Samuel Gompers: Address to the Annual Meeting of the National Civic Federation - Milestone Documents

Samuel Gompers: Address to the Annual Meeting of the National Civic Federation

( 1916 ) Commentary by Ron Briley, Sandia Preparatory School
  • “The rights and privileges of citizenship impose a duty upon all who enjoy them. That duty involves service to the nation in all relations of the common life including its defense against attack and the maintenance of national institutions and ideals.” - Address to the Annual Meeting of the National Civic Federation
  • “The labor movement has always been a leader in the case of democracy. The labor movement demands democracy in all things, including military organizations and institutions of the country. It holds that policies and methods of self-defense are best safe-guarded when there is equal opportunity for all to become members of whatever organizations and institutions, whether military or otherwise, exist throughout the country.” - Address to the Annual Meeting of the National Civic Federation
  • “There are no citizens of our country who are more truly patriotic than the … wage-earners, and we have done our share in the civic life of the nation as well as in the nation's wars. We have done our share to protect the nation against insidious attacks from within that were directed at the very heart of our national life.… The wage-earners stood unfalteringly for ideals of honor, freedom and loyalty.… No one can question that the wage-earners of the United States are patriotic in the truest sense. No one can question their willingness to fight for the cause of liberty, freedom and justice. No one can question the value of the ideals that direct the labor movement.” - Address to the Annual Meeting of the National Civic Federation
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Samuel Gompers (Library of Congress)

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