It may therefore safely be asserted that the prime factors in a study of labor organizations, are not: Is the union a trade or an industrial union? Or, is its purpose business or revolutionary? The important questions are: Why has it adopted the ideals, form and methods which are now associated with the organization? And, what are the internal and external, present and past, forces which determine its path to-day? Any classification whether structural or functional is only of value in making clear the factors in the labor problem. A study of social forces is essential in any investigation of labor organizations.