ringing
the central body back to life. The A. F. of L. had only 250,000 members in the United States to pit against the Knights of Labor's national organization of 700,000 members, but the influence of the Knights was on the wane in Oregon, while that of the A. F. of L. now rose rapidly. In 1889 the Portland Federated Trades Assembly showed its strength through a boycott in favor of locked-out brewery workers. In 1890 the A. F. of L. called a general strike to obtain the eight-hour day, and Portland's union carpenters won their fight, though they had to submit to a wage-cut in return for victory.
The 1 890*8 were not happy years for Oregon workers. The "hard times" of 1893-95 were levying a heavy toll upon the whole country, and the plight of organized labor in general was desperate. Oregon's unemployed grew in numbers, hunger marchers stormed Portland's city hall, and hungry men joined Coxey's Army. The state's railroad workers walked out in sympathy with Gene Debs' great transportation strike and lost their jobs when the strike failed.
In its struggle for existence the Portland Federated Trades Assembly clung to its A. F. of L. affiliation, and fought off the threat of the newly formed Central Labor Council for control of Oregon's workers. It called a state labor congress to devise means of relief, and again obtained undisputed leadership of the battered labor ranks, with new union charters granted.
The need of a state labor body had become apparent and in 1902, when 17 strikes disrupted Oregon industry, 175 delegates, representing about 10,000 workers, met in Portland and formed the Oregon Federation of Labor. The Federation stood for economic and political reform, and was largely instrumental in obtaining legislation for the establishment of the state bureau of labor in 1903. Made strong by the Federation, craft unionism felt more secure. Nothing now appeared to challenge the authority of the A. F. of L.
However, the idea of the One Big Union advocating that labor, to be effective, ought to set aside all distinctions of craft, color, sex and nationality, and unite in one coordinated body began to attract attention. This idea was reaffirmed by the Industrial Workers of the World, a revolutionary organization formed in Chicago in 1905. Soon the world was to hear much of the I. W. W., or the "Wobblies" as members were nicknamed.
The genius of the organization was "Big Bill" Haywood, a former miner who knew conditions in western mining and logging camps. The I. W. W. seemed peculiarly fitted to conditions in the Far West, and
