On the other
hand, the fifties foreshadowed a new form of expansion of labor
organization--the joining together in a nation-wide organization of all
local unions of one trade. The printers[9] organized nationally in
1850, the locomotive engineers and the hat-finishers in 1854; and the
iron molders, and the machinists and blacksmiths in 1859; in addition
there were at least a half dozen less successful attempts in other
trades.
FOOTNOTES:
[2] See below, 147-148.
[3] See below, 148-149.
[4] See below, 270-272.
[5] The workingmen felt that they required leisure to be able to
exercise their rights of citizens.
[6] The ship carpenters had been similarly defeated in 1832.
[7] For a detailed discussion of these trials see below, 149-152.
[8] Published in 1916 by the Russell Sage Foundation, pp. 16-18.
[9] The printers had organized nationally for the first time in 1836,
but the organization lasted less than two years; likewise the
cordwainers or shoemakers. But we must keep in mind that what
constituted national organization in the thirties would pass only for
regional or sectional organization in later years.
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