Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II The Founding Of The International Union The panic of 1857 gave rise to conditions in the molding industry which were very similar to those which caused the first unions to be formed. Wage reductions took place and the journeymen were subjected to many " odious rules " relating to contracts, helpers, tools, rental of molding floors, payment in truck and the like. Against the evils of the day the individual local unions were able to make but little progress. Heavy decreases in membership during 1857- 1858 continually threatened them with disruption. In 1857 the Philadelphia union was able to prevent a wage reduction, but severe defeats were suffered by the unions of Albany, Port Chester, and Providence in 1859 when they struck to secure the payment of wages in cash, apprentice restriction, and the restoration of 1856-1857 prices. The loss of these battles was due partly to lack of funds and partly to the ease with which the employers secured strikebreakers from near-by towns. Since many of the " scabs " came from places where other local unions existed, and since the individual unions were financially weak, the importance of securing some cooperation between the scattered organizations became manifest. Another factor in combining the local unions was a threatened combination of employers. During the Albany strike of 1859 the foundrymen of that city organized to resist the demands made upon them and they proposed to employers in other cities the formation of a militant Founders' League. While some of the interests approached were favorable to the movement, the Philadelphia foundry- men, who seem to have had an association of their own, opposed it, feeling that they were strong enough to cope with the local situation without entering into entanglingalliances. Owing t...