Analysis Elements Growth Union Membership by Current (1 results)
Analysis of the elements in the growth of union membership with estimates of membership 1790-1946. [Typescript Manuscript].
[LABOR HISTORY -- TYPESCRIPT MANUSCRIPT]. CURRENT, T.[homas] G.[ideon].
Published by Univ. of Wisconsin, School of Commerce, Bureau of Business Research & Service,, Madison, WI:, 1947
- Hardcover
Seller: Zephyr Used & Rare Books, Vancouver, WA, U.S.A.Zephyr Used & Rare Books
Contact seller5-star sellerThick 4to. [4], viii, [1], 201 leaves, including several large folding hand-coloured manuscript tables, charts, diagrams (old scotch tape at folds as originally prepared). Green cloth, gilt lettering stamped on front cover (minor edgewear, rubbing), VG exemplar. An intriguing unpublished typescript manuscript of the American lab…or movement, focusing on the forces that effected the labor movement's growth, and analyzing those forces or factors. The author felt that not enough efforts had been made historically prior to World War II on applying the science of statistical analysis to labor unions, their membership, and the potential impacts on the economic life of the United States. In addition, he employs statistical analysis of the union membership by many different unions, trades, and occupations, in order to measure the strength of the labor movement, reducing dependence on the analysis of strike frequency, threats of strikes, elections, or other factors which can be indeterminate. Although he does draw upon the work of Barnett, "Growth of Labor Organization in the United States, 1897-1914," and Wolman "The Growth of American Trade Unions, 1880-1923," Current believed their numbers were flawed in the 19th Century, and includes a substantial statistical analysis of how he corrects those numbers, as well as those from other historical sources. Of additional interest are the two critical letters bound into the volume, with the first from famed Wisconsin labor historian Selig Perlman (1888-1959) which notes that Current "is entitled to credit for ingenuity, industry, and optimism. The valuable part of the manuscript is the statistical one. . . and full credit for debunking some of the loose estimates of membership at the peaks of 1836 and 1872." Perlman himself has received recently significant criticism regarding his racist views and limited understanding of the evolution of the labor movement which did not try to include race, status, ethnicity, or other sociological factors. Perlman's letter The second from W.D. Knight, notes that Current's study may impede on work underway for publication by Professor Moberly. Current (1923-2013), received his BA from the University of Wisconsin, later worked for Kennedy Economic Development in Oregon, and aided the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, wrote on the conditions of migrant workers in the Willamette Valley in the 1950s, and authored several works on philately and stamp cancels.