177] JURISDICTION 45 



ing citizenship of members was frequently proposed as a 

 national provision. ^^ 



To what extent the unskilled workmen will be organized 

 in subordinate lodges is uncertain. They are not unlikely 

 to suffer discrimination, as did the helpers in the earlier 

 days. The advantage of such an alliance appears greatly 

 in favor of the unskilled. A vast organization of unskilled 

 workers in all industries does not seem possible, since the 

 constant tide of immigration during normal times makes 

 any effective regulation of the supply of general laborers 

 impracticable.'^^ It entails a sacrifice upon the skilled, who 

 will have to fight the battles of the unskilled. On the other 

 hand, the introduction of machinery has forced many of 

 the highly-skilled trades from their position of aloofness. 

 As division of labor becomes more minute, as the old method 

 of apprenticeship fails, and as the groups of skilled and 

 semi-skilled are being recruited by the promotion of the 

 common laborers to an ever increasing extent, there is a 

 growing tendency to admit such potentially dangerous com- 

 petitors to the union. The growing spirit of class con- 

 sciousness may effect a satisfactory alliance of skilled and 

 unskilled. 



The Iron and Steel Workers, in 191 3, widened the scope 

 of its membership jurisdiction by the merger of the Tin 

 Plate Workers International Protective Association with 

 the Amalgamated Association. The Tin Plate Workers' 

 Union was instituted in 1898, and it was composed of what 

 were commonly known as "wash house" men.''* At the 

 time of its organization, only seven out of twenty-one tin- 

 plate plants had local unions. The Amalgamated Associa- 

 tion had organized principally the hot-mill men, but it felt 



^^ Proceedings, 1888, pp. 2482, 2497. 



1^ T. W. Giocker, "Amalgamation of Related Trades in American 

 Unions," in the American Economic Review, September, 1915, vol. 

 V, no. 3, pp. 572-575- 



^8 The Tin Plate Workers also admitted female employees. M 

 the time of consolidation, the local nnioii at Steiilienville, Ohio, li.id 

 a few female members. These became members of the Amalga- 

 mated. Tliere are none now belonging to the Association. 



