ather tentative
Railway Employes' Department had been launched by the American
Federation of Labor. The Federation of Federations was thus a rival
organization and "illegal" or, at best, "extra-legal" from the
standpoint of the American Federation of Labor. The situation, however,
was too acute to permit the consideration of "legality" to enter. An
adjustment was made and the Federation of System Federations was
"legitimatized" through fusion with the "Department," to which it gave
its constitution, officers, and fighting purpose, and from which it took
only its name. This is the now well-known Railway Employes' Department
of the American Federation of Labor (embracing all important national
unions of the railway workers excepting the four brotherhoods), and
which, as we shall see, came into its own when the government took over
the railways from their private owners eight months after America's
entry into the World War.

(3) _The Machinery and Metal Trades_

Unlike the miners and the railway brotherhoods, the unions in the
machinery and metal trades met with small success in their efforts for
"recognition" and trade agreements. The outstanding unions in the
industry are the International Association of Machinists and the
International Molders' Union, with a half dozen smaller and very small
unions.[66] The molders' International united in the same union the
stove molders, who as was seen had been "recognized" in 1891, and the
molders of parts of machinery and other foundry products. The latter
found the National Founders' Association as their antagonist or
potential "co-partner" in the industry.

The upward swing in business since 1898, combined with the growth of
trade unionism and with the successful negotiation of the Interstate
agreement in the soft coal mining industry, created an atmosphere
favorable to trade agreements. For a time "recognition" and its
implications seemed to all concerned, the employer, the unions, and the
public, a sort of cure-all for industrial disputes. Accordingly, in
March 1899, the National Founders' Association (organized in the
previous year and comprising foundrymen engaged principally in machinery
manufacturing and jobbing) and the International Molders' Union of North
America met and drew up the following tersely worded agreement which
became known as the New York Agreement:

"That in event of a dispute arising between members of the
respective organizations, a reaso