Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-11-27
JOURNEYMEN TAILORs.
Addresses Delivered at n Mass Meet
ing Yesterday Afternoon.

A mass meeting of the Journeymen Tail
ors' Union, No. lSS, was held yesterday
afternoon at Red Mems Hall In calling
the meeting to order President Weinstein
said that its object was to stimulate union
ism among the tailors of Washington and
to better the miserable condition which
prevailed among the craft in this city. He
introduced Mr.. John Il. Lennon of New
York city. general secretary of the union.
He addressed the audience as comrades.
He could say little that they did not al
ready know, but he might say il perhaps
in new way. He disclaimed being a pro-
fessional agitator. was not an orator and
could only talk to them as he would 10 a
brother at the shop board. 1t had been
said that he had been in the city for sew
eral days without calling on the tailors.
This was untrue. The present labor dis
tress showed the necessity of firm and
compact labor organization. In his city
there had been reductions of 40 per cent
in the wages of men employed in non-union
houses, but no union store had dared 10
suggest such a thing. Prices had been re-
duced in Washington during the past two
or three months. In some cities they were
fighting against reduction, and in a large
majority of instances were winners 1t was
strange that there should be any Journey
men taiors outside the union. He cited
many instances of the blessings which flow
ed from unionism. The wages paid tailors
in New York were the highest in the world
They were able to control the trade there,
notwithstanding the fact that they had
enrolled in the membership of the New
York unions but /, 100 out Of the 1900 tail
of that city. Where there was organi-
cation of labor there would be found the
highest wages. II was the perfect organi-
zatioE of the brickiayers which had made
10 for thKAfr1 to Oaf for airl,t
hours work. The improvement in labor
was not due to any other cause than or
ganization. With these facts in view,
why do you hold back? %
had Condition I'm Washington.
The condition could not be worse in
Washington than II was. Men were shaving
their lives away in the back rooms of
their homes and under the beds. They
should not turn their homes into shops.
Employers had no right to demand it. II
unionism did nothing else but to abolish
home drudgery it would be mighty bless
ing. Home work was an injury to the fam
lily. Statistics taken in various cSies of
Europe showed that the men who worked
in their homes turned out a far greater per-
cenJage OF prostitutes. loafers and buns
than did those men who confined their la
Dor TO the shop, factory or mill. Home
labor had a depressing effect on all the
family. They ought to sit beside each other
in the shop and know what the other was
doing. There should be fraternity and CO.
operation between them. The system was
the result of the greed of EMPLOYERS
who were utterly heertless as to their fell
low-men. He wanted six DAYS work per
week. He did not Speak from a religious
point OF view. Men must have a day of
rest. The trouble with the Washington
union is not that the members do not paw
their dues. but that they do not attend
their meetings.
Must Attend Meetings.
He would rather strike against a man
who failed to attend the meeting of his
union than against a man who worked for
reduced pay. In New York If a member
failei to attend twice in succession he was
waited on by a committee and If no salts
factory reason was forthcoming his dis
charge was demanded Some New Workers
mad to travel forty miles to attend He
spoke of the great growth of the organiza-
uoh until the tailors union was now one
Oh the strongest labor organizations in the
,,oI, y, ~ they could not get their rights
under existing parties they would have one
OF their own. Labor was building mn an
greatness of the nation, and was rafusas
the result OF its industry. The results Of
Iapor Went TO those who never worked All
the legislation in the interest Of lahor -,
been que 10 labor Organizations In NeU
loFk the democrats claimed the cre1ir or
the australian ballot and in Ohio the re-
the introduction of this mode of reformed
voting came from organized labor. An the
benehciai factory laws had resulted FROM
the agitation OF these things by labor or
ganizations. The first agitation in This
country for the abolition of chatteI 81. o.,
did not come from Phillips and Garrison
but from organized labor. Capitalists we're
combining on all sides. They were right
Labor II IT expected to ward of oppression
must likewise organize
President Weinstein made few anpro-
pirate remarks. He said that nine-tentbs
of the tailoring work of Washington was
done in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New YORK
and Cincinnati. Last summer had been the
dullest which Washington tailors had ever
experienced. and this season the trade was
pitilessly SLOW. The bosses We're doing
what they could to prevent organization
because it was in the interest of labor
They wanted TO buy labor as cheaplv as
possible. l-aborers wanted to sell n as
dearly possible therefore they must
combine. There were over 200 journevmen
tailors i'm Washington and one-half wsra
out of work. Mr.. Cautch of New Yorls
closed the meeting with a telling address