trade unions depend for effectiveness upon admitting all craftsmen to membership; they enjoy no privileges and represent the movement of the mass for economic justice and social advancement.

The whole purpose of the human race is not alone to produce goods cheaper. A visitor to a great factory may be delighted with the order and system which he observes, but when he mingles with the workmen he often finds them sullen and discontented. True prosperity is not so much a question of superior production as that of more equitable conditions. In that I agree with the delegate from Texas, but there is no occasion at the same time to ignore social growth and change. The essence of civilization is the doing of justice and a nation's standing must be measured by its ability to administer justice, likewise with a system of industry. The element of fair dealing must always be paramount or its fruits will become like dead sea apples, sour and bitter to the taste.

The golden age of labor is supposed to have been in the fifteenth century. Gibbons, in his work on "The Industrial History of England," says: "The cost of living was not more than one-tenth of that at the present day. Food was abundant

and cheap. Three pounds of beef could be bought for a penny. A pig cost about four pence. Employment was fairly constant and regular, and in addition to their wages the laborers still possessed valuable old manorial rights to common pasture and forests. Artisans earned about three shillings a week, which should certainly be worth more than thirty shillings a week at the present. Industry was organized into craft guilds”—a form of trade unionism.

Yet, this was in a state of primitive industry, in the days of the domestic handicrafts, and was alone made possible by the social harmony which prevailed, when the master and journeyman met in common fellowship. With that kind of harmony combined with the economic effectiveness, which the trust makes. possible, the human race would advance with mighty bounds. The trust managers have magnificent opportunities; will they avail themselves of them? Will they show the necessary largemindedness? Judging by our knowledge of human nature, which we know has not changed perceptively for a thousand years under varying conditions, we have reason to be anxious, but the people of America have never failed to successfully meet a great issue when once they grappled with it. The vigorous manner in which the trusts were opposed here but indicates the feeling out

side and with such sentiments aroused no possible power can prevail against the people's might.

In the lowering clouds of social strife I see a welcome light. The mere fact alone of such a gathering as this shows that the age of reason is dawning, and when men reason everything is possible.

Other speakers of the morning were, M. M. Garland, former president of the Amalgamated Iron and Steel Workers; Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, and John W. Hayes, secretary and treasurer of the Knights of Labor. The latter remarked that as some of those who had been assigned to talk on the side of labor were not present, he felt that he should be accorded more time than that allotted other speakers.

Cockran moved unanimous consent to an extension of the speaker's time. Mr. Hayes declined to accept an extension as a concession. He demanded it as a right. There was confusion in the galleries, and without any formalities, the chair closed the incident by intimating to Mr. Hayes that he would probably find the ruling in his case sufficiently elastic.

SAMUEL GOMPERS.

President American Federation of Labor.

Mr. Gompers' subject was "The Control of Trusts." He said in part:

We are all conscious of the giant strides with which industry during the past decade has combined and concentrated into the modern trust. There is considerable difference of opinion, however, as to what is regarded by many as an intolerable evil.

Organized labor is deeply concerned regarding the "swift and intense concentration of the industries," and 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 destroy the combinations of industry. We have seen those who know 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 employed to deprive labor of the benefit of organized effort while at the same time they have simply proven incentives to more subtly and surely lubricate the wheels of capital's combination.

For our part, we are convinced that the state is not capable of preventing the legitimate development or natural concentration 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.

The great wrongs attributable to the trusts are their corrupting 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 when 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 possible economic, social and material improvement in their condition.

There is no tenderer or more vulnerable spot in the anatomy of trusts than their dividend paying function, there is no power on earth other than the trade unions which wields so potent a weapon to penetrate, disrupt, and, if necessary, crumble the whole fabric. This, however, will not be necessary, nor will it occur, for the trade unions will go on organizing, agitating and educating, in order that material improvement may keep pace with industrial development, until the time when the workers, who will then form nearly the whole people, develop their ability to administer the functions of government in the interest of all.

There will be no cataclysm, but a transition so gentle that most men will wonder how it all happened.

In the early days of our modern capitalist system, when the individual employer was the rule under which industry was conducted, the individual workmen deemed themselves sufficiently capable to cope for their rights; when industry developed and employers formed companies, the workmen formed unions; when industry concentrated into great combinations, the workingmen formed their national and international unions, as employments became trustified, the toilers organized federations of all unionslocal, 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, lesser hours of labor, higher wages, and an elevated standard of life, we shall establish equal and exact justice to all. "Labor Omnia Vincit."