t they contain the picked and ablest men in each
of the industries where they do exist. In some occupations, as cotton
spinning in Lancashire, boiler making and iron ship building in the
seaport towns, coal mining in Northumberland, glass making in the
Midland counties, and others, practically every operative is a member
of a trade union. Similarly in certain parts of the country much more
than half of all workingmen are trade unionists. Their influence also
is far more than in proportion to their numbers, since from their
membership are chosen practically all workingmen representatives in
Parliament and local governments and in administrative positions. The
unions also furnish all the most influential leaders of opinion among
the working classes.

*82. Federation of Trade Unions.*--From the earliest days of trade-union
organization there have been efforts to extend the unions beyond the
boundaries of the single occupation or the single locality. The
earliest form of union was a body made up of the workmen of some one
industry in some one locality, as the gold beaters of London, or the
cutlers of Sheffield, or the cotton spinners of Manchester. Three
forms of extension or federation soon took place: first, the formation
of national societies composed of men of the same trade through the
whole country; secondly, the formation of "trades councils,"--bodies
representing all the different trades in any one locality; and,
thirdly, the formation of a great national organization of workingmen
or trade unionists. The first of these forms of extension dates from
the earliest years of the century, though such bodies had often only a
transitory existence. The Manchester cotton spinners took the
initiative in organizing a national body in that industry in 1829; in
1831 a National Potters' Union is heard of, and others in the same
decade. The largest and most permanent national bodies, however, such
as the compositors, the flint-glass makers, miners, and others were
formed after 1840; the miners in 1844 numbering 70,000 voting members.
Several of these national bodies were formed by an amalgamation of a
number of different but more or less closely allied trades. The most
conspicuous example of this was the Amalgamated Society of Engineers,
the formation of which was completed in 1850, and which, beginning in
that year with 5000 members, had more than doubled them in the next
five years, doubled them again by 1860, and since then