A rabbit with a cork leg, wobbly ears and a false eye, its bodily structure fabricated of brown cotton, is paying a visit to Portland, Ore. The reason for this animal's visit is the opening of the annual Convention of the American Federation of Labor on Oct. 1. The rabbit is there as the mascot of the greatest cigarmaker in the world's history — Samuel Gompers.
As the Federation of Labor goes into its 43rd year, it is the most influential labor body in the Western Hemisphere. The story of how it became what it is, really began more than 73 years ago. In London, east of the City, lies Whitechapel, a slum largely inhabited by Jews. There, in January, 1850, a son was born to Solomon Gompers, Jewish cigarmaker. That son was Samuel. He had but four years of schooling. At the age of ten he was apprenticed to a shoemaker; out of dislike for that trade he soon gave up that trade for cigarmaking. Those were the days of the Civil War, and his first serious reading was anti-slavery pamphlets. He became an Abolitionist.
In the midst of the Civil War, aged 13, he came to America. Before the war was over he had organized the first cigar-makers' union in New York. Since then he has devoted himself to leadership in the American labor movement.
Cigar-making is not a trade of such outstanding importance that it should command the labor of a nation; yet it helped Sam Gompers to his high place. The cigar-makers worked better when their minds were busy. So they arranged for one of their number to read to them while they worked, making their own cigars and an equal share for the reader. Sam Gompers became a favorite reader. Thereby he acquired a precise enunciation, a mellifluous voice and an effective oral interpretation of words. It also brought him a wide contact with English literature, to which he added a knowledge of the works of English and German economists.
Thus prepared, his vigorous personality was competent to handle the difficult situations of labor politics. His power of persuasion is only equaled by his fighting power, and it is rarely that one or the other is not triumphant.
In 1881 he helped to organize the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions, reorganized five years later into the American Federation of Labor. He might have been its first President, but he declined and was made Vice President. The following year he was President. He has held that position ever since, except in 1894-95, when he was barely defeated by John McBride, leader of the coal miners. For practically 43 years he has dominated the greatest labor organization in America.