Year: 1866

At large and influential meeting OF
the Iron Founders from all sections OF
the United States and Canada, convened
at the Rooms of the Board of Trade, in
the City of Albany, pursuant to a call in
that behalf, the following Preamble and
Resolutions were unanimously adopted
Whereas, The iron Moulders in differ.
emf sections of the country are seeking
nv concert of action and union among
themselves, to change the relations
which naturally exist between the en-
ployer and employee, assuming arbitrari.
iy 10 dictate the prices which shall be
paid by the employer, and to direct the
government of the workshop and the
management of the business of their enl-
ployers, as will more fully appear by a
reference to some of the rules and regu-
lations of the Iron Moulders' Interna-
tional Union, which are sought to be en-
forced in every Iron Foundery in the
United States and Canada, through the
agency of its local Unions, and which are
substantially as follows:


First That one apprentice, only
shall be permitted to every ten moulders
employed.


Second No moulder shall be per
mitted to work in any establishment
unless he be member of good standing
| of an Iron Moulders Union


Third Shop committees shall be APP
pointed by each local Union for each
| foundry within its district, for the pur-
pose of controlling prices aud enforcing
the necessary rules and regulations
| therein.


Fourth 1t is especially the duty Of
such Shop Committee 10 give all neces.
sary information to applicants for work,
and whether their services are required,
and if so, whether it be proper for such
| applicant to apply either to the employ
| er or the foreman tor employment
Fifth Should such applicant presume
to make direct application to the en-
ployer or his foreman tor work without
| first consulting the said Committee he
shall he fined the ,nm ot two dollars for
each offence


Sixth Should any Employer presume
| to exercise n control of III, own husi.
ness, and thereby infringe npOn any OF
| the aforesaid rules or regulations,
as, for example, to employ one or more
apprentices exceeding the number die
| tated by the Union or Shop Committee
or shonld he persist in furnishing en-
ployment TO moulder who is not a
| member of the Monlders' Union, such
action on the part of the Employer shall
| be deemed sufficient cause for "a strike"
and such shop is Immediately declared
| "sfyuck shop and work is discontinued
until the rules and regulations aforesaid
shall be re.established and observed
The Iron Founders of this country
have ever maintained the principle that
organizations for the purpose of array
ing capital as a force or element hostile
| to labor, are as obnoxious to the princi-
pies of sound political economy as they
are to the true spirit of our Republican
institutions We seek not, by the or
ganization which we contemplate, to de-
grade the mechanic or oppress the
workingman but, on the contrary, we
aim to dignity labor, and to elevate
those who are compelled by the sweat of
| their brow to earn their bread


We aim to emancipate the working
man from those arbitrary restrictions
upon his manhood, to which he has been
snbiugated by this Moulders Union, a
device of selfish men, more shrewd but
less honest than himself, and to allow to
him what we claim for ourselves, the
RIGHT TO the exercise of his own free will
and of that judgment with which God
has endowed him, TO exchange his own
labor for such remuneration, and with
such persons, and upon such terms, as
his own Judgment shall dictate to be for
bis advantage, tree from the interference
Of the crafty and designing among his
fellows, aud untrammelled BY the inso.
lent dictation of power as arbitrarily
exercised as it was inconsiderateIv Gre
ated.


Aud we especially seek the restoration


and maintenance of those personal


rights which legimately belong to us
as men aud American citizens the right


TO control and direct their own business,


as our own discretion may DICTATE. and


the right to make our own contracts


for labor. and with whomsoever we may


deem proper


And whereas, the odious ani oppress.


iva regulations of the Moulders' Union


to which we have alluded, and which By


no means embrace all that is obnoxious


in their organization, aim to divest us OF


these rights, which belong to Us at least
eoually with our employees; therefore


Resolved, That it is expedient and nee


essary to the protection OF the interests


of the Iron Founders of this country, tc