The Connecticut labor news., 1924-12-06

of national policies.
 ] The National Labor Union, like pre- vious similar labor efforts, had organ ized a labor party and then passed out of existence Industralism growing out of constantly increasing invention of | machinery, application of mechanical power which necessitated the factory system and the substitution of new materials for old was making the need of economic protection for the work CTS increasingly imperative. Those of us who had opportunity to observe tendencies felt the responsibility to our l fellow workers to make the effort for protection and for future progress. Meager Beginnings. l There were but few paid trade union officials in those days, but after the days work was done, those with the vision and spirit of service gave the evening hours and holidays to the cause l of betterment of their fellow workers. More frequently than ndt the office ot i a trade union official was carried 1n his coat pocket and it's code of laws in his 1 heart and mind benefits, even strike assistance were irregular and unde- 1 pendable if provided at all; union rues 1 and union rules varied from city to city, if not from shop to shop. The | present trade union movement was i then in the making, aye, had hardly begun. l But the men who constituted that l Pittsburgh labor congress, III 1881, were as brainy and resourceful group as ever gathered; they were men who knew the joy and inspiration of service that entai1ed sacrifice. Service in the early trade union movement meant to 1 become a marked man whom employ ! CTS were reluctant to hire and who was 1 discharged first; whose family must forgo the comforts and often the necessaries of life; upon whose children the handicap attaching to the name of labor agitator" fell.
 Early Leaders.
 These very conditions of service in the. labor movement assured the cause selected men of unusual qualities. They were men of se1f-respect and character. 1 When the Pittsburgh labor congress set itself to the task of planning an organization, it studied the British | Trades Union Congress drafted slnl- lar plan, and organized the Federation 1 of Trades and Labor Unions of the 1 United States and Canada. In our l optimism we thought we had settled l our economic problems and that we needed only to consider the field of labor legislation. We elected as our executive, legislative committee, but i provided no salaries, no permanent office, no full-time representatives.
 From year to year we met, accom- plishing little, but keeping alive the calling attention to the needs of the workers, until there came a crucial contest in which the existance of trade unions was threatened. Then the trade unions set out the warning of danger and sent small group to carry by word of mouth a message to rouse la Dor. Again in 19So a national labor conference was called. This time 1t was designated trade union confer i ence to be composed of representatives of trade unions and to consider trade union problems The deliberations of that conference resulted in the forma- tion of our present American Fedora tion of Labor, with which the old Fed eration of Trades and Labor Unions was merged This new federation recognized only the trade union card as a credential and propoed to deal prismarily with economic problems. It was an organization that had no power and no authority except of a voluntary character. It was voluntary coming together of unions with common needs and common aims. That feeling of mutuality has been stronger bond of union than could be welded by any autocratic authority. Guided by volun- tary principles our federation has grown from a weakling into the strong est, best organized labor movement of all the world.
 So long as we have held fast to vol untary principles and have been actu- ated and inspired by the spirit of service, we have sustained our forward progress and we have made our labor movement something to be respected and accorded a place in the councils of our republic. Where we have blum dered into trying to force policy or a decision, even though wise and right, we have inpeded, if not interrupted, l,