PART II.

NATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN THE
UNITED STATES.

CHAPTER I.

EARLY GENERAL LABOR ORGANIZATIONS.

National Labor Union.-On August 20, 1866, a meeting was held at Baltimore by several representatives of organized labor, at which a general organization was formed, to be known as the National Labor Union. No formal platform was adopted, but several resolutions were passed indicating the desire of the delegates for particular reforms. One of these resolutions was as follows: "That the first and grand desideratum of the hour, in order to deliver the labor of the country from this thraldom, is the enactment of a law whereby 8 hours shall be made to constitute a day's work in every State of the American Ünion.” Other resolutions recommended cooperation; urged the support of newspapers devoted to the interests of the industrial masses; pledged the support of the members to the "sewing women and daughters of toil;" expressed a desire for the reform of the evils of tenement houses; declared that the public lands should be disposed of only to actual settlers; recommended the organization of all workmen into unions of their trades, and the association of those who had no trades into general labor unions; advocated a more rigid enforcement of the apprenticeship system to prevent filling shops with "botch mechanics:" and recommended the establishment of workmen's lyceums and reading rooms. The committee on strikes reported as its "deliberate opinion that, as a rule, they are productive of great injury to the laboring classes; that many have been injudicious and ill advised and the result of impulse rather than of principle and reason; that those who have been the fiercest in advocacy, have been the first to advocate submission." On these grounds the committee recommended that "they be discountenanced, except as a last resort and after all means of effecting an amicable settlement have been exhausted." The committee also recommended that each trade organization appoint an arbitration committee for the settlement of all disputes between employer and employed, "by the early 'adoption of which means we believe the majority of the ill-advised so-called strikes would have been prevented." The report of the committee gave rise to a long discussion, but the convention adopted it.

While the National Labor Union was formed by trade unionists, the idea of a general union of workingmen does not seem to have appealed to trade unionists in general. The National Labor Union met again in 1867, at Chicago, but it was found that no considerable progress had been made. Perhaps no considerable progress could, in any case, have been expected, since the Baltimore convention had made no provision for the raising of a revenue for organizing purposes. This lack of practical effort was not remedied. A third convention was held in August, 1868, at New York. The existence of the organization had, by this time, been considerably advertised, and the organization had obtained a certain importance in the public mind from the probability that it might undertake to make itself the nucleus of a new political party. In June, 1868, Congress had passed a law making 8 hours a day's work for all laborers, workmen, and mechanics employed by or on behalf of the Government of the United States. The National Labor Union had carried on a certain agitation to this end, and it claimed the 8-hour law as the result of its efforts. This success probably increased the apparent importance of the organization.

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A formal platform was adopted by the convention of 1868. It devoted the greatest attention to the money question. Some of its utterances on this point are as follows: "The law enacting the so-called national banking system is a delegation by Congress of the sovereign power to make money and regulate its power to a class of irresponsible banking associations, thereby giving to them the power to control the value of all the property in the nation, and to fix the rewards of labor in every department of industry. This monopoly is the parent of all monopolies, the very parent and root of slavery. The platform affirmed that the securing of the natural rights of labor, the giving to the wealth-producing class of the time and means necessary for social enjoyments, intellectual culture, and moral improvement, and the compelling" of the nonproducing classes to earn a liv ing by honest industry," were to be "effected by the issue of Treasury notes made a legal tender in the payment of all debts, public and private, and convertible, at the option of the holder, into Government bonds, bearing a just rate of interest, sufficiently below the rate of increase in the national wealth by natural production, to make an equitable distribution of the products of labor between nonproducing capital and labor, reserving to Congress the right to alter the same when, in their judgment, the public interest would be promoted thereby; giving the Government creditor the right to take lawful money or the interest-bearing bonds, at his election, with the privilege to the holder to reconvert the bonds into money or the money into bonds at pleasure." Another resolution declared for a system of general organization in which each branch of industry should organize itself in its own way, subject only to such restraint as might be necessary to bring the action of each into harmony with the rest. Support was again pledged "to the sewing women and daughters of toil." Cooperative stores and workshops were recommended. It was demanded that "the labor performed by convicts shall be that which shall least conflict with honest industry outside of the prison, and that the wares manufactured by convicts shall not be put upon the market at less than the common market rates." It was declared that "the experience of the past has proved that vice, pauperism, and crime are the inevitable attendants of the overcrowded and ill-ventilated dwellings of the poor." The formation of mechanics'institutes, lyceums, and reading rooms was recommended. Workingmen out of employment were advised to become settlers upon public land. It was declared that "where a workingman is found capable and available for office, the preference should invariably be given to such persons.

The year 1868, in which this platform was adopted, was the year of the greatest importance of the National Labor Union. Its convention at Cincinnati in 1869 showed a marked decline, and an insignificant meeting at St. Louis in 1870 barely called attention to its death.

Some additional resolutions were adopted at Cincinnati and St. Louis. them were the following:

Among

"Resolved, That the claim of the bondholders for payment of it (gold for that class of indebtedness known as 5-20 bonds, and the principal of which is legally and equitably payable in lawful money) is dishonest and extortionate; and hence we enter our solemn protest against any departure from the original contract, by funding the debt in long bonds, or in any increase of the gold-bearing and untaxed obligations of the Government.'

That the protection of life, liberty, and property are the three cardinal principles of government, and the first two more sacred than the latter; therefore money necessary for prosecuting wars should, as it is required, be assessed and collected from the wealth of the country, and not be entailed as a burden on posterity." "That we view with apprehension the tendency to military domination in the Federal Government: that standing armies are dangerous to the liberties of the people; that they entail heavy and unnecessary burdens on the productive industries, and should be reduced to the lowest standard.”

Other resolutions called for the establishment of a Department of Labor at Washington; opposed "the importation of servile races," by which the Chinese were meant; and declared that women were entitled to equal pay with men for equal services.

The Industrial Brotherhood. The presidents of the Machinists and Blacksmiths' Union, the Coopers International Union, and the Molders' International Union issued a call in 1872 for an informal meeting of the presidents of the national and international trades organizations of America, in Cleveland, Ohio, on the 19th of November, 1872, for the purpose of taking the initiative steps looking to the formation of an industrial congress of North America, to be composed of bona fide representatives of bona fide organizations." When the 19th of November came, two of the three signers of the call appeared, and no one else. The effort was renewed, however, and a larger convention was got together in Cleveland on July 15, 1873. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers was the only labor organization which pro

nounced against the movement. The convention sat for several days, elected officers, and adjourned to meet at Rochester, N. Y., on April 14, 1874. At that time and place a constitution was adopted under the title of the Industrial Brotherhood. A preamble or declaration of principles of 18 items was put out. The preamble which was adopted several years later by the Knights of Labor, and which is summarized on page 5, was copied almost word for word from this preamble of the Industrial Brotherhood. The brotherhood demanded a monthly pay day for corporations, and the Knights in their platform made it weekly. Four resolutions of the brotherhood were not repeated by the Knights. They related to the organization of a system of public markets to facilitate the exchange of productions of farmers and mechanics, tending to do away with middlemen and speculators; to the inauguration of cheap transportation to facilitate the exchange of commodities; to Chinese immigration; and to “the enactment and enforcement of equitable apprentice laws." Only one new demand was added by the Knights; that for the prohibition of the employment of children under 14 in workshops. mines, and factories.

Though somewhat elaborate preparations were made for the extension of the organization, though deputies were appointed for 31 States to organize local lodges, the Industrial Brotherhood had not vitality enough even to hold a second convention. Its programme seems to have contemplated the organization of the members of the several trades into separate though allied bodies; but Mr. Powderly attributes the death of the brotherhood to the dislike of trade unionists for the idea of unity with men outside their own trades, and in particular with common laborers.

CHAPTER II.

THE KNIGHTS OF LABOR.

History. In December, 1869, the local union of garment cutters in Philadelphia, after a period of dissension following several years of successful life, resolved to dissolve and divide its funds. Several of the leaders had for some time been preparing for this event and elaborating the plan of a new organization. They and a few of their associates whom they called in began at once to put their plans into effect. On December 28, 1869, the name of the Knights of Labor was adopted, and also a further local name of the body, the Garment Cutters Assembly. This is the statement of Mr. Powderly, and seems to imply that the notion of an allembracing organization had already arisen. Yet Mr. Powderly says in another place that "the idea of extending the benefits of the organization to others than the garment cutters was first introduced at a meeting of the assembly on July 28, 1870." On January 6, 1870, the first regular officers were elected. According to Mr. Powderly, they bore at that time the same titles which the local officers of the Knights bear still-venerable sage, master workman, worthy foreman, worthy inspector, unknown knight, etc.

The very existence of the new society was shrouded in the deepest mystery. On July 14, 1870, the following motion was debated and voted down: "To allow members to disclose to such persons as they wished to propose the existence of this order." On August 11, 1870, it was resolved “that a member of this assembly have the privilege to reveal his membership in this organization to those he desires to obtain for members: provided always, however, that he does not reveal the name or names of any other person or persons who are members of this organization, according to the terms of the obligation." For several years it was forbidden to speak the name of the organization anywhere or at any time above a whisper. The name was represented in all documents by a line of stars, usually five.

On October 20, 1870. the first person not a garment cutter was proposed as a "sojourner" in the assembly. The idea was to initiate good men of all callings and allow them the benefit of the association on the same footing with the garment cutters, except in deciding trade matters. These sojourners were to be missionaries in their own crafts. When enough had been secured in any one trade, they were to form a new assembly of their own.

At the end of the first year 70 men had been initiated into the order. On July 18, 1872, Assembly No. 2, composed of ship carpenters and calkers, was organized. Assembly No. 3, shawl weavers, was organized on December 21, 1872; No. 4, carpet weavers, a little later; No. 5, riggers, was founded on March 27, 1873, and

No. 6, carpet weavers, at Kensington soon after. Before the end of 1873 more than 80 assemblies were in operation.

When 5 assemblies had been formed, a joint committee was established, consisting of three members from each. In the fall of 1873 this machinery seemed insufficient. Assembly No. 1 appointed a committee of progress, consisting of 5 members, and asked each of the other assemblies to do the same. When the joint committee met, they thought it advisable to form a permanent central organization. They accordingly established a district assembly. It was organized on Christmas Day, 1873. On October 14, 1874, District Assembly No. 2 was organized in Camden, N. J. District Assembly or "D. A." No. 3 was founded on August 8, 1875, at Pittsburg. From this second center the order spread with very great rapidity. D. A. No. 1, at Philadelphia, was the recognized head of the order, but D. A. No. 3 sent out so many branches that a feeling of jealousy arose between it and D. A. No. 1. Not only assemblies, but even district assemblies, were established by the authority of D. A. No. 3 without consultation with D. A. No. 1, and were in some cases given duplicates of the numbers that No. 1 had given to other assemblies and district assemblies.

The use of the letters D. A." for district assembly and "A." for assembly was at first a part of the mystery which was made to surround all the proceedings of the Knights. Mr. Powderly says: "In order to save space in writing and to keep the names of the separate organizations as secret as possible, even among members, it was decided that the assembly should be known as the A.,' while the district assembly should be known as the D. A.'"1

No effort was made to establish a national head for the Knights of Labor until 1875. In that year discussion arose among the members as to the difficulties which the extreme secrecy of the organization placed in the way of getting new members. This discussion led to the issue of a call by D. A. No. 1 for a national convention, to be held at Philadelphia on July 3, 1876. The convention met and adopted a constitution, which gave to the national body the name of National Labor League of North America. The ordinary official titles of president, vice-president, treasurer, and secretary were adopted for the national officers. Supreme authority, between conventions, was to be vested in an executive committee of five. It was resolved that members in good standing be assessed 5 cents a year for the support of the central body. It was voted to hold another convention in July, 1877. Though the call for the convention had originated in the discussion of the proposal to publish the name of the order, no action looking to that end was taken.

D. A. No. 3, of Pittsburg, had not favored the holding of this convention. With the concurrence of the assemblies west of the Alleghenies, it called another national convention at an earlier date than that to which the Philadelphia meeting had adjourned. A meeting was held in Pittsburg in May, 1877, in pursuance of this call, and a rival national constitution was established.

The disjointed character of the organization up to this time is indicated by Mr. Powderly's statement that "no notice of the Philadelphia convention had been given to the Scranton assembly in 1876, and although a large and powerful district assembly flourished in the Lackawanna and Wyoming valleys when the Pittsburg conference was called, the officers of that district were not notified until the proceedings of the conference were mailed to them by the corresponding officer of D. A. No. 3, who had by the merest accident learned of the existence of the Scranton district." This looseness and lack of mutual knowledge seems to have resulted, in great part, from the extreme secrecy which surrounded all the operations of the order. After much correspondence between members in various parts of the country, the secretary of the Pittsburg D. A. furnished the addresses of such districts as he had organized to the secretary of D. A. No. 1, at Philadelphia, and a circular was issued, under the authority of the Philadelphia body, to all local bodies whose addresses could be obtained, calling a new convention to be held in Reading, Pa., on January 1, 1878, for the purpose of forming a central assembly, and also for the creating of a central resistance fund, a bureau of statistics, providing revenue for the work of the organization, establishment of an official register, giving the number, place of meeting of each assembly, etc." The subject of making the name public was also mentioned.

The convention met and adopted for itself the title of General Assembly of the Knights of Labor of North America. At this meeting the name local assembly was first adopted for the local bodies. The titles of the national officers were formed by prefixing the word "grand" to the titles already in use for the local officers-grand master workman, etc. Under the influence of Mr. T. V. Powderly and Mr. Robert Schilling a preamble was adopted, which was copied chiefly from

1 Thirty Years of Labor, pp. 164, 180-184, 187-193.

the constitution of the Industrial Brotherhood of 1874. The objects proposed in this preamble are "to bring within the folds of organization every department of productive industry, making knowledge a standpoint for action, and industrial and moral worth, not wealth, the true standard of national greatness;" "to secure to the toilers a proper share of the wealth they create," and "all those rights and privileges necessary to make them capable of enjoying, appreciating, defending, and perpetuating the blessings of good government:" the establishment of bureaus of labor statistics; cooperation; the reserving of public lands for actual settlers; the removal of legal technicalities, delays, and discriminations, and the abrogation of laws which do not bear equally upon capital and labor; provision for the health and safety of those engaged in mining, manufacturing, and building pursuits; a compulsory weekly pay day for corporations, with payment in lawful money; a first lien for mechanics and laborers on the product of their work; abolition of the contract system on public works; "the substitution of arbitration for strikes, whenever and wherever employers and employees are willing to meet on equitable grounds:" prohibition of the employment of children under 14 in workshops, mines, and factories: abolition of the letting out of the labor of convicts by contract; equal pay to both sexes for equal work; the eight-hour day; legal-tender paper money, issued without the intervention of banks.

A revenue was provided for as follows: For each charter to a D. A. or L. A., $5; for each traveling, transfer, or final card, 10 cents; and a per capita tax of 14 cents a quarter. The salary of the grand master workman was fixed at $200 a year, that of the grand secretary at $800, and that of the grand treasurer at $50.

The first grand officers were: Grand master workman, U. S. Stephens; grand worthy foreman, Ralph Beaumont; grand secretary, Charles H. Litchman; grand assistant secretary, John G. Laing.

The adoption of a seal was left to the grand master workman and the grand secretary. The principal devices of the seals of the order are an equilateral triangle within a circle to designate a local assembly, a pentagon to designate a district assembly, and a hexagon to represent a State assembly. The "great seal of Knighthood" embraces all these designs; around the inner edge of the circle, outside the hexagon, runs the motto of the order, "That is the most perfect government in which an injury to one is the concern of all," and from the circumference of the circle radiate the points of a 5-pointed star.

The extreme secrecy which surrounded the order in its early days was defended on the ground that open and public associations of workingmen had proved to be failures, and that if the society worked openly its members would be exposed to the suspicion and dislike of their employers. This mystery doubtless contributed to the antipathy and dread with which the order seems to have been regarded, particularly in regions which had recently had sad experiences with secret societies. The days of the Molly McGuires in Pennsylvania were scarcely over. Those who had seen the Molly McGuires only from the outside, and only at their worst, naturally supposed that a new secret organization among workingmen was likely to develop a similar character. Those who believed that the detectives who had gained admission to the Molly McGuires had instigated many of their crimes and had sworn away the lives of innocent men were suspicious, on their side, of a new order surrounded with mystery. The name of the Knights of Labor seems to have been permitted to leak out in the coal regions under the influence of these remembrances of the Molly McGuires. It seemed best to call a special session of the General Assembly on June 6, 1878, for the purpose of discussing the expediency "of making the name of the order public for the purpose of defending it from the fierce assaults and defamations made upon it by the press, clergy, and corporate capital." In the call for this special session the name of the order was still represented. as had been the custom, by a line of 5 stars. The question of the publication of the name was referred back to the local assemblies. The popular vote was not decisive. The second regular General Assembly, without decreeing a general abolition of secrecy, voted to allow such local bodies as wished to work openly to do so. Some assemblies began to work openly under this authorization.

The second regular session of the General Assembly met at St. Louis on January 14, 1879. Only 23 representatives were present, although 26 district assemblies were in existence.

The third regular session met at Chicago on September 2, 1879. In the interval four new district assemblies had been organized. Grand Master Workman Stephens was unable, by reason of ill health, to attend this convention or further fill his office. Mr. T. V. Powderly was elected in his place. The salary of the grand master workman was continued at $400 a year and that of the grand secretary at $800.

A resolution was introduced to provide that working women might become members and form assemblies under the same conditions as men. It received a majority vote, but not the two-thirds necessary for amending the constitution.