The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1890-07-25
The power of Organization


The Power of Organization.
Il think am beginning to get at part
of the trouble, anyway" said a bright
girl at one of the working girls clubs late
ly. I'VE haven't got on any better because
we haven't stood by each other. What is
| the reason, | wonder, that women don't
stand by each other the way the men do?'
To that question only an indirect an
| swer can be given here. But it is at least
in order TO say that just so far as educa-
ton in the real sense be o q factor in
| the solution of the problem women do
sssta nd by each other" ard that the girl
| coming I'D under such influences has pre-
cisely the same sense OF loyalty that dis
tinguishes the boy gently born and gently
bred. But the further one descends in the
social scale the more thorough is the OBJ
lite ration of this trait, ill at last, save in
dire extremity, every women is pitted
against her sister woman, and rivalry and
undermining and all the range of petty
WEAKNESSES are the story of their relation
as a whole.
Ask the woman at work what she re-
CARDS as the most vital thing TO be brought
about, and if she has come to the point
where thought has begun She answers on
the instant: ito make women staDd by
eaca. other" Organization among men
has worked to Increase and intensity this
principle for them, but organization for
women is a thing as yet hardly attempted,
save as the girls clubs are paving the way.
With every fresh attempt at cooperation
for mutual benefit in small ways m
light on the path to be follow ed, dim still,
but a clear shining Tor all who have eyes
to see the first CLEANS and who are bent
upon making them equally plain to all.
Organization, even at its simplest. is an
education. Enforced obligation to work
together teaches methods of making such
work easier; brings mutual iorbearance
and better understanding and an identii-
cation Of interests that is one of the first
steps toward better things. Whatever
justice remains to be done by capital, and
it is certain that the obligation of justice
is becem ing palmer to all-it is for the
worker as well that reform is demanded.
Had the spirit of cooperation ruled among
w0nen workers as a whole it would have
been perfectly possible to have secured the
pay for overtime granted during the holt
d a y season by a few firms but refused By
the ma iority. If every salcswoman in
New York had felt that on her shoulders
rested part of the responsibility for the
overwork and underpay that characterizes
Thu occupation, and had made one of a
representative body " no would have wait
ed upon the owners Of the great stores and
presented tie case quietly and fairly, an
impression must have been produced of iD-
fnitely more value in the long run than
any concession brought about by the in
tervention of well-known names. Weak
as the individual worker may feel and be,
she becomes a power the moment she rep
resents an Intelligent organization. IL is
this that must be accomplished for the
woman who works, but it can be done only
by herself, and, whatever props may be
needed in the beginning, she must in the
end, if real work is to be done, stand on
her own feet and speak with her W
voice.
Naturally there is An a~ntagonism OF
interests. The trained worker thin k S
little of the difficulties that hedge
abont the untra inod, and the fact
that a dozen stand waiting for
the least vacancy at any point brings with
it a terror all who work for daily bread
have sometimes had to feel. But out OF
just such terror hope may be born. The
| reckless, untaught girl who enters shop
or factory can in less time than may be
believed be brought to a sense that she is
n Of an army who fight the same battle
and wear the same colors, and that she
owes it to every other fighter 10 do her
work in The most efficient way. Educa-
tion comes with a conviction of this sort
that nothing else can give, and thus it is
that my first word here for and to the
woman who works is ''organize." Find
out what your work means and what it
demands of you, and meet the demand
With such meeting will come the
better knowledge that must be part OF the
general advance. Skilled labor must lead,
| for it is the mass Of unskilled labor that
| stands like a wall in the the way of a bet
ter wage for all earners, but even with
| this fact to contend with combination will
| alter its power and in the end make good
| soldiers of raw recruits.-Helen Campbell.
Looking backward.
Mrs. f. j, Richmond says in the Nation