Denver labor bulletin. [volume] (Denver, Colo.) 1915-19??, 1918-07-06


leaving strenuous and much needed
work in Washington, for the purpose
of conveying to you in person the
greetings of the President of the
United States and his high apprecia-
ton of the splendid work that has
been done by the president of your
organization, the executive council,
the officers of the national and inter
national unions, and the rank and file
of the bona fide trade union move
ment of the country in preparing our
country industrially to meet the enc
my of democracy in the trenches.
1 have frequently been severely
criticised, both in Congress and from
the public forum, for having dared
in the years gone by, when l had
the honor of addressing you, to salute
you as fellow trade unionists. l am
proud of that criticism. | am proud
of my association from boyhood on
with the great and growing trade
union movement. Industrially it has
been the greatest factor in maintain
ing democracy within our country of
any single element that has contrib
uted to that result. The trade union
movement as it has been constituted
from the development of modern in
dustry, has been one of the strong
forces in the development of democ-
racy. Away back yonder in the revo-
lutionary period the trade union
movement as it then existed con-
tributed toward the success of the
revolutionary arms and the establish
ment of our country as it is today.
Caulkers and the Caucus.
There is one little word in our lam
guage, brought into existence at that
time, which will remain as long as our
language remains as the historical
demonstration of the part played by
the trade union movement in that
great contest. We were not an in
dustrial nation at that time, we were
devoted almost exclusively to agricul-
ture, we had but a nucleus of COM
mercial enterprise, but even then the
shipwrights and caulkers organiZa-
ton was strong in our principal sea-
ports. The leaders of the movement,
the rank and file, were with those who
signed the Declaration of Independ-
ence and had helped to pave the way
for their doing so. When Otis and
Samuel Adams and their associates
in Boston desired to take counsel con-
corning the steps that should be taken,
they went to the meeting place of the
consultation, and they spoke of it as
"going down to the caulkers," hence
there came into our language cor
ruption of that word, namely, eau
GUS" meaning taking counsel with
each other.
When we had established our de-
mocracy it was not anywhere near as
perfect as it is today The franchise
was limited in almost all of the states.
1t was the trade union movement in
the early part of last century that
laid the basis for conducting the agi-
tation, handling the campaign for the
extension of the franchise SO as to
give us almost universal manhood suf-
frage. Today there are number of
states in the union that have extended
the suffrage from that of manhood
suffrage to manhood and womanhood
suffrage. 1t was the trade union
movement, with it's ideals of democ-
racy, that took up the struggle for
woman suffrage when it meant ostra-
cism in many instances to advocate it,
and carried it thru until now it is SO
popular that many of the highest
functionaries in the land are support
ing woman suffrage.
Origin of the Shorter Day.
With the beginning of our modern
industrial system the workers were
engaged from daylight until dark, and
when system of lighting was de-
vised that enabled the worker to con-
tinue his efforts by lamplight the
days labor frequently extended be-
yond the period of from daylight until
dark and ran on into the night. The
trade union movement of our country
took up the question of shorter
workday and conducted a campaign
for it. President Van Baren, in the
latter part of the '30s of last century
issued an order establishing a ten
hour workday as the limitation for
| government employees. That was
brought about by virtue of the pres
sure from trade unionists in the state
of New York, from which President
Van Buren, came. Out of the proc
lamation issued by the president and
the agitation conducted by trade I'M
ionists, within ten years a ten-hour
day had come to be recognized as
the accepted days labor, except in a
few lines of industry where they had
continuous operation. And, unfortu-
nately, in those continuous operation
plants we still have a continuation of
the twelve-hour workday.
1t was the trade union movement
taking up the theory, based upon the
increased productivity of man and the
right of labor to participate in that
increased productivity, that started
the agitation for an eight hour day
and carried it on to the point where
today vast numbers of the workers
are working upon an eight-hour basis,
and working longer than eight hours
solely by virtue of the fact that the
necessities of the war require it. But
| hAr Of ha nd "a
advancement of democracy have not
| bo1x, tho 1,,,l,r tbi,, rra IL, xulich aduancn-