49 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



followed the close of the war and because of the demand that the green- 

 backs be retired. Contraction of the currency was checked by act of 

 congress in 1868. 



An influential element within the National Labor Union favored 

 affiliation with the International Workingmen's Association; but it 

 never united with this socialist organization. In 1870, a resolution was 

 adopted in which the National Labor Union " declares its adhesion to 

 the principles of the International Workingmen's Association, and ex- 

 pects at no distant day to affiliate with it." 8 The National Labor 

 Union as an organization can not, however, be said to have been class 

 conscious. 10 Substantiating this statement is the fact that delegates 

 were admitted to the annual meetings from organizations other than 

 those of workingmen. In 1866 delegates from Eight-hour Leagues, 

 Land and Labor Eeforrn Unions and Anti-Monopoly Associations were 

 admitted. At the annual congress in 1870 a representative from a 

 farmers' club was seated. It is also worthy of mention that at this 

 congress a representative of the National Guard of Industry and one 

 from the Colored Teachers' Association of Cincinnati were given seats. 

 Nevertheless, at the congress of 1869, Miss Susan B. Anthony was re- 

 jected as the delegate of the Working-women's Protective Association, 

 on the ground that it " was not a bona fide labor organization." 1X The 

 credentials of Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton as a representative of the 

 Woman's Suffrage Association were accepted in 1868 — because she came 

 from an organization for the "amelioration of the conditions of those 

 who labor for a living." 



After the death of President Sylvis in the summer of 1869, only a 

 few days before the annual meeting, the National Labor Union began to 

 show unmistakable signs of weakness. The editor of its official organ, 

 The Workingmans Advocate, of Chicago, pointed 12 to the apathy of 

 the workingmen as an alarming sign of the times. The officials were 

 not receiving that essential of all organizations, financial support. On 

 January 29, 1870, appeared an editorial in regard to the union under 

 the caption, "To Be or Not To Be." In March, the president issued 

 an urgent appeal for funds. Since the preceding summer only $448 

 had been received by the treasurer of the organization from all sources. 



The Congress of 1871 decided to divide the political and industrial 

 activities; and it authorized calls for two conventions for 1872 — the 

 National Labor Party and the National Labor Union. It was the con- 

 vention of the former which nominated David Davis for president in 

 1872. The last Congress of the National Labor Union was held in 



9 " Documentary History of American Industrial Society," Vol. 9: 268. 

 io See Hillquit, "History of Socialism in the United States," p. 193. 

 ii " Documentary History of American Industrial Society," Vol. 9: 231. 

 Miss Anthony was seated in 1868. 



12 Working man's Advocate, December 11, 1869. 



