Life, 1919-04-03 · page 58 of 60
Life — April 3, 1919 — page 58: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **magazine advertisement** promoting serialized content about Samuel Gompers, the prominent labor union leader and founder of the American Federation of Labor (AFL). The ad presents Gompers as a heroic working-class figure—a man who started work at age eleven and dedicated himself to "the betterment of the masses." Notably, it frames labor unions as defenders of America "against Bolshevism and Anarchy," positioning Gompers as a **moderate, patriotic alternative** to radical socialism during the post-WWI Red Scare period. The "fair friend" reference to capital suggests the ad is countering criticisms that Gompers was too accommodating to business interests. Instead, it portrays him as balancing workers' interests with American stability—a pitch designed to appeal to Life's middle-class readers who feared both unchecked radicalism and labor unrest.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
As] looking SAMUEL GOMPERS'’ Own Story of LABOR’S LOYALTY Gompers went to work when he was eleven years With the wolf at his own door, he went out to toil for the betterment of the masses. Yet capital found him a fair friend. To-day Gompers and the Ameri i f Labor stand s rl as America’s shield against Bol Read his inspiring and drama hful toilers, beginning in