ify the workers of the
country by some sort of national organization. The outcome was a notable
Labor Congress held at Baltimore in August, 1866, which included all
kinds of labor organizations and was attended by seventy-seven delegates
from thirteen States. In the light of subsequent events its resolutions
now seem conservative and constructive. This Congress believed that "all
reforms in the labor movement can only be effected by an intelligent,
systematic effort of the industrial classes... through the trades
organizations." Of strikes it declared that "they have been injudicious
and ill-advised, the result of impulse rather than principle,...and we
would therefore discountenance them except as a dernier ressort,
and when all means for an amicable and honorable adjustment has been
abandoned." It issued a cautious and carefully phrased Address to the
Workmen throughout the Country, urging them to organize and assuring
them that "the first thing to be accomplished before we can hope for
any great results is the thorough organization of all the departments of
labor."

The National Labor Union which resulted from this convention held seven
Annual Congresses, and its proceedings show a statesmanlike conservatism
and avoid extreme radicalism. This organization, which at its high
tide represented a membership of 640,000, in its brief existence was
influential in three important matters: first, it pointed the way to
national amalgamation and was thus a forerunner of more lasting
efforts in this direction; secondly, it had a powerful influence in
the eight-hour movement; and, thirdly, it was largely instrumental
in establishing labor bureaus and in gathering statistics for the
scientific study of labor questions. But the National Labor Union
unfortunately went into politics; and politics proved its undoing. Upon
affiliating with the Labor Reform party it dwindled rapidly, and after
1871 it disappeared entirely.

One of the typical organizations of the time was the Order of the
Knights of St. Crispin, so named after the patron saint of the
shoemakers, and accessible only to members of that craft. It was
first conceived in 1864 by Newell Daniels, a shoemaker in Milford,
Massachusetts, but no organization was effected until 1867, when the
founder had moved to Milwaukee. The ritual and constitution he had
prepared was accepted then by a group of seven shoemakers, and in four
years this insignificant mustard seed had grown into