance of any administration. Republi- 
 can or Democratic, or of any other public body or agency. — 
 From address at National Civic Federation Conference, January 
 12, igii. 
 
 What is any legislation but class legislation or the formulation 
 by one group of people of what they deem a policy in their 
 interests? Few laws are passed by unanimous consent. It 
 follows, then, that tariff legislation is "class legislation" in the 
 interests of manufacturers; that free trade is "class legislation" 
 in the interests of consumers; that our laws protecting "property" 
 are class legislation handed down from the middle ages when the 
 property holding classes controlled the government, made the 
 
LABOR AND THE LAW S3 
 
 laws, and directed their administration. But justice is a relative 
 term and our concept of justice has widened so that the working- 
 man has, in theory at least, risen from slavery to freedom, and 
 human souls and flesh and blood are more than inanimate things! 
 Government and laws have developed from an institution merely 
 by virtue of and for the protection of property, into a medium 
 for attaining social ideals and needs beyond individual realiza- 
 tion. . . , Labor is not asking that justice be hampered by 
 weakening the courts, but Labor is demanding that justice shall 
 prevail by removing the abuses and mispractices of the courts. 
 Unlimited, unchecked power vested in autocrat, King, President 
 or judge has always resulted in justice being perverted and 
 tyranny stalking the land. — American Federationist, November, 
 igi2. 
 
 Whither are we drifting? There is a strange spirit abroad in 
 these times. The whole people is hugging the delusion that law 
 is a panacea. Whatever the ill or the wrong or the ideal, imme- 
 diately follows the suggestion — enact a law. 
 
 If there is no market for cotton, those interested demand a law. 
 
 If there is a financial crisis, a law is demanded to protect 
 special interests. 
 
 If the desire for physical strength and beauty is aroused, laws 
 for eugenic marriages are demanded. 
 
 If men and women speak ill-considered or unwise words, laws 
 that forbid their speaking in that manner are proposed. 
 
 If morals are bad, a law is demanded. 
 
 If wages are low, a law or a commission is the remedy proposed. 
 
 Whether as a result of laziness or incompetency there is a 
 steadily growing disposition to shift responsibility for personal 
 progress and welfare to outside agencies. 
 
 TWhat can be the result of this tendency but the softening of 
 the moral fiber of the people ?i When there is unwillingness to 
 accept responsibility for one's life and for making the most of 
 it there is a loss of strong, red-blooded, rugged independence and 
 will power to grapple with the wrong of the world and to estab- 
 lish justice through the volition of those concerned. 
 
 Many of the things for which many are now deludedly 
 demanding legislative regulation should and must be worked out 
 by those concerned. Initiative, aggressive conviction, enlightened 
 
54 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 self-interest, are the characteristics that must be dominant among 
 the people if the nation is to make substantial progress toward 
 better living and higher ideals. Legislation can not secure these 
 characteristics but it can facilitate or imp)ede them. Laws can 
 not create and superimpose the ideals sought, they can only free 
 people from the shackles and give them a chance to work out 
 their own salvation. 
 
 Many conscientious and zealous persons think that every evil, 
 every mistake, every unwise practice, can be straightway cor- 
 rected by law. 
 
 There is among some critics of prevailing conditions a belief 
 that legislation is a short-cut to securing any desired reform — 
 merely enact a law and the thing is done. 
 ' Now enacting a law and securing the realization of the purpose 
 the law is aimed to secure are two vastly different matters.^ Of 
 the making of many laws there is apparently no end, for legis- 
 lative and congressional mills yearly grind out thousands. But 
 for the enforcement of these laws there is little effort unjess 
 enforcement is demanded by public opinion or by interested 
 groups of citizens. As a rule the laws affect conditions and people 
 little, and society is glad to escape with so little damage. 
 
 A law that really is a law, is a result of public thought and 
 conviction and not a power to create thought or conviction. The 
 enforcement of the law follows naturally because the people will 
 it. To enact a law with the hope and for the purpose of educat- 
 ing the people is to proceed by indirection and to waste energy. 
 It is better to begin work for securing ideals by directing activity 
 first for fundamentals. Frequently, when the people concerned 
 become mindful and eager for what will promote their own wel- 
 fare, they find that they are much more able to secure what will 
 benefit and adapt their methods to changing circumstances than 
 is any law or the administration of that law. 
 
 The virile spirit that has given our young nation a foremost 
 place among the nations of the world is the spirit of aggressive 
 initiative and independence, the ability of our people to grapple 
 with hard problems and to solve them for their own benefit and 
 for the benefit of the nation. We must not as a nation allow 
 ourselves to drift upon a policy of excessive regulation by legis- 
 lation — a. policy that eats at and will surely undermine the very 
 fouildations of personal freedom. . 
 
LABOR AND THE LAW 55 
 
 These principles and facts apply to the working people, the 
 organized wage-earners, as fully and completely as to any other 
 group or to the people as a whole. Labor seeks legislation from 
 the hands of government for such purposes only as the individuals 
 or groups of workers can not effect for themselves, and for the 
 freedom and the right to exercise their normal activities in the 
 industrial and social struggle for the protection and promotion 
 of their rights and interests and for the accomplishment of their 
 highest and best ideals. Thus Labor asks legislation providing 
 for the abolition of child labor; security and safety in life and 
 work; sanitation in factory, shop, mill and home; workmen's 
 compensation in preference to employers' liability; the regulation 
 of convict labor and the like; the enactment of laws such as the 
 proposed seamen's bill and the labor provisions of the Clayton 
 law already enacted ; the regulation of the issuance of injunctions 
 and the trials of contempt cases; these latter work for freedom, 
 for right, for justice. These reforms the workers and groups can 
 not secure without law, because they are governmental functions 
 and can not be accomplished by private agencies. In a word, 
 the labor movement undertakes to secure from government, both 
 state and nation, the enactment of laws for the accomplishment 
 of such things as the working people can not secure or enforce 
 for themselves. 
 
 We know no better way of illustrating this thought than by 
 quoting the report we made to the Denver (1908) Convention, on 
 economic power, as follows: . . . 
 
 In whatever form or shape the men of labor may exercise their 
 energies and activities, in inception and result the effort is for 
 the common uplift of all, though our political activities must of 
 necessity be primarily devoted to acquire for our economic move- 
 ment its freest and fullest natural development. 
 
 Our movement has not asked and will not ask at the hands 
 of government anything which the workers can and should do 
 for themselves. The movement of labor is founded upon the 
 principle that that which we do for ourselves, individually and 
 collectively, is done best. It is therefore that the exercise by 
 the workers of their economic power is after all the greatest and 
 the most potent power which they can wield. 
 
 The possession of great economic power does not imply its 
 abuse, but rather its right use. Consciousness and possession of 
 
S6 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 economic power bring with them responsibility, wisdom, and care 
 in its exercise. These have made the labor movement of our 
 country a tower of strength inspiring the confidence and respect 
 of the masses of our workers as well as the sympathetic support 
 of students, thinkers and liberty-loving people. — American 
 Federationist, February, 1915. 
 
 Another difficulty with the legislative method is the diffusion 
 of effort. There are comparatively few people interested in the 
 matter, and yet the whole body politic must be interested, edu- 
 cated and roused to action. 
 
 Contrast this with the simple, direct methods of economic 
 action. Those workers who want the shorter workday know 
 why they want it, and they want it so intensely that they are 
 ready to fight for it. Forceful independent men and women, 
 they assume the responsibility of their own welfare and make 
 sacrifices to secure their rights. By agreement or by strike, they 
 secure what they need, and because they have won it themselves 
 they value it and maintain it. They are organized in such a way 
 that they can give expression to their will and secure results in 
 the most direct way possible. — American Federationist, March, 
 1915- 
 
 National policies, whether political or military, must be in 
 accord with broad democratic ideals that recognize all factors 
 and value each according to the service that it performs. There 
 is a human side to all of our national problems, whether indus- 
 trial, commercial, political, or military. It has been the general 
 practice of governments to accord only to employers, the owners 
 of capital, of the managerial side of commerce and industry, real 
 participation in government and in deciding upon governmental 
 policies. According to this custom the wage earners belong to 
 the class of the governed, never to the governing classj This 
 policy is a reflection of conditions existing in the industrial and 
 commercial world. However, a change has been coming. The 
 wage earners, through their economic associations, have been 
 making the demand that those who supply the creative labor 
 power of industry and commerce are surely as important to the 
 processes of production as those who supply the materials neces- 
 sary for production. They have, therefore, made demand that 
 
LABOR AND THE LAW 57 
 
 the human side of production shall at least be given as much 
 consideration and as much importance as the material side. They 
 demand that industry and commerce shall be conducted not only 
 in the interests of production but with consideration for the 
 welfare and the conservation of the human beings employed in 
 production. — From address at annual meeting of The National 
 Civic Federation in Washington, D. C, January 18, igi6. 
 
 The American labor movement has made a clear differentiation 
 between government workers and private employment, holding 
 that in private employment the strike is the last resort, while in 
 government employment legislation is the final remedy. Organ- 
 ization and affiliation with other organizations that can secure 
 redress of grievances is the safety valve for any industrial or 
 commercial undertaking. The same principle holds in govern- 
 ment utility. ... To deny the right of workers in our largest 
 governmental agency to organize is to make a mockery of our 
 faith in democracy. If autocracy is harmful to the morals of 
 our alien enemies abroad, then let us not introduce a species of 
 it into our largest federal institution by attempting to disfranchise 
 industrially the army of postal workers. 
 
 At a time when governmental activities are being extended into 
 every industry connected with the successful prosecution of the 
 war and thousands of workers are either already in the govern- 
 ment service or potentially government employees, it is important 
 that their right to organize and to petition Congress be not inter- 
 fered with. We can conceive of nothing more harmful to the 
 necessary extension of government control and regulation at this 
 time than the adoption of the Burleson idea by our government 
 in its capacity of employer. — American Federationist, January, 
 1918. 
 
 RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES 
 
 Pray let us consider of what do fundamental rights consist? 
 As I understand it, the right to life; that is, the right to protect 
 one's life; the right to defend one's life; the right that life and 
 liberty shall not be placed in jeopardy without due process of 
 law; the right to liberty; the exercise of man's natural desires to 
 do that which brings to him the greatest amount of comfort; to 
 
S& LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 the expression of his judgment; to do that which appears to him 
 to be right and that which shall not unlawfully invade the lawful 
 rights of another; the pursuit of happiness; the right to do any- 
 thing and everything that is not unlawful to secure the greatest 
 degree of happiness. -^From hearing before Committee on the 
 Judiciary, House of- Representatives, January 13-March 22, 1^04. 
 on bill to limit meaning of the word "conspiracy." 
 
 -.Rights? Yes, there is no hesitancy on the part of our courts 
 to grant us certain rights — for instance, the right to be maimed 
 or killed without any responsibility to the employer; the right to 
 be discharged for belonging to a union of labor; the right to work 
 as long hours and for as low wages as the employer can impose 
 upon the working man or woman. These rights — these academic 
 rights, which we do not want — are freely conceded, but there is 
 the denial to us of the rights which are essential to our wel- 
 fare, .y. . 
 
 Ours is not the first republic in the world. There are older 
 republics now in existence. There was that great republic of 
 Rome, which went into decay. There are some who imagine that 
 the republic of Rome went by the board over night, that it was 
 simply swept out of existence like a thunderbolt from a dear sky. 
 In truth, for many and many years the process of disintegration 
 went on; first, in ihe denial of a certain liberty or right to a certain 
 portion of the people, and the granting of privileges and franchises 
 to another portion of the people — for it is in the nature of things 
 that as soon as the denial of rights is proceeded with in the one 
 instance it is accompanied by the bestowal of extra privileges upon 
 another class. So, by filching the liberties of the people, one by 
 one; tranquilizing one and trying to satisfy others — ^by this process 
 the very essentials of liberty, character, independence, thoughtful- 
 ness and manfulness were taken out of the hearts of the Roman 
 people until a mere shell of the republic existed. The people of 
 Rome no longer had any interest in the maintenance or the per- 
 petuation of what was then called a republic. There was no 
 incentive for its defense in the hearts and minds of the people, 
 and, hence, no wonder that it fell an easy prey to a handful of 
 invading barbarians. 
 
 So, I ask you, men and women of toil, and you, men and 
 women in other vocations of life, to look around you and see 
 
LABOR AND THE LAW 59 
 
 what is transpiring. Is it not enough to cause us to pause and 
 ask ourselves whither are we drifting? ' The courts are denying 
 to the toilers the privileges — no, no; not privileges; the rights 
 which are inherently and naturally theirs. ... 
 
 The wealth possessors are free wherever they go, and I will 
 not begrudge them their freedom. All we insist upon is being 
 free ourselves. There is no power or factor so potent to main- 
 tain the freedom that we now possess, and to obtain absolute 
 equality before the law and equality of opportunity as the labor 
 organizations of our time. ... It is our purpose to see to it 
 that this country shall be not alone a haven of civil and religious 
 liberty, based upon the spirit of 1776, of 1861, the spirit that 
 went to make Cuba free, as well as the movement that cut the 
 shackles from 4,000,000 black slaves; the spirit of Patrick 
 Henry; the spirit of Lincoln. The spirit is not dead, and we 
 propose to help in making this country of ours the home of 
 industrial freedom, the three links of civil liberty, religious 
 equality and opportunity, and industrial freedom, and under 
 God's guidance, moving onward and forward, establishing the 
 dream of the poet — the brotherhood of man. — From address at 
 Chicago, III., May i, igo8. 
 
 Essential to the welfare and independence of the masses is 
 the free exercise of certain of their rights and powers in the 
 economic field. This truth becomes clear to our minds when we 
 consider it as applied to the individual possessing those rights 
 and powers. Let a man have the right to decide when he is to 
 work or is not to work, and let that decision be backed by his 
 power to keep himself from being obliged by immediate necessity 
 to offer his labor to an employer, and the consequence must be 
 that he will not sell his labor-power until the terms offered him 
 are the best that the industry can warrant. Similarly, when a 
 number of associated persons may freely decide as to whether 
 they shall work or not, and uphold that decision, they have in 
 their hands the economic power to secure to themselves from 
 the products of industry a share restricted only by industrial 
 success. 
 
 In the mere statement of the conditions indicated by my words 
 there are suggested the reasons why Labor is compelled in present 
 
6o LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 circumstances to engage in the political struggle. It is, in a 
 word, in order to set itself free. 
 
 Labor is bound by the fetters of unjust laws. It is Labor's 
 task to break those fetters one by one. The first to be removed 
 are necessarily those which are the most painful, binding, and 
 destructive of Labor's rights and powers. 
 
 There must in justice be no law, formulated by judge or law- 
 maker, which can deprive a wage-worker of his own exclusive 
 ownership of himself, or, in other words, of those rights over his 
 own labor-power which are guaranteed by the Constitution and 
 the concepts of liberty implied in the fundamental principles of 
 our Republic. 
 
 There must be no law which can deprive the laborer of his 
 right over his power to purchase or to refrain from purchasing 
 whatever is legitimately on sale in the community. 
 
 There must be an end to the untenable doctrine that a right 
 pertaining to an individual singly becomes a wrong when exer- 
 cised by him in conibination with other individuals legally enjoy- 
 ing the same right singly. 
 
 These examples illustrate points at which the labor movement 
 comes into contact with politics, since only by force of law- 
 making can present laws be abrogated or the limits of lawmaking 
 itself be outlined. 
 
 J.As the defense of rights, manifestly varying in their scope with 
 respect to men, women, and children, and in times of peace or 
 war, is the legitimate domain of government, so the defense of 
 those rights which peculiarly bear upon the wage-worker is 
 inevitably the especial concern of the labor movement. I am 
 impressed with the conviction, however, that with the free exer- 
 cise of the rights which will leave untranuneled the regular and 
 recognized functions of trade unionism, the workers of this 
 country will move forward by leaps and boxmds to a general 
 condition of unexampled welfare. With those rights in full play 
 they will be possessed of the economic power to enable them- 
 selves to push forward to greater successes, to justice, freedom 
 and a better humanity, the goal of Labor's aspirations. — From 
 Annual Report to A. F. of L. Convention, St. Louis, Mo., No- 
 vember, igio. 
 
LABOR AND THE LAW 6i 
 
 THE COURTS AND LABOR INJUNCTIONS 
 
 When an injunction has been issued restraining any person 
 from doing a certain thing, say, building a house, tearing down 
 a house, invading land, or anything else, and in the event that 
 it transpires during the trial of the case in court that the injunc- 
 tion was wrongly applied for or mistakenly granted, the party 
 who secured the injunction may be mulcted in damages, and 
 thus remedy the wrong inflicted upon the party enjoined. But, 
 if men are engaged in a strike either to prevent a reduction in 
 wages or to secure an advance, or who have been locked out by 
 their employers, whether they were previously united or become 
 organized by reason of the controversy, and these men are en- 
 joined from doing what every other citizen has the right to do, 
 that is, to unite, to counsel, to advise, to communicate, and use 
 every needful and lawful means within their power, and they are 
 enjoined from doing those things by the court, that injunction 
 simply means that these men are dispersed. No suit, no case at 
 law can remedy the wrong that is inflicted upon the men thus 
 enjoined. Their protest, their uniting to redress a wrong or a 
 grievance, have been destroyed. — From hearing before Committee 
 on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, March 23, igoo, on 
 bill to limit meaning of the word "conspiracy." 
 
 But what is the position of the judge? [Buffalo machinists' 
 strike.] Here is the language he is reported as having used in 
 his charge: 
 
 "The union had a right, if a man obnoxious to them was employed, to 
 withdraw, and they had a right to fix wages and hours of work, but 
 they had no right to force this man out of his position." 
 
 Study this remarkable utterance with care. Is it possible to 
 reconcile the admission that "the union had a right to withdraw" 
 if a man obnoxious to them was employed with the statement 
 that they had "no right to force this man out of his position?" 
 How did the union force the plaintiff out? By threatening "to 
 withdraw," that is, to strike, for they can not suppose the court 
 to be guilty of juggling with the word "withdraw." When a 
 union strikes it withdraws, and, conversely, when it withdraws 
 it strikes. Now, if the union had a right to strike, it certainly 
 
62 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 had the right to warn or threaten the employer that a strike 
 would be ordered if he did not discharge the obnoxious man. 
 This is all the union did. It threatened a strike, as it had a 
 right to do. The employer, confronted with the necessity of 
 choosing between the defendant and the members of the union, 
 elected to dismiss the former, as he had a legal and moral right 
 to do. The plaintiff thus lost his position, was "forced out" by 
 the threat of the union to withdraw. It is a well-known saying 
 in logic that "he who intends the cause intends the consequences 
 of it." The forcing out was the consequence of the legitimate 
 threat to withdraw. What kind of logic is it which says that a 
 union has a right to strike when an obnoxious man is employed, 
 but has no right to get rid of the obnoxious man by threatening 
 to strike? . . . There is no escape from the conclusion that the 
 court denied the right of the union to order or threaten a strike 
 as a means of securing the discharge of an obnoxious person, 
 nullifying and violating his own admission that a strike for such 
 a purpose, or any other, is lawful. If this be disputed, let the 
 fair-minded man ask himself what other course was open to the 
 imion if it was determined not to work with the obnoxious man 
 — what other way it had to exercise its "right to withdraw." 
 
 Suppose the union had withdrawn without assigning any 
 reason, and suppose the employer had requested an explanation 
 of the strike. Would not the union have had the right to name 
 the cause — the presence of the obnoxious person? No one can 
 answer this in the negative. There is no principle of law or 
 morals forbidding strikers to state the cause of their action.- 
 Now, suppose the union had stated the reason, and the employer 
 had then, in order to get the union men back, discharged the 
 man. Would not the union have forced him out of his position 
 by the strike? Is there any difference between the case supposed 
 and the actual case? 
 
 The Buffalo court, by its ruling, attacked the right to strike 
 — a right it acknowledged in terms and trampled upon in the 
 direction to the jury to assess damages. The ruling is against 
 the spirit of the New York law. It is a direct and plaui violation 
 of the right to strike. — From hearing before Committee on the 
 Judiciary, House of Representatives, March 26, igoo, on bill to 
 limit meaning of the word "conspiracy." 
 
LABOR AND THE LAW 63 
 
 We are told of the law and the defense of the law and the 
 opinions of courts. I asked a moment ago whether these deci- 
 sions have always been final and binding for all time, and we 
 ask our friend whether he remembers — ^perhaps it was a. little 
 before his time — but whether he remembers a decision rendered 
 by the United States Supreme Court famously and popularly 
 known as the Dred Scott decision, the decision which made it 
 unlawful for any man in New York to keep a certain other man 
 simply because he was black and came from Virginia, or any 
 other southern part of the country where slavery existed. Don't 
 you know that the court declared that the man who gave shelter 
 to an escaped slave in the south was guilty of a great crime, and 
 one man whose memory still lives and will live, and whose spirit 
 is marching on and on — John Brown — incurred the ill will of 
 those in authority and helped to rescue some of the slaves, for 
 which he gave up his life upon the gibbet, but he lives in the 
 hearts of his countrymen, and will live so long as the spirit of 
 liberty and right prevails. The law as defined and decided by 
 the United States Supreme Court was not final nor binding, and 
 now there is no lawyer in the entire profession who claims some 
 degree of knowledge of the law and who expects some clients in 
 his profession, who woidd undertake to Justify that decision of 
 the United States Supreme Court. As a matter of fact, no court 
 in the whole United States now refers to the Dred Scott decision 
 of the United States Supreme Court, excepting in censure or 
 ridicule.—From address at Boston Convention of the A. F. of 
 L., December, 1903. 
 
 You, gentlemen, all members of the legal profession, know 
 that when applications for injunctions are made, practically the 
 judge sitting in court is not in a position to hear any argument 
 upon an application for an injunction or to have the time to read 
 the application itself; that, taking the word of the attorney and 
 the petitioners, who put up a bond for the purpose of carrying 
 out, or indemnifying the defendants, the judge upon ex parte 
 statement directs that the temporary injimction be issued, and 
 usually made returnable, as I said, a long time after the issuance. 
 Now, the men are served with these injunctions, and while some 
 crimes are alleged, the allegations taper off until they reach the 
 most inoffensive person and the most inoffensive acts. 
 
64 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 The men necessarily are compelled to either violate or evade 
 the terms of the injunction; and, when arrested and brought be- 
 fore the court, they are charged, not with committing any crime or 
 any offense against the laws, but wdth having violated the injunc- 
 tions. There is no confronting the defendant with any one who 
 alleges any crime, no jury of his peers to hear and determine guilt 
 or innocence of alleged unlawful conduct; but the judge who, 
 without the full knowledge of the contents and the purport of the 
 petition for an injunction, issued upon ex parte statements, signs 
 the order enjoining certain things, and because these things, how- 
 ever innocent they may be, have been violated, the man is neces- 
 sarily guilty of the violation of the terms of the injunction, and is 
 punished, fined, or imprisoned, as the case may be. I contend, 
 gentlemen, that in their language the injunctions, all of them, are 
 more or less, to a larger or lesser degree, impositions upon the 
 courts. . . . 
 
 These injunctions are usually made returnable in three, four, 
 or five weeks after the injunction has been issued. I have one 
 of the injunctions here, which shows that it was issued some time 
 during the early part of summer and made returnable in No- 
 vember, and the one to which I have just called your attention 
 is not made returnable at all for any hearing. 
 
 And before the time expires when these writs are returnable 
 for hearing either one of two things has occurred; either the strike 
 is lost and the injunctions are made permanent, or the strike is 
 won or compromised, and usually one of the conditions of such 
 agreement and settlement between employer and employees is 
 that the legal phase of the question shall be dropped. But what 
 occurs? The record shows that that injunction has been issued 
 and made returnable for a certain day, and when that day comes 
 around and it is not vacated, it is made permanent by default. 
 
 On injunctions in West Virginia a number of men were 
 sentenced to six months; others to a lesser period of imprison- 
 ment. And it is not only the imprisonment by reason of the 
 injunction; it is the consciousness on the part of the employers 
 as well as that on the part of the employees that that power 
 exists, and it is held as a menacing weapon over the head of the 
 working people. 
 
 We have enough to contend against (in the power that is now 
 possessed by the employers) to maintain our wages and to main- 
 
LABOR AND THE LAW 65 
 
 tain our hours of labor and our conditions of employment. We 
 have enough to contend against in order to come to some under- 
 standing and agreement in the bargaining for the sale of our labor 
 without having the Federal Government and its courts to inter- 
 pose and throw its great influence against us in the balance. 
 
 Between the time of the issuance of the injunction and the 
 time it is made returnable the strike is either lost or won. 
 
 I want to call your attention to the fact that the injunctions 
 do not reach rioters; they do not reach lawbreakers, and it is not 
 intended by those that seek them that they shall; nor do they 
 entertain the idea that they can reach them. The injunctions 
 are issued restraining an officer of an organization, and a few 
 others necessarily put in there in order to establish a prima facie 
 case of conspiracy, enjoining the officers from issuing orders as 
 directed by the men themselves, from giving advice for which the 
 officer or officers may have been particularly selected, from giving 
 information that has been gathered by direction of the men, from 
 promulgating the result of a vote in which the men participated. 
 
 And let me say, gentlemen, that the officers of an organization 
 of labor who have served any considerable period of time as 
 officers, having the responsibility that comes from defeat, seek by 
 every means within their power to avert and avoid contest and 
 conflict. It is not true, the charge that is so often made against 
 the labor leader, so called, of inciting strikes and contests and 
 conflicts, in order, as our opponents put it, to earn our salaries. 
 
 The men who are most successful in the movements of labor, 
 in having the confidence and good will and respect of their fellow- 
 workmen, are the men who have done most to avert and avoid 
 strikes. And I call your attention to the very well-known men 
 in the labor movements of our country for an attestation of that 
 fact and the proof of it. I do not pretend to say that here and 
 there you will not find some cracked-brained, irresponsible, and, 
 perhaps, some faithless men; but I ask you to point to any other 
 vocation or profession of life in which you will not find the same 
 character and the same quality of men. — From testimony before 
 Committee on Labor, House of Representatives, February 11, 
 J904, on bill for eight hours on government work. 
 
 It may not be amiss here to say that in all these proceedings 
 ... no element of personal malice or ill-will enters. Labor is 
 
66 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 earnestly desirous of entering into friendly relations with em- 
 ployers. . . . 
 
 In making these statements we are not indulging in unjusti- 
 fiable or disrespectful criticism of the judge who issued this 
 injunction.. We assume that he acted in accordance with the 
 dictates of his conscience and his best judgment. 
 
 One point we have been making for years in regard to other 
 injunctions is equally applicable to this case. We contend that 
 the power to issue injunctions involving personal rights and lib- 
 erties should not be left to the discretion of any judge no matter 
 how wise, how discreet, or how learned. 
 
 President Roosevelt in his recent message to Congress made 
 the following comment on the abuse of the injunction power: 
 
 "Instances of abuses in the granting of injunctions in labor disputes 
 continue to occur, and the resentment in the minds of those who feel 
 that their rights are being invaded and their liberty of action and of 
 speech unwarrantably restrained continues likewise to grow. Much 
 of the attack on the use of the process of injunction is wholly without 
 warrant; but I am constrained to express the belief that for some of 
 it there is warrant. This question is becoming more and more one of 
 prime importance, and unless the courts will themselves deal with it 
 in effective manner, it is certain ultimately to demand some form of 
 legislative action. . It would be most unfortunate for our social wel- 
 fare, if we should permit many honest and law-abiding citizens to feel 
 that they had just cause for regarding our courts with hostility. I 
 earnestly commend to the attention of the Congress this matter, so 
 that some way may be devised which will limit the abuse of injunc- 
 tions and protect those rights which from time to time it unwarrant- 
 ably invades.; Moreover, discontent is often expressed with the use of 
 the process of injunction by the courts, not only in labor disputes, but 
 where state laws are concerned." 
 
 American Federationist, February, igo8. 
 
 In any species of legislation that is intended to be helpful, of 
 a constructive character, to bring amelioration into conditions 
 of the workers, compromise is possible. You can not get a whole 
 loaf, and therefore wisdons dictates that something shall be ac- 
 cepted. Time will give the opportunity to build upon it and 
 construct the species of legislation that shall be generally help- 
 ful. In legislation by injunction no such compromise can take 
 place. If labor concedes that the court has the right to issue 
 injunctions that are never issued of the same character against 
 any other citizen or man in the community, then, we must few- 
 
LABOR AND THE LAW 67 
 
 ever hold our peace for we have given away our case. — From 
 hearing before Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce, on 
 "Government Investigation of Railway Disputes," February 
 24, igo8. 
 
 We regard the members of the supreme bench as upright and 
 incorruptible. We beheve that in any decision handed down each 
 judge honestly and conscientiously gives the opinion which he 
 believes to be correct. We do not agree with those who charge 
 the court with being influenced by sinister motives, or under the 
 domination of corporate influence. . . . 
 
 We are proud of the institutions of our country and try to 
 uphold them with all our power, but we do protest against the 
 assumption of law-making power by the courts. In assuming 
 such functions they invade the sphere of the legislative and 
 executive, which must necessarily result injuriously to the very 
 fabric of our republic. Such action by the courts not being con- 
 templated by the constitution there are no safeguards, no checks, 
 as to what may be attempted. This assumption of power, even 
 under the guise of construing existing law, is none the less dan- 
 gerous, for the decision of the court then becomes a law without 
 the people ever having had an opportunity to take any part in 
 the making or rejecting of it.~xAmerican Federationist, March, 
 IQ08. 
 
 I want to read for information from the British Trades Dispute 
 Act. It will not occupy more than two or three minutes. The 
 act was passed by Parliament in December, 1906: 
 
 1. It shall be lawful for any person or persons acting either on their 
 own behalf or on behalf of a trade union or other association of indi- 
 viduals, registered or unregistered, in contemplation of or during the 
 continuance of any trade dispute, to attend for any of the following 
 purposes at or near a house or place where a person resides or works, 
 or carries on his business, or happens to be (1) for the purpose of 
 peacefully obtaining or communicating information; (2) for the pur- 
 pose of peacefully persuading any person tp work or abstain from 
 working. 
 
 2. An agreement or combination by two or more persons to do or 
 procure to be done any act in contemplation or furtherance of a trade 
 dispute shall not be ground for an action, if such act when committed 
 by one person would not be ground for an action. 
 
 3 An action shall not be brought against a trade union or other 
 association aforesaid for the recovery of damage sustained by any per- 
 
68 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 son or persons by reason of the action of a member or members of 
 such trade union or other association aforesaid. 
 
 From testimony at hearing before the House Judiciary Com- 
 mittee, April 4, igo8. 
 
 Your honor, I am not conscious at any time during my life of 
 having violated any law of the country or of the District in which 
 I live. I would not consciously violate a law now or at any time 
 during my whole life. It is not possible that under the circum- 
 stances in which I am before your honor this morning, and after 
 listening to the opinion you have rendered, to either calmly or 
 appropriately express that which I have in mind to say; but, 
 sir, I may be permitted to say this, that the freedom of speech 
 and the freedom of the press has not been granted to the people 
 in order that they may say the things which please, and which 
 are based upon accepted thought, but the right to say the things 
 which displease, the right to say the things which may convey 
 the new and yet unexpected thoughts, the right to say things, 
 even though they do a wrong, for one can not be guilty of giving 
 utterance to any expression which may do a wrong if he is by an 
 injunction enjoined from so saying. It then will devolve upon a 
 judge upon the bench to determine in advance a man's right to 
 express his opinion in speech and in print. . . . 
 
 That which your honor has quoted and criticized and de- 
 nounced in us, in the exercise of our duties to our fellows in our 
 own country is now the statute law of Great Britain, passed by 
 the parliament of that country less than two years ago. If in 
 monarchical England these rights can be accorded to the work- 
 ing people, these subjects of the monarch, they ought not to 
 be denied to the, theoretically at least, free citizens of a 
 republic. . . . 
 
 I say this to you, your honor, I would not have you to believe 
 me to be a man of defiant character, in disposition, in conduct. 
 Those who know me, and know me best, know that that is not 
 my makeup; but in the pursuit of honest convictions, conscious 
 of having violated no law, and in furtherance of the common 
 interests of my fellowmen I shall not only have to but be willing 
 to submit to whatever sentence your honor may impose. — From 
 statement of Samuel Gompers in Supreme Court of the District 
 
LABOR AND THE LAW 69 
 
 of Columbia, December 23, igo8, before imposition of sentence 
 by Justice Wright, in contempt proceedings. 
 
 Let us consider the position of a defendant who is charged 
 with crime as contrasted with the position of a defendant who 
 is charged with violating an injunction. The man who is charged 
 with crime may have murdered his own mother, he may have 
 strangled his own child, he may have outraged the chastity of 
 a pure woman; and yet this monster is under the law entitled to 
 the presumption of innocence until he has by due process of law, 
 been adjudged guilty. He is guaranteed a trial by an impartial 
 jury of his peers; if he believes and states that the judge of the 
 court is prejudiced against him, he may demand and secure a 
 change of venue and be tried before the judge of another court. 
 Indeed, it is not unusual for a man of this character to have his 
 trial in some other vicinity than the one in which the crime was 
 committed; and even though he be guilty of the crime charged 
 against him, every extenuating circumstance is counted in his 
 favor. If he is without means the court will appoint counsel to 
 defend him. He must, in the course of his trial, be confronted 
 by his accusers, and upon them and upon the state rests the 
 burden of proving the charge against him. 
 
 The man who is charged with violating an injunction may be 
 and often is a peaceful, patriotic, law-abiding citizen whose life 
 is devoted to the amelioration of the condition of the weak and 
 the helpless. On the application of some unfair corporation 
 which is oppressing its employees, an injunction is issued restrain- 
 ing this man from the performance of duties that are not of 
 themselves in violation of any constitutional or statutory law. 
 This man is charged with violating some provision of the injunc- 
 tion. He is thereupon commanded to appear in court and show 
 cause why he should not be adjudged guilty and punished. Un- 
 like the murderer who is presumed to be innocent until he is 
 proved guilty, this defendant is presumed to be guilty until he 
 can prove his own innocence. He is denied a trial by a jury of 
 his peers; he is not confronted by his accusers; he can not secure 
 a change of venue; he must be tried by the judge whose dignity 
 has been offended, or at the best by an associate judge of the 
 same court; he has no protection against either the bias or the 
 
70 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 animus of the court; he is at the mercy of a judge who may or 
 may not be disinterested, judicial, or dignified. 
 
 Says the law to the defendant: "You are presumed to be 
 innocent until, after a fair and impartial trial, you are adjudged 
 guilty by a jury of your fellow-citizens." 
 
 Says the injunction to the defendant: "You are presumed to 
 be guilty until you can prove your own innocence. You are 
 commanded to appear before the offended court to show cause 
 why you should not be sent to jail. . . ." 
 
 Some carping critics have said, "why not obey the terms of 
 the injunction until the courts of last resort shall have rendered 
 their decision?" 
 
 We answer that such a course was absolutely impossible. It 
 would have perverted and suppressed the lawful proceedings of 
 a convention of the American Federation of Labor, a lawful 
 gathering and body. It would have conceded the surrender of 
 the principles of freedom of speech and of the press. It would 
 have deprived the men of labor of the right of calling the wrong 
 to the attention of the people, aye, it would have prevented the 
 men of labor even from making an appeal to Congress or from 
 giving the grounds or furnishing the arguments upon which they 
 base their claims for congressional relief. It must be remembered 
 that the defendants, their friends, sympathizers, agents and at- 
 torneys were enjoined from mentioning directly or indirectly, m 
 printing, in writing, or by word of mouth, the original grievance, 
 the original contention, the injunction, or anything in connection 
 therewith. 
 
 But let us see whether the contentions of the critics to whom 
 we refer are justified. A case in point is recalled. About twenty- 
 one years ago the city council of Lincoln, Nebr., was investigat- 
 ing charges made against a police magistrate. The attorneys for 
 the police magistrate secured a temporary suspension of the 
 investigation and before the investigation was resumed, secured 
 from Judge Brewer, then on the circuit bench of the United 
 States, an order restraining the city council from the removal of 
 the offending official. The restraining order was made return- 
 able at a date about two months away. If the council had obeyed 
 the injunction, considerable time would have elapsed, and then 
 if the temporary injunction had been made permanent, an appeal 
 
LABOR AND THE LAW 71 
 
 would have been taken, and by the time the magistrate's term 
 had expired a final decision might not have been secured. The 
 mayor and council, convinced that Judge Brewer's injunction 
 interfered with the constitutional rights of the city authorities, 
 continued to perform their duties, made the investigation, and 
 removed the official. Judge Brewer cited these officers for con- 
 tempt, imposed a fine of $600 on some and $50 on two others. 
 The condemned men, with only one exception, refused to pay 
 the fine and were sent to prison. An appeal was taken to the 
 circuit court of the United States, which decided that Judge 
 Brewer exceeded his authority in issuing the injunction and 
 declared it void — that is, the defendants acted within their rights 
 in refusing to obey the order. The defendants were thereupon 
 discharged. The one member of the council, who, because of ill 
 health paid the fine rather than go to jail, was reimbursed by an 
 appropriation made by the Congress of the United States (United 
 States Court Reports, "ex parte; in the matter of Andrew J. 
 Sawyer et al., petitioners," volume 124, page 200). 
 
 Let us briefly quote other authorities. Here is one of great 
 importance. 
 
 "A party can not be adjudged guilty of contempt for disobey- 
 ing an order which the court had no power to make." (People 
 vs. O'Neill, 47 Cal., 109; Ex parte Thatcher, 7 111., 1671; Walton 
 vs. Beveling, 61 111., 201; Lester vs. People, 150 111., 408; 41 
 L. R. A., 375 ; Ex parte Grace, 12 Iowa; 79 Am. Dec, 529.) — 
 From editorial in American Federationist, February, 1909, on 
 Justice Wright's decision. 
 
 Justice Wright recently issued a writ to a joint House and 
 Senate committee of Congress requiring the committeemen to 
 show cause why a rnandamus should not be issued by him to 
 compel them to pursue a certain course. The committees re- 
 ported to their respective houses. The Senate refused to recog- 
 nize the jurisdiction of the court to inquire into the acts of its 
 committee, and so notified Justice Wright. The House of Repre- 
 sentatives decided to recognize the court's jurisdiction, and its 
 committee appeared before the court. . . . 
 
 If ever men placed themselves in contempt of court, the com- 
 mittee of the Senate and afterward all the Senators, placed 
 
72 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 themselves in that position, and yet what has Justice Wright done 
 with these contemners? The mere fact that he later dismissed 
 the writ does not change the situation one jot. If he had the 
 authority and the jurisdiction to issue the writ, the Senators were 
 bound to obey and in refusing to obey they were in contempt. 
 If they were in contempt, why does he not exercise his power and 
 summon them before him for their refusal to obey his mandate? 
 Justice Wright has not hesitated or failed to hale other men 
 before him for alleged contempt of court, to punish and sentence 
 them to long terms of imprisonment, when merely standing on 
 their long-acknowledged rights as citizens. Why should he hesi- 
 tate in the case of United States Senators? The reply is that he 
 realizes that if he attempted to bring the Senators before his bar 
 for contempt, it would raise a storm of indignation and resent- 
 ment throughout the country. The courts' invasion of the domain 
 of the legislators, as well as the domain of the constitutional 
 rights of the citizen, would be thrashed out in such a manner as 
 would bring the entire issue of judicial usurpation to the fore- 
 front to be settled, and settled right. — American Federationist, 
 April, igio. 
 
 In itself the writ of injunction is of a highly important and 
 beneficent character. Its aims and purposes are for the protection 
 of property rights. It never was intended, and never should be 
 invoked, for the purpose of depriving free men of their personal 
 rights, the right of man's ownership of himself; the right of free 
 locomotion, free assemblage, free association, free speech, free 
 press; the freedom to do those things promotive of life, liberty 
 and happiness, and which are not in contravention of the law of 
 our land. We reassert that we ask no immunity for ourselves 
 or for any other man who may be guilty of any unlawful or 
 criminal act; but we have a right to insist, and we do insist, 
 that when a workman is charged with a crime or any unlawful 
 conduct he shall be accorded every right, be apprehended, 
 charged, and tried by the same process of law and before a jury 
 of his peers, equally with any other citizen of our country. It 
 is agreed by all, friends and opponents alike, that the injunction 
 process, beneficent in its inception and general practice, never 
 should apply and legally can not be applied where there is another 
 ample remedy at law. — American Federationist, July, igio. 
 
LABOR AND THE LAW 73 
 
 We must reassert an old truth in a new way, and herald it 
 broadcast: The courts are made for the people, and not the people 
 for the courts. 
 
 Let me close these observations on this vital subject by quoting 
 a guarantee contained in the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780: 
 
 "In the government of this Commonwealth the legislative depart- 
 ment shall never exercise the executive and judicial powers, or either 
 of them; the executive shall never exercise the legislative and judicial 
 powers, or either of them; the judicial shall never exercise the legis- 
 lative and executive powers, or either of them ; to the end that it may 
 be a government of laws and not of men." 
 
 That declaration contains the whole pith of genuine represent- 
 ative republican government.. If the Congress and the courts 
 and the executive had observed these first principles there would 
 not now be any need of protest on this issue from the men of 
 labor, who, by reason of their position in and relation to society, 
 must of necessity be the defenders and standard-bearers of true 
 freedom. — From Annttal Report to A. F. of L. Convention, St. 
 Louis, Mo., November, igio. 
 
 In self-defense, labor and its officials have in times past been 
 compelled to criticize judicial action. For this course our spokes- 
 men have been censured in unmeasured terms. But we are no 
 longer singled out for targets by the subsidized organs of the 
 privileged. The list of critics of the judiciary now includes the 
 best thought, the best talent, and the best character of the na- 
 tion. ... No leader of labor in all this land ever so fiercely 
 or successfully attacked a court as did Mr. Justice Harlan. I 
 say successfully, because among the hundreds of lawyers and 
 statesmen who have expressed themselves with respect to the 
 decisions in the oil and tobacco cases few have understood the 
 trend and significance of these decisions as did Justice Harlan, 
 that is to say, as a menace to the very life of the Republic and 
 as a usurpation of legislative power. Even such newspapers as 
 usually assume the task of defending the courts in all circum- 
 stances have either remained silent or have evasively and feebly 
 replied to the court's critics. 
 
 Here are some of Justice Harlan's words: 
 
 "In order that my objections to certain parts of the court's opinion 
 may distinctly appear, I must state the circumstances under which 
 Congress passed the anti-trust act and trace the course of judicial 
 decisions as to its meaning and scope. This is the more necessary be- 
 
74 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 cause the court by its decision, when interpreted by the language of its 
 opinion, has not only upset the long settled interpretation of the act, 
 but has usurped the constitutional functions of the legislative branch 
 of the Government." 
 
 Then, after a review of the history of the act and of the prior 
 decisions thereunder, he thus proceeds: 
 
 "It remains for me to refer, more fully than I have heretofore done, 
 to another, and in my judgment, if we look to the future, the most 
 important aspect of this case. That aspect concerns the usurpation 
 
 BY THE JUDICIAL BRANCH OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE FUNCTIONS OF THE 
 
 LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. The illustrious men who laid the foundations 
 of our institutions deemed no part of the national Constitution of more 
 consequence or more essential to the permanency of our form of gov- 
 ernment than the provisions under which were distributed the powers 
 of government among three separate, equal and coordinate depart- 
 ments — legislative, executive, and judicial. This was at that time a 
 new feature of governmental regulation among the nations of the earth, 
 and it is deemed by the people of every section of our own country 
 as most vital in the workings of a representative republic, whose 
 Constitution was ordained and established in order to accomplish the 
 objects stated in its preamble, by the means, but only by the means, 
 provided, either expressly or by necessary implication, by the instru- 
 ment itself. No department of that Government can constitutionally 
 exercise the powers committed strictly to another and separate de- 
 partment." 
 
 Justice Harlan, in the course of his opinion, made a prediction 
 that the majority decision would "throw the business of the 
 country into confusion and invite widely extended and harassing 
 litigation, the injurious effects of which will be felt for many 
 years to come." How literally and exactly his predictions have 
 been fulfilled all know. We are in a position now to extend 
 heartfelt sympathies to business men, for we have known for 
 years what it was to have our rights so unsettled by court "de- 
 crees" that we knew not where we stood or what next to 
 expect. . . . 
 
 How great the obstacles interposed by courts have been to the 
 organization of labor, and to the exercise of the fundamental 
 legal rights of trade unionists, may be inferred from the number 
 of injunctions petitioned for and the number granted in the 
 course of a decade. As in the State of Massachusetts, from 1898 
 to 1908, employers petitioned for injunctions in sixty-six cases, 
 and injunctions were actually issued in forty-six, it may be esti- 
 mated that the entire number granted throughout the United 
 States in that time reached not less than a thousand. The damage 
 to trade union effort lies not only in the injunctions actually 
 
LABOR AND THE LAW 75 
 
 issued, but also on occasions in the partial paralysis of union 
 activity because of the threat of injunctions by employers and 
 because of the aggressions of police authorities acting on the 
 assumption that injunctions already granted give them extraor- 
 dinary powers in case of strikes or lockouts. 
 
 Now, what are the rights claimed by the trade unionists which 
 have been interfered with by the courts? The trade unionist 
 asserts, first of all, that his labor power is his own, to be exer- 
 cised or not, according to his own will. He asserts, as well, that 
 his purchasing power is his own, to be applied, with respect to 
 all things legitimately on sale, according to his own discretion 
 and judgment. The trade unionist's right to the so-called "pri- 
 mary" boycott has been recognized by the higher courts in the 
 country, and he asserts the same right in every successive appli- 
 cation he deems fit to make of it. A trade unionist further holds 
 that his union is legal ; that it has a right to exclude unqualified 
 workmen from membership; that its rules and by-laws are an 
 element in determining the legitimacy of a strike. He holds that 
 it is not unlawful to attempt to peacefully persuade persons not 
 to enter or remain in the employment of any one against whom 
 a strike is being carried on. He, of course, holds that a strike 
 is lawful when directed against an employer with whom the 
 striking workmen have a direct dispute with regard to wages or 
 conditions of labor for the purpose of obtaining a betterment of 
 these conditions. He also holds that no restraining order or 
 injunction should be issued by any court as against striking or 
 locked-out employees which would not be issued against other 
 citizens and not even against workers who were not engaged in 
 a strike or lockout with employers. He holds that an injunction 
 rightfully lies to protect from injury property or a property right 
 of the party making the application for which injury there is no 
 adequate remedy at law, such property or property right to be 
 described i-n detail in the application. He holds that no right to 
 continue the relation of employer and employee can lawfully be 
 construed as property. He holds, that it can not lawfully be 
 regarded as a conspiracy for two or more persons to agree con- 
 cerning the terms or conditions of employment of labor or the 
 determination of any relation between employer and employee, 
 nor concerning any act to be done or not to be done with refer- 
 ence to a labor dispute, unless the act or thing agreed to be done 
 
76 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 or not to be done would be unlawful if done by a single 
 individual. 
 
 The trade unionists hold that in case of lockout or strike, their 
 representatives, in their rightful enjoyment of the common prop- 
 erty of the community, may go about ans^here in the public 
 highways just as may be done by other citizens — no more, no 
 less. They hold that they have a right to approach persons in 
 the public highway and in a peaceful manner converse with them 
 for the purpose of informing them of actual conditions, facts, 
 and circumstances in regard to labor disputes, and if possible 
 inducing them not to enter into or not to continue in the service 
 of an employer. In all cases trade unionists regard a trial by 
 jury as a fundamental right of a citizen charged with an offense 
 against the laws. They are prepared at all times to mjiintain as 
 a primary principle that courts should be restrained from enjoin- 
 ing members of a union, as they are restrained from enjoining 
 other citizens, from exercising the rights of free speech and of a 
 free press. 
 
 Often have decrees and decisions issued by the lower courts 
 been revised and modified by the higher courts. Nearly all labor 
 officials of experience are to-day acquainted with the clearly ille- 
 gal character of those decrees of the lower courts which have often 
 been eliminated, at least partially, by their superiors or have been 
 refused by other courts, their equals. Whereas, for example, 
 peaceful "picketing" and "patrolling" are frequently forbidden 
 by one court, they are upheld by another. The same is true of 
 approaching non-unionists on the streets, or, in the words of an 
 injunction, "interfering with any person or persons who now are 
 or may hereafter be in the employment of the complainant or 
 desirous of entering the same," etc. Likewise as to union action, 
 or, in legal parlance, "any scheme or conspiracy among unionists 
 for the purpose of preventing persons from continuing in the 
 employ of certain employers." Unionists have been enjoined 
 from "following any products of the plaintiff's business for the 
 purpose of learning what person or persons have purchased such 
 products;" "or in any way interfering with the conduct of busi- 
 ness by the plaintiff as now carried on by him," etc., etc. 
 
 All such indefinite and far-reaching inhibitions find no legiti- 
 mate place in injunctions. They are a perversion of the intent 
 and purposes of the injunctive writ. If any trade unionist should 
 
LABOR AND THE LAW 77 
 
 be guilty of violating any law, we ask no immunity for him; we 
 insist that the course to be pursued by justice is arrest, indict- 
 ment, and trial by jury. 
 
 It is time that the unjustifiable peremptory charges, brow- 
 beating, censures, and threats of fines and imprisonment by in- 
 junction judges should cease. 
 
 It is time for the laboring people to know precisely how far 
 their rights carry them when facing courts in labor disputes. 
 
 We have been assured by high judicial authority that "the 
 modem writ of injunction is used for purposes which bear no 
 more resemblance to the ancient writ of tiiat name than the milky 
 way bears to the sun." Judges have not only restrained and 
 punished the alleged commission of crimes defined by statute, 
 but they have proceeded to frame a criminal code of their own, 
 extended as they have seen proper, by which various acts innocent 
 in law and morals have been made criminal. The tendency of 
 the jurisdiction of the "equitable octopus called injunction," has 
 been to "grow and extend perpetually and unceasingly." 
 
 The people of this country have witnessed, in the course of a 
 celebrated injunction case, how it has dragged on until years 
 have been consiuned, how the trade unions have been subjected 
 through it to extraordinary expenditures, and how the injunction 
 which began it has been used during all that time as a menace to 
 prevent the proper and rightful activities of workers. — From 
 Annual Report to A. F. of L. Convention, Atlanta, Ga., Novem- 
 ber, igii. 
 
 Since the enactment of the labor provisions of the Clayton 
 Antitrust Act federal courts have ceased to issue injunctions in 
 industrial disputes and no more attempts have been made to dis- 
 solve or penalize trade unions under antitrust laws. Efforts to 
 interfere with the activities of trade unions and to destroy the 
 effectiveness of labor organizations have not ceased, but opera- 
 tions have been transferred to state courts. In many states 
 injunctions have increased in number and in viciousness of pur- 
 pose. From this is apparent the necessity for the declaration of 
 the A. F. of L. that the provisions of the Clayton Antitrust Act 
 in the federal field must be supplemented by similar protective 
 and remedial legislation under state jurisdiction.— ^wencaw 
 Federationist, July, 1916. 
 
IV 
 LABOR'S STAND ON PUBLIC ISSUES 
 
 IMMIGRATION 
 
 The time was when the American people could declare that 
 the United States should be a haven for the oppressed of all 
 nations and invite all who desired to seek a new home to come 
 to our shores. At that time the industries of our country were 
 entirely in their infancy, our lands were undeveloped, our re- 
 sources greater than we even knew. The people who came did so 
 of their own volition, they cast their fortunes with those already 
 here, harmonized and blended with them. To-day, however, 
 there is not an industry which is not overcrowded with working 
 people who vainly plead for an opportunity to work. This is not 
 only confined to tlie factories, workshops, mills, mines and stores; 
 the same complaint can be heard arising from the farm lands, 
 and all join in one mighty cry that relief must come. 
 
 On the other hand we see artificial famines in some of the older 
 countries caused by the vast holdings of the titled wealthy class. 
 While the masses starve the tyrannical autocrats and effete 
 monarchs bolster up their miserable dynasties by forcing immi- 
 gration, while their willing tools furnish the means to aid them 
 out of their respective countries^ and as they cannot go to many 
 other coimtries in Europe, and owing to the laxity of public spirit 
 and a recognition of the dangers that threaten us, they are 
 literally "dumped" upon our shores. There are societies formed 
 for that special purpose, who forward at least ten thousand emi- 
 grants each month, and again the ship companies by the wiles 
 known to the cunning speculator, improperly stimulate imneces- 
 sary and unhealthy iJnmigration. 
 
 Then again, great corporations, in violation of the law enter 
 into written and implied contracts for servile labor to crowd and 
 compete with the employed and large masses of unemployed 
 
 78 
 
LABOR'S STAND ON PUBLIC ISSUES 79 
 
 working people in our country. To crown the wrong some of the 
 officers of the United States Government charged with the en- 
 forcement of the law to prevent improper immigration, showed 
 a lack of sjmipathy with the law, connived at its violation, and 
 sought to bring the whole law into ridicule and contempt. Quite 
 recently, spurred on by organized labor, a better effort is made 
 to enforce the law. 
 
 There are ways and means by which, without bigotry, narrow- 
 ness and a spirit of "knownothingism," these wrongs can be 
 remedied, and they can and should be formulated. One officer 
 of the general government should have undivided authority and 
 be held responsible for the enforcement of the law. 
 
 I view the immigration problem not from a mere selfish stand- 
 point of our own protection, but I am persuaded that it not only 
 tends to destroy the independence, progress and advancement of 
 our people, but also is an efficient means by which the effete 
 institutions of some of the European coimtries are perpetuated, 
 and thus economical, political and social reforms postponed or 
 avoided. — From Annual Report to A. F. of L. Convention, Bir- 
 mingham, Ala., December, 1891. 
 
 Contract laborers who are debarred by the decision of the 
 immigrant authorities from landing, are required to be immedi- 
 ately deported to the countries from whence they came. Inas- 
 much as, however, they are, in most instances, the main witnesses 
 against contractors in cases of suits brought in our courts for the 
 recovery of the legal penalties, the deportation of such immigrants 
 often makes it difficult to succeed in such prosecutions of 
 contractors. 
 
 In order to avoid the keeping of immigrants as witnesses for 
 an indefinite time awaiting the trial in the ordinary course, power 
 should be given for proceeding before the courts on complaint of 
 an Immigration Commissioner and for the bringing of simimary 
 proceedings, to be tried by court and jury, with the immigrants 
 as witnesses. This would avoid dependence upon the local United 
 States District Attorneys, who are by no means specialists on 
 the immigration laws, and who have not shown a disposition to 
 enforce existing law. It should also be provided that false testi- 
 mony before the Boards of Special Inquiry, authorized to decide 
 questions of the admissibility of immigrants, shall be perjury. 
 
8o LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 Inunigrants who have been debarred a landing, as coming in 
 violation of law as contract laborers, should be prohibited by 
 statute from entry to any port of the United States for at least 
 one year thereafter. 
 
 One of the most efficient steps which, in my judgment, should 
 be taken to secure the exclusion of immigrants whom the spirit 
 of the law forbids to land in this country would be the appoint- 
 ment of special agents under the Immigration Bureau who shoidd 
 be authorized to go to foreign ports and return per steerage, mak- 
 ing covertly such inquiries and investigations as would lead to 
 the detection of intending immigrants who come in violation of 
 the law. 
 
 The fact that certain classes of "servants" have been permitted 
 to land by reason of a technical defect in the law shows that the 
 statute should be amended so as to exclude all kinds of foreign 
 laborers who come here under contract. 
 
 The best efforts of the immigration officials to enforce the law 
 are thwarted by many difficulties, among which is the coaching 
 of immigrants by foreign ticket agents and officers of steamship 
 lines, who instruct immigrants as to the manner in which they 
 may evade official interrogations. The law should make such 
 coaching a misdemeanor. The exclusion at the port of admission 
 and the deportation of contract laborers would exercise the in- 
 fluence of preventing many others from emigrating. — From 
 Annual Report to A. F. of L. Convention, Denver, Col., De- 
 cember, i8g4. 
 
 It is held by those who favor the unlimited immigration of 
 Chinese laborers that the passage of an exclusion law would be 
 detrimental to the commercial interests of the United States. 
 Our answer is that the limited benefits of trade to be obtained 
 by the so-called open-door policy in China can not in even the 
 smallest degree recompense our people for the immensely greater 
 loss caused by the displacement of so many of our countrymen 
 who are consumers as well as producers. 
 
 The contrasted consuming power of the Chinese laborer is 
 limited almost exclusively to the products of China, and the 
 surplus of his earnings is sent out of this country, where it is 
 earned, checking its prosperity, while the money paid as wages 
 to our own people remains and correspondingly enriches it, stim- 
 
LABOR'S STAND ON PUBLIC ISSUES 8i 
 
 ulating our own industry and trade, thereby tending to continue 
 national prosperity. The very opposite effect is obtained by the 
 employment of Chinese. 
 
 I shall certainly not at length attempt to discuss the economic 
 phase of this proposition, but I heard some members ask whether 
 the product of the Chinese does not enrich the country. Our 
 answer is in the negative. We say that the Chinese laborers who 
 work and produce, say, $2 worth as a selling price of an article 
 and receive in return, say, $1 in the form of wages, and live, as 
 the statistics show they do live, on 10 cents a day — if you please, 
 say IS cents per day — if men work and produce $2 wortti and 
 consume 15 cents worth of that production, that does not tend 
 to enrich the country, for such a proportion of production and 
 consumption can not continue for any appreciable length of time. 
 
 If, say, 100,000 men can continue to produce $2 worth and 
 consume 15 cents' worth each day, the tendency must be that 
 those who come in competition with them as laborers will find 
 that certain articles have been produced at a given rate, and that 
 they must conform, or nearly conform, to the standard of life of 
 those who have produced the $2 worth. 
 
 Men do not produce simply for the sake of production. Pro- 
 duction goes on because it is for use and to consume. If the 
 people of the United States were to attempt to introduce the 
 economic fallacy of having the workers produce, say, $2 worth 
 and reduce their power of consumption, their power of production 
 would decrease in even a greater ratio. — From testimony before 
 the Committee on Immigration, United States Senate, February, 
 igo2. 
 
 I interested myself in securing the embodiment in the pending 
 bill of a moderate educational test — a mere provision that adult 
 immigrants must be able, before landing, to read, in some lan- 
 guage, the Constitution of the United States. Exception is made 
 of wives, of children under 18, and of parents over 50- All 
 these, though unable to read, may be brought in, under the pro- 
 posed law, by the heads of their families. 
 
 This regulation will exclude hardly any of the natives of Great 
 Britain, Ireland, Germany, France, or Scandinavia. It will ex- 
 clude only a small proportion of our immigrants from North 
 ItaJy. It will shut out a considerable number of South Italians 
 
82 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 and of Slavs and others equally or more undesirable and injurious. 
 A provision of this kind will be beneficial to the more desirable 
 classes of immigrants, as well as to ourselves. It is good for 
 them, no less than for us, to diminish the number of that class 
 which by reason of its lack of intelligence, is slowest to appreciate 
 the value of organization, and furnishes the easiest victims of 
 the padrones and the unscrupulous employer. It is good for 
 them, as well as for us, to raise the average intelligence of the 
 citizens of the Republic. It is good to spur them to attain for 
 themselves that measure of intelligence which we regard as in- 
 dispensable to an American citizen. Every man who is worthy 
 of American citizenship can, if he will, obtain the small measure 
 of education which it is proposed to require; and it is better for 
 him, as well as the country which he seeks to enter, that he 
 should be compelled to get it. And even the countries from 
 which the immigrants come may be spurred, by the standard 
 which we set up, to provide better facilities for the education of 
 their people, to the profit of those who remain at home, as well 
 as of those who come to us. — From Annual Report to A. F.of L. 
 Convention, New Orleans, November, igos. 
 
 I do not believe that we can be justly accused of a failure to 
 recognize the obligation of the fraternity of man because we 
 desire restriction of immigration. But the principle that self- 
 protection is the first law of nature applies to international 
 questions the same as it does to the nation, to the family, to the 
 Individual. Let me add this, too, that if the American people 
 adopt some practical measure that will stop to a considerable 
 degree this wholesale immigration of people from several of the 
 monarchical countries, where tyranny is the handmaid of poverty 
 and misery, these people, being obliged to remain at home, will 
 find the remedy for their economic and social ills in their own 
 country, and thus compel reform and improvement. 
 
 One of the great devices for the safety of tyrants has always 
 been either a foreign war, or to drive some of the people out of 
 their country. If those dissatisfied spirits remain in their own 
 homes, they will compel kings and czars and kaisers to reform 
 their ways and bring about better conditions in their own 
 countries. ... 
 
 I do not want you to interpret my remarks as emanating from 
 
LABOR'S STAND ON PUBLIC ISSUES 83 
 
 an advocate of free trade, but it does seem an inconsistency to 
 impose a tax, a duty upon the product of the European and 
 Asiatic workmen if this product is brought to the ports of our 
 country, and then to open up the same ports so that the work- 
 men themselves can come here by the millions. . . . 
 
 I have not anything against the Chinaman. I have met some 
 Chinamen of whom I think very much. But there is a whole 
 heap of difference between the individual Chinaman we meet 
 here and there, who has character and ambition and ideals, and 
 whose aspirations are somewhat in unison with the ideals and 
 the aspirations of the American citizen, and the average China- 
 man who has come to the United States. I do not want to ex- 
 clude the Chinaman from the United States because he is a 
 Chinaman. I am opposed to the Chinaman coming to the United 
 States because his ideals, his civilization, are absolutely in an-, 
 tagonism to the ideals and civilization of America. Never in the 
 history of the world have Chinese gone to any country in any 
 considerable numbers without one of two things occurring — first, 
 that the Chinaman has dominated, or he has been driven out by 
 force. The Chinaman is a cheap man. — From address before 
 Conference on Immigration, of The National Civic Federation, 
 New York City, December, 1905. 
 
 In his last annual message to Congress, the President recom- 
 mended that our laws and treaties should l3e framed so as to put 
 Chinese students, business and professional men of all kinds; not 
 only merchants, but bankers, doctors, manufacturers, professors, 
 preachers and the like, in the excepted class, but to state that 
 we will admit all Chinese, except Chinese coolies, whether skilled 
 or unskilled. 
 
 A few days thereafter a great conference was held in New 
 York City which, from the lack of either information or under- 
 standing upon the subject, came near the point of endorsing that 
 position. The conference finally adopted by almost unanimous 
 vote the declaration for the enforcement of the existing satis- 
 factory law and treaty upon the subject. It is with considerable 
 pride that I can state that it was due to a few representatives 
 of Labor, myself included, that the first declaration was repudi- 
 ated and the latter endorsed. 
 
 A bill to change the law in accordance with the President's 
 
84 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 recommendation was introduced in the House and very seriously 
 pressed. 
 
 Last December, with a number of friends, I had an interview 
 with the President, when his attention was called to the fact that 
 if his recommendation were enacted into law the entire policy of 
 our government and people would be changed. 
 
 The existing Chinese Exclusion Law provides in general terms 
 that all Chinese shall be excluded from the United States and 
 its possessions. Then the law proceeds to specify those who are 
 exempt from the operations of the law, those who may come to 
 our shores. 
 
 The recommendation of the President would, if enacted into 
 law, in general terms specify that all Chinese shall be admitted 
 to the United States and its possessions, and it then specifies 
 those who would be exempt and those who may not come. That 
 is, the Chinese coolies. 
 
 Your attention is called to the fact that the burden of proof 
 now devolves upon the Chinese of the exempt classes to legally 
 show their right to come to the United States, its territories, or 
 its possessions. 
 
 If, on the other hand, the policy were reversed by the enact- 
 ment of the President's recommendation, it would devolve upon 
 the United States to legally and conclusively show that all Chi- 
 nese coolies and laborers, no matter how great the numbers, and 
 no matter how deep their deception, who would swarm to our 
 country or its possessions, would not be legally entitled to enter. 
 
 I have no right to say that the President has changed his 
 opinion upon the subject as the result of the conference referred 
 to when it was brought to his attention how difficult and almost 
 impossible it would be to exclude Chinese coolie laborers, whether 
 skilled or unskilled, if the burden of proof were placed upon our 
 government, but that he was interested in the new view and the 
 new light in which the subject was placed before him, is beyond 
 question. 
 
 That there have been a large number of Chinese coolies and 
 laborers who have entered both the United States and its posses- 
 sions since the issuance of the executive order last year, is mani- 
 fest. In addition, it may be interesting to know that the Com- 
 missioner-General of Immigration testified before a congressional 
 
LABOR'S STAND ON PUBLIC ISSUES 85 
 
 committee that he was directed to enforce the Chinese Exclusion 
 Law with 1^ rigor. 
 
 It is now currently reported that there is being negotiated a 
 treaty between the United States and China with a view of modi- 
 fying and repealing existing law. Of course, it is not the intent 
 or purpose of our Chinese Exclusion Law to bar the coming of 
 bona fide students, business or professional men, or those who 
 desire to travel for pleasure or information. Experience has, 
 however, demonstrated the necessity for such safeguards from 
 imposition, that the essential feature for the exempt classes who 
 may come to our shores, is that they shall clearly show that they 
 do not belong to the excluded class, the coolies and laborers. 
 
 The American people do not object to the Chinese because 
 they are Chinese; they know from their own experience, as well 
 as from the experience of ages of the peoples of other countries, 
 that the Chinese coolies and laborers can not assimilate with our 
 race; that their civilization, and ours as well, can not co-exist; 
 that the physical conditions, the standard of life, the progress of 
 our people, will not only be endangered but undermined and 
 destroyed. 
 
 We join with all our people in the desire to ensure fair treat- 
 ment to those who may lawfully come to our shores from China, 
 but the deceptive character and means resorted to by Chinese 
 coolies and laborers so as to enable them to come to the United 
 States and its possessions in violation of law, leave us no alter- 
 native but to emphatically enter our protest, and by all honor- 
 able means at our command, whether by law or by treaty, to 
 prevent the reversal of our policy which now in a measure safe- 
 guards us from the possibility of being overwhelmed by the com- 
 ing of the hordes of Chinese. — From Annual Report to A. F. of 
 L. Convention, Minneapolis, Minn., November, igo6. 
 
 Your attention is called to the fact that in the new law, as in 
 the old for more than thirty years, the provision is continued 
 generally known as the anti-alien contract labor feature of the im- 
 migration law. Some months ago a body of workmen was en- 
 gaged in a strike entirely provoked by the employers. The 
 employers set out to obtain workmen by contract in foreign 
 countries to come here and perform that work. 
 
 Protest was made against their admission, and the Board of 
 
86 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 Special Inquiry at Ellis Island sustained the protest and ordered 
 the deportation of the contract workmen. From that order the 
 employers through their counsel appealed to the Department of 
 Commerce and Labor, which in turn submitted the question to 
 the Department of Justice. The Attorney-General, the chief of 
 that Department, rendered an opinion which practically declared 
 that ''workmen of like kind" could not be obtained in the United 
 States, and this, too, notwithstanding there were over one hun- 
 dred unemployed who were capable and willing to perform the 
 required work, but who declined to resign their membership in 
 an organization as a condition precedent to such employment. 
 Bound by the opinion of the Attorney-General, the Department 
 of Commerce and Labor decided in accordance therewith, re- 
 versed the order of the Board of Special Inquiry for the deporta- 
 tion of these contract workmen, and they were admitted. 
 
 A similar case occurred, in another industry, quite recently and 
 the same theory of the law was enforced ; that is, workmen were 
 engaged in a strike, the employers contracted with workmen in 
 a foreign country, and these workmen were permitted to enter 
 upon the theory that they were not "workmen of like kind" 
 unemployed in the United States. 
 
 We contend that the alien-contract labor featxure of the immi- 
 gration law was designed and enacted for the purpose of prevent- 
 ing American workmen from being defeated in an effort to 
 improve their conditions, and particularly to prevent deterioration 
 and that, therefore, regardless of whether the relations of work- 
 men with their employers are of the most amicable character, or 
 whether they anticipate or are engaged in a trade dispute involv- 
 ing either a strike or a lockout, employers are prohibited by the 
 law from bringing workmen to the United States under contract 
 or promise of employment, whether written or implied. . . . 
 That workmen have been locked out by their employers or are 
 on strike does not enter into the situation, regardless of the ques- 
 tions in contention between such workmen and such employers; 
 the fact that they are workmen capable of performing the service 
 required and are unemployed is in itself the condition prohibiting 
 employers from entering into a written or implied contract for 
 "workmen of like kind" coming from any foreign country to 
 our own. — From Annual Report to A. F, of L. Convention, Nor- 
 folk, Va., November, 1907, 
 
LABOR'S STAND ON PUBLIC ISSUES 87 
 
 The advocacy of exclusion, is not prompted by any assumption 
 of superior virtue over our foreign brothers. We disavow for 
 American organized labor the holding of any vulgar or unworthy 
 prejudices against the foreigner. We recognize the noble possi- 
 bilities in the poorest of the children of the earth who come to 
 us from European lands. We know that their civilization is 
 sufficiently near our own to bring their descendants in one gen- 
 eration up to the general level of the best American citizenship. 
 It is not on account of their assumed inferiority, or through any 
 pusillanimous contempt for their abject poverty, that, most re- 
 luctantly, the lines have been drawn by America's workingmen 
 against the indiscriminate admission of aliens to this country. 
 It is simply a case of the self-preservation of the American work- 
 ing classes. Changes are constantly going on in Europe for the 
 uplift of the men of labor, and it can well be believed that each 
 country in Europe is in position to-day to solve its own labor 
 questions in the way best for itself. — American Federationist, 
 January, igii. 
 
 America has not yet become a nation. It is still a conglom- 
 erate mass of various and diverse ethnic groups. Hordes of 
 immigrants have crowded into our ports, and have, for the most 
 part, settled in the nearest industrial center. In some cases they 
 have in masses moved further inland to industrial centers where 
 the nature of the work required comparatively little skill. In 
 many of these cases the coming of the immigrants was due to the 
 activities of managers of industries, who arranged to secure the 
 financial advantages by emplojang foreign workers who still re- 
 tained the standards and prejudices of other countries. So we 
 find in many industrial centers sections that are known as "Little 
 Hungary," "Little Italy," etc. The inhabitants of these little 
 nations transplant to American soil the institutions and the 
 standards of their fatherlands. They gain nothing by coming. 
 These communities speak a foreign language, read foreign papers, 
 dress in accord with foreign customs and bring up their families 
 in accord with foreign standards. There is practically no sus- 
 tained effort on the part of society or the nation to assimilate 
 these foreign groups and to make of them Americans. Nor is 
 this condition confined only to the poorer immigrants. There are 
 foreign communities in the resident districts of the large cities. 
 
88 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 These remain even more exclusively foreign because their wealth 
 enables them to have foreign schools and foreign instruction for 
 their children. Thus the foreign group and alien influence be- 
 come rooted in the life of the community. 
 
 The workers of America have felt most keenly the pernicious 
 results of the establishment of foreign standards of work, wages 
 and conduct in American industries and commerce. Foreign 
 standards of wages do not permit American standards of life. 
 Foreign labor has driven American workers out of many trades, 
 callings, and communities, and the influence of these lower stand- 
 ards has permeated widely. 
 
 For years the organized labor movement has called attention 
 to these vicious tendencies which affect not only the workers but 
 the whole nation, for national unity is weakened when the nation 
 is honeycombed with "foreign groups" living a foreign life. . . . 
 
 It has been urged against the literacy test that this standard 
 would make many suffer because they had been denied opportu- 
 nities. That may be true, but it is equally true that our nation 
 can not work out all of the problems of all other nations. We 
 can not undertake to educate all of those to whom other countries 
 deny educational opportunities. Each nation must undertake and 
 solve its own educational problems. The adoption of the literacy 
 test by our own country would have a tendency to force nations 
 to establish more general educational opportunities for all of their 
 people. It is only a half truth to say that the literacy test would 
 close the gates of opportunity to illiterate foreigners. As a matter 
 of fact there is very little real opportunity for these people in 
 our industrial centers. Usually they have been brought over 
 here either by steamship and railroad companies and other 
 greedy corporations, by employers, or as a result of collusion 
 between these groups. They have been brought over here for 
 the purpose of exploitation, and until they develop powers of 
 resistance and determination to secure things for themselves they 
 have little opportunity here. These same qualities would secure 
 for them within their own countries many of the advantages that 
 later come to them here. — American Federationist, April, igi6. 
 
LABOR'S STAND ON PUBLIC ISSUES 89 
 
 THE TRUSTS AND LABOR 
 
 Our newspapers have labored under the imagination they can 
 make the people believe that they are serious in the effort to 
 attack and crush or wreck the trusts. They do not understand 
 that the trust is simply an evolution from the old-time individual 
 establishments merged into partnerships, into companies and 
 again into corporations, and finally into the company of cor- 
 porations, the trusts. 
 
 Experience will demonstrate that there is a power growing 
 wholly unnoticed by our superficial friends of the press which 
 will prove itself far more potent to deal with the trusts, or if the 
 trusts inherently possess any virtue at all, to see that they are 
 directed into a channel for the public good, and that growing 
 power is the much despised organized labor movement of our 
 country and our time. Wait and see. — American Federationist, 
 December, i8g6. 
 
 Organized labor is deeply concerned regarding the "swift and 
 intense concentration of the industries," and it realizes that 
 unless successfully confronted by an equal or superior power, 
 there is economic danger and political subjugation in store for all. 
 
 But organized labor looks with apprehension at the many 
 panaceas and remedies offered by theorists to curb the growth 
 and development, or to destroy the combinations of industry. 
 We have seen those who knew little of statecraft, and less of 
 economics, urge the adoption of laws to "regulate" interstate 
 commerce, and laws to "prevent" combinations and trusts; and 
 we have .also seen that these measures, when enacted, have been 
 the very instruments to deprive labor of the benefit of organized 
 effort, while at the same time they have simply proved incentives 
 to more subtly and surely lubricate the wheels of capital's 
 combination. 
 
 For our own part, we are convinced that the state is not 
 capable of preventing the development, or the natural concentra- 
 tion of industry. All the propositions to do so which have come 
 under our observation, would, beyond doubt, react with greater 
 force and injury upon the working people of our country than 
 upon the trusts. 
 TJhe great wrongs attributable to the trusts are their corrupting 
 
90 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 influence on the politics of the country, but as the state Has 
 always been the representative of the wealth possessors, we shall 
 be compelled to endure this evil until the toilers are organized 
 and educated to the degree that they shall know that the state 
 is by right theirs, and finally and justly come to their own, while 
 never relaxing in their efforts to secure the very best pos- 
 sible economic, social and material improvement in their 
 condition. . . . 
 
 In the early days of our modern capitalist system, when in- 
 dustry was conducted under the individual employer, the 
 individual workmen deemed themselves able to cope for their 
 rights; when industry developed and employers formed com- 
 panies, the workingman formed unions; when industry concen- 
 trated into great combinations, the workingmen formed their 
 national and international unions; as employments became 
 trustified, the toilers organized federations of all unions, local, 
 national and international, such as the American Federation of 
 Labor. 
 
 We shall continue to organize and federate the grand army of 
 labor, and with our mottoes, fewer hours of labor, higher wages, 
 and an elevated standard of life, we shall estabUsh equal and 
 exact justice for all. — From Annual Report to A. F. of L. Con- 
 vention, Detroit, Mick., December, i8gg. 
 
 We can not, if we would, turn back to the primitive conditions 
 of industry which marked the early part of the last century. It 
 is therefore idle chatter to talk of annihilating trusts. 
 
 In the association of many persons in order to secure the large 
 sums of money necessary to finance modem industry, lay the 
 germ of the trust. We not only can not prevent the association 
 of these vast organizations of capital in what we call trusts, but 
 in some sense we should not wish to do so. 
 
 The trust is, economically speaking, the logical and inevitable 
 accompaniment and development of our modern commercial and 
 industrial system. 
 
 It lessens the waste in production which is bound to occur 
 under individual initiative. In fact, the trust may be said to 
 have successfully solved the problem of the greatest economy in 
 production. It has, however, other important functions which as 
 a rule it does not yet properly perform and the failure in these 
 
LABOR'S STAND ON PUBLIC ISSUES 91 
 
 respects very justly arouses a widespread and intense feeling of 
 protest aimong the masses of our people. 
 
 Asserting that the trust is a logical and inevitable feature of 
 our modem system of industry is merely stating that our modem 
 plan of production, which for brevity and convenience we call 
 the trust system, is the most perfect yet attained. We do not, 
 however, mean to imply by this that the individuals who form 
 trusts, who manipulate them, who profit by them, are logically 
 and inevitably right in many of the methods they employ or the 
 lengths to which they go. Neither do we concede the argument 
 that these individuals who form and manage trusts are so superior 
 a class of beings that they are entitled to the enormous largesse 
 which many of them claim from the profits of economicd pro- 
 duction. Quite the contrary is the fact. Much of the protest 
 against tmst methods is justly and legitimately based on the fact 
 that trust promoters, managers, and owners seize and keep for 
 themselves a far greater share of the profits of modem production 
 and distribution than that to which they are entitled. . . . 
 
 Many of these gentlemen are merely fortunate accidents in 
 the crystallization of a new era. They too, often, forget that 
 they are bound to give accounting, to do justice to that great 
 force which makes industry possible — the people — in their two 
 capacities, as producers and consumers. . . . 
 
 It is only fair to say that the greatest and most enlightened 
 combinations of capital in industry have not seriously questioned 
 the right and, indeed, the advisability of organization among 
 employees. There is economy of time and power and means of 
 placing responsibility in "collective bargaining" with employees 
 which bring the best results for the benefit of all. 
 
 Organized labor has less difficulty in dealing with large firms 
 and corporations to-day than with many individual employers or 
 small firms. 
 
 We have recently seen examples of the bitter antagonism to 
 labor by certain small employers, whose ideas of industry seem 
 to be medieval rather than modem. To some extent they have 
 grasped the idea of organization or association among themselves, 
 but they fail to concede the necessity of organization among 
 wage-workers. In an opera bouffe fashion they emulate the 
 robber barons of the middle ages, whose sole idea of profit was 
 to plunder the individual whom they could find at a disadvantage. 
 
92 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 The workers of the country have pretty thoroughly mastered 
 the broad economic truth that organization is the watchword of 
 modem industry. Labor concedes the right of organization 
 among employers. It is perfectly willing to deal with such asso- 
 ciations, provided its own rights are not denied or invaded. To 
 put it more strongly, provided its rights are recognized and 
 conceded. . . . 
 
 The perception of what a trust really is becomes the more 
 confused, because the great aggregations of capital, loosely called 
 by that name, differ much in their characteristics. Some strive 
 to monopolize certain valuable and necessary sources of natural 
 wealth, in order to completely control production, and, in addi- 
 tion, undertake to monopolize every avenue of distribution so 
 completely that the consumer may be delivered to them, bound 
 hand and foot, helpless against their most exorbitant demands, 
 and all this for the enrichment of the few individuals who have 
 contrived, in the shifting elements of a new era, to gain such 
 control. 
 
 Yet this abuse of methods and functions do^ not at all invali- 
 date the fact that this is absolutely the era of association as 
 contrasted with individual effort, nor does the foregoing charac- 
 terization apply to all trusts. 
 
 Serious problems, indeed, confront us, but they are not hope- 
 less. In intelligent and associated me of the powers of the many 
 will be found the solution. Disorganized and violent denun- 
 ciation is more harmful than helpful. Constructive and asso- 
 ciated effort must check and correct the abuses which have grown 
 so rapidly in this era of concentrated methods of production and 
 distribution. 
 
 The wage-workers of the country are setting an example in 
 this respect. Their efforts will be successful in proportion to the 
 unity of their effort and the thoroughness with which the people 
 at large realize that the masses are one in interest and have un- 
 limited power to check aggression, if they but assert their rights 
 and their powers and use them constructively, intelligently, and 
 with unswerving persistence. . . . 
 
 For the consumer to shout "down with the trusts" because he 
 finds his pocket-book affected is no more reasonable than the 
 cry of "smash the machines" which was once heard from wage- 
 workers whose means of livelihood were threatened during the 
 
LABOR'S STAND ON PUBLIC ISSUES 93 
 
 period of adjustment in certain trades while machinery was 
 replacing hand labor. 
 
 It is easy to comment on the short-sightedness of the poor 
 misguided worker who had no organization and no philosophy to 
 tide him over the period of adjustment and who had not yet 
 learned to fit himself to the new conditions, but it does not seem 
 so easy for many people to see that trust smashing is quite as 
 impossible a remedy for the evils which now confront them. 
 
 It must be trust reform in order that our vaunted economy in 
 production and distribution shall inure to all the people to what- 
 ever degree they are entitled. That reform, to be effective, must 
 come from another source than that now generally accepted. 
 There must be created a public opinion which will see to it that 
 the will of the people and not the mandate of corporate influences 
 shall be paramount. What we want is a more democratic spirit 
 in the conduct of our affairs, industrial, commercial, executive, 
 legislative, and judicial. — From address at Chicago Conference on 
 Trusts, October, igoy. 
 
 CONTROL OF CAPITAL AND FINANCE 
 
 Already it is discerned that finance has been largely dethroned 
 from its all-controlling power over labor and industry. Up to a 
 decade ago, if exposures had been made as have been made in 
 the recent past, of peculation as well as speculation and of the 
 corrupting influences of "high finance," a financial panic, involv- 
 ing an industrial crisis and stagnation, with all its attendant 
 evils, would undoubtedly have been inevitable. 
 
 The time is happily passing when purely speculative finance 
 can hold the dominating power to endow or undo industry. With 
 more compact organization of labor, with more enlightened em- 
 ployers, finance is taking and will take its proper place and 
 perform its proper functions, that of serving the purpose of real 
 industry and trade, of being a real measure of value, a medium 
 of exchange. Thus the relative position of importance is being 
 transposed, and industry and commerce are coming to control 
 and regulate finance. 
 
 It is labor and industry which create values, money included. 
 In finance, as in all things, the created thing should never be 
 greater than its creator. The Frankenstein, the power of finance 
 
94 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 which the people in the past created, has been given its proper 
 limitations and power, and with intelligence it will no longer 
 threaten death or destruction to those who gave it the breath of 
 life. — From Annual Report to A. F. of L. Convention, Pitts- 
 bvrgh, Pa., November, 1905. 
 
 The full value of production does not go to the actual working- 
 men to-day. A portion goes to investment, superintendence, 
 agencies for the creation of wants among people, and many other 
 things. Some of these are legitimate factors in industry entitled 
 to reward, but many of them should be eliminated. The legiti- 
 mate factors are superintendency, the creation of wants, admin- 
 istration, returns for investment in so far as it is honest invest- 
 ment and does not include watered stock or inflated holdings. 
 
 Whether or not dividends should be paid as an incident to 
 stock ownership regardless of the personal services performed, 
 the activity or inactivity of the owner of the stock, depends alto- 
 gether upon whether the investment is an honest one. An honest 
 investment is an honest actual physical investment. . . . Very 
 much of the opposition to the efforts of the working people to se- 
 cure improved conditions has come from those who obtain what 
 may be called an unearned share in the distribution. — From ab- 
 stract of testimony before United States Commission on Indus- 
 trial Relations, New York City, May 21-23, ^9^4- 
 
 The eternal problem with which the labor movement has to 
 cope is control of property — to bring property into such relations 
 to human life that it shall serve and not injure. The struggle 
 has been long and hard but the day is past when the labor move- 
 ment has to justify its right to be classified as a necessary agency 
 with a function to perform in achieving greater freedom and 
 justice. Its claim to acceptance as an instrumentality for achiev- 
 ing human progress is based upon the nature and the value of 
 the service it renders. It was bom out of efforts of workers to 
 think out modem phases of that world-old universal problem 
 — ^property. 
 
 Trade unions regard property and the laws of property as 
 human institutions, intended for service in the development of 
 individuality, giving each a feeling of security and assurance 
 and independence, which mean freedom to direct and control 
 his life. . . 
 
LABOR'S STAND ON PUBLIC ISSUES 95 
 
 It [the trade union movement] does not seek to overthrow 
 private property. It regards private property as a necessary 
 agency for securing opportunity for individual independence and 
 resourcefulness, but it wishes to safeguard private property for 
 use by preventing the perversion of property as an agency purely 
 for exploitation and individual aggrandizement in order to estab- 
 lish an autocracy. — American Federationist, November, ipi6. 
 
 GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP 
 
 We are unable to join in the enthusiasm manifested by the 
 governing powers of the State of Minnesota over their "success- 
 ful" methods of putting the price of binder twine down to three 
 cents below the level at which "the trust" is able to sell it. Nor 
 can we hurrah very heartily over the fact that by the same 
 method the State will regulate the market rates of agricultural 
 implements in the coming year. 
 
 The State's method is simple — so simple that the morality of 
 it seems to have evaded the attention of its legislative, judicial, 
 and executive departments, and of its citizens in general. It is 
 the good old plan of reducing a workingman to slavery and 
 taking from him by force all of the product of his labor except 
 a bare subsistence. Success in this plan blinded many a genera- 
 tion of slaveholders, and the success of Minnesota is undoubted, 
 for she made a profit of $189.69 last year out of every slave in 
 her twine works, and with her new agricultural implement works 
 also operated by the same sort of slave labor her total profits 
 from this source are expected in future to average $300,000 a 
 year. All goes into the State treasury. 
 
 Apart from our objections to slave labor, the feature of the 
 plan which results in barring the trust-made binder twine out 
 of Minnesota brings up in our bosom certain disturbing sensa- 
 tions. There are many good trade union people working for 
 "trusts" in this country, if by the word "trust" is to be meant 
 any industry conducted on a large scale. The railroads are an 
 example. Actually, we prefer to see railroad men in their present 
 condition than in slavery. 
 
 The binder twine trust employed free labor to make the goods 
 it formerly sold in Minnesota. Each slave who is now handing 
 over to the State $189.69 annually has been substituted for a 
 
96 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 freeman, whose wages must have been approximately the same 
 as those prevailing in similar grades of work in the United States, 
 and on the whole, after some extended observation, we believe 
 that the general American rate of wages is still somewhat more 
 than sufficient to maintain our workingmen above the slave level. 
 We shall be reckless right here and now and say, however much 
 the trust in the financial and industrial field is abhorrent to jus- 
 tice, we are willing to tolerate it for a little while longer rather 
 than see it abolished by the Minnesota method. There may 
 possibly be some other way. — American Federationist, Novem- 
 ber, igio. 
 
 From every point of view this step of the French Government 
 [dissolving the syndicate of school teachers] assists the observer 
 of State socialism in a study of its principles and operation. The 
 Government as employer brooks no opposition from its em- 
 ployees. It can, and does, wipe out their organization. It can, 
 and does, through its heads of administration, proceed further 
 than the law-making branch has by statute authorized. It can, 
 and does, control the political activities of the employees. It 
 can, and does, hire and discharge not only by merit, but by 
 systems of exclusion bearing upon the political principles of 
 applicants for, or holders of, positions. With every extension of 
 the functions of government, as they are now exercised in France, 
 the field of freedom of the individual is obviously narrowed. 
 The trade union is the one defense and protector of the wage- 
 workers in any occupation whatsoever — no body of employers 
 can decree the dissolution of a union. The heads of government 
 departments can. To carry out such a decree is, of course, 
 another thing. But should the workers of America take the risk 
 of inviting such a decree by conferring greater powers of this 
 character upon the government? Is there no lesson for America's 
 workers in this action of the government of the Republic of 
 France? — Atnerican Federationist, Febrttary, IQ13. 
 
 Several resolutions [at Seattle Convention, A. F. of L., 1913] 
 dealt with the subject of government ownership. Its great im- 
 portance to workers arises from the effect municipal ownership 
 would have upon labor organizations, and hence upon labor con- 
 ditions. The convention endorsed the resolution of the street- 
 
LABOR'S STAND ON PUBLIC ISSUES 97 
 
 car employees, denouncing the denial of the right to organize 
 under municipal ownership, directing the Executive Council to 
 prepare a bill for the purpose of preventing that practice, and 
 instructing state branches to assist in its enactment into state 
 law. Endorsement of collective ownership of mines, railroads, 
 and industries supplying necessities, was refused. In view of 
 the importance of the matter and the tendency favoring municipal 
 ownership the convention deemed it wise and necessary to direct 
 the Executive Council to make a thorough investigation as to 
 wages, hours, conditions of employment, and rights of employees 
 in places where municipal ownership has been adopted. — Ameri- 
 can Federationist, Jantiary, 1^14. 
 
 Governmental ownership and control like other institutions 
 grow by what they feed on. Governmental ownership and con- 
 trol instituted for one phase of industrial relations gradually 
 but inevitably reach out to other connected relations until the 
 whole is under the domination not of the people but of an 
 oligarchy — a bureaucracy. 
 
 A good illustration of immediate conditions resulting from 
 putting all forces and institutions at the service of society exists 
 to-day in Germany. There is no consideration given the indi- 
 vidual, the welfare of the majority is the declared purpose of 
 every policy. All of the activities, the relations and the customs 
 of the nation are specifically regulated in the interest of the 
 nation. What is a war measure there constitutes the negation 
 of personal freedom. Each individual is assigned to that work 
 by which he can contribute the greatest service to the majority 
 of the people. Everything is controlled — the use of the land for 
 agriculture and the number of slices of bread. The regulation 
 is efficient. 
 
 England has established the principle of ownership and control 
 but has not applied it so generally. The latest papers from 
 Australia indicate that this governmental control and ownership 
 have a much firmer grip upon industrial conditions because the 
 methods and agencies for control were already in existence and 
 the principle was an established practice, and therefore did not 
 meet with serious objection. 
 
 There is for every state of Australia and for the Common- 
 wealth machinery for controlling hours of work, wages and con- 
 
98 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 ditions of work. As a result of the industrial upheavals resulting 
 from the war officials in charge of the wages-regulating machinery 
 immediately gave the hint that the upward movement of that 
 machinery was blocked, but that movement in the other direc- 
 tion was possible. Employers at once took the "tip" and have 
 made a vigorous effort to reduce wages under existing awards. 
 
 In several states Necessary Commodities Commissions were 
 appointed with power to fix prices. These worked independently 
 of the officials fixing wages — a bad arrangement for those who 
 are expected to adapt decreasing wages to increasing prices. 
 
 It is charged that the price fixed for wheat by the governmental 
 agents has been manipulated in Victoria and in New South Wales 
 to enable the wheat buyers to secure exorbitant profits at the 
 expense of the farmers. The millers of Victoria charge the 
 speculators with gambling a "comer on wheat." 
 
 The remedy proposed is additional control — to make sales 
 compulsory upon demand at a fixed price. It is recognized that 
 desire for individual gain is an important element in these efforts 
 to make money, and it is further proposed to regulate out of 
 existence all undesirable selfish elements in human nature. Would 
 that it were possible — ^but experience demonstrates that the ma- 
 chine for "regulation" becomes the chief object of manipulation. 
 
 Other illustrations of governmental control are the fixing of 
 the price of butter by the New South Wales government; the 
 whole of the Australian woolen mills are now organized as part 
 of the Defense Department; the New South Wales government 
 has definitely decided, according to the Attorney-General, to 
 extend the state bakery system to cover New South Wales. The 
 intention is to nationalize the bread industry. The Australian 
 bakeries were on the eve of installing machinery which in addi- 
 tion to the concentration of monopoly management would throw 
 many out of employment. But under the new governmental 
 policy the private employers will be spared the expense of pur- 
 chasing the machinery as well as the cost of the rearrangement 
 or transition from hand to machine labor. 
 
 But the bakery workers do not view their future with pleas- 
 ure. The Sydney Bakers' Union adopted a motion condenming 
 any action taken by the government which will minimize em- 
 ployment. It is now suggested that the government undertake 
 governmental operation of more industries in order to give these 
 
LABOR'S STAND ON PUBLIC ISSUES 99 
 
 men work. It is pointed out that governmental operation of 
 bakeries can be made more effective by extending state control 
 to flour mills. Thus one step in governmental regulation leads 
 to another and another. 
 
 Recently the medical profession was startled by a proposal to 
 nationalize the hospitals of New South Wales. 
 
 As a matter of fact, conditions in Australia lead to the convic- 
 tion that governmental ownership and control solve nothing. 
 They simply transfer industrial problems to the political field, 
 restate them in political terms and then try to solve them by 
 political methods. They do not touch the causes of industrial 
 unrest as directly and as effectively as the use of economic 
 agencies and methods. The industrial injustice resultant from 
 the evils in modern industry as well as the result of the inherent 
 weakness and characteristics of human nature has not been 
 bettered but made infinitely worse by government ownership and 
 control. Those fundamental causal elements can be best held 
 in check by the stronger economic force, at least until social and 
 individual morality reach a higher plane. 
 
 What then is Uie advantage of governmental ownership and 
 control over conditions in the United States? Are experiences 
 of wrongs, injury and injustice, even if inflicted upon other 
 people, to have no lesson for us? — American Federationist, June, 
 1915- 
 
 The defeat by the labor unions of the proposed municipal 
 street-car system in Detroit has puzzled and taken aback the 
 "intellectual" group of advocates of public ownership of utilities 
 in general. They have been in the habit of hastily going ahead 
 with their theories without taking into account the lessons the 
 wage-workers have learned thereon, sometimes at a dear price. 
 . . . Trade unionists are convinced that to take away by ar- 
 bitrary order both the laborer's supreme lawful right to dispose 
 of his labor at his own will and the laborer's correlative rights 
 to hearing, petition, and association is to crush him and abandon 
 him in helpless slavery. No municipal ownership scheme, with 
 trade unionism left out, can be acceptable to trade unionists and 
 liberty-loving citizens. — American Federationist, February, igi6. 
 
 The employees of the government are denied the right collec- 
 tively to lay down their tools or implements of their work and 
 
100 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 quit. They cannot strike. They are forbidden to strike. A 
 few letter carriers in West Virginia a few months ago undertook 
 collectively to send in their resignations. They have been in- 
 dicted and in order that they might have the smallest, lowest 
 sentences imposed upon them, some of them consented, under 
 protest, and did plead guilty and thus the precedent has been 
 established. How it was brought about, how it was manipulated, 
 I am not in a position to say, but that it was a great wrong and 
 cannot bear the scrutiny of investigation I am satisfied. But 
 that is the status of the goverrmient employee in so far as the 
 right to strike is concerned. — From address at Mass Meeting, 
 Washington, D. C, December i8, 1916, in behalf of salary in- 
 creases for Government clerks. 
 
 Now that several suggestions looking toward goverrmient 
 ownership are under discussion, it would be well for the em- 
 ployees of those enterprises to consider carefully the phght in 
 which present government employees find themselves. Pay 
 standards in the government service have not been revised for 
 fifty years. Costs of living have been rising — ^precipitously ris- 
 ing within the past twelve months. Government employees, pre- 
 viously none too generously paid, have felt the ieen pinch of 
 discomfort as they tried to adjust to meet present conditions. 
 
 This year they presented to Congress definite demands for 
 salary increases. Congress having made generous appropriations 
 for all manner of enterprises and suggested $18,000,000 for 
 rivers and harbors, suddenly finds itself confronted by a deficit 
 and tells a hard luck story to its petitioning employees. 
 
 Now what are these employees to do? Meekly submit and 
 submit to the injustice Congress refuses to remedy? They can 
 not, like employees in private industries, assert their rights. It 
 is claimed that government employees have foregone the right 
 to strike. EThe government has restricted their political rights — 
 political activity is not tolerated in the service.^ Many employees 
 are women and therefore have not even the right to cast a ballot. 
 Many of the men workers have been unable to maintain a resi- 
 dence where they have the right to vote. 
 
 The right of economic organization does not meet with favor 
 from several departmental chiefs who covertly seek to destroy 
 the union by victimizing union men. . . . 
 
LABOR'S STAND ON PUBLIC ISSUES loi 
 
 It is well for all the workers to seriously consider the 
 into government ownership; whether after all it would, 
 volve the plight of jumping from the frying pan int 
 — American Federationist, February, igi^. 
 
 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION 
 
 We contend that education in America must be free, 
 
 cratic, conducted by, of, and for the people, and that it must 
 never be consigned to, or permitted to remain in, the power of 
 private interests where there is sure to be the danger of exploita- 
 tion for private profit and willful rapacity. Under the pretense 
 of industrial education private agencies for personal profit have 
 perverted the term, resulting in a narrow and specialized train- 
 ing to the detriment of the pupils, the workers, and people 
 generally. 
 
 Modem methods of manufacturing with their division and 
 subdivision and specialization have to a large extent, rendered 
 nearly superfluous and therefore largely eliminated the all-round 
 skilled worker. Some so-called modern apprenticeship systems 
 are narrow, producing a line of trained "specialists." It has 
 been well said that specialists in industry are vastly different 
 from specialists in the professions. In the professions specialists 
 develop from the knowledge of all the elements of the science of 
 the profession. Specialists in industry are those who know but 
 one part of a trade and absolutely nothing of any other part of 
 it. In the professions specialists are possessed of all the learning 
 in their professions; in industry the specialists are denied the 
 opportunity of learning the commonest elementary rudiments 
 of industry other than the same infinitesimal part performed by 
 them perhaps thousands of times over each day. 
 
 Our movement in advocating industrial education protests 
 most emphatically against the elimination from our public school 
 system of any line of learning now taught. Education, techni- 
 cally or industrially, must be supplementary to and in connection 
 with our modem school system. That for which our movement 
 stands will tend to make better workers of our future citizens, 
 better citizens of our future workers. — From Annual Report to 
 A. F. of L. Convention, Toronto, Canada, December, igog. 
 
102 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 Conservation is one of the topics uppermost in the mind of the 
 American public to-day, but there is one phase of conservation 
 which is not receiving the attention which it deserves; I refer to 
 the conservation of the brain and brawn of our American youth. 
 Our school systems are giving only a one-sided education; the 
 boy may go to school and prepare himself for professional or 
 commercial life, or he may drop out of school and enter a trade 
 with no particular preparation and become a mediocre workman. 
 Training of brain and muscle must go together for the complete 
 preparation of men. 
 
 While the public schools and colleges aim only at teaching pro- 
 fessions, the greatest need of America, educationally, is the im- 
 provement of industrial intelligence and working efficiency in the 
 American youth. We need an educational uplift for the work of 
 the boy who will work with his hands, and we not only need to 
 give an educational uplift to craftsmanship, but the school needs 
 the help of the workman and his better work in education. We 
 should realize better the interdependence between our common 
 education and our common industries. This can be effectuated 
 only by a system of industrial schools, differentiated from the 
 manual training schools, which shall actually train workmen for 
 the trades and at the same time give them a broader mental cul- 
 ture. . . . 
 
 The fact that industrial education, like academic education, is 
 becoming a public function and that it should be paid for by 
 public funds is fast gaining supporters. At a recent meeting in 
 Indianapolis the department of superintendents of the National 
 Education Association placed on record its approval of the gen- 
 eral plan, and especially emphasized the desirability of enlarging 
 the work of the Federal and State Departments and Bureaus 
 which have to do with public education. But most significant is 
 the following declaration by that organization: 
 
 "That the department, while heartily approving every agency that 
 may be used to advance the educational interests of both States and 
 Nation, places itself on record as disapproving any appropriation made 
 by either legislatures or Congress for any institution which is not sup- 
 ported exclusively by public funds and which is not subject to com- 
 plete Federal and State control and investigation." 
 
 — From Annual Report to A.F. of L. Convention, St. Louis, Mo., 
 November, igio. 
 
LABOR'S STAND ON PUBLIC ISSUES 103 
 
 It is not generally known that to the organized labor move- 
 ment of Massachusetts belongs the credit of establishing public 
 schools in Massachusetts and the general public school system as 
 it has since developed. Prior to that time there were schools 
 which children of poor parents could attend, but attendance at 
 such schools carried with it the stigma of the poverty of the 
 parents. Such poverty was a stigma then. The labor movement 
 of Massachusetts secured the enactment of a law removing as a 
 requirement for attendance at these schools that the parents of 
 the children must declare that they could not afford to pay for 
 the tuition of their children. Thus came into existence the first 
 public school in the United States. — From abstract of testimony 
 before United States Commission on Industrial Relations, New 
 York City, May 21-23, 1914. 
 
 The period is almost past where the United States can depend 
 upon cheap raw materials obtained with comparatively little 
 labor from its mines and virgin fields. It is entering upon a 
 period when it must depend upon the qualities of human labor. 
 Under these conditions industrial decline is the only alternative 
 to industrial education. Do you think that organized labor is 
 going to advocate a policy of industrial decline — a policy of 
 competing on a basis of cheap labor, instead of trained and ef- 
 ficient labor? . . . 
 
 Do you think it is going to advocate the adoption of Chinese 
 methods in its competition with Europe? I can assure you that 
 the American workingman will not accept any such solution of 
 the problem. He will insist that competition shall be upon the 
 basis not of cheap brute labor, but of intelligent efficient skilled 
 labor, which means that he will in the future, as he has done in 
 the past, insist that the instruction in our public schools be made 
 democratic. In a word, that the public schools generally shall 
 institute industrial education, and that that education shall be 
 based upon an exhaustive study of the industries to determine 
 what sort of industrial training is required and is most con- 
 ducive to the physical, mental, material and social welfare of 
 the workers, the quality of citizenship, the perpetuity of our 
 republic and fulfillment of its mission as the leader in the human- 
 itarianism of the world. . . . 
 
 Organized labor has always opposed and will continue to op- 
 
104 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 pose sham industrial education, whether at public or at private 
 expense. It has opposed and will continue to oppose that super- 
 ficial training which confers no substantial benefit upon the 
 worker — does not make him a craftsman but only an interloper, 
 who may be available in times of crisis, perhaps as a strike 
 breaker, but not as a trained artisan for industrial service at 
 other times. Industrial education must train men for work, not 
 for private and sinister corporation purposes. . . . 
 
 Organized labor has opposed and will continue to oppose some 
 enterprises which have been undertaken in the name of industrial 
 education. It has opposed and will continue to oppose the 
 exploitation of the laborer even when that exploitation is done 
 under the name of industrial education. It may continue to 
 regard with indifference, if not with suspicion some private 
 schemes of industrial education. With regard to such enterprises 
 where they are instituted by employers, with a single eye to the 
 profit of such employers, organized labor will have to be shown 
 that the given enterprise is not a means of exploiting labor — a 
 means of depressing wages by creating an over supply of labor 
 in certain narrow fields of employment. 
 
 Organized labor cannot favor any scheme of industrial educa- 
 tion which is lop-sided — any scheme, that is to say, which will 
 bring trained men into any given trade without regard to the 
 demand for labor in that trade. Industrial education must main- 
 tain a fair and proper apportionment of the supply of labor power 
 to the demand for labor power in every line of work. . . . 
 Otherwise its advantages will be entirely neutralized. If, for 
 example, the result of industrial education is to produce in any 
 community a greater number of trained machinists than are 
 needed, those machinists who have been trained cannot derive 
 any benefit from their training since they will not be able to find 
 employment except at economic disadvantage. Under these con- 
 ditions industrial education is of no advantage to those who 
 have received it, and it is a distinct injury to the journeymen 
 working at the trade who are subjected to a keen competition 
 artificially produced. Industrial education must meet the needs 
 of the worker as well as the requirements of the employer. . . . 
 
 Industrial education should be in every instance based upon 
 a survey of the industries of the community — upon an accumula- 
 tion of facts regarding the employments in the community. 
 
LABOR'S STAND ON PUBLIC ISSUES loj 
 
 Upon such a basis the public schools may properly proceed to 
 provide for the particular industrial needs of the community and 
 with such an accumulation of data in hand there can be no 
 excuse if industrial education does not prove to be of undoubted 
 benefit to labor and to the community. — From address before 
 National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education, 
 Richmond, Va., December lo, 1914. 
 
 The organized labor movement realizes that education I's not 
 an arbitrary thing that automatically ends with a certain year 
 of life, but that it must continue throughout life if the individual 
 is really to live and make progress. Appreciation of this fact 
 has resulted in the demand on the part of organized labor for 
 wider use of the schools in order that fuller and better opportu- 
 nities for learning, culture and sociability may be brought into 
 the common life. They redize that education is an attitude 
 toward life — an ability to see and understand problems and to 
 utilize information and forces for the best solution of these prob- 
 lems. New information and wider knowledge make possible the 
 maintenance of this attitude as long as life shall last. . . . 
 
 The noblest mission of the schools is to teach the worth of a 
 man or a woman, to teach the value of the individual and his 
 life. This teaching must be supplemented with practical knowl- 
 edge that enables each to realize his fullest possibilities. Educa- 
 tion must be founded upon truths that break down insidious and 
 unjustified distinctions between the kinds of work by which in- 
 dividuals express themselves. . . . 
 
 An education that glorifies the creative ability of the individual 
 — his labor — is injecting a revolutionary idea into all our philoso- 
 phy of life. Such a plan of education will bring into the spirit 
 of our nation a force that will make for larger freedom, for 
 greater progress and effectiveness. It will be in direct opposition 
 to that education which promotes docility, submissiveness, con- 
 formity. It will make possible for each to stamp his life work 
 .with ail of the artistic imagery of which his nature is capable. 
 — From address before the National Educational Association, 
 New York City, My 7, 1916. 
 
 A serious national deficiency has been made conspicuous by 
 the draft. There are 700,000 men who can neither read nor 
 
io6 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 write who are liable to military service. These men though 
 liable to military service can not sign their own names, can not 
 read orders daily posted on bulletin boards in the camps, can 
 not read their Manual of Arms, can not read or write home 
 letters, can not understand the signals or follow the Signal Corps 
 in time of battle. 
 
 These men in doing military service will be under serious 
 handicap that may be dangerous to fellow-soldiers and the mili- 
 tary undertaking. 
 
 As a consequence of illiteracy, the man-power of the nation is 
 only partly available when it is essential to have full power 
 efficiency. 
 
 Illiteracy is the greatest enemy of progress of an individual or 
 nation. It results in ignorance and inability to appreciate or 
 utilize opportunities; inability to make decisions — conditions that 
 are incompatible with democracy. 
 
 War needs focus attention upon the draft illiterates, but in 
 addition to these there is a national civil problem amazing to the 
 majority of our citizens. . . . 
 
 The whole problem of progress is fundamentally educational 
 in character. The problems of to-day and the future will tax 
 the ability of our citizens even though equipped with the best 
 education which our schools can afford. Within our Republic 
 every individual should possess the rudiments of education with 
 which he can train himself to a higher education, if denied other 
 opportunities and assistance. To withhold opportunity for edu- 
 cation for the least among our people is a crime committed 
 against our Republic. — American Federationist, May, igi8. 
 
 The industrial education which is being fostered and developed 
 should have for its purpose not so mush training for efficiency 
 in industry as training for life in an industrial society. A full 
 understanding must be had of those principles and activities that 
 are the foundation of all productive efforts. Children should not 
 only become familiar with tools and materials, but they should 
 also receive a thorough knowledge of the principles of human 
 control, of force and matter underlying our industrial relations 
 and sciences. The danger that certain commercial and industrial 
 interests may dominate the character of education must be 
 averted by insisting that the workers shall have equal representa- 
 
LABOR'S STAND ON PUBLIC ISSUES 107 
 
 tion on all boards of education or committees having control over 
 vocational studies and training. 
 
 To elevate and advance the interests of the teaching profession 
 and to promote popular and democratic education, the right of 
 the teachers to organize and to affiliate with the movement of 
 the organized workers must be recognized. — From Annual Report 
 to A. F. of L. Convention, Atlantic City, N. J., June, 1919. 
 
 WOMAN SUFFRAGE 
 
 The petition to Congress in favor of submitting an amendment 
 to the Constitution of the United States to the several States 
 for ratification, granting the right of suffrage to women, was 
 printed and circulated. It affords me pleasure to say that the 
 petition was signed by more than two hundred and seventy thou- 
 sand organized workmen, and placed in the hands of the com- 
 mittee having that subject specially in charge. 
 
 It is not vain to hope that the time is not far distant when 
 women, who are amenable to the laws of our country and States, 
 shall have the right of a voice in framing them equal to their 
 brothers. — From Annual Report to A. F. of L. Convention, Bir- 
 mingham, Ala., December, i8gi. 
 
 The increasingly widening functions of the government make 
 legislative and administrative problems of increasing concern to 
 women — working women and the wives and daughters of work- 
 ing men. The organization of markets, food prices, pure food 
 laws, municipal sanitation, building regulations, school laws, child 
 labor laws, and an almost endless list, bring politics very close 
 into the common life. These things should and do concern 
 women very vitally. For that reason women should participate 
 in their consideration and determination directly. — From press 
 statement, September, 1914. 
 
 Working women feel most keenly the necessity for the right 
 of franchise. Women can not have equal power with men in 
 the industrial struggle while they are classified with idiots and 
 irresponsibles in political affairs. The ballot and political influ- 
 ence give power and opportunity. If opportunity and power are 
 restricted those individuals are thereby hampered in all 
 
io8 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 activities. The ballot will bring power because it would bring 
 full citizenship. . . . 
 
 They [women] know that the use of the ballot will not solve 
 industrial problems. The right to use the ballot increases the 
 power and the resourcefulness of voters whether they be men or 
 women, and thereby puts them in such position that they are 
 better able to work out their industrial problems. The right to 
 vote does not mean that women will necessarily have work. 
 Equal suffrage does not necessarily mean equal pay for equal 
 work. These industrial problems women will work out only when 
 through organization they have industrial power and influence 
 that will enable them to secure higher wages, shorter hours and 
 better working conditions. The relations between sufirage and 
 industrial betterment ' must not be confused. It is a matter of 
 justice that there should be equal pay for equal work. The ballot 
 will help but will not necessarily bring this about. It will result 
 only from the intelligent self-interested activity on the part of 
 the women. 
 
 But women must have the ballot — they are going to have the 
 ballot because they are human beings and members of organized 
 society equal in intelligence, rights and desires with men. — Press 
 statement, August, 1915. 
 
 FREE SPEECH AND PUBLIC ASSEMBLY ' 
 
 Within the past few years there has been a direct purpose and 
 what appears to be a tacit understanding among the authorities 
 of our several States and municipalities to violate one of the 
 fundamental principles and rights guaranteed to the people. The 
 right of free assemblage and free speech has been won at the 
 sacrifice of thousands of lives and of fortunes untold. Yet the 
 right of free speech and free assemblage is as much in question 
 to-day as it was centuries ago. 
 
 We may have little if any sympathy with the expressions of 
 those who are opposed to our system of government, or we may 
 be their outspoken antagonists, but we should at all times main- 
 tain the constitutional rights of the people, of free speech and 
 free assemblage. It requires but a stretch of authority to inter- 
 fere and break up the meetings of our unions as was recently the 
 case with the Painters' Union of Chicago, and still others re- 
 
LABOR'S STAND ON PUBLIC ISSUES 109 
 
 ported to us. — From Annual Report to A. F. of L. Convention, 
 Birmingham, Ala., December, i8gi. 
 
 Grant for even a moment that the courts have a right by 
 injunction to enjoin from publishing, and what will be the logical 
 result? It will come to pass, as one already said, the press can 
 not expose political corruption because it hurts some "boss." It 
 can not criticize an hostile or indifferent administration because 
 the Chief Executive would be annoyed. The Congressional Record 
 may be censored because some Senator or Representative has the 
 courage to uncover the lawlessness of powerful wrongdoers. Even 
 the President's message may be interdicted. The press will not 
 dare to expose the horrors of child labor and the exploitation of 
 helpless women workers. 
 
 Forbid us to state any one unpleasant truth and the way is 
 opened to go the whole limit of press censorship and prohibition. 
 As we said in our statements to the judge, "the freedom of the 
 press was given not that we might say the pleasant things, but 
 that we might say the things which are unpleasant that we might 
 criticize the wrong; that we might call attention to truths as yet 
 unrecognized ; that even if we might do a wrong we would better 
 have the right and be subject to punishment than that the free- 
 dom to print and speak should be denied. The injunction denies 
 in advance the right to speak or print. It puts an absolute cen- 
 sorship on press and speech. — From editorial in American Fede- 
 rationist, February, igog, on Justice Wright's Decision. 
 
 Riotous, purposeless, uproarious agitation does more harm 
 than good, it makes society more unified against the demands 
 of the workers. Free speech and free assemblage are rights that 
 are fundamental in securing redress of grievances — ^yet the exer- 
 cise of these rights will be hedged about by more restrictions 
 because of the vain excesses of the "Industrial Workers of the 
 World." Those who oppress the working people have nothing 
 to lose by outbreaks of violence and wild talk, because these 
 things only prejudice the public, the workers included, against 
 all proposals, good and bad alike. It leaves the workers helpless, 
 with hope dispelled and confidence in themselves and each other 
 destroyed. — American Federationist, April, igi^. 
 
no LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 CONVICT LABOR AND PRISON REFORM 
 
 The chief argument of those who exploit the labor of convicts 
 under the contract system and those who defend the exploiters 
 — for profit to themselves — ^has been that the convict must be 
 employed during incarceration. This cry, as old as the contract 
 system of convict labor itself, is hypocritical and sophistical. 
 The use of it by profit mongers is an endeavor to place labor in 
 a false position and to cover their own heartlessness and perfidy. 
 
 Certainly no thoughtful, humane person, and most assuredly 
 no trade unionist, wants the inmates of our prisons to remain 
 idle. Every one is in agreement that they should be employed. 
 No labor representative has privately suggested or publicly ex- 
 pressed a desire to keep these offenders against society in idleness. 
 
 Impositions upon the credulity of the people have always been 
 inspired by the grasping prison-labor contractor and his hire- 
 lings. And the sole plea of those who fatten upon the misery 
 and shortcomings of the unfortunates, and those who have suc- 
 cessfully thrived upon the cupidity of State legislators, is an 
 imposition. 
 
 The convict contract labor system is a curse to the convict, 
 the State, the prison officials, the fair employer, the short-sighted 
 merchant, and the honest toiler for wages. 
 
 The contract system of prison labor is inhuman, dishonest, and 
 stupid. It is a disgrace to our highly trained scientific twentieth 
 century and a blot upon our boasted civilization. It is decep- 
 tively presented to the representatives of a State as a device that 
 will procure ample revenue to reimburse the State for the expense 
 of caring for the convicts, allow the convicts to "earn something 
 for themselves," and of late a more specious but not less trans- 
 parent claim is made that the "poor convict" is being taught a 
 trade so that when he is released he can procure honorable em- 
 ployment at good wages. 
 
 Not one of these statements can be successfully maintained. 
 They fall of their own weight when analyzed. In the first place, 
 the largest part of the profit of the labor of the prisoners under 
 the contract system does not go to defray his expenses to the 
 State. It does not go to the convict himself. It goes to the 
 third party, the contractor who has no interest whatever, either 
 in the welfare of the convict or the interest of the State, other 
 
LABOR'S STAND ON PUBLIC ISSUES m 
 
 than to add to his swollen profits from the misfortunes of the 
 criminal. Consequently, no reformation results. The prisoners 
 are not deceived. They know they are robbed. They become 
 hardened and learn to hate society for the crime society permits 
 to be practiced upon them under the name of — law. 
 
 "The contract system furnishes revenue to the State," say the 
 prison labor contractors and their apologists. Your attention is 
 called to what Mr. Scates confessed at the last hearings before 
 the House Committee on Labor. Said he: 
 
 "I speak by the book. I had seven years' experience in the Maryland 
 Penitentiary on the shoe contract. Maryland is one of the few con- 
 tract States which nets a profit from its prisoners. ... I know the 
 State made about $40,000 one year. ... At that time the contractor 
 divided with his partners. One got $5,000, another $10,000, another 
 $15,000, and he took $65,000 as his own profit from the Maryland Peni- 
 tentiary." 
 
 The State got $40,000 and the contractors $95,000. The con- 
 tractors got over 70 per cent, of the total, nearly two and one- 
 half times as much as the State obtained from the labor of its 
 convicts. 
 
 Mr. Floyd, a member of the committee, testified that in his 
 State (Arkansas) the contractors pay the State 50 cents per 
 prisoner per day and then hire them out to the railroads and on 
 the public works of the State for $1.75 per day. Could any 
 scheme be more venal or more stupid? 
 
 The suggestion that men are taught trades in prison under the 
 contract system is ridiculous. They learn how to make shirts 
 and overalls, which is women's employment. They make hollow- 
 ware, which is now a prison monopoly. They make chairs, and 
 by so doing have driven fair employers and honest wage-workers 
 in that industry out of business. "Your prisons," recently said 
 an eminent English penologist, who, visiting the United States 
 in connection with the International Prison Congress, had con- 
 cluded a tour of investigation, "are not reformatories. They are 
 factories." 
 
 This transparent fraud must be abolished. Convicts must be 
 employed by the State direct on its own account and not on 
 account of the contractor. The state may derive economic, but 
 it must secure social advantage from the labor of the convict. 
 The first consideration must be the welfare of, and the influence 
 upon, the prisoners during incarceration and after their release; 
 
112 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 the second, consideration of the free, honest citizen workman, 
 and third, the interest of the State as a financial and political 
 entity. 
 
 Prisoners should be employed at useful and practical produc- 
 tive toil. The labor of the States' unfortunates and derelicts 
 should never be exploited for profit and certainly never for the 
 private profit of contractors. Let our States employ their pris- 
 oners in the production of the necessaries of life, for the mainte- 
 nance of themselves and the inmates of the other State eleemosy- 
 nary institutions, or else road building. 
 
 The police power of a State undoubtedly extends without ques- 
 tion to all laws regulating the health, the morals, and the general 
 peace, comfort, and safety of the community, and is broadly 
 construed to include all laws that promote the general welfare. 
 In no essential can the general welfare of the State be better 
 protected than for the Congress to assure each State of its right 
 of home rule within the confines of the State, so that no State 
 should become without its will the dumping ground for goods 
 made by convicts of other States. The enactment of H. R. 
 12000, now before Congress, would give the legislatures of the 
 States the right and power to protect their own citizens from the 
 unfair competition of the contract convict labor of those States 
 which care more for the profits of their prison labor contractors 
 than for their prisoners, and whose only success is the dumping 
 of the products of that labor on other States. Such a law would 
 * destroy the arrogant boastfulness of some prison officials, who 
 declare that they can sell their goods against the will and desire 
 of the people of the State in which they dump their unfair 
 products. — Front Annual Report to A. F. of L. Convention, St. 
 Louis, Mo., November, igio. 
 
 In the April and July, 19 lo, issues of the American Federw- 
 tionist we stated our difference with the findings of Mr. Stowe 
 in the Outlook relative to contract convict labor and its results 
 in the Maryland Penitentiary at Baltimore and in the Western 
 Penitentiary of Pennsylvemia. We were obliged, to our regret, 
 to protest energetically against some of Mr. Stowe's statements. 
 Later, we were constrained to return to the subject, and, moved 
 by our feelings regarding it, handled it without gloves. The 
 trustees of the Maryland Penitentiary, coming to the rescue of 
 
LABOR'S STAND ON PUBLIC ISSUES 113 
 
 its warden, denied the truth of certain of the facts we had pub- 
 lished regarding him. In this up-hill fight to get at the truth of 
 the matter, we admit we were deeply vexed, for, if investigators 
 can not agree upon what are the conditions to be dealt with, 
 what move in any direction can be expected of the public? But 
 now, a distinct advance in reaching a clear view of the hereto- 
 fore disputed facts is made through the declaration by Mr. Stowe 
 that he was deceived. Here is his letter: 
 
 My Dear Mr. Gompers: 
 
 In view of our debate on this subject, I am sending you the enclosed 
 copy of my confession of error. 
 
 I find on further knowledge of the subject that you were entirely 
 right as to the pernicious effects of prison contract labor in the Mary- 
 land Penitentiary, as well as everywhere else. I understand there is 
 an effort now being made to abolish the system in Maryland which I 
 devoutly hope may be successful. I have requested the Baltimore Sun 
 to reprint this letter so that I may make all amends possible for circu- 
 lating the erroneous statements which I then believed to be true. 
 
 Respectfully yours, 
 
 Lyman Beecher Stowe. 
 
 53 Washington Square, New York, Jan. 29, 1912. 
 
 We at once sent to Mr. Stowe the following reply: 
 
 Washington, January 31, igiz. 
 Mr. Lyman Beecher Stowe, 
 S3 Washington Square, 
 New York City. 
 My Dear Mr. Stowe : 
 
 It is with much pleasure that I read your letter of January 29 and 
 your straightforward, honest acknowledgment of your former erro- 
 neous judgment regarding the system and the effect of the contract 
 convict labor system as it obtains in Maryland Penitentiary and as 
 regards the system itself. It is extremely gratifying that we shall all 
 now have your cooperation in the effort to abolish the iniquity of the 
 convict labor contract system and the inauguration of the system of 
 employing convicts in the production of such things as are necessary 
 in the prisons, reformatories, and eleemosynary institutions of the 
 State. I shall be glad to publish your letter in the next issue of the 
 American, Federationist. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 Samuel Gompers, 
 President, American Federation of Labor. 
 
 — American Federationist, March, igi2. 
 
 Prison reform has not been a mere theory with the workers, 
 but it has been a part of the problems of food, clothing, and 
 house rent. What organized labor has been fighting in prisons 
 is the contract prison labor system. Perhaps you know that 
 
114 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 under that system the labor power of imprisoned people is sold 
 to some manufacturer who pays the State less than the value of 
 the labor and in addition has the advantage of free factory rent, 
 free supervision of work, and a steady supply of workers. Under 
 the lease system the convicts become the property or slaves of 
 the manufacturer. The convicts receive no wages and are usually 
 forced to toil long hours and at an inhuman speed secured by 
 speeding-up devices. 
 
 There are terrible stories told of prison conditions under the 
 contract and lease systems of unspeakable brutality in forcing 
 prisoners to work. Such conditions kill the manhood and the 
 self-respect of those placed there for reformative purposes. They 
 harden hearts and consciences. They make social outlaws. You, 
 the editor of Harper's Weekly, do you know how it feels to know 
 that your labor power has been sold to some grinding task- 
 master, who wishes to wring from you that which will add to 
 his profits with never a thought of what happens to your body or 
 soul? Do you, safe in your editorial haven, know how it feels 
 to strain nerves and muscles in physical toU until your very bones 
 are weary, your mind a blank, and your heart a dull, grinding 
 ache of misery? Do you know how it feels to be looked upon 
 as a thing, to be bought and sold, to be used at the will of the 
 owner? Do you know that sense of unfreedom that leaves an 
 indelible scar on the soul of man that makes it impossible for 
 him ever to forgive society for heartlessly, greedily killing the 
 best that is in him in order to give profits to some other man? 
 
 If you know these things, in the name of humanity how can 
 you, how dare you, uphold the contract prison labor system? 
 Can you not see that men are infinitely more precious than mere 
 profits? Can not the degradation of human life persuade you 
 that profits reeking with dead hopes and mangled humanity are 
 of no avail to civilization? 
 
 Contracts have been made which provided for the production 
 of 450 dozen shirts a day, at 30 cents a dozen, or for labor at 
 SS cents a day. These are illustrative of innumerable other con- 
 tracts. With such prices for convict labor, manufacturers who 
 employed free labor were hopelessly unable to compete. As a 
 consequence, free workers were thrown out of emplo3mient. 
 They and their families have suffered hunger and all manner of 
 privation because of the contract labor system. Free competition 
 
LABOR'S STAND ON PUBLIC ISSUES 115 
 
 of convict-made articles with the products of free labor does not 
 result in increasing the number of commodities furnished to the 
 community, because, protected and favored by special conditions 
 and privileges, it has forced fair firms out of fields of production. 
 
 We workers have been very close to the problem of earning our 
 daily bread in the sweat of our brows, and we have found the 
 contract prison labor system a menace to free labor and to con- 
 victs. Accordingly, we have used every power at our disposal 
 to have this system abolished. . . . 
 
 Nor has the prison policy of the trade unions stopped with 
 opposition to the contract prison labor system. We have advo- 
 cated that prisons and reformatories should be real reformatory 
 institutions — institutions to foster the sacred human individ- 
 uality, to develop the best instincts that are in those shut off 
 from ordinary intercourse with fellow-men, and to give them 
 some kind of wholesome employment that would enable them to 
 work into some better self. We have maintained that those in 
 prison should work and should be paid for that work, that they 
 should be given every freedom compatible with the purpose for 
 which they are made to live apart, and meanwhile should be 
 safeguarded from exploitation. In the official journal of the 
 American Federation of Labor for February, 19 13, was published 
 an address by Governor Oswald West of Oregon, describing his 
 methods for providing such work for prisoners as would awaken 
 their social instincts. 
 
 It is most obviously untrue to state that organized labor desires 
 that "many thousands of able-bodied men ought to be supported 
 in prison in idleness, instead of laboring to increase the number 
 of commodities furnished to the community." We wish the men 
 under prison sentence to be employed in such a way that they 
 shall be benefited and not harmed, and so that the products of 
 their labor can not constitute a menace to free labor. — From, 
 open letter to Norman Hapgood, Editor of Harper's Weekly, 
 March 14, 1914. 
 
 HEALTH AND SANITATION 
 
 The San Francisco convention of the American Federation of 
 Labor adopted the following: 
 "Whereas the ravages of tuberculosis have made frightful 
 
ii6 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 progress in this country, and especially among the working class; 
 be it 
 
 "Resolved, By this twenty-fourth annual convention of the 
 American Federation of Labor, that the necessary ways, means, 
 and steps be at once instituted to check tuberculosis, and, if 
 possible, entirely eradicate the same." 
 
 Acting upon this declaration, immediate efforts were made to 
 secure every possible information upon the subject. I corre- 
 sponded with expert medical practitioners and representatives 
 of associations instituted to combat and eradicate this awful 
 plague, for the purpose of obtaining the fullest information upon 
 this subject. I also made personal visits to some sanitariums 
 with a view of examining into the practicability of such institu- 
 tions and the results achieved or achievable by them. It is a 
 source of gratification to be enabled to say that more than a 
 cordial cooperation and a desire to still further cooperation and 
 assistance were manifested by all with whom correspondence and 
 conference have been had. 
 
 Arrangements were made by which two representatives of the 
 Committee on the Prevention of Tuberculosis of the Charity 
 Organization Society of New York City appeared before the 
 Executive Council members at their Scranton meeting, and the 
 entire subject-matter was fully discussed. An invitation was 
 extended to that association to have a delegation of three appear 
 before and address this convention upon the subject. If prac- 
 ticable or deemed advisable the entire subject-matter should be 
 referred to a special or one of the regular committees of the con- 
 vention, for the purpose of further consideration and for the 
 formulation of a report to be submitted to you for proper dis- 
 position. It is recommended that you at once designate a time 
 for this delegation to address you, which, by agreement, will 
 occupy one hour. 
 
 Experiments are being made in various parts of the country to 
 test at once whether tuberculosis (consumption) can be success- 
 fully fought by open air treatment, whether it can be done with 
 comparatively small outlay, and whether this aid can be adminis- 
 tered without subjecting the recipient to the humiliation of feel- 
 ing that he is a pauper. The humane, economical and ethical 
 reasons for attempting to solve these questions are surely potent 
 enough to call forth the greatest efforts. 
 
LABOR'S STAND ON PUBLIC ISSUES 117 
 
 In the first place, the white plague, enervating as it does so 
 large a number, and dooming hundreds of thousands to an early 
 grave, must arouse us and our fellows to action to combat its 
 spread, and to endeavor to prevent its infection. This subject to 
 us is of the utmost importance; this terrible disease though 
 colossal in its proportions, which has destroyed and is destroying 
 the lives of thousands upon thousands of our fellow workmen, 
 comes like the thief in the night, steals away our health and 
 vitality, rendering us an easy and early prey to its poison touch. 
 Particularly is this true of our wage-earners who, under modern 
 industrial conditions, often work long hours in unsanitary work- 
 shops and live in unsanitary homes, and because of their meagre 
 earnings, can not secure for themselves and those dependent upon 
 them the requisite nourishing foods so necessary as a barrier 
 against this awful disease. No wonder that overworked men and 
 women, their children and themselves underfed, fall an easy prey 
 to this terrible plague. 
 
 The most expert specialists who have considered this subject 
 have declared that the main causes for the propagation of con- 
 sumption and the difficulty of its cure lie in the "overcrowding 
 of the working classes"; that action of all associated effort, 
 including legislation, should make for the enforcement of a larger 
 minimum per capita air space in workshops, living rooms, schools 
 and halls, and that these would lay the ground-work for better 
 sanitation, ventilation, and sunlight for the prevention of 
 tuberculosis. 
 
 We who may be free from that dread disease, and who have 
 not had the awful experience of having some one near and dear 
 to us torn from our sides by the ravages of tuberculosis, may 
 possibly feel an indifference or a secondary interest in this sub- 
 ject; but if we are mindful at all of our own health and the 
 lives or those of our fellows we must have a clear conception of 
 our duty and take every action within our power to effect its 
 eradication; otherwise, lest by our indifference or neglect, it 
 prove a scourge devastating in character and scope. 
 
 It has been clearly proven that sanitariums located at great 
 distances from the homes of sufferers are impractical, inadequate, 
 and unsatisfactory. Open air or tent life in locations near to 
 where sufferers live has been found to be adequate, economic, 
 and advantageous. 
 
ii8 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 It is gratifying to find expert testimony justifjdng the labor 
 movement in its demands for a shorter workday and leisure 
 (relaxation from labor) ; higher wages to supply man's wants for 
 better and more nourishing food; better sanitation of factory 
 and workshop, and more air space in which to work and live. 
 — From Annual Report to A. F. of L. Convention, Pittsburgh, 
 Pa., November, J905. 
 
 Of late years, oiu- attitude toward physical well-being has be- 
 come saner and more constructive. We have begun to appre- 
 ciate the fact that our problem is to maintain health rather than 
 to cure disease, to prevent physical defects rather than remedy 
 those that have already happened. We have been making an 
 attack upon this problem of physical health through our public 
 school system and through demands for industrial hygiene and 
 sanitation, but as yet our efforts are only beginnings. We are 
 working toward an ideal that will give every individual informa- 
 tion that will enable him to live intelligently and in accord with 
 the rules of health. 
 
 In the past, we have not been forced by either environment or 
 by conditions to think out a plan for physical training. We have 
 trusted much to the rugged physiques, muscles and nerves trained 
 and under control and ability to coordinate powers quickly to 
 meet emergencies which belong to the outdoor life of a pioneer 
 people. Life on the frontier developed physical strength and 
 virile manhood. Mental and physical weakness could not sur- 
 vive in the dangers of that life. But the frontier has vanished. 
 The majority of our citizens no longer live in the open and they 
 show in their physical development the effect of the restricted 
 life of the city. They have not the physical strength or endur- 
 ance that would fit them, without further preparation, to be 
 called into service in a citizens' army. 
 
 Since opportunities for physical training are not freely and 
 readily available to all, some definite national policy must be 
 devised for physical training and physical preparedness of all 
 citizens. Such a training is properly a part of educational work 
 and, therefore, should be under the control and direction of 
 public agencies, and can be readily given through our public 
 school system and other auxiliary agencies. 
 
 Physical development and good health have a very vital mean- 
 
LABOR'S STAND ON PUBLIC ISSUES 119 
 
 ing in the life and the working ability of each individual as well 
 as of the whole nation. They are just as necessary to the best 
 industrial development of the country as they are to prepared- 
 ness for defense. These are the basis for all development. But 
 we must be on guard that physical training shall not be subordi- 
 nated to the interests of any one special phase of national life. 
 It must be in furtherance of a broad general plan of usefulness. 
 Physical training that is narrowly specialized or dominated by 
 any isolated ideal, whether it be militarism or anything else, is 
 subversive to the liroadest and largest development of the nation 
 and its people. — American Federationist, March, 1916. 
 
 Is it wise to open up opportunities for government agents to 
 interfere lawfully with the privacy of the lives of wage-earners? 
 
 Would such authority be tolerated by employers, by profes- 
 sional men or those directing our financial, industrial and com- 
 mercial institutions? 
 
 Is it not a better way to undertake the problem of assuring 
 to workers health by providing them with the information and 
 the education that will enable them to take intelligent care of 
 themselves and assuring to them such conditions of work and 
 standards of wages as will enable them to give their information 
 reality in directing and managing their own lives? 
 
 Should the individual worker not be able to accomplish all 
 desirable results, is it not better for him to augment his own 
 efforts by voluntary associate effort, cooperating with his 
 friends and fellow-workers? 
 
 Trade organizations are not unmindful of the health problem; 
 in fact, they have done more to secure conditions of sanitation 
 in places of work and to enable workers to have decent healthful 
 homes than any other agency. As the information of the workers 
 increases, they give more thought to problems of health and 
 sanitation. . . . 
 
 The workers of America adhere to voluntary institutions in 
 preference to compulsory systems which are held to be not only 
 impractical but a menace to their rights, welfare and liberty. 
 Health insurance legislation affects wage-earners directly. Com- 
 pulsory institutions will make changes not only in relations of 
 work but in their private lives, particularly a compulsory system 
 affecting health, for good health is not concerned merely with 
 
120 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 time and conditions under which work is performed. It is af- 
 fected by home conditions, social relations and all of those things 
 that go to make up the happiness or the desolation of life. 
 
 To delegate to the government or to employers the right and 
 the power to make compulsory visitations under the guise of 
 health conditions of the workers is to permit those agencies to 
 have a right to interfere in the most private matters of life. It 
 is, indeed, a very grave issue for workers. They are justified in 
 demanding that every other voluntary method be given the 
 fullest opportunity before compulsory methods are even con- 
 sidered, much less adopted. — American Federationist, April, igi6. 
 
 There ought to be assured to every boy and girl adequate 
 opportunity for physical and mental development. This is the 
 cornerstone of national preparedness whether for peace or war. 
 
 Undernourished men and women, with bodies poisoned by 
 fatigue, living in conditions deadening to incentive, are a terrible 
 handicap to a nation preparing for a supreme effort requiring 
 endurance and resourcefulness. The emergencies of war have 
 emphasized what was overlooked in times of peace. 
 
 English papers publish evidences of the awful legacy of her 
 industrial exploitation. Recruits from factories, shops, habitu- 
 ated to grinding tasks and under conditions physically dele- 
 terious, did not have the physique and the endurance necessary 
 to marching or field work. It is stated that battalions of Lan- 
 cashire recruits had to be kept in the open air and fed properly 
 before ready for service. After some months of open air exer- 
 cise and adequate food, the uniforms issued to these recruits 
 upon enlistment were exchanged for larger sizes. 
 
 Similar experiences have been recorded for Porto Rico, where 
 the majority are undernourished. Those who joined the United 
 States Army and were given regular exercise, clean living quar- 
 ters with regular, nourishing meaJs, increased in height on an 
 average of one and a half inches and proportionately in chest and 
 muscular expansion. 
 
 Is it not an indictment of civilization and national ideals that 
 adequate opportunity for physical development is generally to 
 be found only in the military? We profess to hold in high 
 esteem the arts of peace, and yet we permit those necessary to 
 those arts to be dwarfed and warped in minds and bodies. . . . 
 
LABOR'S STAND ON PUBLIC ISSUES 121 
 
 Through the public schools each boy and girl should receive 
 physical training and should be taught physiology and the funda- 
 mentals necessary for good health. For students and for all, 
 there should be provided by school and local government 
 authorities opportunities for outdoor exercises and life so that 
 every girl and boy, man and woman, could take care of himself 
 or herself in the open. 
 
 Until we are able to keep children in school longer than is now 
 compulsory and to enforce school attendance more strictly, 
 physical training through schools alone will be inadequate. It 
 devolves upon the local government to afford ample opportunities 
 for all and to see to it that all have time to avail themselves of 
 existing agencies and faciUties. — American Federationist, Janu- 
 ary, igiy. 
 
 CONSERVATION OF RESOURCES 
 
 For the present, the reclamation of public lands in arid regions, 
 reforestization, development of waterways, the preservation of 
 mineral beds, and the extension of natural reservations, form the 
 groundwork of one of the most important of all the constructive 
 features of the national life. It is a matter of profound interest 
 and gratification to the American people that the convention of 
 governors of States, the forestry, irrigation, and waterway engi- 
 neering experts and others who have given the public weal their 
 study was called together by the Chief Executive of the nation. 
 
 These eminent citizens are gathered in obedience to a call, 
 the inspiration of which strike the key-note of the nation's future 
 policy in the field of civic betterment. It is the extension of the 
 new school of political economy. It is in the nature of the great 
 stewardship that underlies the brotherhood of man. No more 
 noble incentive to that end can be imagined than is to be found 
 in the impulse that prompts wise and far-seeing statesmanship 
 to build and preserve for the future. Happily, too, this conven- 
 tion will act as a check on the marauding instinct so flagrantly 
 exercised in the exploitation of the nation's natural resources by 
 men whose actions have hitherto been sanctioned by law. In 
 respect of waste a,nd extravagance in the economic sense, these 
 marauders have placed the American Republic in a situation 
 unparalleled in economic conservation among the nations. In 
 
122 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 one item alone, that of fuel, it is figured out by one of the experts 
 attendant upon this convention that 200,000,000 tons of coal are 
 wasted every year in the mining processes of the nation, which 
 is equal to $200,000,000, every ton of coal being worth a dollar 
 at the mines. Add to this the colossal waste in the exploitation 
 of timber lands, water power, and the like, and we have some 
 faint conception of ihe load our economic energies are 
 carrying. . . . 
 
 Grand indeed is the vista that looms up in the development 
 of ideas and measures here considered. It will require a genera- 
 tion to work out measures here adopted. We are going beneath 
 the harrow that has thus far scratched over our vast domain. 
 Here we have a continent comprising nearly a score of millions 
 of square miles of territory. The question Destiny is asking us 
 is: "What are you going to do with it? How are you going to 
 hand it down to your children and your children's children? 
 Shall that deliverance be in the spirit of reversion to degenerate 
 t5^es now fostered and proclaimed in a vulgar milJipnairism with 
 alliances amongst the moral and intellectual perverts of foreign 
 aristocracy, or shall it be in the spirit of that rugged, forceful 
 and intelligent manhood and womanhood that breeds and fosters 
 the aristocracy of heart and mind as seen in the outworkings of 
 American idealism as well as economic energy?" . . . 
 
 When there shall come to our people a better understanding, 
 of the husbanding of our natural resources, the readjustment of 
 economic conditions will not leave out of the equation the men 
 and women of labor who are so essential to our industrial, com- 
 mercial, political and social welfare; the men and -women, who 
 perform so great a service to society. — American Federationist, 
 July, igo8. 
 
POLITICAL POLICY OF ORGANIZED 
 LABOR 
 
 I am keenly alive to the fact, and it is patent to all observers, 
 that there are many ills from which the working people of our 
 country suffer. Laws that are passed frequently are of a dis- 
 criminating character against those who possess nothing but their 
 power to labor. It seems to me that the trades unions, apart 
 from their work of attending to the matters of wages, hours of 
 labor, and unjust conditions of that labor, should extend their 
 thoughts and actions more largely into the sphere and affairs of 
 government. We have a right to demand legislation in the 
 interest of the wage-workers, who form so large a majority and 
 are certainly no unimportant factor to the well-being of our 
 country. The platitudes of our statesmen are hardly sufficient 
 to lull us into a fancied happiness when we feel the real griev- 
 ances we bear, and are conscious of the wrongs heaped upon us. 
 — From Annual Report to A. F. of L. Convention, Baltimore, 
 Md.j December, 1887. 
 
 Many delegates may feel the desirability of forming a third, 
 or what is known as an independent, political party; but in view 
 of recent experience I can only say that such action, for the 
 present at least, would be in the extreme unwise. If we are 
 zealous and earnest and desire the enforcement of the eight-hour 
 workday, it will require all we can possibly do to muster our 
 efforts and concentrate our power upon its attainment. The 
 experiences of the past have taught that we may and can obtain 
 great prkctical results, both political as well as economical, by 
 creating a healthy pubUc opinion if we devote ourselves ener- 
 getically to our organization, the development and maintenance 
 of our trade imions. — From Annual Report to A. F. of L. Con- 
 vention, St. Louis, Mo., December, 1888. 
 
 123 
 
124 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 Our affiliated unions are guaranteed autonomy and indepen- 
 dence. If they deem independent political action advisable, or 
 if they desire to take political action by which to pledge candi- 
 dates for public offices, to stand by the advocates of labor meas- 
 ures and reward them, or to punish at the polls those who are 
 inimical to their interests, these are matters entirely relegated to 
 each organization, without dictation or hindrance. 
 
 What the convention declared was, that a political party, as a 
 party, known by any name, has no right to representation in the 
 trade union councils. That position is in line with the policy 
 of the labor movement. It is recognized the world over in the 
 trade union movement. It is recognized by a large majority of 
 the political party which forced this question to an issue, and 
 advocated by only a very few, who desire to make the trade 
 unions the tail to their political kite. 
 
 At the last convention I took the ground that the trade unions 
 were broad enough and liberal enough to admit of all shades of 
 thought upon the economic, political and social questions. I 
 reiterate that statement, and accentuate it with whatever force 
 or ability may be at my command, and repeat, that good stand- 
 ing membership in a trade union is the first qualification to a 
 voice in the councils of the trade union movement. — From Annual 
 Report to A. F. of L. Convention, Birmingham, Ala., December 
 14-19, 1891. 
 
 At the last convention a program was submitted to our af- 
 filiated organizations for discussion, to be reported upon at this 
 convention. In connection with this matter it is but proper to 
 say that the submission of this program to o^ur organizations 
 was largely accepted by the membership as an indorsement of it 
 by the Federation. 
 
 A number of the demands contained in that program have 
 been promulgated in almost every trade union throughout the 
 world, but deftly dove-tailed and almost hidden there is one 
 declaration which is not only controversial, but decidedly theo- 
 retical, and which even if founded upon economic truth, is not 
 demonstrable, and so remote as to place ourselves and our move- 
 ment in an unenviable light before our fellow-workers. If our 
 organization is committed to it, it will unquestionably prevent 
 
THE POLITICAL POLICY OF ORGANIZED LABOR 125 
 
 many sterling national trade unions from joining our ranks to do 
 battle with us to attain first things first. 
 
 It is ridiculous to imagine that the wage-workers can be slaves 
 in employment and yet achieve control at the polls. There 
 never yet existed co-incident with each other autocracy in the 
 shop and democracy in political life. In truth, we have not yet 
 achieved the initial step to the control of public affairs by even 
 a formal recognition of our unions. Nor does the preamble to 
 the program outline the condition of the labor movement of 
 Great Britain accurately. In that country the organized wage- 
 workers avail themselves of every legal and practical means to 
 obtain the legislation they demand. They endeavor to defeat 
 those who oppose and elect those who support, legislation in the 
 interest of labor, and whenever opportunity affords elect a bona 
 fide union man to Parliament and other public offices. The Par- 
 liamentary Committee of the British Trades Union Congress is 
 a labor committee to lobby for labor legislation. This course the 
 organized workers of America may with advantage follow, since 
 it is based upon experience and fraught with good results. 
 
 He would indeed be shortsighted who would fail to advocate 
 independent voting and political action by union workmen. We 
 should endeavor to do all that we possibly can to wean our 
 fellow-workers from their affiliation with the dominant political 
 parties, as one of the first steps necessary to insure that wage- 
 workers vote in favor of wage-workers' interests, wage-workers' 
 questions, and for union wage-workers as representatives. 
 
 During the past year the trade unions in many localities 
 plunged into the political arena by nominating their candidates 
 for public office, and sad as it may be to record, it is nevertheless 
 true, that in each one of these localities politically they were 
 defeated and the trade union movement more or less divided and 
 disrupted. 
 
 What the results would be if such a movement were inaugu- 
 rated under the auspices of the American Federation of Labor, 
 involving it and all our affiliated organizations, is too portentous 
 for contemplation. I need only refer you to the fact that the 
 National Labor Union, the predecessor of the American Federa- 
 tion of Labor, entered the so-called independent political arena 
 in 187? and nominated its candidate for the presidency of the 
 United States. It is equally true that the National Labor Union 
 
126 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 never held a convention after that event. The disorganized 
 condition of labor, with its tales of misery, deprivation and de- 
 moralization, from that year until the reorganization of the 
 workers about 1880, must be too vivid in the minds of those who 
 were trade unionists then and are trade unionists now to need 
 recounting by me. 
 
 In view of our own experience, as well as the experience of 
 our British fellow unionists, I submit to you whether it would 
 be wise to steer our ship of labor safe from that channel whose 
 waters are strewn with shattered hopes and unions destroyed. 
 
 Before we can hope as a general organization to take the field 
 by nominating candidates for office, the workers must be more 
 thoroughly organized and better results achieved by experiments 
 locally. A political labor movement cannot and will not succeed 
 upon the ruins of the trade unions. — From Annual Report to A. 
 F. of L. Convention, Denver, December, 18Q4. 
 
 Beyond doubt few, if any, will contend that the workers should 
 refuse to avail themselves of their political rights or fail to 
 endeavor to secure such demands which they make by the exer- 
 cise of their political power. The fact is, however, that our move- 
 ment distinctly draws the line between political action in the 
 interest of labor and party political action. This was more par- 
 ticularly emphasized at the last convention when it was declju-ed 
 as the settled poUcy of the American trade-union movement that 
 party political action of whatsoever kind shall have no place in 
 the convention of the American Federation of Labor. . . . 
 
 There is, too, an entirely erroneous impression regarding trade- 
 union activity and its influences. It is often imagined and as- 
 serted that political action exists exclusively at the ballot box. 
 Nothing can be further from the fact than this. There is not 
 an action which the unions can take, whether it be an increase 
 of wages, an hour more leisure secured for the toilers, a factory 
 rule modified, or even any other condition changed and improved 
 without it being at the same time a political act, having its 
 political effect and its political influence. 
 
 In the same degree that the workers master a greater influence 
 in the conditions and regulations under which they are employed 
 will their associated voices be heard and heeded in the halls of 
 legislation; their will will be the will of the people, the will of 
 
THE POLITICAL POLICY OF ORGANIZED LABOR 127 
 
 the nation. Of the importance of organization, better organiza- 
 tion, more thorough organization, so that our will may be en- 
 forced in all lines of labor's interests, let us never lose sight. 
 — From Annual Report to A. F. of L. Convention, Cincinnati, 
 Ohio, December, i8p6. 
 
 Consider this question in a broader view. Do you know what 
 has been done with the system of convict labor in the state of 
 New York and in Pennsylvania, and what was done within the 
 last few months in Ohio to solve that problem, and find work 
 for the prisoner, yet not have his labor come in competition with 
 the labor of free men? Was that secured without political 
 action? 
 
 Don't you remember that there was a question submitted to 
 the people of the State of New York by referendum as to aboli- 
 tion of the convict-labor system, or the state-account system, that 
 it should not come in competition with free labor, and it weis 
 adopted by an overwhelming vote of the people? Who inaugu- 
 rated that but the trade unionists of the State of New York? 
 Was that political action? 
 
 Who secured the constitutional convention which was held 
 here in Albany, a little more than ten years ago, which adopted 
 that principle as a constitutional provision? Who but the repre- 
 sentatives of trade unions? Was that a political action, or not? 
 
 The eight-hour law was put upon the statute books of the 
 United States, first by the proclamation of President Grant, in 
 1869. Who secured that but the representatives of the trade 
 unions? I was 14 years of age at that time. Was that accom- 
 plished without political action? 
 
 Under the impulse given by the A. F. of L.'s officers, a new 
 feature was interposed in this question of the eight-hour law, so 
 that it should extend to the employees of contractors and sub- 
 contractors. In the State of New York, in California, and in 
 some other states that I do not now recall, that feature was 
 enacted. In the State of New York, the court of appeals declared 
 it unconstitutional but this will be overcome by this legis- 
 lature. . . . 
 
 .There are some men who can never understand political action 
 unless there is a party. As a matter of fact, there is no worse 
 party-ridden people in the whole world than are the people of 
 
128 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 the United States. It is nothing but party, party, your party and 
 my party. It is the abomination of American politics. Men 
 vote for their party regardless of what that party stands 
 for. . . . 
 
 The trade unionists of New York State made a fight for the 
 bakers' lo-hour law. It was declared unconstitutional, and I 
 think that no law has been declared null and void with less 
 justification than that one — I so expressed myself publicly at the 
 time — but it was so declared. But the bakers secured the lo- 
 hour workday. 
 
 If labor is to wait until the millennium, if we are going to 
 wait until labor elects a majority of the legislature and a gover- 
 nor and then a President of the United States, who shall appoint 
 the justices of the Supreme Court. I am afraid we are going to 
 wait a long time! Trade unionists don't propose to wait so 
 long to secure material improvement in their conditions. They 
 want and will have them now and in the near future. 
 
 Trade unionists, by their political action, abolished slavery in 
 Hawaii. It may be news to some of you, but it is true, and no 
 one will deny it if you ask those who know. Hawaii would have 
 been annexed to the United States with slavery existing there, if 
 it had not been for the representatives of the A. F. of L., who 
 insisted upon an amendment to the then pending bill for annexa- 
 tion, providing for abolition of slavery in Hawaii, and it was 
 accomplished. 
 
 When Porto Rico was annexed to the United States the old 
 Spanish law prevailed, that any effort of two or more men to 
 secure an increase of wages was a conspiracy to raise the price 
 of labor. Through the action of the American trade unionists 
 we secured its change. 
 
 We have secured the lien laws, which guarantee a man his 
 wages when he has worked. 
 
 The breaker boys, who work in the mines of Pennsylvania, 
 were liberated through the miners' strike, and the public con- 
 science so shocked that one of the best child labor laws we have 
 was passed in Pennsylvania. Was that political action, or not? 
 
 The laws covering mining, safety of appliances, pumps, but- 
 tressing the mines, the general safety of life and limb of the 
 miners, the car-coupling law that protected the railroad man 
 from being smashed between the cars that he is trying to couple; 
 
THE POLITICAL POLICY OF ORGANIZED LABOR 129 
 
 who secured that but labor, the trade unionists? Who secured 
 the safety appliances in the mines, in factories and workshops? 
 Who secured the blowers that are now used to carry off the dust 
 from the polisher and the buffer in the machine shops? What 
 are these, all of them? Do you remember our fight here years 
 ago for the abolition of the tenement house work systems? . . . 
 
 In 1 88 1, at the first convention of the A. F. of L., the first 
 general demand was made for the limitation and final exclusion 
 of Chinese immigration from our country. 
 
 Over thirty years ago the trade unionists secured the estab- 
 lishment of the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Massachusetts. It 
 was the first bureau of the kind ever established in the world. 
 At the request of the A. F. of L. the Department of Labor Sta- 
 tistics was established, and since then bureaus of labor statis- 
 tics in the several states. 
 
 It was at the demand of our Federation that the trade unionists 
 in the several states took up the demand to secure inspectors of 
 factories, shops, mills, mines and tenements. 
 
 It was upon the demand of organized labor that the child labor 
 laws have been placed upon the statute books of our several 
 states. 
 
 It is our movement that is yet making the fight, assisted by 
 others, while some of those who have lately with gingerly fingers 
 taken up this work deny that labor is serious and in earnest for 
 the final and absolute abolition of child labor. 
 
 It was our Federation that secured to the seaman, for the first 
 time in history, the right of ownership in himself; the right to 
 quit his work when his vessel was in safe harbor. It is true that 
 this right exists only for the seamen who are engaged in the 
 American coastwise and in the trade of nearby foreign countries, 
 but it is nevertheless true that the sailors' first dawn of freedom, 
 of ownership in himself, was secured by the trade unionists of 
 our country. 
 
 Who created on our shores the largest amount of agitation for 
 Cuba Libre? You who work among Cubans in Spanish shops in 
 this city and in Chicago and in San Francisco and in St. Louis, 
 know to whom I refer; and isn't it true that the representatives 
 of our union were emphatic in their assistance in arousing the 
 conscience of the American people that there should be free 
 Cuba? It was a sympathetic strike, if anything ever was, that 
 
130 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 compelled the government of America to take action to see that 
 Cuba was freed. . . . 
 At Scranton the convention, in 1901, adopted the following: 
 
 "We assert it is the duty of all trade unions to publish in their 
 official journals, to discuss in their meetings, and the members to study 
 in their homes, all questions of public nature, having reference to in- 
 dustrial or political liberty, and to give special consideration to sub- 
 jects directly affecting them as a class, but we as vigorously submit 
 that it is not within the power of this organization to dictate to mem- 
 bers of our unions to which political party they shall belong or which 
 party's ticket they shall vote." . . . 
 
 Labor has never yet formed parties or undertaken to form 
 one but what the control has been wheedled out of their hands 
 by a lot of faddists, theorists or self-seekers, and thus perverted 
 from its true labor interest and working-class characteristics. 
 This is true the whole world over, wherever that attempt has been 
 made. — From address before Cigar Makers' Union No. 144, of 
 New York City, on the question, "Can Trade Unions Longer 
 Keep Out of Politics?" April 27, igo6. 
 
 Much interest has been aroused by reason of the presentation 
 of Labor's Bill of Grievances to President Roosevelt, Mr. Frye, 
 President pro tempore of the Senate, and Speaker Cannon. It 
 has created no little stir among congressmen and senators and 
 other politicians. It will be remembered that the Bill of Labor's 
 Grievances presented to those responsible for legislation or for 
 the failure of legislation contained the following dosing 
 paragraphs: 
 
 Labor brings these its grievances to your attention because you are 
 the representatives responsible for legislation and for failure of legis- 
 lation. 
 
 The toilers come to you as your fellow-citizens who, by reason of 
 their position in life, have not only with all other citizens an equal 
 interest in our country, but the further interest of being the burden- 
 bearers, the wage-earners of America. 
 
 As labor's representatives we ask you to redress these grievances, for 
 it is in your power so to do. 
 
 Labor now appeals to you, and we trust that it may not be in vain. 
 
 But if perchance you may not heed us, we shall appeal to the con- 
 science and the support of our fellow-citizens. . . . 
 
 Pray I when has it become wrong to request or to demand from 
 congressmen that they afford relief to those who feel burdened 
 or to ask for redress from wrongful legislation or unjust 
 conditions? 
 
THE POLITICAL POLICY OF ORGANIZED LABOR 131 
 
 How, under our form of government, with the sovereign right 
 of franchise in the hands of the working people alike with all 
 other people, is it either improper or unjustifiable for the toilers 
 to express their dissatisfaction with the course which congress- 
 men pursue, and to say that vmless satisfactory legislation is 
 enacted the workers will manifest their preference for another 
 citizen as their representative or senator, and thus encompass 
 the defeat of the men or parties which refuse to comply with the 
 requests or demands of labor? 
 
 Of course, to act as indicated conveys an implied threat. It is 
 a threat which is made, and will continue to be made, by those 
 who have interests to serve and principles to advance. 
 
 Protectionists threaten free-traders; gold - standard men 
 threatened free-silverites, and vice versa. Corporate interests 
 threaten (where they can not buy) congressmen whose predi- 
 lections are to afford the people relief from unjust conditions. 
 
 How, then, can it be wrong for the wage-earners and those who 
 sympathize with them to demand that congressmen shall lend a 
 more willing ear to the just demands of labor, and to undertake 
 to exercise their sovereign right of American citizenship in the 
 defeat of those who misrepresent them, and to elect others in 
 their places more friendly disposed? 
 
 As a matter of fact, the right of sovereign citizenship, the 
 ballot, is in its very essence not only a threat, but the means to 
 enforce the threat to defeat those who oppose, and elect those 
 who are favorably disposed to further the interests of the citizen. 
 
 Labor in this action is entirely within its lawful and moral 
 rights, and is entirely justified in the exercise of its political as 
 well as its economic power. — American Federationist, June, 1906. 
 
 It is not surprising that many good citizens heretofore only 
 had a vague notion of labor's demands and the sound logic upon 
 which they were based; but the launching of our campaign, aye, 
 even the denunciation by the hostile portion of the press, has 
 caused a great accession of public interest. 
 
 Discussion means that all sides of a question come in for a 
 hearing. The desire of the general public to know what our 
 campaign is about has given labor's representatives a greater 
 opportiuiity than ever before to present our claims and to show 
 that they are founded upon justice, a patriotic and humane de- 
 
132 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 sire to help all our people. The American desire to deal honestly 
 and fairly with propositions which merit such treatment, helps 
 our cause beyond measure. 
 
 It is surprising to many who have not hitherto studied the 
 subject to find that while we made a clear-cut and definite cam- 
 paign on certain issues, including, for instance, the eight-hour 
 and anti-injunction bills; these and all labor's demands seriously 
 concern every citizen, irrespective of whether he be a member of 
 organized labor or whether he is a wage-earner. 
 
 Truth is an eternal verity, and our cause needs only to be 
 understood in order to win the support of all sympathetic, pa- 
 triotic and right-principled men. 
 
 We gain by every discussion. We gain even by every hostile 
 attack which provokes comment and gives an opportunity to 
 show what is the truth in regard to our cause. The discussion of 
 the specific measures which labor advocates has led to a con- 
 sideration of the basic, economic propositions and philosophy 
 upon wl\,ich such demands are founded. Many so-called states- 
 men no less than the multitude of private citizens have found 
 that our campaign has forced a more careful study of problems 
 which heretofore have been passed over with conventional 
 phrases which cover ignorance of important subjects. 
 
 We repeat, a great educational work was begun many years 
 ago, anci has been continually carried on day after day as well 
 as in our recent campaign. It will continue until full justice has 
 been accorded to labor. — From Annual Report to A. F. of L. 
 Convention, Minneapolis, Minn., November, igo6. 
 
 Our conventions have frequently declared that our movement 
 has neither the right nor the desire to dictate how a member 
 shall- cast his vote. It has been my privilege and honor always 
 so to insist. I have not departed, and can not now, depart from 
 that true trade union course. At the Minneapolis convention the 
 following declaration was adopted: 
 
 "We must have with us in our economic movement men of all 
 parties as well as of all creeds, and the minority right of the humblest 
 man to vote where he pleases and to worship where his conscience 
 dictates must be sacredly guarded." 
 
 That solemn and binding declaration is the guarantee to every 
 member of our organized labor movement; and though it be true 
 
THE POLITICAL POLICY OF ORGANIZED LABOR 133 
 
 that now, as never before in the history of the labor movement 
 of our country have the people been, so practically unanimous in 
 their determination to make the contest for justice and right and 
 freedom as in the campaign which will have come to a close be- 
 fore I submit this to you, yet if there were but one man in all 
 our movement who chose fqr himself to vote and cast his lot 
 contrary to the practically unanimous determination of the great 
 rank and file, that is a right which our movement can not and 
 must not deny him. . . . 
 
 The Executive Council called a conference at Washington in 
 1906, where the historic "Bill of Grievances" was adopted, which 
 was presented to the President of the United States, to the pre- 
 siding officer of the Senate, and to the Speaker of the House. 
 Congress continued indifferent, aye, became still more hostile, 
 for it annulled part of the eight-hour law so far as it applied to 
 the construction of the Panama Canal, but our demonstration had 
 the effect of the President issuing an order for the enforcement of 
 the existing eight-hour law which, upon various occasions for 
 more than two years previous, I had vainly urged him to en- 
 force. . . . 
 
 Finding the majority in Congress indifferent and inimical to 
 our grievances, the campaign was undertaken to secure the elec- 
 tion of men true to labor, and the defeat of our most conspicu- 
 ous opponents. Several of those hostile to labor's interests were 
 defeated, the majority in Congress in 1906 was reduced fully 
 one-half and the majority of those of our opponents elected, 
 heavily cut down. 
 
 The campaign inaugurated by labor in 1906, being the first 
 conspicuous effort to punish labor's enemies at the polls, in- 
 creased- their anger and aggravated their antagonism. The 
 Speaker, who had "packed" committees not only against labor 
 but against any other real reform legislation, was brazenly re- 
 elected, and to accentuate his bitter and relentless determination 
 to block effective legislation, he so appointed his committees as 
 to make absolutely sure of the impossibility of having bills ob- 
 jectionable to him and the "interests" he represents from even 
 being reported for the consideration of Congress. 
 
 In following that vindictive policy, he punished the Repre- 
 sentative in Congress, Mr. Pearre, who had the courage to re- 
 introduce our bill to regulate the issuance of the injunction writ 
 
134 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 and to prevent its abuse. Speaker Cannon refused to reappoint 
 Mr. Pearre as a member of the Judiciary Committee, a com- 
 mittee upon which he had served ably and conspicuously in two 
 preceding Congresses.. 
 
 Injunctions continued to be issued in constantly more aggra- 
 vated form, until the injunction was issued by Justice Gould, 
 December i8, 1907, against the more than two millions members 
 of the organizations of the American Federation of Labor, as 
 well as against the Executive Council. Free speech and free 
 press were denied and then followed the Supreme Court decision 
 in the Danbury Hatters' case, classing our unions as trusts, 
 corporations, monopolies, conspiracies and combinations in illegal 
 restraint of trade, with all the liabilities of three-fold damages, 
 fines of $5,000, and imprisonment for a year. 
 
 When the events recorded, and others too numerous to men- 
 tion, transpired, they developed and culminated into an acute 
 state of feeling among the workers of the country. The right 
 of exercising the peaceful, normal, and natural activities of the 
 workers was outlawed, the very existence of our united efforts 
 imperilled, constitutional rights of free speech and free press 
 were invaded and denied, and the hostile frame of mind of Con- 
 gress clearly emphasized. 
 
 At this time came demands from our fellow-workers all over 
 the country in the form of resolutions and otherwise, all of them 
 urging that a definite course be pursued by our Federation rela- 
 tive to the new conditions which had arisen. 
 
 The adverse decisions and injunctions of courts and the hos- 
 tility of Congress created an unsettled and anxious state of mind 
 among our fellow-workers throughout the country. A number of 
 central bodies adopted resolutions demanding that the Executive 
 Council call a mass convention to take political action in some 
 form or other, and declaring that in the event that this was not 
 done by a specific date, they would themselves inaugurate such a 
 movement. The greater number, however, expressed their de- 
 votion to our movement by declaring themselves willing to 
 follow whatever course upon which the Executive Council of 
 the American Federation of Labor might decide. 
 
 It was in consideration of this situation that a meeting of the 
 Executive Council was called at Washington, beginning March 
 16. Upon the authority of my colleagues an invitation was ex- 
 
THE POLITICAL POLICY OF ORGANIZED LABOR 135 
 
 tended to the responsible officers of the international unions to 
 participate in a conference at Washington, March 18, 1908. 
 
 It was there and then that the Protest Conference, together 
 with the Executive Council, formulated and presented the "Pro- 
 test to Congress," and it is my earnest hope that you will again 
 read that historic document in connection herewith. It sets 
 forth clearly the grounds of our complaint and the basis of our 
 protest. The closing words of that protest I feel it necessary 
 to quote: 
 
 "As the authorized representatives of the organized wage-earners of 
 our country, we present to you in the most conservative and earnest 
 manner that protest against the wrongs which they have to endure 
 and some of the rights and relief to which they are justly entitled. 
 There is not a wrong for which we seek redress, or a right to which 
 we aspire, which does not or will not be equally shared by all the 
 workers — by all the people. 
 
 "While no Member of Congress or party can evade or avoid his or 
 their own individual or party share of responsibility, we aver that the 
 party in power must and will by labor and its sympathizers be held 
 primarily responsible for the failure to give the prompt, full, and effec- 
 tive Congressional relief we know to be within its power. 
 
 "We come to you not as political partisans, whether republicans, 
 democrats, or other, but as representatives of the wage-workers of our 
 country whose rights, interests, and welfare have been jeopardized and 
 flagrantly, woefully disregarded and neglected. We come to you be- 
 cause you are responsible for legislation, or the failure of legislation. 
 If these, or new questions, are unsettled, and any other political party 
 becomes responsible for legislation, we shall press home upon its rep- 
 resentatives and hold them responsible, equally as we now must hold 
 you." 
 
 This protest and demand were signed by the Executive Coun- 
 cil and by the officers and representatives of the very large nvun- 
 ber of international unions participating in the conference. 
 Labor's "Protest to Congress" was published in the April (1908) 
 American Federationist. 
 
 The same conference adopted an "Address to Organized Labor 
 and Farmers of the Country." In that address the same signers 
 declared that: 
 
 "We have appealed to Congress for the necessary relief we deem 
 essential to safeguard the interests and rights of the toilers. 
 "We now call upon the workeis of our common country to 
 "Stand faithfully by our friends, 
 "Oppose and defeat our enemies, whether they be 
 "Candidates for President, 
 "For Congress, or other offices,^ whether 
 "Executive, legislative, or judicial. 
 
136 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 "Each candidate should be questioned and pledged as to his attitude 
 upon all subjects of importance to the toilers, whether of factory, farm, 
 field, shop or mine. 
 
 "We again renew and hereby declare our complete and abiding faith 
 in the trade union movement to successfully accomplish the ameliora- 
 tion of economic conditions befitting all of our people. The historical 
 past of our movement, its splendid achievements in labor's behalf, and 
 magnificent present standing warrants the assertion and justifies our 
 prediction for its future success. 
 
 "We, the representatives of the national and international trade 
 unions and farmers' organizations, represented in this conference, call 
 upon the Executive Council and upon all labor to use every possible 
 legitimate effort to secure for the workers their inalienable liberties 
 and their proper recognition as a vital portion of the fabric of our 
 civilization. We pledge ourselves to use every lawful and honorable 
 effort to carry out the policy agreed upon at this conference. We 
 pledge our industrial, political, financial, and moral support to our own 
 members and to our friends wherever found, not only for the present 
 time, but for the continuous effort which may be necessary for success. 
 We pledge ourselves to carry on this work until every industrial and 
 political activity of the workers is guaranteed its permanent place and 
 usefulness in the progress of our country. 
 
 "Let labor not falter for one instant; the most grave and momen- 
 tous crisis ever faced by the wageworkers of our country is now upon 
 us. 
 
 "Our industrial rights have been shorn from us and our liberties 
 are threatened. 
 
 "It rests with each of us to make the most earnest, impressive and 
 law-abiding effort that lies within our power to restore these liberties 
 and safeguard our rights for the future if we are to save the workers 
 and mayhap even the nation itself from threatened disaster. 
 
 "This is not a time for idle fear. 
 
 "Let every man be up and doing. Action consistent, action persistent, 
 action insistent is the watchword." 
 
 The Protest Conference urged the workers of the country to 
 hold meetings and to pass resolutions expressive of their pur- 
 pose, demanding legislation at the hands of Congress before it 
 adjourned, and declaring for the alternative course adopted as 
 governing the course of the participants in the conference if it 
 met their approval. The mass meetings were held by workers 
 in factory, workshop, mill, mine, farm, and field. The indorse- 
 ment and approval of the measures recommended by the Protest 
 Conference were practically unanimous. 
 
 Desirous of pressing labor's demands home upon the majority 
 in control in Congress, five additional organizers were called 
 in from the field of their other activities, and added to the two 
 already at Washington' to act as labor's legislative committee. 
 They made the most strenuous efforts, and it is doubtful if a 
 
THE POLITICAL POLICY OF ORGANIZED LABOR 137 
 
 single member of Congress in attendance escaped being inter- 
 viewed as to his willingness to work and vote for the legislation 
 essential to the workers. With members of the Executive Coimcil 
 our legislative committee appeared before the Congressional com- 
 mittees to argue our cause and present our claims, but all to no 
 avail. 
 
 The leaders of the minority party in Congress declared their 
 willingness and their purpose unitedly to aid the majority or any 
 part of the majority to enact the legislation which labor asked; 
 but the members of the dominant party in Congress had set their 
 hearts like flint; they had no ears to hear, no patience to heed 
 any claim, argument, or appeal involving the principles of equal 
 rights to equality before the law, or of the liberty of the work- 
 ers on a par with other citizens of our country. 
 
 Congress adjourned with the defiant declaration of one of the 
 Republican leaders in Congress and recent candidate of that 
 party for the Vice-Presidency, Mr. James Sherman, that "the 
 Republican Party is responsible for legislation or for the failure 
 of legislation," and that he and his party were willing to assume 
 the responsibility. 
 
 I strongly urge you and every worker and student of the 
 cause of labor to again read the report of the Federation legis- 
 lative committee published in the August issue, 1908, of the 
 American Federationist. It reveals a tale of perfidy to the com- 
 mon weal and in telling the truth, perforce besmirches the name 
 and history of a political party that found its embodiment of 
 idealism in the martyred Lincoln. 
 
 When Congress adjourned, after so shamelessly refusing to ac- 
 cord the workers the relief and the rights upon which they had 
 set their hearts and hopes, the feeling became still more tense 
 among the great rank and file of labor. The Executive Council 
 then decided to appeal from the action of Congress to the repre- 
 sentatives of the two great political parties in convention as- 
 sembled. 
 
 As already stated, we presented identical demands to the 
 Republican and the Democratic Party conventions. ' In the one 
 instance, that of the Republican conv^ention, the declarations 
 adopted were for the enactment of a law that would legalize the 
 worst abuse and perversion of the injunction writ, this in direct 
 opposition to what we had asked. The Democratic Party, in con- 
 
138 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 vention at Denver, adopted labor's demands and incorporated 
 them in its party platform. ; 
 
 In view of the specific declarations of the men of labor 
 throughout our country for many years, the repeated declara- 
 tions and instructions of the American Federation of Labor at 
 many of its conventions, some of which I have quoted, it devolves 
 upon you, the duly constituted representatives of the men of 
 labor of our country, you who come here and who have been 
 in immediate and constant touch with the toilers of America, 
 it is for you to say whether the course pursued, to stand faith- 
 fully by our friends and elect them, oppose our enemies and 
 defeat them, whether they be candidates for President, for Con- 
 gress, or other offices, is justified, and meets with your ap- 
 proval, or your condemnation. 
 
 The men of labor realize that our liberties as workers and as 
 citizens are threatened; that our industrial efforts to work for 
 labor's rights and interests upon natural and rational lines are 
 outlawed, and that if it is the desire and aspiration of America's 
 toilers to work along these peaceful, natural lines of historic 
 development, these rights and liberties must be restored. — From 
 Annual Report to A. F. of L. Convention, Denver, Col., Novem- 
 ber, 1908. 
 
 We must be partisan for a principle and not for a party, but 
 we must make manifest the fact that we have political power 
 and that we intend to use it; otherwise the ballot will become 
 an impotent weapon. Our members and friends can not expect 
 that the officers of the Federation can impress either upon po- 
 litical parties or upon Congress the demands of the workers for 
 justice and right unless those workers themselves have shown 
 sufficient interest in the use of their political power as to make 
 it clear that they are the potent force behind their chosen officers 
 and representatives. The potency of the ballot begins in the 
 primary, independent of a party, and there the workers must 
 begin to assert their adherence to labor's principles and demands. 
 There the workers make of themselves an educational force. 
 They must endeavor to draw with them those imorganized, per- 
 haps, or who have not yet become familiar with the legislation 
 which is needed. 
 
 Let us restate that there can be no coercion of any man along 
 
THE POLITICAL POLICY OF ORGANIZED LABOR 139 
 
 party lines. Labor must learn to use parties to advance our 
 principles, and not allow political parties to manipulate us for 
 their own advancement. The distinction is easily understood and 
 readily carried into effect. If each worker as an individual uses 
 the ballot for the advancement of the principles for which labor 
 stands and has declared there will be no question in future as 
 to the power of labor to achieve its just demands; political 
 apathy and partisan adherence will weaken; political activity and 
 partisanship for labor's principles will bring strength and suc- 
 cess. The activity, the loyalty of the workers in every part of 
 the country is what we need in order that our political power 
 may be used harmoniously with our economic efficiency. The 
 time is now for emphatic declaration and positive, practical 
 preparation for action. — From report to A. F. of L. Convention, 
 Toronto, Ont., Canada, November, igog. 
 
 Trade luiionists refuse "to shift the groimd largely to the 
 political field" — that is, the partisan political field in the sense 
 employed by the Call. National unions of labor in America, 
 prior to the formation of the American Federation of Labor, 
 made that shift, charmed with the voice of political sirens, and 
 wrecked their craft on the Lorelei rocks of dissension. They 
 disintegrated. Their wreckage forms a warning to the present 
 day. . . . 
 
 The problem of labor politics lies in doing the possible things 
 that may justly free the masses from any of the burdens under 
 which they labor and which are consequent upon the present 
 iniquities of society. To the practical propositions of the social- 
 ists toward that end, union labor ever gives due consideration. 
 To the eventual form of society for which socialists allege they 
 yearn, however, trade unionists in general find themselves unable 
 to give support, since, as a matter of fact, that form has for forty 
 years been steadily undergoing the changes of dissolving views. 
 
 The "conservatism" of the American Federation of Labor, 
 therefore, is no more than the holding fast to that which has 
 proved to be good, within the limits of trade union operation, 
 during the vicissitudes of labor organization in its various forms 
 in this country for more than a century. The masses of wage- 
 workers in the different occupations have found their way to 
 agreement in united action for certain immediate economic aims, 
 
140 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 the first of them being accomplished through acts bearing directly 
 on the labor market. The beneficial results thus attained are 
 too highly prized to be risked in the political ventures of a crude 
 utopianism. — American Federationist, February, igi2. 
 
 Just a word as to the different ways the American trade union- 
 ists and the English trade unionists have approached public 
 questions. For more thkn thirty years there has been some repre- 
 sentative of English workingmen in the Parliament of England. 
 I think that the dean of the workingmen in the House of Com- 
 mons is an English coal miner elected as a coal miner and the 
 representative of the miners and other workingmen who are in- 
 cidentally employed in the mining districts, elected not as a Lib- 
 eral or a Conservative, but by Labor Liberals, I think it would be 
 fair to say. When the courts of England made their decision in 
 the Taff-Vale case it made the funds of the unions of England 
 liable to be mulcted in damages by employers, and gave a new 
 and unexpected interpretation to the existing law, if I may say 
 so, just exactly as the courts of this country have interpreted the 
 Sherman Anti-trust law to make that law apply to the organiza- 
 tions of the working people. . When that was done the British 
 workingmen realized that they were about to be placed in the 
 same position as the old guilds of about three centuries ago, 
 subject to confiscation at the will and the fancy of the king. 
 They were aroused. They held public meetings, and in their 
 organization meetings and in their national congresses they de- 
 cided upon the inauguration of a campaign for the repeal, or 
 rather for an amendment to the law that would annul the de- 
 cision or would overcome the decision of the courts of England 
 in the Taff-Vale case. This resulted in the enactment by Parlia- 
 ment of what is known as the British Trades Dispute Act of 
 1906. With that came the launching of the Independent Labor 
 Party by the workingmen and the election of, I think, forty-two 
 members of the House of Commons, and then in the last elec- 
 tion, I think, there were fifty-three members of the House of 
 Commons elected who are labor men — ^union men. The Inde- 
 pendent Labor Party is a fairly established party in England. 
 In this country the trade unionists have sought to throw the 
 weight of their influence for those particular men whom they 
 believe to be most favorable to those things for which the labor 
 
THE POLITICAL POLICY OF ORGANIZED LABOR 141 
 
 unionists stand. Whether a candidate is favorable or unfavorable 
 to the position we take is largely determined by the candidate 
 himself. We judge that by his votes. . . . 
 
 The American Federation of Labor has no power at all, nor 
 does it pretend to exercise any power to control the individual 
 action of the individual voter. Speaking now as its President, I 
 have always endeavored to make that clear. As a matter of 
 fact, during the 1908 campaign it was studiously circulated and 
 repeated time and time again by the spellbinders who were 
 opposed to us that I had pledged the 2,000,000 votes of the 
 workmen to the Democratic Party, that I carried the workmen's 
 votes around in my vest pocket, etc. I took occasion to say that 
 I could dictate the vote of not more than one citizen in the United 
 States; that I have three sons, all of them voters, and I could 
 not, if I would, and would not if I could, dictate how they should 
 vote; that the only one vote I could control was my own. I 
 tried to emphasize that fact upon every occasion. . . . 
 
 We submitted the first publication of campaign expenses. We 
 printed our financial statement of that campaign [191 2] before 
 any other political party or political factor did so. The com- 
 mittee which was organized for the purpose of securing legis- 
 lation for the publicity of campaign accounts, contributions, and 
 expenditures, complimented the American Federation of Labor 
 upon having issued the first publication of that character. 
 
 The funds were volimtary contributions. In the campaign of 
 1908 there was some little money from the general funds used 
 for publication, but not in the succeeding campaigns. . . . 
 
 In our political activities we have never paid money to mem- 
 bers of Congress as a reward for services rendered the cause of 
 labor, nor offered any other consideration; nothing but our 
 cordial support if we could be of assistance to them politically. 
 We have never had money enough, and no matter how much 
 money we might have we would never contribute anything toward 
 their campaigns or to them in any way. . . . Since and includ- 
 ing March, 1895, the American Federation of Labor has pub- 
 lished its income and its expenditures every month for the pre- 
 ceding month, and there has been no deviation from that course 
 month by month. During the poUtical campaigns in which we 
 were specifically interested, we appealed for financial assistance- 
 voluntary financial assistance. We published little leaflets con- 
 
142 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 taining the amounts received and by whom contributed, and the 
 amounts expended and to whom and for what purpose paid. . . . 
 Why should we not have our labor representatives here as 
 our legislative committee? Why should we not have representa- 
 tion in Congress? Why should we not have a representative in 
 the Cabinet of the United States? In not less than eight coun- 
 tries in Europe, and in several countries in America, Uiere is a 
 department of labor, with a distinctively labor man from the 
 ranks of the workers, or rather still in the ranks until selected 
 for high office, at the head of the department. It is a recognition 
 of the transition of society. It is an acknowledgment of the ex- 
 tending of the scope of government from the merely and purely 
 political to the industrial and social.-— From abstract of testimony 
 before House Lobby Investigation Committee, Washington, D. C, 
 December, ipij. 
 
 One great advantage of the [political] policy the A. F. of L. 
 has pursued is that it has in no way hampered or detracted from 
 the economic power or effectiveness of the trade unions. Nonpar- 
 tisan political activity does not subordinate the economic interests 
 of the trade unionists to partisan interests but our political policy 
 has made our economic influence, our economic needs, our eco- 
 nomic welfare of paramount importance. The paramount issue 
 of our political campaign was the enactment into law of legisla- 
 tion that would assure the legal right to organize and secure 
 for labor organizations the legal right to perform those activities 
 necessary to carry out the purposes of the economic organiza- 
 tions. — American Federationist, February, 1917. 
 
 Political conditions are such in the United States that the 
 wage-earners have been imited to one or the other of the two 
 strong, political parties and that they are bound to these parties 
 by ties of fealty and of tradition. It would take years ever to 
 separate any considerable number of workers from their fealty 
 to the old party. In addition to these, economic interests such 
 as tariff policies are a strong factor in determining the party 
 allegiance of wage-earners. The formation of a new party would 
 mean the formulation of a complete political program for the 
 wage-earners. In drawing up such a policy it would be impossible 
 to avoid controversial questions and hence it would be impossible 
 
THE POLITICAL POLICY OF ORGANIZED LABOR 143 
 
 to secure the united action of the wage-earners upon all ques- 
 tions. However, it is a very simple and natural thing to secure 
 united action upon fundamentals. Alliance in any party already 
 formed would be responsible for the practices and purposes of 
 that party and responsible for its "practical politics." 
 
 If this policy were adopted success could be achieved only 
 when the party with which the alliance was made came into 
 power. To those who have studied the psychology of partisan 
 politics it requires only a reference to disclose the disadvantages 
 of this policy. ' Party success carries with it the necessity for 
 party rewards.. The party assumes the responsibility for legis- 
 lation and for administration. It is placed in the position of de- 
 fense. Such an alliance would make it necessary for the workers 
 to use part of their power in defending the administration and 
 thereby reduce their effectiveness in fighting for their own legis- 
 lation. . . . 
 
 Without forming a political party, without forming any new or- 
 ganizations, without additional expenditure of trade union funds, 
 all except one of the demands contained in the Bill of Grievances 
 have become the law of the land. The passage of the Immigra- 
 tion law, the last demand removed from the list, illustrates the 
 distinctive political power which organized labor has developed 
 since 1906. The proposal to restrict immigration was not a 
 partisan measure. — American Federationist, March, igi?. 
 
 The New Republic holds that radical changes in society of a 
 constructive character can be secured only through a political 
 program carried into effect by a political party. The New Re- 
 public has failed to think its problem through. Radical changes 
 in society are not brought about by altering the outside forms. 
 They must begin with the individual as manifested through the 
 expression of individual will and creative effort. These changes 
 are fundamental and deal with the things of every-day life and 
 work. Changes in standards of living, conditions of work, and 
 the freeing of individual will from repression, result in different 
 spiritual forces that through collective constructive effort will 
 revolutionize the organization of society. Until these radical 
 fundamental changes are brought about, superficial changes com- 
 ing through legislation would be without avail. — American Fed- 
 erationist, August, igi8. 
 
144 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 An independent political labor party becomes either radical, 
 so-called, or else reactionary, but it is primarily devoted to one 
 thing and that is vote-getting. Every sail is trimmed to the 
 getting of votes. The question of the conditions of labor, the 
 question of the standards of labor, the question of the struggles 
 and the sacrifices of labor, to bring light into the lives and the 
 work of the toilers — all that is subordinated to the one consid- 
 eration of votes for the party. 
 
 I have read the fourteen points which have been formulated 
 for the proposed Labor Party here. Is there one of them of an 
 essential character to the interests and welfare of the working 
 people of the United States which is not contained in the curric- 
 ulum, the work and the principles of the bona fide labor move- 
 ment of our country? . . . 
 
 The organization of a political labor party would simply mean 
 the dividing of the activities and allegiance of the men and 
 women of labor between two bodies, such as would often come 
 in conflict. 
 
 In the British Trade Union Congress at Derby there were 
 divergent views. There were four different points of view upon 
 one subject before the Congress. In order to try to unite the 
 thought a committee of four was appointed for the purpose of 
 trying to bring in some agreed proposition and recommendation 
 for adoption by the Congress. In the course of a few days the 
 committee reported a resolution. For the purpose of conserving 
 time the four members of the committee representing the diver- 
 gent views were called upon in turn to express their views. Each 
 in turn expressed his own view and placed his own construction 
 upon the resolution recommended. Then each declared that he 
 was going out to fight for his own view. . . . 
 
 Suppose in 19 12 we had had a labor party in existence; do you 
 think for a moment that we could have gone as the American 
 labor movement to the other political parties and said: "We 
 want you to inaugurate in your platform this and this declara- 
 tion." If one of the parties had refused and the other party con- 
 sented and took its chance, would the American Federation of 
 Labor have been permitted to exercise that independent political 
 and economic course if the labor party had been in existence? 
 How long would we have had to Wait for the passage of a law 
 by Congress declaring in practice and in principle that the labor 
 
THE POLITICAL POLICY OF ORGANIZED LABOR 145 
 
 of a human being is not a commodity or an article of commerce — 
 the most far-reaching declaration ever made by any government 
 in the history of the world. — From address "Shotdd a Political 
 Party be Formed?"; at Labor Conference, New York City, 
 December p, igi8. 
 
 In the political efforts, arising from the workers' necessity to 
 secure legislation covering those conditions and provisions of 
 life not subject to collective bargaining with employers, organized 
 labor has followed two methods; one by organizing political 
 parties, the other by the determination to place in public office 
 representatives from their ranks; to elect those who favor and 
 chcmipion the legislation desired and to defeat those whose policy 
 is opposed to labor's legislative demands, regardless of partisan 
 politics. 
 
 The disastrous experience of organized labor in America with 
 political parties of its own amply justified the American Federa- 
 tion of Labor's non-partisan political policy. The results se- 
 cured by labor parties in other countries never have been such 
 as to warrant any deviation from this position. The rules and 
 regulations of trade unionism should not be extended so that 
 the action of a majority could force a minority to vote for or 
 give financial support to any political candidate or party to 
 whom they are opposed. Trade union activities cannot receive 
 the undivided attention of members and officers if the exigencies, 
 burdens and responsibilities of a political party are bound up 
 with their economic and industrial organizations. 
 
 The experiences and results attained through the non-partisan 
 political policy of the American Federation of Labor cover a gen- 
 eration. They indicate that through its application the workers 
 of America have secured a much larger measure of fundamental 
 legislation, establishing their rights, safeguarding their interests, 
 protecting their welfare and opening the doors of opportunity 
 than have been secured by the workers of any other country. 
 
 The vital legislation now required can be more readily se- 
 cured through education of the public mind and the appeal to 
 its conscience, supplemented by energetic political activity on 
 the part of trade unionists, than by any other method. This is 
 and will continue to be the political policy of the American Fed- 
 eration of Labor, if the lessons which labor has learned in the 
 
146 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 bitter but practical school of experience are to be respected and 
 applied. 
 
 It is therefore most essential that the officers of the Ameri- 
 can Federation of Labor, the officers of the affiliated organiza- 
 tions, state federations and central labor bodies and the entire 
 membership of the trade union movement should give the most 
 vigorous application possible to the political policy of the Ameri- 
 C£Ln Federation of Labor, so that labor's friends and opponents 
 may be more widely known, and the legislation most required 
 readily secured. This phase of our movement is still in its 
 infancy. It should be continued and developed to its logical 
 conclusion. — From Annttal Report to A. F. of L. Convention, At- 
 lantic City, N. J., June, igig. 
 
VI 
 
 LABOR'S PLACE IN MODERN 
 PROGRESS 
 
 In the branch of industry in whidb I work we have to contend 
 with a curse known as the manufacturing of cigars in tenement 
 houses, in which the employer hires a row of tenements four or 
 five stories high, with two, three or four famihes Hving on each 
 iloor, occupying a room and bed-room, or a room, bed-room, and 
 an apology for a kitchen. The tobacco for the work is given out by 
 the manufacturer or his superintendent to the operatives who 
 work there, the husband and wife, and they seldom work without 
 one or more of their children, if they have any. Even their par- 
 ents, if they have any, work also in the room, and any indigent 
 relative that may live with them also helps along. I myself made 
 an investigation of these houses about two years ago; went 
 through them and made measurements of them, and found that 
 however clean the people might desire to be they could not be so. 
 The bedroom is generally dark, and contains all the wet tobacco 
 that is not intended for immediate use, but perhaps for use on 
 the following day; while in the front room (or back room, as the 
 case may be) the husband and wife and child, or any friend or 
 relative that works with them, three or four or five persons, are 
 to be found. Each has a table at which to work. The tobacco 
 which they work and the clippings or cuttings, as they are termed, 
 are lying around the floor, while the scrap or clip that is intended 
 to be used immediately for the making of cigars is l3ang about to 
 dry. Children are playing about as well as their puny health 
 will permit them, in the tobacco. I have found, I believe, the 
 most miserable conditions prevailing in those houses that I have 
 seen at any time in my life. . . . The yards were all dirty. The 
 halls were kept very dirty with tobacco stems and refuse that ac- 
 cumulates from the tobacco. . . . The water-closets are all 
 
 147 
 
148 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 vaults, in very few places connected with sewers, vaults in the 
 back yard, around which a few boards have been nailed. . . . 
 The water supply is very meagre indeed. . . . 
 
 From the year 1873 to 1878 the cigar-makers of this country 
 were reduced in wages systematically every spring and every jail. 
 The reductions in wages were sometimes large and sometimes not 
 quite so large, but a reduction was the order of the day at those 
 periods. At that time the cigar-makers' organization was in a 
 very weak and puerile condition. Further, the manufacturers of 
 cigars throughout that period managed to introduce a system of 
 truck or "pluck-me" payments, by which the workingmen were 
 paid in kind, cigars, and were required to go out and sell them 
 to any grogshop or other place of any description where 
 they could sell them; or they would receive store 
 orders, or, in the case of single men, they would be re- 
 quired to board at certain hotels or boarding houses. In the 
 city of Elmira, in this State, a manufacturer paid his workingmen 
 $6. per thousand if they were taking their wages out in truck or 
 kind, while he paid only $5. a thousand to those single men who 
 were in boarding houses, and but $4. a thousand to those cigar- 
 makers who wanted cash, legal tender. ... In these last two 
 years ... I am convinced that we have had over one hundred 
 and sixty or one hundred and seventy strikes, and the strikes have 
 been successful except in, perhaps, twenty instances, where they 
 may have been lost or compromised. The truck system of which 
 I spoke exists no longer in our trade. . . , 
 
 One of the most hard-worked class of people under the sun, the 
 freight-handlers of the city of New York . . . are a body of 
 men, very sinewy, working for 17 cents an hour for the railroad 
 corporations. Last year they had the hardihood to ask for three 
 cents more an hour, making 20 cents an hour, when the railroads 
 informed them that they would not pay it. The freight-handlers 
 were, after a struggle, starved into submission, and are working 
 now for 17 cents an hour. ... He [the freight handler] gen-> 
 erally lives in very poor quarters; his home is but scantily fur- 
 nished; he can eat only of the coarsest food; his children, like too 
 many others, are frequently brought into the factories at a very 
 tender age; in some instances his wife takes in sewing and does 
 chores for other people, while in other instances that I know of 
 they work in a few of the remaining laundries where women are 
 
LABOR'S PLACE IN MODERN PROGRESS 149 
 
 still engaged, the work not having been absorbed by the Chinese. 
 By this means the home, of course, is broken up; indeed there is 
 hardly the semblance of a home, and in these instances where the 
 wife goes out to work no meal is cooked. Many of the stores 
 have for sale dried meats or herrings, cheese, or some other article 
 which does not require any cooking. Of course, when the wife 
 is at home, although the living is very poor, it is cooked; she 
 cooks what can be purchased with the portion of the 17 cents 
 per hour remaining after the payment of rent, and the cost of 
 light, fuel, etc. . . . 
 
 The car-drivers of the city of New York are working from 
 fourteen to sixteen hours a day in all weathers, and receive $1.75 
 a day. . . . His meals are served to him by his wife or friend or 
 child, as the case may be, in a kettle, while he is driving his team, 
 and at the end of the route he may possibly have two or three 
 minutes to swallow his food. It is nothing more than swallowing 
 it, and when he comes home he is probably too tired or perhaps 
 too hungry to eat. ... In some instances men who do not and 
 cannot live, on account of the meagreness of their wages, on the 
 route of the railroad, are compelled to live at some distance, and 
 when they have these relays or switches it takes them sometimes 
 twenty or thirty minutes to reach their homes, and to return 
 again takes another half or three-quarters of an hour. . . . The 
 actual service is from fourteen to fifteen hours. Then there is the 
 looking after their horses and cleaning the car besides. . . . The 
 car drivers have to stand all the time. . . . They sometimes rest 
 back against the door of the car for a while. They also, in some 
 instances, have to act as conductors; that is, give change, count 
 the passengers, and register the number of passengers on an indi- 
 cator. And then they are sometimes held responsible when some- 
 body is run over on account, perhaps, of their having to perform 
 two men's work. . . . 
 
 Among some of the tailoresses in the city I have made a per- 
 sonal investigation. They make a regular heavy pantaloon, work- 
 ing pants, for seven cents a pair. They are capable of making 
 ten pairs per day of twelve hours. Boys' pantaloons they make 
 for five to six cents per pair, making fourteen to sixteen pairs per 
 day of twelve hours. They work mostly seven full days in the 
 week; sometimes they will stop on Sunday afternoon, but all 
 work on Sunday, and their average weekly wage is about $3.81, 
 
ISO LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 providing no time is lost. They are compelled to provide their 
 own cotton out of this, and their own needles and thimbles, and 
 other small things that are necessary in the work. Overalls and 
 jumpers (a kind of calico jacket used by laborers in warm 
 weather sometimes, to prevent the dirt getting to the shirt or un- 
 derclothing) they make for thirty to thirty-five cents per dozen. 
 They generally work in "teams" of two, and they make about 
 three dozen per day, or in a working day of thirteen to fifteen 
 hours they earn from forty-five to fifty-two and a half cents each. 
 They work generally in the shop but usually finish some work at 
 home on Sunday. 
 
 From testimony before United States Senate Committee upon 
 the Relations between Labor and Capital (Henry W. Blair, 
 chairman), August i6, 1883. 
 
 That we are still far from the goal for which the human family 
 have been for ages struggling is due to our own shortcomings. 
 There is no reason why we should not realize the highest hopes 
 of an ideal life, where man's worth shall be measured by his real 
 utility to his fellows, where his generosity and sympathy, rather 
 than his cupidity and rapacity, will receive the encomiums and 
 rewards of a nobler manhood, a more beautiful womanhood and a 
 happier childhood; where justice and fair dealing will redound to 
 the advantage and the ennobling of all. To the attainment of 
 that end we should bend our every energy, subordinate our every 
 other aspiration. — From Annual Report of A.F. of L. Convention, 
 Philadelphia, December, iSgz. 
 
 The earth was intended for all mankind, and not for a few. 
 The question of how they are going to get their rights can only 
 be solved by the organized labor movement — not by revolution, 
 but by evolution. The true object of the labor movement is the 
 seeking of a rational method by which these wrongs can be 
 righted. It was born out of hunger for food at first, and then 
 grew with the hunger for better homes, better lives and higher 
 aspirations and ideals. Now it is the living protest against the 
 wrong and is the effort of the masses to improve the conditions. 
 No one is educated who has not given the matter his study and 
 attention. — From address in Wesley Chapel, Cincinnati, Decent 
 ber 20, i8g6. 
 
LABOR'S PLACE IN MODERN PROGRESS 151 
 
 No market for industry or commerce is so conducive to true 
 civilization as the home market, based upon the ever increasing 
 and improving demands of our people. — American Federation- 
 ist, April, i8gp. 
 
 In our present economic condition of society we have with a 
 very great degree of regularity a period of these industrial panics 
 that the student can determine almost with the exactness that an 
 astronomer does of the comets, the coming of these periods of 
 industrial crises. Quite a number do not observe this economic 
 phenomenon. The worker knows that during these industrial 
 panics he is out of a job; and you might have all the philosophy 
 in the world, all the facts in the world to demonstrate the truth- 
 fulness of your position, but he is out of a job, and he can not 
 understand that there has been any social improvement, not even 
 that he has improved beyond the condition of his forefathers ten 
 centuries ago; he knows he is out of a job, and he is hungry, 
 and the prospects of something in the future are very remote, 
 and to him the world has been growing worse all the time; the 
 world is in an awful condition, and it is in an awful condition 
 truly, and we must remember this, when we consider the social 
 progress; we must not compare this year with the last, or last 
 year with the year before, but compare it for a century by 
 decades, then the marvelous progress can be easily observed. 
 . . . Most of us young men can go back 20 or 30 years; we 
 can mark the condition, and that which we do not know of our 
 own knowledge we can ascertain of truthful records. 
 
 [Q. To what do you attribute the vastly superior condition of 
 the American workingmen over the European; the social condi- 
 tion; the advanced, you might say scale of wages paid in 
 America over the European condition?] First, the working 
 people of Europe have emerged from a condition of slavery and 
 serfdom to that of wage laborers. The workingmen of America 
 have not had this hereditary condition of slavery and serfdom. 
 There has been no special status for them as slaves or serfs, and 
 in theory, at least, they were supposed to be equals to all others. 
 
 Another reason is the climatic conditions that obtain in our 
 country. The changes from extreme heat to extreme cold make 
 the people more active, more nervous; accelerate their motion, 
 accelerate their thought; again, the vast domain of land, rich soil, 
 that even to-day is beyond speculation, much less the knowledge 
 
1 52 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 of our own people — all these things have contributed to a better 
 material condition for the working people of our country. I 
 should add, I think, that the climate conditions, requiring better 
 food, more nutritious food, better clothing, more comfortable 
 clothing, better houses, better homes, have all been contribut- 
 ing factors for the workers to insist upon receiving — to secure 
 these things in the shape of higher wages. . . . 
 
 [I take it that you do not iDelieve that the rich are getting 
 richer in this country and the poor constantly getting poorer?] 
 I do not believe that the poor are getting poorer; those who are 
 rich are becoming richer. ... It seems to have become a catch 
 phrase, but I do not think that they necessarily go together. 
 There is a greater productivity in the world to-day, and the 
 wage-earners are getting a larger share of the product of labor. 
 They are not getting the share which, in my judgment, they are 
 entitled to by any means. . . . 
 
 Every step that the workers take, every vantage point gained, 
 is a solution in itself. ... I maintain that we are solving the 
 problems every day, as they confront us. One would imagine by 
 what is often considered as the solution of the problem that a 
 world cataclysm is going to take place; that we shall go to bed 
 one night under the present system and the morrow morning 
 wake up with a revolution in full blast, and the next day or- 
 ganize a Heaven on earth. That is not the way that progress is 
 made; that is not the way the social evolution is brought about; 
 that is not the way the interests of the human family are ad- 
 vanced. We are solving the problem day after day. As we get 
 an hour's more leisure every day it means millions of golden 
 hours, of opportunities, to the human family. As we get 25 
 cents a day wages increase it means another solution, another 
 problem solved, and brings us nearer the time when a greater 
 degree of justice and fair dealing will obtain among men. — From 
 testimony before United States Industrial Commission, April 
 18, iSgg. 
 
 Through the efforts of. th.o American Federation of Labor, in- 
 voluntary servitude in Hav72ii, enforceable by law, w'ks abolished 
 by Congress. The bill providing a code for the government of, 
 and perpetuating slavery or involuntary servitude in, the Terri- 
 tory of Hawaii, was introduced and passed by the House of Rep-' 
 
LABOR'S PLACE IN MODERN PROGRESS 153 
 
 resentatives. The bill contained the perpetuation of slavery or 
 involuntary servitude and was reported favorably by the Senate 
 committee, and would undoubtedly have passed and been en- 
 acted, had it not been for the activity of the representatives of 
 our Federation, who secured the following amendments to the 
 code: 
 
 "That no suit or proceeding shall be maintained for the specific per- 
 formance of any contract heretofore or hereafter entered into, for 
 personal labor or service; nor shall any remedy exist or be enforced 
 for breach of any such contract, except in a civil suit or proceeding 
 instituted solely to recover damages for such breach." 
 
 We love to speak of the good old times when men acted as 
 individuals, when workmen had no unions and we had in our 
 country no strikes. First, I want to disabuse the mind of any 
 one who may entertain that notion that the so-called good old 
 times are worth again ushering in. I have lived somewhat in the 
 so-called good old times. 
 
 I have no desire to see a re-introduction of them. With all the 
 faults of our present time, I believe that it is the best that has 
 ever existed on this mundane sphere.. With us, I take it, as 
 with you, with all the improvement that has come, it is not half 
 good enough as compared with what we believe it ought to be. 
 But, take the notion of some of our friends who speak rather 
 in imagination of the so-called good old times when there were no 
 unions of labor and each man, as they say, stood upon his own 
 feet, independent, and was a man and a sovereign. . . . 
 
 Organized labor found a condition of affairs in industry, when 
 the first efforts of organization made their advent, that appalls 
 the student. When organized labor made its advent upon the 
 field of industry it found the children in the mills and in the 
 mines, in the shops and in the factories, 'and it is due to the 
 much-abused organizations of labor that we find upon the statute 
 books of our most enlightened states and countries the laws 
 protecting the lives of the young and the innocent children, who 
 through our efforts have been put into the school rooms and 
 into the playgrounds rather than in the factories and the work- 
 shops. 
 
 When organized labor came upon the field the suffocation of 
 men in the mines was of common occurrence, the caving in of 
 mines was of such frequency that no one seemed to pay atten- 
 
154 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 tion, and regarded it either as an act of Divine Providence or 
 at least of accidental character for which no one was to blame. 
 The proper ventilation of mines, the safeguarding of machinery, 
 the child-labor laws upon our statute books have come as a result 
 of this movement. — From address at Buffala, N. Y., before the 
 Independent Club, January 8, 1903. 
 
 Doesn't it lurk in the minds of all of us — ^millionaire or wage- 
 worker — that there is a good time coming and that we are all 
 hoping for it and striving for it in our own way? Some men 
 think that it is coming in 10 years, others in 50, others in 100, 
 some in 1,000, and still others in a longer period, but every man 
 has it in his mind that there is a better day coming. How do you 
 hope to bring it about, then, if that be so, without the aid of 
 the masses of the people in their organization, who shall help to 
 make of this country the great workshop of the world, who shall 
 make of this country the great star of hope of the world, that 
 has not only given the Declaration of Independence to the world, 
 a new charter and a new birthright, but that shall make these 
 declarations the living principles of our every-day lives, and with- 
 out friction, without fight, without contest, each trying to vie 
 with the other to do his level best in order that we may progress 
 industrially, commercially, politically, morally, working out the 
 great future which in my opinion the American people are des- 
 tined to achieve. — From address at Jamestown, N. Y., January 
 29, 1903. 
 
 Miss Addams expresses the fear that the idealism of the 
 unions is incompatible with, and endangered by, the necessity 
 of "practical and business-like" methods. Employers complain 
 that workmen are unreasonable and under the dominion of senti- 
 ment and dogma, and the question put by Miss Addams is 
 whether in adopting business principles the unions are not sacri- 
 ficing, and necessarily, their early idealism. 
 
 We do not think that this must follow. To make contracts 
 and stick to them, even when they limit or take away the right 
 of striking out of ssmipathy, is not to sacrifice idealism. To 
 consult actual conditions and the dictates of reasonable expedi- 
 ency before striking or making demands upon employers is not 
 to abandon any ideal ever proposed by intelligent unionists. 
 
LABOR'S PLACE IN MODERN PROGRESS 155 
 
 The "idealism" of the labor movement consists primarily in 
 this, that the organized workmen in striking to better their 
 own condition and to secure for themselves more equitable treat- 
 ment are really battling for social and industrial progress. 
 
 When the workers raise the standard of living they raise it 
 for all. 
 
 When the unions reduce the hours of toil or increase pay, they 
 accomplish these beneficial results, not for any class, but for all 
 classes. 
 
 The strike-breaker, the "scab," the man who is too ignorant 
 or too servile, or too selfish to join a union, reaps the benefit of 
 an organization he does his worst to undermine. 
 
 Society needs justice, a fairer system of distribution, greater 
 opportunity, freedom and leisure for its workers. 
 
 The unions are doing the work of society; in Miss Addams' 
 words they are intrusted with the task of social amelioration. 
 Their methods must be governed by circumstances, but no 
 method which really promotes the welfare of union labor can 
 possibly injure any other class. — American Federationist, Octo- 
 ber, igo4. 
 
 The improvement in the condition of the working people of 
 our country is not the result of any kindly philanthropy, not a 
 matter of sympathy. The improvement is due entirely to the 
 united associated efforts of the working people themselves. — 
 From address at Dayton, Ohio, May 19, 1905. 
 
 Two influences have been operating to develop sentiment in 
 favor of establishing, in private industry, legislative regulation 
 of contractual relations; one, an ardent enthusiasm to accom- 
 plish big results by one revolutionizing regulation, the other a 
 sort of moral flabbiness that refuses to assume responsibility for 
 its own life but endeavors to cast upon society not only all re- 
 sponsibility for the environment in which people live and work, 
 but also responsibility for securing for them conditions that are 
 desirable and helpful. 
 
 The latter is a repudiation of the characteristics that enabled 
 Americans to get results. They never feared the hard places but 
 dared to wrestle with a primeval country. They were red-blooded 
 men and women with ruggedness in their wills. They were ready 
 
IS6 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 to fight for right and justice and equality, ready to defend what 
 was rightfully theirs. This is the spirit that has made the Ameri- 
 can labor movement the most aggressive labor organization in 
 the world, and has made its members the most efficient workers 
 to be found anywhere. The American labor movement has done 
 things for the workers despite hostility of employers and indiffer- 
 ence of society. 
 
 Then as to the other influence — the desire to secure the big 
 thing at one "fell swoop." That has appealed to the imagination 
 of dreamers and those who are infected with intellectual phantas- 
 magoria. 
 
 They forget that after all permanent changes and progress 
 must come from within man. You can't "save" people — they 
 must save themselves. Unless the working people are organized 
 to express their desires and needs and organized to express their 
 will, any other method tends to weaken initiative. 
 
 And this is not a narrow policy, unmindful of the difficulties 
 and hardships that encompass overworked, exploited workers. 
 The organized labor movement has done much for the unor- 
 ganized; in incalculable ways the unorganized have been the 
 beneficiaries of the fights and struggles of the organized. — From 
 pamphlet "The Workers and The Eight-Hour Work-day," 1915. 
 
 I said a while ago that we were primarily interested as union 
 men in our own members. That is true. We would not be hu- 
 man were we otherwise. But the men of labor would not give 
 their time and their lives to the agitation of, and to the educa- 
 tion of this great labor movement, if its influences were confined 
 to its members alone. 
 
 The labor organizations can not do an act of any sort but it 
 will have its influence, not only upon the members of the trade 
 or calling directly involved, but in the entire ramifications of 
 society. If the labor organization shall succeed in preventing a 
 reduction in wages, don't you see that that very fact will check 
 a reduction in wages of the non-union men as well? Don't you 
 see, that when the organizations of labor secure an increase in 
 wages, why they practically lift up the condition of the non- 
 union workers? Don't you know that when the hours of labor 
 of the union members are shortened, it shortens the hours of the 
 non-union men? This great agitation for more time, for more 
 
LABOR'S PLACE IN MODERN PROGRESS 157 
 
 leisure, for more opportunity, for the establishment of a universal 
 eight hour workday— it has had its influence not only upon union 
 and non-union workingmen, but it has its influence in every rami- 
 fication of society. 
 
 And so, my friends, let me say, that though our labor move- 
 ment to-day seems to be placed in the position that we are fight- 
 ing for the liberties of the union men, that is but a superficial 
 view of it. We are fighting for the liberties of all our people, not 
 only to-day, but for all time. 
 
 During the middle ages the nobles were wise enough to nurse 
 the power which was exercised and inherent in the free cities. 
 I take it, my friends, that it would be the part of wisdom that if 
 those who loved liberty most and who stood for the principles 
 upon which the republic of our country is based, would realize 
 that in the labor movement of our time is vested the power and 
 the spirit to defend justice and to perpetuate free institutions. If 
 they do not possess that understanding, if they do not realize that 
 fact, then to the workmen alone, and upon their shoulders alone, 
 falls the duty and responsibility of standing for the principles for 
 which the labor movement stands to-day, and which involves the 
 very essentials of free institutions. — From address at Chicago, 
 III., May I, igo8. 
 
 We assume, and of just right proclaim, that the physical con- 
 stitution of the American Republic and its political institutions 
 are rapidly forming the foundation of the world's social, moral, 
 and spiritual regeneration. . . . We are standing at the meet- 
 ing and parting of ways. We are preparing to take hold upon 
 a new form of national life. We are to leave the old ways, tak- 
 ing with us a glorious and profitable experience. We are to set 
 our faces toward the oncoming prodigious development of our 
 country. Population is increasing enormously. Commercial 
 centers are taxing their energies to provide for the handling of 
 our manufactured and raw materials, of our crops, and the hous- 
 ing, feeding, schooling, and general livelihood of their constantly 
 growing populations. Millions of acres of virgin soil are being 
 prepared by irrigation for the farmer and the husbandman. The 
 great watersheds of the country are more and more forcing them- 
 selves vpon the attention of wise and thoughtful conservators of 
 the nation's future; inland waterways; great canals and navi- 
 
iS8 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 gable streams whereon to float the commerce of the future; the 
 development of forestry as an art, and the seeding, planting, and 
 the cultivation of young trees; the appointment and maintenance 
 of national commissions to look after these great projects; the 
 prospective establishment of a Department of Labor with a 
 secretary in the President's cabinet — all these things loom up 
 on the horizon of this new day or era in the progress and develop- 
 ment of the American Republic. — American Federationist, July, 
 
 JQ08. 
 
 In no European country are our common schools equaled in 
 their opportunities for education, in their inexpensiveness to the 
 scholars, in their quality as a nursery of wholesome, manly and 
 womanly sentiment. Comparing the railway systems of Exurope 
 with those of America, the traveler is obliged to look downward 
 and backward, for in that respect Europe is half a century be- 
 hind. The product of the American printing press, taken in its 
 widest scope, its magazines, its newspapers, is a marvel to 
 Europeans in quality of output and cheapness of price as well 
 as richness in interest to all members of society. — From address 
 in New York City, October, igoQ. 
 
 There are men prominent in the industrial and political affairs 
 of our country who do not or will not understand the present 
 trend of economic and social development, nor the position which 
 the organized labor movement takes relative thereto, expressing 
 as it does an orderly and rational progress, and they consequently 
 set themselves against the projects and aspirations of the toilers. 
 They will, as a matter of grace, yield a crumb of materiality, yet 
 deny to the toilers the fundamental principle of freedom — free- 
 dom to exercise those personal activities necessary in the struggle 
 to work out their own amelioration and emancipation. It is most 
 unfortunate that opponents assume such an attitude of hostility 
 to the growth of the much misunderstood and misrepresented 
 labor movement of our country and our time, and endeavor to 
 circumscribe its activities within such limitations as would de- 
 prive its members of their inherent, natural, and constitutional 
 rights. 
 
 For what does organi2ed labor contend if not to improve the 
 standard of life, to uproot ignorance and foster education, to 
 
LABOR'S PLACE IN MODERN PROGRESS 159 
 
 instill character and manhood and an independent spirit among 
 our people, to bring about a recognition of the interdependence 
 in moaem life of man, and his fellow-man? We aim to establish 
 a normal workday, to take the children from the factory and the 
 workshop and give them the opportunity of the school, the home, 
 and the playground. In a word, the unions of labor, recognizing 
 the duty to toil, strive to educate their members, to make their 
 homes and lives more cheerful in every way, to contribute an 
 earnest effort toward making life the better worth living, to avail 
 their members of their rights as citizens and to bear the duties 
 and responsibilities and perform the obligations they owe to our 
 country and to our fellow-men. 
 
 In tne constant struggle, in the struggle of the ages, as well 
 as of our time, the self-same elements of bitter antagonism have 
 been and are now encountered. Labor contends that in every 
 effort to achieve its praiseworthy ends all honorable and lawful 
 means are not only commendable but should receive the sympa- 
 thetic support of every right-thinking, progressive man. The 
 wheels of industry must not be turned back nor the movements 
 of commerce halted. The industrial and commercial develop- 
 ment can not and must iiot be checked. 
 
 Concentration of wealth continues. The tools of labor have 
 been alienated from the toilers. Vast and intricate machinery 
 has supplanted them. The toilers must work. Their economic 
 position in society is changed. They can no longer act as indi-' 
 viduals to redress a wrong or to attain a right. They must pool 
 their individual effort for their associated protection and weal, 
 and if the concept of the sovereignty of citizenship is not a mean- 
 ingless phrase the toilers must in their common effort under 
 modem industrial conditions be accorded the exercise of their 
 rights as citizens, as men, and as workers, to protect themselves 
 from the tyranny which concentrated wealth and industry im- 
 pose if left unchecked, and wherever necessary to contend against 
 that tyranny and to work for a higher and better opportunity to 
 live and to progress. Judicial decisions and legislative enactments 
 are to be expected in the course of the evolution throu^ which 
 we are passing, but whatever their character the workers in out 
 Republic must be accorded at least the same rights as_ those 
 enjoyed by the subjects of the monarchy of Great Britain and 
 of nearly every other civilized country. 
 
i6o LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 Because the labor movement in our country is so thoroughly 
 imbued with the consciousness and the responsibility to ration- 
 ally, naturally, and in an orderly manner work out the great 
 problems of the relations of the workers to society and to the 
 evolution of industry and commerce, and particularly with the 
 necessity to work for a higher and better life for the workers 
 and for common humanity, I regard the attitude of such hostility 
 as I have recalled from men prominent in political and indus- 
 trial affairs as not only unjustified, but highly prejudicial to the 
 best interest of all our people and particularly dangerous to an 
 orderly adjustment and solution of the economic problems and 
 social difficulties of our time. 
 
 In all countries of the civilized world the economic problem 
 is up for discussion, and its solution, gradual, peaceful, or other- 
 wise, is a question of imminent importance. What in many other 
 countries is sought or accomplished by force or the show of force 
 is in our movement undertaken or achieved by the American 
 methods of agitation, education, and organization, and the exer- 
 cise of the personal rights of man in association with his fellows 
 — rights which must not imder any pretense be denied by the 
 subterfuge of injunctions or outlawed by the perversion or inter- 
 pretation of law. 
 
 If the labor movement of America can be outlawed and its 
 normal endeavors in the interests of the toilers and all the de- 
 prived stratum of humanity made impossible, the discontent of 
 our people with existing wrongs and their efforts for relief will 
 find their expression in another form, a form perhaps not quite 
 so rational or orderly. On another occasion I have expressed 
 this thought, whereupon malicious opponents have perverted it 
 to make it appear the utterance of a threat. It is not a threat; 
 it is a diagnosis of sodetary conditions; it is a prediction — a pre- 
 diction based upon a knowledge of the struggles of the peoples 
 in the past and an understanding of human nature. 
 
 The toilers must, for their own safety now and for the future, 
 organize. Their organizations must be accorded the full legal 
 status recognized in all voluntary associations dealing with purely 
 personal affairs and instituted not for profit. In the same degree 
 that these rights are recognized and conceded by present irra- 
 tional opponents, will the great economic and industrial prob- 
 lems of our time and of the future be rationally, safely, and 
 
LABOR'S PLACE IN MODERN PROGRESS i6i 
 
 peacefully solved. Solved they must be at all hazards. — From 
 Annual Report to A.F. of L. Convention, St. Louis, Mo., Novem- 
 ber, igio. 
 
 So we feel cheered on this Labor Day. We even feel like lay- 
 ing aside the hardness that is acquired in the course of many 
 battles against big odds and allowing the sentimental side of our 
 natures to show themselves. We feel like talking of our women 
 and children and the battle organized labor is waging to make 
 them comfortable at their work and healthy in their homes. We 
 want to cite the human suffering that the organized workers 
 have been able to abolish and to pledge ourselves anew to a con- 
 tinued battle to bring decent working hours and conditions into 
 these dark places of the nation that are still its most crying dis- 
 grace. And withal we are sanguine of a day that is coming when 
 all working people may perform their tasks with the satisfaction 
 that a happier life is possible to them. The progress has been 
 such that there is occasion for hopefulness. — From Labor Day 
 statement, igii. 
 
 Labor's contentions of many years have at length become 
 merged into, or have rather coordinated with, those of the pro- 
 gressive of all parties. The people as a whole, irrespective of 
 class, condition, calling or partisan alignment, have declared for 
 freedom in fact, and not merely in name. They are taking affairs 
 political into their own hands. They will no longer tolerate the 
 sale of legislation to the highest bidder or the granting of fran- 
 chises to the richest bribe-giver. Under the coming regime, as- 
 suredly there are to be no more court decrees entered as pre- 
 pared in advance and ordered by the attorney for the stronger 
 party — stronger politically or financially. Along with these 
 abuses will depart the midnight injunction and the policeman's 
 ready club, at the behest of those claiming a property right in the 
 labor of the vicinage, whether at work or on strike. In lieu of 
 the political boss and his machine, we shall have leadership of 
 intelligence, pleading for public justice, with adherents propor- 
 tioned in number to the strength of the arguments. The stuffed 
 ballot-box, the false count, and the perjured election return will 
 likewise disappear. With these opportunities, with these stimu- 
 lating inducements to free thought and action, the cause of 
 
i62 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 public justice will be advanced in all directions. Labor, acting 
 from the point of enlightened self-interest, and yet with a full 
 sense of responsibility respecting the just rights of all others in 
 society, will manfully and patriotically meet its enlarged re- 
 sponsibilities. — From Anntial Report to A. F. of L. Convention, 
 Atlanta, Ga., Novmber, igii. 
 
 With the progress of the ages has come a widening of men's 
 thoughts and social vision, a new appreciation of the meaning 
 of hfe with its attendant responsibilities and obligations. Among 
 men and women of all walks of life has come this awakening; all 
 manner of social solutions are urged; all kinds of associations for 
 the promotion of special reforms have arisen. The accumulated 
 momentum of all these activities has swept away the mental at- 
 mosphere generated by the old individualistic philosophy, made 
 way for broader, more generous sympathies and impulses, and 
 enlightened, scientific efforts to achieve the highest development 
 industrially, politically, socially, and morally. In starting the 
 forces that have led to these changes, our much misrepresented 
 organized labor movement has wielded an influence previously 
 little understood outside our ranks. As is just, we profit also by 
 the changes we have created, for this wider social vision has 
 enabled men to see the justice of our work and of our funda- 
 mental principles and purposes. To-day we find innumerable or- 
 ganizations working independently, or willing to cooperate with 
 us, to the end that workers shall be enabled to have better work- 
 ing conditions, a shorter working day and better wages, that our 
 life may be wholesome, clean, and uplifting. All of these things 
 are stepping-stones by which the toilers climb upward and on- 
 ward — each step revealing a wider horizon and an increasing 
 conception of human possibilities. . . . 
 
 Contemplation of the progress of labor reveals the journey up- 
 ward through the centuries from the status of slavery to serf- 
 dom to villenage, and finally to freedom, opening the road to 
 a new plane of battle-]flegal, individual freedom did not as such 
 secure industrial and social freedom. The struggle to secure for 
 the individual, opportunity for development of mental, physical, 
 and moral powers that he might enter into his rightful heritage, 
 joy in life and work, began with juristic freedom and is the in- 
 spiration of our present activitiesj[ To show what progress we 
 
LABOR'S PLACE IN MODERN PROGRESS 163 
 
 have made, one has only to turn the pages of history. The 
 organized workman of to-day enjoys comforts of which feudal 
 barons never dreamed — comforts of home, heating, furnishing, 
 sanitation, food, and clothing; his children receive in the public 
 schools an education more comprehensive than medieval univer- 
 sities could bestow; his opportunities for intellectual stimulation 
 and social amusement have increased a thousandfold; his ad- 
 vantages in transportation and communication have revolution- 
 ized living. These same pages of history tell the story of how 
 those who labor have been able to secure so much greater pro- 
 portion of the social wealth. Wherever the working people have 
 made progress, some form of organization has been the agency 
 that has transformed individual impotency into collective strength 
 — fraternities, lodges, merchant guilds, craft guilds have been 
 helpful, but the labor unions, trade unions, have been the most 
 potent factors in the forward movement. A survey of methods 
 shows that the forms of "labor war" have been constantly re- 
 fined; free workmen do not employ the methods of revolting 
 slaves. As the workers' organizations were strengthened, more 
 benefits were secured; as a result of these benefits, the workers 
 developed physically and mentally and were able to produce 
 more wealth; with a broader outlook and increased self-apprecia- 
 tion, new demands were formulated — so the cycle of progress 
 continues. This dynamic examination presents achievements of 
 which we are justly proud, affords encouragement for continua- 
 tion of the struggle. The backsets have been temporary; what 
 seemed at the time disasters, the historic perspective reveals as 
 incentives to new methods and activities; increased well-being has 
 been permanent. . . . 
 
 This more efficient, more human worker, demands better work- 
 ing conditions, the aim being to conserve human resources. Much 
 has been done to let pure air and sunshine into working places, 
 to exclude conditions breeding organisms injurious to life, but 
 ever-increasing knowledge and the widening of our conception 
 forbid us to stop or stay in the crusade for human welfare. 
 Among all the organizations on the American continent working 
 upon the various phases of this great problem, the American 
 Federation of Labor is the leader, and has often been the pioneer 
 blazing the way. . . . 
 
 As a result of the recent awakening of the workers of the 
 
i64 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 United States, this growing realization of their political power 
 and influence, more progress in remedial, constructive legisla- 
 tion has been made this year than in the decade previous. We 
 do need new devices and new methods of political expression, but 
 not half as much as we need to realize and to use the power that 
 we now possess, to consecrate ourselves and our ability to hu- 
 manity's cause. 
 
 As labor organizations have been able to secure advantages 
 for their members, they have endeavored as far as possible to 
 share these with the workmen not enrolled in their ranks. We 
 have endeavored to help them to help themselves, to organize, 
 federate, and educate their fellow-workers so that we shall hasten 
 the time when poverty with its fear and degradation shall be 
 eliminated, and the way opened for lasting progress. Rights and 
 privileges that are to-day entrusted to our care, are the fruits of 
 past struggles. We are obligated to preserve inviolate the things 
 entrusted to our keeping, and to account for them with interest 
 to the next age. — From Annual Report to A.F. of L. Convention, 
 Rochester, N. Y., November, 1Q12. 
 
 "The old idea was that there were three professions — doctor, 
 minister, lawyer — ^but that idea has passed. Conscientious ditch- 
 digging is as much a profession as any," so spoke Vice-President 
 Marshall who refuses to be condemned to the conventional foiu* 
 years of silence. And he rightly interpreted changing opinion 
 which no longer sharply distinguishes between business and pro- 
 fessions and trades. " After all it is not so much the nature of 
 the work done that lifts it above mere drudgery and transforms 
 it into a calling as it is the attitude of the worker toward his 
 work. There is a marked tendency in the educational and in- 
 dustrial world to foster a spirit and an imderstanding that shall 
 give each confidence and professional pride in his particular job 
 whether it be grinding teeth or pins, collecting tickets or bond 
 coupons, painting houses or pictures. 
 
 The ideal of modern education is to develop individual effi- 
 ciency that shall enable the worker to take creative satisfaction 
 in good work, done with an understanding of its relation to social 
 needs. This ideal' is shaping the policies of the public schools 
 and the universities. Our oldest university, Harvard, has re- 
 cently added a new school, that of Business Administration, and 
 
LABOR'S PLACE IN MODERN PROGRESS 165 
 
 will credit its courses equally with those of the long-recognized 
 Schools of Art, Law, Science, etc. This is not a new idea, for 
 similar schools have been established by many colleges and uni- 
 versities, but it indicates increasing spread of true democracy. 
 It might be said that business is being professionalized or that 
 all professions are becoming business — both equally true. At any 
 rate, we are reaching the conviction that there's no job so lowly 
 but what is worth doing for the work's sake, if it serves a real 
 need — and the worker should be respected accordingly, duly com- 
 pensated that he may have joy and self-respect in his calling. 
 Idealism? Surely, but it is a good thing to infuse idealism into 
 every job. , Idealism is necessary to every work and movement- 
 it helps to keep the purpose true and steady and honest. . . . 
 
 Idealism preserves faith in mankind and confidence in the ef- 
 fectiveness of purposeful work. So the idealism of the trade 
 union movement has shaped its policies, has given breadth and 
 depth to its influence, and Jias brought a freer life and hope to 
 many. — American Federationist, July, 191 3. 
 
 Labor is not only in sympathy with but will support all move- 
 ments for the conservation and betterment of humanity. In fact, 
 a compelling sense of responsibility for human conservation and 
 the desire to protect individual interests are among the causes 
 for organization among the workers. In labor's economic plat- 
 form are demands for a shorter working day aiid a living wage — 
 two conditions absolutely essential to physical well-being. Or- 
 ganized labor insists upon safety, sanitation, compulsory educa- 
 tion, and many practical educational developments and advan- 
 tages which aid the individual to reach the fullest development. 
 We would have the children develop sound bodies and strong, 
 healthy minds, would fit them for productive living, and would 
 enable them to do the best work of which they are capable and 
 then assure to them a just compensation. — 'American Federa- 
 tionist, October, 1913. 
 
 On June 25, 1868, Congress enacted an eight-hour law. On 
 May 19, 1869, President Grant issued a proclamation forbidding 
 a reduction in wages on account of any reduction of the hours 
 of labor. On May 11, 1872, President Grant issued a proclama- 
 tion calling attention to what were presented to him as violations 
 
1 66 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 of the eight-hour act, and issued a direction to the departments 
 of the Government to make no reduction in the wages paid by 
 the Government by the day for laborers, workingmen, and me- 
 chanics, on account of the reduction in the hours of labor. On 
 May i8, 1872, Congress enacted a law providing that the proper 
 accounting officers be directed, authorized, and required to settle 
 accounts for the services of workers who had been required to 
 work more than eight hours a day. On March 30, 1888, in the 
 urgent deficiency bill, the Public Printer was directed to enforce 
 the provisions of the eight-hour law in the department under 
 his charge. 
 
 On May 24, 1888, the eight-hour law was extended to apply 
 to the letter carriers. On August i, 1892, a further law was 
 adopted applying not only to the Government employees, but to 
 mechanics and artisans employed by any contractor or subcon- 
 tractor, and then followed the interpretations of that law to 
 which I have already called attention. Then followed the amend- 
 ments to that law which we sought, and finally, on June 8, 1912, 
 the law was amended in order to forbid the employment of men 
 beyond the eight-hour limit, unless there was a great emergency 
 as provided by the law. I may say that President Taft pre- 
 sented me with the pen with which he signed that law. — From 
 abstract of testimony before House Lobby Investigation Com^ 
 mittee, Washington, D. C., December, igij. 
 
 The trade unions of America reached their highest development 
 during the year 19 13. They made themselves felt in city coun- 
 cils, county boards, county court-houses, state legislatures, state 
 courts, the national Congress, the federal courts, and in every 
 sphere where human activity and human betterment can be ob- 
 tained for the workers through legislative or judicial means, but 
 they used those great agencies as supplemental agencies in the 
 wonderful work they have accomplished themselves through their 
 economic organization — the trade unions. They have made their 
 influence felt among school boards, colleges and state universities, 
 in behalf of a higher, better, more practical, more useful, system 
 of education, because the workers realize that the greatest foe 
 which labor has is ignorance, and that the only way to uproot 
 ignorance is to procure more knowledge, not knowledge of a 
 superficial character, but knowledge of the power of men work- 
 
LABOR'S PLACE IN MODERN PROGRESS 167 
 
 ing in associated effort with the determination to do the greatest 
 good to the greatest number. — From report to International Fed' 
 eration of Trade Unions, igi4. 
 
 No man can carry on a great industry alone. No great for- 
 tune has been amassed through the efforts of one individual. The 
 combined minds of all associated together in the industry, their 
 labor power, their cooperation and service are necessary to the 
 success of the undertaking. Is there a man so impervious to the 
 molding forces of the world in which he lives as to point to any 
 one thing and say, "I, alone, did that?" Each of us is the 
 heir of all the ages — none of us lives, acts, or thinks by himself 
 alone. To ignore reality and to force upon the toilers a concept 
 of individual isolation is to attempt to erect an opposition im- 
 pervious to the meaning of natural forces and conditions that can 
 only dam them back until the accumulated force sweeps aside 
 everything. — American Federationist, May, 191 4. 
 
 Nor do I believe, from my common observation of the plaster- 
 ers of America, or of the working people of America, that the 
 conditions of the plasterers or the working people generally are 
 worse to-day than they have ever been in the past. I glance 
 around me here and I look into the faces of plasterers. I go 
 through the country and see plasterers at work, as well as plast- 
 erers in conference and in meetings, and I have visited plasterers 
 and other workers in their homes, and I know that both in physi- 
 cal development, and in mental attainment, and in their home 
 life, as regards their homes and surroundings, and the opportuni- 
 ties given their children to go to the schools, they are far in 
 advance of the time when you and I, at their age, were at the 
 factories, in the work-shops, in the mills and in the mines. In 
 every respect have the conditions of the working people, and the 
 plasterers having kept pace with them, materially improved, both 
 as to development and physical betterment. — From address at 
 Operative Plasterers' Convention, Washington, D. C, September 
 28, 1Q14. 
 
 On March 4, 1915, President Wilson signed the seamen's bill 
 — an act to promote the welfare of American seamen, to promote 
 safety at sea, and to abolish arrest and imprisonment as a pen- 
 
i68 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 alty for desertion and to secure the abrogation of treaty pro- 
 visions in relation thereto. 
 
 This is a law of international significance. It makes the soil 
 of America sacred land upon which no bondman may set foot 
 without losing his fetters. 
 
 The seamen's legislation not only frees American seamen on 
 American soil but in all of the ports of the world, and bestows the 
 same freedom upon the seamen of every vessel coming into 
 American ports. The law abolishes the imprisonment penalty 
 that previously could be imposed upon any seaman for quitting 
 work on his vessel in a foreign port, and releases American con- 
 suls from their obligations to act as "slave catchers" for Ameri- 
 can ships in foreign ports. All parts of treaties which provide 
 for the arrest and imprisonment of sailors and officers quitting 
 foreign merchant vessels in American ports are abolished. 
 
 The legislation provides for the regulation of hours of work 
 and of the pasmient, allotment and attachment of wages. It 
 establishes better and specific standards regulating the living 
 quarters of the sailors and the provisions for their personal com- 
 fort and welfare. It requires better provisions for the safety 
 of all on board the vessel. Under the new legislation seamen 
 have the right to demand an inspection of the vessel to test its 
 seaworthiness. 
 
 But the important change that has a revolutionary possibility 
 is the section concerned with the qualifications of the sailors who 
 man the vessels. The qualifications for able seamen demand that 
 those into whose hands is placed the safety of the human lives 
 on the vessel, shall have skill, efficiency, resourcefulness. These 
 are qualities of free men. This part of the law means that 
 Americans will return to service on the sea, a service in which 
 they earned great fame, and will again. Freedom, better condi- 
 tions, possibilities for increased betterment will establish Ameri- 
 can standards necessary for American seamen. The seamen's 
 law, known for years as Andrew Furuseth's bill, is one of the 
 great acts of legislation. It makes sacred those human rights 
 which are the very heart of human freedom. 
 
 The American Federation of Labor very materially and effec- 
 tively aided in the years of effort to secure the enactment of the 
 seamen's bill; its officers contributed their fullest support. In 
 the Bill of Grievances formulated by the great conference of the 
 
LABOR'S PLACE IN MODERN PROGRESS 169 
 
 officers of international unions in Washington, 1906, the demand 
 for the seamen's bill was given a conspicuous place. But all said 
 and done it is only a just appreciation to say that to Andrew 
 Furuseth is due the honor and the glory not only for the great 
 triumph, but for the terrific contest. And what a contest it was 
 is scarcely in the power of any one to tell. 
 
 The Seamen's Act has a rightful place among those really im- 
 portant American legislative acts that have dedicated our soil to 
 .freedom. It belongs with the emancipation proclamation of 
 Lincoln and the legislative declaration of Congress, "That the 
 labor power of a human being is not a commodity or article of 
 commerce." — American Federationist, April, igi5. 
 
 Every real advance in human freedom is a tremendous event 
 in history. For this reason, we proclaim as one of the great 
 legislative declarations of all the ages this sentence in the Clay- 
 ton Anti-trust Act: ". The labor of a human being is not a com- 
 modity or article of commerce.. 
 
 The far-reaching revolutionary significance of that declara- 
 tion is not fully grasped by all. It sweeps away legal precedents 
 and legal philosophy that have served to impede labor's efforts 
 to rid itself of all vestiges of the conditions and relations that 
 existed when human workers were bom slaves and held as slaves. 
 It demolishes that' structure of economic theory that had been 
 built up upon the concept that human power to produce is a 
 commodity to be bought, owned and controlled by employers. 
 
 The principle embodied in this legislative declaration will hu- 
 manize legal and economic theories. — American Federationist, 
 September, 1915. 
 
 Leisure instills the desire to travel, to see other parts. Leisure 
 cultivates tastes for art, music, the concert, operas, the theater. 
 But the new opportunities availed of in any channel are no 
 longer luxuries. The luxuries of the past have become the neces- 
 sities of to-day, and all mankind agrees that in order that the 
 workers may be counted upon to continue their labor, the neces- 
 sities of life must be assured them. It follows, therefore, that 
 to make the luxuries of to-day the necessities of life for the 
 morrow — to continually raise the standard of life of the work- 
 ers — is in the highest degree sound economy; moral, social, and 
 
I70 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 material progress in the interests of the workers is progress in 
 the interests of all. — From article prepared for Bureau of Labor 
 Statistics of Michigan, i8g6. 
 
 Out in the world of labor and life the workers have put a real 
 meaning into the phrase, "The Dignity of Labor." That reality 
 has been created out of the power of the bones and sinews and 
 the brains of those who work for wages and has been given con- 
 crete form in our material civilization. They have given not only 
 their working power, but they have broken their bones, mangled 
 their flesh, spilled their blood, and have expended the best in 
 life and spirit on the work of the world. It has given the dig- 
 nity of labor a deeper and more permanent expression in the 
 ideals of humanity, justice and freedom, that the workers have 
 been made a part of the guiding and directing forces of our 
 nation. Every day's work has been a demonstration that the 
 workers can and do do things. They supply the creative power 
 that is a necessary part of the processes of material produc- 
 tion. The work of their hands and brain is everywhere — ^build- 
 ings of industry and railroads that unite the distant parts of 
 our country, the material agencies of transportation and com- 
 munication, articles of daily food, use and wear, and in all of 
 that which pertains to the material agencies of life and work. 
 They have contributed something more than mechanical pro- 
 ducing power. It is the mind and the insight controlling the 
 muscles of the workers that give them value as producers and as 
 members of society. . . . 
 
 The basis for representation and participation in the affairs 
 of organized society is man, not property. The purpose of social 
 organization is the furtherance of human rights, interests, jus- 
 tice and liberty — it seeks to achieve a beautiful ideal — the full- 
 ness of life and opportunity for all. The workers, the masses 
 of the people, therefore have a right to participate, and will insist 
 upon this participation in the determination and control of all 
 that concerns their lives and the lives of the generations yet to 
 come. — American Federationist, February, igi6. 
 
 In the last twelve years the conditions of the working people 
 in the matter of wages, hours, conditions of employment, safety 
 while at work — in fact, all conditions that make for a better life 
 
LABOR'S PLACE IN MODERN PROGRESS 171 
 
 — ^have improved more than they have during any other period 
 or among any other people in the history of the world. I say 
 this despite the spirit of disappointment I feel because of the 
 seemingly slow progress made. There is just resentment against 
 conditions that deny to the workers the best possible opportu- 
 nities of work and life, and out of that spirit of resentment there 
 is a movement of men and women who are pressing home upon 
 employers and society the greater rights and the greater op- 
 portunities to which the toilers of America are entitled. But 
 because of this impatient and resentful spirit of trades unionists, 
 I can not permit to go unchallenged the attempt that has been 
 made in the name of the Socialist party of America to aim a 
 death blow at the trades union movement. . . . 
 
 The truth is that due to present abnormal conditions prices 
 have risen, and are now abnormally high. You can not use this 
 last year as a criterion, because everything has been disarranged ; 
 the international commerce of the world has been disarranged 
 and disorganized. At this moment comparisons are not fair 
 either to one side or the other of any controversy. Disregarding 
 this period of disorganization, the prices of the essentials have 
 gone downward since 1870. The fact of the matter is that we 
 have so far enlarged our conception of what we call the neces- 
 saries of life during the past thirty years that there is no way to 
 compare the standard of life of the worker of the past with the 
 life of the worker to-day. Hours of labor have been shortened, 
 working conditions have been improved, and there is a growing 
 tendency towards safety and sanitation. The increase in wages 
 alone has been of tremendous importance. . . . 
 
 In 1888 the average length of lives of ths members [of the 
 Cigarmakers' International Union of America] was 31 years, 4 
 months and 20 days. 
 
 In 1890 the total age of 212 deceased members was reported 
 as 7,943 years, making an average of 37 years and 6 months at 
 time of death. 
 
 In 1900 the total age of 339 deceased members was reported 
 as 14,762 years, making an average of 43 years and 6 months at 
 time of death. 
 
 In 1910 the total age of 588 deceased members was reported 
 as 29,362 years, making an average of 49 years and 10 months 
 at time of death. 
 
172 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 In 191 1 the total age of 622 deceased members was reported 
 as 31,209 years, making an average of 50 years and i month at 
 time of death. 
 
 This shows an increase in the average length of the lives of 
 members of 18 years, 8 months and 10 days since 1888, or a 
 period of 23 years. 
 
 In 1890 the average age of the members' wives and mothers 
 who died was 38 years. 
 
 In 191 1 the average age of the members' wives and mothers 
 who died was 48 years. 
 
 This shows an increase of 10 years in the length of lives of the 
 wives and mothers of the members in a period of 21 years. 
 
 I have not had an opportunity to ascertain accurate figures and 
 data of the other organizations, the other international and na- 
 tional unions of America, but I say this to you, gentlemen, with a 
 knowledge of the responsibility that is carried with the state- 
 ment, that the other organizations of labor, the other trade 
 unions, can show as good, or nearly as good, and in some instances 
 better results than I have quoted. — From testimony before Coip- 
 gressional Committee, April 11, igi6, on resolution jar a Com- 
 mission on Social Insurance. 
 
 If those of you who are of mature years will bring your minds 
 back, and, if you of more recent times, who may have read or 
 heard of conditions prevailing in the olden time, will imagine the 
 contrast when the doors of men and women in decent homes were 
 closed in the faces of the men who dared preach the gospel of the 
 rights of labor, and contrast that situation with now, this glor- 
 ious era in which we live, when at the dedication of this magni- 
 ficent structure erected for service in the cause of labor, jus- 
 tice, freedom, and humanity, we find the President of this great 
 Republic of ours adorning this occasion, with not only his pres- 
 ence, but the presence of members of his Cabinet, you will find 
 a marvelous change. From the time of slavery, when all the 
 workers, not only the blacks but the whites were slaves, when the 
 owner, the master, was lord of all, when there were none to say 
 to him nay against his overlordship over those men and women 
 workers whom he owned, from the time of serfdom to our institu- 
 tions of industry of to-day, there has been a growth that dazzles 
 the mind. This is a wonderful age in which we are privileged to 
 
LABOR'S PLACE IN MODERN PROGRESS 173 
 
 live. There has been running through the course of history the 
 struggle of the masses of the people, the hewers of wood and the 
 drawers of water. Wherever injustice and tyranny were exer- 
 cised, it was the masses, it was the people, the workers, who 
 suffered. It was and is the mission of the masses of the people, 
 it is the mission of the workers of our time, it is the mission of 
 the much misunderstood and misrepresented organized labor 
 movement, to carry on the work to its fulfillment so that the 
 wonderful sentiment and view and rights declared in our Decla- 
 ration of Independence, that man is endowed with certain in- 
 alienable rights, and that among these are the right to life, liberty 
 and the pursuit of happiness, shall not only be a declaration that 
 was given to the world but shall establish a new status and a 
 new concept of new rights of man. 
 
 That declaration gave to us this Republic of ours with all its 
 opportunities and it is the purpose of the organized labor move- 
 ment of America to make these declarations a charter of human 
 rights, the living actual rules of our every-day life. Men are 
 not necessarily free because declarations of independence so 
 declare. Men are not necessarily free because the Constitution 
 guarantees freedom. Men are given the opportunities for free- 
 dom and they must, if they aim to be free, exercise the activities 
 that come with intelligent free men. — From address at dedication 
 of American Federation of Labor Building, Washington, D. C, 
 Jtdy 4, igi6. 
 
 The achievements of these thirty-six years of growth and 
 activity are tj^ified in the Labor Temple that was dedicated on 
 Independence Day. The achievement of this purpose demon- 
 strates that the labor movement is now a potential factor in 
 national life and has earned a place of responsibility and honor- 
 able recognition. Whatever of achievement and recognition has 
 come to the organized labor movement is the result of persistence 
 and well-directed struggle against untold opposition. It speaks 
 something for what has been accomplished that the President of 
 the United States accepted the invitation to deliver the chief 
 address made at the dedication of Labor's Temple. Nor was 
 the President alone in his desire to express his appreciation of 
 the significance and the importance of the labor movement. 
 There were present also the Vice-President of the United States, 
 
174 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 members of the President's Cabinet, members of the United 
 States Congress and other governmental officials. — American 
 Federationist, August, iqi6. 
 
 We are all here in this great melting pot of America. There 
 is none of us who is going back to the old country to stay there. 
 Our children are here. All our hope for the future is here. Our 
 sacred dead are here. The people of these United States are 
 confronted with the great problem of self-government, not a 
 government which can be overturned in the night and created 
 anew in the morning. We do not and cannot have progressive, 
 humanitarian, liberty-protecting government when government 
 can be overturned in the twinkling of an eye or the turning of 
 a hand. We want a government flexible, capable of improve- 
 ment as our conscience and our intelligence quicken, as our 
 understanding broadens and our hearts are touched with humani- 
 tarian impulses, with the understanding and the desire to do the 
 right, to help bear our brothers' burdens, to recognize that the 
 meanest among us is entitled to the consideration and the pro- 
 tection of the strong, to do all that man can do for his fellows, 
 to be willing to bear the burden and the responsibihties which 
 are entailed in the doing of the right. — From address accepting 
 the presidency of the American Alliance for Labor and Democ- 
 racy, Minneapolis, Minn., September 7, igij. 
 
VII 
 
 ORGANIZED LABOR'S CHALLENGE TO 
 SOCIALISM AND REVOLUTION 
 
 SOCIALISM AND SOCIALIST TACTICS 
 
 There are men — not so numerous now as they have been in 
 the past — who are endeavoring to conquer the trades-union move- 
 ment and subordinate it to those doctrines [socialism and com- 
 munism] and in a measure, in a few organizations, that condition 
 of things exists, but by no means does it exist in the largest, most 
 powerful and best organized trade unions. There the view of 
 which I spoke just now, the desire to improve the condition of 
 the workingmen by and through the efforts of the trades union, is 
 fully lived up to. . . . The endeavors of which I have spoken, 
 made by certain persons to conquer the trades unions in certain 
 cases, are resisted by the trades unionists. ... I believe that the 
 existence of the trades-union movement, more especially where 
 the unionists are better organized, has evoked a spirit and a de- 
 mand for reform, but has held in check the more radical elements 
 in society. — From testimony before United States Senate commit- 
 tee upon the Relations between Capital and Labor (Henry W. 
 Blair, chairman), August i8, 1883. 
 
 Perhaps of all the enemies with whom the trade unions have to 
 contend there is no one more dangerous, and often villainous, 
 than he who under the mask of S3mipathy with the toiler's strug- 
 gle for justice sets forth a patent scheme and nostrum for the 
 immediate and absolute remedy of all the ills to which the 
 workers are heir. 
 
 The fact that the workers organize in unions and secure wages, 
 advantages and conditions of employment, which, without organ- 
 ization, would never be conceded, is nothing to these economic 
 soothsayers and political healers. 
 
 175 
 
176 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 Should the trade union succeed in winning a strike and secur- 
 ing better conditions, the result is decried and the argument set 
 forth that this is deplorable, since, in their own vernacular, "it 
 makes the working people contented with the present order of 
 society and Government," hence is a hindrance to the full com- 
 prehension and introduction of their pet theory. On the other 
 hand, should the men lose a strike, it is immediately harped upon 
 in a frantic effort to prove that the trade union is "old, effete and 
 impotent." 
 
 The fact that in spite of the tremendous development of 
 industry within the last few decades, the stupendous and mar- 
 velous discoveries and inventions of new forces and their appli- 
 cation to the industry and commerce of the country, the workers 
 have not only forced concessions from the employing classes, 
 which have enhanced their condition materially, morally and 
 socially, but more than that, gave the workers the great lesson of 
 the power of organization, the self-sacrifice necessary at times 
 to achieve success, the mutual inter-dependence of workers in 
 order to attain their rights and establish a sympathy and recog- 
 nition of their identity of interests — all these count as nothing 
 with the economic quack. — American Federationist, April, j8q6. 
 
 Our friends, the socialists, always when with us have an ex- 
 cellent conception of the trouble in our industrial life. They 
 say, as we say, and as every intelligent man or woman says, 
 that there are miseries which surround us. We recognize the 
 poverty, we know the sweatshop, we can play on every string 
 of the harp, and touch the tenderest chords of human sympathy; 
 but while we recognize the evil and would apply the remedy, our 
 socialist friends would look forward to the promised land, and 
 wait for "the sweet by and by." Their statements as to economic 
 ills are right, their conclusions and their philosophy are all 
 askew. . . . 
 
 There has not been a legislative body before which the other 
 officers of the Federation or I myself have appeared, nor an 
 association of employers, nor individual employers with whom 
 we have met in conference but that we have been confronted with 
 this socialistic amendment, so called, which came near being 
 passed at New Orleans. It has made, and will make, our work 
 doubly difficult, because these employers have refused and do 
 
ORGANIZED LABOR'S CHALLENGE 177 
 
 refuse to confer for the adjustment of difficulties and disputes 
 when they are led to believe by declaration that property is in 
 danger of confiscation. 
 
 We have been asked how many trade unionists there are in 
 Congress. I venture to say that there are more trade unionists 
 in Congress and in our state legislatures holding clear cards than 
 there are elsewhere in similar positions the world over. Do you 
 suppose the socialists want trade unionists elected to Congress 
 and to the legislatures? 
 
 [Delegate J. Keyes. "No."] 
 
 Of course, no. Of course, Socialist Brother Keyes, "No." I 
 am proud of you, Brother Keyes, for your honesty in admitting 
 it. But what Brother Keyes has just admitted on the floor is 
 very true of every other socialist in the convention. As a matter 
 of fact, wherever there has been a trade unionist candidate for 
 any poUtical office if there have been half a dozen socialists in 
 town they have always tried to defeat the trade unionists. 
 
 Now, there has been a remark made about the passage of the 
 military law by Congress. I agree it would have been a good 
 thing if we could have prevented the passage of that law, but 
 ' the delegate said that if we even had a minority in Congress it 
 could not have become law. I point him to the fact that in 
 Germany they have the largest number of any party in the 
 parliament of that country, and yet they have the most tyrannical 
 military laws of any country on the globe. . . . 
 
 I am not with your party because I want to be in line with 
 the declaration that the trade union policy, the movement and 
 the work, must be unhampered by your political nostrums. 
 
 When the socialists formed the American Labor Union in 
 rivalry to the A. F. of L., I took occasion to continually say in 
 The American Federationist that it was but another attempt to 
 form another socialist trade and labor alliance without its prac- 
 tical courage to openly declare its enmity to the American trade 
 union movement. 
 
 Is it not a fact that no matter what we achieve, we are be- 
 littled by the socialists? Even the Labor Day we have achieved 
 for all the people of our country — the proposition comes in here 
 to abolish it and to make Labor Day in line with the Labor Day 
 of continental Europe, May ist. The A. F. of L. in 1889 
 addressed a letter to the French workingmen, suggesting to them 
 
178 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 to celebrate the first of May when the carpenters were to inaugu- 
 rate the eight-hour day; and from that suggestion, made by your 
 humble servant, they have made the first of May of each year 
 their holiday, and how do they celebrate it, usually on the 
 Sunday before or the Sunday after. They take no holiday, but 
 they sometimes celebrate in the evening of May ist. 
 
 In no country on the globe has labor ever taken a day for 
 itself without asking consent, or begging or apologizing for itself, 
 except in this country. And yet the socialists want us to give 
 up our own Labor Day and celebrate on May ist, I suppose in 
 the evening. 
 
 The secretary of the Socialist Party has severed his connection 
 with the reformed (?) Socialist Party, because of his being op- 
 posed to the hostile tactics of that party to the trade imions; 
 and, being at heart a trade unionist, he was forced out of his 
 position. Since that time he has given to the world the real 
 reasons why he was forced out — because he dared to stand up in 
 defense of trade unions and against the policy of antagonizing 
 the trade unions and hoisting up the American Labor Union. 
 
 Is it not true, to a very great extent, that your socialistic 
 American Labor Union, except the miners and a very few others, 
 is made up very largely of expelled members of the trade unions 
 who broke faith with their fellow- workmen? Do you socialists 
 here deny it? Your official papers say so, and your socialist 
 organizers' reports admit it. Are your socialist unions not boy- 
 cotting the International Boot and Shoe Workers' Union label 
 and the International Papermakers' Union label, and other inter- 
 national unions, and where they do not boycott them, hold the 
 threat over the heads of some other unions, compelling them 
 either to submit, or forcing them to waver in their fealty and 
 loyalty to the movement? 
 
 The Cigarmakers' Union of Denver has had this condition of 
 things confront it. They were threatened with a socialist boycott 
 of their label, and their president and those poor fellows, many 
 of whom can not labor elsewhere, must submit to the dictates of 
 the socialist organization, for they have no other alternative 
 except to get out of Denver. Because they can not otherwise 
 work and support themselves, they must submit, or be boycotted 
 by socialists out of the beneficent climate of Denver, and driven 
 elsewhere, to pine away from the ravages of that dread disease 
 
ORGANIZED LABOR'S CHALLENGE 179 
 
 from which so many suffer and by reason of which they sought 
 that climate for the relief afforded. 
 
 Men of labor, if you were in the office of the A. F. of L. for a 
 time and you knew the things that transpire in the labor move- 
 ment in a general and in a specific way — for they are all focussed 
 there, and we know what is going on and we know the enemies 
 of the labor movement — you would have your opinion clear cut 
 upon this subject. Why, we have spent more money in organizing 
 in Colorado itself than in any other state, notwithstemding that, 
 industrially considered, it ought to cost very little. 
 
 I want to tell, you socialists that I have studied your philos- 
 ophy; read your works upon economics, and not the meanest of 
 tliem; studied your standard works, both in English and German 
 — have not only read, but studied them. I have heard your 
 orators and watched the work of your movement the world over. 
 I have kept close watch upon your doctrines for thirty years; 
 have been closely associated with many of you, and know how 
 you think and what you propose. I know, too, what you have 
 up your sleeve. And I want to say that I am entirely at variance 
 with your philosophy. I declare it to you, I am not only at 
 variance with your doctrines, but with your philosophy. " 
 
 Economically, you are unsound; socially, you are wrong; 
 industrially, you are an impossibility .-:-F;-oto address at Boston 
 Convention of A. F. of L., December, 1903. 
 
 The natural organization of the wage-earners; the historic 
 development of associated effort of the toiling masses; the work 
 of years and years; the only concentrated movement of the 
 working people of our time that has brought the toiling masses 
 out of the slough of misery and despond; the organization that 
 forms the only barrier for their protection against modern greed 
 and avarice, and which has placed us in the splendid position of 
 vantage we now enjoy — the trade unions — ^these have been de- 
 cried and denounced by men who, hiding their villainy and 
 hypocrisy under the cloak of friendship for labor, bombastically 
 declared and now boast that our unions must be disrupted, 
 divided, and destroyed. 
 
 And what the reason? Because the American trade union 
 movement declines to permit itself to become committed to a 
 speculative, theoretical doctrine; declines the domination of our 
 
i8o LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 movement by fantastical doctrinaires; declines to be made a tail 
 to the kite of a political party, the head and front of which are 
 out of touch and out of real sympathy with the struggles, the 
 hopes, the real aspirations of the toiling masses in their effort to 
 attain practical, tangible results in a rational and natural 
 movement. 
 
 And what the purpose? That in the destruction of the only 
 genuinely protective organization of the working people they 
 may become abjectly powerless, either to protect or promote 
 their economic interests. The fool hope is entertained that in 
 their desperation the impoverished workmen will inaugurate a 
 physical force revolution and confiscate all property. In another 
 way it is a repetition of the appeal and advice to the workers to 
 "be content with their lot" here and now, and postpone their 
 effort for material improvement to the sweet bye and bye of the 
 hereafter. Quite apart from the consideration of either the 
 unsoundness or impracticability of their philosophy and doc- 
 trines, the whole history of man testifies to this one fact, that 
 the more impoverished a people are, or become, the less capable 
 and the less inclined are they to defend their interests and their 
 rights; the less qualified are they to conceive them, defend them, 
 or, if necessary, contend and fight for them. 
 
 There are but two hypotheses upon which can be explained 
 the conduct of those who endeavor to engineer the scheme of 
 trade union disruption; one, that they are incompetent derelicts 
 on the industrial sea, a constant menace to the trade union crafts; 
 or, second, that they are in league with the worst elements of 
 antagonistic capitalism to render as effective service as they can 
 to try and confuse, diffuse, pervert, and make trade union activity 
 the least possibly effective. — From Annual Report to A. F. of L. 
 Convention, Pittsbtirgh, Pa., November, 1905. 
 
 In 1890 the first open effort was made to gain an entering 
 wedge for the [socialist] party to dominate the labor movement 
 of America. The Central Labor Union of New York City, 
 dominated by the socialist political party, surrendered its charter 
 to the A. F. of L. Later, desirous of retrieving its mistake, the 
 C. L. U. made application for a charter, which was refused 
 because the socialist political party was represented in the central 
 body. Upon this issue, the socialists determined to make their 
 
ORGANIZED LABOR'S CHALLENGE i8i 
 
 fight upon the A. F. of L. They planned to make a great on- 
 slaught upon the A. F. of L. convention at Detroit. The party 
 leaders came with the backing of the political socialists of 
 America for the purpose of dominating the convention, and forc- 
 ing an economic organization to recognize the right of a delegate 
 of a political party to representation in its deliberations. . . . 
 
 The central body of New York receded from its position, 
 excluded the representatives of the socialist political party from 
 representation and applied for a charter. The charter was then 
 granted, and the New York Central Federated Union has been 
 in entire harmony and cordial relations with the A. F. of L. 
 from that day to this. That ended the effort of the socialist 
 political party to secure direct representation as a party in the 
 councils of the A. F. of L. or in its central bodies. . . . 
 
 In 1893, Mr. Eugene V. Debs, while an officer of the Brother- 
 hood of Locomotive Firemen, accepted the presidency of the 
 so-called American Railway Union and worked with might and 
 main for the extermination of all the railroad brotherhoods, the 
 bona fide unions of the railway workers. Mr. Debs was sup- 
 ported in his efforts by the socialist political party of the country, 
 which endorsed the new organization. 
 
 Later, Mr. Debs having failed in this one object, he dissolved 
 his American Railway Union and established the so-called 
 American Labor Union, with the avowed purpose of crushing the 
 American trade union movement as comprehended and under- 
 stood by the wage-earners united in the A. F. of L. In this 
 course of action he had the fullest support of the socialist politi- 
 cal party of America. Because the political partyites who claimed 
 to be inspired by Utopian ideals but condescended to the political 
 practices of machine politics of the t3^e used by corrupt poli- 
 ticians, were still unable to dominate the American labor move- 
 ment and harness it to their political kite, they undertook to 
 organize an economic movement that would be all their own and 
 therefore pliant and usable. Then the socialist political party 
 entered the economic field where the workers were .already or- 
 ganized and began "to organize." 
 
 The so-called Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance was launched 
 with the open declaration that it was to destroy and drive out 
 of existence the A. F. of L., and to supplant it by their high 
 sounding titled organization. That, too, went by the board. 
 
i82 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 In 1905 was formed the preposterous Industrial Workers of 
 the World, and again the "trade union movement was doomed." 
 The same socialist representatives who had taken the initiative 
 in every effort to break down trade unionism assembled for the 
 creation of this new enemy masquerading as a movement of the 
 workers of the world. But these artificialities could not 
 be engrafted upon the healthy, normal American trade union 
 movement. 
 
 The socialist political party adherents openly declared and 
 fondly hoped that this newest effort would surely within a very 
 brief time disintegrate the trade union movement, the A. F. of L. 
 How these conglomerations, these fantastic vaporescences — the 
 creations of the fervid brains of the socia^i^t political party lead- 
 ers — fared, is history too well known to be recounted here. 
 
 Less than a year ago, Mr. Eugene V. Debs made a stirring 
 appeal for the disruption of the A. F. of L., addressing himself 
 to the United Mine Workers of America and to the Western 
 Federation of Miners, exhorting them to withdraw from the A. 
 F. of L. and to set up a rival organization to it. 
 
 But neither the irritating, pin-pricking tactics of the socialist 
 politicians' local assaults and disrupting methods, personal at- 
 tacks upon and vilifications of trtide unionists, nor vulture-like 
 attacks upon the labor movement, have prevented the growth 
 and the forward progress of the A. F. of L. 
 
 For more than thirty years the socialist political party in one 
 form or another never halted, never stopped, in the effort either 
 to capture the A. F. of L., the trade union movement, or, in the 
 language of the street, "to put it in a hole." 
 
 After being frustrated in the effort at direct representation of 
 the party in the A. F. of L., proposition after proposition was 
 introduced in order to commit the organization to socialist poli- 
 cies. For fully fifteen years, at each successive convention of 
 the A. F. of L., socialist representatives sought to fasten upon 
 the movement a declaration favoring state socialism, the govern- 
 ment to be the employer, the workers to enlist to toil in govern- 
 mental employment wearing industro-political straitjackets. 
 To quote again Brand Whitlock's trenchant remark, "Socialists 
 would provide for everything except freedom." Beaten and 
 halted by the discussion and the unfailing discernment and un- 
 compromising decisions of the delegates to the conventions of 
 
ORGANIZED LABOR'S CHALLENGE 183 
 
 the general labor movement of America, this pretentious effort 
 of the socialist political party failed to fasten its tentacles upon 
 our movement. . . . 
 
 Because the officers of the labor movement endeavored to bring 
 the gospel of labor to large employers with a view of reaping 
 some advantage to the toilers of our country, they were made 
 the object of vicious and defamatory attacks. The socialist poli- 
 ticians tried to create the impression that their efforts to further 
 the welfare of the workers were efforts to work in collusion with 
 employers of labor. The charge, no matter how often and insis- 
 tently repudiated by. the leaders of the labor movement of our 
 country, was repeated with ever-increasing virulence. Over and 
 over in written and spoken statements I have repeatedly asserted 
 that there was not and could not be harmony of interests between 
 workmen and employers, but that has not stopped willful mis- 
 representation. If any reader doubts what I here aver, ask any 
 socialist politician. 
 
 The socialist politicians knew well that there was no ground 
 for charges and insinuations of insincerity or faithlessness on 
 the part of the American trade unionists, but they predicated 
 their campaign of misrepresentation and vilification upon the 
 old concept that if mud is thrown often enough and in sufficient 
 quantities, the hope may be entertained that some of it will 
 stick; 
 
 But hopes and concepts in this direction have miscarried and 
 the campaign of opposition was then changed to another tack. 
 This time it was to raise the hue and cry for so-called "Industrial 
 Unionism, one big union." And this doctrine was harped upon 
 in season and out of season for several years in the effort to have 
 the American trade union movement disrupt organizations which 
 have done so much for the toilers in improving their standards 
 and conditions of life, and follow a will-o'-the-wisp. . . . 
 
 In the New York Call (socialist paper), April 8, 1910, Robert 
 
 Hunter said: 
 
 "We ought never to have derided the unions, jeered at their every 
 weakness or chuckled over their every mistake. That was the first 
 error, and a terrible one. It was the error the Germans made at first, 
 although they soon squared themselves. And it is a fact that in no 
 other country has this error persisted as it has in America, and it is 
 also a fact that if we contimie to persist in this error we shall create 
 a situation which will put socialism back many years." 
 
1 84 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 Morris Hillquit, hailed by all socialists as the most brilliant 
 socialist of to-day, in the New York Call of December 12, 1909, 
 said: 
 
 "Socialism in the United States to-day is in the anomalous position 
 of being a working-class movement, minus the working class, and our 
 main efforts must be to remove that anomaly. Our efforts to enlist 
 the support of the working class must necessarily be directed in the 
 first place to the organized portion of it. And whatever may be said 
 to the contrary, our party has never made sustained and rational efforts 
 to win the friendship of these organized workmen. Much of our time 
 and energies in the past have been wasted in the effort to capture the 
 trade union movement bodily; in a few instances we have been led to 
 the folly of attempting to reorganize it, going to the extent of creat- 
 ing rival organizations and at times have meddled and interfered with 
 their internal affairs. We have often tried to coax, cajole, and brow- 
 beat the trade unions into socialism." 
 
 In the Call of December 11, 1909, William English Walling, 
 declared that: 
 
 "The Socialist Party has become a hissing and a by-word with the 
 actual wage-workers of America. It has become a party of two ex- 
 tremes. On the one side are a bunch of intellectuals like myself and 
 Spargo and Hunter and Hillquit; on the other is a bunch of 'never- 
 works,' demagogues and would-be intellectuals, a veritable lumpen pro- 
 letariat. The actual wage-workers, the men who are really fighting the 
 class struggle, are outside. Above all else we must have the union men. 
 No one has denounced the defects of the A. F. of L. more than I, 
 but I am forced to recognize that it comes much nearer representing 
 the working class than the Socialist Party and unless we are able 
 to so shape our policies and our organization as to meet the demands 
 and incarnate the position of the workers we will have failed of our 
 mission." 
 
 — From pamphlet, "The Workers and The Eight-Hour Work- 
 Day," igi5. 
 
 A staff writer of the New York Giornale Italiano (socialist), 
 after giving in full the municipal program of the Prussian so- 
 cialists, as adopted at their congress this winter — a program 
 which calls for democratic administration, home rule, lay schools, 
 the higher education, health laws, free public libraries, comfort 
 stations, public baths, playgrounds, slaughter houses, and mu- 
 nicipal "utilities" in general — records this sober protest: 
 
 If it is true that to arrive at the socialistic society it is necessary to 
 abolish private property and establish the socialization of the means of 
 production and exchange (the work of demolishing the present so- 
 ciety, in which all the so-called revolutionary parties agree, though 
 they may divide on reconstructive ideas), in what relation to these 
 
ORGANIZED LABOR'S CHALLENGE 185 
 
 principles stand all the demands contained in this Prussian program? 
 Program of reforms, aye; of change in the existing social institutions, 
 tending to their preservation, very well; but a socialistic program, no, 
 unless it is ac'cepted in good faith that the Socialist Party has become 
 a radical-conservative party (in spite of the apparent contradiction in 
 terms of this dual name), renouncing its old original program, by 
 which alone it can have the right still to call itself socialist. 
 
 Precisely! Leader [Robert] Hunter's dilemma, in the light 
 of this criticism from an intransigeant socialist, becomes a repre- 
 tition of the dilemma in which the doctrinaire socialists of Ger- 
 many found themselves years ago upon several successive epoch- 
 making occasions for their party. As revolutionary politicians 
 they had long frowned upon the "mere palliative" reform meas- 
 ures of trade unions and other forces and elements in every com- 
 munity of every country. But working-class reformers, without 
 and within their ranks, who refused to starve or deteriorate ac- 
 cording to orthodox socialist doctrine of evolution or devolution, 
 compelled them to take up with, notably, trade unionism, coope- 
 ration, and municipal betterments. That is, many German 
 socialists, like sensible men, fell in line with a progressive evolu- 
 tionary program which rapidly led to an increased well-being for 
 the masses in their country — ^with the social cataclysm gradually 
 relegated to the domain of Mother Shipton's prophecies. 
 — American Federationist, April, 1910. 
 
 Once that our present society has gathered momentum in an 
 upward direction, sound reason exists to doubt both Marx's 
 diagnosis that society is inevitably passing through a revolution 
 determined by the laws of materialist evolution and his prophecy 
 of a coming economic order based on "socialized" ownership and 
 operation of the means of production, distribution, and exchange 
 
 land and capital. Every stage gained in amelioration for the 
 
 masses, every introduction of an uplifting social principle and 
 process, every remedy established in correcting faulty institu- 
 tions, every movement of the working class itself that brings to 
 it an increasing share of the wealth produced, every statute that 
 loosens the monopolistic grip of the privileged classes on law- 
 making, on the raw materials of nature, or on those forms of 
 so-called capital which are but legalized tribute capitalized — all 
 such steps picture an accelerating momentum of society in a 
 movement away from Marx's prophesied necessity for an over- 
 
1 86 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 turning of the fundamental principles of our existing social 
 order. . . . 
 
 When the foundation of Marx's theories — the idea of surplus 
 value — is demonstrably an error, when, on the contrary, the pos- 
 sibilities for the arrival of the working-classes at a general plane 
 that will permit the full development of manhood become cer- 
 tainties, his ingeniously worked out correlatives of this first prin- 
 ciple have no more value than the imaginings of any other guesser 
 at probabilities for the future. His time-wage system, his co- 
 operative commonwealth, and especially his notions as to religion 
 and the family, then take their place with the fanciful divaga- 
 tions of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells when fashioning their per- 
 fect new worlds out of this unlovely old one. — American Federor- 
 tionist, June, iQio. 
 
 Acting as they have done in every other crisis of union labor, 
 the socialists have employed the McNamara incident, with its 
 denouement, simply for the purpose of partisan propaganda. As 
 usual, they have principally used it as a basis for renewed clamor 
 against Samuel Gompers, as representing what they denounce 
 as "rank conservatism." George R. Lunn, socialist Mayor of 
 Schenectady, declared himself thus :"It means the end of the 
 American Federation of Labor, or, at any rate, a complete revolu- 
 tion within the organization, and the Waterloo of Gompers." 
 The Literary Digest has this: "John Spargo, a member of the 
 National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party, denounces 
 Gompers and other union leaders as 'men whose teaching in- 
 evitably lead to the kind of thing to which the McNamaras have 
 confessed, however dean their own hands may be from crime.' " 
 The Digest article continues: 
 
 " 'Violence,' says A. M. Simons, editor of the Coming Nation (social- 
 ist), 'is a logical result of an attempt to wage the class struggle with- 
 out the ballot.' Fred D. Warren, editor of the Appeal to Reason 
 (socialist), asserts that 'had the McNamara brothers understood the 
 philosophy of socialism they would never have resorted to deeds of 
 violence in the hope of benefiting the oppressed poor.' " 
 
 In accordance with the socialist program, the Chicago Daily 
 Socialist, gave prominence to the following by Allen Cook: 
 
 "The working class must tear themselves away from the fake lead- 
 ers who are betraying them into the hands of their enemies. Gompers 
 and Mitchell and other fake leaders advise them to vote for capitalism 
 
ORGANIZED LABOR'S CHALLENGE 187 
 
 and then raise a great 'hue and cry' when capitalism starts to carry- 
 out its program. These fake leaders coax and drive the working peo- 
 ple into the shambles and then pretend to pity them while they are 
 being slaughtered. The worst enemies that the working class have 
 m America are the fake labor leaders and the fake labor papers which 
 shout unionism from the housetops and then advise the working men 
 to vote a scab, capitalistic ticket. Many of these fake leaders receive 
 pay from capitalistic sources. Some of them have been members and 
 are now members of the Civic Federation, organized by J. Pierpont 
 Morgan, Belmont and Mark Hanna for the purpose of destroying the 
 labor unions. Some of these fake labor leaders are supported by 
 money received from capitalistic sources. These fake labor leaders 
 and papers advise the working..people to lick the hand that smites them 
 and to fondle at the foot that stamps them into the earth." 
 
 Eugene V. Debs, in the January International Socialist Review, 
 in "The McNamara Case and the Labor Movement," thus re- 
 sponds to a tip as to the tactics to be adopted by the socialists 
 in their comments on the dynamiting incident: 
 
 "Admitting that the McNamai'as are guilty of all they are charged 
 with in the way of dynamiting buildings and bridges, their acts are 
 the logical outcome of the impotency and hopelessness of the craft 
 form of unionism, typified by Samuel Gompers and his official asso- 
 ciates in the American Federation of Labor, .and of which the con- 
 demned men are faithful disciples and loyal devotees." 
 
 Yet Mr. Debs has this passage in the same article: 
 
 "Under the ethical code of capitalism the slaying of workingmen 
 who resist capitalism is not murder, and as a workingman I absolutely 
 refuse to condemn men as murderers under the moral code of the 
 capitalist class for fighting according to their light on the side of the 
 working class. If the McNamara brothers had been corporation de- 
 tectives and had shot dead twenty-one inoffensive union pickets, instead 
 of placing dynamite under the Los Angeles Times, they would have 
 been protected by the law and hailed by admiring capitalists as heroes." 
 
 Mr. Debs' declaration in regard to the McNamaras suggests a 
 substantial agreement of his views, at times, with those of 
 William D. Hajrwood. A few weeks ago, in Cooper Union, "New 
 York, Haywood, now an organizer of the socialist Industrial 
 Workers of the World, declared, in a speech: 
 
 "Can you wonder that I despise the law? I understand the class 
 struggle. I am not a law-abiding citizen. _ More than that, I do not 
 believe you here ought to be law-abiding citizens. . . . The McNamara 
 boys, who went to San Quentin out of Los Angeles, know what the 
 class struggle means. They knew and for that reason my heart is with 
 them. . . . And again I repeat, I am with the McNamaras and always 
 will be. Let us socialists be frank. We want to overthrow the capi- 
 talist system, and establish in its place an industrial democracy. Why 
 then say we are law-abiding? I believe in coercion. . . . Workingmen 
 know no country. There are no foreigners among the workers, except 
 
1 88 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 one kind only. These lone foreigners are the capitalists, and they ride 
 us harder and harder every year. Socialism means we will have them 
 off our backs, and our industrial organization should be a fine, defen- 
 sive fighting machine. Better no organization of any kind than one 
 that makes contracts to lie dead for a year or three years, and be out 
 of the struggle. You know if we had this organization we could pro- 
 tect our lives at work, shorten our hours, and finally declare a gen- 
 eral lockout, backed up by armed warfare against the capitalists. Try 
 it, fellow-workers. You have only your chains to lose and a world 
 to gain." . . . 
 
 Victor Berger, in a signed article, "Should Be Prepared to 
 Fight for Liberty at All Hazards," in the Milwaukee Social Dem- 
 ocratic Herald, July 31, 1909 (which was copied in the Chicago 
 Daily Socialist, August 31, 1909), thus gave the world his views 
 as to violent revolutionary methods: 
 
 "No one will claim that I am given to the reciting of 'revolutionary' 
 phrases. On the contrary, I am known to be a 'constructive' socialist. 
 However, in view of the plutocratic law-making of the present day, it 
 is easy to predict that the safety and hope of this country will finally 
 lie in one direction only — that of a violent and bloody revolution. 
 Therefore, I say, each of the 500,000 socialist voters, and£bf the two 
 million working men who instinctively incline our way, should, be- 
 sides doing much reading and still more thinking, also have a good 
 rifle and the necessary rounds of ammunition in his home and be pre- 
 pared to back up his ballot with his bullets if necessary. ' This may 
 look like a startling statement. Yet I can see nothing else for the 
 American masses to-dayj The working class of this country is being 
 pushed hopelessly downward. We must resist as long as resistance 
 is possible. . . . Besides, there is now no hope for any protection for 
 the working class in this country. Protection for the plutocrat, the 
 exploiter and big thief — is the watchword in Washington, D. C, and in 
 every Legislature and court of record in the United States. Our 
 United States Senators of the Aldrich and Lodge type, honestly be- 
 lieve that the American people, and particularly the working class, are 
 existing solely for the purpose of being exploited by our ruling class. 
 Exploited once as producers by creating surplus values for their mas- 
 ters who own the production, then exploited again as consumers, by 
 paying as much as possible to their masters who own the distribution. 
 Now, I deny that dealing with a blind and greedy plutocratic class 
 as we are dealing in this country, the outcome can ever be peaceable 
 or that any reasonable change can ever be brought about by the ballot 
 in the end. I predict that a large part of the capitalist class will be 
 wiped out for much smaller things than the settling of the great social 
 question. That before any settlement is possible, most of the pluto- 
 cratic class, together with the politicians, will have to disappear as 
 completely as the feudal lords and their retinue disappeared during 
 the French revolution. That can not be done by the ballot, or by only 
 the ballot. The ballot may riot count for much in a pinch.]" And in 
 order to be prepared for all emergencies, socialists and woncingmen 
 should make it their duty to have rifles and the necessary rounds of 
 ammunition at their homes, and be prepared to back up their ballots 
 with their bullets if necessary."> 
 
ORGANIZED LABOR'S CHALLENGE 189 
 
 Nor need we quote the expressions within the recent years as 
 to the attitude of socialists regarding violence. During the So- 
 cialist Congress at The Hague in 1872, Karl Marx said: 
 
 "In most countries in Europe violence must be the lever of our 
 social reform. We must finally have recourse to violence in order to 
 establish the rule of labor. The revolution must be universal." 
 
 But to return to more recent socialist utterances from one of 
 which I shall quote. The Socialist Call, of New York, December 
 S, 191 1, published an editorial covering nearly the entire page, 
 under the caption, "The Silencing of Samuel." I shall quote a 
 few choice morsels: 
 
 "It is true that the policy he (Gompers) championed — despite his 
 repudiation of violence — ultimately and inevitably generates the Mc- 
 Namara type in the ranks of organized labor. . . . 
 
 "It is true that Mr. Gompers advocated peaceful measures, but at 
 the same time he championed a policy that in the last extremity made 
 peaceful methods impossible. 
 
 "It can not be explained by your (Gompers) ludicrous theory that 
 the dynamiters were 'crazy.' That at once invites the retort that the 
 policy laid down for them by organized labor — your policy — was un- 
 workable, and drove them crazy — that such lunacy is contagious. 
 
 . . . "And even if you (Gompers) were the latter (a martyr), the 
 sacrifice is in vain, for you can not prevent your tormentors from 
 using this incident to practically destroy the unions." 
 
 Reader, do you observe the declaration, the expressed belief, 
 the hidden wish, that labor's enemies will practically "destroy 
 the unions?" 
 
 And now, this additional sentence from the same editorial in 
 The Call: 
 
 "You (Gotiipers) may rest assured that your policy will from time 
 to time produce such exponents of 'principle' as the McNamaras, de- 
 spite your feeble assurance that organized labor is not responsible for 
 them." 
 
 Read the utterances of Kirby, Parry, Post, Bums, Drew, and 
 the rest of their ilk; read the attacks of the worst enemies in the 
 capitalist press, and compare the identity with socialist thought 
 and language. 
 
 In the foregoing hodge-podge of socialistic rant, whether the 
 leaders of socialism are in one breath calling i^x blood or in 
 another washing their hands of it, the one thought usually sure 
 to come out is that the policies of American trade unionism are 
 utterly misleading and ruinous to labor and that the source of 
 
190 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 these policies is Gomperism. This cry comes from the socialists, 
 as we have said, on every occasion when they find an opportunity 
 to get in a blow at the unions. Some of the socialist leaders are 
 members of trade unions, but in no instance are they trade 
 unionists. They are fanatical, and therefore unscrupulous, so- 
 cialistic vote-hunters. They are trying to supplant the trade 
 union movement by a mass voting machine. As results of their 
 manifold attempts to attain this purpose, they can sum up a few 
 discreditable points of disgraceful success in a total failure. They 
 have, to wit, found themselves simultaneously with Otis, Kirby, 
 Post & Co., attacking trade unionism and knifing its officials; 
 they have, to some extent, as tumultuously self-professed "labor 
 men," confused the public mind with respect to labor's real 
 policies and demands ; they have, on the occasion of several large 
 strikes, especially among unskilled or unorganized wage-workers, 
 substituted irreconcilable class hostility toward employers for the 
 trade union sentiment that supports efforts to reach agreement 
 in practical matters of hours, wages, and conditions, which might 
 be arranged between the two sides of the labor market in the 
 occupation or industry immediately interested. And yet, with 
 all their frothy and fiery propaganda, their party — or parties- 
 are continually in a state of internal disturbance and dissension 
 and their leaders lost in fifty-seven varieties of Utopian dreams. 
 All told, the net effect of their wish and their ceaseless endeavors 
 to tear the trade unionism of this country to pieces is seen in the 
 fact that the membership in the American trade unions has 
 increased hundreds of thousands every year. Since the McNa- 
 mara confessions there has not been the slightest defection from 
 the ranks of the unions. 
 
 All the errors and faults of trade unionism in the eyes of 
 socialists fall within the limits of a single crime. That crime is 
 that the American Federation of Labor refuses to become the tail 
 to the socialistic kite. The socialist leaders know full well that 
 there is no truth otherwise in their arraignment of the trade union 
 movement and of trade union officials. They know that in trade 
 unionism there is positively no "Gomperism," no fatuous con- 
 servatism that refuses consideration to radical ideas, no entan- 
 gling alliance with capitalism, no respect for the unearned wealth 
 of plutocracy, no thought of putting on the brakes against pro- 
 gressive thought, no compromise with the spirit that is blind f^ 
 
ORGANIZED LABOR'S CHALLENGE i^i 
 
 the advances of the times toward economic justice, no "chloro- 
 forming" of any thought or sentiment that points to a speedy 
 evolution of society — aye, even on upward to the millennium. 
 — American Federationist, February, igi2. 
 
 The tendency among alleged revolutionary party parliamentary 
 representatives in France, Germany, Italy, England, and Austria, 
 has of recent years been to sink revolution and to take up with 
 reform. Practical socialism has plainly become in those countries 
 a step-by-step progressiveness. Its main efforts have been given 
 to promoting the education of the masses in the public schools, 
 advocating the cause of universal suffrage, eliminating aristo- 
 cratic privilege, joining with other parties in the separation of 
 Church and State, and preaching theoretically the suppression of 
 militarism while in fact quite uniformly acting in accordance 
 with the dictates of patriotism. . . . 
 
 It may be accurately said, broadly, that some of the political 
 labor parties which started out in Europe during the last half 
 century with proclamations of intention to accomplish the com- 
 plete overturn of society show to-day, by their campaign printed 
 matter, by the speeches of their members of Parliament, and by 
 the declarations of their conventions, that much of their time is 
 now taken up with immediate demands of a character which in 
 America would mostly be but echoes of our own pre-revolutionary 
 grievances. Our Government and our society have reached a 
 stage further along in democracy's development. And, by the 
 way, compared with the proclaimed approaching tremendous up- 
 heaval of society, announced in the manifestoes of the early 
 apostles of revolutionary parliamentarism, the actual proposals 
 of the radical parties before the parliaments of the various Euro- 
 pean nations generally indicate huge satisfaction with the capture 
 of comparatively very small game. — American Federationist, 
 May, 1912. 
 
 Our civilization is on so large a scale, and is so complicated, 
 that organization is essential to attaining desired results. But 
 real progress is dependent upon whether the organization is sub- 
 servient to and utilized by the individual, or the individual is 
 dominated by the system. This is the great menace of socialism 
 and socialistic proposals that would reduce differences between 
 
192 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 individuals to the minimum and manage the universe by a card 
 index system. Organization is necessary, as the workers have 
 good reason to know. But organization must be made the instru- 
 ment which serves the purposes of individuals and which enables 
 them to attain their fullest development. . . . 
 
 There are many wrongs in the world, but to claim they can be 
 righted by suppressing individual initiative by national or world 
 organization of endeavor, products, and methods is to take the 
 heart out of things. What we need to do is to cease warping 
 lives of individuals and to allow them space and opportunity to 
 live, move, and possess their own consciences. Give to every 
 person who performs work that satisfies a social need wages and 
 conditions which will enable him to be his best self and he will 
 not need a society to conserve his conscience. First give the 
 individual a chance before taking from him that which would 
 leave him poor indeed. — American Federationist, November, 
 1913- 
 
 I believe it is the duty of man to make his life and that of his 
 fellows better to-day — to-day, not in the remote future, but to- 
 day — that he may be better prepared, by reason of his improved 
 conditions, to meet the human problems that will confront him 
 to-morrow. That policy is dijmietrically opposed to the prin- 
 ciples enunciated by Karl Marx in his work on socialism — ^"Das 
 Kapital." 
 
 ■ About twenty-seven years ago I undertook to learn the German 
 language for the purpose of reading "Das Kapital" of Karl Marx 
 in the original, and I have read the very best of what the philoso- 
 phers and writers on socialism have had to say, as I have read 
 and tried to digest that which the best economists of the past 
 three hundred years have had to say. Without egotism, and I 
 hope little if any vanity, I will say I came to the conclusion many 
 years ago that it is our duty to live our lives as workers in the 
 society in which we live and not to work for the downfall or the 
 destruction or the overthrow of that society, but for its fuller 
 development and evolution, that life may be the better worth 
 the living^' and if in the course of that effort some men are incon- 
 venienced, then it is not to be ascribed to the failure of that 
 natural and evolutionary movement, but rather to the credit of 
 that movement, because it is the great conservator of the peace 
 
ORGANIZED LABOR'S CHALLENGE 193 
 
 and of the public welfare. — From abstract of testimony before 
 House Lobby Investigation Committee, Washington, D. C, De- 
 cember, jpij. 
 
 Mr. Sinclair is sadly behind the times. He has, with the 
 stubbornness of a zealot, closed his ears to the mature conclu- 
 sions formed by a competent majority in all countries relative 
 to the revolutionary program which, in making the seductive cir- 
 cuit of hot radicalisms, he has recently given support. These 
 conclusions in brief are: The postulates for his socialistic propo- 
 sitions — increasing misery, concentrated monopoly, the passing 
 of power from the many to the few — are errors fully disposed of 
 in all our civilization by rapidly accumulating data; his views 
 of present social conditions arise from recklessly distorting fact 
 through habitually magnifying the evil and minimizing the good; 
 time has exploded the recorded woeful prophecies of his party 
 founders; his pessimistic philosophy, with its teachings of im- 
 pending violent social upheaval, has been rejected by the normal 
 mind, even among the German socialists, as a mental poison and 
 social dry-rot, and his proposed cooperative commonwealth has 
 repeatedly been voted down by the English voluntary coope- 
 rators, well aware that its tyranny would be worse than any 
 autocracy ever known to the world, inevitably annihilating the 
 bases of personal independence and character. . . . 
 
 Take Mr. Sinclair's gibe at us (Samuel Gompers) as being 
 "disturbed over the jail sentences which are hanging over his 
 head." Mr. Sinclair's habit of misstatement could not permit 
 him to refer correctly even to the facts in this case. The case in 
 question illustrates clearly the difference between socialist pro- 
 cedure and trade union procedure in this country in a contest 
 for the rights of the citizen as against encroachments by the 
 courts. The socialists would have treated the case as a cause 
 for party propaganda, for denouncing existing society, and for 
 demanding revolution. The trade unionists, who believe that all 
 the rights of citizenship, all the rights of human beings, can be 
 gained under our Republic, have conducted the case to protect 
 constitutional rights. The result has been not only a series of 
 victories in the courts themselves but the education of the whole 
 country and the consequent support of a host of non-wage-work- 
 ing Americans for the cause of the American Federation of Labor. 
 
194 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 Observe the procedure of the courts in this case: A sweeping 
 injunction; a revision of this injunction by a higher court which 
 wiped out all the inhibitions except two; a jail sentence for three 
 union officials; an elimination of the jail sentences of two of 
 these officials, with a reduction of the third from a year to a 
 month; an opinion of one of the three judges that no crime had 
 been committed; a rejection by the United States Supreme Court 
 of the findings of all the lower courts; a retrial with an outcome 
 that leaves hardly anything of the original charges, inhibitions, 
 penalties, or powers of the courts. Meanwhile throughout the 
 country has developed a public opinion which regards the case 
 as the test and criterion for all similar ones, which marks a 
 revolution in the attitude not only of the public at large but of 
 the majority of the bar and bench relative to the powers that 
 had been usurped by courts of equity. . . . 
 
 No! No revolution! Nothing but carrying this profession of 
 childlike faith into practice. Mr. Sinclair says: 
 
 "I believe that to-day the Interstate Commerce Commission could 
 take charge of our railways and abolish the claim of their bondholders 
 to interest and of their stockholders to dividends, either reducing the 
 cost of the service or turning over the profits to the government, pre- 
 cisely as in the case of the post-office, and I do not believe that the 
 fundamental basis of our government and social fabric would be de- 
 stroyed thereby. I believe that the same thing could be done in the 
 case of express companies, the telegraphs and telephones, the steel 
 trust, the oil trust, and the coal trust. I believe that it could be 
 done in our cities for public service corporations and for land, and 
 still the fundamental basis of our government and social fabric might 
 endure." 
 
 Grown men who can read these propositions and not see that 
 of necessity they blot out the present legal system, the established 
 relations of the citizen to property, the independence of every 
 individual, the liberty of movement, speech, press, assemblage — 
 well, such men can believe black white, storm sunshine, war 
 peace, cold heat, truth error, and insanity sanity. Men of such 
 minds see society as through a mist, the creation of their own 
 mental astigmatism. — American Federationist, April, 1914, "Up- 
 ton Sinclair's Mental Marksmanship." 
 
 "Socialism makes provision for everything except liberty," as- 
 serted Brand Whitlock. The best verification of his assertion is 
 found in New South Wales. There have been established all 
 
ORGANIZED LABOR'S CHALLENGE 195 
 
 manner of governmental agencies for regulating industry and 
 industrial relations. 
 
 Now regulation of industrial relations is not a policy to be 
 entered upon lightly — establishment of regulation for one type 
 of relation necessitates regulating of another and then another, 
 until finally all industrial life grows rigid with regulations. 
 
 New South Wales began by establishing agencies to prohibit 
 strikes and lockouts. But strikes could not be banished at com- 
 mand in New South Wales or elsewhere, since they are the result 
 of industrial wrongs. It was found necessary to extend the 
 authority given the governmental agencies to include the regula- 
 tion of wages, hours of work, overtime and any industrial matter. 
 To make one regulation effective, authority to regulate other 
 relations was necessary. 
 
 New South Wales is known as a labor governed state and the 
 workers expected to gain great benefits from state regulation. 
 ' King Midas expected to gain all the joys of existence from the 
 gift of golden touch — ^but the golden touch made food somewhat 
 indigestible. The workers of New South Wales have found that 
 governmental regulation has undesirable results. — American 
 Federationist, May, 191 5. 
 
 Socialists advocate a theory of the cooperative commonwealth 
 and government ownership of all means of production and distri- 
 bution, the government to be the thing, the ideal. To strengthen 
 the state as Frederick Howe says, is to devitalize the individual. 
 I am not a pessimist. On the contrary I believe I may justly 
 call myself an optimist. I believe in the people. I believe in 
 the working people. I believe in their growing intelligence. I 
 believe in their growing and persistent demand for better con- 
 ditions, for a more rightful situation in the industrial, political 
 and social affairs of this country and of the world. I have faith 
 that the working people will better their condition far beyond 
 that which is to-day. 
 
 The position of the organized labor movement is not based 
 upon misery and poverty, but upon the right of the workers to 
 a larger and a constantly growing share of the production, and 
 they will work out these problems for themselves. — From testi- 
 mony before Congressional Committee, April, 1916, on resolution 
 jar a Commission on Social Insurance. 
 
196 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 American labor has kept its trust with democracy and the 
 principles of liberty and justice. It snields to no person or insti- 
 tution in its fidelity and devotion to our Republic. American 
 labor is proud that jewer conscientious objectors were found in 
 its ranks than among any other group of people. 
 
 Comparison between the pronouncements and activities of in- 
 dividuals and associations who without warrant or authority 
 assume to speak in the name of labor, and the loyal attitude and 
 patriotic declarations and accomphshments of the organized labor 
 movement as represented by the American Federation of Labor, 
 is vivid. I invite careful reading of the paragraphs quoted * else- 
 where from "American Labor's Position in Peace or in War," of 
 March 12, 19 17, and the following declaration of the American 
 Socialist Party: 
 
 "The American people did not want and do not want this war. 
 They have not been consulted about the war and have had no part 
 in declaring war. They have been plunged into this war by the trick- 
 ery and treachery of the ruling class of the country through its repre- 
 sentatives in the National Administration and National Congress, its 
 demagogic agitators, its subsidized press, and other servile instruments 
 of public expression. 
 
 "We brand the declaration of war by our government as a crime 
 against the people of the United States and against the nations of 
 the world. 
 
 "In all modern history there has been no war more unjustifiable 
 than the war in which we are about to engage. 
 
 "No greater dishonor has ever been forced upon a people than that 
 which the capitalist class is forcing upon this nation against its will." 
 
 No other influence in our country was viewed with such favor 
 by the autocratic governments of Germany and Austria as was 
 the pernicious propaganda of the socialists to destroy or weaken 
 the forces of democracy in this great struggle. — From "Our Shield 
 Against Bolshevism," McClure's Magazine, April, igig. 
 
 THE I. W. W. AND "ONE BIG UNION" 
 
 The attempt to force the trade unions into what has been 
 termed industrial organization is perversive of the history of the 
 labor movement, runs counter to the best conceptions of the 
 toilers' interests now, and is sure to lead to the confusion which 
 precedes dissolution and disruption. It is time for the American 
 Federation of Labor to solemnly call a halt. It is time for our 
 
 * See page 248. 
 
ORGANIZED LABOR'S CHALLENGE 197 
 
 fellow-unionists entrusted with grave responsibilities to help stem 
 the tide of expansion madness lest either by their indifference or 
 encouragement their organizations will be drawn into the vortex 
 that will engulf them to their possible dismemberment and de- 
 struction. There is virtue and a great meed of praise due in 
 organizing our fellow-workers that they may defend and further 
 their interests. 
 
 No tribute too great can be paid those engaged in the past and 
 in the present who have done and who are doing this splendid 
 work; but virtue, merit, and tribute must be effaced unless we 
 meet the conditions, aye, the awful calamity which is inevitable 
 if trade union lines are not recognized and enforced — enforced not 
 so much by an edict of this Federation, but by the common sense 
 and power of the organizations themselves. The advocates of 
 the so-called industrial system of labor organizations urge that 
 an effective strike can only be conducted when all workmen, re- 
 gardless of trade, calling, or occupation, are affected. 
 
 That this is not borne out by the history of strikes in the 
 whole labor movement is easily demonstrable. Though here and 
 there such strikes have been temporarily successful, in the main 
 they have been fraught with injury to all. The so-called indus- 
 trial system of organization implies sympathetic strikes, and these 
 time and experience have demonstrated as a general proposition 
 should be discarded, while strikes of particular trades or callings 
 have had the largest number of successes and the minimum of 
 defeats. Quite apart from these considerations, however, are the 
 splendid advantages obtained by the trade unions without the 
 necessity of strikes or the interruption of industry. No one will 
 attempt to say that a sympathetic strike shall under no circum- 
 stances occur. Under certain conditions it may be not only justifi- 
 able but practical and successful, even if only as an emphatic pro- 
 test against a great injustice or wrong; but generally and nor- 
 mally considered, such strikes can not be of advantage. 
 
 One feature in connection with a system of industrial organiza- 
 tion and its concomitant, the sympathetic strike, has been over- 
 looked. By its methods any one of our international organiza- 
 tions could be financially drained and actually ruined in a very 
 brief period in an effort to sustain the members involved; while, 
 on the other hand, in a well-formulated trade union movement, 
 a large number of men of different crafts, belonging to their own 
 
198 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 respective international trade unions, could be indefinitely sus- 
 tained financially and victory achieved. At least the organiza- 
 tions maintained, not only to continue that battle, but to take up 
 the cudgels in defense of their members elsewhere. — From Annual 
 Report to A. F. of L. Convention, Boston, Mass., November, 
 1903. 
 
 If a policy of so-called industrial form of organization be jus- 
 tifiable and advantageous, as against that of the trade union 
 form, with its constant development, with changing conditions 
 in industry, then an organization formed a few months ago in 
 San Antonio, Tex<, is the best expression and exponent of that 
 notion, for that organization sneers contemptuously at the or- 
 ganization of the different unions of the building trades, and 
 styles itself "The United Brotherhood of Builders of America." 
 It denounces roundly the trade unions, and in the usual lan- 
 guage of the so-called industrialists invites to membership in the 
 one organization carpenters and plumbers, painters and brick- 
 layers, plasterers and bridge and structural iron workers, elec- 
 trical workers and hod carriers, building laborers and machinists, 
 and every man who is either directly or remotely employed in 
 the preparation of the material for a building or in the construc- 
 tion of the building itself. It necessarily follows that if such a 
 form of organization is most advantageous to the workmen em- 
 ployed in the building trades, it will apply with equal advantage 
 to all others. This is the logical result of the reasoning of some 
 of our mistaken fellow trade unionists who, with more enthusiasjji 
 than clearness of vision, urge what they euphoneously call an 
 industrial form of organization. 
 
 Our trade union movement, which deals with conditions as 
 they arise and takes advantage of experience to turn it to the 
 best account of our fellow workmen, may not be so alluring; it 
 may not bear the apparent glamor and dash which some would 
 have the labor movement assume, but ours is the movement of 
 labor, founded upon the historic development of the toilers' asso- 
 ciated effort; it battles in labor's interests to-day, and is marshal- 
 ing the forces of united labor in its regiments and battalions the 
 better to defend, the better to withstand, the better to maintain, 
 the better to clear the pathway for a safer and more successful 
 advance to-morrow and to-morrow. 
 
ORGANIZED LABOR'S CHALLENGE 199 
 
 To the fanciful that movement may be slower than that which 
 they conjecture, but it is the most rapid because it is the most 
 natural, rational, and safe. Students and observers of our move- 
 ment do not regard it as of slow progress. They are astonished 
 at the rapidity and comprehensiveness with which we are moving 
 onward and forward. 
 
 May the day never come when, by an attempt at overrunning, 
 we miss or lose our goal, and rent asunder, weak and helpless, 
 become the victims of the cupidity and rapacity of labor's foes. 
 — From Annual Report to A. F. of L. Convention, San Fran- 
 cisco, November, 1904. 
 
 There are some who would divide existing forces of organized 
 labor under the pretense that the trade union movement does not 
 expand its effort to cover all the workers of a given industry, 
 who would dismember our trade unions of to-day under the 
 delusive notion that all the workers in a given industry, regeird- 
 less of trade or calling, could then be organized into what they 
 are pleased to term an industrial union. They evidently imagine 
 that the trade union movement was "made to order" in a mold, 
 that it is a fixture. They are entirely oblivious of the fact that 
 the trade union movement in its origin, growth, workings and 
 development is, primarily and historically, the movement of the 
 wage- workers, by the wage- workers, for the wage- workers; that 
 its growth and expansion are apace with the growth and advance- 
 ment of the wage-earners, and that the cooperation of the 
 workers in a given industry and of all industry must come 
 through a natural, orderly and well-defined course as a result of 
 necessity and experience. 
 
 The trade union movement sets no hard and fast lines for 
 itself. It reckons with the workmen as they are, and not as it 
 would wish them to be. It undertakes to deal with them and the 
 problems confronting them so that they may make, as they are 
 making, the trade union movement broader, more comprehensive 
 and effective for their own good as well as for the common good 
 of all. 
 
 In the past, aye, even in our own time, we have witnessed the 
 inauguration of movements of a so-called industrial character 
 and which proved to be movements that did not move, the most 
 conspicuous of which was the Knights of Labor, whose policy of 
 
200 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 industrialism and antagonism to the trade union movement 
 proved its own undoing. 
 
 Our experience has demonstrated that drastic efforts to pre- 
 maturely bring workmen of kindred trades into cooperation or 
 amalgamation have aroused greater hostility and resentment and 
 driven them farther apart. The policy pursued by our move- 
 ment is to encourage the feelings of amity and fraternity among 
 the men in the different organizations of labor of a given or a 
 kindred industry, and to inaugurate an alliance so that in time 
 an amalgamation may result in one comprehensive organization. 
 The number of affiliated organizations under the titles of "Inter- 
 national Unions" and "Amalgamated Associations" now in ex- 
 istence, in which the fullest development on this line has been 
 established, is the best testimony of the wisdom and the practi- 
 cability of the course and policy pursued by the trade union 
 movement for which the American Federation of Labor stands. 
 Recent doings of so-called "Industrialists" present the other 
 view. Who can hesitate in his choice? — From Annual Report to 
 A. F. of L. Convention, Minneapolis, Minn., November, igo6. 
 
 Syndicalism in Europe marks reaction against "puttering par- 
 liamentary socialism." . What is heard of it as at work in the 
 United States signifies simply the latest development of hot-head 
 resentment against our economic conditions. Some of our ex- 
 citable revolutionary dreamers have turned revolutionaries by 
 act — on the spot. They have only jumped from pan to fire. 
 
 Just when socialists are syndicalists, and syndicalists socialists, 
 it is difficult to determine. In no country do the socialists refuse 
 to profit by any of the rash steps of the syndicalists. Some of 
 the s3Tidicalists proclaim themselves socialists. The war-cries of 
 the extremists among the political partisan anarchists and so- 
 cialists are the same war-cries which are used by the economic 
 syndicalists. . . . 
 
 The ultimate objecjt of syndicalism as a movement is the social 
 revolution through an all-encompassing general strike of the 
 working classes. The non-wage-working classes are to be de- 
 prived of their sustenance, and thus terrorized into acceptance of 
 the new social system which will be imposed upon them by the 
 "syndicates." This system will represent the unified wage- 
 workers of the various industries, who will take possession and 
 
ORGANIZED LABOR'S CHALLENGE 
 
 20I 
 
 operate the natural and other media essential to production 
 Government will give way to "syndicalistic ownership and opera- 
 tion of the means of production and distribution." Fantastic 
 though the scheme may appear in America, it has its adherents 
 by the many thousands, especially in the Latin countries of 
 Europe. . . . 
 
 Industrial unionism, so called (for no comprehensive definition 
 has as yet been found to prescribe its boundary lines, or to clas- 
 sify the elements to be contained therein), is a theory which, if 
 carried to its logical (or better still, illogical) conclusion,' is 
 harkmg back to the primitive battlefield. The advocates of this 
 form of organization, at least a great many of them, assume that 
 the organizations of labor can be successfully combined into one 
 gigantic union, and the power of that union so concentrated that 
 it would, or could, be moved on an instant's notice, as an autom- 
 aton. Were it possible to reach a condition of this character— 
 the concentration of power necessary to carry out the objects 
 desired — the democracy which now exists in our unions would, 
 as already shown, give way to autocracy. Power would be at 
 the top, and not at the foundation, as now exemplified by the 
 local imions. . . . Whatever changes that are to occur will 
 come as a development, and not as a cataclysm. . . . 
 
 Syndicalism has not the faintest show of success in America, 
 nor has any other "ism" which does not contemplate an oppor- 
 tunist movement through obviously needed reforms toward 
 economic justice, step by step, in accordance with the convic- 
 tions of the majority in community. State, Nation, and Conti- 
 nent. — American Federationist, May, igi2. 
 
 The I. W. W. is destructive in theory and in practice. It 
 would destroy the State and the ownership of property and sub- 
 stitute for these, voluntary collectivism or a form of anarchy. It 
 claims that the campaign of education and that constant reform 
 are antiquated and ineffective, advocates "direct action," and the 
 destruction of the present that Utopia may be superimposed on 
 the ruins. As the Industrial Workers of the World state in their 
 own literature: "There is just one bargain the Industrial 
 Workers of the World will make with the employing class — 
 complete surrender of all control of industry to the orgemized 
 workers." Since the purpose is to subvert present economic 
 
202 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 conditions and principles, all policies and methods are destruc- 
 tive. They say society is composed of two classes — the employ- 
 ing and the employed — ^whose interests are diametrically opposed 
 and incapable of conciliation. Hence the wrongs of the em- 
 ployed can be righted only by dispossessing the employers. Upon 
 this basis their program is prepared. 
 
 So irrevocable and so ineradicable do they consider the line 
 of demarcation between the two classes that one of their inter- 
 preters, Mr. Pouget, even postulates for them two distinct sys- 
 tems of morality: 
 
 "The truth is that, as there exist two classes in society, so there 
 exist two moralities, the bourgeois morality and the proletarian mo- 
 rality." 
 
 Yet Mr. Pouget deems even this morality too constrictive. For 
 in considering the transfer of industry to the workers from an 
 ethical standpoint, he says: 
 
 "We are going to take over the industries some day, for three very 
 good reasons : Because we need them, because we want them, and be- 
 cause we have the power to get them. Whether we are 'ethically jus- 
 tified' or not is not our concern." 
 
 Their destructive policies begin with opposition to the trade 
 union. For this they would substitute a type of organization that 
 would unite all the workers into one ardent, compact, awe-in- 
 spiring union, eager to sacrifice personal and immediate benefits 
 to a dream of future perfection. Such an organization would con- 
 stitute a sort of militant flying wedge to reach by direct action 
 the heart of industry — for to the victors belong the spoils. The 
 tactics employed in this "organization" are the general strike, 
 direct action, and sabotage. 
 
 The general strike is to enable the workers to approximate the 
 fighting strength of the employer — for action "altogether," with 
 irresistible solidarity, would sweep all difficulties away. The mere 
 fact that different groups of men working at different trades have 
 different interests, presents no difficulties to these theorists who 
 demand that all workers be ever on the qm vive to forego their 
 individual desires and welfare and the interests of those depen- 
 dent on them for the sake of the "altogether" Utopia. Since the 
 "altogether" strike with folded hands for industrial purposes is 
 impracticable because of difficulties presented by human nature, 
 more aggressive methods are employed. 
 
ORGANIZED LABOR'S CHALLENGE 203 
 
 ^ In actual practice it is hard to distinguish between direct ac- 
 tion, sabotage, and violence. Direct action, they say, is getting 
 results by more immediate methods— that is, appropriating. The 
 term sabotage is derived from sabot, meaning a wooden shoe. 
 The propagandists say sabotage is a slang word used figuratively 
 in the sense "to work clumsily." Less prejudiced writers find a 
 more sinister connotation, derived from the action of French 
 peasants in throwing their wooden shoes into machinery as a 
 strike device. Direct action interpreted means violence, force, 
 sabotage, the strike in which are used all the methods condemned 
 by humanitarian standards — that the ultimate ideal may be ob- 
 tained immediately. Sabotage is just another term for destruc- 
 tion. The leaders suggest that delicate and expensive machinery 
 may be ruined by careless handling or dropping in foreign ar- 
 ticles; food or other articles may be made unfit for sale; sales- 
 people may refuse to show stock, may injure sales by displaying 
 all the defects in the goods or by merely telling the whole truth; 
 expensive mistakes may be made intentionally, as perishable 
 goods billed to the wrong destination. One of their leaders 
 dropped this suggestion: 
 
 "With two cents worth of a certain ingredient utilized in a peculiar 
 way it will be easy for the railwaymen to put the locomotives in such 
 a condition as to make it impossible to run them." 
 
 The whole purpose of this program is not to secure changes 
 that will bring present benefits to the workers, but to make the 
 employers so dissatisfied, so hopeless, that they will retire in 
 despair, leaving the workers in possession of industry. And then 
 what? Which of them knows? Is it not true that if society is 
 "too individualistic for a socialist State" it is equally "too com- 
 munistic for an individualist State?" 
 
 We would not disparage idealism, but the vision of all the 
 workers of the world, banded together in one world-wide or- 
 ganization against all other forces of society, nations, and States 
 is too chimerical to be seriously entertained by an intelligent 
 man or woman confronted with the practical problem of securing 
 a better home, better food and clothing, and a better life. In- 
 telligent, practical workers want an organization that will benefit 
 them now, and will protect them in the enjoyment of advantages 
 secured while additional benefits are sought. It is well and in- 
 spiring to work for the uplift of all humanity, but that usually 
 
204 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 can best be done if each vdll attend to his own immediate obliga- 
 tions so that all may daily grow into better things rather than 
 suddenly be carried skyward by a cataclysmic uplift to strange 
 and unaccustomed heights and duties. 
 
 However, the most serious objections to the Industrial 
 Workers of the World are not their Utopian theories, but the 
 violence, the "ceaseless class war" without regard to humani- 
 tarian rules of war, and the needless suffering inflicted upon the 
 workers and society. It has been said that in advising waiters 
 on strike their leaders called attention to the opportunities in 
 serving food to destroy even life. This has been put into words 
 by one of their spokesmen thus: 
 
 "They do not recognize the employer's right to live any more than 
 a physician recognizes the right of t3T)hoid bacilli to thrive at the ex- 
 pense of a patient, the patient merely keeping alive." 
 
 Although the ultimate ideal is individualistic in the extreme, 
 when industry shall be controlled by the groups of workers, 
 when neither State nor laws shall exist, yet the method of at- 
 taining this goal sacrifices individual welfare at every stage. The 
 workers are to become pawns to be directed and used by a "Uve 
 minority" for the ultimate good of all. Present possessions and 
 present benefits are to be lightly cast aside in response to the 
 call of the leaders for immediate, united action for revolutionary 
 purposes. Such methods fail to take human nature and the 
 evolutionary character of progress into account. Both employers 
 and employed who have had experience with the I. W. W. turn 
 with appreciation to the American Federation of Labor. 
 
 Then, too, the workers are done a criminal injury and injustice 
 when the I. W. W. comes among them to instill impracticable 
 ideals, so to inflame the imagination by the hallucination that 
 in yet a little while the workers shall inherit the whole earth and 
 all its riches. Deluded by this leadership, unorganized workers 
 who have no conception of hours, fair wages, sanitary or stand- 
 ardized conditions of work; who, since they are unorganized, 
 have been unprotected, domineered over and cruelly treated by 
 employers who take every advantage of their dependent and de- 
 fenseless position — these toilers have been persuaded to believe 
 that the so-called Industrial Workers of the World will lead raw 
 recruits of labor to immediate, final, and absolute emancipation 
 from every industrial, economic, and social ill; that they will 
 
ORGANIZED LABOR'S CHALLENGE 205 
 
 immediately become the owners of all wealth, the directors of all 
 the means of production and agencies for distribution. Dazed 
 by the anticipated dizzy heights of mastery of world-destinies, 
 intoxicated by the vision of triumph and absolute control, 
 workers have entrusted their welfare to these industrial "pro- 
 moters" only to come to a realization of the futility of their 
 visions, of blasted hopes and wasted opportunities. Then they 
 turn in wrath upon their deluders and misleaders. 
 
 Bitter experience with this organization results in discerning 
 appreciation of the American trade union movement, the Anieri- 
 can Federation of Labor, as it steadily and surely moves onward, 
 upward, never receding. It is a movement that instills confidence 
 and hope because it is founded upon continual achievements. It 
 does not hold out inflated hopes and impossible ideals which must 
 collapse and disappear before real industrial problems and at- 
 tacks. The insistent and consistent policy of the trade union 
 movement has secured for the working people whatever of uplift 
 and betterment has made their lives freer and happier. This 
 policy has been one of uncompromising protest and agitation 
 against every form of wrong, injustice, or denial of rights. In 
 the economic field this policy has resulted in effective and trium- 
 phant contest. It has inspired workers with the desire, the 
 purpose and the grit to struggle and battle for material improve- 
 ments in the form of higher wages, fewer hours of labor, better 
 conditions of employment. In the political field the policy has 
 been to avoid alliance with any political party, but to utilize all 
 parties, whenever an opportunity is presented to remedy wrong 
 or inaugurate new and better policies in legislation, administra- 
 tion, or judicature. The American Federation of Labor has al- 
 ways been maintained untrammeled, unrestricted, free to criti- 
 cize, attack or denounce men, employers, parties, whenever the 
 welfare and the interests of the workers have been menaced. 
 — American Federationist, Jidy, 191 3. 
 
 Mr. Sinclair, disputing the statement that the American Fede- 
 ration of Labor and the railroad brotherhoods speak for the great 
 mass of the working people of the country, asserts: 
 
 "There is another organization of workingmen with a large mem- 
 bership — the Industrial Workers of the World. I notice that you do 
 not quote me the opinions of any of its leaders. Yet it is a fact that 
 
2o6 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 the Industrial Workers of the World stands for the interests of a 
 class of workers who are far more numerous than those represented 
 by the American Federation of Labor." 
 
 The "large membership" of the "Industrial Workers of the 
 
 World" is thus described by R. F. Hoxie, Professor of Economics, 
 
 University of Chicago {Journal of Political Economy, November, 
 
 1913): 
 
 "In spite of eight years of organizing effort and unparalleled ad- 
 vertisement, the official roll of the convention (Chicago, September, 
 1913) indicated that its present paid-up membership entitled to rep- 
 resentation does not much exceed 14,000 men, while the actual con- 
 stitutional representation on the convention floor was less than half 
 that number. ... It is admitted by the highest officials of the Indus- 
 trial Workers that up to the time of the Lawrence strike the member- 
 ship never reached 10,000, the highest yearly average being but 6,000." 
 . . . "Everywhere the history of the organization has shown this same 
 inability to maintain a stable and growing membership." 
 
 Professor Hoxie further says that the "I. W. W." has not been 
 able to organize effectively a body of men equal to i per cent, of 
 the American Federation of Labor alone. — American Federation^ 
 ist, April, igi4, "Upton Sinclair's Mental Marksmanship." 
 
 BOLSHEVISM 
 
 My aspirations know no limit for my fellow men, but I do 
 have some, — or at least I am vain enough to believe that I have 
 some common sense and understanding of the operations of the 
 human mind. I am not going to give up voluntarily the labor 
 movement with its achievements of to-day to look for the 
 chimerical to-morrow. I think the greatest, the most radical, 
 the most idealistic and the most fantastical declaration which 
 any body of men has made has been by the Bolsheviki of Russia. 
 And they have lost, not only the meat from the bone but the 
 bone itself, and have not even the shadow. They went out for 
 the maximum for the masses, for land, bread, and peace, and 
 they haven't their land or bread or peace. We prefer to go on 
 in this normal way of trying to make the conditions of life and 
 labor better to-day than they were yesterday; and better to- 
 morrow and to-morrow and to-morrow's to-morrow than each day 
 that has gone before. — From address at reception to the visiting 
 British Labor Union Delegates, tendered by The National Civic 
 Federation, March 16, igi8. 
 
ORGANIZED LABOR'S CHALLENGE 207 
 
 The political party which claims to represent French labor 
 has indorsed Bolshevism; strong influences are at work within 
 the Confederation Generale du Travail working in the same di- 
 rection. The French anti-war fanatics and pro-Bolshevists prac- 
 tically obtained control of the French Socialist Party at the end 
 of last July. At that time and up until the very day of German 
 defeat the slogan was "Peace without victory" and a compro- 
 mise with German Kaiserism and militarism. At the national 
 congress of the party in October their control was reaffirmed, and 
 the official party organ passed from the hands of the so-called 
 pro-war politician Renaudel into the hands of the anti-war politi- 
 cian Longuet, the grandson of Karl Marx. 
 
 In spite of all that the French Socialist Party could do to 
 prevent it, the war was continued until the German defeat, which 
 brought with it the German revolution. Did the socialists then 
 confess their tremendous blunder or wrong? Not in the least. 
 On the contrary, they claimed that Germany was not defeated 
 by the valiant and heroic armies of the world's democracies, but 
 by an impending German revolution, due to the soviet agitation 
 in that country. They took the armistice as a sign of the failure 
 of democratic internationalism and the victory of soviet interna- 
 tionalism. 
 
 The armistice had not been signed three days when the execu- 
 tive committee of the French Socialist Party met and passed 
 the following amazing resolutions: 
 
 "The French Socialist Party welcomes the German Republic and the 
 taking over of the power in Prussia and the Confederated States by 
 the working class. 
 
 "As in the Russia of the Soviets, socialism has appeared in all cen- 
 tral Europe as the proper liquidator of the political and social situation 
 left by the war. 
 
 "The party thus sees justified the confidence which it has always 
 had in the action of peoples. 
 
 "Considering that certain of the conditions of the armistice leave the 
 sharply defined fear that the allied Governments have the intention of 
 further extending the criminal military intervention against revolution- 
 ary Russia, the party declares that it will appeal to all the forces of 
 the French proletariat to prevent the socialism which is being born in 
 Russia as well as in Germany and Austria, from being crushed by 
 coalitions of foreign capitalisms. 
 
 "The party urges the French working people most rigorously to rally 
 to the support of their unions and socialist groups, to sustain their 
 class journals, and to keep themselves ready to make socialism triumph 
 in France as it has in the other countries of Europe." 
 
2o8 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 This resolution, which betrays not only France but also the 
 democratic league of nations now in process of formation at Ver- 
 sailles is as remarkable for what it says as what it omits to say. 
 The only revolution it recognizes in Russia is the counter revo- 
 lution by which the Bolshevists overthrew the democratic gov- 
 ernment of Kerensky and by force of arms dissolved the consti- 
 tutional assembly. It is assumed that the new government of 
 Germany will be of a similar character and it is demanded that 
 the socialist minority representing less than 25 per cent, of the 
 French people should bring about a soviet revolution in France. 
 
 All the achievements of the democratic revolutions of the past 
 in France, America and England are ignored or perverted. It 
 is held that there is precisely the same need for revolutions in 
 those countries as there was in Russia and in Germany when 
 the Czar and Kaiser were thrown out. There never was such 
 a thing as a Declaration of Independence or a French declara- 
 tion of the rights of man. The universal suffrage of France, 
 England and the United States is ignored as if it had never ex- 
 isted. The growing power of labor in America, as well as in 
 France and England, is implicitly denied. The assumption is 
 that labor and the masses generally are in the same position in 
 the world's great democracies to-day as they were under the 
 Kaiser and the Czar. 
 
 If this is not treason to democracy and treason to internation- 
 alism, then we would better take the word "treason" out of the 
 dictionary. — From testhnony at hearings before the Committee 
 on Edttcation and Labor, United States Senate, January 3 and 4, 
 1919. 
 
 I do not know that I am entitled to very great credit because 
 I am not a Bolshevik. With my understanding of American 
 institutions and American opportunities, I repeat that the man 
 who would not be a patriot in defense of the institutions of our 
 country would be undeserving the privilege of living in this 
 country. ... If I thought that Bolshevism was the right road 
 to go, that it meant freedom, justice and the principles of hu- 
 mane society and living conditions, I would join the Bolsheviki. 
 It is because I know that the whole scheme leads to nowhere, 
 that it is destructive in its efforts and in its every activity, that 
 it compels reaction and brings about a situation worse than the 
 
ORGANIZED LABOR'S CHALLENGE 209 
 
 one it has undertaken to displace, that I oppose and fight it. — 
 From "Our Shield Against Bolshevism," McClure's Magazine, 
 April, iQig. 
 
 The movement of destruction is abroad in the world to-day. 
 The philosophy of despair has its fanatic adherents. The lean 
 body has furnished many a weak mind as prey to teachings of 
 reaction masked under a pretense of progress. Those who see 
 wisely into the future must, if society is to be saved from fires 
 more consuming than those we have known, so shape the course 
 of the world as to offer this hideous wraith of destruction no 
 foothold. The lean body has a right to the opportunity to get 
 food. If it is denied that right it is fair sport for the teacher of 
 ruin. If it is denied that fimdamental right it will sooner or 
 later furnish a weak mind likely to fall prey to whatsoever may 
 come promising relief, no matter how unsound or impossible may 
 be that promise. 
 
 Russia stands before our gaze like a flaming torch of warning. 
 A thing called Bolshevism has reared its ugly head in that sad 
 and sorry land. Bolshevism is a theory, the chief tenet of which 
 is the "dictatorship of the proletariat.". Leaving out of consid- 
 eration for the moment the story of murder and devastation that 
 has marched with this theory into practice, we must set down 
 the theory itself as abhorrent to a world that loves democracy. 
 We shall progress by the use of the machinery of democracy, 
 or we shall not progress. There is no group of men on earth 
 fit to dictate to the rest of the world. It is this central idea of 
 Bolshevism that makes the whole of it outcast in the minds of 
 sane men. It is this focusing point of it all that makes it an 
 enemy to our civilization. 
 
 This idea — the central theory of Bolshevism — ^is not in the 
 minds of the people of Russia. This we know as surely as we 
 know any fact that comes to us through human channels. But 
 this theory has been imposed upon a mass in which there is 
 acute hunger, in which there is disorganization, in which there 
 is no strong, normal soul or body left to combat evil immedi- 
 ately and effectively. 
 
 Were there an American Federation of Labor in Russia there 
 could have been no Bolshevism. Were there no organized labor 
 movement in America devoted to the ideals of liberty and right 
 
2IO LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 and justice and unshaken in its faith in progress throu^ the 
 orderly processes of democracy, there would be Bolshevism in 
 America. If there should be in America any great denial of the 
 just aspirations of the working people as voiced by their organ- 
 ized movement there would be a dangerous flow toward Bolshe- 
 vism that would be neither pleasant nor helpful for America. — 
 From "The Battle Line of Labor," McClnre's Magazine, May 
 igig. 
 
VIII 
 
 LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 
 AND LIBERTY 
 
 PATRIOTISM— TRUE AND FALSE 
 
 We do not oppose the development of our industry, the expan- 
 sion of our commerce, or the power and influence which the 
 United States may exert upon the destinies of the nations of the 
 earth. On the contrary, we realize that the higher intelligence 
 and standard of the life of the American workers will largely 
 contribute towards attaining the highest pinnacle of industrial 
 and commercial greatness; and these achievements in the paths 
 of peace will glorify the institutions of our republic, to which 
 the grateful eyes and the yearning hearts of the people of the 
 earth will turn for courage and inspiration to struggle onward 
 and upward, so that the principles of human liberty and human 
 justice may be implanted in their own lands. 
 
 America, and particularly American institutions, are not only 
 worthy of our love and veneration because they give us greater 
 freedom than those of any other nation, but the institutions of 
 the United States represent a principle — the great principle of 
 self-government of the people, for the people, by the people — 
 self-restraint as well as great power.- This principle we shall 
 only prove' ourselves worthy of representing, and holding forth 
 as an inspiration for the peoples of other nations to emulate and 
 seek to establish by manifesting restraint upon ourselves or upon 
 those who would thrust us out of our physical, moral, progres- 
 sive and powerful sphere into the vortex of imperialism, with 
 all the evils which that term implies — militarism, despotism, and 
 venality on the one hand; slavery, misery and despair on the 
 other! 
 
 The flag of our republic should float over a free people, and 
 must never form a cloak to hide slavery, barbarism, despotism, 
 
212 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 or tyranny. America, as we know it, with its blessings of peace 
 and stability, must not be hazarded for a new era. 
 
 The possessors of the wealth of our country enjoy liberty 
 and freedom, no matter where they may be or wherever they 
 may go. It has always been the hewers of wood and the carriers 
 of water, the wealth producers, whose mission it has been not only 
 to struggle for freedom, but to be ever vigilant to maintain the 
 liberty or freedom achieved; and it behooves the representatives 
 of the grand army of labor, in convention assembled, to give vent 
 to the alarm we feel from the dangers threatening us and oiu" 
 entire people, to enter our solemn and emphatic protest against 
 what we already feel, that with the success of the policy of 
 imperialism the decadence of our republic will have al- 
 ready set in. 
 
 "Forever in thine eyes, O Liberty, 
 
 Shines that bright light 
 
 By which the world is saved; 
 
 And tho' they slay us. 
 
 We shall trust in thee." 
 
 — From Annual Report to A. F. of L. Convention, Kansas City, 
 December, i8g8. 
 
 Throughout the length and breadth of our country, from city, 
 town, village, and hamlet there are no more patriotic men jmd 
 women than those who belong to the ranks of labor. I respect- 
 fully dissent from the insinuations, much more the charge, that 
 organized labor, the men of the greater intelligence among the 
 working people of our country, the men who have manifested 
 greater interest in themselves and in their fellows by the very 
 fact of their organizing, that for that reason they lack patriotism. 
 
 In truth, the history of our national struggles bears evidence 
 to the fact that out of the ranks of organized labor have come 
 the men who have made up the army of our country in defense 
 of our flag, in defense of our homes, in defense of our honor 
 and our interests, in defense of the principles for which our 
 government stands. — From address at Boston Convention of A. 
 F. of L., December, igoj. 
 
 We do not wish to dwarf the wonderful heroism of our great 
 soldiers or sailors; we sing their glory whenever opportunity af- 
 fords; but we do not believe that the men who fall upon the 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 213 
 
 martial battlefield shall be regarded as the only heroes of the 
 world, and that the men who fall upon the battlefield of labor 
 shall be regarded as the hoboes of the world. 
 
 It is not enough alone to know how to die; it is better to know 
 how to live. Men in the spirit of enthusiasm or anger may 
 throw themselves upon their antagonists and meet death fear- 
 lessly; but the men who work and struggle, who in their cool 
 moments calmly and deliberately enter into contests that may 
 mean months and months of slow deprivation and almost star- 
 vation, to their heroism is due a greater tribute. — From address 
 at meeting of Plate Printers Union No. 2, Washington, D. C, 
 Jantmry 21, igos- 
 
 To-day we urge that it requires more heroism in men and 
 women to bear the brunt of great sacrifice, of quiet, silent suf- 
 fering for the betterment of the human family than is mani- 
 fested upon the gory field of battle. To endeavor to help, to 
 uplift, to benefit our fellows, to make the burdens of life less 
 onerous and to help bear our brother's burdens, to make life 
 brighter and better, to permit the ray of sunshine to enter into 
 the home and to dispel the gloom, to make man stronger and 
 nobler and woman more happy and beautiful and childhood 
 more expectant of a brighter and better day, is the great uplift- 
 ing work, is the work of this century which you, the toilers, 
 and the intelligent and sympathetic men and women are effect- 
 ing with a heroism and by a splendid work that may not be 
 understood or appreciated in our time, but as we sing the glories 
 of the men who have won for us the great attributes and op- 
 portunities of freedom in our time, so those who follow us will 
 reahze that in our day in the same measure that we perform 
 our duties to our fellows, we shall have performed the great work 
 for the social uplift and universal peace. — Prom address at Labor 
 Mass Meeting, Cooper-Union, New York City, April 16, 1907, 
 in connection with International Peace Congress. 
 
 One of the strongest impulses in man is patriotism. This 
 instinct was ignored by internationalism. Yet it is the instinct 
 that has ever inspired men to make great and heroic sacrifices — 
 to give up interests, possessions, dear ones, and even life itself. 
 Patriotism lifts men above the level of expediency, safety, and 
 
214 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 profits. War is awful but patriotism will dare even war. The 
 man who has thought only for his personal safety and welfare 
 may be useful but he is not inspiring. But the man or the 
 woman who gives ungrudgingly, with glorious disregard of self, 
 is an inspiration that brings us close to the beauty and the 
 purpose of life, and makes luminous the ideal — "He lives most 
 who gives most." — American Federationist, November, 1914. 
 
 When the political genius of the nations provides representa- 
 tive machinery for dealing with international relations, diplo- 
 macy will catch step with democratic ideals of freedom and jus- 
 tice. But any plan which purposes merely to deny nations the 
 right to use force will fail. Force can not be eliminated, but 
 it should be under the control of intelligent, responsible, demo- 
 cratically controlled agents of justice. Organized responsible 
 force will make treaties something more than scraps of paper. 
 International peace will follow international justice — ^not dis- 
 armament and proscription of war. . . . However, let no one 
 be deluded into thinking that international political organization 
 will supplant the national state. The present war has proved 
 that one of the strongest emotions in men is patriotism. Pa- 
 triotism is a strong compelling force — a primal instinct in the 
 individual. It was stronger than the fundamental tenet of so- 
 cialism, stronger than ideals of international peace, stronger than 
 religion, stronger than love of life and family. . . . With the 
 passing of delusions upon which men have builded, comes the 
 necessity of revising theories and methods. This European cata- 
 clysm has subjected theories and ideals to the test of steel and 
 fire. It has brought out new values. It has demonstrated clearly 
 that a sentiment in favor of international peace is alone unable 
 to maintain peace. It hi.s proved that patriotism is a stronger 
 tie than class interests — and so demonstrated a fallacy of so- 
 cialist theory. . . .;Our efforts to maintain peace must be di- 
 rected toward removing the causes of war. International peace 
 will result only from international agencies for establishing jus- 
 tice, possessing power to enforce its decisions. Peace at any 
 cost is advocated by only sentimentalists and neurotic dreamers. 
 The best guarantee of peace to any self-respecting independent 
 nation is the power of self-protection. . . . The organizations of 
 the working men were the last to sever the ties that bound them 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 215 
 
 to their fellows in warring nations. But even the workers put 
 patriotism above fraternalism. . . . The workers better than 
 all others realize that no one can make them free and that they 
 themselves must achieve freedom. They know that international 
 politics can be freed from the pernicious influences that have 
 been manipulating them to save personal interests only by the 
 effective organized protests of those who have suffered from 
 unscrupulous, treacherous diplomacy. When the people of the 
 various nations demand the establishment of representative agen- 
 cies authorized and competent to secure international justice, 
 then international wars will cease. — From Article in Harper's 
 Weekly, March 10, 1Q15. 
 
 You have done me an honor by sajdng it is due in whole or in 
 part to the influence which I exercised upon my fellows, that 
 there was such loyal continuous service during the war. That 
 may in part be true, but if it be true, it is because the men of 
 labor in America have come to look upon our Republic with a 
 more reverential vision than ever before. And because in the 
 labor movement in America we have not gone after false gods. 
 In the labor movement in America we have not allowed the po- 
 litical parties, no matter how altruistic they may proclaim^ them- 
 selves to be, to dominate or influence our movement, not any 
 Republican Party, not any Democratic Party, not any Socialist 
 Party, or any Prohibition Party, or any Labor Party. We have 
 stood as a movement of America's workers, believing that under 
 the institutions of our Republic we have the lawful right to 
 organize, to strive for a better life, to work out our own salvation 
 to the last opportunity, otherwise that we could quit work and 
 try to impose justice into the consideration of the mind of the 
 employer. 
 
 Now, when the war came on, can you imagine, gentlemen, 
 what might have happened in the United States if the war had 
 occurred about seven or eight or nine years ago, when the coun- 
 try was rampant with indignation by reason of the injunctions 
 which were issued wholly without any warrant of law? When 
 men of honor and character were haled before the courts, put 
 upon their trial, and sentenced to imprisonment as if they were 
 common felons? If we had been in the war at that time, when 
 men's influence was gone and whatever bit of reputation which 
 
2i6 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 they had, for which they had worked and had hoped to main- 
 tain was sought to be taken from them; when all honor was be- 
 smirched; when men who had no other hope in life but to serve 
 their fellows were addressed by judges in language which could 
 only apply to the most consummate scoundrels and brutes; when 
 men with families, men who were husbands, fathers, grand- 
 fathers, were addressed in terms, direct terms, as if the judges 
 had before them men who had raped womanhood — gentlemen, if 
 we had been in the war during that period, there might have 
 been a different story to tell. ... I could understand the bit- 
 terness the people of England and Continental Europe have 
 against each other, the governments and d3Tiasties. In turn they 
 have all been wrong toward each other. They have in turn 
 played the freebooter and the pirate against each other. No 
 matter how much the democratic countries have changed in 
 Europe, that fact to which I have just now referred is part of 
 the history of those countries and the flags of these respective 
 countries engaged in battle array during this war, meant some- 
 thing of bitterness and hatred toward each other. But there 
 is not any people in all the world who do not respect the history 
 and the flag of the United States of America. It has meant to 
 them, as long as they can remember, a republic, and will remain 
 to them so long as they can associate the flag of our country, 
 the idea of justice and of freedom and of opportunity and of 
 hope. My judgment was and is that a people could not fight 
 so valiantly and heroically imder the banner of a monarchical 
 institution with the same valor and the same heroism and the 
 same abandonment against the people carrying the flag of the 
 Republic of the United States. That in itself was a blow to 
 the morale of the militarist fighting machine of Germany. — From 
 testimony at hearing before Committee on Education and Labor, 
 United States Senate, January j and 4, 1Q19. 
 
 We should bear in mind this further fact, that all of the fight- 
 ing men who could answer to the call to arms, whether two 
 millions or five millions or more, would have been of no avail 
 whatsoever if it had not been for the civilian fighting man in 
 factory, workshop and shipyard. It is the heroism of industry, 
 it is the heroism of a consciousness that very few people outside 
 the ranks of labor can understand or appreciate. For there does 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 217 
 
 not seem to be heroism or glory in bending one's back to a 
 machine or to a task to be begrimed, to be exhausted with 
 labor, to have the poison of fatigue infected into one's whole 
 system — there is not much glory in it. I went down in the 
 ships to see the men in the stokeholes. There was no glory in 
 that, but there was heroism. There was no chance for them if 
 their ships were attacked. They would be either scalded to 
 death by the steam or burned to death by the fire of their fur- 
 naces, or sent to a watery grave. There was not a fighting chance 
 with them. Theirs was a resignation grim with determination 
 that the job had to be done, and they were going to do it. — 
 From address at Labor Victory Meeting, Nem York City, De- 
 cember I, 1Q18. 
 
 There are no citizens of our country who are more truly pa- 
 triotic than the organized wage-earners — or all of the wage- 
 earners — and we have done our share in the civic life of the 
 nation as well as in the nation's wars. We have done our share 
 to protect the nation against insidious attacks from within that 
 were directed at the very heart of our national life and would 
 have inevitably involved us in foreign complications. The wage- 
 earners stood unfalteringly for ideals of honor, freedom, and loy- 
 alty. Their wisdom and their patriotism served our country in 
 a time of great need. No one can question that the wage-earn- 
 ers of the United States are patriotic in the truest sense. No one 
 can question their willingness to fight for the cause of liberty, 
 freedom, and justice. No one can question the value of the ideals 
 that direct the labor movement. — From address at anmrnl meet- 
 ing of The National Civic Federation, in Washington, D. C, 
 JaniMry 18, igi6. 
 
 America is not merely a name, a land, a country, a continent; 
 America is a symbol. It is an ideal, the hope of the world. 
 
 It is the duty of every citizen to stand by his country in times 
 of stress and war as well as during times of peace. The man 
 who would not fight, or make the supreme sacrifice, if necessary, 
 to save and protect his home and his country, who would not 
 fight for liberty, is undeserving and unworthy of living in a free 
 country. — From "Our Shield Against Bolshevism," McClure's 
 Magazine, April, igiQ. 
 
2i8 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 The loyalty of American labor during the war was a matter 
 of world interest, a matter commented upon in all circles wher- 
 ever men met over the world to discuss the fate of civilization 
 and how best to protect its institutions against devastation at 
 the hands of the enemy arms. 
 
 This loyalty was inherent in American labor. American labor 
 lives close to the heart of the things that go to make the ma- 
 terial side of what we speak of as democracy. Living thus close 
 to the hard facts of it they understand the soul of it and breathe 
 in communion with the very life of it. American labor is of 
 the very stuff of democracy, because the life of the movement 
 is close to the work of democracy, held there constantly by the 
 paramount fact that work and body and soul are inseparable 
 phases of the same life. . . . The war did not compel us to 
 make any change in our course. What the war did was to lay 
 before us the necessity of putting our every ounce of strength 
 and energy into the work of safeguarding what we had so long 
 striven for. Our movement went on in the same direction. The 
 war opened before us as a majestic, climactic episode on the 
 road to the fulfillment of a great historic mission. — From "The 
 Battle Line of Labor," McClwe's Magazine, May, igig. 
 
 LABOR'S BOND OF FRATERNALISM 
 
 It has ever been the purpose, as well as the mission, of the 
 A. F. of L. to not only cultivate the most fraternal relations with 
 the organized wage-workers of all countries, but also to take 
 advantage of every opportunity to make these purposes and rela- 
 tions an actuality. ... It should be the constant aim of our 
 national and international trade unions to endeavor to bring 
 about a mutual recognition, or, better still, an interchange of 
 cards between them and the unions of the same trade or calling 
 in other countries. This principle is already in vogue in several 
 of our affiliated unions, but I would recommend that it be adopted 
 by all. Such a system once fully in operation, its beneficial re- 
 sults will soon be manifest. 
 
 It will pave the way for the attairmient of that end for which 
 reformers struggle and of which poets sing; a federation of the 
 people of the world. — From Annual Report to A. F. of L. Con- 
 vention, Philadelphia, December, i8g2. 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 219 
 
 With the view of a closer bond of sympathy and unity among 
 the organized workers of the different countries, correspondence 
 with many of them has been maintained, and entered into with 
 a number of others. We should endeavor by every means within 
 our power to cultivate fraternal feeling and interest in the wel- 
 fare of the wage-earners of all countries, to aid and encourage 
 every movement calculated to materially, morally, and socially 
 improve the conditions of the workers, no matter where they 
 may be located, and particularly to lend that aid which may 
 be in our power to those who show a disposition to stand upon 
 the common polity of our movement. 
 
 From the officers of our affiliated unions come the satisfactory 
 reports that they are in closer touch with their fellow trade 
 unionists everywhere; and it is additionally gratifying that the 
 mutual recognition, exchange, and acceptance of union cards is 
 being adopted internationally. 
 
 With each step taken in the direction of cementing the bond 
 of fraternity and recognition of the principle of solidarity in the 
 international labor movement, we shall not only help to bear 
 each other's burdens, but continually make those burdens lighter, 
 and be the lever for that international brotherhood of man when 
 the wars of nations shall be a thing of the past. — From Annttal 
 Report to A. F. of L. Convention, Kansas City, December, i8g8. 
 
 Thinking and liberty-loving and peace-loving men the world 
 over have been keenly and painfully disappointed at the meager 
 results of the conference at The Hague in the interests of inter- 
 national peace. Mankind has a right to expect something of a 
 more tangible character tending toward the abolition of inter- 
 national slaughter. The toilers, the world over, are primarily 
 interested in averting conflict, for they form the mass of men 
 who fall in battle or who bear the burdens which war entails. 
 
 International peace is usually disturbed by those having a 
 sordid purpose. The uplifting work of progress and civilization 
 is interrupted and retarded when international peace is disturbed. 
 Long periods elapse after a war before the constructive work 
 in the interests of humanity and civilization can be resumed. 
 
 Despite the failure of the congress to fulfill the expectations of 
 the peace and humanity-loving men of the world, the duty de- 
 volves upon the organized labor movement of all civilized coun- 
 
220 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 tries to carry on an educational propaganda that shall reach the 
 conscience and the hearts of mankind. 
 
 Labor will strive to persuade the governments of the world 
 to establish universal, international' peace, but lest these hopes 
 be unrealized and efforts prove futile it must never be forgotten 
 that in the last analysis the masses of the people of every country 
 have it in their hands to exert their own giant will and power 
 against international war, and that if otherwise thwarted they 
 will not, hesitate to exert it. — From Annual Report to A. F. of 
 L. Convention, Norfolk, Va., November, igo^. 
 
 Of all the people who suffer from war, the toilers are most 
 intensely interested. They are the great burden bearers of its 
 resultant horrors and sufferings. It is therefore not difficult to 
 discern why they have from their first gatherings, and at almost 
 every gathering thereafter, committed themselves unalterably and 
 vitally to the abolition of war, and, through a duly constituted 
 international court of arbitration, the adjudication of all inter- 
 national contentions which can not be settled through the ordi- 
 nary channels of conciliation and diplomacy. . . . 
 
 Instead of the enormous expenditure for arsenals and armories, 
 battleships and navy yards, we would have them devoted to 
 schoolrooms, colleges, and universities; to university extensions, 
 manual training and technology; to make parks and playgroimds, 
 air spaces, breathing places; to weed out misery and poverty, 
 and stamp out their ill-begotten child, the great white plague, 
 which is ravaging so many of the masses of our people. We 
 would have our people taught the arts and sciences, to be of 
 service, to teach them love and good will, the love of the good, 
 the true, the beautiful, and the useful. 
 
 Were half the power that fills the world with terror, 
 Were half the wealth bestowed on camps and courts, 
 Given to redeem the human mind from error, 
 There were no need of arsenals and forts. 
 
 While it may not be a practical proposition to ask for imme- 
 diate disarmament of all countries, the time and the intelligence 
 of our people surely demand that the extraordinary increase in 
 the armed naval and military forces be limited and restricted 
 rather than expanded and extended. We can not continue to 
 increase the enormous burden and expense. We must call a halt 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 221 
 
 some time. Why not now?~From address at National Civic 
 Federation Conference, January 12, igii. 
 
 The advice, "Workingmen of all countries, unite!" can not 
 be carried into actual practice to the extent of similarity of 
 organization and procedure. In trade unionism, the possibilities 
 are promising for internationality in respect to recognition of 
 union membership, in refraining from black-legging, and in finan- 
 cial and other support in case of great strikes and lockouts. But 
 politically, no two countries are on the same plane. There may 
 be a general sentiment favoring the emancipation of labor every- 
 where from its disqualifications, an agreement upon many points 
 in an analysis of the injustices of society as now organized, and 
 even common assent as to certain principles or maxims for guid- 
 ance in forming the better society that is coming, but to fix hard 
 and fast rules by which the wage-earners in all countries are to 
 work in building for the future is an impossibility. — From An- 
 nual Report to A. F. of L. Convention, Atlanta, Ga., November, 
 igii. 
 
 With the political issues and political factions of Mexico the 
 American labor movement has no vital concern, but it has a deep 
 abiding interest in the growth and progress of the cause of labor 
 in Mexico, and it desires to do all that can be done in a spirit 
 of fraternity and cooperation. The American labor movement 
 recognizes that in the organization of the Mexican workers there 
 lies an element of great hope, for there is a force that has power 
 to shape a great future for a people capable of conceiving great 
 ideas and an understanding of the possibilities which human life 
 can attain when given opportunities and freedom. — American 
 Federationist, July, jgi6. 
 
 From the very beginning of our efforts to promote this Pan- 
 American Federation of Labor one fundamental principle must 
 be thoroughly understood. We, in the United States, concede to 
 Mexico and the people of Mexico the right to work out their own 
 problems according to their own ideals and in accord with their 
 needs and the conditions that exist. We must insist upon the 
 same right for the United States. The American trade union 
 movement must have the sole right to determine the affairs of 
 
222 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 the American trade union movement. Just as it •will be party 
 to no movement to enforce American thought and American in- 
 stitutions upon other peoples, so it can not permit the theories 
 of any other American country to dominate, minimize or change 
 the principles of the American labor movement. . . . 
 
 The jurisdiction of a Pan-American Federation of Labor would 
 properly be to enable the workers of the various countries so to 
 direct affairs that no one of them would be used against the in- 
 terests of others, to promote certain fundamental principles of 
 common action and their universal application, such as standards 
 of work and life, hours and conditions of labor and minimum 
 wage established not by law but by economic action, to take 
 advantage of time and opportunity to cultivate the best relations 
 between the national labor movements of the various countries, 
 and to work out in the interests of the common good those mat- 
 ters upon which there is unanimous agreement. . . . 
 
 The economic movement and other activities [in Mexico] have 
 not yet been fully differentiated from the revolutionary move- 
 ment. The whole is an effort to express the desires and the ideals 
 of the people. The labor movement has adopted many forms 
 and practices that will be modified later under conditions of 
 peace and in the practical constructive work of the movement. 
 There are some imdesirable characteristics, but the labor move- 
 ment as it now exists in Mexico represents the best that they 
 can do under the circumstances. It is the first efforts of a people, 
 many of whom were recently slaves or peons, to work out their 
 freedom economically as well as politically. . . . 
 
 There is great hope in this effort to bring about a Pan-Ameri- 
 can Federation of Labor — a hope that is based upon the help- 
 fulness of the organized labor movements of Mexico and the 
 United States in helping to avert war between the two countries. 
 The labor movement succeeded in doing what other organizations 
 desired to do and hoped to do. . . . When, therefore, two great 
 fundamental organisms in two countries which were threatened 
 by war sent their representatives to a conference to discuss the 
 mutual interests of the masses of the two nations concerned, 
 there was a conference of delegates authorized to speak in the 
 name of the masses of both countries — a conference that resulted 
 in brushing aside non-essentials and fictions that had been cre- 
 ated for prejudicing the minds of both nations and misinforming 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 223 
 
 them in order that they might be more willing to clash in war. 
 For the first time the desires and the ideals of the masses of the 
 two nations were given an opportunity for expression in a great 
 international crisis. — American Federationist, Augtcst, 1916. 
 
 Now that the danger of autocracy has passed, it behooves you 
 men of America and of the Pan-American countries to organize 
 more thoroughly for peace. The forces of war and conquest and 
 exploitation have had their full organization; now we must more 
 thoroughly organize that the voice of the peace-loving shall 
 become the dominant word of our every day lives. The peace- 
 loving, justice-loving peoples of the world must not again be 
 taken by surprise as they were in August, 19 14. The American 
 labor movement hopes to bring about the best possible fraternal 
 cooperative and sympathetic action among the working people 
 of all the Pan-American countries. — From Address to Mexican 
 and American Labor Conferees, at Laredo, Texas, November 13, 
 1918. 
 
 TWENTY YEARS AGO 
 
 The workers are not less, but perhaps more patriotic than 
 all others, yet they abhor war for mere war's sake. If the honor 
 of our country has been insulted, if the interests of our people 
 are assailed, if the lives of our men are wantonly or maliciously 
 destroyed, none will be more ready to respond to a call to re- 
 dress the wrongs and pimish the evil-doers than the united wage- 
 earners of our country, but no spirit of jingoism or false senti- 
 mentality will move them from their well-groxmded position that 
 in any war labor must not only furnish the men to do the fight- 
 ing, to be killed and maimed, but to have the suffering widows' 
 and orphans' hearts bleeding, and the toilers thereafter to bear 
 the burdens of taxation resulting from such a catastrophe. — 
 American Federationist, March, 1898. 
 
 For years the brave Cubans struggled and made sacrifices to 
 attain liberty and independence from Spanish domination. 
 Among the earUest sympathizers and cooperators with that cause 
 was the American Federation of Labor. And, at every con- 
 vention thereafter, this sentiment was reiterated and emphasized, 
 
i24 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 and at gatherings of labor in every city and town of the country 
 resolutions declaratory of the same sentiments were adopted. 
 
 At its session at Cincinnati, 1896, the following resolution was 
 passed: 
 
 "Resolved, That the American Federation of Labor in convention 
 assembled, hereby tenders its hearty sympathy to all men struggling 
 against oppression, and especially to the men of Cuba, who for years 
 have sacrificed and suffered to secure the right of self-government. 
 
 "Resolved, That the example of the people of France, in giving rec- 
 ognition and aid to the Fathers in their struggle to secure the inde- 
 pendence of the colonies, is worthy of imitation ; and we hereby call 
 upon the President and Congress to recognize the belligerent rights 
 of the Cuban revolutionists." 
 
 The important events resulting therefrom are, in a great 
 measure, our concern. 
 
 The tyranny of Spain, her misrule, her corrupting influences 
 over the Cuban people and the impoverishment of her sons, at 
 last quickened the S5Tnpathies and the consciences of American 
 manhood. Many efforts were made by our Goverimient to se- 
 cure Cuba's deliverance from her bondmaster. The pleadings of 
 our people were evidently regarded by the Spanish government 
 as of a platonic character, or that we were unwilling to bear the 
 logical result of our humanitarian interest in the people of that 
 superb isle of the Antilles. Perhaps she took our pleadings as 
 manifestations of weakness or vacillation. She has found to her 
 sorrow that we were as good as our word; and perhaps never 
 in the history of mankind was a war begun on so high a plane 
 of honor and humanity, or calculated to be of so great an advan- 
 tage to the onward march of civilization. 
 
 From the ranks of labor came the quarter of a million of men 
 who volunteered to sacrifice their lives upon the altar of their 
 country in so great a cause. Who, then, but the representatives 
 of labor have the better right to consider the very grave ques- 
 tions which have resulted from our war with Spain? 
 
 It was with feelings of exultation that we read of the heroic 
 men in the field, and in the ships — the brave members of the 
 machinists' union who accompanied Hobson on his perilous voy- 
 age to danger and almost certain death; of the union boiler 
 maker who, in the midst of battle, gave up his life while repair- 
 ing an injured boiler; of the men who fed the flames in the fur- 
 naces, knowing the perils which awaited them, yet unbuoyed by 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 22s 
 
 the excitement of the storm of shot and shell without; of the 
 stout-hearted men who carried the guns and who were behind 
 the guns; the men in the fever-stricken trenches of Santiago and 
 San Juan. The brave toilers of America have covered themselves 
 and posterity with glory, which so long as liberty shall be a 
 word with some meaning in the vocabulary of the language of 
 our country, will emblazon the pages of history in letters of gold, 
 and be hailed with delight in ages untold. 
 
 All through the perils of the war, the American heart beat as 
 one in hope for victory; and, in the hour of our matchless tri- 
 umph, our pride and gratitude knew no bounds that so great a 
 contest was ended in so brief a period, and that not only might 
 but the right has won. 
 
 Out of the war have grown questions of the most serious mo- 
 ment to our people generally, and of direct interest to the wage- 
 workers particularly. 
 
 Is it not strange that, after entering upon a war with Spain 
 to obtain the freedom and independence of Cuba, now that vic- 
 tory has been achieved, the question of Cuban independence is 
 often scouted? Our people were ardent and honest in advocacy 
 of Cuban freedom, and are impatient at any attempt to juggle 
 with the question. When the people of Cuba desire annexation 
 to our country it is time to discuss the subject; and in the mean- 
 time the fruits of the victory for which they have striven so long 
 and so valiantly, and for which we went to war to aid them to 
 achieve, must not be ruthlessly taken from them. 
 
 The assurance given by the President regarding our duty to- 
 ward Cuba, and that freedom and independence should be ac- 
 corded its people at the earliest possible moment consistent with 
 safety and assured success, will have an important bearing upon 
 the solution of this question, and portends the success of the 
 primary mission for which the war with Spain was undertaken. — 
 From Annual Report to A. F. of L. Convention, Kansas City, 
 November, i8g8. 
 
 PACIFISM AND INTERNATIONALISM 
 
 True to the highest and best conception of human life the trade 
 union movement, from its first inception, has been opposed to 
 war. It recognizes that though others may fall, the brunt of war 
 
226 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 is borne by the working people; not only upon the battlefield 
 itself, but the burdens thereafter which war entails. We can 
 not be indifferent to, restrain our feeling of horror at, nor with- 
 hold our sympathies from, the slaughtered thousands of human 
 beings, even in the far East, regardless of the country toward 
 which our predilections lie. 
 
 International wars have become so destructive of human life 
 and property that the world is shocked from center to circumfer- 
 ence at the holocausts now witnessed in battle. While it may 
 not be a practical proposition to ask for immediate disarma- 
 ment of all countries, the time and the intelligence of our peoples 
 surely demand that the extraordinary increase in the armed naval 
 and military forces be limited and restricted rather than ex- 
 panded and extended. We welcomed the establishment of the 
 International Court of Arbitration at The Hague. May we not 
 entertain the hope that its benign influences may be extended 
 and make for universal peace? We recognize that in the last 
 analysis, and in order to prevent any reaction that may lead to 
 greater and more repeated wars and bloodshed, the success for 
 international peace by arbitration must come from higher intelli- 
 gence and a better conception of the sacredness of human life. 
 Out of these well-springs will flow that kindred and humane 
 spirit that will recognize the best maintenance of our own rights 
 by conserving the rights of others. In the broad domain of 
 human activity there is no force so potent and which will be so 
 powerful to establish and maintain international peace and hu- 
 man brotherhood as the fraternization of the workers of the 
 world in the international labor movement. — From Annual Re- 
 port to A. F. of L. Convention, San Francisco, November, 1904. 
 
 You can not hope to secure international peace by the disarm- 
 ament of any one of the peoples of the world. I doubt that there 
 is a single thinking American who would advocate in present 
 conditions, that the American people and the American govern- 
 ment should decide upon the policy of disarmament. We can't 
 do it, my friends. For one country to disarm to-day when the 
 world is an armed camp outside, would mean that that country 
 would be wiped off the face of the map. We won't do that and 
 I shall not even discuss general disarmament now. We hope 
 by the great pressure of the public conscience of the American 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 227 
 
 people to so impress it upon the Government of the United States 
 that in turn it will give most explicit instructions to the repre- 
 sentatives of the next Hague conference that at least, if they can 
 not agree upon general or gradual disarmament, that this constant 
 burden of expansion and growth of armaments shall be arrested. 
 — From address at Labor Mass Meeting, Cooper-Union, New 
 York City, April 16, igoj, in connection with International 
 Peace Congress. 
 
 If the inquiry were directed to what I pointed out, that is, 
 the efforts to corruptly induce labor men to call strikes among 
 longshoremen and seamen, it would be fruitful of results. For 
 several months, at times I could scarcely avoid having people 
 try to come in contact with me upon the scheme to call strikes 
 which would affect the situation regarding the handling of prod- 
 ucts intended for European countries. In my opinion a diligent 
 inquiry should be made into this entire matter. Without regard 
 to any sympathy for the one or the other of the nations involved 
 in the war, had it not been for the honesty of the men at the 
 head of some of these organizations primarily in interest, there 
 would have been great strikes inaugurated at the instance of 
 the agents of foreign governments. All my life I have tried and 
 will continue to try to secure the very best possible conditions 
 of wages and hours for the workers of our country. If these 
 cannot be accomplished without strikes, I have no hesitancy in 
 encouraging strikes for their attainment, but such strikes will 
 have to be undertaken for these specific direct purposes and not 
 for any ulterior purposes, and an improper purpose, and particu- 
 larly when undertaken by corrupt or other means in the inter- 
 ests of one nation as against the interests of another. Ours is 
 an American labor movement, and will be conducted by the 
 rank and file and the officers of the American labor move- 
 ment. . . . 
 
 When the time shall arrive and further disclosures are neces- 
 sary, the people will learn with astonishment what has already 
 taken place, and the obligations which all owe to the represen- 
 tatives of labor and what great temptations they have been hon- 
 est and patriotic enough to resist in the effort to maintain first 
 a strict neutrality in the present European war, and also to in- 
 sist that the American labor movement shall be conducted by 
 
228 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 the rank and file of that movement of our country free from 
 corrupting and contaminating influences of representatives of 
 foreign nations. — From press interview, AugJtst, 1915. 
 
 It is not an unbeautiful theory that has been dissipated by 
 the shot and the smoke of the European war. There were many 
 who held that an organized society was possible upon a basis 
 of the brotherhood of man, in which all had regard for the rights 
 of others and would subordinate their selfish interests to the 
 welfare of others. This ideal made paramount the sanctity of 
 human life and regarded war as a relic of barbarism possible only 
 because institutions of justice had not been sufficiently de- 
 veloped. Wage-earners generally of all civilized countries pro- 
 claimed and indorsed this ideal and declared that they would 
 use every means within their power to prevent war even to the 
 extent of stopping all of the industries of the nations through 
 a general strike. There were many extreme pacifists who could 
 find no justification for war or for the use of force in interna- 
 tional affairs. 
 
 And I, too, found this ideal attractive. In a speech made in 
 April, 1899, in Tremont Temple, Boston, I said: 
 
 "The organized wage-worker learns from his craft association the 
 value of humanity and of the brotherhood of man, hence it is not 
 strange that we should believe in peace, not only nationally, but inter- 
 nationally. It is often our custom to send organizers from one coun- 
 try to another for the purpose of showing to our fellows in other 
 countries the value of our association in the labor movement. If 
 international peace can not be secured by the intelligence of those in 
 authority, then I look forward to the time when the workers will settle 
 this question — ^by the dock laborers refusing to handle goods that are 
 to be used to destroy their fellow men, and by the seamen of the world, 
 united in one organization, while willing to risk their lives in conduct- 
 ing the commerce of nations, absolutely refusing to strike down their 
 fellow-men." 
 
 t My belief that war was no longer possible was based upon 
 what I desired rather than upon realities because I felt so keenly 
 the brutality, the destruction, and the waste of war. It seemed 
 to me that war and conditions of war cut through the veneer 
 of civilization and disclosed the brute in man. The consequence 
 and the purpose of war accustom man to treat human life lightly. 
 They make men callous to human sufiering and they idealize 
 force. No one can hear of the atrocities of the terrible carnage 
 of the present war, of the destruction on the battlefields and on 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 229 
 
 the high seas without a feeling of horror that civihzed men can 
 plan such methods, can use the skill of their minds and bodies 
 and the wisdom of past generations to such terrible purpose.^ 
 But what if these horrors done to the bodies of men shall pre- 
 vent greater horrors to the minds — the souls of men? 
 
 The pacifists and those who hold to policies of non-resistance 
 have failed as I had failed to understand and to evaluate that 
 quality in the human race which makes men willing to risk their 
 cdl for an ideal. Men worthy of the name will fight even for 
 a "scrap of paper" when that paper represents ideals of hu- 
 man justice and freedom. The man who would not fight for 
 such a scrap of paper is a poor craven who dares not assert 
 his rights against the opposition and the demands of others. 
 There is little progress made in the affairs of the world in which 
 resistance of others is not involved. Not only must man have a 
 keen sense of his own rights, but the will and the ability to main- 
 tain those rights with effective insistence. Resistance to injus- 
 tice and tyranny and low ideals is inseparable from a virile 
 fighting quality that has given purpose and force to ennobling 
 causes in all nations. 
 
 Though we may realize the brutality of war, though we may 
 know the value of life, yet we know equally well what would 
 be the effects upon the lives and the minds of men who would 
 lose their rights, who would accept denial of justice rather than 
 hazard their physical safety. The progress of all the ages has 
 come as the result of protests against wrongs and existing condi- 
 tions and through assertion of rights and effective demands for 
 justice. Our own freedom and republican form of government 
 have been achieved by resistance to tyranny and insistence upon 
 rights. Freedom and democracy dare not be synonymous with 
 weakness. They exist only because there is a vision of the pos- 
 sibilities of human life, faith in human nature, and the will to 
 make these things realities even against the opposition of those 
 who see and understand less deeply. 
 
 The people who are willing to maintain their rights and to 
 defend their freedom are worthy of those privileges. Rights 
 carry with them obligation— duty. It is the duty of those who 
 live under free institutions at least to maintain them unimpaired. 
 From address at annual meeting of The National Civic Fed- 
 eration in Washington, D. C, January 18, igi6. 
 
230 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 Though we may realize the brutality of war, though we may 
 know the value of life, yet we know equally well what would 
 be the effects upon the lives and the minds of men who would 
 lose their rights, who would accept denial of justice rather than 
 hazard their physical safety. The progress of all the ages has 
 come as the result of protests against wrongs and cruel condi- 
 tions and through assertion of rights and effective demands for 
 justice. Our own freedom and republican form of government 
 have been achieved by resistance to tyranny and insistence upon 
 rights. Freedom and democracy dare not be synonymous with 
 weakness. They exist only because there is a vision of the pos- 
 sibilities of human life, faith in human nature and the will to 
 make these things realities even against the opposition of those 
 who see and understand less truly. — American Federationist, 
 March, igi6. 
 
 I am free to say that in our international relations I was an 
 ultra-pacifist until the breaking out of this war. I was willing 
 to go the limit to stop war or prevent war. But when I found 
 that the people responded to their colors, whether for kaiser, 
 czar, president or king, I made up my mind that I have been 
 living in a fool's paradise, and that after all it is necessary for 
 men to be prepared to defend themselves. — From address before 
 Wilson Eight-Hour League, Washington, D. C, October 13, 
 1916. 
 
 As you know the most insidious influences are at work not 
 only to create a pro-Kaiser propaganda but also to divide and 
 alienate from one another the nations and peoples fighting for 
 the freedom and democracy of the world. It is your duty as it 
 is the duty of all to impress upon all labor organizations of Euro- 
 pean neutral countries the truth about the pretended interna- 
 tional socialist congress called to be held at Stockholm. It should 
 be emphasized that it does not represent the working class of 
 America, England, France or Belgium, but was called by the 
 German socialists and certain other notoriously pro-German agi- 
 tators in other countries either to bring about a Kaiser-dictated 
 peace under the deceptive catch-phrase "no annexations, no in- 
 demnities," or in the hope of deceiving the Russian socialists 
 into betraying the great western democracies into consenting to a 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 231 
 
 separate peace. It was for the above reasons I cabled yesterday 
 direct to the Council of Workmen's and Soldiers' Deputies at 
 Petrograd. — Cablegrams, May 8, igi?, to Jouhaux, Secretaire, 
 Confederation Ginerale du Travail, Paris, France; Louis Du- 
 breuilh. Secretaire, Parti-Socialiste, Paris, France; G. J. Wardle, 
 M. P., Chairman, The British Labor Party, London, England. 
 
 The Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor 
 in session after due deliberation upon invitation received from 
 you and from Oudegeest of Amsterdam, Holland, to send dele- 
 gates to a conference proposed to be held at Stockholm Septem- 
 ber seventeen, decided that we regard all such conferences as 
 premature and untimely and can lead to no good purpose. We 
 apprehend that a conference such as is contemplated would 
 rather place obstacles in the way to democratize the institutions 
 of the world and hazard the liberties and opportunities for free- 
 dom of all peoples. Therefore, the American Federation of 
 Labor with its two million five hundred thousand members can- 
 not accept invitation to participate in such a conference. If an 
 international trade union conference is to be held it should be 
 at a more opportune time than the present or the immediate fu- 
 ture, and in any event the proposals of the American Federa- 
 tion of Labor for international conference should receive fur- 
 ther and more sympathetic consideration. Shall be glad to con- 
 tinue correspondence. — From message to President Lindquist, 
 Stockholm Conference, June 27, 1917. 
 
 There are some people who have in their minds the thought 
 that, after all, our Government was not neutral. I refer to the 
 charge which has been made that the United States and her 
 people furnished some of the countries at war with arms and am- 
 munition and foods, etc., and that these acts were acts in con- 
 flict with the principles of neutrality. Let me say this, that the 
 Government of the United States up to the time of our entrance 
 into the war did not side with any of the contending countries. 
 The people of the United States were engaged in the manufac- 
 ture and production of certain articles, which, under the laws 
 of the country and under the laws of the world, were perfectly 
 lawful productions. They had the right to sell them to any one 
 who came to the United States and desired to buy. 
 
232 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 The American producer and manufacturer sold to those who 
 wanted to buy a lawful product. Now, if one or two of the 
 countries could not buy these products and could not take them 
 to their own homes, that was not the fault of the United States. 
 And let me say in connection with this, that no country now 
 contending in the war repeats that charge against the United 
 States or attempts now to argue that the United States was un- 
 neutral because it sold its products to those who wanted to buy. 
 
 But in addition, during the Spanish-American War the manu- 
 facturers of arms and munitions in Germany sold these products 
 to Spain, as well as to the United States. During the Boer War 
 — a war in which my sympathies went with the Boers — Germany 
 as well as other countries sold munitions to the Boers, as well as 
 they did to England. During our Civil War the countries of 
 Europe furnished munitions and supplies to the Southern Con- 
 federacy, as well as to the Federal Government. 
 
 No one, no nation ever before attempted to cast a reflection 
 upon any other nation because of the sale of munitions and sup- 
 plies to any one of the other countries. — From address at con- 
 vention of New York State Federation of Labor, Jamestown, 
 N. Y., August 31, 1917. 
 
 I know there are some religious, conscientious objectors. They 
 are opposed to war under all circumstances. They are non-resist- 
 ers and believe that that is the way out. That may be, some- 
 where in Timbuctoo, but not in Germany or France or Belgium 
 or Serbia or the United States. But ask the men or women 
 belonging to a labor organization what would be their attitude 
 in the event of a conflict between their fellow-workers on the one 
 hand and the employers on the other? 
 
 And let me say this, that I hold that a man who is a traitor 
 to his country is upon a par with the scab to his trade. I have 
 a great appreciation and desire to see that the rights of the mi- 
 nority are protected. I believe that men have the right to ex- 
 press their dissent, but the expression of dissent is one thing and 
 the organizing of a movement to destroy the will of the majority 
 —that is not right and cannot be tolerated!— Frow address ac- 
 cepting the presidency of the American Alliance for Labor and 
 Democracy, Minneapolis, Minn., September 7, 1917. 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 233 
 
 When it became clear that all which gives life value and vision 
 was challenged by the forces that sought to throttle the power 
 and to destroy opportunity for nations in order to build up d3Tias- 
 tic special privileges, and it was plain that democracy the 
 world over was in danger, then our Republic, the first great 
 democratic venture, could not remain neutral in a struggle that 
 meant so much to democracy. 
 
 Back of the clash of battle, directing the mobilization of the 
 material resources and man-power of the nation, deeper than the 
 desires that bound men to the institutions of peace, stronger 
 than their abhorrence for maiming and destroying life, is the 
 ideal so deeply rooted in the spiritual fiber of men that they 
 fight the most terrible war of the world's history under its in- 
 spiration. That ideal is human opportunity. Because we are 
 convinced that the war we are waging will bring greater oppor- 
 tunity for life not onFy to individuals but to nations, with full 
 appreciation of the costs we count the gain greater than the loss. 
 — American Federationist, October, 1917. 
 
 I have heard some men criticize me rather severely because I 
 have counseled my fellow-workers in the United States against 
 participation at this time in international conferences in which 
 representatives of the enemy country would participate. What- 
 ever people have said about me, no one has accused me of being 
 a fool. You can perhaps fool me personally quite easily, but 
 it is not easy, I think, to catch me napping on any big question. 
 My belief is that when these invitations to international confer- 
 ences were sent out from Petrograd, or Stockholm or Berne, 
 they were already more or less tainted with German militarist 
 sympathies. You never have heard any German representative 
 or any one with German sympathies urge an international con- 
 ference of labor so long as it seemed likely that the Kaiser's 
 forces were marching triumphantly on Calais or Paris. As soon 
 as the German forces were checked it upset the whole plans of 
 the Kaiser, because there was nothing in their whole plan of 
 forty years' preparation but that looked toward the onward 
 march of the militarist machine, over-riding and crushing every- 
 thing before it like a juggernaut. After the halt that was the 
 beginning of the end, the intrigues in the other countries be- 
 gan and international conferences were proposed. — From address 
 
234 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 at Canadian Victory Loan Meeting, Toronto, November 28, 
 1917. 
 
 If any call should be issued for an international conference of 
 workers of all countries of the world, the American Federation 
 of Labor will not participate. The people of Germany must 
 establish democracy within their own domain and make oppor- 
 tunity for international relations that life shall be secure that 
 the people of all countries may live their own lives and work out 
 their own salvation, and unless this has been accomplished by 
 the German people themselves the allied democracies in this 
 struggle must crush militarism and autocracy and bring a new 
 freedom to the whole world, the people of Germany included. 
 Until these essentials are accomplished an international labor 
 conference with the representatives of the workers of all coun- 
 tries (Germany included) is prejudicial to a desirable and last- 
 ing peace. — From cablegram to W. A. Appleton, Secretary Gen^ 
 eral Federation of British Trade Unions, January, igi8. 
 
 American labor glad to meet with representatives labor move- 
 ments of allied countries but refuses to meet representatives of 
 the labor movements of enemy countries while they are fighting 
 against democracy and world freedom. 
 
 In the gigantic task to destroy autocracy there must be hearty 
 cooperation among workers and we hope nothing will interfere 
 with complete understanding and good-will between workers of 
 America and allied countries. — From cablegram to W. A. Apple- 
 ton, Secretary General Federation of British Trade Unions, Jan- 
 uary g, IQ18. 
 
 If any call should be issued for an international conference of 
 workers of all countries of the world, the American Federation 
 of Labor will not participate. The people of Germany must 
 establish democracy within their own domain and make oppor- 
 tunity for international relations that life shall be secure, that 
 the people of all countries may live their own lives and work 
 out their own salvation and unless this has been accomplished by 
 the German people themselves the allied democracies in this 
 struggle must crush militarism and autocracy and bring a new 
 freedom to the whole world, the people of Germany included. 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 235 
 
 Until these essentials are accomplished an international labor 
 conference with the representatives of the workers of all coun- 
 tries, Germany included, is prejudicial to a desirable and lasting 
 peace. — From cablegram to Arthur Henderson, London, March 
 13, 1918. 
 
 Then came the murder of innocent men, women and children 
 on the Lusitania. When in addition to hundreds of your own 
 people more than one hundred American men and women and 
 children were sent to the bottom 
 
 [Interruptions from the audience: "Where they had the right 
 to go, — they were capitalists."] 
 
 No, our people were traveling, people of the United States 
 were traveling upon their legitimate business and going where 
 they had the legal and moral right to go, and they were mur- 
 dered in cold blood. Further than this there were the men who 
 were cooks and waiters and stokers and sailors on these ships. 
 They were not capitalists. That is the place where they made 
 their living. They were murdered. They were murdered/ The 
 conscience of our people without regard to nationality or feel- 
 ings or fatherland or motherland was outraged as was that of 
 the people of the civilized world. Germany promised she would 
 not do it again. By that promise she convicted herself of mur- 
 der, for if she promised not to do it again it was a confession 
 that she had no right to do it, and then she broke her faith 
 again, and her promises, like her treaties, were regarded as scraps 
 of paper. . . . 
 
 By that time I think our people had come to nearly one hun- 
 dred per cent unity in the determination to live our own lives 
 as best we could and in our own way to help our allied countries 
 in this war. Such a monstrous outrage shall not so easily again 
 be thrust upon the people. Thus it is a war against war, that is 
 what this war is. It is a crusade, a war of the enraged civilian 
 populations defending their menaced liberties and democracies. 
 It is not a capitalist war. 
 
 I have seen one here and there who was an ultra-pacifist and 
 who would not defend himself or his home against a murderer. 
 I have heard others preach the same doctrine, and, whether they 
 know it or not, they were doing Germany's work. If ever there 
 was a war in which the vital interests and the rights of the masses 
 
236 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 of the people of our democratic countries were involved, this is 
 the war. — From address before the London, England, Trades 
 Council, September 22, igi8. 
 
 To-day we went to the Piave River and were right up to the 
 front. We were as near the Austrians as the Italian and Ameri- 
 can soldiers were. It was a gratification for us to be in that 
 situation and that atmosphere — ^we pacifists transformed into 
 fighting men! . . . This morning the Austrian aeroplanes went 
 over the Italian lines and dropped these two circulars calling 
 upon the Italian soldiers to lay down their arms. They say that 
 Germany and Austria have accepted President Wilson's fourteen 
 propositions and, therefore, now that Germany and Austria are 
 ready to make peace, why continue the fighting? You know as 
 well as I know that the central powers have not accepted Presi- 
 dent Wilson's fourteen points. They have said, "Let's have an 
 armistice and then we will discuss these fourteen points," but the 
 purpose is simply the same devilish propaganda for the allied 
 countries; let the Austrian and German soldiers call "Kamerad, 
 Kamerad, Kamerad," and then stab the defenseless Italian and 
 their allied soldiers to death. Italy passed through that experi- 
 ence once and knows what was the penalty that she paid. . . . 
 
 Germany, her government and her underhand socialist propa- 
 ganda, planted the seed of discord in all the countries of the 
 world in which she expected at some time or other to have war 
 trouble. That policy was to make internationalism the watch- 
 word among the people of these other countries while she main- 
 tained the spirit and the purpose of nationalism in Germany. 
 As a consequence, there are quite a number of people who are 
 honestly and conscientiously now, in this war, willing to do any- 
 thing for what they believe to be internationalism and a prema- 
 ture peace. And this propaganda affords the opportunity for the 
 paid agents of the German government and the Austrian gov- 
 ernment, to work upon the credulity of the well-intentioned but 
 misguided idealists. . . . 
 
 The same situation that presents itself in Italy presents itself 
 in the United States and the other coimtries. As I said a while 
 ago, the American trade unionists, the American Federation of 
 Labor, have positively refused to permit any such agitation 
 among the organized labor movement of America. We have 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 237 
 
 understood the German socialist propaganda from the first as 
 being simply the tool of the German military machine of that 
 government. As a consequence, the socialists of Germany, the 
 socialists of Italy, the socialists of England, the socialists of 
 France, have hated the American Federation of Labor. — From 
 address to the journalists of Padova, Italy, at officers' mess, 
 October 12, igi8. 
 
 I ask you, men, whether you have seen in "Avanti" one word 
 of encouragement for the Italian people to stand against German 
 and Austrian aggression in this war? Every trick, every ma- 
 neuver, every peace propaganda of the central powers to weaken 
 the will of the people of Italy has been fully encouraged and ad- 
 vocated by that group. A few days ago "Vorwarts," the official 
 socialist paper of Germany, published editorially an appeal to 
 German socialists to support the government in its military, 
 economic, and political activities, and urged the soldiers and 
 the people not to lay down their arms five minutes before the 
 absolute security of their country had been guaranteed. Have 
 you seen anything like such an appeal in the "Avanti" to the 
 Italian people? . . . 
 
 My associates and I went through France; we went through 
 Belgium, what is not occupied by the military machine of Ger- 
 many, and we have gone through parts of Italy. We have seen 
 the devastation of that murderous military machine of the cen- 
 tral powers. We have seen villages and cities destroyed and 
 crumbled, with scarcely one brick or stone standing upon an- 
 other. We have seen the instruments of torture by which Italian 
 prisoners of war were clubbed to death after they were taken. 
 We have seen, or know of men murdered in cold blood, of women 
 ravaged, and children killed. We have seen or know that men 
 and women and innocent children were sent to a watery grave 
 upon the seas. Is all this to come to an end with Germany and 
 Austria saying "sorry"? — From address at Milan, Italy, October 
 13, igi8. 
 
 We have been profoundly impressed by the unity of the real 
 people of Italy, the people who make things go, who do things 
 and who express and represent the true Italian spirit. It takes 
 but a drop of ink to besmirch a clear crystal glass of water, it 
 
238 LA30R AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 takes but one discordant note to mar the harmony of a wonder- 
 ful orchestra. We have observed since we have been in Italy 
 the attempt to place the drop of ink in the crystal glass of water 
 to besmirch the purity and the patriotism of the Italian people. 
 We have seen since we have been here an attempt by just a 
 small group to sound the discordant note. . . . There has not 
 been one gallant or heroic effort made by the Italian army in 
 this war against militarism that has found one word of com- 
 mendation or approval on the part of this group. . . . 
 
 As soon as this little group of official socialists with its "Avanti" 
 knew that we were coming to Italy, they began their attacks upon 
 us, trying to keep the people of Italy away from us so that they 
 could not meet with us. . . . "Avanti" has said, I think it was 
 in their issue of to-day, that if we represent four millions of 
 working people we also represent millions of dollars. The fact 
 of the matter is that no one can become a member of an organi- 
 zation affiliated to the American Federation of Labor unless he 
 is a wage-earner. We represent the wage-earners, and not the 
 political tricksters of America or of Italy. It is nothing less 
 than a malicious lie, uttered by the "Avanti" for the purpose of 
 discrediting our men. Even if it were true, we can answer — 
 "There are no German dollars." — From address to American 
 Italian League, Turin, Italy, October 17, jgi8. 
 
 I think you are aware that there was a labor conference held 
 in London September 17, 18, 19, and 20, 1918, of the represen- 
 tatives of the labor movements of the allied countries. It was 
 the first one in which the American Federation of Labor partici- 
 pated since the outbreak of the war in 1914. The conferences 
 held by these labor movements of the allied countries were re- 
 garded by themselves as ineffective or impotent to deal with the 
 subject, because of the fact that the American Federation of 
 Labor was not represented. We declined to go to Stockholm; 
 we declined to go to Berne; we declined to participate in these 
 conferences in which the representatives of labor of the enemy 
 coimtries would be permitted to participate. We would not 
 meet them so long as the war was on. In August a delegation 
 of five of us went over to the other side, and in addition to the 
 other work we tried to do in the interest of imiting the people 
 of the various allied countries, the labor movement to stand by 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 239 
 
 their respective Governments until the war was won, in addition 
 to that effort, which was no mean job, we attended this allied 
 labor conference in London. We made some propositions, some 
 of them of a patriotic character, and some of them of a practical 
 character, suggestions and propositions, which we expressed the 
 hope would be made part of the treaties between the countries of 
 the world at the peace table. — From testimony at hearing before 
 Committee on Education and Labor, United States Senate, Janu- 
 ary 3 and 4, igig. 
 
 American organized workers have always endeavored to pro- 
 mote good will among the peoples of the world. The possibility 
 of war has ever been regarded by them as the black shadow of 
 an indescribable catastrophe. The interests of the workers are 
 identified with those of peace. War has never meant to them 
 opportunity for gain or exploitation. It has always meant to 
 them privation, direst suffering, service on the firing-line and 
 in the actual fighting of the war, and bearing the burdens that 
 follow in its wake. The workers abhor war with all its fright- 
 fulness, horror, bloodshed and mangled flesh, but they realize 
 that there are greater evils than war. Peace secured through 
 the surrender of a principle vital to liberty, justice and democ- 
 racy is nothing less than coward servility. 
 
 The American labor movement never advocated peace at any 
 price. It never encouraged nor gave support to any movement 
 of peace at any price. While it recognizes that peace is essen- 
 tial for normal, progressive development, it steadfastly refused to 
 advocate peace at the sacrifice of the ideals of freedom and jus- 
 tice. — From "Our Shield Against Bolshevism," McClure's Maga- 
 zine, April, 1919. 
 
 PREPAREDNESS— NOT MILITARISM 
 
 It is plainly evident that the militia of our several States is 
 now never utilized except for purposes of ostentatious show or 
 as an element in labor struggles. There is not even a pretense 
 that they should be what they were originally designed for, "an 
 arming of the people, a citizen soldiery, a National Guard." 
 Instead of being the popular organization in defense of homes 
 and firesides, it has drifted into a machine of monopolistic op- 
 
240 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 pression against labor. But one of two courses is open to the 
 trade unionists of our country upon the militia question. 
 
 We must endeavor to bring back the militia of our several 
 States to again become the popular military organization of the 
 masses, with the election of the officers by the men; or, failing 
 in that, our organizations will be compelled to declare that mem- 
 bership in a labor organization and the militia at one and the 
 same time is inconsistent and incompatible. — From Annual Re- 
 port to A. F. of L. Convention, Philadelphia, Pa., December, 
 i8q2. 
 
 In the German army are nearly thirty thousand officers. Few 
 of them can afford to champion the cause of the "lower o/ders 
 of society." From their supercilious bearing in public and from 
 common reports as to their class prejudices and manner of life, 
 precious few ever think of doing so. The working classes regard 
 them as fomenters of war, allies of the titled aristocracy, wiUing 
 servants of the capitahst in time of labor disputes, and enemies 
 of the social progress that comes through peace. The very fact 
 that marriage is forbidden to a German army officer unless he 
 or his intended wife has a stated income, aside from his pay, 
 "sufficient to maintain one of his rank," points to snobbery, 
 parasitism, and fortune hunting. Thus, from every point of 
 view the German army officers form one of the main buttresses 
 to the feudal conception of society as against the democratic — 
 or American — system. ... It is to be remembered that the 
 German soldier is such by compulsion; he has not, like the 
 American soldier, voluntarily taken on his uniform, nor are the 
 officers, as are more than half in our army, promoted from the 
 ranks or transferred from civil life. Similarly, the high posts in 
 the pubUc service, instead of being the gifts of the people, are 
 still frequently rewards to favorites of the powerful families. 
 With this fact comes the insistence upon social distinctions by 
 the well placed, distinctions carried by a pettiness of spirit into 
 the commonest relations of life. In Germany, "Herr Profes- 
 soren" and "Frau Doctorinnen," and in Italy "Commendatore" 
 and "Cavalieri," are thicker than "colonels" in Kentucky, with 
 the difference that they expect to be taken seriously as "upper 
 class" social luminaries. — American Federationist, January, 
 igio. 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 241 
 
 Whenever those who join in military camps or military train- 
 ing must file applications stating their professions or callings, 
 the officers in charge of this work are given a degree of discretion 
 which will enable them to create and encourage undemocratic 
 customs. The greatest protection against the dangers of mili- 
 tarism can be secured through making military training volun- 
 tary and as general as possible and through fostering in the 
 citizens the best conception of their duties as American citizens. 
 One method that would promote this purpose is to make the 
 naval and military national schools open to any one who desires 
 to enter, and who has the necessary qualifications, just as en- 
 trance to all other institutions of higher learning is open to those 
 who desire to take courses in those institutions. This policy 
 would enable those with ability and with ambition for that kind 
 of work to render service to their country, and would create 
 such a large available supply of men trained to serve as officers 
 that we could feel that we had adequate protection and ab the 
 same time had safeguarded against the evils of militarism. — 
 From letter to General Leonard Wood, September 15, 1915, in 
 response to invitation to visit training camp at Plattsburgh, N. Y. 
 
 The labor movement is militant. The workers understand the 
 necessity for power and its uses. They fully appreciate the im- 
 portant function that power exercises in the affairs of the world. 
 Power does not have to be used in order to be potential. The 
 very existence of power and ability to use that power constitute 
 a defense against unreasonable and unwarranted attack. Ability 
 and readiness for self-defense constitute a potential instrumen- 
 tality against unnecessary and useless wars, or the denial of 
 rights and justice. — From address at annual meeting of The Na- 
 tional Civic Federation in Washington, D. C, January 18, 1916. 
 
 There is another problem that has a very prominent place in 
 general thought at the present time — this is the problem of na- 
 tional defense and preparedness. The European war has de- 
 molished many of our ideas on the subject of peace and our 
 conceptions of human psychology. As a result many have had 
 to abandon former conceptions of policies of national defense 
 and preparedness. We have learned that some constructive 
 measures can be adopted and a definite well coordinated plan 
 
242 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 evolved if our nation is to continue to hold its present position 
 in the council of nations and if our citizens are to continue to 
 progress and to secure increasingly better opportunities in our 
 Republic. 
 
 Formulation of plans and policies must necessarily be left 
 largely to preliminary committees and commissions. The wage- 
 earners of America are vitally interested in these plans and 
 polities. They bear the brunt of fighting in times of war and 
 suffer most from mistakes of militarism and lack of national 
 preparedness. Therefore, it is essential that representatives of 
 wage-earners should be appointed to all commissions and com- 
 mittees that deal with these matters. — American Federationist, 
 February, iqi6. 
 
 Preparedness is something very different from militarism. 
 Both leave, an indelible impression upon the nation, one for free- 
 dom and the other for repression. . Militarism is a perversion of 
 preparedness — instead of serving the interests of the people, the 
 people are ammunition for these machines.. They are destruc- 
 tive to freedom and democracy. . . . 
 
 Preparedness is an economic as well as a civic and a military 
 problem. The principles of human welfare can not be ignored 
 in military matters or in plans for national defense, just as they 
 can not be ignored in industry or commerce. That infinitely 
 valuable and sacred thing human creative power, and the safe- 
 guarding of human rights and freedom are of fundamental im- 
 portance and are correlated with national defense and must not 
 be sacrificed to any false concept of national defense. For to 
 what end will a nation be saved, if the citizens are denied that 
 which give life value and purpose? . . . 
 
 National preparedness involves the coordination and utiliza- 
 tion of national forces and resources. War, as it is being waged 
 to-day, is determined not merely by the men on the battlefield, 
 but also by the mobilization of the national resources, national 
 industries and commerce. The real problem is the organization 
 of the material forces and resources of the country, the co- 
 ordination of these in the furtherance of a definite military de- 
 fense policy. 
 
 All of the power and resources of the belligerent countries are 
 concentrated to sustain the armies in the field and to equip them 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 243 
 
 with the necessary supplies as well as the weapons of war. The 
 contest between industries, the question of commercial control, 
 of superiority of economic organization are fully as important 
 as the contest between the soldiers on the battlefield. Whatever, 
 then, is the necessary part of the human, of the organization of 
 industrial and commercial life, is an important factor in national 
 preparedness. . . . 
 
 The developments, or rather the events, of the past eighteen 
 months have proven that beautiful ideals and theories without a 
 practical foundation or a practical plan for realizing them, are 
 worse than ineffective, for they create an atmosphere of false 
 safety and a false hope that lull into a fancied security and 
 inactivity and act as a barrier against efforts to think out dif- 
 ferent and better ways, , 
 
 As a result of our experiences and observations during the 
 past year and a half we, as a nation, have come to a different and 
 a wiser attitude towards preparedness. We have come to see 
 that preparedness is only the wise forethought of a nation that 
 has taken into account all of the elements of human nature, all 
 of the possibilities and opportunities that may come to the na- 
 tion, and has tried to think out a definite, sustained plan that 
 will insure to the nation the development and maintenance of 
 their best ideals for the citizens individually and for the nation 
 as a whole. . . . 
 
 We are confronted with a question that must be answered — 
 Can democracy be made effective? Democracy, like every other 
 human and national institution, is still on trial. If democracy 
 is to maintain itself, it must be able to defend itself against 
 attacks and invasion. It must be prepared to defend institutions 
 of freedom against force used by others. 
 
 ' Tnstitutions of democracy and ideals of freedom have never 
 been free from attacks and insidious dangers. If we deem them 
 worth defending, we must be ready and able to maintain them 
 with efficiency and effectiveness. 
 
 Preparedness against war should be only a small portion of 
 the general comprehensive national policy of preparedness to 
 meet all of the problems of life. It is an all-pervading problem. 
 Plans for preparedness against war must be in accord and co- 
 ordinate with plans and policies for preparedness in all other 
 relations of life. . . . 
 
244 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 Provisions for national defense and preparedness must be in 
 accord with democratic ideals. In other words, military training 
 and military institutions must be a part of the life of the people 
 rather than of a nature to alienate citizens from the spirit, the 
 ideals and the purposes of civil life. A great danger comes from 
 isolating the military, from making military ideals separate and 
 often in conflict with those of the masses of the people. The 
 military should not exist as something apart, but for the service 
 of the whole nation. The naval and military institutions of our 
 country which give a special training to those who have a par- 
 ticular fitness and desire to follow military or naval professions, 
 ought also to be open to all who possess the required qualifica- 
 tions. Such a provision would enable men from all walks of 
 life to enter the army and the navy — a condition which in itself 
 would be in accord with the spirit of democracy. 
 
 Wherever the spirit of democracy is absent, there the accom- 
 panying evil of militarism, military castes, fasten deadly clutches 
 upon freedom and civic opportunity, and obversely where the 
 spirit of democracy obtains it tends to the abolition of military 
 castes and the inherent vicious dangers of militarism. — Americcm 
 Federationist, March, iqi6. 
 
 There is an immediate, critical situation which the labor move- 
 ment must meet at once. The whole world is afire and there is 
 imminent danger that at any moment we may become part of 
 the conflagration. National constructive policies of preparedness 
 and defense are now being formulated. The wage-earners of 
 the United States will have to recognize their obligations to 
 maintain institutions of liberty and justice if they are to have 
 part in directing the spirit and the methods that shall be adopted 
 for the defense of our Republic. 
 
 Some plan will be adopted. Whatever the plan may be it will 
 affect wage-earners primarily. If in this formative period the ■ 
 labor movement shall clearly enunciate what part it is willing to 
 take in defense of the Republic, it will be in a position to have 
 a voice in deciding the whole plan of national preparedness for 
 defense, but if the labor movement should hold aloof and should 
 refuse to proclaim a constructive program, all wage-earners will 
 be forced to accept conditions and methods determined by those 
 who do not understand or sympathize with the aims or purposes 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 245 
 
 of the labor movement. In other words, there is now a great 
 opportunity for wage-earners to participate in the formulation 
 of national policies and to assume a helpful, guiding, beneficent 
 part, performing their duties as citizens and at the same time 
 maintaining the rights of free men in order to conserve human 
 interests and welfare. 
 
 Either duties and service in connection with national defense 
 will be imposed upon the workers without their advice when 
 formulating these plans, or labor must make this an opportunity 
 for emphasizing the tremendous service that it has rendered to 
 society, both in peace and in war, and for demanding that all 
 plans be in harmony with the thought that human life and 
 human welfare are the ultimate purpose which both peace and 
 war serve. — From letter March 2, 1917, to presidents of all or- 
 ganizations affiliated with the American Federation of Labor and 
 the chiefs of the four railroad brotherhoods. 
 
 I favor some disciplinary measures for the youth of the land. 
 I believe this is essential for the promotion of true national 
 feeling; for the counteraction of destructive propaganda, and 
 for the provision of that alertness, intelligence and amenability 
 to law which the youth of every nation sorely needs. We have 
 just won the war against autocracy and militarism and I am 
 opposed to anything which even smacks of militarism. I have 
 been greatly impressed by the recent statement of Premier Lloyd 
 George of England, that one of the first fruits of the allied 
 victory will be, to a large degree, the bringing about of disarma- 
 ment among the great nations of the world, the reduction of the 
 military forces to the barest necessities and the cessation, in 
 great measure, of the manufacture of munitions. What the 
 disciplinary measures and the training which may be required 
 should be I would not care to indicate without a further and 
 more intensive study of the subject. It might include a certain 
 amount of drilling, for the disciplinary value that drilling has, 
 and for its value in bringing about a better physical standard 
 among the youth of the nation. This might also be of value in 
 the event that some nation in the future should again attempt, 
 as Germany has done, to usurp the function of world domina- 
 tion, in that it would make the raising and training of an army 
 easier and more rapid. However, I cannot accentuate tooi 
 
246 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 strongly my absolute opposition to any measure that would tend 
 toward militarism, the creation of a military caste or the turning 
 of the thoughts of the nation toward that vain thing known as 
 military glory. — Statement to the press at Laredo, Texas, No- 
 vember i6, igi8. 
 
 The trade union movement is imalterably and emphatically 
 opposed to "militarism" or a large standing army. "Militarism" 
 is a system fostered and developed by tyrants in the hope of 
 supporting their arbitrary authority. It is utilized by those 
 whose selfish ambitions for power and worldly glory lead them 
 to invade and subdue other peoples and nations, to destroy their 
 liberties, to acquire their wealth and to fasten the yoke of bond- 
 age upon them. The trade union movement is convinced by the 
 experience of mankind that "militarism" brutalizes those influ- 
 enced by the spirit of the institution. The finer elements of 
 humanity are strangled. Under "militarism" a deceptive patrio- 
 tism is established in the people's minds, where men believe that 
 there is nobility of spirit and heroism in dying for the glory of 
 a dynasty or the maintenance of institutions which are inimical 
 to human progress and democracy. "Mihtarism" is the appli- 
 cation of arbitrary and irresponsible force as opposed to reason 
 and justice. Resistance to injustice and tyranny is that virile 
 quality which has given purpose and effect to ennobling causes 
 in all countries and at all times. The free institutions of our 
 country and the liberties won by its founders would have been 
 impossible had they been unwilling to take arms and if necessary 
 die in the defense of their liberties. Only a people willing to 
 maintain their rights and defend their liberties are guaranteed 
 free institutions. 
 
 Conditions foreign to the institutions of our country have pre- 
 vented the entire abolition of organized bodies of men trained to 
 carry arms. A voluntary citizen soldiery supplies what would 
 otherwise take its place, a large standing army. To the latter 
 we are unalterably opposed as tending to establish the evils of 
 "militarism." Large standing armies threaten the existence of 
 civil liberty. The history of every nation demonstrates that as 
 standing armies are enlarged the rule of democracy is lessened 
 or extinguished. Our experience has been that even this citizen 
 soldiery, the militia of our states, has given cause at times for 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 247 
 
 grave apprehension. Their ranks have not always been free 
 from undesirable elements, particularly the tools of corporations 
 involved in industrial disputes. During industrial disputes the 
 militia has at times been called upon to support the authority of 
 those who through selfish interests desired to enforce martial 
 law while the courts were open and the civil authorities compe- 
 tent to maintain supremacy of civil law. We insist that the 
 militia of our several states should be wholly organized and 
 controlled by democratic principles so that this voluntary force 
 of soldiery may never be diverted from its true purpose and used 
 to jeopardize or infringe upon the rights and liberties of our 
 people. The right to bear arms is a fundamental principle of 
 our government, a principle accepted at all times by free people 
 as essential to the maintenance of their liberties and institutions. 
 We demand that this right shall remain inviolate. — From Annual 
 Report to A. F. of L. Convention, Atlantic City, N. J., June, 
 igig. 
 
 WHEN THE WAR CAME 
 
 A declaration that represents the will of the people speaks with 
 an elementary power that makes the whole world give heed. 
 Such a declaration was that made at a momentous conference 
 held in the American Federation of Labor Building, Washing- 
 ton, D. C, on March 12, 191 7. It was a gathering of the re- 
 sponsible, authorized representatives of the trade union move- 
 ment of America to consider a national problem and to determine 
 what attitude the organized labor movement ought to take in 
 meeting that problem. Because of its daily struggle for justice 
 and freedom in all relations of life, the organized labor move- 
 ment speaks for the masses of the people. 
 
 As our national crisis has become increasingly acute and has 
 gradually dispelled even the most confident faith that our nation 
 could be kept out of war, measures for national preparedness and 
 defense have been growing apace, but no practical program could 
 be adopted or executed without the cooperation of the men and 
 women who use tools. Tools are the basic agencies of 
 civilization. 
 
 The greatest problem is always to secure the cooperation of 
 all those whose work is necessary in national defense. For de- 
 fense our nation must rely upon its machinists and metal 
 
248 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 workers, upon those who dig the ditches, who produce the ma- 
 terials of war, upon those whose hands are on the throttles and 
 levers of transportation, who connect the arteries of communica- 
 tion. These workers have become free. They can no longer be 
 told, Come here! Go there 1 Free workers must give consent. 
 Then sympathy, understanding and cooperation must be elicited. 
 The armies of republics can not be made up of bondmen. All 
 history has taught us that national cooperation can not be 
 secured without arousing a spirit inspired by idealism and for- 
 tified by the assurance of the justice of their cause and the 
 righteousness of their methods. . . . 
 
 Though various members of the conference expressed dif- 
 ferences of opinion and suggested minor amendments to the 
 declaration submitted to them by the council, yet they felt that 
 the changes were details rather than essentials, and they pre- 
 ferred to adopt the declaration as it was rather than interpose 
 the slightest obstacle to the accomplishment of the purpose of 
 the conference. The spirit of patriotism was deep and intense, 
 but equally impressive and intense was the spirit of determina- 
 tion to uphold the rights and opportunities of humanity. 
 
 Without a dissenting voice the conference voted to adopt the 
 declaration.* 
 
 * The closing sentences of this historic declaration of organized 
 labor, adopted in Washington, March 12, 1917, three weeks before 
 President Wilson appeared before Congress presenting the memorable 
 indictment against Germany, are as follows: 
 
 "We, the officers of the National and International Trade Unions 
 of America in national conference assembled in the capital of our 
 nation, hereby pledge ourselves in peace or in war, in stress or in 
 storm, to stand unreservedly by the standards of liberty and the safety 
 and preservation of the institutions and ideals of our Republic. 
 
 "In this solemn hour of our nation's life, it is our earnest hope that 
 our Republic may be safeguarded in its unswerving desire for peace; 
 that our people may be spared the horrors and the burdens of war; 
 that they may have an opportunity to cultivate and develop the arts 
 of peace, human brotherhood and a higher civilization. 
 
 "But, _ despite all our endeavors and hopes, should our country be 
 drawn into the maelstrom of the European conflict, we, with these 
 ideals of liberty and justice herein declared, as the indispensable basis 
 for national policies, offer our services to our country in every field 
 of activity to defend, safeguard and preserve the Republic of the United 
 States of America against its enemies whomsoever they may be, and 
 we call upon our fellow workers and fellow citizens in the holy name 
 of Labor, Justice, Freedom and Humanity to devotedly and patrioti- 
 cally give like service." 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 249 
 
 No more important document was ever issued by a non- 
 governmental agency in the history of this country. It heralds 
 a new era when direction and administration over matters that 
 concern the nation shall be in the hands of those whose brain, 
 sinew and nerve energy have been expended in the service of the 
 nation. The men and tlie women whose hands are upon the 
 wheels of industry and upon the throttles of transportation, who 
 man the ships that go out to foreign ports, were represented in 
 the conference — who gave to the world a constructive declaration 
 of principles whatever fate betide our nation — peace or war. 
 
 It was the voice of the masses declaring "Let us plan to save 
 democracy." In every warring nation democracy has given way 
 to autocracy. Labor wants to prove the efficiency of democracy 
 — let us cooperate upon a basis that will assure whatever of 
 value we already possess and clear the way for the new era — the 
 constructive period of growth and progress under the inspiration 
 of our Democracy United and Efficient. — American Federationist, 
 April, 1917; "American Labor's Position m Peace or in War." 
 
 I prefer not to ally myself with the conscious or unconscious 
 agents of the Kaiser in America. — Message, May 10, 1917, in 
 reply to request for use of name, by group of socialist organizers 
 of "First American Conference for Democracy and Terms of 
 Peace," to advocate a "speedy and universal peace." 
 
 The government has no right to lay upon citizens the duty of 
 universal service without assuring to them the means by which 
 they may live and by which those dependent upon them shall 
 be enabled to live as befits those who are making the ultimate 
 sacrifice for their country. . . . Separation payments must be 
 provided before the nation goes much further in arrangements 
 for doing its part in the war. tThe government can not with 
 justice draft men into service, thus cutting off the income of the 
 family, without making adequate provisions for maintaining the 
 family standards of life. The country is rich. It is now the 
 financial center of the world. We can not wage a war for 
 humanity and at the same time fail to make provisions for 
 humanity at home. J If the war is to mean anything, it must 
 bring greater protection for human rights and freedom. To that 
 end we must protect and conserve the human life within our 
 
250 . LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 own borders that we may be fit and capable to conserve human 
 rights and life in the new world we hope to establish. — American 
 Federationist, June, 1917. 
 
 No one in touch with the present situation imagines that the 
 spirit of greed has been completely eliminated from the indus- 
 trial and commercial world. Though we regret it, we cannot 
 blind ourselves to the fact that the spirit of profiteering makes 
 some employers willing to exploit workers and the nation's need 
 even in this world's critical emergency. Firms in several locali- 
 ties have asked for soldiers to prevent workers trying, through 
 legitimate methods, to secure higher wages in order that their 
 standards may not be lowered through the constantly increasing 
 costs of living. 
 
 We know then that these unprincipled, heartless employers 
 will not hesitate to make use of conscription machinery to rid 
 themselves of "undesirable" workmen and thus give such em- 
 ployers a free hand to force unendurable conditions of work 
 and pay. 
 
 It is the desire of all good citizens that in our efforts to fight 
 a war for justice abroad we shall not at the same time impose 
 injustice upon men and women at home. In order to prevent 
 discrimination or favoritism and to create in the minds of the 
 masses of citizens confidence that the government desires to do 
 justice to all, the organized labor movement urges that repre- 
 sentatives of labor be upon all exemption boards. This matter 
 has been taken up with officers charged with the administration 
 of the selective conscription law. — From press statement, June 
 II, 1917. 
 
 At the first meeting of the Committee on Labor of the Council 
 of National Defense, a resolution was adopted protesting against 
 this general movement to suspend labor laws and labor stand- 
 ards. That resolution was referred to the Advisory Commission, 
 adopted by that body, and also by the Council of National 
 Defense. Strangely enough when the resolution was made pub- 
 lic, the metropolitan press, with one accord, misinterpreted the 
 thought and purpose of the resolution by sensational headlines 
 and editorial comment to the effect that the workers would forego 
 all strikes during the period of the war and woiild agree to any 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 251 
 
 conditions rather than interrupt production. This statement was 
 in direct conflict with facts. No representative of organized 
 labor has been authorized to make such a declaration, and no 
 one has made such a declaration. . . . 
 
 In addressing that committee [Committee on Labor, May 15, 
 191 7] he [President Wilson] made the following statement: 
 
 "I have been very much alarmed at one or two things that have hap- 
 pened : at the apparent inclination of the legislatures of one or two 
 of our states to set aside even temporarily the laws which have safe- 
 guarded the standards of labor and of life. I think nothing would be 
 more deplorable than that. We are trying to fight in a cause which 
 means the lifting of the standards of life, and we can fight in that cause 
 best by voluntary cooperation." 
 
 These declarations are in accord with the principles adopted 
 by the representatives of the organized labor movement of Amer- 
 ica before war was declared. — American Federationist, July, 191 7. 
 
 When I worked at the bench, I was in a number of strikes. 
 There was one strike in the shop in which I was working, and my 
 judgment was that it was an inopportune time for the men in 
 that shop to strike. I was firmly convinced that they were 
 justified in striking, but I knew as well as I know anything that 
 has not yet occurred, that we would be defeated if we inaugu- 
 rated the strike. 
 
 I was the only man in that shop who had that view. I did 
 not vote against the strike. I expressed my views to the boys, 
 but they did not hold my view and they decided that we should 
 strike. Do you think for a moment that I would remain in that 
 shop and work while they went on strike? 
 
 Supposing in any of our unions a question, a wage reduction 
 or a demand for a wage increase came up and the question of 
 striking was adopted by two-thirds of the men, or three-fourths 
 of them — do you think for a moment that the one-third or the 
 one-fourth of them have the right to say that the three-fourths 
 are wrong and that they are going to continue to work and play 
 the part of the scab and the strike-breaker? I hold that the 
 same rule applies to the republic in which we live. I suppose 
 that there are not many, in our time, who will hold that our 
 country can be governed without laws of some kind. 
 
 We have a Constitution — the Constitution of the United 
 States. We are living under the Declaration of Independence. 
 
2S2 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 Under the laws and the Constitution of the United States, the 
 representatives and senators in Congress assembled have the 
 power to declare and make war. In the Senate of the United 
 States, in the House of Representatives of the United States, 
 there were not more than two or three who voted against the 
 Government and the people of the United States making war 
 upon the Imperial Government of Germany. In other words, 
 the representatives of the people of this Republic, in Congress 
 assembled, under the authority of the Constitution of the United 
 States, made that declaration of war. 
 
 Any man living in our country who is unwilling to stand be- 
 hind that declaration is unworthy to enjoy the guarantees of 
 peace. — From address at convention of New York State Federa- 
 tion of Labor, Jamestown, N. Y., August 31, 1917. 
 
 There are some people who have said that this question of 
 the declaration of war should have gone to a referendum vote. 
 I wonder, if a band of a dozen or more men would endeavor to 
 surround the home in which you live and then demand your 
 surrender of your property, and in the meantime, while you are 
 considering the subject, discharge their revolvers, killing your 
 wife and your children — whether you would call a meeting for 
 the deliberation of the subject and a vote as to whether you 
 should defend yourself. 
 
 As one who has for nearly his whole life been an advocate of 
 the initiative and the referendum in legislation as well as in 
 the labor movement, I am free to say this — that if a situation 
 occurred such as I have tried to outline to you, I would try to 
 pull first before the other fellow got it on me. — From address 
 accepting the presidency of the American Alliance for Labor and 
 Democracy, Minneapolis, Minn., September 7, ZQiy. 
 
 Suppose we had decided to take a referendum vote after the 
 Lusitania was sunk. How was it to be taken? It might have 
 taken six, seven, eight months before the final decision. What 
 provision in the Constitution speaks of a referendum in case 
 of war? In the meantime, if it hadn't been for the proud fighting 
 remnant of outraged Belgium and the men of France and the 
 whole-hearted Britishers, we might have had a visit from the 
 Imperial Kaiser, and we would have had to tell him to please 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 253 
 
 vacate because we hadn't completed our referendum. — From 
 address at Faneuil Hall Meeting under auspices of the Central 
 Labor Union, Boston, May i, igi8. 
 
 THROUGH THE HEAT AND BURDEN 
 
 The American Alliance for Labor and Democracy sends greet- 
 ings to the fighters for liberty in Russia as brothers in the same 
 cause. The aims of the Russian democracy are our aims; its 
 victory is our victory and its defeat is our defeat; and even the 
 traitors that assail the Russian democracy likewise assail us. In 
 the conflict for the liberty of Russia, the liberty of America is 
 likewise at stake. Every Russian soldier who faces unflinchingly 
 the enemy in the field is striking a blow for the liberty of 
 America. — From message to Rtissian Premier Kerensky, Sep- 
 tember 13, 1917. 
 
 It is proposed as a result of a great conference which dosed 
 in Minneapolis a week ago to-night, so far as possible to let 
 every controversial question be laid on the table until after the 
 war is closed. Of course, my friends, I would not have you or 
 any one else interpret that statement to mean that the human 
 aspiration for a better life can be or will be suppressed; that 
 ought to be encouraged; but shall we array church against 
 church, party against party, religion against religion, politics 
 against poUtics, nationality against nationality, aye, even wrangle 
 over raising funds to carry on the war, the bonds that are to 
 be issued? Let us do our share to see to it that Uncle Sam 
 has the fighting men and the men to produce at home and the 
 money with which to carry on the war. Let us defer questions 
 which can be deferred, questions that are likely to divide any 
 appreciable element of our people in this war; let us remain 
 united and fight it out, no matter how long we fight, until 
 America and America's allies shall have proved victorious in the 
 struggle. — From address before Tke National Security League, 
 Chicago, III., September 14, 1917. 
 
 The expression has long been accepted as fact — that we of the 
 United States are not yet a nation. That development will come 
 out of the bloodshed and the united effort necessary to defend 
 
2S4 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 our republic. Sometimes in the world's history, through the 
 shedding of blood comes redemption. 
 
 The fundamental condition necessary for unity of action is 
 understanding of the issues involved and the purposes of the 
 government. 1 Misunderstanding is the root of much eviljand 
 can not be permitted when so much is at stake. . . . 
 
 Because of common peril and common conviction, there has 
 developed a deeper and truer spirit of fraternity and comradeship 
 in the work of this war. The ideals that are the meaning of 
 America, are at stake and the citizens have been conscripted into 
 service in their defense. This conscription does not imply only 
 enforced service but a dedication of our lives and all that we 
 have and are in furtherance of democratic institutions and op- 
 portunity. — American Federationist, October, igij. 
 
 Some have said that they want an immediate peace. I ask 
 you, my friends, and I pray that you may ask any one who 
 urges an inunediate peace, what the meaning of it all would be. 
 Suppose we could establish peace this very night and wake up 
 to-morrow morning with this war ended, what would it 
 mean? . . . 
 
 With peace to-morrow morning, the Kaiser's military machine 
 has won, the whole history of the world for all time must write 
 down that the militarist machine of the Kaiser has been vic- 
 torious. . . . 
 
 A peace to-morrow morning is a justification of the policy of 
 German militarism and the mere postponement of the balance of 
 the fight to some other time. We are in this war, men and 
 women — ^we are in this war! We may never again find the 
 civilized nations, the democracies of the world, so united against 
 autocracy smd militarism. — From address at Anti-Disloyalty 
 Mass Meeting in Carnegie Hall, New York, November 2, igi?. 
 
 A few weeks ago a Russian came to my office in Washington, 
 and while we were discussing certain matters he was seriously 
 asked the question whether he approved of the idea being pro- 
 claimed by some Russian leaders that there should be a vote, by 
 the soldiers whether or not a particular advfince should be made. 
 He answered yes. He really believed it. Can you imagine a 
 great army corps covering an area of two, three or four hundred 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 255 
 
 miles, and each regiment and each company voting on the ques- 
 tion of whether they should advance or retreat? And just 
 imagine one regiment voting aye and another voting no! What 
 wonderful discipline and effectiveness there would be in such an 
 army! I wonder where General Haig would be if that system 
 prevailed in the forces of the British, Canadian or Australian 
 boys? This is war. This is not playing a game of war, and 
 when the Congress of the United States or the Parliament of 
 Canada has decreed lawfully a certain course, it is the duty of 
 every man to stand by and see that that poUcy is put into suc- 
 cessful operation. The same is equally true of the general staff 
 of any army. When the Commander in Chief issues an order it 
 is the duty of every soldier to obey. — From address at Canadian 
 Victory Loan Meeting, Toronto, November 28, igi?. 
 
 This war has brought out in illumination a new interpretation 
 of service. This war is being fought by whole nations, not 
 merely by the men on the firing line. Those in military service 
 are helpless without the cooperation of those rendering service 
 in industry and in transporting troops, in making supplies and 
 munitions of war. This war has no place for parasites or special 
 privileges founded upon tradition or legalistic fiction. There is a 
 place only for those who render service. This is the revolution- 
 ary spirit which the world war is breeding in every country and 
 in every army, our own included. 
 
 Those who stand on the firing line and face death in the most 
 awful forms that human intelligence can devise will never again 
 accept unquestioned institutions and standards based upon any 
 other principle except service. Those in the factories, the mines, 
 and the shops who have once had this war standard applied to 
 their work, will accept none other unquestioned. 
 
 This is the spirit of revolution which has been felt stirring us 
 all. It is this revolutionary spirit seeking justice in all relations 
 between men that has aroused concern for existing institutions. 
 
 But there is nothing to fear from this constructive spirit of 
 revolution. On the contrary, it presages a new age — a forward 
 movement for the well-being of humanity. It is the thrilling 
 spirit of the Marseillaise that has stirred many a heart to deeper 
 determination for service in the cause of human freedom. 
 
 It is the purpose of all liberty-loving men and women that 
 
2S6 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 this shall be the nature and the effect of the war for which they 
 are sacrificing so much. — American Federationist, December, 
 igir. 
 
 An injured worker, physically disabled in some respect, is an 
 additional hazard in industry and at once raises the question as 
 to the application of compensation laws. These workers may 
 not attain the same degree of efficiency as do other workers. 
 This raises wage problems. As a matter of public policy our na- 
 tion can not afford to be responsible for under-cutting wages of 
 normal men through the employment of those of subnormal ef- 
 ficiency. The whole problem of placing back into the economic 
 structure returned and disabled soldiers, without safeguards, is a 
 complicated problem but one that must be met by the nation. 
 Many of these soldiers who return will be unable without as- 
 sistance to find a place in industry and society where they can 
 be self-supporting and self-respecting. There is need of national 
 coordinated action for the protection of these men, as well as 
 for the protection of national interests. 
 
 The nation has felt justified in conscripting men and asking 
 them to do service under the most terrific hazards and dangers 
 that the world has ever known. The nation can not shirk the 
 responsibility of taking care of those who suffer because of this 
 service. The establishment of ways and means to discharge this 
 duty must be met without delay, and long before the war has 
 been won. — American Federationist, January, igi8. 
 
 We are face to face with a world crisis. We are in a world 
 struggle which will determine for the immediate future whether 
 principles of democratic freedom or principles of force shall dom- 
 inate. The decision will determine not only the destiny of 
 nations but- of every community and of every individual. No 
 life will be untouched. 
 
 Either the principles of free democracy or of Prussian mili- 
 taristic autocracy will prevail. There can be no compromises. 
 So there can be no neutrality among nations or individuals — we 
 must stand up and be counted with one cause or the other. For 
 Labor there is but one choice. 
 
 The hope of labor lies in opportunity for freedom. The 
 workers of America will not permit themselves to be deceived or 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 257 
 
 deceive themselves into thinking the fate of the war will not 
 vitally change our own lives. A victory for Germany would 
 mean a pan-German empire dominating Europe and exercising a 
 world balance of power which Germany will seek to extend by 
 force into world control. 
 
 Prussian rule means supervision, checks, unfreedom in every 
 relation of life. 
 
 Prussianism has its roots in the old ideal under which men 
 sought to rule by suppressing the minds and wills of their 
 fellows; it blights the new ideal of government without force or 
 chains — apolitical or industrial — ^protected by perfect freedom 
 for all. 
 
 Unless the reconstruction shall soon come from the German 
 workers within that country it is now plain that an opportunity 
 to uproot the agencies of force will come only when democracy 
 has defeated autocracy in the military field, and wins the right 
 to reconstruct relations between nations and men. The peace 
 parleys between Russia and Germany have shown the futiUty of 
 diplomatic negotiations until Prussian militarists are convinced 
 they can not superimpose their will on the rest of the world. 
 Force is the basis of their whole organization and is the only 
 argument they will understand. 
 
 Spontaneous uprisings in Germany in protest against the mili- 
 tarist government have shown that the German government is 
 still stronger than the movement for German emancipation. 
 German freedom is ultimately the problem of the German people. 
 But the defeat of Prussian autocracy on the battlefield will bring 
 an opportunity for German liberty at home. 
 
 We have passed the period when any one nation can maintain 
 its freedom irrespectively of other nations. Civilization has 
 closely linked nations together by the ties of commerce, and 
 quick communication, common interests, problems and purposes. 
 The future of free nations will depend upon their joint ability 
 to devise agencies for dealing with their common affairs so that 
 the greatest opportunity for life, liberty and pursuit of happiness 
 may be assured to all. 
 
 This matter of world democracy is of vital interest to Labor. 
 Labor is not a sect or a party. It represents the invincible 
 desire for greater opportunity of the masses of all nations. Labor 
 is the brawn, sinews and brains of society. It is the user of 
 
2S8 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 tools. Tools under the creative power of muscle and brains 
 shape the materials of civilization. Labor makes possible every 
 great forward movement of the world. But labor is inseparable 
 from physical and spiritual life and progress. Labor now makes 
 it possible that this titanic struggle for democratic freedom can 
 be made. 
 
 The common people everywhere are hungry for wider oppor- 
 tunities to live. They have shown the willingness to spend or 
 be spent for an ideal. They are in this war for ideals. Those 
 ideals are best expressed by their chosen representative in a 
 message delivered to the Congress of the United States January 
 8, setting forth the program of the world's peace. President 
 Wilson's statement of war aims has been unreservedly endorsed 
 by British organized labor. It is in absolute harmony with the 
 fundamentals endorsed by the Buffalo convention of the Ameri- 
 can Federation of Labor. 
 
 We are at war for those ideals. Our first big casualty list has 
 brought to every home the harass and the sacriiices of war. This 
 is only the beginning. A gigantic struggle lies just ahead that 
 will test to the uttermost the endurance and the ability and the 
 spirit of our people. That struggle will be fought out in the 
 mines, farms, shops, mills, shipyards, as well as on the battle- 
 field. Soldiers and sailors are helpless if the producers do not 
 do their part. Every link in the chain of the mobilization of the 
 fighting force and necessary supplies is indispensable to winning 
 the war against militarism and principles of unfreedom. 
 
 The worker who fastens the rivets in building the ship is per- 
 forming just as necessary war service to our Republic as the 
 sailor who takes the ship across or the gunner in the trenches. 
 
 This is a time when all workers must soberly face the grave 
 importance of their daily work and decide industrial matters 
 with a conscience mindful of the world relation of each act. 
 
 The problem of production indispensable to preventing un- 
 necessary slaughter of fellowmen is squarely up to all workers — 
 aye, to employees and employers. Production depends upon ma- 
 terials, tools, management, and the development and mainte- 
 nance of industrial morale. Willing cooperation comes not only 
 from doing justice but from receiving justice. The worker is a 
 human being whose life has value and dignity to him. He is 
 willing to sacrifice for an ideal but not for the selfish gain of 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 259 
 
 another. Justice begets peace. Consideration begets coopera- 
 tion. These conditions are essential to war production. Pro- 
 duction is necessary to win the war. 
 
 Upon the government and upon employers falls the prepon- 
 derance of responsibility to securing greatest efficiency from 
 workers. Standard of human welfare and consideration of the 
 human side of production are part of the technique of efficient 
 production. 
 
 Give workers a decent place to live, protect them against con- 
 ditions which take all their wages for bare existence, give them 
 agencies whereby grievances can be adjusted and industrial jus- 
 tice assured, make it plain that their labor counts in the winning 
 a war for greater freedom, not for private profiteering, and 
 workers can be confidently expected to do their part. Workers 
 are loyal. They want to do their share for the Republic and 
 for winning the war. 
 
 This is labor's war. It must be won by labor and every 
 stage in the fighting and the final victory must be to count for 
 humanity. That result only can justify the awful sacrifice. 
 
 We present these matters to the workers of free America, con- 
 fidently rel3dng upon the splendid spirit and understanding which 
 has made possible present progress, to enable us to fight a good 
 fight and to establish principles of freedom throughout the whole 
 world. We regret that circumstances make impossible con- 
 tinuous close personal relations between the workers of America 
 and those of the allied countries, and that we can not have repre- 
 sentation in the Inter-Allied Labor Conference about to convene 
 in London. 
 
 Their cause and purpose are our cause and purpose. We can 
 not meet with representatives of those who are aligned against 
 us in this world war for freedom, but we hope they will sweep 
 away the barriers which they have raised between us. Freedom 
 and the downfall of autocracy must come in Middle Europe. 
 
 We doubly welcome the change if it come through the workers 
 of those countries. While this war shall last, we shall be work- 
 ing and fighting shoulder to shoulder with fellow workers of 
 Great Britain, France, and Italy. We ask the workers of Russia 
 to make common cause with us, for our purpose is their purpose, 
 that finally the freedom lovers of all countries may make the 
 
26o LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 world safe for all peoples to live in freedom and safety. — Ameri- 
 can Federationist, March, iqi8. 
 
 To THE Russian People: 
 
 Prussian militarism and brutality menace free Russia now as 
 never before. Just as it would despoil all free countries, so now 
 the German military machine is sweeping on, despoiling vast 
 sweeps of Russian territory. The dear object of Germany is the 
 destruction of Russian freedom and the annexation of a great 
 area of Russian territory. 
 
 German autocracy is the great, unscrupulous enemy of all 
 free peoples. Democracy can not live anywhere unless this 
 autocracy is crushed. Democracy everywhere must sweep back 
 the German tyrants in defeat. 
 
 The American people understand the German plan. They 
 have pledged everything they possess to defeat it for freedom's 
 sake. With all other free people they have been shocked but 
 not surprised at the duplicity of Germany in its dealings with 
 Russia. Now that the German mask is off entirely and the 
 German armies are marching over Russian soil to conquer and 
 hold, the free people of America send a message of encourage- 
 ment to the free Russians. We say, rally to the struggle against 
 autocracy. Only armed force can meet the German hordes. 
 The working people of America are with you and with all free 
 jieoples in the common struggle for freedom and its boundless 
 opportunities. Hold the linel Rise in all your might and strike 
 for your home, your lives, your liberties. The democracies of 
 the world, determined to maintain freedom, can not be beaten 
 if they stand firmly together. 
 
 We, the working people of America, call across the world to 
 you to pledge again our whole strength in the common struggle 
 for humanity. Stand with us to the end for the right of all 
 peoples to be free. Stand with us to win this war against enslav- 
 ing and debasing autocracy. We sent you cheer and our pledge 
 of high resolve and fixed purpose. Let the free peoples of the 
 world stand shoulder to Moulder for the defeat of militarism, 
 autocracy and the enslaving of the human race. — Message to the 
 People of Russia, March i, igiS. 
 
 For those whose dear ones are in places of great danger it is a 
 comfort to know that the American Red Cross is performing 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 261 
 
 more effective service on a larger scale than ever before. . . . 
 As time goes on the scope of the work of the Red Cross in 
 Europe will increase in order that the organization may meet the 
 demands that will be made upon it. It must receive the full 
 and hearty support of the American people. It is only through 
 such an agency that we can be assured relief and necessary min- 
 istration to our young men forming our military force. — From 
 press statement, March, igi8. 
 
 We are at war, and as far as I am concerned, that war has 
 got to be fought until either autocracy is crushed or democracy 
 enthroned. I am not going to encourage my fellow countrymen 
 in a discussion of peace when there is no peace possible. If 
 ever the present day pacifists have been confounded the situation 
 in Russia is their answer. ... To talk peace now is playing the 
 German game to win the people of the allied countries from the 
 will to fight for the right. Talking peace now is not doing the 
 cause of democracy and of our Allies the right kind of service. 
 
 In the United States, our President has given forth our funda- 
 mental war aims. England and France have declared adherence 
 to those war aims. The American labor movement stands be- 
 hind the President of the United States. The labor movements 
 of France and of England have also declared their acceptance 
 of the position of the war aims as set forth by President Wilson. 
 Then, wherefore, why this criticism of the American labor move- 
 ment? In what are we behind? I venture to express the opinion 
 that there is not better agreement, if there exists so good between 
 the Government of cHiy of the countries fighting in Europe — 
 Allies and all — as there exists between the Government of the 
 United States and the American Federation of Labor. I think I 
 am justified in believing that that statement may be regarded by 
 some with a degree of contempt, simply because it is so near; 
 it is at home, and it is the American labor movement, and the 
 intellectuals, so-called, are not dominating that movement. — 
 From address at reception to the Visiting British Labor Union 
 Delegates, tendered by The National Civic Federation, March 
 16, 1918. 
 
 Workers of America — you have as much if not more at stake 
 than any other group of citizens. You are urged to subscribe as 
 
262 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 generously to this loan as is within your power. Do all that you 
 can for the common cause of democracy and freedom the world 
 over. — From press statement, April, igi8. 
 
 Whether there shall be freedom, opportunity and progress, or 
 repression and autocratic control rests with the conflict now 
 raging. Every nation has something vital at stake. 
 
 Our own country is fighting for the principles and the insti- 
 tutions which our fathers expressed in the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, the Constitution of the United States, the Monroe 
 Doctrine, the Emancipation Proclamation, that the labor of a 
 human being is not a commodity or article of commerce, and 
 every other issue that has reached the fundamentals of human 
 relationship. . . . 
 
 The fundamental demand which labor makes at the begin- 
 ning of the second year of the war is that workers be accorded 
 gower in proportion to their responsibility ._ Wherever produc- 
 tion has been organized on the human as well as the material 
 side, and where there are maintained well-established principles 
 of industrial justice and human well-being, wage-earners have 
 rendered splendid service in the war for human freedom. Wher- 
 ever their experience and their position is not considered pro- 
 duction has not been organized in a way to secure the fullest 
 output, and workers, although without power to act, have been 
 unjustly held in a large degree responsible for any failure. . . . 
 
 America's workers are doing their part not only in war pro- 
 duction but in all lines of service. They are in the fighting lines, 
 on the ships, helping to direct the legislative and administrative 
 agencies of government, supporting the financial resources neces- 
 sary to the war, contributing to the Red Cross, and other benefi- 
 cent agencies. In short, there is no national interest with which 
 they are not identified. This in itself demonstrates the demo- 
 cratic genius of our people and our Republic; and it is because 
 of this democratic tradition, spirit and opportunity that the 
 workers are ready to render loyal service. They know that 
 American democracy is a vital force giving them opportunity — 
 something of greater value than anything else in life. They 
 know that autocracy would wrest from them all that they hold 
 of value. 
 
 The second year of the war finds them with unflinching de- 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 263 
 
 termination to fight until autocracy has been destroyed and 
 democracy assured. Now for whole-hearted, whole-souled drive 
 of all our people — soldiers, sailors, airmen and workers — a drive, 
 a resistless conquering drive that shall result in bringing a last- 
 ing peace to the world and establish justice, freedom and democ- 
 racy to all the people of all the world. — American Federationist, 
 April, igi8. 
 
 There is no question but what there was understanding be- 
 tween the socialist political leaders of Germany and the German 
 Imperialist Government to carry out its policies. The socialists 
 in the German Reichstag voted solidly for the military credits of 
 that Government. The socialists of Germany began the propa- 
 ganda years and years ago to instil into the minds of the peoples 
 of other countries that which was in accord with their Emperor's 
 declaration that he was a war lord, but he proposed to use the 
 great army of Germany to maintain the peace of the world; and 
 the propaganda of the German socialists was to hypmiMze the 
 people of all the other countries into believing that there was no 
 need on their part, on our part, to prepare against any hostile 
 demonstration on the part of the German army. 
 
 The philosophy of human brotherhood is an alluring one, and 
 one to which I have been a devotee nearly all my life. My 
 friends in America, my friends who are here, who know me, 
 know that I never was fooled by the sophistry and pretences of the 
 socialists. As a matter of fact, there is not in England, France, 
 nor America a socialist party of those countries. In America we 
 have a German branch of the German socialist party. Let me 
 explain a moment something that may be illuminating. The 
 Socialist Party of the United States is made up of different na- 
 tionalities and some Americans. The Americans have left the 
 party since the perfidy of the Socialist Party in the United States 
 when it revealed its true colors, when it showed itself to be a 
 German agency in the United States. 
 
 There have been many attempts made since the war began, to 
 get the American labor movement into a conference for the pur- 
 pos of discussing questions of peace. And I may say in passing 
 that I trust you will understand that when I use the term "Amer- 
 ica" I do not use it in the sense of the United States alone; I 
 refer to America, this great American continent of ours. We 
 
264 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 have our different political systems and governments, independent 
 of each other, but we are brothers in a great common cause. At 
 this conference it was proposed the representatives of the labor 
 movement of Germany and Austria should participate. We have 
 declared that we will meet with the representatives of labor of the 
 allied countries, but we will not confer with the representatives of 
 enemy countries unless first the German army and hordes get out 
 of France and Belgium and back on to German soil, or until we 
 have smashed kaiserism, if in the meantime kaiserism is not 
 smashed from within. 
 
 Desirous of having a general understanding, representatives of 
 labor, of Canada and of England, have come to the United States 
 for conferences, and conferences have been held. Recently an- 
 other delegation of British workers came to the United States 
 for conference and for the purpose of conveying to the people 
 the real situation and the real needs, and the duties of all. The 
 American Federation of Labor has sent over a delegation of seven 
 men and two women, wage workers. They have been in Great 
 Britain now for about two and a half weeks. Your papers this 
 morning give an account of their activities on the other side and 
 the statement is cabled over here from London that the thought 
 among the workers of England of conferences with the enemy 
 countries has almost entirely disappeared. 
 
 From address in the Canadian House of Commons, Ottawa, 
 Can., April sy, iqi8. 
 
 Workers of America, the safety of that battle line in France 
 depends mainly now upon us. We must furnish the majority 
 of those in the trenches. We must build the ships that carry 
 the troops and munitions of war. Regardless of hidden dangers 
 we must maintain the life-line of ships on the high seas which 
 connect the fighting front with our national bases of supplies. 
 We must make the guns, the munitions, the aeroplanes. We 
 must have ready food, clothing, blankets. We serve in the great 
 industrial army that serves overseas with the fighting forces. 
 
 We must do all these things because a principle is involved 
 that has to do with all we hold dear. 
 
 We are fighting against a government that disregards the will 
 of the governed — a government that pries into intimate relations 
 of life and extends its supervision into smallest details and domi- 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 265 
 
 nates all of them. We are fighting against involuntary labor — 
 against the enslavement of women and the mutilation of the 
 lives and bodies of little children. We are fighting against bar- 
 barous practices of warring upon civilian populations, killing the 
 wounded, the agents of mercy and those who bear the white flag 
 of truce. 
 
 We are fighting for the ideal which is America — equal oppor- 
 tunity for all. We are fighting for political and economic free- 
 dom — national and international. 
 
 We are fighting for the right to join together freely in trade 
 unions and the freedom and the advantages represented by that 
 right. 
 
 Our country is now facing a crisis to meet which continuity 
 of war production is essential. Workers, decide every industrial 
 question fully mindful of those men — fellow Americans — who 
 are on the battle line, facing the enemies' guns, needing muni- 
 tions of war to fight the battle for those of us back at home, 
 doing work necessary but less hazardous. No strike ought to be 
 inaugurated that can not be justified to the men facing momen- 
 tary death. A strike during the war is not justified unless prin- 
 ciples are involved equally fundamental as those for which fellow 
 citizens have offered their lives — their all. 
 
 We must give this service without reserve until the war is 
 won, serving the cause of human freedom, intelligent, alert, un- 
 compromising wherever and whenever the principles of human 
 freedom is involved. 
 
 We are in a great revolutionary period which we are shaping 
 by molding every day relations between man and man. Workers 
 of America as well as all other citizens have difficult tasks to 
 perform that we might hand on to the future the ideals and 
 institutions of America not only unimpaired, but strengthened 
 and purified in spirit and in expression — thus performing the re- 
 sponsible duty of those entrusted with the high resolve to be 
 free and perpetuate freedom. — American Federationist, May, 
 1918. 
 
 The war is forcing us to an attitude of discerning discrimina- 
 tion — every personal habit has a cumulative effect upon national 
 affairs. War savings stamps will encourage that attitude in all. 
 Children can learn the meaning of war savings— that they can 
 
266 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 choose between loaning their quarters or dollars to the govern- 
 ment on interest and spending them for useless things. The 
 child who learns to save pennies until he has enough to buy a 
 war savings stamp, who chooses between a temporary gratifica- 
 tion and permanent constructive purpose is acquiring a personal 
 habit that will help him throughout life. 
 
 In addition to inculcating thrift, war savings stamps represent 
 a method so essentially democratic that the whole nation may 
 participate in helping the government. War savings stamps are 
 based upon principles so constructive and beneficial that they 
 ought to become a permanent national institution as a part of 
 the postal savings banks. 
 
 We hope that every union organization will institute plans 
 for promoting the sale of war savings and thrift stamps among 
 their members and that every worker will teach his children the 
 meaning and value of these stamps. . . . 
 
 We can forego luxuries for a time, be content with the primary 
 necessaries of life, in order to save for the future our heritage 
 of freedom and the things of the spirit. 
 
 During the time when we send our young men to the trenches, 
 to live a life that grills flesh and nerve, let every man, woman 
 and child who is privileged to remain in free America in phjfsical 
 safety, count it a freeman's duty to eat simple food and conserve 
 for our army and our allies; to wear simple clothes, to avoid un- 
 necessary or unwise expenditures, that we may give to our fight- 
 ing men, the government, and have resources for the constructive 
 work of the country. 
 
 This does not mean foolish penury or asceticism, but con- 
 structive, intelligent expenditure and saving — the establishment 
 of habits of rational expenditure of money so as to accomplish a 
 purpose and to get the greatest returns from the expenditure. 
 
 There are still many to whom this world cataclysm has so 
 little meaning that they are still pursuing luxuries and self- 
 indulgence. . . . 
 
 Workers of America, you have more at stake than any other 
 group. It is fitting that you take your part in economy to win 
 the war. 
 
 Organize for constructive saving — saving for the cause of 
 democracy and human equity. Make plain living, plain dress- 
 ing and practical patriotism the outward manifestation of your 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 267 
 
 patriotism and willingness to give service to the cause which has 
 been the highest ideal of freemen of all ages. — American Federa- 
 tionist, June, 1918. 
 
 If there had been a bona fide labor movement in Russia some- 
 thing like the American Federation of Labor you would never 
 have had the Bolsheviki in Russia. If it had not been for the 
 American Federation of Labor during the war, you would have 
 the Bolsheviki in the United States. — From address at FaneuU 
 Hall Meeting under auspices of the Central Labor Union, Boston, 
 May I, 1918. 
 
 The American Federation of Labor passed a resolution since 
 the war insisting upon two things; one, that when the official 
 delegates from the governments shall meet to determine the 
 treaty of peace, first, there should be official representation of 
 the organized labor movement on these official delegations; sec- 
 ond, that there shall be a world labor conference held at the 
 same time and place by the labor movements of all the countries. 
 ■ We have not any enmity against the German people themselves. 
 Miseducated and misled, they have got to fight or die. When 
 this resolution was sent to Mr. Carl Legien, he ridiculed it and 
 said: "What influence can we have with our government?" 
 They have none, of course, because their government is not 
 based upon even manhood suffrage. I grant you no man can 
 tell me the faults of the British system of government. I think 
 I know some of them. No man can tell me anything now about 
 the faults of the American system of government. I grant you 
 I know them. But here and in America at least there is the 
 element of opportunity to work out our freedom. And if we 
 do not work out our freedom in our democracies, it is our fault 
 and not the democracies'. . . . When we were here about two 
 or three days we saw the policemen of the city of London on 
 strike. We were told that there were fourteen or fifteen thousand 
 of them. Other strikes are actually in contemplation. I am not 
 criticizing the strikes. I am merely calling attention to the fact 
 that here you have a law making such strikes illegal. In the 
 United States we have defeated every proposition to make strikes 
 illegal, and yet we are getting results for our people, and we are 
 giving voluntary service. . . . 
 
 Imagine the freedom which even the German workmen have. 
 
268 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 They have no right of free assemblage, no right of free speech. 
 Do you think for a moment that if a meeting of this character 
 were held in the city of Berlin the gentleman would have been 
 permitted to say what he did? It is only because we are fighting 
 for his freedom that he has the right to say indecent things. 
 [General disorder and several interruptions.] If Germany could 
 win, there would be no opportunity for freedom in England, in 
 France, in America, in Ireland. No more than, perhaps much 
 less than, now prevails in Germany. . . . 
 
 We come to bring this message to you to-day in all kindness 
 and good will. We feel and know that at heart the workers of 
 Britain are at least ninety-eight per cent for democracy and for 
 the winning of the war. Here and there we have found a spark 
 but it is not lasting. It is but a flash and it is gone and the 
 heart and the conscience of British labor goes on and on, true 
 to its traditions, true to the great character of British men who 
 dare to think and declare and do, and bear the consequences of 
 their doing. 
 
 I am sure that British labor with the great British people 
 will stand shoulder to shoulder during this fight to maintain the 
 homes, the firesides, the conditions of labor, the freedom of the 
 workers and the masses of the people so that when this war 
 shall have come to a glorious ending the workers will take their 
 places of great importance in the new life of the world, when 
 new relations between the nations of the world shall be estab- 
 lished. This is the work, this is the struggle, this is the task, 
 that is the hope. 
 
 I am with you one hundred per cent in the prosecution of 
 this crusade, in every effort you make, in every sacrifice. The 
 glorious triumph will come to us and to ours. The children of 
 the generations yet unborn upon whom the problems cind the 
 hope of the world will then rest, will bless or curse us as we have 
 performed or failed to perform our part in the great struggle 
 for human liberty. [Note: The resolution favorable to Mr. 
 Gompers' position and endorsing the position of the American 
 labor movement was unanimously adopted.] — From address be- 
 fore the London Trades Council, September 22, igiS. 
 
 We peace loving peoples of the world were drawn into this 
 maelstrom of wholesale murder and destruction. We could do 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 269 
 
 naught but fight or be a people known for cowards and poltroons. 
 Our cause is the greatest cause which the people of any nation 
 in any time in the history of the world have been called upon 
 to espouse. All that is implied by your early civilization in Italy, 
 all tliose great struggles and human sacrifices for right from the 
 Crusades to the American Revolution, the French Revolution 
 and the Italian Revolt, from Magna Charta to the Declaration 
 of Independence and the Civil War to maintain the Union and 
 abolish human slavery, is involved in this great struggle. And 
 at this crucial moment, what better could express the sentiment 
 which should prevail than to couple the names of your great and 
 beloved Mazzini, Garibaldi and Bautiste with the names of 
 Washington, Jefferson, Franklin and Wilson? — From address at 
 luncheon tendered the American Labor Mission by Ambassador 
 Thomas Nelson Page, at Rome, Italy, October g, igi8. 
 
 I salute you all and greet you as men who are in the vanguard 
 of the fighting forces of the world to save your country and 
 France and England and America. ... It is a hard task living 
 and fighting as you men do here, but it is not only for you; the 
 sacrifices and the hardships are yours, but all that you do and 
 all that you suffer is for the welfare of humanity, for your 
 country, for your fathers and mothers, sisters, or sweethearts, 
 or wives, for your children and your children's children who will 
 come after you. It is a worthy cause, and you should be proud 
 and willing, as I know you are, to do your part to pay the big 
 price, for nothing will be worth while, even life itself, if we do 
 not win. And we will win. It is writ in the great volume of 
 human justice that we are going to win this war. We are going 
 to triumph. Militarism shall be crushed. Autocracy will be 
 crushed, and the liberty-loving people of the world will be as- 
 sured that priceless privilege of living their own lives in peace 
 and happiness, pursuing the arts of peaceful industry.— F/'ojm 
 address to soldiers and laborers at the Front, Mont Grappa, 
 Italy, October 11, 1918. 
 
 We made provision and helped contribute to maintain the 
 standards of life of the families of our fighting boys, that while 
 they were over in France fighting they might have the satisfaction 
 of knowing that it was not by charity that the home and family 
 were being maintained, but as a matter of right, and that after 
 
270 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 the war was over they could enter into those homes just as or 
 better than they had left them. This knowledge has given our 
 fighting boys in France encouragement. It was one of the great- 
 est pieces of legislative work ever conceived and enacted when, 
 out of the Committee on Labor, of which I had the honor of 
 being chairman, — one of the committees of the Council of Na- 
 tional Defense — we secured the enactment of the Soldiers' and 
 Sailors' compensation law and Hie abolition of the system of pen- 
 sions, which in our own lives has been made the battledore and 
 shuttlecock of politics, with candidates for Congress elected or 
 defeated on that issue. Soldiers' compensation has been taken 
 out of the political realm and made automatic. — From address 
 on Steamship "Rotterdam," April 8, 1919. 
 
 THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS 
 
 The maintenance of justice and peace between nations is now 
 emerging from the same chaotic conditions which formerly char- 
 acterized the relations between individuals. There are evidences 
 which intimate that intelligence will emerge out of this chaos — 
 international solidarity of labor, international law, treaties of 
 peace and commerce, arbitration treaties, The Hague Tribunal. 
 With these accumulating institutions to bind the nations to- 
 gether, there is developing a code of international morality and 
 a habit of mind necessary to enforce standards of international 
 morality upon all. 
 
 These things are the rudiments from which will emerge a 
 world government, a world federation competent to do justice 
 between nations and able to maintain the peace of the world. 
 That is the ideal we must seek to realize, which we must estab- 
 lish in the day of peace that we may dispel the war clouds ere 
 the storm of conflict is upon us. War can be abolished only by 
 eternal vigilance in protecting peace and in promoting the things 
 that make for peace. Peace and the things associated with peace 
 must be made of such value that men will not dare risk them to 
 chances and the havoc of war. — From Labor Day address at 
 Plattsburgh, N. Y., September 7, 1914. 
 
 Above and beyond the desire of America's workers to secure 
 a settlement that will safeguard their own Eind the nation's ma- 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 271 
 
 terial interests is their desire to see a settlement that will render 
 war less probable and peace more permanent in the future; for 
 the interests of the men and women of labor are identified with 
 those of peace. War has never meant for them opportunity for 
 gain or exploitation. It has always meant to them sacrifice and 
 suffering in the actual fighting of the war and the bearing of 
 heavy burdens after the war. Certainly working people have 
 bought with their flesh and blood the right to a voice in deter- 
 mining the issues of peace and war; and in the general organiza- 
 tion that will follow the present war, the workers will insist upon 
 having voice and influence. Labor is committed to the principle 
 that peace is the basis of all civilization. . . , 
 
 The bitter experience of this war will prove to all nations that 
 the system of small group alliances, armed to the teeth and 
 eternally growling at each other, is a poor way to run the busi- 
 ness of the world. It seems practically certain that instinct, as 
 well as reason, will react against this system of armed peace 
 toward some larger federation of the nations. Since such a 
 Court or League as contemplated appears to be the inevitable 
 goal toward which the whole evolution of law and government 
 is tending, laboring men of this and every other nation will feel 
 it their duty and privilege to lift their voice in counsel at every 
 step of the plans and propaganda, in order to make more certain 
 the triumph of democratic principles and methods, in whatever 
 may be the final form of such an international institution. — From 
 address at convention of the League to Enforce Peace, Washing- 
 ton, D. C, May 26, 1916. 
 
 In order that the wage-workers of America' may be ready to 
 participate in the field of international affairs it is necessary for 
 us to consider various tentative suggestions and to determine 
 upon a definite program promoting labor's interest. 
 
 The various proposals for the organization of international 
 relations disclose that the field and its problems are analogous 
 to those of relations between individuals — a domain that is now 
 systematically regulated by the governments of the various 
 states. Some of the same principles will apply to the larger 
 domain between nations. 
 
 We submit that there ought to be a voluntary union of nations, 
 a league for peace, to adjust disputes and difficulties and to take 
 
272 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 the initiative in constructive efforts to direct and facilitate world 
 progress in accord with highest concepts. 
 
 Among the suggestions usually made for maintaining peace is 
 arbitration. Arbitration has been so generally discussed that it 
 is not necessary at this time for us to consider its purposes and 
 function. However, it has been generally conceded that arbitra- 
 tion has an exceedingly important field of service within definite 
 limitations. 
 
 Arbitration can be effective only in the adjustment of dif- 
 ferences and thus is limited to justiciable matters. We suggest 
 therefore that it is not suited to adjust difficulties that are most 
 likely to threaten peace between countries and it can not deal 
 constructively with elements and conditions in their making, 
 which when further developed would inevitably result in friction, 
 misunderstanding or the use of force. 
 
 There is nothing novel or untried in the first proposition. Ar- 
 bitration treaties exist between practically all civilized countries. 
 Between some, as United States and Canada, permanent courts 
 have been established to adjudicate differences. To apply this 
 principle to world relations would necessitate a permanent agency 
 to which would be submitted all justiciable differences arising be- 
 tween signatory nations and not susceptible of other adjustment. 
 
 Would not a permanent world judicial tribunal composed of 
 jurists and those familiar with international law, with jurisdic- 
 tion over judicial questions concerning members of the league, be 
 a fitting agency to perform this work? 
 
 Fundamentally, would not the creation of this commission for 
 hearing, considering and recommending as to the infinite variety 
 of interests arising between nations, make for the organization 
 of the field and forces of diplomacy? By democratizing the 
 commission and appointing to it those representatives of the 
 rank and file of nations and their varied interests, the light of 
 publicity would be turned upon secret diplomacy and its agents 
 would be rendered more responsive to the will of the people. 
 
 Old style diplomacy here failed. The traditional diplomat 
 regarded his service as an art detached from the crude struggle 
 for an existence and was unmindful or ignorant of the human 
 interests involved in machinations of diplomacy. Diplomacy 
 must be made more open, more honest, more effective if our 
 civilization is not to be brought into question and jeopardy. 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 273 
 
 We suggest consideration of means to make the purpose of 
 the League for Peace effective. Would not those nations that 
 band themselves together in a league for peace need to agree 
 upon means for securing compliance with regulations and for the 
 use of force against a signatory nation which might go to war 
 or engage in hostilities against another member of the league 
 without having submitted its grievances in the proper way pro- 
 vided by the agreement? Joint use of both economic and mili- 
 tary forces of signatory nations could be directed against the 
 offending nation. 
 
 In order to render international law more tangible and better 
 adapted to the problems with which it must deal would it not be 
 well to provide for conferences of nations to meet at definite 
 times to formulate and codify international law? 
 
 In international judicial and justiciable matters there are a 
 large number of problems susceptible to mediation and admin- 
 istrative action. For these we suggest a second agency adapted 
 to deal with matters of an entirely different nature such as 
 economic issues and the affairs concerned in the daily life and 
 work of the citizens of the nations. Such a commission should 
 be composed of men in close touch with industrial and commer- 
 cial forces in action, not those who from a viewpoint remote 
 from the political and industrial struggle look down upon the 
 activity of the people and the creative forces hewing out the 
 destiny of nations. The real interests, needs and ideals of the 
 people would be best represented by selecting for this commis- 
 sion journalists, publicists, scientists, professional men, men of 
 affairs, wage-earners — those in close touch with the heart of the 
 nations through their work, whether as organizers of the proc- 
 esses of production and commerce or as the human agents neces- 
 sary for the utilization of material resources. 
 
 The suggestions which we submit are to be considered as a 
 general foundation for organization for peace between nations 
 and would help to avert unnecessary wars. We do not declare 
 that it would abolish war— but by mediating the causes of war, 
 war becomes less probable. 
 
 We submit for consideration whether each separate nation 
 ought not to maintain its separate agencies for compulsion with 
 the assurance to each of sovereignty and necessary authority to 
 determine matters of a distinctively national character? Collec- 
 
2 74 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 tive action by a league of nations ought not to dictate the limita- 
 tion or the regulation of military and naval equipment, but it 
 can properly prevent the use of such force for national aggran- 
 dizement and for exploitation of the small countries. We deplore 
 militarism but the fight against militarism must ultimately be 
 made by the citizens of the different nations. Establishing 
 methods and agencies which render display of military and naval 
 power no longer effective is the practical and direct way to 
 abolish rivalry between nations in standing armies and naval 
 equipment. 
 
 The way to prevent war is to organize for peace. — American 
 Federationist, December, igi6. 
 
 Our proposal c&ntinues as follows: 
 
 In addition to these basic principles there should be incor- 
 porated in the treaty, which shall constitute the guide of nations 
 in the new period and conditions into which we enter at the 
 close of the war, the following declarations fundamental to the 
 best interests of all nations and of vital importance to wage 
 earners: 
 
 That in law and in practice the principle shall be recognized 
 that the labor of a human being is not a commodity or article of 
 commerce. 
 
 Involuntary servitude shall not exist except as a punishment 
 for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted. 
 
 The right of free association, free assemblage, free speech, and 
 free press shall not be abridged. 
 
 That the seamen of the merchant marine shall be guaranteed 
 the right of leaving their vessels when the same are in safe 
 harbor. 
 
 No article or commodity shall be shipped or delivered in in- 
 ternational commerce in the production of which children under 
 the age of i6 years have been employed or permitted to work. 
 
 It shall be declared that the basic workday in industry and 
 commerce shall not exceed eight hours per day. 
 
 Trial by jury should be established. 
 
 And that is signed by the members of the American Federation 
 of Labor delegation. — From testimony at hearing before Com^ 
 mittee on Education and Labor, United States Senate, January 
 
 3 and 4, ipip. 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 275 
 
 Of course the treaty, with the covenant of the League of Na- 
 tions, is not a perfect instrument. Who expects it? Many- 
 peoples of different histories, different traditions, and sometimes 
 conflicting interests, have met together and drafted an agreement 
 by which war shall be made more difficult and perhaps impos- 
 sible. Shall we turn back? Shall we help to reject this cove- 
 nant and leave the world in the position where all these people, 
 with their national prejudices, their national hopes and aspira- 
 tions, may try to be a law unto themselves and can only be 
 checked by the arbitrament of war? I think not. As one dele- 
 gate at least to this convention,: I am not going to play into 
 the hands of politicians and support those who would leave the 
 world open to be inflamed by the horrors of war at any time 
 when any nation feels itself strong enough: ,s. 
 
 Only a few days ago, for the first time in the history of the 
 world, men left the soil of America and within sixteen hours 
 landed in Europe. What can be done with aeroplanes from 
 America to Europe can be done from Europe to America. We 
 are closer to Europe now than at any time in the history of the 
 world. We cannot now declare, in this age and time, that we 
 shall be isolated and have no alliances with any other peoples. 
 We are so close to them, they are so near to us, that it is essen- 
 tial for us to see to it that the best possible relations are estab- 
 lished between the peoples and the governments of our country 
 and all other countries, and to bring about the time by agree- 
 ment when we shall live in peace. . . . 
 
 Never in the history of the world have the nations been con- 
 fronted with so serious and important a problem as is presented 
 to the men and women of all lands to-day. Here is a serious 
 attempt to prevent international war. Here is an attempt to 
 help the workers, the masses of the people in the most backward 
 countries. Here is a measure which cannot by any stretch of the 
 imagination affect the rights and interests of the workers of the 
 United States, which can in no way curb, prevent or hinder 
 us, every day of every month of every year, from pressing for- 
 ward the claims of labor for a higher and better life, for more 
 freedom, for more justice, as harbingers of the better day of 
 which poets have sung and philosophers dreamed, and for which 
 the workers have sacrificed and achieved. That is the oppor- 
 tunity presented to the people of our country to-day, and 
 
2 76 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 whether we shall be successful or not depends largely upon the 
 vote of this convention, voicing the sentiments and views of the 
 people whom you represent. Ask the workers, the men who 
 work in the mines, the factories and the workshops anywhere, 
 whether they want to have peace and good will or whether they 
 would throw open further opportunities for a repetition of the 
 world war. Ask them whether they would help in improving 
 the conditions of the workers of other countries when they are 
 assured that their own interests in our own country cannot be 
 impaired, nor their ability checked to fight on and on for that 
 brighter and better day. — From address in support of the League 
 of Nations, at annual convention of the American Federation of 
 Labor, Atlantic City, N. J., June 20, iQiQ. 
 
 The world has emerged from the greatest war in history with 
 two main ideas dominating human thought. 
 
 The Peace Conference in Paris, therefore, had for its main ob- 
 jects: 
 
 1. To prevent future wars, and 
 
 2. To improve the world as a place for human habitation 
 through the extension and improvement of democratic self-gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 Former peace treaties have concerned themselves solely with 
 indemnities and boundary lines. Peoples, money and territories 
 have been handed from vanquished to victor about in proportion 
 to the severity of the defeat suffered by the losing nation or 
 nations. 
 
 The document brought into being in Paris was built upon new 
 principles. The victorious nations did not set out to see how 
 much territory they could take to themselves from the defeated 
 nations. 
 
 A fact of paramount importance in gauging the integrity of the 
 Peace Conference was the fact that millions of people were lib- 
 erated and set up under independent governments of their own 
 choosing. 
 
 The Paris conference sought, as no other peace conference ever 
 has sought, to reach into the mind of the people and write 
 into definite terms the deepest and best thought to be found 
 there. 
 
 So it was that the interest of the world's toilers came to be con- 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 277 
 
 sidered. This was truly an epoch-making step. The covenant 
 of the League of Nations is the written verdict and agreement of 
 the civilized world that until justice is done to those who work, 
 justice has been done only in part. 
 
 Not even the most ardent advocate of the League of Nations 
 covenant or of the labor section of the Treaty of Peace will con- 
 tend that perfection is to be found in it. The Paris conference 
 did not produce a perfect document and did not give a perfect ex- 
 pression to the high ideals that animate the civilized world to- 
 day. 
 
 The conference did produce a document that measurably ex- 
 presses the best and most constructive thought of the world and 
 that opens the way absolutely to a complete expression of the 
 highest ideals which mankind may have and it is for that reason 
 that the complete effort of every forward-looking person should 
 be dedicated to securing ratification of the treaty. 
 
 The Treaty of Peace establishes no barrier to progress any- 
 where. 
 
 It opens the way to progress everywhere. 
 
 It seeks to clear the way of some of the most hopeless barriers 
 that have held nations enchained in the past and tends to make 
 obsolete the institution of war which has been throughout the his- 
 tory of mankind the most destructive agency it has known. . . . 
 
 In the League of Nations is the only safety we know of for the 
 future and the only spiritual recompense we have found for the 
 anguish of the past. — From pamphlet issued by the American 
 Federation of Labor, July 5, 1919, to organized labor throughout 
 the country, in support of the Treaty of Peace and the League of 
 Nations. 
 
 PEACE AND RECONSTRUCTION 
 
 The only result that could in any degree compensate for the 
 present destruction of Ufe would be the coeval destruction of 
 militarism, autocracy, the fetish of the balance of power and 
 the fallacy that political domination must follow industrial rela- 
 tions and control. If the Waterloo that shall close this war shall 
 be the death field for these ghosts that have come down to us 
 from stages of the earlier development of peoples, then some 
 
278 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 progress shall have been attained even though the method be 
 cruel, stupid and blundering. 
 
 Twentieth century nations must adopt as a principle of gov- 
 ernment that peace is a basis of all civilization. Peace is not a 
 by-product of other conditions, but it is a condition that can be 
 secured by agents and institutions designed to maintain it. 
 Peace is the fundamental necessity for all government and prog- 
 ress — industrial, intellectual, social and humanitarian. Without 
 peace all these are as nothing. One of the main purposes of gov- 
 ernments then must be the maintenance of international peace. 
 — From Labor Day Address at Plattsburgh, N. Y., September 
 7, 1914- 
 
 The prosperity and welfare of American labor are largely de- 
 pendent upon the prosperity and welfare of the American na- 
 tion. Granted great prosperity to the nation, with a wide mar- 
 gin of profit to the employers, and granted the proper organiza- 
 tion of labor for collective bargaining, there is always the chance, 
 at least, to reach justice and equity; but if the United States 
 suffers a serious business reaction, the American employer may 
 have a less margin on which to deal with the problem of wages, 
 and collective bargaining will face an increasingly difficult prob- 
 lem. 
 
 All of which means that American labor has far-reaching in- 
 terests at stake in doing its share to help bring about such a 
 settlement of the present war as will prevent any abnormal re- 
 action upon the prosperity of the United States, and will give 
 the industrial and business interests of the whole world an op- 
 portunity to compete along more nearly normal lines. — From 
 address at convention of the League to Enforce Peace, Washing- 
 ton, D. C, May 26, 1Q16. 
 
 Another occasion for our offending in the eyes of these self- 
 assumed directors of labor is the failure of the leaders of the 
 American labor movement at the St. Paul Convention to adopt 
 the reconstruction program outlined by the British Labor Party. 
 It would have been more than stupid for the American labor 
 movement to try to impose on this coimtry a program worked 
 out for other institutions and national characteristics. The St. 
 Paul Convention recognized the importance of reconstruction 
 problems and directed the Executive Council to appoint a com- 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 279 
 
 mittee to study and report upon those problems. What more 
 could the convention do? There would have been no value in 
 turning the convention into a debating society to consider those 
 problems first of all in public. Greater and more satisfactory 
 progress can be made by timely and thoughtful consideration of 
 the problems, careful deliberations on the part of a commission 
 and final consideration and debate before the convention. That 
 is the policy American labor has adopted. It has not ignored 
 reconstruction problems; it is false to say that it is untouched 
 by the higher democratic idealism that is stirring the world to- 
 day. It realizes deeply that the work we are doing to-day will 
 be the basis of organization of to-morrow. No reconstruction 
 program can wholly separate itself from the life of today and the 
 future, but it must be built upon the institutions of the present 
 and in accord with practical principles that have enabled us to 
 make progress from the past. — American Federaiionist, August, 
 ipi8. 
 
 We give thanks this year in a world fraternity of Liberty. 
 We gaze upon the dawn of the world's most glorious age. We 
 see before us opportunities such as mankind has never faced. 
 Mingled with our profound gratitude for the opportunities now 
 before us is a deep and strong resolve to measure up to those 
 opportunities with all the brain and strength that, is in us. 
 
 It has cost dearly to set the world free from autocracy. But 
 despite the cost, we are grateful for having had the opportunity 
 to make the good fight, and grateful for the strength and pur- 
 pose that brought victory to our cause. 
 
 There are those who seem uncertain as to what they will do 
 with the liberty that is now theirs. We shall give to them, as 
 we are permitted, our counsel and our material help. Our nation 
 is strong and victorious, but it will consent to use its great 
 strength only for the furtherance of justice. No nation ever 
 had cause to be more sublimely and supremely thankful. Every 
 hour of these momentous days is precious with a great freight 
 of opportunities and we are most deeply appreciative of that 
 fact and thankful for it. We couple our high resolve for the 
 future of humanity with our gratitude for what has been accom- 
 plished.— Statement to the press at Laredo, Texas, November, 
 1918. 
 
28o LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 I would not want any of you, ladies and gentlemen, to imagine 
 that I have in my mind the possibility that leadership can be 
 dispensed with, that leadership carries with it no responsibiUty, 
 as well as dignity and respect. On the contrary, I believe now 
 more than ever that the men placed in responsible positions and 
 true to the trust reposed in them, deserve the respect and grati- 
 tude of a loyal democratic people, and I want to call to the at- 
 tention of my fellow countrymen the fact, that unless the prin- 
 ciples of democracy are practiced in our every day lives we 
 shall, assuredly as the sun rises and sets, lose the power of de- 
 mocracy because we have not used that function in our lives. — 
 From address at national reception to Mr. Gompers in Chicago, 
 November 8, 1918, under the auspices of The American Alliance 
 for Labor and Democracy. 
 
 It is a wonderful time in which to live, to have lived and done 
 something to achieve that splendid position of onr nation and 
 of our people of all classes and walks of life. To me it has been 
 but a larger opportunity for the work of my whole life, for there 
 is nothing that we shall have achieved, nothing that we as a na- 
 tion will achieve but what was within the limit and the range of 
 the aspirations of the toiling masses as expressed by our labor 
 movement. — From address before Chamber of Commerce, San 
 Antonio, Texas, November so, jgi8. 
 
 Just before the war, or just after the war was thrust upon us, 
 in conference with my associates of the Committee on Labor of 
 the Council of National Defense, composed of workmen, em- 
 ployers, business men, we formulated a declaration regarding 
 standards during the war. One of the gentlemen of the com- 
 mittee applied an American phrase to the declaration which, 
 though not made a part of it, was quite apropos. It was this: 
 "This is not the time to rock the boat." 
 
 That was at the beginning of the war, and to meet the prob- 
 lems of peace I am going to apply that same phrase to the pres- 
 ent situation now that the war has practically come to an end. 
 It is not good now to try to rock the industrial boat. 
 
 This one fact must be distinctly understood, that the working 
 people of our country who with you and your brothers and sons 
 have made in many instances the supreme sacrifice for victory, 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 281 
 
 and the men who have given their services in industry and in 
 commerce, are not going easily to take to the proposition to force 
 them back and down in the industrial scale. As has been said, 
 there must be recognition of the condition and situation; each 
 must recognize the principle that as we were imited during this 
 tremendous struggle, the most momentous in the history of the 
 world and the most far-reaching in its consequences, so now that 
 peace has come, the problem of working out industrial situations 
 now and for the future must be faced with a spirit of cooperation 
 and coordination. We shall never go back to the old conditions. 
 We have been fighting for a principle of justice. . . . 
 
 It is a great privilege to live in this age. It is a great privi- 
 lege to have helped, even in the slightest, to the great triumph 
 of our arms, of our manhood and womanhood and of the spirit 
 of the people of the republic of the United States. Having been 
 over there, having seen the devastation wrought by the German 
 military machine, and having seen the battle raging during the 
 period that I was privileged to be there; having seen our valiant 
 men, the great generals and the rank and file uniting their spirit, 
 giving and receiving, encouraging; having been upon the battle- 
 field in the front trenches and upon the front ramparts, and 
 within easy firing distance of shot and shell — ^I say to you, men 
 and women of America, the glory of it, despite the sacrifices of 
 it, will so rejuvenate and regenerate the people of this Republic 
 and make this country of ours so great and glorious that the 
 pages of history of our time will be resplendent in the eyes, in 
 the memories and in the yearnings and gratitude of the genera- 
 tions yet unborn. — From address at Labor Reconstruction Con- 
 ference under auspices of the Academy of Political Science, New 
 York City, December 6-7, 1918. 
 
 Some of us have been given great credit, some entirely undue 
 credit for what was done to unite the country in spirit and in 
 action to win the war. That task, large as it was, falls into in- 
 significance as compared to the necessity for unity to meet the 
 problems of peace. ... It is true that certain advantages have 
 come to the worker by reason of the immediate needs and condi- 
 tions which have developed during the war. It is not good to 
 give men the opportunity for freedom and then try to take it 
 away from them. It is said that if you want to produce the best 
 
282 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 possible children it is best to begin with the grandparents. If 
 you want the people to remain in ignorance and be docile, it is 
 not safe to give them any particle of freedom at all. You can 
 not give freedom to-day, or the opportunity for freedom and 
 expect that the people are going to surrender it without protest. 
 — From address at meeting of the Council of Foreign Relations, 
 New York City, December lo, jgi8. 
 
 Indeed, the problem of how to meet the peace conditions is 
 greater than the problem which confronted us in meeting the 
 conditions of war. In war, when the red blood of man is easily 
 warmed, he is interested, and he is not difficult to attract. We 
 have had more volunteer service in this war than it was dreamed 
 possible at any time, or by any man, and coming from men 
 and women in all walks of life. The patriotism of our people 
 was not confined to any class, group, or caste. While I do know 
 that in some instances, and in too many instances, some of the 
 activities were put forth for private profiteering, as a rule I have 
 not any hesitancy in saying that the voluntary patriotic and 
 practical service given by the men and women of the United 
 States was such as I never dreamed or hoped to live to see. It 
 was a revelation to find men in the humblest walks of life gladly 
 giving and doing anything, the men and women of labor giving 
 every ounce of energy that was in them, and bearing under it 
 all with a feeling of willingness to sacrifice Einything, men giv- 
 ing up their boys in a manner which was almost unbelievable. 
 . . . The problems of war are sensational; that problem is one 
 of activity and one which arouses the people to action at once. 
 The problem of peace, with its poverty and its misery and pos- 
 sible degradation, only touches the conscience and the judgment 
 and the action of the thinking men and women, of the men who 
 want to do and who are not aroused purely by sensations, but by 
 the consciousness of doing the right thing, the moral duty of 
 prevention of disease, of fire, of war, of hunger. — From testimony 
 at hearings before the Committee on Edtication and Labor, 
 United States Senate, Jantiary 3 and 4, igiQ. 
 
 I have been asked whether I believe that the business men, the 
 employers, have given faithful service to the cause. I wouldn't 
 say anything here that I wouldn't say on the housetops. There 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 283 
 
 have been, I know, some employers and business men whose 
 first, last and only thought was profits, profits, profits. I do 
 know, too, that the great majority of the men and women of 
 affairs of our country have given loyal, unselfish and patriotic 
 service in and during this war. My only regret is that some of 
 them are breaking away, acting upon the idea that now that the 
 war is over their duty is done. 5 You can arouse people's interest 
 when something sensational is going on.i The difficulty is to 
 keep their interest in matters that are not sensational, when prob- 
 lems are to be met to which only the few will give their attention 
 and try to solve, or concern themselves with new situations, new 
 ideas, new life. My friends, it is well that we should come in 
 council with each other and look all the problems squarely in the 
 face. Don't flinch, don't run away from the job. It must be 
 done. Either you will deal with rational men of a constructive 
 turn of mind and character, who aim to live the lives of free 
 men and free women and to work out a better life here and now, 
 or you will have another and a different element with which to 
 cope, or they with you, and no one can tell what the results will 
 be. I am not an alarmist. Speaking frankly and freely, if I 
 believed for one moment that the work of the American labor 
 movement was ineffective, that it was within the power of em- 
 ployers either as individuals or associations to destroy that move- 
 ment, to make it impossible for us to bring more of happiness and 
 well-being and hope into the lives of the men and women who 
 work for wages, I would join with any movement that promised 
 something of betterment for the toiling masses of our country. — 
 From address on board SS. "Carmania," January 10, igiQ. 
 
 Upon you, men, much will devolve in the near future. Yaa 
 have the constructive work of safeguarding American manhood 
 and womanhood and childhood, of working out our problems to 
 meet situations such as we find in some countries which we have 
 just left. Radicalism, so-called — perhaps insanity would be a 
 better description of what I now refer to — is rampant, and it has 
 its propagandists, its organization, just as active now as was the 
 pacifist and German militarist propaganda of a few short months 
 ago. Only a few days ago, right on this ship, there was delivered 
 an address, subtle, able, the purport of which was the indirect 
 propagation of this pernicious thought of Bolshevism. Men of 
 
284 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 America, soldiers of America, upon you will devolve the great 
 responsibility of the future. You are young men. Men of my 
 time and my years will pass away, and perhaps pass away soon, 
 and it will be for you to develop the spirit of the new America, 
 to hold yourselves well in hand in the conduct of your industrial 
 or commercial pursuits, to see to it that there is a middle ground 
 of safety, to use your great influence as men who have been in 
 the fighting ranks, that America, fair America, shall have her 
 chance for development and growth, that right shall prevail, that 
 justice shall obtain, that the children of to-day who grow up into 
 manhood and womanhood of the future may carry on this great 
 scheme of freedom and justice, under the flag, and to see to it 
 that the poisonous fangs of Bolshevism and rowdyism shall be 
 stamped out of our country. . . . 
 
 There are two kinds of enemies to human progress now rampant 
 in the United States as well as in other countries. One is known 
 as Bolshevism and the other as standpatism. They are the twin 
 dangers which menace the civilization of our time. I want you, 
 my fellow-passengers, to understand me quite clearly for I have 
 nothing to hide. I am not against Bolshevism simply because of 
 its name; I am not against Bolshevism simply because it declares 
 a tyranny of the proletariat. I am against Bolshevism because 
 it means the subversion of our civilization for a century or more 
 if it shall triumph. I am equally opposed, with all the emphasis 
 of my being, to the standpatter who weighs human labor upon the 
 same scale that he does a ton of coal or a side of pork. . . . 
 
 Among the great painters was one who depicted a laborer com- 
 monly known and made famous as the "Man with the Hoe," the 
 man with bent back and receding forehead, with all the wrongs 
 of the ages written upon his countenance and all his resentment 
 expressed in his features. If this war has meant anything it has 
 given us a new concept; these thoughts must be set aside and a 
 new standard erected. The worker is a man or woman. The 
 worker is no longer leaning forward with bent back nor is his 
 forehead receding. There is no resentment in his features or in 
 his heart, but he demands from modem society the new concept 
 that he be regarded not only as a producer, not only as a worker, 
 but as a fellow-man and fellow-citizen insistent upon every right 
 of his citizenship and manhood. — From, address on Steamship 
 "Rotterdam," April 8, igig. 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 285 
 
 We have fought and won a great war for a noble cause. 
 Americans cannot be less devoted to that cause than they were 
 six months ago and a year ago. There must be in every Ameri- 
 can heart the same fervor for the cause of America that there 
 was when the cause was in danger. The cause is safe to-day. 
 The might of our nation in arms made it safe. This fact has 
 a great meaning to every American, whatever his work or 
 place may be. I believe the great mass of working men and 
 women will especially feel the truth of this. 
 
 There remains to us the task of paying some of the costs of 
 our magnificent effort. We ought to rejoice deeply that the 
 cost is so low and that it may be paid in money instead of lives. 
 
 I appeal to my fellow Americans, and especially to my fellow 
 American workers, to help pay this remaining cost — to help 
 gladly and freely. It is a solemn but happy duty that is laid 
 upon each of us to buy the bonds of this last great loan, this 
 loan of victory for freedom and democracy. Let us buy as we 
 would buy if we were standing in Belleau Wood. Let us buy 
 as we would buy if we were beholding with our eyes the great 
 sacrifice for liberty that our own home folk made there. — From 
 press statement, April 28, igig. 
 
 When we emerged from the war there were men who, 
 perhaps unthinkingly, set up cries in our country for the reduc- 
 tion of wages. They saw only one thing — reduction of produc- 
 tion costs. They did not see the whole world problem as an 
 entity. They saw their corner of it — and they spoke quickly. 
 
 Whatever may have been their intent, their action, if it were 
 permitted to become action, would furnish the richest food Bol- 
 shevism could ask for in America. The world was not saved 
 for misery, but for light and life. Reduction of wages has never 
 led a people toward light and life. Always it has led toward 
 panic and hunger and ill-considered action. 
 
 We have come forward toward light and life through such 
 measures as the Clayton Law which declares that the labor of 
 a human being is not a commodity or article of commerce; and 
 the seamen's law which makes the seaman free from the bond- 
 age of earlier days. We have succeeded in establishing a con- 
 cept in law and in administration that the welfare of the workers 
 is a matter of paramount interest. In this direction we must go. 
 
286 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 for this direction is forward and any other must be backward. 
 American labor does not necessarily ask for more law. Our 
 movement has never sought a wealth of law, it has asked only 
 such law as is needed to clear the path to progress. The great 
 task has been to secure the removal of law that blocked that 
 path. . . . 
 
 There is a tendency in the world to-day to say that everything 
 of a forward-looking nature with which one disagrees is Bol- 
 shevism. It has become almost a habit to use that term loosely. 
 But there is a just ambition for a higher standard of life and 
 living that is not Bolshevism and that will not be denied, except 
 at the imminent peril of those who deny, if they prove themselves 
 strong enough to deny with compelling force. The safety of the 
 world to-day — and I say this as one who loves with deep pas- 
 sion the institutions of our own nation and of all democratic 
 peoples — lies in an orderly advancement toward better lives for 
 working people everywhere. . . . — From "The Battle Line of 
 Labor," McClur^s Magazine, May, 191Q. 
 
 Soldiers and sailors, those who entered the service in the na- 
 tion's defense, are entitled to the generous reward of a grateful 
 Republic. 
 
 The necessities of war called upon millions of workmen to 
 leave their positions in industry and commerce to defend, upon 
 the battle fields, the nation's safety and its free institutions. 
 These defenders are now returning. It is advisable that they 
 should be discharged from military service at the earliest possi- 
 ble moment; that as civilians they may return to their respec- 
 tive homes and families and take up their peace-time pursuits. 
 The nation stands morally obligated to assist them in securing 
 employment. 
 
 Industry has undergone great changes due to the dislocation 
 caused by war production emd transportation. Further read- 
 justments in industry and commerce must follow the rehabilita- 
 tion of business under peaceful conditions. Many positions 
 which our citizen soldiers and sailors filled previous to enlistment 
 do not exist to-day. 
 
 It would be manifestly unjust for the government after having 
 removed the worker from his position in industry and placed him 
 in military service to discharge him from the army or navy 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 287 
 
 without having made adequate provision to assist him in pro- 
 curing employment and providing sustenance until employment 
 has been secured. The returned citizen soldier or sailor should 
 not be forced by the bitter urgent necessity of securing food 
 and clothing to place himself at a disadvantage when seeking 
 employment. 
 
 Upon their discharge, transportation and meals should be sup- 
 plied, to their places of residence. The monthly salary previ- 
 ously paid should be continued for a period not to exceed twelve 
 months if employment is not secured within that period. 
 
 The federal and state employment bureaus should be directed 
 to cooperate with trade union agencies in securing employment 
 for discharged soldiers and sailors. In assisting the discharged 
 soldier and sailor to secure employment, government agencies 
 should not expect them to accept employment for less than the 
 prevailing rate of wages being paid in the industry. Neither 
 should any government agency request or require such discharged 
 men to accept employment where a trade dispute exists or is 
 threatened. Nor should the refusal on the part of any of these 
 discharged soldiers or sailors to accept employment where trade 
 disputes exist or are threatened or when less than the prevail- 
 ing rate is offered, deprive thein of a continuance of their month- 
 ly pay. 
 
 Legislation also should be enacted which will give the nation's 
 defenders the opportunity for easy and ready access to the land. 
 Favorable inducements should be provided for them to enter 
 agriculture and husbandry. The government should assume the 
 responsibility for the allotment of such lands, and supply the 
 necessary capital for its development and cultivation, with such 
 safeguards as will protect both the government and the dis- 
 charged soldier and sailor. — From Report to A. F. of L. Conven- 
 tion, Atlantic City, N. J., June, 191 9. 
 
 The Treaty of Peace formulated in Paris acknowledges the 
 complete justice of the five points set forth by the Buffalo Con- 
 vention and reaffirmed at St. Paul, which are based upon decla- 
 rations of the President of the United States, and contains two 
 of the four propositions added at St. Paul. Thus is justified 
 the high confidence felt by the American labor movement and 
 expressed in these declarations that the result of the world war 
 
288 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 would be to place the conduct ajid morals of the governments 
 of the world upon a higher plane and the establishment and 
 maintenance of international relations which shall safeguard the 
 peoples of the world in the enjoyment of a permanent peace. 
 
 The Treaty of Peace as drafted by the allied and associated 
 governments sets a new standard in the relation of nation to na- 
 tion and gives to government a purpose that has been lacking 
 where the monarchical and bureaucratic concept obtained. The 
 Prussian idea, defeated on the field of battle, is now forever made 
 impossible of revival by the Treaty of Peace submitted to the 
 German envoys. 
 
 The five guiding principles laid down at the Buffalo Conven- 
 tion of the American Federation of Labor as basic principles of 
 a lasting peace are firmly imbedded in the draft and we feel that 
 with a peace so built the world has in truth been made safe for 
 democracy. Under the guiding principles now laid down as the 
 standard of conduct for all nations the peoples of the world 
 may go forward in security and freedom to work out their own 
 concepts of democracy and their own ideals of freedom. 
 
 The Covenant of the League of Nations, written into the 
 Treaty of Peace, must meet with the unqualified approval and 
 support of the American working people. It is not a perfect 
 document and perfection is not claimed for it. It does, how- 
 ever, mark the nearest approach to perfection that ever yet has 
 been reached in the international affairs of mankind. It provides 
 the best machinery yet devised for the prevention of war. It 
 places human relations upon a new basis and endeavors to en- 
 throne right and justice instead of strength and might as the 
 arbiters of international destinies. 
 
 It is, we feel, well to recall the adoption of the Constitution 
 by our own federal government in the early days of its life. Per- 
 haps no document in the history of the world was more attacked, 
 criticized and opposed than was the Constitution of the United 
 States when it was first formulated and adopted by the Congress. 
 On several occasions that Constitution has been amended, yet no 
 one would presume to say, because of these amendments, that 
 the Constitution was not good when it was adopted, or is not 
 good to-day. 
 
 Opportunity is afforded for amendments to the covenant of the 
 League of Nations in order that the human family may from 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 289 
 
 time to time make such improvements as may be needed and 
 niay so readjust its guiding rules of conduct as to make for the 
 highest good of all the world. We declare our endorsement of 
 the triumph of freedom and justice and democracy as exempli- 
 fied in the covenant of the League of Nations. 
 
 The introduction of the nine specific labor clauses in the Peace 
 Treaty declares that "the well-being, physical and moral, of the 
 industrial wage earners is of supreme international importance." 
 
 No such declaration has ever been written into international 
 law through any previous treaty of peace and it is due to the 
 efforts of the American labor movement more than to any other 
 single factor that it appears in this emphatic form in the present 
 treaty. 
 
 The labor section of the treaty as it appears in its final form is, 
 of course, a compromise. It must, however, be a source of deep- 
 est satisfaction to the American working people to know that the 
 AmericEin position and American declarations as presented for 
 insertion in the treaty ranked above all others in point of prog- 
 ress measured and in point of actual and practical application in 
 the Uves of working people. Whatever of compromise appears, 
 was made because of the claim that other nations of the world 
 could not pledge themselves to an immediate and definite ac- 
 ceptance of the standards maintained by the American labor 
 movement as the established practices of our day. — From Re- 
 port to A. F. af L. Convention, Atlantic City, N. J., June, 1919. 
 
 The launching of this ship, bearing the name of labor's most 
 highly developed organization, the American Federation of Labor, 
 — its abbreviation "Afel," — with all the magnificence and panoply 
 attending the occasion, — can you imagine what it means to me? 
 To me, who in the early days of our movement have had not 
 only a deaf ear turned by the workers themselves, but the con- 
 demnation and abuse of all those who ground men to the earth, 
 who worked against and looked upon our organizations of labor 
 as if they were the combination of all the devils incarnate? Can 
 you imagine what it meant to me to-day to find, under the aus- 
 pices of the Government of the United States, and in the plant 
 of a great industrial corporation, the cooperation of all these ele- 
 ments with the men and the women who not only built that ship 
 but all its sister ships, who not only built them but gave them 
 
290 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 their souls, their patriotic service, and made their sacrifices in 
 this cause of ours? I have lived the time when hostile interests 
 would have sent me, not only to jail but to the gallows. There 
 has not been any change in me. The things which I believed 
 then I believe now, and am fighting for to-day as then. The 
 change has not been in our movement. It has been the oppor- 
 tunity of understanding what we are striving for, that changed 
 the judgment of our opponents and our enemies. This day means 
 to me so much, for we have given industrially the fullest measure 
 of our strength, physical and mental, in the greatest struggle in 
 human history, and now our work and our sacrifice and our serv- 
 ice are beginning to be appreciated. And on this very day, the 
 signing of the Treaty of Peace that shall end the wars of the 
 world, accompanies this recognition and appreciation of labor, 
 ushering in a new era of justice and freedom, of peace and 
 democracy, for the peoples of all the world. — From address at 
 banquet at the Bellevue-Straiford Hotel, Philadelphia, Pa., June 
 28, 1919, following the launching of the ship "Afel," at Hog 
 Island. 
 
 We took four million men out of the ranks of industry and 
 labor and put them into the camps and the battlefields of Eu- 
 rope. These men have been brought back to the number of two 
 million and a half. There are about a half million yet to come 
 back. Machinery — the best in the world — ^has been put into in- 
 dustry during the war to produce quantities of supplies and am- 
 munition, and things never dreamed of in the world's history. I 
 want to ask every man and woman here to consult their own 
 minds and consciences and ask themselves whether it is not our 
 first duty to find jobs and work for the men who were willing to 
 give up their lives in order to make this country secure and to 
 give the people of the allied countries the opportunity to live 
 their own lives? The first duty we owe is to see to it that in 
 these trying hours we shall so re-arrange and re-adjust our affairs 
 that the American workingman shall have the right to a job be- 
 fore anyone who may want to come here from another country. 
 ... I would not want any man to believe that I want to build a 
 Chinese wall around the United States. ... If the workers of 
 all countries were well organized and had established standards 
 of life and labor commensurate or nearly commensurate with the 
 
LABOR IN THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 291 
 
 life and standards established here, there could be no objection. 
 The doors would be thrown open and the hand of welcome ex- 
 tended to all who come of their own volition. . . . But this is a 
 crucial time — an unprecedented time in America, and it simply 
 means that for the time being we must protect ourselves or be 
 overwhelmed. — From address before Pan-American Federation of 
 Labor Congress, at the Hotel Continental, New York City, July, 
 igig. 
 
 The circumstances of the past five years have drawn the 
 peoples closer together and brought the nations to the situation 
 where their interests are more closely woven together. Entirely 
 aside from the question of whatever may be the wishes of peoples, 
 the circumstances are such that no people can lead a life unto 
 itself. The future of all is woven into one future. Not only did 
 the war draw us together in response to a common sentiment and 
 a common idealism, but it brought us closer together by a more 
 intricate weaving of the industrial life that forms so great a 
 part of the fabric of our civilization. The working people of 
 England and America, I am sure, have no regrets because of this. 
 Almost all that the people of our two countries have is the 
 heritage of a common ancestry and a common background. 
 
 It must be apparent to all that the organized labor move- 
 ments of both countries appreciate this to the fullest extent. 
 The hopes and aspirations of the labor movements of our two 
 countries are substantially the same. While different conditions 
 may require different manifestations of policy and tactics, the 
 central thought in the minds of us all, on whichever side of the 
 Atlantic we may be, is that our common future must be worked 
 out and reached through the ordered processes of democracy. 
 I think we feel in common that we shall make progress toward 
 a better day in proportion as we take advantage of the opportu- 
 nities democracy offers us for consistent and intelligently ordered 
 advancement. 
 
 It is in the minds of men ever3where to-day that the human 
 race must go forward. There are those influences in both our 
 nations which have in mind only a picture of the past. That, it 
 is clear, is a picture that is not in the minds of the organized 
 workers of either Great Britain or America. Our picture is one 
 of the future, perhaps not altogether clear in outline but being 
 
292 LABOR AND THE COMMON WELFARE 
 
 molded into form by the realization every day of a certain meas- 
 ure of progress toward the final goal. 
 
 All that Great Britain had and all that America had was 
 staked upon the struggle against political autocracy. These great 
 resources were thrown into the fight for a definite thing and that 
 definite thing was democracy. What we struggled for has been 
 achieved. If that struggle has had any meaning and if the out- 
 come has any meaning, it is that we are committed with all of 
 our intelligence and all of our thought and all of our reasonings 
 to the principle of democracy. We are committed together to go 
 into the future, to work out our salvation through the ways 
 and opportunities of democracy, and I speak with confidence 
 when I express the hope and the belief that through these ways 
 and these opportunities we shall justify the sacrifices that have 
 been made emd mold in the future a civilization founded upon 
 political and industrial justice. 
 
 There are trying times ahead. It is not too much to say that 
 there are times ahead that will try us more severely than we 
 have ever yet been tried. Our best common judgment will be re- 
 quired to meet the issues that we face, but the great English- 
 speaking nations will meet every emergency and will prove equal 
 to every demand. The organized labor movements of both our 
 nations occupy positions of great and grave responsibility en- 
 larged and accentuated by the war. They will contribute to the 
 full in the tremendous work that is to come; they will justify 
 their positions and more. With the shaping of the future of the 
 world undoubtedly largely* in the hands of the two great Eng- 
 lish-speaking nations and in view of conditions evers^where the 
 responsibility that lies between us overshadows and outweighs 
 that laid upon the people of any other country. It behooves us 
 to have full realization of this and to undertake every task in a 
 spirit of the most sober and mature judgment. The common 
 counsel that we take together will be in the interest of mankind. 
 The common progress that we make will be for the betterment 
 of the world. No peoples at any time ever had a larger respon- 
 sibility and a more glorious opportunity. — Independence Day 
 statement for the "London Times," Jidy 4, igiff. 
 
INDEX 
 
 American Alliance for Labor and Democracy 253 
 
 American Federation of Labor — 
 
 and Clayton antitrust act 7J 
 
 composition of 30 
 
 "conservatism" of 139 
 
 and the European War 247-249 
 
 evolution of 90 
 
 and freedom of petition for Post Office employees 47-48 
 
 and independent labor party 123 
 
 and individual voters 141 
 
 influence of .21 
 
 and injunctions 70 
 
 and inter-allied labor conference 238-239 
 
 and the "intellectuals" 35 
 
 and international labor conference with enemy participa- 
 tion 233-235, 238-239, 259, 263-264 
 
 and partisan politics 142-143 
 
 and Peace Treaty 287-288 
 
 and political campaign expenses 141 
 
 and political representation in A. F. of L. conventions 124 
 
 political policy 142-143, 145-146 
 
 (See also American labor movement ; organized labor ; trade 
 unions.) 
 
 and reforms 20 
 
 and seamen's legislation 167-169 
 
 and socialists 180-184 
 
 and trade union autonomy 124 
 
 and tuberculosis 116 
 
 "Afol," launching of 289-290 
 
 A. F. of L. Building 172-173 
 
 American flag 211, 216 
 
 American institutions — 
 
 and self-government 211 
 
 superiority 157-158 
 
 American labor movement — 
 
 and peace 239 
 
 and preparedness 244-245 
 
 militancy of 241 
 
 war demands 262 
 
 American Labor Union 177-181 
 
 American Red Cross 260-261 
 
 American Society of Equity 40 
 
 293 
 
294 INDEX 
 
 Army, The — 
 
 large standing army 246 
 
 citizen soldiery 246 
 
 soldier control of 254-255 
 
 B 
 
 Berger, Victor L., on revolution 188 
 
 Brewer, Justice, injunctions 70, 71 
 
 British Labor and the War 267-268 
 
 British labor party, reconstruction program 278-279 
 
 British trades disputes act 67-68, 140 
 
 British trade unions i, 4 
 
 British trade unionists, methods 140 
 
 Brotherhood of man 288 
 
 Brown, John 63 
 
 Burleson idea 57 
 
 Business men and the War 282-283 
 
 Bolshevism — 
 
 principles 207, 209 
 
 French socialist party endorses 207-208 
 
 dictatorship of the proletariat 209 
 
 menace of 283-284, 286 
 
 Boycott 75 
 
 C 
 
 Capital II 
 
 Capitalist system, evolution go 
 
 Charity workers 29, 30, 33 
 
 Chicago Daily Socialist 38 
 
 Child labor 129 
 
 Chinese exclusion 129 
 
 Church, the 31, 32 
 
 Cigarmakers. working conditions, wages, strikes 147-148 
 
 Cigarmakers International Union, average length of lives of 
 
 members 171-172 
 
 Clayton antitrust act •]•;, 169, 285 
 
 Classes 33, 44 
 
 Class legislation 52-53 
 
 Class struggle 9 
 
 Collective bargaining — 
 
 advantages of 12 
 
 influence of national prosperity upon 278 
 
 Commodities and human labor power 4, 5, 10, 14, 16, 144-14S 
 
 Competition 17 
 
 Congress, United States — 
 
 functions and power of 46, 47 
 
 House of Representatives, functions 51, 52 
 
 opposed to labor 130-131, 132-138 
 
 refuses to enact labor legislation 46, 47 
 
 trade union men in 177 
 
 Conscientious objectors 232 
 
INDEX 295 
 
 Conscription — 
 
 employers' use of against labor 250 
 
 and soldiers' and sailors' dependents 249 
 
 Constitution, United States 48, 49 
 
 Consumers — 
 
 vs. producers pi 
 
 and the trusts ". ... .'.'.'.'.'.'.'92, 93 
 
 Consumers' leagues .'.'.'.'.".'. . .'.32 
 
 Contempt of court '.'.'.'.'.'70-72 
 
 Convict labor — 
 
 in Minnesota state prison 95-96 
 
 labor exploiters favor no 
 
 convict contract labor system — 
 
 character, robs prisoners iio-iii 
 
 operation in Missouri m 
 
 results in Maryland in, 112-113 
 
 convicts not taught trades iii 
 
 states must employ convicts direct 111-112 
 
 profits of contractors in 
 
 interstate shipment of convict goods 112 
 
 details of the system 114-115 
 
 trade union attitude toward 127 
 
 Courts, The — 
 
 anti-labor decisions and injunctions 134 
 
 illegality of lower court decrees 76 
 
 and injunctions 61-62 
 
 labor's criticism of 73 
 
 opposition to labor organizations 73 
 
 and the people 73 
 
 restricts freedom of the press 76 
 
 and labor provisions of Clayton antitrust act 76 
 
 and rights 53 
 
 and rights of the workers 58-59 
 
 and strikes 61-62 
 
 usurpation of legislative power by 73-74 
 
 Criminal code, court made 77 
 
 Cuba — 
 
 organized labor demands liberty for 129-130 
 
 A. F. of L. demands recognition of 224 
 
 conditions under Spanish rule 224 
 
 independence of 225 
 
 D 
 
 Danbury hatters' case 47, i34 
 
 Debs, Eugene V 181, 182, 187 
 
 Declaration of Independence 50, 173 
 
 Demobilization 286-287 
 
 Democracy — 
 
 and everyday life 280 
 
 and the labor movement 19S, 218, 258-259 
 
 and preparedness 243-244 
 
 and Prussian militarism 256-257 
 
 and standing armies 246 
 
296 INDEX 
 
 Democratic party, attitude toward labor's demands 137-138 
 
 Department of Labor 142 
 
 Direct action 203-204 
 
 Disarmament ■ 220-221, 245 
 
 Discontent 2 
 
 Discussion 131-132 
 
 Distribution of wealth 9, 94. 1S2, 185, 195 
 
 Division of labor loi 
 
 Dred Scott decision 63 
 
 E 
 
 Economic action SS, 56 
 
 Economic conditions, 1902-1916 170-171 
 
 Economic conditions, American vs. European 151 
 
 Economic development IS7-IS9 
 
 Economic power 55, 56, 59, 60 
 
 Education 43. loi, 105-106, 164 
 
 Education, industrial 101-107 
 
 Eight-hour day — 
 
 achievements of organized labor 127 
 
 eight-hour law ". 46 
 
 influence of 124 
 
 on Panama Canal 133 
 
 origin and extension of 165-166 
 
 (See also Volume II., "Labor and the Employer") 
 
 Eliot, Dr 17 
 
 Employers and the labor movement 283 
 
 European War — 
 
 and anti-labor government administration 216-217 
 
 and brotherhood of man 228 
 
 causes 268-269 
 
 and democracy 261 
 
 and immediate peace 254 
 
 and national unity 253-254 
 
 and patriotism 214 
 
 power of Congress to declare 251-252 
 
 principles and institutions at stake 262 
 
 problems of production 258 
 
 referendum on declaration of war 252 
 
 war economy 266-267 
 
 war finance 265-266 
 
 war risk insurance 269-270 
 
 war service 255-256 
 
 F 
 
 Farmers 40 
 
 Farmers' Educational and Cooperative Union 30, 41 
 
 Federal jurisdiction 49 
 
 Federal system 21, 157 
 
 Finance, place of in industry 93 
 
 "First American Conference for Democracy and Terms of Peace".. 249 
 
 Freedom 2, 211-212 
 
 Freight-handlers, conditions and wages 148-149 
 
 Free assemblage 7, 72, 108-109 
 
 Free association 72 
 
INDEX 297 
 
 Free press 14, 68, 72 
 
 Free speech 14, 68, 72, 108-109, 134 
 
 French Government, dissolves teachers' union g6 
 
 Fundamental rights 57, 58 
 
 G 
 
 Germany — 
 
 free assembly and free speech 267-268 
 
 German army 240 , 
 
 German government 264-265, 266 
 
 German socialists 236 
 
 German socialists support the war 263 
 
 the Lusitania sinking 235 
 
 menace to Russia 260 
 
 organized labor has no influence upon German government 267 
 
 "peace" offensives 236 
 
 President Wilson's fourteen points 236 
 
 Prussian militarism 256-257 
 
 General strike 202 
 
 Gladstone, W. E n, 48 
 
 Government ownership 95-99 
 
 Government workers 45. 48, 57i 99- 100 
 
 Great Britain — 
 
 and the United States 291-292 
 
 political policy of organized labor 125 
 
 Guardians of labor 34. 35, 36 
 
 H 
 
 Hague Conference 219-220 
 
 Harlan, Justice, usurpation of legislative power by courts 73-74 
 
 Hawaii, slavery abolished by trade unions 128 
 
 Haywood, W. D., on violence 187-188 
 
 Health, industrial conditions for 118-120 
 
 Henry, Patrick • • -59 
 
 Heroism 212-213, 216-217 
 
 Home market ^51 
 
 Hunter, Robert i|3 
 
 Hillquit, Morris io4 
 
 I 
 
 Idealism 203 
 
 Illiteracy lOS- 106 
 
 Imperialism ^'^ 
 
 Independent political action 125-120 
 
 Independent political labor party 140-146 
 
 Industrial conditions 12 
 
 Industrial crises ^^ 
 
 Industrial liberty 45, 40 
 
 Industrial panic ''51 
 
 Industrial relations 4, 45 
 
 Industries, private, regulation of I54-IS5 
 
 Industrial Unionism i°3 
 
 (See also One Big Union.) 
 
 Industrial Workers of the World 182, 197-206 
 
 Ingraham, Dr " 
 
298 INDEX 
 
 Immigration — 
 
 Chinese exclusion 81-85 
 
 contract labor 78-79. §5-86 
 
 employers 87 
 
 European economic conditions 82 
 
 foreign schools 88 
 
 immigrants 44 
 
 induced 78, 80, 88 
 
 labor standards 88 
 
 literacy test 81-82, 88 
 
 post-war restriction 290291 
 
 "servants" 80 
 
 Injunctions — 
 
 class character 66-67 
 
 and conspiracies 75 
 
 and free assemblage and association 72 
 
 and freedom of press and speech 68-70 
 
 and industrial relations 75 
 
 and jail sentences 64 
 
 and municipal council investigation 70-71 
 
 number petitioned for by employers 189S-1908 74 
 
 and patriotism of workers 215-216 
 
 power to issue 66 
 
 abuse of 66 
 
 procedure vs. criminal law 69-70 
 
 and property rights 72 
 
 and riots 65 
 
 and strikes 61, 63-65 
 
 temporary 63 
 
 "Intellectuals" 18, 31, 33, 34. 35 
 
 Inter-allied labor conference (war-time) 238-239 
 
 International court of arbitration 226 
 
 International labor conference (war-time) with enemy represen- 
 
 ' tation 233-235, 238-239 
 
 International labor relations — 
 
 and trade unions 221 
 
 influence of organized labor upon 218-219 
 
 International peace — 
 
 abolition of war ^o 
 
 at any price 239 
 
 arbitration 272 
 
 armed peace 271 
 
 and disarmament 226-227 
 
 essential labor demands to insure 274 
 
 governments 277-278 
 
 international complications 273-274 
 
 league for peace 271-274 
 
 league of nations 275-276 
 
 old style diplomacy 272 
 
 and organized force 214-215 
 
 and organized labor 219, 220, 226 
 
 International relations — 
 
 Anglo-Saxon ; 291-292 
 
 and diplomacy 214 
 
 Interstate Commerce law 45 
 
INDEX 
 
 299 
 
 International Socialist Review 38 
 
 Involuntary servitude — 
 
 Hawaii 152.153 
 
 beamen 167-168 
 
 1^^ 7.:8 
 
 German peace propaganda 236 
 
 Italian workers and the war .2.6g 
 
 Socialists' anti-war propaganda in 237-238 
 
 War unity .237-238 
 
 J 
 Jewish workers 43 
 
 K 
 
 Kirby, John 38 
 
 Knights of Labor ! '. ! ! 12 
 
 L 
 
 Labor — 
 
 dignity of 170 
 
 hand, factory, machine 6 
 
 Labor Day 31 
 
 Labor legislation 8, 46, 47, 55 
 
 Labor movement 7, 13, 23, 34, 35 
 
 Labor power, human — not a commodity 169, 274 
 
 Labor representation in industry SS-56 
 
 Labor standards — 
 
 and immigration 290-291 
 
 organized labor's position 280-281 
 
 "Labor war" 163 
 
 Land settlement 287 
 
 Law as a panacea S3, 54 
 
 Law of supply and demand 14, 15 
 
 Legislation — 
 
 by injunction 66 
 
 labor legislation sought by workers 55 
 
 Legislative action S3, 54, 55, 56 
 
 Leadership 280 
 
 League of Nations 275-277, 288, 289 
 
 Legien, Carl 267 
 
 Leisure 169-170 
 
 Leroy, Prof 10 
 
 Liberty — 
 
 danger to in United States S8-S9 
 
 loss of in Rome S8 
 
 Lien laws secured by trade unions 128 
 
 Lincoln, President, on strikes ...10 
 
 Lock-outs 76 
 
 Loyalty of American labor 218 
 
 Low, Seth 38, 40 
 
 Lusitania, sinking of 235-236 
 
300 INDEX 
 
 M 
 
 McNatnara Case 186-187 
 
 Marx, Karl — 
 
 theories , 185-186 
 
 on violence 189 
 
 philosophy of 192 
 
 Massachusetts, bureau of labor statistics 129 
 
 Mexico 221-222 
 
 Militarism — 
 
 in Germany 240 
 
 the militia 239-240 
 
 opposition of trade union movement to 246 
 
 protection against 241 
 
 Prussian 256-257, 260 
 
 Military camps 241 
 
 Military training 241 
 
 Militia, used against workers 239-240, 247 
 
 Milwaukee Democratic Herald 38 
 
 Mill and mine conditions — 
 
 Breaker boys 128 
 
 inspection 129 
 
 Safety appliances 128-129 
 
 safety in mines. United States 143-154 
 
 Misery 7 
 
 Mitchell, John 38 
 
 Modern industry i, loi 
 
 Municipal ownership — 
 
 effect upon trade unions 96-97 
 
 of street car system in Detroit, defeated by trade unions 99 
 
 N 
 
 National Association of Builders 11 
 
 National Association of Manufacturers .37, 38 
 
 National Civic Federation, The 26, 36, 37, 38, 39 
 
 National defense 241-245 
 
 National resources, conservation of 121-122 
 
 National unity 280-281 
 
 Neutrality — 
 
 and sale of war supplies 231-232 
 
 and strikes 226-227 
 
 Ni^w Republic, The 36, 142 
 
 New South Wales, state regulation of industrial relations 195 
 
 New York Call 38, 189 
 
 New York Volkszeitung 38 
 
 ' New York Vorwaerts , 38 
 
 Non-resistance 229-230, 232 
 
 O 
 
 One big union 12, 183 
 
 Organized labor — 
 
 and cheap labor 103 
 
 and child labor 153 
 
INDEX 301 
 
 Organized labor — 
 
 and congressional opposition to labor 130-131 
 
 and Cuban independence 223-224 
 
 and concentrated wealth 159 
 
 and contract prison labor system 113-114 
 
 and the Declaration of Independence 154 
 
 and economic development 158-159 
 
 economic platform 165 
 
 and economic problems 160 
 
 and education 105 
 
 establishes first public school in Massachusetts 103 
 
 and the European War 215 
 
 and home life 161 
 
 and industrial education 103-104 
 
 and the Industrial Workers of the World 196-198 
 
 and international labor relations 218-219 
 
 and international socialist conference at Stockholm 231 
 
 and large vs. small employers 91 
 
 and millionaires 154 
 
 and mine conditions I53-I54 
 
 pledge in peace or in war 247-249 
 
 and political corruption 161 
 
 and political parties 215 
 
 and revolution 150 
 
 and progress 162-163 
 
 and social evolution 152 
 
 and socialist war-time internationalism 236-237 
 
 and trust smashing V^^ 
 
 and unorganized workers i5o-iS7 
 
 and war-time strikes 250-251 
 
 (See also American Federation of Labor; American labor 
 movement; trade unions.) 
 
 P 
 
 Pacifism • .229-230 
 
 Pan-American Federation of Labor, jurisdiction, autonomy of 
 
 national unions 222-223 
 
 Patriotism — 
 
 and the European war 214 
 
 meaning of American institutions 211-212 
 
 of organized wage earners 212-213, 217-218 
 
 of American people 282 
 
 Peace Conference — ^^ 
 
 labor representation in 266-267 
 
 main objects 276-277 
 
 Peace Terms 258, 261 
 
 Peace Treaty— ... 00 
 
 includes demands of American labor 2»7-2»9 
 
 labor section 277, 289-290 
 
 main objects ^76 
 
 Philanthropy }° 
 
 Phillips, Wendell • " 
 
 Plasterers, economic conditions io7 
 
 Political action, power, rights— 
 address of organized labor and farmers to the country 135-130 
 
302 INDEX 
 
 Political action, power, rights — 
 
 dangers of the political field 139 
 
 effective use of political power 138-139 
 
 labor's bill of grievances 130-138 
 
 labor's protest conference 135 
 
 labor's protest to Congress 13S-136 
 
 significance of 8 
 
 trade union political action, achievements 127-130 
 
 Political economists 4, 33 
 
 Porto Rico, conspiracy laws abolished by organized labor 128 
 
 Post, C. W 37, 38 
 
 Post Office Department 48, 49 
 
 Poverty and trade unions 2 
 
 Preparedness — 
 
 co-operation of the workers 248-249 
 
 and democracy 243-244 
 
 economic 242-243 
 
 and militarism 242 
 
 policies 240-241 
 
 and wage-earners 244-245 
 
 Prices _. 171 
 
 Prisons, conditions, reform 113-114 
 
 Producers 91 
 
 Profiteering 250, 282, 283 
 
 Progress, influence of organized labor 162-163 
 
 Prosperity 94-95, 278 
 
 Public rights 25, 26, 27 
 
 Public schools — 
 
 established in Massachusetts by organized labor 103 
 
 give one-sided education 102 
 
 and industrial education 101-105 
 
 labor 103 
 
 must be unrestricted loi 
 
 superior to European schools 158 
 
 R 
 
 Radicalism 283-284 
 
 Reconstruction problems — 
 
 Bolshevism 283-284, 286 
 
 demobilization 2^287 
 
 democracy 291-292 
 
 immigration 290-291 
 
 land settlement 287 
 
 unemployment 287 
 
 wage reductions 285-286 
 
 Reconstruction programs — 
 
 British Labor Party 278-279 
 
 American Federation of Labor 278-279 
 
 Referendum — 
 
 on Declaration of War 252 
 
 on sinking of Lusitania 252-253 
 
 Rehabilitation of soldiers and sailors 256 
 
 Republican party, attitude toward labor 137 
 
 Revolution 150 
 
INDEX 303 
 
 Right of petition aR cr 
 
 Rogers, Thorold V.V.T'. .11 
 
 Roman people .'..'...'.! .59 
 
 Roosevelt, President '.'..'.'.'.'..'. .66 
 
 Ruling class , '.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.. .y 
 
 Russia — 
 
 American labor's message to Russian people 260 
 
 discontent caused by tyranny 13-14 
 
 Greeting to Russian democracy by American Alliance for 
 
 Labor and Democracy 253 
 
 Menaced by Prussian militarism 260 
 
 Russian Bolsheviki 267 
 
 Russian revolution 207-208 
 
 S 
 
 Sabotage 203-204 
 
 Seamen — 
 
 liberated by the A. F. of L. 129 
 
 seamen's bill 167-169 
 
 Sherman anti-trust law 45, 52 
 
 Serfdom 151 
 
 Simons, A. M 187 
 
 Slavery 13, 151 
 
 Socialism — 
 
 and liberty 194-195 
 
 menace of 191-192 
 
 parliamentary socialism 220 
 
 philosophy of 179-180 
 
 practical socialism in Europe 191 
 
 socialist vs. trade union procedure for protection of constitu- 
 tional rights 193-194 
 
 Socialists — 
 aim at physical force revolution through destruction of trade 
 
 unions 180 
 
 are unreasonable 37 
 
 attempts to dominate trade union movement 180-184 
 
 and boycotting union cigarmakers 178 
 
 compared with capitalist enemies of trade unions 189-190 
 
 and constitutional rights 193-194 
 
 and the co-operative commonwealth 19S 
 
 and economic problems 176 
 
 and the European War 236-237 
 
 French Socialists on Bolshevism 207-208 
 
 German socialists 184 
 
 and "Gomperism" 193 
 
 influence in trade unions 3 
 
 and Labor Day 177-178 
 
 not real trade unionists 190 
 
 and property 176-177 
 
 and reforms 184 
 
 and strikes i7S 
 
 and trade unions I7S 
 
 and trade union candidates for public office 177 
 
 on violence and the McNamara case 186-187 
 
304 INDEX 
 
 Socialists and the European War — 
 
 France 207-208 
 
 Germany 263 
 
 Italy 237-238 
 
 United States 263 
 
 Social justice 22 
 
 Social progress 151 
 
 Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance 181 
 
 Soldiers and sailors — 
 
 demobilization 286-287 
 
 dependents 249-250 
 
 employment for 287, 290 
 
 land settlement 287 
 
 Spanish-American War 223-225 
 
 Square Deal, The 38 
 
 Standpatism 284 
 
 State, The— 
 
 police power of 112 
 
 policies directed by organization 45 
 
 represents wealth owners go 
 
 State jurisdiction 49 
 
 State Socialism 182 
 
 Stockholm Conference (socialist) — 
 
 A. F. of L. refuses to attend 231 
 
 called by pro-Kaiser interests 230-231 
 
 Stowe, Lyman Beecher 113 
 
 Street-car employees, wages, conditions 149 
 
 Strikes — 
 
 cigarmakers' 148 
 
 of government employees 57 
 
 illegal 267-268 
 
 in New South Wales 195 
 
 I. W. W. attitude toward 197-198 
 
 lawful 75 
 
 Lincoln's opinion 10 
 
 and neutrality 227-228 
 
 and the "public" 25-26 
 
 right of minority to oppose 251 
 
 right to strike S9-62 
 
 socialist attitude toward 175 
 
 strike breakers 155 
 
 war-time strikes 250-251, 264-265 
 
 Supreme Court, United States — 
 
 character of 63 
 
 Dred Scott decision 67 
 
 Syndicalism 200-201 
 
 Sunday labor 31 
 
 T 
 
 Taff-Vale decision 52, 140 
 
 Tailoresses, hours, wages 149-150 
 
 Teachers — 
 French government dissolves teachers' union 96 
 
INDEX 30s 
 
 Theoreticians 23 
 
 Trade Unions — 
 
 achievements 127-130, 166, 176, 179-180 
 
 action g 
 
 and boycotts 75 
 
 control of members' political activity 132 
 
 and control of property 94-95 
 
 and conservatism 2 
 
 and the courts 75-76 
 
 and court decrees 75-76 
 
 and distribution of wealth 59 
 
 and education i^ 2, 42, 43 
 
 effectiveness of 19 
 
 and eight-hour laws 59-60 
 
 evolution of 60 
 
 exclusively of wage earners 30, 31 
 
 and "fixed prograrhs" 21-22 
 
 and freedom 2 
 
 freedom of 18, 19 
 
 functions of i, 6 
 
 and fundamental rights 74 
 
 idealism of I54-I5S 
 
 and immigration 44, 78-88, 290-291 
 
 and independent political action 125 
 
 and international labor unity 221 
 
 and large standing army 246 
 
 and legislation 124 
 
 and lock-outs 76 
 
 and membership in the militia 239-240 
 
 methods 23, 205 
 
 mission of 9 
 
 "narrowness" of 18, 19 
 
 and non-unionists 16-17 
 
 not trusts 15 
 
 opposition to 11, 23. 24 
 
 and picketing 76 
 
 and political rights 20 
 
 and poverty i> 2 
 
 and practical democracy 20 
 
 primary objects 20 
 
 primary school 42 
 
 pure and simple 3 
 
 and radical movements i75 
 
 recognition of 26 
 
 and rights i 
 
 and socialists 3 
 
 and strikes 61-62, 75-76 
 
 and trial by jury l(> 
 
 voluntary associations 15 
 
 {,See also American Federation of Labor; American labor 
 movement; organized labor.) 
 
 Trade union wreckers 24 
 
 Trusts IS, 16, 81-95 
 
 Tuberculosis 11S-117 
 
3o6 INDEX 
 
 U 
 
 Unemployment 151 
 
 Union label 30, 32, 41 
 
 United Brotherhood of Builders of America ig8 
 
 United Hebrew Trades 43 
 
 United States Government 50, 51, 174, 267 
 
 V 
 
 Violence 186-189, 203 
 
 Voluntary associations 15 
 
 W 
 
 Wages 14, 24, 25, 27 
 
 Wages and prices 171 
 
 Wage reductions 14, 285-286 
 
 Wage system 3 
 
 Wage workers, progress of 7 
 
 Wage-earning class 8 
 
 Walling, William English 184 
 
 War- 
 abolition of 270 
 
 brutality of 229-230 
 
 and democracy 233 
 
 and disarmament 226 
 
 and militarism 245 
 
 and strikes 227-228 
 
 and the working class 219-220, 225-226, 228, 239, 270 
 
 Wealth, concentrated 12 
 
 Welfare workers 33 
 
 Wilson, President — 
 
 German- Austrian attitude toward 236 
 
 program for world peace 258 
 
 supported by inter-allied labor movements 261 
 
 Woman suffrage — 
 
 supported by organized labor 107 
 
 will not solve industrial problems 108 
 
 World labor conference coincident with official peace conference 266-267 
 
 Work 13 
 
 Workers and the State go 
 
 Wright, Justice -. 71-72