same trades and of all trades; attempts at national organization
on the part of both the local trades' unions and of the local
trade unions; a labor press to keep alive the interest of the
workman; mass meetings, circulars, conventions, and appeals to
arouse the interest of the public in the issues of the hour. The
persistent demand of the workingmen was for a ten-hour day.
Harriet Martineau, who traveled extensively through the United
States, remarked that all the strikes she heard of were on the
question of hours, not wages. But there were nevertheless
abundant strikes either to raise wages or to maintain them. There
were, also, other fundamental questions in controversy which
could not be settled by strikes, such as imprisonment for debt,
lien and exemption and homestead laws, convict labor and slave
labor, and universal education. Most of these issues have since
that time been decided in favor of labor, and a new series of
demands takes their place today. Yet as one reads the records of
the early conspiracy cases or thumbs through the files of old
periodicals, he learns that there is indeed nothing new under the
sun and that, while perhaps the particular issues have changed,
the general methods and the spirit of the contest remain the
same.

The laborer believed then, as he does now, that his organization
must be all-embracing. In those days also there were "scabs,"
often called "rats" or "dung." Places under ban were
systematically picketed, and warnings like the following were
sent out: "We would caution all strangers and others who profess
the art of horseshoeing, that if they go to work for any employer
under the above prices, they must abide by the consequences."
Usually the consequences were a fine imposed by the union, but