Jasper County Democrat, Volume 13, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 October 1910 — GOMPERS INDORSES DEMOCRATS. [ARTICLE]

GOMPERS INDORSES DEMOCRATS.

In Non-Partisan Speech Shows Eleven Congressmen “Right” on Labor. The records of the American Federation of Labor, on file at Washington, D. C., show that every Democratic member of the Indiana delegation in Congress is regarded as friendly to the cause of labor and that the two Republican members of the Indiana delegation are considered unfriendly. This record was announced recently in Indianapolis by Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, who made a nonpartisan speech in Tomlinson Hall in behalf of labor candidates. “When 1 learned that I was to speak in Indiana,” said Mr.j Gompers, “I wrote to the bureau maintained by the legislative committee of the American Federation in Washington and asked for the records of the Indiana Congressmen.” Mr. Gompers then read from the report made to him by the Washington Bureau. The names of Representatives Boehne, Cullop, Coxi Dixon, Moss, Morrison. Korblv, Adair, Rauch, Cline and Barnhart were given as “right” on all labor questions. They are Indiana’s eleven Democratic Representatives. The names of Congressmen Crumpacker and Barnard were read as "opposed” to organized labor’s measures. Crumpacker and Barnard are the two Republican members of the delega tion. "I do not know the politics of these gentlemen,” said Mr. Gompers, “and I am not interested in that, it ip their records that count.” It is in keeping with the declarations of the Democratic party, that its Indiana Representatives in Congress were thus proved by theirxieeds to have lived up to their promises while the only two men of the thirteen who were tagged as opposed to labor were the two Republican members of the delegation. A comparison of the labor records of John W. Kern, Democratic nominee for United States Senator, and Senator Albert J. Beveridge, contained in “An Address to Workingmen,” prepared by John J. Keegan, president of the Indianapolis Machinists’ Union, and signed by eight other prominent labor leaders, discloses the fact that Mr. Kern is a man of deeds when it comes to aiding and defending the cause of organized labor, while Senator Beveridge has little to show but promises. Labor unions got their right to live in Indiana through the assistance of Mr. Kern. It was Mr. Kern who secured the passage in the State Senate of a bill in 1893, to “protect employes and guarantee their right to belong to labor organizations and prescribing penalties for the violation thereof.” It was Mr. Kern who, as a member of the State Senate in 1893, championed and aided in securing the passage of the child labor bill which had been demanded by organized labor. It was Mr. Kern, who in the same year, secured the passage of the first employers’ liability law exacted in Indiana.