The Connecticut labor press., 1920-10-09
GABRIEL EDMONSTON, CARPENTER
AND HONORED SOLDIER EULOGIZED
Most Interesting Address Delivered by General Secretary Frank Duffy
Of the United Brotherhood dwelling Of Tablet During the
General Conference at indianapolis
Continued from First Page.)

/ carpenters III history are called and are
known as the fighting carpenters That
is the name you won back in history
years ago. Why? Because when un-
just taxes were imposed on this country
| by the mother country, when we were
| then dependency of Great Britain, it
was men OF our trade, the ship car
penters, the ship Joiners, the ship caulk-
ers and the house carpenters who went
aboard the ship in the Boston llarbor
| and threw the tea into the sea.
| And then when new Government
/ was being formed in 1875 at old indie
pendence Hall in Philadelphia, and the
forefathers of our country were there
drafting the Declaration of Indepen-
dence, drafting the first Constitution of
| the United States and were driven out
of that hall by the British soldiers and
had nowhere to go, the carpenters Of
Philadelphia said: Come on down
here three or four blocks to Carpenters
Hall. You can have the use of our
| hail. And they went down, and it was
] in Carpenters Hall in Philadelphia that
| the Declaration of independence and
the first Constitution of the United
| States were drawn UP.
| Then in 1889, when George Wash
ington, first President of the United
States, went on his first visit to Boston,
Ia great reception rendered him and a
great parade held in his honor. Who
were the first, who were those that led
that parade? The house carpenters, the
cabinet makers, the ship carpenters and
joihers and the ship caulkers.
/ Follow along all the way down the
| line to the opening of the Erie Canal
! in its day a great event-it was the
house carpenters, as they were known
then. that led IN the parade.
'As have told you, in 1861, it was
/ the carpenters that the Government
called upon for assistance, just as they
4 called upon them in the World War,
when your general president served on
executive board gave to the Government
the machinery Of our organization to,
aid in winning the war.
| Gabriel Edmonston knew all these
| things, and he had these discouraging
matters in mind when he went to Chi
cago. While he was a quiet retiring
| fellow, he was one of those men who
made up his mind that if he was going
ito do something he was going to make
it a success. So through his efforts and
| through the efforts of Pete Mcclure,
this organization was formed in Chi
cago in 1881 with 2,042 members Now
you have 400, 104 members-3o years
later. They were afraid it would not
be success = they thought to them
selves, both Gabe, Pete Mcclure and
| Bill Shields, another Old war horse of
the early days, former geenral presi-
| dent now dead and gone, that if they
could get an organization that existed
down in New York to join hands with
| the Brotherhood they would have
good nucleus for the formation of an
organization. In New York there ex-
listed what was called the United Order
of American Carpenters and Jofners
was member of Lodge No. 2. For
several years we could not agree, but at
Hast at the Detroit convention in 1888
we decided to agree. The United Or
| der, organized in 1872-more district
We are irst-Brotherohoo come to
u.s. The Brotherhood said: You are
not an international organization. We
are. You come to us. One delegate,
la quiet fellow who had not much to
say in the convention, got on the floor
of the convention and said OF course
the United Order was ahead of the
brotherhood Nobody can denys that;
lthey were organized in 1872, and we
/ were organized in 1881. propose, Mr..
Chairman, that we take the word
/ United and put it in front of the
/ word Brotherhood and then the or
ganization would be known as the
United Brotherhood of Carpenters and
Hike wild-fre, and that is how we got
our name.
It his man, my old friend Edmonston,
was at that first convention elected
president of the Brotherhood of Car
penters and Joiners of America-3o
years ago last month He returned
home with big responsibility on his
1 shoulders, but he was determined that
| he was going to make it a success. In
| October, 1881, he issued his first circular
letter calling on the men of the trade
to come into the organization. Do you
know of it? ] do. I have read it over
and over. again. ] am going to read
some of it to you, because it contains
words from his mouth, and / want YOU
to know what he said:
We cannot expect to accomplish
our objects in day. 1t will require
patience and fortitude--tWo manly yir-
tues that eminent1y fit us for our call
ing, and without which we cannot be-
come proficient in the trade Next to
! these, education is an able assistant to
help US attain the object of our Broth
lerhood. We must first understand the
rights OF labor before we can InreIll-
/ gently defend or discuss its claims. We
can all readily see the difference be-
tween life of toll and life of ease.
But it is not easy to explain how one
lclass, numerically the weaker, can tax
1.-THE majority of part of their hard
earnings in order that they may be
spared the fiat, In the sweat of thy
/ face shalt thou eat bread. We cannot
Iexpect to elevate our trade and better
our condition by individual exertions
Ialone, because we are not independent,
and must have the assistance of others
4 whose interests are identical with our
own, in order that we may, through
numbers, impress the dignity of our just
demands on the public. If we are
confident we are right, let us convince
our fellow workmen, not by force, but
BIZ cool judgment, conceding to them
the right to differ with us in honest
Iopinion.
And then he said:
elm the worlds broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle,
Be heroes in the strife
i Let these words come to you today
from Gabriel Edmonston, our first
/ president, rather than from me.
! He was anxious in the early days,
| as was Pete Mcclure, the first general
E.secretary, about the growth, advance
/ ment and prosperity of the organiza-
| ton. He had certain things in his mind.
| and so had Pete, that must be kept OUT
/ side of the organization. One thing
1 At - 1,cf