Federationist

By SAMUEL GOMPERS, President A. F. of L.

A Triumph for Voluntary Arbitration..

170

What Our Organizers are Doing..

171

Official.

184

No. 6.

I am, and I tramp, that is all I know;
I can not think what I may be here for,
On a rotten boat with the stream I go,
And the deep sea bed is the port I steer for,
With Society's wreckage and refuse vile
The stream is full, but the stream is fast;
Yet the banks at the mouth grow all the while,
And the lordly fleet may be sunk at last.

With flying flags and a jovial crew,

And a heigh and a ho the pleasure boats go; But the filth and the wreckage is aye in view,

And the banks at the mighty mud mouth grow.

The British official publication entitled the Labor Gazette reports that in the 137 trade unions making returns to the labor department, with an aggregate membership of 525,865, thirteen thousand and seventy-five (or 2.5 per cent.) were reported as unemployed at the end of April.

The French official publication entitled the Bulletin de l'Office du Travail reports that in the 660 trade unions of wage workers making returns to the department of labor, with an aggregate membership of 109,150, seven (7-0) per cent. were reported as unemployed on March 15.

Mr. C. W. Bowerman, of the London Society of Compositors, and Mr. James Sexton, of the National Union of Dock Laborers of Great Britain and Ireland, will arrive in this country about June 24, and will deliver lectures at different industrial centres. Central bodies desirous of having either or both of these gentlemen deliver addresses, may do so by writing to Henry Abrams, Secretary Central Labor Union, 14 Hudson st., Boston, Mass.

AMERICAN LABOR FEDERATION-ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS.
By HUGH MCGREGOR.

The study of the origin and progress of the trade union in North America shows us that the local union consisting of the bread winners of the several families engaged in a certain industry and located in a certain city was originally the sole form of trade union organization. Considered in the aggregate, these unions included many thousands of workers, but owing to their isolated condition working class association was yet too narrow-too narrow to successfully resist the oppressive power of the employing class, and too narrow to insure adequate mutual insurance against the evil of working class existence. The narrowness of these primitive unions corresponded in a measure to the restricted concentration of capital, which then prevailed. But the continuous decline of slavery and the consequent increase of free immigration, the great improvements in the means of communication and the resultant rapid settlement of vast tracts of fertile land soon opened wider markets, stimulated production on a larger scale, and created the necessity for similar aggregations of capital. This industrial expansion, however, was paralleled by a like expansion of the trade union idea, which, as a natural consequence, resulted not only in the formation of unions of the unions that had previously arisen, but also in the systematic organization of new local unions of the several trades in places where none had before existed. The beneficial effects resulting from the formation of these unions of unions-or national unions, as they are now generally called-soon generated a desire for a more perfect unity, which would enable all workers to concentrate their efforts for certain given purposes. Such advanced unity, however, was not destined to be established until repeated failures had demonstrated the impossibility of effecting any such aggregation on other than trade union lines.

All who have had any considerable experience in trade union matters recognize that the most formidable obstacle in the path of working class unity is the belief-so sedulously instilled into credulous workers by middle-class journalists and politicians-that social questions can be settled by political means. Therefore, it is not surprising that the first attempt at trade union federation, which was made by a delegate body known as the National Labor Union, only resulted in the nomination of a certain candidate for the Presidency of the United States, and the mmediate collapse of that body, after a brief

existence lasting from 1866 to 1872. It would be useless to attempt to enumerate the many organizations, both secret and open, which during the next few years attempted to "fill the longfelt want," that flourished for a time and then passed into oblivion. Of none of these societies can it be truly said that they enlisted any appreciable working class support except in the case of the Knights of Labor, a secret society which had its origin in a Philadelphia local union of clothing cutters toward the close of the year 1869. But from its very inception, this organization placed itself at variance with the autonomist traditions of the open trade unions, and although its membership increased during a few years with phenomenal rapidity, this variance ever grew stronger with time, until, at length, under the double pressure exerted by the employers from without, and the encroachment of the knights from within, the trade unions were impelled to take immediate action. The result of the action thus taken was the establishment of the permanent Federation which has steadily grown, until it now includes more than two-thirds of the whole of the organized forces of labor.

The first session of the body now known as the American Federation of Labor was called to order in Turner Hall, Pittsburg, Pa., on November 15, 1881. Ninety-six regularly credentialed delegates, representing ninety-five labor organizations with an estimated aggregate membership of 262,000 workers, were present; and John Jarrett, President of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, was called to the chair. A declaration of principles was adopted to the effect that "a struggle is going on in the nations of the civilized world between the oppressors and the oppressed of all countries; a struggle between capital and labor which grows in intensity from year to year, and will work disastrous results to the toiling millions if they are not combined for mutual protection and benefit." The objects of the Federation were, therefore, declared to be the encouragement and formation of local, city, national and international trade unions, and to secure legislation favorable to the interests of the industrial classes. A number of resolutions favoring reform of industrial conditions were adopted during the session, two of which were shortly afterwards enacted into law; one of these was a law requiring the estab lishment of a national bureau of labor statistics,

and the other was a law forbidding the importa- classes as workers, and not as politicians. It tion of contract laborers.

The second session, held in Cleveland, O., was marked by the election of Samuel Gompers, of the Cigarmakers' International Union, as permanent President, and the endorsement of a communication from P. J. McGuire, of the Brotherhood of Carpenters, which proclaimed

makes the qualities of a man as a worker the only test of fitness, and sets up no political or religious test of membership. It strives for the unification of all labor, not by straining at an enforced union of diverse thought, and widely separate methods; not by prescribing a uniform plan of organization, regardless of their exper

GENERAL PRESIDENT MACHINISTS' UNION. MEMBER OF BOARD OF ARBITRATION.

the supremacy of industrial over political questions, and more precisely defined the true scope of the political action of the Federation. That document stated, in part, as follows:

"We favor this Federation because it is the most natural assimilative form of bringing the trade and labor unions together. It preserves the industrial autonomy and distinctive character of each trade and labor union, and, without doing violence to their faith or traditions, blends them all in one harmonious whole-a 'federation of trade and labor unions.' Such a body looks to the organization of the working

ience or interests; not by antagonizing or destroying existing organizations, but by preserving all that is integral or good in them and by widening their scope so that each, without destroying their individual character, may act together in all that concerns them."

New York city was the seat of the third session, in which was reported the several unsuccessful efforts that had been made by the Federation to establish a modus vivendi with the Knights of Labor.

Chicago was the place selected for the fourth session. It was decided to inaugurate a general

Date and Place of the Sessions, the Number of Delegates and Organizations Represented, and the Financial Condition of the American Federation of Labor.