MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 63 



SO subdivided that certain joiu-neymeii lay all of the flooring, others 

 place all of the ''trim," and still others hang all of the doors. Floor 

 layers pass from job to job to do that particular work, and "trim- 

 mers" do likewise. Thus the nature of the trade and the size of 

 the city have made the eight hour day a necessity in Chicago. 

 Whether or not other forces operated to its accomplishment, tliese 

 made it inevitable. 



The established place and time of payment is also made necessary 

 by the nature of the trade. In other trades men can pass from the 

 ■work shop to the payofifices, but in carpentering men are at work in 

 all parts of the city. The directions of the stewards, examination 

 of the pay envelopes and the daily walks of the business agent all 

 result from the conditions of the trade. 



In speaking of the intiuence of trade conditions over the rules, 

 one trade unionist said, "Trade union rules come from and change 

 with the conditions of the trade. They develop from misunderstand- 

 ings, strikes, failures, trade disputes etc." (*165. *166.) This im- 

 pression is so universal with the men that the whole tone and vo- 

 cabulary of the trade rules are expressed in terms of the conditions. 



Second, to what extent are the rules forced upon the unions? It 

 is difficult to point to any number of rules which have been forced 

 upon the union. The carpenters have of course failed to get all the 

 advantages they desire or have desired because of the opposition of 

 the employers. So perhaps privileges which they have been denied 

 constitute a better criterion for judging what rules have been 

 forced upon them. It is conceded, however, that the rules preventing 

 .small contractors from working on the job and the use of open shop 

 ^'trim," were forced upon the union by the large contractors. By 

 preventing small contractors from working on the job, journeymen 

 are prohibited from building cottages with the intent of selling 

 them. Carpenters built quite a number of cottages in the suburbs of 

 Cliicago for profit before the 1912 agreement inhibited them from so 

 doing. The large contractors argued that they were maintaining 

 an office and an administrative force to do this work and should 

 not be obliged to compete with men who did not have such expenses. 

 They won the case. The journeymen can no longer build cottages. 

 In the case of the open shop "trim," the large contractors success- 

 fully argued that such a rule would give the manufacturs of union - 

 made ti-ini a monopoh^ of the business. They carried their point 

 again. 



Third, to what extent are the rules the expression of the men and 

 of the leaders? It is impossible to measure the influence of the 

 journeymen in framing the rules or in interpreting them. It is 



