In January 1907, labor leaders and activists from across the Pacific Northwest converged on the city of Tacoma for the annual convention of the Washington Federation of Labor. At the gathering, they discussed and debated issues related to the social and material welfare of the region's working class. The conference attracted, in addition to its U.S. contingent, a number of participants from across the border. One of the convention speakers, the Canadian delegate M. A. Beach, representing the Vancouver Trades and Labour Council, spoke on the collective experiences and aspirations of the region's working class, explaining how they transcended the boundaries of the nation-state. In his remarks, Beach told the audience that he felt “quite at home here, in your beautiful city, in fact have spent a number of years on this side of the imaginary boundary line. I say, imaginary boundary line, because I suppose from a national standpoint we are divided, but from a wage-earners' standpoint we are not divided.” He claimed that American and Canadian laborers were “brothers working for a common cause … bettering conditions for the wage-earner,” and insisted to the largely American audience that “what is good for you is good for me, and what is good for me is good for you.”1
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