towards the other unions, if nothing worse. The regular attitude was for each organization to hold back, waiting for the others to take the lead, and fearing that if it stirred the others would take advantage of its good will. This meant paralysis all around; the unions weakest in resources and spirit seemed to set the pace for the rest. Nor could anything change the situation.
In the matter of finances the holding back tendency was particularly noticeable. Although actually with millions in their treasuries, the twenty-four unions gave the National Committee only the beggarly sum of $100,000 to carry on the whole organizing campaign and the strike. If hard-pressed almost any one of them could have done as well alone. Three outside unions, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, the Ladies' Garment Workers, and the Fur Workers, contributed more than the twenty-four unions combined; viz., $190,000. Had the twenty-four unions been really united, instead of merely federated, they could, and certainly would have put in fifty times as much money as they did; not to speak of the strength they would have added in other ways. An industrial union of steel workers, under similar circumstances, would have surely defeated the Steel Trust.
Some Foreign Experiences
Federation always demonstrates such defects. The British Labor Movement has just had a disastrous experience with it. There the miners, railroaders, and transport workers were federated together in the world-famous Triple Alliance. The understanding was that if one of the three groups got in serious trouble the other two would rally to its support. The workers thought they had a wonderful weapon in this gigantic labor combination,, numbering about two million people employed in the most vitally necessary industries.
But events sadly undeceived them. The Triple Alli-
