Successor

They laid Samuel Gompers to rest in a grave in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery at Tarrytown, beside the Hudson. As the coffin was lowered, the white lambskin apron of a Master Mason was dropped upon it. There they left him, not far from the earthly remains of Andrew Carnegie, William Rockefeller, John D. Archbold.

Candidates. Next day, in Manhattan, the Executive Committee of the American Federation of Labor met and chose a successor to serve out Mr. Gompers' term. There were three candidates: James Duncan, for 30 years Mr. Gompers' lieutenant; Matthew Woll, President of the International Photo-Engravers Union; William Green, Secretary-Treasurer of the United Mine Workers of America, a man but recently come into prominence. All were Vice Presidents of the Federation and hence of the Executive Committee which chose the President.

The reason advanced for giving the office to Mr. Duncan was that he, aged 67, was a veteran who deserved recognition before his retirement. It was never contemplated that if he were chosen by the Executive Committee he should be given the office again at the annual convention next fall. Friends of Mr. Woll pointed out that he was youthful, that of all the candidates he had been closest to Samuel Gompers. It was known, further, that Mr. Gompers had wished that Mr. Woll should succeed him, although the latter belongs rather to the radical wing of the organization. William Green was the candidate of the mine workers and the carpenters, the two largest groups of the Federation. He belongs rather to the conservative wing, although not to the extreme conservatives.

President Green. Before the election was held, its result had practically been determined. Besides the support of the miners and the carpenters, Mr. Green had that of seven of the ten members of the Executive Committee.

When the meeting opened, Mr. Duncan suggested that, by virtue of his long service, he himself deserved the Presidency to round out his career. Then someone nominated Mr. Green, saying that it was necessary to choose a man who might be re-elected by the convention of the Federation. No other nomination was made; and eight votes were cast for William Green (he and Duncan not voting). Then Mr. Duncan offered his resignation as Vice President, saying that he intended to retire.

William Green, native and resident of Coshocton, Ohio, son of English and Welsh parents, a miner at 16, active in the miners' organization since that time (except for four years in the Ohio Senate), is ruddy, big-chested, broad-shouldered, medium in size. Moreover, he is only 51. He has six children, five of them girls.

He is a Mason, an Elk, an Odd Fellow, a Baptist, a Democrat. For over ten years he has been Secretary-Treasurer of the United Mine Workers. He is quiet and rather retiring. His policy is nearer to that of Mr. Gompers than is that of Mr. Woll, Mr. Gompers' own protEgE. He does not favor a third party or labor party. He has been active against communist propaganda and the extreme radicals in the labor movement. He has leaned to the progressive group in promotion of a Workers' Educational Bureau and in support of Government ownership of railways. But, on the whole, he is in the middle ground with a leaning toward the conservative wing.