The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-12-14
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN, Director.
Washington, D. C.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS STRIKE.

| ufacture of ready-made clothing mas
practically ceased in New York, ow-
ing to the strike of $1,000 garment
workers. The large garment factories
] that cluster close to the edge of Fifth
avenue in the lower thirties are 81
lent, and the monday crowds Wnlch
used to flood the streets in this nelSh-
! borhood are noticeably thlnhed'
| Fifty-five thousand IS a large NUM-
Der of peopIe-enough to fill the iale
bowl or a gCed-sized American town
| If the strike continues for u eonsld-
| cradle length If time. and II 1t eXtenos
to other cities, as it threatens to do,
| great shortaye in ready-made wear
will result. and the public will have to
pay exorbitdnt prices for its spring
clothes Thus, those of US who buy
| our wearing apparel in department
| stores and specially shops are natural
! ly curious to know why strike or
/ such enormous proportions should
I take place, with undesirable conse-
j quences for ourselves.
| The garment workers quit work In
a body the first of November because
their employers established the
piecework system in place OF
straight weekly wage, for which the
workers made a successful fight
couple of years ago. The manufac-
| turers say that return to the piece
work system is necessary if they are
| to reduce the price of ready-made
! will resist it to the bitter end. because
it means going back to the methods of
! the sWeat-shop. The manufacturers
! have offered to- call in numerous Of
ficia's S, state, federal and otherwise, to
act as arb.ters in the matter. The
| workers have refused such arbitration
upon the ground that the question is
mot arbitrable. They claim that the
piecework system is a settled issue;
that the manufacturers are bound to
y,,-T,& 7lr1rr
a definite agreement which does not
end until June, 1922, and that they
will hold the manufacturers to the
contract.
In order to comprehend the posi-
ton taken by each side, it is necessary
to review the history of the carmen,
trade, which is one long series of such
crises.
In the late nineteenth century.
ready made wear was, still a distinct
novelty in this country, the product
of a very limited number of small
factories. At that time, hordes of i'm
migrants from Russia, Poland and
Austria started pouring into the coun-
try to escape oppression. Italians
likewise began to arrive in huge num-
bers- Many of these immigrants had
been taiiors, seamstresses, embroider-
ers and lace-makers in their native
countries. Hence, they provided an
enormous amount of cheap labor of
the very type that the young ready
made wear industry, already IN the
hands of their compatriots, was look
ing for.
. Early Conditions.
A large labor surplus was created.
starvation wages and similar abuses,
and with it CHASTITY working condf-
tions. Added to unlimited hours.
the industry, which demanded terrific
spurts of speed for short periods ana
then left the majority of the workers
idle for the rest of the year. If, thru
an organized protest, the workers were
able to obtain better working condi-
lions during one busy season, their
gains would end when the season was
over, and they would have TO make
the same fight the next year.
What was true of the New York
trade was true in slightly less degree
OF the other five clothing cenrerS. Al
tho strikes occurred with distressing
frequency, it was not until 1910 that
the workers were sufficiently well or
ganized to make a general strike ef-
fective. In this year, the New York
mands for higher wages, shorter
working hours and better working
conditions, but an even more notable
victory was won by the workers in
the large garment factories of Chi
cago. Here, for the first time, the gar
the need for industrial arbitration, ana
plan for amicable adjustments was
the result.
This included a permanent arbitra-
ton board, consisting of two repre-
sentatives-one of the Chicago Gar
ment Makers union and one chosen by
the manufacturers. These two MEM
bers were to choose, in turn, an i'm
partial chairman to preside over their
negotiations.
Later on, tho, it was found that the
arbitration board could not handle all
OF the numerous matters coming up in
regard to working conditions, and that
some additional organization would
be necessary. Accordingly, another
board, known as the trade board, was
formed, consisting of five representa-
tives from the union and five from the
employers, with the same impartial
chairman who served on the arbitra-
ton board.
The manufacturers were represent
ed on the trade board largely by labor
managers. A plant of any consider
able size always employs a labor
manager, while the smaller plants
usually combine to hire one manager
who functions for all of them. These
labor managers, acting for the en-
ployers, and the union representatives
acting for the workers, constituting
the trade board, were authorized to
settle all disputes that could not be
settled locally in the shops. The i'm
partial chairman. paid and trusted by
both sides, presided over the board
and corresponded to a Judge in our
courts. Cases were argued before him.
and his decision was accepted as final,
except in rare instances when appeal
was made to the first board of arbitra-
ton. A more effective system of in
dustria1 arbitration has never been
devised.
Other clothing centers almost inn
mediately adopted it. but it was a
long time before It took hold upon
New York. Local conditions conspired
to prevent It Doctor Leiserson, i'm
partial chairman for the clothing in
dustry IN Rochester. explains these
conditions as follows:
The New York System