Gompers on strikes and violence
Testimony of Samuel Gompers before a commission
established by the House of Representatives on the Relations and Conditions of
Capital and Labor, 1899
The
working people find that improvements in the methods of production and
distribution are constantly being made, and unless they occasionally strike, or
have the power to enter upon a strike, the improvements will all go to the
employer and all the injuries to the employees. . . . The American Republic was
not established without some suffering, without some sacrifice, and no tangible
right has yet been achieved in the interest of the people unless it has been
secured by sacrifices and persistency.
A
number of others are reported dead, but the Coroner has no official
notification of their death.