one of these occasions, representatives of forty-nine societies were in attendance. The employers adopted a conciliatory attitude, and the attempt was abandoned.
- 115. To what extent did craft unions obtain?
- It is difficult to say exactly, but in New York, 1853 and 1854, there were strikes by seventy-four different trades and callings. At this time there is said to have been forty-four unions organized in Philadelphia, thirty-eight in Baltimore, twenty-six in Pittsburg. There were some organizations in Albany, Boston, Brooklyn, Buffalo, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Harrisburg, Milwaukee, Newark, New Haven, New London, New Orleans, St. Louis, Washington, D. C., and Utica, N. Y.
- 116. With such a degree of organization why could no general labor movement have developed?
- The industrial depression which began toward the close of 1854 destroyed the organizations. A few of the stronger unions survived—printers, stove-moulders, and some others.
- 117. How severe was this depression?
- Very severe. It not only crushed the unions, but demoralized the working class. As usual, the politicians were on hand with their cure-alls. Large processions of unemployed marched with banners demanding or requesting consideration of their plight. Societies to aid the unfortunate were formed in the principal cities. Labor looked outside of itself for relief.
- 118. What is marked about 1853-'54?
- The first attempt was made, in New York, to wed the organized labor movement to political Marxism.
- 119. How was this attempt received?
- Very coldly.
- 120. What national organizations were there in the fifties?
- The Typographical Union (1850); Cigar Makers' (1856—out of business in 1857); (R. R. Engineers) National Protective Union (1856); Upholsterers' National Union (1853); Plumbers' National Union (1854); National Union of Building Trades (1854—this union included painters, stone-cutters, carpenters, bricklayers, plumbers, and masons. Other trades were invited to join); Mechanics' Trades Union of the United States (?); Lithographers' National Union (1853); National
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