dence in me, I want to thank you sincerely and heartily. In the few words I have said I have expressed to you but faintly-very faintly-my appreciation of your good will and confidence, not merely in this loving cup, and not merely in the ring presented to my good wife, but for all your kind expressions. All I can say in return is that so long as life shall remain in me you may count that that asset you have afforded me the opportunity to acquire shall always be used for the very best welfare of the men and women of labor and the people in general. Mrs. Gompers was introduced to the Convention by Vice-President Duncan, and thanked the Convention for the beautiful gift presented to her. Delegate Sullivan (W. Q.), for the Committee on Secretary's Report, presented the following: Denver, Colo., November 17, 1908. To the Officers and Delegates of the Twenty-Eighth Annual Convention of the American Federation of Labor: Fellow Delegates: We, your Committee on Secretary's Report, after carefully going over the same desire to submit the following: After carefully going over that part of the report pertaining to "Finances"we find the receipts for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 1907, and ending October 1, 1908, are absolutely correct. a We also find the Secretary's report of expenditures for the same period when compared with the Treasurer's report and the (financial table) report of the Auditing Committee agree in every respect. In that portion of the report in which the Secretary furnishes table giving the receipts and the expenditures covering a period of twenty-eight years between 1881 to 1908, we, your committee, earnestly urge upon the delegates and organized labor in general to carefully peruse this table showing the splendid achievements of the American Federation of Labor during the period noted. MEMBERSHIP. The table showing the growth in membership during the past nine years should indeed be very gratifying to the Organized Labor Movement of our country when we consider that during that time to the present organized labor has encountered most of its bitterest struggles in the way of strikes, lockouts, writs of injunctions, Manufacturers' Associations, Citizens' Alliances and other strike-breaking institutions. Notwith standing all the forces enumerated, the labor movement, under the banner of the American Federation of Labor, has continued to grow larger in membership, richer in finances and the men of labor more determined than ever before to defend themselves against the merciless assaults of their enemies. CORRECTION. In connection with that part of the Secretary's report bearing upon the correction of the vote taken at the Norfolk Convention against the decision of VicePresident O'Connell while presiding, by Delegate T. L. Lewis on the resolution introduced by the latter while the case of the Flint Glass Workers was under discussion, the committee desire to say that we have taken the roll call of the Norfolk Convention giving the total vote at that time, and after comparing the votes of those who voted for and against the decision of the chair and those not voting at all, the comparison with the printed proceedings and the correction made by Secretary Morrison are correct. We desire to say further in connection with this matter that the committee have looked over the letters and correspondence of Delegate James P. Archibald, of the Brotherhood of Painters and Decorators, and Delegate John J. Manning, Secretary and Treasurer of the Shirt, Waist and Laundry Workers, the latter having appeared before the committee and verified his letter and signature in person. We desire to say that inasmuch as no objections were raised at the time of the vote being taken by the co-delegate of Delegate Archibald, we are of the opinion that the corrected vote as given in the report Secretary Morrison should stand as the official vote taken at that time. The vote as corrected follows: of A verified analysis of this vote shows the following results: IN FAVOR of the decision of Chairman O'Connell AGAINST the decision man O'Connell NOT VOTING ..... 6,880 of Chair 6,742 ...... 1,294 Total vote of the Norfolk Convention ..14,910 In concluding this report your committee feel they should say a few words of commendation in regard to the very able manner in which the affairs of the Secretary's office are being conducted when it is considered that during the past fiscal year alone, as the following statement will show, there have been issued from the headquarters the following: During the twelve months ending September 30, 1908, there has been issued from Headquarters an average of 1,419 letters, circular letters and packages per day, as follows: Packages of supplies forwarded by express and post... Packages of literature and miscellaneous supplies for Organizers and others 2,948 ..181,011 Official and circular letters in two cent envelopes 56,562 Circulars and circular letters in one cent envelopes .195,327 bor, Officers of State Federations, City Central Bodies, Local and Federated Labor Unions, and all Organizations connected with the American Federation of Labor and those who are indirectly connected, all this work has been carried on during the year just ended as in previous years, under the supervision of Secretary Morrison, we unhesitatingly say that the affairs of the American Federation of Labor are being conducted in an able and efficient manner, commensurate with the duties involved through the office of its Secretary. All of which your committee submits for your hearty approval. Fraternally, HUGH FRAYNE, Chairman; W. E. FULLER, GUS. A. GASS, JAMES WHITTAKER, On motion the report of the committee was adopted, the vote being unanimous. Delegate Nestor, Secretary of the Committee on Education, presented the following report: Denver, Colo., November 20, 1908. To the Officers and Delegates of the Twenty-Eighth Annual Convention of the American Federation of Labor: Your Committee on Education respectfully present the following: Resolution No. 22-By the International Typographical Union delegation: WHEREAS. The International Typographical Union issues in pamphlet form and convenient for vest pocket reference, a list of weekly, monthly and quarterly publications produced under union and non-union conditions; and WHEREAS, This list is intended for the guidance of friends and supporters of fair wages, fair hours and fair conditions: therefore, be it RESOLVED. That all trade unionists be requested to secure a copy of the list referred to, and that they guide themselves by its contents in the purchase of weekly papers and monthly or quarterly magazines. The committee reported concurrence in the resolution and recommended its adoption. On motion the recommendation of the committee was concurred in. For Resolution No. 72, by Delegates A. B. Grout and James J. Dardis, of the Metal Polishers, Buffers, Platers and Brass Workers International Union, the committee offered the following substitute: WHEREAS, The President of the Buck's Stove and Range Company, Mr. J. W. VanCleave, who is also President of the National Association of Manufacturers, has used such part of the million and half dollar war fund as he has succeeded in hoodwinking the membership of the Manufacturers' Association to pay, for the purpose of defraying expense to prevent legislation from the United States Congress in the interest of labor and the people generally, and influencing political parties from declaring in favor of relief prayed for by labor; and WHEREAS, In pursuance of the objects of the said J. W. VanCleave, President of the Buck's Stove and Range Company, and President of the National Association of Manufacturers, to disrupt labor organizations, he has caused President Gompers, Vice-President Mitchell and Secretary Morrison to be summoned in the District Court of the District Columbia to show cause why they should not be punished for contempt of court; therefore, be it RESOLVED, That the Editor of The American Federationist, the labor press, all friendly publications, the committee of Central Bodies and all Organizers of the American Federation of Labor be and they are hereby requested to carry on a campaign of education so that the rights and interests of labor and the people generally may be best conserved. RESOLVED. That in order to afford the best legal protection possible to those who are at present defending themselves in the interests of Union Labor, and those who may be attacked on account of their attitude in the Buck's Stove and Range Company's case, that the Executive Council be authorized to levy such assessments from time to time as in its judgment may be necessary to protect and advance the rights and the interests of the trades union movement; be it further RESOLVED. That if the present contempt proceedings instituted against President Gompers, Vice-President Mitchell and Secretary Morrison result in their being found guilty, that on the second Sunday after such finding all Central Bodies be requested to hold protest meetings and invite friendly societies and the general public to participate. Delegate Grout-I am in favor of the report of the committee, and hope it will be adopted by unanimous vote. On motion the report of the committee was concurred in, the vote being unani mous. Resolution No. 86-By Delegates John Golden and Samuel Ross, of the United Textile Workers: WHEREAS, According to latest government statistics there are six hundred thousand textile workers in this country, over sixty per cent, of whom are women and children, many of them working long hours and for meager wages, mak ing the work of organizing them both slow and difficult; and WHEREAS, The United Textile Workers of America are at the present time conducting an aggressive campaign of organization among their people, both North and South, having increased their per capita tax sixty per cent. during this work, and to enable them to place more organizers in the field; therefore, be it RESOLVED, That this, the TwentyEighth Annual Convention of the American Federation of Labor, instruct the Executive Council to lend every assistance to the United Textile Workers of America in their efforts to bring about a better organization, and thereby better conditions among the many thousands of textile workers throughout the country, especially among the women and children. The committee recommended that the resolution be referred to the Executive Council. On motion the recommendation of the committee was concurred in. The committee reported as follows on that portion of the report of the Executive Council under the caption of "Industrial Education": INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION. We note with satisfaction the splendid progress accomplished by the Executive Council along the lines of Industrial Education, carrying out the instruction of the Norfolk Convention. Much data and material have been brought to hand and referred to your committee. But your committee feels that in no sense with the limited time allotted them can they make a complete report on the value of the mass of material referred to them on this subject, and we can best submit our recommendations in the following reso lution: WHEREAS. Industrial Education is necessary and inevitable for the progress of an industrial people; and WHEREAS. There are two groups with opposite methods, and seeking antagonistic ends, now advocating industrial education in the United States; and is WHEREAS, One of these groups largely composed of the non-union employers of the country who advance industrial education as a special privilege under conditions that educate the student or apprentice to non-union sympathies and prepare him as a skilled worker for scab labor and strike-breaking purposes, thus using the children of the workers against the interests of their organized fathers and brothers in the various crafts; and WHEREAS, This group also favors the training of the student or apprentice for skill in only one industrial process, thus making the graduate a skilled worker in only a very limited sense and rendering him entirely helpless if lack of employment comes in his single subdivision of a craft; and WHEREAS. The other group is composed of great educators, enlightened representatives of organized labor and persons engaged in genuine social service, who advocate industrial education as a common right to be open to all children on equal terms to be provided by general taxation and kept under the control of the whole people with a method or system of education that will make the apprentice or graduate a skilled craftsman, in all the branches of his trade; and WHEREAS, Organized labor has the largest personal and the highest public interest in the subject of industrial education, and should enlist its ablest and best men in behalf of the best system, under conditions that will promote the interests of the workers and the general welfare: now therefore, be it RESOLVED, That the President, in conjunction with the Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor, be and is hereby authorized to appoint a special committee of at least fifteen, to be composed of a majority of trade union members of this Convention, who will serve without compensation and incur no expenses other than necessary and legitimate expenditure within the judgment of the President and Executive Council, to investigate the methods and means of industrial education in this country and abroad, and to report its findings, conclusions and recommendations to the next annual meeting of the American Federation of Labor. A motion was made and seconded that the recommendation of the committee be adopted. The question was discussed briefly by Delegates Nestor, Furuseth, Wilson (W. B.), Sarber, Handley, Frayne, Wheeler and Vice-President Valentine. The motion to adopt the report of the committee was carried. On that portion of the President's report under the caption, "Organized Farmers and Organized Labor," and that portion of the report of the Executive Council under the caption, "Farmers' Organizations," the committee reported as follows: Your committee have viewed with approval and appreciation the organization and growth of the two great farmers' organizations, The National Farmers' Union and the American Society of Equity, and the friendly attitude which they have manifested towards the American Federation of Labor and the policies which we have adopted in the interest of America's Workers. The exchange of fraternal delegates has already borne good fruit, for these organizations of farmers have become deeply interested in those fundamental questions which affect the American Workmen's standard of living, and their influence has already been felt in the industrial and legislative fields. We most heartily approve of the action of the Executive Council in delegating representation to the Conventions of these two great organizations. The interest which they have manifested and their evident intention to take an active part in those reforms, social and industrial, as well has as legislative, opened up avenues through which we may spread a wider knowledge of those special and general methods by which we seek to advance the welfare and interest of the American Workman. The opportunities presented through exchange of fraternal delegates has enabled the organized farmer to become more fully acquainted with the evils of child labor, the sweatshop, and the products of contract convict labor, and to recognize that he can greatly assist in eliminating these social and industrial evils by demanding the union label, when purchasing. So strongly has the value of our union label impressed itself, that these organizations have adopted the same method of designating their products, so that to-day the labels of these Farmers' Unions are to be found in the markets of our largest cities. Your committee have had an opportunity of conferring with Mr. George B. Lang, Colorado State President of the National Farmers' Union, who has pointed out the great benefit that will accrue to the workers of this country, by close co-operation along the lines of this report. Your committee are of the opinion that these organizations will prove a most important factor in the people's welfare and that their influence will hasten the day when unfair, avaricious and unscrupulous employers will no longer be able to find a ready market for the product of the child, the defenseless inmate of the sweatshop, and the convict whose term of imprisonment is used for the unholy heaping up of wealth for the contractor, while his reformation and the conditions which would provide for his safe return to society are given but a secondary place or entirely overlooked. To the end that the work of education already begun may be carried on, and the bonds of common interest and friendship strengthened still further, we would recommend: That two fraternal delegates shall be selected who will officially represent the American Federation of Labor at the Conventions of the National Farmers' Union and the American Society of Equity. We would suggest that the President of the American Federation of Labor should be designated as one of these delegates and that the other be selected by the Executive Council. A motion was made and seconded that the recommendation of the committee be concurred in. Delegate Mahon-Inasmuch as there is already in the hands of the Committee on Organization a resolution that will be reported here, calling attention to the farm laborers nd asking that an investigation into the condition of farm labor be made, I move to amend the report of the committee by adding: "The fraternal delegates in visiting the Farmers' Convention be instructed to make an investigation into the conditions and wages of the farm laborers." The amendment was seconded and adopted. The report of the committee, as amended, was adopted. On that portion of the report of the Executive Council under the caption, "Conservation of Natural Resources," the committee reported as follows: The conservation of the nation's natural resources is a subject of the most vital importance to all our people. While nature with a lavish hand has covered our land with vast forests of trees and filled the earth in abundance with minerals and metals, so necessary to the welfare and progress of our civilization, avariciousness or the one hand and an almost criminal carelessness other has already laid waste a large portion of our natural resources, upon which we depend, and upon which our children, and our children's children, the great American people, must depend. on the The gifts of nature belong to the people of the earth, and our own natural resources should be protected from the hands of those who through indifference, wanton avarice or ignorance would allow the gifts of nature to be wasted and destroyed, or assume that form which would allow a few to grasp to-day, and retain for the future, those gifts of nature which should be used for the welfare of the people as a whole, and not for the benefit and aggrandizement of a few. We, your committee, view with approval the steps taken by President Roosevelt in calling a conference of governors of our several states to consider this question, and endorse his action in inviting President Gompers and Vice-President Mitchell to take part in the deliberations of this conference, as representatives of the American Federation of Labor. We heartily endorse the action of the Executive Council in authorizing the Federaparticipation of the American tion of Labor in co-operating with the the general movement inaugurated at conference at Washington for the preservation of the nation's natural resources, and would earnestly recommend that the Executive Council at all times use its best efforts to assist any legitimate movement which has for its object the protection and conservation of the natural resources of our country. JOS. F. VALENTINE, Chairman; GEO. M. MARTIN, E. ARNOLD, EDW. B. GOLTRA, ANNA E. MCKEE, JULIUS T. JOHNSTON, I. B. KUHN, P. F. RICHARDSON. as a Delegate Nestor-I mov the adoption of the report of the committee whole, as amended. (Seconded and carried by unanimous vote.) Delegate Flannery, for the Special Committee appointed to consider that portion of the report of the Executive Council under the caption "American Federation of Labor Office Building," presented the following: Report of the Special Committee Appointed to Consider the Advisability of Erecting an Office Building at Washington, D. C., Suitable for the Wants and Requirements of the American Federation of Labor. of To the Officers and Delegates of the Twenty-Eighth Annual Convention the American Federation of Labor: Greeting: The Special Committee appointed by President Gompers, by and with the consent of the Convention, to whom was referred that part of the Executive Council's report referring to and dealing with the erection of an office building at Washington, D. C., suitable for the transaction of the affairs and business of the American Federation of Labor, held several meetings, at which Preisdent Gompers and Secretary Morrison were present, We carefully considered that part of the report referring to the erection of an office building and are satisfied, after listening to President Gompers and Secretary Morrison, that the present headquarters in Washington, D. C., are not suitable nor large enough to transact business in a business manner. More floor space is wanted; larger offices for the President, Secretary and Executive Council are necessary, and reception rooms are required. We, therefore, concur in the recommendation of the Executive Council that the American Federation of Labor build suitable and appropriate headquarters in Washington, D. C., that will be a credit to the organizations affiliated, and a monument to the organized labor movement of America in the time to come. The local trades and federal labor unions directly affiliated by charter have already voted in favor of a loan of $50,000 from the defense fund for that purpose, as per the letter submitted to them by President Gompers under date of September 21st, 1908, by instructions of the Executive Council. Your committee, however, believe that this sum is not sufficient to buy ground and erect a building thereon large enough to transact the business of the American Federation of Labor. We would, therefore, recommend that authority be given the Executive Council to devise ways and means to raise $30,000 more, making in all $80,000, and we feel sure that with this amount at their disposal land can be purchased and an office building erected in which the business and affairs of the American Federation of Labor can be transacted and conducted in an up-to-date manner; and in which its wants and requirements can be attended to without undue delay. We consider it unjust to the officers of the American Federation of Labor, or any other labor organization, to be required to work and transact business in small, stuffy, dingy, il ventilated and poorly lighted offices. We, therefore, concur with the Executive Council in the proposition of buying ground outright, and building offices thereon for the American Federation of Labor, in Washington, D. C. FRANK DUFFY, Chairman; P. J. FLANNERY, Secretary; JOHN R. HOLMES, MISS MELVIA RICHTER, HERBERT CRAMPTON, JOHN R. DUNNE, LOUIS KEMPER, Special Committee. Delegate Flannery-I move the adoption of the report of the Special Committee. (Seconded.) Delegate Furuseth-I would like to ask whether the committee has considered the possibility of the building being seized for damages? Delegate Duffy (Frank)-The committee went into that thoroughly. I was particularly interested in it because we have had this question up in the Brotherhood of Carpenters, and to-day the roof is going on the office building of our organization in Indianapolis, Ind. We consulted legal authority and were advised not to incorporate. We asked if the property could not be seized for damages, and were told that was not what the employers wanted; that they wanted to tie up the funds of the organizations. If the property should be attached the case could be put at the end of the docket, come up in two or three years, be put back again, and by that time the strike would be over. Delegate Perham-The Order of Railway Telegraphers took under consideration this same question, and arrived at the conclusion that if our building was going to be attached it would have to be attached, and that we would not consider it a very bad business investment if it was attached. If the organizations have no right to their own buildings the sooner we settle that the better it will be for this movement. The motion to adopt the report of the committee was carried. Delegate Perham, for the Special Committee appointed to make an effort to secure amalgamation of the two International Unions of Car Workers, reported as follows: |