Late 19th-century coal miners had to fight - sometimes literally - to organize and gain the eight-hour day.

More Dates May/Jun 1899 Mar/Apr 1899 Jan/Feb 1899 >Nov/Dec 1898 Sep/Oct 1898 Jul/Aug 1898 May/Jun 1898 Mar/Apr 1898

'Give Labor a Larger Share Of Its Own Created Wealth'

Stories in late 1898 attacked the business-backed annexation of the Philippines at the same time that employers were using "conspiracy" charges to break unions in the courts and armed violence by goons to break strikes.

"President Samuel Gompers of the American Federation of Labor has taken a manly and admirable stand in his opposition to territorial expansion and the annexation of the Philippines.

"First let us have economic expansion and the development of home markets here on our own soil through giving Labor a larger share of its own created wealth, through higher wages and better livelihood, before we go 7,000 miles away to extend our empire.

"Organized labor has nothing in common with these schemes for territorial aggrandizement. They mean huge standing armies, a large navy, an increased retinue of office holders and tax gatherers and a reversal of all the traditions of our country."

"Judge Clifford, of Chicago, on November 9th, sustained a demurrer entered in behalf of Harry McCormack, secretary of the district council of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, with the conspiracy case brought by the millowners' organization against the representatives of the Amalgamated Woodworkers' Union, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, the Brotherhood of Painters and Decorators, and the Progressive Engineers....

"The case has attracted widespread attention among trade unionists and lawyers. It grew out of the compact between the woodworkers, carpenters, and other building trades to assist one another in enforcing union principles and to refuse to work with members of their respective trades who did not carry union cards.

"It is said that the woodworkers agreed not to go outside their shops to set window frames, door frames, and the like, and the carpenters are said to have agreed that they would not handle material that had been prepared in factories where non-union woodworkers were employed."

"The undersigned have been appointed by the UMW [United Mine Workers] to solicit a fund for the benefit of the families and dependent ones of the miners who lost their lives in the memorable battle at Virden, Ill., Oct. 12, 1898, and also for those who were wounded.

"These men gave their lives for the cause of labor, and their families, having lost their bread winners, are in most of these cases left destitute, and this fund will be used to provide for them and to educate the children.

(Editor's note: The Virden workers ultimately won their strike. Today, the UMWA is soliciting contributions to maintain the graves of those who died. Address Marie Katchmar, UMWA Cemetery Assoc., 204 Garfield St., Mt. Olive, IL 62690.)

• P.J. McGuire
  Founder of Labor Day and the UBC
• Leadership & Vision
  The struggle for the eight hour day
• A Century Ago
  100 years ago in Union History