American Federation of Labor

The political policy of the American Federation of Labor is the outgrowth of many years of experience and the result of long study and observation of conditions, methods and theories in the United States and other countries.

It is admittedly not satisfactory to those cloistered persons who rejoice in the doctrinaire and who find satisfaction chiefly in the formulation of theoretical propositions. As to them let it be said at the outset that American labor's political policy was designed to satisfy the requirements of the great mass of wage earners of our country and that it is the outgrowth of their experience, study and observation. Any person who comes forward with a proposal that differs from their conclusions will have to prove to them that their conclusions are mistaken.

It has been said by critics of the American Federation of Labor that it holds aloof from politics and that this is a serious mistake. Those who have taken occasion to observe the facts understand the truth, which is that American labor is decidedly active in politics, that it has been a tremendous force in American political life but that it refrains from forming partisan political affiliations.

Labor Has Definite Philosophy

The American labor movement has a very definite philosophy which affects all of its activities and which is, I believe, primarily responsible for its great strength, its continuing solidarity and its tremendous moral influence in the life and affairs of the republic.

The philosophy of the American labor movement is in sharp contrast to the philosophy of most of the European labor movements and it is on this point that American labor is subjected to most criticism in what Mr. W. J. Ghent in a recent book so well terms "the coteries of the metropolitan areas".

It is fundamental with American labor that the state shall be required to do nothing which the individual can do for himself either by his own efforts or by acting in concert with his fellows. American wage earners look upon themselves as citizens of the republic, standing on an absolute equality with all other citizens in respect to every attribute of citizenship. They have no desire to be regarded as a class set apart to be shielded by the protection of special political agencies and they refuse to permit discrimination against themselves on account of their status in the economic or social structure.

Wage Earners Not Wards of State

American wage earners are in no sense wards of the state nor will they permit themselves to be so regarded. Neither do they have, on the other hand, any desire that any other portion of the citizenship of the country be regarded as wards of the state.

It is necessary to set forth some of these simple truths in order that there may be an understanding of the basis from the University of Kansas in 1921, and to Arthur H. Starbird '23, of Somerville; Bayard Cutting Fellowship to Charles H. Taylor 2G., of Maplewood, N. J., Austin Teaching Fellow at Harvard, whose subject is government and history: Pratt Fellowship in fine arts to Joseph S. Jabionski '23, and 1G., of Rochester, N. Y., and Rogers Fellowships to Harold A. Larrabee 2G., of Melrose, assistant in philosophy at the University, and to Norman L. Torrey 4G., of Jaffrey, N. H., instructor in French at the University.

Also Parker Fellowships for travel and study to Erik Achorn 4G., of Jamaica Plain, who will hold his fellowship for the second year to study history; Marvin Farber 1G., of Buffalo, N. Y., now the holder of a Sheldon Fellowship for the study of philosophy; Carl A. Garabedian 4G., of Cambridge, whose subject is mathematics; and Garrett Mattingly '23, of Allegan, Mich., who holds this year a Sheldon Prize Fellowship for the study of history.

John Harvard Fellowships Awarded

Also John Harvard Fellowships, without stipend, to James A. Maxwell 2G., of Westville, Nova Scotia, who will study economics; and Leonard Opdycke '17, of New York, tutor in fine arts at the University, who will hold his fellowship for the first half year. Also the Charles Eliot--Norton Fellowship, for study at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, to Prentice van W. Duell, of Buenos Aires, Argentina, who graduated from the University of California in 1916 and is now a first-year student at the Harvard School of Architecture.

The rest of the Graduate School fellowships and scholarships are awarded for resident study at the University next year. The list follows: