EPHEMERAL LABOR MOVEMENTS 489 



one year later. The assembly was said to represent 25,000 working peo- 

 ple. Five unions in New York City were reported to contain a mem- 

 bership of at least 1,000 persons each. These unions were : Typograph- 

 ical Union, No. 6, 2,300 members; Longshoremen's Society, No. 2, 

 2,300 members ; Bricklayers' Union, No. 2, 1,600 members ; Cigar Mak- 

 ers' Union, No. 90, 1,250 members; United Cabinet Makers' Union 

 (German), 1,000 members. 5 In the year 1867, thirty thousand was 

 "not an extravagant estimate of the actual strength of the labor or- 

 ganizations in New York" City. Brooklyn, Jersey City, Newark and 

 the Westchester towns were estimated to contain 20,000 additional 

 union men. 6 At the annual meeting of the Bricklayers' International 

 Union in 1867, it was reported that the national body contained 24 

 unions in good working order. One year previous, the number was 

 only ten. 



As has been indicated, with the return of the soldiers looking for 

 employment, the rising tide of immigration, the greater use of labor sav- 

 ing devices, and the growing strength of corporate organizations, the 

 need of greater solidarity and unanimity of action among the working 

 people was felt sufficiently to enable a national federation to be formed 

 and continued for a few years. Like the pioneer national federation of 

 trade unions organized in the thirties, the National Labor Union was 

 merely an advisory body; it never attained much strength or prestige. 

 William H. Sylvis, one of America's ablest labor leaders, was an im- 

 portant factor in initiating and building up this organization. Mr. 

 Sylvis was elected president of the National Labor Union in 1868. 



From its inception political activity seems to have been an im- 

 portant part of the work of the National Labor Union. In fact the 

 chief aim and purpose of the organization was political rather than 

 purely industrial. The first congress, held in 1866 at Baltimore, recom- 

 mended that steps be taken to form a national labor party " which shall 

 be put in operation as soon as possible." 7 Again, in 1867, it was re- 

 solved that the time had arrived when "the industrial classes should 

 cut themselves aloof from party ties and predilections and organize 

 themselves into a National Labor Party." In the first congress much 

 stress was laid upon the necessity of organizing trade unions; but, in 

 1868, a resolution was adopted stating that " the very existence of the 

 National Labor Union depends upon the immediate organization of an 

 independent labor party." 8 The greenback issue and the opposition to 

 national banks first received official recognition in 1867. Doubtless 

 those two issues were raised at that time because of the depression which 



5 Proceedings of the 5th Annual Session (1869). 



6 New Yorlc Tribune, April 30, 1867; also in "The Labor Question," a col- 

 lection of articles published in 1867. 



7 " Documentary History of American Industrial Society," Vol. 9: 137. 

 s Hid., p. 204. 



