orth America, the
International Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes and Railroad
Shop Laborers, and the Brotherhood of Railway Signalmen. The
organizations comprised in the latter two groups belong to the American
Federation of Labor. For the period from 1898 to the outbreak of the
War, the organizations, popularly known as the "brotherhoods," namely,
those of the engineers, conductors, firemen, and trainmen, are of
outstanding importance.

The brotherhoods were unique among American labor organizations in that
for many years they practically reproduced in most of their features the
sort of unionism typified by the great "Amalgamated" unions of the
fifties and sixties in England.[59] Like these unions the brotherhoods
stressed mutual insurance and benefits and discouraged when they did not
actually prohibit striking. It should, however, be added that the
emphasis on insurance was due not to "philosophy," but to the practical
consideration that, owing to the extra hazardous nature of their
occupations, the men could get no insurance protection from ordinary
commercial insurance companies.

By the end of the eighties the brotherhoods began to press energetically
for improvements in employment conditions and found the railways not
disinclined to grant their demands in a measure. This was due in great
measure to the strategic position of these trades, which have it in
their power completely to tie up the industry when on strike, causing
enormous losses to the carriers.[60] Accordingly, they were granted
wages which fairly placed them among the lower professional groups in
society as well as other privileges, notably "seniority" in promotion,
that is promotion based on length of service and not on a free selection
by the officials. Seniority was all the more important since the train
personnel service is so organized that each employe will pass several
times in the regular course of his career from a lower to a higher rung
on the industrial ladder.[61] For instance, a typical passenger train
engineer starts as fireman on a freight train, advances to a fireman on
a passenger train, then to engineer on a freight train, and finally to
engineer on a passenger train. A similar sequence is arranged in
advancing from brakeman to conductor. Along with seniority the
brotherhoods received the right of appeal in cases of discharge, which
has done much to eliminate discrimination. Since they were enjoying such
exceptional advan