Schilling, George A., 1850-

Trade unionist.

Epithet: Secretary, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Illinois, USA

Labor movement activist from Chicago, Ill.

Cooper by trade. Member of Knights of Labor, Social Democratic Party, National Eight-Hour Association (co-founder). Advocate of Henry George's Single-Tax theory. Secretary, Illinois Bureau of Labor Statistics (1893-1897) and author of its widely acclaimed 8th Biennial Report on "Taxation." Organizer of movement to secure pardons for Haymarket riot anarchists. Member, Chicago Board of Local Improvements (1903-1907, 1911-1915). Congressional candidate, Progressive Democratic Party, 1912. Died in Chicago on April 12, 1938.

George A. Schilling was born in Baden, Germany in 1850. His parents, who left Germany as a result of the Revolution of 1848, brought George Schilling to Ohio in 1852. He was educated in the Ohio public schools and was a cooper by trade. Moving to Chicago in 1865, he joined the advertising department of the Arbeiter Zeitung, a German language newspaper of socialist leanings. His association with the newspaper continued until the 1890’s. Schilling, prominent in the trade union movement of the late 19th century, was a member of the Cooper’s Union and held a high executive position in the Knights of Labor. He was active in the Labor Party movement in 1886, which endorsed John P. Altgeld for a judgeship, a position Altgeld won.

With the election of Altgeld as Governor of Illinois in 1892, Schilling was appointed secretary of the State Board of Labor Commissioners and served in that post until 1897. He compiled its Eighth Biennial Report on Taxation, of which 20,000 extra copies were printed on demand. Schilling was also prominent in the Single-Tax movement. In 1903, he was appointed to the Chicago Board of Local Improvements, serving as its president from 1905 to 1907.