Fellow Americans, our Republic is at war against the Imperial German and Austrian governments. That fact, all must now realize. War means victory for our cause, or danger to the very existence of our nation. The World War in which we are engaged is on such tremendous scale, and if the war should [inaudible] influences that we have readjusted practically, the nation's whole social and economic organization from a peace to a war basis. For labor, this readjustment was critical. It devolves upon liberty-loving citizens, and particularly the workers--distinctly--to see to it that the spirit and the methods of Democracy are maintained within our own country while we are engaged in this war to establish them for all the nations of the world.

Background:

Samuel Gompers, the conservative AFL president who won widespread respect for organized labor in the United States, was born in London, England, on January 27, 1850. He immigrated to the United States with his parents in 1863, and found work as a cigar maker in New York City. He steadily rose in the ranks of the Cigar Maker's International Union, and in 1881 was a founding member and the first president of the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions. Known for his conservatism at a time when U.S. government and industry were severely hostile to labor organizations, Gompers resisted radical influence and pushed for legislation that would benefit the worker. In 1886, he became president of the newly formed American Federation of Labor, a position that he would hold, with the exception of one year, until his death in 1924. As AFL president, he pledged political neutrality and encouraged greater cooperation between management and labor through binding trade agreements and responsible striking. Gompers was widely respected for his conservatism and personal integrity, and he came to be recognized as the leading spokesman for the labor movement. Under his leadership, the influence of the AFL grew dramatically, and Congress passed much of the legislation that he had long sought after. During World War I, he organized the War Committee on Labor and pledged labor loyalty to the U.S. war effort. At the Versailles Peace Conference of 1919, he served as chairman of the Commission on International Labor Legislation. He died in 1924.