Workmen's advocate. (New Haven, Conn.) 1883-1891, 1889-08-17
TAILORS AROUSED.
The Sweating system Can They Put
Ii Down.

In the August number of Progress,
official organ of the TaiIors' Progressive
Union of America, a strong appeal is
made for thorough organization on Il
national scale, the necessity of which
has been once more plainly illustrated
10y the recent Investigations of the
Boston Tailors' Committee in New York
and Brooklyn. We quote;
3" If the tailors were inhabitants of the
moon, they could not be more ignorant
of the things going on upon the earth
than they frequently betray by their
action. That they are blind to the ten
dency of the general economic condi-
tons by which they are surrounded, Is
bad enough, but it is dumbfounding to
see, in this age of steam and electricity,
how ignorant the tailors are of each
other and of their own trade
1.-The workmen employed in the manu-
facture OF clothing in Boston had for
several years been aware that the bust
ness was steadily going down, and they
have now found it in such demorall2ed
condition that thousands are unable to
find employment, and the complete ruin
of the Boston trade seems impending,
unless energetic and immediate steps
are taken to check this downward
| course
"The clothing workers of Boston appear
to be comparatively well organized. 1t
is reported that there are five unions
clothing cutters, contractors association,
clothing pressmen, clothing operators
and tailors' and trimmers union. All
these unions are allied together and are
represented in Joint supervisory board
of %. The five unions have total
membership of about 1000. OF these
more than 1000 are without employ
ment. The cutters union is still worse
off, two-thirds of their 800 members
being out Of work. 1t was discovered
that the Boston manufacturers had their
goods made III New York. When asked
why they did SO, they declared that the
New York tailors work not only 10, but
10 and more hours per day and get no
union wages either; that the Contrac-
tors (sweaters) were willing to furnish
the work at prices at which it was inn
possible to get it done in Boston
"When, i'll spite of good organization,
the Boston tailors thus found themselves
driven to the wall, the fact was forced
upon their attention that there are
tailors in New York. They elected a
committee to visit their colleagues in
New York, and to get at the bottom of
their trouble.
'According to the reports we have
received, the committee has done its
duty. They have found and brought to
public notice horrible facts, which, how
ever, were not new to us, because they
have not sprung up since yesterday, but
have existed for years to nearly the
same extent. But that is just the diff
Guilty, that evils and abuses remain un-
known to the very people who are i'm
medately affected by them, until it
becomes at length physically impossible
to avoid noticing them. 1t is mainly in
this respect that we wish these exposures
may have good results,
"Our space will not allow us to go i'll 0
the details of the misery found; it
sutfices to say that the widest imagina-
tiOn could not draw any more horrible
pictures than what the committee saw
in sad reality. The life of the negro in
the days of chattel slavery may be called
paradisic compared with the life of
these white slaves Of our modern clothing
industry.
i" But, what is to be done? What are
the Boston unions going to do when
they shall have heard the report Of their
committee? Will they adopt the usual
course of passing resolutions express
ing their Indignation and condemnation
of this system, or will they perhaps
, institute a little antl-semitic agitation,
because most of those poor devils are
Russian or Polish Jews? Judging from
, the experience we have had with our
tailors, they are capable of anything,
? and it is a rare exception when they do
something sensible that will benefit all.
''Or should at length the truth dawn
, upon them which we have been preach
ing for years with little success, how
ever, as the above instance shows,
| namely: that it is impossible to better
our condition or maintain our present
: status without national organization
embracing the whole trade. Organiza-
tiOns of exclusively local character are
] of little efficiency against international
r capital
t "Our good, innocent fellow tailors dc
! not seem to have the faintest idea of the
nature Of capitalism, If they had, they
would have seen long ago that the
Z method of organization in the style oi
f the guilds, which has been adopted
S hitherto, will not answer for the age OF
e modern capitalism. The old rule Of the
f oppressors: divide and govern" has
been applied by the tailOrs against them
selves with astonishing persistence.
Here we have a small coterie of Gus
tom tailors who look down haughtilJ
i upon the shop -tailors, though not deem
r ing it below their dignity to do tn,
: same shop work at times when they ar,