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NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL

OF

INDUSTRIAL AND LABOR

RELATIONS

AT

CORNELL UNIVERSITY

Cornell University
Library

The original of tliis bool< is in
tine Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.

http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 924001 84321 2

THE LABOR MOVEMENT
IN AMERICA

^h^^

The J^abor Movement
in America^

BY

RICHARD T. ELY, Ph.D., LL.D.

•• •

PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL ECONOMY AND DIRECTOR OF THE SCHOOL

OF ECONOMICS, POLITICAL SCIENCE, AND HISTORY

IN THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN

NEW EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd.
1 90s

All rights reserved

COPYKIGHT,,, l8S6,

By THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO.

Copyright, 1905,
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY.

First published elsewhere. Revised edition published
June, 1905.

Wottonot) 3Jrea8

J. S; CnsWng & Co. — Berwick & Smith Co.

Norwood, Ma&B., U.S.A.

PREFATORY NOTE FOR THE MACMILLAN
COMPANY'S REPRINT OF "THE LABOR
MOVEMENT IN AMERICA."

The present work was published in 1886, and, although
since the appearance of the first edition some new matter
has been added in the form of an appendix, the body of the
book has never undergone revision. Nevertheless there has
been a continuous demand for it. While the author is prob-
ably more painfully aware of its defects than any one else
can be, the book has its friends who are good enough to say
pleasant things about it and to express the opinion that it
should be brought down to date by a thorough revision.
This revision must necessarily take some time on account
of the largeness of the field to be covered. In the mean-
time the Macmillan Company have undertaken to supply
the demand for the book by the present reprint.

RICHARD T. ELY.

Madison, Wisconsin,
April IS, 1905.

Property of
MARTIN P. CATHERWOOD LIBRARY

NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL
RIAL AND LABOR RELATIONS

Cornell University

PREFACE,

THE importance of those phases of American life with which
the present worlc deals, is no longer likely to be called
in question. The labor movement treats of the struggle of the
masses for existence, and this phrase is acquiring new meaning
in our own times. A marvellous war is now being waged in the
heart of modern civilization. Millions are engaged in it. The
welfare of humanity depends on its issue.

I do not claim to have written a history of the labor move-
ment in America. I offer this book merely as a sketch, which
will, I trust, some day be followed by a work worthy of the title,
" History of Labor in the New World." In the meantime, I
shall be abundantly satisfied if this more modest effort accom-
plishes two chief purposes which I have set before me as a goal.
The one is to show that the material furnished to the historian
by the movements of the laboring classes in America is interest-
ing, instructive, and withal not devoid of the pathetic and pic-
turesque. The other is to convince my readers of the vastnsss
of our present opportunities. While America is young and our
institutions and even our habits of thought are as yet plastic to
an unusual degree, we have advantages which are not likely to
recur in a near future. It is still in our power permanently
to avoid many of the evils under which older countries suffer,
if we will but take to heart the lessons of past experience, and
seriously endeavor to profit by the mistakes of others ; and
surely this is wiser than to repeat their folly. The present
crisis in our history is a time when either optimism or pessi-
mism is easy ; but both are dangerous. The potentialities for
good or for evil are grand beyond precedent, and it rests with

vi PREFACE.

the living to say what the future shall be. There is enough that
is alarming to excite us to vigorous action ; there is enough that
is promising to encourage our best efforts with the brightest
hopes.

1 have endeavored in this book to present an accurate record
of facts, to ascertain which I have spared no trouble. Boolcs,
pamphlets, and newspapers have been carefully collected for
years, and several thousand miles have been travelled with this
in view. Nevertheless, in a field so new and so immense, it is
but natural to suppose that I must occasionally have fallen into
errors both of omission and commission, and I shall regard it as
a favor if any friendly reader will point these out to me. I shall
also be under obligations to any one who — for possible use in a
future edition — will send me any labor literature, such as con-
stitutions, by-laws, and annual proceedings, of labor organiza-
tions, newspapers, pamphlets, etc. The first phases of the
labor movement in this country are obscure, and I should be
particularly obliged for any of the earlier publications relating
to it, as well as for any oral or written communications bear-
ing thereon.

The aim of the present work 4s chiefly presentation rather than
refutation, although it will be noticed that I do not entirely ab-
stain from criticism. I do, however, presuppose that my reader
is gifted with ordinary common sense, and will not be pleased
by childish criticism such as must occur to every schoolboy.
Criticism of this kind, thrust into the midst of the presentation
of some theoretical system or historical narrative, has often an-
noyed me in works on social topics, and I have purposely
avoided it. I further assume that the readers of the following
pages are of moral natures sufficiently elevated to understand
that we ought not to lie, murder, and blow up cities with dyna-
mite, to accomplish our ends. I do not think it necessary to
tell them this. I do not think it incumbent upon me to say on
every page, that I am so far from sympathizing with schemes for
destruction, that I regard them as damnable.

While I have endeavored first to understand the American
labor movement, and then to present a description of it in such

PREFACE. vii

manner that others may likewise understand it, letting the parties
concerned speak for themselves as far as possible, it must be re-
membered that I have concerned myself chiefly with the main
current of a great stream, and have not been able to find room
for a treatment of many separate lesser currents of social life ;
consequently when I express approval of the labor movement, I
do not approve everything connected with it.

Much that is done in the name of labor, I regard with abhor-
rence. In the same way should the reader understand my ad-
miration for the Knights of Labor. I believe it is a grand so-
ciety, but I dissent from some of its principles, and from its
course in some localities. Individual knights and individual as-
semblies, have been guilty of outrageous conduct with reference
to their employers, the general public, and their fellow-working-
men. Their deeds have sadly injured the cause of labor. Fi-
nally, while I believe that the Knights of Labor represent an
organization of a higher type than the trades-union, I do not
believe that the latter can yet be dispensed with. The two
forms of organization should co-operate ; but co-operation ought
to be sought by lawful and kindly measures, and not by such
abominable methods as I fear have been adopted in a few
cases.

" I presume you have felt, as have I, the sting of criticism and
censure — of misrepresentation because discussing this topic of
socialism at all." These are words written to me in a letter re-
cently received, by a friend who is professor of political economy
in a Western university. They indicate at once a difficulty in the
way of the economist. The topics he discusses are so vital, that
any presentation of them is bound to be misconstrued in some
quarter. Nevertheless, there seems to be only one course for an
honest man, which is to say his word and patiently endure mis-
understanding and even malicious abuse. Yet the wilful false-
hood with which one's character and motives are assailed, when
one attempts to treat social topics truthfully, are sometimes hard
to bear, and at times one feels inclined to reply to some malig-
nant critic, as Charles Kingsley did once when his honest soul
was vexed beyond measure : —

Viii PREFACE.

" If you say these things, — mentiris impudenitssime.'''' On tb«
other hand, frank and honest discussion of diiferences of opinioa
can only benefit all parties concerned.

I regard this as a most conservative work, for I behave that
error in our social life derives its chief strength from its ad-
mixture with truth, and that the larger the proportion of truth,
the greater the danger of the error. The thought which has ani-
mated me, has been to separate the two, and to encourage people
to render error comparatively harmless by a full and complete
recognition of truth.

My thanks are due to many'people for kind assistance in the
preparation of this work. Professor A. S. BoUes, Mr. Joseph
Labadie, and Mr. E. S. Mcintosh kindly lent me valuable pam-
phlets. Officers of nearly all of the organizations of which I treat
in this book have been most courteous in their endeavors to aid me
in the presentation of an accurate and impartial account of their
respective societies. My thanks are also due many business men,
including some of the leading manufacturers of the United States,
for information readily imparted, and for their generous encour-
agement, which has been a valuable stimulus to me' in my task.
One of the pleasantest features connected with the preparation ot
this work is the personal kindness received from so many men of
all occupations, and of the most widely separated social positions,
in various parts of the countpy ; and without any mention of names,
for which space is too limited, I beg them each and all to receive
this expression of my gratitude.

Several chapters of this work first appeared in a series of arti-
cles in the Christian Union two years ago. These articles have
been used freely both by pulpit and press, sometimes with gener-
ous recognition of the source of information, perhaps oftener
without mention either of their author or the Christian Union.
A year later they were revised, enlarged, and published, under
the title, " Recent American Socialism," in the Johns Hopkins
University Studies in Historical and Political Science. Chapter I.,
"Survey of the Field," and Chapter VII., "Co-operation in
America," appeared first in the Congregationalist, of Boston. A
few paragraphs appeared first in the Andover Review, and one

PREFACE.

U

or two sentences are quoted — with acknowledgment— from an
Article of mine which recently appeared in ^'& North American
Review.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER 1.
Survey of the Field I

CHAPTER H.
Early American Communism y

CHAPTER HI.

The Growth and Present Condition of Labor Organi-
zations IN America 34

CHAPTER IV.
The Economic Value of Labor Organizations. .... 92

CHAPTER V.
The Educational Value of Labor Organizations . , . 120

CHAPTER VI.
Other Aspects of Labor Organizations 141

CHAPTER VIL
Co-operation in America 167

CHAPTER VIII.
The Beginnings of Modern Socialism in America . . . 209

CHAPTER IX.
The Internationalists 231

XVl CONTENTS.

CHAPTER X.
The Propaganda of Deed and the Educational Campaign, 254

CHAPTER XI.
The Socialistic Labok Party 269

CHAPTER XII.

The Strength of Revolutionary Socialism — Its Signifi-
cance 277

CHAPTER XIII.
Remedies 295

APPENDIX I.

I. Platform OF Principles OF the National Labor Union, 333
II. Pledge and Preamble of the Journeymen Brick-
layers' Association of Philadelphia 341

III. Declaration of Principles and Objects of the Cigar

Makers' Progressive Union of America .... 342

IV. Extracts from the Constitution of the National

Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel

Workers of the United States 345

V. Manifesto of the International Working Peoples'

Association 358

VI. Letter to Tramps, reprinted from the "Alarm" of

Chicago 364

VII. Platform and Present Demands of the Socialistic

Labor Party 366

VIII. Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1886, by an

American Socialist 3yo

APPENDIX II.

The Relation of Temperance Reform to the Labor Move-
ment 3ye

THE LABOR MOVEMENT
IN AMERICA

THE

LABOR MOVEMENT IN AMERICA.

CHAPTER I.
SURVEY OF THE FIELD.

THE great forces of nature are invisible and work below
the surface of things, and that which is most real is
the unseen. He who would understand nature must go
behind the veil of illusions, under which she conceals
herself from the unwelcome gaze of the careless and
indifferent.

The student of social science iinds himself at the outset
in a similar position. He also speedily discovers "that
things which are seen were not made of things which do
appear," and no better illustration of this can be afforded
than that offered us by the history of the labor movement in
America. Investigation soon reveals in this movement one
of the chief social forces working among us, yet it is quite
unknown in its operations to the ordinary man or woman
outside of the laboring classes, while the vast majority of
those who in their own persons bear forward the movement
have but a glimmering apprehension of its true import.

We read of the marvels of past eras, but the number is
small indeed who realize that no previous age was more
eventful in the life of economic and industrial society than
that in which we are now living. To-day we are the specta-

2 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

tors of a most marvellous act in the great world-drama. Yet
it is necessary to add at once that we are in the position of
those who seeing see not, or see but dimly. On the one
hand, attention has not been sufficiently directed to the
phenomena of the unparalleled social movement in which we
live ; on the other, it is difficult for us who are in it and of
it to secure a vantage-ground from which to get large views.
In his life of Cobden, Morley says : " Great economic and
social forces flow with a tidal sweep over communities that
are only half conscious of that which is befalling them."
Such is the epoch in which we find ourselves.

Great as are the difficulties in the way, it is nevertheless
possible to ascertain something of the social movement
of which we form a part. Last summer I spent some time
with the Shakers, and when with them, separated as I was
from the ordinary life of mankind and talking with my good
friends about the world movements of this century, the feel-
ing grew upon me that I was in a social observatory, viewing
as from another planet the buying and seUing, the hurrying
to and fro, the marrying and the giving in marriage, the toil,
the pleasure, the vanity, the oppression, the good and the
evil among men on earth ; and I noticed afterward in a letter
from one of the Shakers the expression, " Our social watch-
tower." But even without such a social observatory, one
may step aside and note what the other actors are doing on
the great stage of social life; and records — obscure and
imperfect, to be sure, still valuable records — of the past have
been preserved. It is not then a fruitless task to endeavor
to mark off the distance travelled, to ascertain the direction
of present motion, and to get an approximate idea of the
speed with which we are moving.

What is the labor movement? This question brings us to
the heart of things. We do not concern ourselves now with

SURVEY OF THE FIELD. 3

accessories, important as they may be ; but we desire to
know the ultimate significance of the mighty social forces
which are beginning to shake the earth. The labor move-
ment, then, in its broadest terms, is the effort of men to live
the life of men. It is the systematic, organized struggle of
the masses to attain primarily more leisure and larger econo-
mic resources ; but that is not by any means all, because the
end and purpose of it all is a richer existence for the toilers,
and that with respect to mind, soul, and body. Half con-
scious though it may be, the labor movement is a force
pushing on towards the attainment of the purpose of hu-
manity ; in other words, the end of the true growth of man-
kind ; namely, the fuU and harmonious development in each
individual of all human faculties — the faculties of working,
perceiving, knowing, loving — the development, in short, of
whatever capabilities of good there may be in us. And this
development of human powers in the individual is not to be
entirely for self, but it is to be for the sake of their benefi-
cent use in the service of one's fellows in a Christian civiliza-
tion. It is for self and for others ; it is the realization of
the ethical aim expressed in that command which contains
the secret of all true progress, " Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself." It is directed against oppression in every form,
because oppression carries with it the idea that persons or
classes live not to fulfil a destiny of their own, but primarily
and chiefly for the sake of the welfare of other persons or
classes. The true significance of the labor movement, on
the contrary, lies in this : it is an attempt to bring to pass
the idea of human development which has animated sages,
prophets, and poets of all ages ; the idea that a time must
come when warfare of all kinds shall cease, and when a
peaceful organization of society shall find a place within its
f!rg,nj9yvpr]t for the best growth of each personality, and shall

4 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

abolish all servitude, in which one " but subserves another's
gain."

The labor movement represents mankind as it is repre-
sented by no other manifestation of the life of the nations of
the earth, because the vast majority of the race are laborers.

Embracing, then, all modem lands, and in our own country
extending from the shores of the Atlantic to the waters of
the Pacific, and from the sources of the Mississippi to the
Gulf of Mexico, it is but natural that it should assume a
great variety of forms ; nor should it excite surprise to
discover attempts to divert the movement from its true path
into destructive byways. False guides are ever found com-
bating the true leaders, and there is backward motion as
well as advance. But frequent whirlpools and innumerable
eddies do not prevent the onward flow of the mighty stream !

Socialism, communism, co-operation, trades-unions and
labor societies, mutual benefit organizations of one kind
and another, also, alas ! anarchy and nihilism, are different
lines along which are directed the efforts of the masses
to attain improved conditions and relations in industrial
society.

A radical difference separates these schemes into two
general classes. ©Some of them accept the fundamental
positions of our existing order. They ask no thorough-
going reconstruction of our economic institutions, but con-
template the continuance of such far-reaching existing facts
as private property in land with its rent, private property
in capital with its profits, the system of freedom of contract
and the division of men into two classes in economic
society ; namely, employers and employees. Schemes of this
first order imply, even when they do not explicitly avow,
that without considerable change in fundamental principles
it is possible for the laboring masses to abolish the most

SURVEY OF THE FIELD. S

grievous evils under which they suffer, and to effect such
amelioration in their condition as may be rationally contem-
plated either in the present or in any near future. This is
essentially the position of the trades-unions and of the
ordinary labor organizations ; yet there is a difference.

A conservative trades-unionist of the old school would
very likely affirm that natural laws set fixed bounds to
improvement which rendered illusory all hopes of anything
beyond what efforts directed along this line could accom-
plish. The more modern and more radical trades-unionist,
like the members of the Cigar Makers' Progressive Union
of America, of the Journeymen Bakers' National Union, and
of the International Furniture Workers' Union, holds to old
methods, it is true, but only for the present, and in the pres-
ent largely as a means of education, rather than for what
can be directly attained by them. This idea is forcibly
expressed in the following quotation from the Declaration
of Principles of the Federative Union of Metal Workers
of America : " The entire abolition of the present system of
society can alone emancipate the workers, being replaced
by a new system based upon co-operative organization of
production in a free society. . . . Our organization should
be a school to educate its members for the new conditions
of society when the workers will regulate their own affairs."

The more modern trades-unionist, while working along
old lines, is then looking forward to something far more
radical, — something which, as regards ultimate aims, places
him among those who hold to social schemes of the second
class.

The practical plans and speculations of this class are built
up on the hypothesis that existing social, economic, and
legal institutions do not admit the possibility of satisfactory
living, but render the robbery of the many by the few

O THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

something so inevitable that the few themselves could
scarcely prevent it, even if they all, without dissenting voice,
wished to do so. But this is not all, for this is only the
dark side of the picture. Pessimists as to the present, the
adherents of these views are optimists as to the future, for it
is assumed that it is possible for men to introduce new
foundation principles into society which will remedy this
unhappy condition of things ; which will indeed banish it
forever from the earth. This is the position of socialism,
which holds that justice in the distribution of the good
things of Ufe is to be attained in common and systematic
production in a re-created state, where men shall receive
the means of enjoyment in proportion to the service they
have rendered to society. Communism presupposes a like
transformation, but seeks justice in equality ; while anarch-
ism would abolish all existing compulsory institutions, and
would let men freely build such social structures as inclina-
tion and uncontrolled desire might prompt.

Co-operation occupies a place midway between these two
positions taken by the old trades-unions and socialism
respectively. It begins within the framework of present
industrial society, but proposes to transform it gradually and
peacefully, but completely, by abolishing a distinct capitalist
class of employers, the leading class at present in that
society, comprising those who are not inappropriately called
captains of industry. Co-operation does not desire funda-
mental change of law, for it hopes by means of voluntary
associations to unite labor and capital in the same hands —
the hands of the actual workers. Repudiating State help, it
proudly adopts as its device, self-help.

CHAPTER II.

EARLY AMERICAN COMMUNISM.

THE practical character of the American is a matter of
common report and a cause of national pride. The
citizen of the New World is not content with mere specula-
tion ; his nature craves action, and nowhere else does practice
follow so closely upon theory. This trait shows itself in social
movements as well as elsewhere. Young as is America, she
has already furnished a field for the trial of a large number
of romantic ideals of a socialistic nature, and promises ere
long to outstrip all that has been accomplished by all other
nations in all past time in the way of social experimentation.
Confining ourselves for the present to attempts to realize
various forms of socialism and communism, the mind natur-
ally reverts to the " oldest American charter," under which
the first English settlement was made on American soil. One
condition stipulated by King James was a common storehouse
into which products were to be poured, and from which they
were to be distributed according to the needs of the colo-
nists, and this was the industrial Constitution under which
the first inhabitants of Jamestown lived for five years,^ dur-
ing which the idlers gave so much trouble that the old
soldier. Captain John Smith, was forced to declare in vigor-
ous language, and with threats not to be misunderstood, that
" he that will not work shall not eat." " Dream no longer,"
continued Smith, " of this vain hope from Powhatan, or that

1 Cooke's "Virginia," Chap. III. The date of the charter is 1606.

8 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

I will longer forbear to force you from your idleness
or punish you if you rail. I protest by that God that
made me, since necessity hath no power to force you to
gather for yourselves, you shall not only gather for your-
selves, but for those that are sick. They shall not starve."*

The first Pilgrims who emigrated to New England were
bound by a somewhat similar arrangement which they had
entered into with London merchants, but the issue of
the experiment was not more successful, and it was partially
abandoned ; not wholly, for a great deal of land was long
after held in common, and, indeed, to-day, there are small
parcels of this land still common property.^ As is well
known, the Boston common is but a survival of early com-
munism, as in fact its very name indicates.

It must be acknowledged that comparatively little impor-
tance attaches to either of these experiments. The James-
town communism seems never to have been regarded as
anything more than a temporary makeshift, and the similar
arrangement in New England was of a like nature. There
exist to-day in America far larger and more important
communistic societies living in peace and great comfort,
even in wealth. As far as the common lands are concerned,
they are part of a large system of early landholding which
still survives to greater or less extent both in America and
Europe. It is further worthy of notice in this connection
that before the white man invaded America only common
property in land prevailed. The American Indians held
their hunting-grounds in common ; at most, there was a tribal
right of usufruct, founded on possession and maintained
by arms. Even at the present day it is seriously doubted

1 Cooke, I.e., p. 54.

2 H. B. Adams, " Germanic Origin of New England Towns," Studies
I. No. 2, p. 33.

EARLY AMERICAN COMMUNISM. 9

whether surviving Indians are ripe for the institution of pri-
vate property in land, as it is understood by us ; and some
such restriction as that of inaUenabiUty is urged in case land
is given to them in severalty.

A more serious endeavor to introduce what may be called
village communison, was made in the latter part of the
eighteenth century. " Mother " Ann Lee, with a few
followers, came to this country Aom England, in 1774, in
obedience to heavenly visions, in order that they might lead
a life in accordance with their convictions. They were
originally Quakers, but were called " Shaking Quakers " on
account of their movements of the body in their religious
exercises ; finally they dropped the designation Quaker, as
the difference between them and the society of Friends
became more marked, and took the name which had been
conferred in ridicule.

The Shakers settled at Watervliet, near Albany, in 1776,
and taught celibacy and the doctrine of non-resistance.
Their idea of the sinfulness of war brought them into trouble,
as our War of the Revolution was then in progress. " Some
designing men," says one of their number, "accused them of
being unfriendly to the patriotic cause, from the fact of their
bearing a testimony against war in general." They were
brought before the Commissioners of Albany, and ordered to
take the oath of allegiance, but this they could not do, for
swearing was contrary to their faith. Several of them, among
whom was Ann Lee, were cast into prison.

It is scarcely necessary to add that the charge was quite
groundless. Mother Ann had prophesied before her emi-
gration that the American colonies would become free
and independent, and to this day the Shakers retain
a peculiar affection for America, holding that in this republic
alone can their experiments succeed at present.

10 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

Mother Ann Lee taught the duties of love and universal
beneficence, as well as the obligation to abstain from oaths,
war, and marriage, but did not establish the communistic
order. Her temporal economy was summed up in these
words : " You must be prudent and saving of every good
thing that God blesses you with, that you may have to give
to the needy. You could not make either a kernel of grain
or a spear of grass grow, if you knew you must die for the
want of it.

" The Gospel is the greatest treasure that souls can possess.
Be faithful; put your hands to work and your hearts to
God. Beware of covetousness, which is as the sin of witch-
craft. If you have anything to spare, give it to the poor." *

Mother Ann, however, foretold that her successor, Joseph
Meacham, once a Baptist minister, would establish the com-
munity of goods after her death. She died in 1784, and
three years later the order of communism was established
among this people and has been retained ever since. The
year 1787 is then the time when communism of this kind
was first established in America, and the first community
was located at Mt. Lebanon, Columbia County, New York
which is still the home of the strongest Shaker settlement.

The Shakers live in groups or families with common
production and equal enjoyment of whatever is produced,
and their order of life might be called group communism as
well as village communism, to distinguish it from the
larger national organization of communistic hfe which is the
ideal of the more modem communists. This communism
is a part of their religious Hfe, and flows naturally from it.
It must be regarded as a kind of Christian communism, and
is stated by them in these words : —

iSee "Ann Lee, the Founder of the Shakers," etc., by F. W.
Evans, p. 146.

EARLY AMERICAN COMMUNISM. 11

" The bond of union which unites all Shakers is spiritual
and religious, hence unselfish. All are equal before God
and one another ; and, as in the institution of the primitive
Christian Church, all share one interest in spiritual and
temporal blessings, according to individual needs ; no rich,
no poor. The strong bear the infirmities of the weak, and
all are sustained, promoting each other in Christian fellow-
ship, as one family of brethren and sisters in Christ." '

These simple people fail to see how those who profess to
be followers of Christ can tolerate luxury and poverty side
by side among brothers and sisters, for this does not seem
to them compatible with Christian love.

Perhaps their ideas on this point cannot be better pre-
sented than by a quotation from an article written by one pi
the elders of the society at Watervliet, New York, and pub-
lished in the "Shaker and Shakeress " in November, 1874.
The article is entitled " Serious Questions of the Hour,"
and in the form of a catechism gives the views of the
Shakers on war, property, and marriage. The part about
property and communism is headed "Selfishness," and
reads as follows : " Does Christianity admit of private prop-
erty? It does not; never did. Do Christian churches
permit distinctions of dress, diet, or other comforts, among
the members ? Never. Are there any rich or poor Chris-
tians ? None whatever. Why are there so many rich, and
particularly why are there so many poor, in the so-called
Christian churches of to-day? Because such churches are
not Christian. Can these be brethren and sisters of Christ
while faring so unequally ? Never. Why are there no rich
nor poor in Christ's church? The formerly rich ' lay down '
their plenty ; the formerly poor do likewise with their pov-
1 Quoted from " American Communities," by Wm. Alfred Hinds,
Oneida, N. Y., 1878.

12 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

erty, and hence share equally. Who, then, are the rich and
poor? The children of ^resurrection, who will give up
neither their riches nor poverty for the Gospel's sake. Who
amass fortunes and hve in palatial residences? Unfeeling
men and women, erroneously termed Christians, who are
careless of how many are made correspondingly poor.
. . . What wonderful phenomena accompany conver-
sions to Christianity? ^«>z« becomes Ours! Riches and
poverty, with their miseries, disappear."

The number of the Shakers soon began to increase, and
large accessions were " gathered in " during revivals in the
East, West, and South, and before the close of the century
societies were established in New York, Massachusetts,
Ohio, Kentucky, and elsewhere. They have now seventeen
societies and about seventy communities,' as a society may
include several " families," or communities. The largest
society, at Mt. Lebanon, comprises nearly four hundred
souls, and it is there that Elder Frederick W. Evans, the
best known of the Shakers, resides. Their numbers have
declined in recent years, but they claim, aU told, still some
four thousand members, while their property is of great
value. They like to say little about property and numbers,
as they have small respect for the "statistical fiend" so
common among us, and feel that a numerical table cannot
properly measure either their success or their influence.
One who has been some time with them, estimates their
property at twelve milUons of dollars at least.

Economically, the Shakers have been a complete success,
and it is said that there has never been a failure among
them. They look forward to the future with hope, believing
that their history has just begun. Some of them lament

^ The number exceeded seventy at one time. It is probably con-
siderably below that now.

EARLY AMERICAN COMMUNISM. 13

their large possessions as contrary to their principles ; for
they believe in land-reform, or the doctrine that man has the
right of usufruct in land only, the right of possession but
not the right of property ; in the second place, they abhor
the whole hireling system which their great property forces
upon them. But they expect large accessions in the future.
They hold their gates open to the elect from all parts of
the world, and they keep their property in trust for future
Shakers.

This order of communism is, then, thoroughly alive and is
seeking converts. It sends out tracts and newspapers and
scatters abroad its invitations to the sons and daughters
of men to retire from the world and to lead a higher,
celibate or virgin life, free from all worldly anxieties. At
the same time, it must always be borne in mind that the
Shakers do not expect ever to draw the entire world into their
communities, nor do they regard the communistic order as
suitable for the " generative " outside world. It is the life
for the choice spirits among men, who have outgrown the
natural tendencies of their animal nature and desire, an
existence in which angelic possibilities are materialized on
earth. Communism is the order for those who neither
marry nor are given in marriage. To such the Shaker
family is the single centre of all interests and affections,
while the introduction of the ordinary family would bring
in, so they think, separate centres of force and action, which
would destroy the unity of their life. They hold, however,
that socialism may be adapted to the world at large.

The Shakers are the most successful, and it may at the
same time be said the most promising, example of commu-
nism in the United States, and as such deserve special con-
sideration. It is certain that the outside world has much
to learn from those pure, simple people, whose self-sacrificing

14 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

life exercises such a charm over the thoughtful who come in
contact with them.

One of the first things to attract attention is the peacefui-
ness of their countenance, which reminds one of Christ's
words, "Peace I leave with you ; my peace I give unto you."
Howells, who has passed some time with them, describes
them in his "Undiscovered Country," and speaks of their
"placidity" as well as "their truth, charity, and purity of
life, and that scarcely less lovable quaintness to which no
realism could do perfect justice " ; and there seems to be no
reason to doubt the assertion of one of Howell's characters,
"They're what they seem; that's their great ambition."^

The writer observed this same peace at the village of
Economy, which will be mentioned presently. Why, it may
be asked, is this peace, which ought to characterize all
Christians, found among these communists and not gener-
ally among church-members? It is possible that freedom
from all worldly care and from the anxieties of riches and
poverty has something to do with this. It is possible that
it is because these people have found in Christianity not
merely a creed but an order of Kfe. They take up their
cross and endeavor to apply their Christian principles to
all relations of life. But it is well to say something about
the other communistic settlements in America before at-
tempting to characterize the Shakers more accurately, as
some things are common to them and other communists.

Early in this century another body of communists came
to the United States from Germany to escape religious per-
secution. They are called Harmonists, and after a period
of migration, settled at Economy, near Pittsburgh, Pennsyl-
vania, where they now reside. Their first leader, George

1 See also his sketch of Shirley in his "Three Villages." Boston
1884.

EARLY AMERICAN COMMUNISM. 15

Rapp, a man of great ability and extraordinary force of
character, commanded their confidence, and governed the
community with such prudence and foresight as to lay the
foundations of their present wealth, which is estimated at
various sums, ranging from ten to forty millions of dollars.
The former figure appears to be a rational estimate. They
have, then, undoubtedly been successful in the accumulation
of property, but their numbers have declined. At one time
Economy was inhabited by a thousand Harmonists ; but at
present their membership does not exceed forty. They re-
ceived their last accessions seven years ago, and nearly all of
them are now old men and women. It is evident that the
order will soon cease to exist, unless they decide to add to
their roll of members. Originally they married, but, becom-
ing convinced many years ago that celibacy was a higher form
of life, they have since then lived together as brothers and
sisters. Their communism is a part of their religion, and to
them, indeed, it appears like an essential part of Christianity.

The Germans have also established other communities, as
at Zoar, Tuscarawas County, Ohio, and at Amana, in Iowa,
in both of which marriage is allowed. With the exceptions
of the Shaker communities these are the two strongest com-
munistic societies in the United States.

Zoar was founded in 1817 by Separatists, a religious sect
of Wiirtemberg, who rebelled against the formalities of the
established religion because they did not seem to them to
make people better. They also objected to war, and con-
sequently could not serve in the army. Persecuted on
account of their peculiarities, they fled to America, and, with
the assistance of Quakers of Philadelphia, who were doubt-
less drawn to them by similarity of belief, they acquired the
large tract of land, on which they now live. The commu-
nistic order was an afterthought, and was established in

16 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

1819 in order to save the property of all, as the members
did not seem able to stand alone, many of them not being
able to pay for their separate holdings. They continued to
thrive many years under the leadership of Joseph Baumeler,
who died in 1853, and their prosperity has continued
unabated since his day, though no one has ever attained the
same esteem and the same position in leadership. They
now own several thousand acres of land, besides manufac-
turing establishments, and all their property is valued at about
a million and a half of dollars. They number some three
hundred and ninety souls at present, so that the per capita
wealth is about 1^5,000, while in the whole United States it is
estimated to be under |i 1,000. They live in families, labor
diligently, but do not overwork, have, one common fund,
and get whatever they need without money and without
price. They are religious, but do not appear to be so
devout as the Harmonists or Shakers, the latter of whom,
indeed, believe in a Hfe of total exemption from sin.

The membership of the Amana community, or communi-
ties, for there are seven of them, is much larger. This
society embraces about eighteen hundred members, and
owns upwards of twenty-five thousand acres of land. The
Amana community originated in Germany sixty-six years
ago, and established the order of commtmism near Buffalo in
1842, whence they emigrated to Iowa in 1855, They
furnish the most remarkable example of communism in
-conjunction with the institution of marriage and the family
to be found in this country, but the religious Ufe with them
is also primary, and money-making only a secondary object.

The French have established a remarkable community,
called Icaria, in which they have attempted to realize the
pure non-religious communism of Cabet, the author of
the charming communistic romance, "Voyage en Icarie."

EARLY AMERICAN COMMUNISM. 17

The Icarians came to America in 1848, and were under the
personal direction of Cabet for several years, during which
they achieved a remarkable degree of prosperity. Their
eventful and picturesque history, perhaps the most interest-
ing and instructive chapter in the annals of this early Ameri-
can communism, is narrated in Dr. Shaw's admirable book,
" Icaria." ^ The work " Icaria," at once pathetic and
romantic, gives us such an insight into the nature of the
earlier phases of communism in America, as- is afforded by
no other pubUcation, and to it the reader is referred for
further information in regard to this subject.

Not one of these communities was established by Ameri-
cans. The Shakers are now composed, it is probable,
chiefly of Americans, but the others are still perhaps foreign
in character. But native-born citizens have also founded
communities, and of them the most prosperous was that of
the Perfectionists, at Oneida, New York, whose builder was
John Humphrey Noyes, son of a member of Congress.
The family of Mr. Noyes is one of the best in the country.
The former minister to France, who bore the same name,
was a distant relative. His mother was a Miss Hayes, and
he himself was first cousin to ex-President Hayes. Mr.
Noyes was a well-educated man, having studied at Dart-
mouth and Yale Colleges and at Andover Theological
Seminary. He was a man of fine natural ability, with great
powers as a leader. This community was remarkable for
the number of college-bred men it contained. There were
several graduates firom Yale among them, and at least one
graduate from Columbia College of New York.

Several peculiarities of the Oneida Perfectionists are cal-
culated to attract attention. They believed in freedom firom
sin, though m this they did not differ from members of
1 New York, 1884.

18 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

other communities, in particular the Shakers. One of their
most remarkable institutions was called " Mutual Criticism,"
which proved so useful to them that they declared it im-
possible to establish successful communism without it. With-
out entering into a lengthy description of its details, it may
be said that the members met together at regular intervals
for criticism of members to their face. This was designed
to take the place of gossip and backbiting in ordinary
society and to utilize the force which was thus wasted. It
is said that it was sufficient for discipHnary purposes, that it
led the members to improve themselves in mind, soul, and
body, and rendered every member more agreeable to every
other member. It was even introduced in their school, and
worked successfully, as I was told, by their schoolmaster.
If Master Johnny made some cruel remark, the teacher
would perhaps ask one of his mates what he thought. " I
don't think it was very kind of Johnny to say that." Then
as the young man was under criticism, another would be
asked, "What do you think of Johnny? " when a reply like
this might be received : " I don't think he is very poHte to
the girls. He teases them too much." And as one after
another of his little mates expresses an opinion. Master
Johnny blushes and hangs his head in shame and mortifica-
tion, but for many days thereafter he is a model boy. The
powers attributed to mutual criticism were marvellous, and
included even the ability to heal disease when administered
to the sick.

But another peculiarity of the Perfectionists was their free-
love practices within the community itself. They regarded
the community as one great family, and attempted to repress
any exclusive affections within their order. They held that
a person can love many persons at the same time as well as
at different times, and regarded exclusiveness in person as

EARLY AMERICAN COMMUNISM. 19

sinful for them as in property. Diligent students of Darwin,
Huxley, and other scientists, they attempted to apply their
principles in raising men.^ All this was so repugnant to the
moral sense of the people of New York State that it brought
upon them the constant ill will of the public, and finally
threats of legislative interference and suppression by law.
Mr. Noyes found it expedient to fly to Canada, where he
died, April 13, 1886. These loose practices were abandoned
in 1879 ; at any rate, in that year all those who chose were
allowed to marry, and in 1881 the society became an ordi-
nary joint-stock concern, and so terminated this communistic
experiment ; though many of the old members still remain
attached to their former principles and believe in their ulti-
mate triumph. Economically, the Perfectionists also suc-
ceeded. At the time the joint-stock corporation was formed
they were over two hundred strong, and their property was
valued at ;J)6oo,ooo. Their credit has been, and as a corpo-
ration is still, the best. They pursued a diversified industry,
and have been successful as agriculturists, manufacturers, and
packers of fruit, meats, etc. They attribute their financial
prosperity largely to the fact of the variety of their enter-
prises, because if one did not prosper, another would. Their
old establishment — a beautiful place, with handsome grounds
and fine buildings — is still maintained, as well as a large
silver-plating establishment and other smaller concerns at
Niagara. They claim that they were not sensual, but exer-
cised self-control, and point to their success in business as
a proof of their assertions. Odious as their practices must

1 It is impossible to go into this unpleasant subject further in a work
of this kind. It has been treated from a medical standpoint by Dr.
Ely Van De Warker under the title of "A Gynecological Study of the
Oneida Community," in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Dis-
eases of Women and Children, for August, 1884.

20 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

appear to one who believes in the divinity of the monogamic
family, it seems necessary to admit that they lived quietly
and peacefully, and conscientiously discharged all financial
engagements, so as to win the good-will of many of their im-
mediate neighbors. They did not design, any more than do
the Shakers, to take the whole world into their community
hfe ; but evidently intended that as a basis for literary and
other propaganda. Mr. Noyes desired ultimately to estab-
lish a daily newspaper to convert the world to his views.

Space is too limited to permit the enumeration of the
many other communities established in America. The two
great periods of a revival of interest in communism, and the
foundation of village communities based on that principle,
are, 1826, when Robert Owen visited this country and
received distinguished attention from the American people;
and 1842-46, when, under the lead of Horace Greeley,
Albert Brisbane, Charles A. Dana, and others, Fourierism
extended itself rapidly over the country. Mr. Noyes in his
work, " History of American Socialisms," mentions eleven
communities founded during the first period, and thirty-four
which owed their origin to the second revival of communisna,
It is safe to say that considerably over one hundred, possibly
two hundred, communistic villages have been founded in the
United States, although comparatively few yet live. There
are perhaps from seventy to eighty communities at present
in the United States, with a membership of from six to seven
thousand, and property the value of which may be roughly
estimated at twenty-five or thirty millions of dollars.

The history of the Fourieristic phalanxes founded in
America is peculiarly interesting and instructive. They
represent a compromise between communism and our
present industrial system, which in the day of Fourierism was

EARLY AMERICAN COMMUNISM. 2\

peculiarly attractive to the intellect and heart of our Ameri-
can people, and it may be safely said that no radical social
movement among us ever received such generous and wide-
spread support. This is not the place to go into an account
of Fourier's teachings,^ but it may be said that the central
idea was to effect a satisfactory union between capital, skill,
and labor by awarding a definite fixed share to each. Albert
Brisbane, the most ardent disciple of Fourierism in the
United States, wrote an exposition of the doctrine entitled
" Social Destiny of Man, or Association and Reorganization
of Industry." The work was published in Philadelphia in
1840 and attracted wide attention in its day. The chief
organ of Fourier's doctrine, although not officially called such,
was the New York Tribune, then edited by Horace Greeley,
whose warm heart responded eagerly to any apparently
rational plan for the amehoration of the lot of man. The
three most celebrated Fourieristic phalanxes were the
famous Brook Farm, the North American Phalanx, and the
Wisconsin Phalanx, called Ceresco. Although these event-
ually died like all other attempts to realize the Fourieristic
ideal in the United States,^ they were not devoid of a certain
success. Brook Farm lived six years and was a source of
gratification and perhaps spiritual and moral profit to its
members. Although in many respects poorly managed, it
struggled along until a disastrous fire placed too heavy a
load upon its members, and it wound up its affairs. The
Harbinger, the official organ of Fourierism, was published
at Brook Farm.

The North American Phalanx, in Monmouth County,

1 A brief resumS may be found in Ely's "French and German
Socialism," Chap. V.

2 M. Godin's successful experiment at Guise, France, is a modifica-
tion of Fourierism.

22 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

New Jersey, near Red Bank, was established in 1843, and
was wrecked by a fire in 1854, although it lingered until
1856 before it drew its last breath. It furnished a pleasant
home to many, and descriptions of numerous enjoyable
occasions at the North American may still be read. Not-
withstanding its losses, it was able to pay sixty-six cents on
a dollar when its affairs were closed.

The Wisconsin Phalanx was founded in 1844, and finally
became Ripon of the present day. It prospered greatly, and
finally fell apart of its own weight, because there was no vital
coherent principle to hold its members together. It paid
one hundred and eight cents on the dollar in 1850. The
work began with "unwonted enthusiasm"; the life was
agreeable ; but the gold fever drew off some of the young
men in 1848, and in two years it was decided to return to
ordinary industrial life.

What appeared to be the strength of Fourierism was,
doubtless, its weakness. It was a compromise ; an attempt,
as it were, to serve two masters. The Fourierites always kept
back something, and never gave their entire heart to this
cause. It was an attempt to modify essentially the principle
of private property, and to change human feeling with refer-
ence to it while still retaining it. This could not work well ;
at any rate, did not work well. In the North American
Phalanx the members invested savings outside of the com-
munity because they could obtain larger returns on their
capital, and the capital of the Phalanx was largely the prop-
erty of non-residents who became tired of the experiment,
and preferred to sell the property rather than erect new
buildings in the place of those destroyed by fire, although
there is reason to believe that the communists might have
prospered for some years to come, and perchance might
indeed have become the one successful phalanx in America.

EARLY AMERICAN COMMUNISM. 23

Again, Fourierism retained sweeping inequalities, while it
condemned the inequalities of the outside world. The only
successful examples of communism in America have been
forms of pure communism in which all the interests of the
members of the body have been permanently united to the
body.

Forty years ago men of high education and large ability
thought that communistic villages would revolutionize the
economic life of the world. The process, a speedy but
peaceful one, was viewed in this way : The community where
all live together harmoniously as brothers with no meum et
tuum, but with all things in common, affords the only escape
from the warring, competitive world of the present, where
some die of excessive indulgence in luxuries, and others of
starvation, and where the future of no one is secure. When
a few communities have been established, the happy Chris-
tian life which men there lead will attract the attention of
outsiders and win them to join the brotherhood of commun-
ism. Thus community will follow community with ever-
accelerating ratio until the entire earth is redeemed. Cabet,
for example, " allowed fifty years for a peaceful transition from
our present economic life to communism. In the interval,
various measures were to be introduced by legislation to pave
the way to the new system. Among these may be men-
tioned communistic training for children, a minimum of
wages, exemption of the poor from all taxes, and progressive
taxation for the rich. But 'the system of absolute equality,
of community of goods and of labor, will not be obliged to
be applied completely, perfectly, universally, and definitely,
until the expiration of fifty years.' "'

All these hopes have been generally abandoned as idle
dreams, and it is due largely to experiments made in
1 Ely's " French and German Socialism," p. so.

M THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

America that the enthusiasts of fifty and sixty years ago
have been disillusionized. It is not that the communistic
life itself has in every case proved a disappointment. On
the contrary, thousands have clung to it with affection
through trial, adversity, and evil report, and have felt them-
selves amply repaid for every sacrifice in their new Ufe, while
others who have abandoned it, have looked back upon their
experience with fond regret. Thus one member of the
celebrated Brook Farm community uses these words with
reference to their feelings in regard to that experiment :
"The life which we now lead, though to a superficial
observer surrounded with so many imperfections and em-
barrassments, is far superior to what we were ever able to
attain in common society. There is a freedom from the
frivolities of fashion, from arbitrary restrictions, and from the
frenzy of competition. . . . There is a greater variety of
employments, a more constant demand for the exertion of
all the faculties, and a more exquisite pleasure in effort,
from the consciousness that we are laboring, not for personal
ends, but for a holy principle ; and even the external sacri-
fices which the pioneers in every enterprise are obliged to
make, are not without a certain romantic charm."

But the communities failed to win adherents, often failed
to continue their own existence. Unthought-of obstacles
were encountered in human nature. Idleness was an evil
occasionally contended with, though this seems rarely to
have been a cause of any serious trouble. Petty jealousies
have proved more serious, and personal differences, such as
are bound to spring up among unregenerate men living in
any close connection, have been rocks upon which many a
community has made shipwreck. During a period of
poverty the struggle for existence has often knit the mem-
bers of communities firmly together into a compact whole,

EARLY AMERICAN COMMUNISM. 25

which has become disorganized by the inability to endure
the severer trials of a period of prosperity when factions
arise and party bickerings become intolerable. Then the
life is too small and commonplace to satisfy the cravings
of many of larger natures. There is little scope for ambi-
tion, and ambition is one of the chief traits of mankind.
Zoar furnishes illustration. The young men of ability often
long for a wider sphere and leave on that account. One
of these seceders was recently mayor of Cleveland, Ohio.

Cleverly contrived and fantastic arrangements like those
of Fourieristic phalanxes have never been found to exercise
any magic quaUties either on converts or the sinful world.
Men have not been attracted sufficiently to join the com-
munities in large numbers, because, either for good or for
ill, the spirit of the selfish world has been too strong to be
deeply touched by the spectacle of generous self-renouncing
communism. The flesh-pots of the Egypt of competition'
have proved stronger than the Canaan of communism,
though the latter even now often flows with abundance of
milk and honey. Yet this early American communism has
rich lessons to teach men if we will but take the trouble
to gather them, and we have reason to be grateful to two
classes of men on this account.

John Stuart Mill, whose writings are a constant rebuke to
narrow and petty fears entertained by those who dread any
innovation, urged long ago that the utmost freedom ought
to be given to those who desire to conduct social experi-
ments, and that they should indeed be encouraged in every
way. We have reason to be grateful that America has been
large enough and brave enough to afford a home to those
who desired to establish communistic settlements. We
have reason to be grateful to those men who have encount-
ered the prejudice of small souls and have shown what theii

26 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

settlements can do and also what they cannot do. It is
"'much to be desired that Americans should take this lesson
to heart ; for there seems to be at present among us an un-
American fear of new social ideas, whereas, our only danger
consists in a dearth of them. While all violence either of
workingman or capitahst, should be put down with an iron
hand, we should keep our minds open for new truth and
afford every opportunity for social experiments. We can
well begin our consideration of the lessons we have to learn
from our communistic settlements by a long quotation from
an able thinker who saw much of them. Horace Greeley
commenting on early American communism in his " Auto-
biography," says : " We stand, then, in the presence of this
state of facts : On the one hand, it is proved difficult to
create and maintain a more trustful and harmonious social
structure out of such materials as the old social machinery
has formed, — or rather, we may say practically, out of such
materials as the old machinery has expelled and rejected ;
yet we know, on the other hand, that a more — yes, I will
say it — Christian Social Order is not impossible. For it is
more than half a century since the first associations of the
gentle ascetics contemptuously termed Shakers, were formed ;
and no one will pretend that they have failed. No ; they
have steadily and eminently expanded and increased in
wealth and every element of material prosperity, until they
are at this day just objects of envy to their neighbors. They
produce no paupers ; they excrete no beggars ; they
have no idlers, rich or poor; no purse-proud nabobs,
no cringing slaves. So far are they from pecuniary
failure, that they alone have known no such word as fail,
since, amid poverty and odium, they laid the foundations
of their social edifice, and inscribed 'Holiness to the
Lord ' above their gates. They may not have attempted

EARLY AMERICAN COMMUNISM. 27

the highest nor the wisest achievement; but what they
attempted they have accomplished, and, if there were no
other success akin to theirs, — but there is, — it would
still be a demonstrated truth that men and women can
live and labor for general, not selfish, good, — can banish
pauperism, servitude, and idleness, and secure -general thrift
and plenty, by moderate co-operative labor and a complete
identity of interests. Of this truth, each year offers added
demonstrations ; but if they were all to cease to-morrow, the
fact that it had been proved, would remain. Perhaps no
Plato, no Scipio, no Columbus, no Milton, now exists ; but
the capacity of the race is still measured and assured by the
great men and great deeds that have been. Man can work
for his brother's good as well as his own; an unbroken,
triumphant experience of half a century has established the
fact, so that fifty centuries of contrary experience would not
disprove it."

One point which deserves consideration in a treatment
of American communities is the diversity of employment
which is allowable in them. This gives opportunity for a
fuller development of all faculties than falls to the lot of the
ordinary laborer, and also gives an economic security to
persons who follow this Hfe, which is something unusual in
these days. There have been many failures among com-
munities and perhaps more relatively than in ordinary
business enterprises, but it is difficult to conceive of any-
thing which could cause the failure of the Shakers at Mt.
Lebanon, and very likely the same may be said of Zoar and
Amana.

The pleasure of co-operative labor is a noticeable feature
of community life when seen at its best. It may not be
greater than that taken by the artist or literary man in his
work, but it far surpasses the satisfaction with which the

28 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

ordinary isolated laborer performs his task. It is work of
brothers and sisters together for common ends, and testi-
mony in favor of this is very general. A former member of
the Icarian community uses these words in describing his
toil while a resident of Icaria : " We all worked together in
groups as much as practicable, first at one thing, then at
another, thus with many hands making our work light and
more profitable and pleasant at the same time. We had
neither employer or employee, but we were all equal
partners, and by thus working together with a united
interest our labor was more like a game of pleasure than
the tedious and tiresome way of either working alone or
with superiors or inferiors in the shape of bosses or servants."
The communists enjoy good health and live to great age,
and I think it is true of them generally that they give
much attention to the rules of health. This is certainly the
case with the Shakers, with whom hygiene is a matter of religion.
" The two bases of morality," says Daniel Fraser, a Shaker
with whom I have held many delightful conversations, " are
access to the land and hygiene." The Shakers expect in
the future to abolish disease and ill-health from among them.
Even now they live to be very old. There had been three
deaths at Mt. Lebanon during the year previous to my visit.
Two of them were brothers aged eighty-seven and ninety-
one respectively. The third was a sister aged one hundred
and eight. One of the sisters told me that the brother aged
eighty-seven could iri his last year " run a race with any of
tbe boys." She said further: "His vitality was great and
his mental vigor was remarkable to the last. His intellect
was wonderful. He could hold his own in debate with any
man I ever saw." Daniel Fraser is between eighty and
ninety, and his intellectual powers seem entirely unimpaired,
while his bodily powers are still good, though he does not

EARLY AMERICAN COMMUNISM. 29

work so long and so steadily as the younger members. He
showed me, however, with justifiable pride, a bed of onions
which had been his special care. He had gone over the
rows several times, so that his work was equivalent to hoeing
one row three miles long once. Elder Frederick Evans
is seventy-eight, but does not look old. Even animals
seem to live long among them. When I went with Elder
Frederick to gather apples, he asked me how old I took the
black horse before the wagon to be. " Twelve," I replied.
"He is thirty," said Elder Frederick; "but that is Shaker
treatment, not the world's." Among the Economites one
may see men and women of seventy and eighty who are still
hale and hearty. This is notably the case with their leader,
Jacob Henrici, who, I believe, is over eighty.

The moral is obvious. It teaches the importance of
regular habits, simple, wholesome food, attention to ventila-
tion and temperature in living rooms, and the benefits of
continued labor.

The intelligence of the communists impressed me very
favorably. I suppose they must be compared with people
in the ordinary walks of life ; for example, with the average
farmer's family, and they shine by comparison. Among the
Economites music is cultivated, and they all read more or
less. There is also a largeness and breadth of view among
them which is sometimes surprising. With one of the aged
Shakers I discussed European and Oriental politics in a
most interesting manner ; indeed, I do not know that I ever
listened to a more interesting conversationalist. The dis-
cussion embraced the Egyptian policy of England and a
comparison of the moral altitudes of Gladstone, Parnell, and
Joseph Chamberlain, — much to the favor of the latter, it
may be added.

Reference was made to Robert IngersoU, who, it seems

30 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

to me, was answered effectively. R^nan was quoted, an^
new thoughts were given me about personahty in general,
and the personality of God in particular. The conversa-
tion was full of quaint, curious, and indeed startling ex-
pressions. A locomotive was described as "materialized
invisibility." In speaking of English politics, in which he
took part in about 1830, he described the manner in which
concessions were made to the people by politicians, who
really cared nothing for them, in order to further party
interests, and then added thoughtfully, " It is rather singular
that the antagonisms of hell promote progress."

At another time, the conversation turned to the Interna-
tionalists, when he spoke about as follows : " The Interna-
tionalists and those who oppose them, and those who create
the conditions which make them possible, — they are all of
them in hell. Hell is harsh unreasonableness, sour unrea-
sonableness. Reasonableness is justice — the recognition of
the same right to life and its comforts in others which we
have." In a letter since received, this good friend writes :
"I worship God through the manifestations of intelligent
beneficence and wise adaptations. Were all equally par-
takers, effusions of gratitude would arise of themselves.
Friend Hughes 1 is right that the confusions of our time are
due because society is at strife with the will of God and his
Christ To destroy Internationalism, first do justice to
them; then add beneficence, and they will disappear like
snow before a warm sunshine. In love . . ."

There is a lesson taught by these communists in regard to
human nature, I think. Indolence gives them little trouble ;
among the Shakers, I have not heard that it has given any
whatever. Alcander Longley, a member of various societies

1 Reference is to Thomas Hughes, author of "Tom Brown at
Rugby."

EARLY AMERICAN COMMUNISM. ' 31

for the past forty years, says in his Communist^ under date of
July I, 1878 : "The testimony of all communities is that the
lazy are easily induced to work by a little friendly criticism
and kind persuasion." It appears that at Oneida it was
oftener necessary in mutual criticism to blame members for
overwork than for indolence. In letters on the Shakers to
the New York Tribune, Mr. E. V. Smalley said : "The lack
of the stimulus of individual gain seems to be no drawback.
In its place there is the public spirit of the community,
which spurs up all laggards, and a strong religious conviction
of duty that makes all the members work together
harmoniously."

To one who knows this, the air of thrift and the scrupulous
cleanliness which characterizes many communities cannot be
a matter of surprise. Zoar is, however, said to be an excep-
tion. A friend writes that it presents an untidy appearance.
I am unable to explain what is the cause of this difference.

Over many other interesting points it is necessary to pass
with haste ; for early American communism, after all, plays
a subordinate part in the American labor movement.

The spiritualism of the Shakers, so well described by
Howells in the " Undiscovered Country," will attract the
careful student, as well as the fact that a strong religious
element has been present in nearly all those communities
which have succeeded. I believe this goes to show the
necessity of an ethical tie to bind together not merely com-
munistic communities but any social organization whatever.
Without it I believe every society, republican or monarchical,
must ultimately perish.

1 Published in St. Louis. He has published it as he has had means
for ttiirty years and more. Perhaps it is the only existing English
organ of the older type of communism. It now bears the name
Altruist.

32 TUE LABOR MOVEMENT.

Remarkable is the strength of character which community
4fe has developed ; also the force of joint enthusiasm is
noteworthy. This has been observed frequently at Oneida.
One winter all were ardently pursuing the study of Greek,
and nearly all learned the language. Mrs. Noyes, then over
sixty years of age, became so proficient that she and her hus-
band afterwards were accustomed to read the Greek and not
the English New Testament together. During another winter
the study of mathematics absorbed the energies of ail, young
and old, men and women. It was decided on one occasion
that the use of tobacco was inexpedient; whereupon all
addicted to it at once abandoned the habit, and no one ever
returned to it. At Economy the married resolved to lead a
celibate life, and have ever since lived together as brothers
and sisters. These instances perhaps show a power in con-
centrated public opinion which has never yet been fully
utilized.

It is a matter of course that communists are temperate.
They, like nearly all social reformers, place woman on an
equal footing with man in every relation of life.

An exquisite consideration for others is often shown. At
Mt. Lebanon I was taught how to shut a door so as not to
give the slightest disturbance to any one. I was told that
that was a lesson in Shakerism. "It is Shakerism," said
Daniel Eraser, " reduced to the point of a pin."

The Shakers, it may here be added, expect a great future.
They look forward to six cycles and believe that they have
just emerged from the first.^ One of them writes: "We
have but begun a great work. It works against no reforms,
but co-operates with and embraces them all."

1 At any rate, this is the opinion one of them, Elder Frederick,
expressed. I believe, however, that they allow great latitude of opinion
on matters which they do not regard as essentials.

EARLY AMERICAN COMMUNISM. 33

When my friend, Professor Knight, visited Zoar, he
endeavored to get a brief resumd of the benefits of com-
munism as they presented themselves to a communist, by
asking one of the trustees to state the superiorities of their
life over " the industrial and social system of the outside
world," and he replied without hesitation about as follows :
"We all live comfortably, we don't have to worry about
money matters, we are all on an equality, and we are sure
of being taken care of when we are too old to work. Can
you say the same for everybody where you live ? " ^

Early American communism is not adapted to modem
economic life, and as an attempt to establish a world system
may be regarded as antiquated, though it may not be exact
to say, as I once did, that "it exists only as a curious and
interesting survival." I like to think that it has still a
mission to perform, though not that which its early advocates
hoped. In particular is it earnestly to be desired that such
vast possessions as those of the Harmonists may be pre-
served for social experimentation in the future. If wisely
conducted, their wealth would then forever be a blessing to
mankind.

Early American communism has accomplished much
good and little harm. Its leaders have been actuated by
noble motives, have many times been men far above their
fellows in moral stature, even in intellectual stature, and
have desired only to benefit their kind. Its aim has been
to elevate man, and its ways have been ways of peace.

1 Quoted by kind permission from Professor Knight's manuscript on
Zoar.

CHAPTER III.

THE GROWTH AND PRESENT CONDITION OF
LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN AMERICA.

I. First Period, 1800-1861.

ORGANIZED labor is labor in its normal condition.
Unions of laborers may be traced back in European
history for at least six hundred years ; and it is probable that
in whatever period and in whatever country we are able to
find large masses of free laborers thrown together, careful
research will reveal to us at least the germs of labor organ-
izations. Association is so natural to man, and its benefits
so great, that it is ever sought, and, indeed, more and more
sought with the progress of civilization. Isolation is weak-
ness, but union is strength.

Nevertheless, little or nothing was heard of labor organ-
izations in America one hundred years ago, and even in
Europe their older forms were passing away, and the more
modem trades-unions had not been developed. It was a
transition period between old and new institutions, and was
a point of rest like that between the outgoing and the
incoming tide. Doubtless Adam Smith described correctly
the causes which then led to the appearances of labor in
public discussion, when he said, "In the public deliberations,
therefore, his (the laborer's) voice is little heard and less
regarded, except upon some particular occasions, when his
clamor is set on and supported by his employers, not for

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN AMERICA. 3S

his own, but their own particular purposes." In another
place Adam Smith explains the appearance of the workmen
before the public in the assertion that manufacturers "in-
fluence their workmen to attack with violence and outrage "
those who propose the abolition of restrictions on the
freedom of trade.

While it is evident that the times have changed radically
since Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" appeared in
1776, his explanation of the appearance of the working
classes in public discussions and his view of the cause of
violence on their part, still hold true with regard to a
minority, though doubtless a very small minority, of the
occasions when laborers figure in riots and in legislative
deliberations. Thus in the history of the Camden and
Amboy Transportation Company we read of a disturbance
instigated by the officers of that company and directed
against an obnoxious rival to ruin his business. A riot
ensued, and one man was killed. Mr. Hudson, in his able
work "The Railways and the Republic," tells us that work-
men of the Standard Oil Company packed a public meeting
in Pittsburgh and " howled down every speaker advocating
commercial freedom in the oil trade." A suit is now
pending against the Western Union Telegraph Company on
account of violence perpetrated by its agents in cutting the
wires of a rival line. Within a day's ride from the city in
which I live, workingmen in a certain branch of industry are
occasionally surprised to see in their morning's paper that
they are on a strike, and to discover that one has been
inaugurated by the manufacturers to convey the impression
that their goods will be scarce, and thus work off a stock on
hand.'

1 For an example of a manufacturer's incitement to riot in ancient
iimes, see Acfe XJX; yy, 9/^i,i

36 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

It is necessary to mention these cases to call attention to
the fact that sometimes what appears to be a movement of
labor is in reality a movement of capital, which, like labor,
is at times unscrupulous. Instances of the kind described
are undoubtedly far more numerous than is ordinarily
supposed ; still they are the exception. When we hear of
the laborer in these days, it is as a rule — provided we
except discussions on the tariff — because he himself has
made some move which has called attention to him.

I find no traces of anything like a modem trades-union
in the colonial period of American history, and it is evident
on reflection that there was little need, if any, of organiza-
tion on the part of labor at that time. Unions of working-
men always arise where there is a large and distinct laboring
class gathered together in industrial centres ; but then there
was scarcely such a class, and there was then no great city
in the country ; for even in 1 790, when the first census was
taken, there was but one city in the United States with a
population between forty thousand and seventy-five thou-
sand inhabitants, and it was not until 1840 that we could
claim a city of half a million souls. The population was
chiefly agricultural, and the labor of the farm was for the
most part performed by independent farmers who tilled
their own soil. Doubtless the " hired man " could always
be found in the North, but no thought of organization
occurred to him, and if there had been any reason for
organization, his isolation, and the unsteady character of his
employment, would have rendered it well-nigh impossible.
But as an individual he could treat with his individual
employer, and abundance of unoccupied land furnished
him a frequent escape from a subordinate position. There
were comparatively few slaves in the North, and these were
employed in households or in separate occupations, and did

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN AMERICA. 37

not affect greatly the general condition of labor. The labor
of the South, on the other hand, was performed chiefly by
slaves until our late Civil War, and this fact rendered organ-
ization impossible in that section.

Such manufacturing, as was found, consisted largely in the
production of values-in-use. Clothing, for example, was
spun and woven, and then converted into garments in the
household for its various members. The artisans comprised
chiefly the carpenter, the blacksmith, and the shoemaker ;
many of whom worked in their own little shops with no
employees, while the number of subordinates in any one
shop was almost invariably small, and it would probably
have been difiicult to find a journeyman who did not expect,
in a few years, to become an independent producer.

What might be expected actually happened. Artisans and
mechanics were a bold and spirited body of men who exerted
an influence in affairs, though they do not appear in history
as organizations pitted against their employers. "Below
the merchants," says Professor Hosmer in his description of
the people of Boston,' " the class of workmen formed a body
most energetic. . . . The caulkers were bold politicians.
The rope-walk hands were energetic to turbulence, courting
the brawls with the soldiers which led to the ' Boston Mas-
sacre.' " The " Caulkers' Club " was a body formed for
political purposes, designed, in fact, " to lay plans for intro-
ducing certain persons into places of trust and power.'"
The father of Samuel Adams was prominent in it in 1724,
and it is not improbable that the term caucus was derived
from these workmen.

The first years of the nineteenth century, however, wit-
ness the beginning of a change, although the urban popula-

1 See his " Samuel Adams" in the American Statesmen series.
* See " Samuel Adams," p. 15.

38 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

tion of the country scarcely exceeded four per cent of the
entire population. Something very like a modern strike
occurred in the year 1802. The sailors in New York re-
ceived ten dollars a month, but wished an increase of four
dollars a month, and endeavored to enforce their demands
by quitting work. It is said that they marched about the
city, accompanied by a band, and compelled seamen,
employed at the old wages, to leave their ships and join
them. But the iniquitous combination and conspiracy laws,
which viewed concerted action of laborers as a crime, were
then in force in all modern lands, and " the constables were
soon in pursuit, arrested the leader, lodged him in jail, and
so ended the earliest of labor strikes." ^

The most primitive form of labor organizations is the
union of one class of employees in a single place with no
connection with laborers working in other localities or at
other callings. Such unions are found here and there in
the United States from 1800 to 1825, though they do not
appear to have gained any considerable influence before the
latter year. The " New York Society of Journeymen Ship-
wrights" was incorporated April 3, 1803, and a union of
the " House Carpenters of the City of New York " was in-
corporated in 1806.

The compositors of New York must have been organized
early in the century, for they seem to have had a strong
society in 181 7, when Thurlow Weed was elected a member.
It was called the " New York Typographical Society," and
Peter Force was its President. In the folloviring year the

1 See McMaster's " History of the People of the United States, Vol.
II., p. 618.

Police interference is still everywhere lawful and, of course, proper,
in case of recourse to violence, but then the combination of laborers
in itself was generally regarded as illegal.

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN AMERICA. 39

society took advantage of Mr. Weed's residence in Albany
to secure its incorporation. " I remember," writes Mr.
Weed, in his Autobiography,^ " with what deference I then
ventured into the presence of distinguished members of the
legislature, and how sharply I was rebuked by two gentlemen
who were quite shocked at the idea of incorporating jour-
neymen mechanics. The application, however, was success-
ful." There was also a typographical society in Albany in
182 1 ; for in that year a strike was ordered in the office in
which Mr. Weed was employed, because one of the compos-
itors was a " rat," as those printers are called who do not
belong to a union. This shows the growth of a strong union
feeling, and may be taken as evidence of some age on the
part of the "Typographical Society " in that city.

All these unions, it will be noticed, were located in New
York State, and I find no record of a trades-union elsewhere
until the " Columbian Charitable Society of Shipwrights and
Caulkers of Boston and Charlestown " was formed in 1822.
The following year they were granted a charter by the legis-
lature of Massachusetts. Their charter empowered them
" to have and use a common seal, and to make by-laws for
the governing of the affairs of said association, and the
management and apphcation of its funds ; and also for pro-
moting inventions and improvements in thek art, by grant-
ing premiums, to assist mechanics with loans of money, and
to reheve the distresses of unfortunate mechanics and their
families."

Though the first quarter of this century may perhaps be
considered as a germinal period, preceding the modern
labor movement, and preparing the way for it, that move-
ment itself, so far as it is represented by organizations of
laborers designed to improve their condition as laborers,
1 Page 69.

40 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

may be regarded as beginning with the year 1825 ; not that
any important event divided the history of labor before that
period from its subsequent history, but that, roughly speak-
ing, at about that time, a new spirit and a new purpose be-
gan to animate the laboring classes. They became more
conscious of their existence as a distinct part of the commu-
nity, and with interests to a certain extent not identical with
those of other social classes, and very naturally the idea of
class action on a larger scale than hitherto became more
familiar to workmen ; and from that time forward this idea
has been cherished among them. It is easy then to charac-
terize the movement of labor organizations during the first
period of their history, in the United States, which may be
said to terminate with the beginning of the Civil War be-
tween North and South.

An increasing number of local unions is formed ; at times
unions of artisans of various trades in a certain section join
hands for common action ; gradually, the skilled laborers,
pursuing the same trade, form the idea of national unions,
urged on doubtless by the increased facilities of transporta-
tion and communication which rendered national trade soci-
eties at once possible and desirable, since the competition
of artisans and mechanics with one another ceased to be
local, and transcended the boundaries of several states.
Early in our history, when travel was difficult and the post-
office still in a primitive condition, it would have been well-
nigh impossible to form any national union of laborers ; and
the advantages of such association would have been less
obvious at a time when each region of country was for most
purposes a little world in itself. During this first period
political action as an instrument of social amelioration is
frequently urged, and we begin to hear of workingmen's
parties.

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN AMERICA. 41

The two cities most promjnent in the struggles of organ-
ized labor from 1825 to 1861 are Boston and New York,
as they were the chief cities to attract our attention in the
earlier history of labor just considered. In the year 1820
two Englishmen, George Henry Evans and Frederick W-
Evans, landed in New York, and very soon began to exercise
a perceptible influence upon American thought, an influence
which the careful student of our history may still discover
working among us. George Henry, the elder, was a land-
reformer, much in the line of Henry George's theory,
holding that man had a right to the usufruct of land only ;
and the present agitators for the abolition of rent may owe
perhaps more than they suppose to their predecessors, who
appeared in the field fifty years and more ago.-' The two
brothers published the " Workingman's Advocate" during
a part of the five years between 1825 and 1830 in New
York City, and it is possible that this was the first appear-
ance of a representative of the labor press in the United
States. The "Workingman's Advocate " was succeeded
by the " Daily Sentinel," and finally by " Young America."
Their demands, printed at the head of "Young America,"
although then radical in the extreme, were endorsed by six
hundred papers, and have in some instances been granted.
An enumeration of them will show, on the one hand, how
advanced was the economic thought of the laborers at that
time ; on the other, how great an influence these brothers,
and the small band of workers gathered about them, have
exerted upon our national life. The twelve demands were
as follows : —

" First. The right of man to the soil, ' Vote yourself a farm.'

1 Authority is the " Autobiography of a Shaker," by Elder Frederick
W. Evans. It is now published in book form, but it appeared first in
the "Atlantic Monthly."

42 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

" Second. Dovra with monopolies, especially the United
States Bank.

" Third. Freedom of public lands.

" Fourth. Homesteads made inalienable.

" Fifth. Abolition of all laws for the collection of debts

" Sixth. A general bankrupt law.

" Seventh. A lien of the laborer upon his own work foi
his wages.

" Eighth. Abolition of imprisonment for debt.

" Ninth. Equal rights for women with men in all respects.

" Tenth. Abolition of chattel slavery, and of wages slavery.

"Eleventh. Land limitation to one hundred and sixty
acres ; no person after the passage of this law to become
possessed of more than that amount of land. But when a
land monopoUst died, his heirs were to take each his legal
number of acres, and be compelled to sell the overplus,
using the proceeds as they pleased.

"Twelfth. Mails in the United States to run on the
Sabbath." ,

A " Workingman's Convention" met at Syracuse, New
York, in 1830, and nominated Ezekiel Williams for governor,
who received, however, less than three thousand votes.
Greater success attended their efforts in New York City in
the same year, for the " Workingmen's party " joined forces
with the Whigs and elected three or four members of the
legislature.^

These men finally formed what became known in our his-
tory as the Loco-Foco party, and cast their influence on the
side of the Democratic party, as that promised a larger
number of concessions to them. They believed that it was
their influence which made the election of Andrew Jackson
a possibility ; and there can scarcely be a doubt that the
1 See Thurlow Weed's Autobiography, pp. 367 and 404.

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN AMERICA. 43

Democratic party from 1829 to 1841 was more truly a work-
ingman's party than has been the case with any other great
political party in our country, or with that party either
before or since.

George Henry Evans became a friend of Horace Greeley,
and followed with active interest the political movements of
the country up to the time of his decease, which occurred
about 1870. The younger brother, Frederick W. Evans,
joined the Shakers at Mount Lebanon in 1831, and now one
of their leading men is familiarly known among them as
Elder Frederick. He still maintains his radical social views,
and they form part of his religion. One of the three days I
passed with the Shakers at Mount Lebanon, in the summer
of 1885, was fortunately a Sunday, and I had the pleasure
of listening to an address from Elder Frederick. I must
confess that it sounded strange to me to hear the views I
had associated with Henry George preached as part of a
religious system ; and it was a surprise to me to learn that
the Elder had been preaching them for fifty years and more.

The next event to attract our attention in New York
is an address delivered before " The General Trades-Unions
of the City of New York," at Chatham Street Chapel, on
Dec. 2, 1833, by Ely Moore, President of the Union.
This General Trades-Union, as its name indicates, was a
combination of subordinate unions " of the various trades
and arts " in New York City and its vicinity, and is the
earliest example in the United States, so far as I know, of
those Central Labor Unions which attempt to unite all the
workingmen in one locality in one body, and which have
now become so common among us.^ The address of Mr.
Moore is characterized by a more modern tone than is

1 They are also called Trades and Labor Assemblies, Trades and
Labor Councils, and Federations of Labor in various places.

44 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

found in most productions of the labor leaders of that
period. The object of these unions is stated to be " to
guard against the encroachments of aristocracy, to pre-
serve our natural and political rights, to elevate our moral
and intellectual condition, to promote our pecuniary inter-
ests, to narrow the line of distinction between the journey-
man and employer, to establish the honor and safety of
our respective vocations upon a more secure and permanent
basis, and to alleviate the distresses of those suffering from
want of employment.''

The right of laborers to combine for the protection of
their interests is vigorously maintained, and the position is
taken that their General Trades-Union will diminish the
number of strikes and lock-outs, and not increase them, as
their opponents had claimed. Two extracts, quoted from
their Constitution to show this, are as follows : " Each trade
or art may represent to the Convention, through their dele-
gate, their grievances, who shaU take cognizance thereof,
and decide upon the same."

" No trade or art shall strike for higher wages than they
at present receive without the sanction of the Convention."

Two or three years later there was sufficient class feeling
in New York to enable Mr. Moore- to secure an election to
Congress as a representative of the workingmen.

" The Workingman's Manual : a New Theory of Political
Economy, on the Principle of Production the Source of
Wealth, including an Enquiry into the Principles of Public
Currency, the Wages of Labor, the Production of Wealth,
the Distribution of Wealth, Consumption of Wealth, Popular
Education, and the Elements of Social Government in Gen-
eral, as they appear open to the Scrutiny of Common Sense
and Philosophy of the Age ; " — all this is the long and am-
bitious title of a noteworthy book written by Stephen Simp-

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN AMERICA. 45

son, of Philadelphia, and published in that city in the year
1 83 1. It bears the motto "Governments were instituted
for the happiness of the many, not the benefit of the few,"
and is dedicated " to the shade of Jefiferson."

Like the address of Ely Moore in New York, this work
gives evidence of a good deal of previous agitation of the
labor problem. The working classes are told that the old
political parties offer them no hope of satisfactory reforms,
and they are urged to support the " Party of the Working-
men," which, " resisting the seductions of fanatics on the
one hand and demagogues on the other," presses forward
in " the path of science and justice, under the banner of
labor the source of wealth, and industry the arbiter of its
distribution."

The economic evils of the country are explained, and
remedies for them are pointed out.

Jefferson is lauded by Simpson for " the Declaration of
our Independence ; for the aboKshment of the laws of en-
tail and primogeniture, and other sanative and benevolent
schemes, having for their object, the equalization of fortunes,
the just distribution of property, and the diffusive happi-
ness of the whole people." But objection is raised to the
alleged fact that the " Declaration of Independence " is still
only a body of theoretical principles, because feudal laws
and customs, as well as European fashions, sentiments, and
literature, have maintained old-world abuses among us ; never-
theless, forcible equalization of fortunes is repudiated as a worse
injustice, if possible, than the present system. Measures are
urged, designed to prevent monopoly, and to apportion the
product of industry among the members of the community,
more nearly in proportion to services rendered to society. It
is urged, that although labor is the source of wealth, — since
"natural agents are but the basis of human mdustry," —

46 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

those who toil not live in luxury, while the honest laborer
suffers the pangs of hunger. Nature has furnished sufficient
means for the comfort of all, but unjust arrangements have
brought such a state of things to pass, that the lord of ten
thousand acres is " tortured on his sick couch by the agonies
of repletion, whilst the laborer famishes at his gate."

The chief sources of unjust inequality in the distribution
of wealth are found in the " funding system," which led to
the monopoly of stock, and those royal grants which led to
the monopoly of land, and regret is expressed that royal
titles to land were not forever abolished when the Federal
Constitution was adopted.

A third source of injustice is found in the Common Law
of England, which grew up in an aristocratical and monarchi-
cal country, and as not suitable for a repubUc, ought not to
have been adopted in this country.

The remedies proposed are simple. Violence and blood-
shed are condemned, and the intelligent use of the ballot is
commended. Public opinion ought to be educated so that
labor may become respectable ; for now, the writer com-
plains, " the children of toil are as much shunned in society
as if they were leprous convicts just emerged from loath-
some cells."

Corporations and monopolies, continues our author, ought
to be discouraged, for " capital, banks, and monopolies," as
oppressors of the people, have taken the place of the barons,
lords, and bishops of Old England. The condemnation of
the old combination laws is rather bitter, though certainly
just. " If mechanics combine to raise their wages," says
Simpson, " the laws punish them as conspirators against the
good of society, and the dungeon awaits them as it does the
robber. But the laws have made it a just and meritorious
act that capitalists shall combine to strip the man of laboi

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN AMERICA. 4?

of his earnings, and reduce him to a dry crust and a gourd
of water.''

Imprisonment for debt is condemned as another grave
abuse, and its abolition is urged on economic as well as on
humanitarian grounds, since the removal of power to im-
prison the debtor would lead to the curtailment of dis-
astrous grants of credit. Remarks on paper money and in-
flation, as evils which have brought severe suffering to the
working classes, deserve the attention of our " Greenbackers "
at the present time.

The chief remedy, however, is that which we find recom-
mended by all agitators in the early days of the labor move-
ment ; namely, universal education. Public instruction was
claimed by the party of the workingmen, but their demand
was met " by the sneer of derision on the one hand, and the
cry of revolution on the other."

There are abundant evidences of widespread discussion
of labor-problems in New England, and particularly in
Massachusetts, at this time. One of these is a pamphlet
which lies before me, entitled "An Address before the
Workingmen's Society," of Dedham (Mass.), delivered on
the evening of Sept. 7, 1831, by Samuel Whitcomb, Jr.
Whitcomb takes the same view of the injustice of the pres-
ent distribution of the product of industry, which we have
found presented in Simpson's Manual, and he rejoices in
the organization of workingmen's associations, as institutions
designed to correct abuses, and resist the " encroachment o\
foreign influence and evil example on our moral and political
welfare." Chiefly noteworthy is the allusion to workingmen's
associations as something comparatively new, yet becoming
common.

More remarkable is " an Address to the Workingmen of
New England, on the State of Education, and on the Con-

48 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

dition of the Producing Classes in Europe and America,"
which was deUvered by Seth Luther in Boston, Charlestown,
Cambridgeport, Waltham, Dorchester, Mass. ; Portland, Saco,
Me.; and Dover, N.H. The copyright is dated 1832, and
the third edition was printed in Philadelphia in 1836.

The protectionists were then lauding the " splendid exam-
ple " of England, and endeavoring to persuade the American
people that manufactures ought to be developed even at the
expense of public aid. An assemblage of manufacturers at
Concord, Mass., had gone still further, and adopted a reso-
lution " that they had rather have this union dissolved than
to have the protecting policy given up," and John Quincy
Adams had declared in a report on manufactures, that the
cotton-mills were "the principalities of the destitute, the
palaces of the poor." This naturally led Mr. Luther, a me-
chanic, to investigate the condition of the manufacturing
population of England and the United States, in order to
determine whether manufactures were after all so desirable
when viewed from the standpoint of the laboring classes.

His pamphlet is valuable for the light it throws on the
hours of labor, the wages of employees in manufactories,
and the abuses of power on the part of some unscrupulous
manufacturers. I know of no stronger proof of an improve-
ment in the condition of the manufacturing population of
New England than that which is found in Seth Luther's
address and in the " appendix," which is possibly still more
important on account of the reprint it contains of original
documents, like the " General Rules of the Lowell Manufac-
turing Company " and " The Conditions on which Help is
hired by the Cocheo Manufacturing Company, Dover, N.H."

Distressing cases of cruelty to children are described in
detail by Seth Luther, and the amount of child labor in cer-
tain districts must have been relatively almost as great as at

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN AMERICA. 49

present, though it does not seem to have prevailed so gen-
erally throughout the country.

The length of a day's labor varied from twelve to fifteen
hours. The New England Mills generally ran thirteen hours
a day the year round, but one mill in Connecticut ran four-
teen hours, while the length of actual labor in another mill
in the same State, the Eagle Mill at Griswold, was fifteen
hours and ten minutes. The regulations at Paterson, New
Jersey, required women and children to be at work at half-
past four in the morning.

The regulations of the factory were cruel and oppressive
to a degree, I think, scarcely known among us at present.
Operatives were taxed by the companies for the support of
religion ; habitual absence from church was punished by the
Lowell Manufacturing Company with dismissal from employ-
ment, and in other respects the life of the employees out-
side of the factories was regulated as well as their life within
them. Windows were nailed down and the operatives de-
prived of fresh air, and a case of rebellion on the part of
one thousand females on account of tyrannical and oppressive
treatment is mentioned. Women and children were urged
on by the use of a cowhide, and an instance is given of a
little girl, eleven years of age, whose leg was broken with a
" billet of wood." Still more harrowing is the description of
the merciless whipping of a deaf-and-dumb boy by an over-
seer named Bryant. An "eye-witness" said "when he came
in (at home), he lay down on the bed like one without life.
. . . He was mangled in a shocking manner, from his neck
to his feet. He received, I should think, one hundred
blows." At Mendon, Mass., a boy of twelTe drowned him-
self in a pond to escape factory labor.

The wages were small. The " United Hand-Loom Weav-
ers' Trade Association of Baltimore," reported in 1835, that

50 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

they could earn in twelve hours from sixty-five cents to sev-
enty-one cents a day, which, they said, did not enable them
to defray the expenses " of the schooling " of their children.

Mr. Luther enlarges on the evils of the manufacturing
population, but says little about remedies. He recommends,
however, general education and the abolition of the oppres-
sive combination laws, so that laborers might unite their
forces like their employers. The hostile attitude of the press
is classed as one of their difficulties, but it is stated that a
remedy will be found in workingmen's papers, which " are
multiplying." Finally, the bitter denunciation which trades-
unions and combinations of laborers received at this time
from the employing class is worthy of attention. A combi-
nation of merchants in Boston pledged themselves to drive
the shipwrights, caulkers, and gravers of that city to sub-
mission or starvation, and subscribed |20,ooo for that
purpose.

An important meeting of the laboring classes was held
in Boston in February, 1831. Of this no record appears
to have been preserved, but the first report of the Massa-
chusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor, issued in 1870,
contains an account of the second meeting of the same
body, held in Boston, Sept. 6, 1832. The organization
was known as the " New England Association of Farmers,
Mechanics, and other Workingraen." Boston was rep-
resented by thirty delegates, and among them were men
who afterward achieved at least a local celebrity. Ten
points for consideration were reported, among which were
these : the ten-hour working day ; the eifect of banking
institutions and other monopoUes on the condition of
the laboring classes ; the improvement of the educational
system ; imprisonment for debt ; a national bankrupt law ;
the extension of the right of suffrage in States where it

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN AMERICA. 51

was restricted ; a lien law in favor of journeyman mechanics.
Resolutions were adopted in favor of annual meetings, in
favor of a lien law, against imprisonment for debt, and
against the militia system. A journal called the " New Eng-
land Artisan" was recognized as the official organ of the as-
sociation. From the report of the committee on an address
to the workingmen, the following statement of grievances and
remedies is taken : " These evils . . . arise from the moral
obliquity of the fastidious and the cupidity of the avaricious.
They consist in an illiberal opinion of the worth and rights
of the laboring classes ) an unjust estimation of their moral,
intellectual, and physical powers ; an unwise misapprehen-
sion of the effects which would result from the cultivation of
their minds and the improvement of their condition ; and an
avaricious propensity to avail of their laborious services at
the lowest possible rate of wages for which they can be
induced to work. The remedies which are rehed on to cor-
rect these misapprehensions and reform these abuses are
the organization of the whole laboring population of this
United Republic into an association for this purpose ; the
separation of questions of political morahty and economy
from the mere personal and party contests of the day; a
general diffusion of light by the presentation of facts to the
consideration of all good men and faithful citizens ; the
selection from among the politicians of the respective
parties to which workingmen may happen to belong, of those
as the objects of our preference whose moral character, per-
sonal habits, relations, and employments, as well as profes-
sions, afford us the best guarantee of their disposition to
revise our social and political system, and to introduce those
improvements called for by us and demanded by the spirit
of the age.

" To this we shall add our fixed determination to persevere

52 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

till our wrongs are redressed, and to imbue the minds of
our offspring with a spirit of abhorrence for the usurpations
of aristocracy, and of resistance to their oppressions, so
invincible, that they shall dedicate their lives to a comple-
tion of the work which their ancestors commenced in their
struggle for national, and their sires have continued in their
contest for personal independence." During this meeting —
held, as has been stated, in 1 83 2 — a letter was received from
the workingmen of New York City, addressed to the working-
men of the United States, which, like much that has been
already said, shows general agitation and a certain concert of
action in what are now called labor circles.

This earlier stage of the labor movement has been de-
scribed with so much fulness because it is peculiarly instruc-
tive on several accounts. It shows, first, that grievances of the
laboring classes in the United States are no new thing ; second,
that the pretensions of the wealthy irritated the masses in
America fifty years ago ; third, that progress has been made,
many of the demands of the laboring classes at that time
having been already granted ; fourth, that what one gener-
ation considered dangerous and possibly even revolutionary
claims, a later has learned to look upon as just and natural.
As has often happened, concessions on the part of those in
whose hands the powers of government and society reside,
have resulted in benefit to all classes. Perhaps one may be
tempted to conclude that the social salvation of society, like
the religious salvation of the world, comes from below. The
masses move forward ; their onward motion is resisted by the
so-called better classes — and it is possible one ought to say,
rightly called better classes; but the advance-march con-
tinues, and what was thought an ominous signal of danger
proves to be but an olive-branch of peace. The truths of
economic and social science have frequently been among

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN AMERICA. S3

those things which are hid from the wise and prudent and
revealed unto babes.

It is, however, more correct to compare the legitimate
functions of the upper classes of society to those of an upper
house of a legislature. It is, indeed, very necessary that
measures initiated by the masses should be examined and
discussed by the more learned, prudent, and cautious among
the upper ten thousand, who should at times exercise a
controlling and restraining power over popular movements
in the interest of society as a whole. It is further desirable
that representatives of wealth and culture should always be
found in the lower house ; in other words, thoroughly iden-
tified with the masses, yet bringing into their movements an
elevated and refined tone. The misfortune is that those who
ought to play the part of prudent advisers are too often in-
clined to stop the march of progress altogether. The con-
servative becomes an obstructionist, and arouses an angry
cry for the abolition of every influence which tends to retard
a too rapid social reconstruction. Thus do revolutions
come !

The laboring classes were not without powerful friends
in those early days, for among those whose hearts were
with the masses are found the names of William Ellery
Chaiming, James G. Carter, Robert Rantoul, and Horace
Mann. Greatest stress was at this time laid upon the
diffusion of education and the improvement of educational
methods and systems. That is the burden of Channing's
message to the workingmen in his celebrated lectures on
"Self-Culture" and on the "Laboring Classes." Channing
was not merely full of sympathy with the masses who bear
the burden and heat of the day ; what is still more, he had
faith in their integrity, in their wisdom, and in their capabil-
ities for improvement. To those who saw danger in the

54 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

extension of power and freedom to the laboring classes, and
feared a conspiracy of the needy against the rich, he uttered
these vigorous words of remonstrance : " It ought to be
understood that the great enemies to society are not found
in its poorer ranks. The mass may indeed be used as tools ;
but the stirring and guiding powers of insurrection are found
above. Communities fall by the vices of the prosperous
ranks. . . . The French Revolution is perpetually sounded
in our ears as a warning. . . . But whence came this rev-
olution? Who were the regicides? . . . They were Louis
the Fourteenth and the Regent who followed him, and Louis
the Fifteenth. These brought their descendants to the guil-
lotine. The priesthood who revoked the Edict of Nantes,
and drove from France the skill and industry and virtue and
piety which were the sinews of her strength ; the statesmen
who intoxicated Louis the Fourteenth with the scheme of
universal empire ; the profligate, prodigal, shameless Orleans ;
and the still more brutalized Louis the Fifteenth, with his
court of panders and prostitutes, — they made the nation
bankrupt, broke asunder the bond of loyalty, and over-
whelmed the throne and altars in ruins."

Horace Mann, while laying the foundations of the best
educational system in the United States, attempted at the
same time to secure its advantages for the humblest mem-
bers of the community, and with this in view he strove to
introduce measures which would effectually protect children
when their right to an opportunity to acquire at least the
elements of learning should be attacked either by cruel
master or heartless parent. Carter and Rantoul were
active in the same field, while the latter vindicated the
right of laborers to combine, in the well-known " Journeyman
Bootmakers' Case." Their combination had been attacked
under the old conspiracy laws of odious memory, which the

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS JN AMERICA. 55

Common Law had brought to America ; but the case was
decided for the journeymen in 1842, and this decision was
final, as the legality of labor organizations has since then not
been contested in Massachusetts.

The topic of liveliest interest among the working classes
in the United States from the earliest time up to the present
day has been what is called the normal working day ; that
is, the number of hours which should constitute the regular
day's labor. When our ancestors came to this country, their
poverty and the abundant opportunity for the acquisition of
wealth spurred them to over-exertion, often short-sighted ;
for while it brought the eagerly coveted riches, it ruined
health, dwarfed the mind, and stunted the development of
all higher faculties. When the means of enjoyment were
acquired, all power of enjoyment was gone. In gaining
life, they had lost those things which made life worth living ;
or, as the Bible has it, they had lost their own souls, their
true selves. This is familiar, but the fact has not received
equal attention that they were likewise hard task-masters.
Not content with overworking themselves, they drove wife,
children, and employees from sunrise to sunset, for the " sun
to sun" system prevailed generally in our early history.
This involved at times a normal working day of sixteen
hours. The laborers early protested against this, and the
agitation for ten hours is as old as the labor movement in
this country, and it is still continued in some parts of the
United States, though in most places it ceased long ago,
because it had accomplished its purpose. Just at the right
time, when the conflict of the laborers for shorter hours had
already made considerable headway, one whom the working-
men considered a friend, Martin Van Buren, the President,
threw the weight of government into the trembling balance
and decided the issue. On the loth of April, 1840, Mr.

56 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

Van Buren signed a general order introducing the ten-hour
system thereafter into the navy-yard at Washington, D.C.,
and in "all public establishments." This example was fol-
lowed in private ship-yards, and very soon became general,
though by no means universal. At the time Gen. Oliver
made his first report, to which I have already referred,
and to which I am indebted for many data concerning
the early labor movement, the time of labor in factories
where women and children were employed in New England
was sixty-six to seventy-two hoiurs a week. Within this year
seventeen and eighteen hours have been a common length of
a day's labor on the street railways of the United States ; and
though the laborers have been able to shorten it by organi-
zations and strikes in many cities, it doubtless still continues
in places. Employees of steam railways are often worked
as long, and even longer, to the danger of the life and limb
of the general public as well as their own. But the most
overworked men in the country in recent times have been
the bakers. Once a week in Baltimore they have worked
steadily for twenty-five hours, and in New York for twenty-
six — a normal working day considerably longer it is seen
than the solar day !

The ten-hour day was established in Baltimore a few years
before President Van Buren's general order. The laborers
of that city stopped work and paraded the streets with
drum and fife, proclaiming to the world that ten hours
should constitute a day's labor thereafter. The conflict was
decided in a week in favor of the workingmen, and for fifty
years men have as a rule worked but ten hours a day in
Baltimore.

The first widespread labor agitation in the United States
seems to have reached a climax about 1835, in which year I
see mention made of a National Trades-Union, although I

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN AMERICA. 57

have been able to find nothing further about it than that
Seth Luther was one of its delegates.*

Organized movement of the masses continued, but in a
rather feeble way, until towards the close of the late war.
In 1845 an agitation for the reduction of the hours of labor
in the factories of Massachusetts was begun, and was carried
on with some vigor until 1852, when the employers effected
a compromise by a reduction of two hours a week ; namely,
from sixty-eight to sixty-six hours, which then became the
rule.^ Among those who broke a lance for the laborers at
this time was William Claflin, later governor of the State,
who came out openly in favor of the ten-hour day.

The decade preceding the Civil War is remarkable in the
American labor movement, for the number of trades-unions
which were then organized on a national basis. First among
these to attract our attention is the International Typo-
graphical Union, which may be traced back to 1850, when a
"National Convention of Journeymen Printers" met in
New York. The year following, a meeting was held in
Baltimore ; but the formal permanent organization was not
eifected until 1852, when the printers met in Cincinnati.
The name then adopted was National Typographical Union,
which was changed to International Typographical Union

1 In 1835 several members of the New York City delegation to the
State Legislature were elected on the " Workingmen's Ticket." Among
these were Thomas Hertell and Job Haskell, a carman. See Thurlow
Weed's Autobiography, p. 406.

' Petitions were sent to the Massachusetts Legislature in favor of
the ten-hour day, and a special legislative committee made a report on
this subject in 1845. One of the petitioners, John Quincy Adams
Thayer, published a pamphlet on the subject, entitled " Review of the
Report of the Special Committee of the Legislature," etc., in which he
controverted the objection that " ten hours a day would be impracti-
cable."

58 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

at the annual meeting in Albany, N.Y., in 1869, so as to
include printers working in Canada. And it may be said in
this connection that this is the usual meaning of international
as a part of the title of American trades-unions. International
unions include Americans outside of the United States, chiefly
Canadians, and very few of them include Europeans. The
International Typographical Union is the oldest existing
American trades-union ; and this is an interesting fact, since
the American labor movement in this respect resembles the
labor movement elsewhere. Very generally we find the
printers among the pioneers in the organization of labor, for
which, I suppose, no other reason can be given than their
superior intelligence. In Italy, France, and Germany we
find the printers' unions among the oldest and strongest of
existing labor organizations.

The beginnings of the International Typographical Union
were humble, and, when compared with its present position,
insignificant. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Mary-
land, and Kentucky were the only States represented at the
convention in 1850.^ Now, nearly, if not quite, every State
in the Union, and several of the Territories, are represented
at the aimual sessions. When the Typographical Union
assumed the prefix " International," the total membership
was' 7,563 ; at the close of the year 1884-85 it was 18,000,
and is said to have increased 10,000 since the Report of
July, 1885. At one time the hostility of employers against
the union was very general ; now it is recognized, with few
exceptions, in all great printing-offices of the country, and
many employers support and assist it as a beneficial organi-
zation. This is notably the case with Mr. Childs, of the
" Public Ledger,'' who ranks among the great employers of

1 The oldest local union represented was the Baltimore Typograph-
ical Society, established in November, 1831.

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN AMERICA. 59

/abor in the country. In addition to previous gifts, Mr. Childs,
with Mr. Drexel, a banker, sent the union a check for
^10,000, at their meeting in 1886, — an example well worthy
of imitation on the part of other employers. The printers
have a creditable organ in the Craftsman, a weekly news-
paper published in Washington, D. C.

The hatters followed the printers in this country in 1854,
and again the resemblance to the labor movement elsewhere
is maintained ; and this not merely with respect to date of
organization, but with respect to general characteristics.
Probably no unions preserve so many of the characteristics
of the associations of journeymen in the old guilds. This
similarity is doubtless partly cause, partly effect, of the
active correspondence and general connection maintained
by the unions in Europe and America, although they are not
organized on an international basis.

The National Trade Association of Hat Finishers of the
United States of America was organized in 1854, but in
1868 was divided into two organizations; the one keeping
the old name, and the other changing it by the insertion of
" Silk and Fur," and becoming the Silk and Fur Hat Finishers'
Trade Association of the United States of America. The
general purpose is the protection of mutual interests of jour-
neymen; but special attention is given to the subject of
apprenticeship, in order that the supply of journeymen may
not become excessive. The number of members of the
National Trade Association of Hat Finishers reported in 1885
was 3,015 journeymen and 377 apprentices — a total of
3,392. This shows growth, for the census report has only
2,077 ™ 1879, ^^^ 2,361 in 1880.

The Silk and Fur Hat Finishers are a smaller body, num-
bering at the close of the year 1883, 584 journeymen and
59 apprentices — a total of 643.

60 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

The union called the "Sons of Vulcan," one of three
unions which, consolidated, became the Amalgamated Associ-
ation of Iron and Steel Workers, in 1876, was established
on April 17, 1858. More will be said about the Amalga-
mated Association presently.

A more remarkable trades-union, the "Iron Moulders'
Union of North America" was founded on July 5, 1859, by
William H. Sylvis, a labor leader who has left a deep impress
on the labor movement in the United States. The story
of his life, interesting and instructive, and withal not devoid
of a certain pathos, is told in the " Life, Speeches, Labors,
and Essays of William H. Sylvis," by his brother James G.
Sylvis, and is weU worthy perusal ; '^ for it shows in the con-
crete the struggles, the aspirations, the mode of life, and
manner of thought of one who attained an elevated position
as a workingman among workingmen.

A once strong union, the Machinists' and Blacksmiths'
Union of North America was founded in 1859, and was incor-
porated by Congress in 1859 ; the only union which, so far
as I know, ever received a charter from the United States
Government. This body wqs composed of smiths and
machine-makers at first, but afterwards, boiler-makers and
pattern-makers were added, and in 1877 it took the name of
Mechanical Engineers of the United States of America. Its
membership amounted to 18,000 in 1872, but had fallen to
5,000 in 1878;* and if it still exists, it must lead a very
quiet Hfe.

It is stated that twenty-six trades had national organiza-
tions in i860.

1 Published in Philadelphia in 1872, by Claxton, Remsen, & Haf-
felfinger.

" See Farnam's brochure, " Die Amerikanischen Gewerkvereine."
Leipzig, 1879, Seite 18.

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN AMERICA. 61

Second Period. 1861-1886.

The era of the Civil War brought men together, opened
new avenues of communication between various parts of the
country, stirred the minds of men mightily, setting them to
think deeply on social and economic topics, and finally
brought into prominence a vast number of labor problems,
due to fluctuations of the currency, to rapid changes from
prosperity to adversity, and also to the sudden and marvellous
accumulation of wealth in hands of successful business men
and lucky adventurers. Never before were there such sharp
contrasts in the country between riches and poverty. If this
was a misfortune in itself, a still greater evil was found in
the fact that no inconsiderable part of this wealth was
acquired by devices which could not be made to square with
the morality of the decalogue, to say nothing about the
higher ethical code which Christianity has brought us.
Another cause of the growth of trades-unions was the aboli-
tion of slavery, which had operated in two different ways
favorably to the progress of the labor movement. The discus-
sion concerning slave labor naturally led to reflection on the
condition of free laborers and their rights, and some of those
who had taken an active part in abolitionism passed over
into the ranks of those who were endeavoring to elevate the
laboring classes. Again the universal freedom of the laboring
classes from the yoke of slavery could not fail to have an
elevating influence on those engaged in manual toil. Yet
more important in its ultimate effect was the fact that this
vast country now opened an unobstructed field for the labor
movement. Two other especially weighty circumstances
must not fail to be mentioned. First, the concentration of
the laboring classes in large establishments in great industrial
centres had continued without interruption ; second, during

62 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

the war native labor had in many quarters been replaced by
foreign labor, and race antagonism added intensity to the
natural struggle between employer and employed. It is not
then surprising that during the closing years of the war, and
during the five succeeding years, a vast number of labor or-
ganizations were founded. Before enumerating some of the
more important of them, it is well to call attention to the
enlarged horizon of labor leaders during this period of the
movement now under consideration. New unions were
called International ; old unions took that name, and under
an impulse received from the International Working Peo-
ple's Association, founded by Carl Marx, there began to be a
reaching out on the part of the laboring classes for closer
old-world connections. As improvements in the means of
communication and transportation had aided the transforma-
tion of local unions into national unions ; so still further
improvements in this direction promoted the growth of In-
ternationalism. These facilities of communication and trans-
portation were in each case both cause and effect.

One of the most successful labor organizations is the first
one of the great trades-unions, founded during the war
period, and is composed of locomotive engiaeers, or engine-
drivers, as our English cousins would say. '^ I\was insti-
tuted at Detroit, Aug. 17, 1863, and was then called the
"Brotherhood of the Foot-board." It was reorganized at
Indianapolis, Aug. 17, 1864, under the name and title of
the Grand International Brotherhood of Locomotive Engi-
neers.

The year 1864 witnessed the birth of a powerful body in
the Cigar Makers' National Union, which in 1867 was ex-
tended to Canada, and became international in name as well
as in fact. There had been a previous attempt to form an
organization, and the cigar-makers of New York called a

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN AMERICA. 63

convention in 1856, in which employers took part. The aim
was to equahze prices for labor throughout the State. The
first local union of cigar-makers appears to have been formed
in Baltimore, in 1851.

The Bricklayers' and Masons' International Union of
America was formed on the 17th of October, 1865, and it
may be well to interrupt this enumeration by the quotation
of the " Preamble " found in the printed copy of the con-
stitution. It may be regarded as typical, though many of
the " preambles " to the constitutions of labor organizations
breathe a more conservative tone, while few are more radi-
cal. Others will be found reprinted in the Appendix.

The Preamble reads as follows : " At no period of the
world's history has the necessity of combination on the part
of labor become so apparent to any thinking mind as at the
present time ; and perhaps in no country have the working
classes been so forgetful of their own interests as in this great
republic.

" All other questions seem to attract the attention of the
workingman more than that which is most vital to his exist-
ence.

" Whereas, Capital has assumed to itself the right to own
and control labor for the accomplishment of its own greedy
and selfish ends, regardless of the laws of Nature and
Nature's God ; and whereas, experience has demonstrated
the utility of concentrated efforts in arriving at specific ends,
and it is an evident fact that if the dignity of labor is to be
preserved, it must be done by our united action; and
whereas, Believing the truth of the following maxims, that
they who would be free themselves must strike the blow,
that in union there is strength, and self-preservation is the
first law of nature, we hold the justice and truth of the prin-
ciple that merit makes the man ; and we firmly believe that

64 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

industry, sobriety, and a proper regard for the welfare of our
fellow-men form the basis upon which the principle rests ; we
therefore recognize no rule of action or principle that would
elevate wealth above industry, or the professional man above
the workingman. We recognize no distinction in society
except those based upon worth, usefulness, and good order ;
and no superiority except that granted by the Great Archi-
tect of our existence ; and calling upon God to witness the
rectitude of our intentions, we, the delegates, here assem-
bled, ordain and establish the following Constitution."

The Conductors' Brotherhood was organized in 1868, at
Mendota, 111. ; but it changed its name at its eleventh annual
meeting, and has since been known as the Order of Railway
Conductors.

The United States Wool Hat Finishers' Association was
organized in 1869, and four years later the furniture-workers
joined hands under the name "Trades-Union of Furniture
Workers" (Gewerkschaftsunion von Mobelarbeiter), which
was subsequently changed to International Furniture Work-
ers' Union of America. Though this is one of the smaller
societies of the United States, it is influential by reason of its
vigor and activity. It is composed chiefly of Germans, and
is one of the more radical unions.^ The Brotherhood of
Locomotive Firemen was formed in the same year, and was
followed in 1875 by the organization of the horseshoers in
Philadelphia. This association is called the National Union
of Horseshoers of the United States. It is composed chiefly
of Irishmen.

The Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers,

1 At the present time it may be well to state that I do not mean by
radical, violent and revolutionary, or anarchistic. No national labor
organization supports the theory of anarchy, but several, as we shall
see, favor far-reaching but peaceful social and industrial changes.

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN AMERICA. 6S

the strongest trades-union' in the country, was formed in
1876 by the consolidation of three unions : namely, the Sons
of Vulcan, already mentioned, the Associated Brotherhood
of Iron and Steel Heaters, and the Iron and Steel Roll
Hands' Union, of which the two latter were organized in

1873-

The Granite Cutters' National Union of the United States
of America was organized in 1877 ; the Brotherhood of Car-
penters and Joiners of America, in 1881 ; the Cigar Makers'
Progressive Union of America, in 1882 ; the National Hat
Makers', in 1883 ; the Railroad Brakemen, in 1884. The
coal-miners formed a National Federation in 1885, and illus-
trated a natural order of growth. Local societies formed
first State organizations, but improved facilities of communi-
cation and transportation have brought the various parts of
the country so near together that the necessity of national
organization has been keenly felt for some time.

The Journeymen Bakers' National Union of the United
States was organized in Pittsburg in January, 1886, and has
probably done as much to improve the condition of its
members, a most unfortunate class heretofore, as has ever
been accomplished by any American trades-union in the
same time ; though the good done has unfortunately been
attended with considerable friction between employers and
employees, for which the blame must undoubtedly be shared
by both sides.

Other trades-unions which must be mentioned are the
following : The Chicago Seamen's Union, the United Order
of Carpenters and Joiners, the Plasterers' National Union,
the Journeymen Tailors' National Union of the United

1 Several other stronger organizations which will be mentioned
are not trades-unions, but associations of laborers of various occupa-
tions, or combinations of different unions, or both.

66 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

States, Deutsch-Amerikanische Typographia (composed of
those setting type for German books or periodicals) , Ameri-
can Flint Glass Workers, and the Universal Federation of
Window Glass Workers. Workingmen who have national
or international organizations of which I am not acquainted
with the precise names are the boiler-makers, book-keepers
(clerks included) , bottle-blowers, stationary engineers, metal-
workers, piano-makers, plumbers, railroad switchmen, shoe-
lasters, spinners, stereotypers, telegraphers, silk-weavers,
wood-carvers.

Although there are omissions in this enumeration, it con-
tains a complete list, I believe, of the more important
national and international American trades-unions. It must
be remembered, however, in any estimate of the strength of
American trades-unions, that there are still a vast number of
independent local organizations. It is not at all improbable
that there may be as many as one hundred such in the city
of New York, and they will be found in every large Ameri-
can city. The strongest of these local unions, so far as I
know, is the Journeymen Bricklayers' Protective Association
of Philadelphia, which was organized in 1880, and now
embraces nearly two thousand members. On the 19th of
October this association dedicated the Bricklayers' Hall.
The building situated at the comer of Broad Street and Fair-
mount Avenue in Philadelphia, was constructed at a cost of
552,000, and is probably the finest building owned by an
American trades-union. The national trades-unions may,
roughly speaking, be said to vary in strength from two to
twenty-five thousand members to each. The latter number
is about the strength of the Amalgamated Association of
Iron and Steel Workers and the International Typographical
Union. Several unions have from ten to fifteen or sixteen
thousand members, while five, six, and seven thousand

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN AMERICA. 67

members is a common number. A few foreign trade socie-
ties have members in America. The two most prominent
of these are the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, Ma-
chinists, Millwrights, Smiths, and Pattern Makers, founded
in 1851, in England, and the Amalgamated Society of Car-
penters and Joiners, established in i860, which is likewise a
British Association. These two unions together have several
thousand American members.

Nearly all the more prominent organizations have monthly
or weekly organs; as, for example, The Carpenter, The
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers' Monthly journal,
Iron Moulders^ Monthly Journal, Firemen's Magazine,
Progress, issued by the Cigar Makers' Progressive Union,
Cigar Makers' Official Journal, issued by the Cigar
Makers' International Union, The Granite Cutters' Jour-
nal, The American Glass Worker, Furniture Workers'
Journal, etc. These are fairly well edited ; some of them,
it must be said, excellently, when one considers that their
editors are workingmen whose educational opportunities
have been comparatively slight. The fact that many of
these journals are printed in several languages is significant,
and is characteristic of the labor press. It is an indication
of the internationalism of the labor movement in the United
States. The greater part of the papers is generally in Eng-
lish, but next to English the German is the language most
used. French and Bohemian articles are occasionally found.

Many trades-unions, and other labor organizations, estab-
lished during various periods in our history, have perished ;
but it is not necessary to mention more than one or two of
these in this place. Probably the strongest of all the defunct
organizations was the order called the " Knights of St. Crispin,"
which was established on an international basis in 1869, and
included at one time nearly a hundred thousand members,

68 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

The local unions were called lodges, and these were joined
together in State or Provincial grand lodges, which, in turn,
were represented in the International Grand Lodge, the
supreme power of the order. There were State or Provin-
cial grand lodges in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts,
Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Kentucky, California, Ontario, New
Brunswick, and elsewhere. A separate branch, composed of
women, was called the " Daughters of St. Crispin."

The Knights of St. Crispin obtained great influence in the
boot and shoe manufacturing establishments of the country,
and used it to advance their interest. The order was
recognized by a large number of well-disposed manufacturers
for a time, and many disputes were settled amicably by arbi-
tration.

Their efforts were also directed to legislative reforms, and
the ten-hour law passed in Massachusetts in 1874 was due
largely to their agitation. But they looked beyond trades-
unions to the ultimate establishment of co-operative produc-
tion. As it is often, though erroneously, supposed that the
working classes of America have not given much attention to
co-operation, a quotation from the report of the Knights of
St. Crispin on co-operation in 187 1, may well be inserted at
this place ; especially as it is merely typical. It is as follows :
" We regard the trades-unions simply as an agent, a means
to an end, that should be to secure to the laborer a just
reward for his toil ; and, in so far as they afford the means
of resistance to encroaching capital and in their acknowl-
edged educational influence over the members, they are
indispensable, but we cannot help thinking if they stop with
simply preserving their numerical strength, they are in the
long run apt to fail and become extinct ; so, then, your com-
mittee while urging the use of every honorable means to
preserve the integrity of the .order, and extend its influence

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN AMERICA. 69

and usefulness, would just as earnestly urge our brothers to
use their utmost endeavors to build up in the order a system
of co-operation in both trade and manufactures ; for in so
doing they would not only improve their own condition, but
lift the order into a position of the highest respectability
and influence."

The last meeting of the International Grand Lodge was
held in 1873 ; and though a partially successful effort was
made to revive the order in 1876, and it received suiificient
strength to take part in the strikes of 1877 and 1878, it
never again regained a firm foothold. The causes of the
decay of the order were internal dissensions, and attacks
from employers, who were placed in a trying position by the
crisis of 1873, and the " hard times " in the following years ;
for there were always employers who did not accept the scale
of prices offered by the Crispins, and these soon began to
place goods on the market at lower figures than was possi-
ble for their competitors working in harmony with the Knights.
One source of great weakness which more than anything else
rendered it impossible for them to force all employers to
recognize them, was due to the wonderful division of labor
in the boot and shoe industry, in which there are sixty-four
distinct branches.* Most of the operations of the em-
ployees, it is manifest, must be simple in the extreme, and
on this account it was easy to supply the place of strikers
from the ranks of unskilled labor.

In 1866 the delegates of the various labor organizations
met in Baltimore, and formed what was called the National
Labor Union, which rapidly attained great strength, number-
ing, it is said, six hundred and forty thousand members in
1868. But its growth proved to be but of a mushroom
cJjaracter, for it expired in a few years of the disease known

1 See Farnam, I.e., p. 20.

70 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

as politics. Fatal malady ! how often has it destroyed bud-
ding but promising life ! However, the National Labor
Union accomplished two things : it gave an impulse to the
agitation for an eight-hour day, which is still felt j and it
issued a demand for a national bureau of labor statistics,
which was granted after a constant reiteration of the demand
during the succeeding twenty years. Earlier apparent suc-
cess attended the efforts of the National Labor Union to
establish an eight-hour day for the employees of government.
On the 24th of June, 1869, a bill for an eight-hour day was
introduced into Congress by General Banks, whose wife,
by the way, was once a factory girl in Lowell. This passed
the House and Senate, promptly received the signature of
the President of the United States, General Grant, and was
enforced in the Navy Yard at Charlestown, Mass., July 6
of the same year. But the politicians, who at the time of
elections are so fond of the laborers, usually care little for
the enforcement of laws in behalf of labor, and in violation
of the spirit of the law, the employees of the United States
were notified that our wealthy and powerful government
would reduce wages one-fifth ; but that those who so desired
could work ten hours at the old rates. The workingmen
showed their indignation in such manner as apparently to
make the politicians think of votes at future elections, or to
fear trouble, and the order was reversed by the President.
But success was again illusory. The eight-hour law is still
on our statute books, and a like law exists in several States,
but it is a dead letter."^ Can any one doubt if it were a law

1 It should be distinctly understood that all these eight-hour laws
relate chiefly to public employees; that is, to the civil servants of fed-
eral government, of State, or of municipality. They are not mandatory
for private employers of labor, though some of the State laws declare
that eight hours shall be a day's labor when nothing to the contrary is
stipulated.

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN AMERICA. 71

in favor of great railway corporations or banking institutions,
it would be enforced? Yet the political newspapers, who in
discussions of free trade and protection are often so solici-
tous about the welfare of the laborer, and are so sensitively
alive to his true interests that one would imagine that their
editors scarcely thought even of the existence of the remain-
ing classes of society, — these newspapers preserve a most
singular silence on the subject of our eight-hour laws. But
the agitation still goes on, and the laborers propose to settle
the matter sooner or later, without help of government, by
a general refusal to work longer than eight hours.

An effort was made to introduce the eight-hour day by
strikes in 1872 and 1873, when eight-hour leagues were
formed in some of the States and cities ; but only a small
measure of success attended this endeavor. A still greater
effort to introduce the eight-hour day was made on the ist of
May, 1886 ; but the most powerful labor organization, the
Knights of Labor, did not heartily indorse the movement,
as their chief, Mr. Powderly, and others did not think the
time ripe for it. Nevertheless, several hundred thousand
men struck ; but they again failed to accomplish their end,
although the failure in this case, as before, was not complete.
Many thousand laborers have attained an eight-hour day,
and a stiU larger number have received a reduction from ten
hours. Nine hours is common in the building trades, and
in some cases a workday of nine hours five days in the
week, and eight hours on Saturday, has been secured.^

1 Bradstreefs estimated the number of strikers for shorter hours at
200,000, of whom 50,000 were granted their demands, while 150,000
secured shorter hours, generally with full pay, without a strilce. But
on June 12, the same paper estimated that one-third of these had lost
what had been conceded to them, and predicted that a still larger
number would lose the advantage gained. There can be no doubt of

72 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

While the eight-hour movement has received a set-back
for the present, it is certain to come into prominence again,
and there is reason to think that it will be ultimately suc-
cessful.' The most intelligent men among the laboring
classes seem to be unanimously in favor of it, and some of
the best thinkers on social topics, outside of the laboring
classes, favor the establishment of an eight-hour day.

The Muses are frequently invoked by those who believe
in eight hours as the normal working-day, and the laborers
are inspired by song. The following poem, written some
time ago, is one of the many on this subject, and may be
taken as a specimen of the poetry which appears in the labor
press.^

EIGHT HOURS.

BY J. G. BLANCHARD.

We mean to make things over; we're tired of toil for nought
But bare enough to live on ; never an hour for thought.

this; but the 200,000 included only those who secured a reduction of
hours by the movement of May i, and not those, perhaps as many,
who were already working less than ten hours a day, as, for example,
the window-glass workers.

* Manufacturers express themselves as well pleased with the eight-
hour day in Australia, and it seems to give general satisfaction. Its
establishment is annually celebrated, and the most influential people on
the island participate in the festivities. While this in itself is not suffi-
cient to prove the desirability of the eight-hour day in the United States,
the Australian experiment deserves attention. The question is too large
for exhaustive treatment in this place, and I will only call attention to
this fact : investigations show that laborers as a rule make a good use
of the leisure afforded by shorter hours. At first, they are inclined to
spend the time foolishly, or worse than foolishly, but soon this changes.
The reports of English parliamentary commissions are instructive on
this topic.

2 This quotation is taken from Die Amerikanischen Arbeiterver-
hallnisse, by Dr. von Studnitz.

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN AMERICA. 73

We want to feel the sunshine, we want to smell the flowers;

We're sure that God has willed it, and we mean to have eight hours.

We're summoning our forces from the shipyard, shop, and mill.

Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, eight hours for what we wiU.

The beasts that graze the hillside, the birds that wander free

In the life that God has meted, have a better lot than we.

Oh ! hands and hearts are weary, and homes are heavy with dole;

If life's to be filled with drudgery, what need of a human soul 1

Shout, shout the lusty rally from shipyard, shop, and mill.

The very stones would cry out if labor's tongue were still !

The voice of God within us is calling us to stand

Erect, as is becoming the work of His right hand.

Should he to whom the Maker His glorious image gave.

Cower, the meanest of His creatures, a bread-and-butter slave !

Let the shout ring down the valleys, and echo from every hill.

Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, eight hours for what we wilL

The Patrons of Husbandry, or Grangers, as they are more
usually called, must receive notice in any account of the
labor movement in America, even if it be merely a
sketch like the present work. This order, founded in 1866,
although composed of independent farmers and not of em-
ployees, has not been without influence on labor movements
in the United States, and one of its chief officers writes me
that the Patrons of Industry desire their association to be
called a labor organization. The Patrons of Husbandry
grew rapidly during the first decade of their existence, and
in November, 1875, ^'^^i'^ membership was reported at
763,263 ; but a decline began soon after this which con-
tinued until two or three years ago, since which time there
has been a revival of interest and an increase of strength in
the Grange. It is a good sign that a connection has recently
been formed in several States between the Patrons of Hus-
bandry and the Knights of Labor, chiefly urban mechanics
and laborers ; for common action between city and country
cannot fail to fiimish both a healthy stimulus and a sound

74 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

conservatism to the entire labor movement. On this same
account it is to be greeted as a welcome omen that the
Farmers' Alliance of lUinois has become " part and parcel "
of the Knights of Labor, and that plans for common action
between the Knights and the farmers of Texas have been
formed, while rural assemblies of the Knights of Labor are
being organized in Ohio and Indiana.

The general aims of the Grangers are well set forth in
their "Declaration of Purposes," from which the following
quotation is an extract : —

" We shall endeavor to advance our cause by laboring to
accomplishing the following objects : To develop a better
and higher manhood and womanhood among ourselves.
To enhance the comforts and attractions of our homes, and
strengthen our attachments to our pursuits. To foster
mutual understanding and co-operation. ... To discounte-
nance the credit system, the mortgage system, the fashion
system, and every other system tending to prodigality and
bankruptcy.

" We propose meeting together, talking together, working
together, buying together, selling together, and in general
acting together for our mutual protection and advancement,
as occasion may require. We shall avoid litigation as much
as possible by arbitration in the Grange. . . .

" We are not enemies to capital, but we oppose the tyranny
of monopoUes. We long to see the antagonism between
labor and capital removed by common consent and by an
enlightened statesmanship worthy of the nineteenth century.
It shall be an abiding principle with us to relieve any of our
oppressed and suffering brotherhood by any means at our
command.

" Last, but not least, we proclaim it among our purposes to
inculcate a proper appreciation of the abilities and sphere of

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN AMERICA. 7S

woman, as is indicated by admitting her to membership
and position in our order."

The local units called Granges are united in State Granges,
and over the State Granges is the highest authority among
the Patrons of Husbandry, the National Grange. The
Grangers were perhaps the first power in this country to
curb our railways, and in this way they have accomplished
much good, though part of the legislation which they favored
and actually secured, particularly in the West and Northwest,
was unfortunately based on wrong principles, and could not
be permanent.

The achievements of the Patrons in co-operation, and the
educational value of their order, will receive attention in later
chapters of this book.

Uriah S. Stevens, a tailor of Philadelphia, called together
eight friends on Thanksgiving Day, in 1869, and organized a
society which in nineteen years has grown to be the most
powerful and the most remarkable labor organization of
modem times. Although the origin of the Knights of
Labor, for to this society reference is made, was thus hum-
ble, it was estabUshed on truly scientific principles, which
involved either an intuitive perception of the nature of indus-
trial progress, or a wonderful acquaintance with the laws
of economic society. It has thus happened that a new
phase of the labor movement has been inaugurated on
American soil and the general course of its future develop-
ment indicated.

The older trades-unions were perhaps the only form of
organization which could be usefully employed in an earlier
period ; but, although still useful, they are not large enough
to carry forward the labor movement of to-day, and the
reason for this becomes obvious with a little reflection on the
nature of modem production. The invention of new ma-

76 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

chinexy and the improvement in technical processes have
weakened the position of unions composed exclusively of
mechanics of a single trade. The division of labor, which
is one of the most marked features of industrial progress,
renders each particular step in manufacture comparatively
simple, and the relative number of workingmen requiring
special skill diminishes. It becomes easy to fill places of
union men who will not accept conditions satisfactory to
their employers from the ranks of unskilled labor. This, as
has already been remarked, was one cause of the fall of the
Knights of St. Crispin. But this is not all ; changes in manu-
factures are rendering entire classes of skUled mechanics quite
useless, and these fall into the class of unskilled labor, which
is thus constantly filled to repletion. Take the case of printers ;
men are now endeavoring to invent a type-setting machine,
which will place this skill among other useless acquirements.
Should they succeed, it is not easy to see of what use the
International Typographical Union could be to its members,
unless it should indeed change its character, enlarge its
scope, and enter into closer connection with other labor
organizations. Now the order of the Knights of Labor was
founded with a perception of these facts, and those who
originated it, and have given to it its animus, have sought to
organize a society which should embrace all branches of
skilled and unskilled labor, for mutual protection, for the
promotion of industrial and social education among the
masses, and for the attainment of beneficent public and pri-
vate reforms. There is provided room within the order for
separate trades-unions, with their own rules and regulations,
united by a federal tie, as well as for those outside of any
unions.

Long before the Knights of Labor became known to the
world, John Stuart Mill, with that marvellous insight into

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN AMERICA. 77

economic and social relations which at times characterized
him, described one of the fundamental principles of the
Knights of Labor as that which should characterize future
labor organizations. " If," said he, " no improvement were
to be hoped for in the general circumstances of the working
classes, the success of a portion of them, however small, in
keeping their wages, by combination, above the market-rate,
would be wholly a matter of satisfaction. But when the
elevation of the character and condition of the entire body
has at last become a thing not beyond the reach 'of rational
effort, it is time that the better-paid classes of skilled artisans
should seek their own advantage in common with, and not
by exclusion of, their fellow-laborers. While they continue
to fix their hopes on hedging themselves in against competi-
tion, and protecting their own wages by shutting out others
from access to their employment, nothing better can be
expected from them than total absence of any large and
generous aims. . . . Success, even if attainable in raising up
a protected class of working people, would now be a hin-
drance instead of a help to the emancipation of the working
classes at large."

The reason for this judgment is, that improvements in
means of production have now rendered the elevation of the
entire body an object of rational effort. Consequently, did
we succeed in the attempt to elevate skilled artisans and
mechanics, and solve the labor question in so far as they are
concerned, there would remain still a great mass at the
bottom of society with pressing and unsatisfied needs. A
" Fifth Estate " would arise and clamor for emancipation.
The problem of production is well on the way to solution.
What now agitates the public is the problem of distribution,
and the Knights of Labor propose to assist in its solution for
the entire race. They reason correctly that if they can

78 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

elevate the lowest social stratum, they will raise all other
strata. It is thus that they put themselves in line with the
precepts of Christianity. The strong help to bear the in-
firmities of the weak, and no grander conception of human
brotherhood than that which they profess, characterizes any
movement of our times.^

The local societies are called local assemblies, generally
indicated by the letters L. A., and these may be composed
entirely of men of one trade, or of men of various pursuits.
In the latter case it is called mixed. Three-fourths of the
members of new " locals " must be wage-workers ; but men
of all classes are admitted, with the exception of bankers,
stock-brokers, professional gamblers, lawyers, and those who
in any way derive their living from the manufacture or sale
of intoxicating liquors. Above the local assemblies are the
district assembUes, which are sometimes geographical and
sometimes trade distinctions. Richmond and Manchester,
Virginia, constitute one district. Locals and districts are
distinguished by numbers. "District Assembly" 41, for
example, includes the local assemblies of Baltimore and
vicinity, while " Local Assembly " 300 is composed of glass-

1 Mr. Powderly explains well the present situation in these words,
taken from the New York Sun of March 29, 1886 : " With the intro-
duction of labor-saving machinery the trade (of machinists and black-
smiths) was all cut up, so that a man who had served an apprenticeship
of five years might be brought in competition with a machine run
by a boy, and the boy woidd do the most and the best. I saw that
labor-saving machinery was bringing the machinist down to the level
of a day laborer, and soon they would be on a level. My aim was to
dignify the laborer." In the same article he mentions the fact that his
greatest difficulty in inducing the machinists and blacksmiths to join
the Knights of Labor lay in the contempt with which they looked
upon other workers. This is characteristic of the narrow spirit which
formerly separated the various trades.

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN AMERICA. 79

workers. Some of the locals are not included in any district,
but are directly subordinate to the highest authority in the
order, the " General Assembly," a delegate body or congress
representing the entire order. This is the case with L. A.
300, which is larger than some district assemblies ; about
twice as large, for example, as D. A. 59, which embraces
locals in Chicago and vicinity.'^ Some of the assemblies
have adopted special names, as the " Henry George Assem-
bly" ; while the locals composed exclusively of women occa-
sionally prefer some more poetical or mysterious designation;
one in Baltimore, for example, bears the name, " The Un-
known " ; while another, in Texas, is called " The Guid-
ing Star Assembly."

The " Noble Order of the Knights of Labor " was at first
an organization the very existence of which was kept a
secret. Its name was never mentioned, but it was indicated
by five stars, thus *****, and for several years it grew rapidly
in this profound secrecy. Finally, however, rumors becariie
rife about "The Five Stars," as it was called, and Philadel-
phians noticed with trepidation that a few cabalistic chalk-
marks in front of " Independence HaU " could bring several
thousand men together. Alarm spread, newspapers circu-
lated absurd fictions in regard to its designs, in which accu-
sations of communism and incendiarism were prominent,
and Catholic and Protestant clergymen hastened to de-
nounce the unknown monster. Finally it was decided to
abandon the policy of extreme secrecy'' which had character-
ized the infancy of the order, and it came before the world
with a statement of principles and repudiated all con-

1 This statement is based on the statistics in the Report of the Gen-
eral Secretary at the last General Assembly, which was held at Hamil-
ton, Ontario, October, 1885.

2 A special meeting was held to consider this matter in June, 1878,

80 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

nection with violent and revolutionary associations. The
pledge^ binding members not to divulge the affairs of the
Knights was declared not binding with reference to the con-
fessional, and thus the hostility of the Roman Catholic clergy
was generally overcome, and many priests of this church have
since then become warm friends of the order, although it has
met with denunciation on the part of one or two of its higher
authorities, particularly in Canada. The first general assem-
bly was held in Reading, Pa., in 1878, when its membership
is said to have amounted to eighty thousand. A meeting of
the General Assembly has been held annually since then,
and of late years each annual report shows growth. In 1883
the number of members in round figures was 52,000; in
1884, 71,000 ; 1885, 111,000. The reports are dated July i

in the city of Philadelphia. The call, signed by the founder, Uriah S.
Stevens, then Grand Master Workman, was headed : —

"N. andH. O.

OF THE
* # * * #

Of North America.

peace and prosperity to the faithful!

To the Fraternity wherever found. Greeting: —

SPECIAL CALL."

The reason for this special call is stated to be " on account of what
is believed by many of our most influential members to be an
emergency of vast and vital importance to the stability, usefulness, and
influence of our order." The business to come before the meeting, as
further stated, " is to consider the expediency of making the name of
the Order public for the purpose of defending it from the fierce assaults
and defamation made upon it by press, clergy, and corporate capital,
and to take such further action as shall effectually meet the grave

EMERGENCY."

' It is now simply one's word of honor.

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN AMERICA. 81

in each case. The growth during the past year has been
entirely without precedent ; and though no one knows the
present membership,^ estimates range from three to five
hundred thousand. Occasionally one hears rumors of one
million, a million and a half, and even two miUion members ;
but there appears to be no ground whatever for such esti-
mates. It is, however, doubtless true that over one million
persons have at one time or another been members of the
order, possibly even two millions, and it is not at all improb-
able that a million Americans sympathize with its general
aims and endeavor to act in harmony with its movements.
Under pressure of hard times members will drop out of work-
ingmen's societies, and it is difficult to keep alive an interest
in an organization among the less intelligent laborers, who are
apt to join to accomplish some temporary purpose, or out of
love of novelty. But these same men who have dropped
out will, under favorable circumstances, again pour into the
organizations. The consequence is, that the number of
members actually on the rolls of labor organizations is apt to
give but an imperfect idea of their strength. It must further
be remembered, that as the better workmen are, as a rule,
members of trades-unions and the other associations, these
various societies often lead even those who have always been
non-union men. The growth of the Knights of Labor during
the past two years has been more remarkable in the South
and East of the United States than elsewhere. The report
for July, 1884, shows sixty- four members in Richmond; now
one hears rumors, apparently well founded, of six and seven
thousand, even of eight thousand, and it is certain that the
Knights were able to elect a municipal ticket in the spring
of 1886 by a large majority. They swept the city, as the

1 This was written in July, 1886, and the annual reports are not pub-
lished until later in the year.

82 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

saying is. Four years ago there was not a local assembly
south of Baltimore ; now local assemblies are springing
up in all parts of the South, which some think is the
most favorable soil for the order, as it is not occupied
to any great extent by trades-unions, and thus offers a
free field. There were four local assemblies in Massa-
chusetts in 1882; in October, 1885, 125. Of the 261
"locals" organized in December, 1885, 30 were in Massa-
chusetts. There were seven locals in the single city of
Haverhill in 1885, and of these one, numbering nearly eight
hundred, was composed exclusively of women, and another
consisted of French Canadians. Among the Knights in
this place are eight or ten shoe-manufacturers, and several
men of prominence in the town.

Two facts which must be mentioned here are among
the peculiarities of the present phase of the labor move-
ment. The first is the position taken with reference to
women on the one hand, on the other the attitude of women
. towards the Knights of Labor. It is clearly recognized that
women have been, and are still, more oppressed than men,
and the truth has been fully perceived that it is impossible
to better the condition of the masses permanently unless the
lot of workingwomen is ameliorated. As a consequence,
the Knights are everywhere endeavoring to help women to
secure higher wages and more favorable conditions of service.
This effort has been manifested in a thousand different ways.
When girls have struck on account of indecent treatment in
factories, they have found the Knights their most ardent
champions, and large contributions have been made by them
and other organized workingmen to support their sisters.
Another manifestation of a somewhat different character, and
also t)T)ical, was recently observed when an American, who
had abused his wife, was expelled from the order and word

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN AMERICA. 83

was sent to Canada, whither he had emigrated, to have
nothing to do with the unworthy scoundrel. A third illus-
tration of this praiseworthy endeavor is seen in the co
operative shirt factory in Baltimore, lately started by the
workingmen of that city to help the poor sewing women.
A new regard for women is thus being cultivated among the
masses, and the full significance of this can only be appre-
ciated by him who takes large views of the movements of
the day, for the full fruition of seed now sown will not be
perceived for many years to come. The workingwomen of
the country are, as would naturally be expected, learning to
value the "noble order" highly, and many of them are
becoming members. Women are among the most ardent,
self-sacrificing supporters of this labor movement.

The second fact to which attention must be directed is
the membership among the negroes in the South, who are
so much inclined to societies of various kinds that one can
scarcely find a colored person, male or female, who does
not belong to at least one. They are now everywhere join-
ing the Knights of Labor, who do not discriminate against
them, and are considered among their most faithful mem-
bers. The following item in the news sent from Richmond
to the Associated Labor Press in April, 1885, is only one of
many indications of the attitude of the colored people which
might be cited : " The negroes are with us heart and soul,
and have organized seven assemblies in this city and one
in Manchester with a large membership."

It is said that the largest accessions have come of late
from the farmers, and the following States are reported as
those in which farmers have either joined the Knights in
large numbers, or have entered into friendly relations with
them . through their own organizations : Virginia, Texas,
Nebraska, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois. One begins to

84 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

hear of the Knights of Labor in England and Belgium, and
if the order survives internal dissensions/ it will soon attain
a position of influence in Europe. The order can scarcely
be called secret now, as it conceals none of its plans. It is
found useful to exclude non-members from its meetings for
several obvious reasons. One is the bitter hostility of certain
employers who have " victimized " members of the organi-
zation. It was largely on this account that its profound
secrecy was first maintained; for the determination seems
to have been early reached to pursue a more open course as
soon as it could protect its members. For the same reason
it is deemed desirable in a few places to pursue the early
policy, and not to mention the existence of assemblies
in these localities. Another reason for closing meetings to
the public is, the greater freedom in debate and discussion.
The members are for the most part men whose educational
advantages have been slight, and in feeling about for
theoretical truth, or a correct course of action, they very
properly do not desire to incur the ridicule of the press,
which could do little good, and would certainly do much
harm.

One of the best achievements of the Knights of Labor is
the good opinion they have won of many intelligent employ-
ers who really wish their laborers well. A forcible example
of this was exhibited in Baltimore not long since. The
employees of one of the most prominent manufacturers in
the city joined the order on his advice to them to do so,
and his testimony in a meeting of the Board of Trade,
together with arguments of other members, sufficed to
induce that body to pass resolutions which were favorable to

1 Those who imagine attacks from without can destroy it are greatly
mistaken. At the present juncture nothing could be so useful to the
order of the Knights of Labor as a little persecution.

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN AMERICA. 85

labor organizations, and highly creditable to the broad intel-
ligence and generous feeling of its members.

The change of feelings in regard to the Knights of Labor
is well brought out in the following quotation from the New
York Sun : —

"Manufacturers who a few years ago would have had
nothing to do with the Executive Board/ and would have
resented any interference in their affairs by it, now send for
it to arbitrate between their help and themselves. For
instance, in a potters' strike, in 1882, the employers in
Trenton refused to resume work until their men quitted the
Knights of Labor. This year, in the face of another diffi-
culty between their men and themselves, they agreed to
submit their difficulty to the Executive Board. The men
were out on strike, and the Board declined to do anything
until the men were taken back at the old prices. In three
days they submitted a new scale to the employees and
strikers, and, as Secretary Turner says, ' succeeded in pleas-
ing both sides for the first time in our history.' The Pot-
ters' Association passed a vote of thanks to the Board."

" The capitalists used to think we were demons, or men
with horns on our foreheads," said Mr. Turner; "but they
find, instead, a little party of plain men who have only one
aim — that of making peace and bringing about justice."

The Preamble of the Knights of Labor contains their
declaration of purposes, and reads as follows : —

Preamble of the Knights of Labor.

The alarming development and aggressiveness of great capital-
ists and corporations, unless checked, will inevitably lead to the
pauperization and hopeless degradation of the toiling masses.

1 Officers of the General Assembly, whose functions are indicated
by their name.

86 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

It is imperative, if we desire to enjoy the full blessings of life,
that a check be placed upon unjust accumulation and the power
for evil of aggregated wealth.

This much-desired object can be accomplished only by the
united efforts of those who obey the divine injunction, " In the
sweat of thy face thou shalt eat bread."

Therefore we have formed the Order of Knights of Labor, for
the purpose of organizing and directing the power of the indus-
trial masses, not as a political party, for it is more : in it are
crystalized sentiments and measures for the benefit of the whole
people; but it should be borne in mind, when exercising the
right of suffrage, that most of the objects herein set forth can
only be obtained through legislation, and that it is the duty of
all to assist in nominating and supporting with their votes only
such candidates as will pledge their support to these measures,
regardless of party. But no one shall, however, be compelled
to vote with the majority, and calling upon all who believe in
securing " the greatest good to the greatest number" to join and
assist us, we declare to the world that our aims are : —

I. To make industrial and moral worth, not wealth, the true
standard of individual and national greatness.

II. To secure for the workers the full enjoyment of the wealth
they create; sufficient leisure in which to develop their intel-
lectual, moral, and social faculties ; all of the benefits, recreation,
and pleasure of association ; in a word, to enable them to share
in the gains and honors of advancing civilization.

In order to secure these results, we demand at the hands of
the State : —

III. The establishment of Bureaus of Labor Statistics, that
we may arrive at a correct knowledge of the educational, moral,
and financial condition of the laboring masses.

IV. That the public lands, the heritage of the people, be
reserved for actual settlers ; not another acre for railroads or
speculators ; and that all lands now held for speculative purposes
be taxed to their full value.

V. The abrogation of all laws that do not bear equally upon
capita] and labor, and the removal of unjust technicalities, delays,
and discriminations in the administration of justice.

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN AMERICA. 87

VI. The adoption of measures providing for the health and
safety of those engaged in mining, manufacturing, and building
Industries, and for indemnification to those engaged therein for
injuries received through lack of necessary safeguards.

VII. The recognition, by incorporation, of trades-unions,
orders, and such other associations as may be organized by the
working masses to improve their condition and protect their
rights.

VIII. The enactment of laws to compel corporations to pay
their employees weekly, in lawful money, for the labor of the
preceding week, and giving mechanics and laborers a first lien
upon the product of their labor to the extent of their full
wages.

IX. The abolition of the contract system on national. State,
and municipal works.

X. The enactment of laws providing for arbitration between
employers and employed, and to enforce the decision of the
arbitrators.

XI. The prohibition by law of the employment of children
under fifteen years of age in workshops, mines, and factories.

XII. To prohibit the hiring out of convict labor.

XIII. That a graduated income tax be levied.
And we demand at the hands of Congress : —

XIV. The establishment of a national monetary system, in
which a circulating medium in necessary quantity shall issue
direct to the people, without the intervention of banks ; that all
the national issue shall be full legal tender in payment of all
debts, public and private; and that the government shall not
guarantee or recognize any private banks, or create any banking
corporations.

XV. That interest-bearing bonds, bills of credit, or notes,
shall never be issued by the government ; but that, when need
arises, the emergency shall be met by issue of legal tender, non-
interest-bearing money.

XVI. That the importation of foreign labor under contract be
prohibited.

XVII. That, in connection with the post-office, the govern-

88 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

meat shall organize financial exchanges, safe deposits, and facil-
ities for deposit of the savings of the people in small sums.

XVIII. That the government shall obtain possession, by pur-
chase, under the right of eminent domain, of all telegraphs, tele-
phones, and railroads ; and that hereafter no charter or license
be issued to any corporation for construction or operation of any
means of transporting intelligence, passengers, or freight.

And while making the foregoing demands upon the State and
national government, we will endeavor to associate our own
labors : —

XIX. To establish co-operative institutions such as will tend
to supercede the wage system, by the introduction of a co-opera-
tive industrial system.

XX. To secure for both sexes equal pay for equal work.

XXI. To shorten the hours of labor by a general refusal to
work for more than eight hours.

XXII. To persuade employers to arbitrate all differences
which may arise between them and their employees, in order that
the bonds of sympathy between them may be strengthened, and
that strikes may be rendered unnecessary.

This sketch of labor organizations cannot be complete
without a word about "The Federation of Organized Trades
and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada," and
about our Central Labor Unions, or Trades Assemblies, or
Federations of Labor, as they are variously called.

The first of these central labor unions has been already
mentioned as having existed in New York in 1833, under
the name of the General Trades Union of the City of New
York. Another was formed in Cincinnati in 1864. Now
they exist in New York, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, New Haven,
Boston, Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco, Baltimore, Wash-
ington, and probably in every one of the chief cities of the
United States. They are delegate bodies, to which each
local union sends representatives, so that the laborers of a

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN AMERICA. 89

vicinity may act solidly together. Recently a movement has
been set on foot to call a convention of representatives of all
central labor unions, to solidify still further the interests
of labor in all great American cities, and to secure harmo-
nious action for common ends.

The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions,
organized in Pittsburg in 1881, is for the labor organizations
of the United States and Canada what the central labor
unions are to the local organizations in the cities, and is
founded on the model of the Trades Union Congress of
England. It aims to promote the common interest of all
trades-unions and labor organizations, and to watch the
course of legislation in order to promote that which is con-
sidered beneficial, and to repress that which is regarded as
injurious. Its last annual meeting was held in Washington
in December, 1885, when it claimed to represent two hun-
dred and eighty thousand workingmen.

What is the total number of organized laborers at the
present time in the United States? This is something
which no human being knows or can know with any statis-
tics at command. There are, however, data which enable
one to form a rational opinion j and although space will not
permit an enumeration of such facts as are known, I do not
hesitate to say that I consider a million a conservative esti-
mate ; while it is quite possible that the number may be far
longer. It is not improbable that one-fourth of our indus-
trial wage-workers belong to some kind of organization.^

' My estimate is far more conservative than that of others. Mr.
Henry Semler, of San Francisco, is quoted as saying that in his
opinion ninety-nine out of every hundred Americans belonged to some
kind of an organization, and that ninety-five out of a hundred belonged
to a mutual aid society of one description or another. I regard this
as true only of our colored population.

90 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

Nearly all the laborers engaged in certain branches of pro-
duction in industrial centres are organized, and in other
employments a very considerable majority. It is said, for
example, that four-fifths of the locomotive engineers, and an
equal proportion of locomotive firemen, belong to their
respective unions. The president of the Lake Seamen's
Union testified before the Blair Committee on Labor three
years since, that his organization embraced about seventy-
five per cent "of the persons engaged as sailors on the
lakes."

A reaction appears to have set in,' and it is probable that
for some time to come the power of organized labor will
decrease ; but a change will again come, and the unions
and various associations will once more report an increasing
membership. The progress of the labor movement may be
compared to the incoming tide. Each wave advances a
little further than the previous one ; and he is the merest
tyro in social science, and an ignoramus in the history of his
country, who imagines that a permanent decline has over-
taken organized labor,* whatever his talents or acquisitions
may be in other respects. It is to be noticed that before
this reaction set in, the organization of labor progressed with
such gigantic strides that it was almost impossible to keep
pace with it. The gain of the Knights of Labor, over
seventy-five per cent from 1884 to 1885, was characteristic
of the growth of the entire labor movement.

Another measure of growth is the progress of the press,

1 Written in July, 1886.

2 A writer for one of the leading journals in the country
headed an editorial in 1877, "The Overthrow of Trades Unionism."
It was directed specially against the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engi-
neers and its chief, Mr. Arthur. That brotherhood is now stronger
than ever before, and Mr. Arthur stands high in public opinion in 1886.

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN AMERICA. 91

which represents a given cause. A German student who
wrote a book on American labor in 1876, remarked it as a
characteristic of the movement in this country that the labor
press was small and insignificant. To-day there may be five
hundred labor newspapers in the United States, and among
them are nine or ten dailies. It is doubtfiil if there was a
single labor paper in the South three years ago, unless possi-
bly in New Orleans. In 1885 there were three in Rich-
mond, a city of less than one hundred thousand inhabitants.
The number of the labor papers is increasing every week.
Some of them are edited with considerable ability; many
are enlarging their size, using better type than hitherto, and
are giving other signs of a secure footing.'' In short, the evi-
dences of astounding rapidity in the progress of the organi-
zation of labor are so overwhelming that they appear on
every hand, and fairly force themselves upon us. It is
further to be noticed, that these organizations have taken
deeper root than ever before ; one striking proof of which
is that they have continued to grow in power during the last
few years of stagnation in business, while the hard years
following the panic of 1873 so nearly ruined them that
many drew the over-hasty conclusion that they were alto-
gether devoid of strong vitality.

Now comes the question, — the momentous question, —
What does all this mean? What is its significance? An
attempt will be made to give a satisfactory reply in the fol-
lowing chapters.

^ Written before the reaction.

CHAPTER IV.i

THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS.

TRADES-UNIONS and other associations of laborers
are designed to protect and advance the interest of
the great mass of the working classes. They are intended
primarily for the average man, and not for those with extra-
ordinary economic capacities. The latter class may occa-
sionally find them useful, but usually men possessed of
economic gifts of a higher order wish no help from labor
organizations. They desire a free course, and ask to be let
alone. There can be no more useful person in the com-
munity than the talented man, provided he is at the same
time a man obedient to the dictates of practical ethics ; and
it is desirable that his freedom of movement should not be
restrained, so long as he does not intrench upon the liberties
of his neighbor, or does not otherwise injure his fellow-men.
It win at times happen that the cheapest man in a town is
the " captain of industry," whose unusual abilities )deld him
an annual income of twenty, thirty, or forty thousand dollars
per annum ; and by saying that he is the cheapest man in
the town, I mean that he renders greater service to the
community for every dollar received than any one else.

1 Credit for much that is in this chapter must be given to Professor
Bruntano, whose treatment of this subject in his " Gewerbliche Arbei-
terfrage " is the best that I have seen. This monograph is published
in the first volume of Schonberg's " Handbuch der politischen Oekon-
omie." Passages enclosed in quotation marks are from Professor
Brentano where nothing to the contrary is stated.

ECONOMIC VALUE OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 93

Though it is often necessary to put a check on greed, and
to restrain the activity of the unscrupulous, the true policy
for all social classes, and therefore for society as a whole, is
to encourage the development of talent.

But one of the elementary truths which we in this country
specially need to grasp is that the average man is not a
peculiarly gifted man. What do we mean by able, talented,
and such expressions? By them we call attention to the
fact that a man is superior to the vast majority. The
terms are relative, and as ordinarily used they can no more
apply to all men than two and two can make five. This is
simple ; but nothing is more fraught with weighty conse-
quences, and nothing is oftener overlooked in discussions
of social problems. How common is the saying, "There is
always plenty of room on the top shelf," or " in the upper
story." What of it? All men can no more get there than
every tree in the forest can be taller than all the other trees.
Yet people talk as if this were possible. The extreme of this
absurdity is seen in the traditional elderly gentleman who
tells all the boys in the village school that they may one day
become President of the United States. Though doubtless
spoken in ignorance, it is, in the nature of things, a false-
hood. Let us, then, begin any treatment of the labor ques-
tion, or any other social problem, with a frank recognition
of the fact that we have to deal with the ninety-nine out of
a hundred who by no human possibility can ascend to the
" upper story." One hundred men may struggle never so
hard ; but if they are to have only one leader, only one can
rise to that position of eminence. You may urge them on
and render the struggle severer, but the ultimate result is
the same. Take the case of independent producers. The
relative number of those who belong to that class has been
steadily diminishing for years, as production on a large scale

94 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

has taken the place of the small shop. It lies, then, in the
nature of things, that under our present industrial system the
relative portion of wage-receivers in manufactories must in-
crease. It is not the fault of the laborer ; it is not the fault
of their employers. When one begins to discuss the labor
question, one often hears the remark, " The majority of rich
manufacturers began themselves as poor boys. They were
once employees." The statement itself wiU not bear such
close scrutiny as some might think, for it is not so true of an
old country as of a new ; not so true of the manufacturers
of forty years of age as of those of seventy. But if we
accept the statement, what of it? What bearing has that
on the condition of those who remain journeymen all their
lives? Is not your self-made man — who, as Horace
Greeley said, is sometimes too inclined to worship his own
creator — often the most haughty, overbearing, and tyran-
nical?'' Not always ; for nobler men do not live than some
of these. But too often it is true, and the laborer whose
master was once a workingman himself has then cause to regret
it. It ought at the same time to "be remarked, that where
one laborer rises to the position of a wealthy man, ten small
producers have lost their independent positions and fallen
into the rank of wage-receivers. The gradual disappearance
of the village carpenter, the village shoemaker, and others
of that class, is a fact well known in our own East ; and in
older countries, the distress of the once large and flourishing
class of small masters working with two or three journeymen
has given rise to a social problem.

Let us allude to another allied fallacy. The news-
papers tell us that the sons of rich men squander their
property and fall into the ranks of poor people; and

1 See Dickens' " Hard Times " for a description of the worst class
of self-made men.

ECONOMIC VALVE OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 95

this is repeated again and again as if it ought to allay
anxiety about the future. Most happily the statement
is only exceptionally truej but if it were the unfortu-
nate state of affairs, how could it solve any social prob-
lem?

Let us put away all these shallow sophistries. What we
want in this country is to know how to improve the laboring
man as a laboring man — for such the great mass must
remain for many years to come, and it may be safe to say
for generations to come, whatever unknown conditions a
future social development may bring us. To elevate the
farmer as a farmer, the mechanic as a mechanic, the artisan
as an artisan, in short, to lift the entire " Fourth Estate," as
it is called, should be the effort of public reform and private
philanthropy. It is not our pubHc schools in themselves
which turn our youth away from manual occupations, but
the cry " rise in life " which fills the air and which leads to
false estimates of human worthiness. Truly, every one
should attempt to " rise in Itfe " in the correct meaning of
those words, but our schoolbooks, our periodicals for the
young, and, one might almost say, our entire literature, all
are carrying to our young people throughout the length and
breadth of the land the conception that to rise in life means
to become a great manufacturer, a railway president, or a
merchant prince. No wonder that humble toil is scorned.
Wise words uttered by Charles Kingsley, a man who has
done great things to elevate the masses, deserve to be
emphasized among us precisely at the present time, even
though they may contain a slight exaggeration of the truth
which I would convey. " I do not think," says Kingsley,
" the cry ' get on ' to be anything but a devil's cry. The
moral of my book [Alton Locke] is that the workingman
who tries to get on, to desert his class and rise above it,

96 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

enters into a lie, and leaves God's path for his own — with
consequences."^

" Second, I believe that a man might be, as a tailor or a
costermonger, every inch of him a saint and scholar and a
gentleman, for I have seen some few such already. I
believe hundreds of thousands more would be so if their
businesses were put on a Christian footing and themselves
given by education, sanitary reforms, etc., the means of
developing their own latent capabiUties. I think the cry
'rise in life' has been excited by the very increasing im-
possibility of being anything but brutes while they struggle
below. ... I believe from experience that when you put
workmen into human dwellings and give them a Christian
education, so far from wishing discontentedly to rise out of
their class or to level others to it, exactly the opposite takes
place. They become sensible of the dignity of work, and
they begin to see their labor as a true calling in God's
church now that it is cleared from the accidentia which
made it look in their eyes only a soulless drudgery in a
devil's workshop of a world."

Trades-unions and labor organizations are, then, designed
to remove disadvantages under which the great mass of
workingmen suffer, and must continue to suffer unless they
get rehef either by voluntary combination or by combined
political action. What are these disadvantages ? Adam
Smith and his French predecessors, the Physiocrats, desired
to remove from the laborer all legal restrictions which im-
peded his freedom of movement, and to give him the right
to enter into such agreements with those who might desire

* The hero of this wonderful novel expresses the complaint in one
place — and that with a tinge of bitterness — that the workingman who
remains true to his class and tries to help it, is called a demagogue. Is
this true only of England?

ECONOMIC VALUE OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 97

his service as he could effect. The reforms which they
proposed, and which subsequent legislation in the latter
part of the eighteenth century and the earlier part of the
nineteenth introduced, were chiefly' negative in their char-
acter. The watchword was, " Remove the shackles." The
economic philosophers of the time beUeved that legal
equality and freedom of contract were the sole conditions
needed to enable the working classes to secure a share of
the product of national industry, a share sufficient to serve
as a basis for their physical, ethical, and spiritual develop-
ment. This theory was based on two fallacies, — the first was
the assumption of the natural equality of men. " The differ-
ences found among men in their opinion were not due to
original, native quaUties, but were the result of education,^
legislation, and government. Could the restrictions of the
State be removed they believed that each member of society
would be able to promote his own interests most efficiently
without aid from others, and would be able to guard his
own interests in the economic struggle for existence. But
the equality of men is a chimera, and only those of extraor-
dinary capacities have the ability so to utilize the resources
at their command as to obtain the highest possible return
from them.'' The inequahty of men in economic affairs, and
the inability of those who occupy a lower grade in economic

1 The word chiefly is used advisedly. Important exceptions can be
found in Adam Smith; for example, he says, that whenever any legisla-
tion favors the workingman, it is always just.

^ Adam Smith dwells at length on the idea that the difference be-
tween a superior member of the upper classes and a very ordinary
man, is due chiefly, if not wholly, to education and early surroundings.
Had their places been changed in infancy, the change would have con-
tinued, so he argues, throughout life. There is doubtless a large kernel
of truth in this, but its import is exaggerated. Exaggerated still further,
it became the doctrine of circumstances advocated by Robert Owen.

98 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

development to obtain a satisfactory share of the products
of industrial activity, is seen most vividly in the case of
our native Indians. It has taken us hundreds and perhaps
thousands of years to arrive at our present economic stage
of growth since we left the " hunting and fishing stage," and
when the Indians are immediately transferred to the con-
ditions of our industrial civihzation, they are apt to be
economically ruined. This was demonstrated in the case of
the Chippewa Indians in Michigan. When their reserva-
tion was divided and given to them in severalty, white
scoundrels soon got it away from them, and it is said that
designing men who have covetous eyes fastened on the
Indian reservations are at the bottom of the present agita-
tion to have land granted to the Indians in severalty.^ Now
our laboring classes are happily not in the condition of the
Indians. The average man has advanced beyond that stage,
but it is true that " those whose economic qualifications are
only average will never attain even a moderate development
of their natural capacities without organization."

The second fallacy was the assumption that labor is a
commodity just like other commodities, and the laborer a
man with a commodity for sale just like other men who
offer their wares to the public. It is true that labor is a
commodity, for it is bought and sold, but there are peculi-
arities about it which distinguish it from other commodities,
and that most radically.

While labor is a commodity, it is an expenditure of human
force which involves the welfare of a personality. It is a
commodity which is inseparably bound up with the laborer,

1 Of course some sincere men who desire only the true good of the
Indian favor this proposition. It is possible it might be desirable, if
absolute inalienability were a condition. At any rate the friends of the
Indian should proceed carefully in this matter.

ECONOMIC VALUE OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 99

and in this it differs from other commodities. The one who
offers other commodities for sale reserves his own person.
The farmer who parts with a thousand bushels of wheat for
money reserves control of his own actions. They are not
brought in question at all. Again, the man of property who
sells other commodities has an option. He may part with
his wares and maintain his life from other goods received in
exchange, xOr he can have recourse to his labor-power. The
laborer, however, has, as a rule, only the service residing in
his own person with which to sustain himself and his family.
Again, a machine, a locomotive, for example, and a
workingman resemble each other in this ; they both ren-
der services, and the fate of both depends upon the manner
in which these services are extracted. But there is this
radical difference : the machine which yields its service to
man is itself a commodity, and is only a means to an end,
while the laborer who parts with labor is no longer a com-
modity in civihzed lands, but is an end in himself, for man
is the beginning and termination of all economic life. The
consequence for the great mass of laborers possessed of
only average quaUties are as follows, provided there is no
intervention of legislation, and provided the working classes
are not organized. While those who sell other commodities
are able to influence the price by a suitable regulation of
production, so as to bring about a satisfactory relation
between supply and demand, the purchaser of labor has
it in his own power to determine the price of this commod-
ity and the other conditions of sale. There may be excep-
tions for a time in a new country, but these are temporary
and often more apparent than real. Even now in the
United States the right of capital to rule is generally
assumed as a matter of course, and when labor would de-
termine price asd conditions of service, it is called dicta-

100 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

tion. The reason is that man comes to this world without
reference to supply and demand/ and the poverty of the
laborer compels him to offer the use of his labor-power
unreservedly and continuously. The purchase of labor
gives control over the laborer and a far-reaching influence
over his physical, intellectual, social, and ethical existence.
The conditions of the labor-contract determine the amount
of this rulership. Again, while illness, inability to labor, by
reason of accident or old age and death, do not destroy
other commodities or their power to support life, when these
misfortunes overtake the person of the laborer, he loses his
power to sell his only property, the commodity labor, and
he can no longer support himself and those dependent on
him. These consequences of the peculiarity of labor may
be summed up as follows : —

1. The absence of actual equality between the two parties
to the labor-contract, and the one-sided determination of
the price and other conditions of labor.

2. The almost unlimited control of the employer over
the social and political life, the physical and spiritual exist-
ence, and the expenditures of his employees.

3. The uncertainty of existence which, more than actual
difference in possessions, distinguishes the well-to-do from
the poor.

These consequences of the pecuUarities of labor must be
examined somewhat more at length, and this will be done
under three different headings, it being understood that the

1 There are certain qualifications to what is here said, which the
limits of this book will not allow me to enumerate. It would be far
too large a work for present purposes, were every topic to be treated
exhaustively. I always take it for granted that my reader is possessed
of common sense, and will not raise trivial objections; also that he is
to do some thinking himself.

ECONOMIC VALUE OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 101

argument is based on the supposition that labor is unorgan-
ized and devoid of legal protection.

I. The laborer considered as a seller of a commodity.
The laborer must offer labor in the labor-market in which
he resides, and cannot seek the best market, or even a
better market, like others who sell commodities. He is
often too uneducated to know the conditions of the labor-
market in other localities, and too ignorant to be able to
pass judgment on such data as are at his command. When
he does know, his poverty frequently prevents his removal ;
for he cannot sell his commodity in a remote place unless
he removes his own person thither, nor can he ship, as
others do, a sample of his commodity.

If the demand falls, labor cannot be withdrawn from the
market like other wares. On the contrary, as the demand
decreases, the supply must increase by reason of competi-
tion of a greater number of laborers. There are several
causes for this. Members of the family who before did not
work outside the home, chiefly children and women, will
seek labor to eke out the father's income. A decreased
demand usually occurs at time of a general depression, and
the ranks of the workingmen are enlarged by accessions
from other social classes. Competition may thus increase
in severity almost to an unlimited extent between laborers,
to secure what little work there is. Thus it happens that
when demand for labor diminishes, the fall in wages is
apt to be more than in proportion to this diminution in
demand.

The cost of production is the limit below which the
price of other commodities cannot permanently fall, for the
production is diminished as the price falls, and at times
ceases almost altogether. But the individual laborer can-
not diminish his supply of labor so long as he lives, and

102 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

misery and death i are the factors which must bring about a
decrease in the supply of this commodity, and raise its
price to the cost of production ; in other words, to what it
costs the laborer and his family to live, and to maintain the
customary standard of life among the members of his class.

Closely connected with the foregoing is the fact that the
price of labor does not at once rise when the demand in-
creases, as is usually the case with other commodities, for the
first effect is that the unemployed receive work ; and after
the " reserve-army " finds employment, competition among
purchasers of labor raises its price.

Finally, the only way to diminish the supply of the com-

1 The way these operate is so simple that it ought to be better
understood. Few now starve outright; but a large number, especially
of the young, starve gradually, as has been abundantly shown by recent
investigations; but many more deaths are occasioned in other ways.
A carpenter is ill, and previous hard times have exhausted his re-
sources. He dies; whereas a more generous supply of delicacies, better
nursing, and more skilful medical attendance would have saved his
life. A second mechanic is so poor that he feels that he cannot afford
an umbrella. In a severe rain-storm to which he is exposed, the seeds
of consumption are laid. A third is unable to afford new shoes, and
wet feet at a time of feebleness, and insufficient nourishment, cause his
death. These examples may be multiplied ad libitum. Thus it is that
every pressure of hard times kills thousands upon thousands even in
America. The most distinguished statistician of our day. Dr. Engel,
calls the causes of most deaths "social." The difficulty is not to
prescribe a remedy, but to apply it. A physician cannot tell a man,
working for a dollar a day, to take a trip to Egypt for weak lungs !
No current fiction is more widely removed from the truth than the
common assertion that workingmen and their families enjoy exception-
ally good health. The exact opposite is the truth, and statistics have
established the fact beyond controversy, that laborers are shorter-lived
by many years than those who belong to the wealthier social classes.
Dr. Lyman Abbott quotes some interesting statistics on this subject in
a recent article in the Century Magazine.

ECONOMIC VALUE OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 103

modity labor in the market in the future, is, by prudence
in marriage, to diminish the birth-rate. But to accomplish
this, will and intelligence are necessary, and some probabil-
ity that the laborer would reap the fruits of his self-denial.
No such guarantee exists because the folly of his fellows will
render his prudence of no avail. In addition to this, the
laborer in America can hope to influence the supply of
labor offered in the market of the future, only when he
gains some control over immigration.

II. Consequences affecting the personal life of the laborer.
— The employer is able to determine the conditions of the
labor-contract in such manner that he may exercise ruler-
ship over the laborer in four ways : —

1. He can influence the expenditures of the laborer in
such manner as to render him nearly as dependent as a
serf. One method is to pay the laborer only at long inter-
vals, which leads almost inevitably to the use of credit and
this means debt. Those who are unable to pay current
expenses at the time when incurred are apt to lead a less
economical life, and thus debt becomes chronic and the
prospect of escape well-nigh hopeless.* Sometimes the
employer lends money — already earned — to his employees,
and thus keeps them always in debt to him. A more com-
mon method used in America to establish the dependence
of the employee and to keep back part of his wages, is the

1 One of the largest employers of labor in this country, who prac-
tices what he preaches, tells me that in his opinion, one of the first
steps in the improvement in the condition of the laborer is weekly pay-
ments. He has given me many facts which have come under his
observation to show the importance of this measure. If I understand
him, he is so thoroughly persuaded that weekly payments are an indis-
pensable condition of reform that he would interpose no objection to
legal compulsion.

104 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

truck system, which is perhaps more widely prevalent in
this country than elsewhere. It may be well to explain for the
benefit of some readers less familiar with practical life, that
the truck system means the establishment of stores by em-
ployers, in which their employees are practically compelled to
trade. Generally there is nominal, but only nominal, Uberty
granted the employees to buy where they choose. These are
often paid in orders on stores in which the employer or his
agent has an interest, and these orders are accepted else-
where only at a discount. Sometimes wages are paid in a
shop or saloon late at night, so as to encourage expenditure
in the same place ; occasionally there is an understanding
with a shopkeeper, who gives the employer a percentage on
all purchases of employees. An employer has been known
to redeem his own orders at a discount of ten per cent
when handed in by the local dealers. Notice is taken of
those who do not purchase at the company store, and they
stand in danger of discharge. Another form of payment in
kind, consists in the occupation of houses owned by the
employer. Those who live elsewhere are usually the first
discharged.

So great is the injury to the working classes that in several
States these practices are forbidden by law ; but there are
always unscrupulous employers who do not hesitate to dis-
obey laws in favor of labor, and so great is their influence
that the law is not generally enforced.

The laborer is frequently cheated in weight, quality, and
price. A journal in Pittsburg recently sent an agent to a well-
known industrial region to investigate the charge preferred
by workingme'n against their employers that they, the em-
ployees, were compelled to purchase goods at the company
stores at exorbitant prices. The employers denied the
truth of this, and maintained that no one was compelled to

ECONOMIC VALUE OP LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 105

buy at "our store." The workingmen replied in sub-
stance, so the newspaper stated, "You lie." The reporter
of the journal found the charge substantiated, and by in-
quiring at various stores ascertained that the average excess
of charges on a number of specified articles was sixty
per cent. The overcharge on other articles was smaller,
but he credited the statement of a laborer that he was com-
pelled to pay fully twenty to twenty-five per cent more for
his goods than the prices elsewhere. " If we don't deal
with the company," continued he, "we are quickly told to
go and get work from the men we buy our goods of."
Reports of the bureaus of labor statistics abound with com-
plaints of this character, and I myself have seen a miner's
book in which receipts and charges exactly balanced at the
close of the month, leaving the poor fellow without one
cent in cash ; I noticed, too, that the company store did not
furnish details. The charge was not so many pounds of
sugar, so much; but, sugar, 56 cents; pork, 70 cents, etc.^

1 An Ohio commission, consisting of Professor Orton, of the State
University, and one employer and one miner, investigated this subject
in the mining district of Ohio two years ago. From their report I
quote these words : —

" Throughout the counties of Perry, Hocking, Athens, Vinton, Jack-
son, and Lawrence, stores are connected with most of the principal
coal mines, at which, as a rule, the miners are expected, and thus
indirectly obliged, to purchase their supplies in whole or in part. . . .
If their cash balances are too large, they are sometimes reminded of
their duty to spend more at the stores.

"Throughout this same territory, checks, scrip, and orders are
largely used, in open disregard of the laws passed to prevent their use.

"The truck system has a depressing and demoralizing influence
upon the laborer. . . . This system, however designed and however
guarded, inflicts upon the communities where it is in force the evils of
a depreciated currency, in addition to the extravagance and over-trading
which it everywhere encourages."

106 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

Another form of oppression better known in Europe than
in this country, in which, if it exists at all, it is rare, is found
in the compulsory insurance connected with certain lines
of employment. Those who accept labor in some estab-
Ushments, particularly in Germany, are compelled to take
out insurance to provide for cases of accident, for disease,
old age, etc. Dismissal renders it impossible to continue
payments, and the employees will often submit to much
hardship sooner than lose the provision against misfortune,
and incur risk for themselves and for their families.

2. The employer exercises an influence over the health
of his employees as well as over life and limb. Where the
commodity labor is desired, there the laborer must abide.
He is thus compelled to risk health in ill-ventilated rooms,
or rooms over-heated or under-heated, and his Ufe is need-
lessly jeopardized by failure to fence in dangerous machin-
ery, or to employ other well-known life-saving devices. It
is reported that there are yearly fifteen thousand accidents
to railway employees in the United States, and it is not
improbable that two-thirds of these are needless. Again,
when an employer directs labor, he chooses the place where
the laborer must pass the greater part of the time not con-
sumed in sleep, and in this manner selects the laborer's
companions for more than half his life. The order is, You
must work here in this place by the side of this man,
whether he is a responsible man or a scoundrel ; whether a
skilful artisan or a careless and inexperienced mechanic,
who exposes your life to constant danger.' Finally, when

1 This is an especially important consideration in mines and on
railways, considering the interpretation the courts of many States are
putting upon the doctrine of " fellow-servant." There is now practically
no redress when an employee is maimed or killed. Vide Christian
Union, July 22, 1886, for a risumi of the law.

ECONOMIC VALUE OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 107

the length of time of each day's labor is fixed by the em-
ployer, he determines the physical exhaustion of the laborer ;
he also decides whether the pregnant woman in his service
shall give birth to a sound, healthy child, or one weak and
feeble; also whether the children who toil for him shall
become strong men and women, or old before their
time.^

3. The influence of the employer over the mental and
moral development of the laboring classes is not less power-
ful ; and when this has been said, it is seen to how large an
extent the future of the nation, depends upon the large em-
ployers of labor, whether private individuals or corporations.
This influence is exerted through selection of companions
and the decision in regard to the length of the working day ;
further by action with reference to night-work, work beneath
the surface of the earth, to regulations concerning the labor
of women and children, etc. All this is of importance for
the family life and for the education of the laboring classes.
Overwork, and work under unfavorable conditions in regard
to temperature and the like, are responsible for much
intemperance among the working classes, as every com-
petent physician who has had experience among them well
knows.

4. Employers are able to influence the political and
religious life of their employees. Religious opinions in the
United States are generally left to the laborers without inter-
ference, though not always ; but it may be doubted if inter-
ference with poUtical rights is anywhere carried further. I
know a whole town, for example, whose inhabitants while
free in certain elections, in others are marched like sheep to

1 In the first half of the century English laborers not infrequently
became old at thirty, and physicians began to express the fear that the
English race was about to enter a period of physical degeneration.

108 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

the polls, and ordered to vote in a manner well pleasing to
a great corporation.^

III. The character of modem industry rendered it diffi-
cult, and, until organization or government came to his assist-
ance, impossible for the average laborer to provide proper
economic security for himself and his family by means of
insurance. Every loss of work involved a loss of power to
contribute to relief funds of any description.

It is on account of these peculiarities of the commodity
labor, together with changes in industrial processes due to
inventions and discoveries, that the hopes of Adam Smith
and his friends have not been realized. Not many, only a
few, have become independent producers. The vast majority
of the industrial classes have remained employees, and most
of their employers have in older countries, probably to a less
extent in America, used their power unscrupulously; and
even those who have no wish to do so, have often been forced
by competition to estabhsh harder and harder conditions of
toil for the laborer. Formerly the number of apprentices
was regulated by law, or by custom having the force of law.
When this restriction was removed, experienced journeymen
were dismissed in large masses, and their places supplied by
apprentices. When machinery became more perfect, women
and children replaced men ; and it has happened in Massa-
chusetts, as well as in England, that the father has remained
at home and cared for the house and the babies while his
wife and children have worked in the factory for the support
of the family. Unnatural competitors ! Unnatural relation !

1 Once it was impossible to hire a man to distribute ballots for the
party not in favor with this corporation. A man was found with
difficulty who promised to render the service for five dollars, but before
the time came, he begged to be released from his promise because he
would otherwise lose his employment.

ECONOMIC VALUE OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 109

And as machinery became more general and more costly,
the length of the working day was lengthened until it
became, even for women and children, sixteen and eighteen
hours in cases not rare. Indeed, it has been generally
longer where women and children have been the predomi-
nating labor force, because they are less powerful to resist
oppression. Then, as production on a largsr and ever
larger scale took the place of the small shops, crises became
more common and more disastrous. Men were no longer
hired for a long period, but from day to day, and that un-
certainty and irregularity of income which is so disastrous
to society became general. High wages were followed by a
total absence of work. Thousands of laborers became
tramps, their daughters prostitutes, and their sons criminals.
Reduction after reduction of wages followed. When the
laborers combined to withdraw a quantity of their property,
the commodity labor, from the market, so as to raise its
price just as sellers of other commodities do, they were
thrown into prison ; for the old conspiracy and combination
laws continued long after the legal protection afrorde<i labor
by a previous generation had been abolished.^ Even after
the abolition of these laws, the opposition of employers and
the excessive control they had acquired over the working
classes long interposed almost insuperable obstacles in the
way of trades-unions. In the north of England in 1844,
forty thousand miners were discharged to force them to

1 The laws against combinations were abolished in England in 1824,
but the courts continued to oppose trades-unions until 1869 as being
"in restraint of trade," and the courts did not protect them until
authorized by the legislation of 1871. The laws against combinations,
or "coalitions," continued in force in France until 1864. In Austria
they were abolished about the same time; but not in all parts of Ger-
many until 1871. They were not abolished in Maryland until 1884.

110 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

abandon their combination, and in July, 1881, a large em-
ployer in the Rhine Province in Germany threatened to
dismiss every laborer who belonged to a trades-union,
or who read certain books, or who frequented certain
restaurants, or who bought goods of certain merchants
mentioned by name, who were supposed to favor trades-
unions.

( In this country we have added two refinements of cruelty,
called the blacky Ust and the iron-clad oath, which are
found in all parts of our land, although strongly con-
demned by the best public sentiment. The black Hst is
a "boycott" against labor. A man who for any reason,
be it even whim, caprice, or personal spite, falls into dis-
favor with one employer, is placed on the black hst, and
his name, at times accompanied by a personal description,
is sent to allied employers all over the country. Thirty-
three men were black-hsted in Fall River a few years ago
because they had asked for an increase of wages, and they
were compelled to seek work under assumed names. It is
reported, on apparently good authority, that one railway cor-
poration has a book containing names of a thousand black-
listed persons, with a full description of each. The black
list will pursue a man for years, will drive him out of an
honest trade to rum-selling, and will follow him across the
continent, and everywhere defeat his efforts to gain a liveli-
hood. Two quotations from persons who have had oppor-
tunity to see the workings of the black list will help my
readers to understand its terrible atrocity. The first is from
Fred Woodrow's contribution to the "Labor Problem."*
" Black-listing . . . has the merit of being very effective ; its
edict is final; it troubles no jury and sends for no sheriff;
... it has its watch-dog by every door, and woe to the man
1 Harper & Brothers, New York, 1886, pp. 288-9.

ECONOMIC VALUE OF LA^OR ORGANIZATIONS. Ill

who, with its brand on his brow, seeks for work. ... He is
proclaimed by a corporation Czar. ... I well remember a
workmate of my own being put under this ban of ostracism.
He was discharged without notice, and the reason refused
him. I did my best for his re-engagement ; previous suc-
cesses made me confident, but this case baffled me. I
suggested application to another department, under the
management of a humane and kindly man. He refused.
Another was tried — the same result. I completed the
circle, and in every case blank but unwilling refusal — my
unfortunate comrade sent adrift, with the onus of some un-
known disgrace staining his name, for more than six hundred
miles. It came to my knowledge subsequently that he was
blacklisted at the request of one man, whose personal ill-
will was gratified in his discharge. Such cases are not few,
... as many a hungry man and shoeless child can testify."
The second quotation is from the Cleveland Workman, and
is taken by that paper from one of its " exchanges." "There
are men in this region who are now being compelled to leave
their homes, their families, and their friends, and seek em-
ployment elsewhere, — men who have given their time and
influence for the benefit of the community in which they
reside. . . . They have been exiled from their pleasant
associations here by the infamous black list." A peculiarly
cruel case is told in the same paper. A man of seventy had
left his old wife in Sedalia, Mo. (where he had been working
for many years) , because he was discharged, and walked five
hundred miles to a place in Illinois where a new railway was
building, but the black list followed him and at last accounts
he was penniless and without work.

The iron-clad oath is an agreement to do or not to do
certain things as a condition of employment ; generally not
to join a labor organization. The following is the form of

112 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

one of these oaths.* " I, A. B., hereby agree to work for
C. D. at my trade at the regular established prices . . .
withdrawing from the Knights of Labor, and ignoring all
outside parties, committees, and trade or labor associations,
and also agree not to connect myself with the Knights of
Labor or any similar organization, or to join in any meeting
or procession of any such organizations while in the employ
of said C. D."

The President of the Congregational Club of New York,
himself a man of wealth and a large employer of labor, pub-
licly characterized the iron-clad oath not long ago as the
sure and certain beginning of a system of white slavery.

" The lack of any education of those children employed
in the factories in tender years, the destruction of family
life caused by the employment of women, and the social
separation of the laborers from other classes destroyed civil-
ized habits of life and thought among the laborers. A
strange and special range of ideas sprang up among work-
ing men thrown together in great masses in industrial cen-
tres and in a state of subjection to their employers. There
yarose two nations within the same nation, the one the ruling
nation, the other the ruled; the one possessing a high
culture in which the other did not participate j the one,
the ruling, fearing the ruled, while the ruled hated the rul-
ing nation ; . two nations whose interests and ideas were so
different that in spite of the common language they no
longer understood each other."

It may be that this separation has not gone so far with

1 I wish to avoid useless personalities, and do not mention any
names. In other places I pursue the same course; but I think that
there is abundance of testimony to establish all that is said in this
book, and that it is not inaccessible to those who desire to know the
truth.

ECONOMIC VALUE OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 113

us as it went at one time in England and Germany and t
France ; but now it is proceeding more rapidly here than i
elsewhere. In England, and to a less degree in Germany, '■
brave men of exalted natures have thrown themselves into
the breach, and in spite of slander, obloquy, and social per-
secution, have persisted in their efforts until they have
brought the two nations nearer together, and have helped
to maintain the unity of civilization ; with us, comparatively
few have realized their duty in this matter, and it is doubt-
ful if history records any more rapid social movement than
this ominous separation of the American people into two
nations. Already they scarcely understand each other even
when they speak the same language ; already there are two
public opinions supported respectively by a partisan capital-
istic press and a partisan labor press ; already there begins
a class struggle for political supremacy; already religious
lines are becoming, have become to an alarming extent in
our great cities, social lines, and there is a wide-spread feel-
ing among the working classes that the church of their em-
ployers cannot be the church for them, that the God of the
rich is no God whom they can worship.

Nothing of graver import has ever befallen this people of >
the United States. Unless powerful forces calculated to
keep alive the unity of civilization among us can be
brought into action, our future downfall will be inevitable. ;
The policeman's club, the prowling detective's doubtful
services, the soldier's rifle, the careless bullet of hired mer-
cenaries, exceptional laws, novel judicial procedure, and
new and strained interpretations of the law, — all these are
not the unifying, life-giving forces which this land of ours
needs. Our country's best, the purest and noblest and •
grandest men and women of our time, must avert the dan- ]
ger ; and if it requires a sacrifice of themselves, a Christian

114 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

people can find an historical example in the person of their
Lord who left the society, not of the rich and cultured of
earth, but of the angels in heaven, to live the life of a
humble mechanic at a time when that life was despised
with a scorn strange and unknown in our day, that he might
supply a bond of union not merely between God and man,
but between man and man ; for did not he pray for all his
followers in all time "that they all may be one, as thou
Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one
in us . . . that they may be made perfect in one."

The disadvantages under which those are placed who live
by the sale of the commodity labor have been briefly ex-
amined. It remains to show the manner in which trades-
unions and labor organizations may operate to counteract
these economic evils.

The labor organizations enable the laborer to withhold
his commodity temporarily from the market, and to wait for
more satisfactory conditions of service than it is possible for
him to secure when he is obliged to offer it unconditionally.
They further enable him to gain the advantages of an in-
creased demand for his commodity, to bring about a more
satisfactory relation than would otherwise be possible be-
tween the supply and the demand for labor, and also to
exercise an influence upon the supply in the future market.
These organizations are calculated to do away with the inju-
rious consequences of the peculiarities of labor as a com-
modity to be sold, and " through them labor for the first
time becomes really a commodity, and the laborer a man."

The trades-unions, and other agencies of the labor move-
ment, such as the labor press, assist the laborer to find the
best market for his commodity ; and as the best market
usually means the most productive market considered from
a politico-economic standpoint, this is of benefit to society

ECONOMIC VALUE OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 115

as a whole. There are several ways in which this is done.
The organs of the trades-unions and other labor newspapers,
publish statistics concerning the state of trade in various
localities. Laborers are informed, for example, that there is
plenty of work for printers in Boston, but little in New York ;
that the building trades are rather active in Baltimore, but
dull in Richmond. The Workman ^ of Cleveland, Ohio,
formerly published a "Cleveland Labor Market Report,"
giving the hours of work, the pay, the state of the market,
whether active or dull, etc., for the various trades in the
city. It seems to have abandoned this excellent plan, but
some twenty labor papers have formed an Associated Labor
Press, and each paper furnishes all the others with labor
items gathered in its own locality. This idea of labor-mar-
ket reports is certain to have a further and a beneficial
development in the future. Employers also engage em-
ployees through the various labor organizations. When a
"boss " in Baltimore desires bricklayers, he sends a notice
to the hall of the Bricklayers' Union, and it is written on the
blackboard where it can be seen by those who want work.
In the same way employers engage men through the Granite
Cutters' National Union. Before me lies an advertisement
which I found posted up in the headquarters of that union
in Philadelphia. It reads as follows : —

"WANTED.

FiPTY Good Granite Cutters wanted immediately at Granite-

viLLE, Mo. Apply to the Graniteville Granite Co.,

Graniteville, Iron County, Missouri."

1 This newspaper, by the way, is one of the best representatives of
the labor press. It is edited by a graduate of Amherst College, who
originally intended to go to China as a missionary, but was prevented
by a physical infirmity. He evidently believes that he has found s.
good missionary field in this country. I understand he derives his
livelihood from the practice of medicine.

116 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

The labor organizations further render it easy for the artisan
or mechanic in a new city to form useful connections with
those pursuing the same trade. But these associations of
laborers aid them in finding a market for their commodity in
a still more direct manner. They assist laborers to go in
search of work with gifts and loans of money. Members of
the Cigar Makers' International Union, for example, received
^19,722.60 during the fiscal year ending November, 1882,
for this purpose. This benefit paid, consisted of railway fare
from town to town, and of fifty cents for meals in each place.
When the demand for labor falls, it is the practice of the
older, stronger unions not to allow their members to work
below the usual rate of wages, and this is one of the chief
means to maintain the standard of life among laborers — a
matter of vital importance in the opinion of political econ-
omists. If there is a decreased demand, all would not find
employment at reduced wages; but, as has already been
seen, one reduction would simply give rise to another. The
labor organizations prefer, therefore, to support their mem-
bers until the labor market improves, or to work fewer
hours each day rather than to work at reduced wages.^
When the labor market improves, it is not necessary to
struggle for the old rates, but those who were out of work
step into their former places. On the other hand, there is a
tendency — and a wise one — in the older regions of trades-
unions where they have fought their preliminary battles, have
secured recognition, and thus opportunity for a normal
development, not to ask for an increase of wages with every
temporary improvement in business, but rather to use it to

1 This applies more particularly to English trades-unions. Ours are
not yet so strong in financial resources, nor have they so fixed a policy,
but the tendency is the same. All over the world — the modern civil
ized world — labor organizations move in the same general direction.

ECONOMIC VALUE OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 117

secure other concessions, and to ask for higher wages only
at comparatively rare intervals. Their aim is to secure the
conditions of a slow, sure, and steady growth.

If there is a permanent decrease in demand for labor, the
tactics of the trades-unions must be changed. Laborers are
assisted to move to new regions ; in Europe they are helped
to emigrate. The future market is further influenced by the
regulation of apprenticeship. " The first object of the lim-
itation of the number of apprentices is to prevent the dis-
placement of journeymen by apprentices who in turn would
be discharged as soon as they had learned the trade, to
make way for a new army of apprentices.^ But the limita-
tion of the labor supply in the future is necessarily con-
nected with this, and that is a conscious aim of the unions.
There can be no objection to this limitation from the
standpoint of right and law so long as the laborers use no
other means to enforce their regulations than the refusal to
work with more than a certain number of apprentices. But
from the standpoint of political economy, which demands
that a man should proportion the supply of his commodity
to the demand, and holds him responsible for an excess of
supply, the laborers not only have the right to do this, but
they are even under moral obligations to do it."

Finally, the trades-unions educate the laborers to pru-
dence in marriage. They accustom their members to over-

1 As early as 1350 the guild masters attempted to injure the journey-
men by the employment of an undue number of apprentices; and this
has ever since been a device of unscrupulous employers who desire
unemployed men about them so as to get a tighter grip on their em-
ployees. While it is doubtless true that the majority of employers
have ever repudiated such methods, there have always been so many
employers who have not scorned such unworthy practices, that the
trades-unions have in self-defence been forced to take an attitude
which is frequently misunderstood.

118 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

look the field of labor, to pass judgment on the prospect of
satisfactory remuneration for their commodity in the future ;
they help them to secure higher wages than would otherwise
be possible, so that they have something to lose; they
awaken in them a regard for the welfare of others, and culti-
vate a feeling of duty with respect to their conduct toward
others ; finally, the limitation of the number of apprentices
is a guarantee — imperfect, to be sure, still a guarantee of
some value — that those who are prudent and restrain their
desires will reap the benefit of their sacrifices. "Experi-
ence teaches that the trades-unionists of England are more
prudent in regard to marriage than the unskilled laborers
who belong to no organizations."

Topics which will find treatment in the two following
chapters have an important bearing on the economic value
of labor organizations. This is the case in particular with
arbitration and the character of these various societies as
mutual aid associations. The educational value of labor
organization is an aUied topic \ and indeed there is nothing
which affects them in any way which might not be con-
sidered in the present chapter, so closely connected with
one another are all the various phases of our social and
industrial life. The fact has been frequently remarked, that
the entire life of man in society is one ; yet for the sake of
convenience we divide and subdivide it by more or less
arbitrary lines.

John Stuart Mill recognized the economic value of labor
organizations at an early date, and assigned them an impor-
tant place in our industrial organism. This is the more
surprising as the now antiquated theory of the wages-fund,
in which he himself believed when he wrote the words I am
about to quote, blinded most political economists to the
true functions of labor organizations, and even led him to
underrate their power for good.

ECONOMIC VALUE OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 119

"I do not hesitate," writes Mill in his 'Political Econ-
omy,'-' "to say that associations of laborers, of a nature
similar to trades-unions, far from being a hindrance to a free
market for labor, are the necessary instrumentality of that
free market, the indispensable means of making the sellers
of labor to take due care of their own interests under a
system of competition. There is an ulterior consideration
of much importance, to which attention was for the first
time drawn by Professor Fawcett in an article in the West-
minster Review. Experience has at length enabled the
more intelligent trades to take a tolerably correct measure
of the circumstances on which the success of a strike for an
advance of wages depends. The workmen are now nearly
as well informed as the master, of the state of the market
for his commodities ; they can calculate his gains and his
expenses ; they know when his trade is or is not prosperous,
and only when it is, are they ever again likely to strike for
higher wages ; which wages their known readiness to strike
makes their employers for the most part willing to concede.
The tendency, therefore, of this state of things is to make a
rise of wages in any particular trade, usually consequent
upon a rise of profits, which, as Mr. Fawcett observes, is a
commencement of that regular participation of the laborers
in the profits derived from their labor, every tendency to
which, for the reasons stated in a previous chapter, it is so
important to encourage, since to it we have chiefly to look
for any radical improvement in the social and economical
relations bet\^'een labor and capital. Strikes, therefore, and
the trade societies which render strikes possible, are for
these various reasons not a mischievous, but, on the con-
trary, a valuable part of the existing machinery of society."

1 Book v., chapter X., section 5.

CHAPTER V.

THE EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF LABOR ORGANIZA'
TIONS.

THE propositions which I wish to prove and to illustrate,
in so far as this can be done in a single chapter, may
be expressed somewhat as follows : To-day the labor organ-
izations of America are playing a rdle in the history of civiliza-
tion, the importance of which can be scarcely overestimated ;
for they are among the foremost of our educational agencies,
ranking next to our churches and public schools in their in-
fluence upon the culture of the masses. They counteract to a
large extent the evil and stupef)dng influences of the division
of labor in our modem system of production ; finally they
reach and elevate large classes mentally, morally, and spirit-
ually, who can be moved in no other manner. It is first
necessary for me to state what I understand by education.
I do not mean simply what can be learned out of books ;
still less what is acquired at schools. I mean something far
larger, which in ludes both books and schools, and much
besides ; I mean what the Germans might perhaps express
by Bildung, — the entire development of a man in all his
relations, social, individual, religious, ethical, and political.
Whatever in trades-unions or labor organizations in any way
makes men larger men, educates them in the truest sense,
and comes within the scope of this chapter on the educa-
tional value of trades-unions and labor organizations. It is
certain that laborers have been strongly impressed with the

EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 121

educational value of organizations, and have united with that
aim directly in view from the earliest period of their existence.
The ancient guilds show strongly marked educational char-
acteristics, as do the friendly societies of one kind and an-
other which prepared the way for the trades-unions. The
Workingmen's Institute of Brighton, England, formed in
1848, serves as an illustration of the general truth. It was
intended to provide the workingmen of that town with the
means of mental and of moral improvement. Mental im-
provement was, in the publications of the Institute, sepa-
rated into two divisions, — the information of the intellect
and the elevation of the taste. It was, therefore, very
appropriate for Rev. Frederick W. Robertson to choose
" Education " as the subject of the opening address which
he was invited to deliver before the Institute.

At a still earlier date, education was valued by the work-
ing classes in the United States, and they repudiated with
some bitterness the idea that mental cultivation would injure
those in their walk of life. The New England Association
of Farmers, Mechanics, and other Workingmen, in their
address to workingmen, issued in 1832, briefly recapitulated
the evils for which a remedy was sought ; and among these
evils, as will be remembered from a previous chapter, were
the following : " An illiberal opinion of the worth and rights
of the laboring classes ; an unjust estimation of their moral,
intellectual, and physical powers ; an unwise misapprehen-
sion of the effects which would result from the cultivation of
their minds and the improvement of their condition."

It should further be borne in mind that those in this coun-
try who were known as friends of the workingmen were at
the same time active in educational movements. Mention
has already been made of Horace Mann, Wilham Ellery
Channing, and Robert Rantoul, and it is worthy of notice

122 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

that the Swiss educational reformer, Pestalozzi, is esteemed
highly, even by the radicals, among organized laborers. i It
is instructive to look through Mr. Channing's writings on the
labor problem, as they indicate the drift of reform and of
constructive effort at this early period, — and we may well
say early period, for fifty years ago is a very early period in
the labor movement, and so rapid is the progress of events,
that even twenty years ago might be called an early period.
Mr. Channing's most celebrated addresses on social topics
were entitled, " Self-Culture," and " On the Elevation of the
Laboring Classes," — self-culture, education, you observe.
And now let us see what Mr. Channing had to say under the
more general head of elevation of the laboring classes. The
positive part of his argument is summed up by himself in
these words, " I was obliged by my narrow limits to confine
myself chiefly to the consideration of the intellectual eleva-
tion which the laborer is to propose ; though in treating this
topic, I showed the moral, religious, social improvements
which enter into his true dignity. I observed that the
laborer was to be a student, a thinker, an intellectual man
as well as a laborer."

The efforts of the early friends of labor were largely,
perhaps chiefly, directed to public schools as an educa-
tional agency, and there can be no doubt that our public-
school system is in part the result of labor agitation. Our
whole educational system in the United States is more
lajgely due to the desire to benefit the masses than to any
other single cause. At every period in our history, public
school questions have been labor questions or labor meas-
ures. And when I say this, I do not exclude our universi-
ties. What, then, has the labor movement brought us? 1

1 The New Yorker Volksgeiiung calls him "the first social demo,
crat." See Wochenilait, 7th November, 1885.

EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 123

reply first of all : it has been one of the chief causes which
have brought us a public-school system, — a public-school
system which has already accompUshed incalculable good,
and promises greater benefits in the future, as it is further
developed. But our public-school system is attacked by
men whose poUtical wisdom and sense of social justice I
prefer not to characterize in terms which would seem to
me fitting. Where shall we find guardians against assaults
on our public schools? Where shall we find those who will
not only protect what we have, but help us forward in new
achievements in education, particularly by means of public
schools. To both questions I reply, in our labor organi-
zations. All over the world labor organizations are sup-
porting and bearing forward every popular educational
movement. Let me take an illustration from our own South,
where such a force as I have been describing is precisely
what is needed. There is in Tennessee a State organization
of trades-unions and labor societies, called the State Labor
Union, which adopted the following resolutions at its annual
meeting, held in the fall of 1885. "Resolved, That, as
the question of education is of vital importance to us and
the whole people, we request our representatives in Con-
gress to use their influence in securing national aid to
education.

" Resolved, That we demand such revision of the public-
school system of the State as will make possible the build-
ing of comfortable schoolhouses and the maintenance of
schools in each district at least seven months in the year.
That none but competent teachers be employed, and that
they be paid a salary equal to the importance of their work
as public educators." It is my opinion that those in Con-
gress and out of Congress who have favored the Blair BiU
would have been more likely to succeed in their endeavor if

124 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

they had ere this sought the co-operation of the masses as
represented in our labor organizations.'^

We have heard much of the educational value of our free
political institutions, for it is a favorite theme with writers on
political science, and it has been said that therein lay their
chief value rather than in the establishment of a better gov-
ernment. Labor organizations are beneficial in the same
way, and I am much inclined to think to a higher degree
among those who belong to them. They are schools of
political science. Men meet in them and discuss questions
of politics and economics in order to ascertain their bearing
on the interests of the masses. They feel that their posi-

1 Even those who oppose the Blair Bill — and there are sincere
friends of public schools among them — may rejoice in the sentiments
which this reveals. I know that one occasionally hears sneering re-
marks about high schools and colleges, uttered by workingmen and
their leaders. This found illustration recently when an editor of a
labor paper condemned the authorities of a Western city because they
paid the teachers in the high school fifty dollars a month, which, it was
urged, was more than an honest mechanic could earn ; such utterances,
however, are rarely heard, and I am inclined to think less frequently
heard than formerly. It is not often that those who speak thus,
voice the real sentiments of the men who bear forward the labor
movement, and give direction and tone to it. One hears such remarks
from demagogues, but they appeal chiefly, so far as my observation
goes, to those who are above the laboring class in economic rank, to
the little bourgeoisie, as the French would say, the class of small
traders and producers. Take my own city as an illustration : I believe
those most inclined to disparage the Johns Hopkins University are
found among the employers on n. small scale, the men with corner
groceries, the prosperous retail liquor-dealers, the owners of two or
three little houses acquired by toil so unremitting that no time has
been left for the cultivation of the higher faculties; also among others
possessed of still larger fortunes who have recently acquired them,
and with them that love of money which renders them impenetrable to
all ideas not in some way connected with the " almighty dollar."

EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 125

tion in life is not what they would have it, and desiring to
improve themselves they seek to ascertain what course they
can take as citizens of a free republic to advance the wel-
fare of the people. This involves a wide range of topics,
and leads the more active spirits among them to increase
their fund of information and sharpen their intellects by the
study of the works of economists and publicists. I know a
poor mechanic in Detroit who, unable to buy new books, has,
as he expresses it, " nosed around old book-stores " and col-
lected a library of three hundred volumes. " Yet," writes he,
" I had to take the money from bodily comforts and put it
into books." The Journeymen Bricklayers' Union of Balti-
more has expended one thousand dollars on a library which
includes such books as " Shakespeare," " Chambers' Ency-
clopaedia," "Dickens" and "Bulwer" complete, the Waver-
ley novels, Scharf s " History of Maryland," and " Webster's
Unabridged Dictionary." In fact, I can say that I was
astonished on inspection to find the excellent selection
which these artisans had made, for they had bought all the
books themselves, having persistently refused to receive
presents. I could wish that the young ladies in our best
society were always as judicious in the choice of books.
With annual dues of four dollars, these bricklayers impose a
yearly tax of one dollar on each member for the support of
the library. The desire to do something to ameliorate the
condition of the masses, and the beUef that a way has been
found to accomplish this, is a source of new vigor and Ufe to
many who are weary and heavy-laden. A Baltimore physi-
cian was in my oiifice a short time ago, who told me that
a few years before he scarcely felt that life was worth living ;
but when he was in the depths he chanced to read Henry
George's " Progress and Poverty," which filled him with new
hope, and had proved a source of satisfaction ever since.

126 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

He now felt there was work in the world worthy of a man
because it might result in material improvement in the lot of
mankind. Now, one may object to Henry George's teach-
ings, — as I do most decidedly, — and yet rejoice at the good
which his works are doing in stimulating the thoughts and
promoting the generous aspirations of the people. It would,
indeed, not be an easy matter to over-estimate the educa-
tional value of that one work " Progress and Poverty." A
not inconsiderable part of the wholesome growth of interest
in economics is due to its publication.

Let me give you another illustration of what the labor
agitation is doing for the intellectual training of many work-

ingmen. When in C , in December last, it suddenly

entered my mind that I had received a letter of inquiry
about my " Recent American Socialism " — from a barber of

that city, and as I crossed S Street it came to me that

his place of business was No. — ^, S Street, and his name

Joseph . So I sought out the socialistic or rather

anarchistic barber. If this were a story, it would be ne-
cessary to describe the shop as low and dingy, and full of the
smoke of vile tobacco. I should further be obliged to com-
ment on a general air of unthrift emphasized by the indo-
lent appearance and untidy clothing of the laborer who
indulged in speculations of an anarchist's paradise. Truth,
however, compels me to state that the general appearance
of the shop impressed me with a sense of such prosperity as
is represented by a snug little balance at a banker's, while
I could find no fault with the manner in which the barber
kept either himself or his shop. The man is a German,
but speaks Enghsh pretty well, and has translated from
the German into the English, and publishes translations in
the papers occasionally. I have received two or three arti-
cles translated by him from Lassalle. I learned from him —

EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF LABOR ORGAmZATIOlSrS. 127

it was told in an apologetic kind of manner — that he
was able to do better "in this line some time ago," but
that of late his skill in translation into English is not what
it was, because he has been giving so much attention to the
Spanish language.

In addition to questions of public policy, the laborers in
their organizations are bound to consider what they can do
collectively and individually as laborers apart from govern-
ment, to improve their situation. All this keeps a whole
multitude of questions before every labor society, and as
many minds involve many opinions, there is abundant oppor-
tunity for vigorous debate. It ought not to be necessary to
add that this is excellent training in a practical school of
politics. Again, the trades-unions and labor organizations
are popular schools of oratory in which workingmen learn to
express their thoughts and to address a public audience, and
that often with dignity and composure, while their press fur-
nishes opportunity for the development of any latent literary
talent among them. I will quote the testimony of several
trades-unionists on this point, the educational value of
their societies, that it may be seen how different laborers
rephed to the question, "Has your membership in any
trades-union, or workingmen's or workingwomen's society,
made you more skilful and useful in your work or profited
you educationally, morally, or socially, and how has it af-
fected the habits of members in regard to temperance?"
and I may say here that I am glad to give the exact words
of the workingmen, and thus let them tell their own story.^

' The testimony Is taken from the first Report of the Massachusetts
Bureau of Statistics of Labor. The replies are given by numbers, as
many laborers who appeared before the bureau or sent answers to
questions, feared that they would lose their positions if their names
should become known.

128 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

No. 38 : " The association with which I am connected has
not been in existence long, but for the time there has been
a marked change made in the condition of the members
who attend regularly, both mentally and socially."

No. 33 ; "I am a member of a Labor Reform Club . . .
Connection with such societies tends to elevate the mind
in every particular."

No. 20, — ■ a bootmaker : " The influence of the Crispin
order has had the effect to benefit the morals, health,
wealth, and happiness of its members."

No. 18 : "The trade-union has profited me educationally
and socially."

No. 72, — sub-overseer of weaving: "I belong to the
Ten-Hour League. It has been useful to me only in a gen-
eral way thus far, as aiding my general culture."

These replies are typical. The Knights of Labor and
other labor organizations are beginning to turn their atten-
tion more than heretofore to the formation of libraries for
their members. Something has been done in this direction,
and more will be done in the future. The following quota-
tion from the Labor Record^ of Williamsport, Pa., is an
indication of the spirit at work among the Knights of Labor.
"At the present time, when workingmen are taking a more
active part in public affairs than ever before in the his-
tory of the nation, it is necessary to the proper exercise of
the organized power they possess that they become ac-
quainted with the fundamental principles upon which all
legislation should be based. Realizing this, and with a view
of supplying such information, the Knights of Labor of this
city have started a library of works on economical subjects,
and for which they respectfully solicit contributions of all
suitable works. Contributions will be received at this office."
I Issue of April 17, 1886.

EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 129

The strongest of the organizations which have come under
our notice, the Patrons of Husbandry, has done perhaps as
much as any other to advance the cause of education among
its members.

A few quotations will show how largely educational in its
character has been the work of the Patrons of Husbandry,
and the first of them will be taken from an address by Hon.
D. Wyatt, of Aiken, South Carolina, on " The Grange, its
Origin, Progress, and Educational Purposes." " Postmasters
from all the States informed us that the Order had greatly
increased the bulk of their mails. And one said that ' there
are now thirty newspapers taken at this office, whilst there
was but one taken before the establishment of the Grange in ,
this vicinity.' And one clergyman wrote that, ' Since the
introduction of the Grange I have seen a remarkable change
in the walk and conversation of my flock ; they are more
careful in their dress and general appearance, and are read-
ing more.' From every quarter came the Grange call for
books, and much money was invested for select libraries for
Granges in many of the States."

The following quotations are from the "Journal of Pro-
ceedings " for 1882 : "We aim to make the daily lives of
men and women better and nobler and truer and holier and
happier ; to encourage education, social and moral culture."

"All Grange meetings should be enlivened with singing
and music, and time given for social recreation. . . . The
greetings of brothers and sisters should be so cordial that
the humblest members, though poor, and burdened with
cares, should be made to feel and know that they are not
doomed to toil, tlirough weary life, isolated and alone,
without friends, sympathy, society, or hope of advancement,
but that they are members of a great brotherhood."

The following are from the "Journal" for 1885. The

130 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

" Master " from Pennsylvania reports : " In many of the
older Granges libraries have been started." From Wisconsin
comes the similar report, " A majority (of the granges) own
halls, and several have fine libraries."

These quotations might be multiplied ad libitum. In the
next place, labor organizations are perhaps the chief power,
in this country, making for temperance. While not pro-
hibitionist organizations,^ — this indeed could hardly be
expected, — they are scarcely with exception temperance
societies, nor is it difficult to see how this has come about.
Meeting together, they naturally discuss their sources of
weakness and strength. They inquire how it is that brother
A. has a cottage all paid for, while brother B. is always out
at the heels ; how it is that C.'s wife has a deposit at the
savings bank, and a beaming countenance, while D.'s wife,
poor thing, is sad, dejected, and always in want ; how it is
that a certain society is composed of manly, independent
fellows, capable of holding their own in every conflict with
their employer, while another local union is composed of
weak and submissive cravens. It is not surprising that the
evils of intemperance should thus be frequently brought to
their notice; and, as the labor unions are a vast army
under the restraints of discipline, a great force is brought to
bear on them to urge them to temperance in all things, and
this is likely to have greater weight because it comes, not
from professional temperance advocates, but has sprung up

1 Yet the number of teetotalers among them is surprising when one
remembers that our laboring classes are chiefly foreigners, or bom of
foreign parents, and that total abstinence is scarcely known outside of
America. It is not a very safe thing for a man to draw a conclusion
in a matter like this from his own limited observations; but I am
inclined to think that there are quite as many total abstainers among
the laborers as among our higher social classes.

EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 131

spontaneously in their own ranks. I will give a few illustra-
tions. No one may be a member of the Knights of Labor
who is in any way connected with the sale of intoxicating
liquors. Section I. of Article XXIII. of the Constitution of
the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen of North America
reads as follows : " Any member dealing in, or in any way
connected with, the sale of intoxicating liquors, shall, unless
he withdraws, be expelled. Any member found guilty of
drunkenness shall be suspended for the first offence. A
repetition shall be punished by expulsion; and under no
circumstances shall a member so expelled be re-instated
before the lapse of one year."

Window Glass Workers' Assembly, No. 300, has adopted
this rule : " Any member causing this place to stand idle on
account of drink shall be fined as follows. First offence,
$i,. Each subsequent offence, j^io. . . . Any member
losing work through drink shall for the first offence be fined
$T, and reprimanded in open meeting of the Preceptory;
for the second offence, ^2.50; and for each subsequent
offence shall be fined I5."

Among the fines imposed by the Journeymen Bricklayers'
Protective Association of Philadelphia are the following :
" For attending a meeting in an intoxicated condition, $\ ;
and for attending a funeral in such a condition, ^S-" A
first floor in their hall on Market Street was vacant when I
visited the place. A liquor dealer had offered them a large
rental for it, but they declared that they would under no
circumstances allow intoxicating drinks to be sold in the
building.

It is noteworthy that the fine is higher when the works
are stopped and the employer injured than when a man
simply injures himself. The numerous speakers before labor
audiences frequently emphasize the advantages of temper-

132 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

ance, and strong language is used by those who are called
in disparagement " professional agitators." At the last
annual convention of the Knights of Labor, the General
Assembly, as they call it, Mr. Powderly, the general master-
workman, or head of the order, said, " If a man given to the
use of strong drink and a serpent applied for admission to
the order, I would vote for the serpent in preference to
the drunkard." And Mr. TrevelUck, or Dick Trevellick, as
he is popularly called, in an address to the laborers, shouts,
"Stop your cursed drinking!" In a "Notice," calling a
meeting of the "mule-spinners of New Bedford," occurs
this sentence : " We are pleased to see a large number of
our trade embracing sobriety ; it is very inconsistent for us
to complain about the t)T:anny of corporations and the hard-
ships we have to endure while we submit to be slaves to a
bad and injurious habit." " But," a sincere reader may inter-
pose, "the practice of the working classes does not seem
to harmonize with their principles, for I have always sup-
posed intemperance to be their peculiar curse. They do
not seem to have made much progress in temperance."

Many think this, but only those who are not acquainted
with the facts of the case ; for when these are borne in mind,
the relatively small amount of intemperance among American
workingmen becomes a source of astonishment.

First, we should never forget the temptation to intemper-
ance which lies in the character of the toU of many laborers.
Long hours are regarded by competent anthorities as a
cause which predisposes to the use of intoxicants. Another
equally strong provocation may be found in exposure to the
sudden and severe variations of our climate. Take the
case of street-car drivers, exposed one season to a tempera-
ture 100 degrees above zero, and in another to one, ten,
fifteen, and even twenty degrees below zero.

EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 133

The strain of work by the side of rapidly moving machines
on the nervous system is another predisposing cause to intem-
perance which has attracted serious attention. Mr. Robert
Howard, the secretary of the Mule Spinners' Organization, and
senator in the Legislature of Massachusetts, gave this testi-
mony about the spiimers in Fall River before the Blair Com-
mittee of the United States Senate : ^ "It is dreadful to see
those girls, stripped almost to the skin, wearing only a kind
of loose wrapper, and running like a race-horse from the be-
ginning to the end of the day ; and I can perceive that it is
bringing about both a moral and physical decay in them. . . .
I must say that I have noticed that the hard, slavish, over-
work is driving these girls into the saloons after they leave
the mills in the evenings ; and you might as well try to
deprive them of their suppers ; after they leave the miUs,
you will see them going into the saloons, looking scared and
ashamed, and trying to go in without any one seeing them,
— good respectable girls, too ; but they come out so tired
and so thirsty and so exhausted, especially in the summer
months, from working along steadily from hour to hour, and
breathing the noxious effluvia from the grease, and other
ingredients that are used in the mills; and they are so
exhausted when the time comes to quit, that you will find
all their thoughts are concentrated on something to drink to
allay their thirst. . . . You may know, as well as I can tell
you, how a man must feel in this hot weather, following such
an occupation as that. He just feels no manhood about
him. He can only take a glass of beer to stimulate him, to
give him a little appetite so that he may eat, in order to be
able to go through his daily drudgery. . . . Drinking is
most prevalent among the working people where the hours
of labor are long."

.1 See Report, Vol. I. pp. 647-649.

134 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

Once more it must be remembered that many of our
working people have been brought up in Europe to look
upon the use of stimulants as much a matter of course as
tea or coffee in this country ; and they do not realize that
what is comparatively harmless in the climate of Europe
may be ruinous in ours.

The low and degraded character of the worst class of
emigrants should not be forgotten. If Europe sends us
splendid men and women, she also sends us her scum to
degrade our working people. Take, for example, a large
proportion of those laborers brought into our country under
contract contrary to the law, but with the full knowledge of
those authorities whose duty it is to enforce the law.

When I consider all these circumstances, the temperance
of the masses in America is a marvel to me. Much, too
much, remains to be done in the field of temperance
reform, but let us not fail to give credit to those who have
already accomplished great things. Have not newspapers,
by no means too friendly to laborers, again and again had
occasion to remark the almost uniform temperance of labor-
ers in their parades, demonstrations, and appearances before
the public in strikes ? There can be no doubt about this ;
it has occurred in all parts of the country.

The locomotive engineers furnish another illustration.
Formerly they were so much given to intoxication, that it
was not unusual to see in their cab a kind of iron contriv-
ance to help them to hold on when "tipsy." Now that has
disappeared ; they are a temperate body of men, and to-day
travel in the United States is safer than it would be had not
the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers been formed.
This is one example of many which I could give. I will
close this topic with a characteristic quotation from The
Trades Union, of Atchison, Kansas. "The most deadly

EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 135

blow ever given to King Alcohol is in that declaration of
the Knights of Labor which proscribes any Uquor dealer for
membership in the Order. It is doing more to put an end
to drunkenness, and to bring the rum trafi&c under the ban,
than all the laws of Kansas or speeches of St. John ever
did."

There are many remaining points of importance, but I
shall be obliged to pass over them hastily ; while it will be
necessary to omit altogether some noteworthy aspects of our
topic.

The social culture which laborers derive from their orderly
gathering together is an excellent feature of the labor move-
ment. From this point of view the trades societies appear
as schools, in which true politeness and even grace of man-
ner are taught ; and on an extended tour in the summer of
1885, I must confess that I was much impressed with the
courtesy and good manners of the many labor leaders I met ;
and it may be well to state that these labor leaders, ordina-
rily considered idle demagogues, were all mechanics, —
mechanics chosen by other mechanics to represent them.
A personal experience is of some importance in this con-
nection. Last summer I visited the Central Labor Union
of New York, and was pleased to observe that when one
member allowed himself the use of the word " damned,"
to express his indignation, there instantly arose from various
parts of the haU, cries of " I object to that language ! " The
speaker was called to order by the Chairman, and told that
profanity was against their rules. The bricklayers of Phila-
delphia impose a fine of fifty cents for using profane lan-
guage.* Great advance will still be made along this line
of polite manners in the future.

1 How many rich men's clubs exclude the use of intoxicants, and
impose fines for profanity ?

136 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

Social gatherings bring laborers and their families out of
their isolation, and furnish them with agreeable and con-
genial companionship. One of the laborers in the Mil-
waukee Trades Assembly used these words in describing the
social advantages which that union had brought him :
"After working more than twelve years in this city, five
years ago I hardly knew any craftsmen except those work-
ing with me in the same shop. To-day I am personally
acquainted with four-fifths of all the men engaged at my
trade, and everybody seems to know me. This fact I
appreciate more than almost anything connected with my
social position."

The laboring classes, through their unions, are learning
discipline, self-restraint, and the methods of united action,
and are also discovering whom they can trust, finding out
the* necessity of uniting great confidence in leaders with
strict control of them, and with the aid of their press are
building up a great market for the products of co-operative
enterprise.

Thus the labor movement is preparing the way for that
goal which has for many years been the ideal of the best
thinkers on labor problems, — the union of capital and labor
in the same hands, in grand, wide-reaching, co-operative
I enterprises, which shall embrace the masses. Formerly it
\was an argument in favor of slavery that in that way only
could labor and capital be united in the same hands and
disastrous conflicts be prevented.; but up from the people
there comes a voice, crying, "We will show you a more
excellent way." The movement has already begun, — co-
operative enterprises, productive and distributive, are spring-
ing up in every part of the land. Co-operation is urged by
a united labor press, and labor societies set it before the
masses as an ultimate goal. One of the objects of the

EDUCATIONAL VALUE OFLABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 137

Knights of Labor is stated thus in their official declaration :
" To establish co-operative institutions, such as will tend to
supersede the wage system by the introduction of a co-oper-
ative industrial system." One of the organs of the artisan
class, The American Glass Worker, states one of its objects
as follows : " The establishment of co-operative funds, with
a view of each union finally engaging in co-operative enter-
prises, productive and distributive, disposing of the products,
and supplying, at first cost, every article consumed by its
members." In another issue of the same paper, I find these
words, at the head of an article on co-operation : " Co-
operation must be the result of our labor organizations."

The disastrous termination of most co-operative enter-
prises in the past in the United States is a well-known
fact, but the failure has not been by any means universal,
and a state of things is being built up, where the causes of
failure will disappear after a time; also, alas, after many
more failures.

But our picture will not be complete until we have shown
the still wider ethical significance of the labor-movement.
First, there is rational ground to hope that it will in the end
introduce a higher tone into our political life, though it has
scarcely done so up to the present time. The labor
organizations have certain practical aims in politics, often
very definite, and they will hereafter attempt to gain these
by sending honest men to our legislatures to represent them.
Year by year they are becoming increasingly restive under
the attempted control of the professional politician ; in many
cases they have entirely emancipated themselves from party
prejudice, and have already learned that only sharp, vigor-
ous, honest, and independent political action can ever bring
them as a class anything worth having. There is said to be
quite a strong feeling among the Knights of Labor in favor

138 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

of civil service reform ; and it can never gain a firm foothold
in this country until it is supported by a strong popular sen-
timent. Second, it is worthy of notice that those in the
organizations call one another brother and sister, and that
many of the unions are called brotherhoods ; as, for exam-
ple. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen of North
America, The Grand International Brotherhood of Loco-
motive Engineers, The Brotherhood of Carpenters and
Joiners of America.

The labor movement, as the facts would indicate, is the
strongest force outside the Christian Church making for the
practical recognition of human brotherhood ; and it is note-
worthy that, at a time when the churches have generally dis-
carded brother and sister as a customary form of address,
the trades-unions and labor organizations have adopted the
habit. And it is not a mere form. It is shown in good
offices and sacrifices for one another in a thousand ways
every day, and it is not confined to those of one nation. It
reaches over the civilized world ; and the word international
as a part of the title of many unions, and the fact that their
membership is international, are quite as significant as they
appear to be at first sight. Since the labor movement be-
came powerful, the laborets of Germany, France, America,
and England, and of other countries, too, feel that they are
members of one great family, and that they must work
together for their complete emancipation. The most re-
markable illustration of the intemationaUsm of the labor
movement was the meeting of representatives of the glass-
workers of six nations, in Pittsburgh, in July, 1885, to form
the Universal Federation of Glass Workers. In the pream-
ble, it is stated to be their purpose " To extend their Feder-
ation to all sections of the globe, until its membership shall
embrace every man engaged in our trades."

EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 139

The laborers are the most thorough-going peace-men to
be found, and I am often inclined to think that they are the
only large class who really and truly desire peace between
nations, the abandonment of armies, the conversion of spears
into pruning-hooks, and swords into ploughshares. At the
time of the Franco-German war, German laborers alone pro-
tested against the slaughter of their French brothers ; at the
beginning of our late war, American laborers met in conven-
tion, to protest against hostilities between the sections ; and
in the fall of 1885 the veterans of the Union and Confederate
armies among the Knights of Labor formed an organization
called The Gray and the Blue of the Knights of Labor,
and took the motto, " Capital divided, labor unites us." Its
object, says John Swtnton's Paper, " is to teach the toilers
who make up the armies of the world, that in peace, not
in war, is the worker's emancipation." I sincerely believe
that the time is not so far distant as one might think, when
organized labor will force the governments of earth to sub-
stitute arbitration for war, will compel them to live peaceably,
each with the other, to devote their forces to the fruitful
pursuit of art, industry, and science, and in a vast interna-
tional parliament to lay the foundations of a federated world
state. But even this is not the whole of their high mission
of peace ; for they are, in our South, bringing about an am-
icable understanding between black and white, since it is
necessary that they should unite and act in harmony to
accomplish their common ends. Thus they bring an elevat-
ing influence to bear upon the more ignorant blacks, and
help to solve the vexed problem of race in the United States.
Strange, is it not? that the despised trades-union and labor
organizations should have been chosen to perform this high
duty of conciliation ! But hath not God ever called the
lowly to the most exalted missions, and hath he not ever
called the foolish to confound the wise?

1+0 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

When we consider, then, the educational value of trades-
unions and labor organizations, and remember that this does
not exhaust the whole of their benefit, we cannot be greatly
surprised that Thorold Rogers, the most careful student of
English labor, should even exaggerate their importance and
wish to restrict the right of suffrage so as to include only
those who belong to some organization. His words are as
follows : —

"Three processes have been adopted by the working
classes, each of which has had a vast, and should have an
increasing, influence in bettering the condition of labor and
making the problem of dealing with individual distress, how-
ever caused, easier and readier. They should be viewed by
statesmen with unqualified favor, and be treated by working-
men as the instruments by which they can regain and consol-
idate the best interests of labor. They are trades-unionism,
or, as I prefer to call it, labor partnership ; co-operation, or the
combination in the same individuals of the function of labor
and capital ; and benefit associations, or the machinery of a
mutual insurance society. So important do I conceive
these aids to the material, intellectual, and moral elevation
of the working classes to be, that I would, even at the risk
of being thought reactionary, limit the privileges of citizen-
ship, the franchise, parliamentary and local, to those, and
those only, who entered into these three guilds — the guild
of labor, the guild of production and trade, and the guild of
mutual help. Nor do I think it extravagant to believe that
were those associations rendered general, and finally uni-
versal, the social problems which distress all and alarm
many would ultimately arrive at a happy solution."

CHAPTER VI.
OTHER ASPECTS OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS.

THERE are several topics, as yet not treated, which
could well fill several chapters, but it is possible to
take only a glance at them, if this book is to be kept within
that limit of size desirable for present purposes.

The first of these subjects which must receive at least a
brief treatment, if we are to take anything like a complete
survey of the field, is the weighty one of insurance. It is
evident that insurance of various kinds is an indispensable
condition of that economic security for the laboring classes
which is so desirable for their own happiness and for
the welfare of society, and which must form part of the
solution of the labor problem. Savings banks, useful as
they are in their own sphere, cannot provide the security
which the laboring classes need ; for accidents or death may
befall the workingman in the beginning of his career before
he has had opportunity to save a large sum, or he may die
after long illness has exhausted his resources. So with other
cases which might be enumerated ; and it is certain that the
possibilities of the savings bank, great as they are, have been
exaggerated. Insurance is still more important, and when
sufficiently developed may provide for nearly every contin-
gency in the hfe of the laborer. The kinds of insurance
needed are enumerated as follows by Professor Brentano : *

1 This enumeration is quoted from my article on the Baltimore and
Ohio Employees' Relief Association in Harper's Wetkly for July 4,
1885.

142 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

1. insurance to defray expenses of education of children
in case of death ; 2. insurance to defray expenses of sup-
port during old age ; 3. insurance to provide for burial ; 4.
for a period of inability to labor on account of accident or
\ injury; 5. for a time of illness j and 6. for periods of en-
\ forced idleness, due to lack of demand for labor. Some of
\ these can be provided satisfactorily only through labor
^organizations J notably is this the case with the last three
jkinds, for laborers alone are able to exercise the requisite
Icontrol and prevent deception and fraud.
j English trades-unions have done most in the direction of
insurance for laborers, but American labor organizations are
improving in this respect, and are already accomplishing an
amoimt of good thereby, of which the general public knows
almost nothing. The reason why the relief and benefit
features of our labor organizations have not been still fur-
ther developed is due to the character of our economic hfe.
First, the migration of population has prevented their
growth, for they flourish best where people are well ac-
quainted with one another, have acquired mutual confi-
dence, and have a strong feeling of " solidarity " ; second,
the rapid change in economic rank and in occupation have
worked adversely. Few have been willing to look forward
to the position of laborer as permanent, and the general
desire has been rather to escape from it than to improve
that position. People have been willing to provide for
immediate want, for present contingencies, but not for more
remote ones like disability due to old age. Trades-unions
have not been old and stable enough to give the laborer
a feeling of reasonable probability that he would receive
return in a distant period for present contributions. Again,
the trades-union has not been sufficiently extended so that
a laborer could always continue his connection in every part

OTHER ASPECTS OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 143

of the country. Finally, trades-unions are becoming less
suitable insurance societies than formerly. With the con-
tinual danger facing artisans of degradation to the ranks of
unskilled labor or a change of occupation, the need of the
times is for something larger which will provide for all these
contingencies ; also for a great society which can transact
business on a larger scale and thus at a smaller cost. Here
as elsewhere the Knights of Labor, or if that should fail,
some similar organization which would inevitably take its
place, can well supplement the work of the trades-unions.

While we have not yet reached the point of annual con-
gresses of all trades-unions and complete statistics which
would enable us in America as in England to tell exactly
what our labor organizations are doing for insurance, there
are many data at hand which are valuable, and it can safely
be said that the expenditures for the relief of suffering
amount to millions of dollars annually, preventing thou-
sands from the degradation which attends the receipt of
public charity, and lightening effectually the burdens of the
tax-payer. The Grand International Brotherhood of Loco-
motive Engineers provides for the permanent disability or
death of members by a Locomotive Engineers' Mutual Life
Insurance Association. This, a special department of the
Brotherhood and membership, is voluntary. The total mem-
bership on Sept. 30, 1885, was 4,252, and some time since,
the sum paid out was nearly ;^ 12,000,000. The amount paid
on one claim is now limited to ;?3,ooo. In addition to this,
subordinate divisions extend relief to members and their
families. When any brother dies, a committee is appointed
" to inquire as to the pecuniary situation of the deceased,"
and in case of want it is the duty of the division to assist
the family " by all honorable and reasonable means," and in
particular the children must not be allowed to suffer or be

144 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

neglected. The care and protection are to be extended so
long as needed. " Widows are to be assisted in like man-
ner, also a sick or disabled brother."

Every one of the fifteen thousand members of the Brother-
hood of Locomotive Firemen is insured for ;? 1,500, paid to
his heirs in case of death, to himself in case of permanent
disability. Since the organization of the order in Decem-
ber, 1873, it had in October, 1885, paid out ;?3i5,764.
This sum is far from presenting an adequate idea of what
the Brotherhood is doing now, for its membership was small
and the relief afforded comparatively insignificant in its early
years. During the month of August, 1885, it paid claims to
the amount of $18,000, and in the following month to the
amount of ;J!22,5oo.

Since Jan. i, 1883, the Brotherhood of Carpenters and
Joiners of America has paid benefits. These are now
$2<~iO in case of death or disability, and 1^50 in case of the
death of a wife. The benefits paid during the year ending
Aug. I, 1885, amounted to ^17,500. The assistance given
by local unions must be added, to get a complete idea
of the aid rendered, and this holds true with regard to
other organizations. It is not improbable that local and
voluntary assistance in the case of all the unions amounts to
a greater sum than that which appears in the annual reports
of the national bodies. The Philadelphia Journeymen Brick-
layers' Protective Association pays a benefit of $125 on the
death of a member, and $•]<, on the death of a wife. The
accident benefit is $2^^. This does not seem like much to
a person of means, but it saves many from a potter's grave.

The Deutsch Amerikanische Typographia pays a weekly
sick-benefit of $5, which is reduced to t'^ after the receipt
of ;?300, and ceases after the receipt of ^^500. The death-
benefit is II200 for a member, $25 for a wife ; for enforced

OTHER ASPECTS OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS, 145

idleness the benefit is ;?5 a week, but it must not exceed
$60 a year. Members receive railway fare when in search
of work.

The Cigar Makers' International Union pays a sick benefit
of II5 a week, provided such sickness is not caused by " in-
temperance, debauchery, or other immoral conduct" — a
condition common to nearly all the unions. The amount iji
sick benefits for the fiscal year ending in November, 1882,
was ;jSi6,643.73. It pays a death benefit of $/^o, and as
aheady stated, pays from ^15,000 to ^20,000 a year to aid
members to secure work.

The Knights of Labor have an insurance department, and
the heirs of a member of this department receive from ;?soo
to ;?i,ooo, according to contribution. This feature of the
order is new and the membership is comparatively small at
present. The local assemblies aid needy members and dis-
burse in this way from ^100,000 to $200,000 annually.

The International Furniture Workers' Union insures
tools, and has, besides, the usual relief and benefit features.
These are typical facts, and it is needless to continue their
enumeration in this place. There ought to be in every
State a properly qualified official to examine accounts of all
insurance associations of every kind or description, because
only in this way can the insured be protected, and also
because the officers themselves are rarely able to make the
complicated calculations necessary to enable them to ascer-
tain the real standing of an insurance society. A great deal
has been done in England to extend the usefulness of such
associations by the appointment of a Registrar of Friendly
Societies to give them aid of this kind.*

1 "These orders, to their great credit . . . have submitted the
whole of their rates of contributions — their incomings and outgoings
— to actuaries named or approved by the Registrar, and have adopted

H6 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

Arbitration and strikes are important topics in any treat-
ipent of labor organizations. First, it should be knowTi,
tjhat arbitration is impossible without labor organizations.
Capital is combined and is managed by a few persons even
in the largest establishments. Take the case of a railway
corporation. The capital may be owned by one thousand
different persons, but it is massed together and all its owners,
as a rule, treat with the railway employers through a single
person. Capital is one of the factors of production ; labor
is another, and it also must be massed together to stand on
an equal footing, and this can be effected only by organiza-
tion. As the thousand capitalists choose one representative,
the ten thousand laborers must choose a representative of
labor. To ask a single laborer, representing a ten thou-
sandth part of the labor factor, to place himself against a
man who represents all the combined capital, is as absurd
as to place a boy before an express train, and expect him
to stop its progress. As Hon. Abram S. Hewett, as every
one knows, a wealthy employer, has so well said, it is only
after labor is organized that the contending parties are in
a condition to treat. " The great result is, that capital is
ready to discuss. It is not to be disguised, that, until labor
presented itself in such an attitude as to compel a hearing,
capital was not willing to listen, but now it does listen.
The results already attained are full of encouragement." ^

The difficulties in the way of arbitration have come chiefly
from the side of employers, for it is a rare thing when
laborers refuse to arbitrate their difficulties with their em-
ployers. Few cases of such refusal have ever come under

the table thus certified as sufficient to secure the payment of all sums
insured." Trades-Unionism in England, by Thomas Hughes, Century
Magazine, May, 1884.

1 Paper read before the Church Congress in Cincinnati, Oct. 18, 1878.

OTHER ASPECTS OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 147

my notice. The pride and arrogance of men who do not
like to meet their employees on an equal footing have been
the chief obstacles to peaceful settlement of disputes be-
tween capital and labor. But when this is said, two things
must be borne in mind. There have always been excep-
tions to the rule. Laborers have had no more sincere, de-
voted, self-sacriiicing friends than some of their employers,
and they frequently make a serious mistake in under-estimat-
ing the number of their industrial masters, who really wish
them well. There are surprisingly many who are able even
to perceive that labor, as connected with a human person-
ality, is superior to capital, that all laws and courts must
ultimately recognize this, and that labor ought to be given
an ever larger and larger measure of rulership, as it shows
a fitness for it, until it attains its goal, — complete sover-
eignty.*

On the other hand, it should never be supposed, that by
nature employers represent a morally inferior type of men.
They simply exhibit the traits of our common human nature,
and the employee who is most bitter against his employer
might be still worse in the same place. The lesson of this
is the lesson of all history ; human nature is too weak to be
entrusted with despotic power in an industrial system or
anywhere else. Laborers will be ground into the dust if
they cannot protect themselves by combination. The fol-
lowing quotations show the spirit of the American labor
organizations with respect to arbitration.

" Whenever a dispute arises between an employer, or em-

1 " I affirm it as my conviction that class laws, placing capital above
labor, are more dangerous to the Republic at this hour than chattel
slavery in the days of its haughtiest supremacy. Labor is prior to and
above capital, and deserves a much higher consideration.

"Abraham Lincoln."

148 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

ployers and members of this brotherhood, the members
shall lay the matter before the local union, which shall
appoint an arbitration committee to adjust the difficulty;
then, if said committee cannot settle the dispute, the mat-
ter shall be referred to the union." Constitution of the
Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, Article IX., Sec-
tion I.

"The International Typographical Union recommends
that when disputes arise between subordinate unions and
employers which cannot be adjusted after conference between
the parties at issue, the matter be then settled by arbitra-
tion." And in another place the constitution of this body
contains these words : " Recognizing strikes as detrimental
to the best interests of the craft, it directs subordinate
unions not to order a strike until every possible effort has
been made to settle the difficulty by arbitration."

Among the standing Resolutions of the Iron Moulders'
Union is this : " Resolved, That strikes are not beneficial
to our organization, and that it would be to our interest to
evade as much as possible all strikes, and not to resort to
them until all other means at our disposal are exhausted."

One of the aims of the Knights of Labor, as found in
their Declaration of Principles, is : " To persuade all em-
ployers to agree to arbitrate all differences which may arise
between them and their employees, in order that the bonds
of sympathy between them may be strengthened, and that
strikes may be rendered unnecessary."

It cannot be difficult to explain the different attitudes of
labor leaders and capital leaders in the matter of arbitration.
Intelligent laborers all dread a strike, as they know well what
intense suffering it is likely to produce in their own ranks,
but rich capitaUsts have no dread of actual want. Apart
from this the position of laborers is not such as to cultivate

OTHER ASPECTS OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 149

the vices of pride and arrogance. They feel that a conces-
sion is made to them when employers consent to arbitrate.
To the one it is often a gratification of pride, to the other
it is a humiliation of false pride. An illustration may be
found in the New Testament. I suppose Christ did not
mean to imply that by nature the rich were worse than the
poor, when he said that it was harder for a camel to pass
through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to be
saved, but that their position made it so, and that it was
difficult for them to learn of social inferiors, like a carpen-
ter's son and fishermen.

The question may then be asked, if labor organizations
are so much in favor of arbitration and so much opposed
to strikes, Why do strikes occur so often? First of all, it
should be known that all strikes are not foolish. As Mill
says, they are a necessary part of our industrial system.
Laborers are forced at times to hold their commodity, labor,
back from the market in order to reteive for it the price
which the state of the labor market justifies. Employers
rarely offer an advance voluntarily, for they are like pur-
chasers of other commodities. Does my reader offer seven-
teen dollars for a garment when the price asked is only
sixteen dollars? There are capitalists who recognize the
peculiarities of the commodity labor, and voluntarily offer
more than the laborers force from them. Several cases like
this have occurred recently, and the labor press, it should
be acknowledged, has been very frank in the recognition of
this generous treatment. Still they are the exception, and
as a rule the laborers are bound to hold themselves in readi-
ness to strike and withdraw their labor from the market, if
they are to play their part in the regulation of supply and
demand.

Now, two things are to be noticed: First, the very

150 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

readiness to strike, and the ability to strike, secure more
favorable terms than would otherwise be possible, and also
more respectful treatment; second, the common assertion
that strikes are always failures is by no means true. When
laborers are told this, they know from experience that it is
false, and turn away in impatience even from the really good
advice which may accompany the assertion. In 1883,
Mr. Adolph Strasser, the President of the Cigar Makers'
International Union, testified before the United States Sen-
ate committee on labor and capital,^ that there had then
been^ 362 strikes among the cigar-makers, recognized by
his organization, of which 204 were successful, 137 lost, 12
compromised, and 10 then in progress. The expenditures for
the strikes amounted to ;Jl286,444.67, while the gain to the
members of the union amounted to $1,800,000 per annum,
and the reductions prevented to at least $500,000 per annum.
Prof. Sartorius von Waltershausen has made a study of the
strikes in the United States from Nov. i, 1879, ^ Oct. i,
1880. Of the 121 for an increase of wages, 80 were won
and 19 compromised; of the 26 against a reduction of
wages, 21 were lost, 3 compromised, and 2 won.' It is
seen that strikes fail sometimes, and are sometimes won ;
but in both cases there is senous loss to somebody, and it
would be a gain to everybody if the result of the strike,
whatever it may be, could be reached without the strike.
To arrive at this conclusion by peaceful methods is the office

1 The testimony before this committee, known as the Blair Com-
mittee, has been issued in four volumes, and contains much matter
valuable for any student of the labor problem.

2 August, 1883.

' See Jahrbucher fur National Okonomie und Statistik, Siebentet
Band, Viertes und fiinftes Hept. (10 Nov., 1883.)

Compare also an article on "The Statistics of Strikes," published
in Bradstreet's, April 25, 1885.

OTHER ASPECTS OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. ISl

of arbitration, and wherever honestly tried, it has proved/)
eminently successful.^ But arbitration cannot be satisfac-i
torily conducted without labor organizations, as has been,
seen, and these are also required to educate the laborers for
arbitration. The labor leaders are more intelligent than
the mass of laborers, and their position often enables them
to see when a strike must prove a failure, and to prevent it.
The workings of labor organizations do still more to prevent
foolish strikes.* Take the Cigar Makers' International Union
as typical. It requires the votes of two-thirds of all the
local unions to authorize a strike. Everywhere there is at
least some formality required to obtain the approval and
support of an entire organization. The matter is referred
first to some one not present on the ground, and who can
look at the trouble in a calmer, more impartial manner.
While this is going on, the passions of the discontented and
angry have an opportunity to subside, and when the un-
favorable decision arrives, they continue work or resume
work, and the difficulty is past.

Often it will happen that the officers of the organization
will be able to adjust the difficulty with employers to the
satisfaction of all parties, and that with the exchange of a
few words. This is especially apt to be the case whenever
or wherever, as in England, for example, the unions are so
strong that the employers do not dare to refuse to treat with
the officials of the orders. One reason why so many strikes
do occur in America is because the unions are not so strong
with us as in England, and on the one hand are unable to force
recognition from the employers, on the other, to control their

1 Permanent and fairly conducted boards of arbitration have, in
places, nearly abolished strikes.

"^ And, as John Stuart Mill says, a strike is wrong whenever it is
foolish.

152 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

members. The trouble comes chiefly from unorganized or
imperfectly organized laborers.

Two things receive no public attention : the great num-
ber of employers who never have any difficulty with their
employees,^ and contemplated strikes which never occur.
When one considers the peculiar circumstances which
surround the American laboring class, the heterogeneous
elements which enter into its composition, and the bad
influence of its baser and more ignorant members, its com-
paratively peaceful career is a just cause of surprise and
gratification. The records of our labor organizations show
the suppression of a vast number of strikes ; it is safe to
say of the great majority contemplated. Mr. Strasser, in
the testimony to which reference has already been made,
stated that the Cigar Makers' International Union had pre-
vented over two hundred strikes in the preceding three years.
The whole machinery of the Knights of Labor is designed to
prevent strikes. The Knights made a mistake in their ex-
cessive zeal to prevent strikes, for no authority was given
the main body to support and encourage strikes; conse-
quently no authority to control and prevent them.

The despised leaders of trades-unions are, as a rule, far
more conservative than the mass of their followers. They
do not urge organized labor on, as is erroneously supposed,
but are always trying to hold it back ; and many of the fool-
ish strikes occur, not at their instigation, but in spite of
their best efforts. The disastrous Hocking Valley strike
happened against the advice of the leaders." Time and

1 It would be well that they should receive attention. Of late too
much notice has been directed to employers in a chronic state of diffi-
culty with their laborers.

^ A gentleman in a position to know, and whose name, could it be
mentioned, would at once command the confidence of my readers, writes

OTHER ASPECTS OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 153

time again does it happen that the rank and file refuse to
accept settlements effected with their employers by their
leaders. If the general public only knew the anarchy which
would follow the suppression of the labor organization, they
would thank God for their existence. The wild incendiar-
ism of roving bands of discontented laborers in Belgium
this last spring, and the excesses of unorganized labor dur-
ing the first half of this century in England, may give one
some faint idea of our fate were the labor organizations to
disappear.

"But," insists the reader, "you have given a bright
picture of labor organizations. I have always been taught
to consider them creations of hell-inspired men. Is there
no dark side to the picture ? "

Yes, there is a dark side ; but the good that these associ-
ations do so far outweighs the evil, that it is only just to call
attention first and chiefly to their beneficial character, espe-
cially so long as their real nature is not understood.

There are three causes of opposition to labor organiza-
tions. One is ancient prejudice. Some men are so consti-
tuted that they cannot shake off a prejudice of years'
standing, no matter what the evidence of their error. An-
other is the violent partisanship of some who have been
brought into conflict with them. The third, and most com-
mon, is ignorance ; and this will be removed by information.
The experience of Thorold Rogers is a common one. In
his "Work and Wages," he says of trades-unions : "I con-
fess to having at one time viewed them suspiciously ; but a
long study of the history of labor has convinced me that

me : " The strike was forced by the ignorant mob of miners against the
strenuous opposition of their own leaders. When it was once begun,
it was a hard and bitter fight, and some cruel and unjustifiable things
were done on both sides."

154 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

they are not only the best friends of the workmen, but the
best agency for the employer and the public ; and that to
the extension of these associations political economists and
statesmen must look for the solution of some of the most
pressing and the most difiScult problems of our own time."
This has been my experience, and Rev. Dr. T. Edwin
Brown, who has written an excellent work on the labor
problem, confesses that it has been his. Their cause is so
strong, that for a man in a non-partisan position to oppose
them is prima facie evidence of ignorance. Among politi-
cal economists it is no longer necessary to vindicate their
usefulness, for they almost unanimously favor them.

It is true that workingmen have been guilty of violence,
but it seems to be an established fact that the most of those
who transgress the laws are outside of the organizations.
\ The Commissioner of Labor of the New York Bureau of
Statistics of Labor says, in the Third Annual Report of the
Bureau, " Most of the mobs which have created trouble in
this State in former years were composed of disorganized
or newly organized laborers. The lawless classes are rarely
union men, and often not workingmen at all." The men-
tion of " newly organized laborers," suggests the explanation
that there are evils incident to the infancy of organizations
which they soon outgrow. New unions are inexperienced,
and apt to overrate their own strength ; also to betray that
same insolence which so often accompanies newly acquired
power, whether due to wealth, combination, or office.^ It is
a standing rule among old trades-unionists for a union man

1 The latest troubles in New York with the organization of street-
car conductors and drivers would not have occurred in the case
of an old union. The trouble in Chicago with the switchmen, it is
said, was against the advice of their organization, which is also a new
and imperfect union.

OTHER ASPECTS OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. ISS

never to boast of the strength back of him, or to presume
upon it ; but new men too often forget this injunction, and
give their employers just cause for indignation. In a few
places labor organizations have indeed become possessed of
despotic power, and they are no more fit than others to
exercise unhmited government.^

Once more : trades-unions have, as a rule, grown up out
of coalitions during a strike, and these first days have been
abnormal ; yet it is only during the abnormal period of a
struggle that pubhc attention is called to them. " The gen-
eral public knows little and seems to care less for the quiet,
steady, beneficent influences which these unions are exerting
upon workingmen." ^ So strongly do the Knights of Labor
feel on this subject, that it is one of their rules not to take
in men who are on strike, although against the will of the
leaders, it has at times been violated.' Bad men get into
labor organizations and struggle for the ascendency. Some-
times, though rarely, they gain it, and do sad havoc,
injuring the cause of labor for years. Union men make
mistakes, and even very intelligent men are not infallible as
guides. Men, too, have often committed crimes and been
guilty of foUy for which they alone, as individuals, were to
blame, yet which have been attributed to them as union men.

On this general subject I will quote the testimony of four
clergymen of standing, who have given more or less thought
to the labor problems, and have examined the character of
labor organizations. Rev. Dr. John Hall says, " There is a

' 1 Did I not have in mind the government of the czar, I should
say less fit than those who have been taught, by education and social
position, to exercise a higher degree of self-restraint.

" Quoted from Rev. T. Edwin Brown, D.D.

^ A charter was recently revoked because the local assembly con-
sisted of men who were organized during a strike.

1S6 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

wide-spread suspicion of trades-unions as being selfishly
managed by paid agents for fomenting discord between the
employer and the employed. When a continued strike
embarrasses a contractor and throws the workers and their
families on the benevolence of their fellows, it is natural to
look to the evil on the surface and forget the underlying
good which is contemplated. In the nature of the case,
union effort by working people admits of easy vindication."
The following quotation is from Rev. Dr. T. Edwin Brown,
of Providence : —

" When we remember the history of the Christian Church, the
history of humanity, and by what terrific throes good evolves
itself out oi and through evil, we must not be too hard upon
workingmen. Are we perfect? Do we commit no blunders?
Are we never carried away by passion? Are we always able to
balance with perfect accuracy the conflicting interests of our-
selves and our fellows? . . . Remember how labor has been
oppressed. Remember that in the early days of the modern indus-
trial revolution, labor was being reduced to slavery. Remember
that these modern labor organizations, made necessary by bad
conditions, and made possible by the very causes which, unhin-
dered, made the conditions bad, were repressed with passionate
violence and obstructed by malignant watchfulness, so long as
repression and obstruction were possible. Remember that a
thousand evil prophecies have been uttered against them which
have never been fiilfiUed. Remember that not until 1824 could
these unions exist openly, and that not until 1871 did they have
a fully legalized and corporate existence in England, while in
this country they have never been adequately organized and
protected, and regulated by law. Remember that the majority of
those who composed these unions were men ignorant by neces-
sity, suspicious, as hunted animals are suspicious ; distrustful of
advice, because so often deceived by advice, with many violent
and vicious men among them. And then, with all the facts in
mind, ask yourselves whether it is wonderful that there have been

OTHER ASPECTS OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 157

mistakes, mischiefs, crimes, much folly in principle, and much
wrong in fact. Is not the wonder rather that there have not
been many more of these characteristics which arouse our com-
plaints? There have been unwise restrictions, tyrannical regula-
tions, vast aggressions, and hindrances to intelligent labor and to
best productions. Yes ! But these are incidental. Many of the
petty tyrannies, which are quoted even now as characteristic of
trades-unionism, belong to the past. They have been outgrown.
Many others will be outgrown. The workingmen, in spite of all
the blunders that have been made, ought to be proud of their
organized history. I, as a man, sharing their common humanity,
am proud of their history on their behalf."

The third quotation consists of the conclusion of a sermon
by Rev. Thos. K. Beecher, D.D., of Elmira, and is so admir-
able and so much to the point that room must be made for
it, despite its length : —

" The Knights of Labor, having gathered, if you please, one
hundred or five thousand names on their lists, must of necessity
have gathered in ignorance, passion, lawlessness, and insubordi-
nation. Members of that church have misbehaved and will mis-
behave. I doubt not that there is great mortification and travail
of spirit over these disgraceful infidelities to the principles of the
Order. Now, as a ' peacemaker,' I affirm that if any man is a
good Mason he will never be a drunkard or a fornicator. Yet I
have known Masons of high degree who were infamous because
of those vices. Nevertheless, I still speak of a good Mason. I
know that if a man is a good Methodist he will be a man of
prayer, enthusiasm, generosity, and hope, of sanctification ; yet
I have known Methodists of high degree that were none of those
things. I know that a minister of the gospel, if he fulfil his
ordination vows, will be truly a reverend man ; trustworthy by
day or by night, bearing about him the dying of the Lord Jesus,
that the life also of Christ, filling and overflowing, may give life to
an unbelieving world. Yet I have known ministers first and last
that have fallen into every vice of the criminal calendar. Never-
theless, I believe in ministers.

1S8 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

"Brethren, I appeal to you to make yourselves habitually ac-
quainted with the best in every church, sect, party, or order.
Cultivate in yourselves large-mindedness, fair-mindedness, and a
charity that believeth in all things, endureth all things, hopeth
all things. Why, brethren ! there is not upon earth so holy a
society founded by the Creator himself as the family. And there
is not a society upon earth in which I have found infamies more
noisome, and agonies more poignant, than have come to my
knowledge in the relation of husband and wife, parent and
child.

" We must not denounce the Masons, nor the Methodists, nor
the Presbyterians, nor the Democrats, nor the Republicans, nor
the Communists, nor any other aggregation of our fellow-men in
the lump. There is evil in them all, there is good in them
all, and always will be, until the harvest, which is the end
of the world. Then shall God send forth his reapers, which
are the angels, and gather the bad Masons, and bad Methodists,
and bad Presbyterians, and bad Democrats, and bad Republicans,
and bad Knights of Labor, and bad Socialists, and bind them
into bundles to burn them, that the heavenly city be no more
plagued by their vices nor scared by their threats ; and gather
the good Masons, and good Presbyterians, and good Democrats,
and good Knights of Labor, and good Communists, and good
Socialists, and good capitalists, to enjoy together, for the first
time since the stars began their watch, the counsels of an un-
broken unity, and the growth and glories of an eternal co-opera-
tion.

" Judge nothing before the time. There is one thatjudgeth
all, even God. Let us be careful what we feel, and more care-
ful still as to what we say, as regards our fellow-citizens, in
these restless days. Be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to
wrath. The wrath of men will never work out the righteousness
of God nor the salvation of society. Let us study to be quiet, to
mind our own business, and work with our own hands the thing
that is good, that we may have to give to them who suffer much ;
thus shall we earn the benediction : Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called the sons of God."

OTHER ASPECTS OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 159

A clergyman of New England, and a Ph.D. of a Massa-
chusetts college, accompanies a description of the Knights
of Labor with these words : " The actual is doubtless below
the ideal. The two differ, however, not so much as the
ideal church of Christ, and the church as actually realized
among men." One precaution which should not be for-
gotten by those who would judge the laborers honestly
is this : you get only one side of the case in press de-
spatches. Could you know both sides, your opinion would
frequently be quite different about alleged misdoings of
laborers. He who would know both sides must take a
labor paper.

One undoubted error of most of the labor leaders, in
my opinion, consists in their adhesion to the doctrine
that an inflation of the currency, by the issue of larger
quantities of paper money, is a good thing, but as one of
them said, they "are not pushing that now." Their
acceptance of this doctrine is easily explained by an
examination of the financial history of the United States
during the past twenty-five years. Contraction of the cur-
rency doubtless caused some suffering ; but fifty years ago
laborers complained bitterly on account of the over issue of
paper money. It is in such matters they need the aid of
scholarship, for the ordinary man errs in his generalizations
because he bases them on too narrow a range of observa-
tion. This is also an illustration of the fact that no one
class is large enough for exclusive rulership. The welfare of
society requires the active co-operation of all the members
of the social organism.

The dictation of trades-unions is a favorite theme. It is
oftenest brought forward as an offence by those who are
unwilling to recognize the right of the laborer to a voice in
the management of the commodity which he supplies, labor,

160 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

and in the management of which he is so vitally interested.
The non-partisan fails to see any reason why the laborer has
not the right to say, Under such and such conditions I will
offer my commodity ; under others I will withhold it ; even
should those conditions include the right to select his com-
panions. On the other hand, it is quite possible that the
laborer may make a foolish use of his rights, and it is cer-
tain that he too often does make such a use. Some of the
most intelligent trades-unionists think the refusal to work
with a non-union man is indefensible and injurious to the
cause of labor. It is the office of arbitration to help deter-
mine what are wise and beneficial, and what are foolish and
injurious conditions both for the buyer and seller of labor.

The surrender of personal liberty is often regarded as a
condition of membership in a trades-union, but this is little
more than a fiction in the case of any well-managed labor
organization. Those who furnish capital place its manage-
ment in the hands of a few, those who furnish labor do so,
though to far less extent. If an indiscreet choice is made
by either party the result may prove disastrous, and a change
should be made as soon as possible. What Mr. Trant says
of a strike^ is true of most affairs of trades-unions. "The
idea that a strike depends upon the ipse dixit of a paid
agitator, and that if the men were to vote by ballot on the
question, they would never consent to a strike, is conceived
by those only who do not know what a trade-union is. In
most cases a strike is the result of action taken by the men
themselves in each district, the executive having more power
to prevent a strike than to initiate one." ' And what the
Rev. Mr. Kaufmann says is as true of this country as Eng-

1 In his excellent little work, "Trade-Unions." Kegan, Paul,
French & Co., London, 1884.

2 Members of unions often vote by a show of hands. It would be
better to introduce the secret ballot universally.

OTHER ASPECTS OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 161

land : " I have given the subject a great deal of attention,
and feel convinced that where the employers have right on
their side, in the large majority of cases, the so-called dema-
gogues or professional agitators have little power in provok-
ing a quarrel about the raising or reduction of wages." '

Some people seem to believe that laborers work peace-
fully and contentedly until a mischievous agitator comes
along and stirs them up, and creates unreasonable dissatis-
faction. All this is pure fiction.

There are demagogues, it is true, and these are danger-
ous ; but they are not the men who are usually mentioned
as such in the newspapers. They are generally politicians
who mislead the masses with lying lips which utter flatteries
and vain promises. Men may be divided into three classes,
with respect to their attitude toward the masses. The
lowest class is composed of dishonest men who delude them
for their own devilish ends. That class constitutes a goodly
element among our politicians, and has as large a member-
ship in America as in any other country. The second class
ranks a little above this. It is composed of men who scorn
the arts of the vulgar politician, and will not degrade them-
selves by courting men whom they inwardly despise. Corio-
lanus, as portrayed by Shakespeare, was a high type of this
class, which is, in America, a large and influential one. The
third and highest class is composed of the noblest speci-
mens of the human race. Men of this class seek the masses
for no ignoble ends, but that they may do good to those who
need their help. They are Christ-like men who are dra^vn
to those beneath them in tlieir intellectual, ethical, and
social natures by an all-embracing love for humanity. These
men are a nation's salvation. This third class is small, as
yet, in our land, but happily it is a growing one.

1 See his " Sermons and Lectures to Theological Students,"

162 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

One danger is, clearly, that the demagogue may get con-
trol of the labor movement with all its vast potentialities
for good or evil ; but this will be averted if those Americans
who profess to be guided by principles of Christian ethics
do their duty in the present crisis in our history. It can-
not be averted by any attempt to suppress trades-unions;
on the contrary, an endeavor to crash them is the greatest
danger of all which we have to face. As Thomas Hughes
has said, " Whatever danger the advancing wave may seem
to threaten existing institutions, arises from attempts to block
the channel." ^ There is no power in America at the disposal
of the employing class which can crush labor organizations.
Their opponents may double the police, strengthen the
militia, secure control of the legislative authority, put the
judges under their thumbs, and buy up every paper in
the United States, and their efforts will stiU be in vain.
Kings and emperors and parliaments have been trying just
such experiments at intervals for six hundred years, and have
not succeeded. The first fundamental fact to be grasped is
that the labor organizations are with us, and will remain
with us. There never will be peace until they receive full
recognition. Employers who really mean well should seek,
as many of them are doing, to work through them and to
develop everything that is good in them.

1 Trade- Unionism in England. — Century Magazine, 'M.a.y, iZZ^.
In the same article occurs this passage, which ought to be reassuring
to Americans at the present time. In speaking about trades-unions in
England in 1851, he says: "The press echoed the alarm of the em-
ployers, and denounced these combinations in unmeasured terms. The
trade of the country would be ruined by those great unions of the
working classes, controlled by irresponsible councils, whose authority
was blindly obeyed, and which were composed of men whose profession
was agitation, and whose living depended upon fostering disputes."
Talk of that kind is now a thing of the past in England.

OTHER ASPECTS OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 163

Still another danger has been brought to public attention
recently, and it seems to me one well calculated to excite
alarm. It is, that unscrupulous speculators may attempt to
use our labor organizations to raise and depress railway
stocks and other property for their own ends. It will
require vigilance to avert such a calamity.

There is a great deal of talk about the expenses of the
unions, and there seems to be an impression that they are
devouring the earnings of our artisans and mechanics. The
truth is, the expenses of the organizations are light during
the time of peace, and contest is only an exception in the
history of the most beligerent.^ Take salaries, for example.
From 1867 to 1885 the highest annual cost per man for
salaries of officers of the International Typographical Union
was only eighteen cents, while the lowest was but seven
cents. Take, for another example, the contributions of the
Knights of Labor to their central body. They amount to
six cents a quarter for each member. Of course contribu-
tions for relief and benefit features, and other forms of
mutual aid, and for strikes, when they occur, are much
larger, though far smaller than most people imagine. When
a labor organization is well managed, it yields a large return
for all that it costs. One other fiction only must receive
attention now, and that is the "fat places " in the organiza-
tions. There are none ; no men work harder, perform
more arduous duties, or duties requiring a higher order of
intellect, for the same salaries, than the officers of the great
labor organizations. Mr. Powderly receives ^1,500 per
annum ; Mr. Turner, the general secretary of the Knights
of Labor, ;^i,20o; the president of the Flint Glass-Workers
is paid $\,\QO a year. These are among the higher salaries.

* The AeJalgaiwsted Carpenters reported that during the year
1883-84 noj: ppf trad? dispute occurred.

164 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

Some serve in union capacities without pay ; others receive
$25 and ^150 a year.

One obstacle in the way of the growth of trades-unions in
America has been that the abilities of their officers have so
often attracted the attention of capitalists who could pay
higher salaries. Many of their best men have been lost to
them in this manner.

The great mass of men follow leaders. They may pro-
test against the fact, but they do it aU the same, for they
cannot help it. Now who are the natural leaders of the
laboring classes ? Their industrial superiors ; and when we
pass judgment on the employee, we are obliged to inquire
what kind of an example has been set him by his employer.
An examination of our social history reveals the fact that
the laborers have been guilty of no offence for which they
could not find a precedent in the conduct of unscrupulous
employers.' The subject of violence to non-union men
affords an example, and on this Professor Thorold Rogers
comments as follows : " The violence which has character-
ized the action of workingmen against those who abstain
from their policy, compete against them for employment in
a crisis, and, as they believe, selfishly profit by a process
which they are too mean to assist, but from which they reap
no small advantage, is indefensible and suicidal. But it has
its parallel in the attitude of joint stock companies to inter-
lopers, and in the devices by which traders have over and
over again striven to ruin rivals who will not abide by trade
customs, or even seek to be independent competitors against
powerful agencies. I see no difference beyond the fact
that law allows them, between the rattening of a Sheffield
saw grinder, and the expedients by which in the committee

1 For instance, the cutting of wires of telegraph and tearing up the
track of railways by opposing companies.

OTHER ASPECTS OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. 165

rooms of the House of Commons, railway directors seek to
extinguish competition schemes. Men who have not had
the refinements of education, and who are not practised in
the arts of polite malignity, may be coarse and rude in the
expedients which they adopt, but when the process is essen-
tially the same, when the motive is practically identical, and
the result is precisely equal, the manner is of no importance
to the analyst of motives and conduct."^

American railway history has furnished employees with
many examples of violence perpetrated by vast corporations ;
and it can scarcely surprise the thoughtful man that the
underling should take the lesson to heart and occasionally
attempt violence on his own account. I myself have seen
the property of one railway corporation seized by another
without the slightest ground in right or justice, and it was so
common and every day an occurrence that it attracted little
attention. I am not aware that in all the United States a
single editor thought it worth while to publish an editorial
about it. Let me give another illustration in the concrete
of the parallel between the conduct of the poorer and
wealthier classes. We often hear it spoken of as something
monstrous that trades-unions should estabUsh rates of wages,
and force their members to abide by them." This is noth-
ing peculiar to labor organizations. In a recent description
of the New York Stock Exchange, we are told that even the
offering to do business at less than the established rates " is

'^ Page 403-4 of " Work and Wages."

^ It is commonly said that trades-unions establish a uniform rate for
all. I think this rarely happens. They establish a minimum rate. The
bricklayers of Philadelphia have a minimum rate of SS-SO,- but only the
poorer bricklayers receive so little. Some receive ^3.75, others %/^.oa,
;f4.25, and even ^^4.50. They also grant special permission to old ot
infirm bricklayers to take less than ^53.50. This is merely an example.

166 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

punishable by expulsion from the exchange, and sale forth-
with by the committee on admissions of the membership of
the offender." If the reader wishes other parallels, let him
go to the physicians among whom I have known one to be
ostracised for cutting below the established rates.

Finally, that terrible weapon of labor, the "boycott"
found a precedent in the far more cruel black list which
preceded it, in most cases caused it, and still continues its
atrocities unrebuked.' Now the parallels are not in them-
selves justification, but if the practice is wrong, they do prove
that our entire industrial society needs reformation, and that
it is cruelly unjust to saddle all the blame on those who
follow their natural leaders.

Is the conclusion of all this that injustice must be met by
injustice ? that the laborer should retaliate upon others the
wrong he has suffered ? No, a thousand times no ! It
would be madness. Love, not vengeance, is the law of the
highest civilization for which we must strive, and in which
alone it can ever be well with men. Violence never settles
any question, and no question is ever settled until it reaches
a righteous solution.^ The conclusion of all that has been
said is, then, this : We must never cease to strive to place
our social and industrial institutions on the rock foundation
of righteousness; for until we can find such a basis for
them, we have reason to fear something terrible indeed, and
that is the wrath of God.

1 Harper's Weekly has denounced it in as strong terms as the boy-
cott, and it has been condemned by other journals, but it has generally
been passed over in silence by the newspapers.

2 So well established is this as an historical fact, that "The blood of
the martyrs is the seed of the church " has passed into a proverb.

CHAPTER VII.

CO-OPERATION IN AMERICA.

I. Distributive Co-operation.

THE phrase, " competence to the purchaser," has been
used as the rallying cry of distributive co-operation.
As generally practised, it is simply the union of consumers
in order to obtain commodities of various kinds at reduced
rates, and also to secure satisfactory guarantees of quality of
goods and of honest dealing in general. Such a combina-
tion of purchasers is in Germany appropriately called a
Consumers' Union. Distributive co-operation assumes a
multitude of forms. In some instances it means nothing
more than a club, whose members obtain reduced rates by
special agreement with certain regular dealers. This is the
case with the Rochdale Co-operative Society of Washington,
composed largely of clerks and government employees at
the national capital. The dealers hope to indemnify them-
selves by a larger trade and by the cash payments, which
are a feature of the agreement between them and the Roch-
dale Society. A more frequent form of distributive co-oper-
ation is seen in the co-operative store, managed entirely by
the co-operative society at its own risk, and sharing profit
or loss according to some equitable rule. One of the most
brilliant examples of success achieved by co-operation of
this kind is that of the Philadelphia Industrial Co-operative
Society, of which more will be said presently.

168 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

It may well be asked. Why should so much importance be
attached to this simple business contrivance, by which men
hope to effect small savings in their purchases ? Nor is a
satisfactory answer always an easy matter. When there is
nothing more to co-operation in distribution than that which
appears at first sight, or when it is not undertaken with a
view to subsequent industrial development, it merits less
attention than it has received. Apart from its educational
value, which is considerable, it is then at best simply an im-
provement of not large proportions in the conduct of busi-
ness. When not at its best, it is frequently a disastrous
failure in an attempt to improve trade relations, and entails
serious loss upon poor men, ill able to bear the burden. An
example of the power which resides in a name is seen in the
history of the Co-operative Dress Association, which failed
in New York some three years ago. What was this Dress
Association ? It consisted of a number of people of consid-
erable means, many of them even wealthy, who hoped by
combination to save a small sum in their bills for clothing.
There was no special grievance of which they had to com-
plain, for the retail merchants of New York were then, as
now, alert and enterprising, willing to sell goods at a small
advance above cost, and were not remiss in that polite con-
sideration which customers may reasonably demand firom
those with whom they deal. Here the whole experiment
began and ended. There was no reason why its existence
should have attracted wide attention ; no reason why there
should have been regret when, in spite of all the gratuitous
advertising it received, it failed.

It is important that one should enter upon the study of
co-operation with clear ideas as to its true significance and
its real worth, or intrinsic worthlessness, as the case may be.
We have to do, it is generally supposed, with a radical re-

CO-OPERATION IN AMERICA. 169

form, whose aim is to elevate the masses, both in mind and
body. Now, it is evident that an agreement of A, B, C, and
D, all to trade with one man, in case he will sell them com-
modities at ten per cent below the regular prices, is not an
event of such significance as to justify the waste of any con-
siderable emotional energy. Nor is there cause for excite-
ment when X, Y, and Z determine to open a small retail store
for their own benefit, with the desire to add the retailers'
profit to the income they may derive from other sources.
A recent writer proclaimed boastfully that co-operation
meant business, and nothing more. If that is all, let us at
once turn our attention to some more profitable and inter-
esting topic.

But that is not all. The aims of co-operation are as far-
reaching as those of the social union. It contemplates, as
has already been said, a complete, though peaceful, transfor-
mation of society.^ Co-operators, when worthy of the name,
are firm jn the conviction expressed for them by John Stuart
Mill : —

" That the industrial economy which divides society abso-
lutely into two portions, the payers of wages and the re-
ceivers of them, the first counted by thousands and the last
by milUons, is neither fit for nor capable of indefinite dura-
tion ; and the possibility of changing this system for one of
combination without dependence, and unity of interest in-
stead of organized hostility, depends altogether upon the
future developments of the partnership principle."

It is, then, from the standpoint of those who desire a
transformation and an elevation of the masses, that we must
pass judgment on co-operative enterprises. The argument,
formerly much in vogue as a defence of slavery, that the

1 This has always been the animating idea of the leaders of the co-
operative movement in England.

170 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

institution united harmoniously the interests of capital and
labor, was of greater force than the friends of free labor
were then willing to admit, as is proved by the chronic state
of disturbed relations between employer and employed
which has come upon us, and promises to remain with us
for years to come. Co-operation admits the desirability
of a union between capital and labor, but maintains that
such a union can be accomplished by voluntary associa-
tions among men, both for the purpose of production and
distribution.

Distributive co-operation is, then, but a small part of the
problem whose solution presses upon us. Frequently it
means no direct union of capital and labor, but carries with
it a division of profits only between capital and the patrons
of capital, in other words, the consumers. This is the rule
in England, where the annual sales of the co-operative stores
exceed in value one hundred millions of dollars. It happens
rarely that the employees participate in the profits of trade,
though it is now clearly seen that capital, labor, and custom
should all share in the products of enterprises in proportion
to the services they render ; and in isolated instances, as in
the case of the great Scotch co-operative wholesale store,
this principle prevails; while the best leaders, those who
have furnished the life-giving spirit, are endeavoring to ex-
tend the application of co-operation until, in all its ramifica-
tions, it reaches its logical outcome.

Distributive co-operation is a school. It is a training
which, it is hoped, will lead to better things. More than this
is true. Distributive co-operation is a beginning. If it is ever
completely successful, it will only be as part of a co-operative
system which embraces the industrial life of the people. The
story of the origin, the progress, and the achievements of
distributive co-operation in Great Britain has often been

CO-OPERATION IN AMERICA. 171

told J ' but the history of the checkered career of distributive
co-operation in America has never been penned. Much of
it is already lost, and much survives only in the memory of
the aged, who once, full of youth and generous enthusiasm,
devoted themselves to the spread of co-operation. As Rev.
Dr. Heber Newton has well said, "Co-operation awaits
its Old Mortality, piously bent on rescuing firom oblivion the
fading characters of these living epitaphs." This is not the
place for a statistical paper, giving a catalogue of failures
and successes. We are now concerned only with a general
view, which must, however, be sufficiently accurate to enable
us to form in our own minds some kind of a picture of the
actual condition of things in the past and in the present.

The history of distributive co-operation in the United
States may be divided into two periods, each of nearly equal
duration. The first begins about 1835 and extends to the
time of the Civil War ; the second continues from the begin-
ning of that event to the present. I have been able to dis-
cover only two or three existing co-operative enterprises
which may be traced back to the first period, — the Central
Union of New Bedford, the Natick Protective Union, and a
large store at Worcester are mentioned by Mr. George E.
McNeill, of Boston.

Mr. McNeill, a veteran in the labor-movement, has pre-
pared a history of co-operation in Massachusetts, which was
published in the Report of the Massachusetts Bureau of
Statistics of Labor for 1877, and this is my chief source of
information for co-operation in New England before that
year. From this report we learn that co-operation was dis-
cussed in Boston, in 1831, by the New England Association
of Farmers and Mechanics ; but the members of the com-

1 A sketch of it, by the writer, may be found in the Congregation
alist, of Boston, March 12, 1885.

172 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

mittee appointed to consider the subject were able to agree
upon no report, and no definite action was taken at tliat
time. Several germs of co-operative effort are found be-
tween 1 83 1 and 1845, but no accurate account of them was
found by Mr. McNeill, nor have I been able to discover
anything further than what is stated by that gehtleman;
viz., that it was attempted to effect a saving by the pur-
chase of goods in large quantities, to be broken up and dis-
tributed at a slight advance above original cost, to meet
expenses. The managers were unpaid, the interest was not
maintained, and the stores soon failed, suspended operations,
or passed into the possession of private parties.

Whenever co-operation has in this country assumed large
proportions, it has been connected with some trades-union
or labor organization, and those societies which are to be
specially borne in mind in this connection are the four fol-
lowing; namely, the New England Protective Union, the
Patrons of Husbandry, the Sovereigns of Industry, and the
Knights of Labor. The New England Protective Union was
formed in 1845, ^^^ ^'S.'O. bore the name, Workingmen's
Protective Union, which it retained until 1849. A schism
took place in the body in 1853, because one party in the
Union thought that the purchasing agent for the co-operative
stores had been unfairly deprived of his position, and they
were unwilling either to await a peaceful and constitutional
settlement of the difficulty, or to waive a personal question
for the sake of the inestimable benefits of unity. The
seceders formed an organization, called the American Pro-
tective Union.

A correct view of co-operation seems to have been general
among the laborers at that time, for the following preamble
and resolution were adopted at the convention of the New
England Workingmen's Union, held in Fall River, in Sep-
tember, 1845 : — ■

CO-OPERATION IN AMERICA. 173

" Whereas, All means of reform heretofore offered by the
friends of social reform have failed to unite the producing
classes, much less attract their attention, therefore,

"Resolved, That protective charity and concert of action in
the purchase of the necessaries of life are the only means to
the end to obtain that union which will end in their ameliora-
tion."

The sentiments of the Workingmen's Protective Union
were reported to agree in the main with those fc-und at that
same time in the constitution adopted at New York by the
National Industrial Convention. The important thought that
an economy of a few dollars a year in the purchase of com-
modities was no way out of the difficulties of the laborers,
but was valuable only as a preparation for something better,
is brought out still more clearly in the following extract from
a report by the committee on organization of industry, issued
in 1849 : —

" Brothers, shall we content ourselves with the miserable
idea of merely saving a few dollars, and say we have found
enough? Future generations, ay, the uprising generation is
looking to us for nobler deeds. Shall we disappoint them ?
No ! by all that is great and good, let us trust in the truth
of organized industry. Time, undoubtedly, must intervene
before great results can be expected to accrue from a work
of this character. We must proceed from combined stores
to combined shops, from combined shops to combined
houses, to joint ownership in God's earth, the foundation that
our edifice must stand upon."

The resources of these laborers were small, but they began
their work " with faith in God and the right," to use their
words, and " the purchase of a box of soap and one-half
box of tea." This humble beginning rapidly assumed larger
and increasing proportions, until, in October, 1852, the

174 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

Union embraced 403 divisions, of which 167 reported a
capital of ^241,712, and 165 of these announced annual
sales amounting to $\,(i<)(i,%2^. The schism in 1853
weakened the body, but the agent of the American Protec-
tive Union claimed for the divisions comprising it, sales
aggregating in value over nine and one-quarter millions of
dollars in the seven years ending in 1859.

It is not possible to tell what might have been the out-
come of this co-operative movement had peace continued.
As it was, the disturbed era of the Civil War nearly anni-
hilated it. Nor can it be difficult to see the causes which
led to the destruction of the still tender plant. Men left
their homes for the battlefield; foreigners poured into
New England towns and replaced the Americans in the
shops ; while shareholders frequently became frightened at
the state of trade, and gladly saw the entire enterprise pass
into the hands of the storekeeper.

Various minor efforts at co-operation during the following
. years must be passed over with a simple allusion to the fact
of their existence. Such are the co-operative experiments
connected with the Boston Labor Reform Association, which
aimed at the " discharge of all useless middle-men ; " of the
same character are the co-operative associations, productive
and distributive, which were inaugurated by that once pow-
erful, but short-lived, union of shoemakers called the
Knights of Saint Crispin.

The two co-operative movements of large proportions,
next in order of time, are those set in motion by the Patrons
of Husbandry, or Grangers, and the Sovereigns of Industry.

The Sovereigns of Industry were a secret order, founded
in Worcester, Mass., in the month of January, 1874, by
WiUiam H. Earle. The first paragraph of the Declaration
of Purposes reads as follows :

CO-OPERATION IN AMERICA. 17S

" The order of the Sovereigns of Industry is an associa-
tion of the industrial or laboring classes, without regard to
race, sex, color, nationality, or occupation ; not founded for
the purpose of waging any war of aggression upon any other
class, or for fostering any antagonism of labor against capi-
tal, or of arraying the poor against the rich ; but for mutual
assistance in self-improvement and self-protection."

The entire declaration breathes forth the same pacific
intent which is likewise seen in the motto adopted for the
official journal of the Sovereigns, the Sovereign Bulletin,
namely, " Capital and Labor, Friends, not Enemies." In-
deed it may be said that the extreme of good nature has
been reached when this order promises to resist the organ-
ized encroachments of monopolists only by such " wise and
kindly measures " as it can command. While an entire
re-organization of society seems to have been contemplated
in a vague and general kind of way, the Declaration of
Purposes directs attention chiefly to the advantages of co-
operation in distribution, that is, in making purchases. The
aim was to secure economy by the abolition of the middle-
men, consisting of " speculator, broker, commission agent,
wholesale dealer, jobber, and retailer," and also to teach the
members of 'the order to avoid the disastrous and extrava-
gant system of credit.

The members in a town or district constituted a local
council ; the local councils in a State formed a State coun-
cil ; while the national council consisted of representatives
of all the States. The president of the national council was
the founder of the order, William H. Earle.

Brilliant success accompanied the efforts of the promot-
ers of the Sovereigns of Industry for a few years. Within
four months there were thirty-three councils in Massachu-
setts. One year later, the old Bay State claimed iifty-seven

176 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

councils, with 3,564 members, and in 1877 ninety-eight
councils, with an estimated membership of 10,000. The
order extended into other states, and even reached the ter-
ritories. Its chief strength, however, always remained in
New England and the Middle States. The Sovereigns were
well represented at Washington, where the national organ
was published during the last period of its existence, but
the order does not appear to have obtained a foot-hold in
any more southern section of the country.

The largest store belonged to the council at Springfield,
Mass., which in 1875 built the "Sovereigns' Block," at a
cost of $35,500. The hall was dedicated amid that jubila-
tion which always marks an event thought to be the fore-
runner of a new era. There is now a certain pathos in the
high hopes expressed in the Address of Dedication, by
President Earle. So much labor, such bright anticipations,
such lofty aims ! Are they but a hght to reveal the com-
pleteness of the wreck? Let us not say this; the end is
not yet !

The order continued to thrive until 1878, shortly after
which a decline began, and dissolution was the fate of the .
Sovereigns in 1880. We may take the business of the former
year as an indication of the field in trade once won by co-
operation — then lost to the good cause. President Earle,
in his address at the fourth annual session in Washington,
stated that the store at Springfield led all the others with
sales amounting to ;? 119,000 for the preceding year, while
the forty-five councils which sent in statements reported a
trade of ^^750,000 during the last twelve months. About
one-half failed to report. The profits were in many in-
stances large, notably so in Worcester, where the returns on
the capital invested in the Sovereigns' Co-operative Asso-
ciation averaged sixty-five per cent per annum from April

CO-OPERATION IN AMERICA. 177

20, 1875, to Jan. I, 1878. Many councils pursued co-opera-
tion no further than it is to be found in the club-order sys-
tem, and others entered into special agreements with regular
dealers, whereby considerable discounts were received.
Although the order failed in 1880, and co-operative enter-
prises connected with an organization generally rise and fall
with the particular society through which they came into
existence, the careful student will doubtless still discover
traces here and there, scattered throughout the length and
breadth of the land, of what once bid fair to be a powerful
movement. An occasional survivor, like the Rochdale
Society of Washington, stiU continues its existence, alone
and isolated, like a stranded mariner.

The well-known organization of farmers, called the Pa-
trons of Husbandry, or, more commonly. Grangers, achieved
grand results in co-operation, chiefly distributive. It has
been claimed that co-operation saved its members twelve
millions of dollars in one year. The high-water mark seems
to have been reached about 1876, when the Patrons had
five " steamboat or packet lines, thirty-two grain elevators
and twenty-two warehouses for storing goods." The mem-
bership of the order rapidly increased to a million, or there-
abouts, in the first ten years of its existence, but then de-
clined. Of late, new life and vigor have evidently been
infused into the Patrons of Husbandry, and it is not im-
probable that their numbers exceed half a million, while
there are over a million who have been members of the
Grange, and to-day stand to a greater or less extent under
the influence of its ideas.

The secretary of the National Grange, Mr. John Trimble,
kindly sends me these lines in reply to my request for exact
statistics :

" This office has no record of the strength of the order,

178 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

each State grange keeping its own record. I have no record
of co-operative movements, as they are not part of the
National Grange. We give them all possible moral encour-
agement and support, but they are not legally component
parts of the national organization."

By this it will be understood fhat co-operation is left to
the local and State granges, and in looking through the re-
ports of the State organizations, one may get an idea of the
dimensions of the co-operative movement among the Pa-
trons of Husbandry.

It is evident that co-operation is still a power among the
farmers, and it is not improbable that one may say, at pres-
ent, an increasing power. The Texas Co-operative Associa-
tion of the Patrons of Husbandry reported seventy-five
co-operative granges in 1881, the number soon increased to
one hundred, while in the present year one hundred and
fifty stores are claimed in addition to one central agency or
wholesale house.

Other States cannot show so favorable a record, but sev-
eral of them send encouraging reports. A large store is the
co-operative commission house in Baltimore, called the
Maryland Grange Agency, Patrons of Husbandry, the suc-
cess of which may fairly be called brilliant. It operates on
the favorite Rochdale plan, dividing profits on sales, after
paying expenses and a moderate interest on capital. This,
it may be remarked, is the most common practice in the
case of distributive co-operation. Diuing the last two
years the Baltimore agency at 83J S. Charles Street has
divided ;?9,ooo in profits. It started with a capital of $12
in 1876, and sold two milUon dollars worth of goods during
the first four years, and that without the loss of a dollar. Its
transactions now range from three to five hundred thousand
dollars per annum. California has a successful co-operative

CO-OPERATION IN AMERICA. 179

enterprise to show in the Grange Bank, with a paid-in capi-
tal of ^s, 000,000. This, however, comes more properly
under the head of co-operative credit, which is, after all, a
different thing from co-operative distribution. The Knights
of Labor are beginning to establish stores, many of them
as yet quite humble, in every part of the United States ; and
all over the country one finds scattered, unconnected co-
operative stores. The largest enterprise of this character,
so far as I have been able to ascertain, is the Philadelphia
Industrial Co-operative Society, founded in 1874. Starting
with one store, the forty-third quarterly report gives the
addresses of four main stores and four branches. The sales
for this quarter, ending May 16, 1885, amounted to $^1,-
649.87. Dividends have been regularly paid on purchases,
and the society has been prosperous from the start. Apart
from the direct benefit, there has been indirect gain from a
lower range of prices in other stores in the vicinity. The
society acts as a savings bank, as it receives money from the
poor for investment in shares and allows interest and profits
to accumulate. This money saved may be withdrawn, and
the president of the society told me that in this way the
organization had kept many a family from distress during
the recent hard times.

I might fill several pages of manuscript with an imperfect
list of co-operative stores and agencies of one kind and
another, but the scope of this work does not admit it.
Does the reader wish an estimate of the total business trans-
acted by co-operative distribution in the Unitnd States?
An estimate is scarcely possible, but I will give a rash guess,
and say, twenty millions of dollars per annum.

180 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

11. Productive Co-operation.

While co-operative distribution adopts as its maxim,
"Competence to the purchaser," productive co-operation
finds a watchword in, " Competence to the workman." The
first benefits the laborer indirectly. It helps him as a con-
sumer, but not as a workingman. It teaches him thrift and
frugaUty, and affords him an opportunity to invest his sav-
ings. It does not enter into the sphere of his activities as a
producer. Co-operation in production, however, takes hold
at once of the more vital problem of the relations between
capital and labor.

It might be thought that production ought to come first,
then consumption, then a combination of both in integral
co-operation, embracing the entire range of industrial life.
Such has not, however, been the view of co-operators, for it
has been held that the simpler process, distribution or ex-
change, ought to precede the more complex process, pro-
duction. Undoubtedly the organization of industry for pro-
ductive purposes is more difificult than the purchase and sale
of commodities in the store, and it is equally certain that the
preliminary training obtained by the management of distrib-
uting agencies may be helpful in productive co-operation.

There are various forms of productive enterprise which
may be classed together under the general head of co-
operative production. One form is called industrial part-
nership, or profit sharing, which contemplates a voluntary
division of profits by the employer of labor. The remuner-
ation of the employees is made to depend in part upon the
success of the enterprise, and they are occasionally encour-
aged to purchase an interest in the business. Pure co-
operation in production is an association of laborers to
conduct a productive undertaking on their own account

CO-OPERATION IN AMERICA. 181

They abolish the employer, or captain, of industry and
employ themselves. Co-operation is also used to denote a
union of producers for production, even when these pro-
ducers do not belong to the class of employees. Thus we
hear about the co-operation of farmers in cheese factories
and creameries. Profits are divided according to various
principles, but the commonest method is to conduct a
co-operative establishment like an ordinary joint stock con-
cern, paying wages and dividing profits on stocks in propor-
tion to investment. In other words, as a rule, co-operative
manufacturing establishments are joint stock corporations in
which the actual workers are at the same time the stock-
holders and managers. There may be other peculiar features
connected with the co-operative enterprise. A portion of
the earnings may be set aside for common purposes, as
amusement and education; and it is the practice to give
each shareholder only one vote, to prevent combinations
and that robbery of a minority which is unhappily so famil-
iar to us in corporate management. Occasionally interest is
paid on capital, and the surplus profit is distributed among
the laborers. It rarely happens that any portion of the
profits of a productive and co-operative concern is divided
among purchasers. I cannot now recollect a single instance
of the kind in America.

Productive co-operation before our late war may be dis-
missed with few words. The object of this co-operation, as
seen, is to establish the industrial independence of the
laborer and to enable him to divert profits into his own
pockets. It is only recently that there has been an immense
field for this sort of association ; for production in manufac-
tures was at an earlier period carried on in small shops whose
proprietors were likewise manual laborers. There were com-
paratively few employees, and these could always hope soon

182 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

to enter into direct relations with the consumer of their
products. Agriculturists did not feel the need of co-opera-
tion. There were always " hired men " in the North, but
these were easily able to become independent farmers,
working for no master ; and the agricultural laborer of the
South was a slave. The farmer, the carpenter, the black
smith, and the shoemaker, comprised a large portion of the
producers in the United States one hundred years ago, and
none of these then desired co-operative industry.

The cod and mackerel fisheries, however, are an excep-
tion. These required larger forces and greater capital, and
profit-sharing was introduced in this branch of production
one hundred and fifty years ago, and is still continued.^
Those who went on whaling voyages from New England also
were remunerated in part in the profits of the voyage. The
merchants in the China trade are generally mentioned in this
connection because they allowed their men a percentage on
the profits of each voyage ; and this practice seems to have
been not uncommon among ship owners fifty years ago. At
any rate, the chief officer, the captain, appears to have been
very often, perhaps as a rule, a participant in profits.

The first large co-operative movement in the field of pro-
duction was, so far as I discover, among the workers in
iron, and it was undoubtedly due largely to the indefati-
gable efforts of William H. Sylvis, the founder of the Iron
Moulders' International Union.

Mr. Sylvis made a report to the Iron Moulders' Union in
1864, in which he dwelt upon the advantages of co-operative
foundries. A committee was appointed to take this subject
into consideration, and in the words of Mr. Sylvis's biographer,

1 For an account of profit-sharing in the New England fisheries, see
the " Report of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor," for
1886.

CO-OPERATION IN AMERICA. 183

this committee " gave birth to the agitation which has since
made the moulders so greatly successful in their application
of the principle of co-operation to production, as is evidenced
in the existence of several co-operative foundries in Troy,
Albany, Cincinnati, and other places which are now making
a great deal of money by assuring to themselves, not only
the wages made by ordinary workers, but the profits earned
or secured by capitalists in foundries conducted on the
wages system." That Mr. Sylvis laid sufficient stress on
co-operation is proved by the following extract from an arti-
cle on that topic in the Iron Moulders^ International Jour-
nal : —

" Of all the questions now before us, not one is of so great
importance, or should command so large a portion of our
consideration, as co-operation. . . . Co-operation is the only
true remedy for low wages, strikes, lock-outs, and a thousand
other impositions and annoyances to which workingmen are
subjected."

At the close of 1869, members of the Iron Moulders'
International Union owned and operated fourteen co-opera-
tive foundries chiefly in New York and Pennsylvania.^

How many foundries were established, there is no means
of discovering. Most of them have failed, but there have
been some examples of success, and the iron-workers still
show sufficient faith in co-operation to continue an unin-
terrupted series of experiments in associated effort.

The Co-operative Foundry Company of Rochester has
been a financial success, though a partial failure as a co-
operative enterprise. When it was established, nineteen
years ago, all employees were stockholders, and profits
were divided as follows : twelve per cent on capital, and the
balance in proportion to the earnings of the men. But

> Authority is an article in the New York Times of Jan. 18, 1870.

184 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

the capitalist was stronger than the co-operative brother.
Dividends on capital were advanced in a few years to seven-
teen and one-half per cent on capital, then to twenty-
five, and finally the distribution of any part of the profits in
proportion to wages was discontinued. Money has been
made, and dividends have been paid every year. Two
years ago they amounted to forty per cent on capital.
About one-fifth of the employees are now stockholders.
Co-operation has not in this case prevented a conflict be-
tween employer and employee, as is shown in a recent strike
of three months and a half duration. It is interesting to
notice that one of the strikers, a member of the Moulders'
Union, owned stock to the amount of ;? 7,000.

The Buffalo Co-operative Stove Company is still in opera-
tion, and its prospects are reported as good. I am unable
to leam how much of the stock is owned by workmen.

The iron moulders established a co-operative foundry in
Nashua, N. H., in 1881, with a capital of ^4,000 which has
been increased to $16,000. Customary wages are paid in
addition to ten per cent on stock. The effect on character
is indicated by the fact that there is only one intemperate
man among the workmen, and it is said that he is reform-
ing.

Another successful co-operative foundry company is de-
scribed in the Massachusetts Report on Labor for 1877. It
was established in 1868 in Somerset, Mass., and is still in
successful operation in that place. A foundry, under the
auspices of the Knights of Labor, has been recently started,
or is about to start, at Spring City, Pa. A new co-operative
stove foundry in Atchison, Kan., has also been reported
recently. It is evident, then, that there has been more or
less co-operation, and a great deal of co-operative feeling
among the iron-moulders during the last twenty years.

CO-OPERATION- IN AMERICA. 18S

The Sovereigns of Industry did but little in the way of
productive co-operation, and the Patrons of Husbandry
have accomplished comparatively little in this direction,
although their achievements have not been unworthy of
notice. Indeed, it is certain that our farmers do not desire
any all-embracing system of co-operation, for that would
include agriculture which most of them wish to pursue
individually. Their co-operation has ever looked chiefly,
though not exclusively, to the abolition of an expensive sur-
plus of middlemen, in order to save the gains of this class
for themselves.

The only large and powerful organization which has
earnestly taken hold of the entire industrial problem, with a
view to the final introduction of co-operation into all spheres
of production, and the complete overthrow of the present
industrial and competitive economic order, is the Knights of
Labor. Their public Declaration of Principles contains this
statement with reference to co-operation : —

" We will endeavor to associate our own labors, to estab-
lish co-operative institutions, such as wiU supersede the wage
system by the introduction of a co-operative industrial sys-
tem."

Wliile the Knights of Labor have not entirely neglected
distributive co-operation, their achievements in productive
co-operation are far more remarkable, and are now to be
seen in all parts of the land. I suppose that I might, with-
out great difficulty, enumerate one hundred co-operative
undertakings at present in progress under the auspices of
the Knights.

One of the branches of production in which co-operation,
both among the Knights of Labor, and among other work-
ing-men, has noticeable results to exhibit, is journalism and
publication. The following periodicals are published by

186 THE LABOR ATOVEMENT.

co-operative societies : the Labor Sif tings of Fort Worth,
Tex. j the Trades Union of Atchison, Kan. ; the Puget
Sound Weekly Co-operator, W. T. ; the People, Providence,
R. I. j the Daily Evening Star of Bay City, Mich. ; the
daily and weekly Laborer of Haverhill, Mass. ; and the New
Yorker Volkszeitung. The success of the two last named
is considerable. With the exception of the Staatszeifung
of New York, the New Yorker Volkszeitung, a moderate
socialistic journal, claims the largest circulation among the
German papers of the country. It is a daily, with a weekly
and a special Sunday edition. The Boston Herald, it is
interesting to note, may be traced back to a co-operative
enterprise among a number of printers in 1846.

The Kentucky Railroad Tobacco Company of Covington
is endeavoring to introduce equitable relations between
labor and capital in this novel manner : The employees are
paid "weekly their wages in cash and in full, and these
wages to be fully up to the prices paid for corresponding
labor in any factory in the vicinity." Now these wages are
regarded as a dividend of six per cent on the labor cap-
ital represented by the workman. If an employee averages
$12 a week, his labor stock is estimated at Jio,ooo; for at
six per cent interest that would yield ;?6oo. In other
words, wages are capitalized and added to money capital.
As labor has already received six per cent in wages, cap-
ital must first receive six per cent out of any profits.
The surplus is a dividend on labor stock and on cash
capital. Thus, if eight per cent on the entire capital is
realized, the laborer whose earnings are |6oo per annum
will receive an additional ;^200, or two per cent on his
labor stock of ;^ 10,000. The following lines are under-
scored in the circular of the company : —

" Every stockholder in this concern must be a worker.

CO-OPERATION m AMERICA. 187

No one is allowed to hold any of the stock who does not
work in the factory. Every worker in the factory must be a
Knight of Labor.

" The only factory in the United States that recognizes
the equality of labor and capital."

The president of the company, J. R. Ledyard, pub-
lished some time ago the following testimony as to the
advantages, of co-operation as exhibited by their ex-
perience : —

" The marked effect of co-operation, as is shown amongst
the workers in this factory, would convince any one that
it works good results in the whole morale of the man.
So much does every one in the factory feel interested
that it requires no watching, no ordering, no admoni-
tions, but all are on the alert to do and keep everything
the best."

It is not necessary to consider at length all the individual
cases of co-operation in production in the United States.
Indeed, to do so would require a work of several volumes.
A few concerns are mentioned, however, merely to show the
diversity of pursuits to which it is attempted to apply co-
operation, and also to bring out clearly the fact that the
movement is national in extent. Many, in fact nearly all,
the enterprises are humble from the point of view of busi-
ness, but their significance lies in their germinal character.
Carpenters' Co-operative Association, Decatur, 111. ; Co-oper-
.ative Manufacturing Company (boots and shoes), Easton,
Pa.; Concord Co-operative Printing Company (limited),
47 and 49 Center Street, New York; Co-operative Flint
Works, Bea,ver Falls, Pa.; Richmond (Va.) Co-operative
Commercial and Manufacturing Company (soap) ; Union
Co-operative Granite Works, South Ryegate, Vt. ; Quincy
Co-operative Granite Works, West Quincy, Mass. ; two co-

188 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

operative hat companies, in South Norwalk, Ct. ; Union
Co-operative Building Association, Denver, Col.^

The most remarkable success of co-operative production
is found among the coopers of Minneapolis. Their first
co-operative barrel factory was started in 1874, and there
are now seven of them, doing a business of one million dol-
lars yearly. Interest is paid on money invested, and surplus
profits are divided among the coopers in proportion to earn-
ings.

Nearly all the mills of Minneapolis are supplied by them;
and are well satisfied with the quality of their work. It is
prophesied by Mr. J. S. Rankin that soon there will not be
a "boss" cooper shop in the town. This Mr. Rankin,
whose name is important in the history of co-operation in
Minneapolis, is thus described by a common acquaintance : —

"There is an old printer, named Rankin, here, who is a
moderate socialist and well read in political economy. He
is a charming old man, and comes into my office for a talk
occasionally. He is reading Sidgwick just now. . . . He is
an ardent believer in co-operation, and has been a sort of
father to the movement among our coopers."

As I was not able to visit Minneapolis in my tour of in-
vestigation, I will quote the interesting testimony of an eye-
witness, my friend. Dr. Albert Shaw of the Minneapolis Tri-
bune, who has had opportunity to see the practical workings
of co-operation in Minneapolis, and who kindly writes me
the following statement : —

" I have found a remarkable instance of productive co-
operation. I have already begun to collect the data for an

1 Twelve co-operative manufacturing enterprises in Massachusetts
are mentioned in the report of Bureau of Statistics of Labor for 1886.
The article on Profit Sharing in that Report should be read by those
who desire further information on this subject.

CO-OPERATION IN AMERICA. 189

economic essay, to be entitled, 'The Co-operative Coopers
of Minneapolis.' So far as I am aware, these cooper-shops
form the most successful examples of productive co-opera-
tion in the world ; and yet, if anybody has ever alluded to
them in a scientific way, I have never found it out. When
I state that the flour mills of this city far surpass those of
any other milling point in the world, and that they have a
daily capacity of thirty thousand barrels of floor, you will
perceive the necessity for coopers. Not far from half the
flour is shipped in barrels (the other half in sacks). There
are some seven hundred coopers at work on flour barrels.
About two hundred and fifty of these are 'journey- men'
working for ' boss ' coopers in three different shops. The
remaining four hundred and fifty (more or less) are grouped
in seven co-operative shops, which they own and manage
themselves. The system is indigenous. It has been devel-
oped by laboring men without any patronage, or preaching,
or persuasive literature. It began a dozen years ago in the
feeblest way, without fiiends or capital, and in the face of
suspicion and distrust. It has won its way until two-thirds
of the coopers have gone into co-operative movements. It
has secured such State laws as it required, and it has credit
and standing. Its moral effects are more marked and grati-
fying than its financial and industrial success. It develops
manhood, responsibility, self-direction, and independence.
Co-operative building associations have had some
degree of success here, and still greater in St. Paul. A
good many of the co-operative coopers own houses, which
they were able to build by virtue of membership in co-oper-
ative building associations."

190 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

III. Other Co-operative Forms.

The various forms of co-operative union between em-
ployer and employee are deservedly attracting attention at
present. It is impossible to give statistics showing the
extent to which such union prevails, but a few prominent
and typical instances may properly be mentioned by way of
illustration.

The employees of the publishers of the New Yorker
Staatszeiiung, and of the Century magazine have for some
time shared in the profits of these remunerative enterprises,
and the results are pronounced most satisfactory to all par-
ties concerned. The proprietor of a third leading periodi-
cal, Mr. George W. Childs of the Public Ledger, shares
profits with his men, but I am not aware that he has
adopted any definite rule as to the proportion he gives them.
He states plainly, however, that if he has any money to give
away, he thinks those first to be remembered are the men
who helped him to earn it. The compositors in the Ledger
office receive considerably higher wages than the Union to
which they belong demands. This Union, the International
Typographical Union, is encouraged by Mr. Childs in various
ways, as he sees no reason why his employees should not
combine for their mutual benefit. The organized composi-
tors of Philadelphia having received a plot of ground from
him for use as a cemetery, now call it the Printers' Cemetery.
In the summer of 1885 Mr. Childs invited the delegates to the
annual convention of the International Typographical Union
to pay him a visit in Philadelphia, where he entertained
them handsomely. Mr. Childs has consequently been made
a member of the local unions in Washington and Baltimore,
as well as elsewhere, and in more than one lodge-room of
the order his photograph is a highly prized ornament. It is

CO-OPERATION IN AMERICA. 191

doubtful whether any other large employer of labor is so
reverenced by his men as Mr. Childs by the printers.

Mr. Walter A. Wood of Hoosac Falls, N. Y., the presi-
dent of the Walter A. Wood Mowing and Reaping Machine
Company, has made it very easy for his employees to
acquire stock in the company, and has in various other ways
practically co-operated with his men, and is well pleased
with the successful experiment. A few years ago it was
stated in the Massachusetts Report on Labor that the Wal-
tham Watch Company had likewise assisted its employees
to acquire stock, and that with the most happy results.

A careful plan of profit sharing has been developed by
Messrs. Charles A. Pillsbury & Co., merchant millers of
Minneapolis, who politely write me as follows concerning
their methods : —

" Three years since, we started the co-operative system in
our mills by setting aside a percentage of our profits, which
we divide among certain of our men. First, we include in
the division every man who occupies an especially important
position and trustworthy place in any of our mills or our
office; and, secondly, every man who has been in our
employ for five years or over, no matter how menial his
position. . . . We certainly have the most loyal set of
employees in the world, and we think the money which we
have thus set aside and paid out has been the best invest-
ment we ever made. We never have the least trouble on
the question of labor. ... We think the great success of
our flour has been not so much that it is better than any
other flour that can be found in the market, but from its
great uniformity ; and this result it would be impossible to
obtain without the most conscientious co-operation of our
employees.''

The Messrs. Pillsbury modestly refrain from offering for

192 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

publication any statement of the amount of profits dis-
tributed by them to their employees, but elsewhere it has
been asserted that it was in the neighborhood of one hun-
dred thousand dollars.

Co-operative insurance demands a few words in a survey
of the field of co-operation, although it is not specifically a
labor affair. All insurance is, in a certain sense, co-opera-
tion, for men practically agree to help one another in case
of loss. It often happens that there is a go-between in the
shape of a joint-stock corporation, which may raise the cost
by extra charges, to cover the expense of dividends and sal-
aries which are sometimes exorbitant. The mutual compa-
nies are a nearer approach to pure co-operation, inasmuch
as any surplus, after expenses are defrayed, professes to be
distributed among the insured. A reserve of large propor-
tions is often accumulated, but if this is honest it is simply a
guarantee, and is held in trust for the policy-holders, that is
to say, those who are insured. The so-called co-operative
insurance companies are generally, if not always, assessment
companies. Definite payments are not required, but in case
of death or loss, an assessment is levied on each member.
It is well known that insurance is one of the chief lines of
business to-day in all civihzed communities. The number
of companies which are called co-operative is also large,
and a considerable part of their membership consists of
working people. In the year 1 883, one hundred and twenty
co-operative companies reported to the insurance depart-
ment of New York State. Their total assets were nearly
two and a half millions of dollars, and their receipts from
members, during the year, nearly eleven and a half millions.
Many labor societies have insurance features connected with
them, as, for example, the Knights of Labor. The insur-
ance department of this organization has not long been

CO-OPERATION IN AMERICA. 193

thoroughly organized, but it includes some six thousand
members. There are also innumerable friendly societies in
the United States which have insurance features on the
mutual plan. Nearly all the negroes in Southern cities
belong to one or more of these.

Another kind of insurance, and one which takes directly
hold of the labor problem, is that occasionally provided
through the medium of employers. The most remarkable
instance is the Baltimore and Ohio Employees' Relief Asso-
ciation, which provides for accident, disability, death, and,
in fact, nearly every contingency except lack of work. Its
membership is between sixteen and seventeen thousand, and
during the last fiscal year it distributed over two hundred
and sixty thousand dollars in benefits. The Baltimore and
Ohio Company contributes some thirty thousand dollars a
year to the association. The work of this association is
little appreciated among the employees who belong to it.
For this there are several reasons. One is, that membership
is compulsory on all who have entered the service of the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company since the compulsory
feature was announced, some three or four years ago. Sec-
ond, the members renounce in advance all claims against the
company in case of injury. Third, although the insurance
is cheap, unsound associations offer insurances at such low
rates that the men think it high. The men get back all they
put in, and more too. Fourth, the company has, unhappily,
a name as a hard master ; and whatever it does is viewed
with suspicion by its employees, even when, as in this case,
there is httie ground for anything but satisfaction. Fifth, a
just cause for complaint is one which it is difficult to see a
way to avoid altogether. The dependence of the men is
increased ; and, in case of discharge, much that has been
paid is lost.

194 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

The Pennsylvania Railroad Company has introduced a
similar plan of insurance, though the pronounced opposition
of its employees has induced it to abandon the compulsory
feature.

Careful thought and an examination of the subject in the
light of European experience has at length convinced that
it is doubtful whether it is desirable to encourage the insur-
ance of laborers by their employers ; and I say this with a
full appreciation of the great good which the Baltimore and
Ohio Association has accomplished. It can be too easily
abused to enslave the employees of vast corporations, upon
which there is already so large a measure of dependence
as to endanger the free development of those who desire
a livelihood in their service. It is better that insurance
should be effected through the agency of ind pendent
associations which do not impede freedom of movement.'

It is an unfortimate feature of co-operative or assessment
Ufe and accident insurance, that most people do not under-
stand that the average man cannot take out more than he
puts in. Insurance is simply a plan whereby men help one
another ; and all the benefits one member of the association
receives must be paid by the insured. The superintendent
of the insurance department of New York says truly, that it
is impossible to understand how inteUigent people can be
duped by many of these co-operative insurance schemes
which one meets on every hand. The superintendent has
heard from men of good business reputation their statement

1 It should be distinctly understood that this opinion is not based on
my observation of the workings of the Baltimore and Ohio Relief
Association ; for I believe the employees of the Baltimore and Ohio
Railway have been better treated since its existence than formerly;
but permanent institutions must be judged apart from their present
managers.

CO-OPERATION IN AMERICA. 195

of " an implicit belief in a representation that, on the pay-
ment of a maximum amount of ^250, they will receive
shortly ^2,500."

The result of this failure of the ordinary mind to under-
stand the limitations of insurance is sad disappointment and
vast loss. Misrepresentations are found in co-operative
schemes, even in places where it would be little expected.
A carpenter told me not long since that he insured in a co-
operative and benevolent society connected with one of the
largest sects in America. Though over thirty, he was told
that he could be insured for ;Jl2,ooo on payment of $'] per
annum. There was an initiation fee, and assessment oi %\
in case of death whenever the money was needed ; but he
was assured that there would not be over seven assessments
annually. At the present time there are two and three a
month. How serious and important -■ subject this is will be
seen by the statement that a newspaper not long ago pub-
lished a list of nearly five hundred failures among co-opera-
tive companies. There is doubtless a field for co-operation
in insurance of every kind ; but this entire business must be
regulated by law, and in each State placed under the strict-
est control of an insurance department officered by skilled
and experienced men. This is one of the cases where men
can protect themselves only through the agency of that great
co-operative institution we call the State.

Co-operative Credit.

There are few, if any, co-operative banks doing an ordi-
nary banking business, but designed particularly for the
working people of the United States. The large bank of
the Grangers in California has been mentioned, and several
other banks have at various times been established under

196 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

the auspices of the same order. Why banking institutions
for working people should meet with remarkable success in
Germany, doing an annual business which is estimated in
hundreds of millions, while they have elsewhere attained no
considerable proportions, is not quite clear; and such
explanation as can be given would require more space than
ought to be allowed therefor in this book. It is, however,
noteworthy that each of the four countries where co-opera-
tion has attained immense proportions should be specially
distinguished for success along one particular line, — namely,
England for vast achievements in distributive co-operation,
France for productive co-operation, Germany for banking
through the co-operative credit unions, and the United
States for the building associations, which will be described
directly. Before leaving this topic, it is worth while to say,
that there have been those who have strongly advocated the
belief that the German co-operative union might be made a
success among us. The late Josiah Quincy labored to estab-
lish them in Massachusetts, but did not succeed in inducing
the State Legislature to pass a suitable law. - I trust I may
be pardoned for the personal allusion, if I state that after
the publication of an article on co-operative credit unions
iive years ago, in the Atlantic Monthly, Mr. Quincy wrote to
me, urging me to take up the work where advancing years
compelled him to drop it.

The Building Association, it has been said, is the most
successful form of co-operation in the United States. The
institution is also known by other names, having formerly
been called the Co-operative Saving Fund and Loan Associ-
ation in Massachusetts. This name was changed to Co-
operative Bank three years ago, simply for the sake of con-
venience. Both names are apt to mislead the uninitiated.
The institution never constructs a building, nor does it con-

CO-OPERATION IN AMERICA. 197

duct an ordinary banking business. It is an association of
men designed primarily to aid one another in securing
homes. The prospectus of the Co-operative Bank of
Haverhill lies before me and gives a good idea of its scope
in these lines, printed on one side as an advertisement : —

" Do you wish to purchase a house ? Do you wish to pay
off an existing mortgage ? Do you wish to build a house ?
Do you wish to become your own landlord ? Do you wish
to save money ? The Co-operative Bank will assist you in
either case."

Below are two effective pictures. The first presents to
the view a beautiful cottage, neat, well kept, surrounded by
fine grounds. Beneath is the information, "The occupant
of this house is paying for it through the Co-operative Bank."
The second gives a view of a city tenement, blinds off the
hinges, clothes flying on the housetop, and on the adjoining
building the sign, " Wines and Liquors." Words printed
below tell you that, "The occupant of this house has not
yet heard of the Co-operative Bank." The first of these
Building Associations was established at Frankford, a suburb
of Philadelphia, in 1831, and bore the name of the Oxford
Provident Building Association. The institution gradually
became common in Philadelphia, and extended thence to
the other States, but its greatest success outside of Penn-
sylvania appears to have been attained in Ohio, New Jersey,
and Massachusetts.

The plan is a simple one in its outlines. A number of
people associate themselves to form such a society, let us
say two hundred. They meet monthly, and pay into the
bank $\ each, or, all together, ^200. Now this money is
put up at auction, and lent to the one who pays the highest
premium for it. Interest must be paid in addition at the
Jegal rg,te; and security is exacted. This goes on month

198 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

after month, all the moneys available being auctioned off
every month. Every one is a depositor or lender, and some
are borrowers. The deposits are to pay for shares, usually
;?200 each. Now it is manifest that one dollar must be
deposited once a month for two hundred months to pay for
a share, if no account is taken of profits and interest, which,
however, often reduce the time to ten years, and sometimes
to eight or nine. The deposits must be made regularly
until the shares taken are paid for. Let us suppose you
take five shares, or ^looo. You also borrow $1000 to
enable you to build a house. By the time you have bought
the shares, your credit equals your debt, and that is paid.
The shares are said to have " matured." If you have
borrowed no money, you receive i^iooo in cash. Premiums,
fines for dilatory payment, and interest all go to swell profits
and to shorten the time during which the shares mature.

The career of these useful associations has been some-
what marred by many failures, owing to dishonesty and mis-
management ; but in Pennsylvania experience has taught the
people how to manage them with a fair degree of safety ;
and in Massachusetts good laws and the watchfulness and
supervision of the bank commissioners have placed them on
a secure footing. The large achievements of the Building
Associations are indicated by this " fact about co-operation,"
taken from the Haverhill Prospectus, already mentioned : —

" Philadelphia has 600 Building Associations, with a capi-
tal of ;?8o,ooo,ooo, and a membership of 75,000. The
entire State of Pennsylvania has about 1,800 associations."

The bank commissioners of Massachusetts enumerate
twenty-six co-operative banks in that State, with 10,294
members, 2,018 borrowers, ^1,971,923. 20 in assets, an in-
crease of ^500,660.77 from the preceding year. The reports
for several years indicate a healthy condition of the banks,

CO-OPERA TION IN AMERICA. 199

and in the report for 1884 the commissioners say, "These
banks have generally enjoyed a prosperous year."

Six years ago it was ofificially stated that 60,000 comfort-
able houses had been constructed in Philadelphia alone
through the aid derived from the Building Associations, and
it is certain that Mr. Barnard did not exaggerate when
he entitled the chapter describing them, in his book
on Co-operation as a Business, "One hundred thousand
homes."

IV. Past Failures and Future Possibilities.

Before we pass over to the subject of failures in co-
operation, it is important to emphasize a fact which the
preceding pages in this chapter have already made apparent ;
namely, that a large measure of success has attended co-
operation in the United States. When we sweep over the
entire field with any care, we find various kinds of co-
operation representing in the aggregate annual transac-
tions which may safely be estimated at over two hundred
millions of dollars. Part of this co-operative effort has but
an indirect bearing on the labor problem, but it all indicates
and measures a general movement, and is undoubtedly of
vast significance. We may then draw this general conclu-
sion : co-operation has by no means been a total failure in
the United States ; on the contrary a large measure of
success has been attained ; and the co-operative movement
in America was never so truly a live, vigorous force, full of
promise, as it is to-day.

Yet the ground is strewn with the fragments of wrecks.
Large loss, pinching poverty, the disappointment of ardent
hope and joyous enthusiasm, the frequent abandonment of
all efforts to obtain improved industrial methods, and a
sullen acceptance of old conditions as unalterable — all

200 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

these have, from the start, attended the course of co-opera-
tion in the United States. Even when co-operative enter-
prises have succeeded, there has, as a rule, not been that
large outpouring of good things as a result, which people
anticipated.

What have been the causes of failure ? They have been
partly within the control of the laborer, partly beyond his
control.

First, the fact is to be noticed that co-operation generally

f* accompanies the progress of some labor organization. Now,

/ those with us who ought to have assisted the general labor-

l movement, to have brought to it intelligence and business

■ skill, and infused it with high Christian purpose, have too

\ often stood aloof from it, even when they have not been

\ positively hostile to it. I must repeat here what I have said

elsewhere : it is my deliberate opinion that in no country

in the civilized world have the laborers, as such, been so

isolated as in the large industrial centres of the United

States. Both in Germany and in England, many of the

most brilliant and renowned and highest-minded men of

I our times have been heart and soul with the laborers in all

, their aspirations and struggles. Such has not been the case

i in the United States.

Several consequences have followed the isolation of the
' laboring classes. Legislators have given so little intelligent
; attention to their needs, that it is only rarely that suitable
jlaws are found in our States, under which co-operative insti-
I tutions can organize and conduct business. This has been
I a frequent cause of complaint. Thus the commissioner of
,the Bureau of Labor Statistics of Ohio says, on page 9 of
1 his Report for 1879 : —

" Unfortunately there is no law under which such associa-
tions can organize with the distinctive idea of co-operation,

CO-OPERA TION IN AMERICA. 201

which is, that each member of such association shall have
one vote and no more without reference to the number of
shares held."

A member of the Co-operative Board of the Knights of
Labor told me recently that a difficulty encountered in
Maryland was the absence of suitable laws, while General
Mussey, who took an honorable part in the co-operative
movement inaugurated by the Sovereigns of Industry, entered
a like complaint with respect to the laws of the District of
Columbia.

As important as this is, it is nevertheless a minor matter.
The absence of the participation of truly great minds in the
American labor movement has kept it on a lower ethical
plane with us than in England. The life of any industrial
body or any movement comes from its indwelling spirit, and
the chief element in successful co-operation must be invisi-
ble, intangible qualities, such as devotion, self-sacrifice,
patience in the pursuit of good ends, high purpose, a noble
esprit de corps such as shall make the maxim, " one for all,
all for one," a living reality. In short, if co-operation is to
succeed as a practical application of Christianity to business,
there must be breathed into it a spirit of Christian consecra-
tion. A Congregational clergyman, not unknown in Western
Massachusetts, recently wrote me as follows concerning his
intention to join the Knights of Labor : —

" I am convinced that it is a duty as well as a privilege
to join the order. . . . The problem, as doctors of divinity
tell us, is, how to get the masses into the Church. I think a
better statement of the problem is, how to get the Church
into the masses. The Church is the leaven, the masses are
the meal. You cannot put a barrel of flour into a bottle of
yeast. You can put a bottle of yeast into a barrel of flour,
and with some result too."

202 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

Such a spirit as this has, unfortunately, not been so gen-
eral in the past as might be desired. Other obstacles in the
way of the success of co-operation are these : unsteady
employment, roving habits, the heterogeneous character of
our population — all preventing that consolidation and amal-
gamation of the masses which co-operation requires. As it
is, men do not sufficiently know one another, and are not
sufficiently attached to one another.

The multiphcity of openings for the gifted and fortunate
has been a fiirther difficulty with which co-operation has had
to contend. In older countries a great deal of talent has
been found among the laboring classes ready to assist in co-
operative enterprises. Those members of the working
class in America, whose help is most needed among those
with whom their early associations have been cast, have
often, perhaps generally, left their early position for a higher
one — at any rate, for one which they thought higher and
more attractive ; and too often they have been willing to
ignore their old friends and neighbors. Our current forms
of philanthropy have had a similar effect. Their general
aim is too often to raise some one from a class into which
he has been bom, into a higher one, and that, of course, to
the injury of the masses. The result is that innumerable
doctors and lawyers are struggling for a practice, and many
clergymen are preaching to indifferent congregations, who
might have promoted the welfare of the masses as shoe-
makers, carpenters, and masons. The fact has been over-
looked that you injure the mechanics of a town when by
artificial means you encourage the ten best men among
them to leave their old occupations.' What is needed is

1 It is hoped that this will not be misunderstood. Those of unusual
talents ought to be assisted. A Grand Duke of Germany observed artistic
genius in a kitchen boy in his palace and educated him. He is now
one of the foremost sculptors of Germany. Cases like this are rare.

CO-OPERATION IN AMERICA. 203

philanthropic effort designed to benefit the laborer as a
laborer, the farmer as a farmer, the mechanic as a mechanic.

These many openings for men of ability, and the large
returns on capital, have rendered men indifferent to the
small savings which co-operators in old countries consider
ample reward for their labor and sacrifices. Americans
have been too indifferent to small economies. This is seen
everywhere, and a striking example is the administration of
cities. Men of large property have deliberately declared
that they could better afford to bear the burden of munici-
pal corruption in New York than to give their time to the
duties of citizenship.

The masses generally are poor financiers, and especially
poor bookkeepers. This is a frequent cause of ruin which
gifted and devoted men might avert. Frequently all that a
co-operative concern needs to make it a complete success,
is merely a little friendly counsel by the right man at the
right time. The counsel has not been forthcoming, owing
to the already mentioned isolation of the laborers. A lack
of sufficient capital often ruins a promising co-operative
business. Here the remedy is obvious. Capital is abun-
dant, in the eastern part of the United States, at least, and
well-disposed men of means can, if they will, find opportu-
nities to help laboring men to help themselves, while at the
same time receiving a return on their investments.

Venality and corruption among the masses have often
ruined co-operative enterprises. The remedy suggests itself,
namely, a higher ethical development of the masses ; and
those labor-leaders who are hostile to the Christian religion
would do well to ask themselves whether any other force
than Christianity can supply the training in practical ethics
which is to-day the greatest need of the labor movement.
Co-operation must become a religion before it can succeed

204 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

in its aim, which is the reconstruction of society. The chief
cause of success in Great Britain is due to the nearness with
which it has there approached the character of a true
religion.

The need of superior character on the part of co-opera-
tors is even more indispensable as a condition of success,
than on the part of those who participate in other forms of
the labor movement j for, as Brentano has so well pointed
out, co-operation is adapted to those who intellectually
belong to the great average mass, but who, in their moral
natures, are far above the average.

Another obstacle to the success of co-operation has been
the want of a tie to connect various co-operative enterprises.
In England, co-operation did not become a decided success
until a central board was formed, and men like Thomas
Hughes and E. Vansittart Neale were given positions of
influence in it. The co-operative credit-banks in Germany
have become a great power because they always acted
unitedly under their able founder, Schultze Delitzsch, a man
of university training and of experience both in the law and
in legislation. Through these central agencies, past experi-
ence has been utilized ; and an occasional hint or warning
from the central office, and consultation at annual con-
gresses have enabled the local societies to avoid the rock on
which others have made shipwreck. There has been little
utilization of previous experience in the United States, for
co-operative enterprises have been too scattered and irregu-
lar, and one after another they have continued to repeat
the same mistakes, though three-fourths of them have prob-
ably been avoidable.^

1 Recent publications of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of
Labor, have in view the utilization of past experience. The Sociologic
Society of America, whose President is Mrs. Imogene C. Fales, has

CO-OPERATION IN AMERICA. 20S

One large field for co-operation in the United States is to
be found in the coal regions. Here we find a comparatively
homogeneous population, and the inhabitants Uving in close
proximity to one another. We also find high prices paid for
poor goods, and a general deficiency in the supply of means
of distribution. Yet there is little co-operation among the
miners. What is the reason ? The oppressive and generally
illegal truck system is the answer. Corporations force their
men to buy at the "company stores." Here is a place
where the strong arm of the law ought to be exercised with
vigor.

As a rule, however, outside of the regions of monopoly,
profits are not large, either in production or in distribution.
This is a point in regard to which people deceive them-
selves. If the laboring men could put the entire profits of
their grocer into their own pockets, they would, in many
towns, be greatly disappointed in the smallness of the addi-
tion to their resources. Sometimes there is no profit at all.
When the profits are great, it is probable that they are the
results of large transactions. If a co-operative store is estab-
lished, it will frequently be discovered that it is not possible
to distribute goods without profits so cheaply as some old-
estabhshed dealer after his profits have been added, since
the latter gains only the savings due to extraordinary skill,
diligence, and long experience. I do not mean that this is
always the case, but it is a description of what often happens.

Let us turn our attention to an illustration taken from a
productive establishment. It is said that sixty thousand
dollars invested in a shoe factory will employ two himdred
men. If profits are ten per cent, the owner obtains six

established a Co-operative Board which offers information to those who
desire to start co-operative enterprises. The Chairman of the Board is
Samuel Whittles, Jr., II Ferry Street, Fall River, Mass.

206 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

thousand dollars a year from the business. If the employer
labors for nothing, and distributes the entire proceeds among
the men, it will amount to only thirty dollars per annum for
each. If for each man in a foundry a capital of one thou-
sand dollars is required, and profits are still ten per cent, that
would be one hundred dollars for each employee. These
profits are by no means to be despised, but they are not so
large for each laborer as is often imagined. The large
accumulations of employers, and their handsome incomes,
are frequently derived from small profits on the work of
each employee. The aggregate is large, because production
is carried on on a vast scale. The income of a man who
derives five cents a day from two thousand men is one hun-
dred dollars a day. It must likewise be remembered that it
is nothing uncommon to find manufacturers who have for
some time derived no profits from their enterprise, or who
have even worked at a loss. When laborers start co-opera-
tive concerns, there is danger that neglect of small econor
mies will dissipate all gains. On the other hand, there are
superior advantages in well-conducted, well-disciplined co-
operative enterprises, such as greater energy, watchfulness,
thought, prudence, on the part of the workingmen.

Are the advocates of co-operation wrong when they point
to the enormous expenditures and terrible wastefulness of
our present economic system? The commissioner of the
Ohio Bureau of Labor Statistics, in his report for 1878, esti-
mated the annual cost of distributing the products of indus-
try within the State at fifty millions of dollars. Was it an
error on his part to imply that a large portion of this
expenditure was waste ? By no means ; nor are co-oper-
ators in error when they claim that co-operation might save
enough to bring comfort to all people in the United States.
But how can this be effected? We must inquire into the

CO-OPERATION IN AMERICA. 207

nature of the waste before we can return a satisfactory
answer.

This needless expenditure of economic resources, or labor-
force and capital-force, is the result of competition. Three
men are engaged in the distribution of groceries and dry-
goods where one might answer all needs. Twice as many
men, horses, and wagons are engaged in the distribution of
milk in a city as would be required if the business of supply-
ing milk were organized, and different routes assigned to
each man, so that four or five milkmen would not supply
customers on each block, which must occasion a vast amount
of travel to no purpose. The postoffice is a familiar illustra-
tion. Let one think of the great additional cost if each
letter-carrier picked up indiscriminately an armful of unas-
sorted letters and delivered them. Yet this is much like
the methods of competition. In all this the advocates of
co-operation are quite right. But how can this waste of
competition be avoided ? Only by a vast national organiza-
tion of co-operative industry, both in production and in dis-
tribution. This organization must be vast and powerful
enough to exercise a controlling influence in industry, and
repress competition and its wastes, or, at any rate, competi-
tion wherever and whenever it is excessively wasteful. In no
other possible way can co-operation accomplish those ends
which its adherents have prophesied it would bring to pass.
But this is not all. There are certain fundamental and pri-
mary conditions of economic activity. Why grow com if
you cannot get it to market ? Why manufacture steel plows
if you cannot ship them to the consumer? Why engage
in business if your rival receives transportation at lower
rates than you? Your failure is only a matter of time,
struggle as hard as you may. Away back of ordinary busi-
ness enterprises, behind the energy and skill of the industri'

208 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

ous, there are governing, indispensable forces, whose control
is not and never can be in the hands of the private indi-
vidual. Suitable harbors, highways, bridges, the proper reg-
ulation and improvement of rivers, the establishment of the
conditions of public health by quarantine and other sanitary
arrangements, — all fall within this category. But the most
important of them all for our present purposes is the rail-
way. Herein lies the essence of the railway problem.
Men are working with a halter about their necks, and the
railway power holds the end of the rope. If it tightens its
hold, the victim dies. I know to-day a co-operative coal
mine which is on this account gasping for breath.

Professor E. J. James is, then, quite right in his utterance :
" No system of co-operation or profit-sharing can succeed
until it is possible to make some estimate of the railroad
tax, which is in many cases destructive, no less by its
amount than by its uncertainty." The Knights of Labor are
also proceeding with a clear perception of the nature of the
conditions which surround them when, with the proclama-
tion of their desire to organize co-operative production on a
vast scale, they couple the demand for a reconstruction of
our railway system.

In the meantime, while waiting for a more fortunate basis
on which to operate, it is well to encourage every attempt of
working people and of others to co-operate. It is a train-
ing, a sowing of seed ; and even now, under favorable cir-
cumstances, co-operation can accomplish much good. We
must not turn aside from small economies, nor must we be
so ready, as heretofore, to despise the day of small things.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE BEGINNINGS OF MODERN SOCIALISM IN
AMERICA.

THERE are in the United States three distinct parties
of socialists, which may be called revolutionary, since
they each aim at an overthrow of existing economic and
social institutions, and the substitution therefor of radically
different forms. These three parties are known as the
Socialistic Labor Party, the International Working People's
Association, and the International Workmen's Association,
and are usually designated by their respective initials, S. L. P.,
I. W. P. A., and I. W. A. One sees these initials continually
in their publications, and upon them incessant repetition
seems to have conferred in the minds of socialists a peculiar
cabalistic quality. Each of the International parties has
chosen a color, by which it is sometimes called. The color
of the International Working People's Association is black,
and one hears occasionally of the " Black International," ^
while the International Workmen's Association prefers red,
and those belonging to it like to be known as the " Reds.''

The effort was once made by John Most, to bring into
use the term the " Blues," as the designation of the mem-
bers of the Socialistic Labor Party. This was intended as a
reproach to them on account of their conservatism, but the
name has never been generally received.

1 This expression was used originally by Bismarck, as a name for the
Koman Catholic Party of Germany.

210 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

It may be well to devote a few words to the general char-
acteristics of these parties, and to a short account of their
origin, before passing over to a more detailed description of
each. These parties differ in most important particulars,
although they agree upon certain fundamental propositions.
Their divergence is, first and foremost, one of method.
Both the "Black" and the "Red" Internationalists are
men of violence, believing in the use of dynamite and like
weapons of warfare, as means of attaining their purposes ;
while the adherents of the Socialistic Labor Party condemn
these tactics, and some of them have not renounced all
hope of a peaceful revolution of society. The next differ-
ence which attracts attention is one of character. The
SociaUstic Labor Party is composed of men of better bal-
anced minds, and, it has always seemed to me, of better
training than those who comprise the other parties.^ The
Internationalists cannot be denied a certain keenness of per-
ception, but they are narrow and fanatical. They see
clearly within a certain range of ideas, but the moment they
are drawn without the hmited circle with which they are
familiar, they are like men blind from birth. The zeal and
devotion with which they pursue their ends are remarkable,
and may be explained by their very narrowness. All their
intellect and all the force of their moral natures are concen-
trated on their cause. If the members of the more moder-
ate Socialistic Labor Party are somewhat less earnest, they
are broader in their conceptions and more capable of under-
standing the opinions of those with whom they differ. For

1 The Internationalists deny strenuously that the moderate socialists
are better educated, and one who ought to know better than I told me
once that the Internationalists had all the brains. They have able
adherents in Europe, like Elis^e Reclus and Prince Krapotkine, but I
still think that my original judgment is correct for our country.

BEGINNINGS OF MODERN SOCIALISM IN AMERICA. 211

this reason among others, they adopt a more refined tone
and have less sympathy with indiscriminate abuse of all who
uphold existing institutions. It is largely due to this diver-
sity of method and of personal qualities that the members
of the three parties have found it impossible to act harmo-
niously together, and that the Socialistic Labor Party is at
present at sword's points with the Internationalists. There
are also important differences of doctrine ; but these, as
more complicated, will be described in the detailed treat-
ment of the parties.

The points of agreement are, as has been said, funda-
mental, and it is well at the start to clear away a misappre-
hension which exists in the minds of many by mentioning
a negative particular, in which all socialists agree. It seems,
indeed, to be necessary to begin every article, monograph
or book, on the theory of socialism, by the statement that no
one advocates or even desires an equal division of produc-
tive property. What they wish is a concentration of all the
means of production in the property of the people as a
whole, and the distribution of the income, that is, of the
products only, either equally or unequally, according to the
views entertained of what is just and expedient. It is pro-
posed to abolish private property in the instruments of pro-
duction, not, however, in income so far as this consists
simply of articles of use and enjoyment which cannot serve
as a basis of further production.

Another negative in which all socialists agree is this :
None of them wish to abolish capital, and he who tries to con-
vince them of the utility of capital, renders himself ridiculous
to them. What they desire is to do away with a distinct
class of capitahsts, and in this they agree with co-operators,
although they propose to obtain their end by a very different
course. Positive points of agreement are these, — all social-

212 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

ists advocate the use of the best machinery, all favor tlie
most improved methods of production, and all desire to
organize production on a vast international basis. The pro-
gramme of American socialism, then, includes primarily
the substitution of some form of exclusive co-operation in
production and exchange, for the present leadership of
" Captains of industry " in production and exchange, or
capitalistic system, as it is termed, and the abolition of pri-
vate property in land and capital, to make room for common
property in the instruments of production. In other words,
all our socialistic parties regarding the wage-receiver as
practically a slave, desire the advent of a time when co-
operators shall take the place both of industrial master and
industrial subordinate. All wish to abolish the possibility of
idleness, and to make of universal application the maxim :
" He that will not work, neither shall he eat." The leaders
of these parties are materialists, though the materialism of
the Socialistic Labor Party ^ is less gross than that of the
Internationalists. Having abandoned hope of a happy
hereafter in which the poor, but honest and God-fearing,
laborer shall find rich reward for all toil and suffering
patiently borne, they have determined to enjoy this life,
and, as it is not an easy thing to believe that there is
no blessedness in the universe, they imagine this earth
designed to be a paradise. They talk of its beauties and of
the soul-satisfying delights of life, from all of which they are
needlessly debarred, not so much, say the moderates, by any
wilful conspiracy of the rich, as by the failure of man to

1 A member of this party — the Socialistic Labor Party — com
ments as follows on their materialism : " Not to be understood in the
pure sense of the word, better monism as taught by Darwin, Hseckel,
Kant, and Spinoza, the world being a whole, and all forces being in
contact."

BEGINNINGS OF MODERN SOCIALISM IN AMERICA. 213

perceive that the time has come for a complete reconstruc-
tion of industrial society.

It is interesting to notice the general view all modem
socialists take of society as a growth. Each social form is
regarded as an era in the development of society ; useful in
its time, but after awhile becoming antiquated, it must give
way to an advanced organism. Slavery, serfdom, and wages
were not unjustifiable, they holdj but the Internationalists
and moderates think that these institutions have all had their
day, have fulfilled their purpose, and are no longer needed
among the nations of civilization, though there may still be
regions where they are not yet antiquated.' " We do not
deny," says one of these socialists, "that there are countries
that have not yet outlived the wage-system; but we have
certainly outlived it in the United States, and cannot safely
continue it." ^ Socialism is, then, coming just as the leaves
are coming in spring, and just as these will be followed by
bloom and fruitage. It is not of human willing, but as
inevitable and necessary as the law of gravitation. All that
the more sensible among them profess to be able to do, is to
guide and direct the mighty forces of nature, which manifest
themselves in social revolutions and convulsions. Thus it
was natural that the resolutions presented to the meeting of
Anarchists held in Chicago, on Thanksgiving day of 1884,
should begin, " Whereas, we have outlived the usefulness of
the wage and property system, that it now and must here-
after cramp, limit, and punish' all increase of production, and

1 This is the explanation of one of the socialists : " Socialists at
large consider capitalism a necessary means for reaching a higher level
of civilization. Socialism cannot be established without developed
capitalism, the value of which consists in introducing and perfecting
the ' Great-Production.' "

^ V. The Alarm, Dec. 6, 1884. Article, Co-operation.

' The author gives his quotations verbatim et literatim, making no
attempt to improve style or grammar.

214 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

can no longer gratify the necessities, rights, and ambitions
of man," etc.

It may be stated that in general the teachings of Carl
Marx are accepted by both parties, and his work on capital
("Das Kapital ") is still the Bible of the socialists.^ This
work has not as yet been translated into English, although a
translation is announced for the near future; but extracts
from it have been turned into our tongue and published;
and brochures, pamphlets, newspapers, and verbal expositions
have extended his doctrines, while H. M. Hyndman has
expounded the views of the great teacher in his " Historical
Basis of SociaUsm " in England.

In this country a young enthusiast, Laurence Gronlund,
a lawyer of Philadelphia, has written a recently published
work, entitled " The Co-operative Commonwealth," designed
to present the socialism of Marx, as it appears after it has
been digested, to use the author's words, " by a mind Anglo-
Saxon in its dislike of all extravagances, and in its freedom
from any vindictive feeling against persons who are from
circumstances what they are."

The use of the red flag, and also of the color red in
other forms, as an emblem of their faith, is common to
sociahsts the world over. What does it mean? The reply
can be best given in the following quotations, which have
been gathered together from various sources.

The red flag. — " The emblem of the universal brother-
hood of man."

1 Recently one of their papers, the New Yorker Volkszeitung, pro-
tested against this epithet as applied to the work of Marx, as it was not
desired that any book should be regarded in the light of an infallible
guide. It was feared that this would hinder progress. Yet the term
describes better than anything else the actual feeling towards "Das
Kapital," and among the more ignorant socialists reverence for a great
leader has ere this approached idolatry.

BEGINNINGS OF MODERN SOCIALISM IN AMERICA. 21S

It is "the symbol of the frequently shed blood of the
proletariat, and at the same time the sign of the salvation
of the suffering and starving people." — Vorbote of Chicago,
Sept. 9, 1885.

"The red flag signifies the gospel Paul preached on Mars
Hill, that God had made of one blood all nations, and that
it is the banner of one blood, the emblem of fraternity." —
First Report of the Kansas Bureau of Statistics of Labor,
p. 100.

" It may be said that the color red, which for decorative
purposes is capable of magnificent effects, represents to
French workmen not, as some have absurdly said, violence
in any way, but the peaceful republic of industry." — Fred-
eric Harrison in the Fortnightly Review, vol. 23, New Series
(1878).

" The red flag is the symbol of blood shed by the people
for liberty. Adopted by socialists of all countries, it repre-
sents the unity and fraternity of the races of men, while
the national banners represent hostility and war between the
different States." — In the Preamble adopted by the English
Internationalists in 1873. Quoted from Professor de Lave-
leye's " Socialism of To-day," p. 210.

It is thus seen that the red flag in itself is innocent. It
may be in the minds of some as devoid of any intent to do
wrong as a Sunday-school banner. On the other hand, if
used as a flag of actual rebels, it may be terrible indeed.
There is no reason why it should alarm people in time of
peace. It is with the red flag as it is with the EngUsh flag.
It would to-day give no anxiety to see a man unfurl a British
flag in New York ; possibly one year from to-day it would
cost him his life.

It is difficult and perhaps impossible to trace out the first
germs of Revolutionary Socialism in America, although it is

216 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

certain that it is not descended from early American com-
munism, to which it has little resemblance. The influence
of the later movement on the earUer, has, however, been
more perceptible, but even that has been comparatively
slight. The first cause of the recent acceptance of socialism
by parties of workingmen in America must be sought in the
economic conditions of the country, for no theory of society
ever found adherents enough to attract the general notice of
the public, which did not have some close connection with the
historical facts of the period. The phenomena must have
existed to give rise to those generalizations, which, taken
together, constituted the theory of society in question.
True, these phenomena may have been unnaturally separated
from other unseen phenomena, and their true import may
have been sadly misunderstood ; some faulty classiiication
and over-hasty and otherwise imperfect generalizations may
have led to erroneous conclusions, and mistaken or even
criminal actions ; nevertheless, it holds true, that no philo-
sophical or social system can be understood without an
examination of the life of the people among whom it arose,
and of the times when it gained adherents.

Socialism has begun to excite alarm in America, and its
advocates are found in all parts of the country ; but it is a
gross mistake to treat it as a purely artificial or imported
product. It could make no headway until the march of
industrial forces had opened the way for the operation of
ideas, new and strange to the great masses. What the
nature of the progress of these forces was, is well known.
A wonderful epoch of discovery and invention had brought
to the service of man the mighty powers of nature in such
manner as to accomplish results surpassing the dreams of
enthusiasts and the operations of the magician's wand in the
fairy tale. This ushered in a period of unparalleled increase

BEGINNINGS OF MODERN SOCIALISM IN AMERICA. IVl

of wealth which was sufficient to transform the face of the
earth in a single generation, and its magnificent fruits made
optimists of men.

But all the products of the age were not beneficent. The
new ways required a displacement and readjustment of labor
and capital, under which many suffered greviously. Doubt-
less progress led to the common good "in the end," as
people say, but many perished in the way before the end was
reached. Much capital which could not be withdrawn from
its old use, was lost, to the impoverishment of its owners.
To take a single concrete example, let one think of the irms
which fifty years ago flourished along the great mail and
stage routes. How many were ruined in the improvements
which George Stephenson and his locomotive have finally
made a daily necessity? Again, advanced processes and
labor-saving machinery frequently throw men entirely out of
employment, though after a time the demand for laborers
may increase immensely, as has occurred in the case of spin-
ning and weaving. Quite as serious in its ultimate conse-
quences is the fact that acquired skill was so often rendered
superfluous. A few rose to great wealth, but the masses
knew what the newspapers did not chronicle, namely, the fall
of many small producers and once-skilled artisans to the
condition of laborers.^ Great good comes to many as the
result of progress, for if the picture is not so bright as some
imagine, it is not so dark as others are often inclined

1 I have seen it stated that the number of servants and other em-
ployees in the United States has increased three times as rapidly as the
population. There are no statistics which could be relied upon to give
us the exact data, and I have not at hand those which would enable
me to form even an approximate estimate. The subject deserves atten-
tion, and I simply give the statement for what it is worth without my
indorsement.

218 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

to think; but even those who gained, frequently suffered
temporarily.

For the time being men suffer, and the time being is an
important factor to men who live from hand to mouth, as is
the case with a great part of mankind. Those who suffered,
often complained bitterly, and at times uttered dire threats
which were occasionally executed in part at least. AU this
has long been a familiar fact in Europe. From the termina-
tion of the Napoleonic wars till the discovery of gold in
California and Australia, was a period of distress in England,
and what Sismondi saw in the crisis of 1819, when on a visit
to that country, produced such an effect upon him that he
felt compelled to throw overboard the political economy of
Adam Smith, to which he had previously adhered, and to
write his " Nouveaux Principes d'Economie Politique." The
example of England is not an isolated one.

In the United States, however, there was abundance of
fertile, unoccupied land on every side, and the undeveloped
resources of the country were boundless, both in extent and
in their potentialities for the production of wealth. While
some suffered doubtless, they were comparatively few, and
the tremendous strides with which America was advancing in
power and prosperity, caused them generally to be over-
looked. The bloom and fruitage of the age regarded from
a materialistic, economic standpoint seemed almost wholly
beneficent, and Americans, as a rule, were optimists. But a
change was impending. A severe crisis in 1873, with all its
train of varied disasters, checked economic progress, and
brought the crushing weight of poverty upon tens of thou-
sands. This was not the first industrial crash in America, to
be sure, but it is doubtful whether any other followed on an
era of such prosperity.

Then the wealth of a few had increased enormously dur-

BEGINNINGS OF MODERN SOCIALISM IN AMERICA. 219

ing the Civil War, while luxury, such as had scarce entered
the day-dreams of our fathers, extended itself over the land.
Never before had there been seen in America such contrasts
between fabulous wealth and absolute penury. Population
was denser, and there was not exactly the same freedom, the
same ease of movement. In short, from one cause and
another, in many quarters bright visions gave place to gloomy
forebodings, and thus Americans were better prepared than
ever before to listen to those who advocated the most radical
social reconstruction, and repudiated the reforms of trades-
unionists and others who desired only an improvement of
existing institutions. It is now left to inquire who sowed the
seeds of socialism, which have sprung up, or are even now
sprouting and sending forth shoots below the surface.

The socialism of to-day may be said to date from the
European revolutions of 1848,' all of which soon terminated
disastrously for the people as opposed to their rulers. Many
German refugees sought our shores, and some of them were
ardent socialists and communists, who endeavored to propa-
gate their ideas. Wilhelm Weitling, a tailor, bom in Magde-
burg in 1808, was prominent among these. Weitling visited
France and Switzerland as a journeyman, during his " Wan-
derjahre," and became acquainted with the doctrines of the
French communists. German as he was, it was natural that
he should revise the work of his predecessors, and strip
French communism of its fantastic garb before presenting it,
as he soon did, to his coimtrymen in various works.^ It was

1 My book, " French and German Socialism in Modern Times,"
carries socialism back to the French Revolution of the last century, but
the earlier socialistic movements therein described are already regarded
as defunct.

^ "Das Evangeliura des armen Sunders." Bern, 1841 ; "Garantien
der Harmonie und Freiheit." Vivis, 1842; "Die Menscheit, wie sie
ist und wie sie sein sollte." Bern, 1843.

220 'Tbk LABOR MOVEMENT.

thus that Weitling, who is occasionally called the " Father of
German Communism," became one of the first to scatter
those seeds of economic radicalism which have brought
forth such large increase in the social democracy of our own
times. The Swiss and German authorities could not forego
the temptation to make a martyr of Weitling, and he was
thrown into prison in both countries. His last imprison-
ment was in Germany, and he was given his freedom on
condition that he should emigrate to America,^ which he
accordingly did. Weitling founded a workingman's society
in New York not long after his arrival, which was called the
Arbeiterbund, with headquarters in Beekman Street. A
newspaper was pubUshed by these men for three or four
years, called Die Republik der Arbeiter. Associated with
WeitUng at this time was Dr. Edmund Ignatz Koch, a man
who was active in the European revolutionary days just
passed, and who had brought with him to the United States,
if my memory serves me correctly, a thousand copies of one
of the works of the French communist, Blanqui. It was
the intention of the Arbeiterbund to establish a communistic
settlement in Wisconsin, but internal dissensions prevented
the execution of this plan. Weitling, however, was for a
short time connected with a colony of communists in Clayton
County, Iowa, which had been formed by Henry Koch, an
ardent disciple of Fourier, and an admirer of Albert Bris-
bane and Horace Greeley.' Weitling finally abandoned his

^ The date of his liberation on this condition is given as 1845 in a
newspaper article which lies before me. Elsewhere it is stated that he
was among those who left Germany after the events of 1848. How-
ever this may be, the emigrants who fled after the latter year first gave
him a favorable opportunity to continue his propaganda in America.

' Henry Koch's career is one common among German Americans.
Born in Baireuth in 1800, he learned the trade of watchmaker, and

BEGINNINGS OF MODERN SOCIALISM IN AMERICA. Ill

communistic ideas, and devoted himself to his trade, to
inventions designed to improve the sewing-machine, and to
astronomical studies as a recreation.

It is said that he invented several valuable contrivances,
especially one for making button-holes, which were, however,
all stolen from him. His efforts to protect his rights involved
him in lawsuits which consumed what Uttle property he had.
His death took place in 1871.

Another one of these refugees was Weydemeyer, a friend
and disciple of Carl Marx, in the dissemination of whose
views he was aided by H. Meyer, a German merchant.*
Weydemeyer served with distinction in the Union Army
during the late war, and after its close was elected auditor
of St. Louis, where he died.

The first large society to adopt and propagate socialism in
America was composed of the German Gymnastic Unions
(Turnvereine) . The Socialistic Tumverein of New York
drew up a constitution for an association, to be composed of
the various local gymnastic unions, and published it in 1850.
A preliminary gathering of a few delegates was held in New
York in the Shakespeare Hotel, then the headquarters of
" progressive " elements among the Germans.^ It was
finally decided to call a meeting of delegates, to be held in
Philadelphia, on Oct. 5 of the same year, to effect a perma-

foUowed it in his native town until participation in politics of too radi-
cal a character brought him to prison. After bis release he came to
America, landing in Baltimore in 1832. He spent most of his life in
Dubuque, where he was much liked, especially among the children,
who called him " Papa Koch." He served as captain in the Mexican
War. His death occurred in 1879.

' For several of these data I am indebted to the kindness of Mr.
F. A. Sorge of Hoboken, N.J.

' It was kept by Joseph Fickler, a refugee from Baden, who was
prominent in 1848.

222 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

nent organization. Several Tumvereine acted on the sug-,
gestion, and among others, delegates were present from New
York, Boston, and Baltimore. The first name adopted
was " Associated Gymnastic Unions of North America "
(Vereinegte Tumvereine Nordamerikas), which was, how-
ever, changed the following year to " Socialistic Gymnas-
tic Union " (Socialistischer Tumerbund) . The platform
adopted proclaimed the promotion of socialism and the
support of the social democratic party to be its chief pur-
pose. The education of the mind was to accompany the
training of the body, that the whole man might be developed
in accordance with the maxim, mens sana in corpore sano ;
and this idea has always been prominent among the mem-
bers of this society in America. The intention at first seems
to have been to prepare men to return to Germany, and
take part in the struggles for liberty which they thought
would ere long begin again. The number of local gymnastic
unions in America, in 1851, so far as known, was seventeen;
of which the three largest were the Baltimore Social Demo-
cratic Tumverein with 278 members, the Cincinnati Tumge-
meinde with 222 members, and the New York Socialistic
Tumverein with 128. A monthly organ was published,
called the Turnzeitung. The Turnerbund continued to
grow slowly in strength until the Civil War, although internal
dissensions divided it for a few years into two sections. As
might be expected, it supported, first, the free soil move-
ment, then the Republican party, for it was always found on
the side of freedom. As a consequence its members were
obliged to contend with the opposition to abolitionism added
to a wide-spread hatred of foreigners. They were time and
time again attacked by rowdies who, in Philadelphia, were
even assisted by the police. However, they generally pro-
tected themselves vigorously against assault, and on several
occasions used their arms.

BEGINNINGS OF MODERN SOCIALISM IN AMERICA. 223

A number of the Turners were indicted in Philadelphia,
but were not brought to trial, as the authorities concluded
that it was best to let the matter drop. In 1855, ^^
Turners were again attacked by the rowdies and loafers of
Columbus, and several were wounded ; but they turned their
firearms against their enemies, and one of them paid the
penalty for his rashness with his life. Nineteen Turners
were tried for assault with intent to kill, but were found
not guilty. The Cincinnati Turngemeinde and the unions
in Newport and Covington, Ky., held a celebration in
May, 1856, in Covington, and were attacked by a mob
armed with clubs, stones, and slungshots ; and among the
assailants were a police marshal and deputy marshal, both
of whom were wounded, together with others on both sides.
One hundred and seven Turners were arrested, and thirty-
five indicted by the grand jury and tried; but again all
were pronounced innocent.

The beginning of the Civil War offered the Tumerbund
the opportunity they desired, to earn a good name for
themselves and for their fellow-countrymen. The Turners
from every quarter responded to Lincoln's call for troops,
some of the unions sending more than half their mem-
bers. In New York they organized a complete regiment
in a few days, and in many places they sent one or
more companies. There were three companies in the First
Missouri Regiment, while the Seventeenth consisted almost
altogether of Turners. The Turners of Leavenworth
and Cincinnati also deserve honorable mention. It is
estimated that from forty to fifty per cent of all Turners
capable of bearing arms took part in the war. Prominent
among them was General Franz Sigel. This depletion of
the local unions suspended all activities on the part of the
socialistic Tumerbund, until the close of the war, when it

224 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

was reorganized under the name of the North American
Gymnastic Union (Nordamerikanischer Tumerbund). It
now numbers about 22,000 members, owns property valued
at ;?2,409,375,^ including 140 gymnasiums (Tumhallen), and
instructs over 16,000 boys and girls in schools, and supports
in Milwaukee the best school for training teachers of gym-
nastics in the United States. The Tumerbund is no longer
nominally socialistic ; but it recommends the careful study
of social questions, and has adopted resolutions in favor of
radical reforms. In its platform the aims of the Board are
stated to be these : the development of men strong in mind
and body, and the development of a true democracy. In
accordance with its general conservative character'' it de-
clares that social, religious, and political reforms can only
be secured by the spread of education and morality.

The sovereignty of the people is declared to be inalien-
able, and reforms are recommended which aim to realize
this doctrine, " As everything is for the people, everything
should happen through the people." Many of the polit-
ical changes recommended, aim at the introduction of Swiss
democratic institutions among us ; in particular, the replace-
ment of Senate and President by a Federal council. The
recall of legislators by the people is further recommended,
and also the abolition of all complicated modes of repre-
sentation and artificial delegation of power.

The general convention likewise recommends, "the pro-
tection of labor against spoliation, and the adoption of
means to secure to it its real product ; the sanitary protec-
tion of citizens by control over factories, by protection
against adulteration of food, and sanitary inspection of

1 These statistics are all taken from the report of 1885.
' I mean, that it advocates the attainment of radical reforms only by
conservative methods.

BEGINNINGS OF MODERN SOCIALISM IN AMERICA. 225

houses." Further, " the right of the several States to adopt
laws or to take measures which conflict with the spirit of
the Constitution of the United States, especially such as
relate to the liberty of the press, to religious affairs, or to
the right of assembly, should be abolished." Child labor is
condemned. Debates and lectures are held to improve the
mind, and to educate the people to a comprehension of the
true nature of the topics of the day. One question recom-
mended for discussion is, " whether or not a shortening of
the hours of labor, and the establishment by law of a
normal working day, are effective means of ameliorating social
disorders."

A Club of Communists was founded in New York in 1857,
by Germans, mostly refugees \ and in June of the following
year its members instituted a celebration to commemorate
the insurrection in Paris, in June, 1848. Several thousand
men and women of various nationaUties participated in the
ceremonies. Their club came near suspension during the
Civil War, but in 1866 and 1867 a union was effected with
followers of Lassalle, a small band of whom had effected an
organization in New York in 1867 ; for a ripple on the sur-
face of the waters which Ferdinand Lassalle had troubled
reached even our shores. The " Social Party " was thus
started in 1868, and in 1869 it became affiliated with the
International Workingmen's Association through the General
Council of London. This was the old International founded
by Carl Marx,^ many " sections " of which sprang up in
different parts of the United States, between 1870 and 1873,
and connections were sought with the trades-unions of the
country, and indeed actually formed. As early as 1869 a

1 It is necessary, for brevity's sake, to assume that the reader is
already familiar with the history of the old International. A descrip-
tion of it is given in Ely's " French and German Socialism," chap, x.

226 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

delegate of the North American Central Committee of the
International attended regularly the New York City Work-
ingmen's Union, composed of delegates from trades-unions
aggregating a membership of thirty or forty thousand. A
German daily newspaper, Die Arbeiter Union, was pub-
lished in New York, from 1868 to 187 1, but I do not know
whether it was an outspoken advocate of socialism or not.
German weeklies were estabhshed in New York and Chi-
cago in 1873. The Chicago weekly, Der Vorbote, is still
alive, and, although originally socialistic, has become in
recent years a pronounced advocate of anarchy. The Inter-
national of Marx charged several secretaries with the work
of forming connections with American labor organizations,
and J. George Eccarius, the General Secretary of the Central
Council, wrote a letter to the National Labor Union, when
in session in Philadelphia in 1869, inviting that body to send
a delegate to the congress of the International Working-
men's Association to be held in Basle, Switzerland, in Sep-
tember of the same year. The invitation was accepted, a
delegate, Cameron by name, was sent ; and thus an apparent
union was effected between European Socialisiij.and an Amer-
ican labor organization, representing half a million laborers." ^
But this union was more apparent than real, and implied
anything rather than the conversion of American laborers to
socialism. It must be remembered that the old Interna-
tional sought a federation of labor and actually secured
the co-operation for a time of the English trades-unions as
well as many American societies; but it insisted on the
acceptance of no social philosophy on the part of these
various bodies.' The letter of Eccarius, for example, based

^ The number represented by the delegates to the anuual meeting
of the National Labor Union in New York in 1868 is said to have
been 640,000.

* Professor de Laveleye calls these adhesions " purely Platonic."

BEGINNINGS OF MODERN SOCIALISM IN AMERICA. 227

the arguments in favor of the representation of the National
Labor Union at the congress of the International on the
desirability of a co-operation between the workingmen of
Europe and America to help regulate emigration. " There
is a particular reason," wrote Eccarius, "why you should
strain a point to send a delegate, — the emigration mania.
Once a year during our congress week all the scribes of
Europe are busy with our doings. A sketch of what things
are in the New World, given by an American, would not only
find its way into all the papers, but would greatly tend to dis-
abuse many of their illusions of the happiness in store for
them if they could only manage to cross the big lake. It is
the policy of those who have an interest in keeping things as
they are, to induce as many as possible to leave, since their
very presence endangers the continuance of the existing vil-
lainy, and in the New World they are used to perpetuate the
existing villainy, and their presence tends to hamper, if not
to frustrate, the onward march of the labor movement."

In 187 1 a new impulse was received from the French ref-
ugees who came to America after the suppression of the
uprising of the commune of Paris, and brought with them a
spirit of violence, but a more important event in this early
period was the order of the congress of the International
held in the Hague in 1872, which transferred to New York
the " General Council " of the Association. Modern social-
ism had then undoubtedly begun to exist in America. The
first proclamation of the council from their new headquar-
ters was an appeal to workingmen " to emancipate labor and
eradicate all international and national strife."^

1 The authority for this statement may be found in an interview
which a New York Herald reporter held with Mr. Leopold Jonas, a
leading New York member of the Socialistic Labor Party. See " Our
American Soe}g.)js!:s^" ffgw Yor^ Herald, May 19, 1884.

228 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

In the spring of 1872 "an imposing demonstration" in
favor of eiglit hours took place in New York City. The
paper before me estimates the number of those taking part
in the procession through the principal streets at twenty
thousand, and among the other societies were the various
New York sections of the International Workingmen's
Association bearing a banner with their motto " Working-
men of all Countries, Unite ! " The following year wit-
nessed the disasters in the industrial and commercial world,
to which reference has already been made; and the dis-
tress consequent thereupon was an important aid to the
sociaUsts in their propaganda. The "Exceptional Law"
passed against sociaUsts, by the German Parliament in 1878,
drove many socialists from Germany to this coimtry, and
these have strengthened the cause of American socialism
through membership in trades-unions and in the Socialistic
Labor Party.

There have been several changes among the socialists in
party organization and name since 1873, ^nd national con-
ventions or congresses have met from time to time. Their
dates and places of meeting have been Philadelphia, 1874,
Pittsburg, 1876,1 Newark, 1877, Allegheny City, 1880, Balti-
more and Pittsburg, 1883, and Cincinnati, 1885. The name
Socialistic Labor Party was adopted in 1877 at the Newark
Convention. In 1883 the spUt between the moderates and
extremists had become definite, and the latter held their
congress in Pittsburg, and the former in Baltimore.

The separation between the two bodies of socialists is a
matter of interest. A similar separation took place in the
congress of the International at the Hague in 1872, between

^ In July of the same year an international meeting of labor organi-
zations was held in Philadelphia on occasion of the Centennial Expo-
sition.

BEGINNINGS OF MODERN SOCIALISM IN AMERICA. IVi

the followers of Marx, who represented in many respects the
spirit and methods of the present Socialistic Labor Party,
and those of Bakounine, who were anarchists like the mem-
bers of the existing International in the United States. It is
altogether probable that the feeling of animosity between
the adherents of the two directions was present in New
York from the beginning of the operations of the " Council "
transferred in the same year to that city. But for some time
they succeeded in working together, and hopes of a perma-
nent union were certainly not abandoned until after the
advent of John Most on our shores in December, 1882.
Most has proved a firebrand among American socialists, and
was early denounced by those who felt repelled by his mad
expressions of violence, and saw that he was doing their
cause much harm ; but it was still impossible to pass a
formal vote repudiating him in the congress of the Social-
istic Labor Party in Baltimore in 1883. During the follow-
ing year the San Francisco Truth still thought it worth while
to advocate a union of all discontented proletarians, but
acrimony and bitterness between representatives of opposing
views continued to increase ; and when the terrible outrages
in London, in January of 1885, were condemned in terms
of severity by the Socialistic Labor Party and applauded by
the Internationalists, all hopes of united action vanished, and
the animosity between the two became so intense that they
came to blows in a meeting called in New York by the mod-
erates to protest against the recent use of dynamite. Shortly
after that there was a disturbance between the International-
ists and the members of the Socialistic Labor Party in a
public meeting in Baltimore ; and the terrible affair of May
4, 1886, when the Chicago Internationalists endeavored to
resist the police by the use of dynamite, terminated all pos-
sibility of joint action — even if there could previously have

230 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

been any remote hope of it ; for that was denounced as crim-
inal folly by the Socialistic Labor Party. The warfare be-
tween the two factions has now become quite as bitter as
between them and the competitive society they seek to over-
throw.

CHAPTER IX.

THE INTERNATIONALISTS.

1. The International Working People's Association.

THE Internationalists, at their congress in Pittsburg,
adopted unanimously a manifesto or declaration of
motives and principles, often called the Pittsburg Procla-
mation, in which they describe their ultimate goal in these
words : —

"What we would achieve is, therefore, plainly and
simply, —

"First, Destruction of the existing class rule, by all
means, i. e., by energetic, relentless, revolutionary, and inter-
national action.

"Second, Establishment of a free society based upon
co-operative organization of production.

"Third, Free exchange of equivalent products by and
between the productive organizations without commerce
aud profit-mongery.

"Fourth, Organization of education on a secular, scien-
tific and equal basis for both sexes.

" Fifth, Equal rights for all without distinction to sex or race.

" Sixth, Regulation of all public affairs by free contracts
between the autonomous (independent) communes and
associations, resting on a federalistic basis." ^

1 Free conWact, it is to be observed, in the language of the Inter-
nationalists, means not freedom of contract in the present sense, but a
contract which may be fulfilled or not, according to the good pleasure
of the parties concerned. The one who breaks it, suffers no legal
penalty.

232 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

Here we have in a few words the dream of the Anar-
chists, as these IntemationaUsts call themselves, and it has
been well characterized by Mr. Hyndman, as "individu-
alism gone mad." It may be well to explain the ideas con-
tained in this programme under the two heads, political and
economic.

First, Their political philosophy is pure negation or
nihilism in the strict sense of the word. It is the doctrine
of laissezfaire carried to its logical outcome. What say our
advocates of the " let-alone " policy about government and
the state? They assure us that the less government the
better, and that the state is but a necessary evil at best. To
this the Anarchists reply : Very true, but why should we tol-
erate the least needless evil? We hold that government of
any kind is worse than useless, and that the state is but
another name for oppression. " One of Jefferson's maxims
was ' the best government is that which governs least.' If
this be true, then

' The very best government of all
Is that which governs not at all.' " '

We recognize no right of any individual or of any body of
men to interfere with us, and we will have neither state nor
laws. We are prepared to fight for liberty without restraint
or control. Our ideal is anarchy. It is a holy cause, and
to it we have devoted our lives.

Each member of society is, in this new world, to be abso-
lutely free. As gregarious animals, and for the sake of vol-
untary co-operation, men will naturally form themselves into
independent self-governing communes or townships, into
which the whole of mankind will be ultimately resolved.

* Quoted with approval by the London Anarchist, under the head-
ing, " Sound Sense," from the American newspaper Lucifer.

THE INTERNATIONALISTS. 233

These communes will for the sake of convenience be
grouped loosely into federations, which, however, will have
no authority whatever. While each commune is at liberty
to sever its connection with the common body at pleasure,
it is thought that the social nature of man will be a sufficient
adhesive force to hold them together. All regulation and
control centre in free and voluntary and self-enforced contract.
Second, The economic ideas of the Internationalists as
expressed in their resume of their aims, are " co-operative
organization of production," and " free exchange of equiv-
alent products by and between the productive organizations
without commerce and profit-mongery." But when devel-
oped, these brief propositions imply several radical de-
mands, viz., " free lands," " free tools " and " free- money."
Rent falls away, as there is no authority to enforce its pay-
ment, and laborers lay hold of and use freely the means of
production (capital), as anarchism recognizes no power to
prevent this. Possession takes the place of property, and
possession lasts only so long as means of production pos-
sessed are actually used by their possessor. This ends at
once "capitalism" and "landlordism," and leaves room
only for united labor. Workingmen, it is supposed, will
naturally group themselves into " productive organizations,"
where each one will work as long as he pleases and receive
" labor-money," or credits indicating the length of labor-
time. If our present terms should be retained, a dollar
might represent the toil of one hundred minutes, and one
dollar would always equal another. "Socialism advocates
•that the time and service of one man is equal ultimately to
the time and service of any other man ; hence, the nearest
approach to exact justice is equal pay for equal time and
expenditure of equal energy." '

1 From " Socialism " by Starkweather and Wilson in Lovell's Li-
brary, No. 461, p. 29, cf. also pp. 78-80. This doctrine of equality

234 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

Commerce is replaced by a common store-house to which
all social products are carried, and where their value is
determined by labor-time. A bushel of potatoes might be
quoted at twenty-five minutes, for example, in which case
any purchaser presenting a note for one hundred minutes
would receive his potatoes, and seventy-five minutes in
change.

Thus the laborer receives the full value of all he produces,
and profits, called legalized robbery or unpaid labor, are
aboUshed. It is supposed that a few hours a day — one
writer mentions three ^ — would suffice to produce all the
goods needed by society. In the words of the Pittsburg
Proclamation : " This order of things allows production to
regulate itself according to the demands of the whole people,
so that nobody need work more than a few hours a day, and
that all nevertheless can satisfy their needs. Hereby time
and opportunity are given for opening to the people the way
to the highest civilization ; the privileges of higher intelligence
fall with the privileges of wealth and birth.''

Another point which deserves attention is the preponderat-
ing influence the Internationalists, even more than other
socialists, give to external circumstances in the formation of
character. If their attention is called to the crime and
wrong-doing in present society as a proof of the need of a
repressive authority, they reply that it will be quite different
in a condition of anarchy, because our existing institutions
are the cause of the evil which afflicts us now ; in particular
do they necessitate the poverty of the many, and poverty
is the chief source of what we call sin. "Socialism," say

seems to be unanimously accepted by the Anarchists, though it is not
maintained by all socialists, and it must in fairness be acknowledged
that it forms no necessary part of socialism.

' Benjamin Franklin, I believe, said four hours.

THE INTERNATIONALISTS. 23h

Starkweather and Wilson, in their pamphlet/ " would abolish
poverty by preventing it, by removing its causes. As poverty
is the cause directly or indirectly of all crime, therefore, by
the abolition of poverty, crime would become almost un-
known, and with the crime would disappear all the lice,
leeches, vampires, and vermin that fatten on its filth ; such
as the entire legal fraternity, soldiers, police, spies, judges,
sheriffs, priests, preachers, quack doctors, etc., etc." Never-
theless, even an Anarchist is forced to admit the possibility
of an occasional crime against individual or society, and in
such case has nothing better to offer than the unrestrained
exercise of brute force. As they now advocate the extermi-
nation of opponents and admire mob law, there is nothing left
for them save the destruction of those whom they consider
their enemies in any and every form of society.

The truth is, however, that most Anarchists object in
reality only to present state-forms and wish to replace them
with new institutions of equal authority. Some of them ap-
parently picture the future to themselves as the exclusive
domination of labor organizations, and overlook two facts :
first, if all should not be embraced in these associations,
those outside of them would be in subjection to a power in
the creation of which they would have no voice, and over
which they could exercise no control; second, the state
would by no means be abolished, even if all were included
in some labor organization, for then labor organizations
would themselves constitute the state.^ It is thus not

1 L. c, p. 30.

2 I think the English co-operators fall into a similar error. They
protest strenuously that they repudiate state socialism, and yet they
expect co-operation to absorb all the industry of the country. In
this event co-operative societies would practically constitute the state,
and the result would be socialism, though the goal would be reached
by a different route from that proposed by others.

236 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

the state in itself to which they object, but our present
state.'

Yet tnere is a difference among the Anarchists with
respect to authority. Some perceive the weakness of the
Anarchistic Communists and repudiate all authority for the
future as well as for the present. These believe in
" Individual Sovereignty," and call themselves Individual
Anarchists. Their general principle is that each person
is to do, without let or hindrance, absolutely what seems
good to him, and no public authority is ever on any
account to interfere. There shall, for example, be no
public banks, or bank regulations, nc public mint, no
public post-office; but whosoever pleases may carry let-
ters, issue paper money, or coin silver and gold. These
Individual Anarchists or " Boston " Anarchists, as they are
also called, from their strongest centre, have formed no
party, and could consistently form no party in the ordi-
nary sense. As tolerance, however, it is frequently said,
can tolerate everything save intolerance, so liberty, in their
opinion, can tolerate everything save an invasion of liberty,
and that, they hold, may be repelled by voluntary organ-
ization in any practicable way, even by the use of dynamite,
if it be necessary. Voluntary associations are contemplated
by the Boston Anarchists for the defence of person and of
property of individuals, but common property is condemned
as communism. Those who belong to these associations
will submit voluntarily to their rules, and disobedience will
constitute a withdrawal. Absolutely free competition is the
ideal of Individual Anarchy, but the present competition is
rejected as unfair. " Competition under liberty is beneficent

1 One Anarchist writes me that the first chapter of Stepniak's
" Russia Under the Tzars " contains a description of what he considers
an ideal society. This chapter treats of the " Mir."

THE INTERNATIONALISTS. 237

co-operation. It makes cost the limit of price.* It opens
th^ way for every man to prove his fitness and survive on his
merits. The present order of competition mider the state
permits the unfittest to survive on his demerits."

" The all important principle at this juncture," writes one
of this school, " is Liberty, which as soon as sufficient co-
operation offers, the Anarchists propose to make a reaUty by
passive resistance to its violation through suffrage, taxation,
and monopoly." What is our present government which
must be overthrown? It is "a compulsory association prin-
cipally for invasion of person and property, dependent for
its very existence upon the bottom invasion, compulsory
taxation." *

A Boston Anarchist writes me this: "The disciples of
Josiah Warren and Proudhon are the only real Anarchists,
and the only men in the labor movement who start with
certain fundamentals, and test every question by them, — in
other words, who act in accordance with a definite philosophy."

The present chief representative of the Individual Anar-
chists, is Benjamin R. Tucker, the editor of Liberty. Tucker
is a devoted disciple of Proudhon, and proposes to translate
his complete works. He has already pubUshed volume I.,
a translation of the celebrated treatise "What is Property? "

In response to a letter of inquiry, a friend writes me as
follows: — *

1 By means of " free banking," as advocated by Proudhon. See
" Mutual Banking," by William B. Greene, for sale at the office of
Liberty, Boston.

2 Liberty of Boston, Jan. 3, 1885.

' This extreme courtesy on the part of a busy man is only one of
the many instances of kindness with which I have met in the prepara-
ft'.in of this book. My experience in authorship as well as in the dis-
charge of the other duties of life, has borne out anything rather than
the hypothesis that men are actuated only by motives of selfishness.

238 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

" Warrer was a descendant of General Warren of Bunker
Hill fame. He was born in either Brookline or Brighton
(near Boston), and at the time of his death in 1874 he was
nearly seventy-five years old. He developed an unusual
musical genius at an early age, and was a skilful player on
several instruments.

"The first event of importance in his life, according to
Tucker, was when Robert Owen, the socialist and manufac-
turer, came to this country and founded a communistic
colony at New Harmony, Ind. Owen was backed by his
own millions and by a fine class of supporters, and among
others Warren was carried away by his scheme, and joined
the community. In a year or two the famous experiment
failed, because the projectors spent their time in making and
re-making constitutions instead of planting potatoes.

" Warren was discovu:aged and went into the woods, sat
on a log, and thought the matter over. He came to the
conclusion that the scheme failed because the individual had
been sunk in the community, because there were no in-
dividual interests, rights, and responsibility. It occurred to
him that the real social reform lay in more individualization
than is found in the existing social system, in a separation
of individual interests. The sovereignty of the individual
was the first fundamental principle of his social philosophy.
John Stuart Mill in his autobiography acknowledges his in-
debtedness to Warren and to Wilhelm von Humboldt for the
basic idea of his own work on liberty. Warren's second
fundamental principle was an economic one, — that cost is
the true basis of price, or ' cost the limit of price.'

"This was about 1827. Warren then determined to test
the cost theory, and he started a store in Cincinnati (at the
comer of Fourth and Elm Streets?), which he conducted for
two years, doing business to the amount of one hundred and

THE INTERNATIONALISTS. 239

fifty thousand dollars. The plan and history of the store are
found detailed in Warren's work on 'Practical Details of
Equitable Commerce ' (now out of print) . The store was
open during 1828-29. It was in a new country when busi-
ness was not centralized as now, and the retailer realized
large profits. Warren marked his goods with the cost and
added seven per cent for rent, fuel, etc., exclusive of the
labor of himself and the employees. This seven per cent
was carefully computed, and was invariable, but it allowed
no profit. A clock was kept in the store, and every cus-
tomer was timed and charged so much an hour for the time
of the salesman. The charge for time was reduced with the
increase of business. Finally Warren issued his own money
in the shape of labor notes (described in his works), which
he exchanged for the labor notes of his customers. His
notes became a popular circulating medium.

" The experiment satisfied him, and he closed his store,
and later published his principal work, ' True Civilization,'
in which he announced and developed these principles.
The book was published somewhere in the '30s, and War-
ren set the type for it himself. It is now in print."^ He was
the inventor of the present system of stereotyping for book
work. He also invented a system of musical notation which
was pronounced by Lowell Mason superior to that now in
use.

"Warren then went to a place in Ohio, and started a com-
munity on his peculiar principles. In 1850 or thereabouts,
he converted Stephen Pearl Andrews, who wrote 'The
Science of Society,' which Warren called a better statement
of his principles than his own. Later he founded ' Modern
Times,' a community on Long Island, but neither community
amounted to much. His followers thought the community
1 Fart I. only; for sale at office of Liberty.

240 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

idea a mistake. After i860 he published Part II. of ' True
Civilization,' which is out of print, the plates having been
destroyed in the great Boston fire in 1872. Part III. was
published later, and is also out of print. Part I., which is
now on the market, is, however, the most important and
valuable.

" Warren in his later years lived a sort of hermit life, but
spent his time in the propagandism of his ideas. He died
in Charlestown, now a part of Boston, at the house of E. D.
Linton, one of his disciples. Some years previously he had
lived at Princeton, Mass.

" Out of his teachings has grown the school of social
reformers in this country known as the Individualistic Anar-
chists, who consider him as, the thinker in this country corre-
•sponding with Proudhon. The two were almost identical in
their fundamental ideas. Warren's greatest strength. as an
agitator lay in his conversation with individuals, and most
of his converts were made in the parlor, where he displayed
the greatest keenness in explanations and answering objec-
tions."

To return from the digression concerning the Boston
Anarchists, it may be noticed, as an external peculiarity of
the International Working People's Association, that they
occasionally use the black flag as an emblem of their cause.
When it was unfurled on Thanksgiving day in 1884 in Chi-
cago, August Spies, one of the anarchists now on trial for
the murder of policemen on May 4, addressed the assembled
people in these words, —

" It is the first time that emblem of hunger and starvation
has been unfurled on American soil. It represents that
these people have begun to reach the condition of the older
countries. We have got to strike down these robbers that
are robbing the working people."

THE INTERNATIONALISTS. 241

While the economic ideas of the Anarchists are so vague
that it is difficult to describe them more precisely than has
been done already, it is the less necessary to do so from the
fact that the chief part of their programme is a plea for
action, for revolution ; for destruction, rather than construc-
tion, as they hold that the former must precede the latter.

It is to be noticed that they attempt to realize their politi-
cal ideal as far as possible in their own plan of organization.
The International is composed of independent " groups,"
with no central authority or executive, both of which expres-
sions many of them detest. The only bond of union between
them is found in their common ideas, in their press, their
congresses and local organizations, and a Bureau of Informa-
tion, formed by the Chicago Groups, which appears to be
the nearest approach to a centre of life and activity.

The manifesto of the Internationalists has been mentioned,
and quotations from it given. It is, however, necessary to
consult their press to obtain a more complete survey of their
views. They have several newspapers, of which the follow-
ing are the most prominent : Die Freiheit, Host's New York
weekly, now in its eighth year ; Der Vorbote, a weekly. Die
Fackel, a Sunday paper, and Die Chicagoer Arbeiterzeitung,
a daily, all three published by the Socialistic PubUshing Com-
pany of Chicago. The Vorbote, in its thirteenth year, is the
oldest of their organs. The Alarm, a weekly, in its second
year, is published at the same place, and is edited by A. R.
Parsons.* Its purpose is to disseminate the most extreme
revolutionary teachings among English-speaking laborers.
Kansas sends us Lucifer, the Light-Bearer, a journal of like
tendencies. Truth, " a Journal of the Poor," was published

^ Perhaps it ought now to be said was edited. I have not seen a
copy since May 4, and Parsons Js now on trial with the other Chicago
leaders.

242 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

in San Francisco for three years, when it was changed in
form, and became a monthly magazine, of which six issues
appeared, the last in July, 1884. The " good will " of Truth
was iinally made over to the Enquirer, of Denver, Col., which
now takes its place, although more conservative in tone, and
not, as was Truth, the acknowledged organ of the "Red
International." These journals supply abundant evidence
touching the doctrines of the anarchist in respect to the
family and religion, and it is these doctrines which are now
to engage our attention.

The Internationalists attack both religion and the family,
and that with what may be considered practical unanimity.
While it is not right to connect this attitude with socialism
per se, the fairest minded person cannot blame a writer for
holding up to condemnation any concrete, actually existing
party which wages war against all that we consider most
sacred, and which seeks to abolish those institutions which
we hold to be of inestimable value, both to the individual
and to society.

Religion and the family are not only attacked by the
extremists, but the onslaught on them is made in language of
unparalleled coarseness and shocking impiety. Here are
two quotations from Truth^ which are indicative of the gen-
eral tone of the paper : " Heaven is a dream invented by
robbers to distract the attention of the victims of their brig-
andage ; " " When the laboring men understand that the
heaven which they are promised hereafter is but a mirage,
they will knock at the door of the wealthy robber with a
musket in hand, and demand their share of the goods of this
life now." Freiheit, the most blasphemous of all socialistic
papers, concludes an article on the " Fruits of the Belief in

1 Although Truth was the organ of the " Red International," these
quotations characterize the " Black International " equally well.

THE INTERNATIONALISTS. 243

God " with the exclamation, " Religion, authority, and state
are all carved out of the same piece of wood ; to the devil
with them all ! " The Vorbote speaks of religion as de-
structive poison. The Pittsburg manifesto — unanimously
adopted, b2 it remembered — contains this sentence, " The
church finally seeks to make complete idiots out of the mass,
and to make them forego the paradise on earth by promising
a fictitious heaven."

There appears to be scarcely the same unanimity concern-
ing the family. It was not directly condemned in the Pitts-
burg manifesto, nor does I'ruth say much about it. But
there is no doubt about the general policy of their journals.
They sneer incessantly at the " sacredness of the family," and
dwell with pleasure on every vile scandal which is noticed
by the " capitalistic press." Especial attention is given to
divorces, to show that the family institution is already undc"-
mined ; and they are thoroughrgoing sceptics regarding the
morality of the relations between the sexes in bourgeois soci-
ety. The Vorbote for May 12, 1883, contains an article on
the " Sacredness of the Family," from which these sentences
are extracted : —

" In capitalistic society, marriage has long become a pure
financial operation, and the possessing classes long ago estab-
lished community of wives, and, indeed, the nastiest which is
conceivable. . . . They take a special pleasure in seducing
one another's wives. ... A marriage is only so long moral
as it rests upon the free inclination of man and wife." A
poem which appeared in Truth, Jan. 26, 1884, is in the
same spirit. It is entitled,

MARRIAGE
Under the Competitive System.
" Oh, wilt thou take this form so spare.
This powdered face and frizzled hair.

244 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

To be thy wedded wife;
And keep her free from labor vile, —
Lest she her dainty fingers soil, —
And dress her up in gayest style.

As long as thou hast life? "
"I will."

" And wilt thou take these stocks and bonds.
This brown-stone front, these diamonds.

To be thy husband, dear?
And wilt thou in this carriage ride.
And o'er his lordly home preside.
And be divorced while yet a bride.
Or ere a single year? "
"I will."

" Then I pronounce you man and wife;
And with what I've together joined
The next best man may run away.
Whenever he a chance can find."

Most's Freiheit habitually attains the superlative of coarse-
ness and vileness in its attacks on the family. It objects to
the family on principle, because it is the State in miniature,
because it existed before the State, and furnished a model for
it with all its evils and perversities. Freiheit advocates a
new genealogy traced from mothers, whose names, and not
that of the fathers, descend to the children, since it is never
certain who the father is. Pubhc up-bringing of children is
likewise favored in the Freiheit, in order that the old family
may completely abandon the field to free love.

We have now a complete picture of their ideals, — com-
mon property, socialistic production and distribution, the
grossest materialism, free love, in all social arrangements
perfect individualism, or, in other words, anarchy ; negatively
expressed, — away with private property, away with all author-

THE INTERNATIONALISTS. 245

ity, away with the State, away with the family, away with
religion ! "

The question, Who have been the teachers of the Inter-
nationalists ? opens upon an interesting and instructive field
of research. Nevertheless, the inquiry is a delicate one, for
it involves names highly honored. While I cannot go into
this subject at length, I will throw out a few remarks merely
of a suggestive nature, but I must protest that I intend to
cast no personal reproach on names I mention, even should
it seem to me that the Anarchists had in some instances only
drawn the logical conclusion of the teachings of their masters.
A man is bound to speak what he regards as the truth, and it
is a generally accepted maxim that a public teacher cannot
be held responsible for " inferences." ^

First, in political science they have drawn inspiration from
the teachings of the old school political scientists who
preached laissez /aire and taught the inherent badness of
all government. Not to go outside of England, Buckle and
Herbert Spencer may be the two thinkers on social topics
whose writings are most familiar to them. Both of these
men are studied and quoted by them with approval.
"Herbert Spencer," says ^e Alarm, ^ "has done much to
break attachment to the principle of authority in attempting
to specify the limits of the state." An Anarchist of Michigan
writes as follows : " The opinions that I form from reading
Anarchistic literature — notobly the writings of Herbert
Spencer, Josiah Warren, Proudhon, Reclus, etc. — are that
the kind of destruction they intend will not be destruction

' Manifestly it would stop all speaking and writing on scientific
topics, if every one were first to inquire what inferences various mem-
bers of the community would draw from doctrines put forth, and should
keep silence until convinced that no misconstruction was possible.

a Nov. 14, 1885.

246 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

of justice and morality. No injustice has sprung from the
destruction of the institution of chattel slavery here. It
was the destruction of a bad system. Of course, the de-
struction of wealth in itself is an evil and I am in hopes
that a better social system will be established without the
destruction of life and wealth. ... Of course you are aware
that many Anarchists hope to reach the goal of their ideal
only through the slow process of evolution. ... I believe
we have too much respect for statute law. My expe-
rience last winter at Lansing, the capital, while the Legis-
lature was in session, has given me an utter contempt for
what is commonly called law. I am positive that not one
in ten of the one hundred and thirty members of the Legis-
lature ever in all his life read a book on political economy.
. . . What would we expect from one who claimed to be a
surgeon who never studied surgery ? "

Edmund Burke's "Vindication of Natural Society" has
attracted favorable notice on the part of Anarchists, and is
advertised in the London Anarchist in these words : " The
Inherent Evils of all State Governments Demonstrated. . . .
This work not only attacks the various forms of government,
but the principle of government itself." The American
economist, Cooper, said early in this century that a nation
was nothing but a grammatical conception, — a convenience
of language to designate a collection of individuals. This
has been repeated in many forms. An Italian delegate to
the congress of the old International in Ghent, in 1867,
asked "Where, then, is the State?" and replied, "An ex-
crescence ^ which lives at the expense of the social body, and
which has no other object and no other effect than to organ-
ize and keep up the exploitation of the workers. . . . Our
single aim must be to destroy the state. It will then be fol

'■ Professor de Laveleye remarks, " The economists say a canker."

THE INTERNATIONALISTS. 247

the free and fertile action of the natural laws of society to
accomplish the destinies of humanity." Professor de Lave-
leye adds : " The influence of positivism and Herbert Spen-
cer is manifest."

One of the chief heroes of the Internationalists is Darwin,
whose portrait is considered worthy to be associated with that
of their greatest leaders ; while all the more renowned natural
scientists are admired, and their writings studied with sur-
prising diligence. Whatever else may fail in the lists of
books recommended by the Anarchists for the education of
their followers, one may count for certainty on finding a
goodly number of works of Darwin and Huxley; and no
newspapers in the United States have given so much space
to natural science and its great lights as those published by
the Chicago Internationalists. Nearly all social democrats
and anarchists are thorough-going Darwinians, and in this
they seem inconsistent, for as Professor de Laveleye remarks,
" It is impossible to understand by what strange blindness
socialists adopt Darwinian theories, which condemn their
claims of equality, while at the same time they reject Chris-
tianity, whence those claims have issued and whence their
justification may be found."

A partial explanation, however, is possible, though a little
complicated. It is connected on the one hand with hostility
to the church, on the other with the influence of European,
and in particular of Russian, leaders. Internationalism, which
is much the same thing as the older Nihilism, sprang up
among educated Russians at about the time when Darwin
and his friends were beginning to be talked about ; and that
order of mind which rendered one accessible to new and
strange doctrines of one sort was not closed to those of a
different kind. At any rate Nihilism made converts among
scientists, and the influence of these leaders was felt on their

248 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

more humble followers. Then Russian influence, which ha?
everywhere been perceptible, was felt in opposition to the
church, and the cultivation of natural science as taught by
Darwin, Huxley, and Haeckel appeared to them like a force
which might be turned against supernatural religion. Now
the hostility to the church is something easily understood in a
country like Russia where it is used as the tool of despotism,
and as the sanctification of damnable oppression. Is not the
Czar the arch-enemy of freedom, and at the same time the
head of the church ? Is it, then, so strange as it would at
first appear, that educated Russians should renounce the only
form of Christianity which they know ? The hostility to the
church is largely due to foreign influence, I think, although
the attitude which some of the prominent representatives of
Christianity in this country assumed on the slavery question,
has weakened her materially among the masses in America ;
and nowhere has her voice been raised with sufficient clear-
ness against such barbarous atrocities as those perpetrated
in Russia and elsewhere in the name of religion.^ The oppo-
sition to the church can, then, be explained only on historical
grounds. Another reason for the cultivation of natural
science is the really strong desire for mental improvement.

A similar partial explanation of the hostility to the state
may be found. The only state known in Russia is bad;
hence the overhasty generalization — away with the state !
This is the more easily understood when it is remembered
that abolitionists like William Lloyd Garrison became Anar-
chists, — to be sure, peaceful Anarchists, and this with far less

1 No one is acquainted with American churches who would pretend
that these abuses were sanctioned by them. Many clergymen like Dr.
Rylance and Dr. Heber Newton have spoken in the plainest terms, but
too few have followed their example to make the real attitude of out
churches as plain as it ought to be.

THE INTERNATIONALISTS. 249

cause. What were they fighting? Slavery. What upheld
slavery? The state — that is, government ; hence the con-
clusion, government is an evil ! Away with it ! '

Anarchy has received some further support in America —
just about enough to be perceptible — from the general in-
clination to take the law in one's own hand, as seen in
examples of lynch law. The miscarriage of justice is so fre-
quent that men lose patience at times ; even educated men
do this too often, and feel that redress of wrong can be
found only in violent self-defence. Lawlessness is prescribed
for lawlessness ! I have heard a gentleman of character and
standing say that he thought the people in a city, which I
shall not name, ought to have arisen in anger and lynched
a railway president, whom he personally liked, for a flagrant
case of corruption of public authorities. Even a conserva-
tive like Thurlow Weed could use these words : —

" In some emergencies vigilance committees have been
found to be not only a necessity but a salutary remedy for
universal and overwhelming crimes and vices. The highest
and most beneficent expressions of justice have occasionally
been revealed by an unwritten code familiarly known as
lynch law. If the chief gamblers who occasioned the gold
panic of 1869 and the ' North- West' comer of 1872, together
with the usurers who brought about a state of things which
enabled them to loan money at one per cent a day, had
been suspended by the neck in the streets which they des-
ecrate, the city would now be exempt from present and
prospective sufferings." "

These extracts are by no means quoted with approval,
but simply as a partial explanation of current phenomena.

^ Any one who will read Stepinak's " Russia Under the Tzars " wiU
understand how modern Nihilism could originate in Russia.
* Memoir, p. 499.

250 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

The error is that familiar one of generalization on the basis
of insufficient data.

The doctrine of revolution as held by good men, and as
justified by American history, might seem, at first thought, to
give some support to the teachings of the Internationalists.
Take this passage, for example, from Frederick Denison
Maurice's work " Social MoraUty " : " There may be a civil-
ization which is destructive of social morality, of social
existence. War may be — so far as we know has been —
the only means of reforming it." Then take this extract
from the Constitution of Maryland : —

" Art. VI. That all persons invested with the legislative or
executive powers of government are the trustees of the public,
and, as such, accountable for their conduct ; whereforei
whenever the ends of government are perverted, and public
liberty manifestly endangered, and all other means of redress
ineffectual, the people may, and of right ought to, reform
the old and establish a new government ; the doctrine of
non-resistance against arbitrary power and oppression is
absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness
of mankind."

Yet when we come to look at the matter more carefully,
we find nothing in the world's history or in the doctrines of
her best teachers to substantiate the Anarchistic theory of revo-
lution, which contains but a mere kernel of truth. Revolu-
tion, indeed, under certain extreme circumstances, which
happily occur rarely in the history of a nation, may be both a
right and a duty, but its justification lies in this : That it is,
then, a revolution to restore the authority of law, not to over-
throw it, for the sad crisis comes only when right and justice
have been trampled under foot, and when brave and true
men, after patient waiting and long-continued remonstrance,
find that existing authorities can never be persuaded to yield

THE INTERNATIONALISTS. 251

to the voice of reason by peaceful means. And if at times
revolution against human law is advocated, it is because men
have felt that only through the sacrifice of life could the
supremacy of a higher law be secured. The world's bene-
factors have never intended to violate law, but have simply
striven to act in accordance with the dictates of law;
and the grandest men of history have been among those
who have been most conscious of the sublime authority o[
that law to which they yielded obedience. It is, then, cor-
rectly, that Maurice explains Milton's approval of the execu-
tion of Charles I. in these words : " Milton, with his stern
conception of the awfulness of Law, of its celestial origin,
could rejoice in a death which seemed to him the vindica-
tion of it,'' for he believed with all his soul "in the govern-
ment of a King of kings." ^

II. The International Workmen's Association.

This association, designated by the initials, I. W. A.,
differs in a few particulars only from the I. W. P. A., just
described. It lays greater stress on education and is some-
what less inclined to favor violence in the present, holding
that a revolution in the minds of men must precede the
political revolution. Many if not most of its members
are state socialists, not Anarchists. A union between the
Black and Red has been urged, but has not as yet been
brought about. The following explanation of its principles
and methods is taken from the " First Report of the Kansas
Bureau of Labor Statistics."

" To print and publish and circulate labor literature ; to hold
mass meetings ; to systematize agitation ; to establish labor libra-
ries, labor halls, and lyceums for discussing social science ; to

' Maurice, 1. c, pp. 15, 16.

2S2 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

maintain the labor press ; to protect members and all producers
from wrong ; to aid all labor organizations ; to aid the establish-
ment of unity and the maintenance of fraternity between all
labor organizations ; to bring about an alliance between the man-
ufacturing and agricultural producers ; to encourage the spirit of
brotherhood and inter-dependence among all producers of every
state and country; to ascertain, segregate, classify, and study
the habits and acts of their enemies ; to secure information of
the wrongs perpetrated against them, and to record and circulate
the same ; to arouse a spirit of hostility against and ostracism of
the capitalistic press ; to prepare the means for directing the
coming social revolution by enlightening public opinion on the
wrongs perpetrated against the producers of the world ; to oblit-
erate national boundary lines and sectional prejudices, with a
view to the international unification of the producers of all
lands ; and to eradicate the impression that redress can be
obtained by the ballot.

" The Internationalists believe that if universal suifrage had
been capable of emancipating the working people from the rule
of what they call the ' loafing classes,' that it would have been
taken away from them before now, and they therefore have no
faith in the ballot as a means of righting the wrongs under which
the masses groan, because the ' district' system, the division of
the people into political parties, the manipulation of primaries,
caucuses, and elections, the use of money, and the influence of
bourgeoisie priests, press, and politician make it impossible for
real and honest representatives of the people to be elected;
because no means exist to punish or recall unfaithful public
servants ; because there are ni means by which the people them-
selves can pass such laws as they may desire ; because participa-
tion in politics, as at present conducted, not only corrupts the
leaders, but the rank and file as well ; because, in order to accom-
plish their aims, it is necessary that in the hearts and minds of
the people, there shall be developed the greatest courage, the
loftiest unselfishness, and the most heroic devotion, and that the
' dirty pool of politics ' does not elevate or refine. They believe
that the spoliation of the producing classes can only be termi

THE INTERNATIONALISTS. 253

nated by a bloody and universal revolution ; that this revolution
will be precipitated upon them by the ruling class, or monopo-
lists, as soon as they understand that the producers are being
educated to such a degree as to make their continued ' legal '
robbery dangerous to themselves and their institutions ; and
they hold that only by the education of the masses can they gain
their social and economic freedom. They therefore declare that
their first duty is to educate the masses ; to prepare for the
coming universal revolution, and to endeavor to so direct it that
there may be secured as its results a system of co-operative
society which will insure justice to all. The organization is
formed on the 'group' system; that is, any person who sub-
scribes to these principles may become an organizer. He organ-
izes a group of eight besides himself. When this group becomes
thoroughly conversant with the principles and methods of the
organization, each member becomes an organizer and forms a
group of his own ; and this goes on indefinitely. North America
is divided into ten divisions, the Canadian, the British Columbia,
the Eastern States, the Middle States, the Western States, the
Rocky Mountains, the Pacific Coast, the Southern States, the
Mexican, and the Missouri Valley. Each division is presided
over by a division executive of nine persons. The International
was organized on its present basis on July 15, 1881, with fifty-
four delegates, representing 320 ' divisions,' or groups, composed
of 600,000 members. The countries represented were France,
Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Switzerland,
Russia, Siberia, Bulgaria, Roumania, Turkey, Egypt, England,
Mexico, and the United States."

This I. W. A. is composed chiefly of English-speaking
laborers, and its main strength is west of the Mississippi.
Its membership is probably small, and fifteen thousand is a
generous estimate.

CHAPTER X.

THE PROPAGANDA OF DEED AND THE EDUCA-
TIONAL CAMPAIGN.

OUR attention must now be devoted to an inquiry into
the means by which the IntemationaUsts propose to
attain their ends. Having abandoned all faith in the ballot,
their present method is to sow the seeds of discontent, bit-
terness and hate in the minds of the laborers as a preparation
for that violence and revolution which are to inaugurate a
new era of peace and good-will among men. The following
quotation from their manifesto makes this sufficiently plain.

" Agitation for the purpose of organization j organization
for the purpose of rebellion. In these few words the ways
are marked which the workers must take if they want to be
rid of their chains, as the condition of things is the same in
all coimtries of so-called ' civilization.' . . . We could show
by scores of illustrations that all attempts in the past to
reform this monstrous system by peaceable means, such as
the ballot, have been futile, and all such efforts in the future
must necessarily be so for the following reasons : —

"The political institutions of the time are the agency of
the property class; their mission is the upholding of the
privileges of their masters ; any reform in your own behalf
would curtail their privileges. To this they will not and
cannot consent, for it would be suicidal to themselves. . . .

" There remains but one recourse — force ! Our fore-
fathers have not only told us that against despots force is

THE PROPAGANDA OF DEED. 25S

justifiable, because it is the only means, but they themselves
have set the immemorial example."

In their resume, they express their purpose in these
words : " Destruction of the existing class rule, by all means,
i.e., by energetic, relentless, revolutionary and international
action."

The newspapers of the Internationalists proclaim a similar
doctrine, of which the following specimen quotation from
Truth may serve as an example : —

" It is beyond doubt that if universal suffrage had been a
weapon capable of emancipating people, our tyrants would
have suppressed it long ago.

" Here in America, it is proved to be but the instrument
used by our masters to prevent any reforms ever being
accomplished. The Republican party is run by robbers and
in the interest of robbery. The Democratic party is run by
thieves and in the interest of thievery. Therefore vote no
more."

Further, the International Labor Association which met
in London in July, 1881, declared its hostility to all political
action, and their resolution on this subject was printed in
Host's Freiheit with approval. It is also in keeping with
Host's recent advice to laborers in his speeches.

The fact is, the Internationalists put their faith in d)mamite
and other explosives. Dynamite, a cheap product and the
poor man's natural weapon, is glorified, and songs are sung
in its praise. " Hurrah for science ! hurrah for dynamite,
the power which in our hands shall make an end of tyranny,"
is the sentiment of a poem entitled " Nihilisten " pubhshed
in the Vorbote. It is explained that powder and musket
broke the back of feudalism and made way for the rule of
the bourgeoisie. Fire-arms are, however, too expensive for
the proletariat, but just as the proletariat was awaking to a

256 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

consciousness of its position, in the very nick of time, dyna-
mite was discovered. Consequently such squibs as these
may be found in the San Francisco Truth : " Truth is five
cents a copy and dynamite forty cents a pound." " Every
trade-union and assembly ought to pick its best men and
form them into classes for the study of chemistry."

But we have not yet come to the worst ; for there is no
conceivable crime or form of violence against individuals or
masses which the Internationalists as a party do not indorse,
provided these crimes and acts of violence aid them to ac-
compUsh their ends. Hypocrisy, fraud, deceit, adultery,
robbery, and murder are held sacred, when beneficial to the
revolution. Not every individual member certainly main-
tains this view, but it is upheld unreservedly by the extremists
and more or less explicitly by their leaders and journals.
The following quotations from then: newspapers supply
abundant proof.

From Truth : " War to the palace, peace to the cottage,
death to luxurious idleness ! "

" We have no moment to waste. Arm ! I say, to the
teeth ! for the Revolution is upon you ! " *

An attack on Mr. Abram S. Hewitt concludes with these
words : " Mr. Hewitt ought to be turned over to some re-
cruit, whose services will be paid for out of Patrick Ford's
emergency fund."

The following characteristic sentiments, a distinct revival
of Babouvism, the communistic climax of the French Revo-
lution, are taken from one of their papers : " Plundered as
we are by the proprietor who limits our air and light, we
must come forth from the cellars and attics in which our
famiUes struggle for existence and establish ourselves in
those splendid buildings which have been raised at the cost
1 7Vk/A, Nov. 17, 1883.

THE PROPAGANDA OF DEED. 257

of SO much toil and suffering, and in those spacious apart-
ments in which there is an abundance of pure air, and where
the sunUght will^throw its hfe-giving radiance upon our little
ones. We must take possession of the great warehouses and
stores in which the rich man now finds the means of gratify-
ing his caprices, and lay our hands for the common good
on the enormous quantity of products of all kinds necessary
for our nourishment and for our protection from the
weather."

Assassination of members of the ruling classes is thus
spoken of in one of their journals. "It does not at all
appear so terrible to us when laborers occasionally raise their
arm and lay low one and another of this clique of robbers
and murderers." ^ In another issue of the same paper a
writer describes the circumstances which would justify the
assassination of men like Gould or Vanderbilt : ^ "If at
present a man should kill Jay Gould or Vanderbilt without
special occasion, this would produce a very unfavorable im-
pression, and would be of no use and would not satisfy the
popular sense of justice.

" If, on the contrary, a railroad accident should again
happen in consequence of the clearly proved criminal greed
of these monopolists, and many men should be killed and
crippled thereby, and the jury should, as usual, pro-
nounce the real criminals, Vanderbilt or Gould, ' not guilty,'
and the husband or father of one of the killed or one of the
crippled should arise and obtain justice for himself in the
massacre of these monsters {diese Scheusale), a cry of joy
would resound through the whole land, and no jury would
sentence the righteous executioner {Vollstrecker). . . .
Whether one uses dynamite, a revolver, or a rope, is a matter
of indifference."

1 Vorliole, Jan. l6, 1881. " April 14.

258 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

The Fackel, German for torch, is a most dangerous-ap-
pearing sheet, inciting by its very appearance to incendi-
arism. The letters of the title die Fackel are in flames, and
are printed in a background of fire and smoke. It does not
look like the torch which gives light, but the torch which
kindles a general conflagration.''

Lynching is advocated by these journals, and admired as.
a form of popular justice. One writer expresses "^ his opinion
in this manner : " Judge Lynch is the best and cheapest
court in the land j and when the sense of justice in the peo-
ple once awakes, may the judge hold court in every place,
for nowhere is there a lack of unhanged honorables and
prominent sharps."

As one hundred years ago in France, so now, revolution
has become a religion, — "our religion, the grandest religion
that ever suffered for supporters and propagandists." There
are those ready to die for it, as there were in the great
French Revolution, — an eternal witness to the need of the
human mind for some form of religion, and a proof that if
a worthy one is not accepted, an unworthy one is sure, sooner
or later, to force its entrance into the longing heart, and find
there a capability of devotion often grand. The terrible
condition of a soul which has thus elevated the trinity —
envy, hatred, and destruction — to the position of a god to
be served, cannot better be brought home to the reader than
by means of a quotation from the Freiheit. The article from

^ I have been informed that this interpretation, which appeared in my
Recent American Socialism, and has since then been often repeated by
others, is an error on my part. The true interpretation I did not under-
stand, as it involved some old German symbolism, about which I knew
nothing. I believe, as a matter of fact, the drawing for the title was
made before the Fackel became an advocate of violence.

2 \a.Die Freiheit,

THE PROPAGANDA OP DEED. 259

which it is extracted is called " Revolutionary Principles,"
and appeared in the issue for March i8, 1883 : ' —

"The revolutionist has no personal interest, concerns,
feelings, or inclinations, no property, not even a name.
Everything in him is swallowed up by the one exclusive
interest, by the one single thought, by the one single passion,

— the revolution.

" In the depths of his nature, not only in words, but also
in deeds, has he fully broken with the civil order, with the
laws currently recognized in this world, with customs, morals,
and usages. He is the irreconcilable enemy of this world ;
and if he continues to live in it, it only happens in order to
destroy it with the greater certainty.

" The revolutionist despises all dogmas, and renounces the
science of the present world, which he leaves for future
generations. He knows only one science, namely, destruc-
tion. For this purpose, and for this alone, he studies me-
chanics, physics, chemistry, and possibly also medicine.
For this purpose, he studies, day and night, living science,

— men, characters, relations, — as well as all conditions of
the present social order in all its ramifications.

" He despises public opinion. He despises and hates the
present social morality in all its leadings and in all its mani-
festations; for him, everything is moral which proves the
triumph of the revolution, everything immoral and criminal
which hinders it. Severe against himself, he must likewise
be severe against others. Every affection, the effeminating
sensations of relationship, friendship, love, gratitude, all
must be smothered in time by the one cold passion, the revo-
lutionary work. For him there is only one pleasure, one

1 It is evidently an interpretation, perhaps slightly changed, of
Bakounine's "Revolutionary Catechism." Cf. Laveleye's "Socialism
of To-day," pp. 204, 205,

im THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

comfort, one recompense, — the success of the revolutioa
Day and night may he cherish only one thought, only one
purpose, viz., inexorable destruction. While he pursues this
purpose, without rest and in cold blood, he must be ready to
die, and equally ready to kill every one with his own hands
who hinders him in the attainment of this purpose. . . .

" For the sake of unrelenting destruction, the revolutionist
can, and, indeed, often must, live in the midst of society, and
appear to be different from what he really is. The revolu-
tionist must gain access to the higher circles, the church, the
palace. . . . This entire lewd official society is divided into
several categories. The first consists of those who are forth-
with to be consecrated to Death" — and much more like
this.

The most violent society in America has recently been
formed, and has issued a proclamation. It is called the
Elack Hand, and its purpose is immediate violence. A few
sentences from the proclamation * will prove instructive : ' —

"THE BLACK HAND.

"A Proclamation Issued by an American Branch.
"Be up and Doing.

" Fellow workmen : The social crisis is pointing in all coun-
tries of modern civilization towards a fast approaching crisis. . . .
Only through daring will we be victorious. . . .

1 Published in Truth, Jan. 26, 1884.

^ This is the comment of a socialist on what I say about .he Black
Hand : " It should be omitted, as there did never exist in America such
a thing as a Black Hand. John Most, liking sensation, published only
an appeal for forming the Black Hand, and with exception of a few fur-
ther cranks, there was never an organization of such a kind." I leave
it, though the fact is, I believe, correctly stated by the socialist. It is
worth something, even as the expression of the ideas of a very few.

THE PROPAGANDA OF DEED. 261

" The masses will only be with us when they trust us, and
they will trust us if they have proofs of our power and ability.

" We will give them.

" This involves the necessity of revolutionary skirmishes, of
daring deeds, of those acts which are the forerunners of every
great revolution. This is the name of our International Organi-
zation — the Black Hand.

" Proletarians ! . . . We appeal herewith to all our associates
in regard to the propaganda of deed in every form. . . .

" War to the Knife !

" The Executive of the Black Hand."

The power of the revolutionary and violent socialists in
countries where they exist in numbers, is a kind of imperium
in imperio, whose leaders regard reverence for nationality as
worthy to rank with old wives' superstitions, and consider
patriotism a criminal weakness unworthy of a free man. This
socialistic imperium is therefore thoroughly cosmopolitan
and one and indivisible in all parts of the world ; but two or
more of its chief seats are evidently in America, for New
York and still more Chicago seem entitled to such a posi-
tion.

The Internationalists look at their power as an imperium,
loyalty to which is worthy of the highest praise, and they
confer distinguished honor upon all those who suffer in their
cause. Terms are used whose aim is to pervert the mind
and blind the eyes of sympathizers to the true character of
their deeds. The leaders issue their decrees, couched in
language proper to the civil authorities of the State, and
pass " sentence of death " upon offenders. Assassination is
called " execution," while the death penalty, when inflicted
jpon one of their members in due course of law, is called
judicial murder, Thus the fulfilment of the mandates of

262 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

Anarchistic committees appear as righteous to those intrusted
therewith, as it does to a federal marshal to assist in the
enforcement of the laws of the United States. The power
in New York, for example, sends instructions to the social-
ists of Vienna in 1883, admonishing them to pass over to
the propaganda of deed and exterminate the Royal House
of Austria and all who uphold them,^ and when their " com-
rades," Stellmacher and others, murder officers of the
Viennese police, a grand demonstration is held in Irving
Hall in New York, to glorify these heroes of crime.^ The
mind of man has conceived no out-pourings of cruel vin-
dictiveness and maUgnant hate which surpass the utter-
ance of these mad souls, which one is tempted to believe
are the spirits of the lost returned to torment the earth
for sin. Most tells the faithful followers that what has hap-
pened in Austria ought not be called murder, because
" murder is the killing of a human being, and I have never
heard that a policeman was a human being." Then he goes
on to say that spies and all members of the police ought to
be exterminated, one after another, they all long ago having
been declared outlaws by every decent man. " With shouts
of joy," continues he, " does the proletariat learn of such
deeds of vengeance. The propaganda of deed excites in-
calculable enthusiasm. When Hodel and Nobiling shot at
the accursed Lehmann,' there were indeed those among the
laborers who did not then understand those brave deeds,
but to-day the German proletariat has only one objection to
raise to them : viz., that better aim was not taken. ... As
for America, the people of that land will learn one day that
an end is to be made of the mockery of the ballot, and that

1 See Die Frdheit, Feb. 24, 1883.
» See Die Freiheit, Feb. 16, 1884.
» /.*., the Emperor William.

THE PROPAGANDA OF DEED. 263

the best thing one can do with such fellows as Jay Gould
and Vanderbilt is to hang them on the nearest lamp-post.''
Then a series of resolutions were unanimously adopted,
expressing sympathy with the aims of the Austrian revolu-
tionists, approving of their means, and urging them to spare
no life which stood in the way of the extinguishment of the
aristocracy and bourgeoisie, in particular to destroy the
emperor. The comrades were told that they must make
themselves more terrible than terror itself. The resolutions
closed with these words : " Brothers ! Your affair is that of
the oppressed against their tyrants. It is not the affair of
Austria. It is the most sacred aifair of the people of all
lands.

" Comrades, we applaud most heartily your acts and your
tactics. . . . Kill, destroy, annihilate your aristocracy and
bourgeoisie to the last man.

" In dealing with this canaille, show neither love nor pity,
. . . Vive la revolution sociale."

At the door a collection was taken up to form a " revolu-
tionary action-fund." The proceeds were stated to be
thirty-six dollars.

When the wretched August Reinsdorf was executed for an
attempt on the life of the German emperor, Most's Freiheit
appeared with a heavy black border about the first page, on
which was an engraving of this " martyr," accompanied by
a biographical notice in which he was raised to the rank of
an immortal hero and a devoted saint. " One of our noblest
and best is no more. In the prison yard at Halle under the
murderous sword of the criminal HohenzoUem band, on the
7th of February, August Reinsdorf ended a life full of battle
and of self-sacrificing courage, as a martyr to the great
revolution. All who knew the comrade personally, know
what this loss signifies. Every one who is able to value

264 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

manly worth and self-sacrifice, needs only to know how
Reinsdorf conducted himself before the court, in order to
possess the highest regard for him beyond the grave. As
for us, we have taken Reinsdorf into our heart and there
he will remain for all time." Language of this kind is con-
tinued through three columns, and it is mentioned with
pride that Reinsdorf had been connected with the Freiheit
from the beginning of its existence.'

It might be supposed that these Anarchists would have
been stricken with remorse when they heard the news of the
horrible dynamite explosions in London in January, 1885,
but their consciences had already been seared as with
a hot iron, and the editor of Liberty had the audacity to
write such words as these : " It is glorious news that comes
to us from England ; sad enough if it were unnecessary, sad
enough that it should be necessary, but having bfeen made
necessary by its victims, none the less joyful and glorious.
The dynamite policy is now definitely adopted in England,
and must be vigorously pushed until it has produced the
desired effect of abolishing all the repressive legislation that
denies the freedom of agitation and discussion, which alone
can result in the final settlement of social questions and
make the revolution a fixed fact. . . . An explosion that
should blow every atom of the English Parliamentary Build-
ings into the Thames River ought to be as gratifying to
every lover of liberty as the fall of the Bastile in 1789.
. . . Why, by endangering the lives of innocent people,
aUenate the sympathy of many who would appreciate and
applaud a prompt visitation of death upon a Gladstone
immediately after the passage of a Coercion Act? . . .
How much better and wiser and more effective in this re-
spect the course of the Russian and German Terrorists?
1 Die Freihtit, Feb. 14, 1885,

THE PROPAGANDA OF DEED. 265

Witness, for instance, the telling promptness with which the
poUce commissioner Rumpflf was found dead on his door-
step the other day, just after he had accompHshed the death
sentence of the brave Reinsdorf and his anarchistic com-
rades? I commend this relentless directness to the Irish
dynamiters." *

While the European practices of the revolutionists have
not as yet been adopted in America, they themselves claim
that our respite is a short one, since they are waiting for
an opportune moment to begin the tactics of violence, and
the favorable time is expected in a very near future.^

While one method of preparing for the revolution is, as
is seen, the propaganda of deed, as the use of dynamite and
personal violence to individuals are euphemistically termed,
another is the "Educational Campaign" which accom-
panies it and which some even of the Anarchists think
ought to precede it, though the tendency now is strongly in
the direction of immediate action.

In the last days of the newspaper Truth, its incessant cry
was the " Educational Campaign " which was considered
the pressing need of the moment. It was urged that tracts
be published, existing journals encouraged, new ones founded,
and teachers sent out into the four quarters of the earth to
spread the doctrines of socialism far and near. Instructions
to agitators were published, of which the following are sam-
ples : —

" Bring right home to him [the wage-worker] the ques-
tion of his servitude and poverty. . . .

" Create disgust with, and rebellion against, existing
usages, for success Ues through general dissatisfaction.

" The masses must have something to hate. Direct theii
hatred to their condition."

1 Liberty, Jan. 31, 1855- ' See Die Freiheit, Feb. 18, 1884.

266 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

These instructions and others like them are now being
carried out by the propagandists of anarchy. " Groups "
are formed to which text-books constituting a course of
study in socialism are recommended. It is urged that
members of existing groups continue the work by formation
of new groups of seven or eight or more, and that these
latter in similar manner carry forward the movement which
thus becomes self-propagating.

The ingenuity displayed in nourishing hate is remarkable.
A number of Truth published two years ago contained
the bill of fare of a rich man's dinner, which laborers are
advised to cut out and paste on their " old tin coffee-pot at
home." Long and apparently accurate lists of rich men in
the chief cities of the United States are published with
headings like this : — ^

" DOLLARS.
" More men in the United States who have robbed us.

" The grand Larcenists of America.
" The People who have Legally Stolen the Unpaid
Wages of the Workers.
" \Pfficiai:\
" Headquarters Division Executive, Pacific Coast Division,
International Workmen's Association, San Francisco. [Supple-
ment to Circular No. lo, Series B., 1883]."

This also marks out the rich men for attention in the
upheaval for which they are preparing. Perhaps they will
be turned over to " recruits " to be paid out of emergency
funds now being collected, unless, indeed, these should in
the meanwhile mysteriously disappear; which fate, it is
said, has ere this overtaken certain Irish emergency funds.

While the labor leaders and the labor press generally con-
demn these sentiments of the Internationalists in terms of

1 Truth, Jan. 16, 1884.

THE PROPAGANDA OF DEED. 26?

merited severity, and while they are happily abhorrent to
the vast mass of our laboring population, a serious mistake
is sometimes made by writers who would only call attention
to existing wrongs and to the dangers of enormous fortunes,
and yet do so in language which is too likely to arouse
merely envy and hate. More care ought to be exercised in
this regard. If the cause of some of these most unfortunate
expressions, indeed, is to be found in the evil passions of the
human heart, which no one can deny to be at least occasion-
ally the case, those who utter them ought to begin a work of
reform at once within their own souls, for they can never
exert a thoroughly good influence until their own natures
are actuated by right feelings.

The writer of a poem on Vanderbilt's wealth which
appeared in John Swinton's paper of Oct. 28, 1883, may
himself perhaps have been animated only with the wish
to arouse the attention of the careless and indifferent to
what he believed to be evil in our social system ; yet there
is reason to fear that those who read such productions are
more harmed than benefited by them. The poem is enti-
tled " Wm. H. Vanderbillion, the song to be sung in the
Reign of the Billionaire. Song of the Billionaire."

The following are three stanzas : —

(I T»'

I'm a bloater, I'm a bloater,
By my millions all are dazed;

I'm a bloater, I'm a bloater, 1

On the ' water ' I have raised !

• * * « *
"I'm a-drumming, I'm a-drumming

Up the millions, right or wrong;
I'm a-coming, yes, a-coming,

With a thousand millions strong !

• * * • •

268 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

" I'm a-nmsing, fondly nursing

Well my wealth in coffers crammed;
Public 's cursing, loudly cursing,
But ' the public may be damned 1 ' "

CHAPTER XL

THE SOCIALISTIC LABOR PARTY.

THE " Manifesto of the Congress of the Socialistic
Labor Party," held at Baltimore in December, 1883,'
contained these principles which had been unanimously
adopted as the result, both of their own researches and of
the studies of their brothers in Europe :

" Labor being the creator of all wealth and civilization, it
rightfully follows that those who labor and create all wealth
should enjoy the full result of their toil. Therefore we
declare :

" That a just and equitable distribution of the fruits of
labor is utterly impossible under the present system of soci-
ety. This fact is abundantly illustrated by the deplorable
condition of the working classes, which are in a state of des-
titution and degrading dependence in the midst of their
own productions. While the hardest and most disagreeable
work brings to the worker only the bare necessaries of life,
others who labor not riot in labor's production. We further-
more declare :

" That the present industrial system of competition, based
on rent, profit-taking, and interest, causes and intensifies
this inequality, concentrating into the hands of a few all
means of production, distribution, and the results of labor,

1 A platform somewhat different was adopted at the Fifth National
Convention held in Cincinnati in October (5-8), 1885. This will be
found in the Appendix.

270 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

thus creating gigantic monopolies dangerous to the people's
liberties j and we further declare :

"That these monster monopolies and these consequent
extremes of wealth and poverty supported by class legisla-
tion, are subversive of all democracy, injurious to the na-
tional interests, and destructive of truth and morality. This
state of affairs, continued and upheld by the ruling political
parties, is against the welfare of the people.

" To abolish this system, with a view to estabUsh co-oper-
ative production, and to secure equitable distribution, we
demand that the resources of life, namely land, the means
of production, public transportation, and exchange become
as fast as practicable the property of the whole people."

The form of society which the members of the Socialistic
Labor Party desire is quite different from the voluntary asso-
ciation of the Anarchist, since they are unable to understand
how there can be social ownership of capital, rational pro-
duction in the interest of all, and an equitable distribution of
products without control or regulation. Consequently they
are not opposed to the state in itself {an sick), but wish to
substitute the socialistic state, the people's state, for the
present state-form. Combatting anarchy and individualism,
they are, in the strict sense of the term, socialists. While
they believe in the state, they do not think that national
boundaries should constitute barriers to combined action,
either now or hereafter, but hold that the interests of the
mass of humanity are one in all lands of civilization. The
moderates are as strictly intemationaKsts in theory and feel-
ing as the members of the party bearing that name, and, in
fact, more nearly resemble the old International of Marx
in their organization.

The Socialistic Labor Party is composed of local sections,
of which there may be only one in any city, although this

THE SOCIALISTIC LABOR PARTY. 27}

one may be subdivided into " branches." The head of the
party is a " National Executive Committee," which is, how
ever, in some respects, subject to a Board of Supervisors.
The final decision of conflicts, of course, rests with the
members of the party, who manifest their wishes by their
votes. A wide sphere of action is also reserved for their
conventions or congresses which meet every two or three
years.

In opposition to the "reds," the "blues" enforce the
necessity of unity in organization as the indispensable pre-
liminary of harmonious activity. The workmen isolated, it
is held, can accomplish nothing, but combined in a closely
united whole they can carry everything before them and re-
construct the world. " Fellow- workmen," thus the laborers
are addressed in their manifesto, " you must rally in one
great invincible phalanx, if you hope to gain a foot of
ground."

It is to be noticed that this party of socialists is also a
political party, which has in times past taken an active part
in politics, in a few cases electing their candidates, and
which hopes for greater success in the future, though only
a few of them indulge the hope that their reforms can be
accomplished peaceably by the ballot. But they advise
participation in politics because they regard it as an educa-
tional aid, bringing their principles before the people and
thus becoming a useful means of propagandism. It is also
considered helpful in securing an efficient organization of
their own party. " Universal suffrage must be regarded as
a weapon in battle, not as a means of salvation." ' Again,
the ballot is the best visible evidence of strength, and the
growth which it registers must encourage adherents to re-
newed efforts for an extension of their principles. They
^Der Soiiialist,]a.ix. 24, 1885.

272 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

appear to hope further that it may assist them in securing
certain reforms not incompatible with existing economic in-
stitutions. But this is not all. As the laborers gain political
power, they will attempt to use it in their own behalf;
and the ruling classes, it is thought, not being able to con-
sent to this, will rebel and bring on the revolution, which is
expected in the end.

The difference between the two parties in respect to revo-
lution, then, is this : the Internationalists desire to begin the
revolution and do not shrink from an active initiative in
deeds of violence. This the moderates regard as madness,
holding that a revolution comes in the natural course of evo-
lution and cannot be " made." The Socialistic Labor Party
believes in peaceful agitation and lawful means in behalf of
their principles until their enemies force the struggle upon
them ; as their manifesto puts it, —

" We must expect that our enemies — when they see our
power increasing in a peaceful and legal way and approach-
ing victory — will on their part become rebels, just as once
did the slave-holders, and that then the time will come, for
the cause of labor, when that old prime lever of all revolu-
tions, Force . . . must be applied to, in order to place the
working masses in control of the state, which then for the
first time will be the representative, not of a few priv-
ileged classes, but of all society. . . . We surely do not
participate in the folly of those men who consider dynamite
bombs the best means of agitation to produce the greatest
revolution that transpired in the social hfe of mankind. We
know very well that a revolution in the brains of men and
the economical conditions of society must precede, ere a
lasting success can be obtained in the interest of the working
classes."

The doctrine of the Socialistic Labor Party is not that it

THE SOCIALISTIC LABOR PARTY. 273

is necessary to secure unanimity of opinion, or even the ad-
herence of the majority before their principles can be estab-
lished, but they think it essential that a large leaven of
socialism and a very general understanding of their principles
should precede the successful revolution. It is believed that
uprisings will occur without their intervention, and these
they hope to be able to guide. They desire to raise up
leaders for the proletariat who may seize on the fruits of
upheavals in society j for they argue that after the masses
have hitherto accomplished revolutions, the lack of intelli-
ligent, determined leaders with definite aims has enabled
others to step in and enjoy the advantages purchased by the
blood of the toiling many. Thus the bourgeoisie captured
the French Revolution. They do not mean that this shall
occur again.

The moderates expect the laborers, in the one way or the
other, to gain the political power of the state, which they will
then use to reconstruct the state, both politically and eco-
nomically, in the interest of the entire people. The state,
they hold, is now a capitalistic state, because the small but
well-organized class of capitalists virtually rule the large
but divided class of wage-workers, who constitute four-fifths
of the population, and because they do this in such manner
as to promote their own welfare at the expense of the masses.
The struggle for power hitherto, it is maintained, has been
a class-struggle, and the result has always been the
triumph of a class in a class-state. The conflict is still
between classes, the only two great remaining classes, namely,
between capitalists and laborers. This has been the
course of development up to the present time, and there is
no reason to quarrel with it.^ It were as wise to get

' I trust it is sufficiently plain that I am simply endeavoring to pre-
sent the opinions of others, not my own.

274 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

angry with the laws of motion. But the evolution of pre-
ceding ages is soon to terminate in a higher product than
the world has yet seen, for when the masses obtain power
there will be constituted for the first time not a class-state,
not a form of society designed to benefit any groups of indi-
viduals, but the true people's state, the folk-state, designed
to elevate all alike.

It is maintained that democracy, to be real, must be eco-
nomic as well as political, and it is this kind of democracy
which it is desired to establish. An inconsistency is discov-
ered in the democracies of the present age, which grant equal-
ity in political affairs without any attempt to realize justice
in distribution of products. But this logical contradiction
is regarded as even worse than it appears at first sight, firom
the fact that economic servitude renders political equality a
deceit, a snare for the unwary, since those who control the
means of life control the votes. Thus, a disastrous climax
is reached, — the equaUty of all men is proclaimed, and then
the hopes raised are frustrated by the restriction of this
equality to the pohtical sphere of action; but it does not
rest with this curtailment, as indirect means are soon dis-
cerned for robbing the people of even political equality.
Democracy thus becomes a simulacrum.

It is not necessary to add much to what has already been
said in explanation of their economic ideas, which, indeed,
are not peculiar. These socialists believe m a universal
system of co-operation, extending itself over the entire
civilized world, and embracing, doubtless, in the end, those
countries which are not now so far advanced as to be
included within the regions of civilization. The means of
production, the basis of co-operative labor, are to be the
property of the people as a whole, — like the post-office in
the United States now, and railroads and telegraph lines in

THE SOCIALISTIC LABOR PARTY. 275

Other lands, — and the products for consumption are to be
distributed " equitably,'' which can be differently interpreted
according to one's notions of justice. Some would doubtless
say " according to deeds," which is sociaUsm ; others, " ac-
cording to needs," which might better be called com-
munism.

The Socialistic Labor Party, composed of abler and better-
educated men, is far more decent than the International.
Its adherents do not indulge to the same extent in the so-
called " strong phrases " of the Internationalists, which mean
vulgar blackguardism such as would cause a Billingsgate fish-
woman to hang her head in envious shame. Again, they do
not take such an extreme attitude in regard to religion and
the family, neither of which is mentioned in their manifesto,
though the Sozialist, their official organ, has rejected all
supernatural religion. The abandonment of all hope of a
union with the extremists has had a most salutary effect upon
the moderates. It is likely that before the separation became
final, the better men of the party tolerated much of which
they must inwardly have disapproved, in order not to estrange
their more violent brethren.

The adherents of the Socialistic Labor Party do not regard
the present state as so utterly bad that it is not worth while
to advocate specific reforms at once, among which their
manifesto of 1883 mentions the following: "Bureaus of
Labor Statistics, Reduction of the Hours of Labor, Abolition
of Contract Convict Labor, Employers' Liability Law, Pro-
hibition of Child Labor, Compulsory Education, Factory,
Mine, and Workshop Inspection, Sanitary Inspection of Food
and Dwellings, and Payment of Wages in Cash." They also
frequently demand the referendum, as in Switzerland, and
such arrangements as are calculated to give the people an
initiative in legislation. Such constitutional changes are ad-

276 THE LABOR M0VEMEN7\

vocated as will abolish the Senate, and substitute a federal
council, as in Switzerland, for our presidency.

The three most prominent organs of the moderates are
Der Sozialist, the official weekly already mentioned, started
Jan. 3, 1885, the Philadelphia Tageblatt, and the New
Yorker Volkszeitung, a daily, which also issues a weekly and
a Sunday edition. The Volkszeitung is in its eighth year, and
is decidedly the cleanest and ablest socialistic sheet in the
United States. A similar newspaper in the English language,
called the Voice of the People, was started early in 1883. It
appeared as a weekly, but promised a daily edition, which
remained an unfulfilled hope, while even the weekly soon
died.

An attempt is being made to win English-speaking follow-
ers, and the National Executive Committee advertises six
pamphlets and a series of socialistic tracts in the English
language. An English organ is contemplated. Some prog-
ress has been made in winning English-speaking adherents
to the party, and large success has met their efforts to diffuse
their ideas among the laboring classes ; but, as the Sozialist
frankly acknowledges, they are still a " German colony, a
branch of the German social democracy.'' Indeed, one bond
of union holding them together is their interest and active
participation in the election of members to the Imperial
Parliament of Germany.

CHAPTER XII.

THE STRENGTH OF REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALISM
ITS SIGNIFICANCE.!

THE character, aims, and methods of the parties rep-
resenting socialism in America have now been de-
scribed, but a yet unanswered question is, What have we to
fear from them?

The first step in the reply to this query is the ascertain-
ment of their strength. While it is extremely diiificult to
make even an approximate estimate, and more than this is
impossible, there are several indications of the extent of
their power which must be noticed.

One of these signs is their press. The number of papers
already enumerated is considerable, and others might be
mentioned. Starkweather and Wilson, in their pamphlet,
give three lists of journals. The first includes those which
are " socialistic," and under this head sixteen journals are
mentioned, of which three are dailies. The second list is
composed of ten " semi-socialistic " newspapers, of which
two appear daily. " Socialistically inclined " periodicals to
the number of eight constitute the third class. While some
of the journals enumerated have ceased to appear, new ones
have sprung up to take their place. It is a point worthy of
note that a tireless, persistent effort is making to disseminate
the most radical views by means of a press which appears,

1 In the perusal of this chapter it should be remembered that there
are peaceful as well as violent revolutions.

278 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

on the whole, to be increasing in power. The larger number
of pronounced socialistic papers belong to the extremists,
which may be considered as ominous an indication as the
fact that they appear in all sections of the country, not ex-
cluding those which are supposed to offer the most favorable
opportunities to the laborer. Denver, Col., sends us the
Labor Enquirer, with the motto, " He who would be free
himself must strike the blow " ; and not long ago the Tocsin,
a Herald of the Coming Revolution, rang out no uncertain
war-cry in Dallas, Tex. The only one of the parties hav-
ing an English official organ is the International, with its
Alarm ; while the Voice, representing the Socialistic Labor
Party, a comparatively modest and decent newspaper, failed
for lack of support.

It is difficult to estimate the strength of the socialistic
newspapers. As already stated, the Vorbote, the oldest of
them, is in its twelfth year. Their advertising patronage is
often fair, which would seem to indicate a respectable circu-
lation. Truth claimed a circulation of six thousand, which
must be placed over against the fact that it finally ceased to
appear for lack of sufficient support and the proprietor's
statement that he sank twelve thousand dollars of his own
money in the concern. The Sozialist in its fourth number ^
claimed 3,389 subscribers, in addition to five hundred cop-
ies sent in response to inquiries and distributed to different
news companies. The strongest socialistic newspaper in
the country is the New Yorker Volkszeitung, which has been
already mentioned. It is claimed that the three editions of
this journal together have a circulation of over thirty thou-
sand, which is larger than that of any other German news-
paper in the country with the single exception of the
Staatszeitung of New York.

> Jan. 24, 1885.

STRENGTH OF REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALISM. 279

But we must not confine ourselves to journals nominally
socialistic in our attempts to estimate the influence of the
press in the diffusion of socialism among American laborers.

There are several organs of trades-unions which advocate
the general principles of socialism, although they do not make
that their chief concern, for their aim is first of all to pro-
mote the interest of their particular trades. Among these
may be mentioned Der Hammer, the official organ of the
Metal Workers' Union of North America; the Deuisch-
Amerikanische Eaecker-Zeitung, the organ of the Journey-
man Bakers' Union ; the Furniture Workers' journal, the
official organ of the International Furniture Union ; Prog-
ress, the official organ of the Cigar Makers' Progressive
Union. The Carpenter, the official organ of the Brother-
hood of Carpenters and Joiners, and some other papers, are
described by the Sozialist as " well on the road to social-
ism," but this is a doubtful expression. A person who
recognizes the full strength of socialism and acknowledges
the good there is in it, and yet sees clearly its weakness,
may be, and often is, further from an acceptance of that
economic system than its most pronounced but bigoted
opponent. Many of the labor papers, however, open their
columns for a free discussion of socialism as well as of other
questions of the day, and thus give an opportunity for the
presentation of socialistic opinions, while taking no definite
position either for or against them. A few are undoubtedly
socialistic, even when they do not take the position of
formal advocates. Such is the Workmen's Advocate of New
Haven. The Irish World and Industrial Liberator, which
is said to have an immense circulation, has been claimed as
an exponent of socialism, but with how much truth I am
unable to say. Finally, it must be noticed that foreign
journals like Le Socialiste of Paris and Der Sozial-Demokrat,

280 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

the official organ of the German social democracy, published
in Zarich, Switzerland, circulate to a limited extent among
our French and German laborers. Several organs of social-
ism have recently begun to appear in England, like the
Christian Socialist, the monthly To Day, and the weekly
Commonweal, to which the English poet, Morris, contrib-
utes regularly. These come to our country and are read by
a few. The English organ of the Anarchists, called the
Anarchist, also finds its way to our shores, but its circulation
in the United States is doubtless hmited.

Nevertheless, it cannot be said that either socialism or an-
archism has a strong press in this country, and it is to be
noticed as a welcome sign that the moderate sociaUsts con-
trol both the most influential organ and a larger number of
newspapers than the extremists. Indeed, it may be said
that outside of their own organs the Anarchists and Inter-
nationalists control at most the general policy of but two or
three labor newspapers. The Miners^ J^ournal, of Scam-
monville, Kan., was mentioned two years ago in Liberty as
the first instance, so far as the editor could call to mind,
of a newspaper " published in the interest of a special class
of workers and pointing them to complete liberty as their
only hope."

The sociaUsts in Germany almost universally believe in
the ballot and participate in elections very generally, so that
the results of the elections for members of the Imperial
Parliament give one some notion of their strength and of
their progress. It was, for example, a reliable indication ot
growth when the social-democrats sent twenty-four members
to the German ParUament in the fall of 1884, while up to that
time they had never elected more than thirteen representa-
tives. But in this country a large part of the sociaUsts hav-
ing abandoned the use of the ballot as a means of agitation,

STRENGTH OF REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALISM. 281

the fact that they have achieved little success as politicians
is not so significant, and the constantly recurring elections
give no gauge with which to measure their growth.

While there may have been those in Congress who sympa-
thized with many of their teachings, the sociahsts have never
had a representative in that body who was elected nominally
as their candidate. They have, however, elected municipal
councillors in Chicago, and have elsewhere gained a few
victories through the ballot-box. In 1879 four socialistic
aldermen were elected in that city, and the party's candidate
for mayor received twelve thousand votes. Three of their
candidates for the House of Representatives and State
Senate of Illinois were elected the same year. In 1878
they went into the field in Ohio with a State ticket, which
received over twelve thousand votes, and this seems to have
been their high-water mark in politics in that State. The
following year their State ticket in New York received ten
thousand votes, or less, and this discouraged them.*

At their last congress, in Baltimore, 1883, the Socialistic
Labor Party reported the existence of thirty-eight " sec-
tions" which were united in the central organization, in
addition to a few independent sections. Rapid progress
appears to have been made since then, however, as fifty-
eight " sections " publish notices of their places and days of
meeting, in the Sozialist for March 7, 1885, and seventy-
two in the issue for July 3, 1886. There is no means of
obtaining the exact number of members in each section.
The one in New York seems to be quite large, as it is com-
posed of four branches, and Branch One recently numbered
two hundred and seventy-five members, while there were
thirty applicants for membership. But most of the sections

' Report of the Proceedings of the National Convention, held in
Allegheny, Pa., 1879-80.

282 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

are evidently small, and the total number of enrolled
names can be safely estimated as under ten thousand.
This is, however, comparatively a small matter. These
sections are simply gathering points for the more ardent
promoters of the cause. It has been recently stated that
there were twenty-five thousand adherents of the party in
New York, and if I wished to venture a guess, — a rash thing
to do, — I should say that there might be half a million
adherents of the general principles of moderate and peace-
ful socialism in the United States.

The several unions whose organs have already been men-
tioned in this chapter are composed largely of sociaUsts, and
there are socialists in all the labor organizations. This could
not be otherwise, for it would be unreasonable to expect a
labor organization to refuse admission to a workman, otherwise
unexceptionable, because he held a certain theory of indus-
trial society which might not accord with the opinions of
the majority. It must also be remembered that socialists
who are fired with missionary zeal join the organization pur-
posely to make converts to their faith. Again, when various
theories of government are discussed earnestly by men whose
circumstances render them comparatively unprejudiced, it
is in the nature of things that some should adopt one set of
ideas, and some another, and there is no cause of alarm in
this. The intellectual stagnation which would follow the
cessation of debate and discussion is something far more to
be dreaded.

The Declaration of Principles of the Knights of Labor
means, undoubtedly, sociaUsm, if one draws the logical con-
clusion of these statements, and one might be inclined to
class them all as socialists at once ; but this would be a serious
mistake. They do not bring their socialism forward promi-
nently ; many do not even see that their principles imply

STRENGTH OP REVOLVTIONARY SOCIALISM. 283

socialism ; some of them are violently opposed to the theory
itself, and many more to the name \ while some do not think
at all on the subject. I imagine the best thinkers among
them might object to a classification of the Knights as social-
ists somewhat in these words : "Yes, our Declaration of
Principles undoubtedly means socialism, but, after all, it is
not fair to call' us socia.lists, in the ordinary sense of the
word. Like John Stuart Mill, we contemplate socialism only
as a' dim and distant ideal, but not as anything capablb of
realization in the present."

What is said of the Knights of Labor holds equally with'
reference to the North American Gymnastic Union, although
it may be that the socialism Of this body is more pronounced.
Some of the local unions are avowedly socialistic.

The theoiy of the inalienable right of the people to the
original properties of the soil, as advocated by Henry George
in his remarkable book, " Progress and Poverty," cannot be
omitted in an account of American socialism, although the
realization of the plans of George and his followers woilld
inaugurate only a partial socialism, not complete or pure
socialism. It is proposed that society should resume owner-
ship of the soil by a tax equal to the rental value Of land.
The revenues obtained are to be used to benefit the people
as a whole, and this would involve an enormous increase of
State functions along Certain lines. I believe the ownership
of the means of communication and transportation is
regarded' by Henry George as an essential part of his theory.
It must be noticed that the intervention of government would
be decreased in many fields of industry, inasmuch as all taxa-
tion, except that on land, would be abolished. This feature
of the theory may, perhaps, commend it to manufacturers.
" Progress and Poverty " has not been published ten years,
yet it is nOw possible to affirm without hesitWion that the ap-

284 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

pearance of that one book formed a noteworthy epoch in the
history of economic thought both in England and America.
It is written in an easily understood and brilliant style, is
published in cheap editions both in England and America,
and in each country has attained a circulation which for an
economic work is without precedent. Tens of thousands of
laborers have read " Progress and Poverty " who never before
looked between the covers of an economic book, and its
conclusions are widely accepted articles in the workingman's
creed. But there is reason to think that the number of ad-
herents outside of the laboring classes is relatively, quite as
large. Men of all occupations are included, — nianufac-
turers, lawyers, merchants, physicians, divines. An organ-
ization for the realization of the principles of " Progress
and Poverty" has been formed, called the "Tax Reform
League." Several newspapers, including at least one daily,
support . the theory of " Tax Reform," as it is inadequately
but rather euphemistically called.

Mention must further be made of the fact that socialists
not connected with any party are found in all ranks of soci-
ety. One comes upon them everywhere, — in the theological
seminary, in the law school, in the merchant's counting-
room, in the manufacturer's office ; and, though all together
they constitute a small fraction of the people, one whose atti-
tude is not such as to repel all confidence will be surprised
to find so many. College graduates are included among
the sociaUsts, and (I mention it for what it is worth) I am
inclined to think, judging from such observations as I have
been able to make, that those institutions of learning will
be found to turn out the most socialists where the students
are taught so to abhor it that any frank and full discussion
of its merits and its defects becomes impossible.

Socialism has made but slight progress among agricul-

STRENGTH OF REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALISM. 285

turists ; yet the ground is ripe for it in parts of this country.
A gentleman of most careful habits of observation, and a
representative of the class of large landholders in Illinois,
assures the writer that although there is no organized social-
ism or understanding of any theoretical body of socialistic
doctrines among the agricultural laborers in his State, three-
fourths of them are in such a frame of mind as to be easy
converts even to quite radical socialism. Wherever there
are latifundia, agricultural laborers will be found accessible
to the arguments of socialists. It has been the case in
Spain and Italy, and there is reason to fear that it will prove
to be so in our own West to an even more alarming extent in
future years.^

The reader now has the more important data used in my
estimate.

Passing on to the Internationalists, it may be safely
said that no one knows their precise strength. There
are groups in every part of the United States ; but the
ties connecting them are so loose that there is no reason
to think that even the " Bureau of Information " could have
ever given the location of all of them, much less the total
number of their adherents. It is possible that each of the
two parties of the Internationalists may have embraced ten
or fifteen thousand members, including all conected with
them by even a loose tie, and quite likely there are two or
three hundred thousand people among us who sympathize
with their general aims.

It is frequently stated that we have nothing to fear from
socialism, because most socialists in America are foreigners.
What is the significance of this fact? It means something,
but not so much as a superficial observer would suppose.
We did not have socialists of our present type in the earlier
1 See Laveleye's " Socialism of To-day," pp. 222, 232.

286 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

period of our history, because the sociahsm of to-day is itself
something new. This theory of society, which is now a
subject of much grave anxiety to the civiUzed world, is
scarcely forty years old. The conditions were not ripe for it
in other countries in earlier ages, much less in the United
States. To-day one of the principal reasons why our social-
ists are for the most part foreigners is because our laboring
population consists chiefly of men and women of foreign
birth or foreign parentage, and the bulk of socialistic parties
is always composed of working people. Some lines of pro-
duction in industrial centres are almost entirely carried on
by laborers of European birth or parentage. Is there any-
thing in our institutions to change the sentiments of our
laboring classes, and to induce them to abandon socialism?
Let us indulge in no illusions. There is no valid reason to
suppose that a republican form of government is in itself less
congenial to socialism than a monarchical ; and if socialists
disappear in the United States, it will be something else than
our existing poUtical institutions which will bring about this
consummation. They are far more likely to increase than
decrease in number as population grows denser, and the try-
ing times prophesied by Macaulay and Huxley ^ come upon
us. Nevertheless, there is ground for the hope that in time
the violent hostility of Anarchists to the most cherished pos-
sessions of our civilization will become less pronounced in
America. American workmen will sooner or later perceive
that the Christian Church is not hostile to their just aspira-
tions, but rather their best friend. There is much that is
cheerful and promising in the present awakening of our
churches to their duty to those for whose benefit Christianity
was specially proclaimed in the first days of its history.
Europeans coming to our shores will yet learn that a state
1 In his opening address at the Johns Hopkins University in 1876.

STRENGTH OF REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALISM. 287

church, supported as the tool of despotism, is one thing, and
that the Gospel of Christ is quite another thing. Second, it
may be anticipated that repubhcan institutions wiU teach
those who enjoy them that there are better methods than
violence of securing the reforms which the people really de-
sire. Third, the determined effort to reform our divorce laws,
and purify and elevate the family, which is now making, will
show that over-hasty conclusions drawn from corrupt and
rotten society are erroneous, — at any rate, if there are the
capabihties for good in the American character which we
all hope.

"From socialism, as such, the American people, in the
writer's opinion, have nothing to fear. So long as socialists
confine themselves to peaceful methods there is no reason
why their right of free speech should be abridged or even
feared. It were wiser to seek to learn anything from them
which they have to teach than to become alarmed. It is
the glory of America that she has faith to believe that only
such institutions as rest upon sound common sense and
approved experience will be supported by the people." ^

There are several reasons for this opinion. Peaceful social-
ism can be introduced only by degrees in a slow and gradual
growth, and we are so far from it, that some advocates, like
Lassalle and Rodbertus, speak about a full realization of
their aims after the expiration of two, three, and even five
hundred years. Now, if our descendants, generations hence,
are convinced, as a result of successive experimental steps,
that pure socialism is the best industrial form, it certainly
need give us no concern, and it were fooUsh to pass a single
sleepless night in lamentations over the prospect. We all
hope that our children's children, — in short, all future genera-

^ Quoted from my article on " Socialism in America " in the North
American Review for June, 1886.

288 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

tions, — will be even more capable than their ancestry to man-
age the affairs of their own age. Second, socialism, when
I stripped of all accessories, is simply a theory of industrial
\ society, and if it could be shown that it is a better form of
1 economic life than our present imperfect system, it ought to
I be welcomed most heartily. I, for my part, do not beUeve
'that this is true ; but I fail to see any vaUd reason why a man
who thinks so should be subject to reproach. On the con-
/trary, I see great harm, possibilities of terrible disaster in
any serious attempt to suppress free and open inquiry, and
to drive error into those gloomy and subterranean channels,
where it grows and expands in a congenial atmosphere until
it breaks forth in volcanic eruptions.

Finally, the really dangerous forces at work among us are
those of disintegration, — the centrifugal not the centripetal.
Now, the whole aim and purpose of sociaUsm is a closer
union of social factors, and so thoroughly convinced am I
that the present need is growth in that direction, so
thoroughly persuaded am I that there is no present danger,
that we shall advance far enough towards the goal of socialism
to intrench on the sphere of the individual, or to commit
any irreparable injury, that I could almost say welcome the
work of the socialist as a necessary and beneficial bulwark
against the anarchy of individualism.^

1 The members of the Socialistic Labor Party realize full well that
they have little in common with the Anarchists. A pamphlet has
recently been published by the National Executive Committee of this
party, entitled "Socialism and Anarchism — Antagonistic Opposites."
In the first paragraph, the writer says : " Socialism and anarchism are
opposites. . . . Socialists and Anarchists, as such, are enemies. They
pursue contrary aims, and the success of the former vnll forever destroy
the fanatical hopes of the latter." The Socialists are weak in Chicago
because the Anarchists are strong. They claim that if they had had more
influence in that cky, the horrible tragedy of May 4 would never

STRENGTH OF REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALISM. 289

But if socialism in itself is not to be feared, quite the
opposite is the case with respect to the violence of the
Internationalists.

It is evident that there is no danger in any near future, —
probably not in the lifetime of any who read this, — of a total
overthrow of republican institutions in this land. Giving
the men of violence credit for all the forces they can pos-
sibly claim, they could muster under their banners only a
comparatively small part of the population, and this com-
posed of men scattered from Maine to California, and from
Michigan to Georgia, and chiefly raw, undrilled laborers,
without competent leaders, or the resources which are the
sinews of war. But does it consequently follow that they
could do no serious damage? Let him who thinks so
remember the loss of life and property in 1877, the latter
estimated at not less than one hundred millions of dollars.
Now that is exactly what we have to fear, another 1877 ; and
this is precisely that for which the Anarchists are preparing.
It is a refrain which one finds repeatedly in aU their publi-
cations : " Get ready for another 1877 — buy a musket for a
repetition of 1877." " Buy d)Tiamite for a second 1877."
" Organize companies and drill, to be ready for a recurrence
of the riots of 1877."

Truth, in its number for Dec. 15, 1883, published an
article entitled : " Street Fighting. — How to use the Military
Forces of Capital when it is Necessary ! — Military Tactics
for the Lower Classes." It purports to be written by an
officer in the United States army, and a military authority
informs the writer, that the substance of this article, although
possessing little merit, is not of such a character as to render
this impossible. It suggests new methods of building barri-

have occurred. It is true that they have condemned every proposal of.
such acts as madness.

290 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

cades, aijd improved methods of meeting attacking traops.
Numerous and apparently reasonable diagrams are giweia.
" Military knowledge," says the officer in .tjje army of the
United States, " has become popularized a little even since
1877, and it would not be hard to find, in every large city of
the world to-day, upon the side of the people, some fair
leaders capable of meeting the enemy in some such way as
this." Then follows one of tbe diagrams.

The Vorbote has recently published p. series of articles on
the aiming of the people. One sentiment often repeated
is this : " We have shown too much merey in the past. Our
generous pity has cost us our cause. Let us be relentiess in
the coming struggle."

Truth, in its issue dated Nov. 3, 1883, quotes Filix
Pyat to this effect : " We h*ve the right, we have the power ;
defend it, employ it ! without reserve, without remorse,
without scruples, without mercy. . . . War to the extreme,
to the knife. A question of Ufe or death, for one of the two
shall rest on the spot. . . . For the good of the people, iron
and fire. All arms are human, all forces legitimate, and all
means sacred. We desire peace ; the enemy wants war.
He may have it absolutely. Killing, burning — all means
are justifiable. Use them ; then will be peace 1 "

The revolutionists claim that while the first 1877 took
them unawares, they will be armed to the teeth and ready
for the second, which will usher in the dawn of a new civili-
zation. It is surprising that many of them in their fury and
fanaticism, expect the present generation will not pass away
until all their dreams are fulfilled, and not one stone of our
old civilization is left on another. There is no doubt about
their terrible earnestness. One of them addressed recently
an epistle to the lyriter, demanding of him whether in th^
coming conflict he would be found fighting on the side of

STRENGTH OF REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALISM. 29i

tfce oppressed or tke oppressor, — " on the side of saoialisj»
or capitajism." In fact, a very little association and faijoil-
iaiity witk the socialists is sufficient to conviace one of their
eaxnestness, as well as of the fact that property does noit, by
any means, invariably make .conservatives of men,

Noiv can there be any doubt about the seriousness of the
situation ? If it were known that one thousajjd men, like tfee
notorious train robbers, the James' boys, were in small
groups scattered over the United States, would not every
conservative a^id peace-loving householder be filled widj
aJajrm, and reasonably so ? Yet here we have more thaji ten
times that number educated to think robbery, arson, and
murder justifiable, nay, even righteous ; taught to believe the
slaughter of the ruling classes a holy work, and prepared to
follow it with all the fanaticism of religious devotion, ready
to die if need be, and prepared to stifle all feelings of grati-
tude and natural affection, and to kiU with their own hands
every opponent of the grand cause. It is, indeed, as Presi-
dent White has pointed out, an anomaly in our legislation,
that it is lawful for a man like John Most to preach whole-
sale massacre, while it is criminal for A to incite B to slay C.
And this Most * is the lion among the extremists in the
United States ; this man who, on account of his excessive
violence, was repudiated by his own countrymen, and almost
unanimously expelled from the social democratic party of
Germany. There are those who, when extensive and riotous
Strikes again occur, will remember the teachings which are
entering into their flesh and blood, yes, into their very soul,
and will take their muskets and their dynamite, and " descend

1 Most continued to sink in the estimation even of the Anarchists, -rr-
even still more of the laboring classes, by whom he had always been
abhorred, — until his imprisonment which has done a little — not
much — to restore him to favor.

292 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

into the streets," and, thinking the great day has arrived,
will cast about right and left, and seek to demolish, to anni-
hilate all the forces and resources of wealth and civilization.'
While the result will be their inevitable defeat, it will cause
sorrow and bloodshed to the defenders of our institutions,
as well as to the rebels, and will drive further apart than ever
before in this land, the two great classes of industrial society,
— employers and employees. ^

What we have to fear then is large loss of life, estrange-
ment of classes, incalculable destruction of property, and a
shock to the social body, which will be a serious check to our
economic growth for years to come.

Something more serious still is among the possibilities, for
it should be understood that the civilization of modem times
will be subjected to severer tests than those which have
overthrown the glory of ancient states. It has been sup-
posed that the accumulations of knowledge, of culture, of
wealth could no longer be annihilated, because gunpowder
and the implements of modern warfare have rendered it im-
possible for savages and barbarians to vanquish advanced
nations. This is true, but false is the not overwise conclu-
sion so often drawn from this fact, that uninterrupted prog-
ress of the race for all future time is a certainty. It is not
always easy to read aright the lessons of human history ; but
plain and clear, and unquestioned do the annals of the past

1 At such a time, even one man may do vast damage.

' This entire paragraph is re-printed, vrithout the change of a word,
from my " Recent American Socialism," vifhich was vfritten early in
1885. I think there has already been a partial realization of the fears
there expressed. Of course, the Chicago massacre occurs to every
one; but those regions in America where there has been most violence
in connection with recent strikes, have been precisely those, so far as
I know, which have been most under the influences of the ideas of the
Internationalists.

STRENGTH OF REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALISM. 293

reveal a power which "makes for righteousness," and which
— call it what we will — passes judgment on the nations of
the earth, and dooms those to decay and destruction which
have ceased to help onward the growth of mankind. The
moment advance stops, the seeds of final overthrow begin
to take root in the soil. Now, I apprehend that what has
been true of the past will hold good for the future. I
believe that Almighty God — for thus do most of us call the
supreme power revealed in history — still judges the nations
of earth, and exacts more from them than ever before, be-
cause of their grander opportunities. The dangers which
threaten civilization have not disappeared ; their nature has
changed. No longer do they proceed from without, but
from within. Our foes are those of our own household.
Threatening disasters are domestic, not foreign.

The beginning of the wonderful inventions of the past four
centuries was accompanied by equally marvellous discoveries
of new and comparatively unoccupied lands — notably the
entire Western Hemisphere. The march of civihzation con-
tinued its westward course, and first, in our day, is it begin-
ning to double on itself. The Occident and the Orient now
touch ; growth has been extensive ; now that the room for
expansion is disappearing, it must become intensive !^ Pop-
ulation becomes denser, and at the present rate of increase
will, in a few generations, present a crowded appearance all
the earth over ; and, in the meantime, the power of one
man to do injury is increasing with alarming rapidity.

Again, the vicious character of certain elements which
congregate in cities, is proverbial, and their viciousness grows
with their opportunities. Did not Bismarck, indeed, long
ago express the wish that all great cities, because hot-beds of
revolution, should be swept off the surface of the earth !

1 Africa, as a field for settlement, may delay or turn the tide a little.

294 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

We have found security in this country in the large numJjer of
rural homes but ,these dJmLnish relatively with the ,gr.ow.th of
great cities, and it is precisely this growth which has char-
acterized American progress. In 1 790, 3.3 per cent of the
population of the United States lived in cities; in 18801,
22.5 ; in 1800, there were six American cities with a popula-
tion of -Syooo, or more ; in 1880, 286. From 1790 to 1880,
our entire population increased twelve-fold, but our urbaai
population, eighty- six-fold. The growth of cities has not
been peculiar to liie United States, but has been common to
the civilized world. It lies in the nature of our civihzation,
and can be retarded by no weak and foolish outcries. It is
part and parcel of our economic development, and as such,
is certain to continue in the future. Every new railway,
every mechanical invention, every improved industrial pro-
cess, concentrates the population in cities.

This is not written to excite undue alarm, but to call
attention to the nature of forces now at work in the world.
There are many hopeful signs. The truth, in a single sen-
tence, is this : the potentialities in the civilized world, either
for good or for evil, are grand beyond historical precedent,
and the use made of them depends largely upon the intel-
lectual enlightenment and the ethical elevation of the pres-
ent generation.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE REMEDIES.

NOW arises that old question, What shall we do about
it? Well, there is no simple, easily applied fonnula
which will cure social evils, and any one who pretends to
have at his command a panacea for the ailments of the
body politic, is a quack worthy of no respect.

Certainly it cannot be my purpose, in the few remaining
pages of the present book, to present an elaborate scheme
of social regeneration. My aim is a more modest one. It
is only to give a few suggestions, scarcely more than hints,
which may be useful to the reader, enabling him to contribute
to a better utilization of the world's experience, and of
established rules of moral conduct.

First of all, it is a time for those men to keep quiet, who,
httle in heart and mind, have no better remedy for social
phenomena which do not please them, than physical force.
They fail absolutely to understand the age in which they
live, and will involve us all in ruin, if allqwed to execute their
savage plans. This applies equally to men of all social
classes. Nevertheless, legal repression has its own place.
Outbreaks of violence must be repressed, and that even
more for the sake of the workingmen themselves than for
their employers ; for the preservation of law and order is an
indispensable condition of the maintenance of such blessings
as civilization has already brought us. If the law is some-
times hard' and unjust, the laborer should remember that

296 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

without law we can have no state, and that the state alone
can save us from that reign of anarchy, in which no bounds
could be set to the oppression of the strong and cunning.
There is, then, no doubt that punishment * should be meted
out to those who violate the laws of the land, and exception-
ally severe punishment to those who aim, by means of vio-
lent action, at their total overthrow. But of more impor-
tance than severity in the administration of criminal law, is
certainty and celerity of punishment. This is not likely to
be disputed, but when we come to agitation and incitement
to revolution in a general way, there is more disagreement
in regard to the course to be pursued. However, it is safe
to say that the outcome of past experience is against legal
interference with theorists before they proceed to overt acts.
With ten times more favorable opportunities than exist in
the United States, Bismarck has tried the enactment of
severe laws against the socialists in Germany, but with
very unsatisfactory results; so unsatisfactory that it may
be questioned whether he has not strengthened the social'
democrats. He has rendered several services to them ; he
has united hostile factions into one compact party ; he has,
in his persecutions, enabled them to pose as martyrs, and
actually to feel themselves such, and that is a great source
of strength ; finally, he has made propaganda for them, and
drawn to them the sympathies of well-meaning people.

Every possible obstacle to their political action has had
this result. They have elected the largest number of mem-
bers of Parhament, since these laws against them were in
force. Russia, France, and Germany, all serve as warning
against restrictions upon the socialists in the United States.

This leads naturally to the recent endeavors to suppress

1 Yet mitigating circumstances may be considered. Justice, when
tempered with mercy, is strongest.

THE REMEDIES. 297

the boycott, by the infliction of imprisonment upon those
guilty of the offence. What has it accomplished? First, it
is important to know the view which the laborers take of
the boycott, and the impression which the severe sentences
upon their companions has produced. I will state their
case in a few words.

The boycott has been employed against obnoxious indi-
viduals from time immemorial. In rszy the citizens of
Canterbury, England, boycotted the monks of Christ's
church, meeting in an open field, and passing these resolu-
tions among others : " That no one, under penalties to be
imposed by the city, should inhabit the prior's houses ; that
no one should buy, sell, or exchange drinks or victuals with
the monastery, under similar penalties." The history of the
United States may almost be said to open with a boycott of
English tea and other wares, which, approved and supported
by our best and most patriotic citizens, has been repeated
several times.' A systematic boycott of slave-made prod-
ucts was begun by the abolitionists fifty years ago.^ Temper-
ance people have used the boycott to repress the liquor nui-
sance time and time again, and men who have endeavored
to draw profit from the corruption of young people, have
been driven from their homes by this weapon. Clergymen
have employed the boycott repeatedly, and they have
recently recommended that it be directed against the Sun-
day newspaper. Railways have entered into combinations,
and have aided one another to boycott innocent members of
the community and other companies. Associations of business

1 "Thus was the boycott born in the cradle of American liberty."
— Quoted from Workmen's Advocate.

2 See the " Sisters Grimk^," by Catherine H. Birney, Boston, 1885,
and other works on the anti-slavery agitation. A store was established
in Baltimore to aid the boycott.

298 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

men have often boycotted those who would not unite with
Uiem in some money-making scheme.* Above all, there is
the long-standing boycott of labor, known as the black-list,-
which has ruined thousands of poor woi*kingme!i; NoWy
none of these men who have taught us the use of the boy-
cott, say the laborers, have been punished,- although their
conspiracies are well known; but as soon as we begin to
employ the weapon against our oppressors, Dherer iS a howl/
from' Maine to California, and our brave friends' are sent
to the penitentiary, Uke common criminals. This iS not
justice; it is class hate. Before, the poor man's ox was
gored ; now, the rich man's. That is the sole and only dif-
ference. We have done no wrong. We have simply let
people alone who have injured us, and appealed' to public
opinion to support us in resistance to tyranny and oppres-
sion; The charge of extortion is simply thimped up against
us. The money received was to defray the expenses of *
course of action forced upon us, and to mitigate the suffer-
ing caused thereby to workingmen. It was an amicable
adjustment of grievances, such as takes place every day;
As well imprison the employer who extorts money from his
employees for injuries caused by bad work or tardiness, or
for other causes often imaginary !
Now, having presented the laborer's view; not my own; f

1 The labor papers cite as an example the " National Burial Case
Association," and one of them, the Labor Bulletin, reprints a circvtlar
of this body in which it is resolved " That the members of this associatiort
pledge themselves not to buy a coffin, hardware, dry gaods, metallics,
glass, varnishes, or other supplies, of any firm or corporation who sells
to- non-members of this association, who are sfeUing' goods at less
prices than the association list." Four boycotted firms are named in
the circular. A boycotted undertaker has recently brought his case
before the courts in New York. InfluJnerable examples-of the boyctttt-
of every kind may be found in the labor- press.

THE REMEDIES. 299

will give a few quotations to show the impression made on
the laboring classes by the recent action of the courts : —

" The boycott will be continued, but with increased severity.
If an indemnification for the expenses of the boycott is regarded
as extortion, nothing will remain but to boycott until the of-
fender is completely ruined, in order that others may take warn-
ing therefrom." — Bakers' Journal.

"The sentences of the five boycotters of Theiss ... to unusu-
ally long terms of imprisonment, is seed sown by the party of
money-bags, which will not bring forth roses. The expectation
that this severe punishment would discourage the laborers rests
upon a weak footing. . . . The laborers will become more than
ever convinced, that justice is meted out with one measure to
them, and with another to those who have money. Bitterness
will unite them more strongly than ever before. The idea that
they are citizens of a free republic, with equal rights, will vanish,
and the conviction will arise that here, also, the struggle of class
has begun. . . . Formerly, the laborers were not so united as
they should have been, but now they will become united. The
movement becomes serious. . . . Persecution has strengthened
the labor parties in Germany and France, and made them irre-
sistible. This will happen here, and it is good!" — Bakers'
Journal.

"The sentence passed on the boycotters has poured flaming
fire into the hearts of the workingmen in New York, and has
driven to the background all difierences in labor's camp. It has
united the many-voiced choir of the organizations in a single
powerful cry of indignation." — The Socialist.

"Atrocious Judges.

" There was a book published before the war - . . under the
title of ' Atrocious Judges,' which described the judicial reptiles
of the pro-slavery bench, who were then foremost in hounding
slaves and persecuting their friends. It was a book of terrific
records, from those of the ever-infamous Jeffries down to those

300 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

of Taney, who found that ' negroes had no rights which white men
were bound to respect.'

" It seems about time to get out a new edition of that book,
with the new names of the ATROCIOUS JUDGES who are
chronicling their own shame in the pro-capitalist decisions of
these times." — JohnSwintotCs Paper, June 13, 1886*

"THE LEAP IN THE DARK.

"Barrett's War of Crushing the Boycotters.

"How A Trickster's Statute was used by a Vindictive Judge
"TO brand Five Honest Workingmen.

" The vindictiveness of the ruling classes has found expression
in the condemnation of five workingmen to various terms of im-
prisonment with hard labor at Sing Sing. It would be difficult
to imagine a more flagrant outrage of every sense of justice in
the name of ' law and order,' a more cruel exercise of power
upon a false pretence, or conduct more impolitic on the part of
officials charged with a delicate duty, and invested with wide dis-
cretion, in the case of these Theiss boycotters, whom class hate
has branded as felons. . . . ' Whom the gods would destroy, they
first make mad.' " — John Swinton's Paper.

This is sufficient to show the impression produced. " But
what is your opinion? " the reader asks.

It seems to me, first, that the boycott is wrong ; — at any
rate, as it has been conducted. It may be right for people
to appeal to public opinion, to put down a gross abuse in a
quiet and orderly manner. If clergymen think the Sunday
newspaper a sin, it is their duty to advise people not to pat-
ronize it ; but to distribute circulars, and fairly force the
customers of a man to leave him, is a different matter. It
condemns a man imtried, and is liable to the grossest abuses,
calculated to injure employer and employed, and the general

THE REMEDIES. 301

public in addition. At best, it is a doubtful remedy. It is
a movement in precisely the wrong direction.

Nevertheless, it is not so clear that a law should be passed
declaring boycotting illegal. Professor von Waltershausen,
of the University of Ztirich, a man of ability, who has given
the American labor movement more careful study, probably,
than any other man in Europe,' after a painstaking examina-
tion of the subject, pronounced against it, although recog-
nizing the gravity of the evil, because he thought it would
turn the laborers against the State ; and if political science
teaches one lesson more clearly than another, it is the danger
of implanting hostility to government, as such, in the hearts
of the masses.

It seems to me that the whole subject should have been
carefully discussed in our legislatures, and laws enacted to
restrain the excesses of the boycott. As to the course
which has been taken, I would not be misunderstood,
when I express the opinion, that American history records
few more disastrous mistakes, and that I fear greatly we
shall see sad consequences of it within ten years, sadder
still within twenty years, unless more powerful conservative
forces are brought into action than are now manifest. I join
in no condemnation of a judge whose personal character or
official integrity may, for aught I know, be beyond question.
I can readily understand that he may have done with pain
what he thought his duty in a crisis in American history. I
simply say that I think he committed an error of judg-
ment. What is the result? He has united, as never before
in America, the laborers in one solid mass, and he has given i
the entire labor movement a most unfortunate impulse/
towards radicalism. This may be seen in a thousand dif- '

1 He has brought out a book entitled " Die Nord Amerikanischen
Gewerkschaften," Berlin, 1886.

302 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

ferent ways. One is the recent attendance of thousands
at a mass-meeting, called by socialists in New York to
condemn the action of the courts in the case of the boy-
cotters, and the harmonious action of socialists and work-
ingmen in that city. Nothing else could have brought this
about. The conservative elements among the laborers, Hke
Powderly and many editors of labor papers, and theii
friends, like Washington Gladden, Heber Newton, Howard
Crosby, Lyman Abbott, — all, by the way, clergymen, —
were earnestly admonishing the laborers to pursue a legal and
even a conciliatory course. The boycott was condemned
again and again by laborers, as injurious even to those who
used it, and as unjust, and there was every prospect of a
restriction and regulation of the boycott all along the line.
Now, the conservatives find the work of years overthrown.
There is a howl among the Anarchists from Boston to San
Francisco : " Ho, ye fools ! ye men of law and order !
What have we always told you ? Law is only for the poor !
It is the rich man's instrument of oppression." And to-day
there is a sympathy among workingmen for the Chicago
Anarchists on trial for a brutal massacre of the authorities,
which would have seemed inconceivable six months since.
Never have I seen such indignation among the masses,
although I was in Germany when the anti-socialistic law of
1878 was passed. There the matter was fully discussed,
and a law, clear and precise in its terms, was passed, and
published in every nook and corner of the land. Cruel and
unjust, it doubtless was considered, but no one could dispute
that it was law. The judicial decisions in New York do not
appeal to the working classes as interpretations of actual
law, but as a perversion of law for class purposes.

From Truth of Jan. z6, 1884, and a recent number
of the Sozialist, we may gain a hint as to the true policy.

THE REMEDIES. 303

In speaking of the indiscriminate use of dynamite as
a means of propaganda, Truth says : " Its effect would
be directly reactionary. Either it would induce repressive
laws, abrogating the rights we have now, which permit us to
spread our doctrines, or it would wring from the fears of the
bourgeoisie such ameliorative measures as might postpone for
centuries the final struggle for complete emancipation." The
Sozialist of Jan. 3, 1885, predicts that they, the social-
ists, will obtain assistance in their propaganda from their
enemies, who will increase discontent among the masses,
and thus prepare heart and mind for the seed they expect
to sow.

The two words used by Truth, " ameliorative measures,"
indicate the correct method of dealing with social problems.
We must listen to complaints of those who feel that they
are oppressed, and not suppose that the demands of even
socialists are unjust, simply because they are made by
socialists. Who can object to them when they complain
because they are not allowed to rest one day out of seven ;
because child-labor is tolerated ; because families are scat-
tered in workshops; and family life in any true sense of the
word becomes an impossibiUty ? It would indeed be well
could every rich and well-to-do person be persuaded to
listen to their complaints as they appear in their papers, in
order to know how they feel and what they suffer ' ; or if
the wealthy could more generally be induced to examine for

1 If every man and woman of social standing superior to that of the
working classes, could be persuaded to read a paper like yoAn Swin-
ton's Paper, the Haverhill (Mass.) Laborer, the Baltimore Labor
Free Press, or others which I might name, and every intelligent
laborer could be induced to read the writings of men like Lyman
Abbott, Howard Crosby, Washington Gladden, T. Edwin Brown, and
Newman Smyth, true progress in the future would be assured.

304 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

themselves the way poor and honest people are often
obliged to live. Let the careless and indifferent but read
the articles which lately appeared in the Christian Union, on
the condition of the poor in American cities, or a single
pamphlet like "The Bitter Cry of Outcast London," de-
scribing the life of the London laborer from the observation
of city missionaries, and issued by the London Congrega-
tional Union ! ' And if he thinks, as is too often said, that
the laborers become accustomed to their lot and contented,
let him but read their utterances in the labor press, or Usten
to them in their meetings ! There are certain things a man
can never get used to, as for example, an empty stomach
and a home without fire. When poverty is extreme, it often
sinks more and more deeply into the consciousness of the
sufferer, and the burden grows with the weight of years.

Then it must not be forgotten that this age is not as other
ages. There has been great progress in the intelUgence of
the laboring classes, and poUtical equality has stimulated the
desires of the masses for a larger share of material riches.
The means of production have been improved in a marvel-
lous manner, and the increase of wealth has been enormous.
The question the laborer asks is not simply whether he
receives more absolutely, but whether he receives as much
in proportion to what the other classes of society enjoy.
His wants have grown, and he is inclined to doubt whether
he is as well able to gratify his legitimate needs as formerly.
There may have been a time, for example, when he could
not read. Then it was no hardship to him that he was
unable to buy books. The case is different now.

We ought, then, to listen to the demands the socialists and
the laboring classes generally make of the present state, and

1 See also "The Bitter Cry of the Poor in New York," by Mrs. J.
R. Lowell, Christian Union, March 26, 1885.

THE REMEDIES. 305

discuss them in a spirit of candor, and grant them in so fat
as they may be just. It has already been seen what the
Socialistic Labor Party desires of society in its present form,
and while it may be true that few political economists would
assent to the practicability of all the measures they advocate,
they are certainly worthy of discussion. Undoubtedly, one
often meets with radical and apparently absurd propositions
in the perusal of labor literature, but, on the other hand, one
discovers at times a surprising spirit of conservatism, and is
obliged to admit that many demands are perfectly legiti
mate, as the following " Platform and Supplementary Reso-
lutions" of the Federation of Trades and Labor Unions
abundantly prove.

" Platform.

" I. The national eight-hour law is one intended to benefit
labor, and to relieve it partly of its heavy burdens, and the eva-
sion of its true spirit and intent is contrary to the best interests
of the nation. We therefore demand the enforcement of said
law in the spirit of its designers, and urge the enactment of
eight-hour laws by State Legislatures and municipal corporations.

" 2. We demand the passage of laws in State Legislatures
and in Congress for the incorporation of trades and labor unions,
in order that the property of the laboring classes may have the
same protection as the property, of other classes.

" 3. We demand the passage of such legislative enactments
as will enforce, by compulsion, the education of children, for if
the State has the right to exact certain compliance with its de-
mands, then it is also the duty of the State to educate its people
to the proper understanding of such demands.

"4. We demand the passage of laws in the several States
forbidding the employment of children under the age of four-
teen years, in any capacity, under penalty of fine and imprison-
ment.

" 5. "We demand the enactment of uniform apprentice laws

306 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

throughout the country; that the apprentice to a mechanical
trade may be made to serve a sufEcient term of apprenticeship,
and be provided by his employer, in his progress to maturity,
with proper and sufficient facilities to finish him as a competent
workman.

" 6. It is hereby declared the sense of this congress that con-
vict or prison contract labor is a species of slavery in its worst
form ; it pauperizes labor, demoralizes the honest manufacturer,
and degrades the very criminal whom it employs ; and as many
articles of use and consumption made in our prisons under the
contract system, come directly and detrimentally in competition
with the products of honest labor, we demand that the laws
providing for labor under the contract systems herein com-
plained of be repealed.

" 7. What is known as the ' order ' or ' truck ' system of pay-
ment, instead of lawful currency as value for labor performed, is
one not only of gross imposition, but of downright swindle to
the honest laborer and mechanic, and we demand its entire
abolition. Active measures should be taken to eradicate the
evil, by the passage of laws imposing fine and imprisonment
upon all individuals, firms, or corporations who continue to
practice the same.

" 8. We demand the passage of such laws as will secure to the
mechanic and workingman the first lien upon property, the prod-
uct of his labor, sufficient in all cases to justify his legal and just
claims.

" 9. We demand the repeal and erasure from the statute
books of all acts known as conspiracy laws, as applied to organ-
izations of labor in the regulation of wages.

" 10. We recognize the wholesome effects of a Bureau of
Labor Statistics, as created by the National Government and in
several States, and recommend for their management the
appointment of a proper person, identified with the laboring
classes of the country.

"II. We demand the passage of a law by the United States
Congress to prevent the importation of aU foreign laborers under
contract.

THE REMEDIES. 307

"12. We declare that the system of letting out national,
State, and municipal work by contract tends to intensify the
competition between workmen, and we demand the speedy
abolishment of the same.

"13. We demand the passage by our various legislative
bodies of an employers' liability act, which shall give employees
the same right to damages for personal injuries that all other
persons have.

" 14. We recommend all trades and labor organizations to
secure proper representation in all law-making bodies, by means
of the ballot, and to use all honorable measures by which this
result can be accomplished.

" StIPPLEMENTARY RESOLUTIONS.

"I. That we urge upon the Legislatures of our several States
the passage of laws of license upon stationary engineers, and
the enforcement of proper restrictions, which will better preserve
and render protection to life and property.

" 2. That we demand strict laws for the inspection and ven-
tilation ot mines, factories and workshops, and sanitary supervi-
sion of all food and dwellings.

"3. We demand of our representatives in the National Leg-
islature that they declare such land grants as are not earned by
railroads or corporations forfeited, and to restore the same to the
public domain." .

The complaints of the socialists are often but too well
grounded, when they criticise things as they are. Our
laws regulating joint-stock corporations, for example, sadly
need reforming, so as to prevent much dishonest manipula-
tion of joint-stock concerns which might easily be avoided.
One ought to be indignant when one sees familiar opera-
tions like this : A company is estabhshed ; a few get con-
trol of the management; declare an unearned dividend;
pay it out of the capital ; then unload and acquire wealth at

308 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

- the expense of the widow, the orphan, and the toiler.* It is
needless to multiply examples. If we turn to our govern-
ments, we shall find in Star Route contracts and Tweed
ring frauds, much to help us to understand why some
people have gradually come to desire the overthrow of all
that exists of human contrivances, as preliminary to a new
era.^

Happily, much is being done to remedy abuses, and in
many quarters a most hopeful desire is manifest to bring
wealthy criminals to justice and to strive for needed reforms ;
and if the leaders of society evince an increasing willingness
to listen to grievances of labor, to discuss their propositions
and redress their wrongs, they will draw away firom violent
agitators the strongest and best of the workingmen, and ren-
der the revolutionists comparatively harmless. To cite a;n ex-
ample, no one can withstand the devotion of a Hfe like
Peter Cooper's, and it was touching to read the evidences
of the appreciation of his deeds on the part of the laboring
classes. Even Truth contained an obituary notice of him,
in which the highest and most unreserved praise was
accorded to his deeds.

The same journal contained a long and appreciative re-
view of a book .which had simply attempted to describe
socialism impartially, with these words : " We hope the book

^ I have spent part of several summers in a little village where pre-
cisely that thing was done a few years ago. It is a new experience to
the inhabitants to see men guilty of a penitentiary offence, respected
members of society. It may be doubted whether the town will in the
future be quite what it has been in the past.

"^ These wrongs are directed against society as a whole, but there
are abuses as grievous directed against the laboring classes as such.
One of them recently occurred in Maryland, where the Miners' Venti-
lation Bill was stolen after it had passed the Legislature, but before it
received the governor's signature.

THE REMEDIES. 309

will be extensively read by socialists, and that each reader
will profit by the unprejudiced manner in which the histori-
cal facts and doctrinal matters are set forth, and that we
shall learn to emulate the enemy in the coolness of our
judgment and the calmness of our criticism." On the other
hand, a socialistic journalist informs the writer, that only one
who has mingled, as he has, for years with the laboring
classes, can form any conception of the harm done by a
recent book, which treated social problems in quite a differ-
ent spirit, putting the whole question of reform on an unfair
basis, and treating the discontented with irritating impatience
and stinging harshness. In the words of this journalist :
" Mr. I regard as a bad man, one of the most dan-
gerous of 'the dangerous classes.' Unless you mingled, as
I have done, with the proletarians many years, and knew by
experience their feelings, you could not conceive the in-
finite injury such a man does to the cause he espouses. It
inflames them more than standing armies and GatUng
batteries."

It is true, a man was never won by cruel reproaches, and
a strong government has its roots in the hearts of the people.
It stiU holds that love is more powerful that hate.

The laboring classes are accessible to arguments by those
who understand them and really wish them well, and the
columns of their papers are open to those who would influ-
ence them for good. At present there is a grand opportu-
nity for men to do good, which may not occur again, for
the minds of the masses are still plastic, and their habits of
thought are being formed. As Frederic Harrison says, the
workingmen of our day are glad to listen to the word of one
who comes to them as a friend, provided his message be
not "the perpetual, monotonous lie, 'It is all very good
and right.' "

310 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

They are ready to learn the truth, and are grateful to
those who try to help them.^ To Christian people in par-
ticular would I repeat words used on another occasion. When
these laborers, who reject Christianity as it is in our churches,
speak of Christ, it is often with touching reverence, as a
noble soul who sympathized with the trials of their class.
And when they denounce religion, they will affirm at times,
"We are the only true Christians"; and I do believe that
among the masses in America there never was such a hun-
ger and thirst for real Christianity as to-day. What they
complain of in substance is, not that there is too much
Christianity, but that there is too little ; not that people are
Christians, but that there is such a divergence between pro-
fession and practice, that the church has become " of the
world " ; that it has (so they think) been captured by the

1 Letters which I have received from workingmen in all parts of
the United States, would move even a hard heart. Here is one from
a poor mechanic, an adherent of Henry George, and save in the in-
closure of money, it is merely typical. The reference is to some articles
on co-operation. " I am very much pleased with the articles, not only
for the information they give, but more especially because of the spirit
of sympathy they evince towards all lawful endeavors of the workers
to improve their condition. I am glad to see them in a religious paper
(the Congregationalisf), without any sickly apology from the editor.
I thank you for them. Wish I could send them to every one of my
acquaintances.

" I expect to start to-morrow for southern Kansas, to take up a claim;
but I hope self-interest will never prevent me from doing all I can to
advance the principle of common property in land. . . . Enclosed find
)f5.oo, which you will please use for me in the cause of humanity, and
oblige, Yours truly, ."

Professor Brentano says that in spite of all that has been asserted to
the contrary, it still remains true that before the enactment of the laws
of 1878 German workingmen were always willing to listen to a manly,
sympathetic word from one of another social class.

THE REMEDIES. 311

rich and made a part of the mechanism of fashion ; that
pews have doors and locks, and that the aisles are guarded
by ushers, not merely to show people in, but to keep them out ;
that church privilege^ are sold — at times even literally auc-
tioned off for money.

A wider diffusion of sound ethics is an economic require-
ment of the times. Christian morality is the only stable
basis for a State professedly Christian. An ethical demand
of the present age is a clearer perception of the duties of
property, intelligence, and social position. It must be
recognized that extreme individualism is immoral. Ex-
treme individualism is social anarchy, and — to cite a com-
parison recently made in Hopkins Hall — the iirst social
Anarchist was Cain, who asked indignantly if he were his
brother's keeper. Laissez-faire politics assure us we are
not keepers of our brothers, that each one best promotes
the general interest by best promoting his own. There are
those who tell us in the name of science, that there is no
duty which one class owes to another, and that the nations
of the earth are mere collections of individuals, with no re-
ciprocal rights and duties. It is time for right-thinking per-
sons, and particularly for those who profess Christianity, to
protest vigorously, in season and out of season, against such
doctrines wherever found. As a friend, a professor in one
of our leading colleges, forcibly puts it, the error of this
school of political economists is that fundamental one of
Herbert Spencer's ethical system, — "a determination to
ignore law and its sanctions."

A higher and more advanced poUtical economy proclaims
all this false, and asserts that within certain bounds we are
obliged to concern ourselves about the welfare of others.
Even less than law does political economy recognize any
absolute proprietary rights, and in a higher ethical sense all

312 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

our goods are but intrusted to us as stewards, to be adminis-
tered in promoting the welfare of our fellow-men, as well as
our own, and equally with our own. If the rulers of our
society remember this and act upon it, they surely never need
dread the laborer.

When we pass in review the several thousand years of
human history, we discover one feature of the progress of
the race to be a gradual extension of the range of ethical
ideas ; in other words, as the centuries have passed, man
has included an ever-increasing portion of his fellows within
the circle of those towards whom he feels bound to act in
accordance with the data of ethics. Once moral obligations
did not extend beyond the clan or tribe, and the same word
signified enemy and stranger, but the tribe has finally given
way to the nation, and those of the same nationality have
felt drawn together with an ethical tie ; and in this century
men feel, as never before, that all men of all kindreds and
tongues on the face of the earth, are embraced within the
sphere of reciprocal rights and duties. The word humanity
means more to-day than at any past period in the history of
the race. The extension of practical ethics has been ac-
companied by an intensive growth. The stream has deep-
ened. Yet the ethical ideas of most people move chiefly
along horizontal lines, and do not extend up and down to
those above and below them in rank or position. Social lines
are considered ethical lines. There is one code for those in
one class, and quite another one for those who are outside of
this class. We are apt to recognize a more stringent law as
binding upon us in our intercourse with one whom we regard
as a social equal, though he be a native of a distant land,
than with the resident of the same town, whom we consider
as an inferior. The absolute ideal was given two thousand
years ago by Christ, who estabUshed the most perfect

THE REMEDIES. 313

System of ethics the world has ever known. This ideal
b the doctrine of human brotherhood, and its one
universal, all-inclusive rule is, "All things whatsoever
ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to
them."

We are far from this ideal, and yet progress has been
made. The condition of the laborer has gradually improved
on the whole. He has passed through slavery and serfdom,
and has in the civilized world become a free man. It is no
longer regarded as morally right to hold those who work for
us in the bonds of slavery. Yet we all transgress most
grievously the law of brotherhood. Take the case of us
who belong to social classes held to be superior to the work-
ing class, — the educated and well-to-do. We judge our com-
panions with one rule, and workingmen with quite another.
Let us suppose there is a controversy between an employer
and his employees. Do we not at once accept the statement
of the employer, without any inquiry into the case as pre-
sented by the employees ; whereas, if the dispute is between
two employers, we suspend judgment until we hear both
sides? Yet there is no evidence that the employers as a
class are more truthful than their employees. The fact is,
we are not yet ethically developed up to that point where it
occurs to us that we are bound to hear the case of an inferior.
But this is not all. Many of us, if we will not knowingly
and maliciously lie about laborers, yet do not regard it as
necessary to inquire too carefully about the stories we repeat.
We take up our newspapers, which in controversies give the
ex parte statements of employers, and just such garbled re-
ports of the side of the employed as to present a specious
appearance of impartiality, and at once eagerly swallow every
hard and bitter word spoken in the heat of violent alterca-
tion; then we solemnly proceed to damn the laboring

314 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

classes, and all their wicked organizations.* Take two
illustrations : The experiment of the mine-owners, Briggs
Brothers, in England, in profit-sharing, is told in Mill's
"Political Economy," and has become known the world
over. That experiment has been abandoned, and the blame,
almost as a matter of course, thrown on the workmen.
Messrs. Briggs Brothers have told their story, and every
newspaper has hastened to print it, and their interpretation
of the difficulties has passed into text-books. Yet this is
not wilfully malicious. It is due to imperfect ethical de-
velopment. But now comes along a well-known English
clergyman. Rev. Mr. Kaufmann, and tells us that it was not
the fault of the laborers at all, for their employers demanded
of them, as part of the agreement, conditions which they
ought not to have accepted. It practically amounted to
this : yield to us your freedom or lose your share in the
profit ; and like true men they chose the latter alternative.
Another is the case of the Messrs. Brewster, carriage

^ I do not by any means wish to say that all our daily newspapers
are wilfully partial. The journals in the town where I live, have, I
think, on the whole tried to present an impartial record of current
events, and to side with neither capitalist nor laborer, neither rich nor
poor. One of these papers, in particular, incurred some hostility on
account of its impartial attitude, as certain capitalists thought it ought
to take their side. The good effect has, however, been seen. They
have helped to maintain what I have called the unity of civilization,
a certain oneness of feeling in the community. The rich may have
become a little more radical, the poor a little move conservative; and
I believe to-day there is not another great city in the United States
where the feeling between classes is so near what it should be. I do
not believe there is another city where capital is safer.

Newspapers which appeal to the worst passions of the wealthy,
teaching them to despise, distrust, and resist the humble social classes,
are as dangerous as the incendiary sheets of the Anarchists, and
should be unhesitatingly condemned and discountenanced by all who
mean well.

THE REMEDIES. 31i

manufacturers, of New York. They tried profit-sharing, and
their workmen have been denounced in unmeasured terms
for their stupidity and malignity in the adoption of such a
course as to lead to the abandonment of an arrangement
which yielded them so much. Now, I pass no judgment on
the case, for I do not know the facts, still less would I assail
the character of the Messrs. Brewster who are doubtless
most estimable gentlemen; but this I do know, there are
two sides to this controversy of which only one is recorded ;
and it has come to my knowledge that a gentleman of New
York of wealth and standing, intimately acquainted with all
the facts, gives quite a different interpretation of them from
the one so eagerly accepted. These are simply illustrations.
If we exercised more charity in our judgments, it would be a
good example which would react on the working classes.^

If we, too, could learn to take into account mitigating cir-
cumstances when we pass judgment on the acts of the
laborers, just as we do in other cases, our opinions might
be very different. Laborers are suspicious and distrust-
ful, it is said, and truly ; often they display bitterness against
people of wealth and standing. Is it surprising? Would
we, treated in the same manner, be different? Has not
every reform for which they have struggled been opposed
most strenuously by their industrial and social superiors, and
that by means dishonest and contemptible as well as hon-
orable? Yet when these reforms have come, they have
been found to be of benefit to the whole of society, in
cases even the salvation of society. Take child labor in
England in the first half of this century. It was little less
than murder. Nay, I go further : I believe, in the sight of

1 "The morals of a community work downward from the higher
classes." — Rev. Howard Crosby, D.D., in his article on "The Danger
ous Classes," in the North American Review, April, 1883.

316 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

Almighty God, the cannibals of the Sandwich Islands were
less guUty than those who, appreciating its terrors, knowingly,
wilfully supported it ; for it, also, was a species of cannibal-
ism, slow but more cruel, for the flesh and blood of the Uttle
ones were devoured piecemeal. Yet it required the strug-
gle of a generation to pass laws forbidding it, and nothing
is more disgusting than the evasive, shifting, l)dng course of
its chief opponents. Then there was too the old cry of
Mammon, — it would ruin trade and drive capital from Eng-
land.^ Well, the laborers and their friends gained that
point ; then came the protection of women and the preser-
vation of the homes ; again a long struggle, again a vic-
tory which proved good ; then laws to protect the life and
limb of employees in factories by regulations concerning the
fencing-in of dangerous machinery, the ventilation of work-
rooms, etc., were proposed, and a bill was introduced in
Parliament to appoint factory inspectors to enforce the fac-
tory legislation against the same miserable opposition, —
again a triumph of justice which has proved very good.*
So it has continued through the entire list of reforms in
Great Britain ; and this is the judgment of one after the
lapse of some time since the introduction of most of them,
and at a sufficient distance to view English history with
judicial impartiality : " On the one side stood the laborers,
led by a few radical manufacturers and philanthropic Tories ;
on the other, the great mass of manufacturers and liberal
doctrinaires, especially the so-called Manchester School. On

1 This was seriously maintained by the elder Peel, early in this cen-
tury.

^ Even Carl Marx, who reluctantly acknowledged any possibility of
effectual reform during the continuance of our present industrial sys-
tem, was forced to speak of " the physical and moral regeneration " of
the laboring classes in England.

THE REMEDIES. 317

the side of the laborers in this struggle, marvellous display
of heroism and joy in silent sacrifice, only brought into more
vivid light by the occasional outbreak of wild despair on the
part of a few ; on the side of the mass of manufacturers,
the expenditure of all means at their command to conceal
the truth and to silence the most imperative demands of
humanity ; on the side of the Manchester School, arguments
against state intervention drawn from Adam Smith, and
intended for entirely different circumstances, and coupled
with those gloomy prophecies for the economic future of
England in case of the passage and execution of factory
laws. Step by step the manufacturers defended EngUsh
industry against the legal regulation demanded by the labor-
ers ; step by step, and for each separate branch of produc-
tion were the laborers compelled to secure the protection of
their wives and children against conscienceless greed." *

A specific vice of our time, and one which political econo-
mists of all schools condemn, is extravagance and luxury.'

1 Brentano.

' That waste impoverishes, is a truth which, simple as it is, needs to
be impressed upon all social classes. A lady will spend J(!soo for
a dress, and excuse her extravagance on the plea, that it furnishes
work to the poor. She overlooks the obvious fact that the same sum
spent in clothing the aged and infirm would furnish an equal amount
of employment. A report of doubtful origin tells us that Mr. Powderly
breaks his ginger-ale bottles in order to furnish labor to glass-workers.
If this be true, he should reflect that he could at least save the bottles
and use the money received for them in the purchase of glassware.

One of the fundamental propositions concerning capital, as stated
by John Stuart Mill, is that, though saved, it is consumed. This is the
regular course in a normal condition of things in modern industrial life,
and shows how misleading are declamations of some recent social-
ists against saving, which, in their opinion, diminishes employment for
labor. Another example will render this still clearer. Of two working-
men, one saves all that he can during a course of years, and deposits

318 THE LABOR MOVEMENT,

It is wastj of economic powers, injuring those who indulge
in it, and exciting envy and bitterness in the minds of those
who are excluded.^ The New York Volkszeitung, April 7,
1883, a socialistic journal, printed not very long ago a bitter
description of a sinfully extravagant ball given by a wealthy
New Yorker. It was significantly entitled " Mene, Tekel,
Upharsin. Belshazzar in his glory." *

it with a building association; the other spends his surplus earnings in
fleeting pleasures. At the expiration of the period, during which both
have given the same employment to labor, the one has a house of his
own, the other, nothing; and the former is more likely than the latter
to raise the standard of life among the laboring classes. I am well
aware of the limitations to the utility of saving, and also of the excep-
tions to the general rule, that it is useful to a greater or less extent.
I do not by any means consider the miser as a desirable member of the
community. Yet I think this principle, in which all economists agree,
shows the advantages which might be expected to accrue from instruc-
tion in the elements of political economy in all public schools. A
general comprehension of the most elementary economic truths would
often induce different action from that which we commonly see. If
people could but grasp the full import of this one principle, that waste
impoverishes, it would prove of incalculable benefit, and foreigners
might soon cease to wonder at the wastefulness of American life.
There are, indeed, few among us who make the most of what we have.
Many who live in worry and discomfort have a sufficient income to
satisfy all rational wants, were it well expended.

1 For a just estimate of luxury, considered from the standpoint of
the economist and the Christian, see an admirable article by ^mile de
Laveleye in The Popular Science Monthly for March, 1881.

^ " The great luxury that is displayed by certain people here acts
like a thorn in the flesh of the workingmen and others, and forces
them to consider these questions." — Charles Lenz, before the U. S. Senr
ate Committee on Education and Labor.

" Luxury has its decent limits, and we in this land are in danger in
many directions of overstepping those limits.'' — Bishop Henry C.
Potter, in his admirable letter of May 15, 1886, to the clergy of the
Diocese of New York.

THE REMEDIES. 319

The social injury of vice is seen in the reproaches made
against existing society by the Anarchists. A sad condition
of family life is ridiculed and brought forward as proof of
the hopeless rottenness of capitalistic society. In the long
run, virtue is rewarded in states and in individuals, and that
social body is doomed which is essentially immoral.

The single individual cannot do all that is required to
bring to pass the golden age in the future for which we all
hope and pray. A wonderful law has bound us all so to-
gether that when one suffers others endure pain, when one
sins the penalty is visited on the innocent as well as on the
guilty.i When one looks the world over, one can feel little
doubt that, women and children included, even the greater
part of suffering is caused by acts for which no guilt
attaches to him who suffers. It was intended that it
should be so, for it was never meant that man should
be completely happy while his fellows are in pain. Other-
wise, the brotherhood of man were an unmeaning phrase.
The solidarity of human interests is a terrible reality.
Nevertheless, individuals have to do a great deal in their
individual capacity to cure social evils, and first of all is
that ethical correction of evil tendencies which in theologi-
cal language is called regeneration. Every employer, every
employee, and every discontented human being should first
look within, and begin the work of reform in their own na-
tures. The workingmen in particular should cultivate tem-
perance, and continue the good work already begun. As the

1 An example to the point is the case of the Chicago Anarchists, for
which organized labor is in no way responsible. Have not, indeed,
the trades-unions and other labor societies been at swords' points per-
petually with these Anarchists? Yet innocent workingmen are made
to suffer grievously, and their cause injured, on account of acts which
they abhor.

5Z0 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

best of them see, they have no worse foe than Uquor. Then,
personal purity ought to be encouraged among them, and to
this too Uttle attention has been given. I am told by one
who ought to know, that unchastity is to-day a more crying
evil among them than intemperance. There can be no
healthy family life without chastity, and without a healthy
family life, there can be no sound social or even industrial
life. All this involves a multitude of problems, and chief
among them is the tenement-house question. Every eifort
to surround the working people with wholesome home influ-
ences must be encouraged. In a city like New York, the
laborers as a rale have nothing which could be called a home.
In the factories and workshops, young people are subjected
to bad influences to a needless extent. Girls are often
obUged to submit to insults, to resent which involves dismis-
sal and loss of livelihood for self, often also for young
brothers and sisters or a widowed mother. Frequently, they
are started on the downward track by boss or employer, who
shows them favors in their work, for which they pay with
their virtue. When I made a tour of personal inspection of
industrial centres in 1885, preparatory to the preparation of
this book, I spent a few days in a city of less than thirty
thousand inhabitants in good old New England, where I was
told that as many as two hundred couples live together
outside the bonds of wedlock. It was something so com-
mon that it did not involve a loss of caste in the laboring
population.

Experience must bring the fact more and more home to
every thinking person that one indispensable condition of per-
manent improvement in the lot of laborers is their moral ele-
vation. The first conditions of success in their various efforts
are mutual confidence, incorraptible integrity, and unques-
tioned fidelity in positions of trast. Without these qualities,

THE REMEDIES. 321

political action, co-operation, and organization can do but poor
and imperfect work, while they will frequently fail altogether.
Again and again have venality, faithlessness, corruption,
defeated the efforts of the toiling masses. Christian ethics
— by all acknowledged to be the most perfect system of
ethics, regardless of any divine origin -r- con tain the princi-
ples which should animate the entire labor movement. But
how are men to learn these ? The masses can acquire such
an acquaintance with the data of ethics as to render them a
living reality only through some one who is a personal em-
bodiment of them. Abstract ethics have not and never will
become a mighty vital power'in this world. It is the concrete
which moves men. Now, I know only one perfect concrete
embodiment of Christian ethics, and that is their Founder.
He it is who must become the personal Saviour of this labor
movement, if it is ever to accomplish its legitimate end.^

Manufacturers should cultivate the true humility of great
souls, and adopt a more conciliatory attitude towards their
laborers, encouraging them in the settlement of difificulties
by arbitration, and receiving the committees and agents of
their employees just as they would those of any other com-
pany of men with whom they have dealings. They should
recognize the same rights in their workmen to combine for
mutual advancement which they claim for themselves. If
they are wealthy, they ought not to presume upon it, or
expect servility from their employees. Like other rich men,
they should take to heart the golden words of Bishop Potter :
" I do not know why poverty should cringe to wealth, which is
as often as otherwise an accidental distinction, and quite as
often a condition unadorned by any especial moral or intel-
lectual excellence. . . . No arrogance is more insufferable or

1 All this is said entirely apart from my views as a church member.
I come to it by an independent route as a social scientist.

322 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

unwarrantable than that of mere wealth." It is, further, the
duty of manufacturers and of all employers to assist their
workingmen in every laudable endeavor to resist conspir-
acies on the part of their business rivals for the oppres-
sion of the employed. They should be ready to speak
out in public, and expose and denounce wrong, — just as
many of them will do at their own tables, for example.
Even good men, who wish themselves to do right, often
take such an attitude in public, whenever they fancy vested
interests in danger, that one gets the impression of a will-
ingness to join hands with the very devil, if he will only
assure them the safety of their money-bags. Folly ! It
is this timidity on their part which has wrought half the
trouble ; for the really bad employers, who for gold would
worship Satan, and send all their employees to hell, are few.
But there are such in the United States, and upon their
heads rests the blood of unnumbered thousands. People of
all classes should combine to suppress the comparatively few
on both sides of the social struggle who cause that mischief
which endangers the safety of our republic.^ Employers
ought to have the confidence and friendship of those in
their employ. Many of them have it, and year after year
sustain the pleasantest relations with those about them.
With tact and perseverance, the good will of employees, even
of the worst class, can be won, as was demonstrated by the
experience of Robert Owen, whose autobiography ought to
be read by every manufacturer in the country.

It should be remembered that every employer and indeed
every man of wealth and position on the side of the
workingman is a conservative element in society. This
proved true, even of so extreme and radical a man as Robert

^ I fear employers are a little less ready to cast unworthy men out
of their combinations than the employees.

THE REMEDIES. 323

Owen, who incurred the hostility of his fellow-manufactur-
ers, and yet on the whole strengthened the foundations on
which they were constructing their fortunes. England is
strong and free because it contains men like Mr. Forster,
Mr. Chamberlain, Mr. Samuel Morley, Mr. Hughes, Mr.
Brassey. When Mr. Cross, a conservative minister of the
Interior, Lgalized trades-unions and codified the factory leg-
islation, he was building wisely for the future ; and when, as
always happens in these days in England, in the case of
proposed legislation for workingmen, members of the ruling
class, like a great land-owner or large manufacturer, rise in
Parliament to plead the cause of their subordinates, they are
rendering a service to every employer of labor in Great
Britain. To a greater extent than elsewhere do the govern-
ing social elements in England sympathize with the labor
movement and concern themselves with great social prob-
lems, and on this account class antagonism is less sharp
than in other similarly situated countries, like France and
Germany. If we would live to be as old as England, it is
time to begin to imitate her example in this respect.

Workingmen must remember that they too often give just
cause for complaint to their employers by reason of careless-
ness, wastefulness, poor workmanship, neglect of trusts com-
mitted to them, bad faith, distrust, and downright insolence,
which is as unbecoming in them as in their industrial
captains. Workingmen ought to cultivate a more concili-
atory tone in all their relations, both in the shop and field
and in their various societies. The discords which too
often divide them are the triumph of their enemies, but a
shame to them and a m.ortification to their friends. The
organization of labor, as this book has shown, is an indis-
pensable condition of the improvement of the masses, and it
must be extended and also pursued on a more elevated

32+ THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

ethical plane, if it is to accomplish its legitimate ends.
There must be displayed a greater willingness to yield per-
sonal advantage to the common good, and a stronger bond
of union than has heretofore existed must be sought in an
intensified feeling of brotherhood which will beget self-
sacrifice and mutual trust and confidence.

In conclusion, there are then four chief agencies through
which we must work for the amelioration of the laboring
class, as well as of all classes of society. These are
the labor organization, the school, the State, and the
Church.

One principal remedy against the evils of socialism, nihil-
ism, and anarchism is a better education in political, social,
and economic science. The dense ignorance on these
questions, even among the better classes, is something
astounding. People contend against an unknown enemy.
There are very few colleges where any adequate instruction
is given in the great social problems of the day. What is
the result? Their graduates, instead of converting others
from error, often yield to the foes of society, and when they
do seek to instruct, their ignorance of social movements is
so gross that they render themselves a laughing-stock to
workingmen. Perhaps they write an editorial to show
socialists that a division of property would not produce an
equality which would last twenty-four hours ! A graduate of
a well-known college in New England, a clergyman, wrote
not long ago that in his day they had in political economy
only what could be learned out of a couple of text-books, like
Mill and Fawcett, eminently respectable authorities, . but
hardly containing all that is needed by the college graduate
of our day. It is not surprising, then, that two or three of
his class, and among them a professor in a theological
school, had become socialists. Education in political and

THE REMEDIES. 32S

social sciences ought to be given, not only in colleges, but
in every high school and academy in the land.

How is social power, the force which resides in society, to
be utilized? The answer is, largely through the State,
legally organized society. The individual has his province,
the State has its functions, which the individual either can-
not accomplish at all, or cannot accomplish so well.^ But an
obstacle to the proper economic activity of the State has
been found in the low view men have too frequently taken
of its nature. Calling it an atomistic collection of units,
some have even gone so far as to speak of taxation for the
support of pubhc schools as robbery of the propertied
classes. Now it may rationally be maintained that, if there

' The most pressing need at present is the complete public control
of all railways. The postal savings banks, such as are now doing a
good work in England and several other European countries, are one
of the most important institutions which the general government could
give us as an aid in the work of the elevation of the masses. There is
absolutely no valid objection to be urged against their introduction in
this country, and no contrivance so simple could accomplish more. A
better regulation of corporate enterprises is a still more important but
a more difficult duty of the State. A classification of undertakings
suitable for the sphere of the individual and of those suitable for some
public authority is another pressing need of our times. The super- \
stitious adherence to laissez faire has prevented the proper activity of |
the State, and this in turn has reacted upon the sphere of private enter- |
prise and has discouraged individual initiative and industry. The
reader would do well to consult upon this point a valuable pamphlet by
Professor Henry C. Adams, entitled " Principles that should control 3
the Interference of the States in Industries," published by the Constitu- •
tion Club of the city of New York. Some valuable remarks on the
proper industrial functions of the State may be found in the " Relation
of the Modern Municipality to the Gas Supply," by Dr. E. J. James, |
published in Baltimore by the American Economic Association. A j
recent pamphlet published by Science in New York, 47 Lafayette J
Place, on the funjjamental principles of economics may also be read
/ith pro^.. Jt i§ f pfitJei " Science Economic Discussion."

326 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

is anything divine on this earth, it is the State, the product
of the same God-given instincts which led to the establish-
ment of the Church and the Family. It was once held that
kings ruled by right divine, and in any widely accepted
belief, though it be afterwards discredited, there is generally
found a kernel of truth. In this case it was the divine
right of the State. Socrates, who held the laws of the State
sacred and inviolable, even when they condemned him to
death, had a correcter view of its nature than our modem
individualists. The Christian ought not to view civil
authority in any other light than a delegated responsibility
from the Almighty. When men come to look upon their
duty to the State as something as holy to their duty to the
church, regarding the State as one of God's chief agencies
for good, it will be easy for government to perform all its
functions. Questions of civil service, as ordinarily pre-
sented, do not go deep enough. A higher conception of the
State is required.

One crying need of the times is equality in the adminis-
tration of the law. There is a good deal of talk about legal
equality and — with a few exceptions like the old conspiracy
laws — the laws themselves read so as to bear equally on all,
but when it comes to the execution it is quite a different
thing. There is one administration for the poor, another for
the rich, and still another, widely different, for vast corpora-
tions. It is idle to deny this. Everybody knows it, and the
laborers resent it bitterly.^

One thing which should never be attempted is legal

1 Inequality in the administration of law — and administration has
been said to be even more important than constitutions — is both pos-
itive and negative. The general lawrs are enforced more severely
against the poor; and the lawfs in favor of the workingmen are — one
jaay almost say, as a rule — not enforced at all.

THE REMEDIES. 327

repression of the labor movement. If the history of social
movements in modem times teaches us anything at all, it
is the folly of this. It simply drives the activities out of
sight. It suppresses the symptoms, and aggravates the dis-
ease tenfold. When combinations in England were declared
not amenable to the law of conspiracy, outrages soon
began to diminish, and they continued to decrease pari
passu with the recognition and support which trades-unions
received from public opinion and the estabUshed authorities
of the land. Withdraw the respect and esteem of the com-
munity and you take away one of the strongest supports of
character. The law of 1879 in Illinois which forbade unau^l
thorized companies of armed men, was — it may as well be J
acknowledged frankly — directed against workingmen. It(
was class legislation. Has it done any good ? It has not I
suppressed the Lehr- und Wehrverein^ of Chicago, and no )
one knows how many more may be drilling in secret, though
the fact that it has produced bitterness and intensified dis-
content is undeniable. It is a bad law and a bad precedent.

Our police system needs reforming. What is wanted isi
some kind of a control which shall prevent the continual >
clubbing of poor people without cause. Some kind of an !
administrative court might answer the purpose, and it would
render the police not less but more efficient. It is a bad sign
and shows spmething wrong when the great mass of honest
workingmen are bitterly hostile to the police ; but apart from
that, there are sufficient evidences of the frequent brutality of

^ An armed company of Anarchists. It is reported that there are several
secret companies of Anarchists in the United States, chiefly in Chicago,
and it is well known that they have for several years been distributing
arms and encouraging workingmen to buy them in all parts of the
country, with the avowed purpose of the destruction of existing institu-
tions.

328 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

policemen, and in this country they are beginning to assume
a tone which would better become the Czar of Russia than
humble guardians of the peace. Certainly the police presi-
dent of Berlin would not venture to assume the tone of
some petty New York police oiScials. People should re-
member, if they do not desire a police despotism in this
country, that " eternal vigilance is the price of Uberty," and
that it is precisely at such times as these in which we now
live that the rights of free men are lost. Let no one mis-
understand this. The office of a poUceman is an honorable
one and should be respected ; and there are many men both
brave and good in every police force who deserve only
praise. These are doubtless in the majority, but there are
too many, thoroughly depraved and corrupted, who are only
too glad to club workingmen and workingwomen to divert
attention from their other misdeeds. Who has not heard of
the bribed police of New York? Who does not know that
men on l5,ooo a year contrive to spend ;?25,ooo annually?
Who does not know that poUce captains are in collusion with
houses of infamy and other illegal resorts, and accept " hush "
money ? Does it stand to reason to suppose that these dis-
reputable characters are always in the right in their contro-
versies with workingmen ? It is needless to argue the mat-
ter. Every one, who will, may gain access to the facts of
the case.

But even when they are not bad men, the peculiar temp-
tation of those engaged in such offices should be borne in
mind. It is the same as that of the soldier, which is well
described by Maurice, in these words : " There is a brutal
appetite for slaughter, which is in the nature of every soldier
because of every man, which war would probably call forth
in each of us." '

1" Social Morality."

THE REMEDIES. 329

Clubbing may be substituted for " slaughter " and police
service for " war " in the above. Let us by all means have
the very best and most efficient police force in every city,
but place it under proper administrative control, and confine
it within its own proper sphere.

Public authorities — and let us have a force sufficient to do
this in every emergency — should protect property and per- '
son. The outrages of private bands of hirelings have con- \
tinned too long. If property owners may employ a private 1
army to protect their things, surely workmen may employ i
armed forces to protect their lives ; and we may as well give ',
up government and return to the barbarism of anarchy. The
Ohio law, which forbids the employment of deputy-sheriffs !
not resident in the county, may be commended as worthy of j
imitation.

Above all things, let not government appear to the work-
ingmen of the country as something merely harsh and re-
pressive, for then its overthrow is merely a question of time.
The beneficent nature of the State should be brought out
strongly.-"

Chief attention should be directed to the young, and with
a good will and energetic action they can be so influenced
as to change the character of the population materially in
one generation." They should, when necessary, be removed
from vicious surroundings, and universal and compulsory

1 Again I must quote the admirable words of Bishop Potter's " Pas-
toral Letter " : " We may cover the pages of our statute books with
laws regulating strikes and inflicting severest penalties on those who
organize resistance to the individual liberty, whether of employer or
workman; we may drill regiments and perfect our police : the safety and
welfare of a state are not in these things, they are in the contentment
and loyalty of its people, and they come by a different road."

2 There are some good remarks on this subject in an article by David
Dudley Field, in the Forum, Vol. I.

^30 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

education ought to reach every child in the land. Schools
may be improved by the introduction of instruction in morals
and maimers. Manual training for boys, sewing and cooking
for girls, gymnastic exercises in suitable structures for both
are all desirable, and would yield a large return for every
dollar invested. Play-grounds for children might well be
provided by every municipality, and if the cost should be
large in great cities, it would be amply repaid in the vigor
and health of their bodies. Public baths come under this
general head ; and more should be done for rational amuse-
ment in order that the masses may receive the culture of
wholesome recreation.^

1 The Church may also well do something in this direction, as was
suggested to me by the late Rev. Dr. Leeds of Grace Church, Balti-
more, whose letter is subjoined.

" Grace Church Rectory, Baltimore, March 9, 1885.

" Dear Mr. Ely : —

"I thank you for sending me the paper containing your letter
on the great social problem, your solution of which I fully agree
with. There is a fault in the Church in not elevating as she ought
— and as she has it in her power to do — the so-called laboring
classes, and in promoting among all ranks in life a feeling of brother-
hood.

" The fault, however, is less in the Church, as such, than in the pro-
miscuous assemblies that gather within her walls; some of whom make
the poor workmen uncomfortable by coldness and distance, while
among others the workingman makes himself uncomfortable by the
thought of contrasted appearance and inequality of position. ... It
is not through worship alone that we shall reach them ; but even more,
I believe, by the provision of places of innocent pastime, and social in-
tercourse among themselves, free from the dangers of alluring saloons,
and yet antidotes to the gloom of unattractive homes in crowded lanes
and alleys. Out of them they will pass under the Church's encourage-
ment into her places of prayer of their own choice and motion.

" Believe me in the fellowship of a common interest,
"Sincerely yours,

"George Leeds."

THE REMEDIES. 331

The Church must claim her full place as a sockl power,
existing independently of the State. It is said that the
Church is the representative of Christ, whose kingdom was
not of this earth. True, but for us the higher life has its
basis in the lower life, and that Christianity is certainly de-
fective which is not a living force in matters of temporal
concern. It may be that the talents intrusted to us here
are small compared to the opportunities of a future state ;
but the attainment of the higher responsibilities depends
upon the administration of our earthly stewardship. Now, it
seems to the writer that the Church neglects the enforce-
ment of our duties with respect to temporal concerns.

The entire duty of man is summed up by Christ in two
commandments, which inculcate love to God and love to
one's neighbor, and the one is said to be Uke unto the
other. Now our theological seminaries have learned pro-
fessors to teach their students, the future clergy, how to
obey the first, and the various branches of learning taught
are called theology ; but we find in them no one to teach
us how to fulfil the second commandment. That is the func-
tion of social science, but too many think glittering gener-
aUties are sufficient. This is a serious error, for it is by no
means always an easy thing to show our love to our fellow-
man in our deeds. We often hurt him when we would help
him.

It is with satisfaction one turns from the study of social
problems to the teachings of Christ, which seem, from a
purely scientific standpoint, to contain just what is needed.
On entering our churches, the painful scene of discord be-
tween what one sees and hears and what Christ taught, is by
no means easy to describe. It is too frequently difficult to
believe that the fashionable people about one are followers
of the humble Nazarene, who found it so hard for the

332 THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

wealthy to enter the kingdom of heaven, and bid the rich
young man sell all that he had and give to the poor. A
great deal is said in criticism of the communism of the
early Christians, and it is doubtless true that it proved no
brilliant success,^ but it would be well to dwell more at
length on the spirit which that early communism presup-
posed. A group of men and women, who sell their all and
form one fund that they may live in common as brothers
and sisters, without those social distinctions so dear to us
all, must have been actuated by sincere convictions and un-
feigned love. This is what men did who were near Christ
and upon whom there had been a wonderful outpouring of
God's Spirit. It may not be necessary for men to do that
now, though it is not certain that many a man may not be
called upon to part with wealth for the sake of Christian
progress ; but it is necessary that Christians manifest a will-
ingness to do this.

In the harmonious action of State, Church, and individual,
moving in the light of true science, will be found an escape
from present and future social dangers. Herein is pointed
out the path of safe progress ; other there is none.

' Nevertheless, I know of no proof whatever for the common asser-
tion that the poverty of the believers at Jerusalem was in any way con-
nected with the experiment in communism.

APPENDIX I.

I. Platform op Principles of the National Labor

Union.

II. Pledge and Preamble of the Journeymen Brick-

layers' Association of Philadelphia.

III. Declaration of Principles and Objects of the

Cigar Makers' Progressive Union of America.

IV. Extracts from the Constitution of the National

Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel
Workers of the United States.
V. Manifesto of the International Working Peoples'
Assoclation.

VI. Letter to Tramps, reprinted from the "Alarm" of

Chicago.

VII. Platform and Present Demands of the Socialistic

Labor Party.
VIII. Declaration of Independence, Julv 4, 1886, by an
American Socialist.

I.

PLATFORM OF PRINCIPLES OF THE NATIONAL
LABOR UNION.

Adopted Friday, September 25, 1868.

We hold these truths to be self-evident : that all people are
created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with cer-
tain inalienable rights; that among them are life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness ; that to secure these rights, govern-

334 APPENDIX.

ments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from
the consent of the governed.

That there are but two pure forms of government — the Auto-
cratic and the Democratic ; under the former, the will of the in-
dividual sovereign is the supreme law, under the latter, the sov
ereignty is vested in the whole people, all other forms being a
modification of the one or the other of these principles, and that
ultimately one or the other of these forms must prevail through-
out all civilized nations, and it is now for the American people
to determine which of these principles shall triumph. That
the design of the founders of the republic, was to institute
a government upon the principle of absolute inherent sovereignty
of the people, and that would give to each citizen the largest
political and religious liberty compatible with the good order of
society, and secure to each the right to enjoy the fruits of his
labor and talents ; that when laws are enacted destructive of
these ends, they are without moral binding force, and it is the
right and duty of the people to alter, amend, or abolish them,
and institute such others, founding them upon the principles of
equality, as to them may seem most likely to effect their pros-
perity and happiness. Prudence will indeed dictate that impor-
tant laws long established, should not be changed for light and
transient causes ; and experience has shown that the American
people are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable, than
to change the forms and laws to which they have been accus-
tomed. But when a long train of legislative abuses, pursuing
invariably the same object, evinces a design to subvert the spirit
of freedom and equality upon which our institutions are founded,
and reduce them to a state of servitude, it is their right, it is
their duty, to abolish such laws and provide new guards for their
future security. Such has been the patient suffering of the
wealth-producing classes of the United States, and such is the
necessity which constrains them to put forth an organized and
united effort for maintaining their natural rights, which are im-
perilled by the insidious schemes and unwarranted aggression of
unscrupulous bankers and usurpers, by means of unwise and cor-
mpt legislation.

APPENDIX. 335

We further hold that all property or wealth is the product of
physical or intellectual labor employed in productive industry, and
in the distribution of the productions of labor. That laborers
ought of right, and would, under a just monetary system, receive
or retain the larger proportion of their productions ; that the
wrongs, oppressions, and destitution which laborers are suffering
in most departments of legitimate enterprise and useful occupa-
tion, do not result from insufficiency of production, but from the
unfair distribution of the products of labor between non-produc-
ing capital and labor.

That money is the medium of distribution to non-producing
capital and producing labor, the rate of interest determining
what proportion of the products of labor shall be awarded to
capital for its use, and what to labor for its productions ;
that the power to make money and regulate its value, is an
essential attribute of sovereignty, the exercise of which is, by
the Constitution of the United States, wisely and properly
granted to Congress ; and it is the imperative duty of Congress
to institute it upon such a wise and just basis that it shall be
directly under the control of the sovereign people who produce
the value it is designed to represent, measure and exchange,
that it may be a correct and uniform standard of value, and
distribute the products of labor equitably between capital and
labor, according to the service of labor performed in their pro-
duction. That 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 con-
trol the value of all the property in the nation, and to fix the
rewards of labor in every department of industry, and is inimical
to the spirit of liberty, and subversive of the principles of justice
upon which our Democratic Republican institutions are founded,
and without warrant, in the Constitution ; justice, reason, and
sound policy demand its immediate repeal, and the substitution
of legal tender treasury notes, as the exclusive currency of the
nation.

That this money monopoly is the parent of all monopolies —

336 APPENDIX.

the very root and essence of slavery — railroads, warehouses,
and all other monopolies, of whatever kind or nature, are the out-
growth of and subservient to this power, and the means used by
it to rob the enterprising, industrial, wealth-producing classes of
the products of their talents and labor.

That as government is instituted to protect life and secure the
rights of property, each should share its just and proper propor-
tion of the burdens and sacrifices necessary for its maintenance
and perpetuity ; and that the exemption from taxation of bank
capital and government bonds, bearing double and bankrupting
rates of interest, is a species of unjust class legislation, opposed
to the spirit of our institutions, and contrary to the principles of
sound morality and enlightened reason. That our monetary,
financial, and revenue laws are, in letter and spirit, opposed to
the principles of freedom and equality upon which our Demo-
cratic Republican institutions are founded. There is in all their
provisions, manifestly a studied design to shield non-producing
capital from its just proportion of the burdens necessary for the
support of the government, imposing them mainly on the in-
dustrial, wealth-producing classes, thereby condemning them to
lives of unremunerated toil, depriving them of the ordinary con-
veniences and comforts of life, of the time and means necessary
for social enjoyment, intellectual culture, and moral improve-
ment, and ultimately reducing them to a state of practical servi-
tude. We further hold that while these unrighteous laws of
distribution remain in force, laborers cannot, by any system of
combination or co-operation, secure their natural rights. That
the first and most important step towards the establishment of
the rights of labor, is the institution of a system of true co-
operation between non-producing capital and labor. That to
effect this most desirable object, money — the medium of distri-
bution to capital and labor — must be instituted upon such a
wise and just principle that, instead of being a power to centralize
the wealth in the hands of a few bankers, usurers, middlemen,
and non-producers generally, it shall be a power that will dis-
tribute products to producers, in accordance with the labor ot
service performed in their production — the servant and not the

APPENDIX. 337

master of labor. This done, the natural rights of labor will be
secured, and co-operation in production, and in the distribution
of products, will follow as a natural consequence. The weight
will be lifted from the back of the laborer, and the wealth-
producing classes will have the time and the means necessary for
social enjoyment, intellectual culture, and moral improvement,
and the non-producing classes compelled to earn a living by
honest industry. We hold that this can 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 pro-
duction, as to make an equitable distribution of the products of
labor between non-producing capital and labor, reserving to Con-
gress the right to alter the same \?hen, in their judgment, the
public interest would be promoted thereby ; giving the govern-
ment creditor the right to take the lawful money or the interest-
bearing bonds at his election, with the privilege to the holder to
re-convert the bonds into money, or the money into bonds, at
pleasure.

We hold this to be the true American or people's monetary
system, adopted to the genius of our Democratic Republican
institutions, in harmony with the letter and spirit of our Consti-
tution, and suited to the wants of the government aud business
interests of the nation ; that it would furnish a medium of ex-
change, having equal power, a uniform value, and fitted for the
performance of all the functions of money, co-extensive with the
jurisdiction of government. That with a just rate per cent
interest on the government bonds, it would effect the equitable
distribution of the products of labor between non-producing
capital and labor, giving to laborers a fair compensation for their
products, and to capital a just reward for its use ; remove the
necessity for excessive toil, and afford the industrial classes the
time and means necessary for social and intellectual culture.
With the rate of interest at three per cent on the government
bonds, the national debt would be liquidated within less than
thirty years, without the imposition or collection of a farthing of

338 APPENDIX.

taxes for that purpose. Thus it would dispense with the hungry
horde of assessors, tax gatherers, and government spies, that are
harassing the industrial classes, and despoiling them of their
subsistence.

We further hold that it is essential to the happiness and pros-
perity of the people, and the stability of our Democratic Repub-
lican institutions, that the public domain be distributed as
widely as possible among the people, — a land monopoly being
equally as oppressive to the people, and dangerous to our institu-
tions, as the present money monopoly. To prevent this, the
public lands should be given in reasonable quantities and to
none but actual occupants.

We further hold that intelligence and virtue in the sovereignty
are necessary to a wise administration of justice, and that as our
institutions are founded upon the theory of sovereignty in the
people, in order to their preservation and perpetuity, it is the
imperative duty of Congress to make such wise and just regula-
tions as shall afford all the means of acquiring the knowledge
requisite to the intelligent exercise of the privileges and duties
pertaining to sovereignty, and that Congress should ordain that
eight hours' labor, between the rising and setting of the sun,
should constitute a day's work in all government works and
places where the national government has exclusive jurisdiction ;
and that it is equally imperative on the several States to make
like provision by legal enactment. Be it therefore unanimously

Resolved, That our first duty is now to provide, as speedily as
possible, a system of general organization in accordance with
the principles herein more specifically set forth, and that each
branch of industry shall be left to adopt its own particular form
of organization, subject only to such restraint as may be neces-
sary to place each organization within line, so as to act in har-
mony in all matters pertaining to the welfare of the whole, as
well as each of the parts ; and that it is the imperative duty of
each individual, in each and every branch of industry, to aid in
the formation of such labor organizations in their respective
branches, and to connect themselves therewith.

APPENDIX. 339

CO-OPERATIVE.

Resolved, That in co-operation based upon just financial and
revenue laws, we recognize a sure and lasting remedy for the
abuse of the present industrial system, and that, until the laws
of the nation can be remodelled so as to recognize the rights of
men instead of classes, the system of co-operation carefully
guarded will do much to lessen the evils of our present system.
We therefore hail with delight the organization of co-operative
stores and workshops, and would urge their formation in every
section of the country, and in every branch of business.

woman's labor.

Resolved, That with the equal application of the fundamental
principles of our Republican Democratic government, and a
sound monetary system, there could be no antagonism between
the interests of the workingmen and workingwomen of this coun-
try, nor between any of the branches of productive industry, —
the direct operation of each, when not prevented by unjust mone-
tary laws, being to benefit all the others by the production and
distribution of the comforts and necessaries of life; and that
the adoption, by the national government, of the financial policy
set forth in this platform, will put an end to the oppression of
workingwomen, and is the only means of securing to them as
well as to the workingmen the just reward of their labor.

Resolved, That we pledge our individual and undivided sup-
port to the sewing-women and daughters of toil in this land,
and would solicit their hearty co-operation, knowing, as we do,
that no class of industry is so much in need of having their con-
dition ameliorated as the factory operatives, sewing-women, etc.,
of this country.

CONVICT-LABOR.

Resolved, That we demand the abolishment of the system of
convict-labor in our prisons and penitentiaries, and that the labor
performed by convicts shall be that which will least conflict with
honest industry outside of the prisons, and that the wares man-
ufactured by the convict shall not be put upon the market at less
than the current market-rates.

340 APPENDIX.

IMPROVED DWELLINGS FOR LABORERS.

Resolved, That we would urgently call the attention of the in-
dustrial classes to the subject of tenement houses and improved
dwellings, believing it to be essential to the welfare of the whole
community that a reform should be effected in this respect, as
the experience of the past has proved that vice, pauperism, and
crime are the invariable attendants of the over-crowded and illy
ventilated dwellings of the poor, and urge upon the capitalists of
the country attention to the blessings to be derived from invest-
ing their means in the erection of such dwellings.

INTELLECTUAL IMPROVEMENT.

Resolved, That the formation of mechanics' institutes, lyceums,
and reading-rooms, and the erection of buildings for that pur-
pose, are recommended to workingmen in all cities and towns,
as a means of advancing their social and intellectual improve-
ment.

REMEDY FOR INSUFFICIENT WORK.

Resolved, That this Labor Congress would most respectfully
recommend to the workingmen of the country, that in case they
are pressed for want of employment, they proceed to become
actual settlers ; believing that if the industry of the country can
be coupled with its natural advantages, it will result both in
individual relief and national advantages.

Resolved, That where a workingman is found capable and
available for office, the preference should invariably be given to
such person.

Six Additions to the Platform adopted by the
National Labor Unions since 1868.

Resolved, That the public lands of the United States belong to
the people, and should not be sold to individuals, nor granted to
corporations ; but should be held as a sacred trust for the benefit
of the people, and should be granted, free of cost, to landless
settlers only, in amounts not exceeding 160 acres of land.

Resolved, That the treaty-making power of the government
has no authority in the Constitution to " dispose of" the public

APPENDIX. 341

lands without the joint sanction of the Senate and House of
Representatives.

Resolved, That as labor is the foundation and cause of national
prosperity, it is both the duty and interest of the government to
foster and protect it. Its importance, therefore, demands the
creation of an executive department of the government at Wash-
ington, to be denominated the Department of Labor, which
shall aid in protecting it above all other interests.

Resolved, 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 col-
lected from the wealth of the country and not be entailed as a
burden on posterity.

Resolved, That inasmuch as both the present political parties
are dominated by the non-producing classes, who depend on
public plunder for subsistence and wealth, and have no sym-
pathy with the working millions beyond the use they can make
of them for their own political and pecuniary aggrandizement ;
therefore, the highest interest of our colored fellow-citizens is
with the workingmen, who, like themselves, are slaves of capital
and politicians, and strike for liberty.

Resolved, That women are entitled to equal pay for equal ser-
vices with men ; that the practice of working women and chil-
dren ten to fifteen hours a day at starvation prices is brutal in
the extreme, and subversive to the health, intelligence, and
morality of the nation, and demands the interposition of law.

II.

JOURNEYMEN BRICKLAYERS' PROTECTIVE ASSO-
CIATION OF PHILADELPHIA.

Pledge.

I hereby solemnly and sincerely pledge my honor as a man,
that I will not reveal any private business or proceedings of this

342 APPENDIX.

Association, or any individual action of its members; that 1
will, without equivocation or evasion, and to the best of my
ability, so long as I remain a member thereof, abide by the
Constitution and By-Laws, and the particular scale of prices of
work adopted by it; that I will acquiesce in the will of the
majority, and that I will at all times, by every honorable means
within my power, procure employment for members of this
Association; that I will, at all times and places, especially at
work, endeavor to assist and comfort my fellow-workmen who
are members of this Association.

Preamble.

Whereas, To elevate and maintain a proper position in our
trade and calling, we have found it necessary to organize and
adopt means by which we may assert our individual rights, there-
fore be it

Resolved, That the Journeymen Bricklayers' Protective Asso-
ciation of Philadelphia, with a view to maintain a fair rate of
wages, encourage members to advance themselves in their trade,
to fraternize in a spirit of harmony, and use every means which
may tend to the elevation of Bricklayers in the social scale of
life, form themselves into a union for the accomplishment
of these ends, do therefore enact and declare the following as
their Constitution, By-Laws, and Rules of Order.

III.

CONSTITUTION OF THE CIGAR-MAKERS' PROGRES-
SIVE UNION OF AMERICA.!

Declaration of Principles.

The working people, though being the creators of all wealth,
are in every sense of the word unfree, economically and politi
cally.

' This is one of the socialistic unions.

APPENDIX. 343

The means of production, money, machinery and tools of all
kinds, as well as the soil, are in the hands of a few — the capi-
talistic class.

The working classes, compelled by want, are selling their only
means, their laboring power, to the capitalistic class for wages,
regulated by supply and demand.

The surplus of the values created by the laboring classes goes
to the capitalistic class causing the growth of gigantic monopo-
lies, the destruction of the middle class, and the pauperization
of the working people in an ever-increasing ratio. The means of
production in the hands of capitalists are a powerful means
of subduing the class of workers.

Every improvement in the means of production does away
with a number of human hands, and annually the army of the
unemployed is on the increase, thereby decreasing the demand
for the means of life on the part of the laboring class.

The misproportion of production and the demand for products
is growing, and crises are the natural consequence.

The capitalistic class, by its wealth, owns all legislation, its
privileges are guaranteed by law.

The laboring classes have -^ as experience shows — nothing to
expect from present legislatures. Therefore, we consider it to
be a necessity for the workers of our day to recognize and defend
their common interests as a class.

For that purpose they need Organization'.

Disunited, the workers are nothing ! United, they are an irre-
sistible power!

Organization and united action are the only means by which
the laboring classes can gain any advantages for themselves.

Organization and Unity bear, in themselves, the germ for a
just form of society.

Good and strong labor organizations are enabled to defend
and preserve the interests of the working mass.

Organization enables them to assist each other in case of
strikes, death and disease.

By Organization only, the workers, as a class, are able to gain
legislative advantages. The battle-cry of the laboring class

344 APPENDIX.

must be : " Cut loose from the present political parties ; Elect
none but workingmen to the Legislature'. " They know the suf-
ferings of the people ; they know where to put in the lever to lift
the burdens from their fellow-sufferers and to give them their
economic and political rights.

These organized economic and political struggles teach the
workers to conduct their own case and to give them confidence
in their own might.

Self-confidence gives to the worker the power to do away with
the present unjust mode of production, as well as with the social
system of classes to put in their stead the co-operative mode of
producing, with a just distribution of all products, and political
equality of all individuals.

The confidence in one's own power destroys the belief in all
authority wherever exerted.

To do away with all unjust domination in state, society, etc.,
and to establish real sovereignty of the people is the aim of the
modern labor movement.

The laboring classes must be freed by the laboring classes them-
selves,

ARTICLE II. — Object.

Sec. I. This Union aims at the furtherance of the material
and intellectual welfare of all workers, male and female, em-
ployed at the manufacture of cigars.

Sec. 2. This Union proposes to carry out its aims by the fol-
lowing means : —

a) By gratuitously furnishing work ;

b) By mutual pecuniary aid ;

i) In case of strikes and lockouts, of sickness and death ;

2) By lending money for travelling ;

3) In case of legal difficulties consequent upon affairs con-
cerning the Union ;

i) Regarding intellectual advancement ;

1) By issuing an organ defending the interests of the Union;

2) By lectures and discussions upon topics of Political Econ*
omy, Statistics, etc;

APPENDIX. 345

rf) By agitating propositions for the introduction of laws for the

protection of labor's interests.
Sec. 3. Laws for the protection of labor's interests, as this
Union understands them, are :
0) Prohibition of industrial labor for boys under 14 and for

girls under 1 6 years of age.
J) Limiting the hours of labor to not more than eight per day,

and enforcing such a law by the executive powers of the

State.

c) Prohibition of all night work.

d) Abolition of the truck system.

e) Prohibition of tenement-house cigar-manufacture.

f) Prohibition of contract labor in prisons and reformatory
institutions.

f) State control of factories and workshops with reference to
their sanitary condition, also laws for the protection of the
life and limbs and the health of the workmen.

h) Owners of factories to be made liable, unconditionally, for
accidents caused by the lack of proper measures for the safety
of their workers.

() Establishment of a Central Bureau of Statistics for labor and
labor interests; the Bureau to be controlled by the labor
unions.

IV.

REVISED CONSTITUTION AND GENERAL LAWS OF
THE NATIONAL AMALGAMATED ASSOCIATION
OF IRON AND STEEL WORKERS OF THE
UNITED STATES.

Preamble.

"Labor has no protection — the weak are devoured by the
strong. All wealth and all power centre in the hands of few,
and the many are their victims and their bondsmen."

So says an able writer in a treatise on association ; and in

S46 APPENDIX.

studying the history of the past, the impartial thinker must be
impressed with the truth of the above quotation. In all coun-
tries and at all times capital has been used by those possessing
it to monopolize particular branches of business, until the vast
and various industrial pursuits of the world have been under the
immediate control of a comparatively small portion of mankind.
Although an unequal distribution of the world's wealth, it is per-
haps necessary that it should be so.

To attain to the highest degree of success, in any undertaking,
it is necessary to have the most perfect and systematic arrange-
ment possible : to acquire such a system it requires the manage-
ment of a business to be placed as nearly as possible under the
control of one mind ; thus concentration of wealth and business
tact conduces to the most perfect working of the vast business
machinery of the world. And there is, perhaps, no other organ-
ization of society so well calculated to benefit the laborer and
advance the moral and social condition of the mechanic of the
country, if those possessed of wealth were all actuated by those
pure and philanthropic principles so necessary to the happiness
of all. But, alas ! for the poor of humanity, such is not the
case. " Wealth is power," and practical experience teaches us
that it is power too often used to depress and degrade the daily
laborer.

Year after year the capital of the country becomes more and
more concentrated in the hands of the few ; and in proportion
as the wealth of the country becomes centralized, its power in-
creases, and the laboring classes are impoverished. It there-
fore becomes us, as men who have to battle with the stern re-
alities of life, to look this matter fair in the face. There is no
dodging the question. Let every man give it a fair, full, and
jandid consideration, and then act according to his honest con-
victions. What position are we, the Iron and Steel Workers of
America, to hold in Society? Are we to receive an equivalent
for our labor sufficient to maintain us in comparative independ-
ence and respectability, to procure the means with which to
educate our children and qualify them to play their part in the
world's drama? or must we be forced to bow the suppliant's knee

APPENDIX. 347

to wealth, and earn by unprofitable toil a life too void of solace
to confirm the very chains that bind us to our doom ?

"In union there is strength;" and in the formation of a
National Amalgamated Association, embracing every iron and
steel worker in the country, a union founded upon a basis broad
as the land in which we live, lies our only hope. Single-handed
we can accomplish nothing, but united there is no power of
wrong we may not openly defy.

Let the iron and steel workers of such places as have not
already moved in this matter, organize as quickly as possible and
connect themselves with the National Association. Do not be
humbugged with the idea that this thing cannot succeed. We
are not theorists ; this is no visionary plan, but one eminently
practicable. Nor can injustice be done to any one ; no undue
advantage can be taken of any of our employers. There is not,
there cannot be any good reason why they should not pay us a
fair price for our labor. If the profits of their business are not
sufficient to remunerate them for their trouble of doing business,
let the consumer make the balance. The stereotype argument
of our employers, in every attempt to reduce wages, is that their
large expenses and small profits will not warrant the present
prices for labor ; therefore, those just able to live now must be
content with less hereafter.

In answer, we maintain the expenses are not unreasonable,
and the profits are large, and the aggregate great. There is no
good reason why we should not receive a fair equivalent for our
labor. A small reduction seriously diminishes the already scanty
means of the operative and puts a large sum in the employer's
pocket, and yet some of the manufacturers would appear chari-
table before the world.

We ask, is it charitable, is it humane, is it honest, to take
from the laborer, who is already fed, clothed, and lodged too
poorly, a portion of his food and raiment, and deprive his family
of the necessaries of life by the common resort — a reduction
of his wages ? It must not be so.

To rescue our trades from the condition into which they have
fallen, and raise ourselves to that condition in society to which

348 APPENDIX.

we, as mechanics, are justly entitled, and to place ourselves on a
foundation sufficiently strong to secure us from further encroach-
ments, and to elevate the moral, social, and intellectual condition
of every iron and steel worker in the country, is the object of
our National Association ; and to the consummation of so de-
sirable an object, we, the delegates in convention assembled, do
pledge ourselves to unceasing effort.

ARTICLE I. — Name and Objects.

Section i. This Association shall be known as the Na-
tional Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel
Workers of the United States, consisting of Puddlers,
Boilers, Heaters and their Helpers ; Roll Hands, except Drag-
Outs on Muck Mills ; Nailers, Spike Makers, Nail and Spike
Feeders, Hammermen, Shinglers and Knobblers, Refiners, Roll
Turners ; also Picklers, Annealers, Washmen, Assorters, and Tin
Men in Tin Mills ; Hot and Cold Straighteners and their Help-
ers ; Gaggers and Drillers working by the ton ; Chargers, PuU-
Outs, Hot-Bed Men and Clippers in Rail Mills ; Wire Drawers,
Tackers, Spring Makers, Spring Fitters, Axle Turners, Water
Tenders, Rivet Men, Axle Makers, their Heaters and Helpers ;
Heaters and Welders in Pipe Mills; Gas Makers in Crucible
Steel and Iron Works, after they have been working at the
business one year; Shearmen in Bar, Plate, Sheet, and Nail
Mills ; Engineers and Blacksmiths directly connected with Iron,
Steel or Tin Works ; also Stockers, Chargers, Cupola Tenders,
Speigel Melters, Runnerraen, Vesselmen, Bottom Makers, Ladle-
men, Pitmen, Cindermen, Stagemen, and Blowers working by
the ton, and Pipe Fitters connected with Bessemer Steel Works.
Also Keepers and their Helpers, Bottom Fillers, Top Fillers,
Engineers, Iron Men, Cindermen, and Water Tenders at Blast
Furnaces directly connected with Bessemer Steel Mills.

Sec. 2. The objects of this Association shall be the eleva-
tion of the position of its members, the maintenance of the
best interests of the Association, and to obtain by conciliation,
or by other means that are fair and legal, a fair remuneration to
the members for their labor ; and to afford mutual protection to

APPENDIX. JW

members against broken contracts, obnoxious rules, unlawful
discharge, or other systems of injustice or oppression.

ARTICLE II. — National Jurisdiction and General
Office.

Section i. This Association shall have jurisdiction over the
United States and Canada, in which there are at present, or may
be hereafter. Subordinate Lodges located ; and shall be the high-
est authority of the Order in its jurisdiction, and without its
sanction no lodge can exist.

Sec. 2. The general oiBce of the Association shall be
located in the city of Pittsburg, Pa., and it shall be required
that the President and the Secretary of the National Lodge reside
in the city where the general office is located.

ARTICLE III. — National Lodge Elective Officers and
their Duties.

Section i. The elective officers of the National Association
shall be a President, who shall also be Organizer, a Secretary,
a Vice-President for each district or division of a district, a
Treasurer, and three Trustees, who shall hold their offices until
their successors are elected or appointed.

Sec. 2. The President shall be elected from among the dele-
gates at Convention, or those who have been delegates at any
previous Convention, or whoever held office in the National
Association previous to the adoption of this Article. He shall
instruct all new members in the workings of the Association,
and superintend the workings of the order throughout the juris-
diction. He shall sign all official documents whenever satisfied
of their correctness and authenticity, and appoint Vice-Presi-
dents or Trustees of the National Lodge where vacancies occur.
He shall have power to visit any Sub-Lodge and inspect their
proceedings, either personally or by deputy ; and require a com-
pliance to the laws, rules, and usages of this Association, and if
any Sub-Lodge shall refuse or neglect to place any of their books
or documents, or any information in their possession, into the
hands of the President, or his deputy, whenever required by

3S0 APPENDIX.

either of them for any information or investigation he may deem
necessary, the President may fine or suspend the Sub-Lodge
immediately, and report his action to the Secretary of the Na-
tional Lodge, who, in turn, shall report the same to the Vice-
President of the district in which the lodge is located, and to all
Sub-Lodges in the Association as soon as possible. He shall
submit to the Secretary at the end of each month, an itemized
account of all moneys, travelling and incidental, expended by
him in the interest of the Association, and at the end of his
term of office he shall report his acts and doings, in which shall
be embodied the reports of the Vice-Presidents, to the National
Convention. He shall be required to devote all his time to the
interest of this Association, and for his services shall receive
such sum as the National Convention shall determine.

Sec. 3. The Secretary shall be elected from among the dele-
gates at Convention, or those who have been delegates at any
previous Convention, or who ever held ofiice in the National
Association previous to the adoption of this Article. He shall
take charge of all books, papers, and effects of the general ofiice.
He shall furnish all elective officers with the necessary letter
heads and stationery. He shall convene and act as Secretary of
the National Convention, keep all documents, papers, accounts,
letters received, and copies of all important letters sent by him
on business of the Association in such a manner and place, and
for such purposes as the National Convention shall direct. He
shall collect and receive all moneys due the National Associa-
tion, pay the same to the Treasurer, taking his receipt therefor.
He shall also draw all warrants on the Treasurer and Trustees,
which shall be signed by the President. He shall prepare a
quarterly report of the financial transactions connected with the
National Association, and fiirnish each Sub-Lodge with a copy
of the same. He shall also furnish each Sub-Lodge, in arrears,
with a statement of their indebtedness on or before the fifteenth
of June in each year. He shall register the names of members
who have received strike or victimized benefits and the amount
each member has received. He shall close all accounts of the
National Association on the thirtieth day of June in each year.

APPENDIX. 351

and all moneys received or disbursed after said date shall not
be reported in the general balance account at the next National
Convention. He shall, after the adjournment of each National
Convention) prepare a general account of the proceedings there-
of as soon as possible, together with a general balance account
of all moneys received and disbursed, a copy of which shall be
furnished gratis to each Subordinate Lodge in good standing,
and for his services shall receive such sum as the National Con-
vention shall determine.

Sec. 4. Upon the death, resignation, or removal of the Presi'
dent of the National Lodge, the Vice-President of the First Divi-
sion of the First District shall immediately assume the duties of
the President and notify the different Vice-Presidents, who shall
meet, and in conjunction with the National Lodge officers, shall
elect a successor for the unexpired term.

Sec. 5. Upon the death, resignation, or removal of the Sec-
retary or the Treasurer of the National LodgBj the President
thereof shall immediately take charge of all books, papers, and
effects of the general office, and notify the different Vice-Presi-
dents, who shall meet, and in conjunction with the National
Lodge officers, shall elect a successor for the unexpired term.

Sfic. 6. It shall be the duty of the Vice-Presidents to act as
executives of the several districts or divisions of districts in
which they may reside, and render such other assistance to the
President as he may require. They shall report their acts and
doings for their term of office, to the President of the National
lodge, not later than the first of July in each year. (See
President's duties.) They shall appoint three deputies each to
assist them in their duties, the same to report to their respective
Vice-Presidents every three months. When either or all of the
regular deputies cannot attend, then the Vice-President shall
have power to appoint special deputies for that occasion. Vice-
Presidents shall be delegates at large to the National Conven-
tion.

Sec. 7. The Treasurer shall receive and take charge of all
moneys, property, and security of the National Association de-
livered to him by the Secretary, and all moneys that accumulate

S52 APPENDIX.

in his hands over and above the amount of his bond ($10,000),
he shall deposit in bank, taking a certificate of deposit there-
for, and all such certificates he shall turn over to the Trustees oi
the National Lodge. He shall pay, through the Secretary, all
warrants regularly drawn on him, signed by the President and
countersigned by the Secretary, as required by this Constitution,
and none others. He shall submit to the National Convention
a complete statement of all receipts and disbursements during
his term of oflSce. He shall be required to attend the Sessions
of the National Association ; and at the expiration of his term
of ofifice, he shall deliver up to the successor all moneys, securi-
ties, books, and papers of the National Association under his
control.

Sec. 8. It shall be the duty of the Board of Trustees to
receive and hold the certificates of deposit turned over to them
by the Treasurer of the National Lodge, as set forth in the
duties of the Treasurer, and in no case shall the Trustees re-
turn to the Treasurer any of said certificates, except on the order
of the President, attested by the Secretary of the National
Lodge. They shall also hold the required bonds of the Presi-
dent, Secretary, and Treasurer, which shall be five thousand dol-
lars ($5,000.00) each for the President and Secretary, and ten
thousand dollars ($10,000.00) for the Treasurer. They shall
also, in conjunction with the President, Secretary, and Treas-
urer, audit all accounts of the National Lodge every three
months, which settlement shall be final for each quarter.

A copy of such settlement shall be sent to each Sub-Lodge by
the Secretary of the National Lodge, in which shall appear the
individual expenses of the National Lodge Officers, including
the Deputies and members of the Executive and Conference
Committees of the several districts, and those settlements shall
be referred to the Committee on Auditing at each National Con-
vention. For the faithful performance of their duties the Trus-
tees shall give a bond of five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) each,
which shall be deposited with the President.

Sec. 9. The Trustees and officers of the National Lodge
shall also constitute an Advisory Board to the President of

APPENDIX. 353

the National Lodge, with whom he shall consult at his dis-
cretion.

Sec. 10. The President of the National Association shall
preside at all National Conventions. He shall preserve order
and enforce the laws thereof. He shall have the casting vote
When equally divided on any question, but shall not vote at
other times, except at the election of officers pro tem. He shall
make out and announce the following committees : —

On report of the President and other officers, on Ways and
Means, on Auditing, on Secret Work, on Grievance, on Claims,
on Appeals, on Constitution and General Laws, on General
Good of the Order.

Sec. 1 1 . The National Lodge Officers, Vice-Presidents, Depu-
ties, Executive, and Conference Committees shall, at the end of
each quarter, present to the Secretary of the National Lodge, an
itemized report of their actual lost time in the mill and all travel-
ling and other necessary expenses incurred by them in the dis-
charge of their duties, which shall be paid by the National
Association. (See Section 8 of this Article.)

Sec. 12. The term of office of the President, Secretary,
Treasurer, and Trustees of the National Lodge, also the Vice-
Presidents of the several Districts and Divisions, shall not expire
until the first day of October, after a successor to either of them

has been elected.

ARTICLE v. — Revenue.

Section i. The revenue of this Association shall be de-
rived as follows : —

For issuing a Charter to a Subordinate Lodge, $5.00; new
Seal, 16.00 ; remodeling an old Seal, $4.50 ; Rituals, $1.00 each ;
Due and Withdrawal Cards, 10 cents each; Constitution and
General Laws, 10 cents each; Blank Reports, 10 cents each.

Sec. 2. In order to create a fund to meet the expenses of the
National Association it shall be the duty of the President to
assess a quarterly tax on the different Subordinate Lodges, in
proportion to the number of taxable members on the last re-
port preceding the date assessments are made, sufficient to de-
fray the expenses of the National Association.

354 APPENDIX.

Sec. 3. In order to create a fund for the support of victim,
ized members, or such members as may be engaged in legalized
strikes, it shall be required that each member of the Association
shall pay to his lodge, for the Protective Fund, the sum of
twenty-five cents per month.

Sec. 4. At the last stated meeting in each quarter the
Financial Secretary of each lodge shall report to the lodge the
correct number of members on his books taxable to the Protec-
tive Fund for the quarter, when an order shall be drawn on the
Treasurer for a sum equal to seventy-five cents for every member
on the books thus reported by the Financial Secretary, and the
sum thus drawn on the Treasurer shall be given to the Corre-
sponding Representative, who shall, as soon as possible, for-
ward the same to the Secretary of the National Lodge, who will
receipt therefor.

Sec. S- In order to replenish the Protective Fund when it
has been depleted by a long and continuous drain thereon, the
President of the National Lodge shall have discretionary power
to levy a special assessment upon each member reported in good
standing on the past quarterly report, except members on strike
or out of work two weeks, which assessment must be collected
by the Financial Secretary of the lodge and sent to the Secre-
tary of the National Lodge without delay.

Sec. 6. Any member who is sick or out of employment dur-
ing the period of one full month shall be exempt fi-om paying
the twenty-five cents per month to the Protective Fund until he
recovers from his sickness or finds employment. But members
out of employment must report the fact to their lodge at every
regular meeting or be charged with the twenty-five cents per
month to the Protective Fund.

Sec. 7. All moneys due the National Association shall be
forwarded to the Secretary thereof by draft (on New York,
Philadelphia, or Pittsburg), Express, P. O. Order, or Registered
Letter. For checks sent on any bank, except in the city ol
Pittsburg, twenty-five cents extra will t)e charged for cpUectioa.

APPENDIX. 3SS

ARTICLE VII. — Strikes.

Section i. No Sub-Lodge under the jurisdiction of this
Association shall be permitted to enter into a strike unless
authorized by the Executive Committee of their district or
division.

Sec. 2. When the Executive Committee of a district or
division find it necessary, in accordance with the laws of this
Association, to legalize a strike in any one department of a
mill or works, it shall be required that the men of all other de-
partments shall also cease work until the difficulty is settled.

Sec. 3. When a strike has been legalized, and the general
oflSce of the Association has been properly notified of the fact,
the Secretary of the National Lodge shall at once prepare a
printed statement of all the facts as near as possible, and foiv
Ward to all lodges, warning all true men not to accept work in
such mills.

Sec. 4. Any Subordinate Lodge entering into a strike in
the manner provided by the laws of this Association, shall re-
ceive from the Protective Fund the sum of four dollars ($4.00)
per week for each member actually engaged in the strike in the
mill over which the lodge has jurisdiction, provided they remain
in the locality of the strike, or notify the Corresponding Repre-
sentative of that lodge of their location, and their being unem-
ployed each week while on strike, and have held membership in
the Association for six months, are not in arrears, and the lodge
to which they belong is in good standing in the National Asso-
ciation. This section also applies to members who are standing
turns in the mill on strike, and who hold no other situation
except that of standing turns in that mill.

Sec. 5. No member shall be entitled to strike benefits for
the first two weeks while on a legalized strike. Payment of
benefits shall date from the commencement of the fourth week
after the strike has been legalized, and no benefits shall be
allowed for the fractional part of the first week.

Sec. 6. A member who has been suspended or expelled shall
not receive any strike benefits until six months after he has been
restored to membership.

356 APPENDIX.

Sec. 7. If any member or members, while receiving benefits
from this Association shall work three or more days in one week,
at any job, either in or outside of a mill or factory, he or they
shall not be entitled to benefits for that week.

Sec. 8. Any member engaged in a legalized strike, procuring
a permanent situation elsewhere, forfeits his claims to strike
benefits during the continuance of such strike.

ARTICLE VIII. — Victimized Members.

Section i . Should any member or members of this Associa-
tion be discharged (victimized) from his or their employment for
taking an active part in the affairs of this Association, either as
a member of the Mill or Conference Committee, or for otherwise
being active in promoting and guarding the interests of this
Association, such member or members shall use his or their best
endeavors, with the Manager, to get reinstated, and failing in
this, he or they shall then and there report such case to the
chairman of the Mill Committee, who shall at once proceed to
investigate the case as set forth in Sections 2 and 3 of Article
VI. Should the committee fail to get the brother or brothers
reinstated, they shall then carry the case to the lodge in precisely
the same manner as in cases where the whole mill is involved in
difficulty, and in no case of individual discharge (except the
Mill Committee have good grounds to believe that the brother
is discharged without just cause), shall such job be declared
vacant until the Executive Committee of the district or division
has decided the case.

Sec. 2. Should the Executive Committee of the district or
division, after deciding the brother victimized, deem the organ-
ization unable to sustain a strike for his reinstatement, he shall
receive from the Protective Fund of the Association six dollars
($6.00) per week until another situation has been procured for
him, either by himself or other members of the Association.
The law applying to the payment of victimized benefits shall be
the same as that governing the payment of strike benefits.
(See Sections 5, 6 and 7 of Article VH.)

APPENDIX. 357

ARTICLE X. — Scale of Prices.

.Section i. Wherever practicable, steps shall be taken to
provide a scale of prices for every trade or calling in each dis-
trict represented in this Association.

ARTICLE XVII. — Dishonorable Members.
Section i. Any member robbing or embezzling from a
brother member, or leaving a member in debt with intent to
defraud by not giving proper notice of his departure, or has
been fraudulently receiving or misapplying the funds of the
Association, or the money of any member or candidate intrusted
to him for payment of the same, or by divulging any of the pro-
ceedings of his lodge, or who has slandered any brother mem-
ber, or advocated division of the funds or separation of lodge
districts, or by acting contrary to the established rules of this
Association on any question affecting the price of labor, or the
system of working in any district, if opposed to the interests of
his fellow-workmen in keeping with the rules of this Association,
shall, upon trial and conviction thereof, be punished by fine, sus-
pension, or expulsion, as may be determined by two-thirds of the
members present.

ARTICLE XXVIII.— Fines for Various Causes.

Section i . Officers and members of Subordinate Lodges are
required to be punctual in their attendance.

Sec. 2. Officers of Subordinate Lodges failing to attend the
regular meetings of the lodge shall, for each omission, be fined
twenty-five cents, unless satisfactory reasons can be shown, in
which case the fine shall be remitted.

Sec. 3. Members of Subordinate Lodges failing to attend
meetings of their lodge at least once a month, shall be fined the
sum of ten cents, unless excused through sickness or some un-
avoidable cause.

Sec. 4. Any member of Subordinate Lodges failing to appear
at the last stated meeting in June and December, shall be fined
fifty cents, unless he can give satisfactory evidence that it was
impossible to attend,

358 APPENDIX,

Sec. 5. Any member of Subordinate lodges persisting in
using unseemly language, or in an indecent manner giving
offence to a brother member, or by offensive conduct, shall be
fined one dollar for the first offence, and if he still persists in the
unmanly use of such language, he shall be excluded from the
lodge room, and not permitted to re-enter during the meeting.

Sec. 6. The Chairman of any committee failing to report at
the time required, unless further time be granted, shall be fined
one dollar. Such fine, however, shall be remitted when satisfac-
tory explanations are giveni

Sec. 7. Any member entering a Subordinate Lodge under
the influence of liquor, shall for the first offence be fined one
dollar, and double the sum for every subsequent offence.

Sec. 8. Any member of a Subordinate Lodge violating his
obligation to this Order, shall be liable to a fine of not less than
three dollars, reprimand, suspension, or expulsion, according to
a decision of his lodge, on a two-thirds majority.

Sec. 9. Any Corresponding Representative failing or neglect-
ing to prepare and forward the quarterly report of his lodge, or
to attend to such other duties as pertain to his office, shall be
fined two dollars.

Sec. 10. All fines thus imposed, if not paid at the time, shall
be charged by the Financial Secretary to the person from whom
due, and shall stand agaihst such person as reguMr dues, and
must be liquidated to entitle him to any privileges or benefits of
this Associatioa.

V.

MANIPfiSTO OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKING
PEOPLES' ASSOCIATION.

To the Workingmen of America.

Fellow-Workmen: The Declaration of Independence
says : —

"... But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pur-
suing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce

APPENDIX. 359

them (the people) under absolute Despotism, it is their right,
it is their duty to throw off such government and provide new
guards for their future security."

This thought of Thomas Jefferson was the justification for
armed resistance by our forefathers, which gave birth to our
Republic, and do not the necessities of our present time compel
us to reassert their declaration?

Fellow-Workmen, we ask you to give us your attention for a
few moments. We ask you candidly to read the following mani-
festo issued in your behalf, in the behalf of your wives and chil-
dren, in behalf of humanity and progress.

Our present society is founded on the expoliation of the prop-
ertyless classes by the propertied. This expoliation is such that
the propertied (capitalists) buy the working force body and soul
of the propertyless, for the price of the mere costs of existence
(wages), and take for themselves, i.e., steal, the amount of new
values (products) which exceeds this price, whereby wages are
made to represent the necessities instead of the earnings of the
wage-laborer.

As the non-possessing classes are forced by their poverty to
oflFer for sale to the propertied their working forces, and as our
present production on a grand scale enforces technical develop-
ment with immense rapidity, so that by the application of an
always decreasing number of human working forces, an always
increasing amount of products is created ; so does the supply of
working forces increase constantly, while the demand therefor
decreases. This is the reason why the workers compete more
and more intensely in selling themselves, causing their wages to
sink, or at least on the average, never raising them above the
margin necessary for keeping intact their working ability.

Whilst by this process the propertyless are entirely debarred
from entering the ranks of the propertied, even by the most
strenuous exertions, the propertied, by means of the ever-
increasing plundering of the working class, are becoming richer
day by day, without in any way being themselves productive.

If now and then one of the propertyless class become rich, it
{s not by their own labor, but from opportunities which they

360 APPENDIX.

have to speculate upon, and absorb the labor-product of
others.

With the accumulation of individual wealth, the greed and
power of the propertied grows. They use all the means for com-
peting among themselves for the robbery of the people. In this
struggle, generally, the less-propertied (middle class) are over-
come, while the great capitalists, par excellence, swell their
wealth enormously, concentrate entire branches of production,
as well as trade and intercommunication, into their hands, and
develop into monopolists. The increase of products, accom-
panied by simultaneous decrease of the average income of the
working mass of the people, leads to so-called " business " and
"commercial" crises, when the misery of the wage-workers is
forced to the extreme.

For illustration, the last census of the United States shows
that after deducting the cost of raw material, interest, rents, risks,
etc., the propertied class have absorbed — i.e., stolen — more
than five-eighths of all products, leaving scarcely three-eighths to
the producers. The propertied class, being scarcely one-tenth
of our population, and in spite of their luxury and extravagance,
unable to consume their enormous "profits," and the produc-
ers, unable to consume more than they receive, — three-eighths,
— so-called " over-productions " must necessarily take place.
The terrible results of panics are well known.

The increasing eradication of working forces from the pro-
ductive process, annually increases the percentage of the prop-
ertyless population, which becomes pauperized, and is driven to
" crime," vagabondage, prostitution, suicide, starvation, and
general depravity. This system is unjust, insane, and murderous.
It is therefore necessary to totally destroy it with and by all
means, and with the greatest energy on the part of every one
who suflfers by it, and who does not want to be made culpable
for its continued existence by his inactivity.

Agitation for the purpose of organization; organization for
the purpose of rebellion. In these few words the ways are
marked, which the workers must take if they want to be rid of
their chains, as the economic condition is the same in all coun-

APPENDIX. 361

tries of so-called " civilization," as the governments of all Mon-
archies and Republics work hand in hand for the purpose of
opposing all movements of the thinking part of the workers, as
finally the victory in the decisive combat of the proletarians
against their oppressors can only be gained by the simultaneous
struggle along the whole line of the bourgeois (capitalistic)
society, so therefore the international fi-aternity of peoples, as
expressed in the International Working People's Association,
presents itself a self-evident necessity.

True order should take its place. This can only be achieved
when all implements of labor — the soil and other premises of
production, in short, capital produced by labor — is changed into
societary property. Only by this presupposition is destroyed
every possibility of the future spoliation of man by man. Only
by common, undivided capital can all be enabled to enjoy in
their fulness the fruits of the common toil. Only by the impossi-
bility of accumulating individual (private) capital can every one
be compelled to work who makes a demand to live.

This order of things allows production to regulate itself ac-
cording to the demand of the whole people, so that nobody need
work more than a few hours a day, and that all nevertheless can
satisfy their needs. Hereby time and opportunity are given for
opening to the people the way to the highest possible civiliza-
tion ; the privileges of higher intelligence fall with the privileges
of wealth and birth. To the achievement of such a system the
political organizations of the capitalistic classes — be they mon-
archies or republics — form the barriers. These political struc-
tures (States) , which are completely in the hands of the propertied,
have no other purpose than the upholding of the present order
of expoliation.

All laws are directed against the working people. In so feir
as the opposite appears to be the case, they serve on one hand
to blind the worker, while on the other hand they are simply
evaded. Even the school serves only the purpose of furnishing
the offspring of the wealthy with those qualities necessary to up-
hold their class domination. The children of the poor get
scarcely a formal elementary training, and this, too, is mainly

362 APPENDIX,

directed to such branches as tend to producing prejudices, arro-
gance, and servility ; in short, want of sense. The Church finally
seeks to make complete idiots out of the mass and to make them
forego the paradise on earth by promising a fictitious heaven.
The capitalistic press, on the other hand, takes care of the con-
fusion of spirits in public life. All these institutions, far from
aiding in the education of the masses, have for their object the
keeping in ignorance of the people. They are all in the pay and
under the direction of the capitalistic classes. The workers can
therefore expect no help from any capitalistic party in their
struggle against the existing system. They must achieve their
liberation by their own efforts. As in former times a privileged
class never surrendered its tyranny, neither can it be expected
that the capitalists of this age will give up their rulership without
being forced to do it.

If there ever could have been any question on this point, it
should long ago have been dispelled by the brutalities which the
bourgeoisie of all countries — in America as well as in Europe —
constantly commits, as often as the proletariat anywhere ener-
getically move to better their condition. It becomes, therefore,
self-evident that the struggle of the proletariat with the burgeoisie
must have a violent revolutionary character.

We could show by scores of illustrations that all attempts in
the past to reform this monstrous system by peaceable means,
such as the ballot, have been futile, and all such efforts in the
future must necessarily be so, for the following reasons : ^-

The political institutions of our time are the agencies of the
propertied class ; their mission is the upholding of the privileges
of their masters ; any reform in your own behalf would curtail
these privileges. To this they will not and cannot consent, for
it would be suicidal to themselves.

That they will not resign their privileges voluntarily we know ;
that they will not make any concessions to us we likewise know.
Since we must then rely upon the kindness of our masters for
whatever redress we have, and knowing that from them no good
may be expected, there remains but one recourse — force I
Our forefathers have not only told us that against despots force

APPENDIX. 363

fs justifiable, because it is the only means, but they themselves
have set the immemorial example.

By force our ancestors liberated themselves from political op-
pression, by force their children will have to liberate themselves
from economic bondage. "It is, therefore, your right; it is
your duty," says Jefferson ; " to arms ! "

What we would achieve is, therefore, plainly and simply, —

First, Destruction of the existing class rule, by all means,
«'.«,, by energetic, relentless, revolutionary, and international
action.

Second, Establishment of a free society based upon co-opera-
tive organization of production.

Third, Free exchange of equivalent products by and between
the productive organizations without commerce and profit-
mongery.

Fourth, Organization of education on a secular, scientific,
and equal basis for both sexes.

Fifth, Equal rights for all without distinction to sex or race.

Sixth, Regulation of all public affairs by free contracts between
the autonomous (independent) communes and associations, rest-
ing on a federalistic basis.

Whoever agrees with this ideal let him grasp our outstretched
brother hands !

Proletarians of all countries, unite !

Fellow-workmen, all we need for the achievement of this
great end is ORGANIZATION and UNITY.

There exists now no great obstacle to that unity. The work
of peaceful education and revolutionary conspiracy well can and
ought to run in parallel lines.

The day has come for solidarity. Join our ranks ! Let the
drum beat defiantly the roll of battle, " Workmen of all lands,
unite ! You have nothing to loose but your chairs ; you have a
world to win ! "

Tremble, oppressors of the world ! Not far beyoad your pur-
blind sight there dawns the scarlet and sable lights of the JunG-
MBNX Day,

364 APPENDIX.

VI.

LETTER TO TRAMPS.

To Tramps, the Unemployed, the Disinherited, and
Miserable.

A word to the 35,000 now tramping the streets of this great
city, with hands in pockets, gazing listlessly about you at the
evidences of wealth and pleasure of which you own no part,
not sufficient even to purchase yourself a bit of food with which
to appease the pangs of hunger now gnawing at your vitals. It
is with you and the hundreds of thousands of others similarly
situated in this great land of plenty, that I wish to have a word.

Have you not worked hard all your life, since you were old
enough for your labor to be of use in the production of wealth?
Have you not toiled long, hard, and laboriously in producing
wealth? And in all those years of drudgery, do you not know
you have produced thousand upon thousands of dollars' worth ot
wealth, which you did not then, do not now, and unless you act,
never will, own any part in? Do you not know that when you
were harnessed to a machine, and that machine harnessed to
steam, and thus you toiled your ten, twelve, and sixteen hours in
the twenty-four, that during this time in all these years you re-
ceived only enough of your labor product to furnish yourself the
bare, coarse necessaries of life, and that when you wished to
purchase anything for yourself and family it always had to be of
the cheapest quality? If you wanted to go anywhere you had
to wait until Sunday, so little did you receive for your unremit-
ting toil that you dare not stop for a moment, as it were? And
do you not know that with all your squeezing, pinching, and
economizing, you never were enabled to keep but a few days ahead
of the wolves of want? And that at last when the caprice of
your employer saw fit to create an artificial famine by limiting
production, that the fires in the furnace were extinguished, the
iron horse to which you had been harnessed was stilled, the
factory door locked up, you turned upon the highway a tramp,
with hunger in your stomach and rags upon your back?

APPENDIX. 365

Yet your employer told you that it was over-production which
made him close up. Who cared for the bitter tears and heart-
pangs of your loving wife and helpless children, when you bid
them a loving " God bless you ! " and turned upon the tramper's
road to seek employment elsewhere? I say, who cared for those
heartaches and pains ? You were only a tramp now, to be exe-
crated and denounced as a " worthless tramp and a vagrant " by
that very class who had been engaged all those years in robbing
you and yours. Then can you not see that the " good boss" or
the " bad boss" cuts no figure whatever? that you are the com-
mon prey of both, and that their mission is simply robbery?
Can you not see that it is the industrial system and not the
" boss " which must be changed ?

Now, when all these bright summer and autumn days are go-
ing by, and you have no employment, and consequently can save
up nothing, and when the winter's blast sweeps down from the
north, and all the earth is wrapped in a shroud of ice, hearken
not to the voice of the hypocrite who will tell you that it was
ordained of God that " the poor ye have always '' ; or to the arro-
gant robber who will say to you that you " drank up all your
wages last summer when you had work, and that is the reason
why you have nothing now, and the workhouse or the woodyard
is too good for you; that you ought to be shot.'' And shoot
you they will if you present your petitions in too emphatic a
manner. So hearken not to them, but list ! Next winter, when
the cold blasts are creeping through the rents in your seedy gar-
ments ; when the frost is biting your feet through the holes in
your worn-out shoes, and when all wretchedness seems to have
centered in and upon you ; when misery has marked you for her
own, and life has become a burden and existence a mockery;
when you have walked the streets by day, and slept upon hard
boards by night, and at last determined by your own hand to
take your life, — for you would rather go out into utter nothing-
ness than to longer endure an existence which has become such
a burden, — so, perchance, you determine to dash yourself into
the cold embrace of the lake rather than longer suffer thus. But
halt before you commit this last tragic act in the drama of your

366 APPENDIX.

simple existence. Stop I Is there nothing you can do to insure
those whom you are about to orphan against a like fate? The
waves will only dash over you in mockery of your rash act ; but
stroll you down the avenues of the rich, and look through the
magnificent plate windows into their voluptuous homes, and here
you will discover the very identical robbers who have despoiled
you and yours. Then let your tragedy be enacted herel Awaken
them from their wanton sports at your expense. Send forth
your petition, and let them read it by the red glare of destruction.
Thus when you cast " one long, lingering look behind," you can
be assured that you have spoken to these robbers in the only
language which they have ever been able to understand; for
they have never yet deigned to notice any petition from their
slaves that they were not compelled to read by the red glare
bursting from the cannons' mouths, or that was not handed to
them upon the point of the sword. You need no organization
when you make up your mind to present this kind of petition.
In fact, an organization would be a detriment to you ; but each
of you hungry tramps who read these lines avail yourselves of
those little methods of warfare which Science has placed in the
hands of the poor man, and you will become a power in this
or any other land.
Learn the use of explosives I

VII.
PLATFORM OF THE SOCIALISTIC LABOR PARTY.

Labor being the only creator of all wealth and civilization, it
rightfully follows that those who perform all labor and create all
wealth should enjoy the result of their toil.

But this is rendered impossible by the modern system of pro-
duction, which, since the discovery of steam-power and since
the general introduction of machinery, is in all branches of in-
dustry carried with such gigantic means and appliances as but a
few are able to possess.

APPENDIX. 367

The present industrial system is co-operative in one respect
only, which is, That not, as in former times, the individual
works alone for his own account, but dozens, hundreds, and
thousands of men work together in shops, in mines, on huge
farms and lands, cooperating according to the most efficient
division of labor. But the fruits of this co-operative labor are
not reaped by the workers themselves, but are in a great meas-
ure appropriated by the owners of the means of production ; to
wit, of the machines, of the factories, of the mines, and of the
land.

This system, by gradually extinguishing the middle class, nec-
essarily produces two separate sets of men : That class of the
workers, and that of the great bosses.

It brings forth as its natural outgrowths, —

The planlessness and reckless rate of production.

The waste of human and natural forces.

The commercial and industrial crisis.

The constant uncertainty of the material existence of the
wage-workers.

The misery of the proletarian masses.

The accumulation of wealth in the hands of a few.

Such a condition, which under the present industrial riginii
cannot but become more and more aggravated, is inconsistent
with the interests of mankind, with the principles of justice and
true democracy, as it destroys those rights which the Declara-
tion of Independence of the United States held to be inalienable
in all men; viz., life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

This condition shortens and imperils life by want and misery.
It destroys liberty because the economical subjection of the
wage-workers to the owners of the means of production imme-
diately leads to their political dependence, and it finally frus-
trates the pursuit of happiness, which is never possible when
life and personal liberty are in constant danger.

To put an end to this degrading state of things, we strive to
introduce the perfect system of co-operative production ; that
is, we demand that the workers obtain the undivided product of
their toil.

368 APPENDIX.

This being only feasible by securing to the workers control of
the means of production.

We demand, —

That the land, the instruments of production (machines, fac-
tories, etc.), and the products of labor become the common
property of the whole people ; and.

That all production be organized co-operatively, and be car-
ried on under the direction of the commonwealth ; as also the
co-operative distribution of the products according to the ser-
vice rendered, and to the just needs of the individuals.

To realize our demands, we strive to gain control of the polit-
ical power, with all proper means.

The Socialistic Labor Party claims the title, "Labor Party,"
because it recognizes the existence of an oppressed class of
wage-workers as its fundamental truth, and the emancipation of
this oppressed laboring class as its foremost object.

Demands for the TUielioration of the Condition op the
Working People under the Present Industrial Sys-
tem of Society.

The Socialistic Labor Party strives for a radical revision <A
the Constitution and Statutes of the United States, the States
and Municipalities, according to the following demands : —

a. social demands.

1. The United States shall take possession of the railroads,
canals, telegraphs, telephones, and all other means of public
transportation.

2. The municipalities to take possession of the local railroads,
of ferries, and of the supply of light to streets and public places.

3. Public lands to be declared inalienable. They shall be
leased according to fixed principles. Revocation of all grants
of lands by the United States to corporations or individuals, the
conditions of which have not been complied with or which are
otherwise illegal.

APPENDIX. 369

4. The United States to have the exclusive right to issue
money.

5. Congressional legislation providing for the scientific man-
agement of forests and waterways, and prohibiting the waste of
the natural resources of the country.

6. The United States to have the right of expropriation of
running patents, new inventions to be free to all, but inventors
to be remunerated by national rewards.

7. Legal provision that the rent of dwellings shall not exceed
a certain percentage of the value of the buildings as taxed by
the municipality.

8. Inauguration of public works in times of economical de-
pression.

g. Progressive income tax and tax on inheritances; but
smaller incomes to be exempt.

10. Compulsory school education of all children under four-
teen years of age, instruction in all educational institutions to be
gratuitous, and to be made accessible to all by public assistance
(furnishing meals, clothes, books, etc.). All instruction to be
under the direction of the United States and to be organized on
a uniform plan.

11. Repeal of all pauper, tramp, conspiracy, and temperance
laws. Unabridged right of combination.

12. Official statistics concerning the condition of labor. Pro-
hibition of the employment of children in the school age, and
the employment of female labor in occupations detrimental to
health or morality. Prohibition of the convict labor contract
system.

13. All wages to be paid in cash money. Equalization by
law of women's wages with those of men where equal service is
performed.

14. Laws for the protection of life and limbs of working
people, and an efficient employer's liability law.

15. Legal incorporation of trades-unions.

16. Reduction of the hours of labor in proportion to the
progress of production ; establishment by Act of Congress of a
legal work-day of not more than eight hours for all industrial

370 APPENDIX.

workers, and corresponding provisions for all agricultural
laborers.

b. POLITICAL DEMANDS.

1. Abolition of the Presidency, Vice-PresidenCy, and Senate
of the United States. An Executive Board to be established,
whose members are to be elected, and may at any time be re-
called by the House of Representatives as the only legislative
body. The States and Municipalities to adopt corresponding
amendments of their constitution and statutes.

2. Municipal self-government.

3. Direct vote and secret ballots in all elections. Universal
and equal right of suffrage without regard to color, creed, or sex.
Election days to be legal holidays. The principle of minority
representation to be introduced.

4. The people to have the right to propose laws (initiative)
and to vote upon all laws of importance (Referendum.)

J. The members of all legislative bodies to be responsible to
and subject to recall by the constituency.

6. Uniform law throughout the United States. Administra-
tion of justice to be free of charge. Abolition of capital pun-
ishment.

7. Separation of all public affairs from religion; church prop-
erty to be subject to taxation.

8. Uniform national marriage laws. Divorce to be granted
upon mutual consent, and upon providing for the care of the
children.

VIII.

A DECLARATION BY THE REPRESENTATIVES OP
THE WAGE-WORKERS OF THE UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED.

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary
for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have con-
nected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of

APPENDIX. 371

earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature
and nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinion
of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which
impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are
created free and equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain inalienable rights ; that among these are life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness, and the right of each to the un-
divided product of his labor.

That to secure these rights governments are instituted among
men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the gov-
erned ; that whenever any form of government becomes destruc-
tive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to
abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its founda-
tion on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form
as to them shall seem most likely to eifect their safety and
happiness.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long estab-
lished should not be changed for light and transient causes ;
and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are
more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right
themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing
invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them
under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to
throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their
future security. Such has been the patient sufferances of the
people of these United States, and such is now the necessity
which constrains them to alter their former system of govern-
ment.

The history of the present government of these United States
is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having, in
direct object, the establishment of a system of absolute tyranny
and oppression over the people of these States.

To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world :

It has refused its assent to laws the most wholesome for the
public good.

372 APPENDIX.

It has refused to pass laws for the accommodation of largf
districts of people.

It has in every way betrayed the interests of the people.

It has manipulated the votes of the people to subserve the
personal ends of its officials.

It has placed in offices of public trust, self-admitted thieves
and bribe-takers.

It has created a multitude of new offices, and has sent out
swarms of officials to harass the people.

It has instituted a system under which public office may be
bought and sold, and has established a market-value for the
votes of the ignorant.

It has, in violation of its own formulated laws, continuously
appropriated public funds and public offices, that the rule of a
faction might be indefinitely prolonged.

It has, in the shape of bastard appropriations, recklessly dis-
tributed the wealth which our tax-payers year after year pour
into the governmental coiTers, that its members might share in
the spoils.

It has permitted and assisted railroad corporations to assume
the control of entire States.

It has upheld such corporations by locating in such States,
judges who are empowered to construe the Constitution to their
own ends.

It has created among the people distinctions as marked as
those under monarchial reign.

It has established a "shoddy aristocracy" in our midst.

It has refused legal incorporation to organized bodies of
orderly workingmen.

It has legislated always for the interests of the few as against
the interests of the many.

As the result :

Justice has become a by-word.

Patriotism is unknown.

In the mad rush for wealth and political sinecure, humanity
and morality have been forgotten ; " labor" has been humiHated
and trampled in the mud.

APPENDIX. 373

" God " has assumed the figure of the " mighty dollar."

In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for
redress: our repeated petitions have been answered only by
repeated injury.

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our government
officials. We have warned them, from time to time, of attempts
made to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have
appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have
conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to cease
these usurpations, but in all cases have they been deaf to the
voice of justice.

We, therefore, the representatives of the wage-workers of the
United States of America, in General Congress assembled,
appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude
of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the
wage-workers here represented, solemnly publish and declare,
that the Trade and Labor Organizations herein represented are,
and of right ought to be, free and independent organizations ;
that they are abscJved from all political allegiance to the present
government, and to the old political parties, and that all political
connection between them is, and ought to be totally dissolved ;
and that, as free and independent organizations, they have full
power to formulate their own laws and to enforce them, by the
boycott, by social ostracism, and by any and all peaceful measures
which may hereafter be deemed necessary.

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance
upon the protection of a Divine Providence, we mutually pledge
to each other our lives, our services, and our sacred honor.

Jidy 4, 1886. Signed :

Representatives op Labok Organizations.

APPENDIX II.

THE RELATION OF TEMPERANCE REFORM TO
THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

By Richard T. Ely.

Hon. a. J. Streeter, prominent in the ranks of organized
farmers and workingmen, has recently written a letter in favor
of an alliance between the advocates of temperance reform and
the advocates of labor reform. This letter is a plain manifesta-
tion of a growth which has been taking place for several years.

Labor organizations and their leaders have evidently been
more and more impressed with the fact that intemperance is one
of the deadliest foes of the workingmen of this country, and their
sentiment in favor of temperance reform has been becoming con-
stantly more intense. Evidences of this abound, and may be
found in labor platforms, in reports of meetings of workingmen,
and in the labor press. It is scarcely too much to say that the
labor organizations of the country are, at least, temperance or-
ganizations, and many of their members and leaders are out-
spoken total abstainers and prohibitionists. Every one knows
that this is the case with that much misunderstood and more
maligned organization, the Knights of Labor. Very impressive
must have been the public pledge of total abstinence given to
Mr. Powderly at the Richmond convention a few years since, by
all the members of the executive board. A little later I attended
a fair of the Knights of Labor in Baltimore and found on sale
no beverage stronger than lemonade.

On the other hand, it is equally natural that the leaders of the
great temperance movement should be thoroughly in sympathy
with all just aspirations of the toiling men and women of the

376 APPENDIX II.

world. What else but broad humanitarian views could have led
these noble men and women to dedicate their lives to the cause
of temperance? Many of them regarded the temperance move-
ment as chiefly a labor movement. The evil of intemperance
attracted their attention above aU others, because it seemed to
them the greatest curse of the age.

If the labor movement has broadened in the direction of tem-
perance, it is equally certain that the current of temperance re-
form is broadening out and taking in a considerable portion of
what is called labor reform. The various platforms of the tem-
perance party, framed by state and national conventions, make
this plain, and efforts to eliminate parts of the platform dealing
with other aspects of labor reform than temperance have been
happily voted down.

Any one who will read the testimony of Miss Frances E. Wil-
lard. President of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union,
and of her excellent lieutenants, before the United States Senate
Committee on Education and Labor, will be convinced that the
scope of the work of that organization is anything but narrow.
The testimony was taken in New York in October, 1883, and
was published in 1885, by the Government Printing Office, as
Volume II. of the Testimony taken by the Committee. Recog-
nizing that prevention is always better than cure, heredity and
hygiene receive special attention, and each has a department in
the Woman's Christian Temperance Union assigned it. Scien-
tific temperance instruction has become general over the entire
length and breadth of the land within a few years, an^ it is due
to these earnest workers. Cooking is also considered in its rela-
tions to intemperance. I find this sentence in Miss Willard's
testimony : " We thinlc that if the people were taught to prepare
food in a simple, hygienic manner, it would greatly redound to
their benefit in establishing simple, unartiflcial habits.'' This
confirms the utterance of a distinguished American physiologist
that insuflicient variety of food and poorly cooked food tend to
intemperance by producing an unnatural craving for strong drink.
A " Flower Mission," for taking flowers to the sick, is mentioned
in another department of work. Military drill among boys has also

APPENDIX II. 377

been introduced as a good feature of temperance reform. But it is
not easy to enumerate all the ramifications of this temperance work.
It is seen clearly by women like Miss Willard that whatever builds
up the home, fosters patriotism, and stimulates love for our fellow-
men, must diminish intemperance. The temperance movement
is not a single movement. As I take it, the word temperance
indicates a centre of great social activity. The temperance move-
ment is a deep, wide movement of social reform which centres in
temperance, but from that centre spreads out in ever more and
more inclusive circles until it touches the entire life of society.

It is well, then, in view of these circumstances, to look at the
temperance movement from the standpoint of the workingman,
and to consider the labor movement from the standpoint of the
temperance reformer. If the two cannot be coalesced, it is at
least desirable that they should proceed in parallel lines.

I. Let us reflect for a moment on the loss occasioned to the
workingmen of the United States by the use of intoxicating
drinks. The direct loss has been often described and its amount
can be readily learned by a perusal of easily accessible tracts and
pamphlets. The importance of a few cents a day is however not
sufficiently appreciated by people in moderate circumstances, and
still less is it by wage-earners. A street-car line in Baltimore
charges five cents for a single fare, but sells six tickets for twenty-
five cents. It may be put this way: if you invest twenty-five
cents, you receive one extra ticket, good for a five-cent ride ; that
is, you make twenty per cent on your investment, which is equal
to four or five years' interest on the money. Yet I have ridden
on a car of this line when out of ten persons I was the only one
to put a ticket into the box. In Washington, where all lines are
compelled by law to sell six tickets for twenty-five cents, one may
any day witness similar evidences of thriftlessness. You may
even see a man pay fifteen cents in fares for three persons, treat-
ing two others, while by investing ten cents additional he could
get six tickets.

This illustration shows widespread and very general lack of
thrift. The expenditure of money for intoxicating beverages is
by far worse, for it is a loss not of twenty per cent, but of one

378 APPENDIX II.

hundred per cent. Five cents or ten cents a day seems like a
small sum, but it is easy to show that after the expiration of
a number of years it becomes a very considerable sum, suiBdent,
in most parts of the country, let us say, to pay for a comfortable
home for an artisan in twenty years. But the direct loss is only
a part, only the smallest part of the whole loss. The habit of
thriftlessness grows, and it becomes ruinous to one's financial
prospects, condemning one to a life of poverty. Waste for alco-
holic beverages means generally waste for other injurious or
useless indulgences.

The sum of money which a workingman who is a moderate
drinker, or only an occasional drinker, can save in a few years
by the practice of total abstinence, may not seem large, and let
us confess frankly that it is small, and, as the rate of interest
falls, becomes smaller; but it is a mistake to undervalue the
utility of a small sum of ready money, for at a critical period it
will often prove to be the diiFerence between a life of comfort,
usefulness, health, contentment, and a life of discouragement
and poverty. Even so small a sum as fifty dollars may be the
turning-point, and a deposit of ten dollars in a savings bank will
spare one many a humiliation.

These are homely, old-fashioned arguments, but they cannot
be repeated too often. They are unfortunately apt to arouse
irritation and ill-will on the part of workingmen, because they
are frequently put forward as the only thing which needs to be
said on the subject of poverty. They are too often made a pre-
text on the part of the well-to-do, for their failure to concern
themselves with the labor problem. It is very comfortable to
the self-complacency of a plutocrat, as he sips his champagne,
to say, " If the workingmen would stop drinking and save their
money, they would never lack in this land of plenty. Intem-
perance is the cause of poverty and the only anti-poverty society
needed is a society of one — each man for himself." Because
this is so unjust and because its injustice is so keenly felt, the
large grain of truth in it is too apt to be overlooked. It is this
sort of talk more than anything else which has closed the ears
of too many thinking workingmen to valid temperance argument.

APPENDIX II. 379

The time lost on account of intemperance, and the strength
of body wasted, have frequently been mentioned. Professor
Huxley, the naturalist, has told us what kind of a body — broad
shoulders and deep chest — he would wish for his son. He lays
stress on physical strength, because in this age of sharp com-
petition the turning-point of a life may be included within a few
months, weeks, or days, and during this time final success may
depend on power to sustain continuous exertion of the most
intense kind. It is frequently necessary, to enable one to take
the tide of fortune at its flood, to undergo arduous toil for a
period of even years. Doubtless life is too intense and com-
petition is too sharp, but the struggle for life must always be
severe, and there is no prospect of improvement in a near future.
He who burdens himself with habits which waste even a little
time and dissipate even a little physical energy, enters the race
handicapped ; a loss of energy of which the loser may not even
be conscious, has undoubtedly turned the scale of fortune against
many a man.

The loss of mental energy is far more serious, on the whole,
than the loss of physical strength, and this greater loss is expe-
rienced by many who never become intoxicated and who regard
themselves as moderate drinkers.

The wage-earning classes need every bit of mental capacity
which they possess or can acquire, to enable them to attain well-
being in the struggle of modern industrial life. The wage-
earning classes, as classes, must act solidly together. The
solidarity of their interest can be disputed by no fair-minded
and competent observer. Now, if this is so, every wage-earner
who wastes any of his resources of body or mind by the use of
alcoholic drinks, is an enemy of his class. At what disadvantage
in dealing with employers are sullen and incompetent men, with
no reserve of accumulated earnings, as compared with bright,
open, and determined men! The talk about the equality of.
labor and capital in labor contracts is a farce, but why make the
inequality needlessly great? Strikes occur too frequently, but
that they are sometimes necessary is generally conceded. Up-
right and intelligent men will be very careful about entering on

380 APPENDIX II.

a strike, but when once undertaken, they will make a good fight.
What is the effect of intemperance and attendant lawlessness on
strikes? It is needless to answer the question. Disorder is so
manifestly injurious to strikers, that unscrupulous employers have
been accused* of sending emissaries among them to stir it up.
Workingmen should remember Cromwell's praying soldiers, and
the terror they were to their finally vanquished enemies. I think
that absolutely temperate strikers, fleeing all association with
saloons, opening every meeting of any sort with prayer, and
holding a prayer-meeting or some kind of religious service every
day, would inspire an unscrupulous individual or corporate em-
ployer with a new terror.

A good point was made in the testimony given by Mr. Alphonso
Crosby before the United States Senate Committee, to which
attention has already been called. He said that the wages of
mechanics were set by drinking men, because drinking men
were improvident, and, having no economic reserve, were obliged
to take what they could get ; they had nothing to fall back on.
This is in keeping with what has been said about the solidarity
of the interests of labor. Nothing is more disastrous to a man
who has something to sell than to be obliged to force it on the
market. A commodity under those circumstances will frequently
not bring half-price. Now he who is obliged to force labor on
the labor market does a thing equally disastrous, and his conduct
is injurious to every workingman.

Intemperance weakens the working people in another way.
It is made a reproach to them, and the innocent suffer with the
guilty. It serves their opponents as a very efiicient weapon.
With the ordinary non-partisan — the man neither employer nor
employed, in the usual sense — what is the most telling argument
against the present agitation for the eight-hour day? Undoubt-
edly this : " More leisure means more time and more money for
the saloon." Doubtless this is untrue, but in a good cause we
ought not to give our enemies any handle to use against us.

A continual subject for discussion among workingmen is polit-
ical action. It requires all the unimpaired power of the keenest
intellects at their command, to decide what political course it is

APPENDIX II. 381

best to take, and when any course is taken, it demands the
utmost of their patience and self-control.

We hear in political economy of " the seen and the unseen,"
the unseen meaning simply that which is not readily seen. Now
I think it is manifest that the worst effects of intemperance, con-
sidered from the standpoint of the labor movement, belong to
the unseen. Is it not evident that temperance workers are among
the best friends of the wage-earners of this country, and that any
labor leader who has not sufficient mental power to grasp this,
is unfit for his position? and, finally, that any intemperate laborer
is an enemy to his class ?

II. Let us now look at the labor movement from the stand-
point of a broad-minded temperance reformer.

We should, I think, first of all, fully grasp the fact that the
excessive use of strong drink is not merely the work of the devil.
Perhaps I do not make my meaning clear. What I want to say
is this : Men do not indulge in the use of intoxicating beverages
merely because they are moved by an evil influence, and, except
in the case of confirmed drinkers, not because they care particu-
larly for what they drink. I am inclined to think that only a
lesser part of the strength of the saloon is due to the love for
the liquor which it dispenses. We must go below surface phe-
nomena, and inquire what gives the saloon its strength? for
when we do so, we shall become convinced that mere negative
work is not half enough. If we simply drive devils out, they
will return, as we are told, in sevenfold strength. A power for
good must be introduced to take the place of evil influences ex-
pelled. The greater fart of temperance reform must be positive
work, and a failure to perceive this is, I think, one cause of
many setbacks in the past, while an increasing recognition of
this principle is precisely one of the most hopeful features of the
temperance movement of to-day.

One main cause of the strength of the saloon is that it fur-
nishes to the masses a convenient and always easily accessible
meeting place and waiting place, free from restraints, and it is
the only institution of the kind in American cities. One needs
but to observe what can be seen any day and night in our cities

382 APPENDIX TI.

and to reflect seriously on its significance, to understand how
far-reaching this proposition is.

Rich men have their social clubs, but these institutions are
beyond the reach of the poor. Workingmen often wish to meet
to talk over some proposed course of action, let us say, political.
Where shall they meet? One place, and only one place, is
always open, and that is the saloon. Many saloons keep large,
pleasant rooms which can be engaged free of charge. What a
temptation is this ! Of course, the proprietor of the hall expects
recompense, and every one who attends the meeting feels mor-
ally bound to drink at least two glasses of beer. The meetings
which workingmen hold in these days are very frequent, and on
the whole these frequent meetings are commendable, but it is a
continual difficulty to find suitable meeting places.

What has been said is also a partial explanation of the strength
of the saloon with the regular political parties. Many of the
local headqtiarters are in saloons.

We have as yet taken but one step in ascertaining the causes
of the strength of the saloon. A Baltimore cooper talked some-
what like this to a friend of mine: "What shall I do with my
boys? I live in a small house, very hot in summer. I have
eight children, one of them a crying, fretful infant, and when my
boys come home after a hard day's work, they need recreation.
They eat their supper and go on the streets and doubtless into
the saloons, but I cannot say them nay. They are young fellows
and must have some enjoyment, and there is nothing for them at
home." My friend suggested the Y. M. C. A., but he shook his
head. It was far away, and besides, he did not feel that his
boys would be welcome. It was, moreover, expensive for a
cooper's sons.

Take the street-car drivers of Baltimore. They work twelve
hours and more a day ; formerly, indeed, seventeen. The high-
est pay is two dollars a day. When one of them in winter has a
free evening, how shall he pass it? Quite likely he has no friends
with homes in the city, and to expect him to remain in his cold,
cheerless attic is unreasonable. He wanders out on the street,
he strolls about, he has nothing better to do. On every corner

APPENDIX II. 383

he sees a saloon, and how wann it looks ! How attractive the
bright colors 1 how enticing the display of beautiful glass ! He
hears cheerful laughter and merry voices, and if he enters, he is
thoroughly welcome. The price of admission is five cents. Is
it any wonder that he goes in?

Men more favorably situated feel this temptation, as many
who have been students away from home know full well. I re-
member meeting a Canadian student who had studied medicine
in London, He said that on Sundays the only thing to do, if
you did not want to pass the entire day in church, was to go to
some place of temptation, for all the places of innocent recreation
and amusement were closed. Many young men could tell the
same tale. The devil has full swing on Sunday in great cities,
for the churches make only a feeble competition for a few hours,
and then are closed up.

Take also the case of men out of work, and remember that
men in factories are idle about one-tenth of the year, and often
for a longer period. What are they to do during these recurring
periods of idleness ?

Walking by a saloon, you may see a notice to the effect that
base-ball scores are exhibited inside, and so they are always
active to provide all those things and all those conveniences
which men desire, and their pay is in liquor purchased, liquor
with which those who drink would firequently as soon dispense
as not.

If what is written is true, it will show many defects in our
"holly-tree" inns and temperance restaurants. It seems to be
supposed that what is drunk and what is eaten is the only
reason why men frequent saloons, whereas it is only one reason,
and probably in a very large majority of cases only a subordinate
reason. Such an inn was once started in Baltimore, but did not
succeed. An intelligent workingman told me that in the first
place it was inconveniently situated on Charles Street, far away
from the workingmen's quarters, and that in the second place it
was presided over by ladies, as he said, dressed " in the tip of
the fashion." He felt very uneasy, and after drinking bis cup
of coffee, left, never to return.

384 APPENDIX II.

We have already advanced far enough to consider a few reme-
dies. In one way or another, earnest attempts should be made
to provide for the public convenient meeting places free from the
temptations of the saloons. The holly-tree inns are a move in
the right direction, but they should offer all the attractions of a
saloon without the intoxicating beverages. I do not think they
should be kept by ladies, but by men who have been successful
as proprietors and managers of liquor saloons. When such a
man, as occasionally happens, feels the degradation and wrong
of his occupation, and is willing to make a change, this at once
furnishes him with occupation, perhaps not so profitable, but at
least sufficient to support him. All kinds of non-intoxicating
beverages and good lunches should be provided at the lowest
possible price ; also tables and newspapers, giving men as good
an opportunity to pass unoccupied time as the saloon, also rooms
and halls for lodges, trades-unions, political clubs, and the like.
There can, in my mind, be no doubt that such places would
sooner or later be remunerative, although it might be necessary
to lose a good deal of money at the start.

Some of the English cities seem to have provided public halls
for meetings of citizens, and their experience is worthy of exami-
nation.

Some of our trades-unions and other labor organizations have
done something to meet the want described, and they ought to
receive more encouragement in efforts of this kind. A few win-
ters since, I found two rather cheerless rooms in an upper story
of a large bmlding in Cleveland, as I was searching for an office.
The rooms contained a few papers, checkerboards, packs of
cards, etc. I asked a plainly dressed, but intelligent and honest-
looking man, by whom the rooms were occupied, and was told
by the Bricklayers' Union. He said that when " the boys " were
out of work it furnished them with a lounging place and kept
them out of the saloons.

The bricklayers of Philadelphia have a large, new hall, and
when I visited it I found a store on the first floor vacant. It had
not then been rented. The managers had received an offer of
high rent for it from a man who wanted to open a saloon, but it

APPENDIX IT. 385

had been decided that under no circumstances would it be let for
such a purpose, much as they might want the money. I noticed
that the book-shelves were empty, and here was an opportunity
for temperance workers and philanthropists to encourage a good
beginning by providing literature of a high order to reduce still
further the attractions of the saloon.

The Labor Lyceum of Myrtle Street, Brooklyn, furnishes a
meeting place for workingmen, and rooms for many of their
organizations. A benevolent physician has been active in aiding
in its construction. It was desired to prohibit altogether the
sale of intoxicating liquors in the building, but unfortunately it
was difficult to pay for it, and reluctantly the right to sell beer
was given to a man who pays to the Lyceum a certain sum for
every keg sold.

Now, what temperance workers ought to do, it seems to me,
is to take hold of good features of the labor movement and assist
in their development. Here, as elsewhere, what is wanted is to
help people to help themselves. It is a mistake to try to force
things on people. What is wanted is to take hold of institutions
spontaneously arising among the masses, and to help to give
them a sound development.

Churches should do more ; think of saloons open one hundred
hours a week, and churches open, say, six hours ! The churches,
if open at all times, would furnish meeting places, and if they
kept people from evil, I believe God would be pleased.

Workingmen's employers would often find it profitable to assist
in this work. I visited the Hocking Valley in 1886. It is a
mining region in Ohio, and was the scene of long-continued and
more or less violent strikes a few years ago, as will be generally
remembered. In New Straitsville I was struck by the utter
cheerlessness and desolateness of the lives of people condemned
to live in such a frightful place. I went in the evening to an
entertainment given by a troupe of very indifferent minstrels.
The charge was ten cents, and as I came out, a lot of boys eagerly
asked for my ticket. The look on the faces of the men and boys
was to me pathetic. They were famishing for some rational,
health-giving, amusement. Theur employers had spent several

386 APPENDIX II.

hundred thousand dollars, and done their business a damage,
some say, of over a million, to gain a victory " in wind," as a
prominent member of the syndicate said. The syndicate was
determined to crush the miner's organization, but when I was in
the place I think there was not even one miner who was a non-
union man. I thought how much better it would have been for
the syndicate to expend, say, one hundred thousand dollars, in
the construction of a library and hall, and to give the men oppor-
tunities for a more wholesome life. It would have been appre-
ciated, and would probably have saved all that was lost in fruit-
less strife.

Child-labor is a potent cause of intemperance, and here tem-
perance reform and the labor movement should proceed unitedly.
It is an evil which is rapidly growing, especially in the West.
Children fall into bad ways, and are lost while yet too young to
be fully responsible.

Tenement-house reform is another work which is essential to
temperance reform. It is impossible to expel King Alcohol from
the slums of cities like New York and Chicago so long as these
slums exist. Negative work here will never accomplish the end
desired. The slums are breathing holes of hell, and should be
swept from the earth, and if Christian people would go earnestly
to work and stop listening to the devil as he preaches laissez
faire, let alone, non-interference, they could be swept from the
earth.

Bad ventilation of mines and workshops weakens the consti-
tution and paves the way for beer and whiskey. Let every tem-
perance advocate support the workingmen in their effort to im^
prove the condition of mines and workshops. Measures like
these are not something which temperance people may feel free
to support or not to support as they see fit. They are a real
essential part of the temperance movement.

Playgrounds for children are needed. No American city has
done its duty in this respect, and we are lagging far behind Euro-
pean cities. I notice how eagerly any open spot near my house
is seized by boys and girls. They are hungry for innocent play,
and much iqiscbief comes from lack of opportunity. U is mere

APPENDIX II. 387

overflow of animal spirits wiiich can find no harmless channel
into which to flow. The experience of Cornell University is in-
structive. Ex-President White told me that after military drill
had been introduced, a gymnasium erected, and opportunities
for physical exercise of an innocent kind had been provided,
difficulties of discipline almost disappeared. Disorder and law-
lessness stopped almost spontaneously. I believe many a " city
tough" might have grown into a useful citizen had municipal
playgrounds and gymnasiums been provided for him while a
child.

Overwork is a cause of intemperance, especially in over-heated
and poorly ventilated factories, and it has generally been observed
by those who have made a study of the matter, that a reduction
in the hours of labor is followed by a diminution of intemper-
ance, perhaps not at first, but in a near future. This is, I think,
the very general testimony of experts in this matter, and is the
result shown by every careful investigation. I will quote a few
words on this subject from Robert Howard of Massachusetts,
secretary of the spinners' organization, and a very intelligent and
competent witness. In speaking of the girls in Fall River mills,
he says : —

" It is dreadful to see those girls, stripped almost to the skin,
wearing only a kind of loose wrapper, and running like a race
horse from the beginning to the end of the day ; and I can per-
ceive that it is bringing about both a moral and physical decay
in them. ... I must say that I have noticed that the hard,
slavish overwork is driving those girls into the saloons after they
leave the mills in the evening ; and you might as well deprive
them of their suppers ; after they leave the mills you will see
them going into saloons, looking scared and ashamed, and trying
to go in without any one seeing them — good, respectable girls,
too ; but they come out so tired, and so thirsty, and so exhausted,
especially in the summer months, from working along steadily
from hour to hour, and breathing the noxious eflSuvia firom the
grease and other ingredients that are used in the mills, and they
are so exhausted when the time comes to quit, that you wUl find
that all their thoughts are concentrated on something to drink to

388 APPENDIX II.

allay their thirst." Of course, men are still more exposed to
this temptation, and much more testimony could be given.

Here, again, we ought to unite positive with negative work,
and those interested in the temperance movement ought to help
workingmen to reduce to reasonable limits the length of the
working day in factories and shops, and then to encourage them
to make a good use of leisure. The seventh Earl of Shaftesbury

— whose life, by Hodder, should be read by every philanthropist

— was in this, as in so many other respects, a model reformer.
He assisted the short-time committees very efficiently in securing
suitable legislation, and when the working day was reduced in
accordance with their programme, he wrote them a letter, from
which the following is an extract: "My good friends, . . .
First, we must give most humble and hearty thanks to Almighty
God for the unexpected and wonderful success that has attended
our efforts. . . . But with your success have commenced new
duties. You are now in possession of those two hours which
you have so long and so ardently desired ; you must therefore
turn them to the best account, to that account which was ever
in the minds of your friends and advocates when they appealed
to the legislature on behalf of your rights as immortal beings, as
citizens and Christians.

" You will remember the principal motive that stimulated your
own activity and the energetic aid of your supporters in Parlia-
ment, was the use that might be made of this leisure for the
moral improvement of the factory people, and especially the
female workers, who wUl now enjoy far better opportunities both
of learning and practising those duties which must be known
and discharged if we would have a comfortable, decent, and
happy population.

"You will experience no difficulty throughout your several
districts in obtaining counsel or assistance on these subjects.
The clergy, the various ministers, the medical men — all who
have been so forward and earnest in your cause — virill, I am
sure, be really delighted to co-operate with your eiforts."

But one other point remains to be mentioned. The use of
intoxicating beverages has been in a thousand and one ways

APPENDIX II. 389

connected with sociability. It has associations with joyous and
festive occasions. Here, again, we must not be content with
simple banishment. Those who have gifts as social leaders have
opportunity to do useful work. They should give their earnest,
serious thought to the development of new social forms and cus-
toms, quite as charming and delightful as the old, yet uncon-
nected with beverages which intoxicate. Always strive to put
some good influence in the place of the evil habit banished, for
until this is done the victory is only half won.

These are a few of the suggestions which occur to me in con-
nection with those two large subjects, temperance reform and
the labor movement, and, inadequate as this treatment is, I trust
that it may stimulate thought and endeavor, and help forward
the good work of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union.

INDEX.

A.

Adams, J. Q., on cotton-mills, 48.
Adams, Henry C, on State interference

in industries, 325.
Alarm, the, 241, 278 ; letter to tramps,

364-366.
Allegheny City, socialistic congress in,

228.
Amana, communistic settlement in, 15,

16.
American communism, early, 7-33.
Anarchists, object of, 6; a name for

Internationalists, 232.
Andrews, S. P., converted to socialism,

239-
Arieiter Union, Die, published, 226.
Arbitration by labor organizations, 146-

»S3.
Atchison, Kan, co-operation in, 184.

B.

BaboQvism, revival of, 256, 257.

BcBcker-Zeitung, DeutchrAmerikanisch,
the, 279.

Bakers' Union, formed, 65 ; Journal on
boycott, 299.

Baltimore, United Hand-Loom Weav-
ers' Association, wages of, 49, 50;
ten-hour system in, 56 ; co-operation
in, 178; co-operative insurance of
the railroad company, 193, 194 ; so-
cialistic congress in, 228, 229.

Banks, co-operative, in Massachusetts,
198, 199. (See Credit and Co-opera-
iion^

Barnard on building associations, 199.

Baumeler, Joseph, leader of Separatists,
16.

Beecher, Rev. Dr. Thos. K., on labor
organizations, 157, 158.

Black Hand, the, 260, 261.

Black list, description of, no, in.

Blacksmiths' Union formed, 60.

Blair bUl, probable success among the
working classes, 124.

Blanchard, J. G., poem on eight hours,
72, 73-

Blanqui, works of, introduced to Amer-
ica, 220,

" Bootmakers' Case," 54.

Boston, workmen of, in colonial times,
37 ; a centre of labor organizations,
41 ; meeting of laboring classes in,
50-52-

Boycott and its parallel wrong, 166;
mediaeval usage of, 297; laborer's
view of, 297, 300 ; law against, 301,
302, 303.

Brassey, Thos., friend of the laborers,
323-

Brenfano, Professor, on the kinds of in-
surance, 142; on laborers' sympa-
thizers, 310.

Brewster, Messrs., profit-sharing, 315.

Bricklayers' and Masons'Unionformed,
63, 64 ; in Philadelphia, 66 ; insur-
ance among, 144 ; Protective Asso-
ciation, pledge and preamble of, 341,

342.
Briggs Bros., profit-sharing, 314.
Brighton, Workingmen's Institute of,

121.
Brisbane, Albert, advocates Fourierism,

392

INDEX.

ao, 21 ; Dr. Kook's admiration of,
220.

Brook Farm, Fourieristic phalanx in, 21.

Brown, Rev. Dr. T. E., change of view
about labor organizations, 154; on
trades-unions, 155, 156, 157.

Buckle, Thos., influence of, on Anar-
chists, 245.

Buffalo, co-operation in, 184.

Building associations, 196-199.

Burke, Edmund, influence on Anar-
chists, 246.

C.

Cabet, communism of, 16.
Camden and Amboy Transportation
Co., an example from the history of,

3S-

Canterbury, boycott in, 297.

Carpenters' Union, 65, 67 ; life insur-
ance, 144 ; on arbitration, 148 ; the
organ of, 279.

Carter, James G., friend of laboring
class, S3, 54.

Caulkers' Club, object of, 37.

Ceresco.'Fourieristic phalanx in, 21.

Chamberlain, friend of laborers, 323.

Channing, Wm. E., friend of labor, S3,
S4, 121, 122.

Chicagoer Arbnterzeihaig, Die, 241.

Child labor, Seth Luther's investiga-
tions about, 48, 49.

Childs, Geo. W., favors laborers' union,
S8, S9 ; encourages oo-operation,i90.

Christian Socialist, the, 280.

Church, responsibility of, to labor, 330-

332-

Cigar Makers, radical ideas of the Pro-
gressive Union, 5; constitution of,
342-34S ; strikes among, iso.

Cincinnati, sociaUstic congress in, 228.

Claflin, Wm., fevors ten-hour day, S7.

Columbian Charitable Society of Ship-
wrights and Caulkers, 39.

Communism, seeks equality, 6; early
American, 7-33; revival of, 20;

Horace Greeley on, 26, 27; club
founded, 225.

Conductors' Brotherhood organized,
64.

Convict labor, abolishment of, 339.

Cooper, Peter, service to labor, 30S.

Coopers' co-operation in Minneapolis,
i83.

Co-operation, peaceful aim of, 6; plea-
sure in, a feature in community life,
27 ; in Icaria, 28 ; prospect of, 136,
137 ; in America, 167-208 ; disfribu-
tive, 167-179 ; productive, 180-189 i
different forms of, 190-195; credit,
195-199; failures and possibilities,
199-208; organs of, 186; encour-
aged by George W. Childs, 190 ; by
W. A. Wood, 191 ; among Messrs,
Pillsbury's employees, 191, 192 ; in-
surance, 192-195; buildings, 196,
197; no legal provision for, 200,
201; want of sympathy for, 201;
success of, in England and Ger-
many, 204; of Briggs Bros., 314;
of Messrs. Brewster, 315 ; National
Labor Union on, 339.

Covington, Ky., co-operation in, 186.

Craftsman, the, organ of printers, 59.

Credit co-operation, 195-199.

Crosby, Rev. Dr. Howard, on morals
of community work, 315.

Cross, friend of laborers, 323.

Currency, inflation, labor leaders' mis-
take respecting, 159.

D.

Daily Sentinel, the, issue of, 41.
Dana, Chas, A., advocates Fourierism,

20.
Darwin, Chas., influence on Anarchists,

247, 248.
De Lavelaye, on luxury, referred to,

318; on Spencer's and Darwin's

influence on Anarchists, 247.
Democratic party, affiliation with work-

ingmen, 43.

INDEX.

393

Distributive co-operation, 167-179 ; Mc-
Neil on, 171, 172; among Sove-
reigns of Industry, 174-177 ; among
Grangers, 177-179.

Dress Association, co-operative, 168.

Drexel, Mr., in favor of laborers'
union, 59.

Dynamite, Internationalists' resort to,
255-258-

Earle, Wm. H., founder of the Sove-
reigns of Industry, 175.

Eccarius, J. G., secretary of the Inter-
national, 226 ; on international co-
operation, 227.

Economy, Harmonists' settlement in,
14, 15; health in, 29; celibacy in,

32.

Education, as a remedy for social ills,
47 ; labor organizations as a means
of, 120-140.

Educational campaign of Anarchists,
265.

Eight-hour system, 71, 72; demonstra-
tion for, in New York, 228.

Engineers, Brotherhood of Locomo-
tive, formed, 62.

Enquirer, the, 242, 278.

Equality of man, fallacy of, 97, 98.

Evans, George H., land reforms of, 41 ;
political activity of, 43.

Evans, Fred. W., advent of, to America,
41 ; joins Shakers, 12, 29, 43.

F.

Packet, Die, 241, 258.

Factory labor, in New England, 49.

Fawcett, Henry, on the effect of labor

organizations, 119.
Federation, of Organized Trades, 88,

89;' of Trades and Labor Union,

platform of, 305-307.
Federative Union of Metal Workers,

radical platform of, 5.

Field, D. D., on the formation of char-
acter, referred to, 329.

Firemen, Locomotive, union organized,
64; insurance among, 144.

Force, Peter, president of typographical
society, 38.

Forster, Wm. E., friend of labor, 323.

Fourier, promulgation of his doctrine
in America, 20-25 ; Dr. Kock's ad-
miration of, 220.

Eraser, Daniel, on the bases of moral-
ity, 28 ; on little duties, 32.

Freiheit, Die, 241 ; on religion, 242,
243 ; on family, 243 ; on revolution,
238-260. (See Most.)

Furniture Workers' Union formed, 64 ;
insurance among, 145 ; journal, 279,

Garrison, Wm. Lloyd, a mild Anar-
chist, 248.

General Trades-Union of the City of
New York, 43.

George, Henry, moral effect of his
writings, 125, 126 ; socialism of, 283,
284.

Glass Workers' Union, 66.

Gould, Jay, Anarchists' comment on,
257, 263.

Grangers, history of, 73-75; educa-
tional interests among, 129, 130;
co-operation among, 177-179; co-
operative credit, 195.

Granite Cutters' Union formed, 65.

Greeley, Horace, advocates Fourier-
ism, 20, 21 ; on early American com-
munism, 26; Dr. Koch's admira-
tion of, 220.

Gronlund, Laurence, expounder of
Carl Marx's doctrine, 214.

Guilds, ancient, educational features
of, 121.

H.

Haeckel, influence of, on Russian Rihil-
ism, 248.

394

INDEX.

Hall, Rev. Dr. John, on the prejudice

against trades-unions, ijs, 156.
Hammer, Der, 279.
Hartinger, The, official organ of Fou-

rierism, 21.
Harmonists, history of their settlement,

14. IS-

Harrison, Frederic, on the red flag of
the Internationalists, 215 ; on labor-
ers' friend, 309.

Hat Finishers' Union organized, 59, 64.

Haverhill, local assemblies of K. of L.,
82.

Hayes, Ex-President, Noyes' relation-
ship to, 17.

Henrici,Jacob, leader of Economites,29.

Hewitt, A. S., Anarchists' attack on, 256.

Hocking Valley strike, 152.

Hodel, treason of, 262.

Horseshoers, national union of, 64.

Hosmer, Professor, on the Boston work-
ingmen in colonial times, 37.

Howard, Robert, on the laborers' temp-
tation to intemperance, 133.

Howells on Shakers, 14, 31.

Hudson, Mr., on Pittsburgh riot, 35.

Hughes, Thomas, on modem social
confusion, 30; on trades-unionism
in England, 162 ; interest in . co-
operation, 204; friend of laboring
class, 323.

Husbandry, patrons of. (See Gran-
gers.)

Huxley, influence of, on Anarchists,
247, 248.

Hyndman, H. M., expounds Carl
Marx's doctrines, 214 ; on Interna-
tionalists, 232.

I.

Icaria, communistic society of, 16, 17 ;

labor, how regarded, 28.
Indian common land, 8, 9.
Insurance promoted by labor organi-
zations, 141-14S ; co-operative, iga-
19s.

Intemperance (See Tew^erance).

International Workmen's Association,
251-253. (See Internationalists.)

International Working People's Asso-
ciation, 231-251. (See InterTuMon-
alists.)

International Furniture Workers'
Union, radical platform of, 5.

Internationalists, color of, 209, 214, 215 ;
character of, 212; disruption from
S. L. P., 229; manifesto, 241; or-
gans of, 241 ; sources of their plat-
form, 245-249 ; propaganda of deed
and educational campaign, 254-
268 ; strength of, 285.

Irish World and Industrial Liberator,
279.

Iron and Steel Workers' Union organ-
ized, 60, 64, 65 ; constitution of the
Amalgamated Association of, 345-
358.

J.

James, Prof. E. J., on co-operation,
208 ; on municipal gas supply, re-
ferred to, 325.

Jamestown colony, industrial constitu-
tion and communism in, 7.

Jefferson, Thos., lauded by Simpson, 45.

yohn Swinton's Paper, on peace, 139 ;
on boycott, 300.

Journeymen Bakers' National Union,
radical principle of, 5.

Kaufmann, Rev., on strikes, 160, 161 ;
on the failure of Briggs Bros.' profit-
sharing, 314.

Kingsley, Chas., on the elevation of
workingmen, 95, 96.

Knight, Professor, account of his visit
to Zoar, 33.

Knights of Labor, rise and constitu-
tion of, 75-82; relations to female
laborers, 82 ; to negro labor, 83 ; on
arbitration, 148, 155; preamble of,

INDEX.

395

8S-88 ; gain of, go ; libraries of, 128 ;
insurance, 145 ; strilces among, 152 ;
productive co-operation, 185-187;
socialistic tendency, 282, 283.
Koch, Dr. E. I., herald of socialism in
America, 220.

Labor not a commodity, 98-110 ; pe-
culiarities of, and the consequences
therefrom, loo-iio ; combination
laws, 109; causes of movement
since the Civil War, 61, 62; hours
(see Eight and Ten Hours) ; hard-
ship of, tempts to intemperance,

133-

Labor organizations, scope of, in
America, 1-6; growth and present
condition, 34-91; periods in the
history of, 34-91 ; absence of, in
colonial times, 34-38; primitive
form of, 38 ; organs of, 67, 91 ; ex-
tinct forms of, 67-70; strength of,
138; insurance among, 141- 145;
arbitration, 146-153; dark side of,
153-166; prejudice against, 153-
159 ; expenses of, 163 ; different ef-
fects of, 141-166; economic value
of, 92-119; educational value, 120-
140; temperance in, 130; social
culture, 13s; ethical significance,
137; declaration by the represen-
tatives of, 370-373.

Labor Enquirer, The, 278.

Land, common property in, among
Indians, 8, 9; reform scheme by
George Evans, 41.

Lassalle, F., influence of, in America,
225.

Lebanon, Mount, Shaker community
in, 10, 12. (See Shakers.)

Ledyard, J. R., on the advantages of
co-operation, 187, 188.

Lee, Ann, founds Shakerism, 9; eco-
nomic and religious precepts of, 10.

Leeds, Rev. Dr. George, on the re-

sponsibility of Church in labor
problem, 330.

Letter to tramps, 364-366.

Lenz, Chas., on Luxury, 318.

Liberty, the, 280 ; on London riot, 264.

Lincoln, Abraham, on dangers of class
laws, 147.

Loco-Foco Party begun, 42.

Longley, Alcander, on diligence in
community life, 30, 31.

Lucifer, the, 241.

Luther, Seth, on the condition of pro-
ducing classes, 47-50.

Luxury, effect of, on laboring classes,
318.

Lynching advocated by Anarchists, 258.

M.

Mann, Horace, interest in labor cause,
S3, 54, izi-

Marriage, prudence in, taught by trades-
unions, 117, 118; Internationalists'
attack on, 242, 243, 244.

Marx, Carl, teacher of socialists, 214 ;
influence on Weydemeyer, 221 ; on
the regeneration of English laborers,
316.

Maryland Constitution on the right of
resistance, 250.

Mason, Lowell, on Warren's invention,

239-

Masons' and Bricklayers' Union, 63, 64.

Maurice, F, D., on the rightfulness of
war, 250; on thirst for blood, 328.

McNeill, Geo. E., history of co-opera-
tion, 171, 172.

Meacham, Joseph, introduces commu-
nism among Shakers, 10.

Meyer, assists Weydemeyer in propa-
gating socialism, 221.

Mill, J. S., on the desirability of social
experiments, 25 ; on the elevation
of laboring classes, 77; on strikes,
151 ; on co-operation, 169 ; on the
economic value of labor organiza-
tions, 119; indebtedness to Warren,

396

INDEX.

238 ; on the consumption of capital,

317-
Milton's conception of law, 251,
Miners' Journal, 280.
Minneapolis, coopers' co-operation in,

188.
Moore, Ely, address in labor interest,

43,44-

Morley^on the working of social forces,
2.

Morley, Samuel, friend of laboring
people, 323.

Most, John, on the color for S. L. P.,
209; arrival in America, 229; ap-
peal for forming the Black Hand,
260; on Stellmacher's death, 262;
on Reinsdorf's execution, 263 ; crim-
inal utterances of, 291.

N.

Nashua, N.H., co-operation in, 184.

National Labor Union, rise of, 69, 70 ;
platform of principles, 333-341.

Neale, E. V., interest in co-operation,
204.

Negro labor in K. of L., 83.

Newark, socialistic congress in, 228.

New England Artizan, issue of, 51.

Newspapers, labor, 67, 91 ; use of, 115,

Newton, Dr. Heber, on co-operation,
171.

New York, society of shipwrights or-
ganized, 38; typographical society
formed, 38 ; a centre of labor organ-
izations,4i ; GeneralTrades-Unions,
43 ; socialistic congress in, 228.

New Yorker Volkzeitung, the, circula-
tion of, 278.

Nihilism, rise of, 247, 248.

Nobling, treason of, 262.

North American phalanx, Fourieristic,
21, 22.

Noyes, John H., founds Oneida com-
munity, 17; death of, 19; on com-
munistic societies in America, 20:
Mrs., studies Greek, 32. '

Oath required by employees, iii, 112.

Ohio, imposition on laborers in mining
districts, 105.

Oneida, Perfectionists' community in
17-

Orton, Professor, on imposition on
laborers, 105.

Owen, Robert, visits America, 20 ; suc-
cess of, 322.

Patrons of Husbandry. (See Grangers:)

Peace principle among labor organi-
zations, 139.

Pennsylvania R. R. Co.^ insurance sys-
tem in, 194.

Perfectionists' community, history of,
17-20; character and strength of,
32-

Pestalozzi, respected by laborers, 122.

Philadelphia, co-operative society in
167, 179; building associations in,
198, 199; socialistic congress in,
228.

Physiocrats, attempt to free labor from
legal restrictions, 96.

Pilgrim Fathers, communistic experi-
ment of, 8.

Pillsbury, Messrs., co-operation en-
couraged by, 191, 192.

Pittsburgh, sociaUstic congress in, 228.

Plasterers' Union, 63.

Police, need of reform in, 327, 328.

Potter, Bishop Henry C, on luxury,
318 ; on legal restraints, 329.

Potters' strike in Trenton, 83.

Powderly, Mr., against eight-hour sys-
tem, 71 ; stigmatizes intemperance,
132 ; salary of, 163.

Production, co-operative, 180-189 > ™"
petus given by Sylvis, 182; in
Rochester, 183 ; in Buffalo, 184 ; in
Nashua, 184; Atchinson, 184;
among Knights of Labor, 185;
periodicals relating to, 186; in

INDEX.

397

Covington, 186; Ledyard on, 187;

of coopers, 188, 189.
Progress, the, 279.
Proudhon, anarchist teacher, 237, 245.

Quakers assist Separatists, 15.
Quincy, Josiah, attempts to found co-
operative bank, 196,

Railway, fluctuations in stocks through

labor organizations, 163 ; insurance

In companies, 193, 194.
Rankin, J. S., advocates co-operation,

188.
Rantoul, Robert, interest in labor's

cause, S3, 34, 121.
Rapp, George, leader of Harmonists,

IS-

Reclus, influence on Anarchists, 245.

Reinsdorf, August, execution of, 263,
264.

Remedies for labor's wrongs, 295-332.

Robertson, Rev. F. W., address before
workingmen, referred to, 121.

Rochdale Co-operative Society, Wash-
ington, 167.

Rochester, co-operation in, 183.

Rogers, Professor Thorold, on the edu-
cational effect of labor organizations,
140 ; change of view about trades-
unions, 153, 154; on undue influ-
ence of organized upon unorgan-
ized laborer, 164, 165.

Schultze-Delitzsch, founder of German

credit banks, 204.
Seamen's Union formed, 65.
Semler, Henry, estimate of number of

organized laborers, 89.
Separatists, history of, 15.
Shakers, call themselves a social watch-

tower, 2; history of, 9-14; health
among, 28; intelligence of, 29,30;
diligence, 31 ; temperance, 32.

Shaw, Dr. Albert, on Icaria, 16; on
co-operative coopers, 188, 189.

Shipwrights' Union formed, 38, 39.

Sigel, Gen. Franz, a Turner, 223.

Simpson, Stephen, on labor problem,
44. 47-

Sismondi, disgust at political economy,
218.

Smalley, E. W., on Shaker diligence,
31.

Smith, Adam, on laborer's appearance
in public, 34, 35 ; freedom of labor,
96,97.

Smith, Capt. John, protests against
idlers, 7.

Socialism, advocates juster distribution
of goods, 6 ; beginnings of modem,
in America, 209-230; Weitling prop-
agates, 219; impetus from France,
227 ; congress, 228 ; strength of, 277-
294 : organs of, 277-280.

Socialistic Labor Party, color of, 209 ;
character of, 210; materialism of,
212 ; adoption of name, 228 ; split
from Internationalists, 229 ; mani-
festo, 269, 270 ; opposed to anarch-
ism, 270, 288 ; doctrines of, 272, 273 ;
organs of, 276; sections of, 281;
platform 0^366-370.

Socialist, The, on boycott, 299.

Sovereigns of Industry, distributive co-
operation among, ij^-ijj ; produc-
tive co-operation, 183.

Sozial Demokrat, 279.

Soziallst, Der, 276, 278.

Somerset, Mass., co-operation in, 184.

Spencer, Herbert, influence on Anar-
chists, 24s, 247; ethical mistake
referred to, 311.

Spies, Augustus, on the black flag of
Anarchists, 240.

St. Crispin, Knights of, history of, 67,
68.

398

INDEX.

Starkweather, on socialistio press, 277,

Stellmacher, treason of, 262.

Stevens, U. S., originates Knights of

Labor, 75.
Strasser, A., on strikes of cigar-makers,

ISO. 152-

Strikes, potters', in Trenton, 85 ; arbi-
tration in, 146-153; among cigar-
makers, 150, 152 ; ProfessorvonWal-
tershausen on American, 150; of
Hocking Valley, 152 ; Trant on, i6o ;
Rev. Kaufmann on, 160, 161 ; of Iron
and Steel Workers' Association, 355.

Sylvis, Wm. H., labor leader, 60 ; starts
co-operative production, 182, 183.

T.

Tageilait, the, 276.

Tailors' Union formed, 65,

Temperance in community life, 32;
labor organizations on, 130-135;
counter-influences on, 132, 133; re-
form, relation of, to labor movement,
375-

Ten-hour question, 55-77.

To-day, the, 280.

"Typographical Society, organized in
New York, 38, 39 ; insurance in, 144.

Tocsitj, the, 278.

Trades-unions, absence of, in colonial
times, 36 ; conservative and radical
parties among, 5.

Trades Union, the, on intemperance,

134. 135-

Tramps, letter to, 364-366.

Trant, Mr., on strikes, 160.

Travellick, Dick, on intemperance, 132.

Trimble, John, on Grangers' co-opera-
tion, 177, 178.

Truth, the, 241, 242, 278 ; on religion,
242 ; on arming of people, 290 ; on
boycott, 303.

Tucker, Benj. R., representative of
Anarchists, 237.

Turner, Mr., on potters' strike in Tren-
ton, 85 ; salary of, 163.

Turnvereine constituted, 221, 222; in-
dictment of members, 223.

Tumzeitung, publication of, 222.

Typographical Union, International,
formed, 57, 58 ; on arbitration, 148.

V.

Van Buren, Pres., introduces ten-hour

system, 56.
Vanderbilt, Wm. H., Anarchists' view

of his life, 257, 263 ; poem on his

wealth, 267, 268.
Voice of the People, the, 276, 278.
Volkzeitung, New York, 276, 278.
Von Waltershausen, Professor, on

strikes in America, 150 ; on boycott

law, 301.
Vorbote, Der, 241, 278; on religion,

243; on family, 243, 244; on the

red flag of the Internationalists,

215 ; Anarchists' organ, 226 ; on the

arming of people, 290.

W.

Warren, Josiah, anarchic leader, 237-
240, 245 ; J. S. Mill's debt to, 238.

Washington, D.C., Co-operative Soci-
ety, 167.

Watervliet, Shaker settlement in, 9.

Weavers' Trades Association in Balti-
more, wages in, 49, 50.

Weed, Thurlow, a member of Typo-
graphical Society, 38 ; on its incor-
poration, 39; on miscarriage of
justice, 249.

Weitling, Wilhelm, introduces social-
ism to America, 219, 220, 221."

Western Union Telegraph Co., vio-
lence done to, 35.

Weydemeyer disseminates socialism in
America, 221.

Whitcomb, Samuel, on the unjust eco-
nomic distribution, 47.

White, Andrew D., on a legal anomaly,
291.

INDEX.

399

Whittles, Samuel, chairman of co-
operative board. Fall River, 205.

Williams, Ezekiel, nominated for gov-
ernorship, 42.

Wilson on socialistic press, 277.

Wisconsin, Fourieristic phalanx in, 21,
22,

Women, relations to K. of L., 82, 83;
labor union, 339, 341.

Wood, Walter A,, encourages co-oper-
ation, 191,

Woodrow, Fred., on black-listing, no,
III.

Workman, the, a labor organ of Cleve-
land, 115.

Workmatis Advocate, the, 279,

Workingmen, Institute for, in Brighton,
121 ; party, 42. (Compare Labor^

Working day, normal, SS-S7-

Wyatt, Hon. D., on the educational in-
fluence of the Granges, 129.

Y.

Young America, the, issue of, 41.

Zoar, Separatists' settlement in, 15;
failure of, 25, 31 ; Professor Knight's
visit to, 33.

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