CONTENTS CHAPT ER I. Historical Sketch of the Rise and Fall of the Order CHAPTER II. Industrial Organization and Methods of Manufac- PAGE CHAPTER IV. The Relation of the Knights of St. Crispin to the In- THE KNIGHTS OF ST. CRISPIN, 1867-18741 A STUDY IN THE INDUSTRIAL CAUSES OF TRADE UNIONISM CHAPTER I HISTORICAL SKETCH The Knights of St. Crispin, a national organization of shoemakers, was the largest of the many national labor unions that flourished during the ten years that followed the Civil War.2 This union was organized on March 1, 1867 at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, by Newell Daniels, formerly of Milford, Massachusetts, and six associates. During the spring the German Cus... 8 'The author desires to express his deep indebtedness to Dr. John B. Andrews, Executive Secretary of the American Association for Labor Legislation, who collected for the American Bureau of Industrial Research most of the materials out of which this study was constructed, and to Professor John R. Commons, of the University of Wisconsin, in whose Research Class in Labor and Industry this study began. Without the inspiration, guidance and criticism of Professor Commons this record had never been written. "The name was chosen by F. W. Wallace of Milwaukee, one of the Charter members. St. Crispin was the patron saint of shoemakers. According to tradition he and his brother, St. Crispinian, lived in the third century A. D. Born pagans, they were converted to Christianity and travelled through France preaching the gospel. They supported themselves on their journeys by making shoes. They met martyrdom at the hand of Recitus Varrus, governor under Maxmillian Hercules, on October 25, 287 A. D. In the factory of Atkins, Steele and White. A. H. Atkins of this firm and his son H. L. Atkins, who was employed in his father's factory, at the time the Crispins started, now reside in Madison, Wisconsin, where they are still engaged in shoe manufacture. These gentlemen have contributed very materially both to this history of the Knights of St. Crispin and to our analysis of the industrial situation. The charter members were Newell Daniels, Samuel Wilson, W. C. Haynes, F. W. Wallace, Al. Jenkins, C. Houren and Henry Palmer. Daniels was a boottreer by trade and while at Milford had planned to form a national organization tom Shoemakers' Union of Milwaukee took the Crispin form of organization and in September Daniels established lodges in Oswego, New York, and Milford, Hopkinton and Stoughton Center, Massachusetts. The Chicago Shoemakers' Union of over six hundred members joined the order in January, 1868,5 making seven Crispin lodges, four in the East and three in the West. The development during the next three years was rapid. Eighty-seven lodges were formed before the first meeting of the International Grand Lodge at Rochester, New York, July 1, 1868, two hundred and four (204) before the second, Boston, April, 1869; three hundred and twenty-seven (327) be fore the third, Boston, April, 1870; and nearly four hundred (400) before the fifth, Boston, April, 1872.10 In the twentyseven months between January 1, 1868 and April 1, 1870, three hundred and twenty (320) lodges were organized, an average of a new lodge every two and one-half days for a period of two and one-fourth years. 11 The location of the new lodges established each year is significant. Most rapid development occurred where industrial conditions were worst. The order started in Milwaukee and did not enter the East until September 1867, but seventy of the one hundred and twenty-five (125) lodges established during 1867 and 1868 were in Massachusetts and thirty in other parts of the East. The other twenty-five were in the larger cities of Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, and Canada; of boot-treers. His removal to Milwaukee delayed his plans, and more mature reflection convinced him that instead of a trade organization an industrial union including all shoe workers was needed. K. O. 8. C. Monthly Journal, Jan. 1873. Article by Newell Daniels. Gavin had been the secretary of the Chicago Union. He later became a national leader of the Crispins. The early history here given is taken from the report of Newell Daniels to the first Grand Lodge, Rochester, New York, July 1868, and from the proceedings of the Grand Lodges of 1869, 1870 and 1872. Daniels' Rochester report was published in the K. O. S. C. Monthly Journal Jan., 1873. A brief historical sketch may be found in Frank Foster's article in McNeill's Labor Movement, pages 192-213. 'Proceedings, 1869, p. 6. 8 Proceedings, 1869. pp. 6, 7. Proceedings, 1870, p. 16. 10 Proceedings, 1872, p. 48. The fourth Grand Lodge was held at New York, April 1871 and the sixth at Cleveland, April 1873. 11 An Official List of Lodges published by the International Grand Lodge on December 1, 1870, is the source of the facts of the four succeeding paragraphs. notably Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, St. Louis and Montreal. Forty-three of the one hundred and fiftyfive (155) organized during 1869 were in Massachusetts, twentyone in New York, and forty-seven in other parts of the East. Columbus, Indianapolis, Louisville, San Francisco, Grand Rapids (Michigan) and many smaller cities were added to the western group and Toronto, St. Johns, Quebec, Guelph, Hamilton, and Windsor to the Canadian. The distribution of the lodges established during 1870 was distinctly different. Fourfifths of them were in the West, and, for the most part, in small cities. Michigan organized eleven, Wisconsin and Indiana seven each, Canada eight, and other western states smaller numbers. The period of rapid growth ended in December, 1870. At that time Massachusetts had eighty-five active lodges; New York, forty-seven; Pennsylvania, about a dozen; New Hampshire, fifteen; New Jersey, eight: Michigan, fifteen; Ohio, fourteen; Indiana, thirteen; Wisconsin, ten; Illinois, seven; and Canada, seventeen.12 The districts where lodges were formed most rapidly were also those in which they strove most earnestly and persisted most stubbornly. The great strikes were in the shoe centers early organized-Lynn, Worcester, Philadelphia, Chicago. At the sessions of the Grand Lodge the lodges first established had the larger representation. Local lodges number 1 to 100 sent eighty-five delegates to the Grant Lodge of 1869, while lodges 101 to 204 sent only fifty-two.13 Less than fourteen per cent of the lodges organized during 1867 and 1868 were decadent on December 1, 1870, though twenty-four per cent of the two hundred and thirty established during 1869 and 1870 had already perished. The exact membership attained by the Knights of St. Crispin is not known. The Hide and Leather Interest estimated it in May, 1869, at from thirty thousand to sixty thousand.14 Frank Foster thought it reached only forty thousand, though the 12 Official List of Lodges, Dec. 1, 1870. 13 Proceedings, 1869, pp. 31. 32. 14 American Workman, Boston, June 5, 1869. 15 McNeill, G. E., The Labor Movement, p. 200. 15 |