"COLLEGE MEN AS LABOR LEADERS NOT TOLERATED"

"Go back to your college professors and your students of labor and tell them that their participation as critics or as students of labor will be tolerated, but as organizers or leaders, no!", said Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, when interviewed for the CRIMSON yesterday. This statement came as the result of a question put to him as to the effect of men from intercollegiate societies, such as the various college Liberal Clubs, on the future welfare of labor. "What do you mean?" said Mr. Gompers. "You are not saying what is exactly in your mind. You see I have spoken frankly on all questions put me. I expect you to do the same. Do you mean that the leadership of labor will tomorrow be supplanted by college men?" When this question was answered in the affirmative, Mr. Gompers became angry and replied strongly, "Never in all your life. The leaders of the labor organizations will always be recruited from the ranks."

Commenting on the question of the reduction of wages earlier in the interview, Mr. Gompers declared that "the reduction of wages as a means to the improvement of business is utter rot."

To the question of what he thought labor would do against the tendency to forestall future organization and aspirations, he replied, "Labor will make a concerted and organized resistance. It is not an easy thing to destroy an organization of five million men. Most of the trouble now-a-days is due to the fomentation of latent discontent by agents provocateurs'. The fact of the matter is that 80 percent of all detective agencies are engaged in industrial trouble. The whole scheme is dastardly. One of the things the agents provocateurs' do is to encourage and bring about demands before the organization is ready for it."

When asked if labor did not also resort to such tactics he replied in three words-"It isn't true."