We see from this table that among the foreign-born residents of California an unusually high percentage has come from Englishspeaking countries. The English or Scotch artisan, whether from the old country or from Australia or British Columbia, is accustomed to trade-union membership, and the ability of the Irish to control municipal politics is proverbial. The German trade-unions of San Francisco have been among the most successful and persistent. For many years there have been Germanspeaking unions of bakers, cabinet-makers, brewers, and in early days the majority of the cigar-makers were of this nationality. The Sailors' Union has furnished a training school for the San Francisco trade-unionist. Between 1889 and 1903, 13,796 men have left this organization to enter other occupations. Nearly one-half of these men were natives of Sweden, Norway, and Finland, and ten per cent. were German. These sailors speak English and are staunch trade-unionists.

Independence, capacity for self-government, and power of initiative have always been characteristic of the frontier. Something of these pioneer traits belongs to the Californian who has emigrated from the older states of the Union. Its remoteness, and the great expense of reaching it from the Atlantic ports, have deterred the poorer classes of European immigrants from coming to San Francisco. Also, the presence of the Chinese has had a selective influence; the skilled artisans, or those possessed of some capital, have been attracted by its opportunities, while those who could compete only in classes of labor performed by Orientals have sought other fields. The work that attracts those least capable of organization for self-protection has fallen to the Chinese and Japanese, who are without franchise or political influence.

To sum up the characteristics of the population that have contributed to the success of trade-unionism in San Francisco, we find that the working people have come of races capable of forming self-governing organizations; that a process of selection has brought the more vigorous, prosperous, and intelligent to the

5 Report of the Merchant Marine Commission, 58th Congress, 3rd sess., Senate Reports, vol. 4 (serial no. 4758), p. 1209. Percentages of sailors discontinuing Pacific Coast trade: Sweden, .197; Norway, .185; Finland, .106; Germany, .100.

Pacific Coast; that the large percentage of English-speaking men in the voting population helps to make possible united political action in the interests of the working classes.

Historical Factors.

California has been unlike the other western states in that it had no territorial period of gradual growth, during which the inhabitants were scattered in the small communities that characterize the pastoral and agricultural states of economic development. No other great city in the United States has sprung into full municipal life so suddenly as San Francisco. In early days there was an entire absence of that conservatism that comes with the more gradual accumulation of wealth. Money could be made without resorting to the close calculations and careful management of older communities. The trade-unionist, fleeing from the black-list or the stubborn opposition of powerful, well-established employers, found, on reaching San Francisco, that no one knew anything about his past record, and that his efforts to organize his craft met with no opposition. Moreover, during all of the early period of the state's development, he was able to obtain about all he demanded.

Not only was prompt organization induced by the conditions found in San Francisco, but the comparative isolation has contributed to the success of trade-union activities. For many years there was no great industrial center between San Francisco and the Mississippi from which a supply of skilled labor could be drawn. Even to the present time there is difficulty and delay in obtaining any considerable force of strike-breakers. In early days these difficulties were almost unsurmountable. For example, when, in 1863, the bakers asked for increases in pay of from thirty to forty-five dollars per month," their employers were obliged to submit to this extortionate demand, at least until they were able to import men from Hamburg to take the places of the strikers.

On the trade-unionist of San Francisco has rested the responsibility for the campaign to exclude Oriental labor. He

6 San Francisco Bulletin, November 4, 1863. They were then receiving fifty-five and sixty dollars per month.

first realized the possible menace of the overwhelming numbers of workers who, through many generations of discipline in the crowded Orient, have learned to live under conditions impossible to the workmen of a younger civilization. This long camping in front of what was felt to be a common enemy has contributed more than any other one factor to the strength of the California labor movement. From the early fifties to the present time, there have been organizations in which all classes of wage-workers joined to promote the exclusion of Asiatic labor. It is the one subject upon which there has never been the slightest difference of opinion, the one measure on which it has always been possible to obtain concerted action.

FORMS OF LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN SAN FRANCISCO.

Before attempting the detailed account of the organizations of different periods, it will be profitable to notice in a more general way the characteristic forms which these organizations have assumed, and their relations to each other. They may be divided into three groups: (1) Trade-unions of the conventional type; (2) Societies formed for the promotion of special objects ; (3) Political labor parties.

(1) There are evidences of such early trade-union activity in San Francisco that one is tempted to believe that the craftsmen met each other on the way to California and agreed to unite. In a society where all were strangers, the possession of a common trade would furnish the most natural and promptly recognized bond of union. While from this early date there has probably never been a time when San Francisco has been entirely free from trade organizations, the life of particular unions has not been continuous. They were frequently disrupted by some disastrous strike; in hard times their members, under pressure of necessity, have often abandoned the efforts to maintain the conditions in the trade demanded by the union, and have scattered to take work wherever it could be found. Yet always, with the return of prosperity, the trade-unions were reorganized to begin anew the struggle to obtain a larger share of the more abundant profits for the wage-worker.

There have been three periods of culmination of trade-union organization and activity in San Francisco. First, between 1867 and 1870; second, between 1886 and 1890; third, from 1901 to 1907. In each of these periods we find, not only an extensive organization of separate trades, but also effective central bodies whose influence was felt throughout the state.

The Knights of Labor, who had an extensive membership in California during the eighties, seem more closely related to the regular trade-unions than to the other forms of organization.

(2) The most important of the organizations for the promotion of special objects have been the anti-Chinese associations and the eight-hour leagues. These organizations have been closely akin to the trade-unions in that there has been an interchange of representatives. Thus in early days the anti-coolie clubs sent representatives to the labor conventions, and the present Asiatic Exclusion League is composed of duly appointed delegates from the various trade-unions. The eight-hour leagues have been even more intimately connected with the trade-unions. That of 18671873 was an organization of the house carpenters, though other trade-unions joined in the movement. The later league of 1889 was a representative body created by the Federated Trades Council, and when it disbanded its work was taken over by a standing committee of that body.

There have also been various somewhat spontaneous and erratic movements of groups of the unemployed, which have not been intimately connected with the regular labor organizations.

(3) The trade-unions have fully realized the disrupting power of politics; from early days their constitutions have contained clauses disclaiming all political activities. Yet the membership and leadership in the political labor parties have been drawn from the trade-unions. While the various national labor parties have had representation in California, the more successful political movements have been called forth by labor controversies growing out of conditions on the Pacific Coast.

California has furnished a fair field for every possible form of organization for improving the condition of the working people. Nowhere in the world has there been a more favorable economic environment, nor more absolute freedom for social and

political experiments than was found in California during all the earlier periods of its development. The working people certainly made ample use of their opportunities. Not only have they tried every possible form of organization for regulating the relations of employer and employee, but in addition, have experimented with numerous coöperative schemes. From the rich variety of organizations of the seventies and early eighties, the trade-union emerged as the form of organization best adapted to our present economic system. It meets most adequately the permanent needs of the wage-workers, who now fully recognize the necessity for its maintenance. The other types seem to be falling into place as emergency organizations which can be formed when circumstances require special action. In general, the California tradeunions have been most active in periods of economic prosperity. In times of business depression they have served as a kind of balance wheel, helping to retain the favorable impetus given wages and the conditions of work in more favorable times. The energetic trade-unionist was apt, at such periods of depression, to turn his attention to special movements which he imagined might remedy the evils responsible for the general decline in, business.

THE EARLY PERIOD OF TRADE-UNIONISM, 1850-1870.

The conventional type of trade-union was impossible in the placer mines of California, because there were no employers. However, there were miners' unions in all the camps,-meetings where the conditions under which the mines should be worked were freely discussed, and regulations binding upon the community agreed upon. These meetings expressed themselves in no uncertain terms upon the labor problems of the day. heartily approved of the prevailing regime of absolute democracy and equality of opportunity, and vigorously opposed all efforts to introduce any class of servile labor. It was their influence that withstood all efforts to secure concessions to those desiring to admit negro slavery, and the miners were the first to legislate against the Chinese.

They

While these miners' meetings were political rather than economic in their functions, there is abundant evidence to prove