American labour leader, born in London on the 27th of January 1850. He was put to work in a shoe-factory when ten years old, but soon became apprenticed to a cigar-maker, removed to New York in 1863, became a prominent member of the International Cigar-makers’ Union, was its delegate at the convention of the Federation of Organized Trade and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada, later known as the American Federation of Labor, of which he became first president in 1882. He was successively re-elected up to 1895, when the opposition of the Socialist Labor Party, then attempting to incorporate the Federation into itself, secured his defeat; he was re-elected in the following year. In 1894 he became editor of the Federation’s organ, The American Federationist. He was convicted in 1907 and sentenced to twelve months imprisonment for contempt of court in disobeying an injunction restraining him from printing the name of the Buck Stove and Range Co. in the (“black list” of The Federationist. He appealed, and after seven years of litigation he won his case, the United States Supreme Court deciding in 1914 that action was barred by the statute of limitations. Although in theory opposed to all war, after the outbreak of the World War he resisted any tendency in labour unions to favour peace at any price, and declared himself in favour of voluntary military training. After America’s entrance into the World War he was appointed a member of the Advisory Commission of the Council of National Defense in 1917; the same year he was elected president of the American Alliance of Labor and Democracy, which was organized, with the approval of President Wilson, for combating disloyal propaganda among workmen. He represented the A. F. of L. at the Peace Conference in Paris 1918–19, and was appointed chairman of the International Committee on Labour Legislation. He was also chairman of the American labour delegates at the convention of the International Federation of Trades Unions at Amsterdam in 1919. He consistently opposed socialistic movements among the unions and favoured collective bargaining. He opposed compulsory arbitration in labour disputes and urged that labour unions be exempt from the anti-trust law. He urged the ratification of the Peace Treaty. In 1921 he was elected president of the A. F. of L. for the fortieth time.
