In 1910 Harvard published 43 short bibliographies covering “Social Ethics and Allied Subjects”, about half of which were dedicated to particular topics in economics and economic sociology. The project was coordinated by Plummer Professor of Christian Morals, Francis G. Peabody.
Trade Unionism is the “allied subject” covered in the bibliography provided by Professor William Z. Ripley and transcribed below along with links to digital copies of the items found at archive.org, hathitrust.org, as well as at other on-line archives.
Previously posted bibliographies from “Social Ethics and Allied Subjects”:
Economic Theory by Professor Frank Taussig.
Taxation by Professor Charles J. Bullock.
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From the Prefatory Note:
The present list represents an attempt to make this connection between the teaching of the University and a need of the modern world. Each compiler has had in mind, not a superficial reader, nor yet a learned scholar, but an intelligent and serious-minded student, who is willing to read substantial literature if it be commended to him as worth his while and is neither too voluminous nor too inaccessible. To such an inquirer each editor makes suggestions concerning the contents, spirit or doctrine of a book, not attempting a complete description or a final judgment, but as though answering the preliminary question of a student, “What kind of book is this?” The plan thus depends for its usefulness on the competency of the editors concerned, and each editor assumes responsibility for the section to which his name is prefixed.
Source: Prefatory Note by Francis G. Peabody. A Guide to Reading in Social Ethics and Allied Subjects, Lists of Books and Articles Selected and Described for the Use of General Readers. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University, 1910, p. vi.
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IV.7. TRADE UNIONISM
WILLIAM Z. RIPLEY
The most elaborate and comprehensive treatise on the subject, sympathetic and yet well reasoned. Contains no descriptive matter of American conditions.
The best account of the struggle of the working classes for industrial rights. Confined to English experience.
A collection of the most authoritative articles by specialists on every phase of the matter. Liberal and progressive in point of view.
A convenient summary and text-book, with good bibliographical notes and references for further reading. Sympathetic and judicial in tone.
In Volumes XIV [Capital and Labor Employed in Manufactures and General Business], XV [Immigration and Education], XVII [Labor Organizations, Labor Disputes, and Arbitration and on Railroad Labor] and XIX [Final Report] will be found the largest collection of original material ever made in America. The testimony of workmen and employers is critically summarized in the “Final Report” in Volume XIX. This report in itself is a comprehensive and fair treatise on the subject. In Volume XVII the history of American unionism is fully set forth.
A series of monographs by specialists affords the most reliable account of various phases of the movement. Among these papers especially valuable are: J. B. Kennedy’s “The beneficiary features of American trades unions” (November — December, 1908), and A. M. [Aaron Morton] Sakolski’s “The finances of American trades unions” (March — April, 1906).
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The legal aspects of trade unionism are discussed in the “Reports of the United States Industrial Commission” [e.g. Volume V Labor Legislation] and in the following special articles:
Seager, Henry R. The legal status of trade unionism in the United Kingdom, with conclusions applicable to the United States. Political Science Quarterly, Vol. XXII, 1907, pp. 611-629.
Wyman, Bruce. The maintenance of the open shop. The Green Bag (January), 1905, pp. 21-29.
Clark, Lindley D. The present legal status of organized labor in the United States. Journal of Political Economy, Chicago (March), 1905, pp. 173-200.
Collective bargaining is best treated technically in the “Reports of the United States Industrial Commission,” and in the following monographs:
Hilbert, F. W. Trade agreements in the United States. [sic, probably Trade-Union Agreements in the Iron Molders’ Union] Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1906. [Note: Frederick William Hilbert died February 17, 1906.]
Schaffner, Margaret A. The labor contract from industrial to collective bargaining. Bulletin of the University of Wisconsin, No. 182 (December), 1907, pp. 182.
Ashley, Wm. James. The adjustment of wages. New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1903, pp. 362.
The policy of trade unions respecting restriction of output is admirably described with a wealth of material from England and the United States in the “Eleventh special report of the United States Bureau of Labor” (Washington, 1904).
Statistics of the growth of trades unionism all over the world are currently published by the New York State Bureau of Labor. The results are summarized by W. Z. Ripley in the World’s Work for November, 1903, and brought down to date in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, May, 1910.
Source: Teachers in Harvard University, A Guide to Reading in Social Ethics and Allied Subjects, Lists of Books and Articles Selected and Described for the Use of General Readers. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University, 1910, pp. 183-185.
Image Source: Harvard University Archives. William Zebina Ripley [photographic portrait, ca. 1910], J. E. Purdy & Co., J. E. P. & C. (1910). .