I 
 
 h 
 1 
 
BANCROFT 
 LIBRARY 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
Handy-BiUy Book 
 
 OF 
 
 New Century Pamphlets 
 for Seamen 
 
 
 
 Seamen afloat are the masters of nature because 
 they understand her laws and pull together 
 for a common end; ashore, they are the fools 
 of every schemer because they are ignorant of 
 their rights and divided against themselves. 
 Fellow- workers, let us know our little book! 
 
 f ISSUED BT THE 
 
 _ INTERNATIONAL SEAMEN'S UNION 
 
 OF AMERICA 
 
 IQOI 
 
Handy-Billy Book 
 
 OF 
 
 New Century Pamphlets 
 for Seamen 
 
 Seamen afloat are the masters of nature because 
 they understand her laws and pull together 
 for a common end; ashore, they are the fools 
 of every schemer because they are ignorant of 
 their rights and divided against themselves. 
 Fellow- workers, let us know our little book! 
 
 ISSUED BY THE 
 
 INTERNATIONAL SEAMEN'S UNION 
 OF AMERICA 
 
 1901 
 
H 
 
 I t 
 
 PRESS OF HOLLISTER BROTHERS 
 
 CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 
 
 1901 
 
5- 4-3 
 LJkrarr 
 
 A Word of Greeting 
 
 The one word, "seaman" should be enough to at once put 
 the reader and writer of these papers on a good understanding 
 with each other. As seamen, though we may be born to differ- 
 ent mother-tongues, we have learned to .think in one lan- 
 guage the language of our common sufferings and our com- 
 mon hopes. As seamen, let us assume the mutual right to 
 advise and the mutual claim to attention on matters concern- 
 ing our own affairs, just as we would assume that right and 
 that claim in the affairs of practical seamanship. 
 
 That the seaman's present lot is by no means a happy one 
 is not due to any lack of advice. As a class, we have been 
 preached at and prayed for by all sorts and conditions of per- 
 sons, friendly and otherwise. These counsels have been useless 
 in the main ; for the reason, chiefly, that the persons offering 
 them, not being seamen, have been unable to put themselves 
 in true touch with the seamen's conditions. A great deal de- 
 pends upon the point of view. What may be true to one man 
 may be false to another ; as, for instance, it may be sunrise to 
 the man at the masthead, while it is yet dawn to the man on 
 the maindeck. Thus, most of the advice so generously be- 
 stowed upon us, while feasible enough in the circumstances of 
 shore life, has been utterly impracticable in the case of the 
 seaman. 
 
 We have been told that much of our hardship is due to 
 "natural improvidence" (that is, to drink), and that the 
 remedy in the case is to straighten up and lead a model life. 
 This is equivalent to advising a man overboard in midocean 
 to save his life by getting out of the water. To throw him a 
 grindstone would' be a more practical measure. 
 
 The notorious fact is, that while the conditions of the man 
 ashore his chances of getting and keeping work doubtless 
 depend to some extent upon sobriety and thrift, the chances 
 of the seaman in these respects depend, under the crimping 
 system, upon his character as a good spender. It follows 
 that, so far as the seaman's character is molded by the cir- 
 cumstances upon which he is dependent for employment, 
 "natural improvidence" is an effect of his conditions, not a 
 cause of them. Any advice on the subject, to be worth 
 anything, must be directed to removing the cause, when the 
 effect will disappear of itself. 
 
Generally speaking, it may be said that so far as the inter- 
 est taken in the seaman by his friends ashore has been effect- 
 ive at all, it has tended to weaken rather than to strengthen 
 him. It has sapped his self-dependence and made of him 
 either an unreasoning rebel or a spiritless discontent. By 
 dwelling upon his wrongs and referring the causes thereof to 
 his own shortcomings; by seeking the remedy in the grace 
 of God, the charity of the shipowner or the mercy of the 
 crimp, the seaman is impressed at once with a sense of help- 
 lessness in himself and of hopelessness in others. 
 
 What is needed is to appeal to the seaman's pride, not to 
 his shame ; to show him that he must help himself ; to show 
 him that he can, and how he can, do it. 
 
 Every improvement made in the seaman's life, and there 
 have been many, has been due in the first place to the sea- 
 man's own efforts, through the power of organization. Where 
 the best efforts of the seaman's friends ashore have failed, the 
 efforts of the seaman himself have succeeded, because they 
 have been based upon a true appreciation of the evils to be 
 dealt with, and because they have been backed by the force 
 of self-help. 
 
 Organization, to be permanent, must be founded and main- 
 tained upon devotion to the principle that "in union is 
 strength" ; to be successful, it must be guided by intelligence. 
 Only by education can we realize that principle and attain 
 to that intelligence necessary to the advancement of our con- 
 ditions and the achievement of that justice, honor and hap- 
 piness which is the due of every seaman, and which should 
 be the object in life of every self-respecting human being. 
 
 To further the education of our fellow-seamen is the pur- 
 pose of the following pages. To every seaman, whether a 
 member of a union or not, they will appeal with special inter- 
 est to the union seaman as a source of pride and encourage- 
 ment; to the non-union seaman as the inspiration of a hope 
 for better times in his calling and the guidance in a duty 
 to join the only movement that can make that hope a reality. 
 
 Nothing ever "just happens" in the world ; everything has 
 its cause. The success or failure, of the seamen's unions will 
 not follow as the accident of good or bad times, the excess 
 of the demand over the supply of labor, or vice versa, but as 
 the direct result of intelligent or unintelligent action in those 
 circumstances over which the seamen themselves have con- 
 trol. Let every reader bear in mind, therefore, that upon 
 himself rests the responsibility for the future of our great 
 work ; that it will succeed or fail in proportion as he brings to 
 it devotion and knowledge, or selfishness and ignorance. 
 INTERNATIONAL SEAMEN'S UNION OF AMERICA. 
 
No. i. New Century Pamphlets for Seamen, issued by the International 
 Seamen's Union of America, 1901. 
 
 Organization What It Means 
 
 A hundred years ago there were no seamen's unions in the 
 United States. The life of the seaman in those days was 
 summed up in two periods ; namely, a hard time afloat and a 
 good time ashore. There was no thought in his mind of 
 any attempt to make life at sea more endurable and life ashore 
 more rational. At sea he suffered like a beast, and consoled 
 himself with the reflection that, at least, he was at liberty 
 to have a beast's time when ashore. He accepted the hard- 
 ship of his life as natural and inevitable, and regarded its 
 pleasures as a form of compensation which it was his duty to 
 secure the most of. Outward bound, his maxim was, "Grin 
 and bear it ;" homeward bound, it was '"Let us eat, drink and 
 be merry, for tomorrow we ship." 
 
 Note the change in the seaman's attitude at the beginning 
 of the new century ! The idea of organization on trade lines, 
 which has spread so rapidly among all classes of wageworkers, 
 has taken hold of the seaman with all the force of irresist- 
 ible truth. To-day the seaman of intelligence who has seen 
 this truth would as soon think of questioning the winds or 
 tides as of disputing the necessity and power of trade-union- 
 ism. To-day the intelligence of our class, as represented in 
 our unions, recognizes that the circumstances of life at sea 
 are largely within our own control ; that we cannot excuse 
 indifference to our own welfare by the plea of helplessness; 
 that there is but one limit to what we may accomplish in 
 improvement namely, the limit of the numbers organized. 
 
 Truth, once seen, can never be observed. It will compel 
 acknowledgment and force action. The truth of organization, 
 once seen by a few seamen, has compelled them to work for 
 the spread of that power among their fellow-workers. The 
 result we find in the seamen's unions in the different seaports 
 of the country. These unions form the links of a chain 
 which, before the century just opening is well under way, 
 will bind the seamen of all nations, tongues and colors in one 
 great movement for the common good. In the ''Brotherhood 
 of the Sea" the characteristics of the seafaring class, which, 
 in the individual, are a source of weakness, will, by the mere 
 fact of combination, form a source of strength that will be 
 invincible to the assaults of the common enemy. 
 
The formation and growth of these unions is the work, not 
 of a hundred, but of less than twenty years. During the 
 greater part of the century, while the workers in shore trades 
 were organizing and enjoying the benefits of that method, 
 the seamen remained at the mercy of their enemies. To the 
 pioneers of organization among the seamen it seemed for a 
 time as though the nature of our calling might, after all, 
 prove the impossibility of mutual help. First, the law was 
 against us ; then, there was the admixture of races among 
 us, our inability to resist imposition at sea, the hostility of 
 the officials, the false sentiment of the public, the short stay in 
 port now in one part of the world, now in another and, 
 finally, the power of the crimp. All these features combined 
 to form a problem that seemed well-nigh hopeless. 
 
 But no sooner was the first seamen's union formed than 
 these difficulties began to disappear, or to appear in the light 
 of actual helps. It was seen that by altering the law in the 
 interest of the seaman we would have in the support of the 
 Government a power superior to that of the crimp ; that 
 though we might be natives of different countries, speaking 
 different tongues, we were first of all seamen, and working- 
 men, and that an earnest appeal to the interests of the men of 
 that calling and class would unite them, to the exclusion of 
 race or other prejudices. And so, in numerous other respects, 
 the seamen's unions demonstrated the power of organization 
 to transform the very circumstances that make the seaman 
 helpless as an individual into elements of strength when acting 
 with others of his calling. 
 
 Organization is order, discipline and, consequently, effi- 
 ciency. As an instance of organization, the seamen's unions 
 are an application by the seamen themselves to their personal 
 affairs of the principle that applies in their daily lives at sea. 
 Imagine a case in which, when a vessel is being put about, 
 every man should act on his own responsibility, with the sole 
 idea of getting ahead of the other man the fellows forward 
 shifting their sheets, booms and yards before the fellows aft 
 had started theirs and you get a fair idea of the actual con- 
 dition among the unorganized workers, where each man tries 
 to get an advantage of every other. The result is the same in 
 both cases confusion and failure. 
 
 Organization, by uniting the workers in an orderly and 
 disciplined movement to better their conditions, accomplishes 
 in that regard just what the application of the same prin- 
 ciple accomplishes in the management of a vessel. 
 
 The union of the members of a family is the first and 
 strongest bond between men. The union of the members 
 of a trade (i. e., the trade-union) comes next in the order of 
 
progress and power. Each trade has its own peculiarities, 
 which only the men following it are competent to deal with. 
 The common interest of men in a given trade, which attracts 
 and holds them to the task of regulating the conditions under 
 which they earn their daily bread, develops naturally into a 
 common interest in the general affairs of life. In its nature, 
 therefore, the trade-union is not only the most powerful 
 agency for the promotion of the special interests of a given 
 class, but it is the foundation of all other movements in the 
 interest of society at large. 
 
 "In union is strength." By the union of any number of 
 men the individual becomes as strong as the whole. Take 
 a number of ropeyarns, useless, as ropeyarns, for anything 
 but junk knot, wind and marl them, and the result is a 
 selvagee that will hold where rope will slip. Take a num- 
 ber of metals, each of little use in itself, weld or mold them 
 in appropriate kinds and quantities, and we have the bell that 
 makes music to the soul, the blade that will split a hair or 
 the projectile that will pierce the bowels of a mountain. Take 
 a number of men, the weak with the strong each equally 
 the helpless creature of our industrial system, weld them by 
 the influence of a common cause, and we have a trade-union 
 that is all-powerful to protect and secure justice for all. 
 
 Organization is nature's law. It is the law that keeps the 
 stars in their courses, that regulates the tides, that guides the 
 winds, that governs the actions and develops the properties of 
 all bodies and forces. When men discover the operation of 
 this law in a given case they create a science, by which they 
 are enabled to forecast events and to regulate actions for 
 their own benefit. The discovery, then, of the law that gov- 
 erns man as a factor in the industrial world, and the knowl- 
 edge of its operation, is the science of trade-unionism. The 
 seaman who ignores or defies that. science is as foolish as 
 the navigator who should ignore or defy the sciences of 
 astronomy and mathematics. 
 
 Organization is wisdom the wisdom of numbers. "No 
 one is wise alone." In the struggle of to-day, when the indi- 
 vidual conditions are governed not by individual wisdom, but 
 by competition with the general mass of men, the wisest may, 
 and, in fact, must learn from the simplest, and the simplest 
 from the wisest, since in the power to affect each other's con- 
 ditions they are equal. The day has passed forever when the 
 man of brains could act without reference to the future of the 
 man of brawn, secure in the belief that the future held for 
 himself both wealth and ease. To-day, and probably for all 
 time, the man of brains and the man of brawn must go hand 
 in hand, each recognizing the duty to aid the other, each 
 dependent for advancement upon obedience to that duty. 
 
Organization is morality. It is an expression, an example, 
 probably the most practical of the kind ever given to the 
 world, of men's obligation to each other in the furtherance 
 of the general welfare, of unselfishness, of devotion to right, 
 as opposed to might, of the principle that "an injury to one is 
 the concern of all," of that attribute the highest, as well 
 as the most human, of all the virtues the love of one's fel- 
 lowman. 
 
No. 2. New Century Pamphlets for Seamen, issued by the International 
 Seamen's Union of America, 1901. 
 
 Objects of the Union, and Duties 
 of the Members 
 
 The first object of the seamen's unions is, of course, to 
 raise wages, to reduce the daily hours of labor and to remedy 
 the hundred and one abuses to which the seaman is subject, 
 afloat and ashore. 
 
 The seaman who depends upon himself, or rather upon the 
 crimp, for the terms of employment is paid less and treated 
 worse than any man in all the ranks of labor. Not only are 
 his wages ridiculously small but he is systematically and 
 remorselessly robbed of even that pittance. He is continu- 
 ally at the mercy of his enemies, who grow rich and fat upon 
 his misfortunes. The seaman who depends upon organization 
 to protect him in demanding decent wages and fair treat- 
 ment has already secured many advantages in these respects. 
 To secure these advantages for all seamen, all seamen must 
 organize. All seamen wish these advantages, and would no 
 doubt ask for them if consulted in the matter. But wishing 
 and asking are of no avail unless backed by the only power 
 that can make them effective the power of a trade-union. 
 The man who employes labor never pays more wages than he 
 is forced to. The trade-union, being the only power that 
 can enable men to agree upon a demanct for fair wages, and 
 to withhold their services until these are granted, is the only 
 power that can force the employer to grant them. 
 
 The main object of the seamen's unions, then, is to secure 
 a rate of wages based upon the amount and the nature of 
 the labor performed, and to secure these wages to the seaman 
 himself, as against the impositions and thieveries of other 
 classes. Other objects, equally important in the end, are : 
 Shortening of the working day in port; observance of Sun- 
 days and holidays, in port and at sea ; improvement of food ; 
 enlargement of forecastles; increase in the number of men 
 carried in each vessel, and the total abolition of that hideous, 
 soul-destroying evil, "Buckoism." 
 
 Some of these objects can be accomplished directly by 
 organization; others can only be secured through the passage 
 of laws, which, in turn, is an object that in itself can only be 
 secured by organization. Laws are made by men to serve 
 
their own personal ends, not to serve the good of other men, 
 and particularly not when the interests of the latter are 
 directly opposed to those of the former. Most of the law in 
 the seaman's case has been made by the shipowners, and, con- 
 sequently, in the shipowners' interests, because the seamen, 
 as individuals, did not know how to make laws for themselves, 
 and, even if they had known, were not able to exercise any 
 influence at the 'seat of legislation. But the seamen, acting 
 collectively, have already proved that they are able not only 
 to draft laws in their own interest, but to secure their passage, 
 and afterward to enforce them. This the seamen have not 
 only proved to be possible they have actually done it ; done 
 it through their organizations. 
 
 The further purposes of the seamen's unions are, to educate 
 the members of our craft in those matters that directly affect 
 our interests, and by so doing to liberate the seaman from 
 that bondage, of the body and of the mind, that is the result of 
 ignorance ; to instill a spirit of self-dependence and self-re- 
 spect ; to bury the dead ; to care for the shipwrecked and dis- 
 tressed; to inspire courage, and to create a feeling of confi- 
 dence in the seaman confidence in himself and his fellow- 
 workers. Through the seamen's unions the public, too, will 
 be educated to a correct view of our affairs and to a correct 
 judgment of our work for the improvement of them. In this 
 way the false impressions of the public, which have led to a 
 feeling of contempt and antagonism toward us, will be re- 
 moved, and in their stead will grow a sentiment of respect for 
 our calling and a willingness to assist us in achieving our aims. 
 By organization the seaman and the shipowner or shipmaster 
 will be brought together in arranging the terms of employ- 
 ment, to the exclusion of the crimps, "shipping agents" and 
 all other classes of middlemen who live by their power to 
 keep employer and employee apart, until they consent to 
 pay tribute for permission to transact their own business. 
 
 Strikes and other labor troubles are the result, in many 
 instances, of the failure of either party to meet the other in a 
 free and fair discussion of their mutual affairs. By bringing 
 the seaman face to face with hi% employer the seamen's 
 unions reduce the danger of strikes, and thus substitute con- 
 ference for conflict, agreement for aggression. 
 
 In order that these purposes and objects may be fulfilled 
 certain duties arc imposed upon every member, which he must 
 observe and faithfully perform. When the seaman joins a 
 union of his craft he takes a solemn obligation to treat every 
 other member as a brother. The first duty of a union man is 
 to keep this obligation constantly in mind and to endeavor 
 in every way to live up to it, in letter and spirit. He should 
 
endeavor to regard himself as the union, not as merely a little 
 part of it; to recognize that faithfulness to the union means 
 faithfulness to himself; to recognize that the orders of the 
 union are his own orders that its affairs are his own affairs. 
 The man who merely pays dues to a union and stops at that, 
 leaving the real work of the organization to his fellow mem- 
 bers, is not a good union man. The seamen's unions of to- 
 day were born, and have lived and grown, in the spirit of 
 devotion that stops at no sacrifice of personal ends, so long 
 as the general welfare could be served. This spirit has led our 
 members to suffer cheerfully that their comrades might reap 
 the benefits of their adherence to union principles. These 
 benefits the seamen of to-day are now enjoying; this spirit 
 they, too, must display if they hope to retain the advantages 
 already gained and to make further progress on the same 
 lines. 
 
 It is the duty of a union man to uphold every other in 
 obeying the laws of the -union, and to condemn him in dis- 
 obeying them ; to so conduct himself, at work and at play, 
 that his example will make converts and friends to the union. 
 Above all, it is the duty of a union man to respect the will 
 of the majority, as much when it is against as when it is in 
 favor of his own views. The views of the greatest number 
 must prevail at all times or the whole work of the union must 
 fail. Remember, the majority is always right, for the reason 
 that action of any kind is only possible by the agreement of 
 the greatest number. 
 
 ii 
 
No. 3. New Century Pamphlets for Seamen, issued by the International 
 Seamen's Union of America, 1901. 
 
 Seamen's Union History 
 
 The man who never looks behind never gets ahead. To 
 see the future we must know the past. To lay the course 
 of the labor movement we must note its history, just as, to 
 lay the course of a vessel, the navigator must note exactly 
 his point of departure. The history of the seamen's unions 
 has its lessons and its inspiration for every man who would 
 lend a hand in the great work of improving industrial life. 
 
 First, in the order of its achievements, is the Sailors' Union 
 of the Pacific. To seamen of all grades, the world over, 
 and to the organized workers generally, as well, the name 
 of that organization stands as a striking example of the power 
 of trade-unionism. To its own members it has been a comfort 
 and a protection ; to the workers of the world it has been a 
 beacon light that shone the brighter the darker the times. 
 
 In the early '8os affairs among the men on the Pacific 
 Coast had reached the limit of endurance for those who still 
 retained a spark of manhood. The situation may be de- 
 scribed by the phrase, "Hunger and Hard Graft." Practi- 
 cally, the notorious deepwater conditions prevailed in the 
 matters of shipping, food, treatment, etc., while the work 
 itself was of the hardest and most exacting. Ashore, the 
 crimp had full swing; at sea, the bucko was undisputed. It 
 mattered not how much wages might rise or fall, for in the 
 end the crimp got everything. 
 
 This condition had prevailed for a long time, and was be- 
 coming rapidly worse, when, in 1885, a few men got together 
 and decided upon common action against the abuses to which 
 they were subject. At this time the whole country was stirred 
 by the spirit of industrial discontent and industrial organiza- 
 tion. The seamen of the Pacific Coast, taking courage from 
 the efforts of their fellow workers, decided to form a trade- 
 union. So, on March 6, 1885, they met on Folsom Street 
 Dock, in San Francisco, and banded themselves together un- 
 der the name of the Coast Seamen's Union. The surround- 
 ings might well have discouraged any body of men less 
 inured to hardship or less driven by force of circumstances. 
 
 The night was wet and windy. The speakers addressed the 
 gathering from a lumber pile. In the crowd that listened to 
 the gospel of working-class emancipation on that memorable 
 
 12 
 
night were men of the very classes which the seamen were 
 met to form battle against. But the heart of the crimp was 
 light. He sneered at the. bare thought of the seamen sticking 
 together for their own good. The event proved, however, 
 that although the crimp might be a good judge of the sea- 
 man in despair, he could not anticipate the power of the 
 seaman in hope and determination. 
 
 The Coast Seamen's Union, formed on the lumber pile, 
 adjourned to a small room and proceeded to business. The first 
 work of the Union was marked by a degree of ambition nat- 
 ural to men newly inspired with faith in their cause. A Union 
 shipping-office was opened, followed by the establishment of 
 a Union boarding-house. By these means the Union aimed; 
 to secure not only the seaman's chances of getting employ- 
 ment, but also his chances of living while awaiting work. 
 What the shipping-office and boarding-house failed to accom- 
 plish in practical results was amply made up in the experience 
 that subsequently enabled the Union to make progress in 
 other and greater things. 
 
 In the following years there were successes and failures ; 
 but always the confidence of the members in their Union, 
 grew, and with that its future was assured. In 1887 the 
 "Coast Seamen's Journal" was first issued. Though at first 
 but a humble sheet, ridiculed by its enemies as a mere abor- 
 tion of journalism, the ''Journal" has lived and increased in 
 power and influence, until it has become one of the leading 
 labor papers of the world. In 1891 the Union again opened 
 a shipping-office, which was conducted with great success for 
 a time. During the same year an amalgamation was formed 
 between the Coast Seamen's Union and the Steamship Sail- 
 ors' Protective Union. The two unions thus combined rep- 
 resented the seamen employed on both steam and sailing 
 vessels on the Pacific Coast, under the name of the Sailors' 
 Union of the Pacific. 
 
 In 1892 the Union, recognizing that the maritime law, as 
 it then existed, prevented anything like permanent progress 
 in the betterment of the seaman's lot, elected a legislative 
 committee for the purpose of considering the. law in all its 
 phases and its effects upon the seaman, with the object of 
 drafting a bill that would meet the needs of the case. To 
 the work thus begun and kept up to the present time is due 
 the passage of those important measures, the Maguire and 
 White Acts (passed in 1895 and 1898, respectively), which 
 have to a great extent freed the seaman from the power of 
 the crimp and placed in his own hands the power to make a 
 fair contract for his services, and to prevent the violation 
 of that contract by his employer. 
 
 13 
 
When we reflect that the maritime law of the country is 
 supported by the traditions of centuries and backed by the 
 most powerful interests in the shipping and business world, 
 it will be seen that the victory of the seamen in this matter is 
 the strongest possible proof of the power that lies in organ- 
 ization to right the oldest and most extensively backed wrong. 
 During the long period of hard times which began in 
 1893, the Union passed through a number of experiences 
 which tested to the fullest degree its capacity to endure ad- 
 versity. The unflinching resistance of the Union prevented 
 the cutting of wages to the lowest possible figure. In the 
 excitement of the times many crimes were committed against 
 ships and seamen, with the double object of bringing the 
 Union into public disrepute and of forcing the members 
 through fear to abandon it. The Union's enemies thought 
 by these means to accomplish that which they were helpless 
 to do in fair fight. The prosecutions of Union members 
 which followed these crimes failed utterly and ignominiously 
 in every case. The Union came out of the ordeal triumphant. 
 By the devotion and courage of the members the Union rose 
 in the estimation and confidence of the public, and gained 
 that strength which enabled it, when times improved, to as- 
 sume full control of the seamen's interests, and to establish 
 itself firmly and permanently in every seaport of the Pacific 
 Coast, from Puget Sound to the Hawaiian Islands. 
 
 The history of the seamen's unions on the Great Lakes 
 and the Atlantic Coast is in general the same as that of the 
 organization just described. The seaman's grievances being 
 everywhere of the same general kind, and the means adopted 
 for their cure everywhere the same in character, the same 
 experiences and the same results have everywhere followed. 
 The Lake Seamen's Union, organized in 1863, has existed 
 continuously for thirty-seven years. In that period the sea- 
 men of the Lakes have seen the conditions of their calling 
 change from the small sailing vessel to the monster steamer 
 and the tow-barge; from the small shipowner to the great 
 corporation. These changes, while increasing the power of 
 the seaman's employers, have hindered the work of organiza- 
 tion among the seamen themselves by the consequent change 
 in the character of the men employed. To a great extent the 
 seaman was displaced by the "deckhand," who, being to all 
 intents and purposes a landsman, was not fitted either by 
 inclination or capacity to unite with seamen. But, in spite 
 of these and other drawbacks, the Lake Seamen's Union, 
 persevered in the determination that the men employed on the 
 Lakes wheelmen, lookouts and deckhands should, sooner 
 or later, recognize their common interests, In this instance, 
 
 14 
 
as in all others where the true spirit of trade-unionism pre- 
 vails, success has rewarded constancy and persistency. The 
 Lake Seamen's Union is to-day a healthy and vigorous body, 
 rapidly increasing in membership and influence in all the 
 ports of the Lakes. 
 
 The Atlantic Coast Seamen's Union, organized in 1889, ha s 
 throughout its career maintained the work of bringing to- 
 gether the seamen of the Eastern seaboard, in the face of the 
 greatest difficulties. The crimping system prevailed in this 
 locality to a greater extent, probably, than in any other in 
 the country. Much of the time and resources of this body 
 have been expended in the effort to shake off the crimp. In 
 the circumstances, progress has necessarily been slow and 
 attended by temporary failures and discouragements. But 
 with each victory the future has become easier, so that now, 
 for the first time, the seamen of the Atlantic Coast enjoy a 
 degree of independence in arranging the terms of employ- 
 ment. The certain result of devotion to the principles of or- 
 ganization is well illustrated by the Atlantic Coast Seamen's 
 Union, as it now exists. After many years of seemingly 
 hopeless conflict with the ancient enemies of their calling the 
 seamen of the Atlantic Coast are realizing their own powers, 
 and increasing them day by day. 
 
 Previous to 1892 the seamen's unions had existed inde- 
 pendently of each other. It was realized, however, that or- 
 'ganization, to be thoroughly effective, must be national as 
 well as local. So, in that year the seamen's unions of the 
 Lakes, the Atlantic and the Pacific joined hands under the 
 name of the International Seamen's Union of America. By 
 this step the three unions became one in all matters of equal 
 interest. The respective unions continued to regulate wages 
 and other local affairs according to local conditions, but in 
 matters of law and their relations to each other all were 
 regulated by the International Union. While the unions had 
 always maintained the most friendly relations, assisting each 
 other whenever possible, it was but natural that differences 
 of opinion should exist on some points, particularly as to the 
 legislative measures best calculated to redress certain evils. 
 This state of affairs was fatal to the hope of securing favorable 
 legislation. The International Union, at its conventions, dis- 
 cussed these differences and came to an agreement, by which 
 the seamen united in the demand for certain measures. To 
 the influence thus exercised by the International Union is 
 mainly due the passage of those laws which have proved so 
 beneficial to the seamen in every section of the country. 
 
 Another advantage gained by the International Union is 
 the agreement for an exchange of cards. By this arrange- 
 
ment any member of one union arriving within the jurisdic- 
 tion of another is entitled to all the privileges of the latter 
 upon the simple presentation of his membership card and the 
 payment of dues. The same principle has been extended to 
 the seamen of other countries by an agreement for the ex- 
 change of cards between members of the Sailors' Union of 
 the Pacific and the Australian Seamen's Union, while a sim- 
 ilar arrangement is now being discussed with the British 
 Seamen's Union. Thus, the question of forming a world-wide 
 union of seamen, from being a remote ideal, has in a few 
 years become a matter of practical moment, awaiting only the 
 thorough organization of the seamen in the respective local- 
 ities for its complete realization. 
 
 The International Seamen's Union of America, although 
 at present containing only unions of seamen, strictly so called, 
 is designed to embrace unions of all classes employed on 
 steam and sailing vessels on the seas and on the Lakes. The 
 efforts of the International Union are directed to organizing 4 
 unions of firemen, cooks and stewards, as well as of seamen, 
 separately and independently so far as necessary for dealing 
 with the conditions peculiar to each branch, but uniting them 
 in the International Union so far as necessary for dealing 
 with the conditions common to all. With the energetic pur- 
 suit of this plan the near future will see a united movement 
 of all classes of maritime workers the men of the stoke- 
 hole, of the glory-hole, and of the dog-hole in all the ports 
 of the United States and Canada. 
 
 The history of these organizations, short though it be, 
 abounds in experiences which, if properly noted, will serve 
 as a guide to the seamen of to-day and those who come 
 after them in assuring the effectiveness and permanency of 
 our work. We see in the loyalty of the members to their 
 unions in times of discouragement and temporary defeat a 
 proof that, whatever its difficulties, organization alone offers 
 a chance of ultimate success in any effort at real improvement 
 in the life of the seaman. The conviction that if organization 
 failed no other means could possibly succeed, kept alive and 
 ofttimes renewed the determination that organization must 
 succeed at any cost of personal suffering and loss. Conse- 
 quently, it did succeed. 
 
 We see in the mutual helpfulness of the seamen's unions 
 toward each other, and in much of the work done by these 
 unions for non-members and for the unions of other trades, 
 a clear recognition of the principle that a union helps itself in 
 helping others. To the sense of gratitude for the ready 
 response given by the seamen to the call for aid in the 
 struggle of other organizations, as much as to the sense of 
 
 16 
 
simple justice, is due the powerful moral support which we 
 have received from the labor movement at large. 
 
 The failure of the early efforts of the Atlantic Coast Sea- 
 men's Union to combine seamen and firemen in one body, 
 and the success of the amalgamation between the Sailors' 
 Union and the Steamshipmen, on the Pacific, marks distinctly 
 the line between dual and single organization. The result 
 proves that classes of men whose work differs in its nature 
 who do not interchange in their occupations should or- 
 ganize separately; while those whose work is essentially of 
 the same nature who interchange jobs with one another 
 should organize together. In the design of the International 
 Seamen's Union is recognized the principle that all unions 
 of kindred trades that is, of men following the sea should 
 be affiliated under one head for the regulation of all kindred 
 affairs. 
 
 Finally, we note that safety and success depends upon 
 sound business and financial methods, and upon the personal 
 control and attention by the members to every detail of their 
 organization. 
 
No. 4. New Century Pamphlets for Seamen, issued by the International 
 Seamen's Union of America, igoi. 
 
 Crimping, Allottment and Involuntary 
 Servitude 
 
 What man has done, man may do. This saying has become 
 trite through the very force of its truth. It is probably truer in 
 the case of the seaman and the crimp than in any other. 
 The crimp has kept the seaman at his mercy for generations 
 under a law that gave the former all the advantage. The law 
 has lately been altered in the seaman's favor, but the crimp 
 is still master of the situation where the seaman does not 
 know, or does not try to enforce the law. Laws do not 
 operate mechanically, like clocks; they merely guarantee the. 
 sanction and assistance of the authorities to persons in doing 
 or preventing certain acts. And even the authorities won't 
 act of their own accord; they act one way or another in the 
 interests of the side that brings most pressure to bear upon 
 them. In a word, a law, no matter what its original purpose 
 may be, becomes in practice just what it is desired it should 
 be by those who actually enforce it. 
 
 The very existence of the crimp at this late day is a 
 positive proof of this statement. For many years the law 
 has prohibited crimping. But the crimp has continued to 
 live and thrive, because he alone had any say in enforcing 
 the law. The seamen, acting individually or even as ships' 
 crews, were helpless before the. organized forces of their 
 enemies. Of course, the crimp naturally made the most of 
 every feature of the law that could by any means be con- 
 strued in his interest. But he did more than that. He used 
 the provisions of the law that were plainly intended for the 
 seaman's protection against crimping as a means of increas- 
 ing the seaman's helplessness in the case. The crimps were, 
 organized ; they brought their united strength to bear upon the 
 shipowners, the shipping-commissioners and the courts. Con- 
 sequently, the law against crimping became a law in favor 
 of that practice. It always has been, and always will be, the 
 same in this and in all other matters concerning the seamen, 
 until they, too, organize and adopt the same means. 
 
 The origin of the crimp dates as far back, probably, as the 
 origin of sin itself. As the flea is natural to the dog, and 
 the sucker to the shark, the crimp and his species are natural 
 
 18 
 
to any class that is weak enough, or ignorant enough, to 
 allow itself to be preyed upon. The crimp came into exist- 
 ence naturally as the result of a scarcity of seamen. When- 
 ever, for any' reason, men refused to go to sea, the govern- 
 ment and the shipowner, while unwilling to make terms with 
 the seaman that would have led him to accept employment 
 voluntarily, were willing to make terms with any one who, 
 by trick 'or by force, could deliver crews on board ship. 
 When the British Government, owing to its treatment of its 
 naval seamen, could not secure men to man its fleets, it 
 offered a shilling a head to any one who could deliver the 
 goods. Thus the press-gang came into existence. In order 
 to make money the press-gang roped in fishermen, farmers 
 and any other classes that could be secured. The crimp- 
 gang of to-day is, in all important respects, the press-gang 
 of the past; the objects, methods and motives in both cases 
 are practically the same. 
 
 The crimping system depends for its existence mainly upon 
 two things ; namely, the advance, or allotment, as it is called, 
 and imprisonment for desertion. People ashore may differ 
 in opinion as to the real purpose of allotment. Some may say 
 that it is a convenience to the seaman who leaves dependent 
 relatives ; others may say that it is a necessity to the seaman 
 who squanders the wages of one voyage without thought 
 for the needs of the next. The seaman, however, knows that 
 allotment is at bottom a payment to the crimp for his serv- 
 ices in securing crews a payment made by the seaman him- 
 self for his own enslavement. To prove this we have only to 
 note the well-known fact that as a general thing the seaman 
 cannot get employment unless he is willing to sign for allot- 
 ment. In a word, it is the crimp, and not the seaman, who 
 needs and who secures the allotment. 
 
 The history of the allotment law is a further proof of this 
 conclusion. Prior to 1884 it was the custom to pay advance 
 in a lump sum "on the capstan-head" that is, as soon as the 
 seaman went on board ship. In that year an Act of Congress- 
 was passed, totally prohibiting the payment of advance, and 
 confining the payment of allotment to certain dependent rel- 
 atives of the seaman. Thus the crimp's main source of rev- 
 enue was cut off. What was the result? The shipowner, 
 of course, might himself have paid the crimp for his services, 
 but to do so would have been to sacrifice the sole advantage 
 to the shipowner of the crimping system. If the cost of that 
 system could not be taken out of the seaman's wages the 
 crimp might as well have gone out of business, so far as the 
 shipowner was concerned. 
 
 The immediate effect of the prohibition of advance was to 
 
 '9 
 
tie up the shipping of the great seaports. The crimp would 
 not provide seamen, and the latter were unable to ship them- 
 selves without the consent of the former. The shipowners 
 and shipmasters preferred to suffer a temporary loss, rather 
 than see the crimps defeated, for they knew that the success 
 of the latter would be to their advantage in the future. After 
 the lapse of two years (in 1886) Congress amended the law 
 so as to permit the payment of allotment to an "original 
 creditor" in liquidation of a just debt for board or clothing. 
 
 The result of this step was to place the whole matter pre- 
 cisely where it had been prior to the abolition of advance. 
 The "original creditor" was the crimp; the supposedly "just 
 debt" for board and clothing was mostly a rank robbery for 
 "shipping fees" and other illegal and fraudulent charges; 
 while the allotment, instead of being paid in installments at 
 the end of each month during the voyage, was paid in a 
 lump sum as soon as the vessel sailed, thus becoming, in fact, 
 advance. The allotment law having been thus altered to suit 
 the crimp, was satisfactory to everybody but the seaman. 
 That the law was altered to suit the crimps proves that that 
 class are the real beneficiaries of the allotment system. 
 
 The law under which the seaman could be compelled to go 
 on board, and to stay on board, after having signed articles, 
 upon pain of being imprisoned and afterward placed on board 
 in irons was a natural accompaniment of the law providing 
 for the payment of the seaman's wages 'to his creditors. 
 Whatever excuse may have existed in the conditions of the 
 remote past for the law that made the seaman practically a 
 serf to his ship, it is a fact that the excuse offered in recent 
 times for that law is that as the shipowner advances so much 
 money on the wages to be earned by the seaman, the law 
 should give the shipowner the power to keep possession of 
 the seaman until he has earned the money thus advanced. 
 
 The law under which the seaman was forced to work 
 against his will has been recognized by the seamen's unions 
 as creating a condition of involuntary servitude, and, there- 
 fore, a violation of the Constitution of the United States. 
 Upon this understanding the Sailors' Union of the Pacific, 
 in 1895, appeared the famous Arago case to the United 
 States Supreme Court. The Court upheld the law and de- 
 clared that the seaman did not come under that provision of 
 the Constitution which prohibits slavery and involuntary serv- 
 itude. In substance it appears that just as allotment is neces- 
 sary to secure the services of the crimp, so imprisonment 
 for desertion is necessary to secure the return by the seaman 
 to the shipowner of the money originally paid out of the 
 latter's wages as allotment. 
 
 20 
 
Another means by which the seaman was kept in subjection 
 to his enemies was the boarding-house custom of holding the 
 seaman's clothing in event of his refusal to accept the crimp's 
 terms of shipment, or settlement. The seaman who other- 
 wise might have objected to an unreasonable bill was forced 
 to accept it or leave the boarding-house and lose his clothing. 
 As refusal meant starvation, the seaman was forced to submit 
 to every extortion. 
 
 Under the operation of these methods the seaman was liter- 
 ally the slave of the crimps ashore and of the shipowner or 
 ship's officers at sea. The former held possession of his 
 means of employment, controlled his wages, held his clothing 
 and ruled in the important question as to whether or not he 
 should get food and a place to sleep. The latter held pos- 
 session of his body and forced him to labor by means not 
 one whit removed from the tactics of the common slave- 
 master. 
 
 Through the efforts of the organized seamen some of these 
 evils have been for the greater part entirely abolished. The 
 Maguire Act, passed in 1895, prohibited the payment of allot- 
 ment and imprisonment for desertion in the coastwise trade. 
 The same Act also prohibited the holding of any seaman's 
 clothing. The White. Act, passed in 1898, continued the 
 prohibition of allotment and imprisonment for desertion in 
 the coastwise trade; also the prohibition against holding a 
 seaman's clothing. In' addition, the White Act reduced the 
 amount of allotment that might be paid by a seaman on a 
 foreign-going voyage to a sum not exceeding one month's 
 wages in all, and made this provision applicable to all vessels, 
 foreign as well as American, signing crews in American 
 ports. It prohibited the arrest or imprisonment of any sea- 
 man shipped for a foreign voyage for refusal to join his ship 
 or for desertion in any American or near-by foreign port. It 
 reduced the maximum term of imprisonment for desertion 
 in a foreign port from three to one month, and made the inflic- 
 tion of that punishment optional with the court, instead of 
 mandatory upon it, as was previously the case. The White 
 Act contained numerous other provisions for the benefit of 
 the seaman, which will be noted in their proper place. In 
 the respects here mentioned the White Act accomplished, so 
 far as a law could of itself do so, the practical liberation of the 
 seamen, coastwise and foreign-going, from those conditions 
 which were mainly responsible for his helplessness. The 
 vital feature of the matter, namely, the enforcement of the 
 law, remains, of course, with the seamen themselves. 
 
 In order that the seaman may know just where he stands 
 the leading features of the law as it now exists are here set 
 forth : 
 
 21 
 
Imprisonment for failure to join a vessel after signing arti- 
 cles, or for desertion at any time during the voyage, is entirely 
 abolished in the coastwise trade. Coastwise trade (some- 
 times called "excepted port," or "near-by foreign port" trade) 
 is trade between any ports on either seaboard of the United 
 States and trade between any port of the United States and 
 any port in British North America (Canada), Newfoundland, 
 the Bahamas, Bermudas, West Indies, and Mexico. The 
 trade between a United States port on the Atlantic and a 
 United States port on the Pacific is called the " 'Round the 
 Horn " trade. 
 
 Imprisonment for desertion in a foreign port is limited to 
 one month, which imprisonment is left entirely to the discre- 
 tion of the court. If the deserting seaman can show good 
 cause for leaving his vessel the judge may order him set at 
 liberty. Seamen engaged on any vessel, in the coastwise or 
 foreign trade, may leave that is, desert in any port of the 
 United States, or in any port of the countries previously 
 named as included in the coastwise trade. The seaman leav- 
 ing a vessel in any of these ports may take his clothing with 
 him. He may also, before leaving, demand one-half of the 
 wages due him, provided he has not signed the latter right 
 away at the time of shipping. The clothing and effects left 
 on board when deserting he forfeits all future claim to. 
 
 Advance is prohibited in all trades, under penalty of a 
 fine of not less than four times the amount advanced and 
 imprisonment for six months. 
 
 Allotment is totally prohibited in the coastwise trade. A 
 seaman in the foreign-going trade may allot any portion of 
 his wages to his grandparents, parents, wife, sister or children. 
 The amount of allotment payable to an "original creditor" 
 (that is, to a crimp or a boarding-master) is regulated by the 
 following schedule : 
 
 1. On voyages in the " 'Round the Horn " trade, or trade 
 between American ports on the Pacific or Atlantic coasts 
 and ports in the Indian Ocean, not exceeding one month's 
 wages. 
 
 2. On voyages between. American ports on the Atlantic 
 and foreign ports on the Atlantic south of the Equator, and 
 between American ports on the Pacific and foreign ports 
 on the Pacific west of the iSoth meridian, or south of the 
 Equator, not exceeding twenty days' wages. 
 
 3. On voyages in the Western Ocean trade (that is, trade 
 between American ports and foreign ports on the Atlantic 
 north of the Equator), and trade between American ports 
 and foreign ports on the Pacific east of the iSoth meridian 
 and north of the Equator, not exceeding fifteen days' wages. 
 
4. On voyages between ports of the United States on the 
 Atlantic or Pacific and foreign ports to which allotments 
 are permitted, not described in the foregoing paragraphs, 
 not exceeding ten days' wages. 
 
 These provisions apply to all vessels, foreign as well as 
 American (except to fishing or whaling vessels or yachts), 
 which sign crews in American ports. 
 
 The foregoing are the maximum amounts of allotment 
 allowable in the respective trades. If the sum actually owing 
 by the seaman is less than the maximum allowed by law the 
 amount of allotment allowable is correspondingly less. In 
 other words, the amount of allotment must not exceed the 
 amount of the seaman's debt. 
 
 Anyone misrepresenting the amount of a seaman's debt, 
 or making false claims as a relative, for the purpose of secur- 
 ing allotment is punishable by a fine of $500 or imprisonment 
 for six months. 
 
 Any sums deducted from the seaman's wages as allotment, 
 if contrary to the foregoing provisions of the law, must be 
 refunded at the pay-table upon demand by the seaman. If 
 refused, the seaman may sue for and recover the same. 
 
 No crimp, boarding-master or other person can hold a 
 seaman's clothing for debt, or on any other pretense, under a 
 penalty of $100. 
 
 The seaman who exercises the rights granted him by these 
 provisions of the law is practically a free man. That is to 
 say, he is master of his own body, of his wages and of his 
 clothing. The seaman who does not exercise these rights is 
 as much a slave as he was under the old law. No law can help 
 the man who submits without a struggle to be bluffed and 
 bulldozed into a vessel under terms that he does not approve 
 of, and who signs an allotment note for more than the 
 amount of his debt, under the threat of being thrown out of 
 a boarding-house without his clothing. It is understood, 
 of course, that the seaman, acting singly, is powerless to 
 resist the crimp. But this weakness really lies, not in the 
 individual seaman, but in the individual method that he 
 adopts. By uniting with other individuals in a word, 
 by organization the individual seaman becomes powerful 
 enough to accomplish as much as all the other individuals 
 put together can accomplish, because all the others add their 
 efforts to his. 
 
 Organization alone made possible the passage of the law; 
 organization alone can make possible its enforcement. The 
 seamen's unions have succeeded in enforcing the new law 
 to the fullest advantage in every instance involving union 
 members ; they have failed only in those instances involving 
 
 23 
 
non-members in which the men themselves have refused to 
 do their own part. The seamen's unions have succeeded 
 in some instances by suit, in others by simple demand in 
 securing the repayment to the seaman of sums originally 
 paid to the crimps in violation of the law. This success has 
 been dependent, in the first instance, upon the refusal of 
 the seaman concerned to accept less than the amount he is 
 entitled to. The seaman who takes what is offered him, who 
 allows himself to be robbed and otherwise imposed upon, is 
 not only the most helpless, but the most hopeless creature 
 in existence. The whole world united in his defense can do 
 nothing for him. "You can't make a silk purse out of a 
 
No. 5. New Century Pamphlets for Seamen, issued by the International 
 Seamen's Union of America, 1901. 
 
 The Shipping Articles 
 
 The act of "signing articles" appears to different seamen in 
 different lights. To some it is a mere matter of form; to 
 others it is a very serious affair. In either case the seaman 
 seldom thinks of questioning any part of the proceedings, 
 either because they are too commonplace or too solemn to 
 permit of discussion. Seldom or never does the seaman 
 enter a shipping-office feeling that he himself is the. most 
 important part of the business ; that no business can be done 
 unless it is done to suit him, and that the articles, if signed 
 at all, must express his wishes regarding the terms of em- 
 ployment, and not those only of the other parties to the 
 transaction. In general the demeanor of the man in the ship- 
 ping-office resembles that of the man at the foot of the scaf- 
 fold. The shipping articles might be his death-warrant, the 
 reading of which he waives, either because he is determined 
 to "die game" or because his thoughts are all of the future. 
 The man on the scaffold must die ; the man in the shipping- 
 office must ship. For both the future is equally a matter of 
 chance. Then why bother about the formalities of the 
 present ! 
 
 A number of men enter a shipping-office to sign articles 
 for a voyage. The articles are read. Have they heard them 
 read ? Do they understand them ? Are they willing to sign ? 
 A pen is handed to each man; he affixes his signature and 
 departs, consoling himself with the reflection that if he does 
 not know a single thing about it he has, at any rate, not 
 made a holy show of his ignorance. Anyway, he can find out 
 all about it from the crimp, and what the latter does not tell 
 him he can find out before the voyage is over. It is not well 
 to be too inquisitive ! 
 
 The shipping-commissioner's office is supposed to be sacred 
 to the uses of the seaman and his employer a sanctuary 
 barred to the crimp and all others not directly interested, 
 or interested only in wronging the seaman. But, in fact, it is 
 nothing of the kind. Usually the crimp has as much to 
 say in the shipment of "his men" as the shipping-commis- 
 sioner, and very ofter more. In every instance the inter- 
 ests of the crimp, as such, are taken as much care of by the 
 shipping-commissioner as are those of the seaman and ship- 
 owner. Indeed, it may be said without exaggeration that 
 the office of the shipping-commissioner, instead of being a 
 
 25 
 
protection to the seaman against the crimp, as it was orig- 
 inally intended to be, has become a convenience to the crimp 
 in his business of fleecing the seaman. 
 
 It is required by law that the shipping articles shall be 
 read by or to the seaman so that he thoroughly understands 
 them; that the shipping-commissioner shall acquaint each 
 seaman with the conditions thereof, and that the seaman 
 shall sign "freely and voluntarily, while sober and not in a 
 state of intoxication." Nothing but the merest pretense, 
 and often not even that, is ever made to comply with these 
 provisions. The seaman may, or may not, know the name 
 of the vessel or the nature of the voyage ; he may be sober, 
 and, on the other hand, he may be in a "state of intoxica- 
 tion" ; he may be asked to sign for an allotment equal to the 
 amount of his debt, or, as mostly happens, he may be asked 
 to sign away every cent that the law allows; the arrange- 
 ment with reference to wages may be fair, or it may be 
 openly fraudulent. It makes no difference either way to the 
 seaman. He has been brought to the shipping office for the 
 purpose of signing articles, and the crimp, who is at the door, 
 or, it may be, at the table, will see that he does sign. 
 
 The pliant attitude of the seaman in the shipping-office 
 is due in great part to his unfamiliarity with the contents 
 of the shipping articles. His ideas as to what the articles 
 should, and what they should not contain, are of the vaguest ; 
 frequently they are directly contrary to the facts. When 
 the seaman becomes as well acquainted with the right and 
 wrong of the shipping articles as he is with the right and 
 wrong of his work on board ship he will be just as confident 
 in going about the business of signing articles as he is ini 
 going about his daily work, and be as little likely to be 
 fooled into committing grave mistakes in the one case as 
 in the other. If a seaman were told that the right way to 
 furl a sail is to begin on the lee side he would smile, and 
 probably refuse to obey an order to that effect. So, when 
 he knows his shipping articles he will in all probability 
 refuse with equal positiveness to sign anything that takes 
 from him any of his legal rights, or otherwise endangers his 
 personal welfare. 
 
 The following particulars concerning the signing of ar- 
 ticles, what the articles mean and how far they are binding, 
 are selected with the utmost care and may be relied upon to 
 be absolutely correct. The seaman who studies them may 
 feel sure that in demanding the enforcement of the provisions 
 here mentioned he is making a demand that must be granted 
 if firmly insisted upon. 
 
 First, then, every seaman engaging for a voyage in the 
 foreign, or in the " 'Round the Horn" trade must sign ar- 
 
 26 - 
 
tides in the presence of a shipping-commissioner. The 
 shipping-commissioner or his deputy may sign a crew on 
 board the vessel, but it is advisable that the seaman should 
 insist upon signing articles in the shipping-commissioner's 
 office ashore. In the case of foreign vessels in American 
 ports and American vessels in foreign ports the articles must 
 be signed in the presence of the respective consuls. For 
 every seaman taken to sea without first signing articles the 
 master of the vessel is liable to a penalty of $200. 
 
 Seamen engaging in the coastwise trade, except in trade 
 between the ports of adjoining states, must also sign articles, 
 stating the nature of the voyage or the length of time for 
 which they are engaged. If no such agreement is signed 
 the master of the vessel must pay the seaman for the services 
 rendered at the highest rate of wages paid at the port ot 
 shipment for a similar voyage within the three months prior to 
 the seaman's shipment. In such case the master is also liable 
 to a penalty of $20 for each seaman who has not signed ar- 
 ticles, one-half of that sum to go to the seaman and the re- 
 mainder to the United States. Seamen thus taken to sea 
 without signing articles are not bound by the general law, 
 but may quit the vessel at any time and demand the full 
 amount of wages earned. 
 
 Coastwise articles may be signed privately ; but if the par- 
 ties agree they may be signed in the presence of a shipping- 
 commissioner. If the seaman is shipped before a shipping- 
 commissioner he must also be paid off before one. With 
 this exception, it makes practically no difference in law 
 whether the articles are signed privately or before a shipping- 
 commissioner. 
 
 The shipping articles must be posted on board the vessel 
 so as to be accessible to the crew, under a penalty of $100. 
 
 Shipping articles in the Lake trade are subject wholly to 
 private agreement and may contain any provisions not con- 
 trary to the general law. 
 
 No "shipping-fees" of any kind are payable by the seaman 
 in any trade, or under any circumstances. Any person, 
 whether a shipping-commissioner, an employee of the same, 
 crimp, boarding-master, ship-master, ship-owner or other- 
 wise, who demands or receives, directly or indirectly from 
 any seaman, or from any person on his behalf, any remunera- 
 tion whatever for providing him with employment is liable to 
 a penalty of $100. 
 
 Under the shipping articles seamen must obey all orders 
 of the shipmaster, on board, in boats or on shore. Seamen 
 cannot refuse to work in port on Sundays, holidays or after 
 the usual working hours, but they are entitled to overtime 
 
pay for any work performed at such times, provided such 
 work is not necessary for the safety of the vessel, her cargo 
 or the lives of those on board. 
 
 Shipping articles are binding for the full term agreed upon. 
 Seamen leaving a vessel, against the will of the master, be-- 
 fore the expiry of their agreement forfeit all wages and 
 effects left on board. They may take their clothing with 
 them when they leave the vessel, but cannot demand their 
 wages. 
 
 In case of shipwreck seamen are entitled to the wages due 
 at the time of leaving the vessel, but not for any further 
 period. 
 
 Seamen discharged through no fault of their own, and with- 
 out their consent, before the commencement of the voyage, 
 or before one month's wages are earned, must receive one 
 month's pay in addition to any pay they may have earned. 
 
 At the end of a voyage seamen are entitled to be paid off, 
 if in the coastwise trade, within two days ; if in the foreign- 
 going trade, within four days after discharge. If discharged 
 before the end of a voyage seamen are entitled to be paid off 
 immediately upon their discharge. Seamen kept waiting for 
 their wages beyond the specified periods are entitled to one 
 day's extra wages for every day's delay. At the end of a 
 voyage in any trade the seaman is entitled to receive one- 
 third of the wages due him at the time of leaving the vessel. 
 
 Vessels leaving any port after the commencement of a 
 voyage must ship seamen to fill all vacancies in the crew 
 list caused by death, desertion or otherwise. 
 
 Seamen discharged on account of shipwreck are entitled to 
 their wages up to the time of the wreck and to transportation 
 to the port of shipment. Seamen discharged in a foreign 
 port before the end of the term agreed upon, and against their 
 will, must be provided with another vessel, to be agreed to by 
 them, or receive one month's extra wages, provided they are 
 not discharged for neglect of duty or injury received on the 
 vessel. Seamen discharged on account of injury or illness 
 are entitled to maintenance and return to the United States 
 at the expense of the fund for the maintenance and transporta- 
 tion of destitute American seamen. 
 
 If discharged in a foreign port on account of the sale of 
 the vessel the master must provide each seaman with employ- 
 ment on board a vessel bound to the original port of ship- 
 ment, or to such other port as may be agreed upon, or pay 
 his passage home. 
 
 If discharged in a foreign port on account of ill treat- 
 ment or violation of agreement, the master must pay the 
 seaman one month's extra wages and provide him with em- 
 
ployment on some other vessel, or provide him with a 
 passage to a port of the United States or to a port agreed 
 to by the seaman. 
 
 Seamen may demand the survey of a vessel, if in a home 
 port, upon an agreement of a majority of the crew, and, if in 
 a foreign port, upon an agreement of a majority of the crew 
 and the first or second officer. 
 
 Every vessel engaged on a foreign voyage exceeding in 
 length fourteen days must carry a slop-chest containing at 
 least one suit of woolen clothing for each member of the crew. 
 Every vessel, in all trades, must be provided with a safe and 
 warm room for the use of the crew in cold weather, under 
 a penalty of not less than $100. 
 
 Offenses on the part of seamen are punishable as follows : 
 
 Desertion, if in a port in the coastwise trade, by forfeiture 
 of all the clothing and effects left on board and of all the 
 wages due ; if in a port in the foreign-going trade, by the 
 same forfeitures and also by imprisonment, at the discre- 
 tion of the court, for not more than one month. 
 
 Refusal to join vessel or to sail in her, or absence with- 
 out leave within twenty-four hours of the sailing time, if in a 
 port in the coastwise trade, by forfeiture of not more than 
 two days' pay, or sufficient to pay a substitute, if one is 
 engaged; if in a port in the foreign-going trade, by for- 
 feiture of not more than two days' pay, or, at the discretion 
 of the court, by imprisonment for not more than one month. 
 
 Quitting the vessel, in any port or trade, before she is 
 placed in security, by forfeiture of not more than one month's 
 pay. 
 
 Disobedience to lawful commands at sea, by forfeiture upon 
 arrival in a port of the United Sattes, of not more than 
 four days' pay ; upon arrival in a foreign port, by the same 
 forfeiture, or, at the discretion of the court, by imprison- 
 ment for not more than one month. 
 
 Continued disobedience at sea, by being placed in irons, on 
 bread and water, with full rations every fifth day, and, upon 
 arrival in a port of the United States, by forfeiture of not- 
 more than twelve days' pay for every twenty-four hours of 
 such disobedience ; upon arrival in a foreign port, in addi- 
 tion to the above penalty, by imprisonment for not more than 
 three months, at the discretion of the court. 
 
 Assaulting the master or mate, in any trade, by imprison- 
 ment for not more than two years. 
 
 Damaging the vessel, or damaging or embezzling the. 
 stores or cargo, in any trade, by forfeiture of an amount equal 
 to the Damage caused and by imprisonment for not more 
 than twelve months, at the discretion of the court. 
 
 29 
 
Smuggling, in any trade, by forfeiture of an amount equal 
 to the loss occasioned and imprisonment for not more than 
 twelve months. 
 
 An entry of each offense must be made in the log-book 
 on the day it is committed and read to the offender, who is 
 entitled to have his reply also recorded. These entries must 
 be signed by the master or mate or one of the crew. The 
 log-book containing these entries must be produced at the 
 trial, failing which the court may refuse to consider the 
 charges against the seaman. 
 
 Seamen's wages cannot be attached by any process in any 
 court, State or Federal. 
 
 The food-scale must be displayed on every vessel where 
 it can be seen by the crew. No substitutes except those 
 mentioned in the scale are permitted. For any shortage 
 in the amount of food provided, each seaman is entitled to 
 the following sums per day: For shortage not exceeding^ 
 one-third of the scale, not more than fifty cents per day; 
 for shortage over one-third of the scale, not more than one 
 dollar per day; for bad quality of food, not more than one 
 dollar per day. 
 
 All forms of corporal punishment striking, beating, etc. 
 are positively forbidden, under a penalty of not less than 
 three months' nor more than two years' imprisonment. Under 
 the law no form of corporal punishment can be considered 
 justifiable; that is to say, the simple fact that a seaman has 
 been assaulted by a ship's officer is sufficient to justify his 
 conviction. Shipmasters who allow ships' officers charged 
 with assaulting seamen to escape are liable in damages to 
 the seamen assaulted. 
 
 In every printed form of shipping articles there is a blank 
 space, in which the shipmaster may insert any provisions not 
 contrary to law. In this space it is customary to write the 
 words, "No grog allowed," "No going on shore in port 
 without the consent of the master," etc. This feature of the 
 shipping articles is of the utmost importance to the seaman, 
 for the reason that these provisions, while they may not be 
 contrary to law, may take away some of the advantages 
 of the law to which the seaman would otherwise be entitled. 
 
 The most striking instance of this is the provision usually 
 inserted in the blank space of shipping articles, as follows: 
 
 "No money in port except at master's option." 
 
 This provision is in keeping with the law, and yet it takes 
 from the seaman the right which the law gives him to de- 
 mand one-half of the wages due him in every port of loading 
 and discharge after the voyage has commenced. The ex- 
 planation of this seemingly contradictory situation is con- 
 
 3 
 
tained in the law itself, which says that the seaman is enti- 
 tled to one-half of his pay, "unless the contrary is expressly 
 stipulated in the contract." Thus, the law says, in effect, 
 that the seaman shall be entitled to one-half of his wages in 
 port only in event that he does not sign that right away. 
 
 Seamen should be careful to see that the " no-money " 
 clause is not inserted in the shipping articles. If the ship- 
 master insists upon inserting that clause the seaman should 
 refuse to sign. The provision that seamen shall be entitled 
 to one-half of the wages due in port is one of the most 
 beneficial features of the law. Its enforcement will enable 
 the seaman to provide for his wants while on a voyage with- 
 out having to submit to the extortions of storekeepers and 
 money-lenders. Moreover, its enforcement will prove to the 
 public and the lawmakers that the seaman appreciates, and 
 is prepared to avail himself of any advantages offered him. 
 
 Failure to enforce this part of the law will go far to prove 
 what the enemies of the seamen have always contended as an 
 excuse for keeping the seaman in subjection; namely, that 
 the seaman himself does not desire the liberty of his wages, 
 but prefers to have them tied to the ship as a safeguard 
 against his own weakness in money matters. The seaman 
 should claim and enforce the right to control his own wages 
 at all times, and by so doing deny the right of any person 
 or class to assume that his wages should be withheld on 
 the ground that he may lose them or spend them foolishly. 
 
 So, with reference to the provision against going ashore 
 without permission of the master, and the other clauses which 
 are frequently inserted in the articles, the seaman should 
 refuse to sign anything that tends to lessen the liberties 
 guaranteed by the actual terms of the law. At best these 
 liberties are too few ; we can only secure more by using those 
 we have to the fullest extent. To voluntarily surrender any of 
 the advantages now made possible by the law would be 
 simply to invite their curtailment. Liberties are like legs; 
 they grow by use and are lost by disuse. 
 
 A careful reading of these features of the maritime law, 
 as covered by the shipping articles, will inform the seaman 
 as to his interests, in the shipping-office and on board ship. 
 But it must be remembered that a knowledge of what is 
 meant by the shipping articles is not of itself enough to 
 protect the seaman in his rights. In the end, united action 
 alone will prevail. One seaman does not make a ship's 
 crew; neither can one seaman force the shipmaster to make 
 the proper corrections in the articles proposed. To be suc- 
 cessful in this, as in other respects, the seamen must act 
 as a body in refusing to sign shipping articles that deprive 
 them of their just dues. 
 
 31 
 
No. 6. New Century Pamphlets for Seamen, issued by the International 
 Seamen's Union of America, 1901. 
 
 The New Seamen's Bill 
 
 The one thing which, more than any other, distinguishes 
 man from the beasts is his constant desire for more and 
 more advantage in life. When you see an ass browsing on 
 thistles, a calf threading its way along a crooked rut in the 
 road or a monkey hanging by its tail to the limb of a tree, 
 you see exactly what the ancestors of these animals did a 
 thousand years ago. 
 
 With man it is different. The barbarian of a few centuries 
 ago has developed into the civilized being of to-day ; a few 
 centuries hence our posterity will have developed a civiliza- 
 tion which will make the customs of to-day look crude and 
 childish. At the present moment there is no more striking 
 instance of this characteristic of the human species than the 
 seaman who has felt the inspiration of unionism. While for 
 many years it looked as though the seaman was something 
 of an ass, contented by nature to eat the thistles that were 
 generously allowed him by his masters, it needed but a start 
 toward something better to arouse in him all the instincts 
 and energies of a normal man. The 'result is that the sea- 
 man, so far from being satisfied with the improvements 
 already made in the law, is demanding further and more far- 
 reaching improvements on the same general lines. 
 
 The seamen's bill, now before Congress, proposes a num- 
 ber of improvements on points already covered by the law, 
 and a few innovations in matters that have so far been con- 
 sidered as beyond the scope of the law-making power. 
 Briefly stated, the main objects of the bill are : Legal estab- 
 lishment of "watch-and-watch" at sea in the performance 
 of routine work. Prohibition of unnecessary work in port 
 and at sea on Sundays and holidays. Establishment of a 
 nine-hour work day in port. Enlargement of forecastles. 
 Establishment of a manning scale for all vessels. Exclusion 
 of Asiatics from all vessels of the United States. 
 
 The significance of these provisions will be manifest to 
 every seaman at a glance. The passage of the bill will for- 
 ever put a stop to that crying evil, "Kalashi Watch," under 
 which the seamen in many vessels are compelled to work dur- 
 
 32 
 
ing the whole of the day and half of the night. The aboli- 
 tion of Sunday and holiday work in port and at sea and the 
 establishment "of a nine-hour workday in port will give the 
 seamen a share of the benefits so long enjoyed by their 
 fellow-workers ashore. 
 
 Speaking of the effort to reduce the length of the day's 
 work, we are reminded that there is no class of workers 
 so backward in the movement for shorter hours as are the 
 seamen. This state of affairs is due, of course, to the 
 peculiar conditions of our calling, or rather, we should say, 
 to the exaggerated conception of them which has obtained 
 with the powers that have made the working rules of the 
 seaman. Because conditions required that the seaman should 
 be at the beck and call of the shipmaster while at sea, it has 
 been taken for granted that he should be equally subservient 
 in port. While most men engaged in callings ashore have 
 gradually reduced the length -of the day's work so as to leave 
 them some time for rest and recreation, the seamen have con- 
 tinued to toil as long as nature could stand the strain. 
 
 The shorter workday is demanded upon two main grounds ; 
 first, upon the ground that it is necessary for purposes of 
 rest, and, secondly, upon the ground that it is necessary for 
 purposes of education. Under the system of long hours men 
 stay at their toil until the body is exhausted and the mind; 
 deadened. This system results in a reversal of the natural 
 order of things, so that men become mere beasts of burden 
 living to work, instead of working to live. As long as 
 this condition lasts little or no real progress can be hoped 
 for. "Knowledge is power." Before the seaman or any 
 other class of workers can secure the po.wer to regulate their 
 own industrial affairs on a basis of justice to themselves, they 
 must educate themselves to a thorough understanding of the 
 principles by which the relations of men are governed. To 
 secure this education they must first secure the leisure in 
 which to study. 
 
 As a matter of simple justice, if for no other reason, the 
 reduction of the seaman's daily hours of labor should enlist 
 the co-operation of all classes and should certainly command 
 the earnest efforts of the seamen themselves. When we con- 
 sider the nature, of the seaman's work and the fact that in 
 similarly hard toil on land the workers are enjoying a very 
 general eight-hour day, it must be admitted that the sea- 
 man's demand for a nine-hour day is exceedingly modest. 
 The demand for the abolition of "Kalashi Watch" and Sunday 
 and holiday work is, of course, a necessary feature of the same 
 movement. Further, it is directly in line with the necessary 
 and proper precautions for safeguarding life and property 
 
 33 
 
at sea. There can be no denying that the custom of com- 
 pelling seamen to keep anchor-watch of one or two hours 
 after performing a long and exhausting day's work is a posi- 
 tive menace to safety. This observation applies with even 
 more force in the case of crews who at sea are compelled 
 to work all day and then stand the regular watches at night. 
 Thus the interest of the public in the shortening of the day's 
 labor of the seaman is as immediate as that of the seaman 
 himself. Speaking of holidays, it may be truthfully said that, 
 as a general thing, the seaman enjoys no such opportunities 
 of relaxation. Indeed, the fact is that the public holiday 
 has no significance for the seaman other than as an occasion 
 on which he is made to feel, more than at any other time, the 
 discrimination that is practised against his calling. 
 
 The sentiments of patriotism and the proper respect for 
 religious occasions, which are so universally commended in 
 all other classes, are supposed to have no place with the 
 seaman. The inevitable result of this upon the seaman is 
 morally deteriorative. From every point of view, therefore, 
 we believe that the seaman's demands for a shorter workday 
 and the proper observance of Sundays and holidays are 
 just and reasonable. It is understood, of course, and spe- 
 cifically stated in the bill itself, that these provisions will not 
 in any way interfere with the power of the vessel's officers 
 to require the performance, at any time and under any cir- 
 cumstances^ of whatever work may be necessary for the safety 
 of the vessel, her freight, crew and passengers. The utmost 
 that the bill aims to accomplish is to put a stop to the sys- 
 tem, now largely prevailing of "working up" crews, for the 
 mere sake, as is often the case, of "keeping them out of 
 mischief!" 
 
 The enlargement of ships' forecastles so as to increase 
 the space provided for each seaman from 72 cubic feet and 12 
 square feet to not less than 100 and 16 feet, respectively, will 
 give the seaman a reasonable amount of breathing room. The 
 same section of the bill provides for proper living quarters 
 for the crews of whaling and fishing vessels, yachts and pilot 
 boats ; also for the crews of steamers on the Mississippi River. 
 
 The proposal for a specific manning scale is a distinctly new 
 feature of the maritime legislation of the United States. In 
 substance, the bill requires that all sailing vessels shall carry 
 a minimum of "effective hands," ranging from 5 2-3 in vessels 
 of 200 tons to 30 2-3 in vessels of 3,000 tons. 
 
 By the term "effective hand" is meant an able seaman, 
 master, mate, boatswain, carpenter or sailmaker. Cooks, 
 stewards, apprentices and ordinary-seamen are rated pro- 
 portionately as parts of an "effective hand." Steamers are 
 
 34 
 
required to carry a minimum deck crew ranging from six 
 hands (including all officers) in vessels of from 200 to 350 
 tons to sixteen hands in vessels of from 5,500 to 6,000 tons, 
 with an additional "effective hand" for each additional 1,000 
 tons. 
 
 Able-seamen must be at least nineteen years of age and 
 of three years' experience at sea on deck; ordinary-seamen 
 must be at least eighteen years of age and of one year's ex- 
 perience at sea on deck. The bill also provides that no 
 Asiatic that is, Chinese, Japanese, Malay or Lascar shall 
 be engaged in any capacity on any vessel of the United 
 States. 
 
 In addition to these new features of the maritime law, the 
 bill now being urged by the organized seamen provides for 
 the improvement of numerous features of the law as it now 
 stands. It proposes to increase the amount payable to the 
 seaman in event that he is kept waiting for his wages longer 
 than the two or four days specified, from one to two days' 
 extra wages for each day's delay ; to prohibit the insertion of 
 the "no-money" clause in the shipping articles ; to bring the 
 Hawaiian Islands within the provisions of the law governing 
 the coastwise trade ; to make the vessel, instead of the mas- 
 ter, liable in damages for the escape of a ship's officer charged 
 with assaulting a seaman; to improve the food scale by 
 increasing the daily allowance of water from four to six quarts, 
 and the daily allowance of butter from one to two ounces ; to 
 abolish all allotment to an "original creditor" in the foreign 
 as well as in the coastwise trade ; to abolish all imprisonment 
 for desertion, in foreign as well as in domestic ports ; to 
 compel the masters of foreign Vessels to present their ship- 
 ping articles at the office of clearance, so as to prevent the 
 violation of the allotment law by such vessels ; to reduce the 
 limit of sailing vessel tonnage now liable to annual inspection 
 from 700 to 200 tons, and to extend the right to demand a sur- 
 vey in foreign ports to a majority of the crew, irrespective 
 of the officers, as is now the case in home ports. 
 
 In the foregoing necessarily brief resume of the seamen's 
 bill every reader who goes to sea will find much to favor, 
 and every reader who stays ashore much to oppose. Volumes 
 could be written for and against the measure. But, after all, 
 any opposition to the bill must rest entirely upon the ques- 
 tion as to whether or not the bill is a "practical" one. Can 
 it be put into effect -without disturbing the shipping inter- 
 ests ? 
 
 This question has really no place in the consideration of 
 the matter. No improvement, however great or small, how- 
 ever much needed, however much demanded by considera- 
 
 35 
 
tions of humanity, was ever accomplished without some 
 disturbance of previously existing conditions. The only ques- 
 tion that ought to enter into the discussion of the proposed 
 law is the question of justice to the seaman, of so improving 
 the circumstances of his life as to bring them up to the pre- 
 vailing standard of decent, healthy and honorable existence. 
 
 In the judgment of the organized seamen, the bill now pro- 
 posed to Congress is a simple proposal to secure for the sea- 
 men conditions which will guarantee them a reasonable time 
 for rest and recreation from toil that is sufficiently exacting 
 under the best of circumstances ; that will provide for living 
 quarters in which the elemental laws of human health may be 
 observed and the common code of human decency be 
 respected; that will ensure the employment on every vessel 
 of a number of seamen sufficient to safeguard life and prop- 
 erty in time of emergency. 
 
 For the rest, the bill will remedy a number of defects that 
 have developed under the operation of the existing law. 
 Even with the great improvement achieved by the seamen's 
 unions, it has been found that the intention of the law has 
 been frustrated to a great extent by the various tricks and 
 devices known to the seamen's enemies. While the law limits 
 allotment to an "original creditor" to one month's wages at 
 most, in numerous instances the shipping articles have con- 
 tained provisions which practically increased the amount of 
 allotment to two months' wages. In short, it has become 
 evident that as long as the crimp is allowed any legal claim, 
 no matter how slight, upon the seaman's wages he will find 
 a way to assert full control over them through the "blood- 
 money," and other schemes of the fraternity. Consequently, 
 the only practical alternative remaining to the seaman is to 
 abolish all allotment to "original creditor." This the new 
 bill will do. Then the seaman who makes a voyage will be 
 entitled to be paid off with every cent of the money earned 
 from the day of joining the vessel. The "dead horse" will 
 be a thing of the past, and the entire crimping institution will 
 be destroyed by its own corruption. When the crimp is 
 reduced to depend upon the seaman himself voluntarily pay- 
 ing for his own enslavement the day of that species of para- 
 site will be short in the land. 
 
 Imprisonment for desertion, i. e., involuntary servitude, in 
 a foreign port will also be strictly abolished when the new 
 bill becomes law. Thus the seaman will be free in practice, 
 and the principle of personal liberty be extended to the 
 American seaman in all ports of the world. 
 
 These and all the other important features of the bill the 
 organized seamen hope to see realized in the near future. 
 
 36 
 
That they will some day be realized is as certain as that the 
 seamen's unions have already achieved measures equally, if 
 not more, difficult of attainment. The seamen, like the rest 
 of the human race, "want more," and they are bound to get 
 more. It only remains for the seamen of to-day to say 
 whether they shall secure these advantages for themselves, 
 or whether they shall, through lack of diligence and fore- 
 sight, forfeit these advantages to posterity. Posterity has 
 done nothing for us; it can not do anything for us. Let us 
 be up and doing, that we may reap the full reward of our 
 work, in the present day and generation. 
 
 37 
 
No. 7. New Century Pamphlets for Seamen, issued by the Internationa! 
 Seamen's Union of America, 1901. 
 
 The Seamen's Unions and the Labor 
 Movement 
 
 The seamen's unions and other labor organizations in the 
 country have been called into existence by a recognition of 
 the truth that the individual worker, man or woman, is help- 
 less against the greater power of the individual employer. 
 The federation of the different unions in the labor councils of 
 the respective cities, and again in the great national and inter- 
 national organizations, and, still again, in the American Feder- 
 ation of Labor, is but another recognition of the same truth 
 that organization, to be effective, must be complete ; that the 
 organization and concentration of the employing-classes can 
 only be met by organization and concentration on the part of 
 labor as a whole. 
 
 The seamen's unions owe much to the labor movement of 
 the country. To the assistance so readily and generously given 
 by the trade-unions in every section of the United States is 
 due the passage of those laws which have freed the seamen, 
 from the bondage of centuries. Without such assistance the 
 seamen could never have so impressed their cause upon Con- 
 gress as to make that body listen respectfully to their wants 
 and grant them the desired measures of improvement. As 
 seamen, no matter how well organized, we would still have 
 been acting under the disadvantage of a purely class move- 
 ment; acting with the co-operation of all other classes of 
 workers, we were assured of success, because our movement 
 then became a purely humanitarian one. 
 
 Whatever the seamen hope for in future can only be 
 obtained by the aid of the labor movement at large. Whether 
 our efforts be aimed at improvements in the law or at the 
 more immediate object of securing concessions from the ship- 
 owners, the aid of the public will be necessary to success. In 
 this age of centralization the individual union or the individual 
 trade that assumes independence of other unions and trades 
 is as certainly doomed to failure as is the individual man or 
 woman who assumes independence of other individuals. 
 
 The seamen's unions, in the past, have fully recognized 
 their obligation and duty to unite themselves closely with 
 the unions to their fellow workers wherever possible. When- 
 ever a union of seamen has been formed one of its first steps 
 has been to affiliate with the central labor body in its vicinity, 
 where such existed, or to form one if necessary. Under this 
 policy the organized seamen have attained a position of influ- 
 
 38 
 
ence in the counsels of labor, commanding the sincere respect 
 and the hearty co-operation of trades-unionists, everywhere. 
 
 This position has been attained at comparatively little 
 expense in money. For the expenditures made by the sea- 
 men, they have received returns a hundred fold, if not in the 
 same coin, yet in service that in itself involved a great outlay 
 in the aggregate, and which, moreover, could not have been 
 purchased for any purely monetary consideration. 
 
 The obligation of mutual assistance does not stop at the 
 relations of union to union, but includes a duty on the part of 
 every individual member to further the interest of other 
 organized workers. This can be done most effectually by 
 creating and increasing the demand for the products of organ- 
 ized labor. In this connection there are two or three points 
 which if kept well in mind .will make clear the course of con- 
 duct to be pursued and the justification therefor. 
 
 The labor organization, being an organization of producers, 
 is of use only in so far as it can affect production. When 
 members of a union strike they affect production by ceasing 
 to produce ; when they place a boycott on any unfair firm 
 or article, they affect production by refusing to patronize 
 such firm or article. The same principle, though in a different 
 degree, operates when the members of a union concentrate 
 their demand for any given products upon those that are made 
 by the members of other unions. In the case of the strike 
 or boycott the withholding of service or patronge affects 
 production by stopping it ; in the case of concerted demand, 
 production is affected by increasing it. The action of the 
 man who consumes is of as much importance in the outcome 
 as is that of the man who produces, In other words, it is as 
 necessary for the improvement of conditions, say in the 
 cigarmaking trade, that the man who smokes should refrain 
 from purchasing cigars made in certain factories, as that the 
 workers should go on strike as a protest against injustice. 
 Nay, even more so ; for although the cigarmakers may go 
 on strike, conditions will remain unredressed as long as the 
 products of the struck factories, or others made under similar 
 conditions, are accepted by the public. 
 
 Demand creates supply. Storekeepers are not in business 
 for their health nor for their sentiment, but for the money 
 that is in it. They do not keep those articles which they 
 know to be the best because they are the best, but because 
 they sell to the best advantage. As between a union and a 
 non-union made product, the demand for both being equal, 
 business instinct will give the preference to the latter, since, 
 as the man who produces it gets least for his labor, the man 
 who sells it can secure most for his profit. But, let the demand 
 
 39 
 
for the union made product increase so as to overcome this 
 difference, and it will immediately be given the preference. 
 In most instances, if a storekeeper is unable to supply union- 
 made goods at a moment's notice, the fault is with his patrons 
 rather than with himself. 
 
 The demand for union articles should be unqualified and 
 persistent ; it should not be put off with "something just as 
 good," under the name of "home industry" or any other 
 deceptive term. Union industry alone should be recognized 
 by union men ; if it is at the same time home industry, so 
 much the better. The main point is that the demand be made 
 for the products of union men and women, even though they 
 be produced at the opposite end of the earth. 
 
 In making this demand the only guide and assurance 
 against deception is the union label. This little device is the 
 most powerful weapon in the service of organized labor. It is 
 to be found stitched, stamped, stuck or printed on a great 
 number of the products of the trade-unionists. Where it is 
 found it proclaims with absolute assurance that the articles 
 upon which it appears are made by union men and women ; 
 there is absolutely no such assurance without it. The union 
 label guarantees also that the articles bearing it are made un- 
 der conditions which assure good workmanship. It guarantees 
 health to the eater and drinker, cleanliness to the smoker, com- 
 fort to the wearer and lasting satisfaction to the user under all 
 circumstances. The absence of the label implies the opposite 
 of these conditions. 
 
 In rendering this moral support to the workers in other 
 crafts the seamen will not only perform a duty that is clear 
 and imperative they will observe a policy that is wise and 
 expedient a policy that will bring them returns in the hour 
 of their need. To the seaman who cannot be readily inspired 
 to doing his duty for its own sake, we would point out that 
 by helping others we help ourselves. Absolute independence 
 is a myth. There is no such thing, neither as regards the 
 individual man nor the individual combination of men. Men, 
 unions, countries, worlds and universes depend upon each 
 other in at least some degree. The seamen's unions, then, 
 depend upon the unions of other trades for some measure 
 of the strength that they need to fight the great battles ahead 
 of them, as they have depended upon that source of strength 
 for the victories of the past. The workers of the world can 
 only progress with the speed of the most backward. No 
 union can long outstrip the general movement, any more than 
 a man can walk on air. It is our duty, it should be our 
 policy, to give support to every other trade-union, the more 
 in proportion to its weakness, so that the day of justice for 
 all may be hastened. 
 
 40