Show WORLD OF LABOR pres gompers annual address NEEDED legislation delegation to be kept at washington irrigation congress meets cincinnati 0 dec 14 when te delegates to the federation were assembled after lunch president tromp ers delivered his annual address he was loudly applauded when he arose the addre ss was of unusual length and touched every feature of the labor question in the opening he said and fellow workers with the cycle of time has come the annual gathering of the representatives of the organized workers of our country we meet here today conscious cona cious of all the sadness and alt the pathos as well as all the righteousness the heroism and the glory for which our movement stands and with which it is inalienably interwoven the wrongs of the ers have not yet been obliterated nor their rights yet attained the myriads of boilers toilers of our country observe with a quickened and most acute sense the burdens they have to bear notwithstanding the marcellous marvellous marv ellous progress which should lighten them we see our country blossoming bloss oming forth like a rose through our handiwork yet countless thousands ot our number with but the fiting of the thorn for their reward of their consolation encircled wizard like instruments tho result of the concentrated genius of ages to produce the necessities and luxuries of life still the struggle of life most intense and often excruciating giand and inhumanity providing they result in acquiring wealth still regarded as human attributes ol 01 victory and respectability ability masses of the ecung and the innocent may euffer and decay in the process but this is of little concern only that the end possessions sessions oos by the few is attained by all the memories which bind us to the heroic sacrifices of past elea of the lowly by the recognition of the battles and won and the wounds received in the battles of our day by the nobility of our purposes the freedom for which we strive for all success ia as sure aa night follows day and the day follows night the speaker proceeded to review at length the labor legislation of congress and which he characterized as only fair progress he concluded his remarks under this head aa follows 1 I would recommend that this convention decide that atia representatives ol 01 this federation be constantly at the seat of government during the session of congress to guard and further the legislation legi which our organizations demand in the interest of labor we can secure the abrogation of laws inimical to the interests of the masses and the passage of others for their advancement and protection the lines suggested have successful in every instance in which they have been fairly tried and although we ma all desire to secure the purposes for which we are organized through other methods that should not deter us arom pursuing the course which all experience demonstrates is conducive to the best results the workers of our country need immediate relief immediate improvements they cannot afford to wait until the alllen aum ium shall come alq in the meantime suffer the wrongs which exist moie especially when the opportunity of securing that relief is at hand we may not always be favorably impressed with the means by which relief is obtained but that it must be secured that it is necessary and essential to our well being and progress pro gresa should be sufficient incentive to seek it on such lines and by such methods as promise and assure success was made to the fact that when utah was admitted into a clause in the constitution authorized the legislature to limit the hours of labor to eight per day the legislature complied the mine owners were convicted oi violating the law failed in an appeal to the supreme court of the state and have now taken the case to the united states supreme court president gompers recommended that the federation render financial assistance for the employment of competent attorneys 1 on the industrial situation the pesi 0 fc dent said the present yar has witnessed improvement over the awu preceding prec edine years while industry and commerce have just about emerged from the panics of the changes or improvements prove ments have been very meagre there has not been that industrial re biyal looked and hoped for and which we bad a right to anticipate after the crisis through which we have passed that our panic was not more acute and did not do more harm than it did is due more to our movement than to all other elements and forces combined industrial crises and stagnation result from many causes but particularly from the lack of opportunity of the workers to consume more largely of the product of their labor A reduction in wages means a lesser consumption of these products thus rendering the labor of other workers unnecessary and throwing them out of employment the crisis teco aies intensified and prolonged whatever else the enemies of our movement may urge against it none can dispute but that the organizations of labor have very largely if not entirely a great reduction in wages which would have otherwise taken place hence the world owes to the trades union movement a debt of gratitude which it can repay for the miseries it has prevented and the opportunity that it presents for the natural and gradual progress pro grees of industrial social and moral influences there was loud applause when the announcement wan made that the unions affiliated with the federation had earned in round numbers over one hundred thousand members during the year la dealing with this subject the president said i n the case of the brotherhood of locomotive affiliation of that organization would be consummated at this time were it not for the fact that there is some feeling manifested by ita members upon the question 0 out of their constitution the of ficera of the brotherhood state that the members have good grounds for complaint against the cheap labor of the colored man who is always utilized the defeat the aims of the brotherhood the answer was made that anis is all the greater reason why the advantages of organization should be extended to the colored man in order that he may not longer ba so utilized to antagonize our interests president compers touched at length upon strikes and their effectiveness justified the officers federation in holding aloof from the recent political campaign urged renewed agitation of the 8 hour movement and a new campaign for the organization of textile industries insisted that the federation could not remain neutral on the ques tion of restricting immigration and congratulated the organization upon being in close touch with the leading organizations of workers in england and continental countries |