3.0 ASSOCIATION OF IRON, STEEL AND TIN WORKERS [l62 



their delegates. The cost of sending a delegate is obviously 

 a heavier burden to a small union than to a large one. At 

 the Pittsburgh session in 1891, only 220 subordinate unions 

 out of 300, or 70 per cent, were represented. The 220 

 unions represented had, however, 23.300 members, or 96.8 

 per cent of the total membership. 



There are two objections to the national union's paying all 

 the expenses of the delegates. First, the large local unions 

 would be taxed in order that the small ones might be repre- 

 sented. Secondly, if the expenses of representatives were 

 borne by the national organization, the size of the conven- 

 tion would become too large for governmental efficiency. 

 The increase in the number of subordinate lodges has been 

 partly due to the tendency to split up the original local 

 unions into small units according to branch of trade or 

 nationality. The result has been that the convention has 

 grown in numbers. In 1877 seventy-seven delegates were 

 present, in 1883 there were a hundred and fifty-three, and 

 at the convention of 1891, two hundred and ninety-four. 

 Proposals to reduce the size of the convention by grouping 

 the societies into districts which would elect delegates to 

 represent all the unions in the several districts have been 

 steadily defeated. The local unions, jealous of their polit- 

 ical prerogatives, have refused to be merged in any form 

 of district organization. 



As the activities of the national union increase, the con- 

 vention decreases in effectiveness as a means of transacting 

 business. The history of the convention may be marked 

 off roughly into three periods characterized respectively by 

 (a) the predominance of the representative assembly; (b) 

 the enlargement of the power of the officers ; (c) the strug- 

 gle for the referendum. 



During the first of these stages, the convention was prac- 

 tically the sole organ of government. Its functions were 

 primarily legislative and judicial. The officers were elected 

 from the delegates at the convention or those who had been 

 delegates at a previous convention, and their duties were 



