rs' skill. It consequently was no mere accident that the stove
industry was the first to develop a system of permanent industrial
peace. But, on the other hand, this was not automatically established as
soon as the favorable external conditions were provided. In reality,
only after years of struggle, of strikes and lockouts, and after the
two sides had fought each other "to a standstill," was the system
finally installed.

The eighties abounded in stove molders' strikes, and in 1886 the
national union began to render effective aid. The Stove Founders'
National Defense Association was formed in 1886 as an employers'
association of stove manufacturers. The Defense Association aimed at a
national labor policy; it was organized for "resistance against any
unjust demands of their workmen, and such other purposes as may from
time to time prove or appear to be necessary for the benefit of the
members thereof as employers of labor." Thus, after 1886, the alignment
was made national on both sides. The great battle was fought the next
year.

March 8, 1887, the employes of the Bridge and Beach Manufacturing
Company in St. Louis struck for an advance in wages and the struggle at
once became one between the International Union and the National Defense
Association. The St. Louis company sent its patterns to foundries in
other districts, but the union successfully prevented their use. This
occasioned a series of strikes in the West and of lockouts in the East,
affecting altogether about 5000 molders. It continued thus until June,
when the St. Louis patterns were recalled, the Defense Association
having provided the company with a sufficient number of strike-breakers.
Each side was in a position to claim the victory for itself; so evenly
matched were the opposing forces.

During the next four years disputes in Association plants were rare. In
August 1890, a strike took place in Pittsburgh and, for the first time
in the history of the industry, it was settled by a written trade
agreement with the local union. This supported the idea of a national
trade agreement between the two organizations. Since the dispute of
1887, negotiations with this object were from time to time conducted,
the Defense Association invariably taking the initiative. Finally, the
national convention of the union in 1890 appointed a committee to meet a
like committee of the Defense Association. The conference took place
March 25, 1891, and worked out a complete p