Another Civil War: Labor, Capital, and the State in the Anthracite Regions of Pennsylvania, 1840-1868

6. Labor Organization in the Wartime Economy1862-65

6 Labor Organization in the Wartime Economy 1862-65 "Unless we are egregiously mistaken," Jonathan Fincher, a machinist and editor ofFincher's Trades' Review, pointed out in 1863, labor and capital "are one and inseparable." It was the capitalists and not the toiling masses who denied this unity, for it was the capitalists who arrogated to themselves "all the prerogatives of self-government and self-protection." Nevertheless, as Fincher noted, "it takes two to make a bargain," and capitalists could only claim superiority when workers conceded it. "If tameness, submission, or the faintest recognition of their stolen prerogatives , on our part, be tolerated," he concluded, "that is our fault-not theirs."l Fincher's vision of an industrial republic wherein labor met capital as an equal and worthy opponent, if not a partner, was hardly novel by the mid-nineteenth century. From the days of the American Revolution, groups of working people had recognized their rights as free citizens and defended those rights against capital's encroachments. It was not until the Civil War that these contests assumed more than local significance, however , and not until the Civil War that a broad spectrum of workers could confront their employers from a position of strength. It was the war itself that generated the social and economic circumstances necessary to test the validity of their particular republican vision.2 War-induced demand for labor and materials provided the economic leverage that allowed northern workers to assert their rights. The army and navy proved reliable customers for coal 121 122 ANOTHER CIVIL WAR and iron products, and their seemingly insatiable demand for ready-made clothing, armaments, and supplies of all kinds translated into steady employment for workers throughout the North. Coincidentally, the army's ever-increasing demand for soldiers promised higher wages for the dwindling civilian work force.3 Capitalizing on these propitious circumstances, northern workers "combined" in local and, sometimes, national unions. By 1863, in fact, coopers, tailors, cabinet makers, clerks, blacksmiths , and iron molders, among many others, had organized to protect their rights in the workplace and increase their wages. "The proceedings of all these societies," Fincher noted in a discussion of New York City unions, "indicates a determination and self-reliance on the part of journeymen, which plainly tells capital that in a conflict with labor it will find 'the stag at bay a dangerous foe.' " Noting that the summer of 1863 seemed to be "the proper moment," Fincher urged northern workers "to battle existing oppression and future aggression [or wear] the chains of servitude."4 Mindful of the fact that the burdens of war-increased taxation , inflation, and conscription-fell most heavily on their shoulders, working people agreed that the time had come to press their claims against those of capital. "In the early part of 1863 strikes prevailed in many industries," the U.S. Commissioner of Labor later commented; iron molders, typographers, longshoreman, and tailors all waged frequent and sometimes lengthy "turnouts." "We believe strikes can be avoided only by combination and cooperation," Fincher countered critics in 1863. "When employers will acknowledge that the man in his employ is his equal, socially and politically, although not pecuniarilythen will strikes be unknown. Until then," he concluded, "we must meet power with power."5 Capitalists failed to recognize any justice in this observation. From their point of view, and that of a number of state legislatures , labor "combinations" proved no more than conspiratorial , coercive entities and strikes, merely one form of riot. When, for example, canal workers in Carbon County turned out in 1862, observers censured their activity. Workers at a nearby dam, one newspaper reported, "were perfectly willing to work at the wages received, but the crowd came on and Labor Organization in the Wartime Economy 123 compelled them to join in the 'strike.' Thus they became rioters and not strikers for higher wages."6 When Philadelphia ice gatherers struck for higher wages, their employers quickly thwarted their efforts. "The proprietors at once feigned alarm," Fincher reported, "and bolted for the police." Although these bosses had previously "combined" to fix wages, Fincher pointed out, it was only when working people attended "to their own interests in the same manner" that a crime occurred. "What is defined as treason in its application to working men," a St. Louis typographer noted, "is nothing more than a 'regulation of trade' with others."7 Because anthracite played a vital role in...