Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 October 1897 — FEW LEADERS PRESENT. [ARTICLE]

FEW LEADERS PRESENT.

Very Slim Attendance at the Chicago Labor Convention. The much-advertised national labor convention in Chicago was not as well attended a gathering as had been expected, as the original call for the convention had been rescinded and many big labor organizations that had been expected to be represented were not in evidence. Among the labor men xiresent were Frank Egger, national secretary and organizer of the Hotel and Restaurant National Alliance and Bartenders’ National League; J. A. Ferguson, D. M. MacDonald and E. Boice of Butte, Mont.; M. P. Carrick and W. A. Klinger, Pittsburg; B. 11. Creeden, Wallace, Idn., and many representatives of local reform organizations. Many of those present said that President Gompers of the American Federation of Labor was to blame for the interference of the-arrangements of the original call for a monster convention. They said the statement issued by Gompers advising all labor organizations to keep away from the convention was the result of jealousy, Gompers feeling aggrieved because his name was not signed to the call.