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.

Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and served as the organization's president from 1886 to 1894 and from 1895 until his death in 1924. He promoted "thorough" organization and collective bargaining to secure shorter hours and higher wages the first essential steps he believed to emancipating labor.