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Show rmzz "" ' I . By ELMO SCOTT WATSON j "ABOB DAT this year bas special V significance, if we accept the state- I M f ment of John It, Commons and his j. sjassssssl MOclate ,n h book "The History 1 of Labor In the United States" In I " (D Q which they say "We place the begin- 1 ir nln ot tn Araerlcan lahor movement I We in the year 1827 at Philadelphia. In rJUr that year and place, American wage earners for the first time Joined to-gether to-gether a das regardless of trade j easasasassasssf Hoes in contest with employer." I Tha contest referred to was a strike of building I trade workers for ten-hour day and other i Improvements in their working conditions, a strike I which ended successfully for the worker. So t. Labor Day this year may be regarded as the high - spot In a centennial year for organized labor and for that reason has more than passing Interest The day Itself has a much shorter history, for It I goes back only 45 years at the most. The idea '. of a Labor Day celebration was first suggested In 5 1882; it wa first officially proclaimed by the American Federation of Labor In 1834, but It wa I not nntll 1894 that it wa first made a legal boll-" ! day and that only in the District of Columbia and I the territories. The first suggestion of a Labor ! Day holiday was made in New York City Central j Labor union in May, 1882. Us officers held that, : although the country had other holidays symbolical of the military, civil and religious spirit, there ' was none which represented the spirit of the ' ' worklngmim, j Accordingly It suggested the observance of the first Monday In September as a festival day with parades, picnics and speeches and staged such a i celebration that year with great success. Two years Inter the American Federation of Labor ofllclnlly recognized the suggestion by proclaiming the first Monday In September as Labor Day and urged all laborers to observe It State legislatures legisla-tures were asked to make this day a legal holiday and eventuully 32 of them did enact laws making mak-ing It suck. Labor Day is also an appropriate time for re viewing some of the history of the labor movement move-ment In this country and for considering some of the forces which have contributed to the estab lishment of organized labor In Its present Important Im-portant position in the social structure of this country. That these force began to operate as far back aa 1007 is shown In the brilliant essay with which Prof. Ralph Henry Gabriel of Yale university Introduces Malcolm Kclr's pictorial and verbal story of "The Epic of Industry" In the "Pageant of America" series which the Yale University' Press Is now bringing out In this . essay he tells of that historic movement when "In the Seventeenth century on the wooded banks of the James river a busy group of Englishmen unloaded from, three small ships a quantity of axes and adzes, hoes and firearms, Including some small cannon. Soon after a redskin, trained to hunt with bow and arrow, bore to the Indian village up the river the new of the coming of the whites. The age of Iron had come suddenly Into contact with the age of stone." He then traces and Interprets the successive stages of industrialism in the United States down through 300 years to the present age which he summarizes as follows: By the time tha Twentieth century opened, Industrialism Indus-trialism had become a factor of first Importance In American life. The paaelng of the frontier and the completion of the greater part of the national network net-work of railroads freed capital for Industrial development, de-velopment, and In America this capital was gathered gath-ered Into the greatest financial combinations the world has ever known. Large-scale production and the bringing; of a succession of manufacturing taps under a single control, resulted In an efficiency effi-ciency which made possible American competition with foreign producers who paid lower wages to their laborers. Scientific Investigation was accel- . erated as laboratories became a part of the equipment equip-ment of many Industrial establishments. Naturs . was ransacked In a systematic manner for every element and every source of energy that might be turned to the amelioration of human life. In the processes of Industry, the Iron man steadily replaced re-placed the human hand. The automatic machine controlled by the giant corporation Is the triumph . t of the age of Industry. But all too frequently it 4r reduces the worker to a mere automaton, who spends the years of his life feeding a senseless monster. Labor has prospered with Industry, yet the wage earner has had many a difficult problem to solve. The growth of manufacturing put vast economlo power Into the hands of a successful fs v. Many f the Iron dukes were predatory. The employee fought at times for better working conditions and for wagea which measured his standard of living. For two centuries and a half most Americans had owned a farm or a business; a relatively small part of the population had worked for hire. Industrialism Industrial-ism brought to America a growing group o men and women whose sole dependence was a Job. And a Job was not like a piece of land or a stoKk of goods In a store; It might vanish when times grew 1 hard and no en know why It had gone. To pra-T pra-T tect himself against the vieiasltudes of his economic econom-ic position, tha wage earner sought to organize. In the 'seventies and 'eighties he developed the spectacular Knlghta of Labor which, after claiming claim-ing a membership of a million, fell eoitfenlv Into eollsrse. Other organisations have followed and have gained power tar beyond that ef Ma Knlghta In the heyday of their greatneaa. Yet, In America labor organisations lag In their growth behind thoae of England. Perhaps one of the reasons may be found In the character of tha American wage earning group. The rapid exploitation of the natural resources within the United States brought about one of the world's Important population movements. Millions of Europeans crossed tha ocean to share In the opportunities which America lavishly offered. They built railroads, dug mines, and tended the machines In clattering factories. They brought with them . prejudk-es nnd inherited national hatreds. Their first problem was to learn the ways of a now nation and to adjust themselves to a new environment. environ-ment. As a group, this polyglot mass did not possess pos-sess common Idealism nnd the workers that passed through the factory Kate as the whistle blew spoks . a multitude of languages. The organization of such a group presented at times Insuperable difficulties. diffi-culties. It has never been fully accomplished. Again and again the natural leaders of the wage earners have risen out of the group to become managers. Opportunity has not failed genuine ability. But organization has come, and has aided in Improving the lot of the laborer. Co-opsratlon also between employer and employee has Increased as the chaotic early years of Industrialism have passed and aa tiie customs and Ideals ot the new industrial civilization have taken shape. Meanwhile Mean-while the United States, passing the middle point of the second century of Its national history, has become the Industrial colossus of the world. How that organization of the laboring man came about and the various steps taken In Us development Is traced In the chapter on "Organized Labor In Industry" which contains this introduction to the main theme of the Illustrated narrative In that chapter: Irf 1920, out of our population of one hundred five millions, there wera forty-one million wage earners. earn-ers. Whatever concerns labor Is vital to the well-being well-being of the nation. Industry has advanced from the small-scale local Individual enterprise to ths gigantic corporation whose business and plants are spread over the nation and even the globe, and various corporations have united In one way or another for economic or political purposes. In like manner labor has forsaken Individual bargaining with an employer and has united Into great organizations organ-izations tor group negotiations concerning wages, hours or working conditions with aggregations of employers. The hostler ones might haggle with the village liveryman, but the locomotive engineers have been forced to organize a brotherhood to deal with the railroad executives of the country. Labor La-bor organization has paced evenly with Industrial organization. The history of labor shows that organisation develops de-velops under four conditions. (1) The worker must be separated from the ownership of the tools or ths means of production. (I) Laborers In the same trade must be able to come Into close contact with one another. () Opportunity for especially gifted workmen to rise above their class must bs shut off, with the result that these men, denied Individual sdvaacaccent, become leaders In ths efforts ef-forts for the Improvement of their class. (4) Ths condition under which work Is done must be bur-' bur-' densome so that the mien engaged In the work feel that they have a common grievance. These conditions condi-tions were not satisfied.. until after 1830, and then only partially until after the Civil war.' There could be no effective labor organizations In the United States In the earlier years of lta Indus- . trial development. The early artisans In general each carried on his own business. The shoemaker owned his tools and his shop, bought his leather and sold his finished product With the coming of-' the first factories employees were gathered together under the same roof and Worked for wages with the tools and mnterlnls of other men. Under the , Industrial conditions that prevailed before the Civil war labor unions sprang up from time to time but none were able to maintain an existence over a period of years. The rapid growth of the nation that was still undeveloped gave opportunities of many kinds. Industry Itself was growing and disgruntled dis-gruntled employees might get better Jobs In new , anterprlaes. Cities were expanding and the laborer might set up for himself a small commercial enterprise. enter-prise. The frontier always beckoned those who preferred being their own masters to working for . hire. The abler members of the labor group west always finding opportunities to Improve their condition. Following the Civil war the great labor or--Isafiona ot the United Btatea havs developed. Many forces have operated te bring them about. Their . Influence haa Increased la the development of Industry. In-dustry. They are aa laevltavble aad aa Important imri ui new luueirioLi vrusr, AS nm .11 unions directed their attention to the betterment of the economlo condition of the workers and this alia still rsmalna foremost. But of later years soma unions have been paying particular attention to gaining some kind of partnership tn Industry and may next reach out for a measure of political control. , The complete story of theCrlse of organized labor In the United States as given In this chapter, chap-ter, I an interesting one. It goes back somewhat some-what farther than the beginning established by Commons' and his associates, to the time soon ' after the Revolutionary war when the shoemakers and printers on several occasions organized to protest nnd strike against the abandonment of the apprentice system which brought a depression of wages. As a result they were haled into court on charges of conspiracy and these cases checked the growth of unionism In Its Inception. The year 1814 saw the first wage agreement entered Into by the bricklayers of Clnnclnnatl nnd this marked a definite trend In the labor movement Social reform was one of the first efforts of American labor and so In the 'thirties we have the romantic history of the Utopian New Harmony (Ind.) experiment with which are associated the names of Robert Dale Own, "Fanny" Wright and her newspaper, the Free Enquirer; the Brook Form experiment nnd Albert Iirlshnne and a similar sim-ilar community enterprise at Red Bank, N. J all of which ended In failure. In the 'twenties the first of the agrarian reformers came to the fore with Thomas Skldmore as principal leader, and in the 'forties George Henry Evans proposed a scheme similar to Skldmore's. As early as 1828 labor entered politic when the first worklngmen's party in this country was organized by mechanics In Philadelphia, but labor as a separate party has never been able to figure decisively in national elections. "After the nineties, organized labor did not ofllclnlly enter politics as a separate party except In 1924," says Keir. "Instead, It has adopted the policy of 'Vote for friends, defeat our enemies.' This means that labor studies candidates and their political records ind then, regardless of party, votes for the Individuals who seem to lean most favorably toward labor's desires. This policy ha brought organized labor rich reward In the form of desired legislation." Among the first of these wa the creatlonof a separate Department of Labor In 1013 and the placing of a labor representative In the President's cabinet The first secretary of labor was William B. Wilson, an ex-officer of the United Mine Workers' union, who became a member of President Wilson's cabinet The pre ent secretary of Labor, James J. Davis, was once ah Iron worker In Pennsylvania and a steel worker In Indiana.' Labor's participation in the national " council and Its commanding position In America today have been due to organization. One of the first attempts at-tempts nt this was the formation of the National : Labor union immediately after the Civil war. The first convention was held In 1866 and It principal prin-cipal effort wa to bring about a shorter work-day program ami to secure nn eight-hour ray for lnhor, i By the time the second convention was held In 18C7, it was apparent that this union was going to ; depend upon political power to attain its ends,' and as a result it soon lost ground. Although the Knights of Labor, founded by Uriah Smith Stephens Steph-ens In Philadelphia In 18G9, once rose to a membership member-ship of a million members, Its power In the 'seventies 'seven-ties and 'eighties soon began to wane and It govs woy eventually, to a young craft union, later famous fa-mous as the American Federation; of Labpr.:; ..One of the founder of the organization In 1881 was Samuel Gompers, of whom It has been said, "Gom-pers "Gom-pers gave the American labor movement a brain,' u -iiul and a clenched fist He must be ranked uifioog the great executives of hi time." ,,It .was,, during his presidency that labor rose to Its great, ness, the greatness which Labor Day celebrates. |