SamuelGom p er sandtheA.F.L.
In th eearly 19()Os the leading American labor
organizat io n w as th e American Fede ra tion of
Labor(A. F. L.).T he A.F .L. w asformed in 1886
bySamuelCompcrs.a lead erofth e C igarma kers'
Union.
Cig ar m ak ingwasJ.skilledjob.Gom pc rsbelieved
thatunio ns of sk illedworke rsw eretheonlyones
witha realchanceo f success. If unskilledworkers
went on stri ke they could easily be replaced.
Sk illed worke rscould no t.This meantthat em -
plo yerswouldbemore likel yto list entothem.
The A. F. L.grewsteadilyas it b ro ug h tmoreand
moreoftheseski lled wo rk er sro gceber-.carpenters.
primers, ironmolders. glassmakcrs. By 19(»it
had 1.75 millionmembers and was th e United
Stat es'biggestlabo r orga n izatio n.
At thisrime m an yworke rs inEuropewcrcjoining
revolu tio n ar ylabormove ments.TheseEu ro peanclashesbetweenthedetectivesandthestrike rs.
twent y peoplewerekilled.
Em ployers andthego\'enulle nrwerenotthe o n ly
enem ieslaboru nions faced.Thegeneralpublic was
usually againstrhcru. Am erican s had alwaysseen
theircountryas a land wherein d ividu als should be
freetoIlUpro vo:their lin'Sbyth eirowneffo rts.
Many ow nedfar ms, s ho pso r sm allmanufacturi ng
firms.M illio n smore d ream edofthe daywhen they
too wouldown afarmora b us inesso f t he iro w n.
Perhapstheym ig htevenbecome rich ,asCarn egie
hadd on e!People suchas the se wereunlikelyto favor
organizationswhichaimedto limit busin essmen's
freedomofanio nando ppo rtun ities.
But Ameri can swerenotcomplacent abo ut
condit ions in their cou ntry.In rhc carlyyt'arsofthe
twentiethct'nturyastreamofb ook s and maga zine
articlesd rewpeo ple'sancurion toa largen u m bcr o f
nationalproblems.SOlliedealtw it h conditionsoflife
in the slumsoftheg reatci ties,somewith b ri ber y and
corruptioningovernment.othersw ith the
dishonestyofwealthybusinessmen.T he booksand
articlesoftenbroughtOIUstartlingandshocking
facts.This causedsomepeopletodescribeth eir
authors w it hcontempt3S"muckrakers."
19 ItErOR.\' ~,IIS" N ilI'II0GRESS! V ESmo vemen t s called for theoverthrow o f cap ita lism -
that is. theprivateo w nershipo f factories.nu nes
and otherm eanso fproducti o n- and itsreplace-
m entbya n ew socialisteconomicsystem.
MostAmeri canworke rs rej ected suc h revolut ion-
aryideas. T hey w erenot interested in dest ro yin g
theexisting eco no m icsyste m:th eysim p ly wanted
to make it w o rk more effect ivelyfortheirbenefit.
What they warned W3S 3 bigg er sh are o f the
wealth they hel ped toproduce ,Gcmpcrs called
th is " b read and h urter u n ionis m." He believed
th at union s sho u ldconce rn themselvesw ith the
day-to-daywelfare oftheirmembers, not with
politics. Revolutionswou ld not win a bcn cr life
for working people. he said.13mpr act icaldemands
for higherwages.sho rte r workinghours and safer
working:conditionswould.O neofthebest-knownmuckrakerswasUpton
Sinclair.In 1906 hesnackedthemeat-packing
ind ustry inhisnovelTheJlIlIglt·.Thisgan'a
ho rr ifying d escriptio noflifeamongim mi g rant
work ers in th e slaughte rhousesofChicago.'The
JIIII,~lcrevealedtomanymid d le-classAm erica ns a
sideo f theirnat ion 's lifethattheyhard ly knew
existed.The ywereshockedto learnw ha twentinto
th eir breakfast sausages. Theywereeve n mo re
shocked whengovern ment inves tigator s saidthar
w hat Sinclair hadwritten wascorrect.Here is part o f
th e investigato r s' report on co nditions illaChicago
m eat- pa cki ng factory:
"Wesawmeatshoveledfromfilt h ywooden
flo ors,piledontables rarelywashed,p ush edfrom
roomtoroomin rorrcnboxcarts.in all o f w hich
pro cessl"s it was...gathe ringd irt,splinters.floor
filthan d the expectoration[spit ) o f'tubcrculo usand
other diseasedworkers."Report s like this shockedand frightened the
Americanpeople.Meatsalt'Sdropped byhalf.T he
m eatcompaniesbeggedthegovernmenttoinspect
th eirp rem ises inordertoconvincepeoplethattheir
prod ucts weretittocat.Congressquicklypassed a
newfedera lmeatinspectionlaw.8\