St. Paul daily globe., 1889-09-22
Clerks of st. Paul Are Doing
the Hustle Act for Early
Clothing.
Past and Future Events In
st. Paul Industrial Life
Grouped Together.
Minneapolis Topics Of Interest
to the ToiIing Multi
tudeS.
Comment and Circumstance
Collected for Sunday
Morning Readers.

The meeting of the retail clothing
clerks on Friday evening furnished
good example of the difficulty of doing
any practical work without thorough
organization and education in both the
theoretical and practical work of labor
organization. There were nearly 200
young men, all possessing fair educa-
tion and accustomed to consider them
selves far higher in the intellectual and
social scale than the men who build
sewers, haul dirt or perform many
other laborious tasks which are most
necessary for the maintenance of so
ciety. These clerks found that in per-
forming their share of work in diStrib-
ting the finished products of labor, that
their hours of work were too long.
After a conference among themselves
1t was decided to send committee to
ask the employers to close their places
of business at $50 o'clock every even
Ing except Saturday. Thus making the
average working day about ten hours.
Now, the sewer laborer or teamster
thinks the ten-hour day altogether too
long. while the well-disciplined trades
uniOnist refuses to work more than
eight hours per day. But the clerks
have only begun TO think about the
questions which have for years been
common topic of discussion in labor
organizations. so they concluded that
they would be quite satisfied to cut their
working day from fourteen hours to ten.
The committee la5ored earnestly with
the employers, and at the end of three
weeks had received a promise of early
closing from tWenty-SiX fins. leaving
only five more to be secured. Of these,
four promised and one declared his in
tention of keeping open evenings if
every other store closed. The clerks
exhausted all their elOquence on him,
e but without effect.
"What shall we do now?" was the
question on Friday evening. The clerks
had no organization except temporary
one, and hitherto had not been at all
sure that they needed or wanted one.
Lets ask the knights of Labor and
trades unions to help u.s." suggested
one; ''if we can get their aid, they will
not trade at the stores which keep open
late" A member of the K. OF L., who
happened to be present, explained that
the Knights would certainly be willing
to aid the clerks, but as a simple matter
of business would require that the
clerks organize, so that they could be
relied upon to help other branches of
labor in similar emergencies.
This notion of the independence ofall
divisions Of labor and the advantage of
being able to concentrate the influence
of all at any one point whenever neceS-
Sary, seemed novel idea to the clerks.
Some thought labor organizations a sort
of philanthrOpic scheme, whose help it
would be wise to accept, but perhaps
hardly polite to pledge oneself to re-
turn in kind. 1t required much argu-
ment- and explanation to satisfy these
clerks that they are only one of the
subdivisions in the great force of work
ers, and that the character of their work
guaranteed them no superiority over
the labOrerS in other divisions. In fact
1t was necessary to broadly hint that
their white hands and stylish clothes
would rather be accounted to their dis
advantage among skilled laboreTs, and
in order to secure the coveted help that
it would be necessary for the clerks to
give some proof of fidelity and earnest
ness in the cause by learning the ground
principles of organization and putting
their association into practical Organi-
EatiOn.
After considering the matter awhile,
the clerks were willing to accept the
situation, and it is certain that many of
them departed with a respect for organ
iZatiOp that they never felt before, and
at the same time desire to know more
about its methods of work. Ignorance
was at the bottom of the prejudice, and
1t is quite likely that many would never
thought it worth while to belong to an
organization only that the present COM
binatiOn of circumstances shows that it
Is 10 their advantage to do so.