"WHAT IS THE TRADES' UNION?"

Pennsylvanian, Feb. 9, 1836.

. . . The Trades' Union of Philadelphia, is an Association or Confederation consisting of forty-eight trade societies or associations, sovereign and independent in themselves, but bound by ties of honor and interest, to support and assist each other in cases of aggression or danger. Their purposes of formation are only to prevent themselves from being reduced to abject poverty and slavery, through the avaricious graspings of capital and monopoly. In the month of March, 1834, not two years since, they constituted themselves a body, at that time consisting only of 13 Societies, the largest one of which could not number 250 members. Now look at the contrast. With two Societies numbering more than 900 each; four of more than 700, and a great proportion of from two to three hundred. Our funds in our infancy were scarcely sufficient to bear the monthly expenses of the Union's delegates, without affording any assistance to the represented Societies. Now, our monthly receipts are generally from $400 to $500; and at the last monthly meeting the amount received reached the unexampled sum of six hundred and ninety-one dollars and twenty cents. The number of delegates representing the Societies will at the next elections probably amount to four hundred. The members in all may be calculated by the monthly collections. Each individual is bound to pay the sum of 6 1/4 cents into the hands of the delegates representing his Society, and such other sum as the auxiliary may require for its own purposes; and for this trifling assessment, each man is protected from the rapacity of the greedy employer, and sure of the support and the protection of nearly every mechanic in Philadelphia. Within the last six months more than one half of the Societies in the Union have struck, and no instance is known where a Society has struck, under the sanction of the Union, and failed in that strike. Neither has the Union ever sanctioned any Society without first appointing a Committee to make diligent enquiry to prevent imposition on the part of the Journeyman, and if possible to avoid intolerance. They will grant assistance to no Society who has not been represented six months. The delegates to the Union are removable semi-annually; therefore the danger of unjust and partizan influence has no groundwork, no foundation to build upon; as the individual who may be popular in the Union this term may never sit in it again, and it is understood to be the best and most effectual plan to remove the delegates at least once a year. The funds of the Union are also secure against the powerful representation of the larger societies, each one of which selects one individual to transact the money matters of the institution denominated the Finance Committee and this alone is under their control, so that the society of fifty members have the same responsibility and interest in the funds that the society of nine hundred and fifty have. Auxiliary branches of the Union have been frequently petitioned for in various parts of the State, and the Union has at length determined to take that matter into consideration, and accordingly have appointed a Committee to report on the petitions.

This then is the statistical account of the Philadelphia Trades Union, which in the lapse of less than two years has more than trebled its original number. This is an Institution that should be looked upon by every mechanic with gratitude and pride, presenting a beautiful specimen of mechanism in theory; and far more beautiful and beneficial in practice. This is the institution that has been designated as a nest of disorganizers--that has been assailed from the pulpit and the editorial throne. We preach no religion in the Union. The followers of Christ acknowledge a time for all things--we do the same. The Union was founded for other purposes, and therefore it is no place for discussion about theology. We have laws in existence, that party, political or religious sectarian questions shall not be discussed, then how or why are we entitled to the abusive epithets bestowed on us; or still the more dangerous doctrines said to be inculcated by us? They are false, and the authors of such libels know them to be so. We believe that society, as it is now constituted, is calculated to produce increasing ruin on the great mass of the people; but we also know that the change must be gradual, as the evil has been; and we look for these changes not through the subversion of the laws or the power of physical force-but from the justice of our claims and the true administration of our fundamental 1aws, we wish to produce a moral change in society, by the appeals of reason, at the same time we expect, to be stigmatized and cursed for our zeal and disregard of danger. . . As a proof of the employers power over single Societies, it would be well to know that previous to the formation of the Union, there was not more than six or eight trades in Philadelphia that had control over their own labor; whereas at this time there is more than fifty. This is a conclusive proof that the acknowledgment of Trade Societies, and a protest against a general unity is produced by the power over the first and fears from the latter. The individuals in Single Societies finding themselves, from want of funds or other circumstances, in danger, carried out the principle of self defence further than the employers designed, therefore the opposition to it. If it was right in individuals of one trade to unite, it was equally just and proper for them to call in their brethren of other trades to assist them in establishing just rules and regulations for their trade, consequently upon their capital, the labor of their hands-but this objection, as well as the power of coercion we are said to exercise over the auxiliary members, should never be started in a republican Government. The Philadelphia Trades' Union is an exact prototype of the Federal Union. Our principles are their principles; even the government is based on the same rules and laws on a miniature scale. For the truth of this assertion--for the defence of our principles and rights, we throw down the gauntlet of defiance, and challenge any to oppose us in a fair field, conscious that he who knows the Trades' Union, and is opposed to it, is no friend to Republican and Federal America.--J. C.