For the War released organized labor from a
blind alley, as it were. The American Federation of Labor, as we saw,
had made but slow progress in organization after 1905. At that time it
had succeeded in organizing the skilled and some of the semi-skilled
workers. Further progress was impeded by the anti-union employers
especially in industries commonly understood to be dominated by
"trusts." In none of the "trustified" industries, save anthracite coal,
was labor organization able to make any headway. And yet the American
Federation of Labor, situated as it is, is obliged to stake everything
upon the power to organize.[86] The war gave it that all-important
power. Soon after the Federal government became the arbiter of
industry--by virtue of being the greatest consumer, and by virtue of a
public opinion clearly outspoken on the subject--we see the Taft-Walsh
War Labor Board[87] embody "the right to organize" into a code of rules
for the guidance of the relations of labor and capital during War-time,
along with the basic eight-hour day and the right to a living wage. In
return for these gifts American labor gave up nothing so vital as
British labor had done in the identical situation.
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