36 ASSOCIATION OF IRON, STEEL AND TIN WORKERS [168 



sition was submitted to the membership by the national sec- 

 retary "without preamble or comment." Amendments pro- 

 posed by the national convention also required the sanction 

 of a referendum vote before they became a part of the 

 constitution. All amendments went into effect sixty days 

 after their approval. The national president, secretary, 

 and the editor of the Journal constituted a board to canvass 

 the votes and publish the results. This provision did not 

 apply to the wage scale or the appointment of conference 

 committees." The law soon proved defective in that cer- 

 tain details important to the working of the law were not 

 included. To add to the problem, an insurgent movement 

 developed.^* 



Immediately the Newport, Kentucky, lodge — a leader in 

 the insurrection — set about to have submitted to a refer- 

 dum vote what it had advocated unsuccessfully in the con- 

 vention, namely, the election of the national officers by a 

 direct vote of the membership. The executive board 

 thought it was "contrary to the expressed will and judg- 

 ment of a majority of the delegates " of the last session. 

 The proposed amendment received the legal endorsement 

 of five lodges. Since the law provided no date for closing 

 the debate in the Journal columns, the board decided that 

 five lodges, by vote, could close the discussion. The propo- 

 sition was submitted to the membership, but the result was 

 disappointing. Some lodges having a membership of a 

 hundred cast less than a dozen votes ; others did not vote at 

 all. So the matter remained unsettled until the next annual 

 session. 



13 Proceedings, 1911, pp. 9189-9192, 9372-9374; Constitution, 1911, 

 p. y2. 



1* During the year 1912-1913 two movements, insurgent in charac- 

 ter, took place. The one originated among tlie workmen in Niles, 

 Ohio, and was in the nature of a secession, tlie new organization 

 styling itself " Tlie Industrial Iron and Steel Workers of America." 

 The other was a radical movement within tlie organization, and the 

 leaders of it called themselves "The Progressive Movement of the 

 A. A. of I. S. and T. \V." The Progressives advocated, among other 

 things, industrial unionism and the extension of the referendum. 

 How far these outhreaks influenced the more liberal use of the 

 initiative and referendum is uncertain. The present officials would 

 deny that they had any influence. 



