and as a result of their weight of opinion the Trade Disputes Act was passed.

The Trade Disputes Act of 1906.27 The Act of 1906 removed the liability of trade-unions for the acts of their members, treated civil conspiracy as criminal conspiracy had been treated previously (that is, removed it as a threat against union action), removed the threat of damage suits for inducing breach of contract during employer-employee disputes, and, finally, legalized peaceful picketing. Apparently this statute was so drawn as to prevent the nullification of its provisions by the courts, for no cases were subsequently decided in defiance of the spirit of its expressed objectives.

27 6 Edw. VII, Chap. 47.

CHAPTER 2

American Development

The development of American industrial relations bears a close resemblance in some respects to that of England. The common law of the states is based upon that of England. The doctrines of restraint of trade and conspiracy, the court injunction, and other legal devices used so widely in labor cases also go back to the English law. Just as the weight of precedent in cases decided in one state often affects decisions in other states, so has the weight of precedent in contemporary English cases often influenced the American scene. Consequently it has been considered necessary to overlap in point of time the material in Chapters 1 and 2.

Industrial Relations during the Colonial Era. It was the policy of England to prohibit any activity that might compete with English manufacturers. Nevertheless, a small amount of manufacturing managed to exist in America by supplying local needs and through smuggling activities. Gradually, as a result of this development, a small corps of industrial workers, as opposed to domestic artisans, came into being. By 1770 the population of the American colonies was close to 2,500,000, and the only classes which had attained power and wealth comparable with their English counterparts were the shipowners and merchants.

The American handicraft stage did not include the development of guilds as they were known in England, although it is possible that a few such did exist here. More prevalent, however, were "near-guild" organizations of master craftsmen (many included journeymen) which agreed upon wage scales, benefits of various kinds, and rules excluding nonmembers from employment in the trade. Some writers have seen in the occasional "strikes" of these organizations the signs of undeniable kinship with modern trade-unions. However, a fundamental difference exists. The first American labor strike is said to have occurred in New York in 1741 when the bakers went out. This so-called strike, however, actually was a boycott of the public by master bakers in protest against the regulation by the municipal government of bread prices. A bona fide strike

did occur in Philadelphia in 1786 when printers "turned out" against their employers for higher wages ($6 a week). The second strike on record is that of the Philadelphia house carpenters, who struck in 1791 for the ten-hour day.1

Early Employee Organization. Although American laborers, as a class, were better off than their English brothers, their living standards were low. No change could be observed in their condition as a result of the Revolutionary War. They worked from sunrise to sunset, and the pay of unskilled workers was 40 cents a day, wages which earned for them a bare subsistence. Carpenters received about 52 cents a day; blacksmiths, 70 cents; and boat builders, 90 cents. After 1800, however, westward expansion and the increase in foreign commerce forced wages of common labor up to from 80 to 90 cents a day, with skilled workers getting correspondingly more.

During the first few decades of the nineteenth century, workers were paid irregularly; and if they were not paid they had no recourse, for they could not secure a lien on the products on which they had worked. To make matters worse, they could be thrown into jail for indebtedness and kept there until the debt and "board and room" charges to the jail had been paid. The first mechanics' lien law was passed by the New York legislature in 1830; and as for imprisonment for debt, the practice gradually was abolished after about 1825.

The printers had an organization in 1786 and the cordwainers (shoemakers) in 1792. These organizations existed both in New York and Philadelphia. A union of shipwrights was organized in 1803, a union of carpenters in 1806, and a union of typesetters prior to 1817, all in New York City.

Although the factory system of production had been introduced by 1800, there still was not a clear-cut distinction between employers and employees with respect to income and social status. Employers often worked beside their employees, who generally were known as journeymen. A system of apprenticeship was widely used, but the beginner learned his trade apart from any desire to gain entry to a guild. He was free to become an employer at any time if he had the necessary ability and capital.

1 See John R. Commons and Associates, History of Labor in the United States, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1936, p. 25; S. Perlman, A History of Trade Unionism in the United States, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1922, p. 4; and Norman Ware, Labor in Modern Industrial Society, D. C. Heath and Company, Boston, 1935, p. 27.

2 For an excellent account of nineteenth-century unionism see Harry A. Millis and Royal E. Montgomery, Organized Labor, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York, 1945, Chap. II.

During the first two decades of the nineteenth century, there were relatively few disputes between employers and employees. It is true there was a flourishing labor movement, but it existed among the handicraft artisans. The unions' fights were in most instances the employers' fights, also: protesting the merchant-capitalist system, long hours, low wages, low prices, paper money, public employment, factory legislation, competition of women, and competition of prison-made goods; and demanding freedom of the public lands from the hands of speculators.

Early Industrial-relations Cases. Although it is known that striking sailors were dispersed and their leader sent to jail in New York City in 1803, the first law case involving industrial relations concerning which full records exist was decided in the Mayor's Court of Philadelphia in 1806. This case grew out of a series of lockouts and strikes in the shoemaking industry of that city. The journeyman cordwainers were indicted for conspiracy to raise wages. The judge applied the English commonlaw concept that combinations of workers to raise wages constituted criminal conspiracy. In a similar case arising in New York City in 1810,* also involving cordwainers, the judge instructed the jury in the words: "The common law of England must be deemed to be applicable"; and the employees were held to be guilty of conspiracy. By 1815 the principle was becoming well established, for in the Pittsburgh Cordwainers' case 5 striking shoemakers were again convicted of conspiracy. In the second and third cases, strikes were condemned as illegal.

Union Organization prior to the Civil War. The first known coordinated movement of several trades in the United States culminated in the formation in 1827 of the Philadelphia Mechanics' Union of Trade Associations. Out of this "city-central" union grew the first (May, 1828) labor party in the modern world, the Workingmen's Labor Party of Philadelphia. In 1831 a labor organization which was partly political and partly economic in nature developed in New England. This organization, called the New England Association of Farmers, Mechanics, and Other Workmen, was dedicated to the "redress of the wrongs of the producing class by resort to the ballot.” Although this organization never attained much strength, its influence was of great importance in eventually breaking down the narrow craft consciousness which was prevalent at that time. Its life was comparatively short, for it faded away after 1834, due largely to the fact that the older political parties espoused many of the laborparty proposals. From 1834 until the panic of 1837, unionism was pre

3 Philadelphia Cordwainers' Case, John R. Commons and Eugene A. Gilmore, Documentary History of American Industrial Society, Vol. III, Labor Conspiracy Cases, 1806-1842, The Arthur H. Clark Co., Cleveland, 1910, pp. 59-248.

4 People v. Melvin, 2 Wheeler C.C. (N.Y.) 262 (1810).

5 Commons and Gilmore, op. cit., Vol. IV, p. 15.

• Millis and Montgomery, op. cit., pp. 28–29.

occupied with rising prices, and their activities had a modern appearance. Unionism expanded rapidly, and many benevolent societies changed to trade societies. In 1836 there were fifty-eight trade-unions in Philadelphia, fifty-two in New York, sixteen in Newark, fourteen in Cincinnati, thirteen in Pittsburgh, and seven in Louisville. The chief objectives of these unions were higher wages, the ten-hour day, union control of apprenticeship, and the closed shop."

In 1834 the National Trades' Union was organized. This was the first attempt to federate all local unions, nationals, and city centrals. It was largely through the influence of this federation that the ten-hour day for government employees was established (1840), although this organization, along with most other unions, was wiped out in the panic of 1837. After the panic and until about 1850, employees concerned themselves with producers' and consumers' cooperatives. Then, just before the Civil War, the modern trade-union movement began to emerge. New unions were formed for the purpose of improving conditions within given trades. They stayed away from broad social reform, particularly political activity. Their weapons were strikes, picketing, and boycotting. Their main purpose was to establish minimum wages for their own trades and to enforce them by means of the closed shop. They engaged in collective bargaining and signed collective agreements covering wages, hours, and conditions. This was done at first on a local basis. Then, in 1852, printers' locals were pulled together to form the National Typographical Union; in 1854 the Hat Finishers were organized on a national scale; in 1856 the United Cigar Makers' Union and the National Protective Association were formed; and in 1859 the Iron Molders and the Machinists and Blacksmiths were organized.s

Early Employers' Associations. Since the days of the merchant and craft guilds, employers have banded together to protect their mutual interests. The merchant guilds emphasized civic betterment as does the modern chamber of commerce, while the craft guilds regulated and assisted those within a given industry as does the modern trade association. Although employers' and trade associations still exist on the local level, they are effectively organized as well along regional and national lines. Trade associations have many activities, such as industry-wide advertising, reduction of competition among members, pricing, development of uniform accounting methods, financing research, and lobbying for more favorable legislation. Employers' associations are concerned with employer-union relationships. It was this concern which chiefly motivated the organization of employers early in the nineteenth century. 7 Ibid., pp. 29-31.

8 Ibid., p. 45. See also Perlman, op. cit., pp. 40-41; and Commons and Associates, op. cit., pp. 536-547.