CLASSIFICATION OF TRADE UNIONS. As was pointed out in the article on LABOR ORGANIZA TIONS, the trade union is simply one branch of the great family of labor organizations. The follow ing classification brings out clearly the great di versity of structure which exists both among organizations of laborers and among trade unions themselves: The preceding classification emphasizes the difference between amalgamated labor unions and trade unions or federations in which the in dividuality of each trade is preserved. The `mixed assembly' is simply the governmental unit of the amalgamated union. It was a per manent feature of the Knights of Labor, but it is also used by the Federation of Labor, and is known as the 'federal union.' It supplies a union for workmen in unorganized trades, or in places where there are not enough workers in one organized trade to start a local union. The the business agent or walking delegate and the chairman of the grievance committee. Only a small proportion of the locals have such officers, but where they do there is a strong tendency to reideet men who have proved themselves the possessors of the unusual abilities which these positions require. The government of the na
tional union usually comprehends a periodical convention, a permanent executive board, a corps of organizers, a president, several vice-presidents, and a secretary-treasurer. As the referendum is apparently becoming more and more popular in America, the general membership must be count ed in many unions as the ultimate source of legislative power, and, indeed, of the judicial and executive power. as well as in the numerous cases in which the general membership decides ap peals, votes strikes and special assessments, etc. In unions which do not employ the referendum system, the supreme executive and judicial pow ers are vested in the periodical conventions and in the executive boards between conventions. hut as these boards are usually composed of unsal aried workmen living in different cities and con ducting their deliberations by mail, it frequently —perhaps usually—happens that their powers are virtually exercised by the president. who and the vice-president and secretary-treasurer almost invariably have seats in the executive board.