the new organization had 300,000. A new spirit seized hold of the railroad workers. For the first time they were able to give unified expression to their needs and their power. They marched forward amazingly, and today their union stands in the very forefront of the British labor movement. It is playing a part in the industrial life of Great Britain such as the old railroad craft unions hardly dared dream of. The organization of the N. U. R. marked a new day for British railroaders.
The National Union of Railwaymen is an industrial union in the true sense of the word. For all the classes of workers under its jurisdiction it has one general headquarters, one set of officials, one financial system, and one point of view. Of its organization machinery, which is strictly modern in type, a very important feature is the manner in which it ascertains, harmonizes and defends the interests of its variegated membership. To do this properly is always a big problem for broad-sweeping unions of the industrial type—to at once give expression to the many crafts, and yet to avoid the bitter wranglings that ruin the efficiency of the unions in the two primitive stages of isolation and federation. In fact, it is to solve exactly this problem that industrial unions are called into being, and their value is to be measured by the degree in which they succeeded with its solution.
The National Union of Railwaymen deals with this situation through a departmental form of organization—similar to that of other European industrial unions. Its national executive committee is composed of four sections, conforming to natural divisions of the industry; viz., (1) Locomotive, (2) Traffic, (3) Goods and Cartage, C4) Engineering Shops and Permanent Way. Each section numbers six men, or twenty-four for the whole committee. The effect of this is to give all the trades adequate representation, so that their interests may be intelligently looked after at all times.
In framing wage and other demands each section works
