CHAPTER IV.

THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN AMERICA TO 1861.

PLYMOUTH THE STARTING-POINT OF THE FREE LABOR MOVEMENT - FREE AND SLAVE LABOR-EARLY ASSOCIATIONS OF LABOR-CLASS DISTINCTIONS WAGES REGULATED BY LAW-AN EARLY BOYCOTT EARLY STRIKES AND ORGANIZATIONS - FIRST EPOCH OF THE PRESENT MOVEMENT FIRST EXPERIMENT IN COMMUNITY LIFE-TIME MONEY, 1829 - LABOR MEN PIONEERS IN THE ANTI-SLAVERY MOVEMENT YANKEE GIRLS AGITATION FOR THE TEN-HOUR WORK-DAY WORKINGMEN'S PARTY - PROTEST AGAINST LAND TRAFFIC NEW ENGLAND CONVENTION OF FARMERS AND MECHANICS - SHIP-CARPENTERS AND CALKERS AND MERCHANTS OF BOSTON CONNECTICUT CARPET-WORKERS' CONSPIRACY CASE-FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION, BOSTON, 1834-STRIKES OF CARPENTERS, STONE CUTTERS, HORSESHOERS, LONGSHOREMEN AND RIGGERS-MILITARY UNDER ARMS IN NEW YORK CITY - FACTORY-GIRLS' STRIKE OF 1838 - TEN-HOUR PROCLAMATION OF PRESIDENT VAN BUREN-JOURNEYMEN BOOTMAKERS' CONSPIRACY CASE-JUDGE SHAW'S DECISION-LABOR LITERATURE, 1838 TO 1851 NEW ENGLAND PROTECTIVE UNION - NEW ENGLAND WORKINGMEN'S ASSOCIATION TEN-HOUR MOVEMENT IN PITTSBURGH - FIRST INDUSTRIAL CONGRESS, 1845 - CONVENTION OF CARPET WEAVERS - PUBLIC MEETING OF MACHINISTS - SYMPATHY WITH THE CHARTISTS AND REPEALERS OF ENGLAND AND IRELAND PROTEST AGAINST CHEAP LABOR-Wendell PHILLIPS ON THE LABOR QUESTION, 1847 — ATTEMPT TO BOYCOTT A LABOR MAN IN MAINE TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY TO THE PRINTERS OF PARIS INDUSTRIAL CONVENTIONS AND CONGRESSES Co-OPERATIVE IRON MOULDERS HORACE GREELEY BEFORE THE PRINTERS - FACTORY OPERATIVES' STRIKE OF 1851 — SHIP-WORKERS ON OLD WORK GAIN THE EIGHTHOUR DAY-FIRST EPOCH OF THE SOCIAL REVOLUTION ENDS IN THE WAR AGAINST CHATTEL SLAVERY.

PLYM

LYMOUTH and Jamestown are the two starting points of the labor movement in this country; Plymouth representing free, and Jamestown chattel labor. For nearly two hundred and fifty years these systems contended with each other for the mastery. Out of the first grew the free school, the public library, the forum of free debate, the wonderful control and mastery over an unyielding soil and untold

natural difficulties, the wonderful inventions of the human brain to produce things with rapidity and cheapness, giving to labor the highest prosperity and highest attainments ever reached. Under this free labor system the laborer became the sovereign citizen, holding an equal right under the law to make laws and enforce them, each increasing responsibility leading to greater development, opening avenues of advancement in the political, social and industrial world. The labor movement of to-day came over in the "Mayflower," the founders of the colony, building more wisely than they knew, engrafting into their contract the spirit of co-operation. The first industry established by them, the fisheries, partook of this spirit, and each man who handled a line handled also his share of the profit of the venture. In addition to the profitsharing system thus introduced, the colony still further protected the fisherman by setting aside a certain part of their corn for the use of the fishers in case the cruise should be unprofitable.

The planting of the chattel system of labor at Jamestown constituted the establishment of an oligarchy. The virgin soil of the South was outraged by mammon. To labor in the field was degradation. Education was for the master; ignorance, for the laborer. The employer was mounted in the saddle, the laborer was on foot; the one holding the whip, the other the hoe. From the leisure of the master, in the days of the Revolution, great men were grown. The white laborer became the "trash" of the South. Civilization was stagnant. The Plymouth colony built up the free West, ringed the continent with homes, newspapers and churches. The Jamestown colony became dangerous, and was restricted within a self-destroying area.

The history of the struggle of free labor on this continent. is not complete without an analysis of the spirit of commerce, as manifested in the settlement of New York. The compromise between these three factors sentiment in affairs, commerce, and slavery has resulted in the destruction of the latter, the subversion of the former, and the enthronement of the spirit of commerce. The struggle now pending is for the

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restoration of sentiment, or the restoration of the moral relation of man to man.

Ship-building, being the most important of the early industries, and the skilled craftsmen being emigrants from England, where trades organizations then existed, it is very evident that some form of organization existed among them. Their acts show an agreement or mutual understanding in reference to rules governing their craft, -rules that finally had the strength of custom, and were maintained after many struggles.

The first historical mention we have of a craftsman is found in the History of Plymouth, in which it is stated that in 1621 a carpenter and saltmaker were sent to the colony by the adventurers. "The carpenter," says Governor Bradford, "is an honest and very industrious man, who very quickly built us two very good and strong shallops, with a great and strong lighter;" but it seems that this carpenter died during the summer, as Governor Bradford says, "to our great grief, loss, and sorrow." This industry grew to such large proportions as to necessitate the bringing over of a comparatively large number of ship-workers. They came mostly from the county of Kent, where organizations of labor existed. The extent of the industry at that time is but very little known or appreciated at the present day. The workmen were necessarily strong, vigorous men, physically and mentally. Their hours of labor were from sun to sun. That they were the pioneers of the labor movement in this country will be clearly seen by a perusal of the chapter on the "Building Trades," to an investigation of which Mr. Edward H. Rogers, himself a shipbuilder, has given much time.

It is probable that in the early days no attempt was made to form special labor organizations, the condition of the colonies being such that what was the interest of one was the interest of all; but it was not long before class distinction became clearly marked, and an aristocracy as strict as that existing in England had become established. A man of wealth and position was termed "gentleman," and a man of humble means, a craftsman, etc., “goodman.” The social