LABOUR IN AMERICA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20362, 17 September 1929, Page 5

LABOUR IN AMERICA.

NO POLITICAL PARTY.

ATTITUDE OF FEDERATION.

STATEMENT BY PRESIDENT.

[from ora own correspond est.] NEW YORK, Aug. 21. The query often propounded these day*; that the success of the Labour Party in England at the genera! elections might lead to the establishment of a Labour Party in the United States is answered with an emphatic negative by the president of the American Federation of Labour, Mr. William Green. " There is a population of 490 persons to the square mile in England, compared with 40 in the United States," Mr. Green •says, in an official statement. " The United Kingdom is a compact industrial country, where industrial communities are practically continuous. It is a homogeneous population, speaking the same language, with the same standards of living and social ideals, without colour or race problems—a product of centuries of national development. The United States is ;n the New World, where the adventurous and oppressed of many countries have sought a new home. " Until recently an agricultural community, distances are practically incomprehensible to those who live in Great Britain. We are a cosmopolitan population. We have foreign language problems, race and colour prejudices. Wage earners iaave never regarded themselves as a clasii. as they do in the United Kingdom. Here, as members of the old lin* parties, they exercise an effective influence for social ideals."

These factors, condensed and paraphrased from his statement, have, in Mr. Green's opinion, operated successfully against the formation of a Labour Party in the United States, It was not always so. The American Federation of Labour once endorsed free trade, with disruptive consequences that forced it to follow a non-partisan policy in politics. Some Fatal Ventures, Many early Labour organisations found partisan politics fataL The National Labour Union was wrecked by an attempt to nominate a Presidential " slate." Polities contributed to the dissolution of the Knights of La Sour. Endorsement of free silver brought Labour difficulties in the Bryan campaign. Third party movements in the United States liava never been really successful. " Labour has always been able to find persons in both parties, Republican and Democrat, ready and willing to support its humanitarian purposes and its pleas ■ for justice," says Mr. Green. "Wa advise all trade unionists how their representatives vote on measures of special concern to Labour. In the Presidential campaign of 1903. the Federative submitted to both parties Labour's legislativa needs, and asked their endorsement. The reactionaries ridiculed ua and tried to discredit ns, but we continued unperturbed

"Gradually, organised Labour earned a respected standing politically. We secured redress for our two major grievances m the Congress of ISI4. In the last Congressional campaign, we advised Otir unions in each district with the expressed intentions toward our policies of candidates fcr the Senate and Housa of Representatives. W& liave had letters from many of the elected, attributing their success to Labour's support. Of fifteen candidates for the Senate, friends of Labour, only one was defeated."

Work of the Federation. The federation has secured enactment of a Jcng list of statutes. These include the creation of a Federal Department of Labour, establishment of postal savings banks, a Federal Commission on workmen's compensation and liability, vocational education, strengthening the Bureau of Mines, promoting railroad legislation, extending' the eight-hour day to various groups of Federal employees and creation of nr. women's bureau. These have been • supplemented by State laws, protecting the interests of Labour.

The president of the federation points to workmen's compensation as its outstanding achievement. In every State, except four, compensation law protects wage earners against accident loss. The application of the five-day week has been doubled in the past two years. A new standard of six-hoar day for men in railroad operating services has been raised. The workmen's standard of living now includes the automobile. A study in & typical community shows that 29 per cent, of th« automobiles were owned by labourers and artisans. Radio sets and phonographs are common in workers* homes.