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I,.-,,-,.,-,,,,,.-,,,.- ',-4,- I )c )l ",. V-,, 7. 11I,'.' ",,,1',,, 4, —,,;;,... __-, ,..,Ij.-."-, 'I '-,; 4,.L '_I, ,,;-,_!., V';.':,I,, ,. -, -,, iII',,.1,,_. . '., ". lt'K.. -:A ".4,',,/',." -1,I-,-..Jll-,,,.,,,, "v t % 4,-",, -- i", I, 1%,kN \1 G\ ^ "I, NIN, ^ ^ i NEW YORK TRIBUNE STAFF IN THE EARLY FIFTIES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. Horace Greeley, First President of Typographical Union No. 6, is in the Center of the Group, Sitting; the Others, from Left to Right, Being Bayard Taylor, Thomas McElrath, John F. Cleveland, George N. Snow, George Ripley, and Charles A. Dana. NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NO. 6 STUDY OF A MODERN TRADE UNION AND ITS PREDECESSORS PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF JOHN WILLIAMS, COMMISSIONER OF LABOR, STATE OF NEW YORK BY GEORGE A. STEVENS Senior Statistician ALBANY J. B. LYON COMPANY, STATE PRINTERS 1913 :0: a.: f I a 4 3 PREFACE. OR many years there has been a continually increasing interest in the labor question and the labor movement. It is only through a close study of individual trades that important details relating to the subject can be gleaned; and as there attaches to the organization of printers a peculiar importance which claims a particular record of facts and events connected with its history, likewise because that trade is representative of and typifies that great body of Labor which is organized, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has selected it for an extended review, conformably with (_ the statute that empowers the Commissioner of Labor to inquire "in relation to all departments of labor in the State, especially in relation to the commercial, industrial, social and sanitary condition of workingmen and to the productive industries of the State." In preparing this study of a great trade union the essential object has been to present an authentic recital of the origin, rise and progress not only of Typographical Union No. 6, but of the protective associations of printers that preceded it, thus exhibiting a connected account of the organized branches of the printing industry in New York City for a period of 135 years - starting with the Revolutionary epoch and closing with the third calendar quarter of I9 I. So closely has the Typographical Union been associated with the industrial reform cause that it has been deemed eminently fitting to devote the opening chapter of this chronicle to a brief review of the modem labor movement at its inception in I850, reference to the principal trades taking part therein being contained in the retrospect. Vital questions that have affected the whole body of workers at other [iii] iv PREFACE. periods considered herein are also adverted to in the text, with a view to imparting an added value and interest to the narrative. No labor has been spared to make the work accurate and reliable. Manuscript minutes, documents of various kinds, files of old newspapers published in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, proceedings of National and International Typographical Union conventions, numerous rare books, reports of a public character -in fine, all available records bearing upon the subject have been carefully consulted in order to assure a complete presentation of necessary details. Any success that may attach to this volume is in large measure due to the sincere and generous co-operation of many people who are active in professional, industrial and commercial life. Especially do I wish to publicly express my gratitude to Mrs. Andrew W. Ford (nee Nixola Greeley-Smith), granddaughter of Horace Greeley, and Miss Jessie B. Colburn, daughter of Charles W. Colburn, for their kindness in placing at my disposal choice documents, letters, papers and photographs. It is with pleasure that I also extend my thanks to the American Type Founders Company, and especially to its representative, Henry L. Bullen, librarian of the unique Typographic Library and Museum in Jersey City, as well as to Robert H. Kelby, librarian of the New York Historical Society, for their uniform courtesy in according to me free and unreserved access to the book stacks and archives of those quasi-private libraries during the entire progress of my research. Likewise do I desire to convey my cordial acknowledgments to Hon. Joseph J. Little, of the J. J. Little and Ives Company, employing printers, New York City, for the loan of old and exceptionally valuable scales of prices of No. 6; to Frank A. Baxter, publisher and editor of the Ridgewood (N. J.) News, as well as to William F. Derflinger, with the Martin B. Brown Printing and Binding Company, New York City, for the use of circulars and reports issued by " Big Six " in the remote past; to William Briggs, PREFACE. V of the accounting department of the Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., for data, procured by him at the Congressional Library; to John A. Fivey, president of the New York Typographical Society, for placing in my possession the minutes of that society and of the New York Typographical Association; and to J. W. Hays, secretary-treasurer of the International Typographical Union, and Hugo Miller, second vice-president of that organization and secretary-treasurer of its German Branch, for material of considerable value. To the following members of Typographical Union No. 6 I most cheerfully extend expressions of my grateful appreciation for papers and pamphlets of much worth that they have lent me and for the many timely suggestions that they have offered in the course of my inquiry: President Charles M. Maxwell, Secretary-Treasurer John S. O'Connell; Hugh Dalton, George A. McKay, James M. Duncan, Charles J. Dumas, James J. Murphy, John H. Delaney and James Tole, former presidents; and James H. Breslin, James R. Cameron, Frederick W. Ferguson, Peter J. Flanagan, Bastable J. Hawkes, Owen J. Kindelon, William Lycett, William McCabe, John McKinley, Jr., David H. Moon, William Mounce, P. J. O'Connell, Sigmund Oppenheimer, James R. Pigott, James Rainnie, William S. Rood, Leon H. Rouse and George W. Waldron. Special Agents Thomas J. Hammill and William E. Pettit, of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, deserve special commendation for their diligent and efficient assistance in gathering and collating a mass of important facts; and I am also indebted to Pierre J. B. Haegy, librarian of the Department of Labor, for the excellence of his translations into English of several lengthy articles printed in a foreign language. NEW YORK, March, 1912. G. A. S. -71 CONTENTS. PAGE PREFACE............................................................. iii CHAPTER I.- RISE OF THE MODERN LABOR MOVEMENT.............. I I. Building and Stone Working................................ 3 Bricklayers and stone masons.......................... 4 Carpenters and joiners................................ 4 Journeymen housesmiths.................................... 6 Painters and decorators............................... 7 Plumbers and gas fitters............................... 7 M arble cutters....................................... 8 Stone cutters......................................... 8 Quarrym en........................................... 8 Building laborers...................................... 8 II. Clothing and Textiles..................................... 10 Journeymen tailors.................................. I1 H at finishers......................................... I6 Straw and pamilla sewers.............................. 6 Boot and shoe workers................................ 17 W hite work weavers.................................. I8 III. Metals, Machinery and Shipbuilding........................ 19 Boilermakers........................................ 19 Block and pump makers............................... 19 Workers in precious metals............................ 20 Ship riggers.......................................... 20 Ship sawyers......................................... 20 IV. Wood Working and Furniture.............................. 21 Cabinet m akers....................................... 21 Coach painters...................................... 21 Sash and blind makers................................ 22 T urners.............................................. 22 U pholsterers.......................................... 22 Window shade painters............................. 23 V. Food Products and Tobacco................................ 23 Journeymen bakers................................... 23 Confectioners......................................... 26 Cigar makers......................................... 27 VI. Retail Trade............................................. 27 Dry goods clerks...................................... 27 Boot and shoe clerks.................................. 31 VII. Miscellaneous Trades....................................... 31 Actors............................................... 31 Barbers............................................ 3I Coachmen...................................... 32 Public porters........................................ 32 Saddle and harness makers............................ 32 Tobacco pipe makers................................... 32 Journeymen type founders............................ 33 [viil vill CONTENTS. PAGE CHAPTER II.- UNIONS OF PRINTERS IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY... 34 I. Original Organization of Typographers..................... 34 II. The Typographical Society................................. 35 III. Franklin Typographical Association......................... 37 CHAPTER III. —NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, I809-I818...... 4I I. Initial Constitution...................................... 42 II. First By-Laws.......................................... 45 III. Geographical Jurisdiction................................. 47 IV. Upbuilding Efforts....................................... 48 V. Struggles for Increased Wages............................ 51 W age scale of I809.................................. 57 Effect of 1812 war................................... 60 Scale of prices in 1815............................... 6I VI. Regulating Apprenticeship System........................ 65 Futile effort to fix term.............................. 65 " Half-way journeymen "............................ 66 VII. In the Interest of the Unemployed........................ 70 Vigilance Committee................................. 70 Registering vacant situations and idle members......... 71 VIII. Traveling Cards Proposed................................ 72 Advantages of the system............................. 72 Why the plan could not be adopted................... 72 IX. Funds of the Society Safeguarded......................... 73 Unappropriated moneys invested in bank stock......... 74 X. Decadence as a Trade Union............................. 75 XI. Act of Incorporation Removes Its Protective Powers....... 78 Capable of suing and being sued...................... 78 Relief for distressed members......................... 79 Regulation of wages prohibited....................... 79 Ceases to be a trade union........................... 80 Prosperous benefit organization....................... 8o XII. Illustrious M embers..................................... 8I David H. Reins, first secretary....................... 8I Samuel Woodworth, the poet......................... 82 Peter Force, annalist................................ 94 Thurlow Weed, journalist and Warwick of American politics........................................... 98 Ellis Lewis, jurist................................... Ioo XIII. Celebrated Conspiracy Case.............................. I02 CHAPTER IV.- TYPOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK, I83I-1840. 105 I. Founding a Militant Trade Union........................... Io6 II. Fundamental Law......................................... Io6 Forceful introductory remarks........................... Io6 Depression caused by child labor........................ IO8 Excessive working hours on newspapers.................. IO8 Victims of unsanitary workshops........................ 10 IO8 Assisted immigration a menace.......................... 10 IO9 Incompetent workmanship discouraged................... IO9 Provision for relief of members.......................... 112 CONTENTS. ix PAGE CHAPTER V;- INCEPTION OF THE CHAPEL.......................... 114 I. Origin of the Chapel in Doubt............................. 115 Where Caxton set up his first press..................... I15 Derivation of the term in question...................... 118 Existed in medieval France and Belgium................ I18 II. Devotional Element the Prevailing Feature.................. II9 A quaint daily prayer for printers.............. 119 III. Earliest Description of the Institution....................... I20 Modern printers practice ancient customs................ I20 Ancient customs used in a printing house................ 121 Playing pranks upon pressmen forbidden................ I22 Institution of the wayz-goose........................... I23 Social customs in early printing offices................. 24 IV. Printing-House Regulations in 1740......................... 1 24 Unit of government in trade affairs..................... 124 Members obliged to submit to shop laws................ I25 Initiation of apprentices into trade mysteries............. 125 V. At the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century................. 125 VI. Regulations in Vogue about the Year I840................... I26 Sanctioned by master printers.......................... 126 A crime to find fault with decisions..................... 127 Peculiar penalties imposed............................. I27 Wage scales enforced with justness...................... 128 Preparing for an apprentice's initiation.............. I28 CHAPTER VI.- UNIFORM WAGE RATES ESTABLISHED................. 131 I. Adoption of Scale of Prices in I83I......................... 131 A journeyman not favorably impressed............ I32 Earnings of compositors on piecework................... 132 Difference between newspaper and book prices........... 33 II. Revision of Scale in 1833................................... 34 III. Wage Changes in Subsequent Years........................ 137 Identical piece rate for day and night work.............. 137 Newspaper scale revised and working time regulated...... 137 IV. Panic of 1837 Seriously Affects Printing Trade............... 138 Employers combine to reduce wa ges.................... 39 Journeymen urged to sustain prevalent rates............. 139 Life's necessaries higher than when scale was adopted.. 139 Higher wages, but longer working time.................. 141 Strikes in three large establishments............. 141 Union declines to suspend list of prices............. 142 CHAPTER VII.- UNFAIR LISTS..................................... 143 " Rat " circulars widely distributed............................. 143 General amnesty proclaimed................................ 144 Boycotting non-union concerns................................. 45 Suit instituted for alleged libelous attack........................ 46 CHAPTER VIII. —ASSISTED IMMIGRATION OF PRINTERS DENOUNCED. 147 Employers mislead foreign journeymen.......................... 47 Influential journal impugns master printers' methods............. 47 X CONTENTS. PAGE CHAPTER IX.- FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO OTHER TRADES.............. 149 Turn-out of carpenters for better wages.......................... 149 Hatters struggle to maintain their union...................... I49 Pecuniary relief for tailors and leather dressers................... I50 CHAPTER X.- OTHER IMPORTANT TRANSACTIONS..................... 151 Priority rights accorded to idle members......................... 151 Religious discussion eschewed................................... 151 Establishing a library for printers............................... 152 Honoring Lafayette's memory................................. 152 A labor temple projected....................................... 153 Establishing a one-cent daily labor paper..................... 153 CHAPTER XI.- PIONEER NATIONAL TYPOGRAPHICAL CONVENTION...... I55 I. Special Address to Local Unions............................ 155 Employment of apprentices regulated................... 156 Wage scale, strikes and " rat " circulars............... 156 Traveling cards authorized............................. 157 II. General Appeal to Printers................................. 157 Reasons for concerted action........................... I58 Workingmen legally entitled to organize................. 58 Evils of surplus boy labor........................... 158 III. New York Delegates Report............................... I59 From New York to Washington 75 years ago............ 159 IV. Second National Conclave of Union Printers.................. I60 Convention held in New York City.................... I6o Revision of the constitution............................ 16 CHAPTER XII.- FIRST GENERAL TRADES UNION ORGANIZED.......... 62 Printers suggest original central labor union...................... 162 Decided conviction of its utility............................... 162 Efficient aid to all branches.................................... 162 Auspicious event commemorated............................... I65 Notable conspiracy trials..................................... I75 Labor enters politics...................................... 175 CHAPTER XIII.- A CELEBRATED PRINTER-ORATOR - ELY MOORE..... 177 I. Agitation Against Contract Prison Labor............. I77 Appointed on Prison Commission........................ 177 Harmful to manufacturers and mechanics................. I78 Reasons for employing prisoners......................... 179 Convict labor on public works impracticable.............. 80 Contract system unrestricted............................ I80 Making of imported articles suggested as a solution........ 18 Manufacture of locks in penal institutions................ 82 II. Labor's First Congressman.................................. I84 Elected to the Twenty-fourth Congress................... I84 Prison labor report discussed............................ 85 Retains the confidence of workingmen.................... I86 Member of Twenty-fifth Congress....................... I87 Speaks against national banking system.................. 187 Opposes abolition petitions.............................. 88 CONTENTS. xi CHAPTER XIII.-A CELEBRATED PRINTER-ORATOR-ELY MOORE -(Cont.) II. Labor's First Congressman -(Continued.) PAGE Fulfillment of a dire prophecy........................... Io9 Favors doctrine of State rights.......................... 90 Other honors conferred................................. 191 CHAPTER XIV.- DECADENCE OF A MILITANT TRADE UNION........... 192 Ruinous system of two-thirders................................. 192 Strike of Washington journeymen............................... 192 Manual labor school........................................... I93 Denunciation of Gen. Duff Green, Public Printer.....:............ I93 Typographical Association collapses............................. 194 CHAPTER XV.- FRANKLIN TYPOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATION............. 195 Scale of prices adopted........................................ 195 Employers concede demands..................................... 96 Victory acclaimed by discharge of artillery....................... 196 House of Call opened.......................................... 197 Horace Greeley advises printers to join union.................... 197 Master printers decide to reduce wages.......................... I98 Union protests against cut in compensation...................... 198 Sixth union of printers dissolves............................... 200 CHAPTER XVI.- NEW YORK PRINTERS' UNION...................... 201 I. Motives That Impelled Organization........................ 202 First preliminary meeting.............................. 202 II. Initial Constitution....................................... 203 III. Horace Greeley Chosen President........................... 205 First working card.................................... 205 IV. Becomes Typographical Union No. 6........................ 206 Lots drawn to determine charter numbers............... 206 CHAPTER XVII.- MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES................. 208 I. Inquiry Before Action................................ 208 Investigators report on state of trade............... 208 Worst features in small shops...................... 209 Low wage rates and earnings...................... 21 Long working hours.............................. 210 Bad and irregular pay............................ 211 Unfair distribution of copy........................ 212 Chief causes of evils............................ 212 Menace of superfluous boy labor................... 213 Incompetent floating workmen..................... 215 Uniform wage scale............................... 216 Unvarying apprenticeship system.................. 216 Formation of chapels suggested.................... 217 Employers favor better conditions.................. 217 Industrial co-operation the ultimate cure............ 28 II. Printers' Mass Meeting Considers the Report........... 219 Horace Greeley addresses the general trade.......... 219 State of trade report approved..................... 222 Union requested to prepare a scale of prices......... 222 xii CONTENTS. CHAPTER XVII. - MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES - (Continued.) PAGE III. First Scale Committee Appointed...................... 223 Horace Greeley agitates for uniform wages.......... 224 Majority of employers reject proposed scale......... 225 Albany Printers' Union extends well wishes......... 225 IV. Adoption of First Scale of Prices....................... 225 V. General Trade Meeting Endorses Union's Action........ 232 Greeley chief spokesman.......................... 234 Views of a veteran printer......................... 235 Treasurer Rooker proud of his union membership.... 236 Effective organization required..................... 237 VI. Enforcing the Scale................................... 237 Sustaining members on strike.................... 238 Union opposed by Journal of Commerce............. 239 Editor Greeley takes up the printers' cudgels........ 242 Short and successful strike...................... 244 Chapels thank employers......................... 245 VII. Agitation for Higher Pay in I853....................... 245 Journal of Commerce renews its opposition.......... 249 Greeley criticises the course of the Journal of Commerce........................................ 252 VIII. Rise and Development of a Rival Union................ 258 News compositors actively aggressive............... 258 Rival union unfavorable to sick benefits........... 259 Harmony among journeymen urged by Horace Greeley. 26I Adoption of book and job scale by rival union....... 261 Book and job compositors form Printers' Co-operative Union......................................... 262 Inharmony invades the trade...................... 262 Employers object to demands...................... 263 Co-operatives' price list readjusted................. 264 Union No. 6 revises book and job scale............. 264 Widening breach between two organizations......... 265 National Union takes part in controversy........... 266 Petition of Co-operatives not granted............... 268 " Big Six" makes peace overtures................. 269 National Union again memorialized................. 271 Co-operatives' application denied................... 274 Dissolution of New York Printers' Co-operative U nion......................................... 275 IX. W age Scale of I857................................... 275 Financial crash causes an industrial depression...... 275 Newspaper scale reduced......................... 276 X. Book and Job Scale Advanced in I863.................. 277 XI. Disputes on Newspapers in 1864....................... 278 Employers satisfied with first scale revision in I864... 278 Wage scale revised twice in 1864................... 279 Proprietors object to two increases in one year...... 281 Greeley thinks proposed increase unreasonable........ 282 CONTENTS. xiii CHAPTER XVII. - MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES - (Continued.) XI. Disputes on Newspapers in I864-(Contined.) PAGE Refusal to set " ad" for non-unionists causes Tribune strike......................................... 286 General strike ordered............................ 288 Union's position defined at mass meeting........... 288 Hardships of morning paper printers............... 290 The Times discharges its union compositors......... 295 " Big Six " renews friendly relations with Greeley.... 295 XII. Book and Job Dispute in 1869......................... 296 Distinction between manuscript and reprint eliminated. 296 Demand for higher wages precipitates a strike....... 296 Mutual concessions settle strike.................... 302 Compromise on scale of prices..................... 303 XIII. In the Early Seventies................................ 304 Newspaper wage scale readjusted................... 305 Industrial crisis of I873........................... 305 XIV. Book and Job Strike and Wage Reduction in 1876....... 306 Wage scale proposed by employers................. 306 General strike, with a compromise in some offices.... 307 XV. Wages Decreased on Newspapers in 1876................ 308 XVI. Book, Job and Morning Newspaper Scales Suspended.... 309 XVII. Upbuilding Process Begins............................ 309 Reverses impel prudence.......................... 309 Renewal of hard times in 1882..................... 311 XVIII. Revival of Wage Scale in 1883........................ 311 Committee opposed to adopting scale.............. 3I Lockout results in fixing book scale at 35 cents per I,OOO ems..................................... 313 Complete scale adopted........................... 314 Successful general strike........................... 316 XIX. Increase for Newspaper Composition in 1887............ 316 XX. Book and Job Controversy in 1887..................... 317 Increased book scale and card shops demanded...... 317 Employers solicit services of State Arbitration Board. 318 Contest for strictly union offices begins............. 319 Union declines arbitration......................... 320 Proprietors willing to pay scale, but oppose closed shop 321 Defeat for the union.............................. 322 XXI. Partial Reduction of Book Scale in 1889................ 323 XXII. Brief Newspaper Strike in 1889........................ 323 Reduction of wages attempted..................... 324 Form of settlement accepted....................... 324 XXIII. General Introduction of Composing Machines, I890-I894... 326 Machine scale of I887 not effective................. 327 Introduction of linotype machines.................. 327 Union favors composing devices.................... 329 First scale for machine composition................ 329 School of instruction proposed..................... 331 Machine schedule for bookwork.................... 336 Opposed to restriction of output................... 337 xiv CONTENTS. CHAPTER XVII. - MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES - (Continued.) PAGE XXIV. Effect of the I893 Panic on Wages..................... 338 XXV. Scale Amendments in 1897 and 1898................... 339 Borrowing matrices prohibited..................... 339 Overtime rates readjusted for job printers........... 340 Scale for machine-tenders........................ 341 Striving to abolish piece system in book offices....... 341 XXVI. Increases for Book and Job Compositors in 902......... 342 Agreement with Typothete........................ 343 XXVII. Proceedings Under First Newspaper Arbitration Plan in 344 I90................................... 344 Arbitrating demand for an advance................ 346 Union's reasons for advance in wages............... 347 Argument of publishers for decreased rates.......... 348 Decision against the union........................ 352 XXVIII. Revision of Newspaper Scale in 907................... 354 Demands made by the union...................... 354 Counter-proposition of publishers.................. 355 Recourse to local arbitration....................... 355 Local tribunal in deadlock......................... 357 National arbitrators raise rates.................... 357 XXIX. Newspaper Workers Secure Increased Wages in 1910..... 358 Local arbitration unsuccessful...................... 358 Rates increased by national arbitrators.............. 360 XXX. Advances in Wage Scale of Book and Job Printers, Adopted in 1910....................................... 364 Formation of Printers' League of America........... 364 Union accepts arbitration plan of Printers' League... 365 CHAPTER XVIII.- MOVEMENTS FOR SHORTENING HOURS OF LABOR.... 368 I. Eight-Hour Demonstration in I871......................... 369 II. Movement for Eight-Hour Day in I872..................... 369 III. Discussion of the Question in the Eighties................... 370 IV. Machines Decrease Working Time on Daily Newspapers....... 371 V. Book and Job Printers Move for the Nine-Hour Day.......... 372 Daily hours reduced to nine and one-half................ 374 National agreement for the shorter working day.......... 375 Nine-hour law successfully instituted.................... 376 VI. Eight-Hour System in Book and Job Offices.................. 376 International Union declares for the eight-hour day...... 376 Opposition of Typothetae to shorter working day.......... 377 New York union active in the movement................ 377 Independent concerns grant the demand................. 378 Typotheta shops lost to the union...................... 379 An injunction, followed by contempt proceedings......... 379 CHAPTER XIX.- CELEBRATED INDIVIDUAL STRIKES.................. 384 Strikes on the Tribune......................................... 384 Controversies with the New York Sun........................... 396 Strikes on the W orld.......................................... 402 Trouble on the New York Times............................... 404 CONTENTS. XV CHAPTER XIX.- CELEBRATED INDIVIDUAL STRIKES -(Continud.) PAGE Brooklyn Daily Eagle dispute.................................. 405 Controversy with the Mail and Express......................... 407 Union loses office of Evening Post............................... 407 CHAPTER XX.- NUMERICAL STRENGTH AND UPBUILDING EFFORTS..... 413 Panic of 1857 depletes ranks of the union........................ 413 Upbuilding efforts in 1859.................................. 414 Membership loss during the Civil War.......................... 415 General amnesty augments the rolls in 1868..................... 416 Work of rejuvenation in I883................................... 416 Growth since creation of office of organizer....................... 418 Effect of the 1906 strike on the membership.4.............. 419 Membership each year from I850............................ 420 CHAPTER XXI.- WOMEN PRINTERS............................... 421 Employment of women printers begins in New York in I853....... 422 Union discourages entrance of women to printing trade............ 422 Greeley favors employment of women compositors................. 424 Equal rights' advocates seek Labor's recognition.................. 429 The World dismisses its women typesetters...................... 431 First Women's Typographical Union formed in New York......... 432 Women refuse to take places of striking men................... 433 " Big Six " pleads for a charter for Women's Union No. I.......... 434 International Union consents to formation of women's organizations. 435 Miss Lewis chosen corresponding secretary of International........ 436 Women printers unable to obtain same wages as men.............. 438 Union No. 6 demands revocation of women's charter.............. 438 Women's Union No. I dissolves................................. 439 Full pay for women in men's organization....................... 440 CHAPTER XXII.- CHAPEL SYSTEM ESTABLISHED.................... 441 CHAPTER XXIII.- REPRESENTATIVE FORM OF GOVERNMENT IN UNION AFFAIRS...................................... 447 Pronouncement for delegate system in 1871.4.................... 447 First Board of Delegates....................................... 449 Second Board of Delegates..................................... 450 Third Board of Delegates...................................... 450 CHAPTER XXIV.- HOUSE OF CALL CREATED....................... 452 CHAPTER XXV.- APPRENTICESHIP QUESTION........................ 454 Regulation of apprenticeship at the beginning.................. 454 State law relative to apprentices................................ 455 Restrictive measures cause strike................................ 457 Apprentices not allowed on daily papers......................... 461 Newspaper apprenticeship revived.............................. 462 Broadening apprenticeship regulations........................... 464 International course in printing................................. 465 CHAPTER XXVI.- FUNDS OF THE UNION.......................... 468 Sources from which revenues are derived......................... 468 Treasury amply safeguarded.................................... 469 Receipts and expenditures...................................... 470 Compensation of officers and committeemen...................... 471 xvi CONTENTS. PAGE CHAPTER XXVII.- BENEFICIAL FEATURES......................... 472 I. Unemployment Benefits.................................. 474 Helping its unemployed in 1857-8...................... 474 Succoring idle members in the seventies................. 475 Temporary aid given in 1885......................... 476 Permanent benefit fund follows advent of machines.... 477 Making benefits a constitutional right, not a charity..... 479 Unemployment benefits paid in eighteen years........... 481 II. Farm Project for Idle Printers............................. 484 Tilling the soil in Pelham Bay Park.................... 486 Experiences in Bound Brook, New Jersey............... 488 Agricultural undertaking abandoned................ 492 III. Pensions for Superannuated Members....................... 492 Local old-age benefits................................. 492 International pensions for aged members................ 493 IV. Union Printers' Home.................................... 494 V. H ospital Beds............................................ 500 Permanent Committee on Health and Sanitation........ 501 Improvement in workshop conditions................... 504 VI. Mortuary Benefits...................5.................. 504 Amounts paid in fifteen years......................... 506 Increase in the length of printers' lives................. 507 Record of deaths in 52 years.......................... 508 Union provides places of sepulture..................... 509 VII. Disbursements in Benefits for Fifteen Years................. 509 CHAPTER XXVIII. - THE UNION LABEL.......................... 511 Printing Trades Federation.5.............................. 512 Allied Printing Trades Council.................................. 513 State law legalizing union labels................................ 515 CHAPTER XXIX.- PRISON LABOR.................................. 516 Printing contract annulled..................................... 516 Contract system unfair to capital and free labor.................. 519 Restricting typesetting in prisons............................... 520 Constitution forbids competitive prison work.................... 521 CHAPTER XXX.- PUBLIC HOLIDAYS FOR WORKING PEOPLE.......... 522 Labor D ay................................................... 522 Saturday Half Holiday......................................... 523 CHAPTER XXXI.- TARIFFS AND COPYRIGHTS........................ 527 Printers demand high duties on imported books............... 527 International Copyright Law advocated by Union No. 6......... 528 CHAPTER XXXII.- PRIORITY LAW................................. 529 CHAPTER XXXIII.- MILEAGE SYSTEM FOR TRAVELING PRINTERS...... 533 CHAPTER XXXIV.- OTHER PRINTING TRADES ORGANIZATIONS....... 536 I. Brooklyn Printers......................................... 536 II. German Printers.......................................... 541 III. Pressm en................................................ 556 IV. M achine-Tenders......................................... 558 V. Woman's Auxiliary........................................ 565 CONTENTS. XVii PAGE CHAPTER XXXV.- GENERAL ORGANIZATION OF PRINTERS............ 567 National convention of journeymen printers in New York City.... 568 Second general meeting of the craft............................. 573 National Typographical Union founded.......................... 577 General conventions of I862 and 1885 in New York City........... 578 CHAPTER XXXVI.- STATE TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION.................. 583 State Allied Printing Trades Council formed..................... 583 CHAPTER XXXVII. —AFFILIATION WITH THE GENERAL LABOR MOVEMENT.................................... 585 National Labor Union......................................... 585 New York State workingmen's conventions....................... 586 City central labor organizations................................. 592 CHAPTER XXXVIII.- PUBLIC PRINTING............................ 595 Contract system deprecated by I850 convention.................. 595 Opposition to a public printery in Washington................... 595 Union No. 6 urges creation of State Printing House............... 598 Governor vetoes State Printing Office Bill........................ 598 CHAPTER XXXIX.- PRINTING EXPOSITION......................... 602 CHAPTER XL.- MATTERS OF GENERAL IMPORT...................... 604 Patriotic sentiment expressed................................... 604 Celebrating the completion of the Atlantic cable................. 606 Non-interference with the freedom of the press................... 607 Objection to use of steam presses for printing currency............ 608 Union No. 6 co-operates with Church Association for the Advancement of the Interests of Labor.............................. 608 Women's Trade Union League................................. 612 Espouses peace among nations.................................. 613 CHAPTER XLI.- UNION PRINTERS WHO ATTAINED DISTINCTION........ 16 I. First President of " Big Six"................................... 616 Horace Greeley assumes presidency of Printers' Union..... 616 Early career of the printer-editor........................ 617 Experiences as a tramp printer.......................... 617 Initial venture as employer............................. 618 Consistent exponent of co-operation...................... 619 Interest in the general labor movement.................. 620 Ever alert to improve craft conditions................... 623 Public reception tendered to Greeley by " Big Six ".......... 623 Death of Horace Greeley............................... 625 Union No. 6 feelingly deplores his demise................. 626 Rearing a monument to his memory..................... 626 Statue of Greeley erected by union printers............... 632 Horace Greeley centenary............................... 636 II. Other Prominent Members.................................. 643 Charles Walter Colbun................................ 643 Franklin J. Ottarson................................... 646 Robert M cKechnie..................................... 648 Hon. Amos Jay Cummings............................. 651 John C. Reid.......................................... 654 xviii CONTENTS. CHAPTER XLI.-UNION PRINTERS WHO ATTAINED DISTINCTION-(Cont.) II. Other Prominent Members -(Continued.) PAGE John R. O'Donnell..................................... 656 John W. Touhey....................................... 658 Wesley Washingthn Pasko............................... 659 Gov. George Wilbur Peck, of Wisconsin................... 660 Isaac W. England........................................ 661 Hon. Joseph J. Little..................................... 665 Presidents of Typographical Union No. 6................. 666 ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE New York Tribune staff in early fifties of nineteenth century....... Frontispiece. ' George Bruce, first secretary of Franklin Typographical Association of New York, in 1799, and afterward a celebrated type founder........ 37 David Bruce, vice-president of Franklin Typographical Association of New York, in 1799, and subsequently a noted inventor and type founder. 38 Samuel Woodworth, union printer and poet, author of " The Old Oaken Bucket "....................................................... 82 Peter Force, president of New York Typographical Society in 1815, and distinguished American annalist................................... 94 Thurlow Weed, union printer, journalist, and Warwick of American politics......................................................... 98 Ellis Lewis, member of New York Typographical Society, in 1817, and Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.................... Ioo Ely Moore, eminent union printer, celebrated orator, and Labor's first Congressman.................................................. 177 Charter issued by National Typographical Union to New York Typographical Union No. 6........................................... 20I Reproduction of first working card issued by Horace Greeley as president of New York Printers' Union...................................... 205 Charter issued by National Typographical Union to New York Women's Typographical Union No. I...................................... 421 First union labeladopted by Typographical Union No. 6, in I89I, and subsequent labels used by that organization............................ 511 Charter issued by International Typographical Union to New York Typographical Union No. 6...................................... 567 Horace Greeley, as he appeared when he became president of New York Printers' Union in I85o.......................................... 6i6 Statue of Horace Greeley erected by union printers in Greeley Square, New York City................................................. 632 Inscription on base of statue of Horace Greeley in Greeley Square, New York City................................................... 634 Charles Walter Colbum, whose signature was the first one affixed to the initial constitution of New York Printers' Union, and who received working card No. i, issued by Horace Greeley, as president........... 643 [xix] I CHAPTER I. RISE OF THE MODERN LABOR MOVEMENT. IT was at the threshold of America's Golden Age that the New York Printers' Union (which eventually became Typographical Union No. 6, familiarly known as " Big Six " throughout the industrial world,) had its inception. From California had come the gladsome tidings that mines of fabulous wealth had been uncovered, and this discovery on the Pacific Slope of the most precious metal marked an important era in the life of the nation. Emigration to the farthest West commenced with the earliest intelligence that the mountains of the remotest comer of the continent had yielded their inexhaustible treasures to the hand of the delving explorer, and this exodus increased in proportion to the amount of gold that was taken from the earth. Great improvement in business ensued. Large quantities of the yellow metal were mined, producing an immediate change in the value of the currency and creating a revolution in the prices of commodities. Labor, particularly in New York City, experienced the influence of these rapid alterations in conditions. Realizing that their earnings were not commensurate with the demands consequent upon the upward tendency of the cost of living, the workmen sought to broaden and better their economic standard through organization. In the closing days of I849 formation of unions began among a few Metropolitan trades in a small way, the printers being in the van of this uplift effort, but by the advent of the succeeding spring quite a number of protective associations had sprung into existence and the modem labor movement was then firmly launched. Industrial co-operation received much attention in those days, and labor copartnerships were entered into by several trades, with some degree of success. A Co-operative Labor League was formed in December, i850, the plan of which embodied these regulations: The officers of the League to contract with large dealers to supply the members of the League with articles of general consumption of good quality and at fair market prices. 2 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. The contractors to establish depots in such localities as may be indicated by the officers of the League for the convenience of the members. The contractors, in consideration of the custom of the League, to allow per cent discount on the entire amount of money taken by them. The members to be supplied with books issued by the League - such books to be taken to the depot when any article is purchased, and the amount expended to be entered in the book. The discount shall be computed from these books, and paid by the contractor to the League and returned to the members of the League. All transactions of the League to be for ready money. A central association called the Industrial Congress was established, and the unions were well represented in that body, through whose activity the labor cause was extended and invigorated. At its inception, on June 5, i85o, 83 delegates from 50 organizations were present and took part in the proceedings. It petitioned the Common Council of the city on August 6, I850, urging " that (i) the contract system on public work be totally abolished; that (2) no person be employed as a superintendent of or have charge of any department of our public works who has not served an apprenticeship to, and is thoroughly conversant with, the branch of business committed to his care; that (3) the lowest wages to be paid to laboring men engaged on the public work be $I.25 per day, and that (4) no person whatever be discharged from the public service solely on account of his political opinions." Another field of discussion that it entered was that favoring "the enactment of a bill constituting a proper district surveyor, who shall direct the erection of all buildings within his district, investigate all dwelling houses, and prohibit the tenanting of all houses not in a position to accommodate (with proper regard to the public health) the tenants." In October, I85o, after deliberating upon the homestead question, which was then a popular theme, the Congress unanimously assented to this proposition: " That the State be requested to pass bonds for and raise $i,ooo,ooo, with which to locate on land families who are anxious for homes, with five years to pay the homestead thus granted; and that, in case at the expiration of that period such parties are not in a condition to pay one-half and the county the other half, the time shall be extended to allow the recipients to liquidate the debt." Associated work people also assembled in the different wards of the city and discussed subjects of public interest. At one of these mass meetings, held in the Eighteenth Ward in August, I85o, resolutions were adopted " (i) against the traffic in public lands, (2) in favor of abolishing or amending all laws which favor Capital at the expense of Labor, (3) that eight hours ought to constitute a day's RISE OF THE MODERN LABOR MOVEMENT. 3 work on public contracts, and (4) to carry out these views that an Industrial Committee be appointed for the ward." No element of the industrial community labored more zealously to promote the welfare of the crafts than the German artisans, who had nightly gatherings and formed many occupations into unions, finally creating the United Trades, a central commission composed of men who spoke the Teutonic language, which organization became a potent factor in the agitation for reforms. From the capital of the State emanated words of encouragement and caution, as expressed by the union of Albany typographers, who hailed " with gratification the movement now going forward among the workingmen of this State, irrespective of class, and we look with a hopeful desire to the accomplishment of some great good to their cause; that the power of elevating the condition of workingmen is wholly with themselves, when they are firmly united and their action is impelled by moderation and wisdom;. that it is a duty which they owe to themselves and to their successors that they unite upon bases of principles by which to abide through all the trials and vicissitudes with which they may meet." The general tone of the public press was favorable to the endeavors that were being put forth by the workers. " The strikes which commenced among the mechanics and workingmen of this city a short time since are still going on, and we must again express our satisfaction at the manner in which these strikes and meetings continue to be conducted," commented the New York Herald editorially in its issue of April 8, 850. " The workingmen confine themselves to the matters which they assemble to deliberate upon, and take no heed of absurd and ridiculous theories. This is all right and proper." Such were practically the sentiments of most of the journals of the period. The i850 movement among the leading trades in different industries is briefly described below: I. Building and Stone Working. As at present, building was the leading New York City industry. Beneficial societies had for many years existed among a limited number of trades in this line of business. These added protective features to their benevolent work, while to others combination was a new venture. 4 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. The Benevolent Society of Operative Masons, composed of bricklayers and stone masons, was organized in 1843 and incorporated in 1844. As a mutual aid association it had been Bricklayers successfully conducted. With the beginning of and 1850, however, it determined to transform itself into Stone Masons. a trade union. There were 600 members on its roster on April 24th of that year when it met at 76 Prince street for the purpose of inaugurating a crusade against the sub-contracting system. The matter was then discussed, but formal action was not taken until May 7th following, when at a crowded meeting denunciatory resolutions were adopted. After preambling that "among that portion of the community known as contractors in stone and brick it has become an established practice to give out the building of cellars, basements, etc., by sub-contract to men who are not mechanics and therefore in no way competent to carry out such responsibilities safely and properly," the union resolved: I. That we, the journeymen stone masons and bricklayers of the City of New York, look upon these practices as an evil and a great detriment, not only to the trade, but to owners of real estate, which it behooves us, as men and mechanics knowing, to expose. 2. That we further look upon it as an infringement upon our rights and as such it becomes our duty to repudiate it. 3. That in disapproving these infringements it further becomes our duty as mechanics, whether belonging to the Operative Masons' Society or not, to unite in a body and adopt measures whereby we may for the future more safely guard our property, which is our industry, the most precious and sacred we can possess on earth. Before the adjournment of the session a vote of thanks to the press for its friendly attitude was unanimously carried. Partial success was the outcome of this attempt to abolish the " lumping " system. Up to i85I masons received $I.50 per day, but on March 26th of that year the society held a special meeting and ordered " that on and after the fourteenth of April ensuing no member shall work for less than $2 per day." Employers conceded the advance of 50 cents in the price of the daily labor of these mechanics, who on Saturday, April 26th, marched in procession through the principal streets of the city to commemorate the occasion. Pioneer Temple No. I, House Carpenters' Protective Association, although organized in March, I844, had not acCarpenters complished as much in the way of establishing a just oiners. rate of wages as it desired, but the general struggle of i850 served to strengthen its original aims. It was a secret order, having rites, ceremonies, grips, signs and passwords. Most of the men who founded it had previously belonged to various RISE OF THE MODERN LABOR MOVEMENT. 5 carpenters' societies, which rarely existed in a flourishing condition for more than six months. Anxious to avoid the rocks on which these preceding associations had split, they formulated a series of principles that never before had been put into execution by a union of these workers. They declared that " () the interests of the employer and employee are one and the same when properly understood; therefore the interests of the trade require that they should act together to overthrow those obstacles which depress Labor. Acting on this principle any competent carpenter of sober, industrious habits is eligible for membership in the association. That (2) a knowledge of the principles of the science of mechanics and architecture as applied to house carpentry is very essential to the perfecting of every carpenterin the knowledge of his business and as it is natural to suppose those who best understand their business will generally receive the highest wages, we feel it to be our interest to promote this knowledge among our members." To effect this object the discussion of questions pertaining to mechanical science was part of the regular business of the union on meeting nights and much valuable information to the members was thereby acquired. Seven hundred members of this organization assembled on March I, I850, and decided to seek a raise in wages. Pursuant to such resolution application had been made at the different workshops for this advance. In some instances the increased scale was granted, while in others it was refused conditionally. On March 8th an adjourned meeting was held at American Hall, Broadway and Grand street, to receive reports from a committee that had been appointed to confer with the employing carpenters. It was stated by the committee that many employers had consented to raise the price to $.7 5, but that others demurred till examples were generally set. Considerable discussion ensued as to the nature of the advance - whether it should be a uniform rate of $I.75 or an increase of 25 cents on existing rates, which varied from $1.25 to $i.50 per day. The resolution of the former meeting to strike for a uniform rate of $I.75 was put and carried amid loud cheering. It was further agreed to assemble on March i th for the purpose of a public demonstration by procession through the streets, and a visit to the different jobs. Likewise it was determined that the men should return to work on March 12th for employers who consented to the advance, and that the others should hold out till their terms were agreed to. A good-sized gathering of journeymen convened on the evening of March Ixth at Convention Hall in Wooster street. At that meeting the reading of the names of 52 firms who had agreed to pay $1.75 was greeted with 6 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. applause. Steps were also taken to effect a more cohesive organization. Not long after the attainment of this improved condition apathy began to appear in the ranks of the carpenters. In May at a regular session of the union this listless feeling was reprobated by a number of members. A report was submitted to the effect that several employers had cut wages to $1.621 a day. President M. Harris then advocated the opening of co-operative shops as a means of accomplishing the requirements of the journeymen. The subject was discussed by others, but a conclusion was not reached. As the building season waned, two rates prevailed in the trade - $I.62k and $1.75 per day. This fact developed at a meeting which took place on December 6th, when reports were received from 25 shops, showing that there were both minimum and maximum rates, while in one shop, where the employer had attempted to reduce the price to $I.50, the men had struck. At the same meeting a plan was submitted for reducing the hours of labor to eight per day and securing homes at a reasonable figure for members of the trade. Consideration of the subject was deferred, and at subsequent meetings considerable debate on the eight-hour question was indulged in, but without decisive action. The matter of wages again received attention at the February, I85I, meeting of the association, when the scale committee, while urging against recourse to strikes, suggested the enrolling of I,500 men pledged not to work for less than $I.87A per day from the tenth of March to the tenth of November. A general meeting of journeymen housesmiths was held at the Fourteenth Ward Hotel, Grand and Elizabeth streets, on March I2, I850, to hear a report from their delegates. BenJourneymen jamin Gott was chosen chairman and Isaac Hough Housesmiths. secretary. There were at the time 300 housesmiths in New York City and vicinity and 200 of these were represented as being favorable to the formation of a permanent organization. The meeting considered the question of rising prices of food, clothing, fuel and rents and embodied its views in a set of resolutions, holding " that on account of the high rates of rents and the prices of provisions it is with difficulty we can get tenements to live in or make suitable provisions for ourselves and families, leaving out of the question the idea of saving for a time of need," and determined " that, for the purpose of making our condition better, and to meet the demands that are made upon us by the landlords and others, our wages be advanced 121 per cent." March RISE OF THE MODERN LABOR MOVEMENT. 7 25th was fixed upon as the date for the new rate to go into effect, and a committee of two from each shop was appointed to communicate this action to the employers. A strike followed and the demand was generally complied with before the close of the first week in April. Organization of the Practical House Painters' Benefit and Protection Society occurred on March I9, i850, William S. Gregory being president and James McPeake secretary. Men engaged at this trade, as at present, were quite Painters numerous, and at a monthly meeting held in May and it was announced that 150 had enrolled as members, Decorators. with 32 entrance applications to be acted upon. A constitution and by-laws had been adopted, and the society was then in a flourishing condition, with $Ioo in its treasury. But it was not until the beginning of i851 that the union attempted to regulate wages, when it determined to establish warm and told season rates. On January 6th it resolved, "that, in accordance with a circular previously forwarded to the employers, a notice be sent to them through the newspapers demanding the rates of wages to be $1.75 per day from the first day of March until the first day of November, and $i.5o per day from the first day of November until the first day of March." A full meeting of the union of gilders, a decorative branch of the painting trade, was held on April I2, 1850, to consider the question of increased compensation. Several months previously this association was formed with the object of establishing a uniform standard of wages. Before insisting upon any changes in prices the union decided to appoint a committee to wait on men at workshops for the purpose of ascertaining how many were willing to go forward to secure fair wages and subscribe toward a fund to help those thrown out of work. It was reported in i850 that twelve years previous to that time there were not more than a dozen plumbers in the city, but the introduction of the Croton water Plumbers system had caused an increase in the number of and journeymen to nearly 200, whose wages ranged from Gas Fitters. $2 to $2.25 a day. Thirty of these mechanics organized on May 14th mainly for beneficial purposes, but the society ultimately developed into a trade union. Gas fitters did not combine until April 22, i85, when a preliminary meeting of a portion of the trade decided to form an association for the protection of those who joined it. On the first of the succeeding month the newly-organized society adopted a constitution and by-laws. 8 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. The New York Tribune of December 25, I850, printed the fact that the " marble cutters have a powerful associaMarble tion, with a fund of $I,ooo, and meet regularly Cutters. monthly. They are represented with their full quota in the Industrial Congress, and from its start have continued to sustain it. They are ardently awaiting the triumph of industrial reform." Organization of the Practical Journeymen Stone Cutters' Union reached completion on June 28, i850, with the selection of William Kames as president and Michael Cotter as recording Stone secretary. Numerically it was large, and it coCutters. operated with journeymen stone cutters in the principal cities of the country. Persons of every nationality were admitted to membership upon payment of $i initiation fee. Workmen in this trade completed the institution of Quarrymen's Union Protective Society early in May, I850, by electing Thomas Kiernan president and Bartholomew D. Monaghan secretary. At the beginning of i85I the union had a membership of 400. On February 2oth, that year, it adopted a resolution declaring "that on and after the first of March next the members will exact $I a day for their work, and any violation of this resolution will subject a member to expulsion from the society." The wage question was again discussed at a general meeting on April i, 1852, when it was decided " that on and after the first Monday in May, 1852, the stipulated wages shall be $I.I2J per day, ten hours being the time allotted for said day's work." The Laborers' Union Association,' which was instituted on May 3, 1843, and chartered as a benevolent society by the Legislature of 1845, was by far the most numerous organization Building of workmen in New York City at the opening of Laborers. I85o, having then 2,560 members in good standing. It was divided into four sections, and up to May of the latter year its objects were of a beneficial character, the original constitution of the society containing this declaration of principles: Whereas, The revolving wheels of time for the last sixty-seven years (age of American independence) have brought base violence upon the cardinal principles of humanity by closing the doors of equality upon all alike; it therefore 1 This organization, known as Laborers' Union Protective Society, is still in existence in the Borough of Manhattan, New York City, being governed by a general council composed of eleven divisions, with 9,sIo members. RISE OF THE MODERN LABOR MOVEMENT. 9 becomes the imperative duty of all lovers of freedom and equality to take a stand, firm as the principles of wrong can prompt, to form a new feature upon the chart of liberty, a feature which shall hold sacred the immutable rights of self-government. To do this the laboring men of the City of New York do on this 3d day of May, A. D. I843, strike for renewed independence which shall crown every member of the human family, coming from whatever clime he may, alike. Therefore, for the purpose of ameliorating the condition of a large class of the human family and bring to the lap of greatness the true harbingers of worth, we, the signers of this constitution, do on the day we sign this instrument pledge all that we hold honorable and dear that we will hereafter act as members of a compact under the name and title of The Laborers' Union Association, the objects of which shall be union for happiness. Sick members were entitled to $2 per week, $ 5 was appropriated for funeral expenses, and as a chartered corporation it could purchase and hold real estate not exceeding $io,ooo in value. At the beginning of May, I850, the society took a vote in the four divisions on the subject of wages, and it was decided that from the I6th of that month members should stand out for $I.I2~ per diem, the majority of laborers at the time being paid $i a day. The Tribune of May i4th treated the subject editorially, remarking in part: We have no hesitation in pronouncing the demand for $S.I2j for day labor in our city moderate and reasonable. The day laborer has work only in fair and mild weather; a storm stops his work and wages; a severe frost is almost certain to deprive him of anything to do. He must be an energetic andlucky man who can make out more than 250 days' work as an outdoor laborer in the course of a year, while the larger number will not average 200. Two hundred and fifty days at $I.12j is $281.25 per annum, which will seem a large sum to laborers in the country, who do not consider that there is hardly a dwelling in our city so shabby and inconvenient that $400 is not paid for the rent of it, while many a house which would barely accommodate with decency two small families is rented for $600 per annum. Then comes fuel, $8 per cord for wood, which swells to $Io before it is prepared for use, with similar prices for every handful of lettuce and radishes, or anything else which would cost nothing in the country. We are confident that $281 per annum here is not equal to $150 in the country and that $I.I2J per day here is not equal to 62j cents in the average farming town. We most earnestly hope that the laborers will be able to establish their new rate of wages, but we know that there are real and formidable obstructions in the way of it. Many employers have taken contracts at prices which (as they believe) will not justify them in paying over $I per day; many men who can just live at the business they are pursuing, at the present rates of labor, will be seriously embarrassed by the exaction of a higher rate. There is no use in denying what is true because we could wish it otherwise. Not being wholly successful in the effort of I850 to advance wages the four divisions of the association, whose title had become Laborers' Union Benevolent Society, met in general session on January 9, 10 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. I851, on which date the membership numbered 3,562, and concluded to notify builders and contractors " that on and after the first day of May next we will not work for less than $I.I21 per day, and having accumulated a fund of money amply sufficient to carry out the resolution, all persons contracting for buildings are hereby notified of the fact and left without excuse." Having succeeded in enforcing its demand the union on January 22, 1852 (its rolls then containing 4,685 members), resolved to again seek an increase, this time to $1.25 per day, to take effect on the first Monday of May following. Some of the master builders met on May 4th and unanimously agreed to pay but $I.I21, while others, who comprised the major part of the employers, granted the $1.25. A strike, which lasted a few weeks, took place on buildings where the contractors had refused to accede, and members who were affected thereby received their wages from the society while they were idle. II. Clothing and Textiles. Among the important trades that took an active part in the movement of I850 were the tailors. They met in March and established the Journeymen Tailors' Union, which five months Journeymen later numbered 2,500 members. In April the Tailors. German section of the association perfected measures to open a co-operative store "for various fabrics and first prices." About the middle of July the pantaloons makers adopted a bill of prices for " Southern pantaloons." This schedule provided that the rates for making trousers of " black or blue cassimere and doeskin " should be as follows: " Made plain, 75 cents. Extras: Canvas in bottoms, I24 cents; straps of same material detached or sewed on, I24 cents; binding tops, 6- cents; stripes down the side, 25 cents; cords down the side, per pair, I24 cents; inside waist strap, 61 cents; lined all through, I24 cents; half lined, 61 cents. For merinos or any kind of fancy doeskins or cassimere plain pants commence at 62 cents; extras as above." Other branches of the tailoring trade also prepared uniform rates and submitted them to the employers, a small proportion of whom instantly consented to the demand, but the great majority declined to enter into negotiations with the union. A strike of great magnitude resulted, and at the close of July manufacturing had almost entirely ceased. RISE OF THE MODERN LABOR MOVEMENT. II The Industrial Congress supported the journeymen both financially and morally. It was at this period that the boycotting system was introducer' as a war measure of the union, the Congress on July 3oth declaring in favor of abstaining from business intercourse with the clothing firms that had rejected the tailors' bill of prices. William Richardson, representative of the Benevolent Society of Operative Masons, presented the following at the session of the central body, which sanctioned it without opposition: We, the Industrial Congress, representing the various protective and industrial societies, do consider it our duty to sympathize with each other and protect each other's rights and just claims to a proper reward for our labor. Be it therefore resolved that, as the tailors of New York are on strike for wages, we, the Industrial Congress, will not patronize any store or shop that does not pay the proper prices to their workmen, and that we report the same to our respective societies. Be it further resolved that the tailors be requested to publish the names and numbers of such as do not pay the prices demanded. An enthusiastic mass meeting under the auspices of the Central Trades Society of Journeyman Tailors filled City Hall Park in the afternoon of Saturday, August 3d, having been called " to take into consideration the condition of the working classes, and the strike of the tailors, especially." German members of the society assembled at the eastern wing of the City Hall, while the English-speaking tailors, consisting of American, Irish, Scotch and English craftsmen, met in front of that municipal building. Many addresses were made at both meetings. It was shown that the workers were compelled to labor excessively long hours in order to earn wages that were even then insufficient to meet the physical requirements of and to provide comfortable homes for their families. At the German section Mr. Fries, a tailor, said: " We came to this country because our own country had oppressed us, but what have we gained by the change? We have found here nothing but misery and hunger, oppression and treading down. Whose fault is it? Is it not plainly our own fault? Here we are on free ground, in a free country, and it is our own fault if we do not assert and insist upon our rights." Another tailor favored a general strike of all the trades. He suggested as a remedy: " Let the butchers and bakers begin and cut off the supplies. They must all strike together, and then the aristocrats will all starve. They are the drones and the idlers. We provide all they enjoy by our labor, and we have to stand by and look on them revelling in every luxury, while we are driven to a bare mouthful of bread, and that only to be got by hard toil and sweat." 12 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Exception was taken to the proposition for a general strike by Mr. Sauer, a carpenter, who sentiently remarked: "I call upon you all to unite, but we must not all strike at once and together, else we shall all have nothing to eat at once and together. We must strike one at a time, and support each trade in its effort. We must exert ourselves. We are so downtrodden we can hardly live." Resolves were passed calling for united action; " that the great question now is just and fair pay of the workingmen by every employer, and a full guarantee by the State of the same to the workingmen; that each trade elect three delegates, to form a committee from the whole number thereof, to lay our demands and claims before the public; and that the committees of all trades must unite with the Industrial Congress and immediately send to Washington the just claims of the workingmen." One of the speakers at the English-speaking gathering was Mr. Barr, who thus depicted the working conditions of the tailors: " Why are the tailors on strike? Because they have done too much work. Instead of working eight hours in the day-all that any man on the face of God's earth ought to work - they work sixteen hours a day. This is all a mistaken idea. If every man would throw down his tools at the expiration of eight hours tradesmen would not be found inhabiting miserable tenements that landlords have erected to squeeze the life out of them. There would then be work enough and pay enough for all. But you have worked sixteen hours, and the capitalists have got your work upon their shelves, far more than is wanted for present consumption. They boast they have plenty of goods, and that they will starve you out." Mr. Leech, a journeyman tailor, dwelt upon the causes that led up to the dispute. " It was dire necessity and want that compelled us to strike," stated he. " We were working from 5 o'clock in the morning till 9 o'clock in the evening, and we could only earn from $4 to $5 a week. There are two classes of bosses against whom we have struck. First, the Southern bosses. Anyone who looks at their stores, which are like palaces, must see that they get an extra percentage. They will get $io in the South for a pair of pantaloons that here would bring only $5, and $25 for a coat that here could not bring more than $12. They can therefore afford to pay 15 or 20 percentmoretothe journeymenthan theyask. Theclerks behind the counters are paid better than the splendid journeymen tailors. Next there are the clothing stores. At first we came to the conclusion of not striking against these houses, but we found that they were aiding the Southern establishments, and it became necessary to strike against them too." RISE OF THE MODERN LABOR MOVEMENT. 13 Mr. Crawford, an employing tailor, said he attended the meeting because he wished to " sustain the workingmen in their just rights and the rights of their wives and children. Men working sixteen hours a day were earning but from $4 to $6 a week, though assisted by their families, and yet they were only contending for a few shillings more. I am astonished at their moderation. Lodgings that I rented in 1832 for $50 now rent for $I80 a year, and the price of everything except labor has increased in the same ratio. Wages were better then than they are now. And what do the workingmen get for their wages? Miserable provisions they ought not to eat, but are compelled to eat by poverty. For my own part I do not find fault with the master employer as much as the people who submit to his tyranny. The trades were never so well organized as they are now. Let the tailors start a large manufacturing shop in this city at once with the funds raised. There are upwards of 30,000 tradesmen in the city. Let them go to this establishment and purchase from it whatever they want; and so of other trades on a strike. The men they want to represent them in the Legislature are those who will turn their eyes to the public lands as a relief for this state of things. If this were done there would be no longer any surplus lands and every trade would be benefited by it. The trades will gladly raise subscriptions to send their brethren to the public lands. The American people will never be in a right condition till Congress decrees the freedom of the public lands." The English-speaking tailors had a second mass meeting at the Sixth Ward Hotel on August 6th, when they resolved " that from this hour we will proceed to organize every shop in the city - sale, Southern and custom." It was then announced that quite a number of employers had agreed to pay the bill of prices. Other trades expressed their sympathy with the tailors in divers ways. They not only donated funds for the relief of the men who were on strike, but on August X2th 57 of these associations had a demonstration in City Hall Park in behalf of the garment workers and started a movement for the creation of co-operative clothing shops and stores, subscribing several thousand dollars for that purpose. About this time the contract system began to gain a foothold in the clothing trade. A German residing in Thirty-eighth street had engaged with the master tailors to make coats at reduced prices, and then " peddle them out again to journeymen tailors, making 25 cents on each garment." This fact was communicated to the German branch of the association, and on August 5th a large deputation was formed to wait upon the contractor for the purpose of inducing 14 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. him to return the coats to the employers. Having obtained an intimation of their coming he barred his windows and bolted his doors, thus preventing their ingress to his dwelling. They retired to the union headquarters, and after increasing their number the delegation again repaired to the contractor's home, where, it was alleged, they broke in the door, seized the coats and conveyed them away by force. At this juncture the police appeared and clubbed some of the tailors into insensibility, while 39 others whom they had beaten and bruised with their locusts were arrested. Some newspapers made this incipient riot a test for an attack upon the general labor movement. The Tribune, however, resented the attitude of its contemporaries, and on August I4, 1850, it sustained the organizations in the following vigorous terms: When a few ignorant immigrants, hardly one of whom could speak the language or read the journals of the country, were impelled by a mistaken idea of their rights and wrongs to attack the dwelling and injure the property of an alleged underworker in their trade, the commercial press of our city cried out in chorus, "There! see what your Labor movements lead to! riot, robbery and destruction." The Tribune was directly accused by the Satanic press, and more sneakingly inculpated by the Courier and Enquirer, as the proximate author of these outrages through its Socialistic inculcations, when in fact strikes and consequent violence against underworkers are part and parcel of the vicious wage system which we are laboring to supersede - are at least five centuries old - and even the journal most vindictive against us proved that these law-breakers had nearly all been but a few months in the country and scarcely knew a word of the language in which the Tribune is printed. But what of that? The wealthy and conservative class who take good care not to read the Tribune had been told that it advocates Jacobinic violence and outrage, and the tailors' mob came just in season to countenance that lie. So it was let slide. But when the laboring class of our city, represented in their several trades, came together in the park on Monday evening, and resolved to sustain the tailors in their righteous resistance to starvation wages, not by abetting them in acts of violence and outrage, not by taxing their own industry to support the striking tailors in a fruitless and pernicious idleness - but by supplying them with capital to work upon and buying of them the products of their toil - the mercantile journals are suddenly stricken dumb! One or two of them give a meagre outline of the doings at the meeting, but in a reluctant, ungracious way, while the large number pass it over in utter silence! And yet we feel sure that no event has for many months occurred inourcity of greater intrinsic consequence than that gathering of mechanics and laborers in the park on Monday evening. We demand for it the attention of all who have eyes and dare see for themselves. We challenge to say whether the Socialist method of dealing with the relations of Labor to Capital is not emphatically pacific and conservative. There exists a strike - a difference between certain workmen and their late employers, respecting the rate of wages. The employers say, "We can pay but so much!" The workmen respond, " We must have more or famish - and if we must starve we have no incitement to work." So the old industrial machinery comes to a RISE OF THE MODERN LABOR MOVEMENT. is dead halt, and production along with it. The employers cannot fill their orders; the workmen have a like vacuum in their stomachs. But here step in the active, prosperous trades and say to the late journeymen: " No, you shall not be forced to stand idle and famish - we will invest our $5, $Io and $20 each in a Tailors' Co-operative Union, and buy therewith cloth, etc., which you shall work up into garments, which we and our fellow-workers will buy of you at such prices as shall pay you fairly for your labor and enable you to support your families in comfort. And this generous resolve, when carried into practical effect, is that appalling bugbear called Socialism. Why should not the workers unite thus to aid at first and ultimately to emancipate each other? Why should not those who have work at decent wages invest a few dollars in such an enterprise? Nay, why should not generous and farseeing capitalists also aid the movement? If $io,ooo were subscribed for the purpose it might be so invested and managed as to keep I,ooo tailors constantly at work, pay them satisfactorily for their labor and return a fair dividend to the stockholders. All that is needed is a resolution on the part of those who own or control the capital to give Labor a fair chance -not to study solely their own profit, but to consider the rights and welfare of the workers also - not to esteem Labor a mere commodity to be screwed down to the lowest farthing, but to regard also those who must live by labor in the spirit of Christian brotherhood and republican equality. We ask those who possess wealth to read carefully the proceedings of the workingmen's meeting and say whether Capital ought not to shake hands with Labor on the pacific and constructive basis there laid down- whether good men of means ought not to proffer their counsel, their influence, and if need be, some portion of their capital, to enable the tailors first, afterward other trades, to organize their labor, dispose of its products and apportion the proceeds on the principles there set forth. We trust they may do so; and that the time may be thus hastened in which no man shall depend on any other for permission to work and to enjoy the fair and definite product of his toil. But, workingmen! should all others hold back, you can solve this great problem of liberty in Labor if you will. Do not throw away so fair an opportunity as the present. jThe 39 defendants on December 3, i850, pleaded guilty to riotous assault and battery, and on December I3th Recorder Tallmage fined one of the leaders $50, another $io and six other participants in the affair $5 each, discharging the remaining 3. Referring to these sentences the Tribune of December i6th closed the incident with the following pointed remarks: It is entirely unnecessary to say a word of this result; we trust there is no one unsatisfied with it, though we presume it will be cold comfort to the unscrupulous parties who raised such a cry about the " riot" and magnified it into something almost as frightful as the " reign of terror." Not even these parties ever believed that the tailors, all men of good character though unfortunately unacquainted with our language and laws, were guilty of any premeditated outrage. By much bluster, however, they made the thing look ugly, and excessive bail demands kept the greater portion of the tailors in prison for two or three weeks. But the judicial officers of the city have been too long accustomed to the bravado of a notorious portion of the press to be led astray by it. Justice triumphed, the bail was reduced to the standard of reason and the tailors I6 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. were all liberated. The next effort of the especial champions of law and order was to secure evidence to make a strong case, and testimony was in readiness to prove almost anything from a mild assault and battery to an armed insurrection; but all this was strangled by the tailors themselves, who filed a voluntary plea of "guilty of riotous assault and battery." The trial that was to send them to the public institutions and hold the terror of the law over " heretical labor movements " was a failure; the affidavits offered to the court in mitigation of punishment explained the case as it was, and the 39 rioters were fined in all $90. We trust that the affair will prove quite as good a lesson to the guilty as though all of them had gone to the State prison and that hereafter they will refrain from breaking the law in the name of Labor, since it can be done quite as effectually and without fear of interruption in a grog-shop brawl or at a primary election fight. Peace was restored in the tailoring trade after a few more weeks of strife, the union finally succeeding in arriving at an amicable settlement with the employers, and on June o1, I851, in its call for a quarterly meeting for the election of officers the association took occasion to inform the public that " there was never a time when the society was in a more prosperous condition." A preliminary meeting was held by a number of hat finishers on April 26, i850, incident to the construction of a society similar to those of other workmen. This organization was Hat perfected on November 24th. It then comprised Finishers. Ioo members. Having a capital of $7,000 the association opened a co-operative store at No. 11 Park Place on December I4th. On June io, 185I, the Hat Finishers' Union announced that it "had enlisted all its energies in the service of the people, making the best and most stylish hats in town and selling a better article for the price than any other establishment. This is the only association of practical hatters in the city." Much interest was manifested in the Straw and Pamilla Sewers' Association, which was composed exclusively of young women. Miss Stopford presided and Miss Roberts was secretary. Straw and This union was represented in the Industrial ConPamilla gress by two delegates, and the principal leaders in Sewers. the organizations of men rendered valuable assistance in the work of organizing the trade and securing equitable wages for its members. A scale of prices was adopted in the latter part of 1850. The union met on December I7th and was addressed by Captain Turner, who dwelt upon the grievances of these working women, and denounced the employers for the miserable prices they had bestowed upon their employees. Doctor Young also spoke, referring to the rapid accumulation of machinery to perform the labors of the hand without a corresponding increase in the varieties RISE OF THE MODERN LABOR MOVEMENT. I7 of human employment and the competition thence springing up between those in and those out of work. The doctor made mention of the sewing machine, which had then been invented, declaring: " One machine and a child will do the work of six to twelve grown persons. These with other causes will drive into competition all branches of industry, and, if no relief comes shortly, through the intelligence of the people and the ladies becoming politicians to make their bread, the present century will close the doom and destiny of mankind, and lock up the future with the jail keys of a moneyed aristocracy baser than any that ever before oppressed the race." The speaker concluded by imploring the young women to stand by their rights and " enter the field of politics and the agitation of labor and land reforms." The sewers complained that the prices which once ruled at 75 cents had been reduced to 32 cents, and they claimed that with an advance equivalent to 40 cents for piecework the most expert workers would not average more than $4 per week, while the less expert sewers would not earn to exceed $2 in a week-and then for only six weeks in the year. They decided to strike on January i, 1851, if the employers failed to agree to the scale, because, they averred, during the winter and spring months their services were required with a certainty, and that would be a propitious time to act. At the end of the year it was found that some manufacturers had accepted the terms of the union, but a few had declined to raise wages. A largely attended meeting of the association convened in January, I85I. Captain Turner was present and commented strongly on the conduct of the concerns that had not complied with the demands of the sewers. Eventually the society decided " that in the event of our employers not acceding to our scale of prices before one week we mutually pledge ourselves to establish two branches of a co-operative store." After that about every firm in the city accepted the new terms. Journeymen Cordwainers' Society organized in 1803 as a mutual aid association. From that time up to i850 it had on several occasions injected protective provisions into its laws, but only for brief periods, when it again reverted Boot and to its original practice of caring for the sick and Shoe burying the dead. Its title was derived from the Workers. word cordwain, which consisted of a leather prepared from goat skin or horse hide in Spain and fashioned into footwear for wealthy Europeans in the middle ages. The workers in this material were called cordwainers, or boot and shoe makers. There were two sections of the organization in New York - one composed of mechanics who made men's shoes, while members of the other branch manu i8 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. factured footgear for women.2 Reorganizing on January i, I850, as United Society of Operative Cordwainers, it adopted a new constitution, under which it was intended to benefit the economic condition of those who became affiliated with it. Each section had some 300 members, and among the trustees who were elected at the reorganization was Horace Greeley, who on April 9th was present at a meeting of the combined sections that decided to form a co-operative joint stock company, and delivered a brief address, cautioning the journeymen against haste, but advising deliberation and prudence, by a proper use of which he was confident they would succeed. A large and spirited meeting was held by the men's branch on April 8, 1850. Adam Gamble, who had been a member of the society since 1803, presided and Patrick Burke was secretary. The latter spoke of the rates of wages that were paid by most of the employers, stating that the journeymen, who were pieceworkers, were often obliged to labor i8 hours out of the 24 for the mere pittance of $5 per week. Men's gaiter boots were made for 33 cents, while the prices for making Wellington boots were 871 cents, $I and $I.I2" a pair. A new list of prices was then agreed upon. Under its provisions no workman was permitted to receive less than $7 weekly. To enforce the amended schedule there was a short but successful strike, which cost the society $250, only two shops holding out against its demands, and on May 9th it celebrated its victory by marching through the leading thoroughfares. Subsequently the women's branch raised its scale. Men engaged in making mosquito netting, cords, foundations, crown linings, book muslins and all other light fabrics organized in I85o under the title of White Work Weavers' AssoWhite ciation, with R. C. Blair as president and James Work Scottassecretary. On January 2, I85I,this union Weavers. notified " merchants, storekeepers and other dealers in dry goods" that it had "obtained an advance of 20 per cent in wages, and we propose through the medium of the press to acquaint the public with any advance or reduction which shall take place in our wages for the future." 2 This organization of superior hand workers still flourishes in the Borough of Manhattan, New York City, and comprises two branches, the makers of men's shoes constituting the Manhattan Society of Custom Shoe Makers, while the other is known as the Ladies' Custom Shoe Makers' Society. An official of one of these sections in 1891 described the character of the work of these artisans and his remarks aptly apply to the present-day situation. Speaking of the membership, he said: " They are a body of men quite distinct from the great shoe-making industry of the country. They are the artists of the trade. Their work is so much finer and costlier than that of the men who make the shoes of the multitude that one may say, without exaggeration, their work bears about the same relation to shoe making generally as frescoing does to whitewashing. They are called the shoe makers of the Four Hundred (the so-called affluent social set of the city), and that phrase locates their position in the shoe trade better than any other that I can think of." RISE OF THE MODERN LABOR MOVEMENT. 19 III. Metals, Machinery and Shipbuilding. Among this group of trades was the United Trade Society of Journeymen Sail Makers, which continues to carry on its protective work in New York City. In July, I849, it protested against the number of boys then employed at the trade. The Journeymen Horseshoers' Protective and Benevolent Society, still known by that title, was in a prosperous state in the early fifties; so were the Iron Molders' Union and the Tin, Copper and Sheet Iron Workers' Association. At its meeting on May 2, I850, 130 mechanics joined the Steam Boiler Makers' Protective Society, which paid an unemployed benefit, single members receiving $2.50 per week and married men $3 weekly when they were idle because Boiler of lack of work. If misfortune not caused by im- Makers. moral conduct befell a member in good standing for a year he received a "sum equal to a half dollar per member, from an assessment levied for that amount;" and if members were "obliged to leave any shop for the interests of the society they shall be entitled to benefit as long as the society may see fit." John Wilson was president and James S. Donaldson secretary. In July, I851, members of the association engaged in a strike at the Morgan Iron Works. The custom hitherto-had been for the mechanics employed on board of the steamers and other vessels lying at the wharf to stop work at 5 o'clock P. M., while those in the shop worked until 6 o'clock P. M. The point in dispute was whether the men employed on the dock at the boilers of a ship, and not on shipboard nor in the shop, should cease operations at 5 o'clock or 6 o'clock. The proprietors insisted that the boiler makers should follow the rule of the shop, while the workmen maintained that they should observe the rule of the ship. They could not agree and the strike ensued.3 A trade organization was formed by block and pump makers on May,I3, I85o, the daily wage rates then ranging from $1.50 to $1.75. William Smith was chosen president Block and and Isaac E. Greenhalg secretary. This union in Pump I85I established the wages of its members at a Makers. uniform rate of $2 per day in the cities of New York, Brooklyn and Williamsburg. On April ist it had a special meeting and resolved "that the journeymen now at work in the I The outcome of this dispute was not ascertainable 20 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. United States Navy Yard, Brooklyn, quit work until the above wages be given (as they are now in several shops in New York) and that no member of this society go to work in the Navy Yard until the above wages are given." The United Order of Manufacturing Jewelers, which had been a benefit society with 170 members, met on May 14, 1850, and transformed itself into a trade union on a permanent Workers in basis. It was stated at the time that while New Precious York jewelers were working under better conditions Metals. than prevailed among a similar class of workers in Europe they deemed it necessary to unite as a protective society to provide for the future. The Journeymen Watch Case Makers' Society (which demanded and obtained increased prices in April) and the Silversmiths' Protective and Beneficial Association were also important organizations in i850. But the watch makers were not well organized, and their pay was small. Twenty-five men in this trade, all of whom were Germans, met on May 3, 1850, and held converse as to wages and trade in general. The fact developed at this conference that those working in their own rooms as watch makers for the trade were in a worse condition than shop workers, and received barely enough to maintain their families. They all felt the urgent necessity of ameliorating their condition through associated effort, and determined to erect a workshop, to be conducted upon the co-operative plan. For three years the Riggers' Union Association had been a prosperous beneficial society, but when it met on May 9, 1850, it incorporated protective provisions in its code of laws, Ship and warned members that if they worked for less Riggers. than the established rate of wages they would be fined. There were I38 names on its membership list on that date. Announcement was made on May o1, I850, by the Independent Society of Ship Sawyers that " any sawyer who works for less than the regular wages of $2 per day will be subject to Ship a fine of $12, and no sawyer can go to a country Sawyers. boss under the regular city price." The union was also strict in other matters pertaining to its wellbeing, its laws providing that "any member proposing a person who does not belong to the trade shall be fined $20," and that the " secretary must be present at each meeting fifteen minutes before time or fined 25 cents." RISE OF THE MODERN LABOR MOVEMENT. 21 IV. Wood Working and Furiture. The Mutual Protective Society of Cabinet Makers contained 800 members on April 26, i850. It then discussed the feasibility of establishing a co-operative shop, and in May the members agreed to give a week's work to the society Cabinet to enable it to purchase a lot on which to erect a Makers. building. Two members of the association —Peter Green, chair maker, and John Dent, cabinet maker,-inserted a card in the newspapers of December 20, I850, that " on behalf of the cabinet makers in the employ of Mr. Baudoine, No. 335 Broadway, we wish to inform our fellow-tradesmen that we have ceased work in consequence of a proposed reduction in the price of our labor on the part of Mr. Baudoine, and he having threatened to discharge any man belonging to the trade committee we wish our fellow-tradesmen not to make application for employment until matters are settled, of which due notice will be given." Weekly meetings were conducted by the association in I85i at No. 170 Hester street. On March 23d it passed a motion that the union purchase the Laws of the State of New York. At the same meeting the members were reminded of a resolution that had been adopted at a previous session, by which "one of the members is to stand every morning (Sunday excepted) at 170 Hester street from 7 to 7.30 o'clock in order to inform the members out of work where they will find the same, and where the bosses who pay the regular price may apply to obtain good hands." United Association of Coach Painters in April, I850, fixed upon $1.50 per day as the prevailing rate of wages in that trade, and a resolution was adopted against working for less than that sum, "except for fulfillment of contracts." Coach The president of the union was Selah H. Burtt, the Painters. secretary being Robert McCafferty. In May it was announced that there were 200 journeymen in New York and that " the society numbers nearly all the most respectable coach painters." Any craftsman from another town could present his card of membership from a similar organization and become a member by paying monthly dues of 25 cents. The by-laws provided that "when a member strikes for higher wages another member shall not take his place unless he receives $I.50 per day." Workmen losing time by 22 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. conforming to the rules of the society were entitled to $3 per week if married and $2 weekly if single. At the third meeting of the Sash and Blind Makers' Protective Union, held at Convention Hall, No. I79 Houston street, on April 3, i850, it was decided to ask for $1.62~ per day for Sash and making sashes and blinds in shops and $1.75 a day Blind for outdoor work. A piece scale was also adopted. Makers. Thirteen employers were said to favor the objects of the association. One of the daily journals of the city stated on April 4th that " this society promises to be a very useful auxiliary in the organization of the New York workingmen, and the justice of their cause is proved by the accession of so many employers to the demands of these journeymen." In May, when the association was thoroughly organized, the president being William Hosmer and the recording secretary Isaac Torboss, the members favored the establishment of co-operative shops, each to consist of 20 journeymen. Fifteen members immediately agreed to organize such a shop by subscribing $50 apiece, payable in weekly installments of $i. Wood, metal, bone and ivory turners were well organized in 850o. On May IIth it was reported that the wood turners had struck for an increase of 20 per cent in piece rates. It was also Turners. then stated that the metal turners were on strike for a raise in weekly wages from $7 to $9, with an advance of 20 per cent for pieceworkers. Workers in ivory and bone sought to have their rates changed from $7 to $9 per week, with a ten-hour working day. A large meeting of the Association of Journeymen Upholsterers at No. I79 Hester street on April 2, I850, had an interchange of opinions regarding wages and the rights of the trade, but no Upholsterers. definite course of action was agreed upon. There were 300 journeymen engaged in this occupation, a great portion of whom were Germans. By April ioth the members of the union had settled upon a scale of prices. On that date at a meeting of the union, over whose deliberations George Hoyt presided, a motion was carried that the minimum wages for journeymen should be $7 per week, with an addition of 25 per cent for superior mechanics. While a large number of employers accepted this scale there were a few who would not grant it. Their attitude precipitated a strike. Several days later the New York union advertised in Boston papers, warning upholsterers at the Hub that some of the RISE OF THE MODERN LABOR MOVEMENT. 23 Metropolitan journeymen were on strike and " cautioning them not to mind any of the numerous devices of employers to procure work at reduced rates. Brother upholsterers coming to this city are requested to call on the society before seeking work." The strike was generally successful. An associationshop was opened in the middle of May, 1850, by the Window Shade Painters' Protective Union, which was founded on the twenty-first of the previous March, when this declaration of principles was put into force: "We have Window formed ourselves into an association for the purpose Shade of protecting ourselves from the trickish system of Painters. speculators that make use of us as machines, limiting the exercise of the painters' industry to suit the demand or pushing it to meet the supply; or using or abusing us as the employers please, starving us into low wages or pushing us in their necessity to the utmost toils that a painter's nature can sustain. They have endeavored always to keep us wholly in their power, driving us to work, or throwing us into idleness as suits their market, while they always obtain and retain the profits of our labor. We deem it our duty to oppose such a system; and to carry out our ideas we individually subscribe at least $2 to establish a fund for the benefit of such of us as are out of employ during the. season that we may secure to them through their own exertions a sustenance for themselves and families." The principal object of the association, which on April 3, I85o, numbered 75 members, was the establishment of permanent wage rates, so that in seasons when business was dull the workers would not be obliged to " labor for a mere trifle," as was reported to be the case at the time of the union's formation. V. Food Products and Tobacco. For the purpose of effecting a trade organization and adopting measures of relief journeymen bakers assembled in goodly numbers on Tuesday night, March 26, I85o. Their grievances were fully discussed, and the fact was accen- Journeymen tuated that the men engaged in this trade suffered Bakers. a degree of oppression exceeding that of any other class of workmen. It was shown that the time of employment depended altogether upon the will of the employer, being fourteen, 24 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. sixteen and even eighteen hours per day. They were deprived of a rest day on the Sabbath. Standard wages were unknown, their remuneration being uniform in but one respect, and that was in its unreasonably low rate. The existent system, it was said, " enriches the selfish at the expense of the unfortunate, and causes those to be oppressors who wish to be just." In consequence of these conditions the bakers resolved to form an association in order to attain these objects: I. To limit the number of hours of labor per day to twelve, including meals, the time of labor to be from 5 o'clock P. M. to 5 o'clock A. M.; and that from the first of August, 1859, night work be abolished. 2. The minimum rate of wages to be $9 per week. 3. Employment to all members wishing to work. 4. To advise and protect newly-arrived immigrant bakers. 5. Fraternity with all useful classes. In a call issued by the Interim Committee for a mass meeting on April I, 1850, to perfect the organization the workers were urged to attend, and to " be no longer stigmatized as housemaids and slaves, but come and take your place in the ranks of the mechanics of the city. A glorious prospect is before you. A more favorable opportunity never before occurred for a redress of your grievances. Arise now, assert your rights or be forever slaves." The meeting was held, and the new society was named the Operative Bakers' Union, which embodied German and English-speaking workers. Having consummated its organization, on May 6th John G. Rennie was chosen president and James Robertson recording secretary. A committee that had been appointed to wait upon the employers to apprise them of the formation of the society and its objects reported that with the exception of two the boss bakers were willing to advance wages as soon as a fair and equitable scale was established by the union. The chief grievance, however, was the excessive working time. Agitation of this question continued throughout i850, without favorable outcome, and it was again taken up at the commencement of i851. In the meanwhile a House of Call had been opened at No. I27 Grand street, where " bosses may be supplied with good, steady men." An appeal was sent on February ist to "all operative bakers of New York and vicinity who are in favor of uniting for the purpose of obtaining stated hours of labor - viz: twelve hours per day and twelve hours per night (meal hours included) and night and day shifts if required - are requested to meet at the House of Call this (Saturday) evening, as the arrangements are about being perfected for obtaining the above-mentioned objects." RISE OF THE MODERN LABOR MOVEMENT. 25 Another association, called the Journeymen Bakers' Industrial Union, sought to redress the grievances of the workers in flour and meal products through the establishment of co-operative bakeries. One of these shops was opened in I847 and had been of benefit to the shareholders. Horace Greeley, writing in the Tribune of May 6, i850, thus described that venture: It is now something over three years since a few poor workingmen, mainly bakers of our city, united to establish a union bakery on protective and republican principles. They scraped together a capital of $400 to begin with by paying a small sum each for the privilege of membership, agreed to pay a trifle periodically to constitute a common fund out of which any sick member received $4 per week, while should one die $30 is allowed for his funeral expenses, and $25 in case of death of his wife. The union makes no dividends, but supplies its members with bread of all kinds at the naked cost of the material and baking, increasing or decreasing the size of the loaf according to the rise and fall of flour, striking a rate every Monday and posting it up so that each customer may know exactly how much he is entitled to for his money. The union has received from its members for initiation fees $787; for dues, $543, of which latter sum it has repaid $405 in the shape of relief to 24 sick, burial expenses of one deceased member and incidental expenses. On such a slender pecuniary basis it has gone steadily forward and is still expanding. Its active capital is now $846, besides $150 subject to repayment. Its receipts for bread in the first week of April, 1848, were $86; for the last week in April, i850, they were $698. It now gives steady employment to fourteen persons (men, women and boys) and pays them $X 8 weekly, the highest wages being $13.50, and the lowest $3.50 per week. The concern now owns horses, carts, etc., worth $I,562, and its net profits from the commencement are rated at $1,339, from which say Io per cent should be deducted for depreciation of fixtures by use. Its total receipts up to the thirtieth of April, I850, were $49,010.48; expenditures, $48,656.53; balance in hand, $353.95. Not a great sum, nor a great business, certainly, but how many governments can show as healthy a state of finances for the last three years? All this will seem to many a small matter; to us it appears full of consequence and of promise. It is the work of laborers with very slender means, and though it gives steady employment as yet to but fourteen persons it affords security against extreme want to all the associates. These fourteen persons have steady employment and a moral certainty of its continuance. They call no man master and are paid according to their actual earnings, fairly ascertained and determined, and the business is still increasing and capable of indefinite increase. Already we hear of negotiations to organize another bakery on the same principles, and ere long we hope to see the entire baking business of our city organized on the same basis so that the workers shall no longer underbid and depress each other, no longer skulk from cellar to cellar, begging employment at any rate which will afford them a pinched existence, and working thirteen and fifteen hours, including nearly all night, at the caprice of employers. Were the baking business thoroughly organized on the principles of work its own master we should have all bread in the oven by 8 or at farthest 9 P. M., and the bakers at liberty till o1 or I I next morning; and this is bound to come. 26 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. But why all this talk about bakers? They are a small class anyhow. Simply, sir, because all the workers for wages are in the same boat. The bakers have been, as a body, overworked, underpaid, and made to work at most unreasonable hours; but as have thousands besides. This little experiment is important because it shows how great things may be done. It is the first landing of Columbus on Cat Island, with the whole new world before him. What has been done by and for a few bakers may be done for the whole trade and for almost if not quite all other trades. The tailors, shoe makers, hatters, carpenters, masons, printers, etc., stand on substantially the same ground, are subject to the same necessities, and have like means of overcoming them. Not by striking for wages-though that is sometimes indispensable —but by striking down the system of wages, by devising and reducing to practice a manifest substitute therefor, is the emancipation of Labor to be effected. And this it is to be, will be, effected. The present agitation, investigation and general arousing among hired workers of our city cannot be fruitless. Thousands may have been moved by and drawn into it who mean nothing, or who have no distinct, welldefined purpose, but the movement is not in their hands, and cannot be quashed by their defection. Its course is steadily upward and onward, until Labor shall be rendered its own master and secured the entire fruit of its exertions. There will be failures and foibles and follies and mistakes, but in spite of all the good work will go on. Receiving but $7 and $8 a week the confectioners met on April 26, I85o, and concluded that the best means to adopt to raise their wages was to organize the Journeymen ConfecConfectioners. tioners' Protective Union. This association began a systematic movement in I853 to improve the condition of its members. It divided the workmen into grades and demanded the following rates: First grade, $ 11.25 per week; second, $9; third, $7. A strike to enforce these prices occurred on December 12th, when the members paraded the streets with banners and music. On December Igth at a conference with the employers the dispute was partially adjusted. The manufacturers who were present concurred in the necessity of a higher rate of wages than had been theretofore paid to journeymen. They appointed a committee to confer with all employers in the city relative to a wage increase, and subscribed $50 for the benefit of the workmen's society. Another meeting was held by the manufacturing confectioners on January 19, 1854, when it was resolved to advance a few points in favor of the employees. The employers again assembled on January 26th, at which meeting a representative from the journeymen's organization made a brief address, stating that he had been deputed to recommend that the employers agree to hire none but union men and the members of the association in their turn would guarantee not to work for a firm that did not uphold the revised scale of prices. RISE OF THE MODERN LABOR MOVEMENT. 27 Both German and English-speaking cigar makers had unions in New York City in I850. The German union, which numbered 100 members, on May IIth adopted a constitution, one article of which provided that every employer should Cigar be obliged to bind each apprentice for three years. Makers. A proposal to unite with the American cigar makers was carried, and a committee of three waited upon the association of the latter on April I2th to urge its acceptance. It was then agreed to hold a joint session, at which a constitution was adopted. This amalgamated organization was named the Cigar Makers' Mutual Protective Association. Two mass meetings were held by it in May, i85, the second one convening on the thirtieth of that month " for the purpose of laying before the trade a scale of prices." VI. Retail Trade. A very large and influential meeting of dry goods clerks was held in American Hall, at Broadway and Grand street, on December 20, 1849, to listen to a report of a committee that had been selected to draft a constitution for a society Dry Goods to be called the Dry Goods Clerks' Mutual Benefit Clerks. and Protective Association. The constitution, which had been carefully drafted, was read and approved. It provided that no one under the age of i8 years should be admitted to membership, made the initiation fee $i, regular dues 371 cents per month, and stipulated that at least $3 per week be paid to a member in case of illness, the sum to be increased at discretion. But the paramount object of the association was the reduction of working time. The question of the early closing of stores was brought up at this meeting and gave rise to a unanimous expression favorable to the.movement. Salesmen in those days were required to remain behind the counters as long as fourteen hours daily in small establishments, and even in the large commercial emporiums the hours of labor were excessive. " The clerks do not recognize coercive measures," said one of the prime movers in the agitation, " but simply ask their employers to assist them in persuading the public to make their purchases during the day, that they may be able to close their stores at an early hour in the evening." There was pronounced opposition to night shopping and the salesmen urged that the stores be closed not later than 8 o'clock p. M. 28 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Election of officers on January ii, I850, completed the organization of the society. W. H. Ross was chosen president and George Sheldon recording secretary. Measures were then put into operation to accomplish the needed reform. The Industrial Congress appointed a committee to co-operate with the union of clerks, and workingmen and working women were requested to refrain from shopping at night. Reporting to the Mutual Benefit and Protective Association on January 12, 1851, the recording secretary emphasized the fact that the early closing of the dry goods stores had been accomplished. He stated that from December i, i850, the retail houses, with but few exceptions, had been closed at 8 o'clock P. M., and that during the year the working time had been decreased from 15 to 25 hours per week. The membership of the association at the start of the new year was 3I3. Presently the crusade for the early closing of dry goods stores spread outside of Manhattan. Over in Brooklyn on November 21, 1850, a notable gathering, composed of " a most numerous and highly respectable audience," as noted in the public journals, " assembled to promote the 7 o'clock closing of the stores." Many women were present. Mayor-elect Conklin Brush presided and on the platform, among some of Brooklyn's foremost citizens, was the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, the distinguished pastor of Plymouth Church, who was then prominently identified with the movement for the abolition of slavery. The Brooklyn Dry Goods Clerks' Association, of which W. B. Jones was president and Spencer C. Blake secretary, was instrumental in having the meeting called. J. M. Van Cott, attorneyat-law, delivered an eloquent address, in which he pointed out the evils of late hours and urged the meeting to aid in destroying evening shopping by which alone this system could be abrogated. The Rev. J. W. B. Wood, pastor of the Forsyth Street M. E. Church, New York City, followed in a most happy strain. He said that he himself when a young man had worked behind a counter, and therefore knew well how to sympathize with those who were situated as he was. A letter from John W. Corson, M. D., addressed to Secretary Blake, was read. That eminent physician, after expressing regrets that his professional engagements prevented his attendance, wrote as follows: I am free to state that every day of professional experience convinces me more and more that as a community we are emphatically living too fast. Scarcely a week passes but, in common with my professional brethren, I am compelled to gaze upon the haggard visage of some miserable dyspeptic, or listen to the tremulous voice and sepulchral cough of some pale consumptive victims of Mam RISE OF THE MODERN LABOR MOVEMENT. 29 mon, slowly sacrificed by long confinement and unremitting toil amid the dust and heated air of the sales room. We can point all around to widows and orphans untimely bereaved, scarcely conscious of the place where the spoiler lurked. You are right in thus appealing to public opinion. Hundreds and thousands of our fellow-citizens if their attention were called to it would join with me in preferring those establishments who favor this just and benevolent movement by closing early. Once that the truth is known the ladies, your most liberal patrons, in the natural kindness of their hearts will remember that the thin forms they see flitting by gaslight among muslins and silks, and the sickly faces that as in mockery smile at night from the counter, are children and husbands robbed, as far as possible, of home and its joys; and the Christians of this City of Churches will be brought to feel that these are of flesh and blood like themselves and have the same right thankfully to breathe the pure air of heaven, spend a short hour or two in useful study, or gather with other fellow-Christians at the weekly evening sanctuary. The assemblage gave expression to the sentiment that " the long hours of business which prevail among the great majority of the merchants of Brooklyn are pronounced by the highest medical authorities to be destructive of both health and life; while they preclude those engaged therein from all opportunities of moral and mental culture, as well as from the discharge of their religious obligations, and the mbans hitherto adopted to bring about a reduction of these hours have failed to produce the desired effect." It was therefore unanimously resolved by the audience that:I. This meeting is deeply impressed with the belief that the evils produced by the present late hours of business are of a most serious character, affecting the health, the morals and the highest interests of the clerks as well as the merchants, and that those evils in their various aspects can be removed only by a diminution of those hours of business. 2. The great obstacle to a uniform and an early hour of closing retail establishments is to be found in the practice of evening shopping; that this meeting therefore pledges itself to exercise its influence, individually and collectively, to discontinue and discountenance evening shopping, so that there may be no inducements held out to merchants to keep open their stores after 7 o'clock during the forthcoming winter months. 3. The opinions of men of great practical experience in different branches of retail trade have favored the belief that as much business might be done in ten hours a day as is now spread over a much larger space of time; and that eminent theorists have not only confirmed that belief, but have suggested that a still more limited period would accomplish all the business now done, provided diligence and good management prevailed. 4. This meeting is firmly persuaded that by the limitation of the hours of business to 7 o'clock in the evening the real and permanent interests of the merchants would be promoted, that the clerks would become a more elevated class of men, the efficiency of whose services would be thus increased; and that any temporary inconvenience which might be experienced by the adoption of this arrangement would be more than compensated by the great and permanent 30 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. advantage resulting from the consummation of the 7 o'clock closing of the stores. 5. In seeking to gain so desirable an end the clerks do not contemplate the immediate attainment of all they conceive to be fair and reasonable, but inspired by a sentiment of benevolence and justice towards all, desire only to gain the summit of their wishes by gradual and progressive steps, and that to receive this onward progress untiring thought and persevering labor can alone avail to remove the obstacles of prejudice and custom which beset the path to that eminence which God has intended his creature, man, to occupy. 6. This meeting hails with delight the measures which have emanated from the dry goods merchants of this city, whereby they have resolved to close their establishments at 7 o'clock from the first of December next to the first of April, and at 8 o'clock during the summer months-and that they purpose hereafter to take further measures to secure the closing of the stores at 7 o'clock every evening (Saturday excepted) throughout the year. That this meeting is desirous to express its approval of these measures, and calls upon the public of Brooklyn to sanction their proceedings by extending to those who adopt the early closing principle their patronage and support. By November 25, i850, the great majority of Brooklyn's dry goods merchants had consented to close their stores at 7 o'clock P. M. during the winter (Saturdays and evenings previous to the holidays excepted), commencing on Monday, December 2d. This continued until April I, I85I, after which until November ist the closing time was 8 o'clock, in accordance with an agreement with the association. Clerks in other commercial lines in New York City, impressed with the successful outcome of the efforts inaugurated by the dry goods men, also entered the field to shorten their hours of work. Hat store salesmen formed a union in I85i and actively engaged in the early closing agitation. The agent of this union on April I2th issued a circular, in which, " with the considerate permission of the Dry Goods Clerks' Mutual Benefit and Protective Association," he availed himself of the "opportunity of promulgating the following so that a generous majority may coincide in and act with the views therein expressed, a proceeding which will gain for a hard working and numerous class many an extra hour of rational enjoyment and leisure." He then quoted these resolutions that had been passed by the organized dry goods people, adding that " further comments being unnecessary, the foregoing is submitted for approval and a fair conclusion:" In the hatters' clerks of the City of New York we recognize brothers in a common cause (that of abridging the hours of labor) and that it is no less a pleasure than a duty to assist them in the permanent establishment of the 8 o'clock system of closing stores. RISE OF THE MODERN LABOR MOVEMENT. 31 We hereby appeal to all members of this association, and all dry goods clerks, whether wholesale or retail, as they value early closing themselves, " to do unto others as they would that others should do unto them" by refraining from purchasing hats after 8 P. M. As one of the surest preventives to the accursed evils of late hours of business we would respectfully advise that all hatters who do not close their stores at 8 o'clock are unworthy the patronage of dry goods clerks until they adopt the specified hour of the hatters' clerks. Boot and shoe store clerks soon followed the example set by their fellow-salesmen, and in January, i852, the association of the former, whose president and sec- Boot and retary were, respectively, Selleck Waterbury and Shoe Clerks. John C. Graham, noted its achievements in the following card to the public: The retail boot and shoe dealers in the following streets, viz: Catharine, Cherry, Chatham, Grand and the Bowery, having acquiesced in the movement made by the clerks in their employ relative to the early closing of their stores, and the employers having signified their assent to the above object, the first closing at 8 P. M. (Saturday evening excepted) will commence on Monday evening, January 19, 1852. Employers and clerks will please attend to the same without further notice. Let all others imitate our example. VII. Miscellaneous Trades. A demand for an advance in wages was made on May 27, I850, by members of the theatrical profession engaged at the Astor Place Theatre. A session of the company was held, and, although a benefit had been announced for that Actors. evening, all came to the conclusion not to appear. "This serious interruption of public expectation was borne by our citizens with their usual fortitude," commented one newspaper, " and we presume, when the house is opened again on Monday next, with the Havana opera troupe, that we shall return to our wonted spirits and enthusiasm." Employees in tonsorial shops were prompted to better their condition through organization, and on August 2, i850, a news item appeared in a morning paper that " the barbers of the city are about to strike for higher wages, and Barbers. especially against three-cent shops." How far the men engaged in this trade proceeded in their endeavors does not appear in the records of the transactions of Labor in the fifties. 32 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Drivers of coaches had an effective union in I850. It was called the Liberty Stable Coachmen's Association, and on December 3Ist it printed a card announcing that " it is with pleasure Coachmen. we return our sincere thanks to our employers, Frederick Roe, No. 6 University Place, and Martin Philbin, No. 18 Clinton Place, for their promptness in advancing our wages to the amount fixed by the association." Again, on January 6, i851, the union expressed to George T. Ludlam and James H. Ludlam, liverymen, its appreciation of " the prompt manner in which they acceded to the demand for the wages of $7 per week, which were adopted by the association." Early in May, i850, various plans were proposed through pulpit and press for alleviating the wretched condition of these youths, who were known as "baggage smashers," it being the Public general opinion that something should be done for Porters. their protection. They met on May I7th, formed the Licensed Public Porters' Association, and adopted protective measures, which were immediately put into effect. At the second quarterly meeting of the New York Saddle and Harness Makers' Association, at Military Hall, No. Saddle and I93 Bowery, on May 12, 1851, the new book of Harness prices was distributed among the members. This Makers. scale had been adopted at a meeting in the previous February, and was accepted by the employers. Other leather workers were the morocco dressers and finishers, the union of which trade gave notice on August 20, I85I, "that the men lately employed by E. M. Garner are now out on strike for the defense of their rights, and hope neither men nor stout boys will do anything to injure the trade or forestall the rights of others." The union of tobacco pipe makers assembled on May I, 1850, and resolved " to memorialize Congress for a higher and specific duty on imported pipes, which are now pouring in in Tobacco such quantities and at such low valuations as to Pipe depress pipe making in this country and threaten Makers. it with extinction. We respectfully ask the cooperation of workingmen similarly situated and our fellow-citizens generally." Reuben Smith was president of this association and Dennis Murray was its secretary. RISE OF THE MODERN LABOR MOVEMENT. 33 At a meeting of the journeymen type founders, at No. 65 Beekman street, on April 25, i851, it was unanimously resolved, " in consequence of the type founders of New York being for a length of time compelled to labor under a Journeymen great many grievances and constant attempts to Type reduce their wages, employers availing themselves Founder. of the disorganized state of their men, renders it necessary that we form a society for the protection of our labor; that the name of the society be the New York Type Founders' Trade Protective Union." Joseph M. Harper was the first president and Christopher Shaw was secretary. 2 CHAPTER II. UNIONS OF PRINTERS IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. N O less than six protective organizations of printers preceded Typographical Union No. 6. Three of these were founded in the eighteenth century and three in the nineteenth century. With three exceptions the duration of these unions was comparatively brief. Their aims and objects were clear and broad enough; the members were familiar with their own physical requirements, and strove to heighten their economic status through combination, but difficulties usually arose that prevented the development of their ideas and the permanent betterment of their trade conditions. In the middle of the eighteenth century it was customary in each occupation to convoke a general meeting whenever a momentous trade question was evolved.' The calls for these Transitory gatherings were signed by a few workmen of recogLabor nized ability and probity. Sessions were invariCombinations. ably held in their homes. Organization was effected by the election of officers. Then the purposes of the meetings were enunciated. Following discussion demands were formulated for presentation to employers, and the journeymen in attendance signed a compact to remain loyal to one another during the progress of the controversy. If it were a prolonged dispute committees were appointed to assume charge of its conduct, and meetings of the strikers were of frequent occurrence, thus lending color to the impression that an enduring society had been created. Either in the event of an attainment of the demands of the workers, or the collapse of the strike, these associated efforts as a rule were only temporary. I. Original Organization of Typographers. Such was the character of the first organization of printers in the Metropolis. It was in the Revolutionary War period that a small number of craftsmen came together one winter evening with the sole 1 Ethelbert Stewart, " Early Organization of Printers," in United States Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor, No. 6I, for November, 90o5, page 859. [341 UNIONS OF PRINTERS IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 35 design of insisting upon an advance in their wages. Times were hard during the occupancy of the city by the British. Scarcity of provisions forced prices to exorbitantly high figures. The supply of firewood, which was the most universally known variety of fuel, was at a low ebb, and the cordage rates soared beyond the reach of the average purse.2 Clothing was dear and even rents were affected by the disturbed state of the country. The compositors who engaged in this initial attempt at organization were employed on Rivington's Gazette.3 They could not live on the wages they were receiving and undertook to raise the rate by combining. Fixing upon a First Strike of scale, the record of which is not extant, they sub- Printers in mitted it to the employer, whose refusal to accept America. the measure precipitated a turn-out, which lasted for a short time, but terminated in their favor. Having accomplished its purpose the association forthwith dissolved. Doubtless this was the first strike in the printers' trade in America, and although its issue was successful it did not prove a means of holding the journeymen together. II. The Typographical Society. So far as length of life was concerned the next union of printers was more successful than the ephemeral organization of the Revolutionary epoch. This second venture of the craft was the Typographical Society. Evidently it was not called into being, like its predecessor, by a pressing need, at the removal of which exigency I Early New York often suffered from a dearth of firewood, and the fuel question frequently became a serious problem to its citizens. Prices fluctuated in accordance with the supply. If it were ample the rates were reasonable, but when it became low the amount charged to consumers was so great that many were unable to purchase it. Vessels laden with firewood entering the harbor during these lean wintry seasons were hailed with great rejoicing throughout Manhattan Island, and prices for the commodity instantly dropped. a James Rivington was the King's printer in New York City. His journal was so bitter in its denunciation of the patriots, whom the editor daily and derisively characterized as "rebels," that a troop of 75 horsemen from Connecticut commanded by Capt. Isaac Sears destroyed his printing plant in 1775. In 1777 the royalist printer resumed publication of the newspaper. About 178I, it is said, he began to play the part of spy for General Washington, and after the Revolu. tionary War ended he abandoned the publishing business, but continued to live quietly, in New York as a bookseller, stationer and tobacconist. It is believed he owed his exemption from molestation to the favor of Washington because of the valuable service rendered to the latter. One writer says: " His easy manner, his former connections in Great Britain, his present ardor in the conflict, all would conspire to give him the intelligence he wished almost as soon as it was possessed by Sir Guy Carleton or the other British generals. It is certain that some one high in favor revealed the secrets of the English camp regularly to the Americans." Rivington died in July. 1802, aged 78 years. 36 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. the latter became extinct. Though not a powerful institution the society nevertheless tirelessly promoted the interests of the trade during its existence of two years and six months.4 Founded in the spring of 1794, it had a constitution from the beginning. The first secretary was Walter Hyer, who on July 3d of that year issued a call to the members that " the first quarterly meeting of the Typographical Society will be held, agreeable to the constitution, on Saturday evening next at Mr. Stillwell's, near the ferry stairs, Fly Market - at which time and place the members are requested punctually to attend."5 Accounts of the work and aspirations of the members of this association are somewhat meagre, yet enough has been Eighteenth gleaned about its affairs to warrant the statement Century that the scale of prices was under consideration Wages. repeatedly, the outgrowth of which agitation was an increase of wages to $i per day for the working printers in the city.6 These were the officers of the Typographical Society in the first part of 1796: President, Thomas Ringwood; secretary, Henry C. Southwick; treasurer, Peter Slote; directors, J. H. Williams and Robert Packard. Officers were elected quarterly. Other Trades Quiescent. Sporadic indeed was the movement of Labor in the last decade of the eighteenth century. Records at hand denote that few organizations besides the Typographical Society gained recognition. The coopers had a society in I796. Its chairman was John M. Utt; deputy chairman, John Bogart; secretary, John Ming; treasurer, Jacob Morris. Only two trades in New York's constructive industry were organized strongly enough in 1795 to demand and obtain an advance in wages. "The carpenters and masons of this city, Building having combined and raised their wages two shilIndustry. lings a day beyond the price of last season," wrote a citizen7 who was displeased with the attitude of the unions of these mechanics to better themselves, " it behooves the citizens in general, but particularly those who intend to build the present year, to oppose designs as unjust as they are impolitic. 4 R. H. Cressingham, in The Official Annual of Typographical Union No. 6, March, 8p92. From the New York Diary, or Evening Register, Thursday, July 3, I794. * Ethelbert Stewart, in Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor, No. 6r, November. 9o0,. page 863. t "A. B.," in a card inserted in the New York Daily Advertiser, March 30, I795. GEORGE BRUCE, First Secretary of Franklin Typographical Association of New York, in I799, and Afterward a Celebrated Typefounder. \t AL V I UNIONS OF PRINTERS IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 37 An acquiescence on the part of the citizens on this occasion will in all probability not only excite similar attempts among all other descriptions of persons who live by manual labor, but induce reiterated efforts to increase their wages at seasons when they find their services most wanted. That a trifling addition to their former wages may by some be deemed proper will not be disputed, but when a combination is formed to extort an unreasonable advance every man will deem it an imposition and set his face against the measure. Those who conceive themselves affected by the present combination are requested to meet at Batten's Tavern, near the theatre, on Wednesday evening at 7 o'clock to consider the means that ought to be adopted on this occasion." III. Franklin Typographical Asociation. For some five years the Franklin Typographical Association, which was the title of the third union instituted by New York printers in the eighteenth century, remained active and succeeded in placing the devotees of the art preservative upon a higher plane than they had hitherto occupied. Though its basic law set forth that it was established for " the promotion of harmony among journeymen and for philanthropic purposes," it went a step farther and pursued a protective course that proved to be beneficial to the membership. The first inkling of the foundation of this association was contained in a notice printed in a newspaper8 on November 24, I798. This call was signed "A number of journeymen," and read: "All the journeymen printers in this city are particularly requested to attend a meeting, to be held at the house of A. B. Martling, corer of George and Nassau streets, on Saturday, November 24th, on business of the utmost importance." It was, however, in I799 before it was fully constituted, having then the names of 50 members in its constitution. George Bruce was the first secretary, his selection being "an evidence of the substantial standing which already he had attained in his craft."9 He continued in that position through I80I, during which year the other officers of the association were: President, John Clough; vice-president, David Bruce; corresponding secretary, Thomas Ringwood; standing committee, David Bruce, Thomas Ringwood, John Hardcastle, Daniel Dodge, Henry C. 8 Greenleaf's New York Daily Advertiser. Lyman Horace Weeks," Book of Bruce," page 322. 38 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Southwick.10 In i8oi the union met at Philip Becanon's public house, No. 87 Fair street, while in I803 the place of meeting was at No. 63 Stone street. Regular sessions were held on the first Saturday of each month. Two of the most diligent members of the organization were the Bruce brothers, who afterward became prominently identified with the business life of New York. They were natives Eminent of Scotland. David came to America about 1793; Members. going to Philadelphia, in which city be procured employment in the printing office of Hall & Sellers, the successors of Benjamin Franklin. George followed his brother to this country when he was but 14 years of age, obtaining a place with a firm of Quaker City booksellers. In I797 he was employed on the Philadelphia Gazette, remaining there about a year. From Pennsylvania the brothers proceeded to New York City, thence to Albany, where they worked on the Sentinel, which performed the official printing for the New York State Legislature. They removed to the Metropolis in the spring of I799. George was then in his I8th year. He secured a situation as compositor on the Mercantile Advertiser, but owing to his youth he was enabled to obtain only three-fourths of a journeyman's pay. Subsequently he was employed on bookwork in the offices of Isaac Collins, James Crane, and F. & J. Woods. He became connected in I802 with the office of the Daily Advertiser, of which within a year he was made foreman. Later he assumed entire responsibility for the publication of the paper, his name appearing as its printer in the volumes of 1803-4-5. David found employment as a pressman. About the end of 1805 the Bruces formed a copartnership and established themselves in the printing business. So successfully was their plant conducted that in 1809 it was understood that " they had the largest printing office in New York City, furnishing work to nine double-pull wooden hand presses." They became interested in stereotyping in 1812, but in 1813 both abandoned printing and embarked in type founding, which assured their permanent prosperity and fame. Some of Its Achievements. The wage question was ever paramount, one of the objects of the association being the maintenance of an equitable scale of prices. Employing printers were not then numbered among the wealthy Ia It is quite probable that all of these men constituted the official staff of the association at its inception. DAVID BRUCE, Vice-President of Franklin Typographical Association of New York, in 1799, and Subsequently a Noted Inventor and Typefounder. UNIONS OF PRINTERS IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 39 denizens of the city. They " were in financial straits so frequently that the ownership of an office was hard to determine," observes an authority, speaking of the period prior to 800o. "A journeyman one month was an employer the next, and frequently two or three journeymen would pool their cash and publish a book, divide the profits on its publication, and then dissolve partnership. Printers were generally members of the boss's family, and boarded with him while the job lasted. Of course, the newspaper printers, like those of our day, had the best situations, but there were very few newspapers. The employers were extremely eager for an organization, for it meant better prices for themselves."1 Notwithstanding these drawbacks the association in I800 prepared the first complete wage scale ever adopted by New York City printers and inaugurated a strike for its enforcement.'2 It successfully demanded 25 cents per,000o ems for First Complete pieceworkers, at least $7 per week in book and job Wage Scale. offices and $8 a week on newspapers. Neither copies of this schedule of rates nor the records and constitution of the society have been preserved. A few other accomplishments of the Franklin Typographical Association were mirrored in an address delivered by Thomas Ringwood before the organization and a select company on July 5, I802, " in commemoration of the 27th anniversary of American independence and the third of the association." The orator viewed with satisfaction the high standing that the union had then attained in the community and noted the rapid progress that printing had begun to make in America in the opening years of the nineteenth century: He said: Our institution is in a much more flourishing state than its warmest friends could have expected. In its infancy it had many difficulties to encounter; but its members, by a persevering spirit and propriety of conduct, have rendered futile every obstruction opposed to it in its progress to maturity, and we may now consider it as established on a basis so firm as to warrant the most sanguine hopes of its durability. The organization of a society which has for one of its primary objects the relief of its members when distressed will be allowed by all to be a laudable undertaking; as there is no situation in life which secures us from the arrows of adversity: to-day we may be blessed with Distressed the enjoyment of perfect health, to-morrow we may be laid Members on the bed of sickness. Unforeseen events may incapacitate Relieved us to meet such a misfortune in a suitable manner; it therefore behooves us to make some provision, as a shield against calamity, and in what way can it be better done than by associating in the bonds of friendship and brotherly love? u R. H. Cressingham, in Official Annual of Typographical Union No. 6, March, 1892. u Ethelbert Stewart, in Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor, No. 6I, for November, i905, page 863. 40 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Well-regulated societies also have a great tendency to correct and guide the conduct of their members, both in moral and professional points of view: and as justice to our employers, as well as to ourselves, is the professional tenet of our constitution, great care should be taken strictly to adhere to it, as our association will thereby support that credit which it has been gradually attaining since its establishment. I believe I may with truth affirm that our conduct has effectually obliterated any evil impressions which might have been entertained against us as a society. We have clearly evinced that we associated, not for the Good Conduct purpose of extorting extraordinary salaries, but from motives Impraioens. widely different, and it remains with ourselves to maintain the ground we have gained or deviate from the line of conduct we have hitherto pursued, and fall into discredit. At no time since its first introduction into this country has printing been so liberally encouraged as at present; never has there been so many professors of the typographic art in America as at this time. Formerly Rapid Advance the extent of the business carried on in our line went not beof the Typographic. yond the daily newspaper, and a few of the lower order of books for the use of schools. Now we not only supply the market with editions of the useful, but with almost all the elegant works; numbers of which are executed in a style equal to any from Europe. It is also a subject of congratulation to us that the efforts of the associated printers and booksellers have been so far successful as to produce American editions of several classical works of considerable magnitude, which would not have been otherwise undertaken. From the same truly laudable and patriotic spirit we are warranted in cherishing the expectation that the art of printing will shortly arrive to a degree of eminence in America, equal (at least comparatively) to what has arisen in Europe. We are now, brethren, a numerous society; let us endeavor to conciliate the esteem of our employers; let us continue to be united as we have heretofore been and we shall soar above the malevolent attacks of any who may, from principle or prejudice, profess themselves our enemies. There was an epidemic of yellow fever in New York City during 1803, and the Philadelphia society of printers in June, that year, contributed $83.50 for the relief of its afflicted Metropolitan brethren. On September 19, I803, the president of the New York union acknowledged receipt of the donation " for the relief of such of our members as may be distressed in consequence of the prevailing epidemic." Whether or not the scourge depleted the ranks of the Franklin Association to a degree that its vitality could not withstand the drain is notknown, but the society dissolved in I804. The last mention of it appeared jn the New York Daily Advertiser of May 8, 1804, when its president, Jacob Frank, advertised a request to the members to " attend a special meeting at their hall this evening at 8 o'clock on business of importance." Its scale of prices continued to be the standard wages for the succeeding five years. CHAPTER III. NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, 1809-1818. PROGRESSION distinguished the opening decade of the nineteenth century in America. National prosperity had reached a height not before attained in this country. War's waste had retarded the advance of other nations, but in the United States peace reigned and the development of resources had proceeded with celerity..Vast improvements had taken place in agriculture, commerce, manufactures and the useful arts. When President Madison was inaugurated on March 4, I8og, the fact that he was " clad in a plain suit of black, entirely of American manufacture," was an event of historic moment, exampling not only the rapid strides that had been made in industry, but bespeaking the achievement of greater things by the people. These improved conditions had wrought a change in the mode of living. The standard had gradually increased. Enlarging needs of the producers demanded a greater return for their labor. Printers especially were alive to their requirements, and felt that the wage scale which had been handed down by the association that had lapsed in I804 was inadequate to meet the exactions of the period. A small company of these craftsmen assembled in the home of David H. Reins at No. 49 Barclay street, New York City, in June, I809. They deliberated upon the subject of organization, and resolved upon the necessity of founding a protective and benevolent society. A committee on constitution was selected, and the preliminary meeting adjourned with the understanding that a session would be held on the evening of Saturday, July ist, to receive and act upon the report of the men charged with the duty of drafting the basic law. There were 49 printers present at the first gathering in July, when the committeemen submitted the result of their labors, and the constitution as written by them was adopted. John H. Sherman was elected president, and his signature was the first to be affixed to the constitution. At a special meeting on July 3d S. W. Andrews was elected vice-president and these twelve directors were chosen: Walter W. Hyer, Henry H. Gird, Edward Innet, George H. Lincke, Thomas Thompson, Thomas O'Neill, Daniel [411 42 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Fanshaw, J. W. Palmer, John Forbes, George Asbridge, Nathaniel Gray and David H. Reins. The directors convened the same night, and consonant with the constitutional provision (requiring that the board shall choose for financial officer one of three members nominated by the association in general meeting, which had already announced the candidates, the two others being Thomas Thompson and John Johnston) made John Hamill treasurer. Organization was perfected by the Board of Directors on July 8th, when David H. Reins was elected secretary of the new union, which was ushered into the industrial world under the appellation of the New York Typographical Society. By the end of July, I809, it had a membership of 54, and at the close of its initial year, on June 30, I8Io, it was noted that I20 journeymen had subscribed to the constitution during the first twelve months of its career. I. Initial Constitution. The original fundamental law of the society was a model of simplicity and strength. This interesting instrument severely penalized members who worked for less than established prices, provided means for the relief of the sick and distressed, and clearly defined the duties of officers. Reproduced below is the full text of the first constitution: Article I. This society shall be known and called by the name of the New York Typographical Society. Article 2. The concerns of the society shall be managed by a board to consist of a president, vice-president, twelve directors, a treasurer and secretary, the two former of whom to be elected by ballot and to hold their respective offices as follows: Article 3. The president and vice-president shall be elected by ballot in general meeting on the first Saturday in the month of June Officers. of every year by a majority of the members then present and shall hold their respective offices during the term of one year. Article 4. The directors shall be elected on the first Saturday of July, 1809, and immediately after their election and installation shall divide themselves into four classes; the members of the first class shall hold Board of their office during the term of one month; those of the second Directors. class during the term of two months; those of the third class during the term of three months; and those of the fourth class during the term of four months-so that at every monthly meeting there shall be an election for three directors; and in case of the death, resignation NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 43 or disability of any director or directors then the president for the time being shall give notice thereof and at the first monthly meeting thereafter another person shall be elected to fill the vacancy occasioned by such death, resignation or disability aforesaid. Article 5. The treasurer shall hold office during the term of six months and be elected as follows: On the first Saturdays of July and September in every year at general meeting or on the first Saturday thereafter three candidates for the office shall be elected by ballot, and at the first meeting of the board thereafter one of the three persons so elected shall be appointed by a majority of the directors, and those directors who shall vote for him shall become sureties for the faithful performance of the duties of his office in manner following: Before the treasurer enters on the duties of his office he shall give an obligation to the president, vice-president and secretary for the time being, thereby promising to refund the amount of all moneys belonging to the society on his resignation or removal from office, which obligation shall be signed by and be equally obligatory on those directors who by their votes may have selected him for the office. Article 6. The secretary shall be appointed by the Board of Directors and hold his office during the term of six months. Article 7. All acts of the Board of Directors shall be in the name of the New York Typographical Society, signed by the president for the -time being and attested by the secretary. Article 8. It shall be the duty of the president to preside at all meetings of the society and Board of Directors, to keep order therein, and generally to do all such things as to his office may of right appertain and belong. Article 9. It shall be the duty of the vice-president to attend all meetings of the board and general society and to assist in keeping order therein. In the absence of the president, or in case of his disability, death or resignation, the vice-president shall preside until the re- Duties of moval of such obstacle or until a person. be elected to fill Officers. the vacancy. And in case of the absence, disability, death or resignation of both president and vice-president the board shall appoint a president pro tempore. Article io. The board shall have power to pass by-laws for the government of themselves and of the society in general meeting, resolutions and acts not derogatory to the true interests and meaning of the constitution, and generally to transact all and every such business for the welfare of the society as is not in this constitution determined to be done in general meeting. It shall also keep a list of the prices of work, subject to revision and alteration as may become necessary, and if any member of this society shall be convicted of working for less than the established wages he shall be expelled and the secretary shall transmit his name with the nature of his offense to the other corresponding typographical societies in the United States. Article II. It shall be the duty of the treasurer to receive all dues, fines and forfeitures collected by the secretary and receipt to him therefor; to keep exact and true accounts of all moneys received and expended; but he shall make no disbursements of moneys unless authorized so to do by a majority of the directors who voted the appropriation, expressed in their own handwriting on the warrant directed to him for that purpose; and shall also, when thereto required by a majority of the board or the society in general meeting, make out and present a just and true account of his receipts and expenditures and the amount of the 44 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. moneys in the treasury; and on his resignation, disability and expiration of his term of office, deliver over to the board all moneys and amounts in his possession belonging to the society under pain of forfeiting his and the directors' security aforesaid. And in case of the death of the treasurer then the receipts and amounts of the secretary shall be sufficient vouchers against his heirs, executors or administrators; and the board shall appoint a treasurer pro tempore to fill the vacancy until the next election and general meeting. Article 12. The secretary shall attend all meetings of the society and Board of Directors and shall keep a record of all transactions in the society, issue notices for stated and special meetings, receive initiation fees and monthly dues and deposit the same with the treasurer, for which he shall take a receipt; at the opening of every meeting read the minutes of the preceding one, and generally do all such things when thereunto required by the board or the society in general meeting as to them shall seem proper (for which services if punctually performed he shall be exempted from monthly dues). Article I3. Immediately after their election the respective officers shall take their seats on subscribing to the following declaration: " I.............., do solemnly declare that I will to the best of my abilities execute ation. the office of................; and that I will not divulge any of the proceedings of my brethren required by them to be kept secret; and I will, to the utmost of my power, procure employment for any member or members of this society, in preference to any other person or persons when occasion may require." Article 14. Any person wishing to become a member of this society must make application to the Board of Directors for that purpose, and it shall be the duty of the board to make other proper enquiries respecting such person and lay the result of the same before the society in general meeting; who shall thereupon proceed to ballot, and three-fourths of the votes of the members present shall entitle him to admission. Immediately after being admitted he shall be called upon to answer such questions as shall be put to him by the president, and should they prove satisfactory he shall sign the constitution and receive a certificate of membership. Article 15. Every person on subscribing to this constitution shall pay into the hands of the secretary, to be by him delivered over to the treasurer, the sum of $2, which may hereafter be increased to any sum InitationFee not exceeding $5, and in addition thereto the sum of 25 and Dues. cents a month until he shall have been ten years a member of the society or be rendered incapable by sickness, or otherwise, in the opinion of the board, to pay such installment. Article I6. It shall be the duty of the president for the time being to appoint three fit and qualified persons to preside as judges at any election to be held in general meeting for officers of the society, and the said Judges of judges shall make out an exact and true return, certified Election under their hands, of the number of votes given for every person voted for and deliver such return to the president, who shall thereupon declare the person or persons having the greatest number of votes to be elected; and in case of a tye between any two or more candidates the board shall declare which of them is to exercise and hold the office. NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. Article 17. When the funds of the society shall have amounted to $Ioo the Board of Directors may award such sum to sickly and distressed members, their widows and children as to them may seem meet and proper. Provided, that such sum shall not exceed $3 Sick and per week. And in every case wherein a member may Distressed be thrown out of employ by reason of his refusing to take Members. less than the established prices they shall advance, if required, on his own security, at their discretion, such a sum per week as is sufficient to defray his ordinary expenses. And if such member, by sickness or otherwise, shall be rendered unable to refund the amount, or part of the sum so advanced, the board may levy a tax upon every other member of the society, which shall be sufficient, or in part sufficient to defray the amount advanced as aforesaid. And further, no person shall receive the benefit arising from this article until he shall have been six months a member of the society, unless he is a stranger and in absolute distress. Article I8. Applications for relief in case of sickness shall be made to the president, who shall thereupon immediately (if the exigency of the case shall require it) direct the Board of Directors to draw upon the treasurer such sum as shall relieve his immediate distress and at the next meeting take the applicant's situation into consideration. Article 19. A general meeting of the society shall be held on the first Saturday in every month, for the purpose of hearing the proceedings of the board, making monthly payments and of transacting Meetnes such other business as may legally come before them. Article 20. At all meetings of the society 20 shall be a quorum to proceed to business, which shall be conducted according to such rules of order as may from time to time be adopted by the Board of Directors. Motions may be made by any member, and if seconded shall be Quorum considered and the voice of the society taken thereon. Article 2I. No amendment or alteration shall be made in this constitution unless by two-thirds of the members present at a meeting specially held for that purpose, when 30 members shall be a Amendments. quorum, and all motions for amendments or alterations shall be laid on the table in writing one month previous to the same being debated on. II. Firt By-Law. Discussion of a set of by-laws occupied the attention of the society for several months. Though amendments were made to these on August 7, 1811, and the whole " ordered read every three months in general meeting," the alterations were of minor importance. The most noted addition was an article which provided that " no member of this society shall be permitted to take with him as a companion at press a person who is of full age with a view of teaching him the business, under the pain of expulsion." The complete original by-laws were as follows: 46 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Article i. Meetings of this society shall be held according to the constitution on the first Saturday of every month. The hours of meeting of the society and Board of Directors shall be as follows: From the tenth Meetings. of March to the tenth of October at 8 o'clock, and from the tenth of October to the tenth of March at 6 o'clock in the evening, and in no case whatsoever shall the society be in session for the transaction of business after 1 o'clock. Article 2. The president, or in his absence the vice-president, as soon as a quorum appears after the hour above specified, shall take the chair; and in the absence of both a chairman shall be appointed for the evening. Article 3. It shall be the duty of the president to call an extra meeting of the society at any and at all such times when a majority of the Board of Directors or society in general meeting shall think proper by issuing a warrant directed to him for that purpose. Article 4. Every person immediately after being elected a member of this society and previous to his signing the constitution must give satisfactory answers to the following questions, and to such others as the president may deem proper: "Have you suffered yourself to be proposed as a member of this society with a view of supporting the interests thereof? Obligation of " Do you promise to attend all meetings of this society Members. when it shall be in your power so to do, provided it be not detrimental to yourself or family? "Do you hereby declare and affirm that you will support the constitution and by-laws of this society and hold yourself amenable to all legal acts and proceedings of the society and Board of Directors; that you, when thereunto required, keep all such matters and proceedings of the society or Board of Directors a profound secret, as shall be deemed necessary by a majority of either; and furthermore, do you declare that you will procure, or cause to be procured, if within your power, employment for all such members of this society as may be in want thereof, in preference to any other person or persons? " Article 5. When a member speaks he shall rise and address the chair, and, avoiding desultory or irrelevant remarks, shall confine himself strictly to the merits of the question under consideration. He shall not Rules of be interrupted while speaking unless by the presiding officer Order. when he shall think proper to call him to order, or admonish him to a closer adherence to the subject. Nor shall a member be allowed to speak oftener than twice on the same question without permission from the chair. Article 6. While a member is speaking or other business of the society transacting, all the other members shall preserve silence. In case of a breach of this rule by talking, whispering or other improper conduct, the chairman shall call to order; and on persisting in, or repetition of such disorderly conduct, the chairman shall call the offending member to order by name, and should he further offend he shall be compelled to leave the room for that evening. Article 7. When a question, resolution or motion is under debate no other motion shall be admitted by the chairman unless to postpone the further consideration thereof, to divide the question, to amend, or to adjourn; and no amend I Subsequently changed to 7 o'clock. NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 47 ment shall be admitted that shall appear to the chairman to destroy the spirit or principle of the resolution or motion under consideration. Article 8. Questions of order shall be decided by the chairman; but in case of an appeal from his decision of any three members the society shall determine by vote without debate. Article 9. A motion to reconsider any former resolution or vote can only be made or seconded by a member who then voted in the majority. Article 10. In ordinary cases questions may be determined by the simple aye or no of the members, or by the members rising at the option of the presiding officer. Article I. If any member shall neglect to pay up his dues for three months he shall be debarred the right of voting upon any question which may come before the society or Board of Directors until such arrears are paid; and if such delinquent continues such neglect for Members in six months his name shall be erased from the books and Arrears. he be debarred all right of membership. Provided, however, the above restriction shall not extend to such as are absent from the city or out of employment, nor to those who are sick or in distress; in all which cases the Board of Directors shall be considered as competent judges. Article 12. Should any member of this society be detected in undermining or supplanting a brother member, or supplying the place of him who may be discharged by an employer in consequence of Penalty for supporting the rules of this society, by refusing to work "Ratting." for less than the established prices, he shall be expelled therefrom and reported to the different typographical societies in the United States. Article I3. No member of this society shall work for less than the wages which may be established; neither shall he engage or continue in any office where there is a journeyman working for less than the established prices. Article I4. It shall be the duty of the secretary to notifyall members to attend the general meetings of this society, whether regular or extra, and do all such other business relative to his office Salary of as is pointed out by the constitution, for which services Secretary. he shall receive over and above his dues the sum of $9 per annum; and in case of his absence the person so acting shall receive in proportion. Article 15. No person shall leave the room while the society are transacting business, unless he obtain permission from the chairman. Article 16. Should any member of the society conceive any of the by-laws objectionable and wish to have the same repealed or amended he may apply to the Board of Directors for that Amendments. purpose, in writing, at any of their meetings; and the result of their determination therein shall be made known to the society at their next monthly meeting. III. Geographical Jurisdiction. Jurisdictional lines did not engage the attention of the society till April 21, 8I o, on which occasion it established a rule that the International Typographical Union initiated some years since of confining 48 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. the operations of its subordinate bodies to the localities in which they meet. It resolved on the date named that " the jurisdiction of the New York Typographical Society shall extend only to the City and County of New York, except as in cases hereinafter specified. Any person who now is or hereafter may become a member of this society may be employed in any office without the jurisdiction thereof and shall be considered a regular member; he conforming with the general rules of the society. Provided, that while he shall be so employed without the jurisdiction of the society he shall not be allowed to vote on any question or resolution to alter or regulate the price of work in this city." IV. Upbuilding Efforts. Almost at the beginning a vigorous policy was instituted for the upbuilding of the society and the encouragement of its members. As early as July 29, I809, the Board of Directors adopted measures the fruits of which were immediately perceptible, its first work of consequence being the passage of a resolution " that it is earnestly recommended that every member of this society exert himself in augmenting our number by procuring the signatures of those persons who have not yet come forward, to the end that we may effect our grand purpose- the raising and establishing of our prices." Complaint was made at the same meeting by Mr. Murray, a pressman, that he and his " partner, Mr. Gullen," while working on the American Citizen had given the employer notice First that " the wages they were paid," to quote from the Lockout. minutes, " did not compensate them for their labor, they receiving but $8.25, whereas it would amount to $9 by the piece, at the customary wages paid in other offices; which sum they demanded, and in consequence thereof they were discharged." He also stated that " their places had been supplied by a Mr. Wells and a Mr. Stone, who were strangers in the city." The board at once enshrouded the two complainants with the mantle of protection, appointing a committee of three to "wait on the above gentlemen and inform them of the impropriety of retaining their situations at less than the ordinary wages given for the proportion of labor." In due time the committeemen reported that they had "waited on those gentlemen, and after acquainting them with the purport of their visit were informed that they would present a written NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 49 answer to the society at the next meeting." In their communication the writers replied that the price previously paid was $8.25; but this was denied by Director Thompson, who reasoned that " by a calculation at 3 7 cents, which was the customary price per token2 for super-royal paper, it amounted to $9." The letter was ordered to be laid aside, and on August x9th the board directed the secretary " to inform the pressmen in the office of the Citizen, by letter, that they have been, and are, working under the established prices, and state to them what the prices are; and also, as they express their willingness to act in such manner as will support the 'honor and dignity of the trade,' the best manner in which they could evince 'their sincerity would be by joining the society, whose object and conduct those gentlemen seemed to have mistaken." Secretary Reins obeyed the injunction by addressing the following courteous communication on August 25th to Messrs. Stone and Wells, who evidently did not give the matter further consideration, as neither joined the society: GENTLEMEN:-The Board of Directors of the NewYork Typographical Society by resolution passed on the l9th inst. have directed me to inform you that the customary price per token for working super-royal paper is 371 cents; and 48 tokens (which is supposed to be the number you work per week) at that price will amount to $I8. The present society, however, have yet no established prices either for presswork or for composition, but the price which is here mentioned is that which was instituted by a former association in this city and which we believe is now generally conformed to. The Board of Directors, however, passing over some expressions in the first part of your letter, which are calculated to give offense to some, are actuated by motives of interest for the profession, and have directed me to inform you that, having expressed your determination " to use all honorable means to increase the wages both of compositors and pressmen, if necessary, and to support and maintain the honor and dignity of the trade," the best manner in which you could evince your sincerity would be by joining the society, whose objects and conduct you seem to have mistaken. To establish equitable prices for our labor is the principal object for which we have recently associated, and which we hope in a short time to accomplish. The first step toward this is an increase of our number, and we conceive it to be the duty and the interest of every journeyman printer in this city to come forward and unite with us, feeling gratified in promoting an object which has for its end the benefit of the whole. Should you, gentlemen, conceive the above observations satisfactory and have a desire to promote the objects we have in view, I would observe that the Board of Directors meet every Saturday evening at the house of Mr. Clark (Harmony Hall), to whom application can be made at any of the meetings. i Denoting a measure of quantity of paper used in presswork, commonly 250 sheets 50 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. About the same time the aggressiveness of the society was manifested in another direction. Its action pertained to an exchange with other printers' unions of lists of unfair journeyExchange of men,3 the Board of Directors on August i9th Unfair Lists. instructing the secretary " to open a correspondence with the different typographical societies in the United States and request them in cases where persons may have acted dishonestly towards their societies, and might be departing for this city, that they would transmit information thereof to us, the favor of which would be reciprocated."4 Secretary Reins read to the board on September gth the following letter that he had prepared, and the same being approved, was mailed on September I8th to the presidents and directors of organizations in other cities: GENTLEMEN: —In all classes of society experience has proved that there have been men who, laying aside those principles of honor and good faith which ought to govern their conduct towards their brethren, and for a mere gratification of private interest, have set aside the obligations they were under by violating the ordinances which they had pledged themselves to maintain. It is for the 3 In after years a printer of this class was contemptuously termed a " rat," being defined as a workman who accepted wages lower than the established rate, or one who refused to strike at the instigation of a trade union, or who took the situation of a striker. " The first use of the term in the United States in the society records is in the minutes of the New York society in a letter from the Albany society, dated November 20, i8i6."- George E. Barnett, "The Printers," page 23. The Albany society had on October 3, i8i6, sent to the New York society a letter containing the names of several persons " who have for months past been working in the office of E. & E. Hosford, in this city, below the prices established by the society." Finding that it had unintentionally done an injustice to one of these printers, the Albany association exculpated him. and did what it could to remove the stigma it had placed upon his name, writing as follows to the president of the society in New York November 20, I8i6: " Since forwarding the names of irregular workmen employed in this city to your society we have become more fully acquainted with the causes which compelled Mr. Stephen Dorion to accept the illegitimate prices of composition. It appears he was among one of the first of those who refused to comply with the views of the employers, and consequently lost his situation. He went to New York in pursuit of work, but unfortunately could not procure any. He returned again to this city, and after sacrificing all his property, amounting to about $soo, besides contracting a heavy, debt for the support of his family, with starvation staring him in the face; without the least hope or possibility of procuring any assistance from our society, in consequence of the depressed state of its fiscal concerns, and from the conviction that ' rats ' in great abundance could be procured to carry on the work of destruction, he chose rather to accept of the reduced wages than to become the inhabitant of a gaol or a poorhouse. We hope, sir, that you will communicate these facts to your society for their deliberate consideration, and if it should be thought that he has acted honorably, we hope he may be again permitted to participate in the privileges of regular workmen, and be exonerated from the odious appellation of ' rat.' " This request was complied with at a general meeting of the Metropolitan organization on December 7th, when, according to the minutes, after the communication had been read, " a motion was then made that Mr. Stephen Dorion be exonerated from the appellation of '* rat,' which was passed unanimously." 4 The course thus pursued by the New York society represented an entirely new idea in trade unionism. To a limited extent the practice is still in vogue. In I838 " St. Louis, Mo., protested against a too strenuous hounding of ' rats,' and it was one of the first acts of the national organization [of printers] of 1852 to call a halt on the abuse of this custom by local societies."- Ethelbert Stewart, in Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor, No. 61, November, 905os, page 890. NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. I5 interest of the profession that such persons (if any there are) should be discountenanced, and to the end that the knowledge of their sins should follow them, the directors of the New York Typographical Society have directed me to open a correspondence with you by requesting, if compatible with the provisions of your constitution, that in cases where members of your society or others in the profession may have acted dishonorably towards it and should have started for this city you would be so good as to transmit information thereof to us, the favor of which on a like occasion will be reciprocated. The directors of the New York Typographical Society sincerely hope that an instance of this nature may never have to be recorded. It appears to them the adoption of a rule like the above might be attended with mutual benefit. There is nothing which acts more forcefully on the human mind than shame. It makes the coward bold, the miser generous, and it is to be hoped that it will ever deter a journeyman printer from conducting himself unworthily towards his brethren wherein a principle is wanting. A response to the foregoing was indited by President John Childs, of the Philadelphia society, under date of October 28th, and while the proposition was not sanctioned by him his association nevertheless set the seal of approval upon it. This answer was read at a special general meeting in New York on November ist. Mr. Childs wrote that the request of the New York society " expressed a principle which was not readily acceded to and the consideration of it was twice referred to the opinion of a selected committee; a report was made this evening and finally adopted in the following words: 'The committee think proper to report that they have considered the letter referred to them and are of the opinion that the principle set forth therein is a good one and will have a tendency to promote the.interests of the two societies. Therefore, resolved, that whenever any member of this society shall act derogatory to the principles of this institution and shall leave this city for New York information shall immediately be forwarded to the New York Typographical Society.' As I am decidedly opposed to the principle it cannot be expected that I should dilate upon it. I beg leave, however, to assure you that the will of the majority is my guide and I shall consider it my duty to act in strict conformity to the resolution." V. Struggles for Increased Wages. In less than two months after the formation of the society the wage question came to the fore and caused considerable debate. From the minutes of the Board of Directors it is gleaned that on August 26, 809, " Mr. Thompson, seconded by Mr. Hyer, moved that 52 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. a committee of seven should be appointed to draw up a list of prices. The vice-president opposed the motion on the ground, he said, that the committee of inquiry should be previously instructed in order to ascertain what were the prices now given at each office. Mr. Thompson, Mr. Hyer and Mr. O'Neill warmly advocated the motion; contending that almost every member of the board and the society was already in possession of as much information on that point as could be obtained by the committee. The time was at hand when the business would be at its height, and now was the proper time to prepare ourselves, in order that we might strike, as Mr. O'Neill observed, 'before our irons got cool.' The question was taken and carried in the affirmative and Messrs. Gird, Thompson, O'Neill, Innet, Sherman, Hyer and Fanshaw were nominated and unanimously chosen." A scale of prices was prepared by the committee and submitted on September i6th. It regulated rates for composition and presswork. The report was twice read and after a few amendments had been made all articles but one were adopted. On September 20th the schedule was completed, and on the 27th instant a committee was appointed to draft a communication to accompany it. The directors convened on September 3oth, when the following circular, addressed " to the master printers of the City of New York," was presented and unanimously approved: GENTLEMEN:-Between employers and the employed there are mutual interests dependent; mutual duties to be performed. To the end that these may result in harmony certain rules and regulations should be adopted. Therefore, we, the journeymen printers of the City of New York, have duly and deliberately taken into consideration the present irregular state of the prices in many of the printing offices, and conceiving that they are inadequate to a comfortable subsistence have united ourselves into an association for the purpose of regulating and establishing the same. The annexed list, formed with a due deference to justice and equability, is presented with a view that it may meet your approbation. Minor changes were again made in the new bill of prices on October 7th, and finally on the fourteenth of that month it was adopted as a whole and forwarded to the employers. Meeting on October 2Ist the directors again discussed the scale, and resolved " that the secretary be authorized to transmit a copy of the list of prices to each of the typographical societies in the United States and inform them of our intention of standing out for the wages mentioned therein, in order that their members might not be deceived by advertisements for journeymen." This action was NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 53 put into effect on October 23d, on which date Secretary Reins sent the following to unions in other places: GENTLEMEN:-Inclosed is a list of prices of the New York Typographical Society, by which they intend to be governed after the 29th inst. As some of the employers may be unwilling to conform to the regulations of the society, in hopes of procuring journeymen from other parts, I am directed to make this communication to you, in order that the members of your society might not be deceived by advertisements for journeymen in this city. That this effort to raise wages was pleasing to other societies is indicated in the reply to the foregoing from President Childs of the Typographical Society of Philadelphia, whose letter of October 28th also mirrored the conditions that then existed in the printing trade in New York. He wrote thus: Your letter of the 23d inst. has given inexpressible pleasure to the members of the board and of the society in general. The energetic measures you have taken and had been so long wanting in the respectable City of New York that the friends of equal rights reflect with disgust upon the humiliating conditions in which our brethren suffered themselves to remain there; and the flattering hope now held forth that they have broken their manacles with a determination that they shall never be riveted again will be fostered and cherished-nay, assisted, as far as constitutionally may lay in our power. But the old adage will here apply and should be attentively considered: " He that will not help himself shall have help from nobody." Persevere, then, in your laudable struggle, and remember that no great end was ever yet attained without danger and difficulty. Upon receipt of the notification from the journeymen's society the master printers convened on October 25th to consider the claims of the workmen. The meeting adopted a counter proposal, and appointed a committee consisting of Master Printers' J. Swords, J. Crooks and G. Bruce to submit it to Counter the union. On the following day the employers' Proposal. representatives sent their scale to the men's organization, prefacing it with the statement that " the master printers of the City of New York, having convened on the 25th inst., by public notice, to deliberate upon certain propositions, which have been made to them by the journeymen for an increase of wages, unanimously (except in two or three trifling instances) adopted the subsequent resolutions. In presenting them to the consideration of the Typographical Society they think it proper to remark that, although no circumstances have come to their knowledge which would justify on the part of the journeymen a demand for more than the customary wages, yet, desirous of meeting them in the spirit of conciliation and 54 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. harmony, and to remove every obstacle that might have a tendency to interrupt a mutual good understanding, the master printers have made considerable advances on the prices hitherto given, and to as great an extent as the present state of the printing business would admit. The scale which is now offered may, therefore, be considered as a maximum, beyond which it would be highly injurious, if not ruinous, to the interests of the trade to venture." Following is the complete scale that was formulated by the employers: Composition. Article I. That works done in common matter, on brevier or larger type, be paid for by ems at 24 cents, on nonpareil 27 cents, on pearl 29 cents per I,000 (except such as hereafter provided for), and those done in common matter on type larger than English be counted as English. Article 2. That side, bottom, or cut-in notes, be each of them, whether occurring together or separately, paid for at the rate of 25 cents per sheet, and should they exceed what is considered as moderate, the price shall be struck by the journeymen of the office and the employer. No charge, however, to be made for bottom or cut-in notes, unless they, in the course of the volume, exceed in folio or quarto one page, octavo or duodecimo one and one-half pages, and in eighteens or smaller works two pages. Article 3. That works done in a different language from the English (though common type) be paid 30 cents for minion and larger type, and 33 cents for smaller type. Article 4. If a quantity of Hebrew, Greek, or other dead characters, should be intermixed in a work, so as to be troublesome to the compositor, there shall be an additional charge according to the trouble. Works done in Hebrew shall be paid double, and in Greek shall be charged I2~ cents per i,ooo higher than common matter; but if with separate accents I8l cents. The asper not to be considered an accent. Article 5. That making up a set of furniture for a work of five sheets or under, if an octavo, be paid 25 cents. All other impositions to be paid 3 cents extra, progressively, in proportion to the size. Article 6. That works done partly in figures and partly plain, such as arithmetical works, etc., be paid in proportion to the trouble; and that rule and figure work be paid double. Article 7. That broadsides, such as leases, deeds, etc., done on English or smaller type, be paid 30 cents per i,ooo ems. Play-bills, posting bills, etc., to be paid for as may be agreed upon between the journeymen and employer. Article 8. That head and direction lines (the blank after the running title included) be calculated in the text; and that where there shall be a blank at the foot of the page, the same shall be calculated in the text. Article 9. Scabbard works (when the scabbards are not thinner than four to an em of the text) shall be charged 2 cents less than the solid matter. No more than one em shall be charged for blanks at the beginning and end of lines. Article Io. That algebraical works, or those where characters of music are the principal part, and works containing physical, astronomical, or other signs, be paid for at a medium to be agreed upon by the journeymen and the employer. NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 55 Article I. That time lost by alteration from copy or by casing or distributing letter, be paid for at the rate of 121 cents per hour. Article 12. Journeymen employed on a daily paper by the piece shall receive 25 cents per I,ooo ems. Article 13. Journeymen employed in book offices, or on evening daily papers, shall receive $7 for their weekly services, and those on morning daily papers $8. Eleven hours to be considered a day in a book or evening paper office. Presswork. Article I. That bookwork on brevier or larger type, on medium or smaller paper, be paid 29 cents per token; on smaller type 311 cents. Royal paper, on brevier or larger type, 3I1 cents per token; on smaller type 34 cents. Superroyal paper, on brevier or larger type, 34 cents per token; on smaller type 37j cents. Article 2. That jobs, folios, quartos, etc., be paid 30 cents per token. Article 3. That cards, if 50 or under, be paid i8 cents; any additional pack or packs, at 10 cents per pack. Article 4. That broadsides on foolscap be paid 30 cents per token; on. medium 33 cents; on larger paper 40 cents. Article 5. That 3 cents per token be paid on works containing wood engravings. Article 6. That 26 cents be paid for putting a parchment or linen tympan on a press at which the person who put it on is not employed; but nothing shall be charged when it is done by a pressman who works at the press. Article 7. If at any time it shall be requisite to take down a press, or any part thereof, an allowance of 121 cents per hour shall be made to each pressman employed at it, during the time they shall be prevented from proceeding in their regular work. Article 8. If a pressman be obliged to lift his form before it is finished he shall be allowed I21 cents for the same. Article 9. That no journeyman working at press on a morning daily paper shall receive a less sum than $8 for his weekly services; nor those on an evening paper a less sum than $7. If the quantity of work should exceed eight tokens per day, to be charged if a morning paper at 34 cents, if an evening paper at 3I1 cents per token. The Typographical Society met in general session on October 28th and received a report from the Scale Committee, the members of which informed the association " that they had delivered a printed list of the prices to each master printer, agreeable to instructions; that the master printers themselves made a list of prices, which they presented for the consideration of the society, and that they had received a note directed to the committee of journeymen printers in which they requested that a committee of the society might be appointed to confer with their committee in order, if possible, to effect an accommodation." The reading of the communication from the master printers elicited an observation by one of the members of the society, as described in the minutes, "that though he 56 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. disliked the stile of the note, which savored much of despotism, yet he thought it consistent that we should comply with their request; he therefore moved that a committee of three from our body be appointed to confer with the committee of master printers." This was carried. Then it was " moved that the list of prices be read by articles and the voice of the meeting taken on each, in order that the committee might be instructed wherein to adhere to the list, and in what article they would be willing to relax; which, after some opposition, being carried, the list was read and considered by articles. The committee were then instructed to adhere strictly to the original list, excepting the third article of composition and the fifth, eighth and tenth of presswork, which articles the society were of the opinion might be modified." A special meeting was held by the society on October 3oth. The committeemen, through Mr. Gleason, their chairman, "reported that they had waited on the committee of master printers," says the minutes, "who met them with a frankness which was highly creditable to themselves and pleasing to the committee. They had made many concessions, and the committee, desirous of putting a speedy termination to our differences, has also consented to advocate some trifling concessions on our part of points which they conceived to be in some measure unjust and which, in the present state of our affairs, were not worth contending for. Some points, however, insisted on by them, in the opinion of the committee, were not proper to be conceded, and hope that the meeting will be of the same opinion; but respectfully submitted the whole to the consideration of the meeting. Mr. Gleason then proceeded to read the articles of the list and explain the objections of the master printers and likewise their concessions in a stile and manner which did him much honor. After some observations from Mr. Eaton respecting the infancy of our society, our want of funds, and the inability of some of the members to stand out a great length of time, he moved that the meeting adopt the whole list of prices so far as the two committees had agreed. This motion was strenuously opposed; not being seconded, another motion was made to have it considered by articles, which was carried. It would be impossible to follow the members in their arguments in the course of the debate that ensued, in which was displayed a spirit worthy of the cause in which we are engaged, and an eloquence that would have graced a senate house. It is only necessary to observe that in many points they were willing to conform to the propositions of the master printers; but in the principal items set forth in our original list they determined to adhere to at all hazards. NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, I809-I818. 57 It was also moved that the list of prices as settled this evening be returned to the committee, by them to be again presented to the committee of master printers for their deliberation, and that this be considered the ultimatum of our deliberations on the subject." Further conferences with the employers resulted in a satisfactory adjustment of the points at issue, although some members of the society had " turned out " to enforce the scale and received strike pay during the term of their idleness of i809 for sustaining the principles of the union, while a in Force. few others were disciplined for working for less than the prescribed rates. The wage schedule as finally established by the association and accepted by the master printers in I809 consisted of piece rates and a minimum for time work, whereas the employers' tentative scale provided that the compensation named by them for work performed by the week should be the maximum, albeit their figure was $i less than that advocated by the journeymen. Additional prices were specified for different kinds of extra work, although in a few exceptional instances the question of payment for extras was left to the judgment of the journeymen and the employer for settlement. This interesting first wage scale of the society follows in complete form: Composition. Works done in common matter, on minion or larger type, 25 cents; nonpareil, 27 cents; pearl, 30 cents per I,ooo ems. Above English to be counted as English. Side, bottom, or cut-in notes, be each of them, whether occurring together or separately, paid for at the rate of 25 cents per sheet; and should they exceed what is considered as moderate, the price shall be struck by the journeymen of the office and the employer. No charge, however, to be made for bottom or cut-in notes, unless, in the course of the volume, they exceed in folio or quarto one page, octavo or duodecimo one and an half page, and in eighteen or smaller works two pages. Works done in a different language from the English (though common type) be paid 31 cents for minion and larger type, and 34 cents for smaller type. If a quantity of Hebrew, Greek, or other dead characters should be intermixed, so as to be troublesome to the compositor, there shall be an additional charge according to the trouble. Works done in Hebrew, without points, shall be paid double; and in Greek, without separate accents, shall be paid 15 cents per I,OOO higher than common matter. The asper not to be considered an accent. That making up a set of furniture, for a work of five sheets or under if an octavo, be paid 25 cents. All other impositions to be paid 3 cents extra, progressively in proportion to the size. Works done partly in figures and partly plain, such as arithmetical works, etc., to be paid in proportion to the trouble. Rule and figure work to be paid double. 58 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Broadsides, such as leases, deeds, etc., done on English, or smaller type, be paid 30 cents per 1,ooo ems. Play-bills, posting bills, etc., to be paid for as may be agreed upon between the journeyman and employer. Head and direction lines (the blank after the running title included), be calculated in the text; and where there shall be a blank line at the foot of the page the same shall also be calculated in the text. Algebraical works, or those where characters of music are the principal part, and works containing physical, astronomical or other signs, be paid for as may be agreed upon by the journeymen and the employer. Time lost by alteration from copy, or by casing or distributing letter, be paid for at the rate of 15 cents per hour. On a daily paper, by the piece, to receive not less than 30 cents per i,ooo ems. In book or evening daily paper offices, to receive not less than $8 per week. On morning daily papers $9. Presswork. Bookwork, done on minion or larger type, on medium or smaller paper, 30 cents per token; on smaller type, 33 cents. Royal paper, on minion or larger type, 33 cents per token; on smaller type, 36 cents. Super-royal paper, on minion or larger type, 36 cents per token; on smaller type, 39 cents. Jobs, folio, quarto, etc., be paid 30 cents per token. Cards, if 1oo or under, be paid 30 cents; each additional pack, 12j cents. Broadsides to be paid for at a rate to be fixed upon by the employer and journeyman. Three cents per token extra to be paid on forms containing wood engravings. If at any time it shall be requisite to take down a press, or any part thereof, an allowance of 15 cents per hour shall be made to the pressmen during the time they shall be prevented from proceeding in their regular work. If pressmen be obliged to lift their form before it is finished they shall be allowed 30 cents for the same. No journeyman working at press on a morning daily paper shall receive a less sum than $9 for his weekly services; nor those on an evening paper a less sum than $8. If the quantity of work should exceed eight tokens per day, to be charged, if a morning paper, at the rate of 37~ cents per token; if an evening paper, 33j cents per token. Presently, however, the journeymen's organization had misgivings that some employers were about to violate their agreement to pay the scale. In truth, it was the judgment of Surmounting the society that these master printers had accepted Difficulties. the terms of the union merely to gain time to recruit a sufficient force of workmen outside the city to take the places of members when an opportune moment arrived. These proprietors, in fact, had begun to advertise in other localities for compositors and pressmen, offering permanent positions at good wages. The situation became so serious that Secretary Reins, mainly to nullify the effect of an unfounded rumor that had gone abroad that the New York society had collapsed, issued the NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 59 following warning on November I3, I809, to societies in various parts of the country: The Board of Directors, concerned for the honor of the members of this association, and in order to counteract the evil tendency of a report that this society has dissolved and the members returned to their situations at the original prices (which we are told by persons arrived from Philadelphia have been circulated there), have directed me to inform you that they continue to persevere in the way they have begun. Most of the master printers have consented to give the prices, yet we have reason to believe that they only wait a favorable opportunity to destroy the society. Circular letters have been sent throughout this State, Connecticut and Massachusetts, with a view to supplying the daily papers with hands in the first instance and afterwards the book offices. But we are rejoiced to say that as yet they have been defeated in their dishonorable designs. Several journeymen who arrived last week took the situations of those who had been discharged from one of the daily paper offices; but upon coming to a knowledge of their situation immediately came forward and joined the society. We know of no falling off yet, and believing that the society will eventually succeed in their laudable struggle, would thank you to correct any wrong information which may have been received on the subject. Response to the foregoing was promptly made by the Philadelphia society, and at the meeting of the New York directors on December z6, I809, the communication from the former was read, acknowledging that "a member of that body and lately from New York was the author of the report." The directors thereupon resolved that the offender " be debarred from ever becoming a member of the society." But the society succeeded in maintaining its standard of wages, although it became apprehensive at times that employers would endeavor to defeat its efforts to uphold prices. The Board of Directors on May 26, i8io, with a Scale of view to frustrating such designs, instructed the Prices secretary "to inform the different typographical Maintined. societies in the United States that this board have reason to believe that it is the object of the master printers in this city, by advertising for a great number of workmen, to fill the city with hands and thereby be enabled to reduce the prices of work in this city to their former standard; and also that it be the duty of every member of the society who is acquainted with journeymen out of the city to give the same information by letter." Pressmen evidently were not entirely satisfied with the part of the scale that affected their work, for it is learned from the minutes of the general meeting of September i, 181o, that an attempt was made to induce the society to legislate further in the interest of these workers. Mr. Seymour offered a resolution "that a committee consisting of three pressmen and two compositors be appointed to inquire into the necessity of adopting any further resolutions respect 60 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. ing the prices of presswork, and they be instructed to report to the board at their next meeting." It was either believed by the majority of the association that the pressmen were reasonably compensated for their labor, or that it was an inauspicious time to make another move in the matter of a wage increase, for the motion was promptly defeated and the subject of changing the scale was not again broached for a period of five years. Meanwhile the society was constantly on the alert to prevent reductions. Information was laid before the Board of Directors on June 15, 18 I, " that some of the master printers in this city had refused to give the established prices and that in consequence thereof some of the members of this society now were, or shortly would be, out of employ." To meet this contingency it was " resolved that it be recommended to the general society to levy a tax of $I on each member who now holds a situation, the money, in case of a turn-out for wages, to be appropriated towards increasing the funds, afterwards to be returned to those who may pay it." The expected difficulty did not arise until more than two years afterward, and it was confined to one large office. Some details of the dispute are found in a letter addressed by A Minor Secretary John Broderick to the Philadelphia society, Lockout. on November 4, 1813, showing that members had been locked out because of their constancy to the principles of the association and the preservation of prevalent rates. " By an order of the Board of Directors of the New York Typographical Society," wrote the secretary, " I am directed to inform you that a number of its members have been discharged from the office of Mr. Collins of New York for refusing to work for less than the established wages of our city, not for any exorbitant demand; in consequence of which Mr. Collins has advertised for several compositors and pressmen. I would therefore request you to make this circumstance known among your respectable body, to prevent any of your members being duped by his flattering advertisement." The storm of war, which had been brewing over the country for a long time, burst into fury in June, I812. This conflict " between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Effect of and the dependencies thereof, and the United States 1812 War. of America and their territories,"5 particularly affected the Typographical Society. For months previous to the opening of hostilities there had been intense excitement in New York City. Lack of a quorum prevented a meeting s From Act of Congress declaring war, June 18, 1812. NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 6i of the association on September 7, I81 I. It was the first time that this had occurred since the formation of the association, but it happened frequently thereafter. In fact, the printing trade in the Metropolis reached so low an ebb in 1812 that two-thirds of the members of the society departed from the city, leaving a number insufficient to constitutionally transact business. Those who remained rendered important services to the Federal Government during the progress of the war, at the commencement of which David H. Reins, who was then president of the association, organized an artillery company composed exclusively of printers for the defense of New York harbor. Sailing under a flag of truce the British sloop of war Favorite entered New York Bay on Saturday evening, February 1, I815, bearing a treaty of peace that ended the war of 18I 2. Restoration of pacific relations between the United Prosperity States and Great Britain, though coming unex- Accompanies pectedly, was universally welcomed. "Its effect Peace. upon the different classes of the community was very great and very various. On some it brought speedy ruin, while it raised others from gloomy forebodings to wealth and importance." 6 During i814 foreign commodities were scarce and dear, while staples and the principal farm products had been reduced in price to a low point. Domestic manufactures had, however, flourished and large amounts of capital had been invested in them. With the close of the conflict commerce sprang into activity, prices of all kinds of articles rose, land values advanced, and the demand for labor increased. Yet the Typographical Society did not exercise.undue haste in seeking to profit by this suddenly improved condition. It had appointed a committee to revise the list of prices, and on June 3, 1815, in general meeting it approved a resolution reported by the committee "that it is inexpedient at this time to attempt any revision of the present list of prices." With the approach of the busy autumnal season of that year the society began to debate the question of an amended scale, and on October 7th, having adopted new prices, the same were ordered " printed at the expense of the society, and that every member pay 61 cents each for them." Compositors' piece rates were raised New Scale 2 cents per I,ooo ems and time workers' wages of Prices were advanced $i weekly -to $9 in book offices in 181s. and on evening papers and $io on morning papers. Prices for extras were also augmented, and the system of type measurement for piecework was made more equitable by an added 6 J. A. Spencer, D.D., " History of the United States," Vol. III, page 293. 62 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. regulation - "an odd en in width or length to be reckoned an em; if less than an en, not to be counted."7 Increases in piece prices on bookwork for pressmen ranged from 2 to 3 cents per token, while on newspapers the rates were from 62 to 71 cents per token higher than they were in the scale that was put into effect in I809. Week workers' pay went up to $io on morning newspapers and $9 on evening journals- being an increase of $i. To insure the proper instruction of apprentices in the art the scale introduced an innovation by requiring that pressmen be paid a prescribed amount for teaching the trade to a beginner during the first six months of his apprenticeship. Most of the employers conceded the demands. So many new features were contained in the scale of 1815 that its full text is here reprinted: Composition. I. All works in the English language, common matter, from English to minion, inclusive, 27 cents per I,ooo; in nonpareil, 29 cents; in pearl, 371 cents; in diamond, 50 cents; in all cases headlines and directions, or signatures and blank lines to be included. An odd en in width or length, to be reckoned an em; if less than an en, not to be counted. 2. All works done in foreign languages, common matter, to be paid 4 cents extra per,ooo ems. 3. Works printed in great primer, or larger type, to be computed as English. Script, 30 cents per I,OOO. 4. All workmen employed by the week shall receive not less than $9 in book offices and on evening papers, and on morning papers not less than $io. 5. Works done in the English language, in which words of Greek, Hebrew, Saxon, etc., or any of the dead characters occur, should they average one word per page, it shall be considered sufficient to become a charge, which shall be settled between the employer and employed. 6. Works done in Hebrew and Greek, without points, shall be paid 15 cents per I,ooo ems higher than common matter; with points, to be counted half body and half points, and paid double. 7. That making up a set of furniture for a work of five sheets or under, if an octavo, be paid 25 cents. All other impositions to be 3 cents extra, progressively, in proportion to the size - a single form shall constitute a set. 8. Works done partly in figures and partly plain, such as arithmetical works, etc., to be paid 30 cents per i,ooo ems. Rule and figure work to be paid double. 9. Broadsides, such as leases, deeds, etc., done on English or smaller type, to be paid 27 cents per I,ooo ems. Play-bills, posting bills, etc., to be paid for at the rate of 15 cents per hour. 7 A conservative ruling was made by the Board of Directors on January 24, i8I8. regarding the measurement of type the face of which represented a larger size than the body. According to the proceedings of that date, " an inquiry was made respecting that description of type which represents upon a minion body a brevier-faced type, when it was resolved that it be counted as brevier in the width and as minion in the length of the page in which it is used." Other typographical unions in after years based the unit of measurement exclusively upon the body of the type - in other words, a brevier face upon a minion body counted as minion both in length and width. NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 63 o0. Algebraical works, or those where characters of music are the principal part, and works composed principally of medical, astronomical, or other signs, to be paid double. nI. Time lost by alteration from copy, or by casing or distributing letter, to be paid for at the rate of 15 cents per hour. 12. All works composed from manuscript copy, 2 cents extra. 13. Side, bottom, or cut-in notes, to be agreed on between the employer and employed. Presswork. I. Bookwork done on brevier or larger type, on medium or smaller paper, 33 cents per token; on smaller type, 35 cents. Royal paper, on brevier or larger type, 35 cents per token; on smaller type, 37j cents per token. Super-royal paper, on brevier or larger type, 36 cents per token; on smaller type, 39 cents per token. 2. A token of paper, if on bookwork, to consist of no more than ioj quires; and if on a daily paper, no more than to. For covering tympans, 37i cents each; tympan and drawer to be considered as two. 3. Jobs, folio, quarto, etc., to be paid 33 cents per token. 4. Cards, if Ioo or under, 30 cents; for each additional pack, if not more than 5, I24 cents; if over 5, IO cents.8 5. Broadsides, on bourgeois or larger type, 45 cents; on smaller type, 50 cents per token. 6. Three cents extra to be paid on forms containing wood engravings. 7. No journeyman working at press on a morning daily paper shall receive a less sum that SIo for his weekly services; nor those on an evening paper a less sum than $9. If the quantity of work should exceed eight tokens per day, the whole to be charged, if on a morning paper, at the rate of 45 cents per token; if on an evening paper, 40 cents per token. Daily papers not exceeding six tokens per day, if a morning paper, $9 per week; if an evening paper, $8 per week. 8. All works done on parchment to be settled between the employer and employed. 9. Working down a new press to be settled between the employer and employed. IO. If at any time a pressman should be obliged to lift his form before it is worked off, he shall be allowed 33 cents for the same. xi. A pressman shall receive for teaching an apprentice presswork for the first three months 5 cents per token, and for the three months following 3 cents per token. After the acceptance of the new wage scale by the employers the society debated the question of uniform prices in the printing trade 8 Originally one playing card was printed at a time, but the introduction of the method of imposing two cards in a form prompted employers to ask for a reduction in the price of this kind of presswork. The society on June 7, 1817, in answer to this query of a member, " If two cards of the same, be set, and worked two at a pull, shall they be charged less than if they were worked singly? " settled the problem by deciding "that every 52 cards so worked be charged a pack, in conformity to the list of prices." 64 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. throughout the country. Master printers in New York had contended " that unless journeymen in other places would raise their prices to an equilibrium" with those in the Empire Uniform City, " it would induce the booksellers to send their Wage Rates work out of the city, as the difference in the price Recommended. for which work could be done elsewhere would more than pay for the transportation." 9 Such an argument doubtless prompted the association at a general meeting on November 4, 1815, to adopt a resolution calling for the appointment of a committee to confer with the different typographical societies in the United States for the purpose of persuading, " if possible, the journeymen printers of Philadelphia and Albany to raise their prices to the same standard as ours." The minutes of the general meeting of December 2, 1815, record the outcome of this request, stating that " the committee appointed to correspond with the several typographical societies in the United States, and particularly those of Philadelphia and Albany, reported that they had written to that of Philadelphia and had received no answer; that from authentic information the journeymen of Albany had already raised their prices to the same standard as ours and we deemed it inexpedient to address them." A communication from Boston, dated March 2, i8i6, and read at the session of March 16, 1816, declared that the society in the Massachusetts capital would put a new scale of prices into effect and sought the co-operation of the New York association. Although the Philadelphia society did not make reply to the communication addressed to it with reference to the establishment of an unvarying, standard of prices universally, it Singleness already had regulated the rates in that city, and the of Purpose New York printers, believing in unity of interest, Advocated. endorsed the action of their Philadelphia brethren when the latter took a stand for an increase in I8Io. The minutes of the session of the New York society's Board of Directors, on September 22d of that year, chronicled the intelligence that a " letter was read from the journeymen printers of Philadelphia, accompanied with a circular list of prices, which they are now standing out for and urge us to co-operate with them in order to obtain their just demands; and the board, conceiving the nature of the communication of the utmost importance, came to the immediate 9 Writing to the Boston Typographical Society in March, I816, the president of the New York society remarked in regard to the contention of the employers: " Independent of this argument, as also several others of greater weight with them, we obtained our prices, and I have never been able to perceive that we have sustained any injury from it." NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. resolution of convening the general society, and the following was immediately passed: Resolved, that a general extra meeting of the society be called on Monday evening, the twenty-fourth instant, for the purpose of giving general information to the members of the proceedings of the journeymen printers of Philadelphia." That meeting was held, and it was unanimously resolved that:We highly approve of the proceedings of our typographical brothers of the City of Philadelphia and their attempts to raise the price. We pledge ourselves to each other that we will not take any situation vacated by any of our brothers in Philadelphia under the present circumstances. We will use every exertion in our power to prevent their defeat through the typographical brethren of the City of New York. It is recommended to the members of this society to make the proceedings of this meeting known as general as possible. VI. Regulating Apprenticeship System. Superabundance of learners, runaway apprentices and "half-way journeymen" were matters that seriously confronted the society from its inception. Boys were then indentured, but they frequently left the employ of master printers, Futile Effort and their places were promptly filled by other to Fix Term of beginners, the runaways obtaining situations else- Apprenticeship. where and becoming "half-way journeymen" at compensation slightly in advance of that which they had been receiving. There were also in this category adults who had served less than half time at the trade. This state of things, which had a depressing effect upon the wages of full-fledged workers, called for a better regulation of the apprenticeship system. Some effort was made to solve the problem at an early stage in the society's life, the Board of Directors on December 23, I809, resolving that " no person shall be admitted a member unless he shall have duly and regularly served the term of three years as an apprentice to one branch, namely, either as a compositor or as a pressman." This procedure was attacked at the general meeting of the society on January 6, I8Io, being opposed on the ground that the board had not the power to make such a law, which " was detrimental to the constitution." On the other hand, some contended " that the board had, according to the constitution, a right to adopt such by-laws for the government of themselves and of the society generally as they should deem most expedient, with the concurrence of the society 3 66 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. in general meeting." The latter view was not sustained, and the action of the directors was rejected. Again, the subject of apprenticeship came to the surface at a general meeting on August 4, i8io, when Mr. Barber offered a resolution, which after being recorded was ordered to lie over for one month. It provided "that pressmen bringing up apprentices at press shall be entitled to all their labor for the term of three months and be obligated to work with them at the rate of.............. cents10 per token extra for the term of nine months, the pressmen in all cases to be accountable for their work." The general session of September ist following committed the question to the Board of Directors, which on the fifteenth of that month, after a long discussion, decided " that it is inexpedient to act upon it at this time." It was therefore laid aside for future consideration and was not settled until October 7, I8I 5, when this section was added to the scale of prices: " A pressman shall receive for teaching an apprentice presswork, for the first three months, 5 cents per token, and for the three months following 3 cents per token." Inquiry into the subject of " half-way journeymen " was ultimately deemed necessary by the directors, who on September 29, 8 Io, appointed a committee to ascertain the number " Half-Way of young men working in the city as journeymen Journeymen." whose age does not entitle them to work as journeymen." Evidently the committeemen did not undertake the investigation, for the directors on October 26th discharged them and selected a new committee, with instructions to submit its findings on November 3d. Progress was reported on that date, but on December 22d the committee made a partial statement. Light was shed upon the direct competition produced by "half-way journeymen " that competent craftsmen were compelled to encounter. Another notable fact presented was that in one office the inquiry revealed "a man working at press who occupies the situation of two journeymen, but it is understood has not served as apprentice to the printing business." The report, which was "accepted by the board and the committee allowed further time to complete the same," is of such an interesting nature that its full text is given here: The committee appointed to inquire into the situation of such persons as are working at the printing business in the capacity of journeymen and who are not considered as such by this society make the following report in part: Your committee have made all the inquiry within their power, but from the extreme difficulty of obtaining correct information they have been obliged to 10 Amount not stated in original text. NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 67 rely principally upon hearsay evidence. The following is the situation of the different offices where persons of the above description are employed as far as has come to the knowledge of your committee: In Blunt's office C. Farr is obligated to stay six months at 20 cents per I,ooo ems. William McDougal and Michael Flanagan are to receive 20 cents per I,ooo ems; to stay as long as they please. Joshua Hardcastle to receive 25 cents per token; no stated time to stay. At the office of the Morning Post there are three boys who are to stay six months at $4.50 per week. At Van Winkle's office J. Thompson and George King are to receive $4 per week; no stated time to stay. At Long's office there are one or two persons who are working for less than established prices, but your committee have not been able to obtain the particular circumstances under which they are employed. At the office of the Public Advertiser there is a man working at press who occupies the situation of two journeymen, but it is understood has not served as apprentice to the printing business. The above is the most correct information that your committee have been able to collect. They decline giving any instructions or advice with respect to the measures to pursue, but submit that entirely to the wisdom of the board. There was not any disposition to restrict the number of regular apprentices, neither was there a desire on the part of the society to establish an age limit for the admission of capable printers to its ranks, as was demonstrated by the action of the directors on January 26, i8i, when "the motion made at the last meeting of the board for a rule not to admit any person under 21 years of age was taken up and lost." But opposition to the employment of " halfway journeymen " was most pronounced, and continued to engross the attention of the society, the Board of Directors of which finally, on June 15, i8II, appointed a committee to draft a circular letter on the subject to the employers. The following vigorous and graphic form, which was submitted by the committee and approved by the board on July 13, I8II, was "ordered to be printed and a copy handed to each master printer by the committee:" To the Master Printers of the City of New York: GENTLEMEN: —Viewing with deep concern the improper practices in many of the printing offices in this city the journeymen composing the New York Typographical Society have appointed the undersigned a committee to address you on the subject and represent the many evil effects they have on the art of printing in general and the demoralizing effects Practice on the professors. Encouraged The practice of employing what is usually styled "half-way Runways. journeymen " in preference to those who have served their time, while it holds encouragement to boys to elope from their masters as soon as they acquire sufficient knowledge of the art to be enabled to earn their bread, is a great grievance to the journeymen and almost certain ruin to the boys 68 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. themselves. Becoming masters of their own conduct at a period of life when they are incapable of governing their passions and propensities they plunge headlong into every species of dissipation and are often debilitated by debauchery before they arrive at the age of manhood; and it also tends to an unnecessary multiplication of apprentices, inasmuch as the place of every boy who elopes from his master is usually supplied by another, while at the same time the runaway supplies after a manner the place of a regular journeyman and one who probably has a family dependent on his labor for support. We also beg leave to call your attention to a practice as illiberal and unjust as the former and attended, perhaps, with evils of a more aggravated nature. We mean that of taking full-grown men (foreigners) as Full-Grown apprentices for some twelve or fifteen months, when they Men Among are to be turned into the situations of men who are masters Incompetents. of their business, which men are to be turned out of their places by miserable botches because they will work for what they can get. By these means numbers of excellent workmen who ought to be ornaments to the profession are driven by necessity to seek some other means of support. When a parent puts out a child to learn an art it is with the pleasing idea that a knowledge of that art will enable him when he becomes a man to provide for himself a comfortable subsistence. Did he know that after Overstocked laboring from his youth to manhood to acquire an art he Trade the would be compelled to abandon it and resort to some business Outcome. to which he was totally unacquainted to enable him to live, he would certainly prefer that he should in the first instance seek a livelihood on the sea or by some other precarious calling than trust to the equally precarious success of a trade overstocked by its professors. Of the number that have completed their apprenticeship to the printing business within the last five years but few have been enabled to hold a situation for any length of time, and it is an incontrovertible fact that nearly one-half that learned the trade are obliged to relinquish it and follow some other calling for support. Under the direful influence of these unwarranted practices the professors of the noblest art with which the world is blessed have become birds of passage, seeking a livelihood from Georgia to Maine. It is owing to Produced such practices that to acknowledge yourself a printer is to Birds of awaken suspicion and cause distrust. It is owing to such Passage. practices that the professors of this noble art are sinking in the estimation of the community. And it is owing to such practices, if persisted, that to see a book correctly printed will after a few years be received as a phenomenon. To render an art respectable it is indispensably necessary that professors should be perfect masters of their calling, which can only be acquired by serving a proper apprenticeship. And in our art it is not always Proper true that time will perfect the printer. Regard should Apprenticeship always be paid to the capacity and requirements of a boy Required. before he should be suffered to learn the art of printing; for it is too often the case that boys of little or no education are taken as apprentices, which the first services as devil frequently preclude the knowledge of, until they are bound, when the discovery is too late to be remedied. Owing to this deficiency they make the sorry printers; whereas, had they learned NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 69 some trade which does not particularly require a good education they might have been perfect masters of it and better able to gain a livelihood. These are evils, gentlemen, which we sorely feel, and which it is in your power to remedy, and we sincerely hope that this appeal to your justice and your humanity may meet with that consideration which its importance demands. D. H. REINS, W. BURBIDGE, S. JOHNSTON, Committee. That the foregoing appeal did not relieve the situation may be inferred from the action taken by the Board of Directors on March 23, i8i6, in appointing another committee " to propose a method to discourage the practice of master printers employing 'half-way journeymen.'" Such committee subsequently recommended that the subject, with other matters pertaining to the well-being of the society, be referred to a regularly constituted Vigilance Committee. The suggestion was adopted, but scarcely anything was accomplished. Notwithstanding the care that the society exerted not to admit to membership a person who could not conclusively prove his competency, it was imposed upon while agitating against the employment of "half-way journeymen," but Deception the deception was speedily revealed and summary Practiced, action taken. At the meeting of the directorate Then Exposed. on July Io, I8I3, the board was informed that " a newly-admitted member has not worked a sufficient length of time to entitle him to membership." Strange to relate, he had been proposed by one of the oldest, most painstaking and conscientious members of the society, who evidently had been misled as to the capability of the applicant. The committee to which the matter was submitted for investigation reported to the board on July 24th that a leading master printer for whom the delinquent had first worked had testified that he " did not serve more than one year, and that his office was the first he ever entered." It was also learned that when he went to work in that printing office " he did not know how to scrape a ball or anything else about the business," having been " employed at a livery stable immediately preceding his coming to the business," which was in June, I8SI. Before the expiration of the time he had promised to serve he left and secured employment as a journeyman in another establishment. One witness stated that the man " was by trade a weaver and had worked in Springfield, N. Y.; that he quit that trade on account of a pain in his breast, frequently saying that if the printing business got dull he could again go into the country and get work at his old trade." Called before the board to explain, the fraudulent member was questioned 70 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. by the president, and after hearing the replies it was the unanimous opinion that he was not entitled to membership. The case was referred for consideration to the general society, which on August 7th expelled him "for having deceived them," and the treasurer was empowered to return his initiation fee. Not only was good workmanship a prime requisite of the society, but members were obliged to deal honestly with their employers. The penalty for unworkmanlike conduct was severe, Honest as was shown in the case of a pressman who on Workmanship November I, 1817, was accused of " turning wrong Required. a half sheet of twenty-fours, and without mentioning the circumstances to his employer, leaving the city, even neglecting to note down the signature letter in his billconduct highly derogatory to the character of the New York Typographical Society and disgraceful to himself as a member." Sufficient proof having been laid against him he was expelled, and it was ordered that "his name, with the nature of his offense, be transmitted to the different typographical societies in the United States." VII. In the Interest of the Unemployed. Unemployment received the serious attention of the society immediately after the opening of the I8I2 war. On July 18th of that year the directors ordered the secretary to procure a book to be left with the proprietor of the meeting hall, "for the purpose of registering the names of members who may be out of employ, which book shall at all times be open for the inspection of members and persons wishing to procure workmen; and that it be recommended to the members generally immediately on their being out of a situation to register their names and addresses in said book." The directors on January 15, 1814, devised another plan that they believed would prove to be beneficial to the society in general and to its idle members in particular. They decided Vigilance "that it be recommended to the society at their Committee next general meeting to appoint a Committee of Recommended. Vigilance to consist of three or more members whose duties it shall be to receive such information of hands out of employ and vacant situations as may come to their knowledge from time to time and communicate the same to all applicants who may be members of this society, subject to such further regulations as they may judge proper." NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 71 Immediate consideration was not given to the subject, but on March 23, I8I6, the board again discussed the proposition and appointed a committee " to propose a method whereby the members of the society may be increased, and to compel all those working at the business as regular journeymen to become members; and to propose some method by which the members may be kept in employment." The committee reported on March 3oth, recommending: I. Let every member of this board volunteer his services with promptitude to procure the names of all those working as regular journeymen who are not members, and to report individually to the chairman; and that a Committee of Vigilance, to consist of five members of the board, be appointed, to whom these reports shall be handed over, and whose duty it shall be to communicate with those persons either by letter or personally, and induce them by every means to become members. 2. To find employment for those members who may occasionally want it. We do not conceive that anything at present can be done, other than by mutual exertion. We have noticed, and with the deepest regret and mortification, a relaxation on the part of some individuals, who, regardless and in violation of the solemn pledge they have given of assisting each other in obtaining employment, and with the utmost indifference, often give to strangers that preference which is pledged to a brother member. We do not point particularly to any individual, as no doubt some have done it inadvertently; we simply mention the fact that it may be guarded against in future. We take this opportunity to recommend a most rigid adherence to this principle, as containing the very vitals and spirit of the constitution, without which all the good effects intended by the formation of the institution are rendered nugatory. A Vigilance Committee was appointed, but the task assigned to it proved to be a futile undertaking. An entirely new system was introduced at the general meeting of the society on November I, i8I7, when the secretary was directed Regstering Vacant to prepare a directory, "to contain a list of the Situations and names of the members and the places of their resi- Idle Members. dence, together with a list of the printing offices within the city, and where situated. The name of each office shall be written on the top of a page and the names of the members employed therein arranged underneath." It was provided that the register be read at every meeting of the society, and that the president "make such inquiries of members therefrom as will afford all the information affecting the interests of journeymen printers, to be registered and used to insure the advantages thereof to the members of the society." It was also "considered the duty of each and every member, always, the moment he hears of a situation vacant, to send a note or word to the secretary; and those who want situationsin like manner shall give notice thereof to the secretary, that their names and residences may be registered-" 72 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. VIII. Traveling Cards Proposed. A hundred years ago the peripatetic printer needed a certificate of membership in his travels about the country equally as much as does the present-day member of a trade union. It Advantages would serve to introduce him to craftsmen in various of the localities that he might visit, and secure for him System. assistance in finding a situation or financial help in case of illness, besides other fraternal benefits. Such was the anticipation of the New York society when on February 3, I816, the directors created a Correspondence Committee to communicate with the different typographical organizations in the United States for the purpose of inducing them to unite with the Metropolitan association in adopting a traveling card system, so that a good-standing member, "when he shall obtain a certificate of membership may on removing to another place where a society is established and paying his initiation fee be admitted immediately as a member in full standing to the society established there." 'The merits of the proposed system were described by the committee in a circular that it issued on April 6th, in which it was set forth that " the object in view is to afford a mutual benefit to the members composing the different societies and the societies themselves; it will be an inducement to the members of the profession to join the several societies in the places where they may have served their apprenticeship for the purpose of procuring, on their departure for another place, a recommendation to the society there; by which they will be enabled to procure work with greater facility and to secure to themselves friends, who in case of sickness will stretch forth the hand of friendship to aid and comfort them." The committee was also of the belief that "it would benefit the societies at large, because it would be a great inducement to their members to pay up their dues previous to their Why the Plan departure for another place." The good to be Could Not derived from the proposed plan could not be gainbe Adopted. said, and in itself was pronounced an excellent measure, but there were insurmountable conditions in some quarters that prevented its universal adoption. Answering the communication on March I7th, the Philadelphia society stated that the proposition could not be agreed to on the part of that asso NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 73 ciation because, " first, by the act of incorporation 'no person shall be eligible to become a member of this society who was not at the time of his application a citizen of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania;' and secondly, 'no person shall receive pecuniary aid until he shall become six months a member unless he is a stranger and in absolute distress.' You will perceive, gentlemen, from the above extracts, which are directly opposed to that laid down in the plan, that this society could not enter into the proposed arrangement without violating their constitution and are therefore debarred from participating in a measure which holds out many important advantages." This unforeseen circumstance rendered impossible the general introduction of the traveling card system. The matter, however, was again broached on January 3, I818, when in general meeting the New York society rejected that part of a resolution whichrequired the secretary to issue a certificate to a member who intended to go to another town, but it passed the remainder of the proposition providing "that it shall be the duty of each member of this society, when about to leave the City of New York, to give notice of the same to the secretary, in order that the time of his absence may be noted on the books. All members who may neglect to comply with the requisition of this article shall be liable to expulsion at the expiration of six months the same as though they remained in the city." When the by-laws were afterward amended provision was made for the issuance of such certificates. On February i, 1819, a member who was about to go elsewhere " begged the privilege of withdrawing from the society " and asked for a card of withdrawal. The request "was granted, and the secretary directed to give him a certificate to that effect." Certificates of this character were not officially recognized outside of the Metropolis, being intended as a testimonial to the worth of their possessors as citizens and members of the society; " yet they secured for the holder a certain amount of attention from the members of other societies if he were in distress, and were an aid in obtaining work."" IX. Funds of the Society Safeguarded. From its foundation the funds of the society have been safeguarded. The first treasurer, it is gleaned from the minutes of the directors' meeting of July 29, 1809, " bonded himself to the society u George E. Barnett, " The Printers," page 21. 74 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. in the sum of $I25, and the bond was endorsed and guaranteed by the Board of Directors." As the membership increased and the state of the finances improved the amount of security was augmented, rising to $500 on July 14, i8io. The treasury of the association was sufficiently large, it was thought, at the end of I8Io to warrant the investment of a portion of the money " in some institution whereby profit may accrue therefrom," so a committee that had been appointed to inquire into the expediency of so placing a possible surplus reported on December 22d " that on account of the precarious situation of bank stock at the present time and the smallness of our funds, together with the difficulty of placing them in some institution that the society would demand, that the business be deferred till some future day." Postponement resulted until May 8, I8I2, when another committee was selected to investigate the subject; reporting to the general meeting of June 6th in favor of investing some money in the Bank of America, a MUnarop newly-organized financial institution. It was the Moneys Invested in judgment of the committee " that from the peculiar Bank Stock. state of public affairs which necessarily affects the pecuniary concerns of almost every class of citizens they cannot but be impressed with the belief that a system of loaning at common interest to individuals would be hazardous and perhaps unproductive and at the same time attended with much inconvenience, your committee deem it superfluous to expatiate upon this latter disadvantage or the fluctuating nature of individual credit; but submit it to the society as their mature opinion that original stock in some public funds of undoubted credit and certain capital would be more secure and productive and attended with far greater convenience to the management of this society. And an opportunity is now offered for obtaining such stock in the newly-organized Bank of America of this city, the books of which will shortly be open for receiving subscriptions." The following resolution recommended by the committee was unanimously agreed to: That the treasurer be and he is hereby authorized to subscribe on behalf of the New York Typographical Society in his own name for stock to the amount of $200 and said stock and the interest arising therefrom shall be considered by the society as so much cash in the hands of the treasurer and by him so stated in his reports of the state of the funds. And the said treasurer shall attend to the receiving of the dividends of interest accruing on said stock as often as it shall become payable; and in case of his resignation or removal from office he shall transfer the stock so held by him in behalf of the society to his successor in office or to such person as the society or Board of Directors shall authorize to receive the same, together with the amount of all moneys belonging to the society, the refunding of which is provided for by the constitution. NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 75 Unappropriated moneys were from time to time invested in the same stock, and the association continues to hold shares in the Bank of America, which will have been in existence a century on June 2, I9I2. The present constitution of the society provides that its surplus funds shall be invested in permanent stock, or, if loaned, secured by bond and mortgage; and the treasurer is required to give a bond " in such penal sum as the society may direct." X. Decadence as a Trade Union. Within two years after the wage scale of i8I5 went into effect the influence of the society as a trade union began to decline. Dissatisfaction was first manifested regarding the conduct of an employer who had joined the associa- A Proprietor tion when he was a journeyman and who continued Member his membership after becoming a proprietor. He Expelled. appeared before the society on October 4, I8I7, to answer to charges - (i) " neglect to pay monthly dues for six months;" (2) "an attempt to lower the wages of journeymen;" (3) "violation of a solemn promise he made when he became a member of the New York Typographical Society." To the first charge he pleaded guilty; " but the society," it is recorded in the minutes, "willing to extend to him that liberality they had shown to other delinquent members, would not expel him on that charge, for he said he was willing to pay his dues then." He denied the other allegations and as proof could not then be educed to substantiate them further consideration of the charges was deferred to the general meeting of November ist, when these six counts against him were read: I. For an attempt, in combination with a few employing printers, to lessen the established wages of journeymen. 2. For introducing into the printing business men wholly unacquainted with it, to the exclusion of regular bred workmen. 3. For refusing to give employment to a member of this society, and employing one not a member in preference - a direct violation of the solemn pledge he has repeatedly given us. 4. For divulging the proceedings of his brethren required by them to be kept secret - a second violation of the obligation he owes to this institution. 5. In direct violation of the most sacred pledge to the society, when initiated, for endeavoring to injure a brother member. 6. For suffering his name to be attached to an advertisement unbecoming a member of this society. 76 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. The charges having been verified, it was resolved that the accused "be expelled from the society, and his name, with the nature of the offense, be transmitted to the different typographical societies in the United States." While the society had never admitted master printers to membership it retained on its roster journeymen who Master Printers had engaged in business and who desired to remain Debarred from in affiliation. But immediately following the above Membership. expulsion this resolution was introduced, and it was adoptedat the general meeting of December 6th: Experience teaches us that the actions of men are influenced almost wholly by their interests, and that it is almost impossible that a society can be well regulated and useful when its members are actuated by opposite motives and separate interests. This society is a society of journeymen printers, and as the interests of the journeymen are separate and in some respects opposite to those of the employers, we deem it improper that they should have any voice or influence in our deliberations; therefore, Resolved, that when any member of this society shall become an employing printer he shall be considered without the limits of this society, and not be allowed to vote on any question or pay any dues in the same. That all employing printers who hold seats in this society be considered under the regulations of the foregoing resolution after the first day of December next. The numerical strength of the society showed signs of deterioration at this particular period, as was evidenced in the report of October 4, I8I7, of the secretary, who stated that " as many Signs of as I20 members appear in the accounts of the society, Deterioration, of whom 56 have been in arrears from one to four years, 25 from six to twelve months, and 20 from three to six ditto; leaving 19 members to manage the concerns and claim the privileges of the institution; and only half of them will seemingly concern themselves much in the welfare of the society." He thought that "measures ought to be taken to ascertain the real disposition of those who apparently had deserted the common cause, that the constitution might be enforced against the bad only." Conditions did not improve, although upbuilding efforts were made. Some notion of the crisis through which the society as a protective factor was passing was plainly indicated by the Board of Directors, which at the general meeting of March 7, I8I8, reported its judgment as to the impropriety of a resolution of the society, authorizing the board to grant a specified weekly sum of money to the family of a disabled member who had left the city. While the case in itself was not one of vital importance, yet it gave the directors NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 77 an opportunity to furnish the membership with the true situation that then confronted the association. Said they: The board cannot view it in any other light than as an imprudent measure, involving innumerable cases to which the limited means of the society could not be applied; therefore the board are of opinion that disappointments, with angry emotions, would bring down upon Rebellious the society the execration of many good men impressed with Feelings the injustice, the partiality, of its proceedings, for already the Expressed. evil effects of such doings have been manifested in the dissatisfaction, ill-humor, and rebellious feelings expressed towards the society when its measures have seemingly carried its benefits beyond its natural limits. It is what we have a right to anticipate, for the founders of the institution guarded against such evils. They assumed for its character no higher standard than that of a mutual benefit society, in order to insure the rights of individuals from injuries which would result from exposing our scanty means in the wide ranges of charity. The profession required such an institution. Its members were scattered and exposed to undue influences of the corrupt in power. A good spirit gave it birth. It was at once the rallying point. The virtuous and noble-minded joined in its impulse, and its influence is felt in every part of our profession, and elicits the exultation of its members. Not only do the sick and distressed members find an ample fund from which they may justly claim assistance, but by the exchange of sentiments, by uniting in faith and fellowship with each other, the affections and finer feelings of our nature are drawn forth, and elevate the A Mutual profession in a moral point of view, to command respect from Benefit the good and to have a beneficial influence over the bad. Society. Truly this is a mutual benefit society. In acts of charity (so-called) we may demoralize, but in supporting the true character of this institution we advance the cause of mankind by raising up the light of improvement in its front and chasing away the glittering appearances that dazzlingly dance upon the surface of corruption. Entertaining so exalted an opinion of the society when contemplated in that character, the board are impressed with the importance of satisfying all expectations on the part of members to insure their hearty and cheerful co-operation in its behalf; and to that end nothing can be more desirable than to prescribe such limits to its actions as will enable them to see dearly the justice upon which their expectations are founded, for unless there be some such guard we have no security from the passions that might for a moment dethrone the reasoning power. With these views they consider the means of the institution inadequate to the relief of any other cases than those already contemplated in the constitution, and for the better understanding of the spirit thereof they would wish it so expressed and received as to convey the true Dissolution policy of relieving in no cases except when members are dis- Apprehended. tressed, by refusing to accede to unjust demands when clearly proven; or in cases of their being distressed by sickness, and their widows when distressed by sickness would form the furthest outline of the benefits of the institution. Within these limits the funds may be used to the advantage and mutual satisfaction of all the members, but the instant we pass these the tumult and dissatisfaction excited by accumulating cases and disappointments will show the 78 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. approaching dissolution of the society. Therefore the board are of the opinion that Mr. S........ cannot be relieved, as such an act would ultimately defeat the objects of the society; and to prevent any bad consequences resulting from repealing the resolution under consideration at this time they propose to assist her by private contributions from the members of the society. The resolution was accordingly reconsidered and then rejected. XI. Act of Incorporation Removes Its Protective Powers. Initiatory steps were taken on September 4, I815, to have the society incorporated by legislative act. A committee was appointed to draw up a petition to the Legislature requesting it to legalize the association, both as a protective and benevolent institution. In I8I6 the Assembly passed the bill in conformity to the entreaty of the printers, but the Senate rejected it on account of the provision permitting the association to regulate trade matters. For two years strong appeals were made to the law-making powers at Albany to enact the desired legislation, but the opponents of the protective features in the measure remained obdurate. Finally the society yielded to the will of the resisting legislators and assented to the proposition that removed it entirely from the field of trade unionism; the bill, which became law on February 27, I88, prohibiting it to " at any time pass any law or regulation respecting the price or wages of labor or workmen or any other articles, or relating to the business which the members thereof practice or follow for a livelihood." The act in full follows: Whereas, Adoniram Chandler, Mortines Swain, Thomas Kennedy, Augustus P. Searing, William Grattan, James R. Reynolds, and others, have associated themselves together, under the name and description of Title of " The New York Typographical Society," for the purpose Association. of affording relief to indigent and distressed members of said association, their widows and orphans, and others, who may be found proper objects of their charity: they therefore pray that the Legislature will be pleased to incorporate them for the purposes aforesaid, under such limitations and restrictions as to the Legislature may seem meet: Therefore, I. Be it enacted by the people of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, that such persons as now are, or shall from time to time hereafter, become members of said society, shall be and hereby are orCapable of dained, constituted and declared to be a body corporate and Suing and politic, in deed, fact and name, by the title and designation Being Sued. of "The New York Typographical Society;" and that by that name, they and their successors shall have succession, and shall be persons in law capable of suing and being sued, pleading and being impleaded, answering and being answered unto, defending and being defended, NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 79 in all courts and places whatsoever, in all manner of actions, suits, complaints, matters and causes whatsoever; and that they and their successors may have a common seal, and change and alter it at their pleasure; and that they and their successors, by the same name and title, shall be capable in law, to purchase, take, receive, hold and enjoy, to them and their successors, any real estate, in fee simple, or for a term of life or lives, or otherwise, and any goods, chattels or personal estate, for the purpose of enabling them the better to carry into effect the benevolent design of affording relief Relief for to the indigent and distressed of their members or society: Distressed Provided, that the yearly value of such real and personal Membrs. estate shall not exceed the sum of $5,000; and that they and their successors shall have full power and authority to give, grant, sell, lease, demise and dispose of the said real and personal estate, or any part thereof, at their will and pleasure; and that they and their successors shall have power, from time to time, to make, constitute, ordain and establish, repeal, alter and amend such by-laws and regulations, as they shall judge proper, for the admission, government and expulsion of members, for fixing the times and places of the meetings and elections of the officers of their society, for the management, application and disposition of the estate, Government property and funds of the said corporation, for the regulating and Expulsion and determining the obligations and duties of the officers and of Members. members of the society, for imposing and collecting fines and penalties for the violation and breach of said by-laws, and generally to carry into effect all the before-mentioned powers, and promote the charitable and laudable objects of the institution: Provided, always, that such by-laws and regulations shall contain nothing in them repugnant to the constitution and laws of the United States, or of this State. II And it is further enacted, that the officers of this society shall be and consist of a president, vice president, treasurer and secretary, to be chosen annually, or at any other time or times, and with any additional officers for any different periods which the society may deem Officers fit and necessary; and Adoniram Chandler is hereby appointed of the and shall be the president; Mortines Swain the vice-president; Society. Thomas Kennedy the treasurer, and Augustus P. Searing the secretary, of the said corporation or society, until the next annual or periodical meeting of the society, for the election or appointment of officers, or for such periods or terms as the by-laws of the society may provide and determine. III. And be it further enacted, that this act shall be and hereby is declared to be a public act, and that the same shall be construed in all courts and places, benignly and favorably for every beneficial purpose therein contained. IV And be it further enacted, that this act shall be and remain in full force and virtue, for the term of fifteen years, from the passing thereof, andnolonger, unless it be renewed and its duration prolonged by the Legislature of this State, at any time hereafter: Provided never- Regulation theless, that in case the said society or corporation shall at of Wages any time, or in any manner divert or appropriate its funds, Prohibited. or any part thereof, to any purpose or use, other than those intended or contemplated by this act, or shall at any time pass any law or regulation respecting the price or wages of labor or workmen, or any other articles, or relating to the business which the members thereof practice or follow for a 80 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. livelihood, and shall thereof be convicted by due course of law, that thenceforth the said corporation shall cease and terminate, and the estate thereof, whether real or personal, shall be forfeited by the society and vest in the people of this State: And provided further, that nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent the Legislature of this State, at any time, in their discretion within the period above limited, from altering or repealing this act: And further, that nothing herein contained shall be construed so as to grant to the said incorporation any banking privilege whatever. A committee which had been appointed " to arrange or digest regulations and by-laws for the government of the society conformably to the true intent and meaning of the act of Ceases incorporation " reported at a special meeting of the to be a society on March 28, I818, that " they proposed Trade Union. to arrange for publication, first the act of incorporation, secondly the regulations consisting of 20 articles prepared by them, thirdly by-laws and rules of order." Then the act of incorporation was unanimously accepted by the society and the laws amended to conform to it. Thus did the New York Typographical Society cease to be a trade organization, yet it accomplished much in nine years in the way of safeguarding the interests of compositors and pressmen, which truth is accentuated by the fact that up to the date that the legislative charter was granted 265 journeymen printers had been admitted to membership and signed its constitution. It never attempted to revive the principles of trade unionism, although urged to do so some six years later by the Franklin Typographical Society of Boston, which wrote that it believed the object " that appears to us the most desirable is a more efficient union than at present exists between individual societies in the different towns," and that "a closer union would likewise operate usefully should we, at a future day, be obliged to assert our rights and prevent an overflow of workmen." On October 27, 1824, the president of the New York society was directed to answer the communication "in a friendly manner and to inform them that our constitution forbade entering into their views." In 1832 the charter of the society was renewed for a term of fifteen years, expiring in April, I847, when it was reorganized under the general law of the State for charitable and benevolent Prosperous purposes. It still exists as a mutual aid association Benefit and enjoys financial prosperity. Early in its career Organization. it began to aid the sick and distressed, paying watchers to visit those who were ill, and it commenced to subscribe to the city dispensary on January 13, i8I5, for the privilege of having its patients cared for by that institution. NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. Never has it failed to meet all demands against its treasury, and at present it has a large fund securely and profitably invested. Inscribed on its rolls have been men who have achieved success and honor in the printing and other professions. Its membership for many years has consisted of employers and employed, and printers, stereotypers, electrotypers, pressmen, editors and reporters between the ages of 2i and 45 years are now eligible to admission. The objects of the society embrace " the relief of sick and superannuated members, the cultivation of the feelings of mutual friendship and respect between employers and journeymen, and general intellectual improvement." John A. Fivey and John McKinley, Jr., both members of Typographical Union No. 6, are president and secretary, respectively. XMI. Illustrious Members. The New York Typographical Society has embraced in its membership many printers who developed into national characters of considerable distinction. Some of these celebrities joined the association after its incorporation, but only those who became members while it was yet a trade union and were active in its affairs will be noted in these pages. DAVID H. REINS, FIRST SECRETARY. Chief founder and first secretary of the society was David H. Reins, who was born in Newburgh, N. Y., January i6, I783. It was at his home that in i80g a small gathering of printers first discussed the advisability of banding Society's together for the betterment of their economic con- Chief dition. He was indentured December 29, I795, Founder. to Jacob S. Mott, a New York master printer, and accompanied his employer to Nova Scotia in i8oo. Seafaring occupied a brief period of his life. Upon returning to New York he finished his apprenticeship with G. & R. Waite, in whose estabment he afterward assumed the foremanship. At the outbreak of the War of i8I2 Mr. Reins, who was then president of the society, formed a company of artillerists, all of whom were printers, for the defense of New York harbor, serving throughout hostilities. Removing Volunteer in to Ithaca, N. Y., in i830 he took charge of the office War of 18I2. of Mack & Andrews. When he went back to the Metropolis several years later he became foreman for David Felt, a manufactung stationer. 82 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Although a working printer until infirmity compelled his withdrawal from the trade, Mr. Reins possessed rare intellectual qualities, and his work for the society, comprehended in the minutes of its deliberations, official correspondence, circulars and committee reports, possessed unusual literary merit. He remained a member of the society until his death in West Farms (which now forms a part of the Borough of The Member of Bronx) on March 23, 1862. This veteran printer Typographical was also associated with Typographical Union No. Union No. 6. 6, which he joined in I850, when it was the New York Printers' Union. SAMUEL WOODWORTH, THE POET. Most prominent in the councils of the Typographical Society through its course as a trade union and for 24 years afterward was the genial poet, Samuel Woodworth, whose name will ever remain upon the immortal scroll of America's great literary men. Proposed for membership on August 12, I809, he was unanimously admitted the same evening and signed the constitution, his signature being the fifty-fifth on that original instrument. Youngest son of a Revolutionary patriot, he was born in Scituate, Mass., January 13, I785. After receiving a limited education in his native town, including instruction in the classics by the Rev. Nehemiah Thomas, at the age of I7 years he was apprenticed to Benjamin Russell, publisher and editor of the Boston Columbian Centinel. Upon the expiration of his indenture he proceeded to New Haven, Conn., and issued there a weekly paper called the Belles-Lettres Repository, the publication of which was abandoned after two years. In I809 the young printer-poet removed to New York City, where for a while he worked at the printing trade, and in 1812 founded The War. With Gen. George P. Morris, who became a member of the society after its incorporation and who is best known as the author of "Woodman, Spare That Tree," Woodworth established the New York Mirror, a popular literary journal. He also wrote a history of the War of 1812 and several dramatic pieces, chiefly operatic. But his fame as Poet of a poet rests principally upon "The Old Oaken Distinction. Bucket," that superb lyric "which has embalmed in undying verse so many of the most touching recollections of rural childhood, and will preserve the more poetic form oaken, together with the memory of the almost obsolete implement it celebrates, through all dialectio changes as long as English SAMUEL WOODWORTH, Union Printer and Poet, Author of " The Old Oaken Bucket." 1OF. NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 83 shall be a spoken language."12 This masterpiece (which appears in a volume of 182 poems issued by the author in I826), under the title of " The Bucket," endures as a musical gem, and is still sung to the air of " The Flower of Dumblane:" THE BUCKET. How dear to this heart are the scenes of my childhood, When fond recollection presents them to view! The orchard, the meadow, the deep-tangled wild-wood, And every loved spot which my infancy knew! The wide-spreading pond, and the mill that stood by it, The bridge, and the rock where the cataract fell, The cot of my father, the dairy-house nigh it, And e'en the rude bucket that hung in the well - The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket, The moss-covered bucket which hung in the well. That moss-covered vessel I hail'd as a treasure, For often at noon, when return'd from the field, I found it the source of an exquisite pleasure, The purest and sweetest that nature can yield. How ardent I seized it, with hands that were glowing, And quick to the white-pebbled bottom it fell; Then soon, with the emblem of truth overflowing, And dripping with coolness, it rose from the well - The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket, The moss-covered bucket arose from the well. How sweet from the green mossy brim to receive it, As poised on the curb it inclined to my lips, Not a full blushing goblet could tempt me to leave it, The brightest that beauty or revelry sips. And now, far removed from the loved habitation, The tear of regret will intrusively swell, As fancy reverts to my father's plantation, And sighs for the bucket that hangs in the well - The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket, The moss-covered bucket that hangs in the well! From the moment that he attached himself to the Typographical Society Woodworth took a lively interest in its doings. He was elected a member of its Board of Directors and was first seated in that body on December i6, I8o9. Ardent For several years he filled that position creditably Labor and also served on important committees. Fre- Advocate. quently he was chosen judge of elections. His ardency in the cause he represented was particularly illustrated at the banquet given on July 4, i8io, to celebrate Independence 1 Hon. George P. Marsh, " Lectures on the Engish Language," New York. 186o. 84 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Day. and the first anniversary of the society, when he proposed this toast, the italicized words being technical terms used in the art of printing: The enemies of our art and institution. May opposers of our rules (mere ciphers in the world), who seek to raise squabbles in this society, to break down our regulations and batter the principles of this institution, however conspicuous their figures or respectable their characters, soon find that our regular workmen will point at them with contempt, and register them in our page; and should they persist in their error and continue to impose on their brethren they will be called to the bar to answer proper interrogations respecting the matter; when if they fail to justify their conduct, or correct the procedure, may they be pulled by the nose, beat on the ribs, consigned to the devil and thrown into hell! On the same occasion the following ode, written especially for the event by the poet, was sung: ART OF PRINTING. When o'er proud Tyber's flood Fair Science rear'd her dome, And Greece had lent her arts To gild imperial Rome, Ambitious Genius aim'd her flight To seek unknown renown, But, veil'd in sable shades of night, She sunk bewilder'd down. Chorus. For Fate to them denied the art Which gives fair knowledge birth, Refines the human heart, And scatters bliss on earth. No soft refinements graced Or harmonized the mind; For maddening war's career Left calmer joys behind; The social ties which life endear Their thought could ne'er engage, The sympathetic smile and tear Were lost in battle's rage. For Fate to them denied the art Which gives fair knowledge birth, Refines the human heart, And scatters bliss on earth. Time told a thousand years On his eventful page, When Faust at length appears To bless the happy age; NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 85 His plastic hand lends Genius wings, Bids Wisdom's temple soar, And infant Learning joyful springs With powers unknown before. Chorus. His was the Heaven-descended art To give fair knowledge birth, To mend the human heart And civilize the earth. The sun of Science rose And chased the clouds of night; While wondering realms survey'd Astonished at the sight; The social arts, in wisdom's train, With love and peace advance, Teach man to feel his fellow's pain, A brother's joy enhance. Chorus. Ours is the Heaven-descended art, To give fair knowledge birth, To mend the human heart, And civilize the earth. Hail! art of arts! all hail! Thy praises mock the lyre; To reach the boundless theme, Its tones in vain aspire; But grateful hearts which feel the bliss Thy magic power bestows, Respond to every strain like this, How dull so'er it flows: Chons. Ours is the Heaven-descended art, To give fair knowledge birth, To mend the human heart, And civilize the earth. This patriotic song, of which Woodworth was the author, was also rendered at the festivities: COLUMBIA'S INDEPENDENCE. Come crowd around the festive board, And join the song with one accord, Be every breast with pleasure stored, And care and envy send hence. Our dear-bought freedom we will praise The right of our descendants; And every glowing heart shall raise The chorus of our joyful lays, Columbia's Independence. 86 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Be party rancor banish'd hence, For Peace is Virtue's recompense; Friendship and love on no pretence Should ever meet with hindrance. Let sons of Freedom e'er agree In amity's attendance; For why should men existing free Deform with discord's stormy sea Columbia's Independence? We here assemble to rejoice That patriots with united voice Once rose and made this manly choice For them and their descendants. They Freedom's eagle rais'd on high, Amid the stars' resplendence; And swore to fight and bravely die, If foreign despots dare deny Columbia's Independence. Bellona goads her foaming steeds, Beneath her car oppression bleeds, And Tyranny with haste recedes With all her curst attendants; Our patriot fathers gain'd the day For them and their descendants' For which we raise the joyful lay, And on our banners still display Columbia's Independence Then Freedom bade the temple rise, Whose fabric every foe defies, While joyous seraphs from the skies Bestow their glad attendance; And shades of martyrs smiling see The joy of their descendants: Their sons united, brave and free, And yearly hail with mirth and glee Columbia's Independence. Preparations for the second annual banquet of the society were begun in the spring of I8I. At a general meeting held on April 6th on motion of Ichabod Hoit it was "resolved that a medal of the value of $io or thereunder be presented to the person who will compose the best ode on the art of printing, to be sung on the anniversary celebration of the New York Typographical Society; each ode to be presented at the monthly meeting previous to the Fourth of July. The name of the author to be sealed in a piece of paper attached to the ode and not to be opened unless it obtains the prize. NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 87 The merit of the piece to be decided by a majority of the general meeting present." Through the medium of the president two original productions were presented to the Board of Directors on June I 5th. They were referred to a committee consisting of William Burbidge, David H. Reins and Ichabod Hoit. MVr. Awarded Reins, who read them at a special meeting of the Medal society on June 29th, stated that the members of for Ode. the committee were "unanimously of the opinion that the ode marked No. i was entitled to the prize medal." The sense of the meeting being taken on the subject of their merits the award was made to the writer of No. i, and "on opening the sealed package attached to No. i it appeared that Mr. Samuel Woodworth was the author." A committee was then appointed " to procure a medal for Mr. Samuel Woodworth not to exceed the sum of $io." The celebration of the thirty-fifth anniversary of American independence and the second of the society occurred on July 4th at No. io Fair street. At sunrise the national flag was displayed, at Coleman's hostelry, where at 12 o'clock the members assembled and enjoyed " an appropriate and excellent oration on the art of printing pronounced by Mr. George Asbridge. At 3 o'clock the society sat down to a sumptuous repast, after which toasts, odes, etc., prepared for the occasion were dispatched with a hilarity and joy only equalled by the harmony which sweetened them." 13 The ode composed by Samuel Woodworth, the successful competitor for the prize medal, was sung by David H. Reins. It follows: PRINTERS ODE. From the crystalline courts of the temple of light, The dove-eye of Mercy to earth was directed, Where mortals were grovelling deep shrouded in night, For passion was worshipp'd and wisdom rejected: Immers'd in each ill Of corrupted free-will, Yet mercy was patient, and vengeance slept still: For Infinite Love had his banner unfurl'd, And the precepts of wisdom were preached to the world. But haughty Ambition extended his reign, And wielded the sceptre of magic delusion, Held reason enshackled in tyranny's chain, And governed by knowledge and learning's exclusion. _N * C J * * * * * * " New York Columbian, July 9, 1811. 88 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Omnipotence saw, Bade delusion withdraw, And ordain'd that OUR ART should promulgate His law. Then Genius its fetters at Tyranny hurl'd, And Printing appear'd to enlighten the world. The blush of Aurora now lighted the east And banished the darkness of mystical terror: Man sprang from the shrine where he'd worshipp'd the beast, While Prejudice own'd and relinquished his error; The truth was receiv'd, Admired and believ'd, And ours is the art which the blessing achiev'd. For now was the banner of wisdom unfurl'd, And printing promulgated truth through the world. The sage of Genoa, whose high-soaring soul, By a flash from our art glowed with new inspiration; In brilliant perspective saw glory's bright goal, And enroll'd a new world on the page of creation: With fame-swelling breast, Still onward he press'd, Till Eden's bright regions appear'd in the west; Each clime saw the canvas of Europe unfurl'd While Printing taught commerce to polish the world. But the sons of the West to more glory were born, And to us shall proud Europe the laurel surrender, For though hers was the blushing effulgence of morn, Yet ours is the noon of meridian splendor; For Heaven decreed, That Columbia be freed, And Printing and valor accomplish'd the deed, The banner of war was by Justice unfurl'd And Freedom by Printing proclaim'd to the world. Our standard the eagle of liberty bears, His eyes, like the stars which surround him, resplendent; While the olive asks peace, every arrow declared, "Columbia forever shall be independent;" For freedom is ours, Nor shall Europe's mad powers A feather e'er filch from our bird as he towers; And while Printing its influence extends thro' the world,, The banner of Freedom shall never be furl'd. Another lyric prepared by Mr. Woodworth for the celebration and vocalized by Mr. Asbridge is presented below: NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 89 PRINTING AND INDEPENDENCE. When wrapp'd in folds of feudal gloom, Dark superstition awed the world, Consign'd fair knowledge to the tomb And Error's sable flag unfurl'd; Earth heard this mandate from the skies, "Let there be light - great Art, arise!" Fair Science wip'd her tears and smil'd, And Infant Genius plum'd his wing, The Arts assemble round the child, And all the glowing chorus sing: Rise, son of science, quick arise! And lend thy light to darkenr'd eyes. Our Art arose and man had light, The clouds of superstition fled, The fiend of ignorance took his flight And Error hid his hateful head; Whilst swell'd this chorus to the skies, Our Art shall live and Freedom rise. The goddess, who for ages past, Had wept beneath despotic might, Her cankering fetters burst at last, And claim'd the charter of her right: While men and seraphs join'd this strain - " Printing shall live and Freedom reign." Hail, Freedom! hail, celestial guest! O never from thy sons depart; Thine be the empire of the West, Thy temple every freeman's heart; The Art of Printing gave thee birth, And brightens still thy reign on earth. Arise, ye favor'd sons of light, Professors of our Heaven-born art, And in the chorus all unite, While joy expands each throbbing heart; "The Art of Printing shall endure, And Independence be secure." Apparently the committee that had been selected to purchase a medal for the successful candidate displayed laxity, for the minutes of the general meeting of February i, I8 2, show that the members comprising it were "requested to exhibit it at the next general meeting of the society, if possible." But the medal was not forthcoming, which fact caused the association on September 4, I8I3, to bring the matter to a happy ending with the declaration that, - go NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Whereas, A committee were appointed some time since to procure and present to Samuel Woodworth a gold medal of the value of $io for an ode written for our second anniversary; and said committee having neglected to do the same, therefore, Resolved, That Mr. Woodworth receive the sum of $IO for the purpose of procuring a medal to his own liking. When Secretary Reins informed the Board of Directors on September 25, 1830, that being about to remove with his family to Ithaca and therefore under the necessity of vacating Elected his office, the resignation was accepted and Samuel Secretary. Woodworth was appointed to temporarily fill the position until a regular election was had by the society, which was on November 6th, when he was the unanimous choice for secretary. At the time he was vice-president, but in a graceful note he relinquished that official station as being "incompatible with the duties of my new appointment." Besides being a celebrated poet Mr. Woodworth was also a man of intense practicality and methodical to an eminent degree. Innovations began with his incumbency. He introduced Valuable the system of indexing on the margin of the society's Hints to minutes at each page, suggested the advisability Present-Day of bringing together all documents connected with Oficials. the affairs of the association so that they could be duly filed and regularly deposited in the archives of the institution, and he arranged and filed systematically such papers as came into his possession when he assumed the duties of the secretaryship. He conducted the fiscal business of the society in so capable and energetic a manner that he was unanimously re-elected in I83I, 1832 and 1833, and had but one vote recorded against him in I834. His first report, delivered on December 31, I830, is worthy of careful perusal by present-day recording and financial officials of organizations. From it they will gather ideas that will be helpful to them not only as to correct methods in keeping accounts and inditing proceedings, but in the care and preservation of valuable records. Following is the complete text: In making the usual semi-annual report from this department, it has been deemed expedient, in the present instance, to go into some details not alluded to in several previous documents of this nature. The undersigned has, therefore, since the books of the New York Typographical Society were committed to his charge, carefully and critically investigated their contents, rectified several errors and inaccuracies not detected by his predecessors; and posted all the current accounts on the ledger, down to the present date. The result of these labors is herewith submitted to the consideration of the society. NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 91 Since the commencement of this institution in the year I809, the number of names which have been entered on the books, as members, amounts to 408. Of these, 56 are known to have been taken from us by death; 140 have been expelled - generally for delinquency in the Membership payment of monthly dues; 3 are marked as suspended, and Since 4 as having voluntarily resigned or withdrawn. Ninety-four Inception are marked as absent; several of whom are known to be permanently located in other cities, and in various sections of the country; some of them proprietors of flourishing and lucrative establishments, amply able to liquidate the arrears of their old accounts; and a few of them, were they properly appealed to, might be induced (by a sense of justice and honour) to do so. It is difficult to conjecture what proportion of these 94 absentees may ever return, and adjust their unsettled accounts with the society; but there is no difficulty in proving that a very large proportion of them were, at the time of their departure, indebted for monthly dues, amounting in the aggregate, as they stand exhibited on the ledger, to the enormous sum of $991.80! There are now within the jurisdiction of this society II members; 26 of whom have fully complied with all the requisitions of the constitution and by-laws - completed their probationary state of monthly contributors, and are now what we justly and emphatically denominate Advantage free members14 - for the punctual and ultimate discharge of of Being in their duties have made them " free indeed," entitled to all Good Standig. the privileges conferred by the institution; and if either or all of them were to be suddenly reduced to sickness and poverty, the treasury of charity and benevolence, which they so nobly labored in establishing, would instantly be thrown open to their necessities, in whatever sections of the globe they might chance to reside, when making their application for relief. Not so with several others, who have shrunk from the contest when victory was just within their grasp; several who have held out with us thus far, and yet now stop to take breath; or, in plain statistical language, several whose monthly dues have long since ceased to accumulate, and who might, each of them, readily become a free member by the liquidation of a trifling balance. They ought to bear in mind that such liquidation will come too late, when proffered, with a trembling hand, from the couch of disease. At such a crisis our constitution, in justice to others, will very properly close the door of mercy to them. If this remark may be applied to those who have, for a long time, contributed to the increase of our treasury; who have patiently " borne the heat and the burden of the day," and whose recent delinquencies may perhaps be solely owing to their confidence of success, how Charm in the much more forcibly must it apply to those who have joined Phrase "My us, as it were, at the eleventh hour; who have contributed Dues Are Paid.. comparatively nothing, and whose arrearages already amount to much. Our treasury is now rich; but not from them, and of course not for them. The only " open sesame! " that can penetrate to its bounties is the irresistible charm contained in the words: " My dues are paid." After deducting the above 26 there remain, within this jurisdiction, 85 members whose accounts 14 There was a rule in the early days of the society that after a member had paid dues for a specified period he became exempt from further payments, but continued to share in all benefits. This was termed "* free membership.'" After a long experience the impracticability of the practice was realized and it was abolished. 92 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. are still open. Of these, 34 owe less than 6 months' dues; 9 owe just 6 months; 7 owe for 7 months; 3 owe for 8 months; 3 for 13 months; i for 14 months; 2 for 15 months, 2 for 17, 2 for i8, 3 for 20, 3 for 21, I for 22, 2 for 23, I for 2 years and 3 months, I for 2 years and 5 months, I for 2 years and 7 months, I for 2 years and 8 months, I for 2 years and I0 months, I for 3 years and 2 months, i for 3 years and 9 months, I for 4 years, I for 5 years, and I for 5 years and 6 months. The aggregate amount of these various debts, including a few fines due from free members, is $201.60; less by $83.31 than the sum reported as due from the same persons in June last. This difference, however, may be partially accounted for by the fact that three members have been expelled, and two others left the city, since that period, the aggregate amount of whose dues is $49.3I. The average of fines, including badges, etc., now due from free members (and only five of the 26 are thus indebted), amount to $15.43. Before taking leave of the subject, your secretary begs leave to suggest the propriety of never writing the word expelled to a member's name, except for such acts as would subject him to this degradation even were his dues all punctually paid. The funds of the society are sufficiently safe, and the punishment of the delinquent sufficiently severe, by his being suspended or debarred all the rights and privileges of the institution. This would leave a door open through which many might be induced to return to the bosom of the institution, and punctually fulfill all their engagements. But there is certainly attached to the word expulsion a kind of stigma or disgrace that often kindles an indignant feeling in the breasts of those who have incurred it; and which exists as an insurmountable barrier to their hereafter becoming useful and honourable members. It is therefore the opinion of your secretary, after mature reflection, that the substitution of a milder term would operate to the permanent advantage of this institution. Within the last six months there has been an accession to the society of four new members, making a total of eleven within the year. Only one death has occurred since the last report. Since the month of June last the amount of monthly dues received (including one forfeiture) is $i06.75 and $20 for initiation fees, making a total of $126.75. In the archives of so respectable and important an institution as the New York Typographical Society, which has now been in existence for more than twenty years, I expected to have found voluminous files of papers, Preservation accumulated from various sources. In this expectation I of Important have been disappointed. On entering upon the official Records. duties of secretary I only found (besides the regular books of the institution) a little rude mass of manuscripts thrown promiscuously together, without method, form, or designation. Out of this chaos I have attempted to produce order. These papers are now all neatly folded, assorted, endorsed, marked, dated and numbered; so that any one of them can be instantly referred to without the least trouble or inconvenience. They are divided into eight distinct parcels appropriately labelled and numbered. In conclusion, the undersigned feels it his duty to ask, where are all the deficient or missing documents, the presence of which is absolutely necessary to preserve a regular chain in the records or annals of this institution? It is true that the minutes exist; but they often refer to important papers which are not to be found in this department. I would, therefore, respectfully suggest the propriety of a resow NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 93 lution, calling upon every officer and member of this society, who may have in his possession any original papers, documents, communications, receipts, etc., or manuscripts of any description, which properly appertain to this department, to hand the same over to the secretary as soon as convenient, in order that the same may be duly filed, and regularly deposited in the archives of the institution. When the society met on March 26, I83I, it gave heed to the secretary's timely recommendation concerning the assembling and preservation of precious records, by unanimously resolving "that every officer or member of this society who may have in his possession any papers relative to the proceedings or correspondence of the same, hand them over to the secretary as soon as convenient, in order that they may be regularly filed and deposited in the archives of this society." Meagre indeed was the pecuniary compensation that Secretary Woodworth received for his services, but his unflagging interest in the welfare of the society prompted him to sacrifice personal comfort and aggrandizement in order to enhance its affairs. An example of this devotion is found in the minutes of the Board of Directors on March 31, 1832, when the poet "presented his quarterly bill for three months' services and extra duties, etc.," as follows: NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY To S. Woodworth. Dr. 1832 *March 3x To three months' salary..................... $7.50 3 Serving notices for Mr. Rice's funeral.......... 1.5o ".. Postage to and from Albany................... 62 /a $9.62 I/a "A motion was made and seconded that the bill of the secretary be accepted and passed for payment," good-humoredly wrote Woodworth in the minutes of the Board of Directors. "But the president pro tem., with his characteristic and highly laudable caution against any act that might possibly infringe the letter or spirit of the constitution, declined putting the question until the bill had passed the ordeal of an auditing committee. It was then resolved that a committee of three be appointed by the president pro tem. This motion was opposed on the grounds that auditing committees had never heretofore been appointed by the Board of Directors, but always by the society in their semi-annual general meetings. The motion, however, finally prevailed." The chair appointed the committee, "who after a patient investigation pronounced the secretary's bill to be correct, after which, on motion, it was unanimously passed for payment." 94 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Until April I, I83 5, Woodworth continued to discharge the duties of secretary, but having arranged to leave the city he on that date submitted his resignation to the society in this characteristic communication: To the President, Officers and Members of the New York Typographical Scciety: GENTLEMEN: - Being about to leave the jurisdiction of the society for an indefinite period, I beg leave to tender my resignation as secretary of your honourable body. In thus taking leave of an institution of which I have been a member for more than twenty-five years, I cannot refrain from a feeble attempt to express my warm attachment to its interests, as well as my personal affection for each and all of its members individually; together with my warm and grateful acknowledgment for the many acts of courtesy and friendship which I have experienced at their hands. Rest assured, gentlemen, that whatever may be my future fate or fortune, and wherever I may be located by Providence, the many happy hours I have experienced in being associated with you in supporting the interests of the institution, and those of the profession generally, will visit my remembrance like smiling angels of mercy and approbation - and their visits will be neither few, short, nor far between. I shall always hail from the New York Typographical Society, with pride and pleasure, and shall seize upon every occasion to promote its welfare and prosperity, both in public and private. That the New York Typographical Society may long continue to flourish, and proceed in its labours of love and benevolence, will ever be the sincere and fervent prayer of him who now bids you as a body a long and affectionate farewell. SAMUEL WOODWORTH. Returning subsequently to New York he suffered from an attack of paralysis, the distress of which he endured with fortitude and forbearance for six years, and passed away in that city on December 9, I842. For a long time prior to his demise Samuel Woodworth was employed as a clerk in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Though lack of financial success attended his literary enterprises he was nevertheless highly esteemed as a citizen and his home in Duane street was the retreat of eminent men of letters in his day. He was sociable, friendly and amiable, and all through his life bore an irreproachable reputation - fame and an honored name being his only fortune. PETER FORCE, ANNALIST. Proposed for membership on November i6, 181, the application having been accompanied by "a certificate of his being a regular journeyman printer" (having learned his trade with William A. Davis, who afterward became national public printer), and reported favorably on November 23d, Peter Force, whose name is chiseled in one of the largest stones of the Washington Monument at the PETER FORCE, President of New York Typographical Society in 1815, and Distinguished American Annalist. \ -. / NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 95 National Capital as a designation of honor for services of distinction performed in the interest of American annalism, was initiated at the general meeting of the New York Typographical Society on February I, 1812. Almost from the beginning he became a prominent figure in the association. He was elected a director on December 5, I812, and was chosen president on July 3, 1813, his re-election following in I8I4 and 1815. From the Committee Prominent on Correspondence of the Columbia Typographical as a Union Society, of Washington, Mr. Force received a com- Printer. munication, dated July i, 18 5, stating that a scale of wages had been established for the District of Columbia, as follows: During the Sesion of Congres. Pressmen and compositors by the week................... $1o. oo Working on Sunday.................................... 2.oo During the Recess. Pressmen and compositors by the week..................... $9. oo Composition per I,ooo ms for brevier and upwards...........28 Composition per I,ooo ms for less than brevier..............33 I/3 Presswork, per token...................................33 1/3 Presswork, newspapers, per token.........................37 I/2 "It has become our duty through you," wrote the Committee on Correspondence, "to address the society over whom you preside, informing them of the establishment in the District of Columbia of an association of journeymen printers —having for its objects: First, benevolence, and second, the establishment of a regular list of prices. In the attainment of these objects we feel assured of the good wishes of your body, as we must have of every friend to the profession. In the infancy of associations of this nature difficulties will frequently occur that have a tendency to dampen the fondest expectations of the most sanguine. That we have had to contend with those difficulties we will not attempt to deny - but by a determined perseverance on the part of each member they have been caused to vanish; and we now indulge the pleasing hope that our society is firmly and permanently established. With satisfaction we have it in our power to state that, with but few exceptions, every journeyman in the district is now a member of this society; the few who are not, we have the strongest reasons for asserting, will in a short time attach themselves to us. We give this notice with a hope that it may prevent journeymen at a distance engaging at less than the prices above quoted." 96 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. President Force, who was favorably disposed toward any effort looking to the amelioration of his craft, made answer to the letter on July 7th. "I take pleasure in announcing to Favors Wage you the receipt of your communication of the ist Increase for inst.," he replied. "As the regular meeting of Printers. the New York Typographical Society is on the first Saturday of each month, our next will be held on the fifth of August, when your letter shall be laid before this body and you made acquainted with the result. In the meantime, to prevent incurring the appearance of neglect on our part, I have deemed it proper to notice it myself; and proffer, in the name of the society, a tender of our services, which I doubt not will be sanctioned." His course was approved by the society. Later in the year when an effort was made to increase wages in New York, Mr. Force was an active factor in bringing about the success of the movement, and his appellation as president was attached, with that of the secretary, to the printed card of rates that was distributed about the city in i815. But a broader work awaited this official of the society, and on December 2, 1815, announcing that he intended to take up his residence in another city, he resigned the presidency, to which he was first elected when only 22 years of age, having been born in New Jersey on November 26, I790. After severing his connection with the New York society he sailed in a sloop for Washington, as foreman for Public Printer Davis, with the Congressional printing plant, which was then quite small, the machinery consisting of four single-pull, wooden hand presses, these being sufficient to do all the work of the Government in 1816. He joined the Columbia Typographical Society in that year, and in 1826 became its first "free member." When the National Typographical Convention assembled in Washington on November 7, 1836, it appointed a committee of three " to wait upon Mr. Force, Mayor of this city (a member of the Columbia Typographical Society), to tender to him the good wishes of the convention, and to invite him to honor it with his presence. Mr. Force was announced by the committee," continue the proceedings of that first national conclave of printers, "and welcomed in an ardent manner by an address from the president, and by congratulations of the members of the convention individually. Mr. Force in an appropriate manner thanked the convention for the courtesy extended towards him; and expressed his sincere wishes for the success of the efforts of the convention in promoting the best interests of the profession which it represented." NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. Early in his career in Washington Peter Force attracted the attention of distinguished statesmen and remained a leading character in that city during his whole life. He was taken into partnership with Mr. Davis, and when the- Public latter withdrew from the firm Mr. Force formed Printer in other copartnerships, of which he was the master Washington. mind. In I820 he began the publication of the " National Calendar," an annual statistical work, which he continued until I836. From November 12, 1823, to February 2, 1830, he published the National Journal, which was the official newspaper during the administration of President John Quincy Adams. He was Mayor of Washington from 1836 to 1840, and subsequently became president of the National Institute for the Promotion of Science. But the greatest achievement of Peter Force was his collection of documents upon which American history is founded- embracing a vast amount of rare manuscripts, books, papers, maps, charts and pamphlets. Published under the Becomes title of " American Archives," these annals for com- an Eminent pleteness and value are unequalled by any other Analist. work in the world on a similar subject. In I833 he entered into a contract with the Federal Government for the preparation and issuance of this noteworthy compilation. It extended to nine volumes, which had been arranged with assiduous care and consummate skill, but after the delivery of the ninth volume the officials upon whom the law imposed the necessity of giving an imprimatur declined to read the manuscripts, and. the work came to a standstill while the eminent compiler was still in possession of mental vigor and physical energy and had many important documents yet to pass through the press. Futilely he continued his efforts to prevail upon future officers to reverse the action of their predecessors, and was finally compelled to relinquish his cherished object, on which he had been untiringly engaged for 30 years. Mr. Force also published four volumes of historical tracts bearing upon the origin and settlement of the American colonies, and he gathered considerable material pertaining to the industrial life of the country. His library, which contained the largest accumulation of Americana ever collected by a private individual, was purchased by the Government and occupies a conspicuous place in the Library of Congress. This able printer was endowed with a kindly nature. He was a broad-minded, large-hearted man, and felt his disappointment keenly. He died on January 23, i868. 4 98 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. THURLOW WEED, JOURNALIST AND WARWICK OF AMERICAN POLITICS. Admitted to membership in the New York Typographical Society on October 5, 1816, Thurlow Weed, who ultimately became a noted newspaper publisher and editor and the Warwick of Exponent of American politics, was a strong advocate of the proLabor Labor. tective principles that were then a dominant feature Principles. of the association. He was elected a member of the Board of Directors on December 14, I816, and served with ability and fidelity in that position for some time. Composition on the first tract issued by the American Tract Society was performed by Charles McDevitt, who also joined the society about the same time and was a member of it for some 50 years, and he and Mr. Weed did the presswork on that original religious leaflet at the office of Daniel Fanshaw in i816. Going to Albany in June, 1817, Mr. Weed took the foremanship of the Register in that town. It was while he was a resident of the Capital City that the Typographical Society applied Obtains for a charter from the Legislature, and requested him Charter for to assume charge of the measure. That occasion was the Society. his first experience in matters of a political character. He applied himself with energy to the task, endeavoring to induce the legislators to pass an act that would permit the association to continue as a labor force. Failing in this he accepted the bill that allowed it to be conducted as a benevolent organization. " I remember with what deference I then ventured into the presence of distinguished members of the Legislature," he observed in referring to the event in after years, " and how sharply I was rebuked by two gentlemen, who were quite shocked at the idea of incorporating journeymen mechanics." So gratified was the society with his efforts that, on May 9, 1818, through a committee, it sent to him this manifestation of its sense of his services: The committee appointed by the New York Typographical Society for the purpose of procuring an act of incorporation, having in their report to that institution mentioned the great assistance they had received from you during the pending of that application, the following resolution was adopted, namely: That the thanks of this society be presented to Mr. Thurlow Weed, a member, for the zeal and activity with which he has exerted himself in assisting to procure the act of incorporation; and that the committee appointed for that purpose, with the addition of two other members, be authorized to carry this resolution into effect. In conformity to the above resolution we beg leave to present to you, for and on behalf of the New York Typographical Society, their sincere thanks for your voluntary exertions in their cause; and to assure you that they shall always remember you with respect and esteem. Permit us individually to reciprocate your congratulations and to tender you our thanks. From a daguerreotype by Brady in 1857. THURLOW WEED, Union Printer, Journalist, and Warwick of American Politics. N \ I'lOP I NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 99 Remaining an honored member of the society until the close of his life the veteran printer-journalist always attended its meetings when he visited New York City. " I was elected a member of the New York Typographical Society soon after I reached the city," he once said, " and attended its meetings regularly. These were occasions to me of rare interest, for among its members were men of intellectual, moral and social worth. Its president was Peter Force, subsequently and for 40 years an eminent printer in Washington. Others established themselves in neighboring cities and villages and became influential and prosperous publishers and editors." In November, I86I, he went to Europe on the recommendation of powerful friends of President Lincoln's administration and in a semi-diplomatic capacity was of great service to the country in the political circles of London and Paris Effects Pacific in respect to the delicate relations of the United Relations With States with foreign powers arising out of the Civil Foreign Powers. War. Accompanied by Archbishop Hughes and Bishop McIlvaine he sought to induce Old World governments to refrain from intervention in behalf of the Confederacy, and through his influence with British and French statesmen effected permanent pacific relations with the nations represented by the latter. Returning to America in June, 1862, he received from the Corporation of New York the freedom of the city. On June 9th of that year the Typographical Society viewed with pleasure his safe arrival from a mission " fraught with the safety, honor and welfare of our country," and requested him to visit its rooms so that his fellow-members could personally express to him congratulations for his endeavors to convice the governments and people of Europe of the ability of the North to crush out rebellion. Mr. Weed declined a formal reception, but he was present as a member at the next general meeting of the society. When he had been in continuous affiliation with the association for 58 years he attended, on February I7, I874, its banquet in commemoration of the birthday of Benjamin Franklin and received an ovation. Thurlow Weed was born in the village of Cairo, Greene County, N. Y., on November 15, 1797. At the age of io years he worked as a cabin boy upon Hudson River Begins His craft, and two years later was employed by Machy Apprenticeship Croswell in his printing office in Catskill. With at Printing his parents he soon afterward removed to Cincinnatus, Cortland County. Going back to the printing business in his fourteenth year he held situations successively in various news 100 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. paper offices. He was a volunteer in the War of 1812, serving on the Northern frontier as a private and as quartermaster-sergeant. Upon his departure from Albany in the autumn of i 8 i8 Mr. Weed engaged in the newspaper business for a time in Norwich, Chenango County. In 1821 he returned to the State Capital, Struck Against where among journeymen printers he had many Employment wannrm friends. He obtained a situation on the of a Rat." public printing contract, and presently went to work for Packard & Van Benthuysen, " where all went smoothly for something over a month," he himself relates; " when in obedience to a resolution of the Typographical Society the journeymen struck, not for higher wages, but because a ' rat' had been employed in our office and now for the first time in my life I became seriously anxious about employment, for I was neither disposed nor could I afford to be idle." Then he went to Manlius and on June 27, 182i, established the Onondaga County Republican. Not meeting with success at that venture he proceeded to Rochester, where he pursued the journalistic profession, for a time owning and editing the Daily Telegraph of that place. In 1825 he represented Monroe County in the Legislature. After a residence of several years in the Flower City he journeyed back to Albany, and there founded the Evening Journal on March 22, 1830, from which period dated his most distinguished services as a publisher Journalist and and editor and as leader of both Whig and RepubPolitical lican parties. For more than 3 5 years he remained Leader. in control of the Albany newspaper, and in 1867 assumed the editorship of the New York Commercial Advertiser, but resigned the next year owing to failing health. His death occurred on November 22, 1882. Thurlow Weed was among the earliest, advocates of the abolition of imprisonment for debt, and he was an ardent opponent of slavery. With the exception of a single legislative term, he always refused to accept public office, although exercising considerable influence in legislation and the distribution of executive appointments. Possessed of great strength of character, superior judgment and cheerfulness, his tact and geniality attracted the multitude to him, and he never forgot a face or a fact. ELLIS LEWIS. JURIST. Not least among the galaxy of renowned personages who were proud of their membership in the New York Typographical Society was Ellis Lewis, who, at the age of i8 years, was initiated on ELLIS LEWIS, Member of New York Typographical Society, in I817, and Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. OR) I Cf 1 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. IO1 March i, I8I 7. He was a compositor on the old New York Courier, afterward was employed on the New York Daily Advertiser, was engaged at one time in the same Jen SocYiet composing room with Samuel Woodworth and Gen. of Age. George P. Morris, the poets, and for a long period set type on law cases. He was born in Lewisberry, York County, Pennsylvania, on May 16, I798. Early in life he went to New York City. After remaining in the Metropolis for several years he returned to the Keystone State, edited a newspaper, studied Renowned as law, and was admitted to the Bar in 1822. He a Jurist and was appointed Deputy Attorney-General in I824, Law Author. elected to the State Legislature in I832, chosen Attorney-General in January, I833, President Judge of the Eighth Judicial District in October, 1833, and President Judge of the Second Judicial District in I843. Elected to the Supreme Court bench of Pennsylvania in 1851, he became Chief Justice of that court in I854. Declining a unanimous nomination by the Democratic State Convention for re-election in 1857, he retired to private life. In I858 he was appointed on a commission to revise the Penal Code of Pennsylvania. His knowledge of medical jurisprudence gained for him the honorary degree of M. D. from the Philadelphia College of Medicine, and Transylvania University and Jefferson College awarded him the degree of LL.D. Decisions of Judge Lewis upon important and difficult questions of law have been often cited with approval by writers of eminence in the profession of law. He was the author of "Abridgment of the Criminal Law of the United States," and contributed to periodical literature. Upon the decease of the distinguished jurist and printer in I87I, Charles McDevitt paid a tribute to his memory at a meeting of the society held in April of that year. " In the year i8I 7 it was my privilege to become acquainted with Commences as our departed brother," said the speaker. " In the Law-Case early part of my life I was employed in the office Compositor. of Abraham Paul, on the corer of Water street and Burling Slip. By my side stood a young man about my own age. It was a difficult law work on which we were engaged, full of the usual references, and very bad manuscript. We were obliged to consult each other in regard to our business, which soon ripened into closer intimacy. Judge Lewis became a member of the New York Typographical Society in 1817, 54 years ago. Although separated 102 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL'UNION NUMBER SIX. from it by distance, he fondly clung to the pleasurable association of his youth. He visited the society some years ago after an absence of 30 years, at one of our annual gatherings." XIIl. Celebrated Conspiracy Case. Twenty-four members of the Journeymen Cordwainers' Society, accused of conspiracy, were in the fall of I809 arraigned before De Witt Clinton, as Mayor of New York, and Aldermen Conspiracy Peter A. Mesier and Thomas Carpenter, as Justices for Demanding of the Sessions. They were charged with conUniform Wages. spiracy in unlawfully combining and assembling for the purpose of unjustly extorting " great sums of money " from master shoe makers, and for agreeing not to work for those who employed more than two apprentices and non-members or union journeymen who had infringed the rules of the society. The alleged extortion was embodied in a count that the defendants "did meet and corruptly conspire that none of them would work at any lower rate than $3.75 for every pair of back-strapped boots, $2 for suwarrow laced boots, full clammed, $i.75 for laced boots in front, $2.37 for footing back-strapped boots, $3.25 for footing suwarrows, and $1.25 for bottoming old boots; to the great damage not only of their said masters, but of divers other citizens." Naturally the cordwainers appealed for succor to such labor organizations as were then in existence, reasoning that an adverse judgment in their case might detrimentally affect the whole Appeal to body of associated workers in the city. At a meetPrinters ing of the Board of Directors of the Typographical for Aid. Society on February 24, 181o, President Sherman presented from the Society of Journeymen Cordwainers a memorial, "which stated the disagreeable situation in which they are placed in consequence of a lawsuit now pending between them and their employers, and their incapacity of carrying on the same, without receiving some aid from their fellow-tradesmen." The communication was referred to the meeting of the society on March 3d, at which a committee was ordered to make a general inquiry into the suits and report to the directors on March 3Ist. The findings of the investigators were submitted on that date as follows: NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. IO3 The grounds of the prosecution against the Cordwainers' Society by the master shoe makers appear to be, in the letter of the law, an unlawful combination for the purpose of raising and establishing their wages: this is the head and front of the bill of indictment, though it contains several other charges of trifling consequence, some of which are false and groundless - that relative to apprentices particularly having not the least degree of truth attached to it. The president informed your committee that their cause would be brought on for trial the ensuing week, and should judgment be given against them there, the determination is to carry it from court to court into the Court of Errors, should judgment be given in each against them. Your committee did not feel themselves authorized by the powers vested in them to offer any arrangement in support of their cause, but have left it to the management of the society. "After some debate," the minutes state, "a motion was made and carried that a committee of one should be appointed to answer the communication from the Cordwainers' Society, expressing the good wishes of this board for the success of their cause, and stating that, from the recent exhaustion of our funds in assisting our own members who had stood out for wages, it is totally out of our power (at present) to render them the assistance desired." When the case of the cordwainers came to trial Mayor Clinton and the two Aldermen previously named had left office and were succeeded by Mayor Jacob Radcliff and Aldermen J. Ogden Hoffman and Nicholas Fish, who presided. Defendant From the evidence it appeared that the then exist- Cordwainers ing constitution of the society was adopted in I805, on Tral. and had a preamble that "we, the journeymen cordwainers of the City of New York, impressed with a sense of our just rights and to guard against the intrigues or artifices that may at any time be used by our employers to reduce our wages lower than we deem an adequate reward for our labor, have unanimously agreed to the following articles as the constitution of our society." Provision was made for the election of officers "and a committee of six;" that no member should work for a master shoe maker who employed journeymen or apprentices not belonging to the society; that any journeyman whose wages were reduced or who was " otherwise aggrieved " should report the same to the committee of six for reference to the association, and that every cordwainer arriving in the city should be notified to join the union if competent for admission, or suffer the infliction of a fine. A comprehensive schedule of rates for piecework was a part of the constitution. The testimony showed that the society had several times notified employers to discharge workmen who were not attached to it; that a strike had been 104 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. inaugurated in one shop against a man who had been expelled for " scabbing; " that in consequence of the firm getting work done in other shops a general turn-out was ordered, and the indictment followed. There were i86 members of the society and about as many non-union men in the city, but it was shown that the society members were the best workmen. An effort was made by the defendants to prove that when the association was founded an organization of masters for the purpose of reducing wages had been in existence for a long time, and that the journeymen had organized to resist this combination, which continued to operate; but the testimony was ruled out, as was also the evidence that the wages demanded were reasonable, while the profits of the employers were very large. In his charge to the jury the Mayor defined conspiracy as a combination to do an unlawful act, or a lawful act by illegal means. The court did not intend to decide, he declared, Society's Rules whether an agreement not to work except for cerDenounced tain wages was a criminal offense where unlawful by Court. means were not used to enforce it. He criticized severely the rules of the society that endeavored to control the action of masters and non-members, the coercion of the latter appearing to him to have been particularly objectionable. " Whatever might be the motive of the defendants or their object," he charged, " the means they employed were arbitrary and unlawful, and their having been directed against several individuals in the present case, it was brought, in the opinion of the court, within one of the descriptions of the offense which had been given." The jury rendered a verdict against the accused cordwainers, who were each fined $i and costs. In passing sentence Mayor Radcliff declared that the defendants had an undoubted Convicted of right to meet and regulate their concerns, to demand Coercion and wages and to work or refuse to do so, but that the Each Fined $I. means to which they resorted to accomplish their desires were too arbitrary and coercive, and tended to deprive their fellow-citizens of rights as sacred as those for which the defendants had contended. He advised them to alter their rules, and more especially the one requiring every cordwainer upon reaching the city to join the society, if invited to do so, or else pay a fine of $5. CHAPTER IV. TYPOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK, 1831-1840. EMPLOYERS generally took advantage of the clause relative to wages in the act incorporating the New York Typographical Society, and not long after the charter was granted to it they began to gradually reduce rates of pay and enlarge the number of boys at the trade. Many journeymen were ultimately forced to work for as low as 20 cents per i,000 ems, their association being debarred by law from making any attempt to prevent decreases of or to raise their compensation. As a consequence a goodly number abandoned the field and betook themselves to other modes of gaining a livelihood. Those who continued to pursue the occupation of printing manifested dissatisfaction at the deteriorated state of the industry and not a few felt that the Typographical Society, of which they were members, could not fully respond to the requirements owing to the legal barriers that confined its work to acts of benevolence. Newspaper printers especially were discontented, and on November i9, i830, they had a mass meeting, at which their grievances were thoroughly aired. They resolved " that it was never the intention of the printers employed on the morning and evening papers to make a schism between themselves and the New York Typographical Society (some of whom are members of that society). So they disclaim and refute the many insinuations prepared to convey that idea." These men felt that there was room in the trade for both a protective union and a mutual aid society. They did not regard themselves as an opposing faction of the old association, which on the other hand did not undertake any organized movement to interfere with the formation of a body having for its paramount object the regulation of trade affairs - in truth, a considerable number of craftsmen who belonged to the Typographical Society joined the new union at its inception. Nothing further was done during the winter and succeeding spring, but on Monday evening, June 6, i83 1, a general meeting of the newspaper journeymen1 was called at St. 'Though the association was originated by journeyman printers employed on newspapers, many book and job compositors and pressmen joined it soon after its formation. [105] lo6 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. John's Hall in Frankfort street "to take into consideration the present state of wages and to establish a uniform scale of prices." This preliminary session was followed by another on June I3th, " to receive reports of the committees appointed at a previous meeting and to transact such other business as may come before them." A list of prices was then adopted, and the union ultimately succeeded in enforcing it in numerous establishments. I. Founding a Militant Trade Union. Convening again on June 17th these working printers established a constitution and effected a permanent organization known as the Typographical Association of New York, which remained a militant trade union for more than nine years. Details were completed on June 25th with the election of these officers for a term of one year: President - John Windt. Vice-President - A. H. Wells. Secretary - W. H. Clayton. Treasurer - Thomas W. Renne. Directors - Charles A. Davis, Samuel Huestis, James B. Anderson, W. W. Tindall, Thomas Crooker, A. C. Flanagan, J. W. Moulton, Jacob Squier, Jesse Rice, John H. Potts, J. Gore, William Fielding. II. Fundamental Law. The constitution of I8312 was reconstructed in I833, and in its amended form was printed for circulation. Forceful " introductory remarks " that prefaced the revised document mirForceful rored the conditions that were prevalent in the New Introductory York City printing industry four-fifths of a century Remarks. ago. Child labor was a serious problem, the application of improved machinery in pressrooms was regarded as detrimental to the interests of the craft, and it was considered that the increase of stereotyping tended to decrease the work of compositors. Improvements in the art, in the judgment of the workers, " rendered it every year more and more difficult for compositors to support themselves," while pressmen, "who had spent from five to seven years of the flower of their lives in acquiring a s The original constitution, having been put in type, was read and slightly changed on October 22, I83I. TYPOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK. Io7 knowledge of their profession, were left without employment, or were obliged to resort to some business with which they were unacquainted." Employers were censured for advertising in foreign lands for printers, thus inducing many to sail for America under the mistaken impression that work was plentiful at high wages. Unsanitary workshops in crowded districts were severely condemned, as owing to their injurious effects "many of the most worthy of the profession have fallen victims, and others, after a short endurance, have found their faculties so impaired and their constitutions so debilitated as to be rendered incapable of undertaking any other permanent employment for their future support." So instructive and intensely interesting is this valuable historical prefatory paper that it is transcribed here in full: The Typographical Association of New York was instituted on the seventeenth day of June, I83I. It may not be deemed improper to state some of the causes which led to its formation; and, in doing this, it will be necessary to revert to the condition of the printing business for some years past. In the year I8o9 the New York Typographical Society was formed, for the purpose of sustaining a uniform scale of prices, and of affording pecuniary relief to the sick and distressed of its own members, their widows and orphans. This institution has continued to the present Historical time; but the principal object of its first formation has long Study of its since ceased to claim any part of its attention. In 1812, war Predecessor. occurring between this country and Great Britain, the business suffered extremely, and continued in a depressed state until 1815, when it was found necessary to call a general meeting of the journeymen in the city, to take into consideration the propriety of revising the scale of prices; and after considerable debate between employers and employees, a scale was agreed upon, which was adopted by the New York Typographical Society. The demands of the workmen were very generally acceded to, and for some three or four years business was very brisk. In the year I8I8 the society was incorporated by an act of the Legislature, and, being prohibited by the terms of its charter from interfering with the scale of prices, it became merely a mutual benefit institution. In the meantime the seeds of declension in the trade were gradually sown, and the fruit began to appear in various ways. Some printers ' from a distance, having heard that business was good, and being determined to obtain it at all hazards, located themselves among us; Declension and to secure a sufficient quantity of work commenced Follows operations on terms that could not be afforded, if they wished Disunion. to obtain a fair remuneration for their labor, or act honestly by the workmen. The consequence was, that while a few grew rich at the expense of the journeymen, old-established printers, who had before paid honorable prices, were obliged to reduce their charges for work, or lose much of their business; and as their receipts were diminished, the wages of the journeymen were ' At that period, as in past centuries, the term " printer" signified the owner of a printing plant; the workers being denominated as "journeymen printers " or " compositors.' ro8 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. by degrees reduced, until, instead of a uniform scale of prices, every man was compelled to work for what he could obtain. Another cause of depression was the practice, which then prevailed, and has continued more or less to the present time, of employing runaway or dismissed apprentices for a small compensation. These were called Depression two-thirds men, and have always proved a great pest to the Caused by profession. Added to this, roller boys, having gained Child Labor. admission to the interior of a printing office, have in a short time found their way from the rear to the front of the press, to the discharge of the regular pressmen. The trade, also, as far as pressmen are concerned, had suffered extremely by the application of machinery to that branch of the business; and while a few individuals were growing rich, as they asserted, for the benefit of the public at large, many who had spent from five to seven years of the flower of their lives in acquiring a knowledge of their profession were left without employment, or were obliged to resort to some business with which they were unacquainted, and thus constrained to serve a sort of second apprenticeship. Matters continued in this condition for a number of years. Meantime the business of stereotyping had increased to a great extent; and the numerous improvements in the art, or rather the motto of multum in Effect of parvo literally reduced to practice, rendered it every year Machinery on more and more difficult for compositors to support themWorking Force selves and their families. To the disgrace of some employers, every advantage was taken of the necessities of the workmen, and impositions were continually practiced upon them. Men, however, when borne down by oppression, rise in their strength, and assert their rights. The journeymen printers of the City of New York, from a sense of justice to themselves, and those employers who had Excessive uniformly paid honorable prices, resolved to unite as an Working Hours association for the purpose of elevating the business to a on Newspapers. proper level. Numbers of them were engaged on the several daily newspapers of this city at prices deemed sufficient when there was little labor and scarcely any competition, but which were found totally inadequate when all vied with each other to present the latest news to their readers. To accomplish this the workmen were almost entirely deprived of their rest for nights together. Scarcely any employment can be more laborious than that of publishing a daily morning newspaper. Many of the offices are in the most crowded parts of the city; and, not having been built for the purpose, are Victims of illy calculated to afford a good circulation of air, or what is Unsanitary next in importance, good light. To the injurious effects of Workihops these and similar causes, many of the most worthy of the profession have fallen victims; and others, after a short endurance, have found their faculties so impaired, and their constitutions so debilitated, as to be rendered incapable of undertaking any other permanent employment for their future support. It requires the united exercise of the mental and bodily labor of the persons employed, for nearly the whole night, and a considerable portion of the day; being seldom able to allot more than seven hours to rest and refreshment. To be thus confined for such a length of time, inhaling the stagnant air of a printing office, is sufficient to enervate a man of the most vigorous constitution. TYPOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK. log Under all these circumstances a general meeting of the trade was called about the first of June, 1831, at which a committee was appointed to draw up a just and equitable scale of prices. The committee made their report to an adjourned meeting, which adopted it; and on the seventeenth day of the same month the Typographical Association of New York was established, and a constitution and by-laws framed for its government. A circular to the employing printers was forthwith issued, covering the new scale of prices, and respectfully asking them to accede to it. Most of them, to their honor, saw the justice of the demand, and promptly awarded the wages asked for. There were some, however, Equitable Wage both among the book offices and daily newspapers, who Scale Approved altogether refused, and have managed, from that time to b Proprietors. the present, by a constant change of workmen (for no honorable journeyman, after a knowledge of the facts, would remain a moment in such degraded employment), to evade the demands for a fair compensation. It is a source of consolation, after all, that the expenses of those establishments where the prices are not paid are greater than those where they are, owing to the incompetency and dishonesty of those employed. Among the means made use of to depress the business by those who withhold from the workmen their just demands has been advertising in several of the newspapers in Scotland, and elsewhere in Great Britain, that a great opening for printers existed in New York, thereby Assisted inducing many to leave the comforts of home in the old Immigration a country, to seek for a precarious subsistence on this side of Menace. the Atlantic. Many, to their regret, can testify to the truth of this assertion; and the feelings of the man, by whose unprincipled conduct this breaking up of kindred and subsequent disappointment in obtaining the means of support have happened, are not to be envied. Perhaps the day may come when remorse, like a subtle poison, may lurk about his heart, and cause him to do an act of justice to those who have been swindled by his deception. When the association was informed of the means taken by unprincipled men to injure the business, a circular was immediately addressed to the printers of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and dispatched by one of its members. The association has since learned, by letters from Europe, that the appeal has had an extensive circulation, and has tended in a great measure to counteract the evil contemplated by the original advertisements. Since its formation the association has steadily advanced in strength and respectability, and has repeatedly been called upon to settle disputes arising between employers and journeymen; and it is gratifying that, in all instances where it has been appealed to, its decision has been respected and acted on by the parties concerned. These repeated appeals, in cases of difficulty, have induced it again carefully to revise the scale of prices, explaining those points which were before involved in doubt, and amplifying others, so that no other construction can be given to them than the true one. As the trade has Incompetent for a long time, and particularly since the introduction of Workmanship stereotyping, been burdened with numerous grievances and Discourged. vexations, which while they employed much of the journeyman's time, were never paid for, these things have in the revised scale been taken into consideration, and a proper compensation awarded. In doing this, however, ITO NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. proper attention has been paid to the interest of the employer; for if any of the vexations spoken of arise from either carelessness or the want of skill of the workmen, it shall be at his expense. It is intended that the revised scale of prices shall be for the benefit of both honorable employers and journeymen who know their business; but shall be of no service to those unfledged apologies for humanity who obtrude themselves on a profession of which they know nothing, and to which they can be little else than a burden and a disgrace. Many of the latter class of individuals have made their appearance in this city, in consequence of advertisements inserted in papers whose proprietors do not pay the prices; but they are found, on trial, to be too bad even for such infamous uses. Some of them are runaway apprentices; others are destitute not only of honorable feeling, but of all knowledge of their business, and generally trace their defects to the want of proper instruction from their masters. The consequence to the good workman is that he is frequently made to suffer from errors committed by these pretenders. As all institutions in their infancy are liable to imperfection, the Typographical Association could not expect to be exempt from the common lot. It was found that the constitution under which it has hitherto acted was in many things defective; and it was deemed proper to appoint a committee to revise that instrument. This has been done, and the association, after a long and arduous discussion, adopted the constitution, by-laws and rules of order published in the following pages. It now only remains for the members to be just to themselves and the printing business will take its proper stand in the community. To do this it is necessary that all journeymen coming within the jurisdiction of the association should become members, and strictly abide by the principles of the constitution. The purposes of the association were succinctly presented in the preamble to its constitution, stating that " the journeymen printers of the City of New York, with a view to elevate the character and advance the interest of the profession, by maintaining a just and uniform scale of prices for their labor, do hereby resolve to form themselves into a society under the name of the Typographical Association of New York." Jurisdiction of the organization embraced New York City and the villages of Brooklyn and Williamsburg, N. Y., and Jersey City and Hoboken, N. J. A Board of Directors, consisting of twelve members, assembled between the meetings of the association and was empowered to audit bills, pay relief to distressed members, and manage Officers most of its business affairs. The secretary's salary of the was placed at a sum "not exceeding $20 per annum, Association. to be regulated by the board, and be exempted from the payment of monthly dues." Neglect to attend meetings resulted in his being " fined in a sum not exceeding 50 cents for each delinquency, to be deducted from his yearly salary." The doorkeeper was known as janitor, the limit of whose annual salary TYPOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK. III for services was $6, and he was excused from the payment of dues. Not more than " $ 5 of the funds of the association," was the treasurer permitted to have in his possession at one time. All moneys over that amount had to be " deposited in the savings bank for safe keeping," subject only to the order of the directors, and he was required to give bonds for the security of the funds. The president of the association presided at general meetings, as well as over the deliberations of the Board of Directors, and in his absence the vice-president performed such duties. Upon assuming office each officer-elect had to subscribe to this pledge: " Do you solemnly declare that you will to the best of your ability execute the office of..............? That you will support the constitution of this association, and all by-laws founded thereon? And that you will act in this capacity for the general benefit of the members thereof, when opportunity offers or occasion requires? " An initiation fee of $I.50 was paid by each applicant for membership. Monthly dues were I2 cents, and when a printer had paid $20 into the treasury he was considered "a free member." The initiate pledged his fealty to the Membership association, binding himself to not only demand Requirements. the wage scale while working as a journeyman, but to pay it in the event of becoming an employing printer. Article IV, which covered the subject of the election and initiation of members, contained these requirements: i. Applications for admission into this association must be made to the Board of Directors, either personally or through any member of this association. The applicant must first deposit, or cause to be deposited in the hands of the secretary, the sum of 50 cents, upon which the board shall take his request into consideration; and if it shall satisfactorily appear that he is a regular journeyman printer, of the age of 21 years, and not working for less than the prices established by the association, the results of such inquiries shall be reported to the next meeting. 2. A person favorably reported to the association shall be balloted for, and the votes of three-fourths of the members present shall entitle him to admission; when, having signed the constitution, and paid the additional sum of $i, he shall be entitled to a certificate of membership. 3. Candidates who do not come forward within three months after being notified of their election shall forfeit their deposit money, unless a satisfactory excuse for the delay be rendered. Should a candidate be rejected his deposit shall be returned. 4. Newly elected members of this association shall be introduced by the individuals who first proposed them to the Board of Directors, or such other suitable person, or persons, as may be designated by the chair. The members of the association will rise on the entrance of the candidate and remain standing until he be conducted to the presiding officer, who shall address him as follows: I112 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHI CAL UNION NUMBER SIX. SIR: - I have the pleasure of informing you that you have been elected a member of the Typographical Association of New York. Before your name is added to the roll, it is my duty to ask: Do you understand the objects of this association? Will you, both as a journeyman and an employing printer, support the constitution and scale of prices of this association, and all by-laws founded thereon? Will you attend all meetings of this association, and embrace every proper occasion to promote its reputation and enhance its prosperity? And where your influence is desired by individuals of the profession, and their claims as workmen are equal, always give the preference to members of this association? As your answers are satisfactory and trusting that you will ever bear in mind the principles upon which this association is founded, I now tender to you the right hand of fellowship. As an earnest of the sincerity of the declaration you have just made, you will sign this constitution, which defines your rights and duties. Provision was made in Article X for the impeachment and trial of accused members or officials, it being stipulated that " any breach of the constitution, by-laws or scale of prices of this association shall constitute just grounds for impeachment, admonition, fine or expulsion of any of its officers or members." Punishable in like manner was " conduct calculated to bring into contempt or derision the association as a body." Charges were required to be made in writing and a copy furnished the member against whom they were made at least a week before their consideration, a majority vote convicting. Section 2 of Article V of the constitution forbade the retention of employers upon the active roll of the organization, stipulating that " any member of this association who shall establish the printing business on his own account will forfeit his title to membership; but in the event of his again becoming a journeyman he shall be entitled to all his former rights and privileges." Very important was Article VI, relating to the disbursement of the funds. It provided for the payment of specified Provision benefits to members on strike, besides pecuniary for Relief relief for the unemployed and the sick, while proof Members- vision was made " for the burial of deceased members." Following are the five sections of the article: i. The funds shall not be appropriated to any other purpose than to defray the necessary expenses of the association and the pecuniary relief of its members. In no case shall the allowance to members exceed $3 per week to single men and $4 to married men, and the Board of Directors shall determine the right of applicants to the per-week allowance specified in this section. 2. Any member who may be thrown out of employment in consequence of not obtaining a price for his labor that shall be in accordance with the scale and having a certificate to that effect from the father of the chapel in the office where he was last employed, shall be entitled to the weekly relief specified in the preceding section while he shall remain unemployed; but, if it shall satisfactorily appear that he makes no effort to obtain another situation or refuses honorable TYPOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK. 113 employment when offered to him, and continues to draw from the treasury, his weekly allowance shall be immediately stopped, and his claims on the funds be suspended for the term of six months. 3. No member shall be entitled to the weekly allowance above specified who may be in arrears for fines or dues exceeding the amount of 50 cents. 4. Any sum that may be earned by a member during the week that he receives pecuniary relief shall be deducted from his weekly allowance. 5. Whenever the amount of moneys in the treasury shall exceed $500, appropriations may be made for the relief of sick members, and also for the burial of deceased brethren. CHAPTER V. INCEPTION OF THE CHAPEL. T HIS organization of printers was the first in New York City to provide for the formation of chapels. Through its Board of Directors the association, on January 21, 1832, adopted rules for shop administration, it being decided "that in every printing office in New York where three or more members of the association are employed they shall form themselves into a committee and elect a chairman," whose duties were thus prescribed: I. To attend all meetings of the association in the capacity of delegate from the office which he represented. 2. To collect the monthly dues from all members working in that office, and pay same over to the secretary. 3. To report to the board or association the works doing in the office at a rate below the scale of prices, the names of the persons employed on them, and whether they belong to the association or not. 4. To use his utmost endeavors with these printers who may be employed in the office, who are not members of the association, to induce them to become members of it. Chapel government was more clearly defined in the association's constitution of I833, provision being made therein Union Printers for the reference to these shop organizations of all Institute differences arising in establishments between emChapels. ployers and employed and between journeymen themselves. Each chapel was presided over by a father, who reported the proceedings to the Board of Directors. The article of the basic law on the subject follows: I. Each printing office within the jurisdiction comprised in Article I, Section i, where journeymen connected with this association are employed, there shall be established what is technically called a chapel, and an experienced journeyman printer chosen to preside thereat, who shall be constituted and known in his official capacity as father of the chapel. To this chapel shall be referred for settlement any difference that may arise between employer and employed, or between journeymen; and the disagreements shall be adjudged by the chapel, and its decision acquiesced in and supported by its members respectively. 2. When doubts arise respecting the construction which may be given to any article, or articles, in the scale of prices, a chapel shall be immediately summoned, at which the father shall preside, when the difficulty shall be canvassed, and the decision of the majority be binding upon all. [II4] INCEPTION OF THE CHAPEL. zI5 3. It shall be the duty of the father of the chapel to report the nature of the difficulty, and the decision thereon, to the president of the Board of Directors, who shall, if in their opinion necessary, bring the subject before the association. 4. Every member of the association in the office shall have a voice in the chapel; but if the majority, in large offices, decide to delegate the trust to chapels consisting of five, seven, or nine members, of which the father to be always one, it shall be competent for them to do so. The father of the chapel to be elected by a majority and continue in office three months. 5. No chapel shall be formed in any printing office where there are less than three members of the association employed; and any difficulty originating in, or any demand for relief, emanating from such office, shall be laid before the Board of Directors. Discussion of the question of chapels was indulged in at the National Typographical Convention of 1836. A resolution was there introduced calling for the appointment of a committee "to report to the convention a plan for a Chapels chapel for the government of offices under the juris- Opposed in diction of subordinate societies." That committee America. was opposed to the idea, reporting on November Ioth "that as chapels are instituted for the adjustment of matters of minor import, they are of the opinion that the ends intended to be gained by their establishment would be more satisfactorily attained by referring them directly to the society or association existing where the difficulty may arise. Your committee think that this course would have a tendency to prevent disputation on trivial matters, and would cause men to be more cautious in originating difficulties when they are to be referred to their respective associations or societies. With these views your committee would suggest that no action should be had on this subject, and ask to be discharged from its further consideration." Which request was complied with, and the question was not revived. I. Origin of the Chapel in Doubt. Though the chapel is an extremely old institution its origin is immersed in uncertainty. It has not been satisfactorily demonstrated that its title was derived from a chapel attached to " the almonesrye at the reed pole " in Where Caxton Westminster Abbey, in or near which it is said Wil- Set Up His lam Caxton, first English printer, performed his First Press. work. A writer in the London Craftsman of May 24, I740, was of the belief that the original " hierarchy of the printing house," as he termed it, had its foundation in a chapel. "You i xt6 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. cannot be ignorant, sir," ran his declaration, " that the first printing press in England was set up in a chapel in Westminster Abbey, or some other religious house, from whence that part of the house which is assigned for printing hath been ever since called a chapel, and constituted in an ecclesiastical manner, with divers religious rites and ceremonies." Three-fifths of a century later John McCreery in one of his notes to " The Press," a poem, of which he was the author,1 contended similarly, averring that "the title of chapel to the internal regulations of a printing house originated in Caxton's exercising the profession in one of the chapels in Westminster Abbey." John Johnson relates that " Mr. Howell in his ' Londinopolis' describes the situation where the Abbot of Westminster permitted Caxton to set up his press in the Almonry, or Ambry. This opinion is confirmed by Newcourt in his ' Reportorium.' He says: 'St. Ann's was an old chapel over against which the Lady Margaret, mother to King Henry VII, erected an almshouse for poor women, which is now turned into lodgings for singing-men of the college.' The place, wherein this chapel and almshouse stood, was called the Eleemosinary or Almonry, now corruptly the Ambry [Aumbry], for that the alms of the Abbey were there distributed to the poor; in which the Abbot of Westminster erected the first press for bookprinting that ever was in England, about the year of Christ 147I, and where William Caxton, citizen and mercer of London, who brought it into England, practiced it.' "2 William Blades, an eminent London printer and author, reasons "that Westminster was the locality in which Caxton first settled there is fortunately no room to dispute, as the numerous Colophons to his works are unanimous on the point." The same writer then quotes the following: " Near unto this house westward was an old chapel of S. Anne; over against the which the Lady Margaret, mother of King H. the 7, erected an almes-house for poore women * * * the place wherein this chapel and Almes-house standeth was called the Elemosinary or Almony, now corruptly the Ambry, for that the almes of the Abbey were there distributed to the poore. And therein Islip, Abbot of Westmin. erected the first Presse of booke printing that ever was in England about the year of Christ, i47I. William Caxton, citizen of London mercer, brought it into England, and was the first that practiced it in the sayde Abbey." 3 Com1 John McCreery was an artistic printer of some note. " The Press " was a poem of much merit and was produced in a beautifully executed quarto volume in 1803. The author was born in Ireland, and carried on the printing business in Liverpool, afterward in London. 2 John Johnson, " Typographia " (London, Eng., 1824), Volume II, page xoS. 8 Stow's " Survey of London " (published in i598), page 476. INCEPTION OF THE CHAPEL. II7 menting upon this statement, Blades declares that "Stow's chronology is very erroneous in ascribing to Abbot Islip any connection with Caxton, whose death occurred about nine years before the election of Islip. * * * The Abbot at the time of Caxton's arrival in England was John Esteney. * *. * Westminster meant 'The Almonesrye,' where Caxton occupied a tenement for the purposes of his trade. The Almonry was a space within the Abbey precincts used for distributing charity to the poor. Here the Lady Margaret, mother of King Henry VII, and one of Caxton's supporters, built almshouses. Other houses were also there, for Caxton, who was a man of importance in the parish, cannot be supposed to have resided for fifteen years in a house of charity. We must conclude, therefore, that by 'in the Abbey' Caxton meant nothing more than within the Abbey precincts. * * * There is nothing to lead to the supposition that Caxton and Abbot Esteney were on intimate terms; indeed, the probability is that they knew little of each other. Our printer mentions him but once, and that casually. * * * Caxton always appears to have narrated, in prologue or epilogue, the names of those by whom he was employed, and had he received any amount of favor or patronage from the Abbot he would in all likelihood have dedicated one of his numerous translations to him, as he did to so many of his patrons. * * * It has been argued that Caxton was permitted by the Abbot to use the ' Scriptorium' of the Abbey as a printing office. Printing even in these days of improvement is necessarily in some parts a very unclean operation, but it was much more so in its earlier state, some of the processes being extremely filthy and pungent. The Abbot of Westminster would never have admitted into the ' Scriptorium' anything so defiling, much less within the sacred walls of the church itself. There is indeed no evidence that the Abbey had a portion appropriated as a ' Scriptorium,' no mention of such a place is made by any local historian, nor has any manuscript been recognized as having issued thence. * * * On the whole, therefore, it is unlikely that Caxton went to Westminster by invitation of the Abbot, or that he occupied any place within the church itself, or that he held any relationship with the Abbot other than that of tenant. The rent-roll of the Abbey was under the immediate charge of the Abbot's chamberlain, and with him Caxton would have to agree as to his tenure of 'The Red Pale' in the Almonry." 4 4 Blades' " The Life and Typography of William Caxton, England's First Printer," Volume I, pages 65-67. (London: I86x.) I18 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. An earlier authority,5 while conjecturing that the term may have owed its derivation to the fact that works of a divine nature were the first products bf a printing office, which were in conDerivation of sequence held in great reverence, was silent on the the Term in question as to where the original English press Question. was housed. "I suppose," to quote his exact language in speaking of the chapel, " the stile was originally conferred upon it by the courtesie of some great Churchman, or men (doubtless when Chappels were in more veneration than of late years they have been in England), who for the Books of Divinity that proceeded from a Printing house gave it the Reverend Title of Chappel." By many this is considered to be sufficient ground for discrediting the assumption of some writers on the subject of the introduction of printing that the word chapel as the trade term of associated employees in a printery was given because, as alleged, the art in England began to be practiced within the sacred walls of a sanctuary. The chapel also existed in medieval France and Belgium, Boutmy, in his " Argot des Typographes," defining it as " a meeting of the printers employed in the same printing office, who In Medieval constituted a sort of brotherhood. A chaplain was France and he who held the copies of the works printed in that Belgium. house which belonged to the chapel, which claimed one of which work as a matter of right." William Blades iterates that Caxton while in Belgium translated "Le Recueil" for the Duchess of Burgundy. On the completion of the work he presented it to her and was largely rewarded. Many other persons also desired copies, but, finding the labor of writing too wearisome for him, and not expeditious enough for his friends, he "had practiced and learnt, at his great charge and expense, to ordain the book in print, to the end that every man might have them at once." Caxton furnished the money and Colard Mansion the requisite knowledge. They established a workshop over the church porch of St. Donatus, at Bruges, and began the work in 147I.6 " Early in I476," to further quote Blades, " Caxton appears to have taken leave of the land of his adoption, and after a residence of about 35 years, to have returned to his native country laden with a more precious freight than the most opulent merchant adventurer ever dreamt of." 6 Joseph Moxon, whose work appeared in I683. 6 Blades' " Life of Caxton," Volume I, page 47. INCEPTION OF THE CHAPEL. II9 II. Devotional Element the Prevailing Feature. Adverting to the seventeenth century William Blades says the devotional element was then the prevailing feature of printing offices. "The books that were written by, and for use of, German printers about two centuries ago," wrote A Quaint he in I885,7 " are of the greatest interest to a sym- Daily Prayer pathetic reader. The homely dignity which per- for Printers. vades them, the simple and fervent piety, the real love of the art and consequent anxiety to transmit to the rising generation the same feelings, are to be found in the exercise of this profession in no other country. The sentiment that printers were to a great extent responsible for the educational and religious means at their disposal, was cultivated from the moment, the youth began his apprenticeship. Did a German compositor or pressman, passing through a town, call in at the printing office, his common salutation was ' Gott griss die Kunst ' (God bless the art). Was a boy bound as an apprentice his first lesson was that honor and devotion were due to the Heaven-born art and to God the giver. Even the ' Format Bucher,' in which technical instructions were given, breathed a religious tone, as the following quaint prayer, translated from Eresti, and dated the 28Ist year from the invention of printing, will show: 'O Lord, Almighty God, Printing is a noble Art, a blessing Thou hast reserved for mankind in these latter days, an Art by which all conditions of men, and especially Thy Holy Church, are greatly nourished. And since, Good Lord, Thou hast of Thy free grace given to me the opportunity of exercising an Art and Craft so exalted, I pray Thee to guide me, by Thy Holy Spirit, in using the same to Thy honor. Thou knowest, dear Lord, that great diligence, continued care and accurate knowledge of the characters of many languages are needful in this Art; therefore I call to Thee for help, that I may be earnest and careful, both in the setting up of types, and printing the same. Preserve my soul in the constant love of Thy Holy Word and Truth, and my body in sobriety and purity, that so after a life here befitting a printer, I may hereafter, at the last coming of my most worthy Saviour Jesus Christ, be found a good workman in His sight, and wear the everlasting crown in His presence. Hear me, dearest God, for Thy honor and my welfare. Amen.'" 7 Blades' " Depositio Coruti Typographici," page 3. NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. III. Earliest Description of the Institution. The earliest known text book on the art of printing contains a description of the chapel under the caption of "Ancient Customs Used in a Printing-House,"8 which matter has been Modern Printers extracted from an original edition and appears below Practice Ancient in full. Strict decorum was observed in these Shop Customs. chapels of a former age, and penalties were imposed for infractions of the rules. Some of the customs that were in vogue at the beginning are still extant. For instance, the title of " father of the chapel," who as chairman presides over the deliberations of members at shop meetings and performs other duties pertaining to their welfare, is even now embodied in the constitutions of typographical unions in some of our modem cities. The habit of gambling with quadrats continues among a limited number of compositors who possess a weakness for that kind of questionable sport. For more than a century it has been called " jeffing " 9 in this country, and is occasionally practiced legitimately by printers in lieu of the time-honored usage of drawing lots. Another old custom that still prevails in composing rooms where type is set by hand is that of pounding with the composing-stick upon the edge of the lower case, sometimes as a noisy but sincere welcome to one who has returned after a long absence, but more frequently to denote disbelief in some allegation made by a journeyman who takes part in a general conversation or discussion with his fellow-compositors s Joseph Moxon, " Mechanick Exercises, or the Doctrine of Handy Works, Applied to the Art of Printing," Volume II, page 356. (London, Eng.: 1683.) William Hone, in "The Every-Day Book" (London, Eng., 1826), Volume I, at page 1,136, credits the first presentation of these ancient customs to Randle Holme, a renowned genealogist and authority on heraldry, who lived from 157r to 1655. "This indefatigable and accurate collector and describer of everything he could lay his hands on and press into heraldry," says Hone, speaking of Holme, " has happily preserved the ancient rules of government instituted by the worshipful fraternity of printers. This book is very rare." And Joel Munsell in " The Typographical Miscellany " (Albany, N. Y., I850), at page 34, prefaces a reproduction of the same regulations with the statement: " Randle Holme, an exact old writer, whose work was published in 1638, gives many curious accounts of the ancient usages of printers and printing offices." Thurlow Weed (in his " Memoirs," at page 58), referring to numerous fellow-craftsmen as they were in I8I6 when he united with the New York Typographical Society, remarks: " Too many of them, I regret to say, were impoverished by habitual dram-drinking, more or less intemperately. The printing-house habits condemned by Dr. Franklin had not yet been reformed. Journeymen in most of the offices were required to pay 'footing,' which meant a treat by the newcomer. All the old journeymen and the masters were required to treat the hands whenever signature ' O ' was put to press. At i o'clock A. M. invariably, and too frequently afterwards, journeymen would ' jeff' for beer. In this way a large share of their weekly earnings was mortgaged, each journeyman having a formidable 'tick' at the grocery to be adjusted on Saturday evenings." INCEPTION OF THE CHAPEL. I21 in the chapel during working hours. London printers to this day look forward with youthful delight to a yearly outing in the country, where the wayz-goose,10 with its pleasant associations, gives them a brief respite from toil, and in New York City a like recreation is participated in annually by printers, editors and others in a few establishments. The capitalization and quaint spelling in the original text of these ancient customs are preserved here: Ancient Customs Used in a Printing-House. Every Printing-House is by the Custom of Time out of mind called a Chappel; and all the Work-men that belong to it are Members of the Chappel: and the Oldest Freeman is Father of the Chappel. There have been formerly Customs and By-Laws made and intended for the well and good Government of the Chappel, and for the more Civil and orderly deportment of all its Members while in the Chappel; and the Penalty for the breach of any of these Laws and Cus- Penalties for toms is in Printers' Language called a Solace. Breach of And the Judges of these Solaces, and other Controversies Chapel Rules. relating to the Chappel, or any of its Members, was plurality of Votes in the Chappel; it being asserted as a Maxim That the Chappel cannot Err. But when any Controversie is thus decided, it always ends in the Good of the Chappel. I. Swearing in the Chappel, a Solace. 2. Fighting in the Chappel, a Solace. 3. Abusive Language, or giving the Ly in the Chappel, a Solace. 4. To be Drunk in the Chappel, a Solace. 5. For any of the Work-men to leave his Candle burning at Night, a Solace. 6. If the Compositer let fall his Composing-stick, and another take it up, a Solace. 7. Three Letters and a Space to lye under the Compositor's Case, a Solace. 8. If a Press-man let fall his Ball or Balls, and another take it up, a Solace. 9. If a Press-man leave his Blankets in the Tympan at Noon or Night, a Solace. These Solaces were to be bought off, for the good of the Chappel: Nor were the price of these Solaces alike: For some were I2d. 6d. 4d. 2d. id. ob., according to the nature and quality of the Solace. But if the Delinquent prov'd Obstinate or Refractory, and would not pay his Solace at the Price of the Chappel, they Solac'd him. The manner of Solacing, thus: The Work-men take him by force, and lay him on his Belly athwart the Correcting-Stone, and held him there while another of the Work-men, with a Paperboard, gave him Io 1. and a Purse, viz. Eleven blows on his Buttocks; which he laid on according to his own mercy. For Tradition tells us that about 50 years ago one was Solaced with so much violence that he presently [effused] Blood, and shortly after dyed of it. 10 " Wayz is the old English word for stubble. A wayz-goose (a stubble goose) was a known dainty and the head dish at the annual feasts of the forefathers of our fraternity."- Hansard's "Typography," page 305. 122 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. These nine Solaces were all the Solaces usually and generally accepted; yet in some particular Chappels the Work-men did by consent make other Solaces, viz. That it should be a Solace for any of the Work-men to mention Joyning their Penny or more apiece to send for Drink. To mention spending Chappel-money till Saturday Night, or any other before agreed time. To Play at Quadrats, or excite any of the Chappel to Play at Quadrats; either for Money or Drink. This Solace is generally Purchased by the Master-Printer; as well because it hinders the Work-men's work, as because it Batters and spoils the Quadrats: For the Manner how they Play with them is Thus: They " Jeffing " take five or seven more m Quadrats (generally of the English Accurately Body) and holding their Hand below the Surface of the Described. Correcting-Stone, shake them in their Hand, and toss them up upon the Stone, and then count how many Nicks upwards each man throws in three times, or any other number of times agreed on: And he that throws most Wins the Bett of all the rest, and stands out free, till the rest have try'd who throws fewest Nicks upwards in so many throws; for all the rest are free: and he pays the Bett. For any to Take up a Sheet, if he receiv'd Copy-money; Or if he receiv'd no Copy-money, and did Take up a Sheet and carried that Sheet or Sheets off the Printing-House till the whole Book was Printed off and Publisht. Any of the Work-men may purchase a Solace for any trivial matter, if the rest of the Chappel consent to it. As if any of the Work-men Sing in the Chappel; he that is offended at it may, with the Chappel's Consent, purchase a penny or two penny Solace for any Work-men's singing after the Solace is made; Or if a Work-man or a Stranger salute a Woman in the Chappel, after the making of the Solace, it is a Solace of such value as is agreed on. The price of All Solaces to be purchased is wholly Arbitrary in the Chappel. And a Penny Solace may perhaps cost the Purchaser Six Pence, Twelve Pence, or more for the Good of the Chappel. Yet sometimes Solaces may cost double the Purchase or more. As if some Compositer have (to affront a Press-man) put a Wisp of Hay in the Press-man's Ball-Racks. If the Press-man cannot well brook this affront, Playing Pranks he will lay six Pence down on the Correcting-stone to purUpon Pressmen chase a Solace of twelve Pence upon him that did it; and the Forbidden. Chappel cannot in Justice refuse to grant it: because it tends to the Good of the Chappel: And being granted, it becomes every Member's duty to make what discovery he can: because it tends to farther Good of the Chappel: And by this means it seldom happens but the Aggressor is found out. Nor did Solaces reach only the Members of the Chappel, but also Strangers that came into the Chappel, and offered affronts or indignities to the Chappel, or any of its Members; the Chappel would determine it a Solace. Example, - It was a Solace for any to come to the King's Printing-house and ask for a Ballad. For any to come and enquire of a Compositer whether he had News of such a Galley at Sea. For any to bring a Wisp of Hay, directed to any of the Press-men. INCEPTION OF THE CHAPEL. 123 And such Strangers were commonly sent by some who knew the Customs of the Chappel, and had a mind to put a Trick upon the Stranger. Other customs were used in the Chappel, which were not Solaces, viz. Every new Work-man to pay half a Crown; which is called his Benvenue.11 This Benvenue being so constant a Custome is Other Levies to still looked upon by all Work-men as the undoubted Right of Augment the the Chappel, and therefore never disputed; yet he who has Chapel Treasury. not paid his Benvenue is no Member of the Chappel, nor enjoys any benefit of Chappel-Money. If a Journey-man Wrought formerly upon the same Printing-house, and comes again to Work on it, pays but half a Benvenue. If a Journey-man Smout12 more or less on another Printing-House, and any of the Chappel can prove it, he pays half a Benvenue. I told you before that abusive Language or giving the Lye was a Solace: But in discourse, when any of the Work-men affirm anything that is not believed, the Compositer knocks with the back corner of his Composing-stick against the lower Ledge of his Lower Case, and the Press-man knocks the Handles of his Ball-stocks together; Thereby signifying the discredit they give to his Story. It is now customary that Journey-men are paid for all Church Holy days that fall not on a Sunday, Whether they Work or no: And they are by Contract with the Master-Printer paid proportionately for what they undertake to Earn every Working day, be it half a Crown, two Shillings, three Shillings, four Shillings, &c. It is also customary for all the Journey-men to make every Year new Paper Windows, whether the old will serve again or no; Because that day they make them, the Master-Printer gives them a Way-goose; that is, he makes them a good Feast, and not only entertains them Institution at his own House, but besides, gives them Money to spend of the at the Ale-house or Tavern at Night; and to this Feast they Wayz-Goose. invite the Correcter, Founder, Smith, Joyner, and Inckmaker, who all of them severally (except the Correcter in his own Civility) open their Purse-strings and add their Benevolence (which Work-men account their duty, because they generally chuse these Work-men) to the MasterPrinters: But from the Correcter they expect nothing, because the MasterPrinter chusing him, the Work-men can do him no kindness. These Way-gooses are always kept about Bartholomew-tide.13 And till the Master-Printer have given this Way-goose, the Journey-men do not use to Work by Candle Light. If a Journey-man marry, he pays half a Crown to the Chappel. When his Wife comes to the Chappel, she pays six Pence: and then all the Journey-men joyn their two Pence apiece to Welcome her. If a Journey-man have a Son born, he pays one Shilling. If a Daughter born, six Pence.14 n Evidently a corruption of the French bienvenu, which means welcome. " " Smout - Workmen when they are out of constant Work do sometimes accept of a Day or two's Work, or a Week's Work at another Printing-house: this By-work they call Smouting."MOXON. I8 Festival of St. Bartholomew, August 24th. 1 Randle Holme, according to William Hone and Joel Munsell,.mentioned this additional requirement: " If a master printer have a son born he pays 2s. 6d.; if a daughter, is. 2d." 124 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. The Father of the Chappel drinks first of Chappel Drink, except some other Journey-man have a Token; viz.: Some agreed piece of Coin Social Customs or Mettle markt by consent of the Chappel: for then proin Early ducing that Token, he Drinks first. This Token is always Printing Offces. given to him who in the Round should have Drank, had the last Chappel-drink held out. Therefore when Chappeldrink comes in, they generally say, " Who has the Token? " Though these Customs are no Solaces, yet the Chappel Excommunicates the delinquent; and he shall have no benefit of Chappel-money till he have paid. It is also Customary in some Printing-houses that if the Compositer or Pressman make either the other stand still through the neglect of their contracted Task, that then he who neglected shall pay him that stands still as much as if he had Wrought. The Compositers are Jocosely called Galley Slaves: Because allusively they are as it were bound to their Gallies. And the Press-men are Jocosely called Horses: Because of the hard Labour they go through all day long. An Apprentice when he is Bound pays half a Crown to the Chappel; and when he is made Free, another half Crown to the Chappel; but is yet no Member of the Chappel; And if he continue to Work Journey-work in the same House, he pays another half Crown, and is then a Member of the Chappel. A Founding-House is also called a Chappel; But I suppose the Title was originally assumed by Founders, to make a Competition with Printers. IV. Printing-House Regulations in 1740. The function of the chapel has varied in different periods, although it always has been a regularly constituted organization with a permanent chairman. At the start it was to a large Unit of degree social and benevolent in character, but as Government in time advanced it gradually became the unit of Trade Affairs. government for the regulation of trade affairs. In the eighteenth century in England the members were required to submit to certain laws of a protective nature, while the interests of employers were at the same time adequately guarded. The London Craftsman of May 24, I740, thus describes the institution as it existed then: When a printer first sets up, if it is a house that was never used for printing before, the part designed for that purpose is consecrated, which is performed by the senior freeman the master employs, who is the father or dean of the chapel, and the chief ceremony is drinking success to the master, sprinkling the walls with strong beer, and singing the Cuz's Anthem, at the conclusion of which there is a supper given by the master. INCEPTION OF THE CHAPEL. a25 All the workmen are called Chapellonians, who are obliged to submit to certain laws, all of which are calculated for the good of the whole body, and for the well carrying on of the master's business. To the breach of these laws is annexed a penalty, which an obstinate member Members sometimes refuses to pay, upon which it is left to the majority Submit to of the chapel, in, convocation assembled, whether he shall be Shop Lawa continued any longer a Chapellonian, and if his sentence is to be discontinued he is then declared a Brimstone, that is, an excommunicated person, and deprived of all share of the money given by gentlemen, authors, booksellers, and others, to make them drink, especially that great annual solemnity called the way-goose feast. Whilst he continues in this state he can have no redress for any mischief that is done him, so that in a short time he is glad to pay the penalty which he had incurred, and a discretionary fine besides, to reconcile himself to the chapel. When a boy is to be bound apprentice, before he is admitted a Chapellonian, it is necessary for him to be made a cuz or deacon, in the performance of which there are a great many ceremonies. The Chapellonians walk three times round the room, their right arms being put Initiation of through the lappets of their coats, the boy who is to be made Apprentices into a cuz carrying a wooden sword before them. Then the boy Trade Mysteries. kneels, and the father of the chapel, after exhorting him to be observant of his business, and not to betray the secrets of the workmen, squeezes a sponge of strong beer over his head and gives him a title, which is generally that of duke of some place of the least reputation near which he lives, or did live before, such as those of Rag Fair, Thieving Lane, Puddle Dock, and the like. This being done, the father of the chapel gives the boy an account of the safety he will enjoy by being made a cuz, which is, that whatever accident may happen to him, no ill consequence will attend it, such as the falling from a house, or into the Thames, etc. While the boy is upon his knees, all the Chapellonians, with their right arms put through the lappets of their coats, as before, walk round him, singing the Cuz's Anthem, which is done by adding all the vowels to the consonants in the following manner:"B-a, Ba; B-e, Be; B-i, Bi: Babebi; B-o, Bo; Babebibo; B-u, Bu: Babebibobuand so on through the rest of the consonants." V. At the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century. Coming down to the opening of the nineteenth century we get a glimpse of chapel customs at that period from the production of John McCreery, the talented printer-poet, who in connection with the lines," Each Printer hence, howe'er unblest his walls, E'en to this day his house a Chapel calls," - portrays in the following language the manner in which English printers conducted the trials of their co-workers for transgressing office discipline: 126 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. In extensive houses, where many workmen are employed, the calling of the chapel is a business of great importance, and generally takes place when a member of the office has a complaint to allege against any of his Justice Dispensed fellow-workmen; the first intimation of which he makes to with Rigor and the father of the chapel, usually the oldest printer in the aiality house: who, should he conceive that the charge can be substantiated, and the injury supposed to have been received is of such magnitude as to call for the interference of the law, summons the members of the chapel before him at the imposing stone, and there receives the allegation and the defense, in solemn assembly, and dispenses justice with typographical rigor and impartiality. These trials, though they are sources of neglect of business and other irregularities, often afford scenes of genuine humor. The punishment generally consists in the criminal providing a libation, by which the offending workman may wash away the stain that his misconduct has laid upon the body at large. Should the plaintiff not be able to substantiate his charge, the fine then falls upon himself for having maliciously arraigned his companion; a mode of practice which is marked with the features of sound policy, as it never loses sight of the good of the chapel. VI. Regulations in Vogue About the Year 1840. A clear conception of the chapel as it was conducted in the period covered by the Typographical Association may be had from perusal of the appended description of the methods that were pursued about I840 by printers in the British Isles in shop management, similar principles doubtless being followed in printing offices on this side of the Atlantic at that time: A chapel, in the technical sense of the word, is when the workmen agree to certain rules for the good order of the printing office. All the compositors in a composing room who are journeymen form the chapel, in Sanctioned which one of the number is elected, during pleasure as presiby Master dent, or the father, as he is styled. In their assembled body Printers. they enjoin regulations and enforce their due observance; they also take cognizance of any disputes, and any grievances that may be complained of that arise within the chapel, when called upon for that purpose; and there is no appeal from their decision. The chapel is in general sanctioned by the master printer, on account of some of the rules tending to the preservation of his property - such as the infliction of a fine on any one connected with the house leaving the premises without putting out his candle or leaving it in charge (that is, saying to some one, " Mr., take charge of my candle," this person then becoming responsible for the charge as well as for his own candle), or for throwing type quadrats or furniture at another; and for the regular dispatch of business, so far as regards the forwarding of work in general - but in addition the workmen make particular regulations for themselves, with their own mode of working in companionship, etc.h The chapel will also, if appealed to, enforce these by-laws. I When more than one compositor was employed upon any work it was styled a companionship. INCEPTION OF THE CHAPEL. I27 The fine for leaving a candle burning is, I believe, never remitted; it is generally six pence for a workman, double for the overseer, and half a crown for the master of the house. The person who first sees the candle extinguishes it and delivers the candle to the father, who keeps it till the fine is either paid or promised to be paid; for Monday is the regular pay day in a printing office. No person but the father can call a-chapel, which is generally held at the imposing stone: and when anyone wishes to appeal to it he notifies the same to the father, stating the objects generally, and accompanying the notification with a penny. The father will sometimes decline to call the chapel, where the object appears trivial; but if the notification be accompanied with the value of a gallon of porter it is imperative on him to call it, under the penalty of being deposed. The chapel never assembles without the fee of a gallon of porter, in addition to the fine it may impose; and this fee is always paid, even when it assembles to settle any disputed matter between workmen, when no fine is levied. A workman who refuses to attend chapel after being notified is punished by a fine for his contumacy. It is an invariable rule that the chapel can do no wrong; and it is a crime to find fault with its decisions, which it would certainly punish with a fine if called on for that purpose, and the case was proved. The chapel decides all disputes that may arise in the house, as well A Crime to private, if it be appealed to, as those which may arise when Find Fault two or more are employed on the same piece of work, and with Decisions. frequently fixes the price which shall be paid for it. In this case the person who is on the work must not take less than the chapel fixes, without permission; and if the employer will not pay it, he of course must quit his situation. If, after the chapel has fixed a price for a piece of work, a man should venture to do it for a reduced price, he becomes a " rat." If a member of the chapel should be hardy enough to oppose its decisions there are a number of ways practiced to bring him, and even the most obstinate, to submission. Every chapel is haunted by an imaginary spirit, and when any person refuses to obey its mandates this spirit Peculiar begins to walk, as it is termed. The first act is, in general, Penalties to hide the offender's composing-stick; if this does not answer, Imposed. his galleys are secreted; then the page cords which secure his work are cut, and his labor rendered more than useless, because he has to distribute his pi as well as to recompose his matter. If he still remains contumacious the whole of the types in his cases are transposed, so that he cannot proceed in his business; and if he should still set the chapel at defiance he is smoked, all the members of the chapel surrounding his frame, each with a lighted match of brimstone, and singing a doleful ditty. After this he is sent to Coventry, and every man becomes amenable to the chapel, if he assists him, gives him any information, or speaks to him; so that he must either submit to the penalties inflicted, or leave the house. When he submits his apparatus is restored, and the types properly arranged again in his cases. Apprentices never belong to the chapel; neither is the master of the house, nor the overseer ever allowed to be present when one is held. Many master printers are decidedly against chapels, as tending to encourage drinking and the neglect of business. Where this has been the case within my knowledge the grievance has remedied itself, for the sober and industrious prevent the evil going to an extreme; and where there are a number of men employed 128 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. the majority will be found opposed to being called from their work repeatedly to decide on fractious or quibbling questions, in which they feel no interest; and by fining a busy, meddling person they put a stop to the frequent calling of chapels, which are promoted by temporary workmen who seldom stop long in a house; for among the established workmen of a house chapels are seldom called. It has also been objected to them that they tend to excite an opposition to the employer on the question of wages. This may have happened; but wherever I have seen a question respecting prices brought before a Wage Scales chapel I have always seen it discussed in a fair manner, Enforced and the value estimated impartially -the scale being kept with Justnes. in view for anything nearly similar- for among a number of workmen there will always be found men of principle, who would not sanction an unreasonable demand for the temporary advantage of a few shillings a week; and these men have always great influence in the decision. Upon the whole, when I take into account the decreased risk from fire owing to the fine from candles - the prevention of waste of materials, by throwing them about - the appeal for wrongs done in companionships, or for neglect, or throwing impediments in the way of business and remedying them - I am of opinion that the advantages attending chapels outweigh their disadvantages, and that the business is carried on with more regularity and promptitude with them than without them, particularly when it is taken into account that the rules and regulations laid down by the employer for the governing of his house are adopted by the workmen and become chapel laws.is This graphic account of a chapel ceremony in London during the first half of the nineteenth century is from the pen of William Blades: One does not nowadays hear a printer's apprentice talk of "burying his wife," but half a century ago it was a common expression. The " wife " was his seven years' apprenticeship, from which he was delivered as the clock struck noon on the last day of his seventh year, and then" His buried wife could harrass him no more,"as the poet-compositor, Brimmer, has sung. The " burial " took place on the same day when the quondam apprentice was received and welcomed by the father, in presence of a full chapel. Then the stone was cleared Preparing for and brushed down, clean sheets of paper being laid all over Apprentice's to do duty for a table-cloth. The boys were despatched to Initiation. the favorite public-house for beer and beef, for ham and bread. A Dutch cheese made an attractive center-piece, and then with mirth and jollity, with wit, if not wisdom, the father admitted the neophyte into the full privileges of the chapel. Nor was the master forgotten; his position forbade him taking part in the feast, but unless greatly disliked, he, as well as the overseer, had a portion of the good cheer offered them, which they politely accepted. But previous to all this the youth, who for a short time was " neither fish, flesh, nor fowl," his new birth into the chapel not having been effected, had to submit to certain indignities, originally inflicted to impress the youthful mind with the degradation and dishonor of the man, who though a printer, was neither an apprentice nor an accepted member of the craft, and also " William Savage, " Dictionary of the Art of Printing " (London, Eng., I84I), page 164. INCEPTION OF THE CHAPEL. i290 to impress strongly upon his mind the value of the social status into which he was seeking admittance. Imagine the last day of his apprenticeship to have arrived, and the youth stands one minute before noon, a bondsman, " bound " to serve his master, but the clock strikes, and as the last stroke dies away his chains fall off. Out he flies from his frame, knowing full well the reception he will have. His object is to pass the ordeal scathless, and to report himself to his late master as " out of his time " and perhaps to beg to be reinstated as a fully blown workman. To do this he is expected to pass through composing and pressrooms to the master's sanctum. Now was the men's opportunity, for which all preparations had been previously Pass8i Through made. Some had old shoes, or their working slippers, a the OrdeaL ragged apron tied up in a ball, or anything else that would serve the purpose of a missile; and as the freed man dives and ducks to avoid the storm, his ears are greeted with all the discordant noises which compositors know well how to make: a reglet drawn with force and speed over an empty upper-case - the violent shaking of a half-empty quoin-drawer - a mallet struck against a letter-board - an iron chase for a bell, and a " cross " for a clapper - a dustman's bell - shovel and poker - harsh whistles and discordant yellswhile if the chase led through the pressroom the " bar-handles " clattered, and the "ball-stocks" were beaten together —the "horse" was jerked up and down - and some sonorous place found upon which the " sheep's foot " might be hammered. This ordeal passed, it was necessary to pay a visit to the father, through whom all the comps were summoned to a " wet chapel," meaning plenty of beer, etc., and sometimes, if the new journeyman could afford it, to a supper at night. This over, the quondam apprentice was entitled to claim the pay, and to benefit by the privileges of a free and accepted journeyman. The following lines from G. Brimmer's poem, " The Composing Room," give an account of the writer's own experience: - 'Tis twelve o'clock - and now, with loud acclaim, Lol the freed 'prentice issues from the frame. His seven years' servitude at length is o'er; His buried wife can harass him no more. At him as slippers fly from ev'ry hand, He also flies - 'twere dangerous to stand! And, as he marks from whence those gifts are thrown. He runs around or bobs behind the stone. Nor slippers only - in the hot pursuit One free translator delegates a boot. T' express with force, in its peculiar way, Congratulation on this happy day. The youth, perplexed - hemmed in on ev'ry side - Seeks for a shield, and snatches - a broadsidel AlasI the riot robs him of his sense: How can a sheet of paper yield defense? Now comes the wash - the cross attacks the chase, While mallets beat the boards in many a place, And quoin-drawers play confusion's double bass. At length, exhausted with their strains, the band Forego their labours, and quiescent stand, When forth steps one, who bears above his brains A vessel to receive their hard-earn'd gains. The hint is ta'en - the new-loos'd 'prentice stands A crown - and drops of brandy cheer all hands. He drinks their health - and then, with air polite, Invites them all to bon-souper at night. 5 130 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. The customs here described were always used in the large towns of England in the first half of the present century. How far they differ from those of previous centuries, or from those adopted by the earliest printers it is difficult to say; for while matters of much less interest were noted and transmitted to posterity, these workmen's ceremonies, used only by themselves, and among themselves, escaped all notice.17 11 Blades' " Depositio Cornuti Typographici," page 93 CHAPTER VI. UNIFORM WAGE RATES ESTABLISHED. IN Article XI of the basic law of the Typographical Association it was required that " the scale of prices for labor appended to this constitution shall in all cases be considered as a part thereof, and no member of this association shall on any pretense whatever work either directly or indirectly for prices less than those specified therein;" while By-law XII made it " the duty of the members of this association to inform strangers, who come into the offices where they are employed, of the established prices, and also of the existence of the association, and of the necessity of becoming members." I. Adoption of Scale of Prices in 1831. The scale of prices adopted at the beginning of the association in I83I was amended on June 15, 1833, but the few changes then made were only verbal and cleared up certain ambiguities that appeared in the original. In some respects the piece prices for ordinary composition were not as high as those in the I815 schedule of the Typographical Society. For time work on morning newspapers there was an advance of $2 per week over the 1815 rate, but wages of compositors employed by the week on evening newspapers and in book and job offices were the same as those demanded and paid sixteen years previously. Neither was there any alteration in the weekly stipend of pressmen, as compared with 8 I5, while the piece rates of the latter were adjusted to conform to the improvements that had been made in printing presses since the adoption of the last wage list of the preceding union of printers. A new feature of the I83I scale was the regulation of the hours of labor in book and job establishments and in pressrooms where journeymen were engaged on time work, in which places the working time was limited to ten hours daily. [I3I] 132 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. " Faustus," who said he was a journeyman printer, was inclined to take issue with the association in regard to some of its methods. This typographer, whose communication on the A Journeyman subject was printed in the New York Commercial Not Favorably Advertiser on June 22, 1 83, was not favorably Impressed. impressed with the militant spirit of the new organization. He was evidently a book compositor and believed there was too wide a difference between the newspaper rates and those demanded for bookwork, to the disadvantage of men engaged on the latter. His letter, which in this connection is of especial value as showing the earnings of compositors on piecework at that time, is subjoined: A few weeks since peace, contentment and happiness smiled from every quarter - now all is uproar and confusion. The flames first caught among the carpenters or masons (who are generally thrown entirely out of employ in the winter), thence proceeded to the printers and spread with a zeal, rapidity and spirit which would have done infinite honor to the knighthood of the chivalric ages. The professed object of the journeymen printers to establish a standard of prices is in my apprehension most praiseworthy. But in the proceedings of the association I have much to approve - and much to condemn. Earnings of The prices of composition by the piece are judicious- those Compositors by the week are somewhat higher, but not too high - if emon Piecework. ployers feel disposed to give them. Journeymen will not average, by the piece, at the price established by the association, more than $7.50 per week. Sometimes, it is true, we may see a weekly bill of $ o or $i I, but this is always done by an uncommon hand or upon uncommon work. Where we see one bill of $io we may see ten of $5. They will not average more than $7 or $7.50 and I believe that while these prices are retained per I,000 ems $8 is a more suitable price by the week than $9. It is not for me to say it is certainly far from my present purpose to say -whether $8 or $9 is the most reasonable compensation for a journeyman printer to receive per week, but I confess my perfect inability to perceive why one man should receive $I or $2 more than another, who is equally as good a compositor and works as many, perhaps more, hours, merely because he works by the week. If, however, there be a particular merit in working by the week, which my very imperfect vision has been unable to observe, it will give me a degree of pleasure, as ample as the error to be corrected, if some of the gallant spirits who have pledged to each other (their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor) to put us in the right way. The pressman's price per week is established by this association at $9, about the same they generally earn by the piece, which is undoubtedly a fair compensation. But why is his compensation to be the same as that of the compositor, when every man well acquainted with the different branches of printing knows his duties to be more laborious? In one of the best offices in Boston, besides the foreman, there is one compositor, and one as good perhaps as any in the city, who works for $8 per week. There are also two or three others employed, who are younger hands, but otherwise equally as good, and who would be considered first-rate hands in any book UNIFORM WAGE RATES ESTABLISHED. 133 office in New York, who work for $7; others are employed by the piece, at about the same prices as those established by the journeymen printers who recently organized themselves into an Boston Wages association at St. John's Hall, New York. In the same Compared with office there are one or two pressmen who work for $9 or $Io New York Rate. per week, and others who receive from 20 cents to 25 cents per token, according to the size of the press, and the boy to roll behind the press found by the employer. Respecting the adequateness of the price paid to compositors on the morning papers, in this city, I have no other means of judging with any degree of accuracy, than by the apparent degree of value in which these situations are held by compositors generally. I have known many good Difference Between compositors who would gladly have left their situations in Newspaper and book, job, or weekly or semi-weekly paper offices, to obtain Book Prices. one in a morning paper office at $Io per week; but I have seldom or never known a compositor in a morning paper office willing to exchange his situation for one in a book or job office, or for any other situation unless it were on an evening paper, where situations, I believe, have been still more highly valued than those on morning papers or in book offices. That the prices paid for composition in many offices, and on many works were too low, that an effort on the part of journeymen was necessary in order to raise them, cannot be denied. But I do think the scale of prices as adopted by the association extremely imperfect. There is another item in their proceedings to which I have still stronger objections. I allude to the want of distinction which they manifest with respect to works to be printed in future and existing contracts. Where the printing of works has been contracted for and the printing has been partly executed the employer has usually paid the journeyman as much as his contract with the publisher will admit, and we can hardly conceive of any course of conduct more unreasonable and absurd than an attempt, whether successful or not, to compel an employer to raise the price of composition on a work already begun at a price which did give perfect satisfaction to the journeymen. It is a species of injustice which ill becomes the printers of the City of New York. Existing contracts should certainly have been excepted. With respect to the odium which is cast by members of the society upon those who disregard, or do not join in carrying into effect the proceedings of that body (which odium, by the way, is sanctioned by the association, constitutionally organized), I have nothing to say except Odium on Men that it is a proceeding which detracts from the dignity of Who Disregard any man or body of men, in proportion to the spirit in which ssociated Effort. it is executed or sanctioned and the respectability of the sources of its emanation. " But who is it that is here insulting the intelligent journeymen printers of New York? "methinks I hear breaking forth from sundry individuals of the association. " Who dares send forth his strictures upon our proceedings? " says another. " 'Tis an employer," they all reply with a murmur. No, gentlemen, 'tis not an employer. 'Tis a journeyman printer who does not and who will not intentionally insult or injure you. He has attended your meetings - he is aware that your interest and his interest are one and the same interest - he has been one of the most unfortunate of your body and sympathizes with you, and is even ready to assist in redressing your grievances. I34 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. I am the friend of the journeymen printers; but I am not an enemy of employers - hence the cause of the above remarks. 'Twas not that I loved journeymen less, but that I loved honor and principle more. II. Revision of Scale in 1833. The I83I scale of prices as revised in I833 is herewith printed in its complete form: Composition. I. Works done in the English language, common matter, from English to nonpareil, 25 cents per I,OO0 ems; agate, 27 cents; pearl, 30 cents; diamond, 371 cents. The headline, with blank after, and the foot line, in all cases to be counted not less than three lines. When a measure exceeds even ems in width, and is less than an en, an en only to be counted; but if an en, or over, to be counted an em. Where guard lines are required to pages, they shall be furnished by the employer in a solid shape, or shall be charged by the compositor. 2. Works printed in great primer, or larger type, to be counted as if done in English. 3. All jobs done in plain script, to be counted as English, and charged at 30 cents per i,ooo ems; those in analytical or combination script, on inclined bodies, to be counted as above and charged 371 cents. 4. Works printed in Latin or Spanish, 3 cents extra per I,OOO ems; in French, 5 cents extra. Dictionaries in the above languages to be advanced in proportion, as in article 7. 5. Greek, Hebrew, Saxon, etc., or any of the other characters not in common use, if amounting to one word, and not exceeding three words per I,ooo ems, to be charged 2 cents extra. Where the characters are of a different size from the body of the matter, and are to be justified in, they shall be charged 4 cents extra. All exceeding three words to be charged in proportion. 6. All works done in Greek and Latin, or Greek and English, to be charged a price and a half. 7. English dictionaries, printed with figured vowels and accents, 5 cents advance; without figured vowels, but with accents, 2 cents advance. Concordances, and works of a similar description, where figures and points predominate, or any work where capitals, small capitals, or italic are profusely used, 3 cents advance. Where superior letters or references are used, as in Bibles, or works of that character, I cent extra per I,ooo ems shall be charged. Geographical, biographical, and medical dictionaries, gazetteers, dictionaries of the arts and sciences, and works of a similar character, are not included in this article, except they are attended with extra trouble, beyond the usual descriptive matter. 8. Arithmetical works, 5 cents extra per I,ooo ems. Rule work, part plain and part figures, and figure work where no rules are used and figures are required to be placed in columns, to be charged a price and a half; rule and figure work, double. Algebraical works, and works composed principally of medical, astronomical, or other signs, to be charged double. 9. Works done in Hebrew, without points, 15 cents advance per I,ooo ems; when with points, the body and the points to be cast up each according to its size, and to be charged double. UNIFORM WAGE RATES ESTABLISHED. I3S io. Works done in Greek, without accents, printed copy, page for page, 37? cents; other reprints, 40 cents per I,ooo ems; with accents, 50 cents; the asper and lenis not to be considered as accents. 11. Church music, whether analytical or solid, to be charged a single price, according to the size of the type in which it is set. Piano music to be charged a price and a half, according to the size, except where it is condensed, when it shall be charged double. 12. Works done from manuscript copy, to be charged 2 cents extra per I,000 ems, except foreign languages, which shall be 5 cents; printed copy, with frequent interlineations, to be considered as manuscript. I3. Spelling books, and works of that description, 5 cents advance per I,ooo ems. 14. Side and center notes in Bibles and Testaments, to be counted the full length of the page (including the lead, or one rule, which shall count at least one em), according to the type in which they are set, and charged 5 cents extra per I,000 ems. Cut-in notes, in the above works, to be charged 4 cents extra each note, and the whole page to be counted as text. I5. Side notes in law and historical works, to be counted the full length of the page, according to the type in which they are set; and when cut into the text, to be charged 4 cents extra each note. 16. Quotations, mottoes, contents of chapters and bottom notes, in smaller type than the body, to be paid for according to the size of the type in which they are set. 17. Works where the measure does not exceed I6 ems in width, to be paid 2 cents advance per I,ooo ems. 18. Time occupied by alterations from copy, by casing or distributing letter not used by the compositor, or other work appointed by the employer, to be paid for at the rate of 15 cents per hour. I9. When compositors are required to work more than regular hours they shall be allowed 20 cents an hour, or 5 cents advance per,000 ems. 20. All letter cast on a body larger than the face (as bourgeois on long primer), to be counted according to the face; and all letter cast on a body smaller than the face (as minion on nonpareil), to be counted according to the body. 21. In all cases where companionship may deem it necessary that matter should be made up by one person, the compositors may either appoint, from among themselves, or authorize the employer to appoint, a person to perform that duty, on terms to be agreed upon between themselves and the person employed to make up: Provided, however, that no more than 2 cents per I,ooo ems shall be allowed to the employer for making up, imposing, taking the necessary proofs, and keeping the schedule. 22. When a compositor is required to take out bad letters, and replace them, in consequence of faults in the founder, miscasts, or worn-out fonts, he shall be paid at the rate of 15 cents an hour. 23. For imposing forms, no more shall be allowed than 3 cents per page for quarto, 2 for octavo, i~ for duodecimo li for sexadecimo, and the like sum for all forms of a larger number of pages - the compositor, in all cases, to lay the pages in regular order, or to be responsible for their being so done. 24. It shall be the duty of the compositor imposing to take two proofs of each form. All proofs taken afterwards shall be paid for at the rate of 8 cents each, for letterpress forms, and for stereotype forms and small jobs, 2 cents each. x36 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. When an extra proof or proofs are required by the carelessness of the compositor they shall be at his expense. 25. Making up furniture for a quarto form, I8 cents; an octavo, 25 cents; and 3 cents extra for all other impositions progressively. 26. Compositors employed on morning newspapers shall receive not less than $12 per week; on evening papers, and in book and job offices, not less than $9 per week. Ten hours shall be considered a day in book and job offices. Presswork. With balls.- Medium, 30 cents per token; royal, 331; super royal, 371; medium and a half, 39; imperial, 40 cents; and everything above imperial, 45 cents. Cards, the first 100, 30 cents; for all over Ioo, Io cents a pack. The charge with hand rollers to be the same as with balls. With rollers.- Medium, when there shall be but 4 tokens or less on a form, 25 cents per token; if over 4 tokens, 23 cents. Royal 4 tokens or less, 27 cents; over 4 tokens, 26 cents. Super-royal, 4 tokens or less, 30 cents; over 4 tokens, 28 cents. Medium, and a half, 4 tokens or less, 32 cents; over 4 tokens, 30 cents. Imperial, 4 tokens or less, 35 cents; over 4 tokens, 33 cents. For any size above imperial, the charge shall be, when there are 4 tokens or less, 40 cents; over 4 tokens, 35 cents. All broadsides, 40 cents per token. Cards, the first 100, 25 cents; all over Ioo, 15 cents per 1oo. All fine work to receive an extra price, to be arranged between the employer and journeyman. Work done after regular hours, to receive an advance of 5 cents per token. Roller boys. —When the employer shall furnish a roller boy, there shall be 18 per cent deducted from the wages of the pressman until it amounts to $2 per week, when the deduction shall cease. Machine rollers.- Medium, 4 tokens or less, 21 cents per token; over 4 tokens, 20 cents. Other sizes in proportion. Fine work, extra price. Lifting forms.- When there are not more than 8 tokens, the pressman shall receive the price of I token extra for every form he shall be required to lift. Covering tympans.- The sum of 371 cents shall be allowed for covering a tympan; and the like sum for covering a drawer, or inner tympan. For putting up or removing presses.- Twenty cents per hour shall be allowed. Standing. —After a form shall have been put to press the pressman shall receive 15 cents for the first half hour, and 20 cents for every subsequent hour that he is delayed by corrections or alterations. When a pressman is employed by the week he shall receive not less than $9 per week; ten hours, in all cases, to be the limit of a day's work. Overwork, 20 cents an hour. Scale of Variation for the Sizes of Forms. Octavo Pages Quarto or or Smaller. Larger Pages. Pica ems. Pica ems. Medium, to contain......................................... 9, ooo 11, ooo Royal, to contain.........0..............................,000 3,500 Super-royal, to contain...................................... 13,500 I6, ooo Medium and a half, to contain.........o...................... 6, ooo 8,ooo Imperial, to contain......................................... 8, ooo 22,000 Any form exceeding either of these, by 250 ems, to be charged as the next highest. UNIFORM WAGE RATES ESTABLISHED. 137 III. Wage Changes in Subsequent Years. Piecework for day and nlight work on morning newspapers was made identical by the association in I834, when a committee that had been appointed to inquire into the matter so far as it related to the Times office reported its Identical Piece judgment " that 30 cents per I,ooo ems for both Rate for Day day and night work, the price now obtained by and Night Work. the compositors in that office, is agreeable to the scale of prices of the association." Whereupon it was resolved that such rate "be considered as an equivalent for composition in morning paper offices, provided type of a smaller description than agate be not used, and provided also that agate be not used in greater proportion than at present in the office of the Times." There was, however, an inclination on the part of some proprietors to reduce rates, and on March 2, 1835, it was reported that a number of members of the association had come to a stand against a decrease of wages. On the twenty-sixth of March, 1836, the union resolved to appoint a committee of nine " to inquire into and report upon the expediency of advancing the scale of prices in such a ratio as will keep pace with the advance on all the neces- Newspaper saries of life." A general revision of the newspaper Scale Revised, scale was attempted a little later in the season, on Hours Regulated which occasion a movement was also inaugurated to regulate the hours of labor on both morning and evening journals, it being the first union legislation of the kind ever enacted in the interest of printers engaged at newspaper composition. On April 9th this proposition was carried: "Compositors employed on morning newspapers shall receive not less than $12 per week, or 32 cents per i,ooo ems when employed by the piece-the day to consist of eleven hours, and to end at 12 o'clock at night; extra work to be charged at the rate of 25 cents per hour. On penny daily journals not less than $Io per week - the day to consist of ten hours and to end at 7 o'clock P. M." A resolution fixing the prices on daily evening papers at $io per week and '28 cents to 30 cents per I,ooo ems, according to size of type, was passed on July 3oth and a committee appointed to inform employers. i38 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. IV. Panic of 1837 Seriously Affects Printing Trade. Hardly had this new schedule been put into operation when a serious situation confronted the association, the whole country having been suddenly reduced to a chaotic condition by a financial panic. " The commercial revulsion, which was rather apprehended than fully experienced in i834, was abundantly realized in i837," graphically wrote one who had passed through that period of depression. " Manufactories were stopped and their hands thrown out of work. Trade was almost stagnant. Bankruptcies among men of business were rather the rule than the exception. Property was sacrificed at auction - often at Sheriff's or assignee's sale - for a fraction of its value; and thousands who fondly dreamed themselves millionaires, or on the point of becoming such, awoke to the fact that they were bankrupt. The banks were, of course, in trouble - those which had been Government depositories, or ' pets,' rather deeper than the rest." I The temporary hard times of i834 had so severely affected the membership that the association decided to forego the custom of holding a banquet that year. J. B. Anderson, in Unemployment behalf of a committee that had inquired into the Caused, by expediency of celebrating the third anniversary of Hard Times the union, made an unfavorable report on May I7, in ic834. i834, showing the disheartening effect that the money stringency had upon the printing trade at that time. " That circumstances of pecuniary depression existing and felt at the present time, and likely to exist and be felt for a time to come," reasoned Mr. Anderson in his report, which was adopted by the meeting, " have induced the belief that any endeavor to procure a dinner such as they would take pride and pleasure in seeing the members of the association sit down to, will be one of very doubtful accomplishment. Many of the earliest and most faithful members of our body who have hitherto made it a point to unite in celebrating our annual dinner and who have added to the general conviviality of such occasions, are now without employment and without the probability of getting any. The co-operation, therefore, of those individuals - and they are not few in number - cannot reasonably be expected; for, though they are just as anxious as ever to advance the objects I Horace Greeley, " Recollections of a Busy Life," page I23. UNIFORM WAGE RATES ESTABLISHED. 139 of the association, and to swell the numbers of those who are desirous to commemorate its institution, yet anxiety cannot nevertheless fill an empty pocket nor even buy a big dinner. The committee think it better, therefore, that the custom should be suspended for once, by common consent, than that any step should be taken in the matter which is likely to fall short of success, which, in the present case, they believe to be the fair presumption." Some employers at the very outset of the I837 depression determined to combine and reduce wages. This conclusion was combatted by the journeymen's asso- Employers ciation, which appointed a committee to draft an Combine to address to the working printers, " urging them to Reduce Wages. come forward and sustain the scale," and the union's views were vigorously expressed in the appeal that follows: To the Journeymen Printers of New York City and Vicinity: FELLOW-CRAFTSMEN:- At an adjourned meeting of the Typographical Association of New York City, held at the association rooms on Saturday evening, June 24, 1837, information having been given of a regularly organized " combination " on the part of certain of our employers to take advantage of the present depressed state of our trade and business in general, in order to reduce our present prices, and to render us, if possible, obedient vassals to the nod of the oppressor, a committee was appointed to address you in this particular, and urge you to a prompt and resolute resistance. That committee is of opinion that the time has now arrived when you are to prove to the world one of two things - either that you are freemen and capable of understanding and maintaining your rights; or that you are base and servile sycophants, ready and willing Journemen Urged to receive whatever compensation and terms your employers to Sustain may choose to allow. You are now to show whether, in Prevalent Rates. your judgment, your employers or yourselves possess the right of fixing a value on your labor. If there yet remains one spark of the courage, manhood and determination which sustained you when forming the present scale of prices, let the employing printers of New York and the United States see that it still exists, and can be easily fanned to a flame, let them see that the insignificant and paltry pittance which you now obtain for your support shall not be reduced at their pleasure - that for them to grow richer you will not consent to become poorer. That a pressure exists, and that it is more difficult for all employers to procure money with which to meet expenses, we are all aware, but why should your wages be reduced on that account? The prices for printing advertisements and for newspapers have not been reduced. Lee's Necessries The prices that are now paid to printers are no more than Higher Than When will barely support them, and the common necessaries of Scale Was Adopted. life are even higher than when your present scale was formed. Then why should you submit to a reduction? Why be the passive minion of the will of tyrants? The committee can discover no reason why you should, and it is their opinion that if true to yourselves you will not be. 140 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Depend upon it, that if, in obedience to the mandate of grasping avariceif because your employers say you must, you determine to yield, and go to work for less than the scale demands, you will not only cover Oppression yourselves with the consequent odium, but you will necesFollows sarily involve yourselves in debt from week to week; for it Submission. is folly to suppose that if your wages are once reduced your employers will of their own accord advance them again, even though business should resume its accustomed course. No, having accomplished their purposes, and brought you in submission to their feet, they will keep you there, and the iron hand of oppression will be laid more heavily than ever. Your employer knows well that without constant employment your wages are not sufficient for your support, and those of the unholy alliance which is now raising its hydra head against you are no doubt impressed with the belief that by seizing upon the present period of depression in the trade they may compel you to work for whatever they may please to pay. The committee would not be understood to include all employers as coming under their just reprehensions. No, thank Heaven, there are honorable exceptions, there are employers who have an eye to the Employers Who comfort and happiness of their employees, their reward no man Have an Eye to can take away, for it consists in the pleasing consciousness of Workmen's Comfort, an exercise of a measure of justice and the performance of noble action. Our criticism applies to but a dishonorably combined few, whose object seems to be to shift the severity of the times from their own shoulders to the shoulders of their journeymen, caring little for their sufferings so that they escape - fattening on the profits of your labor, while your wives and children are denied many of the common necessaries of life. The truth is your employers are much more able to pay the existing prices than you are to have your wages reduced; the pressure operates in a much greater degree to your disadvantage than to theirs; the depreciated " shinplasters " of the banks, which are bought up, no doubt, with considerable profit to the purchasers, are palmed off upon you in requital for your toil, as though each rag was worth its face in gold; these rags you must take, though on every dollar you get for your labor you suffer a heavy loss. Patiently you have borne all this, and would continue still to bear it; but in the name of even-handed justice, and for the sake of Heaven, your wives and your children, let the line of demarcation be here drawn - say to the overreaching oppressor, " Thus far shalt thou come, but no farther." The committee are well convinced that the chief reason the unprincipled combination of your employers have thus dared to invade your rights, and attempt the reduction of your wages, is because of a rumored Rumored want of the union spirit among yourselves. Without union Lack of nothing can be effected -with it, everything. Come forUnion Spirit, ward, then, you who are not members of the association, and join in putting a shoulder to the wheel. Support the association, and the association will support you. There are some of you now in the city who are not members; why is this? You all receive the benefits which result from it. Why, then, do you not join it, and thereby extend its benefits? The committee would also respectfully impress on the minds of the members the necessity of a strict attention at all meetings of the association and a UNIFORM WAGE RATES ESTABLISHED. I4I firm support of its principles. Let each and all of us determine upon union, strong and effectual union, and let the watchword be, "The prices of the association must and shall be sustained." CHAS. A. ADAMS, H. D. BRISTOL, W. H. MCCARTNEY, GEO. HATTEN, W. N. ROSE, Committee. Much difficulty was experienced by the association in maintaining its wage standard. Morning newspaper compositors were apparently desirous of effecting another change in rates even at the sacrifice of their personal comfort. Higher Wages, To obtain an advance in wages some at least were But Longer willing to increase the amount of their working Working Time. time. One of these workers at a meeting of the association on August 26, 1837, " gave notice that at the constitutional period he should move an amendment to the scale of prices relative to week work on morning papers, viz.: $14 per week, twelve and one-half hours per day." The records do not show that the mover pressed his resolution to increase the daily working time by one and one-half hours in order to gain this greater monetary compensation. The association itself felt the effect of the depreciated currency during the panic, the Board of Directors on December 9, 1837, learning that " the treasurer having on hand a $3 bill on the Bank of Pontiac, Michigan, and not being able to pass it, was authorized to dispose of it on the best terms." Industrial distress continued for several years, and during its pendency the Typographical Association suffered severe reverses. When it considered on April 4, I840, a turn-out that had occurred in two newspaper establishments and Strikes in a large book office it concluded " that this associa- Three Large tion do not conceive that a reduction of wages would Establishments. be conducive either to the interest of the employer or employed, and that the sound and price-paying offices and competent workmen are now perfectly satisfied of the fact." It then "resolved that the thanks of the association be given to the members of the Gazette, as also the Courier and Harper's offices, for their manly and patriotic conduct in resigning their situations at the shrine of honesty, and that we use our exertions in every way in our power to support and sustain them in their praiseworthy acts, and that every man in a situation shall subscribe whatever the association deem fit to support not only them, but every office that acts likewise." 142 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Throughout the panic the union refused to officially sanction a suspension of its wage scale. This fact was particularly emphasized at a meeting held on June 27, i840, when Mr. Poole Union Declines offered a resolution "that the time has now arrived to Suspend when the Typographical Association of this city List of Prices. deem it their duty, for the preservation of their own members, to suspend indefinitely that portion of the scale of prices which relates to book offices;" the president declaring it out of order. Then Mr. Geddes moved "that the chair appoint a committee of five to wait upon journeymen printers employed in the several book offices of this city and request them to attend a meeting of this association, to explain the peculiar circumstances of their different offices, with a view of affording such information as shall determine the propriety of amending the present scale of prices in book offices." This was defeated and the following, presented by the secretary, met a similar fate: "That a committee of three be appointed to inquire into the expediency of altering the scale of prices in book offices, and to report at next meeting." Resistance to the introduction of the contract system in newspaper composing rooms commenced soon after the wage scale of I836 was adopted. A committee had been Opposed to appointed to institute an inquiry into this method Composition of performing work on a daily journal, and a report by Contract. on the subject was submitted to the association and accepted on February i8, I837. "The scale of prices adopted by this association was intended to create a regular and general standard of remuneration for the labor of every journeyman, and placing each member upon an equality, according to ability, with his fellow-members," declared the committee, who continued: "The idea of contracting by any given number of men for doing the work upon a daily paper, where the amount of labor required must of necessity vary according to circumstances, is, in the opinion of your committee, foreign to the true spirit of the constitution, and fraught with the most manifest danger to the best interests of our craft. It will eventually,create as many different prices as there are printing establishments in the city and destroy the very basis on which our association is founded. Your committee are decidedly of opinion that, although some employers, in their own peculiar and plausible language, may call the practice above spoken of 'Printing by Contract,' it means when translated into plain English, nothing more nor less than a new, or perhaps a more genteel, name for 'ratting.'" CHAPTER VII. UNFAIR LISTS DISSEMINATED. CONSIDERABLE attention was given by the association throughout its career to the preparation and distribution of "rat" circulars. Large standing committees had this work in charge, and journeymen and master printers who were placed under the ban of the union for violation of its rules were relentlessly excoriated in communications that were spread broadcast by the authority of the union. The first referRat ence to unfair workers was made in the minutes of Circulars Widely June 25, 183, when it was " resolved that no member Distributed. of this association be permitted to set up matter for papers not paying the prices without incurring the character of ' rats,' " involving all men employed in such offices regardless as to whether or not they received the union scale. On the seventeenth of the succeeding September this was referred with power to the Correspondence Committee: "That as soon as a correct list of the 'rats' now employed in the city can be obtained, that said list be printed and circulated in every city and county in the Union." Again, on January 21, 1832, a committee was appointed " to report the names and residences of 'rats' now employed in this city." Benefit of a hearing was also denied to members who committed the unpardonable offense, as was instanced at the meeting of the organization on July 2 ist in the last-named year. According to the minutes of the session " a motion was made that.................be expelled from the association on the charge of being a 'rat,' which was carried without giving him a chance of being heard in his defense." The secretary underscored the italicized words doubtless as a personal protest against the summary manner in which judgment had been pronounced in this case. But before and after the revision of the scale of prices in I833 there was a disposition on the part of the members to forgive any of their erring brethren who might seek rehabilitaSpirit of tion in the association. There was a standing comForgiveness mittee of twelve appointed on February 16, I833, Dominates. clothed with discretionary powers to carry out the provisions of a resolution " to inform those who may now be employed at prices below our scale that the members of this association are willing to banish all prejudices and animosities which [I431 T44 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. they may have heretofore entertained against them on account of their conduct with regard to the profession, and to admit them to favor and fellowship, provided they will instantly abandon the situations they hold (unless their employers shall grant them full prices) and henceforth be governed by the aforesaid scale." On the same date the union reversed its action of June 25, 1831, by establishing the doctrine " that a man has a right to work in any office provided he receives the prices as laid down in the association scale." The question came up on the report of a committee that had investigated charges against a member, and while exonerating him, expressed itself "in unqualified terms of disapprobation for his having gone to the Journal of Commerce at any price." Speaking on the subject, A. C. Flanagan opposed the utterance on the ground that a man had a perfect right to work in that or any other office provided he was paid the union rates. "The principle had at one time," he argued, " obtained a standing in the association that no person should work in an office, even though he got the wages, where 'rats' were employed, but it has been found necessary to abandon this principle, it being considered unsound doctrine." These views were held to be correct by the meeting, which after ordering the elimination of the objectionable clause from the report, adopted the committee's recommendation to acquit the accused member. At the general meeting of March i6, I833, the chairman of the committee of twelve that had been named " to devise and put in operation some plan to suppress within its limits the detestGeneral able practice of ' ratting ' " reported that the efforts Amnesty of the investigators "have been directed solely to Proclaimed. the accomplishment, if possible, of a reformation among the underworkers now employed in the office of the Journal of Commerce, Daily Advertiser and New York American. To this end overtures have been made to them, and in a spirit of kindness and conciliation they have been urged to accede to propositions for their own advantage, and thus efface from the history of the profession one of the foulest stains that ever obscured its character. The proffers and promises of your committee have been met by some with approbation, and a seeming determination to avail themselves of the opportunity thus afforded of a complete redemption from their present degradation; and by all with whom your committee have conversed with more or less willingness to yield to the demands of reason and justice, as well as to use the influence they may possess with others of their kind to bring about so great a good. But the UNFAIR LISTS DISSEMINATED. I45 timidity consequent upon a consciousness of error, together with their natural imbecility and want of principle, having occasioned much delay in their deliberations, and no certain conclusions being yet fixed upon by their 'ratships,' your committee have deemed it advisable to defer a general report until the next regular meeting of the association; previously to which a period will no doubt be agreed upon at which something final will be known; and in case other and reverse measures shall hereafter be thought necessary, the 'rats' will thus be left without excuse as to the sufficiency of time allowed them to determine whether they will abandon their present situations for the sake of principle, or hold them still in servitude and shame." That the association was anxious to enroll all competent printers in the city in order to strengthen its ranks, unmindful of the past misconduct of some, was again demonstrated on November 23, I833, at which meeting a motion was carried " that all members of the profession be invited to take seats and a label put up in the room below, inviting all printers to attend the meeting;" and "Messrs. A. H. Simmons, Flanagan and McCartney were appointed standard bearers." This general amnesty brought about desirable results, in a single year 58 printers being initiated, and in 1833 the membership rose to 220. Publication of a list of firms conducting non-union shops was determined upon at a special meeting of the association on October 26, i833. Steps in this direction were taken at the behest of George F. Hopkins, an employer. Boycotting The committee that had been appointed to receive Non-Union from him " any communication he might be disposed Concerns. to make to the Typographical Association," informed the members that "we have the honor to report that we have waited on Mr. Hopkins and received from him a suggestion that we publish the names of all employing printers who do not pay the scale of prices." It was therefore decided to instruct the " Rat" Committee to advertise such proprietors. Further action was taken in this respect in May, 1836, it then being " resolved that the 'Rat' Committee be instructed to ascertain and publish in the Union and Transcript the names of all employers who do, as well as those who do not, conform to the scale of prices." That committee was also directed " to ascertain and publish forthwith the names of all persons working under the present scale of prices." 146 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Publishment of unfair lists continued without setback until April, i840, when court proceedings were instituted by one who considered that he had suffered from an alleged libelous Suit Instituted attack made upon his reputation by the " Rat" for Alleged Committee of the association. All the information Libelous Attack. that could be gleaned concerning the suit was contained in the minutes of a special meeting on the twenty-fifth of that month, on which date the following preamble and resolution were adopted and a committee appointed: Whereas, An action of libel has been brought against the association in the person of Charles H. Andrews, chairman of the " Rat " Committee, and as the publication which induced the said action was the act of the association we feel ourselves bound to support our chairman to the very utmost, and that as the result of the said suit is intimately connected with the prosperity of the body we should avail ourselves of every possible means to insure, as far as can be, a favorable result, and as the enlistment of legal talent is one grand means of insuring a verdict in our favor; therefore, Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed to engage counsel to such extent and of such a character as they may deem best, and that the expenses of said legal services be defrayed by this body; that a fund shall be provided by means of weekly subscriptions of such amounts as members shall feel at liberty to subscribe, without stipulating any sum, feeling assured that at thisr crisis no one will be found backward. CHAPTER VIII. ASSISTED IMMIGRATION OF PRINTERS DENOUNCED. TO DEFEAT the efforts of the Typographical Association to maintain its wage scale some employers, it was alleged, had advertised in Europe that there was a dearth of printers in this country and advised foreign typographers and pressmen to come to New York, where they would find immediate employment at high prices for their labor. The matter was brought to the attention of the organization on September 8, 1832, when it was charged that many workmen already Foreign had been persuaded to leave their homes in the Old Journeymen World, to the detriment of themselves and their Misled. fellow-printers in the United States, while others were preparing to emigrate under the false notion that situations were plentiful at good pay in the Metropolis. It was therefore decided to send an emissary to Great Britain to apprise journeymen in those English-speaking countries of the exact status of affairs and to warn them that it was a well-laid plan of a few master printers to create a glut in the labor market that would result in a reduction of wages and possible dissolution of the union. So serious did the matter appear to the New York Gazette and General Advertiser that on the morning of September 15th it directed public notice to the question in the following stirring editorial: The Typographical Association of Journeymen Printers of this city, who some time since fixed upon prices for their labor, gave umbrage to some of the employers, who advertised that hundreds might find employment in this city. At a meeting on the 8th inst. it was stated, and no doubt correctly, that many Euporean journeymen had been induced by the above advertisement to come here for employment, and that others were preparing to leave their homes in consequence of the above allurement, most of whom will probably find themselves destitute in a strange land. The journeymen of the city, therefore, with feelings that are honorable to them, have resolved to send out Richard P. Hall, as bearer of a circular to the journeymen of Great Britain, with power to co-operate with their associations to discourage emigration, that must if undertaken end in disappointment and distress. Of course, this attitude of an influential daily newspaper was pleasing to the association, which at a regular meeting on the same [I47] I48 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. date appointed a committee to tender its thanks to "John Lang Esq., for the liberal and honorable manner in which the association was mentioned in the New York Gazette and at Union Values the same time convey in no measured terms the high Editor Lang's respect and veneration entertained of him by the Friendship. members of this association." In compliance with these instructions the committeemen communicated with the editor of the Gazette on September 17th, stating that they felt " honored in being selected to convey to you the expression of respect entertained of your character by the members of the New York Typographical Association both as a man and as an employer. It will afford us great satisfaction whenever an act of ours shall meet with the approbation of the ' Veteran Printer,' who by his integrity, industry and perseverance has arisen to a high standing in society, and enjoys the confidence and respect of his fellow-citizens. Permit us, sir, individually to tender our respects and good wishes for your future health and happiness." No less cordial was the response of Editor Lang, who on September i8th wrote as folloivs attesting his appreciation and further cementing the bonds of friendship that had existed between him and the organized printers since the formation of the association: Your communication to me of yesterday's date, however unexpected, is not the less gratifying. In my notice of the proceedings of the Typographical Association to which you refer my only object was to do an act of justice to the feelings of honorable men who, from the nature of their associations, are naturally prompted to noble doings. I did not anticipate the embarrassment arising from being complimented by your intelligent association for giving vent -to feelings which ought to belong to all who have the advantages appertaining to the chapel. Your appreciation of my feelings, expressed in terms so flattering and so well calculated to reach a brother's feelings, must not pass without a fear that my standing and worth are overrated by the association which has deputed you gentlemen to address me as the " Veteran Printer," etc. Your individual sentiments of respect and good wishes I cordially accept and most warmly reciprocate, and I beg that you, will convey to the society the kindest wishes of an old printer nearly worn down I but not so much battered' as to be insensible of the gratification which he now enjoys in hearing from you, that he isjustified 1 in the estimation of the Typographical Association of New York. To the members of the institution, and to you, their organ, individually, I extend the hand of fellowship. ITechnical phrases used by printers. CHAPTER IX. FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO OTHER TRADES. GENEROSITY was among the marked characteristics of the Typographical Association almost from the moment that it was established. It was ever in sympathy with the struggles of organized workers in other trades and gave liberally from its funds to sustain them. When the Independent Journeymen Carpenters' Association ordered a strike in the spring of I833 for an advance of daily wages from $x.37j to $1.50 the union of printers was especially active in Turnout of supporting that turn-out, resolving on June ist Carpenters for that a committee be appointed to solicit sub- Better Wages. scriptions in behalf of the striking mechanics, who won their demands in about a month. Refusal of manufacturers to employ union hatters precipitated a general strike in that trade near the close of I834, and the Typographical Association immediately interested itself in the movement. It met on December 2oth, Hatters Struggle pledged its support to the journeymen hat makers to Maintain and adopted measures to raise contributions for Their Union. their relief. " Being apprised of the attempt now making by many employing hatters to destroy the society of journeymen of that profession belonging to the Trades Union, and desirous of assisting our fellow-mechanics in the stand they have taken against the infringement of the rights of man, as well as to express our disapprobation of such a procedure," the printers resolved " that both individually and as an association we will use all the means in our power to sustain the journeymen hatters in their present struggle. The maintenance of good government depends upon the virtue and happiness of the governed; and all experience hath shown that dissatisfaction in a people is the result nine times out of ten of oppression on the part of the aristocracy, who, through intrigue and a controlling power over lawmakers, have succeeded in every civilized country on earth, but this, to wrench from the mass of the people their natural rights; to goad them with nearly all the burdens incident [I49] I50 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. to government, and to compel them to support their oppressors in indolence and luxury. And unless the workingmen of America look well to their rights and interests, or at least such portion of them as now remain, they will soon, we believe, be on a par, if not below, those of Europe." Eventually the union of hatters won from the employers the recognition for which it had been contesting. A committee of eleven was selected by the association on March 19, I836, "to take up contributions for the tailors who are now on strike." This was a dispute of long duration, and Pecuniary when the printers met on June 8th it was announced Relief for that the tailors had "partially succeeded in their Tailors. stand out." The committee on contributions reported then that it had collected $48.3 7, of which sum $26.62~ had been given to the garment workers, " who no longer needed assistance," so the balance of $21.75 was ordered to be " presented to the journeymen leather dressers, who are in need of assistance." CHAPTER X. OTHER IMPORTANT TRANSACTIONS. AN EMPLOYMENT office, with an out-of-work register that accorded priority rights to idle members who entered their names therein, was established in I83I in consonance with Article X of the by-laws, which provided that "a book shall be kept at the association room for the purpose of registering the names of such members as are in want of employment, and also of vacant situations, and any journeyman who may have placed his name on the book shall Priority Rights forfeit 6 cents for every twenty-four hours his Accorded to name shall remain thereon after he has obtained a Idle Members. situation." Apprehensive that the introduction of subjects of a religious nature at labor meetings would tend to create dissension and detrimentally affect the interests of the workers, the Typographical Association on November I6, I833, Religious set its stamp of disapproval upon the discussion Discussion of such questions at the sessions of the central Eschewed. union of trades. " It hath been represented to this association," the printers declared in a resolve, " that at a recent meeting of the General Trades Union a religious topic was introduced, occasioning some debate, to the hindrance of the legitimate business of that body. The introduction and discussion of religious subjects are expressly prohibited by the union. The Typographical Association of New York, therefore, solemnly protests against such discussions in the Trades Union as fraught with the most destructive consequences to the peace, prosperity and existence of the union. Resolved, that our delegates be requested to use their utmost influence to oppose the introduction or discussion of subjects connected with religion." Reporting at a general meeting on February i5, I834, the chairman of a committee that had been previously created to inquire into the expediency of forming a library proposed that a "committee be appointed to solicit donations either in money or books. [II5s 152 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. The absence of knowledge," continued the report, "debases both the civil and moral character of a nation or an individual. Establishing Whenever a community become ignorant, they can a Library neither understand nor maintain their rights, and for Printers. are only fit to bow themselves in the dust before a tyrannic master, and praise him that he condescends to tread upon them —to be transfixed by the bayonets or crushed beneath the car, of a military despot,"' Who does bestride the narrow world Like a Colossus, and petty men Walk under his huge legs, and peep about To find themselves dishonorable graves.' A distinguished orator, in addressing the mechanics of the city upon a late occasion respecting the recent measures that have been taken towards meliorating their conditions, remarked, with great truth, that the circumstances which surrounded them are auspicious to the purpose - that if they neglected to avail themselves of the advantages and prospects which were now presented to them they would not only merit, but receive opprobrium and oppression; and if the present opportunities were sacrificed by inactivity or folly, slavery and infamy would be their portion, and their offspring at some future day would drag the inherited chains of degradation across the graves of their sires with reproaches and imprecations! To prevent so melancholy and degrading a condition must be the earnest desire of every man who wishes to promote the happiness of his fellows." The union coincided with the conception of the committee " that an increase of learning will do much towards the prevention of so deplorable a catastrophe," and in due time established a library for the use of its members. In the minutes of the association for November i8, 1837, it is recorded that " the librarian having left the city last fall, Mr. McCartney moved that the duty be performed by the secretary. Lost. Mr. Davis moved that it be incorporated with the office of janitor. Adopted." Like all patriotic Americans the members of the printers' organization held in grateful remembrance the distinguished services that had been rendered by Lafayette in the cause of Honoring liberty during the Revolution, and on June 21, 1834, Lafayette's upon the announcement of the demise of the beloved Memory. citizen of France, " resolved that the Typographical Association cheerfully respond to the invitation of the Honorable the Corporation and will meet in the park at the appointed time to join in the ceremonies commemorative of the character, virtues and services of the deceased General Lafayette." OTHER IMPORTANT TRANSACTIONS. I53 The idea of a Labor Temple in New York City originated with this early association of printers, the president at a meeting held on February 2 I, i835, offering a resolution that " inasmuch as it appears to be a current opinion that some A Labor of the different societies composing the General Temple Trades Union are not supplied with as good accom- Plrojected. modation for the purpose of assembling together as they wish, and as it is often put forth in public newspapers that trade unions in other places have erected convenient and spacious halls for that object and have received immense advantages therefrom, and as we are slow to believe that the mechanics of this Empire City would willingly fall behind their brethren in other cities in point of enterprise; therefore, resolved that our delegates to the convention of the trades submit the following resolution to that body: 'Resolved, that a committee be appointed to inquire into and report on the expediency and practicability of erecting a suitable building for the use of the convention and the several societies composing the General Trades Union.' That if the above-mentioned committee should deem the project feasible they report a plan by which the necessary funds may be raised and cause each society belonging to the union to be furnished with a copy thereof.'" The proposition received general attention, but was never put into operation. The association was a progressive body and considered favorably all enterprises that it believed would redound to the benefit of the masses. It was the thought of the members when they convened on January 23, i836, that a news- Establishing a paper devoted to the interests of Labor would serve One-Cent Daily to educate the rank and file of the various societies Labor Paper. of trades in the principles of industrial reform and be instrumental in cohering the different elements, thus adding strength to their movement, so they readily assented to a proposal for the establishment of a daily journal. H. D. Bristol, from the delegation to the General Union of Trades, broached the matter, stating that the subject of supporting a daily paper had been brought before the central society. He read the report of the committee thereon "and asked for instructions how to vote by this body, whereupon, after much discussion, the resolution from the report of said committee, that it is expedient for the convention to establish a daily penny paper, conceiving it to be highly necessary to sustain the honor and interests of the union, was adopted." Then on March i9, i836, it was decided " to solicit subscriptions to the stock in the Union," which resolution also provided " that persons sub 154 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. scribing for the above-named stock shall receive advance from the profits, if any accrue, in proportion to the amount invested." The paper was finally started, but it was extinguished after a few months, like many other undertakings, with the advent of the panic in that period. CHAPTER XI. PIONEER NATIONAL TYPOGRAPHICAL CONVENTION. FROM the seventh to the eleventh of November, I836, the original national convention of printers' societies in this country was held in Washington, D. C. The New York association was probably the first to discuss the feasibility of founding a National Typographical Society. As early as August 15, 1835, it passed a resolve " that a committee of five be appointed to take into consideration the expediency of forming the trade associations and societies of printers in the United States into a General Union; and if it shall be deemed expedient, that said committee be authorized to report a plan by which the same may be effected." Nearly a year elapsed before anything was done in the matter, and when on July 30, 1836, a call was received from the Columbia Typographical Society for a convention in Washington in the succeeding November, it was promptly endorsed, these delegates being chosen: Charles A. Davis, John L. Brown and Augustus H. Krauth. A constitution was adopted by the convention, naming the organization the National Typographical Society; establishing the representation of local unions of from one to three delegates, according to numerical strength; providing for annual sessions; defining the duties of officers; constituting the officers a Board of Control for the adjustment of difficulties that might arise between sessions, and empowering conventions to enact general laws for the government of local societies. Separate addresses by the delegates were issued to the various typographical unions and to journeymen printers in general in the United States. I. Special Address to Local Unions. Subordinate organizations were urged to yield" so much of opinion, of power, and of government as shall be required to give harmony, stability, and efficacy to the whole system; to accomplish the great purposes aimed at, and to secure a good organization something of 1[55] I56 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. concession — much of resolution and determination -will be needed." Success awaited the cause, was the opinion of the convention, " provided a proper spirit of conciliation, allied to an unshaken firmness of purpose, shall be observed on the part of local societies. Our employers, though some of them may be opposed to us awhile, will eventually become convinced that, in endeavoring to ameliorate our own condition, we have not forgotten their interests, but have on the contrary consulted and secured them; and in no recommendation of ours is the least principle of right infringed or reason violated, but strict and impartial justice extended to all concerned." One of the regulations that the convention recommended the subordinate bodies to ratify related to apprentices, it being required that every beginner "shall serve until he is 2I Employment of years of age, and at the time of entering as an Apprentices apprentice shall not be more than 15 years of age; Regulated. and every boy taken as an apprentice shall be bound to his employer in due form of law." Other rules on the subject provided that runaway apprentices should not be received in any union office; that a boy legally released from his master, or one whose employer had died, could enter another establishment, be regularly indented and complete his six years' term. " If it be made obligatory upon the parents or guardians of boys to have them bound as apprentices for a term of not less than six years," went on the address, " does the employer suffer injustice? By no means. He is benefited. The employer, the journeyman and the apprentice are all benefited by this regulation, and the provision made to bring into membership, in one or the other of the several local societies, all who may not be connected therewith - and after a distant specified period to admit none who have not served six years at the trade -will be found, upon proper reflection, to be productive of the happiest results, as it will secure to the employer the whole time of the apprentice, and prevent those from working as journeymen who have not served a regular apprenticeship." Local unions were empowered to establish such tariff of prices "as may be suitable to the section of the country in which they may be located; always having a due regard to age Scales, the wants of the profession." It was made the Strikes and " Rat d duty of societies to sustain one another in their Circulars. lists of prices. Strikes for advances of wages had to be sanctioned by the National Board of Control before being ordered by a local union, and all other societies were required to contribute such sums as were necessary to conduct each PIONEER NATIONAL TYPOGRAPHICAL CONVENTION. I57 dispute. Individuals who violated the constitution or regulations of subordinate associations were subject to expulsion, and members were not permitted to work in offices where such expelled persons were employed. Men pronourced "rats " by one society were to be considered such by all others, and the unions were obliged to circulate lists of unfair printers throughout the jurisdiction of the national organization. Before the Washington convention assembled the New York union had given some attention to the subject of membership certificates for itinerant printers, the Board of Directors on October I, 1836, deciding "to recommend to the Traveling association to procure a card for members in good Cards standing when about to leave the city." Doubtless Authorized. an interchange of cards had been in practice prior to the above date, as in his application for reinstatement in the Columbia Typographical Society an expelled member explained on September 26, 1835: "I have for a long time past wished to go to New York, but I cannot procure employment there without I take with me a certificate from this society, which of course I cannot procure unless the society will reinstate me in my membership, which I now most respectfully and earnestly request them to do." Action was taken on the question of traveling cards by the national association, whose constitution made it imperative for the officers to issue " in blank form to local societies, for the use of their members, an engraved card to be called the ' union card,' with suitable designs and inscriptions; and it shall be the duty of local societies to issue one of these cards to every member in good standing when about to leave the section of the country over which they may have jurisdiction; and on the member arriving under the jurisdiction of another society, and depositing his card with the president, and receiving a certificate of such deposit, it must secure for him the confidence and good offices of that body. In case of his departure in good standing from said place the proper officers of the society will give him another similar card, which shall be his passport with the next society." II. General Appeal to Printers. In the general address to craftsmen, organized and unorganized, the convention delegates stated that "from recent attempts at encroachments on the rights of journeymen, and to prevent such 3E58 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. in future, it has been judged most prudent to seek safety in union. This concert of action becomes the more imperative since we daily perceive the rapid strides which printing is making Reasons for over a vast extent of country, and the measures Concerted which may be adopted to injure us. It is a lamentAction. able fact that the newspaper press has almost entirely passed from under the control of members of the profession, into the hands of speculators and partisans, who, ignorant of the feelings and sympathies of the craft, create dissensions and difficulties when they cannot make them subservient to their will and interest." Referring to the alleged unlawful association of workmen the delegates pointed out that only a short time previously " associations by men in the humbler spheres of life were regarded, even by men of sound legal knowledge, as a departure from Worldngmen common usage, which ought to be considered as a Entitled to combination against wealth and rank, and contrary Organize. to common law, for which opinions they pretended to have many strong judicial precedents to sustain them. But already have the true principles of political knowledge spread almost with the celerity of sound, and stamp the improvements of the age. All that dread of danger has disappeared and given place to more congenial feelings; so much so that it has now become the duty of the working classes to watch the employment of capital in the hands of the speculator. Indeed, it is an important object for the study of legislators, to restrain the capitalist in his wild career of gain, that he may not injure the poor mechanic in the line of his profession. Should this maxim be overlooked, the wealthy of this land may increase in riches, but the most abject poverty and distress will be sure to follow in the track. Does it not then become the industrious mechanic to protect himself and family from pauperism, by adopting a mode of defense which will cause a more general distribution of that property which is produced by his hard earnings?" Warfare against the association was carried on by some employers, the address contended, " by th. service of boys, raising six or eight at a time for a few years, to subserve their nefarious Evils of purposes, and then cast them on the profession for Surplus support. By this means they continually keep the Boy Labor- stream flowing into the larger cities, driving the journeymen from their situations to make room for those youths who will labor for a mere pittance to obtain a livelihood, and hence become an object. to some avaricious employers- incon PIONEER NATIONAL TYPOGRAPHICAL CONVENTION. I59 siderate men. This we consider a cruel and an unjust practice, and are determined as far as lies in our power to meet the evil with energy and firmness. We call upon each local society to unite with us in denouncing it, and upon every parent or guardian to protect the interest of their charge by compelling their boys to be regularly bound as apprentices, and to be taught a full knowledge of their business, and not to allow them to be thrown into the company of immoral and profligate youths, encouraged by receiving more money than they are acquainted with the value of." In conclusion the craft was impressed by the delegates that, "although we do consider it the duty of all printers to join and lend their aid to some association, we would rather invite than use coercive measures to induce them to become members. We would do this in the best of faith, that we might have all the good and moral men of the craft enrolled as brothers of one family, and none to stand aloof but the unworthy and debased." III. New York Delegates Report. At a meeting of the New Yorkassociation on November 26th its representatives presented a statement of the most prominent measures proposed at the convention, which had honored the Metropolitan organization by electing Charles From New York A. Davis temporary chairman and corresponding to Washington secretary and John L. Brown vice-president. When 75 Years Ago. the union convened on January 13, i837, the delegates submitted detailed accounts of expenses incurred by them. These are of much interest in this age of rapid transit as showing the methods and cost of transportation between New York and Washington 75 years ago, besides conveying to the reader some idea of the time consumed in making what was then considered a distant journey, but which may now be made in about five hours for a railroad fare of $5.65. A railway was in operation between Baltimore and Washington in i836, but the remainder of the route had to be traversed on two steamboats-one from New York to Philadelphia and the other to Baltimore, whence the trip was completed by rail. Including necessary stopovers the journey of the delegates from New York to Washington occupied more than two and one-half days, and the fare alone for each was $9.50. The (following transcript is from the minutes of the association, the bills 6o0 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. of the other two delegates being the same as that rendered by Mr. Davis, and they generously contributed the balance of $I2 due them to the treasury of the association: Charles A. Davis presented a statement of the expenses of his delegation to Washington, amounting to $49- $45 of which he had received - and which is as follows: Nine days' time at the rate of $So per week................................ $i. oo Porterage to steamboat...................................................25 Passage to Philadelphia............................................... 3.0 oo Breakfast and dinner.....................................................oo Porterage to hotel.......................................................25 Supper and lodging...................................................... 0oo Porterage to steamboat.................................................25 Passage to Baltim ore.................................................... 4. oo Breakfast and dinner..................................................... oo Porterage to hotel......................................................25 Supper and lodging...................................................... oo Porterage to railroad car.................................................25 Fare to Washington..................................................... 2.50 Porterage to boarding house............................................. 25 Return traveling expenses (particulars as above).............................. oo0 Board in Washington.................................................. 4. oo $49. oo IV. Second National Conclave of Union Printers. The next national typographical convention met in the City Hall in New York City on Monday, September 4, i837, and was in session until Saturday, the 9th. Eight societies in the United States — Baltimore, Cincinnati, Harrisburg, Mobile, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia and Washington -were represented, and a fraternal delegate from Nova Scotia was admitted with plenary powers. Preparations for the convention were begun by the New York association on June 28th, when the Board of Directors appointed a committee " to wait on the Common Council for Convention the purpose of obtaining a room for the meeting Held in New of the National Typographical Society." On the York City. twelfth of August the committee informed the directors that "Alderman R. J. Smith and Assistant Alderman Snedecor, of the Tenth Ward, had presented the petition and had succeeded in obtaining the room." Charles A. Davis, A. V. Stephens and William H. McCartney were chosen delegates on August 26th, and a committee of ten was selected, " with power, to inquire into the practicability of getting up a public dinner to the delegates who may be in attendance." PIONEER NATIONAL TYPOGRAPHICAL CONVENTION. I6r Revision of the constitution was the initial act of the convention, amendments being made " to accord with the views and instructions of the several members." The title of the organization was changed to the National Typographical Revision Association. It was made "the duty of every of the member of any association or society, on arriving Constitution. in a place from another section of country, to wait on some one connected with the association and show his card; said member waited on to introduce, as soon as practicable, the stranger among his craftsmen of the association, for examination of card." Local unions were required to pay annually into the national treasury 25 per cent of the whole amount received by them, this fund to be used "for defraying the expenses of the attendance of their delegates and other necessary expenditures." Among the general laws passed by the convention were these important regulations: After January I, 1839, it shall not be lawful for any local society to permit members of said society to work in any office where boys may be taken as apprentices to the printing business, to serve for a less period than five years. After January I, 1844, it shall not be lawful for any local society to consider any applicant for membership unaccompanied by sufficient proof that he had served the period of five years as a regularly indented apprentice at the printing business. The convention adjourned on Saturday, September 9th, with the understanding that the next conclave should convene in Pittsburgh in September, 1838, but on August Ioth of that year the Board of Control, "at the earnest solicitation of a number of delegates and societies," postponed the meeting in Pittsburgh until the " first Monday of September, I839, at which time and place it is fondly expected the representatives from the different societies will be in attendance." It is uncertain as to whether the postponed convention was held, no record of it having been found. 6 CHAPTER XII. FIRST GENERAL TRADES UNION ORGANIZED. RINTERS were the first of the trades to suggest the formation of a central body of organized workingmen in New York City. Their association on June 22, i833, adopted a resolution ordering the appointment of a committee of three " to draft a circular to the different mechanics of this city, in the name of this association, to join in a Union of Printers Suggest Trades." Consonant with these instructions the Original Central committee soon afterward sent the following to all Labor Union. the trade unions that were then in existence in the city: To the Journeymen Mechanics and Artisans of New York: The time has now arrived for the mechanics of our city to arise in their strength and determine that they will no longer submit to the thralldom which they have patiently borne for many years, nor suffer employers to Decided appropriate an undue share of the avoir [just dues] of the Conviction of laborer to his disadvantage. This is evident from the noble Its Utility. and energetic efforts which they recently made to sustain their brethren, the Independent Journeymen House Carpenters, when demanding their rights. They have now become alive to the necessity of combined efforts for the purpose of self-protection; and a few enterprising men have determined to call a meeting to effect a General Union of the Journeymen Mechanics and Artisans of every branch in this city. On account of the many facilities which printers possess for disseminating information and their decided conviction of its utility, the Typographical Association of New York appears destined to take the lead in this grand movement, and its members, as far as in their power, will use their utmost endeavors to consummate s desirable an object. The committee, therefore, submit the following as their view of the manner in which the design may be attained: I. Let each society, trade or art in the city call a meeting of its members and appoint three delegates to meet in general convention, to hold office for one year. 2. For the purpose of enabling this convention to render efficient aid in case they should be called on by any branch of mechanics or Efficient artisans who may be there represented, a capitation tax of Aid to AlU I cent, or more, per week, shall be levied on every journeyBftnches. man in the city, which in case of strike shall entitle all paying it to such sum weekly as the convention may determine ca be afforded from the funds. 1i621 FIRST GENERAL TRADES UNION ORGANIZED. z63 3. When the members of any trade or art shall feel aggrieved, and wish to advance their wages, they shall, by their delegates, make a representation of their grievances to the convention, who shall deliberate on the same and determine whether or not it is then expedient Methods for the members of such trade to demand an advance; and of Defense should they determine that a resort to a strike is necessary, Outined. then all of this trade who shall have contributed to the funds their regular quota shall be entitled to receive a specific sum until their difficulties are adjusted. If a combination of employers should in any manner be entered into, to reduce the present rate of wages, the convention shall be always bound to the extent of their means to sustain the journeymen in their efforts to repel all such attempts. This committee would respectfully suggest that the first meeting of delegates should take place on Monday, July 15, I833, at 7 o'clock P. M., at Stoneall's, corner of Fulton and Nassau streets. All trades approving the sentiments of this circular will please to appoint their delegates accordingly, and address a note signifying the same, with the names of their delegates, to either of the undersigned committee. JOHN FINCH, EDWARD S. BELLAMY, WILLOUGHBY LYNDE. Three delegates were elected on July I3th by the Typographical Association to represent it in the proposed central body. They were Ely Moore, Billings Hayward and John W. Moulton. At the initial convention on July I5th nine trade societies were represented and three others communicated by letter their approval of the formation of the General Trades Union, the first president of which was Ely Moore, the other officers being: Henry Walton, vice-president; James McBeath, recording secretary; John H. Bowie, corresponding secretary; Robert Townsend, Jr., treasurer; Robert Beatty, William McDonald, J. D. Person, William B. Paddon, Lewis Thomas Jones, Joseph Parsons, Finance Committee. Before September ist delegates from sixteen unions were seated in the newlyformed organization. A constitution was adopted by the convention and ratified by its component associations. The preamble to this fundamental law set forth the aims of its framers in these words: Whenever a number of men unite themselves, whether it be for the purpose of revolutionizing public opinion, or the promotion of their own interests, it is proper that they should state the causes and considerations which urge them to such union. We, the journeymen artisans and mechanics of the City of New York and its vicinity, therefore - believing as we do, that in proportion as the line of distinction between the employer and employed is widened, the condition of the latter inevitably verges towards a state of vassalage, whilst that of the former as certainly approximates towards supremacy; and that whatever system is calculated to make the many dependent upon, or subject to, the few, not only tends to the X64 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. subversion of the natural rights of man, but is hostile to the best interests of the community at large, as well as to the spirit and genius of our Governmentdeem it expedient, in order to guard against the encroachments of aristocracy, to preserve our natural and political rights, to promote our pecuniary interest, and to establish the honor and safety of our respective vocations upon a more secure and permanent basis, to form ourselves into a General Union, and do agree to adopt for our government the following constitution. Among other things the constitution provided for the representation of each union in the convention by three delegates, to hold office for one year; that "each trade or art may represent to the convention, through their delegates, their grievances, who shall take cognizance thereof and decide upon the same;" and that " no trade or art shall strike for higher wages than they at present receive, without the sanction of the convention." Dues were fixed at 61 cents monthly per union member. The first report of the proceedings of the General Trades Union that was received by the Typographical Association was made on October i9th by Billings Hayward, who thus interestingly described the opening sessions: A meeting was held at Mr. Stoneall's on the night designated in the circular by which they were convened, at which delegates from most of the influential societies and associations attended. The call of the circular was approved, and a resolution entered into that its objects be carried into effect by the organization of themselves into a body to be called the General Trades Union. At an adjourned meeting of the delegates, held at Mr. Cronly's, a committee was appointed to draft a constitution for its government, which after much deliberation was finally adopted by the convention; and we are happy to add that it has since received the approbation of most of the societies and associations represented therein. It has been determined by the convention that (should it meet the approbation of their constituents) to celebrate the union of the trades in a manner commensurate with the advantages so ardently expected to be derived from it, and which there is every prospect of realizing. With this view a committee was appointed by the convention to select a suitable place for the celebration, which reported in favor of Chatham Street Chapel, where it is contemplated by the convention to meet with their constituents on the afternoon of the twenty-fifth November. Mr. Ely Moore has been appointed to deliver an address. As it is contemplated to form in procession in the park and march from thence to the chapel, arrangements have been made to procure a banner for the General Trades Union, upon which will be represented some distinguishing tool or implement peculiar to each trade or art belonging to the union; and it is expected that all the societies who have thus united for the protection of their mutual rights will appear on this occasion with their several banners and badges to do honor to the day. Delegates Hayward and Moulton gave further details concerning the contemplated celebration of the founding of the General Trades FIRST GENERAL TRADES UNION ORGANIZED. I65 Union at a meeting of the printers' association on November i6th. They reported that the order of the day had been agreed to" the line to be formed in the park at 12 o'clock, from whence the procession will take up their march through Broadway to Broome street; up Broome street to the Bowery, to the Chatham Street Chapel, where an address will be delivered by Ely Moore, Esq., after which the members will again proceed to the park, where they will give three cheers and be dismissed. It affords the undersigned much pleasure to be enabled to state that present indications warrant the belief that the contemplated display will by far exceed anything of the kind which has been got up since the French celebration, both in point of numbers and brilliancy of appearance; and as the right of the procession has been assigned to our association, from whose body the orator has been selected, and as the press, the emblem of our profession, occupies the most exalted place on the grand banner of the union, we are called upon by more than ordinary motives to fill, with credit to ourselves and the procession which we shall head, the place which has been assigned to us." Commemoration of the auspicious event was postponed to Monday, December 2d, on which date some 4,000 members of 2I trades unions participated. Fifty banners were displayed in.the parade, including the General Auspicious Trades Union ensign, depicted as a "tasteful Event painting representing Archimedes raising the globe Commemorated. with a fore-sharpened lever resting on the peak of a mountain for a fulcrum." The masterly address by Ely Moore was applauded by the assemblage throughout its delivery. He spoke as follows: FELLOW-MECHANICS: — We have assembled on the present occasion for the purpose of publicly proclaiming the motives which induced us to organize a general union of the various trades and arts in this city and its vicinity, as well as to defend the course, and to vindicate the measure we design to pursue. This is required of us by a due regard to the opinions of our fellow-men. We conceive it then to be a truth, enforced and illustrated by the concurrent testimony of history and daily observation, that man is disposed to avail himself of the possessions and services of his fellow-man, without rendering an equivalent, and to prefer claims to that which of right belongs to another. This may be considered a hard saying, but we have only to turn our eyes inward and examine ourselves, in order to admit to the full extent the truth of the proposition, that man by nature is selfish and aristocratic. Self-love is constitutional with man, and is displayed in every stage and in all the diversities of life; in youth and in manhood, in prosperity and in adversity. It not only discovers itself in the strifes and contentions of states and empires but in the smallest fraternities - I66 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. in the factory and the workshop - in the village school and the family circle. In fact, wherever society exists, however small the number, or rude the members, you will find self-love stimulating to a contest for power and dominion. This prevailing disposition of the human heart, so far from being an evil in itself, is one of the elements of life and essential to the welfare of society. The selfish generate the social feelings. It is only pernicious in its tendency and operation, therefore, when it passes its true and natural bonds, and urges man to encroach upon the rights and immunities of man. In order to mitigate the evils that ever flow from inordinate desire and unrestricted selfishness, to restrain and chastise unlawful ambition, to protect the weak against the strong, and to establish an equilibrium of Restrain power among nations and individuals conventional compacts Unlawful were formed. These confederate associations have never Ambition. been fully able to stay the march of intolerance, of mercenary ambition or of political despotism. Even in this fair land of freedom, where liberty and equality are guaranteed to all, and where our written constitutions have so wisely provided limitations to power, and securities for rights, the twin fiends, intolerance and aristocracy, presume to rear their hateful crests! But we have no cause to marvel at this. Wherever man exists under whatever form of government, or whatever be the structure or organization of society, this principle of his nature, selfishness, will appear, operating either for evil or for good. To curb it sufficiently by legislative enactments is impossible. Much can be done, however, towards restraining it within proper limits, by unity of purpose and concert of action on the part of the producing classes. To contribute towards the achievement of this great end is one of the objects of the General Trades Union. Wealth, we all know, constitutes the aristocracy of this country. Happily no distinctions are known among us save what wealth and worth confer. No legal barriers are erected to protect exclusive privileges, or unmerited rank. The law of primogeniture forms no part of American jurisprudence; and our Revolution has converted all feudal tenures into allodial rights. The greatest danger, therefore, which threatens the stability An Undue of our Government, and the liberty of the people, is an undue Accumulation accumulation and distribution of wealth. And I do conceive of Wealth. that real danger is to be apprehended from this source, notwithstanding that tendency to distribution which naturally grows out of the character of our statutes of conveyance, of inheritance, and descent of poverty; but by securing to the producing classes a fair, certain and equitable compensation for their toil and skill, we insure a more just and equal distribution of wealth than can ever be effected by statutory law. Unlike the septennial reversion of the Jews, or the agrarian law of Rome, the principle for which we contend holds out to individuals proper motives for exertion and enterprise. We ask, then, what better means can be devised for promoting a more equal distribution of wealth, than for the producing classes to claim, and, by virtue of union concert, secure their claims to their respective portions? And why should not those who have the toil have enjoyment also? Or why should the sweat that flows from the brow of the laborer be converted into a source of revenue for the support of the crafty or indolent? It has been averred with great truth that all governments become cruel and aristocratical in their character and bearing in proportion as one part of the community is elevated and the other depressed; and that misery and degradation FIRST GENERAL TRADES UNION ORGANIZED. to the many is the inevitable result of such a state of society. And we regard to be equally true that in proportion as the line of distinction between the employer and employed is widened the condition of the latter inevitably verges towards a state of vassalage, while that of Objects of the former as certainly approximates towards supremacy, and the General that whatever.system' is calculated to make the many depend- Trades Union. ent upon or subject to the few not only tends to the subversion of the natural rights of man, but is hostile to the best interests of the community as well as to the spirit and genius of our Government. Fully persuaded that the foregoing positions are incontrovertible, we, in order to guard against the encroachments of aristocracy, to preserve our natural and political rights, to elevate our moral and intellectual condition, to promote our pecuniary interests, to narrow the line of distinction between the journeymen and employer, to establish the honor and safety of our respective vocations upon a more secure and permanent basis, and to alleviate the distress of those suffering from want of employment, have deemed it expedient to form ourselves into a General Trades Union. It may be asked how these desirable objects are to be achieved by a general union of trades? How the encroachments of aristocracy, for example, are to be arrested by our plan? We answer, by enabling the producer to enjoy the full benefits of his productions and thus diffuse the streams of wealth more generally, and consequently more equally, throughout all the ramifications of society. This point conceded, and conceded it must be, it is not requisite, we conceive, that the line of investigation should be dropped very deep in order to bring it up tinged with proof that the verity of our position necessarily follows. But for the particular means by which the several objects just enumerated are to be attained we beg leave to refer to our constitution and to our general plan of organization. There are doubtless many individuals who are resolved, right or wrong, to misrepresent our principles, implead our measures and impugn our motives. Be it so. They can harm us not. Let them if they please draw the vengeful bow to the very double, and let fly the barbed Misrepresentation arrows - the temper and amplitude of the shield of the union, of Union we trust, will be found sufficient to ward off the stroke. Principles. Their shafts, though winged by hate and hurled with their utmost strength, will scarcely reach the mark; but, like the spent javelin of aged Priam, fall to the ground without a blow. We have the consolation of knowing that all good men - all who love their country and rejoice in the improvement of the condition of their fellow-men - will acknowledge the policy of our views and the purity of our motives. The residue, I trust, will not defame us with their approbation. Their censure we can endure, but their praise we should regard as an eternal disgrace. And why, let me ask, should the character of our union be obnoxious to censure? Wherefore is it wrong in principle? Which of its avowed objects reprehensible? What feature of it opposed to the public good? I defy the ingenuity of man to point to a single measure which it recognizes that is wrong in itself or in its tendencies. What! is it wrong for men to unite for the purpose of resisting the encroachments of aristocracy? Wrong! to restrict the principle of selfishness to its proper and legitimate bounds and objects? Wrong! to oppose monopoly and mercenary ambition? Wrong! to consult the interests and seek the welfare of the producing classes? Wrong! to I68 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. attempt the elevation of our moral and intellectual standing? Wrong! to establish the honor and safety of our respective vocations upon a more secure and permanent basis? I ask - in the name of Heaven, I ask - can it be wrong for men to attempt the melioration of their condition and the preservation of their natural and political rights? I am aware that the charge of " illegal combination " is raised against us. The cry is as senseless as 'tis stale and unprofitable. Why, I would inquire, have not journeymen the same right to ask Baseless Cry their own price for their own property, or services, that of Illegal employers have? Or that merchants, physicians, and lawyers Combination. have? Is that equal justice which makes it an offense for journeymen to combine for the purpose of maintaining their present prices, or raising their wages, while employers may combine with impunity for the purpose of lowering them? I admit that such is the common law. All will agree, however, that it is neither wise, just, nor politic, and that it is directly opposed to the spirit and genius of our free institutions and ought therefore to be abrogated. It is further alleged that the General Trades Union is calculated to encourage strikes and turn-outs. Now, the truth lies in the converse. Our constitution sets forth that "each trade or art may represent to the conRights of vention, through their delegates, their grievances, who shall Employers take cognizance thereof and decide upon the same." And Not Invaded. further, that " no trade or art shall strike for higher wages than they at present receive, without the sanction of the convention." True, if the convention shall after due deliberation decide that the members of any trade or art there represented are aggrieved, and that their demands are warrantable, then the convention is pledged to sustain the members of such trade or art to the uttermost. Hence, employers will discover that it is altogether idle to prolong a contest with journeymen when they are backed by the convention. And journeymen will perceive that in order to obtain assistance from the convention in the event of a strike, or turn-out, that their claims must be founded in justice and all their measures be so taken as not to invade the rights, or sacrifice the welfare of employers. So far then from the union encouraging strikes or turn-outs, it is destined, we conceive, to allay the jealousies and abate the asperities which now unhappily exist between employers and employed. We all know that whenever journeymen stand out for higher wages the public are sufferers, as well as the parties more immediately concerned. The Trades Union, we conceive, will have a tendency to correct this evil. Again, it is alleged that it is setting a dangerous precedent for journeymen to combine for the purpose of coercing a compliance with their terms. It may, indeed, be dangerous to aristocracy - dangerous to monopoly - dangerous to oppression - but not to the general good, or the public tranquillity. Internal danger to a state is not to be apprehended from a general effort on the part of the people to improve and exalt their condition, but from an alliance of the crafty, designing and intriguing few. What! tell us in this enlightened age that the welfare of the people will be endangered by a voluntary act of the people themselves? That the people will wantonly seek their own destruction? That the safety of the state will be plotted against by three-fourths of the members com. prising the state! 0 how worthless, how poor and pitiful, are all such arguments and objections! PIRS1T GENERAL TRADES tJNION ORGANIZED. 169 Members of the General Trades Union, permit me to caution you against the wiles and perfidy of those individuals who will approach you as friends, but who, in reality and in truth, are your secret enemies. You will know them by this sign: An attempt to excite your W-les and jealousy against certain individuals, who, peradventure, may Perfdy of stand somewhat conspicuous among you; by insinuations FaleFrinds. that these men have ulterior designs to accomplish; that political ambition lies at the root of the whole matter, and all that. This will be done, recollect, not so much to injure the individuals against whom the insinuations are ostensibly directed as to abuse you, by impairing your confidence in the union. It is the heart of the union at which these assassins aim to strike! 'Tis the union, your political safeguard, that they would prostrate! 'Tis the union, the citadel of your hopes, that they would sack and destroy! I entreat you, therefore, to shun such counselors as you would pestilence. Remember the tragedy in the Garden of Eden, and hold no communion with the adversary. But why caution you thus, when your own good sense would so readily teach you, that the very attempt to deceive you was an insult to your understandings? Because, did they not presume upon your ignorance and credulity, they would never attempt to alienate your affections from the union. Remember, then, fellow-mechanics, that the man who attempts to seduce you from your duty to yourselves, to your families and your brother mechanics by misrepresenting the objects of the union, offers you not only an insult, but an injury! Remember! that those defamers would exult at your misfortune - would "'laugh at your calamity, and mock when your fear cometh." Age would trample down your liberties, and rejoice at beholding - The seal of bondage on your brows - Its badge upon your breasts! You will not regard it as ill-timed, nor irrelevant to the present occasion, my friends, should I invite your attention for a moment to the important bearing which the useful arts have upon the welfare of society. In order to estimate their importance correctly it is necessary Wluence of to contemplate the condition of man as we find him in a Mechanic Arts state of nature, where the arts are unknown and where the Upon Society. lights of civilization have never dawned upon his path. Wherever man is thus situated, we find him a creature of blind impulse, of passion and of instinct - of groveling hopes, of low desires; and his wants, like those of the brute, supplied only by the spontaneous productions of nature - his only covering a scanty supply of hair - his food, the acorn and the loathsome insect - the cavern his dwelling, the earth his couch and the rock his pillow! The superiority of man's condition, therefore, over that of other animals is attributable solely to the influence of the mechanic arts. Without their aid the native powers of his mind, however great, could never have been developed, and the physical sciences, which he has been enabled to master in a state of civilization, would have still been numbered among the secrets of nature. What progress, for example, could he have made in the science of astronomy without the aid of the telescope? In chemistry, without the retort and receiver? In anatomy and surgery, without the knife and the tourniquet? In agriculture, without the hoe and the mattock, the spade and the plough, the scythe and the pruning hook? 170 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Who were the pioneers of the West? What class of society prepared the way for the agriculturist, the merchant and the professional man? Were they not artificers? Was not the forest made to bow beneath the Artificers stroke of the axe? the stubborn glebe to yield to the hoe Pave the Way and ploughshare? Was not the harvest gathered with the to Progress. rake and the reaping hook? the grain converted into flour by the mill and mortar? and the raw material into fabrics by the wheel and the loom, and fashioned into garments with the shears and the needle? The game of the forest and of the prairie secured with the trap and the rifle? The habitation erected by means of the trowel, the hammer and the saw? Unquestionably, without the agency of the arts the adventurer must have returned disappointed or perished in the enterprise. Place man without a knowledge of the arts and their uses in a country with a rigid climate, a stubborn and ungrateful soil, and want, starvation, and death must be his destiny. No country can be cleared or settled, nor colony founded without the aid of the mechanical arts. First settlers, therefore, are as much dependent upon the useful arts for their subsistence, comfort and welfare as are the plants of the field for their life and growth upon the light of the sun and the dews of Heaven! I will no longer detain you on this part of my subject, but in conclusion will merely observe that the culture of the mechanic arts is not only calculated to elicit, expand and invigorate the inventive faculties of man - to strengthen his natural imbecility - inform his natural ignorance, and enrich his natural poverty; but also to advance his morals, refine his manners, and elevate his character. My object in inviting you to a consideration of this subject at the present time is to impress upon your minds the importance of the situation which you in reality ought to occupy in society. This you seem to Workingmen have lost sight of in a very great degree; and from some Unconscious of cause or other have relinquished your claim to that conTheir Worth. sideration to which as mechanics and as men you are entitled. You have, most unfortunately for yourselves, and for the respectability of your vocations, become apparently unconscious of your own worth, and been led to regard your callings as humble and inferior and your stations as too subordinate in life. Why should the producer consider himself inferior to the consumer? Or why should the mechanic who builds a house consider himself less important than the owner or occupant? It is strange indeed, and to me perfectly unaccountable, that the artificer who prepares the accommodations, the comforts, the embellishments of life, should consider himself of less consequence than those to whose pleasure and convenience he ministers. It was observed by some one of the olden time, that " a man's pretensions was the standard by which the world judged of his merits." Were you to be judged by this standard, my friends, your merits, I apprehend, would be somewhat difficult to find. Do not consider, from these observations, however, that I would urge you to put forth claims that are not well founded, or make pretensions to that to which you are not entitled. Far from it. I merely wish you to take a fair estimate of your worth and importance - but not to overrate yourselves or your callings. I would have you remember, however, that when a man sinks in his own estimation he is sure to sink also in the estimation of the world. And just so in relation to any occupation or calling in life. If those who follow it confess it to be degrading, the world is sure to consider it in no better, but generally in a worse light. FIRST GENERAL TRADES UNION ORGANIZED. I7T In order to be convinced of the blessings conferred upon society by means of the useful arts, we have only to look around us for a moment. But like all blessings familiar to us, they are not properly appreciated; and the services of those who practice them, like the services of all common benefactors, are vastly underrated. The art of printing has perhaps contributed more essentially to the welfare of mankind, to the advancement of society, and to the promotion and diffusion of political, physical and ethical truths, than all the arts beside. It is in fact an art that is " preservative of all arts." Printing Wherever it is known and encouraged the progressive im- Preserves provement of society is certain, and the march of mind All s. secure and unembarrassed. But where the press has never shed its light or dispensed its intellectual treasures the night of ignorance and the gloom of superstition rest upon the soul and obscure the intellect of man; and should it be struck from existence, with its rich treasures of instruction, the world ere long would be merged in night and barbarism The invention of the mariner's compass, or rather the discovery of that mystic and incomprehensible law which gives polarity to the needle, claims to be ranked, on account of its importance, next to the press. The navigator is no longer compelled to keep the coast within view in order Utility of to steer his course aright, but now seeks the middle of the the Mariner's ocean with confidence and security; nor does it require a Compass. period of ten years, as in the days of Ulysses and ASneas, to make a voyage from Ilium to the island of Ithaca, or the shores of Italy. Neither does the modem navigator require a Palinurus, as did the pious Trojan of old, to stand at the helm and observe the stars of Heaven. He possesses in the compass a safer guide than either Orion or Arturus. But for the compass those geographical limits, which from the dawn of creation had concealed onehalf of the world from the other, had never been passed; and America, perhaps, at this moment would have been a pathless world of woods made vocal by the serpent's hiss, the panther's scream, and the wild man's terrific yell; and perchance here-even on this consecrated spot, where now stands the temple of the living God-the wild fox would have made his den, or the red man his habitation! The steam engine next takes rank in point of importance. Its effects on the condition of society are of incalculable importance. In almost every branch of the arts it is hailed as an auxiliary. Its application to nautical purposes is of greater utility, and of deeper concern- Power and ment to the world than the world at present imagines. It is Benefit of the an agent whose power and influence will be most beneficially Steam Engine. felt in contributing towards the preservation of the American Union by overcoming those physical barriers that have isolated one section of our country from the other. By means of its power space is annihilated, and the inhabitants from the extremes of the Union are now brought into frequent and friendly intercourse. Let it be borne in mind, however, that neither the printing press, nor the mariner's compass, nor the steam engine could have been produced without the aid of the common mechanic. The toil and skill of the artificer in wood and iron and steel were requisite to their completion. The square and the compass, the axe and the plane, the hammer and the anvil were all indispensable to their production. Thus far I have confined my remarks chiefly to the mechanic arts; but we must not stop here; the field we have entered upon embraces a still wider range, I72 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION, NUMBER SIX. We have only viewed the unadorned parts, and the furrow ground. The gardens and groves of flowers and of beauty we have yet to explore. These latter belong to the genius and the fine arts - the former to the arts of want and necessity; yet in the progress of civilization and improvement they become in a thousand ways so intimately blended and so allied, by their constant association, that their connection remains fixed and inseparable; and it is difficult to treat the one without some reference to the other. A love and an admiration for the fine arts and a due appreciation of their merits tend to improve the mind and beget in it the principles of good taste, order and refinement, which soon exhibit their influence in Fine Arts the increasing excellence of everything we do, contrive or Improve execute. These help, also, when duly cultivated, to augment the Mind. our pleasures and happiness. For example, there is a painting on silk representing the implements employed in our various pursuits, displayed in the form of a circle and united by an oaken wreath. This design, as you all know, is emblematical of the Trades Union. This then is fine arts (and a noble specimen it is too). What, you will ask, is its utility, and how can it inspire pleasure? Can you as mechanics and artists look upon that banner without being reminded of your united strength? Can you contemplate that proud emblem of your union and your power without feeling the secret emotions of pride and pleasure steal into your bosoms and throb through your hearts? Can you witness the close alliance of your interests and your welfare, as there represented, and not feel your mutual sympathies and friendship and love warmed and elevated and strengthened? And can you feel all this and say that the picture has no utility? that it imparts no pleasure? There, again, is a painting on canvas representing the face of a good and amiable personage. This is also fine art. Now what is the essence? Not flesh, nor bones -neither is it breath, nor life, nor spirit, and yet it has the expression of all these. What, then, is the end - the use- of all these presentations? Most assuredly it is a pleasure; pleasure too of the noblest and most exalted character. We will now examine some of those branches of the fine arts which have a more intimate union and fellowship with the arts of trade and manufacture. When a temple or other public edifice is to be erected appliArchitect and cation is made to an architect for a design; and in proportion Builder Go to his genius, his judgment and his taste, do we place our Hand in Hand. confidence in him. He gives drawings of the plan elevation of the building, together with all its appropriate decorations, both for the exterior and interior; by these the workmen are guided. In most instances the architect is employed to superintend the uprearing of the structure, and he goes hand in hand with the master builder until every part of the work is complete. The carver and the stucco-worker are also worthy of mention, and come in for their share of praise in all that pertains to the art of enrichment and decoration. If niches or pedestals are reserved for statues or for busts an artist of a noble branch is called in. The sculptor is applied to and the breathing images from his chisel beautify and give a richness and a glory to the whole edifice. Look again at the beautiful wares of gold and of silver manufacture and of porcelain and furnitures. In them we discover the combined skill of the artist and the artisan; while our eyes dwell with pleasure and delight upon the beautiful delineations of the pencil or on the more bold reliefs thrown out by the ingenious hand of the ornamentalist. FIRST GENERAL TRADES UNION ORGANIZED.. 173 In the productions of the loom, also, we behold this pleasing alliance of the two arts. The flowers and vines of ten thousand forms, so elegantly and gracefully displayed over the carpeting of our floors, on the upholstery of our windows and couch of sleep, and also upon the Pleasing garments of our females, all attest the close and intimate Productions connection of the mechanic arts with the art of design, the of the Loom art of usefulness and necessity with those of taste, elegance and pleasure. I have dwelt the longer on this part of my subject in order that you might be enabled to realize more fully the obligations that society is under to you, as artists and mechanics, as well as to impress upon your understandings the fact of the mutual dependency of the various trades and arts upon each other. And, my friends, it is important for you to bear in mind that your interests and welfare are as closely allied, as intimately blended, and as mutually dependent one upon another as are your respective pursuits. Once more, then, permit me to ask, why is it that artists and mechanics have so far lost sight of the importance of their callings? Why is it that those who produce, prepare and distribute the comforts, the pleasures and conveniences of life should not consider themselves Trades (what they really are) the benefactors of mankind and assume Consolidate that station in society to which their callings and their worth Their Strength. so justly entitle them? Do you marvel at it? Do you think it strange and mysterious? You need not. A reason can be readily assigned why other classes of society regard you as their inferiors. Know, then, that you have by your servility - by your want of self-respect - by your lack of confidence in yourselves, and in each other, courted your present standing. You alone have been instrumental in assigning yourselves the subordinate and humiliating station in society of which you now complain. You have long had the power to better your general condition, but you have either been too indolent or too careless to exercise it. Most sincerely do I congratulate you upon your present prospects. Never did your affairs wear so cheering an aspect as at present. You have at length wisely concluded to throw yourselves upon your rightsto gather up your energies and consolidate your strength. Only be true to yourselves, and faithful to each other, and the issue cannot be doubtful. All the circumstances that surround you are auspicious! The general diffusion of knowledge, the rapid march of improvement - and especially the excellent plan of organization which you have recently adopted - all argue well for your future prosperity. But should you neglect to avail yourselves of the advantages that are now presented you would not only merit, but receive, opprobrium and oppression. Beware, therefore, that you do not sacrifice your present advantages and prospects by folly or indolence lest slavery and infamy be your portion, and your offspring at some future day drag their inherited chains across your graves and load your memories with reproaches and imprecations! I am aware we shall be told that republican governments are inpropitious to the cultivation and encouragement of the arts - especially the fine arts. This has long been a fashionable doctrine; but it is as false as fashionable. It is a libel on popular governments. When Republics we demand the evidence we are confidently pointed to the DeveMoph page of history, and referred to the patronage and facilities Guius. afforded to artists by arbitrary governments - to the munificent pensions and donations granted by the Ptolemies of Egypt - the Augustuses of Rome, and the Louises of France. Well, I am quite willing that history should 174 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. decide the question - that it should be the sole arbiter in the case. In what part of the world, then, at what period, and under what form of government, did the elegant and useful art first spring up and flourish most? Was it on the border of the Nile, or the banks of the Euphrates - or under the Memphian or Babylonian despots? Not so. But on the barren soil of Attica, the land of Codrus and of Miltiades - within the stormy republic of Greece! When we inquire what discoveries and progress were made in the arts, by the millions and millions of thinking beings that lived and died anterior to the era of Grecian liberty, we are referred to the pyramids of Memphis, to the " Tower on Shinais Plain," and to the temples of Thebes - monuments of folly all! We date the decline of the arts in Greece from the decline of her liberty. For the proof we invite you to compare the state of the arts of the Alexandrian with that of the Periclean age. When you come down to the Augustan age - the proud era of Marcenas - 'tis imitation all. Not an artist stands forth in the conscious pride of originality. All are content to copy the Grecian masters. It is true, the fine arts experienced a partial resuscitation under the princes of the Flavian house, but with them expired the arts of Rome; and when Constantine the Great wished to adorn an arch at Byzantium he was obliged to tear down one of Trajan's at Rome for sculptures. But we are not confined to ancient history alone for proofs and illustrations. The history of our own country within the last half century has furnished ample testimony that not only mechanical genius, but the intellectual powers generally are more universally developed in free than in despotic governments. Where is the nation that can point to such illustrious names in war - in eloquence - in philosophy.- in astronomy - in mechanics, and in painting as those of Washington and Henry and Franklin and Rittenhouse and Fulton and West? The greatest efforts of the human mind have ever been made under the auspices of free governments. The patronage of Macedonian, Alexandrian and Pergemean princes was unable to arouse in their subjects the intellectual energies that characterized the citizens of Athens in the days of her " fierce democracy." The fact is, a nation's freedom and its genius rise and fall together. And so with regard to arts. They are fostered and cultivated in proportion as the government is free and the people enlightened and happy. But when liberty declines the arts decline with her and they inevitably sink into one common grave! So far from the Government under which we live being unfavorable to our interests as artists and mechanics, it is in every respect most propitious! There never was a land under Heaven where the intellectual powers of man had so fine a field and such fair play as they have in our own country and in our own times. If our march, therefore, is not onward to honor, competency and fame, the fault is all our own. Will you meet me with the excuse that your early opportunities in life were limited? that you have no time for improvement? that it is too late to enter the lists for distinction? and that you must, therefore, be Workmen content to live and die in obscurity? Such are the common Become apologies of the indolent, the spiritless, and the dissolute. Celebrities. Let no such pretexts, therefore, be made by members of the Trades Union. Would you have your ambition fired, your hopes elevated, or your resolution strengthened by glorious example? Then contemplate for a moment the history of those illustrious men whose names stand as " landmarks on the cliff of fame "- who were the artificers of their own fortunes, and who, like yourselves, were mechanics and artists. FIRST GENERAL TRADES UNION ORGANIZED. I75 Franklin, who astonished and confounded the schoolmen of Europe, and with impunity dallied with the lightnings of Heaven, was once an obscure journeyman printer! His elevation was the result of his own efforts. Roger Sherman, one of the most extraordinary men in the extraordinary age in which he lived - and William Gifford, the immortal author of the Baviad and Maeviad, were both shoe makers. George Walton, the distinguished patriot and jurist of Georgia, acquired his Imitate the education by torch-light during the term of his apprentice- Virtues of ship to a carpenter! General Knox was a bookbinder - and the Great General Greene (the second Washington) a blacksmith. But we are not limited to the past for examples. Our distinguished townsman, Frazee, was a common stone mason. As a sculptor he now stands unequalled in this country, and as a self-taught artist unsurpassed by any in the world. Would you enjoy the fame of those illustrious men? Then follow their example and imitate their virtues. Like them be diligent-be honest-be firm —be indefatigable. Pursue knowledge with a diligence that never tires, and with a perseverance that never falters; and honor and glory and happiness will be your reward! You have no longer an excuse why you should not prosper and flourish both as a body and as individuals. You know your rights and consequently feel your strength. If mortification and defeat should attend you, blame not your fellow-men - the cause will be found within yourselves. Neither blame your country - the fault will not be hers! No - Land of Genius - Land of Refuge - Land of the Brave and Free!- thy sons have no cause to reproach thee! All thy deserving children find favor in thine eyes-support on tny arm and protection in thy bosom! Ill feeling and animosity between the employers and employed were engendered by the organization of the General Trades Union. Its support of the strikes of different trades for increased wages or against reductions caused the Notable masters to combine, and so bitter was their opposi- Conspiracy tion to the efforts of the workingmen's central body Trials. that when in 1836 the tailors struck against a decrease of their bill of prices the general association of employers caused the arrest of 20 strikers for conspiracy. Their trial was attended by large crowds and created intense excitement, the crime in this instance consisting in organizing for the avowed purpose of self-protection. Chief Justice Savage of the New York Supreme Court had rendered a decision in 1834 in the case of the Geneva cordwainers, declaring that a mutual agreement among journeymen to raise wages was a conspiracy Labor and an indictable offense. The sense of public jus- Enters tice was so outraged by that judgment that upon Politics. the conviction of the accused tailors only a slight penalty was imposed, and the labor organizations were not suppressed. Then it was that the workingmen resolved to enter politics 176 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. in order to secure the repeal of the conspiracy laws and reorganize the judicial system. In 1834 they gave a decided expression of sentiment against the existing banldng methods, which were characterized as aristocratic and unjust, and they had also placed themselves on record in opposition to competitive prison labor. They formed the Equal Rights party, which afterward became known as the Loco-foco party. The panic of i837 in the meantime had a depressing effect upon the labor movement, and the General Trades Union appears to have been engulfed in that financial catastrophe. ELY MOORE, Eminent Union Printer, Celebrated Orator, Labor's First Congressman, 1835-9, President of New York General Trades Union, 1833-8, and President of National Trades Union, I834-5. I ~ I V^-^7 CHAPTER XIII. A CELEBRATED PRINTER-ORATOR. T HE ablest and most prominent member of the Typographical Association of New York was Ely Moore. He was the son of Capt. Moses Moore and was born in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, on July 4, 1798. After receiving a public school education he learned the art of printing. Removing to New York City early in life the young compositor followed his chosen trade for a time, joined the Life Sketch union of printers, assisted in the formation of the of Ely Moore, General Trades Union, was its president at the be- Union Typo. ginning and was also the first presiding officer of the National Trades Union, serving in that capacity during 1834 and 1835. He was editor of the National Trade Union, a New York publication devoted to the advancement of Labor, and in 1838 and 1839 was political editor of the New York Evening Post. In 1851 he owned and edited the Warren Journal of Belvidere, N. J. Limited indeed were his resources, but through his own energetic efforts Ely Moore became an orator of rare distinction. His forensic eloquence not only materially promoted the claims of the workers, whose cause he espoused from the rostrum with vigor and sincerity, but was the means of elevating him to stations of great public trust. I. Agitation Against Contract Prison Labor. While Ely Moore was president of the city and national general unions of trades the question of convict labor was uppermost in the minds of organized workingmen in Appointed all the industrial centers of the State.1 They de- on Prison noinced the prison monopoly and petitioned the Commission. Legislature to abolish contract labor in the ponal institutions. Under the law of that period it was the duty of prison agents " to use every proper means to furnish the prisoners confined 1 On June 30, 1834. it was estimated that there were I i,500oo members of labor organizations in New York City and Brooklyn. Later in the same year the General Trades Union approximated the whole number of mechanics in the Metropolis at something over 21,000, with a total of 125,000 fo the eM ti.r [ I77 ['77] I78 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. in the respective prisons with employment the most beneficial to the public, and the best suited to their various capacities and to use their best endeavors to defray all the expenses of the prisons by the labor of the prisoners." These officials were also directed to make contracts for the work of convicts upon such terms as they deemed most advantageous to the State. It was declared that under this competitive system the prisons were converted into workshops, in which most of the mechanical trades were carried on and taught to the inmates, who performed an immense amount of work at much cheaper rates than were paid to free mechanics. One of the objections urged against the system was the manner in which the discretion of letting the contracts had been abused. Another reason presented in opposition to it was that it tended to fraud and favoritism on the part of the agents. So unanimous was the protest of the working people against the methods practiced, and such was the state of excitement and general public feeling aroused on the subject, that a legislative act was passed on May 2, I834, providing for the appointment of a Commission of three to inquire into and report to the Legislature of 1835, among other matters, " whether any, and if any, what mechanical business carried on at either of said prisons ought to be discontinued by reason of its injurious competition with the labor of mechanics or artisans out of the prisons, or for other cause." Ely Moore was selected as the advocate of Labor on the Commission, the other two members being Elisha Litchfield and Aphaxad Loomis. These Prison Commissioners made an exhaustive investigation, and on January 29, 1835, submitted their report. They found that of 1,466 malefactors confined in the prisons at Auburn and Mount Pleasant (Sing Sing) 987 were employed at mechanical trades- 953 on contract work and 34 on articles for State use. The remaining 479 were engaged as laborers in the shops and yards or about the kitchens and hospitals. Chief among the complaints was " that the products of the labor of convicts compete with and lessen the fair price and amount sold of the mechanical products of honest citizens, in Harmful to those articles manufactured in the prisons, and that Manufacturers by this means master mechanics lose a part of and Mechanics. their business and journeymen their employment." To this contention the Commissioners stated that they were "satisfied from personal examination, and from the evidence taken, that in some articles, and to some extent, this complaint is well founded and ought to be relieved." A CELEBRATED PRINTER-ORATOR. I79 Another complaint was "that by teaching convicts mechanical trades the occupation of mechanics in general is degraded in public estimation, and a class of bad men are turned out to seek, in the shops of honest citizens, employment in the business they had learned in the prisons; and by this means mechanics are more exposed than other citizens to the association of convicts, and consequently more liable than others to be corrupted in their morals by them." Part of this line of reasoning was considered to be illogical by the Commissioners, who maintained that " the idea that mechanical business in general is degraded in public estimation merely because it is carried on in the State prison is in the abstract unfounded and illusory; but it is morally certain that mechanics of any given trade which is taught in the prisons are more exposed to the association of discharged convicts than they would be if that particular business was not learned by prisoners; and it is equally clear that as a body of men the association of such convicts is both dangerous and degrading to persons of good character." The investigators were of the opinion (I) that " common humanity requires that the lives, bodily health and mental sanity of confined convicts should be preserved, and experience has demonstrated that this can only be done by active Reasons for employment;" (2) that "common justice requires Employing that convicts should contribute by their labor to Prisoners. their own support;" (3) that " the influence of labor upon the minds of convicts is salutary, and tends to the diminution of crime in society by restraining the vicious propensities always excited by indolence, and by employing in useful purposes powers of body and mind that will find employment in some form or other, for good or for evil." They were opposed to shutting up in cells constantly without labor old and heinous offenders. Likewise they objected to transportation on the Opposed English Botany Bay plan, because " to carry it to Botany into execution would require a naval and military Bay Plan. armament and a foreign territory, and such a change of the relative powers of the General and State Governments as can only be effected by some important changes in their respective constitutions." They also thought that it would be unwise " to banish convicts from the State, without providing for them a place of refuge and a guard." It " would be turning them loose to commit depredations upon our neighbors. The injustice we should offer to others by such a system would be in turn visited upon our own heads by other States." l80 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. The suggestion made by some citizens that convicts might be employed on public works prosecuted by the State was declared by the Commission to be "impracticable to any useful Convict Labor extent. If employed on public buildings, or on on Public Works cutting stone for locks for canals, or in other branches Impracticable. of mechanical labor, the evil is in no respect removed. The State works are as useful in employing citizen mechanics as private enterprise. The whole amount of mechanical labor for the citizen mechanic to perform would not be increased by such a change." It was believed by the Commissioners " that a remedy adequate to every practical and perceptible extent of the evil may be adopted without changing the essential principles of our present penitentiary system. The errors in the practice of the present prisons have crept in by means of long-continued efforts by the Legislature, and by the officers of the prisons, to render the labor of convicts productive and to relieve the State from the burthen of a heavy annual appropriation to defray the expenses of the prisons without considering the effect upon the mechanical industry of the country. The cause of the present embarrassment is easily discovered. The officers of the prisons have been entrusted with the disposal of a large operative power, for the purpose of turning it into profit. The most convenient way of doing it is to hire out their men at so much apiece by the day; and that mode giving the least trouble for the agent, also found favor with the public for its entire simplicity, and its requiring the employment of no active capital and creating no risk of loss. Consequently every opportunity has been embraced to hire out in this way as many of the disposable hands as possible. Difficulty was found in getting employment for the whole number of convicts. To induce contractors to employ them it was necessary to hire them for long periods of time so that they might become profitable workmen. Contractors were also desirous of rendering their business permanent, as far as practicable. No limit was imposed by law either as to the number of convicts to be let to one person or to be employed in one branch of business, or as to the length of time for which they might be Contract let out. Had the former Legislature anticipated the System results which its general powers and directions have Unrestricted, produced, it would doubtless have guarded these unlimited enactments by proper restrictions. Some limits to the number to be employed in any one branch of business should have been made. The branches carried on should have been A CCLEBRATED PRINTER-ORAtOR. 8II those with which the country is chiefly supplied by importation, and publicity of the time and place of letting contracts should have been given, so as to allow full and free competition and to produce such prices that the contractors could not afford to undersell the market." Had the penal authorities, the Commission averred, " confined the operations in the prisons in each branch of business to the extent that it could be carried on by the convicts already skilled in the particular branch there could have been no Inmates Should just ground for complaint. Take for example Work at Their shoe makers, of whom there are 43 among the Own Trades. convicts confined at Auburn, who were mechanics before their conviction. Instead of employing 43 only at that branch, there are 48 engaged in that business. But if they had employed but the original shoe makers at that business, and had not taught the trade to other convicts, it would have been right in every sense. They would have merely compelled the idle and wicked to follow with assiduity their regular calling; the number of mechanics in that branch would not have been increased, nor would discharged convicts be turned out to enter shops where they were not free to enter before conviction." What to do with the residue of the convicts, such as laborers, farmers, and those of trades that could not be well carried on in the prisons was the next question that engaged the attention of the Commission, which advocated the Making of "th Imported Articles inauguration of a unique plan, urging that "the uggested as a only resource left is to introduce new kinds of busi- Solution. ness from foreign countries, and teach convicts trades in those branches only. This may be rather troublesome at first, but it is entirely practicable and when once fairly established would probably be quite as profitable to the State as the business now pursued. Indeed there are other considerations of no small magnitude inducing to such a measure. It has always been considered highly desirable for every State to have within itself the power of supplying its own wants; and if the State prisons and the labor of convicts could be made the means of producing or even of promoting an end so desirable it would be a matter of much felicitation. There are a great variety of articles now extensively used in this country, and with which it is supplied chiefly or wholly by importation from foreign countries, and the chief value of which consists in the labor bestowed in the manufacture. Among them may be named files, needles, pins, shears, scissors, snuffers, fine knives, razors, and all fine cutlery; wrought nails, butts, screws, cotton, linen, silk, woolen I82 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. and worsted hose; cotton, linen, worsted, silk and rubber webbing; carriage lace, carpeting, rugs; and finally, and especially, the manufacture of silk goods from the cocoons. The Commissioners see no good reason why some of the above enumerated articles may not, with propriety and profit, be introduced in the prisons. When the business should be once fairly established, by the proper instruction of a few convicts, it would require no further expense for that purpose; but the business would be continued as is done in the branches now prosecuted. The labor of convicts could be let out by the piece, after the manufacture was once established, as is now done in many articles; and which is perhaps, unless under peculiar circumstances, the preferable mode of disposing of their labor, as it dispenses with the necessity of having the presence of contractors or their agents much in the prisons. Where convict labor is let by the day the contractors' agents, having no motives to preserve the good government of the prison, and interested only in getting out of the convicts the greatest possible amount of labor, are strongly tempted to hold out private inducements to convicts, and perhaps to cause the keepers to inflict stripes sometimes improperly. By this means, also, the second class of evils complained of, as well as the first, will be removed. Discharged prison convicts will not seek employment, in the trades they learned in prison, in the shops of citizen mechanics, and by that means expose their apprentices and journeymen to corruption, for the reason that few or no shops will be carrying on any business taught in prison, except such as shall have been taught afterwards. While this result would be obtained the other and highly important matter in which all citizens are interested, the moral reformation of the convict, will be equally promoted. Convicts having no regular calling will be taught one by which they may when discharged gain an honest livelihood by establishing the business on a small scale in some neighborhood where the prejudices of the community are not so strong against prison convicts but that they will purchase their wares and assist them in effecting their endeavors to earn an honest maintenance for themselves and perhaps an innocent family." The Commissioners were astonished to find that locks were being made by convicts. " Some remarks are due to the peculiar situation of one or two branches of business carried on in Manufacture the prisons," they commented in regard to the of Locks m matter. " The Commissioners are of opinion that Institutions. independent of the question as a branch of mechanical labor, the business of lock making, now carried on in both prisons, is an improper one to be taught to convicts, and dangerous to the public safety. It is stated in the testimony A CELEBRATED PRINTER-ORATOR. I83 that a skillful lock maker may, from merely observing the external form of the key-holes, prepare skeleton keys by which he will readily unlock all ordinary locks; and his knowledge of the internal guards and form of work is such, that unless a lock is of peculiar construction, he finds no difficulty in preparing keys for many locks even of the more expensive kind. A great share of the recent burglaries have been committed by means of false keys. Not long since an ingenious convict at Auburn contrived to deposit two patterns of bank locks which had been made in prison in a secure cover, safely imbedded in the body of a water log used outside of the prison walls to convey water into the prison, and which had been brought into the place where the convict was at work to be repaired. The log when finished was restored to its place outside the wall, and had it not been for the treachery of a fellow-convict, the ingenious felon would probably have secured his prize in triumph after his discharge. In the opinion of the Commissioners an effort should be made to induce the contractors to give up their contracts or at least to have no new convicts learn the art. It is a dangerous trade for that class of citizens to be familiar with." In conclusion the Commission recommended that Sing Sing prisoners be placed at work quarrying marble near that institution. On this point they reasoned that " the business of marble cutting at the prison in Sing Sing is not Marble let out by the day or otherwise to contractors, but Quarrying the agent executes orders for the marble work of as a Remedy. buildings at such prices as may be agreed upon in each particular case. It was at first found very difficult by the agent to get that marble into use. It was rejected by builders on account of being supposed to be of a quality not satisfactory to public taste. The agent, with the view of introducing it, made some contracts at first at extremely low prices. These had the desired effect. It was perceived that the stone was valuable for building purposes and prices for work have gradually been increased, and the State is now realizing the benefit anticipated by the location of the prison in the vicinity of those large beds of marble. The quarries are so extensive that they must be inexhaustible for ages to come. If the convicts were confined to the operation of getting the marble out in blocks and delivering it upon the wharf, it is believed that its use, instead of being diminished, would be greatly promoted. Builders would then become purchasers, and the greater quantity sold would make up for the difference of price between the wrought and unwrought marble. From the views above taken we consider that this is but i84 NEW YORK TYPOGIAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. carrying out the plan we have suggested, and that it is due to that particular branch of mechanics. There is hardly a doubt but that if the prison kept always a large supply of quarried marble on hand, rough dressed in blocks, for sale at reasonable prices, it would, from its cheapness and from its easy water transportation, meet with ready sales, and its use for churches and public buildings, wherever it could be floated, would soon become general." II. Labor's First Congressman. In the autumn of i834 so popular was Ely Moore with the mechanics in every branch of industry that they prevailed upon him to become a candidate for Member of Congress from Elected to the New York City. At that time he was busily Twenty-fourth engaged with the prison investigation. He was Congress. nominated by the Tammany organization of the Democratic party and was loyally supported through the campaign and at the polls by the organized workers. New York County constituted the Third Congressional District of the State in those days and had four representatives in the House. The contest was between the Republican-Democratic party, representing the masses, as claimed, and the Federal or Banking Tory party, said to uphold the views of the classes. The Man newspaper was ardent in its support of Ely Moore. In fact that daily journal had lauded the orator on a prior occasion. A large mass meeting of workingmen was held in the previous April to protest against the establishment of State and local banks, " which will be the means of throwing into circulation a flood of money that can only subserve the purposes of a neighborhood currency." These mechanics were opposed to the rechartering of the United States Bank. They objected to the issuance of paper money and favored " the constitutional currency of gold and silver." "Mr. Ely Moore having arrived at the meeting," said The Man of April 4, i834, in describing the gathering, " an ardent call for him was continued, until he arose and was welcomed with the most enthusiastic cheering by the dense throng. After this expression of feeling subsided Mr. Moore delivered a patriotic address in favor of the objects of the meeting, distinguished alike for strength of argument, appropriate application and beauty of diction; the breathless silence of the vast multitude now and then broken by an outburst of feeling, is the best evidence of its com A CELEBRATED PRINTER-ORATOR. manding eloquence, while the truth of the reasoning was testified in the spontaneous and animated affirmatives of the assemblage." The canvass was conducted with much spirit and asperity. As there was only one polling place in each ward the election lasted for three days —November 4th, 5th and 6th. Tammany's entire ticket was successful, and Ely Moore, the first Labor advocate to be elected by the people to represent them in the legislative halls of the United States, received 18,552 votes, while on the opposition ticket the greatest number of ballots recorded was I6,822. But to revert to the prison labor agitation. The report of the Commission was unsatisfactory to some of the labor organizations and particularly to The Man, which on February 9, 1835, was most vehement in its attack upon the Prison Congressman-elect, being "almost petrified with Labor Report astonishment to find the name of Ely Moore as one Discussed. of the signers. He is the last man in the world that we should have suspected of recommending that the labor of all the malefactors in the State should be put in competition exclusively with that of honest mechanics." It denounced him in unmeasured terms and continued to inveigh against him for several days. After a warm discussion the Typographical Association appointed a committee on March 2 st " to draft resolutions expressive of the opinion of the association in relation to the State prison system as now practiced in the State, and also of the report, or so much thereof as has been published, of the late Commissioners, and that said committee report at the next regular meeting." It was not until May i6th that the committee was heard from. Then it "made a lengthy report, which on motion was laid upon the table." A record of its findings is not extant, but its conclusions were probably against the attitude of Mr. Moore, as at the same meeting a resolution requesting his resignation as delegate to the General Trades Union was tabled after an animated debate, evidencing the fact that the majority of the union printers were to some extent in sympathy with his recommendations as Prison Commissioner. The question remained dormant thereafter in the association. But the report created a ripple of excitement in the conventions of the General Trades Union. On March 3oth it received a communication from the curriers, instructing their delegates to procure the resignation of Ely Moore as president, it being the opinion of the society of that trade " that he has deserted the cause of the mechanics and workingmen." The proposition was laid upon the table. Then the union of stone cutters submitted a series of resolutions objecting to the Commissioners' I86 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. conclusions and demanding the resignation of the printers' delegate from the presidency of the central body. A motion to that effect was lost. Previously (on March 25th) a committee of inquiry had reported that it was decidedly opposed to the Commissioners' " views of the subject and their plans for relieving the mechanics from the present intolerable burden." According to the minutes, " the report and resolutions, taken together, were not such as would meet the sanction of the convention; they were therefore referred back to the committee, for them to report again at our next meeting." The committee was not ready to report on April 29th, and on May 27th it was discharged; no further action on the subject being taken by the central association. Upon vacating the presidency of the National Trades Union on August 26, I835, that organization expressed confidence in its retiring chairman's integrity, resolving "that the thanks Retains the of the convention be presented to Mr. Ely Moore Confidence of for the very able and impartial manner with which Workingmen. he has filled the office of president, and that he has our best wishes for his health and prosperity on his retirement from that chair which he has so satisfactorily occupied." Eventually the war against the prison monopoly was settled to the satisfaction of the majority of workingmen by the suspension of some of the branches of industry and the substitution of others that did not affect the trades of free mechanics. Ely Moore's reputation remained unsullied and his popularity undimmed. With his colleagues on the Prison Commission he had exposed the abuses that had developed under the contract system and recommended changes that it was thought would overcome the evil. The suggestion that "it has always been considered highly desirable for every State to have within itself the power of supplying its own wants, and if the State prisons and the labor of convicts could be made the means of producing or even promoting an end so desirable it would be a matter of much felicitation," was put into practical operation by the New York Constitutional Convention of 1894, which embodied in the organic law a provision that the work of convicts should not " be farmed out, contracted, given or sold to any person, firm, association or corporation," but "that the products of their labor may be disposed of to the State or any political division thereof, or for or to any public institution owned or managed and controlled by the State, or any political division thereof." 2Adopted by the people on November 6, I894, and became effective on January i, I897. The proposition was favored by the organized trades, and has solved the prison-labor problem so far as this State is concerned. A CELEBRATED PRINTER-ORATOR. i87 In i836 the printer-orator was again placed in nomination by the workingmen and was also the candidate of Tammany. With a largely diminished total vote in the city that year he received i6,673 and was re-elected, although the Member of general ticket of the Democratic organization was Twenty-fifth unsuccessful. Wheeler, his Whig opponent, polled Congress. 15,920 votes. Renominated by the Democrats in i838, Ely Moore was defeated for the Twenty-sixth Congress by James Monroe, Whig, their respective votes being i8,834 and 20,454 -Congressman Moore delivered several addresses in the House of Representatives. That he did not believe in retarding the public business with unnecessary and irrelevant speechmaking was made clear when once in Committee Speaks Against of the Whole on the bill imposing additional duties National as depositories on public officers he declared that Banking System. "it is with a degree of reluctance that I solicit the indulgence of the committee at this late period of the session. It is well known that since I have had the honor of a seat in this House I have troubled it but seldom with remarks of my own. Indeed, I have long considered it neither proper nor respectful in any member of any legislative body to engross the time to be devoted to public business in speech-making, unless the speaker have it in his power to impart some important information or shed new light on the subject of debate. And here, sir, I feel bound to confess that were I now to be governed strictly by this rule I would have refrained from participating in this discussion." Speaking in opposition to the projected national banking system on October I3, i837, he said in part: Do we find the patriotic, the clear-headed and honest-hearted yeomanry and mechanics of the country clamoring for a national bank? No, sir. No -the productive and laboring classes appreciate their political welfare too highly to desire such an institution. The great majority of bank advocates are to be found among the non-producers - the traffickers and speculators of the country - "children of lofty hopes and low desires," most of whom are peculiarly affected by the present pressure of the times. And would it be the part of wisdom to give heed to counsel emanating from such sources? Can it be reasonably expected that men relying solely upon bank facilities -men suddenly disappointed in their high expectations of immediate wealth and consequent influence, would be the most competent to direct the action of the Government and control the destinies of the nation at such a conjuncture? No, sir, - their habits of life - of thinking - their peculiar situation - the circumstances which influence their judgments and impel them to action - all conspire to disqualify them for the task. We know, sir, that it is more natural for men in affliction -whether l88 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. physical or political - to have recourse to palliatives - to immediate and temporary expedients than to deliberate on the means necessary to secure permanent relief. Sir, by what other criterion than that of public sentiment, clearly expressed and fairly ascertained, shall we judge of a public measure? Shall we adopt the views and opinions of the few, to the exclusion of the many? Shall we not allow the great majority to determine what is, as well as what is not, for their welfare? And have not the majority solemnly decreed, in a voice that is still ringing in our ears, that a national bank is not a national benefit, but a national evil; that it is not a public blessing, but a public curse? If we regard public sentiment, therefore, as a proper test of this measure, we must necessarily decide against it. We are bound to believe that it would not be productive of public good, as represented by the petitioners - but of public mischief, as declared by a majority of the people. It will not be disputed but that any class of citizens have a right to ask at the hands of the Government the adoption of such measures, or the enactment of such laws as may in their opinion subserve their interests: provided always that such measures or laws do not conflict with other interests of the State, or revolt the " stomach of the public sense." A national bank does both; and has consequently no claims to the favorable regard of Congress. The American Anti-Slavery Society was organized in i833, and up to November, i839, it was opposed to the formation of a distinct anti-slavery political party, deeming it wiser to Opposes diffuse its principles through all parties.3 Its Abolition movement had expanded considerably by I839, on Petitions. February 4th of which year Representative Moore arose in the House and in presenting a remonstrance from citizens of the District of Columbia against the reception of abolition petitions he made some remarks which doubtless if they had been uttered 22 years later would have been repelled by his constituency - particularly that portion attached to organized labor. 3 Abolitionists met in Warsaw, N. Y., in November, 1839, and organized a political party, with a platform consisting of a single plank, which read: " That in our judgment every consideration of duty and expediency which ought to control the action of Christian freemen requires of the Abolitionists of the United States to organize a distinct political party, embracing all the necessary means of nominating candidates for office and sustaining them by public suffrage " In the thirties of the last century Abolitionism was very unpopular in the North. On November 7, I837, a pro-slavery mob in Alton, Ill., killed the Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy, editor of an Abolition paper, broke his press, threw it into the Mississippi River, and fired the building in which the printing plant was housed. When Wendell Phillips made his debut as an anti-slavery advocate in Faneuil Hall, Boston, in December, I837, he championed what was then a most unpopular cause even in New England. It was at a meeting of citizens to notice in a suitable manner the murder of Mr. Lovejoy, " a native of New England, and a citizen of the free State of Illinois, who fell in defense of the freedom of the press." At a moment when the purpose of the gathering seemed likely to be defeated, and its resolution rejected, by the opposition of Attorney-General James Trecothic Austin, of Massachusetts, Mr. Phillips, who was among the audience, immediately arose and in an outburst of indignant eloquence rebuked the State's law officer for the sentiments he had expressed. That speech secured the passage of the resolve. A CELEBRATED PRINTER-ORATOR. 189 Said he: MR. SPEAKER:-I present to the House a remonstrance, signed by some several hundred citizens of this District, against the reception of petitions from citizens of the States, praying for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. The memorialists represent that they urged Congress as the local Legislature of this District, standing in the same relation to the citizens of the District that a State Legislature does to the citizens of a State; and that they claim the right to advise or instruct the Congress, as their local Legislature, on all subjects relating exclusively to the local interests and municipal institutions of the District. And further- that they regard the interference with persons residing within the limits of the District, by petitions or otherwise, as intrusive and unwarrantable; and claim the paternal protection of Congress against such interference with their rights and interests. I concur with the views of the memorialists, and shall proceed to vindicate them to the best of my abilities. He then stated that at least one-third of the time of Congress "has been unnecessarily wasted, or mischievously employed-I will not undertake to say which - in debating petitions, resolutions, etc., touching the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. We have for the last four sessions of Congress consumed a large portion of time in discussing a subject over which the Federal Legislature, in their Federal capacity, have no jurisdiction." He charged that the Federalists had formed a coalition with the Abolitionists, and that Abolitionism had assumed a political character. " The Federal aristocracy of the country," he maintained, " aimed to impoverish, depreciate and degrade the Democracy - especially that portion who, in obedience to the mandate of Heaven, 'eat their bread in the sweat of their face.' To accomplish their purpose the Federalists have availed themselves of every means in their power." These he enumerated, and proceeded: And now in order to render the condition of the laboring classes of the North and East still more dependent and depressed, the Federal party have joined the Abolitionists for the purpose of conferring upon the black laborer nominal freedom, and upon the white laborer virtual bondage! Yes, sir, for the especial purpose of humbling and degrading the Democracy, have the Federal party of the North and East joined in the Abolition crusade; and whenever their object shall be attained and the Southern negro shall be brought to compete with the Northern white man in the labor market, the moral and political character, the pride, power, and independence of the latter are gone forever, and Federalism will have realized its fondest and most cherished hopes. But let me tell you, sir, the Democracy of the North and East are not unmindful of passing events. Since Abolitionism assumed a political character they have watched the movements of the Federal-Abolition party with deep concernment. They are conscious of the approaching danger and are coolly and deliberately preparing to face it. Yes, sir, whenever the Democracy observe the Federal party prosecuting a political measure with zeal and vigor, as they now do Abolitionism, they in Ig0 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. voluntarily, instinctively gather up their energies to meet and repel approaching mischief; and I warn them now, they cannot prepare too soon, nor with too much vigor and forecast. The crisis approaches. The fearful conflict; the mortal struggle; the tiger-stripe is at hand, and God alone can tell the result. At this juncture Mr. Moore was called to order by Gen. Waddy Thompson, of South Carolina, and by the decision of the chair was prevented from concluding his speech, but before Fulfillment taking his seat he gave notice that he would publish of a Dire all that he had intended to say, precisely in the Prophecy. same form and manner he would have done had no interruption taken place. Twenty-two years afterward the " fearful conflict, the mortal struggle," that he had prophesied when silenced by the Speaker, broke upon the country with irresistible fury. But it solved for all time a problem which Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, Hamilton, Jay, Henry and other founders of the Government, who regarded slavery as a great evil, inconsistent with the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the true spirit of humanity, had confidently expected would be settled by the gradual extinction of the system before the advancing power of civilization and liberty. Ely Moore was a strong and consistent exponent of the doctrine of State rights. In a learned disquisition on Favors the Civil Government before the New York TypographDoctrine of ical Society on February 25, 1847, he spoke lengthily State Rights. upon the subject of the sovereignty of the commonwealths that comprehend the American Union, closing his address with this eloquent appeal to his craftsmen: I call upon you, then, my fellow-citizens - and especially upon you, gentlemen of the Typographical Society - as you love your country and would bear aloft her fortunes and her fame, to cherish the principles upon which her free institutions rest. Address yourselves with zeal and alacrity to the duties - the important and imperative duties - which, as Americans and as patriots, devolve upon you. Strengthen and preserve the Federal bond by cultivating a spirit of unity - of mutual regard and mutual forbearance, on the one hand; and by sternly reprobating, on the other, any and every attempt to mar its harmony, or alienate the confidence and sympathies of its members. Regard, at the same time, with especial detestation, the traitor and parricide who would dare trench upon the rights and powers reserved to the States, or invade their acknowledged sovereignty; for in this sovereignty consists the true life of the Republic. It is - if I may be allowed the figure —the vital ligature which binds its different members together. Remove or dissever it and the life-blood gushes from every vein and artery of the system - cementing and consolidating the Federal power; but effectually undermining the rights of the States and the liberties of the people. A CELEBRATED PRINTER-ORATOR. x9t I call upon you, then, my brother printers-as prominent among those who constitute, and are hereafter to constitute the life-guard of liberty and of letters-to defend with energy and constancy the integrity of the Federal Union. Yes, I implore you, whose peculiar province and duty it is to marshal the way to freedom, in knowledge, and in civilization, to come up - in these years of trial and of temptation - to the help and rescue of your country. And from whom can the aid required more properly be demanded? The most efficient auxiliary, evidently, would be the enlightened and liberal statesman; and where are such statesmen more likely to be found than in the printing office? that practical nursery of knowledge - especially political knowledge. Have they not already furnished us with statesmen and philosophers whose fame is world-wide, and the record of whose achievements constitutes the proudest page in our country's history? Hon. Ely Moore's second term in Congress ended on March 3, I839, but other honors speedily followed his retirement from the National Legislature. Early in his career he was president of the New York Board of Trade and Other Surveyor of the Port of New York. In 1845 Pres- Honors ident Polk selected him for United States Marshal Conferred of the Southern District of New York. He removed to the West in I853, having in that year received the agency for the Miami and other tribes of Indians in Kansas. In I855 President Pierce appointed him Register of the Land Office at Lecompton, Kans., in which town he passed away on January 27, i860, mourned by two sons and three daughters, besides a host of endearing friends CHAPTER XIV. DECADENCE OF A MILITANT TRADE UNION. INERTNESS and neglect on the part of members were noticeable after the strike of i840, and the Typographical Association began to show signs of disintegration. There were also other causes that contributed to this deterioration. In addition to the loss of three large offices, the union was powerless to contend against the ruinous system of two-thirders that had menaced the Ruinous trade almost from the beginning of the nineteenth System of century. This matter of half-way journeymen had, Two-thirders- as already noted, received the serious attention of the National Typographical convention in i836, and in fact the New York union had before that -on July i8, i835,-given cognizance to the apprenticeship matter, when " Mr. Flanagan, after some remarks, gave notice that he would introduce some measures relative to two-thirders and apprentices." It had at an earlier date - June I3, i835, - sympathized with the Columbia Typographical Society of Washington, in its conflict with Gen. Duff Green, National Public Printer, who, it was charged, had excludeda great number of journeymen front employment on Government printing through the Strike of agency of boys, " 50 of whom he employed about Washington the period of his second Congressional term as Journeymen. public printer," and " the boys themselves, seeing the use that was thus attempted to be made of them, held a meeting on the subject, and one and all abandoned his employment." This printer to the Senate and House of Representatives, soon after his appointment in i828, tried to reduce the wages of journeymen from $io to $8 per week, but the attempt was successfully resisted by the society. Then he cut down the hourly overtime rate from 20 cents to i621 cents. The higher figure had been established and uniformly paid by his predecessors; but the union did not have any regulation on the subject, as it was considered the fixed price for extra work at night throughout the city, and much service of this character was performed during the sessions of Congress. Journeymen acquiesced [1921 DECADENCE OF A MILITANT TRADE UNION. I93 in the decrease, they said, "solely because, although the rate was below the customary price, it infringed no regulation of the society." It was also asserted that General Green " is about commencing the erection of a manual labor school in this city under the name of the Washington Institute, in which he proposes to bring up 200 boys, continuously, to the printing Manual business, and to educate them accordingly, by their Labor own labor. The great tendency of this scheme will School. consequently be the prostration of the journeyman, and to deprive him of the just fruits of his labor, and by creating a monopoly to turn to his own advantage the profits of the printing, publishing and binding of this District, thus destroying those now engaged in business, and throwing all those branches of the profession under the sole direction of one man- a thing much to be deprecated at all times." Finally, on March 14, I835, General Green's workmen " abandoned their stations in consequence of the introduction of several persons as printers in that establishment at two-thirds of the established prices of that place, who had also been working under wages in Philadelphia." The New York association deeply deplored " the causes of the protracted difficulties of Washington, and especially regret and condemn the recent recontres which have taken place among them, as destructive alike of the harmony of society and the character and interests of any community of men." It commended "with feelings of strong approbation the course pursued by the journeymen printers of Washington in their noble and Spartan- Denunciation of Gen. Duff like opposition to the repeated encroachments of Geen, Public Green, Public Duff Green upon the rights and interests of the pro- Printer. fession," and that his "selfish and perpetual hostility to the rights of journeymen printers renders his connection with the printing business a source of deep and universal regret. As the standing rule of the profession declares, all those 'rats' who shall knowingly violate any of the established and generally received regulations of the craft, that the hands engaged in Mr. Green's office are eminently entitled to the stigma and reproach of ' rats,'" and " that the names of the ' rats ' engaged in the office of Duff Green be entered on the records of the association." In 1840 the association still felt the discouraging effects of the 1837 panic. Journeymen in good standing on its books were hopeful of continuing the existence of the union through the hard times, and at a meeting on February 15, I840, they adopted a measure that it was thought might enable it to remain an active force in 7 I94 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. the labor movement, resolving "that all moneys now due by members of this association be, and the same are hereby liquidated." On March 2 ist a committee was selected "to ascerTypographical tain the names and residences of men now out of Association employment, and that a copy of such names be Collapses, furnished to the offices conforming to the scale of prices, in order that they may be enabled to give the preference to association men." At the same meeting, which was about the time the dispute in the three leading printing establishments was precipitated, the union admitted 24 new members,' but even with these additions to its ranks the enthusiasm soon waned, owing principally to the failure of the strike, lack of employment produced by the business depression, and the practice of employers engaging at low wages youths who had only partially acquired the trade. The Typographical Association ultimately crumbled to pieces, its last recorded meeting having been held on July 18, 1840, the minutes of which session briefly announced that "the secretary read a statement of the affairs of the association, and the Board of Directors were specially instructed to examine the matters therein contained." 4 Three of these members afterward became prominent in the councils of Typographical Union No. 6. They were Jeremiah Gray, president in I853, William L. Stubbs, president in i856, and William Newman. CHAPTER XV. FRANKLIN TYPOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATION. T HE depression that succeeded the financial crash of i837 did not subside until i843. Then prices began to rise. Wages of printers had suffered a material reduction immediately after the dissolution of the Typographical Association, and with the advent of i844 only one book office and nine newspapers in the Metropolis were paying what were then considered full rates. Early in the latter year a movement was inaugurated to advance compensation, and the Franklin Typographical Association of the City of New York was founded to accomplish that result. It was the sixth attempt that the compositors and pressmen had made at organization since the Revolution, and its nascent stage was marked with the same degree of fervency that had characterized the inception of its predecessors. John W. Moulton was elected president, Joseph T. Crowell recording secretary, and Franklin J. Ottarson corresponding secretary. One-tenth of the whole body of printers at that time were employed on newspapers, seven-tenths on bookwork and periodicals, and two-tenths on job and card work. Almost the first act of the new union was to adopt a scale of prices, establishing $ii as the minimum weekly rate for time work, 28 cents and 32 cents per i,ooo ems for piece composition on evening and morning newspapers, respec- Scale of tively, and on bookwork 25 cents per i,ooo ems for Prices reprint and 27 cents for manuscript. This scale Adopted. was agreed upon in April, i844, and was scheduled to take effect on the I5th of that month. On April i3th the members assembled in special session at Temperance Hall, at White and Centre streets, and applauded the reading by the chairman of the following communication from Addison Hill, who was connected with the New York State arsenal at Franklin and Elm streets: The era of good feeling which I am informed is about to be consummated by a union of the employing and employed sons of the " Old Doctor,"' in their present I The term " Sons of the Old Doctor " probably has reference to the " Sons of Faust," which appellation is frequently applied to printers. Johann Faust, who was the associate of Gutenberg and Sch~ffer in the first development of the art of printing, was, according to tradition, impeached as a sorcerer, and saved his life by revealing his typographical secret. For that reason his identity has been sometimes erroneously confused with that of Doctor Johann Faust, a noted character of German national poetry and reputed to have been a celebrated necromancer, who conjured with the Evil One. [195] 196 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. worthy efforts to establish a universal and mutual scale of prices, merits, in my opinion, some public demonstration of congratulation; and although I have not for the few past years been in the business, having secured other occupation, yet I feel as much interest in the prosperity and success of the craft as ever. I would therefore, in view of all the circumstances, volunteer to fire a grand salute, as soon as the union is effected (if the same be approved by the association over which you preside), at such time as may be selected hereafter. I think it would be the means of rousing up the slumbering craft throughout the Union to a proper estimate of its own importance, as the moral effect of each gun would be felt from the Aristook to the Sabine. The letter was accepted, the thanks of the association were voted to Mr. Hill, and it was unanimously ordered " that a committee of three be appointed to make arrangements for the Employers firing of Ioo guns on Monday, April I5th, at 12 Concede o'clock noon." At the meeting it was stated that Demands. a large majority of the employers had already agreed to pay the scale. Preparations were, however, made for a strike in establishments that might decline to accede to the demand, the Board of Managers resolving " that all persons who may be thrown out of employment in consequence of demanding the advance designated in the scale be requested to report themselves to the Board of Managers at Stoneall's Hotel, Fulton street, on Monday, April 15th, between the hours of 10 o'clock A. M. and 10 o'clock P. M. to receive such information and assistance as is in their power to give." The board gave notice that it would be present at the strike headquarters named during the hours mentioned for the purposes stated in the resolution. The Tribune of April 15th commented editorially on what it was pleased to term an " important move," stating " that a new scale of prices has been fixed upon by the craft and adopted Victory generally by the employers throughout the city, Acclaimed by Discharge without the slightest interruption to the good of Artillery, feeling which exists between them. On the contrary, the feeling has been augmented and rendered more durable by the recent steps taken in concert by the employers and employed. This 'era of good feeling' is to be celebrated this morning by a discharge of artillery in the park in front of the Tribune office." The victory of the association was duly acclaimed by the firing of cannon in City Hall Park, and on April I6th the Herald noticed the event in an editorial under the caption of " Printers' Prices and Big Guns," remarking: "A body of printers met in the park yesterday and fired off Ioo guns, by way of rejoicing that they had obtained an advance of wages from all employers of New York except two-the highly respectable fat FRANKLIN TYPOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATION. 197 'rats' of the Journal of Commerce and the Daily Express. The best and most industrious portion of the printers generally take these things in silence. It is much the better way." The Board of Managers advertised the fact on May 8th that the association had "opened a reading and register room at No. iog Nassau street, second floor, for the use of journeymen printers." This was a House of Call, where House unemployed members registered their names and of Call awaited calls of employers for printers. Idle Opened. journeymen who did not belong to the union were also " requested to call and register their names at the association rooms for the purpose of being nominated by the Board of Managers." That the union's triumph in April was not universal developed on May i8th in an advertisement that was inserted in the newspapers by "an association of journeymen printers " that had established a co-operative printing office and Triumph was seeking patronage from " publishers, booksellers, Was Not trade associations, mechanics, merchants and Universal. others." It was explained to the public that " the journeymen printers recently formed and established an association for the purpose of maintaining a just and permanent rate of compensation for their labor - which rate is now being paid by a large number of employing printers in the city. But there are among them, we are sorry to say, others who refuse paying our scale of prices, and seem disposed to oppose peremptorily all measures emanating from us as a body, and who have ever heretofore bdrne the appellation of 'master rats,' from the fact of under-contracting or under-bidding their associates in trade. We have, many of us, been instrumental in'forming that association and establishing our present rates of labor, and however sorely pressed we may have been, have still remaining with us too much of the proud and independent spirit of men to violate the sacred principles of its government by seeking disreputable employment for our livelihood. In view of these facts we have to state that with much exertion and perseverance we have procured all the essentials necessary to a general printing establishment — capable of accommodating at least 50 compositors-furnished with new and ele- Horace Greeley gant materials of every description and conducted Advises Printers by an association of journeymen printers compris- to Join Union. ing the best workmen that the city can produce." Horace Greeley, founder of the Tribune, was gratified with this venture at co-operation, observing in an editorial in that paper on x98 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. the day the advertisement appeared "that the journeymen printers of our city who are out of regular situations have got up an independent printing office for themselves and such as may be in similar luck hereafter. They advertise to do printing as cheap as others, and a little better and quicker. Success to them anyhow, though we wish they would all join the 'Franklin.' It is a good commencement of a new business." Other troubles were in store for the new association. Its auspicious beginning was soon marred by the revelation that some employers had concluded to cut the rates of wages that they Master Printers had promised to pay their union journeymen, and Decide to on Monday, July 22d, a meeting of the workmen Reduce Wages. affected was held under the auspices of the Board of Managers, to protest against the proposed action of master printers. J. L. Jewett was appointed chairman and F. J. Ottarson secretary, and the following preamble and resolutions were unanimously adopted as the sentiment of the gathering: Whereas, Several employing printers have determined to reduce the prices paid for labor, and the journeymen in their offices have refused to submit to such reduction and have convened in this meeting to express their opinions; therefore, Resolved, That the great body of honorable printers having acknowledged the scale of prices adopted by the Franklin Typographical Association to be in all respects just and proper and that scale must be sustained, Resolved, That we will sustain that scale of prices, and that we will submit to no infringement whatever. Resolved, That a Vigilance Committee be appointed, consisting of one journeyman in each office, to guard against any attempt to reduce prices. Resolved, That the conduct of those employers who now desire to reduce wages is unjust, dishonorable and deserving the severest reprehension from every friend of honor and justice. Resolved, That we recommend and earnestly desire a general meeting of the journeymen printers of this city, together with the Franklin Typographical Association, on Saturday evening, July 27th, for the purpose of protecting their honor and interest. The Vigilance Committee was selected and the following address, prepared by the corresponding secretary, Franklin J. Ottarson, was ordered to be issued: The corresponding secretary of the Franklin Typographical Association having been duly appointed by the Board of Managers to confer with certain printers concerning prices, respectfully submits the following report: Union Protests Saturday morning, July 20th, I called on John F. Trow, the Against Cut corporation printer, and stated to him that I had been apin Compensation. pointed by the association to inquire of him if there was any truth in the rumor that he was about to reduce prices in his book office. He answered me very haughtily, " Suppose there is? " I said that I did not come to explain why he should not reduce prices, but merely to ask FRANKLIN TYPOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATION. x99 what truth there was in the rumor. Again he replied, "Suppose there is?" I asked him if that was his only answer. He replied that he acknowledged no right in the association to ask him questions; that the association had been the cause of difficulty in his office, and that he was determined to "set his face against" this or any other association that should assume the right of dictation as to what men should receive for their His Face Set labor. He should "set his face against the association." He Against the held that he had the right to pay what he pleased for work, Association. and that no one had a right to say a word in the matter; and he was" determined to set his face against the association." After this ebullition of superfluous breath, the gentlemanly corporation printer set his back against me and I walked off. Printers of New York! have you no interest in this matter? A portion of your number by great exertion formed an association - upon a liberal and benevolent plan -have adopted a scale of prices to which these very men acceded, and which every honorable employer Rht toAsk a considers fair and just. This scale of prices will put more Fair Return money in your pocket in a month than the association will Io labor take from you in a whole year. If you who are not members of our association would come up and join- if you would help yourselves fight your own battles - we might give such answer as would effectually convince Mr. John F. Trow, and others of his belief, that free and independent men, men who earn an honest livelihood by the sweat of their brow, have a right to dictate to fellow-men-aye though their names be not blazoned six several times ingorgeousness of gold leaf and black paint upon the wallsof a four-storybuilding. But if the mass of journeymen printers will remain idle in this business -if they will shun all opportunity for benefiting themselves - then they must submit to be insolently told that they have no right to ask for a fair return for their labor, that they must take what their masters choose to offer, and be silent; they must be content to cringe before the soulless tyrant who by any means may happen to possess control over a case of type and a rickety press; they must be content to live or die, to feast or starve, as the greed and avarice of the employer may dictate. Fellow-journeymen! have you not as fair a right to sunlight and shade, to air and existence as any other breathing mortal? If so, then protect that right, for it is in danger. The men who would deprive you of a portion of your hard-earned wages were willing for their Deprived of own interests to pay the scale at the time of its adoption. Hard-Earned Business was brisk then, work was plenty, and men were wages. in demand. Now work is scarce, and for that reason these fellows would cut down your wages! as if the laborer was responsible for the decrease of business, and his wife and children must be punished and starved so that the employer's account of profits and gain may foot up as they did when business was good. Oh, charitable, enlightened, benevolent logic that would reduce the compensation for work because work is scarce! In view of these circumstances, we call upon the journeymen printers of New York to come up, not to help us individually, nor for the purpose of parade or display, but come up for the benefit of yourselves, for your own protection, for the protection of your wives and children - for the protection of their honor -- for the protection of the honor and the dignity of Labor, and the character of freemen; all of which are endangered by the illiberal, selfish and unjust actions of a certain number of purse-proud mortals. 200 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Regular monthly meetings of the association were held for awhile thereafter, but as the proceedings of these sessions are not available it is impossible to chronicle the events that occurred Sixth Union in the closing days of its career. Interest in the of Printers union began to decline when some of the master Dissolves. printers succeeded in reducing wages, and that the membership from that moment fell off perceptibly was indicated by a public notice that the recording secretary by order of the association issued on October 5th and four other days during that month, stating " that a correct list of members in good standing will be printed on October 2ist," and that " the names of those who are three months in arrears for dues will not be included in the list." While the October session convened in the usual meeting place at St. John's Hall, in Frankfort street, the regular November gathering met in the association rooms at No. Iog Nassau street - much smaller quarters - showing that the membership had dwindled to such insignificant proportions that the latter place was sufficiently large to accommodate the inconsiderable attendance. So far as can be ascertained the final meeting of the Franklin Typographical Association was held at its Nassau street headquarters on Saturday evening, December 21, I844, and then the sixth trade union of New York journeymen printers in 70 years dissolved. Charter Issued by National Typographical Union to New York Typographical Union No. 6. CHAPTER XVI. NEW YORK PRINTERS' UNION. O UT of a strike of printers in another city evolved the New York Printers' Union. It came about in this manner: Organized on December 14, I848, the Boston Printers' Union adopted measures in I849 to advance the economic interests of its members, many of whom went on strike in the autumn of that year for a higher rate of wages. Conditions in the printing trade at the Hub were then at a low ebb. Ben Financial Relief for Perley Poore,1 of the Boston Bee, attended the Bostion nion banquet of the New York Typographical Society Printers. on January 17, I850, and in the course of his response to a toast on that occasion referred to the typographical troubles at his home city. " It is not true," said he, in describing the affair, " that the journeymen struck on a sudden. For a whole year they had endured the hardships of low wages-journeymen on weekly papers making but $6, and on daily papers, for night and day work, but $9 per week. The conduct of the printers during the late struggle was most honorable. I thank the New York printers for their sympathy with their Boston brethren." It was in the evening of Saturday, November 24, I849, that a meeting of the New York journeymen printers was held at James C. Stoneall's Hotel, No. 131 Fulton street, " to respond to an appeal of their fellow-craftsmen of Boston in relation to the recent strike in the latter city," so read the notification for that gathering, which call bore the signatures of Thomas N. Rooker, Frederick A. Hepburn, Washington A. Dodge, t Major Ben Perley Poore was born in I820 near Newburyport, Mass. After learning the trade of printer he removed to Athens, Ga., and when 2I years of age assumed the editorship of a newspaper in that town. He went abroad in I842 as secretary to Hon. Henry Washington Hilliard, United States Charge d'Affaires to Belgium, remaining in Europe for five years. Returning to Boston he became associated with the Bee and the Sunday Seaninel. In 1854 he went to Washington, where he was a newspaper correspondent for many years. His letters in the Boston Journal over the signature of " Perley " gained for him a national reputation by their trustworthy character. He also produced numerous literary works. When the Civil War broke out ht organized a battalion of riflemen at Newbury that formed a nucleus of a company in the Eighth Massachusetts Volunteers, of which organization he was major. In I862 he was appointed clerk of the United States Senate Committee on Printing. Major Poore never forgot his early connection with the typographical fraternity, and on May 12, I887, just before he was stricken with a fatal illness, he went to the Government Printing Office in Washington and set up 00ooo ems of type as his contribution to the Childs-Drexel Printers' Home Fund. [201] 202 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Monroe F. Gale, William L. Stubbs, Thomas J. Reed, Charles McDevitt, William T. Kelly, John Watson, John L. Brown, William H. Brown, William Barton, Jr., William Bennett and Henry V. Baker.2 Robert Cunnington2 was chosen secretary of the meeting, at which plans were consummated for soliciting contributions to sustain the union printers in Boston who had struck "for a higher rate of wages." An adjournment was taken until December ist, when it was reported that $203.75 had been collected. Then it was decided to meet again on December 8th " to close up the business in aid of the printers'of Boston." I. Motives That Impelled Organization. These temporary assemblages to give succor to their fellowcraftsmen suggested to the New York typographers the idea of founding a permanent association for their own protecThe First tion. They had many grievances that they were Preliminary confident could be adjusted through united action. Meeting. Cost of living had increased. Wages were small and not uniform, the Tribune standing alone among the morning newspapers in the payment of 32 cents per I,ooo ems, the highest rate in the city, the other forenoon dailies paying 30 cents,3 while on afternoon and weekly journals compositors received from 25 cents to 29 cents. All sorts of prices prevailed in the book and job branch of the trade and various rates were accepted by pressmen. Two-thirders glutted the labor market. Compositors who were employed by the piece at night on newspapers complained bitterly about the irregularity of their working hours. Dearth of copy caused considerable loss of time, for which they were not compensated. Composition of local and domestic matters was usually completed before midnight. Intelligence from abroad did not begin to come by cable until nearly ten years later. Foreign news, which was always held to be vitally important by the editorial profession, as well as records of events from California and other remote American 2 These men subsequently united with the New York Printers' Union. ' A few months later the New York Herald advanced the price of composition to 32 cents per I,ooo ems. Under date of April ii, I850, that journal printed an article on the labor question, in which it was stated " that the Herald is the only paper in this city, with one exception, that pays the highest prices to the compositors. Prior to the agitation of these labor movements Mr. Bennett advocated remunerative prices for labor; and when the movement commenced he set an example to the proprietors of every paper in New York and to the bosses in other departments of trade by voluntarily raising his prices to the highest point." NEW YORK PRINTERS UNION. 203 coast points, was in those days obtained by mail conveyed. in slowgoing ocean vessels. Often these ships docked at their wharves late in the evening and the letters and parcels that they brought for the morning newspapers were not ready for distribution until after the printers had departed for their homes. Upon the delivery of this material messengers were immediately dispatched to the residences of the compositorial force, and the workmen, who had then retired, were frequently aroused from their slumbers and ordered to report forthwith at their respective offices to compose the latest news from the Old World and places that could be communicated with only through marine sources. These were largely the motives that impelled organization. In the meanwhile a little company. of journeymen convened in the home of Charles Walter Colburn, a Tribune compositor, at No. 48 Rutgers street, to discuss the question of forming a union, and at that first preliminary session the project was put under way, so that on December 8th, when the adjourned meeting to close up the business in aid of the Boston printers was held at Stoneall's Hotel, a resolution was passed inviting members of the craft to meet in the hall connected with that hostelry on " Saturday evening, December 22, i849, at half past 7 o'clock, for the purpose of adopting measures relative to the organization of a typographical association." At the meeting of December 8th Edgar H. Rogers was chosen chairman and George Y. Johnston secretary, and these men continued to serve in those temporary offices until after the union had passed its formative stage. Report of a plan of organization was submitted on December 22d by the committee that had been previously appointed to consider the subject, and the meeting adjourned until Saturday evening, January I2, i850, at which time 28 journeymen assembled at Stoneall's, adopted the first constitution of the New York Printers' Union, and decided that the organization should date from January i, i850. II. Initial Constitution. The original preamble to the constitution put in force by the union of printers in i850 continues to preface the fundamental law of Typographical Union No. 6. It reads: " We, the printers of New York City, in order to concentrate our efforts for the attainment of the rights of Labor, and the preservation thereof to those who work at the art of printing, and believing that a union for such purposes 204 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. must be beneficial to all printers, deem it compatible with individual rights to establish laws for the government of our craft. We therefore promulgate the following constitution." This first basic law fixed the initiation fee at $i and the yearly dues at $6.50, payable monthly or quarterly at the option of members. The minimum age limit for admission to membership was 21 years, and both journeymen and employers were permitted to join. Provision was made for the payment of sick and death benefits, and pecuniary assistance was guaranteed to needy widows and orphans of deceased members. Empowered at any future time to adopt a scale of wages, the union was prevented from initiating "any printer who may be working for less than such scale." A condensation of the constitution follows: The objects of the union shall be the maintenance of a fair rate of wages, the assistance and encouragement of good workmen, the support of members in sickness and distress, the relief of deserving printers who may visit our city in search of employment, the establishment of a library for the use and instruction of members, and to use every means in our power which may tend to the elevation of printers in the scale of social life. I. The officers of this union shall consist of a president, vice-president, a recording secretary, a financial secretary, a corresponding secretary, a treasurer, a Financial Committee of three to serve one year, a Visiting Committee of seven to serve three months, a Relief Committee of five to serve six months, and a board of five trustees to be elected annually. 2. The regular meetings of the union are to be held on the first and third Saturdays of each month, and special meetings may at any time be called, at the request of six members, signified in writing to the president. 3. Eleven members shall constitute a quorum for the transacting of business. 4. The initiation fee is $i, and application for admission may be made through any member, the applicant first depositing in the hands of the financial secretary the sum of $i. 5. At the next meeting after his proposition the union shall take his request into consideration and it shall thereupon be balloted for by ball ballots, and if the applicant shall receive three-quarters of all the ballots, he shall be entitled to a certificate of membership. 6. Any printer who has attained the age of 21 years, who is in sound health, and of good moral standing in society, may become a member by complying with the requirements of the constitution. 7. Members may pay their dues monthly if they prefer it, and should the liabilities of the union in consequence of benefits to sick and superannuated members exceed the receipts thereof, then three-quarters of the members present at a regular meeting, or at a special meeting (in which not less than 20 members shall form a quorum), shall have power to lay an assessment not to exceed the sum of $2 in any one year upon every member of the union in addition to all other constitutional dues. 8. In addition to the initiation fee of $I, the sum of $6.50 per annum will be required from each member as dues, payable quarterly on the first Saturday of April, July, October and January. (Obverse side.) Reproduction of First Working Card Issued by Horace Greeley as President of New York Printers' Union. (Reverse side.) Reproduction of First Working Card Issued by Horace Greeley as President of New York Printers' Union. I NEW YORK PRINTERS' UNION. 205 9. Members who are rendered unable to work by sickness shall receive the sum of $4 per week, and in case of death of a member's wife, $20. In case of the death of a member an assessment of 25 cents upon each member will be made for defraying the funeral expenses. The surplus, if any, to go into the general fund. io. No member shall be entitled to receive any benefits until he shall have been a member one year. I i. Whenever a new member is proposed a committee of investigation of the members shall be appointed to inquire into the qualifications of the candidate and report in writing at the next regular meeting. 12. The widows and orphans of the members who are qualified at the time of their decease shall, upon the recommendation of a committee appointed to investigate the circumstances, be allowed such assistance as the union may from time to time direct. 13. This union may at any future time adopt a scale of prices for the governance of the trade and any printer who may be working for less than such scale shall not be considered a proper person to be a member of this union. III. Horace Greeley Chosen President. Having adopted its constitution the union adjourned until Saturday evening, January I9, I850, when it met at Stoneall's public house, admitted 36 new members, and completed its organization by electing the following officers for the yearly term: President - Horace Greeley. Vice-President - Edgar H. Rogers. Recording Secretary - William H. Prindle. Financial Secretary - Robert Cunnington. Corresponding Secretary - George Y. Johnston. Treasurer - Thomas N. Rooker. It was fitting that the printers should select Horace Greeley, founder of the New York Tribune, as the first president of their union. He himself had been a struggling journeyman, and when he rose to distinction as a journalist and First publicist he advocated the rights of Labor with his Working trenchant pen and from the lecture platform, hold- Car ing that the "basis of all moral and social reform lay in a practical recognition of the right of every human being to demand of the community an opportunity to labor and to receive decent subsistence as the just reward of such labor;" furthermore maintaining that " the first if not the most important movement to be made in advance of our present social position is the organization of Labor." In 1849 he importuned the compositors to asso 206 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. date, as five years previously he had urged all journeymen to affiliate with the trade organization that was then in existence. As a proprietor he paid the highest wages, and even while futilely endeavoring to make a success of the New Yorker he had been commended for his friendliness by the New York Typographical Association, which on December 17, 1836, added his paper " to the list of price-paying offices." A true representative of the spirit of progress and reform, the great editor's ruling desire was to make the world better, and as an example of his consistency he assumed the presidency of the new union, devoting his best thought and energy to propagate its principles and promote the welfare of its members, who under the inspiration of his genius and careful guidance soon reaped the benefits of coalescence.4 Charles W. Colbur was the first member to sign the constitution, and when the working cards were issued he received No. i, with the signatures of President Greeley and Recording Secretary Prindle affixed to it. IV. Becomes Typographical Union No. 6. The New York Printers' Union was represented at the National Convention of Journeymen Printers of the United States that met in the Metropolis in December, I85o, and also had Lots Drawn delegates at the second annual session, which was Chaterme held in Baltimore, Md., in September, 1851. But Numbers. it was not until May, I852, when at the third convention, which assembled in Cincinnati, Ohio, where the New York association had three representatives, that a permanent organization was effected under the title of the National Typographical Union. Fourteen associations were represented in that conclave, and at the afternoon session of May 6th, there being some solicitude as to the subordinate union that should be honored with the first charter, it was unanimously agreed to draw lots for numbers, the sixth figure falling to New York, which thereupon became Typographical Union No. 6.5 "Near the close of the session," writes an 4 Charles McDevitt at the banquet of the New York Typographical Society on January I7, I85o, proposed this toast, which was drunk by employers and employed in attendance: " The New York Typographical Society and the New York Printers' Union: The object of the one is to elevate the moral and intellectual character of the trade, that of the other to obtain the quid pro quo for their labor. Like the twin sisters, Faith and Hope, they are always attended by Charity." 6 Charter No. i was allotted to Indianapolis, Ind. Philadelphia, Pa., received No. a; Cincinnati, 0., 3; Albany, N. Y.. 4; Columbus, O., 5; New York, N. Y., 6; Pittsburgh, Pa., 7; St. Louis, Mo., 8; Buffalo, N. Y., 9; Louisville, Ky., io; Memphis, Tenn., iI; Baltimore, Md., I2; Boston, Mass., I3; Harrisburg, Pa., I4. NEW YORK PRINTERS' UNION. 207 authority,6 " considerable anxiety was manifested as to which union should have No. i in giving out charters. The union having the oldest continued existence was thought to be entitled to precedence; but the difficulty was to decide which was the oldest, as seniority was claimed by two or three. To settle the matter it was proposed to ' jeff * for numbers, and amended to ' draw, as the most expeditious.' The drawing then took place." o Miss Augusta Lewis corresponding secretary of the International Typographical Union, in Menamin's Printers' Circular for May, 1871, page O9g. CHAPTER XVII. MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. UNDUE haste in seeking uniform wage rates and attempting to correct wrongs that for years had been insidiously creeping into the printing industry was not a part of the programme of the new union. On the contrary, conservatism dominated its councils. It waited until the first quarterly meeting, which was held at Fountain Hall, No. 149 Bowery, on Saturday evening, April 6, I850, before considering the many vital questions that affected all journeymen in the city. Then it pursued the safe and sane method of first instituting a careful inquiry into the state of the trade in all its departments, with a view to reforming such abuses as had encroached upon the rights of both the workers and their employers. I. Inquiry Before Action. To make this investigation a committee of seven able members was selected. These men were charged with the duty of collecting every item of interest concerning time lost in waiting for copy, letter and proofs; amount of proof corrected in proportion to composition; number of proofs and revises required, and whether pulled by the office or the compositors; favoritism in giving out copy; number of journeymen employed, prices paid for different kinds of work, average earnings of each person, and hours of labor; number of boys, their wages and working hours; time and manner of wage payments; general conditions of offices as to order and comfort; circumstances of presswork, job work and stereotyping —in fact everything that might be of service in arriving at a clear and just understanding of the situation of printing in the city. For more than a month the committee studied all Investigators phases of the subject that had been entrusted Report on to it, and on May i8th submitted its report, a Stateof Trade. carefully prepared, well-written document, graphically setting forth its findings. It was ascertained by the committee that in some newspaper offices compositors were engaged sixteen hours daily at insufficient rates of pay; that there [208] MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 209 was an unfair distribution of copy and favoritism; that the worst features were in small workshops, wherein prevailed the lowest prices, especially for piece composition on bookwork, the average weekly earnings being but $6; that the absence of an apprenticeship system and the indiscriminate employment of great numbers of boys had produced a superabundance of labor, causing the constant unemployment of numerous journeymen. A uniform scale of prices, regulation of apprenticeships, and the establishment of chapels were suggested as immediate correctives, while it was believed by the committee that the ultimate remedy was industrial co-operation. This illuminating paper, which sheds so much light upon conditions as they actually were in the printing trade at the beginning of I850, is so valuable and instructive that it is presented here in complete form: FELLOW MEMBERS:- The committee appointed by the union to inquire into and report on the state of trade in this city respect fully submit the following: The committee would here observe that if the object of this union was to represent the state of the trade in its worst aspect it could hardly have selected a more unsuitable time, inasmuch as the trade is at present in a state of prosperity, rare even at this time of the year and unexampled at any others Yet even now, when the prospects of journeymen are brighter than they usually are, and when all are willing to forget past trial and suffering in the present, and few care to look far into the future, your committee have facts and figures to report which justify this union in instituting this inquiry and demands some immediate measures at their hands to remedy the evils which these facts and figures prove to exist. Your committee have secured returns from 82 printing offices in this city; these returns embrace all the daily papers, most of the weekly journals, together with the principal bookwork and jobbing offices, and some few of the smaller ones; but we have reason to believe the total number of printing offices in this city is not less than 150. The committee believe that the worst features of the trade are to be found in the smaller offices, holes and corers where boys do the work which men are wanting, and at half or less than half men's wages. There are a considerable number of these places scattered about the Worst Fetures city and, although the amount of work done in each is small, in Small the aggregate is considerable and the effect is alike injurious Workshops. to honorable employers and to workmen. From this class of offices we could get no returns which were reliable, and we preferred to omit them altogether rather than use such as might prove fallacious. Thus then we think that we have a right to say that this report presents only the best aspect of the trade and that we are warranted in saying that if such are the best features of the printing business, it is quite time that all who feel an interest in it should be up and doing to remove the evils under which it at present labors. In the 82 offices from which we have received returns there are employed about 850 journeymen and 300 boys; and the nearest estimate we can form of 2 IO NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHI CAL UNION NUMBER SIX. the entire number of persons employed in the printing business in this city is over 2,000, who may be classified thus: Foremen, i5o; compositors, i,000; pressmen, 200; boys at case, 600; boys at press, Ioo; girls at press, ioo; total, say, 2,150. In this report we shall confine our observations chiefly to the journeymen and boys. Your committee will now proceed to point out some of the chief evils which affect the trade, and first of the rate of pay: We find that there is only one office which pays 32 cents per I,oooI and six which pay 30 Low Wage cents, from which they gradually decline downward to 17 Rates arid cents. This last is not a common price, but we think we are Earings. only doing an act of simple justice in referring to one considerable office which employs journeymen at this price (or less if their necessities are sharp enough to compel thereto), and gives them the most solid matter even at that. But, although 17 cents is not a common price, 23 cents per I,000 is, and we would ask if that is a fair compensation for the toil, both mental and bodily, which a printer must undergo? Allowing for time lost in waiting for letter, copy and proofs, in correcting extra proofs and other unavoidable delays, compositors do not average over 5,ooo ems per day, which will bring (not quite) $7 per week; and when the price of food, the expense of fuel, clothing and other necessaries and the enormous rate of house rent is considered, who will say that even the most prudent can save any portion of his scanty earnings for the time of sickness or debility or to provide for his family when he shall be removed from among them? It may here be objected that all are not paid so low, some get good wages, etc. We admit it; but if we understand the objects of this union aright, and more particularly in its direct action in ordering this report, it is that all who are capable of doing a fair day's work should have a fair day's wages for doing it. To prevent any misconception on this subject your committee will now show what is the average earnings of our craft. Our statistics tell us that in five of the best paying offices in the city, that is to say, in those offices where men are able to earn the most money, the men average at the rate of $12.50 per week. But our statistics Long also tell that those offices are daily paper offices, where from Working the nature of the work they are obliged to offer extra pay to Hours. tempt the very best hands in the trade to labor an average of sixteen hours per day, and to expose themselves to certain premature old age and probable early death. If proof of this were wanting your committee could point to a certain office (which is not a whit more unhealthy or badly managed than others) where they reckon to lose (that is, to kill) one man every eighteen months, or two years. But those whom we are addressing must have had more or less experience in these matters, and they will not for a moment dispute it; to those who have not we will only say we sincerely hope they may never have such experience. We come now to the second class. Those are the best workmen on the evening and weekly papers and in the best bookwork and jobbing offices. The compositors get from 25 to 29 cents per i,000 and the pressmen from $8 to $io per week, or an average of $9 per week when they are at work, for it must be remembered that the printer is as subject to the fluctuations of trade as any other tradesman, and even when in work, if he 1 " Since this report was submitted to the union the proprietors of another office (daily) have voluntarily advanced their price to 32 cents per I,ooo."- Supplemental statement by committee. MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 2II has not to wait for fine weather, he has to wait for copy, for letter, for proofs, for sorts, and for many other things, each of which, taken separately, is trifling, but the total of which makes itself seen and felt in the week's earnings. Let us now consider the condition of the third class- those whom circumstances compel to work in the meaner kinds of book and job offices and whose compensation varies from 17 to 25 cents. These men get the lean, solid " dig," and truly it would be better for them to dig dirt! In the fresh, pure air, with the sun shining brightly above and the cheerful sounds and pleasant scenes of nature all around them, they could not but be happier than they are, buried in the office from " earliest dawn to dewy eve," even if they did earn a little less and had less to spend in excitement. But what do these men earn? Our statistics show that when in work their average earnings do not exceed $6 per week! which is literally less than laborers' wages. It must also be remembered that this class (which is by far the most numerous) are more frequently out of work than any other; owing to circumstances to which we shall presently allude they are to be had at any time, and in any quantity; thus great numbers of them are only " taken on for the job," and when the job is completed they are discharged, to be out of work perhaps longer than they were in. It will be at once perceived that this precarious description of employ reduces their earnings to a miserable pittance indeed; it deprives them of all the comforts and many of the necessaries of life, and renders life itself a mere existence, hardly worth the struggle necessary to maintain it. We believe it was chiefly to raise this lowest class of our fellow-workmen that this union was formed; and it was to expose the evils under which they labor, and by bringing the light of public opinion to bear upon them, to cause them to melt away before a more liberal policy that this report was ordered and prepared, and we have no hesitation in saying that if this class of the working printers will exert themselves in this matter as they should do, great and permanent benefits will inevitably ensue. Your committee would here state that from the best returns which they have been able to procure there is an average of 300 men out of work all the year round. Another evil which presses heavily on the workmen is bad and irregular pay. In this respect NewYork is better than it has been, but there isstill plentyof room for improvement; and we feel convinced that we have only to point out this evil and (in some cases) it will be remedied. Bad and In the returns in the hands of your committee the offices Irregular marked as " bad pay," that is, offices in which the workmen PY. are doubtful if they will ever get their pay, are but few; but those marked " irregular " are quite too numerous. By " irregular " we distinguish those offices which have the means of paying in full every week, but preferring their own interests to those of their employees " pay once a fortnight," and then pay only in part, and always in country bills. A word or two on the "good pay," that is, those offices which pay in full every Saturday and in gold, silver and good bills, which are taken in the way of trade whether city bills or not. Most of the daily papers, many of the weeklies and some few of the book and job offices come under this head and they are now sufficiently numerous to make the " irregular " paying offices appear the more odious, and the men who work in them the more discontented thereat. The workingman generally knows by sad experience that if he does not receive his money when it is due he must go for what he wants on credit; he either gets worse articles or he pays more for 212 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. them than if he purchased them for cash. This makes him discontented, he considers himself wronged, and defrauded of his "hard-earned penny fee," and it is ten to one if his employer does not in the long run lose more by his workman's concealed dissatisfaction than he has gained by the wrongful use of his money. There is another practice which prevails in some offices and to which, as it causes much dissatisfaction, we think we should not be doing our duty if we did not direct your attention; we allude to the unfair distribution Unfair of copy. This committee does not allege this as a general Distribution thing; quite the reverse, but we have returns before us which of Copy - show that the practice is carried on in some offices to an extent to which we can only apply the word disgraceful. Without going very far we could point out an office in which all the poetry and work of a like character is given to the two-thirders, the leaded matter to the hands on time, while the solid invariably falls to the piece hands. In other cases it assumes theshapeof favoritism and certain men who are noted for their amenity of manners and plasticity of sentiments to the foreman always get the fat, while others, men who think civility is preferable to servility, have to take the refuse. These and a variety of minor grievances react on the employers in a way which they do not always feel the effects immediately; they are too apt to overlook; although they are sure to find it out (to their cost) in the long run. We allude to the fact that every now and then one of their best and steadiest workmen, worn out and disgusted by continual toil and the scanty remuneration he receives, makes a great effort, and getting together materials he goes to work for himself. Here, then, is another rival, another competitor for public patronage, and it is a long odds but he repays the wrongs which he had received from his former employer, by underbidding him. Many of these small employers, after using any and every means to keep themselves afloat (and injuring the trade as much as they are able) go down; and either return to the ranks or leave the city to try elsewhere; but there are more who keep up and for many years hang about the skirts of the trade, picking up stray jobs here and there, taking them for any price they can get, and occasionally entering into competition with the large employers, sometimes succeed in reducing his prices without in any way benefiting themselves. All these evils might have been avoided by the employers pursuing a more liberal policy towards the employees. There are few workingmen who would risk the toil and cares of an employer and the probable failure, and the loss which that failure necessarily involves if they were satisfied with their present situation. If employers would look this matter fairly in the face and endeavor to make those men who suit them satisfied with their present situations there would be less printing offices, but more paying ones. Having thus pointed out some of the most prominent evils which afflict our trade it may not be deemed inexpedient to point out some of the chief causes of them, so that knowing the causes we may be better able Chief to apply an efficient remedy. Causes of That the supply of any article always regulates the price Evls. of that article is an axiom seldom disputed; and that this axiom applies to labor as much as to anything or marketable commodity few will be disposed to deny. Thus then there can be no dispute that the present low rate of wages is the natural consequences of the super MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 2I3 abundance of labor in the market, and your committee are of opinion that this superabundance of labor is chiefly caused by the present wholesale system of putting boys to the business, for we cannot call it apprenticing them, an indentured apprentice being almost (if not quite) unknown in New York City. Let us briefly state how boys are usually brought into the business and how the thing works: An employer has taken a work at a very low rate (to prevent someone else getting it at a fair rate) and to make it pay he must take on two or three extra boys. Very well - Menace of some of the boys about the place are asked, "How would Superfluous you like to work at the case and have all you can earn?" Boy Labor. California on a small scale rises on their enraptured vision, and another hour sees them mounted on a type box, with a " stick " in hand, busily engaged in putting a case in pi. The first six hours it is fine fun for them; the next six days it is a perfect nuisance to them and they are a perfect nuisance to all around them; within the first six months they become remarkably clever and after that it is doubtful whether the employer would profit or lose by their running away. The novelty of the thing is now over, it is all labor and they soon get discontented with the pittance they receive, and hearing that others get more than they do, they run away, there being nothing to prevent them, and great facilities for travel. They soon get work at one- Learn Trade half or two-thirds of their earnings (these sorts of lads are When They sure of work from those selfish employers who care not what re Journymen. means they use to accomplish their end),and after working a few years for a fraction of their earnings they are thrown out of employ to make room forfreshvictimsof thecupidityof the employer. This system is continually going on; boys going from one office and from one part of the country to another, are objects of no solicitude to any one. The employer says, " If they stay with me, good - I shall get so much good out of them; if they go away I must get so many more in place of them." The workman's only interest is against them; it is not likely that he will take any pains to make them good workmen lest they should cut his own throat hereafter; so the literally unfortunate boy learns little or nothing during the time he is (supposed to be) an apprentice and unless he happens to have intellect enough to learn the printing business in a hat factory he bids fair to be turned into the trade as a bad workman, and thus in another mode inflict a fresh and more permanent injury on the trade, as we shall see hereafter. No practical printer will dispute the fact that there are a great number of young men, " just out of their time," who know nothing beyond mere composition and have in fact to learn their trade when they are journeymen. Your committee have information of boys having been put on work when they first went to the business and never worked on any other till they were out. They never made up a page, or imposed a form - hardly corrected their own matter. When those young men became (by the lapse of time) journeymen what were they fit for? Just what they are- the means of cutting down the wages of better workmen than themselves by giving mean employers the excuse, " Oh! we can't afford to give more to such inferior workmen," and " Oh! we can't give more to one than another; it would cause such constant grumbling and dissatisfaction in the office." Besides these evils, which may be considered as indirect, the greater number,of boys taken into the trade acts directly in keeping men out and in bringing 214 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. far more men into the business than is necessary for the work there is to do. Let us give an illustration of each of these modes of direct injury. One illustration shall serve for both. There is a large office in this city which has been established many years, and has turned out an immense quantity of cheap and some very good work. The employers have made large fortunes by the assistance of the industry and intellect of workingmen. They are religious men; they are accounted honorable men and the friends of the working classes; and we sincerely believe they are so, where their interests and the interests of the working classes do not clash. Nay, more. We sincerely believe that the principals of this establishment are more the friends of the workingman than some of their underlings, and that they are willing to do more for them than those who have just left the ranks, we are willing to admit. But what is the state of this office? Our statistics show that there are 20 boys to 23 men employed in their composing room. Now, if we give 20 years as the average life of a printer after the expiration of his apprenticeship, and five years as the average term which boys serve, we shall find that by the time the 23 men are removed from " the struggle of life" there are 8o to replace them, and although the printing business has increased greatly of late years, yet we have a right to expect that it will ever increase in that ratio. If we reckon that three of these lads do about two men's work, then we must also remember that these 20 boys keep fourteen men out of work all the time and thus as a double injury to the journeyman: first by keeping him out of work at present and second by lessening his chance of work for the future. Your committee cannot help thinking that if this matter were fairly laid before this and other similar establishments the employers might be induced to make a considerable change in this matter, more especially if we could show ( as we propose presently to do) that boys are not so profitable to their employers as many of them imagine. Nor need employers fear that any restrictions which they might make in their offices would even have the effect of causing a scarcity of hands or a difficulty in procuring a sufficiency of men to do the work in any emergency which might arise. There are always enough boys brought into the trade by country offices, and the holes and corners to which we before alluded, to amply supply the cities and a trifle over. Before quitting this most important part of our subject we would say a few words as to the profits derived from boys' labor. Your committee do sincerely believe that if employers who are conscientious men could really know the time that is lost by men on time in instructing them (where they are instructed) in correcting their errors, in preventing and repairing their mischief or neglect and in making good their deficiencies; the injury done to, and frequently wanton waste of materials; the room they occupy, and the very inconsiderable amount of work done by them, when on time, they would not inflict such a positive and serious injury on their workmen for such a very trifling benefit to themselves. There is another point of view, in which the boy system appears a positive loss to the large employer. It is this: By their taking such a number of boys they sanction and uphold a system which injures them (in proportion) as much as it does the journeymen; for let them take as many boys as they will, the small employers will take more (proportionately) and let them pay as little as they may, the small employers will pay less. Our statistics show us that one of these small employers (small in every respect) pays his boys $i per week; while another rewards their overwork (hours stolen from the season of their natural rest) with the munificent sum of 64 cents per I,000. Such offices as those we previously alluded to can never compete with such holes MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 215 and corners as these latter. They would be ashamed to offer such prices and ashamed to employ those who would take them. Then why not unite with us to put down this infamous system, a system alike injurious to all who wish to act honestly and receive a fair compensation for either the capital employed or the labor bestowed? It is to the interest of every printer to keep his profession a little above the starvation mark, and this can only be done by using every means within his power to put down the present system of reckless and desperate competition. Another cause of the present low rate of pay is the great number of bad and floating workmen with which our city abounds. We have already pointed out how some of these are brought into the trade and how they operate to reduce prices; but New York has not all Incompetent this evil to answer for; a great number of bad and floating Floating workmen come to this city from all parts of the Union and the Workmen. world, and these latter form the very worst kind of workmen, for as they generally come nearly destitute of resources and quite destitute of friends, and as unfortunately they must eat and sleep somewhere, they fall easy victims to those who are always on the lookout for such and take anything that is offered them. These extremely low prices then become " the established scale of prices " in that office, and if any good and respectable workman be forced by adverse circumstances to work therein he must also succumb or be out of work when he can least afford it. But perhaps the chief cause of the present low rate of remuneration and all the other evils which affect our trade is the unaccountable apathy and indifference of the workmen themselves. To describe it minutely would be a work of supererogation; all must be Unaccountable aware of it - most must feel it in themselves; and we might Apathy of pass it altogether if it were not for the hope that some might Pinters. be aroused sufficiently to awake to the necessity of speaking out now or ever after holding their peace. In this hope your committee would respectfully but earnestly ask every journeyman printer: First - If the statements in this report are not strictly true? Second - If the present state of things is desirable or as it should be? Third - If he expects that it will get better of itself or that employers will make it better for our especial benefit? Fourth - If he has any right to expect that his fellow-workmen are to do all the work that he may reap the benefit without even putting forth his hand to help or assist? Fifth - Or, rather, if he is not determined that from this moment he will devote all his best energies to the regeneration of his once honored and always honorable (because in the highest degree useful) craft and strive to work out its salvation without fear or trembling, but with the fixed resolution to leave the trade at least a little better than he found it? If the journeymen printers will do this generally each one for himself and quite irrespective of " What are the others going to do? " our work will be easy and our triumph complete. Remember that the assistance we ask is so small on your part and so replete with benefits to yourselves that it is directly to your interest to render it. We recommend no strike; on the contrary we deprecate all violent measures. Our weapons must be moral suasion and combined with vigorous action by ourselves and for ourselves. If they wish good to themselves let them come up with us and help us. 216 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Your committee having thus pointed out the more prominent grievances of the trade and what they conceive to be the chief causes of them will now endeavor to indicate such remedies as appear best calculated to eradiImmediate cate them. We will first speak of the immediate or present Remedies remedies, and afterward of what we believe to be the only Recommended ultimate and real remedy for the evils which must always exist to a greater or lesser extent in the relations of employer and employee: First - A uniform scale of prices: The advantage of the general adoption of such a scale would be: To the journeyman it would secure a uniformity of payments which would render his earnings a matter of cerUniform tainty instead of doubt. Under such a scale his remuneraWage tion would depend on his own exertions instead of the office Sale. in which he might happen to work, and it would prevent that heart-burning and discontent which he cannot help but feel when compelled to labor for less than he has been accustomed to receive. To the honorable employer such a scale would be of still more value, as its tendency would be to destroy the present system of competition which not only cuts down journeymen's wages but also employers' profits. If all were compelled to pay one uniform price for the same kind of labor all would be on an equal footing in their attempts to get work, and their respective success and profit would depend on their own energy, skill and business capabilities rather than on their capability of screwing down men to the lowest possible price and filling their offices with boys. Second - By reducing the number of apprentices: This should be done by the mutual agreement of the employers and men. The employers might get rid of their worst boys and employ good and efficient men Unvarying (who would earn their money) instead. Those boys who were Apprenticeship kept should be bound by an indenture or legal instrument System. which would compel them to serve a certain number of years at the business. They should be placed at the commencement of their time under some experienced workman who shall have some interest in the proficiency of the apprentice and who would then do his best to make him a good and capable workman, fit to go into any office. Your committee believe that such an arrangement as the above would be advantageous to the employer by giving him a few good, steady apprentices on whom he could depend while in his office and of whom he would not be ashamed when they were out of it; to the men by reducing the number of boys and making those who are to be their fellow-workmen more fit to be so, and to the apprentices themselves it would be of incalculable benefit, for instead of having to wander from office to office picking up here a little and there a little of that knowledge and information which is now always given grudgingly, and as though it were a direct robbery of the men, they would then be regularly bound to some respectable employer, who would be bound to teach them (or cause them to be taught) their trade. They would be placed under the care and instruction of some experienced workman, who would feel an interest and take a pride in their welfare and proficiency. They would be recognized by all who knew them as having a right to work at the business; and when they had completed their term of apprenticeship they would have their indenture to serve as a certificate of their right to work at the business wherever they might go. MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 217 Third - The establishment of chapels in the offices: The chapel is the best and least objectionable mode of regulating the internal affairs of the office and settling disagreements between employers and men which can possibly be devised. The chapel is a meeting of all the Formation of journeymen (and the apprentices in the last year of their Chapels time), who elect one of their members as "father," who Sugeted. presides over the meetings, and (except on extraordinary occasions) acts as their spokesman. The chapel may meet at certain fixed times or may be called together in the office at any time or in any emergency by the father (or by two or three journeymen signifying their wish or the necessity for a chapel) to consider and settle any business that may arise which concerns the men generally. Employers who might object to the general body of printers legislating for "their offices" cannot reasonably object to their own workmen (who are immediately concerned) meeting together and having a voice in matters in which they have so great an interest. To the men, too, it is of the greatest importance, for it is well known that many things may be corrected and satisfactorily adjusted when it is known to be the wish of all, which would be utterly neglected if mentioned by one or two. As an illustration of this your committee are of opinion that " irregular pay " might very soon become " good pay " in most offices, if the men would unitedly lay the matter before the employer. Unfair distribution of copy and favoritism might also be adjusted in the same way and a number of other grievances which prevail in certain offices might thus be corrected by the men working in those offices without going out of them. The chapel should also frame a set of rules for the government of the men in the office, for the prevention of unfair conduct toward each other, and ordain a schedule of fines to be levied for the infraction of the rules; such fines to be appropriated as the chapel might direct. Such laws being made and enforced by the men themselves and being for their own benefit and comfort, would be more strictly observed than any could be which were made by the employer. The chapel is a very old institution. It is in universal use in all large towns and cities in Great Britain, where it is of the greatest service in settling the internal affairs of the office, and its authority is seldom questioned or defied. Chapels were in general use in New Orleans a few years since, where they also exercised a most beneficial influence on the trade, but owing to a variety of causes they have dwindled away considerably of late, and prices have dwindled with them. Fourth - The efforts of this union with the employers: Your committee are decidedly of opinion that many of the grievances which the trade at present labors under might be removed or mitigated by a respectful and reasonable remonstrance of the employees made through Employers a committee of this union. Your committee in the course Favor Better of its labors has found a disposition to adopt any measures Conditions. calculated to benefit the trade quite as general among the employers as among the men. Several have already expressed a readiness to pay any scale of prices which the trade may adopt, provided its adoption be general; and we are of opinion that if a fair and reasonable scale of prices is adopted by this union there are very few among the fair and honorable employers who will refuse to be governed by it. Fifth - The efforts of the men: This, which should be the first, we have placed last for the simple reason that we feel the greatest difficulty in knowing what to say on this subject. To your committee it appears strange; nay, per 2i8 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. fectly unnatural, to urge men to attend to their own interests; and it is only by observing the short-sighted view which workingmen generally take of their own interests that we can account for the fact that men will Activity of go early and stop late; that they will toil and work themWorkers selves to death for others' interests, and yet will not bestow Urged. an hour or two once a fortnight for their own; they will be continually grumbling at what they term wrongs, and yet will never make a single effort to remove them. If your committee thought it necessary or that it would be conducive to the interests of the trade, they would have introduced a whole string of clap-trap and stereotyped maxims with which leaders are wont to amuse the people, such as " Who would be free themselves must strike the blow," " Union is strength," etc., but they do not; and they will simply observe to their fellow-workmen that if they want a thing done they must at least help to do it. If they want their wagon out of the rut it is in at present they must put their shoulders to the wheel, for we are quite certain that it is only those who help themselves who either are or deserve to be helped. Such are the means which your committee recommend for the present temporary relief of our craft. The ultimate and only radical cure we believe to be the establishment of joint stock printing offices, or, in other words, printing offices owned and worked by practical workingmen -offices in which all the men who work Industrial in them shall have an immediate and pecuniary interest; Co-operation the offices, in short, where every man shall feel that he is working Ultimate Cure, for himself and not for another. That such offices can be established by the combined efforts of workingmen, the workmen of France in a considerable number of instances, and the workmen of Germany, England and latterly of America have proved; and that they can be efficiently and profitably conducted might be positively asserted (even if we had no experience to guide us) from some -simple and undeniable facts - facts on which we would recommend all to ponder; namely, that all large establishments have to trust to workingmen for the proper working of all departments; that nearly all large establishments were originally small ones and that the most successful and best conducted offices in this city are conducted by those who were originally workingmen! If these propositions can be denied our whole design falls to the ground, our whole labor is vain and workingmen must be contented to be the slaves of capitalists forever; but if it be true that workingmen can successfully conduct business for others, then we assert that they can conduct it as successfully and even more profitably for themselves. The question now arises, will they do it? It is for themselves to answer. It is for us now briefly to recapitulate the main points of Recapitulation, this report and close. Thus, then, your committee report that notwithstanding the state of the trade is much better now than it usually is there is a great and just cause of complaint of - The exceedingly low rate of pay. Irregular and bad pay. Unfair distribution of copy and favoritism. The great number of boys. Bad and floating workmen. The apathy and indifference of the workmen. MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 219 They recommend as present remedies: A uniform scale of prices. The reduction of the number of boys. The establishment of chapels. The efforts of the union with the employers. The efforts of the men. For an ultimate remedy: The establishment of joint-stock printing offices by the workingmen. And now, regretting that this report could not have been more complete in its statistics and more worthy of your acceptance in all its features, it is respectfully submitted to you. HENRY J. CRATE, EDWARD CUTTLE, C. WALTER COLBURN, H. A. GUILD, W. L. STUBBS, RICHARD CROOKER, WILLIAM KILDARE. MAY I3, I850. II. Printers' Mass Meeting Considers the Report. Desirous of acquainting the whole trade of the conditions as they really were the union, at the session that the foregoing report was received, decided to call a mass meeting of printers, both union and non-union, besides employers, and submit to their judgment the findings of the committee. That general assemblage was held at Tammany Hall on Saturday evening, May 25th, and there were present some 600 persons, mostly journeymen. Edgar H. Rogers called the meeting to order and James White was made chairman. The history and objects of the New York Printers' Union were then reviewed by Mr. Rogers, who stated the manner in which the data for the report on the state of trade had been obtained. Presently there were loud cries for " Greeley! " and amidst vociferous cheers Horace Greeley ascended the platform and delivered a brief but pointed speech. He said he was glad to embrace the opportunity to address the printers Horace Greeley of New York; that what he should say would be of Addresses the a sober nature, and he wished to be listened to with General Trade. patient attention. "I am one who believes that good wages are of the first importance to all trades," declared the president. "I also believe that the printers of the city generally 220 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. are very inadequately compensated. While the journeyman ship carpenter gets $I5 per week the journeyman printer, whose labor tasks not only the physical but the mental energies, realizes less than $io per week. What is the reason for this difference, and how shall it be remedied? When I first began work in this city I saw men around me on stereotype work getting less than $7 per weekscarcely more than the wages of a day laborer on the streets. Then the printer must spend five years of his youth in acquiring his art; and to be a decent printer he must be well informed in the literature and news of the day. Surely these requirements should command a higher remuneration than the day laborer is offered for the mere use of his hands. What are the causes of the depression which exists in our trade? One is the great number of apprentices turned out by the country offices. The apprentices of the city are not numerous and have little effect. For my part, I will not take apprentices, and have refused the solicitations of relatives and friends, telling them that the city is not the place to learn the printing business. The country is the great nursery of apprentices. Every little village will have a newspaper of its own, for the 6clat of the thing, or to show their smartness; so they seduce some printer to get a handful of materials and start upon a list of three or four hundred non-paying subscribers and a dozen advertisers, who patronize, Too Many but never pay; so in order to live he is obliged to Country take a lot of boys. Through these means some Apprentices. two or three hundred boys, I fear, are annually driven to the city, because the country printers cannot afford to keep them at journeymen's wages. Of course we cannot employ them all, and they immediately enter into competition with the workmen already here. By this means we have always a great many more workmen than can be employed even at low prices. I am an employer, and am in favor of Ease of paying good wages; I believe it is for my interest Competition to pay the highest prices, if not above those of a Curse. other cities. The curse of our trade is the ease of competition, and the facility with which newspapers may be set up. I believe it would be for the advantage of established journals and the larger book printers to advance the rate of wages 25 per cent. What is the difference to the employers what the rate of wages is if it be uniform? The extra money which they would pay out at maximum prices would return to them in the form of diminished competition. The interest of prosperity is always on the side of good prices. I call myself a prosperous workman, and I MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 221 do not complain at paying full prices for labor. Besides, something is due to the proper dignity and respectability which can only be maintained by giving to the journeyman the highest reasonable rate of compensation. But how shall Just and we come at it? If we cannot establish just and Endurable endurable rates in such a time as this we cannot Wage Rates. do it at all. We are, in the main, prosperous; the country is prosperous; business is good; money is plenty; labor is in demand; many of our journeymen friends, say 300 to 500, have left us for California, thus taking off competition for work; publishers of books and papers are doing well; there is a better demand now for our labor and its products than at any period within the last 20 years; advertisements appear daily for journeymen, and a few days since I was treated to the novelty of a visit from an employer who wanted two journeymen and didn't.know where to get them. If this opportunity should pass and the revulsions which are sure to follow such unexampled prosperity come upon us, and find that we have done nothing toward improving our condition, then we must giveup hope for the present Something Good Will generation. I joined the union in the hope that ome from something good would come of it. I expect good Association. from it. But I recommend no strike-no hasty attempts at coercive measures. I would suggest a committee of the coolest heads among the journeymen to confer with employers and agree upon a scale of prices; consider all things and form it with a strict regard to justice, make it fair and equal, and then resolve that it shall be paid. As things now are a man does not know when he goes to work in an office what he is to get. Such is not the case in London or Paris; in no other city is there such anarchy and confusion." President Greeley proceeded to show the effect of the prevailing ruinous competition upon publishers who were willing to pay fair wages, contending that this state of anarchy offered a perpetual premium for low wages. "It is important that journeymen should have some rule which should be indisputable," suggested the speaker. " I hope a strike will not be necessary, and I believe a fair scale can be made that two-thirds of the employers will agree to pay - the other third will then be obliged to pay it." He referred to the singular apathy of printers in regard to matters that most concerned them, and urged immediate action before the falling off of business and the coming of winter should make it necessary for men to retain their places at any pay. " I hope a careful committee, representing 222 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. all branches of the business, will be ordered," he urged at the conclusion of his remarks, which were persistently applauded, " and go to work at once. There is no reason why by the Fourth of July there should not be a just and potent scale of prices, which should be the standard in all cases, and valid for the collection of a debt of labor in a court of law." The report on the state of trade was then read State eport and approved as the sentiment of the meeting; after Trade Report Approved. which action the following resolutions were unanimously adopted: Resolved, That " a fair day's pay for a fair day's work " is the clear dictate of natural justice, general interest and sincere philanthropy; and we appeal to employers, journeymen, publishers and our fellow-citizens generally for sympathy and aid in our effort to establish a just and uniform scale of prices for printing in every department. Resolved, That experience has abundantly proved that the surrender of our business to the unregulated, unlimited operation of the vaunted " law of supply and demand "- that is, to the law that " might makes right "- is in effect to empower the least honorable and most avaricious employers to establish prices for our labor to which the generous and upright are constrained at least to conform, under penalty of seeing their business taken from them by underworkers and the wholesale employers of runaway apprentices and boys unacquainted with the rudiments of our trade. Resolved, That we hereby resolve to unite in one more earnest and thorough effort to establish a uniform scale of prices for journeymen's work in every branch of our trade, and we entreat the co-operation of employers as well as journeymen in procuring, perfecting and sustaining such scale. Resolved, That we tender our thanks to the Printers' Union for their graphic and faithful report on the state of the trade, and rejoice that the facts therein presented have been so clearly presented to the public, never doubting that the exposure of flagrant abuses is a great step toward their thorough correction. Discussion was then had upon the condition of the trade and the best remedy to apply for the benefit of those engaged at the printing business. Various motions and amendments were Union Requested made, with no decided action. Some desired the to Prepare a meeting to act independently, while others thought Scale of Prices. the union should carry out the work. A show of hands of those who were minded to join the association was called for. At least Ioo thus signified their intention, and during the evening more than 50 names were proposed for membership. After a free interchange of opinions, indulged in by Messrs. Charles McDevitt, C. W. Colbum, E. H. Rogers, William H. Prindle, T. N. Rooker, Samuel Sloan and others, Peter C. Baker, former president of the New York Typographical Society, offered MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 223 the following resolution, which was passed without a dissenting vote, and the meeting adjourned: Resolved, That the New York Printers' Union be requested to prepare a scale of prices and report the same at a future time, as early as convenient, to a mass meeting of the printers of this city. " It is evident, from the large attendance and the unusual interest manifested," commented the Tribune of May 2 7th in an article respecting the meeting, " that this is the favorable moment for a move toward relief from the present uncertain condition of work and remuneration. We trust that every printer will recollect that it is by a union of all, or at least of a great majority of the journeymen, that this object can be achieved. Let them be as one man, united and determined to stay united, and all fair and honorable concessions will come, without strikes or vain parades or noisy vaporing. Remember, in union -and in union alone -there is strength." III. First Scale Committee Appointed. Members of the union took ample time to analyze and digest the committee's report before giving consideration to its recommendations, as well as the resolutions of the printers' mass meeting. They met in full force on the night of June 3d, when a spirited debate ensued upon the question of appointing a committee of thirteen to draft a scale of prices. The resolution was carried, but as 95 propositions for membership were received at that meeting it was decided to defer for a fortnight the selection of the Scale Committee in order to give this large reinforcement an opportunity to participate in its formation. Again the union journeymen assembled in large numbers on the night of June I5th, in the morning of which date the Tribune announced that " all who are members of the New York Printers' Union are expected to be at the meeting to-night. The committee to draft the scale of prices is to be appointed, and on the action of this committee the gravest interests of the trade will depend. It is therefore especially important that the most potential, well-informed, experienced and prudent men should be selected. We hope to see every member of the union in attendance and that this important committee will be the very best that the deliberative judgment of the whole membership can choose. Those who do not attend on this occasion will have not even the poor privilege of 224 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. grumbling, if anything goes wrong. Now, show yourselves, for an hour or two at least, interested in your own welfare. Look out for your own pockets. You have ' trusted luck ' and slept in ' masterly inactivity' long enough - it is time to work!" The committee of thirteen to prepare the wage scale was chosen from among the representatives of all branches of the trade - consisting of five from book and stereotype offices, three from daily newspapers, two from pressrooms, two from job offices, and one from a weekly paper. The members of the committee immediately began their task, which was completed early in September, when it was decided by the union to accept the tentative schedule and submit it to the employers for their consideration before making a formal demand for its general adoption. President Greeley remained conspicuously active in the movement for uniform wages. In the Tribune of September 3d he gave expression to his thought on the question. " We trust Horace Greeley the scale will be generally acquiesced in," he wrote, Agitates for " but that, whether content with it or not, a meeting Uniform Wages. of employing printers will be called to consider it, and generally attended. There ought obviously to be some uniform standard or scale to be appealed to in case of difference as to the proper compensation for any work done. Anarchy, uncertainty and chaos on this subject are all against the fair, regular, live-and-let-live employer, who wants good work done by good workmen and is willing to pay for it; and benefit only the niggard who calculates to enrich himself by grinding the face of the poor and robbing Labor of its honest due. All we ask is a reasonable and explicit scale of prices, agreed to by employers and journeymen, and binding until both parties consent to a change. Such a one may now be had if the honorable and fair-dealing employers will confer with the journeymen in establishing it. We entreat them to consider the matter and act." Thirteen printing firms issued a call for a meeting of employers for September 5th, the notification stating that " in view of the present state of business we believe that much benefit would result from a free and full interchange of sentiment upon the various matters and interests connected with the prosperity of the profession." Erastus Brooks, of the Express, was chairman of the meeting, which was held at the Printers' Library, No. 300 Broadway, and the scale proposed by the union was after some discussion referred to a committee of nine, with directions to report on September 25th. Representatives of 33 establishments convened in the City Hotel MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 225 on that date, received and deliberated upon the report of their committee, and when the matter came to a vote the scale of prices was rejected - there being fourteen yeas and nineteen nays. "We had hoped for a different result," Majority of commented the Tribune of the following day, "or Emloyer Reject at least for some sort of compromise proposition, Proposed Scale. and we cannot but regret this peremptory rejection. We still think that if the employers could vote according to the extent of their business the scale would in the main be acceded to. We know that several of the largest, most influential and enterprising firms in the trade are willing to accede to the request of the journeymen. We are informed that the principal reason for the rejection was that publishers had stated that they would not advance contract prices in proportion. A prudent and firm course on the part of those most interested may yet bring about a satisfactory adjustment. The matter will come before the Printers' Union on Saturday night, when every member should be in his place." Well wishes for their Metropolitan brethren and regrets at the attitude of a majority of their employers were expressed by the Albany Printers' Union on September 28th, and the resolutions it adopted, signed by Giles F. Winne, Albany Printers' president, and A. F. Chatfield, recording secretary, Union Extends were transmitted to the New York association. Well Wishes. These Albanians had " learned with regret that a part of the New York employers had rejected the scale of prices submitted to them by the New York Printers' Union, and that we recommend to that union to be of good cheer, and to maintain with firmness and undiminished interest, while they keep in view and hope for that 'good time coming,' which is the inherent right of the workingman; that we will concur in whatever alternative our New York brethren may adopt, and show to them our appreciation of their rights, by a strict adherence to all that is considered honorable, just and fair by the craft." IV. Adoption of First Scale of Prices. Cautiously did the union proceed. A second Scale Committee was appointed, charged with the duty of modifying, if feasible, the demands in the original draft. For almost two months every section 8 226 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. of the projected wage schedule was considered with care. Finally, on October 26, I850, the scale was adopted as a whole and ordered to be proclaimed on February i, 1851, thus giving employers what was regarded to be sufficient time in which to make preparations for its payment. It provided that compositors employed by the piece on morning newspapers should receive 32 cents per I,ooo ems, and 36 cents when engaged exclusively at night, while for time work the rate was fixed at " not less than $14 per week of six days, twelve hours to constitute a day's work. When employed on night situations two hours shall be devoted in the afternoon to distribution and seven hours at night (from 7 P. M. to 2 A. M.), and they shall be paid $1I per week." For work in the daytime on morning papers the piece rate was 28 cents per I,ooo ems and the time scale $io weekly, which were also the prices on evening, weekly, semi-weekly and triweekly papers, daily working time being ten hours. In morning newspaper establishments provision was made that " when required to remain in the office unemployed during the stipulated hours for composition the compositor shall receive not less than 25 cents per hour for such standing time, it being understood of course that he shall perform any other reasonable work that the employer may appoint during such standing time." It was also provided that "when compositors are called upon before the regular hour for commencing composition, in case of the arrival of a steamer, etc., they shall be paid not less than $i each for such call, and be entitled to the matter they set." Where both week and piece workers were employed in newspaper offices it was demanded that the fat and lean copy be distributed equally among them. Piece rates on bookwork in the English language were for reprint and manuscript for common matter set in type from pica to agate, inclusive, 27 cents and 29 cents per I,ooo ems, respectively, with additional prices for smaller type, as well as for works in foreign languages. A job compositor's wage was $Io per week, ten hours per day, and if engaged by the piece "28 cents per I,ooo ems for either manuscript or reprint, without the usual extras belonging to bookwork." Power and hand pressmen could not work for less than $io and $12 per week for day and night work, respectively, each day's labor to consist of ten hours. There were also a series of piece rates for pressroom workers. General regulations accompanied the price list, providing, among other things, that two weeks' notice be given a journeyman before his discharge, and that compositors contemplating leaving their employment give like notice. The text of the original scale appears below: MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 227 SCALE OF PRICES OF THE PRINTERS' UNION OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. Bookwork. Article I. Works done in the English language, common matter (reprint) from pica to agate, inclusive, 27 cents per i,ooo ems; pearl, 32 cents; diamond, 40 cents. Article 2. Works done in the English language, common matter (manuscript) from pica to agate, inclusive, 29 cents per i,ooo ems; pearl, 34 cents; diamond, 42 cents. Article 3. Works done in pica, or any larger type, to be counted as pica. In Articles 4-14 payments for extras were provided for: Works in Latin or Spanish, 3 cents extra per i,ooo ems; in French or Italian, 5 cents extra; German, 6 cents; Welsh, Indian, African, etc., 7 cents. English dictionaries, printed with figured accents and vowels, arithmetical works, spelling books and similar works, 5 cents extra. Algebraical works and books containing a profusion of medical, astronomical, or other signs, double price. Hebrew, without points, 15 cents per I,ooo ems advance; with points, double price. Works in Greek alone or in Greek combined with Latin or English, price and a half. Grammars, 5 cents additional. Works on natural philosophy, chemistry, etc., where wood cuts were inserted, causing overrunning in the make-up, an equivalent amounting to i8 cents per hour was charged, or such advance per I,ooo ems as employer and employed might agree upon. Article i5. Side and center notes in Bibles and Testaments, to be counted the full length of the page (including the lead, or one rule, which shall count at least i em), according to the type in. which they are set, and charged a price and a half. Cut-in notes, in the above works, to be charged 4 cents extra each note, and the whole page to be counted as text. Article i6. Side notes in law and historical works to be counted the full length of the page, according to the type in which they are set; and when cut into the text, 4 cents extra each note. Article 17. Quotations, mottoes, contents of chapters, and bottom notes in smaller type than the body shall be paid for according to the size of the type in which they are set. Article i8. Works or portions of works where the measure is under i6 ems in width, shall be paid 2 cents advance per I,ooo ems. Index matter shall be paid 4 cents per i,ooo ems advance. Article i9. The headline, with the blank after it, and foot line, to be charged by the maker-up, and counted not less than three lines. Article 20. All blank pages, chapter heads, etc., shall be charged by the compositor, according to the size of the type in which the work they belong is set. Article 21. Time occupied by alterations from copy, by casing and distributing letter not used by the compositor, etc., to be paid for at the rate of i8 cents per hour. When compositors are required to work beyond regular hours they shall be paid at the rate of 21 cents per hour, or 5 cents advance per i,ooo ems. Article 22. All letter cast on a body larger than the face (as bourgeois on long primer) to be counted according to the face; all letter cast on a body smaller than the face (as minion on nonpareil) to be counted according to the body. All fonts, the alphabets of which measure less than 121 ems, to be counted in width according to the next smaller size. 228 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Article 23. In all cases where a companionship may deem it necessary that matter should be made up by one person, the compositors may appoint from among themselves, or authorize the employer to appoint a person to perform that duty, on terms to be agreed upon between themselves and the person employed to make-up; provided, however, that no more than 2 cents per I,OOO ems shall be allowed for making-up, imposing, taking the necessary proofs, and keeping the schedule. Article 24. When a compositor is required to take out bad letters and replace them, in consequence of faults in the founder, miscasts, or worn-out fonts, he shall be paid at the rate of I8 cents per hour. Article 25. For imposing forms, no more shall be allowed than 3 cents per page for quarto, 2 cents for octavo, I 2 for duodecimo, I - for sexadecimo, and the like sum for all forms of a larger number of pages - the compositor, in all cases, to lay the pages in regular order, or be responsible for their being so done. Article 26. It shall be the duty of the compositor imposing to take two proofs of each form. All proofs taken afterward shall be paid for at the rate of 8 cents each for letter-press forms and for stereotype forms and small jobs 2 cents each. Where an extra proof or proofs are required by the carelessness of the compositor they shall be taken at his expense. Article 27. Making up furniture for a quarto form, I8 cents; an octavo, 25 cents; and 3 cents extra for all other impositions progressively. Article 28. Compositors employed by the week shall receive not less than $1o, ten hours to be considered a day's work. Article 29. The compositors on a work are entitled to correct the author's proofs, for which they shall be paid at the rate of I8 cents per hour. Article 30. Headlines when set up in smaller type than the body of the work, if spaced, and the figures justified, 2 cents extra per headline to be paid. Article 31. Works with sub-headlines, giving a synopsis of the contents of each page, such sub-headlines, although filled up by the proofreader (unless in reprints going page for page), to be considered as author's proofs and shall be paid for accordingly. Article 32. When wood cuts are inserted in the matter, or worked in pages along with the body of the work, such cuts belong to the compositors; but where the cuts are worked entirely separate, the same as copperplate engravings or lithographic plates, they shall not be claimed by the compositors. Article 33. Prefaces, contents, or any prefixed matter, when set up in the same type, are charged the price of the body of the work; but when in smaller type than in the body of the work, are cast up to the type in which they are composed, and take the extras belonging to the work. Article 34. In large bookrooms the establishment has the privilege of claiming full titles and dedications, but in no case shall piece-paying establishments claim half titles, or any other prefixed matter, nor cull the fat portions of any work. Article 35. Pedigrees are cast up at double the price of common matter; but as some pedigrees are more than ordinarily heavy, and therefore require greater attention and skill to arrange and cast off the different measures, when such is the case an extra charge, as may be agreed upon. Article 36. All alterations from copy shall be paid for at the rate of 18 cents per hour. Article 37. When a compositor (working by the piece) receives copy of contents, indexes, or any other copy where more than the usual quantity of capitals, MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 229 figures, periods and italics are used, the establishment shall furnish the compositor with the necessary sorts. Article 38. Italics, Greek, Hebrew and Saxon fonts to be laid at the expense of the establishment. Article 39. The compositor shall in all cases be exempt from clearing away, tying up, or in any manner taking charge of matter which he has set: provided, always, that this article shall not interfere with the custom existing as to headlines, titles, taking out leads, etc. Article 40. When works, or portions of works, are required to be leaded, and the leads are not furnished by the office at the time of composition, such matter to be afterwards leaded, but at the expense of the employer, and the compositor to charge such matter the same as if he himself had originally put in the leads. Article 41. When a measure exceeds even ems in width, and is less than an en, an en only to be counted; but if an en, or over, to be counted an em. Article 42. Bad manuscript, works of an intricate nature, etc., not governed by these articles, the price to be settled between employer and journeymen. Article 43. When compositors are required to remain in the office unemployed, awaiting orders from the employer, etc., they shall be paid at the rate of I8 cents per hour. Morning Newspaper Work. Article i. Compositors employed by the piece shall receive not less than 32 cents per I,ooo ems, for common matter. When compositors are employed at night only, by the piece, they shall receive 36 cents per I,OOO ems. Article 2. Compositors employed by the week (six days) shall receive not less than $14 per week; twelve hours to constitute a day's work. When employed on night situations, two hours shall be devoted in the afternoon to distribution, and seven hours at night (from 7 to 2 o'clock) to composition; and they shall be paid $I I per week. For all time beyond 2 o'clock at night, in either of the above situations, 25 cents per hour shall be charged, or the time deducted from the following day, at the option of the employer. Article 3. Compositors may be employed during the day, on morning papers, at 28 cents per I,ooo ems, or $io per week. Article 4. When required to remain in the office unemployed during the stipulated hours for composition, the compositor shall receive not less than 25 cents per hour for such standing time; it being understood, of course, that he shall perform any other reasonable work that the employer may appoint during such standing time. Time occupied in casing or distributing letter not to be used by the person distributing or casing, alterations from copy, lifting forms, etc., to be paid for at not less than 25 cents per hour. Article 5. When compositors are called upon before the regular hour for commencing composition, in case of the arrival of a steamer, etc., they shall be paid not less than $i each for such call, and be entitled to the matter they set. This is understood to apply to both week and piece work. Article 6. Tabular work, etc., containing three or four columns, either of figures or words, or figures and words, without rules, shall be charged a price and a half. All work, as above, with brass or other rules, or where there are five or more columns of figures, or figures and words, with or without rules, shall be paid double price. Article 7. For work done in pearl, or smaller type, an advance of 4 cents per I,000 ems shall be charged. For work done in French, German, and other foreign languages, an advance of 5 cents per i,ooo ems shall be charged. 230 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Article 8. When a measure exceeds even ems in width, and is less than a 3-em space, no extra charge is to be made; if a 3-em space, an en to be counted; if an en, an en to be counted; if over an en, an em to be counted. Article 9. Bastard letter to be cast up as described in article 22 of book scale. Article IO. Where intricate work, etc., occurs, which the newspaper scale cannot reach, the price to be agreed upon between employer and journeyman. Article iI. In offices where both week and piece hands are employed the fat and lean copy to be distributed equally among them. Evening Newspaper Work. Article i. Compositors employed by the piece shall receive 28 cents per I,ooo ems for common matter. Article 2. Compositors employed by the week (six days) shall receive not less than $io -ten hours to constitute a day's work. Article 3. For time (as laid down in Article 4 of morning paper scale), a charge of x8 cents per hour shall be made. Articles 6, 7, 8, 9, IO and ii of morning paper scale shall apply to evening papers. Weekly, Semi-Weekly and Tn-Weekly Papers. Article I. Compositors employed by the piece shall receive not less than 28 cents per I,ooo ems for common matter. Article 2. Compositors employed by the week (six days) shall receive not less than $io -ten hours to constitute a day's work. Article 3. Compositors employed by the piece on Sunday papers shall receive not less than 28 cents per i,ooo ems for common matter. When employed by the week (six days) they shall receive not less than $1 I -ten hours to constitute a day's work, with the exception of Saturday, when it is expected that a week hand will work during the evening. Article 4. For time (as laid down in Article 4 of morning paper scale), a charge of i8 cents per hour shall be made. Articles 6, 7, 8, 9, io and ii of morning paper scale shall apply to weekly, semi-weekly, tri-weekly and Sunday papers. Job Worlk Article I. All job work of a fancy or display character shall be either paid for on time or by special agreement, according to its relative value - that is to say, all that class of jobs styled posters, show cards, handbills, circulars, billheads, cards, labels, and others of a similar description. All pamphlets, catalogues, sermons, tracts, by-laws, and other works of a like nature, when making not more than one sheet, to be considered jobs; and, if done on the piece, to be paid for at the rate of 28 cents per i,ooo ems, for either manuscript or reprint, without the usual extras belonging to bookwork; but when making over one sheet, to be charged in accordance with the book scale, with the extras belonging thereto. Article 2. All men employed by the week shall be paid at the rate of $io; when paid by the hour the price shall correspond to the amount per week - ten hours to constitute a day's work. When required to work beyond regular hours such extra time shall be paid for at the rate of 21 cents per hour; and if by the piece, the compositor shall receive 5 cents advance per i,ooo ems. MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 23I Preswork. Article i. Power pressmen. —No power pressman shall work for a less sum than $IO per week, for day work, or $12 per week, for night work. The day's work in all cases to consist of ten hours. Overwork shall be paid for at the rate of 21 cents per hour. Article 2. The pressman shall not be held responsible for any accident that may happen to a press at which he is not actually working, provided such press was all right when it was started. Article 3. No pressman shall take charge of more than two presses, unless temporarily, as in the case of the sickness of a fellow-workman, or other emergency. Article 4. Hand pressmen.- No hand pressman, employed by the week, shall work for a less sum than $Io per week for day work, or less than $12 per week for night work. The day's work in all cases to consist of ten hours. Overwork shall be paid for at the rate of 21 cents per hour. Article 5. Bookwork on the piece.- Ordinary bookwork to be paid at the following rates: Medium, 8I by 22 inches, 25 cents per token; royal, 20 by 25 inches, 27 cents per token; super-royal, 22 by 29 inches, 29 cents per token; medium and a half, 24 by 29 inches, 3I cents per token; imperial, 23 by 33 inches, 33 cents per token. Double medium, or larger, to be subject to special agreement. For all jobs of bookwork of 4 tokens, or less, 2 cents extra per token shall be charged. Job work on the piece.- No job, the number of which does not exceed I,ooo, shall be done for less than 25 cents per token of 250 sheets; nor shall any description of work, of what number soever, be done for less than 23 cents per token. Article 6. Any number of sheets exceeding twelve over the regular surplus shall ckoned as a token, and charged. Ar^~*7. Pulling clean proofs shall be charged on time. Aicle 8. Extra bookwork to be paid as may be agreed upon. By extra boos k is meant such bookwork forms as have cuts in them - where the pages are fsipunded with rules - where there are more than 24 pages in the form - or any other thing which causes extra trouble to the pressman. Article 9. Show bills to be paid 50 cents per token. If two or more colors are required, or any extra care be required in the making ready or working, they shall be charged on time, or by special agreement. Article o1. Cards.- Small or ordinary business cards shall be paid 25 cents for the first pack, and Io cents for each subsequent pack. Extra size cards, as show cards, etc., 50 cents for the first pack, and 25 cents for every succeeding pack. Article I. Extra work.- All kinds of extra work, as headings, show cards with cuts in them, wood engravings, colored work, or printing in gold, silver, bronze, etc., to be paid for either on time or by special agreement. Article 12. Standing time to be paid for at the rate of i8 cents per hour. Article 13. When the press is not furnished with a self-inking apparatus the employer hall furnish a roller boy at his own expense. Article 14. When the inking apparatus is not worked by steam the pressman shall be entitled to charge 2 cents per token extra. Article 15. Lifting forms.- When a pressman is required to lift his form he shall be entitled to charge I token therefor. Article I6. Putting on tympans.- The pressman shall be entitled to 50 cents for putting on a new tympan, either outer or inner. 232 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Article 17. Pressmen employed in cleaning, putting up or removing presses, shall be paid 21 cents per hour. Article 18. Pressmen required to cast rollers, cut paper, or do any other work not fairly to be considered presswork, in their own time, shall be paid 18 cents per hour for the same. General Regulations. This scale of prices shall at no time be altered or amended, unless notice of such alteration or amendment shall have been given at least one month previously to being acted upon; nor then, except by a two-thirds vote of the members present. Any employer discharging a man shall give him two weeks' notice thereof, or the money which he might or would have earned in that time. And any workman intending to leave his employer shall give him the like notice, or forfeit in the like proportion. This rule is only to apply to regular hands. Any man having worked three months in an office shall be considered a regular hand. This scale of prices shall not be held to prevent superior workmen from getting a higher rate of pay. But it shall be held to mean that no fair workman shall work for less than the prices herein specified. V. General Trade Meeting Endorses Union's Action. Following the adoption of the scale of prices the union, consonant with the request of the general meeting of May 25th, decided to immediately convoke a public assemblage of printers Transactions for the purpose of laying before the trade the new from the price list and the transactions of the association Beginning, from its inception. This mass meeting, which was an enthusiastic affair, was held at Tammany Hall on Saturday evening, November 2, i850, and nearly 300 persons connected with the printing industry were in attendance. It was called to order by Vice-President Rogers. Thomas R. Glen, chairman of the Committee of Arrangements, then presented the following report of the doings of the union: FELLOW-CRAFTSMEN:- This being a public meeting of the New York Printers' Union, to which the trade generally has been invited, we beg leave to submit to you a brief history of the proceedings of our society since its organization. The Printers' Union of the City of New York dates its existence from the first of January, I850, and was organized for the purpose of eradicating at least a portion of the many evils which exist in our profession, and which have all but ruined our noble art. We come not to boast of any mighty triumph - any brilliant success. Yet we do assert that much has been accomplished; and but for the apathy of the trade in general all would have been completed. MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 233 Still strong in the belief that union is strength, it will be our chief aim to increase our numbers, and we indulge the hope that the day is not far distant when a better rate of prices will be the result of our action. In the early part of February last the Printers' Union appointed a committee for the purpose of laying before our brethren in this city a statement of its objects and ends. The efforts of that committee were crowned with abundant success by a gradual but cheering accession to our numbers. And we are fully convinced that the objects of the union, to become universally embraced, need but be known. About the first of May last the union, desirous of possessing itself of all the information obtainable pertaining to the state of trade in this city, appointed a committee for that purpose. The committee, after great care and laborious research, submitted their report to the union. So truly was the state of the trade delineated -so fully were the facts set forth in that report —that the union resolved to submit it to a mass meeting of the trade. Accordingly, on the twentyfifth of May, a meeting was called. Those of you who were present on that occasion will agree with us when we pronounce that meeting as numerous and respectable as any assemblage of printers ever called together in this city. And how was the report alluded to received by the meeting? Without a dissenting voice it was adopted as expressive of the sentiments and feelings of that body. Nor was the influence of that report confined to our city. It was published and republished throughout the length and breadth of our land - was commented upon and held up as a mirror which reflected a combination of evils at once disgraceful to the craft, and too oppressive to go further vnmqlst;4. Not only were these evils seen and appreciated by the journeymen, but blthe employing printers also, and many of these manifested their doe and re:4ess to assist in removing the evils; and their efforts in this behl 'have not %n altogether void of beneficent results. At the meeting above alluded to the alion had the pleasure of enrolling about Ioo new members on its list, and near the close of the meeting a g an of good standing in the trade, but not a member of the union, submitte, owing resolution, which was passed without opposition: ResolvG ed, f Printers' Union be requested to form and, presenta scale of prices at as early a day icable. In compliance with this resolution the union at its next meeting appointed a committee of thirteen, in which every department of the trade was represented, in order that a just and equitable scale of prices might be amed for the various departmeq:00i;k5 The cpr e ' i due consideration and xiion, submitted the results::;the union. Their report wa idived and after a protracted. h consideration, during the prgress of which a few slight modifications were madi.tWs adopted. Whereupon the union ordered a sufficient number of the do > i, printed to supply every employing printer in our city with a copy. A -?f:tee was then appointed to distribute the scale, as proposed. The committee having performed this dihe employing printers called a meeting for the purpose of considering the d ent laid before them. Their first meeting, we are informed, and have reason to believe, was quite fully attended; and a committee was appointed by them to examine the scale and report at their next meeting. The second meeting was quite meagre and no business of interest was transacted. At their third meeting over 30 employers were present. The committee reported in favor of the scale, with some slight alterations. It was then proposed 234 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. that Article I be put to a vote, which was decided in the affirmative, nineteen voting for and fourteen against its adoption. It was then suggested that a number of those who had voted were job printers, and as the first article related to bookwork the vote should be reconsidered and they (the jobbers) should refrain from voting. It was accordingly reconsidered and the article rejected. So ended the action of the employing printers. Immediately upon learning these facts the union called a special meeting to consider the action of the employers. At this meeting it was resolved to appoint a committee to wait upon the employers and receive the signatures of such as would pay the scale and the names of those who would not. Here the speaker named 28 concerns that had signed an agreement to conform to the scale and nine others who had expressed themselves in its favor. He continued: There are many other employers who have expressed favorable opinions in regard to the scale, but they have not had an opportunity to affix their signatures, as the committee did not call at all offices, and in some cases where they did call the responsible person was out. There were many, however, who objected to various parts of the scale. The committee made a note of the objections and laid them before the union - upon which another committee was appointed for the purpose of considering the practicability of making the different modifications suggested by various employers. This committee subsequently reported "that, having duly examined the matters submitted to their consideration, they had found no modification to make, being fully convinced that the prices named in the scale were just, fair and equitable, and such as we ought to stand by at all hazards and under all circumstances." The opinion of that committee is the opinion of the Printers' Union, and we hope yet, and soon, to see the day when it will be the opinion of all. In conclusion it may be well, gentlemen, to inform you that a committee on the part of the union has now under consideration the practicability of the establishment of a joint stock printing and publishing office; and while we do not wish to anticipate the verdict of the committee, we cannot but give it as our firm belief that the best way to secure to ourselves permanent benefits will be through this medium. Mr. Glen was frequently interrupted by cheers, and the names of certain of the employers that he mentioned were loudly applauded. President Horace Greeley was the chief speaker of Greeley the evening. Arising amid hearty applause, he Chief began his address by stating that he thought the Spokesman. union had done its duty well. " In January," he said, " we began the work of reforming our trade, but we are in the beginning of winter and nothing practical has been done. Everything is irregular and all sorts of prices are paid by all sorts of men. There are almost as many scales as there are offices. Some employers say there is a regular paid scale. I say there is no such scale. I wish there was - no matter how high the price. I MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 235 complain that I have to pay more than those who refuse the old scale. I do not agree that the journeymen should dictate a scale, but they should get the employers to agree to some scale. I do not advocate a strike; you are not in a condition to do so. But do fix on some time when you will bring this controversy to a decision - say the first of February or March, when business for the year opens. I admit the right of the employers to participate in the adjustment of a scale, but they should do so now, and not shuffle it off by inaction. If they reject portions of the scale let them propose amendments and submit these to the arbitrament of fair men. I am sorry to see here a smaller gathering than there was in May, indicating a decreased interest. If we go on at this rate we shall be in this condition for five years hence, perhaps forever. But the close of the document just read indicates the most hopeful remedy -a joint stock printing establishment, governed by working printers. I am willing to take some stock, and so would many others. If we had one such office, employing 200 men, it might give laws to the trade. In time, I trust, other offices of this kind will spring up, when they are found valuable. I entreat you to fix on some action, and time of action tonight. Don't let things go at all sorts of prices and confusion. The stranger printer now knows nothing of what he is to get for his work; he should be paid by the scale of the trade and not by the scale of the office. As it is now, a man may monopolize a million of ems per week with the help of a good foreman and a good proofreader. I hope you will not enter upon another season without something more substantial than talk. Let us have liberal and beneficent action." The sentiments enunciated by President Greeley were roundly cheered. Peter McDonald, who next spoke, thought that time alone would remove many of the abuses in the trade. Until the journeymen themselves turned out the bad men in the industry it would be vain to hope for a removal of these evils. Views of a He wished to impress upon the members of the union Veteran the importance of attending its meetings, for by Printer. such presence only could the trade be sustained; and he also hoped to convince every man present who had not already done so that the best thing he could do would be to join the union. " The first great thing to be done to emancipate ourselves," thought the speaker, "' is to establish a printing house of our own. That is the only remedy. I wish to call attention to the letter of the employing printers saying that they had rejected the scale. I am almost glad of it. It will lead us to think. Even now a committee of the union has under consideration the plan of a great 236 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. establishment for co-operative work. If the journeymen come to a firm determination to establish an office of their own I think the public will sustain them generously. You may say that the union has done nothing, but recollect that they have established a powerful society and have a large fund invested." He referred to the slowness of journeymen printers to act for themselves and urged them to join the organization. " The employers say the union cannot last," said he; " that this meeting will be the last of it; but when they learn that you have roused up and established a great office of your own the fire will spread all along the seaboard. Little Albany is ready; Philadelphia has begun, and all the South is waiting to know what New York will do. I am always ready to advocate the rights of the journeymen. Let me be victimized as much as I might I shall never be sorry that I became a member of the union. I only regret I was not one of the originators. I trust that this night will add great strength to the New York Printers' Union, and help on all good works that will elevate the trade at large." Mr. McDonald then presented the scale of prices adopted by the union. After reading it he continued: " I wish each one to ask himself, ' Can I do something by joining this union? ' There is a great deal of wisdom and talent apt to come into it. Then we can plan and produce such results as shall be for the welfare of the present and of the future. The journeymen printers' families should be as well situated as those of any mechanical class. In some instances they are, but there are too many exceptions. I have traveled much and have always found our craft noble, generous and kind-hearted. I am growing old and have no great stake in this matter, but I wish to do something for the future - for those who are to come after us. This can be done by coming up and joining and fully supporting the Printers' Union. I hope that this question will be the means of adding hundreds to our ranks." Thomas N. Rooker, foreman of the Tribune and treasurer of the union, stated that he had just heard that one of his fellow-workmen had been discharged for merely asking for a wage Treasurer Rooker advance to which he thought he was entitled. HProud o " Such things ought not to exist," declared the Membership. treasurer, " and would not if the union were strong enough. It is incumbent upon you to see that this strength is added to us. I was one of the first to establish this union, and I am proud of it." He was strongly in favor of the co-operative printing office, he said, and invited all non-members to affiliate with the union so as to consolidate the trade and secure such reforms as were demanded by the state of the business. MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 237 Acting President Rogers made a few remarks concerning the scale of prices and the union then adjourned. Thereupon William Orland Bourne called the persons present to order, and said the question was whether the non-members in Effective attendance would sustain the union. Officers of the Organization public meeting were then chosen-Mr. Bourne Required. president, F. J. Smith vice-president, and F. J. Ottarson secretary. A committee was selected to procure the names of all printers who would agree to sustain the union scale, after which Chairman Bourne addressed the meeting, saying he had long looked for an effective organization of the industry in New York City, and hoped that the action of the union and the trade, would be such as to raise the art of printing to the high position to which it was entitled. "I am not," said he, " but expect to be a member of the union. But after all your prices are arranged there is still something to be done. The competitive principle is such that it will be impossible to sustain such a scale unless other measures are taken. It is necessary to establish ourselves by our own will, energy and capital." He advocated the claims of the union, hoping that it would become a permanent blessing to the trade, and made a strong plea to the journeymen to support it. A strike, he thought, would be a very unwise proceeding, as in 3o days everything would be wrecked. " There must be union between employed and employers," he urged, " to make things permanent. The interests of Capital and Labor are synonymous. We are not to regard Capital as tyrannical. Every employer has been a journeyman and he has not lost the feelings he then had. If we can only unite both parties upon a just scale the thing will be accomplished." He closed by appealing for unanimity and perseverance. With the unanimous adoption of the following the meeting adjourned: Resolved, That this meeting approve of the scale of prices adopted by the New York Printers' Union, and present them our thanks for their praiseworthy endeavors to promote the best interests of the trade. VI. Enforcing the Scale. Notices printed in the newspapers of January 9, 1851, conveyed the intelligence that " by resolution, passed unanimously, of the New York Printers' Union the scale of prices adopted by that body 238 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. is to go into effect on and after the first day of February, I85I." Horace Greeley's term as president had then expired, and Franklin J. Ottarson had been elected as his successor, while the new recording secretary was C. Walter Colburn. At a special meeting of the union on Saturday evening, January 25th, these two officials were instructed to distribute the scale of prices to the trade with this prefatory statement: To THE TRADE: — The following scale of prices has been adopted, after mature deliberation, by the New York Printers' Union and, so far as their members are concerned, will be fully supported from the first day of February, 1851. We submit these prices to the trade at large, and ask for them the support of journeymen and employers; because we believe them to be in every respect just and reasonable - because a number of the largest and best establishments in the city now pay them - because the recent great increase in the necessaries of life, and the general advance of wages by other trades, render these enhanced prices in our business imperatively necessary - because they will tend to the physical and consequently the moral improvement of printers - because they will protect good workmen against quacks, and thus become of pecuniary interest both to the employer and the workman, and because they will form what has been long needed in this city, a uniform and well-known tariff of wages. With these brief, but we think cogent reasons, we submit the New York union scale to the trade; and by our signatures hereunto appended, do certify the following to be a correct transcript of the original copy. F. J. OTTARSON, President of the New York Printers' Union. C. WALTER COLBURN, Recording Secretary. JANUARY 25, 1851. Pursuant to call a large number of journeymen printers met in the morning of February 5th at Tammany Hall for the purpose of adopting measures that would give efficiency and Sustaining strength to the effort to advance the prices for Members their labor. The new scale had been generally on Strike. accepted, but a few employers refused to concede the demands. Strikes had occurred in these latter offices and the meeting was held to peaceably sustain those who had ceased work. Officers of the union organized the gathering, but subsequently vacated their seats and the body reorganized as a meeting of the trade. Committees were appointed to visit various offices in quest of the answers of proprietors, and it was resolved " that we will not work in any office where the new scale of prices is not paid in full." MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 239 Among the offices involved in the strike was that of the New York Journal of Commerce, which on February 5th printed an account of the turn-out, asserting that "the printers' combination, whose object is to dictate what prices Union Opposed shall be paid by employers to their workmen, brought by Journal their guns to bear upon the Journal of Commerce of Commerce. office yesterday. The effect was to withdraw about two-thirds of our men from duty - more to their own inconvenience, we dare say, than our own. For months past, without any help from the combination, we have paid $14 a week, or $728 a year, to those of our hands who were employed by the week; while some of the piece hands, at 30 cents per i,ooo ems, earned even more than that; and the money is always forthcoming every Tuesday evening. This $14, when we commenced paying it, was a dollar above the combination rate; but as we never have been governed by those rates, and never mean to be, the discrepancy was of no consequence to us. If we were satisfied and our men were satisfied, we little cared whether others were satisfied or not. This game of foreign interference between us and our compositors has been tried before and failed, as it will now. The vacancies in our office will soon be filled and as we intend to have no more combinationists in our employ we presume the sifting will be decidedly to our advantage. Any good workmen, not of that fraternity, who desire good places, good pay, and kind treatment, will do well to apply without delay." The Evening Post of February 5th in a news item stated that "about eighteen of the printers employed in the office of the Journal of Commerce turned out this morning and refused to work for the wages they have hitherto received. It appears from the accounts given by the printers themselves that the proprietors of that paper pay three or four of the men $14 per week for night work, and give the remainder only $io." On February 6th the Journal of Commerce denied this allegation. "The Post is very credulous in receiving such statements as true," it averred, " and very careless in publishing them as true. We have never paid our piece hands less than 30 cents a thousand, which was precisely the combination rate until within a very short time since. To our week hands, five in number, we paid $I4. Quite recently the combination have raised the price of week hands to our own price ($14), and have added 2 cents a thousand to the price of piecework, making 32 cents a thousand. They have enacted various other rules for the government of employers, which we shall adopt when we make up our minds to yield our independence, our self-respect, and the control of our own,;bwu ness, to the dictation of a self-constituted power outside of the office,' 240 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Renewing its attack on February 7th, under the caption "The Printers' Combination and Strike," the Journal of Commerce had this to say about the union's course: This movement has been in preparation for more than a year. The organization which produced it is called the Printers' Union. Combinations of the same sort had been entered into formerly, but one after another Prior Unions they had dropped into disuse, or failed to coerce employers Had Dropped into submission. Now the thing was to be done right. into Disuse. The combination was to be so extensive and controlling that nobody would withstand it: - for this reason, among others, that it was to include all the printers in the nation. The combination was organized January I, 1850. Committees on " the many evils which encompass the printing business in our midst," submitted their report to a mass meeting of the printers, twenty-fifth of May, same year; resolution adopted by said meeting requesting the combination (technically called the Printers' Union) to present at its earliest convenience a scale of prices; Printers' Union accordingly got up a scale of prices, and on the thirty-first of August last enclosed a copy " to the Employing Printers of the City of New York," requesting their concurrence. To our humble selves, among others, was this missive sent. We looked at it enough to see that it was a humbug, and then laid it aside to await the result. After awhile a committee of three gentlemen (printers) waited on us to know whether we intended to conform our prices to the printed scale. We tried hard to treat them civilly, as we entertained for them personally no other feelings than kindness and respect; but born as we were among the free air of the Green Mountains, the impudence of the proposition struck us so forcibly Impudence that we could with difficulty persuade ourselves that it was of the intended seriously. However, they soon gave us to underProposition. stand, partly by their language, but more by their manner, that not only was the proposition intended seriously, but that we should find it so in due time. They then retired, one of them taking down the name of the paper which had the effrontery to decline their interference. We understood perfectly well what that meant, having seen the elephant fifteen years ago, but we determined just to wait and see what they could accomplish and how. The Boston Printers' Union in the scale of prices for I849 had the following among its regulations: This union therefore discountenances the employment of apprentices on daily newspapers. This union discountenances the employment of female compositors; and in order not to be misunderstood, for the following reasons. (The reasons assigned are here omitted.) It is therefore distinctly understood that we will not work in any office where they are employed, or for any employers who employ them. Who, but a miserable, craven-hearted man, would permit himself to be subjected to such rules; extending even to the number of apprentices he may employ, and the manner in which they shall be bound to him, to the No Great kind of work which shall be performed in his own office at Opinion of particular hours of the day, and to the sex of the persons Apprentices. employed, however separated into different apartments or buildings? For ourselves, we never employed a female as a compositor, and have no great opinion of apprentices, but sooner than be restricted on these points, or any other, by a self-constituted tribunal outside of the office, MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 24I: we would go back to the employment of our boyhood, and dig potatoes, pull flax, and do everything else that a plain, honest farmer may properly do on his own territory. It is marvelous to us how any employer, having the soul of a man within him, can submit to such degradation. But to return to the history of the present combination and strike. After the visits of the dictation committee above mentioned, we heard but little concerning the progress of the movement until the twenty-second of last month, when we received a letter signed or otherwise sanctioned by the names of 23 men, comprising nearly every compositor in our employ, asking, in substance, that the rates of compensation and various other matters in the management of our office might be conformed to the rules of the New York Printers' Union above quoted. The signers took care to inform us that " they of this trade throughout the United States have formed protective societies i for the promotion of their common interests, and that " in New York there is such a one." We now understood our position perfectly. We saw that our liberality in receiving men as compositors, without considering whether they belonged to the combination or not, had been abused for the introduction of a Greek horse full of armed Introducing a men into our citadel, and that now we must take the con- Greek Horse in sequences. We saw that the only alternative was submis- the CitadeL sion or defiance. It did not take us long to determine our course. We accordingly returned the following reply: NEW YORK, Jan. 24, 18SI. To.and Others, Compositors in the Offce of the Journal of Commercc: GENTLEMEN; -Your communication of the twenty-second instant is received. This is the fourth general application which has been made to me within two years by the compositors in my employ, or most of them, for an increase of wages. Twice I have yielded in part to their claims; once I have declined, as I now do again:I. Because I consider the present pay a full equivalent for the services rendered, and secondly, because I will not entertain a proposition, whatever may be its merits, in regard to workmen in my employ, which emanates from or is backed up by a self-constituted power outside of the office. I remain, yours sincerely, GERARD HALOC The letter of our compositors was entirely unobjectionable in its tone and language, indeed it was more respectful than we had any right or disposition to ask. But with all this courtesy of manner, the claim itself was wholly inadmissible, being in effect a summons to sur- smons to render at discretion to the Printers' Union. This was the Surrender to amount of the matter, and it was doubtless so understood the Union. on both sides. It is due to several of the signers, however, to say that they appended their names reluctantly, and with a full conviction that an explosion would follow which might be disadvantageous to all concerned. The first of February had been fixed by the Printers' Union for their new scale of prices to go into effect; but our own affair did not come off till the fourth, being the end of the financial week. The rest is known to our readers. Suffice it to say, that about two-thirds of our men left on that day, and two or three subsequently were enticed or bullied away against their better judgment. But with the help of three of our junior editors, who are also printers, in addition to the few compositors who remained faithful, we have been able to issue our paper as usual and now have nearly a full complement of men, engaged on the same terms as our week hands were before the strike. The advertisement under which the new men have all been engaged is as follows: 242 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Compositors wanted at the office of the Journal of Commerce. First rate hands receive $14 a week for six days of twelve hours each. No member of the Printers' Combination need apply. So we suppose we still have the honor, as we always have had, of being a " rat office," and so far as we know, we are the only such office among the daily papers of this city, unless the claim of the Evening Mirror to be so Only " Rat" considered should be admitted as valid. The facility with which Daily Paper most of the papers succumb to the demands of the comin the City. bination surprises us. Have they no souls of their own that they permit men not in their employ and having no business connection with them, to dictate the terms on which they shall engage their hands, and to prescribe, in several particulars, the manner in which they shall conduct their own affairs? Having once entered this road, where do they expect it will end? How long do they suppose it will be before a further concession will be required? When we first became connected with the Compositors Paid Journal of Commerce in I829 the best set of compositors that $xo a Week of we ever saw were receiving but $io a week for some thirteen 8 Hoursn ian 829. or thirteen and one-half hours' service, day and night, and were satisfied with it. Now we pay $14 a week for twelve hours' service, an advance of about 50 per cent, and are "rats" at that. Well, be it so. We can afford to be ranged in the same class with the London Times. That is the great " rat" paper of London, and the Journal of Commerce the "rat" paper of New York. Many years ago (as we learn from an English gentleman) when the late Mr. Walter was the principal editor and conductor of the Times, the combinationists undertook to play the same game on him which they have now attempted upon us. Mr. Walter resisted, and a strike followed. But it was of no use. By making the most of the very small force at What the his command, including his own personal services, which were Times of most industriously rendered, he was enabled to bring out his London Dd paper the next morning, and each succeeding morning as usual. His perseverance and success, against such odds, elicited the applause of the whole community. From that day to this the Times has been an anti-combination paper, and has done more than any other journal in the world to counteract the destructive tendencies of such associations. In short, it is a " rat" paper of the first water. It employs an immense number of hands and pays them more liberally than any other paper in London. This is generally admitted. But no combinationist is ever permitted to stand at its cases, so we are credibly informed. They thought to catch a " rat," but got caught themselves. Indignant at the attitude of the Journal of Commerce toward the Printers' Union in its efforts to establish a uniform scale of wages throughout the city, Horace Greeley entered into Editor Greeley a controversy in behalf of the compositors with his Takes Up the usual vigor. He printed in the Tribune of February Printers'Cudgels. 8th a characteristic editorial headed " The Journeymen Printers and the Journal of Commerce," and defended the course and principles of the union in the following strong terms: MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 243 An earnest effort is now being made by the great mass of journeymen printers of this city to place their calling on a basis of justice and security. They do not ask nor expect high wages; on the contrary, their average recompense per hour at the rate prescribed in their scale Sought Friendly is less than that of the hatters, shipwrights, blacksmiths, Council With or almost any other trade requiring intelligence and capacity ]mployin Printers commensurate with theirs. They do not claim the right of themselves to establish and regulate the prices even of their own labor, for they began by inviting the employers as a class to confer and unite with them in a free and friendly council, wherein the rates of compensation for all descriptions of journey work at printing should be established by mutual and general consent. Such a scale, once adopted, would have been binding on both parties until changed by mutual consent. A good portion of the employers responded to the invitation by holding one or two meetings, but concluded by simply rejecting (nineteen tofourteen) the scale proposed by the journeymen and adjourning without day. They suggested no modification, proposed no substitute; they gave the journeymen no ultimatum, no chance to understand what portions or provisions of their scale were deemed inadmissible, and what modification would render it acceptable. The only alternative practically offered to the journeymen was this: " Submit to work at as many different rates and under as many different sets of regulations as the several hundred different employers in the city may see fit to establish and to change at their own good will and pleasure, or - help yourselves." Thus repelled, the journeymen have waited, deliberated, reasoned, expostulated, and finally, giving ample notice of their resolve, fixed the first instant as the day on and after which their scale should be the common measure of their duties, their rights and their recompense, while working as journeymen printers within this city. Most of the employers have acceded to their scale and the great mass of the work in our city is now executed and paid for in accordance therewith. The daily journals have nearly all acceded to it promptly and cheerfully. The Journal of Commerce is a conspicuous and natural exception. The Journal is not content with rejecting the scale and Bitter and refusing to employ any journeymen who respect it - that Disingenuous paper engages in a bitter and disingenuous warfare on those Warfare. who framed and support it. It stigmatizes the Printers' Union as a "self-constituted tribunal," when in fact that union was expressly authorized and instructed to frame a scale of prices by a regularly called and fully attended meeting of the whole body of journeymen printers, seven or eight months ago. It speaks of the scale as an " edict " of said " self-constituted tribunal," utterly concealing the facts that the Printers' Union embraces employers as well as journeymen, and that the employers as a class have been invited, entreated and patiently waited for, to unite in forming a scale which should be satisfactory to and binding upon all. It drags in certain regulations of the printers' scale of a distant city in order to excite Creed of Makin prejudice against those of this city which contain no such pro- Proprietors visions. It talks loudly of "liberty" and "dictation," but journeymen seems to have no idea of any right on the part of the journey- Slaves. men mechanics to frame general regulations as to the hours of their own labor and the rates of its compensation, carefully avoiding any clear statement of the principles involved in this contest. The Journal virtually maintains a creed which would make of every printing office a despotism, every 244 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. employer an autocrat, every journeyman a slave, with the single exception that he might run away without dread of arrest and return under the Fugitive Slave Law. So long as he remains in any office he must work for such prices, during such hours and under such regulations in every respect as the employer may see fit to dictate, subject to any change which that employer's caprice or cupidity may dictate. Now, without presuming that the journeymen's scale is in all respects perfect, and deeply regretting that the employers as a class have not seen fit to participate in forming a scale, which should be theirs also, we yet repel the principles on which the Journal proceeds and the course to which they have impelled its conductors. There should be a regular scale of prices and code of regulations in each trade, binding alike on employers and journeymen and conclusive in all cases of difference likely to arise between them as to their reciprocal duties and rights. There ought not to be one rate of wages in the Tribune office and another in the Journal's for doing precisely equivalent work. There should be no chaffering and higgling between employer and journeymen as to the Should be rate of payment on a definite amount and kind of work; No Chaffering there should be no power in employers nor journeymen to and Higglmg. change the rate of compensation, once established, to suit their interest or pleasure. In short, the relations of employers and journeymen should, whenever it is possible, be placed on a basis of Order, Harmony, System, instead of Anarchy, Antagonism and Chaos. And herein is exhibited what the journeymen are striving to effect and the Journal to defeat. The triumph of the Journal in its present course would be a degradation and enslavement of Labor, not in our trade only, but in all. How any printer, with a man's soul in his body, and not over nineteen children crying to him for bread, can hold a situation on the Journal under existing circumstances passes our comprehension. Before the close of the first week in February 39 establishments, a number of them being the largest in the city, had conformed to the union scale of prices. Twenty-one of these Short and were book and job shops and eighteen newspaper Successful offices, among the latter being the Evening Mirror. Strike. Recording Secretary C. W. Colburn on February 5th issued a circular to journeymen printers in other places, cautioning them " against anything that may be put forth by advertisement or otherwise as an inducement to them to come here for employment, as there are now more competent printers in the city than can obtain full work, and any representation of a scarcity of journeymen will emanate from employers who do not pay fair wages for the labor that fattens them." A Vigilance Committee was appointed, and for several weeks it conducted the strike to a partially successful issue, not many proprietors standing out against the payment of unvarying wage rates. The Journal of Commerce declined to yield, and on February I 2th it announced that MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 245 its printing office " is again fully manned, on the same free-trade basis as heretofore. Among the new incumbents are the late foremen of two daily papers in neighboring cities and an ex-editor. There is not a combinationist among them. We are very thankful to the Printers' Union for helping us to so good a set of hands." It was customary in those days for the chapels in establishments that had acceded to the wishes of the union to assemble and pass resolutions thanking employers for their friendly attitude and favorable responses. These expres- Chapels sions of appreciation, signed by all members of the Thank chapels, were presented to the proprietors and given Employers. wide publicity by being printed in the advertising columns of newspapers. A type of these resolves was that passed by the compositors on the Sun on February I, I851, the nineteen printers then employed on that newspaper resolving " that we present our united thanks to Messrs. M. S. & A. E. Beach for the gentlemanly manner in which they received our application for an increase of wages, according to the scale adopted by the Printers' Union, and for their ready acquiescence thereto." Among the signers of the resolution passed by the employees of Pudney & Russell, book and job printers, "for their straightforward and gentlemanly conduct in complying with our wishes to adopt the scale of prices as laid down by the Printers' Union of this city," was David H. Reins, one of the founders and the first secretary of the New York Typographical Society. VII. Agitation for Higher Pay in 1853. Accompanying an expansion of the currency there was a large advance in rents and commodities early in the year I853. The New York Sunday Dispatch had of its own volition raised the wage rate of compositors, and Typographical Union No. 6 on March 5th expressed its thanks to the proprietors of that paper " for voluntarily advancing the price of composition on their paper 2 cents a thousand more than is required by the scale of prices of the union." In a few instances wages had been increased upon the solicitation of book and job chapels. George F. Nesbitt & Co. were among the largest of these latter concerns and when on March 22d the employees of that firm asked for an increase of pay the response was prompt. "We take pleasure in acceding to your respectful request for an advance of wages," replied the employers. "We are entirely con 246 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. vinced of the correctness of your statements in relation to high rents and the advance in the price of all the necessaries of life. We are also pleased to have the opportunity to express our appreciation of your services, and trust you will ever regard the advancement of the interests of the establishment as tending to promote your individual interests." The chapel responded by passing a resolve " tendering our sincere thanks to Messrs. Nesbitt & Co. for the alacrity and generous disposition manifested in acceding to our simple request in advancing our wages beyond the established scale of prices." These increases in individual cases inspired a general desire for greater compensation among the members of the union in order to meet the dearer cost of living. So pronounced was the agitation for an increased list of prices that the subject of a revision of the scale was presented to the association on April 2d. It was the only matter of paramount importance that came before the body at that meeting, and the question was speedily settled by the adoption of a newspaper schedule that raised regular piece composition on morning dailies to 37 cents per I,ooo ems; for day work only, 32 cents; night work only, 42 cents; per week, regular, $I7; night work only, $14; day work only, $2 -these figures representing increases of from I4.3 per cent to 16.7 per cent on piece rates, and from 20 per cent to 27.3 per cent on time rates. On evening and weekly papers there was a rise to 32 cents per i,ooo ems (I4.3 per cent advance) and $12 per week (20 per cent increase). Anticipating a strike, the union at the same meeting ordered " that if any member shall be compelled to leave his situation in consequence of adherence to the scale of prices adopted at this meeting the bills of such members as have been benefited by said scale shall be taxed 5 per cent for the purpose of raising a fund to aid and sustain the members thus deprived of situations while they necessarily remain unemployed." It was decided to have the changes go into effect on daily newspapers on April 8th and on weekly papers the eleventh of that month. The book scale was deferred to future deliberation. While the demand of the organization was successful in the main there were several newspapers that refused to grant its terms, and strikes ensued. The daily newspapers that declined to recognize the union or its scale were the Journal of Commerce, Day Book, Courier and Enquirer, Mirror and Sun. Immediately following the walk-out in his composing room the editor of the Day Book in an editorial addressed the striking printers in this strain: Without going into any discussion upon the right of the Tribune printers to come to our office, and dictate to us the terms on which we shall hire our men, MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 247 we have to inform them that we shall not obey their mandate. We did not commence the publishing business for the sake of printers alone, nor for the fun of it; we want to live as well as they, and we want something for our servicesas yet we have had nothing. They had it all the first two years, and when we thought we were going to have a little they clapped their hands on that and said, " No, we must have the whole." Well, we thought our turn would come by-and-by, and gave it up. Now, then, just as we see a little glistering in the distance, and think we are going to have a nibble of it, in steps the Tribune interferers and say, " No, sir, this must go to your printers, too." Very well, gentlemen, you do not mean to let us live at all. You are determined to have the whole; now take it, but get someone else to furnish you with copy. We have worked for you without pay or reward quite as long as we shall work, and if you are not disposed, after taking our services for four years, to give us a little for all we have done, we shall strike - that's all. We shall go into a combination to get higher wages and allow no man to make terms for us; but if you will not give us a little something for our services, we shall go to work for those who will. And now we have a proposition to make to the printers, one and all. There are eight good situations in our office for compositors, at 28 cents per,000o ems. One of our men earns about $15 per week, and the others average from $io to $12 and they do not work hard - on an average not over eight or nine hours a day. By scratching round a good, active business man can get out of the paper enough to pay up every Saturday night. If any of you choose to take those situations we will give you our time and services and guarantee you the payment of your wages and take our pay out of the surplus receipts. Better than that we will not do. We can do better at something else than to give even 29 cents. If you can do better than to take 28 cents, do it. Perhaps we can both do better at something else, and had better let the printing business alone. The Courier and Enquirer thus expressed itself in regard to the dispute: Our views as to strikes have been often expressed and were given at some length no longer ago than the first instant. We are opposed to all combinations to affect prices. We have never meddled with the Printers' Union, but that organization has attempted to meddle with us, and failing in that, to destroy our business. There is but one course left open to us, and we now announce that for the future we will employ no compositor who acknowledges the control of the Printers' Union. Our present compositors are independent men, and we will not ask them to sacrifice their self-respect by associating with those who will consent to submit their interests to the tyrannical mandates of a trade union.2 ' Evidently the compositors on the Courier and Enquirer did not remain satisfied, as was indicated by the following account in the Tribune of May 7, I855, of a strike on the first-mentioned newspaper: " During the depression of business this past winter the Courier and Enquirer reduced its compositors' wages from 35 cents per i,ooo ems to 32 cents. With the revival of trade this spring the men looked for a restoration of the previous scale, which meanwhile some others of the daily press had been paying. In this anticipation, however, they were disappointed; and accordingly on Friday evening fourteen of the workmen left their stands upon receiving a point-blank refusal of their demands. They also complained about not being remunerated for much of their time passed in the office in forced idleness, for want of copy, but this grievance was also refused redress." 248 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. From the Sun of April 9, i853, is extracted the following version of the controversy concerning that office: As soon as the union reached a position of some influence, its real (though not its nominal) projectors began to hoist their true colors. The candid and truehearted men connected with it and hitherto its warm supporters and friends retired silently and in disgust, and the majority of those who remain at this day are members from a compulsion they dare not resist, and not from any wish or will of their own. The object of the wire-pullers now in the union is to create disorganization and discord in the various establishments and in the confusion obtain the good " sits" for themselves, or in lieu of that to extort a pension from those who continue at work to sustain them in their idleness. To effect this they last Saturday evening met and caused resolutions to be adopted concerning the management of the work in the different offices, the prices to be paid for it, and the taxes to be levied and collected from those who obtained work on and after the eighth instant - yesterday. The proprietors were not to be consulted nor to be heard in the matter, nor even were the workmen for whose benefit this was all done to have their say. The union managers did up the whole business for all parties, according to their own notions and to serve their own ends. What the result was in other establishments we cannot say, but in our own it was in this wise: About noon yesterday two men called upon the publisher in his office and desired an answer to the circular they had left a few days previously. They were cordially received and frankly told that so far as he (the publisher) knew the men employed by him were perfectly satisfied with existing arrangements; that when they desired to change they would undoubtedly speak for themselves and most certainly they would be treated with that kindness and liberality which all workmen are entitled to receive at the hands of their employers. Any interference by the union between the publisher and those employed by him would not, of course, be tolerated. The men received this full and distinct reply to their queries and left the office. A few moments afterwards, while the publisher was in the workroom, in conversation with the assistant foreman, these same men attempted to gain an entrance there, apparently for the purpose of sowing a discontent which their previous operations had not produced. They were met at the threshold and requested to retire. At first they demurred, but finding they could not intimidate the proprietor, and that a cordial understanding existed between him and the men, they reluctantly left the premises. And now, that our readers may understand the relations existing between the publisher of the Sun and the men whom these interlopers wished to put under contribution to them, we append the copy of a testimonial voluntarily presented some weeks since. By the date of this document it will be noticed that before the union had taken any action whatever these men were in receipt of advance wages, given unsolicited, and subject to no " taxes" or drawbacks: "At a meeting of the compositors of the New York Sun establishment held on Saturday, March i9, 1853, it was unanimously resolved that we present to Moses S. Beach, Esq., our thanks for the generous and unsolicited advance in their wages." This was signed by the compositors and presented to Mr. Beach on the following Monday. The advanced wages had taken effect on the eleventh of March -four weeks ago. Advanced wages were also given to those employed in the pressroom as far back as last January. MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 249 The publisher of the Sun considers himself competent to the management of his own business and prefers always to employ such men as are free to do for themselves as they think proper. In many respects the labor in the compositors' department of the NewYork Sun is easier and more agreeable than on any other New York morning newspaper. Hence the situations are more prized and more permanent, but in filling them the publisher requires men of temperate and steady habits - men fit to think, act and do for themselves, and who will submit to no outside dictation or pernicious influences. With such men his relations are always harmonious. In a faithful and conscientious regard for the best interests of those employed by him he yields to no man living and consequently rejects any comparison with a self-created, irresponsible and intermeddling union. Self-respect and adherence to the principle of individual independence also prevent any submission to the dictatorial law and odious guardianship which this union seeks to establish, and so far as lies in his power he will also protect the men whom he employs from being compelled to pay tithes of their earnings against their own wills and wishes, and from being, in effect, deprived of their own individual liberty of action. Antagonism to the printers' association and its policies continued to mark the course of the Journal of Commerce. This hostile spirit was particularly evinced in an Journal of Commerce editorial that was printed in its columns on April Rommerce gth, when the publishers gave vent to their opinions Opposition. in these sentences, through which is interspersed historical matter of much value: A grand system of combination among mechanics and laborers in different parts of the country, with a view to the advancement of the prices of labor, has been in progress for some time, and the center of its operations just now is in this city. Men of several trades have struck within the last few days and in other cases a strike has been prevented by a compliance with their demands. The printers, of course, have a finger in the pie. The Printers' Union under various modifications has been in operation a number of years, as we have more than once occasion to know. Twice they have induced the greater part of our men to abandon good places under the Impertinence of expectation of bettering their condition under combination Combined auspices; but if any such men have found their expectation Workmgmen. realized, we don't know who they are. Steadfastly and upon ~principle we have always resisted this foreign interference with our business and always shall. The perfect right of men in any establishment to demand whatever wages they may see fit we never for a moment doubted; nor their right to leave their employer after reasonable notice, in case their demands are not complied with. Equally clear is the right of the employer to determine what he will pay, and if the two parties cannot agree they have mutually a right to separate. But when men, and especially a combination of men, not connected with any particular establishment undertake to say what compensation the owner of it shall pay to his workmen, and what rules shall be established in his office, it is a piece of impertinence as glaring as can well be conceived of. We have recently had a small specimen of these tactics. Some two or three days 250 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. since we were presented with a circular signed by a committee of the Printers' Union, accompanied by a scale of prices and other regulations which the union had decreed should go into effect on the eighth (yesterday) and eleventh agreeable to the following resolution, viz: Resolved, That this scale shall go into effect on the eighth of April inst. in morning newspaper establishments, and on the eleventh of April inst. in daily, evening and weekly newspaper establishments. This is decidedly a sweeping conclusion. No newspaper establishment is excepted, not even the Journal of Commerce. It was news to us that we were to pay the price which men out of the office had dictated to us without our knowledge or consent, nor have we yet learned where they obtained the information. Some two or three weeks since our compositors, or most of them, united in a respectful application for an increase of wages, and although our regular week hands were then receiving $14 a week and some of them as high as $I6 or $I8 a week at piecework, we nevertheless added a dollar a week to theweek hands, and an equal proportion to the piece hands. This we did cheerfully and with pleasure, after ascertaining that the application had no connection with the Printers' Union. The manner in which it was regarded by our workmen may be gathered from the following card, which they caused to be published in this and other papers on the following morning: At a meeting of the compositors employed on the New York Journal of Commerce, held on the seventeenth last, it was unanimously resolved, that the thanks of this meeting are due and are hereby tendered to the proprietors of the Journal of Commerce for the prompt and liberal manner in which they complied with our request for an advance in the rates of compensation. ROBERT BRUCE, S. S. MAY, Chairman. Secretary. Thus we stand at present. Our workmen and ourselves have met on terms mutually satisfactory; but an outside, self-constituted power interposes and says we shall not trade on these terms, but on terms of their Interposition (the outsiders') dictation, or not at all. These terms are in of the Union brief, $I7 a week or 37 cents per i,ooo ems; being an advance of $3 a week, or 5 cents per I,ooo on the prices previously demanded by the same combination. They also prescribe various rules for the internal arrangement of printing offices which no employer having any self-respect could or would submit to. Altogether there are twelve articles relating to morning newspaper establishments. The delegation who handed us the circular called yesterday for an answer and received the following: NEW YORK, April 8, 1853. To Geo. A. Codtr and Others, Committee of the Printers' Union: GENTLEMEN- We acknowledge the receipt of your circular of the second instant, in which you announce that the Printers' Union have adopted a scale of prices and various other rules for the regulation of printing offices, all of which are to go into effect this day in morning newspaper establishments, and in daily, evening and weekly newspaper establishments on the eleventh instant. As you purpose to call upon us this day for an answer we may, perhaps, save your time and our own by remarking, as we now do, that when we require any extraneous aid in the management of our business we will not fail to let you know. Such a contingency will happen, if at all, when you require the interference of your neighbor in regulating the affairs of your household, prescribing the hours for meals, the price you shall pay your domestics, etc. In the meantime we are, Yours respectfully, HALLOCK, BUTLER & HALE, Proprietors of the Journal of Commerce. MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 25I It is no part of our nature to wish to pay less for anything we receive than a fair equivalent. And in point of fact, taking a series of years together, we doubt if the workingmen in any printing office in the city have been better paid than ours. We were the first to advance a part of our week hands (those who earned most) from $13 to $14, and again we were the first to advance the whole of our regular night hands working by the week, from $14 to $I5, equal to $780 per annum. This is what we are now paying; and it is certainly liberal pay for journeymen printers. It is true, the service is in some respects arduous-particularly as much of it is night work -but on the other hand there is no great physical exertion about it, no exposure to heat and cold, and no days are lost by bad weather. On the whole there are many professional men who would be glad to take such berths if they were competent to fill them. Much is said about the high price of rents, provisions, etc. Rents are high that's a fact; and will not be made lower by an increase in the wages of masons and carpenters. On the contrary, such advances if permanently established would not only enhance the cost of all Comments buildings yet to be erected, but the value of those already on the Cost built; so that landlords as a class would be benefited by the of Living. change. As to provisions in the aggregate, we doubt if there is much foundation for the remark so often made. Meat is high, but breadstuffs, potatoes, sugar, molasses and most other groceries are quite as low, and some of them lower, than usual. Butter has been extravagantly high, but is fast coming down. The price of buffalo is only 12j cents. People talk about the worthlessness of money, but if anybody wants to borrow, outside of the banks, he is obliged to pay from 8 to IO per cent on good, endorsed business paper, while paper at all doubtful can scarcely be negotiated at all. It is the opinion of many that a close money market is likely to continue, in which case the prices of all commodities, labor included, will soon feel its influence. Suppose the Printers' Union should succeed by a forced violation of the law of demand and supply in driving the price of composition up to a figure beyond what the profits of the business would bear, what would be the consequence? One consequence would be that it would High Wages crush weak establishments and throw the hands employed in Crush Weak them out of business. Establishments which do but just Establishments. live at the old prices would die at the new. The men thus discharged would seek employment where they could find it; and might perchance be glad to take "$2 a day and roast beef," if they could not get $2.871 as demanded by the union. If, however, a reaction were not produced in this way it would be in another. For, if such enormous prices could be realized by typesetting, thousands would think it just the business for their boys to learn and in a few years the market would be glutted with an over-supply of hands. Men who violate the laws of nature, even in a matter of trade, are sure to be punished for it sooner or later by the operation of those laws, if in no other way. It is a misfortune to both sides and to the interests of society when jealousies arise between employers and workmen. The two classes are mutually dependent upon each other and should be mutual Jealousies Between friends. Employers should be willing to pay what is just and Woprken and right and what the labor market, if left to itself, would fairly Misfortune. command. Workmen also should be reasonable, and not expect to reap all the profits of an old-established business which has cost years of labor, large investments of money, and in the early period of its existence, 252 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. heavy sacrifice. As they run no risk they cannot expect to share all the chances of gain. If, however, they covet the risks and chances together they can easily have them. The same free field of competition is open to them which their present employers entered (those who entered and failed are not thought of), or if they prefer to take establishments already existing, they can find many such quite at their service, both in town and country. Horace Greeley believed that the augmentation of living expenses justified an increase in wages, yet he was of the opinion that the union had demanded higher rates than the conGreeley ditions warranted. His judgment also was that Criticises the organized journeymen had erred in not seeking the Course of the Journal the co-operation of printing-plant owners in readof Commerce. justing the wage scale. Such course would have prevented friction in the trade and have further cemented the bonds of amity that had for two years existed between most of the proprietors and their workmen. But on the other hand the great printer-editor viewed with extremerepugnance the position taken by the Journal of Commerce, the publishers of which he severely criticised, not only for paying less than the prevailing rates of compensation, but for their persistent hostility to the union and in holding aloof from any plan that might bring together into harmonious relationship the great body of laborers and capitalists. Said Mr. Greeley in an editorial which appeared in the Tribune of April I2th: The Printers' Union of this city recently resolved on an increase of the rates of compensation (by the week or piece) to journeymen printers, averaging I5 per cent. This will increase our expenses about $6,000 per annum. We consider an increase justified by the general improvement in wages and prices resulting from the gold yield of the last two or three years, though we believe the journeymen printers have misjudged in raising their rates so much as 15 per cent. Half that amount, or IO per cent at most, would have been nearer the actual advance in prices and the cost of living since their late scale was adopted, and would have been likely to endure, while we fear 15 per cent will not. Wages and prices are not wholly within the control of the parties having labor or products to sell, as experience will convince those whom reason cannot. Should the influx of gold from California and Australia continue the new scale will be sustained; should anything occur to arrest or diminish that influx, wages must recede to the old rates, and possibly even lower. We think the journeymen made a mistake in proceeding of themselves to fix a new and advanced scale of prices and then asking the employers to accede to it. They ought to have asked the employers to unite with Journeymen Should them in revising the scale and adapting it to the existing Have Conferred state of things, and should have been prepared with stawith Employers. tistics to show that the money value of labor has so changed as to render such revision just and proper. True, they have a perfect right to set a price on their own labor, but employers have the same right to determine what they will pay; and the object of a scale is (or should be) the MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 253 establishment of a common standard to the avoidance of all controversy or caviling thereafter. Now we shall pay the new scale, reserving our right to determine at any time hereafter whether we can or cannot afford to persevere in so doing. But had the journeymen seen fit to ask a conference with the employers and had the scale been then readjusted with the assent of both parties, we should have felt bound to pay it until a modification had in like manner been agreed to by employers and journeymen, through their duly authorized representatives. And we fear the new scale is not likely to be paid, even pro ter., so generally as it would have been had the journeymen requested the concurrence of the employers in the modification, as they did when the scale was last revised three or four years ago. The Journal of Commerce announces that it will not pay the new scale and adds: "The Printers' Union under various modifications has been in operation a number of years, as we have more than once had occasion to know. Twice they have induced the greater part of our men to abandon good places under the expectation of bettering their condition under combination auspices; but if any such men have found their expectations realized we don't know where they are. Steadfastly and upon principle we have always resisted this foreign interference with our business and always shall. The perfect right of men in any establishment to demand whatever wages they may see fit we never for a moment doubted; nor their right to leave their employer after reasonable notice in case their demands are not complied with. Equally clear is the right of the employer to determine what he will pay; and if two parties cannot agree they have mutually a right to separate. But when men, and especially a combination of men, not connected with any particular establishment undertake to say what compensation the owner of it shall pay to his workmen, and what rules shall be established in his office, it is a piece of impertinence as glaring as can well be conceived of." Here are two propositions so dexterously blended that the Journal contrives to state the one and decide the other. That the journeymen in any trade or calling have not the sole right to determine what wages shall be paid for their labor therein is quite true - the employers Gross and having a co-ordinate and equal right - and so far the Journal Mischievous is clearly right. But under cover of this truth the Journal Fallacy. attempts to support the gross and mischievous fallacy that each employer has a moral right to cut under and cut down wages as far as he shall believe it possible to do so. This is the principle on which the Journal has always stood and which has rendered it malodorous in the nostrils of workingmen for the last 20 years. When the journeymen asked $12 per week it refused them that rate and would pay only $io. It has since been compelled to advance, but has kept almost uniformly in the rear of the current rate of wages, as it now does. Drawing little or nothing of its support directly from the laboring class it has been able to defy and oppose that class and has thereby put some money in its purse; but we do not believe money so obtained can prove a blessing to its possessors. The one chief obstacle to concert and good understanding between the journeymen and employers in our Chief Obstacle to trade during the 22 years that we have been connected with Concert and Good printing in our city has been the Journal of Commerce. Had Undertandig. that paper seen fit to concur in a union of employers only, or of employers and journeymen together, in fixing, maintaining and from time to time modifying a scale of prices for newspaper printing in our city, we believe there would have been no dissent or demur from any other influential 254 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. quarter. But it has chosen to stand out, and insist on its right to pay such prices only as its owners should from time to time indicate, and these almost uniformly some 10 to 20 per cent below those paid by the great body of its contemporaries, none of them more able than and few so able as the Journal to pay full wages By taking this course it has done very much to keep the trade perpetually in a state of anarchy and stir up hatred and strife between employers and journeymen. We have at all times been willing to unite, as we now are, in any fair and equal mode of adjusting wages in the printing business; and we not only fully admit, but resolutely insist on the equal right of employers with journeymen in settling the scale of prices; we are ready now to act upon that right; but the Journal and such other concerns as insist on the right of each employer to fix a price for the labor he hires without reference to the price paid by others, stand directly in the way of any efficient and conciliatory action on the part of employers, thus perpetuating the discord and confusion which they yet seem to deplore. When shall we have an end of it? These strictures so disturbed the choler of the Journal of Commerce management that it hastened to retaliate, printing the following satirical reply in the issue of April I3th: The Tribune, after encouraging combinations of workmen against employers for several years past, with various success, now at length discovers or pretends to discover that the printers' combination have carried the Reply of the game too far. Why so? If it takes but one to make a Journal of bargain why should not the price be made agreeable to that CommenC one, whether it costs the Tribune an additional $6,ooo a year or not? We notice, too, the astonishing intimation that the Tribune may yet refuse to pay the combination prices, if they should prove to be higher than it can afford. What is this but calling in question the right of the Printers' Union to make an employer pay whatever they please. No shirking, if you please. Stand up to your principles, though the heavens fall. The Tribune does us more honor than we deserve, when it says that " the one chief obstacle " to the success of the printers' combination is and has been the Journal of Commerce. Or to use its own language: " The one chief obstacle to concert and good understanding between the journeymen and employers in our trade during the 22 years that we have been connected with printing in our city has been the Journal of Commerce. Had that paper seen fit to concur in a union of employers only, or of employers and journeymen together, in fixing, maintaining, and from time to time modifying a scale of prices for newspaper printing in our city, we believe there would have been no dissent or demur from any other influential quarter." We have no doubt but there would have been a perfectly " good understanding " between us and the Printers' Union if we had consented to pay whatever contributions they might see fit to levy upon us; in other Cost at words, permitted them to rob us at pleasure; but we do not a Good wish a good understanding on such terms. With our own Understanding workmen we have always had a good understanding except when it was interrupted by the Printers' Union. We have such an understanding still. Not a man has left us that we are aware of in consequence of this mighty demonstration of the Printers' Union, and we have no reason to suppose that any of them intend to do so. If, however, vacancies should MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 255 occur we can easily supply them. Fifteen dollars a week paid as punctually as the sun is not likely to go a-begging for want of somebody to pick it up. The Tribune wonders why we will not combine with employers only, or with employers and journeymen together, " in fixing, maintaining and from time to time modifying, a scale of newspaper Reasons printing," i. e. prices, " in our city." We answer: for Not i. Because we should deem a combination of " employers Cmbhing only," to fix the prices of workmen without the concurrence of the latter, as objectionable in principle as a combination of workmen only for the same object. 2. We believe it impracticable. The interests of employers are various. Large and strong establishments may think it an object to pay prices sufficiently high to break down the weak ones so that they (the large ones) may have the whole ground. Small and weak establishments, on the contrary, are obliged to economize expenses or die. If employers and workmen should meet to fix prices, etc., the elements of discord would be further increased. 3. Any uniform scale of prices which might be adopted, either by employers alone, or by journeymen alone, or by both classes in conjunction, would, in its operation, be necessarily unjust. Some journeymen are worth twice as much as others; yet a uniform scale makes no difference between them if they work by the week, and an inadequate difference if they work by the piece. A man who sets only 3,ooo a day occupies as much case-room, burns as much gas, and is as much in the way as a man that can set four times as much. His work, therefore, is not worth so much to his employer, per I,000 ems, as that of the fast workman. Yet the slow workman ought to have a chance to earn what he can. Combinations bear oppressively upon inferior workmen by virtually excluding them from employment. Trades unions, we believe, get over this difficulty by compelling employers to take men as they stand on the list at a common rendezvous; but we know of some employers who would not consent to such a confounding of merit and demerit. Under the free system every man can receive without inconvenience the true value of his services. 4. Such a combination, whether it included workmen or not, would make every establishment amenable to the rest. This would be inconvenient, to say the least, and would be almost certain to end at no remote period in an open rupture. It is not every employer who is willing to subject his business to the surveillance of his neighbors and rivals. The only combination which we would ever consent to is a combination of employers to resist and counteract a combination of workmen. We have thought sometimes that such a combination on the part of employing printers might become necessary. But, thus far, the power of the Printers' Union appears so insignificant that there is no need of a combined defense on the part of employers. That resource can be held in reserve until demanded by circumstances. The Tribune's Socialist tendencies give it a fondness for combination and regulation to which we are strangers. On the contrary, we like freedom of trade in all its branches. There is no more fitness in a uniform scale of prices among printers than among merchants. The latter The Tn=o's do not ordinarily combine against their customers, nor their Fondnes for customers against them. Free competition on both sides Combstio brings justice to all. The Tribune says: " The Journal attempts to support the gross and mischievous fallacy that each employer has a moral right to cut under and down wages so far as he shall believe it possible 256 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. to do so. This is the principle on which the Journal has always stood and which has rendered it malodorous in the nostrils of workingmen for the last 20 years." "Cut under" what? The exorbitant prices which a combination of workingmen have attempted to impose upon him? Yes, we assert, not only that each employer has a moral right, but it is his solemn duty to " cut under " such exorbitant prices. He has no moral right to permit extortion to be practiced upon him successfully, if he can prevent it; for success will only embolden the extortioners to new acts of oppression. There is no need of our replying to the silly charge that in our opinion " each employer has as good a right to do this as a combination of employers have; or as a combination of workmen have to force up wages," so far as they shall believe it possible to do so. Either is moral robbery, provided the wages are cut down or forced up below or above what the labor is worth in a fair and open market. There is no other available criterion than this of the value of labor, or any other commodity. If an employer gives that he commits no moral wrong; but if a combination drives wages either above or below that line then a moral wrong is committed. If no combination exists on either side it is scarcely " possible " for an individual employer to cut down wages below the market value, because if he attempts to do so the workingman will leave him and go where he can do better. As to favor with workingmen, we shall not undertake to compete for it with the Tribune. We have not the same motive to court the applause of the dear people that the Tribune has, and has had. We never coveted Not Courting the honor of going to Congress, or of being an Alderman or Plaudits of Assistant Alderman. We never required their vote for any Workingmen. object of personal aggrandizement, or political ascendancy. So much of their favor as we needed we have had and still have with our own workmen; as we said before, we have always got along pleasantly except when they were tampered with, threatened and bullied by members of the Printers' Union; or when disaffection was sown among them through the columns of the Tribune. This answer of Horace Greeley in the Tribune of April I th closed the controversy: If the Journal of Commerce did not know that its position on the Labor question is indefensible it would not be obliged to resort to such quibbles and subterfuges as it employs. Our views of the wages question are Journal's Position not now for the first time proclaimed and have been set forth Indefensible, as lucidly as the English language would permit. Every Wrote Greeley. reader knows that we have denied the right either of employers or journeymen to frame rates of wages which shall be obligatory on the other class and insisted that such rates should be established by the mutual concurrence of employers and journeymen, fairly represented in a conference of delegates. Yet hear the Journal: The Tribune wonders why we will not combine with employers only or with employers and journeymen together, in fixing, maintaining, and from time to time modifying, a scale of newspaper printing, i. e. prices, in our city. We answer: i. Because we should deem a combination of " employers only," to fix the prices of workmen. without the concurrence of the latter, as objectionable in principle as a combination of workmen only for the same object. MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 257 Now, we never dreamed of " a combination of employers only to fix the prices of workmen, without the concurrence of the latter," and the Journal never understood us to favor anything of the sort. What we desired of its proprietors, and believe they ought to do, was simply Mutual Concurrence this - that they would unite with other employers in appoint- of Employers ing a deputation or committee to meet a similar deputation and Journeymen. from the journeymen in free and friendly conference, consider the whole subject of printers' wages, including the cost of living, the recent alleged enhancement thereof, and the relation of printers' compensation to that paid for similar capacity and service in other vocations. A joint committee thus constituted might readily unite upon one or three retired printers, intelligent and upright, to whom they might submit any difference that might arise between them, and thus succeed in framing a scale of prices which would be just to all interests, and being adopted by both parties, would be binding on both until the delegates of each should in like manner concur in recommending a change. In this way we might be forever rid of collisions between laborers and employers and place their relations on a footing of concord and mutual good will. Such an adjustment might have been had ere this but for the life-long hostility of the Journal of Commerce. That paper continues: 2. We believe it to be impracticable. The interests of employers are various. Large and strong establishments may think it an object to pay prices sufficiently high to break down the weak ones, so that they (the large ones) may have the whole ground. Small and weak establishments, on the contrary, are obliged to economize expenses, or die. If employers and workmen should meet to fix prices, etc., the elements of discord would be further increased. Now, we appeal to the recollection of all printers, and not only printers but workingmen generally, in support of our averment that " large and strong establishments" that were abundantly able to pay full prices have all along been their most powerful and persevering antago- Large Firms nists, and have done more than all others to grind the faces Most Persevring of the poor. The Journal's own case is in point. Now, we Antagosts. for years hired journeymen when there could hardly have been poorer employers in the city - we were indeed "obliged to economize expenses or die," but we never thought of saving a dime by paying our workmen less than the fair and usual wages of the trade. If obliged to economize in that way or " die " we choose to die. And though there might be some trouble in fixing a scale of prices on the plan we suggest, it would prevent trouble ever after. The Journal proceeds: 3. Any uniform scale of prices which might be adopted, either by employers alone, or by journeymen alone, or by both classes in conjunction, would in its operation be necessarily unjust. Some journeymen are worth twice as much as others; yet a uniform scale makes no difference between them if they work by the week, and an inadequate difference if they work by the piece. A man who sets only 3,000 a day occupies as much case-room, burns as much gas and is as much in the way as a man that can set four times as much. His work therefore is not worth so much to his employer, per,oo000 ems, as that of the fast workman. Yet the slow workman ought to have a chance to earn what he can. Combinations bear oppressively upon inferior workmen, by virtually excluding them from employment. Trades unions, we believe, get over this difficulty by compelling employers to take men as they stand on the list at a common rendezvous, but we know of some employers who would not consent to such a confounding of merit and demerit. Under the free system every man can receive, without inconvenience, the true value of his services. The fallacy of this will be easily seen by printers, but we can make it palpable to others. We know these to be truths: No employing printer hires any but good workmen by the week; nor does any daily newspaper employ (except as a 9 258 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. matter of charity) compositors who can only do half a good printer's work. Such newspapers must have good workmen and they generally get them. " Slow workmen" are wholly out of place in the Journal's office or Exploding ours, and are never employed by either save at the dictate of a Journal necessity or charity. We never heard of any rule or usage in Fallacy. our trade "compelling employers to take men as they stand on the list of a common rendezvous." And as to every man receiving "the true value of his services " under the Journal's "free system," we know that the printers employed on that paper have not received the full value of their work, or ours have received more than they have earned-and we don't think the latter the case. By the Journal's rule Esau " received full value " for his birthright; but we don't believe he did. The Full Value Not Journal's compositors are allowed no voice in deciding what Accorded to is " the true value " of their work - they must work for Journal Piter. just what their employers see fit to give or have no work. Having lost caste with the great body of their brethren by working in an inveterately " rat" office, they have virtually no choice but to take whatever their present masters see fit to give. We consider that "free system " one in which the freedom is all on one side. We believe we have touched every point in the Journal's article that demands or deserves a reply. The residue may slide; all we ask is the suggestion of some mode of obtaining uniformity in the prices paid by rival employers for labor of the same value. We do not wish to gain wealth by cutting down the wages of our workmen below the fair average standards - and the Journal (we think) should not wish to do so - but it does. VIII. Rise and Development of a Rival Union. Hardly had a settlement as to wages been effected in the newspaper section of the trade before a new and wholly unexpected element of discord arose and spread so rapidly that it threatNews Compositors ened the annihilation of Typographical Union No. Actively 6. Newspaper compositors had been from the start Aggressive. actively aggressive in the management of the organization, to which book and job compositors had attached themselves in but limited numbers, the bulk of those engaged in that end of the printing business having failed to join because the union was both protective and benevolent in its range of action, while they favored an association that did not pay disability and death benefits, but was devoted wholly to trade affairs. A ripple of discontent exhibited itself upon the surface in July, 1852, but it was ephemeral and disappeared. It was caused by a mere suggestion on the part of a member from a newspaper chapel that the union be dissolved and that one composed exclusively of compositors on MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 259 daily journals be organized in its stead. But the great majority of newspaper printers frowned upon this proposition and it evaporated.3 When the wage scale was amended in April, i853, it was of advantage only to the newspaper men. Book and job printers considered that they had been ignored without reason in this readjustment of prices, although it was stated at the time that the schedule for that branch of the business would receive future consideration. Action evidently was not sufficiently speedy to suit the book and job compositors, scores of whom, believing that the union, while possessing the determinating energy in the premises, did not immediately intend to exercise it in their behalf, concluded to form an association that would deal entirely with their interests. To the number of 200 they convened at Tammany Hall on April 5th and passed a resolve that each book and job office be requested to choose three delegates to attend a meeting on the seventh of that month for the purpose of preparing a scale of prices to correspond with the increase of compensation in the newspaper branch. At the public gathering of April 7th 39 offices were represented by go delegates. As soon as the proceedings opened a motion was made that, while there need be no other than friendly relations with the Typographical Union, the time had come for book and job compositors to organize. Some of those present favored the formation of an organization of that character, but others deemed it inadvisable, and the question was tabled. Then a committee of nine was appointed to revise the scale, and it-retired to prepare a report on the subject. The convention took a recess for a half hour, at the expiration of which the Revision Committee submitted a partial report, when it was decided to adjourn to April i ith. John Kent presided over the meeting on that date and Isaac W. England acted as secretary. "The object of the meeting," explained the secretary, " is to sanction a scale of prices prepared by your delegates. Should you adopt them I would propose that we in the first place form a protective trade union, co-operative with the Printers' Union, for the advancement of employed and employers' interests. The union will Not Favorable be one free from sick-relief clauses, as that is the to Sickalleged principal reason for book and job hands not Relief Clauses. joining the present union. When a society is formed we can combine with the trade in other cities in establishing a fair and equal rate of compensation, thereby preventing the publisher "' Rogers last night agitated the dissolution of the union and establishing one exclusively for daily papers. But it amounted to nothing."- Extract from letter, dated July x8, I852, sent from New York by Henry M. Failing to Charles W. Colburn, who was then in St. Louis, Mo. 260 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. from asserting that he can get his work done cheaper elsewhere when our employers require from him an advanced rate proportionate to the one which we ask from them. The fact that an increased rate of compensation is really necessary is felt not only by the employed, but also by the employer, in proof of which I might cite instances of honorable exceptions to the general rule, when employers had come forward voluntarily and advanced the rate Voluntary of compensation to their employees, previously, Advances that to the just and honorable no scale was necesof Wages. sary to secure the workmen adequate compensation. I hope that the publishers and the public will consider the wants and wishes of those by whom they profited so much. Employers are cordially invited to co-operate with us, as it is as much to their interest as our own. Competition to a moderate degree is beneficial, but when carried to excess it has always proved most pernicious in its effects. The employer has an undoubted right to work for the public as cheaply as he can, but he has no right, in order to compete with his neighbor and secure to himself a disproportionate amount of business, to keep down the wages of his workmen below the living rate. The objects we have in view demand united and deliberate action. If we are guarded by prudence, are not too hasty, and evince a desire to consult the interests of our employers, we shall undoubtedly carry our point triumphantly. It matters not to the employer what amount of compensation he gives his workmen, provided he obtains a proportionate advance from the public. It must be our endeavor to secure this to him as far as lays in our power. There Average are many printers in this city who do not average Earnings more than $6 per week; this should not continue. $6 Weekly. The medium through which the world is enlightened - to whose agency the present advanced state of civilization is mainly attributable - the men who set before the minds of the wealthy and the lowly the immortal thoughts of genius - should those men, who have wielded such a mighty power for the good of their fellow-men, whose tremendous influence the world has reason to daily bless - be leveled, in compensation, to mere hewers of wood and drawers of water? No! emphatically no! But your action will determine the question. Be cautious, firm and united!" Horace Greeley, who was present by invitation, addressed the assemblage. He remarked upon the necessity of harmony among journeymen printers, whom he urged to be moderate in their demands in order to preserve the welfare of the trade for all time. Employers MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 26z ought to be consulted upon the question of wages, he reiterated, with a view to their coinciding with the scale adopted, so that both sides would alike feel bound by the terms. If journeymen consult only their own views they Harmony Among may so much dissatisfy the employer that when Journeymen Urged by work is dull they in turn may curtail the number of Horace Greeley. men in their employ and the rate of wages. Excesses ought to be avoided on the part of either. He considered the employer as the agent or mediator standing between the workmen and the public. But it would not do, he contended, for generous employers to pay high prices and the other class get their work done at cheaper rates. " Such competition is not fair," he said, " and cannot be afforded. Whatever scale is established should be one which will be generally adopted. If the journeymen and their employers cannot agree upon the scale let them choose qualified and disinterested judges to decide for them. But of all things let matters be so managed that journeymen will be in harmony, and if possible in friendly relations with their employers." A complete scale having been submitted by the committee it was adopted. It raised the piece rates for bookwork from 27 cents to 30 cents per i,ooo ems on reprint matter from pica to agate, inclusive, and on manuscript from 29 cents Adoption of to 33 cents. Extra prices were made for smaller Book and type than agate and for matter composed in foreign Job Scale. languages. Not less than $I2 per week was the rate demanded for book and job printers employed by the week, ten hours to constitute a day's work. Pressmen were to receive at least $12 per week for day work and $I4 weekly for night labor, with working time at ten hours per day. These figures represented an advance of $2 per week. A resolution was passed that the apprentices in an office should in no case exceed the proportion of one to four men, and that they should be bound by a legal indenture for the term of five years in order to insure the employer due compensation for his trouble and secure the trade from the pernicious effects of incompetent workmen. Succeeding this action the assembled printers applauded the proposition to form an association to cooperate with the Typographical Union, a list of 362 names having been obtained in favor of such plan, and just prior to adjournment a committee was designated to call a meeting for April I3th to put it into execution. On that date the new association was formed under the title of the New York Printers' Co-operative Union, and it proclaimed "that this society, while it claims for its members the 262 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. right of pricing its own labor, freely admits that employers have the right to refuse their demands; and further, that this society is regardful of the welfare of employers and that for the purBook and Job pose of making its scale of prices accord with their Compositors Form legitimate interest and of serving a moral obligation New Union. binding all parties a committee be now appointed to secure the co-operation of the employing printers, and to receive any suggestions they may offer." On April I5th it adopted a constitution and by-laws, these officers being elected at the same session: President, David A. Cooke; vice-president, S. P. Jones; recording secretary, John A. Smith; corresponding secretary, Isaac W. England; treasurer, J. Davis. A committee was selected to lay before the Typographical Union the objects of the newly-instituted society and prepare the way for an amicable co-operation in all matters pertaining to the trade. Another committee was chosen to confer with employers in relation to the revised wage scale. Meanwhile Typographical Union No. 6 took steps to have the wages of the book and job workmen advanced, on April i6th resolving to invite the employers to appoint a committee to confer with a like committee from the union relative to a revision of the scale. The committee from the Co-operative Union having appeared at the meeting was granted the privilege of the floor, and stated that the latter association desired to join issue with the Typographical Union and receive the countenance and aid of that body; that it did not wish to compete with the older organization, but to work as an auxiliary to it. Discussion followed. Franklin J. Ottarson was of the belief that the laws of the National Union did not permit the existence of two subordinate unions in the same city, and that for the purpose of carrying the matter over to a period beyond the next session of the national body, which would occur on May 2d in Pittsburgh, he moved that a committee be chosen to advise with the book and job compositors upon such matters as might be of mutual interest. In the debate that ensued several members argued that the book and job men did not possess the right to organize a separate union, but should have joined the one already in existence and worked through it. It was shown, on the other hand, that Inharmony the book printers generally belonged to beneficial Invades societies and could not afford to pay the dues dethe Trade. manded by the union for benevolent features - that they wanted a trade association only. The motion was carried, but it was immediately saddled with instructions to the committee to urge the book and job workmen to relinquish their MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 263 organization and affiliate with Union No. 6. The committee having been appointed, Mr. Bailey, on behalf of the representatives of the Co-operative Union, protested that the instructions were a virtual rejection of their application; that the idea of their joining the Typographical Union was one to which they had neither the right nor the disposition to listen. "We are firmly organized," declared he, "and shall remain so, with the fellowship of the union if it be extended, but without if obliged to do so." When the Printers' Co-operative Union met on April 2oth the Committee of Conference with the Typographical Union reported that the latter had virtually rejected its overtures of amity, and a recommendation that delegates be sent to the National Typographical Union to present a memorial to that body and endeavor to obtain a charter was approved. A conference of the Co-operatives and the employers on April 28th in regard to the scale of prices was without result, the master printers resolving "that an advance of 2 cents per I,ooo ems (exclusive of work already contracted Employers for) is all that can be paid," that " $xo per week Object to is all that can be paid for ordinary or average Demands. hands," and "that the' extras' contemplated by the proposed scale cannot be acceded to, except in so far as they may be at present, and must depend upon mutual agreement between employers and journeymen." Employers of book compositors contended that printing in their line had undergone important changes. They claimed that 28 years previously Philadelphia had been the great book-printing emporium in this country, but a movement among the printers similar to the existing one in New York-a demand for higher wages than could be afforded - had driven much of the business to the latter city, which since had been the centre of operations. The same cause, declared the employers, was liable to force this kind.of typesetting to be done in provincial towns. It was even intimated that young women, so far as practicable, might be employed to do the composition on these publications. Next evening the Co-operative Union met and discussed the position of the employers. Mr. Davis observed that he was not surprised that the former objected to the scale, but he was amazed at the hightoned tyranny they had shown in their resolutions. He considered such answer an insult to the journeymen. Many publishers were interested in keeping bookwork in New York, and even if it were removed the men would go with it to places where the prices of rents and provisions would be less burdensome than in the Metropolis. 264 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. He said he always had been opposed to striking, but if the members stood firm they could enforce their demands. The two first resolutions of the employers were then repudiated unanimously, while the third, in regard to "extras," was laid upon the table. Mr. Bailey said there were some items in the scale Co-operatives' for which he was not inclined to strike. He did not Price List think the " extras " could be sustained. If a strike Readjusted. were ordered he wished the matter to be simplified as much as possible, and he offered these resolutions covering the ground: That in the opinion of this union the advance in price of all the necessities of life (and in the absence of any prospect of the means of living being cheapened) imperatively demands a corresponding increase of compensation in every department of labor. That we believe no candid man will regard our proposed scale as exceeding a fair and equitable remuneration for our labor. That on further consideration of our scale of prices, wishing to conciliate our employers as far as is consistent with our duty to ourselves, we do hereby amend the said scale so as to require an advance on ordinary composition of 3 cents per I,ooo ems; also on weekly work, of $i per week; also on presswork an advance of 3 cents per token. That all work known as " extras " be regulated by each office between employers and employed. That we cannot recede from this position; and hereby respectfully notify the book and job employers that the foregoing are the terms and conditions upon which we shall hereafter work. After the insertion of an amendment " that the ' extras ' be claimed according to the scale," the resolutions were adopted and the list of prices ordered to go into effect on May 2d, a committee being chosen to be in attendance at Tammany Hall in the morning of that day to receive reports from the various offices. Meanwhile the Typographical Union had revised its book and job scale, making the piece price on works done in the English language, from pica to agate, inclusive, 30 cents per I,ooo ems Union No. 6 for reprint and 32 cents for manuscript. For reprint Revises Book 35 cents was charged for pearl and 43 cents for and Job Scale. diamond, while for manuscript the rate was 37 cents for pearl and 45 cents for diamond- being an advance of 3 cents per I,ooo ems on each class of work. Rates of composition in foreign languages remained stationary. Wages of time workers were increased $i per week. I. D. Boyce, Robert Peake and J. C. Johnson, constituting the Scale Committee, submitted the revised list of prices to the employing book and job printers, prefacing it with the following communication: MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 265 GENTLEMEN:- The members of the New York Printers' Union, acting under charter from the National Union, feeling it imperative to receive, in this time of unparalleled increase of rents and high rates of living, an advance on the existing rate of remuneration for their labor, respectfully invited the employers to appoint a delegation of three of their number to meet a like delegation of the workmen, that a fair and just increase on the scale should be mutually adopted; and, although ten days were allowed for such meeting, the employers did not respond to the call (from the fact, we presume, of having been waited upon by parties unconnected with the union and calling themselves the Co-operative Society of Book and Job Printers). We were thus deprived of your assistance and countenance in the work of revision. Accordingly, the committee appointed by the union fulfilled the duty assigned to them fairly and honestly, to the best of their judgment, and the scale, as by them amended, having been adopted by the union, we feel great pleasure in handing you a copy of it, which we doubt not will meet with your sanction and approbation. The committee from the Co-operative Union met at Tammany Hall on May 2d and obtained assurances from sixteen concerns that they would pay the amended scale, while several other offices were reported as willing to accede to strike in it in part, or abide the decision of a majority of Non-Paying employers. In the non-paying establishments more Establishments. than 200 men went on strike. A mass meeting was held in the evening at Fountain Hall, when the Vigilance Committee reported that the intelligence received was more favorable than the most sanguine could have anticipated, but regretted to learn that some proprietors, who themselves only shortly before had been journeymen and among the most strenuous in former movements of this nature to enforce just and equitable remuneration, were directly opposed to that class from which they had so recently sprung. An assessment of io per cent on the earnings of employed members was directed to be levied for the support of those who had struck. As many employers had expressed a desire to have their compositors return to work at the advance of 3 cents per I,ooo ems without the "extras," the Co-operative Union on May i ith unanimously decreed that "the 'extras' shall remain in abeyance for thenext threemonths to enable all parties to fairly discuss the matter and come to a fair conclusion." A number of settlements were then made upon this basis. But in the meanwhile the breach between the two organizations of journeymen had widened. Upon the completion of the regular business of the monthly meeting of the Co-operatives on May A6th, there being present a large number of Wldening of members, all of whom were in employment, the fol- Breach lowing preamble and resolutions, offered by the Between Two secretary, received the unanimous sanction of the OrDizatlo0n8. association: 266 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Whereas, The New York Typographical Union at a meeting held subsequent to the formation of this union appointed a committee to revise and amend that portion of the scale of prices relating to book and job work; and, Whereas, The said committee have performed that duty assigned them and are now circulating a scale of prices different from the one adopted by this union; and, Whereas, In the preamble to said scale they designate this body as a " Cooperative Society of Book and Job Printers " and state that we are in no manner connected with their union, thereby arrogating to themselves the right to fix such laws for the government of the craft as they deem proper. Therefore, be it Resolved, That this union does not and will not recognize any scale of prices, save and except that drawn up and acted upon by its own members; and any printer working under any scale different from it will be regarded as an unfair workman and consequently excluded from our fellowship and protection. Resolved, That this union claims for itself the same right to regulate and govern the trade in the City of New York as.that held by the so-called Printers' Union, and is not disposed to yield one jot or tittle of this right, except in an honorable and fair manner. Resolved, That we regard the action of the committee of the Typographical Union who drew up the revised scale of prices as impertinent and unwarranted, and calculated only to give " aid and comfort " to those employers who resisted our just demands. Resolved, That the general indifference or contempt with which their unmanly interference with our branch of the trade has been met by our employers we regard as a well-merited and effective rebuke. Among the vital questions that engaged the attention of the National Typographical Union convention in Pittsburgh, Pa., on May 2, I853, was that of the rival unions in New National Union York City. Jeremiah Gray, F. A. Albaugh and Takes Part Thomas J. Walsh represented Typographical Union in Controversy. No. 6, and John A. Smith sought admission as the representative of the Printers' Co-operative Union. Soon after the delegates had assembled W. B. Eckert, of Philadelphia, offered the following petition, signed by 386 book and job printers of the Co-operative Union: To the Honorable the National Printers' Union: GENTLEMEN:- Your petitioners, book and job printers of the City of New York, would respectfully petition your honorable body to grant a charter to, and legalize the existence of the New York Printers' Co-operative Union in the City of New York, and your petitioners in asking this grant of you would specify the following among many other reasons why the said grant should be given: i. That the New York Printers' Union, as at present existing, is not a fair exponent of the views of the printers of the City of New York, as it does not number in its membership one-tenth of the workmen in the city; that ninetenths of this one-tenth are those employed on newspapers, who do not and cannot pay that attention to the wants of the majority -the book and job hands - that their circumstances and wants require. MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 267 2. That the Printers' Union, by incorporating into its constitution a benevolent feature, and, consequently, largely enhancing the initiation fee and amount of dues, has virtually kept the majority of your petitioners from joining its ranks and has thereby engendered in the trade a want of confidence in its efficiency which can never be regained. 3. That your petitioners believe that it is best for the interests of the trade that two unions should exist in the City of New York, and every experiment of uniting the whole trade in one union has failed, and at present the large majority of workmen in the city have no protection, if, seeking a fair remuneration for their labor, they should be compelled to abandon their situations. For these, among various other reasons, which will be presented to you by our delegate, we ask at your hands a charter for the union, which has been formed. The employers have virtually recognized our union as the one by which the trade is in future to be governed, and your petitioners do not entertain a doubt but that through its means the whole body of book and job printers will be brought to act together in one harmonious union, and the interests and welfare of the craft be thereby secured and perpetuated. John A. Smith, on Mr. Walsh's motion, was admitted to a seat in the convention pending the consideration of the petition. Mr. Smith, after some remarks relative to the position which the Cooperative Union occupied, asked for a charter, stating that the petition which had been presented from the union was signed by members of the craft working in the following offices: E. O. Jenkins, 29; Harper & Bros., 36; T. B. Smith, 3o; J. F. Trow, 38; New York Stereotype Association, i6; American Bible Society, 14; R. C. Valentine, 20; John A. Gray, 26; Pudney & Russell, 26; S. W. Benedict, 23; Billings & Taylor, 14; Vincent Dill, 7; American Tract Society, 9; Daniel Fanshaw, 7; Collins, Bowne & Co., 9; C. C. Savage, 6; Pick office, 4; C. W. Benedict, 6; Linesay & Bros., 4; Douglass & Co., 3; T. Sutton, 2; scattering, 57. Total, 386. He proceeded to amplify the reasons given in the application for a different organization from that of the newspaper compositors; that the strike in April was by the newspaper hands alone, and that many job offices had heard nothing of it until it was over; the book and job hands, having been thus overlooked, selected delegates, revised their scale of prices, and formed the Co-operative Union, which sought a charter. Mr. Gray stated that the book and job hands were in a majority in New York City, and if there were any objection to the beneficial feature in the constitution of the Printers' Union they could easily change it by attaching themselves Book and to that organization. He read a succinct history of Job Branch the New York union and its course, signed by some Could Control. 40 of its members, who asked to be recognized as the only legitimate union. After further remarks by the New York delegates S. H. Atkinson, of Cincinnati, offered the following: 268 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Resolved, That, owing to circumstances existing in the City of New York not obtaining in other localities, this union deem it expedient and just that two separate organizations of printers should exist in the above-named place; and therefore recognize the Co-operative Union of New York as one of the subordinates of the National Typographical Union. Alexander W. Rook, of Pittsburgh, for the purpose of obtaining the expression of the members on the subject, moved that the prayer of the petitioners be granted. Mr. Albaugh stated if that were done he and his two colleagues from New York would be compelled to withdraw. Mr. Eckert thereupon offered this substitute: Resolved, That the National Typographical Union recommend the reorganization of the craft in the City of New York, with the view of abolishing the beneficial system as being detrimental to an efficient trade association, and that the present petition for the charter of another union in the City of New York be laid on the table, for the purpose of creating union and harmony among the printers of said city. Here a recess was taken and when the convention reassembled at 3 o'clock in the afternoon it resumed consideration of the application, Grafton Pearce, of Cincinnati, moving to strike out Mr. Eckert's resolution and to insert as follows: Resolved, That, owing to the intimate connection between all branches of the printing business, it is the opinion of the National Typographical Union that two subordinate unions cannot advantageously exist in the same city. Resolved, That the prayer of the New York Printers' Co-operative Union cannot be granted. Mr. Gray hoped that Mr. Pearce's resolutions would be adopted. They would meet with the general approbation of the printers of New York, as they would tend to conciliate and harmonize all parties. Mr. Smith said that however well they might suit the gentleman from New York and his constituents they would not please that portion of the craft which he represented. If the petition of his constituents were rejected they would still do their best to protect the interests of the craft in New York. Mr. Atkinson was in favor of granting the prayer of the petitioners. Both unions could exist in New York, and work in harmony without interfering with each other. George H. Randall, of Baltimore, trusted that the union would not draw such distinctions as proposed in Mr. Petition of Atkinson's resolution. " If you do," he said, " its Co-Operatives effects will not stop with New York, but other cities Not Granted. will also want two unions, and the result will be a dissolution of this National Union." MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 269 The question on Mr. Pearce's resolutions was divided, the first part being adopted by a vote of 22 to 2. William H. Egle, of Harrisburg, offered an addition to the second resolution of Mr. Pearce's substitute, which the latter accepted, making it read: Resolved, That the prayer of the New York Printers' Co-operative Union cannot be granted; and that it is recommended to the New York Typographical Union to adopt such measures as they may deem the best to effect a more perfect organization and conciliation of the craft in that city. By a vote of 21 to 3 the foregoing was adopted. It was then decided to permit Mr. Smith to retain his seat during the remainder of the convention without the privilege of voting. This resolution offered by him was carried: Resolved, That this National Typographical Union require such of its subordinates as yet retain the "beneficiary system" to alter their rules so as to admit to their membership those members of the craft who wish to be admitted for trade protection only. Revision of the constitution of the Printers' Co-operative Union occurred on May 23d. The principal amendment adopted provided for the establishment of the delegate system. It required that the delegates from each office should Delegate System Instituted by meet once a week as a board and transact all busi- o-operative ness that might be necessary for the welfare of their Union. constituents. Provision was made for general monthly meetings of the union, to which the Board of Delegates reported its proceedings. At its first general session under the new basic law, held on May 3oth, the union considered a proposition submitted by John A. Smith, its delegate to Pittsburgh, that a committee be appointed to wait on a similar committee from the Typographical Union with the object of bringing about amicable arrangements whereby both societies could work together on brotherly terms. Many amendments were offered, a motion to lie on the table was voted down, and finally the matter was postponed to a subsequent meeting for consideration. I. D. Boyce, official representative of Typographical Union No. 6, visited the Co-operative Union at its meeting on October 3 st and made a tentative proposal for peace. Stating that the society he represented had opened its "Big Six" doors to every member of the craft, he urged a Makes Peace consolidation of the two unions and said his organi- Overtures. zation was willing to admit the Co-operative Union as a body, without the payment of initiation fees, and that all past dues would be canceled. It was desired that the amalgamation take 270 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. place previous to the election of officers. At the conclusion of this plea for a single union in the city Mr. Bailey, who stated that he wished to dispose of the matter in the most summary way, moved " that this union cannot entertain any proposition from the Typographical Union for any purpose whatever." This amendment by Mr. Cooke was, however, carried: " That while existing circumstances prevent the merging of the two societies into one, the Co-operative Union desires to extend the hand of fellowship, and to forget all past differences; and, as far as is consistent with honor and their own healthy growth and prosperity, co-operate with their brethren of the Typographical Union in the maintenance of a fair rate of remuneration for labor and for the elevation of the craft in general; that a committee of five be appointed to confer with the committee appointed by the Typographical Union - subject to the instruction of this union." Especially to hear the report of the committee to arrange the conditions of consolidating the two unions of journeymen the Cooperative Union summoned its members to a meeting on December I4th. Charles W. Colton, chairman of the Conference Committee, reported that the Typographical Union had, with a view to conciliation, abolished the objectionable beneficiary provisions in its constitution, together with other objectionable regulations. Typographical Union No. 6, he said, had agreed to admit the entire membership of the Co-operative Union to full privilege free from the usual pecuniary requirements. A majority of the committee favored a union of the two bodies, and recommended the creation of a joint committee to suggest such alterations in the constitution of the older union as would be satisfactory to the printers affiliated with the Co-operative Union. The minority report, however, disapproved the proposed alliance for the reason that " by doing so we should destroy our Board of Delegates and also much of that liberal policy which has gained for this union so many members. We believe that should this union be disbanded under such circumstances but few book and job printers would join the Typographical Union, and all future attempts to form a substantial union would be unavailing through the deplorable failure of this, the Co-operative Union; thus not only would the fruits of our labor be destroyed, but the interests of the trade would be materially injured thereby." It was resolved that the Typographical Union be requested to unite with the Co-operative Union in applying to the national organization for a joint charter under which both associations " may act in their respective spheres and under which the act of each in its own department will be recog MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 27I nized as the action of the whole trade." This did not meet with the approval of Union No. 6, and on April o1, I854, the Co-operatives decided to again memorialize the National Union national body, Henry Lees and David A. Cooke of Printers Again being designated as a committee to prepare and Memorialized. submit it. The national convention of I854 was held in Buffalo, N. Y., and on May 2d the following petition was presented to it: To the National Typographical Union, Assembled in Buffalo, May, 1854: GENTLEMEN: —The undersigned special committee, appointed by the New York Printers' Co-operative Union to draft a statement of the affairs of said union since its commencement, preliminary to asking for a charter from the National Typographical Union, respectfully submit the following statement: During the year which has elapsed since our organization, which took place on April 15, 1853, 427 members were enrolled; of whom 9 withdrew, 8 left the business, i was expelled, 2 died, and I8 left New York with traveling certificates, 2 of whom have since returned. The number of members on the register at the present time is 391. The receipts up to April 24, I854, were $515.51; the expenditures during the same period, $387.72; leaving a surplus on hand in bank of $I27.79. The causes which led to our separate organization having been discussed at the last meeting of the National Typographical Union, held in Pittsburgh last year, it is deemed inexpedient to revive subjects that may tend to prevent the mutual good feeling which is so desirable between the various branches of the trade in the City of New York; yet the following appears necessary to a correct understanding: The New York Typographical Union No. 6, then called the Printers' Union, was in existence before ours; but being composed almost entirely of newspaper printers was governed by laws which were felt by those engaged on bookwork and jobbing to be totally unadapted Elements to their wants; and, although the said laws have since been That Could revised, they still retain features which, while probably well Not Blend. suited to the requirements of the newspaper branch, are believed to be insurmountable obstacles to the union ever becoming powerful in the book and job departments. It is impossible for men engaged for a long series of years in one branch of the trade to legislate for, or duly to appreciate the difficulties experienced in another. This was exemplified immediately before the commencement of our union to a degree which can only be experienced in great cities; and the only remedy satisfactory to the majority was a separate organization. The fact that the union has continued 'to exist without a charter may be deemed sufficient proof that its organization was not uncalled for, but was in fact an urgent necessity; and as we still maintain the rise of 3 cents per I,ooo ems, with which our union was inaugurated, it has every appearance of stability and permanence. Several efforts have been made during the year to act in harmony with the New York Typographical Union, which have all resulted in disappointment and vexation. Prior to asking for a charter last year a committee was ap 272 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. pointed to wait on that body for that purpose; but we received so unsatisfactory a reply that no other attempt was made until that union appointed a committee to wait on us for the purpose of inducing us to amalgamate fforts to with them. The Co-operative Union promptly responded by Harmoaize electing by ballot a committee of five to consider the terms on Unalinug. which the said amalgamation should take place. That committee, after deliberation, and finding that the committee of the Typographical Union was not empowered to consider changes in the law of said union, and that the proposition made was simply to disband the Cooperative Union, without stipulation or reservation, and to join the Typographical Union without paying the usual initiation fee, agreed to the following resolution, believing that such desideratum was not merely a money consideration, but was in fact such a policy in the management of affairs as should ensure a large and powerful union: Resolved, That as a necessary step to the consolidation of the two unions the New York Typographical Union be invited to appoint a committee with power to consider such changes in the constitution, etc., as may be proposed by the committee of the Co-operative Union. This resolution was reported to the New York Typographical Union, which decided by vote not to appoint a committee with power, in accordance with our resolution. The Co-operative Union then decided, by an almost unanimous vote, not to amalgamate under such circumstances; and the following preamble and resolution were agreed to: Whereas, There now exists in this city two distinct unions of journeymen printers, known respectively as the New York Typographical Union and the New York Printers' Co-operative Union, the former being composed principally of newspaper compositors and the latter of book and job printers, and the attention of each society being principally limited to the branch of the business in which they are more immediately interested; and, Whereas, It is more beneficial for both classes to regulate the state of the trade in their own immediate respective departments; and it is yet necessary and advisable to act in harmony for the benefit of the whole trade; therefore, Resolved, That the New York Typographical Union be invited to appoint a committee of three to meet a similar committee appointed from this society, to draft articles of confederation to be submitted to the National Typographical Union at its next meeting, for its approval, as a joint charter, under which both societies may act in their respective spheres, and under which the act of each in its own department will be recognized as the action of the whole trade. This proposition was also declined by the Typographical Union. The rejection of our offers has caused so much dissatisfaction that it appears a fruitless task to attempt to amalgamate the two unions, and we do not perceive any mode of an amicable adjustment, except in a joint Joint Charter charter conferred by your honorable body on the two existand Autoaomy ing unions. Under the authority of such charter each union for ach Branch. might legislate for its own branch independently, and at the same time co-operate with the other on all subjects of general interest, either by means of a standing committee appointed by the two unions (an equal number from each) or by any other equitable method which may be agreed on. An interchange of cards or certificates would result for the benefit of those who should pass from one branch to another; and no member of either union could infringe on the scale of prices agreed on by the other for its own regulation. By this arrangement the benefits of local legislation may be combined with those which result from the strength of union. Shall it be said that 400 workingmen ask in vain for permission to use their own endeavors, in their own way, to extricate themselves from the difficulties MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 273 which surround them? Must the course to be pursued by them be marked out by others less acquainted with their requirements and less interested in the result than they? Let neither of the unions be circumscribed in its efforts by a forced dependence upon the other; but let each, in its own respective sphere, use its best endeavors for its own advancement, and for that of the trade generally. HENRY LEES, D. A. COOKE, Committee. The convention went into Committee of the Whole, and 0. A. Stafford, of Chicago, moved that the prayer of the petitioners for a charter be granted. Thomas J. Walsh, of New York, addressed the committee at length. He stated that the points set forth in the memorial were a tissue of misrepresentations. The Typographical Union had done everything in its power to conciliate the mem- Delegate of bers of the Co-operative Union. The beneficiary Union No. 6 clause-the most objectionable feature of the Makes Answer. Typographical Union, in the eyes of the Co-operatives - had been stricken from the constitution of the Typographical Union, but the Co-operatives steadfastly refused to conciliate. Replying to a question as to whether the statement in the memorial as to the number of members attached to the Co-operative Union was correct, Mr. Walsh replied that it probably had that number of names, but that he doubted very much whether there were 50 reliable members in the society. Mr. Stafford, in supporting his motion, said he entertained the highest respect for the statements of the gentleman from New York, but he believed there were two sides to the question. Having worked in New York he knew that there were two separate interests among the printers of that city. He thought there was no hope of harmonizing the printers there, and he contended that it would be a benefit to the craft generally if a charter were granted to the Co-operatives. Mr. Walsh replied that the book and job hands were in the majority, and they could at any time control the action of the New York Typographical Union. Augustine Donnelly, of Cincinnati, offered the following as a substitute for the motion of Mr. Stafford: Resolved, That in the opinion of this National Union the existence of two typographical unions in one city will have the effect of dividing the craft and preventing the accomplishment of good by either union. Resolved, further, That it be a settled principle with this National Union never to recognize more than one union in each city. 274 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Resolved, further, That this National Union most earnestly and affectionately urges the two unions in the City of New York to settle their differences upon some fair and honorable compromise, and blend themselves into one harmonious and united body. I. D. Boyce of New York stated that by the peculiar regulations of offices in that city, such as measuring matter on galleys, etc., many were virtually working at " rat " wages. Should the New York Typographical Union at any time order a strike it would be impossible to keep the Co-operatives from taking their situations. Almost unanimously the Committee of the Whole Co-operatives' denied the application of the Co-operative Union. Application It then rose and reported to the convention, which Denied. refused to grant the prayer of the petitioners by a vote of 23 to 3. These resolutions were then adopted: That this body recommend to their fellow-craftsmen in the City of New York, of whatever branch of the art, the actual necessity of meeting under one charter and becoming a unity in fact and in sentiment. That it be a settled principle with the National Union never to recognize more than one union in each city. Relations between the dual organizations remained strained for three years longer. The Printers' Co-operative Union met in special session on April 22, i857. There were present some 200 compositors, representing a large proportion of the principal book and job offices. Ostensibly the meeting had been called to discuss " the abuses that have sprung up since the last meeting, one of which is the introduction of bastard fonts and types below the standard, which are being paid for at less than the scale of pnrces; the employers, not satisfied with the reduction of the 'extras' as agreed to by the union, now asserting that the scale of prices for such fonts are ' extras.'" Action on the matter was then taken as follows: Whereas, In view of the insidious means adopted to override, step by step, the landmarks from age to age regulating the price of printers' labor; and, Whereas, Foremost among the many grievances of the craft is the right assumed and usurped by employing printers of the present day of imposing on us type of all standards of thickness, ranging from I I J ems to the alphabet upward, at the ordinary rate of type fully up to the standard, and claiming to allow bastard fonts, according to the face and width only; and, Whereas, The rates of living have increased at least IO per cent since any alteration, except retrogressive, has been made in our wages; be it therefore Resolved, That a committee of one from each printing office be appointed to report for our sustainment such of the " extras " as are now disallowed by our employers, or such rates of advance in prices, or both, as our present urgent circumstances seem to demand. MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 275 But the real object of the meeting appears to have been to obtain the sentiment of the members upon the question of establishing harmony among the journeymen through a combination of the two unions, it being resolved that Dissolution of the committee of one from each shop " be directed New York to confer with the committee of Typographical Ponterie Co-operative Union No. 6, with a view to their concurrence in Union. our proceedings." Meeting again at Tammany Hall on May ist the Co-operative Union wound up its affairs, those present being unanimous in the work of dissolution, and resolving to go over in a body to Union No. 6, to which it was voted to transfer the balance of funds in the treasury at the period of disbandment. After passing a vote of thanks to President David A. Cooke and its other officials for their faithful services the association adjourned sine die, and at a meeting of the Typographical Union on May i6, 1857, those who had been members of the defunct organization were all admitted to the ranks of " Big Six." Thus ended a bitter struggle for supremacy, and never since has its like been experienced by journeymen printers in New York City. IX. Wage Scale of 1857. An attempt was made to modify the newspaper scale at a meeting of the Typographical Union on May 2I, I853. It failed then because a majority of the members determined to enforce it by reason of the fact that it had become estab- Financial Crash Causes lished by most of the daily newspaper proprietors an Industrial acceptingits provisions. Supervention of hard times, Depression. however, caused a change in the attitude of those who desired to uphold the terms of the revised price list, and the printed schedule of 1857 shows reductions on newspapers, although no changes were made in the book and job rates. A disastrous financial panic swept through the country in the latter year and an industrial depression was incidental to that deplorable crisis. Extensive discoveries of gold in California had added many millions of the precious metal to the currency. This superfluity had led financiers, manufacturers and merchants to the erroneous conclusion that the country was wealthier than was actually the fact. Wild speculation and a rash extension of credit followed. There had been several years of general prosperity. Prices of commodities 276 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. had soared. Manufacturers had placed immense quantities of articles in their warehouses with the expectation of a greater rise in values, much of the goods thus stored having been produced with borrowed money. Rival railroads had absorbed a vast amount of cash capital. Abuse of credit had been noted in the business policy of a majority of men engaged in mercantile pursuits. Banks of deposit had been lending money beyond reasonable bounds. These were the important causes of the disturbance, which started in a small way at the beginning of August in New York City, when business people were out of town enjoying the vacation period. It commenced with a few insignificant failures. Within a week money became tight owing to the withdrawal of deposits and the hoarding of gold and silver, so that commercial affairs were conducted with some difficulty. A bank of considerable repute suspended payment on August 24th, and the panic then began with grim seriousness. Advances were restricted by financial institutions, which also called in their loans. Stocks and bonds were unsalable, and mercantile failures were of daily occurrence. A run on the soundest banks commenced on October 9th, and by the thirteenth of that month eighteen of these institutions had collapsed with an indebtedness to depositors of amounts extending far into the millions. Industry was soon crippled as badly as trade, finance and speculation. Factories throughout the United States had to close or operate on short time, throwing into idleness innumerable mechanics and laborers. Added to this condition the largest yield of grain ever known up to that time in the American States was met by an equally extensive harvest in Europe. As a consequence there was not any market for the wheat crop and millions of bushels of that cereal were wasted while workmen were being discharged by thousands. In the printing trade the effect of the panic was severe, and it was during that period of embarrassment, with its resultant shrinkage in prices, that the amended wage scale was disNewspaper seminated. It showed a reduction of 2 cents per Scale I,ooo ems in composition on daily and weekly newsReduced. papers and of $i per week for night work, while on Sunday newspapers there was a decrease of i cent per I,ooo ems. The schedule as it appeared in I857 for the class of work named was as follows: Morning Newspaper Work. Compositors employed by the piece shall receive not less than 35 cents per I,ooo ems for common matter. When compositors are employed at night only by the piece they shall receive 40 cents per I,ooo ems. MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 277 Compositors employed by the week (six days) shall receive not less than $I6 per week - twelve hours to constitute a day's work. When employed on night situations two hours shall be devoted in the afternoon to distribution, and seven hours at night (from 7 to 2 o'clock) to composition, and they shall be paid $I3 per week. For all time beyond 2 o'clock at night in either of the above situations the time shall be deducted out of the time for composition on the following day. Compositors may be employed during the day on morning newspapers at 31 cents per i,ooo ems, or $I2 per week - ten hours to constitute a day's work. Evening Newspaper Work. Compositors employed by the piece shall receive 31 cents per I,ooo ems for common matter. Compositors employed by the week (six days) shall receive not less than $12 - ten hours to constitute a day's work. Weekly, Semi-Weekly and Ti-Weekly Newspapers. Compositors employed by the piece shall receive not less than 31 cents per I,ooo ems for common matter. Compositors employed by the week (six days) shall receive not less than $12 - ten hours to constitute a day's work. Compositors employed by the piece on Sunday papers shall receive not less than 32 cents per I,ooo ems for common matter. When employed by the week (six days) they shall receive not less than $I3 - ten hours to constitute a day's work, with the exception of Saturday, when it is expected that a week hand will work during the evening. X. Book and Job Scale Advanced in 1863. Coeval with the breaking out of the Civil War in I86i there was a subsidence of the adverse effects of the I857 panic. By 1863 Typographical Union No. 6 judged that the improved state of trade warranted an increase in the wages of book and job compositors, and in September of that year it decided to put into force a scale that advanced the piece rates on book composition to 35 cents and 37 cents per I,ooo ems, respectively, for reprint and manuscript, with an increase of $2 per week for time workers, making the wages of the latter $13 per week. Some employers immediately acceded to the new arrangement, while others declined or offered a compromise, and the men in several offices struck in consequence of the refusal. Independent of the union a numerously attended meeting of journeymen printers was held on September 23d, resulting in the passage of the subjoined resolutions and the appointment of a committee to enforce the revised scale: 278 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. That the printers of New York adopt the scale of prices of New York Typographical Union No. 6, and that no man will work in an office where a strike has taken place for said scale, unless all the men working in said office receive the union scale of prices, and that all printers be requested to stop work unless paid such scale. That this meeting sustain the action of the New York Typographical Union. That it is the sense of this meeting that all printers present not members of the union send in their names for membership at the next regular meeting of New York Typographical Union No. 6. The dispute in some of the book and job establishments continued through November, the union having provided means to relieve those of its members who were then on strike. Peace was eventually restored, the controversy having been generally successful for the workmen. XI. Disputes on Newspapers in 1864. As a result of the war the premium on gold fluctuated frequently throughout the year i864 and these constant changes affected prices of commodities almost daily. There was an extraorEmployers dinary rise in the cost of everything, and living Satisfied expenses were very high. While gold was at I52 Scale Revision per cent on January 2d it went up to i6o on March in 1864. ist. Through speculation a difference of 55 per cent occurred on July ist alone, when the prices ranged from 225 to 280. Some idea of the depreciation in the currency may be gained from the fact that on that date the New York Sun advertised at the head of its first page that thereafter its price per copy in gold would be i cent and in currency 2 cents. By August ist the value of gold had declined to 258a, but it afterward rose and fell daily like the tides in New York Bay. This unusual state of things was deemed a sufficient reason by the union to seek twice in that calendar year advances in wages for its members employed on newspapers. An increase had taken place on this kind of work soon after the opening of the Rebellion, but to keep pace with rapidly increasing expenses it was determined on March I2, I864, to ask for these changes in the rates of pay: Compositors on morning papers to be paid not less than 45 cents per i,ooo ems for day work, and not less than 50 cents for night work; those employed by the week to receive not less than $2 I, instead of $i8, as previously, for night work, and not less than $i8 for day work, instead of $i6. MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 279 Time to be charged not less than 38 cents per hour when waiting for copy. For weekly papers the prices to be not less than 40 cents per I,ooo ems, or $I6 per week of six days, ten hours per day; Sunday papers 41 cents per I,ooo ems, or $17 per week of six days of ten hours per day, and 30 cents per hour for time work; after 7 o'clock P. M. time to be charged the same as on morning papers. The committee appointed at a former session of the union to confer with employers in regard to the proposed advances reported that the latter had generally acquiesced, and upon the arrival of March i8th, the time fixed for the amendments to the scale to take effect, the raises were obtained without any difficulty. To the majority of the union's members the increases secured by the book and job branch in the latter part of 1863 and by the newspaper men in the spring of I864 did not appear to be great enough to keep abreast of the upward Wage Scale tendency of prices for the necessaries of life. They Revised Twice waited until August 6th, which they thought was m I864. a propitious season to demand sufficient compensation to meet the growing requirements of themselves and families. In goodly numbers they assembled at the regular meeting of the union on that date, and decreed that on and after August I2th on daily newspapers and August I5th in book, job and newspaper offices other than dailies they would not work for less than the accompanying rates: Morning Newspaper Work. Compositors employed by the piece shall receive not less than 60 cents per I,ooo ems for common matter, and shall be entitled to at least two hours of continuous composition before 5 o'clock P. M., and at least five hours' continuous composition between the hours of 6 and I2 o'clock P. M. When compositors are employed at night only by the piece they shall receive 65 cents per I,ooo ems. Compositors employed by the week shall receive not less than $26 per week (six days) ---eleven hours to constitute a day's work. When employed on night situations only-eight hours to constitute a night's work; the hours of employment shall be between 6 P. M. and 3 A. M., and they shall be paid $22 per week, and for all time after 3 A. M. time shall be charged. This article shall also apply to compositors employed in reading proof. Compositors may be employed during the day on morning newspapers at 52 cents per I,ooo ems, or $20 per week - ten hours to constitute a day's work. When required to remain in the office unemployed during the stipulated hours for composition the compositor shall receive not less than 50 cents per hour for such standing time. When required to remain in the office after 3 o'clock A. M. the compositor shall charge 50 cents per hour in addition to all work done during such time. 280 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Evening Newspaper Work. Compositors employed by the piece shall receive not less than 52 cents per I,ooo ems for common matter. Compositors employed by the week (six days) shall receive not less than $20 - ten hours to constitute a day's work. Compositors employed by the piece shall be entitled to at least three hours' continuous composition between the hours of 8 A. M. and 12 M. and not less than four hours' continuous composition between 12 M. and 5 P. M. Standing time, 40 cents per hour. Weekly, Semi-Weekly and Tri-Weely Newspapers. Compositors employed by the piece shall receive not less than 52 cents per i,ooo ems for common matter. When required to work one night per week they shall be paid the prices that prevail on Sunday papers. Compositors employed by the week (six days) shall receive not less than $20 - ten hours to constitute a day's work. Compositors employed by the piece on Sunday papers shall receive not less than 54 cents per I,ooo ems for common matter. When employed by the week (six days) they shall receive not less than $21 -ten hours to constitute a day's work, with the exception of publication day, when it is expected that a week hand will work during the evening. For time work during the day a charge of 40 cents per hour shall be made. For time work at night a charge of 50 cents per hour shall be made. Bookwork. All works done in the English language, common matter, manuscript, 52 cents per 1,000ooo ems; reprint works, 50 cents per 1,000ooo ems. Works done in foreign languages shall be charged as follows: Latin, Spanish and Italian, manuscript 58 cents per 1,oo000 ems, reprint 56 cents per 1,000ooo ems; German, French, Welsh, Indian and African, manuscript 62 cents per 1,000ooo ems, reprint 60 cents per I,ooo ems. Compositors employed by the week shall receive not less than $i8 - ten hours to constitute a day's work. Time occupied by alterations from copy, by casing or distributing letter not used by the compositor, to be paid for at the rate of 40 cents per hour. When compositors are required to work beyond regular hours they shall be paid at the rate of 50 cents per hour or 6o cents per I,OOO ems. When compositors are required to remain in the office unemployed, awaiting orders from the employer, etc., they shall be paid at the rate of 40 cents per hour during the daytime and 50 cents per hour at night, but shall perform any work appertaining to the business that may be required. Job Work. All men employed by the week shall be paid not less than $20 - ten hours to constitute a day's work; when paid by the hour the price shall be 40 cents per hour. When required to work beyond the regular hours such extra time shall be paid for at the rate of 50 cents per hour. Prework. No pressman shall work for a less sum than $20 per week for day work or $22 for night work - the day's work in all cases to consist of ten hours. Overwork shall be paid for at the rate of 50 cents per hour. MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 28l Besides the increases in wages a noticeable feature in the foregoing scale was the reduction of working time on morning papers of one hour per day-from twelve hours to eleven hours. So large were the advances insisted upon by Proprietors the union, and coming so soon after the previous Object to Two Increases raise had been conceded by employers, that many in One Year. newspaper proprietors remonstrated, claiming that the demand was unjust and unwarrantable. They prepared to give battle, and their antagonism for the nonce brought to naught the influence of the printers' organization. A correspondent signing himself "A Journeyman Printer" sent to the Tribune a communication that was printed therein on August ioth. Addressing Editor Greeley the writer said: Knowing you to be the friend of the journeyman printer, and always anxious to promote whatever may eventuate beneficially to him, I desire to point out to my craftsmen, through the columns of a paper which has ever championed their just claims, what I believe with hun- Advance Impolitic, dreds of others to be a false and dangerous policy. I refer, One Journeyman of course, to the schedule of rates adopted recently by Typo- Pinter Declares. graphical Union No. 6 to go into effect on the twelfth of this month. For the following reasons I believe the advance demanded impolitic, and calculated to embarrass and injure the craft; and I hope every intelligent printer will pause and reflect before he concludes to resort to coercion to secure what the union in its mistaken notion emphatically demands. Let us reason: I. It cannot be controverted that any ordinary workman now holding a situation on the Tribune, Times, Herald or News can earn from $22 to $25 per week - many expert compositors realize from $35 to $40. This, Mr. Editor, your own books will show you to be the truth. What other class of artisans can do better? I know that the existing currency fluctuates, and that all the ordinary requirements of existence have greatly risen in price; but, everything weighed, journeymen printers are now paid better wages -as regards newspapers particularly - than any other class of mechanics in New York City. Is it policy, then, to seek to increase these rates 40 per cent while the enhanced cost of paper, ink, etc., is rendering many newspaper proprietors daily less able to pay even the present rates? The interest of the employer and journeymen should be identical. While the aggressions of Capital upon the rights of Labor should be indignantly repelled, it is no less a wrong when the operatives, by artificial means, constrain employers to acquiesce in measures which cripple their energies. 2. Can the employers, without serious pecuniary loss, pay the proposed advance? They cannot as a general thing. While the large daily papers may be enabled to stand up for a season under the pressure, less prominent and less wealthy journals must either employ boys or women or shuffle off their mortal coil. Will the trade be advantaged by such events? Is it not more wise to permit 40 men to work for $I8 per week than to so raise the rates as to compel capitalists to employ but 20 at $30 per week? Will not the proposed increase of wages induce the proprietors of large daily papers to seriously curtail the amount 282 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. of general reading matter they now give the community, thereby dispensing with the services of many compositors? 3. There is an excess - a great excess- of printers in the market over the demand. Book printers are, as a general thing, idle. They are not dissatisfied with 40 cents per I,ooo ems, but they cannot secure work. Excess of If men are unable to find employment at 40 cents per hour Printers in is it not the acme of absurdity to demand 52 cents? There the Market are at this writing over 400 book printers walking the streets. The scarcity of labor, so apparent in other branches of industry, does not exist in the printing business. Singular as it may appear it is the fact. Ordinarily speaking, a journeymen printer is not worth two weeks' board ahead of his wages. Now, if a strike is ordered, is it likely that the chances for work will be enhanced? On the contrary, is it not reasonable to conjecture that, after such men fail to procure any kind of employment at either the present or proposed rates, the union will either be compelled to support them out of its treasury, or submit to the humiliation of beholding them soliciting employment at any price they can obtain? 4. It should be borne in mind that Typographical Union No. 6 are not " the printers of New York," as is erroneously conjectured by many. While New York contains over 2,200 compositors - book, job and newspaper- the union has not 500 members. It is but a clique, which, by studiously excluding from the offices they control the 1,700 who are not in its fold, are competent to dictate what terms they see fit to their employers. Now, should the employers resist the contemplated advance they would of course open their doors to the tabooed 1,700, the most of whom would jump at the opportunity of earning from $22 to $25 per week. What, then, would become of the union? If the morning paper printers would preserve their organization, keep their employment, avoid differences and schisms among themselves, their true course is to compromise with their employers, who are, I understand, willing to make such an advance on the present rates as will be compatible with their pecuniary existence. Can reasonable men ask more? Replying to the above the Tribune editor remarked that "we certainly think the proposed advance an unreasonable one - as we notified the union before it was determined - and Greeley Thinks are not disposed to concede it. Should we be coerced Increase into doing it, it must be with the distinct underUnreasonable. standing that we deem it unjust, and shall endeavor to escape from it at the earliest moment. With this view, we solicit proposals by letter from compositors, whether already in our employment or others, willing to work on the Tribune for 45 cents per I,ooo. We shall not pay 60 cents if we can help it; and if we do pay it we shall cease to do so at the earliest moment. We protest against our correspondent's averment that we are the 'friend' of journeymen printers especially. We believe in justice, and would render it to all We must dissent also from one argument adduced above by 'A Journeyman Printer.' He asserts that most MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 283 employers cannot afford to pay the proposed advance. We do not consider that at all to the purpose. Labor is worth whatever it will command; and he who cannot pay the market price must go without it - that is all. Every printer has a right to fix his own price on his work, and refuse to work for less; and he is equally at liberty to combine with others to sustain that rate. He has no right to employ violence or intimidation to prevent others working for less. Let every one respect the right of every other and there need be no difficulty." " A Journeyman Job Printer" wrote a reply to " A Journeyman Printer" and it was printed in the Tribune a few days afterward. speaking of the latter correspondent's views the former contended: He takes a very strange and, I deem it, a very unwarranted view of the advance now asked by the craft. He hinges his whole article upon the idea that employers are to be " coerced." The expres- A Job Printer sion is entirely gratuitous and uncalled for. Who speaks DisougreeWit of coercion or threatens violence? Not one. The craft, as Printer." such, is as law-abiding as is any other in the United States. We ask an advance for this simple reason: At present we are inadequately paid —are not paid at an equal rate with other mechanics requiring similar skill and care. The price list at present for weekly hands in New York is $I5 (in Philadelphia it is $14),and that has been the price for the greater part of the spring and through the summer. Prior to the war printers were paid $io and $Ii a week and now $15 only. And is it necessary to argue with any person that provisions of all kinds have advanced Ioo and in some instances over 200 per cent, and yet to this day the wages of printers have only advanced 40 to 50 per cent? We as a craft are willing to bear our full share of the war burdens imposed upon our country, but we do not consent to work for wages which are altogether inadequate for the maintenance of our families. The statement of the would-be journeyman who appears in your columns for we think we see internal evidence in the article that he has ceased to work as a " jour " so long that he has forgotten how it feels to be one - of the improvements of printers is rather uncalled for. Can we not point with pride to the editor of this journal as a journeyman printer? And also to nine out of every ten now established in the trade in this city? The grand question with us is this: Is our labor worth at the present time $20 per week? We say, emphatically, Yes! The question of an advance has been mooted for some time; and several of the employers have said: " Why don't you strike now, while business is dull? " We meet their wish, because we feel our claim is both just and reasonable. The busy season will soon be at hand, in the usual course of business; but we have not waited until then. We ask the advance when we are well aware that business is dull. As to putting down the price at the first opportunity, we never knew it otherwise. Wages, as a rule, are the first to go down - the last to rise; and employers will vastly change when they do not put them down at the first opportunityno matter how much experience they may have had as journeymen themselves. 284 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. To which the Tribune editor made answer, saying that " we desire in reference to the above first to state a fact and then ask a question. i. The fact: Our correspondent says emImprovidence ployers always improve every opportunity to put of Printers down wages -that wages are 'first to go down, Alleged. last to rise.' Now, we have been engaged in printing in this city, either as journeyman or employer, for the last 33 years, and we have never known or heard of a reduction of the regular wages of journeymen printers here in all that time. On the contrary, in the fall of 186I when (because of the war) trade was very dull and most employers losing money, while the cost of living was remarkably low, we solicited a reduction of Io per cent in our journeymen's scale of recompense, and we were decisively informed that it could not be granted. 2. Now for the question: Our correspondent scouts the suggestion that many printers are improvident, and are on that account needy; and several similar letters before us harp on the assumption that journeymen cannot live at the rates now paid Now, it is none of our business how they spend their earnings; but, since this point is so persistently made, we will thank our correspondent to give his own estimate of the amount annually expended by the journeymen printers of our city in liquor saloons, gaming houses, and worse haunts (if there can be worse) which they might far better keep out of. Let us see if it be the fact that men cannot live at the current rates." Over the signature of " C. W. C.," a member of the Typographical Union, the Tribune on the same day inserted in its columns a letter, dated August i ith, taking issue with Mr. Greeley. A Union Printer This communication, which sheds much light conReplies to the cerning retail prices of foodstuffs and other comTribune Editor. modities that prevailed in the fifties and sixties of the last century, is here presented in full: I see by the Tribune of this morning that you give "fair notice " that you deem the prices asked by the printers of this city to be " extravagant and unjust," and that you will not pay them. This is your undoubted right, so it is the undoubted right of every man, or association of men to put a price upon his or their labor; but when you assign reasons why you will not pay the prices asked, and those reasons are false in fact, I as a printer and a member of the New York Typographical Union request the privilege of showing through yourcolumns wherein you are wrong. You say: " It is currently assumed that the cost of living has doubled since I860; but such is not the fact. The heavy item of rent has scarcely increased. We ride in city cars and stages as cheaply as ever.". The rent of the apartments I have occupied for the last six years has been MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 285 increased this year by an addition of 25 per cent, while the same rooms were they to be rented now could not be obtained for that. But then " we ride in the city cars and stages as cheaply as ever." Why, sir, you know that the average amount paid for car and stage riding by morning paper compositors in this city will not reach $5 a year. "It is currently assumed that the cost of living has doubled since i86o, but such is not the fact." Yes, sir; such is the fact, and you ought to know that such is the fact, and I will prove it to you. My wife is a very careful, frugal housekeeper; never wastes anything; never pays more than Cost of is absolutely necessary to obtain a good, wholesome article Living Doubles of food, or a fair article of wearing apparel for herself and i Four Year8 -children. She tells me her household expenses have more than doubled and here is her proof, being a transcript from her Diry Expense. ARnTICaS. Flour (Hecker's) per bag.............................. Beef per lb.......................................... Pork, fresh and salt................................... Butter per lb......................................... Potatoes per peck.................................... Tomatoes" ".................................... Cabbages each....................................... Coffee per lb......................................... Tea per lb........................................... Sugar per lb......................................... Molasses per gal...................................... Shoes per pair........................................ Stockings per pair.................................... Calico per yard....................................... Canton flannel per yard............................... Shirting, bleached, per yard............................ Sheeting, unbleached, per yard......................... Coal per ton...................................... Average increase over 257 per cent. Increase on scale about 7I1 per cent. When you willingly When you paid 35c. are asked to per I,ooo pay 6oc. per ems. 1,ooo ems. $o.87 $I1.75. 5.30.IO.20.20.50.40.90.20.60.06.12.20.65.75 2.00.11.33.6o 1.25 1.50 3.00.20 I.00.10.40.121.75. o.75.10 1.00 5.00 15.00 Increase per cent. 100 100 100 I50 125 200 100 225 I66 200 112 100 400 300 500 650 900 200 The above, Mr. Greeley, are all articles of prime necessity, as you well know. This is no fancy sketch, but a sad reality - a veritable copy of same actually expended then and now. I deem it pertinent to remark in this connection, also, that I have to pay $I.04 a month for my daily copy of the Tribune, instead of 52 cents as formerly. And further, if our association wish to advertise in your own or other journals of the city they have to pay all the way from 25 to IOO per cent advance on former rates. And to the reasoning of its correspondent the Tribune responded in this manner: I. That our correspondent in admitting that he pays but 25 per cent more rent than he paid for the same rooms three or four years ago, concedes the whole case. His living does not cost double what it did, even on his own exhibit. 286 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. 2. We believe the amount paid by each journeyman for riding in cars, boats, and stages averages fully $20 per year. 3. That if he cannot buy beef fit to eat under 30 cents per pound, we can. 4. We can do better than buy potatoes at 90 cents per peck, and if our friend's wife cannot, then he overrates her merits as a housekeeper. 5. It is not fair to argue from a momentary dearness of summer vegetables caused by an intense, protracted drought, as if it were the result of abiding causes. Under protest the Tribune management yielded on August I2th to the demands made by the union for an increase Refusal to Set of wages. But late in the same evening the foln"A " for Non- lowing advertisement was handed in at the countUnionists Causes Tribune Strike. ing room, entered upon the books, charged and sent to the composing room to be put in type: Compositors Wanted.- Twenty competent compositors wanted on a morning paper in this city, to whom permanent situations will be given. Fifty cents per I,ooo ems will be paid. Apply to George Jones, Times office. Members of the chapel refused to set up the advertisement and notified the business manager of the Tribune that if it were not withdrawn the whole force would strike work.4 "An appeal was made to their good sense to recede from so unreasonable a position," to quote the words of the Tribune of August i3th. " It was represented that they had no right thus to dictate what should or should not appear in our columns; that we could yield to no dictation in the editing of our paper; and that we had no right to refuse an advertisement perfectly proper in itself, because others deemed it might interfere with their interests. The appeal was in vain and we were, therefore, compelled to go to press with such matter as we had already in type." The strike was on in stern earnest and the friendly relations that had for so many years existed between Horace Greeley and his compositorial force was for a time severed. It was only two years previously that they had presented to him a $400 gold watch as a testimonial of the high esteem in which they held him, and when the parting of the ways came these printers blamed the great editor, the first president of their union, not for any resistance on his part 4 This resolution which was proposed by a member of Typographical Union No. 6 at its December, I90o, meeting was ignored by that organization and consequently did not become a part of its code of laws: " That members of No. 6 refuse hereafter to set up advertisements for ' scabs' in any branch of the allied printing trades." As a union, so far as is known, it has never inculcated in its rules and regulations any provision prohibiting composition on advertisements of the character here mentioned. Apparently the strike on the Tribune was a chapel affair, which was subsequently supported by the parent body. MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 287 to their claims, but rather for refusal to exercise his influence on this occasion in their behalf, thereby incurring for him some temporary unpopularity among his craftsmen.5 In its issue of August I5th the Tribune again called attention to the controversy, observing editorially: The patrons of the Tribune must bear with us for a few days if they perceive some deficiencies in the contents of our journal. They are aware that the compositors employed in our establishment at a late hour on Friday evening took offense at an advertisement for printers received by us from the Times office, and demanded its suppression under penalty of their immediate withdrawal; and, on our declining compliance, they all left us on the instant, to get on as we could. There was no question of wages involved, but simply one of our right to control these columns as against the claim of our workmen to dictate their contents. It was not entirely a new question; years ago the Printers' Union saw fit to advertise herein a very respectable and worthy master printer as an enemy of their craft, intending therein to deprive him of the labor he required; and we, being appealed to by him, decided that our advertising columns were open to all comers who did not ask the insertion of aught treasonable, libelous, indecent or immoral, and that we could not therefore exclude the union's advertisement. We had already made the same decision in favor of the cards and appeals of political adversaries, which we might have chosen to exclude had it been a matter of simple discretion or preference on our part. Our compositors having thus suddenly, and as we think unjustifiably, left us at a critical moment and having induced the union to sustain them in their course, we have no choice but to make the best fight in our power. We give fair notice, then, that we want compositors - that we stand ready to give liberal wages and permanent situations to good workmen; but it must be with a distinct understanding that this establishment belongs to its proprietors, and that no rule or scales are to be effective in it until we shall have been allowed a voice in their formation. We stand ready now as ever to unite with our fellow-craftsmen in the establishment of a just scale of recompense for work in the trade; but in making and modifying it employers, as well as journeymen, must be heard and represented. Compositors who deem these terms just and reasonable will please apply forthwith to Thomas McElrath, Tribune office. ' Henry P. McManus, one of the founders of the New York Printers' Union, interviewed by James M. Bell, in the New York Union Printer and American Craftsman, of June 6, I896, gave this account of the controversy: " The strike of I864 was directly caused by the radical advance in the price of composition on morning newspapers from 45 cents to 60 cents per i,ooo ems. Many of the wisest and most conservative members of the union were opposed to such a radical change and strenuously advocated a compromise of 55 cents per I,ooo. This rate would have been accepted by the proprietors, but the younger and hot-headed element were in the majority. They would not listen to reason or argument, and the scale took effect. Sixty cents per I,ooo was paid for a brief spell. During this time the proprietors, aided by the Associated Press and Western Union Telegraph Company, scoured the United States and Canada for 'rats,' and they were colonized as fast as secured. At the proper time they let the ' rodents ' loose on us, and the fight was on. Even the Tribune was 'ratted' without much trouble, while the men on the Times received official notification to get out. We subsequently admitted defeat and accepted the 55 cents that the conservatives had originally proposed.' 288 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. The union met on August I3th and passed a resolve, "that on Sunday morning, August i4th, the members working in the various daily morning newspaper offices in the City of New York shall demand of the proprietors of the same whether they will pay the recently advanced scale so long as required by this union, and in case of refusal the employed in such offices shall promptly strike and refuse to resume work until their demands are fully acceded to, unless already acceded to unconditionally." It was stated that the Associated Press had been issuing circulars to all newspapers in the country requesting them to send non-union printers to New York, and it was therefore necessary General to strike before the arrival of these men, if the union Strike expected to triumph. President Holmes imparted Ordered. the information that the employing book and job printers had offered to pay 47 cents per i,0oo ems for reprint, 50 cents for manuscript, 33 cents per hour for time work, and $I6 per week to job printers. A member stated that the book offices were filled mostly with compositors not in the union and he did not believe a strike could be carried to a successful issue in such shops. The proposition of the employers was rejected, and it was unanimously agreed to abide by the original decision of the union regarding the book and job scale. A Vigilance Committee was appointed to look after the interests of the association, and it was particularly enjoined not to adopt any violent or illegal measures. A representative from the German Printers' Union notified the meeting that the principal German offices were paying the advanced scale. A mass meeting was held in City Hall Park on August i8th under the auspices of the Workingmen's Union in support Union's Position of the strike, which was then in full force. The Defined at various trades were well represented. Edward A. Mass Meeting. Holmes, president of the Typographical Union, who was elected chairman of the gathering, gave this version of the dispute: The matter out of which this strike arose occurred in the New York Tribune office. Upon last Friday the men in that composing room waited upon their employers and requested to know whether they were or were not going to pay the prices established by the NewYork TypographicalUnion. Theemployers stated, through theirforeman, thattheyshould pay that scale under protest; and the men concluded not to go to work upon so ambiguous an answer. They then stated that there was a combination among the employers not to pay that scale of prices, but that, notwithstanding that combination, the proprietors would use MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 289 no trick against the interests of the workmen until the union had met on Saturday evening. Upon that statement the compositors employed in the Tribune office went to work. About I I o'clock on the evening of Friday, while the men were at work, an advertisement came up, stating that "twenty compositors were wanted on a morning paper. For further information apply to Mr. Jones, Times office." Upon the receipt of that all the men refused to work. The editor stated that he would try to have it withdrawn by Mr. Jones of the Times office, and sent out a messenger. In the meantime the men employed in the Times office had struck against this advertisement and Mr. Jones had given a written order withdrawing the advertisement from the Tribune and other papers in which it was ordered to appear. When the gentleman went to the Tribune office and requested that the advertisement be withdrawn the superintendent said that that must appear in the paper if nothing else did. The men thought that advertisement a trick and they left the office in a mass. Upon Saturday evening the Printers' Union met and did not recede from their scale. Upon the following Sunday applications were made at the Tribune office for work, and among others were two young gentlemen from Poughkeepsie who had telegraphed to Mr. Jones of the Times office in regard to the 20 compositors, and here was the answer: " New York, 15 August. In answer to telegram to Times office we will give employment to compositors who report to our foreman to-morrow morning. Thos. McElrath, Tribune office." Did not that prove a trick? When employers enter into an honorable engagement with the men the latter have a right to hold them to it and make them keep it, as well as keep their own. Robert M. Poer, one of the speakers, stated that he was in a peculiar predicament, for he had for fifteen years been the pupil of Horace Greeley and the Tribune. " I do not want to say anything against my old master," declared White-Coated the speaker. "He has always been the friend of Philosopher Still Among the workingmen, and, notwithstanding the crooked- Journeymen. ness of the present business, I believe Greeley's heart is yet in the right place. But as the Tribune is conducted by an association I believe there is a power behind the throne greater financially than the throne itself. I believe a trick has been played on the men in the Tribune office. The printers had agreed to work at the old prices till the union met and in the meantime the Tribune Association was advertising for compositors from the country. Every employer has a right to get work done as cheaply as he can, and the workingmen have an equal right to get what they can for their labor. I have been a printer 30 years, both as journeyman and employer, and I assert that the journeymen book printers in New York, Washington, Boston, Cincinnati and other cities are worse used than any other workingmen. The newspaper printer is also a perfect slave. I have to work sixteen hours out of the 24 and ten of those after sundown. And our wages are not enough IO 290 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. to live on. Now, the papers have stated that men get about $35 a week; but will any other tradesman work sixteen hours a day in August, and then go home beyond Eighteenth Hardships of street and lie down? I am certain that no printer Morning Paper could work this time without a 'sub;' so a daily Printers. paper compositor is obliged to give half his wages away to enable him to earn the other half. As to the book and job printers, nineteen-twentieths of them do not get more than $i6 a week. This is not the fault of the proprietors, but of the slaves who submit to it. A few pages of manuscript are given to a compositor to set up. He does so, takes a proof, and it is sent to the author in Newport, the compositor having to suck his thumbs until the corrected proof comes back from the watering-place. The poor fellow must look for a job somewhere else, because he is not paid for his work until it is measured, and this is not done until it is made up. Then there are overgrown boys in the offices who are set to read proofs, and the poor devil who sets it up when he goes for his wages finds himself 50 cents in debt to his employer. The remedy for all this is a greater union between compositors and pressmen, for the latter could stop the machine when they like." The speaker said he hoped that the men intended no demonstration on the Tribune or any other establishment in New York. "We ask for the assistance of the workingmen of the city," he said. "Let them hold meetings in every ward and show how the journeymen printers are used. We will raise $6,oo0 in a short time, and that will help the union. I am unwilling to give up Horace Greeley. I shall not do so, for I certainly believe the old white-coated philosopher is still among the journeymen printers." Robert Crowe, of the Tailors' Union, said they had not met to oppose any particular firm or person, but merely to protect the workingmen in their rights. He spoke of the conseResolutions quences of a contest between Labor and Capital, Expressing and believed "eternal vigilance" would be the Sympathy. price of Labor's independence. " I do not wish to detract from him who has been the noble friend of the workingman for the last 30 years - Horace Greeley - but even he will soon learn that combination is essential to success," concluded the speaker. Addresses were also made by President Harding, of the Workingmen's Union, and several others, after which the assemblage expressed sympathy with the printers in these resolutions, which were carried by a unanimous vote: MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 29g Whereas, Differences and difficulties have arisen between a considerable number of the employing printers of this city and those employed by them, with regard to the justice and propriety of the recent advance in the scale of prices of the New York Typographical Union. These difficulties,have been caused mainly by the refusal of the former to comply with the justice of its demands to concur with the right of the laborer to organize for the purpose of fixing an equitable price for his labor. Therefore be it resolved:That while deprecating a resort to what are technically called strikes for trivial causes, we recognize in the present strike good and sufficient cause therefor, and that we hereby pledge ourselves to do our utmost to maintain the Typographical Union in the position taken by it. That as the manufacturer, the merchant, and the publisher have an undoubted right to fix the prices of their products, so also has the workingman an indisputable right to fix the price of his labor. That what we deemed originally to be a difference only between the printers and a portion of their employers having now assumed the character of a contest between Capital and Labor, thereby making it the cause of workingmen generally, we recommend the adoption by the several trades unions of such measures as will enable them to act in harmony for the protection of their mutual interests. That we hereby recommend that the workingmen withhold their countenance and support from such employers as refuse to comply with their just demands or to recognize their right to organize for protection; and we suggest the propriety of an interchange of such information as will lead to intelligent action n this regard. As the controversy proceeded it waxed more bitterful. In the editorial columns of the Tribune Mr. Greeley continued to express his views of the strike in his characteristic style. " The journeymen till recently employed in setting Intimidation up the type on which the Tribune is printed," wrote Charged by he on August 20th, "saw fit to quit our employment Tribune. in a body one week ago last night. They did it without notice, at the (for us) most inconvenient hour possible, when our daily must very soon go to press, when we had news to put quickly into type, and when it was too late to put other workmen in their places. Though we think they treated us most unfairly and unjustly we made no complaint, but went on with our business as best we could. All we ask of those who thus deserted us is that they stay away, and not infest our premises to annoy us and frighten off those who have been employed by us in their stead, and who are satisfied with our wages, as we are with their work. If the skulking assassins who dog the homeward steps of our new journeymen in the small hours of the night, in order to fall upon them unawares in some dark corer, and there deal them stealthy, cowardly blows, will only mind their own business, if they have any, we shall be obliged; if 292 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. not, they will be. That's all. The men who deserted us at so critical a period, expecting to bring us to our knees, cannot be quiet. They are haunted by a guilty consciousness that they have taken a position which nothing can justify and which nothing but falsehood can render plausible. Hence a Mr. Holmes, at the meeting of Thursday evening, impudently declared the advertisement of the Times for compositors 'a trick,' knowing better all the time. Mr. Jones, the Times publisher, has already repeatedly stated that there was no trick in the case- that he advertised for compositors because he wanted them, paid us our regular price for the advertisement, and went his way, utterly unsuspicious of wrong or offense, as we were. That advertisement went in regular course to our composing room, and was given out there like any other copy, when the compositor who received it read it to his fellows, and they instantly resolved that it should be suppressed or they would stop work. Argument, entreaty, remonstrance, were wasted upon them; they knocked off and quit the office, leaving us to get on without them as we might. This we have since done, and intend to keep doing. And we only ask of those who left us so unjustifiably that they keep away. We have always hitherto acceded promptly to each scale adopted by the Printers' Union, and have paid our journeymen accordingly, though some of the exactions seemed to us unreasonably hard on us. When, two weeks since, a committee of the union waited on us with the newly-revised scale, we asked time to consider it and duly responded that we thought it too high, although we were willing to agree to a fresh advance of more than IO per cent. Notwithstanding this, the new scale was adopted, and we had decided and agreed to try it temporarily under Paid Scale protest. But our journeymen saw fit to make an Under issue with us on another point-one which we Protest. could neither concede or compromise - so we had to take our stand. That stand we purpose to maintain. We are ready now and henceforth to unite with our fellowemployers in appointing a committee of three or more persons to meet a like committee from the journeymen (we mean all the journeymen in our city), and any scale of prices and office regulations which may be agreed upon by a majority of each committee we will accept and abide by upon a distinct understanding that it can only be changed by the concurrence of two similar committees hereafter; but no scale will we recognize henceforth which is made by journeymen alone. If we are not entitled to at least an equal voice with our journeymen - much more with other journeymen -in the MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 293 regulation of our office, we will quit this business for some other wherein we shall have some recognized rights, some freedom of judgment and of action." Although the union had already cautioned its Vigilance Committee to conduct the strike in the most orderly manner, it again placed itself upon record on August 2oth Union Abhors as being utterly out of sympathy with lawless Ltlesness behavior, adopting the following: Whereas, It having been stated in one of the papers that men who have gone to work at prices below those asked for by this union have been offered violence, it is hereby Resolved, That while Typographical Union No. 6 will use all lawful means to have the prices established by it generally paid, the union at the same time utterly condemns and deprecates all attempts at violence and intimidation. Resolved, That the members of this union call upon all persons friendly to their organization to discountenance any acts that may tend to injure the good name of this union as a law-abiding and law-maintaining body. From its first issue the New York Daily News, the publication of which was commenced by Judge Gideon J. Tucker in I855, had upheld the principles of organized labor and during the I864 dispute it made a novel suggestion for the Daily News promotion of industrial peace. " We see to-day," Suggests a its editor remarked, "clashes that ought not to Unique Remedy. exist - employers arrayed against workingmen, and workingmen arrayed even one against another. This state of things we anticipated some time ago as a sequence from the depreciation of the currency, and look forward to now, as certain to go on in aggravated violence. As a preventive of the evil, we proposed in former issues of the Daily News standing committees of arbitration of employers and employees for making, from day to day, binding awards on all questions of labor arising out of the depreciations that we may expect to go on rapidly in the currency through the fall and winter. The Tribune has, we observe, felt the force of our reasoning on the subject, and accepts our proposal in reference to the difficulties of the printing trade. We urge it, therefore, upon all men of that calling now on strike, and do so in hope that both parties may be benefited -the one saved from inconvenience and the other from privation." Horace Greeley commented in the Tribune of August 23d on the proposal of the Daily News. "We beg the News to be assured," he said, " that while we concur most heartily in the above suggestions, we have not 'felt the force of its reasoning' very severely, inasmuch as we have always favored what that journal now so forcibly recommends. We joined the Printers' Union in its infancy 294 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. on the understanding that it was to be an organization of employing as well as journeymen printers, to the precise end above suggested. We believe it was no fault of the journeymen that it became onesided in its character; the wrong inheres in the assumption of a right by one party to a bargain to make both sides of it. We believe in good wages whenever they can be paid (though Employers we think smaller better than none) and we are Blamed for willing to pay such rates for composition as shall Union's OneSided Course be agreed on by such Joint Committee of Arbitration as the News suggests. It is not of so much moment to us that the rates should be a little higher or lower as that they may be uniform; and whenever we cannot afford to pay the rates established as aforesaid we will quit the business. But the demand that the rates to be fixed for printing shall be fixed by the journeymen alone - and not even by all the journeymen, but by a minority - is utterly inadmissible. One evil consequence is flagrant inequality, where equality is palpably required. The rates recently decreed by the Printers' Union are notoriously not paid to one-third of the journeymen now at work in our city. They are not paid by a majority of the morning journals, and we presume not of the evening journals either. They are unreasonably hard on newspaper as compared to bookwork. In short, they are just such as might be expected when one class attempts to dictate respecting matters wherein other classes are equally interested and have equal rights. They cannot be maintained, because they should not be." The union on the twenty-fourth of August ordered that (as several newspapers had recommended that Committees of Conference be appointed by both journeymen and employers for the Conference purpose of adjusting the difficulties in the printing Committee business, declaring that "it has always been the Appointed, policy of this union, where any disposition has been shown to be so met, to appoint such committee,") seven representatives of the organization be chosen to act for the journeymen in any conference that might be arranged by both sides. Not much was accomplished by these seven conferees. They met on August 27th and received letters from Horace Greeley and the secretary of the Employing Printers' Association, whose official stated that the latter could only accept the terms theretofore proposed, while the Tribune's editor said that he was favorable to an amicable arbitration. After a lengthy deliberation the committee decided to recommend the following scale of prices for book and job work: Manuscript, 50 cents per I,ooo ems; reprint, 47 cents per I,ooo ems; time work, day, 33 cents per hour, night 45 cents per hour; week MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 295 work, $i8. That schedule was accepted by the union, which subsequently lowered its prices on newspapers to the following basis: Morning, 55 cents per i,ooo ems, or $24 per week, eleven hours per day (afternoon and night), $20 a week for night work only; evening and weekly, 45 cents per i,ooo ems, or $i8 per week. These became the prevailing wage rates and were paid by nearly all the printing firms in the city. The Times, which on August I4th at first refused to pay 6o cents per i,ooo ems, but a few hours later on the same date acceded, on September I7th summarily discharged its union compositors and installed a new set of printers in The Times their places. Enclosed in an envelope with his Its Union week's earnings each of the locked-out men found Compositors. a note stating that neither his nor the services of any union man were longer required in that establishment. Other large newspapers were also lost to the union, the membership of which dwindled in fifteen months to a figure below that recorded at the end of the first year of its existence and which has never since reached so low an ebb. At the convention of the National Typographical Union in i865 the delegates from New York reported that Union No. 6 had begun to repair the " damages sustained in its defeat last fall." For several years the Tribune was operated under the open-shop system. Union compositors obtained situations there, and two chapels, one consisting of organization men and the other of non-members - each having a chairman "Big Six" and its own set of regulations - conducted the Relations withe y trade affairs of the composing department.' Grad- Greeley. ually Horace Greeley and his old employees became reconciled, feelings of mutual affection and good will for each other were renewed, and, prior to i870, the Tribune was again placed upon the union's list of fair offices, remaining there until some five years after the demise of the celebrated editor and reformer. The Times and other newspapers, besides many book and job offices, were also eventually regained by the associated typographers. ' The union chairman of the Tribune chapel was Francis L. Fitzpatrick, through whose efforts negotiations that finally led to an adjustment of the dispute were opened with the management of that newspaper. Although born in 1838, Mr. Fitzpatrick is still actively engaged at the printing business, being a compositor on the day force of the New York herald. A native of Ireland, he came in childhood to the United States with his parents, who settled in New York City, where he was educated in the public schools. After completing his term as apprentice in the office of John A. Gray he united with Typographical Union No. 6 on February 7, I863, and since then has been a continuous member, representing the union in 188o at the Interriational Typographical Union convention in Chicago, serving on the Deliberative Committee of the New York association from x865 to I868, and also performing duties on other important committees. 296 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. XII. Book and Job Dispute in 1869. With the close of the Civil War the Typographical Union made an extraordinary effort to strengthen its ranks, and at the opening of I869 it had, in a period of less than four years, Distinction increased its membership by more than 600 per Between cent. These recruits came for the most part from Manuscript the book and job branch of the printing trade, and Eliminated. it was decided by the union on January i9th to put into operation an amended scale of prices for their benefit. Aside from the wage increases in' this new schedule the prominent feature was the elimination of all distinction between manuscript and reprint, and instead differentiating between leaded and solid matter. Briefly, the rates sought were: Works done in the English language, common matter, manuscript or reprint: Solid composition, 54 cents per I,ooo ems; matter leaded with eight-to-pica and less than four-to-pica leads, 52 cents; with four-to-pica or thicker leads, 50 cents; under eight-to-pica, to count as solid. Pearl and diamond 5 cents additional. Compositors employed on time to receive not less than $20 per week of 59 hours. Corresponding increases were provided for works in foreign languages and for extras of various kinds. These projected advances, the maximum of which on piecework was 7 cents per I,ooo ems and $2 on week work over the rates of 1864, were scheduled to take effect on Monday, January 25th. Many Demandfor small offices and a considerable number of large Precipitates a ones granted the demands on that date, and in Strike, establishments where employers would not consent to the changes strikes were ordered, about 500 compositors being called out. From day to day other concerns conceded the increases, but some of the largest printing firms in the city, comprising an association called the Typothetae, which originated in I862,7 held out against the requirements of the united typog7"One of the most important labors undertaken by him [Peter Carpenter Baker] was the formation of a society of master printers. With one exception, none had ever previously existed in this country, the exception being one in Boston in the early part of the century. In this work, in which he 'builded better than he knew,' he succeeded, conjointly with Mr. Theodore L. DeVinne, in establishing a society which now exists in every large city in the Union, and which has been imitated even as far away as Australia. The heavy taxation and the depreciated currency of the country during the Civil War, together with the number of persons who had gone into service, and the unequal burden of affairs upon the public, had altered all the prices which were current before the struggle began, and rendered correct estimates impossible upon the former basis. Mr. Baker and Mr. DeVinne saw that there would be no way out MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 297 raphers. The organization of employers met on January 29th. W. C. Martin, the chairman, suggested that whatever the meeting might do the proprietors should merely stand on the reasonableness of their course, and not as taking any antagonistic position apart from what the journeymen had done, but to come to the conclusion that their demand could not be acceded to on account of the situation of the trade. He considered that it was "not a fitting time to spring any advanced scale of prices on us, and certainly not the kind of a scale that has such objectionable features as the present one possesses." C. A. Alvord said the journeymen printers " had formed an association some time ago to manage journeymen and masters also. Through the indiscretion of masters they had succeeded in making the society greater than it would Typotheto Will have been if the employers had not parted with so Not Treat with much of their rights. Now these men ask this Typographical advance as highwaymen solicited on the high road. Union. They gave us no notice or time for a consideration of the matter. On Monday morning the new scale was presented, and on Monday morning it went into effect- that is, they all struck. The compositors alone are not involved in this. Pressmen, stereotypers and others will all have their terms,-and there is danger even of all manufacturing interests being affected by a movement of this kind. It is a well-known fact that the prices paid journeymen printers in New York are much higher than in any other city of the Union. The effect of this movement will be to send the business to provincial towns, where the work can be done cheaper. We can get our printing done now in Boston, Cambridge, or even in Albany for from 25 to 50 per cent cheaper than in New York." This declaration was then adopted: Whereas, The Printers' Union of this city, regardless of right and courtesy, have attempted through a secretly premeditated strike, the enforcement of an obnoxious scale of prices; therefore Resolved, That in all future conferences on the subjectof wages or trade rules we will treat with no committee from the Printers' Union. of their difficulties unless the employing printers could be brought together. This was done late in the season of I862, but before spring came on the organization, which it was then determined should be permanent, was still further crystallized. Its members dined together at the Metropolitan Hotel in March, I863, and the body assumed the title of the Typothete. The pressure of that day compelled their attention to be turned almost solely to financial considerations, but the society then founded, with its sister societies, has since taken up every question relating to the improvement of the art and the elevation of those who follow it, together with the consid. eration of the technical matters that are involved."-W. W. Pasko, " Old New York," Volume II, pages 333-4. 298 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHI CAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Approval of the appended circular to the public, EViewls of which had been prepared by a committee, was a Association part of the business transacted at the employers' meeting: The employing printers of the City of New York have determined that they will not accede to the demands of the Printers' Union. They believe that the times do not justify an advance upon the high prices paid for two or more years past. Their patrons generally are looking for a fall rather than a rise in prices, and the employers do not feel at liberty to increase the cost of printing. Besides they know from past experience that if they should accede to the demands of the compositors the publishers would not be willing to pay the additional rate, especially as they claim that they are enabled Recognize Difference to contract for work in other cities at considerably lower Between Leaded prices than New York printers are compelled to ask. While and Solid Matter. the employers do not deem it possible to submit to the unreasonable and absurd exactions of the Printers' Union, yet they are willing to recognize the difference in leaded and solid matter, and to allow 3 cents per I,ooo ems additional for the latter; and while distinctly claiming the necessity for discriminating in respect to the competency of workmen, yet they are willing to pay $20 per week (as most have been paying) for allhandswhoareable to earnso muchand they will pay more or less than this sum, depending entirely upon the expertness of the compositors employed. The employers regret that any of the book and job compositors of this city should have been induced to leave their places at this time. They believe that the pricespaid average as high as those of any other mechanical calling and that the men were doing as well as at any previous time; and if it be true, as claimed by the Printers' Union, that they have a fund of many thousands of dollars, and that they can remain idle for a long time, no better evidence than this can be offered to satisfy any one that the rates heretofore paid have not been too low. The employing printers entertain none but friendly feelings towards the compositors and they trust they may decide to return to their places without further loss of time, at the usual rates, with the increase for solid matter as proposed. A few years since, when the very highest war rates ruled, we accepted a scale of prices from the compositors, since which time we have abated nothing, but, on the contrary, have in many cases voluntarily and in others from their imporReduction in tunity advanced all occupying positions of any responsibility Prices of very materially, while at the same time the prices of family Necessities. necessities, dry goods, groceries, clothing, etc., have been gradually falling, so much so that one of the heaviest dry goods houses in the city is said to have lost over $3,ooo,ooo in I868 from depreciation. Indeed it is a fact that a family can be respectably supported at the present time in this city at a less cost than in any of the smaller towns, notwithstanding the item of house rent is much higher here, and yet we pay our compositors 25 per cent more than is paid in smaller places. Many of us have contracts running from three to twelve months predicated upon prices which we had no reason to suppose would be otherwise than satisfactory so long as general matters should remain as they were; and yet the compositors spring this trap upon us in an instant, giving us no time for deliberation, MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 299 but with the scale in one hand and the strike in the other, it is, with an assumption of fairness, " your money or your life," and at once. Demagogues talk of the tyranny of Capital. Never yet did Capital in this country attempt such an act of tyranny as this; but Labor has done it periodically and the periods are shortening. This counter scale was then adopted: Prices for composition, distribution and correction — Counft Scale free from all charges for making up, matter to be cleared Adopted. away by the office: REPRINT. MANUSCRIPT. PER I,000 EMS. Solid. Leaded. Solid. Leaded. English and German, common matter............. $0.47 So.44 So.so $0.47 Latin, common matter.......................... 0.50 0.47 o.58 0.55 French, Spanish, Italian or Portuguese............ 0.52 0.49 0.6o 0.57 All matter leaded with a thinner than eight-to-pica shall rate as solid. When compositors make up their own matter they shall be entitled to 3 cents additional on the above prices and shall unlead and clear away their own matter. In consideration of the compositors being released from unleading and clearing away of dead matter and of the advance in the price of solid matter, the office shall be entitled to claim and count all blanks composed by the maker-up. The compositor shall make his work correct to copy. All alterations from copy in proof shall be paid on time. Type larger than pica to be measured as pica. Pearl and diamond 5 cents per,000o ems extra. Ten hours shall be considered a day's work. Compositors employed by the week will be paid according to. their capacity by special agreement, $20 per week being considered a fair price for an expert workman. Compositors employed by the hour in alterations or other time work will be paid at the rate of 35 cents per hour; if for ten consecutive hours at the usualrate per week. When compositors are required to do work out of regular hours they shall be paid at an advance of one-third upon the price of day work,from 6 to IO o'clock P. M., including half hour allowed for supper; and at an advance of one-half on the price of day work for all work after 10 o'clock. Distributing of plain English matter shall be paid at 12 cents per I,OOO ems. Assembling on January 3Ist the Executive Committee of the Typothetae received the report of a special committee appointed to consider the propriety of excluding all union men from the offices of the associated employers and Propriety of postponed action to a subsequent date, when the Excluding Union resolution was modified so as to provide that a Men Considered. committee of three be empowered to consult with master printers as to the advisability of retaining union printers in their service. It was determined to offer more active and positive 300 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. resistance to the strike, and an amount in excess of $Io,ooo was at once subscribed to further such object, while measures were adopted for obtaining an additional sum from absent proprietors who were in sympathy with this plan of warfare. By February 5th the Typographical Union had succeeded in inducing 79 establishments to pay its revised scale of prices, among these being the large offices of Harper & Brothers, Appleton & Co., Methodist Book Concern, Metropolitan Book and Job, Evening Post Book, Bradstreet's, Dun & Co., the Bible House, Nesbitt & Co., and the New York Printing Co. It having been reported in the newspapers that the organized employing printers had met on February I7th " and perfected a new scale of prices, which will be submitted for the consideration of the compositors on strike, this scale not differing materially from that previously offered, except in Journeymen's minor details," prompted the following statement Side of the (published in the Tribune of February Igth) from Controversy, a union printer, whose remarks voiced the sentiments of the typographical organization: A statement of the strike of the printers in this morning's paper is calculated to mislead the public on a very important point, and I ask the indulgence of your columns to refute it. It says that the employers at their meeting yesterday perfected a scale of prices, previously offered to the journeymen, but which was rejected, and will be again submitted to them for adoption. Now, the point I wish to explain and deny is this: In the first place no scale of prices has been offered by the employers to the men on strike. It is true that a scale was made and published and advertised, but by the passage of the resolution at the Astor House some two weeks ago that the Typothetae would have no dealing or communication with the union the employers effectually locked their scale up in a strong box, placed it out of the reach of all journeymen printers, and virtually offered it to " rats " only. Now doubtless they will again offer it by the same means. This they will find is futile. No journeymen can be approached nor any offer be received except through the medium of Typographical Union No. 6, and the union cannot be reached by any advertisement, but only by a manly action on the part of the employers, rescinding the resolution above referred to and then sending a committee for a conference. Until this course is taken all statements that a scale has been offered to the strikers is false; and by their own action the employers have shut off the only means by which a conclusion of the strike can be accomplished at any scale, either that of the union or that advertised for the " rats." The whole thing is simply this: The employers know and have felt and tested the strength of the union and they cannot bring themselves to acknowledge it, after the very dignified position they took at the opening of the strike; yet I fear, before they see the end of it they will have to own up that our position was equally good and that we had the advantage of right on our side, for we have never in any way intimated that we would not receive and listen to a committee from their august body, while their first action was a deliberate insult to a respectable body of citizens incorporated into an association by the laws of our State. MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 30I On February I7th the association of master printers resolved to issue another address to the Typothete issues Second public, and on the g9th published these views Addressec of the situation from the employers' standpoint: This is the fourth week of the " union " strike. Both parties we believe are now better fitted to judge of its merits. We were never consulted about the union rules and prices. The scale of prices we discussed in joint committee is not the scale of prices now demanded. We hold that it takes two parties to make a bargain, and object to the enforcement of rules, in making which we have not even had the chance to express an opinion. The prices are unreasonable and made in the interest of poor workmen; for who but a poor workman would wish to abolish the distinction between manuscript and reprint to be exempted from the correction of his errors by the limitation of one proof-to require the aid of a union in enforcinghis claim for $20 a week, when it is a wellknown fact that that price has for a long time been readily paid by the employers to good workmen? Attempt was made to enforce prices not by argument or persuasion, but by a surprise and coercion. We had been assured that there was no intention to strike - that in all future attempts at change of prices compositors would rely on reason and justice only. And yet, regardless of our existing contracts, regardless of all courtesy and all justice, the union deliberately planned the best method of attaining its ends by coercion. We regard this action of the union as bad faith and bad manners. We can yield nothing to force. We ask reflecting men to compare the prices we offer to those of the union. Calculate the difference in a week's work between both scales. Will it pay, either in money or in any other way, to sustain this strike? So far we have acted mainly on the defensive. We have trusted to the returning good sense, to the sober second thought of the compositors in the belief that they would see that this strike was as unwise in its plan as it was unjust in its execution. It is for you to decide whether the next six months shall see a supply of compositors, largely in excess of the demand, competing with each other for employment on a declining market for labor. Soon after the inception of the dispute the Adams Pressmen's Association volunteered to support the compositors, "heartily sympathizing with the members of Typographical Union No. 6 in their movement to secure reasonable Pressmen Sympathize living wages," and resolving upon the appointment itpa e of a committee of five to consult with that associa- Oompositors. tion "on such measures as are calculated to aid said union in its pending movement." Means to conduct the strike were needed by the Typographical Union at the opening of the fifth week of the conflict, and having directed its president " to make an appeal to all sister unions under the jurisdiction of the National Typographical Union for a financial loan to the extent of their means to enable us to carry the strike to a successful issue," the following communication was on February 25th addressed by President William Stirk to other unions of printers for financial assistance: 302 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. The strike of the book and job compositors of this city, which was inaugurated on Monday, January 25th, is now in its fifth week. During this time all the offices in this city, with the exception of Messrs. Gray & Green's, Appeal for and some six or seven firms connected with the Typotheta Financial - an association of employing printers - have acceded to Asim ce. the advanced scale, and have been paying the same since the first and second weeks of the strike. We have had over 200 men on relief list each week, and have so far expended something over 9,00ooo. Our members at work have taxed themselves heavily; but notwithstanding this our disbursements are so far in excess of our receipts that we are now compelled to solicit a financial loan from our sister unions, to the extent of their ability, to enable us to carry the strike to a successful termination. The members of our union have held together, staunch and true, with very few exceptions. The offices on strike are receiving but very slight additions to their working force, as we succeed in getting men out as fast as they get them in. Whatever loan your society can accommodate us with will be remitted as soon as possible after the present difficulty is settled. The success of the strike is as much the interest of our sister unions as it is with us, for success with us will show employers how useless it will be for them to combine against the just demands of Labor; and the moral influence will be so felt throughout the trade that it will encourage the unions in other cities to make a demand approximating the prices of New York.8 From Cambridge, Mass., on March ist, the New York union received a telegram stating that the new scale demanded by the printers of that city had been complied with and that thereafter they would receive 45 cents and 47 cents per I,ooo ems, which was said to represent an advance of 0o cents a thousand over the old scale. One of the strongest arguments urged by employers against the strike in New York was that Boston and Cambridge employing printers were paying their old.prices, and that on this account much of the work of the Metropolis had been drawn to the two Massachusetts cities. News of this character tended to change the situation, and late in March there were indications that the Mutual strike was about to terminate owing to the fact that Concessions three of the leading representatives of the TypotheSettle Strike. ta held a private conference with the officers of the Typographical Union on the 22d of that month, when it was said a spirit of mutual concession prevailed between the two sides to the controversy. This was verified on April 5th, at which time it was officially stated that an amicable adjustment had been acquiesced in by the committees of employers and journeymen, the former agreeing to an advance in the piece scale above that which they had proposed at the beginning, but slightly below the 8 The appeal for funds was successful, Albany Typographical Union alone having sent $250 and placed the remainder of the funds in its treasury ($i,600) at the disposal of the New York union; and on September 6, 1870, the president of the latter announced that all the money that had been loaned to it by different organizations during the strike of 1869 had been refunded. MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 303 amounts demanded by the compositors, to pay $20 per week to time hands, and to recognize the union. This compromise having been ratified by the parent bodies, the workmen who had been on strike returned to their employment, and Compromise on April 27th the Conference Committee met again on Scale and completed the details of the settlement, the im- of Pricesportant portions of the scale being as follows, the union waiving its demand for the abolition of the distinction between manuscript and reprint copy: Composition on bookwork for common matter made up: Works in English - manuscript, solid 53 cents per 1,000ooo ems, leaded 50 cents; reprint, solid 50 cents, leaded 47 cents. Foreign languages - manuscript, solid from 62 cents to $2 per i,ooo ems, leaded from 58 cents to $1.95; reprint, solid 57 cents to $1.95, leaded 53 cents to $1.90. Dictionaries, concordances, indexes, etc., 5 cents extra per i,ooo ems; arithmetics, grammars, etc., Io cents extra; algebras with profusion of signs, etc., 5ocents extra. Extra prices for narrow measure, ranging from i cent per I,OOO ems for 18 ems to 50 cents for 6 ems. Book and job compositors by the week, $20; ten hours per day, nine hours on Saturday. Piece hands working occasionally on time, casing letter, correcting alterations from copy, etc., 35 cents per hour. Overtime, 50 cents per hour, or 10 cents an hour in addition to matter composed. Sunday work, 70 cents per hour in daytime and $i an hour at night; pieceworkers double price. Holiday prices, by mutual agreement. The Joint Conference Committee was composed of M. B. Wynkoop, John F. Trow, E. 0. Jenkins, Theodore L. DeVinne, R. H. Smith, for the Typothetae, and John Wood, William Egan, William Stirk, Joshua E. Williams, William Philp, for Typographical Union No. 6. The conferees also inserted these provisions in the scale: This scale shall not be altered except by a call for a mutual conference between a joint committee of employers and journeymen, and no alterations shall take effect except upon one month's notice by either party to the other, unless by mutual consent. In case of dispute as to the meaning or intention of any part of this scale, it shall be settled by reference to a joint committee of employers and journeymen. In his opening address to the National Typographical Union which convened in Albany in June, i869, President Robert McKechnie threw additional light upon the Strike Given by New York book and job printers' strike. He gave National the following details in regard to the long contro- President. versy, and in the course of his remarks suggested a plan for the inauguration of industrial peace; 304 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. The strike in New York, which occurred in January last, was confined to the book and job branches of the trade, and lasted eleven weeks. The strongest argument used by the employers against the demand of the union was that its concession on their part would on account of the low price of composition in the Eastern States, particularly in Boston and Cambridge, Mass., cause publishers and others to give their work to those places, and thereby destroy the market in New York. An examination into the matter has demonstrated that this had no foundation in fact. There are no large book offices in Boston. The class of work in the above branch of the trade done there is chiefly pamphlet work, which is always wanted in haste, and pays a good CambridgeCould price everywhere. In Cambridge there are three large Not Perform book offices, viz: The University Press, Riverside Press NewYorkWork. and Wilson & Son. They are kept constantly employed on work belonging to that section. The University Press is almost entirely employed by the well-known publishing house of Ticknor & Fields, of Boston; the Riverside Press is owned and run by Hurd & Houghton, who do their own publication; and the press of Wilson & Son is employed entirely by Little, Brown & Co. and the American Unitarian Association. Those houses could not do any large work without great inconvenience to themselves, and consequently at enhanced prices. I know also of one firm in New York that took a large work they had in hand at the time of the strike to Boston and Cambridge for the purpose of having it done at either place, and found, much to their astonishment, that the price demanded there was more than they were receiving in New York, notwithstanding the difference in the price of composition. The conduct of the members of the union during the eleven weeks of the strike was beyond all praise and showed a law-abiding disposition and a discipline in the ranks of the union well worthy of imitation in similar Conciliation cases. The employers, at their first meeting, solemnly or Arbitration resolved that they recognized no such body as the Printers' ecomene Union, and voted $40,000 to fight it with. The union, on the contrary, kept the door open all the time for an equitable settlement of the differences, provided the employers should see fit to rescind their resolution; which they ultimately did, and asked for a Committee of Conference. The committee was granted by the union, and to-day a scale satisfactory to both (signed by the joint committee of the employers and of the union) has been agreed upon and put into operation. The strike cost the New York union about $21,ooo, over $I7,000 of which was defrayed by the treasury of that body, the remaining $4,ooo being contributed by sister unions. The aggregate loss of the employing printers must have been considerably more - all of which might have been saved had the employing printers of New York been willing to adopt the course in the first place which was finally resorted to. This strike teaches the lesson that it is much better to settle all differences that may arise between our employers and ourselves, where practicable, by mutual concessions, or, if necessary, by arbitration. XIII. In the Early Seventies. Revision of the newspaper scale of prices occurred on February i, I870. While the piece rates remained stationary the prices for time MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 305 work at night advanced to $22 per week of 48 hours and $20 for day work —an increase of $2. Men holding situations on morning newspapers that required their services a part of the afternoon and all night had their hours reduced to ten daily. The scale also provided for at least seven hours' Newspaper continuous composition each day for pieceworkers. Wage Scale Further amendments were made to the price list on Readjusted. October i, 1872. Compositors employed by the week, as proofreaders or otherwise, on morning newspapers were not permitted to work for less than 50 cents per hour, with at least eight hours' labor between 6 P. M. and 3 A. M.; when employed previous to 6 P. M. or after the conclusion of eight hours' work, 50 cents per hour. This brought the regular wages of eight-hour workers up to $24 per week and the few, if any, ten-hour men to $30. The piece rate for day work on morning papers was established at 50 cents per I,ooo ems and time work $22 a week, this being an advance of 5 cents and $2, respectively. Similar increases were made in the schedule for semi- and tri-weeklies. After these changes had gone into effect the chairman of the Journal of Commerce office, which had previously adjusted its differences with the associated journeymen and became a union chapel, reported (on November 4th) that the owners of that paper had advanced piece compositors' wages to 56 cents per I,ooo ems and raised weekly wages in eight-hour situations to $27. These rates were for night work, that paper issuing morning editions. In less than a year after the foregoing changes had been made in the newspaper scales one of the severest crises that ever visited the United States occurred. Its causes were various. The panic began on the Vienna Bourse in May, Industrial I873, speedily involving the whole of Austria- Crisis Hungary, Germany, Italy and Switzerland in its of I873. injurious consequences. Breaking out with redoubled force in this country in September it in turn seriously affected the money markets of England, Russia and the Scandinavian countries, as well as the industries of France. The shock was felt even as far as Africa and South America. Beginning with the failure on September i8th of the financial institution of Jay Cooke & Co. in New York, many banking houses suspended, and the New York Stock Exchange was closed until September 3oth. Not an industry in the United States escaped the effect of the collapse. Mills, factories and workshops closed everywhere, throwing 3,000,000 mechanics into idleness, it was estimated, and causing a glut in every 306 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. department of trade. General suspension of operations on new railroads deprived thousands of laborers of employment, thus adversely affecting the iron and steel business. Excessive speculation in railroads and real estate, inflation of the currency, and the unnatural stimulus given to industry by the Civil War were some of the causes, it was stated, that brought the monetary affairs of the country to a crisis, with its resultant widespread distrust and fall of prices, that finally produced the industrial depression, which continued until late in I878. Most lamentable was the state of things in New York City throughout the whole of that dark period. Almost the first line of business to suffer from the panic was the printing trade, and as early as December 5, I873, the Typographical Union received from the association of master printers a communication asking it "to appoint a committee to meet the employers for conference and consultation respecting the present scale of prices, and with reference to such changes as may seem to be demanded by the exigencies of the times." The committee was chosen, and on January 6, 1874, it reported to the union " that a conference took place at the Astor House, at which the employers asked for a reduction of o1 per cent on the book and job scale of I869." The committee was instructed to inform the printing firms that the union would not accede to their request. XIV. Book and Job Strike and Wage Reduction in 1876. During the intervening two years, although unemployment in the trade reached an astonishingly high figure, the numerical strength of the workers' organization showed a gradual gain, and Wage Scale the scale remained intact. But it was not destined Proposed by to continue so for any great length of time. The lean Employers. period lingered and the employers resolved upon a course to pursue. They again on January 4, I876, solicited and succeeded in inducing the appointment of a Conference Committee by the union to meet with a similar number of representatives from the association of proprietors to consider a general wage reduction in the book and job trade. The union's delegates reported on February ist that the Typothetae desired that the scale be cut down to 40 cents and 45 cents per I,ooo ems and $ 8 per week. This was not agreeable to the compositors' conferees, whose recommendation that " after thoroughly considering the subject the request MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 307 of the employers be not acceded to " was sanctioned by the organization. When on February 5th the Committee of Conference with employers reported that the latter had given notice " that in 30 days from date they would not be governed by the present scaleof prices," a tax of 5 per cent was levied by the union on members' earnings in excess of $io per week, to create a defense fund for the support of those of its members who might become involved in a strike to maintain the I869 scale. March ist arrived and the Typothetae convened to carry out its purpose to lower wages. It adopted a schedule that brought the rates down to this basis: Composition on works inEnglish: Manuscript, solid 48 cents per I,ooo ems, leaded 45 cents; reprint, solid 43 cents, leaded 40 cents. Composition in foreign languages: Manuscript, solid 56 cents to $1.90 per 1,000 ems, leaded 52 cents to $i.85; reprint, solid 47 cents to $1.75, leaded 43 cents to $1.70. In the absence of any other agreement job compositors were to receive $I8 per week. These proposed decreases on ordinary matter in English amounted to 5 cents per I,ooo ems for manuscript and 7 cents for reprint. On works in foreign languages the reduction ranged fron 6 cents to o cents per I,ooo ems for manuscript and io cents to 20 cents for reprint. Overtime work was reduced o cents per hour -from 50 cents to 40 cents. Job workers were to suffer a decline of $2 a week in their rate. Having determined to put their plan in operation on March I3th, and anticipating resistance by the union, the employers began immediately to prepare for the emergency by hiring a large number of twothirders, both boys and girls, to work in their composing rooms at typesetting. The union refused to accept the proprietors' ultimatum and the dispute began in a few General Strike, offices on March I3th, some I50 men laying down with a Compromise in their composing-sticks and quitting work. With Some Offices. the advent of April, however, the strike became quite general, affecting in the aggregate 834 journeymen in 21 establishments. Large houses like Harper & Brothers, Scribner & Co. and Appleton & Co. were not concerned in the reduction and were therefore unaffected by the controversy. Representatives of five book and job printing concerns held a conference with the officers of the Typographical Union on June 2d and a compromise resulted so far as these houses were concerned. Piece rates on bookwork were fixed at 50 cents and 47 cents per I,ooo ems, respectively, for solid and leaded manuscript, and 43 cents and 40 cents for reprint, with the weekly wage at $I9, and overtime 45 cents per hour. On June i ith the dispute was declared closed by the union, after it had 308 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. expended $38,352.90 in strike benefits. Only temporary was the partial advantage gained in June by the organized journeymen, as a majority of the employers still held out for their original scale of prices, and on November 26th the union submitted to the inevitable by ordering " that the job rate be reduced from $ 9 to $ 8 per week, and that the scale be made to conform substantially to the employers' scale in other details." XV. Wages Decreased on Newspapers in 1876. Publishers of evening newspapers on April 9, 1876, requested the union to select a Committee of Conference to consider a reduction of wages. The committee was appointed, and on April 3oth it reported that the employers had asked for a reduction of io cents per I,ooo ems. The matter at the time was referred to the officers of the union, which on June IIth acted favorably upon a proposition to appoint a Scale Committee. Exactly a week later a revised list of prices was reported and adopted. It provided for a reduction in the piece rate on morning newspapers to 50 cents per I,ooo ems at night and 45 cents in the daytime; to 40 cents on evening dailies and weeklies, and 45 cents on semi- and tri-weeklies. For time employees at night the rate was decreased to 45 cents an hour and from $22 to $20 per week for day work on morning newspapers. On August 2oth the weekly scale on evening newspapers was fixed at $18. Depression of trade continuing the newspaper employers were not satisfied with the reductions that the union had made in prices, and they demanded further decreases. A committee that had been appointed to wait upon the publishers reported on April 15, 1877, in favor of additional changes to conform to the wishes of employers, so the union established the piece prices on morning newspapers at 46 cents per i,ooo ems and on evening and weekly papers at 35 cents. Compensation for eight-hour situations on morning journals was fixed at $20 per week of six days (a reduction of $4) and for ten-hour positions to $25, which was a decrease of $5 weekly in comparison with the 1872 scale, while for day situations on morning papers the rate was made to accord with that on evening newspapers- $18 per week, ten hours daily, being a cut of $2. Even with these alterations some of the employers were not content and as a consequence the union lost control of three daily newspaper chapels. MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 309 XVI. Book, Job and Morning Newspaper Scales Suspended. At the same meeting the book and job scale was suspended, as the resolution read, " for the present to enable our men to root out and drive from the city the men who are now doing the work that union men should do." A letter having been received from the publisher of the World asking for a reduction in the price of composition to 40 cents per I,ooo ems on morning newspapers, it was concluded by the union on August 7, I877, " that in order to maintain as long as possible the scale of prices now paid on morning papers, and also to secure work for our members in offices where prices cannot longer be maintained, the members of chapels are hereby directed and empowered to obtain the highest possible rate of wages in such offices; that members be permitted to work wherever they can obtain employment at the rates established by the chapel, wherever there be a chapel; if no chapel exist, then at the rates paid in the office; but before accepting such work members must report to the officers of the union and execute a pledge to the officers in relation thereto." It was also resolved " that no member of the union be allowed to take the situation of another member at less than the price paid the former holder." XVII. Upbuilding Process Begins. From the beginning of the strike in 1876 to the opening of the year 1879 the membership of the Typographical Union declined rapidly, showing a drop of nearly I60 per cent in that period. There were a trifle more than i,ooo members Reverses when the panic that began in 1873 came to a close, Impel and on September 2, 1879, indications of a business Prudence. revival being very pronounced, the association of printers began its work of rehabilitation bypassing a resolve " that the present outlook of the printing trade, particularly in the book and job departments, are such as to promise a busy fall and winter; that it is time to take some initiative steps looking toward the establishment of a permanent scale of prices in those departments; that therefore from and after the passage of these resolutions no member of the union shall leave the House of Call for less than 35 cents per I,ooo ems 310 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. piecework." Slow indeed was the upbuilding process. Reverses in the past had impelled prudence in making demands. An entire year elapsed before the subject of a uniform wage scale was again broached. Meanwhile efforts to increase the number of members were fraught with some success. It was on September io, i88o, that the union, having regained enough confidence in its ability to at least attempt to improve trade conditions, appointed a committee of five - two job and three book men-" to consider the question of a book and job scale and report to the next regular meeting." But its report was unready then, and it was not until January 2, i88i, that one was submitted, as follows: "That in accordance with power given them at the November meeting of the union, they issued a circular to the employing printers of this city asking them to appoint a Committee of Conference to meet your committee. Three weeks have elapsed since said circular was issued, and we regret to say that only three replies have been received. Your committee therefore begs to recommend that two of its members be empowered to personally interview such employers as in their discretion may seem best to attain the object for which this committee was appointed." Though the idea of a personal visitation to employers seemed to be a good one to the members of the union, which promptly adopted the recommendation of the committee, the labors of the sub-committee were devoid of results; so that on April ioth the organization resolved to refer the scale question to the book chapels; " that said chapels, and also offices having no organized chapels, are empowered to appoint delegates with the purpose of fairly representing the book interests, whose duty it shall be to confer together, and if possible harmonize opinions, which at present are conflicting, as to the wisdom of adopting a scale of prices to be enforced during the fall, and report to the union at the September meeting." Newspaper printers also wanted authority to ask for increased pay, and the union on April ioth resolved that each chapel in that branch of the printing business " is hereby permitted to demand an increase of the price of composition, if the majority of the members deem it to their interest to do so." Book chapels took several months to consider the advisability of again regulating piece prices, and on September 4th the union, influenced by the favorable attitude of the book compositors on the subject, voted to place the scale at 40 cents per i,ooo ems for leaded matter and 43 cents for solid, and charged the president to name a Committee of Arbitration " to confer with the various employing printers as to why said scale shall not go into force on or about MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 3II the fifteenth of October." It was resolved at the same meeting not to fix a weekly rate for job printers. Success did not attend the labors of the Committee of Conference. While activity in business circles was restored at the end of 1878 and people again became fairly prosperous, this era of good times was not of long duration, for in 1882 another depression came in gradually, without the usual accom- Renewal of paniment of a financial panic, and lasted for several Hard Times years, it having been approximated that, at the in I882 height of this depressed term, of the workers engaged in agriculture, trade and transportation, and the manufacturing and mining industries there were 998,839 idle in the whole United States. This crisis proved to be a setback for a time to those who wanted to raise the scale. By March 12, I882, the union had reconsidered the book schedule of rates adopted in the previous September and started anew, making the price 38 cents per I,ooo ems for leaded and 4I cents for solid matter in English, to go into effect on March 27th, and provided for the choosing of a committee to formulate a scale upon such basis. That too met with opposition from employers, and the question remained dormant until September 3d, when a committee of one from each chapel was authorized to prepare a scale, which latter was submitted on October ist and adopted. The proceedings of that session of the union do not record the rates that were about to be demanded, but whatever they were the prices did not go into force, as subsequent minutes of the union revealed. XVIII. Revival of Wage Scale in 1883. A special meeting was convoked on January I8, 1883, and the Scale Committee was directed to apprise the employers, through the chairmen of the several offices, that the new schedule was ready to go into operation. Another special Committee session was held by the union on January 2Ist Opposed to "for the purpose of taking into consideration and Adopting Scale. determining upon such action in regard to our scale that is to go into effect on Monday, January 22, 1883, as our union, in view of the gravity of the situation, shall for its welfare deem imperative to adopt." There was also a second call for this meeting, evidently promulgated by a more radical element among the membership, stating that the special convocation was " for the purpose of 312 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. ordering a strike in all offices where the scale is not paid on Monday, January 22, 1883." The latter call was ignored and the union proceeded at once to consider the one first mentioned. Fifteen members constituted the Scale Committee, which submitted a memorial, citing the fact that at its first meeting on January I4th reports from the offices represented by members were generally favorable as to the prospects of a strike for the scale. " But we discovered," said the committeemen, " that the scale as passed by the union referred to and governed only bookwork, and it was found difficult to determine the status of weekly papers printed in book offices. It was determined to call a special meeting of the union and ask for instructions as to the interpretation of the scale. A sub-committee of three was also appointed to visit the various book offices not represented, and report as to the number of men employed, number of union and nonunion men, disposition of such men as to strike, and generally report prospects as to success. In view of the general dissatisfaction and disaffection, and the evident lack of interest in the movement on the part of many non-union men who are receiving as low as 30 cents per I,ooo ems, we regard any attempt to enforce the present scale as suicidal, and believe will result in a disastrous failure." This report was prepared by W. C. Parker, chairman, and the views expressed by him received the unanimous concurrence of the committee, which presented the following objections, that were likewise urged by many book printers in the city: As to the scale itself, the rule that all work done in book offices shall be considered as bookwork, and paid for accordingly, is attacked as unfair in compelling a proprietor of a book office who may print a weekly paper to pay more than his rival who prints nothing but weekly papers. The objection is made that law work should be considered as a distinct branch with a special rate, the present scale being too high. Besides the objections to the scale itself, your committee find that union men in good standing constitute a minority of the book employees in the city, and we do not believe that more than 60 per cent of the union men can be brought out. We find that, to the best of our information and belief, in a majority of the offices we will be unable to bring out enough men to seriously cripple the employers even for a few days. The causes which lead to this conclusion are: First-In many offices where the majority of men are union members there has been but a feeble effort made to organize; while in those offices where non-union men predominate there has been no interest taken in the Feeble matter. They have made no effort to organize chapels, or Effort to send promised reports to the sub-committee, and have in Organize. fact shown a decided disinclination to come into or assist the union. In one office, for instance, where there are about 50 men on piecework at from 34 cents to 40 cents per I,ooo, a report was given to your committee that the canvass of the office showed that but 12 out of MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 3I31 the 50 men would come out for the scale. In another office, where 9 men are employed at 35 cents per x,ooo, nor one man would come out. In another office, where the average earnings of the men at case are under $io per week, but 15 out of the 38 compositors would attend a chapel meeting to consider the scale. The same statement, with but trifling variations, will apply to many offices where no chapels exist. Second - Want of unity of action and harmony in the meeting on Thursday night8 created confusion and had the effect of adding to the demoralization. Third - The wanton betrayal of the proceedings of the union by men who gave information to employing printers, thus violating their obligation and thereby placing serious obstacles in the way of the committee, and which enabled employers to send out manifestoes to the trade. Fourth - The large number outside of the union and the general impression that no relief will be given to strikers. Your committee would recommend that the enforcement of the scale be postponed; that a committee be appointed to revise the scale, and have it include rates for all classes of work done in book, job and weekly newspaper offices; that the Discipline Committee be largely increased, and a general and strong effort made to fill up the union ranks, and to form chapels in all the offices -and in fact that the union prepare itself to enforce a scale within the year for the whole trade. Your committee further report that work is very fair in the city, and that they believe the greatest obstacles in the way of success are in the feeling of timidity, the lack of union spirit, and the general disposition of every man to look to his own personal interest without regard to Tihidity that of the majority, and we believe that if this lack of con- Prevents fidence were removed and replaced by a belief in the power Success. of the union there would be no difficulty in obtaining a material advance. But at present your committee believe that if a strike is ordered in the face of the above facts, the result will be an overwhelming defeat and a decided injury to the good and welfare of the union. Lengthy discussion followed the reading of the report, but the vote that had ordered the enforcement of the scale was reconsidered, and the union resolved that the time for putting it into execution be indefinitely postponed. Indirectly, however, the journeymen's organization later on recognized 35 cents per i,ooo ems as the rate for composition on bookwork. At a special meeting of the union on Wednesday, February 7th, which had been called to take Lockout Results action in regard to a projected lockout in a large M Fiing Book establishment, the secretary stated that the employer 35 Cents had on the preceding Monday given notice to the officers of the association and the men in his office that on the following day union men would be employed by him only to a limited extent; that on the same evening at a chapel meeting of the affected 8 Has reference to a meeting of the union on Thursday, January i8, i883. 314 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. compositors a committee was selected to confer with the union's Executive Committee, and the latter, after a hearing in the matter, ordered that the journeymen refuse to go to work on the following morning. Obeying this injunction, 71 typographers declined to begin composition on Tuesday morning unless the employer removed the restrictions he had threatened to impose. The president had several interviews with the proprietor, and at the last one this agreement was entered into by the officers and the owner of the establishment: It is hereby agreed that the difficulty at present existing in this office be adjusted on the following basis: I. The former employees to be re-employed. 2. The price of composition to remain at 35 cents per I,ooo ems until after the second Monday of March. 3. That further negotiations abide the result of the efforts of the union to advance rates or equalize rates in competing offices. By endorsing this action of its officials the union virtually established the piece rate for bookwork, but on March 4th it made the matter more binding by resolving "that on and after March I2, 1883, no member of the union shall be allowed to work in any book and job office for less than 35 cents per I,ooo ems; that the secretary be instructed to have hung up in a prominent place in his office a list of all offices in the city where less than 35 cents per I,ooo is paid, and that all members of this union be prohibited from working in said offices." After this action a few skirmishes occurred, but in one office a serious strike took place in April. That dispute was eventually settled in favor of the union. All sorts of prices prevailed in the different branches of the printing industry in I883. While compositors were getting but little remuneration for their labor fair employers were Complete suffering from the unequal competition occasioned Scale by lack of regulation of wage rates. At last, on Adopted. August 5th, the union, driven to desperation by the ruinous decadence of trade conditions, concluded to make a determined stand for uniform prices. It appointed a Scale Committee of nine — three from morning newspapers, three from weekly and evening papers, and three from book and job offices. That committee labored assiduously to arrange a bill of rates that would meet the requirements of the times, and having completed its task, and reported the result of its deliberations to the association, the latter on October i4th, after making the cus MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 3x5 tomary verbal changes in the original draft, adopted the following schedule, the most noteworthy feature of which is that in bookwork the distinction between manuscript and reprint is eliminated: Mornig Newspapers. Piecework, 46 cents per I,ooo ems for common matter; at least seven hours' continuous composition between 6 P. M. and 2 A. M.; after 3 A. M. 46 cents per hour in addition to the matter set. Composition in the daytime 40 cents per I,ooo ems, or $19 per week- ten hours to constitute a day's work. Time work 35 cents per hour. Hours of labor from 7 A. M. to 6 P. M. Week work at night: Ten-hour situations-two hours between 2 and 6 P. M. and eight hours between 6 P. M. and 3 A. M.- not less than $25 per week of six days; for seven days $30. Eight-hour situations - between 6 P. M. and 3 A. M.- not less than $21 per week of six days, hours to be continuous; for seven days $24. Overtime 40 cents per hour. Piece hands called from the case to do time work, or required to remain in the office unemployed, between the hours of I2 M. and 3 A. M., shall receive not less than 46 cents per hour. When bogus copy is given out in lieu of standing time it shall not be of such a nature as to preclude the compositor from making fair average wages, viz: intricate or illegible copy, or copy containing great quantities of caps, small caps, italic, points, etc., running on particular sorts. Compositors, both piece and week, called to work before 10 A. M. shall receive not less than $I for such call and shall be entitled to the matter they set. Price and a half and double price for tabular work, according to the number of columns. All letters cast on a body larger than the face (as bourgeois on long primer) to be counted according to the face; all letters cast on a body smaller than the face (as minion on nonpareil) to be counted according to the body. All fonts, the alphabets of which measure less than thirteen ems, shall be counted according to the next smaller size. When a measure exceeds even ems in width and is less than a 3-em space no extra charge shall be made; if a 3-em space an en shall be counted; if over an en an em shall be counted. In offices where both week and piece hands are employed the fat and lean shall be equally distributed among them. Evening Newspapers. Piecework, 40 cents per I,ooo ems, common matter. Week work, $18 for six days' work - ten hours to constitute a day's labor. Seven hours' continuous composition for pieceworkers, between 8 A. M. and 4 P. M. All work done before 7 A. M. or after 6 P. M. shall be paid for at the rate of 40 cents per hour in addition to all matter set. Time work 35 cents per hour. Bogus matter, fat and lean matter, tabular work, system of measurement, etc., same as on morning newspapers. Weekly, Semi-Weekly and Tri-Weekly Newspapers. Piecework, 40 cents per I,ooo ems; not less than 40 hours' composition during the week. When required to work one or more nights per week compositors shall receive io cents an hour additional after 6 P. M. Sunday work 20 cents per hour in addition to all matter set. 316 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Week work, I$8 for 59 hours. Time work, during the day 30 cents per hour; at night 40 cents per hour. Compositors employed by the piece on Sunday or other weekly papers, requiring one or more nights' composition, Io cents an hour additional after 6 P. M. When employed by the week $I8 for 59 hours. Bogus matter, fat and lean matter, tabular work, system of measurement, etc., same as on morning newspapers. Book and Job Work. Composition on works in English, solid 40 cents per,000o ems, leaded 37 cents; foreign languages, solid 50 cents to $I.80 per I,ooo ems, leaded 45 cents to $I.75. Pearl and diamond 5 cents extra per I,ooo ems. Extras 5 cents and 10 cents per I,000 ems additional. Type larger than pica to be counted as pica. Matter leaded with thinner leads than eight-to-pica shall rate as solid. In measuring the width of a column or page any fraction of an em less than an en will not be counted; an en or greater fraction to be counted an em. Narrow measure, ranging from I cent extra per,000 ems for a width of eighteen ems to 44 cents extra for six ems. Time work 30 cents per hour for a portion of a day, and 10 cents per hour additional after 6 P. M. Week work $18 for 59 hours. Overtime 40 cents per hour, or Io cents in addition to matter set up. Sunday work 60 cents per hour for day and 80 cents perhour for night work. Composition by the piece double the charges for week days. Holidays by mutual agreement. Early in November enforcement of the scale was begun. Establishments to the number of 126 granted the demands at once, but in 44 other offices- three of which were daily newsSuccessful papers —339 workers went on strike because of General refusal of the employers to accede to the new terms. Strike. In the three newspaper chapels the union met defeat, but gained nearly all the book and job offices in which it had contended for supremacy. The dispute extended into 1884, when it involved four book and job firms, having I07 journeymen, and a newspaper with 61 employees. Satisfactory settlements were finally made in these latter cases. This general strike cost the union $I4,800.98, but it came out of the conflict with its scale intact and its position greatly strengthened. XIX. Increase for Newspaper Composition in 1887. Having passed through the panic years of the eighties, and numerous of its members having been distressed by the stagnation of trade, the Typographical Union nevertheless maintained its scale of MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 317 prices. With the coming of 1887 there was some improvement in the times and a sentiment began to develop in favor of an increase. This became manifest on April I7th, when the Executive Committee submitted to the association a report in which it was suggested " that a Conference Committee be appointed to interview the proprietors of morning papers with a view to raising the scale on such papers to 50 cents per I,ooo ems." But the union, deeming it inadvisable to advance wage rates at that time, directed the officers and the Executive Committee to enforce the existing list of prices. Newspaper workers remained in a quiescent state until September 4th. Then they rallied their forces and put through an amended scale, which provided for the payment of 50 cents per I,ooo ems on morning papers, six hours' continuous composition; overtime 60 cents per hour in addition to payment for the type set; week work at night $27 for 54 hours. On evening newspapers the scale for week hands was raised to $20 on November 25th, 50 cents per hour for overtime, but no change was made in the piece rate. At that meeting the union adopted a rule defining an evening newspaper as one regularly printed and issued between the hours of 7 A. M. and 7 P. M., and employing a separate and distinct force. The several amendments that were made to the scale were not opposed by the proprietors. XX. Book and Job Controversy in 1887. Book printers were eager to advance their piece rates and induced the union at a special meeting on August 28, 1887, to fix the scale at 43 cents per I,ooo ems for productions in English; and at prices ranging all the way from 53 cents to Increased $.83 for composition in foreign languages, the former and Scaeh for Latin, Spanish and German, and the latter for Demanded. Hebrew, kerned with vowel points and accents, the intervening rates being for works in other languages. It was also stipulated that " all publications issued at a greater interval than once a week shall be classed as bookwork." This schedule, however, was short lived. At the regular meeting of the union on September 4th the presiding officer ruled that the scale had not been legally adopted. His decision was sustained by the association, which ordered that " all matter relating to the book scale, and the vote by which it was adopted, be expunged from the minutes." Then it was resolved to appoint a committee of three " to draw up a scale 318 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. of prices for the book and job trade based on $i8 per week for time work and 45 cents per,000oo ems for piecework; that they be instructed to confer with the employers for the purpose of obtaining the new scale without a strike if possible." A report on the question was submitted on October 2d, when the union resolved that the book scale of i883 " remain, with the exception that the price be 43 cents per 1,000ooo ems, and that a clause be inserted providing for strictly card offices."9 By this amendment all distinction between leaded and solid matter was dropped. It was also provided that wages be paid weekly. Copies of the scale were sent to employers, and while some assented to it as a whole others answered that they would accept every provision excepting that relating to strictly card offices, meaning that the employees should be members of the union holding clear working certificates. A strike was declared on October iith against establishments controlled by the proprietors' organization, and 907 journeymen printers engaged in the dispute. Both sides were strong and the contest was a spirited one. Presently, other trades became involved in the controversy, 102 pressmen, I56 press feeders and i8 stereotypers and electrotypers going 'out to assist the compositors - making a total of 1,183 workmen directly affected by the controversy. On the Saturday prior to the opening of hostilities the senior member of the firm of Theodore L. DeVinne & Co. solicited the services of the State Board of Mediation and Arbitration, Employers Solicit and on Monday morning, October ioth, the board Services of State met in New York. Several representatives of the Arbitration employers, among them Mr. DeVinne, and Joseph Smith on behalf of the union attended the hearing. Mr. DeVinne presented the case of the Typothete, stating that " on last Thursday we were presented for the first time with a scale of prices, and we have been waited upon to know whether we will ' Always the union had sought to establish strictly card offices, believing that it could thus better control trade prices and more effectively enforce its rules with respect to other craft conditions. Henry M. Failing, writing from New York on Sunday, July x8, 1852, to Charles W. Colburn, who was then in St. Louis, Mo., referred to the subject as follows, showing some of the benefits that the union then derived from the closed-shop system: " Foreman Gale some time since posted a notice in the Times office to the effect that on and after the seventeenth of July no compositor could work on that paper who could not show a clear card from the union. Consequently last night over $ioo came in from that office." Again, on December 31, I852, Mr. Failing, in another letter written to Mr. Colburn, speaking about the proceedings of the union meeting held on the preceding Saturday, said: " The meeting was the largest and most enthusiastic one ever held. There is a rumor about town that the foreman of the Herald is very shortly to issue an order similar to that issued by the foremen of the Times and Tribune, viz: that no person will be allowed to work in that office unless he is a member of the union, and in good standing. God grant it be true. A few days will prove the truth or falsity of the report." MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 319 accede to it. The employing printers held a meeting on Thursday afternoon, and it was unanimously agreed to make no objection to the proposition except to that special feature that the office shall be a card office. The language is ambiguous. What is meant by a card office is simply this: The employer who accepts that scale agrees not to employ any printers who do not belong to the union, and conversely he agrees to discharge all who do not. We object to that item in the scale. The question of price is accepted throughout. The only question is whether we have a right to employ persons who do not belong to the union, and that is the question we want to get before you for a decision. The time is very precious. At I2 o'clock we are notified that a strike will take place unless that demand is complied with. We complain that we have not had proper time for the consideration and discussion of this matter. If the time were extended to a week we think a strike might be averted. We ask your good offices to see if a strike cannot be averted without any dishonor to us or unfairness to them." On behalf of the Typographical Union Mr. Smith informed the board that " on the second of this month the union adopted a scale of prices which included that particular clause, that they would not allow their members to work with non-union men. The object of that decision was this: In a great many offices in this city employers employ non-union men who work under our scale of wages. In doing that they are enabled to compete with fair employers who pay the scale of wages. The union claims that to allow our members to work with these non-union men enables unfair employers to unjustly compete with fair employers, and they claim it is as much for the protection of the employing printers of this city as themselves." An adjournment was taken to allow both sides to consult with their respective organizations in reference to a suggestion of the board that the order to strike at noon on that day be held in abeyance, that the scale go into effect in the Contest for various offices at once, and that the contending Strictly Union parties agree to submit for arbitrament the matter Offices Begins. of card shops. In the interim the union's committee decided to postpone the strike, and sent representatives to Mr. DeVinne to confer with him concerning a settlement, but their mission was without avail. In the afternoon of October ioth the associated employers decided to accept the proposition of the State arbitrators, and on the following day the latter received from the committee of the union a communication stating that " this committee has no authority to adopt the same without the unanimous 320 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. consent of our organization." Then the strike began. The Typothetae met on the twelfth, decided to advertise for new help, and to post in all the offices a notice that the employers absolutely and unqualifiedly refused to accept the revised price list unless the card clause were withdrawn. Continuing to exercise its influence to restore pacific relations between the belligerents, the State board on October I3th induced the Typothetse to request that a committee from the journeymen's association attend a conference and discuss the situation with a view to adjusting the difficulty. President Glackin, with other representatives of the union, accepted the invitation and for several hours argued the disputed point. At the close of the consultation the employers' committee submitted a proposal to the effect that "the committee on behalf of the Typothete request the committee on behalf of Typographical Union No. 6 to report to the union that it has been for a long time the practice of the members of the Typothetae, when engaging additional compositors, to engage union men only. That they have no disposition or intention of changing that practice. Hence we request that the union strike out that clause of the new scale in regard to card offices. If that is done the scale in all other respects will be adopted." The terms suggested were rejected by the Strike Committee and subsequently by the men who were involved in the dispute. Another effort was made on the morning of the fourteenth to adjust the difficulty. President Glackin was anxious for a settlement and the action taken by the book compositors in not accepting the Typothetae's tender appeared to be displeasing to him. When a member of the State board suggested on October I4th that a final effort be made to have committees appointed by both sides with full power to effect a settlement, the president agreed to ask his organization at a special meeting that day to give it favorable consideration. Union The union met the overture with a resolution that Declines the Strike Committee be empowered to settle the Arbitration. dispute only upon the basis of the scale already adopted. On the other hand, the Typothetae unanimously approved the recommendation and clothed a committee of five members with authority to adjust the differences. As the union committee did not possess the necessary power to enter into an agreement that would exclude the card clause the conference closed without result. The situation was rendered more complex by the insistence of the Strike Committee "that the men who have been employed since the strike started shall be discharged; that the non-union help remaining in shall join the union; that the help MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 321 which belonged to the union and did not strike shall be discharged, and that hereafter none but union men shall be employed." This ended the negotiations so far as the Typothete was concerned. Yet, notwithstanding the unfavorable outcome, one of the Arbitration Commissioners pursued the matter further and persuaded a committee of well-known and influential employers to hold an informal conference with several prominent members of the union. They assembled on October i6th and re- Proprietors viewed the situation. The proprietors were wi lling g to Pay Scale, but to agree to the scale in full with the exception of Oppose Closed the disputed card clause, but declared that as new Shops. complications were constantly arising in regard to the employment of men to fill the strikers' places, they felt it incumbent upon them to retain these workmen if they proved to be competent. The union members were confident that a satisfactory settlement would ensue if the officers would withdraw the objectionable card provision. As an entering wedge for a final disposition of the question, this paper, drafted by the Arbitration Commissioner, was submitted to and accepted by those present: "The card clause of the scale to be withdrawn. The old employees, in all branches, to return to work without prejudice on the part of the employer. No proscription by either side. The no-card manifesto to be removed from all the offices." The union members promised to use their influence to have an agreement based thereon approved by their organization. The conference adjourned with the understanding that if President Glackin agreed to the above stipulations a meeting would be held on the seventeenth and that the Commissioner be requested to draw up a proposed agreement. The union's executive having consented to the proposition six members of the Typothetae, the officers and Strike Committee of the compositors' organization, together with representatives of the associations of pressmen and stereotypers and electrotypers, assembled on the seventeenth. Arbitration Commissioner F. F. Donovan was elected chairman and W. W. Pasko, of the Typothete, secretary. Commissioner Donovan offered for the judgment of the conferees an agreement that eliminated the card clause, that the Typothetae pay the union scale, that the notices which had been posted in workrooms signifying that they were not card offices be removed, that the master printers adhere to their proposition of October 13th that the practice when hiring additional help "to employ union men only" would not be changed, and that at the resumption of work there should not be any proscription on either side. To President Glackin's inquiry if, in case the union yielded to the deIz 322 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. mands of the Typothetae for the striking out of the objectionable card provision, the old employees would be installed in the situations they had vacated, the members of the employing Futility printers' committee replied that so far as they were of Final personally concerned that would be done, but that Negotiations. they had no power to require the other members of their association to do so; that the latter must decide for themselves whether or not to retain the non-union compositors that had been employed since the strike opened. The six employers expressed satisfaction with the projected compact, with the exception of the offer that was made by the Typothetse on October I3th. From that they receded, suggesting that the proposal be amended so as to read: " On the acceptance of this agreement the old employees in all branches of the trade shall return to work without prejudice to other workmen on the part of the employers or the union." In addition to this they would not guarantee the re-employment of every man in his former position. At the same time they felt confident that all the striking journeymen would find work in one office or another. Through President Glackin the union committee responded to this: " If that is the case, why there is no use wasting any more time conferring here. Unless every man goes back to the position he left when the strike took place we cannot proceed further. You have all along claimed that your only objection was to the card clause. Now, when that is modified so as to admit of a compromise, you tell us that the members of the Typothetse have not given you the right to settle terms of agreement in other respects." Replying to this the employers declared that they would not agree to discharge the new hands. Later in the same day Vice-President William E. Boselly and Secretary Theodore C. Wildman of the Typographical Union addressed a communication to President Glackin Defeat asking him if he were willing to allow Commissioner for the Donovan to select two members of the union as a Union. committee to settle the dispute. The president sent a negative answer to the letter. Committees of the organization of journeymen afterward waited upon the employers, but only in a few instances were any further concessions granted. On October 27th the union permitted its members to return to work, and on January I, i888, the strike was formally declared off. During its progress $20,000 was expended in relief to those who were engaged in it. MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 323 XXI. Partial Reduction of Book Scale in 1889. Following the close of the dispute the book scale fell into desuetude, and on February 3, I889, the Discipline Committee recommended to the union, which voted its approval of the plan, " that the officers be instructed to confer with the different employers, with a view to the improvement of the present unsatisfactory condition of the trade." A special session of the organization was called on February Ioth to give the subject further deliberation - or, as President Boselly put it, " the object of the meeting is the consideration of the difficulties surrounding the employers who are paying the scale of the union, and the adoption of a rate that will enable the fair employers to compete with the unfair offices." A motion that the book scale be partially reduced and that the distinction between leaded and solid matter be restored was carried by an overwhelming majority. The officers were empowered to enter into agreements with employers for a scale on works in the English language to be arranged on a basis of 37 cents per I,ooo ems for leaded reprint, 40 cents for solid reprint and leaded manuscript, and 43 cents for solid manuscript, with the understanding that the proprietors " are to give preference to members of the union in taking on hands." In 1887 the scale contained but a single rate (43 cents per I,ooo ems) for composition on books in English, and by dividing the I889 schedule into three grades there was necessarily a decrease in the prices for leaded reprint and manuscript and solid reprint. A new section was added to the book scale of 1889, by which law cases were separated from other kinds of bookwork, the prices of composition being established at 37 cents per I,ooo ems for leaded matter and 40 cents for solid. XXII. Brief Newspaper Strike in 1889. Compositors on the New York Herald, Sun, Times and World found the following notice posted on the walls when they entered their respective composing rooms on July 2I, I889: July 22, 1889. The following regulations will go into effect in this office at noon to-day, and will be observed until further notice: I. All cuts belong to the office. Insert cuts shall be paid for as straight composition. 324 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. 2. All corrections on advertisements on time, whether the space is increased or decreased. 3. No make-evens allowed. 4. Overtime 50 cents an hour, with or without composition. 5. No extra price on fat display ads. 6. Reading notices shall be paid for according to the type they are set in. 7. All tables and rule and figure work on time at the option of the office. 8. Composition 50 cents per I,000. 9. Men employed by the week shall be paid $4 per day. It was calculated that this was equivalent to a decrease of o1 per cent in wages, and the Executive Committee, after due reflection, instructed the workers to refuse to accept the reducReduction tion. Leading journeymen in the several composing of Wages rooms with the officers of the union waited on the Attempted. business managers and discussed the question, but as there was not any disposition on the part of the newspapers to compromise, the order to quit work was promptly obeyed in all the offices excepting the Herald. At the height of the crisis a cable message was received from James Gordon Bennett, proprietor of the Herald, withdrawing from the publishers' alliance, and as a consequence the notice of new prices and regulations was removed from the typesetting department of that newspaper. This secession was fatal to the plan of the other three journals, Form of which after a brief cessation of labor agreed to take Settlement down the objectionable placards and confer with a Accepted. committee from the union, with the object of adjusting the matter to the satisfaction of all concerned. A form of settlement was drafted on July 28th and on the succeeding day was signed by the two parties to the controversy. These terms, which were embodied in the scale of prices on August ist, were as follows: In general newspaper composition everything within the column rules belongs to the compositor, except: (I) Illustrative cuts in news matter one column in width or over. (2) Standing advertisements without new matter to the extent of five lines being added thereto, or alterations to the extent of five lines in the original space of the advertisement or any mechanical change in the advertisement which may increase its measurement in ems to the extent of five lines without increasing its length or width. (3) Diagrams which have been set on time. Display advertisements and all advertising cuts shall be measured according to the regular advertising type of the paper. Reading notices shall be measured according to the type in which they are set. Where an advertisement exceeding two columns in width is set in long primer or any larger type no extra price shall be charged. Where compositors are employed to do distribution the rate of compensation shall be one-fourth the rate of composition. MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 325 In offices where the composition is done by piecework, type or plates cannot be used in one publication and transferred to another, without being charged in both cases, provided that this shall not apply to an extra edition of a paper. On every take containing not more than ten lines of type on which the compositor is required to make even lines 100 ems additional shall be paid by the office. Where the compositor is restricted to less than an em and a half in making even, the office shall pay 100 ems additional on every such take, regardless of the number of lines. For work done in any language foreign to the office an advance of 15 cents per i,oo000 ems shall be paid. Where piece compositors are required to cut leads, rules, etc., or otherwise prepare material for use in composition, they shall charge extra for the time thus consumed. On morning newspapers: Piecework, 50 cents per I,ooo ems; six hours' continuous composition between 7 P. M. and 2 A. M. When required to remain in the office after 3 A. M. 50 cents per hour in addition to matter set and continuous composition, or 75 cents per hour in lieu thereof. In offices where the composition is done by piecework compositors holding weekly situations shall receive not less than $27 per week of six days, nine hours per day. The hours to be between 3 P. M. and 3 A. M., and to be continuous. Members of the union may be employed by the week on morning newspapers between the hours of 7 A. M. and 6 P. M. at not less than $20 per week, 54 hours to constitute a week's work. In cases where they are required to do composition they shall receive 50 cents per i,oo000 ems in addition to their regular salary. Where no piecework is done $20 per week of six days, nine hours per day, between 7 A. M. and 6 P. x. Overtime 50 cents per hour. At night (where no piecework is done) $24 per week of six days, eight hours per day, between 6 P. M. and 3 A. M. Overtime 50 cents per hour. Compositors employed between 2 P. M. and 12 midnight in offices where no piecework is done shall receive not less than $22 per week of 48 hours. When display advertisements are set on time, compositors employed by the piece shall receive not less than 55 cents per I,ooo ems for common matter. When called from the case to do time work 55 cents per hour. When required to remain in the office after 3 A. M. 55 cents per hour in addition to matter set and continuous composition, or 821 cents per hour in lieu thereof. Morning papers paying the scale in the preceding paragraph may employ compositors to set display advertisements at the rate of $24 per week of six days, eight hours to constitute a day's work; or $27 a week of six days, nine hours to constitute a day's work. Overtime, 50 cents per hour. No change was made in the rule regarding tabular work. In the 1889 scale of prices it was also provided that on evening newspapers " compositors holding weekly situations shall receive not less than $24 per week of six days, nine hours to constitute a day's work, the hours to be between 7 A. M. and 6 P. M., and to be continuous." Explaining its attitude in the controversy with the union the World on August 2d said: 326 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. The schedule for extras framed by the Typographical Union has gradually increased during the past six years until it included many charges for work not actually performed. This the World, in common with other newspapers, did not consider equitable, an opinion shared as well by the leading and most conservative members of Typographical Union No. 6. Chief among these were the payment of the composing rate for the space occupied by cuts which the office had once paid artists, engravers and electrotypers for making; the charge of fine-type measurement for coarse-type matter when the latter was a "reading notice;" price and a half and double rates for advertisements that were already more easily and quickly set than solid composition. To correct what seemed to be an unbusinesslike system and establish a juster scale of wages three morning newspapers agreed upon a new schedule, not touching upon the rate of composition, which in their estimation covered every particle of work performed in the composing-room. As this schedule was not satisfactory to the compositors the regularly constituted authorities of Typographical Union No. 6 submitted three new schedules, one of which was accepted by the World. As a proper compromise both sides yielded something. By this new arrangement the World pays 55 cents per I,ooo ems for all composition and will be rid of some of the exactions which under the old rule were universally regarded as unjust. XXIII. General Introduction of Composing Machines, 1890-1894. Very little attention was given by the Typographical Union to the question of typesetting machines during the long period that was devoted by inventors in experimentation. The earliest record of the union on the subject was on June 3, 1883, when it appointed a committee of three to visit the machine typesetters and endeavor to organize them. Perfected composing devices at that time were of the movable type variety. These could not be operated profitably because each machine had to be manned by one compositor to manipulate a keyboard in order to set the type and by another to justify the lines thus composed. In addition to that there was a distributing machine that had to receive the attention of a third workman, and in this last operation considerable type was broken, so that their utility was of a doubtful character and was never seriously regarded by employers, neither was there any apprehension among journeymen as to the possibility of their general introduction. Again, on August 15, 1886, the question came up when the union received a communication from its members who were engaged on typesetting machines, asking that a committee be appointed to arrange a piece scale for work on such appliances and adopt rules for their government. Compliance was given to the request and on September 5th majority and minority reports were submitted, the former being as follows: MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 327 I. That $i8 per week be paid on all Burr machines in operation in union offices. 2. That if at any time business becomes dull and it is necessary to curtail work, instead of discharging men (as has been recently done), men shall accept a slide.10 3. That no person shall be allowed to operate or justify on the machines in use at the present time in union offices unless they are members of No. 6 in good standing. As the minority in its findings opposed the recommendations of the majority the union deemed it advisable to refer both reports to a new committee. The matter remained dormant until August 28, 1887, when at a special meeting it Machine was incorporated in the tentative book and job scale Scale of I887 that was adopted on that date. It was provided Not Effective. that journeymen employed on machines as operators, justifiers or distributors should receive not less than $18 per week, or if the composition were performed by the piece, the rate per I,ooo ems should be 7 cents. Hours of labor were fixed at nine per day. Stipulation was made that "all persons employed on typesetting machines in any capacity must be compositors by trade and members of the union," and that in accepting the scale " the proprietor of a printing office must elect whether he shall employ men by the week or by the thousand ems. In all offices where piecework is chosen all composition must be done by the piece, such time men only being allowed as are sufficient to do the necessary making up, imposition and proofreading." But the scale did not become effective, as on September 4th, at a regular session, the chair having ruled that it had not been lawfully passed, the union ordered that all reference to it be erased from the proceedings. Some eighteen months elapsed before another discussion arose over the question. It was at a meeting of the union held on March 3, I889. The secretary stated that he had received a communication from a morning newspaper pub- Introduction lisher asking if there were any opposition on the of Linotype part of the union to the introduction into the news- Machines. paper trade of typesetting machines. An answer to the query was adopted in the form of a resolution, to the effect " that it is the sense of this union where an employer desires to introduce typesetting machines the union should merely insist on the 10 Meaning that in order that all might share in the work, the compositors should take turns in " laying off," each group being idle at alternate periods of one or more days. By this course the organization of the working force in an establishment was kept intact. 328 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. payment of the scale of the union and the employment of its members to do the work." Up to I890 printers were skeptical about the successful development of a mechanical contrivance that would displace hand labor. They felt confident that they could successfully compete with those that had been constructed to compose movable type, but they had not taken into account the linotype, the present model of which was in that year perfected and placed upon the market. As its term denotes, that machine produces a solid line or slug, which is cast from brass matrices that at the will of the operator pass through a channel from a portable magazine to an assembler, where spacebands mechanically wedge the line tightly and create a perfect justification, after which the metal enters the characters that are countersunk in the top of the thin brass plates, molding a line that solidifies almost instantly. Following this process, the spacebands having been separated from the line, the matrices are automatically distributed in their proper receptacles, and the finished slug is deposited on a specially provided galley. When the union was apprised of the fact that the linotype was about to be introduced it sent a large committee, comprising in its make-up some of its most thoughtful and conservative members, to examine the new product. These men saw at a glance that, although a few minor parts of the machine were then of rather crude construction, and which were shortly afterward materially improved, the correct principle in mechanical composition at last had been established. They were unanimously of the opinion that the trade would be revolutionized in a brief space of time by the invention, and they hastened to inform the union of that fact, urging that detached keyboards be obtained at once so that members could practice upon and acquire proficiency in operating them. Many compositors who had not seen the linotype in operation still believed that it would prove a failure like all the other machines that had preceded it. They could not be convinced otherwise, and it was this unbelieving element that opposed any movement that was suggested to meet the innovation that was already upon the threshold of the trade. Despite this strong feeling of hostility sober judgment prevailed in the union and it was decided not to throw any obstacles in the way of the machines, but to endeavor to have printers operate them at fixed weekly wages. Transition from hand to machine composition was gradual, and the precaution taken by the journeymen in their association to co-operate with the employers and the makers of the linotype effected the change without much hardship to the majority of the members. MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 329 It was on September 7, I89o, that the union began to prepare for the new order of things by appointing a committee to draft a scale of prices for work done on machines, with a proviso that they should be operated on an entirely time Union Favors basis. Edward McGovern, Edward Meagher, James Composing Duffy, James Ahem and J. W. McAllister corn- Devices. prised the committee, and on October 5th they submitted a scale, accompanied by the following views expressive of the union's attitude: Whereas, Intelligent wage workers no longer view with apprehension the introduction of labor-saving machinery into their various trades, believing that the use of such machinery will ultimately accrue to the benefit of Labor; and, Whereas, Such benefit will principally consist of a reduction of the hours of labor, the regulation of which is the conceded function of labor organizations; and, Whereas, It is apparent that inventive genius has at length evolved mechanical contrivances that will satisfactorily perform in great part the labor of the human typesetter; therefore, Resolved, That Typographical Union No. 6, recognizing these facts, welcomes the advent of successful typesetting machines, but maintains the right to establish regulations for the employment of its members upon them that will secure decreased hours of labor at a fair rate of wages. The union promptly adopted the foregoing sentiments, but decided to postpone action for three First Scale for Machine months on the scale that the committee had sub- Composition. mitted and which was as follows: Under this head is included the production of all kinds of typesetting or typecasting machines. I. In machine composition all work must be time work. Piecework cannot be allowed in any case. 2. Compositors employed on machines on morning newspapers shall receive not less than $27 per week of six days, eight continuous hours to constitute a day's work; the hours to be between 6 P. M. and 3 A. M. 3. Compositors employed on machines on evening newspapers shall receive not less than $22 per week of six days, eight continuous hours to constitute a day's work; the hours to be between 8 A. M. and 6 P. M. 4. Compositors employed on machines on weekly newspapers, periodicals, book and pamphlet work shall receive not less than $20 per week of six days, nine continuous hours to constitute a day's work; the hours to be between 8 A. M. and 6 P. M. 5. Overtime, which shall apply to work done before, as well as work done after, the hours specified, shall be charged at the rate of one hour and a half for every hour so employed. This section shall apply to all branches of the trade working at machines. 6. In offices where both hand composition and machine composition are done there shall be no culling of fat for the machines, such as leaded matter, poetry, 330 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. matter with a great deal of quads in it or fat tables. All matter must be given out in a fair manner, without reference to display advertisements, which cannot be set by machines. 7. Matter set by machines during the daytime cannot be used on a morning newspaper on which piecework is done, unless paid for at morning newspaper machine rates. 8. Matter set by machines during the night time cannot be used on an evening newspaper or other publication on which piecework is done, unless paid for at the machine scale for work done in that office. 9. No dupes to be taken, measurements made, or stents allowed on composition done by the day or week. io. In no case can a member working on a linotype or typesetting machine receive less than a day's pay. i i. No person shall be allowed to operate a linotype or typesetting machine who is not a member in good standing of Typographical Union No. 6. General revision of the wage scale having been ordered at the meeting of January 4, i89i, the machine schedule that had been proposed in the preceding October was referred to Unwisdom a committee, together with " all pending amendof Radical ments regarding piece and time work." The reviWage Changes. sionists reported on February ist that, " after thorough consideration of the conditions of the various branches of the trade, the committee believes it unwise at this time to make any radical changes in the scale. Its aim has been to remedy existing inequalities, and to so simplify the provisions of the scale as to prevent, as far as possible, misconstruction of their meaning, and so obviate the necessity for frequent appeals to the Executive Committee. In the opinion of the committee the time is not ripe for making a machine scale. It therefore recommends that for the present all compositors working on typesetting or typecasting machines.shall be paid at not less than the regular time scale governing the class of work upon which they are employed." Most important of the changes recommended by the committee was that on evening newspapers where there was not any piecework the rate should be established at $2I per week, making it optional for the proprietors of afternoon journals to employ their compositors either exclusively on time or by the piece. That provision was afterward adopted, and in March the Evening World, Evening Sun and Evening Call inaugurated the time system, the compositors working nine hours daily, but on June 7th the union repealed the enactment, and instructed its officers to enforce the piece scale in the evening newspaper composing rooms at the commencement of the next fiscal week. It was also decided to restore the weekly rate of $24 for proofreaders, make-ups and other time employees on evening papers, which pro MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 331 vision, originally adopted in 1889, had been abrogated when the alltime scale was passed. Then it was moved that the machine scale submitted by the special committee on October 5, 1890, be read and adopted as a whole. The proposition was carried and the officers were directed to put it in force at once. Matters in relation to the machine question proceeded with inconsiderable friction. The union, while it was eager to make the conditions surrounding their operation beneficial to its membership, handled with precise judgment School of the problem with which it had been so suddenly Instruction confronted. It moved slowly and from time to Proposed. time in the first few years of the change in the method of composition it made regulations conformable to the new situation that were mutually satisfactory to the employers and to its members. Upon the recommendation of its organizer on January 4, 1892, the association created a committee to devise some plan whereby members of the union might be afforded an opportunity to operate the machines, and at the same meeting ordered " that where members do not produce matter for use in papers and books they be not considered as working and need not demand the scale." On February 7th the committee reported, recommending that the scale be amended by striking out the clause prohibiting the measurement of matter set on machines, that a school of instruction be opened, and that a committee be appointed with power to rent rooms, lease machines and determine the question of priority of all applicants. That committee, which was composed of Secretary William Ferguson, Frederick L. Fleming, John E. Gladstone and Charles J. Dumas, reported on February I4th that it has been unable to make much progress, " as the undertaking is one of considerable magnitude and will involve a large expenditure of money, and the committee desires to proceed with due caution. We have secured a number of lithographs of the keyboard, which may prove valuable in learning the keys. These will be distributed to those who desire them. We are unable to state when we will be able to secure machines." As the required number of machines could not be procured immediately and as a school for learners could not be operated, it was estimated by the committee, for less than $400 per month the subject was not pursued further at that time. The matter, however, came to the surface again on June 7, I896, when the president reported that the executive head of the linotype company had tendered the union the use of two machines free for one year for the purpose of instructing members. A committee that had been appointed 332 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. to ascertain the practicability of the plan and its probable cost reported on November ist that it had "carefully looked into the matter, and while unable to unanimously agree as Linotype Concern to the best course to follow, decided to present the Offers Free different phases of the question to the union withMachines. out recommendation." The committee thought that the only course the union could pursue was to accept the machines, " if for no other purpose than to prevent the establishment of some other school of instruction, which we would be unable to control. To have a place where our members could gain some knowledge of the machines would seem to be the duty of the union even at this late day. Men employed in offices where machines are about to be introduced could then be instructed in the use of the machines and be competent to hold situations under the new conditions. On the other hand, the number of men who will want to learn on the machines and the limited opportunity at the disposal of the union will be a hard question to handle." The linotype concern, it was pointed out, would object to the union using the product where it came into direct competition with patrons who had paid for the use of machines, but would favor the utilization of the matter set in the union's own work or in any enterprise it might create —such as a weekly or monthly publication, circulars, etc. The committee stated that the best method of running the machines would be in connection with an office already having a plant; that the cost of erecting a partition and extending shafting would be $Ioo, and that the weekly expenditure of conducting the institution would be $29. A committee of three was selected and ordered " to wait on the president of the linotype company and ascertain if the same privileges as are granted to others cannot be secured for members of No. 6." There the matter rested until June 3, 900o, on which date the president of the linotype company renewed his offer " to furnish No. 6, without charge, with two or three machines for use in the instruction of its members, provided they are not used for commercial purposes." In his letter he called attention to the fact that a school having two machines was then being successfully operated under the auspices of the printers' union in Washington. A vote of thanks was extended to the concern's chief official, but action on his proffer was not at all speedy, for it was not considered until April 7, i9go. Then the union concurred in a recommendation of its Executive Committee to send out another committee to obtain information regarding the terms of the company and the advisability of establishing a linotype school. The investigators were thorough MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 333 in their inquiry, taking until June 2d to make known their findings. They reported that they had conferred with the company's president, who had informed them " that almost daily he receives applications from men who wish linotype instruction, most of these applications coming from members of typographical unions, and that he prefers to have union men operate the machines. He proposes to place at the disposal of this union any number of machines, placing no time limit or any other restrictions upon us, except that they receive the care of a competent machine-tender, and that we do no commercial work." Mentioning the Washington school of instruction, the committee said that " a six-weeks' course in operating, two hours a day for the first two weeks and four hours a day for the remaining four weeks, besides unlimited practice on dummy keyboards, costs $60; a six-weeks' course in machine-tending, which time may be extended indefinitely, $50; a combined course in operating and machine-tending until proficient, $85." Careful inquiry by the committee into the probable weekly cost of maintaining a plant of four machines showed this result: Machine-tender, $25; gas for heating metal, $4; rent, $IO; waste metal, light and power, $5 - a total of $44. The committee did " not deem it prudent to recommend this heavy expenditure. It seems impracticable to establish a free school, for the reason that perhaps not more than Ioo men could be taught properly in a year, and the selection of those to be given first opportunity is not a pleasant matter to anticipate in itself, while on the other hand a great number of our members quite likely would be opposed to paying $2,300 each year until all our members became proficient operators. Nor does your committee deem it wise to recommend that the union establish a school and charge tuition, for in such a venture there is a considerable amount of risk and responsibility. We therefore, being unable to arrive at a Institution Satisfactory conclusion, present the foregoing facts for Learners without a recommendation of any kind." A motion Not Opened. on July 7th that a committee be appointed to establish a school of instruction was lost, and the subject never has been revived by the union since that time. Equal apportionment of fat matter in chapels where both machine and hand composition was done was a question that created a ripple at the meeting of February 14, I892. It was precipitated by the Executive Committee, which reported that there having been some doubt as to what constituted an equitable division of such matter in the Recorder office, it had " decided that a portion of the matter which was being set on the machines - viz: the stock table - should 334 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. go to the compositors. The officers enforced the decision, which was complied with under protest, the office continuing to set the table on machines and allowing the compositors to measure the same as though set by hand. In view of the fact that there can be no fixed rule whereby the fat can be satisfactorily divided between a mixed force, your committee would earnestly urge upon the union the necessity of some action looking toward an entire time scale in offices where machine composition is done, and to this end would recommend the repeal of the clause prohibiting time work on hand composition in offices where machines are used." The meeting ordered " that this decision stand as the decision of the union," and it was determined to send to the referendum a proposition to repeal that section of the scale which provided that " on all newspapers where machines are in use all type set by hand shall be paid for by the piece." Announcement was made at the meeting of April 3d that the abrogation of the provision had been secured by a vote of i,873 for, to I,I30 against. A motion prevailed to again refer the question to the chapels, on the ground that many members had not understood it, and on May ist the secretary informed the meeting that the resolution had been defeated - i,i00 members voting for repeal and I,I49 against it. But the Executive Conunittee was persistent in its efforts to have the piece scale on hand composition in machine offices rescinded, renewing its recommendation to that effect on August I4th, and proposing that the schedule be so amended as to allow a uniform time scale. These suggestions were turned over to a Revision Committee, which on September 4th offered a resolution favoring the retention of piece rates for hand composition on newspapers that had installed machines, but with these restrictions: I. Offices using five or more machines shall have the privilege of adopting the all-time scale. 2. Any office adopting the all-time scale throughout shall be required to instruct men working at case in the operation of the machine at the full machine scale. 3. Offices adopting the all-time scale shall pay $27 per week of six dayseight hours to constitute a day's work. 4. In all-time offices no stents must be allowed. 5. No slides to be permitted in all-time offices. 6. In all-time offices the number of boys employed shall be one to every fifteen journeymen and majority fraction thereof, members of the union. 7. The hours to be between 3 P. M. and 3 A. M. Action was deferred on the foregoing, and on September 4th the meeting adopted the following after some discussion: MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 335 Whereas, The union has by a large majority voted in opposition to the adoption of an all-time scale for the offices in which machines are in use; and, Whereas, There is at present in existence a committee for the revision of the scale in its entirety; and, Whereas, The membership of the union is not fully informed as to the full bearing of the adoption of an all-time scale for composition of the fat matter in those offices as compared with the offices where the composition is in part or all performed by hand; and, Whereas, There has been no mention made of a piece scale for the operation of machines, which has been favorably considered in other cities; and, Whereas, The adoption of an all-time scale would naturally result in the reduction of the present scale in offices where machines are not now in use, the inference being that the other proprietors would not pay the present scale of 50 cents for setting their fat while other offices are having the same work performed for $27 per week; and, Whereas, The adoption of an all-time scale in machine offices would undoubtedly encourage other employers in the use of the machines; therefore, be it Resolved, That it would be for the best interests of the union that the members have a better opportunity to consider this change of the scale, and that the entire question relating to the machines be referred to a committee of 25 representative members. The course pursued as indicated in the above resolve did not 'accomplish satisfactory results, and on November 3d another committee was selected and instructed " to prepare two resolutions to be submitted to the trade as' to whether work done in machine offices shall be done on time or on piece, at the same hours of labor." The question was settled within a fortnight, the referendum vote favoring the adoption of an all-time scale in machine offices. Then on December 3d a schedule to conform to that decision was passed. These were the additions to the scale of October 5, I890: (i) " On morning newspapers where advertisements are set on time eight hours shall constitute a day's work, and all compositors shall receive the same wages as operators." (2) " Men may be employed on machines on morning newspapers in the daytime at night rates, said employment to be regular situations." (3) "Evening newspaper rate raised from $22 to $24 per week, all compositors to be paid the same rate as operators." (4) " In piece offices members of Typographical Union No. 6 while learning to operate machines shall be permitted to work at such rates as the Executive Committee may decide, the time of learning not to exceed two months." (5) "Any office adopting the all-time scale throughout shall be required to instruct men working at the case in the operation of the machines at the full machine scale." (6) "All compositors employed in offices where machines are introduced must have the exclusive privilege of learn 336 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. ing and becoming familiar with their operation. No obstruction or restriction whatever shall be placed upon or stand in the way of learners other than that they are not practical printers." (7) " In all-time offices no stents or slides shall be allowed." (8) " The officers of the union are empowered to enter into a contract for at least one year with offices adopting the all-time scale." A committee that had been charged to prepare a machine scale for bookwork and for newspapers other than those issued daily submitted the fruits of its labors on January i, I893. Machine Most of its recommendations were accepted by the Schedule for union, and the scale was ordered to be put in force Bookwork. the first week in April. This, however, was not done, and on May 7th the Executive Committee objected to the enforcement of the proposed schedule because it "would be detrimental to the interests of the union, would do considerable injury to many members, and prove of no benefit whatever in any case." The matter was then referred to a committee of two from each machine office, and on June 4th its report was presented, but action was postponed until November I2th, when the following list of prices was adopted and put into effect: I. Compositors employed on typesetting machines on weekly newspapers, periodicals, book and pamphlet work shall receive not less than $20 per week of six days, nine continuous hours to constitute a day's work, the hours to be between 8 A. M. and 6 P. M. 2. In offices where machines are used and hand compositors are employed all time hands shall receive not less than $i8 per week (exclusive of machine operatives) - nine consecutive hours to constitute a day's work. 3. Distributors on machines, except members of the union, shall not be allowed to distribute head lines, etc.; neither shall they be allowed to practice on the keyboard or any other part of the typesetting machine, correct proof or lift matter from forms. 4. Overtime, which shall apply to work done before, as well as work done after, the hours specified, shall be charged at the rate of one hour and a half for every hour so employed. This section shall apply to all hands on time in machine offices. 5. All compositors employed in offices where machines are introduced shall have the privilege of learning and becoming familiar with their operation. Compositors taken from the case to learn to operate the machines shall receive not less than $20 per week. No obstruction or restriction whatever shall be placed upon or stand in the way of learners other than that they are not practical printers. 6. When weekly or monthly newspapers in any form are set partly by hand and partly by machines, such job shall be all time work. Compositors (except those mentioned in Section I) shall receive not less than $I8 per week of six daysnine hours to constitute a day's work. 7. In no case can a member working on a linotype or typesetting machine receive less than a day's pay. MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 337 That the machine problem had reached a solution by the union at the end of i893 may be inferred from the report, on November 5th, of a committee that had been appointed to devise ways whereby members might learn to operate the mechanical composers. That committee stated "that in nearly all the offices ample opportunity is given employees to become operators, and they recommend that in offices where there are no machinists on hand for office work chapels make arrangements whereby compositors who have the privilege to practice on machines recompense machinists in the same manner as is now done by the World chapel;" which recommendation received the approval of the union. A special price for extras put on by foremen in machine offices, either day or night, was passed November 3, i893, requiring that such temporary employees should receive $5 for a day's work of eight hours. Provision was also made that "where an office introduces machines they shall not discharge men and replace them by new operators, but shall take operators from those already members of the chapel, and instruct them." This latter rule referred to men who had been members of a chapel at least three months before the introduction of the first machine in such shop, and applied "only to offices during the period of transition, the end of such period to be determined by the Executive Committee, on the recommendation of the chairman." Although the union sought to standardize the qualification of machine operators it did not attempt to restrict production. On June 3, I894, it decreed that "the minimum amount of ems by which the degree of competency shall be Opposed to established be placed at i8,ooo ems for a day's Restriction work of eight hours, and any operator attaining the of Outputability to set that amount shall be eligible to sub or hold a situation in any office working under the trade regulations of Typographical Union No. 6." In truth, it was opposed to any proposition looking to a limitation of the output, which fact was accentuated on November I, i896, when it signally defeated this proposed amendment to the schedule of rates for machine work: "No operator shall be allowed to set over 36,ooo ems per day of eight hours. Any member of the union exceeding this maximum output shall be fined $I5 for the first offense, $20 for the second offense, and on satisfactory proof of a third violation said member shall forfeit his membership in Typographical Union No. 6." 338 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. XXIV. Effect of the 1893 Panic on Wages. The panic that began in I893 depressed the industrial world for several years, and its effect upon the printing trade halted any attempt at increases in the scale. On the other hand, Reduction for there were not any general reductions in wage rates. Three Months One of the leading morning newspapers was still havon Novels. ing its type set by hand on April i, 1894, and on that date the Executive Committee of the union reported adversely on a proposition to reduce the piece scale Io per cent for such composition. The union concurred and thereafter as long as the prices for hand work were retained in the schedule —and they were not eliminated until all the newspaper composing rooms had been equipped with machines — pieceworkers' rates remained stationary. Toward the end of I896 a special committee was charged by the union to confer with a like body from the Typothetae "in relation to readjusting the piece scale on straight book matter." A report was submitted on January 3, 1896, the committee stating to the associated journeymen that so far as book composition was concerned the trade was in a bad condition. It was found that the majority of plain print novel works, which previously had been produced in New York, were then being done outside of the city and in some unfair offices in town. " We also find it to be impossible," said the committee, " for contracting printers who are paying our scale in its entirety to compete with these unfair offices, which are paying 30 and 35 cents per I,ooo ems for plain reprint novel works. Consequently the large book offices get very little, if any, of this class of work, and many of our members are idle. Representatives of the various book offices appeared before your committee, and, although many expressed themselves openly in favor of a reduction in the book scale for straight reprint novel works only, yet the majority seemed to be opposed to any attempt to reduce at the present time. Your committee, after taking into consideration everything in relation to our membership, are unanimous in our opinion that it would be unwise to make any reduction in the book scale as it now stands." A recommendation was made by the committee that the officers make special agreements with contracting printers for straight reprint novel works "so as to prevent, as far as possible, said works from leaving the city, said special agreements not to call for any reduction over 5 cents per i,ooo ems." This was accepted MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 339 by the union, which ordered that it be put in force for three months, and required the organizer to keep an account of all work gained by such reduction. XXV. Scale Amendments in 1897 and 1898. Some important additions were made to the scale of prices that became operative on June i, i895, although the regular rates were not changed. The rule regarding the employment of operators was greatly modified, permitting offices Borrowing that had installed at least three machines to per- Matrices manently engage one experienced operator from Prohibited. outside the chapel. And the following, which was adopted by the Executive Committee on November 22, I896, was incorporated in the revised general newspaper schedule: "The practice of loaning and borrowing matter or matrices of advertisements or news matter between the different morning newspapers or morning and evening papers is repugnant to union principles and contrary to law. That the same be prohibited. That hereafter no office shall use in local advertising matter any matrices, blocks, or type set in any other office." Regulation of overtime work was undertaken on May 2, 1897, the union decreeing " that when a regular on a morning or evening newspaper has five and one-half hours' overtime he shall put on a sub during the week or weeks in which the overtime occurs." This rule was amended on November I9, 1898, expanding the limitation so that " eight hours shall constitute a day of overtime instead of five and one-half hours as at present; that overtime may be anticipated for the purpose of computation under this law, but not for a longer period than four weeks. Penalty for violation: First offense, $5; second offense, $io; third offense, union to decide." Wages of learners on machines in weekly newspaper and book offices were rearranged in the 1897 scale, so that compositors taken from the case were required to be paid during the period of instruction $I5 for each of the first two weeks, $ 8 for the third week, and thereafter the full scale. It was also determined that a member should not be allowed to act both as machinist and operator on any plant consisting of more than three machines. Piecework was permissible under prescribed conditions as follows: In offices where the num 340 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. ber of piece compositors exceeds the number of machines in the ratio of three to one, or more, jobs may be set partly on the machines and partly by piece, hand composition, provided (i) that the copy be run without discrimination, with no culling of fat for the machines; (2) that the piece compositors be given at least 40 hours' composition during the week of 59 hours, or time work at the rate of 35 cents per hour in lieu thereof; (3) that all time work on the job (except as above mentioned) shall be paid at the rate of $i8 per week of six days - nine hours to constitute a day's work." New matter contained in the job scale related exclusively to overtime and provided for additional compensation, thus: " When required to work two or more hours' overtime oneOvertime Rates half hour shall be allowed for meals and charged by Readjusted for both time and piece hands. Piece hands to receive Job Printers. the sum of 23 cents. If detained ten minutes after the regular time one-half hour overtime shall be charged; if detained 40 minutes one hour overtime shall be charged. If required to work after the hour of 12 o'clock midnight Saturday until midnight Sunday the following prices shall be paid: From 12 o'clock midnight Saturday to 7 A. M., the sum of go cents per hour; from 7 A. M. to 6 P. M., 60 cents per hour; from 6 P. M. to midnight Sunday, go cents per hour. Piece hands, double price during Sunday from 7 A. M. to 6 P. M., and from I2 midnight Saturday to 7 A. M. Sunday 60 cents per hour in addition to the matter set, and after 6 P M. Sunday to 12 midnight Sunday, also 60 cents in addition to the matter set. Piece hands detained after the regular hours of composition shall be paid standing time at the rate of 45 cents per hour." While the union had for a number of years insisted upon a minimum number of hours for piece composition on newspapers it did not apply a similar rule to pieceworkers in book offices until I898, when it passed a resolve requiring that compositors should receive at least four and one-half hours' work setting type any day that they were obliged to be in the office, or to be paid waiting time at the regular time scale. Issuance of newspapers between 6 o'clock A. M. and I2 o'clock noon caused the establishment by the union of a new rule applicable to morning newspaper offices, creating on March 6, 1898, an especial working force called the " third shift," the labor hours being fixed at seven daily, " from 2 A. M. to 9 A. M., at the rate of $30 per week; overtime at the rate of 85 cents per hour." MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 341 Legislation of the Executive Council of the International Typographical Union having on June 28, 1898, required the New York subordinate organization to maintain a machinetenders' branch, composed of machinists, this wage Scale for scale governing the work of these mechanicians in Machineboth newspaper and book offices was soon after Tenders. adopted by Typographical Union No. 6: Wages MACINES. per week. For I or 2..................................................... $I9. 50 For 3 or 4..................................................... 21.00 For 5 to 8.................................................... 25.00 For 9 to 12.................................................... 28.00 For 13 or more................................................. 30.00oo Machine-tenders working at night shall receive $5 per week in addition to the above day scale. The regular working time shall be six days or nights per week of as many hours each as are the regular hours of operators. Work above these hours shall be considered as overtime and shall be charged at the rate of one hour and a half for every hour so employed, based on the regular scale for the specified hours. Discussion of the question of piecework for hand composition in book establishments where both typesetters and operators were engaged was indulged in on October i, I899, on a proposed amendment to the constitution, which Striving to provided that in such offices piecework could be Aboish Piece System in done on condition (i) " that compositors employed Book Offices. by the piece shall be guaranteed at least six hours' composition, or be paid for waiting, if any, within that time, at the regular time charge of the office in case the office does not give time work;" (2) " that the office shall have the privilege of sliding in regular order men not needed, such slide being for the whole day, and announced the night previous." The subject was referred to the Executive Committee, which reported adversely on November 5th, the union sustaining its views that regarding the first proposition " the establishment of a sliding list in offices where piecework is permitted would only be gained at the expense of a large number of members who are distinctly piece hands -that is, a law compelling the office to guarantee their piece hands time work when in the office would result in the discharge of those men who, on account of the infirmities of age or other reasons, are now given nothing but piecework. As to the second section, the introduction of piecework into offices that are now all-time offices, we believe that it has been the policy of our union for many years to strive for the abolition of 342 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. piecework in all book and job offices, because we have learned that from the necessarily complicated provisions of a piece scale have arisen the large majority of our conflicts with employers, and the miserable conditions which now prevail in piecework offices would be perpetuated and extended to other offices by this proposed law." Rates for extra work were readjusted on December 8, i899, for book, job and weekly newspaper offices at a conference between President John H. Delaney, on behalf of Typographical Union No. 6, and President Joseph J. Little, representing the Typothetae, as follows: Overtime in all-time machine offices: Operators, 55 cents per hour; hand compositors and proofreaders, 50 cents per hour. Overtime in part-time and partpiece offices: Operators, 55 cents per hour; hand compositors and proofreaders, 45 cents per hour. In the event of any piece office going out of the transitory state the machine scale shall prevail. These rates shall continue until April I, i900. Beginning with that date overtime shall be paid for at the rate of 55 cents per hour for machine operators and 50 cents per hour for hand compositors and proofreaders in all book, job and weekly newspaper offices. The above shall in no way be construed so as to interfere with the overtime rates for special and legal holidays provided for in the scale of prices. XXVI. Increases for Book and Job Compositors in 1902. Through an agreement entered into by the Typographical Union and the Typothetm on December 9, i9oi, book and job printers not only received an increase of wages, but peace was assured in those branches of the trade for a period of three years. On July 7th a committee of five that had been appointed to confer with a like committee from the employers' association in regard to a revised scale reported that a meeting had been held on June 26th and that the progress then made was satisfactory. Other sessions, however, did not bring about desired results, and in the succeeding November President Marsden G. Scott and Secretary Jerome F. Healy on behalf of the union addressed the following circular letter to all employers: For many years the members of Typographical Union No. 6 employed in the book and job branch of the printing trade have received but $3 per day of nine hours for their services. Regardless of the general wave of prosperity which has been felt in all lines of business, the book and job printer has been called upon to pay an increased price for the necessaries of life despite the fact that his income has remained at a figure ridiculously low when compared with the wages received in other skilled trades. MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 343 In order that the book and job printers of this city may provide the necessary comforts for their families, more properly educate their children, and be of greater service to their fellow-men, the members of Typographical Union No. 6 have instructed their officers to present to the employing printers of the City of New York the following proposed changes in their scale of prices: First- An increase in the price of piece composition of 5 cents per I,ooo ems. Second- An increase of $2 per week in the wages of book and job compositors, making the rate $20 per week instead of $18 as at present. Third- An increase of $2 per week in the wages of machine operators in book and job offices, making the rate $22 per week instead of $20 as at present. Fourth —Eight hours to constitute a day's work on all State, county and municipal printing, to be paid for at the rate of $20 per week for hand compositors and $22 per week for machine operators. An effort to better the condition of the piece compositors will, we believe, meet with the hearty co-operation of most employers. The average earnings of these men are not sufficient to provide the bare necessaries of life. The increase asked for in the time scale is less than 4 cents per hour and the increase for machine operators is the same. The request for eight hours on State, county and municipal printing is in conformity with the present New York State Labor Law. With the sincere desire of bringing about the proposed changes in our scale without inconvenience to our employers, representatives of this organization will call upon you to receive such suggestions as you may be pleased to offer. Concession to the demands was immediately made by a number of concerns not connected with the master printers' organization, but the Typothetae demurred and a Joint Conference Committee, composed of leading representatives of Agreement the two associations, met on December 9th and with decided upon terms that were subsequently ratified Typothete. by both bodies. The agreement, taking effect on January 6, I902, and remaining in force until January I, 1905, provided for a raise in the piece scale of 2 cents per I,ooo ems - from 37 cents to 39 cents for leaded reprint and law cases, 40 cents to 42 cents for solid reprint and law cases and leaded manuscript, 43 cents to 45 cents for solid manuscript, and from 50 cents and $I.8o to 52 cents and $1.82 for works done in foreign languages. There was an advance of $i per week provided for time hands on January 6, 1902, raising the wage of job printers to $19 per week and that of machine operators to $2I, with a further increase of 50 cents per week for both classes of workers on October i, I902. It was verbally agreed that compositors engaged on public work should be employed eight hours daily and receive the same compensation as that provided for a nine-hour day. Overtime was fixed at price and one-half on the minimum scale; on Sundays and legal holidays, double price. The conferees decided that all points in dispute on 344 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. and after March I, I902, should be referred to a mutually chosen arbitrator, "excepting such points as conflict with the present International Typographical Union laws, which shall be referred to the International bodies for arbitration." XXVII. Proceedings Under First Newspaper Arbitration Plan in 1901. Industrial peace superseded strife in the newspaper branch of the printing trade at the very beginning of the twentieth century. Theretofore there had been numerous strikes to enforce demands for increased wages or to prevent reductions. Such conflicts had caused heavy losses to both employers and employed, whom experience had taught that a get-together policy would promote their interests far better than periodical warfare. Proprietors took the initiative in establishing permanent peaceful relations with their organized workers. In February, 900o, the American Newspaper Publishers' Association convened in New York City and authorized a national committee, composed of Alfred Cowles, of the Chicago Tribune, Herman Ridder, of the New York Staats-Zeitung, and M. J. Lowenstein, of the St. Louis Star, to negotiate with each of the general allied printing trades organizations for the creation of Joint Arbitration Committees to adjust labor disputes between publishers and local unions. This association of newspaper owners represented 200 daily journals in the principal cities of the United States, with some $20,000,000 invested in the plants of their business, and employed in their mechanical departments 20,000 persons, threefifths of whom were members of trade unions. Frederick Driscoll, who had been selected by the committee early in April to look after the publishers' interests, addressed in the following August the convention of the International Typographical Union in Milwaukee, Wis., on the topic of arbitration and urged that body to enter into an arrangement with the employers' organization whereby all principal causes of friction would be removed and that provision be made for the adjustment by pacific methods of any differences that might arise in the trade. The Executive Council of the International, comprising President James M. Lynch, First Vice-President Charles E. Hawkes and Secretary-Treasurer John W. Bramwood, was instructed to confer with the committee of publishers, with the object of arriving at an agreement providing for the settlement of disagreements between any members of the publishers' organization MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 345 and the International or its subordinate bodies, and that, "if the American Newspaper Publishers' Association shall agree to submit to arbitration all disputes, pending and future, between the members of said association and the Typographical Union and its affiliated bodies, then the council is instructed to prepare laws governing such agreement, submit them to a referendum vote of the membership, and use its influence to the end that they may be adopted by popular vote of the members of the International Union." The joint committee met and devised a plan of arbitration that the members of the two organizations subsequently ratified, the agreement going into effect on May I, I90o. It stipulated that in case a grievance could not be settled by conciliation between publishers and a subordinate union " then provision must be made for local arbitration. If local arbitration or arbitrators cannot be agreed upon all differences shall be referred, upon application of either party, to the National Board of Arbitration. In case a local Board of Arbitration is formed, and a decision rendered which is unsatisfactory to either side, then an appeal may be taken to the National Board of Arbitration by the dissatisfied party. * * * The National Board of Arbitration shall consist of the president of the International Typographical Union and the commissioner of the American Newspaper Publishers' Association, or their proxies, and in the event of failure to reach an agreement these two shall select a third member in each dispute. The finding of the majority of the board shall be final and shall be accepted as such by the parties to the dispute under consideration." Prior to the adoption of the above general plan Typographical Union No. 6 had submitted several individual cases to arbitration. On June 2, 1874, the secretary reported to the union " that the strike at Ammerman's was settled by Recourse to submitting the matter in dispute to Theodore L. Arbitration in DeVinne, another employing printer, as arbitrator, Previous Cases. who decided in favor of the union." A more important case was that involving the Typographical Union and the Typothetae as to matters in dispute in the office of J. J. Little & Co. in I896. The employees in the book and job rooms of the latter concern on April 9th of that year presented to the firm seven demands, which thereupon became the subject of controversy between the two parties, and a strike resulted on April 24th, but the men returned to work on April 3oth, under an agreement to refer all the differences at issue to a joint committee of ten, five from each of the associations named. These arbitrators settled some of the points in dispute, but those upon which they could not agree were submitted to 346 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Hon. Seth Low as umpire. The principal question that was referred to him was the seventh demand, which required that the book and job rooms should be recognized as card offices. " If my functions as arbitrator permit me to pass upon this demand only categorically," was the judgment of the umpire on the point at issue, " I am obliged to find that the demand that the book and job rooms of J. J. Little & Co. be declared card offices should be denied. If, on the other hand, I am at liberty to say, with hope of its acceptance, what I think is fair in all the circumstances of the case, my finding would be this: That J. J. Little & Co. recognize Typographical Union No. 6 as the accredited representative of the union men in their employ in their book and job rooms, and that permanent arrangements be made for the arbitration of all differences between the firm and the union upon the general lines of the present arbitration." Since that decision was rendered on July 9, i896, the relations between the firm and the union have been most cordial. Typographical Union No. 6 in I903 asked for a weekly increase of $3 in the wages of daily newspaper compositors, proofreaders and composing machine operators, as follows: An advance in the rate per week on - Evening newspapers from $24 to $27. Morning newspapers from $27 to $30. Third shift from $30 to $33. Efforts at conciliation and local arbitration having proved futile the matter was referred to the National Board of Arbitration, consisting of Frederick Driscoll, for the publishers, Arbitrating James M. Lynch, for the union, and the Right Demand for Reverend Frederick Burgess, Bishop of the Episcoan Advance, pal Diocese of Long Island, as the third member or umpire. This tribunal met in New York City on June i8 and i9, I903, and heard arguments pro and con relative to the demand. At the opening of the proceedings the employers insisted that, in addition to the matter of wages, the board should also pass upon the question as to the rearrangement of labor hours on Saturday. This was objected to by the union because the local publishers' association had been notified of the withdrawal of that point from the controversy, and as the latter had made its request respecting a readjustment of the working time on Saturday after it had informed the journeymen's association that the question of changing the wage scale had been referred for arbitration to the labor commissioner of the proprietors' organization, the dispute concerning compensation should be the only one considered, while MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 347 the subsequent demand of the publishers should be passed upon by the union as provided for in the arbitration agreement - first by conciliation, and in the event of failure to thus effect a settlement, then arbitration should be invoked. It was ruled by the board that the question to be decided related exclusively to an increase or decrease of wages, but it consented to the introduction of all evidence, including that pertaining to hours, having any bearing on the case. Marsden G. Scott, the union's spokesman, sought a favorable decision chiefly on the claim of an increased product through the introduction of machines, maintaining that the scale for compositors was the same as it was when Union's Reasons these devices were generally installed in the early for Advance nineties. He said the existing schedule was practi- in Wages. cally similar to that of a decade previously, when hand compositors, for $4.50 in eight hours' labor, produced from 8,ooo to Io,ooo ems, while machine operators, who received $4.50 for a like amount of working time, set from 30,000 to 3 5,000 ordinarily, and in many instances 40,000, 50,ooo, and even as high as 60,ooo ems. " We contend," said the representative of the printers, " that the compositor has received no benefit whatever from the introduction of typesetting machines. Under the hand piece scale the average cost for I,ooo ems was not less than 70 cents. That included the proofreading, the make-up, and everything. The flat price was 50 cents per I,ooo ems to the compositor. Then the other expenses in the composing room brought the cost up to 70 cents. Since the introduction of machines it is an actual fact that composition is being done in union newspaper offices in this city for less than 35 cents per I,ooo ems, and can be done by offices which pay more than on present scale." Statistics were submitted to show that on morning newspapers 50 per cent of the printers were paid more than the minimum price - 442 receiving $30 per week, ten $29 and four $28. "Those who are now receiving the minimum scale have no desire to profit at the expense of those who are receiving the maximum," said Mr. Scott. " We want to bring out the fact that those receiving the maximum have no guarantee that they will be getting $30 to-morrow, but can be and have been reduced and put back for personal reasons, in some cases, and we believe they should be protected by an agreed-upon scale. They are recognized as being worth $30 and they should be protected in securing it." It was moreover declared that $4.50 a day was not an exorbitant rate to charge for the services of a compositor on an evening paper, and that $5 per night was little enough for a worker whose task began at 6 or 7 o'clock in the evening and ended at 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning, 348 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. for he had but one evening in each week to devote to social intercourse, and his domestic life was far different from that of the wageearner who was employed in the daytime, the night employee seeing less of his home, less of his children, and lived to a great extent apart from the rest of the world. The hours of those who were employed on the third shift were even more unnatural, for they commenced work at 2 o'clock A. M. and finished at 9 A. M. The attention of the arbitrators was also called to wage increases in nearly Ioo other trades in New York City in the preceding five years. Another reason advanced for a higher wage scale was the increased cost of living. " There can be no question as to the truth of the statement that a wave of general prosperity has swept over the country in the past few years," observed the speaker in concluding his argument. "Practically every newspaper in the land has admitted the truth of this contention, and in most of them we see from time to time statements of their own prosperity in the way of increased circulation and increased advertising patronage. And while we all rejoice in the general prosperity of the country, and in the prosperity of the printing trade in particular, the newspaper printer is confronted with the fact that his wages, based on the scale of twelve years ago, have lost a part of their purchasing power, and because of that fact he is at the present time working for practically 25 per cent less than he was at the time the present scale of prices was adopted. An adverse decision will mean to the newspaper printers of this city that they have reached - or rather did reach twelve years ago - the point beyond which there is absolutely no hope of increasing their earnings or even keeping abreast of the increased cost of living; that there is no incentive to improve in their workmanship, and that those who are ambitious for themselves or their children must seek other fields. We ask for a favorable award on our request for an increase of 50 cents per day for each shift, which is practically ii per cent on the present scale, and in reality not more than 6 per cent, because it only applies to one-half of the men affected." Ervin Wardman, for the publishers, declared "not only that Typographical Union No. 6 ought not to have an increase of $3 in the scale, but that the scale is already too high and Argument of should be decreased." He stated that the morning Publishers for Decreased newspaper schedule called for eight hours at $4.50 Rates. per night. Supper time was taken out of the eight hours, regular wages being paid for such absence, thus making the rate about 60 cents an hour, or $4.80 for every eight hours of actual work. " The proposed scale of $5 a day, or MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 349 $30 for six days," said the employers' representative, " is for an actual working day of seven and one-half hours, one-half hour with pay being taken out for supper, making it at the rate of 66 9-IO cents an hour, or $5.35 for every eight hours of actual work. In the job printing business of this city the scale for the same kind of services is only $2i a week for a day of nine hours, or 38 9-IO cents an hour. In other words, for the same kind of work, with the single exception that the morning newspaper work is night work, and the job office work is day work, the present morning newspaper scale is 6o per cent higher than the scale in the job offices for doing the same kind 'of work, and the proposed scale is pretty nearly 75 per cent higher than the job office scale on the same kind of work. That single point answers the contention of Typographical Union No. 6 as to the need of raising the wages to meet the increased cost of living. If the increased cost of living can be met by one printer who does the same kind of work as another printer, but spends more hours in doing it every day of his life, with 6o per cent less wages, it seems to me it could be met by our printers with 6o per cent more wages. In other cities not only are the scales lower than in New York, but the newspapers are free from other exactions which greatly increase the cost of production in this city." He asserted that the New York papers found it difficult to get advertisements, " because our cost of production per page is so much higher than the cost of production of any other newspaper elsewhere that we cannot afford to print the advertising for less than a certain rate. But that certain rate, which is fixed by the cost of production, plus what we think we ought to get out of it, is competing with Philadelphia, which is only go miles away from New York, and because Philadelphia's cost of production on equal papers is less, they can make a lower rate, and they can get advertising which we cannot get when we are competing with Philadelphia in the same field. We circulate in New Jersey more largely than the Philadelphia papers do. The Philadelphia papers circulate in Western New York as largely as we do. In Delaware the Philadelphia papers circulate as largely as we do. We go into the Philadelphia paper territory in Pennsylvania and Ohio. We circulate in some instances more largely than they do in their own territory. But Philadelphia, because the cost of production is so much lower than our cost of production, can make the advertiser a cut rate. That takes the business away from us. And the results of this discrimination against the New York newspapers, not only by newspapers of, other cities, but by newspapers in our own city which do not have to pay these higher rates, and by billboard 350 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. advertising, which has sprung up on account of these large labor charges, from which they are entirely free; by street-car advertising, and in the Washington papers, and in every other paper in the United States- the result is that they do not come into the New York newspapers because they say our rates for advertising are too high. Our rates for advertising are based on the cost of production and on nothing else, and we maintain that for a labor organization to impose such irregularities upon the New York newspapers puts us at a disadvantage." Referring to the Saturday hours of labor, Mr. Wardman averred that " in New York City the scale says we must put the men to work at 6 o'clock in the evening, and that they shall work from 6 o'clock in the evening until 2 o'clock in the morning, constituting a day's work. Three newspapers at least are compelled by the exigencies of the New York situation to put their men to work as early as i o'clock in the afternoon. Some of them put their men to work at 2 o'clock, some at 3 o'clock, some at 4 o'clock, and some at 5 o'clock." He then declared that if the men began work before 6 o'clock P. M. they received overtime pay, and that " the man who goes to work on the overtime system five hours before 6 o'clock has earned a night's pay by 6 o'clock. His regular pay is coming to him from 6 o'clock in the evening to 2 o'clock in the morning. Every paper in New York is virtually set by 12 o'clock at night. The scale says that he is needed from 6 o'clock at night until 2 o'clock in the morning, and that he must be paid from 12 o'clock to 2 o'clock; that he cannot be paid the regular scale from 4 o'clock to 12 o'clock, or from 5 o'clock to i o'clock, or from 3 o'clock to i o'clock, when he is most needed. In other cities that is granted, and there is no other city which is so much in need of the slide as New York City is. If we were permitted to avoid the overtime business on Saturdays - put one crowd of men at work at i o'clock and let them off at 9 o'clock, put another crowd on at 2 o'clock and knock them off at o1 o'clock, and another at 3 o'clock and knock them off at i o'clock, that would give more work regularly to the men and it would relieve the newspapers of a hardship." The employers' representative was of the opinion that the machine had proved a benefit to the compositor, shortening his working hours and increasing his compensation. "As to the fact that the newspaper gets a much larger product of matter set for $4.50 than it did formerly, that is true," said he, " but that is not the point. The newspaper pays larger composition bills than it ever did before. When composition cost three times as much as now the newspapers printed two, four and six pages, and they charged 2, 3, 4 and 5 cents a MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 35I copy. The change of the cost of production involved the newspapers in as much expense as it saved for them. The papers jumped at once from 4 pages and 6 pages, and in rare exceptions 8 pages, to I1, I2, 14, i6, i8, 42-page daily issues. We set just as much more type in order to make up the difference, and in addition we had to consume more paper to put the type on; and we had to pay much larger bills for press hire and for stereotyping and for all the mechanical departments in order to take care of this increased product." Regarding the point made by the union's representative about the prosperity of newspapers, Mr. Wardman declared that "with one rare exception there is not in New York City a newspaper which has received more than a modicum of the prosperity of the last four or five years. Mr. Scott has told you about the increased cost of living. There is nobody who knows what increased cost of living is more than a newspaper knows it, because there is nobody's cost of living which has increased as the newspaper's cost of living has increased. Paper has gone up, ink has gone up, labor has gone up, fuel has gone up, light has gone up, rents have gone up - everything that goes to make up the cost of living of a newspaper has gone up, but the prices of the newspapers have not gone up, and the price of advertising has not gone up."; Mr. Scott named several Western cities where the scales of prices were higher than in New York, and he protested that the arguments advanced by the publishers were not germane to the question before the board; that none of the papers published in the cities mentioned by the opposing side competed in any marked degree with the New York journals for circulation, and few of them for advertising. "As for the Saturday proposition of making men come down at i o'clock," said he, " in a good many cases it takes a man who is engaged on a daily newspaper in this city at least an hour to reach his home from the office. Now, imagine a man being kept in the office until 4 or 5 o'clock Saturday morning and then being obliged to report at i o'clock in the afternoon again. He leaves the office at 4 or 5 o'clock Saturday morning. He goes home and gets there at 6 o'clock, has two or three hours' sleep, and has to get a train and get back to the office. Is that just? To penalize the office for bringing him down we make it pay the overtime before 6 o'clock because the man when he works that overtime can afford to take a day off and get even with his sleep." The speaker informed the board that on March i8th the union submitted to the employers a proposition conceding two hours for the men employed on morning papers and one hour on evening papers. This was not acceptable to the pro 352 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. prietors and the union withdrew it. He cited the fact that in book and job offices machine operators received $2I.50 per week, instead of $2i, as stated by Mr. Wardmari, who acknowledged the error, but allowed that such fact only slightly reduced the percentage he had given. Answering Mr. Scott's asseveration, the publishers' representative, while granting that the New York newspapers were not in competition with those in San Francisco, yet they had to cope with those in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago, Buffalo and New England. A cent was unknown in California, he declared, 5 cents being the lowest denomination of coin current there, and that amount was charged for a newspaper. Owing to the inequalities imposed upon the New York publishers that were not in force elsewhere he claimed that the cost of production ranged from 20 to 50 per cent higher than in those localities with which New York competed. He conceded that wages had advanced in many other trades, but said that they were not nearly so high as they were in the newspaper business. As to Saturday, he stated that the publishers wanted a shift that would be of use to them, and on that day they should be enabled to put men at work when they were needed. Convening on June 24th the arbitrators thoroughly discussed the questions at issue. Mr. Lynch moved that the request of the union for an increase be granted, while Mr. Driscoll Decision moved that the request of the employers for a Against decrease be denied. The chairman then decided the Union. that there be no increase, and the decision was placed in this form: " The National Board of Arbitration decides that no change shall be made in the present scale. The board also directs that no decrease shall be made in the wages now paid employees in composing rooms affected by this decision, where such employees are paid in excess of the scale." President P. H. McCormick of Typographical Union No. 6 subsequently requested the chairman to state the reasons for his decision, and on July ist Bishop Burgess responded as follows: When, at the earnest solicitation of representatives both of the Typographical Union No. 6 and of the Publishers' Association, I finally consented to be the chairman of the National Board of Arbitration, I understood my duties to be only those of a judge. I attended the hearing for two days and then gave the matter my careful consideration, endeavoring to look at it with entire impartiality. I read and re-read the able arguments made by both sides in the controversy, and finally formed my decision deliberately after three hours' consideration of the case in the private meeting of the court. It would hardly be reasonable to ask me now to enter into an argument of MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 353 the case, or to show you the course of reasoning which determined my decision. At the same time, lest I should seem to be discourteous to the union which did me the honor of entrusting its interest to my judgment, I will mention a few reasons which influenced me, distinctly stating, however, that they are not intended to be exhaustive and they may not even have been the most determinative. First - The fact was granted that in no other city east of the Mississippi is the rate of payment for similar work higher than in New York. Second - The fact was granted that about 50 per cent of the union men working in this branch of labor are paid well above the minimum scale at the present time. This higher rate is presumably paid for more skillful and intelligent men. To raise the less skilled man up to this level would be an injustice to the more talented workman, unless his rate was also increased. Third- It seems almost inevitable that this higher rate of pay demanded would work hardship to the older and less skillful men; they must largely be thrown aside and no encouragement would be given to the employer to show generosity toward old and faithful employees. Fourth - The publishers seem to show conclusively that the present arrangement of Saturday hours forms a legitimate consideration when the question of increasing the wages is to be debated. It seemed to me a matter of regret that this subject, and indeed the whole question of time schedule and other grievances, could not have been discussed in committee between the two parties, so that a question capable of compromise could have been brought before the Court of Arbitration. It did not seem fair to the side of the publishers, nor did it seem to the best interests of theunion,to decide thequestion of wages apart from theotherquestions. Fifth - The claim that the scale should be increased because of the larger products made possible by the machine seemed plausible, but the answer of the publishers was convincing, namely, that the public reaps the benefit of the machine. This is almost always the result of inventions, except where the machinery increases the danger of the men. After the inventor and the promoter have been satisfied the public, whether rightly or wrongly, claims the reward. The bank clerk, for instance, does not receive any higher salary because the adding machine has been introduced into almost every bank; it lessens the chances of mistake and probably decreases the number of clerks, but I doubt if it increases the pay. Many similar illustrations could, I think, be made by a survey of the telegraph, the railroad or the telephone industries. Sixth- The argument of the increased cost of living was certainly cogent, and yet it did not convince me that in view of other considerations the admittedly high rate of pay should be further increased. If living had become cheaper instead of more expensive during the past four years I should not necessarily, on that ground alone, have been in favor of lowering the scale. These are only a few of the reasons influencing me in my decision. They may not be the most convincing. Without more time and labor than I feel called upon to give it would be impossible for me to frame an exhaustive summary or to show to you the reasoning which brought me to my determination, after many hours spent in carefully balancing the strong and clearly put arguments presented by the representatives of the two sides. Let me add that I very gladly sacrificed my time and undertook a necessarily unpopular task because I believe that the cause of arbitration which your union has adopted has in it the true solution of labor problems, and that it therefore deserves the sympathy of the public and of public men. 12 354 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. XXVIII. Revision of Newspaper Scale in 1907. It was resolved by the union on June 3, 90o6, that a committee of one member from each chapel be appointed to revise the newspaper scale of prices. Later in the year the cornDemands mittee reported the result of its labors, and on March Made by 3, 1907, the amended schedule was adopted and the Union. ordered to go into effect on May ist. This scale called for the payment of $6 a day to members employed either in the daytime or at night on morning newspapers and $s.50 per diem to those engaged on evening newspapers. Minimum rates per day were then, respectively, $4.50 and $4. For the third shift, the seven hours' working time for which was between 2 o'clock A. M. and 10 o'clock A. M., $6.25 daily was demanded, being an advarice of 25 cents, while for members employed on evening newspapers publishing Sunday editions not less than $5.70 per day was demanded, and for Saturday night the price was fixed at $6.50. Under the bill of rates that prevailed at that period for the latter class of employment the wages were $4.33- and $5, respectively. In addition to overtime for compositors called to work at or before 5 o'clock A. M. a charge of $2 extra was ordered, and when beginning operations at or before 7 o'clock A. M. $I extra. Members called to work on Sundays or holidays between 8 o'clock A. M. and 6 o'clock P. M. on evening newspapers with Sunday issues to be paid $i per hour, but in no case to receive less than a day's compensation. Wages of extras in machine offices to be 50 cents above the regular daily scales. The minimum of competency of linotype and other machine operators was established at 22,500 ems per day of eight hours. It was further required that on all matter set for daily newspapers proof should be read and copy held by members of the union. An advance of from $I.50 to $2 per week was also proposed for machine-tenders. On April 7th the union directed its president to proceed with the scale under the revised arbitration agreement with the local association of publishers. This amended plan, which had been scheduled to become operative on May ist, differed somewhat from the previous arbitration methods in the printing industry in that it eliminated the provision regarding an umpire in both local and national boards. Objection had been urged against this additional member, or chairman of the arbitration tribunal. Repeatedly it had been pointed MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 355 out that this arbiter was usually "taken from walks of life where there was little knowledge of newspaper management and composingroom conditions that are essential to a fair adjustment of a proposed wage scale in controversy." After the presentation of the new schedule of prices to the local publishers' organization several informal conferences were held by the officials of both associations, and on April 29th a formal detailed counter-proposition for a continua- Countertion of the prevalent scale, hours, working conditions Proposition of and regulations, excepting in several specified in- Publishers. stances, was submitted by the proprietors. They asked that all work done between 6 o'clock P. M. and 6 o'clock A. M. (subject to the third shift) be classed as night work, and that labor performed between 6 A. M. and 6 P. M. (subject to the third shift) be considered day work; that the rate for night work be not less than $27 per week and for day work at least $24 weekly, eight continuous hours to constitute a working day or night. Workers employed on evening newspapers publishing Sunday editions to receive $24 per week (exclusive of Saturday night) for eight hours' continuous service daily, and on Saturday night $5 for eight consecutive hours. Overtime to be paid for at price and one-half per hour on all newspapers. The scale for third-shift men to remain at $30 per week, but their daily hours to be increased from seven to eight. Offices to have the privilege of using (without reproduction in type) plates, matrices or cuts furnished by general advertisers under contract. As an agreement could not be reached in the conciliation proceedings the disputed points were referred to a local Board of Arbitration composed of Don C. Seitz (as chairman) and S. S. Carvalho, for the Newspaper Publishers' Associa- Recourse tion, and President James J. Murphy and Sec- to Local retary-Treasurer Charles M. Maxwell (as secretary), Arbitration. for Typographical Union No. 6. Ervin Wardman represented the employers and Marsden G. Scott the union at the board's hearings, which began on June 3d. The union's demand for increased prices was based on three principal counts: (i) " That our members never have received their fair share of the profits derived from the enormous product of the typesetting machines;" (2) " that the demand is justified because of the greatly increased cost of living expenses, such as higher rentals, increased prices for all meats and provisions, and the greater cost of clothing, fuel, etc.;" (3) "that it is justified because of the fact that the newspaper scale of prices 356 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. has remained at a standstill for more than fifteen years, while other wage-earners in practically every other skilled trade have secured shorter hours and increased wages because of increased production in some instances, but in most cases because of the universally recognized fact that the cost of living has greatly increased since the adoption of the existing scale of prices for newspaper compositors." As proof of his contention Mr. Scott introduced a mass of documentary evidence. He presented a lengthy argument favorable to the union's side of the controversy. In regard to the difference between the wage scale of newspaper printers and job compositors he explained that " the newspaper proprietor enjoys privileges not open to the job proprietor, and if we are to accept the contention of the publishers that the value of the services rendered is the only thing to be considered, then we feel justified in discriminating against the newspaper, especially in favor of the jobber. Any one with a few hundred dollars can start a job office, and the swarm of garret rookeries is the best evidence of that fact. A concern investing a large capital must take into consideration the vastness of the mighty competition to which it is subjected. On the other hand, the huge amount of money required to engage in daily newspaper publication tends to limit possible competition." He discussed each counterproposition of the publishers, and gave his reasons why the changes demanded of them should not be sanctioned by the board. In conclusion he argued that the employers were well able to grant the advance asked for by the union, and quoted statements printed in a number of local newspapers detailing large increases in advertising patronage, as well as in circulation. Mr. Wardman opened the case of the publishers with the declaration that they " do not concede that the cost of living establishes the value of labor in the markets of the world. We do not believe that the members of the skilled trades are any more anxious to prove and enforce any such principle than we are, because they would shatter in that way the whole theory of the high wages that are paid to skilled labor. The fundamental and natural law that is inviolable, that establishes the value of a man's labor in the markets of the world, is the value of the services rendered. If it is not, then we have got to revise the whole scheme, and the man earning a dollar a day can claim that he is entitled to the same pay as the man who earns $5 a day, because his cost of living goes up just the same as the other man's does. In fact, it goes up relatively much higher, because it consumes a vastly larger percentage of his income." He discussed seriatim the various sections of the union's projected scale and the MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 357 publishers' counter-proposition. Relative to the proposed increase to $6 per night and that men employed in the daytime on morning papers should receive the same rate, he argued that it was " the desire of the publishers to have the compositors meet us in wiping out thi- illogical, absolutely indefensible, from the point of view of logic, provision by which a man is paid an extra compensation for doing work in the night time, because it is more difficult to work at night or less pleasurable to work at night, but that if the same man shifts in the same office where he works in the daytime, that he gets the same excess compensation. It seems to me that the thing is perfectly obvious as an injustice. The publishers are very insistent that full and due deliberation shall be given to the question of 30 minutes for lunch. We are convinced that this does not work out on the whole to the interest of the newspapers. We want to wipe out that provision of paying men for 30 minutes for -lunch." He concluded with this statement: " Mr. Scott has tried to show how we are better able now to pay these unreasonable exactions, and to meet these economic extortions than we were before. We have shown you that there is a loss in the circulation that he presented as an evidence of increased net income. We have shown you that the enormous volume of increase in the volume of advertising does not represent profit. We submit to you that the thing for this board to do is to work out some kind of a scheme by which we can all benefit." Five days were consumed by the board in hearing both sides, the final arguments being put in on June i4th. On June I7th the local arbitrators held their initial executive session. They met several times thereafter, but all efforts to Local effect a settlement proved futile. Thereupon the Tribunal national officials were apprised of the disagreement Mi Deadlock. and on July i6th a meeting of the National Board of Arbitration - Herman Ridder of New York, H. N. Kellogg of Chicago, and Bruce Haldeman of Louisville, for the publishers, and James M. Lynch, Hugo Miller and John W. Bramwood for the journeymen printers - was held in Indianapolis, Ind., to adjudicate the scale contention. After sessions extending over three days the national board rendered a decision on all but two points in dispute. By the terms of this judgment National wages were raised 66w cents per day, making the rate Arbitrators $4.662 for day work and $5.i62 for night work. It Raise Rates. was decided by the arbitrators that "men employed at day work for morning newspapers shall receive day rates, subject to the third-shift provision. Men employed at night work 358 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. for evening newspapers shall receive night rates, subject to the thirdshift provision." The rate for workers on the third shift was fixed at $5.66j per day, but their daily hours were increased from seven to eight. In all grades of newspaper work it was determined that the eight-hour day should include 30 minutes for meals. Operators, compositors, proofreaders, etc., on evening newspapers printing Sunday editions were advanced to $4.83~ per day of eight hours during the first five working days of the week and on Saturday night to $5.66- for seven hours. In all grades of newspaper work it was determined that the stipulated daily working time must include 30 minutes for meals. Rates of machine-tenders remained stationary. The board established at 24,000 ems per day of eight hours the minimum of competency for machine operators. To Messrs. Ridder, Wardman and Murphy were referred the two disputed sections of the proposed scale mentioned above. The first of these provided that " when men called to work at or before 5 A. M. $2 extra shall be charged in addition to the overtime, and when called to work at or before 7 A. M. $i extra shall be charged in addition to overtime." The decision of the special board was that $2 extra in addition to compensation for overtime should be paid to compositors called to work at or prior to 6:3o A. M., and after that time until 7 A. M. $i extra with overtime pay. On the other disputed paragraph, that " on all matter set in daily newspapers proofs shall be read and copy held by a member of the union," the special arbitrators were unable to reach an agreement, and it was recommitted to the national board, which on October Ioth handed down a decision " that the section in question shall be interpreted to mean that none but union men shall be employed as proofreaders or copyholders, but proofreaders shall not be held responsible for errors when no copyholder is furnished." XXIX. Newspaper Workers Secure Increased Wages in 1910. When Typographical Union No. 6 convened on March 7, I909, President James Tole announced that the agreement with the local branch of the American Newspaper Publishers' Local Association would expire on May ist and that it Arbitration would be necessary to appoint a Committee on Scale. Unsuccessful. This was ordered, and it was directed that in the revised schedule a clause be inserted renewing the seven-hour day on the third shift, and that the rates of the journeymen be made to conform to the increased cost of living. Early MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 359 in 191o the union adopted the new scale, which called for increases in weekly wages of $4 for morning and evening newspaper printers and of $1.50 and upward for machine-tenders in newspaper offices, with a reduction of the hours of labor from eight to seven per day for men engaged on tfiird-shift work, besides several changes in trade regulations. Futile attempts at conciliation under the arbitration plan having been made, the question was referred to a local Board of Arbitrators. The revised agreement between the publishers' association and the International Typographical Union provided that " within ten days after the questions to be arbitrated have been fully determined a local Board of Arbitration must be formed, composed of residents of the locality in which the contest arises, two members thereof to be named by each side, one such representative of each contending party to be free from personal connection with or direct interest in newspaper or local union." John Mitchell, former president of the United Mine Workers of America and at that time chairman of the Trade Agreement Department of the National Civic Federation, and President James Tole acted as arbitrators for the union, while Abraham Stein, a leather merchant, and S. S. Carvalho, of the New York American, were the publishers' representatives on the board. This industrial court held sessions on May 5th, 6th, 9th and Ioth and listened to the arguments presented for the employers by Don C. Seitz, of the New York World, and for the Typographical Union by Charles M. Maxwell, its secretarytreasurer, and Robert M. Campbell, foreman of the Brooklyn Eagle proof department. In the course of these proceedings the proprietors made a counter-demand, maintaining that offices should be permitted to operate under either of two systems - (i) to pay the then existing time scale, and in addition a bonus of io cents per I,ooo ems corrected matter on machine composition in excess of 5,ooo per hour; or (2) that machine operators be paid I5 cents per I,ooo ems corrected matter on straight composition; tabular and advertising work to be paid for on an hourly basis, computed in accordance with the weekly scale. They also demanded that eight hours should constitute a day's work, the time for meals to be at the expense of employees. This meant an increase of actual working time, as under the rule then in force the workers were entitled to one-half hour, without a corresponding deduction in pay, for luncheon or supper. The arbitrators for the union rejected these propositions. A proposal on the part of the publishers that there should be " no departments; men to be competent must be able to do any work claimed by the union," was agreed to by both parties in this amended form suggested by the union side: "No departments shall be recog 360 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. nized except by agreement between the office and the chapel." This section, recommended by the employers, was acceptable to the journeymen and was adopted: " The office is entitled to all ' pick-ups ' of any character whatsoever. Matter once paid for shall always remain the property of the office. ' Kill ' marks shall not deprive the office of ' pick-ups.' " While several provisions of the previous scale were re-enacted by the board, all proposed wage increases were objected to by the newspaper managers, and only a few new sections of the schedule in other respects received favorable consideration. In one particular the union endeavored to have this paragraph embodied in the scale: " The practice of interchanging, exchanging, borrowing, lending or buying of matter previously used, either in form of type, matrices or photo-engraved plates, between newspapers or job offices not owned by the same individual, firm or corporation, and published in the same establishment, is unlawful and shall not be allowed; provided, that the production of the original of such type, matrices or plates in type on the day of publication shall be deemed a compliance with this law." From the foregoing the arbitrators eliminated the words " photo-engraved plates," and in lieu of " on the day " they incorporated the phrase " within four days." In the section stipulating that " twelve hours must intervene between the time of quitting and starting work, but no member of the union shall be allowed to work more than twelve hours in any 24," the union's representatives succeeded in having this sentence incorporated: " Substitutes accepting work on the third shift shall not be subject to the twelve-hour limit, providing they do not work two consecutive shifts." Not being able to adjust the important questions in dispute the local arbitrators so reported to the national authorities, causing a reference of the unsettled points to the National Rates Board of Arbitration, which was composed of James Nateonaed by M. Lynch, Hugo Miller and J. W. Hays, president, Arbitrators. second vice-president and secretary-treasurer, respectively, of the International Typographical Union, and H. N. Kellogg, Charles H. Taylor, Jr., and Bruce Haldeman, of the American Newspaper Publishers' Association. Decision was rendered by the latter in Indianapolis, Ind., on June I3th, awarding, among other things, an advance of $i per week in the wages of typesetters, machine operators, proofreaders, etc., a substantial increase in the scale for machine tenders, and a reduction of one-half hour per day in the working time of third-shift employees. The board disregarded the employers' proposal for the introduction of the piece system on machine composition. MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 36I The most important demands made by the union and the decisions thereon by the National Board of Arbitration appear in the parallel columns that follow: Union's Demands i. All members of the union employed on morning newspapers, except as hereinafter provided for, shall receive not less than $35 per week. Eight continuous hours (including 30 minutes for lunch) shall constitute a night's work, the hours to be between 6 P. M. and 3 A. M., except on Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas and New Year's, when the hours shall be between 8 P. M. and 3 A. M. (Overtime per hour, double price.) 2. All members of the union employed on evening newspapers, except as hereinafter provided for, shall receive not less than $32 per week. Eight continuous hours (including 30 minutes for lunch) shall constitute a day's work, the hours to be between 8 A. M. and 6 P. M., except on Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas and New Year's, when the hours shall be between 8 A. M. and 4 P. M. (Overtime per hour, double price.) When called to work at or before 5 A. M. $2 extra shall be charged in addition to the overtime; and when called to work at or before 7:30 A. M., $i extra shall be charged in addition to the overtime. On evening newspapers publishing six days, Sunday work shall be double price. 3. Members of the union employed on evening newspapers publishing Sunday editions, except as hereinafter provided for, shall receive not less than $33.80 per week. Eight continuous hours (including 30 minutes for lunch) shall constitute a day's work, the hours to be between 8 A. M. and 6 P. M., except on Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas and New Year's, when the hours shall be between 8 A. M. and 4 National Arbitrators' Awards. I. All members of the union employed on morning newspapers, except as hereinafter provided for, shall receive not less than $32 per week. Eight continuous hours (including 30 minutes for lunch) shall constitute a night's work, the hours to be between 6 P. M. and 3 A. M. 2. All members of the union employed on evening newspapers, except as hereinafter provided for, shall receive not less than $29 per week. Eight continuous hours (including 30 minutes for lunch) shall constitute a day's work, the hours to be between 8 A. M. and 6 P. M. When called to work at or before 5 A. M. $2 extra shall be charged in addition to the overtime; and when called to work at or before 7:30 A. M. $I extra shall be charged in addition to the overtime. On evening newspapers publishing six days, Sunday work shall be double price. 3. Members of the union employed on evening newspapers publishing Sunday editions, except as hereinafter provided for, shall receive not less than $5 per day. Eight continuous hours (including 30 minutes for lunch) shall constitute a day's work, the hours to be between 8 A. M. and 6 P. M. The rate for Saturday night shall be not less than $6.o3} per night of seven continuous hours, including 30 minutes for lunch, the hours to be 362 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. P. M. (Overtime per hour, double price.) The rate for Saturday night shall be not less than $6.I31 per night of seven continuous hours, including 30 minutes for lunch, the hours to be between 6 P. M. and 3 A. M., except Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas and New Year's, when the hours shall be between 8 P. M. and 3 A. M. (Overtime per hour, double price.) Extras to receive 50 cents per day or night in addition to the above scale. When called to work on Sundays between 8 A. M. and 6 P. M. shall be paid double price; but in no case shall a member receive less than a day's pay. Overtime shall be paid for at the rate of double price. When called at or before 5 A. M. $2 extra shall be charged in addition to the overtime, and when called at or before 7:30 A. M. $I extra shall be charged in addition to the overtime. 4. The scale for a "third shift" shall be $35 per week. Seven continuous hours (including 30 minutes for lunch) shall constitute a day's work, the hours to be between 3 A. M. and 10 A. M. (Overtime per hour, double price.) 5. Newspaper offices using a third force are privileged to put on one make-up between the hours of 5 A. M. and 2 P. M. at the rate of $35 per week. 6. Overtime, which shall apply to work done before as well as after the hours specified, shall be charged at the rate of two hours, based on the regular scale for the specified hours, for every hour so employed. 7. Where an office introduces machines it shall take compositors from those already members of the chapel and instruct them. The minimum of competency shall be 24,000 ems per day or night of eight hours. between 6 P. M. and 3 A. M. Extras to receive 50 cents per day or night in addition to the above scale. When called to work on Sundays between 8 A. M. and 6 P. M. shall be paid double price; but in no case shall a member receive less than a day's pay. When called at or before 5 A. M. $2 extra shall be charged in addition to the overtime, and when called at or before 7:30 A. M. $i extra shall be charged in addition to overtime. 4. The scale for a "third shift" shall be $35 per week. Seven and one-half continuous hours (including 30 minutes for lunch) shall constitute a day's work, the hours to be between 2 A. M. and 10 A. M. 5. Newspaper offices using a third force are privileged to put on one make-up between the hours of 6 A. M. and 2 P. M. at the rate of $35 per week. 6. Overtime, which shall apply to work done before as well as after the hours specified, shall be charged at the rate of price and one-half based on the regular scale for the specified hours, for time worked computed in five-minute periods, unless otherwise arranged between the office and the chapel. Rotation in overtime to be at discretion of the office. 7. Where an office introduces machines it shall take compositors from those already members of the chapel and instruct them. MOVEMENTS FOR 8. Chapels may provide for the time to go to lunch, but the foreman cannot keep an employee more than four hours before allowing lunch, except in cases of emergency. A second lunch time shall be allowed when more than one hour overtime is required. 9. The scale for machine-tenders shall be: HIGHER WAGES. 363 8. Chapels may provide for the time to go to lunch, but the foreman cannot keep an employee more than four hours before allowing lunch, except in cases of emergency. A second lunch time shall be allowed when more than one hour overtime is required. 9. The scale for machine-tenders shall be: From I to 4 machines.......... From s to 8 machines.......... From 9 to 12 machines......... For 13 or more machines........ Per week. $25.00 26.50 29.50 31.50 From I to 4 machines.......... From 5 to 8 machines.......... From 9 to 12 machines......... For 13 or more machines;....... Per week. $25.oo 26.00 29.00 3I.00 Machine-tenders working at night shall receive $5 per week in addition to the above day scale. Io. The regular working time of a machine-tender shall be six days or nights per week of as many hours each as are the regular hours of the operators in the office employed in operating the machines. All time worked over and above these hours shall be considered as overtime, and shall be charged at the rate of two hours for every hour so employed, based on the regular machine-tenders' scale for the specified hours. Machine-tenders working at night shall receive $5 per week in addition to the above day scale. 0o. The regular working time of a machine-tender shall be six days or nights per week of as many hours each as are the regular hours of the operators in the office employed in operating the machines. All time worked over and above these hours shall be considered as overtime, and shall be charged at the rate of price and onehalf for every hour so employed, based on the regular machine-tenders' scale for the specified hours, computed in five-minute periods, unless otherwise arranged between the office and the chapel. Demands of the publishers that were acted upon by the national board are given below, with the decision in each case: Publishers' Demands. I. Situations not to be "plugged" indefinitely by subs. Men now hold places in this way while engaging in other and more profitable occupations. Except for sickness, an absence of one month should close the "situation," at the option of the office. National Board's Awards. I. Any situation holder absenting himself from work for a period of 90 days shall forthwith be notified by the foreman, through the chairman, that failing to return to work within ten days from date of such notice the situation shall be declared vacant. Returning to work for any period of time less than sixteen regular working days in any calendar month shall not release a situation holder from liability of loss of situation in accordance with this law. Provided, that this section does not apply if absence is due to illness or the performance of work for the union. 364 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. 2. Repeal section 31, which re- 2. Conceded. [Section 31 of the quires that a substitute or regular scale provided: " Any member may taking the place of a man receiving be assigned work in any position in more than the scale shall receive the the composing room other than the same pay. Extra pay is given for position for which he was engaged in extra ability, not for the job. case of emergency, and if such emergency position carries with it a higher rate of wages than the scale he must receive while filling that position the rate paid for the same. This section shall not apply to the foreman."l XXX. Advances in Wage Scale of Book and Job Printers, Adopted in 1910. Severance of relations between the International Typographical Union and the United Typothete of America in i906 prompted the formation of a new association of employing book Formation of and job printers in New York City for the express Printers' League purpose of entering into agreements with various of America. unions in the printing industry for the peaceful solution of labor troubles. This organization is The Printers' League of America, the views of which are that " in times past, before organization of any kind was in force, the employees had a particularly hard time, being compelled to work for a bare pittance, owing to the selfishness of employers, but gradually the development of the union has placed the shoe on the other foot, and in consequence there has grown up between the organizations of the employees and employer a feeling of antagonism which is inimical to the true interests of both parties. When looked upon from a business standpoint, the interests of the employee and employer are mutual, and anything adversely affecting one applies equally to the other, whether it is so willed or not. Therefore, when differences occur, the sane and just method would be to get together and come to an agreement on the matter at issue, thus avoiding a show of force by either side. The practice until recently has been to accumulate money from the earnings of both parties with the view to fighting it out, and this method has resulted in inordinate assessments on the wages of the employees, and has placed the profits of the employers in a fund from which they have received no benefit whatsoever, except that recalcitrant and unjust employers were thereby brought to a consideration of the interests of the employees. If, therefore, any other means can be found to avoid the hardship MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 365 entailed in preparing for a fight, and also in fighting one another, it must redound to the financial welfare of both parties and save much suffering in the home. The only way in which this can be accomplished is by a calm discussion of the situation by representatives of the employer and employee, with a single eye to mutual interest. * * * Consultation, conciliation and arbitration, by means of trade courts or other plans in which each shall have an equal voice in the settlement of all difficulties, is the way suggested to overcome the present uncivilized methods." Primarily the object of the League, according to its by-laws, adopted in February, I9o7, " is to abolish in the printing and allied trades the system of making individual labor contracts and to introduce the more equitable system of forming collective labor contracts; * * * to establish, in conjunction with the representatives of the employees' unions, the necessary organisms for collective negotiations; * * * to prevent by mutual consultation and conciliation all strikes or strife between employer and employee, * * * and finally to do whatsoever is possible to establish local and national common trade courts for the adjustment of points in dispute under existing collective contracts." Typographical Union No. 6 at the start was favorably impressed with the aims of the newly-organized association of master printers, as indicated by the minutes of the union's meeting of June 2, I907, when it was thus recorded: Pres- Unon Accepts Arbitration Plan ident Francis of the Printers' League was introduced, of Printers' and after a cordial reception delivered an address League. on the objects of the League. He was followed by Messrs. Oswald Maune and B. P. Willett, who were listened to with close attention." Conferences were subsequently held by committees of the two organizations, and finally, on March i, 90o8, an agreement with the League was ratified by the union, among other things it being stipulated " that the laws, regulations and decisions of the International Typographical Union and Typographical Union No. 6 governing the employment of members and working conditions at present in force shall be part of this agreement." It was also provided that the union's wage scale should be paid by all members of the League. By the compact the union agreed to protect the employers against walkouts, strikes, boycotts or any form of concerted interferences, and both parties pledged themselves " to arbitrate all differences affecting wages, hours and working conditions that may arise under this contract," the life of which extended to October i, I9IO, when it was renewed. 366 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Shortly after the newspaper printers obtained their increase through arbitration proceedings in 1910 Typographical Union No. 6 created a committee to revise the list of prices Gradual for book and job workers. An elaborate report, Advances recommending an increase in wages and changes in in Wages. trade rules, was presented to the union by the committee in July. At sessions covering a period of two months the subject was quite thoroughly debated by the members, and on September i ith the committee's revision of the scale was adopted. It provided for a total increase of $3 a week and 6 cents per I,ooo ems, the advances to be gradual, the first raise taking place on October o1, I9IO, the second and third to go into effect October I, I9II, and I9I2, respectively. The principal changes are noted in this table: NEW SCALE IN EFFECTOld Oct. I0, Oct. I, Oct. I, CLASS OF WORK. scale. 1910. 19II. I912. Book and job compositors, time hands, per week... $21.oo $22.00 $23.00 $24.00 Machine operators, per week..................... 23.00 24.00 25.00 26.00 Book compositors (on productions in English), piecework, per I,ooo ems: Leaded reprint............................. 0.44. 48. 50....... Solid reprint and leaded manuscript........... o.47 o. 5 0.53....... Solid manuscript........................... o.50 0.54 o.56....... Law cases, leaded............................ 44. 46.............. Law cases, solid............................ 0.47. 49.............. In arranging the new prices for machine-tenders, which scale became operative on October o1, 191o, the union, as it previously had done in the newspaper schedule, placed itself on record against any restriction of output by combining the first two grades of work, as will be noted by comparing, in the parallel statements below, the previous and existing figures relating to the number of machines to be cared for by these mechanicians: Old Scale. New Scale. Per week. Per week For I or 2 machines............ $2I.oo For I to 4 machines............ $25.00 For 3 or 4 machines............ 23.oo For 5 to 8 machines............ 26.50 For 5 to 8 machines............ 26.50 For 9 to 12 machines........... 29.50 For 9 to 12 machines........... 29.50 For 13 or more machines........ 3.o50 For I3 or more machines........ 31.50 The union approved the recommendation of the Scale Committee "that overtime be double price, with the exceptions you will find noted. It is our expectation that if these provisions are adopted it will result in the practical abolition of overtime and the establish MOVEMENTS FOR HIGHER WAGES. 367 ment of night forces, thus destroying a gross inequality of earnings that has heretofore existed and providing employment for many men now idle. The scale for night forces is left unchanged as a further inducement for employers to distribute the work in two shifts rather than to work the day shift fourteen or fifteen hours a day." President Tole, with a committee of eight members, immediately succeeding the adoption of the amended scale of prices, opened negotiations with the New York Branch of the Printers' League of America, the conferences resulting in the renewal of the written agreement between the two organizations and the acceptance of the new wage schedule and trade regulations by the associated proprietors. Numerous other concerns also subscribed to the demands of the journeymen, and in the aggregate 269 establishments complied with the terms of the union, more than 4,000 members of which received the initial increase in wages on October IO, i9io, and the same number shared in the second advance a year later. CHAPTER XVIII. MOVEMENTS FOR SHORTENING HOURS OF LABOR. U NDER its first scale, which was put into force in I85I, Typographical Union No. 6 required that on morning newspapers twelve hours should constitute a day's work for all printers engaged by the week as stone hands, proofreaders, etc., and nine hours for those employed on time at typesetting. The wages of these two classes of workers, however, differed, the former receiving $3 per week more than the latter. Ten hours were recognized as a day's labor on evening, weekly, semi-weekly and tri-weekly newspapers and also in book and job offices. In I864 the working time of men employed by the week on morning papers was reduced one hour per day. The Workingmen's Union of New York (the central association of the organized mechanics) in the summer of that year began an agitation for the eight-hour day, and at a meeting of that body on August 5th Francis Freckelton, the delegate of the printers, stated that as his union had just reduced the hours of night workers engaged by the week to eleven daily, it could not at that period consistently take part in the eight-hour movement. But in 1867 the union felt that the time had arrived when it could with propriety join with other labor forces in the endeavor to secure the general adoption of the eight-hour working day. Theodore S. Conklin, one of its representatives at the Memphis (Tenn.) convention of the National Typographical Union in June, that year, offered a resolution, which was unanimously adopted, that " the workingmen of this country are at present agitating for the reduction of the hours of labor to eight per day, and have succeeded in having laws passed in four of the States; that this body sympathizes with the movement, and will use every honorable means within its power to give the eight-hour system a fair trial, and it requests the subordinate unions in those States where the law has already passed to aid and assist other associations of workingmen in putting the law into practical operation." 1368] MOVEMENTS FOR SHORTENING HOURS OF LABOR. 369 I. Eight-Hour Demonstration in 1871. A large demonstration of workingmen was made in New York City on September I3, I871, for the purpose of forwarding the eight-hour cause, and the Typographical Union was well represented in that parade, the principal banner in which explained its object in these terse clauses: "Eight hours for labor, eight hours for recreation and cultivation of mind, eight hours for rest and food." The Herald of September i4th graphically described the event. " There is but one opinion about the trades unions' display of yesterday," it said. " It was the most respectable and significant demonstration that New York has witnessed since the close of the War for the Union. Carefully planned, and carried out with the same wonderful executive skill that so strikingly distinguishes these associations as well here as in Europe, it was an immense and imposing success, in spite of the cheerless influence of a darkened sky and a drizzling rain. Perhaps, indeed, fair weather would have added but little to the meaning of a parade which, like this, depended for its meaning more upon the numbers of its participants and the preservation of good order in its ranks than upon gaudy flags and richly embroidered regalia. As might naturally be expected from men who had cheerfully sacrificed a day's pay to show the earnestness of their demand for justice, the members of the various societies mustered at their several headquarters in good season. It was an instructive glimpse into the character of American workmen to watch this 'gathering of the clans,' and to note how quietly and in what perfect order the various organizations formed in line so soon as there was a quorum sufficient to constitute a respectable nucleus; and then how patiently they waited in the rain until the word was given for the start." It was estimated that 25,000 members of organized labor were in line. II. Movement for Eight-Hour Day in 1872. Among many trades in the Metropolis, particularly in the building industry, there was a general strike in 1872 for the eight-hour working day, and while the union of printers did not participate in that movement it nevertheless extended its sympathy to those who were engaged in it. A poll of the various offices was taken by a com 370 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. mittee of the union to ascertain the feeling of the members in regard to the subject. A report was submitted on June 4th showing that nearly all the chapels were in favor of eight hours for a day's work, but some of them considered it injudicious to then make the demand, yet a resolve was passed " that it is the sense of this meeting that eight hours should constitute a day's work and that 20 per cent should be added to the piece prices." The matter went to a committee of seven to confer with employers and to present a scale of prices in accordance with the expression of the meeting. It was also decided to co-operate with the pressmen, stereotypers and German printers. Conferences were held with the employing book and job printers, who on July 8th unanimously preambled that " the request of the journeymen printers for a reduction of the hours of labor, or an advance in the present rate of wages, has received our careful consideration, the result of which is embodied in a full and able report on the state of trade, prepared by our secretary, Theodore L. DeVinne, and which we are satisfied will convince every intelligent journeyman that any advance in prices at the present time would be alike injurious to Capital and Labor;" so they resolved " that as the present depressed condition of the trade will not justify any reduction in the hours of labor or advance in wages we cannot accede to the request of the journeymen." Statistics as to employment, wages, etc., covering a period of three years were ordered by the union to be gathered, and chairmen of the various offices were instructed to obtain definitely the views of the members concerning a reduction of labor hours. Pursuance of the matter by the printers soon afterward ceased, and the working time remained unchanged. But in quite a number of other trades the eight-hour rule prevailed for awhile. In fine, only the stone cutters succeeded in retaining it, although the Federal Government and the State of New York had already recognized the eight-hour principle through legislative enactments. III. Discussion of the Question in the Eighties. Pieceworkers on newspapers continued to labor excessive hours 30 years after the foundation of the Typographical Union. So noticeable was this fact and so great was the abuse that the International Typographical Union in June, i88I, took up the question and gave it serious thought. "It is customary in a large number of morning newspaper offices to compel employees to work twelve, fifteen and eighteen hours per day," said the International in its MOVEMENTS FOR SHORTENING HOURS OF LABOR. 37 I notification to the New York organization and other subordinate unions as to its attitude, " and such excessive labor is detrimental to the best interests of the craft, physically, morally and socially, in that it is conducive to dissipation and irregular habits. If the hours of labor were reduced within reasonable limits it would result not only in giving regular employment to a large number of printers now necessarily idle, but would in a great measure tend to check professional tramping, which practice is decidedly injuring the good name- of our profession. In order to secure a reasonable number of hours for the greatest number of printers this International body earnestly urges subordinate unions to secure, whenever practicable, a maximum of ten hours per day on morning as well as evening newspapers." The New York union again resumed discussion of the question in I885, on May 3d instructing its delegates to the International to use their best efforts for the enactment of laws favorable to the general establishment of the eight-hour system. Continuing its agitation, the union, through its Board of Delegates, on March 7, i886, took further steps to promote the cause of shortening the day of labor to eight hours, giving this expression in its favor: " It is the general opinion among the members of labor unions in the United States that an effort will be made to enforce the eight-hour day on May i, i886. Trade unions in all principal cities in the United States have expressed their willingness and determination to take upon themselves the burden of their share in the effort to shorten the hours of labor and in enforcing the law in regard to it; that we place ourselves upon record as in favor of this great movement, and that the chairman appoint a committee of seven members to confer with other organizations in order to further the object of this preamble and resolution." On April 4th German Typographia No. 7 informed the English-speaking compositors' organization that it had resolved to demand the eight-hour day on May ist and asked for its co-operation, and on April I7th it was resolved that " No. 6 men employed in German offices on strike for eight hours are ordered to come out in support of No. 7." IV. Machines Decrease Working Time on Daily Newspapers. Morning newspaper printers benefited more from the general introduction of composing devices in the way of -shorter working time than employees in the other branches of the printing industry. 372 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Pieceworkers at night had been accustomed for many years to work exceedingly long hours. They had to devote several hours each afternoon in the distribution of type in their cases. Finishing this work they spent the brief time before the beginning of composition, which was usually at 7 o'clock P. M., in getting such recreation as was possible, and it was often near dawn of the succeeding day before they reached their homes. Between the hours of actual labor and the time consumed in traveling back and forth from residence to office these compositors were practically engaged sixteen hours out of the 24 daily. The machine changed this condition. Time work displaced the piece system. Hours at first were fixed at eight per day, with no work in the afternoon. In 1905 a lunch recess of 20 minutes was included in the eight hours. Later this was extended to a half hour, making the exact time of labor seven and one-half hours, and the rule was also applied to evening newspapers. Efforts were made in 1893 to reduce the working day to seven hours on morning papers, and the Board of Delegates on December 3d of that twelvemonth received from the secretary a report that the membership had declared for the proposition, which received 1,481 votes, to 576 against it. It was then ordered that the plan go into effect on April 15, I894. But it was not put in force on that date, the union having ordered on April 8th that it become effective on October I th, in which month its enforcement was deferred until June 3, I895. It was not, however, put into operation on that date. The question was again discussed on November I, I896, when President Donnelly explained to the union that the officers and Executive Committee had found such an unfavorable condition of affairs that it had been deemed unwise to enforce the law until the matter could be laid before the organization for further instructions. This action was endorsed, and there the matter rested. V. Book and Job Printers Move for the Nine-Hour Day. While the membership of Typographical Union No. 6 was outspoken in its adherence to the eight-hour principle it evidently foresaw that it would be a fruitless task to demand it for book and job compositors. This was made plain on May 2, i886, by the passage of a resolve " that the New York delegates to the International Union be instructed to ask that body to recommend an equalization of the hours of a day's work in all towns and cities under its jurisdiction with a view to the early adoption of the nine-hour day MOVEMENTS FOR SHORTENING HOURS OF LABOR. 373 throughout the trade." A referendum vote was taken on the subject, and at the general meeting of the union on April 3, 1887, it was announced that a majority of members in the chapels had recorded themselves in favor of the nine-hour day- I,476 declaring for it, while 544 opposed the proposition. An adjourned regular meeting shortly afterward fixed 55 hours " as the limit of a week's work in all offices except morning, evening and Sunday newspapers." Then on April 28th the Executive Committee recommended "that the enforcement of the 5s-hour law be laid over until the first week in October, and in the meantime the proprietors of the different book and job offices be interviewed for the purpose of finding out how they stand in the matter, the result of said interview to be reported to the union." The question of 55 hours as a week's working time was submitted to a general vote, the result of which was reported on May ist, there being 1,183 ayes, to 508 nays. Before the formulation of the machine scale of 1891, under which the newspaper printers had their labor hours reduced to eight per day and machine operators on bookwork to nine daily, the union, on November 2, 1890, approved a recommendation of the Executive Committee to amend the book and job schedule so " as to make 53 hours a week's work instead of 59." Book and job compositors believed that the better course would be to seek to attain the eight-hour day gradually, and thus avoid a possible conflict that would entail heavy loss and might have a disastrous ending, so they proceeded along that line of effort for nearly a decade before the employers took cognizance of their demand to abbreviate the working day. From year to year the discussion went on, until in October, 1896, the International Typographical Union, in convention in Colorado Springs, Col., decided to submit this proposition to subordinate unions, with the stipulation that if the legislation were passed by a majority vote of the referendum, a special committee of five should be appointed for its enforcement: That the maximum hours of labor in book and job offices under the jurisdiction of the International Typographical Union be fixed at nine per day, or 54 per week. That subordinate unions be requested to levy an assessment, which shall be under such union's entire charge, for the purpose of local disbursement only. That the co-operation of the different affiliated organizations be requested, with the intention of securing the same hours of labor for the pressmen, stereotypers, mailers, bookbinders and photo-engravers. The proposition was carried by a vote of 8,332 in favor, to 2,364 against, and former President James J. Murphy of the New York 374 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. union was chosen chairman of the committee of five, the other members being C. E. Hawkes, David Hastings, R. B. Prendergast and G. H. Russell. But in the meanwhile Typographical Union No. 6 decided, through its president, Samuel B. Donnelly, and a committee, to enter into negotiations with the local branch of the TypothDaily Hours etae, the proceedings terminating in an agreement, Reduced to Nine signed on December 5, 1897, by Joseph J. Little, and One-Half. chairman of the employers' committee, and Mr. Donnelly for the union, by which compact nine and one-half hours, with nine on Saturday, should constitute a day's work from January I, 1898, until such time as the International might fix upon the general adoption of the nine-hour system. The agreement, which was ratified by the union on December i9th, was as follows: That on and after January I, 1898, New York Typotheta will concede and pay $18 per week of 56 hours (nine and one-half hours per day and nine on Saturday), until the date on which the International Typographical Union announces that the nine-hour day will go into effect in the competitive district (meaning east of the Alleghenies and north of Richmond). The New York Typothetae will on that day concede the nine-hour day, 54 hours per week, at $18, and adhere to the same, allotting a reasonable time to enforce that rule in at least 75 per cent of the outside offices affected. The present arrangement of the machine scale not to be changed during the year I898. Three days prior to the signing of the foregoing this open letter addressed by Henry Cherouny, an employing printer, to E. P. Coby, secretary of the Typothete, and dated December o1, 1897, was read at a meeting of the union and spread upon its minutes: A resolution of the employing printers was published in to-day's papers which asserts " that it would be disastrous to both employers and employees to reduce the hours of labor." As none of the employing printers' association have ever tried the nine-hour day the above statement is, to say the least, nothing more than an opinion, without experience to rest on; and, therefore, my opinion, which is based on facts, may have some value with the contending parties and the public at large. Up to three years ago we worked on the ten-hour system. Being engaged in the study of certain economic works, I made a special study of the ebb and flood of energy in a given number of men, and I noticed a regular decline of each man's work after 3 o'clock each day. The lack of energy grew as the days of the week passed on. The quantity of each Saturday's work was far less than that of each Monday and Tuesday. I took some of my best and most trusted compositors to account. Their answer was simply: " We are getting tired out. Make a shorter day and you will have no cause to complain." Then we introduced for the machines the MOVEMENTS FOR SHORTENING HOURS OF LABOR. 375 eight-hour day, and for the job and press rooms the nine-hour system. The result was satisfactory - nay, it was surprising. The record books show a considerable increase in the product of each man. Indeed, I daresay that if the reduction of the hours of labor means disaster, the Cherouny Company and its crew prosper in disaster. They set 300,0oo00 ems per day on our nineteen regular weekly, semi-monthly and monthly publications - a sufficient quantity of work to experiment with in order to arrive in disaster. Instead of spending $5o,ooo in warring for a hypothesis, let the Typothetm appoint a committee of observation. I will show them my records of work, to be compared with those of any ten-hour office in the city. The action taken in New York had a salutary effect upon the national situation. It showed that the associations of employers and employed could meet upon common ground and reach a satisfactory conclusion with regard to work- National Agreement for ing hours. Influenced by the course pursued in the Shorter the Metropolis the United Typotheta of America Working Day. in its convention in Milwaukee, Wis., on August 25, I898, appointed a committee of five, to whom was referred "the question as to what measure, if any, can be adopted by the employing printers which will make a shorter working day practicable without entailing undue loss upon the employers, and that this committee be authorized to confer with the representatives of the International Printing Pressmen and Assistants' Union, the International Typographical Union, and such other similar organizations as they may deem proper." The adoption of this resolution brought about a conference, which began in Syracuse on October Io, i898, between the representatives of the Typothetae, the International Typographical Union, International Printing Pressmen and Assistants' Union, and the International Brotherhood of Bookbinders. The assemblage was opened by Joseph J. Little, of New York, who on behalf of the employers spoke words of encouragement to the union delegates. "Gentlemen, we are assembled here at the request of delegates of the International Typographical and Pressmen's Unions representing the different parts of America," said he; "we are meeting you to discuss the question of shorter hours which was laid before our convention. On our part I would like to say - I believe I speak for the whole committee- that we meet for the purpose of trying to determine some way to shorten the hours of labor, if possible, without a strike. We meet in the interest of the trade at large, no particular class or individual, and hope that you will meet us in the same broad spirit and discuss the matter in the light of past experience, and what we may hope to accomplish in the future without disturbance of our relations." The joint conference con 376 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. tinued in session until October 12th, on which date a compromise agreement was effected - nine and one-half hours to constitute a day's work from November 21, 1898, to November 21, I899, when the Typotheta contracted to inaugurate the nine-hour system. The representatives of the three international trade Nine-Hour Law unions pledged the latter to " endeavor in the meanSuccessfully while to equalize the scale of wages in the comInstituted. petitive districts where at present there are serious inequalities." Upon the conclusion of the work in hand " mutual congratulations were indulged," to quote from the proceedings, " and the hope expressed that a new era had been inaugurated for the settlement of differences between the allied printing trades and the employers." So far as New York was concerned President Delaney on December 3, 1899, informed the union that the nine-hour law had been successfully instituted without any trouble. VI. Eight-Hour System in Book and Job Offices. The nine-hour system had been in successful operation throughout the country for nearly three years when at the forty-eighth session of the International Typographical Union, held in International Cincinnati, O., in August, 1902, the Executive for the Eeht- Council and the first vice-president were directed for the EightHour Day. to act as a committee to devise and put into effect plans for the establishment of an eight-hour day at as early a date as practicable. Local unions were required to act in conjunction with that committee in furthering its plans, and they were enjoined from making contracts extending beyond October I, I905, which obliged their members to work more than eight hours per day. The committee was instructed to bring the matter before the United Typothetae of America to the end that the eight-hour day might be put into operation without friction. President Lynch had already addressed the convention on the subject of the eighthour day. " Various methods have been suggested whereby the eight-hour day can be generally put into effect in book and job rooms," he observed, " and all of these have merit. One of these suggestions, which particularly appeals to our members as feasible and also just to the employers, is that the working time shall be reduced fifteen minutes each year for four years, or until the eighthour day is an accomplished fact." At the I903 convention, held MOVEMENTS FOR SHORTENING HOURS OF LABOR. 377 in Washington, D. C., the International instructed the committee to notify subordinate unions that had not already obtained the eight-hour day, or made contracts binding them to its provisional institution, to make an effort on January i, I905, " to obtain the eight-hour day according to plans deemed most expedient by such local unions in their several localities." Then in St. Louis in I904 the International resolved " that on January i, I906, the eight-hour day shall become effective in all union establishments." Later this action was approved by a majority of I4,085 in the referendum. On June 23, I904, while in session in St. Louis the United Typothetae was apprised by the union of the above action, and the employers' association declared its opposition to any reduction of the 54-hour week, determining to "resist any Opposition of attempt on the part of the International Typo- Thothetr to Shorter graphical Union to reduce the present hours of Working-Day. labor." The International's Eight-Hour Committee held a conference with a committee representing the United Typothete on August 14, I905, and the latter suggested that the union committee recommend to the International " that it vote in favor of a reconsideration of the referendum vote taken last fall on the eight-hour day, and authorize a new referendum vote to be taken with the object of rescinding the resolution to make the eight-hour day effective January i, 90o6; or if the convention is unwilling to vote affirmatively on the above, that the convention shall empower the Executive Council to call for such referendum vote if at any time between now and January i, I9o6, the Executive Council shall consider it advisable." That ended negotiations with the Typothetae, but the International continued its agitation for the eight-hour rule, in which it was ultimately successful in a large degree. In New York City the movement to establish the eight-hour day for book and job compositors was formally opened on November 5, I905, when Typographical Union No. 6, in answer to a communication from the local Typothetae, New York Union relative to a renewal on the first of January, I906, Active in the of the agreement between the two associations, Movement. passed a resolve declining to " renew the present agreement in its entirety for a term of three years," and directed its officers to present the following at the joint conference of November gth: " That on and after January i, I9o6, eight hours (at the present scale of prices) shall constitute a day's work in all book and job composing rooms in the jurisdiction of Typographical Union No. 6 and the Typothetse of the City of New York." At that meeting 378 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. the representatives of the associated employers refused to accede to the union's terms, which action brought to a close the pacific relations that since 1901 had existed between the master printers and their journeymen. Endeavors were then made by the union's officials to obtain agreements from individual concerns to concede the eighthour day at the commencement of the new year. Early in November among other establishments visited was the Butterick Publishing Company, Limited, which was not enrolled with the Typothetae. That concern, it was reported by the officers of the journeymen's organization, made a proposition to sign an agreement for one, two or three years at the rate of $2I a week, which was an advance of $I.50, and nine hours per day. This was not satisfactory to the union, which insisted upon the eight-hour day, and on November 24th, when several non-union compositors were placed at work by the company, 95 members of the union and eleven unorganized composing-room employees ceased operations, the union considering that the men virtually had been locked out, while the company, on the other hand, claimed that they had struck. Union workmen in other departments of the establishment soon afterward stopped work in sympathy with the compositors. The positions of those who had quit work were filled by non-unionists. Immediately prior to the opening of the year I906 the officials of the typographers' organization obtained agreements from 226 employers in the book and job branch of the industry Independent to comply with the new regulation, and the 2,356 Concerns Grant union printers (2,322 men, 34 women) employed by the Demand. them were thus assured that their weekly hours of labor thereafter would be 48 instead of 54 without any curtailment of wages. Many large and influential firms and companies that conceded the shorter working day had been for a number of years connected with the Typotheta, which resolved to resist the demand of the union. It advertised extensively for non-union help, and equipped headquarters in West Tenth street, with a commissary department and sleeping accommodations for a force of freemen, as it termed them, that it had collected in different parts of the United States. Then on December 30, I905, the remaining members of the Typothetae posted in their composing rooms a card asserting that the refusal of the union to renew the contract that was about to expire compelled them to make open shops of their establishments; that from January 2, I906, the working hours would be 54 per week, as theretofore, without any change in wage rates, and announced that they would be very glad to keep any of MOVEMENTS FOR SHORTENING HOURS OF LABOR. 379 the force who remained in their employ under the above conditions. By the union this notification was viewed in the light of a lockout order, and on January 2d, 1,163 of its members (I,096 men, 67 women) became involved in a long struggle for time in 62 workshops. In addition to these union employees 244 unorganized composing-room workers- apprentices, pro- Typothete bationers, copyholders, etc.- walked out in sym- Shops Lost pathy with the union compositors. Ere long o19 to the Union. electrotypers, 39 stereotypers and 65 of their apprentices and helpers in 20 foundries also engaged in a sympathetic movement to assist the printers. Before fall eighteen offices that had engaged in the dispute conceded the eight-hour day, and 400 compositors, of whom 20 were women, besides 93 unorganized employees, as well as 37 foundry workers, were benefited by these settlements. For several years the conflict was unremittingly waged. Other offices, including that of the Butterick Company, finally yielded to the union, and even the Typothetae itself eventually granted the eight-hour day to its unorganized journeymen. During the two years that the controversy was actively carried on the New York union of printers expended $762,485 in strike benefits. At the instance of the Typothetae of the City of New York, Justice James A. Blanchard, of the Supreme Court, issued a temporary injunction, on March 2, I906, at the height of the eight-hour dispute, restraining Typographical An Injunction, Union No. 6, its officers and members and their oltedpt b agents, servants and associates, " (i) from inducing Proceedings. or coercing, or attempting to induce or coerce, by any species of intimidation, threats, force or fraud, any employee of the plaintiff or any of its members to quit the employment of the plaintiff or any of its members; (2) from preventing, or attempting to prevent, by any species of intimidation, threats, force or fraud, any person from entering the employ of the plaintiff or any of its members; (3) from any and all acts of intimidation, threats, force or fraud toward any employee of the plaintiff or any of its members; (4) from any and all unlawful interference with the property, property rights or business of the plaintiff or any of its members." Supreme Court Justice Samuel Greenbaum continued the enjoining order without modification on April 6th. On the twenty-sixth of April the Typothetae applied to the Supreme Court for an order adjudging President P. H. McCormick, Organizers G. W. Jackson and Vincent Costello, as executive officers of No. 6, W. J. S. Anderson, Thomas Bennett and eleven other 380 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. members thereof, in contempt of court for a wilful violation of the provisions of the injunction. It was charged that acts of intimidation and violence had been committed by union pickets, among their number being Anderson and Bennett; that the officers of the union through acts of omission in not more widely promulgating the restraining order were responsible for the offenses and were therefore guilty of contempt. Justice Joseph E. Newberger directed the defendants to show cause, on May 3d, why they should not be punished for criminal contempt, and Adam Wiener was thereafter appointed to take testimony of the facts alleged in the moving papers and answering affidavits and to report to the court as to whether the defendants were guilty of criminal contempt. The referee filed his report on November 27, I907, giving his opinion that the five defendants above named out of the sixteen against whom complaints were lodged were guilty as charged. Several pickets had testified that they did not know anything about the issuance of the injunction. In his testimony President McCormick stated that at a general meeting of the union on March 4th, two days after the granting of the preliminary injunction, he addressed the i,ooo members present, reading to them the entire text of the court's order and " warned them that they must strictly comply with its provisions; that the order must be obeyed to the letter, and that he as president would insist that no act of violence or intimidation be committed by any members of the union;" that on March 5th he called a special meeting of all the men who were on strike, and repeated to the 6oo members present thereat the statements that he had made to the general meeting on the previous day; that on March 6th " a meeting of the Executive Committee was called, which committee embraced all the officers of the union, together with sixteen members comprising the said Executive Committee, at which meeting there was a full attendance;" that he read to that meeting the injunction order, repeated the instructions and directions that he had previously given, and " directed that said Executive Committee, as far as was in their power, should notify all members of the union with whom they came in contact that said orders should be literally obeyed." The president declared that he himself had not only shown respect for law and order and the mandates of the court, but he had in every way that lay in his power endeavored to enforce the. same obedience from all officers and members of the union, and that he and the other officers had done everything in their power to prevent the slightest disobedience to said mandates, which he held in the highest and most reverent regard. Organizers Jackson and Costello swore MOVEMENTS FOR SHORTENING HOURS OF LABOR. 38i that they had at no time, wilfully or otherwise, disregarded the injunction order; that they themselves had not only complied with its requirements, but had at all times counseled, advised and commanded members of the union with whom they had come in contact that its provisions be obeyed. Defendant Anderson stated that a copy of the injunction had been served on him; that while picketing he had pursued peaceable means to induce non-union men to join the union, and that at no time was there any interference or opposition offered on his part to such non-members. Defendant Bennett testified that he had approached a former member of the union who had obtained employment in a struck shop and endeavored to persuade him to pay his back dues and be reinstated in the organization; that he had conversed with the man in a friendly manner, denying that he used violent, threatening or abusive language, although admitting that he was earnest in what he said, " and from the nature of the conversation upon the public street, and both parties walking rapidly, the same was necessarily animated." Testimony was, however, adduced to the effect that he had called the ex-member a " rat" and " scab " upon the public streets, at the same time pushing him and refusing to go away when asked. The defendant stated that he had been arrested, charged with disorderly conduct, but the Magistrate before whom the case was tried discharged him. Justice Henry Bischoff on March 2, I908, confirmed the report of the referee, and ordered, adjudged and decreed that President McCormick and Organizers Jackson and Costello were guilty of contempt because each had failed " to obey the said injunction order in that he did not, in good faith, endeavor to apprise the members of the said defendant union, among whom are the persons above stated to have committed such assaults and acts of intimidation, of the contents of the said injunction order to the end that acts of violence and intimidation, directed against persons employed by members of the plaintiff corporation, should not be committed by members of the defendant union as in said injunction order directed." The court then sentenced each of the three defendants to " be imprisoned for a period of 20 days in close custody in the common jail of the County of New York, and that he be, and he is hereby fined the sum of $250." Messrs. Anderson and Bennett were declared guilty of violating the injunction in that they had committed acts of intimidation and addressed threatening and abusive language to non-members of the union while acting as pickets. Each was fined $ioo. The proceedings against the other eleven members of the union were dismissed. 382 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. An appeal from the foregoing judgment was taken by the defendants to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, First Department, and the order of Justice Bischoff adjudging contempt was affirmed; Justice Frank C. Laughlin dissenting on the ground that the officers of the union were declared guilty of contempt because they failed to notify some of the 7,000 members of the organization of the issuance of the injunction order; that such an adjudication should not stand because the court that granted the injunction did not expressly direct that such a notification be given, and that therefore the essential element of wilfulness was lacking. The Court of Appeals, to which the case was taken for final adjudication, subsequently sustained the decision of the lower court, Justice Willard Bartlett, however, non-concurring and sustaining the contention of Justice Laughlin of the Appellate Division. During the pendency of the matter on appeal Mr. Jackson died. Messrs. McCormick and Costello appeared before Justice Bischoff on December 28, i909, and moved for a suspension of the jail sentences imposed as part of the penalties against them. In their petition they said: Your petitioners respectfully aver that at the time of the granting of the injunction herein, and for a long time thereafter, a disagreement between the union printers and the firms composing the plaintiff herein was existing. During all of this time your petitioners as officers did everything in their power to see that the injunction was in every respect obeyed, and believed that their actions were in every respect lawful. At no time did they wilfully intend to violate any of the provisions of the injunction herein, but this court having found them guilty of acts which have brought them into contempt of this court, they now come before this court and ask leave to purge themselves of the contempt of which they have been found guilty, and they do now offer their sincere apology and regrets for the acts because which the judgment herein has been found necessary. As citizens of this community, they desire that law and order be in every respect maintained, and they regret that any action which they have taken has been held to be subversive of those principles which they will ever try in the future to sustain. The attention of the court is respectfully called to the fact that one of the learned Justices of the Appellate Division and one of the learned Justices of the Court of Appeals each dissented from the opinion of their respective tribunal and believed that the acts of your petitioners were not contemptuous. If these Judges, learned in the law, wereof this opinion, surelyyour petitionershould not be severely punished for what has proven to be a serious mistake in judgment on their part. Your petitioners therefore pray, in view of all the facts and circumstances, that this court suspend the sentence of 20 days in jail for each petitioner as heretofore imposed; their lives having been heretofore without stain or reproach, they having been honored by election to office by members of Typographical Union No. 6 of the City of New York; they and their families having been able to maintain a happy and honorable position in this city, and they submit that at this time in their lives it would be a great hardship to place upon them the MOVEMENTS FOR SHORTENING HOURS OF LABOR. 383 stigma of a term in prison. They fully realize the seriousness of the charge which was made and has been sustained against them, and they fully appreciate that the dignity of this court and respect for its mandates must be fully sustained. The motion of the petitioners was granted, and in the opinion modifying the sentence the court remarked: The respondents before me have been adjudged guilty of a criminal contempt of court in violating an injunction order heretofore granted. As officers of the defendant Typographical Union No. 6 they so acted as to further the commission of acts of violence and intimidation upon the part of members of the union during the course of a labor dispute, which acts it was the duty of these officers to endeavor to prevent, according to the court's mandate. After successive appeals to the Appellate Division and Court of Appeals, resulting in affirmance in each instance, this court is now asked to direct the execution of its sentence, fine and imprisonment, and the survivors of the respondents directed to be imprisoned have petitioned the court for clemency in that respect. After mature deliberation I have concluded that upon payment of the fines imposed, within ten days, the issuance of process for the imprisonment of the petitioning respond. ents should be stayed. * * * I am not perturbed by any question of the wisdom of my direction for the stay of the respondent's imprisonment. I made the order adjudging them guilty of contempt and imposing the punishment, but I am now impressed with the sincerity of the respondents' apologies to the court, of their assurances of regret for the unlawful occurrences and their participation therein, and of their promises in the future to defer to and to obey the court's directions, and by their example to persuade others to conduct themselves in every respect as the peace and good order of the community requires. I have not been unmindful of an impression prevalent among many persons that injunctions of the class to which the one violated by the respondents belonged constituted an unjust interference with the supposed rights of those enjoined, because of which the latter are sometimes persuaded to determine those rights for themselves, and are impatient of or unwilling to await the arbitrament of the courts, a course tending toward the destruction of social order, which the law is designed to maintain. I am willing to assume that the respondents had fallen into the error of that impression, and if they have now been cured of it, and have come to a realization of what good citizenship and a due regard for the rights of others demands of them in that respect, the court's dignity is not lessened if it overlooks and forgives their past offense and spares them the humiliation of confinement in jail. I believe that the court should be content with the respondents' apology and promises, and I feel assured that clemency, under the circumstances, is better in keeping with the court's dignity than would be the ruthless and inexorable enforcement of the respondents' disgrace. Aside from the contempt of which the respondents were adjudged guilty, they have steadily behaved as good and useful members of the community, having supported themselves and those dependent upon them by honest toil, risen to places of dignity and honor among their fellow-craftsmen, and contributing, so far as their station would permit, to the common weal. In view of their present attitude of respect for the court, therefore, I cannot see that any good purpose can be subserved by directing their imprisonment in the jail, thus causing them to feel humiliated and lowered in the esteem of their friends and neighbors. Should future events prove my error, I will feel comforted by the fact that it was at mercy's prompting. CHAPTER XIX. CELEBRATED INDIVIDUAL STRIKES. SEVERAL individual strikes instituted by the New York Typographical Union have been so wide-reaching in scope and of such general importance that they are worthy of attention in this connection. The Tribune figured prominently in these disputes. Already the part taken by that journal in the wage movement of 1864 has been described in these pages, and Strikes here will be taken into account the momentous conon the troversies of 1877 and 1883, when the printers Tribune. inaugurated the system of boycotting, which was subsequently practiced by other trade organizations. Few members of the present typographical fraternity have heard of the first strike on the Tribune, which occurred in 1852. It was due purely to a misapprehension, and was of very brief duration. The affair was described in detail at the time of its occurrence by one of the participants.' " We have had a most radical change in the Tribune office since my last letter," he wrote. " Week work has been substituted for piecework. The $14 situations have been apportioned among ten compositors, the $II ones (exclusively night) have been given to fourteen men, and the $io positions to ten others. At the commencement of the week work we had, as was usual in time past and gone, a large quantity of matter standing, and things went on very smoothly for a week or more, when we had used up the back matter; then the paper began to be late to press. It was evident that some change must be made; but how or what was a matter which called forth all of Foreman Rooker's latent energies. For the time being he put on five ' extras.' He then came to the conclusion, and so publicly expressed himself, that he had either made a great mistake as to the number of men employed or that the men did not do their duty - Henry M. Failing, in a letter to Charles W. Colburn, then in St. Louis, dated Sunday, July ii, 1852. In announcing the death of Henry M. Failing, in the I874 convention of the International Typographical Union, Mr. Burke, of New York, said: " He was present at the formation of No. 6 in I85o, of which he became president a few years later. He represented New York at Nashville in I86o. In 1864 he left New York to engage in the hotel business in Columbus. In the memorable campaign of 1872 he took part in politics, and was secretary to the Liberal Republican State Committee of Ohio, in which capacity he worked ardently for his old friend, Horace Greeley." [384] CELEBRATED INDIVIDUAL STRIKES. 385 that is, an average of 5,500 ems all around. So on Wednesday morning he requested the men as they came in to schedule their 'takes' and mark the paper the next morning. A tempest was plainly visible and as soon as Sam. Sloan came in (he being the father of the chapel) it burst upon the astonished vision of Rooker. Sloan, with almost the entire compositorial corps at his back, immediately went up to the foreman and asked him if that plan was decided upon. He replied that it was. Sloan said that it was incompatible with their dignity as men to mark and measure their paper while at work by the week. Rooker thought differently. It was not his intention, he said, to degrade the men; far be it from him. Sloan replied that he thought the majority of the men worked faithfully and earned their money, and as far as he was individually concerned he knew it to be the case, and he should consider it a degradation to. comply with Foreman Rooker's request, and sooner than do it he would throw up his ' sit.' Several other men spoke up and said that they should do the same. The excitement was then up to a high pitch. Rooker then remarked that it appeared to him that this whole movement was a preconcerted measure to force the office from the stand it had taken in changing from piece to week work, and that he would lose his last drop of blood before he would be forced into a measure of that kind. It was explicitly stated to him that it was not a preconcerted movement; neither was there any intention on the part of the men to force the office into any measure. Again it was asked if he insisted on the mark. He said, 'Yes.' The men then, as one man, tendered their resignations. Rooker commenced taking down their names, but soon found it was a useless task, as every man in the office, with but two exceptions, threw up their situations. In fifteen minutes there were no types being set except by those two men. The office was literally deserted, and that too between i and 2 o'clock, just as the evening editions were going down. The compositors immediately left the office and went round to Clinton Hall,2 where they held consultations. John Ingles and several others were talking to Rooker after the majority of the men had gone downstairs and then for the first time was the thing sufficiently explained. Rooker said that his idea was to have the compositors mark their matter so that he could distinguish the new matter from the old, so that he could have the matter measured generally and not individually, as the men supposed he meant. He said he did not care whether they marked with a general mark s Clinton Hall was at Nassau and Beekman streets, where Temple Court now stands. I3 386 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. or individual mark- his object being to get the total amount of ems in the paper so that he could make an average and see whether he had men enough on or not. Had the men fully understood him in this way there would have been no difficulty. Just before 3 o'clock word came from Rooker that he would like to see the men and talk with them - that there appeared to be a misunderstanding, and if so to have it corrected, and then if they saw fit to refuse to work he had nothing more to say. The men came back. Then they refused to make a general mark, even, but told Rooker that if he wished to get the number of ems in the paper he could do so by measuring the proofs. He finally concluded to do this, and the men went to work. Thus ended the demonstration." Most notable, however, was the dispute that began with the Tribune in I877, while the country was still in the throes of the panic that started in I873. On June i8, 1876, the union reduced the newspaper wage scale, and later the chairman of the Tribune chapel informed the membership that the foreman had asked for a further reduction on time work, albeit a substantial decrease already had been made. But the crisis did not arrive until June 29, I877. In theinterim the price for piecework on morning newspapers had been cut by the union to 46 cents per i,ooo ems - a decline of 9 cents in one year. To a committee of the chapel on the foregoing date the management of the paper addressed this communication after having discussed the matter with the compositors' representatives: What we want and would like our men to consider:I. A reduction in the price of composition on night work to 40 cents and on day work to 33 cents- or about one-fourth off from the very highest prices of the flush times before the panic. 2. No work to be done which we do not want and cannot use - in other words, no " bogus " and no allowance in place of it. 3. Work to be done at fair prices in whatever way we may think most to our interest - by the piece or on time, at foreman's option. 4. No double-price matter. A special meeting of the Executive Committee was hastily called, and the Tribune men were authorized to submit this answer to the newspaper's proposal: " We have deliberately and dispassionately considered the four propositions submitted to us in your memorandum, and we have decided that we cannot accede to any of them. If you adhere to your proposition we hereby tender our resignations, to take effect immediately." This paper, signed by the members of the chapel, was immediately presented to Whitelaw Reid, of the Tribune, and as he declined to withdraw his demand, late in the CELEBRATED INDIVIDUAL STRIKES. 387 afternoon of June 29th 89 printers, 66 of whom held permanent situations and 23 were substitutes, walked out of the office. Their places were taken by non-union men. The Executive Committee was on July 3d unanimously sustained by the union in ordering the strike, immediately following which this interdict, directed particularly against the signers of the above communication and union printers in general, was issued by the Tribune management: It is expressly ordered that under no circumstances, and at no time, shall any member of Typographical Union No. 6, or any printers' trade union, or any one known to be in sympathy with such organizations, be employed in the Tribune composing or proof rooms; and, especially, that no man whose signature was attached to the paper hereto appended shall ever again, under any pretext, be employed in any capacity in the Tribune composing room, or permitted to enter it. Afterward some of the Tribune's force of printers joined the compositors' organization, and in i883, when the union resolved to establish a uniform wage scale in New York, it was deemed an opportune time to attempt to regain jurisdiction over the Tribune office and enforce the schedule of prices there. In November of that year nearly every journeyman responded to the call of the union to strike for increased wages and a card office, and Foreman W. P. Thompson, who had assumed charge of the composing department in i877, promptly surrendered to the union and entered into an agreement with the latter, which was represented by its president, John R. O'Donnell, and Executive Committee, but with the understanding that it should be subject to the approval of Mr. Reid upon his return to the city from a trip to Ohio.. It was subsequently announced that the manager of the Tribune had sanctioned the contract, which was dated November i9, i883, and was as follows: This agreement made and entered into the nineteenth of November, 1883, between W. P. Thompson, on behalf of the New York Tribune, and John R. O'Donnell and the Executive Committee of New York Typographical Union No. 6, is to effect as follows: I. The said W. P. Thompson, representing the New York Tribune, agrees to pay the present union scale, 46 cents per i,ooo ems, to the men employed for the term of one year from date. 2. The Tribune is to be a union office for the same term. 3. John R. O'Donnell and the Executive Committee of Typographical Union No. 6 agree not to interfere in any way with the typesetting machines or machine men, so long as they are paid the scale, $22 per week, now in use in said Tribune office. 4. John R. O'Donnell and the Executive Committee further agree not to interfere or in any way annoy, trouble or attempt to interfere with the present foreman of said Tribune composing room, so long as he performs the requirements cited in Clauses i and 2 of this agreement. 388 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. 5. It is understood and agreed that either party can by giving thirty days' notice revoke or modify this agreement in any way either party elects. 6. It is further agreed between the same parties that the union shall in no way interfere with the present status of the apprentices or other boys in the office. To the surprise and vexation of the Typographical Union on December 12, 1883, 23 days after the above contract became operative, although the covenant stipulated that 30 days' notice of a revocation or modification of the agreement was required to be given by either party, the foreman of the Tribune notified the compositors that they must either sever their connection with the union or consider themselves dismissed from the service of the Tribune. Fortyfour journeymen refused to dissociate themselves from their organization and walked out of the office. It was immediately charged by the union that Mr. Reid had instigated the action of his foreman and consequently had broken the contract with the printers' organization, the Executive Committee of which on December I3th determined to wage a new system of warfare against the paper by resolving " to take steps toward an immediate and effective boycotting of the Tribune," and on December i8th it ordered "that a Boycotting Committee be appointed, to begin at once." A circular was forthwith sent to labor organizations throughout the United States, stating that the union " has decided to attempt to boycott the most pronounced opponent of the workingmen of America, the New York Tribune. As boycotting is the most effective weapon at the disposal of labor organizations, and as this is the first organized attempt to introduce in the East a system which has proved irresistible in the West, we feel confident that we can count on the support of every workingman in our contemplated movement." Subsequently the union established a weekly paper entitled The Boycotter, through which channel it presented its side of the controversy and induced other trade unions to take up its contest in every section of the country. In i886 the name of the paper was changed to the Union Printer, the publication of which was discontinued on May i, 1887, by a vote of 1,162 ayes to 530 nays. Owing to its conflict with the Tribune the union, recognizing the fact that the paper was considered to be the leading exponent of the principles of the Republican party, concluded to enter politics, with the hope that such course would effect a result in its favor. It was not the first time that the organization had taken such action to enforce its requirements. Back in I869, during the dispute of the book and job printers for higher wages, it passed denunciatory resolutions, on February Igth, in consequence of the refusal of the CELEBRATED INDIVIDUAL STRIKES. 389 Boards of Aldermen to withdraw the city printing from Jones & Rogers, and through them from the sub-contractors, who had refused to accede to the new scale of prices; declaring " that as the members of this union, in common with the workingmen of the City of New York, freely cast their votes in favor of the members of said Boards of Aldermen, thereby elevating them to positions of honor and emolument, we claim and are determined to maintain the right to withhold our votes in future from all and every member of said Corporation boards and not be deceived again by their claptrap of ' workingmen's friend;' that a committee of three be appointed by the president of this union, whose duty it shall be to wait on the different trade and labor organizations of the city, and in particular the Longshoremen's Society, furnish them with copies of the resolutions presented by this union to the Boards of Aldermen, explain the action taken by said boards and their respective Committees on Printing, and request their endorsement of the foregoing resolution; that our secretary be instructed to furnish said committee with correct lists of the present Boards of Aldermen, to be distributed among the various labor organizations for future reference; also that our delegates to the Workingmen's Union be instructed to bring the action of the Aldermanic Boards before that body." An interest in the movement was immediately manifested by various trade societies, which selected delegates to wait upon the Common Council in relation to transferring the city printing to a union establishment, and on March iith the Aldermanic Committee on Printing handed in a lengthy report, going fully into the merits of the case. It severely censured the attempts made by the printers to intimidate the Common Council by resolutions adopted by the trade unions, and asserted that while its sympathies were with the employees any attempt to interfere with the printing contract, which was of long standing and always had been faithfully carried out, would be a violation of the faith of the Corporation, and that inasmuch as Jones & Rogers had signified their willingness to pay the full prices for the municipal work the board could not interfere in the private business of the firm. The report concluded by requesting the contractors to pay the prices asked by the journeymen printers. This was complied with and the difficulty ceased. On December 4, I877, the union again decided to enter the field of politics in its efforts to unionize a newspaper that was controlled by leading adherents of an influential branch of the Democratic party in New York City - declaring that as " the New York Star is about to be enlarged and published under the auspices of Tammany Hall" the union maintained that inasmuch as it was 390 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. its duty " to procure employment for its members and prevent as far as possible the employment of 'rats,' a committee be appointed to consult with Comptroller Kelly and other prominent stockholders in order to ascertain if they cannot be induced to make the Star a union office." A committee of thirteen was selected. At different times it reported progress, and on March 5, 1878, the union resolved " that the committee be directed to call upon the various labor organizations and see what arrangements can be made for meetings to denounce Tammany Hall for reducing the price of labor." Twenty thousand circulars in relation to the Star were ordered by the organization on May 7th to be distributed by its officers among other labor organizations, and the Amalgamated Trades and Labor Union was requested to call a meeting to discuss the situation. On August 6th the union unanimously resolved " that the committee to wait upon the Comptroller in relation to the Star be requested to immediately take steps to notify the workingmen in this city of the standing of the Star and Express, and such other matters as may be to the interest of the union, the committee to have and possess full power to do whatever in its judgment may be necessary to carry this object into effect." 3 That the Star was finally won by the union was shown in the latter's proceedings of May 7, 1882,when that paper was mentioned as being an organized chapel. In May, 1882, as the outcome of a strike in the office of M. B. Brown, city printer, a resolution favoring the cause of the union was introduced in the Board of Aldermen and referred to the Committee on Salaries and Offices. The union on the fourteenth of that month appointed a committee of five for each Aldermanic District to urge the Aldermen " to vote with us in the board." Further action was taken on July 2d, the organized printers then directing " that our delegates to the Central Labor Union and the Amalgamated Trades and Labor Union be instructed to bring this matter before both bodies and procure the appointment of committees to wait upon the Executive Committeeof the County Democracy and notify them that we will oppose them at the polls if Mr. Brown does not yield to this union." The difficulty came to a conclusion on December 3d, when a committee that had been chosen to inquire whether the action of the union in ordering A I The New York Sun of December 4. 1878. referred to the subject as follows: " During the late canvass it was shown that the Tammany leaders * * * were forcing the printers on their morning and evening dailies to work at something barely better than starvation wages. This was called to the attention of Mr. Kelly and his copartners in the publications concerned. Mr. Kelly and his friends promised that the matter should be looked into, but did nothing. The result was that 1,200 votes that went to elect Mr. Cooper (the County Democracy candidate for Mayor) were put in by the union men." CELEBRATED INDIVIDUAL STRIKES. 391 the strike on May 7th was constitutional and legal reported a resolution that the union erred in fixing a scale for the Brown establishment and inaugurating a strike therein, and that such proceeding "was hasty, unconstitutional and consequently illegal." By passing that resolve the union acknowledged its mistake, and the dispute became a closed incident. With the above precedents in mind the membership of Typographical Union No. 6, which had demonstrated that it was a strictly non-partisan institution and participated in politics for the sole economic benefit of those who were affiliated with it, concluded in the Presidential year of 1884, in addition to its warfare against the Tribune's circulation and advertising columns, to institute a political boycott. A committee was sent by the union to the Republican National Convention, which assembled in Chicago on June 3d, that year, to inform the delegates that the Tribune's attitude was inimical to the interests of organized labor, and that the paper should be repudiated by the convention. No attention was paid to the committee's plea, so on August 3d at a regular meeting held in Clarendon Hall the union resolved "that until the Republican National Committee give us written assurance that they will repudiate the Tribune the future policy of The Boycotter shall be to boycott the Tribune and James G. Blaine," who was the candidate for President on the Republican ticket. Political leaders tried to effect an adjustment of the dispute, but were unable to accomplish anything in that direction, and as the national committee did not repudiate the Tribune a large majority of the union, which at that time numbered some 3,500 printers on its roster, determined to vote against the Republican Presidential electors. As the Democratic electors in this State that year were chosen by a plurality of only 1,149 votes, the union printers claimed that it was chiefly due to their action that Grover Cleveland, the Democratic nominee, was enabled to attain the Presidency, as New York chanced to be the pivotal State. Officers of the union in I885 again endeavored to bring about a settlement of the controversy, and the Republican State Committee urged Mr. Reid to enter into peaceful relations with the typographical organization. As a consequence an agreement was signed on October 3Ist, pledging " that no man employed in the Tribune office shall be dissuaded from joining the union; that such action shall not be the cause for discrimination against the men; that no additional non-union men shall be imported or employed, and that all men hereafter employed shall be members of the union in good standing." A report having been circulated after the signing of the agreement 392 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. that the employees of the Tribune had been advised not to become members of the union, No. 6 on November ist declined to ratify this agreement, declaring "that we accept no terms but unconditional surrender from the Tribune Association." Several other attempts were thereafter made to adjust the differences, but the negotiations proved unavailing until November I, 1891, when the secretary of the union reported for the Executive Committee, " that," to quote from the minutes of the meeting, " negotiations had been entered into between the committee and the New York Tribune; that an agreement had been submitted to Mr. Reid, and he had submitted some amendments, but that he had intimated that he would sign an agreement drawn on more favorable lines than this if agreeable, and the committee had held the matter over for further consideration." A more definite report was presented to the union on June 5, 1892, by the officers, who stated that they had " arranged a plan of settlement with the Tribune, the terms of which were the placing of a union foreman in charge of the composing room with full power," and they recommended that " the union send a committee to the National Republican Convention in Minneapolis to announce a cessation of hostilities against the Tribune and the Republican party." It was unanimously resolved by the union " that the report be received, the recommendation adopted, and the matter be referred to the president and secretary with full power." When the controversy had about come to a close the union on August 7th directed "that on the completion of the settlement with the Tribune the officers be instructed to declare the boycott off and to notify sister unions and other organizations." Acting under this resolution the officers on August i Ith circularized all labor organizations throughout the United States " that the differences between our union and the New York Tribune have been satisfactorily adjusted; that the boycott against that establishment and its manager has been declared off, and that all antagonisms of whatever nature, growing out of the famous labor struggle, are ended. It gives us pleasure to announce, furthermore, that the Tribune is now a strict union office." Peaceful relations between the union and the Tribune were disturbed a little more than a year later, however. Discontent among the stereotypers began to reveal itself on December 3, 1893, Stereotypers' Union No. I then informing the compositors' organization that four of the former's members had been dismissed from the Tribune office and Knights of Labor members put in their places. The matter was referred to the Committee on Allied Printing Trades, CELEBRATED INDIVIDUAL STRIKES. 393 and on January 7, I894, the secretary of that central association submitted a report declaring that the Tribune was not a union office. But the Typographical Union was loth to proceed in the matter with undignified haste, and decided " that from the report of the delegates to the Allied Trades we believe that every effort has not as yet been exhausted and that the question of a vote on a strike in that office be postponed." A Conference Committee, composed of representatives from the unions of printers, stereotypers and pressmen, having adopted a resolution that it was the duty of " No. 6 to place itself on record as being in favor of concentrated action on the part of the printing trades crafts by actively and immediately assisting the pressmen and stereotypers in their efforts to place both departments of the New York Tribune under the jurisdiction of the International Typographical Union," the compositors' organization became involved in the dispute by concurring on October 7th in the recommendation of the conferees " that immediate and decisive action be taken at this meeting in behalf of Stereotypers' Union No. i and the Amalgamated Pressmen's Union, and that every effort be exhausted before abandoning the unionizing of both these departments of the Tribune office." The management of the paper was given until 6 o'clock P. M. on October 8th to comply with the demand. When the executive officers of the union informed the Tribune authorities of the action that had been taken the latter called attention to the contract of the stereotypers of August 12, 1892, in which Stereotypers' Union No. i agreed to " accept as members all of the men now working in the stereotype room, one helper excepted, providing the foremanship is given to some one who is now a member of the union." The Tribune's manager informed the officers of No. 6 that the paper was not making war upon anybranch of organized labor, and declined to commence it by discharging stereotypers who belonged to the Knights of Labor, especially at the behest of an organization that he considered had broken its contract. At 6 o'clock in the evening of October 8th the strike commenced, but it closed at 12 o'clock midnight, long before which hour it had become evident to the stereotypers that the sacrifice was too great to ask the printers to endure, so they withdrew their demands. In the minutes of the union meeting held on November 4th the dispute is thus described: Concerning the inception, progress and outcome of the Tribune strike the president made an oral report on behalf of the officers and Executive Committee. He said that on the afternoon of October 8th last efforts were made to bring about an amicable settlement of the controversy respecting the stereotype department, and, these efforts failing, at 6 o'clock P. M. the men comprising the Tribune chapel went on strike in obedience to the union's instructions. During the evening 394 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. the places of the strikers were filled quite rapidly and about Io:3o o'clock the office was virtually lost to the union. The Executive Committee was hastily summoned in special session, and decided that it would be advisable for the union men to resume work. President Denneen of Stereotypers' Union No. I, who was called into the conference, said: " Well, gentlemen, you have assisted us as much as you can. Go and send your men back." The strike was, therefore, declared off, and the president and sub-committee of the Executive Committee were compelled to sign the following agreement before John E. Milholland would allow the strikers to return to work: NEW YORK, October 8, I894. J. E. Milholland: DEAR SIR:-In behalf of Typographical Union No. 6 we, the undersigned, desire to state, as its authorized representatives, to you, the representative of the Tribune:First-That the strike of the composing machine operators ordered to-night is hereby declared off. Second -That we agree to return to work immediately, and furthermore agree that our organization will not order a strike in future without giving you at least 30 days' notice of such intention. As the representative of the Tribune Association Mr. Milholland addressed to the union on October I4th the following letter, which was read on November 4th: On the threshold of your deliberations to-day I desire to submit a brief statement in behalf of the Tribune, which I have the honor to represent in this matter. For the past two years the Tribune has been a union office; it is a union office to-day. Until last Sunday it had no thought of becoming anything else. It was at peace with you and with organized labor throughout the country. In its various departments union rules and regulations were scrupulously observed. This fact and the assumption that, so far as your union was concerned, it was dealing with a responsible body obscured from view all obstacles in the way of the permanent maintenance of the relations between it and your organization. The action taken by your body one week ago apparently demonstrated that in assuming that you were a thoroughly responsible body the paper was the victim of an illusion. I say apparently, for we cannot yet bring ourselves to believe that the monstrous outrage perpetrated upon this paper by the sudden withdrawal of your members from our composing room was really the deliberate proceeding of Typographical Union No. 6, but prefer to think that it was rather the reckless act of ill-advised individuals blinded as to the serious consequences of their own folly. Whether this theory is correct or not we do not pretend to say. Your action to-day will determine that. It is not the function of this paper to decide whether policies adopted by No. 6 truly represent it or not. The question for our consideration is one of a purely business character. It is simply -Are you a responsible body or not? If you are, then you are in honor bound to make satisfactory reparation for what was done in your name against the Tribune last Monday night, and give satisfactory assurance against its repetition in the future. If you are not, if your methods are to be utterly irresponsible; if this paper is to be liable to loss and inconvenience because it does not choose, for example, to become your ally in wars upon rival organizations; if our faithful observance of your rules and regulations is no guarantee against strikes and threatenings; if, in short, there is no security whatever in dealing with you, CELEBRATED INDIVIDUAL STRIKES. 395 then it is my duty to inform you that so soon as that fact is assured the Tribune will cease to be a union office, and this letter is a formal notice to that effect. It is not my intention to thrust my personality into this communication, and yet when I recall the three long years that I, together with loyal, earnest members of the union, labored unceasingly for the settlement of the memorable war between it and the Tribune, I cannot repress the bitter regret I feel at what seems possibly to be the final outcome of it all. This, however, is extraneous, since the union has apparently fallen into ways that make it treat as enemies those who have given practical evidence of their friendship for the organization, and seemingly has consideration only for the demagogues who seek political preferment and not the advancementof the union's true interests. At the same session of the union a proposed compact with the Tribune was discussed, and on November 24th an agreement was entered into between the Tribune Association, party of the first part, and Typographical Union No. 6, party of the second part. It was signed by Thomas N. Rooker for the newspaper and James J. Murphy, president, and William Fergutson, secretary-treasurer, for the union. The contract, which has been renewed annually since that time (in I896 a new clause being inserted " that any change in scale will be conformed to" by the Tribune), is as follows: First - The party of the first part agrees that during the term of this contract, as hereinafter set forth, it will employ in its composing room such employees only as are members of said Typographical Union No. 6, to whom the union scale of prices shall be paid, except as hereinafter provided. This shall include all typesetters and proofreaders, but shall not include the superintendent of the mechanical department. The party of the first part further agrees that it will not during the said term of this contract discontinue the employment of the members of said union or employ in any of said positions any person or persons not members thereof, except upon 30 days' previous notice in writing of its intention so to do, addressed to said union or to the president thereof, and delivered personally to said president or one of the other officers thereof within the City of New York, but this shall not apply to individual employees who may be dismissed for cause by the superintendent on his own judgment or that of his employers. Second - It is agreed by and on behalf of the party of the second part and the members thereof that no strike on the part of said employees of the party of the first part either in whole or in part shall be had, ordered, aided or attempted on the part of said union nor of any of the officers thereof during the said term of this contract, except upon 30 days' previous notice in writing of its, his or their intention so to do, addressed to the party of the first part and delivered personally to John E. Milholland, or to Nathaniel Tuttle, the cashier of the party of the first part, or to the person then actually representing the Tribune in its cashier's office, within the City of New York. In the event that individual members of said union shall without such notice or suddenly leave the employment of the party of the first part, the party of the second part agrees to use all reasonable and prompt efforts to co-operate with the party of the first part 396 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. in filling the places of such employees so leaving with equally efficient operators or workers. Third - The term of this contract shall be from November I7, i894, to December 31, I895, both inclusive. Fourth - The party of second part further agrees that on or before November 1 7, I 894, it will deliver to the party of the first part a bond with such securities as shall be acceptable to the party of the first part in the penalty of $5,00o conditioned upon the faithful performance of this agreement in all respects by the party of the second part; and in case said bond is not delivered on or before November I7, 1894, it is agreed that this contract shall not go into effect until the delivery and acceptance of said bond. Ever since the agreement went into effect there has been a perfect understanding between Typographical Union No. 6 and the Tribune, nothing having occurred in the past seventeen years to mar the good feeling that was engendered at the end of the strike in i894. This communication from John E. Milholland, addressed to the foreman of the Tribune composing room and spread upon the minutes of the union on December 6, i896, further accentuates the cordial relations between both parties to the covenant. You may say to your fellow-members of Typographical Union No. 6 that the Tribune is unaware at present of any reason why it should not be willing to continue its present relations with your organization, on the same conditions that now exist, including the $5,ooo bond. It is, I am sure, mutually satisfactory to recall the fact that for the first time in 20 years a Presidential campaign has been passed through without the slightest friction between this paper and No. 6. It would seem to indicate that the existing bond of union has stood a test that argues well for permanent cooperation. Permit me to express the best wishes of the Tribune, as well as my own, for the prosperity of your organization, and let me also congratulate you upon the faithful and excellent service rendered by the Tribune chapel throughout the year. It was a long and acrid dispute in which Typographical Union No. 6 and the New York Sun became involved on August 5, i899. These two parties had been in conflict at other Controversies periods, but this last controversy overshadowed with the those of previous years. Back in i852, when the New York Sun. union had barely passed out of its formative condition, it had a difficulty with the Sun that continued with more or less acerbity for twelve years. The affair started on April I7th, when a resolution that had been adopted by the union " recognizing the New York Sun as a fair office, was rescinded in consequence of the proprietors of that paper having reduced the wages of the journeymen employed by them to 'rat' prices," and the association requested printers " to give the Sun a CELEBRATED INDIVIDUAL STRIKES. 397 wide berth." As has been already noted in these pages the Sun in I853 refused to recognize the union's demand for more wages on newspapers. At a mass meeting of book and job printers held on April IIth of that year to discuss a proposed raise of rates in those branches of the printing industry it was unanimously resolved " that, notwithstanding the professions of friendship of the New York Sun and kindred papers, for the interest and welfare of the mechanics and laborers of the City of New York, we regard it as our most malignant enemy, for under the mask of pretended friendship they are ever, both by their editorials and practices, aiming to poison the public mind both as to our wants and the means of attaining them, and regarding the Sun and other papers in this light, we feel it not only incumbent on us to discountenance them, but to recommend our co-laborers in the mechanic arts everywhere to do likewise." A correspondent, writing to the Tribune on April Igth, said " it was only a matter of form on the part of the committee appointed by the Printers' Union to notify publishers that the scale of prices was about to be changed that that committee waited upon the proprietors of the Sun at all. The union expected nothing from that concern. It wishes nothing now. The union can survive the opposition of the Sun. We shall see before many months how that 'friend of the laboring classes' will succeed without the co-operation of the union. The working classes generally understand the peculiar devotion of the Sun to their interests, as the writer of this has every reason to know. All that members of the Printers' Union ask of that luminary is that it will say nothing in their praise." The matter even found its way into the 1853 convention of the National Typographical Union. Jeremiah Gray, one of the delegates from the New York organization of printers, had introduced a resolution declaring "that among the many enemies arrayed against our interests and advancement the National Typographical Union knows of none more insidious or poisonous in its nature than that found daily in the columns of the New York Sun; and that, therefore, we respectfully recommend to our friends engaged in the profession throughout the United States to discountenance that publication in every possible manner; and that we also ask the co-operation of all trades and professions in accomplishing that object." This was suggestive of the boycott that years afterward was effectively exercised as a weapon of enforcement by the general association of printers, but the convention did not then take kindly to the proposition. Having been referred to the Committee on New Business the latter recommended on May 5th that the resolution be negatived, and the 398 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. report was adopted by a vote of sixteen to eight. That convention also set its face against strikes, excepting in an extremity, regarding " as injudicious a frequent resort to strikes on the part of journeymen, or any misunderstanding occurring between them and their employers- believing that in most cases all such differences can be settled satisfactorily by other and more amicable means, and that a strike should be resorted to only when all such means fail." Unexpectedly a settlement was effected by the combined compositors with the Sun's proprietors in 1864 at a time when other newspaper owners who had always recognized union rules balked at what they regarded as exorbitant demands. Francis Freckelton, the representative of the typographical organization in the Workingmen's Union, described to that body on August 26, 1864, how his association had adjusted the long-standing dispute. " When the new scale of prices was adopted a committee was appointed to wait on Mr. Beach and ask him to pay those prices," said he. " Mr. Beach promptly responded by stating that he would do so. The employing printers (newspaper, book and job) appear to be opposed to the union, and wish to break it up. They are advertising in country papers for men to come here and work under price - and 35 men are now ' ratting' in the Tribune office. At present there are from 500 to 800 printers out of work, but a Committee of Conference has been appointed and will meet to-morrow, and probably some arrangement might be entered into. For myself I now say that the Sun is sold at as fair a price as any in the city, and its workmen are all members of the union." This statement was supplemented on August 22d in a card printed in the Tribune, informing the public that on August 2oth the Sun's compositors had assembled and resolved with one voice to " tender our sincere thanks to the Messrs. Beach for their prompt compliance with our request for an increase of wages in accordance with the scale of prices of the New York Typographical Union. By their action in sustaining us on an equality with the members of the craft and our fellow-workmen of the city in general, they have shown themselves to be true supporters of the workingmen at large, and we trust and hope that the public will continue the generous support they have hitherto extended to the New York Sun." All resolutions that it had adopted against the Sun were rescinded by the Workingmen's Union on August Igth and the long opposition of the organized mechanics in New York to that newspaper was thus officially terminated. Never has the Typographical Union interfered with a newspaper because of its editorial expressions, particularly against trade unions. CELEBRATED INDIVIDUAL STRIKES. 399 It believes in the freedom of the press, and has on several occasions placed itself squarely upon record in favor of that principle. In i887 an element in the Knights of Labor inaugurated a boycott on the Sun by reason of the fact that the editorial columns of that journal had contained comments on organized labor that were of an adverse character. Such course on the part of the Knights of Labor members incensed Typographical Union No. 6, which on March 6th instructed its delegates to the Central Labor Union " to protest against the boycotting of papers employing union printers merely for expression of opinion." On April 3d the union again adverted to the subject, declaring " that we most sincerely deprecate any attempt to muzzle the press of this city or country; that it is the sense of this meeting that any and all papers have a right to express their honest opinions on all matters concerning the public welfare." Later in the year the New York union of printers gave the affair a national range by causing the introduction of the question at the annual convention of the International Typographical Union, which unanimously adopted the following: The New York Sun is a strictly union establishment, conforming in every particular to the rules of the International Typographical Union and Typographical Union No. 6. The editors and proprietors of the Sun and the Evening Sun have always been advocates of the rights of labor unions and trade federations. The " Home Club " and its allies in the Knights of Labor have unwarrantably and unjustly boycotted these newspapers. Therefore resolved:That the International Typographical Union, in convention assembled, denounces said boycott as a blow not only at tried friends of labor, but as a blow at trade unions themselves, made, not by the Knights of Labor, but by a clique in that organization which has violated the constitution and usurped the functions of that body. That a free press is the heritage of free men, and that every workingman who aids in either stifling or muzzling its expression of opinion aids in the establishment of a tyranny that-would destroy the rights of man. That the attempt of a cabal in the Knights of Labor to make itself the secret and supreme ruler of this country and to control the social and business interests of its citizens merits the indignant opposition of all free men. That where a newspaper proprietor conforms to the regulations of a trade union and employs none but strictly union help the business of such newspapers should not be interfered with. Regarding the dispute that commenced on the fifth of August, i899, the Sun management charged that when certain new printing machines were installed by the publishing company it engaged practical machinists to operate them, these mechanics not being members of the Typographical Union; that on July i6th a representative of the union called on the business manager and announced to him that he 400 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. must employ compositors to work on the machines; that the Sun management, knowing that the command would, if not complied with, be enforced by a strike and a boycott, yielded a compliance thereto, but owing to lack of acquaintance with the devices the compositors could not operate them without damaging the mechanism, so a sufficient number of machinists had to be retained to perform the work while the printers " stood by and looked on and drew their pay for so doing." Again, the Sun Company claimed that the union delegate visited the business manager in the early part of August and notified him to discharge the machinists and keep none but union compositors. " Believing and knowing that it had the right under the laws of the land to conduct its business in its own way and without dictation from outside persons, subject only to the law," the company contended that it had " refused to comply with this demand; that on the night of Saturday, August 5, 1899, at Io o'clock, all the printers in its employ who were members of the Typographical Union," and all the union stereotypers working in the establishment, "without notice, but selecting that hour as the one at which a strike of the employees would be most harmful to it, because of the necessity of getting out its Sunday morning edition, the same being several times larger than its week-day morning editions, struck and left the employ of the Sun Publishing Company and were never at any time locked out." Typographical Union No. 6 admitted that the Sun had in its employ practical machinists who were not members of that organization, but that there was never any question raised as to the employment of these men to attend the machines. " In the month of June, 1899," said the union, " the company's representatives sent for our organizer and stated that the management was about to change the method of composition on the Sun and the Evening Sun from hand work to machine work, and asked for the union rules governing the operation of typesetting machines." It was denied that any such command as that alleged by the company was ever given by the union's official. " By our rules," was the claim of the journeymen, "boys other than apprentices are forbidden to handle type, and the fact that these boys were being permitted, authorized or ordered to handle type was called to the attention of the officers of the Sun Company, but we deny that this fact had anything whatever to do with causing the printers and stereotypers to leave the employment of that paper, neither was the hour of io o'clock on the night of August 5, 1899, or any other hour on any other day, selected by the union or any one connected with it, at which to strike." The CELEBRATED INDIVIDUAL STRIKES. 4o0 trouble arose, the union affirmed, over the fact that the Sun had caused a want advertisement to be inserted in Philadelphia newspapers calling for compositors, and that in response to those answering the advertisement a circular letter was addressed on August 4th, stating that the applicants would be required to go a short distance from Philadelphia and that "from and after August 7th ours will be an open office." At the same time another circular was sent out by the Sun's superintendent of printing to the effect that " it is the purpose to reorganize the composing room in this establishment, and to that end all the positions in the above-named department are hereby made vacant." Learning of this the union sent a committee to the Sun office in the afternooh of August 5th to ascertain whether such change as indicated in the documents was contemplated, and to seek a denial of the authenticity of the circular letters. "As no person in the Sun office either could or would make such denial," the union urged, " the committee notified the men at work in the office of the exact situation of the affairs therein, on learning which the organized printers and stereotypers quit their work and went out rather than be locked out on the following day." Some of the force of men who had been engaged in Philadelphia and went to New York by steamboat took the places of those who had ceased work. A boycott against the morning and evening editions of the newspaper was begun soon after the trouble commenced, and on August I3th it was announced that the New York Central Federated Union had voted to " condemn the action of the Morning, Evening and Sunday Sun in locking out the members of organized labor employed by them for years," and " that all members of the Central Federated Union be requested to cease purchasing the different editions of that paper and refrain from patronizing dealers who sell the same, or from frequenting places or making purchases from those who persist in continuing to subscribe for it or advertise therein." The boycott became wide-reaching in a few months and was wielded so relentlessly and effectively that a temporary injunction was issued on December ist by Supreme Court Justice Henry W. Bookstaver, restraining the Typographical Union and others from advising or requesting people to desist or refrain from advertising in the Sun and Evening Sun; from resorting to threats, intimidation, force or fraud to accomplish such purpose; from preventing or attempting to hinder newsdealers from selling those papers; from picketing the establishment; from " intercepting its employees while going to or returning from its place of business, and by intimidation, threats, force, fraud or defamatory publications, inducing or procuring them to quit their employment." 402 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. An appeal was taken by the union from this order, which later was somewhat modified by the Appellate Division. To further extend its crusade, the arena of politics was entered by the union, the Board of Delegates of which on September 9, 900o, adopted a recommendation of the Executive Committee "that No. 6 take political action against the Republican party and its mouthpiece, the New York Sun." Cessation of hostilities came, however, on March 12, I902, through a mutual agreement by Typographical Union No. 6 and Stereotypers' Union No. i with the Sun Publishing Company. It was agreed by the two unions to declare off the strike and to refrain from any further action repugnant or injurious to the paper, and under such conditions the management of the Sun was willing that any of its employees who desired to do so might join the respective unions without apprehension or hindrance, the organizations to accept as members all workmen in the two departments who made application for admittance. It was also provided that union wages should be paid and that all vacant positions should be filled by union men. Shortly thereafter the Sun was added to the chapel roster of Typographical Union No. 6. For benefits paid to the men who took part in the controversy, together with expenditures for the general conduct of the dispute, the total cost of the affair to the union of compositors was $I53,84I.02, and the publishing concern also suffered a material financial loss. There have been several disputes between Typographical Union No. 6 and the New York World. The first of these occurred late in the year 1867. It was caused by the World manageStrikes ment insisting that its compositors should set up on the matter for a Brooklyn newspaper whose printers World. had gone on strike. Quite a commotion was created at the time when members of the union's Vigilance Committee who were standing peaceably on the sidewalk in front of the World office were arrested on the complaint of the cashier of that newspaper on the charge of disorderly conduct in blocking the doorway and preventing the non-union employees from going to work. In court, after a consultation between the counsel for the proprietors and the Magistrate before whom the action was brought, the case was dismissed. The arrested men instituted suit for $io,ooo damages against the cashier and the manager of the paper for malicious prosecution and false imprisonment. The matter was not seriously pursued, and in i868 the World discharged a number of young women whom it had employed to take the places of the strikers and reengaged its union journeymen. CELEBRATED INDIVIDUAL STRIKES. 403 In the proceedings of the meeting of the union of January 5, 1879, it is recorded that its members were locked out at the World office on December 26, I878, and the sum of $500 was appropriated for the "benefit of the needy men discharged from the office and to assist such of them as wish to leave the city." Almost from the moment that the present management assumed control of the World it has been at peace with the Typographical Union. The paper was in a decadent state in I883 when the new proprietor purchased it. Only 55 compositors then constituted its working force. To-day in its composing room 4I6 members of Typographical Union No. 6 are employed. A strike was ordered by the union on May 24, I883, to enforce a recognition of its rules on the World. The dispute had been in progress several hours that night when the officers had a conference with the business manager and an arrangement was entered into by which all objection to its non-union men joining the printers' organization was withdrawn by the paper, which within a week was placed on the list of fair chapels. Later in the year, at the time the piece rate on morning newspapers was established at 46 cents per i,ooo ems, the World demurred to its payment, and the officials of the union, having become convinced that the concern was not in a financial position to raise the wages to the standard set by the printers, agreed that for a specified period the union would pay to the World for disbursement among its compositors the difference between the scale and the compensation that the paper was willing to allow, which difference amounted to 5 cents per,000o ems. This proposition was acceptable to the management, and the office remained within the union jurisdiction. The compositors' organization reimbursed the World to the extent of $I,797.80 altogether, but it proved to be an excellent investment on the part of the officers, as it was not long after the settlement was effected that the paper began to enlarge its working force and to pay the prevailing rate of wages for newspaper composition —in fine, for the past 28 years it has continuously conformed to the rules of the Typographical Union, to the substantial benefit of a large proportion of its membership. Testifying as to the reasons that impelled the officers to come to such terms with the World, President John R. O'Donnell in 1884 made this statement to a committee that had been authorized by the union to make an investigation relative to its finances: The World office was carried by strike on May 24, 1883, and a contract was made out between the union and the World management. The book strike was to come off just at the time of the termination of the contract with the 404 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. World. It was shown by the World management that they could get men to fill the office. We deemed it best to make a compromise with the World for the purpose of carrying the book strike. The union could not have carried the book strike if the World had been "ratted." While nearly $I,8oo had been spent in this way, $90oo a week was made by the success of the book strike. The payment to the World was made with the knowledge of the Newspaper Strike Committee. Trouble began to brew in the New York Times chapel in April, i876, the stagnation in business during that period contributing largely to the occurrence. On the thirtieth of that Trouble on month the chairman of a committee that had been the New appointed to wait on the proprietors informed the York Times. Typographical Union that "Mr. Jones wished his employees to leave the union and form an independent office, and also desired a reduction of the scale." Efforts to settle the difficulty having failed the union on October 22d appointed a committee of three with full power, in conjunction with the officers, to institute and conduct a strike in the establishment. At the meeting of November I 2th the president reported that the committee had "resolved that the official order of the union be sent to the Times office hands and read in the chapel. The notice was: 'You are hereby ordered, in accordance with a resolution adopted this afternoon (October 22d) to quit work immediately.' It was read on the Times floor. After the order was read your committee decided to fix the latest time at which the men could leave the Times office, and be on strike, at 7 o'clock P. M. on Tuesday, October 24th." Sixty-one members of the union refused to obey its mandate, and remained at work, but a number of others gave up their situations. Nineteen of these, at their own request, received a sufficient sum of money to enable them to leave the city, the committee stating that it had expended $398 to defray their expenses to other localities. The committee also reported that it had directed its chairman to prefer charges against all who remained in the Times office after the union's order had been promulgated. Notification of these charges was sent to 66 members, five of whom had accepted positions in the composing room when the dispute was at its height, and they were cited to defend themselves before the union. They were all expelled on February 6, I877. During the upbuilding movement of I883 a successful attempt was made to reclaim the office. A strike was started on the paper early in the evening of November i9th for an increase in wages of i cent per i,ooo ems- from 45 cents to 46 cents - and for the discharge of the foreman, complaint being made by the men that he had been unfair in his dealings with them and that CELEBRATED INDIVIDUAL STRIKES. 405 his attitude had been so unbearable that they would not return to work if he were continued at the head of the composing-room force. Sixtythree printers engaged in the dispute, 44 of them being non-members of the union, to which, however, they attached themselves immediately after leaving their situations in the office. Negotiations for a settlement began at 9:30 o'clock on the night of the dispute between President John R. O'Donnell of the union and Gilbert Jones, who represented his father, George Jones, proprietor of the Times. An hour's conference followed and at its conclusion the employer agreed to pay the advance in the wage rate and to temporarily suspend the objectionable foreman until the charges against him could be investigated. The strikers then returned to their employment. Subsequently the foreman was deprived of supervision in the typesetting department, another was engaged in his place, and that ended for all time the long-standing rupture between the Times and No. 6. Typographical Union No. 98 of Brooklyn when it amalgamated with Typographical Union No. 6 in I898 turned over as a legacy to the latter a dispute that had been in progress with the Brooklyn Daily Eagle for more than six years. Brooklyn Union No. 98 on December 30, i886, entered into Daily Eagle an agreement with the Eagle by which all persons Dispute. working in its composing room were required to join the association of printers and to them was accorded the privilege of holding " chapel meetings from time to time to makes rules for their government, and to select their own chairman and secretary, such officers to exercise such rights and privileges as usually appertain to the positions in union offices." The president of the company guaranteed "that the scale of prices of Typographical Union No. 98 shall be in all respects complied with," and the union pledged itself to initiate all compositors, both men and women, employed on the Eagle on the payment of $i each, while it was stipulated that members who had been suspended would be reinstated in the association upon the payment of back dues. To the proprietors or foreman was conceded the right to employ or discharge employees at will, provided such dismissal was not for maintaining union principles. Under this compact the Eagle and the union worked in harmony until September, i89, at which time a number of members of the organization employed on the newspaper struck because the management had refused to sign an agreement to put in operation the six-day law that the International Typographical Union had enacted. The Eagle was issued six afternoons of each week and on Sunday morning, thus being a seven-day paper, and while it did not compel its composing-room employees to work a full week of six 406 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. days and on Saturday night, it permitted them to do so if they chose. Therefore it declined to be bound by the union's six-day rule and a strike of a part of its force was the consequence. The New York union on September 12, i891, approved the action of the Brooklyn association and gave to the latter its moral and financial support, but Union No. 98 failed to enforce its demand, and non-unionists were installed in the situations of those who had severed their connection with the office. At the beginning of the difficulty in I89I the official representative of the Brooklyn organization stated that the six-day law, which caused the strike, had been passed by the International Typographical Union in order to provide work for the unemployed by requiring all persons working on seven-day newspapers to take one day off a week to give idle members an opportunity to make a living. " It was a voluntary reduction on our part," he said, " as the person losing the day gave the wages to his substitute. This the management refused to accede to us and we struck by order of the International Union. About 50 of our members remained in the office and the substitutes that stayed in took the regularly employed hands' situations. The seven editions were set up in six days, but the union had always decided that Saturday night was an extra day, making seven days in all. This the employers denied and called it six days." For several years a boycott was carried on against the paper. After the consolidation in I898 each time that Union No. 6 advanced the newspaper wage scale for Brooklyn Borough the Eagle paid the increase to its printers, but allowed them to work seven days per week, if they elected to do so, and conducted its establishment under the so-called open-shop system. This non-recognition of the union went on until April 17, I905, when Col. William Hester, as president of the Eagle Company, entered into an agreement with Typographical Union No. 6, through its president, P. H. McCormick, and the composing room was eventually placed under the jurisdiction of the union. By the terms of the agreement, which was renewed upon its expiration on May I, I906, it was provided that:The business methods of the composing room shall remain the same as at present and that the rules that govern newspaper offices in the union shall not be enforced except as specified below. The Eagle management has no objection to the employees in the Eagle composing room becoming members of Typographical Union No. 6. The action of the employees shall be voluntary. All the employees who are competent to earn the scale shall be paid the present rate as demanded by the Typographical Union rules, except such old employees who have been in the employ of the Eagle upward of fifteen years. Such others who are not fully competent shall be exchanged for first-class compositors. CELEBRATED INDIVIDUAL STRIKES. 407 The number of boys and laborers shall remain the same as at present and perform such duties as the foreman directs. An effort will be made to place the proofroom as nearly in line as possible with the requirements of the Typographical Union. During the general movement in I883 for a uniform wage scale the Typographical Union fixed the rate for composition on evening newspapers at 40 cents per I,ooo ems, the prevailing price at the time being 35 cents. Among the Controversy papers on which this increase was sought was the with the Mail Mail and Express, but its publisher refused to grant and Express. it, and in the forenoon of November I6th eighteen printers in its composing room went on strike to enforce the demand. By the twentieth of that month the office was practically lost to the union, the manager then announcing that he had a full force at work and was publishing every edition on time. He stated that a number of men had quit work on the preceding Saturday. " But we have been adding to our force day by day," said he, " and now have a good working force, including two ex-union men who refused to obey the order to strike. The dispute is ended so far as this office is concerned." Not so with the union, which immediately inaugurated a boycott on the paper, and continued the warfare for some years, even appealing to the national leaders of the Republican party to assist it in its reclamation efforts. That plan of campaign was ultimately successful, and on October 6, i888, the first union chapel meeting since the strike of 1883 was held in the Mail and Express composing department, 46 employees attending that session and adopting rules for the government of trade matters in the office. So appreciative was the union respecting the part that an eminent political leader had taken in the settlement of the controversy that on October 7, 1888, it " resolved that the thanks of Typographical Union No. 6 are due to Hon. J. C. Clarkson, of the Republican National Committee, for his invaluable services in unionizing the Mail and Express, and that the secretary of No. 6 be directed to notify Mr. Clarkson of this action." Between Typographical Union No. 6 and the New York Evening Post a serious breach, which has never been repaired, occurred in the morning of November i6, i883. Primarily the cause of the trouble was a demand for higher wages Union Loses -an advance per I,ooo ems from 35 cents to 40 Office of the cents. For years beyond memory the sympathies Evening Post. of the Evening Post had been cast with organized labor. In the thirties of the nineteenth century one of its leading editors was a prominent member of the Typographical Association, 408 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. and during its entire career from i8oi up to i883 the paper's relations with the several unions of typographers had been of a cordial nature. Afternoon newspapers in the fall of i883 were asked by the organization of compositors to conform to its proposed uniform price list. Most of the journals acquiesced, but the Evening Post declined to pay the new scale on the ground that there was not anything in the condition of trade to warrant the demand for more wages. An opposite view was taken by the union, and at 8:30 o'clock in the forenoon of November i6th, through its officers, it called out the entire working force of 42 typesetters and other composing-room employees of the paper, excepting the foreman and his assistant. At first difficulty was experienced by the management in issuing the journal in its usual form, but on November 2ISt the customary amount of reading and advertising matter appeared in its columns and the union was then practically defeated in its purpose. Nonunionists have since manned the composing room of the paper. " The final course adopted by the men, many of whom had been employed on this journal for a great number of years," said the Evening Post on the day the dispute began, " was somewhat of a surprise. The strike is not caused by any actual or threatened decrease of wages; that the rates paid to compositors by the Evening Post are as high as those paid by any other evening paper, and were until within three or four weeks higher than those paid by two other evening papers; that the weekly earnings of our compositors under the present rates average as high as those of the job offices, even since the recent advance in those establishments; that, in short, there is nothing in the state of the market to justify the strike. It is simply an attempt to force wages up by combination in one city and in one particular branch of business." In its news columns of Tuesday, November 20th, the Post gave its version of the controversy more in detail, as follows: At 8:30 o'clock last Friday morning the compositors, who had assembled as usual, left their cases and marched out almost in a body. Among them were the time hands, or those paid by the week, who made no demand for higher wages, but left simply because the others did. Both classes of workmen included men who had been in the employ of the Evening Post for a great many years, and who, but for the influence of the union, would never have deserted their positions, with which they had excellent reason to be contented. It is well understood that many of them left unwillingly, but were controlled by a mistaken sense of fealty to their associates, by the discipline of the Typographical Union, and by the hope that, after all, the proprietors of the Evening Post would not persist in their determination to resist the demands of the strikers. Some of the men who abandoned their cases were not even members of the union. A small force of new compositors was got together as quickly as possible and a four-page edition of the Evening Post was published at 4 P. M. Despite the declaration of a com CELEBRATED INDIVIDUAL STRIKES. 409 mittee of the old workmen before the strike, that if one occurred it should be a simple test of the existing laws of supply and demand, the underhand work of the union was begun that very morning. Agents of the union loitered in the basement hallway of the Evening Post building until a policeman was stationed there to keep them out, and endeavored to turn back all persons who came in response to the call for new compositors. A placard outside the counting-room announcing that compositors were wanted, was turned face to the wall. A number of spies applied for work, representing themselves as non-union men out of a job, and in many cases there were no means of detecting their true character until after they had been admitted to the composing room. After pretending to work for a little while these men would put on their coats and leave. Then it would be discovered that they had made ridiculous errors in the little matter they had set up; that they had mixed together type from different fonts, had made as large a quantity of " pi" as their opportunities permitted, and had broken numbers of pieces of leads which are used to separate the lines of type from each other. In some cases the spies also committed larceny, carrying off in their pockets the composing-sticks and rules which had been given to them to work with. These annoyances have been continued on every day of the strike, and have inflicted damage amounting to hundreds of dollars to the property of the Evening Post. Malicious mischief of this kind is very difficult to prevent and when detected it is equally difficult to furnish legal proof against the perpetrators. On Saturday the new force in the composing room was enlarged, and a single edition was again published at 4 o'clock, containing much more freshly set matter than the issue of Friday. Twice in the course of the day commotion was caused in the room, a spy of the union calling to his associates to leave, and the latter following him. On one occasion five compositors went out, and on the other seventeen, all leaving their work " at sixes and sevens." Such occurrences, of course, had their intended effect of causing more or less confusion and disorganization. Yesterday morning enough compositors reported or applied for work to man all the cases fully, but at a given signal, at about Io0:30 o'clock, eighteen men dropped their composing-sticks and left the room. A single-sheet edition of the Evening Post was published at 4 o'clock. To guard against the admission of spies a system of questioning all applicants for work was adopted, but, asthe agents of the union were prepared with ready lies,it was often difficult to distinguish between them and honest workmen. To-day a good number of compositors are at work, all who stuck to their cases yesterday having returned this morning, and more having been received. It will take a little time, of course, to get the composing room into the same complete running order as before the strike, but the daily improvement in its reorganization is very gratifying and assures the complete ultimate victory of the Evening Postover trade union methods. Editorially on the same date the Evening Post commented upon the occurrence in these terms: The experience of the working of the trade unions through which the Evening Post is just now passing has considerable public interest, because it furnishes, we fear, a striking illustration of the thoroughly anti-social principles on which many of these organizations are managed. Against trade unions as means of enabling Labor to measure its strength fairly with Capital, and protect itself against Capital in case of difference of opinion either about wages or methods, we should be the last to say a word. We have always held that to talk of the laborer as a free agent in his negotiations with the capitalist, unless he had a 410 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. labor organization at his back, was a mockery. In all contests between Labor and Capital the capitalist can bide his time; the laborer, unless in combination with other laborers, cannot do so. So that we consider the existence of wellmanaged trade unions as really a good sign of the times, as regards the future of the working classes. But in saying all this we assume that the management of them will be sober, rational and business-like, that is, will respect the rules of morality which constitute the social bond in a civilized industrial community. In other words, we assume that the conscience of the best members of the union will be the conscience of the union itself, and that the members will not cause, or permit to be done by the organization, things which they as individuals would shrink from, or be ashamed of, and which if done by men in general in the ordinary transactions of life would reduce us to barbarism. Now, as an illustration of our meaning, let us tell the story of our dealings with a trade union during the past week, and we commend it to the attention of everybody, in whatever walk of life, who is interested in the solution of what is called the labor problem. The compositors of the Evening Post have been for many years a picked body of men. Some of them have been in its employment for more than 20 years; one or two retired lately who had served it for a still longer period. The whole company was one with whom, in short, it was a pleasure to deal, owing to the skill, intelligence, fidelity and self-respect of its members, and there was every reason for believing that they were well satisfied with their position. Within a few weeks they asked for an advance of wages. The managers of the paper denied that this demand was, in the present state of the market, justifiable. The discussion which followed was everything that could be desired. It was friendly and temperate in tone and was conducted on behalf of the compositors by a committee who would be a credit to any deliberative body. When finally the point of irreconcilable difference of opinion was reached the controversywas brought to an end with expressions of mutualrespect and good will. A strike, the compositors said, would take place, but the managers of the paper would have seasonable notice of it, and it would be simply a friendly trial of strength. At this point the strikers apparently lost the control of the conflict andit passed into the hands of the union. Now, observe what followed. The compositors did not give the employers the notice which they had promised, and which every honorable man standing by himself feels bound to give of any act of his which will disappoint the reasonable expectations of a fellow-man, or is likely to cause him loss or trouble, and which every employer, who is not utterly heartless and unscrupulous, feels bound to give to any one who has served him long, and has been guilty of no misconduct. On the contrary, they came to the office on Friday morning as usual, apparently prepared to do the work of the day. At half-past 8, when but four hours remained for the printing of the paper, they marched out of the composing room without a word of warning, the best of them, as well as the worst. This hour was, of course, chosen in the expectation that the proprietors would be so much shaken by the prospect of having to suspend publication for that day that they would at once surrender without further struggle. After recounting the doings of some of the men who it was claimed had gained access to the composing room upon the untrue statement that they were non-union printers and there committed the unlawful offense of reducing type to "pi," besides otherwise creating a dis CELEBRATED INDIVIDUAL STRIKES. 41It turbance in the office, as has been already described above in the article from the news columns of the paper, the editorial proceeded: We have been assured that the decent men who left the services of the Evening Post are not responsible for those things and are ashamed of them. Ashamed of them they may well be, but responsible for them they certainly are. Any one who voluntarily surrenders his liberty to a man or organization, and permits such man or organization to control his conduct in the ordinary business of life is answerable in the forum of morals, at all events, for the use his master makes of his power. The disgrace of it and the guilt of it are his, as well as the master's. No majority of vote can save him, or whitewash him. Workingmen may rest assured that as long as the methods of trade unions are criminal and anti-social they will not permanently or considerably improve their condition. These methods may now and then extort a temporary and small rise in wages, but more than this they cannot do. They cannot raise the laborer in a social scale. There is in this world no future for either force or fraud. If they had nothing else to fight against they would be foiled by the social instinct of the race, which in the long run and on the whole reserves the good things of this life for those who tell the truth, respect their contracts, and do as they would be done by. Officers of the Typographical Union disclaimed amenability for the perpetration of the base and illegal acts of a few irresponsible men whom the Evening Post charged were members of the printers' organization, and the inculpation of the association and its whole membership for misdeeds done without its knowledge and which were repugnant to its principles was regarded as unreasonable and unjust. The Typographical Union has always prided itself upon being a law-abiding body and entirely out of sympathy with those who transgress against either property or persons; yet notwithstanding the fact that the union was not a party to the wrong-doing, the Evening Post continued to discredit it because of the offenses from which it had suffered. In truth, the affair so embittered the management of the paper that it has declined for more than a quarter of a century to in any way recognize Typographical Union No. 6. " I have a very vivid recollection of the event," the writer is informed by a union printer who struck on the first day of the dispute in i883. "Although the other newspapers had little to say about it, it was one of the most bitterly contested struggles of its kind in this city. For several days after the printers walked out the paper appeared day after day with practically the same matter, only the date lines being changed. At about the end of a week the Evening Post printed an issue which contained all new matter, but this issue consisted of a single sheet, only two pages. Thereafter they managed to get out the paper in its usual form, consisting of six or eight pages. At that time the Evening Post was under the editorial direction of three men, all of them conspicuous in public affairs and journalism. They were Carl Schurz. Horace White 412 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. and E. L. Godkin. Another man, who was either its business manager or exercised a powerful influence in the control of the paper, was Wendell Phillips Garrison, a son of the famous William Lloyd Garrison, the great Abolitionist. While the management did not formally recognize the union every printer employed in the composing room, with one or two exceptions, was a member of the organization, and the editorial tone of the paper was distinctly partial to trade unionism. In fact, almost on the eve of the trouble an article appeared which presented the trade union movement in a most favorable light. General Schurz, editor-inchief, was known to entertain the most friendly feeling for labor organizations, and in this connection I recall a very interesting incident. It was in July of that year that the big telegraphers' strike occurred. The office of the Evening Post was at Fulton street and Broadway, almost directly opposite the Western Union Telegraph Building. The shrill blast of a whistle which was heard above the street noises of Broadway was the signal that called the telegraphers from their keys, and as they left the building a defiant cheer rang out, which brought the occupants of the nearby buildings to the windows. Among them was General Schurz, who, thrusting his head out, waved his hand at the strikers and joined in their cheer. When the printers presented their demand for increased wages the Evening Post rejected it. After more than a week spent in negotiations between the managers and the representatives of the printers the strike occurred. Every person in the composing room, except the foreman and the assistant foreman, left the place and the paper's troubles began in earnest. During the following week it repeatedly charged that secret emissaries or sympathizers with the union had entered its composing room, pied its cases and damaged or destroyed its property, and I believe that efforts were made to arrest President John R. O'Donnell of the union on a criminal charge, but nothing came of this. Coupled with denunciations of the organization and its alleged methods in the Post's editorials were expressions of high regard for the striking printers and statements that its late composingroom force was the finest in the city and that the arguments of its chosen representatives in the discussions preceding the trouble would have done credit to any deliberative body in the land. Eventually the union had to confess itself beaten, but the bitterness of the quarrel left an effect in the office of the Evening Post which has not been changed to this day. It is noteworthy that soon after normal conditions had been restored in the composing room General Schurz severed his connection with the paper, and it was the current opinion that his action was due in large measure to this labor trouble." CHAPTER XX. NUMERICAL STRENGTH AND UPBUILDING EFFORTS. AT THE inception of the present union of New York printers in January, 1850, the membership was 28, while at the close of this report on September 30, 1911, its numerical strength was 6,969, the second highest figure in its history. Fluctuations from many causes have occurred in some of the intervening twelvemonths, but in the past sixteen years, with but few exceptions, the growth has been gradual and Panic of x857 substantial. By the end of the first quarter of Depletes Ranks I850 the rolls contained 114 bona fide members, of the Union. going up to 2I2 in the initial six months, and enough additions were made to the roster at the opening of i85I to advance the number to 300. Steady was the gain up to January i, I857, when the membership reached 9I7. But the financial and industrial panic which began in that year depleted the ranks of the union, and at the commencement of I858 the rolls contained but 3 8. It had not recovered from the effects of the hard times - the first in its experience - when 1859 was ushered in, but there was held on May 29th, that year, a special meeting, to which all printers who were favorable to the principles of the organization were invited. President Charles W. Colbum opened the session with an address. "There should be a feeling of union, of harmony, existing among us," spoke he to his auditors, many of whom were not members. " That good fellowship is largely in the ascendant is evident from the manner in which you have responded to the call for this meeting; and it was with a view to arouse that feeling of union and harmony, to dispel all jealousies, if any there were, that this meeting has been called. To such of you as are not now members of the union I say, join with us at once, and my word for it, you will never regret it. A few meetings since a committee of the union was appointed to revise and amend the scale of prices. That committee has completed its labors, and the scale as revised and amended is before the union for conclusive action; but before that action is taken we want every printer in New York, be he a journeyman or an employer, to unite with us, to give us his views, to aid us by his [4131 414 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. experience and to guide us by his counsel. Our doors are as open to the employer, so he be a practical printer, as to the journeymen, and why should they look one upon the other as enemies, when they should be friends? They should harmonize, not clash; for what is to the interest of one can surely be made to the interest of the other. At the last session of the National Union, composed of delegates from nineteen different States, and representing between 30 and 40 local unions, a resolution was adopted recommending the admission of employers to full membership in the subordinate unions, and as I have already intimated to you, the New York union most heartily approves of such action. It is proper that I should state to you, gentlemen, that the revised scale makes no increase of prices; no resort to a strike is recommended; on the contrary, it is believed that the scale has been so harmonized as to be at once acceptable to the employer and the employee. This meeting has not been called with a view to any formal action, but rather to afford Upbuilding an opportunity for a full and free interchange of Efforts the sentiments of the entire craft of this city, with in 1859. a view to the benefit of the trade of the country, for whatever affects the printing business of the commercial Metropolis of the Western Hemisphere must necessarily affect it throughout the length and breadth of this mighty republic. My humble opinion is that the means can most readily be found in the bosom of New York Typographical Union No. 6, and I hope to be sustained by the unanimous voice of the sons of Faust in Manhattan." At this juncture the gathering reorganized as a mass meeting of printers and Thomas J. Walsh was selected to preside. He stated that one of the objects of the assemblage was to urge the necessity of printers generally becoming members of the union in order to maintain a fair rate of wages, the encouragement of good workmen and the employment of every means which may tend to the elevation of craftsmen in the scale of social life. In addition to other reasons advanced as to why the purposes of the meeting should be carried out he read the resolution that had been passed by the National Union, which considered it "of the utmost importanice, in order to carry out the resolve of this body in relation to admitting proprietors of printing establishments as members of subordinate unions, that every effort should be made to reconcile past differences by mutual concession and the exercise of leniency toward erring members. The National Typographical Union therefore recommends to subordinate unions, where differences exist, the necessity of doing all in their power to further the good work of NUMERICAL STRENGTH AND UPBUILDING EFFORTS. 4I5 uniting all branches of our profession in the bonds of harmony and brotherly love." Samuel Sloan then called upon those present to go forward at once and assume their proper position, not only in endeavoring to obtain their rights as workmen, but also to assist their brethren, to relieve the distressed, to visit the sick, to bury the dead, and to educate and protect the orphan; such objects being among the duties of its members. Another speaker, Mr. Davis, remarked that in union there was strength, and that, although he was not a member of the union, still he fully endorsed the action of that body at all times, as he sincerely believed the main desire of its members was to promote the best interests of printers as a class.,He portrayed the benefit of workmen being united in their endeavors to maintain their just and equitable rights - representing it as part of his own personal experience, in a large office in New York where justice was denied the workmen, so long as their claims were preferred by each printer individually; but when, on their becoming united in a body - even though their numbers were but six-their demands, being just, were at once acceded to. He stated that he should certainly join the union, and advise all his friends to do likewise. Mr. Phillips urged the necessity of united action, peaceful and reasonable endeavors to carry out the principles and objects previously stated, and concluded by expressing a hope that the day was not far distant when all measures, having in view the benefit of the operative printer, would be carried by the moral force of public opinion, and the justness of their claims without ever being compelled, finally, to resort to the enforcement of their demands through the obnoxious method of strikes. The meeting was quite a success, and in response to the request to affiliate with the union 67 new members subscribed to the constitution at its regular session on June 4th. By January i, I860, the membership showed an increase of 230 within the previous year, having risen to 537. In the Civil War period and two years afterward the numerical strength of the union rose and fell, in seven years the highest figure being 677, and that was at the beginning of i864, in which year the newspaper strike occurred, caus- Membership ing a drop in the membership to 299 in less than Loss During five months, and it declined to 264 in the succeeding the Civil War. twelvemonth. But conditions commenced to mend in I866 and through the special efforts put forth by President Robert McKechnie the number had advanced to 1,226 with the arrival of January i, i868. In that year Mr. McKechnie became the executive head of the National Typographical Union, and in 416 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. accordance with a resolution of that organization referring to him with power the question of reorganization he issued on August 2ist a proclamation of general amnesty " to all printers (whether expelled, suspended or otherwise punished for faults committed) who shall make application in due form, accompanied by the usual initiation fee of the subordinate union within whose jurisdiction the applicant may reside, and it shall be the duty of said subordinate union to elect such applicant to membership without regard to his past record, or without any fine, pain or penalty whatsoever other than the initiation fee aforesaid." The amnesty General Amnesty continued from September ist to December ist, and Augments the Union No. 6 received much benefit from it, increasRolls in i868. ing its membership to 2,105 on January i, i869, and the successful issue in the book and job strike in the same year induced a further growth. Even during the greater part of the panic in the seventies it is a surprising fact that the union, instead of losing ground, actually gained in numbers, having on its rolls in i876 no less than 2,644 printers. But the serious trade dispute of i876, accelerated by the hard times, produced a downward tendency. In i88o the membership had dropped to I,042, and on September ioth a movement was inaugurated to again fill up the ranks, the union then resolving " that a committee of eleven be empowered from October i, i88o, to January i, i88i, to admit to membership all those working at the printing business as compositors, within the jurisdiction of this union, on the payment of such sum as the committee in its judgment may deem fit." From that time there was a slow rise until i883, when under the generalship of President John R. O'Donnell rapid progress was made in adding new members to the lists. " In view of Work of the fact that there are many large printing offices Rejuvenation in this city now closed against union men by order in 1i883. of the union," resolved the organization of compositors on February 4th, " and further believing that it would be for the best interest of the union to have union men working in such offices, the president and secretary are hereby empowered to grant permits to such members as can obtain work in any of said offices, on the condition on the part of the party receiving said permit that he will while at work in any such office use his influence in promoting the interest and welfare of the union by encouraging non-members to join the union, and report to the secretary in writing at least once a month what progress, if any, he has made." The officers were instructed to call within ten days a meeting " con NUMERICAL STRENGTH AND UPBUILDING EFFORTS. 4I7 sisting of one or more representatives from all the different offices within the jurisdiction of the union for the purpose of consultation and deliberation, and to see if some ways and means can be devised for bringing this union up to the elevation it should occupy, whereby all its members shall receive reasonable wages and equal rights." President O'Donnell, Secretary George A. McKay and Treasurer Edward J. Kain on Septeniber 25th issued the call for the conference. "Believing that the present low and highly diversified scale of rates existing in the City of New York is an evil to the trade in general and an element of danger to the union," they declared, " and believing that measures should be taken immediately to increase the membership of the union and put it in a position which would enable it to enter on an offensive or defensive campaign without danger of failure, the officers of the union respectfully invite you to meet them at Pythagoras Hall, No. I34 Canal street, on Sunday, thirtieth instant, at 2 P. M., to consult with them on, and assist in, initiating and carrying out measures for the purpose of strengthening the union and thoroughly organizing the city. The present unsatisfactory condition of rates in the book trade and the late changes in the prices of newspapers necessitate prompt and vigorous action. This circular is private only so far as not to be made a subject of general conversation. While it is not deemed advisable to have too large an attendance you are at liberty to bring with you any active union man in your office whom the officers may have overlooked." The conference was held and it was determined to invite non-union printers to attend a mass meeting to discuss trade conditions and listen to reasons to be set forth why they should affiliate with the union. This circular was sent to non-members by the president and secretary from the headquarters at No. I9 Centre street: As an association formed for the purpose of improving the social and material conditions of the printers of the city we ask your assistance in an endeavor to establish and maintain a fair rate of wages in New York. Without entering into any extended discussion of the merits and workings of the union system, we claim that the union is the only practicable means yet devised for bettering our position. When our organization is strong, wages are kept up, copy is fairly distributed, and the workmen are prosperous. When we are weak, wages are reduced, favoritism prevails, and no man is sure from one day to another but that some may underbid him for his position. If you wish an example, compare the state of the trade in 1875 with that of to-day, and ask yourself if your circumstances, notwithstanding the revival of business, have not steadily grown worse. Since we have lost control of many of the book and weekly newspaper offices of this city there has developed a class of unscrupulous employers who have cut rates in competing for work, and have taken most of the reduction from the I4 4I8 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. wages of the compositors. This has forced their competitors to take similar action, and the result has been a steadily decreasing rate of wages, without benefit to either employer or workman. This system has brought about a reduction of over30 per cent in six years. The cutting is still going on, and we find to-day many offices paying only 30 cents per I,ooo, and some even below that rate. As we must all make a living at the printing trade, it is as much to your interest as ours to endeavor to call a halt before the business is totally ruined. You are injured as much by a reduction as we are, and should unite with us in our efforts. If you do not wish to join the union we ask at least your assistance and co-operation in an effort which we propose to make to enforce a minimum rate of 35 cents per I,ooo in the city. Therefore, we ask you to attend in force a meeting of the trade to be held at No. Io Stanton street on Sunday next, March IIth, at 2 o'clock, where we can freely discuss the matter in all its bearing, and take such action as may seem best. Speedy growth of the organization was the outcome of the mass meeting, and on New Year's Day, 1884, it was observed that the membership had advanced to 3,464, the highest in its history up to that time, there having been an increase of I,61o in a single year. There was a loss of 251 in the membership during 1885, and on February 7, i886, the union created the office of walking delegate, among whose prescribed duties was to " endeavor Recession to obtain the name, house address and place of in the employment of every non-union printer in the city, Year 1885. and use his efforts by argument and persuasion to induce non-union printers to join the union." He was also authorized to "collect all moneys owing to the union from members, working outside of the jurisdiction of chapels, who do not pay promptly at the secretary's office." Owen J. Kindelon was the first walking delegate, but he resigned on May 9, i886, and was succeeded by George A. McKay. Although in that year 223 members were added to its rolls, the union on December I2th abolished the office of walking delegate. It, however, on January o1, 1892, restored the position. A resolution submitted on March I5th to repeal the law establishing the place was sent to the referendum, and was defeated by a vote of I,o87 for,'to 2,0I7 against. Since then the office has been a fixture. In 1895 the title was changed to organizer, who was then made chairman of the DisGrowth ince cipline Committee and required " to visit offices in Creation of Office of the city where no chapels exist, with a view of enOrganizer. couraging men employed there to embrace unionism." The membership, which in 1893 rose to 5,122, receded to 4,665 in I895, but through the labors of Organizer William F. Derflinger it then began to expand. In August, that year, he NUMERICAL STRENGTH AND UPBUILDING EFFORTS. 4I9 appealed to non-unionists to join the organization, stating in a circular to them that " for 43 years the Typographical Union has endeavored to impart dignity to the craft by assisting in the maintenance of the just and equitable rights of the individual craftsman and cementing the bonds of friendship and brotherhood that should exist between all men, and especially those of a distinctive craft, and so beneficial has it been that we are desirous of extending its influence, for in proportion to the intelligence, unity and numerical strength of his organization does the wage-worker find through higher wages, shorter hours and healthier conditions of labor a taste of the advantages so fully secured by the superior intelligence and unity of the employing class. The early and complete accomplishment of this will depend largely upon the rapidity with which the printers who are not on our rolls join with us, and we ask that you not only join, but that you exert your influence to have others do likewise. That these are the days of combination is well illustrated by the fact that physicians have their medical association; the legal fraternity unite on all matters of common interest in the various Bar Associations; the powerful financial institutions of the country find it necessary to combine in the National Bankers' Association to accomplish their ends; the merchants and manufacturers attain the object of their desires through Boards of Trade -then, why should not the printers be united in protecting their interests?" George W. Jackson became organizer in I897, his efforts also being of an energetic character, and the membership in 1898 passed the 5,000 mark. When the eighthour strike occurred in 1906 the total number of members was 7,066. That dispute caused a large decrease of the roster, whichin 1907 exhibited a declineto 6,729 and to 6,478 Effect of the in 191o, since which year there has been an increase I9o6 Strike on the Membership. of 491, owing principally to the fact that several large offices in which strikes took place in I9o6 for the shorter working day have resumed amicable relations with Union No. 6. Until I890 the financial year of the union began on January ist, but the annual fiscal period since then has dated from April ist. Beginning with i850, the membership at the commencement of every business year is denoted in the table that follows: 420 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Mambetbip of New Ycrk Typohbical Unio No. 6 Fc Yew from Januar 1. 1850, t Api 1, 191 1. Number of YEAR. members. January i,I850................... 28 I85................... 300 1852................... 547 1853................... 66I I854................... 750 1855................... 789 856................... 800 1857................... 917 I858................... 318 1859................... 307 86o................... 537 I86................... 626 x862................... 504 x863................... 431 I864................... 677 865................... 299 I866................... 264 I867................... 588 I868...................,226 869................... 2,105 1870................... 2,228 871................... 2,409 1872................... 2,07 873................... 2,243 I874................... 2,332 1875................... 2,357 1876................... 2,644 1877...................,998 I878................... x,68 I879................... I,024 x880...................,042, I88................... I,490 I I YEAR. m January I,I882.................... I883.................... 1884.................... I885.................... x886.................... I887.................... i888.................... I889.................... April i,890.................... I89.................... 1892.................... I893.................... I894.................... 1895.................... I896.................... 1897.................... 898.................... 899.................... 1900.................... I901................. 902.................... 1903.................. 904.................... 905.................... 906.................... 1907................... I908.................... 1909.................... 9I0.................... I9I.................... Number of embers. r,759 1,854 3,464 3,494 3,243 3,466 4,038 3,879 3,948 4,487 4,897 5,122 5,072 4,665 4,708 4,796 5,091 5,415 5,409 5,491 5,756 6,220 6,433 6,800 6,742 6,729 6,576 6,547 6,478 6,845 I 4d1 ~-0/ A taht Fij A/an h t aff- u (7A~ AB/ rter Issued by National Typographical Union to New York Women's Typographical Union No. x. Cha CHAPTER XXI. WOMEN PRINTERS. r |HERE were several instances of women performing work at the case and press soon after the general introduction of printing in America. Prominent among these were two nieces of Benjamin Franklin, daughters of James Franklin, who long before his death in 1735 taught them the art in Newport, R. I., and they became rapid and correct compositors. James Franklin bequeathed to his widow and their family his printing house, which they conducted successfully for many years. Many other women acquired the trade later in the eighteenth century, but they were usually connected with the households of the proprietors whom they assisted, and therefore were not regarded as employees. The first reference of a printers' organization taking cognizance of the employment of women is contained in the proceedings of the Philadelphia Typographical Society in I832. A rumor was then rife that a master printer was about to employ members of the opposite sex as typesetters in his establishment at the instigation of an economist, who had promised to supply the former with business if he would engage female compositors. In a letter written to the society and spread upon the minutes this statement was emphatically denied. During the agitation against Duff Green, Public Printer, the Columbia Typographical Society of Washington on January 17, I835, was somewhat exercised over an item in a local journal that girls were taking the places of striking printers in Philadelphia. A report was spread that after these girls had been taught the trade they were to be given employment on the Government printing in the National Capital, so a resolution was adopted and communicated to the associations in other cities inquiring whether women were working at the case in those towns, and if so, desiring to be informed as to what they intended to do " to prevent the further progress of the evil." It was a well-settled fact, however, that at that period there were not any women printers employed in Philadelphia or Washington, the discussion having been caused, not by the actual entrance of women into the printing industry, but by the movement then in progress looking to their employment in a larger and more remunerative industrial field. [4211 422 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. In New York City young women first began to be employed at typesetting in I853. When the strike occurred on the Day Book that year its publisher and editor advertised for Employment of girls to learn the compositors' trade. He described Women Printers Begn ins New his experience in the issue of that daily paper on York in I853. April IIth, saying that " on Saturday we stated that we did not know what we should do, but should trust to our wits to get us out of the tight place the Printers' Union had put us in. We did not trust in vain - they came to our aid, as they always have in an emergency. We advertised for girls to learn to set type, determining to teach them the art rather than submit to the tyranny of any trade union in the universe. There were more than 40 girls applied for situations at our office this morning to learn to set type. We engaged four of them, and they are now at work on the Book. We see no reason why they will not make good compositors and earn their eight or ten dollars a week, which will be to them good wages. This we look upon as the real practical way of enlarging the sphere of female labor, and if no other good comes out of this strike this benefit to the girls will be worth the efforts and trouble we are put to." The Tribune on the twenty-sixth of the succeeding August printed an item that " Mrs. Phebe Patterson proposes to establish in this city a printing office where the typesetting will be done by women. For this purpose she is now endeavoring to raise the necessary capital." In 1854 the question gave some concern to the National Typographical Union at its convention in Buffalo, where on May 2d a memorial was presented from the Detroit union, which referred " the subject of the introduction and continued employment of females within its jurisdiction to the National Union for its full and explicit view or decision," and urging " the adoption of some Union Endeavors decisive measure to guide and sustain any subto Discourage ordinate union in whatever just and proper course Women to a majority of its members may think fit to pursue Printing Trade. against this injurious innovation, by which employers wish to set aside fair usage and compensation." The committee to which the memorial was referred reported a resolution that the matter be left in the hands of the subordinate unions, " as being a question of a local nature, to be by them considered and acted upon as the circumstances attending them may require." In lieu of that Charles F. Town, one of the delegates from Typographical Union No. 6, moved the adoption of the following: WOMEN PRINTERS. 423 That this union, taking into consideration the present organization of society, are of the opinion that the practice of employing females in the composing department of the printing business is calculated to operate detrimentally upon the morals of those so employed, especially on account of the execution of many medical and other scientific works, which the welfare of society demands, but which contain matter eminently unfitted and highly improper for the perusal of modest young women. Also, that it is injurious to the interests of the trade, by throwing out of the business men who have served regular apprenticeships and are masters of their profession - many of whom have families (mothers, wives and daughters) depending upon their exertions for support. The proposition of the New York delegate did not contain anything of a mandatory character. It was simply the expression of an opinion, with the evident intent that its dissemination would tend to discourage young women from entering the trade, but it did not suit the radical element, who offered an amendment "that the National Typographical Union recognize none but male compositors." This provoked a protest from N. R. Pierce, of Cincinnati, who declared that he did not want to see either of the propositions adopted, but desired that all compositors, whether male or female, should be recognized if they had served a regular apprenticeship. Thomas J. Walsh, of New York, offered a substitute "that in the opinion of this union the subject of the memorial of the Detroit union is as unworthy of the serious consideration of this body as the sordid philanthropy and hypocrisy of those who would thus induce woman from her sphere is beneath contempt." Some further debate was had, one delegate believing that the subject was sufficiently important " to receive the serious consideration of the union," while another at great length expressed himself on the question from a moral point of view. Finally the memorial was referred to a select committee, a majority of which on the succeeding day reported the following: This union believes that the employment of females as compositors can never become so general or extensive as to affect the trade materially; and that while private cupidity may occasionally make efforts to introduce this kind of labor into the trade, such efforts must necessarily be spasmodic and eventually unsuccessful. * Therefore, Resolved, That the National Union acknowledges the right of subordinate unions to legislate for themselves with regard to the employment of females in the printing business, and to dispose of the matter as may best suit their several localities. A minority report was also submitted. It recommended the adoption of these resolutions: Whereas, We as workingmen, husbands, sons, brothers and fathers take a lively interest in the welfare, and have the warmest desires to advance the best interests of females; and, 424 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Whereas, As the representatives of the printers of the United States, in con. vention assembled, we feel called upon by reason of misrepresentation on the part of some - enemies to all interests not their own - to take action in relation to the employment of females in printing offices; we therefore Resolve, That we recognize the right of females to any employment for which they may be fitted, and that we further Resolve, That we, as a National Printers' Union, leave all legislation on this matter in the hands of subordinate unions, with power to act in such manner as their wisdom may direct. A motion that the majority report lie upon the table was negatived by the casting vote of the chair. Then it was moved that recognition be given only to male compositors. This was lost by a decided majority. For the two reports this substitute was offered: Resolved, That this union will not take any steps toward the prevention of females as compositors, knowing from experience that all such attempts to lure women from their legitimate sphere (the domestic circle) has in a great measure failed of its object, and has been done by those who are antagonistic to the rights of Labor, and are only actuated by selfish views. With these views we leave the matter solely with the respective subordinate unions. The foregoing was not carried; neither was a resolve " that this National Union recommends to subordinate unions the propriety of discountenancing the employment of women as compositors," nor a proposition "that the right of females to work in printing offices be not questioned by this union, and that whenever a female has served a regular apprenticeship, and demands the same rate for her labor as journeymen printers subordinate to this union, she be recognized by and allowed to work in offices with them." But a substitute " that this union will not encourage, by its acts, the employment of females as compositors" was passed by a vote of 17 to 9- the three representatives from New York City being recorded in favor of it. Horace Greeley favored the employment of women to perform certain kinds of composition. He spoke on the subject at the banquet of the New York Typographical Society on January GreeleyFavors I7, 854, to commemorate the I48th anniversary ofWoment of the birth of Benjamin Franklin. Responding to Compositors. the toast " Woman," Mr. Greeley expressed the hope that the day had passed when woman could be satisfied with mere flattery without opportunity to rise in the scale of happiness. He desired to see her engaged in employments where she would receive equal pay with man. Referring to the engagement of women in typography he expressed his delight at knowing WOMEN PRINTERS. 425 there were printing offices where they were employed with credit and profit to themselves and utility to the community. Editor Greeley again gave expression to his thought on the subject in the Tribune of July 17, 1854. " We have been requested on behalf of the journeymen printers to publish a manifesto, signed ' The Printers' Union,' against the employment of women in typesetting," he wrote editorially. " Having thus given them a hearing, we must ask them to listen a few moments to us. Let us begin by conceding one point insisted on by the printers. They say they have a right to refuse to work where women are employed in typesetting, and we freely admit it. It is certainly possible for them to 'knock-off' abruptly, injuriously, unjustly, but on giving reasonable notice they have a right to quit work, and for any reasons that are satisfactory to themselves. They have a further right to explain their position to other journeymen who may be solicited to fill their places and convince them (if they can) that it would be wrong to do so. Now a word on the other side. They say that 'the pretensions made by the press' of a desire to meliorate the conditions of woman in this matter of typesetting are 'base hypocrisy' put on to conceal their designs to depress the liberty and reduce the 'wages of the males.' We beg leave very meekly to demur to this sweeping crimination. We never employed girls to set type, and do not expect to employ any. We don't want to ' depress' anybody's liberty, not even that of women to set type, if they see fit, nor to reduce anybody's wages. Hadn't you better take that charge back? Now as to wages. Your fears that women will supplant you, or seriously reduce your wages, Messrs. Compositors, are neither wise nor manly. The girls who marry and have families to look after will stop setting type - never doubt that-unless they are so luckless as to get drunken, loafing, good-for-nothing husbands, who will do nothing to keep the pot boiling, and then th-y must work, and you ought not to be mean enough to stop them, or drive them back to making shirts or binding shoes at three or four shillings per day. If you find yourselves troubled with too strong a competition from female workers just prove yourselves worthy to be their husbands; marry them, provide good homes and earn the means of living comfortably, and we'll warrant them never to annoy you thereafter by insisting on spending their days at the printing office setting type. But waxing theologic and pious, you tell us of the sphere of action God designed woman to occupy - of her ' purity' and of the ' immorality and vice ' she must inevitably sink into, should she be admitted into the composing room to set type beside you. We feel the force of theSe suggestions - we admit the badness of the company into which unregulated type 426 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. setting would sometimes throw her - but did it never occur to you that this is her lookout rather than yours? It is perfectly fair for you to apprise her beforehand of the moral atmosphere into which promiscuous typesetting would expose her, but when you virtually say that she shan't set type because if she did your society and conversation would corrupt her you carry the joke a little too far. * * * Women never can be the equals of men as typesetters, except on the simplest and worst-paid work. No morning paper in a great city like ours can ever be set up by them; the work is too hard, the hours too trying and the requirements of lifting forms, staying all night, etc., are too exacting. But there is very much typesetting that they can do as well as men could, and considerably cheaper, while making far better wages than they could otherwise secure; and this work they will do, and ought to, and you may as well accede to it at once. Your logic is essentially that by which hand-pressmen of the olden time denounced power presses, and is as futile in your case as in theirs. There will be enough for all who qualify themselves for varied usefulness and steadily do the best that comes to hand. So just ' leave the girls alone' to work at printing or something else, as their (not your) Manifesto Against sense of propriety, and perception of what is best Female for them, shall dictate. You must land there at Employees in last, and you may as well go there at first." The Composing manifesto criticised above by the editor of the Rooms. Tribune had originally appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News in the form of a communication signed " The Printers' Union." It was as follows: It is an absolute impossibility for artisans or others in the great field of human toil to obtain through the columns of a venal press, justice. This is made palpable every day we exist, and it is surprising to us how certain reporters, editors, etc., can twist up and contort facts to produce an unfavorable impression, when such a course contributes to their pecuniary welfare. The public therefore will understand that the North American and other journals, when referring to the causes of printers' strikes are vitally interested and as a consequence are disposed to treat of the matter as ludicrously as possible. They hope thereby to throw against our organization the power of public opinion and thus reduce our members so that they may eventually be able to disorganize us - the result of which disorganization would put thousands of dollars into the pockets of certain employers, who are now necessitated'to pay a living remuneration for the work it is our province to perform. The great bulk of printers in this country are bound together in a common brotherhood for mutual benefit- the subordinate unions occupying the same position to a national head as that which is sustained by a State sovereignty to the general Government and are represented in a convention of delegates who legislate upon all general principles connected with their well-being. Frequent attempts have been made by combinations of capitalists to pull down this structure, and thus far they have been futile. The latest means employed by newspaper publishers is the introduction of girls into WOMEN PRINTERS. 427 the business for the purpose of supplanting members of our craft, whose scale of prices and regulations do not altogether agree with their Shylock faculties. The printers of the United States have uniformly opposed the introduction of women into printing offices for the following natural reasons: I. That females can be employed at rates much lower than we demand and are properly entitled to, and as a consequence employers would use them for the subversion of our national organization. 2. That we do not believe that any benefit can accrue from taking women from the sphere of action God (as is evident from her physical and mental qualities) designed her to occupy. Her faculties are different from those of the male, and any attempt to draw her from her present position in life should be met with that opposition from the American people which would be exerted against immorality and vice. The purity of woman should be guarded with care, and surely contact with the world in the same method that man finds necessary would have a very pernicious effect upon her morals. 3. That the pretensions made by the press in long and labored articles for the amelioration of the condition of woman are neither more nor less than base hypocrisy, put on to conceal their designs to depress the liberty and reduce the wages of the males. 4. That as wages must fall just in proportion to the increase of printers over demand, the introduction of females into our business at this epoch of our history as a craft would so depreciate the value of our labor as to render it a matter of necessity on the part of both man and wife to labor all the week for about in the aggregate the same compensation that is at present paid to the male for his services; and that as no bettering of the condition of either is effected by such procedure, except to the money-holders, we believe it is contrary to the advanced intelligence of the age, common sense, and justice to sanction such a course of conduct on the part of men who are not printers, but who, through their capital, speculate on the labor of others. The editor of a certain sheet in this city, of a very unenviable notoriety among consistent men, placed in his office several girls whom he had intended to instruct in typesetting so that he might introduce them into places of men who were employed on his paper; as the office in which they are to be schooled was a part and parcel of his newspaper establishment the men refused to continue longer in his employ. He was notified to that effect, and after declining to discontinue such undermining course the men forsook his office. A man certainly has the right to enter into a contract with whom he may feel disposed, so also is a man justified in refusing to be engaged under circumstances that would eventuate to the injury of himself and fellows. The editor of the sheet above mentioned has been guilty of a contract to annihilate our union in order that he may save a few dollars in the composition of his vacillating sheet. Failing to school a sufficient number of " fair ones " to occupy the positions of his hands of " sterner stuff " engaged on his paper, he sent an agent to New York to procure hands, and nine were engaged in that city to be employed upon his paper until his instruction of the "fair sex" could qualify a sufficient number to supplant them also. The printers of this city, knowing that misrepresentations were used to decoy their fellow-craftsmen from New York, appointed a committee to meet them at the railway station, and ascertain if they understood the condition of affairs in this city. They were conferred with, and at once stated that they had been imposed upon by the agent of the editor, and voluntarily, to a man, refused to have any intercourse with the obnoxious office, 428 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. although many of them had no connection whatever with the New York Printers' Union. They will appear in a card in a few days, and express their indignation at the manner in which they were enticed from their own city. Inclination to exclude women from the trade prevailed for a few years afterward among some unions outside of New York City. The Philadelphia association instructed its deleExclusion Policy gates to the national convention of printers in Prevails Outside 1855 " to oppose any recognition of the employNew York City. ment of females as compositors." Boston Typographical Union on June I4, i856, postponed indefinitely consideration of a motion that " any member working in any office that employs female compositors shall be expelled from the union." That organization, however, on April Ii, i857, declined to pursue a policy of exclusion in cases where women received equal pay with men. It passed a resolution " that all females be allowed by this society to work in all branches of the business, provided they receive the scale of prices adopted by this union." After the Civil War the question again came to the forefront, and in 1867 occupied the attention of the National Typographical Union; at the session of which in June A. T. Cavis, of Washington, D. C., offered a resolution that the Special Committee on the President's Address " inquire and report a plan to regulate and control female compositors, so that ladies in the business may benefit themselves and inflict as little injury as possible upon printers." Two reports were submitted by that committee. The majority, composed of Theodore S. Conklin, delegate from Typographical Union No. 6, and John M. Campbell, of Columbia, S. C., presented their conclusions as follows: We are clearly of the opinion that no hindrance should be placed in the way of females who have been unfortunate enough to have learned the art or profession of a compositor to earn a living at it. Ignoring the broad and philanthropic ground of the benefits the female sex would receive from connection with a body that knows its rights, and knowing, dare maintain them; and passing by the extended sphere of usefulness such a connection would open up to the mind, tact and enterprise of the American female, your committee would place the reason for such action upon the more selfish one of interest. Every member who listens to the reading of this report knows the fact that the female heretofore has been used by employers as an instrument of evil toward unions and union men. In almost every case in which female labor has been introduced it has been used to the detriment, and sometimes to the complete ruin of the labor of the union man. Is there any good reason for this state of warfare between male and female labor continuing? Your committee can see none. The interests of Labor, whether that Labor be of the male or the female gender, are identical and inseparable, and in no case can they be made antagonistic without injury to both. Females are never paid the same ratio of compensation as that secured to the labor of the male, for the simple reason that there has never been any WOMEN PRINTERS. 429 organization for mutual protection among female producers, and sordid Capital has.had full swing at this unprotected species of labor, and has ground it into the dust. Capital, in introducing it into the printing business, has not sought its elevation, but, on the contrary, has been largely instrumental in degrading it, and as a consequence the labor of the male has suffered in a like degree. The most experienced female in the science of economy knows that a thousand ems set by her is of as much value to the proprietor as the thousand ems set by her brother, and that it cost her as much mental and physical exertion to compose that thousand ems as it did him; that she had to put forward the same faculties and in as great degree as he had to learn to set that thousand ems, and that in common justice it should command the same price. But she cannot get it because she has allowed her labor to be made antagonistic to that of her brother by accepting for it when first offered a lower price, thereby injuring her own and ruining his. It is the part of wisdom to treat facts as they exist, and not as they should be. Female labor will neve; cease injuring male labor until they are brought in unison and they assume that position of identity which is their normal condition. This state of things can never be arrived at as long as female labor is ostracized and placed beyond the pale of our union organizations. The men of our local unions wherever this state of facts exist should throw. around their sisters the protecting power of their organizations, and tell unscrupulous capitalists who thus use the female to degrade the male, that it can be so no longer, that the female laborer is as equally worthy of her hire as the male, and that they are determined to exact it. Your committee would report the following resolution as embodying the true doctrine: Resolved, That subordinate unions, under whose jurisdiction the fact of female labor exists, should use every exertion and argument to induce such females to join their subordinate unions, or to establish a union of their own in conjunction with the existing union. But the sentiment that the question was only of local significance continued to exist among the majority of representatives in the national body. The minority member of the committee, S. A. Gray, of New Orleans, La., told the convention that " in relation to female labor I shall submit nothing more than the subjoined resolution," which provided " that the National Union declines to interfere with this question, as it is entirely of a local character, and may be settled by each subordinate union." The whole subject was discussed in Committee of the Whole on June 5th and decision was made in favor of the minority report by a vote of 27 to I9, which action was sustained by the general body. Agitation for equal rights for women was in that period receiving public notice. Miss Susan B. Anthony was among the leaders of the movement in New York City, and Equal Rights AdvOcates according to the World of October 5, i868, "when SekLbor the Labor Congress was in session she thought Recogition she saw an opening for an entering wedge in favor of female suffrage, and to become a representative in the convention she organized a female labor association, which elected 430 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. her as a delegate." It was largely the purpose of these advocates of equal rights to broaden the occupational field for their sex, and they criticised the attitude of unions of journeymen in endeavoring to prevent women learning the printing trade. These women suffragists issued a journal called the Revolution. The World had had a strike in its composing room and during the dispute employed a number of girls, whom it taught the trade of typesetting. In the fall of I868 the management of the paper and Typographical Union No. 6 entered into an arrangement by which the union printers who had struck returned to their cases in the office. Dismissal of the young women compositors followed, and the Revolution charged that they were displaced to appease the union. " Many women are typesetters," said the Revolution. " That is the only trade they have learned, and yet these printers' unions will not allow a woman in an establishment where they work. Not long ago the World employed a large number of women, when for some reason it was at loggerheads with the Printers' Union, but as soon as friendly relations with the union were restored the women were discharged. And this is the case all over the country, with both women and negroes ignored everywhere by the printers' unions. Now, what is the reason? Only this, they are disfranchised classes, hence degraded in the world of work. All history shows that just as you elevate the 1 Miss Susan B. Anthony represented Working Women's Protective Association No. I of New York at the convention of the National Labor Congress, which assembled in that city in September, I868. Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton presented to the same convention, as a delegate from the Woman's Suffrage Association, credentials signed by Miss Anthony as secretary. There was some opposition to the acceptance of the credentials on the ground that the suffrage association was not a labor organization, but Mrs. Stanton was finally admitted by a vote of 45 yeas to 18 nays. Subsequently during the session, being apprehensive that an endorsement of female suffrage might hinder the progress of an independent Labor party, the convention adopted a resolution " that by the admission of Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton as a delegate to this body, the National Labor Congress does not regard itself as endorsing her peculiar ideas, or committing itself to her position on female suffrage, but simply as a representative from an organization having for its object the 'amelioration of the condition of those who labor for a living.' " Before the lapse of another quarter-century the attitude of organized labor on the question of woman suffrage underwent a radical change. Typographical Union No. 6 on February I, 189I, received a communication from the American Federation of Labor asking for the endorsement of its petition to Congress to submit a constitutional amendment granting woman suffrage. The request was complied with. In after years Union No. 6 continued to show its friendly attitude toward the equal rights movement, as indicated by the following extracts from the manuscript minutes of its proceedings: May 3, I9o8 -" Mrs. Louise Weiss and Mrs. Stanton-Blatch were granted the privilege of the floor. Mrs. Blatch spoke, advocating that the union send a delegate as a member of the Executive Board of the Woman's Suffrage Association, meeting once a month at No. 32 Union Square. Granted." February 7, I909 —" Mrs. Weiss of the National Woman's Suffrage Association spoke in favor of the petition to secure woman's suffrage. It was ordered that the petition be sent to the chapels and that members be requested to sign it." May 7,1911 - "A letter from the Woman's Suffrage Party requesting the union to write to the Judiciary Committees bf the House and Senate to report the suffrage amendment out of committee was read and the request granted after considerable discussion and a reading of the International Typographical Union law declaring in favor of woman suffrage." WOMEN PRINTERS. 43x political status of citizens you open to them all the advantages and opportunities of life." The World of September 20, i868, stated that "the Revolution is in error in assigning the reason why the World began and why it ceased to The World Dismisses Its employ women as typesetters. It neither began Women ts to employ them because it was 'at loggerheads Typesetters. with the Printers' Union,' nor ceased because ' friendly relations with that body had been restored.' In fact, the experiment was undertaken and was concluded without any reference to the Printers' Union. The rules of that body on the subject we are not now and never have been informed of, nor do we know of any such rules. We should regret to believe that it would interpose any obstacle to the employment of women as typesetters. It certainly never interposed any obstacle to the World's employment of them." These were the reasons assigned by the World for its course: The World undertook the experiment of employing women as compositors because it was willing to be at some trouble and expense for the sake of giving practical aid to the movement for enlarging the sphere of women's work. The increasing business of the World made it necessary last May to enlarge both its composing room and editorial offices. In the change then made it was found impossible to retain for the occupation of the female compositors the separate room which they had filled. For this reason we sought places elsewhere for the women then in our employ, retaining one only in a more responsible position in the composing room. From the beginning to the end of our experiment perhaps Ioo girls were employed at the case. Of these less than half a dozen could set type when they were first received. Some of them became tolerable compositors, and are now making fair wages at bookwork. The majority of them, with every opportunity to learn, and with better payment on the whole for all they did than our men received for similar work, never reached an equal skill, nor earned as much as they. The moment they were tried by the simple test of so much pay for so much composition, which all male compositors undergo, their earnings fell far below the average of the earnings of the men. They were required for the most part to work only in the daytime; only once or twice were their services required at night. They worked as many days in the week as men, but could none of them work as many hours a day. Seven or eight hours were more than sufficient to tax their strength. Clean composition was next to an impossibility with all of them in the first instance, and the correction of their "matter" they shirked, if possible, and did badly when it could not be shirked. Yet they were generally favored with the most legible " copy," and were under little stress as to time. To the setting of " reprint," that is, printed copy, these remarks also apply. Illegible manuscript they were utterly incapable to decipher. The majority of persons write more or less illegibly; but the majority of that majority write with uniformitythat is, their manuscript is obscure in the same manner with the same letters or combination of letters - the same pen-tracks do service always in conveying the same syllables. All good compositors learn to read illegible manuscript and 432 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX they learn it by discerning these uniformities, assisted by the subject, the context, etc. The women whom we have employed never made any progress in this direction. Punctuation also somehow seemed as bad to them as " seven times nine" to Marjory Fleming. It was more than human nature could endure. At any rate, they never punctuated; and their justification must have been by faith since they never justified by spacing well. Such was the incapacity of the four or five-score women we have employed as typesetters, and such its kind and degree. Their hands traveled tolerably well and swiftly from the case to the stick, when the boxes had been learned - not so well from the stick to the case, in distributing; but all the compositors' art beyond that purely mechanical part they recked little of. It remains only to add that they were all faithful to the extent of their abilities, neat and decent in their dress, and well behaved, and that most of them had an ordinary commonschool education. Such are the facts; whoever pleases may preach the sermon. As soon as women printers in New York began through organization to seek to better their economic condition they received the encouragement and support of Typographical Union First Women's No. 6. Led by Miss Augusta Lewis 2 female comTypographica positors to the number of six met on October 8, in New York. 868, and formed Women's Typographical Union No. i. At the second meeting of the association the membership had increased to eleven, and it shortly rose to 40. In less than six months the wages of these members were advanced 5 cents per I,ooo ems. The union proved to be of 2 Miss Augusta Lewis was educated in the Brooklyn Heights Seminary and the Convent of the Sacred Heart, Manhattanville. For a time she was a newspaper writer, and afterward began an apprenticeship in the printing department of the New York Era. After acquiring the trade of compositor she was employed on the New York World. About that time the Alden typesetting machine had reached completion, and its projectors engaged her to demonstrate the new device. She soon became proficient in its operation, and composed and distributed the entire story of " Rip Van Winkle," consisting of 24,993 ems of solid agate type, in six and one-half hours. Miss Lewis was especially interested in social reform and during her residence in New York she visited tenement-houses and factories and studied the conditions of working people for the purpose of bettering them. On June 12, I872, she was married to Alexander Troup, a member of Typographical Union No. 6 and secretary-treasurer of the National Typographical Union in i866 and x867. Shortly afterward they removed to New Haven, Conn., where for a number of years and up to the time of his death Mr. Troup published the Daily Union. He was twice elected to the Legislature of Connecticut and for four years was United States Collector of Internal Revenue in that State. In a letter to the writer on April 3, 1911, Mrs. Troup, in referring to the time that the women compositors began to organize, said: " Printers have been a factor in educational and industrial progress. I was a member of ' Big Six ' and Women's Typographical Union No. i. Considering the prejudice against women in industrial occupations at that period I wonder at our temerity and success. I contributed articles to the New York newspapers, and learned printing as an educating factor to help me in writing." She was the first and only woman who ever held the office of corresponding secretary of the International Typographical Union. Another conspicuous example of the election of a woman to an important office of the International Typographical Union is that of Miss Anna C. Wilson, of Washington, D. C.. who is at present a member of the Board of Trustees of the Union Printers' Home, having been in May, 90o8, chosen to that responsible position by a vote of 19,792, which was 2,0o8 more than the number received by the next highest successful candidate and x s,69i above the lowest vote cast for a defeated nominee on the ticket. WOMEN PRINTERS. 433 material assistance to the organization of male compositors during the book and job strike that commenced early in the year i869. Miss Lewis, as president of the women's association, advertised on January 3oth, while the dispute was in progress, urging all female compositors arriving in the city to first call upon her before seeking employment at the case, thus enabling her to acquaint them as to the true state of the printing trade at that period. A leading concern of book printers whose journeymen had struck had advertised that "hereafter we shall pay full journeymen's wages to all first-class female compositors." Miss Lewis was visited by a number of women printers, a majority of whom had worked in an office whose men went on strike in 1867. These women expressed misgivings. They complained that they had worked well and faithfully during an emergency; they had given up Women Refuse situations whore the pay was less remunerative in to Take Places the hope that they would continue to receive the of Striking Men. larger wages that typesetting offered, and when the exigency that called forth their labor was over the strikers were reinstated and the women were turned away. They were, therefore, loth to again respond to appeals for their services under similar circumstances. Leaders of the Equal Rights party had determined to make it possible for women to enter the trade even though such course proved detrimental to the men who were on strike in I869.3 At a meeting of master printers on January 29th Suffragists a communication addressed from the Revolution Projecta office on the previous day was received from Miss Printers' Susan B. Anthony. "The Working Women's Training School Association appeals to you to contribute liberally for Girls. to it for the purpose of enabling us to establish a training school for girls in the art of typesetting at once," wrote Miss Anthony. "There are hundreds of young women now in this ' Even the union of women printers in New York did not receive from the equal rights advocates the support that it had reason to anticipate. Miss Susan B. Anthony sought admission to the convention of the National Labor Congress in Philadelphia in August, x869, but her entrance as a delegate was opposed by Typographical Union No. 6, which on August x7th. that year, adopted this protest: "The president of this union and Alexander Troup waited upon Miss Anthony in April last and requested her to pay the scale of prices to female compositors, which she agreed to do The statement made by her in the Labor Congress that the Independent and other offices in Ne% York City were not paying as high prices as the Revolution is erroneous, as there are females receiving Io per cent higher prices than are paid on the Revolution. The statement made by her in the said Labor Congress - that she did not know that the president of Women's Typographical Union No. I was discharged from her employ in the Revolution office - is incorrect, that lady having had a long interview with her on the subject. Therefore, we consider it an insult to our entire organization to admit her as a delegate to the National Labor Congress." The Congress voted -yeas 63, nays 28 -not to receive Miss Anthony's credentials. 434 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. city —more than 50 have made personal application to mewho stand ready to learn the trade; women who are stitching with their needles at starving prices because that is the only work they know how to do. Now, gentlemen, if you will help us to money we will at once start a school. These women must be helped to board, in part at least, while learning the trade. Give us the means and we will soon give you competent women compositors." Miss Anthony also appeared at the employers' meeting and addressed them briefly, concerning her plan, but no action was then taken on her proposal. On February 8th, however, they adopted a resolution that, " recognizing the importance of female labor in our composing rooms, we agree to employ females as compositors." As the dispute between the master book printers and their journeymen was eventually adjusted they did not avail themselves of the opportunity to profit by the proposition for a school of instruction. In June, I869, President Robert McKechnie addressed the convention of the National Typographical Union in Albany on the subject of female printers. "The question of "Big Six" woman labor in our business," said he, "is one Pleads for a which will be brought before your notice at this Charter for meeting, and I hope the delegates will give it the Women's serious consideration it merits. At the fifteenth nion No. i. session of the National Union, held in Memphis, a minority report of the committee to whom the question of the organization of female labor was referred was adopted referring the matter to subordinate unions. In accordance with that resolution a Women's Typographical Union has been organized in the City of New York and will make application for a charter to this body. As the law now stands, at present charters can be granted but to one union in any one place. I would respectfully recommend that the law be amended so as to grant a charter to the New York Women's Typographical Union and all others duly qualified - and this not as a matter of philanthropy, but as one of self-interest. In her last strike New York union found the great benefit of the women's union; though most liberal inducements were offered to women compositors to take the places of the men on strike, not a single member of the women's union could be induced to do so. Offers have been made to the president of their organization to furnish women compositors to other cities for the purpose of reducing the wages of the men, and in every instance have been declined. Even if sound policy did not dictate the organization of woman labor, the action of the Women's Typographical Union of New York has given it a claim on this body that entitles it to recognition." WOMEN PRINTERS. 435 A petition for a charter for Women's Typographical Union No. i was presented to the convention on June 9th. It was signed by Augusta Lewis, president; Kate Cuisack, vice president; Christina Baker, recording secretary; Susie Johns, corresponding secretary; Eva B. Howard, treasurer; Julia Grice and Mary A. Bartlett, fund trustees. " You have assembled together to legislate for the interests and advantages of the trade and the welfare of those who labor at it," read the prayer of the petitioners. " With such a noble end and aim in view, we beg to call your attention to the large number of women working at the trade, whose neglected interests, uncaredfor welfare, and disorganized labor are obstacles to your perfect organization, a detriment to the trade, and disastrous to the best interests of printers. Heretofore women compositors have been used to defeat the object for which you have organized - have been the prey of those philanthropic persons who employ women because they are cheap - their labor has been used during strikes to defeat you. When that object has been accomplished they are sent adrift, disorganized and unprotected, their necessity compelling them to work for a price at which they cannot earn a living, and which tends to undermine your wages. In view of these facts, and the injustice we have done you, as well as ourselves, and believing the interests of Labor- whether that labor be done by male or female - are identical, and should receive the same protection and the same pay, we, the women compositors of New York, have, by the assistance, exertions and praiseworthy example of Typographical Union No. 6, taken the initiative in this, and formed the Women's Typographical Union No. i, of New York. For the recognition of this organization, we present this our petition for a charter, asking your endorsement as individuals, as representatives of subordinate unions, and as members of the National Typographical Union. In the name of the cause you advocate, 'the elevation of Labor, and the protection of the laborer,' we beg your honorable body will grant it to us." Accompanying the petition was a set of resolutions that had been adopted by Typographical Union No. 6 at a stated meeting held on June ist indorsing the petiti6n and requesting its delegates to " use their best endeavors, consistent International with the constitution and laws of the National Union Consents to Formation of Union, to secure for the petitioners a favorable Women's answer to their prayer." Attention was given to Organizations. these pleas, and on June IIth the International Typographical Union of North America, to which title the national organization of printers was changed at the i869 convention, embodied in its constitution a provision that accorded recognition to 436 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. women printers.4 It stipulated that the International "may also grant charters to seven or more female printers in any one town or city; provided, that such charters shall be granted by and with the advice and consent of the subordinate union or unions in said city or town; and that female organizations shall be subject to the same restrictions in regard to scale of prices as male unions established within the jurisdiction of other organizations. And further provided that nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to prevent women joining any union subordinate to the International Typographical Union in cities and towns where women's unions do not exist from local and definite causes; and provided further that the subordinate unions shall not legislate against women compositors where they conform to the laws and requirements of the International Typographical Union." Miss Lewis eloquently expressed her thanks for the action of the convention in regard to the organization of female unions. "It is said 'from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaketh,' " she observed in her address, " but I think there are times when the heart is too full for utterance. My gratitude for your just decision, in granting protection and a charter to us, not as women, but as workers, and extending to us your aid and protection, not as men, but as an organization seeking to elevate Labor, I have not words to express. By your action in recognizing women's typographical unions, and their right to receive a fair compensation for their work, you have removed temptation from the path of those 'philanthropic' persons who advocate the employment of women merely because they are cheap. I think the voices that will be raised at some future day to thank and bless you will echo what I find it impossible to express, and that our cause will be strengthened and our labors lightened by the helping hand we extend each other in union. I can assure you that my companions and myself will ever hold in grateful remembrance the many acts of kindness showered upon us by the members of this convention." Women's Typographical Union No. i was chartered on July i9, 1869. Miss Lewis, who was a delegate at the i870 MissLewis Chosenconvention of the International Union, was then Secretarodfg elected its corresponding secretary. She conducted International. the affairs of that office with energy and ability, communicating with subordinate unions throughout the country and endeavoring to interest them in the effort to persuade women to affiliate with them, and through her persistent 4 Charters, however, continued to be issued in the name of the National Typographical Union for some time afterward, and the one granted to the union of women printers bore that title. WOMEN PRINTERS. 437 labors many women were admitted to membership. In some places she tried to form organizations exclusively of female compositors, but her work in that direction did not meet with success. At the convention of the International held in Baltimore in I871 Miss Lewis delivered an elaborate and interesting report, among other things dwelling upon the difficulties under which Union No. i had labored in New York, as follows: A year ago last January Typographical Union No. 6 passed a resolution admitting union girls in offices under control of No. 6. Since that time we have never obtained a situation that we could not have obtained had we never heard of a union. We refuse to take the men's situations when they are on strike, and when there is no strike if we ask for work in union offices we are told by union foremen " that there are no conveniences for us." We are ostracized in many offices because we are members of the union; and, although the principle is right, disadvantages are so many that we cannot much longer hold together. No progress has been made during the past year. Women receive 40 cents for all kinds of work. A strike among them would prove disastrous. * * * It is the general opinion of female compositors that they are more justly treated by what is termed " rat " foremen, printers and employers than they are by union men. Although my own experience is diametrically opposite to this I must say with regret that union men are throwing a power in the hands of their opponents which those do not fail to recognize and use to their own advantage. There is an office employing union men in New York that boasts a branch office known as the " Woman's Printing Office." I believe well-known authoresses patronize this office, intending to help female compositors; yet every injustice possible is suffered by women compositors on account of that office. In three weeks fifteen learners were taken in that office. I am informed that over Ioo girls were taught the rudiments of typesetting in that office in one year. No. 6 by letter was informed of the injustice we were suffering, as those learners got all the fat, all the reprint, and the experienced workers got all the objectionable matter. We received no official information as to the disposition of our communication. Learning to which committee it had been referred, we sent word to them asking their co-operation. No notice has been taken of it. In spite of all this I would not have it understood that No. 6 and No. I of New York are in a state of warfare; such is not the case. No. I is indebted to No. 6 for great assistance, but so long as we are refused work because of sex we are at the mercy of our employers, and I can see no way out of our difficulties. Women's Typographical Union No. i was destined to encounter adversity. Employers had refused to pay its members the same rates that were accorded to men for identical work. Differences ultimately arose between Union No. 6 Women's Union and Union No. x owing to the inability of the latter Encounters to establish and maintain a scale of prices equal Adversity. to that enforced by the journeymen's organization. President Lewis and Secretary Bartlett waited upon No. 6 on September 5, 1871, and urged the recognition of Union No. i as a branch 438 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. organization. They asked that when the association of men passed a proposed resolution against non-union men that non-union women be included in the same. A committee that had been appointed to confer with a like committee from the women's union urged No. 6 on November 7th to pass a resolve " that the present members of No. I be admitted to No. 6, to work under a scale not less than that now received by members of No. i; that the said scale shall not be altered or amended except by consent of No. 6; that in case the above be accepted by No. i they are to surrender their charter to No. 6; and that non-union women be placed in the same position as non-union men." The recommendation was postponed without day, and the matter was never revived. Some delegates to the International convention in 1872 seriously questioned the wisdom of granting charters to separate subordinate unions of women. "We are convinced that the experiment of establishing separate unions for females," reported the Committee on Female Labor at that session, " has resulted unsatisfactorily to members of both the male and female unions in the city where it has been tried, chiefly because a difference has existed between the two scales of Women Printers prices in force in that city." A resolution that the Unable to Obtain article of the constitution providing for the charSame Wages as Men. tering of women's unions be striken from the basic law was defeated, but the convention ordered " that all subordinate unions are recommended to admit female printers to membership upon the same footing, in all respects, as males." At the Montreal convention of the International in 1873 it was decided not to charter any more women's unions. Union No. 6 on January 6, 1874, referred to a committee a proposition " to consider the expediency of nullifying" the charter of Union No. i, whose members, it was charged, " are continually taking the places of the members of this union for a lesser rate of wages." That committee reported on March 3d, suggesting " that our delegates to the next International Typographical Union convention be instructed to demand the immediate revocation of their charter." The recommendation was adopted. Theodore S. Union No. 6 Conklin, who was one of the representatives from Demands Deman s New York at that general conclave, which was held Revocation of Women's Charter. in St. Louis, on June 3d introduced a resolution to annul the charter of Union No. i, on the ground that it had been granted in I869 on condition that the local should adopt a scale of prices and submit the same for the approval of Union No. 6; that it had failed to comply with this requirement, WOMEN PRINTERS. 439 "and is working without any fixed scale of prices, greatly to the detriment of Typographical Union No. 6, being frequently the cause of throwing union men out of work, or preventing them from getting work." A majority of the committee to which the foregoing was referred reported that the evidence which was intended to show that Union No. i had not complied with the provisions of its charter was insufficient and that the International did not possess the power to interfere with the controversy between the two organizations, the members of which, it was recommended, should be advised by the convention " to act in harmony and adjust their difficulties in an amicable manner between themselves." A minority report, submitted by Delegate Michael Kivlen, of New York, declared that Union No. i had not complied with the conditions under which it had been established and urged that the charter be " revoked and annulled." Mrs. Mary A. Danielson, representing Union No. i, claimed that the scale of prices of her organization had been submitted to Union No. 6 and approved. After a lively debate this substitute for the two reports was adopted: " That, in consequence of the conflicting statements between Typographical Union No. 6 and Women's Typographical Union No. i, a committee of three be appointed to send for persons and papers, to investigate the matter and report at the next annual convention of the International Union, and in the meantime Women's Union No. i shall forward its scale of prices to Union No. 6." The new price list was on January 5, 1875, submitted as required by the resolution, but was evidently unsatisfactory, as Union No. 6 perfunctorily received the communication and ordered that it be filed. Further discussion of the matter does not appear in the latter's records after that date. Business stagnation caused by the financial panic was then at its height, finally resulting in the suspension of the wage scale of the journeymen's union, and that doubtless accounts for the fact that the agitation against the women's organization ceased so far as Union No. 6 was concerned. In the same year, however, the International, which convened in Boston in June, adopted a recommendation of the Committee on Female Labor, of which Mrs. Danielson was chairman, to repeal the resolution passed in Montreal in 1873 forbidding the granting of charters to female unions. Thus the matter remained until i878, when the International Women's enacted a law " that no further charter be granted Union No. I to women; that such women as are now members of Dissolves. subordinate unions be not interfered with in any of the privileges which they now enjoy." Then it was that Women's Union No. i went out of existence, its membership having been 440 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. greatly reduced, the last available record, which was in 1874, showing that its roster then contained 28 names, as against 40 at the time it was chartered by the International. Those who were attached to the union when it lapsed did not immediately apply for membership in Union No. 6, but they began to affiliate with it in 1883, since which year the journeymen have insisted upon and have secured equal pay for women members, I92 of whom were on the rolls on September 30, I91I. Samuel B. Donnelly,5 president of the International Typographical Union, gave some interesting testimony before the Federal Industrial Commission on May 9, I899, concerning women printers and the benefit they derived from affiliation with the union of compositors in New York. "The New York Typographical Union admits women and they get the same scale of wages as men," testified Mr. Donnelly. " New York employing printers conFull Pay for sider that I,ooo ems on a galley brought to them Women in Men's by a woman is worth just as much to them as the Organization. same amount by a man. One of the fairest, and I presume, a printer of the best standing in the United States, stated in a conference with a typographical committee in New York City that the women in his composing room were considered by the establishment as men; that so long as they performed the work in all its phases they would be employed; that he wanted competent printers who could be employed in any part of the composing room, and he would always pay them the same wages that he paid men; that, when conditions were such that he would be compelled to reduce the wages of women he would not employ them at all." I Samuel B. Donnelly served as president of Typographical Union No. 6 for three terms, beginning with August, I895. He was elected president of the International Typographical Union in 1898, occupying that executive position for two years. In 1903 he was chosen secretary of the General Arbitration Board of the New York Building Trades, remaining in that position until r9o8, when he was appointed Federal Public Printer in Washington, D. C. CHAPTER XXII. CHAPEL SYSTEM ESTABLISHED. rTY POGRAPHICAL Union No. 6 at the beginning of its career T provided in its laws for the establishment of chapel government. The original provision on the subject made it " the duty of the hands in every office to appoint from their number a chairman, whose duty it shall be to report to the Business Committee, in writing quarterly, or oftener if necessary, the condition of the office in which he may be chairman, the number of men and boys employed, and such other matters as may be deemed of importance to the union." Amendments enlarging the powers of chapels and defining the duties of their officials have been made to the constitution from time to time. At present the principal provisions pertaining to chapels are as follows: In every office where three or more members of this union are employed they shall form themselves into a chapel and elect a chairman and a secretary. The chairman shall be the direct representative of the union in the chapel, and shall see that all union laws are observed by members of the chapel. The secretary shall keep a record of proceedings of all meetings of the chapel, and such record shall at all times be open to inspection by members of the chapel and officers of the union. Every chapel shall regularly elect a Finance Committee, whose duty it shall be to audit the accounts of the chairman and immediately report to the Executive Committee any delinquency on the chairman's part in promptly turning over to the proper union officers all dues and assessments collected by him. Chapels shall hold meetings at least once a month, at which all members shall attend. Each chapel may adopt rules for its government, such rules in no case to conflict with the constitution and by-laws of this union and general laws of the International Typographical Union, but any member who may feel aggrieved by any rule or decision of any chapel may appeal to the president, whose decision shall be binding until reversed (on appeal) by the Executive Committee of the union. The chairman:Shall immediately ascertain from any stranger obtaining employment in his office whether he holds a union card. Shall collect the dues of the members of the union employed in his office every month, and assessments as provided by the union, turning the same over to the secretary-treasurer of the union within 48 hours and taking proper receipts therefor. [44I] 442 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Shall see that the International Typographical Union laws governing foremen in hiring and discharging members of this union are enforced, and immediately report to the Executive Committee of the union all violations thereof; he shall also report in writing all violations of the constitution and by-laws or of the scale of prices. Shall report monthly, in writing, to the Discipline Committee the condition of his office, the number of members in good standing, the number in arrears, and such other matters as he may deem of importance to the union. Shall report at once all matters of dispute between the employer and the men employed in his office to the secretary-treasurer, to be referred to the president. Shall decide all disagreements and disputes between the members of the union employed in his office as regards union laws and the scale of prices, and such decision shall in all cases be binding until reversed (on appeal) by the chapel. Appeals from the action of the chapel must be made to the president. When the chairman makes a decision on the laws of the union or scale of prices his decision shall be binding until reversed by the chapel; if further appeal is desired it must be taken first to the president of the union; if further appeal is desired it must be taken to the Executive Committee, and finally to the union; but each decision is binding and must be observed until reversed. Prior to the advent of typesetting machines, when piecework was generally in vogue on newspapers. and in book offices, the chapel regulated the taking of copy by compositors, saw that the fat was equally apportioned, provided for a suitable division of type among its members, and adopted other rules that served to protect employees of composing rooms against injustice. Chairmen enforced office rules in regard to having leads, dashes, sorts, space rules, etc., placed in their proper receptacles, and were empowered to fine violators. Then as now there were rules for correction of proofs. Those of a typical newspaper are presented below, showing the provisions that were extant in I889, a few years previous to the introduction of mechanical devices used in composition, and under the present system of time work: RULES FOR PASSABLE PROOFS. Under Piecework System Before the Advent Under Existing Time-Work System on of Machines. Machines. The changing of four letters or The slug having the most errors on points; an out or a doublet forming a a galley shall correct the entire galley, word of two or more letters; the trans- unless two or more faces of type are position of a word; an error that re- on a galley, in which case he shall pass quires the insertion of one thin space; same to slug having most errors in an error that requires more than one that font. If machine has been and one-half ems spacing out, or an changed to different font other than error requiring the compositor to leave on proof, the proof must be placed his stand. on hook. CHAPEL SYSTEM ESTABLISHED. 443 Parts of words to be taken out or inserted shall count as an error for each letter, four errors being passable. Proofreaders' marks shall govern in passing proofs. The chairman's interpretation of this rule shall be final. Proofs passed cannot be returned on a change of the proofreader's marks, and no new error marked shall make them passable; but the canceling of the error which would compel the compositor to take up the galley shall relieve him. Marks repeated from the first proof go to the one neglecting them. In the event of a proof having no passable "take," the one having the most errors shall take it up. An out or doublet which necessitates over-running more than two lines, unless within four lines of the end of a paragraph, shall be considered six lines. Commas only will be cut off by the correctors and do not count as an error, unless at the end of line. One full-face, brevier, elzevir, celtic or agate credit line shall be considered six lines. Regular machine thin spaces may be used in corrections. Proofreaders must ring all changes from copy. Wrong fonts in machine must be rung. Regulations relative to the engagement and employment of substitutes, usually termed " subs" in the parlance of printers, have always occupied a conspicuous place in chapel government. In the newspaper office referred to above the rules covering this subject at two different periods - I889 and I9II - follow: REGULATING EMPLOYMENT OF SUBSTITUTES. In 1889, Under Hand-Composing Method. In 1911, Under Machine-Composing Method. No person shall put on a " sub " in Any regular who has failed to rethis office and go to work in any other spond to his name when the last office and afterwards return and be regular lifts copy shall be declared entitled to his former frame. late, and the chairman shall draw a The hour for discharging "subs" ball to cover the situation. shall be I o'clock P. M. No "sub " shall be permitted to When a " sub " is put upon a frame seek work on the floor of the comwithout a specified time he shall re- posing room earlier than 20 minutes main in charge of it until the return before each phalanx is scheduled to of the principal thereof, and unless he work. Should he ignore this rule the receives contrary orders by I P. M. chairman shall fine him $i. This each day such " sub " may take the shall not apply to day men. cases for the night. No regular shall The chairman or acting chairman be allowed to change his "sub" ex- shall handle all telephone calls for cept for neglecting the frame. "subs." When a telephone message When a regular puts on a " sub," is received directing that a " sub " be and the "sub" puts on another put on, the ball shall be drawn im"sub" without having first worked mediately, except when the call is a day on the frame, the last "sub" received prior to 20 minutes before shall be entitled to work on the frame time. until the regular returns. A regular may engage a " sub " 24 1 A ring consists of an encircled correction or mark on the margin of a proof. 444 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. When a " sub " is put on a " slid" frame by the office his right to such frame ceases with his day's work. A slide being posted by the office shall stand as a slide even if recalled, and the frameholder shall not work if a " sub " be obtainable. A "sab" shall be entitled to all matter or time work which may belong to the frame for the current day previous to his going to work, whether set by the frameholder or any other "sub." No unemployed " sub" will be allowed to remain in the office for the purpose of seeking engagements between the hours of 2:30 P. M. and 5:30 P. M., nor after composition commences for the night, with the exception of Friday and Saturday and chapel meeting days. The chapel does not recognize any engagement made between a regular and " sub " more than 24 hours ahead. hours ahead, except where a frame is slid, then 48 hours. When a "sub" refuses to go to work for a regular he cannot go to work for any other man or for the office. When a "sub" draws a ball for a machine or frame, he holds such machine or frame until relieved by the regular. "Subs" cannot be changed except in the absence of the original "sub." No unemployed "sub" will be allowed to remain in the office for the purpose of seeking engagement after the last phalanx goes to work. No " sub" shall put on a "sub" in the office and go to work in any other office and afterward return and be entitled to his former frame or machine. When a regular puts on a "sub" and the " sub " puts on another " sub" without having first worked a day on the frame or machine, the last " sub " shall be entitled to work on the frame or machine until the regular returns. The time for relieving a "sub" shall be 20 minutes before the first phalanx goes to work, unless previously released. The time for relieving a "sub" on Saturday shall be before 12 midnight on Friday. This does not apply to the day or midnight force. The time for relieving a "sub " on the midnight force shall be not later than 9:30 A. M. the previous day. When a regular on the day force working on Sunday puts on a " sub " he must relieve "sub" on Saturday; failing in which the "sub" shall claim Sunday's work. When a regular situation holder fails to put on a substitute, it shall be the duty of the chairman to have the substitutes on the floor of the office draw a ball from the box provided for that purpose to decide who shall receive the night's work, the highest number to count. CHAPEL SYSTEM ESTABLISHED. 445 Plenary authority has never been delegated by the union to chapels in the matter of ordering strikes. Perhaps the nearest approach to granting such powers was in i88I, during the suspension of the scale of prices, when newspaper chapels were permitted, "if the majority deemed it to their interest," to demand an increase of wages. It was then directed " that where chapels leave their frames to enforce such demands, in accordance with the rules of the union, no member of this union shall be permitted to fill the places of those who go out." In the original by-laws the power to order strikes was vested in the organization itself and its Business Committee. For many years the constitution has required that a declaration to strike can be made only at a specially called meeting by "a three-fourths vote and the presence of 200 members who have been in good standing for the six months immediately preceding." Seldom has a chapel taken upon itself the questionable prerogative of calling out its members. It was done in the office of the Recorder, a morning newspaper, in I89g. William J. Brennan was then president. The foreman had been discharged by the management for business reasons, and early one evening the chapel decided to walk out because of a refusal to reinstate the dismissed composing-room overseer. When the attention of the executive officer of the union was called to the illegal action of these printers he immediately organized a new force of union workmen, installed them in the typesetting department, and thus caused the issuance on time of the various editions of the journal. His course was promptly and emphatically sustained by Union No. 6. One may gain a clear idea of the characteristics and internal workings of a moder chapel by perusing this statement, made by one whose knowledge of the subject stamps him as an authority: In a shop employing three or more men a chapel is formed. The chapel elects a chairman and secretary, and the chairman of the chapel transacts the general business of the employees as between the employees and employer. He is considered the representative of the employees in all business which they may have to transact with the employer. If a man in the chapel receives what we call a short envelope through mistake of the bookkeeper, he does not go to the bookkeeper or employer; he states his case to the chairman of the chapel, who makes complaint for him. His duties are defined by the constitutions of the local unions. They invariably are to see that union regulations are complied with; that no discharges are made for what is known as upholding union principles; that no discharges are made that are considered wrongful on the part of the men; that there is no violation of the scale of prices of the union, and that there is no overtime work that is not paid for, and that the sanitary conditions of the office are fair. He is generally the representative of the union in the shop. The chairman makes his report of the condition of the shop to the union meet 446 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. ings. In the smaller unions he makes his report verbally to the union meetings. In the larger unions, such as New York and Chicago, he goes to the office of the union and submits his report in writing. That monthly report shows the number of men employed in the office, number of men in the composing room, number of men in the pressroom, number of apprentices, errand boys, etc.; as to whether the employees are all members of the union, and if not, how many are not members of the union; as to whether all departments are organized, and if not, as to what can be done by his union that will result in the organization of all departments; as to the number of machines in use, and a general statement as to the condition of the office. The chapel is the unit of organization in the typographical union. The individual member is the unit in the organization, but so far as the enforcement of organization rules are concerned the unit in division of the organization is the chapel.2 2 Extract from testimony given by Samuel B. Donnelly, president of the International Typographical Union, before the United States Industrial Commission in Washington, D. C., May 9, z899, Volume VII, page 271. CHAPTER XXIII. REPRESENTATIVE FORM OF GOVERNMENT IN UNION AFFAIRS. | HRICE has Typographical Union No. 6 put into practice the. system of legislating by delegates, and an equal number of times has it admitted the impracticability of transacting its business by such method. The sudden rise in the membership in 1869 to the then unparalleled figure of 2,I05, a gain in a single year of 879, induced discussion as to the advisability of adopting a plan that would secure a suitable representation from each chapel to perform the functions of the members, who had been accustomed to assemble en masse, the reason for such change being that there was not a lodge room in the city large enough to accommodate those who desired to attend the sessions of the union. By 1870 the number of members had increased to 2,228, and on March ist the question was brought up for consideration, but it did not meet with much encouragement at that meeting, for the resolution which was then presented, "that a committee be appointed to report to the union a plan by which the business of the union can be conducted by delegates," was laid upon the table. The matter was again taken up on November ist, a committee of nineteen, seven of whom were from newspaper chapels, seven from book offices, and five from job rooms, being selected to examine and report upon the feasibility of the plan. The outcome was that the scheme was submitted to the referendum, and on May 2, I871, the secretary notified the union that the proposition had been carried by a majority of 420. Pronouncement A committee that was appointed on June 6th to for Delegate draft rules for the conduct of affairs by the Board System in 187I. of Delegates reported on October I7th, recommending that every union office employing io members or less be entitled to one delegate; over io and under 20, two delegates; over 20 and under 30, three; over 30 and under 40, four; over 40 and under 50, five; and in the same ratio for all workers in excess of the latter number. It was also provided that delegates should be instructed by their chapels as to the course they ought to pursue at meetings; [4471 448 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. that they should not have power to impose assessments, levies or extra taxation on the members without first taking the vote of each chapel on the question; that their functions at meetings should be similar to those exercised by members at general meetings. They were also prohibited from altering the scale of prices or ordering a general strike before consulting their respective chapels and obtaining the "yeas" and "nays" on the subject at issue. Delegates were to serve for three months and hold monthly meetings, at which 25 were to constitute a quorum. Two general meetings of the union were to be held yearly - in January and July. But most of those who attended that session were evidently not in sympathy with the designated change, and they disposed of the matter for a long period by ironically carrying a motion to postpone action on the report until "January, 1890." The union, however, did not wait until that year to reanimate the question, but on October 14, 1877, it " resolved that the votes of the members of the union be taken in their chapels on the principle of meeting by delegates." By popular vote the proposition was approved- 416 favoring it and 92 being recorded in the negative, yet the project met with opposition at the meeting of December 4th and was again side-tracked by the defeat of a resolution to amend the constitution so that it might conform to the delegate system. Eight more years elapsed before the proposition was again discussed. It came to the fore through a report submitted by a Committee on Itemized Accounts on November 8, i885. "As shown by the minutes of the union at a meeting held November 25, 1883, at which a vote was taken on the question of closing the assessment, 2Io members voted," began the argument of the committee in favor of union government by representatives. " On February 3, 1884, the vote shows an attendance of about 200 at a meeting voting on an assessment. On September 7, 1884, there were present 254 members who voted on the same question. At other times there have been on occasions of excitement as high as 800 or I,ooo members present. The committee present these facts as showing the inadequate means afforded by mass meetings for obtaining the expression of the sentiment of the union upon questions of the first importance. It is at times urged as an argument against the efficiency of the union and as grounds for a doubt of the wisdom of its proposed steps, that it is not controlled by the wishes of a majority of the members, the one-tenth of the membership generally attending legislating rather for themselves than for the whole session. Members who remain away from union meetings feel that they are not REPRESENTATIVE FORM OF GOVERNMENT. 449 represented, and that it is their right that they should be represented by men of their own choosing. This could be fully and satisfactorily done and the. business of meetings performed with system, and with legislators in possession of all the information necessary to intelligent action by delegates. It can hardly be expected that 3,500 workingmen, living in an area bounded by Morrisania and Staten Island, Paterson and East New York, can stand ready at all times, either on a working day or on their only weekly holiday, to attend union meetings." A recommendation of the committee that the constitution be so amended as to First provide for a Board of Delegates was decided in Board of the affirmative by the referendum —the vote for Delegates. the proposition standing I,294 in favor, to 565 against. To prepare a code a committee of fifteen was chosen on January 3, i886, and on February 7th it suggested alterations in the fundamental law to provide for the government of such board. Representation was similar to that stipulated in the plan proposed in i87i. Delegates had full power in all matters respecting the good and welfare of the union, with these exceptions: Altering or amending the constitution, by-laws or scale of prices, levying assessments, appropriating a larger sum than $ioo, other than for the legitimate expenses of the organization, and removing or expelling its officers. Questions involving these excepted powers had to originate in the board, and if approved by one-third of those present were then submitted to the entire membership for sanction or disapproval. Apart from the representatives, meetings were open to all good-standing members of the union as visitors only. A presiding officer was elected at each regular monthly session and delegates were chosen for a quarterly term. The first Board of Delegates convened on March 6, i886, 96 chapels being represented by 212 members, and President Everett Glackin was chosen chairman. The new mode of procedure did not remain popular very long, two-thirds of the board itself declaring it a failure on November 7th by proposing that it be abolished. Later the recommendation was approved by the chapels, and on July 3, I887, the board went out of existence. This initial failure, however, was not disheartening to those who believed that the plan could be made a success if it were accorded a fair trial. Members of the Times, Press and Evening Sun chapels at the beginning of 1892 petitioned the Executive Committee to "recommend to the union that the question of meeting by the delegate system be submitted to a popular vote at the annual election I5 450 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. in March." The union gave countenance to this on February 14th, and it was announced on April 3d that the vote on the proposition was: For, I,850; against, I,039. An article was incorporated in the constitution to govern the workings of the board. These provisions were about the same as those that regulated its predecessor, but to abrogate the institution it required a two-thirds majority on a general vote of the members. The second Board of DeleSecond gates was organized on October 4, 1892, but in 1893 Board of an attempt was made to abolish it, on September Delegates. 6th it being announced that the referendum had cast 1,301 votes in favor of doing so and I,014 against. As the majority was less than the necessary two-thirds the resolution was not carried. Two subsequent efforts at abolition were also defeated - in December the vote recorded in favor being 1,541, to 832 against, while in January, 1894, it was I,578 ayes and 873 nays; but in the following April the resolution to extinguish the board was adopted and the old system of mass meetings was substituted. Even the futility of the second trial of the plan did not discourage its advocates. They induced the Executive Committe to recommend to the union on February 7, I897, that it " return to the delegate system of meetings, and that a committee be appointed to devise some feasible scheme for the carrying out of the same, eliminating if possible the objectionable features said to have existed when that system was before in operation." The proposal was tabled, but on September 5th of that year the Press chapel caused to be introduced at a regular meeting of the union a resolution " that our chairman be and he is hereby instructed to give notice of a motion to amend the constitution so as to provide for the delegate system." Under the rules the matter was laid over until October 3d, when it was decided to inaugurate the system for the third time. Constitutional amendments pertaining to the subject were in Third November adopted by the referendum- the vote Board of being I,650 for, to I,259 against-and on December Delegates. 5, i897, the board convened. Rules for its guidance were practically the same as those that governed the two previous Boards of Delegates. The secretary-treasurer was authorized to " issue credential cards to the regularly elected delegates from each chapel, on proper certification from the chairman thereof, and admission to the floor during sessions shall be had only on presentation of such cards to the sergeant-at-arms, who shall punch them for each meeting and keep a record of attendance." REPRESENTATIVE FORM OF GOVERNMENT. 45I Chapels were given the privilege to recall their delegates at any time and elect others to take their places. Dissatisfaction with the system began openly on August 2I, i898, when a resolution was introduced to amend the constitution and by-laws " by strildng out everything in relation to the Board of Delegates and re-enact the constitution and by-laws as they previously existed." This was not passed, but on December 29, i900, when the question of abolition was submitted to the popular judgment the membership declared for the proposition -1,603 voting "yes " and I,277 "no." Open meetings commenced on January 7, igoi, and have since continued, albeit on July I, i906, notice was given of a motion " for a committee of five or more to arrange details of a plan for the union to do business through a Board of Delegates." It was, however, laid upon the table on August 5th, and was not further pursued. Obviously enough the full membership cannot assemble under one roof in New York and consequently business of large importance is usually referred to the chapels for final disposition. An experienced member' of the union who for a long time had been a representative in the Board of Delegates, therefore familiar with its workings, and who has given much thought to the theme, imparts these reasons for the non-success of the institution: The delegate system was given three fair trials in No. 6, but proved less satisfactory every time. The main reason in my opinion was that a good man might have opposition in his office sufficient to prevent his election as delegate; another reason was that one set of men did not want to do all the work, and when those most familiar with the affairs dropped out, and an almost new set of delegates were chosen, the business of the meetings seemed to lack continuosity - or something nearly as bad. But the main, and to my mind the best, reason was that members at meetings who might not be delegates had no say - any such, however well informed he might be, and willing to give the meeting of delegates the benefit of his experience, was liable to have a point of order raised against his speaking. This happened so often that the Board of Delegates came to be regarded as a House of Lords, and since it was so branded it has not been resuscitated. 1Owen J. Kindelon. CHAPTER XXIV. HOUSE OF CALL CREATED. ON April 4, i869, at the session of the Conference Committee that settled the book and job strike it was agreed to recommend the creation of a House of Call for the accommodation of unemployed printers, to be supplied with books, magazines and newspapers, the cost to be borne equally by Typographical Union No. 6 and the Typothete. The opinion was then expressed that if properly conducted the House of Call would be a great accommodation to all concerned, as it would give the idle compositor an opportunity to improve his mind by reading while waiting for an application for his services, instead of wandering the streets, as had been his wont, and employers could conveniently obtain a force of printers on short notice. It was proposed that an officer of the union should have charge of the establishment, he to keep a list of all unemployed persons, and when an employer was in want of extra help he could be furnished at once with the number of workers required. While the union opened a permanent business headquarters, with the secretary in control, at No. 22 Duane street, in I869, its first move to establish a House of Call did not take place until May 14, I872, it being then determined to do so at its own expense, when a committee was appointed to make the necessary arrangements incidental to installing such employment bureau, and the secretary was directed to " take measures to provide for using the present rooms of the union for that purpose until the committee complete their arrangements." Upon recommendation of the committee the union adopted the following on August 6th: I. That a printers' reading-room be established in one of the rooms at the secretary's office. 2. That a record book be kept by the secretary of the union for the purpose of entering the names of compositors unemployed, according to application. 3. That employers, foremen, and others be requested to apply for compositors at the reading-room only. 4. That the secretary of the union be directed to apply to publishers for reading matter. 5. That the union subscribe for one copy of the daily Herald and Sun. 6. That the secretary of the union be empowered to employ help to clean, open and close the reading-room. [452] HOUSE OF CALL CREATED. 453 It was also resolved at the same meeting that the reading-room be supplied " with all the price-paying morning papers," and that these rules of order be posted in the House of Call: The room will be opened on week days at 8 A. M. and close at 8 P. m. Members in good standing only shall have use of the room. Unemployed members will sign the blank book in the order of their arrival in the room; and when answering a call for work shall erase their names therefrom. As members' names appear on the book they shall have priority of employment. No gambling or drinking will be permitted, and any person under the influence of liquor shall not be allowed to remain in the room. Any member acting disorderly or otherwise violating these rules shall be fined Si for each offense. The secretary of the union shall exercise a vigilant supervision over everything connected with the room. The union abolished the House of Call on June 5, i877, but it was restored on January 3, i878, " for the purpose of affording shelter and rest to the unemployed." Thenceforth it became a fixture, having been connected with the secretary's office until April, i906, at which time it was separated from the regular headquarters, and is at present at No. g Jones street, under the direction of the clerk of the Benefit Board. CHAPTER XXV. APPRENTICESHIP QUESTION. LIKE other subordinate organizations of printers Typographical Union No. 6 has been governed always by the apprenticeship laws of the general association - first the National Typographical Union, afterward the International Typographical Union. The New York union originally legislated upon the question when it enacted its first scale of prices in I85I, Regulation of making a rule that not only regulated the number Apprenticeship of learners, but provided for their instruction. It at theBeginning. required that "apprentices shall in no case be allowed to exceed the proportion of one to four men. They shall invariably be bound to the employer by a regular legal indenture for a term of not less than five years, and shall be placed under the care of a competent workman for instruction in the trade; such workman to receive from the employer such compensation for his extra trouble as they might mutually agree upon." In pursuing such course it followed the injunction contained in the address issued by the national convention of journeymen printers in i850, urging " the enforcement of the principle of limiting the number of apprentices; by which measure a too rapid increase in the number of workmen, too little care in the selection of boys for the business, and the employment of herds of half men at half wages, to the detriment of good workmen, will be effectively prevented." Competency has been the paramount requisite for affiliation with the Metropolitan organization from the start. An early constitutional provision clearly specified the terms of admission to membership, stipulating that " any printer who has attained the age of 21 years may become a member of this union by making proper application," which had to be done in writing, the application to be accompanied by an initiation fee of $i. "If three members in good standing," ran the section, " after due inquiry, vouch for his qualification, and it shall satisfactorily appear that he is qualified, the union shall immediately go into an election by ball ballot, and if he receive threefourths of all the ballots cast he shall be declared by the presiding officer duly elected." The National Typographical Union first took [4541 APPRENTICESHIP QUESTION. 455 cognizance of the apprenticeship subject in I852, when it passed a resolve " that the employing printers of the United States be urgently requested to have their apprentices indentured for a term of not less than five years," and " that subordinate unions be recommended to use their influence as far as possible to do away with the employment of apprentices on daily papers." There does not appear to have been any general movement to carry out either of the resolves mentioned. By i869 the term of service at the trade had been reduced to four years, Union No. 6 then embodying in its constitution a section that "any printer Fixing the (which shall be deemed to include any one who is Term of directly engaged in the printing of books, news- Service. papers, etc., whether as compositor, pressman, feeder, stereotyper, or proofreader, who has attained the age of 21 years and has worked not less than four years at the business, may become a member." In that year a provision was also inserted in the basic law with regard to the admission of apprentices on probation, as follows: " Apprentices in the last year of their apprenticeship, who are not less than 20 years old, and have been at the business not less than four years, may become probationary members on the payment of the usual initiation fee, but not be liable to any dues or assessments, or be entitled to vote, until the expiration of their term of probation. They shall also be entitled to the protection of chapels." This requirement is still in force, but at present the initiation fee required to be paid by such applicants is $2.50 apiece, while originally the entrance charge for each was $5, the same as that paid by journeymen. In the union's 1869 agreement with the book and job employing printers there was not any provision concerning the regulation or limitation of apprenticeship. A State law was enacted in I871 that declared it to be unlawful for State Law any person " to take as an apprentice any minor Relative to person to learn the art or mystery of any trade Apprentices. or craft without first having obtained the consent of such person's legal guardian or guardians; nor shall any minor person be taken as an apprentice aforesaid unless an agreement or indenture be drawn up in writing and duly executed under seal by the person or persons employing said apprentice and also by the parents or parent, if any be living, or by the guardian or guardians of said apprentice, and likewise by said minor person so becoming an apprentice." Term of apprenticeship was fixed at not less than threL years, nor more than five years. Suitable board, lodging and 456 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. medical attendance for bound boys were required to be provided by employers. The act prevented an indentured apprentice leaving his employment " during the term for which he shall be indentured," and runaways could be compelled to return to their employer, whose neglect or refusal to " teach or cause to be taught to said apprentice the art or mystery " of the trade to which he had been indentured, or who failed to furnish him with proper board, lodging and medical attendance, was punishable by a fine of not exceeding $I,ooO nor less than $Ioo. The custom of apprentices living in the homes of their employers had become obsolete, and that especial provision of the law was therefore unenforceable. There were also other features of the statute that soon caused it to be relegated to the dead-letter class of enactments. It has been officially observed that "the inherent defects of the law, its antiquated phraseology and the natural repugnance of Americans, both parents and minors, to anything which savors of 'service' or 'bondage' and Why the such terms as 'master,' are assigned as reasons Statute Was for its failure. Of course its observance is impracUnenforceable. ticable in large cities, where the independence of the average boy borders on insolence, where but little control or restraint is exercised over him by the employer, and where there are many employments more attractive and better paying than the slow-going apprenticeship. The boy is hired with the distinct understanding that he can be discharged whenever it suits the purpose of the employer, and he can discharge himself when his place does not please him. This custom is so universal that an understanding or agreement of any kind regarding the time of employment is rarely referred to or entered into. Indeed, so indifferent has the general public become that the term apprentice has lost its original meaning to most employers." 1 While the law was not generally enforced it nevertheless directed attention to the apprenticeship question. The Workingmen's Union gave the topic some deliberation and sent a communication respecting it to labor organizations in the city, among them the Typographical Union, which caused it to be read at its regular meeting of October 3, i87I. The central body stated that it believed the law was " calculated to secure and provide a better class of skilled mechanics than has been furnished under the former system," and it recommended "that all trade societies make and keep a correct register of the apprentices employed at their trade or calling," further urging the trade associa I Fourth report of the New York Bureau of Statistics of Labor, for I886, page 99. APPRENTICESHIP QUESTION. 457 tions " to take measures for the purpose of supplying and furnishing copies of said law to all employers doing business in their respective trades, and also to appoint committees or adopt other efficient measures to secure the enforcement Legislating of the law, and prosecute violations of the same." for Limitation The printers referred the subject to a " committee of Boy Labor. of three with instructions to report a plan of action." Serious consideration of the matter was deferred until July 2, 1872, when the union adopted this scale to regulate the employment of apprentices in book and job offices: An office employing less than 5 men, I apprentice; 5 and less than 10 men, 2 apprentices; 10 and less than 15 men, 3 apprentices; I5 and less than 20 men, 4 apprentices; 20 men, 5 apprentices. No office shall be entitled to more than five apprentices; the number of apprentices to be based on the number of men permanently employed. This does not include reader boys, errand boys, or others not employed at stone or case. This amendment to go into effect on September i, I872, or sooner if practicable. The " runaway apprentice " or " half-way journeyman " of the early nineteenth century was termed a " two-thirder " 40 years ago. Many of these latter, who worked for one-third and occasionally one-half of regular wages, found em- Restrictive ployment in a number of establishments, and were Measures thus brought into competition with journeymen Cause Strike. printers. There was complete lack of control over apprentices, and the union was of the opinion that by restricting the number of learners a better opportunity would be afforded those engaged under a regulated apprenticeship system to be taught the art in a proper manner. Some large employers in the book and job branches, however, refused to consider the proposition submitted to them by the union, and a strike of about 200 workers in five shops to enforce the rule was the result, in September, 1872. It was the first and last dispute of its kind in the annals of the New York printers' organization. A protest was made by the master printers involved against the action of the union in ordering the strike, claiming that it contravened the terms of the i869 agreement. The Typothetoe's communication on the subject was read at a meeting of the workmen's association on October 25th, and was as follows: That in April, 1869, the employers and journeymen represented by your union, at the close of a strike in which each party had severely suffered, did by a joint committee enter formally into the following agreement: This scale shall not be altered except by a call for a mutual conference between a joint committee of employers and journeymen, and no alterations shall take effect except upon one month's notice of either party to the other, unless by mutual consent. In case of a dispute as to the meaning or intention of any part of this scale, it shall be settled by reference to a joint committee of employers and journeymen. 458 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Under this arrangement neither party could enforce any change in the scale without a conference with the other, and that in case of irreconcilable difference a month's notice should precede the attempt to initiate any new arrangement. That when in June last, in strict conformity with this agreement, your union appointed a Committee of Conference and asked of the employers that eight hours should constitute a day's work for time hands and an advance of 20 per cent for piecework, the employers appointed their part of the Committee of Conference and with your committee discussed the matter freely and fully, and at last announced that the employing printers could not accede to the request of the union. That said Committee of Conference was appointed and acted with only one definite purpose - to consider eight hours and 20 per cent. That the conference adjourned finally with no notice from your union that any change whatever in the scale was demanded; and that your members have gone on working under said unaltered scale. That in spite of this agreement your union has attempted to enforce in some offices a by-law undertaking to determine the number of apprentices in each office, and directing its members to strike in certain offices if the provisions of this by-law were not complied with; notwithstanding no Committee of Conference on the matter proposed to be incorporated in the scale had been called for, much less any month's notice given. That the attempted enforcement of any modification of the scale of April 27, 1869, or any interference in any way with its arrangements, whether in regard to price, time or anything else whatever, without a Committee of Conference appointed to consider the very matter thus sought to be incorporated in the scale, is a clear violation of the scale. And that we cannot resist the conclusion that the new movement about apprentices is an attempt by some members of the union to escape from the obligations of an agreement which has become irksome to them, and to obtain undisputed control of composition in this city, and power to enforce arrangements and prices by one party, in the settling of which the other party can have no voice. How, otherwise, are we to account for the fact that your men who struck from some of our offices have been allowed by you to work in other offices where the proportion of apprentices is much larger than in the offices from which they struck; and that in other like offices no strike, or attempt to strike, has taken place? And we submit that justice requires that you recede from your attempt to enforce your by-laws as to apprentices; and that you recognize the fact that no regular notice, as called for in the agreement, demanding eight hours and 20 per cent has been given. This action having been taken by you the employing printers of this city will be ready in the future, as they have been in the past, to take up any modification of the scale which your union may regularly bring before them for joint consultation and action, and to appoint their Committee of Conference to meet yours. The memorial was received and it was declared to be the sense of the union that the apprenticeship law was not a part of the scale of prices. At the same meeting it was reported, presumably to show that the employers were partial to unrestricted boy labor, that in one of the offices affected seventeen boys were then employed at APPRENTICESHIP QUESTION. 459 the case. A committee appointed to prepare a response to the employers' statements presented on November 4th a draft of its reply, setting up a denial of each contention of the other side to the controversy. The answer, which was returned to the committee with full power regarding its issuance, was couched in these terms: Relative to agreement as to altering scale: It is evident that when you claim that the question concerning boylaboris a part of the scale you dispute the meaning or intention of the agreement. Not one letter of the scale has been altered. We contend that the question of boy labor is foreign to the agreement, and that we are no more bound to give you notice of any change in regard to apprentices than we have to notify you of a change in our time or place of meeting, as the agreement between yourselves and our union was solely in regard to any change in the scale. When in June last a Committee of Conference was had, according to the provisions of the agreement, and a question of the reduction of the hours of labor and an advance in the price of composition was requested by the union, the matter now in dispute was freely discussed. Although we felt that the question had nothing to do with the scale under discussion, as the union by unanimous vote decided, still we did not wish to take any step that might lead to a disagreement without first getting an expression of opinion from you. Instead of then objecting to the course you knew we were about to pursue, you encouraged us, and led us to believe that the movement would meet with your hearty approval. Every opportunity was seized upon to express approbation of the law and its intent. On every hand we had assurances that it was a reform much needed, and that, to quote the words of one of the signers of your protest, " they (the employers) would go heart and head with us in any movement that would tend to make better workmen and bring about an equalization in the cost of composition." The imputation is thrown out that the strike was gotten up by or in the interest of some proprietor or class of proprietors. The law was made to apply to every book and job office in the city. If there are any offices where its provisions are not complied with we desire to hear them named, as justice to the fair employer demands that the rule should be adhered to by all. In regard to the question whether the notice called for by the agreement concerning a change in the scale has been given, we simply refer you to the conversation that occurred at the last meeting of the conference. When the chairman of the union committee asked the acting chairman of the conference if the union had fulfilled every obligation entered into and complied with every requirement that justice to you demanded, the reply was: " You have complied with the provisions of the agreement and now are at liberty to act in the premises as you deem best." To this decision no one objected. Our union has always acted in a fair and conciliatory spirit toward the employing printers of this city, ever striving to maintain that friendly feeling between employer and employee which is essential to the best interests of both. With this object in view, our union will be ready in the future, as it has been in the past, to meet a committee from your body and discuss any matter in dispute. Three of the five offices remained out but a short time and then accepted the union's terms, but the other two establishments were on December i2th declared closed " and no union man shall be 460 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. allowed to work therein." For sixteen weeks strike benefits to the amount of $I2,037.96 were paid by the union, which also incurred an expense of $I,3I6.52 in conducting the affair, making the total cost $I3,354.48. At the end of that year I02 offices were working under the jurisdiction of the union. An International law forbidding local unions to recognize apprentices, unless indentured, on morning newspapers, became effective in 1887. Union No. 6, on September 4th, that Regulations in year, amended its rules to conform to the above. Later Years. In those busy workshops, where piecework then prevailed, neither the journeymen nor the proprietors cared to assume the responsibility of teaching the trade to boys, who could not under such circumstances receive suitable instruction. A rule applicable only to evening newspapers was passed on November 25th, every boy working in such composing rooms being " considered an apprentice, and that one apprentice shall be allowed to every ten men, but that six boys shall be the maximum limit in any office." In the previous month the proportion in book and job offices was fixed at " one apprentice for every ten men, and one for every additional ten men." A special committee on apprentices reported to the union on November i, I89I, that its inquiry having revealed the fact that 240 boys were at that time employed in the various union offices, " concluded that it would be advisable to have a plan adopted which would bring those boys in closer contact with the union, and tend to bring them to a certain extent under its control." As a step in that direction and to make the laws of the union on the subject consistent these recommendations of the committee received the approval of the association: First - That Section 7 of the morning newspaper scale be amended to read: "Every boy working on a morning newspaper who corrects, distributes, or sets type shall be considered an apprentice, and one apprentice shall be allowed to every ten men; but six boys shall be the maximum limit in any one office." Second - That the secretary be instructed to have cards printed, to be known as "apprentice cards," which shall be issued through the various chairmen to boys entitled thereto, and said cards shall be stamped quarterly, upon the payment of 5 cents by the holders. We would suggest that this card system be put into effect on January I, 1892, and that the secretary enter in a book to be provided for the purpose the names of boys to whom they have been issued, and that he credit each applicant with the time he has served up to that date. More legislation was enacted on the subject after the general introduction of composing machines in newspaper offices -on No APPRENTICESHIP QUESTION. 46I vember 0o, i895, the scale being amended so as to provide that " every person working on a morning or evening newspaper who cuts or sorts copy before it is set, corrects or distributes type, or who in any manner handles dead or live type or Apprentices linotype matter, either on or off galleys, shall be Not Allowed considered an apprentice, and one apprentice shall on Daily Papers. be allowed to ten men, but six apprentices shall be the maximum in any one office." The newspaper scale adopted on June I, 1897, stipulated "that boys who are now considered apprentices shall not be allowed to set any live matter until the last year of their apprenticeship. Apprentices shall not be allowed to set any live matter on machines until the last six weeks of their apprenticeship, which is in accordance with and subject to the provisions of Section I40, General Laws of the International Typographical Union, I894." Considering that in the rush work which was constantly going on in newspaper offices neither journeymen nor foremen could devote the necessary time to instruct beginners at the printing trade, Union No. 6 on the same date resolved that "hereafter no apprentices shall be received or recognized by the union on morning or afternoon newspapers." This did not elicit any protest from the publishers and the rule remained in force for ten years. A wage scale was provided on June I, 1897, for apprentices holding probationary cards in the last year of their term, it being decided that they " shall receive not less than two-thirds of the regular time scale of the union." Book and job apprentices, it was also then decreed, " shall be under the protection of the union, inasmuch as they shall be guaranteed an opportunity to become competent printers." The book and job scale that became operative on January 6, I902, having been endorsed by the Typothetae, contained important alterations in the apprenticeship rules. The proportion of learners was increased —one apprentice was Machineallowed to eight journeymen and one to each addi- Tenders' tional eight or majority fraction thereof, with not Apprentices. more than seven in any office. Copyholders and errand boys, who were not included in the apprentice class, were permitted "to sort and put away leads, furniture, cuts and plates; to set pi, or handle and prove galleys; but not to set or distribute type, make up pages, break up forms, nor act as bankmen." It was not permissible for apprentices to read or revise proof, this being applied to all excepting probationary members of the union, and they were given leave to "revise proofs, if so required, but shall not be 462 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. allowed to do first reading." Only in the last three months of their term could apprentices practice on machines. Offices were entitled to one apprentice to each machine-tender, who was directed to " instruct the apprentice in all branches pertaining to typesetting machines," the term of apprenticeship being four years, and the wage scale was as follows: WEEKLY RATE OF WAGES. NUMBER OF MACHINES. First Second Third Fourth NUMBER OF MACHINES. year. year. year. year. I to 5........................................... $9 0 oo $ o oo $12 00 $13 50 6 to s.......................................... 0 0 12 3 50 15 O0 s1 or over....................................... 12 00 13 50 1s 00 o8 oo The general newspaper scale that was revised on October 5, I903, provided that "all offices of four machines or more shall be entitled to employ one apprentice to each machine-tender employed," and that " offices of three machines or less shall be entitled to employ an apprentice," these learners to be under the direct supervision of the machinists in charge. Wages of apprentices were similar to the rates that prevailed in book and job shops. After discouraging the entrance of apprentices to the newspaper branch of the trade for a decade, for reasons already stated, and in order to give youths and men who were engaged Newspaper in such composing rooms at other occupation than Apprenticeship the actual mechanical part of the trade an opporRevived. tunity to prepare themselves for journey work, Union No. 6 in its scale that went into effect on May i, 1907, adopted the following provisions regarding the employment of apprentices, these regulations, which still prevail, having received the sanction of the National Board of Arbitration: In newspaper offices declared as such by the union apprentices may be employed in the ratio of one to every 20 men or a majority fraction thereof, but no more than four shall be permitted in any office. In the first year an apprentice may be required to perform general work in the composing room at the discretion of the foreman. In the second year an apprentice shall be employed at least 50 per cent of his time at hand composition and distribution. In the third year an apprentice shall be employed at least 75 per cent of his time at hand composition and distribution, and shall receive one-half of the regular scale. In the fourth year an apprentice shall be employed at least seven hours each day on hand composition and distribution, and shall receive one-half of the regular scale. In the fifth year an apprentice shall be employed at least seven hours each day at hand composition and distribution, and in machine offices may practice on the machine, and shall receive two-thirds of the regular scale. APPRENTICESHIP QUESTION. 463 Apprentices shall be registered on the books of the union and shall at all times be under the supervision of the chairman. All registered apprentices shall be between the ages of I6 and 21. This age limitation shall not apply to any person employed on newspapers who shall register his desire to become an apprentice within 6o days after the adoption of this scale. Office boys (not apprentices) will be allowed to work proof presses, carry proofs and copy, and type on galleys, but shall not be allowed to handle type, proofs, copy or any printing material in any other manner whatever. The Committee on Regulation of Apprentices reported to the union on December I, I907, that thirteen newspapers had taken advantage of the apprenticeship sections of the scale of prices, and from these offices 32 apprentices had been registered. " We think a resolution should be passed prohibiting apprentices from working overtime," suggested the committee on that occasion, " as to work more than eight hours is detrimental both to their health and morals, especially on morning newspapers." That, as well as a question relative to the employment of young men who had completed their term of service, was referred to Ervin Wardman, for the New York Newspaper Publishers' Association, and President James J. Murphy, for Typographical Union No. 6, and those arbitrators interpreted the matter on December 20th, declaring " that apprentices shall be prohibited from working overtime or more than six days in any one week," and "that on the completion of the term of service of an apprentice and his admission into the union he be placed at the bottom of the priority, list in the office in which he is working." Former President Murphy, speaking with reference to the reasons that prompted Union No. 6 to enact the 1907 apprenticeship law on newspapers, recently informed the writer that as the executive officer of the association he was authorized in the latter part of i9o6 to appoint a committee to revise the newspaper scale of prices. "This committee," said he, " consisted of all the chairmen of the various newspaper offices. As the scale had remained stationary for a number of years, the committee's deliberations covered a period of some months, with the specific object in view of determining questions aside from the matter of hours and wages - questions beneficial or prejudicial to the membership. One of these related to apprentices. It was contended by the conferees that with the abolishment of apprentices, numbers of 'boys' had accumulated in the various offices, doing everything but the work of a printer, until their number had so increased as to become an injustice to the ' boys,' the employers and the union. It was shown that many of these 'boys ' were married men; some over 35 years of age; quite a few 464 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. with a superficial knowledge of printing; quite a number, more progressive than the others, practically 'stealing' their knowledge of the business, others with a slight knowledge, and seeing no opportunity for advancement in place of employment, determined to go from job office to job office until they attained sufficient knowledge, in their opinion, to justify them in applying for full membership in No. 6. There can be no question of the great injustice done the deserving 'boys' in prohibiting them from gaining the knowledge essential to competency. All these conditions were considered by the committee and culminated in its report to the Committee of the Whole of the union recommending the present apprentice law. This recommendation met with the practically unanimous indorsement of the membership. In the subsequent arbitration proceedings with the publishers' association it was mutually agreed that the enforcement of this provision should be optional with the individual publishers." For several months prior to January 2 7, 9IO, the officers of Typographical Union No. 6 and of the Printers' League of America discussed the subject of improving the conditions Broadening under which apprentices in the book and job trade Apprenticeship were then working, with the object of formulating Regulations. regulations that would permit such apprentices to become proficient. A written agreement covering the matter was signed on the above date by the two parties, and the salutary measures that were embodied in that compact became a part of the revised scale of prices that began to operate on October 10, I9IO. Under these provisions each office is allowed at least one apprentice, and the maximum number in any establishment has been increased from seven to ten. Five years is the term of apprenticeship. During the first year an apprentice is " required to perform general work in the composing room at the discretion of the foreman at any work which he may be deemed capable of doing. The foreman is required to test the ability of all apprentices under his charge during the first year of their service, to determine the fitness of such apprentices for the trade. Any dispute arising through this measure with any office not in the Printers' League may be laid before the Joint Conference Committee of the Printers' League and Typographical Union No. 6, at which all parties concerned shall be present." 2 In his second year a boy must be employed at least one2 In the union's agreement with the Printers' League it was provided that a dispute on this question arising with one of the latter's members shall be likewise adjudicated by the Joint Conference Committee of the two associations. APPRENTICESHIP QUESTION. 465 half of his time at hand composition and distribution and be given an opportunity to set reprint advertisements and job work. At least three-fourths of his working time in the third year has to be devoted to hand composition and distribution, with the privilege of composing advertisements and job work from manuscript, also being required to assist on make-up and imposition. For not less than three months nor more than six months of that year he acts as copyholder and assistant to the proofreader, but cannot do first reading. Not less than seven hours each day in the fourth year he engages at typesetting by hand, distribution, make-up and stone work. In his fifth year the apprentice is employed full time at floor work, and during the last three months may be allowed to set live matter on a machine, receiving two-thirds of a journeyman's wages. Other provisions in the apprenticeship law governing book and job offices are: Apprentices shall be registered on the books of the union and shall at all times be under the direction of the foreman and supervision of the chairman in regard to carrying out these rules. Registered apprentices shall be required by the union to attend classes for practice and instruction in the work they are engaged in, if such classes be established and endorsed by the union. No apprentice shall leave one office and enter the service of another employer without the written consent of his first employer, indorsed by the president of Typographical Union No. 6. A form of indenture shall be prepared, to be approved by the employer and Typographical Union No. 6, for the signature of each apprentice registered in shops. Any apprentice who wilfully neglects the duties which he is required to attend to under these rules may be brought up and disciplined by the Discipline Committee of the union. The wage scale for machine-tenders' apprentices that prevailed in book and job offices for some years was abrogated in I9Io, and in its stead a provision was made establishing a rate of payment for the last year only, the amount being placed at $I6.50 weekly, while the term of such apprenticeship was increased to five years. Interest in supplemental trade education was strongly manifested at the annual convention of the International Typographical Union in 1907, when the Executive Council was instructed to appoint a commission of three, "whose duty it International shall be to formulate some system for the technical Course in education of our members and apprentices." The Printing. commission was chosen in due time and adopted a correspondence course of instruction in printing that is meeting with merited success. It advertises that the course " is designed to over 466 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. come some of the evil effects of specialization in the printing trade by teaching compositors the principles of display and decorative typography. Though the instruction is imparted by correspondence, practical work is required, as the student learns by doing. After students have acquired the scientific conceptions embraced in these lessons they are given work in all kinds of display composition." President James M. Lynch at the yearly session of the International Union in August, 1911, announced that nearly 2,500 journeymen and apprentices had enrolled in the course, and that hundreds of printers of all degrees of proficiency were at that time taking the lessons. Said he: " The system of education we have - and the only system worthy of Labor's support- broadens the mind, tends to develop the initiative and otherwise mitigates the evils of specialization. We should let the world know that the International Typographical Union is not opposed to efficiency - in fact, it is the advocate, promoter and supporter of real efficiency. We are opposed to socalled efficiency schemes that have no regard for the worker as a man or social entity. As for our trade, the apprentice and the victim of specialization are in a jungle, and the union is systematically and effectively assisting them out of it. And we invite every employer to lend a hand in any or all of the many ways open to him." At first the International technical course in printing did not receive the encouragement of New York journeymen and employers to which it was entitled, but a more hearty support Difficulties has been given to the plan within the past year. Tof Intoducing In August, I908, Union No. 6 appointed an auxiliary Training. committee to aid in the work of securing apprentice and journeymen students for the International course. That committee reported in June, I909, that there had been little response from employers and chapels. "Your committee regards its experience in this matter," read the report, " as one of disappointment and one showing a distinct lack of interest on the part of employers which does not comport favorably with the pretended anxiety regarding the training of those who are to carry on the work of printing in the future. As for the attitude of the chairmen of chapels and the membership of our union, it may be characterized as one of apathy that is somewhat difficult to understand if one grants that our membership is cognizant of the fact that the International Typographical Union course in printing offsets in large degree the havoc now in progress in our craft by some very unfavorable influences which may be briefly pointed out." The committee then explained the reasons for its contention as follows: APPRENTICESHIP QUESTION. 467 First -The typesetting machines are operated by adults. This condition takes away from the apprentice the opportunity of gaining certain necessary knowledge that need not be detailed here. Second - The serious inroads made by the many non-printer artist designers. This condition is forcing the job compositors to be mere layout followers instead of creators of style in display work. Third - The " daily time ticket," which records the compositor's time on work for every minute in the day. This condition makes it utterly'impossible for a compositor to pause in his work - no matter how willing he might beto instruct the apprentice. Fourth - In every printing establishment there are on file many applications for foremanship. This condition keeps the man who happens to be the incumbent " on the jump." He is busy " making good " to hold his job. Therefore, he has little or no time to instruct apprentices. Fifth - The specialization of work, which has been going on for some years, has caused many of our members to forget much of their " picked-up" craft skill, so that when the average printer is out of employment he is forced to wait for an opening in his specialty instead of being able to take hold of anything "on the hook."3 " It is with this bad state of things," proceeded the committee, "that the International Typographical Union is now dealing. It offers a means of acquiring craft knowledge in a scientific way - a way that eliminates all guessing Acquirement of and makes of a workman one who can be made use Craft Knowledge in a Scientific of in all-around work according as occasion may Way. arise; for the workman, having mastered the method, proceeds according to rule. Furthermore, and no doubt most important of all, is the fact that a scientifically educated body of craftsmen are more likely to feel an esprit de corps that makes for that solidarity so necessary for the maintenance of proper working conditions and proper compensation for work performed. A laissez-faire attitude invites serious trouble, if not disaster." 'Meaning the file on which all copy is placed for compositors. CHAPTER XXVI. FUNDS OF THE UNION. FOR general disbursements, including the regular capitation tax required by the International Union, the revenues of Typographical Union No. 6 have been always derived from initiation fees and dues, while for many years it has been the rule to levy assessments on earnings for special purposes - such as out-of-work relief, pensions, defense, etc. Since the adoption of Sources from the old-age pension system in I907 the income tax Which Revenues has been the source whence appropriations have are Derived. come for the payment of International and local superannuation benefits. Prior to the creation of that beneficial feature the union for nearly twelve years kept its permanent unemployment fund supplied by a weekly assessment of i per cent upon the wages earned by its members. One-half of i per cent on incomes is now imposed for International pensions and a similar rate is levied periodically to raise the required cash for local old-age benefits. Money for hospital beds is drawn largely from the proceeds of an annual entertainment given under the auspices of the union. Early in the history of the association the initiation fee was $I and yearly membership dues were $6.50, payable quarterly, but by i859 dues had been reduced to $3 per annum. Gradually, however, the amounts have been augmented, until at present applicants for admission pay $5, and yearly dues are $9.60, collected in monthly instalments of 80 cents,1 while for apprentices in the last year of service the entrance fee is one-half the sum required of journeymen. To be reinstated applicants who have been dropped from the roll for non-payment of dues or assessments must pay their full indebtedness. Working cards have been issued to goodWorking Cards standing members ever since the inception of the and International - TrdIeng l union. Dating from January I, I90I, International Certificates. law has required the placing of an adhesive stamp upon each of these cards when dues are paid. The stamps are furnished by the general union at the face value of the per capita tax that every member is obliged to pay. When this 'Monthly dues were advanced to 85 cents on October I, z9gi. [468] FUNDS OF THE UNION. 469 method was inaugurated the capitation tax was 30 cents, while at present it is 45 cents. At the introduction of the traveling card system, a rule, which is still in operation, was established that members in good standing desirous of leaving the jurisdiction of the union must receive these International certificates, " which shall be furnished upon payment of the current month's dues, signed by the president and attested by the secretary-treasurer." Provision was made many years ago by Union No. 6 that " any member from a printers' union beyond the jurisdiction of this union shall be received as a member on presenting a duly attested and valid card; and no person shall be admitted as a member who comes from a place where a union existed at the time of his leaving, unless he can produce such card, or his application receive the endorsement of said union. And no person admitted as a member under the last provision of this section shall be entitled to receive a certificate of good standing in this union until three months after he shall have signed the constitution. This union shall not receive members on cards issued by any other association than that chartered by the National Union; provided, that this shall not apply to cards from typographical societies not within the jurisdiction of the United States. No person applying for admission into this union who has resided in this city for a term of one year previous to such application shall be entitled to a card of withdrawal before he shall have been a member three months." Such provision for the interchange of cards was abrogated as soon as the general organization of printers established the rule concerning the granting of traveling cards, and nowadays a person holding such certificate is received as a member " of this union on presentation to the secretary-treasurer or chairman of a chapel of a duly attested and valid International certificate." Its treasury from the beginning has been safeguarded in various ways by the union. At first the financial secretary, immediately upon their receipt, had to deposit all moneys with the treasurer, who gave a bond, on which were two sureties, Treasury pledging himself upon leaving office " to refund the Amply amount of all moneys " belonging to the union. Safeguarded. Then there was a fund trustee, also bonded, who was empowered to receive " all moneys from the treasurer above the amount provided for by the constitution, and deposit the same in such bank or other institution as the union may designate; whence it shall be removed only by a warrant drawn on him by the president and countersigned by the recording secretary." Quarterly reports were made by these fiscal officers. Present laws of the union provide 470 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. that the secretary-treasurer and his assistant shall give bonds in suitable amounts to the Board of Trustees pledging themselves to faithfully perform the duties of those positions. The secretarytreasurer makes a monthly report, and since August 25, 1898, his accounts have been examined once a month by a certified public accountant, appointed by the trustees, who also furnish bonds, make deposits in designated banks and report the financial condition of the union at least semi-annually, while their chairman signs all bills that he finds to be correct before being paid by the secretary-treasurer. Widest publicity is given to the fiscal transactions of the association through the medium of the Monthly Bulletin, which the union began to publish on October 2, I896, and which is distributed among the entire membership. This contains full details of receipts and expenditures, and shows the exact financial standing of the union at the close of every month. Chairmen of chapels, who collect dues and assessments from members, must turn the same over to the secretary-treasurer within 48 hours. Every chapel has a Finance Committee, which audits weekly the accounts of the chairman and at once reports to the Executive Committee of the union any delinquency on the part of such chairman to promptly make returns to the proper officers of all moneys collected by him. Valuable records of Union No. 6 were consumed by a fire that devastated its headquarters, then at Nos. 16-20 Chambers street, in the spring of 1906. Owing partially to that Receipts unfortunate occurrence and to the fact that some and books containing its accounts had been previously Expenditures lost or destroyed, it is not possible to present here a statement of the total receipts and disbursements of the organization from the date of its establishment to the end of September, 1911. It was stated in 1878 that up to that time the receipts of the union from its formation in I85o had amounted to some $400,000.2 Complete figures are, however, available from the beginning of October, 1896, to the end of September, I9II,-a period of exactly fifteen years- in which time the receipts of the union from all sources amounted to $2,604,535.I4, while the expenditures for all purposes aggregated $2,581,868.36. The chief administrative officer of the organization is the secretarytreasurer. At the opening of permanent quarters in 869 the salary 2 " In various ways the union, since its formation, has disbursed over $400,000, the larger part, of course, for charitable purposes."-From a brief history of Typographical Union No. 6 in New York Sun, December 4, 1878. FUNDS OF THE UNION. 471 of the secretary, which position was not then merged with that of treasurer, was fixed at $1,200 per annum, payable monthly, but before the association began to benefit by the revival of prosperity in the seventies it reduced the compensa- Compensation of tionto$20 per weekonNovember 12, 1878. Several Officers and times since that year the pay has been increased Committeemen. and at present the secretary-treasurer receives $40 per week for his services. A similar amount, together with necessary expenses, is paid to the president, who during recent years has been obliged to devote his whole time to the affairs of the union. Other salaried officers are the assistant secretary, who receives $25 per week, and the organizer and the benefit clerk, they being paid, respectively, $28 and $25 weekly, in addition to necessary expenses. The sergeant-at-arms and reading clerk each receives $3 for work performed at each meeting of the union. Its delegates to International Typographical Union and other conventions are allowed railroad and sleeping-car fare and each receives $I 5 a day while engaged in such official duties. Being a consistent exponent of the principle that " the laborer is worthy of his hire " the association recompenses those of its members who are called upon to do committee work in its behalf, a by-law establishing the rates of payment as follows: " Members of standing committees shall be entitled to 50 cents per meeting. Members of special committees shall be entitled to 50 cents per meeting, but the aggregate for such service shall not exceed $5. In addition, where loss of work is occasioned by such committee duties, members shall receive compensation at the rate per day at which they are regularly employed and all necessary expenses. Members of the Executive Committee from the book and job branch and evening newspapers shall be paid at the rate of 50 cents an hour for attendance at said committee." CHAPTER XXVII. BENEFICIAL FEATURES. IN large degree Typographical!Union No. 6 has promoted the comfort and happiness of its distressed members and succored the dependents of those who have been removed by death. Its beneficent works have been carried on almost from the moment that it became an entity in the movement of Labor. Not alone has it alleviated the sufferings of its own membership, Relieving New but it has often extended benevolences to others far Orleans Yellow removed from the scenes of its activities. Yellow Fever Sufferers. fever ravaged New Orleans in the autumn of 1853 and New York's union printers convoked a mass meeting on September 25th for the purpose of devising means to aid their afflicted brethren in the Southern city. Thomas N. Rooker was chairman of the assemblage. A committee of ten was selected to raise funds, and to the journeymen of the city it issued an address to aid in successfully carrying out the objects contemplated by its appointment. " No one class of the community in that ill-fated city have to lament greater inroads upon their number than the printers," declared the committee, " and it has frequently happened that he who to-day set the types which announced the deaths of his fellow-citizens has to-morrow had the same sad office performed for himself by the one who yesterday worked by his side. Many and mournful are the cases of sorrow and suffering among our fellowcraftsmen, the tidings of which have reached our ears; much has been done to alleviate it by the typographical union of that city, but their treasury is exhausted, and upon us who are enjoying the blessings of health and prosperity devolves the duty of caring for our less fortunate brothers and friends. Fully one-sixth of their number have been carried off by the dreadful scourge, and many now lie upon beds of anguish and distress. To alleviate this distress and to provide suitably for those unable to work from the effects of sickness is the motive which actuates us in calling upon you for aid." A generous response to the appeal came from all the chapels. Within a week they contributed $795.84, which was immediately dispatched to the New Orleans Typographical Union. [472] BENEFICIAL FEATURES. 473 Another conspicuous instance in which the union promptly and liberally extended pecuniary relief to people in distress was on the occasion of the great fire in Chicago. An emergency meeting was held on October i, 1871, at which it Assisting was resolved " that a great calamity has befallen Chicago our brother craftsmen in Chicago through a serious Fire Sufferers. and unprecedented conflagration; that the printers of that city have been left penniless and homeless by the same; that Typographical Union No. 6 present the sum of $2,000 to Typographical Union No. 16, for the purpose of alleviating their sufferings and distress, and that the funds of this union be placed at their disposal." Further relief was voted by the union at its regular session of October 17th. The president stated that there were several members of the Chicago union then in the city with informal certificates signed by the secretary of that organization, whose supply of traveling cards had been destroyed by the fire, and some of the men were in need of pecuniary assistance. It was ordered that the cards be accepted and $Ioo appropriated from the treasury and placed at the disposal of the secretary to relieve the necessities of those who had come from the devastated city. During the yellow fever plague in the South in I878 the New York union sent as " contributions for the relief of worthy fellowcraftsmen and their families $200 to New Orleans, $ioo to Memphis and $ioo to Vicksburg." In I901, when an extensive conflagration in Jacksonville, Fla., partially demolished the city and obliterated every printing office but one, Union No. 6 directed that $ioo be forwarded to the members of Jacksonville Typographical Union No. 162. And annually at the Christmas season the Salvation Army and other institutions are the recipients of its bounty. Frequently has the union of compositors donated money to men on strike in other trades. A few examples of this spirit of helpfulness will suffice here. The Hatters' Association of New York in 1859 struck against an attempt of Financial "some of the more acquisitive employers in their Aid to trade to reduce their pay - even in the face of as Other Trades. brisk business as usual and increased cost of living on the part of their workmen." At a meeting of the printers on August 2oth the hatters asked for a loan, stating " that about 200 of their men had been recalled to work at former rates —thus acknowledging the justness of their position; that near 200 yet remained idle; that their funds were about exhausted; that those of their association who are now at work had voluntarily imposed an 474 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. assessment of 25 per cent on the amount of their weekly earnings to aid in sustaining those yet out of employment." A resolution was offered " to place the sum of $300 in the hands of the union officers, with power to lend, without interest, which was passed without a single dissenting vote," recounts the record of the proceedings. Shortly afterward the controversy was settled in favor of the journeymen hatters, and at the October session of Union No. 6 President Charles W. Colburn announced that the loan had been repaid. On June 6, 1871, the union voted $500 to the Pennsylvania coal miners, whose long dispute had reduced their families to destitution and want. A like amount was given in 1883 to the Brotherhood of Telegraphers to aid its members who struck that year. To the freight handlers of the Metropolis in i882 it donated " $50 per week until the close of their strike," and in that year it also appropriated $ioo to aid "the struggles of the wire weavers and what they are contending for." In 1884 it gave the New York bricklayers $200; in i886 it let the striking plumbers of that city have $500; in I892 it sent $250 to the Homestead strikers, besides ordering that " one thousand marks be donated to the striking printers in Germany;" in 1895 it provided $I,ooo for the relief of the Brooklyn street car employees, while in I902 during the great coal strike in the anthracite region it donated $6,010.75 to the United Mine Workers of America to relieve the latter's members who were engaged in that dispute; and in i909 it subscribed $I,I83.45 to the fund for the benefit of members of the United Hatters of North America then on strike in several sections of the country. I. Unemployment Benefits. Ever solicitous for the well-being of its unemployed members Union No. 6 has, when occasion demanded it, devised ways and means to sufficiently supply their needs. Days of Helping Its adversity were first encountered in 1857, and the Unemployed panic that began to sweep over the country in in 1857-8. August of that fateful twelvemonth threw into idleness many printers in the great city. It was a dismal period for them. " During the dark hours of last winter," spake President William Cuddy in opening the seventh annual session of the National Typographical Union in Chicago on May 3, i858, " I had many fears that the suspension of extensive business operations BENEFICIAL FEATURES. 475 and the many blighting effects of the great panic would tend to lessen the attendance at this convention, but I find myself agreeably disappointed. We meet, gentlemen, after a season of financial disaster such as the world may not see again for half a century - a crisis, springing up in the commercial centre of this flourishing continent, from causes which few can explain, and spreading its devastating influences to the most remote cities of the civilized world. Though its results have been fatal to the prospects of many, yet it has tended to impress other nations with a full sense of the important position America occupies in the commercial affairs of the universe." The New York union met the situation in a practical manner, appointing a Relief Committee that, beginning on December I 4, 857, assembled daily between 4 and 7 o'clock in the evening at No. I43 Fulton street, and until the panic ceased distributed out-of-work benefits among those of the members who required such financial assistance. During the sittings of the committee "proprietors of country newspapers in want of good printers" were informed that they could obtain them upon application to the chairman. But a more distressful and prolonged event was the industrial panic that burst upon the nation in 1873. Attention was called by the secretary of the union on November 4th to the deplorable state of the trade and he urged that Succoring Idle something be done to relieve the unemployed. Members in The matter was referred to a conference of chapel the Seventies. chairmen, who on November i8th made these recommendations, which were adopted by the organization: That the union donate $i,ooo for the following purposes: (i) To assist deserving unemployed printers. (2) All printers who have been members since August i6, i873, desiring to leave the city shall be assisted to do so to an amount not exceeding $15, but should such person so assisted return to the city inside of six months from the date of leaving he shall pay the amount so loaned into the treasury of the union and shall not be entitled to a working card until such sum is paid. (3) That the president and secretary be authorized, with discretionary power, to remit the dues of those wishing to leave the city, as above stated, to the amount of $4, to be refunded to the union if they should return within six months. (4) That the chairman of each office be requested to consult his chapel, and report to the secretary as soon as possible how many men, if any, can be quartered in their respective offices; and in all offices where men cannot be given subbing that a collection be taken every week, the proceeds of which to be used in the same manner as the $i,ooo donated 476 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. by the union. (5) That a committee of five be- appointed to have full power to disburse the money." Twice afterward the out-ofwork fund was replenished, an appropriation of $250 having been made on January 5, 1875, and $1,000ooo on April 9, 1876, in which latter month $945.55 was expended to relieve i60 members. Another course was pursued by the union on December 5, 1876, to help the unemployed. It appealed to the chapels to make arrangements whereby some portion of the work could be shared with the unemployed. " Recognizing the fact that hundreds of our members are unableto secure employment sufficient tomaintain them andtheir families and have every prospect of a hard winter before them, while others are working full time, and in some cases overtime, and are therefore unaffected by the general stagnation in business," ran the plea of the association; " and believing it will be to the best interest of our union to assist the unemployed members by distributing the surplus work as evenly as possible, we request the different chapels to take such action in this matter as will in some measure assist these men endeavoring to maintain union principles." Depression in business in I885 caused much idleness among compositors, and on February I5th steps were taken to give temporary relief to men who were then without work. In a Temporary set of resolutions the union viewed " with regret Aid Given the great stagnation existing in the printing trade in 1885. at the present time, and deems it detrimental to its best interests that many of its members should be in a state of destitution while others are working six and in some cases seven days a week;" following this with an order " that no member employed on a morning or evening newspaper, either as regular or sub, shall be allowed to work more than five days or nights a week, and that this resolution shall apply to compositors, proofreaders and time hands generally, foremen and assistant foremen alone excepted, and shall remain in force during the pleasure of the union." Having served its purpose this rule. was in due time repealed. Restriction of a week's employment to six days formed a part of the legislation enacted by the International Typographical Union in 1891, and was quite helpful to the unemployed. Six-Day Law It provided that " no member of a subordinate Decreases union shall work on a morning newspaper more Unemployment, than six days in any one week, nor more than 59 hours, where a substitute can be obtained." Long before that time Sunday labor had received much attention, and New York printers figured prominently in the original discussion of the BENEFICIAL FEATURES. 477 subject. It was prior, however, to the advent of the seven-day newspaper. The matter was first acted upon by the National Typographical Union in 1852, that convention on May 5th going on record in opposition to seven-day work. "A custom has generally obtained among the printers engaged on the daily press of the United States, whereby the institution of the Sabbath has been disregarded," declared the union, which continued: "The evils attending the observance of said custom are manifold and, in the opinion of this convention, uncalled for, and have a tendency to injure the morals and social reputation of those engaged in and dependent upon the art. Proprietors and printers of several cities of the United States, acting conjointly, have abolished a system so pernicious;" so it was resolved " that the subordinateunions and printers and proprietors of the daily press of the United States are hereby recommended to initiate and perfect some plan or agreement whereby the evils attending said system may be abolished, it being the sense of this union that the abolition of Sunday labor would be attended with beneficial results to all concerned." The proposition was carried by a vote of 27 to i, the three New York delegates being registered in the affirmative. At the eighth yearly session of the national organization in i859 Delegate Charles W. Colburn, of Union No. 6, introduced the question again, and succeeded in persuading that convention to pass his proposal " that it would be advisable, whenever practicable, to do away with what is commonly called Sunday labor." With the inauguration of seven-day editions of New York newspapers some compositors acquired the practice of working an entire week, but the strict enforcement by the union of the six-day law of I891 caused an instant cessation of that usage. Great distress prevailed among a large proportion of the memkership in the fall of I893. Composing machines had come into permanent use, depriving many compositors of employment.1 The industrial panic which developed in Pemanent Benefit Fund Follows that year further complicated the already serious Advent of situation that confronted the union. It was the Machines. most critical period that it had ever experienced. Idleness was on every side and the minds of the foremost thinkers among its members were severely taxed to evolve a plan that would I By 1894 fourteen offices had installed 266 composing machines, which within a short period displaced 480 printers, many of whom were finally forced to retire from the trade owing to their inability (caused principally by advancing age) to cope with the changed conditions. Under the hand-set system these concerns had 1,455 compositors, but immediately after establishing the new method they employed but 975. Eventually, however, these devices materially benefited the craft. In the first place they have lessened the cost of production, which has resulted in a 478 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. lastingly solve the problem. All sorts of suggestions as to how to relieve the destitution were made, but none seemed so practical as an out-of-work fund to satisfy the physical requirements of the men who had been suddenly forced into the ranks of the unemployed. On September 6, 1893, the Board of Delegates first interested itself in the matter. After listening to representatives of several chapels in regard to their instructions as to the methods that should be pursued to alleviate the sufferings of their unfortunate fellow-members, the board decided that an assessment of 10 per cent upon weekly earnings in excess of $Io should be levied on all members, and it suspended for two months the constitutional provision invalidating a member's standing in case his dues were not paid "on or before the first of the following month." A general meeting held by the union on September I7th endorsed the above action by a vote of 500 to 9. The Relief Committee that had been selected to disburse the money reported on December 3d that it had expended $5,542.39. Then on January 14, 1894, the Board of Delegates renewed the assessment plan of raising funds for the idle ones, fixing the rate at 5 per cent on all wages over $IO. It preceded that resolve with a preamble that "the introduction of machinery into the printing business, together with the depressed condition of trade, has caused large numbers of our fellow-members to be thrown out of employment. The number of the unemployed is bound to increase during the transition from hand to machine composition. Until the conditions of our trade shall have readjusted themselves it is only the plain duty of our employed members to extend substantial aid to their unemployed brothers, and so carry out the true principles of our union and preserve its usefulness and solidity."2 Such was the beginning of decrease in the selling prices of publications, thereby creating a greater demand for books and periodicals, while newspapers have enlarged in both size and volume. As a consequence composingroom forces have been gradually augmented. Direct benefit has come to journeymen through reductions in the hours of labor and higher wages. Growth of the trade is reflected in the statistics from two leading newspaper offices. Before those journals put in machines their typesetting departments contained 545 printers. Within six months after the installation of linotypes to the number of 90 they employed 399 members of the union. At present the same dailies operate I43 machines and employ 685 journeymen-an increase of I40 employees as compared with the number at work prior to the introduction of composing devices. Development of the business is also indicated in the rise of the union's membership. In x89I, when the first machine scale was adopted, previous to the general use of linotypes and other mechanical contrivances for composition, the organization had 4,487 members, while now it has 6,969 on its roster, showing a gain of 2,482, or 55.3 per cent. There were 329 printing shops under the jurisdiction of the union at the close of September, i9II, and in I59 of these offices I,277 machines were then in use, their operators numbering I,985. 2 A special Relief Committee reported on July 7, I895, " that in the past six months 47 members have made 3,372 applications, on which I,086 weeks' relief was paid to single men and 2,286 weeks' relief to married men. Paid in 26 weeks $13,286; the receipts for the fund having been $13,874 for that period." BENEFICIAL FEATURES. 479 an unemployment benefit project that was carried on successfully for nearly fourteen years. Temporary measures were adopted on several other occasions to supply the funds necessary to make payments to the needy, but on January 18, I896, a committee was chosen to prepare a durable out-of-work benefit scheme, and on March Isth it proposed these additions to the constitution, which were approved by the referendum and went into effect on April 5th: Section I. The out-of-work fund shall be maintained by an assessment of I per cent on the earnings of all members, to be collected weekly - the assessment to be considered a part of a member's dues. The officers of the union shall suspend the assessment when the surplus in the fund shall amount to $2,500, and shall renew it when said surplus shall have been reduced to $500. Section 2. Any unemployed member of the union in good standing, who has been a member for at least one year previous to his application, shall be entitled to relief. No applicant shall receive more than $4 per week, nor more than four payments in any six weeks, nor more than fifteen payments in a year. Only those out of employment for an entire week shall be entitled to benefit. Section 3. Any member over 60 years of age who has been 20 years consecutively a member of No. 6 shall be entitled to regular weekly relief while unemployed. Section 4. Superannuated members and inmates of the Home shall be paid from the out-of-work fund. Section 5. Any member who attempts to obtain relief through fraud shall have charges preferred against him before the union. Section 6. The fund shall be disbursed under the supervision of a Relief Committee, which shall be a standing committee of the union. All expenses incurred by direction of the committee shall be chargeable to the fund. Explaining its recommendations in regard to the above alterations in the fundamental law of the union, the committee stated that it had " endeavored to eliminate all semblance of charity from the fund and make the payment of relief a Making Benefits a Constitutional constitutional right, to which each member is en- a onstitutonal Right, Not a titled." It was also set forth in the report that Charity. " a permanent out-of-work fund having been established by the referendum, it is evident that the revenue of this fund must be collected from the members of the union, either by increased dues or by assessment. The committee is unanimously of the opinion that a plan based upon assessment is the most practical, equitable and feasible. Comparison of the receipts from assessments levied during the past two years, and applications for relief during the same period, furnishes ample evidence that a i per cent assessment on the earnings of the members of the union for nine months of the year - with restrictions as recommended — will meet all the demands of the fund. The average receipts under such an assessment for 480 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. the past six months were about $540 per week - $2,333 per month - $28,000 per year. Nine months' assessments at this rate would net to the fund $21,ooo. This would provide relief for Ioo members weekly, which is about the demand made during the past year. It is apparent that some restriction as to the aggregate amount of relief to be paid from a permanent fund is an absolute necessity. The restriction of not more than four payments of relief in any six weeks, and a maximum of fifteen payments ($60) provides relief to each applicant at the rate of $io per month for six months. A pension clause in the plan scarcely needs comment, the intention being to provide relief for those members who are incapacitated by age, and whose services to the union entitle them to at least this amount of recognition." In the revised constitution of August 6, 1899, the duties and powers of the Relief Committee were transferred to a Benefit Board of five members, chosen by the president. It also provided for the appointment of a benefit clerk, who acted as secretary to the board. The out-of-work relief law was repealed by the union on July 24, 1907, and in its stead provision was made for the payment of $4 per week to members who had reached the age of 60 years and were incapacitated for duties at the printing trade. The final payment from the unemployed fund was made on August 13, I907, and up to that date the total disbursements from October I, 1893, were $520,645.25, being as follows by years: Unemploymet Benefits Dibured from October, 1893, to August 13, 1907. Year ended September 30,- Amount. 1894......................................................... 8,259.04 x895......................................................... 7,779.05 1896......................................................... 25,365.20 1897......................................................... 30,211.70 1898......................................................... 35,169.24 I899......................................................... 37,274. 3 1900......................................................... 40,32365 90......................................................... 40,45.46 902......................................................... 40,715.75 903......................................................... 44,5Io.86 904......................................................... 45,458. 12 I905......................................................... 50,385.80 I906................................................... 54,70.69 Ten months, plus, ended August I3,907......................................................... 40,039.56 Total................................................ $520,645.25 Special out-of-work benefits, amounting altogether to $9,380.o9, have been paid by the union on several occasions since the abolition BENEFICIAL FEATURES. 48Tc of the permanent plan, one of these payments having been made as late as September i6, ii ii, bringing the whole sum expended in this kind of relief work since October I, i893, up to $530,025.34. Instances are also numerous, during Unemployment the transition from hand typesetting to machine Benefits Paid in composition, of regularly employed printers volun- Eighteen Years. tarily stopping work for one or more days each week with the sole object of engaging their unemployed fellows as substitutes. It is not possible, however, to measure with figures the beneficial results that accrued from such sacrifice on the part of situation holders, but the wages thus relinquished by these generous workers amounted to many thousands of dollars. And while the City of New York was then, as at present, expending millions of dollars for charitable purposes, not a member of Union No. 6 was the recipient of any of those public moneys in the entire period of transition and depression. Several times the union has limited the employment of regulars to five days a week in order to give work to its unemployed members, but the pursuance of such course was of short duration, as it tended to attract, idle printers from other localities. As a further means of aiding the unemployed the union on December 6, i896, enacted for newspaper chapels an overtime law, which provided " that when a regular has earned monetary consideration of a day's pay in overtime he shall take an extra day off." This rule was afterward amended so as to read: " When a member accumulates overtime equivalent to a day's pay in a newspaper office he shall take a day off within the next financial week and put on a substitute." There were other propositions to relieve the distress among members of the union who had been displaced by composing machines and other causes. " It is necessary to create work for those at present unemployed," read one of these Proposalto resolutions, which was introduced at the meeting Establish a of September 2, i894, and it called for the appoint- Daily Newspaper. ment of a committee " to formulate suitable plans for the establishment of a seven-day, six-page, 42-column afternoon newspaper, devoted to labor and local news matter, and to be set in minion and nonpareil type; the work in the composing room of which shall be done entirely by hand and by printers who must have been associated in good standing with this union for at least three months previous to the initial issue of said journal." The conmnittee was directed to ascertain the cost of the plant, the sum required to maintain it, and the probable revenue to be derived from 482 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. the enterprise. It was also empowered to invite other labor organizations to co-operate financially and otherwise in the project. Reporting on November 4th, the committee was unanimously opposed to the undertaking. The members averred that they recognized the distress that prevailed in the craft " and would cheerfully recommend any plan that would be practical and within the power of this union to carry out with benefit to all of its members." Continuing, the committee reasoned as follows: Your committee have carefully considered whether the plan proposed in the resolutions would afford in any measure the relief desired. The small percentage of our members to whom the publication of a daily newspaper would afford relief would still leave hundreds in their present condition unable to be assisted by the strain on our finances which such an enterprise would necessitate. Even by a continuous assessment on our membership of 21 per cent on all wages or 5 per cent on all sums over $IO per week the income would be totally inadequate to pay the running expenses of a daily newspaper that would command public support. Under the assessments that have been made for relief purposes the income per week has averaged about $I,Ioo, and this, even with the addition of a tax on all sums earned, would fall far short of the demands required to estab - lish a creditable journal. The remedy for distress sought by the proposed undertaking would, therefore, rather intensify than relieve the situation. It would place a burden on our union which it could not sustain and which would demand the sacrifice of greater interests. Should such an enterprise be established as a joint stock concern with the union as the corporator the union would exceed its rights under its present charter. Its State grant would have to be changed to conform to the law of corporate organizations issuing stock. But with such right secured it is not probable that the men willing and able to buy stock in such a concern are those whom the project is designed to benefit. It is only natural to expect that many of those who would buy stock would demand employment on the paper and insist upon their rights in its management and their share of profits, if any. The committee have considered the question of inviting other labor organizations to co-operate financially and otherwise with the project, and it is the unanimous opinion of the committee, based on the experiences of years, that no adequate support could be expected from other organizations. No guarantee could be given of permanent financial assistance, and no one could insure a circulation among working people. Many attempts have been made in this city to interest workingmen in a newspaper devoted to their interests. But all have been failures. Workingmen are not united on the political issues of the day, and many American workingmen are opposed to separation into a distinct class, on the Old World basis, and calling for special legislation distinct from the common welfare. It would be impossible to so conduct a newspaper as to meet the varied shades of opinion among workingmen and command their support. If too radical, it would be condemned by the conservative; if too conservative, it would be condemned by the radical; and hence the impossibility of reaching a happy medium in the discussion of social and political problems. Workingmen will not be bound to the support of a newspaper ostensibly in their interest, unless it gratifies their mental demands. The establishment of a non-partisan paper would not satisfy those who believe in independent political BENEFICIAL FEATURES. 483 action; and a political journal under the control of the union would be a constant cause of contention in our ranks and weaken its influence and destroy its purpose. Information on the labor movement is now supplied by the daily press and the weekly journals devoted to our interests, and from the insufficient support already given labor papers it is evident that the present supply of labor news fully covers the demand. The committee opined that the cost of a suitable plant and its maintenance presented grave reasons against the project. It had endeavored to estimate as nearly as possible the expense involved in publishing such evening newspaper and concluded that the initial outlay would be $12,600 and the weekly expenses $4,200, which sum did not include allowances for incidentals, payment of interest on mortgage on a printing press and periodical payments to reduce the mortgage itself. " To obtain $4,200 a week, the sum required to meet the bare running expenses," ran the argument, "it would be necessary to levy an assessment of an average of $i a week on every paying member now on the books until such time as the property became a paying one, and it would require at least one year to do this." The committee stated that in competition with other afternoon papers the editions of the union's daily would have to be on the street with equal promptness. It was likewise pointed out that the same enterprise that characterized the evening press would have to be observed to command support; that such management would demand the services of energetic and capable men trained in the school of business and in newspaper work and that the essential talent could not be secured without great expense. As to the probable revenue to be derived from the enterprise, the committee said it was convinced that it would be impossible of calculation. " Except on the supposition of a definite number of advertisements and a fixed circulation," went on the report, " it could not be done. It would require a daily sale of 5o,ooo copies at one-half cent each, which would net $250 a day, or $I,750 per week, and 70 columns of advertisements at $36 per column, making an income of $2,520 per week, to reach a total of $4,270, or about the sum estimated to meet the weekly expenses. The great expenses involved, the very doubtful prospect of success, and the comparatively few who would be relieved of distress by the publication of a daily newspaper are the reasons why, in the opinion of the committee, the plan for relief is considered impractical and unwise, and against which the committee unanimously reports." After receiving and ordering the report to be filed, the union virtually sustained the committee's attitude by allowing the question to remain dormant on its records, and a daily newspaper was not established under its auspices. 484 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. II. Farm Project for Idle Printers. A member of long standing in the union addressed the meeting of March 7, I897, on the subject of unemployment, stating that the large expenditure for relief annually to those who An Offer had been forced into idleness was a condition that of Land in " should engage the serious attention of those interPennsylvania ested in the maintenance of the union, its high prestige and unquestionable benefits." With such object in view he submitted an offer of land for utilization by the union in aid of its idle members; recommending its acceptance, with the privilege of rejection should it be found, upon investigation by a committee, to be an unwise undertaking. " In Potter County, Pennsylvania, a few hours from New York City," said he, " a farm of 5,000 acres can be had for the asking upon the following conditions: (I) That i,ooo of the 5,000 acres shall be held by Typographical Union No. 6 free for use by any of its members in good standing for one year. (2) The balance to be sold in plots not to exceed fifteen acres. (3) The development of the land to be under the direction of a practical and up-to-date farmer." He informed the union that in addition to the land, which was valued at $25,000, the donor, who desired to make a success of the enterprise, would donate $0o,ooo, provided the organization would appropriate a like sum, toward the development of the land. " Not more than o00 members of the union will be provided for during the first year," he said, " but Ioo members will be provided for annually thereafter. A governing council of three, composed of two members of Typographical Union No. 6 and one selected by the donor, will direct affairs for the first three years, after which an annual election will take place, when, it is anticipated, the enterprise will yield a revenue to the union. All revenues from privileges or franchises will revert to the union. No inducements will be held forth for any one to go, but here an opportunity to make a living awaits those who are willing to work for it, while Typographical Union No. 6 may find in this proposition a plan for the prospective termination of the present taxation for the relief of its unemployed members, which benefits sooner or later will be abolished." A committee that had been chosen to inquire into the matter reported on May 2d that it had investigated several propositions, in addition to the original one, which latter had been waived by the BENEFICIAL FEATURES. 485 member who had recommended it, and was of the opinion that some plan could be adopted from the many proposed that would result in preparing the way to help unemployed members outside of the trade. One of the proposals that seemed to be the most feasible came from the Mayor's Committee for the Cultivation of Vacant Lands by the Unemployed. Prominent and active members of that committee were J. W. Kjelgaard and Bolton Hall, the latter being a well-known lawyer, author and lecturer on fundamental reforms, who in I896 was treasurer of the Longshoremen's Union. Mr. Hall addressed the union of printers on July II, i897, on the successful operation in different cities of the plan to relieve the distress among the unemployed of the community by cultivating the vacant lands in such municipalities and raising farm products that found a ready sale and a fair remuneration in return for the labor performed. He said that there were then 25,000 persons so occupied in 50 cities of this country, and cited cases in which men who had no previous training had during a season earned from $I.25 to $4 every day they had worked on the land. The committee stated that Mr. Kjelgaard, with its assistance, had obtained from the Park Board a grant of the use of 321 acres of land in Bartow, in Pelham Bay Park, city property, for cultivation in the ensuing summer by members of the union. This land, reported the committee, "is in Proposition from excellent condition for intensive cultivation. There the Mayor's is no other like area elsewhere near the city that is Committee. obtainable and that Mr. Kjelgaard, as a practical farmer, would advise the committee to take. In the park are several buildings which may be occupied by some of the cultivators. Should others of the party wish to stay for a few days at a time on the tract during the season temporary structures could be erected. Close at hand, in Long Island Sound, may be found good fishing and crabbing; and in the park are picnic grounds. Mr. Kjelgaard offers the union any sum up to $2,500 to assist in the experiment, providing that the union shall also contribute dollar for dollar up to $2,500." These conditions were submitted by the committee as part of the plan: I. The money necessary is to be paid into a common treasury, in instalments, by the two parties. Each instalment is to be $500; the first to be paid when it is reasonably certain that 50 members of the union will go to work on the tract and the time has come to incur expense in furtherance of the plan. No money is to be put out until 50 members are ready. The first step is to have this number of responsible members to signify their intention of doing this work. If they fail to respond the plan is to be abandoned. 2. Mr. Kjelgaard, at the expense of the fund, is to employ, at $20 per week, one instructor in truck farming; is to have the land to be used by our members 486 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. ploughed, and is to buy the necessary tools, seed, and fertilizers. The treasurer of the Mayor's committee will give vouchers for all such expenditures. 3. The union at the expense of the fund is to employ one of its members as a supervisor, who will maintain discipline, take charge of the books, keep tally on the day's work done by each man, and in general act in the capacity of foreman or chairman. 4. The supervisor is to give at least one meal per day to every cultivator, is to safeguard the park property occupied by our members, and to see to the protection of the crops while growing. He will give vouchers for all his expenditures. 5. In every case possible each cultivator is to work a plot for himself. He is to work under directions of the instructor. All the produce he raises is to be his own. 6. A common plot is to be reserved for those members who cannot work upon the tract regularly, but who may wish to do a day's work from time to time. The produce from this tract is to be sold by the foreman, under sanction of Mr. Kjelgaard and your committee, and the money is to be divided pro rata per day's work among the men who do the work. 7. The disposal of the produce of the individual plot cultivators is to be at their own pleasure; they may take it away, or sell it themselves, or consign it to the foreman for sale. The Pelham Bay Park project was afterward approved by the union, which in February, I898, appropriated $2,500 for the farm. Cold and wet weather caused a postponement of Tilling the operations in the first season, but on May 4, 1898, Soil in Pelham agricultural labor was begun by 54 members, and Bay Park. in the succeeding few weeks a total of 96 men commenced to till the soil. " Thirty gave up the work in a shorttime," said the Land Committee inits initial report on January 8, I899. " Some of these got jobs at the trade, some fell sick, and others found the farm work beyond their will or strength. The number of plots cultivated was 67; the number of members holding half acres or more at potato digging time was 6. As the number of men drawing relief during last May averaged 264 the proportion trying the farm work was about 40 per cent and of those staying 25 per cent. To infer, however, that 60 per cent of the men then on relief were averse to hard work would not be true. The farm was begun under ridicule, the weather was bad enough to keep even strong men away, the indoor worker finds labor on the soil strange and uninviting, and the sincerity of both committees was doubted. To decide to go to work on the farm required more than ordinary will and independence. The farm members worked in good spirit. Rain had fallen throughout April; it rained 27 days in May, and it continued raining until June 7th. But the men went up - 20, 40, 6o a day. At first much of the work was done in cold mud, between BENEFICIAL FEATURES. 487 showers or storms. The farm director had estimated that 20 trips would be more than enough to enable a member to raise both potatoes and the small crops-beans, peas, sweet corn, etc. But when the potatoes were planted he announced that it was too late to put in the small crops. Few members got any money out of small crops; no one got any from the hay of the meadows, as had been expected, and nothing came from other estimated sources of revenue. The potato tract, with its long rows of green vines, looked well in June. Practical farmers said that the crop was worth $4,000 to $5,00oo. But in July a month of drouth set in; springs and a well on the grounds ran dry for the first time within the knowledge of the neighbors. In August the potatoes were struck by a blight. In early September the farm director, after digging samples, confidently estimated the coming yield at 1,5oo barrels or more. He was mistaken. The wet weather of the spring had prevented the seed from fully germinating, and the drouth had ended the growth of most of the potatoes that had come to a head." Notwithstanding these drawbacks the committee considered that the work was not without encouraging developments. "The physical and moral benefits reaped by the members are past estimate," it was declared. " In general they report a marked improvement in health; they gained in practical ideas and in hopes through new possibilities. The farm members have demonstrated their willingness and capacity for work; the membership of the union in general, from all appearances, have been won to a thoughtful consideration of the farm scheme, as the only one thus far proposed which gives good promise of some outlet for our unemployed and a local Home for our infirm and aged. The Vacant Lot Committee put in more than dollar for dollar with us for our members. Its itemized account for the past year shows an outlay of more than $3,500. Deducting from this sum its salaries previous to April and the cost of farming its tract of three acres and the seven half-acre plots of outsiders, more than $2,500 is left as spent directly for members of No. 6. This was for seed, teams, keep of team, extra ploughing, implements, fertilizers, unclassified expenses, and salaries of the two instructors and the farm hand." The Land Committee stated that it had expended $2,295.40. Answering its own query, " Did the returns justify this outlay? " it averred that " the yield of the farm to our members in crops sold, eaten and taken home, and in rent or lodging saved was $1,676.70. In addition, our men received in meals $435.25 and were given potato sacks that cost $50.60. Nor is it to be overlooked that the $600 agent's salary went to farm members, and the camp outfit, which cost more than $200, is still 488 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. fit for use. As it is, our crops were better than the average in Westchester County or up the Hudson. Farming is a business which one year may yield ten-fold or twenty-fold and the next less than the seed. We struck a bad year. Once established a colony or a Home of farm workers could be maintained at a low cost as compared with our present unproductive methods of relieving or supporting our members out of work. At least three seasons are necessary to prove the scheme good or bad. Meantime it opens up no new form of outlay to the union." The committee's report was accepted by the union, which on February 19, 1899, appropriated $2,500 to continue the farm experiment during that year. To this was added $I,ooo that Experiences in had been donated by two subscribers, besides an Bound Brook, extra sum of $500 that the union subsequently New Jersey. voted. It having been found impracticable to utilize the only space available in Pelham Bay Park, the Land Committee had to seek a suitable place elsewhere, so it rented I66 acres in Bound Brook, N. J., for a year, with the privilege of renewing the lease annually during a period of five years. The distance from New York and the cost of transportation rendered it necessary to provide suitable sleeping quarters and furnish meals for all the printers associated with the farm colony. Only partial success crowned the efforts of the committee, which did not view the tract until April 5th, and the first group of men did not settle upon the land until the twenty-eighth of that month. This late beginning caused the bean and corn crops to enter the glutted markets of the season, and these were the only products, excepting the potatoes, that amounted to much. A drouth of seven weeks' duration destroyed eleven acres of produce, and the loss disheartened some of the plotholders. Other reasons for the unfavorable result of the second year's venture were also stated by the committee in its report on December 3d. Forty-six compositors engaged in the work. "' The men were but breaking in at farming, most of them not in sound health," it informed the union. "About half the force had tried the work in Bartow last year, but not half a dozen besides knew anything of the work. Fifteen might be classed as old men. Four came direct from hospitals to the farm and others had recently been hospital patients. Fully one-half were suffering visibly, and mostly past a fair day's work, from irregular living. Nearly all of them learned to manage the horse-cultivator and shovel-plough, and a dozen learned ploughing. The hoe had a remarkable influence on their health. With no live stock to begin with, no orchard, no chance to double BENEFICIAL FEATURES. 489 crops, no fine vegetables, such as celery and asparagus, no small fruits, no hotbeds, and building up land that had been worked by tenant farmers for a decade, the output from the farm this bad year, it must be evident, was hardly half of what it might be in an ordinary year when thoroughly worked. It must be remembered that all the farm plant, excepting about $20 worth used in Bartow last year, had to be bought, and that the ploughing and hauling were done by contract." Yet with these disadvantages the total value of the crops was $3,075.27, their cost being $2,5.6.22, leaving a profit of $559.05. " The Home kept the men better fed, better housed, in better health, and under better moral and physical condition than most of them had been for years," observed the committee, in speaking of the housing conditions at the farm, and concluded: " The medicine bill averaged less than a dollar a week and only twice in the six months was there a visit to the house from a doctor. With hardly an exception the men who worked to the close of the season earned enough from their labor to buy their winter's clothing and pay their board at the farm ($33) from October 28th until the first of next April- 22 weeks." How the printer-farmers themselves regarded the enterprise may be judged from their own expressions, contained in this communication, approved by the farm chapel in the early spring and presented to the Board of Delegates on May 3d: "The farmers down in Jersey already feel rejuvenated and hope to be able at the end of the season to enjoy the fruits of contact with 'mother earth,' i. e., a plethoric purse, and last, but not least, better health than can be secured on 'the Row.' 3 The bathing, fishing and the first-class table d'h6te are enjoyed with true zest by all hands, and the chairman of the Land Committee is doing everything that man can do to make the 'hayseeds' of No. 6 comfortable. The condition of the farm land is splendid, and the surroundings everything that can be desired; in fact, we only lack our coach-and-four and footman to make us feel as though we were satisfied with the world at large. The sleeping accommodations are all that could be desired - large airy rooms, good beds; and the morning song of the 'robin and the frog,' the sunshine and the truly rural homestead are really immense." The agricultural experiment was extended through the season of 900o by the union, which appropriated $5,000 for that year's continuation of the project, while from an outside source the sum of $400 was contributed. Although the farm was prepared for the 8 Park Row, New York City, a conspicuous thoroughfare in the center of the printing industry. 490 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. reception of members on April ist the average of 45 workers maintained throughout the season was not attained until May I5th. Departing slightly from the practice of the two previous years the Land Committee of 900o tried the co-operative experiment to a limited extent, and plots were not assigned until sufficient space had been planted to give each man one and a quarter acres. Up to that time the men were assigned to tasks for which their respective physical conditions qualified them. "It is not possible to state the exact value that each man received for his crop," reported the committee in November, "as few complete reports were turned in. A fair average of each man's rations would be between $3 5 and $40. Taking the lower figure for 40 men, this would show a return of $I,400, or taking the larger amount he would have a total of $I,600. In estimating the returns of the season there are other things to be taken into consideration besides the individual cash return to the members of the farm chapel, or the value of the product raised for the supply of the house and to feed the stock during the winter months. Among these are the excellent care that our men receive at the Home and the very good food supplied at a low price. Beginning June I5th our own garden began to furnish vegetables and these with our own dairy products enabled us to supply an excellent bill of fare for $I.50 per week. With the labor which members of the farm chapel contribute it would be possible to maintain all our unemployed members and their families for a fractional part of the annual allowance of $60 per year. In order to do this it would be necessary for the union to purchase its own farm. It is imperative that this farm have consecutive management for a series of years in order to obtain the best results. No business or industrial concern expects a dividend for one or two years after it is established, and it is unreasonable to expect the farm to be self-sustaining or nearly so until it is placed upon a sound financial basis." A special committee that had been created to institute an inquiry and report whether or not it would be advisable to continue the farm communicated its conclusions to the union on November ii, I900. The judgment of the investigators was opposed to the project as it had been conducted - along transient lines. They were, however, inclined to favor a permanent enterprise. "The soil is not adapted to the service to which it is most desired that we should put it," critically observed the committee. " For a man of wealth who desired a large plot of land convenient to New York it could not be improved upon. For a rented truck farm it is not suited. We advise against continuing the farm project unless the union BENEFICIAL FEATURES. 49I decides to establish a permanent farm and Home and proceeds to purchase the same, so that what money is expended from year to year for improvements would not be wasted. We are unanimously of the opinion that the plot system is not successful. On a well-regulated farm on which 40 or 45 men share the work necessary to properly cultivate I20 acres the results should be an acreage free from rubbish, weeds and rocks, from which all crops would be harvested the day they mature, new crops planted or sown immediately, and a consequent increase in the product. Such is not the case now. Each man has a plot. If Providence is kind to him and he works at least occasionally he gets some kind of a return. Should misfortune befall his plot he gets nothing. Should the project be continued we believe that it should be done on the basis of a division of profits at the end of the season, all the printer-farmers to work under a farmer-foreman, doing such work as he may deem necessary from day to day, the hours of work to be fixed so as not to be a hardship to those who desired to take advantage of the union's desire to lift its unemployed." It was the opinion of the committee that a competent farmer and his wife should have been employed and given full charge in the absence of the Land Committee. " Discipline is the most essential feature in connection with such a project," the report averred. " In order to maintain discipline a disciplinarian must be in charge and be ever on hand. Such is not at present the case, since it is impossible for the committee, or any one member of it, to be ever present. This report should not be taken as a personal criticism of anymember of the Farm Committee, the chairman of which has given his whole heart to this work and his labors have not been in vain, while at the same time we believe that under the management of a capable farmer the farm would have shown better results, provided of course that the system of working the land had been different. A considerable amount has been invested in implements and cattle, and so far as your committee is able to judge the investments have been judicious, especially should the union decide to establish a permanent Home and farm. Here, too, the lack of proper attention is visible. The inmates seem to confine their work to their own distinctive plots, with never a thought of the general condition or appearance of the property. Of course, each man gives up a certain time for what is known as ' detail work,' but it is not as effective as it should be. That the several Land Committees up to date have been greatly handicapped by the uncertainty as to whether the farm would be continued is very true, and this drawback must not be underestimated. For instance, in 492 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. the buying of cattle, of implements, in the making of repairs and the sowing of grain the practical farmer looks forward for years to come. No farm experiment can be successful when made for one year, though of course each year might show some improvement. You cannot expect to buy cattle nor implements for one season's use and do it profitably, for at the season's end, should you wish to dispose of them, the second-hand brand reduces their value one-half." Upon the completion of the reading of the special committee's report the union decided to abandon the agricultural project, ordered that the farm property be sold, and discharged the Agricultural Land Committee. The disposal of the farm impleUndertaking ments and stock netted $6Io, so that in the three Abandoned. years, apart from the out-of-work relief money received by the members who had engaged in the work and the proceeds from the sale of produce, the amount actually disbursed in the conduct of the enterprise aggregated $I3,585.40 - $9,685.40 of that sum being expended by the union from its own resources, while $3,900 constituted contributions from outside sources. III. Pensions for Superannuated Members. Typographical Union No. 6 began to consider the well-being of its aged members in I884, when it amended its constitution so as to provide that those over 60 years old who had been Local actively on the rolls for at least 20 years should Old-Age be placed upon the retired list and be exempt from Benefits. dues and assessments. In I899 this was amended, so as to exempt all persons of 25 years' membership, if not regularly employed at the printing business, from financial liability to the organization and permitting them to share in all the benefits accruing to members in good standing. The law was again changed in 1906, fixing the minimum limit for retirement at 60 years of age, but requiring such members, if engaged at the trade and earning $Io per week and over, to pay dues and assessments. It also stipulated that " any member who shall have been 30 consecutive years in good standing, and who is incapacitated, through no fault of his, for further duties at the trade may be placed upon the retired list and be exempt from all financial liability to the union, if in the judgment of the Executive Committee he is worthy." Further provision was made on September 8, I907, allowing aged and disabled BENEFICIAL FEATURES. 493 members to obtain employment in union offices at less than the regular scale of prices. But the greatest boon conferred upon these superannuated members by the New York union was the old-age benefit scheme, which was adopted on July 24, 1907, when the permanent out-of-work relief system was abrogated. That constitutional provision states that " any member who has been 20 years in continuous good standing, has no source of income and is utterly incapacitated for further duties at the trade, may be paid a weekly benefit of not more than $4." Payments of this benefit date from September i, 1907. At first it included all aged members of the union, but when the International Typographical Union pension law went into effect about a year later the local rule was confined to only those who had not yet attained eligibility under the International plan. Altogether I74 members have been beneficiaries of the local fund, from which up to September 30, 1911i, they had drawn a total of $60,225.75. In recent years retired members 60 years of age have been released from all financial liability excepting the International old-age pension fund assessment, while those of 70 years and upward are recipients of all benefits and are relieved from the necessity of paying dues and assessments of any kind. In August, 1907, the International Typographical Union convention passed favorably upon a superannuated pension system, which was subsequently ratified by the members at large, the referendum resulting in a majority of 7,893 in International favor of the proposition, which became effective on Pensions for August i, 1908. Originally the plan provided that Aged Members. any member of the organization who had reached the age of 60 years after continuous affiliation for 20 years, " who finds it impossible to secure sustaining employment, and who has no other adequate means of support, may receive the sum of $4 per week."4 Afterward an additional clause was inserted in the law providing that the benefit should also be extended to any member of ten years' uninterrupted good standing who had arrived at the age of 70 years, or any other union printer " having a continuous membership of 20 years who, by reason of his affliction, is totally incapacitated for work, and whose application for admission to the Union Printers' Home has been rejected by the trustees thereof." In the beginning Union No. 6 had 145 pensioners on the roll and all told 256 of its members have received $81,148 from the fund, since the inception 4 In August, I9i1, the International Typographical Union raised the pension to $5 weekly, to beooms operative on January I, 1912. 494 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. of which 49 of these beneficiaries have died, 2 have been removed from the list for cause, and i has been transferred to another subordinate union, leaving 204 on the roster at the end of September, 191I. An assessment of one-half of i per cent is levied upon the earnings of members for the support of the pension system, and from March I, I908, when the first instalment was collected, until September 30, I911, Union No. 6 covered into the International coffers for old-age pensions the sum of $II4,732.80- or $33,584.80 (29.3 per cent) more than the local members have received. IV. Union Printers' Home. To a gift of $io,ooo made to the International Typographical Union in 1886 by George W. Childs, owner of the Philadelphia Public Ledger, and Anthony J. Drexel, a noted banker in that city, a sufficient amount was added by subordinate unions (the largest subscriber being No. 6) to establish the Union Printers' Home, which was dedicated in Colorado Springs, Col., on May 12, I892, and has been maintained since with unvarying success and greatly to the benefit of numerous union printers. The idea of such an institution was first suggested by a Philadelphian, the editor of the Typographic Advertiser, who in October, I856, printed in that paper an editorial pointing out the good that might be accomplished by founding an Asylum for Decayed Printers. " Printers, as printers," wrote he, " are not very notable for longevity. The intellectual capabilities of not a few transfer them into other relations. Some become ministers, some doctors, some lawyers, some financiers, some politicians, or pursue other callings of more profit than typesetting; these probably live as long as all engaged in similar professions. But of those who remain 'at case' not many attain to length of days. Still there are some whom consumption spares and who, old and weary and with trembling fingers, eke out a scanty living in the printing office. For these venerable few, who need a place wherein they may rest awhile before they die, why should there not be founded a suitable asylum?" In January, i857, L. Johnson & Co., publishers of the Typographic Advertiser, offered " a subscription of $I,ooo toward the founding of a National Asylum for Decayed Printers. We trust our brethren of the press will take up this matter and urge it to a happy consummation." Its issue of April contained another allusion to the subject, saying: " We are BENEFICIAL FEATURES. 495 glad to perceive that our proposition for an asylum or retreat for superannuated printers is meeting a favorable reception. Newspapers in various parts of the country have expressed approval of the project, and that highly respectable institution, the Typographical Society of Philadelphia, has appointed a committee to take measures to bring the matter to a practical issue. A benevolent gentleman of this city has authorized us to offer a healthy and pleasant site for the proposed retreat on the banks of the Schuylkill." The question was first submitted to the National Typographical Union in May, 1857, and in I858 a committee reported in favor of founding a Home for invalid, aged or infirm members, but the matter did not meet with serious consideration, and was postponed until I86o, when it was again discussed, the convention, however, declining to make an appropriation from its surplus fund for the purpose of starting the project. To that cause and the subsequent breaking out of the Civil War may be attributed the failure of the plan at that early period. Two years after the close of the Rebellion the question was revived. Reference was made to it by President John H. Oberly in his address to the fifteenth annual session of the National Union in Memphis, Tenn., on June 3, 1867. He said: " A few months since a celebrated printer, the kind-hearted Charles F. Browne (Artemus Ward) was stricken down in the prime of manhood by the hand of death. In his last moments he remembered the men with whom he worked in former days, and in his will devised a large amount of his fortune for the purpose of founding an Asylum for Superannuated Printers." Union printers throughout America then began to contribute toward the Artemus Ward Fund, and at the national session of i868 it was ordered that such moneys be invested in United States bonds. Delegates to the session of 1870 deemed the Home proposition impracticable, and at the 1873 convention of the International Union a resolution was presented that the " Artemus Ward Fund be appropriated to the Greeley Monument Fund, to be held in trust by Typographical Union No. 6." But in lieu of that proposal it was ordered that the fund " be restored and remain in trust by this International Union until it shall be appropriated as the original donors designed." 5 Negative action was again taken on ' In I874 the so-called Artemus Ward Fund amounted to $I,529.59, which sum was afterward diverted and was not devoted to the object for which it was intended. To an inquiry of the Printers' Circulr as to what had become of the Ward Fund, J. B. Elfreth, editor of the Millville (N. J.) Transcript, wrote in August, 1887: "When Artemus Ward died he bequeathed $30,000 for a home for worn-out printers, and made the late Horace Greeley one of the executors of the will. This was one of Ward's biggest jokes, for he did not leave 30 oents. Printers then began raising a fund similar to the Childs-Drexel Fund." 496 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. the proposition in 1877, and the question remained dormant until 1882, when the newly-elected officers were authorized to consider the advisability of devising ways and means for maintaining an institution on the plan of the soldiers' homes. Not anything developed from that action, and the consummation of the project appeared to be as distant as ever until in i886 Messrs. Childs and Drexel presented their combined check for $Io,ooo- $5,ooo from each donor -" without condition or suggestion of any kind, as an absolute gift," they said in the letter accompanying the donation, " in full confidence that the sagacious and conservative councilors of your union will make or order wise use of it for the good of the union." The gift was accepted by a rising vote at the 1886 convention, which was held in Pittsburgh, Pa. A Board of Trustees was elected for five years for the safe-keeping and investment of the money, and as an evidence of appreciation of the motives of the donors the general union urged that on the anniversary of the birth of Mr. Childs, May 12th, during the succeeding five years every compositor under its jurisdiction east of the Mississippi River contribute the amount received by him for I,ooo ems, and that each stereotyper, electrotyper and pressman on the same date donate one hour's pay; also that on September I2th, Mr. Drexel's birthday, lke contributions be made by members west of the Mississippi River. Tracts of land for a Home site were proffered in several places in 1889, the most popular proposition being that made by Louis R. Ehrich, of Colorado Springs, Col., who on behalf of the Board of Trade of that city offered to deed to the International Union in fee simple 8o acres of land lying within one mile east of the town, conditioned that the erection of a Home should be commenced within two years, to cost at least $20,000, and to be completed within one year from the date of beginning. This offer was accepted. There was then in the fund the sum of $2i,689.45, but the convention of I889, failing to make provision for the raising of additional money to erect a Home, an appeal for voluntary contributions was made by the trustees, who stated that under the terms of the gift it would be necessary to start the construction work by June 22, I89I, and as there was not a sufficient fund in existence to enable the 1890 session to complete arrangements and order the erection of the Home, they requested the members to subscribe such amounts as they could afford. By this method $4,I99.55 was added to the fund in the course of a year, and on November i, i890, the levying of a specified assessment for the construction and maintenance of the institution was begun, and has continued since that date. In Chicago on November i8, 1890, BENEFICIAL FEATURES. 497 the trustees met and decided to build a $5o,ooo edifice. Bids were opened in Denver, Col., on March 17, I891, but upon examination it was found that the figures submitted exceeded the amount that it had been determined to expend, and the sum was augmented to $58,000, which was on June 6th raised to $62,700 to cover the whole cost, inclusive of necessary extra work. It was on May 12, I892, the anniversary of the birth of George W. Childs, that the Home was dedicated. Colorado Springs was thronged with people from far and near to witness the ceremonies. Trade unions and civic societies joined in a parade through the city. The dedicatory exercises were held in the open air in front of the Home. Vice-President William Aimison, of the Board of Trustees, opened with a short address, followed by the Rev. James B. Gregg, with an invocation. Governor Routt of Colorado spoke briefly, after which Mayor Ira G. Sprague of Colorado Springs paid a high tribute to the printer and his work and cordially welcomed all strangers present. Vice-President James McKenna of the International Typographical Union responded to the Mayor's address of welcome. Next was introduced one of the most prominent persons on the platform -George W. Childs - whose remarks were heartily applauded. August Donath, a trustee, gave an interesting history of the project, and was followed by Hon. Jacob H. Gallinger, United States Senator from New Hampshire, an old typo, who delivered the principal oration. Short speeches were then made by President Cappeller, of the National Editorial Association, and Bishop McLaren; the services of the day being fittingly concluded with a benediction by Dean A. R. Kiefer of Grace Church. Among the diseases to which printers are especially liable is consumption, and many who were afflicted with the white plague early sought shelter and care at the Home, which is situated in a climate that is peculiarly adapted to those suffering from all forms of throat and lung ailments. That fact suggested the erection of a hospital building, which was opened for occupancy in May, 1898. Ten tents were placed near the structure in 1904 for the use of tuberculosis patients, and they proved to be so efficacious that ten more were added in 1907, in which year was also constructed a central building called the Solarium, a frame structure containing modem conveniences and with two sides of glass so as to give the occupants the benefit of the sunlight at.all hours of the day. The social and educational side of the Home centres in the library, a wing to which was erected in 191o at a cost of $24,2I6.34. In the book stacks are 7,981 volumes. Daily newspapers at present received 498 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. and kept on file number 148. Weekly and monthly periodicals are also conspicuous among the reading matter. Entertainments of various kinds, from theatricals and motion picture exhibitions to holiday celebrations, are provided for the amusement of the residents, many of whom, particularly tubercular patients, separated from their families and life-long associations, are thus prevented from becoming depressed in spirits. Vegetables and fruits in profusion are furnished by the farm and garden connected with the Home, a herd of HolsteinFriesian cattle supply wholesome milk, and flocks of domestic fowl produce large quantities of eggs, providing besides sufficient poultry for the plenteous table of other palatable viands. The Home buildings occupy a commanding eminence overlooking Colorado Springs and the surrounding plateau. They face the west, the picturesque montanic view extending from Castle Rock, 30 miles northward, to the Spanish Peaks, 80 miles to the south. The tract slopes toward the city on the west and to Prospect Lake at the southwest. On either side of the driveway, from the magnificent stone gateway to the main structure, is a broad cement walk an eighth of a mile in length. Bordering it and encircling the buildings are lawns comprising an area of twelve acres. Since the opening of the Home in July, 1892, up to September 30, I9II, 1,230 printers have been admitted-3II of whom have died, 668 have vacated, 120 have been dismissed, and 131 were there at the close of this report. In the first year five members of Typographical Union No. 6 were accomodated at the institution. Prom the start 230 compositors affiliated with that subordinate organization have been residents, and at the end of September, this year, 27 were residing there. It has cost $1,058,549.82 to construct, furnish and maintain the Home, the receipts from June, I886,to September 30, 1911I, amounting to $1,083,090.49, thus leaving on the last-noticed date a balance of $24,540.67. While printers affiliated with Union No. 6 contributed a large part of the $16,933.63 that was donated by the general membership up to October 31, 1890, that local has, since the inauguration of the regular assessment plan of raising funds, paid into the treasury of the institution from November ist of that year to October ist of the present year the sum of $136,793.61. As early as November 4, 1894, the New York union began to aid its Home members in a financial way, it then passing a resolve that an allowance of $4 per month each be forwarded to the superintendent for their use. These payments have continued to be made since that date. Residents for whom provision is not made by their local BENEFICIAL FEATURES. 499 unions receive 50 cents per week, and during the fiscal year that ended in May, I9II, the International pension account at the Colorado Springs retreat aggregated $3,727. George W. Childs was a model employer and his relations with printers were always most cordial. He once said that "were it not for the Typographical Union the printers of this country would not now be getting what they do for their work by at least one-third." This appreciation of the thoughtful consideration of Mr. Childs for his employees was delivered on October I7, i868, by Judge Ellis Lewis at the dedication of a beautiful enclosed plot at Woodlands Cemetery, West Philadelphia, Pa., which had been presented by the proprietor of the Public Ledger to the Philadelphia Typographical Society: "The great and magnificent building which he erected for the Ledger at a cost of half a million dollars, as a newspaper establishment, is unparalleled in the world. But he could not erect this building without providing that the pressroom, the composing room, the reporters' room, and every room where his employees were engaged, should be carefully located, ventilated and lighted, so that all should be comfortable in their employment, and enjoy good health in their industry. Mr. Childs provides for the comfort and health of his employees during life - he secures an insurance on their lives for the benefit of their families after death. And even then he does not desert them. He provides this beautiful and magnificent burial lot for the repose of their lifeless bodies forever." By a rising vote on July 5, i885, Typographical Union No. 6, as an evidence of the high esteem in which it held Mr. Childs, elected him an honorary member; declaring that "in the hospitality extended by him to the International Typographical Union during its last session has only added one more to the many well-knowninstances in which he has shown his undeviating regard for the rights and interests of workingmen and his due appreciation of the efforts of those who endeavor to uphold and ennoble the dignity of labor and cultivate a closer relationship between employer and employed; that the justice, liberality and kind consideration which he has always extended to the employees of his own establishment are facts which have been proverbial, and are to be applauded by the craft and emulated by employers everywhere." At the demise of Anthony J. Drexel in i893 Union No. 6 adopted resolutions of respect to his memory. George W. Childs passed away in 1894 and on February 4th, that year, the union, after ordering that it be represented by a committee at the funeral obsequies, adjourned as a mark of esteem for the departed philanthropist. 5oo NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Further expression of the sincere regard in which they held the deceased benefactor were given by the organized compositors of New York City at a largely attended memorial service in the Fifth Avenue Theatre on Sunday afternoon, March i, I894, the principal eulogists being Bishop Henry C. Potter, the Rev. Joseph N. Blanchard, D. D., rector of St. James' Protestant Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, who for many years had been intimate with Mr. Childs as his pastor, Hon. Amos J. Cummings, John W. Keller, president of the New York Press Club, John R. O'Donnell, ex-president, and James J. Murphy, president of Union No. 6. V. Hospital Beds. For awhile at the beginning the Typographical Union paid $4 per week to members who were unable to work owing to illness. While it does not now regularly dispense sick benefits it has adopted other means of giving relief to disabled printers who are associated with it. As long ago as 1872 it exempted sick members from the payment of dues, requiring, however, that such illness must be certified by a physician. That rule has substantially continued in force for the past 40 years, the present constitution providing as follows on the subject: " Dues and assessments shall not accrue against a member who is physically incapacitated, after such member has notified the secretary-treasurer of such incapacity, which shall be certified to by a regular physician, the chairman of his office or any member of the union in good standing; but no such exemption shall avail unless such notification appears on record at the rooms of the secretarytreasurer of the union. The International dues of such incapacitated member shall be paid by the union." Ample accommodations for members suffering from physical disabilities have been for years provided at the leading local hospitals by the union, which instituted such humanitarian work in I892 by engaging two beds in St. Vincent's Hospital, New York, and one in St. Mary's Hospital, Brooklyn. It has at present beds in four hospitals. The funds for this beneficence are usually derived from entertainments, principally from the proceeds of the annual ball. From October 22, 1898, to September 30, 1911, the union disbursed $16,370.32 for such purpose, and on the last-named date it had a balance of $5,949.9I in the hospital fund. In urgent cases additional monetary relief is accorded by the union to the afflicted. From March, 1901, to the present BENEFICIAL FEATURES. 50t time the secretary-treasurer has been the custodian of funds specially subscribed by the membership to aid the sick and also widows and orphans, the amount derived from such appeals and disbursed by him to the close of September, I9II, aggregating $I7,329.08. Since the early part of I907 the union has paid especial attention to the health of its members. After Doctor Knopf, an authority on tubercular diseases, had, upon invitation, delivered an instructive lecture on the prevention of tubercu- Permanent Committee on losis at the regular meeting of March 3d, it was Healt and decided that a committee of three- composed of Sanitation. John L. Cahill, Joseph A. Gardner and A. D. Carmichael - carry out his suggestions. To them was referred a proposition that the union maintain tents at the Union Printers' Home. "The suggestion that special quarters be provided for those stricken with tuberculosis was prompted by a desire to remedythe existing system, under which members have been compelled to wait for weeks before their applications were approved, or a vacancyoccur," reported the committee in the following August. "A better plan would be to send such members to nearby sanatoria, where treatment may be had at the cost of a bed in a hospital, and immediately, if necessary, with a possibility of cure equal to treatment in Colorado. Especially in advanced cases proper care at St. Peter's, St. Joseph's and Seton Hospitals, or the new State sanatoria, would be more satisfactory than transportation to the West, with the advantage of delivering the patient from a journey that often hastens death. Through Paul Kennaday, secretary of the New York Committee for the Prevention of Tuberculosis, the committee has received an offer to care for members of this union in the incipient stages of the disease at sanatoria in this State free of charge, or, if preferred, for a sum sufficient to cover expenses, Mr. Kennaday will also supply free a corps of physicians, all experts in the detection of initial evidences of tuberculosis, to examine the members. This latter proposition the committee urges the union to accept, as the results of such physical examinations will be of untold benefit. The only expense is in renting several rooms in a hotel. Each examination will of course be conducted in strict privacy. We are informed that the average general practitioner of medicine is as helpless as a layman in discovering the early indications of tuberculosis, and that a person may have all the outward signs of perfect health is no assurance that the disease has not set in at the stage where it is most easily cured. We recommend that a physician, expert in the diagnosis of tuberculosis, be retained by the union, instead of the general practitioner who now 502 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. examines applicants for the Home. At our request Mr. Kennaday inspected six typical newspaper and book offices and found conditions dangerous to health, in some cases due to our members themselves. In concluding his report he says: ' To prevent tuberculosis you will have to urge in and out of season temperance in spitting, temperance in drinking, and cleanliness, as well as shorter hours and ventilation.' The frightful impairment we suffer through the ravages of tuberculosis has convinced us that instant action is demanded. That printers have for generations furnished the highest mortality from this disease is in large part due to unhygienic workshops, and if a genuine effort is made to improve them, in chapels and through co-operation of this organization with others similarly affected, a tremendous saving in life and money may be accomplished." Subsequently $500 was appropriated by the union, to be used by the Health Committee for the purpose of securing a bed in an openair sanatorium for the accommodation of applicants for admission to the Home pending action regarding their cases. The constitution was also amended so as to make the Committee on Health and Sanitation a permanent body, a provision being embodied in the fundamental law that the duties of its three members " shall be to establish healthful conditions in printing shops, and to arrange for the best treatment of members of this union suffering from tuberculosis," also giving them authority, with the approval of the Executive Committee, to "draw, on the funds of the Benefit Board, not exceeding the sum of $50, for emergency cases." Chairmen of chapels are required by the union to notify the Committee on Health and Sanitation of unsanitary conditions in the offices over which they preside. Chapels also have regulations bearing upon the subject of health. In one large newspaper office the rule (which is typical of the requirement that prevails in other printing establishments) provides that " a committee on sanitation consisting of five members shall be appointed - two from the night side, one from the midnight force and two from the day side - to supervise the sanitary condition of the composing room. They shall see that all health regulations imposed by the chapel and the management are observed. They shall bring said regulations to the attention of newcomers and shall report to the chairman any who persistently violate them. They shall co-operate with the chairman and management in all efforts to improve the health conditions of the office." In June, I908, the Health Committee submitted to the union the following report on the prevention of tuberculosis from James A. Miller, M. D., chief of the staff of physicians who had examined BENEFICIAL FEATURES. 503 members of Union No. 6 as to their physical condition, for statistical purposes: Total number of men examined, 203. Per cent. Absolutely normal.................................................. 31.00 Catarrh (some form)............. 27.50 Heart disease...................................................... 2.90 Nervous heart.......................................................98 Anwmia.............................................................98 Cirrhosis........................................................... 3..70 Hemorrhoids....................................................... 1.70 Gastritis............................................................ 98 Conjunctivitis...................................................... 2.90 Acne...........................................................98 Pulmonary emphysema.............................................. 0 3.9 Pleurisy......................................................... i6. 00 Suspicious pulmonary tuberculosis......................................70 Positive pulmonary tuberculosis*..................................... 1S.00 *Of these, healed, i0; arrested, s; active, i6. Symptoms complained of not included in conditions found in examinations: Per cent. Constipation...................................................... 10.30 Chronic diarrhea....................................................49 Biliousness......................................................... I. 90 Indigestion........................................................ 7.30 Headaches......................................................... 4.40 Rheumatism....................................................... 3.90 Sciatica...... 98 Lumbago..........................................................98 Colic...............................................................98 Nervousness....................................................... 3.40 The most striking result of our investigation is the high percentages of cases which showed some trouble with respiratory organs. This would immediately call for investigation into the causes. The most natural explanation would be the dust and fumes and the exposure to varying sudden changes in temperature, due partly to the carelessness of the men and partly to faulty ventilation. The high percentage of tuberculosis bears out our previous ideas upon this subject, and as practically all these men live under good conditions at home, it must be felt that the conditions in the workshop are largely responsible for the prevalence of tuberculosis. What we have already said in regard to respiratory troubles in general refers to tuberculosis, but in addition probably many cases are due to the spreading of the disease from one person to another in the shops, which is entirely preventable and due to ignorance or carelessness. The number of cases of pleurisy is probably closely connected with the cases of tuberculosis, as pleurisy is one of the well-recognized forms of tuberculosis, and the disease may often stop there and never reach the lungs. The fact that so many of the cases of tuberculosis were healed or arrested shows that the conditions of work do not render this impossible. The excellent home conditions of these men are probably largely responsible for this fact. 504 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. The other diseases named seem to play a very minor role of importance excepting the disturbances of digestion. These are probably largely due to the sedentary life and irregular habits of eating. It is worthy of comment that only two cases of colic were found, and even in these it could not be said positively that it was due to lead poisoning. No other signs or symptoms were found which would suggest the possibility of poisoning by lead. We do not feel in a position as yet to draw any conclusions or make any recommendations based upon this investigation, but these may be expected after more careful study of the subject. Within the past five years the Labor Law has been amended so as to insure improved sanitation in workshops, by requiring proper ventilation, cleanliness of floors, ceilings and walls, Improvement and the maintenance of cuspidors, as well as suitin Workshop able receptacles for the storage of waste and refuse. Conditions. These statutory provisions tend to preserve the health of factory operatives, and through the cooperation of the Committee on Health and Sanitation the Bureau of Factory Inspection has been enabled to compel numerous salutary changes in printing offices in conformity with the legal requirements of the State. Violations of these health laws are reported by chapels to the committee, which in turn promptly notifies the bureau, and immediate attention is given to the complaints. VI. Mortuary Benefits. Exclusive of a short period in the early fifties of the last century, when at the beginning of its conflict with the Printers' Co-operative Union the benevolent features of Union No. 6 were suspended during the pendency of peace negotiations between the two associations, death benefits have been paid to its members by the latter organization from the date of its inception. In the original constitution it was provided that an assessment of 25 cents be laid upon each member to defray the funeral expenses of a deceased craftsman affiliated with the union. Provision was also made to pay $20 to a member in the event of his wife's death, and widows and orphans of members who were qualified at decease were allowed such assistance as the union from time to time directed. The revised constitution of I859 required that in case of the demise of a member $35 should be appropriated toward paying the funeral expenses, stipu BENEFICIAL FEATURES. 505 lating, however, that to be eligible to the benefit such decedent " shall have been a member six months previous to his death and that he shall have been in good standing at the time of his decease." Ten years later the fundamental law fixed $I50 as the amount that should be given to the family of a deceased printer who had been a member for three months immediately preceding his death and in good standing at that time. In the absence of competent relatives the secretary took charge of funeral arrangements. The maximum mortuary benefit has not been changed since it was originally established at $150, although in 1892 the International Typographical Union started a burial fund, at first paying $50 and later $75, for which purpose a portion of the capitation tax collected from subordinate bodies is applied, and the local organization in New York has since added to the International benefit enough to make the highest sum $x5o. The International law provides that "no funeral benefit shall be allowed unless the deceased was possessed of a current working card at the time of death." 6 At present the constitution of Union No. 6 requires that in case of the death of a member, who shall have been connected with the organization at least one year and in continuous good standing for six months immediately preceding decease, $I50 must be paid to the relative legally responsible for and who has assumed the funeral expenses; or $Ioo to a similar heir in the case of one who shall have been a member one year and not indebted to the union at the time of death; or $75 to the relatives of a decedent who had been in affiliation less than a year and holding a clear card. In the event of a deceased member having no relatives the union through its Benefit Board takes charge of the remains and pays the legitimate funeral expenses, which cannot exceed $75. It is possible to present here a statement of the yearly amounts that Union No. 6 has disbursed in death benefits from October i, 1896, to September 30, 1911. During that fifteen-year period there were I,5I6 deaths of members and the sums expended for mortuary claims aggregated $202,548.9i, as follows per annum:,,6 At the convention of the International Typographical Union held in August, 9xI, a resolution was passed and submitted to the referendum, which later adopted it, to provide for graduated mortuary benefits, the new law to take effect on April I, 1912. It stipulates that on the death of a member in good standing the designated beneficiary shall be entitled to one of the following amounts: For a membership of one year or less, $75; for a continuous membership of two years, $125; three years, $I75; four years, $275; five years, $400. To meet these payments a permanent monthly assessment of one-half of I per cent, beginning on January x, I912, is to be levied on the earnings of members. A beneficiary of a person who joins the union after the age of 50 years will not receive more than $75. 506 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Mortuary Benefits Paid by Typographical Union No. 6 in Fifteen Yea. Number of deaths. Year ended September 30, Disbursements. I897.................................................... 1898.................................................... 899.................................................... 1900................................................... 1901.................................................... 1902.................................................... 1903.................................................... 1904.................................................... 1905.................................................... 1906.................................................... 907.................................................... 1908.................................................... 1909.................................................... I910.................................................... 76 $10,527.00 69 9,258.50 77 10,280.60 83 10,708.32 81 10,570.10 99 13,065.43 99 13,162.55 102 13,944-44 116 15,197.19 128 16,442.57 125 16,892.I6 12I I6,479.1o 113 15,233.60 114 15,367.10 113 15,420.25 5i6 $202,548.91 191: I.................................................. Total................................................ I, Longevity of the printer increases in proportion to the improvements that are made in his industrial surroundings. ura ion Back in i850 it was noted that the average duraIncreases. tion of a compositor's life was estimated at 28 years. The writer who gave utterance to that fact further expressed himself in this way: A true republican looks with sympathetic interest upon all classes of men who earn their bread by the sweat of the brow; but of course there must be vocations for which one has a particular regard, and we confess that among these we know of none more important, nor of a class more generally useful, intelligent and at the same time unfortunate than that of printers. From a long daily and constant association with them we have learned to look on them as one large family - nervous, jovial, thoughtful, witty, bilious, poor, proud, wiggling, talkative - in relation to whom we stand as a sort of half-brother or second cousin on a long visit to them. There they stand at their cases - breathing machines, magical automata - daguerreotyping, as it were, the passing scenes of life's changeful panorama, sending forth into the world the world's history of itself, with such a generally accurate minuteness, such order and punctuality, that the unadvised world conceive, if indeed they think anything about their benefactors, that the toil is not only easy but amusing - the printer has such a chance to get the first news. Favored race! the average duration of a printer's life is estimated at 28 years! Agreeable and healthy must be the occupation that has such an effect upon the system! A printer is literally a galley slave, though he is nominally paid for his labor. What amount of wages compensates him for the loss of proper exercise, pure air and seasonable sleep? How much gold will purge the lead from his system? What enjoyment is there in his employment, which, in the round of his abbreviated years, will compensate him for the years he is deprived of? He looks upon the fair visit of a happy old age as Moses viewed the Land of Promise - a vision of beauty not for his fortune to realize. We really think that if there is anything which an age of intelligence like this has to reproach itself with, it is its neglect of printers in view of their scanty rewards and their hopeless, refugeless, unhealthy drudgery. Empty phrases may be bestowed upon BENEFICIAL FEATURES. 507 them by some artful political demagogue, and they may be toasted at festivals in a condescending way, but words will not reward them, nor build an asylum for the consumptive, nor put bread into the mouths of the printer and his family, when temporarily or permanently thrown out of work by dull business, or the sickness resulting from his vocation.7 By i868, it is apparent, the printer's environment had been slightly bettered and thus prolonged his existence, for in that year at the Franklin dinner of the New York Typographical Society, Charles McDevitt, a studious and con- Increase in servative craftsman, showed that the average life the Length of of printers was then 35 years, but some, he said, Printers'Lives. lived to a great age. In 1893 the average age of compositors at death had advanced to 38.78 years, and the gain has been quite perceptible since then. For the quinquennial term that ended with 1905 the mean age of New York City printers at death reached 46.48 years, while during the quinquennium that expired with the year 1910 the average at decease rose to 49.44 years, primarily as a result of working conditions that conform largely to the needs of our modemn civilization. Even in tubercular cases there has been a marked rise in the average age at death among Metropolitan compositors, in the five years that closed on December 31, 1905, the mean being 37.36 years, while in the succeeding quinquennium it advanced five years, going up to 42.42. Another interesting fact is that 24.2 per cent of 583 members of all typographical unions in New York City who died in the five-year period that terminated in 1910 had passed their 6oth birthday, compared with 19.1 per cent of 508 in the preceding quinquennium. In the following table are the figures for the two periods considered: New York City Compositors Whose Ages Were 60 Years and Over at Death. FIVE YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31, I905. AGE. 60............................ 6i............................ 62............................ 63............................ 64............................ 65............................ 66............................ 67............................ 68............................ 69............................ 70............................ 71............................ 72............................. 73............................ 74............................ 75............................ 76............................ Number. 12 8 6 4 9 6 8 4 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 3 3 FIVE YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31, i9IO. AGE. Number. 60o:.....................2.... 2 6r............................ 13 62............................ 9 63............................ 8 64............................ 9 65,s........... 10 66............................ ii 67............................ 8 68............................ 6 69............................ 4 70............................ II 71............................ 2 72............................ 6 73............................ 2 74............................ 5 75............................ 10 76............................ 3 1 Reprinted from the Boston Waverly Magazine by the New York Tribune, on October 3, i85o. 508 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. New York City Compoto Whoe Ages Were 60 Years and Over at Death-Continued. AGE. Number. 77........................... 3 78............................ 2 79............................ 2 80............................ 84............................ 90............................ I Total...................... 97 AGE. Number. 77.......................... 2 78............................ I 79............................ 2 80............................ I 81............................ I 82........................... 3 86............................ 94............................ Total.................... 41 Death records of Union No. 6 are available for 52 consecutive years. The fiscal twelvemonth of the organization commences on April ist, and from that date in I859 until March Record of 3, 1911, an aggregate of 2,867 members have died. Deaths in By adding to these figures the 49 deaths that were 52 years. reported from April ist to September 3oth of the current year the total is raised to 2,9I6. There was a comparatively large increase in the number of decedents during the Civil War, and as the membership was then rather small the proportion of deaths was quite high. This was accounted for by the fact that not a few of the members who were then at the front were killed on Southern battlefields, or died from other causes while engaged in the service of their country. A statement by years appears below: Deaths of Membersof Typoraphical Union No. 6 from April 1, 1859, to March 31, 191 1. Year ended March 31,I86...................... I86...................... 1862...................... 1863...................... I864.................... x865...................... I866...................... I867...................... i868...................... 869...................... 1870..................... 1871..................... 1872..................... I873...................... I874...................... I875...................... 1876..................... I877..................... 878...................... 1879...................... 1880...................... 188...................... 1882...................... 1883...................... x884...................... i88S...................... i886...................... Number. 5 7 9 14 17 20 6 13 i8 18 26 32 37 33 32 37 43 36 32 22 20 19 29 34 33 53 39 Year ended March 31,- Number. I887...................... 46 I888...................... 54 889...................... 40 1890..................... 65 I891...................... 82 1892................... 69 I893...................... 93 1894...................... 78 Ig95...................... 76 1895..76 I896...................... 78 I897..................... 79 1898..................... 73 1899...................... 6 1900...................... 89 I901...................... 79 902...................... 90 1903...................... 03 1904...................... 100 1905...................... I3 906...................... 112 1907...................... 134 908...................... I27 1909.................. 107 1910...................... 119 I9...................... 96 Total................. 2,867 BENEFICIAL FEATURES. 509 Provision is made by Union No. 6 for the interment of deceased members who have no nearby relatives, places of sepulture being in seven cemeteries in the vicinity of New York, the first purchase of space for graves having been made Union Provides in Calvary Cemetery, Brooklyn, on February i, Places of I857. The two principal burial plots that are now Sepulture. utilized by the association are in Mount Hope Cemetery, Westchester County, and Holy Cross Cemetery, Borough of Brooklyn. From the beginning until September 3o, 191, for the acquirement of title to and care of the various plots and the erection of a monument in Mount Hope, the union has expended $3,385. In the seven cemeteries 229 interments have been made, as follows: Number of CEMETERY. interments. Mount Hope, Westchester County.................................. 175 Evergreens, Borough of Brooklyn................................... 24 Holy Cross, Borough of Brooklyn................................... 20 Lutheran, Borough of Queens..................................... 5 Cypress Hills, Borough of Brooklyn................................. 2 Calvary, Borough of Queens....................................... 2 Linden Hill, Borough of Queens.................................... I Total....................................................... 229 In a book provided for that purpose the clerk of the Benefit Board records the name, age and date of burial of each deceased member interred in the union's plots, besides noting the exact location of the grave of such person. VII. Disbursements in Benefits for Fifteen Years. Though always considering the economic question to be of paramount significance Union No. 6 has nevertheless broadened its usefulness by extending its activities to other fields of endeavor. One of its maxims conveys the truth that it " stands in the forefront of every movement for the betterment of mankind." Not only has it agitated for and succeeded in obtaining higher wages and shorter working time for printers within its pale, but it takes laudable pride in proclaiming that it spends thousands of dollars yearly to relieve its unemployed, helps its members in times of business depression, pays weekly pensions to the superannuated, provides beds in hospitals for its sick, also aiding them through special subscriptions, contributes liberally to the support of the Union Printers' Home, s10 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. where disabled, infirm and aged typographers are cared for, strives zealously to secure sanitary conditions in the workshop, thereby lessening the ravages of tuberculosis, buries its dead, renders financial assistance to the beneficiaries of its deceased members, and succors the widow and orphan. A recapitulation of its benevolences within the period from October i, 1896, to September 30, 1911, reveals the interesting fact that the large sum of $I,906,362.73 has been defrayed by the union in various kinds of benefits to those entitled to its bounty. Its financial relief to the unemployed, members suffering from disability through sickness or old age, and to widows and orphans has footed up $770,33 I.95, while for burying its dead, and in payments to relatives of deceased union printers, it has disbursed $204,358.91, making a gross expenditure of $974,690.86 for these commendable objects. On the economic side, to defend its principles it has cost in fifteen years $93i,67I.87, most of that sum having been spent in strike relief during the dispute for the eight-hour working day in the book and job trade, which controversy culminated in favor of the compositors' organization. Below in tabular form are the amounts that have been disbursed in different benefits during the fifteen years mentioned: CLASSIFICATION. Amount. Unemployment benefits....................................... $468,622.05 Printers' farm................................................ 9,685.40 International pensions......................................... 81, 48 oo Local old-age benefits.......................................... 60,225.75 Union Printers' Home.......................................... 6,951 35 Hospital beds................................................ 16,370 32 Special subscriptions for sick members, widows and orphans........ 17,329.08 M ortuary benefits............................................ 202,548.9z Cemetery plots and monument................................. i,8o.oo Strike relief.................................................. 931,67. 87 Total................................................... $,906,362.73 First Label Adopted by Typographical Union No. 6, in I891. LA Label of International Typographical Union —Superseded Preceding Label in 1893. [TRADES 0o4COUNC Ijj Original Allied Printing Trades Label, Which First Appeared in I894. TRADES COUNCIL Present Label of the Allied Printing Trades Council. 7 C0 ' 1 )~ CHAPTER XXVIII. THE UNION LABEL BEFORE the Industrial Commission in Washington on May 9, 1899, Samuel B. Donnelly, erstwhile president of Union No. 6, and at that time the executive of the International Typographical Union, gave his views on the utility of the union label. He said that it was of vast benefit to industrial organizations, being considered the trade mark of union labor - " the trade mark of fair conditions and living wages," he testified, "and through its advertisement and the public sentiment favorable to trade unionism we have created a demand for the union label. Not only have we secured its use upon the work of all trade unions and social societies, but also upon the work of benevolent and benefit societies, and upon political printing, and municipal, State and county printing." The question of adopting a label for the printing trade was first discussed at the I886 convention of the International Typographical Union, resulting in the passage of a resolution directing the Executive Council "to prepare a seal of suitable design, to be used on all printed matter, where it is desired by the publisher, and also to regulate the use of the same, so that the product of union labor may be readily known by purchasers, and the demand for publications friendly to the cause of union workmen' be encouraged." It was the original intention to produce a label for the use of such unions as desired its adoption by fair newspapers. John Franey, of Buffalo Typographical Union No. 9, prepared the first design, which was approved by the Executive Council and sent to Washington to be copyrighted.1 "A number of our subordinate unions in the larger cities provided a label for the use of fair papers," remarked President James M. Lynch of the International Typographical Union in 1902, " but it was not until " The design consisted of the seal of the International Union surrounded in circular form by the words,' International Typographical Union, Instituted June, I869.' An outer circle contained the legend,' Union printers only employed on this paper.' Mr. Franey suggested that, by changing the word ' paper ' to ' book' or ' job,' the label could be made suitable for book or job work, but it was expected at the time that the label would be used chiefly if not exclusively by newspapers." - Barnett, " The Printers," page 373, quoting from the Craftsman of May 2 and June 12, I886. ' [5I1] 512 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. 1891 that the label came into general use. At our Boston convention in 1891 a resolution was adopted, instructing the Executive Council to prepare a suitable design of label for the use of subordinate unions. This work was taken up shortly after the convention by the council, and the typographical label, which is still in use, first appeared in our official Journal of October 15, i89I.2 Boston Union No. 13 claims to be the first subordinate body to put the label into general use. I find, in our Journal of November 2, 1891, a communication from Boston, in which the popularity of the label is commented upon. The statement is made in this letter that eleven job offices had been unionized through the influence of the label, and that the demand for it was then increasing." Typographical Union No. 6 took action relative to a label on January 4, 1891, Bastable J. Hawkes then proposing that the officers be instructed to devise one and have it registered. Printing The motion being carried, Mr. Hawkes and Secretary Trades William Ferguson were selected to prepare a design Federation. and have it engraved. That label was soon afterward introduced and was used until it was superseded by the one adopted by the International, which was ultimately substituted by that of the Allied Printing Trades. President W. B. Prescott in his address to the International convention of 1893 dwelt upon the necessity of a label for the use of offices that employed members of the general organization in all departments. At that time the International was composed of compositors, bookbinders, mailers, pressmen, press feeders, stereotypers, electrotypers and typefounders. Authorization having been given to the Executive Council to prepare an allied trades label, a suitable design was agreed upon and it first made its appearance in November, 1893. Union No. 6 ten years previously had deliberated upon the feasibility of organizing all trades in the printing business in one association, having on July i, 1883, appointed a committee to consider the matter, which on August 3d was referred to the officers. There the subject rested until May 5, 1890, when a resolution was passed authorizing the appointment of a committee " to confer with the different organizations of pressmen, the stereotypers and bookbinders, with the object of harmonizing the various interests and bringing about a 2 " The label adopted in 1891 differed from the earlier one chiefly by the omission of the outer circle containing the words 'Union printers only employed on this paper.' The seal of the union was retained as a center-piece. This was surrounded by an oval with intersecting panels."Barnett, " The Printers," footnote, page 274. THE UNION LABEL. $13 local amalgamation of the several organizations." Attempts to bring the pressmen's unions together were futile, but on June Ist it was announced that the printers, stereotypers and bookbinders had decided to form a temporary alliance, instructing the committees to urge upon their unions " the desirability of forming a local confederation of the printing and paper trades, which shall be composed of Typographical Union No. 6, Stereotypers' Union No. i, United Bookbinders' Division No. i and such other organizations of kindred trades as shall be admitted by a vote of two-thirds of the organizations represented, provided that the applications be approved by a majority of the organizations represented." This was sanctioned by No. 6, with the proviso "that no action taken by the committee shall be binding on the union unless endorsed by it." The Federation of Printing and Kindred Trades of New York and Vicinity soon became a permanent central body, being composed of " three delegates from each bona fide labor organization of the printing and allied trades, whose standing is unquestioned, and which have been six months or more in existence, unless those chartered by national or international unions or by this Federation." As set forth in its initial constitution the objects of the association were by concerted action " to so influence the conditions of the various trades connected therewith as to improve as far as possible the material position of all persons employed therein; to discuss such questions as may effect the interests of the trade; to use all honorable means to reduce the number of working hours; to adjust difficulties arising between employers and employees or between the organizations represented herein." It was required by the constitution that every means should be exhausted by the organizations affected before a strike was endorsed, and that "in no case will a sympathetic strike be ordered except with the consent of two-thirds of the delegates present." In course of time out of the Federation developed the Allied Printing Trades Council of Greater New York and Vicinity, which at present embodies in its membership the unions of compositors, bookbinders, electrotypers, mailers, AIied newspaper writers, photo-engravers, pressmen, press Coinlg TRas feeders and stereotypers. The objects of this central association are " to encourage and foster a feeling of friendship among the organizations engaged in the printing trade and kindred branches; to discuss ways and means for bettering the condition and advancing the interests of the organizations connected I7 514 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. with this body; to stimulate the individual membership of the allied organizations to an active interest in one another, thereby securing a better understanding and a fraternal feeling among members who are so closely allied by the nature of their respective trades or callings; to promote the settlement of disputes by arbitration and thereby discourage strikes." To stimulate interest in the union label is chief among the council's duties. It grants the label only to establishments that employ in their mechanical departments none but members of the unions that it recognizes, and decrees that " the label of the Allied Printing Trades Council, being the trade mark of union labor, shall not be used on any product of any department of the printing trade unless such product is produced in its entirety by union labor." This and all other local councils are under the control of the International Allied Printing Trades Association, composed of duly authorized representatives of the International Typographical Union, the International Printing Pressmen and Assistants' Union, the International Brotherhood of Bookbinders, the International Stereotypers and Electrotypers' Union, and the International PhotoEngravers' Union, the objects of the association being " to designate the products of the labor of the members thereof by adopting and registering a label or trade mark designating such products." The affairs of the organization are conducted by a Board of Governors, who as trustees hold title to the label, and cause it to be registered in all States, Territories and the District of Columbia, as well as the Dominion of Canada, where registration is authorized. Labels are issued or withdrawn by unanimous consent of local councils, and are procurable only from the secretary-treasurer of the International Allied Printing Trades Association, but the Board of Governors may order the issuance or withdrawal of the label or grant it direct, where in its judgment such action is necessary. In cities and towns where compositors and other printing trades are combined in a single subordinate union, and where wages are not less than $14 per week of 48 hours, the label of the International Typographical Union is used. Union No. 6 does not require offices under its jurisdiction to impress the label upon their products, but in lieu of that it carries on an energetic propaganda for its use among patrons of printing houses, and through such effort a large demand has been created for it, there being at present in Greater New York 84 establishments that have introduced the label. THE UNION LABEL. 5I5 New York State's first act legalizing trade union labels was passed in 1889, it being Chapter 385. The present statute on the subject provides that " a union or association of employees may adopt a device in the form of a label, brand, State Law mark, name or other character for the purpose of Legalizing designating the products of the labor of the members Union Labels. thereof. Duplicate copies of such device shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of State, who shall, under his hand and seal, deliver to the union or association filing or registering the same a certified copy and a certificate of the filing thereof, for which he shall be entitled to a fee of $i. Such certificate shall not be assignable by the association to whom it is issued." This act has been declared to be constitutional and the infringement of a registered label is restrainable by injunction. Illegal use or the counterfeiting of a union label is a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not less than $Ioo nor more than $500, or by imprisonment for not less than three months nor more than one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment. An action also may be maintained by an association of employees to enjoin, and the court may restrain the manufacture, use, display or sale of a counterfeit or colorable imitation of a union label or of goods bearing the same, or for the unauthorized use or display of a genuine device; and a plaintiff union may be awarded such damages resulting from said wrongful manufacture, use, display or sale as may be proved, together with the profits derived therefrom. CHAPTER XXIX. PRISON LABOR. COMPETITIVE convict labor has always met with resolute opposition on the part of union printers. The question of contract work in the penal institutions of New York State came prominently to the fore at the convention of the National Typographical Union in June, i868, when President John H. Oberly directed the attention of the delegates to a circular Printing that had been addressed to subordinate unions on Contract March i8th, that year, by the Albany Typographical Annulled. Union, which declared that an attempt " to introduce the art preservative of all arts into the State prisons " was then being made. " We have learned," read the communication, " that a contract for the labor of 75 convicts, to be applied to the purpose of printing and stereotyping, was then pending; that it had been already awarded by the prison inspectors, but was not actually consummated, and unless prevented by an act of the Legislature would go into effect on the first of April." President Oberly said that Alexander Troup, a member of Typographical Union No. 6, as secretary-treasurer of the national body had on March 23d appealed to all subordinate unions in the State to leave nothing undone on their part to have the contract set aside; that the attention of Senators and Assemblymen be called to the matter, and that " you urge upon them the necessity of putting a stop to this outrage about to be perpetrated on the honest printers of this State." President Oberly continued: "Albany union's remonstrance was also forwarded to the 280 other labor organizations in the State, and 30,000 signatures were obtained and presented to the Legislature. Meetings were held by Albany Typographical Union No. 4, New York Typographical Union No. 6 and the New York Typographical Society, and the subject was thoroughly discussed. A committee of five was appointed by the Albany union, with full power to endeavor to prevent the consummation of the contract, and the Typographical Union and Typographical Society of New York delegated Mr. Troup to proceed to Albany and co-operate with the representatives from [516] PRISON LABOR. 5 -I7 other parts of the State. After great delay and considerable work a bill was prepared and presented to the Assembly, calling for the abrogation of the contract, which passed that body by a vote of 65 to 2I and was sent to the Senate for concurrence. On reaching the Senate the bill was referred to the Committee onPrisons. Severalhearings were had, which resulted finally in the bill being reported to the Senate in an amended form. * * * It was then presented to the Assembly for concurrence, passed that body nearly unanimously, and afterward received the signature of the Governor. Since the passing of the bill the Attorney-General and the Comptroller have stated to the contractors that the contract is null and void, and also that under the provisions of the bill they could obtain no damages. The Prison Inspectors have been called upon to remove the material from the prison, and it is understood that an order will be issued at their next meeting to carry it into effect." Statements having been made throughout the country that 70 printers were then confined in New York prisons, as well as other unverified stories in relation to the contract, Secretary-Treasurer Troup visited Sing Sing Prison in order to ascertain all the facts in relation to the allegations. Under date of May 5, i868, in a communication from New York to the Albany Argus he described the result of his inquiry, saying: I hasten to pen you a line to give you a description of the printing office at Sing Sing Prison. I found a brother of Fisher's in charge. They have got about 30 double stands, about 75 pairs of cases, a few galleys, and from I,500 to 2,000 pounds of type, bourgeois and long primer being the only kinds I saw; a couple of imposing stones, a stereotype kettle and press, together with a small lot of fixings, making the entire establishment. The work being done is novels, from Putnam's on Broadway in this city. They have at present 28 men assigned on the contract, only three of whom are practical printers. I learn from the warden 1 The act, which was passed on May 6, i868, was Chapter 633, as follows: " The contract heretofore awarded to and executed at Sing Sing Prison for printing, stereotyping and electrotyping is hereby abrogated and annulled, upon James B. Swain and Francis B. Fisher, parties of the second part to said contract, or their assigns, consenting in writing and filing their consent in the office of the Comptroller to such abrogation, and upon their application and upon notice to the State Prison Inspectors, or either of them, the Supreme Court, at any special or general term thereof in the Second Judicial District, shall appoint three Commissioners to determine whether the parties to such contract, or any of them, have any just or equitable claim against the State by reason of such abrogation, and if so the amount thereof. And the award of said Commissioners shall be subject to review by the court at any special or general term thereof in said district and the amount of such award when confirmed by the court, and notice thereof filed in the office of the Comptroller shall be forthwith paid said parties or their assigns on the warrant of the Comptroller of the State out of any money in the State treasury not otherwise appropriated, provided that the consent to such abrogation shall not be construed as a waiver to any claim the said parties may have against the State by reason of such abrogation, nor be deemed conclusive against any claim for damages of said parties, until the amount of such award shall have been paid them; and hereafter no printing in any of its branches shall be renewed, nor shall any such contract hereafter be made in any of the prisons of this State." 5S8 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. of the prison that there are not half a dozen practical printers in the prison. Newsboys, folders, men that have lumped around an office or that have swept out an office in the morning, are committed as printers; in fact, men who never saw a printing office say they are printers, for the purpose of being put to work on this contract, the impression having gone forth that it is an easy job, and the convicts are anxious to get to work on it. I was told by one of the foremen in the molding shop that a man had left him a day or two ago who claimed to be a printer, but could not read and was assigned to the contract. About half the men I saw in the office were engaged with books and slates, and, on making inquiry, I was informed that they were learning to read and write. I saw a very dirty proof lying on one of the cases, and asked the man at case to show it to me, when he looked at me with astonishment and replied: "Me no unrestan English." On looking around the room at the fifteen men who were at the case I quickly discovered that but few of them had ever seen a printing office. You see by what I have written. that they have not got the printers in prison; but they propose to teach them, which is in direct violation of the laws of the State.2 Union No. 6 in I871 again coped successfully with the subject of convict labor. Having reason to believe that it was the intention of interested parties to introduce in the Legislature a measure having for its object the legalization of contract work in the Kings County Penitentiary, and that the passage of such an act " would enable the concocters of the bill to contract on an extensive scale for printing, carpenter work, shoe making, etc., to be executed by prison labor, to the great detriment of the honest and industrious mechanical interests of the State," it empowered a committee to enter a protest on behalf of the union against such contemplated action, and to " wait on as many of the trade organizations of Brooklyn and New York as practicable, apprise them of the danger, and exhort them to take active measures in the premises immediately." Co-operation of the State Workingmen's Assembly was sought and obtained, and on July IIth the committee reported that it had defeated the proposed scheme. For years prior to 1883 contractors had been enabled to lease the labor of prisoners at an average rate of 40 cents a day and had 2 Hon. John Bigelow, distinguished lawyer, author and diplomat, who died December 19, I9I I, at the age of 94 years, was editor of the New York Evening Post in 1852. At the banquet of the New York Typographical Society to celebrate the I46th anniversary of the birth of Benjamin Franklin, held on January I6, I852, in response to the toast " The Memory of Franklin " Mr. Bigelow stated that he had the honor of being for three years Inspector of State Prisons in New York, and among all the prisoners confined there every order of mechanic was represented except printers. He said there was something in that fact which merited the consideration of the several hundred guests at the banquet board-among whom were Washington Irving, President Charles King of Columbia College, ex-Mayor James Harper, Judge Ellis Lewis, the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher and Colonel Seaver, of the Buffalo Courier - and he concluded his speech by proposing " the memory and honor of that calling which is unrepresented in the State prison." PRISON LABOR. 5I9 the use of space in the prisons for factory purposes, thus manufacturing their products at a figure that was far below the cost of producing similar articles outside of penal institutions. This was manifestly unfair to capital and free Contract labor engaged elsewhere in such industries and the Ste Unfair question of the abolition of the ruinous practice was Free Labor. decided in the affirmative when it was submitted to a popular vote in 1883. A discussion ensued as to the best substitute for the method that the people had voted to abolish. The first annual report of the Bureau of Statistics of Labor was devoted to a consideration of the subject and that inquiry formed the basis of the plan that the Legislature eventually adopted. A special Commission in i886 made a further study of the problem with the object of finding a remedy whereby the competition between the prison inmate and the free workman could be minimized. In i888 motive power machinery for manufacturing purposes was forbidden by law to be placed or used in penal institutions, and it was also provided that no convict should be required or allowed to work "at any trade or industry where his labor, or the production or profit of his labor, is farmed out, contracted, given or sold to any person or persoas whomsoever." The public account system was established in that year. Under the statute persons serving a sentence in prison were to make articles for use only in public institutions. By an act passed in 1889 the public account plan was continued, but in the event that the appropriation made therefor should become insufficient the piece-price system was to be applied with the stipulation that the products of the prisons should be disposed of at their full market value. So as to affect free labor in the least possible manner it was provided that diversified industries should be selected, and the number of prisoners employed in producing any kind of goods made elsewhere in the State was fixed at not to exceed 5 per cent of all persons employed in making such wares. These enactments made it possible to introduce printing into the prisons, and in I890 Union No. 6 engaged in another contest to prevent typesetting in Sing Sing Prison. A committee of three was appointed by the Executive Committee to proceed to Albany and endeavor to induce the Legislature to annul a contract that had been entered into on October i8, 1889, between A. A. Brush, as agent and warden, and Horatio N. Davis, of Brooklyn, by which the former was to furnish the composition of from ioo,ooo to 250,000 ems of type daily for three years; that " the said composition shall be performed by persons of experience, if a sufficient number shall be confined to the prisons." The warden was 520 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. to provide suitable and sufficient room for the carrying on of the business contemplated, while the contractor agreed to pay to the prison authorities 15 cents for each and every I,ooo ems of type composed and corrected. This contract was approved on November I2th by Gen. Austin Lathrop, Superintendent of Prisons, who at the 890g session of the Legislature, replying to a resolution of the Senate to transmit to that body " a copy of the contract recently entered into between the State and certain capitalists for doing the work of a general printing office in the prison at Sing Sing," complied with the direction, accompanying the document with a statement that " no contract has been entered into by the State for doing the work of a general printing office at Sing Sing Prison. For the purpose of establishing an industry for the employment of from 25 to 50 men on the piece-price system, an agreement has been entered into with H. N. Davis. This agreement is for typesetting only, and no printing from the type so set is to be done in the prison other than the taking of necessary proofs." The Typothetae of New York authorized its secretary, W. W. Pasko, to co-operate with No. 6's committee in Albany, and representatives of Albany Union No. 4, Brooklyn Union No. 98 and the State Branch of the American Federation of Labor also joined in the effort to have the contract annulled, having become convinced that it had not been fully complied with. The Assembly on March 2oth passed a concurrent resolution directing the prison authorities to. declare the contract null and void. On April ioth the Senate concurred and returned the resolution to the lower House, but almost immediately after recalled it for amendment and referred it to the Committee on Prisons. Although the resolution was not thereafter reported Restricting by the committee to the Senate, in lieu thereof an Typesetting act was passed by the Legislature and approved n Prisons. by the Governor on May 21, I890, that " no prisoner in any of the State prisons, penitentiaries or reformatories of this State shall be employed * * * in setting type or printing, except in setting type for or printing printed matter for use in the prison, penitentiary or reformatoryin which the same is printed, and no products of any labor in the trade of printing or typesetting of any prisoner in any such prison, reformatory or penitentiary shall be put upon the market for sale or sold; but nothing in this act shall prevent the printing within a prison, penitentiary or reformatory of the official reports of the prison, penitentiary or reformatory, in which the same are printed respectively." Later in the year the Superintendent of Prisons annulled the contract at Sing Sing Prison, PRISON LABOR. 521 reporting to the Legislature of I89I that "a few convicts were employed for a short time in typesetting under an agreement on the piece-price system. As an industry it was never fully started. The agreeing party failed to comply with the conditions of the agreement and it was thereupon canceled and the business was abandoned." 3 So far as this State is concerned competitive prison labor ceased with the operation on Constitution January i, 1897, of the constitutional provision Corbmpe that the products of the labor of convicts shall be Prison Work. disposed of only to the Commonwealth and its political divisions, " or for or to any public institution owned or managed and controlled by the State, or any political division thereof." There was apprehension for a time among printers lest the legislative, departmental and other public printing would be performed in the prisons. As late as July, I901, such misgiving was noticeable. In calling the fourth annual convention for August 4th of that year the Executive Council of the Allied Printing Trades Council of New York State declared in the communication that" after three years of dormancy the proposition to do printing in penal institutions has again come to the front in no uncertain manner. Six measures bearing directly on the question were before the last Legislature. That similar measures will trouble us next winter there is no doubt, and plans must be made to protect our interests. We achieved a magnificent victory three years ago, when Chapter 645 was placed on the statute books, and up to the last session of the Legislature our enemies have respected our strength. But it is apparent we must be on our guard continually to defeat the attacks upon our rights. If the Prison Commission ever carries into effect what it has been aiming to do for years the penal institutions will eventually do the bulk of the State, county and municipal work." Ten years have elasped since the above was disseminated, and undoubtedly it has been owing to the alertness and activity of the organizations in the printing industry that such an outcome has been prevented. The existing law on the subject expressly provides that the only printing which can be performed in State prisons, penitentiaries and reformatories is that which " may be required for or used in the penal and State charitable institutions, and the reports of the State Commission of Prisons and the Superintendent of Prisons, and all printing required in their offices." 3 Report of Austin Lathrop, Superintendent of Prisons, for I890, submitted to the Legislature in January, I891, page 17. CHAPTER XXX. PUBLIC HOLIDAYS FOR WORKING PEOPLE. TH I E first Labor Day demonstration was held in New York City under the auspices of the Central Labor Union on Tuesday, September 5, i882, - just five years before the operation of the State law, enacted May 6, i887, making the first Monday of September a publicholiday, under the designation of Labor Day. Typographical Union No. 6 on September Labor 3, i882, decided to take part in the affair, urging Day. " that all men be requested to meet at the union rooms to join in the procession," and empowering the secretary "to procure a band and a banner or badges for the parade." William McCabe, a member of Union No. 6 and its delegate to the workrnen's central organization, was grand marshal, and the phalanx of printers that participated was headed by President George A. McKay. It was estimated that io,ooo workingmen marched in the parade, which consisted of three divisions. The importance of the occasion was accentuated by the Board of Aldermen, which on the day of the celebration adopted a preamble and resolutions that directed general attention to the spirit of the event. This public expression aided in creating a sentiment that by i887 had sufficiently crystallized to induce the enactment of the law naming the first Monday of September as Labor Day. The action of the board follows: Whereas, This day has been selected by the various labor and trades union associations in this city as a day of demonstration of their strength and a chosen opportunity to express their feelings upon the labor question in an orderly and the most forceful manner. Resolved, That the members of this board do tender to the workingmen their heartfelt and earnest sympathy in their movement for independence and freedom from corporate monopolies and their powerful influence. Resolved, That the workingman is entitled to a fair share of the products of his toil, and that this board will exert its influence in the advancement of the interests of the laboring classes. There was an imposing turnout of workingmen in New York City on Labor Day in i887. It occurred on September 5th. Cessation [522] PUBLIC HOLIDAYS FOR WORKING PEOPLE. 523 from business was quite general. In its news account of the industrial pageant a leading morning newspaper stated that there were nearly 20,000 men in line, among whom were 1,135 members of Typographical Union No. 6. "And another good thing was," continued the article, " that the legal holiday left many business men at leisure to look on, and the dignity of the parade made a good impression on them, an impression that will be remembered when discussion of the attitude of the unions come up again. Altogether, in numbers, bearing and discipline, the parade was the product of an evolution, the result of the lessons of several previous experiments, and embodied the advantages of experience and training to managers and men."1 The same journal, commenting editorially on the introduction of the new holiday, said: "Yesterday was a grand and glorious celebration such as had never been given to Labor before. * * * But whatever there is in the idea of a Labor Day doesn't belong solely to the man who marched in the procession yesterday. Everybody * * * was entitled to share, either in fact or in imagination, in the formal dedication of yesterday to Labor." Annually since then, with two exceptions, the association of compositors has joined with the other labor organizations of the city in the march of the union legions through the main thoroughfares of Manhattan on Labor Day. By reason of the large expense (the celebration having cost it $828.74 in I909) and a lack of unanimity of opinion as to the utility of such public demonstrations, Union No. 6 refrained from participation in the parades of 191o and 1911. Chapter 289 of the Laws of 1887 amended the act of this State in relation to holidays by designating every Saturday from I2 o'clock at noon until 12 o'clock at midnight as a half holiday. Labor and reform associations organized Saturday the movement that instigated the enactment, but Half there was considerable opposition to it in business Holiday. circles, although many manufacturers and merchants in the State had shown a willingness to accede to the wishes of their employees in the matter even before the measure became law, some having anticipated the legal Saturday Half Holiday by granting it during the summer months. Not a few employers openly advocated the advisability of passing the bill making Saturday afternoon a half holiday, to be observed relative to the acceptance and payment of bills of exchange, bank checks and promissory notes and the closing 1 New York Sun, September 6. I887. 524 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. of public offices. Eminent clergymen in all denominations and men in public life also strongly favored the legislative act on the subject. Antagonism to the law among numerous financiers and employers in commercial and manufacturing lines, besides a portion of the press, was still rife when the Legislature of 1888 convened. A repeal or modification of the act was urged by these elements. With other labor organizations Union No. 6 protested against any change in the statute, the printers on March 4th declaring that "certain members of the Senate and Assembly, aided by certain newspapers in New York City, are using their utmost endeavors to repeal the Saturday Half Holiday Law —the workingman's blessing. Typographical Union No. 6 by a very large majority has put itself on record in favor of a reduction of hours and also the Saturday Half Holiday. This union unanimously endorses the action and efforts of members of Assembly and Senate now in session at Albany, also those newspapers that so nobly and fearlessly are fighting against the repeal of the greatest boon ever bestowed on workingmennamely, the Saturday Half Holiday Law." A bill, however, passed both houses modifying the original act by substituting in its stead the half holiday on Saturday during the four months of June, July, August and September. But on May 7, I888, the Governor disapproved the measure and filed a memorandum with the veto, giving these reasons for his action: This measure proposes to abolish what is known as the present Saturday Half Holiday and to substitute in its place a Saturday Half Holiday during the four months of June, July, August and September. The Half Holiday Law thus proposed to be repealed or modified went into effect scarcely a year ago. It met with considerable opposition from the start, and it must be conceded that it has not secured that degree of public favor that was anticipated. Nevertheless it is evident that the law has not had a thorough trial. One year is scarcely a sufficient period in which to test the merits of such an innovation and it would seem as though a sound public policy would dictate the continuance of the law for at least another year, when if it does not prove reasonably satisfactory it can readily be modified. There should not be so much fickleness in our legislation. While laws should, of course, reflect public sentiment, they should not be disturbed with every passing change of public opinion. Every law when once enacted should have a thorough and impartial trial, and should not be hastily or inconsiderately repealed. This of course will prevent the original enactment of unwise and doubtful measures, as well as secure more steadiness and consistency in our legislation. It is the experience of every thoughtful observer that there are too many laws passed one year only to be repealed the next, and this evidence of vacillation and inconstancy should be avoided. It should not be expected that such an innovation as that of the Saturday Half Holiday Law would be entirely satisfactory to all portions of the people especially at the very threshold of its inauguration. But the interests of no one PUBLIC HOLIDAYS FOR WORKING PEOPLE. 525 class are to be solely consulted, but the advantages to the community as a whole and to the masses of the people are rather to be considered. There are, undoubtedly, inconveniences to many persons occasioned by its enforcement, but its observance, with a few exceptions, is not compulsory. It affects banks only as regards the payment, presentment or protest of commercial paper on that day and public offices are permitted to be legally closed, but aside from these exceptions all other business may be transacted if the people desire to transact it. There is otherwise no compulsion anywhere. The law may be regarded as simply declaratory of the public desire that the people should observe the day, but it provides no penalties for its violation. The people need not observe the Saturday Half Holiday any more than Washington's Birthday, the Fourth of July or Decoration Day, unless they prefer to do so. It is a matter to be largely regulated by public sentiment, and the advocates of the movement may well insist that it is fairly entitled to a longer trial to demonstrate its growing benefits. It must be admitted that innovations of this character have always met with violent opposition, but it is evident that the tendencies of the age favor more opportunities for recreation, and it is wise to recognize the fact. There is no actual necessity for the constant and excessive labor that characterized former days. Labor-saving machinery and improvements in every sphere of life have lightened many burdens of humanity. Fourteen hours a day formerly constituted a legal day's work; then a day's work was reduced to twelve hours, and then to ten hours, and even the demand for less hours of labor is now receiving respectful consideration. Public schools formerly required to be kept the whole of every Saturday, afterward only a half day on each Saturday, and now they are wholly discontinued on that day. Recreation is desirable as well as rest and religious worship. If Sunday is the only day upon which recreation is possible to a large portion of our population, it will of necessity be used by them for that purpose. Our American Sunday will be better observed by setting apart the whole or a portion of Saturday for the recreation and amusement which is now being crowded into Sunday. But it is unnecessary to reiterate the well-known arguments which are urged in favor of the continuance of the Saturday Half Holiday all the year round. Many of them are not without considerable force. The propriety of such holiday during summer months is beyond question. The brief experience of the past year has settled that point. As to its advantages or desirability during the remainder of the year there is more doubt, but another year's experience under the present law will be a better test of its merits, and I think it is fairly entitled to the benefit of such further trial. Having originally recommended the Half Holiday Law, and the Legislature in its wisdom having seen fit one year ago to enact it, I do not think that I would be justified in reversing my previous action after so brief a trial as the law has now had.' The bill was not passed over the veto; the law is still in force, and Saturday afternoon is now the most popular of this State's public holidays. On July 5, 1896, the union of compositors passed a resolve concerning the observance of the Saturday Half Holiday in book and 2 Public papers of Gov. David B. Hill for 1888, in Volume VIII of messages of the Governors of New York, pages 535-7. 526 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. job offices, requiring that " where over the regular hours are worked in order to make up for the Saturday Half Holiday during June, July and August, such extra time shall not be considered overtime, provided it is worked between the hours of 7 A. M. and 6 P. M." Its present rule provides that in the months named the working time on Saturday must end at 12:30 P. M. Members required to work beyond that hour receive double price. Offices are permitted to arrange for a 48-hour week during that period by increasing the working time on other days of the week to 8 hours and 45 minutes daily, the time thus made up to be deducted from the regular working hours on Saturday. The scale also stipulates that " when members are employed for less than a full week they shall be paid single price for the regular working hours agreed upon by the office for making up the Saturday Half Holiday." CHAPTER XXXI. TARIFFS AND COPYRIGHTS. PROTECTION to the American printer against cheap foreign labor has been persistently advocated for about a hundred years. The New York Typographical Society on November 6, 1819, favored a tariff on imported books that would be sufficient to amply safeguard the trade in this country, ordering the appointment of a committee " for the purpose of petitioning Congress at the ensuing session to lay additional Printers Demand duties on the importation of all foreign publica- High Duties on tions." Some 75 years later Typographical Union Imported Books. No. 6 took a decided stand on the same question. At its meeting of January 7, I894, after the reading of a communication from Philadelphia Typographical Union No. 2 in regard to the Wilson Tariff Bill placing certain classes of books on the free list, it resolved emphatically " that this union protests against any reduction in the tariff on the products of this craft, and that the president and secretary take charge of the matter." Protection to the printing and kindred trades was also sought many years ago through an International Copyright Law, the National Typographical Union as long ago as May 6, I858, urging the enactment of such a law so as to "give ample protection to the now oppressed literature of our country;" further declaring that it "would be a wise and beneficent act and ultimately redound to the material interests of all the mechanical trades attendant on the production of books; and it is the abiding belief of the members of this convention that in order to create an elevated, pure and national literature, some check should be devised to arrest the influx of foreign works of an unworthy character; that this convention recommend to the members of all the local unions that they do in proper season memorialize the Congress of the United States to execute such a law as should, in their wisdom, best secure the object sought to be attained." But an international copyright measure satisfactory to printers did not appear in Congress until 30 years afterward, It was 528 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. known as the Chace bill. Union No. 6 was in the forefront of the movement favorable to its passage. On June 3, I888, its attitude on the subject was expressed in sentences International that were terse and forceful. "A bill granting a Copyright Law copyright on books, plays, etc.," resolved the union, Union No. 6. ( and providing that all books copyrighted in the United States must be printed from type set in this country, has passed the Senate of the United States and is now on the calendar of the House of Representatives. English publishers and printers, professing apprehension that if the bill shall become a law they will be deprived of a large amount of work, have held meetings in London to devise ways and means to encompass the defeat of the bill in the House of Representatives, and have employed American counsel to create a sentiment against the bill and to lobby for its defeat. Typographical Union No. 6, believing that the American Congress, the American printer, the American publisher and the American author are thoroughly competent to determine what is for the best interests of all concerned, and believing also that this foreign interference in a matter of vital importance to a large and most intelligent class of American artisans, and a matter pre-eminently the right of the American Congress to determine under Paragraphs 3 and 8 of Article I of the Constitution of the United States, should be rebuked, requests the Representatives in Congress from this State to urge the immediate passage of said bill." The measure was not adopted in i888, and on July ist, that year, the union voted to request Hon. Amos J. Cummings, one of its members who was serving in Congress, to interest himself in its passage. In i889, the bill still pending, a committee was selected by the union to act in conjunction with a like committee from the Authors and Publishers' League to further the desired legislation. Finally on October i, I890, having been passed by Congress, it was approved by the President and placed upon the Federal statute books, its provisions prohibiting the issuance of a copyright to any person unless the book, photograph, chromo or lithograph were printed from type set within the limits of the United States, or from plates produced therefrom, or from negatives or drawings made on stone in this country, or transfers prepared from them. CHAPTER XXXII. PRIORITY LAW. PROBABLY the priority law of the International Typographical Union has been more critically discussed than any other trade rule established by that general body for the government of its subordinate associations. Opinions as to its practicability are almost equally divided among the membership. In i858 the National Union declared that the foreman of an office was the proper person to whom to apply for a situation, and it disapproved of any other mode of application for employment. Union printers, being in close touch with the foreman, and considering him the responsible head of his department, have regarded with disfavor the interposal of the proprietor in the concerns of the composing room, taking the ground that in hiring and discharging workmen the employer would be invariably prompted by personal motives, whereas the foreman's action in the matter would be guided solely by the fitness of the journeymen. No essential change has been made in the National law of i858, the present International requirement being that " the foreman is the only person to whom to apply for work, and any person securing work, or attempting to secure work, in any department under the jurisdiction of the foreman, in any other manner than by application to said foreman of the office, shall be deemed guilty of conduct unbecoming a union man, and, upon conviction before a trial board, shall be suspended or expelled, as three-fourths of the members may determine." To restrict the power of the foreman to dismiss members of the union the International in i890 passed the priority law, which not only placed a limitation upon the right of the composing-room head to discharge, but it gave to a substitute employed in an office preference over an outsider to a vacant situation. The rule as it stands to-day gives the foreman the privilege to discharge a printer for incompetency, neglect of duty, violation of conspicuously posted office rules or laws of the union or chapel, and to decrease the force, " such decrease to be accomplished by discharging first the person or persons last employed, either as regular employees or as extra employees, as the 1529) 530 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. exigencies of the matter may require. Should there be an increase in the force the persons displaced through such cause shall be reinstated in reverse order in which they were discharged before other help may be employed. Upon demand the foreman shall give the reason for discharge in writing. Persons considered capable as substitutes by foremen shall be deemed competent to fill regular situations, and shall be given preference in the filling of vacancies in the regular force. The competent sub oldest in continuous service is entitled to the first vacancy. * * * The recognition of departments shall be optional with local unions, but in no case shall a foreman transfer a person to a department he is not familiar with and then declare him incompetent. When departments are not recognized by agreement with the local union no employee shall be discharged to reduce the force or for incompetency while there is work in the office he is competent to do, and to which his priority entitles him." Defenders of the priority rule agree that it was adopted to insure equality of rights; that before it became effective situations were given out regardless of the seniority of logical candidates for vacancies; that under it a situation holder is secure in his position, while the first sub in an office is assured in good time of promotion to a position as regular; that it prevents members who are subbing from securing situations through favoritism; that it tends to reward long and faithful service; that the foreman cannot at will dispense with the services of any journeyman he chooses, and that the displacing of a workman by reason of the fact that one a shade or more superior in skill can be engaged in his stead is diametrically opposed to the protective principles of the union. In New York the enforcement of the priority law is confined to newspaper offices. In book and job shops the work is of such a character that it is not possible to apply the rule to those branches of the printing trade. Union No. 6, although constant in its efforts to execute the law, is nevertheless on record as opposed to it.1 On February 20, 1893, the union directed the secretary to " inform the president of the International Typographical Union that we find it impossible to enforce the priority law," and on the same date it instructed its delegates to the general convention " to inform the International Typographical Union that after a fair trial we find the priority law a failure, and that they be directed to work for its repeal." But its plea was not effective. So again, on February 9, I908, Typographical Union No. 6 has administered the priority law in its entirety and unevasively in newspaper offices since the beginning of 90o6. PRIORITY LAW. 53I having obtained the indorsement of the necessary 50 sister unions to its application, it asked the International officials to submit to the referendum a proposition to repeal the general law that " the competent sub oldest in continuous service is entitled to the first vacancy." The officers of No. 6 were at the same meeting authorized to prepare and send to other subordinate unions a circular letter setting forth reasons for the request. In that communication the president and secretary pointed out that the priority law " has had a fair chance to prove its merits in New York City, and we are firmly convinced that a continuance of its enforcement will prove disastrous to our union. Even the oldest sub in practically every office in this city is preceded in priority by men who have been laid off because of the general slump in the printing trade. The sub is further handicapped by the fact that if he desires to maintain his priority he cannot take advantage of any periodical rushes of work in other establishments. Prior to the enforcement of this law every composing room in our jurisdiction was open to him. To-day he is practically limited to one. But the far more serious effect lies in the fact that it absolutely destroys the independence of the man who holds a situation. In days gone by he had confidence in his ability to obtain employment wherever the services of competent printers were in demand. To-day he hangs to his situation like grim death, realizing that if for any reason he loses it, his name must go at the bottom of the priority list in every office in which he seeks work. He gives out less subbing than formerly, and will eventually, we fear, lose interest in his union. His union protects him in his situation and at the same time practically guarantees that he shall not get another if for any reason he loses the one he holds." It was contended that the law " destroys competition among employers for the services of men who are classed above the average in competency or speed. Prior to I907 hundreds of our members were receiving $i, $2, $3 and more per week above the minimum scale. This was particularly true of machine operators. Since the readjustment of our scale in May, I907, practically every newspaper publisher has held rigidly to the minimum rate, realizing that those who are classed as above the average in competence or speed are prevented from resigning their situations to look for other positions at increased wages." The opinion was expressed in the circular that as a deterrent in organization work it would be difficult to frame a more effective law to handicap the officers in their efforts to strengthen the union, which was of the belief that the rule designating the causes for which foremen had power to discharge workmen was sufficient to guarantee an equal opportunity to every 532 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. member looking for employment. The popular vote on the question was taken throughout the International's jurisdiction on May 20, I908, and the proposition to abrogate the law was defeated by 17,136 in the negative, to I4,643 in the affirmative. A large majority of the membership of Union No. 6, however, favored the repeal, the number who voted for it being 2,526, to 1,984 against it. Notwithstanding this action the priority matter remains a moot question. " Since the making of a decision on the priority law as it then existed at the Cincinnati convention of the International Typographical Union held in I902," says the chief executive of that general association, " and the subsequent incorporation into the law of the decision made at that time by the International president, there has been a gradual and determined application of the priority law in a broader and broader sense, until the danger point has been reached. In many jurisdictions it is not now a question of competency for a particular situation that is to be filled, but a question of priority. * * * It seems to your president that the time has arrived when the application of the priority law should be made with more care and discrimination. We boast that our members are competent to do the work to which they are assigned, and we should see to it that when we insist upon our members being given situations they have the required competency, for the good name and perpetuity of the organization are involved in the transaction. No association of individuals can continue to perpetrate a wrong and exist. No trade union can follow a wrongful and burdensome policy and continue to advance. If we expect the employer to be fair with us we must at all times be fair with the employer. The priority law in countless instances has been a great protection to our members, but instances are also on record where the priority law has been used to protect the incompetent to the demoralization of the composing room and the discredit of the local union." 2 s From the report of President James M. Lynch to the convention of the Ihternational Typographical Union, in San Francisco, Cal., on August I4, I9II. CHAPTER XXXIII. MILEAGE SYSTEM FOR TRAVELING PRINTERS. N i888 Union No. 6 approved a plan, prepared by Bastable J. Hawkes, one of its members, for the pecuniary relief of union printers who found it necessary to travel in quest of employment. It was the projected establishment of a mileage system by the International Union, and though the latter was earnestly petitioned to adopt the measure, it failed to pass that body. The originator of the idea stated that its object was to induce the unemployed to travel, and that it could be made advantageous to unionism. " In times of depression in the printing business (and in the large cities it may be said, at all times)," quoth he, "it is painful to see the number of men who lie around on the chance of getting a day or night or two a week, and who exist on that. Very many of them have no home ties that bind them to any particular locality, but have no inducement to go elsewhere. If the mileage system were in operation it would be an inducement to them to try elsewhere, being sure of assistance in any part of the country to which they may direct their steps. Now, does not this virtually employ the surplus labor in our trade to a great extent, and will it not tend to distribute it over the whole area of the United States and Canada, instead of allowing it to congregate in certain places, where employers are at all times only too anxious to prey on their necessities and use the unfortunate as a menace to the maintenance of a union scale? It would also follow that the situations of those holding them would be more secure because of the scarcity of permanent applicants. And would not employers and foremen be less tyrannical if they had fewer to choose from to fill positions? Would not men who had family ties binding them to a particular place receive more work in dull times because of the absence of those not so circumstanced? It will thus be seen that every one in the printing trade will be benefited by the adoption of this system-the regular by the greater permanency of his situation, those casually employed by receiving a greater amount of work in dull times than at present, and the traveler by the actual receipt of relief under the mileage system." [5331 534 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. The introducer of the plan not only considered that a more equable distribution of the unemployed throughout the jurisdiction of the International instead of having the bulk of them remain in populous centres during periods of trade stagnation would inure to their benefit, but he was of the belief that these peripatetic craftsmen would be effective union missioners. These were his views on that score: " The benefit to unionism by the example and teaching of those travelers is incalculable. They would spread a knowledge of the principles and benefits of organization through every town and hamlet in the United States, and numerous unions would be established through that means. A genuine bond of brotherhood would thus be formed between all members of the craft, and the International Typographical Union would exist for some tangible object." Secretaries of local unions were to issue to members obliged to seek work elsewhere traveling cards for not to exceed I50 miles in a single week and entitling them to 2 cents per mile. An International secretary was to have charge of the fund, which was to be derived from a per capita tax of io cents, with authority to distribute the money among subordinate unions in accordance with their needs. In a city where a union possessed at least 1oo members a traveling printer was to be allowed one day's time after his arrival in which to seek employment, for which time he was to receive a sum equal to the mileage for 25 miles. A route map was to be supplied with each traveling card, and at every stopping place a member was privileged to choose his next route, which fact the secretary was to enter on the certificate. Mileage was not to be permitted for any other route, nor for any distance greater than that indicated on the map as the number of miles dividing the respective cities. But secretaries were to have the right to send members to localities in their immediate neighborhoods where there was a likelihood of obtaining work, for which distance mileage was to be paid whether or not the route was noted on the map. Holders of traveling cards were not to be eligible for relief from any local union more than once in twelve months. Indiscriminate railway traveling was to be prohibited, but a member desirous of passing from one city to another could do so when the distance was not less than 25 miles, and his allowance upon arrival at his destination was to be an amount equivalent to a day's mileage. In parts of the country where cities having local unions were great distances apart a member was to have a sum equal to the mileage for 25 miles for each day spent in passing from one point to another. It was suggested that the International secretary could correspond with the different local secretaries and ascertain MILEAGE SYSTEM FOR TRAVELING PRINTERS. 535 the average number of travelers per month who passed through each union, and from that information could form an estimate of the amount necessary for its support. Advocates of the plan did not believe that it would lead to abuses. They contended that " an average walk of 2 5 miles per day would secure for a man the sum of 50 cents, a sum which certainly is not sufficient to draw a large amount of talent simply to partake of its benefits, but to a man who is honestly seeking employment would be of considerable help, with whatever work he would pick up on the way." CHAPTER XXXIV. OTHER PRINTING TRADES ORGANIZATIONS. I. Brooklyn Printers. T| HERE have been several typographical associations in Brooklyn. The first of these was doubtless the one that was founded on Saturday evening, January 4, I85I, at the Franklin House, and of which James Smith was the original chairman and G. V. S. Quackenboss secretary. These resolutions were adopted: "That those composing this meeting Franklin have the fullest confidence in the employers of this Typographical city, and believe that they are, and ever will be, Association. willing to unite with the employees in devising means for their welfare and prosperity. That, as we are now assembled, a committee be appointed by the chair to confer with our fellow-craftsmen of this city, and if deemed practicable, form a mutual aid association to be called 'The Franklin Typographical Association of the City of Brooklyn.' That when this meeting adjourn it be to such time as the chairman may appoint to carry out the best interests of the profession generally." In compliance with the resolutions the chairman appointed Mr. Campbell, of the Eagle, Mr. Titus, of the Star, Mr. Whittit, of the Advertiser, Mr. Evans, of the Freeman, and Mr. Brooklyn Wilson, of the Independent, as a committee for the Printers Seek harnter frek furtherance of the object. Not much appears to National Union. have been accomplished by the Franklin Association either as a beneficial or protective society. Its life evidently was of short duration, for in i860 there was an attempt made by Brooklyn compositors to form a union and obtain a charter from the National Typographical Union. This effort was unobjectionable to Union No. 6, whose constitution prescribed that its jurisdiction "shall be limited to the City of New York." Opposition to the formation of a union by Brooklyn printing-house workers unexpectedly sprang from another source. Robert C. Smith was then presi[536] OTHER PRINTING TRADES ORGANIZATIONS. 537 dent of the National Typographical Union. He refused to grant a charter to the Brooklynites, and at the convention of that general body, held in Nashville, Tenn., in May, i860, he submitted an explanation for the course he had pursued in the matter. " On the eighth of January," he reported, " I received an application for a charter from Brooklyn, in which it was said that they intended to call a meeting as soon as they received a charter. To which I replied I did not think it right to sign any charter until an organization had been effected; and doubted the propriety of signing a charter unless there was a prospect of forming a good and permanent union, and one that will prove beneficial to the general welfare of the craft; after which I received a series of resolutions from Brooklyn printers demanding a charter as their right, signed by eight members. I replied to the resolutions, and told them that as the meeting of the National Union was so near I would have to refer them to that body, and let them take the responsibility of issuing a charter; and in the meantime they could lose nothing by getting up a first-rate organization. Being fully impressed with the belief that much harm might result by too much haste in granting this charter, and probably cause a collision between two unions, I felt that you were the only proper parties to say whether Brooklyn, the third city in the United States, should be chartered with a membership of only eight, or whether it was only justice to the National Union to insist upon their getting up an organization which would reflect credit upon themselves as well as upon this body. Probably, gentlemen, I may attach too much importance to this case, but I believe that nothing impairs the efficiency of our National organization so much as to have unions start, as it were to-day, and die out to-morrow. In my opinion no union should be chartered unless it has a fair prospect of becoming a fixed and permanent institution. It is proper also that a resolution should be adopted by this body, defining the jurisdiction of the Brooklyn union, previous to issuing this charter. Many printers residing in Brooklyn work in New York. In that case New York must have control of them." The whole subject was referred to the Committee on Subordinate Unions, which on May ioth submitted a report that was intended as a solution of the question. While the committee asserted " that no organization has a right to demand a charter as a right," its judgment was that such union could " make application to the officers, and if the officers refuse to comply with the request they are accountable only to this body. That, owing to the peculiar locality of Brook 538 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. lyn, it was the prerogative of the officers to withhold the application for the charter until the jurisdiction of the unions in New York and Brooklyn was defined." It was, however, recommended by the committee "that a charter be granted to Brooklyn whenever proper application shall be made, with the understanding that those who work in New York shall be considered as in the jurisdiction of New York, notwithstanding a residence in Brooklyn, and vice versa." Thomas J. Walsh, representing Typographical Union No. 6 in the convention, expressed surprise at the tenor of the committee's report. He stated that the Brooklyn union did not demand a charter as a right until after the signature of the president had been refused and its application rejected; that the territorial jurisdiction of the New York and Brooklyn unions was each well defined, the former having formally disclaimed any control over Brooklyn, while the latter had not only held primary meetings, but had organized and elected officers. "I am much interested in this Brooklyn matter," said he, "and I am probably the only person present who fully understands it. Yet the committee did not ask me any questions in relation to it before submitting its report. I think the members of the committee should have made themselves acquainted with the merits of both sides of the question." This criticism caused Samuel Slawson, of St. Louis, chairman of the committee, to explain that its findings were prompted by the documents that had been submitted. "Having no other datum to guide us we could come to no other conclusions than those arrived at," he declared, and the report was thereupon adopted. In the meanwhile the excitement attending the breaking out of the Civil War served to postpone the plea of the Brooklyn printers for a charter, and for seven years they ceased to appeal Union No. 98 to the National Union for recognition, but the reOrganized, but vival of their application in i867 met with an affirmSoon Succumbs. ative response, and they were chartered on April I7th of that year as Typographical Union No. 98, with John Taylor as president and Edward N. Barnett as secretary. There was a disastrous strike inaugurated by the Brooklyn union for an increase of wages later in I867, and as a result of that dispute, it was reported in I868 by President John H. Oberly of the National Union, No. 98 had been compelled to disband. In I869 Union No. 6 amended its constitution so that the provision in regard to jurisdiction was changed to read that it "shall be in accordance with the laws of the International Union," which latter body enacted a rule in 1871 that gave each subordinate organization OTHER PRINTING TRADES ORGANIZATIONS. 539 jurisdiction " half way between its own location and that of a sister union," but since I876 the general law has restricted the boundary lines of a local union "to the corporate limits of the city or town named in the charter," while the Charter constitution provides that "only one English- Reissued, speaking subordinate union in any distinctive craft Then Recalled. shall be chartered in the same place." A fostering care was exercised by Union No. 6 over the well-being of craftsmen in Brooklyn, and on September 2, 1873, it clothed the Executive Committee with " full power to adopt a scale of prices for, and have full control over, the offices in Brooklyn." But the printers in that city were not satisfied with this arrangement. They wanted an organization of their own and in May, 1874, they succeeded in having the International reissue Charter No. 98. John Gatter was chosen president of the re-established union and Edward N. Barnett was made secretary. This was displeasing to No. 6, which on June 2d directed its secretary " to telegraph immediately to the International Union and ask that body to revoke said charter, believing that the best interests of the craft would be served thereby." The charter was revoked shortly thereafter, and the members ordered to deposit their cards with No. 6 inside of six days. President William H. Bodwell of the International Union gave to the general convention in Boston on June 8, 1875, these reasons for recalling the charter: Shortly before the last session of this body the then secretary and treasurer reissued a charter to Brooklyn Union No. 98. During the session in St. Louis a telegraphic dispatch from the secretary of Typographical Union No. 6 and embodying a resolution adopted by that body protesting against the establishment of a union in Brooklyn, and asking the International Typographical Union to revoke the charter, was received by me and read to the convention. The matter was referred to a special committee, who subsequently reported the following resolution, which was adopted: Resolved, That the president of the International Union be requested to investigate the matter of the reissuing of a charter to Brooklyn Union No. 98, and should any irregularity appear he is hereby instructed to insist upon a strict compliance with the law. Upon my return to New York I found that considerable excitement and feeling existed between the two unions. Members of No. 6 claimed that they were being forced to join Union No. 98 under the penalty of forfeiting their situations, while on the part of the latter union complaint was made that their rights and prosperity were being interfered with by the refusal of members of No. 6 working in Brooklyn to join their union. On June I3th I wrote the officers of both unions, requesting that all action be suspended until such time as I could inquire into and determine upon the question of the legality of the charter under which Union No. 98 was working. 540 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. President Bodwell concluded his report by stating that, after due deliberation, he was forced under the law to the conclusion that the reissue of the charter was illegal and he therefore revoked it. Union No. 98 appealed from the decision, and the convention sustained the action of the president. New York State Deputy Organizer F. F. Donovan of the International Typographical Union on March 20, I883, addressed a call to the compositors of Brooklyn for a meeting on the International following evening "for organization and to apply Revives for a charter." He announced that "it is deemed Union No. 98. of importance by the International Typographical Union that a subordinate union shall be organized in Brooklyn for the purpose of self-protection and mutual advantage." A reorganization was effected, Hulbert Payne being elected president and James Dixon secretary, and Union No. 98 was again chartered. Although Union No. 6 had agreed to an interchange of working cards with the reorganized union in Brooklyn, so that members of each organization were permitted " to sub in either city for not more than thirty days, and on accepting a situation must deposit a traveling card," comity between the two associations was not of a permanent nature. This became manifest on June 3d following when a large book chapel in Brooklyn presented a protest to No. 6 against joining Union No. 98, and the former immediately formulated a "request to the International Typographical Union to give New York jurisdiction over Brooklyn by special act and revoke the charter of No. 98." But such revocation was not accomplished. One of the reasons that influenced the New York union to ask for the disbandment of its sister association on the opposite banks of the East River was that the Brooklyn wage scale was less than that maintained in New York City. Chapter 378 of the Laws of 1897 united into a single municipality, under the corporate title of the City of New York, the several communities lying in and about New York harbor. Final That act went into operation on January I, 1898. Dissolution of Brooklyn thus became a borough of the greater Union No. 98. city, and there being an International prohibition against the existence of two English-speaking subordinate organizations in the same municipality, Union No. 6 on November 7, 1897, took steps to bring about an amalgamation of the two associations, referring the matter to a committee, which on March 6, 1898, made these recommendations, to which No. 6 gave its concurrence: OTHER PRINTING TRADES ORGANIZATIONS. 54I That the evening newspaper scale in the Borough of Brooklyn remain as at present until such time as business will warrant a demand for the increase (a difference of $3 per week) or we have been able to place the four papers on an equal footing. This we consider an act of justice to the two union newspapers and the best policy for us to pursue at the present time. Owing to the fact that these two papers are the weakest, receive less advertisements and less money therefor than their unfair competitors, and it is the policy of the union to encourage proprietors to run union offices, to enforce the scale of No. 6 in these two offices at the present time we consider unwise and impracticable. That the book and job scale remain as at present except to comply with the nine-and-one-half-hour law. That members of No. 98 retain their present cards and numbers until the end of the financial year, when they shall be given numbers according to the years they have been members of No. 98; in the meantime a No. 98 card to be recognized in any office under the jurisdiction of No. 6, and vice versa. Your committee strongly recommends the appointment of a committee whose sole business it shall be to try to bring into the fold the two non-union offices. The system of piecework on machines in these offices is a dangerous one to us and should be abolished. These two papers pay 15 cents per,0ooo ems on machines, 35 cents per I,ooo ems hand, and $20 per week for time work. Typographical Union No. 98 surrendered its charter and ceased to exist on May 16, I898, when it turned over to Union No. 6 its records and money that was in its treasury at the time of dissolution - $462.50. In the succeeding October No. 6 resolved to enforce the New York book and job scale in Brooklyn at the same time that the nine-hour law became operative, and on December i9th a provisional price list for newspaper work was passed, to remain in force until November 21, 1899. This schedule fixed the rate on afternoon newspapers issued six days in the week at $22.50 for 48 hours' work, and on evening journals having Sunday editions at $23.10 per week. It was also decided that " the present number of apprentices shall be allowed to remain until they have reached the required age and served the lawful time to become eligible for membership in Typographical Union No. 6, no apprentices in addition to the present number to be employed." For a number of years the regular scale of wages of Union No. 6 has not only been paid in the Borough of Brooklyn, but its application has extended to all other sections of Greater New York outside of Manhattan. II. German Printers. There were 50 German compositors in New York City in I850. Forty of these formed themselves into an association on April I2th, that year, and adopted a constitution. This original organization 542 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. met at the San Francisco Hotel, No. 528 Pearl street, and on June ist it elected a committee to consult with the union of American printers. In the following August it passed Early a resolution " that, considering the just and prompt Organization endeavor of all movements of the workingmen's Efforts. associations, we agree with the transactions of the Workingmen's Congress and elect delegates to represent us in the above-mentioned body." After awhile its influence in trade affairs ceased. Between that time and i866 two other organizations of German compositors were formed, the last meeting of the third one having been held on April 2 ISt, in that year. From that date until August I4, i869, New York again lacked a union of printers in the Teutonic language. Then the present Typographia No. 7 was ushered into being. These extracts from a study of the early history of that organization printed in the official journal of the German Branch of the International Typographical Union are of especial interest: In the summer of i869 a number of compositors employed by the Arbeiter Union, then the German labor paper, resolved to organize the German printers of New York. These printers were mostly young people, a German number of whom had arrived from the old country a short Typographia time before and had still fresh in their minds what the German Organized. printers, although a young union at that time, had achieved through organization. They addressed a circular letter to all German printers of New York and called for a general meeting on Saturday, July 17th, when the founding of an organization was to be discussed. The meeting succeeded beyond expectations, and after a few more meetings the German Typographia of New York was definitely founded on Saturday, August I4, 1869. Conditions at that time may be described by a few sentences from a speech delivered by the general secretary, Jean Weil, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of Typographia No. 7. " Everywhere in the United States," he said, " workmen were active; everywhere they formed organizations for the protection and the conservation of their rights, and the movement was particularly strong in the City of New York. However, the German printers seemed to be unaware of the fact that there was a labor movement in progress, and each would follow his own way, uninterested in the lot of his fellow-men, and not caring whether or not his neighbor had anything to eat." A few German printers belonged to the English union of printers, No. 6, but they had no influence in the union, did not get any help from it, and for that reason did not feel very much at home in the same. The majority of German printers belonged to no organization having for its aim the regulation of trade questions. Outside of the summary of the speech of Mr. Weil mentioned above and the first financial report of the first treasurer, Ernest Siebers, no written document is in existence concerning the period between the founding of the union and Saturday, March 26, 1870. The first journal of minutes begins with that day. According to the financial report, the activities of the new union started on October i, i869, in other words, initiation fees and dues were collected from that OTHER PRINTING TRADES ORGANIZATIONS. 543 date. The initiation fee was $i and the monthly dues 25 cents. Negligence to pay dues for three months resulted in loss of membership. At the time of the founding of the organization the number of members was 31, and reached 35 at the end of the quarter, although the German printers numbered then nearly 15o in New York and the surrounding territory. This slow progress of the membership continued until the sickness fund was instituted. Most of the original members remained true to the organization to the end, while others followed other trades or became printing-shop owners and left the organization. One of the first duties of the new union was to enact statutes. The aim of the union as described in the original statutes was the improvement of the moral and material interests of the German printers and the fostering of good fellowship. For this purpose trade papers and Morbidity periodicals were to be procured and a library established. and Mortuary Furthermore, two holidays were to be celebrated yearly, St. Benefits. John's Day on the Fourth of July and the anniversary on New Year's Day. No mention was made of the establishment of a sickness fund or the collection of a fund for benefits in the case of wage disputes. On the other side, the by-laws contain a number of sections in regard to the duties of the officials and the order of business. Members had very few rights and slight duties also. The spirit leading in the three former organizations could be felt still, although the majority of the members of those organizations had not joined the German Typographia. In March, I870, the question of establishing a sickness fund loomed up. This plan was put in operation and the weekly sickness benefits to be paid were fixed at $5, but it is not known for how long a period the $5 was paid. Funeral benefits were $40 and later $5o. On account of the sickness fund dues were increased to 50 cents per month, and the initiation fee to $I.50 and later to $3. Members could abstain from belonging to the sickness fund, if they so chose. The establishment of such fund helped to increase the membership, and when it was started on January i, I871, the union had 92 members. At the time the by-laws of the sickness fund were under discussion Edward Grosse, a member who with others had been active in organizing the German Typographia, presented a minority report containing a few suggestions interesting enough to be given here. He proposed to reject the majority report and to change it in taking the principle of mutuality as a basis, for the following reasons: " (I) In order to be able to compete successfully with the old sickness fund of the printers (it was called the old fund, although only eighteen years old), it is necessary to build up the new fund on a basis free from the objectionable and unpopular features of the old fund, this to be done on the principle of mutuality, namely, (a) in suppressing initiation fees, (b) in assessing members to the amount only necessary for meeting present requirements, (c) in suppressing the accumulation of a fund that would be nothing but a gift of the present generation to the futture generation, while the situation of the workman at the present time is such that he has all he can do to take care of himself. (2) The main objective is to gain the newcomers, printers who remain here a short time only, because (a) most of the old printers who have been living here for some time belong to the old fund, (b) the surplus of the old fund operates as a strong attraction for printers who settle permanently in New York, and (c) it is spoliation to require a printer to contribute over and above the amount warranted by the expenses during his stay here, a fact that helps to drive him away." This view of Grosse appears strange to-day, but is explained by the fact that Grosse had been for some time private secretary of J. B. Schweizer, second president of the General 544 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. German Labor Union, and his ideas were influenced by Lassalle's theory of selfhelp. It was further objected to in the minority report that membership in the sickness fund should be optional, this having for result a separate organization and a separate administration within the Typographia. The minority report, although not accepted, influenced the subsequent development of the sickness fund. The separate administration was soon suppressed, and the membership of the sickness fund included every member of the union in good health. Soon after the founding of the union an effort was made to gain for it the numerous non-members working in New York, through personal interviews and through general meetings of printers, and printers in other Centralization cities were invited by circular letters to form organizations. of German The latter aim succeeded, but efforts in New York were Typographias. nearly fruitless. In the union meeting of May 7, I870, a report from Chicago was read announcing the existence of a German union of printers called the " Gutenberg-Verein " and the willingness ci the Chicago union to enter into a mutual agreement with the New York union, and to co-operate in the organization work of printers in other cities. The mutual agreement was duly signed, but its sole effect was that members moving from one city to the other had to pay one-half of the initiation fee only, while in all other respects they were to abide by the by-laws of the respective unions. As far as organization work was concerned, Chicago offered to cover the Western States, while New York was to take care of the East. Committees that were sent to Newark to urge the printers residing in that city to join the union succeeded in gaining a number of them for the New York association, and it was not long before they were able to form an organization of their own. St. Louis sent the report that a printers' union was in existence there, and on April 30, 1872, Chicago announced that printers' organizations were founded in Milwaukee, Davenport and Detroit. Similar news came from Memphis. Besides urging this organization work, the active recording secretary, Edward Grosse, was then earnestly advising, but without success, affiliation with the International Typographical Union, at least for the German-speaking body of New York. On the other side, President Bauer, who had been president of the union for some time, the second since its formation, seconded energetically and with success the proposition of the Philadelphia union to unite all the German printers' unions by the means of a central organization. Bauer was sustained in his efforts by all the printers who had some influence. The result was the organization of the GermanAmerican Typographia. Affiliation with the International Typographical Union not appearing to have any chances of success, it was tried to affiliate with No. 6, but things went rather slow and the proposition was dropped entirely when said organization offered terms that seemed unacceptable to the German Typographia. Lack of confidence in their own strength appears to be the explanation for those differences of opinions of the members as to the aims to be pursued by the union. The question of an employment bureau and of benefits for the unemployed was soon brought up in the new union. The employment bureau was at first a private undertaking and was under the direction of aformer printer who Employment Bureau had become a saloonkeeper, and thus was not controlled by the and Out-of-Work union. However, when employment was offered, members of Benefits Commenced. the union were to be given the preference. This system did not succeed very well, and finally in October, 1873, the union created its own employment bureau. The first manager of the bureau was a printer, George Speyer. The regulations adopted at that time were amended OTHER PRINTING TRADES ORGANIZATIONS. 545 two years later, when it was decided to provide for unemployment benefits. This happened on December i8, 1875. From the regulations in regard to unemployment subsidies and the employment bureau the following may be mentioned: Out-of-work members wishing to draw benefits were to report daily to the manager. A member was entitled to benefits after two weeks, the amount being $5 per week. This amount was to be paid for six continuous weeks, and discontinued for the four following weeks. For each day that an unemployed member worked $2 was subtracted from the amount paid to him in benefits. When an unemployed member refused a position offered to him he forfeited the right to benefits for four weeks. When he refused casual work for a day he lost his benefits for a week. Whoever neglected to pay his dues for more than three months was not entitled to benefits, and the same applied to members leaving their work by their own free will unless it was on account of non-payment of wages. In order to raise the funds necessary for the payment of unemployed benefits each member at work was assessed 25 cents a week. Before long several members thought the assessment too high and proposed to do away with unemployed benefits. This proposition was not accepted, but the weekly dues were reduced to i0 cents. The scheme was fairly satisfactory, as the number of those demanding unemployment benefits was not very large. The assessment, however, was soon increased to the old rate of 25 cents per week and later the payment of unemployed benefits was regulated by the central organization. When the Typographia was organized daily working hours were from ten to twelve in New York printing shops, as well as elsewhere, and in many establishments hours were even longer. Conditions remained Movemeint for the same until the early eighties, when the organized German the Shorter printers succeeded in inaugurating a general ten-hour day, Working 74y which was followed by an eight-hour day in i886. However, 40 years ago New York had a German daily whose printers enjoyed the eight-hour day - the Arbeiter Union. The paper lived a short time only, and went under in i870 mainly for refusing to join in the enthusiasm over the German victories in the Franco-Prussian War. It was probably the remembrance of a shorter working day that caused Grosse on November 25, i87I, to bring up for discussion the question of the normal eight-hour day. Many members took part in the discussion and all agreed as to the necessity of a reduction in working hours, but did not know by what means this demand could be enforced in German printing establishments. At the meeting of February 24, 1872, Grosse reported on the question of a shorter working day with special reference to printers. He insisted that the question was extremely pressing, but did not think the principle enforceable at that time. He recommended affiliation with the International Federation of Workers and that a report on the general labor movement should be given at each meeting. A discussion followed and most members approved the recommendation. After that it was some time before the question of a shorter working day came up again, not even when the first strike took place. The general labor movement was still too weak and the German printers could not at that time take a step in advance of the others on such an important question as the eight-hour working day, as they did later when the general labor movement was in a period of boom. The first printers' union did not make the mistake of getting involved in strikes soon after organization as many other unions have done and are doing, with the result of disbanding when the strikes collapse. The initial aim was to i 8 546 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. build up the organization and to win those outside of it. For the first two and a half years all was peaceful within the Typographia and the idea might have prevailed that the New York printers were satisfied First Disputes with their lot. It was the kind of tranquillity that precedes a for Higher storm. At the meeting of May 25, 1872, Edward Grosse Wage Rates. submitted a report on the labor question and stated that in view of the efforts made by the workingmen in New York City, as well as in all countries, to improve their conditions, it was time for the New York printers to shake off their indifference, as their working conditions could certainly not be called satisfactory, and to take steps to bring about their betterment. The Executive Committee was directed to call a general meeting of printers for Sunday, June 2d, at Io o'clock A. M. in Coburger Hall, No. Io Stanton street, to consider the following order of the day: " Do conditions of German printers in New York need improvement?" The meeting was well attended. Nearly all the German printers of the City of New York were present, the majority not members of the German Typographia. This was a dangerous situation for the union because, if the non-members wanted to agree among themselves, they could carry any resolution, and for this reason the results appeared doubtful from the beginning. Bauer, the president of the union, acted as chairman. A resolution for a 10 per cent increase in the composition rate was submitted to the meeting by the Executive Committee. The price paid until then was 40 cents for day and 45 cents for night work. The " radicals," mostly non-members under the leadership of Herman Schmidt and Konig, argued that Io per cent was too small an increase in wages and demanded 25 per cent. Although the standpoint of the Typographia was ably represented by members like Bauer, Becker, Buchholz, Engels, Goldmann, Grosse, Kaufmann, Kom, Weil, Wieser, etc., and they argued that a smaller increase once won would help to strengthen the organization and secure a further increase later, the resolution introduced by the radicals was carried, and the committee elected by the meeting and composed of representatives from different printing establishments was directed to demand a 25 per cent increase from the owners. Buchholz acted as speaker for the committee. When the committee was on its way to submit the requests of the meeting to the proprietors, three members were missing - the two representatives of the Staats-Zeitung and an English printer who had shown himself especially radical at the meeting and for this reason had been elected a member of the committee. The beginning seemed encouraging. Three papers, the Demokrat, Journal and Oestliche Post agreed to the demands immediately. The publishers of the two first-named papers gave in easily; when they had money, they would pay, and when they had no money, wages would remain due. The Oestliche Post, a German-English paper, was very friendly to workingmen, but did not live long. Negotiations were continued with two other papers, the Presse and TagesNachrichten. Of the job houses, Teubner and Randell & Blaemeke agreed to pay the new scale. E. Steiger, who was also printing the works of which he was the editor, mainly school books, and who was employing from eight to ten printers, refused absolutely to grant the 25 per cent increase. After long negotiations a strike was finally declared on June I7th. It may seem surprising to-day that the young organization should spend so much time in negotiations before ordering a strike, but considering conditions as they were then, small membership, more than half of the German printers were outside of the organization, the fact that OTHER PRINTING TRADES ORGANIZA.TIONS. 547 it was not known to what extent the members of the union could be relied on in keeping up the strike, the numerous printers out of work or working at some other trade and waiting for a chance to return to their own trade, and last, but not least, the scantiness of funds on hand, it is easy to understand the policy of hesitation. Several other small establishments maintained that they could not afford to pay the higher rates. From 22 to 25 men altogether went out on strike on this account. The movement for higher wages seemed to be progressing well, and the members were elated over what appeared an easy victory. Nothing, however, had been heard from the Staats-Zeitung, when it was learned at headquarters that the printers of that paper had reached an agreement with the publishers by which they were satisfied with a 10 per cent increase. The news was confirmed and naturally struck the workmen like lightning from a clear sky, with the result that the advances were lost. In addition Steiger had found men to take the places of his former employees, and German printers sprang up like mushrooms, requesting benefits or work. The initiation fee was reduced from $3 to $i during the strike, but in spite of this few new members were added to the union. The surplus accumulated by the union in the two and a half years, on account of the small dues, was not considerable, and the profits made from festivities organized by the union were insignificant also. In order to aid the men on strike members were assessed and non-members were requested also to contribute to the strike fund. Poor results were obtained from the latter, and even members, especially those employed by the Staats-Zeitung, refused to pay the assessment. It was decided then by the union to publish in the Oestliche Post the names of those refusing to pay the assessment. * * * Finally it was decided to have recourse to the Federal Council of the International Association of Workingmen. Drastic measures were taken by the union to get rid of a number of printers claiming benefits or work. The Executive Committee was directed " to assign first to open positions the printers of the least skill, and to stop paying them any further subsidies after they had lost their positions on account of unsatisfactory work." It was also decided to refuse reinstatement in the union to all strikebreakers. On September I4th the strike was declared ended. The assessment collected during the dispute amounted to $448.I4 and $359.55 had been expended in subsidies. The question, of affiliating with the International Typographical Union came up again during the strike, and it was sought to get the assistance of a stronger union, but without result. The idea of uniting all the German printers' unions through a national federation was again brought forward, and this time by Philadelphia. Although the results of the first strike were rather poor, the members of the young union kept their courage. It was decided to work out a new agreement to be submitted to the owners. The rates provided by the agreement were 55 cents per I,ooo ems for manuscript and 50 cents for reprint for night work; 47 cents per i,ooo ems for day work, and time rates were 35 cents per hour and $20 per week. Thirty days' notice was to be given by either party before terminating employment. After a few obnoxious points had been removed a general increase of io per cent was obtained. The year 1873 passed quietly as far as the wage question was concerned, and the winning of new members was slow also, the roll at the end of the year showing 94 names only. The calm was disturbed when in September, I874, the 548 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Journal reduced rates 5 cents per I,ooo ems. A strike followed and was lost because some members remained at work and four men on strike were replaced by strike-breakers. The paper was declared unfair and the members working for the same were expelled from the union. * * * A statistical investigation made in the fall of 1875 to find out the number of members working in the different shops showed that there was not a single newspaper employing union printers exclusively. The Staats-Zeitung employed four members of the Typographia among 40 printers, the Presse employed one non-member, the Tages-Nachrichten and the Journal non-members only, the Demokrat had as many non-members as members, and conditions were about the same in the job houses. This information was an incentive for efforts to increase the membership, which was done with some degree of success. ** * The years 1872-1877 were the most critical for Typographia No. 7. The union missed the principal weapon through which it would have been able to resist wage reductions and also strengthen its ranks, namely, a good daily labor paper. Union printers had to rely on the capitalist press in their struggles, and that press was no more favorably inclined toward workingmen then than it is to-day. Things changed in 1878 when the New Yorker Volks-Zeitung began to appear. Through it the workingmen of New York and of the whole country were put in possession of a militant organ which could not be valued high enough. Besides wage disputes, the Typographia was busy with the question of apprenticeship, but without much success. Early attention was paid also to the legal protection of members, especially in the matter of collecting wages. Statistics as to number of employees in the German printing shops of New York were collected. From them we learn that in I875 there were 50 German printing shops in New York and of those 8 did the printing Statistics work for newspapers, 23 did job work, and I9 did both kinds of Printing of work. There were i i German dailies, 34 weeklies, and 7 Establishme Sunday papers. At the same time there were 211 printers (I67 compositors and 44 pressmen), and 115 apprentices (64 compositors and 5I pressmen). Eighty-five of the printers belonged to the Typographia. The earnings were given as ranging from $I2 to $25 (the rate being 40-55 cents per I,ooo ems) and weekly wages from $I5 to $20. The aggregate circulation of the dailies was 77,500, of the weeklies I47,0oo, and of the Sunday papers 94,000. Several owners were engaged in some other business besides printing, as they included lawyers, notaries, commission merchants, etc. Among the printers many had saloons, groceries, wood and coal yards. The cost of living of a small family was from $io to $I2 per week. A great deal of attention was paid in the early years of the union to the intellectual improvement of members. A relatively large amount Some of money was spent for the constitution of a library, which Other was considerably increased by gifts from members. * * * aFurthermore a number of lectures were given, among the speakers being William Gundlach, Dr. Lilienthal, Dr. Alexander Jonas and Edward Grosse. * * * The Typographia took part also in the organization of a central body of German unions that was established at that time and was in existence until about the eighties. The Typographia was represented by two delegates, and supported the central body whenever an occasion presented itself, as when it was proposed to suppress the teaching of German in the schools and in the struggle against prison labor in the Kings County Penitentiary. OTHER PRINTING TRADES ORGANIZATIONS. 549 The first national convention of German printers took place in the last week of April, 1873, in Philadelphia. New York was represented by two delegates, Bauer and Engels. Six other cities also sent delegates. There and then the foundations of the German-American Typographia were laid and the German Typographia of New York received its title of Typographia No. 7. This designation is found for the first time in the report of the proceedings of the meeting taking place on Sunday, December 27, 1873. * * * The question of suppressing night work was discussed by the young organization, and the same question came up at the first printers' convention, but no practical results were obtained. * * * Receipts for the first five years of the existence of the German Typographia amounted to $3,268.87 and expenditures to $2,262.35. The amount of dues and even of initiation fees in arrears was always high, and the union was soon forced to rule that members delinquent for six weeks forfeited their right to benefits. Whoever owed dues for six weeks was barred from receiving any benefits for another six weeks. A delinquency of six months resulted in loss of membership. It was nothing extraordinary in the first years of the Typographia to see members lose their membership for non-payment of dues and be reinstated two and even three times in the same year. There were then very few faithful members that would never be in arrears. Members who had injured the union through deceit or strike-breaking were severely dealt with. Those members were mostly expelled from the union, in many cases with the additional penalty that they could never be reinstated. But the founders of the union were rather lenient, and after a few years we find the same delinquents in the ranks of the Typographia again just as if they had never sinned against the union. Leniency is a sign of strength, and perhaps it was also shrewdness on the part of the union. Absence from a general meeting resulted in a fine of 50 cents, but no fine was imposed for this reason on members living above Eightieth street, Manhattan, or in Brooklyn, Staten Island and elsewhere. In the first years of the new union its officers were not indemnified for their work. Later on the two secretaries, the two financial officers and the chairman were exempt from paying dues. * * * To gain new members general meetings of printers were held once in awhile and circulars sent to non-members. With the assent of the meeting non-members could take part in it. Only a few of the members of former printers' unions were active in the new union, among them Mitzscherling, who had been vicepresident of the third printers' union in New York, and it was better so, because the old elements would hardly have been able to display the activity of the young and energetic men who were present at the cradle of the new organization and furthered its growth in such an unselfish way.' In a later production the writer of the foregoing stated that " on May i, i886, the eight-hour day was obtained, together with an increase in wages. The membership had reached over 400. In 1891 the first Mergenthaler linotype machines were introduced into German newspaper printing shops. Wage agreements covering the new 1 " G. J." in Deutsch-Amerikanische Buchdrucker-Zceitung, May i-July I, io909, from a translation by Pierre J. B. Haegy, librarian of the Department of Labor. 550 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. work were presented, but not accepted by the proprietor of the largest German paper of New York. A strike resulted and was lost. A boycott was then declared, which lasted from the end of February to the end of September, 1892, and was terminated by a compromise. The newly-created evening paper became a union shop, and two and one-half years later the morning paper was unionized also. Since that time there has not been an important German printing establishment in New York whose printers did not belong to Typographia No. 7. At the end of 1892 a further reduction in hours was obtained, at first for night-workers only, whose working time was reduced to five nights and eight hours, and later it applied to all. Fewer strikes to enforce demands for higher wages took place after affiliation with the International Typographical Union, wage questions being generally settled by arbitration. Many of our members are not entirely satisfied with the present system and regret our former independence. They forget, however, that more could be done this way to build up a strong organization and also to help the general labor movement." 2 Cordial good will between Union No. 6 and the local Typographia was ever a rarity. There were times when they joined their issues and worked in harmony, but such occasions were Differences infrequent and of short duration. The German Between Union union on August 6, 1872, petitioned the organizaNo. 6 and tion of English-speaking printers for consent to German apply for a charter from the International TypoTypographia graphical Union. Such request was granted on condition " that the German union adopt the scale of this union for all other than German work, and that this union adopt the German scale for German work; no strike to take place in an office where members of No. 6 are employed without the permission of this union." At the same meeting the president was directed to appoint " a delegation of three to attend the meetings of the German union and that we invite a similar delegation from that body to meet with us." Amicable relations, however, ended before the lapse of two years, and on May 12, I874, Union No. 6 instructed its delegates to oppose the issuance of an International charter to the German union, which again sought the co-operation of No. 6 on March 6, I88I, succeeding then in inducing the latter to appoint a Conference Committee of three, the majority of whom recommended on April 3d 2Translated from pamphlet, "Typographia No. 7, Vierzigstes Stiftungsfest [fortieth anniversary], October io, I909." OTHER PRINTING TRADES ORGANIZATIONS. 55I an interchange of working cards, which report was disapproved, although in I875 at the International convention it was agreed that the two unions should recognize each other's cards. Again in I883 and i888 efforts were futilely made to reach an understanding, yet negotiations did not cease altogether. A committee from Typographia No. 7 appeared before Union No. 6 on March 9, I890, and asked for the appointment of a Conference Committee to meet like representatives of the German union "for the purpose of settling the dispute between the two organizations in a way that will be mutually satisfactory." No. 6 was agreeable, and on May 5th its committee reported that it had had several interviews with No. 7's conferees, with this result: I. The committee from No. 7 stated that the rate for German composition of No. 6 was less than that of No. 7, and your committee would recommend that the rate per i,ooo ems for German composition by members of No. 6 be made equal to the rate of No. 7 - that is, 53 cents per I,ooo ems. 2. No. 7 asks that the interchange of cards between the two unions as agreed on at the International convention of I875 be carried out, and your committee recommends such action. 3. It is also recommended that the working cards of either union be recognized for a period of 30 days, but that after that time a member shall deposit his card in the union under whose jurisdiction he is working. 4. No. 7 also asks that where members of that union are employed exclusively on German work in a No. 6 office they be allowed to form a department for German work. Union No. 6 adopted the first three recommendations, but rejected the fourth. Presently, however, a complication arose that for the nonce widened the breach between the two associations. In that year the proprietor of the New York Morning Journal decided to issue a German edition of the paper, and through his managing editor asked the secretary of Union No. 6 whether that organization would furnish a force of German compositors for the new venture. Having in mind only the addition of another chapel to his union's roster, that official unhesitatingly answered in the affirmative, taking his position on the rather unstable ground that in the scale of prices for bookwork there was a clause fixing the rate for German composition, and feeling certain that a force of German printers could be easily recruited from the membership of No. 6. Shortly thereafter a foreman was selected and the chapel organized. Then Typographia No. 7 claimed jurisdiction over the new office. Its officers made a vigorous but unavailing protest to the Journal management, and the paper was launched only to encounter the opposition of many German trade unions. No. 6's officers pointed out that under that 552 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. union's wage schedule the compositors would earn more than under the Typographia's scale of prices, but the Germans retaliated by declaring that No. 6's attitude was a blow at the eight-hour day, which they had recently established. By enlisting the sympathy of scores of German organizations, industrial, fraternal and social, the Typographia's crusade against the new paper became so effective that the Journal management finally called upon the officials of No. 6 for reprisals, and on November 2, I890, that union instructed its officers " to admit to membership all members of No. 7 who are working in No. 6 offices, and that they insist on all employees in No. 6 offices being members of this union." As a result a demand was made on the Daily News, at that time a prosperous and influential newspaper, that it discharge the members of the Typographia employed on its German edition and supplant them with German compositors from No. 6. By this time the situation had become so tense that it looked as though the latter would have to recede from its position or proceed to the other extreme and try to destroy a sister organization. Perceiving a way out of the difficulty, No. 6's president, Charles J. Dumas, who personally felt from the outset that the German union had the better of the argument, had a conference with representatives of No. 7 and made the following proposal: That No. 6 would relinquish control of the German Journal and make no attempt to oust the Typographia members from other offices, on condition that the latter association would obtain a charter from the International Typographical Union, but would at the same time retain its connection with the German-American Typographia. This proposition was favorably received and a truce was declared pending negotiations. Soon afterward Union No. 7 was chartered by the International as Local No. 274, and on February i, I89I, No. 6 ratified this agreement: I. Offices exclusively German shall be controlled by New York German Typographical Union No. 274. 2. In offices where composition is done in both English and German three or more members of either the English Union (No. 6) or the German Union (No. 274) shall have the right to form themselves into a separate chapel of such respective union and elect a chairman and secretary; provided, however, that the members of the union who are in a minority in such office shall adopt such rules and regulations as will insure unity of action in all cases where the common interest is at stake. 3. Compositors employed exclusively on German work in an office controlled by Typographical Union No. 6 shall be compelled by the chairman of such office to join German Union No. 274. Compositors working exclusively on English in an office controlled by German Union No. 274 shall be compelled to join Typographical Union No. 6. OTHER PRINTING TRADES ORGANIZATIONS. 553 In essentials the arrangement into which the two unions had entered was satisfactory to the members of each, but as to details much remained to be accomplished before the attainment of perpetual peace. No. 6 had appointed a corn- Perpetual mittee to determine the jurisdiction of both associa- Peace tions, and on May 3, I891, the committeemen reported Attained. in favor of referring the matter to the International Typographical Union for legislative action, in which recommendation the local body concurred. When the German printers were about to found a national association eighteen years previously they discussed the advisability of uniting with the International organization of English-speaking printers. The general Typographia was started in Philadelphia. Several societies of German compositors had arisen in the Quaker City and had disbanded shortly after their formation, but on June 29, 1872, the Gutenberg Society began its existence with 3I members. On July I3th it decided to form a closer relationship with other organizations of German printers in various cities. A lively correspondence ensued. The New York Typographia at once agreed to the plan, and at its request the Philadelphians sent two delegates to represent them at a general meeting of the Metropolitan organization on October 26th, when an Agitation Committee was selected for the purpose of establishing unions in all large and small cities, and to invite existing societies to elect delegates to a convention of German printers. A meeting of the committee, which consisted of Jean Weil and Paul Engels, of New York, and Louis Pabst and Charles G. Bachmann, of Philadelphia, was held in December, at which time it was decided to issue a call to all German printers and societies to organize a general German Printers' Union, with the object of later forming a closer alliance with the International Typographical Union. This call received a ready response, and on April 22, I873, the initial convention of the Typographia was held in Philadelphia. The International convention of I891 considered the matter that had been referred to it by Union No. 6 relative to the jurisdictional contention and appointed a committee to arrange for an amalgamation of the German-American Typographia with the International body of printers. At the I892 session of the latter the committee reported as follows: In the German-American Typographia there are 22 subordinate bodies, with a membership of about I,400 in good standing. A system of benefits is in operation in the German-America Typographia, such as out-of-work, sick, traveling, strike and funeral, for each of which there is a separate fund. 554 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. In the opinion of its representatives it would be detrimental to the interests of the German-speaking printers to surrender their membership in that body, but upon the following grounds it is more than probable that an equitable consolidation of the two forces can be accomplished: That the autonomy of their trade be undisturbed - i. e., the short-hour day, the alphabet measurement of type and out-of-work benefit. That all the special benefit features be retained. That the system of exchange membership cards be adopted by which it will be optional for any member to sever his connection with either union upon depositing his card with a union of the opposite language. That the German-American Typographia contribute to the International Typographical Union general, defense, funeral and Home funds, and in lieu thereof be entitled to all the benefits of the International Typographical Union. That a secretary-treasurer, from among its membership, be elected by the German-American Typographia, who shall be the fourth vice-president of the International Typographical Union, a member of the Executive Council, and shall attend to all the business of the German-American Typographia, submitting the same finally to the International Typographical Union secretary-treasurer, and said German-American Typographia secretary-treasurer shall be paid by that body. That a percentage, to be agreed upon, shall be returned to the German-American Typographia to defray running expenses, and the surplus, if any, to be recovered into the International Typographical Union treasury. That subordinate unions of the German-American Typographia be entitled to representation in the International Typographical Union on the same basis as English-speaking unions. That constitutions and general laws be printed in German at the expense of the German-American Typographia. That in the interchange of cards the rules of the German-American Typographia shall be in force, i. e., that in order to secure the out-of-work benefits an applicant must be a competent German compositor, and the German-American Typographia reserves to itself the power to reject. The report of the committee was referred to the Executive Council to add the necessary details in conformity with International law, and then submitted to a general vote of the memberTypographia ship, which subsequently approved the proposed Amalgamates wit es merger by a vote of 8,324 yeas to 3,333 nays. It with International. was also ratified by the Typographia. The amalgamation treaty became effective on July i, I894. Under it members of the Typographia are privileged to elect by general vote a second vice-president, who also serves as secretarytreasurer of the German branch. He and three (now five) other members of the latter constitute an Advisory Board. The secretarytreasurer has general supervision of such features of the branch as are not contemplated by existing laws of the International Typographical Union, and decides all questions that arise between mem OTHER PRINTING TRADES ORGANIZATIONS.5 555 bers and unions regarding benefit provisions and the practices thereunder. Appeals from his decision may be made to the Advisory Board, but any person feeling aggrieved at the findings of the latter may in turn appeal to an International convention, when the matter must be referred to the German delegates, the decision of a majority of whom being recorded as the final judgment of that general body. All laws appertaining to the benefit features of the German-American Typographia in operation on January i, i893, remained in force, subject to amendment. The German branch was given absolute control of its out-of-work, sick, traveling and death benefits, but its laws in regard to strike relief were superseded by the International requirements. Upon all other subjects, excepting type measurements and laws and customs governing foremen, the statutes of the International in effect on January i, i893, and as thereafter amended, predominated. Members in good standing desirous of transferring their membership to a union of another language receive International Union certificates, which are furnished upon payment of a current month's dues, and must be deposited with the proper officers of such opposite union within 48 hours. For beneficial purposes members of German locals depositing traveling cards with English unions have the option of retaining membership in subordinate organizations of their own language. If they redeposit their traveling certificates with the German branch they are entitled to all benefits the same as though their affiliation with such branch had been continuous. German members of English unions retaining benefit membership in the German branch have the right to participate in the discussion of, and to vote upon, all proposed changes in the laws and rules bearing upon the benefits to which they are contributors. A duly accredited certificate is sufficient to entitle the holder to membership in any union in which he may desire to deposit it, and subordinate bodies are forbidden to reject such card. Seven or more union printers employed on German work in any city or town are obliged to organize a German branch. German-American Typographical Union No. 274 was retransformed into German Typographia No. 7 when its national body amalgamated with the International Typographical Union. Hugo Miller, an eminent member of No. 7, and secretary-treasurer of the German-American Typographia since i886, was elected second vicepresident of the International and secretary-treasurer of the German branch when the consolidation treaty was consummated, and he continues to be the incumbent of that important station. 556 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. ' III. Pressmen. For a number of years after its inception pressmen were admitted to membership in Typographical Union No. 6, which maintained a special scale of wages for men engaged at that branch of the printing industry, the schedule of prices as late as 1857 showing that the weekly rates for both hand and power pressmen were $1i and $13, respectively, for day and night labor, the working time then being ten hours per day. Piece rates were also provided for book and job work. Four years afterward there was an organization in New York called the Franklin Union of Printing Pressmen, but it does not appear to have made much headway toward controlling the trade, as No. 6 still exercised jurisdiction over pressmen in 1864, in which year it inserted in its scale of prices a provision that " no pressman shall work for a sum less than $20 per week for day work or $22 for night work." On Saturday night, March 26, 1864, the New York power pressmen organized a union and elected James Calvin president, Isaac Van Duser vice-president, James Crans secretary, and Thomas Hart treasurer. A committee was appointed to draft a constitution, and the main purpose of the union, it was stated, was to seek an advance of 25 per cent in wages. Although the Typographical Union up to I869 retained in its constitution a section permitting pressmen and press feeders to be admitted to membership, it discontinued in that year its rule to provide a wage schedule for those workers - in fine, since then it has ceased to claim jurisdiction over pressroom employees. In 1872 the Adams Press Printers' Association was the title of the New York pressmen's organization, the members of which had engaged in a strike for the eight-hour day and an advance of 20 per cent in wages. On August 6th, that year, after the dispute had been in progress for a month, an appeal for funds to relieve the strikers was made to the compositors' union, which granted to them a loan of $250. Desirous of an effective coalition of compositors and pressmen in the general association of printers, Union No. 6, on May 7, 1882, directed its president and secretary to wait upon the officers of the pressmen's union and acquaint them with the benefits to be derived from unity with the International Typographical Union. As an outcome of that conference No. 6 on July 2d passed a series of resolutions recommending " the granting of a charter by the president OTHER PRINTING TRADES ORGANIZATIONS. 557 of the International to the body known and styled as the New York Pressmen and Feeders' Union," and the latter was importuned "to receive into full membership every person connected with the trade, irrespective of past differences." New York Pressmen's Union No. 9 was chartered forthwith. It comprised both journeymen and their assistants. The fact that the feeders were thus associated with the pressmen caused much discord in the trade. There was another society in the city called the Adams and Cylinder Pressmen's Association, composed exclusively of journeymen, which was a formidable rival of Union No. 9 and opposed to its demands, it being contended that as long as pressmen (workmen of high-grade skill) and feeders of presses (unskilled workers learning the trade) were in the same union trouble would continue, as the latter so greatly outnumbered the former in the membership that most of the legislation was enacted in their interest and to the detriment of the pressmen. Union No. 6 did not relish the idea of becoming involved in the controversy, but there were some in its ranks who believed that the course of No. 9, an organization in affiliation with the International, should be upheld in preference to an independent society. A special meeting was called on October 8, i886, " for the purpose of co-operating with New York Pressmen's Union No. 9 in its efforts to maintain its scale of prices," but No. 6 at that session declined to " sustain No. 9 in the present strike." Another special meeting was called on the seventeenth of the same month " for the purpose of co-operating with New York Pressmen's Union No. 9 in its demands for the payment of its established scale of prices in the offices now on strike, by ordering out our members at work in these offices until such time as the difficulties are adjusted and the supremacy of the International Typographical Union is acknowledged wherever a sister union is in distress." Representatives of No. 9 and of the association of Adams and Cylinder men were admitted to the meeting and gave their views of the situation. No. 6, however, was obdurate so far as the case of No. 9 was concerned, and resolved that the " whole matter be dismissed and the action of the last meeting be sustained." Eventually the rivalry extended to other sections, resulting in the formation of a general dual organization entitled the International Printing Pressmen's Union, to which was attached Newspaper Printers' Union No. I, organized in New York in 1886. This new association made serious inroads into the membership of the pressmen's locals connected with the International Typographical Union, in 1892 alone seven subordinate organizations of pressroom workers 558 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. having surrendered their charters, and at the end of April, that year, the number of pressmen's associations in operation was 22, with a total membership of 1,210, of whom 466 were in arrears. Union No. 9 had 459 members then, but only 120 of them were in good standing, while in 1893 the figures were I55 and I30, respectively. In the same twelvemonth the aggregate membership throughout the United States had fallen to 860, with 682 in good standing. It was reported that year by the second vice-president of the International Typographical Union that the rival International had 584 pressmen enrolled in seventeen local bodies. Peace overtures, however, soon began to be made. An alliance of the antagonistic elements finally was accomplished after the International Typographical Union in 1895 had permitted its pressmen to have their own general organization, granting them complete autonomy in their trade, but co-operating with them through Allied Printing Trades Councils in places having more than one local association in the printing industry. It was therefore welcome news to the members of Union No. 6 when they were apprised of the fact that there " was now only one organization of pressmen and one organization of press feeders in New York City," on July 5, 1896, on which date the assembled typographers decided to recognize those two associations, which had been chartered by the International Printing Pressmen's Union, the title of that association afterward being changed to International Printing Pressmen and Assistants' Union of North America, and these New York City Unions are at present connected with it: Newspaper and Web Press Printers No. 25, Book and Job Pressmen No. 51, Frankling Association of Press Feeders No. 23, and Job Press Feeders No. i. IV. Machine-Tenders. Coincident with the introduction of composing machines skilled mechanics began to be employed in printing offices to keep in repair the delicate mechanism of these devices. The term "machine-tenders" was thereupon applied to those specialized workers, many of whom were members of machinists' unions. Reckoning that the support of the machine-tenders might prove of value to the printers the Executive Council of the International Typographical Union, acting under a resolve adopted at the convention of I892 directing it to confer with officials of " the National Machinists' Union with a view of OTHER PRINTING TRADES ORGANIZATIONS. 559 bringing about co-operation between machinists and printers in offices where machines are operated by union men," opened negotiations with the International Association of Machinists, the only body of that trade affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. The draft of an agreement was presented to the Executive Board of the machinists' association, the main provisions relating to mutual assistance in the event of lockouts or justifiable strikes. The machinists insisted upon the addition of a clause by which the printers would bind themselves to demand that only union men be employed in the manufacture of linotype machines. The typographers were unwilling to pledge themselves to thus aid the machinists in performing missionary work to unionize manufacturing establishments and the negotiations ceased for a time. Subordinate organizations of the International Typographical Union were, however, directed to insist that machine-tenders employed in union printing offices must be attached to local associations of machinists. Then Typographical Union No. 6 took an active interest in the question, on January 7, 1894, ratifying the following plan submitted by a committee that had conferred with the local district of the International Association of Machinists: i. That only qualified linotype machinists, members of the International Association of Machinists, shall be allowed to hold positions as machinists in any office under the jurisdiction of Typographical Union No. 6. 2. That the cards of the machinists shall be examined by the chairman of the chapel and a separate report made to the secretary of No. 6, where aforesaid report may be obtained by the secretary of the local lodge of the International Association of Machinists, the machinists of the various chapels to pay monthly dues levied upon chapel members for the payment of the chairman's salary. 3. In offices where machines are to be erected the chairman of the chapel shall demand to see the cards of the machinists erecting or repairing said machines. 4. No machinist of the International Association of Machinists shall erect machines in non-union offices within the jurisdiction of No. 6 without the written consent of the officers of the union. 5. No member of No. 6 shall work on a linotype machine unless placed there and repaired by a member of the International Association of Machinists. 6. No machinist shall repair, or in any other way aid the running of a linotype machine in any printing office unless the same is used by a member of No. 6. 7. In case of a strike called by the International Association of Machinists the association shall pay all members of No. 6 called out the sum of $ per week to married men and $- 3 to single men. 8. When members of the International Association of Machinists are called out by the officers of No. 6 to assist members of the union in trouble No. 6 shall pay members of the International Association of Machinists the sum of $ per week to married men and $ —3 to single men. 3 Amount not stated in the original. 560 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. 9. It is hereby agreed that a qualified linotype machinist of the International Association of Machinists is to make all repairs whatsoever wherein the parts of the machines are to be removed or adjusted. 10. Machinists having'grievances involving operators shall refer the same to the chairman of the chapel for settlement. I. Operators having grievances involving the machinist shall refer the same to the chairman of the chapel for settlement. 12. All questions arising in the future involving members of both organizations not specified in the foregoing articles shall be referred to a special committee appointed by both organizations for settlement. 13. When any trouble arises between members of both unions and their employers, that cannot otherwise be settled, the officers of each union shall call out its members. 14. No member of No. 6 shall be permitted to work in the assembling rooms of a linotype factory. 15. This agreement shall be submitted to the Grand Lodge of the International Association of Machinists and to the International Typographical Union for their endorsement. 16. This agreement shall go into effect immediately. Later in I894 the International officers were instructed by the general convention of compositors to effect a working agreement with the machinists, and the printer-negotiators urged that a provision be inserted in the projected compact that members of typographical unions be permitted to repair machines if employers were willing to have them perform such work. This was agreeable to the machinists, who then insisted that men in their trade should be allowed to work as operators. Both provisions were incorporated in a proposed agreement that was submitted to the referendum and were rejected by the membership of the typographical unions by a decided majority. In 1892 machine-tenders in Brooklyn formed themselves into a society called the Associated Typesetting Machine Engineers, and when Greater New York became incorporated in I898 the headquarters of the organization were transferred to Manhattan Borough. Brooklyn Lodge No. 399 of the International Association of Machinists entered a protest on November 3, 1895, against the alliance of Union No. 6 with the typesetting engineers, declaring that the latter had seceded from the International Association and were endeavoring to force members of Lodge No. 399 into their organization. A committee that Union No. 6 had appointed to confer with the machinists reported on the same date that the typesetting engineers had offered an excellent argument for their recognition. " Their membership controls every linotype machine within the jurisdiction of the International Typographical Union in New York City, Brook OTHER PRINTING TRADES ORGANIZATIONS. 5ft lyn (except one) and are organized in Boston, Newark, Jersey City and Hoboken," said the committee, " and they claim to have several other cities in process of organization. They also claim to contain in their membership the highest grade of competent linotype machinists,and request No. 6 to recognize them under these conditions: 'The Associated Typesetting Machine Engineers to support its own members whether they are called out by their own officers or the officers of Typographical Union No. 6. The Associated Typesetting Machine Engineers to pay quarterly into the treasury of Typographical Union No. 6 a per capita tax for its members who are employed in the printing offices under the jurisdiction of No. 6. Both organizations shall act in conjunction with each other whenever any trouble arises in an office where members of both organizations are employed. In consideration of the above-mentioned per capita tax being paid to Typographical Union No. 6 the latter is to pay its own members such benefits as they are entitled to under their laws, whether they are called out by their own officers or for the purpose of securing the legitimate demands of the Associated Typesetting Machine Engineers.' Your committee has come to the unanimous conclusion that (i) under existing conditions consequent to the Associated Typesetting Machine Engineers' secession from the International Association of Machinists and the latter body's affiliation with us through the American Federation of Labor, we cannot affiliate with the Associated Typesetting Machine Engineers as a body; that (2) in our opinion the only solution of the question regarding the linotype engineers in relation to affiliation with the International Typographical Union would be to form a special branch for typesettingmachine machinists in our organization and receive the machinists as individual members, subject to our constitution and by-laws." Union No. 6 prolonged the official life of the Inquiry Committee "until it can make a more intelligible report on the merits of the two machinists' organizations, and ascertain the more profitable position that No. 6 should occupy in this revolution of our craft." The final report of the committee was presented on December ist and the union adopted its recommendations, which were as follows: "After joint discussion with the machinists, and serious deliberation among ourselves, it is the conclusion of this committee that the only feasible and practical method of dealing with the question, and by which the interests of No. 6 will be best subserved, is the formation of some plan by which all linotype machinists may be admitted as individuals to membership in our union, having in view their careful separation from our regular members and the prohibition of any 562 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. further privileges than are now enjoyed as machinists. That No. 6 acquaint sister unions with this sentiment and request them to instruct their delegates to the next International Typographical Union convention to vote for a change in the International Typographical Union constitution that will admit the machinists to subordinate unions as individuals." But this action did not promote immediate harmony. Union No. 6 again discussed the matter on April 5, 1896, and requested the local Allied Printing Trades Council to convene and take into consideration the question of the differences between the two organizations of machinists, with a view to adjusting them according to the expressed wishes of the printers. On April Igth, at the suggestion of the council, the union appointed a committee to co-operate with the former in its efforts to bring about an amalgamation. That committee reported on June 7th that " it was evident that the Associated Typesetting Machine Engineers had seceded from the International Association of Machinists some four years ago. During that time they have succeeded in establishing a scale of prices suitable to their branch of the trade, and have been in control of most of the printing offices in New York and other cities. The International Association of Machinists being the parent organization and your committee being against the encouragement of secession from the ranks of organized labor, we deemed it advisable and expedient to urge the Associated Typesetting Machine Engineers to rejoin the International Association of Machinists. Consequently at our last session we received the proposition from the Associated Typesetting Machine Engineers that they will ever be ready to join the International Association of Machinists as a distinct and separate body (theirs being a different branch of work) upon the same basis as the various organizations now working under the jurisdiction of the International Typographical Union. On the other side, the International Association of Machinists through their General Executive Board propose to issue a special transfer to each member of the Associated Typesetting Machine Engineers on the payment of $3 to the Grand Lodge, the transfer to be deposited in any lodge of the International Association of Machinists. Your committee is of the opinion that such a proposition is only a stumbling block in the way of progress and unity; and would therefore call upon all our brothers who have the interests of Labor at heart to stand by the proposition of the Typesetting Machine Engineers, which in our estimation is honest, fair and feasible, and tends to terminate a useless, bitter war between the two machinists' unions, to the advantage of the allied crafts, and OTHER PRINTING TRADES ORGANIZATIONS. 563 Labor in general." The matter was referred to the International convention of I896, which rescinded its rule providing that machinetenders should be connected with machinists' unions, and directed subordinate typographical organizations to require that tenders " be selected whenever possible from the members of the local typographical unions." This course was resented by the International Association of Machinists, and all negotiations for a peace pact were forever sundered. Jurisdiction over the tenders was assumed by the International Typographical Union in I898, and its general laws were again amended in I899 so as to read: "All machine-tenders shall be members of the International Typographical Union and the local unions shall provide and maintain a scale covering such positions, and they shall at all times be under the control and amenable to all laws and regulations of said local unions; provided, that assistants or helpers employed by foremen to assist machine-tenders shall be journeymen members of the local typographical union, and the local union shall provide and maintain a scale covering such positions; provided, further, that such apprentices shall not be considered as in conflict with the number already allotted by local laws; provided, further, that this shall not be construed as applying to those now working as machine-tenders' helpers or apprentices." On June 29, I899, the International Executive Council entered into an agreement with the National Board of the Associated Typesetting Machine Engineers, requiring that in places where machinetenders were organized they should become branches of local typographical unions, with authority to hold monthly meetings for the purpose of discussing trade matters, hearing complaints regarding infractions of wage scales or violations of union rules, and making recommendations or propositions as to changes in prices for the labor of their members. But all legislation affecting them had to be enacted by parent typographical bodies, upon which was imposed the obligation of defraying the expenses of branch meetings. Such compact was declared to have been justified by the conditions that existed in the printing industry at the time it was made, but a recent decision handed down by the International Executive Council practically nullified its provisions. That decision was rendered on April 0o, i910, in the case of the New York Machine-Tenders' Branch against Typographical Union No. 6, which contended that the former had exceeded its prerogatives. In passing upon the matter the Executive Council found that a union within a union was an impossibility, that International doctrine decreed that dual jurisdiction in composing rooms was impracticable, and that sooner or later one 564 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. union would have to succumb to the other. The conclusions reached by the council were: It was felt, when the Machine-Tenders' Branch submitted a constitution and by-laws for the branch under which the branch intended to act thereafter, that eventually the question of jurisdiction between the parent body - No. 6 - and the branch might be raised, and the president of the International Typographical Union was careful to point out that if any provision of its constitution and by-laws conflicts with International law, such conflicting provision or provisions must be immediately corrected upon the matter being called to the attention of the officers of the Machine-Tenders' Branch. On the other hand, it was recognized that a peculiar condition, owing to the existence of the branch, had grown up in New York City, and that if under the laws as proposed the parent body - No. 6- and the branch could more equitably handle the situation, it was not wise nor incumbent upon the International officers to interfere. But the result has been as foreseen. Organizing into a branch, adopting a constitution and by-laws, the machine-tenders immediately became ambitious to fully and completely control all the affairs in composing rooms relating to the employment of machine-tenders, and virtually and distinctly deny the right of Typographical Union No. 6 to interfere with such control.- Such a condition arising, the Executive Committee of No. 6 promptly met the challenge contained in the action then taken, reasserted the authority of No. 6 over composing rooms in New York City, subject to the provisions of the International law, and this position by the Executive Committee was endorsed by Typographical Union No. 6. The action thus taken brings us back to a consideration of the agreement bearing the date June 29, i899, and summarized in this decision. This agreement is the only instrument under which the Machine-Tenders' Branch in New York can exist, or has existed. Three important provisions in that agreement are quoted in this decision, and it is asserted that the entire trend of the decision and the intention of the Executive Council at that time was that Typographical Union No. 6 should maintain its supremacy and authority in the union composing rooms in New York City. To analyze the provisions quoted will mean that the branch may hear, or shall hear, complaints regarding infractions of the scale, violation of union rules, recommendations or propositions as to changes in the scale or rules of the union, but the union itself must correct any abuses that may develop through such hearings. Immediately following this provision it is distinctly stated that the branch shall prepare and through their committee shall submit all cases requiring executive action to the Executive Committee of the union. Summarizing its decision the Executive Council stated that it had no objection, nor would it raise any, to an agreement that did not contravene International law, under which a local union and its branch may peaceably operate, " but at the present time, when the question is raised, or should the question be raised at any time in the future, no matter what local agreements may be in existence, the supremacy, authority, jurisdiction and integrity of New York Typographical Union No. 6 will be maintained by the Executive Council of the International Typographical Union." Later decisions by the OTHER PRINTING TRADES ORGANIZATIONS. 565 president of Union No. 6, and upheld by the latter, having invalidated the branch's constitution and by-laws, which were declared to be unconstitutional, the union determined on April 2, I9II, to formulate laws and rules for the regulation of the Machine-Tenders' Branch, so that it should be conducted only in an educational capacity. Under this new code it is optional with machinist members of Union No. 6 as to whether they shall affiliate with the branch, the objects of which, as stipulated in the amended laws, are to consider and discuss at monthly meetings all measures connected with its section of the printing trade that may come before the union, and to make such recommendations as may seem proper, machinistmembers to possess equal rights with printer-members in the parent body's proceedings, as well as to receive its protection and a just share of all benefits. Provision is made for the annual election of a chairman, vice-chairman and secretary, the latter official being required to attend all sessions of the branch and to keep the minutes of the same " in a book provided for that purpose, which shall always be the property of the union." Machine-tenders' substitutes must now report at the regular House of Call, where suitable arrangements are made for safely storing their tools. The clerk of the Benefit Board receives all calls for machinist substitutes and apportions the same according to priority on the list kept by him. V. Woman's Auxiliary. What has proved to be a valuable additament to printers' organizations is the Woman's International Auxiliary to Typographical Union, which was founded in Cincinnati, Ohio, on August 13, I902. It has at present 60 branches in the United States and one in Canada. That which was originally called the Ladies' Auxiliary of the Bronx Defense Committee, organized November 13, I906, was on March 8, I909, instituted with seven members in New York City as Woman's Auxiliary No. 20 of Typographical Union No. 6, and has co-operated to good advantage with that compositors' association in many of its uplift enterprises. Its membership is now 40. The first president of the Metropolitan branch was Mrs. James R. McLean, the secretary being Mrs. Julia A. Ailing and the treasurer Mrs. Henry D. Soule. At present the officers are: President, Mrs. Charles M. Carter; vice-president, Mrs. A. J. Greenwood; secretary-treasurer, Mrs. Paul G. Field; guide, Mrs. L. G. Burchell. 566 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Eligible to membership in the auxiliary are the wives, mothers, unmarried daughters, unmarried sisters and widows of members of the International Typographical Union, besides women members of the same. An applicant for admission must have reached the age of i6 years and may retain her membership in the event of her marriage to a man not a printer. The objects of the auxiliary are to create a closer and more fraternal feeling between the families of union printers; to instil the principles of trade unionism in the relatives of such members; to advance the interests of all labels recognized by the American Federation of Labor, and particularly that of the Allied Printing Trades; to promote sociability; to render assistance necessary in time of sickness and trouble, and for such other beneficial purposes as the majority of the members may elect. JI I 'to -i 7 W ', a4,.t u W;o l dir a ~pm Ik c~Le riv lll atfnkn kmmrrofaljp n *~ /r b 1 Y s ts -B D Wi -~ r t,a r. f#* i tSiftWAr t',rV Jpe.qn'qshka' 'n*tIn r ''. n i *i Charter Issued by International Typographical Union to New York Typographical Union No. 6. Oor \^7 \4, cEJ/ CHAPTER XXXV. GENERAL ORGANIZATION OF PRINTERS. BEGINNING with the year i850 there have been 59 conventions of the general organization of printers in AmericaI8 Nationaland 41 International. Typographical Union No. 6 has been represented at all of these conclaves with but a single exception, that being in Louisville, Ky., in 1877, which session was held soon after a long strike of the New York association, and its treasury had in consequence suffered so great a depletion that it was unable to send delegates that year. Activity in the affairs of the general body of the craft has marked the course of the Metropolitan society since the initial convention in I850. It took a leading part in calling and organizing that early combination of typographers. Together with the unions in Philadelphia and Boston it issued an invitation to the journeymen printers of the United States to meet in national assembly in New York on the first Monday in December, I850, for the purpose of determining upon a plan for a general co-operation not only in regard to the maintenance of prices, but the building up of a system whereby work at fair rates and the profits of it also would be effectually secured to the craft. Each union was entitled to five delegates in the convention and every city or town wherein ten journeymen were employed, and in which there was not any organization, was privileged to send three representatives. Agitation for a country-wide association of typographical trades started in I843, when a futile attempt was made to form a national society under the title of The Order of Faust. A printer who had taken a prominent part in that movement wrote six years later that " The Order of Faust could have been successfully carried out had there been the least effort made to extend it, as there were men in Washington, Albany, Cincinnati, Boston and Philadelphia ready to form co-operative branches. Its proceedings were secret and were confined entirely to journeymen." 1 Many New Yorkers were members of the order. " It was apparent at that time," said Samuel Slawson, of St. Louis, Mo., writing in I858, "that the abuses which W. T. Kelly, of New York, in the Boston Guide, a craft monthly periodical, for May, I849. [567] 568 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. had crept into the trade one by one, oppressing the journeymen in their relations with the employers, and the many disadvantages arising out of disconcerted and disconnected action on the part of various unions and societies, called loudly for some means of redress. To devise measures for the correction of these abuses, and to harmonize interests which were identical in their nature throughout the country, by united and earnest action in one common cause, a circular was issued about the first of November, I850, by the New York, Philadelphia and Boston unions calling on sister unions and societies to send delegates to a national convention of journeymen printers, to be held in New York on the second day of December following." In May, I849, the Boston Guide editorially urged the formation of an American Printers' Union, to be composed of accredited delegates from all parts of the United States. " This union," suggested the editor, " should be possessed of the power of granting charters to subordinate unions, to endeavor to promote their formation throughout the country; to act as a council of advice, and exercise a general control. The subordinate unions should have the power of settling the prices in their several districts, and should exercise, under the supreme union, a general control each in its district." Stoneall's Hall was the council place of the National Convention of Journeymen Printers of the United States that assembled in the evening of December 2, I850, the five representaNational tives of the New York Printers' Union being FrankConvention of lin J. Ottarson, Edgar H. Rogers, Thomas R. Glen, Journeymen William Molineux and Peter McDonald. Delegates Pnrinters in New York City. were also present from the typographical unions of Albany, N. Y., Philadelphia, Pa., Baltimore, Md., Louisville, Ky., and Trenton, N. J. Temporary organization was effected by calling John F. Keyser, of Philadelphia, to the chair and appointing F. J. Ottarson secretary. When the convention was permanently organized John W. Peregoy, of Baltimore, was elected president, George E. Greene, of Louisville, and M. C. Brown, of Philadelphia, vice-presidents, and F. J. Ottarson and John Hartman, of Trenton, secretaries. On the following day it was resolved " that a standing National Executive Committee of three from each State be appointed to enforce the execution of all resolutions of this convention bearing upon the different sections here represented; to gather information on all matters of interest to the trade; to report the same quarterly to the different unions and to the next convention when it assembles; to make arrangements for the assembling of the GENERAL ORGANIZATION OF PRINTERS. 569 next convention; and also to attend to whatever else the convention may direct during the interim between the adjournment of this and the assembling of the next convention." These committemen were on the last day's session (December 5th) apportioned among the five States as follows: New York, Thomas J. Walsh, of Albany, Edgar H. Rogers and Peter McDonald, of New York City; Pennsylvania, John F. Keyser, R. B. Smith, and W. B. Eckert, of Philadelphia; NewJersey, Charles Bechtel, John Hartman and William Gillespy, of Trenton; Maryland, M. F. Conway, Frederick Young and John W. Peregoy, of Baltimore; Kentucky, George E. Greene, J. L. Gibbons and Raymond Lynch, of Louisville. It was determined by the convention to " strenuously urge the journeymen printers of every city and town in the United States (provided there are six or more employed in such place) to form themselves into unions and establish connection with each other for the purpose of securing united action upon every question involving the interests of the trade; and that on and after the first day of February, i85I, no journeyman printer coming from any city or town known to contain the organization provided for above will be allowed to work in any locality embraced within this organization unless he exhibit a certificate of membership from the society situated in the place from which he comes." Formation of unions by printers in all sections of the United States was recommended upon the following basis: I. Regulation and adjustment of the different scales of prices so as not to conflict with each other. 2. Giving traveling certificates to their members, in good standing, to be legal for one year, which shall recommend the holders thereof to assistance and traveling expenses from the union in any city or town where they cannot obtain work; provided, said holders have done nothing in the meantime, by a course of intemperance or otherwise, to disqualify them from the same, of which fact the National Executive Committee shall notify the unions or societies in other places. 3. Keeping a registry of the names of " rats " and other unworthy members of the trade, and description of their person, to be sent to every union or society in the country, and to be kept by each union for reference. 4. Receiving no stranger as a member of any union or society who shall not produce a legal certificate of membership from the society or union of the place to which he belongs. 5. Levying a monthly tax upon each member, sufficiently large to enable it to accumulate within two years a sum equivalent, at least, to $xo for each member, as a reserve fund, in view of their being -compelled to quit work in vindication of their rights. 6. Establishing the right of any sister union or society to call upon them for pecuniary assistance, if necessary, to the amount of $i from each member; provided, that all sums thus loaned shall be repaid in monthly instalments, equivalent 570 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. to at least 5 per cent of the original loan; the first instalment to be paid within one month after the difficulty calling for the loan shall have passed away. 7. Granting certificates from one union, to enable the members thereof to become attached to any other, without paying an entrance fee, provided the holder intends residing permanently within the bounds of the union into which he seeks admission. Considerable time was devoted by the convention to a discussion of the apprenticeship question, and a resolution was passed urging the various unions throughout the country to limit the number of learners, such restrictive measure being in reality a protest against the exploitation of child labor in the printing trade. In connection with this subject it was resolved " that the employing printers of the United States are urgently requested to have their apprentices indentured for a period of not less than five years." Several delegates inveighed against the contract system of doing public printing, but the convention recorded itself in opposition to the Federal Government establishing a plant to perform its own work, and directed the Executive Committee to ascertain from the different unions whether their members would subscribe sufficient funds to warrant the creation of a national joint stock office for performing the printing of the United States Government. It was the belief of many of those early trade unionists that the beneficial features of labor organizations were detrimental to their progress. They contended that success could be attained only through the conduct of affairs along purely trade lines and by measures that were absolutely protective in character. Such opinion pervaded the I850 convention, which put through a resolution " that it be recommended to all typographical trade associations to abolish the so-called benefit system." Not any attention, however, was paid to the recommendation by the New York union, which continued its benevolent objects until the dispute in 1853 with the Co-operative Printers' Union, and when that affair was settled it resumed the payment of benefits, considering that the system was productive of much good and tended to promote cohesiveness in its ranks. By authority of the convention an address was issued to the journeymen printers of the United States on December 7, 1850. After stating that in consequence of the short space of time intervening between the receipt of the circular calling the convention and the date of holding the same but five States had sent delegates, the address continued: It is useless for us to disguise from ourselves the fact that, under the present arrangement of things, there exists a perpetual antagonism between Labor and Capital. The toilers are involuntarily pitted against the employers; one side GENERAL ORGANIZATION OF PRINTERS. 571 striving to sell their labor for as much, and the other striving to buy it for as little, as they can. In this war of interests, Labor, of itself, stands no chance. The power is all on the other side. Every addition to the number of laborers in the market decreases their power; while the power of Capital grows in a ratio commensurate with the increase of the capital itself. On the one side, the greater the number of dollars, the greater the ability to succeed in the conflict; on the other, the greater the number of laborers, the less the ability to succeed. Add to this the fact that wealth accumulates, on the one side, much faster than the laborers accumulate on the other, and the utter impotency of unorganized labor in a warfare against Capital becomes manifest. To remedy the many disastrous grievances arising from this disparity of power combination, for mutual agreement in determining rates of wages, and for concert of action in maintaining them, has been resorted to in many trades, and principally in our own. Its success has abundantly demonstrated its utility. Indeed, while the present wages system continues in operation, as an immediate protection from pressing calamities, it is clearly the only effective means which Labor can adopt. So far as it extends it destroys competition in the labor market; unites the working people and produces a sort of equilibrium in the power of the conflicting parties. This being the case, it appears evident that an extensive organization, embracing the whole country, would secure to our own, or any other trade, a power which could be derived from no other source. The delegates here assembled have come together deeply impressed with this conviction. They regard such an organization not only as an agent of immediate relief, but also as essential to the ultimate destruction of those unnatural relations at present subsisting between the interests of the employing and employed classes. All their activities have accordingly been regulated with a view to the establishing of such an organization. They have recommended the formation of societies in all the cities and towns throughout the country. They have rendered it obligatory upon all members of the profession traveling to any point embraced in the representation here, for work, to have with them certificates of membership from the society located in the place from which they come. They have established a National Executive Committee, to urge the enforcement of their recommendations and requirements. They have also instructed that committee to use their utmost exertions to have a full representation of the whole country in the next national convention, which they have ordered to be held in Baltimore, Md., on the twelfth of next September. The members of this convention are well assured that, to secure the adoption of the measures they recommend, they must recommend those alone which are best calculated to effect the immediate well-being of the individual members of the trade. The establishment of a general organization must be effected upon certain principles. In proportion as the advantages of the operation of those principles are felt and observed, the establishment of that organization will be rendered certain or doubtful. Then followed the principles, under seven headings, upon which the convention urged the founding of printers' societies. Labor copartnership formed a prominent part of the address, which dwelt as follows upon that subject: 572 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. The project of establishing a joint stock office, in Washington City, for the purpose of executing the printing of the United States Government, was introduced into the convention; but its newness as a matter of practical concern to the great body of journeymen printers, with the necessity of having a thorough deliberation on so important a matter and the propriety of delegates being elected with special regard to its consideration, prompted its reference to the next convention. The practicability of the working people employing themselves, and realizing the profits of their own labor, there can be no doubt might be illustrated and established, if the journeymen printers of the United States would resolve to try the experiment. In fact, our Philadelphia brethren have already, to a great extent, succeeded in an effort of the kind. A publishing establishment has been instituted in that city by the union there, and thus far has answered the most sanguine expectations of its projectors and friends. If a similar concern, on a large scale, could be instituted in Washington, a similar result might be reasonably apprehended. The subject is, at least, well worthy a full and deliberate consideration; and may be regarded as one of the most important and interesting which will engage the attention of the next convention. Combination merely to fix and sustain a scale of prices is of minor importance compared to that combination which looks to an ultimate redemption of Labor. Scales of prices, to keep up the value of labor, are only necessary under a system which, in its uninterrupted operation, gives to that value a continued downward tendency. But when Labor determines no longer to sell itself to speculators, but to become its own employer; to own and enjoy itself and the fruit thereof, the necessity for scales of prices will have passed away, and Labor will be forever rescued from the control of the capitalist. It will then be free, fruitful, honorable. The shackles of a disastrous conventionalism will have fallen from its limbs; and it will appear in the character which nature designed it to sustain. This is certainly a consummation most devoutly to be wished; and, however difficult it may be to attain, if within the range of possibility, ought to constitute the great end to which all our other aims and efforts should be made subsidiary. The journeymen printers of the United States are earnestly invoked, by their brethren here, to employ their most effective endeavors in the prosecution of this work. Its success now rests with them; and it is to be hoped they will feel the full weight of the responsibility. We beg them to take into favorable consideration the measures we have recommended for their adoption. We beg them to assist the National Executive Committee, by every possible means, in the fulfillment of its duties. We beg them to circulate the official proceedings of this convention (published in pamphlet form by the union of Philadelphia) wherever such circulation will be calculated to excite an interest in the movement. And we beg them finally to send a full representation to the next convention from every section of the country. They owe a duty which they are thus called upon to discharge, not only to us, who have commenced in this movement - not alone to themselves, who are so deeply interested in it - but also to the laborers of all trades and vocations, who are anxiously awaiting the development of some sure plan of amelioration, which they can all adopt. Public opinion places us at the head of the mechanical professions. Let us not belie that opinion, by falling behind it. Something is expected of us; and when the next convention assembles let its numbers and its actions justify and realize the public expectation. Let something be evolved during its deliberations which will redound to the benefit of our own trade, and, by way of example, to the benefit of all others. GENERAL ORGANIZATION OF PRINTERS. 573 At the second convention, held in Baltimore in September, i85I, Franklin J. Ottarson, Edgar H. Rogers and H. A. Guild (who was one of the secretaries) represented the New York union. Delegates were also in attendance from Second Genera Albany, Utica, Baltimore, Boston, Cincinnati, Har- Meeting of risburg, Louisville, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Rich- the Craft. mond, Va., and Trenton. Uppermost in the minds of those who were present at the meeting was the question as to whether the convention should declare for a permanent organization. A majority of the committee to which was referred various matters for the consideration of the session reported in favor of the proposition. These men were Edgar H. Rogers, of New York, J. Richard Lewellen, of Richmond, A. W. Rook, of Pittsburgh, W. B. Eckert, of Philadelphia, and A. C. Pool, of Harrisburg. They stated that they were fully convinced that " the most practicable and speedy method of attaining the various objects sought to be effected for the relief and benefit of the craft will be found in the organization of the National Printers' Union, which shall be legislative in its character. We therefore respectfully recommend the appointment of a committee, with instructions to report at as early a moment as possible, for the purpose of drafting a constitution for the permanent organization and government of a National Printers' Union." Thomas J. Walsh, of Albany, M. F. Conway, of Baltimore, and Henry T. Ogden, of Cincinnati, -three very able men on the committee, presented a minority report, strongly advising against a permanent organization at that time. They regarded " a national organization of the trade - solid, effective and complete - as the first object to be attained in the prosecution of our work," and suggested this declaration of principles: The efforts of the journeymen printers of the United States to reform the existing condition of the trade are predicated on the following evident truths: I. A human being, willing to labor usefully for a subsistence, ought at all times to have opportunity for so doing. 2. Every one should receive just what his labor is worth, whether there be more work than workers, or more workers than demand for them. 3. There never was, and never can be, a general surplus of labor, till the earth is subdued, fertilized,- and made fruitful; nor until every person has all his legitimate physical and mental wants abundantly satisfied. 4. The world around us proceeds on principles directly opposite to these. 5. There must be a way of changing from wrong to right, if men will but honestly search for and faithfully pursue it. As to the purpose of the convention the minority report declared " that, inasmuch as there are but eleven unions represented in this body, while there must be at least 50 in active operation throughout 574 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. the country, and the unorganized material for as many more, any effort to construct a permanent system of national organization, to bear equally upon those now represented and hereafter to be represented, would be an unwarranted assumption of power, calculated to spread discontent and defeat the paramount purposes we have in view.2 The main work of this convention is to adopt whatever measures may be required to effect a union and concert of action among the printers of the United States, leaving to subsequent conventions the adoption of more direct measures of relief." It was suggested that all typographical unions be requested to send delegates to future national conventions; that in places where journeymen had the power it be recommended that " no individual coming from a city or town known to contain ten or more printers in an unorganized condition, shall be allowed to work at the business unless he adduces satisfactory evidence of his having used his utmost endeavors to organize those ten or more men into a society to promote the general interests of the trade; that all societies in the country be enjoined rigorously to enforce the measure, making it necessary for every traveling printer to adduce a certificate of membership from the society in the place he last worked - in case the printers in such place be organized - before he can obtain employment within their jurisdiction." The minority report also recommended that a special fund be instituted by societies for defraying the expenses of their delegates to conventions; advocated the appointment of an Executive Committee, to be charged with the duty of keeping up " a continual correspondence with one another relative to the action of their respective societies on the resolutions of this convention and the practical workings thereof, and to lay before their societies all the information they may thus receive; to visit personally as many of those sections of the country not represented in this convention as they conveniently can, and use their utmost exertions to excite an interest in this movement among their fellow-printers in such places." A recommendation was made that a committee of one from each represented union be appointed to prepare a form of organization for a 2 Henry T. Ogden, of Cincinnati, made this statement in an interview in 1904: " The use of the number ' 50 ' was not the result of careful counting; in fact, was not based upon any actual knowledge. It was a mere guess. Mr. Conway, of Baltimore, Mr. Walsh, of Albany, and myself thought we had better go slow on permanent constitutions, and as one of the arguments, called attention to the mass of unrepresented printers. Another thing is that, while the distinction between the old benefit society with non-trade-interference constitution and the union idea was very clear and strong in I85r, there was still a hope that all these benefit societies would unionize their membership bodily as soon as a strong national union was formed, and we were still counting on these. Nevertheless, I doubt if all three of us could have made a list of o5, even counting the benefit societies." - Ethelbert Stewart, " Early Organizations of Printers," Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor for November, I905, page 938. GENERAL ORGANIZATION OF PRINTERS. 575 permanent National Society of Printers, to be submitted to the succeeding convention, embodying the following principles: First - The national society to be the supreme legislative head, vested with certain executive powers, to be exercised during recess by its officers, who shall severally be elected for stated periods of time, corresponding with the period of time elapsing between each regular session; and to hold sessions in such places as it may determine. Second - All unions or societies in existence at the period of the adoption of such form of organization to have the privilege of electing delegates to the National Union; but all unions thereafter created to be so created by authority of a grant from the National Union. Third- All subordinate unions to exercise full control and authority upon all subjects appertaining to the welfare of the trade, not incompatible with the enactments of the National Union; making regular reports thereof to the National Union. The minority planned to secure these collateral objects: That the limitation of apprentices be recommended to all typographical societies as a measure of the highest importance to the future interests of the trade at large. That the unions or societies represented in this convention be requested to make regulations governing the apprenticeship system; wherein it shall be necessary for every apprentice to serve at least five years, and for every apprentice to remain in one office during the whole time, unless his discharge therefrom be obtained by fair and honorable means; that it be also recommended that no apprentice be allowed to remain on trial for more than two months; and no apprentice who has been on trial in one office shall be taken on trial in any other office. That the different unions require all printers, two months after their term of apprenticeship expires, to join the union in the town, county or neighborhood in which said apprenticeship has been served; and in every violation of such regulation (except in case of change of business) the delinquent shall not be admitted into the said union until he shall have paid all moneys which may have become due from him had he joined at the above specified time; together with the usual initiation fee of said union. That it be recommended to all unions in the country to notify every other union of the rejection of any applicant for membership or of the expulsion of any member. That should a member be expelled from any union in the country it be recommended to the others not to admit said delinquent until he has paid a fine of $Io. That it be the duty of the National Executive Committee to enter into correspondence as soon as possible with the printers, whether organized or unorganized, of every city and town in the country, not herein represented, communicating to them these recommendations and urging the propriety of their adopting them; and also of sending delegates to the next national convention. Myron H. Rooker, of Albany, moved that the majority report be adopted and that the committee recommended in it be appointed 576 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. at once. " This resolution gave rise to a lengthy and highly interesting discussion," according to the proceedings, " some of the delegates thinking it inexpedient and unwise for the convention at this time to adopt any such course of action as that recommended in the majority report, while others (a large majority) thought that the time had now come for the step to be taken; that to delay it would be a waste of time and detrimental to the ends we have in view." When the ayes and nays were taken on the question it was found that the majority report had been adopted by a vote of eighteen to six. Appointment of the committeefollowed, Edgar H. Rogers, of NewYork, being a member of it, a draft of the constitution was reported, and it was unanimously accepted on September i6th. The assembled representatives of the typographical associations ordained and established in the initial fundamental law that their general body should be known by the name of the National Typographical Union, and acknowledged, respected and obeyed as such by each subordinate union in the country, possessing original and exclusive jurisdiction in all matters pertaining to the fellowship of the craft in the United States. One of its stipulations was that " all subordinate unions shall assemble under its warrant, and derive their authority from it, enabling them to make all necessary local laws for their own government. It shall be the ultimate tribunal to which all matters of general importance to the welfare of the members of the different unions shall be referred, and its decision thereon shall be final and conclusive. To it shall belong the power to regulate, fix and determine the customs and usages in regard to all matters appertaining to the craft. It shall possess inherent power to establish subordinate unions, which shall always act by virtue of a warrant granted by authority of this body." Membership consisted " of its elective officers and the representatives from subordinate unions acting under legal, unreclaimed warrants granted by this National Union." The elective officers were a president, two vice-presidents, chosen from different States, a recording secretary, a corresponding secretary, and a treasurer - " all of whom shall be elected annually by ballot and be installed and enter upon the duties of their offices at the termination of the session at which they are elected." Each subordinate union was entitled to three representatives. Conventions were required to be held annually on the first Monday in May, " at such place as shall from time to time be determined upon." Revenues were derived from warrants for subordinate unions - $5 for each - and 5 per cent upon the total receipts of such local associations. The National Union was empowered to enact and enforce general laws for the government GENERAL ORGANIZATION OF PRINTERS. 577 of the craft, and it was authorized to establish ceremonies of initiation into the ranks of subordinate bodies. A schedule attached to the basic law decreed that a National Executive Committee of one from each represented typographical society should be appointed to execute the resolutions of the convention, collect information on all matters in relation to the trade, and report the same to the next yearly session. The constitution was ordered to be signed by the members of the convention, published by its authority, and forwarded by the Executive Committee to the different typographical unions for their satisfaction; and it was directed that " as soon as the unions of five different States shall signify to the Executive Committee their willingness to comply with the principles and requisitions of the constitution, and accompany the same with the regular fee of $5, the said Executive Committee shall issue their circular announcing that the National Typographical Union has been formed, and request all subordinates who have ratified the constitution to elect representatives in pursuance of its provisions, who shall assemble on the first Monday in May, 1852, in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio." The convention assembled in Cincinnati on May 3, I852. Twentyeight delegates from sixteen unions were present at the several daily sessions. Edgar H. Rogers, W. A. Baker (who was elected corresponding secretary) and J. Howell were National the representatives of the New York union. Print- Typographical ers' organizations in the necessary five States had Union Founded. not then signed the constitution and paid the requisite charter fee. Discussion arising as to whether the assembled body was so in the capacity of a national convention or a union, the chairman, T. G. Forster, of St. Louis, ruled that the assembly could not be considered as an organized. National Union, but as a journeymen printers' convention, met with a view to a full organization. On May 5th the committee that had been selected to report a plan of organization submitted a resolution, which was unanimously adopted, " that the stipulations of the late national convention having been complied with the National Typographical Union is hereby declared organized." That title was retained until I869, when at the Albany (N. Y.) convention it was changed to the International Typographical Union of North America. Two important general conventions of printers were afterward held in New York City. It was at the request of Union No. 6 that the National Typographical Union voted to convene in the Metropolis in May, i86I, but owing to the opening of hostilities between I9 578 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. the North and South in that year the board of officers, believing that the meeting if then convened would distract the craft, destroy the union's nationality or be thinly attended, came to General the conclusion that a postponement was imperatively Conventions of necessary. So the session was not held until 862 and i85 May, I862, lasting from the fifth to the ninth in the City of New York. of that month. Seventeen unions were represented in the convention by 33 delegates, including P. N. Browne, W. G. Cowles and D. W. Flynn, of No. 6. While none of the unions in the Southern States sent representatives, George McKay Luken, of Memphis, Tenn., who was unable to be present, transmitted papers expressing loyalty of himself and the typographical union of his city to the National society, and his name was inscribed on the roll. As there was an inclination to criticise the officers for postponing the convention in 1861, Secretary-Treasurer Thomas J. Walsh gave the following reasons for the course they had pursued: " The intense excitement prevailing at that time in this city and throughout the country, upon the unfortunate issues then and still pending, and threatening immediate and further conflict, rendered it prudent, if not essential, to the welfare of the National Typographical Union that its convention should be postponed. Indeed, it seemed strange that any member of this body failed to see the impropriety of calling together delegates from all parts of the country at such a time, when it was known, too, that unions which desired to be represented could not be. My position as secretary and treasurer gave me an advantage to know the sentiment of the typographical unions in this matter, and I did not hesitate to say that the postponement at that time was sanctioned by at least four-fifths of the printers of the United States." That the bonds of fraternity between the union printers of the North and South had not been severed by the irrepressible conflict that was then in progress was indicated by this resolve, which was unanimously carried on the fourth day of the convention: " That the president be, and he is hereby, instructed to prepare for circulation among the subordinate unions in the Southern States, so soon as the facilities for communication with them are afforded, a circular letter setting forth that the National body still regards them as being members thereof, and insuring them of our continued good will and fellowship, and urge upon them to maintain their former relations with the National Typographical Union." The delegates on the last day of the convention manifested in these well-chosen phrases their appreciation of the cordial reception that had been accorded to them by the local association: GENERAL ORGANIZATION OF PRINTERS. 579 We tender our thanks to the officers and members of the New York Typographical Union for the happy reception tendered us upon our arrival in this city; for the delightful excursion to Central Park and Highbridge - giving us an opportunity to witness the vast improvements and growth of commercial enterprise - both pleasing to the eye and soul of every one having the interests of the human race and the advancement of morality and religion at heart; for the interesting attention bestowed in entertaining us and making our stay a continued round of pleasure and of profit. At the solicitation of Union No. 6 the annual convention of the International Typographical Union again assembled in New York City in i885, the local organization having appropriated $2,000 to give suitable welcome to the visiting craftsmen, who were entertained by a Reception Committee of 5o, the chairman of which was Charles E. Gatter. Seventy-seven unions were represented at that meeting by I03 delegates. In his address of greeting at the opening session on June ist, James M. Duncan, president of No. 6, said: I esteem it a high honor to be the official representative of New York union in representing it in the International Union at the forthcoming session. New York union has not had the pleasure of entertaining the International convention since the year x862. I take it that the progress made by New York union since that time, as well as by the International Union, is the best evidence of what can be accomplished by organized labor. There is probably no other organization in the country that has stood under stress and trial, has had so much to contend with and has held its organization so well and so firmly together under adverse circumstances as the Printers' Union. I may say that in our efforts to improve our affairs in New York we have been greatly aided by other organizations. We have had support that has been, I might say, absolutely essential to our success in the last two years. We have every reason to believe in the continuance of that support. New York union has always to my mind been one of the foremost in maintaining and upholding the principles for which the International Union was established. I take it, the chief purpose of the International Union was to further the organization among the different bodies in the different cities to facilitate intercourse. To that end the traveling card system was established and I may say with great pride for the New York union that it has always met that system, sustained it and upheld it in the spirit and the letter. Unhampered by sub-lists, the traveling card has met and been received always at its face value. Gentlemen, it is the hope and desire of New York union that the legislation at this present session will be such as to make us advance in all our efforts in correspondence with the advance made in New York and some other cities within the last two years. I have the honor, in behalf of the Pressmen's Union, to welcome you, and welcome the visiting pressmen. The Pressmen's Union, since its organization, has made considerable headway. They are now engaged in an attempt to secure a central office, which I have no doubt will be successful. So far as our endeavors to entertain you socially are concerned, we will do it to the best of our ability. 580 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. International President M. R. H. Witter responded. "I thank you for the words of welcome to the City of New York," said he. " It is worthy to be remembered that in this city more than a third of a century ago the first convention of journeymen was held of which this is the outgrowth. The wisdom of that small number of far-sighted men is exemplified in the presence of this body to-day. In 1862 the National Typographical Union assembled in New York. After a lapse of more than 20 years, having in the meantime extended its jurisdiction over the Dominion of Canada and assumed the title of 'International' again the grand body is assembled in the Empire City. If the foretaste of hospitality which we have witnessed is an indication of what we are to receive we certainly shall have no occasion to say that we have been neglected by our brothers of No. 6." William Graydon, Jr. (who was elected a delegate to the National Congress of Federated Trade and Labor Unions), Thomas F. Scully, Harry Mills Cole and Sherman Cummin represented No. 6 in the convention. In the evening of June 4th the local body tendered to the visitors a large banquet in Irving Hall. Hon. William R. Grace, Mayor of New York, who occupied the seat of honor at the festive board, responded to the toast " The City of New York" with these stirring thoughts on the economic question: Until recently combination by workingmen was regarded as conspiracy, and as such a crime against the State. Down to this year of our Lord, 1885, employers have sought to pay the least possible wages and to get the largest possible service, and the Government and the laws, representing the sentiment of the employing classes, have been directed only too often in that behalf. But this condition of things is changing very rapidly, and those who have heretofore always appealed to the lawmakers for help find themselves in a position of unspeakable discomfort, because, recognizing the right of the law to interfere, and appealing to the precedent established by the employers, the workingmen themselves are now appealing to and securing some degree of attention at the hands of the lawmakers. The main object of our American trades unions is to establish equality - that equality of opportunity without which " equality before the law " is a delusion and a snare. Their main object is to raise wages and shorten the hours of labor only as a means to an end. That end is to make the workingman's life less precarious, to make him a better man, a better husband and father, and a better citizen. Such being their actual purpose not only, but their achieved result as shown in numberless instances, it is not to be wondered at that their power increases with experience, and that their influence becomes every day more potent. In all American trades unions, so far as I am aware, scrupulous care is taken to do only that which is right and lawful. Unjust and unlawful acts are the rare GENERAL ORGANIZATION OF PRINTERS. 58I exception, and so marked is this fact as to make the manifold combinations of Capital, which exercise corporate rights by virtue of the authority of laws and in the name of public interests which they constantly evade and violate, stand in shameful contrast with the trades unions, to which incorporation is denied, except as benevolent societies. The unions are not always wisely managed. No human concerns are; but they have done and are doing an immense amount of good, have vastly improved the condition of the wage-worker, and consequently the condition of society as a whole. They are democratically governed bodies. Like all other democracies, they are not infallible, but they are better than any less democratic form of co-operative organization could be. They are schools for self-government and mutual self-help. They strive for justice for themselves as organized bodies, and as individuals among themselves. They stand by the industrious, and condemn the idle. They hate dishonesty and intemperance, and put their seal of condemnation upon whatever is injurious to their handicrafts. They fight valiantly, and generally wisely, for what they consider their rights, and in this they are in the right. The State owes the workingmen a full and fair hearing and owes their unions and organizations legal recognition, and owes it to them that when it enacts a law in their favor it accompanies it with a penalty for its infringement, as it has not done in the case of the Eight Hour Law. The city owes them a full voice in its councils, a just and fair opportunity for employment aside from all partisan political considerations, clean streets, healthy homes and well-enforced police, fire and sanitary laws. They in their turn owe the State and the city a faithful, loyal interest in all questions of public importance. If they are indifferent to the demand upon them of the State and city, if they vote from narrow personal interest and prejudice, or worse yet, if they do not vote at all, if they follow parties or " organizations " blindly, and are willing to be represented in the Legislature by men who, as is too frequently the case, are unfit to be members of their unions, they have only themselves to blame, for they are the majority. As Mayor of the City of New York, responding to the toast which you have allotted to me, I can in behalf of the city, which I believe will one day be governed by those of its citizens who are self-respecting and laborious workingmen, merchants and manufacturers, instead of professional politicians, say that I shall always do all that lies in my power to make the government of the city conform to the ideas of the self-supporting citizen instead of the parasite politician. Before the convention adjourned sine die on June 5th its Committee on Thanks reported this tribute of gratitude, which was adopted unanimously as the sentiment of the assemblage: Your committee are unable to find suitable words by which they can fully express their thanks to the officers and members of New York Union No. 6 for the princely manner in which the members of this body have been entertained while in the city, and shall ever look back upon the session of 1885 as a period of unalloyed pleasure and a season of much enjoyment and general good fellowship. The general association of printers has frequently honored Union No. 6 by selecting some of its chief officers from among the member S82 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHI CAL UNION NUMBER SIX. ship of the New York organization, having chosen the following for the different years set opposite the names of the various officials: Presidents - Charles F. Town, i 855; Robert McKechnie, i 868; William H. Bodwell, 1874; Samuel B. Donnelly, i899.-igoo. First Vice- Presidents - Michael R. Walsh, i187 1; Joseph F. Rymer, 1 886; James McKenna, 1 891i. Second Vice-Presidents -F. A. Albaugh, 1853; Charles F. Town, i854; Charles B. Smith, 1864; J. E. Davis, Jr., x866. Secretaries - Franklin J. Ottarson, 1 850; H. A. Guild, 1 851. Corresponding Secretary - W. A. Baker, 1852. Recording Secretaries and Treasurers - George W. Smith, 1858; Thomas J. Walsh, 1859-63; Alexander Troup, 1867; William White, 1878-9. CHAPTER XXXVI. STATE TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION. ) STATE Typographical Union was formed in Syracuse during f the first week in October, i89gi. Union No. 6 was represented by three delegates in that body, which assailed one of the Gubernatorial candidates in that year for the adverse stand he had taken on the State Printing House question. The New York union took umbrage at that political action, and it was also displeased with the small representation that the State body had accorded to it. These two reasons prompted it to pass a series of resolves on October Io, 1891, condemning the attitude of the Syracuse convention as follows: At the convention held in Syracuse during the past week a so-called State branch of the International Typographical Union was formed. Such organization is in no way provided for or recognized by International Typographical Union laws. Such organization instituted a uniform tax or assessment, based on the total membership of the local unions connected therewith, but refused after fair warning to allot to New York Typographical Union No. 6 the representation which its membership called for. Such organization plunged into politics with unseemly haste. Therefore, resolved,That New York Typographical Union No. 6 refuses to become affiliated with any body which fails to allot to it the representation to which it is entitled, and therefore formally withdraws from such branch of the International Typographical Union. That New York Typographical Union No. 6 has not delegated to any person or organization the right to speak for it politically, reserving that right exclusively to itself and its individual members. Each year thereafter when the union received an invitation to rejoin the State association of printers it refused to be represented, on May 6, 1894, embodying in its declination motion this brief explanation for its course: " We State Allied do not deem it judicious to send delegates." How- Printing Trades ever, in 1897 a condition arose that brought about Council Formed. a change in its viewpoint. A printing plant had been established in Sing Sing Prison to do some of the State work. This fact was reported to Albany Typographical Union No. 4, which [583] 584 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. constituted Thomas D. Fitzgerald, Francis Freckelton and Thomas F. McHale a committee to devise some way of stopping it. After careful deliberation these men decided to call a conference of representatives of the printing trades of the State. Union No. 6 designated Samuel B. Donnelly and Edward F. Farrell to represent it at the meeting, which was held in Albany in the afternoon of Wednesday, June i6, I897, 38 delegates from various branches of the printing industry in all sections of the State making up the roll. John E. McLoughlin, organizer of the International Typographical Union, was made chairman and Thomas D. Fitzgerald secretary. The matter of penal labor was referred to a committee of seven, who reported the next day, recommending that the introduction of prison printing be fought energetically and that the delegates form a State Allied Printing Trades Council that they might be always ready to take up matters affecting the trade. Organization was then perfected by the adoption of a constitution and the election of the following officers: President, Thomas D. Fitzgerald, printer, Albany; first vice-president, James J. Ryan, photo-engraver, New York; second vice-president, E. E. Russell, bookbinder, Buffalo; third vicepresident, Alfred J. Boulton, stereotyper, Brooklyn; fourth vicepresident, M. Leibman, pressman, Syracuse; secretary-treasurer, Thomas H. Wheaton, printer, Syracuse. Its objects, as stated in the constitution, are to improve and strengthen the unions of all branches of the craft in New York State, to form organizations in towns where none exist, to demand the use of the union label on all the printing done in the State, particularly on school text-books, to protect the interests of the printing trades in the Legislature; and by the methodical agitation of union principles further the interests of organized labor. The State Typographical Union was therefore superseded by this alliance of trades, in the conventions of which the New York union of printers has been represented annually from the outset. CHAPTER XXXVII. AFFILIATION WITH THE GENERAL LABOR MOVEMENT. YPOGRAPHICAL Union No. 6 has interested itself on numerous occasions in the general labor movement- in the nation, in the State and in the municipality. The first Congress of the National Labor Union was organized in Baltimore, Md., on August 20, i866, and that association continued to assemble in annual conventions until 1872, in which year it met in Columbus, Ohio. "There it was decided National to nominate a ticket for President of the United Labor States," observed in I905 a writer on the American Union. labor movement, "and David Davis, of Illinois, was chosen as the standard bearer. This drifting into political action provoked so much dissension that one local organization after another -believing that the National Labor Union had entered a field of operations for which it was not intended -withdrew its support, and interest was lost in the central body." 1 Local unions were allowed representation in that council of workingmen, which also embraced national and international trade associations, as well as State and city central organizations of labor. Union No. 6 was not represented at the first two gatherings of the National Labor Union, but in i868 it sent as its delegate to the second session2 (which began in New York City on September 2Ist) John Vincent, who was elected recording secretary by the convention. Three other members of "Big Six" sat in the same assembly. They were Robert McKechnie and Alexander Troup, who as president and secretary-treasurer, respectively, of the National Typographical Union were assigned by that association to take part in the proceedings, and Nelson W. Young, who represented the New York Journeymen Printers' Co-operative Association. Among the matters discussed and inserted in the convention's platform that year were 1 P. J. McGuire, " History and Aims of the American Federation of Labor," page 38. ' The first session of the National Labor Union convened in May, I868, in Pittsburgh, Pa., where the principal transaction was the completion of an alliance with the Patrons of Husbandry and the Grangers. [5851 586 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. the legalization of the eight-hour working day, abolition of contract labor in prisons and penitentiaries, creation of a Federal Department of Labor, a uniform apprenticeship law, better protection for women wage-earners, prevention of accidents to workmen on buildings, in mines and in the mechanical trades, and the establishment of mechanics' institutes and reading-rooms. In i869 the National Labor Union met in Philadelphia, Pa., and in that conclave Michael R. Walsh was the representative of the New York union of compositors. Chief among the causes that led to the formation of the Workingmen's Assembly of the State of New York was an attempt in I864 to make the Conspiracy Law more drastic. Up to New York State that time the act on the subject provided that " if Workingmen's two or more persons shall conspire * * * to Conventions. commit any act injurious to * * * trade or commerce * * * they shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor." In the New York Senate on March 7, I864, Hon. Frederick H. Hastings, of the Twelfth District, comprising the Counties of Rensselaer and Washington, introduced an amendment to the conspiracy provision of the statute, which was termed " Section 8, Title 6, Chapter i of Part 4 of the Revised Statutes, in relation to conspiracies and misdemeanors." This amendatory bill made it unlawful for any person, either by himself or in combination with others, by force, menace or threat of personal or pecuniary injury, to prevent or deter any one from engaging or continuing in any labor or service in a lawful undertaking or employment for such considerations and upon such terms as said person may be willing to render such labor or service; an offender, upon conviction, to be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year or by a fine of not more than $250, or both. The bill was referred to the Judiciary Committee, the chairman of which was Hon. Charles J. Folger, of the Twenty-sixth Senatorial district, embracing Ontario, Yates and Seneca Counties. Senator Folger on March 24th, from a majority of the committee, reported the following substitute for Senator Hastings' measure, changing its title to read, "An act to punish unlawful interference with employers and employees," it then becoming commonly known as " Folger's Anti-Trades Union Strike Bill:" If any person shall, by violence to the person or property of, or by threats or intimidation, or by molesting, or in any way obstructing another, force or endeavor to force any journeyman, manufacturer, workman, or other person hired or employed in any manufacture, trade or business, to depart from his hiring, AFFILIATION WITH THE GENERAL LABOR MOVEMENT. 587 employment, or work, or to return his work before the same shall be finished, or prevent or endeavor to prevent any journeyman or other person not being hired or employed from hiring himself to or from accepting work or employment from any person or persons; or if any person shall use violence to the person or property of another, or threats of intimidation, or shall molest or in any way obstruct another for the purpose of forcing or inducing such person to belong to any club or association, or to contribute to any common fund, or to pay any fine or penalty, or on account of his not belonging to any particular club, or not having contributed, or having refused to contribute to any common fund, or to pay any fine or penalty, or on account of his not having complied with any rules, order, etc., made to obtain an advance, or to reduce the rate of wages, or to lessen or alter the quantity of work, or to regulate the mode of carrying on any manufacture, trade or business, or the management thereof; or if any person shall do violence to the person or property of another, or by threats or intimidation, or by molesting, or in any way obstructing another, force or endeavor to force any manufacturer or person carrying on any trade or business to make any alteration in his mode of regulating or conducting the same, or to limit the number of his journeymen, workmen or servants, he shall on conviction be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and punished according to law. This act shall not extend to or subject any persons to punishment who shall meet together for the sole purpose of consulting upon and determining the rate of wages or prices which the persons present at such meeting or any of them shall demand for his or their work, or the hours or time for which either he or they shall work; or who shall enter into any agreement among themselves for such purpose. And persons so meeting for the purpose aforesaid, or entering into such agreement, shall not be liable to any prosecution or penalty for so doing, any law or statute to the contrary notwithstanding. This act shall not extend to or subject any persons to punishment who shall meet together for the sole purpose of consulting and determining the rate of wages or prices which the persons present at such meeting, or any of them, shall pay to his or their journeymen, workmen or servants for their work, or the hours or time of working; or who shall enter into any agreement among themselves for the purpose of fixing the rate of wages or prices, or the hours or time of working in any manufacture, trade or business, and that persons so meeting for the purposes aforesaid, or entering into any agreement as aforesaid, shall not be liable to any prosecution or penalty for so doing, any law or statute to the contrary notwithstanding. This substitute measure aroused the indignation of the organized workers in the State, who claimed that if enacted into law it would deprive them of the right to combine for the betterment of their economic condition. Typographical Union No. 6 was the first of the New York City labor organizations to pass resolutions in opposition to the bill, and protests were sent to the Senate by workingmen from different parts of the State. Sixty trade unions organized an immense gathering in Tompkins Square, New York City, in the afternoon of Thursday, April i, 1864, it being estimated that between Io,ooo and I,ooo0 working 588 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. men were present, and this assemblage entered an earnest and emphatic protest against the passage of the bill. William Harding, of the Coach Painters' Association, was chairman of the meeting, and in explaining its objects he declared: " It is said that we combine as against Capital. I deny it. Labor marches side by side with Capital. We support Capital and Capital should support us. Will you leave this country to those who come after us a model republic or a despotism? If you allow such a bill to pass as the one in question you will leave nothing but a despotism to future generations. I say the Legislature has no right to make the workingmen lose the time they have lost to-day to protest against a bill of this description." Several speakers addressed the meeting, during the progress of which a large number of signatures were obtained to a remonstrance to the Senate from " citizens of New York, workingmen and mechanics," who respectfully protested "against the passage of the bill now before your honorable body concerning strikes, and petition that the said bill do not pass, believing it to be an infringement upon our rights and contrary to the spirit of free institutions." Reasons for this attitude of the organized mechanics were embodied in a set of resolutions, unanimously adopted by the meeting, which declared that the protest was made on these grounds: I. We protest against the enactment of the law because, while its originators have buried its sting in the sweetness of the material in which they have dipped it, yet we nevertheless detect in the redolence of its surroundings the fumes of a lethargic and dangerous poison. 2. We protest for the reason that the institution of such an edict is calculated and meant to produce endless litigation, and because its contrivance is so arranged as to harass and involve the laboring men in expenses which they can but poorly afford. 3. We object to the passage of the law because we deny that any portion of the people have delegated to their representatives the right to meddle with the affairs of individuals for the purposes of trade. 4. We question the right of interposition for or against the valuation of the product or labor in our possession - and we further contend that our Government best subserves the purposes for which it was created when it abstains from interfering for or against the interests of those whom by its conditions it recognizes as equals. 5. We protest against the adoption of said law because it is admitted to be copied from a code of English enactments. We object to it, as the aim of said enactment provides for the regulation of servants in the employ of their masters. We further demand that it shall not become one of our laws, for the simple and paramount reason that it is not suited to the range of our republican atmosphere. We contend that as in its construction it was intended to represent the operation of a government which is founded upon the privilege of classes let it remain with a people whose three functions of government - namely, the House of Commons, House of Lords and royalty - act as three separate manifestations of one power, that of aristocracy. AFFILIATION WITH THE GENERAL LABOR MOVEMENT. 589 Some of those who addressed the assemblage severely criticized Senator Hastings and were particularly bitter in their denunication of Senator Folger for reporting the stringent substitute for the former's bill. One speaker averred that it was the intention of the Republican party to make Mr. Folger its candidate for Governor, and he called upon the men present to further register their disapproval by voting against him at the Gubernatorial election of 1864 in the event of his nomination.3 It was declared by those who knew Senator Folger that the attack upon him was unjust, that the substitute for Senator Hastings' measure was reported by him as chairman of the Judiciary Committee, according to usage, in pursuance of the decision of that committee, without his being in any way committed to support it when it came up in the Senate. The opposition to the measure was so vigorous and wide-reaching that Senator Hastings on April iith, by unanimous consent, moved that the Committee of the Whole be discharged from the further consideration of the bill and that it be recommitted to the Judiciary Commnittee for another hearing. That motion prevailed, but the draft of the proposed legislation was not again reported to the Senate. It was at the Tompkins Square mass meeting that Robert Crowe, of the Journeymen Tailors' Protective and Benevolent Union, advocated the formation of a General Trades Union to protect the interests of workingmen. Then ensued a systematic effort to organize a State central body, which began its existence on February 26, i865, in Albany, as the Workingmen's Assembly of the State of New York. The first president of that central association was Henry Rockerfeller, a member of Troy Typographical Union No. 52, and its recording secretary was James Conway, of Albany Coach Makers' Union No. 4. " The workingmen of the State of New York have long been convinced of the necessity of harmonious and cooperative action to secure their mutual interests - just compensation for toil and limiting the hours of labor to afford opportunity for mental culture and healthful recreation," read the preamble to the original constitution,4 " and, believing that the causes which ' Charles J. Folger, however, was not the nominee of the Republican party for Governor in 1864, Reuben E. Fenton being the choice of the convention that year, and he was elected. Mr. Folger served in the State Senate from i86i to I869, and during that whole period he was chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary. On May 17, 1870, he was chosen Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals, of which tribunal he was elected Chief Judge on November 2, 1880. He resigned in 1881 to accept the Treasury portfolio under President Chester A. Arthur. The New York State Republican convention in September, 1882, nominated him for Governor, but through a defection in his party he was defeated by Grover Cleveland, whose plurality was 192,854. 4 Before the adjournment of its second session on September 27, i86s, the convention appointed a committee to draft a constitution and by-laws, the report on which was made at the second annual convention in Albany on February 6, 1866, and adopted. 590 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. have operated so injuriously to their welfare may invariably be traced to the absence of proper organization in the different branches of industry, therefore, to combine their energies for the purpose of self-protection - a right inherent in all classes where concentration of action or power may be necessary - we, the representatives of the workingmen of the State of New York, in convention assembled, do hereby enact and adopt the following," etc. The objects of the association were " to agitate such questions as may be for the benefit of the working classes in order that we may obtain the enactment of such measures by the State Legislature as will be beneficial to us, and the repeal of all oppressive laws which now exist; to use all means consistent with honor and integrity to so correct the abuses under which the working classes are laboring as to insure to them their just rights and privileges; to use our utmost endeavors to impress upon the various divisions of workingmen the necessity of a close and thorough organization, and of forming themselves into local unions wherever practicable." Another session of the Assembly was held on September 26 and 27, 1865. The Eight-Hour-Day Committee made a lengthy report, consisting of six " whereases " and seven "resolves." It pointed out that the shorter working day was no longer an experiment, but had been proven to be successful; that it was necessary in order to give workingmen the benefit of institutes, parks and places of amusement, and that there was no reason why workingmen should labor more than six or seven hours per day when merchants and bankers did not. The resolutions contended that the interests of Labor and Capital were identical; that " Labor is the peer, if not the superior of Capital, in creating wealth; that it is the undeniable right of the workers to declare and fix how many hours they shall labor and upon what terms," and that the question should be agitated in all possible ways, by newspapers, by mass meetings, " and when we consider it fully understood we will demand the seal of a legislative enactment making eight hours a legal day's work." An amendment to the Conspiracy Law was urged at each yearly session thereafter, and on February 17, I870, the statute was changed by the law-making powers so as to provide that it " shall not be construed in any court of this State to restrict or prohibit the orderly and peaceable assembling or co-operation of persons employed in any profession, trade or handicraft, for the purpose of securing an advance in the rate of wages or compensation, or for the maintenance of such rate." Other legislation that was sought in those early years of the Workingmen's Assembly was aimed against the AFFILIATION WITH THE GENERAL LABOR MOVEMENT. 59x employment in factories of children under I4 years of age, abolition of contract work in prisons, for the protection of life and limb, for a thorough examination of steam engineers, for the regulation of apprentices, and for the establishment of a Bureau of Labor Statistics. The first mention of the latter measure was made by President William J. Jessup, who in his annual address on January 24, I871, recommended: By resolution of the Massachusetts Legislature a State Bureau of Labor Statistics has been created. I have been favored with a copy of the bureau's report from August 2, 1869, to March I, I870, making a volume of 423 pages, every one of which is filled with matter of interest, and will do much to awake public attention to the necessities of the working classes, and create a favorable opinion of the reforms advocated. I would recommend you to move in the matter of having the New York Legislature establish a like bureau under State patronage, while at the same time this Assembly could gather statistics relating to trades unions, and thus could we arrive at the true conditions of the working classes of our State. Nelson W. Young, who was a member of Typographical Union No. 6,5 but represented the Journeymen Printers' Co-operative Association of New York in the convention of that year, was chairman of the Committee on President's Address, and on behalf of the latter submitted this report, which was adopted unanimously: The president recommends that we call upon the Legislature of this State to establish a Bureau of Labor Statistics similar to that now in operation in Massachusetts, and furthermore that the resolution of the last session be continued in force, instructing the president to collect statistics from our labor unions, provided sufficient means can be obtained for that purpose. We recommend that the suggestion of the president be concurred in.' F Through its representatives Union No. 6 continued to take part in the annual deliberations of the Workingmen's Assembly, and when the New York State Branch of the American Federation of Labor was formed it also sent delegates to that body, for several years being represented at the conventions of both associations. On January 2, i898, No. 6 received a communication signed by Daniel Harris, president of the State Federation, and William J. O'Brien, president of the Workingmen's Assembly, calling attention to the fact that in accordance with resolutions adopted by both bodies in Albany in January, I897, it was decided to call a joint convention to meet in ' Michael R. Walsh was the accredited representative of Typographical Union No. 6 in the 1871 convention of the State Workingmen's Assembly. For twelve years thereafter the organized workers in the State persistently petitioned the Legislature to create a Bureau of Labor Statistics, and on May 4, 1883, the law that established the present bureau was enacted by unanimous voice. 592 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. the Capital City on January ii, I898, "in order that Labor should act conjointly in all matters pertaining to the welfare of its organizations, and in order to present a solid phalanx of Labor to secure legislation favorable to its interests." The printers' association was asked to send delegates to that meeting, which request was granted, and the outcome of the convention was the amalgamation of the two bodies under the title of the Workingmen's Federation of the State of New York. Its name was subsequently changed to the New York State Federation of Labor. The initial municipal central association in which the New York Printers' Union was represented was the Industrial Congress, the original delegates of the organization of journeymen City Central typographers being Horace Greeley and Henry J. Labor Crate, and the latter was the first recording and Organizations. financial secretary of that general combination of New York City workingmen. It was instituted on Wednesday, June 5, I850, by 83 delegates from 50 organizations, and K. Arthur Bailey, of a society of workers called the " Church of Humanity," was elected president. The preamble to the constitution set forth its aims and objects in these words: " The delegates appointed by the several organizations of mechanics and laborers of the City of New York for the purpose of forming a central industrial council, being deeply sensible of the privations and sufferings imposed on the laboring classes by the hostility of the relations which now exist between Capital and Labor, and of the constant tendency of these relations to increase the evils complained of, do hereby form ourselves into a permanent organization for the purpose of devising means to reconcile the interests of Capital and Labor - to secure to the laborer the full product of his toil - to promote union, harmony and brotherly feeling among all the workmen, of whatever occupation - and to use all available means to promote their moral, intellectual and social elevation." Many reforms were advocated by the Congress, but the enthusiasm that prevailed in the early days of its existence gradually waned and in a few years its energies lapsed. At times there were dual central labor bodies in the Metropolis, but in recent years the tendency has been toward centralization into a single combine. In 1864 the association was known as the Workingmen's Union, which continued its activities until some time in the seventies, and No. 6 was usually represented in it by three of its members; but on September 3, I872, a new constitution that was adopted by the central organization gave offense to the printers, and AFFILIATION WITH THE GENERAL LABOR MOVEMENT. 593 they withdrew their delegation. The provisions of the fundamental law to which there was most objection were embodied in Sections 3 and 4, which were as follows: Section 3. All trades represented in the Workingmen's Union when desirous of making a demand for either an advance in wages or the abridgment of the hours of labor, shall, through their delegates, report the same to this body and prior to the demand made, when, if concurred in by three-fourths of the trades present, and a strike ensue in consequence of such demand, an assessment or tax of 25 cents per man shall be levied upon all societies represented in this body and upon all delegates; said assessment to be collected and paid into the hands of the trustees of this union, to be by them paid into the hands of those duly instructed to receive it, and to be used for the aid of the trade on strike. Section 4. No money shall be paid to any trade on strike until such trade shall have been on strike two weeks. The collection and payment of all assessments for strike purposes shall be discontinued by a majority vote of this body when they deem the object accomplished which called it'forth; or when it is deemed injurious to continue the same. But on April i, I873, No. 6 ordered the return of its delegates to the Workingmen's Union, upon the solicitation of a committee from that body, the condition, however, being " that the delegates give notice on presenting their credentials that if any attempt is made to impose a tax on the members of this union the delegates will immediately withdraw." That central association appears to have succumbed to the panic of the seventies, and on June 5, 1877, a committee headed byAdolph Strasser, of the Cigar Makers' Union, invited No. 6 to send two delegates to the newly-organized Central Labor Union. The printers waited until September 4th in the same year before they acted upon the proposition, then resolving " that a committee of five be appointed to confer with the officers of all other labor unions in New York and Kings Counties to devise means to amalgamate them all into one body for the purpose of getting fair compensation for labor and stopping the pauperization of the skilled mechanics of the United States." Then on March 5, 1878, a delegation from the Amalgamated Trades and Labor Union, a new venture, addressed the compositors' organization, " urging it to send delegates to the Labor Union next Friday evening." Three representatives, who had been instructed to go to the meetings of that body, presented a report on May 7th without recommendation, accompanied by a copy of the constitution and a list of the unions comprising the central association. The union thereupon voted to become affiliated with the Amalgamated and ordered the president to appoint five members to attend its sessions. The delegation was withdrawn on January 2, i88i, but on June 4, 1882, it was decided 594 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. to be represented in both the Central Labor Union and the Amalgamated Trades and Labor Union. Subsequently the latter surrendered the field to the Central Labor Union, which in the nineties again had a rival in the Central Labor Federation. In March, I899, however, those two bodies consolidated under the title of the Central Federated Union, and since then Typographical Union No. 6 has been constant in its affiliation with that Manhattan Borough general organization of trade unions. The compositors' association is also represented in the Brooklyn Borough Central Labor Union and the Richmond Borough Central Federated Union. CHAPTER XXXVIII. PUBLIC PRINTING. ALBEIT Edgar H. Rogers, one of the representatives of Union No. 6 at the I850 convention of journeymen printers, opposed a resolution favoring the abolition of the contract system as applied to public printing, the New York organization 35 years later set itself against that method and advocated the establishment of a State Printing Office. The Contract Sdstem Deprecated by resolution objected to by Mr. Rogers, but passed I850 Convention. by the convention, read thus: The system so universally adopted by the Legislatures of the several States, and by the Congress of the nation, of giving out the printing for their several bodies by contract to the lowest bidder, is repugnant to the spirit of republican institutions, inasmuch as its effect is to degrade labor below the standard of its merit, by throwing it into market for the competition of men not practical printers, who have neither the character nor the interests of the trade at heart - as the style of the public printing generally evinces - being in its mechanical execution disgraceful not alone to the trade, but to the nation; and it is our duty not only as printers, but as workingmen, to respectfully protest against such a system. That this convention recommend to the trade at large to respectfully protest, in a formal manner, against the contract system in every branch of public work; and that the Executive Committee to be appointed by this convention be requested to urge upon the various unions some general action upon this subject. Mr. Rogers declared that " under the contract system the people have been robbed, but they have been robbed also under the other system." He stated that he favored the contract system, " which is as favorable to practical printers Opposition to a as to anybody else. Let them get up a joint stock Public Printery company and make their bids, and they will be in Washington. more favored than any other bidders." As previously noted in these pages the convention ordered that the subject of the formation of a copartnership of union printers to do the printing of the United States Government be submitted to the different unions to ascertain whether sufficient funds could be raised to amply finance such project. The convention also declared against Government ownership of a plant to do the public printing in Wash[595] 596 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. ington.I In i85I the matter again received attention at the Baltimore convention. Mr. Rogers presented a paper on the subject, soliciting a contract from Congress for two years on these terms: First - We will do the work for the regular wages, by piecework, of journeymen printers in the City of Washington, with the addition of 25 per cent for supervision, proofreading, wear of materials, etc. Second - We will purchase the paper, ink and other stock which may be necessary for the execution of the work, at the lowest cash prices, sending the bills directly to the proper officers of Congress for audit and payment, charging 5 per cent on the amount thereof for the labor of examining samples, selecting and buying. Third - We will employ on the public work none but fair and regular journeymen and will at all times pay them the full and regular prices of the trade for their labor. Fourth - We will send in our bills at the close of each week for the work completed and delivered during that week, said bills to be audited by a committee consisting of all the practical printers elected to Congress; and on their approval to be paid out of the contingent funds of the two Houses respectively. Fifth - We agree to pay every man employed on said work the full and fair rates of journeymen's and foremen's wages, as the case may be, and no more; and if any surplus should remain out of the proceeds of the said printing it shall be the property of the journeymen printers of the United States, and securely preserved as a fund, to be invested and employed in rendering said journeymen printers, as a body, their own employers and overseers. Sixth - The said public printing shall be undertaken and executed under the direction and management of three journeymen printers, to be chosen by the journeymen printers respectively - one residing north of the Potomac, one south of that river and one west of the Alleghanies. Each of said directors shall receive $25 per week for his services while thus employed and shall faithfully devote to the work at least ten hours per day. George H. Randell, of Massachusetts, offered a proposition " that a memorial be drafted by the convention to the members of the two Houses of Congress at its next session, to the effect that in all cases where printing is given out in future it shall be given to practical printers only - provided, however, that such printing in no case shall be given out by contract." Both proposals were referred to a special committee, which reported on September I5th, unanimously recommending that the following memorial be sent to Congress: We, the delegates representing the typographical associations of a large number of the United States of America, among which are New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts and New Jersey, and, as I Within another decade the Government Printing Office in Washington, which continues to be conducted successfully, became an assured fact. The United States Congress in i86o decided to purchase the establishment of Cornelius Wendell, then a Federal printing contractor, and have the work executed by its own workmen, the purchase price of the plant being $135,000. PUBLIC PRINTING. 597 we believe, a majority of the remaining States of this Confederacy, would most respectfully ask the attention of your honorable bodies to consider: - First - That in view of past difficulties and legislation by Congress, growing out of the election of the Public Printer in the two Houses, by the selection of inexperienced or party men, and on that account only, as a reward for partisan services, for the performance of the public work; and for the purpose of doing away to a great degree with the annoyances complained of by the people's representatives during several of the last successive sessions, that in future election of the Public Printers you will in all cases where competent, practical printers and those who have not served a regular apprenticeship at that business are applicants, give your decisions in favor of the former, by the enactment of a permanent law by Congress to that effect - thus settling this long-vexed question, so far as the future legislation upon the subject of the public printing is concerned. Second — That the subject of the public printing has been one which has engaged to no limited extent the attention of all classes in the various sections of the country, and more particularly the interests we represent; that the evil of which we complain is one that should be settled at once in favor of those who labor, by every reason of justice, so that labor in that department shall be placed in the position to which it is entitled, in order that it may be in accordance with the spirit of our free, liberal and republican institutions. Third - That it must be apparent to the honorable the representatives of the people of this Union that where the said work is apportioned to individuals not practically qualified to perform it, that in giving the work to the former it is gross injustice to those who are practically qualified for the performance of that duty - is subversive of the rights of Labor, and repugnant to the character of our republican institutions. Fourth - That we are opposed for the most manifest reasons to the giving to the lowest bidder the public printing of the National Government, whereby a system of auctioneering has been carried on, of serious injury to the men who labor in printing, and of delay in the prosecution of the public business by Congress; and we beg to urge, most respectfully, upon your honorable bodies, the propriety, in the selection of the Public Printer, that Congress, in giving its decisions in favor of that officer, shall so decide as, that a committee of three practical printers, to be appointed on behalf of that fraternity, in conjunction with a committee to be appointed in behalf of Congress, shall fix the rates at which the said printing shall hereafter be done. Mr. Rogers, who was a member of the committee, remarked that the latter had not properly considered his paper and asked leave to withdraw it, which request was granted. The memorial was then adopted. Myron H. Rooker, of Albany, moved that the convention "recommend all unions in capital cities where public or legislative printing is done to use their utmost endeavors, by petition to their respective legislative bodies, for the abolition of the contract or auctioneering system, so far as applied to the public business." Mr. Rogers objected to that proposition, saying that he would not for a moment hesitate to make a contract for the public printing, nor did he think any member of the convention would. The resolution passed. 598 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Amos J. Cummings and John R. O'Donnell were on March I, i885, commissioned by Typographical Union No. 6 to appear before the Assembly Committee on Printing in Albany and Union No. 6 urge the establishment of a State Printing Office. Urges Creation The ten-hour rule was then in vogue and the wage Printing House. scale of Albany printers who were employed by the printing contractors was $15 per week, which was lower than the rate paid in other cities of a similar size. Albany Typographical Union No. 4 at that time was at war with a large company that for years had been a successful bidder for State printing contracts. These facts prompted the agitation for State ownership. The committee was unsuccessful in its mission, and for several years thereafter the union sent representatives to the Capital City to urge the enactment of the measure. In resolutions the New York organization of printers often expressed itself against the continuance of the contract system, on the ground that in " giving to the lowest competitive bidder the vast amount of printing required by the State of New York" it "has had the effect of reducing the wages of printers in the city of Albany to the lowest point of any city of equal commercial importance in the State, and has had a corresponding effect in other cities. Under the contract system a large amount of money has been expended by the State for so-called 'extra' printing, which is usually done to enable the contractors to make the profits their ostensibly low bids fail to allow for, and which inevitably leaves the door open for jobs. Much of the printing done for the State under the contract system is of such poor quality and is so long delayed as to cause frequent and just complaint from members of the Legislature and the various State departments." In I891 the Democratic candidate for Governor of New York State was Hon. Roswell P. Flower, while his Republican opponent was Hon. J. Sloat Fassett. At the State convention Governor Vetoes of typographical unions on October 6th, that year, State Printing the latter was denounced because of his opposition Office Bill. in the Senate to the Printing Office Bill, and a resolution was passed calling upon union printers to cast their votes against him at the succeeding November election. Democratic orators used that resolve to good advantage in the Gubernatorial campaign. The printers claimed that the managers of Mr. Flower's canvass had promised that if the nominee of the Democrats were elected the State Printing House would be established. As Mr. Flower did not repudiate that pledge, it was contended by PUBLIC PRINTING. 599 the typographers, he gave tacit acquiescence to their measure. Mr. Fassett was unsuccessful at the polls, and union printers maintained that his defeat was caused by the action taken in Syracuse. Both Houses of the Legislature of 1892 passed the Printing Office Bill, but it was vetoed by Governor Flower on April I8th. "In accepting a nomination to the high office which I have the honor to hold," said the Executive in that paper, " I promised if elected to give the State a plain business administration. I would be false to that pledge and untrue to my own conviction if I were to approve in my official capacity a measure which involves what I believe to be an unsound business proposition and a menace to honest and economical administration." He said he could not avoid the conclusions that the assumption of such an undertaking by the State would mean the imposition of greater burdens year by year upon the taxpayers without any corresponding benefit. " The State printing is now let by contract to the lowest bidder," continued the Governor. " The competition among bidders is brisk and results in comparatively low prices for the work done," further declaring that " the system has worked satisfactorily, and in recent years, at least, has suffered no abuse. Clearly, the only advantage, as regards expense, in the State's establishing and maintaining a public printing office would be to save the margin of profit which now goes to the individual contractor. That profit is not large and in my opinion would be more than wiped out by the increased cost of maintaining a State establishment. There are several considerations which support this view. In the first place the capital necessary to be invested would be large. The hundred thousand dollars appropriated by this bill is not, in my judgnent, sufficient, and annual appropriations would be necessary for improvements, repairs and new machinery. The element of competition being removed, moreover, the stimulus to economy would not exist. The Legislature would regulate the hours of labor and perhaps the rate of wages, while political influences would affect the employment and discharge of workmen. Again the demand for printing is comparatively small except when the Legislature is in session, and while a large printing plant would be essential during five or six months in the year a small one would answer all present purposes during the remainder of the year. This would practically impose upon the State the unnecessary expense of maintaining a large plant all the year round. But beyond all this the establishment of a State Printing Office would encourage extravagance in printing." The veto message concluded: 6oo NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. The provisions of the bill before me, if my predictions as to their effect are well founded, are certainly inconsistent with that expression of what should constitute public policy. I have always believed firmly in the principle that the State should do nothing that individual enterprise could accomplish as well. Individual enterprise in my opinion can do the State's printing more economically and as satisfactorily as the State could do it and for this reason I am unable to approve this measure. I am aware that in some quarters the bill is urged not so much from a conviction that it would be in the public interest, as from a belief that it would improve the condition of one class of workers, namely, those employed in the art of printing. To their credit be it said that no such reason has been presented to me by any typographical union in the State for the enactment of this bill. As a member of one of the first labor organizations in the State and as an earnest friend of honest labor I have had too intimate acquaintance with the men of those organizations and I have too much respect for their intelligence to believe that they desire the State to establish any bureau of government for their exclusive benefit. Clearly, any measure whose enactment is urged upon the ground that it will help one class of workers at the expense of other classes is un-American and undemocratic. It is an injury to every laborer not of that favored class and to that extent promotes industrial discontent. If the State is to legislate in the particular interest of typesetters, it cannot consistently refuse to legislate in the interest of other men who are engaged in industries which furnish labor or supplies to the State, and the logical sequence of a bureau of printing would be a bureau of building supplies, or a bureau of school furnishings. By such undertakings the State invades the domain of private industry and instead of conferring benefits creates that industrial disturbance which always follows artificial interference with the natural law of business. A State printing establishment would create no new employment except in so far as it undertook extravagant and unnecessary work; it could create no higher wages without the increase coming out of the pockets of the people. Whatever benefits it might confer upon the few people to whom it gave employment would be burdens imposed upon the large majority of taxpayers. Denunciatory resolutions were adopted by typographical unions all over the State, and Union No. 6 on May ist expressed itself to the effect that it had " learned with surprise and indignation that Governor Flower has vetoed the State Printing Office Bill;" proceeding in these terms with its excoriation of the Executive's course: We believe that if said bill had become a law its provisions would have resulted in a great saving in the cost of the State's printing, thereby conferring substantial benefits upon the taxpayers; in the production of better work, with all requisite promptness, to the satisfaction of State department officials and to the greater expedition of their duties; and last, but not least, a State Printing Office would have been of incalculable benefit to our craft, inasmuch as the State would be enabled to pay in increased wages a portion of the large profits now received by printing contractors, and would have protected the trade from the degrading competition of " rat " labor, which now is employed upon a considerable amount of the State work. PUBLIC PRINTING. 6o0 The attitude of Governor Flower in the political campaign preceding his election to the Governorship caused many union printers to vote for him, believing that if elected he would approve of a State Printing Office Bill, inasmuch as his campaign managers made an issue of it to the detriment of his opponent, who was opposed to the bill. That Governor Flower, in vetoing the State Printing Bill, has shown himself to be ignorant of the true facts connected with the State printing and disregardful of the interests of taxpayers and the requirements of State officials and legislators, and he has placed himself on record as being favorable to low wages and the friend of " rat" printers. Resolved, In view of the foregoing, that the members of Typographical Union No. 6 condemn Governor Flower as their enemy, and as citizens will hold him accountable for his enmity and duplicity should he ever again appeal for their suffrage. That practically ended the crusade for State ownership of a printing plant. Thereafter bills were occasionally introduced in the Legislature to create the office of Public Printer, but the efforts in behalf of such measures have lacked force and energy, the question never again coming to a vote in either House. Afterward the eighthour working day was gained by Albany printers, whose weekly wages on State work have advanced to $I9 for hand compositors, and for machine operators $20 and $23, respectively, for day and night work - rates that are equal to those paid elsewhere in cities of like population. Besides, in the meanwhile the non-union company in Albany that the local typographical organization had been contending against capitulated to the union. These successful results have consequently removed the chief motive of the organized printers for advocating the proposition that the State perform its own work. CHAPTER XXXIX. PRINTING EXPOSITION. ITS membership having on July 2, i899, "decided "that the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of our union should be commemorated in a manner befitting the great and unprecedented success attained by our organization during the last half century, and it is admitted universally that it could be brought about in no more practical and beneficial manner than in the holding of an exposition which would carry in its scope a display of all the wonderful inventions which have raised the standard of the trade to what it is to-day," Typographical Union No. 6 from May 2 to June 2, 900o, celebrated its semi-centennial by instituting and conducting the first printing exposition that was ever held in New York City, the exhibition taking place at Grand Central Palace, a commodious structure at Lexington avenue and East Forty-third street, where 40,000 square feet of floor space were devoted to the display of the various paraphernalia pertaining to newspapers, typesetting, electrotyping, photo-engraving, manufacture of printing inks, commercial book and job printing, typefounders' products, printers' supplies, bookbinding, paper making, and the materials and machinery used in the production of printed matter, besides other exhibits of interest to the public. That event not only marked the semi-centennial of the union, but it also was commemorative of the five hundredth anniversary of the birth of John Gutenberg, inventor of printing from movable type, whose native city of Mayence-onthe-Rhine, in Germany, honored its famous townsman and his great discovery by holding a jubilee in I900. In its souvenir descriptive of the exposition Union No. 6 observed that " in presenting to the public for the first time a series of exhibitions devoted exclusively to printing and allied avocations it has been the aim of those connected with the undertaking to present in an interesting and instructive light the various devices and machines connected with the art of printing and bookmaking. The array of exhibits secured embraces every branch of the art preservative of all arts and exemplifies the genius that has developed step [602] PRINTING EXPOSITION. 603 by step the primitive printing press of our forefathers to the wonderful device of to-day. While successive improvements in this branch are but typical of the progressive era in which we live, it is not exaggerating when we say that had it not been for the increasing facilities that each advance in these appliances afforded for spreading broadcast throughout the land, effectually and speedily, the beneficial ideas of those in distant parts of the globe, it would not have been possible for other appliances to have profited and improved to the extent that now exists, so that the progress of the last two decades is mainly indebted for the lofty position it now graces to the increased facilities in the art of printing and bookmaking." The effect derived from such progress was noted among the various exhibits of printing processes, and was especially visible in the historical and loan exhibit, which had been gathered together by courtesy of the owners and shown for the first time as a collection, comprising old books, documents, primitive presses and rare typographical works of art. Having charge of that important feature was a special committee composed largely of public men and employing printers —Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, then Governor of New York, Hon. Seth Low, Hon. Amos J. Cummings, Hon. John W. Keller, Hon. Joseph J. Little, John E. Milholland, Theodore L. De Vinne, Angus F. Mackay, Owen J. Kindelon and Thomas Maitland Cleland - through the efforts of whom a Government exhibit was obtained by concurrent resolution of the United States Senate and House of Representatives. It consisted of objects of priceless value, relics of the past, patents and other curios of rare worth from the Smithsonian Institution and the National Museum in Washington, D. C. President John H. Delaney had general supervision of the project, the excellence and success of which were attained by the undeviating attention devoted to it from its inception by him and his colleagues on the Exposition and Fair Committee - Nathan Newman, James P. Farrell, Claude Stoddard and Charles E. Gehring -while to the skillful direction of Marcus Nathan, general manager, the union was indebted for the final result of the affair. CHAPTER XL. MATTERS OF GENERAL IMPORT. LOVE of country has been a crowning characteristic of the membership of Typographical Union No. 6 during its entire 6i years' activity. Those affiliating with it first gave combined expression to their feelings of patriotism on July 20, i850, when they passed resolutions honoring the memory of Gen. Zachary Taylor, President of the United States, who passed away on Patriotic July 9th of that year. "Our country has sustained Sentiment the loss of a gallant soldier, a capable, humane and Expressed. victorious commander, a devoted patriot, and a truly honest man," resolved the union. "So great a national affliction tends more strikingly to exhibit the solidity, excellence and permanence of republican institutions by which the greatest calamities are soon overcome and the nation moves on in peace and security, under the broad egis of its constitution and laws." The union was also well represented in the funeral pageant, in which several thousand members of the trade and labor societies of the city participated on July 23d. Within two weeks after the firing upon Fort Sumter, on April I 2, i86', thirteen members of Typographical Union No. 6 responded to the call to arms - in fact, in the first year of hostilities 83 went to the front, while during the whole period of the Civil War, which closed with the surrender of the Confederate forces under Gen. Kirby Smith, on May 26, i865, exactly I70 printers connected with the New York association of compositors enlisted in the Northern army, many of them more than once. As the average number of men affiliating with the organization in those four years of internecine strife was but 507, inclusive of those who engaged in the war, it will be readily observed that the quota of soldiers it furnished to the United States military service in that dark period of the country's history amounted to the large proportion of 33" per cent of its membership- thus demonstrating a practical spirit of patriotism that was unequalled by any other civic body in the great city. About sixteen years ago criticism was launched against the National Guard in some sections of the State, owing to the part 16041 MATTERS OF GENERAL IMPORT. 605 taken by these militiamen in quelling disturbances during industrial disputes. There were some in the community who endeavored to discourage the entry of trade union men into the militia, but such attempts were generally disregarded. Union No. 6 was an especial opponent of the plan, and on June 23, I895, it almost unanimously rejected this proposed constitutional amendment that had a bearing on the subject: "No member of the National Guard shall be eligible to membership in the union, and any member joining the National Guard after admission to this union shall forfeit such membership; provided, that this shall not apply to members of the National Guard who are now members of the union finishing their present term of enlistment." Independence Day in 1897 occurred on Sunday, on which occasion the regular meeting of the Union was held, and in honor of that auspicious event it was unanimously resolved " that before adjourning on this anniversary of American Independence it is appropriate that Typographical Union No. 6 reaffirm the glorious Declaration of Independence, and put on record our hearty thanks to the memory of the dead, and to those still living (many members of our union among the number) who risked their lives and all, to make and preserve us a nation - a nation which, we pray, may continue to grow greater and greater, and may realize its manifest destiny, and become the greatest of the nations of the earth - the land of the brave and the home of the free!" Congress was petitioned by Union No. 6 on October 20, I895, to grant belligerent rights to Cuba, and on January 3, i897, it again appealed to the National Legislature in language following: The citizens of Cuba are engaged in a struggle similar to that by which our forefathers gained our liberties - shook off the monarchical yoke and established the greatest Republic of the earth - the United States of America. We hereby extend to the Cubans our sympathy in their notable fight, and we favor immediate legislation by Congress recognizing the independence of the new Republic of Cuba. The Spanish-American War commenced on April 13, 1898. Previously (on April 3d) the union had resolved that its "members await and will respond to their country's call; that in case war should occur between the United States and Spain, or any other country, all members of Typographical Union No. 6 taking action on behalf of the United States shall be carried on the books of the union in good standing until the expiration of the time they are so engaged. The possible approach of war with Spain should not make us forget that in the destruction of the Maine, 266 of our sailors 606 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. and marines were killed. We hereby indorse the movement for the erection of a monument to the martyred crew of the Maine who died at their post of duty in hostile waters, and who were as much martyrs to duty as if they had been engaged in battle at the time of their death." A donation of $25 was then made in the name of the union to the Maine Monument Fund. Actual hostilities ceased on August 13, I898, and on October 2d, that year, the best thanks of the association were accorded to the members who had enlisted "for their meritorious services in the late war." The idea of utilizing electricity for telegraphing was the outcome of the discovery, in the early part of the eighteenth century, that a shock could be transmitted long distances with Celebrating the great velocity through conducting media, and to Completion of the Benjamin Franklin, printer-genius, belongs the Atlantic Cable. credit of installing the original submarine electric cable, he having in 1748 ignited alcohol by an electric charge sent through wires under water across the Schuylkill River in Pennsylvania. The electro-magnetic telegraph was first put into practical operation by Prof. Samuel F. B. Morse between Washington and Baltimore on May 27, 1844. A further triumph of this system of transferring intelligence came in i858 with the completion of the Atlantic cable, which united America and Europe. That event was enthusiastically celebrated in New York City, the jubilee taking place on September ist and 2d, opening with a procession, in which the printing craft participated, that marched from the Battery to Forty-second street, being witnessed by 500,000 people, and closing with a municipal dinner to Cyrus W. Field, to whose " exertions, energy, courage and perseverance," ran the toast to him, " are we indebted for the ocean cable; we claim, but immortality owns him." Typographical Union No. 6 figured largely in these universal rejoicings over the great scientific success, promulgating on September ist the following congratulatory expressions that it had adopted as the sense of the journeymen printers of Manhattan Island: The New York Typographical Union desire to commingle their congratulations with those of the entire community for this great triumph of science and skill. We welcome the Atlantic telegraph for the respect we owe the memory of Franklin, the printer-sage, who " grasped the lightning's pinions " and placed electricity at the service of science. We hail it as second only in importance for the propagation of knowledge to the invention of the "lightning press." We welcome it as a valuable auxiliary of the press, as giving it a new power to combat error and advance truth. By its agency the area of thought and intelligence will be expanded, and terrestrial space contracted to a unit. MATTERS OF GENERAL IMPORT. 607 Through the now complete and active co-operation - the quadruple alliance, as it were, of typography, steam, electricity, and the daguerreotype no fireside is so obscure, no hamlet so remote, to which they will not bring, not alone the intelligence of the day and hour, but also the practical results and actual possession of science and art. Electricity, by overland wires, has long been tributary to the requirements of trade and commerce, and we are already accustomed to use it in our domestic intercourse, but the transatlantic telegraph offers new and astonishing facilities for our international intercourse, and it will doubtless do much to make all mankind feel they are akin. We welcome it also for bringing us into more immediate contact with the more advanced civilization of older States; and with all due respects to our " cousins " at the other end, we hope the Atlantic telegraph will inoculate them with some of the vigorous virtues of our young Republic, and instil into them the true principles of " Liberty, Equality and Fraternity." The Typographical Union regard the difficult character and success of this great enterprise as reflecting honor upon all who have been instrumental in its accomplishment. In i897 a bill was introduced in the New York Senate to prohibit the printing in any newspaper, periodical, magazine, pamphlet or book, of a portrait or alleged portrait of any person living in the State without having first obtained Non-Interference such individual's written consent. This proposed with the legislation was considered by Union No. 6 to be a the Press. thrust at the liberty of the press, and on March 7, i897, it embodied its views on the subject in emphatic resolutions, as follows: The bill is a serious menace to newspapers, and as newspapers are menaced the men who make -them editorially and mechanically are in a measure affected. It penalizes newspapers that print in portrait or caricature the picture of any individual who does not give his written consent, and is in effect a blow at the liberty of the press. The cartoon - a more powerful weapon than written words can be - must disappear if this measure becomes law. The curtailing of the liberty of the press is the ring politician's first move toward repressing the liberties of the people and a menace of popular rights that cannot be too seriously regarded or too rigorously opposed. Typographical Union No. 6 condemns the enactment of any such legislation, on the grounds that it is the entering wedge toward a curtailment of that freedom of the press guaranteed by the constitution; that it would abolish one of the most potent means of maintaining that standard among public servants that is necessary to the public welfare, and that laws now on the' statute books furnish adequate redress for persons who may be wronged by the printing of their portraits or alleged portraits. The measure failed of passage in the Legislature. A proposal to introduce steam presses into the Federal Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington for producing Govern 608 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. ment money, bonds and certificates brought forth stern resistance on April 3, I898, on the part of Union No. 6, whose objection to the use of power devices in lieu of machines opeObjection to Use rated by hand was based on " the fact that the fo Stem Presses evidence collected by the committees of the Fiftieth Currency. Congress so conclusively proved that the work done on steam presses was greatly inferior to hand work that Congress ordered that the steam presses then in use be thrown out; that the inferior work of the steam presses makes counterfeiting comparatively easy, and while injuring the public service, the use of such presses would deprive many workmen of employment." So it petitioned the United States Senate to amend the Sundry Civil Bill, then being considered by the Committee on Appropriations, by adding this sentence to one of the sections: " That no portion of the sum authorized to be used for plate printing shall be used for any printing of notes, bonds, checks or internal revenue stamps other than for printing from hand-roller presses." Steam presses were not introduced. In his pastoral letter of May 15, i886, the Right Reverend Henry C. Potter, Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of New York, addressed his clergymen in no uncertain terms upon the quesUnion No. 6 tion of Labor. "A grave emergency has arisen, in Co-operates which while it seems to concern us first as citizens, with C. A. I. L. it is of supreme importance that we should see and own our duty as disciples of Him whose ministers we are and whose religion we are pledged to teach and illustrate," wrote the prelate, whose further illuminating sentences on the theme were, in part, as follows: Already in more than one conspicuous struggle, widely heralded as designed to be a test case as to the power of workingmen to manage not only their own affairs, but those of their employers, the issue has been in favor of the employer and not of the workingman. And where, as in other instances, the decision halts or is postponed for a little, it needs no prophet to predict it. Organized capital, backed by the orderly and peace-loving instincts of those large and powerful elements in the community which are not wage-earning elements, will be likely still further to triumph, and the wrongs, real or imaginary, of the working classes will not, at any rate to-day or to-morrow, be righted by the means that they have thus far employed. At such a moment I cannot but think that the Church whose ministers we are has a rare opportunity. It is the moment of all others when they who have proved their strength to resist what they believe to be unreasonable demands, accompanied by unwarrantable acts and combinations, may wisely be urged to illustrate that just and generous magnanimity which should forever chasten the exercise of superior powers and ennoble the possession of exceptional gifts or gains. * * * What the laborer wants from his employer is fair and fraternal dealing, not alms-giving, and a recognition of his manhood MATTERS OF GENERAL IMPORT. 609 rather than a condescension to his inferiority. And it is at this point that the outlook is most discouraging. The growth of wealth among us has issued not in binding men together, but in driving them apart. The rich are now further than ever before from the poor, the employer from his workmen, Capital from Labor. Too many know less and less how the poor live, and give little time, or none at all to efforts to know. The wage of the laborer may be, doubtless in most cases it is, larger than it was 30 years ago; but his wants have grown more rapidly than his wages, and his opportunities for gratifying them are not more numerous, but less. He knows more about decent living, but his home is not often more decent, and daily grows more costly. His mental horizon has been widened, but fit food for it is no more accessible. Instincts and aspirations have been awakened in him which are certainly as honorable in him as in those more favorably situated, but wealth does little either to direct or to satisfy them. * * * If we are reaping to-day the fruits of these mutual hatreds between more and less favored classes, we may well own that the fault is not all on one side, and that it is time that we awaken to the need of sacrifices which alone can banish them. These sacrifices are not so much of money as of ease, of self-indulgent ignorance, of contemptuous indifference, of conceited and shallow views of the relations of men to one another. A nation whose wealth and social leadership are in the hands of people who fancy that day after day, like those of old, they can " sit down to eat and drink and rise up to play," careless of those who earn the dividends that they spend and pay the rents of the tenement-houses that they own, but too often never visit or inspect, has but one doom before it, and that the worst. We may cover the pages of our statute books with laws regulating strikes and inflicting severest penalties on those who organize resistance to the individual liberty, whether of employer or workman; we may drill regiments and perfect our police; the safety and welfare of a State are not in these things, they are in the contentment and loyalty of its people. And they come by a different road. When capitalists and employers of labor have forever dismissed the fallacy, which may be true enough in the domain of political economy, but is essentially false in the domain of religion, that labor and the laborer are alike a commodity, to be bought and sold, employed or dismissed, paid or underpaid, as the market shall decree; when the interest of workman and master shall have been owned by both as one, and the share of the laboring man shall be more than a mere wage; when the principle of a joint interest in what is produced of all the brains and hands that go to produce it is wisely and generously recognized; when the well-being of our fellow-men, their homes and food, their pleasures and their higher moral and spiritual necessities shall be seen to be matters concerning which we may not dare to say, "Am I my brother's keeper? " then, but not till then may we hope to heal those grave social divisions concerning which there need to be among us all, as with Israel of old, " great searchings of heart." I beg you, reverend brethern, to set these things before your people with great plainness of speech. In New York centres the capital that controls the traffic, and largely the manufactures, of this New World. In your congregations are many of those who control that capital. In all our parishes are people who employ labor, or reap the benefits of it. To these it is time to say that no Christian man can innocently be indifferent to the interests of working men and women; that wealth brings with it a definite responsibility, first to know how best to use it to serve others as well as ourselves, and then resolutely to set about doing it. 20 6Io NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Inspired by these burning words of Bishop Potter, a number of Episcopal ministers met at the clergy house of the Order of the Holy Cross, New York City, on Tuesday morning May i8, 1887, in response to an invitation given by the Rev. James O. S. Huntington, 0. H. C., " with the intention of petitioning Almighty God that the clergy of this branch of the Church may be moved to perform their duty to the workingmen of our land." The meeting was called to order by Father Huntington, who addressed the gathering on the labor question and the interest that both the ministry and the laity should take in it, declaring that the time had come when the clergy should act through definite organization and place themselves in active sympathy with the working people. The Rev. Benjamin F. De Costa was elected chairman and the Rev. Edward Kenney secretary. A plan of organization was submitted by the Rev. W. D. P. Bliss, and it was decided to institute a guild within the Church. At a subsequent meeting the new organization was named the Church Association for the Advancement of the Interests of Labor, which is better known by the shorter title of C. A. I. L.1 At a public meeting on June 22d as a basis of work for the society it was enacted "that the clergy and laity of the Church should become personally interested in the social questions now being agitated, should inform themselves of the nature of the issues presented, and should be prepared to act as the necessities of the day may demand;" while its methods were declared to be: " (i) Sermons setting forth the teachings of the Gospel as the guide to the solution of every question involved in the interests of Labor. (2) The proper use of the press and the circulation of tracts as occasion may require. (3) Lectures and addresses on occasions when the interests of Labor may be advanced. (4) The encouragement by precept and example of a conscientious use of the ballot." It was made the duty of each member to take, or read at least one journal published in the interest of Labor, and to devote a certain portion of his time to the social questions of the day. Bishop Potter, who favored the formation of the society, and was for several years its president, wrote shortly after it was founded that he was " sincerely glad to know that the grave and urgent questions under discussion are receiving the serious consideration of the clergy." From the beginning C. A. I. L. has recognized organized labor, and Typographical Union No. 6 has co-operated with it on numerous occasions in its uplift work among the masses of the people. When in I893 the society created its Council of Media'Harriette A. Keyser, " Bishop Potter, the People's Friend," pages I8-20. MATTERS OF GENERAL IMPORT. tion and Arbitration it selected John Newton Bogart, a member of " Big Six," as the Labor attach6 of the board, the other two members being Bishop Potter and Hon. Seth Low. In 1894 when the committee was enlarged to fifteen members so as to include representatives of the public, Capital and the labor unions, Mr. Bogart was chosen secretary, in which capacity he served for several years. The title was afterward changed to the New York Council of Mediation and Conciliation, whose constitution forbade it to " constitute itself a body of arbitrators excepting at the express request of both parties to a controversy, to be signified in writing." Union No. 6 on May i, I898, accepted an invitation from C. A. I. L. to be represented at its Labor Mission in Trinity Church on Sunday, May 8th. In its communication inviting the union to select a delegation from among its membership to attend the services the association expressed the hope " that this occasion will strengthen the fraternal relations between the Church Association for the Advancement of the Interests of Labor and organized labor, and also stimulate consideration of the great problems of industrialism." At the C. A. I. L. convention of 1906 the question of limiting the working time of children by legislation was discussed and this action taken: "Knowing that the present-time children are permitted to work nine hours per day, therefore, be it resolved, that C. A. I. L. urges legislation for an eight-hour day, between 8 in the morning and 5 in the afternoon, for children." A bill was prepared and Senator Alfred R. Page was requested to introduce it. "I will not only introduce the bill," responded the Senator, " but will do all in my power to secure its passage." It provided that " no child under the age of i6 years shall be employed or permitted to work in or in connection with any factory in this State before 8 o'clock in the morning or after 5 o'clock in the evening of any day, or for more than eight hours in any one day, or more than six days in any one week." Senator Page introduced it on the first day of the 1907 session of the Legislature. C. A. I. L. sought the assistance of Typographical Union No. 6 in its crusade in behalf of the measure, and on February 3, 1907, Miss Lily F. Foster and Miss Harriette A. Keyser, chairman and secretary, respectively, of the Legislative Committee, of the Church Association, addressed a largely attended meeting of the union on the subject. The printers unanimously endorsed the bill and instructed its officers to convey its wishes to the legislators, who favorably considered the matter, the Senate passing the measure without a dissenting vote, and it was promptly carried in the Assembly. Governor Hughes approved it on June 15, 1907. 6I2 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. A request from the Women's Trade Union League of New York that Union No. 6 send two delegates to the league was complied with on January 5, i908. Mrs. Julia A. Alling and Miss Women's Elizabeth Spence were chosen as the first repreTrade Union sentatives of the printers, while at present the union League. is represented in this labor association of women by Miss Elizabeth Cardwell and Miss Mamie Hamer. The New York City branch of the National Women's Trade Union League was organized in May, I904, any person being " admitted to membership who will declare himself or herself in favor of the organization of women into the unions of the American Federation of Labor," according to the first by-laws of the league, " and is willing and able to give a certain amount of time to the movement. * * * Any person may become a contributor upon the annual payment of $5 or more, and shall be notified and invited to attend the annual meeting given by the league. Local unions in whose trade there are women eligible to union membership may be admitted upon the payment of $2 yearly dues, and shall be admitted to all regular meetings." The league's threefold motto is: "The eight-hour day; A living wage; To guard the home." Considerable work has been performed by the New York branch in organizing local unions among women. " The strength of the league lies in its capacity to train wage-earning women for the work of organization," says the report for the year ended March 3i, i908, " so that they may bear their fair share with the men in the effort to raise the standard of living for wage-earners. At the end of the fourth year the league has become a fairly wellestablished training school for women unionists. Aside from the work of organizing women the league stands ever ready to do auxiliary work of different kinds in the local trade-union movement." Among the leaders of the league are many women of prominence, who have made a close study of industrial conditions and possess a clear knowledge of the labor movement, their sympathies with which have gained for them the confidence of the working women whom they are endeavoring to benefit. At the close of March, this year, the individual membership of the New York branch was 558, while its membership through union affiliation was 55,I84, of which 20,029 were women. Miss Mary E. Dreir is president and Miss Helen Marot secretary. Its headquarters are at No. 43 East 22d street, Borough of Manhattan. A letter from the People's Institute relative to a mass meeting at Cooper Union on April i6, I907, in connection with the National MATTERS OF GENERAL IMPORT. 6I3 Arbitration and Peace Congress was received by Typographical Union No. 6 on February 24, I907, requesting that its president, JamesJ. Murphy, act as one of the vice-presidents at that gathering, and the latter was thereupon author- Espouses ized by the union to represent it there. Joseph R. Peace Among Buchanan, a union printer and journalist of national Nations. repute, presided at the peace meeting, in opening which he stated that it had been arranged by a local committee of labor men in connection with the People's Institute. " It is intended as a labor session of the National Arbitration and Peace Congress now holding sessions in this city," said the chairman. " In considering the substitution of arbitration for war as a means of settlement of disputes between nations, it appears to us peculiarly appropriate that the voice of Labor should be heard. Upon the workers fall the heaviest cost and the greatest burdens which wait upon and follow war. From their ranks come those whose bodies stop the bullets from either side in battle, and upon their backs are cast the burdens which war leaves behind. Therefore, I say, we consider it peculiarly appropriate in the discussion of this question that Labor should give expression to its views. When the time comes - and God hasten the day - that the workers of the world shall be united in a universal brotherhood, and that brotherhood shall declare that no more will the workers of one land take up arms at the command of some mercenary or revengeful ruler against the workers of some other land, then, my friends, war will cease, for while they may declare war, there will be none left to fight its battles." Resolutions adopted by the American Federation of Labor in June, I906, were then reaffirmed. These gave utterance to the belief " that action which makes for the peace of nations is intimately bound up with the welfare of the workers of all nations, and that Labor should make an organized effort to aid the movement for arbitration on international disputes;" the president being directed to urge all labor organizations to request Congress and the President of the United States " to give the support of our Government to the Interparliamentary Union, regarding the subjects to be discussed at the second Hague Conference, to the end that there shall be established: (i) A general arbitration treaty; (2) a periodic world assembly; (3) impartial investigation of all difficulties before hostilities are engaged in between nations; (4) immunity of private property at sea in time of war." Among the speakers were William T. Stead, editor of the London Review of Reviews, Hon. John S. Whalen, New York's Secretary of 6I4 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. State, the Rev. Algernon S. Crapsey, D. D., of Rochester, Miss Leonora O'Reilly, of the Women's Trade Union League, President Samuel Gompers of the American Federation of Labor, Hon. Terence V. Powderly, of the United States Immigration Service, and President Murphy of Union No. 6, the latter's address on " Organized Labor, the Advocate of Peace," being in part as follows: The voice of Labor is on the side of peace. Especially is this true of union labor; for in the proportion that Labor is organized and has progressed along the natural lines of organization, it is intelligent. As education advances man toward a higher and better civilization, he leaves farther and farther behind him the crudities and cruelties of barbarism and comes to a more perfect understanding of the rights of others. The intelligent workingman of this country is a conservator of that grand principle written in the Declaration of Independence: The right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. He sees in wars between nations a violation of that principle - the destruction of life, invasion of liberty and obstruction of the pursuit of happiness. And he sees, looking at the case from a personal standpoint, that it is his life which is taken, his liberty which is invaded, and his happiness which is obstructed. Statesmen, financiers and captains of industry may and do make wars, but the workers fight the battles. Those who were the wives of workingmen before the war are their widows after it. The children who are left fatherless at the battle's end are the sons and daughters of workingmen. It is also true that the burdens which wars place upon nations that engage in them bear more heavily upon the workers than upon any other class of citizens. It is a pretty well-recognized axiom of political economy that the consumer pays the tax. All that the workingman earns he consumes - this I state as a general proposition - he is, therefore, unable to transfer any part of his burden to the account of another through the channels of trade, or by any other method. The workingman's pound of tea, his plug of tobacco, his coat, his hat, his shoes, and the coats, hats, shoes, and everything else that his family uses may be taxed, and he has to pay or go without. When any part of this tax is levied upon him for the purpose of discharging the costs of war he receives nothing in return. The thousands of millions wrung by wars from the brawn and brain of Labor would construct a counterpart of this building out of the purest gold and garland yon columns with precious gems. There have been wars that were fought to escape the yoke of tyranny, and when successful were of immeasurable benefit to the liberated, although the cost in life and treasure was sometimes enormous; but these were revolutions - peoples warring against the injustice or cruelty of their own governments or rulers. We are here considering wars between nations. Such wars are often due to the jingoism of rulers, the casus belli often being nothing more than a personal slight or affront, which is trivial when compared with the terrible cost of retaliation. There are other wars which are for the purpose of extending markets- to secure advantages in what is called " doing business " with the people of a foreign country. And generally there is included among the objects of wars of the latter class the desire to exploit the natural resources of the contested country and to MATTERS OF GENERAL IMPORT. lay its people under tribute to improved methods of industrial and financial exploitation. Whether the object of a proposed war is revenge or business, those who, as I have said, do the fighting and pay the costs are not consulted. Those who imagine that their dignity or the dignity of some satellite has been slighted, and those who expect to personally benefit by the results of the war, decide the issue and then call upon those whose counsel has not been sought and whose desires have not been considered to do the fighting and bear the burdens. The intelligent workers of all lands are beginning to understand these truths, and, as they have come to see that their class has been used to satisfy the jingoism of political leaders and the cupidity of mercenary business interests, they have also learned the truth of the brotherhood of man. While not lacking by one heart beat the full measure of that love of country which we call " patriotism;" while bowing the head to his country's flag with a reverence not one whit less than was felt by those who came and went before him, the workingman of to-day has reached a plane from which he can see and appreciate the love of country and flag felt by his brother across the border or on the ocean's other side, and he protests against murdering or being murdered by that brother. Applause or laudation may bring the flush of foolish pride to the unthinking or forgetful " man behind the gun," but the enlightened progressive man of labor carries a heart full of sympathy and compassion for the man in front of the gun. In conclusion I repeat that Labor - organized labor - is on the side of peacebecause of the inherent selfishness of mankind - which has not yet learned wisdom, and because of our industrial system and the conditions contingent thereto, trade unionism is still a militant movement; but it is constantly striving to bring about the substitution of the court of reason for the murderous contest of force in the settlement of differences between opposing interests. That arrogant defiance of peace, that virulent microbe of strife, " Nothing to arbitrate," had not its birth in the trade union, and rarely does it find a friend there. We advocate arbitration as a substitute for open conflict between ourselves and our employers and, adapting a thought expressed by Andrew Canegie, we believe that what is good for use at home is good for use abroad. Therefore, I confidently say that the trade unions of the United States - and, I believe, the trade unions of all countries - are pledged to the accomplishment of the principles enunciated by The Hague Conference, and will do everything within their power to assist in that good work. No one more than the trade unionist hopes for the early fulfillment of this prophecy of that great son of France, Victor Hugo, who said: " In the twentieth century wars will cease, and men the world over will.be brothers." CHAPTER XLI. UNION PRINTERS WHO ATTAINED DISTINCTION. First President of " Big Six." HORACE GREELEY'S imperishable name will be interminably linked with the history of Typographical Union No. 6 through all eons. He was chief among the small phalanx of enthusiastic yet conservative men who suggested its formation, brought it finally into being, and helped to sustain it during its early struggles. Called to the chair as the first president of the New Horace Greeley York Printers' Union, Mr. Greeley was constant Assumes A mesny in serving the membership in that capacity for a Presidency of Printers Union. full annual term, and continued to wield his potent influence in behalf of his craft for many years after he had yielded the gavel to his successor.1 Before he assumed the presidency of the union he had attained the distinction of being the foremost journalist of his time. The New York Tribune, founded by him in 184i and of which he and Thomas McElrath owned a majority of the stock when afterward it became an incorporated association, was at the beginning of I85o a profitable newspaper, netting its proprietors an income of more than $30,000 yearly. But notwithstanding these comparatively large earnings, his arduous duties as editor-in-chief, and the multiplicity of business cares and responsibilities that devolved upon him, so imbued was he with the doctrines pertaining to the workers' cause that he cheerfully devoted 1 Horace Greeley was president of the New York Printers' Union from January 19, x85o, to January 4, 185r. On the latter date he issued to the membership his final official call for a regular meeting of the organization, as follows: NEW YORK, January 4, 1851. NEW YORK PRINTERS' UNION: -A regular meeting of the union takes place this evening at their rooms, Fountain Hall, I49 Bowery. Punctual attendance is requested, as business of importance connected with the welfare of the union will be brought before the meeting. N B. -The first annual ball of the union comes off at Tripler Hall, Tuesday evening, January 7, I85I. HORACE GREELEY, JAMES R. WARD, President. Secretary Pro Tern. [616] HORACE GREELEY, As He Appeared When He Became President of New York Printers' Union in I850. 't r 4 UNION PRINTERS WHO ATTAINED DISTINCTION. 617 his spare hours and energy to successfully promote the interests of the new organization of practical printers. To him trade unionism was not a lately discovered idea. He had long understood its fundamental principles and practiced them in his business life. Even during the trying years that he published and edited the New Yorker, a venture that showed scanty financial gains, he gave recognition to the New York Typographical Association, which publicly announced the fact in I836; and again in 1844 he not only employed members of the Franklin Typographical Association, but urged every journeyman in the city to enter its ranks. Horace Greeley's birthplace was Amherst, N. H., where he first saw the light on February 3, i8II. He was the son of Zaccheus Greeley, an impecunious farmer. The child was precocious, never caring for sports, but was quite Early Career fond of books. He was first sent to school when 3 of the years old, spelling being his forte. At 4 he could Printer-Editor. read fluently. His last summer schooling was at the age of 7. Afterward he went to school only in winter, laboring at other times in the fields. At the tender age of 6 years he avowed his purpose to become a printer, and when he reached i he sought work as a learner in the village printing office, but was rejected owing to his youth. In the spring of I826 he was apprenticed for five years to the proprietor of the East Poultney (Vt.) Northern Spectator, to be boarded and lodged, and after six months to be paid $40 per annum. There he speedily acquired the art of printing, at the same time diligently availing himself of the rare facilities for intellectual improvement that such an institution ever affords. The paper suspended in June, 1830, and he was released from his apprenticeship. Then he became an itinerant typo, working at his trade in Jamestown and Lodi, N. Y., but being Experiences employed for the longest period in Erie, Pa. In as a 1831 he started for New York City. His arrival Tramp Printer. there is thus described by himself: "It was, if I recollect aright, the seventeenth of August, I831. I was 20 years old the preceding February; tall, slender, pale and plain, with $io in my pocket, summer clothing worth as much more, nearly all on my back, and a decent knowledge of so much of the art of printing as a boy will usually learn in the office of a country newspaper. But I knew no human being within 200 miles, and my unmistakably rustic manner and address did not favor that immediate command of remunerating employment, which was my most urgent need. However, the world was all before me; my personal estate, tied up in 6I8 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. a pocket handkerchief, did not at all encumber me." 2 After two days' futile quest for employment, the season being midsummer, when the printing business was dull, and having visited at least two-thirds of the offices on Manhattan Island, he returned to his lodgings on Saturday evening, to quote his exact words, " thoroughly weary, disheartened, disgusted with New York, and resolved to shake its dust from my feet next Monday morning, while I could still leave with money in my pocket, and before its almshouse could foreclose upon me." This, however, was not to be, for he soon obtained work, not very remunerative at first, for the wages he received amounted to $5.50 a week, and he had to put in fourteen hours a day, but eventually he obtained a more lucrative situation. For fourteen months he worked in New York as a journeyman, sometimes in job offices, also on the Evening Post, Commercial Advertiser, and longer on the Spirit of the Times. Horace Greeley in young manhood evinced a desire to own a newspaper. In his 22d year he formed a copartnership with Francis V. Story, a fellow-compositor, for the pubitial lication of a one-cent daily newspaper. About $I50 Venture as - all the cash that they jointly possessed - was Employer. expended by the firm in fitting up an office, and the partners sought credit for the requisite printing material. Greeley at once visited a prominent typefounder, but the latter declined to sell the concern $40 worth of type on trust for six months. " I went directly thence to Mr. George Bruce, the older and wealthier founder, in Chambers street," said the great editor in afterward recounting the circumstance, " made the same exhibit, and was allowed by him the credit I asked; and that purchase has since secured to his concern the sale of not less than $50,000 worth of type." The printery was started, and the firm did the typesetting for the Morning Post, the initial number of which was issued on January i, I833. It failed in three weeks, but Greeley & Story lost only a third of their capital and still had their type, the partners then becoming master job printers for awhile. Greeley never again performed any work as a journeyman. " Thus the first cheap-forcash daily in New York - perhaps in the world - died when scarcely yet a month old," wrote he; " and we printers were hard aground on a lee shore, with little prospect of getting up." But the paper was saved from bankruptcy by a person who had a taste for editorial life, and who was induced to buy the wreck. "He soon tired of 2 Horace Greeley's " Recollections of a Busy Life," page 84. UNION PRINTERS WHO ATTAINED DISTINCTION. 6-9 his thriftless, profitless speculation," said Greeley, " and threw it up; but we had meantime surmounted our embarrassments by the help of the little money he paid for a portion of our materials and for my partner's services." On March 22, 1834, Greeley started the New Yorker, " which held its own pretty fairly thenceforth till the commercial revulsion of 1837 swept over the land, whelming it and me in the general ruin," quoth he. He ceased publishing the paper on September 20, 1841, " and shut up its books, whereon were inscribed some $Io,ooo owed me, in sums of $i to $io each, by men to whose service I had faithfully devoted the best years of my life." In the morning of April io, 1841, he sent forth the initial number of the Tribune, and his success only began when he took into partnership Thomas McElrath, who was a lawyer in good standing and practice. " I was not made for a publisher," Greeley declared in after years; "indeed no man was ever qualified at once to edit and to publish a daily paper such as it must be to live in these times." Greeley was a persistent as well as a consistent exponent of industrial co-operation, both productive and distributive. "I believe in association, or co-operation, or whatever name may be given to the combination of many heads Consistent and hands to achieve a beneficent result, which is Exponent of beyond the means of one or a few of them," he Co-operation. wrote in I850 in " Hints Toward Reforms." His views on this subject were immutable, and eighteen years later he continued to expound them in most expressive terms. " Co-operation - the combination of some hundreds of producers to dispose of their labor or its fruits, or of consumers in like manner to supply their common wants of food, etc., more economically and satisfactorily than by individual purchases from markets, stalls or stores - is one-sided, fragmentary association," he observed in i868, concluding thus: " Its advantages are signal, obvious, immediate; its chief peril is the rascality of the agent, treasurer or manager, whom it is obliged to trust. As it involves no decided, radical change of habits and usages, it is destined to achieve an early success and thus to pioneer further and more beneficent reforms. It has already won signal triumphs in sober, practical England; it is winning the intellectual assent of earnest, meditative Germany. I shall be sorely disappointed if this nineteenth century does not witness its very general adoption as a means of reducing the cost and increasing the comfort of the poor man's living. It ought to add 25 per cent to the average income of the thriftier half of the laboring class; while its 620 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. advantages are free to all with whom economy is an object. And even above its direct advantages I prize the habits of calculation, of foresight, of saving which it is calculated to foster and promote among those who accept its principles and enjoy its more material blessings." 3 The Tribune in 1848, 1849 and 1850 on numerous occasions instructed workmen how to become their own employers and thus reap the entire profits of their labor, and Greeley demonstrated the consistency of his ideas by reducing his preachment to practice. He and Mr. McElrath, his partner, resolved in 1849 to try the experiment on the Tribune, and in 1850 that paper was made a stock concern on a valuation of $ioo,ooo, which was represented by Ioo shares of $I,ooo each, 20 being sold to editors, foremen and other employees, while the remaining four-fifths were retained by the original owners. James Parton in his biography of the distinguished printer-editor, states that Greeley & McElrath " were both at the time in the enjoyment of incomes superfluously large, and the contemplated change in their business was therefore not induced by any business exigency. It was the result of a pure, disinterested attachment to principle; a desire to add practice to preaching." Subsequently more shares were sold, until the original proprietors controlled not more than two-thirds of the property. The general labor movement received no small degree of attention from No. 6's first president. His interest in the welfare of the workers in all occupations was most pronounced, Interest in the and at every opportunity - in the columns of the General Labor Tribune, on the reform rostrum and at trade union Movement. meetings - he effectively espoused their cause and assisted materially in improving their standard of living. "It is now eighteen years since I came to this city a journeyman printer, during which time I have been intimately connected with our craft in one capacity or another," spoke he in I850, " and yet I have never heard of a meeting of printers to consider and discuss the rights generally of Labor, the causes of its depression, the means of its advancement. * * * Individuals have risen out of the laboring class, becoming buyers of labor and sellers of its products, and grown rich thereby; but the condition of the laboring class, as such, has not improved, and I think is less favorable than it was 20 years ago. Why should it not investigate, determine and develop the causes of this? Why not consider the practicability of securing work and houses to all willing to work for them? * * * Our s " Recollections of a Busy Life," page 157. UNION PRINTERS WHO ATTAINED DISTINCTION. 621 trade and the laboring class of our city have been glaringly unfaithful in this respect to yourselves, your posterity, and your race, and the workers of Paris, for example, are in advance of their brethren here in knowledge of and devotion to the interests and rights of Labor. And I am not here to find fault merely, but to exhort you to awake from your apathy and heed the summons of duty. I stand here, friends, to urge that a new leaf be now turned over - that the laboring class, instead of idly and blindly waiting for better circumstances and better times, shall begin at once to consider and discuss the means of controlling circumstances and commanding times, by study, calculation, foresight, union. * * * What I would suggest would be the union and organization of all workers for their mutual improvement and benefit leading to the erection of a spacious edifice at some central point in our city to form a Laborers' Exchange, just as Commerce now has its exchange, very properly. Let the new exchange be erected and owned as a joint-stock property, pay a fair dividend to those whose money erected it, let it contain the best spacious hall for general meetings to be found in our city, with smaller lecture rooms for the meetings of particular sections or callings - all to be leased or rented at fair prices to all who may choose to hire them, when not needed for the primary purpose of discussing and advancing the interests of Labor. Let us have here books opened wherein any one wanting work may inscribe his name, residence, capacities and terms, while any one wishing to hire may do likewise, as well as meet personally those seeking employment. These are but hints toward a few of the uses which such a Labor Exchange might subserve, while its reading-room and library, easily formed and replenished, should be opened freely and gladly to all. Such an edifice, rightly planned and constructed, might become, and I confidently hope would become, a most important instrumentality in advancing the laboring class in comfort, intelligence and independence. I trust we need not long await its erection." 4 Touching the general movement of Labor looking to an advance and regulation of wages, Greeley wrote as follows in the Tribune of April I3, 1853: I. We believe that the wages of Labor should be liberal - that the true interest of all classes requires this - and that they have generally been lower than they should be. 2. We believe that unregulated, unrestricted competition- the free trade principle of " every man for himself " and " buy where you can the cheapest "4 Prom address by Horace Greeley at the banquet of the New York Typographical Society, on January 17, I850. 62 2 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. tends everywhere and necessarily to the depression of wages and the concentration of wealth. Capital can wait - Labor cannot - but must earn or famish. Without organization, concert and mutual support, among those who live by selling their labor, its price will get lower and lower as naturally as water runs down hill. Consequently, we are in favor of trades unions or regular associations of workers in the several callings for the establishment and maintenance of fair and just rates of wages in each. 3. We believe employers have rights as well as journeymen - that they too should hold meetings and form societies or appoint delegates to confer with like delegates on the part of the journeymen; and that by the joint action of these conferrers, fair rates of wages in each calling should be established and maintained. 4. We believe that the rates thus established are and should be morally binding upon all who see fit to engage in these callings respectively - that he who cannot afford them has no right to be an employer, and he who will not ought to be shunned alike by journeymen and customers - and that whenever employers or journeymen believe that the circumstances of their trade require an increase or reduction of wages they ought to assemble their own class and procure its sanction to a new conference of delegates as aforesaid and that its decision should be conclusive. 5. We believe that strikes, or refusals of journeymen to work at such wages as they can command, are seldom necessary - that proper representations and conciliatory action on the part of journeymen would secure all requisite modifications of wages without striking -and that the aggregate of wasted time, misdirected energy, embittered feeling and social anarchy which a strike creates is seldom compensated by any permanent enhancement of wages thus obtained. 6. We believe that the primary and most culpable authors of strikes and the mischiefs thence arising are those employers who refuse to unite in any efforts for the systematic adjustment of wages, but insist on fixing and paying such rates of wages as they choose, without reference to the established regulations or current usages of the vocation. If these would but desist from their evil practices, the claims of journeymen alone to regulate wages without asking the concurrence of employers would be easily proved untenable and speedily abandoned. While the journeymen's scales of prices are the only ones, they ought, for want of better, to be respected and adhered to. But to secure a conference and a mutual agreement as to wages, the employers in any trade have but to ask it. In short - we believe the present fermentation among the trades of our city a salutary and hopeful one - that it is based on a just idea of the existing regulations of Labor to Capital, and rightly affirms the wages should increase as currency is expanded and living becomes nominally dearer; and we hold that, should it result in disastrous collisions between employers and employed, paralyzing whole departments of industry, the fault will mainly lie at the door of those employers who refuse to co-operate in establishing and upholding just rates of wages in their several vocations. If journeymen alone regulate the prices of labor, they will be likely to fix them too high; if employers alone fix them (as they virtually do under the free-trade system) they will as naturally fix them too low; but let journeymen and employers in each trade unite in framing, upholding and from time to time modifying their scale, and it will usually be just about right. UNION PRINTERS WHO ATTAINED DISTINCTION. 623 It was almost wholly due to Greeley's efforts that the wages of New York printers were raised and made uniform in I85I, and to him belongs a large measure of credit for securing subsequent advances in their rates, besides better Ever Alert trade conditions. He came to the rescue of his union to Improve brethren on frequent occasions, the following from Craft Conditions. the Tribune of November 4, I850, serving as an illustrative example of the course he pursued to benefit his craft: "An advertisement for 50 journeymen printers to work in Philadelphia appears in a New York paper, with a statement that advanced rates of wages will be paid them. A card from the journeymen of Philadelphia states that the only demand for such workmen is caused by a strike consequent on the refusal of certain employers to pay the scale of prices drawn up by the journeymen. We trust no printers in this city or elsewhere will rush to Philadelphia to obtain situations under such circumstances." Peace between No. 6 and the Tribune after the rupture of I864 had been fully restored long before the union held its fifth annual picnic and summernight's festival at Jones' Wood, then an amusement park covered with trees on the bank of Public Reception the East River between Sixty-eighth and Seventieth Tenered to Greeley by streets, New York City, on Saturday, August 24, " Big Six." i 872. That event gave the 3,000 printers and their friends who were present an opportunity to publicly greet Horace Greeley, who was received by Robert 0. Harmon, secretary of the union, and Thomas Burke at the Grand Central Station, upon his arrival early in the evening from Chappaqua, and escorted in a coach to the scene of festivities. At the grounds the veteran editor was ushered into the reception room, where Robert McKechnie, president of the union, and the Committee of Arrangements welcomed him. "Mr. Greeley, we are glad to have you with us," said President McKechnie. " You have done us a great honor." " Thank you," was the reply; " I am very much pleased to be with my fellow-craftsmen. But," continued the printer-journalist, as a broad smile overspread his countenance, " what will the morning newspapers do? They must have compositors." Some one proposed " three cheers for Greeley, the printers' friend." A chronicler of that auspicious occurrence reported that " instantly a cheer went up that fairly shook the building, and Mr. Greeley said he thought he would go out to see 'the boys.' Mr. Greeley stepped upon the orchestra platform and the band played 'Hail to the Chief!' and 'Should Old Acquaintance be Forgot?' 624 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. When the enthusiasm, which was almost indescribable, had subsided, Mr. McKechnie began to address the assemblage, which covered every nook and comer of the immense platform. It was some moments before he could make himself heard. ' Ladies and gentlemen,' said he, ' you are all probably aware that our distinguished guest was the first president of Typographical Union No. 6. If he was not the best printer he was certainly the best we knew. If he sets type as badly as he makes copy he is now a very bad printer.5 Allow me to introduce him to you." 6 Greeley made a brief response, speaking of the printers' profession as a leading and honorable one, and compared it with what it was in olden times. After alluding in complimentary terms to the Typographical Union and the honor conferred upon him by its invitation to attend the f6te, he proceeded thus: " We are not the oldest craft in the world- ten or twelve others went before; but we have a higher honor than that of antiquity, under an intellectual body. A printer, from the very nature of his calling, should be able to explain and intelligently elucidate the great questions and problems of the day, in which the labor question stands conspicuous. The matter of wages is receiving considerable attention, and it should be gradually, calmly and coolly brought to a satisfactory close, receiving the attention which experience, study and observation alone can give. The 6 Horace Greeley's chirography closely resembled " lame goose tracks," and but few printers could decipher it. The following from the Printers' Circular of February, 1880, at page 274, in recording the death of John C. Robinson, one of the most celebrated proofreaders in the United States and a prominent member of Typographical Union No. 6, will give the reader some idea as to the quality of the distinguished editor's handwriting: " In I854 he [Robinson] first entered the proofroom of the New York Tribune, and in the first six months of his stay showed himself to be a marvel in deciphering illegible manuscript. To the surprise of his new colleagues he read Richard Hildreth's, Horace Greeley's, Count Gurowski's, Gerrit Smith's, and other notoriously crabbed manuscripts at a glance. Time and again, when Horace Greeley acknowledged himself unable to read his own handwriting, he referred it to Robinson, who would examine it steadily for a minute, and then read it off like print. One night in October, i866, Horace Greeley sent a letter from an up-town hotel in New York to the then night editor of the Tribune. The letter enclosed an editorial in the well-known wretched handwriting of Greeley. It was the night before election day, and the editorial in question warmly endorsed a Republican candidate running on an iadependent ticket. The article was put in type. In arranging the copy before reading the proof, the manuscript sent in the letter from the hotel fell under the wonderfully well-trained eyes of Robinson. He examined it a couple of minutes and said decisively: ' That is not the old man's handwriting; it's a forgery.' He imparted this astounding information to the night editor, who, well-acquainted with Robinson's marvelous faculty, suppressed the article without hesitation. On the following day Mr. Greeley said that he never wrote the article, but that he would have accepted the handwriting of it as his own. John C. Robinson's unparalleled rapidity as a reader gained for him the appellation of the ' lightning proofreader.' Timed by the most delicately-adjusted chronometer, on several occasions he pronounced 696 words in a minute. This rate of speed, which he was never known to vary, gives 41,760 words an hour. He read in a distinct monotone, without accent. Long before Horace Greeley's death he was placed in charge of the Tribune proofroom. He left that journal in z875 to take a similar position on the Sun, and was filling it at the time of his death" [on February i I, 1880]. s New York Sun, August 26, 1872. UNION PRINTERS WHO ATTAINED DISTINCTION. 625 abolition of slavery was only the beginning of the solution of this great problem, and much yet remains to be done. * * * There are other great questions of the time on which you will be called upon to pronounce, and I have no doubt your intelligent judgment will be productive of some good." 7 The band played national airs as the speaker descended the platform, and as he left the grounds the woods rang with cheers. Thus did the union printers of New York demonstrate their high esteem and affectionate regards for the first president of " Big Six," but it proved to be the final public reception tendered by them to the Sage of Chappaqua. Horace Greeley passed from earthly scenes on November 29, I872. His remains were, in accordance with a generally expressed wish, conveyed to the New York City Hall, where they were viewed by 40,000 people. Speaking of this Death of melancholy occasion the Tribune said: " How many Horace his friends were and who they were may be seen Greeley. from the descriptions which we publish this morning of this extraordinary scene. A whole city mourns for him. The poor shed tears over him; the laboring man stops work that he may pay a last tribute to him who spent 40 years in working hard for the benefit of the workers. A more spontaneous manifestation of sorrow has not been seen by this generation." A meeting of Tribune employees was held in the composing room of that newspaper on December 2d. Men were present from the composing room, pressroom and mailing department. Resolutions of respect were adopted, and Wesley W. Pasko paid this tribute to the memory of the departed: " He opposed human slavery as he did the oppression of the classes who labor by their hands; he knew no difference between white and black, rich and poor. All men were of value to him. Not only did he theoretically adhere to this rule, but he gave proof of his belief in it by his practice. The present condition of printers in New York, their freedom from slavish customs, is largely owing to the man whose death we have met to deplore. Almost the last act of his life, in relation to the art preservative, was to secure to the men in his establishment pay for standing time. We have had our differences with him, but I think I express the feelings of those who were then most active against him, when I say that we feel now that the blame was not entirely on one side." T From the account printed in the New York Herald of August 25, I872. 626 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. On December 3d a committee, consisting of President Robert McKechnie, Secretary R. 0. Harmon, Hugh Dalton, William White, Michael R. Walsh, Charles S. Taylor, George Union No. 6 Shearman and John C. Robinson, was appointed Feelingly Deplores by Typographical Union No. 6 to attend the public His Demise. funeral of Horace Greeley on the succeeding day and to draft suitable resolutions expressive of the sentiments of the meeting. The following preamble and resolutions prepared by the committee and presented by Mr. Dalton were unanimously adopted: Whereas, Almighty God, in his Supreme Wisdom, having removed from among us the benefactor and philanthropist, Horace Greeley, we, the members of Typographical Union No. 6, in convocation assembled, have hereby Resolved, That while we most feelingly and sorrowfully deplore the death of one of America's noblest sons, our poignant grief is tempered with the sweet belief that He " who doeth all things well " hath but taken him to a higher and better sphere for some wise and benevolent purpose. Resolved, That we tender our sincere and most heartfelt condolence to the daughters of the deceased in this their sore affliction; at the same time we cannot but feel that their great sorrow is assuaged by the knowledge that He who holdeth the world in the hollow of His hand hath but called him to a blessed immortality, and that though dead he still lives, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, nor thieves break in and steal. Resolved, That a copy of this preamble and resolutions be presented to the family of the deceased, and that the members of Typographical Union No. 6 attend the funeral of Horace Greeley, the first president of their society, in a body. Resolved, That inasmuch as Horace Greeley was a fellow-craftsman, the rooms of this society be draped in mourning for a period of 30 days in honor of his memory. Immediately after the demise of Horace Greeley union printers began to plan the rearing of a monument to perpetuRearing a ate his memory. No. 6 held a special meeting on Monument to Tuesday, January I4, i873, to consider a proposiHis Memory. tion by the Tribune chapel to erect a memorial at his final resting place in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, and this action was taken by the union: It has been proposed that the printing offices in the United States give one or more pounds of old type for the purpose of making a statue of Horace Greeley, to be erected in the lot in Greenwood where his remains are interred. Type-metal is specially adapted to reproduce sharp and definite outlines, and peculiarly fitted to speak in the mute form of an image to those who, in after years, visit his resting place, as it did beneath the training of his hand, the grandeur of his brain, and the largeness of his heart. We approve the idea of erecting a statue of Horace Greeley in Greenwood, UNION PRINTERS WHO ATTAINED DISTINCTION. 627 made of type-metal which has been cast into type and worn out in the service of teaching the people. We ask of our fellow-craftsmen (many of whom, now scattered over the country, have, like ourselves, either worked with or for him during the 40 years gone by) to set up, on Monday, February 3, I873, the sixty-second anniversary of Mr. Greeley's birth, I,ooo ems, and give the receipts for the same to be expended in making and erecting the statue; the money to be forwarded to the president of New York Typographical Union No. 6, of which union Mr. Greeley was the first president. A committee, composed of William Baker, of the Tribune, A. Walsh, of Leslie's Weekly, Robert McKechnie, of the World, J. Meyerhoff, of Nesbitt's, James Marsden, of the Herald, John Mahoney, of the Times, R. Murray, of the Sun, J. Stephenson, of the Commercial Advertiser, P. Crean, of the Mercury, President Hugh Dalton and Secretary M. R. Walsh, was chosen to carry out the objects of the above resolutions, which were ordered to be furnished to the Associated Press for publication. On May I3th following the union instructed its delegates to the International Typographical Union to solicit the co-operation of that body in raising sufficient funds to erect the monument. To receive contributions for the furtherance of the project the International selected a committee of thirteen, among whom were these New York people: Messrs. Thomas Burke (chairman), Hugh Dalton, William H. Bodwell and William McGrath, of No. 6, and Mrs. Mary A. Danielson, of Women's Typographical Union No. i. The committee, which made its report to the International in I876, had learned from men of experience that type-metal would not stand exposure from the weather for any length of time, a sufficiency of old type to make a life-size statue of Greeley having been obtained, and it was eventually decided to have a bronze bust sculptured. Hard times had affected contributions somewhat from journeymen printers, and to prevent the movement from becoming a failure Chairman Burke sent invitations to about a dozen employing printers and typefounders in New York to meet on November 30, I874. At that meeting " The Trustees of the Greeley Memorial" was formed, with Thurlow Weed as president, Peter S. Hoe as treasurer and Wesley W. Pasko as secretary, the other members of the board being Lewis Francis, Theodore L. De Vinne, Daniel Goodwin, C. C. Savage, George P. Rowell, Douglas Taylor and Sinclair Tousey, employing printers, Andrew Little, of Farmer, Little & Co., typefounders, Thomas N. Rooker, foreman of the Tribune composing room, Thomas Burke, chairman of the International Typographical Union committee, William H. Bodwell, president of the International Union, and Hugh Dalton, president of No. 6. By December 4, 1876, when the 628 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. monument was unveiled at the Greeley family plot in Greenwood, the fund amounted to $5,346.52. A brief description of the monument is pertinent at this point. The bronze bust, which is four feet high, full heroic size, represents the printer-editor as he appeared in his prime. It rests on a lightcolored Maine granite pedestal, which surmounts a base of Quincy granite, the monument being altogether twelve feet high. On the western face of the supporting shaft is a bronze tablet with the inscription: " Horace Greeley, born February 3, 8i i; died November 29, I872; founder of the New York Tribune." The opposite side contains a bas-relief in bronze representing the youthful Greeley, composing-stick in hand, at his case. In the panel on the north side is a rude plough, while on the remaining part of the pedestal are a pen and scroll, these emblems being carved in relief from the granite. The monument is surrounded with a Quincy granite coping 27 feet in diameter. C. C. Savage was master of ceremonies at the unveiling exercises, at which 500 persons were present, and in calling the assembly to order he said: " The day and the hour to begin the Unveiling memorial services to our honored craftsman, Horace Exercises at Greeley, have now arrived. Our worthy president, Greenwood. Hon. Thurlow Weed, who expected to preside today, is with us, but informs me that his health makes it inadvisable for him to do so. He therefore requests another of our trustees, Lewis Francis, to act in his stead." Mr. Francis, in accepting, thanked the assemblage for the honor conferred upon him. " I do not think I will detain you with any remarks," said he, " for our programme is long enough in view of the fact that these exercises are in the open air. The Reverend Doctor Chapin, who was to have offered prayer, sends his regrets that the state of his health will not permit him to be present with us, and we therefore, rather than detain you, begin the exercises. I will ask Mr. Bodwell to deliver the presentation address." William H. Bodwell then spoke in part as follows: It has been thought advisable that a representative of the united practical printers of the country - with whom the project to erect this memorial originated - should be selected to present it to the public. When it is remembered that Mr. Greeley was among the very first in this country to move in the matter of organizing printers' unions, and was the first president of New York Typographical Union, it is well that it should be so. When the death of Mr. Greeley fell like a pall upon the nation the working printers, looking upon him as the grandest and most eminent representative of their craft that this country has yet produced, immediately initiated steps looking to the erection of some suitable me UNION PRINTERS WHO ATTAINED DISTINCTION. 629 morial to testify their admiration and respect for the great printer. At first it was proposed to erect a statue to be composed of type-metal, but that material was soon found to be of too perishable a nature, and the plan was changed. This necessitated the raising of a larger amount of money, and for a time it seemed as though the project was in danger of failing. But at this juncture the printers remembered that while they justly looked upon Mr. Greeley as the leading representative of their craft, yet his life-work had been given for the benefit of all classes and conditions of people, many of whom would be glad of an opportunity to join with them in erecting this memorial. The subject was mentioned to a few employing printers and other friends of Mr. Greeley, and the response was quick and liberal; abundant assistance was given, and the result is before you to-day. Therefore, Mr. Chairman, in behalf of the working and employing printers and those other gentlemen who have contributed to the erection of this memorial, I present this bust of Horace Greeley to that public for whose welfare he labored so long, so conscientiously, and so successfully; believing, as I do, that centuries after this granite shall have crumbled away, and the bronze shall have been beaten into a shapeless mass by the elements, the name of Horace Greeley will be cherished and reverenced wherever freedom has a home and the English language is spoken. The bust, which had been draped with an American flag, was unveiled by the sculptor, Charles Calverley, and then a poem was read by Edmund C. Stedman, the poet. It consisted of eighteen stanzas, among them these three: The faithful East that cradled him Still, while she deems her nursling sleeps, Sits by his couch with vision dim; The plenteous West his feast-day keeps; The wistful South recalls the ways Of one who in his love enwound her, And stayed her in the evil days, With arms of comfort thrown around her. He lives wherever men to men In perilous hours his words repeat, Where clangs the forge, where glides the pen, Where toil and traffic crowd the street; And in whatever time or place Earth's purest souls their purpose strengthen, Down the broad pathway of our race The shadow of his name shall lengthen. "Still with us! " all the liegemen cry Who read his heart and held him dear. The hills declare, " He shall not die!" The prairies answer, " He is here!'" Immortal thus, no dread of fate Be ours, no vain memento mori: Life, Life, not Death, we consecrate, A lasting presence touched with glory. 630 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Bayard Taylor, printer, poet, traveler, diplomat, was the orator of the day, and his brilliant address, listened to with rapt attention, was as follows: MR. BODWELL AND GENTLEMEN:- As one who studied for two years in the only university at which Horace Greeley graduated - the composing room of a printing office - and as his friend and associate for a quarter of a century, I have been called upon by the committee of journalists and printers to accept, on behalf of the people, this monumental bust. It is a fitting symbol of life. It comes from the craft to which he belonged, and is received by the people for whom he thought, labored and endured. It restores to us who knew and loved him, and preserves for coming generations the expression of his goodness and gentleness no less than that of his intellectual power. His best ambition could have desired no more honorable memorial, erected by printers to a printer, by workmen to a worker, by Americans to a representative of American honesty, independence and originality, this bronze could express no more though it were as huge as the Rhodian Apollo. It is well that the completion of a monument to Horace Greeley should have been delayed until now. When he was laid to rest here, four years ago to-day, a sharper blast than that of the opening winter blew over his grave; but the misconceptions of his character have melted away as the snows from this mound, while fresh esteem and reverence have budded and blossomed above his tomb like the trees that shade it. The knowledge that thousands for whom and with whom he had labored for so many years - whose considerate respect, at least, he had a right to claim - were angrily alienated from him, cast a dark and tragic pall over the closing days of his life, and deepened the gloom which settled upon his empty place. But time swiftly repairs all injustice; and those few years which, let us hope, have planted permanent if unspoken regrets in many hearts, have already placed in clear historic light the manly honesty and unselfishness of his whole life. Men begin to see that the transparent candor of Horace Greeley's nature was a rare and precious virtue in a man wielding his influence. They begin to understand that his political course, from first to last, was determined by the operation of the same unchanging principles. When there was a choice between right, as he conceived it, and temporary popularity, he never hesitated. When he seemed to overlook or disregard the cautious steps and carefully selected means of other political leaders, it was simply because he saw the distant result so clearly. A far-sighted eye may sometimes mistake the perspective of events, yet it does not therefore see falsely. The clearness of Horace Greeley's vision arose from the fact that he understood, as few Americans have done, the temper and character of the people. He kept his feet in their paths, and compelled his brain to work on the level of their intelligence. He knew better than they how their moods were to change, and their opinions to be recast by circumstances. His mind was a marvel, in its knowledge of local characteristics, interests and influences, from one end of the country to the other. No success, no distinction, no possibility opened to him of more eminent fields of labor, ever interrupted the acquisition of that knowledge or lessened the sympathy which grew from it. The broad base and keen intellectual summit of our national life were thus equally incarnate in him. While his brain grew, his hand and heart kept their early habits The experience of the man deepened and broadened, but the unsophisticated simplicity of the child remained. He was so naturally UNION PRINTERS WHO ATTAINED DISTINCTION. 63 I and inevitably good that his goodness almost failed to be reckoned as a virtue. With all opportunities of development which he so conscientiously seized - with all his wide and varied knowledge of life - there were three things which he could never learn: to mistrust human nature, to refuse help whenever he could give it, and to disguise his honest opinions. He has been compared to Franklin; but although he sometimes seemed to echo the economical philosophy of Poor Richard, he never succeeded in practicing its first maxim. Only those who stood nearest to him can truly know his life was glorified by self-denial and self-sacrifice, by labor that never complained, and patience that never uttered itself in words. The strong individuality of Horace Greeley was equally moral and intellectual, and the lasting influence of his life will be manifested in both directions. His memory does not depend upon separate acts or conspicuous expressions: it is based upon and embraces the entire scope of activity, the total aim and effort of his life. He would have been the last of men to present himself as a special model for the imitation of his younger countrymen; but there are few who will now deny that this generation is better, more devoted to lofty principles, less subservient to the dictation of party, wiser, more tolerant and more humane because he has lived. Nothing worthier than this can be said of any man. When most men die the ranks close, and the line moves forward without a visible gap; but hundreds of thousands miss, and long shall continue to miss, the courageous front of Horace Greeley. Like Latour d'Auvergne, the first grenadier of France, his name is still called in the regiment of those who dare to do, for the sake of mankind, and the mournful answer comes, " Dead upon the field of honor!" I should like to speak of his tenderness and generosity. I should like to explain the awkward devices of his heart to hide itself, knowing that the exhibition of feeling is unconventional, and sensitive lest its earnest impulses should be misconstrued. But the veil which he wore during life must not be lifted by the privilege which follows death; enough of light shines through it to reveal all that the world need know. To me his nature seemed like a fertile tract of the soil of his native New Hampshire. It was cleaned and cultivated, and rich harvests clad its southern slopes; yet the rough, primitive granite cropped out here and there, and there were dingles which defied the plough, where the sweet wildflowers blossomed in their season and the wild birds built their nests unharmed. In a word, he was a man who kept his life as God fashioned it for him, neither assuming a grace which was not bestowed nor disguising a quality which asserted its existence. A life like his cannot be lost. That sleepless intelligence is not extinguished, though the brain which was its implement is here slowly falling to dust; that helping and forebearing love continues, though the heart which it quickened is cold. He lives, not only in the mysterious realm where some purer and grander form of activity awaited him, but also as an imperishable influence in the people. Something of him has been absorbed into a multitude of other lives, and will be transmitted to their seed. His true monument is as broad as the land he served. This, which you have erected over his ashes, is the last memorial of his life. But it stands as he himself loved to stand, on a breezy knoll, where he could bathe his brow in the shadows of branches and listen to the music of their leaves It looks toward the city where he lived and labored. Commerce passes on yonder waters, and industry sends up her smoke in the distance. So may it stand for many a century, untouched by invasion from the sea or civil strife 632 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. from within the land - teaching men, through its expressive lineaments, that success may be modest, that experience may be innocent, that power may be unselfish and pure! At the conclusion of Mr. Taylor's address the Rev. Thomas Farrell, of St. Joseph's Catholic Church, New York City, closed the exercises with this benediction: " Bless us, O Lord, who are here assembled to honor the memory and the virtues of Thy great servant, and grant us strength, O Lord, to imitate his example and to labor for the benefit of our fellow-creatures and our beloved country." To further honor the memory of Horace Greeley the union printers of New York and Brooklyn started a movement in I888 looking to the erection of a bronze statue of the eminent typoStatue of Greeley journalist at a prominent point on Manhattan Erected by Island. It was on April ist, that year, that No. 6 Union Printers. received from Horace Greeley Post No. 577, G. A. R., composed of organized printers, a request that the union designate a committee to act in conjunction with a similar body from the post, "with a view to the erection of a monument in City Hall Park to the memory of Horace Greeley." The committee was appointed, and Typographical Union No. 98 of Brooklyn also took like action. These representatives of the three organizations then formed the Horace Greeley Statue Committee, and at once went to work to obtain subscriptions. Soon after its organization the committee learned of the existence of the Horace Greeley Monument Association, which had a corresponding purpose in view, and an amalgamation of the two bodies was effected, the money in the possession of both committees going into a common fund. A contract was made with Alexander Doyle, a sculptor of national repute, and he produced a statue that gave satisfaction to the joint committee. The figure, which is some seven feet in height and faces the north, represents Greeley sitting in his editorial chair in a contemplative attitude, with a newspaper in the right hand and spectacles in the left. The statue stands on a plinth five feet by seven feet, surmounting a pedestal of polished Quincy granite six feet high, the whole resting on a granite base ten feet long and eight feet wide. The name " Horace Greeley," in raised bronze letters, is attached to the stone at the front, while on the east side of the pedestal is this inscription, also in bronze letters in relief: " This statue of the first president of New York Typographical Union No. 6 was presented to the City of New York by Horace Greeley Post No. 577, G. A. R., New York Typographical Union No. 6 and Brooklyn Typographical Union No. 98." -i ii O FI,: Statue of Horace Greeley, Erected by Union Printers in Greeley Square, New York City. NO 0C UNION PRINTERS WHO ATTAINED DISTINCTION. 633 No. 6 on April 3, I892, passed a resolution recommending to the Department of Public Parks that it approve the site for the statue at the Seventy-second street entrance to Central Park at Fifth avenue. That site, however, was not selected, but in 1894 the Common Council designated the spot where the statue should stand, in the following resolution, which was approved by Mayor Thomas F. Gilroy on April 27th: Whereas, The Horace Greeley Statue Committee are about to erect a statue to the late Horace Greeley in the park just north of the Union Dime Savings Bank, on the triangle bounded by Thirty-second street, Broadway and Sixth avenue and it is deemed fitting that when the said statue of Horace Greeley has been completed and put in position, that locality should receive a name in his honor; therefore be it Resolved, That the area bounded by the south side of Thirty-second street, the north side of Thirty-fourth street, the east side of Broadway and the west side of Sixth avenue, be and it shall hereafter be known as " Greeley Square," provided the street numbers shall not be changed on any of the thoroughfares mentioned, except as shall hereafter be authorized by the Common Council. Hon. S. Wesley Smith, in introducing the foregoing, paid this tribute to the character and characteristics of Greeley: MR. PRESIDENT:- If only the orator were present the offering of this resolution might well evoke an oration that would live in our land's language. The proposition to confer the name of Horace Greeley on a conspicuous section of this Metropolis must necessarily recall one of the most extraordinary men of the nineteenth century. It may with little reservation be said that Greeley was the most American of all Americans-the most absolute, original and unique character, not only in the annals of this great city, but in the public history of the United States and of the New World. Not Franklin, not Jackson, not old Zachary Taylor, riding a mill horse conspicuously white in the gulches of Buena Vista; not the great Lincoln - tall, gaunt and immortal - was more absolutely and perfectly American than the man Horace Greeley. Of that name there has been but one, and there can never be another. Popular tradition itself has fixed upon the aspects and incidents of his singular character. But popular tradition has hardly touched the heart of his greatness. It is not his shambling gait in Broadway; it is not his amazing bald head, red almost as the sun's disc seen through a spectral fog at setting, not his astonishing and indescribable clothes, not the astounding ramshackle architecture of the whole visible man, shuffling with unheard-of noises and objurgations upstairs and downstairs, to and from that immortal office, whence he issued his immortal fulminations; not any or all of these things combined; but it was the tremendous man that was in him. It was not the Greeley, bent over his desk, shaking his hand behind him at some intruder, telling him to " Go West;" not the astonishing dedication of his book to somebody who should invent a plough that would turn over so much dirt in a day; not the ridiculous spectacle of his signing a formal petition to the Governor of New York to have himself publicly executed as a benefaction to the people the petition being held before him by some friends who made game of him by telling him that it was a plea for philanthropy he was to sign; but it was the unswerving 634 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. citizen and determined journalist; the man who dared all things for Liberty and Right; the ferocious patriot to whom a lion's den was no more than a covert of mice, if it lay in the way of human freedom; the just man who knew no fear, who broke with his party, with his countrymen when he thought them wrong, with all mankind if needs be; who went dauntlessly to the late capital of the overthrown Confederacy and voluntarily signed the bail bond of the fallen and imprisoned Davis rather than that his country should commit the crime of keeping any man in a felon's cell without a trial; who ran for President dictating his own platform, and drawing after him the great mass of those against whom he had waged a life-long battle - this is the Horace Greeley who belongs to the pantheon of the immortals; this is the Horace Greeley who after more than 2i years since the oblivion of pallid death fell upon his unequalled life, revives to-day in democratic majesty more sublime than the spectral majesty of Caesar at Philippi; and whose life and deeds, with a force and eloquence unknown to human speech, approve and ratify the proposition to honor a certain distinguished part of this Metropolis by conferring on it forever the name and designation of Greeley Square. The time set for the unveiling of the statue was Memorial Day, I894, and on the 6th of that month it was ordered by No. 6 that its members parade in a body. After the procession, headed by Edinger's band, 5,000 people were massed about Greeley Square during the ceremonies, which began at 2 o'clock P. M. on May 30th. The exercises opened with an invocation by the Rev. F. M. Clendennin. Upon the conclusion of the singing of the hymn " One Sweetly Solemn Thought," Hon. William W. Niles, chairman of the Greeley Monument Association, made the introductory speech. George H. Moore, chairman of the Statue Committee, presented the bronze figure to the city, the unveiling by Miss Winifred Burke following, and the response was made by Col. John R. Fellows, representing the Mayor. An address on " Horace Greeley and the Press" was delivered by John W. Keller, president of the New York Press Club. Congressman Amos J. Cummings, a member of No. 6, was the orator of the day, and he spoke as follows: COMRADES:- The names of those who saved the Republic are forever linked with the names of those who created it. Lincoln and Grant recall Washington and Jefferson. Adams and Franklin were prototypes of Seward and Greeley. The soldier, the statesman, the philosopher and the philanthropist united in planting the tree of liberty on American soil, and were united in preserving it 85 years afterward. All live in the hearts of their countrymen. All are to-day honored in commemorative bronze. Gladstone once said that " from the people of the thirteen colonies at the close of the American Revolution there came a group of statesmen that might defy the whole history of the world to beat them in any one State and at any one time. Such were the consequences of a wellregulated and masculine freedom." There the great Englishman stopped. He should have said more. Behind this group of statesmen came a group of thinkers, authors, divines, orators, editors, inventors, artists, actors and soldiers that has challenged the admiration of the world. Both groups have passed into his Inscription on Base of Statue of Horace Greeley in Greeley Square, New York City. QoF r 'k I' UNION PRINTERS WHO ATTAINED DISTINCTION. 635 tory. In the second group no figure stands more distinctive than the quaint personality of Horace Greeley. None filled the eye of the nation more completely and persistently; none excited more sympathetic interest, and none met a fate more sad. For 30 years his broad-brimmed hat and white overcoat were as familiar objects in America as were the cocked hat and brown surtout of Napoleon in Europe. He was ever before the public. He lectured on temperance in country churches and before Father Mathew societies. He spoke at agricultural fairs and attended philanthropic and political conventions. The anniversaries were his especial delight. He mixed with mankind, sympathizing with the poor and struggling, cheering workingmen with the co-operative and other suggestions and often lending a helping hand to those least deserving of it. What wonder that he was idolized by speculative minds! But it was in the battle with American slavery that he became truly great. A sincere republican, he had fought tyranny at every point. In the revolution of 1848 he had seen a second bow of promise to mankind. Italy, Hungary, France, Germany, downtrodden Ireland-the world itself-were to be redeemed. When monarchists triumphed and Kossuth, Garibaldi, Schurz, Meagher and other patriots were fugitives, his purse was always open to them. All this time a slavery more horrible was recognized and legally fostered in his own country. At heart a thorough Abolitionist, his sympathies were at first chilled by his devotion to his party. The passage of the Fugitive Slave Law, signed by a Whig President, pricked him into resistance to the extension of the slave power. This resistance was intensified by the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. It was not until the death of Henry Clay and of the Whig party organization that he was freed from party trammels. Then he asserted that slavery was the canker worm of the Republic. When the flag of Sumter fell his pre-eminent patriotism put him to the front, and he struck direct at the vitals of the Confederacy. Fremont's emancipation proclamation was only one of Greeley's editorial articles, afterward completed by the pen of Abraham Lincoln. The ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment marked the zenith of his glory and was the legitimate result of his aspirations and endeavors. It raised him into the foremost niche of the temple of fame. It made him a colossal figure in popular estimation. No man loved his country and his countrymen more than he. When the war closed his was the first hand outstretched to his vanquished brethren. His appeal for universal amnesty rang throughout the land on the morning after Lee's surrender. Heedless of his own personal interests, he was the first to go upon the bond of the imprisoned President of the Confederacy. Maddened by the assassination of Lincoln, the attention of his political friends was diverted from the intent of the act to the untimeliness and incongruity of it. He was looked upon by the Republicans as a Judas Iscariot, and cursed by them from one end of the country to the other. The bailing of Jefferson Davis, then the most condemned and unpopular act of Mr. Greeley's life, is to-day the most magnanimous and disinterested. It furnishes the keynote to his character and career. It reveals his Puritan independence, his intense passion for justice to every man, and his tenderness of heart. This and his earnest efforts to reconcile the sections undoubtedly led to his nomination for the Presidency in after years, when the nobility and wisdom of his conduct began to be appreciated. He looked for political preferment. 636 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. He wanted to become President of the United States. It was the only office that could fill the sum of his ambition. It was because he fancied that in such a station he could elevate honest labor and purge the public service of corruption. From the day that he went on the bond of Jefferson Davis to the day of his death he sought to save the country from the evils that trained in the wake of the great conflict. Comrades, men are great practically and great theoretically. Mr. Greeley's mind was not executive. It was pre-eminently speculative. His exceptional mental power and his sympathetic heart were the motors of his life. There were no currents in his early life to bear him into the iron realm of religious bigotry or to confine his great heart within the narrow domain of selfishness. Fellow feeling was his guiding star. He abhorred intolerance. His conceptions of right and wrong were rooted in a sympathetic heart and nursed by an analytical mind. The logic of events alone could change them. He once said that the reading of the story of Demetrius and the Athenian made him a member of the Universalist denomination. He was a born Universalist. The sentiment of kindness permeated his whole being and illumined his life. The first Franklin is the patron saint of the Typothetae. They honor his birthday and admire his shrewd business qualities. The second Franklin is the patron saint of the typographical unions. While acknowledging the sagacity of the first Franklin, they cherish the more endearing virtues of his successor. He was more than a printer; he was a union printer. And as long as there is a trade union on the soil of the great Republic his memory will be cherished and revered. The exercises closed with the singing of the national anthem, "God Bless Our Native Land," followed by the benediction. Steps were taken by Typographical Union No. 6 on December 6, 1908, to celebrate the natal day of Horace Greeley on February 3, 19o9. The committee that was then chosen to conHorace sider the matter reported on January 3, 9gog, in Greeley favor of having a banquet on the third of the sucCentenary. ceeding month, but it was deemed advisable to wait until the iooth anniversary of his birth, on February 3, 19I I, and then hold a celebration that would be a fitting tribute to this great national character. The union on October 9, 191o, ordered that a committee be appointed to make arrangements for a suitable observance of the event, and to John F. McCabe (chairman), John F. Lane, William F. Wetzel, John F. Crossland and James H. Dahm (secretary), that important duty was assigned. In the meanwhile other associations, notably the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society, the Chappaqua Historical Society, and the City Club of New York, took up the project, with the result that three days were devoted to the centenary exercises - February 3, 4 and 5, I9II. No. 6 observed the occasion on Sunday afternoon, February 5th, at the New York Theater, Broadway, between West Fortyfourth and West Forty-fifth streets. The auditorium, proscenium UNION PRINTERS WHO ATTAINED DISTINCTION. 637 boxes and balconies of the theater were crowded with printers and their friends, among whom were a number of prominent personages. President James Tole of Union No. 6 presided, and on the stage, besides invited guests, were many of the former presidents of the organization. The musical programme consisted of soprano solos by Mme. Alma Webster Powell and violin selections by Miss Marie Deutscher, together with several appropriate numbers by a large orchestra conducted by Prof. Max Schmidt. Among the letters of regret read by the chairman was one from William Dean Howells, the novelist, who from his winter home in Hamilton, Bermuda, wrote: " I should be glad and proud to come to No. 6's celebration of the Greeley centenary. But I am almost a hundred years old myself, by my personal almanac, which has been sent forward by two attacks of the grippe, and I can only join you in the cordial sense of unity which never ceases to bind printers together. Greeley was one of the best of us, and we ought to keep his memory green." Another was from Henry M. Alden, the distinguished editor of Harper & Brothers' publications. He said: "As I live in the country and am much enfeebled by recent illness, I am unable to accept the kind invitation of your committee to the meeting commemorating the centenary of Horace Greeley's birth. Along with Lincoln and old Ben Franklin, Horace Greeley ranks as a singular type, eminently original and individual, of the plain American; and it is peculiarly fitting that this centenary of his birth should be celebrated under the auspices of Typographical Union No. 6, of which he was the first president." So far as is known the oldest printer in the Metropolis who holds a certificate of membership signed by Horace Greeley as president of the New York Printers' Union is Charles Vogt, who was born of German parents on June 15, 1823, and is therefore in his 89th year at the close of this chronicle. This venerable compositor still enjoys excellent health and is actively engaged in business affairs. Up to 80 he was engaged at proofreading, but impairment of eyesight then forbade his pursuance of that branch of the printing trade, and he is at present occupied in another vocation. He was an apprentice on the New York Commercial Advertiser in 1835. While the other employees of that afternoon newspaper began their daily tasks at 7 o'clock A. M. he reported at the office at 6 o'clock A. M., walking from his home in Bayard street to the corner of Pine and William streets, building the fire in the composing-room stove, sweeping the floor, and setting type until the forms went to press. He carried papers to subscribers during the remainder of the day. Among the men of 638 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. eminence to whom he delivered the Commercial Advertiser was Aaron Burr, whose law office was then at No. 52 Broadway, New York City. Mr. Vogt was intimately acquainted with Greeley, by whom he was employed on the New Yorker in 1838. On January 23, 1911, this remarkable octogenarian addressed the following interesting letter to the Centenary Committee, and at the end of its reading by President Tole the sentiments it contained were generously applauded by the auditors: Greeley Centennial Committee: GENTLEMEN:- A desire to add a meed of praise and admiration to that of the host of others has induced me to note a few incidents in the life of Horace Greeley, that grand old man, whom I saw quite early in his professional career when he was exerting all his intellectual and physical powers to achieve success in establishing the New Yorker in 1838, when the office was located in the rear building of No. 29 Ann street. There were three hands beside myself - Mr. Bowe, the foreman, Mr. Winchester and Mr. Swain, who set up the piece of music that always graced the last page of that popular newspaper. Mr. Greeley would often " lend a hand " when the paper was behind, by setting up a few sticksful. His bent attitude while standing at the case, and bobbing motion while setting type, are vividly impressed on my memory. If he " pied " a line his proverbial equanimity was not disturbed thereby. Apropos of pie, it was his custom every Saturday at noon - the paper having been printed and mailed - to provide what was designated as a " pie gorge," to which we were freely invited. About a dozen good-sized pies, fresh from the famous pie bakery of Russel, in Spruce street, would grace the imposing stone. Ample justice was done to the delicious pastries, especially by the great editor himself, who, released from the week's toil and anxiety, gave full rein to his natural flow of humor, and indulged in witticisms and anecdotes that were a feast for the soul, besides being a digestive assistant. A feature of the entertainment to me - a Knickerbocker - was the Yankee accent, with the nasal intonation, that marked the utterances of most of the hands, who hailed from " Varmount," including Mr. Greeley himself, who was long a resident there. Notwithstanding the financial difficulties that beset him while publishing the New Yorker, he never failed to pay his hands promptly every cent they had earned. He seemed to regard that obligation as a sacred one; and so, too, with regard to the same obligations to the Tribune printers. He was truly the workingman's best friend in all that the term implies, as his newspaper fully evidenced. I am proud of holding a union card of July 6, 1850, with his signature as its first president. CHARLES VOGT, Card No. 54 in 1850. In opening the exercises President Tole spoke as follows: It is fitting that Typographical Union No. 6 should to-day bring to a close the three-days' series of celebrations of the birth of Horace Greeley - its first president. Greeley was noted for many things, but we wish to remember him as Horace Greeley the printer! What emotions are stirred by the mere utterance UNION PRINTERS WHO ATTAINED DISTINCTION. 639 of those simple words! From I850 to 1911, in the counting of time, is but the passing of a shadow. Yet in the fleeting years nations and peoples have run the gamut of change; heroes have disported their laurel wreaths and passed away; statesmen and great men in all lines of endeavor have enjoyed the sweets of their greatness, and have then stepped from the gaze of the moment. But we have been endowed with the blessed faculty of memory - that memory which at bidding conjures to the mind the glories of the past and maintains our veneration of those to whose examples we owe so much. It is, therefore, with more than pride and gratitude that we of the printing craft speak and think of Horace Greeley as a printer. Should we not be proud, indeed, to remember that in the hour of his greatest triumphs he, too, was proud that he was a printer? And how grateful are we that the first line written in the glorious history of our organization emanated from so great a mind; for on January I, I850,6I years ago - the New York Printers' Union was organized and Greeley was its first president. The inspiring figure of Horace Greeley has surely spurred on to ambitious heights many of our craftsmen who followed him, and who themselves have attained to high honors in the land. Notable names might be mentioned of those who, like the subject of the day, left the printers' case to take their places in the highest intelligence of the day. The printers' trade has been described as " the art preservative." It is more - it is the avenue through which was approached the wonderful career of this immortal American, whose impress upon the social and political history of our country is written in lines of grateful remembrance. It may be that when the present fades away in the shadows of the past - when the children of the future shall have become the moulders of the nation's destiny, when the press of new and strange things fills the public mind - it may be that the world at large will but hazily think of the commanding intellect of the printer in honor of whose memory we are now assembled. But the " art preservative of all arts "- the art of which he was so ardent a disciple - keeps forever the indelible record of his life, forever furnishing deepest inspiration, encouraging ambition to great achievements. No grander character springs from history's pages than this man, who, first perceiving the need of reforms in trade conditions then existing, was the first to set about effecting those reforms. No union printer of the present day can fail to appreciate the efforts of this pioneer to establish the craft upon a basis deserving the respect of the community. Who shall say that the widespreading influence and power of the International Typographical Union are not due to the energies of those who laid our foundations more than half a century ago? The man who began by putting into type the thoughts of others- who later aspired even to the highest honor within the gift of his countrymen- was a printer. Never forgetting his early training and associations in a printing office, it is a matter of record that among his most active work in New York City was that in the direction of elevating his chosen craft, and the success of his labors is now evidenced in the position of influence of the present union of almost 7,000 members, of which he was the first president - a union then of 28 members. Since the stirring days of his activities in our ranks others have appeared and performed their allotted duties among men; men and times and conditions have changed; adversities have been met and conquered; we have been torn by strife 640 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. and at times have been forced almost to the last issue in order to maintain our integrity. But throughout it all- even in the darkest hour, when hope was ebbing low - there was always before us the indomitable spirit of the man who set our ship afloat, the man who knew how to battle for right, whose fearlessness and determination are to-day the pride and glory of every American union printer. Fitting it is, then, that on this day, in various parts of the country, assemblages such as this one have gathered together to pay tribute to the memory of this great American. Men of the journalistic profession are to-day extolling the qualities of the genius whose magic has widened the scope of their endeavors, and whose name is linked forever with the highest and purest ideals. They will speak reverently of him not only as the leading editor of his time, as the greatest power in journalism of his day, but also as an astute statesman, a true and keen observer of the trend of events. Journalist, statesman, thinker, reformer, man of affairs he was, leaving behind him the ineffaceable record of his greatness! But our fondest thought of him is of the man in all his simple earnestness, the worker in the ranks of his fellow-men, ever striving for the general uplift of mankind and thinking of himself merely as Horace Greeley - the printer. United States Senator Albert J. Beveridge, of Indiana, who was then introduced, received an ovation. His theme was "Horace Greeley and the Cause of Labor." Extracts from his address, which was frequently applauded during its eloquent delivery, appear below: The labor problem is the fundamental problem. Believing this, Horace Greeley was, in his time, the prophet of a brighter day for those who toil. The great journal which he founded became, in a critical period, the trumpet of American conscience; yet even above his fame as one of the most brilliant journalists the world has produced stands his renown as a champion of the rights of Labor. The welfare of men, women and children who must eat their bread in the sweat of their faces was his deepest concern. Wise counselor of the toiling masses, he also was a fearless fighter to better their conditions. What Horace Greeley believed in, that he fought for. Even in his early manhood Horace Greeley saw that simple and sublime truth that the laborer is not merely a commodity, but a human being, and therefore that every phase of the labor problem can be solved only from this Christian viewpoint. The old and savage theory that the workingman is merely merchandise like a sack of flour or a bucket of coal or a threshing machine; that the life energies of man, woman and child should be bought in a labor market at the lowest price which the competition of hunger made possible; that the employer need not think of the employee as a human being, but only as a working animal to be used until exhausted and then cast aside - that idea is the child of brutal barbarism. It came down to us from the hideous past. It has built more hovels and prevented the building of more homes; placed more broken human beings in their graves and filled the abiding places of mankind with more misery and woe than all the wars that have cursed the world. This apparently is extreme; yet it is but a carefully guarded statement of facts established by history and statistics. To Horace Greeley this idea of human labor was horrible. It would be better for the nation and all the world if the master minds directing the material forces of our time could see this as Horace Greeley saw it. UNION PRINTERS WHO ATTAINED DISTINCTION. 64I For the present progress and final triumph of the idea of the laborer as a human being as much if not more credit is due Horace Greeley than to any other single American intellect. His declaration that " man was not made merely to eat, work, and sleep " went to the hearts of his countrymen when he uttered it and comes to us to-day like the burning words of the Hebrew prophets. His battle-cry was " a place for every man and a man for every place." He declared that " Dives might perhaps give Lazarus a steady job of oakum-picking, or even gardening, in order to keep the crumbs about his table for his dogs exclusively, without at all recognizing the essential brotherhood between them or doing anything to vindicate it." For an hour I might quote such utterances of Horace Greeley. But he did not stop with these splendid generalities. With the vigor of conviction he gave them point and substance by concrete plans for Labor's betterment. He was among the greatest of the advocates of organized labor. He saw not only the inhumanity that the toiler suffered from want of organization; saw not only that the disorganization of Labor and the organization of Capital made possible " man's inhumanity to man " which " makes countless thousands mourn," but also he saw that lack of organization among laborers caused incredible waste and loss. It was Horace Greeley who declared that " the aggregate waste of labor and faculty for want of organization in any year exceeds the cost of any war for five years, ruinous and detestable as all war is. It is palpable fatuity and criminal waste of the divine bounty to let this go on interminably." And so Horace Greeley preached the righteousness and wisdom of the organization of Labor. He was our great American champion of the brotherhood of toil. Not even to-day does any economist more thoroughly understand the philosophy of the organization of Labor than Horace Greeley understood it three-quarters of a century ago. And no man to-day expounds with more guarded thoughtfulness or brilliant argument the common sense and beneficence of organized labor than did this journalistic tribune of the people from early manhood to the very sunset of his life. He thought, spoke and fought for improved labor conditions in every phase of Labor's activity and life. He believed Labor entitled to higher wages. Horace Greeley thought that Labor, which, jointly with Capital, produces this wealth, should get an increased and increasing share of it. Even in that day Greeley was shocked at the lightning-like accumulation of riches in the hands of a few who did little to earn them and the appalling increase of the thousands who asked only an opportunity to work that they might eat. No clearer light ever has been thrown on unjustifiable industrial and financial inequalities than Horace Greeley's remorseless analysis; few stronger denunciations of this wicked condition ever were pronounced since the time when the Divine Equalizer gave to mankind His sacred message 2,000 years ago. But in nearly all he said and proposed for the welfare of the workingman, Greeley was carefully practical; he did not propose to cure between morning and nightfall all the injustices we have inherited from the beginning of time. But there were some things upon which he did insist as immediately necessary and not to be compromised. One of these was a shortening of the laborer's working day. At that time it was both law and usage to employ labor at the lowest possible point to which the fear of starvation could drive wages, and then compel the 2I 642 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. laborer to work as many hours as the employer chose without consultation or consent of the man who did the work. So laborers were compelled to work twelve and fourteen hours, and for even longer periods, every working day. Greeley proposed to shorten this period of toil, either by agreement or by law, to a maximum of ten hours a day. The employers thought this meant their business injury - even their bankruptcy. Greeley showed them, instead, that shorter hours and higher wages meant the employers' increased prosperity. Aside from the economic folly of an unlimited working day, its crass injustice shocked Greeley's honest soul. Of this stupid wrong he said: " It would be as sensible and just to prescribe that a pound of meat or sugar or coffee should consist of just as many ounces as the buyer should see fit, after the price had been settled, to exact, or that a bushel of grain should consist of an indefinite number of quarts, as that a day's work should consist of ten, eleven, twelve or thirteen hours' faithful labor, just as the purchaser of that labor should think proper to require." The fact that in nearly 50 trades there is at the present time an eight-hour day by agreement between employers and their organized employees; that as a result there is an increased and better product, a sturdier, happier and more enlightened laboring class; that there are more homes and fewer hovels for these laborers, and that those homes have more books, music and comforts than ever before, is due to this humane agitation for a shorter day of labor, of which Horace Greeley was one of the first and greatest American apostles, and to the steady, intelligent efforts of organized labor, of which Horace Greeley was one of the first greatest American champions. Child labor is America's peculiar industrial shame. It is a crime against manhood labor - every child laborer at childhood wages takes the place of a man laborer at manhood wages. It is a crime against the humane business man - his goods made by manhood labor at manhood wages must meet his competitors' goods made by child labor at childhood wages. It is a crime against childhood - every little one has an inalienable, a sacred right to grow into sound-bodied, clear-brained, pure-souled maturity. It is a crime against society; it pours into our citizenship a stream of people weakened in body and mind. It is an insult to our religion, whose Founder said: " Suffer little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not, for of such is the Kingdom of God." Horace Greeley was against it. Even in his day, when greed had scarcely begun to chain us to this body of death, he sought to restrain it. It was Horace Greeley who declared: " The State has a right to see and ought to see that the frames of the rising generation are not shattered nor their constitutions undermined by excessive toil. She should do this for her own sake as well as for Humanity's. She has a vital interest in the strength and vigor of those who are to be her future fathers and mothers, her defenders in war, her cultivators and artisans in peace. * * * For whatever service it may be necessary to employ labor * * * there will always be found an abundance of adults if proper inducements are offered." Thus spoke Horace Greeley when child labor in America was a pleasant pastime compared with the black brutality of child labor in America to-day. ',.......,nr 4 '' --- --^ ' 1~ — — — ' - ~ ---— ~i- —;T-'lc ---- -, X~d Cvnr. --— ~- - -'.- -~ ---~gasB$I%BB-lriY~8~~~rrs-~ -nru-n. ~~ha,~ ~ryl-nciBI88-r~r-~pgslspC*rp C.i - -ssasse —,. ----, —Yi:3ar~~-~v —::. —~.:.: :-,,,,,;';;;"a -- -;~': --- r —;v~-.x; —~~~-v*~9~488sa*r ,-;- '-.Y- i. ~ry-- (/%dr7(OWI)Tr;BBlss%8%C!: eBI:7XII- _L-I~L~(Qil~~-~ IYYSI.111~ I- I_- CX":-6-XT;-~Ejlslsl)pl slPllElss89YII ---=PjVllililll~,r~-;rr2r.,-llrrrcv*qplpgy;cs — r- - LI.--,~~ — --— ~ ---.P".-I~U-+IU-,;*L:-r Idrx;m.~rr.-,,;?ay..;c;a~aage2l''c*l'i~r-ssru..~ CHARLES WALTER COLBURN, Whose Signature Was the First One Affixed to the Initial Constitution of New York Printers' Union and Who Received Working Card No. i, Issued by Horace Greeley as President. I UNION PRINTERS WHO ATTAINED DISTINCTION. 643 Here is how he summed up his unanswerable arguments for a higher estate for those who toil: "A better social condition, enlarged opportunities for good, an atmosphere of humanity and hope, would insure a nobler and truer character, and that the dens of dissipation will clear to leave those whom a proper education has qualified and whom excessive toil has not disqualified for the improvement of liberty and leisure." Most of the labor reforms which Greeley proposed and for which he fought already have been realized in part and ultimately and soon will be realized entirely. The ten-hour working day for which Greeley battled, against the unlimited working day of his time, now has grown into the eight-hour day from the same arguments and facts which Greeley used. It ought to be universal in all trades. From ocean to ocean organized labor is now a fact as permanent as the govern. ment itself. The holy crusade against child labor now moving militantly forward will not cease until this stain is wiped entirely from our flag. In short, the day is dawning when the evils that Greeley denounced and the principal reforms which he proposed will be accomplished, and the multiplying millions who produce the wealth of the land in peace and carry its muskets in war will more largely enjoy life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, which is their inalienable right. And when the sun of that day is fully above the horizon its glad light will reveal Horace Greeley as the heroic figure of that notable epoch for those who toil —Horace Greeley at once that epoch's prophet, philosopher, orator and soldier of the common good. An address was also made by William H. McElroy, former editor of the New York Tribune, who spoke on " Horace Greeley, the Journalist," and Andrew McLean, editor of the Brooklyn Citizen, closed the exercises with a eulogy of " Horace Greeley, the Man." II. Other Prominent Members. Dissatisfied with conditions in the printing trade, Charles Walter Colburn and a few of his compositor friends met in the parlor of his home at No. 48 Rutgers street, New York City, one evening in the latter part of 1849 and discussed the Charles advisability of forming a union of printers. Mr. Walter Colburn always spoke of that meeting as the birth- Colbum. place of " Big Six" Typographical Union. When the initial constitution of the New York Printers' Union was adopted on January 12, 1850, he was the first member to affix his signature to that instrument, and President Horace Greeley awarded to him working card No. i. He held many offices in the union. In I85I 644 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. and a part of i852 he served as recording secretary, was president in I859 and delegate to the National Typographical Union in the same year. Beginning with I876 he was chosen secretary of No. 6 for six consecutive terms. Although an active and uncompromising trade unionist for 40 years, he was nevertheless just and conservative in his dealings, and his counsel and assistance were as frequently sought by employers as by employees. Mr. Colburn, who was the seventh child of Walter and Anna Sly Colburn, was born in Rome, N. Y., on December 3, i824. His father was killed by falling from a horse when Charles was a lad and the boy was shortly thereafter apprenticed to a printer in Rome. His environment not being congenial, he left that place when he was I5 years of age, went to Buffalo and thence to Pennsylvania, where he taught school for one winter. Having obtained an appointment as naval cadet, he started to work his way to Annapolis. It took him some time to accomplish the journey, and when he finally reached the Naval Academy he learned that he was too old to be admitted, having passed his I7th birthday. Thereupon he went to New York City and obtained employment at his trade. Mr. Colburn was among the early typesetters employed on the New York Tribune. He worked on that paper, off and on, as compositor and proofreader, for many years - up to the death of Horace Greeley, with whom he was a particular favorite; indeed, Greeley several times invited him to join the editorial staff of the Tribune, but Colburn declined the proffer. He was one of the very few printers who could read Greeley's manuscript with ease, and it was not an unusual occurrence for him to be sent for post-haste to decipher some article which was to appear in the morning edition of the paper and which no other person present at the office could interpret. In the early forties Bayard Taylor was connected with the Tribune, and a warm friendship sprang up between him and Colburn. When the poet started for Europe on the journey which is described in " Views Afoot " he urged the subject of this sketch to accompany him, but Colburn had other things in mind, so remained at home and in June, 1846, married Miss Mary A. Collie. Five sons and three daughters were the result of this union, but of these children only two daughters survive. In 1852 he went to St. Louis to assume the foremanship of the Intelligencer. Although he remained in that city only about a year and a half, during that time he was elected to the presidency of the typographical union there and also served as a member of its Vigilance Committee. The Intelligencer changed hands in the OTHER PROMINENT MEMBERS. 645 autumn of I853 and Colburn returned to New York and to the Tribune, despite the fact that prominent citizens of St. Louis had urged him to remain, assuring him that if he would do so he undoubtedly would be returned to Congress at the succeeding election. When in March, i855, Judge Gideon J. Tucker (who afterward became New York's Secretary of State) began the publication of the New York Daily News Colburn was engaged as the first foreman of its composing room, retaining that situation for several years. Many years afterward Judge Tucker, in speaking of Colburn's connection with the News, said of him: " You can bet there were no ' rats ' in his shop. He was a splendid printer, a sincere trade unionist and a faithful friend." Upon the breaking out of the Civil War he volunteered for service in the Union Army, but was refused because of severe bronchial asthma, which unfitted him for forced marches and the rigors of war. In 1863 he went to the National Capital to take charge of the mechanical department of one of the Washington newspapers, remaining about a year. He was in the spring of 1864 appointed an Assistant Assessor in the Revenue Service in New York City, a position that he held till it was abolished nearly ten years later. During the latter part of his life he worked as compositor and proofreader - mainly the latter - on the New York Sun, of which Charles A. Dana was editor-in-chief, and a sincere friendship existed between the two men. In the fall of I887 Mr. Colburn was taken ill with a lethal disease. After bearing his suffering with characteristic fortitude and cheerfulness for more than two years he expired on April 5, I890. For many years he was one of the best known working printers in the United States, being a man of strong character and active brain, a ready speaker and writer and a genial companion. The high esteem in which Mr. Colburn was held by his fellows was indicated by Henry M. Failing in a letter addressed to the former on December 3, I852, in describing the proceedings at a meeting of No. 6. He wrote: "When Ottarson, president, announced the receipt of a telegraphic dispatch from St. Louis, stating that he had seen your name as chairman of the Vigilance Committee, and that he had no doubt you were doing good service for the cause there, as you always did here, it brought down a round of applause that made the windows of old Fountain Hall rattle in their casings." Thus feelingly did the union speak of him at the time of his demise: " In his death we mourn the loss of one who was a pioneer in the foundation of the Typographical Union, the first intelligent movement for the betterment of the condition of the journeyman printer. This organization has lost a mem 646 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. ber steadfast in every storm, hopeful in every period of depression, temperate and wise in victory - a lifelong career that compelled the respect of all who knew him. The union reflects with pride on his services as its secretary, president and delegate to the International Typographical Union. To eminent fitness he added tireless zeal; his sound judgment and strict integrity formed a combination that secured for our organization the happiest results." Among the active journeymen printers who took part in the formation of the New York Printers' Union was Franklin J. Ottarson, who passed away in New York City on July o1, I884, Franklin J. at the age of 69 years. He was apprenticed to the Ottarson. printing business in Watertown, N. Y., in I830. Seven years afterward he arrived in the Metropolis. His experience as corresponding secretary of the Franklin Typographical Association, which had a brief existence in 1844, helped to fit him for more important stations in the New York Printers' Union, of which he was the second president, serving with distinction in that office during 1851 and I852. He was a delegate to the national conventions of union printers in I850 and i85I, and in the first-named year was chosen secretary of the assemblage. Soon after the founding of the New York Tribune Ottarson's ability and facility for writing on miscellaneous topics won for him a place on the reportorial staff of that paper. In an obituary notice in its issue of August, 1884, the Philadelphia Printers' Circular paid this tribute to his memory: "His aptness, reliability and diligence induced Horace Greeley to promote him to the responsible position of city editor, a post he filled with credit to himself and honor to the newspaper he served. From city editor he became night editor, a post he held for many years. In his long and useful life he was always conscientious in the discharge of whatever duties were imposed upon him. For a generation he was the wheel-horse of a great daily newspaper, unknown to the general public, but recognized and looked up to by the brotherhood of working editors." In 1857 and 1859 he served as a member of the New York City Board of Councilmen, having been elected for the former year in the Forty-first District and represented the Sixth District in I859. Mr. Ottarson was also a noted writer of verse. He composed the closing ode, entitled "Speed the Press!" that was sung at the banquet of the New York Typographical Society on January I7, i850. His lines on " Hark to the click of the types in the stick!" popular among printers more than a quarter of a century ago, and still recalled by numerous typos throughout the land, are presented below: OTHER PROMINENT MEMBERS. 647 SETTING TYPE. Hark to the click Of the types in the stick! They fall and they meet with monotonous sound. As swiftly the fingers that seize them go round To hurry them into the stick, With a click, click. There they are in the stick! What do the types tell the world as they stand? Here it is satire; there eloquence grand. Weak as nothing when single, combined they command A wonder-power in their click, As to order they march into the stick. Look again in the stick. To the workers of evil they sorrow betide; The cheat and oppressor in vain try to glide Away from the click, but the earth cannot hide Them away from the click, click, Of the types falling into the stick. As they click, click, in the stick, Monarchs and tyrants their marshaling dread; They know that to freedom the types have been wed, And the visions they see are in color blood-red, And they shake at the sound of the click. Hark, the noise from the stick! Guilt flies from the sound in a tremor of fear; But guilt cannot hide in the day or the night, Though it try every method of hiding or flight From the sound of that terrible click. Forever that click, click! In the gas that makes day-shine, or in the sun's light, That click is increasing forever its might, And seeming to say: " Here we stand for the right! Oppressors, beware of the stick!" Those gray-colored types in the stick! States, monarchies, potentates, pachas and kings, The painter, the player, the poet who sings, Stand in awe of these poor, little, dull, leaden things, And the ominous noise of the click. But these types in the stick, To the just and the true all the nations around, To the whole of mankind where the virtues abound - Most welcome to such is the musical sound Of the types with their click. 648 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION MEMBER SIX. The membership of Typographical Union No. 6 had been so greatly depleted at the close of the Civil War, owing principally to the disastrous newspaper strike in i864, that it was a difficult Robert matter to obtain a quorum for a regular meeting. McKechnie. It was at this critical moment in the life of the union that it selected as its president Robert McKechnie, who immediately initiated a movement to add to the numerical strength of the organization. He was elected at the end of December, i865, and during a service of two years much of his time and energy were devoted to advancing the interests of his fellow-craftsmen. In January, i866, at the beginning of his administration, the union had 264 members on its books, although at that time there were several thousand compositors in the city. By i867 his efforts had resulted in increasing the membership to 588. The city was districted in that year and proselyting was so successfully carried on under President McKechnie's direction that at the opening of i868 there were I,226 on the membership rolls. He was elected president of the National Typographical Union in i868, the most striking event of his administration being the issuance of an " amnesty proclamation," by which all persons who had been expelled from unions for working under prices or for otherwise violating union rules could be restored to membership. As a result of this action the subordinate bodies all over the country added largely to their ranks, but the greatest gain was made by " Big Six," which on January i, I869, numbered 2,105. At the regular meeting of the union on January 7, i868, as President McKechnie was about retiring from office, after his second term, a valuable gold watch was presented to him by the membership as a mark of the high esteem in which he was held by his fellows. After he had installed the new president and was about introducing him to the assembled printers, Nelson W. Young stepped forward and addressed him as follows: MR. MCKECHNIE:-Your retirement from the position of president of New York Typographical Union No. 6 cannot be allowed to take place without some allusion being made to the efficiency with which you have discharged your duties, nor an acknowledgment of the important services you have rendered to the union. Two years ago, when you were elected president, the state of the trade in this city presented a far from encouraging aspect, the claims of union printers in many of the principal offices being ignored - not because those claims were unjust, nor because the employers really thought them so, but for the reason, pure and simple, that the bond of union and feeling of confidence which should at all times exist between the employer and the employed was wanting. You, sir, belong to the large majority in this union who believe that employers have rights which should be acknowledged and respected equally with those of the employed. With us you believe that if employers would allow themselves to OTHER PROMINENT MEMBERS. 649 be consulted upon the changes which the advance or the reduction in the price of rent, fuel, provisions - in fact, all the necessaries of life - compel us to ask for our labor, the interests of both parties would be subserved. We felt then, as we feel now, that if our constitution and by-laws could be placed in the hands of every employing printer, and a free interchange of sentiment could be had between him and the proper party appointed to represent the union, that we could demonstrate - by practical results - that time and money would be saved by conducting an office in which all were members of the union. We felt at that time, therefore, the importance of selecting a presiding officer whose antecedents would be a guarantee that he would labor for the end so much desired, and initiate measures that would indisputably prove to the employer that his interests, financially, and as regards workmanship, were identified with ours. We felt also that we needed an officer who would infuse new life and vigor into the profession. The choice fell upon you. The roll of membership to-day, the highly satisfactory state of our treasury and the harmony and good feeling which pervade the craft, are irrefutable evidences that the selection was a wise and judicious one - in a word, that we had found " the right man for the right place." This increase of membership, and the improved condition of the union and the trade, bore ample testimony to the zeal, energy and success of your administration - so much so that, at the close of your official term, notwithstanding your natural modesty impelled you to seek retirement, the unanimous voice of the members was raised for your retention in a position which reflected so much credit upon yourself and such substantial benefits to the union. To be the unanimous choice of intelligent men was an honor of which you might well feel proud; but, sir, I stand before you to-night to tell you, in the name of your associates, that the honor was deserved, and properly bestowed upon you. When you first assumed the duties of your office I perceive by this list that our membership numbered but 264. To-night, when you surrender your official position, the list foots up 1,2oo. To you, sir, belongs the honor of this prosperity, and I appeal to this large concourse of members if I may not say, in their name, " Well done, good and faithful servant!" Sensible of your worth as an officer, appreciating your high qualities as a man, a printer and an associate, a number of your friends have delegated me to present to you this testimonial of their esteem and regard. In fulfilling this duty my heart throbs with pleasing emotions. This testimonial, sir, is but the emblem of your traits of character - regularity, order and correct principles. Take it, sir, and each day as its hands revolve may they note your advancement in health and prosperity, and as its tickings admonish you that time is fleeting, so may the throbbings of your heart beat in unison with all the holy aspirations of a man and brother. The gift was a complete surprise to Mr. McKechnie. " Gentlemen, I am completely overpowered, and hardly know what to say," he responded. " The highly complimentary and very flattering speech of Mr. Young overestimates any service I may have done the union. It was not I who built up this union; it was your committees and the earnest, energetic workers that have done it; you have them to thank for its prosperity, not me. I am glad you have this opinion of me. I never had it of myself. One matter I wish to call your attention to, and that is, to carry out the portion of the obligation, which we 650 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. have all taken, to abide by the decision of the majority. Whatever differences of opinion may exist previous to a question being disposed of let us all remember that after it has been decided we are bound by our obligations to see that it is carried out. If we only do this, and you give to my successor the same support that you have always given me, I feel satisfied that at the end of his term of office our union will be found more powerful than it is to-day, and wielding a greater influence for the benefit of its members and the craft at large. Gentlemen, I thank you. I am unable to say any more." Mr. McKechnie was again chosen president of Union No. 6 for the year 1872, and during that term I36 members were added to its rolls. Robert McKechnie was born in the County of Armagh, Ireland, on October 20, 1834. He was educated at the Academical Institute, Belfast, and learned the printing trade on the Belfast Whig. In January, I854, he arrived in New York, and in i855 went to Nashville Tenn., where he was employed by the Methodist Book Concern, but afterward returned to New York and became an active member of No. 6. His father was a native of Scotland and had been a soldier of some note. From him young Robert inherited the martial spirit that prompted him to go to the front in the Civil War at the first call to arms, enlisting in Company H, Ninth New York Volunteers (Hawkins' Zouaves), on April 19, i86i. He was soon promoted to first lieutenant and adjutant, and took part in a number of battles, including Antietam and South Mountain. When he was mustered out of the service in midsummer, I863, he went back to New York City, where he resumed work as compositor. At one time he was foreman of the New York World. Mr. McKechnie died in the spring of 1893. His loss was greatly deplored by the membership of Typographical Union No. 6, which on May 7th, that year, thus expressed its sympathy: "We have heard with profound sorrow of the death of Robert McKechnie, who for 3 5 years was an honored member of our union, having served as its president three times, displaying pronounced ability and zeal in the conduct of its affairs, the happy results of which were increased membership and prosperity. He also filled most creditably the exalted position of president of the National Typographical Union, giving to the membership a vigorous and progressive administration. Mr. McKechnie supplemented his splendid career as a member of the International Typographical Union with a gallant record as a soldier in the United States Army during the War of the Rebellion. No. 6 hereby declares its deep regret at the death of Robert McKechnie, OTHER PROMINENT MEMBERS. 65I who was a good printer, a brave soldier, and an uncompromising trade unionist." One of the ablest and most enthusiastic members of No. 6 was Amos Jay Cummings, who joined the union on February 4, i86o, and, although he attained considerable eminence in public life and in journalism, he held a paid-up Honorable working card up to the time of his demise. He was Amos Jay born in Conklin, N. Y., on May 15, 1842. His Cummings. father was a Congregational minister and editor of the Christian Palladium and Messenger, which was published on the first floor of the Cummings home in Irvington, N. J., where Amos mastered the art of typesetting. After acquiring the trade he became an itinerant compositor, setting type in every State in the Union. Cummings enlisted as a private in the Twenty-sixth New Jersey Volunteer Infantry, Second Division, Sixth Corps, Army of the Potomac, in April, i86, and came out of the Civil War as sergeantmajor of his regiment. He fought in the battles of Antietam, Chancellorsville and Fredericksburg. For gallantry at Salem Heights, on May 4, 1863, he received the Congressional medal of honor. While his regiment was supporting a battery against a charge of the enemy, so desperate was the onslaught of the Confederates that the lines of the Jerseymen were broken and they beat a retreat. At this critical moment, says a describer of the courageous act, " seizing the colors from the hands of the color sergeant, who had been mortally wounded, Cummings turned, and under a galling fire ran back to the captured guns. The regiment halted, rallied around him, and the guns were recovered. It was one of the bravest and most daring feats of courage performed on the field of battle, and for sterling valor and brilliancy of achievement was most remarkable, indeed if not miraculous." At the close of the Civil War Cummings went to New York City, where he entered the journalistic profession, becoming editor of the Weekly Tribune. Afterward he joined the staff of the New York Sun, of which paper he was managing editor in I869. His health failing in I872, he left New York on an extended journey, during which his correspondence over the signature of " Ziska " brought him worldwide fame. In 1876 he took editorial charge of the New York Evening Express and in 1887 was managing editor of the New York Evening Sun. He entered the political arena in i886, being elected by the Democrats that year to the House of Representatives from New York City, and also served the people in the three succeeding Congresses. 652 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Having been defeated for the Fifty-fourth Congress, he was subsequently chosen in another district to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Representative A. J. Campbell. Elected to the Fifty-fifth, Fifth-sixth and Fifty-seventh Congresses, his continuous term of service in the National Legislature was approximately fifteen years. During his entire public career in Washington he was a strong and consistent advocate of labor measures and industrial reform, serving with great credit as a member of the House Committee on Labor. He was chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs, and the present navy of the United States owes much to the persistency of his support of all bills for an enlarged fleet of modem war vessels. Mr. Cummings' services in behalf of Labor in the House of Representatives were described by him at a meeting of No. 6 on November 4, I894. The rules of the union were suspended at that session, and he was invited to make a report concerning his work in Washington. Among other things he said: MR. PRESIDENT AND FELLOW-MEMBERS: — There is only one member of the Printers' Union in Congress, and the sooner you get more of them there the better it will be for your interests. If there were more trade unionists in Congress the printers and other workers in Government employ would soon obtain better wages than they now receive. Ben Butterworth was one of the most dangerous foes of Labor in Congress. He's not there now. He's been laid off. There was another one, named Payson, who got cranky when the Copyright Bill was up. While believing in protection he opposed the Copyright Bill, which, as you all know, provides that a foreign author in order to have his productions copyrighted in the United States must have his type set here and his book made here. The bill was defeated. At the next session, having acquired a more extensive knowledge of parliamentary practice and Congressional methods, I again introduced the Copyright Bill, had it referred to the Judiciary Committee, and at the same time introduced a similar measure, which was sent to the Committee on Patents, so that, if it failed in one committee, I would have an additional chance of getting it out of the other committee. Just as I had expected, the bill was killed in the Judiciary Committee; but I succeeded in having the duplicate called from the Committee on Patents. When Chairman Simonds of that committee reported the bill I asked him to move the previous question. At first he hesitated, but finally he acquiesced in my wishes, and the bill passed and became a law. Congressman Simonds is glad now that he moved the previous question on the Copyright Bill - not that he has any love for the printers, but because the French Government has awarded him the medal of the Legion of Honor for the prominent part he took in having such a meritorious measure enacted into law. Simonds has been a friend of trade unions ever since. In I88i there was a reduction of wages in the Government Printing Office. John Farquhar and I worked hard to have the wages restored. It took two 'Hon. John M. Farquhar represented the Thirty-second (Buffalo. N. Y.) District in the Forty-ninth, Fiftieth and Fifty-first Congresses (I885-I89I). He was president of the National Typographical Union in I860-2. OTHER PROMINENT MEMBERS. 653 and a half hours' sharp fighting in Committee of the Whole, but we were successful in getting the restoration bill through. I was a factor in passing the bill known as the Contract Labor Law. It was passed to prevent the importation of foreign contract labor. It has stopped the business so far as coal mining and manufacturing are concerned. There are some deficiencies in the law yet. The theatrical employees' unions and the musical unions want it amended. As it now stands, when a German student, or one of those fellows that "swill" beer along the Rhine, desires to come here for the summer, all he has to do is to get a saxaphone or some other kind of musical instrument, call himself an artist, and is allowed to land. We want to prevent this. An Eight-Hour Law was enacted in I868. It had been violated in the navy yards and arsenals, where the men were compelled to work ten hours a day. When General Grant took office as President he insisted upon the enforcement of the law, but the men did not get additional pay for the extra two hours a day they had worked. I introduced a bill to compensate them for this extra service. Holman, of Indiana, asked, " How much money will it take out of the Treasury? " I said, " None of your business! These men are entitled to the money, and the Government should pay its just debts." The bill was lost. In the succeeding Congressional session I introduced a bill allowing these men to go to the Court of Claims and ask to be compensated. The measure was lost every time it was introduced, but we will keep putting it in until it is passed. We have succeeded in passing an amendment to the Eight-Hour Law, requiring all contractors on Government work to employ their men not more than eight hours a day and give them a full day's pay. Dozens of bills of interest to Labor have come before Congress since I have been there. I have watched them- and presented arguments in their favor. Last session in the Sundry Civil Bill there was a clause that would have repealed the Eight-Hour Law. I called Chairman Dockery's attention to it, and had it stricken out. I thank you for your kind reception, and I hope that the Typographical Union will, like the country, soon get on the road to prosperity, and flourish like a green bay tree. Amos Jay Cummings passed away in the city of Baltimore on May 2, I902. The funeral obsequies were held in the House of Representatives on May 4th, and the interment was in the cemetery near his boyhood home in Irvington. It was said of him that he was "a good partisan, but better American. He was broad-gauged in both politics and religion. A Republican House paid him the unusual tribute of a public funeral, albeit he was a Democrat, and a distinguished Catholic prelate participated in his funeral services, although he was a Protestant." Memorial services in his honor were held in Carnegie Hall, New York City, on June 22, I902, under the auspices of Typographical Union No. 6. James J. Murphy, vice-chairman of the Memorial Committee, was master of ceremonies. Among those who addressed the large assemblage were Hon. John W. Keller, ex-president of the New York Press Club; Gen. James R. O'Beirne, Congressmen James M. Robinson, of Indiana; David H. 654 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Mercer, of Nebraska, and John Sharp Williams, of Mississippi; the Rev. L. J. Evers, pastor of St. Andrew's Catholic Church, New York; the Rev. Philip Markham Kerridge, vicar of the Pro-Cathedral, New York, and President Marsden G. Scott, Robert M. Campbell and Owen J. Kindelon, of No. 6. At the convention of the International Typographical Union in Cincinnati, 0., on August 12, I902, the following resolutions were adopted by a rising vote: Whereas, In the death of Hon. Amos J. Cummings the International Typographical Union of North America loses one of its most able and ardent supporters, and the working classes in general a loyal and true friend; therefore, be it Resolved, That the International Typographical Union, in convention assembled, hereby expresses its heartfelt sympathy at the death of this highly esteemed and sympathetic co-worker by rising and remaining silent with bowed heads for a period of one minute; be it further Resolved, That we convey to the widow of the dead Congressman our sincere condolence in her great bereavement, and that a page of the minutes be set apart in honor of our esteemed friend. Foremost among the great editors and news gatherers of this country was John C. Reid, who was also a thorough printer and possessed extraordinary ability and superior judgment as a John C. political counselor. He was at one time a member Reid. of Typographical Union No. 6, joining on March 3, I868, and continuing his activity in union affairs until January 9, 1873, when he applied for and received an honorable withdrawal card, having then permanently retired from the printing trade. Mr. Reid was born in Kenosha, Wis., in I839. In his youth he went to Chicago, and as he himself once said in referring to that early event of his life, " I was so tall and thin that I was a perfect type of the awkward and gawky backwoodsman." His education was obtained in a country school, but he had that sort of determination and spirit which enabled him, like many other Americans of similar humble beginning, to achieve success in a chosen field. He started life as a printers' apprentice on a Chicago newspaper, speedily becoming a finished compositor, and at the opening of the Civil War began to make his influence felt in municipal politics. After serving a brief period in an Illinois regiment he re-enlisted for the remainder of the Rebellion in an Ohio regiment, of which he was quartermaster-sergeant. While engaged as acting quartermaster he was captured by Confederate raiders and sent to Andersonville Prison. As he was being conveyed into the pen he overheard one of the guards, who had recognized him as a brother typo, remark to a OTHER PROMINENT MEMBERS. companion: " Hello, there's John Reid!.Poor fellow, he won't last long in such a place as this!" Measuring more than six feet in height, and, as he quaintly described himself, "thinner than a split rail," Mr. Reid thought there was little wonder that the guard felt certain that consumption would claim him before an exchange could be effected. The remark of the Southern soldier caused the young prisoner of war to do some serious thinking, and he was a captive but a short time before he began planning to escape. Within a few months he managed to get outside of the stockade by tunneling, and, assisted by friendly negroes, he reached the Union lines greatly emaciated after the privations he had endured both at Andersonville and during the period following his escape. Mr. Reid returned to his trade at the end of the war, obtaining a situation on the Chicago Times, but he found the political conditions in that city so changed that he came East, and after drifting about for a time began work as a compositor on the New York Times. His competency and thoroughness as a workman led to his advancement to a position as proofreader, in which place the superiority of his work attracted the attention of Louis J. Jennings, then editor-inchief. In 187i he was promoted to the night editorship of the Times and showed such a remarkable " scent for news " and made so many practical suggestions about gathering and handling news - no one in the profession knowing its value better than he -that in I872 he was made managing news editor, serving in that capacity until the spring of 1889, when he discontinued his services with the paper. During his connection with the Times, and particularly after he had organized the staff of correspondents which originally gave that journal a reputation for accuracy as a chronicler of matters of a political character, Mr. Reid's advice was constantly sought by members of both the National and State Republican Committees, and his judgment was usually correct. He was best known to the public at large because of his association with the Tilden-Hayes campaign in 1876, setting on foot; before dawn of the day after the casting of the votes, the movement that ended in the seating of the Republican nominee by the Electoral Commission. Early in the morning succeeding the general election he wrote an article declaring that Rutherford B. Hayes had been elected to the Presidency. That day it was printed in the Times, which was the only paper in the United States that thus early claimed the election of Hayes over Tilden. Telegrams from correspondents, coupled with inquiries sent to the Times office by W. H. Barnum, then the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, led Mr. Reid to doubt whether Florida, Louis 656 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. iana and South Carolina had been carried by the Democrats as they claimed, and he announced that the Republicans had triumphed. After the Times had gone to press Mr. Reid hastened to the Fifth Avenue Hotel, the headquarters of the Republican National Committee, to confer with Zachariah Chandler, its chairman. Instead, he met William E. Chandler, of New Hampshire, secretary of the committee, who was about to start for home firmly convinced of Samuel J. Tilden's election. To him Mr. Reid communicated his belief, and orders were immediately dispatched to claim the three States for Hayes, which effort eventually resulted in the Republicans getting their electoral votes, they being absolutely necessary to the election of Hayes. For the part that Mr. Reid took in that historic incident he never asked for nor received any political remuneration. As a matter of fact, he declined the proffer of the post of United States Marshal for the District of New York. Upon severing his connection with the Times Mr. Reid went to England, where in i889 he became managing editor of the London edition of the New York Herald. When that paper was discontinued he came back to America, resting for a year on the Pacific Coast. He was afterward associated editorially with the New York Recorder, New York World, and finally with the New Haven (Conn.) Palladium. Not finding his work as managing editor on the New England newspaper congenial he returned to New York City and accepted a place as confidential assistant and manager with the Republican State Committee, which position he held at the time of his death, on January 25, I897. Through the masterly leadership of President John R. O'Donnell Typographical Union No. 6 was in i883 completely resuscitated from the straits into which it had been precipitated by John R. the panic of the seventies. When he assumed the O'Donnell. presidency in January of that year many of the newspaper offices and most of the book and job printing establishments were conducted without regard to the wage scale or terms of employment. He inaugurated a new era in the trade unionism of his craft, with few exceptions unifying the trade of the whole city, so far as the newspaper branch was concerned, and instilling vigor into the book and job section. His first aim was to improve the numerical strength of the union, and in a single year, as an outcome of his persistent crusade, no less than i,6io recruits were added to the membership rolls. Then marshaling his forces he pursued an active and efficient campaign, unionizing offices, raising wages, securing agreements with employers, and otherwise OTHER PROMINENT MEMBERS. 657 amending the depressed state of affairs into which the union had fallen. Though re-elected to the presidency in I884 he was very soon thereafter appointed assistant night editor of the New York Herald, and thereupon resigned as the executive head of the printers' organization. It was during his administration that " Big Six's" long conflict with the Tribune began. He planned to gain the influence of the Republican party, whose principles the Tribune expounded, to the end of victory for the organized printers, but his transfer to editorial work changed his personal relations to these matters. His successors, however, carried out his ideas, and after a dispute of nine years the struggle came to a satisfactory conclusion. In the i89i convention of the International Typographical Union he headed the delegation that was chosen by No. 6, of which he remained an active member until December 8, I897, when he was granted an honorable withdrawal card. Mr. O'Donnell was born in Buffalo, N. Y., on September I3, I854. He accompanied his parents to Wheeling, W. Va., and when a mere child he obtained employment as a press-boy in the office of the Register in that city, afterward acquiring the printers' trade there. Leaving Wheeling when he was I 7 years of age he set type for newspapers in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Buffalo and Albany before going to New York City, where he deposited with No. 6, on August 3I, 1876, a traveling card issued by the Capital City Typographical Union. Upon his arrival in the Metropolis he immediately obtained employment in the Herald composing room. During the remainder of his life Mr. O'Donnell continued in the employ of the Herald. He was promoted to the position of night editor after serving successfully as assistant, and on July 24, I903, he was made news editor, holding the latter post until ill health caused his retirement in i909, his death occurring on October 5th of that year. The New York Herald of October 6, i909, paid this tribute to his memory: Like many men who have made their mark, Mr. O'Donnell began life at the printers' case. Of exceptional native force and ability, a voracious reader and gifted with a truly phenomenal memory, he early acquired an education, hard bought, but wider than that usually obtained in universities, since it embraces a profound knowledge not merely of books, but of men. A born leader, he became while still a young man the president of Typographical Union No. 6, and conspicuous in the labor organizations of the country. Taking up the study of law, he was graduated from the Columbia School and admitted to the Bar. Although he never practiced. his knowledge of the sources and fundamental principles of the law was deep and thorough and stood him in good stead when 25 years 658 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. ago he was transferred from the composing room of the Herald to the editorial staff, as a member of which he gave faithful and efficient service in every position to which he was assigned and won the affection and esteem of all his associates. It was the luminous intellect of John W. Touhey that lent force and piquancy to the literary side of the uplift campaign directed by President O'Donnell for Typographical Union John W. No. 6 in 1883. Mr. Touhey assumed the editorial Touhey. management of The Boycotter when that organ was started by the union, and its columns continually gleamed with the effective effusions wrought by his facile pen. Both in the seventies and the eighties he took an active part in matters pertaining to the union. He learned the printing art in Chenango County, N. Y., and went to New York City in I869, on the fifth of January, that year, affiliating with No. 6. Many important duties were performed by him in the interest of the membership, whom he ably represented at the International Typographical Union convention that assembled in St. Louis in I882. Mr. Touhey was a man of remarkable attainments, and for a long term of years prior to I888 was associated with the New York Shoe and Leather Reporter, a trade journal of commanding influence, in a responsible editorial capacity. He was of Irish extraction and the captivating wit and ingenuous philosophy characteristic of that people were extraordinarily developed in his nature. For years he conducted the " Phosphorescence" column of the Reporter, which glistened each week with the kindly, pervasive humor of which he was so thorough a master. In i888 he was afflicted with a severe illness, and was compelled to relinquish his editorial duties. For twelve years he was an invalid and on November i8, 900o, he passed away in the little hamlet of King's Settlement, near Norwich, Chenango County, N.Y., where he had been living in retirement with relatives. His editorial associates and union printers still remember him with feelings of sincere affection, and he was a favorite of and highly esteemed by men connected with the leather trade. A compositor writing over the signature of " Card No. 39 " in the New York Unionist of November 24, I900, spoke thus eloquently of the life and character of Mr. Touhey: In the Shoe and Leather Reporter of Thursday last appeared a highly appreciative obituary of an old friend - John W. Touhey. Mr. Touhey occupied a high position in the editorial department of that publication up to 1888, when he retired to his home in Chenango County, where he spent the remainder of his days. The high esteem expressed in that article is well deserved and cannot but be pleasing to his many friends. But there was another phase in his life which will bring him nearer to the readers of the Unionist - his earnest steadfastness in the cause of organized labor and the yeoman service rendered by his pen in that OTHER PROMINENT MEMBERS. 659 cause. In the old Boycotter - that unique publication which has never had a compeer - his peculiar abilities had full scope and were not hampered as in the business periodical. All the " common people," as he termed them, were his friends, and his pen was quick with kindly counsel and compassion for the oppressed, while for the oppressor his sentences seemed to be moulded with the sledge-hammer and the battle-axe. During his editorial career on The Boycotter he made hosts of friends and admirers, not only among those with whom he came into personal contact, but among the thousands who read his articles and looked up to him as a leader worthy of an earnest following. A member of Typographical Union No. 6 from the day he landed in New York with the hayseeds of Chenango County still about him and took cases under Hugh Hastings on the old Commercial Advertiser, to his death, he devoted much of his energy to the success of that organization; and in the long contest during which The Boycotter was the printers' organ he soon rose to the surface among the 3,000 members as the one best fitted to " carry the war into Africa," as he expressed it. And he did. In those days he was a recognized power in the union, respected by those who differed with him as to methods. In the columns of The Boycotter he found room for words of sympathy for the struggling employees of other trades, and many of the old leaders in other organizations than the printing fraternity will read of his death with a kind remembrance of the man who always found time to help the oppressed and fight the oppressor. John W. Touhey was genial and pleasant in social life almost to a fault. His active life was short - brought to a standstill by affliction before it reached its full power - but the impress which it left in those few years more than equalled many longer lives. Wesley Washington Pasko, who became a charter member of Troy (N. Y.) Typographical Union No. 52 on July 26, i860, and was its first recording secretary, affiliated with Typographical Union No. 6 in I859, subsequently taking Wesley a foremost part in the latter's councils. He was Washington born in Waterloo, N. Y., on January 4, i840, and Pasko. commenced to set type in Utica at the age of 15 years. After an experience of four years in a country printing office he proceeded to New York City, where he was employed as a compositor on the Tribune until January, I860, when he went to Troy, in which place, he worked for awhile at his trade, and assisted in the formation of the first union of printersin that city. On January 5, I86I, he returned to New York City and deposited his traveling card with No. 6, but again took awithdrawal certificate in the succeeding March. About that time he went to Charleston, S. C., as a representative of the Tribune, and while there his connection with that paper caused him to be apprehended as an Abolitionist. He considered himself quite fortunate at being discharged from custody with only an admonition to leave town. Going back to the Metropolis in 1862 he resumed his membership in the organization of compositors 660 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. there, and, with the exception of a few years spent in Albany, when he was attached to the typographical union in that city, he remained a member of "Big Six" until the early seventies. In the Civil War he served as a private in the Sixteenth New York Heavy Artillery, taking part in the fighting near Richmond during the peninsular campaign. Mr. Pasko was endowed with rare literary talents. Shortly after the Rebellion closed he went to Albany, and for two years performed editorial work on newspapers in that city, as well as in Troy. At that period he also assisted in the task of codifying the school laws of New York, and subsequently aided in the preparation of reports for the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Following this work he wrote " Men Who Advertise," and was afterward engaged as editor of the "Albion," succeeding Richard H. Stoddard. In I872 he was again an attach6 of the Tribune, but later embarked in the printing business in Beekman street, New York City, where he published several trade papers. He sold his plant in I879 and went to Cincinnati as editor in a publishing house. Beginning in i880 his time for three years was devoted to writing a number of books, principally local histories and biographies. Returning to New York City in 1883 he wrote extensively on technical subjects for printing trade journals. From I889 to i891 he edited " Old New York," a publication relating to the history and antiquities of the Metropolis. His most important task was the production of the "American Dictionary of Printing and Bookmaking," published by Howard Lockwood & Co. in I894, preparing the most of that standard work and carrying it to completion within four years. Mr. Pasko was a leading member of the Typothetae of the City of New York, composed of employing printers. He was chosen as its librarian in I885 and subsequently was elected recording secretary. Considerable pioneer work was done by him in the formation of various local Typothetas, and he assisted in organizing the master printers of Newark, N. J., only a short while before his death, which occurred on December 15, I897. At the time of his demise his home was in Caldwell, N. J., of which borough he was once Mayor. Hon. George Wilbur Peck, formerly Governor of Wisconsin, was for some time a member of Union No. 6, which in Governor 900o granted him an honorable withdrawal card. Peck of Under date of August o1, 900o, the distinguished Wisconsin. statesman-printer-editor-humorist addressed from the city of Milwaukee the following letter of appreciation to " Big Six:" OTHER PROMINENT MEMBERS. 66i New York Tyog'-aphzcal Union No. 6: GENtSmEEN:- I have received the withdrawal card which old No. 6 through its officers was kind enough to grant me, and shall have it framed and placed in my library, where it shall remain as long as I live. After that the boys can take turns having it in their homes. I thank you and the present officers of No. 6, and I will always be ready to respond to any call. When the printers get in trouble, and the finances run low from any cause - from epidemic, strike, panic, or anything that can happen - consider me as one of those who will gladly contribute towards making some one happy. Very truly yours, GEORGE W. PECK. George Wilbur Peck was born in Henderson, N. Y., on September 28, I840. He removed with his parents to Wisconsin in 1843. His public school education was completed in 1855, when he became a printers' apprentice, and in the course of four years he was a fullfledged journeyman. Serving two and one-half years during the Civil War in the Fourth Wisconsin Cavalry, he was mustered out of the service as a lieutenant. Founding the La Crosse (Wisconsin) Sun in 1874, he removed it to Milwaukee in 1878 and called it Peck's Sun, which became noted for its humorous sketches and particularly the " Peck's Bad Boy " series. He also wrote a number of interesting books. As a Democrat he was elected Mayor of Milwaukee for the years I890-I, and was Governor of Wisconsin from I891 to I895. Among the men who early became members of Typographical Union No. 6, inscribing their names in its first constitution and afterward attaining renown, was Isaac W. England. In 1853 he was particularly active in the movement Isaac W. to improve the economic condition of printers en- England. gaged in the book and job branches of the trade. His life was subsequently a very busy one in newspaper offices. He was born in the small village of Tiverton, a suburb of Bath, England, on February i6, 1832. His father, George King England, was a cloth worker, superintendent of one of the woolen mills in that section. When very young the boy was compelled to assist in the support of his mother and sister. At the age of 13 he was apprenticed to John Diplock, who conducted a bookbindery in Trowbridge, a market town in the valley of the River Bliss, ten miles southeast of Bath. The indenture was to run until Mr. England's 2Ist year and his wages were fixed at the modest sum of three shillings per month. He served Mr. Diplock faithfully for a period of four years and during that time often worked far into the night in an endeavor to support his mother and sister, who slept at the other 62 NEW YORK TYPOGRPHI CAL UTNION NUMBER SIX. end of a small room curtained off from his little workshop. At the age of I7 Mr. Diplock released him from his apprenticeship and he came to the United States to seek his fortune. On arriving in this country he proceeded to Providence, R. I., in which city he went to work at his trade. Subsequently, going to New York City, he found employment with the firm of Baker, Godwin & Co., master printers. So well did he succeed that at the end of three years he was able to return on a visit to his birthplace. He repaired at once to Mr. Diplock's bookbindery, and after paying his former employer for the loss of his time and services, doffed his coat and demonstrated to his old comrades the improved method of lettering and embossing, as practiced in America. This episode in his life was something that Mr. England took much pleasure in recounting, and he never wearied of telling how greatly astonished the Englishmen were to observe the extent to which the Yankees were in advance of them in that branch of the printing art. After a stay of two months in the land of his nativity Mr. England returned to this country, and during the voyage, which was made in the steerage, he gathered data for a series of articles that he afterward wrote on the transportation of immigrants. These were printed in the New York Tribune and in pamphlet form. Their publication helped to arouse public indignation against the brutal treatment inflicted upon aliens on ocean vessels, and influenced the abolition of the inhuman system that for years had been practiced on immigrant ships. Upon his return fromn England he resumed employment with Baker, Godwin & Co., and later procured a situation on the Tribune, pulling a hand press at $io per week. Young England's ambition was boundless, however, and he longed for an opportunity to obtain employment in the editorial department of the paper, but, owing to the necessity of having to work hard all day in the printing office, he at first could not see his way clear to gratify his aspirations. His frequent applications for a position as newswriter having been refused, he at last forced recognition by spending his evenings in the streets gathering information and handing into the editorial department carefully prepared articles on what he saw. With such industry, alertness and good judgment did he pursue this plan that he was soon recognized as a valuable man on the paper. Finally one of Greeley's lieutenants went to the editor-in-chief and said: " Horace, we have a young man pulling a hand press at $io per week downstairs who ought to be up here in the editorial department. He is turning in articles that are wonderfully well written OTHER PROMINENT MEMBERS. 663 and he should be given a chance." Greeley sent for Mr. England, put him to work at once as a reporter, and in less than three years he was appointed city editor of the Tribune. The friendship thus formed between the two men lasted until the day of Greeley's death. In fact, Mr. England endeavored to have Mr. Greeley taken to his summer home in Ridgewood, N. J., to spend his last days with him. He remained on the Tribune for several years, and when he severed his connection with it he was a thorough newspaper man. Next he went to Chicago, where he became associate editor of the Republican, afterward the Inter-Ocean. Returning to the East within a year he assumed the management of the Jersey City Times until i868, when he joined with Charles A. Dana and his associates in the purchase of the New York Sun from the Moses S. Beach estate, and that newspaper was immediately popularized under the new management, soon gaining a large circulation and profitable advertising patronage. During the first year of his connection with the Sun Mr. England was managing editor, but in I869 he was selected as its publisher, remaining in charge of the business department during the rest of his life. Under his management the Sun for many years paid annual dividends of more than Ioo per cent and prospered exceedingly. Mr. England's business relations with " Big Six" were always cordial. During the panic period of the seventies the union reduced the schedule of prices on morning newspapers. When the officers notified the management of the Sun of the change they were informed that the newspaper was in such a prosperous condition that it could afford to pay the old wage scale and would continue to do so, notwithstanding the action of the union in reducing it. This generosity on the part of Publisher England and Editor-in-Chief Dana was thoroughly appreciated by union printers, who still refer to the occasion as among the most important events in the history of their organization. When Frank Leslie (whose publications pleased the public taste more than 30 years ago) went into bankruptcy in I877, Mr. England was made assignee. Under his able management the debts of the firm, amounting to $250,000, were paid off in three years, and when the business was turned over to Frank Leslie's widow it was earning a clear profit of $25,000 per year. Though never having had a day's schooling after the age of-I3, Mr. England was an assiduous reader and few men were so well posted as he on topics of every nature. He was twice married, the first time to Miss Evelyn Colston, who died in I87I, and by whom 664 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. he had four children. In the following year he was wedded to Mrs. Paddock. By this union there was one child, a son. For 20 years Mr. England lived in Bergen County, N. J., where he was widely known for his public spirit and charitable disposition. He died in Ridgewood on April 25, 1885. While engaged in editorial work on the Tribune Mr. England formed an endearing friendship with Charles A. Dana that continued through the remainder of his life. Speaking of the demise of his old friend and business associate Mr. Dana wrote as follows in an editorial which appeared in the Sun of April 26, i885: Isaac W. England, who for the last seventeen years has had charge of the business department of this journal, died yesterday afternoon at his home in Ridgewood, N. J. He was not yet an old man and his vigorous and energetic appearance seemed to promise a long life; yet for some months he had been a sufferer from rheumatism and when the disease passed from the extremities to the heart his power of resistance gave way. In his death we lose the friend of almost a lifetime, a man of unconquerable integrity, true and faithful in all things. During 30 years that we have been continually associated with him both as a journalist and a man of business, he has never been wanting in his duty towards his principles, his friends, or the community in which he lived. Born in England, he came to the United States at an early age, and no native of this land was ever more thoroughly an American. His heart was warm, his intelligence was strong, his devotion to his convictions and his obligations immovable. To lose such a man from among the living seems an irreparable misfortune, and we bid him farewell with sorrow deep and earnest. Isaac W. England's character is best summed up in the following letter, which was sent to the editor of the Sun by J. H. Bates on April 28, i885: I assisted to-day to place in lasting rest Mr. Isaac W. England, now for so long the publisher of the Sun, and before the plenteous flowers strewn on his grave are faded I ask a little space where, with a few rough strokes, I may sketch him as he seemed to me. He was a manly man, cast in generous mould, so that his faculties, manners, habits, whatever pertained to him, became noticeable and impressive, and he took rank at once anywhere as a strong masculine nature, worthy to be listened to, and not easily to be put aside. His intellectual powers were of a high order. With greater mental placidity and evenness he would have approached our Franklin, for his intuitions were clear and profound and his mind philosophical. He owed almost nothing to early instruction; was, as fully as any man may be, self-made, yet his best-informed associates constantly found cause to marvel at the extent of his knowledge, for he seemed to have given study and reflection to almost all themes of human interest. His impulses were high and noble. The errors and vices of society saddened and distressed him. His sentiments toward woman were pure and chivalric. He instinctively took the side of the weak against the strong and longed to see men OTHER PROMINENT MEMBERS. 665 grow better. He hated cant, hypocrisy, duplicity, all meannesses, with a steady, angry impatience of them, loved and practiced sincerity, openness, plain speaking and dealing. "I have been trying to think," said a friend of his to-day who knew him long and well, " how England would have treated a man who should come to him with a mean proposal of any kind,"- meaning by this what form his indignation would take. No honester man ever lived. There are thousands of men whose honesty may be swerved if the motives are strenuous enough. No one ever imagined it of his, for it was fundamental and ingrained in his character. He was generous - if one may be so - to a fault. Sorrow and need were ready passports to his heart. He corrected the errors and chid the faults of the necessitous with biting speech, with tears in his eyes, and a helping hand. He stood, and this is the sum of all, a true man in his appointed place, doing all duties honestly and to the best of his might, and his course ended in honor. He sleeps well amid the rural scenes he loved with so much natural heartiness, while the world is poorer by the loss of a sincere man. Hon. Joseph J. Little, president of one of the largest printing and bookbinding companies in, New York City, was for a time connected with No. 6, joining it on September 19, i863, taking a leading part in the discussion of economic sub- Honorable jects at its meetings, and assisting in efforts to Joseph J. advance the well-being of his fellow-workers. Mr. Little. Little was born in Bristol, England, on June 5, I84I. He came to the United States in 1847, settling with his parents in Morris, Otsego County, N. Y., where he was educated in the district school, and at the age of 14 years was apprenticed to a local printer. At 17 he went to New York City, completing his trade there. When he was 24 he became foreman of a printing establishment, and in 1867 embarked in business for himself. His career as an employing printer has been marked with uninterrupted success. In public life his undertakings have been equally auspicious. In 1891-3 he was a Member of Congress and performed excellent service for his constituency during his term in the House of Representatives. For several years previous to the passage of the act that consolidated the various localities into the present municipality, with its five boroughs, he was a School Commissioner in New York City. In i89g, as chairman of the Committee on Buildings, Commissioner Little reorganized the building department of the board and greatly improved the quality of school buildings in the Metropolis. After the founding of Greater New York he was twice President of the Department of Education. Mr. Little was an early member of the New York Typothetae and was its president some years back. He frequently represented the local organization of employing printers at the conventions of the 666 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. United Typothetae of America. In I898 he was a member of the delegation of five from the latter association that met in conference in Syracuse with representatives of the International Typographical Union, International Printing Pressmen and Assistants' Union and the International Brotherhood of Bookbinders, which meeting unanimously decided upon the inauguration on November 21, 1899, of the nine-hour working day for book and job printers throughout the United States and Canada. In 1906 he withdrew from the Typothetae and granted his workmen the eight-hour day. Joining the Thirty-seventh New York Regiment in 1861, Mr. Little volunteered in 1862 with that military organization to engage in the Civil War when President Lincoln called for emergency troops, and he served in all grades from private to first lieutenant. Two of the oldest ex-presidents of the union are still men of vigorous physical constitutions and sound mentality and continue to engage actively in business affairs. Hugh Dalton, Presidents of the older of these former executives, was born in Typographical Ireland in 1839, and is therefore 72 years of age. Union No. 6. He came to America with his parents in 1841. After receiving a common school education in New York City he entered a printing office and served a seven years' apprenticeship in the book and job branch. He joined the union on May 9, 1863, in which year he obtained employment on the Daily News, and was soon promoted to the assistant foremanship of its composing room. He resigned that place in i866, but again resumed it in 1867. In i868 he was appointed foreman and remained in that position for 30 years. At present he is employed on the day force of the New York Herald. Mr. Dalton enjoys the distinction of being the only member who has been honored by No. 6 with four consecutive terms as president, he having successfully performed the duties of that office from 1873 to I877. Twice the union elected him a delegate to International Typographical Union conventions -in 1871 in Baltimore and in 1876 in Philadelphia. Owing to President Dalton's unerring judgment and foresight five of the largest firms in the book and job trade accepted a revised scale of prices proposed by the union in June, I876, at the height of the industrial depression, that schedule being a slight reduction on previous rates. Through the logic of his argument on that occasion a large number of union compositors were kept in employment. This was accomplished when other employers were antagonizing the printers' organization. In I876 he was the recipient of a costly gold watch and chain from No. 6 as a testimonial OTHER PROMINENT MEMBERS. 667 of the valuable services he had rendered the membership. He holds Card No. i in the union. Mannis J. Geary is the other erstwhile president referred to. He was chosen in March, I884, to fill the unexpired term occasioned by the resignation of John R. O'Donnell, and also went as a delegate from No. 6 to the International Typographical Union convention held in Kansas City in I888. Born in Ireland on September 13, I844, in I848 he settled with his parents in New York City, where he started to learn typesetting in I856 with Davies & Roberts at No. 113 Nassau street. Obtaining a situation in I860 on the Brooklyn Standard, then a weekly newspaper, he worked for two weeks at the case, and was then advanced to the foremanship of the composing room. After the Civil War he was employed for a few weeks on the New York World, but relinquished his situation there when an attempt was made to reduce the wage scale. Then he set type for awhile in the office of George F. Nesbitt & Co., and finally went to the New York Herald, in the composing room of which paper he was foreman for 20 years. Several years ago he was placed on the retired list of the Herald Company, but continues to act as a member of its Board of Control. On April 18, i86i, Mr. Geary enrolled in Company A, Fourteenth New York State Militia, and he was mustered into the United States service on May 23, I86I. His term as a soldier in the Union Army expired on June 6, 1864, when he received an honorable discharge. Among the important engagements in which he took part were the battles of Bull Run and the Wilderness. In September, I864, he raised a company in the Twenty-eighth New York State Militia, was commissioned captain and mustered into the Federal Army for Ioo days' service. At the expiration of that term he started to raise another company for three years' service, but the war ended, and his recruiting efforts consequently ceased. He was admitted to No. 6 in September, I865, and still holds a membership card, which is No. 4. On the succeeding page is a complete roster of the presidents of No. 6, with the length of their official terms: 668 NEW YORK TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION NUMBER SIX. Presidents of New York Typographical Union No 6. DURATION OF SERVICE. NAME. From- ToI. Horace Greeley........................ January, 1850..... January, I851 2. Franklin J. Ottarson................ January, I851......January, 1853 3. Jeremiah Gray2..................... January, I853......May, 1853 4. Charles F. Town................... May, I853......January, 1854 5. Thomas J. Walsh.................... January, I854.......January, 1856 6. William L. Stubbs................... January, I856......January, 1857 7. William B. McManus............... January, 857......January, 1858 8. Charles B. Smith................... January, I858......January, 1859 9. Charles W. Colburn................ January, 859......January, 86 io. Patrick H. Browne.................. January, I86o......January, I86I II. John L. Brown..................... January, I86......January, 1862 12. Michael H. McNamara.............. January, I862......January, 1863 I3. Henry M. Failing..................... January, I863......January, 1864 14. Edward A. Holmes................... January, I864......January, 1865 I5. Theodore S. Conklin................. January, I865......January, 1866 I6. Robert McKechnie.................... January, I866......January, I868 17. Thomas T. Sutliffe2.................. January, 1868......May, 1868 I8. William Stirk........................ May, I868......January, 1870 19. Charles B. Smith................... January, I870......January, 1871 20. Gilbert Vale......................... January,87......January, 1872 21. Robert McKechnie.................. January, I872......January, 1873 22. Hugh Dalton........................ January, I873......January, 1877 23. William White...................... January, 1877......January, 1878 24. John A. Ganong..................... January, I878......January, 1879 25. David Kells.......................... January, I879......January, I880 26. Charles B. Smith..................... January, I880......January, I88I 27. George A. McKay.............. Januaanuary,88....January, 1883 28. John R. O'Donnell2.................. January, 1883......March, 1884 29. Mannis J. Geary..................... March, I884......January, 1885 30. James M. Duncan.................... January, I885......January, 1886 31. Everett Glackin...................... January, I886......January, 1888 32. James M. Duncan.................... January, I888......January, 1889 33. William E. Boselly................... January, I889......April, 1890 34. Charles J. Dumas.................... April, 1890...... April, 1891 35. William J. Brennan................... April, I89......April, 1892 36. John A. Kenney...................... April, 1892......April, i893 37. James J. Murphy.................... April, 893......August, 1895 38. Samuel B. Donnelly............ August, I895....August, 1898 39. James P. Farrell.................... August, I898......August, 1899 40. John H. Delaney.................... August, I899......August, 1900 41. James P. Rahal.................... August, 9goo......June, 1901 42. Marsden G. Scott.................... June, 19go......June, 1903 43. Patrick H. McCormick................ June, 1903......June, 1906 44. James J. Murphy.................... June, 906......June, 1908 45. James Tole......................... June, 9o8......June, 191I 46. Charles M. Maxwell................. June, 1911...... 2 Resigned. INDEX [669] 0 INDEX. PAGE Abolition petitions, objection to by Congressman Ely Moore in I839... i88 Abolitionist party, organization of................................... i88 A ctors........................................................... 31 Adams, Charles A................................................. I4 John........................................................ 634 President John Quincy......................................... 97 Address issued by the National Convention of Journeymen Printers in I850 570 Agreement of international unions in 1898 with the Typothetae for a shorter working day............................. 376 Typographical Union No. 98 with the Brooklyn Eagle.... 405 Agreement of Union No. 6 -in 1883 with the New York Tribune............................. 387 1894 with the New York Tribune............................. 395 I897 with the Typothetae for the nine-and-one-half-hour working day................................................ 374 1899 with the Typothetae as to overtime in all-machine offices... 342 1902 with the Typothetae as to wage scale...................... 343 I906 with the Brooklyn Eagle................................ 406 A hern, Jam es..................................................... 329 Aim ison, W illiam................................................. 497 Albany Argus, letter regarding prison labor printed in the.............. 517 Evening Journal............................................... 00oo Printers' Union............................................... 225 Register..................................................... 98 Sentinel..................................................... 38 Typographical Society.................................... n. 50, 64 Albany Typographical Union - mentioned........................ 3, n. 206, n. 302, 520, 583, 598, 657 remonstrance of, against contract printing in prisons.............. 516 Albaugh, F. A........................................... 266, 268, 582 Albion. (See New York Albion.) Alden, Henry M., letter from, read at the Greeley centenary exercises... 637 Allied Printing Trades........................................ 392, 566 Allied Printing Trades Council - m entioned........................................... 521, 558, 562 objects of the................................................ 513 union labels of the............................................. 511-I2 Allied Printing Trades Council, Statedelegates from Union No. 6 at the first convention of the........... 584 formation in 1897 of the........................................ 584 names of the first officers of the................................. 584 objects of the.............................................. 584 Ailing, Mrs. Julia A...................6...................... 55, 6I2 Alvord, C. A.................................. 297 Amalgamated Trades and Labor Union of New York City......... 390, 593-4 American Anti-Slavery Society...................................... i88 Bible Society.... 267 Citizen. (See New York American Citizen.) [6711 672 INDEX. American Federation of Labor - PAGE mentioned.................................... 561, 566, n. 585, 613-14 New York State Branch of the............................ 520, 591 petition of the, in favor of woman suffrage....................... n. 430 American Newspaper Publishers' Association - arbitration agreement of the International Typographical Union with the............................................... 344 of 907 wage scale by Union No. 6 with the.................. 355 19IO wage scale by Union No. 6 with the.................. 359 m entioned.................................................... 360 American Printers' Union, formation of an, urged in I849............ 568 Scenic and Historic Preservation Society................ 636 (See New York American.) Tract Society................................................98, 267 Type Founders Company..................................... iv Unitarian Society............................................. 304 Amnesty of the National Typographical Union increases the membership of Union No. 6 in I868..................................... 416 union printers in i833 proclaim a general........................ 144 Ancient customs practiced by modern printers........................ 20 Anderson, James B........................................... io6, 138 W. J......................................................379-81 Andrews, Charles H............................................... 146 of M ack & Andrews........................................... 8 S. W....................................... 41 Anthony, Miss Susan B................ 429, n. 430, 433-4 Anti-Slavery Society, the American.................................. 88 Appleton & Co............................................... 300, 307 Apprentices - admission of, to Union No. 6 as probationary members............. 455 employment of runaway, in the thirties.......................... 108 forbidden to work overtime on newspapers....................... 463 indenturing of, on newspapers required by the International Typographical Union in 1887.................................... 460 initiation of, in the chapel...................................... 128 machine-tenders', wage scale of............................. 462, 465 printers', initiation of, into trade mysteries....................... I25 proportion of, increased in book and job offices in 902............. 461 State law relative to.......................................... 455 the 1850 National Convention of Journeymen Printers requests employers to indenture....................................... 570 too many in printing trade, Horace Greeley declares, in I850........ 220 Union No. 6 in 1897 prohibits the employment of, on newspapers.... 461 Apprenticeship - National Typographical Union in 1852 takes cognizance of the subject of....................................................... 455 question...................................................... 454-67 regulation of, by the National Typographical Convention in I836.... I56 in 185.......................................... 454 regulations, broadening of, by Union No. 6 in 19 1................ 464 restrictive measures concerning, cause strike of book and job printers in 1872........................................... 457 revival of, on newspapers in I907................................ 462 system, advantage of an unvarying.............................. 216 regulation of, by printers, in I8 5........................... 65 term of, reduced by Union No 6 in 1869.......................... 455 Arbeiter Union. (See New York Arbeiter Union.) Arbitration and Peace Congress, National............................ 613 Arbitration, National Board of - decision of, against wage increase on newspapers in 1901............ 352 increases newspaper wage scale in 1907........................... 357 I910.,...,....................... 36o INDEX. 673 PAGE Arbitration of newspaper wage scale in I907.......................... 355 9IO.......................... 359 plan of newspaper publishers and the International Typographical Union, revision of the........................ 354, 359 the Printers' League and Union No. 6................ 365 proceedings under the first newspaper plan of, in 1901........ 344, 353 State Board of Mediation and, services of, requested by the Typothetae in 1887.............3.....18........ 3I8 Union No. 6 declines, in 1887................................. 320 "Art of Printing," poem by Samuel Woodworth..................... 84 Artemus Ward Fund, the........................................... 495 Arthur, Hon. Chester A............................................ n.589 Asbridge, George................................................ 42, 87-8 Assessments on earnings, levy of, by Union No. 6 for beneficial purposes.. 468 Asylum for Superannuated Printers, the Artemus Ward fund for establishing an........................................................ 495 Atkinson, S. H.................................................... 267-8 Atlantic cable, public celebration of the completion of the.............. 606 resolutions of Union No. 6 on the completion of the...... 606 Austin, Attorney-General James Trecothic............................. 188 Bachmann, Charles G.............................................. 553 Bailey, K. Arthur........................................... 592 M r.................................................... 263-4, 270 Baker, Christina.................................. 421, 435 Godwin & Co................................................. 662 H enry V.................................2............. 202 Peter Carpenter......................................... 222, n. 296 W. A.................................................... 577, 582 W illiam...................................................... 627 Bakers, journeymen............................ 23 B allou, S. D...................................................... 201 Baltimore Typographical Union................................. 206 Bank of America.................................................. 74 Barber, M r.................................................... 66 B arbers.......................................................... 31 Barnett, Edward N................................................ 538-9 George E., Ph. D..................................... 50, n. 511-12 Barnum, W. H.....6......................... 655 Barr, Mr........................................................ 12 Bartlett, Mary A...................................... 421, 435, 437 Willard, Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals................. 382 Barton, W illiam, Jr................................................ 202 Bates, J. H., tribute of, to the memory of Isaac W. England............ 664 Baudoine, M r..................................................... 21 Bauer, President.........................................544, 546, 549 Baxter, Frank A.................................................. iv Beach, M. S. & A. E............................................. 245 M essrs....................................................... 398 M oses S............................................. 248, 663 Beatty, Robert..................................................... 163 Becanon, Philip................................................... 38 Bechtel, Charles................................................... 569 Becker, M r....................................................... 546 Beecher, the Rev. Henry Ward.................................... 28, 518 Belfast W hig........................................ 650 Bell, James M............................................. n. 287 Bellamy, Edward S............................... 163 Belvidere (N. J.) Warren Journal............................. 177 Benedict, C. W................................................... 267 S. W......................................................... 267 674 INDEX. Beneficial features of Union No. 6- PAGE a study of the........................................ 472-510 book and job compositors opposed to............................ 259 Benefits, morbidity and mortuary, of German Typographia No. 7...... 543 Benefits, mortuary - amount of, disbursed by Union No. 6 in fifteen years.......... 505, 510 established by union printers in the thirties...................... 112 International Typographical Union laws providing for............. 505 of New York Printers' Union................................... 205 payment of, by Union No. 6................................... 504-10 table of disbursements by Union No. 6, annually for fifteen years.... 506 Benefits - sick, amount expended by Union No. 6 in........................ 510 of New York Printers' Union............................... 205 strike, established by union printers in the thirties................. 112 paid by Union No. 6 in fifteen years......................... 510 superannuation, amount expended by Union No. 6 in.............. 50 table of disbursements for, in fifteen years by Union No. 6......... 510 the I850 National Convention of Journeymen Printers urges typographical trade associations to abolish........................ 570 unemployment, established by union printers in the thirties......... 112 made a constitutional right by Union No. 6................... 479 of Typographia No. 7..................................... 544 Union No. 6.............................................. 474-5 table of....................................... 480 paid by Union No. 6 in eighteen years....................... 481 fifteen years.......................... 510 Bennett, James Gordon............................................ 324 Thomas..................................................379-8 I W illiam...................................................... 202 Beveridge, Hon. Albert J., oration of, at the Greeley centenary exercises.. 640 Bible House...................................................... 300 " Big Six," popular title of New York Typographical Union No. 6...... I Bigelow, H on. John................................................ n. 518 B illings & Taylor.................................................. 267 Bischoff, Henry, Supreme Court Justice.............................. 381-2 Blades, William................................... II6-I8, 128, n. I30 Blaemeke, of Randell & Blaemeke.............................. 546 Blaine, Hon. James G.............................................. 391 B lair, R. C...................................................... 18 Blake, Spencer C.................................................. 28 Blanchard, James A., Supreme Court Justice...................... 379 the Rev. Joseph N., D.D....................................... 500 Blatch, M rs. Stanton.............................................. n. 430 B lind m akers.................................................... 22 Bliss, the Rev. W. D. P............................................ 6Io Block and pum p makers........................................... I9 Blunt's printing office.............................................. 67 Board of Delegates. (See Delegates.) Bodwell, William H.address by, at the unveiling of the Greeley monument........... 628 mentioned................................... 539-40, 582, 627, 630 Bogart, John..................................................... 36 N ew ton............................................... 611 B oiler m akers..................................................... 19 Bonaparte, Napoleon.............................................. 635 Book and job compositors. (See Compositors.) Book and job officesgeneral inauguration of the nine-and-one-half-hour working day in... 376 nine-hour working day in.............. 376 strike in New York City, in I853....................... 265 INDEX. 675 Book and job offices - (Continued) PAGE successful strike in New York City, for the eight-hour working day in 1906..................................................... 379 wages in New York City, in I853........................... 26, 264 Book printers, low average earnings of, in I853................... 260 printing, advance of, noted in 1802.................. 40 Bookbinders..................................... 375, 512- 4, 584, 666 Bookstaver, Henry W., Supreme Court Justice........................ 401 Bookwork, minimum number of hours fixed for piecework on............ 340 wage scale of compositors on, in 1864............................ 280 wages and hours of labor of printers on, in I85.................... 226-9 Boot and shoe clerks...............................................,31 w orkers............................................. 17 Boselly, W illiam E............................................ 322, 668 Boston Bee............................................... n. 201 Columbian Centinel............................................ 82 Guide.................................................. n. 567, 568 Journal...................................................... n. 201 Printers' Union......................................... 240 Sunday Sentinel............................................... n. 20 Typographical Society......................................... 64, 80 Boston Typographical Union - mentioned....................................... n. 206, 512 refusal of, in 1857, to exclude women printers who received equal pay with m en...................................... 428 Boston Waverly Magazine.......................................... n. 507 Boulton, Alfred J......................................... 584 Bourne, W illiam Orland........................................... 237 Bowe, Mr.................................................. 638 Bowie, John H.................................................... 163 Bowne, of Collins, Bowne & Co..................................... 267 Boy labor, evils of surplus......................................... I58 menace of superfluous.................................... 213 Boyce, I. D.......................................... 20, 264, 269, 274 Boycott on the New York Sun in I887, protest by Typographical Union No. 6 against the. 399 resolution introduced in the National Typographical Union Convention of 1852 suggestive of the............................ 397 Boycotter, The. (See New York Boycotter.) Boycotting, commencement of the system of, in 1883, against the New York Tribune............................................ 388 non-union printing concerns in 1833......................... 145 system as practiced in 85..................................... the New York Sun, injunction in I899 to prohibit............... 401 Bradstreet's..................................................... 300 Bramwood, John W........................................... 344, 357 Brennan, W illiam J....................................... 445, 668 Breslin, Jam es H.................................................. v Bricklayers....................................................... 474 and stone masons.......................................... 4 Briggs, W illiam................................................... iv Brimmer, G............................................... 129 Bristol, H. D................................................ 141, 153 Broderick, John................................................... 60 Brooklyn Advertiser........... 536 Borough Central Labor Union.................................. 594 Daily Eagle mentioned.................................... 359, 536 strike in I891 on the................................ 405 Freeman...................................................... 536 Independent................................................ 536 printers, attempt of, to form a union in I86.................... 536 charter from the National Typographical Union sought by. 536 676 INDEX. Brooklyn printers - (Continued) PAGE unsuccessful strike of, in 1867...................... 538 Standard.................................................... 667 S tar......................................................... 536 Brooklyn Typographical Union No. 98 amalgamation of, in I898 with Union No. 6...................... 540 charter granted to, by the National Typographical Union in I867.... 538 of, surrendered in 1868.................................... 538 first officers of................................................ 538 m entioned................................................ 520, 632 rechartering of, in 1874 by the International Typographical Union-... 539 reissue of charter in 1883 to, by the International Typographical Union.................................................... 540 revocation of the second charter of............................. 539 Brooks, E rastus................................................... 224 Brown, John L....................................... 55, 159, 202, 668 M. B....................................................... 390 M. C........................................................ 568 of Little, Brown & Co................................... 304 Printing and Binding Company, Martin B........................ iv W illiam H................................................... 202 Browne, Charles.................................................. 495 P. N......................................................... 578 Patrick H................................................... 668 Bruce, Book of.................................................... n. 37 D avid, life sketch of........................................... 38 m entioned............................................. 37 George, life sketch of......................................... 38 m entioned........................................37, 53, 6i8 R obert....................................................... 250 B rush, A. A...................................................... 519 Conklin...................................................... 28 Buchanan, Joseph R., remarks by, at workingmen's mass meeting to promote peace among nations....................................... 613 B uchholz, M r..................................................... 546 Buffalo Courier.................................................... 518 Typographical Union................................... n. 206, 5iI Building and stone working......................................... 3 industry..................................................... 36 laborers..................................................... 8 trades, New York City, successful strike in I872 of the, for the eighthour working day......................................... 369 Bullen, H enry L.................................................. iv Bulletin No. 61 of the United States Bureau of Labor.. n. 36, n. 39, n. 50, n. 574 Burbridge, W illiam................................................ 69, 87 Burchell, M rs. L. G............................................... 565 Bureau of Factory Inspection, co-operation with the, by the Committee on Health and Sanitation................................. 504 Labor Statistics, creation in I883 of the New York State...... n. 59I of, requested by workingmen in I87I. 591 Burgess, the Rt. Rev. Frederick................................ 346, 352 Burial places for printers, provision made by Union No. 6 for........... 509 Burke, Miss Winifred.............................................. 634 Patrick...................................................... 18 Thom as.......................................... n. 384, 623, 627 B urr, A aron...................................................... 638 B urton, A lfred.................................................... 567 Burtt, Selah H.................................................... 21 Business revival after the War of 1812............................... 6I Butler, of Hallock, Butler & Hale................................... 250 Butterick Publishing Company, Limited.......................... 378-9 Butterworth, Hon. Benjamin....................................... 652 INDEX. 677 PAGE Cabinetmakers.................................................... 2 Cable, Atlantic. (See Atlantic Cable.) submarine electric, installation of the original, by Benjamin Franklin.. 606 Caesar, Julius..................................................... 634 Cahill, John L.................................................... 501 C. A. I. L., bill of, to restrict the hours of labor of working children to eight per day............................................. 6 r co-operation of Union No. 6 with................................. 08 founding of, in I887........................................... o methods of, defined............................................ 6Io organization of a Council of Mediation and Arbitration by.......... 6o recognition of organized labor by................................ 6io Calverley, Charles................................................. 629 Calvin, James................................................... 556 Cameron, James R................................................ v Campbell, Hon. A. J............................................... 652 John M................................................ 428 M r.......................................................... 536 R obert M................................................ 359, 654 Cappellt r, President............................................... 497 Card shops, Typothetae in 1887 refuses to grant....................... 38 Cardwell, M iss Elizabeth........................................... 612 Carleton, Sir Guy................................................ n. 35 Carmichael, A. D................................................. 50 Carnegie, Andrew...................................... 615 Carpenter, Alderman Thomas....................................... 02 Carpenters.............................................. 4, 36, I49, I62 Carter, Mrs. Charles M....................................... 565 Carvalho, S. S................................................ 355, 359 C avis, A. T....................................................... 428 Caxton, William.................................... 15-8 Celebrated individual strikes.................................... 384-412 Cemeteries, table showing number of interments of union printers in... 509 Central Federated' Union of New York City - mentioned.................................................... 401 organization in 1899 of the................................... 594 Central Labor Federation of New York City.......................... 594 Central Labor Union of New York City - consolidation of the, with the Central Labor Federation............ 594 formation in 1877 of the....................................... 593 m entioned.................................................... 390 Chandler, Adoniram............................................... 78-9 W illiam E.................................................... 656 Zachariah.................................................... 656 Chapel, characteristics and internal workings of the modern............ 445 father of the.................................................. 120 inception of the............................................ I14 initiation of apprentices in the.................................. 128 origin of the, in doubt.......................................... I15 regulations of the, about the year 1840.......................... 126 rules in a typical newspaper office............................... 442-4 system, establishment of the, by Union No. 6..................... 441 the, at the beginning of the nineteenth century................... 125 in 740................................................... I24 unit of government in trade affairs............................... 24 Chapels, constitutional provisions of Union No. 6 defining the duties of officials of................................................ 44 creation of, opposed by the National Typographical Convention in I836..................................................... 115 earliest description of...............2.................. 20 formation of, suggested in I850................................. 217 in medieval France and Belgium................................ I18 678 INDEX. Chapels - (Continued) PAGE plenary authority in the matter of ordering strikes not delegated by the Typographical Union to............................... 445 resolutions of thanks from, to employers...................... 245 union printers in 1833 institute................................. 114 Chapin, the Reverend Doctor....................................... 628 Chappaqua Historical Society....................................... 636 Charter of Union No. 6 issued by the International Typographical Union.. 567 National Typographical Union...... 201 Women's Typographical Union No. I issued by the National Typographical Union................................. 421 Chatfield, A. F.................................................... 225 Cherouny, Henry, open letter by, on the advantages of a shorter working day............................................................ 374 Chicago fire sufferers, money appropriated in 1871 by Union No. 6 to relieve................................................... 473 Inter-O cean.................................................... 663 Republican.................................................. 663 T im es........................................................ 655 Tribune...................................................... 344 Child labor in America............................................. 642 1831................................................ io6 Childs-Drexel Printers' Home Fund................................ n. 201 Childs, George W., benefactions of, to his employees.................. 499 death of........................................ 499 elected an honorary member of Union No. 6........ 499 mentioned................................. 494, 496-7 services of Union No. 6 in memory of.............. 500 John................................. 51,53 Church Association for the Advancement of the Interests of Labor, Union No. 6 co-operates with the....................................... 608 Cigar makers................................................... 27, 593 Cincinnati Typographical Union................................... n. 206 City Club of New York............................................ 636 Civil War, bonds of fraternity of union printers of the North and South not severed by the.................................. 578 number of members of Union No. 6 who enlisted in the...... 604 C lark, M r........................................................ 49 Clarkson, H on. J. C............................................... 407 C lay, H enry...................................................... 635 Clayton, W. H.................................................... io6 Cleland, Thomas Maitland......................................... 603 Clendennin, the Rev. F. M......................................... 634 Clerks, boot and shoe.............................................. 31 dry goods.................................................... 27 Cleveland, Hon. Grover, credit of the election of, to the Presidency in 1884. claimed by union printers................ 391 m entioned.................................. n. 589 Joh n F....................................................... I Clinton, M ayor De W itt........................................... 102 C lothing and textiles............................................... 10 Clough, John..................................................... 37 Coach makers...................................................... 589 painters......................................................21, 588 Coachmen....................................................... 32 C oby, E. P....................................................... 374 Colburn, Anna Sly................................................ 644 Colburn, Charles Walter - biographical sketch of.......................................... 643-6 mentioned......... iv, 203, 206, 219, 222, 238, 244, n. 259, n. 318, n. 384 413, 474, 477, 668 reproduction of first working card issued by New York Printers' U nion to................................................ 205 INDEX. 679 PAGE Colburn, George A.............................................. 250 Miss Jessie B....................................iv Walter................................................... 644 Cole, Harry M ills................................................ 58 Collie, M iss M ary A............................................... 644 Collins, Bowne & Co.............................................. 267 Isaac........................................................ 38 Isaac.. 38 John.................................................... 421, 567,J c.n421, 567 M r........................................................... 60 Colston, M iss Evelyn............................................. 663 Colton, Charles W................................................. 270 Columbia Typographical Society - mentioned........................................ 96, 155, I57, 192 scale of prices in 1815 of the.................................... 95 Columbian. (See New York Columbian.) " Columbia's Independence," poem by Samuel Woodworth............ 85 Columbus Typographical Union..................................... n. 206 Combinations, transitory labor...................................... 34 Commercial Advertiser. (See New York Commercial Advertiser.) Committee of Union No. 6 on Health and Sanitation.............. 502, 504 Committees of Union No. 6, compensation of.........................47 Composing machine operators - book and job, wage rates of, in I9I-I2.......................... 366 minimum of competency of..................................... 354 newspaper, wage rates of, in 1907............................... 357-8 I9I.................................. 36I-2 Composing machinescost of production lessened by................................... n. 478 direct benefit of, to journeymen printers.......................... n. 478 earliest record of Union No. 6 on the subject of................... 326 first wage scale adopted for the operation of, in 1887............... 327 general introduction of, 890-4..................................326-37 growth of membership of Union No. 6 since the introduction of..... n. 478 introduction of, in German offices, in 189........................ 549 opposition by Union No. 6 to restriction of output on.............. 337 reduction of working time on newspapers caused by............... 371 school of instruction for operators on............................ 331 skepticism of printers as to the successful development of.......... 328 statistics concerning the effect of, on the working force of printers.. n. 477-8 Union No. 6 favors the introduction of........................... 329 wage scale adopted in I891 for operation of, on newspapers........ 331 1893 for bookwork on...................... 336 of 1897 for learners on, in book offices.................. 339 proposed in 1890 for operation of, on newspapers........ 329 Compositors, book and job - eight-hour working day gained by, in 1906................ 378 hours of labor of, in 833........................................ 136 movement of, for the nine-hour working day...................... 372-6 nine-and-one-half-hour working day gained by, in I898........ 374, 376 nine-hour working day gained by, in I899........................ 376 observance of the Saturday half holiday by....................... 525 right of, to organize a separate union questioned.................. 262 strike of, in I853............................................... 265 1863............................................... 277 x869............................................... 296 1876............................................... 307 1887............................................... 318 I906................................................ 379 wage rates of, reduced in 1876................................. 308 scale adopted for, by a general meeting in I853.............. 261 Union No. 6 in I853................... 264 in 1863................... 277 680 INDEX. Compositors, book and job - (Continued) PAGE wage scale adopted for, in 1864................................. 294 1869............................. 296, 303 I883.................................. 316 I887................................. 317 902.................................. 343 I910.................................. 366 Compositors, book, partial reduction of the wage scale of, in 1889....... 323 Compositors, book, job and newspaper successful strike of, in 1883..................................... 316 suspension of wage scales of, in I877............................. 309 Compositors, excessive hours of labor of, on morning newspapers in 1864.. 289 German. (See German printers.) hours of labor of, in 1829...................................... 242 job, readjustment in 1897 of overtime rates for.................... 340 lives, increase in longevity of................................... 506 Compositors, newspaper - eight-hour working day established for........................... 329 eleven-hour working day for, in 1864............................. 368 original rule fixing the number of hours per day for piece composition of........................................279-80 requiring payment for standing time of............... 229 revision of wage scale in 1889 of................................. 324 strike in 1889 of............................................... 324 twelve-hour working day for, in I85I............................ 368 wage rates of, in I850.......................................... 202 I853............................................ 246 I864...................................... 278, 295 1870 and 1872................................... 305 I883............................................ 315 I887............................................ 317 1907............................................ 357-8 19 10............................................ 361-2 reduced in 1857.................................. 276 I876................................. 308 Compositors, number of, in New York City in 1864................... 282 reduction of wages of, on novels in 1896......................... 338 refusal of the New York Sun in the seventies to reduce the wage rates of.................................................. 663 second revision of wage scale in 1864 of.......................... 279 strike of, in I8II............................................... 60 I840.............................................. 141 I85I......................................... 238, 244 I864.............................................. 288 I872.............................................. 457 1883.............................................. 316 on the Brooklyn Daily Eagle........................... 405 New York Day Book............................. 246 Evening Post...........................408-12 Journal of Commerce..................... 239 Mail and Express........................ 407 strikes of, on the New York Sun.............................. 396-402 Tim es............................... 404-5 Tribune....................... 286, 384-96 W orld............................... 402-4 term of apprenticeship of....................................... 455 wages and hours of labor of, in I85I.............................226-30 of, in I809................................................ 57 I8 I5................................................ 62 I829............................................... 242 I833................................................ 134 I844................................................ 195 Washington in I815............................ 95 INDEX. 68i Compositors- (Continued) PAGE whose ages were 60 years and over at death, table showing the number of, in ten years........................................... 507 women. (See Women printers.) Conciliation, settlement of 1869 strike of compositors by............... 302 Confectioners..................................................... 26 Congressional Library.............................................. v Conklin, Theodore S.................................. 368, 428, 438, 668 Conspiracy Bill of I864 - described as " Folger's Anti-Trades Union Strike Bill '..... 586 introduction of the, in the New York Senate...................... 586 mass meeting of New York City workingmen to protest against the. 587 resolutions passed by New York City workingmen in opposition to the...................................................... 588 Union No. 6 passes resolutions opposing the...................... 587 Conspiracy case, a celebrated...................................... I02 Law, amendment in 1870 to the................................ 590 trials, notable...................................... 75 Contempt proceedings, institution of, against officers and members of Typographical Union No. 6 in I906................................ 379 Contents, table of............................................... vii Contract, breaking of the I883, by the New York Tribune............. 388 Labor Law................................................... 653 prison labor. (See Prison labor.) system, beginning of the, in the clothing industry................. 13 on public works, petition in I850 for the abolition of the..... 2 Conway, Jam es................................................... 589 M. F................................................ 569, 573, n. 574 Cooke, David A................................... 262, 270-1, 273, 275 Jay & Co.................................................... 305 Cooper, Edward................................................... n. 390 Co-operation, industrial, in 85......................... I suggested as an ultimate cure for industrial evils................. 28 urged by the 1850 National Convention of Journeymen Printers..... 572 views of Horace Greeley on..................................... 619 Co-operative clothing shops and stores, subscriptions for, in I85........ 13 Labor League in 1850, regulations of the......................... I shops, carpenters advocate opening of, in I850.................. 6 organized by sash and blind makers in I85................ 22 successful conduct of, by journeymen bakers in I847-50...... 25 store opened by hat finishers in I850............................. i6 Coopers' Society, officers of the, in 796.............................. 36 Copper w orkers................................................... 19 Copy, unfair distribution of......................................... 212 Copyright. (See International copyright.) Cordwainers, conspiracy case against, in I8O........................ 102 mentioned.............................................. 7, 175 wages of, in 809.............................................. 02 Corson, John W., M. D........................................ 28 Cost of living during the Revolutionary epoch........................ 35 in 837.............................................. 139 850.............................................. I 853.............................................. 251 I86o and 864..................................... 285 868.............................................. 298 1901.............................................. 348 Costello, Vincent..................................................379-82 Cotter, M ichael................................................... 8 Courier and Enquirer. (See New York Courier and Enquirer.) Cowles, Alfred................................................... 344 W. G........................................................ 578 Craftsman, the.................................................... n. 5II Crane, Jam es.................................................... 38 682 INDEX. PAGE Crans, James..................................................... 556 Crapsey, the Rev. Algernon S., D. D................................ 614 Crate, H enry J............................................. 219, 592 Craw ford, M r..................................................... 13 C rean, P......................................................... 627 Cressingham, R. H.......................................... n. 36, n. 39 Cronly, M r....................................................... 164 Crooker, R ichard.................................................. 219 T hom as...................................................... o06 C rooks, J......................................................... 53 Crossland, John F................................................. 636 Croswell, M achy.................................................. 99 Crowe, Robert............................................... 290, 589 Crowell, Joseph T................................................. 195 Cuba, granting of belligerent rights to, requested by Union No. 6....... 605 Cuddy, W illiam................................................... 474 Cuisack, K ate............................................... 42, 435 Cum min, Sherm an................................................ 580 Cummings, Hon. Amos Jaybiographical sketch of.......................................... 651 memorial services of Union No. 6 in honor of..................... 653 mentioned.................. 500, 528, 598, 603 oration of, at the unveiling of the Greeley statue.................. 634 record of, on labor measures in Congress......................... 652 Cunnington, Robert...................................... 2 -2, 205 Currency, depreciation of, caused by 1837 panic....................... 141 workingmen in 1834 favor gold and silver........................ 1 84 Cuttle, Edward................................................... 219 D'Auvergne, Latour............................................... 631 D ack, R. D...................................................... 201 Dahm, James H.................................................. 636 Daily Advertiser. (See New York Daily Advertiser.) Express. (See New York Daily Express.) News. (See New York Daily News.) Dalton, Hugh, biographical sketch of:...............................666-7 mentioned.................................. v, 626-7, 668 Dana, Charles A., editorial by, on the death of Isaac W. England....... 664 m entioned........................................ I, 663 Danielson, M rs. M ary A....................................... 439, 627 Davies & Roberts................................................. 667 Davis, Charles A.................................... o6, 152, 155, 159-60 H on. D avid.................................................. 585 Horatio N................................................. 59-20 J.......................................... 262-3 J. E., Jr...................................................... 582 Jefferson..................................................... 635-6 M r......................................................... 4 15 W illiam A.................................................... 94,96 Day Book. (See New York Day Book.) De Costa, the Rev. Benjamin F..................................... 6o De Vinne, Theodore L.............. n. 296, 303, 318-I9, 345, 370, 603, 627 Death benefits. (See Benefits, mortuary.) Deaths, tabular record of, by years, in Union No. 6 since April I, I859... 508 Defense fund, the 1850 National Convention of Journeymen Printers urges the accumulation of a.................................... 569 Delaney, John H................................. v, 342, 376, 603, 668 Delegate system, institution of the, by New York Printers' Co-operative Union in 1853............................... 269 pronouncement in 1871 for the...................... 447 reasons for the adoption of the..................... 448 non-success of the................................ 451 INDEX. 683 PAGE Delegates, first Board of, establishment of, in I886.................... 449 repeal in 1887 of law creating................ 449 second Board of, establishment of, in 1892........................ 450 repeal in I894 of law creating................... 450 third Board of, establishment of, in I897......................... 450 repeal in 19oo of law creating..................... 451 Demokrat. (See New York Demokrat.) Denneen, President of New York Stereotypers' Union No............ 394 D ent, John...................................................... 21 Derflinger, William F..............................................iv, 4I8 Deutsch-Amerikanische Buchdrucker-Zeitung, article from................ 542-9 Deutscher, M iss M arie............................................. 637 Diary, or Evening Register. (See New York Diary, or Evening Register.) Differences between Union No. 6 and Typographia No. 7, beginning of.... 550 settlement of. 553 D ill, V incent...................................................... 267 Diplock, John..................................................... 661-2 D ixon, Jam es..................................................... 540 Dockery, Congressman............................................. 653 Dodge, D aniel.................................................... 37 W ashington A................................................ 201 Donaldson, James S............................................... 19 Donath, August................................................... 497 Donnelly, Augustine............................................... 273 Samuel B........................ 372, 374, 440, n. 446, 582, 584, 668 Donovan, F. F.............................................. 32r, 540 Dorion, Stephen................................................... n. 50 Douglass & Co.................................................... 267 Doyle, Alexander................................................. 632 Dreir, Miss M ary E................................ 612 Drexel, Anthony J............................................ 496, 499 Driscoll, Frederick........................................ 344, 346, 352 D ry goods clerks................................................. 27 Dues and assessments of New York Printers' Union.................. 204 Union No. 6............................... 468 Duffy, James........................................ 329 Dumas, Charles J...................................... v, 331, 552, 668 D un & Co........................................................ 300 Duncan, James M., address of greeting by, at the I885 convention of the International Typographical Union........ 579 mentioned..................................... v, 668 Early-closing movement of boot and shoe clerks in 1852................ 31 dry goods clerks in I850.................... 28 East Poultney (Vt.) Northern Spectator.............................. 617 Eaton, M r....................................................... 56 Eckert, W. B........................................ 266, 268, 569, 573 Egan, W illiam.................................................... 303 Egle, W illiam H................................................... 269 Ehrich, Louis R................................................... 496 Eight-Hour Law, enactment in i868 of the........................... 653 Eight-hour working day - adoption of the, for night workers on newspapers in I864........... 279 carpenters plan to introduce the, in I850........................ 6 demonstration of workingmen for the, in 1871.............. 369 gaining of the, by nearly 50 trades............................... 642 general strike in New York City for the, in 872................... 369 German printers in 1886 gain the.......................... 545, 549 Typographia No. 7 demands the, in I886..................... 371 granting of the, by the Typothetae............................... 379 684 INDEX. Eight-hour working day - (Continued) PAGE in. book and job offices, International Typographical Union in 1904 orders the general introduction of the........................ 377 independent New York City book and job offices in 1906 grant the... 379 legalization of the, urged by the State Workingmen's Assembly in 1865..................................................... 590 mentioned.................................................... 329 National Typographical Union Convention of 1867 sympathizes with the movement for the...................................... 368 New York law establishing the, for working children............... 611 union printers in 1872 favor the adoption of the......... 370 on public contracts, resolutions in 1850 favoring the............... 2 opposition in 1904 by the United Typothetae to the................ 377 proposal for the, in I890 on machine composition on newspapers.... 329 refusal of the New York Typothetae in 1906 to grant the........... 377 strike of New York City pressmen in 1872 for the................. 556 Workingmen's Union in 1864 agitates for the..................... 368 Electrotypers............................................ 318, 379, 512-14 Eleven-hour working day for morning newspaper printers in 1864.... 279, 368 Elfreth, J. B..................................................... n. 495 Employing printers. (See Printers, employing.) Employment bureau, Typographia No. 7 establishes an........... 544 Engels, Paul............................................. 546, 549, 553 Engineers, typesetting machine..................................... 560-3 England, George King............................................. 661 Isaac W., biographical sketch of................................ 661-5 m entioned...................................... 259, 262 Equal rights' advocates, Labor's recognition sought by................. 430 party, printers' training school forgirls projectedin 1869 by 433 Era. (See New York Era.) Esteney, John.................................................... 117 Evans, M r....................................................... 536 Evening Call. (See New York Evening Call.) Express. (See New York Evening Express.) Mirror. (See New York Evening Mirror.) Post Book office............................................... 300 Post. (See New York Evening Post.) Sun. (See New York Evening Sun.) World. (See New York Evening World.) Evers, the Rev. L. J............................................... 654 Expenditures of Union No. 6 in fifteen years.......................... 470 Express. (See New York Express.) Failing, Henry M......................... n. 259, n. 318, n. 384, 645, 668 Fanshaw, Daniel....................................... 42, 52, 98, 267 Farm. (See Printers' farm.) Farmer, Little & Co..................................... 627 Farquhar, Hon. John M........................................... n. 652 Farr, C........................................................ 67 Farrell, Edward F................................................ 584 James P.................6........ 603, 668 the Rev. Thom as............................................. 632 Fassett, H on. J. Sloat.............................................. 598-9 Faust, D octor Johann.............................................. n. 195 Johann.................................. n. I95 T he order of.................................................. 567 Federation of Printing Trades of New York, organization in 1890 of the.. 513 Fellows, Col. John R............................................. 634 Felt, David...................................... 8 Fenton, Hon. Reuben E.......................................... n. 589 Ferguson, Frederick W............................................ v W illiam............................................. 331, 395, 5I2 INDEX. 685 PAGE Field, Cyrus W................................................... 606 M rs. Paul G.................................................. 565 Fielding, W illiam.................................................. Io6 Fields, of Ticknor & Fields......................................... 304 Fiftieth anniversary of Union No. 6, printing exposition to commemorate the 602 Financial aid, granting of, to other trades by Union No. 6.............. 473 Finch, John...................................................... 63 Firewood, dearth of, in early New York.............................. n. 35 First strike of printers in America................................... 35 Fish, Alderman Nicholas........................................... I03 Fisher, Francis B............................................ n. 517 Fitzgerald, Thomas D............................................ 584 Fitzpatrick, Francis.............................................. n. 295 Five-day law, inauguration by Typographia No. 7 of the............... 550 Fivey, John A.................................................... v, 8 Flanagan, A. C............................................... io6, 144-5 M ichael..................................................... 67 Peter J....................................................... v Fleming, Frederick L............................................. 331 Flower, Hon. Roswell P., mentioned........................... 598, 6oi message of, vetoing State Printing Office Bill... 599 Flynn, D. W..................................................... 578 Folger, Hon. Charles J....................................... 586, 589 Food products and tobacco......................................... 23 Forbes, John..................................................... 42 Force, Peter, biographical sketch of.................................. 94-7 m entioned........................................... 99 Ford, Mrs. Andrew W. (n6e Nixola Greeley-Smith).................... iv Foremen of composing rooms, powers of, to hire and discharge workmen. 529 Forster, T. G..................................................... 577 Foster, M iss Lily F................................................ 6I Francis, Charles................................................... 365 Lew is........................................................ 627-8 Franey, John..................................................... 511 Frank, Jacob..................................................... 40 Franklin, Benjamin, mentioned......38, 99, n. I20, 174-5, 190, 421, 424, n. 518 631, 633-4, 636-7, 664 original submarine electric cable installed by......... 606 James....................................................... 421 Franklin Typographical Association - disbanding of, in I804.......................................... 40 dissolution of, in I844.......................................... 200 first officers of................................................ I95 formation of, in Brooklyn...................................... 536 founding of, in I844........................................... 1 95 m entioned............................................... 6 7, 646 officers of, in 1799....................................... 37 protest of, against wage reduction............................... I98 wage scale of................................................ I95 Frazee, John...................................................... 175 Freckelton, Francis....................................... 368, 398, 584 Fremont, John C................................................ 635 F ries, M r......................................................... Fulton, Robert.................................................... I74 Funds of Union No. 6............................................468-71 Furniture workers................................................. 21 Gale, M onroe F.............................................. 202, n. 318 Gallinger, Hon. Jacob H........................................... 497 G am ble, A dam.................................................... 8 Ganong, John A................................................... 668 686 INDEX. PAGE Gardner, Joseph A................................................ 501 Garibaldi, Giuseppe............................................... 635 G arner, E. M..................................................... 32 Garrison, W endell Phillips.......................................... 412 W illiam Lloyd................................................ 412 G as fitters........................................................ 7 Gatter, Charles E................................................. 579 John........................................................ 539 Gazette and General Advertiser. (See New York Gazette and General Advertiser.) (See New York Gazette.) Geary, Mannis J., biographical sketch of............................. 667 m entioned....................................... 668 G eddes, M r...................................................... 142 Gehring, Charles E................................................ 603 General organization of printers.................................... 567-82 General Trades Union of New York - address of Ely Moore at commemorative exercises of the........... 165 first constitution of the......................................... I63 officers of the............................................. 63 formation in 1833 of the original................................ 162 m entioned.............................................. 153, 185 objects of the................................................. I67 organization of the, commemorated.............................. 165 General Trades Union, organization of a, urged in 864.................. 589 George, Isaac D.................................................. 421 German-American Typographia, amalgamation of, in I894 with the International Typographical Union...... 554 mentioned.......................... 552-3 organization in I873 of the............. 544 in New York's public schools, proposition to abolish teaching of opposed.................................................. 548 printers, early organizations of.................................. 542 first national convention of............................. 549 m entioned...................................... 370, 474 number of, in New York City in 850.................... 541 U nion................................................ 288 Typographia No. 7, eight-hour working day demanded in i886 by.. 371 organization in 1869 of....................... 542 Typographical Union No. 274, charter issued to................... 552 G ibbons, J. L..................................................... 569 Gifford, W illiam................................................... 175 Gift from Messrs. Childs and Drexel to the International Typographical U nion.......................................................... 494 G ilders........................................................... 7 G illespy, W illiam.................................................. 569 Gilroy, Hon. Thomas F........................................... 633 Gird, Henry H................................................... 41, 52 Glackin, Everett.................................... 320, 322, 449, 668 Gladstone, John E................................................ 331 W illiam E.................................................... 634 G leason, M r..................................................... 56 Glen, Thomas R........................................ 232, 234, 568 Godkin, E. L.................................................... 412 Godwin, of Baker, Godwin & Co................................... 662 Gold and silver, workingmen in 1834 favor the constitutional currency of.. 184 fluctuation in I864 of premiums on.............................. 278 Goldmann, Mr................................................... 546 Gom pers, Sam uel.................................................. 614 Goodwin, Daniel.................................................. 627 Gore, J......................................................... Io6 G ott, Benjam in................................................... 6 INDEX. 687 PAGE Government ownership of printing plant opposed by union printers in I850. 595 Government Printing Officedecrease of wages of workers in the.............................. 652 establishing in I86o of the...................................... n. 596 mentioned........................................ v, n. 201 purchase price of the........................... n. 596 restoration of wages of workers in the............................ 653 Grace, Mayor William R., speech of, at union printers' banquet in New York City in 1885............................................... 580 Graham, John C................................................. 3 L........................................................... 201 G rangers, the..................................................... n. 585 Grant, Gen. Ulysses S........................................ 634, 653 G rattan, W illiam.................................................. 78 Gray, Jeremiah.................................. n. 94, 266-8, 397, 668 ohn A...................................................... 267 N athaniel................................................... 42 S. A................................................. 429 Graydon, W illiam, Jr.............................................. 580 Greeley, Horace - address of, at general meeting of printers in 1850.................. 219 advises printers to join Franklin Typographical Association....... 197 biographical sketch of..........................................616-43 centenary of, observed by Union No. 6........................... 636 chirography of................................................ n. 624 close of the controversy with the Journal of Commerce by......... 256 criticism by, on the attitude of the Journal of Commerce in 1853...... 252 death of...................................................... 625 defense by, of the course of journeymen printers in I85I............ 242 early career of................................................ 617 erection of a Labor Exchange suggested by..................... 621 experiences of, as a tramp printer................................ 617 expiration of term of, as president of New York Printers' Union... 238 first president of New York Printers' Union.................. 205, 6i6 harmony among journeymen printers urged by................... 261 initial venture of, as an employer................................ 618 inscription on the base of the statue of, erected by union printers.... 634 interest of, in the general labor movement........................ 620 mentioned........ iv, I, 18, 25, n. 138, 281, 284-5, 289-91, 293-4, n. 384 n. 495, 592, 644, 646, 662-3, 668 Post No. 577, G. A. R......................................... 632 printers rear a monument to perpetuate the memory of............ 628 public reception tendered by Union No. 6 to...................... 623 remarks by, at reception tendered to him by Union No. 6........... 624 second mass meeting of printers in I85............. 234 reproduction of first working card signed by...................... 205 severance of friendly relations by union printers with.............. 286 statue of, erected by union printers.............................. 632 Union No. 6 feelingly deplores the demise of...................... 626 renews friendly relations with........................ 295 Greeley M onument Association..................................... 634 Fund.......................................... 495 Sm ith, M iss Nixola............................................ iv Square, resolution by Common Council naming.................. 633 Zaccheus..................................................... 617 Green, Gen. Duff............................. I92-3, 421 Peter........................................................ 2I Greenbaum, Samuel, Supreme Court Justice.......................... 379 Greene, General................................................... 75 G eorge E..................................................... 568-9 Greenhalg, Isaac E................................................ 19 Greenleafs New York Daily Advertser.............................. n. 37 688 INDEX. PAGE Greenwood, M rs. A. J............................................. 565 Gregg, the Rev. James B........................................... 497 G regory, W illiam S................................................ 7 G rice, Julia................................................... 421, 435 Grosse, Edward.......................................... 543-6, 548 G uild, H. A............................................. 219, 573, 582 Gullen, M r....................................................... 48 Gundlach, W illiam................................................ 548 Gurowski, Count.................................................. n. 624 Gutenberg, Johann......................................... n. 195, 602 Society....................................................... 553 H aegy, Pierre J. B............................................. v, n. 549 Hague Conference, The...................................... 613, 615 Haldeman, Bruce............................................ 357, 360 Hale, of Hallock, Butler & Hale.................................... 250 " Half-way journeymen," circular in relation to....................... 67 H all, B olton...................................................... 485 Richard P.................................................... 147 & Sellers...................................................... 38 Hallock, Butler & Hale............................................ 250 G erard....................................................... 241 Hamer, Miss Mamie............................................... 612 H am ill, John..................................................... 42 Ham ilton, Alexander............................................... 190 H am m ill, Thom as J............................................... v Hammond, William J.............................................. 567 H ardcastle, John.................................................. 37 Joshua....................................................... 67 H arding, President................................................ 290 William...................................................... 588 Harmon, Robert 0................................ 567, 623, 626 H arness m akers................................................... 32 Harper, James.................................................... n. 518 Joseph M................................................. 33 & Brothers................................ 267, 300, 307, 637 H arris, D aniel................................................... 591 M........................................................... 6 Harrisburg Typographical Union................................... n. 206 Hart, Thomas.................................................... 556 H artm an, John................................................... 568-9 H astings, D avid................................................... 374 H on. Frederick H......................................... 586, 589 H ugh........................................................ 659 Hat finishers...................................................... 16 H atten, G eorge................................................... 141 H atters...................................................... 149, 473-4 Hawkes, Bastable J......................................... v, 512, 533 Charles E............................................... 344, 374 H awkins' Zouaves................................................. 650 Hayes, Rutherford B.............................................. 655-6 Tilden electoral controversy, important part taken by John C. Reid in the.................................................... 655 H ays, J. W...................................................... V, 360 H ayward, Billings.................................................. 63-4 Health and sanitation, permanent committee on, created by Union No. 6.. 502 H enry, Patrick............................................... 174, 190 VII, King.................................................... II6 Hepburn, Frederick A............................................. 201 Herald. (See New York Herald.) H ester, Col. W illiam............................................... 406 INDEX. 689 PAGE Hildreth, Richard................................................n. 624 Hill, Addison. I95 Hill, Addison................................................... 195 Gov. D avid B.......................................... n. 525 Hilliard, Hon. Henry Washington................................... n. 201 H oe, Peter S..................................................... 627 Hoffman, Alderman J. Ogden....................................... 03 H oit, Ichabod..................................................... 86-7 Holidays for working people........................................ 522-6 Holman, Congressman............................................. 653 Holme, Randle............................................ n. I20, n. 123 Holmes, Edward A........................................ 288, 292, 668 Home. (See Union Printers' Home.) Homestead question, discussion in 1850 of the........................ 2 Hone, W illiam............................................ n. I20, n. 123 Hopkins, George F................................................ 45 H orseshoers..................................................... 19 Hosford, E. & E...................................... n. 50 H osm er, W illiam.................................................. 22 Hospital beds, amount paid in fifteen years by Union No. 6 to maintain. 5I0 maintenance of, by Union No. 6 for sick members........ 500 H ough, Isaac..................................................... 6 Houghton, of Hurd & Houghton.................................... 304 Hours of labor - decrease of, on newspapers caused by composing machines.......... 371 fixed by journeymen bakers at twelve daily in I85o................ 24 for machine composition, number of per day, suggested in 1890..... 329 in I893, for bookwork on composing machines..................... 336 the printing trade in I85.................................... 226 minimum number fixed for bookwork composition................. 340 movements for shortening......................................368-83 of book and job compositors in 1833............................. 136 boot and shoe workers excessive in I850..................... 18 compositors in 1829.......................................... 242 German printers in the seventies and eighties.................. 545 journeymen bakers excessive in I850........................... 23 morning newspaper time hands in 1870....................... 305 newspaper printers excessive in 1833........................... o8 1850........................... 210 I88I........................... 370 ': " piece compositors excessive in 864.................. 289 pressmen in 833............................................ 136 I85........................................ 226, 231 tailors excessive in 850...................................... 12 " third shift " on newspapers......................... 340, 354, 362 original rule fixing the minimum number of, per day for newspaper piece composition. 279-80 reduction of, caused by introduction of composing machines........ n. 478 on newspapers in 1864............................. 279 House of Call, opening of a, by Franklin Typographical Association...... 97 Union No. 6 establishes a.............................452 Housesmiths....................................... 6 Howard, Eva B............................................... 421, 435 H ow ell, J......................................................... 577 M r.......................................................... I6 Howells, William Dean, letter from, read at the Greeley centenary exercises........................................................... 637 Hoyt, George..................................................... 22 H uestis, Sam uel................................................... 06 H ughes, Archbishop............................................... 99 G ov. Charles E............................................... 611 H ugo, V ictor..................................................... 615 Huntington, the Rev. James O. S................................... 6Io 69o INDEX. PAGE Hurd & Houghton................................................. 304 Hyer, Walter..................................................... 36 W................................................ 41, 51-2 Idleness. (See Unemployment.) Illustrations, list of................................................ xix Immigration, assisted, opposed by union printers in the thirties..... 109, 147 Service, United States......................................... 614 Income tax, levy of an, by Union No. 6 for beneficial purposes.......... 468 Incorporation of New York Typographical Society, act of.............. 78 Independent. (See New York Independent.) Indianapolis Typographical Union.................................. n. 206 Industrial Congress of New York City - first delegates of Union No. 6 to the............................. 592 founding in 1850 of the........................................ 2, 592 m entioned............................................ II, 2, I6, 28 preamble to the first constitution of the.......................... 592 Ingles, John...................................................... 385 Initiation fee, amount required for membership in Union No. 6.......... 468 Injunction, issue of an, against Union No. 6 in I899.................... 401 1906.................... 379 Innet, Edw ard................................................... 41 Inscription on the base of the Horace Greeley statue erected by union printers........................................................ 634 International Allied Printing Trades Association...................... 514 International Copyright Bill - introduction of the, by Congressman Amos Jay Cummings......... 652 National Typographical Union in I858 urges the enactment of an.... 527 passage by Congress in 1890 of the............................... 528 Union No. 6 in I888 advocates an............................... 528 International Federation of Workers................................. 545 International Typographical Union - advantages to the, from a mileage system for traveling printers...... 534 advocacy in I881 of the ten-hour working day on newspapers by the... 371 charter issued by the, to Union No. 6............................ 567 convention in I885 of the, held in New York City................. 579 decision in I873 of the, to cease chartering women's unions......... 438 declaration in favor of woman suffrage by the.................... n. 430 dedication of the Union Printers' Home by the.................... 497 delegates in I885 from New York City to the..................... 580 forbids in 1878 the granting of charters to women printers.......... 439 general introduction of the eight-hour working day ordered by the.... 377 gift to the, from Messrs. Childs and Drexel....................... 494 granting of charter by the, to Women's Typographical Union No. I.. 435 jurisdiction over machine-tenders assumed by the................. 563 laws of the, regarding mortuary benefits.......................... 505 mentioned...... iv, v, n. 207, n. 295, 344, 359-60, 375, n. 384, 438, n. 446 539, 542, 544, 547, 550, 552, 556, 566, 584, 627, 646, 657-8, 666-7 organization in 1869 of the..................................... 577 pressmen separate from the..................................... 558 priority law enacted in I890 by the.............................. 529 repeal in I875 of resolution by the, to cease chartering women's unions................................................... 439 report of committee on proposed amalgamation of German-American Typographia with the................................... 553 resolution in 1896 of the, for the nine-hour working day in book and job offices............................................... 373 resolutions of the, revering the memory of Hon. Amos Jay Cummings. 654 superannuated pension system adopted by the.................... 493 technical course in printing of the............................... 465 union label issued by the...................................... 51 INDEX. 691 PAGE Iron molders...................................................... 19 Irving, Washington.............................................. n. 518 Irvington (N. J.) Christian Palladium and Messenger................. 651 Ives Company, J. J. Little and..................................... iv Jackson, Andrew................................................. 633 George W............................................. 379-82, 419 ay, John........................................................ 90 Jefferson, Thomas.......................................... 634 "Jeffing " described....................................... I22 Jenkins, E. 0................................................. 267, 303 Jennings, Louis J.................................................. 655 ersey City Times................................................. 663 Jessup, William J................................................. 591 Jewelers...................................................... 20 Job offices. (See ok and joboffices.) work, wages and hours of labor in I85o of printers on.......... 226, 230 Johns, Susie................................................ 421, 435 Johnson, J. C..................................................... 264 John........................................................ II6 L. & Co..................................................... 494 Johnston, George Y......................................... 203, 205 John......................................................... 42 S.................................... 69 Joint Conference Committee, settlement of I869 strike by a......... 303 Jonas, Dr. Alexander.............................................. 548 Jones, George............................................ 289, 292, 405 Gilbert....................................................... 405 Lewis Thom as................................................ 163 S. P......................................................... 262 W. B........................................................ 28 & R ogers..................................................... 389 Jones' Wood....................................... 623 Journal of Commerce. (See New York Journal of Commerce.) (See New York Journal.) Journeymen Printers' Co-operative Association....................... 591 Kain, Edward J............................4.................. 417 Karnes, William................................................. 8 Kaufman, Mr.................................................. 546 Kelby, Robert H.................................................. Iv Keller, Hon. John W.................................. 500, 603, 634, 653 Kellogg, H. N.............................................. 357, 360 K ells, D avid...................................................... 668 Kelly, Comptroller John........................................... 390 W. T........................................................ 567 William T............................................... 202 K ennaday, Paul................................................... 50 -2 Kennedy, Thomas................................................ 78-9 Kenney, John A................................................... 668 the Rev. Edward.............................................. 6Io K ent, John....................................................... 259 Kerridge, the Rev. Philip Markham................................. 654 Keyser, John F..................................... 568-9 Miss Harriette A.......................................... n. 6- I K iefer, D ean A. R................................................. 497 K iernan, Thom as.................................................. 8 Kildare, William................................................. 219 Kindeon, Owen J............................... v5, 63, 654 692 INDEX. PAGE K ing, Charles..................................................... n. 518 G eorge....................................................... 67 H enry V II................................................... 16 K ivlen, M ichael................................................... 439 K jelgaard, J. W................................................... 485 K nights of Labor.................................................. 392-3 K nopf, D octor.................................................... 501 Knox, General.................................................... 175 K 6nig, M r........................................................ 546 K om, M r........................................................ 546 K ossuth, Louis.................................................... 635 Krauth, Augustus H............................................... 155 La Crosse (W is.) Sun.............................................. 661 Label. (See Union label.) Labor combinations, transitory...................................... 34 conditions, effect of discovery of gold in California on.............. I Labor Dayfirst demonstration by workingmen on........................... 522 legalization of, in New York State............................... 522 number of New York printers in the 1887 parade on............... 523 resolutions of the New York Board of Aldermen relative to......... 522 turnout of New York workingmen in I887 on..................... 522 Labor enters politics............................................... 175 movement, affiliation of Union No. 6 with the general........... 585-94 rise of the moder, in I850.......................... 1-33 newspaper, a I-cent daily, established by trade unions in I836...... 153 pastoral letter of the Rt. Rev. Henry C. Potter on the subject of..... 608 Temple, idea of a, originates with printers in I835................. 153 Laborers, building................................................. 8 Labor's first Congressman.......................................... 184 Lafayette, G eneral................................................ 152 Lane, John F..................................................... 636 Lang, John....................................................... 148 Lassalle, Ferdinand Johann Gottlieb................................. 544 Lathrop, Gen. Austin.............................................. 520-I Laughlin, Frank C., Supreme Court Justice........................... 382 Lawlessness, Union No. 6 abhors acts of............................ 293 Leather dressers.................................................. 150 Lee, Gen. Robert E............................................... 635 Leech, M r.........2....................................... 12 Lees, H enry................................................. 271, 273 Leibman, M.................................................... 584 Leslie, Frank..................................................... 663 Leslie's W eekly................................................... 627 Lewellen, J. Richard................................... 573 Lewis, Judge Ellis, biographical sketch of............................. I00-2 m entioned.................................. 499 518 Miss Augusta, address by, to the International Typographical Union in i87I...................................... 437 chosen corresponding secretary of the International Typographical Union in 1870.................. 436 mentioned.................... n. 207, 421, 432-3, 435 Library formed by union printers in I834............................ 151 Lilienthal, D octor................................................. 548 Lincke, G eorge H................................................. 41 Lincoln, Abraham.................................. 99, 633-5, 637, 666 Linesay & Bros......................................... 267 Linotype machines. (See Composing machines.) Litchfield, Elisha................................................... 178 INDEX. 693 PAGE Little, Andrew.................................................... 627 Brown & Co................................................. 304 Hon. Joseph J., biographical sketch of........................... 665-6 mentioned........................ iv, 342, 374-5, 603 J. J., and Ives Company....................................... iv of Farmer, Little & Co....................................... 627 & Co., J. J..................................... 345-6 Lockout, printers' first, in I809..................................... 48 Locks, manufacture of, in prisons dangerous to public safety............. 182 Lockwood, Howard, & Co.......................................... 660 London Craftsman...................................... I 15, 124 Review of Reviews.............................................. 613 Tim es........................................................ 242 Long's printing office.............................................. 67 Longshoremen................................................ 389, 485 Loom is, Aphaxad.................................................. 178 Lovejoy, the Rev. Elijah P......................................... n. 88 Low, Hon. Seth......................................... 346, 603, 6I Lowenstein, M. J.................................................. 344 Ludlam, George T................................................ 32 Jam es H..................................................... 32 Luken, George M cKay............................................. 578 Lycett, W illiam................................................... v Lynch, James M., address of, on the history of the union label........... 51 mentioned.................. 344, 346, 352, 357, 360 views of, on the priority law of the International Typographical Union..................... 532 technical training in printing............ 466 R aym ond.................................................... 569 Lynde, W illoughby................................................ 163 McAllister, J. W.................................................. 329 M cBeath, James.................................................. 163 M cCabe, John F.................................................. 636 William....................................................... v, 522 M cCafferty, Robert............................................... 21 McCartney, William H............................... I4, 145, 152, i6o McCormick, Patrick H............................. 352, 379-82, 406, 668 McCreery, John................................................... 116 McDevitt, Charles.......................... 98, 101, 202, n. 2b6, 222, 507 M cDonald, Peter............................................. 235, 568-9 W illiam...................................................... 63 M cDougal, W illiam................................................ 67 M cElrath, Thomas.................................... I, 287, 616, 619-20 M cElroy, W illiam H................................................ 643 M cGovern, Edward............................................... 329 M cGrath, W illiam................................................ 627 McGuire, P. J................................................... n. 585 M cHale, Thom as F............................................... 584 M cIlvaine, Bishop................................................ 99 McKay, George A................................. v, 417-I8, 522, 668 McKechnie, Robert, biographical sketch of.........................648-51 mentioned.......... 415, 434, 582, 585, 624, 626-7, 668 remarks by, at reception to Horace Greeley......... 623 M cKenna, James.............................................. 497, 582 M cKinley, John, Jr.............................................. v, 81 McLaren, Bishop........................................... 497 M cLean, Andrew.................................................. 643 M rs. Jam es R................................................. 565 M cLoughlin, John E............................................... 584 M cM anus, Henry P.............................................. n. 287 W illiam B.................................................... 668 694 INDEX. PAGE M cNamara, M ichael H............................................ 668 McPeake, James.................................................. 7 Machine-tenders - apprentices, wage scale of................................. 462, 465 book and job, wage rates of, in 1910-12.......................... 366 branch of, attached to Union No. 6.............................. 563 introduction of the trade of, into the printing industry............ 558 jurisdiction over, assumed by the International Typographical Union. 563 negotiations regarding, between international organizations of machinists and printers....................................... 559 newspaper, wage rates of, in 191................................ 363 wage scale of, established in I898................................ 341 M achinery...................................................... 19 Machines. (See Composing machines.) Machinists.......................................................558-63 M ack & Andrews................................................. 8I M ackay, Angus F................................................. 603 Madison, President James......................................... 41, 190 Mahoney, John................................................... 627 Mail and Express. (See New York Mail and Express.) M ailers.......................................................... 512-13 Maine Monument Fund, contribution of Union No. 6 to the............ 606 Manlius Onondaga County Republican................................ 0oo Manual labor school, erection of a, in Washington, to teach printing trade. r 193 Marble cutters................................................... 8 Mariners' compass, utility of the.................................... I7 M arot, M iss H elen................................................ 612 M arsden, Jam es................................................... 627 M arsh, Hon. George P............................................. n. 83 M artin, W. C..................................................... 297 M artling, A. B.................................................... 37 M asons.......................................................... 36 operative..................................................... I Master printers. (See Printers, employing.) M athew, Father Theobald.......................................... 635 Matrices, borrowing of, prohibited................................... 339 M aune, Oswald................................................... 365 Maxwell, Charles M................................... v, 355, 359, 668 M ay, S. S....................................................... 250 M eagher, Edward................................................. 329 Thom as Francis............................................... 635 Mechanic arts, influence of the, on society........................... 169 Mechanical genius, republics develop................................ 173 Members of Union No. 6, not recipients of public charity............... 48I report on the physical condition of........... 503 Membership in subordinate unions, recommendation of the National Typographical Union that employers be admitted to........... 414 of NewYork Printers' Union during I850........................ 413 Typographical Society in I809-10................... 42 Membership of Union No. 6 -at the beginning of the I906 eight-hour strike..................... 419 end of September, 1911.................................. 413 effect of the I906 strike on the................................. 419 growth of the, after the establishment of the office of organizer...... 418 since the introduction of composing machines........ n. 478 through special efforts in 1883..................... 416 increase of the, after the Civil W ar.............................. 415 through a general amnesty in I868..4............. 416 loss of, during the Civil W ar.................................... 415 panic of 1857 depletes the...................................... 413 table of the, from January I, I850, to April I, 1911................ 420 trade dispute and hard times in 1876 cause a decrease of the......... 46 INDEX. 695 PAGE Memphis Typographical Union..................................... n. 206 Mercantile Advertiser. (See New York Mercantile Advertiser.) Mercer, Hon. David H...................................... 654 Mercury. (See New York Mercury.) Mesier, Alderman Peter A............................... I02 Metals, machinery and shipbuilding................................. 19 workers in precious............................................ 20 Methodist Book Concern...................................... 300, 650 Metropolitan Book and Job office..................................... 300 M eyerhoff, J...................................................... 627 Mileage system for traveling printers, suggestion by Union No. 6 of a.... 533 Milholland, John E.................................. 394-5, 603 M iller, Hugo.......................................... v, 357, 360, 550 Jam es A., M. D............................................... 502 M illville (N. J.) Transcript......................................... n. 495 M iners, coal...................................................... 474 M ing, John....................................................... 36 Mirror. (See New York Mirror.) M iscellaneous trades............................................... 31 M itchell, John.................................................... 359 Molders, iron..................................................... 19 Molineux, William................................................ 568 Monaghan, Bartholomew D........................................ 8 Money, bonds and certificates, Union No. 6 objects to the use of steam presses by the Government to print.......................... 608 workingmen in I834 object to the issuance of paper................ I84 M onroe, Jam es.................................................... 187 Monthly Bulletin, Union No. 6 begins the publication of the............ 470 M oon, D avid H................................................... v Moore, Elyaddress by, at commemorative exercises of the New York General Trades U nion............................................. I65 biographical sketch of.......................................... 77-9I fulfillment of a dire prophecy by............'................... 190 honors conferred upon................................... 191 Labor's first Congressman...................................... 84 m entioned................................................... 163-4 speech of, against national banking system...................... 187 favoring the doctrine of State rights................... 190 M oore, George H.................................................. 634 Morbidity benefits. (See Benefits, morbidity.) Morgan Iron Works, strike in the................................... 19 Morning Journal. (See New York Morning Journal.) Post. (See New York Morning Post.) Morocco dressers and finishers...................................... 32 M orris, Gen. George P............................................. 82, IOI Jacob........................................................ 36 M orse, Prof. Samuel F. B.......................................... 606 Mortuary benefits. (See Benefits, mortuary.) Mott, Jacob S......................................... 8I Moulton, John W..................................... 6, 163-4, I95 M ounce, W illiam.................................................. v Movements for higher wages...................................... 208-367 M oxon, Joseph............................................. n. 118, n.I20 Munsell, Joel............................................... n. 120, n.I23 Murphy, James J - address of, on " Organized Labor, the Advocate of Peace "........... 614 mentioned.............. v, 355, 358, 373, 395, 463, 500, 613, 653, 668 M urray, D ennis................................................... 32 M r.......................................................... 48 R.......................................................... 627 696 INDEX. PAGE Nathan, Marcus................................................. 603 National Arbitration and Peace Congress............................. 613 banking system............................................... 187 Civic Federation............................................. 359 National Convention of Journeymen Printers - delegates in I850 from New York City to the..................... 568 1851 from New York City to the..................... 573 in I85o, address issued by the................................... 570 assembling in New York City of the...................... 568 second meeting of the, in Baltimore, Md......................... 570 National Guard, Union No. 6 defeats constitutional amendment forbidding members to join the................................ 605 Labor Congress.......................................... 429, n. 430 National Labor Unionalliance of the, with the Patrons of Husbandry and the Grangers.... n. 586 delegate from Union No. 6 to the I868 congress of the............. 585 1869 congress of the............. 586 original congress in 1866 of the.................................. 585 printer-delegates in the I868 congress of the...................... 585 National Printers' Union, permanent organization of a, opposed in I85I.. 573 Trade Union. (See New York National Trade Union.) Trades Union................................................. 177 Typographical Association, second annual convention in 1837 of the.. I6o National Typographical Convention of 1836 - general appeal to printers by the................................. 157 m entioned.................................................... 155 regulation of apprenticeship by the.............................. 156 traveling cards authorized by the.............................. 157 National Typographical Union - address by President McKechnie to the, favoring recognition of wom en printers........................................... 434 becomes the International Typographical Union in I869............ 577 charter issued by the, to Union No. 6............................ 201 Women's Typographical Union No. I...... 421 convention in 1854 of the, resolves not to encourage the employment of women printers............................ 424 1862 of the, held in New York City............... 578 1867 of the, favors the eight-hour working day..... 368 submits to locals the question of women printers. 429 delegates from the, to the 1868 Congress of the National Labor Union. 585 in 852 from New York City to the...................... 577 1862 from New York City to the...................... 578 founding in 1852 of the, in Cincinnati,.......................... 577 general amnesty in I868 of the............................. 416 lots drawn in the 1852 convention of the, to determine charter numbers of subordinate unions.............................. 206 mentioned............ iv, 262, 295, 301, 397, n. 432, 474, 516, 536, 538 576, 580, 644, 648, 650, n. 652 petition in 1853 to the, to charter New York Printers' Co-operative U nion......................................... 266 1854 to the, to charter New York Printers' Co-operative U nion......................................... 271 powers of foremen defined in I858 by the......................... 529 question of a Printers' Home first submitted to the................ 495 reasons for the non-assembling in I86I of the..................... 578 recommendation of the, that employers be admitted to full membership in subordinate unions.................................. 414 refusal in 1853 of the, to charter the Printers' Co-operative Union... 269 1854 of the, to charter the Printers' Co-operative Union... 274 1860 of the president of the, to charter Brooklyn printers... 537 report on strike of 1869 made to the, by President McKechnie...... 303 National Women's Trade Union League.............................. 612 Nesbitt, George F. & Co........................... 245-6, 300, 627, 667 INDEX. 697 PAGE New Haven Belles-Lettres Respository.......................... 82 D aily Union.................................................. n. 432 P alladium.................................................... 656 N ew York Albion................................................. 660 A m erican................................................ 144, 359 Citizen................................................ 48 Arbeiter Union........................................... 542, 545 Boycotter............................................ 388, 391, 658-9 Colum bian.................................................... n. 87 Commercial Advertiser, extract from the......................... 132 mentioned............ i100, 6i8, 627, 637-8, 659 Courier....................................................... 101 and Enquirer, comments of the, on the strike of its printers in 1853............................... 247 m entioned................................ 246 D aily A dvertiser.............................................. 1, 144 Daily Advetsr101, 4 G reenleaf's...................................... n,37 E xpress............................................... 197 News, mentioned........................... 294, 552, 645, 666 novel suggestion by the, to promote industrial peace... 293 Day Book, comment of the, on the strike of its printers in 1853..... 246 m entioned.......................................... 422 Dem okrat................................................ 546, 548 Diary, or Evening Register......................... n. 36 E ra......................................................... n. 432 Evening Call.................................................. 330 E xpress............................................... 651 M irror........................................... 242, 244 Post, mentioned........................ 177, 239, n. 518, 6i8 strike in 1883 on the............................... 407-12 Sun..................................... 330, 401, 449, 651 W orld................................................. 330 Express................................................. 224, 390 G azette....................................................... 141 and General Advertiser, extract from the..................... 147 General Trades Union. (See General Trades Union of New York.) Herald, article from the, on the eight-hour demonstration in 1871.... 369 excerpt from the, anent the death of John R. O'Donnell.... 657 mentioned. 3, 196 n. 202,281, n. 318, 323-4, n. 625, 627, 656, 666-7 H istorical Society............................................. iv Independent................................................... n. 433 Journal................................................. 546, 548 of Commerce becomes a union office 305 comment of the, on the strike of printers in i851 240 mentioned....... 144, 197, 243-4, 246, 252-4, 256-8 renewal of its opposition to Printers' Union in 1 853 249 reply of the, to the Tribune's strictures....... 254 strike in i851 of printers employed by the...... 239 Journeymen Printers' Co-operative Association, delegate from the, to the 1868 Congress of the National Labor Union............. 585 Mail and Express, strike in 1883 on the.......................... 407 M ercantile Advertiser........................................... 38 M ercury...................................................... 627 M irror....................................................... 82, 246 - M orning Journal.............................................. 551-2 P ost........................................ 67, 6i8 National Trade Union......................................... 177 Oestliche Post................................................. 546-7 P ick......................................................... 267 P ress........................................................ 449 Press Club.............................................. 5o00, 644 698 INDEX. PAGE New York Presse................................................. 546 New York Printers' Co-operative Union decision in 1853 of the, to appeal to the National Typographical U nion.................................................... 263 dissolution of the, in I857...................................... 275 first offi cers of the............................................. 262 form ation in 1853 of the........................................ 26r membership in 1853 of the...................................... 271 petition in 1853 of the, to the National Typographical Union for a charter........................................ 266 1854 of the, to the National Typographical Union for a charter....................................... 27I wage scale adopted in I853 by the, for book and job printers... 261, 264 New York Printers Union - becomes New York Typographical Union No. 6................... 206 benefits provided by the........................................ 204-5 dues and assessments of the.................................... 205 first officers of the............................................ 205 scale committee appointed by the........................... 223 wage scale proclaimed by the...............................226-32 initial constitution of the....................................... 203 m entioned............................................ n. 6I6, 646 motives that impelled the organization of the..................... 202 organization in i850 of the..................................... 201 preliminary meeting to discuss the formation of the................ 203 report of committee appointed by the, to investigate the state of trade in I850............................................. 209 reproduction of the first working card issued by the................ 205 resolutions passed by the, honoring the memory of President Zachary Taylor................................................... 605 New York Printing Co............................................. 300 Public A dvertiser.............................................. 67 Recorder............................................ 333, 445, 656 Revolution, extract from the, relative to women printers.......... 430 m entioned................................... 43, 433 Shoe and Leather Reporter....................................... 658 Spirit of the Times............................................. 618 Staats-Zeitung............................................ 344, 546-7 Star.................................389-90 State Allied Printing Trades Council. (See Allied Printing Trades Council, State.) Federation of Labor..................................... 592 Workingmen's Assembly. (See Workingmen's Assembly of the State of New York.) conventions............................... 586 Stereotype Association......................................... 267 Sun, comments of the, on the strike of its printers in I853......... 248 controversies of the, with Union No. 6......................396-402 editorial of the, on the 1887 Labor Day parade............... 523 mentioned..245-6, 278, 323, n. 390, n. 470, n. 624, 627, 645, 651,663-4 refusal of the, to reduce wages of compositors in the seventies.. 663 settlement in 1864 of the dispute with the................... 398 1902 of the dispute with the................... 402 strike in 1852 on the....................................... 396 1899 on the....................................... 399 Sunday Dispatch................................... 245 Tages-Nachrichten........................................ 546, 548 The Man..................................................... 84-5 W ar..................................................... 82 to Washington in 1836, cost of and time consumed in trip from. 1.. 59-60 Times, advertisement of the, for printers......................... 286 mentioned....... I37, 281, 292, 295, n. 318, 323, 449, 627, 655-6 INDEX. 699 New York Times- (Continued) PAGE strike in 1876 on the............................... 404 1883 on the............................... 404 New York Tribune - answer of the, to a correspondent relative to cost of living.......... 285 article from the, concerning co-operative shop of journeymen bakers.. 25 close of the controversy of the, with the Journal of Commerce...... 256 comment of the, on the incipient riot of I850..................... 14-15 strike of its compositors in 1864........... 29I criticism of the, on the attitude of the Journal of Commerce in I85I.. 243 editorial from the, criticising the Journal of Commerce............. 252 extract from the, regarding printers' wages....................... 284 first issue of the.............................................. 619 mentioned... I, I96-7, 202, 205, 223-4, 236, 246-7, 254-6, 28i, 283, 288-90 300, n. 3I8, 422, 425-6, 507, 6i6, 620-I, 625, 627, 638, 643-6, 65i 657, 659-60, 662-4 opinion expressed by the, on the second revision of the printers' wage scale in 1864.............................................. 282 settlement in I892 of the strike on the........................... 392 staff in the early fifties of the................................... I strike in I852 on the........................................ 384 1864 on the........................................... 286 1877 on the........................................... 386 I883 on the........................................... 387 1894 on the.......................................... 393 strikes on the................................................. 384-96 suggestion of the, for a Joint Committee of Arbitration............ 293 views of the, regarding the printers' strike in I864................. 287 New York Typographical Association. (See Typographical Association of New York.) New York Typographical Society - ceases to be a trade union................................. 80 circular of the, to master printers regarding " half-way journeymen ". 67 decadence of the, as a trade union........ 75 demand in 1819 of the, for an additional tariff on imported books. 527 first anniversary of the........................................ 84 by-laws of the............................................ 45 officers of the............................................. 41-2 funds of the.................................................. 73 geographical jurisdiction of the.................................. 47 history of the, I809-18I8............................... 41-104 illustrious members of the...................................... 8i initial constitution of the................................. 42 membership of the, in 8o9-o.................................. 42 mentioned.. v, 107, n. 120, 190, 201, n. 206, 222, 245, 424, 507, 516, n. 621 646 protective powers of the, removed by act of incorporation.......... 78 urges uniform wage rates in all localities in 85................... 64 wage scale of the, in I809.................................. 57 8 5....................................... 62 New York Typographical Union No. 6. (See Typographical Union No. 6.) Union and Transcript......................................... 145 a I-cent daily labor newspaper established in 1836........... 153 Printer.................................................. 388 and American Craftsman, excerpt from, concerning strike of printers in 1864...................... 287 Unionist, article from the, on the death of John W. Touhey........ 658 Voks-Zeitung................................................ 548 World, comment of the, on the strike of newspaper compositors in I889........................................ 326 mentioned................ 323, 337, 429-30, 627, 650, 656, 667 reasons assigned by the, for dismissing its women compositors in i868........................................ 43 700 INDEX. New York World- (Continued) PAGE strike in 1867 on the........................ 402 1878 on the............................... 403 1883 on the............................... 403 New Yorker, the..................................... 206, 617, 619, 638 Newberger, Joseph E., Supreme Court Justice....................... 380 N ew m an, N athan................................................. 603 W illiam.......................................... n. 94 Newspaper, proposal in 1894 to establish a daily for the benefit of unem ployed printers......................................... 481 work, wages and hours of labor of printers on, in I85I........ 226, 229-30 w riters....................................................... 513 Niles, Hon. W illiam W............................................. 634 Nine-and-one-half-hour working dayadoption of the, for book and job printers....................... 374 general inauguration of the, in 1898 in book and job offices...... 376 Nine-hour working day - adoption in 1893 of the, for machine operators on bookwork........ 336 book and job printers move for the.............................. 372-6 demand in 1896 by the International Typographical Union for the.. 373 general inauguration of the, in 1899 in book and job offices......... 376 Numerical strength and upbuilding efforts of Union No. 6..............413-20 O'Beirne, Gen. Jam es R........................................... 653 O'Brien, William J................................................ 591 O'Connell, John S................................................ v P.J.................................................. v O'Donnell, John R., biographical sketch of........................... 656-8 mentioned.... 387, 403, 405, 412, 416-17, 500, 598, 667-8 O'Neill, Thomas................................................. 41,52 O'Reilly, M iss Leonora............................................ 614 Oberly, John H.......................................... 495, 516, 538 Oestliche Post. (See New York Oestliche Post.) Officers of Union No. 6, salaries of................................... 471 Official Annual of Union No. 6, for 1892....................... n. 36, n. 39 Ogden, H enry T.............................................. 573, n. 574 Operators, machine. (See Composing machine operators.) Oppenheimer, Sigmund............................................ v Order of Faust, The, founding of, in 1843............................ 567 Organizations in the building industry in I795........................ 36 Organizer, creation in 1895 by Union No. 6 of the office of.............. 418 Original organization of typographers................................ 34 Ottarson, Franklin J., biographical sketch of.......................... 646-7 mentioned.. 195,198, 237-8,262,568,573,582,645, 668 Out-of-work benefits. (See Benefits, unemployment.) Overtime law, enactment of an, in the interest of the unemployed....... 481 newspaper apprentices forbidden to work......................... 463 rates on newspapers, establishment of, in 1907.................... 358 work, agreement as to, in all-machine offices...................... 342 readjustment of, in 1897 for job compositors................ 340 regulation of, on newspapers in 1897....................... 339 P abst, L ouis...................................................... 553 Packard, Robert.................................................. 36 & Van Benthuysen............................................ 00 Paddock, M rs.................................................... 664 Paddon, W illiam B................................................ 63 Page, Senator Alfred R.................................... 611 Painters and decorators............................................ 7 coach......................................................... 21,588 w indow shade................................................. 23 Palmer, J. W............................4.............. 42 INDEX. 701 PAGE Panic of 1837, effect of the, on the printing trade................. 38, 193 I857, depletion of the ranks of Union No. 6 caused by the...... 413 effect of the, on industry...............275 unemployment of printers during the................... 474 1873, effect of the, on the membership of Union No. 6...... 416 the industrial...................................... 305 1893, distress caused by the............................... 477 effect of the, on printers' wages........................ 338 Paper money, workingmen in 1834 object to the issuance of............ 184 Parker, W. C..................................................... 312 Parsons, Joseph................................................... 163 Parton, Jam es.................................................... 620 Pasko, Wesley Washington, biographical sketch of.....................659-60 mentioned................ n. 297, 321, 520, 627 tribute by, to the memory of Horace Greeley 625 Patrons of Husbandry............................................. n. 585 Patterson, M rs. Phebe............................................. 422 Paul, Abraham.................................................... 1 OI Payne, Hulbert................................................. 540 Payson, Congressman.............................................. 652 Peace among nations, espousal of, by Union No. 6..................... 613 workingmen's mass meeting to promote.......... 613 Peake, Robert................................................. 264 Pearce, Grafton................................................... 268-9 Peck, Hon. George Wilbur, biographical sketch of..................... 660-1 letter from, to Union No. 6................ 66i P eck's Sun....................................................... 66i Pensions, amount of, paid by Union No. 6............................ 5Io for superannuated union printers................................ 492-4 People's Institute................................................. 612 Peregoy, John W.................................................. 568-9 Person, J. D................................................63 Petition of Printers' Co-operative Union for a charter in 1853........... 266.I854........... 271 Pettit, William E................................................ v Philadelphia Daily News.......................................... 426 Gazette.................................................... 38 North Am erican............................................... 426 Printers' Circular................................ n. 495, n. 624, 646 Public Ledger...................... 494, 499 Typographic Advertiser, idea of a Printers' Home suggested by the... 494 Typographical Society.................... 40, 51, 53, 59-60, 64-5, 421 Union.................................... n. 206, 428 Philbin, M artin................................................... 32 Phillips, Mr...................................................... 415 W endell...................................................... n. i88 Philp, W illiam.................................................... 303 Photo-engravers........................................... 5 3- 4, 584 Pick. (See New York Pick.) Piecework, abolition of, in newspaper offices using composing machines.. 335 Pierce, N. R...................................................... 423 President........................................ I Pigott, James R.................................................. Pipe makers, tobacco................................... 32 Pittsburgh Typographical Union.................................... n. 206 Plum bers......................................................... 474 and gas fitters................................................ 7 Poems by Samuel Woodworth...................................... 83-9 Poer, Robert M............................ 289 Political action taken by Union No. 6........................... 388, 402 Politics, women in 1850 urged to enter.............................. I7 Polk, President................................................... 191 702 INDEX. PAGE Pool, A. C....................................................... 573 Poole, M r....................................................... 142 Poore, Ben Perley................................................ 201 Porters, public................................................... 32 Potter, the Rt. Rev. Henry C., mentioned..................... 500, 6io-li pastoral letter of, on Labor.............. 608 Potts, John H................................................... Io6 Powderly, Hon. Terence V......................................... 614 Powell, M me. Alma W ebster........................................ 637 P reface......................................................... iii Prendergast, R. B................................................ 374 Prescott, W. B................................................... 512 Presidents of Typographical Union No. 6, list of...................... 668 Press feeders, mentioned...........................................5I12-I3 strike of, in 1887...................................... 318 freedom of the, Union No. 6 protests against interference with the... 607 (See New York Press.) Presse. (See New York Presse.) Pressmen, alliance of international unions of.......................... 558 hours of labor of, in I833....................................... 136 I851.................................. 226, 231 mentioned...... 59, 62, io8, 370, 375, 455, 512-14, 556-8, 579, 584, 666 offer of, to assist printers in I869 strike.......................... 301 rival unions of................................................ 557 strike of, in 1887.............................................. 318 wages of, in 1809.............................................. 58 I8 15.............................................. 6 2 I833.............................................. 136 I85I......................................... 226, 231 1853....................................... 261, 264 I864.............................................. 280 W ashington in 1815................................ 95 Prindle, W illiam H........................................... 205, 222 Printers accord financial support to trades on strike in the thirties....... 149 apprentices, initiation of, into trade mysteries..................... 125 benefits established in the thirties by............................ 112 Brooklyn, attempt of to form a union in 1860..................... 536 unsuccessful strike of, in I867......................... 538 Circular. '(See Philadelphia Printers' Circular.) discourage incompetent workmanship............................ I09 Printers, employingadmission of, to subordinate unions recommended by the National Typographical Union................................... 414 counter scale of prices adopted by, in 1809........................ 54 I869........................ 299 list of, that employed members of the Printers' Co-operative Union in I853................................................... 267 object to demands of New York Printers' Co-operative Union...... 263 union scale of I850 rejected by a majority of...................... 225 views of, on the strike of book and job compositors in 1869........ 298 wage scale adopted in 1876 by.................................. 307 Printers eschew religious discussion at union meetings.................. 151 establish a library in I834...................................... I51 excess of, in I864.............................................. 282 farm, amount expended to maintain the.......................... 51 experiences on the, at Bound Brook, N. J................... 488 for idle members of Union No. 6............................484-92 opening of the, at Pelham Bay Park........................ 486 physical and moral benefits derived from life on the.......... 487 project abandoned........................................ 492 first lockout of, in I809........................................ 48 national convention of journeymen.......................... 155 INDEX. 703 Printers - (Continued) PAGE first strike of, in America......................................... 35 German. (See German printers.) Home. (See Union Printers' Home.) Printers' League of America - agreement of the, with Union No. 6............................. 365 apprenticeship rules approved by the............................ 464 founding of the............................................... 364 scale of prices of I9I0 accepted by the........................... 367 Printers, mass meeting of, in I859 to upbuild Union No. 6.............. 413 mileage system for traveling................................. 533 modem, practice ancient printing-house customs.................. I20 New York, assist Boston craftsmen on strike in I849............... 202 not any in State prisons in the early fifties....................... n. 518 number of, in New York City in I850........................... 2o0 Ode," poem by Samuel Woodworth.............................. 87 propose use of traveling cards in I86........................... 72 protest against reduction of wages in 1837....................... 139 strike of 1864, mass meeting of workingmen to express sympathy with the.................................................. 288 suggest original central labor organization in New York City....... 162 The," Barnett's. (See " The Printers," Barett's.) unemployment of, during the War of 1812....................... 70 in I834...................................... 138 Union. (See New York Printers' Union.) unions in the eighteenth century................................ 34 wages in Boston in 1849........................................ 201 I8oo................................................. 39 the eighteenth century................................. 36 (See also Compositors.) Printing, advance in the art of, noted in I802......................... 40 all arts preserved by........................................... 71 and Independence," poem by Samuel Woodworth................ 89 difficulties of introducing technical training in.................... 466 exposition to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Union No. 6.. 602 International Typographical Union's technical course in........... 465 plant, Government ownership of, opposed by union printers in 1850.. 595 of Rivington's Gazette destroyed........................... n. 35 public. (See Public printing.) Printing trade - condition of the, in the thirties................................. 107 ease of competition a curse in the............................... 220 effect of the War of 1812 on the................................ 60 erection of a manual training school in Washington to teach the.... 93 inharmony in I853 invades the............................... 262 low ebb in 1849 of the Boston.................................. 201 report of committee in 1850 on the state of the.................... 209 Printing Trades Council. (See Allied Printing Trades Council.) Priority law - adoption of the, to insure equality of rights...................... 530 enforcement of the, in New York City confined to newspaper offices.. 530 International Typographical Union in I890 enacts a............... 529 membership votes against repeal of the.................... 532 repeal of the, requested by Union No. 6.......................... 531 views of President James M. Lynch of the International Typographical Union on the......................................... 532 Prison labor - abolition of the contract system of, demanded by union workmen..... 59I act of I868 nullifying contract for printing by................... n. 517 agitation in 1834 against contract............................... 77 by contract, agitation against the introduction of, in Kings County Penitentiary........................................ 5I8, 548 Commission of I886......................................... 519 704 INDEX. Prison labor - (Continued) PAGE making of imported articles by convicts suggested as a solution of... i8i New York constitution forbids competitive................... 186, 521 piece-price system............................................. 519 public account system......................................... 519 report of Commission appointed in I834 to inquire into the effect of contract.................................................. 178 study of......................................................516-21 Prisons - act of 1890 restricting printing or typesetting in.................. 520 manufacture of locks in New York.............................. 182 use of motive power machinery forbidden for manufacturing purposes in................................................. 519 Proofreaders, mentioned........................................... 455 newspaper, twelve-hour working day in 1851 for.................. 368 union men to be employed as........................ 358 wage scale of, in 1907................................ 357-8 wages of, in 1891.................................... 330 wages of, in 1872.............................................. 305 Protective trade union for book and job printers, formation of a, suggested. 259 Public Advertiser. (See New York Public Advertiser.) porters....................................................... 32 Public printingabolition of contract system of, demanded by convention of union printers in 1851........................................... 597 contract system of, deprecated by 1850 convention of union printers.. 595 formation of copartnership of union printers suggested in 1850 to perform.................................................. 595 Public works, convict labor on, impracticable........................ i80 Pudney & Russell................................................. 267 Pum p m akers..................................................... 19 P utnam 's........................................................ 517 Quackenboss, G. V. S............................................. 536 Q uarrym en....................................................... 8 Radcliff, M ayor Jacob............................................. 103 R ahal, Jam es P................................................... 668 R ainnie, Jam es.................................................... v Randall, George H................................................ 268 R andell, George H................................................ 596 & Blaem eke.................................................. 546 " Rat " lists disseminated in 1831................................... I43 exchange of........................................... 50 printer, origin of the term of.................................... n. 50 " Rats," keeping of a registry of the names of, recommended by the 1850 National Convention of Journeymen Printers....................... 569 Receipts and expenditures of Union No. 6 in fifteen years............... 470 Recorder. (See New York Recorder.) Reed, Thom as J.................................................. 202 Reid, John C., biographical sketch of................................ 654-6 important part taken by, in the Tilden-Hayes dispute.... 655 W hitelaw.............................................. 386-8, 391-2 Reins, David H., biographical sketch of.............................. 81-2 mentioned............ 41-2, 49-50, 58, 6i, 69, 87, 90, 245 Rejuvenation of Union No. 6 in 1883, work of........................ 416 Religious discussion eschewed at trade union meetings................ 151 Renne, Thomas W................................................ 106 R ennie, John G................................................... 24 Rents in 1850..................................................... 13 Representative form of government in the affairs of Union No. 6......... 447-51 INDEX. 705 PAGE Restriction of output on composing machines, opposition of Union No. 6 to............................................ 337 Retail prices in 1860 and 864................................... 285 trade........................................................ 27 Revenues of Union No. 6, sources whence derived..................... 468 Revolution. (See New York Revolution.) Reynolds, Jam es R................................................ 78 Rice, Jesse....................................................... I06 Richardson, W illiam............................................... II Richmond Borough Central Federated Union......................... 594 Ridder, Herman........................................ 344, 357-8 Ridgewood (N. J.) News........................................... iv Riggers, ship.............................................. 20 Ringwood, Thomas........................................... 36-7, 39 Ripley, G eorge........................................... I Rise of the modern labor movement in 850.......................... 1-33 Rittenhouse, David........................................... 174 Rival union of printers, rise and development in 1853 of a.......... 258 Rivington, Jam es.................................................. n. 35 Rivington's Gazette................................................ 35 R oberts, M iss..................................................... 6 ' of Davies & Roberts........................................... 667 Robertson, Jam es................................................. 24 Robinson, Hon. James M.......................................... 653 John C........................................... 567, n. 624, 626 Rochester Daily Telegraph.......................................... 1 0 I Rockerfeller, Henry................................................ 589 Roe, Frederick..................................... 32 Rogers, Edgar H.... 203, 205, 222,232, 237, n. 259, 568-9, 573, 576-7, 595-7 of Jones & Rogers............................................. 389 Rood, W illiam S.................................................. v Rook, A. W...................................................... 573 Alexander.................................................... 268 Rooker, M yron H............................................. 575, 597 Thomas N...................... 201, 222, 236, 384-6, 395, 472, 627 Roosevelt, Hon. Theodore.......................................... 603 Rose, W. N...................4............................... 141 R oss, W. H....................................................... 28 Rouse, Leon H.................................................... v Routt, Governor of Colorado....................................... 497 Rowell, George P.................................................. 627 Russel, famous pie bakery of........................................ 638 Russell, Benjamin.................................................. 82 E. E......................................................... 584 G. H........................................................ 374 of Pudney & Russell....................................... 267 Ryan, James J.................................................... 584,Rymer, Joseph F.................................................. 582 Saddle and harness makers......................................... 32 Sail makers....................................................... 19 St. Louis Intelligencer.............................................. 644 Star..................................................... 344 Typographical Union...................................... n. 206 Salaries of officials of Union No. 6.................................. 471 Sash and blind makers............................................. 22 Saturday Half Holiday - New York law of 1887 establishing the.......................... 523 observance of the, by book and job compositors.................. 525 protest of Union No. 6 against the abolition of the................ 524 veto by Gov. David B. Hill of bill to abolish the.................. 524 706 INDEX. PAGE Sauer, M r...................................................... I2 Savage, C. C................................................. 267, 627-8 Chief Justice................................................. 175 W illiam...................................................... n. I28 Saw yers, ship..................................................... 20 Scale of prices. (See Wage scale.) Schm idt, H erm an................................................. 546 Prof. M ax.................................................... 637 Schiffer, Peter................................................... n. 195 Schurz, Gen. Carl...........................................4I I-I2, 635 Schweizer, J. B.................................................. 543 Scott, Jam es...................................................... 18 Marsden G................... 342, 347-52, 355-7, 654, 668 Scribner & Co.............................................. 307 Scully, Thomas F............................................. 580 Searing, Augustus P............................................... 78-9 Sears, Capt. Isaac................................................. n. 35 Seaver, Colonel................................................... 518 Seitz, Don C..............35................. 355, 359 Sellers, of Hall & Sellers............................................ 38 " Setting Type," poem by Franklin J. Ottarson............. 647 Seven-and-one-half-hour working day - for " third shift " on newspapers................................ 362 inauguration of the, on newspapers............................. 372 Seven-hour working day - adoption in 1898 of the, for " third shift " on newspapers........... 340 unsuccessful effort in I893 to inaugurate a, on newspapers........... 372 Seward, W illiam H................................................ 634 Sewing machine, pessimistic view in I850, concerning the effect on industry of the................................................... I7 Seym our, M r..................................................... 59 Shaw, Christopher................................................ 33 Shearman, George................................................ 626 Sheet-iron workers................................................. 19 Sheldon, G eorge.................................................. 28 Sherman, John H............................................. 41, 52, 102 R oger........................................................ 175 Ship riggers....................................................... 20 sawyers...................................................... 20 Shipbuilding...................................................... 19 Shoe and Leather Reporter. (See New York Shoe and Leather Reporter.) clerks........................................................ 31 workers...................................................... 17 Shorter working dayadvantages of a, described by an employing printer............... 374 for book and job printers, conference in I898 in relation to the...... 375 movement by German printers for a............................ 545 Sick benefits. (See Benefits, sick.) members of Union No. 6, hospital beds provided for the accommodation of................................................... 500 Siebers, E rnest................................................... 542 Silversmiths...................................................... 20 Sim m ons, A. H.................................................... 145 Simonds, Congressman............................................. 652 Six-day law of the International Typographical Union............... 405 unemployment decreased by the........................ 476 Sixteen hours per day, an average of, worked by printers in I850....... 210 Slavery regarded by Washington and others as inconsistent with the principles of the Declaration of Independence.......................... I90 Slawson, Sam uel.............................................. 538, n. 567 Sloan, Sam uel............................................ 222, 385, 415 Slote, Peter....................................................... 36 INDEX. 707 PAGE Smeeton, W illiam B............................................... 567 Smith, Alderman R. J............... 60 Charles B................................................ 582, 668 F. J......................................................... 237 Gen. K irby................................................... 604 George W.................................................... 582 Gerrit.............. n. 624 Hon. S. Wesley, address by, on the resolution naming Greeley Square.. 633 Jam es........................................................ 536 John A.................................................. 262, 266-9 Joseph...................................................318-19 M iss Nixola Greeley........................................... iv R. B........................................................ 569 R. H........................................................ 303 R euben...................................................... 32 Robert C..................................................... 536 T. B........................................................ 267 W illiam...................................................... 19 Sm ythe, J........................................................ 201 Snedecor, Assistant Alderman....................................... i60 Snow, G eorge N................................................... I Soule, Mrs. Henry D.............................................. 565 Southwick, Henry C............................................... 36, 38 Spanish-American War, resolutions of Union No. 6 in relation to the..... 605 Spence, M iss Elizabeth............................................. 612 Speyer, George.................................................... 544 Spirit of the Times. (See New York Spirit of the Times.) Sprague, M ayor Ira G............................................. 497 Squier, Jacob................................................ o06 Staats-Zeitung. (See New York Staats-Zeitung.) Staff of the New York Tribune in the early fifties.................... I Stafford, O. A..................................................... 273 Standing time on newspapers, original rule requiring payment for........ 229 Stanton, Mrs. Elizabeth Cady...................................... n. 430 Star. (See New York Star.) State Allied Printing Trades Council. (See Allied Printing Trades Council, State.) State Printing Office - creation of a, urged by Union No. 6............................. 598 Union No. 6 denounces Governor Flower's veto of the bill creating a.. 600 veto of the bill to establish a................................... 599 State rights, doctrine of, favored by Ely Moore....................... 90 Typographical Union, organization in 1891 of the................. 583 Workingmen's Assembly. (See Workingmen's Assembly of the State of New York.) Statistics of German printing establishments in 1875.................. 548 Statue of Horace Greeley erected by union printers................... 632 Stead, W illiam T.................................................. 613 Steam engine, power and benefit of the.............................. 71 Stedman, Edmund C., poem read by, at the unveiling of the Greeley m onum ent................................................. 629 Steiger, E........................................................ 546-7 Stein, Abraham..................................... 359 Stephens, A. V.................................................... 60 Stephenson, J.................................................... 627 Stereotypers, mentioned................. 370, 379, 392-4, 455, 512-I4, 584 strike in 1887 of............................................... 318 Stereotyping, increase of, in the thirties............................... 08 Stewart, Ethelbert.......................... n. 34, n. 36, n. 39, n. 50, n. 574 Stillwell, Mr......... 36 Stirk, W illiam............................................ 301, 303, 668 708 INDEX. PAGE Stoddard, Claude.................................................. 603 Richard H.................................................... 660 Stone cutters.............................................. 8, 185, 370 masons....................................................... 4 M r.......................................................... 48 Stoneall, M r...................................................... I64 Stoneall's Hotel, James C.......................................... 201 Stopford, M iss.................................................... 16 Story, Francis V.................................................. 6I8 Strasser, A dolph.................................................. 593 Straw and pamilla sewers........................................... 16 Street car employees............................................... 474 Strike benefits. (See Benefits, strike.) of boiler m akers in I85I........................................ 19 Strike of book and job compositors - adjustment by a Joint Conference Committee of the 1869......... 302 in I853....................................................... 265 863....................................................... 277 869....................................................... 296 1876....................................................... 307 I887....................................................... 318 Strike of book, job and newspaper compositors in 1883................. 316 boot and shoe workers in I850............................. I8 Brooklyn printers for increase of wages in 867............... 538 building laborers in 1852................................... 10 carpenters in I833......................................... 149 confectioners in 1853...................................... 26 German printers in 1872.................................. 546 hatters in I834........................................... 149 journeymen housesmiths in I850........................... 7 tailors in 1850................................ I0 leather dressers in I836................................... I50 New York City building trades for the eight-hour working day in 1872............................... 369 pressmen for the eight-hour working day in 1872 556 newspaper compositors in 1889............................. 324 printers, first in America................................... 35 in i811........................................... 60 I840......................................... 14 I85................................. 238, 244 1864.......................................... 288 1872 to enforce apprenticeship rules............. 457 on Rivington's Gazette............................. 35 saddle and harness makers in 851.......................... 32 tailors in I836....................................... 50, 175 upholsterers in I850...................................... 22 Washington printers in I835................................ I92 on the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.................................... 405 New York Day Book................................... 246 Evening Post................................ 407-12 Journal of Commerce........................... 239 M ail and Express............................. 407 threatened by barbers in 1850................................... 3I Strikes, celebrated newspaper........................... 384-412 of New York book and job printers for the eight-hour working day in 1905-6............................................... 378-9 printers in I840............................................. 141 on the New York Sun.................. 6................... 396-402 Tim es....................................... 404-5 Tribune................................ 286, 384-96 W orld....................................... 402-4 Stubbs, William L................................. n. I94, 202, 219, 668 INDEX. 709 Sun. (See New York Sun.) PAGE Sunday Dispatch. (See New York Sunday Dispatch.) labor, objection of the National Typographical Union to........... 477 Superannuation benefits. (See Benefits, superannuation.) Sutliffe, Thomas T............................................... 668 Sutton, T........................................................ 267 Swain, Jam es B................................................... n. 517 M r.......................................................... 638 M ortines..................................................... 78-9 Sw ords, J........................................................ 53 Tages-Nachrichten. (See New York Tages-Nachrichten.) Tailors........................................... 10, 150, 175, 290, 589 Tallm age, R ecorder................................................ 15 Tariff on imported books - New York Typographical Society in 1819 demands an additional... 527 Union No. 6 in 1894 protests against a reduction of the........... 527 Tax, levy of an income, by Union No. 6 for beneficial purposes......... 468 Taylor, Bayard, mentioned.................................. i, 632, 644 oration of, at the unveiling of the Greeley monument.... 630 Charles., Jr............................................ 360, 626 D ouglas...................................................... 627 Gen. Zachary............................................. 604, 633 John......................................................... 538 of Billings & Taylor.......................................... 267 Technical training in printingdifficulties of introducing....................................... 466 International Typographical Union's course of................... 466 Telegraphers................................................. 412, 474 Tenement house inspection......................................... 2 Ten-hour working dayadoption of the, by the Typographical Association of New York.... 136 in 1870 for morning newspaper time hands........ 305 1851 in evening newspaper and job printing offices 226 German printers in the early eighties inaugurate the.............. 545 on newspapers, International Typographical Union in i88i advocates a................................................... 371 Teubner, M r...................................................... 546 Textiles........................................................ 10 " The Bucket," poem by Samuel Woodworth........................ 83 Composing Room," poem by G. Brimmer....................... 129 Hague Conference........................................ 613, 6i 5 Man. (See New York The Man.) Printers," Barnett's, extracts from...................... n. 50, n. 5 1-12 War. (See New York The War.) " Third shift," newspaper, hours of labor of the................... 354, 362 wages and hours of labor established in 1898 for the............................... 340 Thomas, the Rev. Nehemiah....................................... 82 Thompson, Gen. W addy........................................... 190 J............................................................ 67 Thom as............................................. 41-2, 49, 51-2 W. P............................................. 387 Ticknor & Fields..................................... 304 Tilden-Hayes electoral controversy, important part taken by John C. R eid in the............................................... 655 Sam uelJ..................................................... 655-6 Times. (See New York Times.) Tin, copper and sheet-iron workers.................................. 19 T indall, W. W.................................................... io06 T itus, M r........................................................ 536 T obacco......................................................... 23 pipe m akers..............................................., 32 710 INDEX. PAGE Tole, James, address of, at the Greeley centenary exercises............. 638 mentioned.......................... v, 358-9, 367, 637, 668 T orboss, Isaac.................................................... 22 Touhey, John W., biographical sketch of............................ 658-9 Tousey, Sinclair................................................... 627 Town, Charles F......................................... 422, 582, 668 Townsend, Robert, Jr.............................................. 163 Traveling cards - early provision of Union No. 6 for admitting holders of........... 469 issuance of, recommended by the 1850 National Convention of Journeymen Printers....................................... 569 National Typographical Convention of 1836 authorizes the issuance of....................................................... 57 proposed by union printers in I8i6............................. 72 Tribune. (See New York Tribune.) Troup, Alexander............................. n. 432-3, 516-I7, 582, 585 Trow, John F......................................... 198-9, 267, 303 Troy Typographical Union..................................... 589, 659 Tuberculosis, Union No. 6 plans to diminish the inroads of............. 501 Tucker, Judge Gideon J....................................... 293, 645 Turner, Captain............................................. 16-17 Turners, wood, metal, bone and ivory............................... 22 Tuttle, Nathaniel................................................ 395-6 Twelve-hour working day - establishing the, on morning newspapers in I851.................. 226 German printers in the seventies observe the..................... 545 sought by journeymen bakers in I850........................... 24 Two-thirders, employment of, in the thirties.......................... Io8 ruinous system of............................................. 192 Type Founders Company, the American............................. iv journeymen...................................... 33, 512 measurement in 8i8.......................................... 62 Typesetters. (See Compositors.) Typesetting machines. (See Composing machines.) Typographers, original organization of............................... 34 Typographic Library and Museum.................................. iv Typographical Association of New York - assisted immigration denounced by the.......................... 147 benefits established by the...................................... 112 circular issued in 1833 by the................................... I07 1837 by the, against wage reduction............. 139 collapse of the................................................ 194 creation of chapels by the...................................... delegates of the, to the first National Convention of Journeymen Printers.................................................. 55 financial support accorded by the, to trades engaged in strikes...... I49 first constitution of the.................................. 106, 11I officers of the............................................. I06 wage scale adopted by the.................................. 134 general amnesty proclaimed in 1833 by the....................... 44 history of the, I831-I840......................................105-94 library established in 1834 by the.............................. m entioned............................................ v, 206, 617 Typographical convention, pioneer national........................... I55 Journal, the...................................................512 Society, founding in 1794 of the................................. 35-6 officers in 1796 of the.................................. 36 Typographical Union No. 6 -" Big Six " popular title of..................................... I birthplace of.................................. 643 charter issued to, by the International Typographical Union........ 567 National Typographical Union.......... 2oi INDEX. 7II Typographical Union No. 6 —(Continued) PAGE constitutional amendment forbidding members to join the National Guard defeated by........................................ 605 contribution of, to the Maine Monument Fund................... 608 co-operation of, with C. A. I. L................................. 608 espousal by, of peace among nations............................. 613 first president of..................................... 616 union label issued by...................................... 5 history of, I852-19II.................... 206-668 Horace Greeley centenary observed by........................... 636 list of presidents of............................................ 668 lots drawn to determine charter number of....................... 206 memorial services of, in honor of George W. Childs................ 500 Hon. Amos Jay Cummings....... 653 number of members of, who enlisted in the Civil War.............. 604 patriotic sentiment expressed by................................ 604 petition of, to Congress requesting the granting of belligerent rights to C uba.................................................. 605 printing exposition to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of...... 602 protest of, against Government use of steam presses to print money, bonds and certificates.................................... 608 public reception tendered to Horace Greeley by................... 623 resolutions adopted by, concerning the completion of the Atlantic cable................................................ 606 of, in relation to the Spanish-American War.................. 605 opposing interference with the freedom of the press......... 607 respect to the memory of Horace Greeley adopted by....... 626 statement of, concerning the 1869 book and job strike.............. 300 upbuilding efforts of....................................... 309, 416 withdrawal of, from the State Typographical Union............... 583 Typothetae of the City of New York - action of the, against contract printing in prisons.................. 520 agreement of the, with Union No. 6 as to overtime in all-time machine offices............... 342 wage scale in 1902......... 343 arbitration of a dispute in 1896 with a member of the.............. 345 committee of Union No. 6 appointed in I896 to confer with the..... 338 eight-hour working day eventually adopted by the........... 379 m entioned.............................................. 660, 665 nine-and-one-half-hour working day granted by the................ 374 hour working day granted by the............................ 376 organization in 1862 of the..................................... n. 296 protest of the, against the strike in 1872 to enforce apprenticeship rules 457 refusal of the, to grant card shops in 1887........................ 318 the eight-hour working day in 1906......... 377 request of the, for a wage reduction in I873....................... 306 resolution of the, to employ women compositors in 869............ 434 services of the State Board of Mediation and Arbitration requested in I887 by the........................................... 318 wage scale adopted in 1876 by the................................307 Typothetae, United, of America - action in 1898 of the, on the shorter working day.................. 375 agreement of the, with international unions for the nine-hour working day..................................................... 376 m entioned.................................................... 666 opposition in I904 of the, to the eight-hour working day........... 377 Unemployed members of Union No. 6 -farm project for............................................... 484 overtime law in the interest of.................................. 48 permanent beefit fund for,,,....,..,..,. r......,,,,.*.. 479 7I2 INDEX. Unemployed members of Union No. 6 —(Continued) PAGE proposal to establish a daily newspaper for the benefit of........... 481 relieving in 1857.............................................. 475 succoring in the seventies...................................... 475 temporary aid given in 1885 to.................................. 476 various suggestions in 1893 as to how to relieve................... 478 Unemployment among printers during the War of 1812................ 70 in I834............................... 138 benefits. (See Benefits, unemployment.) six-day law decreases.......................................... 476 Unfair lists, dissemination in 1831 of................................. I43 exchange of............................................ 50 the I850 National Convention of Journeymen Printers recommends the dissemination of................... 569 Union and Transcript. (See New York Union and Transcript.) label, description of the first one designed for the International Typographical Union................................ n. 5II of the International Typographical Union.................. 511 original, designed by Union No. 6 in I89.................. 5I11-2 penalty for illegal use or counterfeiting of a................. 515 propaganda for the use of the............................. 514 labels of the Allied Printing Trades Council.......................i 511 State Law legalizing..................................... 515 Printer and American Craftsman. (See New York Union Printer and American Craftsman.) (See New York Union Printer.) (See New York Union.) Union Printers' Homeamount paid in fifteen years'by Union No. 6 to maintain the....... 510 contributions of Union No. 6 to the.............................. 498 cost of construction, furnishing and maintenance of the............ 498 dedication in Colorado Springs of the....................... 494, 497 financial aid granted by Union No. 6 to its members residing at the.. 498 hospital building erected at the................................. 497 library established at the....................................... 497 statistics of admissions, dismissals, etc., at the.................... 498 tents installed for tubercular patients at the...................... 497 Union printers of the North and South, bonds of fraternity of, not severed by the Civil W ar................................ 578 who attained distinction..............................616-68 Unionist. (See New York Unionist.) Unions of printers in the eighteenth century.......................... 34 United States Bank, workingmen in i834 oppose the rechartering of the.. I84 Bureau of Labor, Bulletin No. 6I of the.. n. 36, n. 39, n. 50, n. 574 Industrial Commission................................. 446 Typothetae of America. (See Typotheta, United, of America.) Unsanitary printing offices in the thirties............................. 107-8 U pholsterers...................................................... 22 Urquhart, Robert................................................. 567 U tt, John M...................................................... 36 Vale, G ilbert................................................. 567, 668 Valentine, R. C................................................... 267 Van Benthuysen, of Packard & Van Benthuysen...................... 00 Van Cott, J. M................................................... 28 Van D usen, Isaac................................................. 556 Van Winkle's printing office........................................ 67 V incent, John..................................................... 585 Vogt, Charles, biographical sketch of........................... 637 letter from, read at the Greeley centenary exercises...... 638 INDEX. 713 PAGE Wage, agitation in x850 for the minimum, on public works............. 2 earnings of book printers in I853, low average of.................. 260 payments in 1850, irregularity of................................ 211 rate, reduction in 1876 of job compositors'....................... 308 rates and earnings of printers in 1850............................ 210 just and endurable, urged by Horace Greeley in 850......... 221 of Albany printers in 19................................. 6o0 compositors, refusal of the New York Sun in the seventies to reduce the..................................... 663 German printers in 1872................................ 547 New York pressmen in 185........................ 226, 231 1857 and 864.................... 556 uniform, urged for printers in all localities.................... 64 reduction, protest of Franklin Typographical Association against a... 198 Wage scale - adopted by employing printers in I809........................... 54 1869.......................... 299 1876........................... 307 New York Printers' Co-operative Union in I853.... 261, 264 adoption of, in 1891 for operation of composing machines on newspapers.................................... 33 1893 for bookwork on composing machines........ 336 1897 for learners on machines in book offices........ 339 amendments in 1897 and 898.................................. 339 attempt of newspaper publishers in 889 to reduce................ 324 book and job, adopted by Union No. 6 in 853.................... 264 i863............. 277 1869............... 296, 303 I883.................... 3 6 1887.................... 317 1902..........4........ 343 191O.......... 366 decision of National Board of Arbitration against increase of, on newspapers in 1901........................................ 352 first one adopted by Union No. 6 for machine composition, in 1887.. 327 for Brooklyn printers, adoption of a, authorized by Union No. 6... 539 Union No. 6 establishes a.................. 54 machine-tenders', adoption of, in 1898................... 341 the " third shift " established in 898........................ 340 time work on evening newspapers, adoption of, in I89......... 330 mass meeting of printers requests the New York Printers' Union to prepare a................................................. 222 newspaper, adopted by Union No. 6 in 1853...................... 246 adoption in 1892 of an all-time.............................. 335 increase of, in 864........................................ 278 1887........................................ 317 1907 by national arbitrators................... 357 1910 by national arbitrators. 360 reduction of, in 857....................................... 276 1876...................................... 308 revision of, in 1889 by Union No. 6......................... 324 of I864, final readjustment of, by Union No. 6.................... 294 revision of, by Union No. 6............................ 278 second revision of, by Union No. 6...................... 279 machine-tenders' apprentices................................. 462 morning newspaper compositors in 1870 and 1872............... 305 Union No. 6, revival of, in 883.......................... 3 315 suspension of, in I877............................ 309 W ashington printers in 8 5.................................. 95 on novels, reduction of piecework of, in 896...................... 338 proclaimed by the New York Printers' Vniqn in 185.............. 227 714 INDEX. Wage scale - (Continued) PAGE proposed in 1890 for operation of composing machines on newspapers. 329 reasons of Bishop Burgess for deciding against increase of newspaper, in 1901oi.................................................. 352 rejection of, by a majority of employing printers in 1850........... 225 second mass meeting of printers in 1850, to discuss a.............. 232 Wages, increase of, demanded by carpenters and masons in 1795........ 36 movements for higher.............. 208-367 mutual agreement among workingmen to raise, declared in 1834 to be a conspiracy.............................................. 175 of block and pump makers in i85o-i............................ 19 boot and shoe workers in 1850................................ i8 Boston printers in 1849...................................... 201 bricklayers and masons in 1851.............................. 4 building laborers in 1850-2................................... 9, 0lo carpenters and joiners in i850................................ 5 coach painters in i850...................................... 21 coachm en in 1850........................................... 32 confectioners in 1850-3...................................... 26 cordwainers in 1809.......................................... I02 journeymen bakers in i850................................... 24 tailors in i850................................... IO New York newspaper printers in 1850.......................... 202 1853.......................... 246 painters and decorators in 1851............................... 7 plum bers in 1850........................................... 7 pressm en in 1809............................................ 58 1815............................................ 63 1833............................................ 136 printers in i800............................................. 39 1809............................................. 57 1815............................................. 62 1829................................ 242 1833............................................. 134 1844............................................. 195 the eighteenth century.............:............ 36 voluntary advances of, in 1853......................... 245 quarrym en in 1850.......................................... 8 sash and blind makers in i850................................ 22 ship sawyers in 1850......................................... 20 straw and pamilla sewers in 1850............................. 17 turners in 1850.............................................. 22 upholsterers in i850........................................ 22 struggles in 1809 by printers for increased......................... 51 union printers in 1837 protest against a reduction of............... 139 W aite, G.& R.................................................... 8i Waldron, George W................................ v Walking delegate, creation in 1886 by Union No. 6 of the office off....... 418 title of changed by Union No. 6 to organizer in 1895.. 418 W alsh, A......................................................... 627 M ichael R.................................... 582, 586, n. 591, 626-7 Thomas J.... 201, 266-7, 273, 414, 423, 538, 569, 573, n. 574, 578, 582 668 W alter, John..................................................... 242 W alton, George.................................................... 175 H enry...................................................... 1. 63 War of 1812, effect on the printing industry of the........ 60, 07 Ward, Artemus, bequest of, for an Asylum for Superannuated Printers... 495 Jam es R..................................... n. 6i6 Wardman, Ervin............................. 348, 350-2, 355-6, 358, 463 W ashington, George................................. n. 35, 174, 190, 634 gtiona' Journal.............................................. 97 INDEX. 715 PAGE W atch case makers................................................ 20 m akers....................................................... 20 W aterbury, Selleck............................................... 31 W atson, John..................................................... 202 Wayz-goose, institution of the...................................... 123 W eavers, white work.............................................. I8 Weed, Thurlow, biographical sketch of...............................98-oo mentioned................................... n. 120, 627-8 W eeks, Lyman Horace............................................ n. 37 W eil, Jean............................................... 542, 546, 553 W eiss, M rs. Louise............................................... n. 430 W ells, A. H....................................................... o 6 M r........................................................ 48 W endell, Cornelius................................................ n. 596 W est, Benjamin................................................... 174 W estminster Abbey......................................... 115-16 W etzel, W illiam F................................................. 636 W halen, Hon. John S.............................................. 613 Wheaton. Thomas H.............................................. 584 W heeling (W. Va.) Register......................................... 657 W hitcomb, H. H.................................................. 201 White, H orace.................................................... 411 W illiam........................................ 567, 582, 626, 668 Whittit, Mr..................................................... 536 W iener, Adam.................................................... 380 W ieser, M r....................................................... 546 Wildman, Theodore C............................................. 322 W illett, B. P..................................................... 365 Williams, Hon. John Sharpe........................................ 654 J. H......................................................... 36 Joshua E..................................................... 303 W ilson, John..................................................... 19 M iss Anna C................................................. n. 432 M r.......................................................... 536 & Son....................................................... 304 W inchester, M r................................................... 638 W indow shade painters............................................ 23 W indt, John...................................................... Io6 W inne, Giles.................................................... 225 W ire weavers..................................................... 474 W itter, M. R. H.................................................. 580 Woman suffrage - declaration by the International Typographical Union for.......... n. 430 endorsement of, by Union No. 6................................. n. 430 petition of the American Federation of Labor for.................. n. 430 Woman's Auxiliary to Typographical Union.......................... 565 Suffrage Association........................................... n. 430 Women printers - address by President McKechnie to the National Typographical union favoring the recognition of............................ 434 beginning of the employment in New York City of................ 422 chapter on the subject of.......................................421-40 employment of, favored by Horace Greeley....................... 424 in the eighteenth century......................... 421 in men's organizations, full pay demanded for..................... 440 inability of, to obtain same wages as men........................ 438 International Typographical Unio n in 878 forbids the granting of charters to............................................... 439 manifesto against the employment of............................ 426 m entioned.................................................... 240 National Typographical Union in 1854 resolves not to encourage the employment of....................................... 424 7I6 INDEX. Women printers- (Continued) PAGE New York World's reasons in x868 for dismissing its............... 431 opposition of Philadelphia Typographical Union to the employment of. 428 question regarding, submitted in I867 by the National Typographical Union to subordinate unions............................... 429 refusal in 1857 of Boston Typographical Union to exclude those who received equal pay with men....................... 428 of, to take places of striking men............................ 433 resolution of the Typothetse in I869 to employ.................... 434 Women urged in I85O to enter politics............................ 17 Women's Trade Union Leaguefounding of the New York City................................. 612 membership of the............................................. 612 m entioned.................................................... 614 m otto of the.................................................. 612 N ational..................................................... 612 respresentatives of Union No. 6 in the........................... 612 w ork of the................................................... 612 Women's Typographical Union No. - charter issued to, by the National Typographical Union............ 421 dissolution of................................................. 439 founding of, in 868........................................... 432 International Typographical Union in I869 charters............... 435 m entioned.................................................... 627 Union No. 6 demands the revocation of the charter of........... 438 favors granting a charter to......................... 435 Women's typographical unions - decision of the International Typographical Union in I873 to cease chartering................................................ 439 International Typographical Union in I875 repeals resolution to cease chartering........................................... 439 W ood, John...................................................... 303 the Rev. J. W. B.............................................. 28 working and furniture......................................... 21 W oods, F. & J.................................................... 38 Woodworth, Samuel, biographical sketch of........................... 82-94 m entioned.................................................... 101 poem s by..................................................... 83-9 W orkers in precious metals......................................... 20 Working card, first, issued by New York Printers' Union............... 205 Women's Association........................................ 433 Workingmen in 1834 favor constitutional currency of gold and silver..... I84 mass meeting of, to protest against the Conspiracy Bill of I864.... 587 objection of, in I834 to the issuance of paper money............... 184 opposition of, in I834 to rechartering the United States Bank....... 184 Workingmen's Assembly of the State of New York - abolition of contract prison labor demanded by the................ 591 amalgamation of the, with the State Branch of the American Federation of Labor............................................. 592 causes that led to the formation of the........................... 586 co-operation of the, with Union No. 6 regarding convict labor....... 518 creation of a State Bureau of Labor Statistics urged in 187I by the.. 591 enactment of a Child Labor Law demanded by the............... 59 first officers of the............................................. 589 founding in I865 of the........................................ 589 legalization of the eight-hour working day urged in I865 by the..... 590 objects of the................................................. 590 original constitution of the..................................... 589 Workingmen's Federation of the State of New York................... 592 Workingmen's Union of New York City - agitates for the eight-hour working day in 1864................... 368 INDEX. 717 Workingmen's Union of New York City- (Continued) PAGE formation in 1864 of the....................................... 592 mentioned...................................... 290, 398, 456, 593 Wynkoop, M. B................................................ 303 Yellow fever epidemic of 1803 in New York City.................... 40 sufferers, New Orleans, union printers of New York City in I853 send relief to.................................. 472 Young, D octor.................................................... 6 Frederick.................................................... 569 Nelson W........................................... 585, 591, 648-9 1I I -I.. I i i I Vc-.^/ I 4VA"F;* '~~ To renew the charge, book must be brought to the desk. TWO WEEK BOOK DO NOT RETURN BOOKS ON SUNDAY DATE DUE OCT I OCT 1 1984. 1984 - i 4 4 1' I! C9-~ CD 0 0 c c -m i: C.& C ML n _. | _ D~~ ''