METHODS AND POLICIES OF TRADE UNIONISM. TRADE UNIONISM AND MONOPOLY. Probably no social institution in existence represents the move ment away from the old economic policy of laissez- faire more concretely and forcibly than the trade union. Almost, every method or policy adopted by the trade unions is in essence a regulation of competition. The essential function of the trade union is collective bargaining; and the first con dition of successful collective bargaining on the part of the trade union is that it shall secure substantial control of the efficient supply of labor. In seeuring and maintaining such control two policies are adopted: a policy of inclusion and a policy of exclusion. To obtain control of a particular trade in a particular jurisdiction, the utmost effort will be made to bring into the union every effective competitor for the work to be done in that jurisdiction. Once having con trol, there is the strongest temptation. if not a real necessity. for limiting the supply of crafts men by regulation of apprenticeship and other means. The great majority of trade unions prosecute the work of organization vigorously and incessantly. In the beginning trade unionism was sporadic and instinctive, and the national union was the product of the amalgamation of two or more self-organized locals. At present
organization is deliberate, systematic, and pro ceeds from the top down: the local is the child rather than the parent of the national. Even the exclusive unions like the Window Glass Workers enter heartily into the work of organizing the great mass of unskilled workers, because with the increasing use of machinery this body con stitutes a constant menace to all trades. The organization of wage-earners is the special work of the Federation of Labor. In 1902, for instance. the Federation employed fifteen salaried organizers, who gave their whole time to this work; 39 others who devoted from one to six months of their time to organization; and nearly 1.000 volunteer organizers who were paid for each new union organized by them. The expenditure for organization alone was over $36.000; and new charters were issued to 14 national and international unions, 6 State branches, 127 central unions, and S77 local trade and federal labor unions.