1/5] JURISDICTION 43 



claimed the right to organize rollers and roughers, and to 

 this extent there was an overlapping of jurisdiction. These 

 two organizations were of short duration, and their consoli- 

 dation with the Vulcans put an end to all craft disputes. 



For many years after its formation, the Amalgamated 

 Association consisted exclusively of skilled workmen. At 

 the outset, only " puddlers, boilers, heaters, roll hands, nail- 

 ers, hammermen and helpers " were admitted.* Helpers 

 had been consistently debarred by the constituent organiza- 

 tions, and their admission to membership at first encountered 

 strong opposition. Though eligible, they were frequently 

 discriminated against. Prior to 1877 large classes of work- 

 men, skilled as well as unskilled, were ineligible to member- 

 ship. In this year, four new classes of semi-skilled work- 

 men, namely, knobblers, turners, boiler-plate men. and 

 sheet-iron shearmen, were admitted.® In 1887 the presi- 

 dent proposed that " all branches of labor directly inter- 

 ested in the manufacture of iron and steel should be made 

 eligible to membership." The measure was adopted in 

 1889, ^i^d "all men working in and around rolling mills, tin 

 mills, steel works, nail, tack, spike, bolt, and nut factories, 

 and all works run in connection with the same, except 

 laborers, were admitted." Laborers might be admitted at 

 the discretion of the subordinate lodge. ^^ Foremen have 

 been consistently excluded from membership. ^^ Chain works 

 were later included in the list of mills and factories, but 

 otherwise the membership jurisdiction of the Association 

 remained unchanged." Since 1911, as a result of the agi- 



8 Con.stitution, 1876, p. 6. 



» Proceedings, 1877, pp. 50, 74-77. 



>" Proceedings, 1887, pp. 1953, 2118; 1888, p. 2352; 1889, pp. 26S6, 

 2687, 2791 ; Constitution, 1910, art. i, sec. i. 



^1 Constitution, 1912, art. 17, sec. 16. 



12 The Association has always rigidly adhered to the principle of 

 trade-union autonomy. This was the crux of tlie dispute with the 

 Knights of Labor. In 1888 furnace builders were refused member- 

 ship, because the Bricklayers claimed jurisdiction over them (Pro- 

 ceedings, 1888, p. 2273). For similar reasons, water tenders, station- 

 ary engineers and firemen were not admitted in 1900 (Proceedings, 

 1900, p. 5845). Yet, the Association in 1907 refused to grant to the 



