He would have to do something. . The Network for Public Education Action Endorses Senate Candidates! ( Log Out /  Don’t we find them selling articles cheaper? Don’t we find them selling articles cheaper? One is the class who has no work to do, in consequence of too much money; the other class, who also has no work to do because it can’t get any, and gets drunk on its face. You know that it is the theory of our government that we can work or cease to work at will. As Congress worked in the 1920s to draft immigration legislation, Samuel Gompers, president of the Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor voiced the concerns of the American working population. But it does not mean that. I would retrace every step I have taken to advance this movement did it mean industrial and commercial stagnation. Of the eight defendants, seven were sentenced to death, four were actually hung and one committed suicide in jail before the sentences of the remaining two were commuted down to life in prison. They way they can afford to do more than we can is that they have a very efficient govt. How can you expect a man to work ten or twelve or fourteen hours at his calling and then devote any time to the invention of a machine or discovery of a new principle or force? My friends, we have met here today to celebrate the idea that has prompted thousands of working-people of Louisville and New Albany to parade the streets of y[our city]; that prompts the toilers of Chicago to turn out by their fifty or hundred thousand of men; that prompts the vast army of wage-workers in New York to demonstrate their enthusiasm and appreciation of the importance of this idea; that prompts the toilers of England, Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Austria to defy the manifestos of the autocrats of the world and say that on May the first, 1890, the wage-workers of the world will lay down their tools in sympathy with the wage-workers of America, to establish a principle of limitations of hours of labor to eight hours for sleep, eight hours for work, and eight hours for what we will. National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), Ralph Nader: Labor Day Is a Time to Organize, Beth from Indiana: What Labor Day Means to Me. Gompers says that the workers’ first need is time—time, among other things, “to raise men to a higher plane.” In today’s age of television and other ready amusements, what do you make of Gompers’ claims about time for self-improvement? . One is the class who has no work to do in consequence of too much money; the other class, who also has no work to do, because it can’t get any, and gets drunk on its face. I’ve done over 100 many times. At the next session of Congress the American Federation of Labor will continue to urge the passage of legislation restricting immigration for two years or more.Every citizen of the United States should make protest against the influx of people from other countries. . The laborer has been regarded as a mere producing machine … but back of labor is the soul of man and honesty of purpose and aspiration. The system only works as a whole. Select one or multiple and then click Browse. I say we are American citizens with the heritage of all the great men who have stood before us; men who have sacrificed all in the cause except honor. I say that is the plane on which this question ought to be discussed—that is the social question. We do not need to trust the modern moralist to tell us those things. and we do not. I would retrace every step I have taken to advance this movement did it mean industrial and commercial stagnation. We have been accused of being selfish, and it has been said that we will want more; that last year we got an advance of ten cents and now we want more. It is true that we can cease to work when we want to, but I deny that we can work when we will, so long as there are a million idle men and women tramping the streets of our cities, searching for work. You must not forget that if low wages, long hours of employment and unbearable working conditions are signs of prosperity China and India would be the greatest commercial and industrial countries in the world. Why, when you reduce the hours of labor, say an hour a day, just think what it means. In all industries where the hours of labor are long, there you will find the least development of the power of invention. He served as president of the AFL for nearly 40 years, beginning December 8, 1886 and ending when he died on December 13, 1924. Well, the very nature of mankind guarantees that history keeps repeating itself. The theory that we can work or cease to work when we will is a delusion and a snare. Samuel Gompers: What Does the Working Man Want? ( Log Out /  Gompers sought to prove that trade unionists were not dangerous radicals; that they sought the same things that other Americans wanted: a better life, decent wages, good working conditions, and time for self-education. Why, my friends, how is it in China, how is it in Spain, how is it in India and Russia, how is it in Italy? A site to discuss better education for all. Gompers died on 13 December 1924 in San Antonio, Texas, at the age of 74, having retained the presidency of the AFL until his death. We cannot leave any “benefactors” (those who claim charity for their involvement in education but who are really driven by tax breaks and investment opportunities) to their own devices simply because some people have “good hearts.” Be constant in your vigilance. To be selfish is to be self-destructive. It is a lie. I maintain that that class in our social life that exhibits the greatest degree of sobriety is that class who are able, by a fair number of hours of day’s work to earn fair wages—not overworked. In the age of electricity and steam that has produced wealth a hundred fold, we insist that it has been brought about by the intelligence and energy of the workingmen, and while we find that it is now easier to produce it is harder to live. Samuel Gompers delivered this speech in 1890. Suppose men who work ten hours a day had the time lessened to nine, or men who work nine hours a day have it reduced to eight hours; what does it mean? Required fields are marked *, Making American citizens through literature, © 2013 What So Proudly We Hail. It is all encompassing. You want to share the page? In Sweden they decided to change how they operated. We are not controlled by outside money and even have a UN NGO status. Samuel Gompers was the first and longest-serving president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL); it is to him, as much as to anyone else, that the American labor movement owes its structure and characteristic strategies. It has grown out of the necessities of the people, and, although some may desire to see it fail, still the labor movement will be found to have a strong lodgment in the hearts of the people, and we will go on until success has been achieved! Who designed this mess? He rose to leadership in the cigar makers’ union, established the American Federation of Labor (AFL), and served as the organization’s president from 1886 to 1924. Remember, fellow English teachers — this speech (and others like it) are NON-FICTION! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_affair, May Day: Haymarket and the 8-Hour Work Day. It means greater prosperity it means a greater degree of progress for the whole people; it means more advancement and intelligence, and a nobler race of people…. . Is it convincing? He would probably go to the theater one night, to a concert another night, but could not do that every night. It has been charged time and again that were we to have more hours of leisure we would merely devote it to debaucher to the cultivation of vicious habits—in other words, that we would get drunk.