The Alaska daily empire., 1922-03-28

IteIiuu,
 C.. lnges periodically with the oppor !. tunity for work.
 The United Mina Workers of Amer icl was forme Jaauarv 25, 1SJo. b! the amalgamation oi the Nationa! Progressive Union ot Miners anG Mine Laborers, and the National Trades Assembly No l25. Knights o! Labor, the two branches havTlg IT,, GOO members Each of the comainin2 organizations retained it's name as a branch of the union until 1894 whea such distinction Was dropped tnd the union became known only as the United Mine Worker of America.
 National Organization
 Before the fusion of the two unions as the United Nine Work CTS of America. several attempts were made to form national or ganization of miners Unionisl in the coal fields had it's birth ih 1S49 fin tho anthracite district. but the move for national unity was made by the soft coal workers and the anthra- cite field was not brought into q national organization until after the creation of the United Mine Work CTS of America.
 Until 1861, unions had bena only local organizations, but on January 2S. that year. the first national union was founded at St. Louis by the soft coal workers of the BeleYille, H., district forming the American Min hrs Association This organization was extended into the soft coal fields of Pennsylvania and Ohio, but mem bership dwindled after unsuccessful strikes in 1867 and 1868 and thi, nnion died in 1S69.
 Meanwhile, tha anthracite workers had formed their first di5trict organ ization, known as the Woshmefl's Benevolent Association. In 1870 it's president, John Siney.e who is known { nbw, as the father of the miners [ movement in America. negotiated the r fiHt toirt agreeWent ever made in tlhs country between operators and their employees. Other successes i marked Siney's leadership of the an- 1 thracite organizations. but in 1873. i he quit to become president of the second national union of coal miners, the Miners National Association of [ the United States of America Waich ! was organized at Youngstown, Ohio. October 13. 1873. by miners from the | soft coal fields.
 Miners Association
 Within year the Miners Nati0n- { al Association claimed a membership | of 24060 scattered throughont seven | Middle Western states, but nation [ wide depression had set in with the { panic of 1873 and the union ceased [ to exist in 1876 A year before. the | Worknen's Benevolent Association in i the anthracite field had been crushed , ill a strike.
 Fer several years there was no national union. but organization in the coal fields wls continued, often l secretly. under the local Independent i Ian. Such organization efforts con tinued until 1885 when the next move was started for national unity among
 mine workers, and soon two national organizations wcr, struggling for SUI premacy.
 Two soft coal field workers, meet l ing at Indianapolis, September 9, lSS5, organized the National Feeder ation of Miners and Mine Laborers, which in its first year started tine col iective bargaining movement be- tween miners and operators that exists today. Tho Knights of Labor ], which began organizing locals in the coal fields. including the anthracite. in lS17 formed a miners branch--the 1 National Trades Assembly No 135-- at meeting at StALouis May 20, l 1886. !
 Efforts to unite these two organ | lzltions failed until 1890, one al, 1 tempt in 1888 being marked hy the i National Federation of Miners and i Mine Laborers dissolving but recon saituting Itself as the National Pro eressive Union. Although there were two national unions both participat. ed in the joint conferences with op- eratcrs that marked the collective movement started in 1885. Finally, in 1890, the two unions joined forces as the United Mine Workers ,f America. : In the anthracite field. the United