assessments upon their members, and inflict fines and other forms of discipline. Hardly any restriction is placed upon the power to collect local assessments, except that in a few cases it is forbidden to raise them to support strikes unauthorized by the national officers. In the matter of discipline there is usually an appeal to the national authorities, and a few unions forbid the imposition of a fine above a certain amount without the approval of the national executive board. In ordinary cases, however, in most organizations, the local unions do what is right in their own eyes.

LOCAL UNIONS-ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT.

The local labor union is as democratic in its government as it is possible for any assembly of men to be. Indeed, it is hard to conceive of any government but a pure democracy under such conditions. The members are within easy reach of one another. They meet always once a month, often twice a month, sometimes weekly. If any question of special importance arises, a special gathering is easily arranged for. The members stand on a footing of substantial equality in trade affairs. All gain their support by daily work at the common occupation. There is no opportunity for specialization of governmental and executive skill by the setting apart of individuals to governmental activities. The tendency of the local unions is to minimize such specialization, even below the limit that circumstances might make possible. Officers are usually elected once in 6 months, and there is a strong tendency to maintain a rotation in office.

The democratic tendency of the unions has been intensified by experience. Labor leaders, both of the smaller and of the larger sort, have accepted political positions which have seemed to come to them by reason of their prominence in labor circles, and others have taken positions with employers, and so have seemed to go directly over to the ranks of the enemy. In all such cases a suspicion is likely to arise that the union has been "sold out." Without doubt this suspicion is, in many cases, perhaps in most cases, unjust; but, just or unjust, it has had a large weight in determining the policy and methods of the organizations. There is so strong a fear of oneman power that the action of the organizations is weakened by it. Even minor committees are often chosen by vote of the body rather than by appointment of the chairman. The born leader of men will always lead, whether his sphere of activity is the labor organization, the combination of capitalists, or the political arena. But, so far as forms of organization and methods of action go, the local labor union is the extreme type of a democratic assembly.

The local union offers only one position in which a somewhat high degree of specialized executive ability may sometimes be developed. That is the position of the business agent, or, as he used to be called, the walking delegate. But even he is usually elected for 6 months only, and, while he may be reelected, and may even hold the place for several terms, it is not the general disposition of the unions to make his position permanent. The business agent is the representative of the union in dealing with employers, to get redress of grievances, and to see that union rules are kept; in finding work for unemployed members; in maintaining the fidelity of members and collecting their dues, and in the gaining of recruits from among nonunion men of the trade. The office of business agent exists in only a minority of locals. A local must have considerable strength before it can afford the expense, and in many trades the need is hardly felt. The office plays an especially large part in the building trades.

In his capacity of employment agent for the union the business agent is able, if he is not quite upright, to serve his special friends, and so to make it worth while for members who are or may be out of jobs to consult his desires. As the representative of the union in dealing with employers, he is able to bring the organization, without the previous consent of the members, into positions from which it can not easily retreat. In some unions he has power to order strikes. Even when this

power is not formally granted, his advice to quit work will often produce the same effect. On the other hand, the business agent may sometimes take it upon himself to make agreements with employers on behalf of the union. The union is likely to repudiate such agreements if they do not meet its views; but the employers blame the union in such cases, and consider that it has violated its obligations.

So long as he holds his place, therefore, the business agent has a large power for good or evil. The living of his fellow-members depends upon his wisdom and his honesty. But they realize it, and they watch him with the eyes of a jealous master. If they come to believe that he is either rash or foolish or dishonest his authority will be quickly ended.

The other chief officers of the local union, and those which are everywhere to be found, are such as necessarily arise in any society. There is a president, usually called by that title, but sometimes by some other, such as master. There is a secretary, or more commonly two or three secretaries; perhaps a recording secretary, a corresponding secretary, and a financial secretary. The financial secretary, where he exists, collects the dues of the members. Perhaps he keeps the funds and makes disbursements ordered by the union. Perhaps there is a separate treasurer, to whom the financial secretary turns over his collections. Sometimes there is an executive committee, which has general supervision, subject to the action of the body as a whole, of union affairs; but this is somewhat unusual. In general, every question, from the ordering of a strike to the buying of an account book, is decided by vote of the members in full meeting.

The local officers, except business agents, are not expected to devote regular working time to the affairs of the union, and their pay, when they receive any, is small. Business agents often receive the regular rate of wages of their trade, though the rate is sometimes fixed a little higher.

Every labor organization, national or local, large or small, has regularly an engraved seal, with which every document which it sends out, including the commonest official letters, is authenticated. Nowhere else, outside of formal legal proceedings, does the use of the seal maintain so large a place in our modern life. The use of it is expected as a matter of course by union officers, and they sometimes refuse to consider complaints and propositions from which, presumably by oversight, the seal has been omitted.

NATIONAL UNIONS-ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT.

The pure and simple democratic constitution of a local union is, of course, impracticable, at least in its primitive form, in the national organizations. Some use is almost necessarily made of the representative principle. The original formation of the national union and the original shaping of its constitution could hardly be effected otherwise than by a representative convention; and periodical conventions are provided for in most of the written constitutions. The majority of the unions hold them annually; less hold them once in 2 years; still less once in 3 or 4 years. The Cigar Makers have lengthened the period to 5 years. But a considerable number of unions make the holding of conventions dependent in one way or another upon a popular vote. Some provide that a convention shall be held at given intervals unless the members decide otherwise, either by a simple majority or by a greater preponderance of opinion, such as two-thirds. Others have enacted that at a fixed period before the regular time of the convention the question shall be sent out from headquarters to every local, "Shall a convention be held this year?" Others provide no fixed time at all for conventions. The Stone Cutters, for instance, do not mention the subject in their written constitution, and they have held no convention since 1894. The German-American Typographia has held none since 1884, and the Granite Cutters have held none since

1880.

The tendency to hold conventions at longer intervals or to do without them altogether seems, on the whole, to be increasing. There seems to be a reversion toward a pure democratic government, in which all important decisions shall be made by popular vote. Even in the unions which hold frequent conventions, it is usual to submit important questions to the membership at large. In about half the unions constitutional amendments do not become valid except by vote of the members, though in some of them the amendments must be proposed by the convention. In about a quarter more an amendment acquires validity when it is approved either by the convention or by popular vote. In the rest amendments can be made by the convention only.

It is common to allow proposals of any kind, including amendments to the constitution, to be made otherwise than by the convention, and passed on by the membership at large. The executive board has usually power to submit to popular vote any proposition which it thinks desirable. Very often the local unions have the same power. In that case it is often provided that the motion of one local must be seconded by five or ten or more other locals before the general vote can be demanded. Questions relating to the sanctioning of strikes are sometimes submitted to popular vote. So, often, are proposals for special taxation, for the support of strikes or for other purposes.

In the English unions Mr. and Mrs. Webb discern a movement away from pure democracy, in the sense of government by direct vote of the members. They say:

The great federal organizations of cotton operatives and coal miners stand out from among the other trade unions in respect of the completeness and success with which they have adopted representative institutions. But it is easy to trace a like tendency throughout the whole trade-union world. We have already commented on the innovation, now almost universal, of intrusting the task of revising rules to a specially elected committee. It was at first taken for granted that the work of such a revising committee was limited to putting into proper form the amendments proposed by the branches themselves, and sometimes to choosing between them. Though it is still usual for the revised rules to be formally ratified by a vote of the members, the revising committees have been given an ever wider discretion, until in most unions they are nowadays in practice free to make changes according to their own judgment. But it is in the constitution of the central executive that the trend toward representative institutions is most remarkable, the old expedient of the "governing branch" being superseded by an executive committee representative of the whole body of the members.1

Mr. and Mrs. Webb also say that the use of the referendum has greatly diminished, and that the initiative, in the form of proposals of change by the locals, has been almost abandoned.

The English unions are here conceived as starting from pure democracy and moving gradually toward representative government. It may be doubted whether the device of the "governing branch" should be regarded as a step on this road. Control by a governing branch, if it can be regarded as a form of representative government, is a very imperfect form of it; but its divergence from the characteristics of representative government is not in the direction of democracy.

The representative convention seems to have been the primary historical form of the government of national trade unions in the United States. The introduction of pure democracy, through the initiative and the referendum, seems, upon the whole, to be a feature of their growth and development. This can not be asserted as a universal rule. The great railroad brotherhoods have no provision for a popular vote of their members. In them, no legislative proposition can be carried except at their annual or biennial conventions, and the acts of the conventions are not subject to reversal or review by the membership at large. But in such typical organizations as the Cigar Makers, the International Typographical Union, the Stone Cutters, and the

1 Sidney and Beatrice Webb, Industrial Democracy, p. 46.

This device, somewhat modified, is illustrated in this country by the Granite Cutters, the Carriage and Wagon Workers, and the Wood Carvers. See pp. 146, 203, 210, below.

Brotherhood of Carpenters, all constitutional amendments are submitted to popular vote; and the Cigar Makers, the Boot and Shoe Workers, the Tailors, the Bakers, and many others use the referendum in electing their officers. The initiative exists in full vigor, both in its application to legislative proposals, and, where officers are elected by popular vote, in nominations.

The convention is always composed of delegates elected by the locals. The national officers, or at least the chief of them, usually have seats in it. The president presides over it and the national secretary keeps its minutes. But, excepting in a few unions, the national officers have no votes unless they are regularly elected delegates of their locals.

A few unions give their locals power in their conventions as nearly as possible in proportion to their membership; that is, a local is allowed one delegate for each 25 or 50 or 100 members. In the majority of unions, however, the smaller locals have a disproportionate power. Sometimes, in addition to the representation based on membership, each local has an additional representative for the body as such. This gives a distribution of power analogous to that among our States in the election of the President. Oftener, however, the unit of representation is frankly varied with the size of the locals, to the disadvantage of the larger. Thus in the Brotherhood of Carpenters a local which has 100 members or less in good standing is entitled to one delegate; one which has more than 100 members and less than 500, to 2 delegates; more than 500 and less than 1,000, 3 delegates; 1,000 or more, 4 delegates. The Team Drivers do not allow more than two votes to any local, no matter how large. The Leather Workers on Horse Goods and the Upholsterers give each local only one vote. In some cases, however, while the number of delegates is restricted, either to save expense or to keep the body down to a convenient size, the delegates of the larger locals are allowed an increased number of votes. Thus the Machinists allow only one delegate to each local, but each delegate casts a vote for each 25 members that he represents.

It is often required that a local, to be represented at the convention, must have been organized and affiliated with the national body for some fixed period, usually not more than a month or two. It must also have paid its debts to the national treasury, either up to the time of the convention or to within some short period before it. A member, to be eligible as a delegate, is usually required to have been a member of the local which elects him, in good standing, for a fixed time-often 6 months; sometimes a year; sometimes as little as 3 months. This requirement is necessarily waived if the local has been organized within the specified time. Some unions require that delegates be actually employed at their trade, unless they are employed as union officers.

In most unions the duties of the delegates are confined to the convention; but in a few they act as corresponding secretaries throughout the period between conventions, and are required to make the regular reports, and, in some cases, the remittances, to the national officers. The Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers has this system.

The tendency of the stronger and more highly organized unions seems to be to put the burden of conventions, including the traveling expenses, wages, and hotel bills of delegates, upon the treasuries of the national organizations. This is also done by many of the smaller and newer unions. In many cases, however, the expenses of delegates are borne by the locals. Sometimes the national treasury pays the cost of transportation, and the locals pay the other expenses. This makes it equally feasible for all locals, wherever they are, to send delegates.

The executive head of a national union is usually called the president. Occasionally he is called grand master, or, in the railroad brotherhoods, grand chief engineer, grand chief conductor, etc. In the larger organizations in which the office exists he is a salaried officer, giving his whole time to the organization. In many of the smaller

unions he works regularly at his trade, and receives no pay from the union beyond repayment of expenses he may incur and wages for time that he may lose in union work. His wages are then reckoned either at the rate which he earns at his trade, or, more commonly, at a somewhat higher rate fixed by the organization. The duties of secretary and treasurer are combined in the majority of national unions, and the officer who performs them is called the secretary-treasurer. The secretarytreasurer is usually the first officer who, in the growth of a particular organization, comes to be employed by it for his whole time and at a regular salary; but in the weaker organizations even he has to work at his trade. There are a few cases, of which the Cigar Makers and the Street Railway Employees are the most important, in which the president performs the duties of secretary and treasurer. There are a few other cases, of which the Brewery Workmen are a type, in which the office of president does not exist, but executive control rests altogether in a board.

In every national union there is an executive board or executive council, in whose hands the direction of the affairs of the body rests, subject to the supreme authority of the convention or of the popular vote. In most cases the principal officers of the organization-the president, the vice-presidents, and the secretary-treasurer, or the secretary and the treasurer-are members of it by virtue of their offices. Other members, specially elected, are sometimes added, but not always. In many cases there are a considerable number of vice-presidents, three or five or six, whose membership in the executive council is their principal or their only function. The American Federation of Labor furnishes an extreme instance. Its six vice-presidents have no right of succession to the presidency. It might be said that they are elected for no other purpose than to serve on the executive council; though this service involves a large amount of individual activity in behalf of the affiliated unions.

In most cases the members of the executive council are widely scattered, and of necessity the greater part of their debates are carried on and the greater part of their votes are given by mail. Various devices have been hit on to avoid this inconvenience. In the Brewery Workmen executive power is lodged in a council of 13. Seven must live at the headquarters, and the remaining 6 in other places. The decisions of the council are made in the first place by the resident 7; but they are not binding until the nonresident 6 have sent in their votes, and until it appears that a majority of the whole have voted yea. A few unions provide that the members of the council must all be elected, by the convention or by referendum, from locals within some short distance of a center, which has been chosen, usually on account of its importance as a center of the trade, for the national headquarters. In other cases, as the Tailors, the Carriage Workers, and the Wood Carvers, a place is periodically chosen for the headquarters by the convention or by vote of the members, and the unions within that place or within a short distance of it have power to choose the council from among their own members. This government of the whole body by representatives of a single branch constitutes a reversion to a type which is historically earlier than government by the direct representatives of the whole, though it has never prevailed widely in America. Among the English unions the first step beyond a loose alliance of separate local clubs was the appointment of a seat of government or "governing branch." The local union where the seat of government was placed managed the current affairs of the whole, and its officers served as general officers. The participation of all was secured, not continuously, but by rotation, through periodical removals of the seat of government.1

In a considerable number of cases the unions which hold regular conventions elect their officers by vote of the delegates. Many of them, however, including some of the most important, refer the election of officers to the membership at large. This is necessarily done in those unions which hold few conventions or none. It requires

1 Sidney and Beatrice Webb, Industrial Democracy, p. 17.