IIIMIliri!ll!>l)rC']rui.i>JiHi.iiN(ill III|IH -' I IBM !i Mil !ljfltlWl(iriil\ these new duties. Finally the obligation conferred upon the, union, through the preferential union shop, to furnish the employer with workmen necessitates the organization of employment offices and an understanding of the problems of employment and unemployment. So far as general union business is concerned, the smallest political unit in the Chicago union at the present time is the local union. Although the Amalgamated Clothing Workers is an industrial union in the sense that it presents a uniform policy for all workers regardless of craft, some of the locals still retain their craft distinctions. In the main, however, the local unions are divided with reference to the , principal branches of the industry and the nationality and sex of the workers. Thus, the eleven local unions in Chicago at present comprise six local unions of coatmakers, and five ] locals of cutters and trimmers, vest makers, pants makers, spongers and examiners, and machinists. The six local unions of coatmakers consist of five language locals Bo- 4 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO hemian, Polish, Lithuanian, English, and Italian and one local union of women. The membership of the local unions varied in December, 1921, from 80 for local 272 to 11,510 for local 89. For all practical purposes, the local union is the place to which the members of the same branch of the industry or of the same craft may come to discuss their problems in relation to the policy of the organization, make suggestions to the Joint Board, discipline members who have violated the principles of the organization, and in general act as a center for the consideration of questions that are of concern to its members. \ The effective and important unit of government in the union is, however, the Joint Board. This body is composed of 85 delegates elected annually by the local unions, a mana- ger and financial secretary-treasurer elected by the entire membership, and two deputies-at-large similarly elected. Because of the size of the Joint Board, the conduct of cur- rent, routine business is entrusted to a smaller board of directors, a finance committee, and an appeal board which hears appeals from the decisions of local unions. In the Joint Board is centered the collection and disbursal of money, the initiation and execution of the policy of the union in the industry, and the supervision over the staff of the organization. Probably one of the principal features of the Chicago union of clothing workers is the centralization of its finances in the Joint Board. The money collected through dues goes not to the local union but to the Joint Board, where it is distributed and is subject to strict and frequent auditing by both the local and national offices of the union. The dues of two dollars a month which is required of each member of the union is at the outset allocated in the following way: 25 cents for building and maintenance 50 cents for the national office 20 cents for the reserve fund 5^/2 cents for the local unions 7% cents for the papers published by the national office 92 cents for the Joint Board. THE CHICAGO JOINT BOARD 5 The sum received by the Joint Board is used to pay sala- ries, rent, organization expenses, the expenses of shop meet- ings, donations, and the loss in wages through union business of officials who work in the shop. The relation of the union to the machinery of arbitration and adjustment of disputes has made necessary the develop- ment of an additional unit of government and of elaborate administrative machinery. A large part of the life of the factory worker is after all spent in the 'shop. There he has his disputes with the foreman, objects v to rules, protests his new piece rates, feels discrimination in the failure to apply ^ JL the equal division of work principle, and participates in a/j> stoppage, or is affected by one. In any or all cases adjust- ment must be made promptly and on the spot. Neither the management nor the worker can afford to wait until the point at issue has been brought to the local union or to the Joint Board and there settled. For matters such as these the employer must have his shop representative and the union its shop organization. As early as the Hart, Schaff ner and Marx agreement, therefore, shops acted as units and elected their shop-chairman and assistant shop-chairman to represent them in matters affecting their interest that daily arose within the shop. With the signing of the 1919 agree- ments this system of shop representation was adopted throughout the market and the shop chairman and his assist- ant everywhere in the city represents his fellow workers, meets with the representatives of the firm, adjusts differ- ences where possible, and refers difficult cases to other offi- cers of the union. At the same time, however, the clothing industry in Chi- cago is in many respects a unit. The union makes agree- ments not only with individual firms but with the market as a whole. While permitting local and shop settlements of disputed issues, the union must also see to it that working conditions approach a fair degree of standardization. This implies a certain amount of uniformity of policy throughout the city. Through the medium of hundreds of shop chair- men, scattered through the industry and working under CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO iff- &r varying conditions, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to attain uniformity and standardization. For this purpose, therefore, it is necessary to have another set of officers, with wider fields of jurisdiction, of long experience and a knowl- edge of the industry and of the policy of the union. It is, likewise, desirable to give to either employer and employee who may be dissatisfied with a ruling of the shop chairman, the right to appeal from his decision, or at least the oppor- tunity to discuss the matter with another agent of the union. Frequently also the failure of a shop chairman to effect a friendly settlement of a stubborn case, without resort to the impartial machinery, makes necessary the intervention of a higher union official, who by reason of his authority, skill, and experience finally reaches an amicable adjustment. To supplement the work of the shop chairman in this way, the Joint Board has as part of its regular staff 34 deputies, 32 of whom are elected by various local unions and 2 by the membership at large. Of the first group, 20 represent the coat makers; 5 the pants makers; 3 the cutters; 3 the vest makers ; and 1 the spongers, examiners, and bushelmen. To each of these deputies a certain branch of the industry or part of the city is assigned and he there carries on his work visits the shops; settles disputes; hears grievances; sees that union conditions are observed; and acts as intermediary be- tween the Joint Board and the shop. With a staff so large and duties so varied, the efficiency of the organization must depend on the ability of its officers to coordinate and direct the work of the men and women engaged in these various activities. In actual practice this task of direction is in the hands of Levin, the manager of the Joint Board, and of his associates, Marimpietri, Rosen- blum, Rissman, and Skala. In the offices of the Joint Board on Halsted Street, at daily conferences and meetings lasting long into the night, the day's work is planned, the union policy is outlined, and men are assigned to their jobs. Every day but Sunday, from early morning to late night, a con- stant stream of men and women winds in and out of Levin's office. Now it is a business agent seeking advice on a dif- THE CHICAGO JOINT BOARD 7 ficult case or protesting a decision of the Trade Board ; now it is a delegation from a contract shop complaining that the contractor has closed his shop and refused to pay the work- ers their wages. A moment later it is a worker from one of the shops explaining that he is given less work than his \V| fellows in the same shop, while he has a wife and children - to support and can earn only a few dollars a week. Another comes from the employment office across the hall to tell a tale of discrimination which has kept him unemployed for a month while the clerk in the employment office has sent hun- dreds of other members with the same qualifications to jobs he might have had. With infinite tact and patience Levin listens to the stories, scribbles notes on his pad, elicits by shrewd cross-examination the essential facts in the case, and passes to the next complaint. In the next office Marimpietri carries on the work as head of the price-making department. Long in the industry, a veteran of all the battles which the clothing workers have fought in Chicago since 1910, Marimpietri carries at his finger tips a knowledge of the processes in the industry, systems of wage payments, the relation between piece rates and the character of the work that is probably unequalled anywhere in the industry. To him are brought for adjust- ment the innumerable disputes over the fixing of new piece rates. Work changes, new shops are opened, new processes are introduced, styles change, processes are sub-divided ; each change, small or large, raises problems of rate adjustment that require technical and expert knowledge of rate fixing. In cases that are finally brought to the Trade Board for settlement, frequently the testimony of Marimpietri alone is sufficient assurance to the chairman of the fairness of rate. An organization as large as the Chicago Joint Board has from time to time its special problems which must be met promptly and effectively. To perform its function in the system of collective bargaining now prevailing in the in- dustry, the union must participate with the employers and the arbitration machinery in the administration of policies agreed upon in negotiations or ordered by the impartial CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO machinery. Thus the arbitration award of April, 1921, con- tained, among other things, a provision for the establishment of standards of production for cutters and trimmers. The administration of this decision depended upon an examina- tion of present production, a knowledge of differences in shop conditions, and possession of the confidence of the workers whose standards were to be fixed. This task was assigned to Rissman. Formerly a cutter, now deputy-at- large and assistant manager of the Joint Board, for a long time the representative of the cutters, Rissman for almost a year, in cooperation with a representative of the employers and with Professor Millis, Chairman of the Board of Arbi- tration, was engaged in this task of setting standards. With this done he turns to the fixing of trimming standards. Thus there has in a short period developed this division of labor, which brings to the work of the union experience and intelligence. But the activity of the Joint Board does not stop even here. The staff of the Board is composed, of course, of diverse individuals, who react variously to the same situation. The organization must have a policy, how- ever elastic it may be. On Saturday mornings, for example, all of the deputies meet in joint conference. Some have en- countered puzzling cases in the course of their week's work. They wonder whether their experience is new or old. Is it wise or not for the organization to adopt one of a number of alternative policies in the settlement of a particular issue? What is the temper of the people with regard to a proposed or adopted policy of the union? Questions such as these are here reviewed in weekly discussion. Out of it comes gradually a policy, an understanding of the many-sidedness of what seems at first a simple point, and the development of a group spirit. Frequently, also, an impending crisis or the making effec- tive a new policy of the union makes it necessary to reach promptly the whole of the rank and file. When the General Executive Board of the union decided to raise a reserve fund throughout the whole of the clothing industry, the first step was to make known the proposal to the rank and file. A THE CHICAGO JOINT BOARD 9 similar situation was presented with the decision to raise a fund for the relief of the victims of the Russian famine. In Chicago this contact with the membership is made through shop meetings conducted throughout the city. Shop chair- men are called into a general meeting, where they have an opportunity to discuss the proposals. The office of the Joint Board prepares a schedule of shop meetings. Convenient halls are rented. Organizers of different nationality, chosen for their relations with the groups whom they are to address, are called in from the field and are assigned to their shop meetings. Then the machinery is put into operation and the A \ i shop meetings are held. At these meetings every possible l y*/ i type of subject is considered, from the history of the Amal- '. gamated to the specific proposal then under discussion. An idea of the extent of these meetings can be got from the fact that in the year from February, 1921, to January 14, 1922, 2,104 such meetings were held throughout the city 886 in the down-town and outlying districts, 814 in the northwest side, and 404 in the southwest. An activity of the union, which has in the past two years assumed great importance, grows directly out of the terms of the agreements between the union, Hart, Schaffner and Marx and the other clothing manufacturers of Chicago. Under these terms the manufacturers are given the right to employ non-union workers, provided that no qualified union workers are then available for the work. The manufac- 1 turers, therefore, apply to the union for workers before they attempt to engage any in the open market and the union has come to conduct a registration office of its unemployed mem- bers. To this office unemployed come and register; give what particulars about their occupations are necessary; and await a call to the next job. In the years of depression like 1921 and 1922, the ante-room in the union headquarters is almost daily filled with such applicants seeking employment. From October 5, 1920, to the end of 1921, 44,384 " O. K.'s " were issued to unemployed members at the three employ- ment offices now conducted by the union. Not all of the energies of the union, however, are ex- 10 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO pended in purely industrial and political affairs. Union business is necessarily absorbing; the problems of the in- dustry must be attended; but at the same time attention should not be diverted from the possibilities for cultural development that inhere in a group continuously engaged in a common enterprise. These 40,000 to 50,000 members of the union, of some twenty different nationalities; varied in outlook and training; some in the country a few months, others born here ; some members of trade unions for 20 years, others inducted within the last month or week ; to this motley group must be given cohesion and unity, outside of the shop and industry as well as within. It is in general to accom- plish this end that the union pursues its educational activ- ities. Education becomes more than mere instruction ; it is the great social activity of the union. The school room of the educational department of the Chicago Joint Board is not a small hall where a few ardent students of Marx straggle in and out a night or two a week. It is a great, bright enter- tainment on Friday night; a meeting of more than 5,000 persons at Carmen's Hall, where men bring their families, stand in line from late afternoon and stay until near mid- night to hear members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, famous singers, pianists, and violinists, and to listen to talks by such men as Lincoln Steffens, Raymond Robins, Frank P. Walsh, Hillman and others. These gigantic meetings, started for the first time in 1919, have now become an insti- tution in the lives of the Chicago clothing workers. They could no more be abolished than could the union itself. Each year a larger number of these types of meetings are held. In 1920 the appropriation for them was $5,400 and in 1921 this sum was raised to $12,000. While these large meetings constitute the center of the educational activities of the union, classes for the instruction of small groups have also on occasion been provided. It is the purpose of the Joint Board to facilitate reading and study by the building of a library which has already been established in the central offices of the Board on Halsted Street. But the educational foundations of the union are Executive Offices, Chicago Joint Board Samuel Levin, Manager ; A. I). Marimpietri, in Charge, Price Fixing; Frank Rosenblum, Directing Organization Work THE CHICAGO JOINT BOARD 11 still the daily contact in the shops, local unions, and at the Joint Board between the workers, the union and the in- dustry, and the Friday night meetings. Up to the present the members of the Chicago Joint Board have learned most by active participation in the business of running their union and of conducting their affairs in shop and factory. The Chicago Joint Board of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers has not played its part in the clothing industry of Chicago alone. From the time when, in 1910, it first re- jected the leaders of the United Garment Workers, through the fight at Nashville in 1914, until the present, it has been a powerful force in more ways than one in building a strong national organization of clothing workers. When the break came at Nashville, the Chicago delegates, the memory of 1910 still vivid in their minds, joined with the delegates from New r York and elsewhere in the fight to discredit and reject Rickert and his associates. Later when the Amal- gamated Clothing Workers was organized, Chicago men and women became leaders of the new organization. Prob- ably never before in the history of a labor organization were so many leaders drawn from so narrow a circle. Sidney Hillman, president of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, was an apprentice cutter in Hart, Schaffner and Marx and a striker in the strike of 1910. Potofsky, now assistant gen- eral secretary-treasurer of the national union, Levin, Marimpietri, Rosenblum, Skala, Rissman, members of the General Executive Board of the national union, are all from Chicago and helped in the rise of both the Chicago Joint Board and of the national organization. This contribution of leadership did not end the service of the Chicago union. From the first the spirit of Chicago has been of incalculable service when the fight was on in other centers and the outlook seemed dark. They, them- selves, worn by long struggles with the clothing manufac- turers, yet never forgot the importance of an active national organization. When the time came, and the national union was being attacked, Chicago went a long way toward sup- 12 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO plying the sinews of war. In the New York lockout of 1918-1919, the Chicago members took the back pay granted them in Hart, Schaffner and Marx, to the amount of 60,000 and sent it to their fellows in New York who were not working. Again in the great New York fight of 1920- 1921, when the cost of conducting strikes had mounted and the union was hard pressed in Baltimore and Boston as well, Chicago, in the midst of a period of widespread unem- ployment, raised $600,000 and sent the money to the aid of New York. Toward peaceful enterprises the Chicago Joint Board has been equally generous. Only recently, a short period after the New York assessment, it raised and contributed $62,000 to the relief of the Russian famine victims. From Chicago, also, go the representatives of the national office to organize the clothing workers in the surrounding cities. Organization activities in Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Louisville, St; Paul, Milwaukee, are all carried on from Chicago as a center. Frank Rosenblum, a general organizer of the national office, an active member of the Chicago union since before the strike of 1910, skilled in the art of organiza- tion, directs from Chicago this work of organization in the outlying districts. To his aid he enlists such men and women as Isowitz, Kroll, Skala, Rissman, Krzycki, Johann- sen, Grandinetti, Nettie Richardson, seasoned organizers, trained in the Chicago struggles, to carry the spirit and achievements of Chicago to men and women who are still battling for emancipation. In common with the policy of the national organization, the Chicago Joint Board has from the first established friendly connections with the rest of the American labor movement. Although an independent union, in that it is, not affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, it has not hesitated to do all in its power to cement its relations with other labor organizations. In the city of Chicago and in the State of Illinois it has both received and given sup- port from 1910 on. Between such men as Fitzpatrick and Nockels and the Chicago union there has always existed THE CHICAGO JOINT BOARD 13 mutual sympathy and cooperation. The story of the great Chicago clothing strikes cannot be written without tribute to the services of these men in the cause of the strikers. As the Chicago Joint Board itself grew in power and resources it was able to lend aid to those who needed it. To the steel strikers of 1919 it gave $72,000. But its real contribution to the general labor movement lies deeper. The Chicago Joint Board for ten years has been a vast, experimental laboratory in American trade unionism. In it experiments in internal government and in industrial relations have been prosecuted and have yielded illuminating results. No greater service can be asked of a pioneer organization than that it has blazed a trail upon which others may follow. This history of the organization of Chicago clothing workers leaves it not at the end but at the beginning of its career. Much has been accomplished in the short space of ten years. But always the clothing workers look for new fields to conquer and for new burdens to assume. Plans for the construction of a new home on the site shown as the frontispiece to this volume and of a building on the north- west side are now under way. Their completion makes possible new undertakings which the inadequacy of the present offices of the union has forced to be postponed. Within only the past few months the preliminary steps were taken for the organization of a cooperative bank financed and organized by the members of the union. The present ^ crisis of unemployment has led to the establishment of a loan fund for the support of the indigent unemployed. The educational activities of the union are expanding. New problems of the industry will arise and old ones will assume a new and unfamiliar form. May the future of this organiza- tion retain the vigor and insight that have characterized its past. PART I THE GROWTH OF ORGANIZATION CHAPTER II THE STRIKE OF 1910 THE Chicago Garment Strike of 1910 was the first great landmark in the long struggle of the clothing workers for emancipation. Because it was felt to be the beginning of a great movement, and because of the importance of the issues and the proportions that the strike reached, there has col- lected about the story of this fight a mass of memories and traditions, and about the figures of those who were in the thick of it and who devoted themselves heart and soul to the cause of the workers, an almost historical glamor. It was a struggle to excite the keenest interest not only of the world of labor, but of all public-minded citizens. No one could be non-partisan in such a fight, and no one was. The feature of the strike was the entirely unorganized con- dition of the strikers and the spontaneity and determination of their protest in spite of that fact. It has been described by Mr. Dvorak, the author of the famous strike articles in the Chicago Daily Socialist, as a " simultaneous upheaval of over forty-one thousand garment workers, brought on by sixteen girls, against petty persecution, low wages, abuse and long hours ; an upheaval unorganized at the start, which later took on the form of a fight for recognition of the union." The strike did not grow out of a premediated attempt to organize the workers it rose directly from the industrial conditions of the workers in Chicago. ' There really were no definite demands ; the demands were that con- ditions must be changed; nobody knew exactly what they wanted; they wanted something better, of course, or different." These conditions were the inevitable result of the nature and organization of the industry itself, coupled with the un- 18 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO organized and defenceless position of the workers. A glance at the history of the competitive struggle between the Chi- rago Wholesale Clothiers' Association (an organization of big concerns formed in defence against the new small tailor shops) and the one big firm that refused to enter the Asso- ciation Hart, Schaffner and Marx is enough to show how ythe independent tailors, and later the contractors, were all caught in the same system. Gradually, under the competition \r\ of more powerful firms the smaller inside shops were driven out of independent business. Many of them turned their inside shops into contract shops and began to work for these big firms on a contract basis. The contractors thus found themselves caught between the upper and nether millstones of the association firms and their rival, Hart, Schaffner and Marx. They became mere pawns in the fight for supremacy. The first important move in this struggle came in response to a tactical increase in contractors' prices granted by the association houses, when Hart, Schaffner and Marx sud- denly withdrew all work from their contract shops and opened in their place inside shops employing over eight thousand tailors. This step was the signal for a drive on the part of both competitors to reduce their labor costs. The contract system lent itself easily to reductions in rates, for the contractors would pass the price reductions demanded by the manufacturers on to the workers by lowering their rates. At the same time Hart, Schaffner and Marx would try to preserve its competitive position by cutting the wages of its workers. This whole process was, also, made easy by the prevalence of piece work in an unorganized market. Without protection of their piece rates, the workers would be speeded up and then, when their earnings increased, would have their piece rates cut. A seasonal industry, unorganized workers, contractors, produced their natural and inevitable consequences low earnings, excessive hours, and a helpless- ness, which could be relieved only by a powerful and con- tinuous organization of those who worked in the industry. The helplessness of the workers not only made it impos- sible for them to resist these conditions but was itself aggra- THE STRIKE OF 1910 19 vated and intensified by them, so that the workers were caught in a vicious circle. In the first place, the garment workers were almost without exception recently arrived immigrants, unable to speak English, and ignorant of customs and con- ditions of other American industries. The racial and linguistic differences among the workers themselves made common understanding and action extremely difficult. An article describing the beginning of the strike in the official organ of the Women's Trade Union League, says that the re- bellious groups were not even known to each other. ' They poured out of the shops, threw down their needles, and in nine different languages demanded a better condition of af- fairs in the industry of garment making in Chicago." That the ignorance of language and customs and the " green- ness " of the immigrant workers were taken advantage of, is proved again and again by stories that were told in the course of the investigation of the strike. The following story was told by a young Italian girl : " There were about ten greenhorns who could not talk Eng- lish at all. I can't speak English very good, but I speak more than what they could. So in the evening I went to the boss and I said: ' Do you like my work? ' He said, ' Yes, I like your work very well.' I said : ' How much are you going to pay me? ' He said What can you do? Well,' I said, I told you, basting, finisher, buttons, all kinds of work.' So he said, * Well I would like to have you be the forelady to teach these greenhorns how to work because these are greenhorns and they can't work very well. You just be forelady and tell them to work more and make me good work.' So I said * Well, all right, but don't you like the work they do? ' He said, ' No, they can't work for me now but you must try and learn them.' So I said to him ' If you think they can't do the work I have some good, experienced girls that could do the work right, and I will bring them over in the morning.' So he laughed he stopped ij" and laughed. He said, ' Experienced girls? Not in my shop ! ' * Why not? ' He said, ' I want no experienced girls. They know the pay to get. I got to pay them good wages and they make me less work, but these greenhorns, Italian people, Jewish people, all nationalities, they cannot speak English and they don't know where to go and they just come from the old coun- try, and I let them work hard, like the devil, and those I get for less wages." 20 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO Most of the workers had learned their trade in their own countries, but that served only to make them the more de- pendent on the only trade in which they were skilled. At the same time the seasonal nature of the industry and the fact that the industry was always over-supplied with labor kept the workers in constant fear of losing their jobs, and this fear made them powerless to complain or resist. The answer was always the same: "If you don't like it, you can leave." " We don't need you." ' There are plenty to take your place." One of the girls told of her own experience, which was typical of many others. She had protested against a further wage cut in a shop of which she was forelady. The boss said, "If they cannot make it, here is the window and here is the door. If they don't want to go from the window they can go from the door, and if they don't want to go from the door, they can go from the window. * * * I have lots of greenhorns. I got to make my own living." It is all the more astonishing, in view of the workers' lack of organization and their fear of losing their jobs, that the strike grew to be more serious than any of the frequent sporadic flare-ups that had been so prevalent in the industry, and thus far so futile. It would have to be a serious and almost unbearable accumulation of grievances that would induce the workers to run that risk sooner than continue un- der the old sweat-shop conditions. A Grievance Committee appointed by the Strike Committee of the Women's Trade Union League, after the strike began, published a report of its findings and accounts of grievances told by girl strikers. These stories and the evidence submitted later to the Illinois State Senate Investigation Committee give some idea of how serious these grievances were. By means of the piece work system and reduction of rates, the workers were driven to an ever-increasing speed, that was injurious to their health not only on its own account, but also because the long hours and the ill-ventilated and ill-lighted shops added to the nervous strain of speeding. This state- ment by Hillman is typical: Sidney Hillman, General President THE STRIKE OF 1910 21 " In our place (Sears, Roebuck) we were working about seven thousand girls in our place ten hours a day, and before the ten hour law was passed they used to work three nights a week, getting for remuneration a supper that was paid for by the Company in their own restaurant." The fastest workers would be made " pacemakers " and their rates would be increased until they had reached the highest possible production. This production would then be required of all the workers and the rates gradually re- duced. Changes in operations or the combination of what had been two or more operations into one, or other changes that made the work more difficult would be required without any compensating changes being made in the piece rates, so that the actual earnings of the workers were decreased. An- nie Schapiro gives the following testimony for her own shop: " When they (the workers) were first cut a quarter of a cent in shop 5, the firm promised the workers they would not have to sew the waist bands in the pants. But later the boss said ' Boys, I want you to sew the bands for the same money.' We kept quiet because we could not help it." The rates to begin with were in most cases so low as to make it impossible for the workers to earn a living without taking work home. Needle workers would take packages of needles home with them to thread at night, so as to be able to get more work done in the shops. Women earning from three dollars to six dollars a week on piece work rates would take work away with them to do at night, despite the long working day. One story told to the Grievance Committee shows that the women in one shop had to finish ten coats a day, and each coat required at least an hour and a half, even for an experienced worker. The rates for these were thir- teen cents a coat, which meant that if they worked ten hours steadily, at the greatest possible speed, they could make eighty-five cents a day. Later the boss of this shop was cut by the contractor he was working for and he told the girl that the women in her shop have to do the work for twelve cents a coat. Her own story, which follows, shows how the workers were finally goaded into striking: 22 CLOTHIXG WORKERS OF CHICAGO " I said, ' I am not going to tell those people twelve cents a coat.' He said, * You got to tell them.' I said, ' No, sir, you tell them yourself. I am just ashamed to tell them '. . . . He said, ' You are forelady, you are supposed to do the speaking.' I said, ' Well, if I am supposed to do the speaking, then I will not be the forelady, I want to be a working girl, the same as the others, and then I don't speak." " I knew they were striking in all the shops, so I told all our girls, I said, ' The first whistle we hear in the window, that means for us to strike.' So one day, it was dinner time, quarter after twelve and we hear a big noise under the window and there was about two hundred persons were all whistling for us to come down and strike, so I was the first one to go out and get the other girls to come after me." Other workers told similar stories: " We started to work at 7.30 and worked until 6 with three- quarters of an hour for lunch. Our wages were seven cents a pair of pants or one dollar for fourteen pairs and for that we made four pockets and one watch pocket. But they were always changing the style of stitching, and till we got the swing of the new style, we would lose time and money and we felt sore about it. Some of the new styles took more time, anyway. One day the foreman told us the wages were cut to six cents a pair of pants and the new style had two watch pockets and we didn't stand for that, so we got up and left after Mr. Wolf told us if we didn't like the prices, we could quit. " That was way back in September. We walked over to Hart, Schaffner and Marx to see if we could get work there, and we found they had a strike. We knew nothing of it, but of course we wouldn't scab. After a week or so, we went back to the old shop and found others in our place. Then the great strike came not just the separate little strikes, but one whole strike. When the foreman heard us all talking about it, he said, * Girls, you can have your pockets and your cent again if you'll stay.' But just then there was a big noise outside and we all rushed to the windows and there we saw the police beating the strikers on our account, and when we saw that we went out." Another worker testified that she worked in one shop for three years at four dollars, five dollars, and later seven dol- lars a week. Later when she was put on piece work, she could earn more but it was harder work and the highest earnings she ever made were twelve dollars. THE STRIKE OF 1910 23 But the reductions in rates and wages were not the only grievances of the workers. Again and again there are com- ' ^A plaints about the abuse of the absolute and arbitrary power vested in the foreman or even the assistant foreman. It was ; this power as much if not more than the seasonal periods of unemployment that instilled in the workers the constant fear of being fired, and kept them from making complaints. " I especially recall the feeling of fear besides the wages," testified Hillman before the Federal Industrial Relations Com- mission in 1914, " I believe I started in with $7 a week, and dur- ing 3 years I worked up to $11 or $12 ; but what I consider more important is this, that is the constant fear of the employees of being discharged without cause at all. There really was no cause at all sometimes. The floor boss, as we called him, did not like a particular girl or man, and out they went. I remember especial- ly the panic of 1907 when the employees were in constant fear of ' Who will be thrown out?' I remember we tried, all of us, to get into the good graces of the floor boss. When I worked for Hart, Schaffner and Marx I worked two months without pay, as it was understood that I had savings enough to live if I did not get any other remuneration. I believe for about a couple of months I worked for $6 or $7 a week. The conditions prevailing were about the same everywhere, the man directly in charge was the boss and everything else. I remember when I made the first complaint I packed up my tools and I went out." One girl testified that she began work at the age of 12. She was small enough to be covered by the boss' coat when the factory inspector came around! " One day the foreman came to me and told me I could be assistant foreman and that he would give me $8 a week to start and then make it $10. But then suddenly all the men seemed to be getting ugly to me, and I didn't know why, but I know now. The assistant foreman who was there before me was a man and he got $22, and then you see they thought I knew just about as much, and they offered me the job and they only gave me $10, and I didn't know I was working for less than the man; so all the other men hated me and tried to take it out on me. Afterwards I learned that the manager didn't know about it either, but that the foreman was just doing this on his own account." 24 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO If a worker was too good to lose, but yet showed a tendency to rebellion and toward arousing the discontent of the others, he or she would generally be made foreman or forelady. Bonuses would be given to foremen or foreladies for increas- ing the productivity of their shop, while if they did not get better results they would lose their jobs. Thus the foremen and assistant foremen were given every incentive, including that of fear, toward driving the workers, though no changes were made in the earnings of the workers themselves for in- creased production. This system naturally led to all kinds of abuse and petty tyranny on the part of the foremen and foreladies, from whose actions there was no appeal. In one shop, for example, the foreman had the water turned off be- fore and after the dinner hour, so that the workers could have no reason to take off time from their work. Many other disputes arose in connection with the saving of time. After the passage of the 10-hour law, for instance, foremen in several shops managed to evade the law by requiring the workers to work before and after punching the time clock, and the workers did not dare complain. The obnoxious system of fines was another weapon in the hands of the foremen, and one of the most irritating. In many instances failure to punch the time clock three times daily was fined, and in some shops punching it one minute late was fined the equivalent of 15 minutes of working time. Excessive fines were imposed for the slightest errors in work, out of all proportion to the amount of loss incurred by the employer. If any garment was even slightly dam- aged, the worker had to pay the full price of the garment, and he might be compelled to purchase it at the retail price. In one instance, a tailor earning $14 a week slightly damaged three pairs of pants and was charged $12 by the company. His fellow-workers being unable to complain raffled off the three pairs of pants to compensate him for the loss. The Sen- ate Investigation Committee revealed similar conditions in other shops, for example: " Senator McKenzie : In taking these goods, do they permit the employe to take them at cost? THE STRIKE OF 1910 25 " Witness : No Sir, they charge their regular wholesale price with their profits attached to it. " Senator McKenzie : They make him pay the profits you say? " Witness : Yes, sir. " Senator McKenzie: They have made a sale in other words? " Witness : Yes, Sir, on a damaged piece of goods." Many workers complained that they were forced to pay for materials that they used up or lost at retail rates. " A fine of 60 cents was imposed for a lost spool whether empty or full, and on entering, shop workers have been charged 25 cents for oil cans procurable wholesale at 5 cents." The effect of all these unremedied grievances, together with the lack of any possible means for adjusting them, engendered in the workers a state of chronic unrest and dis- content, which broke out in numerous small but bitter strikes. Mr. Joseph Schaffner of Hart, Schaffner and Marx de- scribed the situation to the Industrial Relations Commission as follows: " Careful study of the situation has led me to the belief that the fundamental cause of the strike was that the workers had no satisfactory channel through which minor grievances, exac- tions and petty tyrannies of underbosses * * * could be taken up and amicably adjusted. Taken separately, these grievances appear to have been of a minor character. They were, however, allowed to accumulate from month to month and from year to year. * * * The result was that there 'steadily grew up in, the minds of many a feeling of distrust and enmity towards their immediate superiors in position, because they felt that justice was being denied them. If they had had the temerity to complain against a boss, they incurred his displea- sure, and his word was taken in preference to theirs. In some instances they lost their jobs, and where this was not the case they seldom received any satisfaction. " Shortly before the strike I was so badly informed of the con- ditions that I called the attention of a friend to the satisfactory state of the employees. It was only a few days before the great strike of the Garment Workers broke out. When I found out later of the conditions that had prevailed, I concluded that the strike should have occurred much sooner." 26 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO The resentment of the workers had, in fact, piled up through years of injustices until almost anything would have served to start the blaze. The first spark was struck on September 22 in Shop No. 5, a pants shop of Hart, Schaffner and Marx, when several girls walked out of the shop rather than accept a cut of one-quarter cent in rates. Annie Schapiro, one of the first to go out, gives the following ac- count of what happened : " After they had cut the rates for seaming pants *4^, they gave it back again, then cut again, and we went out. There was a man (Morris) who said ' No, I will not work for 3%^.' We were told to come back Friday at twelve. On Friday there was the whole bunch there * * * and we did not know any- thing about it, and he (Morris) would not leave us go upstairs and stopped us in the office. He said ' What are you going to work for? That is only 3%^ now. I wouldn't work for that * * *. I said I could work for 3%^. " I went down on the Monday the next week to see about the seamers and they did not come back to work. And one or more fellows went down-town, and the rest of them left." The workers then sent a committee to Hart, Schaffner and Marx, urging them to restore the quarter-cent cut, but the firm refused because they said other workers were quitting and refusing to do the work anyway. " That was the people in the other departments, and they saw there Avas trouble in the shops * * * so at shops 14 and 15, the rest of the seamers did not want to do our work, and so it was on Wednesday they picked up their tools that they should work with, and they did not want to do that work; the people went on strike. * * * The foreman threw Morris out, and then all the people refused to work." Contrary to all precedent, the walk-out in Shop 5 pro- voked immediate and enthusiastic response in other shops. It seemed as if the workers had just been waiting for something or someone to give the final push. The news spread through the clothing shops of Chicago with amazing rapidity. By the next day almost a thousand men and women had left the shops and long before three weeks were over, more than 40,000 were out, and the whole city was affected. Nothing THE STRIKE OF 1910 27 like it had ever been known before in the history of the cloth- ing workers. At the very beginning of the strike a group of workers went to the office of Robert Noren, President of District Council No. 6 of the United Garment Workers and appealed for help and support in the strike. Noren wired to President Rickert for instructions, and was authorized by him to call a strike of the garment workers. Here if ever was a chance to organize the Chicago clothing workers on a scale never before dreamed of, but at the crucial moment, the officers of the United Garment Workers for some reason failed to take advantage of the opportunity. Even after the strike was well under way, in spite of the growing and insistent demand for a general strike in all the clothing shops, and in spite of the proof that " union label " shops were doing work for strike-bound houses, the United Garment Workers hesitated to call a general strike until more than 18,000 were already out. It was about this time that the Chicago Daily Socialist first came to the aid of the strikers. On October 7th a Special Strike Edition of the Daily Socialist was published, and thereafter a series of articles appeared, giving a full and detailed history of the progress of the strike. Mr. Robert Dvorak, the author of these articles, practically forced the hand of the United Garment Workers District Council No. 6 by threatening to publish a call for a general strike with- out waiting longer unless the union did it. But the United Garment Workers did call the strike, and within one week the number of workers out on strike had grown to 45,000. " This great exodus was brought on because 50,000 copies of the Daily Socialist containing the call were distributed by the strikers throughout the city and in front of the unfair concerns' doors." The strike grew so fast that District Council No. 6 was unable to handle it, and in a few weeks was asking for speak- ers to address meetings and for other assistance from the Chicago Women's Trade Union League, of which Mrs. Ray- 28 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO mond Robins was then President. On October 20 the League sent the following offer to District Council No. 6: " Knowing that your organization is at present involved in an extensive strike against the Hart, Schaffner and Marx shops and believing that in the consequent great pressure of work you may not have realized in what ways the Women's Trade Union League may be of use to you, our Executive Board last night voted to offer you our services. " When our local leagues have definite relationship with a strike, we ask that in accepting our assistance the union permit two representatives of the League to attend all meetings of the strike committee and to authorize such representation through a resolution passed by the executive committee of the union. " The reason for this provision is to ensure our keeping in touch with the union's plans of work arid with fresh develop- ments in the situation as these arise, this being the only way in which we can intelligently cooperate." On October 28th the offer was formally accepted by Presi- dent Noren, with the assurance that District Council No. 6 would be glad to have representatives from the League act with the Strike Committee. A Strike Committee was im- mediately organized by the League and began to work through the following sub-committees: Strike fund com- mittee, of which Mrs. Robins was Chairman; Picket Com- mittee, of which Miss Steghagen was Chairman, and Miss Ellen Gates Starr a member; Grievance Committee, under the Chairmanship of Miss Katherine Coman, an economist, and committees on Co-operation, Organization, Publicity, Speakers, Meetings, Relief, Rent, etc. The list of com- mittee workers included some of the most prominent citizens of Chicago. Men and women of the highest standing and reputation in their own fields, representing all occupations and classes, from politics to social service, were drawn into the fight, and in various ways not only expressed their opinions on the issues in favor of the strikers, but worked for them and got others to work for them as well. On November 2nd the Grievance Committee began activ- ities by holding a breakfast-meeting at King's Restaurant, where 12 girl strikers told their stories of grievances to the THE STRIKE OF 1910 2d committee. These stories were later published in a report of the Committee, and many of them have already been referred to in describing the conditions that led to the strike. The report was published with an introduction by Professor Coman, summarizing the main grievances, and in this con- cise form it became very effective as publicity material. A meeting was called at Hull House by Mrs. Robins, the result of which was the organization of the " Citizens' Committee." This committee published a report on Novem- ber 5, prepared by Professor Mead, Miss Breckinridge and Miss Nicholes, and based on testimony of employes of 17 firms and from 31 Hart, Schaffner and Marx shops. The opinion and recommendations of the committee were as follows : " In the opinion of this committee, the natural method of removing the causes of irritation in the shops and of making a more healthful social life there possible, is some form of shop organization among the workers in the shop. The industry is so very complicated, the labor so highly subdivided, the de- pendence, as yet. of the operatives upon the foremen is so great, that it seems next to impossible to bring about normal condi- tions, unless the operatives themselves are able to express their own views and their own complaints through committees and this without fear of loss of position or the enmity of the fore- man * * * Some form of representation of the operatives, which will mediate between the worker and the employer, seems to be necessary in order that the point of view and the condi- tions of the operatives may be recognized in the matter of shop discipline, and especially in order that minute grievances may find a natural expression instead of being piled up to give rise to such widespread industrial and social disturbances as we have witnessed during the last ten days." In the meantime meetings were being organized and speakers secured with the help of the Strike Committee. Mrs. Raymond Robins, who was at that time directing most of the relief work, was herself addressing strike meetings and securing speakers. Mrs. Ella Stewart of the National American Suffrage Association, Mrs. A. W. Thompson, Miss Phelps and many others, as well as women prominent 30 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO in the English labor movement, such as Miss Margaret Bondfield, Miss Marion Ward, Miss Agnes Murphy, and Mrs. Philip Snowden, were a few of those who showed what they thought of the strike by going to the strikers' halls day after day to address mass meetings. Mr. Dvorak writes that: "Eighteen of the largest halls in Chicago were packed daily some even twice daily and speakers in every language counselled and spurred the thousands to action." But perhaps the most important service rendered by these committees in the early days of the strike was that of the Picket Committee, whose work not only in aiding the pickets but in giving publicity to the outrageous conduct of the police and strike-breakers did as much as anything during the first few weeks toward swinging the weight of public opinion to the side of the strikers. The campaign of violence and brutality that the Chicago police entered upon from the very beginning was consistent with their attitude in all the later strikes of the Chicago clothing workers. It took the form not only of injustice and violence on their own part, but of winking at such illegal acts as the carrying of con- cealed weapons and unprovoked assaults by hired guards and strike-breakers or private detectives. Miss Ellen Gates Starr and witnesses before the Senate Committee testified that the activities of police and of private detectives hired to " protect " strike-breakers to and from buildings were actually influential in spreading the strike. For example, one statement was: " There were pickets and detectives out- side of the building that we saw when going to work. I never worked under police protection before and it worried me, and I couldn't work any more." All possible efforts were made to maintain peace and order in the picket lines, and there was surprisingly little violence on the part of the strikers in view of the provoca- tion. In an effort to eliminate violence as much as possible, the following picket rules were printed and distributed among the strikers : THE STRIKE OF 1910 31 RULES FOR PICKETS. Don't walk in groups of more than two or three. Don't stand in front of the shop : walk up and down the block. Don't stop the person you want to talk to : walk alongside of him. Don't get excited and shout when you are talking. Don't put your hand on the person you are talking to. Don't touch his sleeve or button : This may be construed as a technical assault. Don't call anyone " scab " or use abusive language of any kind. Plead, persuade, appeal, but do not threaten. If a policeman arrests you and you are sure you have com- mitted no offense, take his number and give it to your Union Officer. In spite of these precautions the attacks continued, and " every day strikers reported to headquarters with tales of how they had been shot at and attacked by armed strike- breakers. Protests galore were made to Leroy Steward, Chief of Police, but he only shook his head sagely, and said : ' Wait until the strike is over ! ' Miss Steghagen, Miss Ellen Gates Starr and Miss Frank- lin, all members of the Picket Committee, testified to the rough handling of pickets, of which they were eye-witnesses. Miss Starr sent the following account of one case to the daily papers: " I went first to a dingy hall, ill ventilated and crowded, to meet the pickets and plan our orderly and law-abiding course, and then to the factory of Price at Franklin and Van Buren Streets. " About the door stood twenty-one or twenty-two men. It must be conceded that they ' Obstructed the street ' more than a group of three rather small women, who are never allowed to stand for an instant, but are ordered, usually roughly, to * move on ' and * go about their business.' These men, it is true, were about their business of holding the street for Price & Co. I addressed myself civilly to a police officer and asked him why these twenty-two men were allowed to stand on the pavement and I was not. He answered (somewhat shamefacedly; I think that particular officer did not like his job), that they were all sworn officers, and added, ' Don't ask me questions, lady.' 32 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO * You have your orders, I suppose? ' * Yes, I have.' On which I tendered him my sympathy and proceeded to interrogate the so-called ' officers.' " After a time a superior officer arrived who was insolent and brutal and absolutely outside his rights, as I was entirely within mine. I was then alone having separated myself from the girls, and was simply walking back and forth in front of the factory. After roughly asking me, * Who are you ? ' and * What are you doing here ' and hearing that I was simply a citizen of the United States and a settlement worker here in the interest of justice and fair play, he informed me that if I passed by once more I would be sent to the station. I then withdrew to the opposite side of the street and watched matters from there. " The modus operandi was to bundle the strikebreakers out, surrounded by the hired * detectives,' directly to the cars which halted precisely in front of the door so that no pickets should be allowed to speak to them." In November a committee was appointed to inquire whether manufacturers could put up cots in factories for scabs. It was in violation of health and building ordinances, but the law had been cleverly evaded and the committee could do nothing. Every day was marked by arrests and assaults, and gen- erally at least one riot in some part of the city. Finally the climax was reached in December when two pickets were shot and killed by strike-breakers. On December 3, Charles Lazinskas was attacked and shot in front of the Royal Tailors' establishment, and on December 15, Frank Nag- reckis was shot while picketing. The death of Lazinskas came at a crucial moment for the strikers, while an agree- ment was being negotiated in the office of the Mayor of Chicago. The effect of his death and funeral on the attitude of the workers toward the agreement is described in an article by Mr. Dvorak: " There never was a funeral in Chicago such as was held in the case of the murdered garment-striker. Thousands of men, women and girls marched. On their coat lapels each striker had a piece of crepe pinned down with the union botton of the garment workers. * * * At Hod Carriers Hall, after the funeral they condemned the pending agreement in the most bitter terms." Charles Lazinskas Frank Nagreckis Strikers Killed in 1910 Strike THE STRIKE OF 1910 33 This incident and a great parade and demonstration of the strikers in protest against the brutality of the police pro- duced a marked effect on public opinion, and thereafter there was considerably less violence. Early in November important changes were made in the organization and control of the strike work, by the creation of what was called the Joint Strike Conference Board. The change was made necessary by reason of the loss of faith of the workers in their own leaders among the United Gar- ment Workers. Just as the strike appeared to be progress- ing with enthusiasm and a fair chance of success, Mr. Rick- ert, President of the United Garment Workers, signed the following agreement with the firm of Hart, Schaffner and Marx, dated November 5, and submitted it to the strikers for their vote: " AGREEMENT SIGNED BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED GARMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA AND THE FIRM OF HART, SCHAFFNER AND MARX. "The International President of the United Garment Workers of America agrees to recommend the return of all former em- ployees of Hart, Schaffner and Marx upon the understanding between himself and the heads of the firm that one person shall be selected by the firm and one by the United Garment Workers of America, these two to select a third, and these three to take up the alleged grievances of the former employees of the firm and to devise methods, both as to redress and the avoidance of like difficulties in the future. " This instrument shall not be considered as a recognition of the union, nor shall the question of union or open shop organi- zation be submitted to or passed upon by the committee ap- pointed herein; nor shall the question of open shop be con- sidered as a grievance on the part of the former employees of Hart, Schaffner and Marx." As Rickert himself records in his report to the United Garment Workers' Convention in 1912: " To my surprise the people voted it down they gave it practically little or no consideration." How the strikers felt about the agreement was only too evident in the promptness and vehemence with which they 34 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO rejected it, and Rickert was forced to drop the plan and turn his attention seriously to the important work of organization. But he had lost the confidence of his people. The strikers, their faith not only in Rickert, but in many of their other leaders having been shaken, appealed for help to the Chicago Federation of Labor. Mr. John Fitzpatrick, President of the Chicago Federation of Labor, agreed to help them and from that time on devoted his entire time to their cause. The result of the strikers' appeal was the organization of the new Joint Strike Conference Board. The Board consisted of two representatives each from the United Garment Workers of America, District Council No. 6, Strike Committee of Special Order Garment Work- ers, Strike Committee of Ready Made Garment Workers, Chicago Federation of Labor, and the Women's Trade Union League. This Board took over all work that had formerly been handled by independent committees from each of the organizations represented. The problem of strike benefits and the need for organized relief was brought home to the strikers and the Committee by an incident that occurred on the llth of November. Some- thing like ten thousand people came to the headquarters at 275 La Salle Street. The crowd, many thousands of men, women and children, were denied admittance to the larger wheat pit on the ground floor which it was understood had been reserved for their use. They were not permitted to stay because the fire department feared a disaster. The great crowd gathered in the street in front of the building. All had relief orders for various amounts but there was no money in the treasury. The indignation and excitement cannot be described. Finally, John Fitzpatrick addressed the crowd from the fire-escape, explaining that they would be attended to in their various halls. The strikers repaired to the halls. Some had in despair and anger destroyed their vouchers. Some received their strike pay. It was a heart- rending sight as from early morning till late afternoon they waited in the halls, the corridors and outside in the streets. Finally, Mr. Fitzpatrick addressed them, explaining that John Fitzpatrick Mrs. Raymond Robins Jane Addams Ellen Gates Starr Edward X. Xockles THE STRIKE OF 1910 35 they would be attended to in their various halls." Miss Nestor of the Relief Committee went around with the Pay- ing Committee from hall to hall redeeming the vouchers. It was evident that some organized method of relief must be undertaken, and the Strike Conference decided on a plan. All the vouchers that were out were to be redeemed but no more were to be issued. At the suggestion of Mr. Fitzpat- rick, the Committee decided to establish commissary stores along the lines successfully followed by the United Mine Workers and the Building Trades Council. In the operation of these commissaries, Mr. James Mullenbach was called ' into consultation, and with his help and that of his assist- ants the Board opened four commissary stores, one on c\ ty\ X^ Lincoln Street, one on Blue Island Avenue, one on Johnson ' Street and the fourth at West Fourteenth Place. Strike ^ benefits were given not in cash but in fixed rations, varying with the size of the family. Tickets were issued by Mr. Fitzpatrick to the various shop chairmen who distributed them to the strikers, each ticket being issued on a monthly basis and entitling the holder to call for supplies weekly. Signatures of the shop chairmen were checked up on each ticket by the superintendent in the stores. The amount and kind of relief afforded by these tickets can be seen from the following list of rations allowed a family of five for one week : Bread, eighteen loaves; sugar, five pounds; oatmeal, two large packages; coffee, one pound; beans, five pounds; ham, ten pounds. The opening of commissary stores was only one form of relief work undertaken by the Strike Conference Board. Lunch rooms for pickets were maintained at convenient lo- cations. A separate committee handled the problem of rent relief and members of the committee went around personally interviewing the landlords. The gas company was found to be sympathetic and in no case was gas turned off after the situation had been explained by a member of the committee. Coal was secured at wholesale prices and in cases of need supplied by the committee out of the relief funds. 36 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO But with all their efforts, the Board could not have handled the tremendous work of relief had it not been for the gen- erous and continuous support of other organizations and of individuals who gave their time, money, supplies, and whatever influence they had to the cause, of the strikers. The commissary stores themselves were ably assisted by men and women who gave their services free of charge, or whose services were paid for by the organizations they represented. Groceries were purchased from companies that sold them at wholesale prices and frequently at cost prices. The editor of the Jewish Courier, Mr. Lipsky, with the assistance of others, carried on relief through orders on local grocery stores and kosher butchers. A fund for milk was started by Mrs. Bowen with the contribution of one thousand dollars and her own services as Chairman of the committee. In addition the Citizens' Committee furnished 124,075 quarts of milk up to February 2. But the greatest contribution along those lines was made by the Jewish Workingmen's Confer- ence. For ten weeks they issued individual meal tickets weekly to three thousand strikers entitling them to one meal a day. The tickets were issued on restaurants in three im- portant centers and were good for seven 15-cent meals. Altogether it is estimated that the Jewish Workingmen's Conference contributed about thirty-five thousand dollars to the relief of the strikers. Public sympathy manifested itself in many other ways. Clothing and shoes were distributed to the workers from Northwestern University settlement, Hull House, and many other centers of distribution. Labor papers all -over the country took up the fight and unions began to send in cash donations. The Chicago Daily Socialist through its sale of strike editions was able to turn in the sum of three thousand dollars for the relief of the strikers. The Jewish Vorwaerts of New York raised $415 for relief and added to it $1,800 collected by a house-to-house canvass of the Jewish district in Chicago, given through the Jewish Workingmen's Con- ference. All kinds of professional people offered their services. " Doctors agreed to treat patients free of charge. THE STRIKE OF 1910 37 Barbers gave free shaves, theatres gave benefit per- formances. Private families housed and fed homeless strikers. Druggists gave free drugs. Grocers and butchers gave free food supplies to the various free supply and re- lief stations. Clubs and societies gave benefit balls and entertainments. Song writers and artists offered their pro- ductions and gave the strikers the full profits, and the hotel keepers refused to house the strike breakers." The Chicago City Club Bulletin printed texts of successful agreements then in existence in New York and Philadelphia. The Political Equality League made inquiries and many other leagues and clubs followed its example with requests for information and for speakers informed on the subject to address meetings. Business Men's Groups asked at head- quarters how they might be sure that they were not Buying Hart, Schaffner and Marx garments, and many retail houses found it profitable to remove labels of strike-bound houses from their garments. The Illinois Suffrage Associa- tion sent in financial contributions, the Socialist Women's Strike Committee gave valuable assistance throughout the strike, and churches of all denominations responded with generous contributions. A letter advocating arbitration and organization of the workers was sent by the Reverend Jenkin Lloyd Jones, endorsed by the Industrial Committee of the Churches of Chicago, to Hart, Schaffner and Marx. When no reply came from the firm the letter and a statement of the whole circumstance were issued as an open letter. The following excerpts are enough to show the general tenor of the letter : " The following members of the Industrial Committee of the Churches of Chicago call the attention of the public to the ac- companying letter. " The principles and methods it advocates are already exten- sively used in industry in Chicago and throughout the country, and have promoted a large measure of industrial peace. " We believe that the time has come for public opinion in Chicago to voice from all possible sources, a demand for their application to the garment-making industry, and particularly for the settlement of the present strike by some joint agreement between the contending parties. 38 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO REV. JENKIN LLOYD JONES' LETTER. " * The following communication was addressed to the firm fifteen days ago. Whether in the travail it ever reached the eyes of the firm, I have no way of knowing. I now give it to the public, hoping that it will help make public sentiment. The developments of the last two weeks confirm the conviction ex- pressed in the letter. The only way for employers out of this trouble is through it. Once the willingness to deal with the employees in their organized capacity is realized it would be quite possible to organize a disinterested, high minded, per- manent court of appeal to which perplexities too great to be solved by the two parties could be referred. " * You can , doubtless crush out this instinct to cooperate among your employees, but it will only be for a time the march of civilization is back of them and against you. All the higher handicrafts have practically vindicated their rights to organize. " * Has not the time gone by when the intelligent business man can talk about " his business being interfered with " by those who have no rights in it when labor makes demands? Legally speaking, the title is yet vested in your corporation; but ethically speaking, the thousands of employees who help make your business, without which your business cannot con- tinue, are partners in the concern ; they have vested rights ; many of them have brought their families across the seas ; they have staked their earthly careers in their vocations, and have acquired an efficiency oftentimes through successive generations, which constitute an asset, which may well be set against your capital * * * Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of your em- ployees are traveling over the road which your forbears have traveled. They are getting ready to take your places when you are gone. They have a right to be reckoned with by organized capital as organized labor.' " The following is a summary of the purely financial con- tributions received by the Strike Committee of the Women's Trade Union League, taking no account of services or supplies given free of charge: Organized Labor $41,182 Socialist Women's Strike Committee 5,432 Churches 1,310 Clubs 712 Socialist Party 1,119 Employes 306 Teachei s and students . . 235 THE STRIKE OF 1910 89 Individuals 8,575 Chicago Daily Socialist (Collections) 2,300 Card (Collections) 479 Miscellaneous (Collections) 2,774 Polish Socialists 1,750 District Council No. 6, Donations 4,000 We have already seen how the publicity given by the committees to the grievances of the workers and to the treat- ment of strikers by the police influenced the opinion of the general public. But another factor was brought to bear on public opinion during the course of the strike, that proved to be as potent as the others in rousing a sense of the in- justice of the situation. This factor was the stubborn un- willingness shown by both associations of manufacturers to arbitrate the demands of the workers or even to treat with them. The first effective evidence of this attitude ap- peared in connection with another attempt at settlement, this time initiated by the action of Alderman Merriam. After several unsuccessful attempts, a resolution was finally passed by the City Council providing for the appointment of a committee to arbitrate and attempt to settle the strike. Representatives of the firm of Hart, Schaffner and Marx agreed to meet the committee and the union leaders in an attempt to arrive at some agreement, but members of the manufacturers' associations refused to participate in a con- ference if any union representatives were present. Alder- man Merriam in a statement to one of the daily papers after meeting with representatives of both associations, said: " They declared they would not consent to any arbitration of the questions at issue in any form or upon any terms. They further stated that they expected their own employees to return unconditionally if the agreement with Hart, Schaffner and Marx was ratified. Arbitration is a firmly fixed principle in industrial disputes, and in my judgment it ought to be applied in this case. Those who decline to accept it assume a grave responsibility to the community. If industrial war continues the public should know exactly where this responsibility lies." Even more effective than the publicity thus given to the employers' attitude toward the proposed arbitration were 40 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO the disclosures made later by an Illinois Senate Committee appointed to investigate into the causes and facts of the strike by a resolution passed in the Senate January 10. The Committee consisted of Senators Henson, O'Connor, McKenzie, Johnson and Gibson. Although the report of the Committee to the Senate was not made until March 9, a great deal of publicity was given to the testimony pre- sented during its two weeks of hearings in January. In reply to an invitation by the Senators to the Association to submit a plan of settlement, Mr. Rose, President of the National Wholesale Tailors Association, sent the following letter : " The National Wholesale Tailors Association respectfully declines to submit to such a proposition, as no strike now exists in our branch of the industry. All of our employes whom we can use have returned to work." The Chairman of the Senate Committee, in response to this refusal, which was incorporated in the minutes, made the following statement: " I want to say this for the benefit of the balance of the com- mittee, that the state of Illinois and the people of Chicago can- not permit some manufacturers or labor unions to arbitrarily stop the wheels of progress in Illinois and cause suffering, and I am very frank to say to you that if I had the power I would put the men in jail who refused to arbitrate this question now. * * * No controversy can occur without a grievance.*' Even newspapers hostile to the strikers up to this time condemned this attitude in editorial comments such as this: " Hunger and cold as potent peace makers alienate the sympathy of the great majority of reasonable and humane citizens." Important evidence was disclosed also by the Senate Investigation Committee concerning the blacklist system carried on by the Medinah Temple labor office. The following examples are typical of the testimony of other witnesses : Witness: In Nov., 1914, I worked at Fred Kaufman's and we went out at noon. Then I was out about 6 or 8 months and THE STRIKE OF 1910 41 after that I applied for a position at the Medinah Temple office and they refused to give it to me until I resigned from the union. I did so. Chairman: Who asked you to resign? Witness: Mr. Isaacs. [Mr. Isaacs was known to practi- cally all the workers and was called to testify himself before the Committee. He was in charge of the so-called Labor Bu- reau, and kept records of all the workers.] I handed in my resignation and then they promised me a position but never gave it to me and they told me to come over from one day to the next. He asked me one day if I would do him a favor and I asked him what it was, and he offered me $10 to go to the organization headquarters and secure him the names of those men in the office at that time. I went but could not find any- body there except officials. After that I went back to Mr. Isaacs' office and gave him the names and he asked me if I got any more names, and I said : " Here are the names of the men in the office at present." He said " These men I got. I don't want those names but get the names that I have not got." He showed me some letters and tears off the bottom and says: " These names I have gotten from men who send me the reports every day." He said : " They find out who you are and what you are and what goes on in the union, and then report to me everyday." He said: " They are paid by me for doing this." He gave me $5 for that and said " I will give you the other $5 when you get some more. I will give you a week's time. In the meantime I will try and find you a position," which he did. * * * I worked there from August to September and then was discharged without reason. I went back to Isaacs and he said : " You go over and get me some more names and I will see what I can do." After that I went to the Chicago Tailors and asked for a posi- tion without going to the office. Mr. Strauss hired me and asked whether I had a card. I said " No, but I can get it." He said : " I will telephone over and see if you are all right." [The witness worked in this shop 3 or 4 days and then met some union boys and went to a meeting and finally decided to go out on strike with the others in that shop. When he got to the union office he found a message waiting for him to the effect that if he did not come and take away his tools they would be thrown out. He went back and took his tools and went out.] Then I went to Isaacs afterward, time and time again for positions and he said : " No. We can't do anything for you, you will starve in Chicago. There is nothing for you ; we will not give you a job." 42 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO [The witness went to Detroit and after more than a year wrote to Isaacs to see if he could get a job yet and Isaacs wrote him a letter, saying that Association houses were working on an open shop plan. On his return the witness went to Mr. Tobias and Mr. Morris, both associated with Mr. Isaacs in the Medinah Temple office, but was not able to get anything at all. He was completely barred from employment in all Association houses from that time on.] Another witness testified that he was told to go to Medinah Temple for a permit to work and they wouldn't give it, but gave no reason whatever. He was required to resign from the unioi^ before he could get any work after going out on strike. Another witness claimed that he was blacklisted in St. Louis because of his union activities and when he tried to get work in Chicago he found that the Medinah Temple Office had his com- plete record and he was blacklisted again. Another witness, the wife of a cutter, testified that her hus- band had been unable to get work for a long time. " I went to Mr. Isaacs because my husband always came home with the same story that he could not get a permit to go to work am^ at last I became doubtful and I said I'd like to know the reason why and I should go and see what was stopping him from getting a position. He gave me Isaacs' address and I went to see him. " He told me, after I asked him what was the matter, that he (my husband) acted as a radical during the strike and that they had not forgotten about it. I asked him if he had any proofs * * * and he said no, but they had a list of matters that they knew about him and that was enough." Chairman : " Did they say your husband's name was men- tioned in that list?" Witness : " Yes Sir. I told him that it was hard for me and that from my marriage my husband was considered a good workman, but he said he could do nothing." In its report to the Senate, the Committee made the fol- lowing comments on the evidence in regard to blacklisting: " Your committee wish to report that in view of the testimony and the wording of the statutes, we are constrained to believe that the maintenance and operation of the said labor bureau in the Medinah Temple, in the city of Chicago, in so far as it pre- vents persons from securing employment, is in violation of the statutes of the State of Illinois, and is derogatory to the rights and interests of the workers, and that the same should be imme- diately dissolved." THE STRIKE OF 1910 43 In the meantime, Rickert and other officers of the United Garment Workers were pressing a new agreement on the strikers. Hart, Schaffner and Marx agreed to meet a com- mittee of the strikers, as suggested by Alderman Merriam, although the Association houses refused. The proposed agreement resulting from this meeting with Hart, Schaffner and Marx, known as the City Hall Agreement, provided briefly for the return of all former employees of Hart, Schaffner and Marx, except those who were guilty of vio- lence, within fifteen days from the date of signing; no dis- crimination against any employees because of membership or activity in a union; and for the creation of an Arbitration Committee of five, two members selected by each party and the fifth by those four, to take up and consider the grievances of the employees and devise a method for settling those griev- ances in the future. This agreement, backed by the full approval and endorse- ment of the Joint Strike Conference Board, the United Gar- ment Workers' officers, and the Mayor of Chicago, was presented to the strikers for their consideration. But the strikers were unmistakably opposed to the terms. The grounds for their opposition were in the main as follows : 1. Inasmuch as the agreement affected only Hart, Schaffner and Marx workers, acceptance of it would break the strike of other workers who would still be out. It was too much like a betrayal of their fellow strikers. 2. The clause in the agreement providing that workers guilty of violence would not be reinstated created a great deal of resentment. 3. The agreement contained no specific and definite recognition of the union. A great deal of pressure was brought to bear on the strikers to accept this agreement, but finally on December 8th, eight days after the proposed agreement was put before the strikers, Rickert admitted that " the people had ex- pressed their disapproval." In his report to the United Garment Workers' Convention in 1912, Rickert says: " In turning down this agreement, the people repudiated the 44 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO Strike Board and Settlement Committee which had recom- mended its acceptance." The Strike Conference Board, however, in the words of the Women's Trade Union League Report, " recognized the supreme right of the strikers to make the final decision on their own affairs " and again resumed the conduct of the strike. The following letter was sent to the City Council Committee and the Mayor inform- ing them of the workers' decision : " We beg leave to report to you the refusal of the workers of Hart, Schaffner and Marx now on strike to accept the plan of settlement as recommended by us. " Every reasonable effort has been made to secure a favorable result in the submission of this plan of settlement to the striking employes of Hart, Schaffner and Marx. " The refusal of the representatives of the National Whole- sale Tailors' Association and the National Wholesale Clothiers' Association to accept these terms of settlement and the public declaration of their determination to ' fight to a finish ' has re- sulted in a feeling of resentment among the strikers and a, natural desire to stand or fall together. * * * " The first settlement occurred on January 9, when the firm of Sturm Mayer settled with its strikers and reinstated all of them. On the llth of January, Rickert presented another plan to the Joint Conference Board and Strikers' Committee, authorizing the Board to offer an agreement to any of the firms willing to accept its terms. The terms were briefly as follows : 1. All former employees were to return within ten days of the signing of the agreement. No mention was made of exceptions in the case of those guilty of violence. 2. There must be no discrimination against workers be- cause of membership in the United Garment Workers of America. 3. An arbitration committee of three was to be chosen, for the purpose of considering and adjusting all other griev- ances, and their ruling was to be binding. THE STRIKE OF 1910 45 The Board passed a resolution approving the agreement and appointed a committee composed of Rickert, Mrs. Robins, Mr. Fitzpatrick, and Mr. Harris (a member of the Strikers' Executive Committee), to consider a settlement. i Hart, Schaffner and Marx signified their willingness to ^ accept this agreement, and it was then presented to the striking Hart, Schaffner and Marx workers. The strike, so far as the workers of Hart, Schaffner and Marx were concerned, was almost over. A mass-meeting of the strikers was held in Hod Carriers' Hall. The meet- ing was addressed, among others, by Hillman and Marim- pietri. They urged acceptance of the terms of the agree- ment, which provided for the return of all workers, without discrimination because of either union membership or activ- ity, and for the establishment of arbitration machinery in the adjustment of present and future grievances. The terms meant substantially, if not literally, union recognition. It was for this and for the removal of just grievances that the strikers had been fighting for months. There was, of course, some opposition to these terms. But after considerable dis- cussion, the proposed agreement was ratified and the forward march of organized labor in Hart, Schaffner and Marx began. Mr. Rickert's account of the same event, in his report to the United Garment Workers' Convention, was as follows: " The plan was submitted to the people in the various halls and was approved in all but three of them ; and in these three, the workers who had gathered there were not employees of Hart, Schaffner and Marx * * * Some of those who had been in favor of it went around to the halls and in the public highways afterwards denouncing it because it did not provide for a closed shop." The result was that the agreement as approved by the Joint Conference Board was signed by Hart, Schaffner and Marx and by Mr. Rickert and went into effect on January 14, all the strikers of that firm returning to work. The others, of course, were still out on strike. 46 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO On February 3rd, at a meeting of the Strikers' Executive Committee at which Mr. Rickert and his organizers were the only ones present, the general strike was suddenly declared off. This action was taken without the slightest warning, without a referendum vote of the strikers, without even formal consultation or meeting with the Joint Conference Board, which for 14 weeks had had charge of the strike, and which represented the organizations that had been giving their time, money and resources so generously to the strikers. It was done while representatives of the Chicago Federation of Labor and the Women's Trade Union League, the principal organizations in the Board besides the United Garment Workers, were present in the building and even on the same floor. The Women's Trade Union League called it a " hunger bargain." The workers, already hard- pressed by the long winter months of privation, their faith already shaken in their leaders, were now demoralized by this action, and had no choice but to give in. The strike was over. As many as could returned to work. Many who went back to their old shops were refused employment. Others encountered conditions even more intolerable than before. A frequent answer to those seeking re-employment would be : " You're a good speaker, go down to your halls again, they want you there." And so they trickled back, a few at a time, with a deep and underlying bitterness toward those who had turned their long fight into apparent defeat. They returned without agreement, without concessions, without any guarantee for fair treatment, without any adjustment or means of adjustment for the grievances that had driven them to strike. Yet in more important ways, even for those who went back to Association houses, the strike had not ended in defeat. Out of it rose a new generation of young leaders who were to help the clothing workers rise to a position of security, power and well-being that sets a standard for other industries. It was in the strike of 1910 that the names of Sidney Hillman, Frank Rosenblum, Sam Levin, A. D. Joseph Schaffner THE STRIKE OF 1910 47 Marimpietri and many other future leaders of the workers first emerge. With the rise of these leaders there appeared also not only the hope of a new regime, but a long, steady ac- tive drive toward its attainment. The organization of the Hart, Schaifner and Marx workers meant alhiost as much to all the other clothing workers of Chicago as to themselves. From 1910 until the final triumph in 1919, Chicago was the scene of a series of attempts to organize the entire mar- ket. Without the nucleus formed by the organized Hart, Schaffner and Marx workers, and without their constant efforts and support, which they were only in a position to give as a result of the strike, Chicago might still be an unorganized sweat-shop market. The results of the strike as far as the Hart, Schaffner and Marx workers themselves are concerned are obvious. Aside from all consideration of improved conditions, wages, hours, the agreement of 1911 meant the beginning of a relationship between the firm and its employees, unbroken by whatever storms swept over the rest of the Chicago clothing industry, and undisturbed even by the clothing workers' revolution in 1914. It meant the practical and successful working out of an experiment in collective bargaining and the development of the idea of permanent impartial machinery for the adjust- ment of industrial disputes. As a means of educating and training the workers for organization and organized activity, the strike was of the utmost value. It was not only a matter of technical training in the method of organizing and conducting a strike, but of the actual knowledge of each other's condition and realiza- tion of their community of interest. As a result of this realization and of the bond that always comes of fighting a common enemy against heavy odds, the workers came out of the fight with a new sense of their fellowship with each other; with a spirit of solidarity that would not be defeated; and with a new consciousness of the fact that as their griev- ances were not individual but common, their hope for the future lay not in separate but in common action. 48 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO " The one great proof that the strikers have learned the les- son of solidarity and unity of action lies in the fact that meet- ings independent of the Federation of Labor or the Garment Workers Union have been held twice weekly since the ending of the strike. The meetings have been well attended, the halls being just as full as at any time of the strike. The tailors are. studying and when another strike does come another story will be written." It is clear from this statement that one of the important lessons the strike taught the workers was how far it was safe to entrust their hopes to their past leaders. Thus in the very failure of this strike can be seen, in the light of the later events, the signs of future success and of the final break in 1914. CHAPTER III THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARBITRATION THE agreement that was signed on January 14, 1911, be- tween the firm of Hart, Schaffner and Marx and the Joint Board of its employees was a simple document. But it marked the beginning of a period of uninterrupted peace between the company and its organized employees, undis- turbed by the industrial storms that again and again swept over the Chicago clothing market in the next eight years. The importance of the agreement to the workers lay pri- marily in two results that it accomplished. First, through the recognition and strengthening of the organized workers of Hart, Schaifner and Marx, the great campaigns for the organization of the rest of the market were made possible. The spirit of the unorganized workers was maintained and strengthened with the help of the organized until the final triumph of 1919. Secondly, the agreement of 1911 was the nucleus out of which has developed the present successful agreement, with its elaborate system for the arbitration and adjustment of labor problems and for the preservation of industrial law and order. Throughout the history of this agreement the development of the power and strength of the organized workers can be measured by the changes made in the agreement. With the growth of that power can be traced also the development of the intricate machinery established under the agreement and of the code of industrial law that now governs the relations between the union and the firm. The text of the first agreement, which ended the strike of 1910, outlines briefly the conditions for the return of the strikers : " First : All the former employees of Hart, Schaffner and Marx who are now on strike shall be taken back and shall return to work within 10 days from the date hereof. " Second : There shall be no discrimination of any kind whatsoever against any of the employees of Hart, Schaffner 50 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO and Marx, because they are or they are not members of the, United Garment Workers of America. " Third : An, arbitration committee, consisting of three members, shall be appointed. Within three days from the date thereof the employees of Hart, Schaffner and Marx shall select one member thereof ; within three days thereafter Hart, Schaff- ner and Marx shall select one member thereof ; and the two mem- bers thus selected shall immediately proceed to select the third member of such committee. " Fourth: Subject to the provisions of this agreement, said arbitration committee shall take up, consider, and adjust what-? ever grievances, if any, the employees of Hart, Schaffner and Marx who are now on strike shall have and shall fix a method for the settlement of grievances, if any, in the future. The finding of the said committee or a majority thereof, shall be binding on both parties." Hart, Schaffner and Marx at the time of the signing of tliis agreement were employing about 6,000 workers, men, women and girls, who were represented hy a Joint Board, composed of delegates from local unions of the United Gar- ment Workers and three delegates from the Women's Trade Union League. Under the third clause of the agreement, each side selected one arbitrator, the Joint Board of the local unions appointing Mr. Clarence Darrow as their arbi- trator and the company, Mr. Carl Meyer. These two then met to select jointly the third arbitrator. Dean Wigmore of Northwestern University Law School was agreed on, but was unable to serve, and the two arbitrators could not agree on another third member at that time. It was; finally decided that the two arbitrators should, for the time being, act alone as the Board of Arbitration. Working under this arrangement, on March 13, 1911, the arbitrators made a de- cision of the utmost importance, which became in practice a part of the agreement. This decision provided briefly for the following: (1) sanitary and health conditions, including proper ventilation, and at least three-quarters of an hour for dinner; (2) so far as practicable equal division of work among all the workers in slack seasons; (3) the establish- ment by the company of some method of handling future grievances " through some person or persons in its employ; Clarence Darrow William O. Thompson Representatives of the Union on the Hart, Schaffner and Marx Board of Arbitration DEVELOPMENT OF ARBITRATION 51 and any employee, either by himself or by any individual fellow-worker, shall have the right to present any grievance at any reasonable time, and such grievance shall be promptly considered by the person or persons appointed by said firm, and in case such grievance shall not be adjusted, the person feeling himself so aggrieved shall have the right to apply to some member of said firm for the adjustment of such griev- ance, and in case the same shall not then be adjusted, such grievance may be presented to Clarence Darrow and Carl Meyer, who shall be constituted as a permanent board of arbitration to settle any questions that may arise between any of the employees of said firm and said firm for the term of two years from April 1, 1911, during which time these findings shall be in full force "; (4) wage increases and ad- justments as follows: a general minimum for all workers of $5 a week; a minimum for males over 17 of $6 and over 18 of $8, and a uniform increase of 10 per cent, to all workers; (5) the establishment of the 54-hour week, and the payment for overtime work at the rate of time and a half. In accordance with the clause of the decision providing for the establishment by the company of some means of handling future grievances, the Labor Complaint Department was immediately established by Hart, Schaffner and Marx with Professor Earl Dean Howard as its chief. The duties of the department, as described by Mr. Howard in his testimony before the Industrial Relations Commission of 1914 and in other statements, were to maintain a system for the prompt discovery and investigation of any abuses or complaints that might arise among the employees; to recommend measures for the elimination of the sources of complaint ; to represent the company before the Board of Arbitration (or Trade Board later) ; to negotiate with the business agents of the unions ; to take general charge of employment, discipline and discharge, and of welfare work. The firm believed that the main difficulty in the past had been the lack of contact and lack of means of presenting grievances with any expectation of their being satisfactorily handled. The establishment of 52 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO the Labor Complaint Department was an attempt to meet this need. Previous to the 1910 strike the industry had been noted for the prevalence of small section or shop strikes and so habitual had these become that they were taken as a matter of course and were thought to be inherent in the industry itself. Stoppages were simply necessary evils and there was no use in trying to eliminate them. During the first year of the agreement little progress was made in the elimination of these strikes. Mr. Howard says that for a while they were practically as frequent and as bitter as before the strike, despite all his efforts. " I used to go about in the shops whenever there was a strike and make a speech to them and describe the agreement. Mr. Hillman used to do so, too, and we really had to instruct the people that this meant a new way of adjusting grievances. The old way was the only way they knew." Until September, 1911, when they first came to be regarded as serious offenses, sudden stoppages occurred almost every week. There was as yet no general understanding of the agreement or of the means afforded by the agreement for other methods of settling grievances than striking. Friction and misunderstandings continued during this first year not through lack of effort on the part of the Labor De- partment, but because the machinery at its disposal was not adequate for its needs. The Labor Complaint Department, during the first years of its existence, handled nearly 800 complaints. No records were kept of the disposition of these cases, but an analysis of the complaints shows the chief sources of irritation to have been inequality of piece prices, varying quality of work demanded, abuse of foreman's power of discharge, lack of a practical and easy method of present- ing grievances, recurrence of small strikes resulting in bad feeling, and lack of a method for the division of work in slack seasons. Problems as serious as these would have taxed even the best equipped system at that time, for to neither side had the significance and possibilities of the agreement be- come as yet clear. But in addition to the complexity of these complaints, the Department as constituted could not pos- sibly handle such a mass of problems speedily and satisfac- torily without more time, more experience and a clearer definition of its powers and limitations. The failure of the Labor Department to handle these matters promptly as they arose resulted in the swamping of the arbitrators with a multitude of unnecessary detail, which theoretically should have been disposed of by the Labor Department. The complaints that were thus presented to the Arbitra- tion Board were so numerous and so varied that in point of time alone it would have been impossible for the Arbitra- tion Board to handle them, while the confusion that arose in presenting cases through the Labor Complaint Depart- ment occasioned even more delay. But in addition to the delay involved in this procedure these cases required an inti- mate and technical knowledge of the industry in all its parts. It was obviously impossible to expect a Board of three, or- ganized for the arbitration of fairly general principles of conduct and relations, to have at its command either the time or the technical knowledge that were needed. During the first year the arbitrators met more than fifty times. A great many oral and only twenty written decisions were made. Lack of means to enforce the decisions or to make them known to the parties often caused injustice, and the failure to make decisions promptly enough produced serious friction. It was increasingly evident that the system was not practicable as then constituted and that the Board of Arbi- tration could not handle promptly and justly both the tech- nical questions and the matters of principle that were brought before it. Many of the difficulties and injustices that arose under this system were involved in the process of price-making. Under a decision of the arbitrators the company issued complete specifications for all operations and a full statement of defi- nitions and processes. They established piece prices for these operations with the approval of the arbitrators, subject to change only by the consent of the arbitrators, as provided 54 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO in the decision. In practice the effect of these specifications was frequently to lower the earning capacity of the workers. In such cases the proper procedure was for the complainant to formulate a grievance and to present it to the Labor Com- plaint Department for adjustment. If no satisfactory set- tlement could be reached (which was usually the case) , the complaint went to the arbitrators, who would generally de- cide in effect to give an increase in prices so as to maintain former earnings. But by the time these decisions came out the workers in question would have been working at the old rates and the additional problem would have been raised as to when the new rates had become effective. In the meantime new specifications might be drawn up by the company which would practically nullify whatever adjustment the Board of Arbitration had made. Discontent grew so bitter that the employees and arbitra- tors finally informed the company that there was danger of serious trouble unless some fundamental read j ustments were made. As a result a preliminary conference was arranged for March, 1912. At this conference the employees were represented by Mrs. Raymond Robins of the Women's Trade Union League, John Fitzpatrick of the Chicago Federation of Labor, W. O. Thompson and Henry M. Ash- ton, and the firm was represented by Joseph Schaffner, Carl Meyer, E. D. Howard and Milton A. Strauss. This infor- mal conference reached on April 1 an agreement providing for the appointment of a committee of five, two representing each side and the fifth chosen by the four other members, for the following purposes: (1) To create a board for the adjusting and fixing of prices when necessary, and the adjusting of any other mat- ters that might arise in dispute between Hart, Schaffner and Marx and their employees, the neutral member of the board to be appointed by the committee. (2) To formulate rules for the guidance of this board, such rules to be binding during the continuance of the 1911 agreement, until April 1, 1913. Officers and Executive Board Members Women's Local 275 Officers and Executive Board Members Lithuanian Coat Makers Local 269 Officers and Executive Board Members Sewing Machine Adjusters Local 272 DEVELOPMENT OF ARBITRATION 55 The Committee's powers and limitations were defined in the following clauses of the agreement: " It is expressly agreed upon that the agreement made on January 14 and the decision of Clarence Darrow and Carl Meyer, the arbitrators appointed under said agreement, which decision is dated March 13, 1911, shall remain in all respects in full force and effect, and neither said committee nor said board so appointed shall have any right to take up any question of increasing wages or of providing for any sort of what is commonly termed a closed shop, or to make any rules or regu- lations in violation of or inconsistent with any of the provisions of said agreement of January 14, 1911, or said decision of March 13, 1911. " Said board when appointed shall be solely for the purpose of acting as an original tribunal, and an appeal shall always lie to the arbitration board created by the said agreements from the decisions of said board." The committee of five that was finally appointed was com- posed of E. D. Howard and Carl Meyer for the company; W. O. Thompson and Sidney Hillman for the employees, and Charles H. Winslow as the fifth and neutral member. This committee made its report, creating the Trade Board and the rules of procedure for its guidance as provided by the agreement. Following a preamble which summarized briefly the history of the relations between Hart, Schaffner and Marx and their employees and the facts that led to the appointment of the committee for establishing the Trade Board, the more important provisions of the report are as follows : ORGANIZATION AND MEMBERSHIP. The Trade Board shall consist of 11 members with practical experience in the trade, if possible, five to be chosen by each side. All but the Chairman must be employees of Hart, Schaff- ner and Marx. Any member of the Board may be removed and replaced by the power appointing him. Five alternates are to be appointed by each side in case of absences, to avoid delays. Weekly meetings of the Board are to be held and spe- cial meetings may be called with 24 hours' notice. Both sides must have equal voting power in all questions arising before the Board. The neutral member of the Board will be appointed by the Committee of 5 and will hold office until the expiration 56 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO of the original agreement and will act as Chairman of the Board. The duties of the Chairman shall be to preside at all meetings, to certify to all decisions and proceedings of the board, to maintain order and expedite the business before the board by limiting discussion or stopping irrelevant debate, and to con- duct the examination of witnesses and to instruct deputies, and, upon request, to grant stay of the orders of the board, at his discretion, pending appeal. JURISDICTION OF BOARD. Said Board is to have original jurisdiction of all matters arising under the agreement of January 14, 1911, and the deci- sion thereunder of Messrs. Darrow and Meyer, of March 13, 1911. Representatives of both sides shall appoint deputies for each branch of the trade allowing as much freedom as possible in the formation of rules for their guidance. One of the deputies shall be called " Chief Deputy," and shall keep the records, be responsible for placing matters on the calendar for the Trade Board, and in general be responsible for the orderly carrying on of affairs of the Trade Board on behalf of his party. Deputies are to do whatever work is assigned them by the Trade Board, take up grievances and investigate them promptly with depu- ties of the other side, and report decisions in writing if they come to agreement without the aid of the Board. Their decisions will be binding unless appeal is made to the Trade Board within three days. If they fail to agree, the case will go to the Trade Board, which will hear argument on both sides, and decide. Deputies must be either employees of Hart, Schaffner and Marx or connected with the Joint Board of Garment Workers of Hart, Schaffner and Marx. APPEAL TO ARBITRATION BOARD. In case either party should desire to appeal from any decision of the Trade Board, or from any change of these rules by the Trade Board to the Board of Arbitration, they shall have the right to do so upon filing a notice in writing with the Trade Board of such intention within 30 days from the date of the decision, and the said Trade Board shall then refer said matter to the Board of Arbitration, where the same shall be given an early hearing by a full board of three members. General rules to expedite the practical work of the Trade Board provide methods for speedy attention to all griev- ances ; enforcement of decisions of the deputies or the Trade Board ; immediate investigation of stoppages ; appeal to the Board of Arbitration in case of refusal to obey decisions; submission of new specifications to the Trade Board when price changes are contemplated ; conforming of price changes to changes in work, and the basing of new prices as far as possible on old ; and notification of employees against whom complaints are brought, either at or before the time of enter- ing complaint, so that they may notify their deputies. For the first time it is clearly recognized that stoppages are con- trary to the spirit of the agreement : " If such stoppage shall occur because the person in charge of the shop shall have refused to allow the people to continue work, he shall be ordered to immediately give work to the peo- ple, or in case the employees have stopped work, the deputies shall order the people to immediately return to work, and in case they fail to return to work within an hour from such time such people shall be considered as having left the employ of the corporation, and shall not be entitled to the benefit of these rules." Except for a change later made in the numbers of mem- bers of the Trade Board from 11 to 5, and other changes of detail this is substantially the constitution of the Trade Board as it has operated since 1912. The first officers of the Trade Board were as follows: Chairman Mr. James Mullenbach. Workers' Representatives : Smith, Marimpietri, Kaminsky, Spitzer, Hirsch, Feinberg, Goldenstein, Taback. Company Representatives : Larson, Weinberg, Masche, Gut- man, Duske, Leis. Workers' Deputies: Hillman (Chief), representing the coat tailors ; Levin, the cutters ; Miss Abramowitz, the vestmakers ; Rothbart, the pantmakers. Company Deputies : Howard, Chief ; Campbell, Assistant. Soon after the adoption of this agreement it became clear that the original Board of Arbitration could function more effectively in its new capacity as a Board for the determina- tion of general principles if the third arbitrator were chosen. Accordingly Mr. J. E. Williams was chosen Chairman of the 58 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO Board of Arbitration in December, 1912, and held that po- sition until his death in 1919. Immediately after his appoint- ment as Chairman and as a result largely of his intervention, several cases were disposed of by negotiation without de- cision of the Board. This method of settling whatever could be settled by informal arrangements between the parties or by negotiation has always been held by both sides and by the Board to be the best possible method of adjusting small differences, once the principle involved has been clearly estab- lished. The work of the deputies under the Trade Board was calculated to further this policy, whereby small or de- tailed problems can be adjusted before they become serious enough to be real grievances. It is a method that can only be practiced where there is a permanent organization created for that purpose, a clearly established set of fundamental principles mutually agreed upon, and a maximum amount of faith on the part of each party in the integrity and good sense of the leaders on the other side. The adjustment of grievances through the work of the deputies was, of course, subject to review by the Trade Board either on appeal by either party or where the deputies failed to agree. Their success in settling cases without resort to the Board is shown by the following record of adjustments: From April 1, 1912, to June, 1914, the deputies adjusted 1,178 cases, or 84.1 per cent, of the total number; 206 cases, or 14.7 per cent, were decided by the Trade Board, and only 17, or 1.2 per cent, went as far as the Board of Arbitration. The disposition of the cases adjusted by the deputies in the first instance are not recorded, but the decisions of the Trade Board and the Board of Arbitration are completely recorded, and will be discussed in other chapters. How far the Trade Board succeeded in accomplishing the purposes for which it was created is indicated in the statement by Mr. Winslow in a bulletin of the Bureau of Labor Statistics : " In the main, the Trade Board has served its purpose * * * to provide a tribunal of practical men working in the industry, who should constitute a court of original jurisdiction a court DEVELOPMENT OF ARBITRATION 59 competent to give more prompt and equitable service than could be reasonably required of the Board of Arbitration." Hillman, in his testimony before the Federal Industrial Re- lations Commission, said : "This Trade Board was created so that it was really a new method of adjusting complaints and that is an adjustment by the workers themselves. It introduces really what I call the new principle in organization, that if the workers are to be disciplined for any violation of the agreement, they themselves partly should be the judges." The procedure for bringing in disputes since the creation of the Trade Board has been as follows: complaint is filed with the Labor Department, the two deputies of the Trade Board, one for each side, are informed of the case, they con- duct a joint investigation in the shop and try to adjust the grievance. If they fail the case is automatically put on the Trade Board docket. The Trade Board then hears the case, calls witnesses, and either makes a decision or sends the case back to the deputies with instructions or recommendations. Gradually, as the machinery developed, decisions ,of the Trade Board came to be made more and more often by the deciding vote cast by the fifth member, the chairman. Thus the institution of the " Impartial Chairman " came into existence. The making of piece work rates, which became one of the functions of the Trade Board, is handled by a rate committee of three, one representing each side, and the third the Chairman of the Trade Board. In practice, however, the actual making of rates is usually done by the two members of the committee without the Chairman. In their decisions they are guided by the general rules agreed upon or laid down by the Board (e. g., changes in prices must correspond to changes in work). If the two agree, specifications and rates are recorded and put into effect. If they cannot agree, the full committee meets and makes a decision. Appeal may be taken from this decision to the Board of Arbitration if necessary, but no alterations are permitted after a decision has been made without the permission of the committee, or on appeal, permission from the Arbitration Board. 60 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO .3' r Problems or disputes involving general principles not already established will go before the Board of Arbitration directly, but all others may come before the Trade Board as a court of first instance. Some idea of the variety of the cases handled by the Trade Board, and their disposition can be seen from the following table : NUMBER OF DECISIONS OF TRADE BOARD IN FAVOR OF UNION AND IN FAVOR OF COMPANY, BY NATURE OF GRIEVANCE, MAY 8, 1912, TO JUNE 1, 1914. Grievance Decisions Decisions No. of in favor in favor cases filed of union of Company Wrongful discharge 75 24 34 Additional work, or prices toa low . . 42 12 5 Disputes in price making 31 4 3 Reduction of rates of cutters 18 6 5 Discrimination against individuals or sections 15 5 4 Overcrowded sections 14 2 Preferring non-union help 7 3 1 Other grievances 21 5 2 Total .. 223 61 54 One of the most important contributions of this permanent adjustment machinery is the development of a working code of industrial law. The agreement itself is the constitution or fundamental law, while the decisions and precedents they establish are analogous to the common law. Thus these de- cisions and understandings have in time developed into a code of rules and procedure that all who work under the system must understand and be able to apply. The deputies and representatives of both sides must be thoroughly familiar with the law established, in order that they may adjust as many disputes as possible " out of court " fairly and equit- ably, and in the spirit of the agreement. E. D. Howard, in his testimony before the Industrial Relations Commission, described his own experience with this development : " This (organic growth of law) grows up through precedent established by various bodies and by people who have an op- portunity to lay down policies. These precedents become law. At first, when you have a* condition of no government, or des- potism, and you are trying to change over to a republican force DEVELOPMENT OF ARBITRATION 61 of government, which this is, you must have all these things worked out, you must have the constitution worked out, and you must have the fundamental law laid down, and you must have interpretations of it, and legislation * * * At first everything came up with us, all sorts of questions. Mr. Hill- man and I would try to settle them ourselves. Of course, we could not, in a good many cases, and we by mutual agreement would say, * Let us have this thing settled ; let us have this precedent established ; let us have laws and legislation ' and we would refer it to a board of arbitration, and the board of ar- bitration gradually guided us, and has gradually enacted what expresses to a large number the ideas of the principles of justice in this industry, and since we have had this we have been able to settle practically all grievances." Professor Tufts attributes the steady and consistent growth of these principles and precedents in part to the character and permanence of the personnel of the boards, which have made possible the development of a coherent and unified policy. Mr. Williams was Chairman of the Board of Arbitration for seven years, and Mr. Mullenbach of the Trade Board since 1912. Another factor was the practice of having the parties immediately concerned represented in cases by their deputies or labor managers, who are naturally more expert in presenting their cases and better acquainted with the detailed administration of the agreement. All this development of principles as the Trade Board became an established institution was of course not a matter of one or two years, but a long and slow matter of experiment and education that is still in the process of development. In the meantime, however, other important changes were taking place in the collective agreement and in the organization of the workers themselves. The original agreement expired April 1, 1913, and as that date approached the situation was seen to be serious. Two months before the date of expiration the workers presented the following demands as a condition of the renewal of the agreement : 1) All workers must be members in good standing of the United Garment Workers and new employees must join the union within two weeks after employment. 62 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO 2) The fifty-hour week for tailors and the forty-eight-hour week for cutters and trimmers. 3) Tailors: overtime must be paid for at the rate of time and a half ; no overtime on Saturdays, Sundays or holidays ; $16 minimum weekly wage; increases to be arbitrated; price com- mittee to be created to determine prices and changes according to certain rulings. 4) Continuation of present Board of Arbitration during life of agreement. 5) $9 a week minimum for all workers. 6) No worker may be discharged without sufficient cause. 7) Overcrowding is considered a grievance. 8) All privileges of old agreement not covered here to con- tinue as before. 9) For other departments, various wage and rate adjust- ments. By an overwhelming majority the workers declared that if their demand for the union shop were not granted, they would strike. The Company objected on the ground that the em- ployes were not sufficiently experienced to hold such power. This was, of course, the most important demand of the work- ers and both sides seemed determined not to yield. No agree- ment appeared possible and the workers prepared to strike on April 1st. It was a serious crisis, all negotiations ceased, and the arbitrators left the city. The Chairman of the Board, Mr. Williams, arranged with the Company for an extension of the period of the old agreement to May 13, 1913, to give time for more negotiations and thus possibly avert a break; but the workers refused to accept the extension. Finally, one week before the date of expiration, Chairman Williams and the Chief Deputies (Hillman and Howard) presented to both sides a tentative agreement providing for a prefer- ential union shop, leaving practically all other issues in the hands of the Board of Arbitration, and providing for the continuation of the old agreement until another agreement could be reached. On March 28th the Chairman issued the following state- ment of his interpretation of the agreement, in order that both sides might understand clearly what was involved: DEVELOPMENT OF ARBITRATION 63 " In facing the possibility of unsettled questions being sub- mitted to arbitration, I find my present state of mind to be this : " That, in addition to maintaining what has been gained in the present agreement, the chief interest of the employees cen- ters around the question of an increased efficiency of organiza- tion, which requires a recognition of the need for such a sub- stantial degree of preference as will tend to improve that effi- ciency, while the chief interest of the employers centers around the question of efficiency in business competition, which neces- sarily includes a recognition and consideration of cost and quality of production, with the shop cooperation and discipline necessary to secure it. " I find my mind still open and ready to receive and be in- fluenced by any light that may be offered by either side, and this statement is given to show, so far as I understand myself, what my present attitude is on the questions which most need to be considered and reconciled." On March 29, 1913, the agreement was adopted and signed by representatives of the firm, of the Joint Board of the Hart, Schaffner and Marx local unions, the Central Federa- tion of Labor and the Women's Trade Union League. The signing of this agreement was unquestionably one of the most important gains won so far by the organized clothing work- ers of Chicago. Under the terms of this agreement, known as the Prefer- ential Shop Agreement, all matters in dispute, except the question of preference, were left to the Board of Arbitration. The rest of the 1913 agreement was really issued therefore in the form of a Ruling of the Board of Arbitration, effective from May 1, 1913, to May 1, 1916. The Ruling incorpo- rated the agreement for preference of March 29th ; provided an opportunity for renewal of the agreement before the time of expiration in 1916; provided for the continuation of the Trade and Arbitration Boards; enlarged the powers of the latter by the so-called emergency clause; reduced hours of work in the tailor shops from 54 to 52 ; retained the minimum wage scale with certain exceptions; provided for pay at the rate of time and a half for overtime work and no overtime on Sundays or legal holidays; left the power of discharge and discipline with the company, subject to review; ordered 64 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO the maintenance as far as possible of a balance of work- men in the sections in order to keep different departments at work, complaints in regard to this being subject to review by the Trade Board ; provided for the replacement of workers displaced by abolished sections in work as nearly as possible like their old work; and retained in full force those parts of the old agreement not in conflict with this, or obsolete. The first decision prescribing the manner of applying the principle of preference was made on August 30, 1913. This ( a/ application of the principle of preference is an excellent example of the building up of a code or body of practical law by the decisions of the Boards which interpret and apply general principles. The gist of the decision was as follows: " The test of preference is that it must strengthen the organi- zation, while at the same time it must extend a * reasonable pref- erence ' to old employes, and maintain the efficiency of shop discipline * * * . The Board * * * offers the following experimental interpretation: The application of the principle of preference made herein is based on the degree of unionization at present existing in the shops and is designed to prevent union membership from falling below its present status, and by its continued operation to strengthen the organization as con- templated by the agreement." The decision then proceeds to establish classes for degrees of unionization, rules for preference in each class and for promotion of sections from one class to another, for slack season reduction in working force, and for preference in hir- ing. Special rules were made later for the cutters and trim- mers to the effect that workers in cutting and trimming rooms shall be union members in good standing, except that the company may employ 20 non-union cutters and 9 non-union trimmers, this being less than 5 per cent, of the number em- ployed in each case. In conclusion, Mr. Williams noted cer- tain general rules in regard to the punishment of wilful stop- pages or any other violation of the spirit and intention of the agreement. This decision became the guide for future appli- cations of the preferential clause of the agreement. The strides forward that the union had made since 1911 and the DEVELOPMENT OF ARBITRATION 65 acceptance of the position that the organization should con- tinue to gain and not lose strength, are clearly recognized in the above decision. The preferential shop did in practice soon come to mean the union shop, for with the increasing degree of unionization, the union saw to it that its members were available for preference when jobs were open. The degree of unionization under this agreement was naturally of the ut- most importance, for it determined the class of the sections for purposes of preference, and in March, 1914, the Labor Department directed the foremen to take a census of unioni- zation. Three months later, the union took a census of its members through the shop chairmen. The union figures, com- piled in May, show a considerably larger proportion of union men than were shown by the March census. The percentage of union members in the pants shop (the lowest percentage of all the shops), according to March figures, was 51, and in May, 77.6. In the vest makers' section, the percentage of union members was 89 according to the March figures and 96 in May, and in the coat makers 82 and 91.6 respectively. The degree of unionization of cutters and trimmers was 95% at both dates. The total membership of the union calculated from the dues collected in the four months from January to May, shows an increase of from 2,592 in May, 1913, to 8,906 in May, 1914, or 344 per cent. After January, 1914, new groups of workers (including ticket sewers, inspector tailors, and apprentices) who were not unionized at the time of signing the agreement in March, 1913, were brought under the agreement, due to their subse- quent organization by the union. . Another provision in the 1913 agreement that was of great importance in the development of the strength of the union was the clause limiting the power of discharge by requiring that a sufficient reason be shown for discharge and by provid- ing for appeal in the case of those believing themselves un- justly discharged. The development of the position and function of the shop chairman, as a recognized officer of the Union, came largely during the life of this agreement. In the original agreement 66 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO there was no mention of a shop chairman. In fact, it was specifically provided that " any employe may present a grievance in person or by an individual fellow worker." The progress and status of the Union were later recognized in a ruling to the effect that the Joint Board might designate any fellow employe of the company to represent them before the Arbitration Board. The institution was thus officially recognized and one " representative " was selected by the cutters, one each by coat, vest and pants tailors, and one each by the Polish and Lithuanian workers. Later, the Board interpreted " fellow worker " to be the official repre- sentative of the Union, the shop chairman, and still later the rights and powers of the shop chairman were defined in the Trade Board decisions of January 8, 1913, and September 5, 1914: JANUARY 8, 1913. " Inasmuch as the agreement is silent on the matter at issue a decision must rest on the most reasonable interpretation of the intention of the agreement and of the circumstances of shop operation. " It is clearly intended and declared by the agreement that an employee may elect to present a grievance by a fellow worker rather than by himself. It will not be denied that an employe may bring a complaint to the representative of the firm during working hours. But under the agreement he may choose to make such complaint by a fellow worker rather than by him- self. In this case the agreement confers upon the fellow worker all of the rights of making and adjusting the complaint that it lodged in the employe. The employe is entitled to place his representative the individual fellow-worker in full possession of the facts of his complaint." SEPTEMBER 5, 1914. " In the present case the question centers on whether, when an employe presents a complaint to an individual fellow worker (shop chairman) the individual fellow worker has the right to go to the place of work of the complainant and investigate the complaint. " On this point the board rules that the individual worker (shop chairman) has the right to go to the place of work of the employe, where it is necessary for him to get full possession ^ * r-. DEVELOPMENT OF ARBITRATION 67 of the facts of the complaint. He may then take it up with the foreman, but the foreman is not required to discuss the com- plaint with him and may refer him to the other channels for ad- justing complaints. ****** " The shop chairman thus became the representative of the workers on the premises of the firm. Individual workers file their grievances with the chairman, who takes the matter up with the shop representative of the firm. If the chairman of the shop does not succeed in adjusting the matter, the griev- ances are brought (by the shop chairman) to the attention of the respective deputy. The deputy then takes the matter up with representative of the labor complaint department of the firm." In February, 1914, representatives of 5,000 workers of the firm met to celebrate the success of their relationship after three years of peace. A most enthusiastic reception was given to Sidney Hillman, Chief Deputy for the workers. By this time, the agreement was recognized as a great achieve- ment not only by those directly concerned with its operation but by the public and the press as well. " No occasion in all Chicago's industrial history," said the Chicago Daily News, "has more clearly demonstrated how much more practical and profitable peace is than war, and how much more essential to peace and prosperity is the democracy of good will than any kind of oligarchy in industry * * * This is history in the making here in Chicago." In the fall of 1914 came the break from the United Gar- ment Workers and the appearance of the new organization which later became the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. Neither this great change in the organization of the workers, nor the subsequent general strikes of 1915-16 that tied up other clothing houses, affected the agreement of Hart, Schaffner and Marx with its organized employees. Recognizing the facts as they were, the firm continued the agreement with locals of the Amalgamated Clothing Work- ers that it had begun with the United Garment Workers, and during the general strike in the fall of 1915, the agreement continued in effect, so that- no stoppages occurred among the workers of Hart, Schaffner and Marx. On May Day of 1915, A. D. Marimpietri, head of the Joint Board of Hart, Schaffner and Marx workers issued a call to all clothing workers to celebrate May Day as the International Labor Day. It was the first attempt to do this and the response was beyond all expectations. Over 10,000 workers paraded through the clothing district, halting out- side of the unorganized shops. The effect of the whole demonstration on the unorganized workers was tremendous. This May Day parade, aided by wide publicity in the daily press, did much toward laying the foundations for the gen- eral strike in the fall of 1915. The next significant event in the history of the collective agreement with Hart, Schaffner and Marx came when the agreement of 1913 was to expire in 1916. The great figure of the year was Mr. J. E. Williams, Chairman of the Board of Arbitration, to whose efforts the renewal of the agree- ment is credited. Mr. Williams himself called the signing of the agreement his " crowning experience " as a labor adjuster. In discussing the character of the union in con- nection with the renewal of this agreement, Mr. Williams wrote: " There were those among the disbelievers in collective bar- gaining who foresaw the rupture of the Hart, Schaffner and Marx agreement in this settlement. There were those who be- lieved that the union, after its five years of solidarity, would use its power to throttle the company * * * All these ex- pectations were negatived by the result. Five years of power, instead of making the union arrogant, has only given it a sense of restraint and responsibility. It has proved that, guided bv honest and intelligent leaders, the workers may be trusted with power, that industrial democracy is not a dream, but a poten- tial reality." Not that there were no serious problems at the moment to complicate the situation; serious questions of wage in- creases and reductions in hours presented in fact great difficulty, but the habit of collective bargaining that had been developed in the course of the previous five years of agree- ment, together with what Mr. Williams called " The Will to Agree," prevailed over the difficulties. 69 The agreement itself was the result of negotiations and conferences over demands of the union, which included, among other things, an increase in wages, the 48-hour week, the continuation of the Trade Board and Board of Arbi- tration as now constituted, and the preferential shop. Two weeks before the date for the expiration of the old agree- ment, the new agreement was signed for another period of three years, from May 1, 1916, to April 30, 1919. On the matter of hours a compromise was reached with the estab- lishment of the 49-hour week. At the date of signing of the agreement, a 10 per cent, increase was granted, which .-y *? \ the union, instead of applying horizontally, distributed in such a way as to give the lowest paid workers the greatest v jf benefit. This action was cited by Mr. Williams as a proof that the union was highly developed, capable of self-control, and eminently fit to hold power. The important provisions of the agreement of 1916 are substantially the following: 1. The old agreement and decisions based thereon, are to \, ( remain in force unless modified by or conflicting with this agree- ment. 2. The Board of Arbitration is to have full and final juris- diction over all matters under this agreement, and decisions of the Board are to be conclusive. Members of the Board are to be: Mr. Thompson, Mr. Meyer, and Mr. Williams. 3. The emergency clause of the 1913 agreement is renewed. 4. The Trade Board is to continue as before, as the primary board for adjusting grievances. The following important addi- tion was made to the rules for Deputies : " The Union deputy shall have access to any shop or factory for the purpose of making investigations of complaints ; but he shall in all cases be accompanied by the representative of the employer. Provided that the latter may, at his option, waive his right to accompany him, also that in minor matters where convenience or expedition may be served, the union deputy may call out the shop chairman to obtain information without such waiver." 5. Shop representatives (or shop chairmen) are specifically mentioned in the agreement and their duties and powers defined. The shop chairman is recognized as the duly accredited repre- sentative of the Joint Board, having charge of complaints and 70 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO organization matters in the shop. He is to receive complaints and have opportunity to investigate them, he may collect dues, etc., as long as it does not interfere with shop discipline or efficiency ; and he must do all in his power to promote good wilt and cooperation. 6. Detailed procedure is outlined for the handling, investi- gation, and presentation of grievances, appeals, and for the enforcement of decisions. 7. Piece rate committees take up changes in all cases where changes are contemplated. 8. The preferential shop clause is to remain effective, as before. 9. The limitations on discharge of workers as provided in 1913 agreement remain in effect. 10. Stoppages are considered serious violations of the spirit of the agreement. 11. Workers are not to be detained in shops when there is not enough work. 12. Employes are to be notified of complaints against them so that they can notify a deputy. 13. Lay off of union workers is only permitted in case of alternation in slack times, reorganization, or reduction in sec- tions, lawful discipline, etc. 14. During slack season work is to be divided equally, as far as possible, among all the workers. 15. Absence without cause or notification is equivalent to quitting. 16. Workers displaced by abolishment of sections are to bo replaced in work as much like the old work as possible. 17. Workers absent because of sickness will up to a reason- able length of time be reinstated. 18. The provisions for preference require that the union keep its door open to the admission of non-union workers. Dues and initiation fees must not be prohibitive. 19. All provisions of the old agreement, except where su- perseded or conflicting with these, are to remain in effect. From 1916 to 1919, a period of world war and unsettled economic conditions, the agreement and those who worked with it were confronted with new and unexpected problems. Fortunately the law of the industry proved itself elastic enough to meet such rapidly changing conditions. In Jan- uary, 1917, 2 per cent, was added to the wages of piece workers, in addition to the 10 per cent, granted at the time DEVELOPMENT OF ARBITRATION 71 of signing the agreement. On May 1, 1917, 10 per cent, increases were granted by decision of the Board and this time applied horizontally. The following year, on April 22, 1918, the firm granted " voluntary " increases, the result of negotiations between the union and the firm, effective as of May 2, 1918, and amounting to 10 per cent and 15 per cent. Like other gains of the Hart, Schaffner and Marx workers, these increases were of great help in stimulating the campaign to organize the rest of the Chicago market, which still remained non-union. On January 2, 1919, after seven years of distinguished and invaluable service, Mr. J. E. Williams, Chairman of the Board of Arbitration, died. James H. Tufts, Professor of Philosophy in the University, of Chicago, was appointed to succeed him. CHAPTER IV THE BREAK FROM THE UNITED GARMENT WORKERS IN 1914 THE conduct and termination of the 1910 strike resulted in resentment and suspicious hostility of the clothing work- ers toward their leaders in the United Garment Workers of America. In order to realize the intensity of their feeling, and the accumulated sense of injustice that culminated in the fall of 1914, it is necessary to go further back and ex- amine briefly the history, the methods, and the various activi- ties of the clothing workers' organizations prior to the break in the ranks of the United Garment Workers in 1914. It is from the first a history of exploitation and of chaos. It is clear from the nature of the industry itself and the course of its development, that organization of the clothing workers presented a highly complicated problem. The very conditions that made organization a pressing necessity tended also to retard its progress as we have seen in the sweatshop years before the 1910 strike. The immigrant workers; the highly seasonal nature of the industry; the prevalence of home work, with all the special problems of organization involved in that system; the constant division and sub-division of operations, setting the skilled workers at a comparative disadvantage; all these helped to make the clothing industry one of the most difficult of American industries to organize. From the beginning many sporadic and ineffective at- tempts to organize the clothing workers were made by such unions as the Journeymen Tailors, originally formed as a benevolent organization only. For the most part these at- tempts were either too feeble to be effective, or disrupted by jealousies and dissensions, or undermined by corruption from within. Of these early organizations the Journeymen Tail- ors were the most powerful, especially in New York City, 73 where they were supported by the Central Labor Union in the first general strike in 1833. The first national organ 1 ization of tailors, however, did not come until after the foundation of the Knights of Labor in 1866. It began, as 4 most unions of that period did, in rebellion against an older union no longer effective. In 1873 the various locals under A the Knights of Labor joined to form a national organiza- tion. One of the worst difficulties under which they labored was the necessity for secrecy, due to the blacklisting and lockouts in the reaction that followed the Civil War. Partly for this reason and partly through inherent weaknesses in the organization, the Knights of Labor were never very successful in organizing the clothing workers. The decade of 1880-1890 was filled with uprisings, new organizations, counter-movements and revolts. Finally in 1891 the United Garment Workers was organized, sup- ported at the beginning, by the United Hebrew Trades. . The union was organized under the leadership of dissatisfied officers of the Knights of Labor and took immediate steps to entrench and safeguard itself by obtaining a charter from the American Federation of Labor. This step was strongly opposed by the United Hebrew Trades, which just a little while before had urged the organization of the United Gar- ment Workers, and it passed, a resolution in 1892 criticising their action in affiliating with the American Federation of Labor. In 1893 the new union engineered a strike that de- veloped into a fight with the Knights of Labor, from which the United Garment Workers emerged victorious. This strike was followed by a period of severe depression and unemployment, lasting until the beginning of the new era of inside shops. It was largely in these years, from 1883 to 1894, that the sweat-shop came to be the character- istic feature of the clothing industry, and became closely associated in the minds of the workers with the contract system that prevailed during that period. Beginning with 1894, however, the great inside factories began to spring up. Their effect was greatly to facilitate the work of organiza- tion, partly because of the greater accessibility of workers 74 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO through the grouping by sections, and partly because of the relative decrease in the number of home workers. The United Garment Workers reaped the benefits of these great changes, and soon found itself the most power- ful of the then existing clothing workers' organizations. The union comprised three main branches of the garment industry overalls, shirts, and " men's and boys' clothing." Early in their history the United Garment Workers were fairly successful in organizing the pants-makers, children's jacket makers, and especially the overall makers. With the Brotherhood of Tailors of New York, however, which had affiliated with the United Garment Workers, but had to a certain degree retained its independence, the new organiza- tion got on badly from the beginning. This hostility con- tinued and grew throughout the history of the United Gar- ment Workers. K Viewed in the light of all the events up to 1914, and ac- cording to their own subsequent statements, the hostility and distrust of the tailors were founded principally on the following grievances: (1) The failure of the United Gar- ment Workers to organize the tailors, or to support them in their attempts to organize or increase their membership; (2) refusal to take notice of the growing demand on the part of the clothing workers for industrial union- ism rather than craft unionism; (3) autocratic and unrepresentative administration of the union's busi- ness, both constitutionally and unconstitutionally; (4) corrupt practices existing among the officers of the United Garment Workers, and the misuse of union funds, particularly in connection with the abuse of the union label. How far these complaints were justified, the events themselves show best. Serious dissatisfaction with the union's policy in regard to the organization of the tailors was manifested in 1904 at the close of an unsuccessful strike in New York City. It was only one of many cases in which the clothing workers were to find themselves not only unsupported at a crucial THE BREAK IN 1914 75 moment by their own leaders, but forced to accept unsatis- factory terms of settlement. In the meantime there were many proofs of neglect in regular " peace-time " organization work as well, in the dis- tress signals sent out by various locals seeking support for their failing membership. At the convention of 1906, for example, a Chicago tailors' local reported that its member- ship had fallen from 450 to 30, and they asked the national office to help them regain their membership. Another local reported " a state of loss of confidence, and in some cases discouraged to a great extent." Another Chicago local re- ported a drop in membership from 500 to 32, and said that the only way to organize was " to show outsiders the direct benefit, moral and financial, it is for them to be organized we have nothing to offer." A St. Louis local appealed for help, reporting that they were " almost out of existence." Various other locals described similar conditions, but almost without exception their requests were ignored. The distrust that had been awakened in the minds of the workers was further stimulated by the action of the leaders in the Tailors' first general strike of 1907 in New York. After the New York Tailors had struck for the right to organize and for the 53-hour week, there was a split within the ranks and the United Garment Workers' officials charged those who persisted in opposing them with in- surgency, and expelled them from membership, although fifty thousand members had voted in favor of the so-called " insurgents." The split was apparently healed, but the strike was lost. But perhaps the most important single event that proved to the workers, not only that the national office was not primarily interested in organizing the clothing workers, but that it was actually in many cases opposed, was the Chicago strike of 1910, and its settlement. Presi- dent Rickert in his report on the 1910 strike to the next convention shows clearly that the officers were opposed to the purposes of the strikers. In discussing the rejection of the first agreement which he had drawn up, and which provided that " no question of union or open shop or shop 76 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO organization should be submitted to, or passed upon by the collective machinery established," Rickert says : " in this they were aided by the English, Foreign and Socialist press as well as by other organizations, notwithstanding the fact that these same officials had, prior to the submission of this proposition, acknowledged many times that any agree- ment would be a good settlement." Finally in 1911 the Tailor locals of New York and Balti- more called a conference at Philadelphia on the subject of the organization of the tailors, in which they voiced their com- plaints against the United Garment Workers: " The National organization of the United Garment Workers is in existence for the last few years, and we tailors have organ- ized that body. We helped the organization in its moments of need, consequently we worked very hard and paid every cent to set the organization on a solid material basis. At last we enjoy very little of the benefits of this organization. " Who will deny the fact that the national organization is presently being controlled by representatives of the Overall Makers, who do not want and cannot understand the interests of the tailor in America ? " Who will deny the fact that the officers of the United Gar- ment Workers of America are not able to deal with more than the Union label, and probably not even this? * * * The Tailor Unions are now like a ' step-child ' to the national organization." The result of this conference was the formation of the Tailors' Council which, after bitter opposition, the United Garment Workers was forced to recognize. A vigorous organization campaign by the tailor locals of New York City in 1911-1912 was then undertaken with astounding results. This new activity marked the taking of the lead by the tailors themselves toward improving their conditions and organizing the industry. Finally, when a general strike was called December 30, 1912, for the 48-hour week and wage increases, all of the workers in the industry responded. The organization campaign carried on by the local unions of the Brotherhood of Tailors in New York had been so successful that the general officers of the United Officers and Executive Board Members Bohemian Coat Makers Local 6 Officers and Executive Board Members Polish Coat Makers Local 38 Officers and Executive Board Members Italian Coat Makers Local 270 THE BREAK IN 1914 77 Garment Workers, unlike on the occasion of previous strikes, gave their sanction to the organized fight of the tailors for better conditions. From the first the officers of the United Garment Workers attempted to control the strike and to arrange " settlements " with the manufacturers. In January they submitted an agreement which was rejected because it did not reduce hours and offered only 5 per cent, increase in wages. The workers refused to vote on a second agreement negotiated by the national officers for a 52-hour week and an increase of $1.00 per week. Even when the employers agreed to re- duce the hours to 50 as of January, 1914, the workers re- fused to consider it. Finally, on February 28, 1913, the general executive board of the United Garment Workers accepted without reference to the strikers another " settle- ment " with the manufacturers' association. This settlement provided for an increase of $1.00 per week, the abolition of sub-contracting and the creation of a commission to fix hours. When these terms were made public, the Brotherhood of Tailors rejected the agreement on the ground that it was entered into without the consent of the strikers. The workers were so incensed by the treachery of their officers and the support given the unpopular settlement by the Jewish Daily Forward when the strike had been virtually won that they smashed the windows of the Forward offices in protest. The Brotherhood of Tailors immediately called a confer- ence of Jewish unions and other progressive organizations and formed a special committee to carry on the strike. The sum of $50,000 was raised. The Forward then followed the popular movement, realized its original error and urged the strikers on. General President Rickert and the other officers of the U. G. W. on the other hand wrote to the Mayor of the city urging him to stop further picketing by the strikers. The strike was finally terminated on March 13th when a new settlement negotiated by the newly created strike com- mittee was ratified by a referendum vote of the strikers. While the workers did not receive in full their demands, they secured important concessions in the improvement of work- 78 ing conditions. More than that they had laid the foundation for a permanent organization of all the workers in the cloth- ing industry in New York City. Effective organization in New York dates from the 1913 strike. The action of the gen- eral officers of the U. G. W. in their attempts to force the workers to settle and their move to stop picketing after the refusal of the strikers to accept the settlement of February 28th represented only an attempt to do in New York in 1913 the thing which they had tried unsuccessfully in Chicago in 1910. The breach between officialdom and rank and file had been widened. To the officers of the U. G. W. the growth of the New York Tailor locals had become a serious menace to their continuance in power. The opposition of the United Garment Workers to in- dustrial unionism and their failure even to understand the demand was in part another phase of their antagonism to the tailors. For the demand rose not among the conservative shirt and over-all workers but among the progressive and dissatisfied groups of the clothing workers. The very constitution of the old United Garment Workers was based on the principle of local autonomy. District councils were merely loose federations of locals in one city and were in practice almost powerless. Any local in the city might, for example, vote for a strike without reference to or consultation with the district council or other local unions in the same city, regardless of their interdependence. The matter would then go directly to the general officers for their approval or disapproval. Resolutions attempting to remedy this situation by giving the district councils more power were always defeated by the General Executive Board. But the fact that such resolutions were brought in increasing numbers as the years went on is proof of the dissatisfaction of the members with the existing system. As early as 1906 a resolution was submitted providing for the sanction and recognition of semi-annual conferences between different locals and district councils, having the power to legislate for locals represented, subject to the approval of the General Executive Board. This resolution was de- THE BREAK IN 1914 79 feated. Many other resolutions of the same purport were introduced at this and later conventions. One recommended that all branches of the trade be represented on the executive board and another recommended the representation of each principal market. In 1912 a drastic resolution was brought: " We have resolved, The only means to bring about a power- ful organization is with an industrial war, which will involve all occupations affiliated with the U. G. W. And it must ex- tend wherever the U. G. W. has jurisdiction, and tie up the entire clothing industry, at such time as the delegates see fit; and we must have a uniform price for every occupation * * * We are using old-time methods * * * The garment workers cannot expect the rest of the tailors of this country to be organized and to have confidence in it or respect for it unless it gives some evidence of thought and intelligence and a careful consideration and genuine intention on this and other important matters before us demanding solution." The committee on resolutions recommended that this be " received and spread on the minutes," which was done. The utter failure of the United Garment Workers to understand the demand for industrial unionism was shown conclusively in the General Executive Board report to the 1914 convention: " The hue and cry for an industrial form of organization in the tailoring industry is difficult to understand * * * It is the opinion of your General Executive Board that this conven- tion should go on record as flatly opposed to amalgamation in any form at this time with any of the other organizations in the clothing trade, and that the incoming general executive board be empowered to resist any encroachment upon our jurisdiction by any other union." The constitution of the United Garment Workers pro- viding as it did for local autonomy and dependence of the locals directly on the general officers, lent itself readily to autocratic control on the part of the officers. A few ex- amples will show how the extraordinary powers held by the officers and General Executive Board under the constitution were misused by them. Foremost among these was the power to grant charters, which the general officers used so 80 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO as to strengthen their control of the union. Strikes were referred directly to the general office. No person was entitled to strike benefits unless he had been a member in good standing at last three months before the strike was declared. One article sought to protect the officers from criticism by providing for trial of members in "cases when a general officer has been slandered or libelled." Thus effec- tive criticism was often stifled by fear of expulsion and loss of a job. In addition to constitutional powers originally conferred upon them, thet officers were constantly seeking to strengthen their hold by bringing in new resolutions. It should be noted that for years the officers had effectively controlled the conventions either through the appointment of commit- tees or through control of the delegates, or through over- k ' representation of those locals favorable to themselves and often by all of these methods. This last expedient was made possible by the power to grant charters to any number of locals. The result was the chartering of many numerically small locals in those districts favorable to the administra- tion, especially among the overall and shirt workers. Con- sequently, although their delegates sometimes out-numbered the delegates of clothing locals for purposes of voting, they were not actually representative of the majority of the membership. Thus by one means or another resolutions brought by officers were generally adopted, while those op- posing them were unfavorably reported and lost. One of the most striking resolutions seeking to secure the power of the officers was brought by Secretary Larger in 1906. He recommended that the general officers be given power to suspend immediately any local refusing to obey their orders. This recommendation despite much opposition was finally carried. Two constitutional amendments as to discipline were not even voted on by the convention but were merely concurred in by the Board and subsequently referred to as " amendments to our by-laws/' In 1912 Sidney Hill- man, then chief deputy for the Hart, Schaffner and Marx workers, forced a hearing for two delegates whom Rickert THE BREAK IN 1914 81 attempted to disfranchise under these " by-laws," without giving them a hearing. Due to the combined efforts of Rickert and Larger, nine resolutions for reform elections were reported unfavorably by the committee. Among these were resolutions for the secret ballot, for the restoration of the referendum, for the removal of officers by referendum and other similar reforms. It should also be noted that in- 191 2 as in most other years, Rickert and Larger were elected by acclamation. Never- theless, strong opposition was already being shown, at that time, to their administration. Though the constitution originally provided for a referendum vote, the officers had tried to abolish it as early as 1906. To quote Rickert, who claimed to approve of the referendum in theory: " It has been conclusively demonstrated that in our organization for the general interest of its progress, the referendum has been an absolute failure. I would recommend that the consti- tution be so changed as to give the convention power to decide * * * without submitting it to a referendum vote." This resolution was adopted by vote of 44 to 17. In opposing these resolutions to restore the referendum, Rickert, in 1912, said: 'The referendum vote has been a bar to progress and advancement. I would leave the law as it is, giving the locals and General Executive Board the right to submit amendments between conventions, but feel that all laws adopted at conventions should go into effect without being submitted to the vote of the people." One of the measures thus passed was a resolution introduced by one of the officers raising the salaries of the general officers and awarding themselves back pay for two years, without referring this question to the membership. The abuse of the union label as practised by the officers of the United Garment Workers is cited in the New York convention of 1914 as one of the tailors' most serious griev- ances and a direct cause of the revolt. From the beginning the LJnited Garment Workers had neglected the organiza- tion of the tailors to a far greater extent than the organiza- tion of the overall and shirt workers. The explanation for 82 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO this discrimination is to be found in the fact that, through the use of the union label, the Garment Workers were able to control the overall workers more effectively than they could hope to control the tailors. The sale of union labels was the great activity of the United Garment Workers and they naturally found it profitable to devote most of their energies to organization in those branches in which the union label could be most readily used. As a result the union label was a serious cause of friction between the overall and shirt workers and the tailors. In the hands of the officers of the United Garment Workers, the label, instead of being a safeguard to the workers as it was intended to be, became a dangerous weapon whereby large funds were extorted from the membership and misused, standards lowered, and the workers, either ignorant of the working of this system or else helpless to remedy it, were often forced to scab on each other. The union label became one of the most important sources of revenue for the officers. The United Garment Workers were supposed to sell labels to firms that were under agree- ment as to conditions of work and employed only union mem- bers. But in practice the granting of labels often amounted to conspiracy with the employers, some of whom retained the use of labels without conforming to union standards. In many cases the tailors knew the conditions of union label shops to be worse than the conditions in non-label houses. Such use of the label proved to be profitable, however, and the officers again and again emphasized the advantages of the union label and urged their more extended use. Large sums were spent on labels and label advertising that might have gone into organization work. In one year, 1906, the general officers spent approximately $16,656 for organizing, $13,250 for strike benefits, $24,572 for labels and $10,748 for label advertising and propaganda. In 1912 President Rickert said that the union label was " the most effective weapon that can be utilized by the wage earners of America. Its general demand would in a great measure bring peace to the labor movement. The exploita- THE BREAK IN 1914 83 tion of the laborer would cease and strikes and lockouts would be minimized * * * the working men and women of this country do not appreciate the full value of the union label and hence it becomes necessary to have a large corps of label promoters in the field." Often strikes in non-label shops would be given support by the United Garment Workers, while strikes in label shops would be betrayed by their own officers who supplied the employers with scab workers, to whom they had given union books. The workers for a long time did not dare to voice their grievance openly for fear of losing their jobs through the union. Such complaints as were made, to the effect that the officers were too lenient with firms that misused the label, were repeatedly ignored. Thus, for instance, many clothing manufacturers were enabled to retain the use of the label, despite the protests of the workers, when in reality, clothes in these shops were made under the worst sweat- shop conditions. In 1906 a Chicago local protested against the selling of the label to special order coatmakers, who were using 50 per cent, non-union helpers, but no action was taken on this complaint. In view of their use of the union label, the union officers naturally considered strikes an unnecessary expense and in- terruption, and they concerned themselves as little with the improvement of conditions through strikes as with the work of organization. Faced by these abuses and the waning strength of the organization, both numerically and financially, the progres- sive members began to organize for resistance. As the time for the 1914 convention approached, the dissatisfaction of the workers came to a head and it was apparent to the offi- cers that it would be difficult for them to retain their power. The methods used in past conventions they realized would not be sufficient to stem the tide of indignation that the tailors' locals were now showing more and more openly. ' There was a general and widespread dissatisfaction among the membership with the former international administra- 84 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO tors who never acted in accord with the membership * * *. The membership growing ever stronger and more self-con- scious, looked forward to the biennial convention as the place for correcting the different evils they were suffering from." Nashville was chosen as the convention city for 1914, pri- marily because it was convenient for the overall and shirt- workers and very inconvenient for the clothing workers. An active campaign was waged by the clothing locals throughout 1914 against the re-election of the old officers. The selection of Nashville as the convention city was re- garded as the first step toward reducing the power of these opposing locals. A motion to hold the convention in a more central location (Rochester), which was constitutionally made by a tailors' local and constitutionally seconded, was ignored by Secretary Larger and no vote was allowed, al- though the constitution specifically provided for such refer- endum. In giving the reason for his refusal to put this motion to referendum vote, Secretary Larger said that some of the locals seconding the motion were in arrears, whereas in fact locals charged with arrears had not yet had their accounts audited and were therefore supposedly in good standing. Motions to remove Larger for unconstitutional behavior were likewise ignored. At the convention Larger evaded the issue by making it appear that he was charged with violation of an entirely different clause of the constitu- tion. Referendum on a change of the convention city having been refused, in spite of the financial difficulty for a large number of eastern locals and in spite of the unconstitu- tionally of the procedure, the convention was called for October 12th at Nashville, Tennessee. The call included the following rulings for representation and credentials : " Representation in the convention will be based on the aver- age membership on which local unions paid per capita tax for the twenty-five months ending August 31st, immediately pre- ceding the convention. Delegates are not entitled to seats in the convention unless all the indebtedness of their local union THE BREAK IN 1914 85 to General Office has been paid in full to August 31, 1914, and unless the Local Union has paid per capita tax to the Inter- national Union on all its members. At this convention matters of the greatest importance to the workers will be discussed and acted on, and every effort will be made to broaden the field and means for the organization of the yet unorganized workers in the clothing industry. Therefore, the importance of our move- ment, the duty to the present and for the future, demand that every local union entitled to representation shall send its full quota of delegates to the Nashville convention, October 12, 1914." But the officers of the United Garment Workers knew that they would have to take even more drastic steps to hold their own against the rising opposition of the clothing dele- gates. Having already violated the constitution by refusing to submit the motion to convene in Rochester to referendum vote, they proceeded to disfranchise the majority of the opposing locals' delegates. In August, just before the elec- tion of local delegates, General Auditor Haskins was sent out to audit the books of the locals. He reported large in- debtedness against those locals known to be in opposition to the officers of the United Garment Workers and declared them to be in arrears. On September 12th a circular letter was sent to all the locals thus charged with arrears, telling them that no credentials would be issued to delegates of locals whose bills were not paid. The letter rested this policy on the following clause in the Constitution : "Section 10 of Article III of our International Constitu- tion reads as follows: " No Local Union shall be entitled to representation at the biennial convention unless the per capita tax and assessments are paid up to the first day of September preceding the con- vention. Your Local Union owes $ per Auditor Haskins' statement, which is herewith attached. Immediately on payment of the amount due as above stated, this office will forward credentials to your Local Union. The Local Union failing to pay its indebtedness, will receive no credentials and will not be entitled to representation at the coming convention." The bills in most cases were declared by the locals to be fabricated for the purpose of disfranchising the local, and 86 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO in many cases were ridiculously large. The amount charged the New York local alone was $75,000. On September 28th a second letter was sent to these locals, threatening them with non-representation unless they paid at once. In both letters the officers claimed to be acting as required by the constitution. In reality, however, the letters and the whole proceeding were in violation of the constitution and the rights of the local unions concerned. According to the constitu- tion, the representation of locals was to be based on the aver- age membership on which local unions had paid the per capita tax for the twenty-four months immediately pre- ceding the convention, no local union having more than four delegates. The delegates were not entitled to seats unless all the indebtedness of their local unions to the General Office had been paid in full up to August 81, 1914, and unless the local union had paid the per capita tax to the General Office. The locals charged with arreai's, however, were not in ar- rears as provided by the constitution, inasmuch as they had paid the per capita tax for the twenty-four months ending August 31st, as well as the assessments called for, and had elected delegates in proportion to the membership on which they had paid the tax. Even if this had not been the case, however, another clause in the Constitution provided that any union three months in arrears shall be allowed until the seventh day of the fourth month, and if not then paid, shall be suspended, and also that the General Secretary shall notify the local when two months in arrears. None of the locals charged had been so notified by the Secretary or sus- pended for non-payment. The indebtedness reported by Haskins was in fact new, and the locals had never previously been informed of it. All were constitutionally, therefore, in good standing and " their standing was in no way impaired by the claim, made at the last hour, that they were indebted to the organization for per capita taxes or assessments in addition to those regularly paid by them from month to month." The locals claimed, moreover, that even if the indebted- ness reported had been correct, they were not given suffi- Chicago members of the General Executive Board A. D. Marimpietri , _ . Frank Rosenblum o-j T>- Samuel Levin . , 01 , Sidney Rissman Stephen Skala THE BREAK IN 1914 87 cient time to pay. They pointed out that the constitution provided for certain contingencies, such as unemployment, that might excuse delay. In this event, therefore, the issue would be one of the facts in the case. It was the duty of the officers to ascertain the facts, to ask the local to prove the existence of the extenuating circumstances, and to require it to appear in its own defense. But no opportunity for a hearing was given the locals, either to protest their indebted- ness or to prove the existence of these circumstances. The letters arbitrarily assumed the facts: " We desire herewith to notify you of that fact, [that all local unions in question are not entitled to representation * * * and will not be seated], so that if your Local Union is unable to pay up, you will know that your delegates cannot be seated." Finally, the constitution provides that a Committee of Credentials shall pass on the right of delegates to sit, and the clothing workers held that it was therefore both uncon- stitutional and autocratic for the Executive Board and officers to take it upon themselves to decide the facts, and to act upon their own decision. It was plain to the delegates that it was the purpose of the national officers to disfranchise the locals they feared in whatever way they found possible. The Convention opened Monday morning, October 12, in Capitol Hall, Nashville, Tenn. The New York delegates, the great majority of whom represented locals declared in arrears, circulated a printed appeal to the delegates stating their case and urging that they be admitted to the conven- tion. " A determined effort is now being made by the General Officers of our organization to prevent the delegates of our locals from being seated at the Convention. And with that end in view, the General Officers have presented to the locals enormous bills for alleged deficiencies. " Whether or not these bills are correct is not the question before you at the present time. In most instances our locals claim that they are incorrect. This question must be adjusted through the regular channels of administrative procedure. If our locals should be found to be indebted to the United Garment Workers they will pay such indebtedness with all possible expe- 88 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO dition, and if they should fail to pay, the United Garment Workers will have a constitutional remedy against them. The point we wish to make is that the question is entirely foreign to the right of our local to be represented in the convention." When the Convention opened on October 12, 1914, the Credential Committee, appointed by Rickert, submitted a partial report, recommending the seating of 198 of 305 dele- gates, and making no reference at all to the others, who rep- resented clothing locals in opposition to the existing admin- istration. The meeting was about to proceed to business when Frank Rosenblum, one of the Chicago delegates who had been seated, asked if the report of the Credential Com- mittee was complete. The President said that it was not yet complete and the session was adjourned without further action. Consequently, when the meeting convened the next morning, it was not yet legally organized. All delegates therefore had a right to be regarded as equal and having the same powers, until the convention was definitely constituted by the adoption of the complete report of the Credential Committee. From the very beginning, however, the dele- gates, whose status was not yet reported by the Committee, were refused admittance and were physically barred from the floor of the convention hall. About 150 of them (repre- senting cutters' and tailors' locals) were thus illegally re- fused admittance, and they were only allowed to sit in the gallery. President Rickert was about to proceed with busi- ness when Frank Rosenblum raised the point of order on the organization of the convention and asked for a vote. The motion was put to vote, but Rickert, in counting, ignored the votes of the delegates in the gallery and reported the motion as " lost." Delegate Rosenblum then immediately proposed the sus- pension of the roll call, as it was unconstitutional to proceed to other business until the Credential Committee had com- pleted its report. This objection was cheered and applauded with great enthusiasm by the delegates in the gallery. Rick- ert overruled Delegate Rosenblum's point of order on the ground that business would be delayed too long if they were THE BREAK IN 1914 89 to wait for a full report. Delegate Rosenblum appealed from the ruling and delivered a speech denouncing the auto- cratic methods of the officers and declaring that the delegates in the gallery were legally elected representatives of the workers with as much right as any, and more than some pres- ent, to a vote. He accused the officers of using unconstitu- tional and dishonest methods to maintain their position, be- cause they knew that an honest vote would repudiate them. The appeal was put to a vote, and the majority voted in favor of the objection, but Rickert again refused to count the votes of the delegates in the gallery and declared the motion lost. Another motion made by Delegate Rosenblum to add the names of these delegates to the report was voted on with the same result, Rickert refusing to recognize all votes. Delegate Rissman, of Chicago, then moved that " the president be removed for having violated the constitution, and that in his place be nominated, temporarily, Brother Schneid of Chicago." Rickert refused to put the motion to a vote, and Delegate Rissman, therefore, put the motion himself, counted it, and declared it carried. Delegate Pass then moved that since the majority had captured the conven- tion, the regular convention representing the majority should adjourn and reconvene at the Duncan Hotel. He also put the motion, counted the votes, and announced it carried. Thereupon all the delegates, whom the general officers sought to keep out of the convention, without charges, with- out a hearing and without a trial, and who represented the great majority of the membership, left the building in a body, joined by the few clothing workers' delegates who had been seated. The overall workers' delegates were practically the only ones remaining. The delegates left the building and marched through the streets to reconvene at Duncan Hotel. 90 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO The following call was immediately issued to all delegates : TO THE DULY ELECTED DELEGATES OF LOCALS OF THE UNITED GARMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA TO THE 18TH BIENNIAL CONVEN- TION HELD IN NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, GREETINGS: " The Convention of the United Garment Workers of America will be held this 13th day of October, 1914, at the Duncan Hotel, in the City of Nashville, State of Tennessee, at 12 noon. " The reason why the location of the Convention is changed from the Capitol Hall to the Hall in the Duncan Hotel, corner Fourth Avenue and Cedar Street, is that the meeting place originally designated, for the holding of such Convention, has been seized by a minority of the delegates duly elected to the said 18th Biennial Convention by the locals constituting the United Garment Workers of America, and said place being improperly, illegally and by force, held by said minority, as an illegal and improperly constituted Convention of the United Garment Workers of America. " And we urge all accredited delegates to the said 18th Bien- nial Convention to attend the meetings of the Convention at the time above given, and at the place above stated." The first session of the Clothing Workers' Convention at noon of October 13th was attended by practically all the clothing workers' delegates. Mr. Jacob Panken, of New York, addressed the convention and was most enthusiasti- cally received. A Credential Committee and a few tempo- rary officers were elected, and the meeting then adjourned. The Convention was called to order in the afternoon by Chairman Schneid and the roll call taken. The Chair an- nounced that all officers were absent, including General President Rickert, General Secretary Larger, General Treasurer Waxman, General Auditor Haskins, though they have all been notified to appear. Committees were then ap- pointed and the convention proceeded to regular business and reports. On Wednesday, October 14th, the convention proceeded to the election of permanent officers amid great excitement and enthusiasm. Sidney Hillman, of Local No. 39, Chicago, was unanimously elected General President of the United Garment Workers of America, Joseph Schloss- Joseph Schlossberg, General Secretary-Treasurer THE BREAK IN 1914 91 berg, of Local No. 156, New York, was unanimously elected General Secretary and Tobias Lapun, of New York, was elected General Treasurer, while Isidor Kantrowitz, of New York, was elected General Auditor. Rosenblum, Marim- pietri, Rabkin, and Seinfield of the Overall Workers, were elected members of the General Executive Board. Dele- gates to represent the United Garment Workers at the Con- vention of the American Federation of Labor were also elected. The convention was continued in the afternoon at 407 Union Street, and the officers were officially installed. Other business was disposed of or referred to the General Executive Board. The next convention was set for 1916 in Rochester, New York. The organization that emerged from the Nashville Con- vention was in reality the nucleus of the Amalgamated Cloth- ing Workers of America. The name, United Garment Workers of America, was retained until December, 1914. Under the leadership of the new general officers elected at the Convention, the United Garment Workers proceeded to take up the fight against the old officers of the United Gar- ment Workers and to fulfill its promises to the membership. Tailor locals in all the markets were in the meantime endors- ing the action of their delegates. On October 21st, the Chicago locals assembled in a great mass meeting and rati- fied the action of their delegates at Nashville in the following resolution : " WHEREAS, At the Eighteenth Biennial Convention of the United Garment Workers of America held in Nashville, Tenn., on October 12, 1914, the credential committee reported ad- versely upon seating delegates representing seventy-five per cent. of the membership of the United Garment Workers of America, and " WHEKEAS, Every possible effort was made to secure a hear- ing and explanation was demanded for such high handed methods but the delegates representing only twenty-five per cent, of the membership in the hands of the present officers of the United Garment Workers of America, in conjunction with one Robert Noren, Secretary of the Overall Manufacturers' Association and delegates who were absolutely not eligible to be seated, denied such hearing and explanation, and 92 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO " WHEREAS, These proceedings were the most vicious and unwarranted denial of the Constitutional law of the United Garment Workers of America, and a blot on the good name of Organized Labor and a disgrace to the Labor Movement of America, and "WHEREAS, The delegates representing the seventy-five per cent, of the membership of the United Garment Workers of America felt it incumbent upon them to safeguard and protect the interests of those whom they represented, proceeded to or- ganize the Convention of United Garment Workers of America under constitution and by-laws of said organization, said con- vention was held in the Duncan Hotel and transacted all the business pertaining to the United Garment Workers of America, and elected a full set of general officers for the ensuing term, now, therefore be it, " RESOLVED, That we, the membership of the Chicago Locals in mass meeting assembled, October 21, 1914, in the West Side Auditorium, heartily ratify the action taken by our delegates to protect and safeguard our organization and hereby pledge our undivided support to our newly elected officers." The old United Garment Workers' officers put up a bitter fight. On October 31st, a letter was sent out to all the locals by Larger describing the Convention and informing them of the status of the new organization in the eyes of the old General Officers: " The convention held at the Duncan Hotel by the bolters, have taken the name of the New United Garment Workers of America. They have brought suit against the legally elected officers for possession of the national office, therefore we wish to advise you to pay no attention to any communication or order unless said order or communication is signed by B. A. Larger, General Secretary and on the letterhead of Interna- tional Office, until further notice. Our offices are in 116-117- 118-120-122-124 Bible House, New York City, and checks in payment of labels and per capita tax MUST be made payable to B. A. Larger, General Secretary, as heretofore. Send no checks to anyone else and recognize no label secretary except those authorized by us to act in that capacity. Recognize no local union or member except those who are loyal and in good standing in this organization." In the meantime legal action, both defensive and offensive, was taken by the new organization, and a report on their THE BREAK IN 1914 93 progress was made to the Special New York Convention. In November the American Federation of Labor held its regular Convention. To it both organizations elected and sent delegates, each claiming to be the legitimate organiza- tion of the clothing workers. A complete and detailed report of the entire situation was printed by the new United Gar- ment Workers and circulated among the delegates under the title, "The Case of the United Garment Workers of America." This report, signed by President Hillman and Secretary Schlossberg, was designed to put all the facts clearly before the American Federation of Labor. The w American Federation of Labor, however, refused even to give the organization a hearing. The delegates of the Rickert faction were recognized and seated because Rickert and Larger were the only Garment Workers' officers offi- cially known to the American Federation of Labor. On November 16th, President Gompers and Secretary Morrison sent out a circular letter to the clothing workers' locals in- forming them that the United Garment Workers was affiliated with the American Federation of Labor and that Rickert and Larger were its officers. In December, 1914, the General Executive Board of the new United Garment Workers sent out a call to all district and local unions for a special convention to be held in New York, beginning December 25, 1914. The purpose of this convention was to begin the constructive work of removing " the antiquated and undemocratic forms and methods of our organization, as laid out by our present constitution; establish such organic laws as will insure to the Membership a deter- mining voice in the affairs of our organization * * * not only at a time of a great crisis, when the Membership rises from under the heel of despotism, but at all times. In short the laws and institutions of our organization must be so changed as to permit of the freest and fullest expression of the truly pro- gressive spirit of our Membership, and enable it to march unfettered abreast of the Modern Labor Movement." The report of the general executive board to this con- vention included a summary of their activities during the first few months of their progress in the long-neglected work 94 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO of organization, and a re-statement of the principles and purposes of the organization. At this convention the Gen- eral Officers elected at the Nashville Convention were con- firmed. Their activities were endorsed by the delegates. The Convention proceeded to the drafting and adoption of a new constitution suited to the real purposes of the Union. It was at this Convention also that the name of the union was chosen. An agreement with the Tailors' Industrial Union, formerly the Journeymen Tailors' Union, providing for their amalgamation with the new clothing workers' union, was submitted by the General Executive Board to the Convention and was adopted. The agreement was as follows : " First : This organization shall be known as the Amalga- mated Clothing Workers of America. " Second : The officers shall consist of : General President, General Secretary, General Treasurer, General Auditor, and eleven General Executive Board Members, three of whom must be from the Tailors' Industrial Union. " Third : The General Executive Board shall organize the industry into departments when conditions warrant. Such department shall have full control of its own funds and shall have the right to make such laws to govern its department as it sees fit, providing such laws do not conflict with the general laws. " Fourth : Per capita tax payable to the general office shall not be less than fifteen cents per month for each member in good standing. "Fifth: Method of election of general officers to be left until after amalgamation, then for the general membership to decide by referendum." With the ratification of this agreement and of the new constitution, the clothing workers were finally freed from the bonds of an unrepresentative and outworn organization. The Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America had now become a reality in name as well as in fact, and under new leadership made its formal entry into the American Labor Movement. CHAPTER V THE STRIKE OF 1915 THE settlement with Hart, Schaffner and Marx in 1911 left the rest of the Chicago clothing market unorganized. From then until the final victory in 1919 vigorous and con- tinued effort was made by the Chicago clothing workers' union to organize the unorganized shops. For those who returned to work in 1911 under non-union conditions, the outcome of the 1910 strike was not a defeat but merely an interruption in this long battle that was to last eight years. From time to time, organization activity was carried on with increased energy. In 1913, for example, a vigorous organization campaign that had its fruits was conducted by the Chicago union. But the real beginning of the cam- paign came in 1915, after the break from the United Gar- ment Workers, with the initiation by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America of a new and more vigorous policy of organization throughout the whole country. Long before the crisis of 1915 was precipitated, the non- union employers in the clothing industry used old and tried methods in combatting organization campaigns of the union. The system of blacklisting, which had for so long been popular in the Chicago clothing industry, was conducted in the Medinah Temple as before. People who were known to have joined the Union could not in any circumstances get jobs. One worker testifies as follows: " I worked for Stein, Bloch & Co., Rochester, New York, and as a union man answered the call of a general strike in that city for the eight-hour day. " Eleven months later, the strike still on in Rochester, I came to Chicago and had only worked four weeks when a general strike was called there which was soon lost, and from that time to the present the workers have been beaten and the Employers' Association has been in the saddle. " After the strike was lost, I applied to different firms for a 96 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO position as cutter and was told by each ' go to the Medinah Temple and if you get a ticket come back and see us.' " Rosenwald of Rosenwald and Weil told me to go over, get a ticket and come back to work. I went to the Medinah Temple and told them I had a job waiting. I was rebuked for not coming there first, told that Rosenwald nor anyone else could hire help without consulting the Medinah agency, given the third degree, then told there were several ahead of me who were more deserving, and anyway they had to investigate. " I didn't get the job at Rosenwald but Martin J. Isaacs, real head of the Association, told me they had received word from Rochester that I had gone out there on a strike and he said he didn't think I had been punished enough and he would not have me in any of their houses. I appealed to him in the name of my wife and baby and he said I should have thought of them before I went out on strike." As early as March, April and May, 1915, workers were discharged for joining the Union and in some cases shops were struck in protest against such discharges. This gen- eral condition continued until August, 1915, when, at the meeting of the General Executive Board of the Amalga- mated Clothing Workers in Baltimore, it was decided to initiate a country wide campaign of organization with the purpose of organizing those sections of the industry that still remained unorganized. Of these non-union sections, Chicago was of course one of the most important. On September 14, 1915, the organization campaign in Chicago was formally opened by a mass meeting of almost 5,000 clothing workers. At this meeting the demands on the non-union manufacturers were drawn up and an ultimatum issued by the union that these demands must be conceded by September 27th or their employees would be called out on a general strike. On September 16, 1915, the following demands were submitted to the non-union clothing manu- facturers : 1. Forty-eight (48) hours shall constitute a week's work, which shall be divided as follows: Eight and three-quarters hours each week day, except Saturday, and on Saturday four and one-half hours ending at 12 o'clock noon. 2. No employee shall be required to work on a legal holiday William A. Cunnea Bessie Abramowitz (Mrs. Sidney Hillman) Jacob S. Pot of sky, Assistant General Secretary-Treasurer THE STRIKE OF 1915 97 and no deduction shall be made from the pay of week workers for such holidays. 3. All overtime shall be paid at the rate of time and one-half. 4. An increase of 25 per cent, in all wages and earnings. 5. During slack and dull seasons, work shall be distributed as equally as possible among all the workers. 6. Recognition of the Union, so that collective bargaining may be established and maintained in the industry. 7. No employee shall be discharged without cause and all fining systems shall be abolished, as well as all blacklisting agencies and sub-contracting in the shops. 8. Suitable arbitration machinery shall be established for the adjustment of future complaints. 9. The minimum scale of wages for week workers shall be as follows : Cutters, $26 a week. Trimmers, $20 a week. Examiners and Bushelmen, $20 a week. Apprentices, $8 a week. 10. Suitable provision shall be made for apprentices. 11. Any contract entered into shall apply to all contractors for whose faithful observance thereof the manufacturers shall be responsible." These demands of the union the clothing manufacturers met with their customary contempt. Martin J. Isaacs, at- torney for the Wholesale Clothiers' Association, character- ized the demands as an attempt to create unrest among the working classes. " I would not dignify the request for arbitration of differ- ences," he said, " by admitting there is anything to arbitrate. Conditions are excellent in our factories, the wages are all that are desired and the workers are satisfied and willing to stay at their posts if only they are left alone. If, however, labor agents keep haranguing them on the theory that they are not well treated and publicity is given to such a campaign, then the workers may become convinced that they are entitled to something better and walk out. " In case there is a strike, the employees simply will have to return to work under the old conditions, because we will, not recognize the organization making the demands nor any of its officials. We know that the great majority of the employees do not believe in the Union or its leaders. The employers refuse to be frightened. They do not take strike threats seriously." 98 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO This, in substance, was the attitude of the great bulk of the manufacturers. The workers, however, thought differ- ently about the matter. Even before the date of the ulti- matum had expired shop strikes were occurring throughout the city and both the national and local officers of the organi- zation used every possible effort to keep the workers in the shop until a strike was found unavoidable. It soon became clear that the manufacturers would refuse to negotiate with the union or to submit the union's demands to arbitration. Even before September 27th they had already requested police protection for their factories, and, as in all past strikes in Chicago, the police responded. Chief Healy announced that " parades and demonstrations of the strikers will be prevented. Captains have received orders to halt any street speeches or large gatherings. Details of patrolmen and mounted police will be stationed in the im- mediate vicinity of all clothing houses. The manufacturers will be given the same police protection that any individual or business house merits. Though I do not expect any out- burst, I am not taking any chances." At the same time President Hillman announced: " There will be no violence. Even picketing of the shops will not be undertaken. Our union is strong enough not to require this move. The leaders of each shop have been given orders to walk out quietly. The same day the strike began we called out four thousand workers from the shops of Royal Tailors, Lamm & Co., Fred Kaufman and Alfred Decker & Cohn." Together with the strike call President Hillman made the following state- ment: " The clothing manufacturers have been given ample oppor- tunity to settle this controversy amicably and have denied our request for a conference. Instead of meeting us in a spirit of co-operation to work out an agreement such as is now in force in the largest clothing establishment in the city they have, through their paid agents, sought to ridicule our efforts and belittle our organization. Organized in strong associations and speaking as a unit through a chosen representative, the clothing manufacturers have denied to their workers the priv- ilege which they claim and exercise for themselves. THE STRIKE OF 1915 99 " We have been forced into this fight by the uncompromising attitude of our employers and we are in it to stay until the clothing workers are accorded a voice in fixing their wages and working conditions. We are willing to rest the justice of our position with the public or submit to any fair board of arbitra- tion. The employers refuse to arbitrate so the workers are compelled to fight." By September 29th the fight was on and 25,000 men and women were on strike. The police continued their anti-union activities. President Hillman announced in the Chicago newspapers that a captain of police was seen in Mr. Isaacs' office on Wednesday afternoon. " I presume he went there to receive his instructions. The clothing manufacturers have refused to meet us or to arbitrate our claims and they evi- dently expect to crush us through the Police Department. I issued instructions to our people to observe the law and from all the reports I have received they have kept within their rights as law abiding citizens. In spite of that, mounted policemen have run their horses on to the sidewalks among our women and girls, motorcycle policemen have clubbed our girls and have committed acts of brutality that are a disgrace. One of our men was shot by an employer, and from the statements of eye witnesses the attack was entirely unprovoked and uncalled for." Miss Mary McDermott, an investigator for Mrs. Louise Osborne Rowe of the Public Welfare Department, made an investigation of alleged police attacks during the day and reported numbers of cases in which men and women had been roughly handled by the police. The tactics of the police had become so vicious that President Hillman led a delegation including John Fitz- patrick, Edward Nockels, Mary McDowell, Agnes Nestor, Victor Olander, Ellen Gates Starr, St. John Tucker and Luke Grant to present the case of the strikers to Mayor Thompson. The Mayor was " too busy " to see the dele- gation, but his secretary told Mr. Hillman that the Mayor had sent word to Chief Healy " to stop the unnecessary in- terference on the part of the police. The Mayor told the Chief to keep the police neutral." Police brutality did not, however, cease with this promise 100 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO of neutrality by the Mayor and at the beginning of October Alderman John C. Kennedy decided to present to the City Council evidence of the police activities and to demand an investigation. An investigating committee was appointed under the chairmanship of Alderman Henry Utpatel. At the hearings of this committee President Hillman, John Fitzpatrick and Edward N. Nockels of the Chicago Federa- tion of Labor, all announced the willingness of the workers to arbitrate their differences with the employers, but the employers were obdurate. Martin J. Isaacs, their attorney, had already refused to confer with Attorney Jacob G. Gross- berg of the State Board of Arbitration concerning mediation in the strike. Finally the employers declined to meet the committee of the City Council. A letter from the Presi- dents of the National Wholesale Tailors' Association and of the Wholesale Clothiers' Association stated " that only a comparatively small number of employees were not work- ing and these on account of fear of intimidation and violence." ' The present trouble," the letter stated, " was due to interference of professional agitators from an outside market. The prices paid to workers and the hours of work in the houses of these associations, according to available statistics, are better than in any competitive market." ' The employers stand firmly for the open shop principle," said Mr. William M. Cahn. " In any pleadings they may have with the Aldermen they will not discuss the question of arbitration, mediation or compromise. We intend to main- tain the open shop." Finally, on October 16, 1915, the representatives of the clothing manufacturers met the aldermanic committee in the office of Acting-Mayor William R. Morehouse and in- formed him and the Alderman that they were not interested in proposals for arbitration. The efforts to obtain a peaceful settlement of the strike were still continued, however, not only by the union but by disinterested and sympathetic citizens of Chicago. Six- teen prominent Chicago women including Grace Abbott, Mary McDowell, Mrs. Medill McCormick, Ellen Gates THE STRIKE OF 1915 101 Starr, and Sophonisba Breckenridge wrote to the Mayor in an attempt to enlist his support toward arbitrating the strike. " It has been shown," they wrote, " that in spite of the fact that Chief Healy's orders to the police were to avoid all un- necessary violence, one girl was beaten so severely that her breast bone was fractured; others have been hit on the head and body so that they carried the marks for days. Still other strikers have been seriously injured by private detectives in the employ of the manufacturers in the presence of the police with- out interference on the part of the latter. The affidavits as to these instances have been presented to the City Council and are a matter of record. The trials are called for next week. " The strikers repeatedly have stated through their agent, Mr. Hillman, that they will go back to work and submit their demands to arbitration the moment the manufacturers agree to do so. The manufacturers, on the other hand, have not only refused to make any statement of their position to members of this Committee but have even refused to appear before the Com- mittee of Aldermen appointed by the City Council to investigate the strike, merely sending a representative to say that, as they could not be legally compelled to appear, they decline to do so. " In view of these facts, and in view of the magnificent record made by Chicago through you in the last six months in this matter of a peaceful settlement of industrial disputes, we earn- estly urge you to take whatever steps may be possible to settle the present one, and, by signing the Council order to Chief Healy, by offering yourself as an arbitrator, or by any other means that may seem to you advisable, prevent our relapse into the old evil days of labor wars, days which we had hoped after your success in handling the great strikes of the early summer were gone forever." The Mayor found, however, that he could not accede to this request. The strike continued. The strikers marched in monster parades. The Council Committee on Police adopted a re- port, drawn up by Alderman Buck, censuring the Police Department for considering strikers at any time its natural enemies. Acting Chief of Police Schuettler agreed to the immediate removal of special policemen from clothing fac- tories affected by the strike. On October 26th Samuel Kap- per, one of the strikers, was shot and killed and a large num- ber of others wounded in a riot at Harrison and Halsted 102 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO streets. More than ten thousand striking garment workers paid their tribute at the funeral to this hero of the strike. Attempts to arbitrate were again made. A committee of business men and social workers, headed by Miss Jane Addams, decided to make a last plea to the Mayor. The committee appeared before Mayor Thompson and asked him to become chairman of an arbitration board to settle the strike. " We thought," said Miss Addams, " that if you could be induced to take a hand in the matter we would be able to bring some sort of order out of chaos." The Mayor, however, still remained obdurate. ' The Mayor of the city of Chicago," he said, " will not go into this because there is violence and as the Mayor of the city of Chicago, he will stay out of it because there is violence." In the same way ended all attempts to enlist the support of the Mayor of the city of Chicago. The strike of 1915 was significant for the many features that characterized it. The most important of these was the attitude of the police toward the strikers and the efforts of the Aldermen Buck, Kennedy and Rodriguez to make public the effects of police mismanagement and to remedy the situa- tion. The Aldermanic hearings on the activities of the police uncovered practices that had never been suspected by the citizens of Chicago. First Deputy Schuettler admitted at the public hearing that the police department employed spies and secret agents. ' There are agents of the police department," he said, " who give us information and have done so for years. I defy this committee to compel me to reveal their names. I will resign my position sooner than do it." The assistant corporation counsel advised the police department that it need not give the information to the committee. Alderman Buck, in a splendid fight against this autocratic use of a public police department, said: " I for one want to know whether there are secret agents of the police attending these meetings and why they are doing it. The same argument was made when the question of the police ' squeal ' book being exposed was discussed. In my Samuel Kapper, Killed in 1915 Strike THE STRIKE OF 1915 103 opinion this secrecy about the inside workings of the police department is all bunk." A similar attack was made by Buck and Ms associates in the council against the use of special police during the strike and a resolution was adopted calling for their removal from the sidewalks in front of or in the vicinity of plants affected by the strike. The vigor and persistence of the council investigation into police methods during the strike had a permanent and useful influ- ence in that it focussed public attention on police abuses, which had developed in secrecy and of which the public was ignorant. The strike of 1915, like all strikes of the Chicago cloth- ing workers, enlisted to an unusual degree the support of public-spirited citizens. Nor did their support consist only in offering advice and in lending moral succor. They stood day after day on the picket line; marched in the union parades ; distributed circulars ; raised money for the strikers ; carried on campaigns to force arbitration and peaceful ad- justment of the issues that had precipitated the strike, and in every way contributed toward the support of the strikers and toward presenting the facts of the fight to the public. The value of the services of such women during the strike as Ellen Gates Starr, Mrs. Raymond Robins, Jane Addams, Amelia Sears, Mrs. Lillie, Mrs. John Furie, Grace Abbott, and others, was incalculable. Without almost a single im- portant exception the sympathy of the public leaned to the side of the workers and had its effect in weakening and un- dermining the morale of obstinate employers. The weight of public opinion, indefinable and hard ta estimate, neverthe- less had in the long run its influence. Organized labor, likewise, in Chicago did not refuse to share its responsibility in the strike. As in 1910, John Fitz- patrick and Ed Nockels stood in every way behind the strikers. When, in the course of the strike, the American Federation of Labor and United Garment Workers issues were raised, for the purpose of diverting everyone's atten- tion from the real issues, both Fitzpatrick and Nockels unequivocally and emphatically urged the support of the 104 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO members of the Amalgamated. The attack by Nockels and Fitzpatrick on Martin J. Isaacs, the manufacturers' attorney and director of the blacklisting bureau in the Medinah Temple, left no doubt as to where they stood. " He has sweated and gouged garment workers," said Fitzpatrick, " and brow-beaten customers, has always been victorious and able to turn to his employers with a smile and say ' I have delivered you again.' ' Throughout the strike public intervention had been a dis- mal failure. Attempts to force mediation or arbitration of differences, urged by club women, Jane Addams, the State Board of Mediation, the Aldermanic Committee and sup- ported by Hillman and his associates, were every time re- jected by the employers and greeted by specious and evasive statements from Mayor Thompson. The strikers were will- ing to arbitrate; newspapers urged public mediation; all classes of citizens proposed plan after plan for peaceful ad- justment. But employers and city authorities alone re- mained adamant. So the strike had to go on. On December 12, 1915, the strike was called off. It was not lost. Workers returned to their shops not as unorganized men and women but as mem- bers of the union. Although the union was not recognized, the employers were forced by the strength of the organization to make important concessions to those who had returned to work. The stopping of the strike was only a breathing spell in the struggle for organization. In 1916 the fight broke out in a city- wide strike of the cutters. This likewise did not end in formal recognition ; but cutters returned to the shops, receiving advantages which could only come to those whose strength was realized by the employers. Recognition was now only a question of time; and it came in 1919. The strike of 1915 was from the employers' angle a futile engagement. It was an expensive postponement of the day of peace and recognition. Through it all one wise and ex- perienced observer of industrial strife and peace, watched the proceedings and recorded his observations. At the time 15,000 Striking Chicago Clothing Workers on Parade October 12, 1915 THE STRIKE OF 1915 105 they had no more than an indirect influence. In retrospect, however, the following comments from the pen of J. E. Wil- liams, then Chairman of the Board of Arbitration in Hart, Schaffner and Marx, lend a significance to the events of 1915 which a bare recital of its incidents cannot yield: "In the Trenches, " Chicago, Nov. 19, 1915. " The clothing workers' strike is now on its eighth week, with no visible signs of ending. The dead-lock is as complete as that on the French frontier. Both sides have dug themselves in, and the war seems to have settled down to attrition and endurance. Not alone in dogged obstinacy does this industrial war compare with that in Europe; for in strategy, in generalship, in the fighting spirit of rank and file, the Chicago battle will compare in its degree, with the titanic struggle in the Old World. " Strikes there have been before in the garment industry, and they have been fierce, violent, and hotly contested; but there has been none like this in organization, management, and, in the thoroughly planned and scientific efficiency of campaign. Previous strikes have been spontaneous uprisings of an aggrieved and infuriated populace, ruled by the mob spirit, with little or no leadership, with less plan or method. The pres- ent strike was planned with a coolness and thoroughness com- parable to that of the general staff in Germany. Although the hand of the general was forced rather prematurely, yet the war with the anti-union manufacturers of Chicago had long been regarded as inevitable, and there was no lack of preparedness on part of the union. Organization had been perfected with each factory as a unit, and in charge of each factory group was placed a chairman, who was made responsible for his people. Over the chairmen were placed district leaders, over these department commanders, and above all the chief general- issimo, President Sidney Hillman. WELL DRILLED ARMY. " When the strike was called the general found himself in command of a well drilled, thoroughly officered, army. He could give a command from his headquarters in the LaSalle Hotel, and instantly the general staff at Hod Carriers Hall would transmit it to the eager and expectant chairmen on the north, south, and west sides, who would put the order into exe- cution on the second. " Thus it is that the movement is able to conduct itself with 106 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO such solidarity and precision. Everything in the campaign is foreseen, nothing is left to chance, and the eighth week finds the union hosts in better fighting trim than at the beginning of the strike. If the Joint Board, which is the name of the General Staff, were to deem it advisable to call off the strike tomorrow it would be done deliberately, forethoughtedly, and the retreat would be accomplished and in good order. Like the overpowered armies of Europe they would retire to a more favorable position, only to renew the battle as soon as more munitions were obtained. No RETREAT IN SIGHT. " But there is no sign of a retreat as yet. General Hillman assures me his lines are still intact, that supplies of munitions are coming in steadily, and unless the unforseen happens to his supplies he can hold the fort for another ten or twelve weeks. He admits, however, that the demand on the treasury is increas- ing. It is costing about $20,000 a week to run the strike, and when it is remembered the battle was begun with an empty treasury, and its cost has been borne largely by garment work- ers not on strike, it will be seen the financing of the campaign has been phenomenal. It is the stress of this need which now brings Miss Jane Addams and her colleagues to the front in an effort to raise $10,000 a week to help carry on the strike. MANUFACTURERS STAND PAT. " It may be asked what the associated manufacturers are doing on their side of the trenches. " So far as can be known, they are simply standing pat. Silently, relentlessly, inscrutably, like the sphinx, they defy every attempt to make them speak. Approached by judges, city officials, state arbitrators, eminent citizens, their attitude is always the same silence. Deaf to importunities of press or representatives of the social welfare, their voiceless lips seem to give out only the old answer ' the public be damned.' " And yet, through the aid of a friendly intermediary, I have been able to penetrate this screen of silence, and to hear the explanation that some of the more conscientious manufacturers give of their obduracy. It runs something like this : " * We regard Sidney Hillman very highly. We believe him honest, high-minded, and capable. But we don't believe he can control his people. It is notorious that union leaders in the garment trade are short-lived; they kill each other off. With Hillman dead or dethroned we should be back in the hands of the old grafting pirates, who would not enforce an agreement, who would foment shop strikes for the purpose of THE STRIKE OF 1915 j 107 extorting money out of us, who would destroy the quality of our work, which has cost us so much to build up, who would, in short, make life a hell to us and either drive us out of busi- ness or into insane asylums.' GIVE HILLMAN A CHANCE. " I repeated this story to the little general, and he replied laconically : " * Why don't they give Hillman a chance?' " And that is the only answer. Whether Hillman can control his lieutenants and his people can only be determined by experi- ment. " I believe he can. Why do I believe it? Because I have worked side by side with him for several years, dealing with just such questions as these manufacturers will have to face. In no instance have I seen him fail to control his officers or his people, and there have been plenty of cases in which he has had to report unwelcome findings. Yet he has never flinched, never failed to courageously face his comrades with unpleasant facts and never has failed to win their approval and loyalty. I have just received a private letter from one of the greatest generals on the opposite side who has worked with Mr. Hillman in much bigger situations than this. It contains this statement: " ' Too bad Friend Hillman bumped against such a tough proposition, but in time his work will be understood, and the manufacturers will be ready to treat with him.' PLENTY OF OTHER LEADERS. " To be sure all this relates only to Hillman. But he is not alone in the movement. He has scores of colleagues imbued with the same ideals as himself, just as eager as he to have right principles and practices prevail in the industry. All of them are products of the new spirit in trade-unionism, men who regard it as the inevitable first step in the great movement toward industrial democracy and industrial peace. These men are far-sighted enough to know the inevitable limitations of the, prevailing wage system, who have self-restraint enough to ac- cept and make the best of it while it is here, who may work for the coming of the co-operative commonwealth in some happier day, but who do not expect it to co-exist side by side with the competitive system here and now. These men may be depended on to hold down the wilder spirits in the ranks, who may be tempted to rush the movement over some suicidal precipice. 108 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO THE IMPARTIAL THIRD MAN. " But honesty and rationality does not depend so much on accident of leadership as formerly. The mechanism of the trade agreement has been so improved that the crooked walking delegate has no longer any chance to graft. The introduction of the impartial third man as umpire shears him of his power of mischief. He can no longer order a stoppage and hold up his employer for graft to call it off. Under the new dispensa- tion all grievances must be brought before the joint board, and there is no power left in the hands of the business agent to make trouble. Neither need there be any misgivings about quality of work. I have it on the highest authority that the quality of work was never so high in Hart, Schaffner and Marx as right now and that after five years of co-operation with the union. " With these facts so obvious and so easily demonstrated why does the association continue to shut its eyes and ears and to play the sphinx? " There seems no answer except an unreasoning timidity, or a sheer, wilful, obstinacy and pride of mastery. " They will be up against it next season again, or the season after that. " Why not settle now?" CHAPTER VI THE ORGANIZATION OF THE CHICAGO MARKET THE organization of the Chicago market in the spring of 1919 was a great historic achievement for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers. For nine years Chicago had been the apparently unconquerable fortress of the clothing manufac- turers and of all the forces that opposed the union and its pur- poses. Chicago was the last of the big markets to withstand the union and with its surrender the Amalgamated became a great national organization. The entire period from the loss of the 1910 strike to the signing of the market agree- ment in 1919 was in reality one continuous campaign for organization, sometimes flourishing, sometimes discourag- ingly feeble, but never ceasing. It was the work of these years and the foundations that they laid, that made the great campaign successful. One of the general organizers said of the 1919 campaign: " It is plainly seen that the attack of 1919 was made by veterans, and that the fruits of the campaign were the accumu- lated results of the knowledge and experience of ten years of constant endeavors." The loss of the 1910 strike had been followed by a black period for the clothing workers. The real resumption of the work of organization began in 1914 after the birth of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. The general strike of 1915 apparently left the workers not much better off as far as strength of organization or working conditions were concerned; nevertheless, it had important moral results. The failure of this strike was followed in 1916 by a strike of cutters, which while also apparently a failure, stimulated the work of organization and prepared the ground for the great drive of 1918-19. The success of the Hart, Schaffner 110 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO and Marx agreement and the publicity given to the gains of their workers contributed much to the growing dissatis- faction among workers in the Association houses. In fact, again and again, the Association houses were forced to grant concessions in wages or hours in order to hold their workers and continue to compete with Hart, Schaffner and Marx. Just before the active drive began, the manufacturers, hop- ing to weaken the campaign before it began, granted in- creases of 10 per cent, to all workers. Finally, the Executive Board of the national organization decided on an intensive campaign to organize the whole of the Chicago market. The campaign started officially in April, 1918, under the imme- diate direction of the leaders of the Chicago Joint Board. For purposes of organization, Chicago was divided into dis- tricts as follows: northwest side, west side and downtown districts, the " Loop," and southwest side; a staff of organ- izers was assigned to each of these districts and a special staff to the cutters and trimmers. The campaign opened with a lively distribution of or- ganization leaflets and circulars printed in all languages. The resolution passed in May, 1918, by the Hart, Schaffner and Marx workers, donating one week's increases granted them by the firm for the organization of the other Chicago workers, was printed in several languages and distributed to workers in the unorganized shops. An important aspect of the campaign, and one that made itself felt almost at once, was the influence of the war and of the Government policy in the uniform shops. The ulti- mate effect of this policy was to help the union by bringing to light and removing the most unfair accusations that the employers sought to make against it. The Federal War Labor Board laid down the principles of collective bargain- ing for the guidance of the Administrator of Labor Standards. These principles recognized the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively and prohibited discrimination against workers by reason of their member- ship in labor organizations or of their participation in union activities. The union took it upon itself to inform the ORGANIZATION OF THE MARKET 111 workers of their rights to organize under Government regu- lations and, when the employers resisted their right to do so, took the grievances of the workers to the Administration of Labor Standards for adjustment. One of the most im- portant of these cases was the John Hall Uniform Factory case, in which the firm had discharged the " agitators " who attempted to organize their shop in June, 1918. So keen was the spirit among the workers that they wanted to strike at once to compel reinstatement. President Hillman, how- ever, wired the War Department asking that arrangements be made for the adjustment of the grievances and in the meantime instructed the workers not to strike. Conferences were held and the grievances eventually satisfactorily settled. Those who had been discharged were reinstated, wages were readjusted after a thorough investigation, and the employers were ordered to deal with the organization of their employees in accordance with the principles of the War Labor Board. Several other firms were charged with vio- lating the Government war labor program by discharging workers because of their union membership or activity. The charges were investigated and proved to be true. Under pressure of the Administrator, one of the firms, which had discharged eight representatives elected by their fellow- employees to serve on a committee, reinstated these workers with back pay, recognized the shop committee, and agreed to the other demands of their workers. A similar situation occurred in the Scotch Woolen Mills. After a long strike, the firm secured a sweeping order from Judge Smith enjoining the Amalgamated from picketing or maintaining pickets at or near the premises of the com- plainants or along routes followed by employees of com- plainants in going to and from their business, from watching or spying on places of business or employees, or those going in and out, or seeking to do business, from congregating near places of business or employees for purposes of com- pelling, inducing, or soliciting employees to leave their em- ployment, or to attempt in any way to induce employees to leave their employment. But when the Scotch Woolen Mills 112 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO refused to appear before Prof. Ripley to answer the charges against it, he recommended to the Quartermaster General that all contracts with the firm be withdrawn until the firm agreed to appear. This was done. The firm of Rosenwald and Weil, likewise, had discharged the entire committee chosen by its employees and then refused to appear before the arbitrator. All the workers had gone on strike when the second committee was discharged, but for two weeks the firm held out. The demands of the workers as finally arbitrated by Professor Ripley included the 48-hour week, with time and a half for overtime, double pay for Sundays and no work on holidays; recognition of the shop chairman and shop committee; no discrimination for membership in the Amalgamated Clothing Workers; no arbitrary discharge; an increase of 30 per cent, to all workers ; a minimum wage for women of $14 and for all operators of $24. After two weeks, recognition of the shop chairman and shop committee and a promise of no discrimination against union members were granted. The rest of the demands were submitted to arbitration. In the meantime the work of organization was proceeding with vigor. One of the earliest successful mass meetings in the campaign was held in June, 1918, and added 400 new members to the ranks of the organization. The inauguration of the campaign brought on the usual program of opposition, misrepresentation in the press, and court injunctions. Two organizers and President Kroll of Local 61 were arrested near factories which they were trying to organize for dis- tributing literature and two girls were arrested the same evening for speaking to non-union workers as they came out of the factory. An incident that occurred early in the campaign illus- trates the attitude of the police. " On November 11, 1918, Armistice Day, the cutters and trimmers of Hart, Schaffner and Marx, celebrating the cessa- tion of war in Europe, paraded the clothing district of Chicago with a large American flag and the red banner of local 61 at their head. When they attempted to pass the Scotch Woolen ORGANIZATION OF THE MARKET 113 Mills they found police drawn up clear across the street for- bidding them to pass, but the men pressed on. In the scuffle the flag dropped low and an officer stepped on it, and when his attention was called to what he had done, said : * To hell with the flag.' " When that was heard the men could no longer be held; they swept the police lines aside and charged on the doors of the factory. It was these men, who would not be denied, who carried on the fight for years in Chicago. At the close of the war more organization circulars were printed and distributed in great numbers. These brought responses from the employers such as the following: " WORKINGMEN, WAKE UP !" " You were induced to walk out by the organizers of the Amalgamated Workers. You ignore the fact that your only hope for prosperity is production. Produce more, not less, if you want to reduce prices * * * Production is the basis oj all wealth * * * " Some firms attempted to appeal to workers on the ground of race prejudice, and others assured the workers that the money they paid in for membership dues was being squan- dered by their leaders. In the meantime the membership continued to grow, thanks to the effective work of union members not on the staff, as well as by the organizers. Organizer Kroll who was in charge of activities of the cutters at this time gives an idea of the spirit that prevailed among the organization workers: " These were the days that 25,000 leaflets would be distri- buted in one hour in the mornings, when organizers would be arrested for just talking to workers, when cards calling for a shop meeting would be passed out in the morning and at noon the men would be notified that they would find more money in their envelopes. Firms closed their factories before the men went out on strike and weeks later opened them again and the men refused to return. Cutters would be sent home in machines to keep the organizers away. A man seen talking to. a union man would be fired the next day. Sluggers and police were used in front of the factories even before the strikes were on. Banquets were given, profit-sharing and bonuses *A la 114 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO Rockefeller Foundation ' were proposed. In spite of all of this steady progress was being made. " The ' Floating Cutter ' came in at this stage of the game. These were union men who secured jobs in non-union shops, went to work in the morning, talked unionism at noon and re- ceived a full week's wages and a discharge in the evening: secured another job the next day and went through the same performance. There were a number who had a lucrative pro- fession for a while." On January 8, 1919, Hart, Schaffner and Marx estab- lished for its workers the 44-hour week. This action forced the non-union manufacturers to move. So on January 22 the Special Order Tailors made a similar announcement, and one week later the Chicago Clothiers' Association an- nounced the 44-hour week to become effective in all of their shops on April 28. But the Amalgamated Clothing Workers decided that the 44-hour week was to be established at once on January 29th, and not on April 28th. The workers of Kuppenheimer & Company, in accordance with the decision, stopped work on January 29th at 4.30 instead of 5.15 in or- der to attend a shop meeting. By stopping at 4.30, they made their quitting time the same as that of those who were working a 44-hour week. At the shop meeting these workers were addressed by Levin, who instructed them to return to the shop the next morning, as usual, and to leave again at 4.30 to attend a shop meeting. The Amalgamated Clothing Workers, he announced, would undertake to care for any workers discharged for so doing. It is clear that this step could not have been taken had not the organization been fairly complete by this time. On January 28, Alfred, Decker & Cohn published a state- ment in the press denying that they were offering the 44- hour week to their employees, but at the same time printed circulars were appearing which included a promise of a 44- hour week, as well as other advantages, provided the workers did not join the Union. The firm thought that when the workers quit at 4.30 it was a strike and consulted other firms in the Association. The result was something of a panic; a hasty change was made in the notices to the effect that the Officers and Members Executive Board Coatmakers Local 39 Officers and Members Executive Board Cutters and Trimmers Local 61 ORGANIZATION OF THE MARKET 115 44-hour week would be established on January 30th. This change was made three days after the original notice was posted. The significance of this victory was not only that approximately 32,000 workers got the 44-hour week on January 28th instead of April 28th, but it indicated that the Union was in such a position that it could dictate its terms and the Association houses knew it. This victory was cele- brated by a great mass meeting on February 3d. The organ- ization drive proceeded thereafter with renewed energy. In the month of February membership grew by leaps and bounds, The northwest side, including some 13,000 work- ers, was put in charge of Mr. Glickman. With the assistance of the business agents and an active organization committee of fifteen, with Mr. Diamond as chairman, the work of the district was carried on. Meetings were held every morning before going to work. The committee had to get more mem- bers of the vest shops interested in the campaign, which they did to such an extent that after several of these meetings there were 50 to 75 members present every morning. The committee went on duty in front of shops every morning before going to work and left the shop 15 or 20 minutes before lunch time and before quitting time in the evening, in order to carry on their campaign work. Of course there was no pay for time lost. A meeting of one of the Kuppenheimer shops, one of the largest and most bitter anti-union shops, increased the membership by 50. The story of how this victory was won is told by Organizer Glickman : " The building at Winchester Avenue, and Bloomingdale Road, housing three shops of B. Kuppenheimer was one of the fortresses of the Association. During the entire period of the campaign, private detectives and sluggers were stationed inside and out of that shop. Numerous arrests of our officers and committees were made. On one particular evening in the month of March, 1919, 12 of our committee men were arrested. Six patrol wagons responded to a riot call sent in by the Company. Three of our men were badly cut with knives by the Company's employees and a great many more men beaten by policemen's clubs. In spite of all this, the work of the organization in this House was not weakened by this incident, and finally a group 116 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO of workers of this building attended one of the shop meetings, their numbers steadily increasing, until it led to the signing of the Agreement." Things then began to move more rapidly. " About the 1st of March, the people of the firm of Spiesber- ger, Erman & Co., a children's clothing house with two coat shops and one knee pants shop went on a strike. The usual arrests of pickets and slugging of our members took place. The majority of the people stayed about 6 weeks, when the organization decided to send the people back to work by ar- rangement with an elected committee of the people, and only a few weeks later, this House came under the general agree- ment signed with the Association. The next house to sign was the Pellstein Clothing Company, manufacturers of j'oung men's clothing. After many shop meetings, demands were presented and on Easter Monday, 1919, the agreement with increases both for the tailors and cutters was signed. Another important event was the strike in the shops of Chas. Kaufman & Bros, after months of organization work. The people of that House went out on a strike about the middle of February. The cut- ters, working in the main building, also went out, and the picketing was supervised by these cutters. This House applied for and was granted an injunction against our organization, restraining us from doing anything except breathing. Many a member has had a ride in the patrol wagon. Sluggers and strike breakers were employed and after a period of five weeks, the people went back to work and about a month later this House came under the general agreement. The overcoat shop, " D," of Alfred Decker & Cohn deserves special mention. There were about 250 people employed there. As early as November, 1918, the organization got a strong hold in this shop. In December, 1919, the people had elected Brother Max Brown as their chairman at one of the shop meetings. Of course, he was not recognized, but due to the strength of the organization in this shop, he was not discriminated against. The following incident especially is worth mentioning, for it showed the spirit of the people as well as the power they com- manded in the shop. In the middle of January, 1919, Lichten- stein, a collar maker, was discharged by the firm. At this time the chairman was taking up some complaints semi-officially with the company, so he took up the matter of Lichtenstein's dis- charge. After three weeks of unsuccessful efforts, the people displayed their strength by stopping work in the shop. This stoppage lasted about 2^ hours, tying up completely the ORGANIZATION OF THE MARKET 117 entire shop. The Company then re-instated the man, with pay for the three week's lost time, and also paid all the people for the time they lost during the stoppage. In February, 1919, the organization arranged a dance for the people of the shop at the Wicker Park Hall, which was an immense success, as not only the people of that shop attended, but invitations were extended to the workers of the other shops of this concern, and a great number of these were present. This was practically the first time that a shop, belonging to the Association, had attended a successful affair given by the Union. In the latter part of March, 1919, the people of the shop presented demands for recognition of their shop chairman and shop committee, also for an increase in wages. After several negotiations, the Company refused the people's demands. The people went out on a strike. After the first week of the strike, negotiations with the Company were started by the Chairman and committee, but with no avail; however, after the strike had lasted four weeks, successful arrangements were made for all people to return to work with recognition of the chairman and committee and nq discrimination for union affiliation. The question of increases in wages was to be taken up later. The committee held only 3 or 4 meetings, and just when they were ready to make final arrangements, the general agreement was signed with that House. " During all this time the organization campaign was pushed vigorously. Shop meetings were held daily, while the commit- tees together with officers went in front of the shops three times a day. Many of the large and small shops attended these meetings. There were as many as 8 or 10 meetings daily and the prevailing spirit was very good. " The Cohn & Rissman cutters walked out with the tailors early in March. Besides the usual formula of injunctions, slug- gers, bribes and the police, the firm tried a new stunt which is worth telling. One mid-night the boss and the foreman went visiting the cutters' homes in an automobile, telling each one that the other was going to work in the morning. A loyal cut- ter called Brother Rissman at 12 o'clock and he called Brother Kroll (they had just come home from a meeting) ; they secured a machine and also went visiting about 1 a. m. and insisted that each cutter they called on, dress and get in the machine with them. So at 5 a. m. there were two-machine-loads of pickets in front of the factory and not a man went in. " The Charles Kaufman men were also early to strike and immediately the 1916 injunction was put on the walls (that 118 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO was the style one day a strike and the next day an injunction appeared). Despite this they put up a wonderful fight and were sent back to work just previous to the signing of the agree- ment. " The Chicago Tailoring Association men were also organiz- ing and one day the astounding news spread through the cloth- ing district that every man in the cutting room had received a nine dollar raise which made them the highest paid cutters in the city, but they continued to organize. " The Special Order cutters who were so hard to organize were now showing signs of activity. Soon the Bridie and Rog- ofsky men were in the union and made a demand for more wages and when refused they sat on the tables without working, went out at noon and came back and still sat on the tables. This continued for a day and a half until their demands were granted. Next day two active union men were fired and the rest walked out on strike and stayed out until an agreement was reached. " The International Cutters were next in line. Here union men were discharged and the firm refused to reinstate them. The men then struck and soon the firm offered to reinstate the men, but the men then wanted a closed shop, and a telephone conversation ensued from the union office to the firm which secured for the men a $6.00 raise, but even then it took great effort to get them to return to work. " The leaven was also working in Kuppenheimer's trimming room. One noon-day a young trimmer was asked to see what he could do towards organizing the trimming room and at 2.30 p. m. he brought the entire trimming force over to the Union Headquarters, about 25 boys all over 19 years, to join the union and they then returned to work. " A shop chairman in Hirsch Wickwire's shop was fired out one day and a stoppage occurred in the factory, and then word was signaled from the street to the cutting room, the cutters stopped like a unit and the chairman was reinstated. This was the first demonstration of the solidarity of an entire factory in the campaign." On March 12th, the National Tailoring Company, against whom a strike had been conducted for recognition and in- crease in wages, settled with the union, granting an increase ORGANIZATION OF THE MARKET 119 of $4 a week. On March 13th, the City Tailors settled with the union, giving a 10% increase in addition to 15% pre- viously granted. The Continental Tailoring Company en- tered into a preferential agreement and granted a 7% in- crease. Still the association was maintaining a system of blacklisting by means of which they could discriminate against workers active in the organization. An application blank was filed for each applicant with the chief of the " La- bor Bureau," indicating the opinions of the applicant, what organizations he belonged to, what offices he had held, if any, and the names and addresses of his last five employers. On March 20th a great mass meeting to celebrate the organization campaign was held in Carmen's Hall. Presi- dent Hillman, Secretary- Treasurer Schlossberg, John Fitz- patrick, and others addressed this meeting. A resolution was there unanimously adopted authorizing the Chicago officers of the union to enforce collective bargaining and to take whatever action they deemed necessary for such enforce- ment. The thrill of that meeting touched even the news- paper reporters, one of whom described it vividly in an edi- torial : " A rush of crowds, clamor and surge of seat hunting. Eagerness of spirit * * * Middle-aged men and women, listening not with attention but with passionate intentness * * * Sentences you could put your teeth into, like : ' While the world war was fought to make the world fit for democracy, we are fighting, we are organizing, and shall continue to fight and organize until we are 100% organized and can make the world a fit place and a decent place for working people to work in.' * * * Lavish literature everywhere lavish in quantity and in style * * * The gustiness of it all caught you up and swirled you along * * * They did not ask things or plead for them. They crisply formulated demands." Towards April, the employers were beginning to show signs of panic. They yielded on every side. Increase fol- lowed increase, but still the applications for membership came in by the hundreds. Individual firms, like the Con- tinental Tailoring Company, were entering agreements with the union similar to the Hart, Schaffner and Marx agree- 120 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO ments. Under the Continental Tailoring Co. agreement even the impartial machinery was established, with Mullen- bach as chairman. The Majestic Tailors and the Oxford Tailoring Company were by this time signed up while others were negotiating with the union. On March 26th, the strike against B. Kuppenheimer & Co. was won. The firm agreed to reinstate all of its work- ers without discrimination, to recognize the shop committee, and to pay the strikers for all the time they were out. In the meantime, the organizers were kept busy enrolling new mem- bers from all the shops. By the end of March agreements were signed with seventeen more individual firms, and Mr. Rosenblum reported that the southwest district situation was better than it had ever been before. In April, Charles Kaufman & Bros., Alfred Decker & Cohn, and other im- portant shops, sent out letters to all their employees urging them to return and made a last effort to induce them to be satisfied with their shop committee system. Organizer Glick- man describes the attempt made by many of the firms to in- augurate the shop committee as a last device to smash the union: " In order to give a correct idea of these committee systems I will explain what they meant in one of the houses, B. Kuppen- heimer & Co. The designer, the production manager, and the superintendent of the building called all the employees together on their main floor and explained to them that they wanted the people to elect their representatives in the shop, that they did not have to join the union in order to better their conditions, that all those who did not join the union would receive one week's vacation with pay and a bonus on their earnings. Three committees consisting of either men or women were to be electe4 on each floor. One committee was to represent all pressing sec- tions, one all operating sections and one all hand work sections. A ballot box was then produced, slips of paper distributed and some workers, who were loyal to the company, voted. All union people refrained from voting, having been previously so in- structed at the organization shop meetings. The company's representatives then took the ballot box with them, returned the following day, announcing the names of twelve workers who supposedly were elected. Among these were five good union ORGANIZATION OF THE MARKET 121 men. After this, they were called to the main building where a conference with the highest officials of the company was held. Again the same promises, and as expected, the union men were the spokesmen for the committee, working according to instruc- tions given them by the union. They asked the company to issue all their propositions in a written form so that they might return to the people in the shop with something that was con- crete. This the company refused. Six or seven conferences of a similar nature were held but the company received little or no satisfaction. Exactly what happened in Kuppenheimer's shop happened in the other association houses, as they all fol- lowed the same program with the same unsuccessful results, since the union had a perfected organization in almost every shop in the city as well as in the district." It was now the beginning of the end. In the next few weeks more shops settled with the union. The firm of Cohn & Rissman secured an injunction against picketing and had pine strikers arrested. By the end of April three thousand workers were on strike for recognition. The firm of Alfred Decker & Cohn was completely tied up ; the strike was again renewed against the Kuppenheimer Company and strikes against many small firms were in progress. Nearly three hundred pickets had been arrested, but the membership grew so rapidly that the northwest side district was forced to move its offices in order to accommodate the increase in mem- bership. The first day of May, 1919, was a day long to be remem- bered. The Ashland Auditorium was secured for the cele- bration. Word was sent to the non-union shops, calling upon the workers to join in celebrating the workers' international holiday and to demonstrate the solidarity of the working class. The hour for their stoppage was set at 2:30 P. M. On the hour the workers left their benches in the non-union cutting rooms and factories and all flocked to the halls which were soon crowded to the doors. The " shop committee " plans sponsored by the employers had now definitely failed. In the first week of May the strike against Alfred Decker & Cohn was settled; the firm recognized the shop committee and promised to establish machinery for collective bargain- 122 CLOTHING WORKERS OF CHICAGO ing. On these terms work was resumed on Monday, May 5, and all the workers returned. The Cohn & Rissman strike was also terminated with a preferential shop agreement and a fifteen per cent, increase. " Then came reports of this house conferring with the union to get their strikers back, that house offering to sign on a cer- tain date, others giving indications of willingness to negotiate. Then that day in May, when the world never seemed so bright and the sky so blue, came the word that the A. C. W. of A. and the Wholesale Manufacturers' Association had reached an un- derstanding and an agreement was to be signed." On May 13, 1919, President Hillman was ready to present to the Chicago clothing workers an agreement with the Association, providing for a preferential union shop and arbitration machinery. Notices were posted in all the shops of the Wholesale Clothiers' Association, notifying the work- ers that the Association had signed up and directing them to meet at 3 :30 in the Carmen's Hall to vote on the agreement that would be there submitted to them. All the factories closed at 2 :30 P. M. The Hart, Schaff ner and Marx workers who had fought, bled and paid for this day, left their benches at 2 o'clock; and promptly at 2:30 the non-union factories opened their doors and the workers marched to the hall through the solid ranks of the cheering thousands of union men and women who had helped them in their struggle for emancipation. The meeting was opened by Mr. Rissman. After addresses by Rosenblum, Levin and a few others, President Hillman submitted the pact to the workers and it was unanimously ratified. At the same time negotiations were in progress between the union and the Wholesale Tailors' Association. The Cut, Make and Trim Association agreed to sign with the union, granting a $35 minimum for cutters, and whatever the union scale was, to the tailors. This association included about two thousand people. On May 26, at another great mass meeting, the members ratified the agreement with the National Wholesale Tailors' Association by unanimous vote. This concluded the organization of the whole market. " The ORGANIZATION OF THE MARKET 123 U. G. ' Label Shops ' swung over at last, the Chicago cloth- ing cutters were industrially free, no more Medinah Temple with its infamous blacklist, no more cringing or begging favors from bullying tyrants of foremen. At last our wild- est dreams are brought to a realization Chicago 100 per cent. Amalgamated." General Executive Board, Amalg