followed the close of the war and because of the demand that the greenbacks be retired. Contraction of the currency was checked by act of congress in 1868.
An influential element within the National Labor Union favored affiliation with the International Workingmen's Association; but it never united with this socialist organization. In 1870, a resolution was adopted in which the National Labor Union "declares its adhesion to the principles of the International Workingmen's Association, and expects at no distant day to affiliate with it."[1] The National Labor Union as an organization can not, however, be said to have been class conscious.[2] Substantiating this statement is the fact that delegates were admitted to the annual meetings from organizations other than those of workingmen. In 1866 delegates from Eight-hour Leagues, Land and Labor Reform Unions and Anti-Monopoly Associations were admitted. At the annual congress in 1870 a representative from a farmers' club was seated. It is also worthy of mention that at this congress a representative of the National Guard of Industry and one from the Colored Teachers' Association of Cincinnati were given seats. Nevertheless, at the congress of 1869, Miss Susan B. Anthony was rejected as the delegate of the Working-women's Protective Association, on the ground that it "was not a bona fide labor organization."[3] The credentials of Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton as a representative of the Woman's Suffrage Association were accepted in 1868—because she came from an organization for the "amelioration of the conditions of those who labor for a living."
After the death of President Sylvis in the summer of 1869, only a few days before the annual meeting, the National Labor Union began to show unmistakable signs of weakness. The editor of its official organ, The Workingman's Advocate, of Chicago, pointed[4] to the apathy of the workingmen as an alarming sign of the times. The officials were not receiving that essential of all organizations, financial support. On January 29, 1870, appeared an editorial in regard to the union under the caption, "To Be or Not To Be." In March, the president issued an urgent appeal for funds. Since the preceding summer only $448 had been received by the treasurer of the organization from all sources.
The Congress of 1871 decided to divide the political and industrial activities; and it authorized calls for two conventions for 1872—the National Labor Party and the National Labor Union. It was the convention of the former which nominated David Davis for president in 1872. The last Congress of the National Labor Union was held in
