It will be long before the writer forgets the dramatic meeting of the Advisory Commission as early as March 3, 1917, when Commissioner Gompers reported that he had called an executive council meeting of the American Federation of Labor for March 9, 1917, for the purpose of considering the attitude of labor toward the preparedness plans of the government. The labor leader spoke with great emotion. He referred to England's difficulty in the first year of the war in enlisting the services of the working people. He went on to say that in England unity was then lacking between government and labor and that the same situation, if not properly handled before hand, could arise in this country in even more acute form, largely because of the racial diversity of our working classes. He concluded by stating that he was now bending his efforts to mobilizing good will in this direction, saying: [24] "I want the workingmen to do their part if war comes to America." He forecasted the meeting in Washington on March 12, 1917, of the officers of the National and International Trade Unions of America, and said: "I am expecting a definite response of support from every trade union in America." There is no doubt in the writer's mind that Samuel Gompers kept the faith throughout. [24] I took Mr. Gompers' words verbatim. On April 6, 1917, the Council and Advisory Commission approved a declaration of the attitude of American labor toward the war presented by Mr. Gompers' Committee on Labor of the Advisory Commission. This action was directed toward the maintenance of existing standards of employment, and provided, among other things, that the Council should issue a statement to employers and employees in industrial plants and transportation systems advising that neither employers nor employees should endeavor to take advantage of the country's necessities to change existing standards; and providing further that when economic or other emergencies might arise requiring changes of standards, the same should be made only after such proposed changes were investigated and approved by the Council. It likewise provided that the Council urge upon the legislatures of the States, as well as upon all administrative agencies charged with the enforcement of labor and health laws, the great duty of rigorously maintaining the existing safeguards as to the health and welfare of workers, and that no departure from such standards in State laws and State rulings affecting labor should be taken without a declaration of the Council that such departure was essential for the effective pursuit of the national defense. MERGING THE RAILROADS