Trade unionism reached the "coming out" stage with the organization of the Mechanic's Union of Trade Associations at Philadelphia in 1827. Others soon followed. After a brief flirtation with politics they settled down to in dustrial and social questions. The rising tide of prosperity and the mounting cost of living in the first half of the fourth decade stimulated them to feverish activity. Though it was the conditions which are most apparent in fac tories that caused unrest, it was not the factory workers, but skilled artisans who took the lead. By 1836 the Trades' Union at Philadelphia con sisted of 48 societies, two of which had over 900 members and four others over 700 each. The journeymen tailors, cordwainers, printers and hatters represented the skilled workers, the cotton spinners and "female operatives," the factory workers. The printers included at least 24 cities in their organization. The pio neer national union was the National Trades' Union, .which met at New York in 1834. This may be taken as the progenitor of the American Federation of to-day.
The Right to The right of la borers to organize has never been questioned. What they may do after organization has al ways been a disputed question, for our courts have generally held that a good many things which may be legally done bS' individuals may not he done by combinations of individuals.
The first thing for the laborers to do was to establish the right to strike and make col lective bargains. In this they have always been at a decided disadvantage. A dozen men may combine as a corporation for the purpose of doing business and employing others. It then becomes in law a person. It may employ only a dozen men. No act of the corporation (composed of a dozen men) to reduce wages is illegal. Each of the 12 employees may work or refuse to work, but if they combine in such ac tion then legal difficulties may arise. Such dif ficulties were swept away in England in a series of acts beginning in 1824 and ending in 1906.
In America strikes ("turnouts") occurred every few years throughout the first quarter of the 19th century. Sometimes they were for shorter hours, generally for higher pay. In 1803 the striking sailors at New York used in timidation against strikebreakers. °Scab° and "rat" came into use, and occasionally lists of "rats* were published. The elementary form of picketing and the boycott also appeared.
The answer of the employers was appeal to the courts and organization. In 1806 eight strikers were fined at Philadelphia, and three years later DeWitt Clinton, mayor of New York, fined 24. The charge was conspiracy to raise wages and the court held that this was il legal even when there was no intimidation or violence. Several other like prosecutions fol lowed. In 1834 the carpet manufacturers of Thompsonville, Conn., even secured judgment for $15,000 damages. The defendants not being able to pay were put in jail. In 1836 certain
manufacturers at New York combined and agreed not to meet the demands of their strik ing employees; they further agreed not to em ploy anybody who was a member of Trades' Union Society or any other society whose ob ject was to dictate wages. The grand jury re 'fused' to indict these employers for conspiracy, but the striking tailors were fined $50 to $150 each.
These prosecutions were one of the fac tors, though not the only one and probably not the most important, which led to the de cline of the labor movement. Organization had been overdone and the unions were quarreling with each other. There had already been a tendency toward politics. After the conviction of the tailors a mass meeting was held in the park to protest against it, and a State conven tion was called. The tide of discontent and the spirit of reform were rising throughout the nation and every kind of "ism* was going into politics. One labor candidate was elected to Congress, but the laboring men ruined their cause by admitting outsiders and championing various issues which had no direct hearing upon their objective. The various parties now played for the labor vote, the Whigs supporting the tariff as a protection to labor instead of capital and Tammany Hall turning to the workingmen instead of the wealthy class. "Thus," says Professor Commons, "did the la bor movement of the thirties furnish to the 19th century both its philosophy of labor's pri ority over property and its secret of maneuver ing labor to the advantage of capital?' Some results worth while had been accom plished: (1) A mechanic's lien law ; (2) the abolition of imprisonment for debt, and (3) improvement of the public schools, had all come by legislative enactment, mainly because of the pressure of the laboring class. The ap peal to public sentiment was strong, both through the platform and the press. Between 1820 and 1837 no less than 68 papers were pro jected. The best known of these were the Mechanic's Free Press (Philadelphia 1828), the fl'orkingnian's Advocate (New York 1829) and The Man (New York 1835), the last two under the editorship of George H. Evans. The denunciation of employers in the papers was direct, often bitter. But no legis lative enactment was secured for the shorter day and very little was accomplished by agree ment, but an executive order was secured for the 10-hour day from President Van Buren. More important perhaps was the cessation of fines for mere strikes. The same year that the tailors were fined the cordwainers were ac quitted and in 1842 the Massachusetts Supreme Court established the right of men to quit work for the improvement of their condition. However, this did not establish any general right to quit work. Men might quit work to benefit themselves but not to injure others, and prosecutions for conspiracy continued in the fifties, especially where acts of violence were committed.