A History of Trade Unionism in the United States   By: Selig Perlman (1888-1959)

EDITED BY RICHARD T. ELY

A HISTORY OF TRADE UNIONISM IN THE UNITED STATES

BY

SELIG PERLMAN, PH.D.

Assistant Professor of Economics in the University of Wisconsin; Co author of the History of Labour in the United States

New York

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1922

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

1922

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.

Set up and electrotyped. October, 1922.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE

The present History of Trade Unionism in the United States is in part a summary of work in labor history by Professor John R. Commons and collaborators at the University of Wisconsin from 1904 to 1918, and in part an attempt by the author to carry the work further. Part I of the present book is based on the History of Labour in the United States by Commons and Associates (Introduction: John R. Commons; Colonial and Federal Beginnings, to 1827: David J. Saposs; Citizenship, 1827 1833: Helen L. Summer; Trade Unionism, 1833 1839: Edward B. Mittelman; Humanitarianism, 1840 1860: Henry E. Hoagland; Nationalization, 1860 1877: John B. Andrews; and Upheaval and Reorganization, 1876 1896: by the present author), published by the Macmillan Company in 1918 in two volumes.

Part II, "The Larger Career of Unionism," brings the story from 1897 down to date; and Part III, "Conclusions and Inferences," is an attempt to bring together several of the general ideas suggested by the History. Chapter 12, entitled "An Economic Interpretation," follows the line of analysis laid down by Professor Commons in his study of the American shoemakers, 1648 1895.[1]

The author wishes to express his strong gratitude to Professors Richard T. Ely and John R. Commons for their kind aid at every stage of this work. He also wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to Mr. Edwin E. Witte, Director of the Wisconsin State Legislative Reference Library, upon whose extensive and still unpublished researches he based his summary of the history of the injunction; and to Professor Frederick L. Paxson, who subjected the manuscript to criticism from the point of view of General American History.

S.P.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] See his Labor and Administration , Chapter XIV (Macmillan, 1913).

CONTENTS

PAGE

PREFACE v

PART I. THE STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL

CHAPTER

1 LABOR MOVEMENTS BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR

(1) Early Beginnings, to 1827 8 (2) Equal Citizenship, 1827 1832 9 (3) The Period of the "Wild Cat" Prosperity, 1833 1837 18 (4) The Long Depression, 1837 1862 29

2 THE "GREENBACK" PERIOD, 1862 1879 42

3 THE BEGINNING OF THE KNIGHTS OF LABOR AND OF THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR 68

4 REVIVAL AND UPHEAVAL, 1879 1887 81

5 THE VICTORY OF CRAFT UNIONISM AND THE FINAL FAILURE OF PRODUCERS' COOPERATION 106

6 STABILIZATION, 1888 1897 130

7 TRADE UNIONISM AND THE COURTS 146

PART II. THE LARGER CAREER OF UNIONISM

8 PARTIAL RECOGNITION AND NEW DIFFICULTIES, 1898 1914 163

(1) The Miners 167 (2) The Railway Men 180 (3) The Machinery and Metal Trades 186 (4) The Employers' Reaction 190 (5) Legislation, Courts, and Politics 198

9 RADICAL UNIONISM AND A "COUNTER REFORMATION" 208

10 THE WAR TIME BALANCE SHEET 226

11 RECENT DEVELOPMENTS 245

PART III. CONCLUSIONS AND INFERENCES

12 AN ECONOMIC INTERPRETATION 265

13 THE IDEALISTIC FACTOR 279

14 WHY THERE IS NOT AN AMERICAN LABOR PARTY 285

15 THE DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIAT AND TRADE UNIONISM 295

BIBLIOGRAPHY 307

PART I

THE STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL