The Federation and Political Issues.-The hostility of the Federation to the socialists did not mean,however,that it was indifferent to political issues or political parties.On the contrary,from time to time,at its annual conventions,it endorsed political and social reforms,such as the initiative,referendum,and recall,the abolition of child labor,the exclusion of Oriental labor,old-age pen-sions,and government ownership.Moreover it adopted the policy of "rewarding friends and punishing enemies"by advising members to vote for or against can-didates according to their stand on the demands of organized labor.
This policy was pursued with especial zeal in connection with disputes over the use of injunctions in labor controversies.An injunction is a bill or writ issued by a judge ordering some person or corporation to do or to refrain from doing something.For example,a judge may order a trade union to refrain from interfering with non-union men or to continue at work handling goods made by non-union labor;and he mayfine or imprison those who disobey hisSamuel Gompers and Other Labor Leaders
injunction,the penalty being inflicted for "contempt of court."This ancient legal device came into prominence in connection with nation-wide railway strikes in 1877.It was applied with increasing frequency after its effective use against Eugene V.Debs in the Pullman strike of 1894.
Aroused by the extensive use of the writ,organized labor demanded that the power of judges to issue injunctions in labor disputes be limited by law.Representatives of the unions sought support from the Democrats and the Republicans;they received from the former very specific and cordial endorsement.In 1896the Democratic platform denounced "government by injunction as a new and highly dangerous form of oppression."Mr.Gompers,while refusing to commit the Federation to Democratic politics,privately supported Mr.Bryan.In 1908,he came out openly and boasted that eighty per cent of the votes of the Federation had been cast for the Democratic candidate.Again in 1912the same policy was pursued.The reward was the enactment in 1914of a federal law exempting trade unions from prosecution as combinations in restraint of trade,limiting the use of the injunction in labor disputes,and prescribing trial by jury in case of contempt of court.This measure was hailed by Mr.Gompers as the "Magna Carta of Labor"and a vindication of his policy.As a matter of fact,however,it did not prevent the continued use of injunctionsagainst trade unions.Nevertheless Mr.Gompers was unshaken in his conviction that organized labor should not attempt to form an independent political party or endorse socialist or other radical economic theories.
Organized Labor and the Public.-Besides its relations to employers,radi-cals within its own ranks,and political questions,the Federation had to face responsibilities to the general public.With the passing of time these became heavy and grave.While industries were small and conflicts were local in charac-ter,a strike seldom affected anybody but the employer and the employees im-mediately involved in it.When,however,industries and trade unions became organized on a national scale and a strike could paralyze a basic enterprise like coal mining or railways,the vital interests of all citizens were put in jeopardy.Moreover,as increases in wages and reductions in hours often added directly to the cost of living,the action of the unions affected the well-being of all-the food,clothing,and shelter of the whole people.
For the purpose of meeting the issue raised by this state of affairs,it was suggested that employers and employees should lay their disputes before commissions of arbitration for decision and settlement.President Cleveland,in a message of April 2,1886,proposed such a method for disposing of industrial controversies,and two years later Congress enacted a voluntary arbitration law applicable to the railways.The principle was extended in 1898and again in 1913,and under the authority of the federal government many contentions in the railway world were settled by arbitration.
The success of such legislation induced some students of industrial questions to urge that unions and employers should be compelled to submit all disputes to official tribunals of arbitration.Kansas actually passed such a law in 1920.Congress in the Esch-Cummins railway bill of the same year created a federal board of nine members to which all railway controversies,not settled by negotiation,must be submitted.Strikes,however,were not absolutely forbidden.Generally speaking,both employers and employees opposed compulsory adjustments without offering any substitute in case voluntary arbitration should not be accepted by both parties to a dispute.
Immigration and Americanization
The Problems of Immigration.-From its very inception,the American Federation of Labor,like the Knights of Labor before it,was confronted by numerous questions raised by the ever swelling tide of aliens coming to our shores.In its effort to make each trade union all-inclusive,it had to wrestle with a score or more languages.When it succeeded in thoroughly organizing a craft,it often found its purposes defeated by an influx of foreigners ready to work forlower wages and thus undermine the foundations of the union.