Southwest Washington labor press. [volume] (Hoquiam, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1926-06-18
SAYS AGE
Of INDIVIDUALISM
IS GONE FOREVER
b Il. 4. Hedees

It was at the inaugural dinner to
William Green at Washington. All
Of the trade union world was repre-
sented. The movement was great with
historical significance. Big solid
trade union officials. who had seen
the American Federation Of Labor
struggle from feeble beginnings to q
place Of respect and power, their
wives, their younger assistants, gov
eminent officials. and foreign repre-
sentatives made up the gathering. Jim
Noonan, who was also being inaugu-
rated as vice president Of the Fedora
tion when he spoke struck note that
won instant response. ''The age Of
individualism Is past If Napoleon
had been in the late war, he never
would have got past a colonelcy,r he
asserted. He went on to draw y pic
ture Of modern life with its organi-
zation Of men into great industrial
groups; and he ended by showing the
futility and wrong headnesses Of pnny
individuals putting their private
whims above the good Of the mass.
There was something peculiarly
characteristic in this utterance. It
reveals Noonan and It reveals the
large and influential union which he
represents. Noonan; as president of
the international Brotherhood of Elec-
trical Workers since 1919, and vice.
president before that, and local Of
ficer before that, has been successful
In developing team play in this group.
Team play-unionism above individ-
ualism--is the religion Of electrical
workers.
But for this very reason it is diff
ficult to photograph Jim Noonan. 1t
Is hard to separate him from his
group. Unlike industrial autocrats,
such picturesque figures, as Jim Hill,
and Andrew CarneRie---men who al
lowed their pscuilarities to run into
eceantrieitisa Jim Noonan is. well--'a
trade. union official. He has given
his lie to the ioh, ana characteristic
cally Of him, he has made his job I
profession.
Beginning IS lineman, he has new
er allowed that branch Of the indus
try to lose its hold upon him. He has
followed that craft. into its present
day struggle With the power monon-
oily, and he has become an authority
on power problems. He represented
American labor at the World Power
Conference in London in 1924. At that
world convention, he submitted the on
ly paper dealing with organization Of
labor in the power field. Other dis
tinctions have come to him, but none
he prizes more.
Besides being vice-president of the
A r. Of L., Jim Noonan was vice.
president Of the Building Trades De-
pattment Of the Federation, and a
member Of the Board Of Jurisdiction.
Awards in the Building Industry.
He was labor representative appointed
by the president on the st. Lawrence
commission of the United States.
He has seen active service in the
labor movement for 35 years, begin
ming as a 14-year old boy, leaving
grammar school and trudging to the
Missouri mill with dinner pail in
the days when labor was almost de-
fenseless against the cruel tactics Of
the bosses. In 1908 he was president
Of Local No. 2, st. Louis, the birth
place Of his International union. In
1905 he was president Of Missouri
Illinois District Council, and became
vice-president Of the Union in 1905.
Big, genial with the Celts' gift for
story and genius for handling men,
Noonan has ably served his group
and the larger masses Of labor for 4
generation, never apparently forget
ting that the individual is lesser than
the GRIMM