The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-07-17
QUARTER MILLION
 MACHINISTS IN
 STRIKING GROUP

Washington, July 1.-The 1nterna- tional Association of MachiTtsts, one of the most important Of the organl, cations participating in the railroad shopmen's strike, numbers on its rolls approximately 25o.00O men. officials declare of which almost 100000 are employed in railroad shops or in shops doing railroad work. The rest are scattered through various other indus tries.
 The organization is among the old est of the country, it is claimed, al- though its present title does not date farther back than 1869. In 1858 groups of skilled blacksmiths and ma chintsts banded together to form their first organization. The union thrlved for some years, and became a part of the famous Knights of Labor when
 that body was organized about 50 years ago.
 So important part did the railroad machinists take in that body that they became the dominant faction. In the eighties, leaders recalled, when the Knights of Labor went under the ban, the members, especially in the West. had to change their names and seek jobs elsewhere, hiding their union membership to avoid persecution.
 The Knights were finally disrupted and the machinists got along as best
 they could until, in 1898, the railroad
 machinists in tthe shops at Atlanta,
 Ga, met and reorganized. At the first yearly convention ma chinists representatives from various sections of the country attended. and the name was fixed as The National Association of Machinists- The next year delegates from Canada, practi- cally the entire country, and elsewhere attended, the organized was extended into an international body, and the name changed to the present title. The membership, composed for the most part of the highest type of skill ed mechanics, has always taken a in this country and Canada. though to | little extent in Mexico. While the various local sections of the union have been en1broiled in constant trou- | ble of one sort or another with the | raiuroad executives, union officials de-
 clared, the present waIk-out is only | the second general strike of the en- l tire body.
 The first occurred in 1901, when the | men rebelled against the ten hour day | and struck from May to December. l The association counted that one a moral victory, for the men generally
 never returned to the. ten hour day.
 hours, which several years later was | reduced to eight.
 At that time, however, officials said,
 the, organization did not adhere to | the main principle of the present | strike, that no men should return to | work until agreements paved the way for the return of all. but the men then
 went back to their jobs by local groups.
 1 However, 1t was emphatically de-
 clared on the first day of the present 1 have organized into one central body to lower wages, so will the unions l fight in one organization for the re- l turn to former scales.
 1 While the many sections of the as l sociation have taken part in a long
 list of strikes, local and sectional, long and short, among the most bitter and 1 longest were the following: The general strike of 19O1 which 1 lasted elght months; on the Southern l Railway in the same year, which last | ed about the same time; on the Union | Pacific in 1902, duration nine months; on the Canadian Pacific, 1908, dura-
 ton eight weeks; on the Santa Fe,
 same year, last four year; on the Erie. 1906, lasted two years; on the Balti-
 more & Ohio, 1910. duration one year;
 on the Illinois Central, 1911. duration four years; on the Grand Trunk dura-
 ton one and a half years, Others of | duration were called on the Penn
 sylvania, the Wabash and the Wheel ing.
 l William H. Johnston is international
 pres1d ent of the organization and with F. J. Conlon, international vice presi-
 dent, will direct the activities of the
 strike from Washington headquarters