The White Pine news. [volume] (Ely, Nev.) 1906-1910, 1908-09-08

ing wherein labor might obtain its
rights. But they were little be-
hind the times. Three thousand
years before the working men of
Athens struck because the aristo-
Gratis. the ruling class. had taught
that working men had no soul and so
could have no part in the religious
ceremonies of the people. It is a
far cry from such strike for reli-
gious privileges 10 that for a closed
shop, but the underlying principle is
the same. The men of Athens were
organized under the law of Solon
who had remodeled a law of more
ancient Egypt. In the days of Numa
Pompolius, first Christian emperor of
Rome, the colleges of workmen were
so numerous that he organized them
into eight great classes.
The list of these colleges is inter-
esting reading, let me name few:
Shipbuilders. metal workers, millers,
firemen. wine dealers, rag pickers,
shoemakers. fortune tellers, gladia-
| tors. actors, planters, mowers, mer-
chants and so on almost without end.
None could become a member of the
college unless he were free-born,
though occasionally freed slave who
was a good workman was admitted.
Thousands of years ago the Roman
colleges made a mistake that has
been often repeated in union history
since. They endeavored by their
numbers and unity to influence poll
tics. Let me read YOU the contents
of two notices dug up in Pompeii
after being buried for centuries. and
see how modern they sound: The
members of the fishermens union
nominate Popedius Rufus for MEM
ber of the Board of Public Works.
And this: THE International Gold
Workers association of the city of
Pompeii demand for memberof the
Board of Public Works Cuspis Pan
sa. -
The Guilds of the Middle Ages
were in no sense the offspring OF the
Roman and Greek colleges of work
ing men. The guilds were organized
incidentally for social and political
uplifting but principally to insure the
excellence of the product and the ca
paoity of the workman. No age has
seen such perfection of manual pro-
ducts as did the Middle Ages. Every
tHOIi WIS iiuut " DeNt AAt AtchiA
of labor as perfect as brain and hand
could make it, And with this neces-
sarily went the oversight of the
worker and the making of rules and
regulations whereby only those per-
feetly trained could engage as master
workmen. There was strict examina-
| tion of the workmen before he was
given permission to work as a jour
neyman and continued oversight OF
| his product A law of 1858 admonr
ished all handicraftsmen to use but
one occupation. shoemakers could
NOT be tanners, or brewers eoopers,
or butchers cooks. The guilds were
benevolent and religious, maintaining
hospitals. aims houses and orphan
ages. and building churches ana
schools
There was no attempt at monopoly
of production and no limit TO the
number of apprentices. The appren-
tice for four years must live with the
master wear certain clothes, not gam
BILE. nor marry. keep the masters
trade secrets and not waste materi-
ais. The fifth year he received the
equivalent of So a year and neces-
sary tools and the sixth year $40 and
provided his own tools. After that,
If he passed his examinations. he be-
came a journeyman. In the 18th
century the guilds because of abuses
that had erept in were abolished by
law.
Trade unionism in the United
States has had an interesting MS
tory. The first organization of
which there is record was that of
printers of New York in 1776. The
demand was for increase of wages
and as soon as the end was obtained
the organization ceased. Up TO 1927
the unions were secret In character,
but during the next ten years they
came out as open organizations based
on the principle of quitting work un-
der a Joint agreement in order TO
compel granting of demands. Mod
ern unionism as force In the indus
trial world dates from the coming
! together of existing societies In diff
ferent trades to form a central body
on the representative principle.
Working by themselves these isolated
bodies could accomplish little in the
face of the opposition of employers
and state governments. But when
they formed the representative body
they came out into the open, they en-
coMaged each other by the brother
hood of common interest they in
creased largely In membership. they
organized the workers in trades be-
fore unorganized. This was the
origin of the word trades union,
which does not mean a union in a
trade but union of trade societies.
The Knights of Labor as trades