This position is vigorously maintained by the Federation and every bill in Congress or the State Legislatures that contains a hint of compulsion in adjusting labor disputes is vigorously fought. During the agitation of the railroad brotherhoods for an eight-hour-day it was sought to tie them up from future campaigns for better conditions in a law similar to the Lemeux Act of Canada. But it was defeated through the efforts of the executive officers of the Brotherhoods and the A. F. of L. The position of Labor is:

"Any board of arbitration with power to enforce its award upon individuals ceases to be a board of arbitration and assumes all the functions of an industrial court; as such it is a revival of the English quarter sessions, a reintroduction of serfdom and fundamentally opposed to the Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States."

The organization of women is considered of the utmost importance. In 1882 the convention pledged its support, saying:

"This Federation extends to all women's labor organizations representation in the future annual conventions on an equal footing with trade organizations of men."

In 1894 the convention maintained:

"Women should be organized into trade unions to the end that they may scientifically and permanently abolish the terrible evils accompanying their weakened, unorganized state; and we demand they receive equal compensation with men for equal service performed."

In 1890 the A. F. of L. urged an amendment to the Constitution of the United States granting enfranchisement to all citizens regardless of sex. It stood on this principle:

"The best interest of Labor require the admission of women to full citizenship as a matter of justice and as a necessary step toward insuring and raising the scale of wages for all."

In 1917 the A. F. of L. said:

"The splendid services of the women of all the warring nations since the outbreak of the world war has fully demonstrated woman's capacity to take a full share in the responsibilities and duties of citizenship. We therefore reiterate our demand that Congress submit an equal suffrage amendment to the States."

Through its efforts a joint resolution passed the House.

One of the most powerful weapons of the A. F. of L. is the American Federationist. Publicity always has been regarded a necessity, but it was not until 1894 that the publication was launched with the president as editor. Its purpose is to further the interests of the workers, to advocate and defend the trade union movement, to instill hope and courage into the working people that they may have it in their power to bring about changes in our economic, social and political life whenever they are determined to register their will. Since its first issue it has contained no statement that has been successfully refuted. It is regarded by students of the labor movement and of economic and social progress as a safe advisor, and practical exponent of the cause of Labor. It is a fearless critic of shams and pretenders, the champion of all that is true, right and just, and a chronicle of all facts in the struggle for right. In 1915 the convention contended it had been a "tribune that has stood for human rights and freedom," and has insisted that every other consideration must be subordinated to these. The influence of the magazine on the labor press, as well as the general press of the country, has been true and helpful in all things true to trade unionism.

Agitation for a weekly official publication began in 1908. The Executive Council was directed to consider the question and in 1911 the first issue of the Weekly News Letter was printed. This also has proved a powerful feature of Labor's publicity campaign. It was sent to all labor papers and the republications from the first issue were approximately 400 columns distributed among labor,

reform and other publications receiving the service. The News Letter developed into a valuable method of disseminating news. Labor papers are hampered because they serve a cause that has little money, and consequently they lack funds for gathering news. In 1915 the convention voted the "American newspaper is becoming almost indispensable to our institutions. What is true of the general newspapers is equally true of the Weekly News Letter. The American Federationist is an aid to the editorial departments of the labor press and the News Letter is an invaluable source of information for the news columns."

Experiences gained in previous panics found the A. F. of L. prepared when it held its session in 1903 to meet the depression that was bearing down on the country. It was charged by Labor in 1893 that if the eight-hour day had been granted, thus making more consumers of the rapidly increasing production caused by the introduction of machinery, which was displacing labor, there would have been no panic. It was this belief of the labor movement that any reduction in wages would hasten a panic that brought forth this defiant edict in 1903:

"We are better organized and better prepared to resist encroachments on our conditions than ever before; and if perchance some of our efforts may be lost it is better to resist and lose than not to resist at all; for to complacently accept a reduction in wages is simply to invite its repetition while it enfeebles our ability to resist further efforts in the same direction. We urge as a way out that wages be maintained, even if necessary to resist reductions; that as a substitute for discharges of workmen the work to be performed be divided, thus not only helping to bear each others' burdens but to more quickly restore activity in industry, trade and commerce."

Immediately after the great war ended the Executive Council, in its session at Laredo, Texas, in 1918, sent forth a similar warning to the employers of the United States. Vigorous words were used in declaring there should be no reduction in wages.

The international labor relations of the A. F. of L. have been exceedingly cordial. During the first convention a cablegram of friendly greeting was sent the Parliamentary Committee of the British Trade Union Congress. In 1884 fourteen French workmen, sent to America by the city of Paris, opened a correspondence after they returned home which has continued unbroken. În 1886 the secretary of the Parliamentary Committee congratulated the A. F. of L. on its determination to keep trade unionism on its old foundation instead of "mixing it up with other movements." This he considered solid, sober and practical. In 1894 John Burns and David Holmes came to the United States as the first Fraternal Delegates from the British Trade Union Congress to the A. F. of L. The next year Samuel Gompers and P. J. McGuire were sent to England. Until the opening of the Great War the yearly exchange of two fraternal delegates continued unbroken.

Through its friendly labor relations the A. F. of L. persistently advocated peace between all nations; that where differences arose they should be adjusted by international arbitration. The A. F. of L. insisted, however, it would not recognize any movement not based on trade unionism and in 1905 it refused to send delegates to an international association of socialists, as it would be as consistent to recognize that party as it would be the Republican or Democratic. A delegate was sent to the International Secretariat in 1909. The A. F. of L. delegate was instructed to urge the formation of an International Federation of Labor with the autonomy of the trade union movement of each country guaranteed. An attempt was made at the Secretariat to discredit the A. F. of L., the I. W. W. having sent an emissary to Budapest to "represent the Workers of America." The effort failed and the International Secretariat notified the A. F. of L. the subject would be considered in 1911. At that convention the I. W. W. was repudiated. The proposal to change the name was submitted to the various centers. In 1913 the title was changed from "International Secretariat" to the "International Federation of Trade Unions."

As a result of the war the organization failed to meet again although an attempt was made to call a session in Switzerland and later in Amsterdam. Then

the American Federation of Labor sought to take the headquarters of the organization out of Germany and locate it in some neutral country. As the war had cut asunder many of the ties that bound nation to nation, it made impossible the fraternal relations existing between the national labor movements of the belligerent countries. The president of the International Federation announced that because of the conditions the regular work of the organization would be discontinued and the funds used only for the purpose of its maintenance and not for the purpose of propaganda. In 1915 the A. F. of L. declared:

"Because the maintenance of the trade union movement of our country or all civilized countries and of the International Federation of Trade Unions is of paramount importance so far as the economic conditions of the workers is concerned, at all times under all conditions, the stability of our movement here or elsewhere should not be subject to the disturbing influences and possible destruction by any cataclysm, be it a fire, flood, war or pestilence. In times of great stress there is more and greater need of workable machinery and unhampered officers to safeguard and protect our movement and the best interests of the members thereof."

The A. F. of L. delegate to the International Federation of Trade Unions in 1911 was instructed to advance these principles:

"We do not favor anti-patriotism or anti-militarism, or the general strike as proposed by the Confederation Generale du Travail of France. We favor the prevention of the exportation of strike breakers from one country to another; legislation in the several countries more uniform in character governing the hours of labor of women and men in dangerous trades and for abolition of the labor of children under 14 in any gainful occupation."

A world labor congress to be held in this country was arranged for in the 1914 convention, but the war prevented its being carried out. In 1918 it again was voted to encourage an international trade union movement.

By the use of injunctions and court decisions the opposition to trade unions expected to defeat their activities. The decision of a Pennsylvania judge in 1891 that "inasmuch as the wage workers do not own the product they make they cannot have a label certifying the character of labor employed in its production," caused a furor in union circles. This was considered a terrific blow to the union label. Another judge, the convention declared in 1892, called unions "tyrannies," while he contended the acts of the Carnegie corporation in making war on the State was justifiable. This probably influenced a labor official in welcoming the convention to refer to the Homestead massacre by making this prophecy :

"It is said the 'blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.' It is possible that through the blood of the men who died on the Monongahela may come a realization of the true condition of affairs, and that the legislation of the future will be in favor of the masses rather than for the aggrandizement of the few."

The true status of labor conditions in Pennsylvania was the comparative lack of organization, and wage earners had been owing allegiance to political parties first and to themselves as a class last.

"If the organized workmen were to hold in check the political powers of the state and make their rule 'workers first, party last,'" said President Gompers in reply, "then the legislature would make laws and judges construe them in the interest of the workingmen." In those days Labor believed the policy of the courts and government officials was to make all strikes, and especially those on railroads, an offense against the laws. One judge convicted and sent to prison an engineer who had quit work after being ordered by an injunction not to strike. Another judge went even further in denying the right to strike for fairer conditions. The convention said:

"These decisions, though based upon the common carrier, indicates a reckless disregard for the spirit and intent of the American Constitution, and are undoubtedly an invasion of the laborer's right to effectually protest

against irksome conditions, while they in no wise protect him against discharge for any whimsical reason advanced by the corporation," The Federation demanded:

"That the common law practice shall apply to wage earners as well as to all others; that no injunction shall be issued where there is another remedy provided by law. If through the use of the equity power vested in courts our rights as workers to quit at will and to induce others to quit with us can be taken away, then the peaceable evolution toward industrial democracy is cut off and the workers will be compelled to look to more revolutionary measures for redress of grievances."

From that time on efforts were made to secure laws to prevent the interference of courts in strikes where no destruction of property or loss of life had been caused by strikers. Demands were made that the Constitution be amended depriving judges of the power to set aside laws enacted by Congress, "as we believe the proper function of the courts is to expound and administer the law, not to make it." In 1897 the convention called attention to the extraordinary use made of the writ of injunction. When used to prevent free speech, said the convention, or public assemblage to discuss grievances, be they political or industrial, and to compel men to continue to work for private employers against their will they amount to judicial usurpation. They are a flagrant infringement of the rights of the citizen, wholly un-American and destructive of popular government. The fear often expressed in conventions that the Sherman Anti-Trust law would be used against Labor soon materialized. While originally believed to be a law to curb combinations of capital, and Labor had been assured it did not affect the workers or farmers, it was being used to strike a cunningly devised blow at the trade unions. After that every bill ostensibly to control the corporations was scanned carefully to see what "joker" had been included that would interfere with the orderly progress of the labor movement.

In 1900 the A. F. of L. contended that no act in furtherance of any trade dispute not punishable when committed by one person should be considered a crime where two or more committed the same act. In 1900 the convention warned the membership to be fearful of all attempts to enact laws which might affect Labor, saying:

"In judicial injunctions_there are a great warning and a lesson to the workers of the country. Some years ago a Federal Congress enacted a law for the incorporation of trade unions. Beyond question the advocates of the bill really believed they were doing the organized workers a real service; but at the time and since we have repeatedly warned our fellow unionists to refrain from seeking the so-called protection of that law which justified the suspicion the courts would, in time, declare our unions liable to be mulcted in damages and their funds confiscated—a repetition of the robbery of the guilds a few centuries ago. It is the same species of legislation as the enactment of a law to regulate interstate commerce and the alleged AntiTrust law."

Organized labor seeks no immunity from the law for violations committed by any of its members. But it insists that that which is lawful when done by one member shall not be regarded as unlawful when done by wage earners either as individuals or in association. Nevertheless, the issuance of the injunction in labor disputes became more and more general. Its value to the employer and danger to the workmen had become better understood. It was the effort to retain through judicial decisions and orders the power over the working people which had been legislatively surrendered. It appeared to have with it as its governing cause the concept that the ownership of a mine, factory or means of transportation carried with it the ownership of so much of the labor power of the wage-earners as would make them profitable to their owner.

In injunction cases the burden of proof is shifted from the prosecution to the defense. It is not necessary to prove the defendant's guilt. He must prove his innocence. And yet the acts he is charged with committing may not be a violation

of the law but enjoined by a court's injunction. In 1908 the convention contended: "Whenever the courts issue an injunction which undertakes to regulate our personal relations either with our employer or those from whom we may or may not purchase commodities, such courts are trespassing upon relations which are personal relations with which equity power has no concern; that these injunctions are destructive of our rights as citizens as well as of popular government, and we, therefore declare we will exercise all the rights and privileges guaranteed us by the Constitution and laws of our country, and insist it is our duty to defend ourselves at all hazards, and we recommend that such be our action, taking whatever results may come. We further declare that when cited to show cause why such injunctions should not be issued we should make no defense that would entail any considerable cost; and when cited for contempt the proper policy is as above. We further warn our fellow unionists that testimony extorted under equity process may be partially used in a damage suit under the Sherman Anti-Trust law." In 1916 the convention renewed this advice, adding: "Any injunction based upon the dictum that 'labor is property' should be wholly and absolutely treated as an usurpation and disregarded, let the consequences be what they may." In 1907 Judge Dayton, of West Virginia, issued an injunction restraining the union miners from even asking employees of the Hitchman Coal and Coke Company to organize. An appeal was taken to the Circuit Court of Appeals and the decision was reversed. The Supreme Court refused to sustain the Court of Appeals and the defendants were cited to show cause why they should not be punished for contempt. Later the case was withdrawn.

The greatest legislative victory secured by Labor during the year 1914 was the enactment of the labor sections of the Clayton Anti-Trust Act. It secured to the workers of America those fundamental principles of industrial liberty included in the chief features of the "Bill of Grievances" and the objectives of the political policy the American Lederation of Labor inaugurated in 1906. It grants the right to strike, to picket and to urge others to refuse to work for or patronize or to employ any party to such dispute. Any one cited for violating an injunction in a contempt case can demand a jury trial. President Wilson said of the act a few days after he had signed it:

"Incidentally, justice has been done the laborer. His labor is no longer to be treated as if it were merely an inanimate object of commerce disconnected from the fortunes and happiness of a living human being to be dealt with as an object of sale and barter. But that, great as it is, is hardly more than the natural and inevitable corrollary of a law whose object is individual freedom and initiative as against any kind of private domination."

The Federation always has declared children should be educated and has demanded compulsory education laws and the teaching of the science of government in the public schools. The policy of taking children out of orphan asylums and transporting them to other states to work in mines and workshops was condemned as detrimental to their moral and physical well being. In 1903 the convention declared:

"We can be engaged in no more praiseworthy work than to save the children, to protect their lives from the exploitation of avaricious employers, to gain for them not only the right to live, but the right and opportunity of education, of light and sunshine, and of play that they may grow physically and mentally and expand morally."

Compulsory education was advocated at the first convention. This principle was advanced:

"We recognize education of the people is the fundamental principle on which the success of every proposed plan of social reform depends. Therefore we favor legislatures enacting laws compelling parents to send their children to school."