Gompers has thus been the political watchman of the labor
interests. Nothing pertaining, even remotely, to labor conditions
escapes the vigilance of his Washington office. During President
Wilson's administration, Gompers's influence achieved a power
second to none in the political field, owing partly to the
political power of the labor vote which he ingeniously
marshalled, partly to the natural inclination of the dominant
political party, and partly to the strategic position of labor in
the war industries.

The Great War put an unprecedented strain upon the American
Federation of Labor. In every center of industry laborers of
foreign birth early showed their racial sympathies, and under
the stimuli of the intriguing German and Austrian ambassadors
sinister plots for crippling munitions plants and the shipping
industries were hatched everywhere. Moreover, workingmen became
restive under the burden of increasing prices, and strikes for
higher wages occurred almost daily.

At the beginning of the War, the officers of the Federation
maintained a calm and neutral attitude which increased in
vigilance as the strain upon American patience and credulity
increased. As soon as the United States declared war, the whole
energies of the officials of the Federation were cast into the
national cause. In 1917, under the leadership of Gompers, and as
a practical antidote to the I.W.W. and the foreign labor and
pacifist organization known as The People's Council, there was
organized The American Alliance for Labor and Democracy in order
"to Americanize the labor movement." Its campaign at once became