The toiler. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1919-1922, 1921-02-05

It seemed to he that as far as the eye
could reach policeman stood next TO
policeman q down 18th Street. They |
stood there lding the law and guard |
inc the sho he most beautiful of New
York's ~ st. " "Only six pickets
allowed,'' BE piekets were told at the
18th Stree3 shop ! cam back after a
time. Six fvgy small pickets, scarcely
distinguish Aable from the passers- by, two
of them 2 tk, walked up and down past
the six-fa h-two policemen ranged in
marshal o ier, protecting J. Friedman.
a favorite bon of the police department.
At the / 4Pth Street shop more piekets
were ALLOWED and there were also more
policemen. was truly imposing. The
pickets look so little and so few, and
the policem{f were so very large and
so very NUM- erous.
Presently IAN automobile drew up.
Five or six people got out and rushed
frantically intd the building, protected
by the police. hese were some of the
pickets going % work. But no tailors
entered the shops of j. Friedman.
Young p. Friedman, the nephew of the,
employer, flanked by numerous shelter.
ing policemen, stood watching the pick.
cts. 1t was his young man who begged
the Association to allow the workers to
finish his Iovercoats. When the work
was done, he turned upon them and
promptly locked them out Maybe it is
guilty conscience that causes him TO
ask so much police protection.
But it isn't only in the meetings
and on the picket line that you will
find this spirit. You will find it in the
homes of the people 1t is easy enough
to get up enthusiasm when you are IN
a crowd; but 20 out looking for work
day by day, day by day and find none
watch unemployment casting its sinister
shadow over the face of the land. watcl
your savings bank account dwindling
and face this with unshaken tranquil
ty and--you are doing something. There
are hundreds on hundreds of pe0pie il
the organization facing the lockout il
this spirit.
| One home especially stands out in m,
mind. | was making round Of visit
in Brooklyn with shop chairman. Th'
street we went down was shabby. Their,
are parts of Brooklyn which can pu
on more discouraged air than any
thing else but an old eat out in tn,
railt- -9iss sEas one of those streets. w,
rang TIE aoAtbell of a honse which il
| former years had been private house
| A great big woman tumultuously des
cended the stairs.
| "Come in, come inl" she cried. "Ml
Elsa II be home in a minute
AZ the top of the flight of stairs tn,
door opened on a different country
from the drab Brooklyn outside. i
WASH t is furnishings: it had the uSua
family pictures, the comfortable dis
order But it was home that wamc,
you through. It would take more than
a lockout to quench this big woman
laughter.
We talked about homely, family mat
tiers; her daughters recent wedding
the son S job. And presently the daugh
ter came, girl with curly hair am
laughter in her eyes and in the dimple
around her mouth. No wonder evcryon'
in the shop loved her, as the shop chair
man had told me.
Again we chatted, aud curiously W,
talked about everything in the worl,
but hard tises. They had shut the doc
on hard times; that was the way il
their family of winning, their expires
sion of the Amalg; mated spirit. And We
this family of four people was livini
from the odd jobs that the boy o
eighteen picked up--a good boy, bu
not n very industrious hoy. There wa
little girl Of fifteen, the girl of nine
teen who worked in the shop, and th
mother a voluminous, laughing woman
Courage was so much part of thei
composition that they didn't have I
think about IL; and you can imagin
that wherever that girl passed sh
brought with her an atmosphere Of cor
fidpnce.
That's the spirit that is beating th
employers, that's the spirit that wi
resist their efforts to open the shor
aud invite people back to work Mt stal
'vation wages.