The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-05-07
THREE Of our big unions hold their

semble in Boston, Philadelphia, and
Chicago, respectively.
Never in their entire history have
these unions faced so grave situa-
ton as at present. The needle trades
unions are on the verge of complete
bankruptcy-the employer in the in
dustry is all-powerful; the workers
suffer miserably; the organizations
are demoralized. In their present con-
Idition the unions are incapable of
healing either their own wounds or
those Of the workers
Had the present leadership of our
movement any real kind of RESPONSE
bility, our unions would now, on the
eve of conventions, be seriously con-
sidering the causes for their present
woeful, chaotic condition. And were
it so desired, way would be found
to lead the organizations out of the
swamp into which they have been
drawn. Our unions, however, are con-
Quoted according to traditions, rather
than according to present needs.
We are accustomed, so to speak, to
beating on drums. Hence we talk
about insignificant trifies in our
unions, instead of analyzing the basic
reasons for our condition. We talk
about decorating the building when
the entire foundation is decayed. We
talk about some old grandmother's
medicine when we must cut the can
Ger out at the very roots.
Let us therefore consider the prob
lens more truly. We shall speak
first of the chaos in the industry.
On this question various industrial
experts" have already expressed their
opinion. But whoever had the op-
portunity of following the different
explanations offered for the present
condition of the needy industry, could
easily see that most of them were
simply products of the imagination,
without any real worth.
Several months ago the most talked
of explanation was this: that the
chaos was the result of an industrial
crisis. But what caused the crisis?
On that, too, there were many diff
ferent views, which showed that the
analysis was entirely false. So-calied
experts, for example, actually wrote
early in January that unemployment
in the mems clothing trades was due
to the fact that the big manufacturers
had stopped producing stock. And
tho ou1v rooe0o x.yhxy IL, Nv oIroo5.v l. 4
creased production as far back as No
vember and December of last year
was because they expected to con-
clude an agreement with the union
in July which would carry a decrease
in wages.
That this sort of an explanation is
not correct, hardly needs to be stated.
There have been other opinions as
to the causes of the present unem-
ployment. Some declared that manu-
facturers and jobbers had stopped
producing stock because the textile
mills would no longer sell goods on
long term credit. Others thought that
the crisis in the needle industry
sprang from the general critical state
of labor thruout the country.
These latter views, tho they may
have little more justification than
the others, are not entirely correct
either 1t is at least certain that the
industrial crisis, insofar as it is even
a fact, is not the cause of the UNI
checked chaos in our trades. The
truth is, that the existence of a gen.
eral crisis during the last two years
has not been of such sigfcance to us
as many would have us believe. We
are Of course far from prosperity in
the needle industry. Compared with
the war-years of 1917-191s, the situa-
ton today is quite different. But it
is difficult to differentiate the present
situation from that of the years inn
mediately preceding the war.
During last year many big firms
made enormous profits. AS an exam
pie take the well-known mail order
house. the National Cloak and Suit
Company. According to the companys
own reports its net profits rose from
s1,790.000 in 1922, to 81, 160, 900 in 1923.
Its sales during the year increased to
7.042.000
A great number of manufacturers
in the needle trades augmented their
profits considerably in 1923. 1t is true
that the same year many others went
bankrupt This, however, was not due
to crisis. but also to the general
chaos reigning in the industry. 1t re-
suited from the uncontrolled specula-
tion brought into the industry at the
expense Of the workers because OF the
greed for more profits speculation
taking advantage of the lack of con-
troll by the unions OF the conditions of
labor. II resulted from. the fact that
manufacturers gambled upon the
chaos in our trades, to which many
fell victims while others profited
hugely.
The chaos in the industry was in
troduced by the bosses in an attempt
to break the power Of the workers