Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1901-09-26
A MASS CONVENTION.
Local Trade Unions flaming an
Important Matter.
TO FORM A POLITICAL LEAGUE

TO FORM A POLITICAL LEAGUE
lis Purpose Is to Select Candidate
From Different Political Tickets
Ottunwa Has 1910 Union Votes
British Labor Notes.
[Tta matter published in this col
umn is furnished by the officers OF tie
Federation of Labor.
1t is now almost certain that the
local trade unions will hold mass
convention in the month of December
for the purpose of deciding on the po-
litical program as set forth by the
| American Federation of Labor and to
form a workingmen's political league,
which organization will be separate
and distinct from the labor unions but
will be under direct control of the con-
solidated organizations of the city.
The organization will be strictly non
partisan. Its purpose will be to select
candidates from the different political
[! tickets who are known to be in SYM
pathy with the aims and objects of
(! the trades union movement. Accord
ing to Deputy Labor Commissioner
2! Holder, Ottumwa has 1410 union votes
and a concentration of this vote will
! be wonderful weapon to advance the
/ interests of the working class along
political lines. The appeal for the
convention has come from the work
I ing men themselves. Heretofore when
! labor organizations entered politics
! they did it as partisans of either one
! or the other political parties, and to
avoid any misunderstanding the
working mems political league will be
! formed. The main thing that brought
/ about the formation of this organiza-
/ ton was the treatment accorded a
member of organized labor who was
candidate for sheriff at a recent polit-
! ical convention. At the time the men,
| bers of the labor unions were stung
to the quick and threatened retalia-
ton. They have not forgotten that
treatment yet and they will not for
get it on election day.
British Labor Notes.
The correspondent to the London
Trade Journal says:
Be it known to all men that this
year the biggest trade union in the
world is celebrating it's jubilee. Yes,
the Amalgamated Society of Engineers
is fifty years old and is signalling the
event by opening splendid new head
quarters in London and issuing lit
tie book detailing the history of the
organization. And an eventful history
it is. The Amalgamated Society of
Engineers is composed of men whose
occupation is concerned with iron and
steel manufacture, and the rigid and
resistant qualities of these metals has
entered into the spirit of the engi-
neers. Hence the success of their
| level-headed unionism and thir proud
position at the top of the labor organ
ization tree.
! In the year 1S47, amongst the ruck
| of little engineering trade unions, there
was one called the Old Mechanics,
which stood firm and boosted a mem
bership of 1000 and credit balance of
| e25,000. 1t is famous for two things.
1t secured the abolition of the custom
by which an engineer was unable to
obtain fresh employment unless he had
a clear discharge from his late en-
ployer. Secondly, it was the force be-
hind the amalgamation idea and back
ed up by the herculean efforts Of John
Rowlinson, of Lancashire, William
Newton and William Allen, consoli-
dation of all the little odds and ends
of unions became "un fait accompli"
on January 1, 1851.
\ Rapids developments then followed
once all the men of the craft were
united and despite trouble and differ
ences, the childish dissatisfaction of
the inevitable member who is unable
to see further than the end of his nose
and all the other trials which beset
the paths of diligent and successful
trade unionism; the amalgamation has
prospered until today it has 87,672
members and funds amounting to
100000.
know that the eight-hour move.
ment of 1897 was not the success the
nine-hour movement had been in 1871
and 1872 but this triumph is only de-
layed. The total amount spent in con-
: nection with the 1897 struggle was
$3.50, 000-an amount which the Anal.
. gamated Society of Engineers raised
in six months, and drain from which
: it has rapidly recovered.
And now let me direct your atten.
) ton to the next tableau, ladies and
gentlemen. 1t depicts Lord Penrhyn,
than whom no more bitter opponent
of trade unionism exists, in, the act of
; telling an astonished world that he is
contending for a great principle-the
freedom and liberty of the working
man. Such an interest in common
clay, when exhibited by a noble lord
who is locking out Ito starve with their
wives and children for aught he cares)
. some thousands of men from his quar-
ries. is calculated to make the ordinary
man smile. A large number of the