the
socialistic and political labor movements, as well as the monopolistic
eagerness of the socialists to absorb these activities, is clearly
indicated in Gompers's narrative of his experiences as an American
labor representative at the London Conference of 1918. The following
paragraphs are significant:

"When the Inter-Allied Labor Conference opened in London, on September
17th, early in the morning, there were sent over to my room at the hotel
cards which were intended to be the credential cards for our delegation
to sign and hand in as our credentials. The card read something like
this: 'The undersigned is a duly accredited delegate to the Inter-Allied
Socialist Conference to be held at London,' etc., and giving the dates.

"I refused to sign my name, or permit my name to be put upon any card of
that character. My associates were as indignant as I was and refused to
sign any such credential. We went to the hall where the conference was
to be held. There was a young lady at the door. When we made an effort
to enter she asked for our cards. We said we had no cards to present.
'Well,' the answer came, 'you cannot be admitted.' We replied, 'That may
be true--we cannot be admitted--but we will not sign any such card. We
have our credentials written out, signed, and sealed and will present
them to any committee of the conference for scrutiny and recommendation,
but we are not going to sign such a card.'

"Mr. Charles Bowerman, Secretary of the Parliamentary Committee of the
British Trade Union Congress, at that moment emerged from the door. He
asked why we had not entered. I told him the situation, and he persuaded
the young lady to permit us to pass in. We entered the hall and
presented our credentials. Mr. James Sexton, officer and representative
of the Docker's Union of Liverpool, arose and called the attention
of the Conference to this situation, and declared that the American
Federation of Labor delegates refused to sign any such document. He said
it was not an Inter-Allied Socialist Conference, but an Inter-Allied
Socialist and Labor Conference.

"Mr. Arthur Henderson, of the Labor Party, made an explanation something
to this effect, if my memory serves me: 'It is really regrettable that
such an error should have been made. It was due to the fact that the old
card of credentials which has been used in former conferences was sent
to the printer, no one paying any attention to it, thinking it was all
right.'

"