knack of pointing out what was obsolete and useless in various lines of activity; he could aid in setting the rubbish afire, but knew not how to build again. In American affairs, his influence can be clearly traced in the political theory of the Revolutionary Fathers, set forth in the Declaration of Independence. Burke regarded him as the guiding spirit of the French National Assembly whose blood had been transferred into its veins: "Him they study, him they meditate, him they turn over in the time they can spare from the mischievous labors of the day or debauches of the night. Rousseau is their holy writ; in his life he is their canon of Polyclitus; he is their standard figure of perfection." Burke appreciated Rousseau's magnetic force even though his narrow estimate of the French Revolution is a quaint anachronism. In this bicentenary of Jean Jacques Rousseau, the world gladly responds with an appreciative estimate of this man who held up to scorn the refined vices of society and who stood for the right of each individual to selfdevelopment, and for the social estimate of each according to his social powers and ability. What though his a priori political theory did teach that government and society are unnatural, that government necessarily restricts individual liberty and so stirs up the individual against society? Rousseau served the great function of arousing the world to a realization of ancient wrongs and misused privilege, roused them to tear down the useless, made it possible for others, who had a great social vision, to guide in the construction of a new society. Builded upon the fundamental principles of the freedom Rousseau taught, arose a political organism, the agent of the sovereign people who created it. With the passing of the decades came the development of political consciousness among people of all classes, and a widening of the political ideal, until the right of participation in the government was secured by all men. As men met at the polls, where each man's vote counted as every other man's vote, the idea took root-"That which touches all should be decided by all." But if in one realm, why not in another? If in matters political, why not in the things more relevant to daily needs? In the industrial world as in the political, men found that union and co-operation enabled them to accomplish results more easily and more effectually. Since production is so greatly increased and affects the workers so generally, keen-sighted, just, forceful men have been claiming that in industry as well as government "That which touches all should be decided by all." In the steady progress onward toward this industrial democracy, the trade union movement has served a function akin to that of Rousseau. Not only has the trade union called attention to wrongs and injustice, pointed out industrial changes, called attention to maladjustments, but it has also presented a constructive plan for the realization of the democratic ideal in the industrial world. This plan, objectified in the demands which trade unionism has consistently and persistently made for the toilers of the world, has been steadily advanced toward attainment. While Labor's success thus far is gratifying, there is much work for the immediate future. There is need of more complete organization, unity, solidarity, and federation. A PLATFORM MINIMUMS. The principles approved by the national organization of social workers, meeting in Cleveland in the month of June, tells a story of how thirty-two years' experience has brought that organization to adopt the philosophy and standards that have been guiding the American Federation of Labor during its entire life and which were the Genesis of its being. In his presidential address to that body, Judge Mack reviewed the history of the organization: How, in 1880, it was concerned with the problem of how best to alleviate suffering, to cure the ills that by common belief many of our fellow-citizens are inevitably doomed to bear; then deeper insight made preventative philanthropy the dominant keynote of its social program; a few years ago it passed beyond the age of mere preventative work; it found that eradication of evil was not enough; that constructive philanthropy, replacing evils by positive good was the only safe foundation for social betterment. At this point it adopted trade union policies and sought lasting social welfare and uplift. For three years the committee on standards of living and labor of the National Conference of Charities and Corrections had been giving up its section meetings to the discussion of the major headings-wages, hours, safety and health, housing, term of working life, compensation, and insurance. For twelve months the members of the committee, representatives of the leading national organizations and movements in industrial and social reform, had been drawing its planks. The conference passed no resolutions and it was only after an all-day session that those present adjourned as a section meeting, reconvened as citizens, and with only minor textual changes put forth the platform of industrial minimums, substantially as follows: A living wage for all who devote their time and energy to industrial occupations. Minimum wage commissions for investigating conditions and determining such wage. Wage publicity. Right of authorities and the public to industrial information. The eight-hour day for men engaged in continuous industry; the maximum for women and children. Six-day week. Night work-prohibited for minors, regulated for women so as to secure uninterrupted rest for eight hours, minimized for men. Investigation by the Federal Government of all industries on the plan pursued in the present investigation of mining, with a view to establishing standards of sanitation and safety and a basis for compensation for injury. Prohibition of manufacture or sale of poisonous articles dangerous to the lives of workers whenever harmless substitutes are practicable. In trades and occupations offering menace to life, limb, or health, the employment of women and minors regulated according to the degree of hazard. Inspection of mines and work places to be standardized. Securing for every family a safe and sanitary home demanded by social welfare. Taxes to be transferred largely to land held for speculative purposes so as to protect workers against exorbitant rents and homes in congested districts. Factory work to be carried on in factories. Prohibition of work in tenements. Establishment of definite standards for labor colonies to provide against overcrowding and insanitation. Prohibition of all wage-earning occupations for children under sixteen. Regulation of work of women so as to conserve their health and that of the race. Government review and regulation of occupations subject to rush and out-of-work season. Protection of the unemployable class which will be increased by higher standards. Some effective system of compensation for the heavy loss now sustained by the workers as a result of accidents, trade diseases, old age, and unemployment. The National Conference of Charities and Corrections has evidently outgrown charity in the old-time sense, and entered upon a plane where charity means love, fellowship in the common life, and justice. Judge Mack voiced the transition, "But in the past few years a voice never silent in the history of the world has been growing louder and deeper, the voice of man calling unto man, not for alms, not for charity, but for justice." In inspiring men with this courage and self-assertiveness to demand the rights of manhood and in molding a social conscience more responsive to the needs of all humanity, there has been no force in society so potent, or so much misunderstood or misrepresented, as the trade union of America. The New York Times has been indulging in frequent editorial comments upon the direct primary system in attempting to prove it unsatisfactory in results and a "weariness of the flesh." All defects in the administration of the system the Times records as inherent to the system itself. The initiative, referendum, and recall are condemned as "political nostrums" or "short cuts to 'popular' control of political affairs." The reason for this position appears in an editorial for August 8, in which the advocacy of popular control over the government is denounced as an attempt to set up despotism and tyranny, the unlimited despotism of the majority which is more dangerous than the despotism of one monarch.” Evidently the New York Times belongs to the school of political thought of the ancient régime by which the people are considered incompetents, to be governed by select few. Fortunately, most thinking Americans do not sanction such ancient or modern heresy but are convinced the majority should be armed with the political defense that will protect them against the humane paternalism of "the few." Look East and West, North and South, to the Old World and to the New World and you will see trade unionism defending, uplifting, and cheering the masses. RAILROAD STRIKES SINCE 1877.* A TRIUMPHANT RECORD OF TRADE UNIONS. By ARTHUR E. HOLDER. PART IV. [Continued from last issue.] Strikes of Railroad Employes on the New York Central, 1890 and 1892, and the Strike on the Lehigh Valley in 1893. The first large strike recorded for the year 1890 on that part of the New York Central Railroad running between New York City and Buffalo, took place on August 8, 1890, and came to a termination September 18, 1890. This strike was for the purpose of securing the reinstatement of seventy-eight discharged employes. The alleged reason for their dismissal given by the railroad company was over-zealousness in behalf of their organization. The railroad officials claimed that they discharged the men "to reduce expenses in a dull time, without personal motive." Many members of the organization were among the discharged, but that was largely attributed to the fact that the organization was very strong in the company's service, and, as a consequence, the reduction of force embraced many men belonging to the organization. The representatives of the organized men, in a conference with Mr. Toucey of the company, stated that they had sent in a demand for a general advance in wages, and that the discrimination against their members was a ruse to offset the granting of the higher wages demanded. Mr. J. J. Holland, of the Executive Board, called on Vice President Webb, of the New York Central, on the morning of August 8, for the purpose of negotiating some satisfactory arrangement as to the discharged employes, but Mr. Webb very peremptorily refused to deal with any one not an employe, and only with an employe not as a representative of any organization. Mr. Holland afterwards attempted to negotiate with General Manager Toucey, but to no purpose. He then reported his action and reception to the executive board of the district, which was in session, and notice of the strike was then wired along the line. Immediate compliance on its receipt by the men indicated concerted action. In connection with this strike some observations made to the writer by the former President of the New York Central Railroad, the Honorable Chauncey Depew, during a conversation upon this and other subjects, in May, 1910, are worth relating. Mr. Depew was extremely animated; he expressed personal gratification in his foresight into industrial conditions and his ability to manage large numbers of men equitably and without friction. With evident satisfaction he declared himself "the first railroad president who ever recognized a bona fide representative of a labor union as such a representative," for which act he was severely condemned by his contemporaries and officials in railroad service. "Nevertheless," Mr. Depew said, "I saw it coming and I realized that large corporations of industry would have to meet sooner or later the accredited representatives of large organized bodies of employes, and I considered it more humane, more profitable, and more business-like to deal with such accredited representatives of labor organizations than to The first part of this article appeared in the June, 1912, issue of the AMERICAN FEDERATIONIST. The introductory enumerated under several heads the great accomplishments of the workers through organization-one of the most impor tant being that under the seventh head: namely, "The Maintenance of Industrial Peace Through Collective Bargaining." This will be verified in later articles which will show that the organization of labor upon railroads has successfully made headway and secured innumerable advantages for the workers without the necessity of resorting to strikes. Industrial peace has been maintained and successful progress has been made by means of direct negotiation between accredited representatives of railroad interests and authorized representatives of the workers in their several organizations.-Ed. attempt to deal with large numbers as individual workmen." Mr. Depew in his reminiscences, stated that he had made his first contracts and agreements with railroad organizations in or about the year 1885, and that in all his dealings with labor organizations and their representatives he had found them invariably dependable. In reference to the strike on the New York Central in 1890, Mr. Depew recalled that some time in 1889 he was requested to grant a hearing to a delegation purporting to represent all of the employes of the New York Central Railroad. He granted the hearing, but was somewhat startled to find among other demands made by the delegation, were that he should cancel his agreement for the company with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, and decline to enter into further agreements with them; that he should order the members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and other specific trade or craft organizations on the New York Central to join the Knights of Labor, and that he should then enter into a composite agreement covering all classes of labor upon the New York Central Railroad with the Knights of Labor, as one industrial organization. Mr. Depew declined to accede to this proposition and because of this declination, a possible strike was later intimated and even threatened. Mr. Depew asked the delegation to withhold all of their demands until after he returned from a trip to Europe, arrangements for which he had already made. The delegation acceded to his request and left for their homes after pledging Mr. Depew that no trouble would occur on the road during his absence that should be attributed to them. He left New York for Europe next day, feeling thoroughly satisfied that everything would run smoothly until his return. Mr. Walter I. Webb, a member of the Vanderbilt family by marriage, and a Vice-President of the New York Central, was left in charge of the road. Mr. Webb, as Mr. Depew added, was known as a very ambitious man, and it was no secret that the managers in control of the interests of competing railroads had persuaded Mr. Webb to break with the labor organizations, and very emphatically impressed him with the fallacy at that time very popular among railroad officials-that a railroad manager would never be considered suc cessful until he had conducted a big railroad strike and had defeated the strikers. A short time after Mr. Webb obtained complete charge of the road, the members of the delegation who had pledged Mr. Depew that there should be no friction upon the road during his absence that could be blamed upon them, were discharged. Other active members of labor organizations were singled out and promptly discharged. These wholesale discharges of the men followed by a refusal of the company to reinstate them, therefore, were the direct causes of this strike, although VicePresident Webb emphatically stated, when pressed by officials of the State of New York to submit the whole question to arbitration, that, "There is nothing to arbitrate; the men were dismissed because there was no work for them to do." Gov. David B. Hill was importuned to order out the militia. He ordered General Farnsworth to Syracuse to look into the situation and, in a letter to the General, said: "The function of the military force should not be misunderstood; it is not their business to operate the railroad nor to interfere in behalf of either party to a labor controversy, but only when invoked to act in aid of the local civil authorities in suppressing violence and in protecting property. They are not to do mere police duty, but to discharge those functions which more properly belong to sheriff's posse-comitatus. The power of the civil authorities should be fully applied before resort should be had to military force. I desire that you keep me fully advised as to any further developments." Extended efforts were made through several influential sources to amicably adjust the strike, but all were barren. On this branch of the New York Central 22,000 men were employed before the strike; about 2,500 were involved in the strike. The loss to the railroad in perishable freight alone must have been very great, but was estimated by the officials in round numbers at $250,000. The weekly working hours were irregular, as the men who struck were in different departments in which the working time varied. Strike of 1892. In 1892 a strike of switchmen of the New York Central Railroad and its affiliated companies occurred on August 11 and terminated August 24, 1892. This strike, however, extended to other trunk lines, centering |