Volume 1, Issue 6

Volume 1, Issue 6, Page 1

(English Only) (Newspaper Headline and Adverts not included)

Published: 10/1/1910

Transcript:

Practiced Trade Unionism.

COPY OF REPORT SENT TO PRESIDENT GOMPERS.

The great strike of the Cloak & Skirt Makers of New York City which began on July 7 and closed two months later was as clear cut a demonstration of the practical effectiveness of the trade union movement to better the condition of the wage workers as has ever taken place in the history of the labor movement in this or any other country. Two months prior to the strike, the trade was practically unorganized, there being only a very few thousand in the city. When the strike began, the union within two months had been increased to about 60,000 members. The demands of the union covered not only the question of an increase of wages, but also contained demands for the redress of certain grievances which had become intolerable and could no longer be borne. The people who operate machines had no pay for the power which was used to operate them. The demand was made that this should cease. Many of the employees had to cave deposits to cover the alleged breakage of machinery, poor work, etc. This they demanded should be stopped. In some cases, members of the union had to furnish the silk or cotton thread with which to do their work. They demanded “at all material should be furnished which were necessary to perform their usual labor. Some work was still being made in the homes, of the people. They demanded a redress of this grievance and that aII work must be made in the factories. In the factories, sub-contracting in no small degree, the contractor receiving a large wage and those who really did the work being all the year round very near the verge of starvation. The Union demanded that their members should not be required to work in any but sanitary shops. In most of the trade there had been no real limitation to the hours of labor. The union demanded that a week’s work should consist of 48 hours. In addition to this, the demand was made for somewhere near a 30 per cent, increase on an average in their wages. When the final settlement was had, complete victory was secured as to the abatement of all the grievances complained of. The increase in wages will amount to about 25 per cent. The hours of labor will be probably made 50 per week. This contest was remarkable in several of its features, the most remarkable I have ever known, though I have been in the Trade Union Movement forty years. With 00,000 people on strike, representing with their families from three to four hundred thousand people, there were practically no scabs out of the entire number. The few non-unionists who were secured came largely from other cities and a very few remained at work when the strike was first called. But the best information that we were able to get indicated that at the end of eight weeks, there were considerably less than 500 non-unionists employed in shops where the 60,000 went out. If any craft or calling can show a record to beat this, I don’t know where it is to be found. The enthusiasm of both the Hebrews and the Italians who composed the entire number of people who were involved in the contest was a revelation to me, so far as these people are concerned. I never saw anything equal to it. Their willingness to starve rather than go back to work was something marvelous. Nearly everyone in New York outside of the manufacturers who employed these people were in sympathy with the efforts of the Cloak 81 Skirt Makers to get better conditions and it is also true that a large number of the manufacturers were also willing to concede better conditions, perfectly willing, as they knew it was an absolute necessity in order that the people should live. It is impossible for me to give credit to all who are entitled to credit in connection with this great strike. The President, Bro. Rosenberg, worked with the greatest diligence and earnestness to near the point of physical prostration. Bro. Dyche, Bro. Polakoff, Bro. Blocli, Bro. Zimmerman, Bro. Martin and a great many more too numerous for me to mention, officers of the union, did not spare themselves in tile least to bring about victory. I feel in duty bound to mention one or two things that had much to do with- the success of the contest which were somewhat outside of the union. The Hebrew paper in New York, entitled “Forward” did heroic work in the interest of the people on strike. They raised a very large sum of money thru contributions to assist the people without which some one would probably have starved to death. This was a great factor, in keeping up the contest. The attorney for the union, Mr. Meyer London, is deserving of the highest credit for his services in connection with the strike. His devotion to the cause of his clients I have never seen equalled by any attorney in my life. He sacrificed not only his time and his money, hut at times it seemed as though he was to sacrifice his standing at the bar in the City of New York. He didn’t hesitate a minute when he saw which way duty called and he could be of service to the strikers. To Mr. Brandies of Boston and to Mr. Marshall of New York, who interested themselves in trying to bring about a settlement is also due credit. And there were a great many other men who took an active interest in trying to bring about a settlement whose names I will not undertake to mention. I believe there can be no question but what the victory won by the Cloak & Skirt Makers was the greatest ever won in a single industrial engagement by men or women in any part of the world. It opens- up. to them an opportunity of building one of the greatest trade unions in North America. And if the enthusiasm of the Hebrews and Italians which was manifested in the strike has practical continuity, the result will be a union that can and will be something of an example to all trade unionists on this continent. I *can so far as I am concerned, only express my sincere regards and my deep appreciation of the kindness and consideration with which I was treated during the two months I was in New York City, connected with this great controversy. Yours fraternally, JOHN B. LENNON, Treas., AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR. Bloomington, III., September 1, 1910.


THE GOFF INJUNCTION.

The working people of New York could not have a better alarm clock to wake them up than Justice Goffs injunction restraining the striking Cloak Makers from peaceful picketing. If anything, more is necessary to rouse them, they need but listen to the loud crowing of the Bosses’ Chanticler, Mr. Julius Henry Cohen, Attorney for the Cloak Manufacturer’s Association. “Judge Goff’s Decision,” he is quoted as saying “is the strongest one which has ever been handed down, in an American Court, against Trade Unionism.” According to the Constitution of the United States “Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble;” but these cocks of the court, Goff and Cohen, care nothing for Constitutions. They plant their claws firmly on the fundamental rights of man and swelling out their chests, crow up a new sun. “The shining orb of the big gold dollar is to be the light of the world, from to-day.” Will the New York workman wake up? Or will he doze on while the court goes through his pockets? The American Federation of Labor has gone on record with a clear policy toward Government by injunction. At the Denver Convention the delegates endorsed President Gomper’s protest against the decision in the famous Danbury Hatter’s Case, taking the position that this decision threatened the liberty of every wage earner in the land. From the report we read the following: “The attempt to deny to free men by injunction or other process, the right to withhold their labor power, or to induce others to withhold their labor power, is an invasion of man’s ownership of himself and his labor power, and is a claim of some sort of property right in the labor power of men who might take the places of strikers.” In Illinois the power of illegal injunctions was tested by the Printers. When Judge Holden sounded the alarm by his injunction against Local 16 of the International Typographical Union, the members of that Union woke up and got up. Judge Holden’s writ prohibited them from attempting to induce customers or other persons to abstain from working for or accepting work from said • complainants “And upon affidavits alleging violations of this injunction the President and Secretary of Local 16 were sentenced to prison and the local union was fined $1,000.00. However, all this was treated as irrelevant matter by the officers and by rank and file; and in commenting upon the decision against him, Mr. Harding, the Union Secretary, cooly said: “In the exercise of necessary and legal duties as officers of the Union, we could not help but disobey the writ. It seems to have been sought for the purpose of imprisoning the officials of the Union without due process of lazy, to the end that the work of the Union should become disorganized; and the printers frightened into submission and the abandonment of their just demands.” Mr. Harding was not talking in his sleep when he said that. He knew what he was about, and in the campaign of education which the printers carried out, at this crisis, public opinion in Illinois became so aroused over the injunction and the jail sentence and fine, that their enforcement were abandoned. Neither the imprisonment nor the judgement of fine were ever executed. Peaceful picketing and soliciting of one workman by another not to work for an employer, is within the constitutional guarantees of our Nation, and is deemed necessary for the effective functioning of public opinion in behalf of fair working conditions, by all men and women in the labor movement and by all authoritative students of social and economic problems in this, country and in England. When the Illinois trade unionists heard the injunction alarm clock they got up and stopped the clock. What will the New York trade unionists do?


ANNUAL ENTERTAINMENT AND BALL OF THE WOMEN’S TRADE UNION LEAGUE OF NEW YORK.

The first Annual Entertainment & Ball of the Women’s Trade Union League of New York will take place at the Grand Central Palace the evening of November 9th. The League is planning to make this the great social event of the year among trade unionists. The program is not yet completed, but the Entertainment Committee is arranging for music, dancing, a bazzar and other special features which will be announced later. The League will offer a banner as a reward to the Union from which comes the largest number of members. This banner will be designed by a well-known artist and made up by the Badge & Banner Makers Union. Also rewards to those who sell the greatest number of tickets.


CONTROVERSIES WITH OTHER NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS. THE WRAPPER INDUSTRY.

For a glimpse into the wrapper industry we will take Boston as an example. In this city the industry lies in the hands of two classes of manufacture; the high and mighty ones who manufacture on a large scale and sell principally to the department stores,’ and the low and petty ones who squabble for the sale of a dozen wrappers. The latter class of manufacturers! whose name is legion, have a local and custom trade principally among the poor, “no-cash-down” people in the city and vicinity. The big manufacturers have their factories in the country, conduct their work by the section system—the “no-brain” system and dispose of their product through a host of high class salesmen. The girls in their employ are mostly “pin-money” workers, whose fathers are at work in a shoe factory or mill—the standing excuse for low wages to country girls. The small manufacturers have their shops in basements in the city; Jewish girls with family burdens upon them; and dispose of their product through the agency of some “custom-peddler” by the dozen. The girls are more skilled and make the whole wrapper a dozen at a time. The wrapper is usually cut up into front back sides, collar sleeves, yokes and linings. The wrapper maker first runs through the collars, then sews up the seams and “classes” the wrapper which is then ready for buttons and buttonholes.  The prices per dozen vary from $1.20 to $1.50. The wrappers retail at from 90 cents to $1 apiece. It is obvious that the wrapper makers get a very small per cent, of the selling price of this class of garments. They suffer besides a great many abuses, such as weekly assessments imposed by the manufacturer to defray expenses for fixing machines, charges for needles, gatherers, oil, etc. These charges are continued even during the dull season. On one occasion, during Jewish holidays, the girls having worked only two days of the week, were nevertheless docked the usual 25 cents for machine charges. It is to stop such abuses that the Wrapper Makers’ Union of Boston was organized in 1902. This union enjoys the distinction of having been the first Jewish working women organization of Boston. Attempts were made to organize them in former years, but did not carry Early in 1902 a group of girls from a factory came together in the Civic Service House to plan the organization which soon became a fact and eventually a power. Their employers who heretofore treated them as “greenhorns” became alarmed. Threats and dismissals followed. The union sent committees of investigation, but the bosses threatened to throw them down stairs. Then the union sent its ultimatum: To declare a strike if our representatives be not recognized. “Greenhorns,” was the usual answer. The bosses evidently were not inclined to take the matter seriously, and the result was that they did go on a strike and won! All fines were abolished, the union was officially recognized and the discharged girls reinstated. This victory gave the union a forward impetus. The girls who were out of the fold all flocked to the union meetings. The other shop were organized on the same basis; shop-delegates appointed and the “over-lordship” of the “bosses” threatened. Five of them soon entered into an alliance. Their own girls, the “greenhorns” taught them the benefits of organization. It is curious to note how often union methods are resorted to by employers to smash a union of their employees. The five wrapper manufacturers united their capital, machinery, etc. and opened what they called a “corporation shop”—the biggest in the North and West Ends of Boston. The girls in their former employ were all to be dealt with “individually.” The “good girls” would be called by postal card. None other need apply. ‘This open discrimination the girls sternly resented. A special meeting of all the five shops was called. The decision was unanimous “either all go to work or none.” On Monday following the meeting a committee came to the corporation shop instead of the sew girls invited by postal: “No electricity charges; no payment for gatherers, needles, strap and oil, weekly pay and recognition of the union” was the committee’s ultimatum. A contract was soon signed and the girls triumphantly marched into the corporation shop all in a body.


WORKING GIRLS’ HOMES.

The changes are continually rung the hardships and temptations of the working girls. Certainly, they have hardships and temptations enough. Some of these are at present inevitable, but many might be removed, with a little enterprise and intelligent planning.  The average working girl is not living with her family lives in the cheap boarding house or does “light housekeeping” in a furnished room. The boarding house with its red-and-yellow fringed tablecloth, its transient men with ceding chins, its fault-finding, gasping women, chicory coffee and pork chops, with broken piano and icy bath room! How life can be borne there, is an unsolved mystery. The little hall bedroom with the privilege of light housekeeping over an oil stove-that means desperate loneliness, aggravated by the inevitable boiled eggs, park and beans, distressful break and baker’s pie. With the only choice that between cheap boarding houses and light housekeeping, the marvel is that there is a working girl still living and respectable, to the tale of her misery. The combination of inertia, patience and hope is the trouble with women. They will not rouse their minds to plan happiness for themselves. They have the habit of a patience which is far from virtue, and they vaguely hope that some man or some chance will come to change the monotony of their lot. Fortunately, there are exceptions to this rule. There young women who “trust no future” except one they shape themselves. These do not wait for matrimony or chance. They do not sit morbidly or speculate on the attraction of suicide. They do not accept the aid of gentlemen friends and lay blame of questionable vex upon their work and their associates and they make homes for themselves worthy of the name of women. Our pleasant and economical pay for women of small wages to rely to group together in cheap nowhere each can have their own room and use the kitchen. In one instance in New York the whole floor of a model flat is occupied by working women who have a co-operative kitchen and dining room. They have advantages of private flats and cheerful companionship, and all at the cheapest price. The co-operative clubs, such as the Jane Club, founded by Hull House, Chicago, is another solution to the home problem for working girls. Here is a beautiful building, with charming, common sitting and dining rooms, with private bedrooms, the privilege of well-equipped laundry, excellent food, and good company, forty girls arc living well at an expense of only $3.00 per week. These girls have happy evenings with their books, magazines and music. They receive callers and give parties. and life with them is worth living.


The anti-trust laws were not intended to suppress labor organizations, but to protect the laborers and consumers from being oppressed by combinations of capital. The huge organization of capital in restraint of trade, raising prices of the necessities of life and imposing on the people for the mere sake of ambition, greed, or cold and cruel avarice, needs restraint both on moral, ethical and legal grounds. Organization of laboring men to protect women and children from starvation, from exposure, sickness and death, are justified on every standpoint and should be encouraged. – Senator Owen, of Oklahoma


They own us, these task masters of ours: they own our homes; they own our legislators. We cannot escape from them. There is no redress. We are told we can defeat them at the ballot box. They own the ballot lx>x. We are told that we must look to the courts for redress: they own the courts. We know them for what they are—ruffians in politics, ruffians in finance; ruffians in law; ruffians in trade, bribers, swindlers and tricksters. No outrage too great to daunt them, no petty larceny too small to shame them; despoiling a government treasury of a million dollars yet picking the pockets of a farm hand of the price of a loaf of bread. They swindle a nation of a hundred million and call it finance, they levy a blackmail and call it commerce; they corrupt a legislature and call it politics; they bribe a judge and call it law: they hire blacklegs to carry out their plans and call it organization: they prostitute the honor of a state and call it competition.—Frank Norris in the Octopus


PROJECT OF COOPERATIVE UNION LAUNDRY SECURES VICTORY FOR LAUNDRY GIRLS AT EVERETT.

A strike of laundry girls for better conditions only lasted one week. The girls promised to start a union laundry of their own and began soliciting. The open shop bosses became panic-stricken. They capitulated without demanding anything and they won even the recognition of the union.


GIRLS START FACTORY.

A shirtwaist factory owned by fifty girls, of Sedalia. Mo., former employees in local factories, and conducted along the co-operative lines, is to be opened in this city. The girls went on strike for better working conditions. The money for the plant has been subscribed by local unions and will be repaid from the first profits of the association.


LABOR ENTERS POLITICS.

Organized labor in Boston is to enter politics this year, pledged to “elect union men only.” This decision followed a meeting of the Central Labor union at which a resolution was adopted declaring that as certain members of the legislature bad strenuously opposed reform labor laws, active measures should be taken to oppose them for re-election and that union candidates should be nominated against them. The central body also announced that It would in the future be the court of last resort in all measures of a political nature which concerned labor in Boston.

 

FINED $500 FOR ILLEGAL USE OF THE UNION LABEL.

John B. Smith, Secretary – Treasurer of the Missouri State Federation of Labor, reports on the misuse of the law in ‘”Kansas City, Mo., as follows: “The controversy of the Herman misuse of the label of the United Garment Workers’ Union was settled by Mr. Herman pleading guilty to the charge brought by me in the Criminal Court. The Judge fined him $500 and costs but remitted $450 pending good behavior. Mr. Herman was given to understand that if he was ever caught using the Carmen Workers’ Union label again without permission of the Union the $450 would stand. He paid $50 and costs of court and promised the Judge not to misuse the union label again.”


WHAT LABOR NEEDS.

Professor Burman Foster of the University of Chicago, in his sermon at the Third Unitarian Church, Chicago recently, made a plea for better, surroundings for the laboring man. He said: “On every hand you hear the demand for social reform. And regularly you hear the reply: ‘First make the ‘individual better. If men were better, braver, more industrious, these conditions would soon be better.’ But the question remains, how are we to get this new and better man? What can be done about it? “Let the wage be such that the laborer can have a home of light and joy and sunshine in a decent locality. Let the laboring men’s women not have to*go to factory and day’s work outside, but have time and strength to be women, mothers, wives, and make cheerful homes. In this way we can help them to achieve an inner life.


RETIRED.

Yonder he sits in the well-kept »square, Soldierly, elderly, gray, carefully scanning a paper fliers— Retired the other day. Fearless he fought at the army’s front; Deep in the thick of the fray. Faithfully bearing the battle’s brunt— Retired the other day. liver he answered a Comrade’* cry, Eager their pains to allay. Binding their wounds with a woman’s sigh— Retired the other day. Never the treble of pleading want Called from his lips a cold “Nay!” Never his big-hearted deeds did he flaunt — Retired the other day. K Yonder lie sits, with a wrinkled brow, ‘Round him the gamins at play. Quite too enfeebled for service now. Retired the other day. “Ah, hut.” you say, “he’s enjoying ‘he end; Pensioned! retired, half pay?” He’s reading Help Wanted—Male ads, dear friend— Got fired the other day! He’s seeking an under scullion’s berth to solace his waning day alone, for a pittance, his manly worth; Commerce has cast him away! -A. F. Gannon.


Do not look for wrong or evil; You will find them, if you do. As you measure to your brother, Ile will measure hack to you. Look for goodness, look for gladness; You will meet them all the while. If you bring a smiling visage to the glass, you meet a smile. -L. L. Bill.


At last the great day has arrived, the day which a handful of men have been hoping for and believed must come sooner or later.


How often has it been “scientifically” demonstrated to us that it is absolutely impossible to organize the Cloak and Skirt makers of this city: that trade unionism is played out, out of date; that the forces of capital are too great for the workers, whose only weapon is the strike, that all great economic struggles within the past ten and fifteen years have failed, etc.


Yes! What a pleasure it is the consciousness that all those “scientific” and “practical” people, all those clear-headed people, who looked down upon us and our activities, have been mistaken. We convinced them, nay, the masses of people convinced them, that their prophecies were foolish and that they did not understand the situation.


Yes, there can be no greater pleasure, no greater reward or thanks for all those years of ceaseless toil, apparently hopeless toil, to organize the great mass of people in our trade. All of our expectations were realized in full.

Mistakes were committed: the sacrifice and the suffering of the masses were great; but how small is the price we have paid compared with the magnitude of the victory, with the character of the changes affected within such a short time in our trade?


How many years have the philanthropists, reformers, settlement workers, legislators tried to abolish the evils of the sweatshop, system, of tenement work, of home work, and with what little effect? Never in the history of the labor movement has organized labor demonstrated its force with such effect as in the last strike. With one single blow in the short space of a few weeks they have been abolished in our trade.


One of the greatest benefits which this strike has effected is the organization of our Employers. It is true that at the beginning they tried to ignore us, to put us out of existence, they thought they could avoid us: but this strike has been a veritable “eye-opener” to them. It has taught them a great deal; it has educated them.


They were not the only ones who made these mistakes. People much nearer to the trade union movement than those manufacturers also were of the same opinion. Just as unionist and strikes teach the workers, educating them to understand their position in society as an industrial unit, so must this Association of Manufacturers have the same effect upon their members. There can be no doubt that our agreements with the Manufacturers Association will be of a greater benefit and of longer duration than the agreement signed by us with individual employers.


There is no reason in the world why the two Organizations should not get along splendidly if their dealings will be guided by simple ordinary rules of common sense. There are no differences in our trade which could not be straightened out if the matter is approached without prejudices and fair arguments employed in the controversy.


All the inconveniences which the Union may cause the manufacturers cannot be compared with the degradation occasioned by the constant intrusion in our trade of a class of men who have neither the brains nor the capital to build up a legitimate trade, but his ability consists chiefly in reducing the labor cost to a minimum. It is these pirates who are the common enemy and there is a large field for co-operation between the Organization of Employers and Employees, to drive this class of men and their unfair competition out of the trade.


The fundamental principle of unionism—collective bargaining— attains its highest expression when the Union, instead of bargaining with each individual employer, deals with an organized body.


Our esteemed contemporary. “The Baltimore Leader” docs not like the 14th paragraph of our agreement with the Association by which the union shop is assured through the now well known “preferential system,” that is the employers giving assurances that when hiring help they will give preference to the union employees. “Can there lie a half-way-house between an open and closed shop”? asked our contemporary. The writer of this article apparently is not acquainted with Ferdinand Lasalle’s well known essay on “The Essence of the Constitution.” li e would have known that the real value of any constitution granted by the sovereign to his people, does not depend so much upon the language employed in the document “drawn up for that purpose, but -upon the power of the people to assert their authority and to defend their rights. What is true in constitutional government is equally true of any document drawn up between the employers and the employees for the regulating of their future relations. With a strong^ union this preferential clause must he interpreted in such a way as to practically make the shop a “closed shop.” For in a shop where the union man has the first chance of employment, the non-union man is nowhere.


What do we see in reality? All factories owned by the members of the Association are to-day practically “closed shops,” and that the nonunion man has much less Chance of obtaining employment there than the case was when we had a small union controlling a few shops with absolute closed shop agreements.


Then at the height of the season in spite of the constant visits of the walking delegates, the Collection of dues, non union people always obtained employment and could even work a whole season without joining the Union.


On the other hand, if the people in our trade should become indifferent to the union, then this “preferential system” will certainly be interpreted by the employers as open shop agreement. The position of the union always depends upon the will of the people and not the wording of the agreement. It is the devotions or the masses to the Organization and nothing else that makes a shop a union or a closed shop.


We certainly object to union shops where the people pay to the organization not because they themselves want it, not because they are convinced that they need it but because the employer compels them to do so in accordance with the agreement signed with the union. The trade union movement would have lost all of its value the moment the closed shop agreement would have a legal force, because then the people would pay to the union through the force of the State, because the employer being afraid of legal persecution, would have compelled his people to pay to the Organization.


No, we are thoroughly opposed to such unionism. Trade union must always remain Voluntary Organizations. Their basis or their power must come from the consciousness or devotion of its nice hers composing it: the shops must he union shops because the work people insist upon it. We are entirely against union shops where the employer compels the short people to pay to the union, as union shops are worse than uselessness in such shops the trade union official need not be an organize an educator or an agitator, he can be a dues collector, a tax gathers if not a grafter.


Our movement will never be out of danger until the masses, put leaders, will become convinced of the simple truth, that where the is absence of devotion on the part of the members to the principle of unionism, there the closed shop agreement is absolutely worthless.


The only thing which will give us the closed union shop is boundless devotion of the members to the principles of unionism; that all agreement, it does not matter how they are written, are mere formalities. Fidelity and devotion are the only things which will secure us the dosed shop which we are getting now. and hope to retain. We must constantly keep telling our people that there is no “royal road” to unionism. That by merely compelling employers to sign papers we can have no union shops.


Higher wages, shorter working hours, this the union must demand from the employer—union principle, from the union members. Daring the time of the General Strike opposite opinions were often expressed by our people. “Let them! —the employers—only give us ‘union shops’; as to prices it does not matter: we will accept any price providing they give us the “closed shop.” What childish folly!


Such unionism is worthless. A Union which does not compel the employer to pay higher prices or give his people better working conditions but compels the employer to maintain a union shop where the men will earn next to nothing but will compel their employees to pay to the Organization, such unions we do not want.


YET GROWING STRONGER.

The trade union movement and its faithful defenders have been kicked, cuffed, abused, traduced, lied about and maligned more than any other movement or advocate in the world, but despite it all the movement is constantly growing stronger.


GREATEST INFLUENCE FOR GOOD.

Above all others it has been the fade unions which have stood for the abolition of abuses and the improvement of conditions. Next to “e public schools, they have been n c greatest influences in educating the mass of foreigners coming into this country in the better way of living. teaching them self-government and self-control, holding up to them an ideal of a better condition of life and then making evident to them that this better; it cannot be obtained by them individually, but only as they help others, the labor unions of the country have fully borne the brunt fight. -Charleston “Labor Argus”


“WORK IN THE COUNTRY”

A Picture of What the Shirtwaist Maker Might Find if She Took the Advice Sometimes Offered.

When shirtwaist makers object to their lot it is occasionally suggested that they would do well to seek work in the country. A letter received last autumn from a careful observer of labor conditions in both town and country—himself a plumber—is so apposite to this point that it is offered here with the writer’s kind permission. That the letter focuses upon the employer rather than upon the employee — since the journal correspondence of which it forms a chapter is avowedly a record of men of brains—docs not detract from its present value. “* * * To get a glimpse of Brains in the making, no place like the far country where an occasional rustic is emerging from his status. * * * The New England farmer has character and tradition. He wears easily the virtues that are not easy. * * * “But New England moralities have not waited for a journeyman plumber to chronicle them, and Mr. S., the fanner upon whose new water supply I am working, will be described in a word if I say that he has all of them. His summer boarders may know at a glance the tonic refreshment that thrift, initiative and superiority to circumstance always convey. Ladies susceptible to the virile virtues need by to exchange greetings with him as he passes to know within themselves that the heart of the universe is sound. Poverty and social discontent seem like wantonness in his husky presence, and the ladies, often philanthropic, always a little afraid of being sentimental, return to town to swell the wonder why people in the slums don’t go to work in the country. “The plumber must sometimes take up a beautiful bit of inlaid paving to come at his job. “At the height of the season, with 50 boarders, Mr. S. employed only one chambermaid and two waitresses. One scullery maid prepared all the vegetables, waited on the exacting city cook, cooked for the fanner’s family and for the help, washed the kitchen dishes and utensils, cared for the milk, cleaned, made fires—a general utility maid in addition to her duties. The four girls worked, from 5 o’clock in the morning until as late at night as their services were required. They had not had a day off during a summer that was unusually trying in point of beat. A supposed period to themselves in the afternoon was so curtailed that one of them had never seen by day the beautiful lake which is the paramount attraction of the place: once or twice she had been taken to row after dark. They were paid $4 a week and had to put out their washing—unless like their rowing they made it nocturnal. When they attended the rare meetings of the Grange—in the evening, of course—they paid for their employer’s team at the same rates charged the guests. “When the summer tide abated one of the girls was dropped and Mr. S. made a little speech, half aloud, half to himself, in the presence of one of the remaining girls: “‘Boarders going—not so much money coining in—don’t want to part with any more of our girls— don’t know what we’re going to do about it—guess perhaps we’ll pay ‘cm each a little less and keep ’em all.’ “Next pay day each girl received $1 less. “Mr. S. is constantly extending his acres along the lake shore, where he sells lots to city purchasers. His son has had a college education, and Mr. S. feels able to afford to run for the State Senate—on the no-license and reform with in the party ticket, of course. “Now that the facts arc set down I can see that I was hasty in calling this a case of Brains in the making; with Mr. S. Brains are un fait accomplished” -LOUISE R. ELDER. Bryn Mawr, Pa.


THE BISHOP’S CHOICE.

A celebrated Anglican divine, the late Bishop of Rochester, who had been ailing for some time, decided to consult Sir Frederick Treves, the noted surgeon. After a careful examination Sir Frederick pronounced his verdict and added: “Your lordship must go “to Algiers or some winter resort on the Riviera.” “Impossible,” replied the Bishop. “I have too much work to get through.” “Well,” said the doctor, “you must make your choice. It is either Algiers or heaven.” “Dear me,” exclaimed the Bishop with a sigh; “then I suppose it must be Algiers.”


POPULATION OF THE EARTH. The first definite estimate of world population, with figures to support it as far as figures go, was computed by D’Omolius D’Halloy.

The means of several reckonings he fixed at a round billion (a thousand million’). These computations were published in 1856 in the Bulletin de l’Academie Royale de Belgique, xxxiii, 812. Since that time a knowledge of population of savage regions rests upon well-taken enumerations by the great colonizing powers, and these figures have been subject to revision. At the beginning of this century records gave the following components, much of the savage world being reckoned in with the states among which the wild lands have been partitioned. The figures represent the number of millions of populations:

British Empire 400

Chinese Empire 400

Russian Empire 135

France 85

United States 84

German Empire 70

Latin America 60


MISUNDERSTOOD.

Clarence S. Darrow, the Chicago lawyer and reformer, which is different from most reformers and radicals because he has a sense of humor, went to Toledo a time ago to visit Brand Whitlock. the author, who is mayor of that city. A great admirer of Darrow heard that Darrow was in Toledo and rushed to the mayor’s office and besought Whitlock to introduce him. “Ah! Mr. Darrow,” said the admirer, gazing adoringly at his hero, “you have suffered a great deal in your life from being misunderstood, haven’t you?” ‘ “Yes,” replied Darrow, “I have suffered from being misunderstood, but I haven’t suffered half as much as I would have if I had been understood.”—Saturday Evening Post.


NOT SO FOOLISH AFTER ALL.

A superintendent of an asylum directed one of the half-witted inmates to whitewash the walls. The lunatic did as directed, and really performed a very creditable job, but for some reason or other he had neglected to whitewash a space over the clock. “That is very well done.” said the superintendent as he returned to inspect, “but why did you leave that space over, the clock?” “Oh, I don’t believe in working overtime.” was the response.


THE IDEASIM OF THE PEOPLE. BY THE REV. CHARLES STELZE.

A New York daily newspaper printed an editorial during a strike of the cloak-makers in that city, urging that the factories in which ‘they were employed should he removed from the Fifth Avenue district to the East Side of the city, where the operators lived, not merely because these workers obstructed the- side-walks at the noon hour when they came out to get a bit of fresh air, but because there was great danger that the spirit of social unrest might be aroused at the sight of the wealthy who did their shopping in the neighborhood. It is quite likely that the editorial did more to develop discontent than the garments and the automobiles of the wealthy. It does not require the display of the rich to arouse the feeling that there are better possibilities for the workers. There is already existing among the people an idealism which is drawing them on to higher things and there is probably no class of toilers whom it is more conspicuous than among these clothing makers, most of whom are Jewish immigrants, and who stand as representatives of the great mass of foreigners in our cities in their desire to better their conditions. Coming to America, where they breathe the air of democracy, the old clannish instinct soon disappears, for in lodge and labor union they hear of a “brotherhood” which embraces the men of all races and nations; —there is no place here for the clans of the fatherland. They are literally compelled to learn the lessons of democracy and solidarity, for in ^some cases their very existence depends upon unity of action in the matter’s wages and hours and general conditions. It does not take long for them to watch the spirit of the American. And instead of the bitterness which animated them at home, where they were often dominated by a cruel and unjust despotism they are swayed by an idealism which becomes to them a passion. Like newly liberated men. they breathe in the air of freedom and look up into the skies with fresh hope; —then they work and work and work, to transmit their dreams into realities. And they succeed, too. For there is no finer story written than that of the mingling of the best of the old world races with that of the new, as it is being worked out in the melting pot of the nations. The fathers and mothers, sometimes too old to fully realize these better things for themselves slain their lives away so that the children may come into their inheritance. It is a fact that these immigrants are more eager that their children should have the power and the influence which education gives, than are the parents who are native-born. At any rate, they suffer and they sacrifice more so that their own ideals for their children may be wrought out. The children are loyal, too, to the trust of the parents. They succeed in business. They make names for themselves in the professions. Sometimes returning to the old country with their newer conceptions of life and its fuller meaning, they sow the seed of a healthy discontent among those who remained at home, as they tell the story of their experience in America—the land of ideals and realization. Thus they become missionaries of a new life, for here they have been truly born again, and who shall say that such births do not come from on high. Bitter as Maxim Gorky was against America, he nevertheless confessed that here was the paradise of the Russian moujik. One needed simply to see the development of these people in this country, he said, to disprove the theory that it required long generations to emancipate them from the effects of serfdom. There is something in the very atmosphere of America which gives them life and hope and which raises them out of their stupidity and half-animalism.  It must be evident that the idealism of the foreigner conies •very largely from the American workingman, for it is with him that the immigrant mingles most, and from him that he receives much of the impetus to strive. Sometimes the critic of the American workingman imagines that because he does not give verbal expression to these ideals in the orthodox manner, he does not possess them. Indeed, some people seem merely to have discovered that the workingman swears horribly. This is often true; but to limit oneself to such an observation is an evidence of an extremely trivial consideration of the entire subject. The stolid face of the average working man masks emotions and ideals which would startle the common observer.


SOCIAL SIDE OF UNIONS. ELIZABETH GLENDOWER EVANS.

In answer to the question how innocent amusements may be provided for young girls who now find amusements so beset with danger in our city streets. I offer two suggestions: My first is, that women policemen be afflicted who, in effect, shall be social workers. By the efforts of such women our streets and parks and places of public recreation might be made far safer than at present for the young girls who will certainly continue to frequent them in great numbers, no matter what other opportunities for recreation may be available. This experiment, I have been told, has already been tried and with admirable results in Seattle and Portland, Ore. I should be glad if some one, who may be more familiar than I am with any city in which this innovation has been tried, would give the public fuller information upon the matter. My second suggestion grows out of my experience in connection with the Roxbury carpet factory strike. As a result of this strike four vigorous trade unions have sprung into being at this factory, two of which are made up almost exclusively of women, and another in which are enrolled many boys and girls employed in the factory, between the ages of fourteen and sixteen—the most difficult years of adolescence. Little folks would not, ordinarily, be expected to take interest in such a serious enterprise as a trade union, but Mrs. Conboy, the plucky woman who led the recent Roxbury carpet strike and is now an organizer for the United Textile Workers of America, very sensibly argued that children who are old enough to IK> wage earners are old enough to learn bow to protect the standard of wages. And, accordingly, she organised some thirty of the boys and girls as local 730. affiliated with the international organization and charged with all the privileges and all the duties of an adult local. The youngsters have been holding weekly meetings on Saturday afternoons at the Women’s Trade Union League, and so vivid has been their interest that time after time not one of their number had been missing. At these meetings they are learning how to conduct business and learning, too. the principle of solidarity. “Each for all and all for each,” being their motto. Mary Glennon. just over sixteen, who has been chosen their president, is probably the youngest official charged with serious responsibilities in world. Hardly less responsible is the office of the filled by Catherine Baxter must collect the weekly due cents, pay the small expenses of the union for room rent, stationery etc., and the weekly per capita tax of 5 cents per member to the parent organization. Membership in the United Textile Workers of America entitles these children to the full benefit of $4 a week should tiny be ordered by it on strike, or should a strike, initiated by a local, be sanctioned by the international, while from their own local they are entitled to a death benefit of $35. But membership in this union not all serious work. When business is transacted a dance is in order and picnics and excursions are planned ahead for Sundays and holidays through the summer. On the evening of the Fourth the girls of this local, and some members of the adult locals as well, were invited to see the firework on the Charles River basin from the house of a friend, which overlooks the embankment. The following Saturday their meeting was held at Mrs. Conboy’s little summer shack at Weymouth, where the young folks rejoiced in sea bathing and all the delights of a picnic on the shore. The feature of the summer for the Roxbury carpet factory locals will be the picnic of August 13th at Caledonia Grove. Arrangements for this festivity are in the hands of a committee made up of eight delegates from each local, and the “kid local” has its full representation on this committee and is taking its full share of responsibility. A sub-committee has been appointed on refreshments, and “several boys have volunteered, under authority of their picnic committee, to solicit gifts of peanuts and candies from wholesale stores. It may be readily seen that the trade union of young folks such as is described of a social club and that boys and girls in such organization can” supply themselves with an abundance of innocent recreation. Moreover, they must band in such a social group the kind of public opinion which will hold its members to standards of right living, while incidentally the same purpose of their organization develops in them the feeling the brotherhood and the principles which make for good citizenship -Boston Globe.


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