We hail with joy the formation of
the Western Labor Union
which has progress for its main object.
-Pueblo Courier
Hellraisers Journal, Monday May 16, 1898
Salt Lake City, Utah – W. F M. and Montana Unionists Unite!
Rather than supplanting the Western Federation Miners as stated in the headline (see below) from the Salt Lake Herald, the avowed purpose of the newly founded Western Labor Union is to organize all unorganized workers into one powerful organization, especially the unskilled workers so often ignored by the American Federation of Labor.
From the Deseret Evening News of May 13, 1898:
FORM A WESTERN LABOR UNION.
—–
Includes All Territory in the United States West
of Mississippi and Canadian Northwest.
—–
Late yesterday afternoon [May 12th] an organization to be known as the Western Labor union, was formed in this city as a result of the executive conference of the Western Federation of Miners which has been in session here for the last few days. The organization came into existence on the adoption of the following resolution by a vote of 119 to 9:
Be it resolved, by this conference, that a permanent organization is hereby organized by this conference to be hereafter known and designated the “Western Labor union,” having for its object the unification of all labor unions and assemblies east of the Pacific ocean and west of the Mississippi river into one organization, or others not included within these lines who desire to affiliate with it; and to organize all the wage-earners within these lines, whenever possible. To promote the interests of labor by unceasingly working for the establishment of the initiative and referendum in every department of this government. This body shall grant and issue charters under seal to all subordinate unions or assemblies that make application for the same.
This union shall hold its annual conventions on the first Monday of September in such town or city as may be designated by the executive board.
Officers of the new union were elected as follows: President, Daniel McDonald, Butte, Mont.; secretary-treasurer, M. J. O’Donnell, Victor, Col.; vice president, Benjamin Harbour, Salt Lake; second vice president, M. McPhee, Colorado Springs.
The president, vice president and second vice president, with H. P. McCardell of Ogden and H. E. Farrer of Alberta, N. W. T., constitute the executive board.
———-
From The Salt Lake Herald of May 13, 1898:
WESTERN LABOR UNION
—–
New Organization Supplants the
Western Miners’ Federation.
—–ANOTHER SECRET SESSION
—–DANIEL M’DONALD OF BUTTE, MONT.,
ELECTED PRESIDENT.
—–
Ben Harbour First Vice President,
M. J. O’Donnell of Victor, Colorado,
Secretary and Treasurer-
An Executive Board-
A Banquet Given In the Evening.
—–The laboring men, who, for several days, have been in session in response to the invitation of the Western Federation of Miners, yesterday came to a consummation of their labors by forming a new labor organization to be known as the Western Labor Union.
The conference was held as secretly as ever, and it was not until the exuberance which accompanies the opening of many battles that information was extended to the press. It was then learned that the officers of the new organization are: President, Dan McDonald of Butte; first vice president, B. A. Harbour, Salt Lake; second vice president, P. A. McPhee, Cripple Creek; secretary-treasurer, M. P. O’Donnell, Victor, Colo.; executive board, Thomas Farrar, Alberta, Northwest Territory; H. P. McCardall, Ogden.
The reason given for the secrecy accompanying the secrecy of the conference is that the delegates themselves did not know what would evolve from the gatherings. The object of the new organization is stated to be the unification of all western trades unions, and there is no intention to antagonize any trades unions in the east that are already established. They urge affiliation with this movement of all the local unions.
The present union has no connection with the Federation of Miners, and the latter organization will now go into session as a body and will perhaps remain in session for the next eight or ten days. Their first session will begin this morning at the I. O. O. F. hall.
The members were practically unanimous in desiring the organization of a western trades union, and everything passed off harmoniously.
THE PRESIDENT.
Dan McDonald of Butte, who was chosen president of the new union, is from the ranks of laboring men and by trade an iron moulder. he is president of the Silver Board of Trade and Labor assembly at Butte, and chairman of the executive board of the Montana state board and labor council, a confederation of all the labor organizations of the state. Mr. McDonald has been laboring in the interests of toilers for the past 18 years, and has achieved considerable prominence throughout his state.
SECRETARY-TREASURER.
M. J. O’Donnell of Victor, Colo., the secretary-treasurer, is 38 years old, and of these years he has spent 17 in working in the interests of organized labor. He is representing at the conference the Victor Miners’ union [W. F. of M.].
———-
RECREATION AFTER WORK.
—–
Members of the Western Labor Union Banquet.The members of the newly formed Western Labor Union celebrated the conclusion of their toil with an elaborate banquet, and the enthusiasm of the men of brawn arose with the popping of the corks from the numberless beer bottles which stood on the table where the love feast was spread.
It was a joyous occasion, during which the wielder of the drill forgot his avocation, and carpenter ceased to remember the paraphernalia of toil and the blacksmith thought not of his anvil. About 150 were present in all, and they surrounded three choicely laden tables in the banqueting hall of the I. O. O. F.l
Enthusiastic speeches, in which capitalists were anathematized and laborers extolled, succeeded to the displacement of the viands and the bringing on of the beer.
B. A. Harbour welcomed the guests briefly on behalf of the Utah Federation of Labor.
William Hogan of Montana, discussed the “Laboring Man in Ideal Conditions.” His opinion was that there was apparently no ideal left for the workingman to hold to, but his belief was that the day of the laboring men would come, even if it was after most of those present had gone the way of the majority.
“The Producer’s Share” was responded to by Edward Boyce of Idaho, president of the Miners’ Federation.
Mr. Boyce was opposed to the present system of government. He contended that all evils were due to unjust government. In his opinion there was too much government and too little justice.
[Continued Mr. Boyce, warmly:]
If you believe as I do, you would be an anarchist as I am. The producer is gradually losing his independence in the United States. There will be no remedy until we abolish a system of government which takes property from the hands of the producers and puts it in the coffers of the drones of society.
Mr Boyce was warmly applauded.
He was followed by M. K. McDonald of Nevada, who responded to “The Labor Movement in Nevada.” He claimed that Nevada was the birthplace of labor unionism in the west, and called attention to the palmy days of the old Comstock federation and the good it had accomplished by furnishing funds to labor organizations when they were assailed.
The humorist of the evening was developed when M. J. O’Donnell of Victor, Colo., described the “Bull Hill Strike.” He described all the terror of those days when “1,200 cut-throats” were hired to hound the Bull Hill miners, and stated that the flag which floated above the old hill breastworks was still there. Of the two miners who were taken prisoners there, Nicholas Tully had joined the volunteers to support the country which persecuted him. The reason he himself did not volunteer was that he wished the capitalists to try some of the wholesome diet of hard tack and bacon the miners had been used to so that their valuable lives might be prolonged. O’Donnell responded to loud cheers and calls by reciting a poem about how toilers were going to triumph in the end.
Dan McDonald, the newly-elected president of the union spoke of “Butte, the Gibraltar of Labor.”
H. M. Andrews, in a facetious address, alluded to the “Labor Press,” which he called upon all laboring men to subscribe for.
“Virginia City As She Is and Was” was the subject of a toast by Judge Mack of Virginia.
W. A. McArthur, editor of the Coast Seamen’s Journal of San Francisco spoke of the conditions of sailors and the manifest unfairness of the supreme court decision which held that seamen have an extraordinary calling and are in a condition of voluntary servitude, notwithstanding the thirteenth amendment.
Speech-making continued until after midnight. The remaining orators were: J. A. Ferguson, president of the Montana State Trade and Labor Council, “Troubles of an Organizer”; M. J. Conley of Nevada, “Cooks and Waiters”; John Kirby, “Colorado and Her Troubles”; H. P. Cordail, Salt Lake, “The Railway Brotherhood”; Thomas McFarrar, of the Northwest Territory, Canada, who discussed “Canadian Labor Unions.”
———-
SOURCES
The Policies and Practices of the AFL, 1900-1909
-by Philip Sheldon Foner
International Publishers, 1964
(pages 413-118)
https://books.google.com/books?id=8MjuAAAAMAAJ
Deseret Evening News
(Salt Lake City, Utah)
-May 13, 1898
https://www.newspapers.com/image/73773951/
The Salt Lake Herald
(Salt Lake City, Utah)
-May 13, 1898
https://www.newspapers.com/image/65395821/
See also:
Bill Haywood’s Book
The Autobiography of William D. Haywood
-by Big Bill Haywood
International Publishers, 1929
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000859708
-Haywood tells his version of the founding of the
Western Labor Union beginning last paragraph, page 70
and continuing through page 72.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015050276461;view=2up;seq=74
November 1897 Proclamation
of the State Trades and Labor Council of Montana
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_1897_proclamation
Re: “Bull Hill Strike”
See: The Labor History of the Cripple Creek District
-by Benjamin McKie Rastall
U of WI, 1906
http://www.rebelgraphics.org/wfmhall/rastall00.html
Deputies March on Bull Hill
http://www.rebelgraphics.org/wfmhall/rastall07.html
Emma F. Langdon of Cripple Creek Strike of 1894
http://www.rebelgraphics.org/wfmhall/langdon03.html
Cripple Creek Miners’ Strike of 1894
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cripple_Creek_miners%27_strike_of_1894
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