Charles P. Howard was born in Christian County, Illinois, September 14, 1879, and died at Colorado Springs, Colorado, July 31, 1938. At the age of ten years he moved with his family to western Kansas, where he began “deviling” at a small town newspaper after school. Before he was twenty years old Howard had taken over the support of his family because of the death of his father.
He worked in country printing offices, and did not come under the jurisdiction of a union till he joined the International Typographical Union (ITU), Local 170, in the year 19O7. He worked for the Morning Union at Walla Walla, Washington.
Later that year he transferred to Multnomah Typographical Union Number 58. During the next ten years he was elected to every office of the local lodge from reading clerk to president. He also served successive terms during this period as president of the Central Labor Council, Portland, Oregon.
He was a delegate of Local 58, ITU, to the 1916 International Convention in Baltimore, where he led the fight to reinstate priority laws which had been revoked by the 1915 convention. In 1920 he was a delegate to the convention at Albany, and Reading Clerk at the 1921 Quebec convention, serving on a number of policy-making committees during these conventions.
As a delegate to his first American Federation of Labor convention at Denver, Colorado, in 1920, he was immediately placed on important committees. In November 1922, he was elected Vice President of the ITU, and succeeded to the presidency on the death of President John McFarland, June 16, 1923. His administration over the following years is said to have been constructive and aggressive, especially as chief labor contract negotiator with the publishers.
Early in 1918 Secretary of Labor William B. Wilson appointed Howard to the War Labor Board. After a tour to address labor organizations in many parts of the country, he was placed at the head of a bureau of publicity and efficiency in industry. As Commissioner of Conciliation he helped settle many strikes and disputes involving war production. He also represented the Dept. of Labor on committees and commissions formulating policies. He resigned from government service in 1919, and later became manager of a railroad workers journal in Detroit.
Mr. Howard was a member of the Labor Advisory Committee during the short-lived administration of the National Recovery Act (NRA), and he was spokesman for the five international printers' unions in the conference to codify the industry. His experience in administration of the ITU welfare and retirement programs made him an authority on social security and related legislation.
With the advent of the NRA labor unions found their legal status strengthened. Many industrial or company unions were formed. A Committee on Industrial Organization was formed within the American Federation of Labor (AFL). The committee recommended that charters be given to these local industrial unions by the AFL, but that they must not clash with the jurisdiction of craft unions in these plants.
A minority report of the committee recommended that unrestricted charters be given. This minority report was signed by Howard, David Dubinsky, Frank B. Powers, John L. Lewis, A.A. Myrup, and J.C. Lewis. Ten international unions were expelled from the AFL for sponsoring industrial organization, and in 1937, after Howard was denied a seat at the AFL Convention, the ITU followed Howard into the CIO.
While the original committee organized many industrial unions, it did not attempt a national federation and it was not until many unions requested affiliation that the CIO began to issue charters. Howard's office was that of Secretary.
His stature increased to such a degree that when the New York Post and Philadelphia Record planned to honor the ten outstanding Progressives of the nation at a dinner on June 24, 1937, Howard was one of the ten leaders chosen.
He had been a dinner guest of President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the White House as early as May 7, 1935. When the Department of Labor celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., Howard, with Henry Harriman, was a principal speaker.
The Howard Papers are arranged in three groups: Correspondence, Articles and Speeches, and Biographical Material.
Correspondence, [1917?] - 1938
With only a few exceptions prior to 1937 the letters are personal letters to his wife, and only in passing does he mention the business of his union work. Even during the tense days of 1936 to 1938, when Howard was a leading figure in the conflict which saw the Committee on Industrial Organization (CIO) separated from its parent American Federation of Labor, his letters reflected little of the pressures of public life.
Most of the letters of 1938 deal with Howard's failure to win reelection to the ITU presidency. In the correspondence is a letter to Mrs. Howard, signed by Mary Pickford.
Articles and Speeches, 1918-1938
The articles and speeches written and delivered by Charles P. Howard between 1918 and 1938 are a comprehensive expression of the philosophy of a labor leader. As a government representative during World War I, Howard's speeches to labor organizations concerning the relation of labor unions to the government and to the war industries indicate a train of thought that developed and broadened during the next twenty years.
As a national figure in the Labor Movement, Howard's writings reflect his concern with union politics, administration, and organization. Within the International Typographical Union Howard belonged to the Progressive Party (not to be confused with the national political party known as the Progressive Party).
During the economic depression of the 1930s Howard's views were widely discussed by writers and commentators, and this collection contains reports of his testimony as a representative of labor unions at Congressional Committee hearings.
In his later years, 1934-1938, Howard's writings deal with his attempts to give all workers the benefit of membership in collective bargaining units. The bitter struggle, and the final break, which took place between the Committee on Industrial Organization and the American Federation of Labor, are referred to in speeches and articles of the period.
Biographical Material
This collection contains one folder of biographical material, printed, typed, or newspaper clippings.
