nd it succeeded in laying the foundation for a more lasting
international labor solidarity.

This considerable achievement was recognized when the Peace Conference
at Paris formed a Commission on International Labor Legislation. Gompers
was selected as one of the American representatives and was chosen
chairman. While the Commission was busy with its tasks, an international
labor conference was held at Berne. Gompers and his colleagues, however,
refused to attend this conference. They gave as their reasons for this
aloofness the facts that delegates from the Central powers, with whom
the United States was still at war, were in attendance; that the
meeting was held "for the purpose of arranging socialist procedure of
an international character"; and that the convention was irregularly
called, for it had been announced as an interallied conference but had
been surreptitiously converted into an international pacifist gathering,
conniving with German and Austrian socialists.

Probably the most far-reaching achievement of Gompers is the by no means
inconsiderable contribution he has made to that portion of the treaty of
peace with Germany relating to the international organization of labor.
This is an entirely new departure in the history of labor, for it
attempts to provide international machinery for stabilizing conditions
of labor in the various signatory countries. On the ground that "the
well-being, physical and moral, of the industrial wage-earners is
of supreme international importance," the treaty lays down guiding
principles to be followed by the various countries, subject to such
changes as variations in climate, customs, and economic conditions
dictate. These principles are as follows: labor shall not be regarded
merely as a commodity or an article of commerce; employers and employees
shall have the right of forming associations; a wage adequate to
maintain a reasonable standard of living shall be paid; an eight-hour
day shall be adopted; a weekly day of rest shall be allowed; child labor
shall be abolished and provision shall be made for the education of
youth; men and women shall receive equal pay for equal work; equitable
treatment shall be accorded to all workers, including aliens resident in
foreign lands; and an adequate system of inspection shall be provided in
which women should take part.

While these international adjustments were taking place, the American
Federation began to anticipate the problems o