E. L. began its wide-spread activity, was the year of recovery from the 1920–21 depression; 1923 was the peak year of the boom; 1924 witnessed a decided downward trend but, on the average, kept very close to the previous year.
It would be a mistake, however, to draw the conventional conclusions regarding the condition of the labor movement on the basis of the general industrial prosperity. It is usual to look for organizational extensions of the trade unions, and some sort of progress in the way of higher wages and better working conditions, during periods of prosperity; while the times of industrial depression have ordinarily been marked by stagnation or decline in the trade union movement. This has not been the case during the period with which we are dealing.
During the three years the American Federation of Labor lost more than a million members, declining from around 4,000,000 to 2,865,979; unions independent of the A, F. of L. followed much the same course.
Wages advanced slightly during the first part of the period, but declined in the latter part, wiping out the gains. Exceptions to this are more than compensated for in the industries where wages were hardest hit.
Working conditions declined sharply in this period. While some improvement is noted, for example, in the steel industry due to the partial introduction of the 8-hour day, in others the gains of years of organization and effort were wiped out. Thus in the railroad shops, the unions have been almost destroyed by the unsuccessful strike of 1922, wages have declined, working rules have been altered against the interests of the workers. In the mining industry, the three-year agreement signed by the union had only the effect of restraining strike action by the miners, but has not prevented the mine owners from wiping out the working rules that were supposed to protect the miners. Accumulations of grievances of this kind have been so great that, in the anthracite fields,
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