l6l3 GOVERNMENT 29 



is taken until the committee on credentials is ready to re- 

 port. Then follows the appointment of committees and 

 assignment of work to each group. Since nothing can be 

 done until the committees have formulated their reports, 

 the delegates are usually entertained in the meantime by a 

 picnic or a visit to some point of interest in the city. Con- 

 sequently, much of the business is crowded into the latter 

 part of the session. During the last few days the election 

 of officers must take place, and the selection of a city for 

 the next convention. If the contest is close, still more time 

 is consumed in electioneering and wire-pulling, and in tak- 

 ing a number of ballots. Only a very few days are spent in 

 considering new rules and in formulating trade policies. 



In fixing the basis of representation in the convention 

 the same opposition has existed between the large and small 

 local unions as existed at the time of the founding of the 

 American Commonwealth between the large and the small 

 States. The members of the large unions demanded that 

 representation should be proportional to membership, point- 

 ing out the unfairness of equal representation and minority 

 rule. The small local societies clung to the principle of 

 equal representation, fearing that under the other plan two 

 or three large societies might dictate policies. " A subor- 

 dinate lodge with less than one hundred members shall be 

 entitled to one representative. A sub-lodge with one hun- 

 dred and twenty-five members shall be entitled to two rep- 

 resentatives, and one representative for each additional 

 hundred." 



The smaller unions, however, are by no means as fully 

 represented at the annual sessions as are the large unions. 

 The system of representation by proxy has never been tried. 

 The Association has always paid the railway fare of their 

 delegates in order to place the branches at a distance from 

 the place of meeting at an equal advantage with those near 

 at hand, as well as to aid the small local societies which 

 could not otherwise afford to send representatives. The 

 subordinate unions have had to bear the other expenses of 



