; and John Henderson, who combines philosophical
power with skill in dialectics. On the other hand, the rank and file of
American labor is more intelligent and alert than that of British labor,
and the American labor leader possesses a greater capacity for intensive
growth and is perhaps a better specialist at rough and tumble fighting
and bargaining than his British colleague. *

* The writer recalls spending a day in one of the Midland
manufacturing towns with the secretary of a local
cooperative society, a man who was steeped in Bergson's
philosophy and talked on local botany and geology as
fluently as on local labor conditions. It would be difficult
to duplicate this experience in America.

In a very real sense every trade union is typified by some aggressive
personality. The Granite Cutters' National Union was brought into active
being in 1877 largely through the instrumentality of James Duncan, a
rugged fighter who, having federated the locals, set out to establish an
eight-hour day through collective bargaining and to settle disputes by
arbitration. He succeeded in forming a well-disciplined force out of the
members of his craft, and even the employers did not escape the touch of
his rod.

The Glassblowers' Union was saved from disruption by Dennis Hayes, who,
as president of the national union, reorganized the entire force in the
years 1896-99, unionized a dozen of the largest glass producing plants
in the United States and succeeded in raising the wages fifteen per
cent. He introduced methods of arbitration and collective agreements and
established a successful system of insurance.

James O'Connell, the president of the International Association of
Machinists, led his organization safely through the panic of 1893,
reorganized it upon a broader basis, and introduced sick benefits. In
1901 after a long and wearisome dickering with the National Metal Trades
Association, a shorter day was agreed upon, but, as the employers would
not agree to a ten-hour wage for a nine-hour day, O'Connell led his men
out on a general strike and won.

Thomas Kidd, secretary of the Wood-Workers' International Union, was
largely responsible for the agreement made with the manufacturers in
1897 for the establishment of a minimum wage of fifteen cents an hour
for a ten-hour day, a considerable advance over the average wage paid
up to that time. Kidd was the object of severe attacks in various
localit