Page:The Scientific Monthly vol. 3.djvu/166

 i6o THE SCIENTIFIC MONTHLY

themselvee to be in the grip of a new and strong industrial system. • pressure, the miners knit together into an industrial class — cons< avowedly socialistic union; and, remember, these miners were indi^ American frontiersmen.*

It must, of course, be admitted that the experience of the \ worker with the machine process will modify his viewpoint 8 and make him more susceptible to influences which cause th< of group or class solidarity.

The structure of the American Federation of Labor and itg uent parts is gradually changing. This modification is not du rily to a new group psychology. It is, however, true that the of racial elements in the Federation is somewhat diflEerent tha ten years ago. Nevertheless, the significant factors are the industrial situation, the reduction of many kinds of workers t< mon denominator by the use of the machine, the fierce oppoi employers, and the like.

The form of organization is indeed no minor matter. T] union is an antiquated weapon in the fight against the big tion unless the skill of the trade is still a potent factor or soi special place of vantage remains. To meet the mighty Germi with the weapons of the Civil War spells ignominious defi combat for higher wages and shorter hours with the defenses likewise means defeat. The trade union is the fundamental a natural grouping of workers for betterment. In the trade m united workers engaged in similar work and interested in simi ters. Carpenters have more in common with other carpent( with boilermakers or molders. But as the machine process imd trade after trade and tends to reduce all workers to a common inator, trade or craft becomes of less and less importance, carpenters, molders and boilermakers become united as empL the same corporation, trade lines yield to the unity of inte employees of one big business organization. As a consequence, zation by industry begins to replace organization by trade. Th ture changes and the specific function of the organization may modification; but the fundamental purposes of organization undergo great transformations.

It may therefore safely be asserted that the prime factors in of labor organizations, are not : Is the union a trade or an in< union? Or, is its purpose business or revolutionary? The im questions are : Why has it adopted the ideals, form and methodi are now associated with the organization? And, what are the i and external, present and past, forces which determine its path Any classification whether structural or functional is only of v making clear the factors in the labor problem. A study oi forces is essential in any investigation of labor organizations.

8 Carlton, "The History and Problems of Organized Labor," p.

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