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* * *
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THE
MEN'S GARMENT INDUSTRY
OF NEW YORK
AND THE
STRIKE OF 1913
BY
HARRY BEST, Ph.D.
UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT STUDIES
UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT SOCIETY
NEW YORK
PRICE 25 CENTS
THE MEN'S GARMENT INDUSTRY IN NEW YORK
AND THE STRIKE OF 1913.
In the beginning of the year 1913 there occurred a strike
in the clothing industry in New York which was notable for
Several things: the great number of persons involved; the
immense losses resulting both to the workers and to the
employers; and the unusual prolongation, both sides holding
out to the limit of their endurance. The strike concerned an
industry related closely to human comfort and necessity. It
took place in what is really the seat of the industry. It had
to do with a situation in no small measure affected by great
inflowing streams of immigrant labor, and by the passing of
an industry into the factory system. Such was the setting of
the strike which we are now to consider.
The number of persons taking part in the men's garment
strike was hardly under IOO,OOO.” Other strikes in women's
garment industries at the same time, though in no wise related
to the main strike, swelled the total number to 150,000, and
added to the public apprehension. The strike continued nearly
nine weeks, and during this time hardly less than $7,000,000
was lost to the workers in wages”; the loss to the manufac-
turers, though it cannot be known, must have been tremendous;
while no little was suffered by the clerks and others who
worked in the establishments, and by landlords, grocers, and
others who depended on the workers. -
* The present study is based upon observations made at the time of
the strike, and upon an examination of the trade and trade union
journals, especially the Garment Worker, of New York, as well as of
the New York daily newspapers. Other sources of information will
be duly cited.
*By scarcely any of the New York newspapers was the number
estimated at less than 85,000, while the union and Socialist papers put
the number above IOO,OOO.
*If the average wage of the men be taken as $13, and of the
women as $8, the total loss for the nine weeks would be some ten
million dollars. A certain proportion of the workers, however, returned
to work within a shorter time, which reduces this figure.
3
With the numbers involved, and with the large issues at
stake, it seemed quite possible that, should the workers win,
their victory might result in the form of a protocol or prefer-
ential union shop, already secured two years before in the
suit, cloak, and skirt strike. Such a victory would have been
most important, and would have marked the greatest advance
yet reached in labor contests. However, the workers were
not to achieve such a result. The fight was waged so bitterly
by the employers, and their resources proved so much the
stronger that, though the workers made some very substantial
gains, the fruits to them fell much short of what they had
striven for.
To appreciate the full meaning of the strike, it will be
necessary to examine both the past development and the
present condition of the men's ready-made clothing industry
in New York. That this industry has become an immense
business in the city is fairly well known, but it is probable
that few realize its full extent and importance. Its history
is concerned not only with the rise and growth of a great
business, but with the situation brought about by new pro-
cesses of manufacture, and by the nature of a labor market
resulting from great tidal waves of immigration, which have
swept one race after another into the country, the newer push-
ing the older further up in the scale of employment.
Early in the nineteenth century New York began to be
recognized as a clothing center, though ready-to-wear gar-
ments were then but little known. By 1840 the value of the
industry was said to be $2,000,000. At the time of the Civil
War it had reached nearly six million dollars, and there were
some twenty thousand persons engaged in the industry. But
it is in comparatively recent years that the greatest growth has
been shown, being in this time hardly less than phenomenal.
To-day the value of the industry in the city reaches several
hundred million dollars, with nearly two hundred thousand
workers in it.
Great as has the industry become in mere size, even more
notable has been the change in the racial character of the
workers. It is quite possible that there is no other industry
in America which indicates so clearly the effects of Our im-
migration policy.
At the beginning of the industry it was in the hands of
4
purely native stock, reinforced by English and Scotch kinsmen
from across the sea. Towards the middle of the century the
Irish and the Germans began to enter, for a time the latter
seeming to be about to take possession of the field. However,
it was another race that was destined to obtain the mastery.
In the '70's and ’80’s, especially in the latter period, owing
to conditions in Russia, the Jews had begun to seek America
in great numbers, though before this they had been trickling in.
They gathered in New York, and with the clothing industry
growing as it was, they were not long in making entry into it.
Beginning in considerable measure as merchants in second-
hand clothing, they passed readily into the business of manu-
facturers. As their immigration increased, they began to
Supplant other races, and the industry came more and more
into their hands. In time not only did they furnish the bulk
of the workers, but the control of the industry came almost
entirely to be turned over to them. Indeed, had it not been
for the further action of the forces of immigration, the industry
might have become a distinctly racial one.
As time went on, other peoples of Europe followed the
call to America. The one of these that stopped in New York
in huge numbers was the Italian, and they too were destined to
leave an impress upon the character of the industry. Their
arrival took place mainly in the late ’80’s and the '90's, and it
was their women mostly who came in to underbid the Jews,
their chief part being played in the taking of the goods to the
home to be finished. Yet, nothwithstanding this, the direction
of the industry has remained with the Jews, and it is they who
are so largely associated with it. They now almost completely
own the shops; while of those who are still workers it is the
consuming ambition to become contractors to some manufac-
turer, and with this as a stepping stone to become regular
employers.
Parallel with the changes in the racial constitution of the
workers in the industry have been changes in the processes of
production. Before the middle of the nineteenth century there
was a little ready-made clothing on the market, to be pur-
chased at about half the price of custom made. The manu-
facture of this took place in the homes, where it remained
for many years, the introduction of the system being largely
due to the Germans. Under this arrangement the head of the
5
house had for his working force his wife and family, with
an occasional outsider. The sewing machine had now come
into use, and this added greatly to efficiency of production.
Yet prior to the Civil War the amount of ready-made clothing
manufactured was not large.
With the entry of the Jews into the industry, there com-
menced a new epoch in the processes of manufacture. The
industry was now being greatly extended, and they came in
when a system known as the contract system was being fixed.
Between the years 1876 and 1882 the “task system” forced
its way into the industry, which was dependent upon a “team”
or “set” of workers. Such a combination consisted of three
persons, whose duties were rather sharply separated: a baster,
an operator, and a finisher, the last being usually a girl. When
first inaugurated, a “task” was the completion of a given
number of garments. As competition became keener, the
number of garments constituting a “task” was increased, with-
out, however, effecting a corresponding increase in pay. For
instance, at one time the making of 8 or 9 coats formed a task,
but later the number was forced up to II or I2. It was at
this point mainly that the door was opened for the introduc-
tion of the sweating system, which has since been associated
with the making of clothing. In this process the journeyman
tailor had to abandon the field, and the hiring of regular
operatives became the order. Under such an arrangement the
Jew began to occupy the field, and it was here that he dis-
played his wonderful and relentless energy, it being his over-
mastering desire to have an establishment at some time of
his own. -
The next stage in the course of manufacture was the intro-
duction into the industry of the factory system, which came
from Boston. This is the system to-day employed, though
home work is still carried on to a greater or less extent. Such
has been the development up to the present, briefly told, of the
men's ready-made garment industry in New York. The pres-
ent organization of the industry requires a somewhat closer
examination.*
*Very valuable accounts of the development of the clothing industry
in New York are found in the studies of Dr. Jesse E. Pope, “The
Clothing Industry in New York”, 1905 (University of Missouri
Studies), and Mrs. E. E. Willett, “Employment of Women in the
6
In the present arrangement of the industry the work of
manufacture is really done in three separate and distinct
places: in the factory itself, in the shop of a contractor, and
in the home of the worker. In some cases practically all the
operations are performed in the factory, that is, in an “inside
shop”, which is especially likely to be true in the case of better
grade garments; but such an arrangement is found in but
a small portion of the industry. The vast amount of the work,
perhaps nine-tenths, is partly completed in the factory, and
then is given to the contractor to be finished, a portion of this
passing to the homes for certain minor operations. To-day
in the making of a suit of clothes the division of labor is
carried to a far degree. A garment requires many different
operations, a pocket, for instance, having alone several distinct
ones. In a full suit of clothes as many as a hundred workers
may have had some part. The greatest division of labor is
found in the better grade of goods.
The manufacturers of ready-made clothing in general buy
the cloth and trimming in large quantities from some special
factory or jobber, and have it brought into their establish-
ments. Here it is cut into the required patterns for the gar-
ments that are to be made up. This work is done by the
cutters, all of whom work in the regular factory. They are
the most skilled workers, and their work is the most important
in the industry, having to do with the finer points in shaping
a garment according to the prevailing styles or demands. They
are paid the highest wages, and are often referred to as the
“aristocrats” of the trade. They in fact form a distinct group
in the business, and have not always come in very close touch
with the workers in the scale below them. In the regular
establishments there are also trimmers and examiners, the
latter seeing that the garments, whether completed in the fac-
tory or outside, are properly made. There are in addition in
most shops a certain number of pressers. In large establish-
ments the total number of men may be several hundred, in a
few approaching a thousand; but in most it is less than a
hundred.
The cloth, having been attended to by the cutters, is now
ready for the contractor. This person plays a highly important
Clothing Trades”, 1902 (Columbia University Studies in History,
Economics, and Public Law.).
part in the industry. It is he who deals directly with the
men, the real “tailors”, the nominal manufacturer rarely com-
ing in contact with them. Sometimes he has one or more sub-
contractors working under him. His specialty is in one par-
ticular garment, as the coat, the pants or the vest, for it is
to be remembered that the three pieces of a suit of clothes are
manufactured separately. One contractor takes the coat,
another the vest, and the third the pants. All the parts are
reassembled by the manufacturer if he desires a full suit.
Sometimes in a large establishment a considerable number of
contractors are dealt with.
The contractor takes his article, and agrees to return it at a
certain time. For the work he proposes to do upon it, no
great amount of capital is needed. His floor space does not
need to be large, and every Square inch is made to count.
Equipped with needle, shears, sewing machine, and pressing
iron, he is ready to begin work. A typical task shop under him
will consist of three teams (each having a baster, an operator,
and a finisher), two pressers, a button-sewer and pocket tacker,
and, in addition, several other persons, chiefly women, who
are engaged in such work as felling and the like. A sub-
contractor is usually engaged to make machine button-holes,
while the pads necessary in certain parts of garments can be
procured at special shops. The contractor during all this is
proving himself something more than “boss”. He seldom
spares himself, and is found to be one of the hardest and most
efficient workers in the place. He is chiefly employed at lining
and bushelling, that is, general remodelling or repairing.
The contractor is not to be despised, nor is he to be alto-
gether condemned. His rôle is very different from that of the
ordinary middleman. It is he who first meets the raw immi-
grant laborer, provides him with a job, and gives him an
introduction to American ways. The opportunities he has are
thus great for service both to the worker and to the community
at large. The principle of contracting is itself not bad, but
is quite legitimate, and may be a necessary and essential part in
the manufacture of a great article of human consumption. Yet
in such a situation there lies no little danger. The main
trouble is in the want of responsibility of the contractor. The
worker is usually quite at his mercy. Often cut-throat com-
petition exists, and the contractor can only continue in business
8
by making further exactions upon his help. The workers
being new in the country, ignorant of other means of getting
a living, and willing to accept the lowest wages and longest
hours, are entirely within his power. They are thus unable to
protest, and may be driven to the last extremity.
Home work, that is, the taking of goods to tenement homes
for certain processes, has long been recognized as part of the
garment industry. Probably it really amounts to less than is
the usual belief, but that it is considerable is beyond question.
It is mainly the Italian women that come for this work, many
of whom live only a few blocks from the shops. In the per-
formance of their tasks no great amount of skill is required.
Their work consists mostly in felling, that is, stitching the
lining to the coat, Sewing around armholes, sewing on collars
and cuffs, basting pants, sewing on buttons, tacking pockets, etc.
That home work is fraught with possibilities of great abuse,
is evident; but how far the evils do exist is a matter difficult
to ascertain. Dr. Jesse E. Pope in his study, “The Clothing
Industry in New York”,” does not believe that they are as great
as is usually supposed. After speaking of the instances which
from time to time arouse public indignation, he says: “It is
these sporadic cases that the press and sensational writers are
constantly exploiting.” At the same time it is not to be denied
that by the homework a means of small earnings is provided,
the absence of which would prove a bitter hardship to those
who live by it. Nevertheless, perhaps in the long run it would
be better if home work were eliminated, and the community
would be the gainer without it. The whole matter should be
considered in plans for regulating immigration. At any rate,
there is a decided call for the regulation of the system as it is.
There is at present a certain amount of legal requirements
as to home work, but of neither great extent nor effectiveness.
In 1892 a law was enacted declaring work in the homes to be
illegal when done by workers outside the family in rooms
where there was eating or sleeping, and even here to be
authorized only by permit of the board of health. In 1899
it was required that there be 500 cubit feet of air space for each
worker, and that inspection be made every six months. There
* Page 16I. Home work is also well described in the Report on the
Condition of Woman and Child Wage-earners in the United States,
I910, vol. II.
are enumerated 41 articles which may be made in tenement
houses, but the actual number so made is near Ioo. Oversight
is given to the departments of health, labor, and tenements.
In 1912 a law was enacted, requiring that on such goods there
should be placed a label, “tenement made.”
In the industry women have been employed from the start,
but they are probably now in larger numbers than ever before.
In regular factories they are found the least, in contractors'
shops in greater proportions, and in home work practically
altogether. In New York, according to the special census of
manufactures of 1905, the number of women is relatively less
than in the country generally. In the former the ratio is 61 per
cent men to 39 per cent women, and in the latter 55 to 45.
That is, in New York nearly two-fifths of the workers in the
men's ready-made clothing industry are women. Just how far
this includes tenement house workers cannot be known, though
it seems doubtful if all could have been embraced.
We have thus far seen something of the processes of manu-
facture in the industry. It is now well for us to attempt to
gain an insight into the general conditions of labor—from the
point of view, that is, of the workers. These may be classified
as the rate of wages, the hours of labor, and the sanitary sur-
roundings. In respect to the rate of wages, it should be stated
at the outset that the matter of obtaining schedules in respect
to them is an exceedingly difficult one. The cutters are of
course the highest paid, receiving, before the strike of 1913,
in the best shops a maximum of something like $22 a week
or more, but averaging less than $2O. Below their grade wages
vary considerably, ranging from $8 to $20, but averaging, it
seems, $12 or $14. The wages of women appear to be from
$5 to $1 I in the shops, while in the homes $2 or $2.50 repre-
Sents their earnings. For many persons the work is seasonal,
and these are partly laid off several months a year, when they
work but two or three days a week. According to the em-
ployers, the wages are fully ten per cent higher than in other
cities.
As to hours of labor, we find the cutters again the most
favored. Some have 48 hours, which has been the case
for quite a few years, while others work 50, 52, 54, or
56 hours. For workers in the lower grades the hours are
Seldom under 54, and might extend to 60 or more. There has
IO
been a steady downward reduction of hours for a number of
years. Women usually have the same hours as men, save as
they have been modified by law. In homes the women have
of course to give part of their time to household duties, but
notwithstanding over half give six hours a day to their in-
dustrial work, and some much more.
In respect to Sanitary conditions the shops present the widest
range of difference. In some of the better class shops they
are admitted to be good, and in a few they are excellent. It
is in the cheaper shops in the poorer sections of the East Side
that they are worst. These shops are frequently located in
some old six or seven story building which has seen its best
days. Unless on an upper floor the light is likely to be poor;
wooden stairways are found more often than safety would
allow; and filthy toilets are more common than not. In not a
few shops over-crowding has reached a serious stage. The
evils in home work have already been referred to. A thorough
examination, however, would be necessary in order to deter-
mine the exact sanitary conditions of the entire industry.
A few words are now necessary in respect to the condition
of the trade at the time of the strike. The growth of the trade
in men's ready-made clothing has been truly remarkable, the
demand for it having literally advanced by leaps and bounds.
The industry now ranks seventh in gross value among manu-
factures in the United States, seventh in the number of wage-
earners employed, and eighth in the amount of wages paid."
As a result, clothing is produced in far greater quantities than
ever before. Not only this, but the price of such clothing is
much lower than it was some years ago. A suit of a given
quality costs less than half what it did two score years ago.
Although New York is the largest center of the industry in
America, there are other cities where it is of considerable
importance, notably Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, Chicago,
Rochester, Cincinnati, and St. Louis. These constitute serious
rivals, and the competing markets they afford play a large
part in determining conditions in New York. This city retains
its preeminence largely because of its position as an arbiter of
styles, its position as a market for cheap immigrant labor, and
its proximity to centers furnishing raw material. This in-
* See Special Reports on Manufactures, of the Census Bureau, 1905.
II .
dustry ranks second in importance among the industries of
the city, its value being over $300,000,000. Perhaps a third
of a million people earn their living by the needle trades
here, nearly half of whom are in the men's garment industry.
The men's ready-made clothing industry is confined not only
to the usual suits of clothes, but includes dress suits, rain coats,
Smoking jackets, fancy vests, boys' clothing, sailor suits and
Similar garments. Children's ready-made clothing is perhaps
concentrated in New York most of all, over three-fourths of
the output being manufactured here. The products of the
shops are sold everywhere in the United States, and also in
many foreign lands. The better grade articles are often stand-
ard goods, many being well advertised.
In the city there are certain fairly defined areas for the
clothing industry. The higher grade shops are located in Astor
Place, upper Lafayette Street, Center Street, Broadway from
Fourteenth to below Canal Street, with a number of cross
streets. The lower grade shops are scattered over the district
to the East and West, especially to the East, a number being
on streets along the East River. In Williamsburg and in
Brownsville on the Brooklyn side there are many shops also.
The location of the industry in fact accounts in large part for
the great congestion of population on the lower East Side of
Manhattan Island, this district having a density equalled no-
where else in the world.
Thus far we have discussed the growth and present condi-
tion of the industry. Let us now see what is the condition of
the workers, especially in the way of organization among
themselves. The cutters were on the field early with their
union, having organized in 1855. Since that time they have
maintained a comparatively vigorous organization, and have
been practically the only branch of the trade to develop
strength up to recent times. For a number of years they
showed little desire to have much to do with the others in the
industry, the latter remaining a mass of unorganized workers
for a long time. It was not an easy thing to organize them,
because of the large and constant influx of immigrants, Some
IO,OOO of them being said to be absorbed into the industry each
year, especially in the children's jacket and boys' knee pants
branches. Within the last decade, there has grown up a union
of the tailors, including many of those below the grade of
I2
cutters, known as the Brotherhood of Tailors. It has sought
the immigrant, and explained its objects to him, with the
result that in time he comes to display a new attitude towards
trade unionism. Many locals have now been established
among the several branches of the trade, as the vest-makers,
the pressers, the children's jacket-makers, etc. All are con-
nected with the United Garment Workers of America, in
affiliation with the American Federation of Labor.
With the organization of the industry, it was only a question
of time till there should be strikes. These have taken place
at various times, but for the most part have been small local
affairs. In 1880 occurred the largest one up to that time,
proving, however, unsuccessful. In 1893 there was another
fairly large strike. This was at the time when the American
Federation of Labor was making war upon the Knights of
Labor. The coat tailors had demanded of the employers the
discharge of all the workers belonging to the latter organiza-
tion. Upon their refusal to do this, the men went on strike.
Though defeated, the final result was the exclusion of their
enemies. In 1895 a strike occurred in the clothing industry,
which at first was believed to be a victory for the men, but
was without any great permanent gain, except possibly that
two years later a general agreement was entered into with
the employers on certain matters. In the winter of 1901-1902
a strike was ordered for the New York locals of the United
Garment Workers. Some 16,OOO workers were called out,
but the benefit to the union was little. In 1904 occurred the
largest and most important strike so far in the industry, in-
volving some 35,000 workers. It came from the action of the
National Clothing Association in adopting a policy with re-
spect to cutters and trimmers which seemed antagonistic to
union principles. The strike lasted six weeks, and during it
public sympathy was largely with the strikers. The men lost,
however, due, it is said, to the strike's being ill-timed and its
failure to include all the branches in the trade.
It might appear from this account that the unions of the
United Garment Workers in New York were given to fre-
quent strikes. This is not the case, however. As a matter of
fact, the officials have exercised considerable caution in calling
strikes. Both the local District Council and the General Ex-
ecutive Board have more than a few times laid a restraining
I3
hand upon attempted local action. This attitude, doubtless
inspired in some measure by the results of strikes in the past,
was apparent in the action of IQI3; and there has been gen-
erally strong aversion to the calling of a strike until conditions
have appeared propitious, and success seemed fairly certain.
At the same time it must not be thought that the history of the
Strike movements has been a losing one. In several of them
the men have gained some advantage, and in most the workers
have become more conscious of the union spirit. One material
gain has been in the use of the union label, which has been
affixed to the garments manufactured in a number of houses,
though as a matter of fact the public in its purchases has
never displayed any marked interest in such labels.
We now come to the consideration of the strike of 1913.
First, let us see what were the grievances of the workers that
caused them to undergo the long period of unemployment and
privation which they did. It may be said at the outset that
there was no acute situation precipitating the strike. The
strike might have occurred a year sooner or a year later, with
little effect upon the actual matters involved. The industry
had been quiet, so far as labor outbreaks were concerned, for
nearly ten years. During this time it cannot be asserted that
conditions had grown worse. There had been no new in-
ventions introduced to which labor was hostile. The employers
had taken no action that indicated unfriendliness to labor or
to labor unions. No outstanding act of injustice or abuse was
complained of.
Though it was sufficiently apparent that organizers had been
busy in creating a sentiment for a strike among the workers
for some time, it was none the less evident that this could
not have taken place but with their hearty approval. The sen-
timent had been growing slowly for several years, and it was
felt that it was only a question of time till the men should
be called out. The strike was really due to the conviction
that conditions in the trade, while not necessarily growing
worse, were hardening, and that the effect in time would be
disastrous to the men. Despite some improvements, it was a
question with many whether, after all, their state might not be
worse than it was before. At any rate it was felt that early ac-
tion would have to be taken. An effective blow, they reasoned,
must be struck before their predicament became intolerable.
I4
As we have seen, the strike had been looked for and planned
a year or more previously. In the summer and fall of 1912
evidences began to appear of the near approach of the strike.
In October mass meetings of workers were held by a number
of shops, to feel out the sense of the workers for immediate
action. Early in November District Council No. 1 of the
United Garment Workers of America, which has to do with
New York, found the outlook so promising that appeals were
issued to non-unionists to enlist in the approaching struggle.
In all this there was encouragement from the national body.
Later in November a conference was held of representatives
of the various locals, and the general sentiment was found to
be for an early strike. On December II there were twenty-
one mass meetings, attended by some 30,000 workers. Hopes
were enkindled from the fact that now for the first time
there seemed possible a strike of all the workers in the men's
garment industry in all its branches, from the cutter down to
the sewer of buttons. Furthermore, there was the vivid recol-
lection of the battle two years before in the cloak, suit, and
skirt industry. Had not the workers there after a prolonged
and bitter struggle won a great victory and secured the pro-
tocol and preferential shop P Was it not possible that the same
result might be attained here?
Formal voting on the proposition to strike began on De-
cember 18, and lasted till December 22. In it twenty-one
branches of the garment-making industry took part. When the
result was announced, it was found that 35,786 had voted
for the strike, and 2,322 against it—a vote of I4 to I for the
strike. According to the main branches of the trade, the vote
was as follows:"
Branch For Against
Coat makers and allied trades of Manhattan. . . . . . . . 21,058 743
Coat makers and allied trades of Brooklyn and
Brownsville . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,754 308
Children's jacket makers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,805 454
Pants makers of Greater New York . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,777 16o
Vest makers of Greater New York . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I,282 252
Button hole makers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3I2 22
Knee pants makers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,000 243
Custom tailors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 798 I40
Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35,786 2,322
* See Garment Worker, Dec. I3, 20, 27, 1912.
I5
It is not to be supposed, however, that this number repre-
sented all who were to be affected by the strike. Only the
members of the unions could vote, but it was hoped that by the
strike the industry would be so tied up that non-unionists
would be forced to leave their work, with the possibility of
many coming over bodily into the union. The number that
were expected to respond at once to the call were estimated
at a little under IOO,OOO, divided somewhat as follows:
Brotherhood of tailors
* * * * * * * * * * * * * s a e s e s a e e s e e s a e e s e º e s e e s e 25,000
West makers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ................... I2,000
Pants makers union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......................... I2,000
Pressers union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IO,000
Cutters union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............... 8,000
Custom tailors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,000
Overcoat and coat makers .................................. 5,000
Button hole makers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,000
Children's jacket makers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,000
Knee pants makers union . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................ 2,500
Boys' reefer suit makers union. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,500
Unbasted children's jacket makers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,OOO
Lithuanian tailors union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,000
Accordingly, the strike was called to take place on the last
day of the old year, it being believed that the business would
be hardest hit at this period.
In this strike the chief, or even overshadowing, demand was
for an increase in wages. It was contended that for ten years
there had been practically no increase, while the cost of living
had constantly mounted upward. As a further basis for this
demand, it was claimed that the share to labor in the pro-
duction of goods was disproportionately small. In a suit of
clothes, for instance, it was said, selling at wholesale for $8,
and retailing for $10, the contractor received little more than
a dollar, out of which he had to pay his help, while the material
used did not cost over half the wholesale price.
Concretely put, the demands of the striking workers in re-
spect to wages were for a general 20 per cent increase, to
be apportioned as follows: for machine cutters, knife cutters,
and cloth markers, $25; for trimmers, $22; for lining cutters,
$2O; for bushelmen and examiners, $18; for operatives of
the first class (that is, those who sewed around coats, sewed
in sleeves, and made pockets), $25; for operatives of the
Second class (that is, those who marked lining, and who
I6
stitched collars and coats), $22; for operatives of the third
class (that is, those who made sleeves, and all others who
worked at the machine), $16; for tailors of the first class (that
is, shapers, underbasters, and fitters), $24; for tailors of the
Second class (that is, edge basters, canvass basters, collar
makers, lining basters, and bushelmen), $21 ; for tailors of
the third class (that is, armhole basters, sleeve makers, and
similar workers), $17; for pressers, who were also bushelmen,
$24; for regular pressers of the second class, $24; for under-
pressers and edge-pressers, $18; for women and children
workers, who were button-sewers and bushel hands, $12; for
hand button hole makers of the first class, 3% cents per hole;
for workers on sack coats, 2% cents per hole; and for fellers,
not less than $10 a week.
In respect to hours of work, there was a formal demand for
the 48-hour week, though it was quite understood that the
workers would be well satisfied for the present if they could
obtain 50 or 52 hours. For work overtime, pay at the rate
of time and half was asked, and for holidays double time. In
addition, there was demanded the abolition of the system
of fining, of charges for power, breakage, etc., and of Sub-
contracting, including tenement house work. The question
of the recognition of the union was not raised as a direct issue;
and while it was hoped that the employers would treat with
their employees through the union, it was felt that the time
was not opportune to insist upon this point.
As the time approached for the strike the employers were
not in ignorance as to what was to happen. They said after-
wards that many of the strikers left without warning, but
there were really few of the manufacturers who did not expect
the strike. Not a large number of the men, however, presented
a formal statement of their demands on leaving, it being
claimed on the part of the workers that it was understood
that all offers of settlement should be presented to the regular
settlement committee of the union.
The manufacturers averred that they were quite willing
to listen to the complaints of the workers, but that such
complaints should come from them individually. They ex-
pressed a desire to make all the shops sanitary, and to remedy
other abuses. As to changes in the hours of labor and the
rates of wages, they declared that these were beyond their
pºp
I7
control, being regulated for the most part by the competition
of other cities. Already they were paying, so they said,
higher wages than prevailed in other places. If the present
wage demands were granted, they alleged, the cost to the public
would be increased one-third. Indeed, a trade paper” stated
that one of the reasons for the firm stand of the manufacturers
was to keep the price of ready-made clothing from rising to
too great a height. Finally, they argued, they might be dis-
posed to grant some of the demands after consideration, but
this would have to come later, as their orders had been taken
On the present basis.
Though the beginning of the strike was set for the last day
of the old year, it was understood by the workers when they
left the shops on the Saturday before, December 28, that they
would not return to work. To the first call the great majority
of the workers, perhaps three-fourths, responded. These
were added to the following days, and by the second week
probably from 80 to 85 per cent of the workers had left
the shops; while perhaps four hundred shops in all were
affected. Some of the manufacturers claimed to have a fair
number at work still during the strike, while a small number
of strike-breakers were induced to enter. However, in respect
to the great number of the shops, there was very little work
carried on, the employers contenting themselves with disposing
of the goods already in stock. The industry was in fact almost
entirely tied up.
The battle was now on. On the one side were the workers,
some in the various locals of the United Workers of America,
and some outside the unions, but standing with them. A
dozen or so different nationalities were represented. The
Jews formed much the largest section, furnishing over half
of the number. The Italians came next, with perhaps a third.
The remainder were Germans, Poles, Russians, Americans,
and others. A part of the strikers, perhaps a third, were
women. It is to be noted that the makers of made-to-order
clothing, unless in connection with some factory, did not par-
ticipate in the strike. They are mainly the so-called “two-
room” tailors, found in such numbers over the city, who work
independently, and usually alone, though sometimes calling in
an assistant.
* Clothier and Furnisher, March, 1913.
18
On the other side were the manufacturers. They were
themselves split into several groups. The manufacturers of
the better grade clothing were composed of four bodies: the
New York Clothing Trade Association, the Tailors to the
Trade, the Association of Boys' Clothing Manufacturers of
Greater New York, and the Association of Clothing Manu-
facturers. During the strike they were banded together in
the Allied Clothing Trades. They comprised over two hun-
dred manufacturers, and employed about a fifth of the
workers. At the beginning it was claimed that they had 90
per cent of the trade, though this was later proved far from
being the case. The next large organization of manufacturers
was the United Merchant and Manufacturers Association,
with a very large business. Below them were a large number
of Smaller associations, and at the bottom a considerable
group of modest individual establishments. In addition, a
very important factor was found in the United Association of
Clothing Contractors, composed of some 2,OOO concerns, which
claimed to have over three-fourths of the workers, and over
half of the work. -
Hardly had the strike commenced, however, when efforts
were made for its settlement. The Committee on Arbitration
of the Chamber of Commerce offered its services the very
day the strike was called. It proposed an investigation of
conditions in New York and other cities, the workers to
return to work pending the investigation. To this suggestion
the manufacturers were quite agreeable. But by the workers
it was rejected on the ground that they had no assurance
of the employers’ acceptance of the plan in case it
should prove adverse to them. It was also felt by them that
in the return of the workers to the shops all the great tactical
advantages in the organization of the strike would at once
be lost. The employers thereupon, declaring that they washed
their hands of responsibility for the continuance of the strike,
announced that they would have no more dealings with the
unions.
Soon afterward new conferences began at the offices of
the Bar Association, extending through most of the month
of January. These were between the United Manufacturers
and Merchants Association, the United Association of Cloth-
ing Contractors, and the United Garment Workers. The last
IQ
named organization had previously declined to have anything
to do with the contractors; but this body soon made plain
the necessity of their participation in the arrangements, and if
the negotiations had proceeded to an issue, they might have
been a party in the final agreement. In proof of their good
faith and of their strength, the contractors offered to put up
a bond of $100,000 as security for the fulfillment of their
obligations. No little encouragement towards the settling of
the strike was presented by the United Manufacturers Asso-
ciation. Though ridiculed by the other manufacturers'
organizations in the trade, it appeared an intelligent and pro-
gressive body. It indicated its thorough willingness to take
part in collective bargaining with the workers, and, indeed,
even to accept a protocol agreement on Somewhat the same
order as that adopted in the cloak, suit and skirt industry in
I910. After various discussions, however, the best that this
body could offer was a 54-hour week, and an advance in wages
of 5, 7%, and IO per cent., according to the pay before the
strike, but in no case to be less than one dollar a week. Though
the officials of the union did not appear altogether opposed to
this proposition, the workers made it clear that they would
not be satisfied with it. Another offer was made of a general
advance in wages of Io per cent, with a further increase in
the following April of 5 per cent, and of a 54-hour week for
all but the cutters, who were to have 48; but the unions, with
the exception of the cutters, who were rather disposed to look
with favor upon the scheme, insisted upon a 20 per cent raise,
or at least a 15 per cent immediate one, with a maximum of
50 hours a week. A compromise being acceptable to neither
party, the negotiations were finally abandoned.
There were other efforts made to settle the strike, coming
for the most part from groups of citizens, but few of these
received serious consideration. The State Board of Media-
tion and Arbitration, the official public body which had been
created to do what it could to adjust industrial disputes, also
offered its services during the entire period of the strike.
Its only accomplishments, however, were near the end, when it
succeeded in effecting agreements between some of the smaller
associations and their men. Once or twice it seemed that there
might be a national investigation, several propositions to this
end having been offered in Congress. Outside efforts were
2O
finally instrumental in bringing about a settlement, as we shall
find, but these came when the men were virtually exhausted,
and when it was seen that the time was ripe for successful
intervention.
At the beginning of the strike the strikers had engaged
a number of halls near the clothing districts, and here they
settled down as best they could to the task of waiting. To
many the Strike bore hard. Savings soon melted away, dis-
possess notices became increasingly frequent, and clamors of
wives and children grew louder and louder. Appeals for
help began to crowd upon the leaders, and they were often
pressed to devise means to meet the situation. Some
help was received from friends, especially in the providing
of food. Over ten thousand dollars came from the suit, cloak,
and skirt unions. The one spectacular feature of the strike
was a parade during its second week. In it there were over
50,000 marchers, who well indicated the cosmopolitan char-
acter of the workers. The parade was by the newspapers
called “a model of order.”
As a matter of fact, the strike was on the whole conducted
with no great disorder or breach of the peace; and in view of
the numbers involved, the amount of violence committed was
small. In certain districts, especially in the Lafayette Street
section and in Williamsburg and Brownsville, there were more
or less frequent clashes between the strikers and the police,
with numerous arrests.
It was proved during the strike that the officials of the
Garments Workers' Union were of a conservative temperment.
More than once they were charged with being over-eager to
accept compromises which would not have been advantageous
to the workers; and occasionally a revolt was even threatened.
The radical element was very much of the same character as
that which of late years has been making more and more deter-
mined efforts to guide the policy of the American Federation of
Labor. This element, however, did not, in the present strike,
find itself able to wrest the leadership from the conservative
group, and the latter remained in control to the end.
During the continuance of the strike some bitterness was
engendered among the strikers by the efforts of certain man-
ufacturers to restrain the former from picketing, though in
the end because of the course adopted by the court, no great
harm resulted. Two weeks after the strike had begun, one of
2I
the largest firms applied for a blanket injunction against the
picketing of the strikers, joined in soon after by nineteen other
firms. The order asked for was a sweeping one, which was to
forbid the strikers from “associating or loitering in front of
or in the vicinity of the plaintiffs' places of business or from
establishing or maintaining a system of picketing by stationing
or keeping one or more pickets,” etc. A temporary injunction
was secured; but when it was sought to have the injunction
made permanent, the court declared that it could not be granted
on an ear parte hearing, but only as a question of fact on the
appearance of both sides. Before the matter was finally deter-
mined, the strike had come to an end, and the injunction pro-
ceedings were allowed to drop.
The strike was broken almost from the start by settlements
with individual firms. Few days passed without there being
Some agreement effected of greater or less extent, and the
consequent return of a body of workers, numbering sometimes
several thousand, to the shops. The largest settlement was
with the Canal Street Clothing Association in the middle of
February, in which an agreement was signed allowing an in-
crease in wages of from IO to 20 per cent, with a week of 54
hours, to be later reduced. In this settlement some IO,OOO
persons were affected. By the third week in February about
40,000 workers were said to have returned to their shops.
Towards the end of the month settlements were being rapidly
effected with the boys' clothing manufacturers especially.
Finally, at the end of February, with half of the workers
back in their shops, and with the strikers' resources all but
exhausted, those still out were ready to consider Settlements
on a basis quite different from their original demands. The
employers at the same time, under the burden of their heavy
losses, were willing to make more or less substantial conces-
sions to the strikers. Both sides had grown weary of the
struggle, and were anxious to find some common meeting
ground.
With the situation thus, the opportunity had arrived for
outside parties to volunteer their good offices—something that
had not been possible at an earlier stage. It was felt in par-
ticular that if the allied associations could be brought into an
agreement with their workers, the rest of the manufacturers
would speedily fall in line. Accordingly, on the last day of
February a well-known citizen, himself formerly a clothing
22
manufacturer, wrote to the leading spirit in the allied associa-
tions and asked what would be the best that the manufacturers
would offer. After consultation, the following were presented
as a basis of settlement, in all the terms of which the man-
ufacturers for their part promised faithful compliance:
I. The strikers were to return to work at once.
2. The question of hours was to be left to the judgment of
three well-known citizens, their recommendations to be bind-
ing, but to be made with reference to conditions in other cities.
3. A general increase in wages was to be made of one dollar
a week, with a proportionate amount to piece workers, to take
effect at once, with no reduction during dull times, while the
wages of the cutters were to be determined specially between
them and the manufacturers.
4. Proper Sanitary conditions were to be guaranteed; sub-
contracting was to be abolished; contract shops were to have
the same hours and conditions of work as the inside shops;
and various minor abuses were to be remedied.
5. No discrimination was to be shown in the employment
of workers with respect to their attitude at the time of the
strike.
When this offer was received by the union officials, it was
accepted without delay, and the strike was declared off by the
Executive Committee. It was believed that it was the best
that could be secured, and that to continue the strike would
only mean added hardship. Most of the workers felt the
same way, and indicated at once their willingness to return on
these terms. However, there were a certain number, for the
most part of the Brotherhood of Tailors, who declared that
they would not have the agreement, and were for continuing
the strike. They denounced the union officials for calling it
off, charging them with having effected the agreement without
first submitting it to the workers, and with knowing little of the
foreign elements and their demands. These insurgents num-
bered less than IO,OOO, and after a week decided that they
could gain little over the terms offered, whereupon they too
fell in.
Within two weeks after the close of the strike, the com-
mittee appointed to investigate the hours of labor in other cities,
reported. It had examined the conditions in Philadelphia,
Baltimore, Boston, and Chicago. It made note of the general
tendency to shorten hours, and the discontent with 54 or more
23
hours in the clothing trade, and recognized the position of
New York as leader in the trade. It accordingly advised 53
hours as the proper number per week, which after January 1,
I9I4, should be further reduced to 52. The hours for cutters
were not so much affected, being in some cases 50, and in
Others 48.
The strike was now at an end. The shops were soon run-
ning on full time, and even more briskly than before the
strike to make up for lost time. The workers, after their long
fight, had won only a part of what they had asked for, though
Some of these gains were quite substantial. In all their spe-
cific demands they had secured some concessions, and in those
respecting material conditions had obtained nearly all they
had asked. The keenest matter of regret was in the failure to
obtain the full increase in wages which had been desired, al-
though it is not impossible that those actually secured were all
that many of the workers seriously expected.
The manufacturers, on their side, pointed out with a certain
amount of truth that they had been willing to grant many of
these concessions from the very first, and that the workers had
accomplished no great gains by holding out as they did. On
the whole, however, it appears that the workers did secure
concessions from their prolongation of the strike that would
have been impossible earlier. This is notably true in respect
to the matter of hours. It was no light thing to obtain first
53 hours, and later 52, in an industry where 56 hours or more
had been no unusual practice.”
In the strike no such victory had been won as had been the
case in the cloak, suit and skirt industry in 1910, when, after a
hard struggle of nine weeks, there had been secured a 25 per
cent increase in wages, a reduction of hours to 49 a week, and
the preferential shop, under the protocol agreement. In the
strike of 1913 such results were impossible of accomplishment.
The workers in the men's garment industry were of too varied
a complexion to have a thoroughly cohesive organization. A
large number were raw immigrants, many of whom were in
the lowest scale of employment and seldom far removed from
destitution, and who could be expected to have little apprecia-
* Simultaneously with, or occurring soon after, the New York strike,
were strikes in the men's garment industry in Boston, Philadelphia,
Rochester, Chicago, Baltimore, and other cities, in nearly all of which
reductions of hours were secured.
24
tion of the benefits of a union. The garment workers were
thus not able long to pit their resources against those of the
employers.
There is today in the industry a somewhat stronger union
than existed before the strike. Yet the difficulties in building
up a powerful and lasting organization in the entire in-
dustry remain. There has been a certain increase in member-
ship in the unions, but on the whole not a particularly large
permanent addition. It should not be thought, nevertheless,
that the strike bore no fruit in the way of enhancing esteem for
unions. The moral effect could not be wholly absent, and
most of the workers probably realize the strength to be found
in organization to a greater degree than was possible before
the strike.”
In the final settlement of the strike a consideration not to be
lost sight of was the introduction of the principle of ar-
bitration, and this is to be regarded as a not unimportant gain
to the workers. It had been suggested from the beginning, as
we have seen; but coming when it did it probably secured
more far-reaching results than would otherwise have been
possible.
Yet to the public it must remain a matter of deep re-
gret that the principle of arbitration and mutual concession
could not have had application sooner. Though there were
public agencies whose business it was to deal with such af-
fairs, and though there were offers from private bodies to help
adjust the difficulties, no suggestion was listened to till both
sides were weakened, and one was exhausted. No external
pressure was allowed to influence either combatant. The
public could do nothing but look on, and await the conclusion.
The economic waste was great—the pecuniary loss to the em-
ployers, the suffering and privation to the workers and their
families, the inconvenience and injury to the public. In the
end no real issue was determined, and no advance was made in
settling industrial disputes or improving industrial relations.
For such a strike the price paid was too heavy a one.
* The President of the United Garment Workers states that since
the strike has occurred, “there is a growing tendency on the part of
the manufacturers to treat with our unions through accredited repre-
sentatives.” American Federationist, Sept., 1913.
UNIVERSITY OF MICH IGAN
||||||||||
548
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

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