Gompers, Samuel -- Speech (1890-05-01), “What Does the Working Man Want,” American Federation of Labor Convention, Louisville, Kentucky

Dave — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 05:38:20 +0000

We have been accused of being selfish, and it has been said that we will want more; that last year we got an advance of ten cents and now we want more. We do want more. You will find that a man generally wants more. Go and ask a tramp what he wants, and if he doesn’t want a drink he will want a good, square meal. You ask a workingman, who is getting two dollars a day, and he will say that he wants ten cents more. Ask a man who gets five dollars a day and he will want fifty cents more. The man who receives five thousand dollars a year wants six thousand a year, and the man who owns eight or nine hundred thousand dollars will want a hundred thousand dollars to make it a million, while the man who has his millions will want everything he can lay his hands on and then raise his voice against the poor devil who wants ten cents more a day.

Samuel Gompers (1850-1924) British-American cigar maker, activist, labor leader [b. Samuel Gumpertz]
Speech (1890-05-01), “What Does the Working Man Want,” American Federation of Labor Convention, Louisville, Kentucky
(Source)

Ingersoll, Robert Green -- Some Mistakes of Moses, Sec. 18 “Dampness” (1879)

Dave — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 17:21:15 +0000

And why does this same God tell me how to raise my children when he had to drown his?

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Some Mistakes of Moses, Sec. 18 “Dampness” (1879)
(Source)

WIST Quotations

Gompers, Samuel -- Speech (1890-05-01), “What Does the Working Man Want,” American Federation of Labor Convention, Louisville, Kentucky

Ingersoll, Robert Green -- Some Mistakes of Moses, Sec. 18 “Dampness” (1879)