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Show THE ASSAULT ON LABOR LEADERS. It Is extremely unfortunate, for Its effect upon the public mind, that the Intemperate assaults which are reported, report-ed, were made upon Presidents Gomp-ers Gomp-ers and Mitchell in tho session of the convention of the American Federation of Labor Jn San Francisco. The statement state-ment that the slips from the newspaper newspa-per that charged Gompors and Mitchell with being traitors to the labor cause was repudiated, cuts no figure In the ugly fact thai labor delegates are prone to make Just such charges against their leaders, whenever those leaders siiow such Indications of moderation and conservatism as win for them the respect re-spect of the public and the regard of employing "captains of Industry." The history of the leadership of the labor organizations shows a continued tendency to distrust of them by the masses of the labor unions, as soon as those leaders grow to such stature that they are fit to be trusted. It Is only when they have not become competent lo really lead, and to prdtect the best Interests of their followers, that the laboring men arc fully trustful of them; while they arc in the formative stages and loud In the denunciation of capital and employees, that the leaders lead-ers retain the full confidence of the masses of their followers. Such Is the record. Powderly fell under un-der suspicion as soon as he developed; Carroll D. Wright was repudiated; Sovereign Sov-ereign was deposed; and now Gompers and Mitchell are openly called ti-altors to the labor cause. There can be no doubt, however, of the staunch faithfulness of both Gompors Gomp-ors and Mitchell. For that matter, we believe hat there was no just reason lo suspect tho other leaders who have fallen by the wayside. The Hon. Carroll Car-roll D. Wright has become the groat statistician of the country; his status in handling statistical material is fixed high among the list of the statisticians and economists of the world. Mr. Gompers Is president of the Federation Fede-ration of Labor, and 'has distinguished himself as such for many years. He is an able, man, a growing man; he is a member of the great conciliation committee com-mittee to draw capital and labor together. togeth-er. In every part he has played, he has shown himself faithful to the lahor cause. John Mitchell has been equally faithful faith-ful to It. He engineered the tremendous tremen-dous anthracite coal strike, bringing tho miners together and holding them to their rights. His efforts were for them, and every vital question was referred to them. Under his leadership, the miners mi-ners in the soft coal regions have made concessions rather than strike; but In every case, It was the miners that decided de-cided the question for themselves, he taking ta-king nothing upon himself. His leadership leader-ship has unquestionably been sound and wise. To accuse such men of being traitors "to labor Is an outrage. But the way In which tho churgo was received shows distinct Improvement In the sentiment of the labor delegates. The charges had to be withdrawn; tho convention did not sympathize with those who made them, and both Gompers and Mitchell will undoubtedly receive a direct vote of confidence before the convention adjourns. |