CHAPTER V 
PRESENT UNION GROUPS 
With the passing of the Knights of Labor as the cen 
tral figure in the American labor world, we touch the 
borders of the contemporary situation. As we shall be 
treating it in some detail in this chapter, we need, in 
continuation of our history of development, only such 
bare outline as will make the broad features of the 
present situation clear. 
Contemporaneously with the idealistic labor union 
movement of the Knights of Labor, there was a develop 
ing, vigorous, and independent trade union movement, 
represented by national trade unions, each with subor 
dinate locals. These trade unions tended toward general 
aggregation also. But, as pure trade unionism is in 
general practical, businesslike, selfish, and nonidealistic, 
each trade union had its own special interests and pur 
poses, not always in harmony with and not rarely antag 
onistic to the purposes and interests of other trade un 
ions. Trade unionism showed itself, therefore, incom 
patible with strong, universal, centralized organization. 
It tended toward loose federation. A contest for su 
premacy between the form of organization represented 
by the Knights of Labor and that represented by the 
Federation, compatible with trade union organization, 
was inevitable. This contest became a reality in 1881, 
when the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor 
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