New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-05-09
History OF American Labor
4 New Book Gives Excellent Brief Survey of a
Neglected Field

celient brief survey of neglected field.
her work shows that many forms of in
dustrial strife that are popularity asso-
ciated with modern conditions can be
found in the very early days of Amer
lcas independence. There was strike
os printers in Philadelphia in 1886
and strike of shoemakers in Pitts
burgh and Baltimore in 1899.
About 1880 labor manifested a tend
ency to go into politics Workngmen
were nominated as candidates in local
elections, and efforts were made to
elect friends of labor" to Congress.
The author summarizes the concrete
demands of the workingmen of that
time as including "the 10-hour day, the
restriction of child labor the abolition
of the old practise of hiring convicts
out to contractors in competition with
honest and law-abiding workmen, free
and equal public education, the aboli-
ton of Imprisonment for debt, the ex-
emptlon of wages and tools from seiz-
ure for debt, the establishment of the
right of mechanics to file liens on prop
erty to secure payment of their wages
and the abolition of sweat shops in
homes and factories"
Industrial battles a hundred years
ago were fought very much as they are
now. Both sides appealed to the SYM
pathes and to the material interests of
the public; and the courts occasionally
interfered to repress illegal activities
of the strikers. Then, as now. labor
organizations were opposed to unregu-
lated immigration, upon the theory that
the importation of foreigners in large
numbers tended to glut the labor mar
ket and reduce wages.
Throughout the nineteenth century
two tendencies struggled for supremacy
in the American labor movement. In
prosperous times the workers were in
clined to organize along craft lines, to
refrain from political action, and to
devote themselves exclusively to secur-
ing as large a share Of the profits of
industry as possible. In "hard times"
in periods of panics and industrial
stress, the workers generally attempted
to improve their condition by political
action.
Labor was never able to make it's in
f1uence felt in the political field, and
the American Federation of Labor, or
gained in 1886, has committed the bulk
of American skilled labor to a pro-
gram of purely economic action. The
federation, under the leadership of Mr..
Gompers, has pursued a generally con-
servative policy and has been able to
work in reasonable cooperation with
progressive employers. 1t has enjoyed
longer and more prosperous career
than any previous labor organization in
this country Of late its prestige has
been somewhat impaired by series of
unauthorized strikes, in which the rank
and file of certain unions have partici-
pated against the advice of their lead
ers. The more radical elements in the
federation have also launched a labor
party, designed to bring labor, as a
class, more aggressively into the polit-
ical arena. Whether this movement
will prove any less ephemeral than its
predecessors remains to be seen
The author has compressed a great
deal of valuable information into brief
compass. Her book is almost an essen
tial prerequisite to an adequate under
standing of present day labor move
ments.