versy, arbitration by the American Federation of Labor should be compulsory, and punishment should be meted out to any organization which refuses to live up to the award. At the present time, the American Federation of Labor can not always enforce its decisions upon strong unions, owing to the fear that a number of large national organizations may possibly take sides with the union which has lost in the arbitration. If, however, the national unions would all remain loyal to the organization and would insist upon both parties to the controversy living up to the award, a vast amount of injury might be avoided, and both the Federation and the several trade unions themselves would be infinitely strengthened in public estimation. The prestige and power of labor unions of the United States will be enhanced by any increase in the prestige and power of the American Federation of Labor, and will be lessened by any diminution of the estimation in which the Federation is held by the American people.

One of the most deplorable facts in the present status of labor organization in the United States is the refusal of the railroad brotherhoods to throw in their lot with the other workingmen connected with the trade union movement. There was ample and sufficient reason for refusing to join the Knights of Labor, which claimed jurisdiction over the individual members and endeavored to fuse the laboring people of the country into one single, unified body. There is, however, no such objection to joining the American Federation of Labor. By doing so the railroad brotherhoods would not surrender any part of their autonomy or power of self-direction. They could not be drawn against their will into sympathetic strikes or boycotts, and they could not be prevented or hindered from engaging in any strikes or other movements in which they desired to engage. Their adherence to the Federation would mean increased strength to that body and increased power to themselves, and it would bring to an end the policy of aloofness and separatism which has not yet completely died out in the labor movement.

CHAPTER XLVII

THE WORK BEFORE THE UNIONS

What Trade Unionism has Done and What Remains to be Done. Further Organization. Improving the Quality of Unionists. Labor Lyceums and Labor Journals. Raising the Efficiency of Workers. Maintaining Agreements. Raising Wages, Lowering Hours, Improving Conditions, Preventing Accidents. Compensating for Accidents. Progress and Social Reform.

'RADE unionism has accomplished much in the past and has behind it

TRAD

an honorable record of good work well done, but the time is not yet, nor will it ever come, when the unions may cease their activity, as a warrior takes off his armor and say that the task is done. With new conditions new problems arise, and with each advance in trade unionism, the amount of work to be done increases and the duty resting upon trade unions becomes more imperative.

The first work which lies before American trade unions is further organization. The strength of trade unions increases much more rapidly than does membership. Six million trade unionists in the United States would not be twice, but four or five times as powerful as three millions. Each new adherent to the unions makes firmer and stronger the position of every other unionist in the country. Especially should the unions endeavor to organize the men and women in the unskilled trades, and by making sacrifices for the less fortunate members of the working class, intensify the feeling of solidarity and brotherhood among all wage earners.

There are many ways in which trade unions might extend the beneficent influence which they now exert upon workmen. To a larger extent than at present, they should become social and intellectual centres. The locals or aggregations of locals should have permanent club rooms, where men might go to spend an evening, and they should possess

a few books, so that the leaders as well as the rank and file might be kept informed upon the subjects connected with their work or their position as workingmen. In every town one or more union assembly rooms should be found, where workingmen might secure the various trade union journals, and other labor papers, as well as books and magazines. In order that unionists might be enabled to obtain information upon many points and be afforded opportunity for mutual improvement, speakers from other trades or from other branches of the same union, as well as men entirely outside the movement should be invited to address local meetings.

One of the most effective methods of solidifying trade union sentiment is by the combination of various unions in the same locality for the maintenance of a common labor lyceum. Frequently, the local unions meet in the dingiest and worst kept of places, or often in bare rooms, back of saloons. These surroundings can not but have their effect upon the whole tone of the meeting, and the proximity of the place of meeting to a saloon renders intemperance easy and tends in many cases to drive away from the meetings the better class of unionists. Where unionists combine and share jointly in the expense of a common lyceum, with a sufficiently large assembly room and with suitable committee rooms, there is a greater chance that the meeting will be conducted in a sensible, orderly, and business-like manner and a better opportunity is afforded for men of various trades to meet and obtain from such intercourse a wider outlook, than is possible within a single local union.

The intellectual improvement of the trade unionist can also be furthered by means of the official journals of the unions and by other labor newspapers. The increase in the number and circulation, and the improvement in the quality, of trade union papers have been one of the most promising signs of progress in the past, and this improvement must continue in the future. The labor journals, besides giving the news and the gossip of the trade, already discuss matters of interest to labor and in the case of a number of journals afford the reader an opportunity to acquire a vast amount of technical information and thus promote his knowledge of his

trade. These journals should never be run for profit or in the interest of advertisers, and the price should be kept so low and the quality so high that the circulation will be extended as far as possible.

Trade unionism should also aim constantly to elevate the moral standard of workingmen. The members of trade unions must respect themselves, if they desire their unions to be respected. A strong union is not in itself sufficient to gain the regard, esteem, and good wishes of the community, and a union cannot be strong unless it is founded on the unselfish adherence of self-respecting men. Trade unionism, moreover, must do all in its power to make the workmen efficient and valuable employees. The trade unionist should in the future, even more than to-day, be distinguishable from the non-unionist by the cheerfulness and efficiency of his work. A union card should be the badge of honest effort and good workmanship. The unions cannot hope permanently to advance the wages and welfare of their members, unless they continue increasingly to enhance the ability and industry of the individual workman.

Trade unions must further extend the sphere of the trade agreement and must do everything in their power to improve the relations between employers and employed. The unions can even afford occasionally to forego slight and immediate advantages, if by so doing they can secure the permanent esteem and confidence of the employers of the nation. Above all, trade agreements, whether national or local, general or particular, formal or informal, written or oral, should be adhered to religiously and scrupulously. The word of the union must be better than its bond, and the action of the individual unionist must, under penalty of expulsion, be in accordance with the spirit as well as the letter of agreements.

Trade unionists have still much to do towards securing proper wages, reduced hours of work, and reasonable conditions of labor. The wages of workmen should be considerably higher than they are at the present time, and for the ordinary unskilled workingman, residing in towns of usual size, and working eight hours a day, an irreducible minimum of six hundred dollars should be secured. The hours of labor should, in practically all

industries, be reduced to eight, and the Saturday half-holiday should be everywhere secured. The unions should obtain the prevention of Sunday work except where it is a matter of absolute necessity or charity, and overtime should in all trades be so regulated that it will not become systematic. By means of trade union effort the conditions of the factories should be rendered far more sanitary than they are at present. Stringent laws should be enacted in securing the minute regulation of dangerous trades, and it should be taken out of the power of the individual workman to ruin his health, undermine his constitution, and poison and destroy his whole system by working under conditions annihilating to human kind. The factories themselves should be places where the workingmen of this country can find their work a source of pleasure instead of a wearisome round of tasks under degrading and disgusting conditions.

The trade unions should take the child off the street, out of the breaker, the mill, and the factory and put him to school; they should foresee and guard against every evasion of the laws regulating the employment of children. The abomination of the Southern cotton and tobacco factories should be wiped out entirely. The woman who toils should be protected in her capacity as bread winner; she should toil only under proper conditions, and the trade unions should persist in their efforts to improve conditions of women workers, upon whom so much of the burden of our factory life falls. Trade unions should protect the health and save the life and limb of the workers. They should enforce conditions which will guarantee the security of the men, women, and children at work and diminish the number of preventable accidents. Moreover, the unions should endeavor to obtain laws which will compensate workmen for accidents which cannot be prevented, so that men killed in the performance of their duties shall not leave widows and orphans dependent upon the charity of the community.

The protection of the widows and orphans of workingmen killed in the performance of their duties, is of grave importance to the community, but the right to such protection has not been fully recognized or adequately conceded. This is especially true in the United States. In this country,