Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1908-08-29
Hub and Center Of
Organized Labor

~ - ing at Washington is locat.
IN ed the nerve center of the
% J organized lavor movement
the United States and I'm.
Gle Sans new possessions, writes
Walden Fawcett. In these quar-
tiers, which are none too com.
modious for the strenuous activi.
ties carried on therein, an executive
staff of upward of three dozen men
and women keeps in close touch with
an army of 100000 artisans in
every state and territory in the union.
This beehive is the national head.
quarters Of the American Federation
of Labor, that great central body that
exercises jurisdiction over the local
worbingmen's organizations from one
end of the country to the other.
To appreciate the significance of the
work carried on at this place it is
necessary to know something of the
American Federation of Labor and its
remarkable growth. The first move
toward the voluntary organization OF
labor in America was made early in
the nineteenth century but 1t gained
almost no Roadway until a score OF
years later The earliest known trade
union composed of journeymen was
the New York Society of Journeymen
Shipwrights, which was legally in.
corporated in 1903. Unions of tailors
and carpenters we're organized in the
metropolis in 1906 and union of hat
tiers came into existence in 1919.
The first crusade on the part of or
ganized labor was for a ten-hour work
day. In the spring of 1910 President
Van Buren, issued proclamation es
tablishing the ten-hour day on all gov
eminent work, but it was several years
later ere anything approaching a com
plete victory was won in the private
establishments of the country. The
year 1851 saw another important ad
vance in the labor movement, namely
the formation of the first national
union by the banding together of vari
GUS local organizations. The printers
were the pioneers in this progressive
step and were shortly followed by the
iron molders. For some years these
two classes of artisans were alone In
their advanced position but with the
civil war and its significant proclama
ton abolishing slavery a spur was
given to the cause of organized labor
and in 1864 the National Cigarmakers
union was formed The Bricklayers
and Masons' International union came
into existence soon after and before
many months had elapsed several 9th
er classes of toilers had taken the de
cisive step of formulating national
bodies.
The great panic of 1873 gave some
thing of a setback to organized labor
for the reason that with the shutting
down OF manufactures and the suspen
sion of work generally many toilers
were unable to pay their dues and in
some instances local unions were com
PEELED to disband for lack of funds
With the advent of somewhat better
times organized labor gradually took
a new lease of life and there was nur
tured that spirit of expansion which
led up to the organization of the Amer.
lean Federation of Labor in the year
1881.
In discussing the matter the other
day President Samuel Gompers, head
of the American Federation of Labor,
and the most powerful labor leader
in the world, pointed out that the de,
velopment of trades unionism in this
country may be classified, broadly
speaking, in three successive periods.
The first of these intervals saw the
rise of the local unions of various
kinds; the second period was charac-
terized by the inception of the idea
of the national union; and finally the
third era in which we are now living
has witnessed the amalgamation OF
these national unions into the all-pow-
erful federated body. BY this amalga-
nation and Capitalization of power the
American working classes have put
themselves in a position to hold their
own with those immense aggregations
of capitalize trusts" Of the indus
trial and commercial world.