UNION REPRESENTATION

James Lynch, President of the International Typographical Union - The American Guardian, July 25, 1930

"Under the big trees of the Felton grove the outing of the officers of the International Typographical Union reached its fitting climax this noon, when one of the giant redwoods was duly dedicated to James M. Lynch, president of the union. The ceremony was celebrated with all the honors."

 

On August 12, 1911 officers of the International Typographical Union, accompanied by members of the San Francisco Newspaper Publishers’ Association traveled by train from Santa Cruz to Big Trees Grove. Upon arrival local entrepreneur Fred Swanton hosted a barbecue dinner. Following the dinner President Lynch was escorted to his tree where George A. Tracy, first vice president of the union, made a "presentation speech, in which he declared that the tree was as straight and lofty as Jim Lynch."

 

Lynch, a New York native, began his career as a labor organizer by fighting for a standard wage scale for all printers. In 1901 he became president of the International Typographical Union, one of the nation’s oldest trade unions and one of the first unions to admit female members. As President of the Typographical Union in 1906, Lynch initiated strikes in many major cities in an attempt to secure an eight-hour workday. Lynch resigned in 1914 to become the New York State Commissioner of Labor. He later worked as a member of New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt’s commission to investigate the subject of old age security, resulting in passage of a 1929 old age New York State security law.

"In accepting the honor paid by the publishers, President Lynch said he hoped the tree would be typical in its life, growth and strength of age, vigor and usefulness of the International Typographical Union." 

 

One account of the event gave the general location of the new James Lynch Tree by stating that "[i]n the forest are trees named for famous warriors, statesmen, and others, both living and dead, and it was a happy thought that caused one of the finest redwoods, towering to a height of 300 feet, and named after the head of the greatest trade union in the world." 

 

Mention of the approximate location of this tree lends some credence to a 1916 article in the Santa Cruz Evening News entitled, "Our Much-Dedicated Big Trees". The author said that Lynch "... was so impressed with the honor of having this particular tree named after him that he caused a bronze plaque to be sent from the East chronicling the event. A committee came down from San Francisco under big expense to place the Lynch plaque on the tree." The account further stated that the plaque was not allowed to be attached to the tree "... for fear it might split the tree --- spoil its growth and spoil its dedication to the next celebrity that came along."

 

The article pointed out that the grove contained scarcely one tree "… but that can show a list of titles as long as the baptismal name of a prince of the blood royal." The tree named for Lynch was supposedly the same tree once dedicated to President Theodore Roosevelt (back in 1903) which was located not too far from Ingersoll's Cathedral.* According to the article, the Roosevelt Tree was reused many times for other celebrity tree dedications including ones for "… Jim Jeffries, Andrew Carnegie, George G. Radcliff, Jack Johnson, Hiram W. Johnson, Warren Porter, William J. Bryan, [and] William Randolph Hearst … We think the Japanese statesmen who came down with C.C. Moore and Mr. Torchiana [from the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition] were similarly honored, but we forget their names."

 

Author's Personal Collection

This 1916 article is the only one located to date which claims that the Roosevelt Tree was used in this manner. If this practice is true, and judging by the names of the celebrities mentioned, it appears to have occurred during the period when the grove was under the direct management of the Welch brothers after 1900. 

 

*  One story suggests that Ingersoll's Cathedral may have been given the name Cathedral Spires by Robert Ingersoll during his visit to Big Trees Grove in 1884.

 

Sources: “San Francisco Publishers As Hosts,” The Typographical Journal, Volume XXXIX, No. 3, September 1911; “Our Much-Dedicated Big Trees,” Santa Cruz Evening News, February 3,  1916; “Dedicate A Big Tree to Lynch,” San Francisco Chronicle, August 12, 1911; “Former Chief of I.T.U. Dies,” San Pedro News Pilot, July 16, 1930.