. Machinery for safeguarding conditions of labor, including industrial
hygiene, safety appliances, etc.

4. Machinery for safeguarding conditions of living, including housing,
etc.

5. Machinery for gathering data necessary for effective executive
action.

6. Machinery for developing sound public sentiment and an exchange of
information between the various departments of labor administration,
the numerous industrial plants, and the public, so as to facilitate the
carrying out of a national labor programme.

Having thus first laid the foundations of a national labor policy
and having, in the second place, developed an effective means of
Americanizing, as far as possible, the various labor groups, the
Federation took another step. As a third essential element in
uniting labor to help to win the war, it turned its attention to the
inter-allied solidarity of workingmen. In the late summer and autumn
of 1917, Gompers headed an American labor mission to Europe and visited
England, Belgium, France, and Italy. His frequent public utterances in
numerous cities received particular attention in the leading European
newspapers and were eagerly read in the allied countries. The pacifist
group of the British Labour Party did not relish his outspokenness on
the necessity of completely defeating the Teutons before peace overtures
could be made. On the other hand, some of the ultraconservative papers
misconstrued his sentiments on the terms which should be exacted from
the enemy when victory was assured. This misunderstanding led to an
acrid international newspaper controversy, to which Gompers finally
replied: "I uttered no sentence or word which by the wildest imagination
could be interpreted as advocating the formula 'no annexations, and
no indemnities.' On the contrary, I have declared, both in the United
States and in conferences and public meetings while abroad, that the
German forces must be driven back from the invaded territory before even
peace terms could be discussed, that Alsace-Lorraine should be returned
to France, that the 'Irredente' should be returned to Italy, and
that the imperialistic militarist machine which has so outraged the
conscience of the world must be made to feel the indignation and
righteous wrath of all liberty and peace loving peoples." This mission
had a deep effect in uniting the labor populations of the allied
countries and especially in cheering the over-wrought workers of Britain
and France, a