General executive board report and proceedings of the biennial convention

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SBRiilft ^MPWMKKS ! ^SSP '

OF THE FIFTH BIENNIAL CON-
VENTION OF THE Amalgamate
ffllntlftng Wnrkera of Attwrira, HELD
IN CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, MAY 8
TO 13, 1922.

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CONTENTS

Page
General Executive Board Report ....... . . ...... ......... ............

Introduction ........ .................... . ....... ................ 1

Great Lockout Struggle in New York ....... . ................ ..... 7

Boston Employers First to Open Five ..... . .......... ........... 99

Peace and War in Baltimore ................................ ..... 109

Philadelphia Doing Its Share .......................... ...... ---- 116

International Congratulations .... ........ . . . . .................... 120

Chicago, the Western Metropolis of the Amalgamated ........... 126

Constructive Work in Rochester ---- ..... ............. . ... ..... 143

Organization Work in Cleveland ................ . . ____ . ........ . 166

Amalgamated at Home in Cincinnati ---- ..... ............. ...... 170

Pittsburgh Forges Ahead ................ . . ........ . ..... ........ 175

Louisville As Active As Ever ____ ..... .............. . . ....... .... 176

Indianapolis Holding Its Own .......... ............ . . ........... 179

Healthy Condition in Milwaukee ......... ........... . ......... 181

Organizing St. Louis ...... . ......... . . .............. ..... ....... 182

Kansas City, Mo ..... ..... .............. . . ...................... . 183

The Vigorous Twins: St. Paul and Minneapolis ......... . ......... 183

Los Angeles Organizing ......... ............. . . .................. 185

Employers on the Hunt for Cheaper Labor — Out of Town ........ 186

Binghamton ... ......... . . ................................ . . ____ 191

Syracuse ................. .......... .. ........... .. ....... . ---- 192

Buffalo ... ......... . . ................................ . . .......... 193

Utica ........................... . . ............. . . ...... . ........ 194

In Massachusetts ..... ....... . . ................................ . . 195

Reorganization of the Children's Clothing Workers' Joint Board in

New York ....... . . ............ . . .................. . ....... 196

Progress of the Shirtmakers ..... . ......... . . ............ . . ...... 207

Canadian Organization Conference ....... . ....... . . ......... ...... 209

Montreal Weathers the Storm .............. ... ......... . . ........ 210

Toronto Holding Fast ................ . . .......... . . ...... . ...... 214

The Clothing Workers in Hamilton ............. ... ........ ..... 215

London a N'ew Recruit ............... . . .......... ...... ........ 215

Sherbrooke. Quebec ............... ...... ....... . . ............... 217

Votes of the General Membership ................ . . ....... ..... 218

The First of May ...... ........ ...... .......... . . ............... 224

Our Organization ............... . . ........... ... ...... . . ....... 227

Amalgamation of Needle Trades Workers ...... ....... . . ...... . . 230

Amalgamated Banks ................... . . ....... ...... ..... ..... 238

Amalgamated Temples ..... ......... ........... ...... ............ 240

Amalgamated Libraries .................... . . ....... ............ 242

Departments at the General Office ........ ........... ........ ... 244

Amalgamated Education Activities ...... ...................... ... 245

Research Department ...... . ..... . . ........ . . .................... 267

Record Department .................. . . . . . ...... . . ................ 268

Auditing Department . ............. . . ....... . . ...... .............. 270

General Officers Represent Amalgamated in Europe .............. . 271

Relief for Famine Victims in Russia ... ............... . . ....... . . 272

A Message from Australia ................ .... ................. ... 282

Militants Claimed by Death ... ............... . . 285

Donations to Outside Organizations 292

Reserve Fund 293

Conclusion 295

Convention Proceedings 297

First Session, A. M., Monday, May 8 297

Second Session, A. M., Tuesday, May 9 ... 310

Third Session, A. M., Wednesday, May 10 326

Fourth Session, P. M., Wednesday, May 10 343

Fifth Session, A. M., Thursday, May 11 355

Sixth Session, P. M., Thursday, May 11 372

Seventh Session, A. M., Friday, May 12 391

Eighth Session, P. M., Friday, May 12 401

Ninth Session, A. M., Saturday, May 13 411

Tenth Session, P. M., Saturday, May 13 420

Proposed New Constitution of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of

America 437

Appendices I

Statistical Charts , ii

Strikes and Lockouts xviii

Injunctions . xxx

Agreements xxxviii

Decisions of the Impartial Arbitration Machinery xlvii

Index liii

ILLUSTRATIONS

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Page

Convention Delegates Frontispiece

A Letter That Speaks for Itself. 25

Advertisement for Guards 26

Amalgamated Lockout "Currency" 89

Check for $238,000 Issued by General Office to New York Joint Board . . 97

Philadelphia Amalgamated Center 117

Site of New Home of Chicago Joint Board 134

Amalgamated Temple, Brooklyn, N. Y 241

Amalgamated Check for $15,000 for Equipping Moscow Hospital 279

Soviet Russia Thanks the Amalgamated 281

David Sodoni 285

Isaac Goldstein 287

John J. Hayes 290

Membership, July 1, 1915— July 1, 1921 iii

Distribution of Membership, Change, 1919 — 1921 v

Membership by Principal Markets vi

Employment, Men's Clothing Industry, New York State ix

Seasonal Variations in Employment, Men's Clothing Industry xi

industrial Depression in the Men's Clothing Industry xiii

Hours in Men's Clothing Industry, 1911 — 1922 xv

Average Weekly Earnings, Men's Clothing Industry and All Industries xvii

Call for Fifth Biennial Convention

N-EW YORK, March 8, 1922.
TO THE JOINT BOARDS AND LOCAL UNIONS OF THE

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA,
Greeting: —

The time is near for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America to
meet in International Convention to deal with problems affecting its member-
ship. The FIFTH BIENNIAL CONVENTION will open Monday, May 8, 1922,
10 a. m., at Ashland Auditorium, Chicago, Illinois. You are herewith called
upon to select your representatives.

The American labor movement is being fought more violently today than
ever before. Those who are seeking to crush it are more powerful now than
they ever were. Never was the "open shop" cannonading so fierce as during
the past two years. It has been relentless, savage, and brutal.

To the Amalgamated the period following the last convention has been
in a special sense one of storm and stress. The organization was marked
for destruction by the "open shop" forces in the industry, the legislature, and
everywhere else. The Amalgamated has sustained its full share of the fire
upon the labor movement. The inspiring story of the struggle for the life of
our organization and its happy outcome are well known to you. Our victory
has been a source of encouragement to other workers in their resistance to
the onslaught of the enemy.

The program of the "open shoppers" today is: "Destroy the labor unions;
reduce them to impotence where they cannot be destroyed; cut wages to the
bone; force down the American standard of living, and abolish all improve-
ments achieved by the workers of America." The attack along those lines
is still unabating.

Fortunately, organized labor is rallying for its own defense. It is be-
ginning to come back. There is a growing realization of the need of greater
industrial unity and also of political action. The future holds great possi-
bilities for the American labor movement.

We are coming to this Convention with our banner waving as proudly as
ever over the invincible Amalgamated Army.

The things that the Amalgamated can point to with particular pride in its
record of the past two years include: The winning of the life-and-death lock-
out struggle, the most bitterly fought struggle, and the first one to be won by
labor, in the present period of industrial depression: the raising of a $2,000,000
fund to sustain the lockout fight; and despite terrible strain and great un-
employment, the collection of nearly $170,000 for the relief of the Russian
famine victims. We are coming to this Convention with greater confidence
in our united power.

This official call for the Convention is sent to you in conformity with
Article III. Sections 3. 4, 5, 6 and 7 of the constitution of the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America. A copy of those sections is herewith enclosed.

Accordingly, you are asked to call a special meeting of your local organi-
zation and elect delegates and alternates to the FIFTH BIENNIAL CON-
VENTION OF THE AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA.

Your organization is entitled to delegates.

Official credentials are herewith enclosed.

The Amalgamated is coping with big problems today and will be called
upon to deal with even bigger problems in the future." With its collective
wisdom and courage the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America will be
capable of rising to any situation. Let our FIFTH BIENNIAL CONVENTION
add new strength to the Amalgamated and the labor movement generally.

With best wishes for a successful convention and cheers for the growing
spirit of working class solidarity,

Fraternally yours,

JOSEPH SCHLOSSBERG.
General Secretary-Treasurer.

REPORT OF

THE GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD

TO THE FIFTH BIENNIAL CONVENTION OF THE

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS

OF AMERICA

1.

Delegates and Fellow Members:

We are happy to gather for our Fifth Biennial meeting in a city
that is so truly representative of the progress and the achievements of
our organization. When we first raised the banner of the Amalga-
mated Clothing Workers of America our organization in Chicago was
numerically small, though its influence was greater than the size of its
membership. Today the jurisdiction of the organization extends to
all who are employed at the making of men's clothing in the city of
Chicago. The dramatic story of the rise of the Chicago organization
is recorded in our reports to the previous conventions.

The starving multitudes of 1910, struggling with empty pockets
and empty stomachs against industrial tyranny, have given place to a
model and powerful organization of Chicago clothing workers. They
who stood alone and helpless twelve years ago, because their fellow
clothing workers in other cities were equally disorganized, are not
only assured local protection against industrial wrong, but they have
within the past two years contributed hundreds of thousands of
dollars toward the support of the labor struggle in cities outside of
Chicago.

The change from 1910 to 1922 brought about by the solidarity of
the workers in this one industry is in itself an object lesson of the
great possibilities of that conscious self-elevation which must in-
evitably lead to self-emancipation.

Between 1910 and this day several great industrial battles have
been fought in Chicago. Each one of them was a milepost, marking
the road covered and the ground gained. Our members suffered in-
tensely. Some were killed. More were wounded. Hosts were in-
dicted, arrested, slandered, libeled, and quietly — discharged.

From the high vantage point of our 1922 position we look down
and back upon our seeming helplessness in those early years, with
justified satisfaction. The least the victor is entitled to is to rejoice
in his achievements and attainments.

That we are now doing.

The Chicago Joint Board, under whose powerful wings all workers
in the industry find protection; which has merited and is enjoying
the confidence and love of every worker, and keeping eternal vigilance

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

over the interests of the members; — this Chicago Joint Board is our
host. Representatives of the organized Clothing Workers of North
America, constituting the parliament of the American clothing in-
dustry, are the guests of the completely organized Clothing Workers
of Chicago ! That which would in 1910 have been a wild dream is
today a reality. Better still, the transformation in Chicago is typical
of our growth and activity throughout the country.

A gathering like ours is always an occasion for celebration, re-
trospection, and planning for the future. It is doubly so today be-
cause of the perilous economic and industrial conditions which con-
front not only the United States but the entire world.

II.

A labor organization is, in its very nature, a militant organiza-
tion. It is always fighting, even at times that are considered indus-
trially peaceful ; in a strict sense it must always be prepared for open
warfare, for the sword might be pressed into its hand when it is least
expected. A labor organization can hold the power it has built up
and the gains wrought by that power only as long as it is capable of
protecting them and fearlessly meeting any challenge hurled against
them.

Since our last convention, two years ago, we have been called
upon to defend the right of our organization to live. Between
December, 1920, and June, 1921, we fought the greatest struggle in
our history and vindicated our title, to the dismay of those who as-
sailed it. That victory was gained, and it was gained decisively; yet
no one can tell how soon we may again be called upon to prove by a
test of strength our right to live.

All our previous conventions were held under the stress of war
conditions. Disastrous as the world war was in its destruction of life
and treasure, it held out certain opportunities to the industrial
workers while the frightful carnage was going on. We availed our-
selves of those opportunities in our efforts to organize the clothing
workers and improve their conditions. Having begun with very
little at the end of 1914, we were able to report to each succeeding
convention the acquisition of new territories and the raising of new
and higher standards. Two years ago we had the joy of reporting
to our convention the achievement of the highest immediate goal
of Organized Labor in America — the forty-four-hour week. We also
had the pleasure of seeing large numbers of workers in other indus-
tries following our lead. That brought our program of extensive
work to a point where it must be supported by a program of intensive
work. To both programs the organization is now applying its
energies.

Our Boston Convention, in 1920, was the first one to be held in
peace time. But in every practical sense this is the first Amalga-
mated convention held under conditions which may be described as
Ihe "horrors of peace." Two years ago the influence of the war

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 3

was felt universally. Today we have returned to the normal unem-
ployment, uncertainty, and misery of peace-time capitalism.

The end of military activities was expected to bring industry to
a standstill and with it the long hoped for ' ' liquidation of labor."
Accordingly, we were thrown out of the factories in New York the
moment truce was signed in France, in November, 1918. But the
liquidation scheme did not work in our case.

The world had never before known a post-war situation similar
in magnitude and effects to the one following the recent war. Pre-
dictions failed. The breakdown of industry did not come on schedule
time. After a brief suspension, short in duration but long enough
to enable us to snatch from the lockout contest the forty-four-hour
victory, industry resumed on an immoderate and feverish basis.
The revival proved to be only a spurt, which died down in 1920.

What are the peace conditions for American labor following the
war as distinguished from the peace conditions preceding the war?
Briefly, the answer may be formulated in the phrase : * ' The war
against labor. "

That phrase is correct but incomplete. Capitalism has always
fought labor — 'before, during, and since the war. Class struggle is
as old as class rule. But both change in form and intensity. The
class struggle in 1920 is on a different plane from the class struggle
in 1914.

HI.

A century and a half ago our country was a group of colonies.
The then known and inhabited America was small in area and popu-
lation. The people were, in the bulk, independent farmers, self-
sustaining and self-respecting owners of their own homes and masters
of their own means of livelihood. Property ownership was the rule
rather than the exception, so that it implied no class distinction as
we know it today. The country as a whole was self-sufficient with
almost unlimited possibilities for expansion. President Washington's
admonition to beware of foreign entanglements was a true expres-
sion of the sentiments and interests of his America.

We have a different America today. It is a great empire;
greater in area and population than any other white country outside
of Russia; wealthiest of all countries, and creditor of the great
powers of Europe. From a nation of modest and self-respecting home
owners the United States has become a nation in which the propor-
tion of such owners is steadily diminishing. With this decrease in
ownership there came a rapid increase in wealth concentration in the
hands of the few.

The rise of industrialism brought the inevitable cleavage between
the masters and the men; the owners of the tools of production and
their users.

When capitalism was still in its early stages and the labor re-
volt a new and strange phenomenon, the labor movement WAS fought

4 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

because of its newness and strangeness. Both labor and capita1
were unconscious of their class characters. When workers organized
it was an instinctive act of self-defense against oppression by the
employers, not unlike the instinctive reaching out of the hand to
ward off a blow. When the employers sought to destroy the advan-
tage gained by the workers through their unity it was likewise an
instinctive act.

The labor movement being new, its origin and character not
understood, its foes were not prepared with special means for fighting
it. When American judges denounced unions and strikes as criminal
conspiracies against the employers, and sent to jail workers guilty
of such " conspiracies," they relied for their authority upon ancient
laws enacted centuries before by the privileged classes of England
against the enslaved masses. That the persecution did not destroy
the young labor movement was due entirely to the fact that the
movement, being a natural and unavoidable result of modern indus-
trialism, could not be destined unless the social system in which
its roots lie were destroyed at the same time. It may be harassed,
even temporarily suppressed, life may be made miserable for its
advocates, but the movement goes on.

In time, as the labor movement was growing physically more
powerful, labor unions were recognized as legitimate institutions,
strikes were legalized, picketing was sanctioned by law, and even
boycotting was tolerated. Capitalism did not abandon its warfare
against labor. On the contrary, it increased it in magnitude and
intensity. The military was used against organized workers; the
injunction was raised to a commanding position; imprisonment, kid-
napping, and deportation v/ere included in the war tactics; and
strike breaking was developed into a science, The class struggle
was waged with growing ferocity. The bloodiest pages in the his-
tory of American labor were written in that period, and the greatest
labor tragedies were enacted. But the workers had, at least theo-
retically, secured certain rights. Where they were sufficiently well
organized the workers were in a position to avail themselves of those
rights.

That was the era of whirlwind development for American capi-
talism. But side by side with the great industries and mighty trusts
there were built up big organizations of labor.

The world war came. Washington's injunction to infant America
against entangling alliances in Europe did not apply to America the
giant. American capitalism had caught up with and outdistanced its
European rivals, and had begun a dash for the spoils of the great war.

The war all but destroyed civilization in Europe. It left an ap-
palling heritage to both victor and vanquished - - ruined countries,
paralyzed industries, widespread unemployment, international hatred,
disease, depression, and worldwide discouragement.

In the midst of these world ruins American Capitalism stands
proud, haughty, self-conscious, dominating, and domineering. It has
fastened its grip on world resources and world markets. It has also
laid its heavy hand upon labor.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT

[V.

Since the Avar capital: a crusade against labor

for the purpose oi uudarcl of living and robbing it

of the rights conceded to it before and during the Avar. Labor's
status is to be pushed back a century, to the point where unions and
strikes were illegal and criminal conspiracies. With this difference:
In the earlier days the labor movement was fought blindly as a new
something which was unwelcome but not understood, and capitalism
was young, weak, and inexperienced. Today capitalism understands
the labor movement much better than the labor movement under-
stands itself; is fighting it consciously, systematically and "scienti-
fically," and has power and the benefit of long experience. Most
important of all: Industrial conditions are largely against labor.
With the European market unable to buy. and the American farmer
unable to sell, American industry is paralyzed, while the American
farmer uses his grain for fuel. Such conditions render unnecessary
the "liberality" which the employers reluctantly extended to labor
during the period of war time labor scarcity.

At the outset of this campaign to crush labor organizations, a
reign of terror was inaugurated under the slogan of "open shop"
and "American plan." Fire was opened upon the labor movement
from all directions — lockouts, forced strikes, vicious publicity cam-
paigns, injunctions against picketing and even against striking, hos-
tile legislation to the extent of forbidding strikes and making labor
organizations impossible. Under the protection of this liquid fire at-
tack a merciless slashing of wages was inaugurated, and also the
"liquidation" of labor conditions. Weak unions were destroyed:
strong unions were weakened and American labor was terrorized and
cowed. In unorganized industries, where the workers were unable
to make any resistance, the problem of "deflating" and "liquidating"
labor was easily solved. When the American standard of living
was lowered in those industries because of the helplessness of the
workers, the employers in the organized industries demanded the
same of their employees in order to "meet the reduced purchasing
power" of other workers. The lowest standard of working condi-
tions and wages was made the determining standard to which all
higher standards must be brought down. The "natural" unemploy-
ment, the legitimate fruit of the Avar and the iniquitous peace, was
enhanced by artificial unemployment which was created for the pur-
pose of "teaching labor its place" and making it amenable to dis-
cipline. Thus we have had the bitter experience of seeing the re-
vival of the bread line so soon after Avar prosperity and an auction
sale of white workers in the city of William Llovd Garrison and
Wendell Phillips.

The President of the United States called many experts to a
conference at the nation's capital to solve the unemployment prob-
lem. They succeeded in reducing by a few million the estimates of
unemployed, but the problem of uiiemploymcMit was left undisturbed.

6 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

Industrial, commercial and financial capital present a solid front
against labor. Merchants and manufacturers in New York raised a
$5,000,000 anti-labor war chest. Similar action was taken every-
where. The bankers are wielding their tremendous power to force
into line employers who would otherwise be willing to adjust indus-
trial disputes by an understanding with the organization of their
employees.

In that general attack the Amalgamated was marked for de-
struction. Our defeat would have endangered workers in other in-
dustries no less than our own members. We sustained an unceasing
attack of twenty-six weeks and won against seemingly overwhelming
odds. Other needle trades organizations successfully repulsed at-
tacks, giving inspiration and encouragement to other groups of
workers.

On the whole, American labor was caught unprepared and un-
awares. Where labor was defeated it is now rallying again. The
most encouraging examples at the present time are the railroad
workers and the miners. Both great armies of labor have been
tricked and cheated. But they are now coming back. The alliance
for the mutual protection of the workers in those basic industries,
though still in its formative stage, is proof of labor's realization of
the need of greater unity. It is a severe blow to the spirit of craft
unionism, the best ally of labor-crushing capitalism. Attempts are
also being made in the direction of independent political action by
labor. Those attempts are still vague, halting, blind, but the ten-
dency is clear — the acquisition of political power by labor for its
own protection.

This is an epochal stage. We may expect to see within the next
few years the most fundamental change in the forms of American
labor organizations. When the present mist of confusion is dispelled
we will find a rejuvenated labor movement, in form and in spirit,
capable of fighting labor's battles, with a united front and a con-
scious purpose. However rapid the advance of the American labor
movement the Amalgamated will always be found in its front ranks.

It is under these conditions that we are now meeting at our Fifth
Biennial Convention. We have the pleasure of reporting to you that
we have weathered every storm since we met last and the Amalga-
mated ship is as seaworthy today as ever.

We shall now submit to you in detail the story of the Amalga-
mated for the last two vears.

OENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT

GREAT LOCKOUT STRUGGLE IN NEW YORK

The Amalgamated entered into collective bargaining agreements
with the employers in every clothing center and gladly co-operated
with the agencies established under those agreements to maintain
normal conditions in the industry. But all that time the enemies
of the organization were secretly planning for disruption; secretly,
until they were ready to come out in the open. The nation-wide
anti-laibor propaganda furnished the atmosphere, and the growing
unemployment the opportunity, for an attempt upon the life of the
Amalgamated. The general locking out of our members in New
York was carried out in December, 1920, but the fight was begun
much earlier. The first shot was fired by the firm of Cohen, Gold-
man & Co.

The firm of Cohen, Goldman & Co. had been identified with a
small group of clothing manufacturers in New York, organized as
the Clothing Trade Association, separate and apart from the much
larger body known as the American Men's and Boys' 'Clothing Manu-
facturers' Association. The firm fought the union on all occasions
and would not permit its employees to be organized. During the
production of army uniforms, Professor William Z. Ripley, the federal
government's administrator of labor standards for army clothing,
heard complaints of the Amalgamated against the firm, and ordered
the latter to comply with the rules of the War La'bor Board, which
gave the workers certain rights. Among other things Professor
Ripley attacked the pernicious bonus system which the firm had
inaugurated as a slave driving device and ordered its discontinuance.

Under pressure of industrial conditions, which were favora/ble
to labor, the above group concluded an agreement with the Amal-
gamated in August, 1919. Those employers became members of the
larger association, which has since been known as the New York
Clothing Manufacturers' Association, and were included in the exist-
ing arrangements for the adjudication of disputes under the impartial
chairmanship of Dr. William M. Leiserson. Within the association the
group maintained its own identity and was known as the " preferen-
tial union shop group/'

In August, 1920, the firm discharged a large number of its em-
ployees and announced that thereafter its work would go elsewhere,
which was known to mean to non-union shops out of town. The
firm also took that occasion to repeat all of the stereotyped anti-
union slander, so familiar to all readers of the public press. In ac-
cordance with the provisions of the agreement the union brought
the case before the impartial chairman, whose decision was to be final.
The hearing was set for August 30. At the last minute the firm re-
fused to appear and announced its resignation from the association.

8 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

Tlie firm offered as a basis fur its strange procedure the claim that
its agreement with the union had expired August 26, 1920, and was
no longer in effect.

STATEMENT BY DE. LEISERSON

In a long statement to the association, reviewing the situation,
Dr. Leiserson said :

I have done all that it is in my power to do to get this case adjusted
and save the market and the firm from the consequences of its rash
action. But when I am told that it does not intend to submit to the
jurisdiction of the impartial machinery under any circumstances, then it
becomes the solemn duty of the man you chose to act as the impartial
chairman for all members of your association to warn you that the entire
clothing industry of New York must not be sacrificed to the purposes
of this one house.

I have your resolution stating that you will take no action on the
resignation of Cohen, Goldman & Co. until you receive a statement from
the impartial chairman defining the status of the firm under the im-
partial machinery. In reply I have the following statement to make.

Cohen, Goldman & Co. have a case now pending before the impartial
chairman. The firm presented its resignation in order to avoid appear-
ance in this case. I was not notified that the firm proposed to resign
until three-quarters of an hour before the time the case was to be heard,
although the hearing was scheduled three days before in the regular
form with the consent of the firm. Under the circumstances, of course,
I must insist that the case be heard and that Cohen, Goldman & Co.
can not resign in order to avoid a decision by the impartial chairman.

Dr. Leiserson further said :

On a claim that the agreement between the union and the Clothing
Trade Association expired on August 26, the firm attempts to justify its
refusal to appear before the impartial chairman. If that agreement ex-
pired on August 26 then I as impartial chairman should have been
asked not to try cases under it and I should not. today be acting as im-
partial chairman for all the houses in the Clothing Trade Association.
I am still hearing and deciding cases under the agreement which Cohen,
Goldman & Co. claim has expired, and if it has not expired for the other

members it has not expired for this firm

If you accept the resignation of Cohen, Goldman £ Co. you put
yourselves in the position of approving the breach of faith by this house,
and every other employer would be free to follow the same course
whenever he has a bad case before the impartial chairman to be tried
and decided.

That the action of Cohen, Goldman & Co., was no accident, and
no detached event, but a deliberate move in the direction of destroy-
ing the joint machinery set up for dealing with matters arising from
the relations between the employers and the union, is shown by the
following significant statement in the trade journal of the employers :

Since the establishment of the impartial machinery in this market
much sand has been thrown into the gears of the machine at various
times, but the resignation of Cohen, Goldman & Co., because of Mr.
Goldman's position as chairman of the clothing trade group and as chair-
man of the market committee, is likened by some to throwing a wrench
into the machinery.

Though the Clothing Manufacturers' Association formally car-
ried out the impartial chairman's decision, and reluctantly expelled

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT

Cohen, Goldman & Co., from membership, the war party within the
association was feverishly working to bring about an open state of
war with the Amalgamated. That was hardly concealed. Repre-
sentatives of the union did all in their power, in the trying circum-
stances, to prevent a clash, but the employers' war party frustrated
all efforts to maintain order in the industry. Spurred on by the
general crusade against organized labor and encouraged by promises
of help by anti-labor forces outside of the industry, the temptation
for an attack upon the Amalgamated under favorable, because de-
pressing, industrial conditions, seemed too strong for resistance. The
association decided to submit to the union seven demands with the
determination not to modify them, knowing well that in the form
in which they were submitted the demands could not but be rejected
and a fight would ensue. In order to increase the tension and lead
to a war a hectic situation was created and the tension increased by
the annoying and offensive tactics of publishing the ''seven points"
in the newspapers, on September 25, 1920. without a word to the
union. October 7, 1920. nearly two weeks later, we received the fol-
lowing communication :

CLOTHING MANUFACTURERS' ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK, Inc.

October 6, 1920.
Mr. Sidney Hillman,

Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America,
31 Union Square,
New York City.
My dear Mr. Hillman: —

The business outlook for the coming spring season leads this asso-
ciation to believe that the interest of its members and the interest of
the workers whom your organization represents will be best served by
working out a joint program for readjusting conditions affecting the cost,
of production. We desire to put the New York industry on a basis that
will enable the manufacturers to secure the maximum business possible
in competition with other markets and thus to give their workers the
maximum amount of employment which the general merchandising con-
dition of the country will permit.

The views of the association on this problem are set forth in a reso-
lution, a copy of which is attached.

A conference on this subject is desired. We are assuming that 2:30
Monday afternoon, October 11, at the impartial chairman's office will be
convenient for you and your associates, as was indicated when I dis-
cussed the matter with you informally yesterday afternoon.

The association will be represented at these conferences by the
undersigned and by Mr. Joseph H. Willits, labor manager for the New
York Clothing Trade Association.

I am sending a copy of this letter to Dr. Leiserson, impartial chair-
man, to Mr. A. Shiplacoff, manager of the New York Joint Board, and
Mr. J. P. Friedman, manager of the Cutters' Local.

Yours very truly,

(signed) B. H. Gitchell.

Market Labor Manager.
(Enclosure)

RESOLUTION PASSED BY THE MARKET COMMITTEE 9/21/20

AND BY THE ASSOCIATED MEMBERSHIP 9/24/20
To keep its factories <*: oneraMnn am! its workers employed, New
York must establish conditions which will enable it to secure adequate
business in competition with other clothing markets.

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

1. Conditions which have resulted in loss of business to the New
York market and in unemployment, more severe than in any other cloth-
ing center, include:

a) Wage 50 per cent higher in New York than in competing

markets.

b) A work system in New York without any measure of output

for wages paid, as against piece work systems prevail-
ing in competing markets.

c) Discrimination against New York in regard to discipline and

other conditions of employment, as compared with agree-
ments between manufacturers and the union in ether
markets.

2. Boards of arbitration which have recently acted upon union de-
mands in four other markets have decided to maintain the status quo
with regard to wages because of the present business situation. This
continues New York's handicap.

3. The attitude of the public, fostered by government and news
paper campaigns, is that of restricting purchases until there is a decider
reduction in the price of clothing.

4. A material reduction in labor cost is one thing considered neces-
sary to enable New York manufacturers to cut the wholesale price of
clothing enough to attract orders.

5. Shop conditions are such that manufacturers are unable to de-
termine unit costs in advance.

6. It is clear from opinions privately expressed that manufacturers
will not purchase piece goods for the spring season unless they are
able definitely to determine manufacturing costs and to offer clothing
at prices which will attract business on a competitive basis.

7. Inside shops disorganized by abnormal conditions require radical
reorganization if they are to live. They need greater liberty to intro-
duce improved machinery and protect themselves against "laydowns."
Discipline has been difficult to administer. They have not had the free-
dom in the selection of new workers essential to balanced and efficient
production.

8. The hope for better business and more employment during th«
coming spring season lies in correcting the effect of the present high
wages, low production, and bad manufacturing conditions. This should
be accomplished by an increase in output, not a cut in the earning
power of the workers.

9. The association, the union, and the impartial chairman, have
therefore, an obvious duty to establish conditions which will permit
manufacturers to get business and give the workers employment. This
should be brought about by negotiations or by arbitration.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the following be submitted to the
union and the impartial chairman as essential to establish competitive
conditions which are fair to the New York clothing industry:

First: The right of the manufacturer to install piece work.

Second: Scales prevailing in other clothing markets to be the base
rates for New York workers.

Third: The co-operation of workers in maintaining individual rec-
ords of production in shops and cutting rooms.

Fourth: Individual standards of production for week workers in
shops and cutting rooms.

Fifth: The right of the manufacturer to change contractors.

Sixth: Adequate freedom to discipline and hire workers and to in-
troduce improved machinery.

Seventh: The agreements maintained by the union in other markets
in which adjustment machinery is functioning successfully to
be made the basis of relationship between the association and
the union.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT il

A number of conferences were held under the chairmanship of
Dr. Leiserson, but the manufacturers were determined upon a break
and refused to agree to anything that would avoid it. Inasmuch as
Avar was the objective of the employers the conferences were super-
fluous and could have easily been dispensed with. There were, how-
ever, two factors which were responsible for the conferences. One
was Mr. Gitchell and his staff, who earnestly worked for peace, and
were supported by the non-war party. The other was the desire of the
association to fasten upon the union responsibility for the clash. In
1918 the manufacturers openly acknowledged having locked out their
employees. That affected "public opinion," which is sometimes
sensitive to such an act. The public press will frankly support em-
ployers against strikers but some of it shrinks from supporting them
against locked out wrorkers. The great industrial and financial in-
terests with which the metropolitan press is identified do not
declare lockouts; at least, not in the manner the clothing manufac-
turers do. When they discharge individuals or groups of workers
for suspicion of union sympathies, they do not shout it from the house-
tops. Lockouts by employers have the dangerous tendency of preju-
dicing the " public mind" in favor of striking workers. This and the
fact that the immediate financial interests of the great daily press do
not lie in the clothing industry, made it possible for some papers to
emphasize the unethical points of a lockout. In the 1918 fight the
employers failed to receive the support of some of the large papers,
because the latter did not approve of a lockout. The editors of those
papers remembered that it was but recently that the clothing industry
was rescued from the barbarous sweat shop. A very small, but
highly influential, portion of the daily press in New York
occasionally manifests some liberality in its attitude towards labor.
The employers did not wish to repeat the mistake of 1918 when their
own admission of having locked us out brought us moral support from
unexpected quarters. Hence their maneuvers to force us into declar-
ing a strike and save them from the opprobrium of a lockout. With
this in mind they welcomed conferences but would not permit them to
bring results. The employers' war party had decreed war and would
have nothing else.

To those familiar with the Newr York market the promulgation of
the seven points was in itself a declaration of war. To accept those
points, which was the only alternative to open war, meant the sur-
render by the workers of all the rights and improvements secured by
them through many years of struggle and suffering, and also the dis-
banding of the organization.

Point 1, the absolute power of the employer to install piece work
at his own will and whim, without agreement with the workers, in a
city where the hideous task-system is still fresh in the workers' mem-
ory, was in itself a challenge the workers could not help meeting.

Points 2 and 7 would make the market with the lowest wage scales
and conditions the criterion for all other markets. Our mission would
then be reversed. Instead of equalizing upward and raising the
lower markets to the level of the higher ones, we would be coin-

12 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

mitted to a policy of assisting' Cue New York employers in bringing
the conditions for their employees down to the lowest level they
would be able to search out anywhere in the country. The union
which was organized for the protection of the workers would be re-
duced to an exploitation auxiliary to the employers.

Points 3 and 4 supplemented Point 1.

Points 5 and 6 meant the abolition of the worker's right to his
job. Rights won through many wars are not given up because of
the threat of another war.

The formal conferences were held under the chairmanship of
Dr. William M. Leiserson, impartial chairman in the collective bar-
gaining machinery, between representatives of the Amalgamated and
the association. At the first conference the employers presented their
demands. At the second conference Dr. Leiserson proposed that there
be a joint investigation of conditions in the New York market to
find out if there was justification for the employers' demands. Th«
Amalgamated representatives accepted his proposal, but the em-
ployers turned it down. At the third conference, November 8, the
Amalgamated delegates gave a determined "NO" to the employers'
demands.

The result of the proceedings of those conferences is contained
in the following statements by President Hillman and Dr. Leiserson.

STATEMENT BY PRESIDENT HILLMAN

The union's position is clear. The demands presented by the em-
ployers for piece work and a change in the status of the union cannot
and will not be granted by the organization. Our organization was and
is ready to look into the conditions that the employers complain of, and
reach an amicable and fair adjustment.

For reasons that are not quite understandable, the employers have
refused and are still refusing a joint investigation, so that a report based
on investigation of facts could be brought and made a subject of dis-
cussion and agreement. The employers have so far taken an arbitrary
position as to the seven points presented by them.

While we do not wish to predict what the outcome may be, there is
no question that the situation is very serious.

We wish, therefore, to repeat to our membership that while the or-
ganization is making and will continue to make efforts to reach a fair
understanding with the employers, and while no steps for a break will
be taken by our organization, they must rest assured at the same time
that the organization will be found ready to maintain and protect the
standards of living and conditions of work that have been gained in the
industry through long struggles of our membership.

STATEMENT BY DR. LEISERSON

To the seven demands of the employers regarding which they had
given notice they must have definite answer at Monday's session, the
union representatives stated they would have to answer "no," because
they believed the demands were not properly calculated to improve con-
ditions in the New York market, being too general. They suggested that
either a joint committee representing employers and workers should
make a careful investigation and report a program that would be ac-
ceptable to both sides or else that the problems in each house be taken
up by the employer and the union and such adjustments made as the
conditions in each house required.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 13

To this tin.- employers' representatives answered that they had made
a very careful investigation of conditions in the market before the seven
demands were formulated, and they felt certain that without piecework
and the other conditions they asked for the evils they complain of can
not be remedied.

They also thought that the union's suggestions would mean that a
long time elapse before an agreement could be reached, and they needed
immediate action in order to know on what basis they could open their
lines for the spring season. They stated, therefore, that if the uniom
could not agree to the seven demands, the manufacturers were willing
to have all seven points arbitrated by the impartial chairman.

The union representatives stated they would have to take this sug-
gestion up with their membership, but the impartial chairman explained
that he would have to decline to arbitrate what is in effect a new agree-
ment.

He pointed out that one of the demands of the employers is that the
agreements maintained by the union in other markets be made the
basis of relationship between the association and the union in New
York. Some of these other agreements provide for the closed shop,
while others have the preferential shop, and one has a modified open
shop.

For the chairman to decide by arbitration whether the industry
should have one or another of these would be both impractical and un-
wise, for it would leave to an outsider the determination of the rights
and privileges of management and workers in the industry. The other
six demands are all of this same character, involving the making of a
new agreement, and the chairman felt that his function is only to ad-
minister and interpret an agreement after it is made. The demands are
properly subjects for negotiation, bargaining and agreement, but not
arbitration.

The question of the existing agreements, which have been extended
from day to day pending the negotiations, was also discussed, and it
was agreed that the representatives of both parties should report back
to their membership that no agreement could be reached on the em-
ployers' demands as presented and that arbitration was not possible,
and the representatives should ask for instructions as to whether the
extension of the existing agreements should be continued.

Here is the way the New York "Call" summed up the situation:

The employers in the men's clothing trade who have always re-
sented the progress of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
have evidently determined to try and crush this great organization.

The Amalgamated in six short years has done more to improve
working conditions and increase wages than has been accomplished in
all the weary years since the clothing industry was born.

Not only has it done this for its members, but it has become the
spiritual and intellectual expression of the many thousands who earn
their bread by helping to clothe the people of this country. It has
not been contented merely to raise wages and shorten hours. It has
not been contented just to improve shop conditions that its members
might work amidst decent physical surroundings. Its educational activi-
ties and its weekly press have been an inspiration not only to its mem-
bers but to fellow workers in other crafts.

Its sense of solidarity with other workers has been in evidence at
all times. As it has grown in numbers and income, in place of becoming
conservative as many unions have, it has always dared to do the thing
that many big unions have feared to do.

The cry for financial help from smaller unions or from unions just
as large engaged in a bitter struggle with the employers has been always
answered with a generosity that has found few parallels in the history
of the world's labor movement.

14 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

And all this great service to its members and to the working class
in general has brought down upon it the bitter .hatred of all of the
sweaters of labor. It is true that some of the more enlightened em-
ployers, witnessing the manner in which it has sought to bring into the
industrial struggle more efficient and decent methods, while at the
same time insisting upon an ever higher standard of life for the workers
by steadily increasing wages, have sought to establish and constantly
encourage more friendly relations with the Amalgamated.

Other employers, however, have only yielded to the organized power
of the union because they were compelled to, and have yearned for the
days when they could again sweat the labor of the clothing workers to
the limit of the endurance of the toilers. Have yearned for the days
when they could re-establish the tyrannical methods which made them
the practical dictators of the lives of the workers.

It is this group among the employers that is seeking to abolish all
of the improved methods for handling labor disputes; that is submitting
demands to the union that they know cannot and will not be met. Sub-
mitting these demands for the one purpose of forcing a fight with the
workers at a time when they believe they will be able to crush this
organization.

The arrogance of the employers in other lines has encouraged many
of the employers in the men's clothing industry to adopt the same
attitude toward their workers. But it needs something more than mere
arrogance to crush out the kind of spirit that animates the membership
of the Amalgamated.

This organization has been built from the bottom up and not from
the top down. The same courage and efficiency that prevail among its
general officers prevail among its entire membership. It does not seek
a struggle with the employers except when its just demands are denied.
If attacked it will know how to answer.

It has never been terrorized in the past. It will not be in the
present or future. And it will emerge from any struggle it is compelled
to wage victorious and more powerful than ever.

The Chicago ''Tribune" of November 12, 1920, in an article en-
tiled "After Profiteering— What ?" said:

The Clothing Manufacturers' Association of New York has announced
that its shops will not be reopened until employees, who are members
of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers' union, agree to new working and
wage conditions "necessary to the life of the industry."

If that industry is ill, its illness must be diagnosed as apoplexy or
gout rather than anemia or malnutrition. It did not hesitate to take
advantage of the misfortune of the world and double and triple its prices
before it raised wages. It made enormous profits and defended itself
in part by saying that it was necessary to take advantage of the fat
years to lay up a store for the lean. Now the lean days are at hand.
Yet we see no inclination to use the profits of the fat days to tide over
present troubles.

Instead, production is cut off and thousands of workers are made
idle. No doubt the individual manufacturer can take up his pencil and
figure out that by stopping production for a time he will save most of
his expense and allow demand to catch up with supply, after which he
can renew operations at recent artificial prices. He is playing with
economic laws more powerful and more dangerous than himself. If all
manufacturers were to adopt that policy, they would find when they
came to renew operations that no one had the money with which to
buy. It is a policy ruinous to general prosperity.

If these manufacturers would accept a loss as they seized upon a
profit, and continue in operation, they would be able to force lower
frice levels through wholesalers and retailers to consumers, and eventu-

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 15

ally bring about re-adjustment on a sound basis. Improved demand
would take care of the increased supply. Eventually their employees
would accept new arrangements and all would be comparatively well.
Their efforts to play the buying boycott against the unions and so to
break both is in line with their rankest profiteering of war days and
post-war days. They prove themselves not only entirely selfish but a
menace to a necessary general readjustment. It is to be hoped that the
New York banks which have influence in our readjustment problems
will look to the bottom of the business methods involved.

On November 10 the association decided to stand by its seven
demands. It held firm to its refusal of a joint investigation.

On November 11 the firm of Heidelberg & Wolf, one of the Cohen,
Goldman & Co. group, announced to its employees that thereafter
it would put into force a forty-eight-hour week and piece work. The
workers refused to submit and a strike resulted.

The action of Heidelberg & Wolf was a maneuver of the "war
party" to hasten difficulties and give that group in the Manufac-
turers' Association control. Many of the members in the employers *
organization and Mr. Gitchell, market labor manager and his staff,
were not supporters of the "war party" policy and favored an ad-
justment through negotiation. The union representatives, on their
part, continued their meetings with Mr. Gitchell and a committee of
manufacturers, representing the employers, despite the overt acts
of certain of the manufacturers anxious for trouble. If there was
any chance, however slight, of reaching a workable understanding,
without a strike or lockout, the union did not intend to permit the
opportunity to go by default.

At a conference at the Hotel Commodore on November 14, 1920,
a basis for an understanding was reached. There were present at
this conference President Hillman, Dr. Leiserson the impartial chair-
man, and Mr. Gitchell and several of the important manufacturers
in the New York market as representatives of the employers' asso-
ciation. The following memorandum was agreed upon:

1. The union shall assume responsibility for the production of its
members.

2. Labor costs shall be reduced as necessary to enable New York
manufacturers to do business.

3. Adjustment of amount of reduction in cost to be made between
each employer and a committee of his workers aided by representatives
of the union and the association.

4. Disagreements shall be referred to the market labor manager and
the general president for settlement. All cases so referred shall be
settled by them.

5. Settlements made shall be enforced by the impartial chairman.

An agreement for continuance of peaceful relations in the New
York market had apparently been reached. It is significant that
the agreement reached in June, 1921, at the end of the twenty-six
weeks' lockout, gave the manufacturers only that which the union
had already agreed to in the memorandum of November 14, 1920,
three weeks before the beginning of the lockout.

But those manufacturers in the "war party" bent upon smash-
ing, if possible, the Amalgamated wanted no agreement. They had

16 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

determined upon war, and while Mr. Gitchell and their other rcpresen
tatives were in conference with the union and coming to an under-
standing, they were lining up votes in the New York Clothing
Manufacturers' Association to overthrow Mr. Gitchell and the policy
of those manufacturers who favored continuance of peaceful rela-
tions with the union.

The "war party" assembled a majority of those present at
the meeting of the manufacturers' association on November 18, and
Mr. Gitchell and his staff were forced to resign to make way for a
war administration.

Two further conferences, one on November 19 and another on
November 26, followed. During this period the group in the
^manufacturers' association who favored war were attempting to
commit the other members to a war program. On November 29 it
was clear that the ''war party" had prevailed. On that day the
association retained the union-baiting Harry A. Gordon as its at-
torney. Two days previously he had injected himself into the situa-
tion. At first the nature of his connection with the manufacturers'
association was not given out. But with knowledge of Gordon's per-
nicious activities in other branches of the needle trades, particularly
in the waist and dress industry, the purpose of his appearing on the
scene was clear.

Gordon's replacing Gitchell could have but one meaning: War.
This lawyer was called in to perform the task in which another
and abler union-smashing lawyer had failed two years back.

The next day, November 30, the association adopted the following
resolution, a copy of which was sent to us December 2 :

RESOLUTION ADOPTED BY THE MARKET COMMITTEE

of the

CLOTHING MANUFACTURERS' ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK, Inc.,
AT A MEETING HELD ON THE NIGHT OF NOVEMBER 30, 1920.

Resolved that the association continue the conferences with the
union for the purpose of fixing conditions of labor, provided the union
agrees on or before December 6, 1920, that all workers should individually
be responsible for a daily standard of production, to be agreed on and
calculated upon base rates prevailing in other competitive markets; and
that in the event of the failure of any worker to produce such standard
of production, the employer shall have the right to reduce wages pro
rata, or to discharge the worker substantially underproducing.

Be it further resolved that in the event the association fails to re-
ceive an affirmative reply to the above proposal within the time fixed,
then the association put into effect the proposal aforesaid.
Certified by (Signed) IRVING CRANE

Secretary of the Clothing Manufacturers'
Association of N«w York, Inc.

Shortly after the receipt of the above the following letter ar-
rived :

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 17

CLOTHING MANUFACTURERS' ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK, Inc.

and

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CLOTHIERS
Room 1207, 752 Broadway, New York

December 2, 1920.
Mr. Sidney Hillman, President,
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America,
31 Union Square, New York City.
Dear Sir: —

A few minutes ago, I sent you a copy of the resolution which I
stated was passed at the meeting of the market committee of the asso-
ciation last night.

On looking over the copy retained by me, I find the following appear-
ing thereon: —

"Be it further resolved that in the event the association fails to
receive an affirmative reply to the above proposal within the time fixed,
then the association put into effect the proposal aforesaid "

The above should not have been on the resolution sent you, as it
was one of the many resolutions considered at the meeting, and was put
in the communication sent you by error. This was caused in my haste
to get the resolution to you, and confusion of my notes.

The only resolution that was passed is the one I am enclosing to
you marked "Official Corrected Copy."

Truly yours.
(Signed) IRVING CRANE

Secretary of the Clothing Manufacturers'
Association of New York, Inc.

December 2, 1920.
CORRECTED OFFICIAL COPY
RESOLUTION ADOPTED BY THE MARKET COMMITTEE

of the

CLOTHING MANUFACTURERS' ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK, Inc.,
AT A MEETING HELD ON THE NIGHT OF NOVEMBER 30, 1920.

Resolved that the association continue the conferences with the
union for the purpose of fixing conditions of labor, provided the union
agrees on or before December 6, 1920, that all workers shall individually
be responsible for a daily standard of production, to be agreed on and
calculated upon base rates prevailing in other competitive markets; and
that in the event of the failure of any worker to produce such standard
of production, the employer shall have the right to reduce wages por-
rata, or to discharge the worker substantially underproducing.
(Signed) IRVING CRANE,

Certified by

Secretary of the Clothing Manufacturers'
Association of New York, Inc.

Apparently the concluding paragraph of the resolution, which
was an open lockout announcement, was not intended for the union
and the public. It was to remain the secret of the association until
it would be ready to sprinsr the "surprise."

The association magnanimously condescended to continue the
conferences with us if we agreed to accept unconditionally the seven
points we had rejected. After such unconditional acceptance of our
own death warrant, what was loft to confer about? Perhaps the text
of the obituary notice.

On December 3, President Hillman sent the following reply to
the Clothing Manufacturers' Association:

18 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

I desire to acknowledge receipt of a copy of the resolution of the
market committee of the Clothing Manufacturers' Association, dated
December 2, 1920. Inasmuch as an answer is requested by December 6,
I hasten to make prompt reply.

The attitude assumed by the association, as formally presented in
your resolution of December 2, is a re-affirmation of your original de-
mands, and is now presented in the form of an ultimatum. That reso-
lution contained a paragraph which, I was later informed, was not in-
tended to be embodied in the original resolution. Since it has reached
our attention, it would be impossible for us not to take cognizance of it.
This paragraph reads:

"Be it further resolved that in the event the association fails to
receive an affirmative reply to the above proposal within the time fixed,
then the association put into effect the proposal aforesaid."

This not only defines your position but also advises us that even
before we make reply to your resolution you have already determined
to take action against our membership on this Monday coming. It is
because of this that we feel that your attitude foreshadows events of the
utmost gravity to thousands of the workers and their dependents, to the
clothing industry of New York, and — by no means least in importance—
to the entire community of New York. I am, therefore, most anxious
that no possible misunderstanding as to our position should in the
slightest obstruct a peaceful settlement of our controversy. It is there-
fore well for the sake of clarity to restate the positions of both our
organizations.

You assume the position that you will not negotiate with us unless
we concede to you piecework, a reduction in wages, and unlimited
power to discharge workers. You take the stand that these matters
are no longer a matter for negotiation in conference. These concessions
you make a condition for further negotiations and conferences. Your
resolution now asserts the position heretofore taken by your association,
and which is violative of the practice and principle of collective bar-
gaining, under which we have been operating, in the following respects:

1. Instead of a joint determination of the facts, you stand on a one-
sided claim as to what the facts are and upon such one sided, untested
data you wish to impose upon the union a piece-rate system. The dis-
tinction is fundamental: The union says, "Let us together study and
establish the facts, and as a result determine together how production
can best be furthered"; the association says, "We know all about the
facts, and you have to take our facts, and also take our conclusion from
these facts, namely, that piece-work is the only cure." Since produc-
tion is the common concern, only by joint effort can we secure it. The
association insists on imposing its arbitrary will and holding the union
to its wilful decision.

2. At the same time the association likewise insists on lowering
the workers' hard-won standards in an industry still vivid in its memory
of the sweatshop by cutting wages.

The union has been and is ready at this time to gp into conference
for the purpose of ascertaining proper production and to assume the
responsibility for the maintenance in future of such production standards
as will be jointly agreed to.

The organization is fully alive to the competitive nature of the in-
dustry and is ready to do its part in assisting to remedy any unsatis-
factory condition prevailing in this market.

The union does not control production, the responsibility for proper
production and costs rests by no means solely, or even primarily, upon
the union. The union is. however, conscious of its duties and responsi-
bilities in dealing with problems of the industry.

Therefore, the union has accepted the suggestion of the impartial
chairman for a joint committee to be appointed and charged with the
duty of ascertaining existing conditions, determining the extent to which

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 19

production can be increased and the means by which these ends can
be secured. The union has heretofore undertaken and does now under-
take to secure the enforcement of whatever production program a joint
committee should work out. This surely is the essence of collective
bargaining to which your association is committed.

Let us together explore the possibilities for bettering production
without trying to resort to the old brutal way of cutting wages as soon
as there is a business decline. To submit to less is to submit to a re-
version of force and anarchy in industry instead of proceeding on the
road of law and order in industry. This is the issue — clear and simple.
The issue is so fundamental that we shall submit it to the responsible
judgment of those most immediately and most seriously affected — the
membership of our organization. To this end, meetings of our mem-
bers have been called for Monday evening at which they will definitely
formulate their answer to your ultimatum.

The spirit of the Amalgamated was aroused. It put on its war
paint. A series of meetings was called for discussion and action.
The board of directors and the joint board staff met on December 3 ;
the joint board and the local executive boards on the 4th; the shop
chairmen of the clothing industry in the city gathered on the 5th
and on December 6 the general membership made its voice heard at
sixteen great, crowded, and enthusiastic mass meetings. In each
case the situation as created by the bellicose tactics of the employers
was fully discussed. And in each case the keynote of the discussion
was: "We stand for peace, but if the employers insist on war they
shall have it." The members understood clearly that the action
of the employers was due only to the industrial depression, to the
increasing unemployment, and the encouragement they were given
by all enemies of labor. "The employers imagine that they can
destroy the Amalgamated and they are trying to do it. If they
succeed their victory will be followed by the employers in other in-
dustries." That could not ibe permitted.

At each one of the sixteen membership meetings the following
resolution was unanimously adopted:

Whereas, A series of conferences have been held between our repre-
sentatives and the representatives of the Manufacturers' Association for
the purpose of dealing with problems of the clothing industry; and

Whereas, The employers have put forward new propositions aiming
at the destruction of the conditions under which we have been working;
and

Whereas, Our representatives in answer proposed that all such new
propositions should be investigated by a joint committee representing
both sides of the controversy; and

Whereas, The employers have rejected this proposition both from
our representatives and from the impartial chairman and insisted upon
the enforcement of their own arbitrary will; and

Whereas, The last act of the Manufacturers' Association was to send
an ultimatum to our organization announcing that beginning with De-
cember 6 piece work will be established in place of week work, wages
will be reduced, and all safeguards against unjust discharge of workers
will be abolished; be it therefore

Resolved, That we, the members of the New York Joint Board,
A. C. W. of A., in mass meeting assembled on Monday, December 6, 1920,
strongly and unqualifiedly reject the ultimatum of our employers; and
be it further

20 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

Resolved. That \vc l.turiily endorse (ho ;i(M(.iule of our representa-
tives in the negotiations held thus far between themselves and the repre-
sentatives of the association; and be it further

Resolved, That whereas we are ready to continue friendly relations
with all employers desiring peace in the industry, we stand ready to use
our organized power to resist any attempt to lower our economic con-
ditions or to destroy any of the rights we have acquired by years of
straggle and that we will fight to the utmost in defense of these just
rights and the life of our organization; and be it finally

Resolved, That we pledge to the joint board and all our representa-
tives our fullest support in dealing with the present situation; and in
the event that the employers should force a struggle upon us we pledge
our all in the efforts to bring this struggle to a successful conclusion.

ULTIMATUM REJECTED ; CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

The following appeared in Advance, December 10, 1920:

The Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America has received the
following ultimatum and challenge from the New York Clothing Manu-
facturers' Association: Not later than December 6, 1920, you must accept
piece work, reduction in wages, individual bargaining between em-
ployers and workers, and the unlimited and arbitrary power of the em-
ployer to discharge his employees; accept these or fight a lockout.

Meetings were held by the board of directors, joint board and local
executive boards, shop chairmen, and finally by the general membership.
At each meeting the ultimatum was unanimously rejected and the chal-
lenge just as unanimously accepted.

The employers now have our answer. If they are determined to
force the industry back from 1920 to 1910 it is for them to make the
next move. They will find us ready, for we have not only rejected the
ultimatum but we have also accepted the challenge.

As long as the employers were in a position to keep us from organ-
izing by the exercise of their autocratic and oppressive power we were
charged with being unorganizable, pressing down wages, and reducing
the American standard of living. It was those charges against us. that
served as a basis for the demand to shut the gates of this country against
the nationalities from which the clothing manufacturers had drafted the
workers for their factories.

After decades of bitter struggle we have succeeded in abolishing
the sweatshop conditions which had been forcibly imposed upon us. We
have organized ourselves and Americanized the clothing industry, it is
the workers in the clothing industry, not the employers, who have human-
ized conditions in the industry, and raised the latter to a civilized level.

We, the clothing workers, freed ourselves from the stigma of an
un-American standard of living, and we shall not permit the employers
to force us back under it.

The one cardinal principle of American trade unionism, the one prin-
ciple which no enemy of labor dares to assail openly, is that of collective
bargaining. It has the official sanction and support of the United States
government. It took us many years of struggle and hardship to establish
this sane and perfectly legitimate principle in the clothing industry.
Now the New York employers say in their ultimatum and challenge that
they will replace collective bargaining by individual bargaining.

They say "that all workers should INDIVIDUALLY be responsible
for a daily standard of production " Inasmuch as the union is denied
the right to participate in the determination of the "standard of produc-
tion" this will be determined by the employers with each worker indi-
vidually; in other words, by the employer in conference with himself.

Having abolished the central principle of American trade unionism,
collective bargaining, the employers proceed to the next one, and make
it unmistakably clear in their ultimatum and challenge.

GEXK'KAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 21

The policy of trade unionism is to raise the poorer paid workers to
the level of the better paid and the poorer paid groups of workers to
the level of the better paid. The manufacturers have "resolved" to re-
verse this procedure and to have the lowest paid markets determine the
wages for the industry in all markets. That is the only meaning of
their resolution that wages in New York be "calculated upon base rates
prevailing in other competitive markets." If that ultimatum and chal-
lenge are enforced all hope of the workers ever improving their condi-
tions will be gone forever. The market with the best working conditions
will have to come down to the market with the worst conditions. Aa
some market, somewhere, will always be worse than the rest, it will
mean steady and continuous demoralization.

The American trade union principle of no reduction in wages is
thus transformed into a principle of steady reduction in wages. In order
to make their meaning perfectly clear the employers say expressly in
their ultimatum and challenge: "The employer shall have the right to
reduce wages pro rata, or to discharge the worker substantially under-
producing."

After the employer has exercised his autocratic power to determine
by ukase the daily standard of production for the individual worker he,
the same employer, will constitute himself a jury to determine whether
the worker has lived up to his DAILY standard of production, and will
then assume the duties of a judge to pronounce judgment.

There will be two kinds of punishment: (1) Reduction in wages,
or partial starvation, and (2) discharge, or complete starvation. The
employer in his great clemency will decide which of the two punishments
tfill do the worker the greater good.

New York has been a week work market for many years. The
employers initiated week work. But with it went the cruel task system.
When we managed to organize ourselves we eliminated the task evil
and continued the week work sysiein. Now the employers wish to force
upon us again the slave driving and health wrecking task system. Our
answer is NO; WE SHALL NOT PERMIT IT.

Our convention in Boston, last May, accepted the principle of week
work, in the interest of the workers' health, and also the principle of
standards of production, in the determination of which the organization
should participate.

The employers now announce that they will themselves fix daily
standards of production for each individual worker.

Our answer is: NO; WE SHALL NOT ACCEPT THEM.

We have proclaimed the principle of a progressive raising of our
standard of living; hence reductions in wages are impossible. The em-
ployers say, There will be permanent reductions in wages in order to
meet each new competitive market with still lower wages, which wih
be discovered whenever necessary.

Our answer is: NO; WE SHALL NOT SUBMIT TO STARVATION.

For many years we were helpless. The employer had it in his power
to penalize each one of us, by discharging him from employment, for
union activity, for refusing to submit to oppressive treatment on his
part, or for no reason at all. The employer owed no explanation to us
for depriving us of our opportunity to feed and shelter our families.
Through the union we have restricted that arbitrary power. One of
our most precious achievements is the protection of our right to work,
the protection of our right to a hearing if our discharge is demanded
by the employer.

Now the employers are proclaiming their autocratic power to crucify
us at will.

Our answer is: NO; WE SHALL FIGHT TO THE LAST DITCH
IN DEFENSE OF OUR RIGHT TO THE JOB.

22 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

Our answer to the ultimatum is: NO.

Our answer to the challenge is: YES.

We want peace. We want to adjust differences with the employers
by orderly negotiation. But if they decree a lockout and force a struggle
upon us, they shall find us marching upon the battlefield with songs and
cheers.

We won two years ago in similar circumstances; we shall win again
today.

We are confident in our cause. We are confident in our powers.
We are confident in our victory!

The following letter was sent to the association by President Hill-
man conveying the reply of the membership:

December 7, 1920.
Mr. Irving Crane, Secretary,

Clothing Manufacturers' Association of New York, Inc.,
752 Broadway, New York City.

On December 2, our organization addressed a letter to the Clothing
Manufacturers' Association in reply to your ultimatum.

Our position as then defined has now been ratified by a referendum
of our 65,000 members in mass meetings. That letter is now official as
the reply of our organization.

We believe that this is no time to scrap all of the machinery of
government for the industry which has worked so successfully for ten
years in other markets and until now in Greater New York.

We believe that to accede to your ultimatum means not only a re-
turn to the old status of helplessness of the workers but also a con-
fession that government in industry is impossible. We do not believe
a resort to chaos is the only way out.

We still stand, as set forth in our letter, on the impartial chairman's
suggestion of "a joint committee to be appointed and charged with the
duty of ascertaining existing conditions, determining the extent to which
production can be increased, and the means by which these ends can be
secured."

We still hope that you will see the great harm which must result
to the industry from your course of action. As before, we stand ready
for negotiation and speedy adjudication of all problems of the industry.

On December 6, when our membership rejected the ultimatum
and accepted the challenge, the market committee of the association
adopted the following lockout resolution:

LOCKOUT RESOLUTION ADOPTED BY THE MARKET COMMITTEE

That a resolution be passed that in view of existing conditions and
the union's refusal to accept the proposal contained in the resolution
of the market committee passed on December 2, 1920, that the Amalga-
mated Clothing Workers' union can no longer be recognized as repre-
senting the workers in the New York clothing market; that all inter-
course between the association and the union be severed; that it be
officially declared that the impartial chairman has ceased to function in
the local market, and is without authority to act for or speak on behalf
of the market, that all fraternizing between any member of the asso-
ciation or any of the employees of the association and any of the union
officials or representatives, be declared to be contrary to the best in-
terests of the association and its membership.

That a committee be immediately appointed with authority to
formulate a plan of work, whereby each worker will be held responsible
for a daily standard of production and paid upon basis permitting com-
petition with other markets.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 23

The above was followed by a letter from the association to Pres-
ident Hillman. Here is the letter:

CLOTHING MANUFACTURERS' ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK, Inc.

December 7, 1920.
Mr. Sidney Hillman,

President, Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America,
31 Union Square, New York City.
Dear Sir: —

Your letter of December 3 in no sense meets squarely the issue
which our letter of December 2 has presented to you. The association
has formulated in the simplest possible terms a remedy for the de-
plorable conditions in which the clothing market in New York City finds
itself, a condition which unless immediately relieved spells ruin for both
employers and workers.

Instead of a categorical answer, you embark upon generalities and
platitudinous discussions, as if the question of collective bargaining and
the inauguration of oppressive working conditions were the issue. Your
communication assumes the tone of conciliation and sweet reasonable-
ness, in face of a past record and policy of aggressive militancy. Your
communication placed side by side with the issue of the Advance, your
official organ and publication of the same date, would convince any
unprejudiced mind that little reliance can be placed upon your glittering
generalities about co-operating with manufacturers.

The industry has reached a stage where talk and "exploration," a
term used by you, which unconsciously betrays your attitude of mind,
can serve no useful purpose. We have been talking and exploring since
August 26 last, without avail.

That the public has justly refused to buy clothing at war prices and
that the prices of manufactured stocks have been slaughtered and manu-
facturers have taken enormous losses, is a matter of common knowledge
and needs no investigation or exploration. That for the coming season
clothing must be produced at reduced prices to meet the public's demand
is also self evident and needs no investigation or exploration. That
the future prospects of profits to manufacturers have dwindled, is gen-
erally conceded.

That to make possible the sale of clothing at reduced prices the
cost of production must be reduced, needs no exploration or investiga-
tion. That the labor unit cost of production in the New York market is
prohibitively higher than in any other center, you would never question
except for purposes of delay.

To a candid mind, all the germane facts are established. All that
remains is the method which will bring business to the employers and
work to the workers.

Our proposal that a standard of production shall be formulated,
that each worker shall be required to produce and be paid in accordance
with that standard, and upon a basis permissive of competition with
other markets where union standards now prevail, is not our arbitrary
demand, as you charge, but is the natural and inevitable solution to the
problem confronting us. The undisputed facts irresistibly compel the
adoption of this plan of work if the New York market is to be saved.

A most careful perusal of your last communication reveals to us
that in no appreciable way do you propose to meet this problem, save
by an evasive plan for delay, disguised under an appeal for further in-
vestigation and exploration.

We are compelled to construe your letter as a rejection of our pro-
posal, and shall act accordingly.

Yours truly,

CLOTHING MANUFACTURERS' ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK, Inc.,
By (Signed) WILLIAM A. HANDLER, President

24 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OP AMERICA

On December 8, 1920, President Hillman replied:

Your letter of December 7 charging us with "generalities and plati-
tudinous discussions" while we were making strenuous efforts to get
your association to agree to our proposition to deal with the problems
of our industry by the civilized methods of negotiation, investigation
and agreement by mutual understanding, moves me to ask what can be
the purpose of the letter.

Words of this character cannot be expected to deceive the workers.
When our workers find themselves confronted with locked factory doors
and no work offered except under oppressive conditions and all the
government of collective bargaining smashed by you, the union declared
to be no longer recognized by you, the arbitration machinery, the im-
partial chairman thrown out by you — then our 65,000 workers see facts.
Your words about collective bargaining do not deceive them; they recog-
nize the "inauguration of oppressive working conditions" when they see
it.

Nor can such words be expected to deceive the public. Perhaps it
is the purpose to make the public believe that the prices people had to
pay for clothes were due to labor costs. But that was the very ques-
tion— the actual cost of a suit of clothes — that the union proposed
should be determined, immediately, by a joint investigation, the union
and the manufacturers co-operating. Rather than put these facts before
the people who ask what clothes really do cost to make, you destroyed
the machinery for ascertaining these facts and now we are locked out
and the great drive is on to try to destroy the union.

To urge on you for ten weeks, as the union did, the proposition to
determine jointly the exact conditions in the industry, was not to talk
"generalities." It was a concrete proposal which you try to evade at
last by a resort to force.

The lockout began on December 8, when the following firms
locked out their employees, approximately 16,000 in number: J.
Friedman Co., "Big Six Rosenthal," Schwartz & Jaffee, Bashwitz
Bros., Hayes & Levy, and Berger, Raphael & Weil. That was followed
by the discharge of union members in other houses until the lockout
extended to the entire field of the association's jurisdiction.

It proved to be the longest and most bitterly fought struggle
in the clothing industry. A veritable storm of slanderous and libelous
publicity was let loose by the association, charging the union with
all crimes on the calendar and many more. In addition to that there
were more than the usual num'ber of arrests, assaults on strikers by
strong arm men, and court cases, including dissolution and damage
suits. There were also threatened state and federal investigations,
neither of which materialized.

The union had its picket, strike, and all other committees properly
organized and well functioning.

On December 13 the first great picketing demonstration was held.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 26

A LETTER THAT SPEAKS FOR ITSELF

MANUFACTURERS INDUSTRIAL ASS'N

LABOR ADJUSTERS

we rvmwSH CA^A»ue AMO RELIABLE OUA«D» ro* THE
PROTECTION OF LIFE AND PROPERTY

'» Htr-oficlwoy

NEW YORK, Dec. 14, 1020 .... 102

Gentlemen:-

fe respectfully submit for your consideration
the following facts, which partially shew our
expert methods of handling strikes and lock-
outs*

We are in a position to r«t,rlot and
you with any masher of operators, tasters, finishers
pressers and cutters, as yon Bay require to take
the places of those who do not renain loyal to
you. Not proffesslonal strike breakers, but ex-
perienced men and worcen. We can deliver same to
you In sufficient numbers daily, to keep your
plant In operation at a regular scale of wages ar-
ranged between us.

We also furnish experienced first class guards
with police military experience <.nd accustomed to
strike duty, to preserve peace, and protect plant,
life and property.

We have hamlled and have been associated with nany
strikes throughout the country of every industry
and brought eanc to a stircessful issue for our
clients.

Our vast and vafied experience has taught us that
a strike is only a matter of testing their strength
and stability, i or roach greater demands in the
future. On the other hand at the snail cost that
nay be arranged between us, we not only famish
non-union vbclp but protect and operate your pl<int
under open sbop conditions.

If interested in our proposition our representative
will be pleased to call upon you and more fully
explain matters,

Thanking you In advance for any couttesy which
you may extend us, and hoping to hear from you
at your earliest convenience, we remain

Very tr>uly yovrs,

MANUFACTURERS INDUSTRIAL ASS W

26 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

Herewith is a photographic reproduction of an advertisement
which appeared in a New York daily newspaper on Sunday, Decem
her 12:

GUARDS-GUARDS

800 nff. *>* cxe waea <u> *c& as
y JUHwoen 1 lv 01. 'and 6 1*. IM.

When asked about this advertisement the president of the
Manufacturers Association denied all knowledge of it.

However, when men applied for the places, they were informed
that they were to be placed in factories where Amalgamated mem-
bers were locked out. On the other hand, guards who were found
in some of these shops admitted that they had been hired through
the agency mentioned in the advertisement.

The a(bove letter and advertisement convey some idea of the
methods employed for the destruction of the union and the inaugura-
tion of the open sweat shop.

As the lockout war developed the employers neglected the
u seven points" and promulgated new "principles." The Amal-
gamated was to be destroyed, not because it makes industrial slavery
impossible, but because it is "un-American." The following article
from Advance of December 17, 1922, deals with those "principles":

THE LOCK-OUT AND ITS "PRINCIPLES"

At last the New York clothing manufacturers have broken the sus-
pense and inaugurated the long promised lockout. The main issue of
the lockout has always been clear: RETURN TO THE SWEATSHOP.

But there are also several subsidiary "principles," which the em-
ployers had kept concealed, like silent partners, until the lockout was
begun.

The main issue, sweatshop, is for home consumption, for the em-
ployers and the workers; the "principles" are for public consumption.

So far only three "principles" have been disclosed by the employers'
association. More will be exhibited as soon as the "legal adviser" whips
them into shape.

The first "principle" deals with the preamble to the constitution of
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. The members of the

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 27

association and their "legal adviser," who still remember their trip
across the Atlantic on the Mayflower, have pronounced our preamble
un-American. Another legal adviser made the same pronunciamento
two years ago and undertook to prove that because of that preamble we
were not entitled to the forty-four-hour week. But we having won on
the forty-four-hour week, the decision applied also to the preamble. The
employers then entered into an agreement with us. They now again
find our preamble objectionable to them. They will, of course, accept
it again before we return to work.

Perhaps someone might inform the employers that it has never been
the intention of the Amalgamated to solicit for its preamble the approval
of the employers; that the approval of the workers is quite sufficient
and satisfactory.

"Principle" number two is "Sovietism." Participation of the Amal-
gamated in determining conditions of labor is a Sovietization of the
industry. The Pilgrim Fathers of the clothing industry are shocked by
such a horror. Again the legal adviser of the association is displaying
a woeful lack of originality. This Is only a poor repetition of the per-
formance of two years ago, when the employers sustained the same
sort of a shock. They revived, however, in time to place their seal of
approval upon that Sovietization in order to have us, "un-Americans,"
return to work.

"Principle" number three probably has some merit of originality,
though we are not entirely sure of It.

Whether it was by force of habit, or inclination, or because of some
other and similar reason, the mind of the association's legal adviser jiist
naturally turned to the subject of graft.

As a real Puritan his heart simply bled at the sight of the Amal-
gamated being so honey-combed with graft. Accordingly he announced
through the public press that he would ask Governor elect Miller to
order an investigation.

O, horror of horrors!

There is but one consolation: The decision on the main issue, the
sweat shop, will also decide all other issues, or "principles." When the
employers find that they must ask us to come back to work on union
conditions, as they did two years ago, they will, again as they did two
years ago, suspend the "principles" until the next lockout, which will
come without fail in the next period of unemployment.

We may add, however, that we shall very much enjoy a graft in-
vestigation. But people say that the saint of the manufacturers' associa-
tion, who hates graft like poison, may shrink from such an unclean thing
and neglect the investigation.

LOCKOUT EXTENDED TO OTHER CITIES

The New York employers made strenuous efforts to make the
lockout country wide. In that they failed but they succeeded in
enlisting the support of the employers in Boston, and towards the
end of the year also in the smaller plants in Baltimore. Henry Son-
neborn & Co. and others refused to join the contract-breaking em-
ployers. -i

Boston anticipated New York by one day. On December 7 the
New York newspapers announced with big display heads that the
Clothing Manufacturers' Association in Boston decided to break its
agreement with the Amalgamated Clothing Workers.

The employers' trade paper in New York made this comment
on the action of the Boston manufacturers:

28 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

"They (the employers) take the position that after being idle for
several weeks, as many have been already, the workers will jump at the
oDportunity to obtain employment, whether it is under union conditions
or not.

"When work is resumed it is understood that the shops will be
operated on a forty-eight hour per week basis, with a reduction of
wages amounting to about 10 per cent."

GREAT LOCKOUT RESISTANCE FUND

The General Officers called a meeting of the General Executive
Board to deal with the colossal task.

The board met in New York, December 18 and 19. The problems
confronting the organization were fully discussed. It was unan-
imously decided to issue a call to the membership for an International
Lockout Resistance Fund of $1,000,000. The following call was sent
out to the local organizations:

BUGLE CALL TO AMALGAMATED HOSTS

To the Members of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America,

Greeting!

The enemy has again opened fire upon our organization and we
must meet and defeat him.

Your General Executive Board is, therefore, calling upon you to
rise, form your ranks behind the Amalgamated standard, which has
always been the symbol of successful struggle for a just cause, and
give the enemy such battle as to crush his vicious conspiracy against us.

New York is today the battleground, which may soon be extended
to other markets. The Boston Clothing Manufacturers' Association has
already announced its alignment with our enemies in New York.
Efforts are being made by the New York employers and their mer-
cenaries to throw the entire clothing industry in America into a state
of strife, chaos, and disorder.

A conspiracy is now on foot to destroy our organization and to
reestablish the slavery of former days. Our answer to that is: "THEY
SHALL NOT PASS!"

Ten years ago the men's clothing industry was notoriously a
sweatshop industry. At that time the grievances against us were
that we were "unorganized and pressing down wages and working
conditions"; today the grievances against us are that we are power-
fully organized, have a decent and living wage and the forty four-hour
week. The complaints of the past, which came from workers, were
our disgrace; the complaints of today, which are coming from greedy
and unscrupulous employers, are our pride.

The New York employers, though growing steadly richer and
piling up ever greater wealth in spite of our better working conditions,
have been longing for the return of the days of the industrial Pharaohs,
when their arbitrary rule was supreme and absolute.

They attempted to turn back the clock of progress in 1918, when
they instituted the lockout on the very day that the world was cele-
brating the end of a terrible war.

We were then far below our present conditions in numbers, funds,
and experience. We accepted the challenge and came out of the
struggle with flying colors.

When the lockout contest was over, the New York clothing
manufacturers entered into an agreement with our organization and
established joint machinery for the adjudication of disputes similar to
the machinery in other markets.

The New York clothing manufacturers "honestly believed" in the
agreement just as long as orders for garments were coming in and

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 29

the labor of our members was needed to convert those orders into
profits, huge profits.

In the widespread unemployment, which is now the curse of all
the civilized world, the New York employers have found an oppor-
tunity to renew their attempt to revive sweatshopism.

They have suddenly ceased to "believe" in the agreement whose
sacredness they were tireless in proclaiming as long as they needed the
toil of our members for their profiteering purposes.

They shamelessly repudiated the agreement which they had entered
into with us in "good faith" when "good faith" was essential for the
unhampered flow of the golden stream of profit.

Their first act in exercising the unlimited and absolute power of
discharge was the dismissal of the impartial chairman, the very man
upon whom they had depended for the proper enforcement of the
agreement while they were in need of our members' labor-power for
the steady production of profits, nrofits. and more profits.

They destroyed the joint machinery for the adjustment of industrial
disputes, the very machinery which they had been exploiting to keep the
wheels of the clothing industry moving while grievances were being
adjusted, because that meant an uninterrupted flow of precious and
sacred profits.

The New York emplovers announced their decision to —

Disinter the dead and buried task system of the ancient sweat
shop days, the memory of which system has been the horror of every
New York clothing worker who had had the misfortune of being caught
by it;

Re-establish individual bargaining between employer and worker
in place of the system of collective bargaining which required the
employer to deal with the union for all workers collectively;

Reduce wages by the arbitrary will of the employer and bring
the clothing workers back to the former condition of starving while
working;

Re-establish the ancient despotism of the unlimited and absolute
power of the employer to deprive the worker of his right to work and
feed his family.

In accordance with its universally recognized aspiration to main-
tain order in the industry our organization did all that could honor-
ably be done to prevent a conflict, but the employers were determined
to have it. They rejected our proposition for a joint investigation of
conditions which afforded an opportunity to avoid a clash. On Decem-
ber 2, 1920, the manufacturers handed us an ultimatum to the effect
that unless we "voluntarily" renounced all our rights, reduced wages
and destroyed our organization by December 6. 1920. they would
institute a lockout to bring that "about. THE CHOICE BETWEEN
SELF-DESTRUCTION AND SELF-DEFENSE was submitted to our
membership at a number of large mass meetings on December 6
The ultimatum was unanimously rejected and the challenge just as
unanimously accepted. The members' reply to the challenge was
substantially as follows: "We desire to maintain peace and order
in the New York clothing market. We have them in other markets
and should also have them in New York. But if the New York em-
ployers insist on testing our strength again we are ready for that,
too. If the employers attack our organization we shall hit back hard
enough to make their fur fly."

On December 8, 1920, the lockout began with 16,000 workers and
has since been steadily extending.

Immediately advertisements made their appearance in the papers
for hundreds of strong arm guards.

Immediately, also, the cry of graft was raised by the employers'
hired agent against our organization, as if the lockout had boon en-
acted for the purpose of the elimination of graft.

30 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

Our members will recall the raids and persecution of our organi-
zation in Chicago last year upon the cry of graft and extortion
While the conspirators failed completely in their real purpose, the de-
struction of the organization, they did succeed in securing libelous
and slanderous publicity which caught the minds of many people. That
was easily brought about by the capitalist press giving the widest
and loudest publicity to the wild charges of graft, and keeping silent
when the charges proved to be malicious fabrications.

Depending upon the support of this anti-labor journalism and
proceeding upon the principle of calumniating because some part of
the slander is bound to remain in the minds of the readers, the indi-
vidual who has been hired by the clothing manufacturers to destroy
the union turned to the favorite topic of men of his caliber — graft.
He informed the public that the Amalgamated was a graft-ridden or-
ganization and that he would call upon the governor of the state of
New York to order an investigation and would also submit evidence
to the grand jury. In spite of our demand that this be done at once,
no call has so far been made upon the governor, nor has any evidence
been placed before the grand jury, as far as we know. But the graft
charge is maliciously repeated and gladly published by the anti-labor
press every time it is repeated.

At the time of this writing the emissaries of the New York cloth-
ing manufacturers are busy extending their conspiracy to the entire
clothing industry in the United States. Desperate efforts are being
made to induce ,the manufacturers in all other markets to bring the
industry to a complete tie-up. The conspiring emissaries hope to
achieve a double purpose: fleece the consumer by forcing up prices
because of no production, and reduce wages by making unemployment
absolutely universal.

The General Executive Board at its session in New York, Decem-
ber 19, 1920, discussed the situation at great length.

At present there is active warfare carried on against us by the
employers in New York only. The belligerent attitude of the employers
in Boston makes a struggle there probable, though there is hope of
being spared one as long as the employers have not yet forced it
upon us.

There is no telling to what other markets the conspiracy may be
extended, perhaps before this call will have reached you.

We must be ready for all emergencies. We must be in a position
to conduct the fight that is already on and we must be prepared to
meet any situation, industrial, economic, or legal, as soon as and where-
ever it may arise. For that purpose a large fund is imperative. The
General Executive Board has, therefore, unanimously decided to call
upon the Amalgamated membership in the United States and Canada
to raise an INTERNATIONAL LOCKOUT RESISTANCE FUND OF
ONE MILLION DOLLARS.

This fund shall be raised by an assessment amounting to 10 per
cent of each member's wages, to be paid until the amount of one mil-
lion dollars is raised. It was understood, however, that each market
may arrange for the collection of its own quota in the manner which
may in its judgment be most effective.

This clarion call for the creation of a great RESISTANCE FUND
is now going out to every member of the Amalgamated Clothing Work-
ers of America.

We who have succeeded in organizing the most oppressed and
exploited of all workers; who have abolished the horrors of the sweat
shop; who did not shrink from the lockout struggle of two years ago;
who were the first to inaugurate the forty-four-hour week; who were
so liberal, enthusiastic, and class conscious as to give the record break-
ing amount of $100,000 as a contribution to the striking steel workers;
we shall set a new high standard for working class solidarity by raising

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 31

ONE MILLION DOLLARS for resistance to the onslaught of a con-
spiracy against our organization; ONE MILLION DOLLARS for th«
defense of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, the only hope of
the workers in this industry.

Take up the collection of this assessment at once, with vigor and
energy, and send your remittances to the undersigned as speedily as
poislble.

Long live the solidarity of the working class!

Long live the Amalgamated fighting army.

Let our slogan be: A MILLION DOLLARS, AND AS MUCH
MORE AS MAY BE NECESSARY FOR VICTORY!

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD, A. C. W. of A.,

JOSEPH SCHLOSSBERG, Secretary-Treasurer.

The Lockout Resistance Fund was in itself an inspiring demon-
stration. We issued the call with perfect confidence that the member-
ship would respond with loyalty and enthusiasm. They had done
it in the past. There was no doubt about their doing it this time.
But the amount of ONE MILLION DOLLARS caused many a smile.
"Clothing workers and a million dollars!" "The Amalgamated is
a serious organization: how did it come to make itself so ridiculous?"
"True, the sweat shop is abolished, but the clothing workers are still
wage workers with a limited income. And so much unemployment.
And the largest market entirely out of the reckoning for collection
purposes." The employers smiled the broadest smiles. While we
were asking for a million dollars, the employers' spokesman was as-
suring the public that the workers would soon return to the shops
on the employers7 open sweat shop condition because the little savings
some of them still had would quickly melt away.

A million dollars! The Amalgamated was "bluffing." That
we were not bluffing, and that our confidence was warranted, was
proven by the results. Nor were we gambling. We knew our mem-
bership and knew what we could expect of it. Those who thought
otherwise did not know our membership.

It seemed strange for clothing workers to speak of a million
dollars. But truth is often stranger than fiction. The organized
clothing workers did more than was asked of them: THEY
DOUBLED THE MILLION DOLLAR FUND. When that was done
our enemies ceased smiling. Then it was our friends' turn to smile.
But that was a smile of happiness. "He who smiles last smiles best."

The $2,000,000 demonstration of our membership only shows
what organized workers can do if imbued with the proper spirit.

It is not generally known that our New York organization had
no war chest when the lockout attack was made. It was the great
Resistance Fund that enabled New York, Boston, and Baltimore to
hold out until victory was achieved.

On January 3, 1921, the first check for $50,000 came from
Chicago. From that day on the flow of contributions kept up until
the aggregate sum reached the amazing total of $2,000,000.

Next to New York, which the employers had considered as
unable to raise any amount of money, Chicago occupies the most
conspicuous place.

32 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

"THE PUBLIC ON STRIKE" HOAX

Since the war the favorite cry of all open shoppers and wage
reducers has been: "The public is on strike; it refuses to buy un-
less prices come down." During the war the prices were the highest.
It would seem that that was a good occasion for a strike by the
public. At that time the employers kept 011 raising prices. It was
strange that the "public" should "go on strike" while prices were
coming down. Stranger still that the reduction of the purchasing
power of the workers, a rather substantial portion of the "public,"
by reduction of wages, should stimulate buying. Plain mortals be-
lieve that workers who earn more buy more, and those who earn
little make very poor customers. Wage reductions increase profits
and reduce purchasing power. It is not true that the public refuses
to buy unless workers are paid starvation wages.

The excuse for the demand of wage reductions by the New York
employers was false not only for the reason given above but it was
proven false out of their own mouths, as may be seen by the following
from Advance of January 21, 1921 :

A well known New York clothing manufacturing firm, a leader
in the present lockout struggle for the re-establishment of sweat-
shop slavery, sent out a circular letter to its customers, dated Janu-
ary 7, 1921.

In the letter the customer is informed by the firm that "In our
endeavor to bring about lower production costs in conformity with
the lowered cost of materials and the just demand by the consumer
and retailer, our output is being temporarily curtailed."

The letter continues: "SO WE KINDLY ASK YOU TO SUPPORT
OUR EFFORTS BY DELAYING THE PLACING OF YOUR ORDERS
FOR SPRING MERCHANDISE."

There is no doubt but that other lockout employers have sent
out similar letters to their customers.

In the press the manufacturers are bamboozling the people by
telling them that the public is on strike, that it refuses to buy, and
in order to make it buy the workers must cut their wages and break
up their organization. In their private letters the same employers
plead with the retail merchants: DON'T BUY! DELAY YOUR
ORDERS SO THAT WE MAY STARVE THE WORKERS AND
FLEECE THE PUBLIC.

THE IMPARTIAL CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT

When the New York employers proclaimed the revival of their
unlimited and arbitrary power of sweat shop days to "hire and
fire," they exercised that power first of all against the impartial
chairman. He was '* fired" and the impartial chairman machinery
scrapped.

In the month of January, 1921, Dr. Leiserson gave out the follow-
ing:

REPORT TO THE PUBLIC

The most important fact about the war in the men's clothing in-
dustry of New York City, which threatens to involve also all the other
needle trades, is that it is a wholly unnecessary war. When negotia-
tions were broken off and war was declared, the manufacturers' associa-
tion and the union were not far apart in the things that they wanted.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 33

The basic issue which divided them was a question of fact which could
easily have been settled by investigation or arbitration and not a
question of principle or right which could not be compromised.

The employers wanted their labor costs reduced in order to enable
them to compete with other clothing markets and to attract business in
New York. The union proposed a joint investigating committee to find
out what the labor costs actually were, to determine what a proper
labor cost would be and to make such adjustments as might be neces-
sary to reduce labor costs to this proper basis.

In this issue no fair-minded person who has the interests of the
community and the industry as a whole at heart can find anything which
may not be settled by negotiation and adjustment. Moreover a majority
of the employers in the manufacturers' association as well as the union
and its officials were anxious to avoid a strike or lockout and desired
to continue peaceful relations. Under such circumstances a labor war
such as is now going on with all that it involves for the community and
the industry has no justification.

Who Was Responsible

Then why did the break come, and who was responsible for foisting
upon the industry and the city of New York the present bitter labor war?

In order to answer this question and to present the proof of our
statements, it is necessary to detail somewhat the history of the rela-
tions existing between the manufacturers and the union of clothing
workers as well as the negotiations which led up to the present lockout
or strike, which ever you may choose to call it.

Two trade agreements existed in the clothing industry up to the
time of the break. One of those was a preferential union shop agree-
ment which dated until August 26, 1920, but was extended from day to
day by mutual consent until a new agreement should be made. This
agreement was between the union and a small group of employers
known as the New York Clothing Trade Association. The other agree-
ment provided for the closed shop. It was in the form of a report
made by an advisory board consisting of Professor W. Z. Ripley of
Harvard, Louis Marshall, and Felix Frankfurter, which had been ac-
cepted by the union and the Clothing Manufacturers' Association of
New York, a larger organization of employers. The two employers' as-
sociations were merged toward the end of 1919 and the labor agree-
ments were administered under the general direction of a joint market
committee of fourteen members The report of the advisory board con-
tained no date of expiration but it was understood that after due notice
either side might withdraw or open negotiations for a new agreement.

Agreements Provided Arbitration

Aside from the preferential and the closed shop there was yery
little practical difference between the two agreements. Both of them
provided that all disputes which could not be adjusted should be arbi-
trated by an impartial chairman acting for both agreements. A staff
of labor managers was employed by both associations under the direc-
tion of the market committee to adjust disputes with business agents
and managers of the union and to argue cases before the Impartial
chairman. Approximately 40,000 clothing workers and over 100 firm*
were covered by these agreements.

After these agreements were entered into, the clothing industry
experienced an unprecedented period of prosperity. The supply of labor
was not equal to the demand and individual workers took advantage of
the situation to ask for continual increases in wages. The employers,
too, were bidding workers away from each other and offering unheard-of
wages to get help. The agreements with the union tended to stabilize
conditions, for they fixed the wages that all employers were supposed
to pay. In spite of the agreements, however, employers continued to
steal help from each other by offering higher and higher wages and

34 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

employees made individual bargains to get more money than had been
agreed by collective bargaining. The manufacturers' association ordered
its members not to pay any higher wages than the agreement required
but it could not control the individual manufacturers who were willing
to pay almost any price to get help, for it was easy then to pass the
coit on to the consumer The former president of the Clothing Trade
Association, then chairman of the market committee, himself, after the
manufacturers had solemnly pledged themselves to stop the sky rocket-
ing of wages opened a new shop in which he paid workers $5 a week
above the prevailing rates.

The union was put in the embarrassing position of holding down
wages, and it actually forced some members to return to jobs paying $5
and $10 a week less than other employers had offered them. But some
local unions supported the individual members, and without the active
co-operation of all the employers this attempt at stabilizing the industry
and holding labor costs in bounds could not succeed. The union was
therefore unable to control its members, except in the case of the
cutters who have been held down to the scale of $51 a week agreed
upon while other workers of no more skill have been paid as much at
$70 and $80 a week.

Cut-Throat Methods Raised Costs

It was this condition of cut-throat competition among the employers
and individual bargains by members of the union that raised the labor
costs of manufacturing clothing in the New York market. For this con-
dition the manufacturers are responsible as much as the workers and
perhaps a little more than the union. Most of the manufacturers have
been fair enough to realize this and in private conversations they fre
quently blame themselves as much as the union for the demoralized con-
dition of the New York clothing market.

When, therefore, the manufacturers' association took up the matter
of improving manufacturing conditions at a membership meeting OB
September 24, 1920, it had no idea of breaking with the union. On the
contrary, the resolutions adopted assumed that the co-operation of the
union would be necessary to establish and maintain proper manufac-
turing conditions in the New York market.

"The association, the union and the impartial chairman
have [the] obvious duty to establish conditions which will permit
manufacturers to get business and give the workers employ-
ment. This should be brought about by negotiations and by
arbitration."

"The hope for better business and more employment . . .
lies in correcting the effect of the present high wages, low pro-
duction, and bad manufacturing conditions. This should be
accomplished by an increase of output, not a cut in the earning
powers of the workers."

Union Here to Stay

Most of the clothing manufacturers of New York know that they
will always have a union to deal with in their shops. Whatever may
be true in other industries, in the New York clothing market the union
is a permanent factor. The sweatshop conditions of the past and the
system of shifting to the shoulders of small contractors the main
problems of manufacturing (about 2/3 of all New York work is still
done in contract shops) has made it impossible for employers to govern
the shops without the consent of the workers. Oppression, abuse and
mismanagement have solidified the workers so that the employers can
not get production or maintain discipline without coming to an under-
standing with the employees' organizations. Moreover, the men who
operate the contract shops are often quite irresponsible and in many
cases the manufacturers have had to appeal to the union to force the
contractors to deliver the work they have contracted to do.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 35

The resolutions of September 24 were intended to explain why the
manufacturers made demands upon the union. That the employers were
seeking not a change in their relationship with the union, but reduction
of labor costs is shown by a paragraph from the same resolutions:

"A material reduction in labor cost is the one thing con-
sidered necessary to enable New York manufacturers to cut the
wholesale price of clothing enough to attract orders."

The Employers' Demands

The actual demands made by the employers on the union, however,
went further than this and tended to confuse the issue. The demands
were as follows:

"1. The right of the manufacturer to install piece work.

"2. Scales prevailing in other clothing markets to be the base rates
for New York clothing workers.

"3. The co-operation of workers in maintaining individual records
of production in shops and cutting rooms.

"4. Individual standards of production for week workers in shops
and cutting rooms.

"5. The right of the manufacturer to change contractors.

"6. Adequate freedom to discipline and hire workers and to intro-
duce improved machinery.

"7. The agreements maintained by the union in other markets in
which adjustment machinery is functioning successfully to be made the
basis of relationship between the association and the union."

Union's Answer to Demands

The union's answer to these demands was that they were not
properly calculated to bring about the reduced costs desired, that by
granting them the union would be assuming full responsibility for the
high costs and low production when the employers were equally to
blame and further these demands if granted would return arbitrary
power to the employer which would enable him to lower the standards
of well-being of the workers and bring back again the sweatshop con-
ditions which the union had abolished only after years of struggle. The
union on those grounds rejected the seven propositions of the em-
ployers and proposed that a joint committee representing both the em-
ployers and wage earners investigate conditions in the market and de-
termine what is a proper labor cost. This proposition was in turn
rejected by the employers and they offered to submit the seven de-
mands to arbitration.

The impartial chairman thereupon expressed the opinion that the
seven demands asked for more than merely a reduction in labor costs.
They involved the asking of an entirely new agreement for the market.
This was not properly a subject for arbitration as it would be leaving
to an outsider the determination of questions of shop control and the
rights and privileges of the management and the workers in the shop.
Since the employers had previously stated that the main question was
reduction of labor costs and the parties could not agree on the seven
demands as a means of such reduction, they should continue negotia-
tions and find some other method of reducing costs. As a step in this
direction the chairman suggested that each house or group of houses
should present a definite proposition as to what they considered a
proper labor cost for the kind of clothes they make, and then a com-
mittee representing both sides might investigate these proposed costa
and thus arrive at a new basis of agreement, or the proposed costs
might be arbitrated. This suggestion was rejected by the employers
on the grounds that it would involve unnecessary delay.

An attempt was made, however, by Major Gitchell, chief of th«
staff of labor managers who represented the employers, and Sidney
Hillman, president of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers' union, to

36 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

reach an adjustment on the basis of reducing costs by increasing pro-
duction. At an informal conference held in the Commodore Hotel on
Sunday, November 14, 1920, at which the impartial chairman was
present, a plan was worked out by which production in various shops
might be increased from 10 to 40 per cent and Major Gitchell was to
present this to the employers while Mr. Hillman would take it up with
the union membership. Two employers were also present at this con-
ference and they expressed themselves as satisfied that the plan could
be successfully worked out. Apparently the negotiations were moving
toward a peaceful adjustment with perhaps settlement of some dis-
puted points by arbitration.

Employers Side-Track Plan

Just as this plan was about to be presented to the membership of
the union and the manufacturers' association for approval, it was side-
tracked by a new movement which suddenly appeared in the market
committee of the employers' association. This movement was engineered
from the outside and only a few of the fourteen members of the market
committee were won over to it. They, however, took advantage of
some dissatisfaction with Major Gitchell to have the entire staff of labor
managers who were representing the employers discharged, so they,
with the assistance of an outside lawyer, could get control of the manu
facturers' association and thus prevent any peaceful settlement from
being made. In this plan as we shall see they succeeded completely
and on them and their lawyer, Mr. Harry A. Gordon, whom they forced
In as counsel for the association, must rest the responsibility for having
prevented a peaceful settlement of the dispute.

Causes of Dissatisfaction

Of course the manufacturers had many causes of dissatisfaction.
So did the workers. Costs were too high in many plants and produc-
tion was too low. Discipline in the shops was often not what it should
be. Union officials, labor managers and the impartial chairman were
not acting as efficiently as in other clothing markets. But every one
engaged in the negotiations knew that the union alone was not re-
sponsible for these conditions. The manufacturers are equally to blame
and the differences in labor relations between New York and the other
markets are to be explained by the different history of clothing manu-
facturing in New York.

The unsatisfactory conditions therefore cannot be given as the
causes of the present lock-out and strike. In this statement we are not
passing on the merits of the employers' demands or the union's answer.
We are pointing out only that an agreement could have been reached
on the matter of improving conditions, and a few people succeeded in
preventing such an agreement. The employers recognized in their own
resolutions quoted above that they and the union must work together
to improve conditions and the union admitted the need of improvement.
The small group who maneuvered to bring about a break alone must
be held responsible for the present war in the industry.

Manufacturers Deliberately Misled

Mr. Hillman, president of the union, warned both the impartial
chairman and Dr. W. E. Hotchkiss, director of the National Industrial
Federation of Clothing Manufacturers that certain employers were de-
liberately working to prevent a peaceful settlement and to precipitate
a strike to suit their own purposes; that they were misleading both Dr.
Hotchkiss and the impartial chairman and by misrepresentation and
withholding facts were getting control of the manufacturers' association
in preparation for making war on the union Neither Dr. Hotchkiss nor
the impartial chairman would believe that any of the manufacturers in
question were guilty of such duplicity until later events proved Mr.
Hillman's statements to be true. Had the impartial chairman believed

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 37

that this small group of manufacturers were deliberately misleading
both him and the membership of the employers' association who wanted
peace, the break might have been prevented. But because they trusted
these men, the small war party was given the opportunity to accomplish
its purposes.

To understand how false to their trust these few men were, we must
go back to October 8, 1920, when the Clothing Manufacturers' Associa-
tion of New York by unanimous vote adopted the following resolution
expelling a firm for having violated Its obligations under the agreement.

"Whereas, The impartial chairman has ruled that the firm of Cohen,
Goldman & Co. had a case pending before the impartial chairman; and

"Whereas, They have declined to appear at a hearing on this case,
and have, therefore, in the eyes of the Impartial chairman, violated the
agreement; and

"Whereas, This Clothing Manufacturers' Association of New York,
Inc., fully agrees with the position of the impartial chairman that the
agreement now existing between the New York Clothing Trade Associa-
tion and the union is as binding on Cohen, Goldman & Co. as on all
other members of that association; and

"Whereas, The Clothing Manufacturers' Association of New York,
Inc., also considers that the firm of Cohen, Goldman & Co. has violated
Its obligations and by failing to keep faith with the union and the im-
partial chairman has cast doubt on the good faith of all the other mem-
bers of the association, therefore be it

"Resolved, That we, the board of directors of the Clothing Manu-
facturers' Association of New York, Inc., emphatically condemn the
action of Cohen, Goldman & Co., and that the firm of Cohen, Goldman &
Company be and hereby is expelled from the Clothing Manufacturers'
Association of New York, Inc."

Trick to Get Control

When the board of directors of the manufacturers' association went
on record condemning the breach of faith by one of their members, this
condemnation was accepted in good faith by the impartial chairman
The few members of the market committee, whom we now know to be
the Instigators of the break, however, publicly voted for the resolution
to expel the guilty firm for the purpose of getting control of the
manufacturers' association, and determining its labor policies. The
great body of employers who make up the membership of the manu-
facturers' association knew nothing of these private conferences, and
they trusted that every member of the market committee was In good
ith attempting to reach an amicable agreement with the union. A1J
but the few members of the market committee whom we have men-
tioned were honestly carrying out this policy and as long as the labor
managers were handling the negotiations with the union, the attempts
to reach an amicable adjustment were being carried out in good faith

The opportunity to get rid of the labor managers, and thereby give
control of the labor policy of the association to the group that wanted a
strike came when Major Gitchell stated he was not prepared to make
full report to the market committee of the conference which had
KSEL°£ *£6 P •?• °-f increasinS Production from 10 to 40 per cent,
labor Tanfl*Pr1Si Cr^1C.lsms made ** the impartial chairman to help the
aSnsT th« l»ho W°rk W6re US6d by this group to 8tir UP feeli*S

about the confer^mranatg>frS> Md WheD Maj°r Gitche11 failed * r*P°r*
accenting %S r£?» H they TT6 able to get the resolution adopted,

)tlng the resignations of the entire staff of labor managers

38 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

as advisors instead of conducting the negotiations, as they have been
doing. This was done, but the way was then clear for the war group
to get control of the negotiation committee of the employers, for one of
this group appointed the committee.

Anti-Union Lawyer Brought In

Considerable opposition to this move arose among the employers,
for they began to suspect they might be led Into a fight with the union.
This opposition was appeased by a resolution, in which words were ln«
serted expressly pledging the association to continue negotiations with
the union. At the samo time, however, Harry A. Gordon, the lawyer
picked by the group to lead the fight with the union, was brought into
the situation to agitate among the employers and line them up back
of the small group who were planning the break.

Rumors of the employment of this lawyer as counsel for the em-
ployers' association had been afloat for some days, and every one
familiar with the industry knew that this man would direct the em-
ployers to only one result — a break with the union, and a strike or a
lockout. When Dr. Hotchkiss heard of this rumor, he immediately ad-
dressed a letter to Mr. Wm. Bandler, president of the manufacturers'
association, warning the association that the success of the negotiations
would be endangered by the employment of Mr. Gordon as counsel,
definitely advising against it, and stating plainly that he could not be
associated with such counsel. Mr. Bandler has publicly denied that he
received such a letter. Nevertheless, ample proof is available that he
did receive the letter on November 20. Two men with whom Mr.
Bandler discussed its contents so informed the impartial chairman, and
asked the latter's opinion of the position taken by Mr. Hotchkiss In his
letter. If necessary, a copy of this letter can be produced.

Nothing can illustrate better the methods by which both the public
and the members of the manufacturers' association have been deceived
and misled by the small group responsible for the strike than this
published denial of receiving Dr. Hotchkiss' letter, definitely advising
against the employment of the lawyer who would lead them into a fight
with the union.

Lawyer's Employment Denied

It was even denied at first that this lawyer had been engaged as
counsel for the association. A statement was made that he merely
happened to be present at a membership meeting of the association, by
invitation of some members, and while there he was asked to address
the meeting. This is probably what happened, and it shows the back-
door methods used by the war group to get their lawyer into the situa-
tion, to change the labor policy of the association from peace to war.

The employment of Mr. Gordon as counsel was not sought by the
market committee. He was imposed on the committee by the small
group. He is an eloquent agitator, and just as the I. W. W. agitator
seizes upon the disagreeable things in the wage earners' life to stir up
discontent, so he seized upon the irritations caused by union membera
and business agents in the shops, to stir up discontent and class feeling
among the employers. The shortage of labor had turned the tables
and given the worker the upper hand. In many cases employees abused
their power just as many employers had previously done. The very
purpose of Dr. Ripley, Louis Marshall, and Felix Frankfurter in recom-
mending the adjustment and arbitration machinery which was estab-
lished on their advice was to remove these irritations and thus avoid
strife and maintain peace in the industry. But Mr. Gordon emphasized
the irritations, harped on them as inevitable consequences of dealing
with a union, just as the 1. W. W. agitator harps on evils as the in-
evitable consequences of capitalism; and by these methods he stirred

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT

up enough feeling among the employers so that his employment as
counsel and director of the labor policy of the association was approved.
Nevertheless, the majority of the manufacturers do not approve of
his methods even now. Most of the manufacturers, however, fear to
express their opinions openly and do not want to be put in the position
of breaking up the association by appearing to oppose the plans of the
leaders who have gotten control.

Willingness to Negotiate Disregarded

The method by which this lawyer and the small group back of him
brought about the" strike and lockout was to disregard the willingness
of both the union and the manufacturers to negotiate jointly for in-
creased production and reduced costs. They presented- an ultimatum to
the union demanding the adoption of what was in effect the seven
original demands. Most of the manufacturers knew that the union
would not acccept this proposition, but they supported it thinking that
if it was rejected again, the words which had been inserted in the reso-
lution, "that the association continue conferences with the union," would
bind their counsel and committee to use the existing adjustment
machinery to work out a plan of reducing labor costs which would be
acceptable to both parties.

When the union membership rejected this proposition, however, a
statement was immediately issued breaking off all relations with the
union, and declaring that henceforth the employers would deal directly
with their employees. Once this statement was made public the manu-
facturers were compelled to support the leaders who had forced them
into a fight with the union. For to back out at this time would have
been a sign of weakness and would have prevented a proper peaceful
settlement any way. Thus were the employers who wanted peace in
the industry forced into a conflict which they did not want.

The union contends that the breaking off of relations by the em-
ployers constituted a breach of contract. But the impartial chairman
is of the opinion that the manufacturers were within their legal rights
when they broke off relations. The preferential shop agreement had
been renewed from day to day pending the result of the negotiations,
and the closed shop agreement although without an expiration date
could be terminated by either party on giving due notice. The period
during which the negotiations were carried on must be considered as
due notice of a desire to change the agreements. The employers were
therefore free to refuse to renew the old agreements if they so desired,
and no charge of breach of faith may justly be brought against them.

Indeed, as we have seen, the vast majority of the employers had
no desire to give up the agreements. They were forced into a fight with
the union by the small group in the market committee and their lawyer.
A just public opinion will condemn these men for having deliberately
planned and forced on the community a bitter labor war which neither
the employers nor the wage-earners wanted, which is engendering hate
and strife among a large mass of our population, and the cost of which
the public will ultimately have to pay either in higher prices of cloth-
ing made in New York or in the elimination of New York City as a
leading clothing market.

Peace in Other Markets

These then are the facts in the situation. Meanwhile the strike
goes on with the inevitable consequences of violence, disorder, and par-
tisan efforts to secure public sympathy practiced by both sides. While
this war is going on in New York the employers and the same union
of clothing workers in Chicago and Rochester are working in harmony,
maintaining peace and producing clothes efficiently by means of the
same adjustment machinery which has been discarded in New York.

However necessary strikes and lockouts may be at times to settle
labor disputes, in this case the fact that both parties agree that labor

40 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

costs need to be reduced, and disagree only as to the method of securing
the desired result, makes this conflict entirely unnecessary. And this
useless strike becomes almost criminal when neither the employers nor
the wage-earners wanted it, have nothing to gain but everything to lose
by it, and were betrayed into it by a very small group of self-seeking
men.

Duty of the Public

The duty of the public in a case like this seems clear. It should
insist on a thorough airing of the facts, the expulsion from the situation
of the agitators, the lawyer and the group who brought on the strike.
It should see to it that negotiations are resumed on the basis of th*
original issue of decreasing labor costs. This can easily be brought
about if the authorities and the newspapers, the official and recognized
representatives of the public to whom this report is submitted, will bring
the pressure of public opinion to bear on both parties to take this action.

Without such pressure the employers who were unwillingly led into
the conflict cannot be expected to oust the outside lawyer and the small
group who are misleading them. As long as the strike is on they feel
in honor bound to back up their leaders. Once the facts are brought
to light, however, as to the methods by which these leaders have eb-
tained control of the employers' association and the responsibility is
clearly fixed on the guilty parties, then the employers will get rid of
the agitators, settle their dispute peacefully with the union of their
employees, and relieve the community of disorder and violence and the
consumer of clothing of the burden of a costly and unnecessary strike.

The report failed to receive the approval of the employers'
lawyer. He threatened to sue Dr. Leiserson for libel, but for reasons
best known to himself he did not do so.

THE OPEN SHOP

The issues of the lockout fight against the Amalgamated in 1920-
21 were substantially the same as those of the lockout fight of 1918-19.
The difference between the issues before the opening of active hostili-
ties and those during the fight was only in the formulation, as the
language of negotiation always differs from that of warfare. The
objective was the same — the destruction of the Amalgamated.

The great and all embracing post-war anti-labor issue was then,
and is still, the "open shop." All others flow from that main issue.

The phrase "open shop" was coined for use in the same manner
as the phrases "open diplomacy," "open covenants," "democracy,"
and the rest. The "open shop" is intended to convey the idea of
"freedom" in contrast with the "un-freedom" of the "closed shop."

The "open shop" today stands for infinitely more than the
literal meaning of the term. It is the very embodiment of the present
class struggle. It means more than low wages, or long hours, or other
oppressive working conditions; it stands for the rightlessness of the
workers as a "PRINCIPLE." Even in this sense it has a different
meaning today from what it had before the war. When President
Roosevelt assumed its championship, "open shop" meant the exclu-
sion of the union from influence in the plant. The employers must
be the sole authority to determine working conditions. The "open
shop" was to protect the employers from "unreasonable" demands
for the workers. The mission of the "open shop" today is to "pro-

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 41

tect the country " from "radicalism," "Sovietism," and the like.
Before the war it was an industrial issue only ; today it is also a politi-
cal issue. State legislatures enact "open shop" laws. President Hard-
ing, in his December, 1921, message to Congress, asked for federal
legislation in the same direction. To give it the glamor of "patriot-
ism," the "open shop" has been dubbed the "American plan." Like
attenuated Democracy, Open Shop covers a multitude of crimes.

The "open shop" crusade against American labor is led and
supported by the most powerful employers' organizations in this
country with vast political influence and unlimited financial resour-
ces. The National Manufacturers' Association and the United States
Chamiber of Commerce are among the leading spirits of the movement.
Almost each state and each industry has its own organization for the
promotion of the "open shop" propaganda. Literature is published by
the ton. Full-page advertisements, couched in "patriotic" language,
are published in the daily press throughout the country spreading
hatred and bitterness toward the labor movement. "Open shop"
propaganda is printed in the newspapers, preached from the pulpits,
and in various subtle ways insidiously instilled into the people's
minds and hearts. Very often the language used is vitriolic and
incendiary. Sometimes it is "liberal." Here is a specimen of the
latter kind. The "Minnesota Banker" of December 16, 1920,
published a frank article, headed: "Labor Must Be Locked Out and
Licked". The underscoring is ours. Herewith the article:

The open shop movement, now well under way all over the United
States, is deemed by its proponents as the prime means of bringing
about lowered labor costs and with them increased production. When
such a gigantic force in the industry of the country as the Bethlehem
Steel Company openly announces its aid for this movement, even to
the extent of refusing to sell its product to manufacturers not favor-
ing the open shop idea, it is at once evident what vast momentum the
open shop movement is obtaining. There is no question as to the
economic value of the open shop. But, at the same time, those who
are pushing it must be most careful in their methods. The open shop
movement is a powder magazine. A carelessly thrown match might
start a nationwide conflagration. The closed shop is zealously fought
for by the radical wing of labor organization. The open shop can be the
most readily brought about by the elimination of this element as a
power in organized labor. The conservative labor man is one to whom
sound argument and sound horse sense appeal. He is the hope of the
open shop proponent and upon him, in the final analysis, will rest the
matter of accepting the idea philosophically, in the right spirit, without
disrupting the entire industrial situation by means of disastrous strikes
and lockouts. The open shop argument must be addressed, therefore,
to the better sense and judgment of the conservative in organized labor.
He must be won over to the soundness of the proposition. This is the
ideal thing to do and it can be done in many parts of the country
In others, where the radical element is too strongly entrenched there
is, of course, but one final thing to do, and that is to BEAT THEM
BY FORCE. THEY MUST BE LOCKED OUT AND LICKED until the
conservatives see the light and realize that the rights of capital must
be considered. This harsher method, however, should not be employed
until all other plans have failed.

The article coincided with the lockout of our members in New
York, very likely inspired by it.

42 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

The present "open shop" propaganda is a challenge to the Am
erican labor movement. The lockout in New York was the opening
shot. It was the beginning of a nationwide program. Boasts were
openly made in New York that the costs of the big fight against
the Amalgamated were paid by parties outside of the industry.

THE SPY SYSTEM

The "open shop" war against labor carries with it the criminal
industrial spy system, which is a blot on American institutions. The
spy system has itself (become a huge and growing industry. One
agency is reported to have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars
as its yearly income tax. Many agencies are thriving, prospering,
and accumulating great wealth. Spying upon a worker to search out
his feelings and sympathies in the matter of labor organization is in
itself so revolting that the employers are compelled openly to deny
the practice while secretly maintaining it. The most pernicious and
dangerous activities of the S3rstem are those of PROVOKING.

In the last century the agent provocateur was an established
institution in those European countries where active opposition arose
against political oppression Iby the monarchist regime. It was the
business of the police spy to stage conspiracies and "plant" proof
so that the leaders and active workers would be led to a trap,
caught there, and the movement crushed. The American industrial
rulers borrowed that bloody leaf from European political despotism.
In the seventies of the last century the industrial agent provocateur
made his debut in the Pennsylvania anthracite fields, among the so
called Molly Maguires, which name still bears the stigma given it
by the criminal spy and provocator. The sacrifice of innocent
human lives proved so pleasing to the young and ambitious indus-
trial rulers that the nolble art of PROVOKING and leading unsuspect-
ing workers into dangerous traps was fostered. Today the agent
provocateur is a tremendous power in American industry. Even more
so than the quack physician, he creates business for himself where
there is none otherwise. Taking advantage of the dissatisfaction
which is always alive among unorganized workers, he initiates a
revolt and gets the firm to hire him to check it. The "strike" is
broken, the "organization" crushed, the "ringleaders" fired, some-
times beaten up or thrown into jail, or both. The agent provocateur
made good, "delivered the goods," and increased the volume of his
business. The "open shop" field is a veritable gold mine for the
spy and provocateur. Here he can wor.k both among the unorganized
workers and the organized. The former are "taken care of" in the
manner above described; the latter in various other ways. The
agents are particularly active during strikes and lockouts. They
provoke disorder and cause arrests; stir nip dissatisfaction within
the organization, and endanger the outcome of the struggle with
the employers.

The frightful expense of maintaining the disgraceful and de-
moralizing system of spying and provoking is included in the operat-
ing costs and passed on to the consumers. The savings which would

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 43

be affected by the elimination of that expense and the losses caused
by the criminal activities of the spy agencies would enable the
establishment of large funds for the relief of the unemployed, victims
of our industrial system.

There was an army of spying and provoking agents active in the
ranks of our locked out members. They did all in their power to
destroy the morale of those workers. They added much to the hard-
ships of the organization. They became literary gentlemen and issued
a series of leaflets which, though filled with glittering phrases and
professions of loyalty to the organization, were aimed at breaking
the resistance of the members to the lockout attack. At least one
of those leaflets was circulated throughout the country in the hope
of sabotaging the collections for the Million Dollar Fund. Each time
the union scored an important victory, such as the decision in our
favor of Judge Bijur in the dissolution suit, a new circular made its
appearance. That all of the nefarious schemes failed to do more
than make our task harder; that they did not weaken the fight-
ing power of our organization, is clearly shown by the fact that we
won out in the end.

THE PREAMBLE

In the desperate attempt upon the life of our organization the
preamble to our constitutions was made an especial target.

Every student of industrial relations knows that labor organiza-
tions are not attacked by employers because of their social beliefs
or expression of hopes for the future. The cause of every industrial
dispute is the payroll, in its broadest sense, as it may be affected by
better wages, hours, sanitary conditions, humane treatment of the
workers, or other conditions; in other words, the hunt for greater
profits. A labor organization with unpopular beliefs but without
influence on the workers is let alone. A labor organization with
the most approved reactionary program and policy will be fought
to the utmost if it has the power to influence the size of the payroll.
Preambles, ultimate aims, and other points, may be targets for at-
tack in one case, as personalities may be in another, but they are
only incidental to the main issue which affects the employers' dollars
and cents.

The preamble to our constitution was written at a time when
the labor movement was still allowed to speak freely and give ex-
pression to ultimate goals, which do not enter into the routine of
the daily relations between the organization and the employers. Ac-
cording to the standard of ethics of those days the employers were
not supposed to inquire into the workers' religious, social, and
political views and sentiments, even as the workers could not if they
would, and would not if they could, inquire into such views and sen-
timents of the employers. The Amalgamated is one of a large num-
ber of American labor organizations whose social vision goes beyond
Ihe daily routine and who are hoping for the time when labor will
be freed from its present wage status. It is natural to give expres-
sion to such hopes in some official utterance. However, since the

44 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

writing of the preamble the war hysteria has suppressed that spirit
of tolerance which made it possible for American citizens to hold
views that were not approved by the powers that be. A construc-
tion of high treason was viciously placed upon an honest expression
of a great hope. That was made the basis for a general newspaper
attack and for action in the courts to dissolve the Amalgamated.
In spite of the attacks, which seemed overwhelming, we insisted
upon the rights of a labor organization to write its own preamble.
We took the position that preambles may be made and changed, but
that no self-respecting labor organization would change one iota
in its preamble under compulsion of employers. We stood our
ground and went into court to defend it. "Tear out your preamble/'
the employers told us in court, and there will be no more dispute.
It seemed as if the lockout had been instituted for the purpose of
freeing the Amalgamated of its preamble. We did not "tear out"
the preamble, and, as all the world now knows, the Amalgamated
was not dissolved, and it won the great lockout struggle.

The legal battles of our lockout contest will be discussed in this
report when that phase of the big struggle is reached. Here it will
suffice to state that Judge Bijur dismissed the employers' charge
that the preaJm/ble to the Amalgamated constitution is treasonable
and that the organization should, therefore, be dissolved. Justice
Bijur 's decision is given in the following article in Advance of April
8, entitled "The Right of a Labor Organization to Write Its Own
Preamble Vindicated":

When the New York clothing manufacturers undertook the uselesi
task of destroying the Amalgamated Clothing Workers by means of a
lockout and law suits they made as their principal target the preamble
to the constitution of our organization, which preamble they pronounced
unlawful and treasonable. Accepting their own pronunciamento as
final, conclusive, and binding, they went to a court of law and asked,
on that ground, for the dissolution of the Amalgamated Clothing Worker!
of America.

Inasmuch as the action for dissolution was based on nothing that
Is in itself illegal but on an expression by the organization of a great
hope, the real issue involved was not whether the Amalgamated should
be dissolved or allowed to live, but whether a labor organization has a
right to give utterance to ultimate hopes and ideals, whether it has
a right to write its own preamble without taking dictation from the
employers.

The paragraph viewed with horror by the New York lockout em-
ployers reads as follows:

"The industrial and inter-industrial organization, built upon
the solid rock of clear knowledge and class consciousness.
will put the organized working class in actual control of the

S§££ ^etiCn^f ft'' ** ™"** ^ Wl" then be *****

"Taken at its face value this extract from the preamble

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 45

as recited in th« complaint, although its context is not »et out,
and charged by every fair gtandard of interpretation, particu-
larly in an instrument of thii character, 1 think the phrasea
quoted are quite innocuous. They express some ideal which it
IB hoped may at some time be achieved. But even if we do
violence to its plain intendment and endeavor to read into the
literal words a suggestion that it is hoped that the working clasa
shall be put into actual control and possession of the instru-
mentalities of production rather than of merely the 'system' of
production, as actually expressed, there is still absent any state-
ment or even implication that this is to be accomplished by
forcible or other unlawful means. Indeed, plaintiff's counsel do
not in terms charge or claim that this expression in the pre-
amble is, standing by itself, evidence of the unlawful purpose
of the organization."

That defeat in the attempt to crucify the Amalgamated by court
action proved a death blow to the scheme which seemed so promising
before it was tried.

RADICALISM, BOLSHEVISM, AND SOVIETISM

Numerous were the charges made against us. They included
RADICALISM, BOLSHEVISM and SOVIETISM.

What is "radicalism"? Literally, the method of going to the
root of a problem. Socially and politically, "radicalism" has been
defined as "the conservatism of tomorrow." The correctness of that
definition has been proven by human experience. The views held by
conservatives today were radical in a previous generation. To the
conservative, "radicalism" is extremism; to the reactionary, it is
criminality. To the beneficiaries of present day disorder and mis-
rule "radicalism" is a menace because it refuses to accept what is as
final. But "radicalism" is a very vague term. At a time like the present,
when things are in a state of flux, many terms with definite meaning
before the war no longer have one now. The meaning of "Socialism"
was as definite as the meaning of "day." Today that term must be
properly qualified in order to convey a positive idea. The same is
true of "democracy" and other terms which were clear and positive
in former years. "Radicalism" is at best a relative conception.
Who is and who is not a "radical"? It depends on the standard
applied. When a labor organization is attacked by its enemies as
"radical" it means nothing at all. In the industrial world every
worker who is loyal to his fellows and stands up for the workers'
rights is denounced as a "radical" even though he has no understand-
ing of the higher aims of the labor movement. In the industrial rela-
tions between employers and workers the charge of "radicalism"
says nothing, means nothing, explains nothing. A progressive labor
organization cannot always tell whether the charge of "radicalism"
is to be accepted by it as a compliment or as a reproach. Generally
speaking, "radicalism" may be accepted as a compliment in the
sense that the accused is credited with the ability to think his own
thoughts. War hysteria gave "radicalism" temporarily a sinister
meaning and enabled the enemies of the labor movement to exploit

46 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

it in their campaign against the labor movement, in that spirit
the attack of "radicalism" was made upon us in the hope of arous-
ing prejudice against us in the news-papers and the courts.

The charge of "Bolshevism" was intended as a stronger appeal
to the blindly and ignorantly prejudiced than the charge of
"radicalism."

No one here has yet undertaken to define "Bolshevism" as it
may apply to America. No one has yet explained what "Bolshev-
ism" is.

la Russia the* term came from a factional division within the
Social Democratic Party in the Czarist days. A Bolshevist was one
of the majority faction; a Menshevist, one of the minority faction.
Likewise did the French Socialist Party have Majoritaires and Minor-
itaires. The old nomenclature continued in the Russian Socialist
movement during and since the Revolution. The Bolshevist faction
seized the powers of state and used them to carry out their program.
When the American worker is asked whether he is in sympathy with
Bolshevism, what answer can be give? If he is the ordinary news-
paper headline reader, he will repeat the stories told him by certain
widely read newspapers. If he is an intelligent worker, he will
remember that the gruesome stories the papers tell him one day
about the doings of the Bolsheviks are denied another day. The
newspaper, the only source of information the American worker has
on matters outside of his own immediate sphere, does not inform
him on what Bolshevism is, as it fails to inform him on many matters,
including important American problems. Even if sympathy with the
methods and policies of workers in a foreign country were a crime
— and it is not under our laws — the American worker is incapable
of being guilty of such a crime because he does not know what has
really happened, or is happening, in Russia. It is not his fault that
he does not know. But because of the prejudice so successfully
cultivated by the anti-labor press, "Bolshevism" is hurled as a
crushing rock against every labor organization that stands up for
the interests of the workers at home. It was for that reason that
that charge was made against our organization.

Likewise with the charge of "Sovietism." There may be some-
thing undesirable in the word "radicalism," but there is nothing
in the words "Bolshevism" or "Sovietism." "Soviet" is the Rus-
sian word for "council," a term used by many local and national
governments. Soviet is the name for the new form of government
in Russia. That is what makes the name so obnoxious to the enemies
of Russia. Is the Soviet form of government better or worse than
any other form? What information does the American working-
man get from his newspaper to enable him to draw his own con-
clusion? But while the information is lacking, the prejudice is
there, deep rooted, widespread, and effective. Again it was an ap-
peal to prejudice and hysteria when our enemies charged us with
the undefined and unknown crime of Sovietism. Our enemies did not
know then and do not know now what Sovietism is. The unpopular
name was a strong card for publicity purposes and they played it.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 47

The charge of Sovietism fed the press wires, filled the newspaper
columns, enabled greedy mercenaries to draw large fees and pin-head
demagogues to pose as saviors of American institutions.

INVESTIGATIONS THREATENED

Before tlie lockout was one week old the newspapers pub-
lished sensational stores about "graft in the Amalgamated." One
paper carried the following head in huge type across the whole
width of its seven column front page: "CLOTHING GRAFT
PEOBE DEMANDED." The long stories contained not a single
positive fact, but very much of irresponsible talk and eharacteri-
^ation, holding up the Amalgamated to public scorn as a graft-
vidden body, guilty of crimes similar to those revealed by the
Lockwood Committee in the building trades. The announcement
was made that as soon as Nathan L. Miller assumed the of-
fice of governor of New York (January 1, 1921), formal applica-
tion would be made to him for a thorough investigation of the Amal-
gamated. The union promised to assist to the utmost in any investi-
gation and expel those members who would be proven guilty of accept-
ing or soliciting bribes. We do not know whether an application was
made to Governor Miller, but the promised investigation never mate-
rialized. Subsequent threats of investigations by the grand juries of
New York County and Kings County (Brooklyn) were likewise made
for publicity purposes and character assassination.

At the 'height of the contest the employers added to their legal
staff Archibald Stevenson of Lusk Committee fame. The gentleman
had made for himself an unenviable national reputation as a defamer
of the labor movement and other progressive movements. He was
to give the lockout employers the benefit of his experiencs in the
Lusk anti-labor crusades. His appointment was to serve the double
purpose of bolstering up the failing morale in the employers' camp
and impressing the locked out workers with the employers' deter-
mination to destroy the Amalgamated.

Reports soon found circulation to the effect that the threats of
gubernatorial, legislative, and srrand jury investigations having failed.
the United States Senate would be asked to institute an investigation
of the Amalgamated. On April 8. after a pilgrimage of some leaders
of the employers' organization to Washington. Senator Moses of New
Hampshire introduced the following resolution in the Senate:

Whereas, It is a matter of public knowledge that during the last
five months the manufacture of men's clothing, in the cities of New
York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and other cities has been seri-
ously hampered and curtailed by strikes, and

Whereas, the said men's clothing industry In the United States
produces an annual production to the value of over $500,000,000, the
value of the product of the New York market alone being over
$200,000,000, and

Whereas it appears as the result of these industrial disturbances
that the production has been limited to about 25 per cent of normal
in these markets, and

Whereas these conditions constitute a vital factor in maintaining
the high cost of clothing to the people of the United States.

48 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WOUKERS OF AMERICA

Now, therefore, be it resolved, That the committee on Labor and
Education is hereby authorized and directed, through the full committee
or through any sub-committee thereof to investigate as speedily as
possible the conditions in the clothing industry of the United States,
the working conditions therein, the causes of industrial unrest in these
industries and its bearing upon the cost of clothing to the public, the
purposes, objects, methods and tactics of the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America, and its relations, if any, with other political or-
ganizations and quasi-political groups, and to make report to the Senate
of such findings.

The said committee is hereby authorized to sit and act at such time
and place as it may deem necessary, to require by subpena, or other-
wise, the attendance of witnesses, the production of books, papers and
documents; to employ counsel, and stenographers at a cost not ex-
ceeding $1 per printed page. The chairman of the committee or any
member thereof may administer oaths to witnesses. Subpenas for wit-
nesses shall be issued under the signature of the chairman of the
committee or sub-committee thereof. Every person who, having been
summoned as a witness by authority of said committee or sub-committee
thereof, who wilfully makes default, or who, having appeared, refuses
to answer any question heretofore authorized shall be held to the
penalties provided by Section 102 of the Revised Statutes of the United
States.

The expenses thereof shall be paid from a contingent fund of the
Senate on vouchers ordered by the chairman thereof and approved by
the Committee on Contingent Expenses.

The senator also issued the following characteristic statement,
in which he said, referring to the Amalgamated:

Their declaration of principles in terms provides for the organiza-
tion of workers along the lines of complete industries rather than on
the lines of individual trades.

I see therein a fact which not only accentuates the known dif-
ferences between the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and
the American Federation of Labor, which is a trades union body, but
which goes further, because the Amalgamated is distinctly aiming at
a certain adjustment of the clothing industry for the benefit of the
workers. It is high time that the people of the United States began to
understand what Sovietism in America means.

The following comment hy the General Officers was handed to
the press :

STATEMENT BY PRESIDENT HILLMAN

If this resolution is aimed at the New York situation it seems re-
markable to me that it was not introduced or considered several months
ago, when 60,000 people were out of work here and a distinct public
issue was involved. Now, however, when there are not more than
10,000 idle clothing workers in the market, the rest being employed
either in settled clothing shops or temporarily in other industries, I
cannot understand why anyone should be pressing for an investigation.

The union did not ask for it. It seems to me that the senators did
not think of it unaided, because if they had they would have thought
of it months before this. It would be interesting to know who is behind
the resolution for an investigation and even more interesting to know
why they seek it now rather than at the beginning of the lockout.

STATEMENT BY SECRETARY-TREASURER SCHLOSSBERG

We welcome any investigation that will bring out the facts.
We welcome any investigation that will let the American people
that there was peace in every clothing market where the em-

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 49

ployers didn't look for war and there was disturbance only in those
markets where the employers instituted a lockout.

There has been no large strike in the clothing industry in New
York, Boston, Baltimore, and other large cities. The fight in New
York, Boston, and Baltimore is not a strike but a lockout. The
employers started it and the employers are entirely responsible for it

At the present time the lockout is nearly over. The union has
been victorious in maintaining the union shop and union conditions in
most clothing factories involved in the fight and the workers have gone
back to work under union agreements. The only restriction of output
at the present time is not due to labor, but to a small group of manu-
facturers, which began the great lockout at a time of unemployment
when no orders were available.

When the employers threatened us with an investigation at the
beginning of the lockout, we lost no time in assuring them that we
welcomed an investigation, but it never materialized. We fail to under-
stand why the employers abandoned the legislative investigation is
New York at the beginning of the lockout and are now looking to a
congressional investigation. If proper investigation is made the com-
mission will secure sufficient information exposing the conspiracy car-
ried out by the employers when they instituted the lockout.

The commission will also find that when earlier in the struggle the
New York State Industrial Commission offered its mediation, the Amal-
gamated accepted it, while the employers' association rejected it, and
further, that when Mayor Hylan of New York appointed a committee
to bring about a settlement the union declared itself ready to co-
operate with the committee, but not so the employers.

In short, a real investigation will show the public that it was held
up by the employers. The Amalgamated will cooperate with any
legislative committee in getting at the real facts.

The New York "Globe'* of April 29, 1921, paid this tribute to
the New Hampshire Senator:

SENATOR MOSES RUSHES IN

It is to be hoped that the Senate will adopt instantly the resolu-
tion of Senator Moses calling for an inquiry into the conditions sur-
rounding the manufacturing of clothing in the United States. For a long
time, for at least a hundred years, conditions have existed which
have ceaselessly and vainly, hitherto, invited the attention and the
action of a national lawmaking body. A century ago widows toiling
sixteen hours a day on ready-made clothes were unable by their hardest
exertions to earn a wage sufficient for self-support, but the Senate
cared not for them. During the civil war, when the solution of great
issues was rending this republic, women made clothes for soldiers at
the rates of pay which by no conceivable effort could have provided
the barest necessities of living, but the Senate stirred not. And even
now, despite boasted reforms, little children hardly past the bounds of
infancy are compelled to "sew on pants" in New York tenements. Th9
clothing industry has long enough called for national consideration and
relief. The Senate has a case made for its hands.

Senator Moses, it is only fair to point out, however, had no
thought for the human realities of this great industry when yesterday
he introduced his resolution. Instead he was using the megaphone of
the Senate to obtain a hearing for charges made against the Amalga-
mated Clothing Workers of America, charges which, incidentally, have
been aired in New York courts and pronounced worthless. That pre-
judice—or was it lack of information? — on the part of Senator Moses
vitiates, albeit, in no way the desirability of a Senate inquiry. For th«
clothing market in New York was virtually closed last December when
the workers were locked out by their employers. Since that time offen
of mediation have been made and accepted by tfce workers, but w*

50 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

fused by the manufacturers. During this long shutdown the manufac-
turers of Chicago, Rochester, and Baltimore have maintained friendly
relations with the union which Senator Moses regards as menacing.
A system of government in industry based on contracts and administered
largely by experts called in from American universities has been de-
veloped as an example to the world. Meanwhile the conflict has con-
tinued in New York, and business which normally came to this city
has been diverted to other markets, to the great loss ofi this community.
All this will stand inquiry. In ways of which he never dreamed, Senator
Moses can aid the clothing industry and New York. His resolution
should not be allowed to sleep.

The New York "World" of April 30, 1921, said:
» STILL MORE INVESTIGATIONS

In investigations, no matter to what end they may be directed,
Congress has abiding faith. It never wearies of them. It is now the
turn of Senator Moses of New Hampshire to urge an investigation into
conditions in the clothing industry, the cause of industrial unrest, and
particularly "the purposes, objects, methods and tactics of the Amal-
gamated Clothing Workers of America and its relations, if any, with
other political organizations and quasi-political groups." It has been re-
vealed to him that the Amalgamated is a hotbed of Sovietism, and he
wants the situation ventilated for the instruction of the American
people.

Following the usual course a sub-committee of a Senate committee
presumably will hold hearings at various points and examine withnesses.
It may take weeks or it may take months; much depends upon the
powers of endurance of the members of the investigation committee.

And in due time if the committee of investigation finds that the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers as an organization is tinctured with
Sovietism, what will the Senate do about it? If his worst fears are
confirmed, what does Senator Moses purpose to have done?

If the union and the manufacturers cannot settle this quarrel, how
can the Senate settle it?

SENATOR BORAH'S RESOLUTION

As stated above, the employers were never absolutely unanimous
in either the lockout policy or method. The war party prevailed,
however, and went the full course. In the course of the struggle
there were the usual ups and downs for each side, which are in-
evitable before a final decision is reached. The association's counsel
announced that a series of court suits for dissolution, injunctions, and
damages would (be brought against the Amalgamated by the in-
dividual employers. Those suits came in rapid succession. The ag-
gregate amount of damages sued for was several million dollars.
The loud publicity accompanying each suit served to strengthen the
hands of the war party among the employers. Each time the court
handed down a decision favorable to the union the war party's stocks
dropped with a crash. There was pandemonium when Judgo Bijur's
decision, as given above, became known. While those legal battles were
going on, the union was making steady progress in affecting settle-
ments. Each important settlement shook the ground under the war
party's feet. As the conviction grew upon the employers that
on the whole the Amalgamated was winning the fight, they rose in
wrath against the lockout leaders. It was fo.r the purpose of over-

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 51

coming that insurgency that dramatic gestures like the Senate in-
vestigation threat were made. Senator Moses seemed willing to lend
himself to the schemes of the lockout makers. But other Senators
resented the attempt to make of the United States Senate an instru-
mentality for bringing the sweatshop back into the clothing industry.
They favored a real investigation into all elements of the clothing
situation. Accordingly, on May 4, 1921, Senator Borah of Idaho
brought into the Senate the following resolution to replace the one
of Senator Moses :

Resolved. That the Committee on Labor and Education is hereby
authorized and directed through the full committee, or through any sub-
committee thereof, to investigate, as speedly as possible, the conditions
in the clothing industry of the United States, including the working
conditions therein; the causes of the industrial unrest in these indus-
tries in the various clothing centers in the United States and its bearing
upon the cost of clothing to the public, and as bearing upon such cost,
the methods and costs of manufacturing clothing in the various cloth-
ing centers of the United States; the cost and selling price of woolen
cloth and other materials used in the manufacturing of clothing, and
the methods of sale and distribution of such woolen cloth and other
materials, and also the cost and selling price of retailers of clothing
throughout the United States; the rise in the wholesale and retail cost
of clothing during the past seven years and the causes thereof; the
profits in the manufacture and sale of clothing, both retail and whole-
sale, by years during the past seven years; the reason for the present in-
dustrial dispute in New York City and the presence, or absence, of any
disputes in other large cities; the conditions of labor, with special ref-
erence to the contracting system and sweatshops prior to the organiza-
tion of the workers, and since; the purpose, objects, methods and tactics
of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and its relations, if
any, with political organizations and quasi-political groups; the purposes,
objects, methods, and tactics of clothing manufacturers' associations,
especially in New York city, and their relations, business or political,
with organizations engaged in the so-called open shop campaign; the
relations of retailers, and retailers' associations, if any, with organiza-
tions engaged in the so-called open shop campaign, and with political
organizations and quasi-political groups; and to make a report to the
Senate of such findings.

The said committee is hereby authorized to sit and act at such
time and place as it may deem necessary, to require by subpena or
otherwise the attendance of witnesses, the production of books, papers,
and stenographers at a cost not exceeding $1.25 per printed page. The
chairman of the committee, or any member thereof, may administer
oaths to witnesses. Subpenas for witnesses shall be issued under the
signature of the chairman of the committee or sub-committee thereof.
Every person who, having been summoned as a witness by authority
of said committee or any sub-committee thereof, wilfully makes default,
or who, having appeared, refuses to answer questions pertinent to
the investigation heretofore authorized, shall be held to the penalties
provided by section 102 of the Revised Statutes of the United States.

The expenses thereof shall be paid from the contingent fund of
the Senate on vouchers ordered by the sub-committee, signed by the
chairman thereof, and approved by the Committee on Audit and Control
of the Contingent Expenses of the Senate.

The "heroic" measures taken by the gentlemen whose ambitious

task was to destroy the Amalgamated were a last effort to maintain

their slipping hold upon the Clothing Manufacturers' Association.

Their maneuver was unsuccessful. The president, the two legal

52 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

luminaries responsible for the industrial disturbance, and a group
of ' ' irreconcilable " members " resigned. "

As the resignations of Gitchell and his staff in November were
followed by a declaration of war, so were the resignations of the
war makers followed by a treaty of peace. Within a few days an
understanding was reached and an agreement concluded between the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and the Clothing
Manufacturers ' Association.

The defeated " warriors" proved poor losers. After their "re-
signations" and the settlement of the lockout they still continued
their campaign of slander against the Amalgamated in the public
press and with the United States senators. When the organization
learned of it President Hillman sent the following letter to Senator
William S. Kenyon, chairman of the Committee on Education and
I-abor, which was in charge of the investigation resolution:

The stenographic record of the hearing held before your committee
on Thursday, June 2, 1921, has just reached me. The statements of Wil-
liam A. Handler and Archibald Stevenson therein contained are char-
acterized by malice and gross inaccuracy.

Such loose-tongued utterances not only do grave injustice to the
workers and manufacturers who take their public obligations seriously,
but also, by provoking a contentious spirit within the industry, do great
mischief to the consuming public.

In view of these considerations, I feel that I should be remiss in
jny duty to you, to the industry and to the public if I permitted the*
statements of these gentlemen to stand unconnected.

I therefore respectfully ask that you grant my colleagues and my-
self an early opportunity to present to your committee the facts, together
with the names of manufacturers and distinguished economists upon
whose disinterested corroboration I am prepared to rely.

On June 9 President Hillman appeared and testified before the
committee. A summary of his testimony was published in Advance
of June 17, 1921. It read in part as follows:

President Hillman appeared at his own request, following reports
that President Bandler of the "irreconcilable" New York employers,
and his counsel Archibald Stevenson, formerly with the New York
Lusk committee, had appeared before the Senate committee to press
for an investigation along the lines of the original Moses resolution.
This original resolution would have investigated only the union. It
was replaced by Senator Borah's resolution, which asks for a study
of the manufacturers, the retailers, and the woolen manufacturers
as well.

President Hillman's attitude throughout was that the Amalgamated
was not asking for an investigation, but that if one was decided on by
the committee, the union would do all in its power to assist in getting
the facts. The Amalgamated can not be hurt by the truth, he showed. The
union does, however, resent the attempt of its enemies to use the in-
vestigation as a chance for a widespread campaign of vilification and
misrepresentation in the newspapers. The newspapers, on the other
hand, would not be likely to give equal prominence to the union's
more accurate and untheatrical presentation of its side.

Attacks Not Representative

Senator Kenyon, chairman of the committee, began the hearing
with a brief statement that Hillman had asked to be heard in ar.swer
to Bandler and Stevenson. Hillman began at once to explain the

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 83

Attacks by these men as being not representative of the views of the
actual employers in the industry, since 85 per cent of the men'B
clothing manufacturers in the New York market are now under con-
tractual relations with the Amalgamated. These enemies were not
interested in the industry, except to the degree that they gained fees
by attacking the union. Handler had been out of the firm, with which he
was ostensibly connected, for the past year.

Senator Sterling at this point asked some questions about tha
membership, their number and nationality. Hillman answered that the
177,000 members included about 30 per cent native Americans, 30
per cent Jewish, 20 per cent Italians, and other national stocks in
smaller numbers. At least 75 per cent of them are citizens, and
about the same proportion speak English, he said.

Inside Story of Lockout

"What is the issue in dispute?" asked Sterling.

Hiliman at once entered on the inside story of the long New
York lockout. He explained that seven months ago the small element
In the New York association of manufacturers which was opposed to
the contractual relations then existing between the union and the
manufacturers in every principal market on the continent, had begun
an agitation to break down the arbitration agreement.

Under this agreement all disputes arising in that market went to
an industrial court, at the head of which was an impartial chairman
chosen by both sides — Dr. W. M. Leiserson. Commercial depression had
been used to foment strife and distrust, and finally the "war party"
had prevailed and the agreement had been broken by the manufacturers,
he said.

Hillman recited the presentation of the manufacturers' seven points
to the union for conference last September; tne agreement in con-
ference between himself and Major Gitchell, for the manufacturers, upon
four points to be submitted to their organizations; the sudden dismissal
of Gitchell and his staff; the placing of a notorious anti-union lawyer in
charge as the manufacturers' "secretary for war," and the beginning
of the six months' lockout of over 60,000 union members in New York.

He told of their peaceful picketing, their strong support from many
directions, their own determination, and their final triumph in restoring
the old conditions of peaceable, mutual submission of all disputes to
arbitration under an impartial voluntary court.

Senator Borah asked Hillman to describe the old sweatshop horrors
and the foul tenement conditions under which army uniforms were being
made in 1915, until the union protested to Washington. Hillman told
how the government investigations in 1914 showed 10,000 women in the
industry getting an average of $5 or less for a week supposed to cover
fifty-four hours but really much longer. Men received about twice
that amount. Little children worked with their parents in bedroom
shops, handling soldiers' clothing.

Hillman claimed for the Amalgamated the credit for mobilizing
the decent instincts in the workers for a real American standard of
living and of production. He placed squarely upon the anti-union em-
ployers the guilt of seeking to keep immigrants away from contact
with American ideals in industry, in order that their misery might
coin profits for the employers.

President Hillman was asked what attitude the Amalgamated took
toward the proposed investigation of the clothing industry by Con-
gress.

"We do not see the necessity for it," he replied, "but if it U
decided upon we shall he glad to co-operate in every manner possible.
We do not see its necessity, because 85 per cent of the clothing
manufacturers are now working in agreement with us. I think it a
bad thing that the remaining minority of 15 per cent should be in
a position to demand such an investigation. Rather would I ask you
to call into these informal hearings men like Bell, Leiserson. and Millis,

54 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

men who have functioned as the choice of both employers and workers,
and that you invite representatives of Hart, Schaffner & Marx or
of the Rochester Clothiers' Exchange to testify before you.

"What we emphatically object to is that a certain small group
should make certain sensational charges carried across the country
by the Associated Press. These charges are disproven afterward, to
be sure, but the denials, since they are dispassionate and unsensational,
do not command nearly as much newspaper space and are, in many
cases, not read by the persons who first read the charges."

The frantic efforts of the enemies of labor to persuade the Senate
committee to institute a persecution of the Amalgamated as contem-
plated by the Moses resolution proved useless. As far as we know
the Senate committee held no hearings subsequent to the one of
June 9, and no " investigation" of the kind sought by the foes of
the Amalgamated was made.

INJUNCTIONS

In the employers' anti-labor arsenal the injunction is one of
the most effective weapons. It has become a permanent and power-
ful factor in industrial disputes. There is hardly a strike or lockout,
great or small, without it. Since the war the injunction has even
been used to forbid the lawful act of calling a strike.

In our report to the Boston Convention we said:

An injunction may forbid the payment of strike benefits and evea
peaceful picketing, which is otherwise allowed by law. Wherever such
injunctions are issued, the labor organization affected is seriously handi-
capped, however strong the solidarity of the workers. It is upon this
advantage that a hostile employer is banking when he asks for an
injunction. A temporary injunction is usually followed by a hearing at
which the union must show cause why the injunction should not be made
permanent. Whenever such a hearing is delayed, sufficient damage is
done by the temporary injunction, which is granted without a hearing,
to make the denial of a permanent injunction valueless.

The injunction originated in old England, in the distant past,
in the course of the struggle against usurpation of power. In Am-
erica it has become an instrument in the hands of the employers
to defeat the workers in industrial struggles. Upon that alone the
fame of the injunction as an institution rests in this country. Organ-
ized labor has made strenuous efforts to secure relief from that op-
pressive iniquity which gives the employers a commanding advantage
over the workers in addition to the tremendous advantages inherent
in the possession of wealth. In their hunt for workers' votes
politicians have made promises, and passed some legislation to redeem
their promises. But that legislation has proved a farce. The in-
junction has not been disturbed. On the contrary, as the enemies
of labor are growing more arrogant and brazen, because of their in-
creasing power, the injunction is becoming a greater menace.

Of the numerous suits brought against us in the courts, two were
for the dissolution of the Amalgamated, some for damages, all for
injunctions.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 55

On January 29, 1921, the first suit was filed. It was by the
firm of J. Friedman & Co. The action was for an injunction, $500,000
damages, and dissolution.

The first injunction forbidding picketing was granted March 7,
1921, by Justice Erlanger to J. Skolny & Co. Justice ErlangerV deci-
sion in full follows :

Plaintiff brought this action against Sidney Hillman individually
and as general president of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America, an unincorporated association and against Jacob S. Potofsky,
individually and as assistant general secretary of the said association.
Many other parties are joined as defendants in the summons and
caption of the complaint, but the two persons mentioned alone were
served and the action is being prosecuted solely against them up to
this time.

A brief synopsis of the material facts alleged in the complaint
follows: Plaintiffs are manufacturers of men's and boys' clothing; their
principal place of business is in the Borough of Manhattan; they
operate factories in both of the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn;
their annual output is approximately three millions of dollars; that the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America is an unincorporated mem-
bership association with an approximate membership of 175,000 and is
an association of workers in the clothing trades in, among other cities,
the city of New York and has its principal office In the Borough of
Manhattan; that said association of workers, according to its consti-
tution, is governed, managed and controlled by a general executive
board consisting of eleven members, of whom three are the general
president, general secretary and financial secretary, and eight are the
general executive board members; that by its constitution it was at
all the times hereinafter mentioned, and still is provided that the
general executive board shall have the right, power and authority to
call and authorize strikes and to direct and declare boycotts.

That at the times hereafter mentioned the individual members
of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America were and still are
members of certain local unions of said defendant, authorized, created
and constituted by said defendant and composed of workers in certain
branches of the clothing industry in the United States and particularly
in the city of New York and for the purpose of a more complete control
and management of the business of said Amalgamated Clothing Workers
it has created and authorized the formation of a joint board; that the
various local unions in the city of New York elect and select repre-
sentatives upon said board in said city and that said board has, sub
ject to the review and control by the general executive board of the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers, jurisdiction of all matters and things
affecting the defendant Amalgamated Clothing Workers and of the
members thereof employed and working in the city of New York, etc.

On January 27, 1921, plaintiff entered into contracts with certain
persons who agreed to work for them in certain capacities from week
to week and such employment was upon the express understanding that
such employees had ceased to be affiliated with the defendant Amalga-
mated Clothing Workers of America (if they were so affiliated) or
with any other union, and that they would not join the said associa-
tion or any other union while in plaintiff's employ nor make any effort
to bring about the unionizing of plaintiff's employees. That under the
terms of this agreement which was in writing, the various persons
signatory to the same entered upon their employment, of which fact
the association had due notice.

That in violation of the contract rights of plaintiff and contrary
to the terms of said contracts of employment and without any com-
plaint, grievance or dispute among said employees and with the intent
and purpose solely of preventing the plaintiffs from doing any busi-

56 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

ness and ruining the plaintiff's said business and bringing about
disorder therein and chaos into the community, the members of the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America prior to the commence-
ment of this action unlawfully and maliciously agreed together,
confederated and combined and formed themselves into a conspiracy',
the purpose of which they are proceeding to carry out, to
cause plaintiffs' factory to be shut down, their plant to remain idle,
their contracts to be broken and unfulfilled until such time as plaintiffs
shall submit to the demand of said Amalgamated Workers to unionize
their factory and by employing workers who shall be members of and
subject to the orders of said association and in furtherance of said
conspiracy and unlawful combination are wrongfully and unlawfully
instigating plaintiffs' employees to cease working for plaintiffs and to
Join said association in the accomplishment of the aforesaid purposes.

That the members of said association have caused, sanctioned and
directed and are conducting a strike against plaintiffs and their factory
and the members of said association have been and still are wrong-
fully and unlawfully instigating persons to become engaged in the
practice of picketing plaintiffs' factory and to congregate about the
premises coercing, threatening, assaulting, intimidating, halting, and
turning aside against their will those who would go to and from
plaintiffs' place of business and those who are working under the con-
tracts referred to and those who would seek work with plaintiffs and
have been and are enticing employees under contract with plaintiffs to
desert their employment and to breach their contracts and join said
association and hampering and hindering the free dispatch of plaintiffs'
business.

That plaintiffs have invested a large amount of money in their
business which is being jeopardized and that unless defendants are
restrained the defendants will continue in the aforesaid acts to plain-
tiffs' irrreparable injury and damage. That plaintiffs have no ade-
quate remedy at law. An injunction is prayed for that the acts of the
defendants be decreed to be a common law conspiracy and in un-
reasonable restraint of trade and a conspiracy against the rights of
non-union workers. That the acts mentioned in the prayer of the com-
plaint be restrained, etc.

The two defendants served, by their answers specifically deny the
acts charged against them and the Amalgamated Clothing Workers.
They also move for judgment on the pleadings. The plaintiffs move for
an injunction pendente lite. These will be considered in their order.
Two objections are urged which it is contended are fatal to the plain-
tiffs' cause. The first is directed to the violation of the section of the
code which permits actions to be brought against unincorporated asso-
ciations, and under the second, it is claimed that the complaint is in-
sufficient because it fails to allege facts showing liability of all the
membership, consisting of 175,000 of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers.

It is argued under the first that an unincorporated association is
not a legal entity and cannot be sued apart from its membership; that
all rights against it must be enforced against all its members, and
similarly all rights in its favor must be sought by all. (5 Corpus Juris
1365— Sec. 102).

To obviate the difficulties in that regard, section 1919 of the code
was enacted and by that section a simple method is provided by per-
mitting an action to be maintained against either the president or
treasurer to bring the entire membership before the court. Both cannot
be sued, the disjunctive or particularly excludes that idea — a choice is
given to select one of the two or if that simple mode is not preferred
section 1923 of the code preserves the common law right of suing all.
The plaintiffs did not proceed in strict conformity to section 1919 of
the code.

They sued Hillraan individually as well as president, and Potofsky
individually and as assistant secretary, and then as shown other officers

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 57

and agents of the association was attempted to be joined. This proce-
dure is not sanctioned. (Schmidt vs. Gunther, 5 Daly 452-453). But I
do not think because of the practice followed that the complaint should
be condemned if in fact a cause of action is alleged against the presi-
dent. The same question arose in Rourke vs. Elk Drug Co. (75 A. D.
145) and it was there held that such procedure was not fatal. At the
appropriate time application can be made to the Special Term to strike
out from the summons and complaint the unnecessary parties and ample
au:hority is to be found for such action. (Boyd vs. U. S. Mortgage &
Trust Co., 187 N. Y. 262; Johnson vs. Phoenix Bridge Co., 197 N. Y. 316;
Helling vs. Boss, 121 N. Y. Supp. 1013).

We come now to the second ground which attacks the legal suffi-
ciency of the complaint. Many cases are cited in support of the point
thus urged. It is argued that the test of sufficiency to be applied is,
does the complaint allege that all of the 175,000 members are liable
either jointly or severally for the acts charged or jointly liable because
of the acts of agents duly constituted and appointed? Counsel for
defendant asserts it does not and it is also maintained that not only
must liability of all be alleged but proof thereof is a sine qui non
for success upon the trial.

In other words, unless it is alleged and can be established upon the
trial that this large number of members are each individually liable
because of what each did, authorized or ratified, no cause of action
exists. In my opinion the 15th paragraph of the complaint covers the
point, and Hitchman Coal & Coke Co. vs. Mitchell (245 U. S. 229),
decided by the Supreme Court of the United States is decisive on that
detail. The court, through Mr. Justice Pitney there said: "When any
numbers of persons associate themselves together in the prosecution
of a common plan or enterprise lawful or unlawful, from the very
act of association there arises a kind of partnership, each member
"being constituted the agent of all, so that the act or declaration of one
in furtherance of the common object is the act of all and is admissible
as primary and original evidence against all."

This pronouncement of the court when read in the light of the
charges made in the complaint justifies the form in which the wrong
Is alleged and renders the complaint immune from attack for the
grounds insisted upon. Pleadings are to be liberally construed. The
tendency of the courts is to get away from the technical rules which
has fettered justice. The allegation of the wrongs are alleged in general
terms. When it is charged that the defendants combined to do the
acts of injury complained of, it means all and charges all; and all are
liable within the authorities.

In the last analysis do the papers show grounds for the injunction?
At one time denial of the equities of the bill defeated the application
for such relief. That time is gone. Acts which amount to a crime are
not usually admitted. Courts look into the merits of the motion. It
is now the rule that only a prima facie case need be made, and if the
court can spell from the papers that that has been shown, it has been
held to be enough. (Sultan vs. Star Co., 106 Misc. 43; Lawrence vs.
Lawrence, 172 Supp. 146.)

The plaintiffs claim that they have established an open shop; that
employment in their factories depends upon an agreement in writing
from week to week with their employees; that they have ceased to be
affiliated with any union while so employed, and that they will abstain
from all efforts to bring about the unionizing of plaintiffs' employees.

Such are the conditions of the employment and those conditions
the signatories to the agreement have obligated themselves voluntarily
to abide by. This form of agreement has been upheld in Hitchman
Coal and Coke Co. vs. Mitchell, supra. The affidavits presented by
plaintiffs support the charges alleged in the complaint. The defendants
deny the charges, not all, but most of them. Some denials, those re-
ferring to the charge of assault, are made by affiants who were nc|t

68 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

present and could have no knowledge on the subject. But It is admitted
by one of the pickets that "whenever they think that some one is
a prospective employee of the firm they go to him quietly and merely
inform such person that there is a lockout."

It is quite impossible to quote from all the affidavits submitted pro
and con. Plaintiffs claim that their troubles resulted from a strike of
their employees. The defendants assert there was a lockout against
them and what they are doing is entirely within their rights. They
attack the form of plaintiffs' contract and insist they are invalid be-
cause no definite time is fixed and the employee can be discharged
at any moment; that they are invalid for lack of consideration; that
there is no evidence of an intent to procure a breach of them; that
their picketing is lawful; that they have a right to combine to strike
and to persuade others to join them to improve their economic* condi-
tion; that they had no notice of plaintiffs' contract, etc., etc.

It is; clearly established that picketing is lawful — that a man may
work or not as he shall choose; that he may strike with others ana
peaceably seek others to join. But it is equally well settled that a
worker may work wheresoever it pleases him; that he may labor and
provide for himself and family without being subjected to the danger
of assault or threat of bodily harm; that he cannot be compelled to
join a union if he is not disposed to do so; that employees may not
be enticed from their employment by threats or otherwise; that the
right to live and let live is a God given right to be observed by ail*
and that all rights, whether of great or lesser magnitude, will be pro-
tected by the courts which the people have created for the common
protection of all.

Intimidation does not necessarily carry with it an act of violence.
The application of the term "scab," the use of insulting epithets, the
fear of going back and forth from the workshop, and visitations at the
home of workers and threatening them if they did not quit working
for plaintiffs, that the union would see to it if they won the strike
that they would never again get employment in the clothing trade and
the like has been found effective. It is a silent weapon but carries
with it a menacing attitude. (Michaels vs. Hillman, 112 Misc. 395).

Parties placed in the position of plaintiffs and their workmen are
not obliged to resort to criminal proceedings for protection against un-
lawful combinations or conspiracies. Under modern decisions courts
of equity are more apt to restore order and confidence than doubtful
results in a criminal court. (Heitkamper vs. Hoffman, 99 Misc. 543-546.)

The differences that exist between capital and labor are not of
recent origin. Dug from among the causes celebres of an almost for-
gotten age the Journeymen Cordwainers case is a living example. The
case is entitled People of the State of New York against Melvin and
others. (Yates Select Cases, Vol. 1, page 81.)

In that case a number of workmen were indicted in 1809 for con-
spiracy. The first count of the indictment states that the defendants
being workmen and journeymen in the art, mystery, and manual occu-
pation of cordwainers, on the 18th of October, 1809, etc., unlawfully,
perniciously and deceitfully designing and intending to form and unite
themselves into an unlawful club and combination, and to make and
ordain unlawful by-laws, rules and orders among themselves and thereby
to govern themselves and other workmen in the said art, and unlaw-
fully and unjustly to extort great sums of money by means thereof,
on the day and year aforesaid, with force of arms, at etc., together

with divers other workmen and journeymen in the same art, etc

did unlawfully assemble and meet together, and being so, etc., did then
and there, unjustly and corruptly conspire, combine and confederate
and agree together, that none of them, the said conspirators, after
the said 18th of October, would work for any master or person what-
soever, in the said art, mystery and occupation, who should employ

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 69

any workmen or journeymen, or other person In the said art, not being
a member of said club or combination, after notice given, etc., to dis-
charge such workmen, etc., from the employ of such master, etc."

Article VIII of their constitution reads as follows: "No member of
this society shall work for an employer that has any journeymen cord-
wainer, or his apprentice in his employment that do not belong to this
society, unless the journeymen come and join the same; and should
any member work on the seat with any person or persons that has
not joined this society, and do not report the same to the president,
the first meeting night after it comes to his knowledge, shall pay a
fine of $1." Article IX, "If any employer should reduce his journeymen's
wages at any time, or should the said journeyman find himself other-
wise aggrieved, by reporting the same to the committee at their next
meeting, they shall lay the case before the society, who shall determine
on what measures to take to redress the same." Article XVII fixes the
wage of the journeymen in the city of New York. The case was sent
to the jury who found the defendants guilty and thereupon they were
fined $1 each with costs. Many of the acts in the cited case bear a
strong resemblance to those complained of in the instant case, and
were treated and punished as a common law conspiracy. Though infre-
quently cited, so far as I have been able to discover, it is still authority
and has been given approval in Davis vs. Zimmerman, 91 Hun. 492,
and in New York Central Iron Works vs. Brennnan, 105 Supp. 865-869.
My conclusion is that the motion for an injunction pendente lite should
be granted. Settle order on notice at which time the amount of the
undertaking to be given will be considered.

LOOKING BACKWARD TO THE MIDDLE AGES

Granting the above restraining order to one of the New York
clothing manufacturers against the Amalgamated Clothing Workers
of America, whose members these manufacturers had locked out of
employment, Justice Erlanger went <baek more than a century for
guidance and authority.

The United States of today resembles the United States of 1809
just as much as a man in the prime of life resembles himself when
he was a helpless babe struggling to stand on his own feet.

In 1809 the republic was thirty-three years old and the federal
constitution twenty-two years. The area and the population of the
United States were but very small parts of what they are today.
Since 1809 the constitution, under the pressure of changing condi-
tions, has been recast in some very vital respects, and the frontier line
moved across the vast continent to the Pacific coast. The wealth
and power of this country are unparalleled among the nations of
the world. Since 1809 the world in general and the United States
in particular have moved thousands of years; have made greater
progress than in all preceding ages. Since 1809 the railroad has
come into being, the telegraph, the telephone, electricity, and all of
the most wonderful machines which are doing the work of men.
Since 1809 the world has been several times refoorn, as it were. Mon-
archies have been overthrown and replaced by republics; small and
weak countries united into great and powerful empires; proud em-
pires humiliated, dismembered, and reduced to impotence. Since
1809 our own country has fought a num'ber of wars, including a
Civil War and a World War. Each war was a milepost marking im-
portant changes, some of them very fundamental, in the life of the

60 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

nation. Since 1809 the industrial revolution, the inauguration of
the machine age in industry, begun in Europe at the time of the
birth of the American republic, has transformed the industrial and
social life of the old world and the new. Since 1809 powerful labor
movements have developed in all countries, attaining valuable rights
for the workers. Since 1809 the labor movement in this and other
countries has passed out of the stage of illegal conspiracy and been
recognized as a legitimate movement and a great and unsuppressible
social-force.

It is, therefore, amazing to see a judge go back to the nineteenth
century, almost to the very beginning of our national life, with no
industrial institutions as we know them today, for inspiration in
dealing with master and man relations in the twentieth century.

What was the social philosophy underlying master and man re-
lations in those days? The answer is given clearly in the case of the
Philadelphia cordwainers in 1806. The proceedings in that case bear
the following title : "The Trial of the Boot and Shoemakers of Phila-
delphia on an indictment for a Combination and Conspiracy to Raise
their Wages." In his charge to the jury the judge said: "A combi-
nation of workmen to raise their wages may be considered in a two
fold point of view: One is to benefit themselves . . . the other is to
injure those who do not join their society. The rule of law condemns
both." The title page of the New York proceedings (1809) reads:
" Trial of the journeymen cordwainers of the City of New York for a
conspiracy to raise their wages." The verdict of the jury was
1 '''Guilty."

The social philosophy which denounced as a conspiracy an
attempt on the part of the workers to organize and improve their
wages, may be traced straight back to the fourteenth century, when
the English Statute of Laborers made it a crime for workers to ask
for better wages.

In the middle of the fourteenth century the Black Plague, which
was raging all over Europe, killed about one-third of the workers in
England. The rising cost of living due to the scourge and the scarcity
of labor had the inevitable effect of causing the workers to ask for
better pay. In order to check that, laws were enacted, fixing a maxi-
mum of wages, or, rather, providing that wages remain the same as
before the plague. Workers accepting more than the legal maximum
were imprisoned, and employers paying more were fined. The laws
also empowered landowners to seize workers and compel them to
work at statutory wages. The laws further prescribed physical tor-
tures for workers who would not submit. Workers were put in stocks
and exposed to public scorn. Communities which failed to provide
such stocks were fined. Workers would also have their ears cut and
the letter S (Servant) or V (Vagabond) branded on their foreheads.

The enforcement of the law called for constant amendment. At
one time it was enacted, according to the English law books, "that
carters, ploughmen and other servants, should be allowed to serve by
the year, or by some other usual term; and not by the day. All
workmen to bring their implements openly into town, and there be

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 61

hired in a common place, and by no means in a secret one." Certain
prices were fixed for a day's work of mowers, reapers, and others.
Servants were to foe sworn twice a year, before the lords, bailiffs,
stewards, and constables of every town. And those who refused to
take such oaths, to perform the work they engaged for, were to be put
in the stocks, by the above officers, for three days or more, or to be
sent to the next gaol, there to remain till they would justify them-
selves.

Artificers who absented themselves from their work were to be
branded with a hot iron on the forehead, with the mark of the letter
F to denote the falsity they had been guilty of in breaking the oath
by which they had bound themselves, according to the former statute,
to serve.

For thirty years the government continued intensifying the penal-
ties for the dissatisfied workers and in the end the laws had to be
dropped.

While those laws were abandoned at the end of the fourteenth
century their spirit seems to have remained to this day.

In New York one judge said that there is no such thing as law-
ful picketing ; this, in spite of the fact that both by acts of legislatures,
repeated court decisions, and general approval, peaceful persuasion
has been universally accepted as lawful and permissible picketing.

In Boston a judge issued a sweeping injunction against the
Amalgamated, forbidding all picketing although chapter 690, Acts
of 1913, of Massachusetts, specifically permits picketing by peaceful
persuasion. Thus the law which is advantageous to locked out and
striking workers was set aside by the injunction.

The Boston firm to which the injunction was granted deliberately
broke its agreement with the Amalgamated. The dispute between
that firm and the workers was not over wages but over the workers*
right to organize as the employers do.

This was also the issue in New York. The workers were not
striking for higher wages: they were locked out because of their
being organized, and in the hope of breaking their organization by
means of the lockout.

In the 1809 case the attorney for the indicted shoe workers said
in course of his argument in court: " These masters enter without
fear into a sordid combination to oppress the journeymen ; and if the
workmen meet in opposition to them, they forthwith sound the alarm,
and spread the cry of treason and conspiracy."

Thus we learn that this treason and conspiracy cry did not begin
with us: it has been the time honored policy of all oppressive em-
ployers. In our case the "preamble" was the convenient excuse, be-
cause we did not ask for higher wages : in 1809 the demand for higher
wages was the frank and bold reason given for the charge of treason
and conspiracy though there was no " preamble" issue.

In 1809 the workers were indicted and convicted on a charge
of conspiracy because, as charged in the indictment, they organized
"unlawfully, perniciously and deceitfully" and "falsely and fraudul-
ently conspired, etc., unjustly and oppressively to increase and aug-

62 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

ment the wages of themselves and other workmen/' Those indicted
workers were not called " Bolshevik! " and were not charged with
"Sovietizing" the industry because 112 years ago those names were
still unborn.

Let those who wish look to the dead past for encouragement.
Our vision is in the future. There our hope lies. And our struggle
against industrial oppression will be conducted with all the greater
determination as obstacles are placed in our path to obstruct it.

We have definitely passed out of the middle ages and out of the
nineteenth century. We are living and working and fighting in the
twentieth century for twentieth century aims and ideals. Our march
forward will go right on.

On March 30, 1921, Justice Van Siclen, in the Supreme Court
of Kings County, N. Y., granting a restraining order against the
Amalgamated to the firm of Schwartz & Jaffee, handed down a most
amazing opinion, in which he said:

They [the courts] must stand at all times as the representatives
of capital, of captains of industry, devoted to the principle of individual
initiative, protect property and persons from violence and destruction,
strongly opposed to all schemes for the nationalization of industry, and
yet save labor from oppression and conciliatory toward the removal
of the workers' just grievances.

Herewith the decision in full:

The plaintiff corporation, a manufacturer of clothing, makes applica-
tion to this court for an order enjoining the defendants during the
pendency of this action from doing acts injurious to the plaintiff's
business which, it is alleged, consist of unlawful picketing, threats,
molestation, intimidation, interference with contracts of employment,
and instigating, waging and continuing a strike among plaintiff's em-
ployees. The defendants oppose the motion in every particular. The
relief sought by the plaintiff is to perpetually and permanently enjoin
the defendants from doing the acts sought to be restrained and for
an adjudication that the defendant Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America is a conspiracy in restraint of trade and against the rights of
non-union workmen, and for the personal judgment.

It appears from the moving papers that in December, 1920, the
defendant union called a strike against the plaintiff and that since
that time the plaintiff has not recognized the defendant union, but,
on the other hand, has determined and done everything in its power
to return to what the plaintiff claims to be the "open shop" policy
and entered into individual contracts with all of its employees whereby
said employee agreed to become, or remain during the period of
employment, non-union. Thereafter, it appears the defendants' pickets
and others, at the direction of the defendant union, resorted to extreme
violence upon those in the employ of plaintiff and that it is to secure
relief from such condition that this application is made.

The plaintiff's contention is that those named as defendants herein
are the principal, general and local officers and certain members or
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, a national organiza-
tion having local unions under its jurisdiction and that the acts com-
plained of have been done, directed, instigated, or authorized and
approved by the defendant, and that all of the individuals committing
said acts of violence are either members of the defendant union, em-
ployed by it, or swayed and directed by the leaders and those in
charge of the activities of the defendant union. It is claimed that
the defendant union i» not a branch of tht American Federation of

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 63

Labor, but a secession movement from the United Garment Workers
of America, which organization from 1914 to 1919 was recognized gen-
erally by the clothing manufacturers and that said manufacturers had
contracts and agreements with said union which were, to all intents
and purposes, exclusively non-union; that from August, 1919, to August,
1920, the Clothing Manufacturers' Association of New York, of which
the plaintiff is a member, had a so called collective agreement with
the defendant union herein and that after said August 26, 1920, said
agreement was not renewed, with the resultant almost daily strikes
and troubles of various kinds which continued until December, 1920,
when all relations between the two were severed, and immediately
thereafter the defendant union called out on a strike all of plaintiff's
employees. Since that time, plaintiff claims that its factory in the
Borough of Brooklyn and place of business in the Borough of Manhat-
tan have been picketed, most of the pickets being plaintiff's former
employees; that these pickets intimidated, threatened and insulted
plaintiff's employees as they came to and left their place of employ-
ment and in addition thereto, the employees and workers of the plain-
tiff were assaulted and such serious injuries inflicted on some that
it was necessary to resort to the courts and to the grand jury. Plain-
tiff contends that the activities of the defendant union have continued
and it is attempting by force and violence and threats and persuasion
to entice the plaintiff's employees away and to break their contracts
with the plaintiff and to join the defendant union; that in order to
succeed, the defendant has voted a large sum of money for that pur-
pose, has held public meetings at which defendant's officers or leaders
have counselled and advised the members to acts of violence and to
do the very acts complained of by the plaintiff and which it claims
threaten to wholly destroy its business. By affidavit and otherwise,
the plaintiff sets forth fully specific acts of violence practiced on
plaintiff and its employees by the defendant union members, pickets or
those advised, swayed or controlled by them, against which plaintiff
claims it can obtain no relief other than by injunction.

The defendant union seeks to meet the charges and allegations of
the plaintiff and its complaint by disclaiming that the defendants are
responsible for any of the acts complained of, even though some of
the members of the defendant union or its locals may have participated
or been implicated in the unlawful acts charged. However, it appears
from all the papers, sufficient for the purpose of this motion, that
the real control of the entire situation is with the defendant union,
its officers and directors and those who advise, direct and control the
course and conduct of the union and its members. Manifestly no other
result could reasonably be expected to follow, when the speeches at
the meetings, the advice and counsel of the officers and leaders of the
defendant union and the very purpose and character of the existence
of the defendant union and its activities in the strike called against
the plaintiff are considered. From the foregoing, the defendent union
will not be heard to deny that it called said strike and to now assert
that instead of the defendant being in a conspiracy with the former
employees of the plaintiff to ruin the plaintiff's business, the plaintiff
and other manufacturers allied with it are seeking to destroy the
defendant union. Further, the defendant union claims that the former
employees of the plaintiff want to go back to work, but fails to state
the conditions to be insisted upon. Plaintiff has offered to take the
former employees back to work and stated its conditions, which the
defendant union, of course, will not accept.

The defendant admits that there is picketing of plaintiff's places of
business, but declares that it is by the individual employees after the
"lockout" in December, 1920, without any instigation or direction of
the defendant union; that the defendant union has nothing to do with
the pickets and that, therefore, the injunction sought against picketing
must be denied. In the brief presented on behalf of the defendants,

64 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

the defendants, in spite of the fact that they deny any responsibility
for the picketing alleged, in the strongest terms assert that picketing Is
lawful, that it has a highly useful purpose, and uphold the manner
and! method of picketing complained of in this very action. The
defendant also disputes any merit to the plaintiff's claim that relief
should be afforded the plaintiff aa to its contracts of employment. The
defendant, however, does not in any wise question the contracts which
it imposed upon the employers from 1914 to 1919, but claims that
defendant should not be restrained because it is not shown that the
defendant's acts are willful or malicious and that the plaintiff and other
manufacturers cannot, by forcing upon the workers such a contract,
practically paralyze the activities of the defendant union, its members,
and workers generally. In any event, the defendants say that the
pickets did nothing to induce a breach of said contracts. As to the
assaults and other acts of violence, the defendant's answer is that the
defendant Hillman and the other individual defendants above named
are not shown to be in ,any way connected with the same and that
the guilty individuals should be prosecuted. Finally, the defendant's
contention is that the relief sought by the plaintiff should be denied
because it comes into court with unclean hands. If the papers presented
show that the plaintiff is unclean and that it has entered into a con-
spiracy to destroy the defendant union and to oppress its members
and prevent workers generally from obtaining a living, the plaintiff
should be turned out of court even though it appears that both parties
should be reviewed. It seems from all the papers submitted upon this
motion that both the plaintiff and the defendants herein named have
been fully advised for a long time prior to the commencement of this
action as to the course of conduct of each and every turn of the-
affairs and activities of all concerned, so that no one should now
be heard to deny the responsibility and liability therefor.

The issue between the parties is nothing more than the old con-
flict between capital and labor. The swing of the pendulum is in-
fluenced almost entirely by the law of supply and demand, and neither
capital nor labor at any time is satisfied to be governed by the length
or sweep to and fro. Prior to December, 1920, when the trouble
between the parties hereto became acute, and from 1914 to the last
mentioned date, the swing was entirely to the side of labor, enabling
it to force upon capital demands and contracts of employment exclusive
as to non-union or unorganized workers, and therefore oppressive.
Now, and perhaps for a few years to come, the pendulum swing will
be to the side of capital, which in turn will force upon labor, contracts
equally oppressive and exclusive as to union or organized workers. It
will be seen that at no time is there what may be termed, the tru^
"open shop." The authorities seem to uphold both forms of contract
and commend them except, perhaps, when it can be determined or
proven that the same are oppressive, or a result of conspiracy, or
in restraint of trade. A peculiar slant to the whole situation is that
the worker of today may become the master of tomorrow; from the
radical to the conservative by mere change of circumstances and posi
tion. Nevertheless, there will be no change in their relationship.
When capital has the upper hand it will continue to grind down labor,
and when labor is in the ascendant it will in turn continue to harass,
cheat, and seek to either control or destroy capital. Neither at any
time is willing to give the quid pro quo, and the never ceasing conflict
goes on.

There can be no real solution of the problem, as old as our civiliza-
tion, unless the foundation therefor is established by law. Labor, labor
unions, or organized labor have their place and use; capital and organ-
ization thereof, likewise. But both must be made to know and to
keep their respective proper places and use by law, to change only by
the ever fluctuating force of supply and demand. Such a medium would
prevent both extreme conservatism or autocracy, and extreme radicalism
or sovietlsm.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 65

Can the courts step in between capital and labor to strike the
medium and balance the scales? There must be in the conflict justice
somewhere, somehow at all time. The courts cannot find the balanc-
ing point by boxing the compass of judicial opinion from extreme
radicalism to ultra-conservatism. They must stand at all times as
the representatives of capital, of captains of industry, devoted to the
principle of individual initiative, protect property and persons from
violence and destruction, strongly opposed to all schemes for the
nationalization of industry, and yet save labor from oppression and
conciliatory toward the removal of the workers' just grievances. The
prosperity of the nation depends on constructive legislation, backed
up by intelligent judicial interpretation and strict enforcement.

As to the law applicable to the facts set forth in the papers sub-
mitted, this court has fully expressed its opinion in these so-called
labor cases (see Reardon v. Caton and others, 107 Supp. 541; compare
Reardon v. International Mercantile Marine and others, 189 id. 515
with Auburn Draying Co. v. Waddell, 227 N. Y. 1). It will serve no
good purpose to rehash what has been declared by the appellate courts
to be the respective rights and duties of the employer and the worker.
The case of Curran v. Galen (152 N. Y. 33), well expresses the same.
The individual motto is, "work if you please; strike if you will." On
the other hand, an employer of labor has the right to determine for
himself how and under what conditions he will conduct his business.
And so, as hereinbefore stated, the courts have recognized contracts
imposed by the workers on their employers, exclusive in their nature,
and the contracts of the employers imposed on the workers, equally
exclusive in their nature, up to the point or extent, when and where,
such become oppressive or a conspiracy and therefore unlawful.

The case of Hitchman Coal and Coke Co. v. Mitchell (245 U. S. 229),
is illuminative upon the question of respective rights of employer and
employee where the facts presented are in substance similar to those
here and wherein the court found that the plaintiff was entitled to
the injunctive relief sought.

So far as the question of picketing is concerned, defendant does not
deny that violence has followed as the result of the strike or lockout
and that there has been picketing. The dispute is as to the sort
and extent of the so called picketing. In cases of this kind "peaceful
picketing" or "mental picketing" or whatnot are usually only figures of
speech or exist in the imagination — mostly mentioned, seldom met
with. That there ever in reality existed, or was practiced "peaceful
picketing," is a question. In the present case there was no need
of picketing to inform anyone that there was a strike or a lockout
at the plaintiff's premises. Every one knew it. The purpose of the
picketing was just as well known, and "peaceful picketing" was not
in fashion or even sought to be practiced and could serve no useful
purpose under the circumstances. As shown by the affidavits attached
to the moving papers, the picketing as practiced herein was wholly
unlawful and should be suppressed. Upon a careful consideration of
all the papers and memoranda submitted, the court finds ample proof
of plaintiff's claim that the defendants are guilty of the acts complained
of as to calling of the strike, picketing the plaintiff's premises, inter-
ferences with employees and workers of the plaintiff and with their
contracts of employment, and generally unlawfully instigating, advis-
ing and directing acts of various kinds against plaintiff and its busi-
ness, from which relief should be granted by way of injunction.

Motion granted. Submit order on one day's notice.

The "Freeman," a New York weekly, in its issue of April 13,
1921, made the following editorial comment on Justice Van Siclen's
opinion :

66 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

With the fight between the Amalgamated Clothing Workers and
the clothing manufacturers of New York City still in full swing, it
fairly rains injunctions hereabouts. The workers seem to be weather-
ing the storm pretty well, but if the number of things they can not do
continues to increase, they will have as many disagreements with the
courts as with the employers themselves. As far as the public ever
sees, an argument between a worker and a judge is a pretty one-
sided business; for all that gets into print is what the judge says to the
worker when he gets him down. For instance, a group of union men
were judicially informed, the other day, that "labor, labor unions, or
organized labor have their place and use; capital, and organization
thereof, likewise, but both must be made to know and to keep their
respective places and use by law, to change only by the ever fluctuating
force of supply and demand." There is a grain of sense in this, but
we lose sight of it completely when the judge goes on to say that the
courts "must stand at all times as the representatives of capital, of
captains of industry devoted to the principle of individual initiative."

The conflicting attitude of the courts in the matter of picket-
ing is emphasized in an editorial in the New York "Evening Post"
of March 16, 1921:

IS LABOR PICKETING LEGAL?

Any picketing of employers' shops by union representatives during
an industrial dispute was characterized by Justice Van Siclen in the
Supreme Court session in Brooklyn on Monday as unlawful. The prin-
ciple is not affected, the justice is reported to have said, by the question
whether the picketing was peaceful or accompanied by violence. The
case under argument was the plea for an injunction to prevent picketing
and recover damages brought by Schwartz & Jaffee, Inc., against agents
of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America,

The opinion outlined verbally by Justice Van Siclen, if it is em-
bodied in his written ruling on the case, will affect vitally the con-
duct of the controversy now deadlocking the clothing industry in this
city. It will also present an issue calling for a test in the highest
court. The opinion is the most sweeping one that has been expressed
in connection with the clothing trade cases. So far, decisions by Jus-
tice Erlanger in three cases have involved the issuance of restraining
orders to prevent union pickets from inducing workers under individual
contracts with employers to break these contracts, but have not in-
volved the right of peaceful picketing as such.

The opinion of Justice Van Siclen that all picketing is illegal
touches what is still a moot point of law; but the decisions in most
test cases have tended to establish the right of peaceful picketing. It
is recognized in the labor clauses of the Clayton act, and thus given a
legal status under federal statute. Another Justice of the New York
Supreme Court, Justice W. O. Howard, recently ruled in the case of
the Walter A. Wood Company against the International Association of
Machinists, in a decision dissolving an injunction issued by a lower
court, that the right of peaceful picketing is established and absolute.
In many states the principle has been tested, and with a few exceptions,
as for instance in cases in California and Idaho, the right has been
sustained by the courts.

The right of peaceful picketing needs to be decided definitely and
conclusively so that all parties and the public will know the law in an
industrial situation like that of the present.

Before leaving the subject of picketing it will be well to add
to the dry legal discussion of it the human side, as seen by the artist :

1 'The Picket Line," by Mary Heaton Vorse, in Advance of Feb-
ruary 18, 1921:

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 67

As Morris Kolinsky walked along the grey streets he felt that New
York was never quite so dead as it was in winter a little before six
o'clock. All the night birds had already gone to roost. But no one
had started yet for work. New York was a dead city, all the ebb and
flow of life had stopped. It was as though New York lay under a chill
enchantment. The city was tired, the city was pale. Even the dark-
ness had filtered out into a depressing twilight, the hour before dawn,
ebb-tide.

He was expecting to meet his chum Spivac on the corner where
he got off the Eighth Street crosstown at Second Avenue. Spivac was
not there. This made Morris mad. It made him mad because he had
gotten out of his warm bed to get on the picket line, and Joe hadn't.

"I always do all the dirty work," he grumbled to himself.

He began to feel sorry for himself. Here he was with his mother
so sick and the air of his house so thick with anxiety and he got up
to get on the picket line; — and there was Spivac, who maybe had been
dancing all night, warm in his blankets.

Then Morris began to feel noble. Well, whatever happened, he
would always go on the picket line. Let others stay away from the
picket line — he, Morris, would go on. He felt abused, but superior with
this consoling emotion.

Second Avenue suddenly became alive with ghostly men. They all
seemed fragile and unreal in the vague light, men drifting along the
streets from many directions, a group of men like a swarm of dark
bees, waiting in front of the strike headquarters. They waited there,
shifting uneasily, hands in pockets, shoulders hunched, almost all of
them a little bowed as though sleep still had its heavy hand on them.
They were yawning and stood in groups of twos and threes, restless,
their faces as vacant as the New York streets, dragged out of bed
by a common purpose, warming themselves in the fellowship of their
common aim.

Morris found himself standing by an old fellow whose heavy mouth
was framed by a venerable beard; it lay like a mat down the front
of his chest. His overcoat reached to his heels. The fur collar looked
like a piece of ancient and moth-eaten cat fur. His long, grey hair
fell down straight from his wide hat. There was a peculiar melan-
choly in his blue eyes, eyes startling blue in the midst of his sallow1
face, eyes almost childlike in their simplicity. He stared straight
ahead of him. He was a clumsy figure, bowed by long years at a
machine, heavy, thick-chested, and with long arms that hung as though
his hands pulled them down by their weight and size — the type of
man that makes you think of an innocent animal, as though some
of the guilt and the damaging knowledge of the world had turned
aside as it met him and left him his original kinship with children and
with the innocent things of the earth.

"A homely, clumsy old fellow," Morris thought, brushing by him,
and he fell again to thinking of Spivac's defection and what a bore
the picket line was. But Morris was proud of being punctilious in his
work in the union. He had no use for slack fellows who came in
for the good things and shirked all the tiresome work, especially the
monotonous work — anyone can play for the grandstand.

The crowd had grown bigger and restless toward six o'clock.
It was time for the hall to be opened. There was a diversion from
the grey monotony of waiting, made by a policeman's bustling up
officiously to know what the devil they were meeting for at this time
of the night, and if they had a permit.

The hall opened. The old man had drawn close to Morris. Side
by side they went in. When they came out the old man was still
at Morris' side.

The pale night had changed into an uncertain day. The streets
looked even more melancholy, now that the street lights were out. The
cars were like cheerful, empty rooms sliding through the ghostly streets.

68 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

The old man kept close beside Morris as though drawn by a
magnet. Suddenly, he asked: "Where does your family come from —
from Vilna?"

"No," Morris said. "My family is from a town in Galicia."

"Oh, Galicia," the old man repeated with a vague disappointment
in his voice. "I knew people who looked like you in Vilna." He
peered at Morris with his innocent blue eyes. "I thought, perhaps —
His voice trailed off. "It would, of course, have been too much of
a coincidence. There's a resemblance, a great resemblance. It's an
excellent thing to see young men come out to do their duty."

As he said the last words his voice changed and he spoke senten
tiously. "The young," he announced, "should do their duty, the old
should set an example. If all of age set an example, and all of youth
followed this example, the world would at once be better. Do you
know what we workers would have attained if all of age set an ex-
ample and all of youth followed? We should have attained Solidarity!"

He gave this out with the air of handing a bright new discovery
to Morris. He was so innocent in his triumph of this discovery that
Morris felt warm to him, attracted by his simplicity and yet bored
by his sententiousness.

Morris, like many young fellows, liked argument. Not averse
to showing his superior powers to a simple old fellow who tried to
put it over him by virtue of age, the young man said: "We still would
have the natural misfortunes plaguing us. We would still have birth
and death and the bosses."

A terrible change came over the old fellow. It was as if his
face had suddenly disintegrated. His jaw fell and he looked at Morris
with a frightened, lost gaze.

"True," he said, "we would have death. Death." He repeated
the word again. As they walked along the street Morris saw his lips
move and saw that he was repeating the word, "Death."

"This is a strange old fellow that I picked up," Morris thought,
and he wondered, why, if he had to walk up and down in front of a
building for three hours, he couldn't have a pleasant merry com-
panion like Spivac.

The old man had pulled himself together from his terrifying abstrac-
tion. "My friend," he said, "you do not realize how powerful the word
Solidarity is. The future of the workers lies in it. You cannot know
the full meaning of it."

"Why not?" asked Morris, curiously.

The old man spoke with such simple intensity that he piqued
Morris' curiosity.

"Because you have always known it, you who are young. You
were always acquainted with the need of solidarity. But to me it has
come only lately. For many years I have failed to set an example,
for many years the union grew about me. I — didn't recognize it. It
stood before my door, but I, absorbed in my misery, did not see it.
This was selfishness, though I did not know it. I thought that being
a good husband and a strict religious observer I was doing my whole
duty, and all the while I was guilty of neglect.

"1 was so absorbed in my own life I did not look out. Can you
imagine what it meant when I looked out and beheld the need of
solidarity?"

They had now arrived in front of the factory they were to picket.
Lines of policemen were there already, one of whom said roughly,
"Only six pickets allowed here."

The policemen, who were lined up in a martial fashion, looked
very tall indeed, beside the pickets, two of whom were girls.

"It was a great sorrow to be so late in learning this," the old
man went on. "My great absorption separated me from the workers —
my great responsibility. Can you imagine what it means to be cause
of misery to the life of another human being — the cause of misery
through life of the human being you love most? To see her suffer

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 69

year by year through your fault? To see her suffer because of her
love of you, to have had love for you ruin the life of a girl gay anld,'
lovely and to see the years pass over her, blurring her youth, blurring
her youth as she bore her children, as she slaved for you and her-
self? Having done this I devoted myself to trying to atone. I saw
only this in life."

A great pity seized Morris. He saw that the old man had a
desperate need of sympathy and understanding, though Morris did
not see what he was driving at or get head or tail of his outburst.
He said, consolingly, "Aren't you exaggerating? If another person is
unhappy it is not your fault."

"You don't understand at all," the old man said, with a sort of
furious quiet. "Can't you imagine what it would mean to have the
woman you love give up all — her home, her family, everything for
you, — everything? Father, mother, friends? Give it all up for you
and suffer for it all her days, and you — what would you have to offer?
A miserable hole in the wall that you call a home. Children born
with no care. Children crying to be tended — with the new one hardly
in the world. The tailor's wages, the sweatshop. You speak of the
"natural plagues — birth, death, the bosses. There is another — home-
sickness. Homesickness! There is no pain exactly like it. It was
that from which my Anna suffered. She never grew accustomed to
life in this country. How should she? Thirty-five years, a lifetime.
Sons, daughters, work, hunger, want. New York. Always this strange
city remained strange. It always frightened her. The swarming
people, the confusion, the very size . . . my fault . . . my fault.
But could I know it would be like this? Could I know it when I
made her love me? I was always standing about where she could
see me. I learned to find out when she went out and when she came
in." He broke off suddenly.

Morris and he walked up and down in silence in front of the tall
clothing building with its tall policemen. A stream of people were
now hurrying to work. All the people who must be first to open the
office were crowding New York streets. At seven the city had come
to life. And now, near eight o'clock, the streets were full. A sense of
unreality had come to Morris. This absurd old fellow was talking
about youth and spring and love and romance. He was so gnarled
by work, so uncouth, that it seemed beyond powers of imagination
that a girl should have waited shyly to see him pass.

"I made her love me. But her father had already arranged for
her to marry the son of his friend. She ran away for love of me.
My sister and her husband were coming to this country, and Anna
came with them. Her father read over her the service of the dead."

Romance, hope — then the sweatshop, children, misery, the dark tene-
ment. A common story. The story of every other immigrant on
the block. Thirty-five years of expiation for having loved.

"You will go back yet," Morris said, comfortably. An intolerable
pity swept over him for this babbling old man with his little terror-
stricken wife. The old man made no answer. He had told his story.
He was through talking. His innocent eyes stared ahead. He seemed
so foreign, so beaten, that Morris longed to comfort him, but it was
as though the old fellow had put a wall of grief between them. He
was very weary, — fatigue gave him the air of walking in his sleep.
Morris said gently:

"You shouldn't picket. Let the young fellows do that."

"You don't understand," the old man said, "I have to make up.
I must make up. I must atone for the years I have missed. I must
set an example." He spoke with a gentle fanaticism: "What if we lost?
I have made terrible mistakes in my life. I must take no chances."

The new line of pickets came up. The watch was over. "Come
with me and have some coffee," Morris urged. But the old man was
off, plunging down the street.

70 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

"Who was that old fellow who was with me?" Morris asked thi
shop chairman.

"That — that was poor old Benjamin. He shouldn't have come,
But perhaps it's just as well. It may comfort him to be doing some-
thing."

"Comfort him?" Morris asked.

"His wife died yesterday— I told him not to. He would come."

ATTACK UPON THE LIFE OF THE AMALGAMATED

Attacks upon labor organizations are as old as the labor move-
ment. As long as present industrial relations continue, employers
will seek to break the organizations of the workers, if they are un-
able to prevent the workers from organizing. Since the time the
labor movement received legal sanction, the Amalgamated was, to our
knowledge, the first labor organization to enjoy the distinction of
being haled into court by employers to be placed on trial for its life.

Two dissolution suits were brought against the Amalgamated.
When the first action, by J. Friedman & Co., January 20, 1921, became
known, it aroused a storm among employers, workers, and students of
the lalbor movement.

The enemies of labor rejoiced. At last a short cut to the ''open
shop" was found: The courts! No more costly lockouts or strikes.
A method so simple and direct as dissolution by court order would be
a great boon for the "open shoppers." Let the judge make his deci-
sion in this first case, and the precedent thus established would pave
the way for other employers and courts.

The workers were touched to the quick. They understood the
danger and rallied all the closer around the banner of their organiza-
tion. If anything was needed to stimulate the fighting spirit of the
locked out workers, the dissolution suit did it.

The students of the labor movement and public spirited citizens
were shocked by the brazenness of the employers' move, and mani-
fested great fear of the consequences. If a constructive labor move-
ment is made impossible, what will take its place? Disorder, chaos,
mutual sabotage, by which no one will be the gainer and everyone
the loser.

Here is an account of the beginning of the suit, from Advance of
January 28, 1921 :

The Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America has again been
given first place in the American labor movement. It has been attacked
in the first law suit ever started in the United States for the dissolu-
tion of an organized labor union. In the Michaels-Stern affair in
Rochester, threats were made that court action would be taken tc
disband the Amalgamated, but these threats were never put into
practice.

A summons in the suit was served on Sidney Hillman at Amal-
gamated headquarters late on January 20. J. Friedman Company is
the nominal plaintiff, but the clothing manufacturers have publicly
announced that their association is behind the move. The name of
Harry A. Gordon, attorney for the association, is attached to the
papers.

Besides dissolution of the Amalgamated, the manufacturers ask for
a permanent injunction against striking or picketing their shops and
for $560,000 damages.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 71

In the Michaels-Stern case in Rochester, the damages asked of the
Amalgamated were $100,000. In the Rogers, Peet suit in New York
$200,000 damages were asked. Now the manufacturers' association is
demanding an amount two and one-half times as large as the largest
previous figure.

Answers in the suit will be filed in due course. Hearing on a
preliminary injunction will be held on February 7.

The papers in the suit, which include about 130 typewritten pages
of "complaint" and "affidavits," quote at length from the history of
the organization, from Advance, from the preamble and constitution
of the union, and from a book called "The New Unionism" recently
published by J. M. Budish and George Soule. They cite from the
preamble of the union's constitution as follows:

"The industrial and inter-industrial organization, built upon the
solid rock of clear knowledge and class consciousness will put the
organized working class in actual control of the system of production,
and the working class will then be ready to take possession of it."

The manufacturers' "complaint" further alleges that the Amal-
gamated exists "solely and only for the purpose of destroying the
existing industrial structure in the clothing industry." The employers
go on to declare that the union aim is "seizing and wresting"
their property in the industry in order to transfer the ownership to
the members of the union. The policy of the Amalgamated, the manu-
facturers allege, is "to destroy the existing social, industrial, and
political structures, and to substitute in lieu and in place thereof
the rule of the proletariat."

Besides the charge of "Sovietism" affidavits are included alleging
"violence" against strikebreakers employed by J. Friedman & Co.
In this connection the papers filed with the complaint declare:

"It is hardly necessary, because of its general reputation for
radicalism, Socialism, syndicalism and lawlessness, to refer at length
to the past record of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
for violence and lawlessness."

President Sidney Hillinan, General Secretary-Treasurer Joseph
Schlossberg, and all other important officers of the Amalgamated, and
almost a hundred individual members of the organization, are charged
with having "conspired" in the before-named acts. All are named as
defendants in the suit.

Dr. William Leiserson, who is impartial chairman in the Rochester
market and filled the same office in New York before he was discharged
by the manufacturers at the beginning of the present lockout, is also
named. His name is the last on the list and was apparently added
after the papers had been prepared. The inclusion of his name fol-
lows closely after the threat of Harry A. Gordon, attorney for the
manufacturers, to sue Leiserson for "libel" in case the latter published
the statement of facts which he had prepared on the present lockout
struggle.

Following is the full text of the judgment which the manufac-
turers "demanded" the courts give them against the Amalgamated:

"First : That it be adjudged and decreed that the defendant Amal-
gamated Clothing Workers of America is an unlawful combination
and conspiracy, organized and existing solely and only for the pur-
pose of preventing the plaintiff and others from exercising a lawful
trade and doing lawful acts, and to commit acts injurious to the pub-
lic welfare, public morals and trade and commerce, and for the per-
version and obstruction of justice and the due administration of the
laws of the state of New York, and that said defendant Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America and all local unions and joint boards
connected therewith, be dissolved;

72 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

* ' Second : That the defendants and their and each of their agents,
servants, attorneys, confederates, and any and all persons acting in
aid of or in conjunction with them or any of them, be perpetually
and permanently enjoined and restrained from doing any acts in-
jurious to the plaintiff, and in violation of the contracts of employ-
ment entered into between the plaintiff and his employees aforesaid;
from enticing or persuading the plaintiff's employees under contract
with the plaintiff from deserting their employment and from creating
and continuing a strike in the factories of the plaintiff, and from
picketing or instigating persons to picket the plaintiff's places of
business in any manner whatsoever; from congregating about the
premises of plaintiff's factories and coercing, threatening, intimidat-
ing, halting and turning aside against their will, those who would go
to and from the places of business of the plaintiff, and those who
would seek and are willing to work for the plaintiff, and from ham-
pering, hindering or harassing in any other way the free dispatch of
business Iby the plaintiff, and from using any and all ways, means
and methods of doing any of the aforesaid forbidden acts, either
directly or indirectly, or through officers, agents or others, and the
plaintiff further praj'S for a preliminary injunction of the same force
and effect to remain in effect during the pendency of this action;

" Third: That a judgment be entered herein awarding to the
plaintiff the sum of $500,000 damages suffered by the plaintiff, be-
sides the costs of the action; and

"Fourth: That the plaintiff have such other and further relief
as to the court may seem just and proper."

On February 14 a hearing was had before Justice Nathan Bijur.
Robert Szold and Ex-Judge Samuel Seabury represented the Amal-
gamated, and Max D. Steuer the Manufacturers' Association. On
March 29 Judge Bijur dismissed the suit in a decision as quoted on
page 44.

The following is an editorial comment in the New York "Evening
Post" of March 30, 1921:

CLOTHING WORKERS HOLD THEIR GROUND

Dismissal of the suit against the Amalgamated Clothing Workers
by Justice Bijur in the Supreme Court probably foreshadows the failure
of the employers' campaign for dissolution of the union. The lawyers
for the plaintiff, replying to claims of victory of union spokesmen,
assert that the decision simply calls for a change in the terms in
which the complaint is brought. They announce their intention to ac-
cept the opportunity to file new papers immediately and to continue
their campagin to break up the workers' organization. Nevertheless,
Justice Bijur's refusal to consider the general allegations against the
union as proper grounds for proceeding against the individual union
officials named in the complaints seems to indicate that an action against
the organization as such will not succeed. His opinion points to the
establishment of the principle of individual responsibility in suits for
protection and damages. Employers' counsel may win injunction orders
against picketing by union agents and other court protection and
relief in cases of specific acts adjudged illegal, which will make easier
the attempt to carry on work in non-union "open shops." Success
now appears extremely doubtful in the attempt to secure the dissolu-
tion of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America by court order

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 73

on the ground of charges that its purposes are a menace to American
institutions.

The employers amended their complaint and on April 26, 1921,
Supreme Court Justice Delehanty ruled to the effect that the union
can be dissolved. The ruling- was, however, of no value to the em-
ployers for the purposes of the fight against the organization, as the
lockout was practically over. The employers realized that they must
come to terms with the Amalgamated if they want the workers back
in the shops. The suit was not tried. The plaintiff, J. Friedman &
Co., wras included in the settlement made about five weeks later between
the association and the Amalgamated.

Among those who filed affidavits in support of the Amalgamated
in the dissolution action were :

Dr. William M. Leiserson, impartial chairman, Labor Adjustment
Board, Rochester. Impartial chairman, New York City, both before
and after the lockout.

Charles B. Barnes, impartial chairman, Silk Ribbon Industry,
New York City. Impartial chairman, Fancy Leather Goods Industry,
New York City, formerly impartial chairman, Clothing Industry,
Montreal, Canada.

Professor James H. Tufts, visiting professor of Philosophy,
Columbia University, professor of philosophy, University of Chicago,
formerly chairman of Board of Arbitration, Chicago Clothing In-
dustry.

Judge Jacob M. Moses, formerly chairman, Trade Board, Cloth-
ing Industry, Baltimore, Md.

Professor Edwin R. A. Seligman, Columbia University.

Professor Henry R. Seager, Columbia University.

Professor W. F. Ogburn, Columbia University.

Professor Earl Dean Howard, labor manager, Hart, Schaffner &
Marx, Chicago.

Florence Kelley, general secretary, National Consumers' League.
Allen T. Burns, in charge Americanization Study for Carnegie
Foundation.

John A. Fitch, associate editor, "Survey."
Ray Stannard Baker, well-known author.
George Soule, well-known journalist.

"INDIVIDUAL CONTRACTS"

The employers who had locked out the members of the Amal-
gamated inaugurated a system of "individual contracts" for the
strikebreakers. The "contracts" were based upon the United States
Supreme Court's decision in the celebrated Hitchman case.

The Hitchman Coal and Coke Company of Marshall County, West
Virginia, broke its relations with the United Mine Workers of
America and operated its mines as "open shops." An "open shop"
being open to non-union members only, the company required of its

74 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

employees to sign forms, pledging themselves not to belong to the
union while in the company's employ. The company pronounced
those forms "contracts," though not signed by the employers, and
giving the workers nothing in consideration of their surrendering
their precious American right to belong to an organization. The
company was at liberty to discharge a worker for any reason or no
reason. It was an "open shop/' in which workers have no rights,
"contract" or no "contract." The purpose of the "contract" was not
to keep the workers from joining the union; for that the "contract"
was superfluous; the purpose was to keep the union from soliciting
the workers' membership. By entering upon the company's domain,
which was everywhere any of the company's employees happened to
be, the union was violating the sanctity of a "free contract" between
the workers and the company. "Freedom of contract" is the "prin-
ciple" underlying this destruction of the rights of American citizens
to "contract" with fellow workers for mutual protection. When
signing his employment-application the worker, hungry for a job,
signed away not only his right to be organized but also THE UNION'S
BIGHT TO TALK ORGANIZATION TO HIM. That was in effect
the company's position, and the United States Supreme Court upheld
it. The Hitchman decision has greatly promoted the "open shop"
war against the labor movement.

The "individual contracts" made by the clothing manufacturers
with the strikebreakers followed the lines laid down by those in the
Hitchman case. Below is a specimen of such "contracts" as incor-
porated in the moving papers of J. Friedman & Co. They are the
latest device for paralyzing, with the help of the courts, labor's or-
ganizing activities. The fact that the "contract" proved harmless
in our case does not diminish its danger to the labor movement. The
sanctioning of that enslaving "contract" as a means of rendering
collective bargaining by labor ineffective is a travesty of justice.
Herewith the ' ' contract ' ' :

We, the undersigned, have been employed by and hereby agree to
work for (Name of firm) from week to week, with the express under-
standing that we have ceased to be affiliated with any union, and that
we will not join any union while in the employ of said company. We
also agree that while in the employ of said company, we will not make
any efforts to bring about the unionizing of the employees of the com-
pany against the company's wishes.

We have read the above or heard the same read.
Dated, New York, , 1921.

(Names of employees)

We hereby agree to employ the above named persons on the
terms and conditions hereinabove stated.

(Name of firm)

At the risk of repetition it must be emphasized that under the
"individual contract" the rights are entirely for one side: All for
the employer and none for the worker. A worker signs such a con-
tract under duress, at the point of a gun, as it were. If that is the
only way he can get a job, the worker will sign a thousand "con-

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 75

tracts," without even reading them. The law condemns contracts
signed under duress. In commercial life they are worthless and will
be declared void by any judge. The Supreme Court recognizes such
"contracts" with wage workers because of the legal fiction that the
worker is at liberty to accept or refuse employment if the "contract"
does not suit him. The Supreme Court refuses to take cognizance of
the real fact that the "liberty" to refuse employment under the ob-
jectionable contract is the "liberty" to die of starvation.

Contracts can be made only between equals. There is no economic,
or social equality between employers and workers. But for the pur-
pose of 'bargaining for working conditions a degree of "equality" is
created by the organization of lahor, giving the workers advantages
to offset in a measure the economic disadvantages in their bargaining
power. When the workers are poorly organized, their degree of
"equality" for bargaining purposes with the employers is low and
their collective bargaining contracts have less advantages for them;
when the workers are strongly organized, their degree of "equality"
for bargaining purposes is higher and they are in a position to secure
greater advantages for themselves. THE INDIVIDUAL AND UN-
ORGANIZED WORKER HAS NO BARGAINING POWER WHAT-
SOEVER. He is entirely at the mercy of the employer, and, allowing
for rare exceptions, must accept the dictates of the employer. Where
there is a contract between a labor union and an employer, anti-labor
organizations are not legally deprived of the opportunity to conduct
their la;bor hating propaganda among the unorganized workers.
Where "individual contracts" prevail, requiring of workers not to
join a union, the union is FORBIDDEN by the court to carry its
message to the unorganized workers. That is a peculiar sort of
"equality before the law." The "individual contracts" involved in
our lockout were signed for pay, by strikebreakers, who would sell
their souls, if they had any, for money. The type of person who acts
as a "blackleg" in a lockout while the union is taking care of needy
workers, need not be described. Very often the hired strikebreaker
is not of the industry and does not know how to make clothing. His
"trade" is strike breaking. He is hired for the moral effect upon
the real workers who are locked out or on strike. We do not know
how many of the hired "guards" signed those contracts.

A strike breaker is hired to break a strike. The signing of a
"contract" is included in his "services." When the paper is signed
the employer takes it to court, demands that it be recognized under
the Hitchman decision, and that the union be chained by an injunction
and then dissolved. We are not aware of any more disgraceful pro-
cedure to degrade the courts.

UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPTS AT SETTLEMENTS

Shortly after the beginning of the lockout some efforts were made
by outsiders to bring about a settlement, as may foe seen from the
following exchange of correspondence :

76 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

State of New York
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

STATE INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION
Capitol, Albany.

New York, Office, 124 East 28th Street,

New York, December 16, 1920.

Sidney Hillman, Esq.,

President, Amalgamated Clothing

Workers of America,

31 Union Square. New York City.

William A. Handler, President,

Clothing Manufacturers' Association of New York,

752 Broadway, New York City.

Gentlemen:

As you are aware for sometime past, there has been serious con-
tention in the trade between the employers and the employees, which
recently became acute, resulting in the stoppage of all production in
men's clothing. It would be a matter of regret, if this condition should
continue.

Each side will soon feel the strain and this bureau in the discharge
of its duty is obliged to do all in its power to aid in the restoration
of industrial peace. This, however, cannot be accomplished until both
sides meet in conference once more to reason over the questions at
issue and come to a mutual understanding. Such being the case, it
is our judgment that at an early date, a joint conference of the parties
interested should be held at the office of the State Bureau of Media-
tion and Arbitration, 124 East 28th Street, N. Y. C. We, therefore,
request your presence at the above address, 10 a. m., Monday, Decem-
ber 20, 1920.

The law under which the Bureau of Mediation and Arbitration
functions contains the following provision:

"Sec. 141, Mediation and Investigation. — Whenever a strike
or lockout occurs or is seriously threatened, an officer or agent
of the bureau of mediation and arbitration shall, if practicable,
proceed promptly to the locality thereof and endeavor by media-
tion to effect an amicable settlement of the controversy. If
the commissioner of labor deems it advisable the board of media-
tion and arbitration may proceed to the locality and inquire
into the cause thereof, and for that purpose shall have all
the powers conferred upon it in the case of a controversy sub-
mitted to it for abitration."

In furtherance of this desire of the bureau, it is requested that
an answer be sent in response to this letter.

If the date or time conflicts with your previous engagements,
kindly let the bureau's representatives know when you will be free to
act, so that the conference can be arranged accordingly.

Very respectfully yours,

(Signed) M. J. REAGAN,
Industrial Mediator.

JOHN J. BEALIN,
Special Agent.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 7t

New York, December 16, 1920.
Mr. M. J. Reagan,
Industrial Mediator
State Industrial Commission
124 East 28th Street, New York City.

Dear Sir:

In reply to your letter of even date, I beg to say that unless we
hear from you that the proposed conference of which you speak can-
not be arranged, a representative of this organization will be at your
office on Monday, December 20, at 10 a. m. as you request.

Very truly yours,
(Signed) SIDNEY HILLMAN

General President

State of New York
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

STATE INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION
Capitol, Albany.

New York, Office, 124 East 28th Street,

New York, December 17, 1920.
Sidney Hillman, Esq.,
President, Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America,
31 Union Square, New York City.

Dear Sir:

I beg leave to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 16th
instant in re invitation to a conference at this office on December
20, 1920.

The Clothing Manufacturers' Association, through their president,
refuse to go into a conference unless the union agree to the terms
prescribed by the Manufacturers' Association, which terms have been
already submitted to you by that body.

Very respectfully yours,
(Signed) MICHAEL J. REAGAN,

Industrial Mediator.

CENTRAL SYNAGOGUE

December 21, 1920.
Mr. Sidney Hillman,
President, Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America,
31 Union Square, New York City.

I am returning to you Exhibit A, the Hart, Schaffner and Marx
labor agreement, also Leiserson's letter to the market committee.

I delivered my address on the "Crisis in the Clothing Industry"
before a very large audience. I tried to be fair to both sides and I
offered my services to act in the capacity of an arbiter should my
services be desired. Mr. Bandler evidently did not think that any
outsider should be consulted, for in reading the newspaper I find that
when he was interviewed he told the reporters that the Manufac-
turers' Association would not avail themselves of my offer. I can-
not tell you how deeply I regret this clash in the clothing industry,
not only because of the physical ills which the laborers will have to
suffer, but because of the unpleasantness and the bad name which
the Jews will get. We Jews have always boasted of our high moral
ideals and I feel that here was an opportunity when we could put
these moral ideals into practice and show the outside world that

78 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

we at least can settle our differences without resorting to force. I
trust that the light will break in and that a happy solution will not
be far off.

If I can be of any service to you in any way whatsoever, do not
hesitate to call upon me.

Very cordially yours,
(Signed) NATHAN KRASS

MAYOR HYLAN'S COMMITTEE

On March 10 the following announcement was made at the City
Hall:

"With a view to securing a settlement of the difficulties existing
between the two bodies concerned in the men's clothing industry, the
mayor today appointed a committee on inquiry under the chairman-
ship of George Gordon Battle. The personnel of the committee is as
follows :

"George Gordon Battle, Joseph S. Marcus, Charles L. Bern-
heimer, Arthur M. Lamport, Mrs. William Randolph Hearst.

"The duties of the committee will include:

"An inquiry on behalf of the city of New York into the existing
dead-lock in the men's clothing industry;

"Authority to negotiate for a settlement of the difficulties, if it
be found that an opportunity arises during this inquiry to do so."

The union declared its readiness to assist the committee in every
way possible to bring about a settlement. The employers' associa-
tion did not want a settlement. The committee's efforts were fruit-
less.

THE SETTLEMENT

Almost from the beginning of the lockout struggle settlements
were made with individual employers, and large numbers of our mem-
bers returned to work under the union's protection. Those settle-
ments included some very important firms. As time wore on the em-
ployers realized their inability to exhaust the Amalgamated in a test
of endurance, or to put it out of existence by dissolution suits, and
that injunctions and "individual contracts" do not make clothing.
As a result of their war against the organized workers the employers
were rapidly losing business to other markets. The rumblings within
the association against the "bitter end" policy of the war party grew
in volume until they became a stormy outbreak and were heard out-
side. The lockout leaders confirmed the dissatisfaction within the
association by public denials that a split in the association was immi-
nent. Shortly after those denials the war lords resigned from the
association.

The resignations of President William A. Bandler and of his two
legal champions were announced on May 19. Bandler in his letter
to the association said:

"I am hereby tendering my resignation as president of your
association, to become effective forthwith.

"Owing to the fact that certain members of your association
entertain views which are contrary to mine, and are about to embark

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 79

upon a policy to which I find myself unable to subscribe, I feel that I
can no longer continue as the head of your association. I deem it
incumbent upon me, however, to say at this time that I am committed
today, the same as I was on December 6, 1920, to the principles which
have controlled the policies of the association ever since, and that I
shall continue in my own way and with such co-operation as I am able
to secure, to carry forward the movement against the objectionable
influences of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. I am
a strong advocate of trade unions and am willing to lend my efforts
in every way which will bring about closer and more harmonious
relationship between capital and labor."

Archibald E. Stevenson's letter of resignation as special counsel
to the association follows :

"I hereby tender my resignation as counsel to your association
to become effective immediately.

"It is a matter of regret that your association has determined
upon its present course of action. The failure of some of the manu-
facturers in this market to deal fairly with each other, and with the
public generally, has heretofore created a situation which made pos-
sible the growth in pOAver of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America. My acceptance of your retainer was with the understanding
that your association was irrevocably pledged to certain principles
which affect not only the industry itself, but the interests of our
government and our institutions.

"Your failure to maintain these principles, and your determina-
tion to enter into negotiations with the Amalgamated union will result
in lasting injury to the industry and will render more difficult the
efforts of those who have determined to stabilize conditions in this
market."

The fact should not be overlooked that while Bandler is profess-
ing to be "a strong advocate of trade unions," as proved by the "in-
dividual contracts" given above, Archibald Lusk Stevenson speaks of
"the interests of our government and our institutions." This is here
recorded for the benefit of posterity.

Immediately after those resignations were accepted, Mark L.
Abrahams, vice-president of the employers' association, took Bandler 's
place.

The market committee was re-organized and the directors adopted
the following resolution covering the future policy of the association:

"The Clothing Manufacturers' Association of New York shall con-
tinue to function for the purpose of creating and maintaining har-
monious relations between its members and their workers."

The market committee was re-organized with the following mem-
bers : Mark L. Abrahams, of Mark L. Abrahams Co. ; Sol Bashwitz,
of Bashwitz Bros. & Co., Inc. ; M. H. Friedman, of J. Friedman & Co.,
Inc.; William Grossman, of Zeeman & Grossman; Max Graff, of Graff
& Wyllins; Samuel Rosenthal, of Samuel Rosenthal & Bros.; Julius
Schwartz, of Schwartz & Jaffee ; Joseph Skolny, of J. Skolny & Bros. ;
Solis Cohen, of Cohen & Lang; Julius Levy, of Kahn, Dreyfus,
Levy, Inc

80 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

On the old market committee, among others, representing the
Clothing Trade group were Henry Fruhauf, of Fruhauf Bros. £ Co. ;
Henry Kaphael, of Berger, Raphael & Wile; William Naumburg, of
M. & W. Naumberg; Samuel Currick, of Currick, Leiken & Co.; Sey-
mour Strause, of Heidelberg, Wolff & Co.

This dramatic break-down of the lockout employers' drive against
the Amalgamated was precipitated by the resignation from the asso-
ciation of important members who wished to settle with the union
and get back to work.

The first of these resignations to be announced, on May 18, was
that of Samuel Rosenthal, of "Big Six" Rosenthal, which firm em-
ploys 5,000 workers.

Philip Walcoff and Co., Inc., also one of the largest manufacturers
in the association, announced his resignation the same night.

After the withdrawal of these large manufacturers, the war party
in the association made a last grand-stand play and rounded up a vote
of confidence of 27 to 25. This weak front was utterly smashed the
following day when news of the. important resignations above men-
tioned became widespread. Bandler's and his attorneys' resignations
followed.

A few " irreconcilable" members also resigned, and the generals
without an army withdrew in defeat.

Editorial, Advance, May 27, 1921 :

ON THE THRESHOLD OP LAW AND ORDER

There have been kaleidoscopic developments in the New York cloth-
ing Industry within the past few days.

At a spirited meeting of the Clothing Manufacturers' Association
the president and the counsel rescued a vote of confidence for them-
selves by the overwhelming majority of 27 votes against 25. Im-
mediately thereafter the association re-organized the belligerent market
committee and placed it on a peace footing. As an expression of
their gratitude for the glorious vindication of their highly successful
union-smashing policy, the president and his two lawyers handed in
their resignations — to the relief and delight of the entire clothing in-
dustry. Everybody admired the self-sacrificing spirit of the three peer-
less leaders, and the service they rendered the industry by their heroic
retreat is being universally acknowledged.

There were soon rumors afloat to the effect that the Manufacturers'
Association is seeking to come back to normal conditions, i. e., to
come to an understanding with the Amalgamated and resume the
production of clothing. There were rumors and counter-rumors, and
guesses and suppositions, until all doubts were removed by the pub-
lished statement of the three retiring anti-labor champions that they
regretted the peace program of the association. Then it became clear
that sanity was returning to the industry.

After signing their very patriotically worded resignations, the
three deposed warriors took with them the rapidily diminishing war
party and withdrew to a point of vantage, at a safe distance from
the clothing industry, from which they may view, undisturbed and
unobserved, the steady march of the clothing industry to Law and
Order.

It might be argued that their withdrawal to oblivion was rather
too bombastic and with a needless display of impotence. But it seems
that no one can raise himself above human nature, not even our three
fcnights, Once upon a time tUert was a governor in tfce state of New

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 81

York. He was impeached, convicted, and removed by the legislature.
He was politically dead and it was beyond the power of man or God
to resuscitate him. But before going down to the bottom as all dead
ones must do, he rose to the surface for a brief moment and turned
up in the legislature as a member of the assembly. He soon dis-
appeared and was never seen again. Likewise have the three deposed
governors in this case made gestures with clinched fists at the body
of men which they had formerly commanded. But they are just as
powerless as the other governor.

The three great warriors had undertaken to destroy the Amalga-
mated, place a receiver in its headquarters and put its officers in jail.
While they failed to carry out that very ambitious program, they did
succeed in freeing the clothing industry of themselves.

With the war party engaged in the absorbing task of nursing
its wounds and taking inventory of its casualties, the Manufacturers'
Association is preparing itself for the resumption of business activi-
ties on a civilized basis.

It is only a few days since the war party by its own heat caused
the great combustion and the blowing up of its powder. At the time of
this writing nothing definite can as yet be said. There are, however,
strong indications that we are nearing the end of the great struggle
forced upon the clothing industry in the East a half year ago by
persons who have found attempts at union-smashing profitable to
themselves though injurious to the industry.

Our members understand, however, that the struggle will not be
over until it IS over. Until the representatives of the joint board
are ready to appear before the members and submit for their ratifi-
cation an understanding with the employers, the usual lockout re-
sistance activities will continue. There will be no stop in the collec-
tion of the assessments, the payment of relief to needy members, and
in other work until the organization so decides. While the involun-
tary withdrawal of the three graces makes a settlement with the em-
ployers possible, that settlement will not be here until it is reached.
The members will be informed as soon as an understanding is arrived
at, and they will get the information from their own organization and
from no other source.

The New York Joint Board has successfully led the workers
throughout the great struggle and the New York Joint Board will in-
form them when the time has come to declare this contest at an end.

The clothing industry in New York is on the threshold of Law
and Order. We hope to cross it soon. When we do the Amalgamated
family will rejoice.

After several preliminary and informal conferences negotiations
for a settlement of the lockout were officially taken up by representa-
tives of the Amalgamated and of the association.

When a basis for a settlement was reached it was submitted to
the members at mass meetings, where they wrere asked for authority
to continue negotiations and conclude an agreement on that basis.

Six huge membership meetings, similar to those at which the em-
ployers' anti-union ultimatum was indignantly rejected half a year
before, were held on Friday afternoon. May 27, 1921, by the locked out
Amalgamated Clothing Workers in New York and Brooklyn to receive
reports on the progress of negotiations between their representatives
and the employers to bring the lockout to a close.

After hearing and discussing the general principles reached in
the negotiations, the tens of thousands of members at these meetings
unanimously authorized the officers of the union to make a union shop
settlement on the basis described, Meetings of the officials of the

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

Amalgamated, the New York Joint Board, and the shop chairmen,
had previously been held on May 25, at which the proposed terms of
settlement were discussed.

The main points of settlement approved by the union members
at the six mass meetings included :

1. Recognition of the Amalgamated as the authorized body for
collective bargaining with the employers.

2. Restoration of the impartial chairman's machinery, as it
existed before the break.

3. Shop or group standards of production to be established,
under control of the union.

4. Reduction of wages not to exceed 15 per cent; no reduction
to cutters.

Other matters were left to be taken up in joint conference by
representatives of the union and the employers after the signing of
the agreement.

Those were substantially the terms which were offered by the
Amalgamated and rejected by the employers before the lockout.

The following resolution was unanimously adopted at the six
Amalgamated mass meetings :

"We, members of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America,
who have been locked out from employment for nearly a half year,
assembled this 27th day of May, 1921, have heard with satisfaction
the report of our representatives on the present situation in the New
York clothing industry. Having been informed by them that negotia-
tions are being conducted by our representatives with representatives
of the employers and that those negotiations are holding out prospects
for an understanding which will enable us to return to the factories
under the protection of our organization, the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America, we herewith express approval of the course
pursued by our representatives and authorize them to continue their
efforts along these lines and conclude an agreement accordingly.

"We take this occasion to renew our pledge and determination
to continue the struggle in the defense of our organization against all
those employers who may persist in their efforts to destroy it. The
flag of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America shall forever
wave over the ranks of the clothing workers."

June 1, 1921, the following was accepted by both sides as an out-
line for an agreement :

"1. The principle of the union shop is to prevail.

"2. Hours of work are to be forty -four a week.

"3. In each shop group standards of production will be deter-
mined for each operation by representatives of the union
and the employers.

"4. A joint committee of the union and the association will
determine the scale of wages. When this scale is reached
it automatically becomes a part of this agreement.

"5. A commission made up of representatives of the union and
representatives of the association will be appointed to work

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 83

out the relations between the union, the association, and
the contractors.
"6. There is to be a general reduction of 15 per cent in wages,

except for cutters.

"7. A board of arbitration is established in which is vested the
administration of the new agreement. The board is to be
composed of three members — one representative of the
union, one representative of the association, and a third
member jointly selected who shall be known as the impar-
tial chairman/'

In due time the agreement "was put in final form and signed by
the association and the Amalgamated Clothing Workers. The term
of the agreement is one year ending May 31, 1922, and automatically
renewable, except on notice to the contrary, thirty days before ex-
piration.

Dr. William M. Leiserson was again chosen impartial chairman.

Herewith comment on our struggle and victory by the liberal
press :

From the "Nation," June 8, 1921, by George Soule:

GOOD UNION OR BAD?

What is it that kept the clothing workers struggling year after year
against seemingly impossible odds until they finally were able to build
a great industrial union which raised them out of the sweatshops and in-
troduced some kind of order into the former industrial chaos of their
lives? What is it that has made them stand by this union and render
it victorious in a bitter struggle, such as the one just ended?

For surely no union ever went to battle under more unfavorable
conditions and came through with so few casualties. For months be-
fore the trouble broke out there had been a severe depression in the
industry, and at the moment of the breach there were not only
thousands of unemployed, but those who had work had eaten up most
of their savings. The vigorous open-shop campaign led the employers
to make a determined attack. And to the conflict on the industrial
field was added a shower of injunctions, arrests, and suits against the
union for sums aggregating millions of dollars. The lockout lasted
nearly six months, including the coldest weeks of winter. Yet there
were no desertions of consequence from the ranks of the strikers; in
spite of all, the employers could not operate their factories.

The quality of courage and determination that is required among
thousands of workers to endure a long and heart-breaking test of this
nature implies something more than the kind of emotion which would
be aroused by a quarrel over a few dollars more or less a week. It
implies a superb morale, the sort of morale which can exist in an
army only through the consciousness of a great cause. There must
be here one of those imponderables which give life to patriotism
or religion.

At the basis of this morale is an aspiration for a more just social
order, which can grow only from a more just government of industry.
Like the American colonists of 1776, the clothing workers object to
autocratic rule. They recognize the class conflict in their preamble, not
because they like it, but because they dislike it and intend to do
away with it. They know they can never do away with it by sub-
mitting unconditionally. The form of collective adjustment which
they have won is like a constitution wrested by a people from a
ruling class. To preserve this constitution they are willing to
undergo untold sacrifices. As long as they can preserve their con-

84 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OP AMERICA

stitution, they intend to use it for progressive improvement of the
industry which they feel by right is theirs, because it forms the chief
substance of their lives.

It is stupidity of the crudest sort to believe that a deep motive
of this sort is destructive and can in the long run injure the people
or the culture of America. On the contrary, it leads to trouble only
when it is thwarted. Given a chance to grow and function, endowed
with recognition and responsibility, it will flower in a higher technique
in industry, in a finer spirit in society. It is infinitely more hopeful
than the trading instinct, the demand for a few dollars more and a
few hours less, to which, according to our Luskers, "good" unions
must confine themselves.

The "New Republic," June 1, 1921:

THE VICTORY OF THE AMALGAMATED

The Amalgamated Clothing Workers, it is now certain, have won
a decisive victory in their prolonged and bitter fight against the faction
among the New York clothing manufacturers who declared a war on
the union and its policies. The majority of the employers have aban-
doned the contest and are negotiating with the union for a new
contract similar to the one which they denounced last winter. It is a
great and well-deserved victory, won by the most progressive element
in the American trades union movement. At a time when unionism
is being attacked and undermined all over the country, when strikes
rarely if ever succeed, when economic conditions are fighting on the
side of the employer and when many of the judges have not scrupled
to do what they could to embarrass organized labor, one union which
had to contend against all of these obstacles and discouragements has
managed to pull through a costly and lengthy strike entirely victorious.

The Amalgamated triumphed by virtue of its superior morale.
The New York clothing manufacturers are on the whole a disorgan-
ized group of cut-throat competitors, many of whom live from hand to
mouth and are not united by any sufficient bond of interest and prin-
ciple. When they started out to destroy the union in New York, their
plan was not approved by the better organized clothing manufacturers
in Rochester and Chicago, and the Amalgamated was able to draw
valuable support from union members in those cities who were earn-
ing more directly as the result of the lockout of their New York
brethren. On the other hand, the Amalgamated itself is perhaps the
best disciplined and most ably directed union in the United States.
Jt has consistently stood for an aggressive and progressive policy
which its leaders explained and discussed at its annual meetings and
which consequently was understood and supported by the rank and file
of the membership. A union of this kind may apparently suffer from
dissensions during prosperity, for it cannot cultivate vitality of in-
tellectual attitude towards its problems without permitting sharp dif-
ferences of opinion. But, when attacked, its members rally to it with
unusual loyalty, because they believe in its underlying idea. In the
case of the Amalgamated there were practically no defections among
its members during a strike which lasted for months and forced the
strikers to endure severe hardships. Its unusually sound morale was
in part the result of a division in the ranks of its opponents and
in part of the confidence of its members in their leaders, but it was
chiefly the result of the moral bond, within the union, of a common
and a partly disinterested social purpose.

The policy of the Amalgamated differs fundamentally from that of
the majority of the unions affiliated with the American Federation of
Labor, in that it is not satisfied to fight merely for high wages, short
hours and improved working conditions. Its leaders understand that
high wages, short hours and improved working conditions are impossible
unless industry is efficient and productive, and they have system-

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 85

atically labored to establish in the clothing industry scientific standards
of production, by which the efficiency of the managers and the workers
could both be measured. It has the reputation of being a radical
union. It is a radical union in the sense that it proposes participa-
tion by the workers in the management of the clothing industry. It
is radical in the sense that it is deliberately seeking a different organ-
ization of the industry from that which has prevailed in the past. But
the different organization which it seeks to bring about is also a more
efficient organization. It is willing and eager to have the work of its
members disciplined and improved by scientific standards, but it
insists that equally scientific standards shall be applied to the work
of the management. If the workers are asked to labor with whole-
hearted energy for the industry as a public service, they have a right
to ask in return that the fruits of their labor be not dissipated by in-
efficient management or absorbed by gross profiteering.

The organization of the clothing industry which the New York
manufacturers tried to destroy, when they locked out their employees
last winter, was a step in the direction of higher efficiency and joint
responsibility. It recognized and sought to apply scientific standards
of production to which both parties consented by means of collective
bargaining. When the two parties could not adjust their differences
they called in, not a temporary arbitrator, but a permanent impartial
chairman. It was the business of this chairman, not so much to pro-
pose a compromise between conflicting claims, as to analyze the nature
of the conflict and to seek a settlement which embodied that which is
beneficial for the industry in the claims of both parties. That is why
he needed to be a permanent official, equipped with a staff sufficient to
keep a cost accounting record of the industry and fully informed as
to every aspect of its operations. It was an interesting and profoundly
significant experiment in two-party industrial organization in the in-
terest of efficiency and stability. The attempt to destroy it was
culpable and the public will benefit even more than the manufacturers
or the workers from the failure of the lockout. There is reason
to believe that the majority of the employers will soon sign a new
agreement along the old lines.

Thus ended the first great Capital and Labor clash in the latest
"open shop7' drive inaugurated with the beginning of general unem-
ployment in the year 1920.

The whole membership was in the great fight. It is impossible
to extend credit to each one individually. We can mention only very
few of them :

Abraham I. Shiplacoff and Peter Monat, manager and secretary-
treasurer, respectively, of the New York Joint Board; Joseph Gold,
assistant manager, and Harris Heller, manager of the coatmaking
department ; Bene Romano, assistant trade manager of the New
York Joint Board, and J. Catalanotti, manager of the Italian Coat-
makers; H. Bernstein, manager of the Pantsmakers' Union; M. Ep-
stein, acting manager of the Vestmakers' Union; Murray Weiustein,
manager of the Cutters' Union. The following members of various
committees and hall chairmen should also be mentioned: J. Cirito,
H. Kaluskin, M. Nitzberg, M. Rappaport, A. De Angelo, H. Jacobson,
J. Pollard, J. Yelowitz, H. Greenberg, H. Nemzer, J. Pollack, I. Suss-
iiian, Z. Zubovitch, J. P. Friedman, A. Pio, N. Wertheimer,
F. Margolis, M. Nitzberg, M. Rappaport, A. Kahn, S. Katz, I. Secular,
Frank Alonge, Harry Bash, Louis Baum, Anthony Billis, Frank Bron-
cato, Anthony DeBiase. Charles Englander, M. Epstein, Stephan Fa-

86 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

sone, Louis Feitelson, Joseph Finkelstein, M. Goldblatt, Sam Heiffer-
man, A. Ingoglia, Morris Koffler, B. Lader, J. Leppo, L. Levine, Ben-
jamin Magid, Frank Margolis, I. Matiosaitis, I. Perlman, William
Peskoff, Morris Plotkin, Antonino Rini, Max Rosenthal, Harry Rubin,
M. Schultz, A. Silverman, Samuel Smith, I. Steinig, Morris Weinstein,
D. Weiss, Michel Zaecaro, Paul Zinn.

Among those of the General Office who were daily in touch with
the situation besides President Hillman and Secretary-Treasurer
Schlossberg were August Bellanca, member of the General Executive
Board; Frank Bellanca, editor of "II Lavoro," official journal of the
Amalgamated in Italian; E. Rabkin, associate editor of "Fortschritt,"
official journal in Jewish; Jacob S. Potofsky, assistant general sec-
retary-treasurer; M. Arcario, G. Artoni, Mrs. Tina Cacici, Anthony
Capraro, I. Goldstein, A. Greco, Leo Krzycki, Katharine Lindsay, G.
Sala, Joseph E. Shea, Forte Velona, and Nathan Wertheimer, general
organizers; J. B. Salutsky, national educational director; David
Saposs, educational director for New York; Leo Wolman and H. K.
Herwitz, of the Research .Department ; Victor Benedict of the Auditing
Department; A. E. Kazan of the Record Department, who together
with Brother Salutsky was in charge of the commissary stores.

Officers and other active members of "Big Four," Cutters'
Local 4, were Murray Weinstein, manager; Charles Cohen, Louis
Feinberg, Frank Finkelstein, Louis Friedman, George Hammers,
Irving Harburger, Barney Jacobson, H. Jacobson, S. Katz, Moe
Levy, Fred Menken, Max Pincus, Jack Pollard, Sol Schnall, Meyer
Senter, Martin Siegel, A. Silverman, Isidor Steinig, George Stone,
Moe Weissman.

Many persons and organizations not officially connected with the
Amalgamated assisted during the lockout and rendered great service.
Among them were Heber Blankenhorn, Robert Bruere, Gertrude Wil-
liams and Mary Heaton Vorse in the Publicity Department, Abraham
Cahan, Charles Ervin, Arturo Giovannitti, Henry Jager, Fiorello La
Guardia, V. Medem, A. J. Muste, Judge Panken, Mrs. Rose Pastor
Stokes, B. C. Vladeck, Frank P. Walsh, and David Wolf.

The firm of Lowenthal and Szold represented the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America in all legal proceedings.

RELIEF

During the lockout the sum of $1,165,206 was expended for relief.
Of this amount $1,038,706 was paid in cash benefits, and $126,500 was
given in supplies by the Amalgamated Stores. The $1,165,206 ex-
pended for relief represents 59^ per cent of the total lockout ex-
penses. The administration, with justice and efficiency, of such large
sums of money to so many thousands of people in itself presented a
huge problem.

The system adopted was in many respects the same as the one
inaugurated by Secretary-Treasurer Peter Monat of the New York
Joint Board during the 1919 strike. Its outstanding features are:

(1) Centralized control of payments.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 87

(2) Division of responsibility between those acting on the eligi-
bility of applicants for relief and the actual handling of the
cash.

(3) Choice offered to the members as to whether they would
receive the benefit in the form of cash or as supplies pur-
chased at the Amalgamated Commissary Stores.

(4) The temporary establishment of a sort of bank, with checks
drawn to members against the union, and cashed by the or-
ganization when properly endorsed.

Practically, the system worked like this: Every week relief
cards were distributed to each hall which was used as a strike center.
The hall chairman alloted to the chairman of each shop which had its
headquarters in that hall a certain number of these cards. The num-
ber of cards given each shop was in proportion to the number of
workers in the shop. Members who were attached to no shop made
application for cards directly to the hall chairman. The cards were
marked with what was known as an A.B.C. code to indicate the amount
of relief which was to be paid. These cards were presented at cer-
tain designated centers at specified times and exchanged for vouchers
on the Amalgamated, which vouchers were then cashed by the cashier.
In short, for the period of the lockout and for the purposes of efficient
administration of relief there came into existence an Amalgamated
Bank. Too much credit cannot be given M. Blumenreich, Rufino
Conti, H. Novodvor, J. Levine, S. Reich, and L. Barrash, who acted
as cashiers and who handled practically all the money paid out in
relief, for their efficient and capable work.

It was originally planned to issue only the so-called "Amalga-
mated currency " which could be exchanged at the Amalgamated
Commissary Stores for food supplies. There was, however, a great
deal of demand from the locked out workers for cash benefits. To
meet this demand the plan was changed so that members could either
receive the cards described above, which were exchanged for cash, or
could, if they preferred, receive the coupons which were to be ex-
changed at the stores for supplies.

As the lockout continued week after week, many of our members
felt the pinch more and more keenly. The fight began, it must be re-
membered, after a period of nine months of unemployment. The
workers had already in many cases dipped heavily into their personal
reserve fund. Especially those who had large families frequently
came to the relief committee with appeals for clothing or medical at-
tention. Often, in addition to the weekly cash benefit, there were bills
to be met, for rent, gas, coal and wood. In order to be entirely sure
that such emergency applications received immediate attention a spe-
cial staff of visitors was assigned to this task. Especial mention
should be made here of Dorothy Jacobs Bellanca, who for many weeks
during the lockout voluntarily devoted almost her entire time to this
most necessary work. Others who assisted her were Celia Abramo-
witz, Katharine Lindsay, Tina Cacici, H. Greenberg, F. Blumenreich,
P. Pashikoff, and I. Pearlman.

The Amalgamated women of Baltimore organized a committee

88 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

to work for a ' 'Babies' Milk Fund." More about this is told in the
section on Baltimore.

A committee of women from our Vineland, N. J., local also sent
to the General Office for distribution a large amount of clothing which
was used to good effect.

The summary statement of the relief paid shows that it was
distributed among the various departments of the industry as follows :

Branch of Industry Amount Percentage

Coat makers $571,616.60 54.

Custom tailors 57,674.20 5.5

Wholesale clothing clerks 17,274.00 1.6

Bushelmen 2,173.60 .2

Vest makers 22,851.00 2.

Pants makers- 58,937.20 5.6

Children's clothing 106,507.20 10.

New York locals, outside of New York

Joint Board 196,790.00 19.

Out of town locals 584.00 .058

Unclassified 4,299.00 .4

Grand total $1,038,706.00 100.00

Food supplies 126,500.00

Grand total relief $1,165,206.00

AMALGAMATED COMMISSARY STORES

A unique feature oi the administration of relief during this
struggle was the establishment of seven Commissary Stores, which
have already been referred to.

The Commissary Stores were regular full-size grocery stores run
by the relief committee for the benefit of the locked out workers.
They carried most articles wanted in the home. A system of " Amal-
gamated currency" was devised to make the members feel they
were actually buying the goods in the stores, and not getting a
charity bundle. A member entitled to, say $10 relief, would get an
Amalgamated $10 bill, which was "breakable." That is to say, the
member could buy his supplies not all at one time, but as he needed
them. He could also cash in part of the Amalgamated money bill,
say, buy $6 or $7 worth of products at one of the seven Amalgamated
Stores, and get the balance in actual money, — the exchange being on
basis of parity.

The seven Commissary Stores necessitated quite an elaborate
administration, which was to take care of buying products, of storing
at the central warehouse, and distributing the goods to the local stores.
The system of control of both buying and distributing was worked
out in consultation with a number of experts, such as Messrs. A. H.
Bing, Barnett Feinberg, Adolph Held, Jacob Milch. Brothers Wil-
liam Z. Foster and McChechan, leader of the steel strike and manager
of the United Mine Workers' co-operative enterprise respectively,
valuable service in advising on the system of control and

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT

89

organization. Educational Di-
rector J. B. Salutsky was the
head of the department, and A.
E. Kazan, director of our Re-
cord Department, took im-
mediate care of the buying of
the products and managed the
stores. He bore the brunt of
the great task of management.
His untiring effort made it
possible to cover the overhead
expense from the margin be-
tween the bottom wholesale
prices and the very low prices
(25 to 35 per cent below
market) charged to the mem- ^
bers. The seven stores were in
operation about four months,
and distributed $132,000 worth
of products. They were both
a saving and convenience to
the workers. They made the
workers' dollar go much far-
ther than it would in the ^
corner store. In fact, the Com-
missary Stores affected the
prices in the private stores in
the vicinity.

CUT TO RIGHT REPRESENTS
AMALGAMATED "CURREN-
CY" USED IN DISTRIBUT-
ING RELIEF IN NEW YORK "•
LOCKOUT.

ORDER ON AMALGAMATED STORES ISSUED BY

NEW YORK JOINT B'OARD. A.C.W.OFA.
TOTAL VALUE OF ORDER $7

IN MERCHANDISE /

IOENT. N0._

.LEDGER NO.-

RELIEF COMMITTEE, NEW YORK JOINT BOARD

BY .. .

THIS STUB WORTH $1.QO

25 25

^

CENTS

CENTS

50

CENTS

25

CENTS

Not food if
ci.t«cfa«d

I

50 25

CENTS CENTS

•totf

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES DURING NEW YORK LOCKOUT

"What is reported under this heading is, of course, only
a small fraction of the immense work of workers' education carried
on by the union during the unf orgetable six months of the great
struggle in New York — by means of the struggle itself. No grander
scheme of labor education than the challenge of the New York em-
ployers and their allied and associated powers to the New York
clothing workers could have been devised. It was a great scheme
of education to take in an army of 60,000 people, to drill it in
thorough understanding of the nature of the economic struggle in
present-day society; to concentrate the will-power of this army on
one goal — victory, and thereby make that army invincible. The lion's
share of credit for the course of training and education of the 60,000
men's clothing makers in the lockout of 1920-21 is thus due to the

90 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

employers. The union had the relatively minor problem of defend-
ing the lines, the employers' war party having taken the offensive
and thus supplied the genuine driving force in this educational
undertaking.

The Education Department of the union was called upon to put
itself on a war-time basis. Herewith an account of what it did and
how it did it. Its work can be divided under four headings:

1. Information bureau and intelligence service.

2. Caring for the morale of the fighting army by means of
education and recreation activities.

3. Activities, such as the children's New Year party, for "folks
back at home" in order to strengthen the morale of those on the
"firing line."

4. The Amalgamated Labor College.

Information and Intelligence Service

A total of 60,000 people were locked out from the factories — an
immense mass of humanity thrown out of their accustomed ways
oi occupying their time. The situation was complicated by the fact
that many units of the army, because of the preceding long months
of unemployment, were no longer reachable as groups. ' * Shop chair-
man" was an empty sound in many cases, since the shops, due to
the standstill in industry, had turned into empty shells. The organ-
ization department of the union started out, in the second week of
the lockout, to organize the dislocated shop units. The huge machin-
ery was set in motion not without difficulty. Mr. David J. Saposs
was placed in charge of the information service, which was needed in
the organization work. He would gather through clerks all infor-
mation coming from the officers and offices, and turn it out by means
of direct replies, newspaper publicity, black-board notices in the
numerous halls, etc., to the numberless inquiries. Later, Brother A.
Hershkowitz was assigned to assist Mr. Saposs and when the work
was well established, Mr. Saposs was relieved of the information
duties.

As to the "intelligence service," the term is rather odious. It
reminds one of the sad propaganda activities during the war. But
since the term was applied to the work, at a session of the New
York Joint Board, it may as well be used here. Then, again, it is
not the misapplication of a term in one case that makes it unsuitable
elsewhere. The task before the union was, roughly speaking, that
of disseminating correct information among the locked out workers,
checking all false rumors spread by those on the other side and their
agents, and of supplying the leadership in the struggle with a clear
understanding of what the moods and thoughts of the rank and file
of the strikers were.

One need not argue the importance of the task as indicated.
Exact information is indispensable in war operations as well as
in peace activities, and the union was engaged in a war for its life.
Whatever "intelligence" may mean elsewhere, in the case of the
union it meant real education, service of value.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 91

The "intelligence service" of our union was organized by the
Education Department in the following manner : A group of not less
than twenty-five people, recruited from the various branches of the
industry upon the recommendation of the people who knew the rank
and file, were sent into the sixteen halls, where the workers were con-
centrated. They were not to deliver speeches, tout to mix with the
crowd, pick up conversation, explain facts and actual happenings
in the union and the immediate struggle, and check up the changing
moods and thoughts as revealed in casual discussions. Daily the
boys in the "service" would get a mimeographed sheet with the
outstanding facts in the struggle, and from personal explanations
by the head of the Education Department they would be getting still
further information and light on the events of the day and their
significance.

Checking of harmful rumors, spread by the opposing side to
poison the minds of the locked out workers, was an important task.
Here is an illustration showing how the "intelligencer" operated.

In one of the strikers' halls somebody is telling his neighbors how
the union leaders sold out the strike. It is a perfectly peaceful
conversation, no one seemingly taking seriously the awful charge,
yet words are uttered, and who can tell where they will eventually
sink? A sum is named. One suggests that one of the leaders got
$500,000 for the strike. Another leader is named for the trifling sum
of $250,000.

The "intelligencer" intervenes, and suggests that the real sums
were respectively $1,000,000 and $500,000. The amendment is adopted
by unanimous consent. The "intelligencer," however, marvels why
the employers were willing to pay such a huge price. No one knows.
The "intelligencer" further questions the wisdom of buying the
leaders and the strike, since there is really no strike but a lockout,
and the lockout is in full swing. None seems to be wiser, until one
in the crowd suggests that "it's all a bluff," and that stands as the
final settlement. The "intelligencer" retreats.

The "intelligence service" was continued during the first critical
weeks until the strike or lockout energy on the part of the workers
had been definitely consolidated.

There weren't enough good workers to "man" these jobs (in-
cidentally, not paid, as the work was considered strike duty). Had
the union then possessed its present-day Active Workers' School,
the material would have been had for the asking.

Caring for the "Morale" of the Army

The locked out workers were situated in halls scattered over the
city. The halls were organized by the union in such a manner as
to enable the machinery of the organization to check all "rear line"
activities. Pickets assembled in the halls early in the morning and
again after having discharged their picket duties. Shop meetings
were held in the halls, and terms of settlement with "deserters" in
the manufacturers' ranks considered right there. Idle hours were
spent there as well.

92 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

Under the supervision of the " speakers' bureau" established by
the department, members of the union and friends of the movement
generally addressed the strikers. Nearly every week a particular
feature of the struggle was discussed and the workers at the halls
were addressed on the assigned subject.

The first general meeting of the locked out workers took place
on December 6, 1920, when the resolution rejecting the war-provok-
ing ultimatum of the employers was adopted.

The following account of the number of mass meetings, shop,
and firm meetings, held during one week, December 20-27, shows the
size of the job. The number of meetings fell off as the workers
returned to work in " settled shops."

NUMBER OF MEETINGS HELD IN EACH HALL FROM MONDAY,
DECEMBER 20, TILL MONDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1920

Mass Firm and shop
meetings meetings

Manhattan Lyceum, 66 East 4th Street 3 25

Stuyvesant Casino, 140 Second Avenue 2 15

Beethoven Hall, 210 East 5th Street (Cutters) 5

Oddfellows' Hall, 98 Forsyth Street 2 15

Forward Building, 175 East Broadway 1 15

Jefferson Hall, 92 Columbia Street 10

Vienna Hall, 105 Montrose Avenue, Brooklyn 1 17

New Plaza Hall, 127 Havemeyer Street, Brooklyn 1 2
Brownsville Labor Lyceum, 219 Sackman Street

Brooklyn 15

9 Siegel Street, Brooklyn 8
Bush Terminal Section, 983 Third Avenue,

Brooklyn 1

Royal Palace, 16 Manhattan Avenue, Brooklyn 1 5

Clinton Hall (Children's Jacket Makers) 1 15

Total for week 19 142

Two very large mass demonstrations deserve special mention : one
on January 27, at Madison Square Garden, and one on May First
at the 71st Regiment Armory. No fewer than 19,000 people jammed
the hall on the first occasion; and 12,000 in the second hall, its top-
most capacity, were glorious proof of the undaunted spirit of the
people and the organization behind them. Prank P. Walsh was the
" outside " speaker at the Madison Square Garden rally.

Concerts and theatricals were an outstanding feature in the care-
taking of the strikers. The May First meeting in the 71st Regiment
Armory was marked by a splendid concert of the National Sym-
phony Orchestra in full force. The Madison Square Garden demon-
stration on January 27 was assisted by Cantor Joseph Rosenblatt's and
violinist Mark Wernow's rich songs and playing.

That was not all. Special performances for the strikers were
given free of charge by nearly every Jewish theater on the East
Side: — People's, Ga'bel's, Irving Place, Tomashevsky's. In addition,
a large number of artists, actors, singers, and musicians went to the
locked out workers' halls and there entertained very appreciative

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 93

audiences. On the whole, those were crowds that knew how to ap-
preciate beauty and art and to laugh at a good jolly joke. The
artists thought that it was just lovely to strike. There were all in
all twelve big concerts and eight theater performances given. The
artists all contributed their services gratis. There were also a large
number of educational talks and lectures.

Among those who rendered valued service in connection with the
entertainments and concerts held for the locked out workers, special
mention should be made of R. Gosin, manager of the Jewish Actors'
Union, M. Groll, Cantor Hershman, Cantor Rosenblatt, Cantor Josef
Schlisky, Gretta Meyer, the Theatrical Workers' Union and managers
and owners of the Jewish theaters, and Madame Maria Winetzskaja.

The Children's New Year Party

This was a unique enterprise. Though conceived late it was
still carried out in true Amalgamated spirit. It was well worth
the effort made to run this Amalgamated Children's Party in six
halls: incidentally, with the niggardly appropriation of $1,200. But
a few paragraphs from a colorful description of the affair by Mrs.
Mary Heaton Vorse, the head-worker in organizing the party, will
give an idea of what the undertaking meant to the people in the
organization :

"On New Year's day I learned for the first time the full
significance of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. I
learned more! I learned the inner meaning of 'organization' and
'solidarity.'. . . .

"On New Year's day the locked out clothing workers of New
York gave a New Year's party to the children of the organization.
When preparations were made for four thousand children, many
people were so doubtful if so many would come. So the people in
charge of the party worked in the dark.

"Would the children and mothers come? No one knew.

"Anyway all the halls available on New Year's day were hired.
There were play directors and a pianist for every place. There
was an entertainment for every hall, and Charlie Chaplin had given
his films for the children's party.

"The children came. They came in thousands. They swamped
us. We could have filled fifteen halls instead of five.

" 'Next time,' one policeman at the Great Central Palace said
to me, 'you'd better hire Madison Square Garden.'

" 'Next time,' said the other policeman, 'they'd better hire Cen-
tral Park.'

"As I looked at the crowd in the hall I realized that I was
seeing something new. I had never seen a whole children's audience
before. I had seen audiences through which children were sprinkled.
I had seen them in school, but I had never looked down from a plat-
form into such a sea of eager exciteinent. They were sitting on their
mothers' laps, cramming the aisles, sitting on one anothers' laps —
jammed. Their fathers standing ^ '*£ the space behind the
chairs . .

94 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

* ' There never was such an audience. I never saw so much loveli-
ness together. There were babies in swaddling clothes and there
were boys of hobbledy-hoy age. There were groups of six-year-olds
and of ten-year-olds, and their eyes sparkled and danced and their
eyes all said, ' Oh, we have come to have such a good time ! '

"It was their eagerness that broke one's heart. For children
like these nothing would be good enough — the greatest musicians,
the greatest artists. They were ready to be soaked with beauty.
They were ready to drink up music, they were ready to bless every-
one with their laughter. I don't believe that the world has such
children anywhere as the East Side children. J know the mag-
nificent children that the seacoast breeds. They are beautiful. But
I don't believe that they have the vivid life of this audience. These
children of the East Side had a flaming responsiveness, a loveliness,
Q. quickness that made you feel as if the sea of life was washing
about you

"If I were an artist I would wish only to sing to children like
that. If I could play or sing I would beg to be allowed to play
and sing to the children of the Amalgamated because these children
were a creative audience. They took the slender entertainment and
gilded it magnificently with happiness.

"I have seen audiences sit stupid and empty waiting to be
filled. I have seen audiences who become through responsiveness
part of the performance. But I have never seen it done as these
children did it. They took our modest program and transformed it
through their magic. They changed it over with their laughter and
their singing and with their applause until it became beautiful and
significant.

1 'Sights like these children make one dream. What if all the
forces of society were bent upon developing their gifts? What if
society's business was making people instead of profits? How much
of this beauty of childhood would remain, unquenched and how much
of this responsiveness would follow them through life ?

"We had an orchestra. The orchestra members were volun-
teers from a club of workers. These girls had given up their New
Year's holiday and they came with their director and played and
played and played indefatigably and when they were playing not
less than seven babies gravely waved their arms like band-masters.
From their mothers' arms they conducted the music

"There was one thing that these children told us every moment
of the afternoon. It was, 'We love music and laughter. We love
beauty. Our love of such things is what has made art possible down
the ages. Our love of these things is fresh and new in our hearts
as if we came from the golden age — and we have never had enough
music, nor beauty, nor laughter. Give us these things, for as our
bodies cannot grow without food so our spirits cannot get to their
full stature without thr-c Bother things.'....

"Every single h*$ :s?^d to the brim long before the open-

ing moment. One 'hall \\a* S&' tilled that no performance was pos-

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 95

sible. The children there came in so beautiful a spirit, bringing
with them the treasure of their enthusiasm; and because there were
so many of them they were disappointed. And we had been afraid,
since it was a new departure, that only a few would come

"How kind every one was and how patient! They sat down
again and the girl orchestra played one thing after another, the songs
that every one knew, 'Old Black Joe' and 'Suwannee River' and
'Smiles,' and 'The Long Long Trail.' And these little girls in the
rear of the hall, heads thrown back, sang back to us who were on the
platform trying to lead the singing. We sang to them. They sang
to us."

Every child in the Amalgamated New Year's Party received a
prettily packed gift containing candy, a couple of toys, and a New
Year's greeting in the shape of a calendar with a special drawing
by J. Boardman Robinson.

An Amalgamated Day School

The Amalgamated Labor College was the name given to an at-
tempt to utilize the involuntary leisure of those of the locked out
workers who cared for more systematic study. Its purpose was
formulated as follows :

"The aim of the instruction will be to enable our members better
to understand the great social and economic problems, so as to par-
ticipate more intelligently in the affairs of their union and society.
Students will be aided in systematizing their already acquired know-
ledge, will be introduced to sources of additional information, and
trained in methods of intensive study."

The course given in the day college included the following:

1. History of civilization: A study of the beginning of man
and society. Consideration was given to the life of primitive man,
how he made a living, acquired beliefs and opinions, developed institu-
tions and formed social units. On this background was traced the
evolution of religion, ethics, customs, marriage, property, law, art
and science.

2. Public speaking: A study of platform methods, use of the
voice, preparation of speeches, gathering material, parliamentary
procedure. Attention was also be given to pronunciation and correct
use of English.

3. Working class movements: Evolutionary development of
working class organizations and philosophies in Europe and America.
The following subjects received special attention: The guild system;
early beginning of workers' organizations and philosophies; the
modern movements like the Knights of Labor and the American
Federation of Labor ; the I. W. W. ; One Big Union, and independent
unions like the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. In con-
nection with these movements, the philosophy which they foster
were discussed, such as Anarchism, Communism, Socialism, Guild
Socialism, Syndicalism, Greenbackism, Single Tax, pure and simple
trade unionism, and social reform. The contributions of the different
immigrant races to the American labor movement were also discussed.

96 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

Economics: Application of the principles of economics to un-
derstanding the industrial and social pro'blems of today. Among
the topics treated were the production and distribution of wealth,
value and exchange, rent, interest, profits, banking, taxation, adver-
ising, industrial crises, labor research, and statistics.

Solon De Leon and David J. Saposs were the teachers. The work
in the Amalgamated College continued for over a month, until partial
settlement in the industry depleted the ranks of the day students and
rendered the continuation of the school impossible.

MEDICAL RELIEF WORK DURING LOCK-OUT

"The Medical Relief Conference for Locked Out Clothing Work-
ers" was the name given to an organization formed for the purpose
of furnishing medical service to the members of the Amalgamated
and their families during the time of the lockout.

The initial meeting was held January 21, 1921, at the Union
Health Center of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
About 100 physicians, including many leaders in their profession,
attended and worked out plans for the effective handling of the
relief work. One thing was made clear at the outset — namely, that
this was not to be a "charity clinic." For office calls, a charge of
50 cents was fixed and for home visits $1. For this, the Amalgam-
ated members were able to get the best medical advice and treat-
ment.

The Union Health Center placed its entire staff and all facilities
at the disposal of the conference. Thus the main office of the Medical
Belief Conference was at .the Health Center. Physicians were in
attendance there to take care of patients who were able to leave
their homes and call at the Center. Physicians were sent to those
members who were too ill to call at the Center.

The advisory council of the conference consisted of Dr. Julius
Halpern, president; Dr. Joseph Rosenberg, secretary, and Dr. George
M. Price, director of the Joint Board of Sanitary Control of the
I.L.G.W.U. Dr. Price was largely instrumental in organizing the con-
ference. The list of physicians with lent their services included the
above and also the following: Benjamen Antin, Alexander Amols,
J. Abowitz, L. Antell, L. Blaustein, L. Baruch, Simon Bloom, Benjamin
Diamond, B. Dubovsky, E. I. Diamond, S. J. Ess-anson, B. Edelsack,
S. Epstein, W. Feldman, H. Feuerstein, M. Goldstein, A. Goldstein,
E. Goldman, J. Glassman, J. Glassburg, Maude Glasgow, A. Gottleib,
J. Lichtenstein, H. S. Katz, R. Kahn, William Lipshitz, I. M. Lashin-
sky, S. Lubin, S. L. Mailman, A. Nemser, M. E. Orenstein, E. Pailer,
J. B. Plotkin, B. Radgik, S. Rinkoff, G. Reiss, A. Rovinsky, I. Ritter,
Sophia Rabinoff, Sophia Rossum, M. Rivkin, M. Rotkin, J. Smith,
W. Streiffer, W. Sa^doif, L. Sternberg, N. Schutz, A. M. Schwager,
P. Sussman, H. Schwatt, J. Subkis, I. R. Tillman, Anna Weintraub,
J. LePinto, Levine, I. Uvillier.

Besides these, Miss Lillian D. Wald of the Henry Street Settle-
ment offered the services of her staff of visiting nurses in the Bronx,

GEM'ERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT

97

91 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

Manhattan, and Staten Island. The East Side Medical Alliance also
offered its services. The Alliance furnished a list of doctors en-
rolled with it, who were ready to respond to calls from Amalgamated
members.

The efficient work of the Medical Belief Conference defeated the
usually effective ally of the bosses, sickness.

The work of the conference, under the leadership of the advisory
council, cannot be overestimated. The Amalgamated is highly grate-
ful to all who were connected with the Medical Relief Conference.

AGREEMENT WITH NEW YORK ASSOCIATION ENDS MAY 31

During April, 1922, the Amalgamated received the following
letter from the New York Clothing Manufacturers' Association:

CLOTHING MANUFACTURERS' ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK, Inc.
42 East llth Street,
New York City

APRIL 10, 1922.

Mr. Joseph Schlossberg, Secretary,
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America,
31 Union Square, New York City.
Dear Sir:

Pursuant the provision in the agreement entered into Between the
Clothing Manufacturers' Association of New York, Inc., and the Amal-
gamated Clothing Workers of America, effective on June 1, 1921, and
which reads as follows:

"This agreement is entered into between the Clothing Manu-
facturers' Association of New York, Inc., a New York corporation,
acting for itself and separately for each member thereof, party of
the first part, hereinafter referred to as the association, and the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, a voluntary association,
acting for itself and each member thereof, party of the second
part, hereinafter referred to as the union, and is effective from
June 1, 1921, to May 31, 1922, and shall be automatically renewed
from year to year unless either of the parties thereto shall give
notice to the contrary within thirty days of the annual expira-
tion thereof."

The association herewith officially notifies you that on and after
May 31, 1922, the association will cease to function as a medium for
the making of a collective agreement for the New York market and
that the present agreement shall be considered terminated on May 31,
1922.

Very truly yours,

(Signed) MARK L. ABRAHAMS, President
IRVING CRANE, Secretary

This notice of the formal ending of the existing arrangement be-
tween the union and the employers, on notice of the employers, means
that after June 1 the contractual relations between the Amalgamated
and the manufacturers will toe with individual employers direct in-
stead of through the association.

As far as all indications show, this does not mean any break,
either between the market and the union, or between the individual
firms and the union. Since the lockout settlement a year ago the
manufacturers' association has been unable to hold its membership
together, and it has been steadily weakening. The impartial chair-
man's machinery has been maintained jointly by the union and the
associations and will continue until June 1.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 99

BOSTON EMPLOYERS FIRST TO OPEN FIRE

To the Clothing Manufacturers' Association of Boston belongs
the unenviable distinction of beginning the lockout fight for the
open sweat shop in the clothing industry. December 6 was the date
set by the Clothing Manufacturers' Association of New York for the
Amalgamated to surrender or accept a lockout fight. Open hostili-
ties began December 8. The Boston employers, however, were
prompt. On December 6 the association broke its agreement with
the union and its members and locked out their employees.

For a proper sequence of events we shall go back to the time
immediately after our Boston Convention, 1920.

The Amalgamated held conferences with employers in several
markets on wage questions. At those conferences the matter of
creating an unemployment fund for the workers in the industry, in
accordance with the action of the Boston Convention, was also taken
up. Boston was one of the markets involved. The Boston em-
ployers made a series of demands upon the union, as shown by the
context of the decision. The hearings were held before a special
board of arbitration, composed of Judge Jacob M. Moses, Dr. William
M. Leiserson, James Mullenbach, and Dr. H. A. Millis.

Herewith the decision of the board of arbitration, handed down
September 10 :

In regard to the wage demands made by the union, the board is
of the opinion that no general increases in wages should be granted at
the present time on account of the serious conditions prevailing in the
clothing industry in Boston and throughout the country. If, however,
conditions in the industry should change so as to warrant the board
in granting a wage increase before the union under the agreement
would have a right again to present wage demands, due notice will
be given to the manufacturers and to the union that the board will
take up the question of an increase for further consideration. And
the board, as a condition of its present decision, reserves to itself the
right to grant a general increase or an increase to any sections if
the conditions in the industry should change so as to justify such
action.

The employers' requests for the right to install sectional work, to
choose either men or women for any work they may have, and to use
hand irons in pressing are fully covered by section 4 of the existing
agreement between the manufacturers and the union. This board can
make no general decision covering such questions as these. As specific
cases arise in a shop they should be handled according to the procedure
clearly described in section 4 of the agreement signed by both parties.

The demand of the Manufacturers' Association that the employer
shall have the right to reduce the number of help employed or to close
any shop entirely is also a matter that must be taken up under the
agreement whenever specific cases arise. The discharge clause of the
agreement and the practice of equal division of work during slack
periods, which has been customary in the Boston market as well as In
all the other clothing markets, must be considered in settling these
specific cases as they arise.

100 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

The special request of the union made at the hearing in Boston
that an unemployment fund be created to take care of the workers
during slack times, the board is in no position to decide on the basis
of the evidence present. The same request has been made in all
the other markets and the board is recommending to the National As-
sociation of Clothing Manufacturers and to the national union that a
committee representing both parties be appointed with an impartial
chairman to investigate the problem of unemployment in all the markets
and to recommend a definite plan of dealing with the problem.

As may be seen from the above decision, the employers de-
manded in effect the abolition of the provisions in the agreement
covering discharge of workers and equal division of work. The
board ruled that the provisions in the agreement hold. That deci-
sion was defied by the Talibot Clothing Co. It refused to abide by
the agreement, and discharged a number of its employees. The union
proposed arbitration of the dispute, in accordance with the agree-
ment. The firm refused and forced a strike upon the Boston Joint
Board.

Shortly after the strike against the Talbot Co. for its violation
of the agreement was called by the Amalgamated, the firm called upon
the United Garment Workers to help them in their difficulties. The
United Garment Workers set out to supply the Talbot Co. with strike-
breakers. However, their efforts to recruit such strikebreakers for
the Talbot Co. were ineffectual. There were no desertions from the
Amalgamated ranks, and the strike continued as before. The en-
trance of the United Garment Workers into the Talbot fight was
the first of a series of efforts on the part of employers during the
Boston lockout of 1920-21 to defeat the workers under the Amalga-
mated banner by injecting the United Garment Workers into the situa-
tion. However, the United Garment Workers failed as miserably in
later attempts as they did when called upon by the Talbot Co. in
October, 1920, and the employers soon learned that that weapon
against the workers was not an effective one.

In order not to embarrass the association by acting before it was
fully prepared, the Talbot Co. resigned from the association.

Thus the developments in Boston followed closely those in New
York. The case of the Talbot Clothing Co. in Boston was almost the
exact counterpart of that of Cohen, Goldman & Co., in New York. The
subsequent developments were identical. The same fatal date, De-
cember 6, was selected by the association in both cities for challeng-
ing the union to a test of strength. As statad above, Boston was
prompt and fired the first shot. New York was two days late. Pos-
sibly, the priority was yielded to Boston by the New York war party
for the moral effect upon the "pacifist" element in the New York
association. The services were probably reciprocal: Boston was
urged on and encouraged by the war party in New York and the
latter 's cause was promoted by a large publicity given by the news-
papers to the beginning of the lockout in Boston. Thus the Boston
employers began on schedule time the fight for the open shop, a heavy

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 101

reduction (in this case 22^ per cent), and all else that the open
shop implies.

On December 10 the locked out workers met at a mass meeting
at Grand Opera House and solemnly pledged themselves to defend
the life of the organization against all attacks. The following reso-
lution was adopted unanimously and amidst great enthusiasm:

Whereas, The Clothing Manufacturers' Association of Boston has
abrogated the agreement between the Amalgamated Clothing Workers
of America and the aforesaid association;

Whereas, The true cause of the abrogation of the agreement is not
the uncalled for, unfounded, and unjustified allegations, but the fact
that there is now a state of universal unemployment in all industries,
and our employers are seeking to profit by this social curse of unem-
ployment, and are seeking to demoralize our organization and work-
Ing conditions, for which purpose they deemed it necessary to free them-
selves from the obligations implied in the agreement; be it

Resolved, That we, members of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers
of Boston, in Massachusetts, assembled at Grand Opera House, on the
10th day of December. 1920, hereby declare that

The Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America was not organized
and built and brought to its present state of power and success by the
agreement with the association; on the contrary, the agreement with
the association was but an incident in the routine of our organization.

That the forty-four-hour week and other improved conditions have
been the direct, immediate, and unavoidable effect of our united power
and action.

Be it further resolved, That we solemnly pledge ourselves to support,
defend and protect our organization, rights and working conditions
against all attacks. The employers may or may not have agreements with
our organization, as they may choose, the industry is ours. Our lives
and health are invested in it, and the welfare and happiness of our
families depend upon it. We have secured a voice in it and shall
not surrender. We shall therefore never permit the restoration of
the ancient rule of arbitrary power and sweatshop conditions in our
industry.

For a time the lockout manufacturers had hoped to break the
resistance of the locked out workers by the time honored scheme of
dividing the workers' ranks. They had tried to bribe the cutters'
local union into betraying the tailors. The employers remembered
that in former years, not so long ago, there was no bond of solidarity
between the cutters and the tailors. True, this time the cutters'
union was an integral part of the Amalgamated, but the relationship
was still new: under unfavorable industrial conditions a good bribe
ought to be attractive. Among the temptations held out by the em-
ployers was exemption from the 22^2 per cent wage reduction
proclaimed against the tailors as proof of the blessings of the "open
shop." The cutters' local did not sell out the tailors. It co-operated
with the entire organization throughout the lockout struggle. As a
last resort the employers sent letters to the individual members of
the cutters' union. The following exchange of correspondence
speaks for itieLf :

102 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

LETTER SENT BY THE EMPLOYERS' ASSOCIATION TO
THE INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS OF THE CUTTERS' UNION

CLOTHING MANUFACTURERS' ASSOCIATION OF BOSTON

January 6, 1921.

To Every Member of the Clothing Cutters' and Trimmers'
Union of Boston.

Dear Sir:

We believe that the great bulk of the members of your union do
not understand or realize the present condition 01' affairs existing be-
tween our association and that of which you are a member. We wish
you would give this letter the same consideration that you would give
a letter from any friend. Think it over and if we are wrong, tell us.

For almost forty years relations between you and us were uni-
formly friendly and without disagreements other than minor ones such
as will always arise between men, always easily adjusted to our mutual
satisfaction.

About two years ago, forced thereto, we understand, by mistaken
leadership, you affiliated with the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America. Have you gained therefrom anything but trouble?

When we worked together under the old arrangements we were
working on the American basis of a fair day's work for a fair day's
pay, and individual merit in skill or speed was recognized. You were
working to build up an industry and we were doing the same. You
had our respect and we believe that we had yours. Very often there
was added to respect a sincere friendship, fellowship, and liking.

Today you are members of an organization which aims to upset
not only the orderly conduct of business but the very foundation on
which business rests, co-operation and pulling together. This organiza-
tion goes farther and frankly states that it will endeavor to overturn
the social fabric that civilization has built up, substituting therefor
the same sort of industrial chaos that exists today in Russia where
the Soviet government can neither pay, feed, clothe, nor house its
workers.

Do you yourself, an American, want to continue to be linked with
a revolutionary organization like the one to which you are now bound?
You know that in the end Americanism will triumph. The Soviet
government is not for this country.

We have no quarrel with organized labor. In many ways it is
more satisfactory than unorganized to the employer as well as to
the employee, but the difference between organized labor and com-
munism is very great. Beware that you do not mistake one for the
other.

We are ready to deal with the Clothing Cutters' and Trimmers'
Union of Boston today as we have in the past. We will pay you such
wages as may be agreed upon between us on a fair basis in which a
man's ability shall be recognized by the size of his pay envelope. With
a branch of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America we will
not treat nor will we enter into agreements. We will employ you as
individuals today. We should prefer to deal with the old union which
we could trust and who could trust us.

Look these facts squarely in the face. Consider the position you
are in and decide whether or not you with to remain permanently allied
to the enemies of America.

Very truly yours,

L. C. WHITE,
for the Executive Board,
Clothing Manufacturers' Aaan.
of Boston.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 103

THE CUTTERS' LOCAL REPLY

January 8, 1921.

Mr. Luther C. White,
Employment Manager,

Boston Clothing Manufacturers' Assn.
Boston, Mass.

Sir:

The members of the Boston Clothing Cutters' & Trimmers' Union,
Local 181, Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America have expressed
themselves individually and collectively, and have voted as a body to
unanimously reject your proposal to secede from the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America of which this local is an integral part.
We shall attempt to answer the questions you raise in proper sequence.
You are laboring under a misapprehension of considerable magnitude
when you say you believe our members do not understand the true
status of affairs, pro and con. Gentlemen, there is no difference of
opinion or dissension among our ranks on this issue. This question
would have been definitely decided in your minds, beyond the perad-
venture of a doubt, could you have heard the finality of the decision
expressed by our unanimous vote today.

In accepting you suggestion to tell you whether you are wrong,
after due deliberation, we are attempting to meet your candor with an
equal expression of frankness. The most astounding and outstanding
feature of your letter is the untruthful and libelous assault on the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. You characterize our
organization either directly or indirectly of:

1. Communism.

2. Being a revolutionary organization.

3. Being allied to the enemies of America.

4. Attempting to upset orderly conduction of business.

5. Disrupting business co-operation.

6. Attempting to overturn the social fabric which civilization
has raised, likening the effect to conditions in Soviet Russia.

Pray, gentlemen, why stop at these "petty" accusations? Why
not add murder and arson to your hallucinations and complete the
farce?

We have no regrets or self-recriminations for our act in joining
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, and you are again
misinformed in understanding that this action was taken through mis-
taken leadership. The benefits derived from our affiliation are manifold,
and the moral gain almost incalculable. Our creed is centuries old:
"United we stand, divided we fall."

It is not within our province, neither is it our intention to question
the merits or demerits of foreign forms of government. Most heartily
as a 100 per cent American organization in spirit, do we agree with
you, that Americanism in the end will triumph. May its beneficent
light and blessing be free to all, and may it dispel all bigotry, greed,
exploitation, and misunderstanding. How do you expect to exact trust,
when you do not offer it, as is evidenced by your act in writing our1
members individually, thereby ignoring their executive board?

On one hand you offer us sincere friendship and respect, laying
particular stress on the congenial relations heretofore existing, and
on the other you unjustly accuse us of a most malignant form of
un-Americanism.

Surely, gentlemen, a reconsideration of the text of your letter
must cause you some qualms of conscience! This is so unlike the
fair judgment we have previously received at your hands that it is
distorted beyond recognition.

104 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

In conclusion, we desire to say that the doors of the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America are always open to those who wish to treat
with it

Your truly,

Boston Clothing Cutters' and
Trimmers' Union, Local 181,

A. C. W. of A.
(Signed) J. J. HAYES,

Secretary.
(Signed) A. J. BOWDEN,

President.
F. P. CARROL,
Chairman Executive Committee.

RESOLUTION ADOPTED

Whereas, the clothing manufacturers of the city of Boston, on
December 6, 1920, declared for the open shop, by breaking their
agreement with the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, and

Whereas, the declaration of the Boston Clothiers' Association for
the non-union shop is a conspiracy to break the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America in this city with the ultimate object of reducing
wages and robbing the workers in the clothing industry of their only
means of obtaining fair wages and decent living conditions, and

Whereas, our organization has on numerous occasions expressed its
willingness to negotiate with the Employers' Association to the end that
any existing evils be rectified and any problems that confront the in-
dustry be solved jointly with each side assuming full responsibility, and
Whereas, the clothing manufacturers of Boston have for the last
few weeks embarked on a campaign of slander and misrepresentation,
with the object of concealing their real motives — which are to break
the union and destroy collective bargaining, and

Whereas, in their campaign against us, the employers have sent
individual letters to our brothers, the clothing cutters, attempting to
induce them to betray their fellow workers by seceding from our parent
organization, hoping by this attempt "to divide and conquer," therefore
be it

Resolved, at a mass meeting, held Monday, January 10, 1921, in
the Grand Opera House, Boston, Mass., to accept the challenge made
to our organization by the employers, and be it further.

Resolved, to empower our regularly constituted bodies to carry on
this defensive struggle and to empower the officers to negotiate settle-
ments, subject to the approval of the people, and be it further

Resolved, to express our sympathy with our locked out fellow-work-
ers in New York and Baltimore. We consider their fight our fight. We
know that the time is very near when we will all march back into the
shops, from which we have been locked out, with our heads erect,
as union men and women* ready to produce clothing, in order to take
care of our families and maintain an American standard of living.
Betrayal, bribery, and sell out! That was the " Americanism"
of the lockout employers.

Loyalty to and solidarity with their fellow workers was the true
Americanism of organized labor.

The resolute action of the cutters' organization in response to
the overtures of the hard-pressed manufacturers was typical of -
loyalty throughout the long fight. Alfred J. Bowden, president ot
the Cutters' and Trimmers' Union, Local 181, our late Brother J. J.
Hayes, business agent and secretary of the local, F. P. Carroll, chair-
man of the executive committee, Thomas F. Haverty, the financial
secretary of the local, and the other members of the executive

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 105

committee, helped immensely in the lockout struggle. Brother
Bowden was chairman of the hall at 724 Washington Street where
the strikers met daily, and did much to co-ordinate the activity of
the tailors and the cutters. His work as head of the finance com-
mittee, reports General Executive Board Member Abraham Miller,
who was manager of the Boston Joint Board during the lockout, was
especially commendable.

The first settlements with the Boston employers, including two
members of the association, were made on January 13, 1921, three
days after the locked out workers had held their large mass meeting
in the Grand Opera House. Other settlements soon followed, and
on February 12 Manager A. Miller was able to announce that six
members of the Boston Clothing Manufacturers' Association had al-
ready settled and that negotiations were proceeding with several other
members of the association A number of independent clothing
manufacturers had also in the meantime renewed their relations with
the union, and the workers had gone back to the shops under ar-
rangements made by the Boston Joint Board. The basis for settle-
ment was a 10 per cent wage reduction and union conditions, instead
of the 22^2 per cent wage reduction and open shop which had been
demanded by the Clothing Manufacturers' Association.

It was just at this time when the more militant members of the
Manufacturers' Association realized that they were losing the fight,
that injunction proceedings were started and complaints of the sever-
ity of the police toward the workers on the picket line became numer-
ous. "It seems more than a coincidence," reported Manager Miller,
"that just when we are settling with members of the Boston Clothing
Manufacturers' Association, the severity of the police in their treat-
ment of our pickets should suddenly and very noticeably increase.
We had been picketing the locked out shops since early in December,
and had a few arrests right along, but not many. Suddenly the
police became very strict and began to raid the pickets and make
arrests right and left. Mounted police came galloping down the
streets, swinging their clubs and causing a general panic. Many
men were knocked down and a good many of our people hurt. One
day they arrested twenty-five of our pickets, and more than 100 have
been arrested so far. The circumstance that so many of the mem-
bers of the Manufacturers' Association are yielding suggests that the
police have been stimulated to extra severity just now as a measure
of last recourse."

Steady and consistent progress in the matter of settlements was
reported by the Boston Joint Board from time to time. Early in
March, twelve out of the twenty-three members of the association
had signed with the union, and only one independent house was still
conducting a lockout against our members. Settlements with four
other houses were reported shortly afterwards. Early in May one
of the largest concerns in the Boston market, J. Falkson & Co., at-
tempted to circumvent the Amalgamated by making an agreement
with the United Garment Workers. But this organization was cm-
able to secure strikebreakers and the firm soon found itself in a posi-

106 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

tion where it had to renounce its alleged "settlement" with the
United Garment Workers and renew negotiations with the Amalga-
mated. A settlement with the Boston Joint Board was reached and
on May 31, 1921. the workers returned to the johs from which they
had been locked out. The Falkson Co. resigned from the Boston
Clothing Manufacturers' Association.

No market settlement was made in Boston. The lockout was
virtually ended by the signing of an agreement by the Barron-Ander-
son Co., the largest firm in the market, on July 26, 1921. At that
time Manager Miller reported that all but three of the members of
the association which had declared the lockout in December, 1920,
were under agreement with the union.

Realizing the difficulty of operating their shops in Boston and of
breaking the solid ranks of the Amalgamated members in that city,
a number of manufacturers attempted operation in other cities. The
Barron- Anderson Co. went to Lewiston, Maine; Billings & Johnson
established a shop in Belfast, Maine; Peavy Bros, moved to Glou-
cester, Mass.; Rhodes & Ripley to Hingham, Mass.; and Singer &
Snow to Nashua, N. H. However, these and other firms who at-
tempted to establish themselves "out of town" soon found that they
could riot run their plants successfully, and either discontinued opera-
tions altogether or returned to Boston after making an agreement
with the union. Energetic organization work was undertaken by
the Boston Joint Board and the national organization to bring the
out-of-town workers into the ranks of the Amalgamated and accord
them the protection of the organization. Among the general organ-
izers who assisted in the Boston out-of-town work were : Mildred
Rankin, Ann W. Craton, Frank Coco, Anthony Capraro, Martin Duse-
vica, and Mrs. Tina Cacici. Brother David "Wolf, business agent of the
Montreal Joint Board, took an important part in preventing a move
by a representative of one of the manufacturers to bring workers
from Canada to his open shop plant in defiance of the immigration
laws. .-; <j 3s**

As the shops settled, the people who returned to work paid their
assessments to the $1,000,000 lockout fund. Assessments as high as
20 per cent on the weekly earnings were paid, and a total amount of
approximately $100,000 was contributed by the workers of Boston
during the fight. In this way the workers of Boston helped to finance
the great struggle. Members of the organization in Boston paid
about one-half of the total expense of the lockout in the Boston
market.

ASSISTANCE FROM SISTER ORGANIZATIONS

On March 11 the following call for aid was sent out, without
solicitation on our part, by fellow workers outside of our industry:

We the undersigned desire to call your attention to a labor con-
troversy existing in Boston between the Clothing Manufacturers' As-
sociation of Boston and the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 107

This struggle began on December 6 by a general lockout of about
5,000 employees and the abrogation of an existing agreement. The
association is fighting for the "open shop" in Boston. And consequently
THEIR FIGHT IS OUR FIGHT!

In every great strike of the past, the Amalgamated Clothing Work-
ers of America has always generously given its support to every labor
organization in its struggles. Now that they are putting up a valiant
fight against the "open shop" our duty is clear. We must rally to their
support! The "open shop" must be fought by all labor organizations.

Therefore, we have called a conference of representatives of all
labor organizations in Boston to be held Wednesday, March 23, at 121
Cambridge Street, Boston, for the purpose of devising ways and means
of assisting the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and to lay
plans for combatting the "open shop" movement in Boston. You are
requested to elect two delegates to represent your organization at this
conference.

Those signing the call were: Henry Abrahams, secretary, Cigar-
makers' Union 97; John Connelly, international vice-president, Barten-
ders; Jeremiah Driscoll, business agent, Milk Wagon Drivers 380; Max
Gorenstein, 5th vice-president, International Ladies' Garment Workers;
Edward Graves, 1st vice-president, Upholsterers and Trimmers; Max
Hamlin, district business agent, Amalgamated Meat Cutters and
Butchers; Bessie Irving, business agent, Waitresses' Local 112; John J.
Kearney, business agent, Cooks and Waiters; Sylvester McBride, pres-
ident, Typographical Workers 13; John F. Nason, president, Building
Trades Co-operative; Julia O'Connor, international president, Telephone
Operators; Aaron Velleman, president, Cigarmakers' Local 97.

The conference was held at the appointed time and constituted
itself as the Trade Union Defense Committee of Greater Boston.
Delegates were present from the following organizations :

Independent Workmen's Circle, International Hod Carriers,
United Shoe Workers, United Leather Workers, Allied Shoe Workers
of Boston, Painters and Decorators, Labor League, Cloak and Suit
Workers, International Ladies' Garment Workers, Cigar Makers,
United Hebrew Trades, United Cloth Hat and Cap Makers, Raincoat
Makers, Amalgamated Butchers, Waiters, Brass Workers, Bag and
Burlap Workers, Bakers, Jewelers, Lithographers, Typographical
Union, Jewish Socialist Federation, Labor Lyceum, and Upholsterers'
Union.

The work of the conference was helpful in the lockout struggle.

The Jewish Bakers' Union of Boston was of great help to the
locked out clothing workers. Every day for several months they
supplied 2,000 rolls without charge for the relief of Amalgamated
members. They paid out of their own funds for the flour, and worked
extra time without pay, so that this contribution could be made.
The action of the Jewish Bakers' Union of Boston was a wonderful
exhibition of workers' solidarity.

In the administration of relief for Amalgamated members, the
organization received assistance from the Co-operative Stores of the
Independent Workmen's Circle .and the Lithuanian Co-operative
Store. For several months at the height of the struggle these co-
operative enterprises arranged to give to our members the benefit of
their organization and sold foodstuffs at cost to those receiving relief
money from the Boston Joint Board. No charge was made for over-
head expenses or administration costs. By their practical assistance

108 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OP AMERICA

the co-operative stores showed their sympathy and good wishes for
the locked out workers and were a great help to us during the
struggle.

On April 6, Mayor Peters made an attempt to bring about a
settlement but the employers refused to respond.

in connection with the Boston lockout struggle, there were 250
arrests, of which 216 have been disposed of, leaving thirty-four cases
pending at the time of this writing. There were 146 convictions
in the lower court, and 104 acquittals. Four defendants were held
for the grand jury. In one of these cases the grand jury found "no
bill" of indictment; in the other three, indictments were found by
the grand jury, but were nolle pressed, that is, dropped. In the
superior court there were 142 acquittals and four convinctions. The
total amount of fines imposed in the lower court was $2,343 ; the total
amount of fines paid in the superior court was $434, with $335 involved
in cases still pending. The total amount of sentences imposed in the
lower court was 1,180 days. No member of the organization has 'been
committed to jail, and all jail cases have been disposed of.

At the time of the Boston Convention, Harris Heller was manager
of the Boston Joint Board. In October, 1920, Brother Heller was
elected manager of the Coatmakers' Branch of the New York Joint
Board. Brother Heller was succeeded by Abraham Miller, member
of the General Executive Board, who was elected late in November,
1920, and assumed the duties of the position just before the general
lockout was declared in December.

Brother Miller wras in charge throughout the lockout. He was
manager of the Boston Joint Board for the ten months from December,
1920, to October 1, 1921, at which time he was elected manager of
the Pants Makers' Branch of the New York Joint Board. Brothers
Anthony Ramuglia and Frank Lerman were then placed in charge
of the Boston office. They were assisted by General Organizer J.
Salerno. They were in charge until recently, when they were suc-
ceeded by General Organizer Louis Hollander. S. Albert, secretary-
treasurer of the Boston Joint Board, was another who dedicated
himself to the cause during the great struggle. Our old friends
Roewer and Bearack were in charge of the legal proceedings.

Other active workers who have faithfully put their shoulders to
the wheel in Boston are J. Blume, M. Benjamin, S. Turok, A. Cohen,
B. Miller, M Wilcnsky, H. Wisberg, B. Sheckman, P. Hogan, J. Puke-
vich, A. Wartovitz, P. Yanofsky, D. Genevese, M. Bebchick, S. Trach-
tenberg, M. Rosenthal, H. Starr, A. Maxwell, M. Masselli, A. lorio,
F. Falcone, F. Genelli, P. DeSabino, N. Stalone, J. Pignone, L. Labo-
vitz, J. Rachin, M. Movitz, B. Cohen, M. Kaufman, N. Biller, J. Taitel,
M. Rosen, A. Reiser, H. Marcovitz, C. Miller, E. Barris, J. Caroselli,
A. Landfield, and S. Pignone.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 109

PEACE AND WAR IN BALTIMORE

Baltimore was the seat of the Third Biennial Convention. There
we heard the report of the achievement of the forty-eight-hour week
and enacted the forty-four-hour law, for which all workers in the
industry are grateful. Baltimore has made strenuous history, as
may be seen from the previous reports of the General Executive
Board.

In the renewal of the agreement with Henry Sonneborn & Co.,
and Strouse Bros., May, 1920, there was disagreement on some
points. It was decided to refer all disputed matters to a board of
arbitration consisting of Judge Jacob M. Moses, chairman of the trade
boards created by the Baltimore agreements; James Mullenbach,
chairman of Hart, Schaffner & Marx Trade Board, Chicago ; Dr. Wil-
liam M. Leiserson, impartial chairman in the Rochester clothing in-
dustry, and Professor Millis of Chicago. The decision of that board
was to be binding for the market.

The board met at Southern Hotel, June 10, 11, and 12. The
union presented its case for a wage increase and stressed particularly
the necessity of an unemployment fund in accordance with the deci-
sion of the Boston Convention, which the employers definitely op-
posed. :,

On September 11 the board of arbitration handed down the fol-
lowing decision:

1. The board will not award any general increase of wages at this
time because of the serious conditions prevailing in the clothing industry
in Baltimore and throughout the country. If, however, during the
present season, conditions in the industry should change so as to war-
rant the board in granting a wage increase, due notice will be given
to the manufacturers and to the union that the board will take up
the question of an increase for further consideration, and the board as
a condition of its present decision reserves to itself the right to grant
a general increase or an increase to any section if in its judgment
the facts and circumstances justify such action.

2. An increase of $3 a week is granted to the week work pressers
employed in those houses which are using steam pressing machines.
This increase is granted because the board feels that the pressers are
underpaid, considering the character of the work performed by them
and the conditions under which they are obliged to work.

3. We find that the hand buttonhole makers and felling hands may
need some special consideration because their average earnings appear
to be considerably lower than the earnings of similar workers in most
of the other markets. Therefore, as soon as business conditions be-
come normal, the impartial chairman of the Baltimore market is author-
ized to adjust the wages of these two sections so as to bring their
earnings up to the level of similar workers in the other markets.

4. Because of the conditions already referred to, the board does
not deem it advisable to raise the minimum wage for learners at the
present time.

5. The board approves the principle of equal pay to men and
women for equal work. What constitutes equal pay and work for

110 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

men and women is a question of fact to be determined in each par-
ticular case. Therefore the detailed working out of this principle can-
not be decided in this general award, but must be left to the impartial
machinery to handle as specific cases arise.

6. With regard to the equalization of piece rates in the various
establishments of the market in accordance with the quality of the
work, the board feels that while this is highly desirable, the absence
of uniform and accurate records of production, hours and earnings in
the Baltimore market makes this impossible at the present time. The
board recommends the establishment of a joint committee consisting
of representatives of the workers and manufacturers for the purpose of
defining and stabilizing operations and introducing such methods and
records so that the equalization of piece rates may be brought about
as soon as conditions warrant.

7. The board is strongly impressed with the necessity of establish-
ing some means of eliminating or minimizing the evils of unemploy-
ment and recommends the appointment of a joint committee represent-
ing the National Federation of Clothing Manufacturers and the union,
with a chairman to be selected by this board, for the purpose of in-
vestigating conditions in all the clothing markets so that plans may
be formulated and means devised to solve this serious problem.

8. The board is not prepared at this time to submit an advisory
report on the procedure tj be followed in the application of the
preferential principle as tne basis of a market agreement. Condi-
tions in the Baltimore market are extremely complicated, and the
board recommends that this subject be carefully studied by a joint
committee of representatives of the Baltimore Federation of Clothing
Manufacturers and the union with a view to establishing a market
agreement, with impartial adjustment machinery, as soon as condi-
tions warrant.

9. In accordance with the agreement entered into by the parties
in interest, the increase to the pressers above granted shall be ef-
fective as of May 1, to be paid not later than October 1 1920.

In accordance with this decision the cutters received on October 1
back pay for twenty-two weeks at $3 a week.

Baltimore was hit very strongly by the industrial depression.
The factory of Henry Sonneborn & Co., the largest in the city, em-
ploying normally about 2,500 workers, was closed for a number of
weeks and re-opened to resume work for three days a week after a
revision of production standards in accordance with the company's
undertaking to manufacture lower-priced garments. On December
13, 1920, the firm of Strouse Bros, announced its decision volun-
tarily to liquidate its affairs and go out of business. Fifteen hundred
workers lost their jobs and added to the already wide-spread unem-
ployment in the Baltimore market. Eli B. Strouse, president of the
concern, issued a public statement in which he gave expression to
his cordial and friendly attitude toward the Amalgamated. At the
time the firm went into liquidation the lockout was on in the Boston
and New York markets. There some of the more militant employers
were attempting to charge labor with responsibility for the depressed
condition in the industry. Strouse, however, did the honest and
manly thing. He frankly stated that labor was not responsible for
the firm's going into liquidation, and regretted that the firm would
have to terminate its relations with the Amalgamated and that a
large number of people would be made workless.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 111

LOCKOUT IN BALTIMORE BEGINS DECEMBER 18

Simultaneously with the beginning of the lockout in New York,
the firm of Schwartz & Jaffee discontinued manufacturing in Balti-
more, throwing its 350 employees out of work. A few days later the
open shop crusaders of New York and Boston became active in Bal-
timore. They succeeded in starting the industrial conflagration on
December 18. By the end of the year the lockout was extended to
practically every shop in the market outside of Sonneborn, Schloss
Bros., and M. Stein & Co. Altogether about 3,500 or 4,000 members
of the Amalgamated were involved. On December 30 the Baltimore
Joint Board called a strike against all concerns not then working
under definite shop agreements. About 225 small contract shops
were closed. Brother Hyman Blumberg said, when the strike was
called: "The small contract shop owners are attempting both to
bring down wages and establish open shops by making individual
propositions to their workers, ignoring the existence of the union.
We shall insist that all negotiations be made through the union. The
union has been willing at all times to negotiate, but the manufacturers
are playing one shop against another in an effort to bring down wages
and at the same time force the union out."

Almost immediately settlements with eight tailor-to-the-trade
houses were made and 600 workers returned to the shops on January
3, 1921, under new union agreements. The following week Man-
ager Blumberg announced settlements with Philip Kahn & Co., and
S. F. & A. P. Miller & Co. These firms employed about 700 workers.

Despite the serious unemployment and depressed condition in
the Baltimore clothing industry, and the lockout fight against the
Amalgamated, our membership rallied to the support of the New-
York workers and the general organization. It was impossible for
Baltimore manufacturers to get work done for New York. The
workers also showed their loyalty to the cause by contributing liber-
ally to the $1,000,000 lockout fund, though many of the members in
Baltimore were without work entirely and others were working only
part time. Their support of the Amalgamated fight against the open-
shop campaign was whole-hearted.

One of the leading concerns waging the open shop fight in Bal-
timore was Isaac Hamburger & Sons which locked out 700 workers.
On March 15, 1922, the firm announced that it would not resume manu-
facturing and that it would liquidate its business.

AGREEMENT WITH HENRY SONNEBORN & CO. RENEWED

While the conspiracy against the life of the organization was
active the agreement with Henry Sonnelborn & Co. expired and was
renewed. The new agreement was ratified and signed January 12,
1921.

Those who negotiated the agreement for the union were : Sidney
Hillman, president of the Amalgamated: Hyman Blumberg, manager

112 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

of the Baltimore Joint Board; Samuel Rudow; Dora A. Edlavitch;
Sarah Borinsky; Anthony N. Michael; Edward Lapin; Barney S.
Goldman; Louis Lederman; Morris Klavans; A. Dubinsky; D. Schna-
per; Albert Novy; Dave Schuman; and Tomasso Romagno.

The representatives of the firm were : Siegmund Sonneborn,
president; Adolph Roten; and Boris Emmet, labor manager.

The renewal of that agreement, with the largest part of the
market in the toils of a lockout, and industrial conditions most un-
favorable to labor, was indeed an occasion for the organization to
rejoice.

Judge Jacob M. Moses, who had served as chairman of the trade
board under the Sonneborn agreement sinee 1916, resigned the chair-
manship in order to be able to devote himself more fully to his law
'practice. Dr. Leiserson accepted the offer to act as Judge Moses '
successor.

DECISION GRANTING FIRM WAGE REDUCTION

On April 15 Henry Sonneborn & Co. asked for a wage reduc-
tion of 25 per cent. The union opposing a reduction in wages, the
case went to Dr. Leiserson, impartial chairman. On May 3 Dr.
Leiserson issued a decision, allowing a reduction of 5 per cent in the
wages of button-hole makers and felling hands, and a 10 per cent re-
duction in the wages of other employees, except cutters. No change
was made in the scale for cutters, which remained at $45 a week.

Dr. Leiserson declared that if the firm must have more than
a 10 per cent reduction in operating costs, the rest should be con-
tributed by the management in . some way by a reduction in over-
head and on other items of managerial expense. The new scale be-
came effective May 11, 1921.

AMALGAMATED WOMEN ACTIVE

The Amalgamated women of Baltimore hit upon an idea all
their own to help their brothers and sisters fight the lockout in
New York, Boston, and Baltimore.

The idea came to the members of the Buttonhole Makers' Local
170 — the famous "Women's Local" — on the evening of January 18,
while they were listening to Dorothy Jacobs Bellanca's thrilling
address at Fisher's Hall on the New York struggle. When she had
finished, as spontaneously as could be, the motion was made and
carried enthusiastically that the women members in Baltimore be
urged to make a voluntary sacrifice of 25 cents a week, though most
of them were working part time. The local also organized a bazaar
for the same purpose, and it yielded a very handsome amount.

Mary Heaton Vorse paid a glowing tribute to these tireless
workers, in Advance of April 22, 1921, under the heading "Amal-
gamated Women of Baltimore":

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 113

Have you ever tried to raise money in the unions in hard times?
Was everybody broke? Did you feel as though you were trying to
squeeze a drink from an empty bottle? Worse still, did you feel as
if you were trying to take money from people who needed it desperately,
and that when you asked for money you were asking people to give up
the little margin of comfort which yet remained to them — that you
were asking them to deprive themselves of what they needed? That's
what raising money in the unions has meant this year.

Yet the Baltimore women of the Amalgamated just raised $1,000
in a bazaar. Since last May Baltimore has shared the hard times.
Part of the time there was a lockout — two of the big shops went out
of business and that threw 1,500 of Baltimore's 8,000 clothing workers
out of work. A strike affected another 1,500. About 700 people are
still out, although the industry and other jobs have absorbed the re-
mainder of the strikers.

This prolonged slack season would be a terrible time, one would
suppose, in which to make money. Moreover the Amalgamated in Bal-
timore is peculiarly isolated. There has been a long and bitter fight
between the remnant of the United Garment Workers on one hand and
the I. W. W., which formerly had a fair-sized block in the industry
and which disputed it with the Amalgamated, on the other. So the
Amalgamated was attacked on both sides in Baltimore. It seemed
little short of a miracle that they should make this sum.

That was their ambitious plan, and I had the good luck to be in
Baltimore to see how it was done.

As I went up the stairs to the hall I could hear the good time hap-
pening overhead — music and laughing and the hum of voices, children's
laughter mingled with the rest, the noise of feet dancing. All this
composite sound rushed out at me. Inside, the room was so crowded
I could hardly get through. Benches divided the room into two parts.
A fine jazz orchestra played for dancing, and all the young people
danced and some of the old ones. The children were dancing; the
Amalgamated kids were disputing the floor with their older sisters.
In the middle was a booth with all sorts of hand-work — beautiful
crochet work, sofa pillows, fancy aprons and useful ones, bedroom slip-
pers, everything the heart could desire. Almost all the things were
made by the girls themselves or some of the other women of the in-
dustry. One of the organizers of the bazaar told me:

"The girls have been working night and day. Some of them would
bring their fancy work to the shop. I know girls that have sat up until
one o'clock at night finishing their embroidery. Toward the last I had
so many parcels given me to carry that I used to come up in the
hall loaded down like a camel."

There were fortune tellers at one side of the room, and around
the other side were candy booths and grocery booths and other booths
with the usual cake and ice cream. People went through peddling
chances on every imaginable thing. I bought chances on chocolate
cakes, boxes of ice cream, aprons, embroidered night gowns, statuary,
silverware, baskets of fruit, bedroom slippers, sofa pillows. I bought
chances on enough things to have started a bride off housekeeping,
and I won nothing. I never do win things at lotteries since the day
when, as a child, I won a live calf at a church fair. Since then the
God of Chance has not smiled on me — my mother refused to let me
bring it home. He did smile upon other people there; every little
while a ripple of excitement would run through the crowd and the
victor would get his pail of ice cream or his handsome embroidered
cushion, or one of the organizers would come beaming along with a
big box of fruit.

Every little while a gloomy murmur would go through the people
on whom the responsibility of the bazaar rested. "Nobody's buying,"
they would say. "The young people only come to dance. We're going
to have our things left on our hands." The crepe-hangers would say,

114 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

"We won't make half we planned to." Others would say consolingly,
"Well, how could you expect it? We have gone to our people again
and again and they have paid their 10 per cent. How could you expect
that they could spend money at this time?"

But as I looked around, it didn't seem to me to make much dif-
ference whether everything was sold or not. The whole industry was
here and it was here in the spirit of holiday, young and old enjoying!
themselves, from the babies to the older women. There was that
precious thing here that you don't always find— the real spirit of a good
time. The industry was getting acquainted over again. People from
different shops, and girls and men from different trades, were getting
to know one another. And there were a few people from the
outside — girls from the International, girls from the Stenographers,
some rare A. P. of L. men, forerunners of the time when the old
differences will have been liquidated and when artificial barriers which
are now kept alive by the reactionary leaders of the A. F. of L. will
have been all overcome.

I never saw so many pretty girls in one small crowd, or so many
different types. There were girls with shining blue-black hair,
beautiful red-headed girls, pale blondes. It looked more as though
it were the try-out for some great beauty show rather than a
bazaar of the Clothing Workers. I don't see how there are
any bachelors left in Baltimore. What does it? Is it the climate?
For these girls are of every nationality, and each one is prettier than
the last.

I have been hearing about the Baltimore Amalgamated women for
a long time. Whenever I talked about what a fine lot of girls the Amal-
gamated had in Skuylkill County or some other place where I had
been, someone would rise up and proclaim:

"Oh, but you ought to know the Baltimore girls!"

And now I understand what they meant, for these girls and women
have as much spirit as they have looks. They have proved it before.
It was the Baltimore girls who first sat up to make layettes for the
strike babies. And now at the end of this crushing winter their en-
thusiasm and their gaiety and their hard work and their co-operation
have brought off this successful bazaar. If I am not mistaken, this
is the first time that all the women of the industry have worked
together in an entertainment of such a size, all the different trades co-
operating as one. And there is stirring talk among them that this is
only the beginning.

One of the girls told me about the rise of their ambitions. "As
we first talked of it," she said, "we decided to try to raise $400. At
the start that seemed a big sum when you considered how bad the
winter had been. Then we raised it to $500, and finally some one said,
'Let's make it $1,000 — let's aim high.' " And the $1,000 mark was
passed and it will be nearer $1,200 when they get through.

This is the spirit that has leaped over the $1,000,000 mark, this is
the spirit that has been grinding away the employers' resistance. Light
is breaking. Hope and spring have come together. Over 500 employers
have settled; the list grows every day. Nearly 30,000 people in New
York are back at work. New York pays in $55,000 to the Relief Fund
where a few weeks ago New York paid in but hundreds. I have never
seen such courage, such long patient resistance, such self-sacrifice on
the part of the workers who were employed as well as of those who
were in actual trenches of the fight.

It has been a single-handed fight. The Amalgamated went into
it expecting to fight it alone, not looking for any help from the outside.
The help that has come from friends was unexpected. The industry
itself carried on this historic victory. When the history of American
Labor in the twentieth century is written, the story will be told how
the Amalgamated by itself stemmed the open-shop drive.

The victory isn't won yet; but no one can imagine anything but

GENERAX, EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 115

victory now. The chance of defeat was never contemplated by those
who knew most about the fight. Now when the light breaks and people
are going back to work I recall a conversation with President Hillman
which occurred when things looked black. I heard some sympathizers
asking:

"Well, Mr. Hillman, how are things going?"

"Oh, the fund rolls in splendidly," he replied.

"Oh, I don't mean that," said the outsider. "I mean what's the
morale of the people, how are they sticking?"

"Oh, that," said Hillman. "I never give that a thought. I take
it for granted that they are going to stick. It has never entered our
heads that the membership would falter."

Nor did it ever enter the membership's head. They had, as some-
one has put it "Got unionism under their skins," and there was "No
Surrender!" written in their hearts.

President Hillman, Secretary-Treasurer Schlossberg, Organizers
G. Artoni, A. I. Shiplacoff, Dorothy Jacobs Bellanca, and Na-
tional Educational Director J. B. Salutsky have addressed meetings
in Baltimore and have been there on important organization work.

General Executive Board Member Hyman Blumberg, then man-
ager of the Baltimore Joint Board, was in charge of the Baltimore
situation. Others who took an important part in the fight were:
Ulisse De Dominicis, then secretary-treasurer of the joint board and
now general organizer; Samuel Rudow, manager; Mamie Santora,
member G. E. B.; Business Agents Philip Rudich, Sol Gross, Harry
Flinkman, Joseph Bulota, Thomas Truss, Anthony Michael, Samuel
Pumpian, Herbert Lepson, D. S. Kohn, Barney L. Goldman, of Cut-
ters' and Trimmers' Local 15; Harry Cohen, Sarah Borinsky, Dora
Stein, of Coat Operators' Local 36; Tomasso Romagno, Lelie Alge-
sirio, of Italian Local 51; Emanuel Gelblum, of Local 52; B. Ger-
shovitz, B. Kimel, of Local 59; Morris Michelson, Louis Lederman,
Max Lockrnan, of Local 114; Rose Quitt, Sadie Dressner, Lillian
Ellison, of Local 170; Ignatius Logus, of Local 218; Anton Pasek,
Albert Fisher, of Bohemian Local 230; David Snapper, Isaac Beyer,
of Local 241 ; David Shuman, of Local 247.

There were of course many others who helped win the fight. In
fact, it would be necessary to name virtually the entire member-
ship, for they all stood splendidly with the organization in its fight
to maintain the Amalgamated 's standards.

ORGANIZATION CAMPAIGN IN BALTIMORE

In accordance with the action taken by the General Executive
Board at its meeting in December, 1921, at Chicago, plans for an
extensive organization campaign in Baltimore wrere formulated and
the campaign started. General Organizers Anton Johannsen, Ulisse
De Dominicis, and Mildred Rankin were assigned to Baltimore by
the General Office. A campaign committee of fifty active local
workers was organized. Circulars have been issued and distributed,
shops visited, and meetings held, and the organization campaign is
being continued.

General Executive Board Member August Bellanca, Organizer
Leo Krzycki, and Frank Bellanca, editor of II Lavoro, have also been
active in the organization work in the Baltimore market.

116 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

Early in February, 1922, General Executive Board Member Hy-
man Blumberg relinquished his position as manager of the Baltimore
Joint Board, which position he had held since the organization of the
Amalgamated, so that he could take charge of certain organization
matters, with headquarters at the General Offiee. There were a num-
ber of important organization problems which required attention, par-
ticularly because of the continued attendance of President Hillman in
connection with negotiations in Chicago and Rochester. Upon enter-
ing upon his new duties Brother Blumberg took over the work of
establishing a new joint board for the children's clothing workers
in New York City, as had been authorized by action of the General
Executive Board. With the establishment of that joint board, General
Executive Board Member Blumberg is directing organization work in
the east.

Brother Blumberg ?s place as manager of the Baltimore Joint
Board was taken by Samuel Rudow, formerly general chairman in
the Henry Sonneborn & Co. 's shops.

PHILADELPHIA DOING ITS SHARE

In the past two years labor organizations had all they could
do to resist the pressure of the employers upon their members' work-
ing and living conditions. There was no opportunity for further
improvements. Happy was the organization that succeeded in check-
ing to some extent the downward drive. The Philadelphia Joint
Board has done its share in stemming the tide, and made gratifying
progress in various ways.

The Philadelphia organization has made certain distinct gains
during the past two years. An agreement was made with the Snellen-
>burg Clothing Co., one of the largest firms in the market, which em-
ploys 600 workers. This is our first agreement with this important
concern. We also have agreements with twenty-three other inside
shops and 102 contract shops. The organization membership has
been considerably augmented by the gains made as a result, largely,
of our organization strike of March, 1921.

The organization faced its biggest test in connection with the
lockout struggle in New York. A number of lockout employers at-
tempted to enlist the Philadelphia market into scabbing upon New
York. New York work turned up in Philadelphia shops, under
cover of misleading tags and tickets. Soon most of the Philadelphia
shops were filled with that work. The members' suspicion was
aroused. Investigations proved that the suspicions were founded.
So many shops were doing scab work that any effective individual
action would necessarily mean general action. The workers in the
shops became restless. They were paying their assessment in support
of their locked out fellow workers and did not intend to help the
lockout employers defeat them. At an enthusiastic mass meeting
held March 3, at Musical Fund Hall, the following resolution was
unanimously adopted:

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT

117

PHILADELPHIA AMALGAMATED CENTER

118 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

Whereas, The Clothing Manufacturers' Associations in New York,
Boston, and Baltimore have locked out from their shops the members
of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America for the purpose
of destroying our organization, breaking down our improved working
conditions and bringing back into the industry the slavery of the
sweatshop;

Whereas, The Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America has
courageously taken up the struggle in defense of the very life oi
the organization;

Whereas, The lockout employers in the above named cities are
now attempting by all sorts of subterfuges to exploit the clothing
workers in this city in the conspiracy against our organization and
are seeking to have New York work made here; be it, therefore,

Resolved, That we, members of the Amalgamated Clothing Work-
ers of America, at Musical Fund Hall assembled, Mach 3, 1921, endorse
the action of the Philadelphia Joint Board, A. C. W. of A., in calling
upon the clothing workers in Philadelphia to refuse to handle work
coming from lockout houses in the above named cities, and also its
decision in favor of a general strike in the clothing industry in
Philadelphia, as soon as that may become necessary, in order to
protect ourselves from the crime of stabbing our locked-out sisters and
brothers in the back; be it further

Resolved, That we hereby authorize the Philadelphia Joint Board
to call such strike as soon as they deem it necessary, and we solemnly
pledge ourselves promptly to respond to such call; and be it finally

Resolved, That we extend fraternal greetings to our struggling fel-
low workers and the assurance of our heartiest support. We realize
fully that their fight is our fight and shall stand by them against the
enemies of our organization until victory is assured.

Long live the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America!

The Philadelphia Joint Board hoped that the announcement of
the workers' determination not to do scab work would make an
actual stoppage unnecessary. But that hope was not realized. A
general stoppage of work became unavoidable. It occurred at ten
o'clock in the morning of March 14, 1921.

The joint board issued the following call to the clothing workers
in Philadelphia:

The clothing workers of Philadelphia, at a great mass meeting
at Musical Fund Hall, decided to call a general strike in Philadelphia
and instructed the joint board to carry out their decision whenever
they see it advisable.

This strike is called for one and only one reason, to clean, the
scab work out of Philadelphia. Your manufacturers are supporting
the New York employers in their effort to break our organization.

The New York workers are now out fourteen weeks, and will
fight to a finish. Their fight is our fight. Their victory is our victory.

These workers are now calling upon you to come to their assist-
ance in this hour of need.

We therefore urge upon all the clothing workers of Philadelphia
to come out in a body today at 10 a. m. sharp. Don't hesitate. Don't
stop. Don't finish out, come right over to the Arch Street Theater,
6th and Arch Streets, where speakers will address vou.

Come out together and make history for Philadelphia. Long live
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America.

So keen was the interest of the workers that on the Wednesday
before the walkout workers in sixteen shops left their machines al-
though no formal strike call was made. Officials found a difficult

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 119

task on their hands to restrain the workers from walking out in
other shops before they were called by the joint board.

As quickly as employers applied for settlements, investigations
were made by the organization. Whenever the investigation proved
that our members would not be required to do lockout work, the
workers were promptly returned to the shops. Progress was made
so rapidly that at the end of the first week the situation was prac-
tically all cleared up. Within a short time the Amalgamated mem-
bers were back at work with the happy consciousness that they
would no longer be used by the enemies of the Amalgamated to
defeat the struggling workers in other cities.

During the walkout there were, of course, a large number of
arrests and other persecution on the part of the police. But the
organization took care of all cases as they came.

On March 19 the A. B. Kirschbaum Co. brought suit against
the Amalgamated for damages and made application for an injunc-
tion. The suit was dropped.

The demonstration of solidarity on the part of the Philadel-
phia workers brought great encouragement to our membership in
the lockout cities. Incidentally, the Philadelphia organization was
strengthened to the extent of 1,000 new members, with twenty-one
more shops under the union's influence.

PHILADELPHIA'S AMALGAMATED TEMPLE

The Philadelphia organization now has its own home, the Amal-
gamated Temple, which is owned by the Amalgamated Center. The
members taxed themselves a half day's wages for the purchase of
the building. The Amalgamated Temple is at 431 Pine Street. Its
total cost, including extensive remodelling, will be about $35,000.
The new office is an old house, built in the days when lumber and
brick and woodwork and paint were of a far different quality from
what they are now, so that it retains much of the quaintiiess and
charm of old colonial Philadelphia. It has large sunny windows,
and its rooms are spacious and comfortable. There are roomy
quarters for the manager's office and for the financial department
quite different from the crowded old ones, and many offices for the
business agents. The second floor has a large meeting hall, with
folding doors, permitting both large and small meetings.

The opening of the Temple was celebrated by a great festival at
Musical Fund Hall on January 27, 1921.

Among the forward steps of the Philadelphia Joint Board was the
movement for amalgamation of locals in different branches of the
trade, which has already resulted in the merermsr of the Children's
Jacket Makers with the Coat and Pants' Makers' locals.

The Philadelphia organization of the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers assisted in raising the $2.000.0000 fund to resist the lockout,
contributed to the fund for the relief of the Russian famine victims,
carried out a successful educational program and is now actively
engaged in an organization campaign.

120 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

An aggressive organization campaign is now being conducted by
the Philadelphia Joint Board with the assistance of the General Office.

The list of those who guided the organization's work during the
past two years besides General President Hillman and General Secre-
tary-Treasurer Schlossberg included General Executive Board Mem-
bers August Bellanca and Frank Bosenblum, and General Organizers
G. Artoni, Frank Bellanca, H. Bernstein, Mrs. T. Cacici, A. Cavaliere,
Ann W. Craton, Harry Crystal, Philip De Luca, M. Dusevica, I. Gold-
stein, Leo Krzycki, H. Madanick, J. N. Mecca, Hilda Shapiro, and
N. Wertheimer.

Among the active local people who were continuously on the firing
line are M. Koslovsky, manager of the joint board; H. Levy, secretary;
B. Allin, H. Mandelbaum, and B. Neistein.

INTERNATIONAL CONGRATULATIONS

The victorious ending of the great lockout struggle brought a
number of congratulatory messages from labor organizations and
individual friends. Two came from the other side of the ocean:
one from our fellow workers in Russia, written in the ex^Czar's
throne room; the other from the secretary of the International
Clothing Workers' Federation, Amsterdam, Holland.

THE MESSAGE FROM RUSSIA

Moscow, June 27, 1921.
Joseph Schlossberg, 31 Union Square, New York:

Dear Friend Schlossberg: Yesterday, while sitting in the gorgeous
throne room in the ex-Czar's palace attending a session of the Congress
of the Third International as a visitor, I was handed a freshly arrived
copy of the New York "Call" and was overjoyed to read therein that
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers have succeeded in repulsing the
desperate attack made upon them by the New York clothing bosses.
That is, indeed, a great victory. In view of the very unfavorable con-
ditions under which the struggle was waged, I have no hesitancy in
calling your breaking up of their offensive one of the most notable
achievements in the history of the American working class.

The successful outcome of your fight will favorably influence the
whole labor movement in this, its hour of trial. It will stiffen the res-
istance of the unions in every industry by showing them that a well
organized working class which knows what it wants and is willing to
fight for it is absolutely invincible. As for its effect upon your own
union, I am sure that it will be highly beneficial. The workers have
had a taste of their power, and when the next great struggle comes
the battle of 1921 will serve as an inspiration to them. Its examples
of hardship and suffering will hearten and encourage them on to still
greater effort.

The defeat of the employers Is the natural result of the splendid
spirit of the Amalgamated. Many times in my recent tour, speaking to
your unions, I marvelled at this glowing spirit. But since coming to
this country I marvel no longer. It is the spirit of the Russian Revolu-
tion, the spirit that will lead the workers to emancipation.

Kindly convey to the Amalgamated Clothing Workers my heartiest
congratulations on their heroic, victorious struggle in the face of great
odds. Fraternally yours,

W. Z. FOSTER.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 121

Subscribing unreservedly to the greeting and good wishes of Com-
rade Foster, the International Council of Trade and Industrial Unions
hold that the splendid victory secured by you demonstrates the readiness
of your organization to join the International Council of Revolutionary
Labor Unions. Comrades who are capable of coming successfully out of
the struggle with American capitalists deserve to be in the militant
organization of labor unions. The door of the International Council of
Trade and Industrial Unions is always open to truly proletarian and
militant labor unions who are consciously preparing the overthrow
of the capitalist class and the establishment of the dictatorship of
the proletariat.

International Council of Trade and Industrial Unions, general secre-
tary, LOZOVSKY.

Members of the Executive Bureau, ROSMER (France), HECKERT
(Germany), TZIPEROVICH (Russia), WATKINS (England), DMITROV
(Bulgaria), REINSTEIN (manager of the American section).

Comment on albove message in Advance of July 22, 1921 :

FROM THE EX-CZAR'S THRONE ROOM TO THE AMALGAMATED
By Joseph Schlossberg

When I was in Europe last summer I had a strong desire to enter
Russia. From Reval, Esthonia, I applied to Moscow for a Russian
visa at the end of August. I received no reply until a few days after my
return to New York the latter part of November.

Needless to say, my failure to enter Russia was a keen dis-
appointment to me and left a wound which will not heal so soon. I
thought I had a real grievance, in view of the fact, especially, that
other people, whose staying out would have been to the country's
advantage, were admitted to Russia. I have always felt that to be
excluded both from Canada and England, presumably because of radical-
ism— a charge meaning anything that may suit the accuser and call-
ing for no proof — and at the same time also to find the gates of Russia
shut in my face, was a rather contradictory situation. But I con-
sidered my grievance a purely personal matter and never gave utterance
to it publicly. Nor did it in any way diminish my enthusiasm for the
wonderful struggle of the Russian people. I was compelled to realize
that my grievance was not the most important international affair after
all. And I am glad to say that neither Russia nor America was the
loser by It.

If I do record my Russian experience now it is not as a complaint.
I do it joyfully and in the happiest mood because it is incidental to
one of the most thrilling experiences of my life. The occasion is the
receipt of a cable message from Moscow, the capital of New Russia,
printed in last week's issue of Advance. The message came from the
International Council of Trade and Industrial Unions and William Z.
Foster, leader of the great steel workers' strike in 1919. In that cable
Foster states that "while sitting in the gorgeous throne room of the
ex-Czar's palace attending a session of the Congress of the Third
International" he learned from the New York "Call" of the Amal-
gamated's victory, and sends his congratulations.

I stared at the document and could hardly believe that I was
not dreaming.

Congratulations from the Czar's throne room, sent by represent-
atives of the most advanced workers of the world, to the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America! Many messages of congratulation
had been sent out from the Czar's throne room in former years, but
they were from tyrants and oppressors of the people to other tyrants
and oppressors of the people. Now it is from workers to workers.

122 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

Now it is a message of cheer and encouragement in the struggle against
the oppressors of the people.

Truth is, indeed, stranger than fiction!

* * *

Some of the more than the score and a half of nationalities em-
braced within the Amalgamated are: Jews, Poles, Lithuanians, and
Russians.

The power which ruled yesterday from the throne room in the
Russian imperial palace, the blackest despotism on earth, oppressed
all the people of Russia and especially the non-Russian nationalities.
I belonged to one of the latter, the most despised, degraded, and crushed
of all, the Jewish nationality.

I was born in Russia and spent, or rather wasted, my childhood
in the little town of my birth, but I knew nothing of Russia except
oppression, misery and humiliation. Pogroms, more especially the fear
of progroms, and the terror-striking policeman with his brass buttons
and red collar, were Russia to me and mine. Whatever little Russian
I knew I learned from a teacher in the manner in which foreign lan-
guages are usually learned.

My people ran away from Russia, driven by the monster in the
throne room. So did the Poles, the Lithuanians and the Russians
themselves, in large numbers. Outcasts from their own country they
came to America and built new homes here.

America was the haven for the large masses who came to seek
an opportunity for a civilized life and for the champions of freedom
who had escaped from the Czar's dungeons and gallows.

Occasionally the monster in the throne room would stretch out
his blood-stained hand across the Atlantic to Free America for some
one of his victims. It was for a Pouren, for a Rudowitz or for some-
one else. Sometimes a Root, presiding over the Department of State,
would co-operate with the monster in the throne room in the latter's
efforts to seize his prey, but always Free America vindicated her right
to the title of an Asylum for the Oppressed and Persecuted of the
World.

That was yesterday.

To-day the hospitable gates of America are no longer open.

To-day they are closed, locked and barred.

Fortunately, there is no more czarism in Russia and that country
is no longer driving its best children into exile. Those whom it had driven
to America before have organized here and are powerfully assisting in
the building up of the New Social Order. And now the outcasts and exiles
driven to these shores *>y the despot in the throne room, are receiving
messages of congratulation from the selfsame throne room, which
is now occupied by a New Russian and world power; messages of con-
gratulation upon a victory secured by them as organized workers
battling against tyranny and oppression!

* * *

All sorts of facts and fiction are being freely circulated about
Russia by her enemies. We here are frequently unable to separate the
grain from the chaff. Knowing how the American labor organiza-
tions are being slandered by the press and leaders of "public opinion"
here, we are justified in refusing to accept the "information" about
Russia otherwise than as vicious and malicious attacks. Let the
enemies of New Russia say what they will, one fact stands out boldly,
clearly and crushingly for all of them: From the ex-Czar's throne
room in Moscow a message of fraternal greetings is flashed across
the globe to the organized and victorious workers in America. This
fact is of such tremendous historic significance that it is impossible
to overestimate it. If it means anything at all it is that the new
power which is now governing Russia is the power of the Russian
Workers.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 123

In the ex-Czar's throne room to-day Intelligently Organized Labor
is enthroned.

The congratulations from the throne room, by representatives
of the International Labor Movement, to organized workers in America,
come with the might of thunder which makes tyrants and despots
tremble.

If Labor to-day speaks with a voice of power and authority from
the ex-Czar's throne room, who can doubt that the day is fast arriving
when Labor everywhere will come to a realization of its power and
speak with the authority vested in it by modern civilization?

How eloquent is the message from the ex-Czar's throne room!

* * *

The great world war which has, in addition to millions of lives
and all that that implies, destroyed the freedom of movement, speech
and press, and has made the formerly honored "democracy" a hissing
and by-word, has produced one result which is overwhelming the
world: The Russian Revolution. Within four brief years the memory
of the Romanoffs has been as completely wiped out as if that dynasty
had never existed. And while in every other country the labor move-
ment is being hounded from pillar to post, in Russia it is breathing
freely, in security, and is developing its brawn and brain. The advance
guards of the labor movements in various countries have formed
a world body known as the International Council of Trade and In-
dustrial Unions, with headquarters at Moscow, the ancient capital of
czardom and the home of the people's Russia of to-day. From that
capital — from the ex-Czar's throne room — the new word of encourage-
ment and inspiration is going out to the workers of the world.

The new world organization of labor, which issued phoenix-like
from the ashes of the great world conflagration, sends congratulations
to the Amalgamated upon its recent triumph and invites it to join
the ranks of the International Council. The final and authoritative
word in the matter of this invitation will be said by the organization
in due time. But I feel that I am expressing the sentiments of
the overwhelming majority of our members, if not of each one of them,
when I say that we feel highly flattered by the invitation. In the
darkest hour of our recent struggle, when the courts were granting to
the employers injunctions against us for the mere asking, the A. F.
of L., in its official publication, joined all enemies of the Amalgamated
by announcing that we are guilty of betrayal to organized labor.
We have always stood alone, fought alone, and won alone, though
we have stood, fought and won for the labor movement. It was
therefore but natural for the call of working class solidarity that
came from the ex-Czar's throne room, in striking contrast to the
malicious libel of the A. F. of L., to find a ringing echo in our
souls. We feel ourselves as flesh and bone of the American Work-
ing Class, which is still ignorantly and self-injuringly turned against
us, and we surely must feel that we are likewise flesh and bone of
that organization of the working class which understands us, has
an intelligent appreciation of our struggle and is extending to us
its fraternal hand. To that organization we say: "Comrades, we, as
workers, have always been with you, as workers, and are happy to
know that you are with us. Your message is to us a great source
of encouragement and inspiration. We are grateful to you and saluta
you as the leaders of the militant and thinking workers of the world.
Though the organization is unable to act immediately upon your invita-
tion we are honored and thrilled by it. We clasp your hands. You
are our brothers as we are yours."

To the workers' enemies the name of Moscow may be terrifying,
as for good reason it should be; to the intelligent workers Moscow,
or London or Rome, or any other part of the world, is dear and bef
loved whenever a message of hope and spiritual uplift issues from
it. This time the message came from the people's Moscow, from the
Workers' throne room!

124 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

GREETINGS FROM INTERNATIONAL CLOTHING
WORKERS' FEDERATION

(From Advance, July 29, 1921)

The Amalgamated received the following message from T. van der
Heeg, Secretary of the International Clothing Workers' Federation, with
headquarters at Amsterdam, Holland.

June 30, 1921.
Sidney Hillman, President,
Joseph Schlossberg, Secretary,
New York.

Dear Brothers: —

On behalf of the Bureau of the International Clothing Work-
ers' Federation I beg to extend to you my heartiest congratula-
tions upon your splendid victory in New York.

I am convinced that the organized workers in the clothing
industry the world over have received with joy the news of
the victory of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America.

The newspaper despatches sent out from New York at the
beginning of June, 1921, and reporting the conclusion of the gigantic
struggle, conveyed the impression that the workers were defeated.
I promptly sent an article to all trade papers in the clothing
industry in Europe, in which I made it clear that the struggle
in New York was not merely on a wage question but that it was
primarily waged upon a matter of principle. In this the Amal-
gamated won out and defeated the schemes of the employers. In-
deed, when the seven demands made by the employers upon the
Amalgamated last August are compared with the terms of the
settlement it is clear that the comrades in New York have achieved
a great triumph along the lines of principle.

I am again extending to you on behalf of the European com-
rades our heartiest congratulations.

Long live the Amalgamated and the international struggle for
the emancipation of the working class.

Two weeks ago we published in these columns a message of greet-
ings and congratulations from Moscow. This time we publish a similar
message from Amsterdam.

In the international labor world the positions held by those two
cities are mutually exclusive. The International Clothing Workers'
Federation is not officially a part of the International Federation of
Trade Unions, which body is invariably referred to whenever Amster-
dam is mentioned as opposed to Moscow. The membership of the
Amsterdam Federation of Trade Unions is composed of countries, not
of industries. It is, therefore, impossible for the International Cloth-
ing Workers' Federation to be a member of the other body. But
both federations have their headquarters at Amsterdam, and both
have the same attitude towards the world organization of trade unions,
whose headquarters are at Moscow. In this sense the Clothing Work-
ers' Federation may be included in "Amsterdam" whenever Amsterdam
versus Moscow is spoken of

But though the two bodies are opposed to each other we are
glad to accept greetings from both, as both organizations were prompted
by the same motive in this case, the desire for the expression of labor
solidarity by organized workers to organized workers. Even if the
Amalgamated had been affiliated with one organization or the other
it would welcome, on such an occasion, a demonstration of interna-
tional working class unity from both. Not being affiliated with either
body, we are perhapi at greater liberty to reipond to those fraternal
messages with all the gratitude both of them have called forth.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 125

Perhaps, also, this sentiment comes more naturally with us than
it would with another labor organization, because of our official Isola-
tion in the labor movement. Throughout our career we have stood
alone, unaffiliated with any other labor organization. Knowing that
the rank and file of the labor movement are against us only because
of their ignorance, we have never conceived any feeling of antagonism
towards them; on the contrary, we pitied them and sympathized with
them. Conscious of our unprecedented success in spite of the hos-
tility and obstruction on the part of the official labor movement, we
developed an attitude of generosity and gave that labor movement the
full benefit of our success and power. We have never failed to re-
spond liberally to any appeal from the official labor movement, though
under the accepted A. F. of L. ethics we were not only exempted from
such duties but were rather enjoined from assuming them even volun-
tarily.

It may be due to our successful isolation, which, under the A. F.
of L. conditions, has proved a blessing in disguise for us, that we not
only entertain no animosity against any organization of wage workers,
however we may disagree with it, but are always aware of the one-
ness of our interests with those of all other workers.

This is the first time that a victory of organized clothing workers
in America has received international recognition. And it is indeed
significant that while very few labor organizations in America have
taken cognizance of our victory — those few which are always accepted
as belonging to the same family — two world bodies of labor have sent
us enthusiastic cheers and greetings. The fact that the greetings,
sincere and whole-hearted, came from two opposite bodies, the left
and the right, or the radical and moderate, is conclusive proof that
our triumph was genuine from all points of view.

There are great and serious differences between the International
Council of Trade and Industrial Unions at Moscow and the Interna-
tional Federation of Clothing Workers at Amsterdam, but both are
bodies of organized workers engaged in the struggle against capitalist
exploitation, and when both of them do simultaneously hail a work-
ing class victory it is a source of joy to the recipients of the cheers. It
shows that in spite of all differences and mutual warfare within the
labor movement, underlying them is the mainspring of all working class
progress, the urge to working class unity and the prompt assertion
of the identity of working class interests.

Very eloquent is that part of the above message by which we
are informed that the newspaper despatches from New York about
the ending of the lockout "conveyed the impression that the workers
were defeated." We had not been aware of it before. We may judge
by those deliberately falsified reports about the outcome of our strug-
gle how little we may depend upon the foreign labor news — also do-
mestic labor news, for that matter — handed to us by our own capitalist
papers. It seems that deceiving the world in matters concerning the
labor movement is no violation of the Drevailing code of ethies. The
prestige of a news agency would probably suffer great injury if caught
lying so brazenly about any other important matter, but there is no
rebuke — rather there is praise — if the object intentionally and con-
sciously lied about is the labor movement. As may be seen from the
above, this vicious practice is not only national but also international.

The next time you read in the privately owned public press that
the workers anywhere were defeated, be patient and wait until you
see the report in the labor press. Wherever there is no honest labor
press to bring the correct news the imposition will stand, to the detri-
ment of the cause of labor.

126 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

CHICAGO, THE WESTERN METROPOLIS OF
THE AMALGAMATED

The city in which we are now meeting is one of the best known
industrial centers in the world. "Chicago" is another term for In-
tensive Exploitation of Labor, High Concentration of Capital, and,
the inevitable result of the two : Bitter Struggle of the Classes.
From the bloody Haymarket affair, through the crushed American
Kailway Union strike, to the latest revolt in the notorious Jungle
(stockyards), the labor movement in Chicago has been a continuous
tragedy. The Iron Heel has planted itself firmly upon labor's neck.
But while the labor movement may be defeated it cannot be killed.
It has its roots in the modern industrial system. "With the growth
of this system the labor movement must live and grow. Thus, In-
dustrial Autocracy, with its Haymarket, military and stockyard
methods, was unable to do more than check temporarily and retard
the progress of the labor movement. The movement is going on-
ward in the teeth of all its enemies. Some of the most important
gatherings of American labor, in recent years, have been held in
Chicago. In a sense, Chicago has become the metropolis of the
American labor movement. The leadership of the local central body
is more progressive, and the spirit more vigorous and aggressive,
than in many other places. It is a source of great satisfaction for
us to be able to say that the Chicago Joint Board of the Amalgam-
ated Clothing Workers of America occupies a conspicuous and honored
position in 'the labor movement of Chicago, enjoying general con-
fidence and respect. The Chicago Amalgamated has ibuilt up a great
power in the industrial world, and has given the benefit of that power
to fellow workers within the clothing industry and without.

Two years ago the Chicago Amalgamated came to a convention
for the first time with the entire market organized. Today the posi-
tion gained by the Chicago Joint Board is confirmed and secured
by two years' increasing confidence and loyalty of the membership.
The strength and usefulness of the Amalgamated in Chicago is but
added proof of what organized workers can do. A strong and in-
telligently organized body of workers gives the community a great
social force for good. Friends and foes will agree that Chicago has
made good.

The Boston Convention heard of a raid upon our Chicago offices
by the state's attorney of Cook County and subsequent indictment
by the grand jury of Frank Rosenblum, Samuel Levin, Sidney Kiss-
man. Jack Kroll, Benjamin "Wilner, Louis Grossman, and Maurice
C. Fiseh. The state's attorney proceeded to "try" those cases in
the newspapers, but never dared to do so in the courts. The Amal-

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 127

gamated repeatedly demanded a trial in court instead of in the
press, but the state's attorney was never ready and he always post-
poned. Shortly after the Boston Convention the state's attorney
was compelled to admit, in effect, that the vandalistic raid was un-
warranted and the character-assassinating indictments had no founda-
tion in fact. Here is a brief review of events as prepared by Attor-
ney Cunea, counsel for the Chicago Joint Board :

"On June 16, 1920, the case of the People of the State of Illinois
v. Sam Levin, et al., was, on motion of the state's attorney of Cook
County, before Judge Anton Zeman, in the Criminal Court of Cook
County, stricken off the docket.

4 'On November 18, 1919, the indictment was returned. Some
time prior to the return of the indictment a raid had been made
upon the Chicago offices of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America, their books and papers seized, and even the membership
cards of 32,000 members taken over by officers from the state's at-
torney's office wrho were armed, not with a search warrant, but
•with a subpena duces tecurn.

"Sensational headlines appeared in all the afternoon papers,
the banner of type across each heralding in a sensational manner
the fact of the raid, and, in other columns, interviews purporting to
come from the state's attorney's office, wherein it was charged that
graft from employers, running into tremendous sums of money, had
been extorted by the Chicago officials of the Amalgamated. The
bail fixed in the indictment for each man was $10,000. On November
26, on motion of their attorneys, the bail as to each was reduced
to $3,500.

"At the January, 1920, term of the Criminal Court of Cook
County and on the 6th day of that month the case was set for trial
before Judge Anton Zeinan. At that time the defendants announced
themselves ready to meet the charges and, on motion of the state's
attorney, the case was set for February. On February 24 the case
was again reached for trial as by the state's motion in January, and
again the defendants announced to the court they were ready to
proceed to trial and demanded a trial upon the indictment as re-
turned, and again on motion of the state the cause was continued
until March 15.

"On March 15, again before Judge Anton Zeman, the defendants
demanded trial upon the indictment, and made a further motion that,
on failure of trial, they be discharged, and again on motion of the
state, because of the unreadiness of the state, the case was continued
until the April term.

"On April 28, when the case was set for trial, the defendants
again appeared before Judge Zeman and again demanded trial and
again, on motion of the state, the cause was continued to the May
term.

"On June 4, the case asrain was reached on the call and again
the defendants announced their readiness and a jury of twelve men

128 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

was put in the box, and a plea of not guilty entered. The jurors
were sworn to answer questions and the cause was continued by the
court until June 7.

"On June 7 the cause came up again. The state peremptorily
challenged the twelve jurors who had been theretofore on June 4
sworn to answer questions as to their qualifications for jurors to sit
in the case.

"On June 14 another jury of twelve men was placed in the jury
box and sworn, to answer questions in the case, and the cause was
continued first, until the 15th — the day following — and thereafter,
until June 16, when the state's motion striking off the cause was
entered.

"This — the naked statement of the proceedings in court in this
case — 'carries with it, to the unprejudiced mind, yes, and even to the
prejudiced mind, the irresistible conviction that the initiation of
this case by the raid and the subsequent proceedings, had in it
evidence that at no time the state's prosecuting attorneys had any
case either upon which to institute a raid, return an indictment, or
hope for convinction.

"Between the time of the raid and the indictment we called at-
tention publicly, insofar as we could get the items published, to what
was the real motive which caused the raid and the indictment. Fully,
through the papers which would carry the statement in full and, in
part, through those whose columns were but limitedly open to us,
we charged that certain contractors who theretofore had been en-
gaged in confidence operations, and who had been severally and
jointly arrested and tried due to such operations, and who had
become notorious through newspaper accounts of such arrests and
trials, because of such operations, were the impelling and motive
power in beguiling, to put it mildly, the state's attorney's office of
Cook County to take the drastic action that followed.

"The state's attorney's office was visited by counsel of the de-
fendants subsequent to the raid and 'before the indictment, and was
informed that the defendants and each of them would waive all
question of immunity and appear before the grand jury to be ex-
amined in any respect as to their acts and doings in connection with
the administration of the affairs of the union. This offer was not
taken advantage of.

"Through an assistant of the state's attorney's office the news-
papers were kept filled daily with the most sensational details of
alleged graft and wrongdoing, and the public mind was attempted
to foe poisoned against the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of Am-
erica and their Chicago officials.

"The anti-climax of all this campaign, publicity, lies, unwar-
ranted raid, unjust indictment and deferred hearings, came on
June 16. "

While the raid and the indictments were given the widest public-
ity by the public press, the news of the dropping of the case by the

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 129

itate's attorney was suppressed entirely or reported so quittly that
very few noticed it.

General Executive Board Member Samuel Le-vin; who is manager
of the Chicago Joint Board, issued a statement as follows:

The order wipes out all criminal charges against seven officers
of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers indicted last November. Our
offices were raided, all books, letter files and ledgers were hauled to
the state's attorney's office. An assistant state's attorney issued a
series of statements to newspapers calling the arrested men crooks,
thieves, murderers.

Our seven indicted officers appeared in court six times, once each
month, demanding trial. Each time continuance was granted on re-
quest of the state's attorney. Now the charges are wiped out. The
state's attorney found that the charges were instigated by the for-
mer head of a strikebreaking agency, and no employer of reputation
or decency could be found to testify. In fact, from the beginning,
numerous employers, as well as the leading journals of the clothing
industry, laughed at the affair as a farce.

We desire to state that our Chicago organization of 40,000 mem-
bers, as well as the men's clothing industry in general, is in a better
position because of the affair. It is the general public of Chicago,
citizens who have no strong organization and no resources to sup-
port them, who are menaced by the ignorant, tyrannical officialism seen
in this affair.

Having been named crooks, thieves and murderers by the state's
attorney's assistants, we challenge him to re-open these cases and give
to the public all such evidence as should be forthcoming at a jury
trial. Our organization will be here during more than one state's
attorney's term of office, and we shall challenge and fight to a finish
again any such ignorance and tyranny as we have seen in the in-
cident just closed.

Needless to say, the case was never re-opened.

It should also be added that many of the valuable records were
returned by the state's attorney's office in a condition which made
them entirely useless to the organization, although it had taken many
months of labor to produce those records.

The breakdown of the Chicago conspiracy was one of a large
number of joy-bringing episodes in the very busy life of the Amal-
gamated since the last convention.

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE FUND

It will be recalled that at the convention in May, 1920, the organi-
zation went unanimously on record in favor of an unemployment in-
surance fund. The resolution favoring unemployment insurance as
a charge upon the industry is as follows:

RESOLUTION ON UNEMPLOYMENT

Under the prevailing system of industry the scourge of unemploy-
ment is the greatest menace of the wage worker.

Under a just industrial system every one willing to work will
have an opportunity to work.

Inasmuch as employment of labor is caused by the consumption
of the products of labor, each person creates work for himself by his

130 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

owu consumption of goods. Consumption being constant, there can,
under a rational system of industry, be no enforced unemployment: if
there is an abundance of production there can only be greater leisure
without diminishing consumption.

Under the present system of industry, an overabundance of produc-
tion means unemployment for the workers, a stoppage of the flow of
wages, and, therefore, misery for the workers and their families. Fear
of unemployment is a sword always hanging over tne workers' necks,
and is responsible for a great deal of unrest and unhappiness.

The great plea of the workers is for constant employment. That
is labor's universal demand in spite of the charges of unwillingness to
work.

Ours is said to be a seasonal industry. We are told that because
of that we cannot have employment during the full year.

The employer has his yearly profits, and it makes no difference to
him whether they come in eight months or in twelve. But the worker's
is a daily or a weekly income. Being always near his last dollar,
a period of unemployment, which means a period of no wages, brings
him intense sufferings.

Because the employer has money invested in the plant, and under
the law has a proprietary right in it, and because the worker has no
money invested in the plant and, therefore, no property right, the
illusion is created that the employer alone has interests in the in-
dustry and the worker has "nothing to lose."

But the worker has a powerful claim upon the industry. He has

not invested money in it, because he has none; he has invested in

the industry his life and his energy, which are of still greater social

Importance. Without the worker, the industry cannot function. It

is sad enough if the giving of one's life to the industry brings him

only a bare living while working, but it is a burning shame that the

burden of unemployment is thrown entirely upon the helpless worker.

How is the unemployment problem to be solved?

Justice dictates that the industry, which depends upon the workers

to keep it alive, should take care of them when they are unemployed.

That can be done only by the creation of a special fund for the
payment of unemployment wages; no gift and no alms, but wages from
the industry to the worker. There is no reason why the industry, which
pays a permanent tax to the various insurance companies in order
to indemnify the employer in case of an emergency, should not likewise
have a permanent fund for indemnification for lack of work. The wel-
fare of the workers in the industry should be entitled to at least as
much consideration as the property of the employer.

The committee, therefore, recommends that the convention go
on record in favor of the creation of an unemployment fund. It is
our opinion that such a fund should be created by the weekly payment
by the employers of a given percentage of the payroll of our members,
which shall not be deducted from the payroll but paid into the fund
in addition to the payroll.

This resolution empowered the General Executive Board to
work out plans for the administration of such a fund and directed
the General Executive Board to bring this matter to the attention of
the employers.

Shortly after the convention adjourned the union presented de-
mands to the board of arbitration in Chicago for an increase in wage
and an unemployment insurance fund. Hearings were held before
the board of arbitration on July 1 and 2, 1920. At these hearings
the union presented, in addition to figures showing a rise in the cost

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 131

of living since December, 1919, a comprehensive brief reviewing the
whole problem of unemployment in the men's clothing industry.
This brief, prepared by Dr. Leo Wolman of the Research Department,
has since been published as a separate pamphlet by our Education
Department. The argument of the union was in 'brief as follows :

1. Unemployment is beyond the control of the workers. It is
due in large measure- to conditions under which the industry is car-
ried on. Its cost is therefore properly chargeable against industry
just as any other element in the cost of production. The cost of
unemployment compensation is comparable in kind to such other
elements in costs as wages, maintenance expense for plant and ma-
chinery, and costs incurred for industrial accidents.

2. The cost of unemployment must be met from a fund, estab-
lished and supported by the industry and segregated for the purpose
of meeting that cost alone. In this way only can the burden of the
cost be sufficiently felt by those who are in a position to take steps
to reduce it. It is a cardinal principle in social insurance that spe-
cific allocation of the responsibility and burden is an indispensable
first step in the eradication of the evil.

It thus followed the lines laid down in the resolution passed by
the Boston Convention and placed a plan, tested by experience in
dealing with workmen's compensation for industrial accidents,
squarely before the employers and the board of arbitration. The
proposal for unemployment insurance to be paid for by the industry
also came to the fore in the discussions before the British Court of
Inquiry on conditions of the transport workers in England. Ernest
Bevin, arguing for the workers, put the whole matter very succintly
when he said: "If it is moral to have maintenance charges for docks
then it is equally moral to have maintenance for labor." The British
Court of Inquiry approved the plan in principle, but the English
dockers have not been sufficiently strong to put into effect a definite
scheme.

At the same time arbitration proceedings were held in the other
important markets of Baltimore, Rochester, and Boston. Dr. Millis
and Mr. Mullenbach of Chicago, together with Dr. Leiserson, acted
as a board of arbitration in those latter cities. The same arguments
and demands were made in those markets. Professor Tufts, chair-
man of the Chicago Board of Arbitration, delayed issuing his decision
until the hearings in the other clothing centers had been concluded.

In the meantime the situation in the clothing industry, and in-
dustry generally, had become more depressed and it was evident that
conditions would become worse. Professor Tufts, in his decision of
August 17, 1920, denied the request for a wage increase on the ground
that the conditions in the industry were not such as to justify a
change in wages at the present time. He, however, took recognition
of the demand for an unemployment insurance fund and his decision
on this point reads as follows:

With regard to the creation of a nou-employment fund, the board
believes that the first step in any case is to investigate. It will there-

132 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

fore appoint a commission on which both parties are represented, with
a chairman representing the impartial machinery, to investigate the
subject and to report as promptly as is consistent with the necessary
study.

The union designated Dr. Leo Wolman as its representative on
the unemployment commission, .but because of the critical situation
in the industry, and the general industrial depression with the conse-
quent increase in unemployment, no further action was taken.

Professor Tuft 's full decision follows :

The board of arbitration for the Chicago market, consisting of
Messrs. Hillman, Meyer and Tufts, met July 1 and 2 to consider the
requests of the union for a readjustment of wages under the emergency
section of the agreement, and for the creation of a non-employment
fund.

The first question raised was whether the present situation justifies
action by the board under the emergency section. The union showed
that changes were under consideration in other markets, while the
manufacturers claimed that no emergency existed of the sort for which
the emergency section provides. The board ruled that the purpose of
the clause was to provide a safety valve and that in construing the
clause the principle of a broad rather than a narrow or technical in-
terpretation, should be used. In any case of doubt it is better to in-
vestigate than to refuse to investigate.

On the question of whether readjustments should be made, the
union claimed that the cost of living had increased since the award
of December 22, 1919, and is still increasing and seems likely to in-
crease further, and that increases are being given in various other
industries. The manufacturers urged that, for the best interests of
industry, prices should be kept as low as possible, and submitted infor-
mation as to present conditions in the industry. The board holds that
conditions in the industry are 'not such as to justify a change in wages
at the present time.

With regard to the creation of a non-employment fund, the board
believes that the first step in any case is to investigate. It will there-
fore appoint a commission on which both parties are represented, with
a chairman representing the impartial machinery, to investigate the
subject and report as promptly as is consistent with the necessary
study.

When the New York employers opened fire upon the Amalgam-
ated in New York, and the General Executive Board issued a call
for a Million Dollar Lockout Resistance Fund, our fellow workers
in Chicago pledged themselves to contribute a full half of that
amount. A glance at the detailed report on that fund will show
that they have more than made good. The Chicago Joint Board as-
sessed the membership $20 for those earning up to $50 a week, and
$30 for those earning above $50- a week. The first check for $50.000
was received from Chicago at the General Office on January 3, 1921.
It was the prompt and generous help from Chicago that enabled
the New York organization to undertake its defense with all the
vigor the situation called for. Much has already been said at our
meetings and in our -publications about that brilliant demonstration
of working class solidarity. The Chicasro Amalgamated has written
one of the most beautiful pages in the history of the labor movement
and given a higher moaning to labor solidarity. Such a huge sum

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 133

of money held never before been given by one group of workers to
another. The Amalgamated again made a new and inspiring record.

In February. 1921. the employers made demands for wage reduc-
tions and asked the 'board of arbitration for a hearing. Such a
hearing was held March 28-29. The employers formally presented to
ilic arbitration board requests for a reduction of 25 per cent in wages,
a leveling of "peak wages of workers who were able to get a much
higher wage owing to their scarcity in the last two years, and the
automatic enforcement of standards of production.

A mass of data was prepared by Dr. Leo Wolman, Harry K.
Herwitz, and other investigators for the union to show that, despite
the drop in prices of food averaging 15 per cent, increases in other
items of expense, such as rent and fuel, have destroyed the benefit
that the workers might gain from lower prices of these commodities.

Professor IT. A. Millis of Chicago University, chairman of the
board of arbitration and successor to Professor Tufts who had left
Chicago for New York, presided at the opening hearing. The session
was public, and was attended by a large number of local officers of
the Amalgamated, members of the Chicago Joint Board, Dr. William
M. Leiserson, impartial chairman at Rochester, and many clothing
manufacturers and their representatives.

All employers in the market under agreement were involved in-
cluding the "Wholesale Clothiers ' Association of Chicago, the National
Wholesale Tailors' Association, and Hart, Schaffner & Marx.

APRIL, 1921, DECISION

On April 14. 1921, the Chicago organization received a decision
from the chairman of the board of arbitration. Professor Millis, call-
ing for a reduction of 10 per cent in the earnings of tailors, with the
exception of those who were awarded 5 per cent in the increase
received by the organization during December, 1919.

The wages of the workers or sections falling within 'the 5 per cent
class under the increase of December, 1919, were reduced 5 per cent.

Rates for tailors, examiners, bushelmen and bushelgirls were re-
duced 10 per cent. All workers employed by contractors received
a wage reduction of 10 per cent.

The unsatisfactory decision did not hinder the organization's
work. The Chicago Joint Board has done an unusually large amount
of constructive work. The purchasing of two sites for AMALGAM-
ATED TEMPLES, in different parts of the city, the progress made
in the organization of an AMALGAMATED BANK, the highly suc-
cessful educational work, the Amalgamated library, the organiza-
tion of an emergency credit union for the relief of needy members,
are in themselves an imposing list of achievements. And all that is
aside from the daily routine for the protection of the members' in-
terests in the factories. The efficient manner of handling the routine
work makes all other constructive work possible; aside, also, from
help given to fellow workers outside of our industry, guch as $60;000

134 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OP AMERICA

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 135

to the Russian famine victims, $5,000 to the struggling miners in
Kansas under the leadership oi' Alexander Howat, substantial
amounts to the miners in West Virginia and to many others.

During the past year the Chicago Joint Board has taken a very
constructive step in the direction of regularizing employment in the
market. Last summer the union inaugurated a plan by which the
cutters in the tailor-to-the-trade industry, who were unemployed,
or on part time, could be transferred to the wholesale clothing or
ready made branch of the industry. There was then a heavy de-
mand for workers in the ready made branch of the industry while
most of the workers in the tailoring houses were unemployed. This
is a natural situation, as the tailoring houses cater directly to the
retail trade and their season begins when the ready made houses are
beginning to slow down their operation.

Later, when the tailor-to-the-trade season began and the ready
made industry slackened a readjustment was made and the workers
shifted from the ready made houses to the tailor-to-the-trade houses.
This dovetailing of work resulted in greater regularization of em-
ployment for the cutters in Chicago. In previous seasons it had not
been possible to do this because some of the tailor-to-the-trade houses
did not wish to release their workers for employment by other
establishments in the market unless guaranteed that such workers
would be returned to their original places of employment when their
services were required. As all the workers in the market are now
under the union's jurisdiction, this assurance could be given and an
important constructive step toward reducing unemployment ac-
complished.

In the election for officers of the Chicago Joint Board 20,000
members participiated. We very seldom hear of 50 per cent of the
membership taking part in organization elections. That is proof
of the great interest taken by the members in the affairs of the organ-
ization. When the National Reserve Fund was called for, the Chi-
cago Joint Board was the first to take action. It assessed its mem-
bers $20 and $25 each according to earnings, and at the time of this
writing the larger part of the fund is already collected.

Any labor organization will benefit by taking the Amalgamated
in Chicago as an example and guiding light,

Chicago has had many impressive May Day celebrations. The
May Day celebration of May. 1921, was, however, the largest ever held
by our Chicago organization. Over 15,000 of our members packed
the Second Regiment Armory on this occasion. Addresses were made
by General President Sidney Hillman; Dr. Herbert C. Bigelow of
Cincinnati, and Manager Samuel Levin of the Chicago Joint Board.
There was singing by the Amalgamated Polish Singing Society, the
Bohemian Workmen's Singing Chorus, and the Lithuanian Society.
The Amalgamated Band also played, under the direction of Xick 6.
Berardinelli.

The Amalgamated Band has been organized by the members of
our Chicago organization. The Chicago Joint Board has done much

136 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

to encourage this activity on the part of the members with musical
inclinations.

Probably one of the principal features of the Chicago organiza-
tion is the centralization of its finances in the joint board. The
money collected through dues goes not to the local union but to the
joint board, where it is distributed and is subject to strict and fre-
quent auditing by both the local and national offices of the union.
The dues of $2 a month, which are required of each member of the
union, are at the outset allocated in the following way :

25 cents for building and maintenance.

50 cents for the national office.

20 cents for the reserve fund.
5^2 cents for the local unions.
ll/2 cents for the papers published by the national office.

92 cents for the joint board.

RENEWAL OF CHICAGO AGREEMENT

On 'February 14, 1922, the first conference was held with the
employers for the renewal of the agreement which expires this month.
On that date the following letter was handed by the employers
to the Amalgamated:

Chicago, Illinois.
February 14, 1922.

Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America,
Mr. Sidney Hillman, President,
Chicago, Illinois.
Dear Sir:

Some time ago there was presented to you, in behalf of the
Chicago clothing manufacturers, a memorandum in which were set
forth the burdens experienced by the manufacturers under, the agree-
ment as it has worked out in practice.

The memorandum pointed out that whereas the spirit of the agree-
ment calls for the most cordial co-operation of the union in meeting
the situations employers have to face, the efforts to adapt the admin-
istration of business to the unprecedented conditions of the last two
years- have met with persistent obstruction and annoyance, with the
result that the agreement has become in practive not an instrument
of co-operation but one of repression and legal technicalities.

Supplementing this general statement, memoranda upon specific
topics have also been presented, to wit: Stoppages, Selection of' Work-
ers, Restriction on Management, and Equal Division of Work.

The burdens resulting from a narrow restrictive approach to our
problems on the part of the union and from the extraordinarily high
wage scale obtaining in our industry must find substantial relief, and
the manufacturers must be in a position to look forward to that kind
of co-operation contemplated at the time the agreement was entered
into in 1919 if present relationships are to continue. The following
specific measures represent the minimum relief which the industry
must have as a starting point for pulling it out of the depression in,
which it now finds itself.

Twelve Demands

1. Selection of workers. The power to select and allocate labor
in all branches of the industry must be restored to the employers
in order that there may be complete relief from the burdens and
the inefficiency which have characterized the union's attempt to deal
with this problem. The probationary period for workers must be
lengthened to four weeks.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 137

2. Discipline. The full right of discipline and discharge must be
restored to management, the sole limitation upon that right being
the undertaking on the part of management not to discriminate
against members of the union. The burden of proof in all cases
must be upon the workers to show discrimination. There must bt
no defense permitted for participation in stoppages.

3. Equal distribution of work. The application of this principle
must be so modified as to permit the adjustment of man power to
the conditions of business, to changes in manufacturing and sales
policy, and to the adoption of labor saving methods.

4. Freedom of management. There must be complete freedom
from interference on the part of union officials with orders of manage-
ment and no discipline of members by the union shall be permitted
which affects the employer adversely. The management shall have
complete freedom in the purchase of materials and partially fabricated
products such 'as canvas fronts, rolled linings, etc., now in use or
similar products that may come on the market during the period of
the agreement, and in the introduction and use of machinery and labor
saving devices and methods. All restrictions upon mixing of fabrics
and the height of lay must be removed

5. Restriction of output. The application of standards In the cutt-
ing rooms must be revised so as to eliminate the five-year exemption
clause now in force. Cutting standards must be automatically enfor-
ceable in slack and busy seasons alike, and each individual cutter shall
be paid in exact proportion to the amount of work done instead of
in approximate proportion as now contemplated. Trimmers must be
put on piece work in the same manner as tailor shop workers. All
standards must be so adjusted and enforced that the firm will secure
at all times the best efforts of week workers.

6. Piece work. The employers must have complete freedom in the
installation and extension of piece work in the tailor shops. They
must have genuine relief from dilatory, annoying and expensive tactics
in determining the rates.

7. Hours. The hours of work must be extended to the former
basis of forty-eight per week.

8. Wages. There must be a general flat reduction of 25 per
cent in all piece work and week work rates, to be effective not latef
than May 1, 1922.

9. Peaks. Piece work rates in any house which are excessive
as compared with rates in other houses for substantially the same
quantity and quality of work must be brought to a fair level.

10. Holiday pay. All pay for holidays and vacations must be
abolished.

11. Final examiners. Final examiners (or inspector tailors) must
not be included under the protection of the agreement.

12. Enforcement of remedies. There shall be such changes in
any new agreement as shall be necessary to make the foregoing
remedies effective.

Even with these specific measures of relief it will be impossible
to meet the pressing problems of adjustment which the industry must
face, and to put it on a basis to build up adequate volume of business
in the interests of employers and workers alike, unless any agreement
entered into shall make co-operation a fact and not merely a profes-
sion.

The clothing industry in this market is made up of various kinds
of manufacturing units. First of all, the nature of the problem varies
according to the size of the several houses; the problem of the ready-
made house Is not uniformly the Problem of the tailor-to-the-trade or
the cut-trim make houses; the problems of the children's houses and
specialty homes are not the same problems as the problems of the
men's houies Any effective co-operation must proceed from a recogni-
tion of the differences that exist in the market, and th« handling of

138 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

situations that develop in the several houses during the life of the
agreement must take cognizance of the conditions that the nature of
the business of the concern in question imposes. In short, if the in-
dustry is to continue under a collective arrangement with the union,
it must be an arrangement which provides not alone for collective
bargaining, but for sincere and effective co-operation.

Very truly yours,
A. W. MEYER,
Chairman, Market Committee.

A series of conferences between the representatives of the union
and representatives of the employers followed. The direct negotia-
tions with the employers were carried on by President Hillman, Gen-
eral Executive Board Members Samuel Levin, A. D. Marimpietri,
Sidney Rissrnan, Frank Rosenblum, Stephan Skala, and Dr. Leo Wol-
man of the Research Department of the General Office.

After several weeks of negotiations the following agreement was

reached:

Preamble

On the part of the employer it is the expectation and intention that
this agreement will result in the establishment and maintenance of a
high order of discipline and efficiency by the willing co-operation of
union and workers; that by the exercise of this discipline all stoppages
and interruptions will cease; that good standards of workmanship and
conduct will be maintained and a proper quantity, quality, and cost of
production will be assured; that co-operation and good will will be
established between the parties hereto.

On the part of the union it is the intention and expectation that this
agreement will operate in such a way as to maintain and strengthen
its organization so that it may be strong enough to co-operate, as con-
templated in this agreement, and to command the respect of the em-
ployer; that it will have recourse to a tribunal in the creation of
which their votes will have equal weight with that of the employer
in which all of their grievances may be heard and adjudicated.

I. This agreement for collective bargaining is entered into between
the Chicago Industrial Federation of Clothing Manufacturers and the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and is effective, subject to
the qualifications contained in section III, from May 1, 1922, to April
30, 1925.

H. — Hours of Work

A. The hours of work shall be forty-four per week, to be
worked eight hours on week days with a Saturday half holiday.

B. Overtime. For work done in excess of the regular hours
per day, overtime shall be paid to piece workers of 50 per cent in adr
dition to their piece work rates; to the week workers, at the rate of
time and half.

III.— Wages

A. The standards of wages established by this agreement shall
not be changed under this agreement, provided, however, that if either
party shall become convinced that a change in wage standards is war-
ranted it may give notice to that effect not later than ninety days prior
to the anniversary of the date of this agreement and call for a con-
ference on such change. If any change shall be agreed upon it shall
become effective on such anniversary date. If, after a thorough can-
vas of the situation the parties find themselves unable to agree on
wages before the anniversary date either party may terminate this
agreement In good faith. *

B. Piece rates shall be fixed by collective bargaining, through

* The union also serve* notice that it may at the sam« tim« bring
up thi question of an unemployment fund in good faith.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 139

the medium of the price committee. This committee shall consist of
the labor manager or other qualified representative of management, and
a representative of the union, assigned from a group organized for the
purpose, and especially equipped for price making.

When occasion arises to put an operation on piece work or to
change an existing rate, the matter shall be referred to the price com-
mittee, whose duty it shall be to fix the rate. If the price committee
is unable to agree, the matter shall be taken to the trade board.

C. The wages of cutters working under the standards estab-
lished pursuant to the April, 1921, decision of the board of arbitration
shall be as follows:

Group A $47

Group B 45

Group C 43

Group D 41

Group E 39

If there are cutters whose production is so exceptional as to
preclude classification as above, an appropriate compensation may be
fixed by agreement between the parties, with reference to the trade
board in case of disagreement. Otherwise unclassified cutters shall
receive the same compensation as Class C cutters.

The length of service feature of the April 1921 decision is discon-
tinued.

Classification and re-classification shall at all times proceed prompt-
ly. In case of re-classification the labor manager or other designated re-
presentative of the firm, at the close of each four-week period, shall
furnish the union deputy a list of proposed re-classifications. This list
shall cover all cutters working during the period, provided, however, that
no cutter shall be re-classified unless he has actually worked at least
three full weeks during the period. If there are any cutters upon whose
classification the deputy and the labor manager cannot agree the case
shall go to the trade board but the case must be heard promptly in
order not to delay classification.

IV. Preference

A. It is agreed that the principle of the preferential shop shall
prevail, to be applied in the following manner:

Preference shall be applied in hiring and discharge.

Whenever an employer needs additional workers he shall first make
application to the union, specifying the number and kinds of workers
needed.

The union shall be given a reasonable time to supply the number
of workers required, and if unable, for any reason, to furnish them, the
employer shall be at liberty to secure them in the open market as
best he can. *

In the like manner the principle of preference shall be applied in
the case of discharge.

Should it at any time become necessary to reduce the number of
workers, the first ones to be dismissed shall -be those who are not
members of the union. In all such cases the best efforts shall be
mutually exerted to harmonize the interests of both parties.

B. The provisions for preference made herein require that the
door of the union shall be kept open for the reception of non-union
workers. Initiation fee and dues must be maintained at a reasonable
rate and any applicant must be admitted who is not an offender against
the union and who is eligible for membership under its rules. Provided
that if any rules be passed that impose unreasonable hardship, or that

* The union undertakes in co-operation with the employers to draw
up objective rules and regulations for the sending of workers to jobs
and to organize and conduct an efficient employment office. A com-
mittee, composed of Mr. Gilbertson representing the employers and Mr.
Wolman representating the union, are proceeding with an inquiry into
the operation of an employment office.

140 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

operate to bar desirable persons, the matter may be brought before the
tribunal herein provided for, for such remedy as it may deem ad-
visable.

V. — Working Conditions

A. The full power of discharge and discipline lies with the
employer. It is agreed that this power should be exercised with
justice and with regard to the reasonable rights of the employee. The
power of discharge shall be exercised only through the duly author-
ized and responsible representative of management. If the union, after
investigation, finds that an employee has been discharged without just
cause and that it cannot reach an adjustment with the representative
of management, it may bring the case to the trade board. The decision
of the trade board, unless appealed to the board of arbitration, shall
be final.

B. This agreement provides for an orderly adjustment of dif-
ferences and there is no provocation for direct action. Stoppages are,
therefore, prohibited. If, however, a stoppage shall occur because the
person in charge shall have refused to allow the employees to continue
work, he shall be ordered to give work immediately to the employees,
or in case the employees have stopped work, the respective repre-
sentatives of the employees shall order the employees to return to
work immediately, and in case they fail to do so within one hour
after being ordered, any or all of the participants in or instigators of
the stoppage shall be liable to discipline.

C. During slack season, if any, the work shall be divided as
nearly as is practicable among all the employees.

VI. — Administration

The administration of this agreement is vested in the accredited
representatives of the parties, as set forth below:

Deputies: Each of the parties shall designate one or more
authorized representatives who shall have power to investigate, mediate,
and adjust complaints. The representatives of both parties shall be
available to give prompt and adequate attention to their duties and it
shall be incumbent upon them to use every legitimate effort to settle
any complaint or grievance submitted to them. To that end the union
deputy when accompanied by the employer's representative shall have
access to any shop or factory for the purpose of investigating com-
plaints or grievances.

Shop Chairmen: The union shall have in each shop or floor one
duly accredited representative authorized by the joint board who
shall be recognized as the officer of the union having charge of com-
plaints and organization matters within the shop. He may have an
alternate to act in his absence who, when not functioning in this man-
ner, shall have no immunity or privilege as an official. He shall be
empowered to receive complaints and be given sufficient opportunity
and range of action to enable him to make proper inquiry concerning
them. When necessary for the shop representative to leave his place
to investigate complaints the foreman may, if he deems it necessary,
ask to be informed of the purpose of his movements, and the represen-
tative shall comply with his request.

It is understood the shop representative shall be entitled to collect
dues and perform such other duties as may be imposed on him by
the union, provided they be performed in such manner as not to inter-
fere with shop discipline and efficiency.

It is expected that he will represent the co-operative spirit of the
agreement in the shop, and shall be the leader in promoting that amity
and spirit of good will which it is the purpose of this instrument to
establish.

The co-operative spirit enjoined on the shop representative in the
foregoing paragraph shall be expected in equal degree from the shop
superintendent, who shall be expected to contribute his best efforts to
promote harmony and good will in the shops.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 141

Impartial Boards

Trade Board: Complaints or grievances within the scope of this
agreement upon which representatives of the parties are unable to agree
may be referred to a trade board for adjustment. The trade board shall
consist of a chairman who shall be the mutual choice of the two
parties to this agreement, and as occasion may arise of an equal number
of representatives of the two parties, not to exceed five on each side.
The chairman of the trade board shall maintain an office where he shall
be available for the prompt hearing, mediation, adjustment or decision
of cases that may be brought before him under the terms of this agree-
ment. His decisions in such cases shall be final unless appealed to the
board of arbitration.

Board of Arbitration: The board of arbitration shall consist of a
chairman who shall be the mutual choice of the two parties, and should
issues arise which in the opinion of the parties to the agreement re-
quire the enlargement of the board, two additional members may be
appointed, either by the parties joining in the selection of such addi-
tional members or by each of the parties naming a member.

It shall be the function of the board of arbitration to hear appeals
from the trade board and to interpret and apply the agreement, but
not to add to its terms.

The salaries of the chairman of the trade board and the chairman of
the board of arbitration are fixed and limited by this agreement and
neither of said boards shall have any power to enlarge such jurisdic-
tion, unless by mutual consent of the two parties to the agreement.

Both the Chicago Industrial Federation of Clothing Manufacturers
and the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America agree to use their
full influence and effort to secure observance of this agreement in
spirit as well as in letter by their respective members. Neither party
to this agreement shall adopt rules or regulations or issue any orders
or impose any obligations on members individually or collectively, in
conflict with any provision herein contained, or that will have the ef-
fect of nullifying or impairing any of such provisions.

The general president of the Amalgamated and the director of the
Federation, or other official representatives of the employers, shall keep
in close touch with the operation of the agreement and the administra-
tion of the impartial machinery.

The agreement was submitted to a meeting of the shop chairmen
and then to the membership at mass meetings on April 14, 1922. The
agreement was ratified at all meetings.

The new agreement, as may be seen from the text, is for a term
of three years, but it specifically provides that the question of wages
may be taken up each year. If no understanding is reached the
agreement may be abrogated, which gives the agreement an annual
lease of life unless both parties agree to continue it. Ninety days
before the agreement anniversary the union may also take up with
the employers the matter of an unemployment fund, which was decided
upon by the Boston Convention, and which it is our hope to establish
in this industry. The right to raise this question under a specific
provision in the agreement gives the unemployment fund resolution
of the Boston Convention a new status.

None of the employers' twelve demands was agreed to. The
forty-four-hour week, the preferential union shop, the right of review
in case of discharge, and equal division of work, remain untouched.
The union has retained all of its rights.

A compromise was made on the employers' demand for a 25 per

142 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OP AMERICA

cent wage reduction. The new agreement provides for a reduction
of 10 per cent for workers in the tailor shops with the exception of
general tailors, bushelmen, and all-around operators, paid by the
week, for whom norms had been established under decision of March,
1920. In the case of these week workers it was agreed that there
shall be a reduction of not more than 10 per cent, but in no event
may wages be reduced below $35. Thus there is established virtually
a minimum scale for these week workers. The March, 1921, arbitra-
tion decision fixed the cutters' wages at from $41 to $49, with the rate
for the average cutter at $45. Under the new agreement this scale
is reduced by $2 a week, and the new agreement calls for a scale
varying from $39 to $47.

The new agreement gives the union certain advantages not con-
tained in the old agreement. Under the former arrangement any
worker having a grievance or complaint, or having been disciplined,
could take the matter up directly for review by the impartial chair-
man. The new agreement provides that all such cases must first be
brought to the attention of the union and that the organization is the
only agency which may take a case to the impartial machinery for ad-
justment. The individual worker has no standing before the trade
board, but is required to act through the union alone.

The effect on the metropolitan press of the signing of this agree-
ment at a time when there are wide-spread efforts to introduce the
open shop in industries longer organized than ours, such as coal min-
ing, is reflected in the following editorial on the settlement in the
New York "Globe" of April 7:

A PROFITABLE PEACE

The most notable event in recent industrial history is the signing
of a new contract between the Chicago manufacturers and the union in
the men's clothing industry. Many employers are not now eager to
negotiate new contracts with unions, because they think that unemploy-
ment has put the workers at their mercy. Some unions had a similar
attitude when labor was scarce and the market favored them. For this
reason it is the more important that so notable a group of producers
as the men who fabricate men's clothing in Chicago should have elected
to continue the system of industrial government which has been built
up during the last eleven years.

Industry is well-nigh the only field of human relations in which it
is customary to think that anarchy is better than government. Even
social life is organized. Many, however, have tried to believe that in
industry drift and chaos were better than an attempt at order and
justice. Experiments have proved the contrary to be true. The first
one of the Chicago manufacturers to test the possibilities of industrial
government found it to be enormously attractive. Not since 1910 has
Hart Schaffner & Marx had a strike, and during the years of peace and
of good-will between employers and workers the firm so prospered that
the other Chicago manufacturers as a competitive measure undertook
to devise a kindred system.

The new agreement, which is scheduled to continue for three years,
includes all the Chicago manufacturers and 40,000 workers. It provides
for a 10 per cent reduction in wages, and the continuance of principles
and practices already in vogue. These include impartial arbitration,
prohibition of strikes and lockouts, the preferential union shop, the
forty-four-hour week, time and a half for overtime, and an equal divi-
sion of work during slack times. Under the agreement the question of

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 143

wages may be reopened if general permanent changes in the wages
or hours of the clothing industry are recorded. The way was left free
to begin conferences concerning the establishment of an unemploy-
ment fund. This is of immeasurable importance.

In a period of reaction such as this it is encouraging to get this
practical demonstration of the value of democratic government in in-
dustry. Sidney Hillman, president of the Amalgamated Clothing Work-
ers of America, has served well his generation in leading so numerous
a band of workers into the paths of constructive statesmanship. A
satisfactory government is worth more to workers and to employers
than an uncertain war.

The agreement with Hart, Schaffner & Marx was renewed sub-
stantially along the same lines.

During the time of the negotiations the members paid their Re-
serve Fund assessment as reported above, and built up a large fund.

Our Chicago organization is coming to this convention with the
market completely organized, with a form of organization that is
probably the most efficient in the country, with a home of its own
which will be available to the membership in the near future, with a
bank which is now in process of organization and which will be owned
by the organized clothing workers, and with a bouyant spirit ready
for more and greater achievements.

CONSTRUCTIVE WORK IN ROCHESTER

The constitutional government inaugurated in the Rochester
clothing industry in 1919 has functioned despite all efforts against
it made by those who do not wish the workers to enjoy rights in the

industry.

While the Amalgamated and the Rochester Clothiers' Exchange
were working out their problems at conferences in which the workers
are represented, Industrial Autocracy was making desperate efforts
to retain its weakening hold upon the industry. In our last report
you were informed of a suit the firm of Michaels, Stern & Co. had
brought against the Amalgamated for a permanent injunction and
$100,000 damages. The trial began April 12 and lasted more than
three weeks. The Boston convention opened one week after the
closing of the testimony on May 3, 1920. We were unable to in-
clude an account of the trial in our last report. We do so now.

General President Hillman was the first witness for the Amal-
gamated. He besran his testimony Friday. April 23, 1920, and was
on the witness stand for several days.

President Hillman related in detail the progress of the negotia-
tions with the Rochester emplovers which led up to rhe collective
bargaining agreement for the Rochester market. After the mem-
bers of the Rochester Clothiers' Exchansre sieved an agreement with
the Amalgamated in February. 1919. Michaels, Stem & Co. was the
only firm to continue to fisrht the organization of its workers.

One of the sensations of President Hillman's testimony was his
story about tli<> alliance of the defunct United Garment Workers with
the T. W. W. in Baltimore to fight the Amalgamated. That is an

144 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

old story for Amalgamated members. Not many in Rochester knew
of that alliance, which was defeated by the Amalgamated.

Conversation with members of the firm of Michaels, Stern &
Co. were related, leading up to the conversation that President Hill-
man had with Arthur Stern on the Tuesday following the strike at
the Michaels, Stern & Co. factory, in July, 1919.

Hillman said that he first took up the firm's reported action
in negotiating with the United Garment Workers, and that Stern
had denied any knowledge of such negotiations, saying that he
was not responsible for the statements appearing in the press. He
then explained to Stem and Attorney Sutherland the status of
the United Garment "Workers.

"I told them the introduction of the United Garment Workers
was never done in good faith by any employer when there was a con-
troversy with their own employees," he said.

11 Stern told me that he was always willing to deal with his own
employees, but objected to dealing with outsiders. I asked him if
he did not think that this was obviously unfair, pointing out that he,
an employer of standing, had asked to have his counsel with him
when he met me, while he denied his employees the same privilege.

' ' We next took up the question at issue. I distinguished between
the immediate issues and the general issues. The immediate desire
of the workers for a 20 per cent increase, elimination of discrimina-
tion against members of our organization, and the abolition of
the spy system, I said, I would rather not discuss at the time.
When they were taken up, I would rather act as advisor for a local
committee. 'On these issues,' I said, 'we certainly can reach an
agreement. The real problem is fundamental. We must have a
system of deciding the daily differences that arise in the shop. The
real question is whether you will accept the new way of dealing
with labor- problems. "

"I was very frank with the firm when they sent for me." said
Hillman, "and asked why they wanted an agreement, since very few
of their employees were mem/bers of our union.

"They replied that it was necessary for them to draw on the
rreneral market for employees and that as nil clothing workers were
members of the Amalgamated, they preferred an agreement."

Judere Sutherland, the firm's counsel, interrogated Hillman at
that conference concerning- the acts of violence that had occurred
at the firm's plants, and his reply, Hillman said, was in substance
as follows:

"You know our position in the matter. We cannot benefit by
violence; no organization does. We cannot take the responsibility
for all individuals, however and if there is any violence, no doubt
the police will take care of it. The organization will do everything
in its power, regardless of the outcome of this conference, to prevent
violence. Then T think Stern said to me, 'If you deny these act*,
v t> i-amiot rearli *\\ agreement,' find that concluded the interview."

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 145

Hillman testified that he had left that night for Toronto, after
promising Stern to hold the strikers together for several days in
order to give the firm time to make a decision in the matter. On
his return from Toronto he called up the factory and was told Stern
was in New York. He talked with Julius Anderson, superintendent
of the Clinton Street factory, however, and told him that he con-
sidered himself released from his obligation. The next day he talked
with Arthur Stern over the telephone and received the information
that the firm had decided to enter into an agreement with the United
Garment Workers.

Under Professor Frankfurter's questioning, Hillman next went
into the history of the Amalgamated, although he was not allowed
to relate the causes of its formation. In this connection a chart,
introduced in evidence, pictured the present structure of the Amal-
gamated.

Vigorous objections were made by Attorney Sutherland to the
introduction of some of this evidence. "The only thing we are in
court for is to make these people let us alone," he said. "We do
not care to hear the history of the organization."

Justice Rodenbeck ruled that the witness might show the growth
of the organization but must stick to facts.

Professor Frankfurter offered to prove the economic and social
gains which the Amalgamated has achieved for its memibers. De-
tailed evidence showing the advances in wages, the reduction in
hours, the greater security of employment and the general improve-
ment of the clothing industry was offered.

Judge Rodenfoeck ruled that the introduction of such evidence
was unnecessary, holding that the legal right to strike for better-
ment of conditions was not to be disputed. He said:

"I do not think it will be disputed that every man as an in-
dividual has a right to leave an employment at any time. They
have a right to combine and leave in a body. Every man has a
right to join the union. The union itself may counsel with him.
I am inclined to think that a national organization cannot be treated
as an intermeddler."

The preamble of the constitution of the Amalgamated was the
occasion of muoh questioning by the attorney for the firm, ExJudge
Sutherland. Hillman explained the ultimate objectives and the im-
mediate aims of the organization in connection with an explanation
of the preamble.

"It is the historic hope and aim of the workers to pass out
of the status of wage earners," Hillman said. "But the immediate
objective we had in mind in our conference with Michaels, Stern &
Co. was the securing of an agreement through which wasres. condi-
tions of labor and other matters could be arranged. We desired
to participate in legislation affecting us."

Attorney Sutherland apparently had been in touch with the
labor-hating state's attorney of Chicago, for he produced minutes

146 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

of the Chicago Joint tfoard seized in a raid on the joint board of-
fice six months before, and asked for an explanation of an item of
$1,000 received from the Stag Tailoring Co. which had been for-
warded to the strikers of the Michaels-Stern shop. Hillman ex-
plained that the Stag Tailoring Co. and its employees had violated
their agreement with the union in regard to overtime work; that
there was back pay owed to the employees to the amount of $1,000,
and that at a meeting of these workers they had voted to send this
back pay to the Michaels-Stern strikers.

Alois P. Frank, a former Michaels-Stern employee, was a most
effective witness for the Amalgamated. He described the inside
"union" that existed in the Michaels-Stern plant from 1916 to 1918,
which he declared was ineffective. Frank, who was a member of
the grievance committee, testified that the committee had told the
industrial relations manager of the firm that the workers were desir-
ous of a "real organization."

In 1918 the cutters formed an organization, known as the Mi-
chaels-Stern Cutters' Co-operative Association. The day after this
organization was formed it sent its grievance committee to Arthur
L. Stern to ask for the back pay v/hich they claimed was due them
under the Rochester award by Arbitrators Ripley and Kirstein.
Frank testified that on this occasion Stern told the committee "that
was a poor way to start a union."

Frank related his story of the strike, saying that at a meeting
some time before the strike the cutters of the Clinton Avenue plant
had taken a vote on .•joining an outside organization, and that the
vote was 72 to 12 in favor of such affiliation. This vote, Frank said,
was counted in the presence of the superintendent of the factory.

Numerous strikers testified to conditions in the Michaels-Stern
shops before the strike to show that this firm always was hostile
to labor organizations, which showed that the agreement entered
into by .the firm and the defunct United Garment "Workers without
the consent of the workers was not an agreement between an em-
ployer and a labor organization.

On June 19 Justice Adolph Rodenbeck awarded the firm of
Michaels, Stem & Co. a permanent injunction restraining the Amal-
gamated Clothing Workers of America from union activity at the
firm's Rochester factories, and granted the firm's plea for damages.
the amount to be determined later.

Judge Roderick's decision follows in part:

The strike was staged by the manipulations of the national organ-
ization to force the recognition of the union. This is the only con-
clusion from the history of the controversy between the parties pre-
ceding the strike.

The case turns upon the question as to whether or not force or
what is equivalent to force was employed by the defendants to secure
this recognition. If no threats, intimidation, force, violence or other
coercive measures were employed, the defendants are not liable for
they were within their rights in seeking to compel recognition by
calling a strike. But the record shows that such means were em-

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 147

ployed. The method of picketing involved threats and intimidation.
Picketing may be lawful or unlawful. The legitimate purpose of it is
10 inform the strikers and their union as to what is going on at the
plants. When it unnecessarily goes beyond this and is conducted
with the design and has the effect of intimidating those who may
desire to remain at work or seek employment, it infringes upon human
freedom and liberty of action. The right to work is protected by the
law as well as the right to quit work. Whatever number of pickets
was necessary to secure the reasonable and lawful purpose of the
union is sanctioned by law but where the number is swelled to five
or six hundred and at times to a thousand made up in part of workers
from other factories, the unnecessary and unlawful purpose to awe and
intimidate by numbers is apparent. Intimidation may consist in num-
bers alone without any actual violence. Many of the workers in plain-
tiff's factories were girls and in such a case a large crowd of pickets
composed in part of women of foreign birth, with the calling of op-
probrious names and expressions and gesticulations of violence, would
be sufficient alone to intimidate without a single blow being struck.

The picketing was not "peaceful." Names were called. Girls going
to work had to pass through a line of pickets in the earlier stages
of the strike and "scab" and other opprobrious names, too vile to be
mentioned, were called as they passed. No self-respecting woman
would submit to such insults more than once and it is not surprising
that from the day of the strike these methods were effective and large
numbers left the employ of the plaintiffs who would otherwise have
remained in their employ and others were deterred from seeking em-
ployment. So that the plaintiffs were reduced to the necessity of
advertising for help and as soon as the unlawful picketing was checked
the number of employees gradually increased until a full force of
workers was secured.

Actual violence supplemented opprobrious epithets. There was no
physical violence every day but that was hardly necessary. An overt
act of this kind now and then would be a sufficient warning and a
blow or disturbance now and then would be rumored about and be
quite adequate as an object lesson. It is enough if violence was em-
ployed with sufficient frequence to warrant the conclusion that it was
a part of the program for conducting the strike...

The defendants sought to interfere also with the contract of the
United Garment Workers. While the strike was in progress the plain-
tiff's employees in large numbers joined the United Garment Workers
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor but the strike and
its methods continued just the same. The Amalgamated Clothing Work-
ers were not satisfied with the unionization of the factories by the
establishment of a local of the United Garment Workers but, on the con-
trary, continued the strike with renewed vigor and zeal as if the principle
of an outside organization contended for had not been accomplished. These
acts of the defendants in relation to the United Garment Workers furnish
no ground for a cause of action but serve to illuminate the motives
of the defendants and to emphasize the competition among labor
unions and their selfish attitude toward each other. If all that was
sought was the unionization of the plaintiffs' shops the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers should have desisted when the United Garment
Workers were recognized and a local union established. A United
Garment Workers' union was under the ban by the defendants as well
as a shop organization. Salvation it seems could be secured only
through the upbuilding of an organization represented by the defend-
ants.

The United Garment Workers had as much right on the ground as
did the Amalgamated Clothing Workers. The latter has no patent right
on unionism. This intolerant attitude of the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers toward the United Garment Workers savors of a species of
domination which does not inspire confidence in their ultimate purposes.

148 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

If the Amalgamated Clothing Workers could obtain complete con-
trol of the laoor market and the clotnmg manuiacturers could combine
inio a perfect monopoly, wages and prices could be regulated to suit
themselves at the expense or' the general public, and if the same policy
could be pursued in other industries the principle of organization con-
tended for would deleat its own purpose so far as wages are concerned
by raising prices as fast as the cost of production was increased, in
a proper case the law will protect the general public as well as the
individual rrom exaction and oppression from any source. It is the
duty of government to protect the one against the many as well as
the many against the one.

Monopolies and exclusive privileges are alike condemned whether
of labor or capital as experience has taught mankind that an economic
or industrial despotism has no more consideration for the general good
than a political despotism and is an undue barrier to the exercise of
personal liberty and freedom of action, the development of industries
and reasonable competition in life.

But not only were the Amalgamated Clothing Workers opposed to
the unionization of the plaintiffs' factories by the United Garment
Workers but they were unwilling that independent contractors and
home workers who were making garments for the plaintiffs should have
the privilege of working for the plaintiffs. The members of the union
had the right to refuse to work with non-union men or to work on non-
union material in the contractors' shops but the defendants did not stop
there but called a strike in some cases where but a handful of employees
of the contractor belonged to the union. The strikes were not effective
generally but they illustrate the extent to which the principle of the
right to unionize is claimed to extend. Some of these contractors were
engaged in making other garments as well as those of the plaintiffs
but the defendants would paralyze the entire shop if they could do so
to accomplish their purpose. If this principle is carried to its logical
conclusion it would authorize a strike against any person or firm who
did any work for plaintiffs in carrying on their business. House workers
were persuaded by promises of strike benefits or by still more effective
measures to quit working for the plaintiffs. N

Thus by means that were in part lawful but in most part illegal,
the defendants have sought economically to strangle the plaintiffs' busi-
ness in order to compel them to recognize an organization against their
wishes.

The use of force or its equivalent goes back to the beginning of
the strike and under the history and circumstances of the case justifies
a conclusion that such means were contemplated and intended when the
strike was called. This purpose makes the strike illegal in its incep-
tion MHHad

A union cannot call a lawful strike with the intention of using such
means to bring it to a successful issue. This rule is fortified in this
case by the tremendous power back of the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers, the situation of the labor market in the clothing industry in
Rochester and the unison of action with which the strike was immedi-
ately prosecuted. The law will not be defeated by the failure to express
such intentions in writing or in preliminary oral representations but
will, in a proper case, infer such intentions from the history of the
case, the prompt application of unlawful methods after the strike has
been called and the general conduct of the parties. It would be absurd
to say that a group of men could combine for the purpose of using force
or its equivalent to compel others to give up jobs or to prevent others
from seeking employment whether the combination be called a strike
or a conspiracy. It is a fair conclusion that the national organization
was cognizant all the time of what was going on and that what hap-
pened occurred in accordance with its plan to compel recognition of the
union.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 149

If the defendants therefore Intended when the strike was called to
use threats, intimidation, force, violence or other coercive measures to
induce plaintiffs' employees to leave its employ and to prevent
from taking their places in order to compel recognition of the union,
their purpose was illegal and rendered them liable if united in action
from the inception of the strike for such damages as the plaintiffs suf-
fered But if this intention was not present when the strike was c
the defendants would still be jointly liable for the use of force or its
equivalent when employed if they acted in concert.

The defendants sought to justify their course by evidence of the
lawful purpose of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers and their bene-
ficial operations but the evidence was excluded on the ground that the
lawful purposes of the organization would be assumed until evidence
to the contrary was offered and that the beneficial character and opera-
tions of the union were no justification.

The right to seek by lawful means to unionize the plaintiffs' fac-
tories and to compel recognition by a strike, must be conceded and the
alleged justification could only have been offered upon the ground that
a balancing of advantages and disadvantages to employer and employees
should in some way permit the course taken by the defendants. . : . .
There has been a constant effort to preserve the character of our in-
stitutions and to condemn monopolies of all kinds as an undue inter-
ference with the fundamental principles of government. The govern-
ment itself is restrained by checks and balances designed to prevent
the growth of arbitrary power. No particular class or group whether of
labor or capital can be permitted to dominate any other class or group
or the general public to the exclusion of their reasonable rights

These rights and privileges cannot be extended so as to constitute
an arbitrary domination of the reasonable rights of others or so as to
be subversive of the government itself, or so as to be contrary to !the
public interests.

Combinations both of labor and capital not amounting to monopolies,
with reasonable restrictions upon both is the beacon light of future
industrial progress and the limits of such combinations are the reason-
able rights of others and the public under our form of government. . . .

The General Executive Board and the general president, acting under
its direction, had the undoubted right to call the strike and in sending
national organizers to Rochester the organization must assume the re-
sponsibility for their acts. All of the defendants are liable who knew
or ought to have known of the concerted action for the common object
and the national body is responsible as such. The calling of the strike
was also ratified and its conduct sanctioned by the president of the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers and the national organization must be
held liable with the other defendants both for the initiation of the strike
and its subsequent conduct.

This responsibility, however, does not impose a personal liability
upon the entire membership but only upon those who are named as de-
fendants and personally participated, directly or indirectly, in the wrong-
ful act complained of. ...

It cannot be possible that a great organization like the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers can project and carry on a strike in the manner in
which it was conducted in this case and avoid responsibility and
liability for its acts. A concert of action by a labor organization and
its members to compel recognition of a union or to redress grievances
by means of threats, intimidation, force, violence, or similar coercive
measures constitutes a conspiracy whether such intention was present
at the inception of the strike or afterward and a national unincorporated
labor union is liable for damages if its officers and agents acted within
the scope of their authority as such in calling and carrying on the strike
with the purpose of using such unlawful means, but the liability does
not extend to the individual members who are not specially connected
with such acts.

150 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OP AMERICA

The plaintiffs are entitled to a permanent injunction restraining th«
defendants substantially in the terms of the temporary injunction hereto-
fore granted and to damages to be hereafter determined.

A number of steps in Judge Bodenbeck's court were required
before an appeal could be taken to a higher court. In the course of
that procedure Judge Itodenbeck altered his original decision by
a supplementary decision in which he declared that many acts of
the Amalgamated members, previously questioned, were lawful. In
his later decision August 3, 1920, the judge said:

It was lawful for the employees 01 the plaintiffs who were members
of the Amalgamated to strike lor the purpose of securing a redress of
any alleged grievances, and for the purpose of inducing the plaintiffs
to enter into an agreement with the Amalgamated providing for col-
lective bargaining and arbitration of disputes.

It was lawful for officers or agents of the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America or of the Rochester Joint Board to persuade or
encourage employees of the plaintitts who were members of the Amal-
gamated to strike for such purpose.

It was lawful for said officers or agents to endeavor to persuade
employees of the plaintiffs who were not members of the Amalgamated
to join in said strike. This right of persuasion was not abrogated by
*• the action of the plaintiffs in entering into an agreement with the United
Garment Workers. In furtherance of the purposes of said strike it was
lawful for the said officers or agents to persuade persons not employed
by the plaintiffs from entering such employ.

It was lawful for the officers or agents of the Amalgamated to assist
and encourage said strike by contributing funds of the said Amalgamated
and sending organizers and agents to Rochester.

It was lawful for such officers or agents to organize a system of
picketing for the purpose of persuading the plaintiffs' employees to
join the strike and of persuading other persons not to enter the plain-
tiffs' employ.

It was lawful for such officers or agents to persuade or endeavor
to persuade "contractors" employing members of the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America from continuing to do the work of com-
pleting garments for the plaintiffs.

It was lawful for members of the Amalgamated employed by such
contractors to strike in order that they might not be required to work
on the completion of garments for the plaintiffs.

It was lawful for the members of the Amalgamated employed by
such "contractors" to strike in order to induce said "contractors" to
discontinue manufacturing the plaintiffs' garments.

It was lawful for officers or agents of the Amalgamated to en-
courage and assist a strike against a "contractor" for such a purpose.

It was lawful for such officers or agents to persuade employees of
such "contractors" to strike for such a purpose.

Justice Rodenbeck declared that "it was not lawful, however,
for the officers, agents, or members of the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers to seek to accomplish any of the lawful purposes above
specified by concerted action by the use of threats, intimidation, force,
violence, or any other coercive or unlawful measures." A number
of acts, listed by the judge, he declares were "unlawful acts and a
conspiracy." Amalgamated members were restrained from picket-
ing demonstrations in the vicinity of the shops, from interfering
with the employees of the firm on the way -to and from work, from
disseminating statements "to the effect that the plaintiffs or their

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 151

employees are opposed to organized labor, or are opposed by any
labor organization other than said Amalgamated Clothing Workers
of America."

One of the most interesting parts of the injunction order was
that which restrained Amalgamated members "from endeavoring'
to persuade the employees of the plaintiffs to violate or cause the
abrogation or violation of the working contract between the plaintiffs
and the United Garment Workers of America." This agreement
was entered into by the firm and the United while the members
of the Amalgamated were on strike.

Following the handing down of the supplementary decision in
August, 1920, a number of technical moves were made by the attor-
neys in the case on both sides, in order to perfect the record for
the purpose of appeal.

On February 3, 1922, the judge finally issued a permanent in-
junction. At the same time the question of damages was decided.
Judge Eodenbeck did not award any damages but assessed legals costs
amounting to $2.469.9,5 on the union. Since the handing down of the
final decision steps have been taken 'by our attorneys to nrepare the
matter for appeal. No action could be taken sooner because it was
necessary to await the decision granting a permanent injunction and
deciding the question of damages.

The list of witnesses who testified for the Amalgamated in the
Michaels-Stern case included : General President Sidney Hillman,
Abraham I. Pearlman, Dr. Leo Wolman, Gustave A. Strebel, John J.
Koleta, Alois B. Frank, Fred A. Stein, Frank Bohrer, August F. Suss,
Louis Panetta, Harry Bloom, Samuel Deitz, Harry J. Dunningan.
George Fleischauer. James F. Maynard, ATbe Cohen. Michael Francati,
Mile Rizzo, Fred D. Herdfelder/ Jacob J. Spitz, Sam Galinsky, An-
thony Ramuglia. Daniel L. Rose, Jacob Wall!. Daniel O'Keefe, Leo A.
Forster, John Rotondo, Gustave A. Lotz, Victor Contant, Concetto
Mary Bruno, Vincenzina Tornatore, Elvira Mancina.

The Amalgamated ?s defense was conducted by Powell and
O'Brien of Rochester, Lowenthal, Szold, Henderson, and Buckner,
of New York, and Professor Felix Frankfurter of Cambridge, Mass.
Professor Frankfurter volunteered his services.

RENEWAL OP AGREEMENT WITH CLOTHIERS'
EXCHANGE, 1920

The relations between the Amalgamated Clothing Workers and
the Clothiers' Exchange were continued as provided in the agree-
ment made early in 1919. In due time negotiations were taken up
for the renewal of the agreement. After six weeks' work by com-
mittees the foUowingr agreement, marking a considerable advance in
favor of the organization as compared with the old agreement, was
reached and ratified by both organizations :

1. This agreement made between the members of the Clothiers'
Hxchange of Rochester, N. Y., as individuals acting through the said
exchange as their representative, and the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America, shall become effective after ratification by the

152 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

members of both parties, and the fact of such ratification shall b«
indicated by an exchange of notes between the president of the ex-
change and the president of the Amalgamated. The agreement shall
continue in force until May 31, 1922.

2. The right of the workers in the industry to bargain collec-
tively is agreed to, and the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
is recognized as the organization of the workers, duly authorized to
act as the agency for collective dealing dith the employers. The
employees in every shop shall elect representatives to take up their
cases with the management in the first instance. If the shop represen-
tatives cannot agree with the management, then a union representative
shall be called in. The employers shall appoint duly authorized repre-
sentatives of the management, who shall be responsible for carrying
into effect the terms and conditions of this agreement in all their
shops.

3. The power to hire shall remain with the employer, but in cases
where discrimination on account of union membership is charged, the
impartial chairman shall have the right of review, and if facts are
brought before the impartial chairman that appear to indicate that
the labor policy of any house is calculated to undermine the union,
he shall have the power to review that policy.

4. The power to discharge and suspend employees remains with
the employer, but it is agreed that this power will be exercised with
justice and due regard for the rights of the workers; and if any
worker feels that he has been unjustly treated in the exercise of
this power, he may appeal to the labor adjustment board hereinafter
mentioned, which shall have the power of review in all such cases.

5. The right of the employer to make changes in shop manage-
ment and methods of manufacturing is recognized; such changes to
be made without loss to the employees directly affected.

6. There shall be no strikes, lockouts, or stoppages of work in
any shop covered by this agreement.

7. The principle of equal division of work is recognized, and
during slack seasons work shall be divided as far as practicable among
all the workers in the shop.

8. The administration of this agreement is vested in a labor adjust-
ment board consisting of representatives of the employers and of
representatives of the workmen, together with an impartial chairman
selected by both parties. The representatives of the employers and
the representatives of the workmen upon this board shall have an
equal vote, regardless of the number of representatives of either
side, and in case of a tie vote, the impartial chairman shall cast the
decisive vote.

All disputes or differences over questions arising under this agree-
ment which the parties hereto are unable to adjust between themselves
shall be referred to the labor adjustment board for adjustment or
arbitration. This board shall have full and final jurisdiction over all
such questions and its decisions shall be conclusive, except as mav be
otherwise provided by agreement of the parties hereto. Except where
the board itself shall otherwise determine, the chairman of the board
shall be authorized to take original jurisdiction of all cases and con-
troversies arising under this agreement, and to adjust or decide them
in accordance with rules of practice and procedure established by the
board. Decision of the chairman shall be binding on both parties.
It is agreed that William M. Leiserson shall continue to act. as chair
man of the labor adjustment board.

9. The board shall have authority to make such rules, regula-
tions and supplementary arrangements, not Inconsistent with this agree-
ment, as may be necessary to carry into effect the principles of this
agreement, or to apply these principles to new questions whenever they
ariie. It may also define, describe and limit the penalties to be im-
posed for the violation of any of the provisions of this agreement.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 153

iu. The expanses of the labor adjustment board shall DC borne
equally by both parties to this agreement,

11. Upon the petition of either party the labor adjustment
board shall have the power to determine whether important changes
have taken place within the clothing industry, or in industrial con-
ditions generally, which warrant changes in general wage levels or
in hours of work; and if it is decided that such changes are warranted,
negotiations shall begin between the parties hereto. In the event of
a disagreement, the question shall be submitted to arbitration.

12. Upon the petition of either party, any adjustment of wages
of individuals or sections that may be necessary in order to remove
serious and unjust inequalities in pay may be made at any time
during the life of this agreement, provided that no request for such
adjustment shall be heard by the impartial chairman until he has been
authorized to consider it by the labor adjustment board. A decision
by the impartial chairman in such a matter shall take effect and"
operate during and after the first full week after the date of the decision
unless the parties otherwise agree.

13. A minimum wage for all beginners in the industry and a
probationary period during which the employer shall be free to discharge
such help without question shall be fixed by the labor adjustment board.

14. The regular hours of work shall be forty-four per week, to be
worked eight hours on the five days preceding Saturday and four hours
on Saturday.

15. For work done in excess of the regular number of hours
per day overtime shall be paid at the rate of time and one-half.

16. The labor adjustment board is authorized to exercise sanitary
control over shops covered by this agreement, and it shall have author-
ity to make regulations designed to protect the health and saftey
of the workers in the shops.

17. It is agreed that home work shall be abolished and the labor
adjustment board shall investigate and work out procedure to this end.

In connection with the renewal of the agreement the Amal-
gamated presented to the employers demands for improvements in
wages. A hearing was held, at which representatives from other
slothing markets were present. On August 20, 1920, Dr. Leiserson,
chairman of the lafoor adjustment board, gave out the following de-
cision :

Shortly before the first agreement between the Clothiers' Exchange
of Rochester and the Amalgamated Clothing Workers expired on June
1, 1920, the union presented the following propositions to the employers
and requested that they be made part of the new agreement:

1. Preferential union shop.

2. Equalization of wages with other markets.

3. Minimum wage for learners.

4. Abolition of home-work.

5. Regulation of apprenticeship.

6. Equal division of work during slack periods.

The employers made certain counter-propositions, and all of the
matters in dispute except the matter of equalization of wages were
either settled by the terms of the new agreement, which has been
published, or provision was made for settling them under procedure
provided by the agreement. No agreement could be reached with
respect to the request for equalization of wages; and this matter was
therefore submitted for arbitration to the chairman of the labor adjust-
ment board.

Accordingly, an all-day hearing was held at the Seneca Hotel on
August 5, at which representatives of both parties presented evidence

154 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

and arguments in support of their contentions. Subsequently the chair-
man held conferences in Rochester, New York City, and Chicago with
the statistical experts of both parties and went over with them
fully the statistical exhibits of wages and earnings in Rochester and in
other markets, that had been submitted in evidence. The chairman
also had conducted an independent investigation of his own into the
wages and earnings of Rochester clothing workers, and the result
of this investigation as well as the comparisons made with the wages
in other markets, were submitted for criticism to the expert employed
by both sides.

As a result of these extended investigations the chairman is con-
vinced that the earnings of the piece workers in Rochester, with ex-
ception of a few sections, are on the average about the same as the
earnings of the piece workers in Chicago, which is the chief com-
petitive piece-work market. Most of the week workers in Rochester,
however, are earning considerably less per week than the week workers
in other markets. It is true that the clothing workers in Rochester
have had more steady work than the people in other markets, but
even if allowances were made for this fact, the Rochester week work-
ers on the whole would still be earning less than the week workers
in other clothing centers.

Under ordinary circumstances, it cannot be doubted that a request
to equalize labor costs between competing employers and markets is a
just request. The intelligent and informed public opinion of America
no longer considers it sound industrial policy to permit employers to
seek advantage in competing with one another by getting the same
kind of labor at lower wages. Competition among employers should
be in efficiency of management, salesmanship and service to consumers,
not in getting cheap labor. The clothing worker in one market has
a right to expect the same wages and standard of living for his
family that other markets, where successful business is carried on,
are able to pay.

If this were the only consideration, an increase to the clothing
workers of Rochester would surely be justified. But the conditions
and prospects of business at the time that increases are given must
be carefully considered. At the present time the clothing industry
throughout the country is experiencing acute depression and it will
be as harmful to the wage-earner as to the employer to place any
additional financial burdens on the industry. To grant wage increases
at a time like this would merely postpone the day when prosperity
can return to the industry again. It would appear like mockery to
the worker to give him a wage increase at the very time when he
is being laid off for lack of work, and an increase at such a time might
well endanger the standards of living the clothing workers have al-
ready attained by creating an amount of unemployment that would
result in cut-throat competition for jobs at any wages, no matter
how low they may be. The best that can be hoped for at the present
time is that existing wages and standards of living shall be main-
tained.

The chairman is therefore of the opinion that on account of the
serious conditions prevailing in the clothing industry in Rochester, as
well as in other clothing markets, no general increases can be granted
at the present time. If, however, conditions in the industry should
change so as to warrant an increase before the union would have a
right again to request a wage adjustment under their agreement, due
notice will be given to the employers and to the union that the chair-
man will take up the question of equalization of wages with other
markets. The chairman reserves the right, as a condition of the
present decision, to make such wage adjustments as may be necessary,
if conditions in the industry should change so as to warrant such
action before the agreement would permit an adjustment to be made.

(Signed), WM. M. LEISERSON.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 155

Later Dr. Leiserson fixed the wage for learners at $15 a week
for a probationary period of six weeks. After six weeks the mini-
mum scale must be $16.

In January, 1921, the Rochester Joint Board received the fol-
lowing letter from the employers through the labor adjustment
board :

January 28, 1921.
To Labor Adjustment Board

and

To Mr. Wm. M. Leiserson,
Impartial Chairman.
Gentlemen:

Under the agreement signed between the members of the Clothiers'
Exchange of Rochester, New York, and the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America, on or about the 3rd day of August, 1920, it is
provided that, upon the petition of either party, the labor adjustment
board shall have the power to determine whether important changes
have taken place within the clothing industry, or in industrial con-
ditions generally, which warrant changes in general wage levels; and
that, if it is decided that such changes are warranted, negotiations
shall begin between the parties.

We ask you to consider this communication as the petition provided
for in the agreement. We contend that important changes have taken
place within the clothing industry, and in industrial conditions gen-
erally, which warrant changes in general wage levels, as contemplated
by the agreement.

Will you kindly appoint a place and date for a consideration of this
matter, so that the proceedings necessary to your determination may
go forward with all possible speed?

I am submitting this on behalf of the members of the Clothiers'
Exchange of Rochester, New York, who are parties to the agreement.
Very truly yours,

MAX L. HOLTZ, President,

Clothiers' Exchange of Rochester, N. Y.

Herewith the union's reply:

To Labor Adjustment Board and
To William M. Leiserson,
Gentlemen: —

We have received the communication of January 28 from the
Rochester Clothiers' Exchange which contains the contention that "im-
portant changes have taken place within the clothing industry and in
industrial conditions generally which warrant changes in general wage
levels, as contemplated by the agreement."

It is true that a number of changes have taken place in industrial
conditions generally during the past six months but those changes
have been of greater disadvantage to the workers than to the employers.
Unemployment has impoverished thousands of our members in Ro-
chester The industry has not only ceased to give us a living annual
wage, but it offers no guarantee of steady employment in the future.

Under these circumstances we feel that any wage readjustments
along the lines of lowering wage levels would be a grave injustice to
the workers.

What real good can be accomplished under these circumstances by
opening negotiations for a new wage level? The union can prove to
any impartial authority that the Rochester clothing workers cannot
live on less money than they are now receiving. If the employers
should make a public damand for a wage reduction, It would cause a

156 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OP AMERICA

great deal of bitterness on the part of the workers who feel that
they have already paid too great a price for the present depression.

It is, therefore, our opinion that for the best interests of all con-
cerned, no change in wages should take place at this time.

Sincerely yours,
A. I. PEARLMAN, Manager,
Rochester Joint Board, A.C.W. of A.
March 10, 1921.

Public hearings on the employers' demands were held under
the chairmanship of Dr Leiserson, on April 8, 9, and 11 in the
ball room of Powers' Hotel. From 300 to 500 persons were present
at each session, including employers, labor managers, members of
the Amalgamated, and delegations from other local labor organiza-
tions.

Dr. Leiserson outlined the events that had led to the present
arbitration, beginning on January 28, when the manufacturers first
requested a change in the wage scale, down to the point where the
union definitely rejected the proposed reduction.

The specific requests which the Rochester employers put before
the arbitrator were:

"1. — A wage reduction of 25 per cent including adjustment of
minimum wage and the wages for any operations in which the earn-
ings are now excessive as compared with general levels.

"2. — "Where scales are established, they request that all week
workers shall be paid the new 'scale, and that no one shall receive
more or less than the scale, except when justified fey standards of
production."

Leroy E. Snyder, executive director of the Clothiers' Exchange,
opened the case for the manufacturers, outlining the requests which
the employers were making. He listed the basic material which the
manufacturers would present to prove their case.

After Snyder had spoken, Professor Willard E. Hotchkiss, ex-
ecutive director of the National Industrial Federation of Clothing
Manufacturers, continued the argument for the employers. Their
addresses occupied the first afternoon of the hearings.

On Saturday morning, April 9, after a brief summing up of
the employers' side by Executive Director Snyder, President Sidney
Hillman took the floor for the Amalgamated.

Questioning the figures purporting to show excessively high
wages paid to Rochester clothing workers, Hillman insisted that
not the single week's pay, 'but the average for the year, must be
taken. '''The clothing worker must live for the whole year, not
only for the busy season,'"' he declared. "The manufacturer does
not figure his profits on his best month alone. He figures on the
return for the year. Wages should be figured on the same basis."

An examination of the wage figures did not disclose any justi-
fication for a wage reduction.

Answering charges by the employers that the union was mak-
ing for inefficiency, Hillman pointed out that the Amalgamated

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 157

agreement was signed only a little over two years ago. Up to that
time the employers had full sway to introduce the best process and
to weed out all but the most efficient workers. ''And when we came
in," he went on, "whom did we organize but just these efficient
people, supposedly the pick of the industry? Since then production
standards have been introduced and the union has co-operated in
the installation of new processes and new machinery. We have sta-
bilized the industry and made work more continuous. The union
has been a factor for efficiency, not for inefficiency.''

"Labor/7 concluded Hillman, "looks forward to progressive im-
provement in its standards of living It is to the best interests of
the country that labor get it."

Manager A. I. Pearlman of the Rochester Joint Board made an
impressive statement of facts showing specific reasons why wages
should not be reduced.

Pearlman pointed out that by decision of Impartial Chairman
Leiserson the Rochester workers were morally entitled to a wage
increase last August. They had foregone it, however, on the ground
of the business conditions then prevailing. It was unjust, he held,
to ask them, on top of this action, now to take a decrease.

Dr. Leo Wolman, of the Amalgamated Research Department,
analyzed the figures submitted by the employers.

On May 3, Dr. Leiserson handed down his decision, denying a
reduction in wages, and making some important changes in working
conditions for the purpose of reducing labor costs. The conclusion
from the evidence submitted, and the decision of the chairman of
labor adjustment board, follow :

A careful consideration of all these facts leads inevitably to the
conclusion that labor costs must be reduced. But at the same time
the facts also show that there is little possibility of getting any worth-
while amount of cost reduction by cuts in wages. The wage levels
in the Rochester clothing industry now are below the competitive
markets, even when the recent decrease in Chicago is included. More-
over the union, having lent its efforts to stabilize wages in 1919 and
having been denied an increase in 1920 by arbitration, has a right to
expect that the levels of wages it helped to establish and maintain
on a stable basis will not be forced down at the first sign of a
break in prices. In industries where labor relations are chaotic and
unregulated except by strikes and lockouts or dictatorship by one side
or the other, there may be some cause for forcing wages down just
as arbitrarily as they were forced up. But neither justice nor sound
industrial policy can justify holding wages to reasonable levels by
arbitration machinery and union agreements in the interest of in-
dustrial stability on a rising market and then when the market falls
not using this same machinery to safeguard the workers' standards of
living.

A glance at the tables of wages given above makes it evident
that the wages of clothing workers in Rochester cannot be appreciably
cut without denying to many of them proper standards of living.
Thirty four dollars a week for men and $22.50 for women are not
high wages that can stand much cutting and this is all the clothing
workers average when the weeks of unemployment with no wages are
taken into account. The week workers who make up more than half
the total average 20 to 25 per cent less than the piece workers, and

158 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

their wages could hardly stand any cutting at all, yet the labor costs
of their operations are considerably higher than the costs on the piece
work operations where the earnings are greater. To cut the latter,
however, would be most unwise because it would tend to discredit th«
piece work system and thereby to increase costs.

Nevertheless there is immediate need of decreasing labor costs,
for at the present high prices of clothing employers can get little
business and the workers must suffer a great amount of unemployment.
If no other method of decreasing costs can be found wages will have1
to be reduced in order that more work may be provided. This
would be better than no cut at all with a great deal of unemployment,
for lower wage rates, which increase the amount of business and
employment, might bring greater annual earnings.

However, aside from some peaks of wages, especially among the
underpressers, where earnings are considerably higher than the level
of the market, and which may be cut without injury to any one, a
better method of reducing cost is available than cutting wages. It
is possible to transfer the week workers who are paid on a time basis,
and whose unit costs of production are much higher than that of the
piece workers, to a basis where they too would be paid according to
production. This would increase production and thus result in a saving
in labor cost much greater than could be secured in any other way.

The entire problem of wage readjustment at the present time
arises out of the emergency created by the industrial depression from
which the clothing industry is suffering. Something must be done to
lower costs and prices in order that the industry may revive. The
interests of all concerned require that more work be offered to the
employees and this can only be done now by a sacrifice of some kind.
In an emergency of this kind the chairman would have to reduce
wages even though wages were comparatively low. Similary, the
chairman is of the opinion that the same emergency justifies a change
in the wage payment plan from a time basis to a production basis,
although if there were no emergency, such a change might not be
justified. As an alternative, therefore, to a cut in wages, the chairman
is of the opinion that time workers may properly be changed to pay-
ment by the piece.

This change from a time basis to payment according to produc-
tion is, in the mind of the chairman, the most sound method of bring-
ing industry out of the present depression. What is needed is lower
costs and prices and at the same time increasing purchasing power
of the people. By changing from week work to payment by the piece,
the earnings of the workers would actually be increased and at the
same time the unit cost of production, as experience has amply demon-
strated, would be considerably reduced by the increased output.

In order to secure the substantial reduction in labor costs needed
and in order at the same time to avoid a general reduction in the
wages of the workers, the following decision is made:

1. Employers may require workers on any operation in the coat,
pants and vest shops and all others included under the agreement
except those hereafter mentioned to work on a basis of measured
production which fixes the unit cost per piece in line with the existing
piece rates in the market.

2. Costs in the cutting rooms appear to be on a reasonable basis
and there is no reason for changing the existing systems of payment
at the present time.

3. Off-pressing also requires special treatment because of special
conditions affecting this operation. Here some lowering of labor cost
is necessary. The main reason for the comparatively high costs at
the present time seems to be that all the off-pressers, whether they
have had ten years' experience or only one year, are held to the one
standard of production that Is fixed for the scale. For the present
th« only practical method of reducing costs on this operation is to

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 159

classify the pressers according to output. It is, therefore, ordered
that three classes of off pressers be created immediately, with scales
respectively of $41, $43 and $45. Any presser who is able to maintain
the same quality of work that is rixed by the standard for $41 and
can press more coats in proportion to justify the scales of $43 and
$45, shall be paid these weekly scales. Additional classes may be
created if necessary, and, of course, those who do not produce the
standards fixed are to be paid less in accordance with their production,
as is now the practice in the market.

4. All the wage data submitted show that the earnings of piece
work underpressers in coat, vest and pants shops are far above the

, level of the rest of the workers. Although this is a comparatively
unskilled operation these men earn more than many of the skilled work-
ers. This creates a serious and unjust inequality as well as un-
justifiably high costs for this operation. Every shop, therefore, in
which the average earnings of the underpressing sections are more
than 25 per cent above the scales fixed for week workers on the
same or similar sections, shall revise its piece rates to bring them
down to between 20 and 25 per cent above the weekly scales.

5. The minimum wages of $16 for learners after the six weeks'
probationary period will not be necessary if workers are to be paid on
the basis of cost per piece instead of on a time basis. This $16
minimum is therefore abolished, but the $15 minimum must remain, as
the changes in cost of living that have so far taken place, in the
opinion of the chairman, do not yet permit a worker to maintain self-
support on less that this amount.

6. The decision is to be immediately effective.

Two days earlier the provision in the agreement against home
work was put into effect.

Home work has been objected to by the Amalgamated ever since
the original agreement was signed with the manufacturers. It has
been reduced gradually through the efforts of the union.

When the agreement was renewed in August, 1920, it was agreed
that home-work should be abolished. No date was set on which this
article of the agreement should become effective, but the labor ad-
justment board, consisting of the union representatives and labor
manager, was ordered to make an investigation and to work out pro-
cedure to this end. At a meeting of the board the following resolu-
tion was adopted :

"The board having investigated the matter of homework, as re-
quired by Article 17 of the agreement, resolves that after May 1,
1921, no more work shall be sent out to homes by any of the houses
or contract shops covered by the agreement."

On September 1 the employers renewed their demands for a 25
per cent wage reduction. The Rochester Joint Board rejected it.
The employers then applied to Dr. Leiserson for permission to reopen
the wage question. A hearing was held on October 3. The union
was represented by General Secretary-Treasurer Joseph Schlossberg,
Manager Abraham I. Pearlman, and General Organizers Aldo Cursi
and Gustav Strebel. The employers were represented by Mr. Oviatt,
a lawyer, members of the exchange, and the labor managers.

Dr. Leiserson ruled against a reopening of the case. He directed
negotiations between the union and the exchange for the reduction in
labor costs along certain lines, indicated by him, without reducing
wage levels.

160 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

That was the last case to come before Dr. Leiserson. He had
resigned some time before Mr. Allen T< Burns was chosen as his
successor. That announcement was made jointly by Manager Pearl-
man of the joint board and President Holtz of the exchange on
August 26. It was agreed by both sides that Dr. Leiserson should
hear and decide the above case.

The Rochester membership was very active in the support of
the lockout struggle in New York, Boston, and Baltimore. The as-
sessment for the lockout resistance fund was paid with enthusiasm.
The New York lockout employers were unable to get their work
done in Rochester.

The Rochester Joint Board conducted a number of successful
strikes against employers, who were not members of the exchange,
for the protection of our members' interests.

A fine summer resort was maintained for the members at Manitoba
Beach on the shore of Lake Ontario.

A very interesting educational program was carried out under
the supervision of Educational Director Paul Blanshard.

The attitude of organized workers outside of our ranks to the
Amalgamated may be seen from the following resolution:

" Whereas, Labor Day was set aside by act of Congress as a
day on which all the workers of the nation may unite in a suitable
observance of the same; and

"Whereas, The Central Trades and Labor Council of Rochester,
at a regular meeting hold on Thursday, August 18, 1921, went on
record as declining to extend an invitation to the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers and the United Boot and Shoe Workers to par-
ticipate in the Labor Day parade of the workers of Rochester because
of the fact that these organizations are not affiliated with the Am-
erican Federation of Labor; and

"Whereas, The said organizations have at all times demonstrated
a commendable spirit of sympathy, and courtesy, to all organized
workers and have cheerfully contributed both moral and financial
support in many instances, regardless of the particular affiliations
of the organizations in need of their support; and

"Whereas, We believe the refusal of the Central Trades and
Labor Council to invite the said organizations to participate in the
Labor Day parade was undemocratic, discourteous, and detrimental
to the best interests of all the workers of this city; therefore, be it

"Resolved, That we, the striking members of Rochester Typo-
graphical Union, No. 15, in regular meeting assembled on Tuesday,
August 23, 1921, go on record as protesting against tire said action
of the Central Trades and Labor Council of Rochester; be it further

"Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be sent to the Cen-
tral Trades and Labor Council, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers,
and the United Boot and Shoe Workers and published in the daily
press and labor papers of Rochester.

"STRIKING MEMBERS OF

TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION, No. 15."

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 161

RENEWAL OF AGREEMENT, 1922.

At a formal conference held February 23, 1922, where the renewal
..!' thr agreement was discussed, the Rochester Clothiers' Exchange
submitted to the Amalgamated a memorandum containing demands
for a --") per cent reduction in wages, the forty-eight-hour week, full
power <>f discharirf. and a number of other points. Herewith the
memorandum :

Memorandum from the Clothiers' Exchange of Rochester, N. Y.t
to the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America: —

Our experience with and under the working agreements with your
union has brought about on our part the unescapable conviction that
the continuance of contractual relations . after the expiration of the
existing agreement will be dependent entirely upon the willingness
and ability of the union to lend itself whole heartedly to such modified
provisions of and added provisions to the present agreement as will
and must insure to the employers absolute freedom of management,
supported by such a spirit and method of co-operation as will minimize,
if not render wholly impossible, all unnecessary friction and hostile or
conflicting ends to be striven for by the parties concerned.

We submit further, that any new or continuing agreement between
us will be further dependent upon such readjustment of wages as will
make possible a lower cost of production that will let us compete
successfully and market our product to an extent that will insure the
maximum of employment during the period of depression in which our
industry is now enveloped.

We submit therefore that prior to further negotiations looking to
a new or modified agreement between us, you first and without undue
delay, must recognize the necessity of meeting us on the foregoing
and specifically on the following considerations: —

1. Freedom in hiring workers.

2. Freedom in discharge of workers.

3. Complete immunity from interference with the normal processes
of manufacture, whether these have to do with methods of manufacture,
with use of machinery and labor saving devices," with methods of
measuring and determining what is a proper output of workers, or with
other means of insuring efficiency and proper conditions of costs.

4 Complete freedom in changing workers from week work to piece
work.

5. Forty-eight-hour week.

6. Twenty-five per cent reduction of wages.

Respecfully submitted,

SAMUEL WEILL,
Chairman Labor Committee,
Clothiers' Exchange of
Rochester.

The -six demands of the Rochester manufacturers were thus
substantially the same as the twelve demands presented by the Chi-
cago manufacturers. Negotiations with the employers were taken
up, with President Hillman acting as chief spokesman for the Amal-
gamated. Others who participated in the negotiations were Manager
Pearlman, General Organizers Cursi and Strebel, and a negotiating
committee, representing the shop chairmen, the Rochester Joint
Board, and the local unions. The representatives of the shops were
F. Xaber, Wm. Potter, Harry Levy, Elmer Wehnert, Stephen Serio,

162 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

Sam Cino, Peter Rogers, Herman Keller, Frank Parrone, Bill Degus,
Ralph Molinari, Win. Thomas, Louis Ranetta, Patsy Parente, Florence
Ladra, Simon Moll, Fred Maynard, Albert Sherman, Frank Masline,
Victor Podsiallo, Doser. Representatives of the joint board were
Sadie Hurley, Dora Englert, Charles Rosen, Joseph Miller, John
Greco, Rose Cominsky, Jack Levine, C. Genovese, N. Senewitz, Jacob
Bauer. Representatives of the local unions, five from each, were
William Snyder, N. Silvio, Paul Dummer, Julius Agress, Joseph Di-
Nardo, Sam Ciaccio, Patsy Rocco, Charles Bruscato, John Baccaro,
Charles Vaivoda, Joseph Welikis, Mike Velkys, Mrs. M. Arlauskilnie,
M. Mikite, Mrs. Florence Ladra, Ida Bernstein, Sarah Rickles, Millie
Silien, E. Fitzgerald, Dan Rose, Louis Rosenzweig, Sam Goldman,
Hyman Lifshutz, Michael Stopek, Jan G-oc, Peter Flasinski, Adolf
Lukasiewicz, Bennie Krasowski, Herman Keller, J. K. Chapas, Madge
Hauer, Tony Denattia, Emil Coleman. Subsequently to facilitate the
work, a committee of ten for the direct negotiations was selected
from the larger committee. The chairman of the committee for direct
negotiations was Brother J. Levin.

After a number of conferences the following agreement was
reached about the middle of April:

This agreement, made between the members of the Clothiers' Ex-
change of Rochester, New York, as individuals acting through the said
exchange as their representative in the making of this agreement, and
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, being duly ratified by
the members of both parties, shall become effective on May 1, 1922,
and subject to the qualification contained in Section IX, shall continue
in effect until April 30, 1925. This agreement supersedes all decisions,
rules, and understandings concerning any subject matter specifically
covered in these terms. It shall cover tailors, cutters, and trimmers.

II

The right of the workers in the industry to bargain collectively is
agreed to, and the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America is recog-
nized as the organization of the workers, duly authorized to act as
the agency for collective dealing with the employers. The employees
in every shop shall elect representatives to take up their cases with
the management in the first instance. If the shop representatives can-
not agree with the management, then a union representative shall be
called in. The employers shall appoint duly authorized representatives
of the management, who shall be responsible for carrying into effect
the terms and conditions of the agreement in all their shops.

It is expected that the respective representatives of both parties
to this agreement shall represent in the shop and in their dealings the
co-operative spirit of the agreement and shall be leaders in promot-
ing that amity and spirit of good will which it is the purpose of this
instrument to establish.

Ill

The power to hire shall remain with the employers, but in time
of unemployment it is understood that consideration shall first be given
to persons who have been employed in local shops doing work for
members of the Clothiers' Exchange.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 163

IV

The employer recognizes the obligation of workers who are mem-
bers of the union, to pay their union dues.

The full power to discharge and discipline lies with the employer.
It is agreed that this power shall be exercised with justice and with
regard to the reasonable rights of the employee. The power of discharge
shall be exercised only through the duly authorized and responsible
representative of management. If the union, after investigation, finds
that an employee has been discharged without just cause and that it
cannot reach an adjustment with the representative of management, it
may go before the arbitrator and show that the discharge was made
without just cause, and the decision of the arbitrator shall be final.

VI

The right of the employer to make changes in shop management
and methods of manufacturing is recognized; such changes to be made
without loss to ths employees directly affected.

VII

This agreement provides for an orderly adjustment of differences,
and there is no provocation for direct action. Stoppages are, therefore,
prohibited. If, however, a stoppage shall occur, the union shall im-
mediately order the people to return to work and in the event of their
failure to do so any or all of the participants in or instigators of the
stoppage shall be liable to discipline.

VIM

The principle of equal division of work is recognized, and during
slack periods work shall be divided as far as practicable among all the
workers in a shop.

IX

In case the parties hereto find themselves unable to agree concern-
ing any issue arising under the terms of the agreement, the dispute
shall be referred to an arbitrator chosen jointly by the two parties to
the agreement. The arbitrator shall be available at all times for the
prompt hearing and decision of cases, and his decision, in cases coming
before him under the terms of this agreement, shall be final.

The duties and jurisdiction of the arbitrator are fixed and limited
by this agreement. He shall have no power to enlarge such jurisdic-
tion unless by mutual consent of the two parties to this agreement.
The expense of the arbitrator's office shall be borne equally by the two
parties to this agreement.

(A) The wage levels established by this agreement shall not
be changed under this agreement except as hereinafter provided. If
either party shall become convinced that a change in wage levels is
warranted, it may give notice to that effect not later than ninety days
prior to the anniversary date of this agreement and call for a con-
ference on such change. If any change shall be agreed upon it shall
become effective on such anniversary date. If, after a thorough canvass
of the situation, the parties find themselves unable to agree on wages,
either party may, in good faith, give notice of the termination of the
agreement, provided that the agreement shall not be terminated before

161 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

the anniversary date, nor before the expiration of thirty days from the
date of said notice of termination. *

(B) Piece rates, standards of production, and wages of week
workers in effect on May 1, 1922, cannot be reduced or raised during
the term of this agreement, unless by the mutual consent of the parties
to this agreement.

XI

The regular hours of work shall be forty-four per week, to be
worked eight hours on the five days preceding Saturday and four hours
on Saturday.

For work done in excess of the regular number of hours per day,
overtime shall be paid at the rate of time and one-half.

XII

Both the Clothiers' Exchange of Rochester and the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America agree to use their full influence and ef-
fort to secure an observance of this agreement in the spirit as well as
in letter by their respective members. Neither party to this agreement
shall adopt rules or regulations, or issue any orders or impose any obliga-
tions on members individually or collectively, in conflict with any provi-
sion herein contained, or that will have the effect of nullifying or
impairing any of such provisions. It is not the intention that this agree-
ment shall operate in such a way as to restrict output or impede pro-
cesses of management.

* The union serves notice that it may also at the same time bring
up the question of an unemployment fund in good faith.

On April 17 the new agreement was submitted to the Rochester
Joint Board, at a special meeting, by President Hillman and Secretary
Schlossberg. After a discussion the agreement was approved.

On April 18 and 19 the agreement was submitted to the member-
ship at special meetings of all local unions. Those meetings were
addressed by Sidney Hillman, Joseph Schlossberg, A. I. Pearlman,
Gustave Strebel, Aldo Cursi, Arturo Giovannitti, Anthony Capraro,
and Leo Krzycki. The agreement was ratified by the general mem-
bership.

None of the demands of the manufacturers were acceded to in
the new agreement. The union retained all rights of the old agree-
ment and made some new gains :

The employer recognizes the obligation of workers who are mem-
bers of the union to pay their union dues.

Basic piece rates, standards of production, and wages of week
workers may not be changed except by collective bargaining between
the two parties.

The impartial chairman can no longer reduce wage levels or
"peaks."

The principle of preference is definitely introduced into the agree-
ment.

The union reserves the right to present the question of the unem-
ployment msimmcc I'und in cither May, 1923. or May, 1024. The

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 165

language in regard to the unemployment fund is the same as in the
new Chicago agreement.

The new agreement materially strengthens the position -of the
union as the representative of the workers in the shop. Under the
old agreement, any worker disciplined or having a grievance could
take the matter up directly for review to the labor adjustment board
with its impartial chairman. The new agreement provides that the
worker must act through the union in all cases coming before the arbi-
tration machinery. Tn cases of discipline the case must first be taken
up by the union, and it alone may ask for review by the impartial
chairman.

Working conditions remain the same. The forty-four-hour week
is retained. Overtime is to be paid for at the rate of time and one-
half. There is to be equal division of work during slack periods.

The union accepted a wage reduction of 15 per cent, except that
the wages of certain workers reduced by the decisions of the impartial
chairman of October 11, 1921, are to be cut a lesser amount, so that
the total reduction shall not exceed 15 per cent. The average reduc-
tion is therefore about 13 J^ per cent. This is the first reduction of
wages for workers in the Rochester clothing market since the first
agreement was signed. A year ago the employers requested before
the board of arbitration a reduction of 25 per cent. That request
was denied after hearings and no change in the general wage levels
was made. Again, in September, 1921, the employers asked for a
reduction in wages. That request was also denied by the impartial
chairman, as has been related above.

The new agreement contains the same clauses as the Chicago
agreement with reference to the right of each party, after giving
ninety days' notice, to ask for a change in the wage levels either in
May, 1923, or in May, 1924. Failing to secure an agreement either
party may. should it wish to do so, abrogate the agreement on the
anniversary date, in good faith.

A comparison of the three Rochester agreements, of 1919, 1920,
and 1922, will show the progress made by the Rochester organization
in dealing with the problems of the industry.

166 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

ORGANIZATION WORK IN CLEVELAND

The present two-year period began for Cleveland with a lock-
out on April 19, 1920, by the Douglas Tailoring Company. The
lockout lasted four days. The dispute was referred to Dr. Leiser-
son, then impartial chairman at Rochester, for decision.

Dr. Leiserson heard both sides and on May 24, 1920, gave the
following decision.

The question to be decided in this case is whether the employees
of this shop were locked out for four days, or whether there was
a stoppage or unauthorized strike during those four days. If it was
a stoppage the employees must pay for the loss. Mr. Philip Frankel re-
presented the employer. Messrs. Glickman and Baccaro represented
the union.

After the hearing, which was full and complete and took almost
four hours, it became plain that the events which caused the sus-
pension of work really dated back to the preceding week when two
edge basters who were piece workers asked to be transferred to week
work. The employer, instead of refusing this demand which was his
right, and pleasantly having the matter adjusted or abitrated in ac
cordance with the agreement, became irritated about it and some kind
of clash was inevitable under such circumstances. Probably the fact
that he was coming down with some illness had a great deal to do
with his irritation, but anyway he charged the union officials with
bad faith and with instigating the request for week work.

The two edge basters gave notice and quit on Saturday, and on
Monday a new man was hired to do edge basting. This man quit
after he had been spoken to by the shop chairman about getting
a card from the union, and the employer assumed the chairman had
sent him away. He got into a heated argument with the chairman, as
a result of which the latter rang the bell stopping work in the shop.
The employer charges that the shop chairman did this on his own
authority, but the latter claims he was told to do it by the em-
ployer. In any case, when the employees gathered around the time
clock, the employer did not tell them to go back to work and/ have
the trouble adjusted, but I am convinced from the testimony that he
told them to ring in their time and go, or said something to this effect.
It is also plain from the evidence that a committee met him after
they went out, and something like an offer to get the people back
to work was made.

In this sense, it might be said that they were locked out, but it
was the duty of the union officials, as soon as they learned of the
suspension, to order the people back to work, pending the adjustment
of any grievances. They failed to do this, but instead conducted the
case as if it was an authorized strike. Had they made an offer to
go back to work, as it was their duty to do, and as Mr. Rosenbloom
did on Thursday, then it would have been a clear case of lockout.
But at no time before Thursday was such an offer made, and on the
contrary, on Tuesday when a committee met representatives of the
firm they refused to even negotiate because the general manager was
not present.

Under the circumstances, it is evident that the suspension of
work was both a lockout and a strike and both the employer nnrt the

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 167

union were at fault. Just how much the loss should be borne by each
side is difficult to determine, but substantial justice will be done if
the employer is required to pay one day's wages to the employees, and
they will be required to lose the other three days. The loss in produc-
tion suffered by the employer in addition to the day's wages he will
pay will tend to equal up the losses on both sides.

It is therefore decided that the firm shall pay one day's wages
to all those workers who reported for work Monday morning — nothing
is to be paid to those who were absent or laid off the preceding Satur-
day, though this might have been only for half a day — and this should
make it plain to both parties that the method of collective bargaining
and amicable adjustment between employers and the union pays better
in the long run.

When the agreement with the employers' association expired
on June 3, 1920, negotiations were begun for its renewal. Months
passed before an understanding was finally reached on October 2.
The renewed agreement provided for a preferential union shop, forty-
four-hour week, standards of production, and impartial machinery.
General Executive Board Member Rosenblum participated in the
negotiations with the employers, assisting the Cleveland Joint Board.

In February. 1921, the employers, following the example set by
others, demanded a large wage reduction. Industrial conditions
were favorable for such a demand and it looked for a time as if
Cleveland would be added to New York, Boston, and Baltimore as
a lockout market. General Organizer Hollander and Joint Board
Manager Spitz conducted negotiations with the employers and an
adjustment in wages was made with each individual firm. The em-
ployers refused to act through their association.

On August 3, 1921, the Douglas Tailoring Company again locked
out its employees. The Cleveland Joint Board replied with a strike
against the firm.

General Organizer Louis Hollander sent the following report to
the office:

"About August 3 this firm locked out the workers in order to
operate a non-union shop. As a result the Cleveland Joint Board
declared a strike against the firm. The workers are bound together
solidly, and are determined to fight for months if necessary in order
to convince this firm, as well as the other employers of the city,
that the A. C. W. of A. is not a toy that they can play with.

"Owing to the depression in the clothing industry, the firm
thought it would use the opportunity to break up the organization.
But a number of other employers failed in their schemes against the
Amalgamated, and this firm will fail as well.

"It is wonderful to watch the activity of the workers in this
strike. We have a regular league of nations in that shop. You can
find there Americans, Irish, Syrians, Italians, Jews, Bohemians, Rus-
sians, Poles, and Lithuanians. But they all understand one thing —
that in order to maintain the American standard of living they have
to fight with the real American spirit which is well represented by
the A. C. W. of A.

168 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

(<The firm tried to get its work done in Akron, Ohio. It Lai
some stores in Akron, and one of the firm, DeSur, lives in that
town. Because of that fact, he thought he owned the town, and
that no pickets would reach him there.

"One nice morning, when DeSur got up and took his usual
walk over the beautiful streets of Akron, he was amazed to see a
dozen girls and boys who carried artistically painted signs notify-
ing the public of Akron that the .Douglas Tailoring Co. had locked
out the workers, and that now the workers were out on strike. He
got busy.

* ' As a result several workers were arrested. ' '

On Friday evening, August 26, a great mass meeting was held
in Carpenters' Hall, 42 East Market Street, Akron, Ohio, under
Amalgamated auspices, to protest against the lock-out of union work-
ers by the Douglas firm.

The Akron "Herald," official organ of the Akron Central Labor
Union, stood by the strikers, and gave their story first page promin-
ence. In its issue of August 26 the "Herald"' contained a lengthy
report on the strike. Referring to the injection of the race issue
by the firm into the situation, the paper said:

"Friends of the Amalgamated will advise every one against any
demonstration against these colored men. This is just what DeSur
wants. He does not care if a race riot starts and perhaps scores of
lives be lost if thereby his ends can be gained. If the people will
keep their heads and one at a time go to him and protest in an
orderly manner he will be defeated. Unless some violence results from
his last desperate attempt he will lose by the trick because hundreds
of people who were formerly more or less indifferent are now deeply
interested. Hundreds stand on the street and watch the affair where
only a few looked formerly. If DeSur would take some of the money
he is spending on his pickets and apply it to the wages asked by
his former union employees in accordance with their former scale,
he could settle at once.

"Injunction Still Hanging Fire

"Last Friday DeSur got a temporary injunction in common pleas
court which was served on several of the pickets to stop them from
picketing in front of the store. The decision concerning making the
injunction permanent has not yet been handed down.

"In the meantime the public of Akron is very deeply interested in
the fight because of the great reputation of the Amalgamated Cloth-
ing Workers for winning all strikes and lockouts. This reputation
has been greatly enhanced by the recent victory in New York, when
after six months' lock-out and innumerable injunctions, the bosses
were compelled to capitulate, withdrawing $4,000,000 in damage suits,
spending $2,000,000 in the course of the fight."

On September 23 the strike was settled.

The settlement of the Douglas Tailoring Co. strike in Cleveland,
Akron, and Canton, Ohio, was especially important to the Amal-
gamated because the strike was the first real test of the union's
strength in Cleveland.

Not since the organization was launched in 1918 has it been
forced to a real trial of power with the employers. Some of the
latter therefore began to feel that perhaps the union did not amount

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 169

to much. After the settlement of a situation which might have
developed into a general attack on union standards all along the
line, they know that the Amalgamated is ready to protect the in-
terest of the members in all circumstances.

For seven weeks the Douglas struggle lasted. The clothing
workers proved capable of looking out for themselves and of protect-
ing their standards of life and of working conditions. The energetic
activity of General Organizer Louis Hollander, assisted by General
Organizer Harry Madaniek, was appreciated by the membership.

The settlement with the firm was made on a basis of piece
work. The same arrangements were made for the entire market.

On December 31, when the agreement which was made in August,
1920, expired, it was extended to March, 1922.

Cleveland was hard hit by the industrial depression. The em-
ployers took advantage of the opportunity. But being organized,
the workers were able to resist all attacks and reduce their effects
to a minimum.

In the latter part of January, 1922, the National Tailoring Co.
made a demand for a wage reduction of 20 per cent which was re-
jected by the union. The firm then attempted to put the reduction
into effect arbitrarily. A strike followed. Every member of the or-
ganization pledged himself to support the strikers.

On February 3, 1922, a conference between the National Tailoring
Co. and General Executive Board Member Lazarus Marcovitz and
Brother D. Solomon, manager of the Cleveland Joint Board, resulted
in referring the matter to arbitration. The arbitrators' decision was
for a reduction of approximately 10 per cent. That decision also ended
the wage controversy with the entire market, as all other firms ac-
cepted the same rate of reduction. The strikers returned to work
February 6, 1922.

On March 3, 1922, the agreement with the association was renewed
until August 1, 1923. The agreement provides for arbitration, union
shop, and division of work in slack periods.

A vigorous organization campaign is now being conducted in
Cleveland.

Brother D, Solomon now heads the Cleveland Joint Board as its
manager.

G. E. B. Member Lazarus Marcovitz of Montreal frequently gives
the joint board the benefit of his advice and help. Sister Mamie
Santora of Baltimore, and Frank Rosenblum of Chicago, members of
the G. E. B.. have also assisted the Cleveland organization, as have
General Organizer Louis Hollander, L. Krzycki, H. Madaniek, and
J. Kroll. A special word should be said for the consistent and ener-
getic union activity of a number of local people in Cleveland, including
Herman Charkoffsky, Louis Friedman, John W. Huzl, John Santillo,
Mark Thomas, Frank J. Zavesky, Barney Cohen, Harry Levine, Joe
Carlozzi, A. P. Neville, Morris Kramer, Tony Caracciolo, John Oliver,
Louelle Peppel, Antonnota $eidel, Mary Calabrese, Futhia Orr, and
Kathrine Wagner,

170 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

AMALGAMATED AT HOME IN CINCINNATI

Two years ago we reported on the great struggles of the clothing
workers in Cincinnati for their right to organize. The Amalgamated
is now fully established in that city and doing effective work for
the improvement of the workers' conditions.

Four hundred Amalgamated members in all shops of the Milton
Oehs Co., Cincinnati, 0., were forced into a strike on May 21, 1920,
when the firm refused to live up to the collective bargaining agree-
ment entered into with the organization and arbitrate differences
with the workers in the shops.

The differences with this firm dated back to the week when the
active members were in Boston at the Fourth Biennial Convention of
the Amalgamated. ' Taking advantage of their absence the firm dis-
charged a shop chairman on a trivial excuse.

General Executive Board Memlber Frank Rosenblum met Oehs
in New York after the Boston Convention, and sought to get him to
agree to arbitration. Oehs was defiant and refused to arbitrate.
Further conferences were held with Oehs on his return to Cincin-
nati by General Organizer Jack Kroll and Business Agents Zafifiro
and Bernhardt of the Cincinnati Joint Board without result.

On May 26 Oehs discharged a presser for alleged restriction
of output. All pressers stopped work until the man was reinstated
two hours later. Later two finishers were fired. All other workers
walked out. General Organizer Kroll succeeded in getting the
workers to return pending Oehs' decision on the demand for arbitra-
tion. Oehs replied that he would not arbitrate, so the strike began
at 9 o'clock in the morning of May 27. The Cincinnati membership
took up the fight and assessed itself 10 per cent of its earnings for
the support of the strike.

The firm applied to the courts for an injunction forbidding
picketing. It succeeded in obtaining an injunction which limited
the number of picket? and restricted the strikers' activities.

The court decided that the strikers might have ten pickets at
the main factory and six pickets at the other shops, and that the
pickets might carry banners and signs calling the attention of other
workers to the strike.

The strike at the Oehs plant was one of a series of strikes and
lockouts brought into the Cincinnati clothing industry by the "open
shop" wave which has swept the country.

The following extract from a leaflet issued by the Cincinnati
Joint Board during the organization campaign and circulated among

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 171

ihe clothing workers gives an idea of the general policy pursued by
the employers in their efforts to reduce working conditions:

"In the past season three Cincinnati clothing manufacturers
attempted to restore the forty-eight-hour week.

"When the workers protested by coming to an Amalgamated
shop meeting, the bosses suddenly decided to maintain the forty-
lour hours.

"In some shops wages have returned to a pre-war level.

"While other bosses have not dared openly to reduce wages,
they are employing new workers at reduced wages, which will even-
tually bring your wages down."

Brother Samuel Esterkin, secretary -treasurer of the Cincinnati
Joint Board, gave the following estimate of the organization work
in Cincinnati in Advance of September 16, 1921 :

"While Cincinnati is often the last place that any progressive
movement reaches, it is sometimes among the first when it comes to
reactionary movements. This is particularly true as far as the
struggle between capital and labor is concerned. We the workers
of the clothing industry in Cincinnati can verify this statement by
our own experience.

"The Amalgamated had organized and brought about union con-
ditions in all clothing centers, had acquired the respect and admira-
tion of the liberal minded people of the country, and brought fear
into the hearts of the labor haters. All this had been done by the
Amalgamated before they could come to Cincinnati with an effort
to bring about better conditions, which clothing workers in othci*
cities had enjoyed long before our bitter struggle took place. The
manufacturers not only duplicated the methods of manufacturers in
the 'big clothing centers, but they also used some methods of their
own invention to fight the Amalgamated. But they failed in all
Iheir efforts to keep the Amalgamated out of Cincinnati. While
we did not succeed in organizing 100 per cent, we did succeed in
improving conditions 100 per cent.

"We hardly had time to entrench in our positions when along
came the so-called 'back to normalcy' period, with its much adver-
tised 'open shop' cannons. The Amalgamated was chosen as the
first target. Shot after shot they aimed at the little headquarters
of the Cincinnati Joint Board. But the 'open shop' cannon proved
to be too weak to crush the Amalgamated, and while they have done
some damage to our material welfare, they have failed utterly to
destroy the Amalgamated spirit in Cincinnati.

"The unlimited moral and financial support of the Amalgamated
General Office, combined with the wise counsel of the Amalgamated
representatives and the wonderful spirit of the Amalgamated, have
guided us safely through the hardest storms and bitterest struggles
we have ever witnessed. Now the worst is over. The onslaught
of the manufacturers lias weakened. They have finally come to the
reali/ation that their 'open shop' ammunition is not strong enough

172 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

to do any real harm to our organization or to crush its spirit. With
fear they await our next move. They know that we will not long
remain satisfied with our present conditions.

' ' Our big move is on its way ! While these lines are being writ-
ten, plans for a vigorous campaign have been laid under the able
direction of General Organizer Jack Kroll and Emilio Grandinetti.
Our goal is 100 per cent organization, and we will go forward until
complete victory rests upon the banner of the Amalgamated in Cin-
cinnati.5'

The spirit of solidarity animating the Cincinnati organization is
shown in a letter sent by the joint board to a group of striking
cutters attached to the so-called "United Garment Workers of Amer-
ica." Herewith the letter:

"Striking Clothing Cutters and Trimmers, Ferdinand Samuel-
son, Secretary, Ninth and Plum Streets, Cincinnati, Ohio.
"To Our Fellow Workers on the Firing Line, Greetings:

"We wish to inform you that the Clothing Cutters' and Trim-
mers' Local 189, A. C. W. of A., went on record to expel and penal-
ize any members of our organization who should go to work on your
jobs. If there is any other way in which we can be of assistance
to you, all the means at our command are at your disposal.
"Your for the solidarity of the working class."

"Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America,
"Cincinnati Joint Board,
"J. B. WENSTRUP, President."

In return the Amalgamated joint board received a letter from
the strikers, officially thanking the Amalgamated members for their
stand in the matter. The affair has strengthened the morale of the
strikers, and created a very favorable attitude toward the Amal-
gamated on their part.

THE GOLDEN FLEECE RULE

There is one clothing factory in Cincinnati whose owners have
very carefully advertised it throughout the country by exploiting
the Holy Scriptures in addition to exploiting the workers. The fac-
tory is known as the Golden Rule shop, run on what is blasphemously
called "God's Plan." The workers in that factory are very badly
in need of the union's protection. 'They became interested in the
organizing campaign of the Amalgamated in Cincinnati. The in-
terest of the workers in the Amalgamated did not harmonize with
the Golden Rule interest of the firm to keep the workers unorgan-
ized. The workers were not allowed to go near the Amalgamated
unless they gave up their jobs in the Golden Rule shop. In order
to counteract the Amalgamated organizing activities the firm an-
nounced a 10 per cent wage increase of its employees' very low wages
and the inauguration of the forty -hour- week without overtime pay

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 173

for extra hours. Incidentally, this announcement, coming at a time
of universal wage reductions and demands by employers for a longer
working week, gave the firm a tremendous advertisement whose
value in money cannot be estimated.

Miss Ann Washington Craton, general organizer for the Amal-
gamated in Cincinnati, throws some light on the firm's "generosity":

While newspapers and magazines in general have heralded Nash's
award to his employees as a forward step in industry, few know the
facts in the case. These are that the fundamental issues involved are
economic rather than altruistic.

The credit for the improved working conditions is due not to Nash's
philanthropic zeal to have his workers properly clean their homes
on Saturday in order to "make religious liberty a reality in industry."
Rather it is because of the aggressive campaign conducted by the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers, against this notorious non-union shop.

Under the name of the Golden Rule prior to its exposure by the
Amalgamated, the A. Nash Tailoring Company was operating one of
the most successful "open shops" in the United States. The Golden
Rule has been the guise behind which the firm has resisted unionism.

Nash, who used to be a Seventh Day Adventist minister but who
now is a shrewd business man, modestly claims he "has cast out hell
and has brought in heaven" by applying the Golden Rule in his
tailor shop, "the only infallible, workable, industrial and economic law
In the universe today."

Tripled Output •

Nash found it a profitable belief, as he himself makes this state-
ment. "I found that in the period of the Golden Rule operation our
people had been turning out nearly three times as much clothing as
ever before and that we were making more money than at any former
time." Quoting again, one discoveres that, in the name of religion,
Nash made "a net profit of $42,000 on an investment of $60,000."

The Golden Rule was applied in the A. Nash Company at the time
that the Amalgamated first partially organized the Cincinnati clothing
market. From that time until the present day, Christianism and the
Amalgamated have been synonymous with Nash. As the Amalgamated
continued to raise the standards in the market, Nash introduced Golden
Rule novelties, as an offset to organization and trade unionism. He
tried profitsharing, the bonus system, stock selling, and workers' con-
trol, all schemes which increased production and turned out suits for
the firm, adding little money to the workers' pay envelopes.

Efforts to Postpone Unionism

Then came the famous forty hours at a period when there was no
work in the market. Previously there was a week's Christmas vaca-
tion with pay. All were frantic efforts on the part of the firm fur-
ther to postpone the final day of complete organization.

The Amalgamated's exposure proved that the wages were several
dollars a week lower than union wages; that there was no time and
a half for overtime; that if a worker was five minutes late he was
docked for an hour; that the week workers are forced to produce an
amount of work which is very severe or be discharged; and that tne
workers have no voice as to what their standards shall be despite
the much advertised "Workers' Control."

Publicly Nash fights unionism with forty hours and sentimentality.
In private he uses the crude methods commonly used by all non union
firms — discharge, forcing a new applicant for work to sign an agree-
ment promising never to join the Amalgamated, and police stationed

174 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

at the "Golden Gate" to prevent the organizers from talking to the
workers.

In spite of these methods the Amalgamated's organization cam-
paign is highly successful, for the workers are eager to be emancipated
from exploitation and they believe that Industrial Democracy through
Unionism is the only real workers' control.

The Nash Co. plan of industrial relations attracted considerable
outside attention. The "Survey" sent its industrial editor, S. Ade-
laide Shaw, to make an impartial investigation. In an article pub-
lished in that magazine entitled "Hitting the Trail in Industry," Miss
Shaw appraises the conditions in the Nash clothing factory. Wages,
she says are " about 25 per cent below the averages in the Amalga-
mated shops." Also she points out that what increases have taken
place in the Nash factory in wages came during the boom period when
the Amalgamated raised the standard for the whole market and the
Nash Co. merely brought the wage up nearer the prevailing "wage
scale in the market. Thus the Amalgamated organization had its
influence in raising wages in this unorganized factory. "The fore-
man or forewoman," says Miss Shaw, "hires and fires." There is
no impartial board or union to protect the worker from arbitrary
discharge. It is, concludes the article, "a shop that claims to have
tried profit sharing but without ever having taken the workers into
conference in regard to profits and costs; a shop in which no system
of democracy prevails."

RELATIONS WITH OTHER FIRMS

On March 11, 1922, the workers in the factory of L. R. Marks
went on strike when four of their fellow workers were discharged for
attending a union organization meeting. At that time we had only
tho cutting room organized but when the workers were discharged the
tailor shop people came out on strike, after a committee of tailors
and cutters who had asked the management for an explanation of
their arbitrary action had been rebuffed. The cutters, with no spe-
cific grievance of their own, walked out with the tailors to the last
man.

The effectiveness of the strike is shown in the frantic and futile
efforts that the firm has made to have work done in other cities. Goods
were sent to Vineland, N. J., but, the workers refusing to do the work,
the material was shipped back to Cincinnati unmade.

On March IS the cutters and trimmers of the Stores & Schaefer
firm joined the Amalgamated in a body. That was a great acquisi-
tion to the organization. These are the men who fought the Amalga-
mated bitterly in 1919 while members of the so-called "United Gar-
ment Workers." They now admit that they were misled at that time,
and that they made a serious mistake in attacking the bona fide union
of clothing workers. They say, however, that they are now ready to
stand by the union which has really improved conditions for the
workers in the industry.

The cutters of the Columbia Tailoring Co. also joined the Amal-
gamated on March 17.

GENKKAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 175

The situation in < 'im-iiinat i has been much improved by the
steady educational work carried on by the Cincinnati Joint Board.
The general direction of the organization work has been in charge of
General Executive Board Member Frank Rosenblum, with the co-opera-
tion of General Organizer Jack Kroll. Hyman Isovitz of the staff of
business agents of the Chicago Joint Board visited Cincinnati on sev-
eral occasions and assisted in the adjustment of prices. Others who
have assisted in the work during the last two years are : Miss Ann
W. Craton, E. Grassi, E. Grandinetti, A. Johannsen, G. Strebel, and
S. Rissman.

In the latter part of April, 1922, agreements were renewed with
the Globe Tailoring Co., and the American Art Tailoring Co. The
new agreements are on the basis of the Chicago agreement. They
were negotiated by Frank Rosenblum, with the assistance of Organizer
Kroll and Business Agent Eeichert.

One very encouraging feature is the great interest of the women
members in the work of the organization.

PITTSBURGH FORGES AHEAD

Pittsburgh made her initial appearance as an Amalgamated center
at the Boston Convention, and since then has forged steadily ahead.
Two conspicuous achievements can be marked down to the credit of
our local in the "Smoky City." The first is the maintenance of
collective bargaining in such a newly organized city in the midst
o.P a great industrial depression. In spite of the attacks by several
of the larger firms, an agreement with the contractors has been main-
tained throughout the past t\vo yars and had just been renewed
to run until February, 1923.

The second achievement is the recognition which we have suc-
coecled in winning from the labor movement in Pittsburgh. During
the lockout and strike of the United States Direct Clothing Co., the
Amalgamated received the active support of the Iron City Trades
Council. Describing this situation, Advance of September 14, 1920,
says :

"The strike against the United States Direct Clothing Co. of Pitts-
burgh continues to be one of the sensations of the labor movement
of this great steel manufacturing center. The remarkable demon-
stration of solidariy 'by the members of the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers in this struggle against an alliance of employers and a scab
agency which calls itself the United Garment Workers has aroused
support from members of many labor organizations.

"Delegates of moldcrs, machinists, theatrical workers, bakers and
other trades to the Iron City Trades Council spent two weeks in dis-
cussion of the fight of the Amalgamated against the scab agency
which calls itself a labor organization. Because the scab agency is
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, the scab agents
asked the Trades Council to help it in its scabbing operations for
the clothing firm.

176 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

"Many delegates denounced the attempt of the scab agents to
recruit strikebreakers for this firm. Several declared that they would
not wear clothing- which did not (bear the label of the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers.

' ' ' The label of the Amalgamated on my clothing means that the
workers who turned out the garment receive high wages and have
high working standards/ said one delegate. 'The label of the United
Garment Workers means low wages and low standards.' :

The lockout of its employees was not a successful venture for
the firm. It locked itself out of business.

The Pittsburgh local has maintained its position in the face of
adverse conditions because of long unemployment.

Organizer Hollander ably assisted the Pittsburgh organization
in the fight against the United States Direct Clothing Co., and also
in the settlement of all other disputes. Pauline Clark and M. Mai-
linger have also contributed much to the success of the local.

LOUISVILLE AS ACTIVE AS EVER

Local 120 of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers in Louisville
is a stimulating factor in the labor movement in that city. The
local has accomplished very much by its vigor and aggressiveness,
and other organizations have benefitted by its example. Local 120
has also the distiction of having the first woman business agent in
the state of Kentucky. Miss Emma Saurer, a charter member and
first treasurer of the local, was unanimously elected to that office.

In December, 1920, the firm of M. GoldJberg & Sons broke its
agreement with the Amalgamated, secretly signed an agreement with
the United Garment Workers, and locked out its employees because
they refused to obey the employers' command to leave the Amalga-
mated and join the defunct United. Local 120 took up the cause
of the locked out workers with its characteristic aggressiveness and
declared a strike against the firm.

At a meeting of the Louisville United Trades and Labor As-
sembly on December 28, a resolution was adopted endorsing the
strike breaking " United " and attacking the Amalgamated. It was
reported that this action was taken after the reading of a telegram
from Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of
Labor, to the effect that the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America was an "outlaw organization/' It was understood, how-
ever, that the action of the assembly was not supported by the rank
and file of organized labor in the city. A number of members and
officers of unions represented in that body gave Amalgamated Local
120 the assurance of their support.

Local 120 explained the Goldberg case in the following:

OPEN LETTER TO LOUISVILLE WORKERS
In the month of January, 1920, there was a strike declared by the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers in the tailor shop of M- Goldberg &

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 177

Sons, this firm having refused to grant the 20 per cent increase to
the workers that had been arranged by the organization in all the
clothing markets in the middle west.

The strike lasted three days and a half, at which time Mr. M.
Goldberg sent for the representative of jthe Amalgamated Clothing Work-
ers' union and after a conference of forty minutes they agreed to
the union's demand. It was further agreed that they would conduct
a union house under union conditions. This understanding was in
effect up until December 15, 1920.

On December 15, 1920, Mr. Goldberg addressed the employees, all
of whom were members of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, and
informed them that he had signed a contract with the United Gar-
ment Workers and that the members of the Amalgamated were threat-
ened with discharge unless they joined the United Garment Workers.

At this time there were employed in the tailor shop a total of
eighteen people. Two solitary individuals, by the names of Smith and
Vargo, joined the United Garment Workers. All the other people were
locked out because they refused to join the United.

The firm of M. Goldberg & Sons are advertising extensively in
daily newspapers here in Louisville, also in Indianapolis and Cincinnati,
for competent tailors, which is evidence of their inability to obtain
help.

The agreement entered into by the firm of M. Goldberg & Sons
and the United Garment Workers was made without the knowledge
or the consent of any of the employees. It is a clear case of some
one deliberately assisting the firm of M. Goldberg & Sons to break
the agreement with the Amalgamated Clothing Workers and make it
possible for this firm to reduce the wages and to bring back, if pos-
sible, the old sweat shop conditions.

Rumors have been circulated in this city by Goldberg and others
that some twenty odd members of the Amalgamated have transferred
their membership into the United Garment Workers. This is a delib-
erate falsehood and we challenge any one to produce one single name
outside of Smith and Vargo that has left our union and joined the
United.

The firm of M. Goldberg & Sons have applied for an injunction
to restrain the Amalgamated from picketing and from other lawful
methods of spreading the truth about this fight to the public. The
silence on the part of the officers of the Louisville Trades & Labor
Assembly will lead many people to believe that they are in accord
with Mr. Goldberg to obtain this injunction, notwithstanding the fact
that the American Federation of Labor has for years been committed
against government by injunction.

The Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America is the bona fide
trade union of the men's clothing industry, because they have organ
ized the industry 90 per cent throughout the United States and Canada
and have protected the economic interests of the men and women
who work in the industry. In addition to this, the Amalgamated was
responsible for the introduction of the forty-four-hour week in the in-
dustry.

The rank and file of a great number of local unions in the city
of Louisville are sympathetic with the Amalgamated and will support
their cause. Statements made by Mr. Goldberg that all union men in
Louisville are favorable to his side are deliberately false and untrue.

The men's clothing factories in this city were organized by the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers union. The fight made to improve the
conditions from fifty-four hours a week to forty-four hours and from
a wage scale as low as $4 per week to the present wages of from
$12 to $40 per week was accomplished by Local Union No. 120 of the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers.

The United Garment Workers never made any serious efforts to
organize the industry in this city and. their conduct rome* with ba.4

178 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

grace and we believe will be sufficiently distasteful to the honest
men and women in the labor movement to be resented in no uncertain
terms.

The fight is on and we request all self-respecting trades unionists
and the friends ,of organized labor to remember that M. Goldberg &
Sons deliberately and without notice broke the agreement voluntarily
entered into with the Amalgamated Clothing Workers Local No. 120,
and having this in mind, we shall expect them to act accordingly.
The United Garment Workers have no tailors and Goldberg will be
unable to obtain competent tailors until he makes an honorable settle-
ment with the Amalgamated Clothing Workers Local No. 120, of Louis-
ville, Ky.

Respectfully,

HERBERT BROWN, President
ANNA SHEPHERD, Secretary
EMMA SAURER, Business Representative

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING

WORKERS OF AMERICA,

Local No. 120.

James A. Boss, delegate from the Boilermakers' Union, was
ejected from his seat in the Louisville United Trades and Labor
Assembly for condemning the action of the assembly in this strike.

Ross, as secretary, signed a resolution passed by. the Falls City
Lodge, Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, declar-
ing ''un-American" the indorsement by the assembly of the "United
Garment Workers."

M. Goldberg & Son applied for an injunction against the Amal-
gamated, but the court refused to assist the firm against its locked
out employees.

Max Waxman, owner of the " Co-operative Tailor Shop," whose
employees were on strike, was more successful. He did obtain an
injunction against the Amalgamated, limiting the number of pickets
to six. In connection with the injunction the firm sought to have
Sisters Anna Shepherd and Emma Saurer punished for contempt,
but failed. Waxman and his group came to the largest clothing
house in the city asking for work as contractors, declaring their
willingness to settle with the Amalgamated. The firm had no work
for them. The group put itself out of business by fighting its em-
ployees.

A strike in the Falls City shop was won. A number of other
cases were adjusted satisfactorily.

Reports from Louisville show that during the slack season the
union shops were working three days a week, with equal distribu-
tion of work. Not one person was laid oft'. In the non-union shops,
however, all were laid off with the exception of the pets of the fore-
men who were working full time.

Local 120 has held several successful educational meetings with
well known speakers. The local held a special meeting on February
24, 1922, to acquaint the entire membership with the necessity of the
Reserve Fund. General Executive Board Member Frank Rosenblum
was present for the occasion, and his message ami explanations wevo
received with genuine enthusiasm.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 179

The people are willing, even anxious to pay their share, and con-
sider it a privilege to contribute to a fund which they feel will in
any event serve its purpose.

Mrs. Rachel Warshaw, an old lady making only $17 a week,
was the first person in the Louisville local to pay. She paid in full,
with tears of joy in her eyes. Sister Warshaw had previously donated
$10, besides her assessment, to the Russian Famine Relief Fund. Her
generous action was an inspiration to all the other memibers of the
local. Assessments to the Reserve Fund up to $25 were agreed upon.

Conditions in the unorganized shops in Louisville are wretched,
and growing more wretched daily. All of these shops have cut wages,
some almost 50 per cent. On February 10 the pants makers of the
Falls City Clothing Co. could stand it no longer, and came out on
strike. Those girls, who had listened to the boss, and been coaxed
away from the union for so long, could endure their conditions no
more. The employer told them he had to ''compete with the sweat
shops and prisons of the East," thereby putting them on a level
with convicts. They were welcomed into the ranks of the Amalga-
mated.

In addition to the many active local workers, special assistance
has been given in Louisville by General Executive Board Member
Frank Rosenblum and General Organizers Ann Washington Craton,
Nettie Richardson, Jack Kroll, L. Krzycki, and A. Johannsen.

Local 120 has weathered the anti-labor storm very bravely. The
organization has maintained its strength despite all obstacles. The
Amalgamated is proud of Louisville.

INDIANAPOLIS HOLDING ITS OWN

The clothing workers of Indianapolis were represented at an
Amalgamated convention for the first time two years ago. It was
the great forty-four-hour week triumph that led to the organization
of the clothing industry in the Indianapolis market and brought it
under the Amalgamated banner. Throughout the period of unem-
ployment and the nation wide open shop campaign the Amalgamated
in Indianapolis has held its own. The organization moved into
its own headquarters at 323 Washington Street, participated in the
Lockout Resistance Fund and collections for Russian Famine Relief,
and is now active for the National Reserve Fund. A number of
highly successful organization and educational meetings were held.

The following interesting report was sent to the General Office
of the celebration of the local union's third anniversary, in 1922:

''Indianapolis Local 145 A. C. W. of A., celebrated its third
anniversary on Friday, January 20, with characteristic middle western
Amalgamated spirit, cordiality, and enthusiasm. The celebration was
one of the most inspiring and interesting ever held in Indianapolis.

"It was particularly an event cf significance as General President
Sidney Hillman was in Indianapolis at a membership meeting for the
first time in the history of the local. His presence gave the celebra-

180 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

tion more than usual enthusiasm. It is impossible for an eastern
organization to appreciate the thrill and real meaning which is felt
on the occasion of a visit from the general president to the middle
western local organizations of the Amalgamated which are not in
close contact with the General Office, and which because of their
isolation are deprived of the close personal relationship with the gen-
eral officers.

"For this reason it was a record event in the history of the In-
dianapolis local to have President Hillman present on January 20 at
its third anniversary. This anniversary celebrated the organization
campaign which resulted in the complete organization of the Indian-
apolis market in the three large shops, including the Kahn Tailoring
Company which is one of the largest shops in that section of the coun-
try, outside of Chicago. Besides this firm there are two smaller ones,
the August Julian Company and the Leon Tailoring Company.

"The celebration was in the nature of a mass meeting with
speakers and an orchestra, followed by refreshments and a dance.
Members and their friends and families were present, making it a
typical Amalgamated crowd.

"The meeting was preceded by a supper party at the Hotel
Severin, where Business Agents Jesse Montague and Ben Kwitney
and active members of the local, entertained General President Hill-
man and General Executive Board Member Frank Kosenblum who,
as director of the Chicago district, was one of the first participants
in the early days of the Indianapolis local. Another familiar figure
was General Organizer Jack Kroll, who came from Cincinnati to
take part in the celebration. Still another guest was General Organ-
izer Ann Washington- Craton, who had no part in the organization
period of the local but who is keenly interested in its present and
its great possibilities for the future.

''President Hillman 's entrance into the crowded headquarters and
hall of Local 145 was the signal for an enthusiastic demonstration.
The hall, which is perhaps the finest Amalgamated hall in any Amal-
gamated city, wras beautiful decorated. Brother Ben Kwitny, busi-
ness agent and one of the founders of the Indianapolis organization,
was chairman. After reviewing the history of the local he in-
troduced the first speaker, General Organizer Ann Washington Craton,
who spoke on the Amalgamated spirit in the Middle West.

"General Executive Board Member Frank Kosenblum recalled his
early experiences with the little group who bravely fought to establish
standards for the Indianapolis tailors, and whose persistence resulted
in the splendid local of today, one of the most active and vigorous
in its section of the country.

"He was followed by General Organizer Jack Kroll, who was
one of the first organizers to come into the town, and who contrasted
the wages and working conditions and hours then and now. In-
dianapolis jumped from the lowest depths of wage slavery into splen-
did conditions under the Amalgamated with greater rapidity and
with less sacrifice than any local. Its history and subsequent develop-
ment in this respect are unique in Amalgamated history.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 181

"William Henry, Socialist Assemblyman in Indiana, one of the
warm friends of the Indianapolis organization from the beginning,
made a brief talk, pledging his active support and interest in the
future.

"General President Hillman made an inspiring address which
was enthusiastically received. He discussed conditions in Europe
and consequent conditions in the United States.

"It is safe to prophecy that in the event of future difficulties,
which are not expected, Indianapolis Local 145 will be as aggressive
fighters and as militant and as spirited as any Amalgamated members
to keep the hard-won Amalgamated standards. The spirit of In-
dianapolis is the spirit of the progressive, eager Middle West. The
American element, with its Americanism in its real meaning, is splen-
didly illustrated there.

;<The following officers of Local 143 were elected at the January
6 meeting: Jacob Gerson, president; Lyle J. Burns, vice president;
Ben Kwitny, financial secretary and business agent; Jesse Montague,
business agent and recording secretary; Karl Baker, treasurer; John
R. Laffey, sergeant-at-arms. The members of the joint board will
be elected later/'

The Kahn Tailoring Co. signed an agreement on the terms of
the Chicago agreement. The membership ratified it April 21, 1922.
In the negotiations Brother Rosenblum was assisted by General
Organizer Kroll and Business Agents Kwitny and Montague. Eight
hundred workers are affected by the agreement.

Sidney Rissman, Frank Rosenblum, Anton Johannsen, Jack Kroll,
and L. Krzycki have assisted the Indianapolis organization.

Local 145 has proved worthy of being a part of the Amalga-
mated Clothing Workers of America.

HEALTHY CONDITION IN MILWAUKEE

Like a number of other cities, Milwaukee lent its first represen-
tation to an Amalgamated convention two years ago. It was one of
the new acquisitions of our organization. Like all other branches
of the Amalgamated, Milwaukee has passed through the industrial
crisis of the past two years holding its own. It is coming to this
convention in fine shape. Throughout this period the Milwaukee
Joint Board has been active and wide awake.

The Milwaukee organization assisted the locked out members in
New York, contributed to the Amalgamated relief fund for the Rus-
sian famine victims, and held a number of organization and educa-
tion meetings for the members. Among those who addressed the
members on those occasions were Mayor Hoan, President Hillman,
Secretary Schlossberg, General Executive Board Members Rosen-'
blum and Rissman, Organizers Nettie Richardson, Johannsen, and
Krzycki.

It took a long time for the clothing workers in Milwaukee to
organize, but since they have organized they have been among the
most steadfast of the Amalgamated members.

182 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

Milwaukee has the advantage of being in close proximity to
Chicago, from where representativs of the organization come as oc-
casion requires to assist the Milwaukee Joint Board in its work.
Those who have 'been particularly helpful are Frank Rosenblum, Sid-
ney Rissman, Leo Krzycki, and Nettie Richardson.

In 1918 the Milwaukee organization had .seventy-five members
in good standing; in 1920, 500; and in 1922, 1,500 members with only
1 per cent in arrears, which is a great credit to the mem'bership
generally and to Manager Piepenhagen in particular.

ORGANIZING ST. LOUIS

The clothing workers in St. Louis have had a hard road to
travel in their efforts to organize. They were opposed by a com-
bination of labor-hating employers and the scab agency known as
the United Garment Workers. In the month of July, 1920, we
received the following report from that city :

"St. Louis is rapidly forging ahead of Chicago as an injunction
city, where employers can run to the courts when they are unable
to break strikes in other ways and get restraining orders against
picketing and other union activity. The latest injunction against
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America in this growing
clothing manufacturing center on the Mississippi River was signed
last week in response to a plea from the Missouri Pants Co."

Local 105 proceeded with its organizing work as conditions per-
mitted. In October, 1921, a vigorous organizing campaign was in-
augurated with General Organizer Paul Arnone in charge. A series
of bulletins has been issued and distributed among the unorganized.
The educational work at meetings and by means of leaflets is making
itself felt among the workers.

In the month of February, 1922, we received this report:

"Last week the organization committee distributed cards calling
the workers in four of the big shops to a shop meeting. The workers
eagerly took the cards. This action did not please the fbosses very
much, and for some time the bosses and their agents were busily
running around trying to stop the distribution of cards.

"In spite of the employers' watchfulness, the shop meeting was
well attended. Many women and girls were present. Other shop
meetings are Ibeing arranged for the future.

"It is the (belief of many workers that the unscrupulous actions
of the employers, with their spying and bull-dozing, will drive the
St. Louis clothing workers to revolt. Quite a number of workers join
the union every week. These workers are the new comers in the in-
dustry. Many of them are of the native stock. They are feeling
the iron heel of the so-called 'American Plan,' which means for the
St. Louis clothing workers low wages and non-union conditions.
Let those who believe in the organization, and in the right of the
workers to organize, march forward with their propaganda of or-

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 183

ganization. The organization has a good foot-hold in many shops.
Let every clothing worker do his bit."

The results of the organizing campaign are already visible.
St. Louis will have a strong Amalgamated organization as a result
of the organizing activities. Paul Arnone, Leo Krzycki, and S. Kiss-
man are among those who have given special assistance in the
St. Louis organization campaign, directed by Brother Frank Rosen-
blum.

KANSAS CITY, MO.

On September 24, 1920, Kansas City was officially welcomed into
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, and a charter issued
to Local 276 in that city. Since then the growth of the organiza-
tion has continued steadily. The two largest firms in the city, the
Kansas City Custom Garment Co. and the Mid West Tailoring Co.,
are operating under Amalgamated agreements. During its short life,
our local there has secured for its members the forty-four-hour week,
wage increases, and generally improved conditions in the shops.
In short, Amalgamated standards have been established. With the
guidance and assistance of G. E. B. Members Rosenblum and Rissman,
and the co-operation of Organizer Kroll, Local 276 has made an
envia.ble record.

THE VIGOROUS TWINS: ST. PAUL AND
MINNEAPOLIS

From the day the first St. Paul local was chartered, in January,
1920, the Amalgamated became a factor in the clothing industry in
St. Paul and Minneapolis. The workers, who had serious grievances
against the employers, saw no possibilities for the improvement of
their condition. The Amalgamated won their confidence and they
rallied around its banner. The forty-four-hour week and other ad-
vantages were secured. As the organization expanded a joint board
was organized embracing the Amalgamated locals in the two cities.
The Twin City Joint Board is one of the livest labor bodies in the
country.

At the time of the Boston Convention, two years ago, a strike
was on against the firm of Guiterman Bros., which had begun Feb-
ruary 14, 1920.

Writing to the General Office in August, 1921, and giving a re-
view of the situation in the two cities, Brother Sander D. Genis,
manager of the Twin City Joint Board said :

"Brother Rosenblum arrived in St. Paul on the day the strike
against the firm of Guiterman Bros, was called. A mass meeting
was held at the Shubert Theater, where Brother Rosenblum addressed
the strikers. The strike lasted from February 14 to June 15, 1920.
The way the fight was conducted was to the credit of Brother Rosen-

184 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

blum and Brother Johannsen who had charge. The strike will never
be forgotten not only by the friends of the Amalgamated, but also
by its enemies.

"When the strike was called we levied an assessment upon our
membership 20 per cent for the first week, 10 per cent for the next
ten weeks, 5 per cent for three weeks, and Zl/> per cent for two weeks.
About $20,000 was raised in the Twin Cities. The membership res-
ponded to the call of the emergency very loyally, and the backing
given by the General Office during that strike will also be remem-
bered by the members of the Amalgamatd for many years to come.

"The Twin City Joint Board carried on an educational campaign
with the beginning of September, 1920, which lasted to April, 1921.
A series of educational entertainments was arranged monthly. Speak-
ers were sent by Brother Rosen>blum and some were obtained from
the Twin Cities. The Twin City Joint Board at the opening of those
entertainments provided a very excellent symphony, which was fol-
lowed by speakers and amusements. Brother Rodriquez from Chi-
cago and Brother Leo Krzycki from Milwaukee were tAvo of the
speakers who took part in our entertainments.

"The Twin Cities have experienced some very hard times. The
lack of employment, plus the campaign conducted by the Citizens'
Alliance for the open shop, was quite a task for the organization to
withstand.

"On January 21, 1921, a lockout was declared against our organi-
zation 'by the custom tailors. Those fighting ns were J. T. Schusler
and Frank Huntington, merchants; S. A. Green, a pants contractor;
Kurzen Bros, and Liftman Bros., two cut-make-and-trim houses.
Again we were put to the test, and in spite of the unemployment
over $8,000 was raised to support the strikers. The strike lasted
until May 30.

"During the lockout we gained one shop in the city of Minnea-
polis, called the Twin City Garment Manufacturing Co., employing
thirty-five people. We established forty-four hours in that shop
and obtained minor increases in wages for the workers.

On June 20. 1920, Gordon and Ferguson, the largest clothing
firm in St. Paul, signed an agreement with the joint board, provid-
ing for the forty-four-hour week, collective bargaining, and 14 per
cent increase in wages. On January 7, 1921, the firm renewed its
agreement with no change in conditions.

January 14, 1921, the B. W. Harris and H. Harris Company
made settlements with the union on old conditions.

On April 7 wage increases of $4 for women and $5 for men
were secured for the employees of Rothschild & Co. That was brought
about through the efforts of Brother Samuel Levin, manager of the
Chicago Joint Board.

In June settlements were made with a number of smaller shops.

In July a big organization campaign was inaugurated to be kept
up until the clothing1 industry in the Twin Cities is fully organzed.

On September 8, a strike" against Hie St. Pfii.il QtannenJ < '<•, which

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 185

had been on for a long time, was won. The firm granted a wag«
increase of 5 per cent, and made other concessions to the workers.

The Minneapolis Trades and Labor Assembly arranged a tag day
for the benefit of the ^outh St. Paul stockyard strikers on Saturday,
January 14, 1922. The Amalgamated was invited to assist in the
work. A call was immediately issued to the Twin City girls for
help, and they responded splendidly. Many came from St. Paul
straight from work, without even taking time to eat lunch. They
gladly contributed their half day for the good of the cause.

In April, 1922, an agreement was signed with the St. Paul Gar-
ment Manufacturing Co. for the year 1922.

The services rendered by Sister Nettie Richardson, Brothers
Roseriblum, Johannsen, Krzycki, Kroll, and others have been highly
appreciated by the membership.

LOS ANGELES ORGANIZING

Local 278, Los Angeles, was chartered less than two months be-
fore the Boston Convention. Since then a cutters' local, Local 273,
was organized. These two locals are making efforts to organize
the entire clothing industry in the city. In view of the general unem-
ployment and adverse industrial conditions the progress made is
gratifying.

The Universal Tailoring Co., one of the largest merchant tailors
in the city of Los Angeles, signed an agreement with the Amalgam-
ated in October, 1921. Three contracting shops wrhich do work for
the Universal Co. are also included in the agreement.

The firm of Singer & Silverberg,- of Los Angeles, operating
three large merchant tailor stores, signed an agreement in Decem-
ber, 1921. The three shops affected are the Eastern Woolen Mills,
the Western Woolen Mills, and the Standard Woolen Mills.

The General Office received from the executive board of the
Los Angeles organization a warning to the effect that only those who
absolutely have to go should go out there. There is much unemploy-
ment and it is next to impossible for those who can only do section
work to get a job. One has to be an all around tailor in order to get
a job there.

1 'Of late," says the Los Angeles board, "we have had a number
of members who come out here after making application to the sani-
tarium, with the idea that by being out here they can get to the
sanitarium sooner. This is not the case. Admission to the sani-
tarium goes by order of application. Members are always notified
by the sanitarium office when their turn comes, giving them sufficient
time to arrive here. They come out here without any funds, and
then come to us for assistance. While our hearts go out to our un-
fortunate brothers, and we do what we possibly can, still we are not
able to take care of them."

Los Angeles is not a great industrial center. Insofar as the
tailoring trade is concerned, there are no factories making stock.

186 * AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

There are two or three shops employing from twenty to thirty-five
people each. The rest of the workers are employed in shops of
five or less.

All work done in Los Angeles comes from store orders, and is
being made up toy people who can do several parts of the work.
The eastern factory hand is not looked for there.

On Wednesday January 25, 1922, the Los Angeles organiza-
tion of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America held a special
mass meeting to which all tailors of the city were invited.

The cloakmakers, members of Ladies' Garment Workers' Local
52, were then on strike, and had been out more than six weeks. J.
Lauch, the cloakmakers' manager, addressed the' meeting. The
audience learned a great deal a'bout conditions and the labor move-
ment in the Los Angeles clothing industry. As a result of his ad-
dress, a collection to assist the cloakmakers was taken, and
amounted to $100. In addition to the collection, reports Manager
Ely Berman, Local 278, A. C. W. of A., assessed each woman member
$1, and each man member $2, for the cloakmakers.

Local 278 contributed its share to the Lockout Resistance Fund
in the East,

An aggressive organization campaign is now carried on by the
Amalgamated locals in Los Angeles.

EMPLOYERS ON THE HUNT FOR CHEAPER
LABOR— OUT OF TOWN

One of the most conspicous developments of the past two years
in our industry, and especially in the New York market, has been
the tendency toward the establishment of "country shops." By
"country shop" is meant any shop set up outside of New York City,
even though it is situated in a city of 40,000 or 50,000 people. The
whole development is generally called "the out-of-town movement."
It is, of course, nothing more than an attempt on the part of certain
backward-looking manufacturers to escape union conditions in the
large organized centers by transferring their plants to small centers
where la'bor is unorganized, cheaper, and willing to be exploited in
good old sweat shop fashion.

So marked had the movement become that late in 1920 a special
committee known as the out-of-town organization committee, with
General Board Member August Bellanca as chairman, and made up
of representatives of the General Office and the New York Joint
Board, was formed to carry on organization work in an aggressive
and vigorous manner in these clothing shops which were springing
up everywhere. This committee has maintained a large staff of
organizers who have conducted Amalgamated activities in the follow-
ing cities:

New York: Binghamton, Hudson, Kingston, Port Chester,
Poughkeepsie, Troy, Utica.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 187

Connecticut: Bridgeport, Colchester. Xew Haven, New London,

Norwich, Stamford.
Massachusetts : Springfield.
Xew Jersey: Bayonne, Camden, Egg Harbor, Jersey City, Xew

Brunswick, Passaic, Paterson, Plainfield, Raritan, Red Bank,

Rutherford, Trenton, Vineland. Woodbine.
Pennsylvania : Allentown, Harrisburg, Norristown, Perkasie,

Pottsvillc, Scranton.

Xew York manufacturers who have made this attempt to escape
the union have inevitably found that no such escape was possible.
Our organization has arrived in each city, practically, simultane-
ously witli the opening of the new shop. Organization work has
been actively carried on in all these new centers, in spite of in-
dustrial depression and the large extent of unemployment. There
is no doubt but that these new clothing workers will soon play their
part not only in maintaining present standards but also in pressing
forward toward additional gains. It is the aim of the Amalgamated
to enlist in its ranks all who are employed in the clothing industry and
wherever the factories may be located.

Quite apart from the activities of the union, however, the manu-
facturer who, in his eagerness for cheaper and ever cheaper labor,
turns from all the advantages of a market where an adequate supply
of skilled workers is available and where there is a powerful union
to help stabilize conditions, to the place with unorganized and un-
skilled workers, has many unexpected and very difficult problems of
management to meet. These problems have caused many a manu-
facturer to make his peace with the union, and have been respon-
sible for the failure of many of the shops opened to experiment in
greater exploitation of labor.

A production manager now in Springfield, Mass., formerly with
various Xew York manufacturers, writing in the "Daily Xews Record"
of February 14. 1922. describes in detail many of the difficulties which
must be met in establishing an out-of-town shop. He says in part :

SOME "COUNTRY" SHOP PROBLEMS

There are a number of problems connected with the starting and
operating of a "country" shop — as all plants in smaller cities are called
by New York clothiers. All of these problems may be summed up in
one word— management. The manufacturer who is not willing to as-
sume the duties, obligations, and worries of management would do better
to stay in New York even if, and until, he must give up business.
Nowhere but in New York can one be a manufacturer without manu-
facturing. In no other city is the contracting system so highly developed
as to permit the manufacturer to shift the burden and responsibility of
his own production to other shoulders. And, when a clothing man opens
his plant in a city where little or no clothing is being made, he must
assume the entire responsibility of his undertaking, just as the mill
man, the shoe manufacturer, or any other kind of manufacturer usually
does. He must become a manufacturer in fact as well as in name.

New York Workers Highly Skilled

Now, in 'New York the clothing worker is highly skilled and un-
usually efficient. Trained for years under trying conditions of high

188 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

tension and frequent changes in kinds of work, operations, shops, and
foremen, he has no equal anywhere in the country. In fact, he is so
efficient that many of the duties which are indeed managerial are, in
New York contract shops, left to him. A key operator very frequently
determines the production of the shop, and a pocket maker knows better
how to make the pocket than his boss. In a "country" shop, the pos-
sible production of the shop and of any worker must be determined by
the management, and the foremen must be able to demonstrate to the
worker the best method of performing the given operation. While in
New York the worker is both the brains and the hands, in a "country"
shop the management is the brains working through the fingers of
the workers.

Dependence on the Union

One of the most important problems of shop management is that
of maintaining balance. In the making of a coat there are some eighty
operations. One would assume that to maintain a constant equilibrium
between these operations requires careful planning. As a matter of
fact, this is no difficult problem for a New York shop foreman. The
union and the telephone solve it for him. If he finds himself running1
behind in his pocket section, because that particular lot of work has
four "bellows" patches with double stitched flaps, whereas all season
he has been making plain flap pockets with a welt breast pocket, he
calls up the union for a "jobber" — a skilled worker who does these
odd jobs for $5 more per week. Or, if his shape sewer is absent there
is always one at union headquarters. A New York foreman need never
worry about his shop becoming unbalanced — unless he is "in wrong"
with the union. So efficient is the labor bureau, maintained by the
organization, so efficient are the workers, so dependent are both manu-
facturers and contractors upon the union and the workers in handling
of shop management problems, that I question whether the union is as
much a detriment to their business as the manufacturers think.
Starting a Country Factory

In order to properly visualize the management problems of a "coun-
try" clothing factory, let us start with taking the train to the city,
where we are going to make men's "half basted" coats. In New York
we employed 200 workers. Here we must figure on 400, for, while even-
tually we will get 75 per cent of the New York production, at the
beginning we will have to be satisfied with 40 per cent or less.
Good Teachers Imperative

You will notice that the foreman seems to be more of a teacher than
anything else. And here we hit upon the first big problem in the man-
agement of the "country" shop — instruction. We must be prepared to
teach, teach, teach all the time. Even after our organization is formed
and is producing both quality and quantity, we will find it necessary to
keep on teaching; for there is such a thing as labor turnover (even
in New York, where labor is steadier than anywhere else in the coun-
try), and there is no union labor bureau to come to your assistance.
The foremen must, therefore, be pre-eminently instructors; they must
be thorough mechanics (which most of our New York contractors are
not), and must have that patience and that ability to impart knowledge
which make a good teacher.

Section Management Required

We find as we go along that to train 200 workers is a colossal job.
One man cannot do it. We hit upon the section system. In New York
one foreman and several young men to carry bundles constituted the
shop management. Here we find that it will take a good man to take
care of the coat as far as joining, let us say: that is to train the
help, supervise the quality of their work after they have been taught
the operations, and keep the work moving. It will take another good
man to bring the coat from joining to sleeve sewing; and a third man,
if our plant is large enough, to make sleeves, linings, and small parts.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 189

After the coat is machined there is the finishing, pressing and examin-
ing; this constitutes a section in itself. We find that a man who runs
a section of fifty people is doing a good day's work. We forget the
one-man, big-boss system prevailing in New York. That goes very well
with skilled labor. Here we have our distinct sections, and our section
instructor-foremen who are independent of one another.

But an army of independent units is only a mob. Our sections have
to be co-ordinated to bring about the best results in quality and quantity
production. We find, then, that we must have a quality man or a de-
signer or a head foreman — whatever you wish to call him — who will
set the standard of quality in every section. And we find, also, that
somebody must look after the production, must see that there is an even
balance maintained throughout the shop, study ways of eliminating un-
necessary effort, keep a minimum balance of work in each section, see
that there is enough and not too much help on one operation, and so
on. Pretty soon our section foremen report absences (for learners do
become discouraged and quit) and there must be somebody who will
interview applicants, try to select those who will cost the least to
instruct and who are the most likely to remain after they have been
instructed, make wages, send the "new" hands to the foremen who need
them, etc.

Now, then, we have the duties of quality man, labor manager, and
production manager to perform. Whether one man can perform all
these functions depends upon the ability of the man and the size of
our plant. Perhaps two will be sufficient, perhaps three are necessary.
The fact is that these functions of management must be performed,
and that if nobody performs them our plant will fail.

These functions, let it be remembered, must be performed in any
shop anywhere. In New York they are performed by the union, by the
workers themselves, and by the foreman-contractor.

It is the writer's conclusion that the disadvantages in the
"country" shop are offset '''by the level of wages prevailing in smaller
communities/7 i. e., more intensive exploitation of labor.

The Tiffany Co., really the old firm of Morris Asinoff & Sons,
Inc., of New York, now in operation in Springfield, is slipping its best
work into union shops in New York City whenever possible. And
this much is quite certain, that by the time the problems of manage-
ment are solved the shops will be organized under the Amalgamated
banner. The spirit of unionism is steadily gaining strength among
the workers in the plant.

The Springfield story can be repeated in very slightly varied
form for city after city. Take the S. & C. Co., for instance, a New
York firm which locked out its New York workers and tried to set
up a factory in Port Chester. After five months of "problems of
management" it was forced to discontinue. And again, if it had
not discontinued it would have had to deal with the union, for our
organizers had been constantly and successfully on the job.

Fishman & Pishman, manufacturers of children's clothing,
after a brief experiment with a "country shop" in Allentown. Pa.,
returned to New York. The same is true of Bober Bros., who moved
to Woodbine, N. J., and of M. Frank & Sons, who established a shop
in Hammonton, N. J.. and of J. Lipschitz, who tried Bed Bank, N. J.,
for a short time. These are just a few examples which illustrate
tli<* success of the ' 'out-of-town" movement.

Then there is the Colion & Goldman ease, which is frequently

190 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

pointed out as the great example of successful escape from union
wages. The truth is that the firm of Cohen & Goldman is right now
dealing with the union for certain classes of work, and that even in
the much-boasted-of Poughkeepsie plant the firm has been obliged
to import, for the most important operations, highly skilled New
York mechanics. The attempt to use only local help failed abso-
lutely, and yet Poughkeepsie is a city where there is a fairly large
supply of skilled operators, the Dutchess Pants Co. employing some
500 people, having been there for many years.

In cities where there is no trained labor supply the necessity for
skilled help is multiplied many times. The manufacturers are again
and again forced either to employ New York help, paying them very
high wages as a sort of bribe for leaving the city, or else to try to
send the high quality work to New York contract shops — which, of
course, means union shops.

Realizing that the mere physical act of moving to a strange city
does not mean getting rid of the union, the employers have done
everything possible to discredit the Amalgamated. They have con-
spired with the scab agency known as the United Garment Workers.
They have lied to the workers about the Amalgamated. They have
played on race prejudice. They have raised the familiar cry of
">Sovietism." Through it all we have continued our organization
propaganda and in spite of unfavorable business conditions are meet-
ing with success. Locals established prior to the last convention have
in the main held their own. Some have done much more, and new
charters have been granted.

In Vineland, N. J., where here -ire twelve contract shops
handling New York and Philadelphia work, we have a fine local of
over 400 members. In Troy a charter has recently been issued to a
new and enthusiastic group of clothing workers. In Passaic, a prac-
tically dead local has been re-organized. In Trenton, N. J., the new
home of Milton Simpson, formerly of New York, a successful organi-
zation campaign is well under way. In Connecticut, the joint board
is made up of four locals, including the cities of New Haven, Bridge-
port, New London, and Norwich, all of which, in spite of many minor
difficulties, are making excellent progress.

Such is the so-called out-of-town movement. Whether it is a
permanent tendency or merely a temporary experiment doomed to
failure cannot be predicted. Just one thing is certain — if the country
shop becomes a permanent feature in the industry, the workers will
organize under the Amalgamated, so that the manufacturers who
moved only to escape union la'bor conditions are doomed to dismal
and complete failure.

The staff of the /New York out-of-town organization committee
has included August Bellanca, chairman, G. Artoni, J. Barry, Dorothy
Jacobs Bellanca, Paul Blanshard, Mrs. Tina Cacici, Anthony Capraro,
Frank Cancellieri, Pauline Clark, Frank Coco, Ann W. Craton, Mrs.
Josephine Ferguson, I. Goldstein, A. Greco, Enrico Grassi, P. La Bruto,
Katharine Lindsay, N. J. Nugent, A. Pio, Julius Powers, G. Sala,
J. E. Shea, Forte Velona, Nathan Wertheimor.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 191

BINGHAMTON

Iii the small cities of New York state the open shop fight has
been carried on vehemently by organized manufacturers. Practically
each city boasts its board of trade, or chamber of commerce, whose
chief aim is to stamp out "Bolshevism," which to them means high
wages, short hours, decent working conditions. Jn Syracuse, Utica,
Poughkeepsie, Troy, Buffalo, Bmghamton, the struggle has been and
is still going on. The organization has been constantly fighting to
maintain its foothold o*r to secure additional ground.

'The New York firm of Berger, Raphael, & Wile, in an attempt
to escape union conditions, opened in Binghamtonr N. Y., in Nov-
ember, 1920, a non-union shop known as the Ideal Clothing Co.
Promptly several of our organizers, Nathan Wertheimer, Ann Craton,
Forte Velone, established themselves in the city and began organiza-
tion work. They found a fertile field, for conditions in the "Ideal"
Clothing Co. were "ideal" the wrong way for the workers. As a
result of a regime of slavery the workers struck on January 6, 1921,
for union conditions. Every attempt was made by this union-hating
firm to defeat the strikers and drive the Amalgamated out of Bing-
hamton. The attack on the organization culminated on May 24
in a vicious assault upon organizer Forte Velona. The attack on
Brother Velona was described in the Advance of June 10, 1921, by
Anthony Capraro. who went to Binghamton to make arrangements
necessary for his comfort. Capraro wrote :

"Lying physically exhausted, with scars on one side of his face
and burns on the forehead and chin, produced by acid, in addition
to bruises all over his stomach and chest, Forte Velona, Amalgam-
ated organizer, kidnapped by bogus detectives and almost murdered
011 Tuesday night, May 24, in the heart of Binghamton, N. Y., reaf-
firms his belief that the whole affair was engineered and executed
by boss-hired thugs.

"At the time of the kidnapping Velona was retiring and was
feeling quite at ease, since the usual 'bodyguard of private detectives
afforded him by Berger, Raphael & Wile, clothing manuacturers. who
fled from New York City to establish in Binghamton an 'ideal' shop,
open to all but union men and women, based on the now famous
'American plan/ was at that moment mining. As a matter of fact,
these gentlemen had failed to put in an appearance since the previous
Saturday. No private detectives had followed Velona, as usual, on
Monday and Tuesday.

"When approached by the two men, who posed as officers of the
law, Velona was about a block away from the rooming house wrhere
he was stopping, and had just been left by the secretary of the local
Amalgamated union, an Italian named Giuseppe Basolis.

192 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OP AMERICA

"After the exchange of a few words purporting to inform the
intended victim that the chief of police wished to see him, Velona
was hurried into a limousine with curtains drawn and spirited in
a direction that clearly showed the intentions of the thugs t<> get
away instead of approaching- police headquarters. Velona under-
stood and protested.

"By this time the machine had reached the Susquehanna River
Bridge and it was here that one of the two men in the car, while the
other one was holding Velona down to his seat', pulled out a razor
and holding him by the hair, told him in unmistakeable terms that
if the uttered a word he would have his throat cut. Terrorized by
this threat, the victim tried to bring his hands to his neck and face
and thereupon he felt that some liquid was being poured on his face.
Fortunately the liquid poured on his face was deviated from his
eyes 'by the spectacles he wore.

"Kicks on the stomach and chest followed this operation and
then, in a state of unconsciousness, he was hurled from the running
machine. The thugs had been repeating that if he didn't want to
be killed the next time and dumped into the river he would better
leave town and never approach the Raphael shop in Binghamton
again.

"Velona found himself the next day in the City Hospital without
having the slightest idea how he got there. He had been picked
up by some Italian shopkeeper and put in the custody of the police,
and through them taken in an ambulance to the hospital, which the
sick man left for the home of some friendly people residing in Tayn-
tor Avenue the next day.

"The kidnapping is the repetition, on a larger scale, of another
attack of which he had previously been the object. Sleeping in o-ne
of the rooms of the house in which he now is, one night some months
ago he was hit on the forehead by a stone hurled through the win-
dow.

"Joking in spite of his bruises and exhaustion, Velona said that
all this was quite an 'i'deaP way of keeping the shop open for the
scabs/'

SYRACUSE

While no great progress in organizing new shops in Syracuse
during the past two years can be reported, it can be said that there
has been no recession. Whatever gains wrere made in the past have
been held, and the local membership is earnest and enthusiastic for
the union, prepared always to respond to the call of the organiza-
tion.

One of the obstacles in the way of further progress in organiza-
tion work in this market is the fact that it is a declining clothing
center. Once an important market, Syracuse has dwindled to a
mere shadow of its former importance. In the days of its prime,
prior to Amalgamated history, it was one of the important union

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 193

label markets in the country. Today, there is but one firm left that
cat lies the label and has relations with the U. G. W. This firm
seems to be following the declining path of its predecessors.

Last August our agreement with the Dolan-Ferrie Co. was re-
d to run until July, 1923. This agreement provides for the prefer-
ential union shop, forty-four-hour week, time and one-half for over-
time, and provides also that whatever wage conditions and adjust-
ments are made in Rochester shall apply to this house. Our relations
with this firm for the last two years have been satisfactory.

In addition to the Dolan-Ferrie Co. we have working arrange-
ments with two other small houses wherein preferential shop condi-
tions are in force although no written agreements are in existencs.

There are, also, two children's houses and one pants house, which
are unorganized. These clothing houses employ women almost ex-
clusively. Organization work was being carried on, but we were
handicapped by the industrial depression. However, conditions are
becoming more favorable and the organization work can again be
resumed.

Local 96 of Syracuse deserves credit for the hearty co-operation
it extended at the time of the New York lockout. Not only did it
raise its full quota for the defense fund, but its members refused
to work for the 0. B. C. Co. which was organized to do work for
a lockout house in New York. One of the phases of the situation
was the securing of an injunction of the usual type, carrying with
it a suit for damages. This injunction has never come up for a hear-
ing, having been postponed from time to time until it quietly went
to sleep and the case is now practically dead. The 0. B. C. Co. is
now defunct, but its memory lingers.

Syracuse, lying between Newr York and Rochester, can become
a menacing situation for both these markets if unorganized. Amal-
gamated organizers and representatives who have been active there
include Mildred Rankin, Gustave Strebel, Aldo Cursi, G. Artoni, and
A. I. Pearlman of the Rochester Joint Board. Miss Ann Washing-
ton Craton has just been assigned to this field, and with the assistance
that Rochester can render, Syracuse can be saved for organized
labor.

BUFFALO

Iii Buffalo the attack upon our organization has been particularly
bitter, and all credit is due our active membership in that city, which,
though still small in number, has struggled heroically against almost
overwhelming odds. The struggle in Buffalo is in many ways like
the struggle in Chicago, where for ten years we made attempt after
attempt to secure 100 per cent organization with only failure after
failure to show for our work, and then suddenly in 1919 victory
came. The same will be true of Buffalo. Slowly but surely wre are
gaining and sooner or later victory will be ours.

On June 22, 1920, immediately after the last convention, the

194 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

bosses joined issue and forced a strike by refusing to continue col-
lective bargaining. The firms involved were II. Wile & (\>., Frank
& Lochner, Cohn-Himmel, Goodman & Rothschild, the English Woolen
Mills, and a number of smaller concerns. The organization used
every effort to avoid a general strike, but the employers were deter-
mined, and the strike had to come. It was a bitter fight. All the
usual tactics of a union-smashing campaign were used to the most
extreme limit. Injunctions were applied for and secured. Scabs
were imported to break the strike, the United Garment Workers, as
usual, being only too willing to serve in that capacity. Attempts
wrere made to buy our organizers. All of these efforts failed, of
course. But in spite of the wonderful spirit of our members, tem-
porarily we were forced to accept defeat. On September 15, 1921,
the fight was officially called off. The industrial depression had hit
the clothing industry and for the time being crippled it. We real-
ized that we must bide our time. In the words of President Hillman,
commenting on the end of the strike, "Hie last word in the Buffalo
market has not been said, and the workers will yet have their say."

Since the general strike, our membership has continued in the
struggle with undaunted spirit. Last November General Organizer
Harry Madanick assumed charge of a general organization campaign
in the city, and with the end of the depression we may confidentally
look forward to real results in Buffalo.

The organization campaign in Buffalo \vas assisted by the follow-
ing members and organizers who visited Buffalo on various occasions :
General Executive Board Members Sidney Rissman, Frank Rosen-
blum; General Organizers Krzycki, Cursi, Strebel, Artoni, and Cacici.

UTICA

When our last report went to print Utica was in the slump follow-
ing the raids upon labor organizations and the strikes of the tailors
and textile workers, which were lost. The powers that be in
this locality were an especially hard-headed, Gary-like group
of employers who were aided by a group of misrepresentatives of
laibor. The 2,000 tailors were condemned to a hard-driven slavish
period of suppression. Blacklist of the strictest sort prevented any
assertion of union principle.

The Utica Boy's Clothing Co., employing about 300 tailors, had
been out of work at least four months when the lockout developed
in -New York. This firm was operating a union shop in Utica as well
as in New York. After, the lockout stopped their work they decided
to give up the New York shop and take all the work to Utica, the
business office only to be in New York. They sent notices to their
people to return under open shop conditions and a wage reduction.
This aroused a strong opposition and the workers unanimously went
on strike. For months mass picketing was constantly maintained
around the plant 'but because there is such a small organized element
in the city — because Utica is a Garyized anti-union center — slowly

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 195

the firm was able to train in new people and fill the places of the
workers. Pickets were kept about the plant until summer, but the
firm was able to run the shop until hit by the business depression in
the late fall. The firm cut the workers' wages three times in nine
months.

Altogether wages dropped to less than half of the union rate.
iVessers are getting $12 to $20. In November there was an active
movement for organization among the new workers and the strike
was officially called off by Local 104.

While the non-union shops were empty this winter, the one
union shop was full and the work sent from Xew York was priced
by a conference in the General Office between union officials and the
firm. All other shops were given cuts of 25 per cent, but this shop
was settled at a 10 per cent reduction.

In addition to the wage cuts there was imminent danger of a
return to forty-eight hours. In fact two shops were already working
on that schedule. But the General Office decided on an open cam-
paign of agitation and education, and the manufacturers were so
frightened at the effect on their workers that they gave this up
for the time 'being.

Local 104 has lost members but not spirit. It has had a really
excellent program of educational meetings addressed by General
Organizers Frank Bellanca, Leo Krzycki, and Arturo Giovanniti, and
entertainments and dances. Organizers Mildred Rankin, Frank Coco,
Dorothy Jacobs Bellanca, Katherine Lindsay, Frank Cancelliere, Mar-
tin Dusevica, Gustave Strebel, Aldo Cursi, and Anthony Capraro,
have also at various times lent their energies to the Utica campaign.
The local is confident of orreat results and a speedy organization of
Utica as soon as the new season begins.

IN MASSACHUSETTS

Our three locals in the small Massachusetts centers, HAVERHILL,
LYXX. and WORCESTER, can report good progress. In Worcester,
a demand for a 22^ per cent cut in wages was met, after negotia-
tions failed, by a general strike which was adjusted after two weeks
on a basis of a 10 per cent cut only.

SPRINGFIELD is still a mecca for anti-union employers. The
success of the various Springfield ventures, however, has already been
discussed in the section on the "out of town" movement.

Organizers Nathan Gordon, Hollander, Salerno. Ramuglia, and
Abraham Miller have been actively at work with good results in this
field.

196 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

REORGANIZATION OF THE CHILDREN'S
CLOTHING WORKERS' JOINT BOARD
IN NEW YORK

When we met in convention two years ago there wrere two joint
boards in the clothing industry in New York — the New York Joint
Board and the Children's Clothing Workers' Joint Board. New York
was the only city where our organization had two joint boards instead
of one. That matter had long been discussed among the member-
ship in New York and at previous conventions. At the Boston Con-
vention, it seemed as if the situation in New York was ripe for one
joint board. The convention directed the General Executive Board
to bring about an amalgamation of the two clothing workers' joint
boards in New York.

Accordingly, the following communication was sent, shortly after
the convention, to the local unions in New York :

New York, May 29, 1920
To New York Local Unions
A. C. W. of A.

Greetings: —

A number of resolutions were submitted to the Fourth Biennial
Convention, held in Boston May 10-15, 1920, calling for the amalgama-
tion of the New York Joint Board and the Children's Clothing Workers'
Joint Board. The committee on resolutions recommended that the
General Executive Board be instructed to see to it that the two joint
boards are united into one, and that that be carried out not later than
ninety days from the time of the decision. Local unions which refuse
to accept the amalgamation of the two joint boards shall be re-organ-
ized by the General Executive Board.

The recommendation of the committe on resolutions was accepted
by the convention at the session of May 13, 1920.

Accordigly, you are requested to take up immediately the work
of carrying out the action of the convention. Though the resolution
allows ninety days for the consummation of this work, we ask you to act
at once. The amalgamation of the two joint boards is imperative and
the sooner it is brought about the better for all concerned. Do not
wait until the ninety-day period is over.

Hoping to hear from you soon, T am,

Fraternally yours,
JOSEPH SCHLOSSBERG,
General Secretary-Treasurer.

A series of conferences resulted in the adoption of the following
PLAN OF AMALGAMATION

The Joint Board of the Children's Clothing Trades shall be merged
into the N*w York Joint Board and shall be known as the Children's
Clothing Trade Board of the New York Joint Board, A. C. W. of A.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 197

The income from all the children's clothing locals shall go com-
pletely and intact to the N'ew York Joint Board not later than July
19, 1920. The N'ew York Joint Board of the A. C. W. of A. shall assume
all financial obligations of the Joint Board of the Children's Clothing
Trades.

Said trade board shall maintain its office and officers until election,
which is to take place before July 30, 1920; the officers then elected
to remain in office until the second next regular elections of the New
York Joint Board.

The children's clothing locals shall be re-organized in the following
manner: one local for each of the following trades for Greater New
York: Operators, Pressers, Kneepants Makers, and Washable Sailor
Suit Makers. The Turners and Italian members shall each have a
branch of the Operators' local.

Control

The shops shall be divided on a district basis, the same as now
prevailing with the New York Joint Board, one business agent for each
district.

Officers

It is agreed that the present number of officers be reduced to the
number actually required for the efficient conduct of the organization's
business.

Election of officers

•

Each local and branch shall nominate candidates for salaried officers.
In nominations and elections, Operators' and Pressers' locals and
Italian and Turners' branches shall vote collectively. The Kneepants
Makers shall vote for their officers: likewise the Washable Sailor Suit
Markers. At least one presser representative shall be elected on the
staff.

Each candidate for a salaried office must pass an examination
by a board of examiners before his name may be placed on the ballot
for election by a referendum vote by the membership.

The salaried staff shall consist of one trade manager and as many
dues clerks and business agents as will be required for each section
of the city. The dues clerks shall be nominated by the locals and ap-
pointed by the board of directors of the New York Joint Board, after
having an examination. The dues clerks may be elected by the respec-
tive locals as local secretaries.

Grievance Committee

There shall be a grievance committee in each territory — New York,
Brooklyn, and Brownsville — instead of heretofore existing executive
boards. The grievance committee shall take up grievances and charges
of the members.

Rebates on dues and initiation fee are to be credited to each
local in proportion to the collections from its members on the present
basis of New York Joint Board. Payments shall be made in accor-
dance with arrangements that will be arrived at in a joint conference
between the Now York Joint Board and the Joint Board of the Child-
ren's Clothing Trades.

Representation to the joint board and board of directors ahall be
in accordance with the present representation system of the New York
Joint Board.

This reconstruction plan shall go into effect not later than July
30, 1920.

198 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

At last there was one central body in New York, as in all other
cities. The combined joint board proceeded with its work without any
evidence of an impending break; on the contrary, with every appear-
ance of the united body permanently remaining united.

But it did not remain permanently united.

The hardships caused by the long period of unemployment, which
always have a depressing effect upon individual workers and organi-
zations, had the effect in this case of rendering it difficult for the
two newly united bodies to co-operate. The strain of unemployment,
the long lockout struggle, and pressure from outside influence, was
very heavy. A point was reached where it became necessary for the
General Executive Board to meet in special session, in October, 1921,
at New York, in the hope of adjusting the difficulties which had
arisen.

Without taxing the members with a detailed account of the
various episodes, and the steps taken, which have been fully reported
in our publications, we shall briefly state that the General Executive
Board came to the conclusion to consult the membership of the
children's clothing workers' locals and determine their sentiment
with regard to re-establishing a joint 'board in the children's clothing
workers' trade.

The general officers then called for a referendum vote by the
children's clothing workers on the question of a separate joint board
and published the following statement in Advance of December 9,
1921:

THE SITUATION IN THE CHILDREN'S CLOTHING BRANCH
IN NEW YORK

Upon the urgent demand of our members in New York the conven-
tion of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, held May, 1920, at
Boston, Mass., decided in favor of merging the New York Joint Board
and the Joint Board of the Children's Clothing Workers into one body.
That action was approved by the members of both joint boards. In
due time the Children's Clothing Workers' Joint Board was abolished
by its own locals and practically all of its local unions affiliated them-
selves with the New York Joint Board.

Recently some of the local unions in the children's clothing branch
of our industry have withdrawn from the New York Joint Board and
attempted to form a separate joint board. The action, which was hasty
and ill-advised, brought a great deal of confusion into the New York
situation. If allowed to continue, the children's clothing workers' locals
would become completely demoralized and the members would remain
helpless against the employers. The General Executive Board came
into the situation and made efforts to rescue the organization.

In order to establish the true sentiment of the membership, in
whose name conflicting statements have been made, a referendum vote
has been ordered under the auspices of the General Office. At the time
of this writing the vote is being taken on the following question:
"Shall Locals 7, 19, 22, 55, 175 and 176 of the New York

Joint Board, A. C. W. of A., apply to the General Executive

Board, A. C. W. of A., for the right to organize a separate

joint board for the children's clothing trade and ask for a

charter for such joint board?"

Monday, December 5, and Tuesday, December 6, were the dates set
for the vote. By the time this issue of Advance reaches the members
the result of the vote will be known.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 199

The committee representing the children's clothing locals in the
with the goncra! officers pledged themselves to discontinue
all activities ol' the unauthorized and illegal joint board until the Gen-
eral Executive Board grants a charter for a separate Children's Cloth-
ing Workers' Joint Board in the event the outcome of such referendum
vote should be in favor of such a joint board.

The general officers, therefore, herewith declare that THERE IS
NO LEGALLY CONSTITUTED JOINT BOARD OF THE AMALGAMA-
TED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA IN THE CHILDREN'S
CLOTHING TRADE.

Inasmuch as publicity has been given to the effect that Harry Cohen
is acting as manager of a Children's Clothing Workers' Joint Board, the
general officers desire to make it known that they have not recognized
Harry Cohen as such manager. The matter of Harry Cohen is separate
and distinct from the case of the joint board. The outcome of the re-
ferendum vote on the matter of a joint board will not affect that of
Harry Cohen. That must be disposed of before he is elected to any
office in this organization. It is now in the hands of an investigating
committee. When the committee's work is completed its findings will
be published.

To sum UD:

There will be no legal joint board of the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America in the children's clothing trade until the organi-
zation of such a body is authorized by the General Executive Board.

The case of Harry Cohen is being dealt with independently of the
case of the joint board.

The above statement is made in order to dispel all misunderstand
ing and confusion as to the attitude of the general officers and also
because press publicity given to the matter of the children's clothing
workers' management has proven misleading to our membership.
SIDNEY HILLMAN, General President,
JOSEPH SCHLOSSBERG, General Secretary-Treasurer.

RESULT OF REFERENDUM VOTE

New York, December 7, 1921.

Mr. Joseph Schlossberg, General Secretary -Treasurer,
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America,

31 Union Square, City.
Dear Sir and Brother : —

The undersigned are representatives from the children's clothing
locals appointed by the locals as watchers for the referendum vote
undertaken by the General Office on the question of a separate joint-
board for the children's clothing trade. The five watchers at the
five polling places were present at the General Office when the ballot
boxes were opened. All ballots cast have been canvased and we here-
by certify that a proper canvas and counting of the votes cast has
been made.

The total number of votes cast is 1,829 ; 1,631 for a separate joint
board, and 198 against.

The slip attached shows the vote by local unions and polling
places, which we certify to -be correct.

Fraternally yours,

J. BERKOWITZ, Local 7 * I. SILVER, Local 55

J. MESSINA, Local 19 S. MARGOLIS, Local 175
M. ALLEX. Local 22 J. PORTNOY, Local 176

200 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

TABULATION OF THE CHILDREN'S CLOTHING REFERENDUM

Local 7 Local 19 Local 22 Local 55 Local 175 Local 176

Yes No Yes No Yes Ncr Yes No Yes No Yes No

Clinton Hall 1 33 21 180 35 45 1

Manhattan Lyceum - — 128 55 13 ji 1

Labor Lyceum ... 11 64 4 13 3 5 368 31

McKibben Street ..396 10 97 6743 6 42

112 Central Avenue 16 — — — 240 18

Total 424 10 322 86 213 51 53 375 33 244 18

Vote by Locals Yes No

7 424 10

19 322 86

22 213 51

55 53

175 375 33

176 244 18

Total 1,631 198

Following the referendum vote the general officers conferred
with representatives of the locals and arranged for the organization
of the joint board in accordance with that vote. It looked as if
order were in sight. But the obstructive work was continued. The
printing presses were hurriedly set in motion and a flood of circulars
and leaflets made their appearance denouncing the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America and its representatives in the vilest and
most vulgar manner. Mass meetings were held to arouse the mem-
bership against the organization. Disruptionists not only intimi-
dated and 'beat up the loyal members, but they violently broke
into the office of Local 22, which was loyal to the organization,
threw out ibodily the accredited representatives of that local union,
and forcibly took possession of the office. There was 'but one path
left open to Local 22, the courts. Upon an order from the courts
the strong arm men disappeared, and Local 22 was again in a posi-
tion to proceed with its work. Local 22, Jacket Operators and
Tailors, is the largest local in the children's clothing branch.

At this juncture the fact should be gratefully recorded that the
"Zeit," the Socialist Zionist dairy, stood loyally by our organization.
Under the editorship of the famous writer David Pinski. always an
enthusiastic friend of the Amalgamated, the "Zeit" has been an
ardent supporter of the Amalgamated since the paper first saw the
light of day. But in the children's clothing workers' situation its
generous help was especially valuable and appreciated because the
"Zeit" was the only daily paper that brought the news to our mem-
bers from day to day and urged them to stand by the organization.

STATEMENT OF THE GENERAL OFFICERS

The following statement was issued by the general officers :

The members of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America have
already been informed of the efforts which are being made by the Gen-

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 201

• eral Executive Board to adjust the situation in the children's clothing
branch of our organization in New York in the best interests of the
members.

A referendum vote was ordered on the question of organizing a
separate Children's Clothing Joint Board. The vote resulted overwhel-
mingly in favor of such a joint board. The General Executive Board
immediately proceeded to carry out the wishes of the membership, and
took the steps required for the formation of a joint board.

At the meeting of the General Executive Board held just before
the holidays in Chicago, the action of the general officers and of the
individual board members was unanimously approved.

The board members returned from that meeting with the intention
of concluding the work for a children's clothing joint board which was
begun shortly before that meeting.

There are certain elements in the children's clothing situation which
seem to be anxious to destroy our organization in that branch of the
industry. They have conducted a campaign of misinformation and cre-
ated false issues with the purpose of breaking up the unity of our organ-
ization. Their latest effort is to break up Local 22 and they have organ-
ized new locals under the names of Locals 10 and 12. The Amalgam-
ated has no such local unions. There were local unions with those
numbers in the past, but they voluntarily merged into one local union
and have since been known as Local 22, which number is a combina-
tion of the two numbers — 10 and 12. Local 22 has been for some time
and is now the organization in that branch of the children's industry
which was formerly covered by the separate Locals 10 and 12. The
charters of those locals have been revoked, and a charter was substituted
for Local 22. We were surprised and amazed to see Locals 10 and 12
used in the public print with the name of the Amalgamated attached to
them. That was done without our knowledge and approval and without
any sort of authority.

We, therefore, warn all the members of the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers and all other persons who may in any way be affected by the
situation, that the use of the names of the so-called Locals 10 and 12
of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America is a fraud and an
imposition. There are no such locals in the Amalgamated. The mem-
bers are warned not to permit themselves to be misled by those announ-
cements, statements, and whatever else might go out in thp na^ee of
Locals 10 and 12.

The members are also warned not to pay dues to dues clerks or
anyone else unless they receive official per capita stamps of the Am-
algamated for the dues paid by them.

We take this occasion to oppeal to our loyal members in the chil-
Cohen. against whom charges have been preferred, is being dealt with.
Mr. Cohen has been notified on three different occasions to appear before
a trial committee and refute the charges made against him. He has
so far refused to do so. thereby placing himself in the position of admit-
ting his guilt. We may expect that the committee will soon render its
decision In spite of the attitude of Mr. Cohen.

We take this occasion to appeal to our loyal members in the chil-
dren's clothing branch not to be a party to the conspiracy of wrecking
the organization that has been your protection for the past years. And
we serve notice upon our enemies that the national organization will
proceed with the investigation of the charges that have been preferred
acninst any individual and will not be deterred in its efforts by any
threats of splitting the organization.

We are confident thai the great majority of the rank and file will
support the national office in its efforts to protect the integrity of the
organization.

The General Office and members of the General Executive Board

202 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

will proceed with the work of establishing order in the children's cloth-
ing trade until a legal joint board is established and the interests of the
members properly safeguarded.

SIDNEY HILLMAN, President
JOSEPH SCHLOSSBERG, Secretary,
Amalgamated Clothing Workers
of America.

It should be explained that Harry Cohen had been manager of
the former Children's Clothing Workers' Joint Board. He left his
office in January, 1920, and went into business. About September,

1921, he announced his candidacy for office of trade manager of the
Children's Clothing "Workers' Department of the New York Joint
Board. Harry Cohen was informed by the general secretary-treas-
urer that there were certain charges against him to which he would
be required to answer before his name would be submitted to the
membership as candidate for any office in the Amalgamated. The
turmoil a>bove referred to followed. Several attempts to have
Cohen appear before an investigating committee were fruitless. The
enthusiastic rallying of the loyal membership to the support of the
organization and the defeats sustained by the disrupter finally led to
Harry Cohen appearing before an investigation committee consisting
of Charles W. Ervin, editor of the New York "Call," B. C. Vladeck,
manager of the Jewish Daily "Forward," and Morris Rothenberg, an
attorney.

REPORT OF INVESTIGATION COMMITTEE

The committee began its work January 6, 1922. January 25,

1922, it submitted its findings in the following report:

The undersigned committee was selected by the officers of the Amal-
gamated Clothing Workers of America and approved by Harry Cohen to
pass upon certain acts of Harry Cohen, formerly an official of the Amal-
gamated Clothing Workers of America, which in the opinion of the
officers of such organization call for an explanation. The committee
having held sessions on January 6, January 9, January 16, and January

23, 1922, at which Harry Cohen and other witnesses were examined, and
after careful consideration of the testimony heard, find as follows:

The testimony showed that Harry Cohen for some time prior to
December 1, 1919, was the manager of the joint board, Children's Cloth-
ing Workers, affiliated with the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America. That prior to December 1, 1919, he tendered his resignation
as such manager but that the Children's Clothing Workers' Joint Board
requested him to continue for at least two weeks longer. At this time
Harry Cohen was also a member of the General Executive Board of the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. Harry Cohen left the em-
ploy of the joint board, Children's Clothing Workers, on or about January

24, 1920, and went into business for himself, becoming a partner in the
firm of C. & W. Thread Company, which engaged in the selling of thread,
but he continued to be a member of the General Executive Board of
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America until February 4. 1020.

During the month of December, 1920, a general lockout of the mem-
bers of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America took place which

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 203

lasted uutil about June of 1921, when the workers returned to the fac-
tories. According to the testimony of Sidney Hillman, the president of
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, certain persons came
to him during the course of this lockout and told him of the existence
of a number of checks which showed payments by the firm of the
Specialty Clothing Company, to several persons connected with the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. Later, these checks came
into Mr. Hillman's possession. Among these was a check dated Decem-
ber 2, 1919, from the Specialty Clothing Company to the order of
Harry Cohen. i

On December 2, 1919, the date of the check, Harry Cohen was still
acting as manager of the Children's Clothing Joint Board and was on
the payroll of such joint board, although his resignation from that
office was in the hands of the joint board.

A further charge against Harry Cohen is that, on April 11, 1921.
he received by check the sum of $500 from the Dunmore Clothing Com-
pany shortly following a strike at that firm, which Cohen helped to
settle. On the date of this payment Harry Cohen was in business for
himself as a member of the firm of C. & W. Thread Company, and
was no longer connected with the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America, either as an employee or as a member of the General Execut-
tive Board.

A great deal of testimony was given before the committee by Sid-
ney Hillman, president of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of Am-
erica; Joseph Schlossberg, secretary and treasurer of the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers, as well as by Harry Cohen, relating to the events
which transpired in connection with the movement for the organization
of a separate joint board for the children's clothing workers' locals and
the attitude of the officers of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America in connection therewith.

Considerable testimony was also given before the committee relat-
ing to the candidacy of Harry Cohen for manager of the newly formed
Children's Clothing Workers' Joint Board and the position taken by
the officers of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America in regard
thereto, Cohen claiming that he was not told of any charges against
him until he accepted the nomination for manager of the Children's
Clothing Workers' Joint Board, and that during the lockout the general
office of the Amalgamated requested him to render services to the organ-
ization in connection with the lockout.

There was also testimony relating to an alleged improper attempt
to obtain control of Local 22 of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America and as to the steps taken by the officers of the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America to prevent such action.

During the course of all this testimony the motives animating
the various persons connected with those events, as well as the fairness
of their conduct in regard thereto, were called into question.

The committee has received and heard such testimony only with the
object of obtaining a complete picture of the entire situation, but they
consider that it is not within their province, nor that any useful pur-
pose will be served by their expressing an opinion on those various
matters. The committee has made this clear at the hearings and the
parties have agreed that the decision of the committee is to be con-
fined to the matter of the money received by Harry Cohen from the
two firms mentioned.

In regard to these moneys, the facts established by the testimony
are as follows:

Harry Cohen admitted that he received $500 from the Specialty
Clothing Company and $500 from the Dunmore Clothing Company on the
dates mentioned. He claims, however, that both of these sums were
loans which he received to be used in connection with the business
which he entered.

204 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

As to the $500 received from the Specialty Clothing Company, Harry
Cohen testified that while on December 2, 1919, the date of the check,
he was still in the employ of the Children's Clothing Joint Board, he
had already tendered his resignation before that time and was about
to go into business. That he was only remaining in office as an ac-
commodation to the organization and that, therefore, he did not con-
sider It wrong to borrow money which he needed in his contemplated
business.

Mr. Lifshitz, a member of the firm of the Specialty Clothing Com-
pany, which has since gone out of business, appeared before the com-
mittee and corroborated Harry Cohen's testimony, that the $500 was
a loan. He said that he felt very friendly toward Cohen and that
when Cohen told him that he needed the money, he was glad to assist
him. Mr. Lifshitz further testified that when the Specialty Clothing Com-
pany dissolved, the $500 debt from Cohen was split up, Lifshitz taking
one-half of it and Lippman Cohen, his partner, the other half.

Harry Cohen produced before the committee a paid check for $250
dated May 1, 1921, to the order of Mr. Lifshitz, which he claims was in
part payment of the loan of $500. He also produced a paid check for
$100 dated May 2, 1921, given to Lippman Cohen, Mr. Lifshitz's partner,
in part payment of the other $250. The balance Harry Cohen testified
was repaid at the rate of $30 per week.

The committee is satisfied from the testimony that the $500 received
by Harry Cohen from the Specialty Clothing Company was in fact
a loan to him which he has repaid, and that the $500 was not given
to him or received by him with any improper or dishonest purpose.

In regard to the sum of $500 received by Harry Cohen from the
Dunmore Clothing Company, the testimony showed that this sum was
received by Harry Cohen on April 11, 1921. The check was not pro-
duced before the committee. At that time Harry Cohen was not an
employee of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, but was
in business for himself.

The facts brought out by the testimony in regard to the Dunmore
Clothing Company payment are as follows:

Shortly before Harry Cohen received the $500 from the Dunmore
Company a strike was in progress at the factory of the Dunmore Cloth-
ing Company. It was a sympathy strike called during the general lock-
out in aid of establishing union conditions in a knee pants factory
controlled by the owners of the Dunmore Clothing Company. It appears
that Harry Cohen was requested by some one, precisely who it was
not established, to give his assistance in settling the strike, and that
he interested himself in the matter and was instrumental in actually
settling the strike. Shortly after the workers ' went back to work at
the Dunmore Clothing Company, according to Mr. Cohen's testimony,
he met a member of the Dunmore firm on Broadway and asked him
to do him a favor and loan him $500. Such member of. the Dunmore
firm, according to Cohen, agreed to do so and later gave Cohen a check
for $500. Cohen testified that he needed the money in his business
and used it therein. There was no definite date fixed for the repay-
ment of the $500, but Cohen produced a paid check dated April 20,
1921, to the order of the Dunmore Clothing Company, which he claims
was part payment on the loan of $500. He further testified that at
the time he paid this check he gave a note to the Dunmore Clothing
Company for the balance of $250; that this note was not paid when
due and was renewed, and that the renewed note has not yet matured.
The member of the firm of Dunmoro Clothing Company who gave, the
$500 to Mr. Cohen did not appear before the committee to testify be-
cause, as the committee was informed, he is out of town and will
not return for some time to come.

The committee has gone very carefully into the circumstances relat-
ing to the receipt by Harry Cohen of the $500 from the Dunmore Cloth-
ing Company. It has heard the testimony of several workers from that

GENERAi EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 205

shop who told of what a member of the firm of Dunmore said to
tiitiin in regard to the circumstances under which the strike was settled,
iiud the committee has also examined Harry Cohen very closely since
they regarded the receipt of said sum by him following a strike at the
tactory which he helped to settle as a suspicious transaction. Although
the committee has given credence to the testimony of such workers in-
sofar as it goes, nevertheless after carefully considering all of the evi-
dence in connection with the receipt of the $500 the committee is of
the opinion that the evidence does not warrant a finding other than
that the $500 received by Harry Cohen from the Dunmore Clothing
Company was a loan to him which he has partly repaid.

There is, however, another aspect to the matter:

According to the undisputed record, at the time Harry Cohen re-
ceived the $500 loan from the Specialty Clothing Company he was still
the manager of the Children's Clothing Joint Board and also a mem-
ber of the Executive Board of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers ot
America.

The money was borrowed by him from a manufacturer with whom
the union had relations. Cohen had made the acquaintance of the manu-
facturer not in any social way, but by virtue of his dealings and con-
tact with him in the course of his employment by the union. At any
time a situation might arise between such firm and the union whicii
might require action on his part. As a member of the General Ex-
ecutive Board of the union, Cohen might at any time have been called
upon to pass judgment or take action with regard to such manufac-
turer from whom he borrowed the money. Under such circumstances
he would be more than human if he would be wholly uninfluenced by tiie
fact that he was under obligation to such firm. Cohen claims that he
was about to leave the employ of the union. The fact remains thai
he was in its employ when he got money and that he remained a mem-
ber of the General Executive Board for some time after leaving its
employ.

The act of any union official in borrowing money from a manufac-
turer with whom the union has relations is, in the opinion of the com-
mittee, unethical and to be condemned. It creates an atmosphere or
mistrust and suspicion in regard to the union's officials, and shakes the
confidence of the members of the union in their leaders. It serves to
engender rumors of corruption which are circulated among the workers,
among the manufacturers and among the general public, which under-
mine the very foundation of the labor movement.

If the constitutions or by-laws of unions do not already contain a
provision prohibiting their officials from borrowing money from manu-
facturers employing members of such respective unions in their fac-
tories, it seems to the committee that such express provision ought
to be enacted.

The committee is also of the opinion that the act of Cohen in ask-
ing $500, even in the form of a loan, from the Dunmore Clothing Com-
pany, after he had been instrumental in settling a strike there, was
improper.

True, he was not an officer of the union or connected with it at
the time, but such an act on the part of any individual is to be con-
demned. It creates the appearance of compensation or favor for the
services rendered in effecting a settlement of a strike. It lends color
to the suspicion that the intervention of the person in the settlement
is not disinterested, and that the settlement is brought about because
of ulterior motives. It creates the suspicion, as it did in this case,
of corruption, which ultimately must have a most injurious effect upon
the union involved, as well as upon the labor movement in general.

MORRIS ROTHENBERG,
B. C. VLADECK,

CHARLES W. ERVIN.
Dated, January 25, 1922.

206 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

Upon the publication of the above report the general officers
gave out the following declaration:

DECLARATION OF THE GENERAL OFFICERS

"When Harry Cohen announced his candidacy for the management
of the children's clothing department of the New York Joint Board
last September, he was told by the General Office that his name could
not be placed before the membership as a candidate unless lie cleared
himself of certain charges that there were against him. Harry Cohen
fought for a long time against an investigation of those charges.
Several times he was called to appear before an investigating com-
mittee but each time he failed to come. In order to confuse the minds
of the members against the real issue, that of the charges, a false
issue of a separate joint board for the children's clothing workers'
was created. That false issue was kept alive by blocking the ef-
forts of the General Office to organize a joint board for the children's
clothing workers. "When the efforts of the General Office to present
the truth to the members finally broke through the clouds of misin-
formation and confusion, Harry Cohen agreed to appear before a
committee consisting of Morris Bothenberg, B. C. Vladeck of the
'Forward,' and Charles W. Ervin of the New York 'Call.' The
General Office submitted the facts to that committee. The committee
held several sessions and handed down the following decision:

[Here the decision is quoted, and the statement continues:]

"The meaning of the above decision is clear. There can be no
misunderstanding of it on the part of any intelligent and clear-
thinking person. The decision explicitly condemns the action of
Harry Cohen in accepting financial favor at the hands of the employ-
ers of our members. This decision makes it impossible for Harry
Cohen to hold any office in the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America.

"The General Office will now proceed with the organization of a
legal joint board for the children's clothing workers, for which a
charter has already been granted by the General Executive Board."

It was amazing to see with what dexterity the enemies of the
organization interpreted the committee's verdict as a vindication of
Harry Cohen and a defeat for the Amalgamated. Unfortunately,
the committee omitted to say in writing what its findings say in a
voice of thunder, namely, that decency requires that Harrj^ Cohen
should immediately leave his place in the children's clothing locals.
The Amalgamated 's enemies took advantage of that omission to pro-
nounce the decision a blow at the organization and a triumph for
Harry Cohen. As a result, conferences called to resume the inter-
rupted work for the organization of a joint board were fruitless.

But our work of enlightening the misled membership never let
up, and proved effective. After strenuous efforts a legal joint board
of children's clothing workers was organized. That joint board is
now functioning as the legal central body of children's clothing
workers' locals.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 207

Iii the struggle with the forces of disruption the general officers
had the active support of a group of New York members who came
i'rom the shops to trivo assistance.

Brother Philip Wiener of Local 5 agreed to take the manage-
ment of Local 22 when the activities of the disrupters threatened
the integrity of that local organization and the danger was great.
Brother Wiener protected the local union from attack and attended
to the shop complaints brought by the members.

Brother Abraham Herschkowitz. of Local 5, was very helpful in
solving the difficulties in Local 19.

When the investigating committee's work was completed, G. E. B.
Member Hyman Blumberg of Baltimore was asked by the general of-
ficers to come to Xew York and take up the work of organizing the
new joint 'board. He devoted himself to that task, worked tirelessly,
and after many disappomments finally succeeded in bringing order
out of chaos. He has brought the affairs of the children's clothing
workers' branch fully under the organization's control. He skill-
fully adjusted a number of differences among the several local unions
and made it possible for the joint board to function. Brother
Blumberg 's work in this situation cannot be overestimated.

Brother Joseph Gold is now manager of the Children's Clothing
Workers' Joint Board. He has the benefit of Brother Blumberg 's
advice and assistance whenever required.

PROGRESS OF THE SHIRTMAKERS

We decided at the Boston Convention to launch an extensive
campaign to organize the shirtmakers in all parts of the country.
The time seemed ripe for organization. In October, 1919. after a
three months' strike, the shirtmakers of Greater Xew York had won
a quite remarkable victory, and individual settlements had been
made favorable to the workers with the majority of firms in the city.
This result stimulated workers elsewrhere, and a general spirit of
unionism seemed to be developing.

In accordance with the decision of the convention it was an-
nounced in Advance of June 11, 1920, that the shirtmakers' campaign
was on, with August Bellanca in charge of a large staff of organizers
stationed in the various shirt centers, both large and small, of the
eastern part of the country. In Xew York, Philadelphia, Troy and
a number of small centers, especially in Schuylkill County, Pa., most
encouraging results were attained immediately. In Troy the shirt
cutters' local, formerly affiliated with the United Garment Workers,
came into the Amalgamated on September 23, 1920. At Corona,
Long Island, a general strike lasting ten weeks, which was forced
by the manufacturers, ended in victory for the workers. The shirt
industry, however, like all other industries, soon began to feel the
bad effects of the industrial depression. There was no work. Busy
seasons were short, slack periods usually long, unemployment pre-
vailed everywhere. In such circumstances the progress made at first
could not be expected to continue. Outside of New York City few

208 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

gains can be reported during the past year and a half, although
organizers agree that the spirit is ripe for organization just as soon
as there is work in the shops. In New York City the Joint Board
of the Shirt and Boys' Waist Makers' Union has been constantly
fighting to hold the ground won in previous struggles and to make
further gains.

'The great achievement in New York City, however, has been
the establishment of the principle of collective \bar gaining in the
industry. Here really remarkable progress has been made.

After the general strike of 1919, a chaotic condition prevailed
in the market because, although union conditions had been established
by mutual consent, a great difference existed in wages in the union
shops. This resulted from the fact that at the end of the strike
there had been a general increase with no attempt to equalize pre-
viously existing inequalities between shops. The usual 'bidding of
contractor against contractor prevalent in an unorganized market
therefore continued under the union regime.

During the past two years great strides have been made toward
bringing order out of this chaos. A great deal has been done through
the impartial machinery to standardize rates, and although work has
been very slack during the entire time, wage regulations and adjust-
ments have been carried on in an orderly manner.

In January, 1921, the shirt manufacturers threatened a lockout
to enforce a reduction of wages. 'This move, however, was forestalled
by the union and at a conference on January 31 the manufacturers
formally made demands for a 15 per cent reduction for cutters, a
25 per cent reduction for operators, and a 20 per cent reduction for
pressers. Adjustments with individual houses were then made on
this basis. The following June, 1921, the shirt industry seemed to
be improving, and acting on this situation the union asked that a
part of the February reduction be given 'back to the workers. The
request was granted 'by the impartial chairman, and an increase of
10 per cent was accordingly given the operators, and one of 5 per
cent to the pressers. The cutters were not included because it was
admitted by 'both parties that they had already had practically all
of their decrease restored to them.

In January, 1922, the manufacturers asked that wages be reduced
to the standard set by the settlement of February, 1921, claiming
that conditions in the industry were so bad that wages must bn
reduced, and also claiming that out-of-town non-union competition
was making it impossible for them to secure orders. The impartial
chairman decided that conditions warranted the reduction, and it
went into effect February 1, 1922.

In 1919 settlements were made with individual houses; in 1920,
there was a sort of general veiibal agreement, and in January, 1922,
the first written agreement was signed between the United Shirt
Manufacturers ;md the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of Am-M-i^a.
The agreement provides that the principle of the union shop shall
prevail; that there shall be a two weeks' probationary period, after

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 209

which discharge shall be for cause only; that ten holidays with pay
shall be allowed; that the principle of equal distribution of work
shall prevail; that there shall be no strikes or lockouts, and that a
committee shall be appointed to establish standards in the cutting
room. The administration of the agreement is vested in a board
of arbitration, made up of an equal number of representatives from
each group, with an impartial chairman mutually agreed upon. M. Kol-
chin of the General Office assisted in negotiating the new agreement.
The shirtmakers' campaign is still on! Or^mizers P. Lo Bruto,
.Mrs. Cacici, and Fiorello should be particularly mentioned for their
activity in this connection. We confidently expect very soon to have
the shirtmakers as well organized as the clothing workers.

CANADIAN ORGANIZATION CONFERENCE

Industrial conditions are no respecters of geographical or political
lines. To them the industrial world is a unit. They rise for all
countries and fall for all. In the days of great industrial activity
Canada shared the advantage with the United States and other coun-
tries. The clothing workers in the northern country were alive to
the possibilities and secured for themselves rights and improvements
which they had been unable to secure before. On the eve of the
Boston Convention our members in Montreal, Toronto, and Hamilton
obtained substantial wage increases, as reported by the G. E. B. on
that occasion.

When the industrial depression came two years ago it hit Canada
as it did every other country. Under such conditions the workers
suffer doubly: through lack of employment, and through lowering
of labor conditions. Earnings are first reduced by insufficient work,
and then again by a reduction in wages, which employers are able
to force upon the workers under such conditions. Sometimes, also,
the lower wages, which press down earnings, are still further low-
ered by a lengthening of the working week. The misery of the
people is an opportunity for their greater exploitation and oppression.
Thus a period of industrial depression is a great menace to the people.
It forces back true civilization, the welfare of the people.

The clothing industry in Canada was affected by the adverse
industrial conditions as all other industries were. The Amalgamated
in that country coped with the new situation there as it did in the
United States/

On October 30 and 31, 1920. a conference was held at Toronto
of representatives of Amalgamated organizations in Canada. Del-
egates were present from the Montreal Joint Board, the Toronto
Joint Board, and Local 210 of Hamilton, Ontario. General President
Sidney Hillman and General Executive Board Member Lazarus Mar-
covitz also attended. The conference took up the matter of un-
employment in the Canadian clothing industry, and the need for
further organization work in Canada. The conference especially
took cognizance of the attempt of employers to move from the larger
centers to the country towns.

210 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

MONTREAL WEATHERS THE STORM

Montreal is the largest clothing market in Canad-a. The cloth-
ing workers' organization in that city was built up by a long series
of struggles, including bitterly fought lockouts. When the indus-
trial crisis came the workers were not as helpless as they had been
in similar circumstances in the past. Through their organization they
took up every struggle forced upon them. In some cases they won
completely, in others they succeeded in reducing to a minimum a
hardship which would otherwise have been inflicted upon them in
full.

The Society Brand shop locked out its cutters June 7, 1920. After
two weeks the differences were referred to arbitration and the cutters
returned to work.

Late in November, 1920, the employers took up with the union
the question of wages for the ensuing season. It will be recalled that
the workers in Montreal received an increase in May, 1920, while
the workers in the markets in the* United States did not receive a
similar increase at that time. While negotiations were pending with
the association, a number of firms attempted to take advantage of
the depressed industrial situation to force a breakdown in the stand-
ards which the Montreal workers had been able to build up for
themselves. The Montreal Joint Board was compelled to call a
number of shop strikes against these employers.

The Samuel Wener Co. sought to cut wages from $8 to $10
a week and planned to lay off many workers. A strike led the firm
to agree to maintain the old conditions and all returned to work.

The Robinson Clothing Co. closed its shop on October 29, 1920.
after the workers refused to agree to a reduction in wages and dis-
charge of .part of the force. The firm sent for Board Member Mar-
covitz on November 15 and promised to maintain the old conditions
and to work under market arrangements. Work was resumed on
the 17th.

Strikes were called on November 19, 1920, against the Miller
Clothing Co., Spector Clothing Co., and Gold Bros., because attempts
were made to cut wages and reduce the working force.

One of the worst cases was a lockout by the firm of H. Vine-
berg & Co. The firm demanded a reduction in women's wages rang-
ing from $3 to $3 a week> a cut in men's wages of from $5 to $15
a week, and the absolute power of discharge.

When the workers rejected its demands, the company locked
out its 200 employees. On December 8, 1920, the union declared a
strike against the lockout. A week later the strike was settled on
prevailing market conditions.

In the meantime negotiations had been carried to an amicable
conclusion with the association houses in the Montreal market. The
workers agreed to forego tho inorpase granted in May, 1920, but to
make no other changes in working conditions. The increase of May,

GENERAL EXECUTIVE CUARD REPORT 211

1920, had been put into et'i'eet, but shortly afterwards the entire
industry in Canada was affected by the industrial depression, and
the shops had been closed, in the main, during the ••uthv summer
and fall of that year.

A settlement having been reached with the association houses,
the same conditions were made the basis for re-ad justments with
Vineberg and other shops in the Montreal market which, though
having agreements with the union, were not members of the associa-
tion.

On April 14, 1921, the manufacturers demanded wage reductions,
absolute power of discharge, forty-eight hours a week, and piece
work, to go into effect upon the expiration of the agreement June 1,

1921. Negotiations for the renewal of the agreement were soon under-
taken. On July 14 a new agreement was reached with the following
as the chief features: same wages, preferential union shop, produc-
tion standards, and impartial machinery.

On August 11, 1921, the shop of the Robinson Co. was on strike
for one day. About seventy-five workers were involved. The firm
wanted to reduce wages and the working force. After the strike
the firm agreed to reinstate all workers and to make no wage re-
ductions. All returned to work the next day.

In September, 1921, the employers' association made a demand
upon the union for a reduction in wages. The joint 'board rejected
the demand. After a series of conferences it was agreed to leave
the matter to arbitration. The hearings were held Saturday and
Sunday, December 10 and 11, at the office of the chairman of the
board of arbitration, Dr. William M. Leiserson. The Amalgamated
representative on the 'board was Attorney Bercovitch, K. C. and a
member of the provincial Parliament; the employers' representative
was an engineer named Hunter.

On December 28 Dr. Leiserson handed down his decision as fol-
lows :

1. The request of the Manufacturers' Association for a wage
cut of 15 per cent for all male workers and 20 per cent for all women
workers is not justified by the facts presented to the board.

2. A reduction in labor costs of from 10 to 15 per cent is justi-
fied, however, and is necessary in order to get wrork for the shops.
Because of the necessity for reducing costs the request of the union
for restoring the $5 and $3 increases made last year is out of the
question.

3. In order to secure the reduction in labor costs without cut-
ting wages, the workers are to be given a period of four weeks
within which to increase their production an average of somewhere
between 10 and 15 per cent. While this increase in production
must naturally vary from section to section, and the board will be
guided by the total increase in the shop and in the market, neverthe-
less it expects the increase in production in the women's sections

212 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

named above to be closer to 15 per cent while the rest may be nearer
to 10 per cent.

4. If, at the end of the four weeks' period this increase in
production has not been given iby the workers, then a wage cut
averaging about 10 per cent will have to go into effect in order to
get the lower costs that are necessary.

5. This decision is to go into effect on January 3, 1922. Be-
ginning with that day the workers in all the shops must begin to
increase production. On January 30, the production records for the
four weeks in January will be tabulated for every shop, and they will
be compared with the production and cost during the preceding
season. If the January record shows an average increase in pro-
duction between 10 and 15 per cent, then no wage cut is to be made.
If production has not come up to this average then beginning with
the first pay roll week in February a wage cut of 10 per cent will
go into effect.

6. For the purpose of carrying out this decision a production
commission is hereby created to consist of representatives from the
association and the union. This commission must ascertain what the
production and the wage bill of each shop were last season so that
the unit cost per garment, whether coat, vest, or pants, may be estab-
lished. The commission will also get records of the production and
wage bills of the same shops during the four weeks in January, and
tabulate and compare them with the records of previous production
and costs. On or about February 1, 1922, the board of arbitration
will meet again to hear the reports from the production committee,
and to see that the decision is carried out in accordance with the
records of production.

The case for the union was presented by Dr. Leo Wolman, head
of the union's Research Department, II. K. Herwitz, also of the Re-
search Department, General Executive Board Member L. Marcovitz,
and committees from the joint board and the local unions of the city.

During the whole period of the hearings, large numbers oi; union
members were present, following with keen interest the telling argu-
ments made by the sposkesmen for the union. It was conclusively
shown that since the last wage arrangement was made in Montreal,
in December 1919, the cost of living in that city had not only not
gone down, 'but on the contrary, it had actually increased. There
was, therefore, no basis for any reduction in wages.

It was declared in no uncertain terms that ihe Amalgamated
had no intention of permitting wages ever to go down - to the low
levels which were known in the days before the industry was
unionized or prior to 1915. If the cost of production was high, it was
pointed out, it is the employer's business to seek a remedy in his
methods of management in the shop. It was not proper to make
the workers, through wage reductions, carry the whole burden of
reducing costs so that the employer could carry on competition.

Since production standards had been introduced, it was shown,
costs had gone down. If production standards had not been more

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 213

generally introduced, if there were some places which did not al-
ready have them, the blame was not on the union, but on the manu-
iacturers themselves.

On January 5, 1'JL'ii, the- linn uf H. Vineberg & Co. attempted to
introduce the open shop and forty-uine-hour week, and to reduce
wages. A strike was declared. That was one of the several strikes
against the forty-nine-hour week and other hardships. A settlement
was made the next day, which was violated -by the firm and a strike
was again declared on January 11, 1922.

The Leiscrson decision was predicated on an immediate resump-
tion of work at full capacity in the Montreal market. Dr. Leiser-
son had intended that the change in production standards would be
based on four full weeks of work in the shops. However, it soon
appeared that because of the slackness of work in the Montreal
market it would be impossible by February 1 to come to a fair con-
clusion as to the improvement in production contemplated and to
carry out the specific terms of the arbitration award. Negotiations
between the association of manufacturers and General Executive
Board Member Marcovitz and representatives of the Montreal Joint
Board were started to determine what should then be done in
view of the facts in the situation. Finally, on January 16, 1922, the
following was agreed upon: Instead of the 10 per cent wage cut
authorized under the Leiserson decision, if there were no correspond-
ing increase in production, it was agreed that there should be a
wage reduction averaging 7 per cent. The reduction was not horizon-
tally applied, but a slightly larger percentage of decrease was made
in the wages of the higher paid workers and a correspondingly lower
reduction made in the wages of the less highly paid workers.

A settlement having been reached with the association houses, a
similar settlement was made in the Vineberg case 011 January 16.
The workers stood firm on the question of a change in working
conditions, and the Vineberg firm withdrew its demand for the forty-
nine-hour week. The agreement with Vineberg provided for no
change from the forty-four-hour week of the Amalgamated.

At the time of this writing a strike is pending against the
Dominion Clothing Co. On March 18, 1922, the firm brought suit
against the union for an injunction and $10,000. damages. The firm
secured a temporary injunction. On March 31, 1922, the injunction
was modified by Superior Court Justice William A. Weir to permit
picketing. On April 21, 1922, the date when the case was set for
trial, the firm abandoned its suit. That was the first injunction
issued in Canada against our organization.

Among those who lent their efforts to the organization work in
Montreal and the nearby cities were President Hillman, General
Executive Board Members Marcovitz, Blumberg, Rosenblum, Levin,
and Rissman, General Organizers G. Artoni, Gustave Strebel, Isaac
Bainbridge, R. Bernstein, T. Boschi, T. Mathieu, and E. J. Audet.

214 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

TORONTO HOLDING FAST

The specter of unemployment made its appearance in Toronto
early in the present period. In May, 1920, several shops closed down,
some of them permanently.

in November, 1920, the employers made a demand for a large
wage reduction. The joint board refused to accept it.

In the meantime negotiations were proceeding with the Amalg-
amated representatives and the manufacturers in the Montreal market
as has ibeen related a'bove. There was no change in the situation
in Toronto pending the outcome of the negotiations in the other large
Canadian clothing centers. The workers in Toronto had received
a similar increase to that granted to the Montreal workers in May,
1920, namely $5 for the men workers and $3 for the women workers.
Few workers had received the benefic of this nominal increase because
of the stagnation resulting from the industrial depression in the
Toronto clothing industry during the summer and fall of 1920.

The question of wages was referred to arbitration. Dr. Shar-
man, the impartial chairman in the market, rendered a decision
reducing wages to the extent of the $5 and $3 wage increase granted
in May.

In the course of the past two years strikes were conducted
against firms which had attemped to break down the standards
established in the industry by the organized workers. The most
important strike was that against the Scotland Woolen Mills. About
that strike, which was won after a fight of one week, Business Agent
Tovey wrote to the General Office:

* ' This company has long <been established in the Toronto market.
During the last two years it took on a new lease of life and grew
immensely. The Amalgamated had organized the cutting room. The
pants department was in the hands of a contractor. A few of
the coat shop workers were also members of the organization. Yet,
although we had held several meetings with them, they were too
timid to take a stand for the union shop.

"Wages in the coat shop were below the trade scale. The firm,
knowing that things were slack around town, sought to cut the price
of making pants. The contractor tried to hand on the cut to the
hands, who of course sought the support of the union. Intervention
by the union was resented on the ground that the pants makers
were not emploj^ees of the firm.

"The union gentry but firmly indicated that it would protect
its members, and the firm decided to test the issue. It was quite
persuaded that the rest of the shop would let the pants makers fight
their own battle unaided. But the Amalgamated is not a craft or-

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 215

gauization, and when the issue was properly put up to the workers,
they came out 100 per cent, prepared to fight to the finish.

"It was a particularly gratifying sight to the local officers,
especially the staunch support of the cutters, as they had been ex-
ceptionally well treated by the designer who had charge of their
department, and strike action on their part looked to the firm like
ingratitude. But the traditions of the Amalgamated were gloriously
upheld and the cutters lined up with the rest of the organization.
This made success assured, as it always does.

"Coming at a particularly slack season of the year, this victory
is a glowing tribute to the growing power of our union in this
city."

In Octo'ber, 1921, the Toronto Clothing Manufacturers' Associa-
tion made a demand upon the union for a reduction in wages.

A series of conferences were held in which H. D. Rosenbloom,
Frank Rosenblum, Lazarus Marco vitz, and Hyman Blumberg par-
ticipated. An understanding was reached February, 1922, on the
same basis as Montreal.

General Executive Board Member Lazarus Marcovitz is looking
after organization matters in all Canadian markets. While his
headquarters are in Montreal he also gives attention to the other
cities. Brother H. D. Rosenbloom, manager of the Toronto Joint
Board, is in immediate charge of the situation in his city. He has
had the advice and assistance of Board Members Frank Rosenblum
and Hyman Blumberg, who also assisted in Montreal and other cities.
President Hillman and General Organizers Bainbridge and Strebel
have also given attention when necessary to conditions in Toronto.

THE CLOTHING WORKERS IN HAMILTON

Hamilton, the smallest of the three principal markets in the
Canadian clothing industry, sustained its share of fire during the
wage reduction and open shop onslaught made by the employing
class in the United States and Canada. In order to resist the various
attacks a number of individual strikes and one general strike were
necessary.

The wage reductions as demanded by the employers were opposed
and were made as small as conditions permitted.

Local 210 has now undertaken a campaign of organization.

LONDON A NEW RECRUIT

London, Ontario, Avas not in the Amalgamated ranks two years
a pro. -It was at the close of 11)20, when the present "Open Shop"
drive was in fuU swing, that the General Office received an applica-
tion from the clothing workers at London for a charter for a local
union. A charter was issued to Local 249. The young organization
soon found itself on the firing line. It was compelled by the Green,
Swift Co. to take up a fight against a wage cut and anti-union

216 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OP AMERICA

discrimination. The strike began January 28, 1921, and was ably
conducted by General Executive Board Member L. Marcovitz and
General Organizer I. Bainbridge.

Brother Mosher, president of the Canadian Brotherhood of Rail-
road Employees, though his organization had no immediate connec-
tion with our industry, set a fine example of labor solidarity by
coming to our aid in London.

On February 12, Grand President Mosher wrote to Miss L. Elson,
secretary of Amalgamated Local 249, at London, granting her re-
quest for assistance, as follows:

"Grand Division,

"Canadian Brotherhood of Railroad Employees
"A. R. Mosher, Grand President.
"M. M. Maclean, Grand Secretary and Treas-
urer.

"General Office P. 0. Box 395, Ottawa, Canada.
"Ottawa, February 12th, 1921.

"L. Elson, Secretary, Local 249,
"Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America.
"81 Askin Street, London, Ont.

"Dear Miss Elson:

"I am in receipt of a letter to-day from Brother Bainbridge,
asking me to communicate with our locals in London to have them
support your organization. I take it that he wishes me to reply
to you. I am enclosing, herewith, copy of letter that I am sending
to our locals in London, also copy of my letter to W. R. Wray. I
trust that these will be found entirely satisfactory. I am also writ-
ing you another letter which might come in handy for general pur-
poses. I am indeed glad to learn that the prospects are good for a
settlement of your dispute with * Green Swift' this week.

"With best wishes, I am,

Yours very truly,

"A. R. MOSHER,

t (

Grand President.'3

The letter referred to above, to the London locals of the rail-
road employees' brotherhood, urged them to rally to the support
of the A. C. W. local because it is an "organization which obtains
results for the workers."

"W. R. Wray is an overall manufacturer in London. Brother
Mosher urged him to use the Amalgamated label.

The last letter enclosed by Grand President Mosher to Secretary
Elson of the A. C. W. local was described by him as possibly coming

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 217

4 'in handy for general purposes." It contained the following state-
ment :

4 'Ottawa, February 12, 1921.

"Miss L. Elson,

"Secretary, Local 249,

"Amalgamated Clothing; Workers of America,

"81 Askin Street,

"London, Ont.

"Dear Miss Elson:

"This is to advise you that the Canadian Brotherhood of Rail-
road Employees is deeply sympathetic with the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America and believe that they have done a great work
for the workers in the clothing industry. I can assure you that our
local branches throughout the Dominion of Canada will support the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers' union label wherever possible, and
you are at liberty to make this known to employers at any time that
you care to do so.

"Your very truly,

"A. R. MOSHER,
"Grand President."

The strike lasted two weeks. It was settled with a complete
victory for the Amalgamated, with the exception of six cases of
reduced wages.

SHERBROOKE, QUEBEC

On January 3, 1922, Local 268, Sherbrooke, Quebec was chartered.
Immediately after the local was organized the Walter, Blue Co. 'began
to discharge the officers of the organization, but a stand was taken
and the rights of the members protected. The local is now making
steady progress. General Executive Board Member Marcovitz, Gen-
eral Organizers- Mathieu and Audet, and Business Agent Duquette
of Montreal have contributed to the success attained.

218 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

VOTES OF THE GENERAL MEMBERSHIP

The referendum vote is an established institution in our organiza-
tion. During the past two years the referendum was resorted to but
once. It was on the action of the Boston Convention, which included
constitutional amendments adopted by the convention, election of
General Officers and members of the General Executive Board and the
selection of the seat for the 1922 convention.

The matters for referendum vote were submitted to the member-
ship in the following manner :

New York, May 29, 1920.
To all Local Unions,
A. C. W. of A.
Greetings : —

The Fourth Biennial Convention A. C. W. of A., held at Boston,
May 10-15, 1920, has decided upon the following changes in our constitu-
tion, which are hereby submitted for ratification by the general mem-
bership through referendum vote.

1) Article VI, Sections 3 and 7 be changed so as to increase the
amount of the yearly salaries for the general president and the general
secretary-treasurer, from $4,000 for each to $7,500 for each.

3) Article VII be amended by the addition of sections 9, 10, 11,
copies of which amendments are given on the ballot.

The purpose of these amendments is to establish a safe system of
control for taxes and assessments by local organizations.
3) Article XV, section 2, now reads as follows:

"Sec. 2. The initiation fee charge for members shall be
optional with the local unions subject to the approval of the
General Executive Board."
The convention adopted the following resolution:

"Be it resolved that the Fourth Biennial Convention of the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America goes on record
against the actions of local unions for establishing high initia-
tion fees for new members. High initiation fees are a relic
of the old type conservative craft unions.

"Therefore be it resolved that no local union or joint board
shall charge for new members an initiation fee higher than
$9.90. And that the General Executive Board shall see to it
that this rule is enforced."
That resolution will make section 3 read as follows:

"The initiation fee for new members shall not exceed the
amount of $9.90."

If this is carried it will replace the present Section 2, Article XV,
as above quoted.

You are hereby requested to call a special meeting in accordance
with Section 4, Article IV, and vote on the several matters submitted.
The ballots, properly sealed and signed by the presiding officers and
recording secretary, shall be forwarded to the undersigned to reach
him not later than June 29, 1920.

Fraternally yours,
JOSEPH SCHLOSSBERG,
General Secretary-Treasurer.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 219

New York, May 29, 1920

To Joint Boards and Local Unions,
A. C. W. of A.

Greetings: —

In connection with the referendum vote now being taken on the
action of the Fourth Biennial Convention, I beg to inform you that
the convention decided that all referendum votes be supervised by
the joint boards.

The joint boards are accordingly asked to elect the proper commit-
tees and make such other arrangements as might be necessary for the
carrying out of the above resolution. The locals are asked to give
the joint boards full co-operation in this work.

Fraternally yours,

JOSEPH SCHLOSSBERG
General Secretary-Treasurer.

BALLOT
REFERENDUM VOTE

On limiting initiation fee

Shall section 2 of Article XV be changed to read as follows:

"The initiation fee for new members shall not exceed the
amount of $9.90."

FOR AGAINST

BALLOT

REFERENDUM VOTE
On amending Article VII, Finance, by adding the following sections:

Sec. 9. Whenever a joint board or local union decides to
levy an assessment or tax upon its membership, it shall im-
mediately notify the General Office of that fact, and give full
particulars in connection with such assessment or tax, the in-
formation to include the amount of the levy upon each member,
the method of collecting it, whether by payment in full at one
time or by installments.

Sec. 10. The General Office shall provide a uniform assess-
ment or tax stamp to be used by all local organizations for such
collections. No local organization shall collect an assessment
or tax, without issuing a stamp to serve as a receipt for the
payments made by the member. Locals shall purchase those
stamps to serve as a receipt for the payments made by the
member. Local shall purchase those stamps from the General
Office. The General Office shall fix a price for the sale of
such stamps, to be as near the cost of the stamps as possible.

Sec. 11. Each and every payment of such assessment or
tax shall be entered in the day book and recorded on the mem-
bers' ledger cards or ledger pages in the same 'manner as the
payment of dues in recorded, and the stamp as provided by
Sec. 10 be affixed and cancelled in the space provided therefor

220

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

in the members' dues books. No joint board or local union
shall print its own stamps for the above purpose.
Shall sections 9, 10 and 11 be added to Article VII.

FOR AGAINST

VOTE ON INCREASES IN SALARIES FOR THE GENERAL

PRESIDENT AND GENERAL SECRETARY-TREASURER
The Fourth Biennial Convention of the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America, held at Boston May 10-15, 1920, voted to increase
the salaries for the general president and the general secretary-treasurer
from $4,000 a year to $7,500. Accordingly, you are asked to vote on
the following change in the constitution:

Section 3, Art. VI, of our constitution reads as follows:

"The general president shall devote his entire time to the
services of the A. C. W. of A, and shall receive as compensa-
tion the sum of four thousand ($4,000) dollars per annum."
The convention decided to substitute the words "seven thousand five
hundred dollars ($7,500)" for the words "four thousand dollars ($4,000)"
Section 7, Art. VI, of our constitution reads as follows:

"The general secretary-treasurer shall devote his entire time
to the services of the A. C. W. of A. and shall receive as com-
pensation the sum of four thousand dollars ($4,000) per annum.
He shall give bonds to the amount of fifteen thousand dollars
($15,000), in some first class surety company, the cost of the
bond to be paid from the funds of the A. C. W. of A."
The convention decided to substitute the words "seven thousand
five hundred dollars ($7,500)" for the words "four thousand dollars
($4,000)"

BALLOT

NO. OF VOTES
FOR AGAINST

Amendment of Sections 3 and 7 of
Art. VI. as stated above

BALLOT

Vote on the place for the Fifth Biennial Convention May, 1922.

FOR AGAINST

Chicago

(Seal)

Chairman

Secretary

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT

221

The above is a part of the referendum vote for which a call was
issued May 29, 1920.

* • •

Vote should be returned to the undersigned not later than June
29, 1920.

JOSEPH SCHLOSSBERG
General Secretary-Treasurer.

BALLOT

REFERENDUM VOTE
ELECTION OF GENERAL OFFICERS

Nominations made by the Fourth Biennial Convention of the Amal-
gamated Clothing Workers of America, May 10-15, 1920, Boston, Mass.

FOR

AGAINST

For general president
Sidney Hillman, Local 39, Chicago

FOR

' AGAINST

For general secretary-treasurer
Joseph Schlossberg, Local 5, New York

ELECTION OF GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD

Vote for thirteen only

No. of votes

August Bellanca
Hyman Blumberg
Samuel Levin
Lazarus Marcovitz
Anzuino D. Marimpietri
Frank Rosenblum
Paul Arnone,
Frank Cancelliere
Harry Crystal
Morris Edelstein
J. P. Friedman
J. Gold
H. Heller
J. A. Logis
Harry Madanick
A. Miller
Peter Monat
A. I. Pearlman
Morris Riskowitz
?. Rissman
Benne Romano
Mamie Santora
Nathan Siegel
Stephan Skala
Thomas Uzarski

Local

63,

New York

"

36,

Baltimore

"

61,

Chicago

"

173,

Boston

"

39,

Chicago

"

61,

Chicago

"

63,

New York

M

176,

N'ew York

"

15,

Baltimore

••

145,

Philadelphia

'

4,

New York

'

5,

N'ew York

»

o,

N'ew York

1

218,

Baltimore

•

15,

Baltimore

»

8,

N'ew York

n

262,

N'ew York

••

14,

Rochester

••

248,

N'ew York

"

61,

Chicago

• > -

63,

N'ew York

''

170,

Baltimore

"

2,

New York

"

6,

Chicago

H

38,

Chicago

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

REPORT OF BOARD OF TELLERS
ON REFERENDUM VOTE

New York, July 1, 1920.
Mr. Joseph Schlossberg,

General Secretary-Treasurer, A. C. W. of A.
31 Union Square,
New York City, N. Y.

Dear Sir and Brother: —

We, the undersigned, elected by the Fourth Biennial Convention of
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, as a board of tellers
to canvass the votes cast in the international referendum on the actions
of the convention, beg to submit to you the following report:

We have examined 107 sets of ballots from 107 local unions. We
found all ballots in proper order with the exception of three. These
three came from Local 12, New York; Local 54, New York, and Local
278, Los Angeles, California.

On the ballot of Local 12 the original number of votes cast in the
election of the general president and the general secretary were erased
and other figures substituted. That voided the ballot and we omitted
it from the count. We included all the rest in the official count.

In the case of Local 54, the ballot containing the names of the
candidates for the general executive board was rendered void by the
crossing out of the original figures and the substitution of others. The
ballots pertaining to the other parts of the referendum vere duly
counted.

Local 278, Los Angeles, returned the ballot blank with a statement
that, because the candidates were unknown to them, they took no vote.
Local 278 is a newly chartered local union.

The aggregate number of members participating in the referendum
vote, as shown by the ballots from 107 local unions is 40,648.

The result of the referendum vote is as follows:

For general president, Sidney Hillman, 39,207 for and 1,441 against.

For general secretary treasurer, Joseph Schlossberg, 38,449 for and
1,657 against.

For members of the General Executive Board:

August Bellanca, 32,848, elected

F. Rosenblum, 29,613, elected

Samuel Levin, 27,525, elected

H. Blumberg, 26,875, elected

P. Monat. 26,764, elected

M. Siegel, 26,124, elected

A. D. Marimpietri, 24,360, elected.

A. Miller, 24,145, elected

L Marcovitz, 23,667, elected
S. Skala, 21,774, elected
M. Santora. 21,190, elected
T. Uzarski, 18,192, elected
S. Rissman, 17,240, elected
J. P. Friedman, 16,403.
P. Arnone, 16,120.
H. Heller, 14,723.

B. Romano, 13,769.
J'. Gold, 12,692.

H. Crystal, 12,267.
II. Madanick, 8,601.
A. I. Pearlman, 6,404.
Frank Cancelliere, 5,799.
J. A. Logis, 5,595.
M. Riskowitz, 5,311.
M. Edelstein, 5.231.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 223

The votes on the constitutional changes were as follows:

Amendment to Section 2 of Article XV was accepted by 16,642 votes
for to 8,555 votes against.

Amendment to Article VII was accepted by 21,023 votes for to 3,223
votes against.

The amendments to Sections 3 and 7 of Article VI were carried by
20,367 votes for to 4,046 votes against.

The selection of Chicago for the next convention in 1922 was rati-
fied by 14,880 votes for to 919 votes against.

We herewith certify to the election of the general officers and
General Executive Board members and the adoption of constitutional
amendments and the action on the seat of the next convention, as
given above.

Fraternally yours,

BOARD OF TELLERS,
PHILIP WIENER
J. CATALANOTTI
M. NITZBERG

H. BLUMENREICH, Chairman
JOSEPH SHEA, Secretary

SUMMARY OF REFERENDUM VOTE

General Officers Elected

For general president, Sidney Hillman, Local 39, Chicago.

For general secretary-treasurer, Joseph Schlossberg, Local 5, X. Y. C.

General Executive Board Members Elected

August, Bellanca, Local 63, New York.
Frank Rosenblum, Local 61, Chicago.
Samuel Levin, Local 61, Chicago.
Hyman Blumberg, Local 36, Baltimore.
Peter Monat, Local 262, New York.
Nathan Siegel, Local 2, New York.
A. D. Marimpietri, Local 39 Chicago.
Abraham Miller, Local 8, New York.
Lazarus Marcovitz, Local 172, Boston.
Stephan Skala, Local 6, Chicago.
Mamie Santora, Local 170, Baltimore.
Thomas Uzarski, Local 38, Chicago.
Sidney Rissman, Local 61, Chicago.

All constitutional amendments were carried. Chicago was rati-
fied as the seat for the next convention.

RESIGNATION OF THOMAS UZARSKI FROM MEMBERSHIP
IN THE GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD

At the meeting of the General Executive Board held at Mon-
treal, June 9, 1921, a letter, dated June 7, 1921, was received from
Thomas Uzarski of Chicago resigning as a member of the General
Executive Board. The resignation of Brother Uzarski was accepted
with regrets.

224 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

THE FIRST OF MAY

The Amalgamated membership celebrates International Labor
Day, the First of May, with increased enthusiasm each year. When
May Day draws near the General Office sends out a call to the mem-
bership to celebrate.

The May Day Call of 1921 was issued when our great lockout
struggle was on. The call was dated March 30, 1921, and read as
follows :

CALL FOR MAY DAY CELEBRATION

To the Joint Boards & Local Unions of the

Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America.
Greeting: —

We are now entering upon the fifth month of our great struggle
in the defense of our organization against the lockout conspiracy.
With the splendid progress already made we are at the threshold of
complete victory. The enemy is losing ground. Our ranks are firm
and steadily marching onward.

Within the short space of three months we have nearly completed
our Million Dollar Lockout Resistance Fund. When the call for the
great defense fund was issued, the enemy scoffed at us and ridiculed
our call as empty boastfulness. Now it is practically an accomplished
fact. We are near the $1,000,000 mark already, and if the amount,
when completed, is not enough to bring the struggle to the final
triumph, more money will be contributed by the members, as much
more as will be required.

The raising of such a vast defense fund, by workers whom the
employers had undertaken to STARVE .into submission to the sweat-
shop regime, is in itself an achievement of colossal magnitude. The
spirit behind it is unconquerable. Organized workers imbued with
such a spirit are invincible. No power on earth can defeat them.
When they are challenged to fight, they are capable of giving a good
account of themselves. The lockout conspirators in New York, Boston,
and Baltimore are now in a position to give competent testimony on
that score.

The conspirators thought that they would be able to strike us
down physically, and they hired an army of sluggers, but tens of thou-
sands of workers cannot be blackjacked, and the violence of the strong
arm "guards" failed of its purpose.

The conspirators then attempted to overwhelm us by endless law-
suits— the only suits they are now able to produce. At the time of
this writing there are pending in the courts of New York state suits
by the employers against our organization for damages aggregating
NEARLY TWO AND A HALF MILLION DOLLARS. But the more
desperate their efforts to destroy our organization, the more powerful
we grow, and the more our victory is assured.

The Amalgamated membership way well be proud of the fighting
powers of the locked out workers and the magnificent support given
them by the rest of the membership.

In the teeth of all conspiracies and conspirators; in the teeth of
all foes and traitors; in the teeth of hosts of hired spies and provo-
cateurs, and despite the great financial and moral strain, we are forg-
ing ahead, marching onward and holding high our victorious banner.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 225

And from the fighting front we are sending this message to the
Amalgamated members: —

The First of May is coming. We have celebrated this day every
year in the past, and shall also celebrate it this year.

Every year had its own reason for the May Day celebration. So
has this year its own reason. The American labor movement is now
under fire. Its enemies, who have long been looking for an oppor-
tunity to destroy it, think that they have finally found their oppor-
tunity in the long period of unemployment. Under the vicious cry of
"Open Shop," war has been declared upon the labor movement. The
beginning was made with the Amalgamated, but the campaign of lies,
calumny, slander, and criminal conspiracies is intended against all
labor organizations in America.

In these circumstances, the celebration of a labor holiday is an oc-
casion for reviewing the fighting forces, taking inventory of the gains
made, and renewing the pledge to continue the struggle to the victor-
ous end.

In the past we celebrated on the First of May the great improve-
ments in working and living conditions attained by our organization
for the membership and the upbuilding of the organization. We cele-
brated the successful forward march from the sweat-shop to civiliza-
tion. Today we shall celebrate the great progress made by us in
repulsing the onslaught upon our organization.

As in the past, we shall also on this occasion send greetings to
our fellow workers in all industries and in all countries. Our in-
terests are identical with theirs, and like them, we are looking for-
ward to a happy future, where the workers will be able to live their
useful lives in peace and joy.

Accordingly, all local unions and joint boards of the Amalgam-
ated Clothing Workers of America are called upon to make appropriate
arrangements for the celebration of the great working class holiday.
Meetings should be arranged with programs of education and enter-
tainment.

We shall meet the coming May Day in high spirit and in our best
fighting trim: After four months of struggle we are now stronger
and more confident than ever before. The employers under-
took to crush our organization and they failed signally. They went
to court to ask for our dissolution and were sadly disillusioned. They
libeled and slandered us with graft charges and promised the public
a government investigation into those charges. But they did not get
further than irresponsible slander and attempts at character assassina-
tion. The promised investigation, though courted by us, has not
materialized.

On the eve of May Day we call out to our members: "We salute
you, brave soldiers of a just Cause. Hold fast; we are winning!"

Long live the Amalgamated Clothing » Workers of America! Vic-
tory is ours. Let us celebrate and rejoice!

Fraternally yours

JOSEPH SCHLOSSBERG

General Secretary-Treaurer, A.C.W. of A.

The following May Day Call was issued March 13, 1922:

To the Joint Boards and Local Unions of the

Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America.

Greeting: —

Spring is here. Nature is awaking with new life, bringing greater
vigor to the spirit of the world's toilers. In this rejuvenated spirit
Labor will celebrate its great Spring Day, the First of May. The
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America will again, as in the past,
join the enlightened workers of the world in the annual celebration.

226 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

Our interest in May Day is not that of an individual industrial
group; not the interest of the daily routine; our interest in this Day
is that of an integral part of the great industrial army of the world.
The First of May is the one day in the year that is dedicated to the
proposition that the interests and purposes of the working classes of
all countries are identical and their common cause is to make the
world free. May Day's message of International brotherhood and
solidarity of the workers is the only hope of the suffering world today.

Since the inauguration of May Day as Labor's Day by the Inter-
national Congress at Paris, in 1889, the world has changed enormously
for good and for evil. In our own country the tyranny of labor-crush-
ing capitalism has become a national menace.

The federal legislature was frightened by the new and growing
Colossus, the Trust, which was crowding out Small Business, and en-
acted anti-trust laws. For a time "Down with the Trusts!" was a
great American slogan and the issue of political battle?. As Big
Capitalism tightened its grip upon the country it defeated all opposi-
tion. The cry of "Down with Trusts!" gave way to a fine distinction
between "good and bad trusts."

In time that, too, died out. The Trust, in its larger meaning of
Big Capital, now dominates the industrial and political life of the
nation and controls the press, the molder of "public opinion." The
crusade against the trusts has been replaced by that against the labor
movement. The call for the "Open Shop" has taken the place of
"Down with the Trusts!" Instead of ANTI-TRUST LEGISLATION we
now have ANTI-STRIKE LEGISLATION. Congress accepts a Lever
act against profiteering. By the authority of that act the mine work-
ers' strike is declared illegal and the miners are driven, under penalty
of imprisonment, back to work. The strike is broken and the workers
defeated. Then the court rules that the penalty clause of the Lever
act is invalid and the profiteers cannot be punished. The law has
sharp and poisonous teeth for Organized Labor, but is toothless for
those who rob the people. The New York state legislature enacts
a law limiting the extorting powers of the gas companies; the court
rules that an 80-cent rate and a $1 rate are "confiscatory" and the
people must pay more — and that at a time when labor is told that
it must be "deflated" because "prices are coming down." When labor
organizations attempt to resist the confiscation of their wages through
merciless reductions, there are injunctions, dissolution suits, arrests
and imprisonment to break their resistance.

Organized labor and those who are seeking its destruction now
stand face to face. None so blind as not to see it. In the war
against labor "Big Business" and Small Business" are one, and with
a common cause. Organized labor will fight the battles forced upon
it by its enemies and ultimately usher in the era of industrial freedom.

In our May Day Call a year ago we said:

"In the teeth of all conspiracies and conspirators; in the

teeth of all foes and traitors; in the teeth of hosts of hired

spies and provocateurs, and despite the great financial and

moral strain, we are forging ahead, marching onward and hold-
ing high our victorious banner."

At that time the lockout was on. Since then we have won the
great lockout struggle. But that was only the winning of A struggle;
THE struggle, in the great and broad sense, is always on.

This struggle, which will end only when the workers are freed
from the present wage status, is symbolized by May Day.

Under present conditions May Day has a greater meaning to us
today than ever before. It brings us a clearer realization of our great
historic mission, the achievement of the workers' emancipation.

You are, therefore, asked to make appropriate arrangements for
the celebration of the First of May by our membership. Let us have
a celebration befitting the occasion and our organization. Again lat

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT

227

the voice of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America ring with
the message of international golidarity to our brothers and sisters
in every land.

The May Day festival will be followed closely by our Fifth Biennial
Convention at Chicago. Both will be memorable events.

Long live the brotherhood of Labor! Forward with united efforts
for new achievements!

Fraternally yours,

JOSEPH SCHLOSSBERG, General Secretary-Treasurer,
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America.

May Day is deep in the consciousness of our membership and
celebrated with a religious fervor.

OUR ORGANIZATION

We have today 148 local unions and sixteen joint boards, in
thirty-six cities, fourteen states, and two provinces.

Since the last convention we have issued twenty charters and
withdrawn sixteen. Of the latter number six charters were cancelled
because the local unions merged with others.

AMALGAMATED MEMBERS BY NATIONALITY

Native born

Hebrews

Italians

Polish

Bohemians

Lithuanians

Slovaks

Russians

Germans

CHARTERS
1920 : June
July

Hungarians

Norwegians

French

Irish

Scotch

Greeks

Swedish

Danish

Canadians

Finnish

Serbians

Bulgarians

Spanish

Turkish

Rumanians

Austrians

Dutch

Australians

ISSUED TO LOCALS SINCE MAY 1, 1920
23— Local 232, Buffalo, N. Y.

21-

28—

August

6—

September

9—
23—

< I'-iober

16—

18—

1 Veember

10—

^

29-

1921 : January

4—

25—

February
August
October

2—

18-

1922: January

3

10—

19—

177, Allentown, Pa.
183, Boston, Mass.

275, Chicago, 111.
163, Red Bank, N. J.
258, Baltimore. Md.

196, Troy. N. Y.

276, Kansas City. Mo.
233, Toronto. Canada
198, Passaic N. J.
249, London, Canada
242, Baltimore, Md.

179. St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minn.
22, New York, N. Y.
126, Cleveland, Ohio
274. Montreal, Canada
273, Los Angeles, Calif.
268, Sherbrooke, Canada
103, New York, N. Y.

197. Troy, N. Y.

228

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

CHARTERS CANCELLED

December 29— Local 183 Boston, Mass.

" 225 Baltimore, Md.

10 New York, N. Y.

12 New York, N. Y.
164 New Philadelphia, Pa.
229 Joliette, Canada

1920

1921 : January 25—

September 7—

November 11 —

14—

1922 : January 31—

Merged with

Local 181
Merged with

Local 52
Reorganized
as Local 22
Reorganized
as Local 22
Out of
existence
Out of

existence
60 Philadelphia, Pa. Merged with

Locals 75 and 140
165 Brooklyn, N. Y. Merged with

7 7
7?
7 7
7 7
7 7
77
7 7

125 Cleveland, Ohio
163 Red Bank, N. J.
168 St. Paul Minn.
177 Allentown, Pa.
182 Boston, Mass.

184 Springfield, Mass.

185 Lawrence, Mass.
258 Baltimore, Md.

Local 11
Out of existence

7 7
7 7

7 1
7 )
7 7

5 7

7 7

LOCATION OF LOCALS

We have local organizations in the following states and provinces :

States in the United States
CALIFORNIA: Los Angeles

CONNECTICUT: New Haven, Norwich, Bridgeport, New London
ILLINOIS: Chicago, Streator
INDIANA : Indianapolis
KENTUCKY : Louisville
MARYLAND : Baltimore

MASSACHUSETTS : Boston, Lynn, Haverhill, Worcester
MINNESOTA: St. Paul, Minneapolis
MISSOURI: Kansas City, St. Louis
NEW JERSEY: Newark, Passaic, Woodbine, Vineland, Paterson,

Trenton
NEW YORK: New York City, Rochester, Buffalo, Troy, Syracuse,

Utica

OHIO : Cincinnati, Cleveland

PENNSYLVANIA: Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Scranton
AVISCONSIN : Milwaukee

Provinces in Canada

QUEBEC: Montreal Sherbrooke
ONTARIO: Toronto, Hamilton, London

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 229

OUR OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS

Periodicals
Published Weekly

Ad v a nee English

(Advance — French Department)
Fortschritt Yiddish

II Lavoro Italian

Prace Bohemian

Published Bi-Weekly

Industrial Democracy — Polish
Darbas — Lithuanian

Published Monthly
Rabochy Golos — Russian

General

Documentary History of Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America,
including reports of Nashville, New York, Rochester, Baltimore,
and Boston Conventions. Volumes 1, II, III.

Report of General Executive Board to Baltimore Convention,
May 1918.

Report of General Executive Board to Boston Convention, May 1920.

Education Department Pamphlets

The Rise of the Clothing Workers, by Joseph Schlossberg, 1921.

Problems of Labor Organization, by Joseph Schlossberg, 1921.

Recent Developments in Trade Unionism, by George Soule, 1921.

27 Questions and Answers on the Open Shop Movement, by Paul
Blanshard, 1921.

A Proposal for an Unemployment Fund in the Men's Clothing In-
dustry, by Leo Wolman,

Amalgamated Calendar, 1922.

230 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

AMALGAMATION OF NEEDLE TRADES
WORKERS

Modern economic life runs along lines of increasing consolida-
tion and concentration. Large units crowd out or absorb small ones,
and an interdependence is created among individual enterprises and
industries. Modern technique is giving tremendous advantage to
the large enterprise. It is making the smaller one increasingly more
difficult; in many cases impossible. There is, therefore, ever greater
scope in ownership and management of business institutions. The
greater power derived from the wider jurisdiction is wielded by the
owners of industry, as employers of labor, against the workers. To
the employers their greater power comes almost unconsciously be-
cause of the greater unity in ownership and control. There is 110
propaganda necessary to bring that about. The natural course of
concentration of control in industry unites the employers against
the Avorkers in the most effective manner. For that reason while
employers as a class all fight labor, Big Business is better equipped
for it and is doing it more efficiently than Small Business.

Labor Movement is another term for Labor Struggle, Class
Struggle. Labor Movement without struggle is an impossible con-
tradiction. It was the workers' struggle for rights and a better life
that gave birth to the Labor Movement, and since its coming into
being the Laibor Movement has been compelled to fight for its life
all the time. Enemies without number are seeking to destroy it,
and danger lurks in every direction.

For the same reason La'bor Movement is a synonym for La'bor
Unity. The movement is strong only to the extent that it unites
labor. In this era of industrialism, with the masters of industry con-
trolling every part of our lives, labor must be united along the entire
class line industrially, politically, and intellectually. In former days
that was a "wild dream" of idealists and theorists. Today it is a
vital necessity. If the labor movement continues along the old and
narrow lines it will be at its own peril. Labor cannot afford to be
organized along narrower lines than its adversary, Capitalism, if
it intends to live and do things.

It is in obedience to the dictates of this situation that there is
today a marked tendency in the labor movement to greater, broader,
and more inclusive unity; in the sense of responding to realities — a
more scientific alignment.

The imperative need of greater unity has always been clear to
the Amalgamated. But we have been una'ble to go beyond the limits
of the particular branch of our industry. In European countries
the workers employed in all branches of garment making- are united
in one bodv. In America cadi branch, and parl of a bram-li. is s«-par-

GENERAL EXECTTIVE HOARD REPORT 2?,1

ately organized. It is organization on lines of division. All we
could do was to establish a compact, closely knit, and efficiently
working organization in the men's clothing branch of the garment
making industry. Under the ethics of the American labor move-
ment, the affairs of any other branch of the garment industry must
not concern us, and it would be a violation of the sanctity of the
principle of autonomy for the workers in other garment making
branches to be interested in our affairs. Actually the sense of labor
solidarity among the workers in the garment trades has been above
that. The workers in one branch have, in times of stress, come to the
aid of tiie workers in another. Thus have we aided the Cloakmakers,
Capmakers, Fur Workers, and others. But that has been voluntary
assistance, which could be withheld if the organization were so in-
clined. There lias been no organic unity, no constitutional relation-
ship or obligation.

Time and again the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
went on record, at conventions and otherwise, in favor of one in-
clusive organization of all workers in the wearing apparel trades.
At our first convention we formed an amalgamation with the Jour-
neymen Tailors' Union. It was not of long duration. Because of pres-
sure from the A. F. of L., the Journeymen Tailors' Union withdrew
from that amalgamation. Despite that experience we have repeatedly
made known our desire and hope for the formation of one all-embrac-
ing clothing workers' organization. In our report to the Boston Con-
vention we stated that "the United Cloth Hat and Cap Makers of
North America have definitely put themselves on record in favor
of one organization for the workers in the needle trades." Also
that the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, at that time
in convention at Chicago, had before it a proposition from its Gen-
eral Executive Board for the formation of an alliance or a federa-
tion of the needle trades. We said: "That does not go as far as we
wish. Our ideal is one organization for all branches of men's and
women's wear in the same sense as the Amalgamated is one organ-
ization for the workers in all branches of men's clothing. We do
not, of course, presume to impose our views upon others. If the
proposition for a federation of needle trades organizations means a
step in the directin of our goal, it is encouraging, and to that extent
a victory for the principle of one international organization." The
Boston Convention unanimously adopted a resolution favoring one
organization for all branches of the needle trades and saying: "We
believe that the situation calls for such a compact organization* and
hope that it will materialize before long. We welcome every move
in that direction and direct the General Executive Board to co-operate
in the promotion of such movement."

There can be no mistake as to the position of the Amalgamated.

On July 3, 1920, we received the following communication dated
June 30. from the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union:

We beg leave to inform you that the convention of our interna-
tional union, held in Chicago, 111., last May, after discussing the advisi-
bility of bringing about an alliance of all the garment workers' unions

232 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OP AMERICA

of America, has charged ue with the important duty of taking th*
initiative in this matter. We address this communication to you as
the initial step in this direction.

The logic of events and the legitimate causes which have prompted
the formation of national departments in the mining, building, print-
ing, and other industries point with directness to the identical neces-
sity of forming a similar federation in our industry.- Needless to say,
a tailors' federation of half a million workers would be a powerful in-
strument for the workers' welfare, with a scope of unlimited useful-
ness. We are convinced that technical difficulties which may lie in
the path of the realization of this project can be easily overcome,
after full discussion, by sincere determination.

In adopting this recommendation, our convention lias made its
attitude unmistakably clear, that the industrial alliance be of an
industrial nature exclusively; that each affiliated union preserve its
autonomy as before, and that none of the component parts of this
alliance is to interfere in the internal affairs of the other, but they
are to stand together when circumstances require it.

We accordingly beg leave to invite your organization to partici-
pate, through delegates, in a conference to discuss and advance this
plan. We suggest that this conference be held during the latter part
of October. In order that the date and place may be made agreeable
to all, we kindly request you, when acknowledging this letter, to in-
dicate the week in October and the city for the meeting most con-
venient for your organization.

BENJAMIN SCHLESINGER,

President.

P. S. A similar letter has been forwarded to:

The International Journeymen Tailors' Union of America

The International Fur Workers' Union

The United Garment Workers of America

The United Cloth Hat, Cap Makers and Millinery Workers of
America.

We accepted the invitation and replied as follows:—

July 15, 1920.
Dear Brother Schlesinger:

Your letter of June 30 inviting the General Executive Board to
participate in a conference for the purpose of bringing about an al-
liance of all garment workers' unions of America was submitted to
the General Executive Board, at its session in this city, last week. It
was decided to accept your invitation and participate in the conference.
The date and place are left to the discretion of your organization.

Fraternally yours,

JOSEPH SCHLOSSBERG,
General Secretary-Treasurer.

The conference opened at Hotel McAlpin, New York, December
9, 1920, a day after the beginning o£ the New York lockout, and was
in session December 9, 10, and 11.

The organizations represented were : Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America, International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union,
International Journeymen Tailors' Union, United Cloth Hat and Cap
Makers and Millinery Workers of America, and International Fur
Workers' Union. The aggregate membership represented approxi-
mated 400,000.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 233

The Amalgamated was represented -by President Sidney Hillman,
General Executive Board Member August Bellanca, and Assistant
General Secretary-Treasurer Jacob S. Potofsky.

One of the first acts of the conference was to pledge the aid
of the organizations to the Amalgamated Clothing Workers in the
lockout struggle. The resolution of support read:

"We, the delegates representing the International Ladies' Gar-
ment Workers' Union, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of Am-
erica, the Journeymen Tailors' Union, International Fur Workers'
Union, United Cloth Hat and Cap Workers' Union, with a total mem-
bership of 400,000, assembled at the Hotel McAlpin for the purpose
of forming a Needle Trades Alliance,

''Recognize that the clothing manufacturers of New York and
Boston have declared war on the clothing workers of these cities
by 'breaking relations with the unions, summarily dismissing the im-
partial chairman and destroying the machinery for government in
industry, hoping thereby to bring about a return to the sweatshop
system ;

"Do hereby condemn the action of the manufacturers as a move
calculated to destroy the organization of the clothing workers and
to throw industry back to the old sweatshop system, from which
all the workers in the needle trades have suffered.

Tender our unqualified support to the clothing workers in the
fight that has been forced upon them."

At the first session the conference constituted iteslf, adopted
the above resolution, and elected a committee on resolutions.

At the second session two reports were brought in by the com-
mittee on resolutions : One for the formation of a federation, the
other for an amalgamation. President Hillman and Thomas Sweeney
of the Journeymen Tailors' Union advocated the second form. The
majority of the committee were for a federated form of organization.
In the official minutes President Hillman 's argument in support of
amalgamation is given as follows :

"Sidney Hillman, speaking for the report No. 2, for amalgama-
tion, said in substance, that to meet successfully the present attempt
of the organized employers to crush organized labor, we must put
the organization in a condition where it may yield the utmost power,
and that we are not justified in losing one ounce of power if we
can help it. Amalgamation is the only form of organization that
will bring about the desired efficiency and effectiveness."

The federation form was accepted and "Needle Trades Workers'
Alliance" was chosen as the name for the new body.

The following preamble was adopted:

"The international unions of the workers in the needle indus-
tries of America, having come together in conference in response to
the powerful sentiment existing among the workers of their organ-
isations for the formation of an alliance of all the unions in the
clothing trades, have formed a Needle Trades Workers' Alliance of
America.

234 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OP AMERICA

"'The interests of the workers of the needle trades industries
are to a great extent similar and identical. Ever since they have
been organized the unions in the needle industry have demonstrated
their kinship and solidarity toward each other in times of peace, as
well as in times of strike, in the full consciousness that the interests
of the workers in the needle trades are interdependent and closely
linked together. This sentiment of solidarity was the basic idea
that gave birth to the movement for an alliance of the workers in
the needle trades and swept aside all difficulties that lay in the path
of its realization.

"The formation of an alliance of all the garment unions of
America, for defensive and offensive purposes, was always the great
objective of the workers in these trades. Its timeliness, nevertheless,
was never more emphasized than at present, when strife and struggle
confront the needle industries and when the employers exhibit an
ever growing attitude of arrogance and disregard of the interests
of the workers. The Needle Trades Workers' Alliance of America,
representing 400,000 organized workers, will be a power for good
exerting a strong and beneficial influence on the garment making
industry in a practically unlimited sphere of usefulness and service.

"The first conference of the five international organizations in
the needle trades, namely, the International Ladies' Garment Work-
ers' Union, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, the
International Furriers' Union, the Journeymen Tailors' Union of
America, and the United Cloth Hat and Cap Makers, have, therefore,
adopted the following basic principles of organization:

"1. The Needle Trades Workers' Alliance of America is to be
a federation of unions of workers in the needle trades, and its ex-
ecutive agency shall consist of an executive council to be composed
of three members of each affiliated organization. From this ex-
ecutive council the alliance is to elect a president, a secretary,
and a treasurer.

"2. Each union affiliated witjh the Needle Trades Workers'
Alliance of America is to preserve its autonomy as before. None
of the component parts of the alliance are to interfere in the in-
ternal affairs of the others, and the powers of the executive coun-
cil are similarly limited.

"3. The alliance is to act in an advisory capacity for the
various affiliated international unions with regard r,o strikes, lock-
outs, organizing work and trade matters, and is to assist the af-
filiated organizations in times of struggles with their employers by
every means at its command."

A per capita of l/2 cent per month per member was decided on.

'The following were elected on the temporary executive council;
permanent members were to be elected later by the respective organ-
izations :
Amalgamated Clothing Workers: Sidney Hillman, Jacob S. Potof-

sky, August Bellanca.
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union: Benjamin Schlesin-

ger, Abraham Baroff, Samuel Lefkovits.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 235

United Cloth Hat and Cap Makers: Max Zaritzky, Max Zuckerman,

Max Kaplan.
International Fur Workers' Union: Morris Kaufman, A. Wenneis,

H. J. Algus.

Journeymen Tailors' Union: Thomas Sweeney, C. N. Bolander, K.
G. Eneborg.

Benjamin Schlesinger was elected president, Max Zuckermaii
secretary, and Thomas Sweeney treasurer.

The* conference made a tremendous furore. The capitalist press
in New York and other cities was alarmed and manifested great ner-
vousness. The New York "American" of December 10, 1920, carried
the following headlines:

THE NEEDLE TRADE UNIONS AMALGAMATE
ALLIANCE ORGANIZED HERE WILL CONTROL 400,000 WORK-
ERS - - ITS SCOPE IS NATION WIDE
"ONE BIG UNION" TO ABSORB A. P. OF L. IS HINTED

EMPLOYERS PLAN FIGHT TODA,Y

The New York "Times" of December 11, 1920, carried a two-
column article which began:

"The tentacles of the newly formed 'one big union' of needle
trades workers, comprising five organizations of aibout 400,000 work-
ers, began reaching out yesterday to all manufacturing centers for
every local union in the garment industry."

Comment in Advance, December 17, 1920, under the heading

"HOW THEY FEAR 'ONE BIG UNION'

"The formation of the Needle Trades Workers' Alliance has
thrown a deadly fear into the camp of the exploiters. Their press
has denounced the new body as a 'One Big Union,' which is 'un-Am-
erican,' 'unpatriotic,' and, above all, against the interests of capital-
ism, sg-fej

"The most instructive part of the vitriolic attack upon the Al-
liance is the rejection by the capitalist press of all assurance from
authoritative sources that, the new body is not a 'One Big Union' and
the insistence of that press that it is.

"In this case capitalism is exhibiting a healthy instinct. While
it is true that the Alliance is only of an advisory character, permitt-
ing the component organizations to retain their old autonomy and
sovereignty, there is danger of the needle trades workers ultimately
constituting themselves a 'One Big Union' for purposes of offense and
defense. After all, our masters are not much interested in the man-
ner in which we transact our business, whether we do it separately
or jointly; they are, however, vitally interested in whether we are
ACTING separately or jointly. They argue correctly that the same
causes which have brought the needle trades workers together into
an advisory alliance must inevitably lead them from advice to act-ion.

"What are those causes?

"There is, primarily, the economic factor — all of the people af-
fected being wage workers, which makes their class interests iden-
tical with those of all other workers in all other industries.

236 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

"There is, secondly, the industrial factor — all the workers being
engaged in branches of the same wearing apparel industry, which
makes a closer alignment imperative.

" There is, also, the sociological factor — the members of all of
the organizations involved belonging to the same nationalities and
speaking the same languages, which creates a favorable atmosphere
for the closest and most sympathetic sort of co-operation.

"There is, finally, the spiritual factor — all workers embraced
within the new Alliance holding, generally speaking-, the same ad-
vanced social, political, and economic views.

''Those feeing the causes which have brought the Alliance into
being for advisory purposes, who can vouch for it, the exploiters ask,
that the same causes will not soon transform it into a centralized
and compact fighting instrument?

"It is true that at present the exploiters see spooks called forth
by their own guilty conscience to disturb their peace. But the fear
of the exploiters is fully justified, as every intelligent economist may
assure them.

"We find gratification in the exploiters' recognition of the great
power, both actual and potential, of the organized needle trades
workers."

Our lockout struggle emphasized the potentialities of the new
body. The resolution of support for the Amalgamated in that
struggle made our enemies feel decidedly uneasy. Labor, in its or-
ganized might, shook its finger at its enemies and frightened them.
Unfortunately, it was nothing more than a shaking of the finger
and a gesture. The new Alliance proved to be a still-born child
The Alliance was "to assist the affiliated organizations in times of
struggles with their employers by every means at its command."
It was organized at the time of our lockout; the fight lasted a half
year; all open shop forces were arrayed against us; yet, the Al-
liance never met once during those stormy days, after its adjourn-
ment on December 11, 1920, and has never met again to this day.
The employers quickly realized that their fear was in vain and that
the majestic gesture need not <be taken seriously. The encourage-
ment that the failure of the Alliance brought to our enemies in-
creased our hardships and made our struggle more difficult. Though
the Amalgamated favored a closer form of organization, we accepted
the looser form as better than no organization, but even that did
not materialize. The opposition to amalgamation was based on the
assumption that the rank and file "are not ready" for it; it seems
that others, not of the rank and file, "are not ready" for it, or for
any form of needle trades workers' organization.

The failure of the Alliance was painful in itself; it was doubly
painful because of the fact that there was, and still is, the possibil-
ity of a real; live, and effective organization of needle trades workers.
Much as we regretted it, we could not help accepting the fact that
there was no Needle Trades Workers' Alliance. The G-eneral Ex-
ecutive Board, at its session in Montreal, June, 1921, took official
cognizance of that fact. That was so reported in the Advance.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 237

That caused the secretary of the Alliance to publish a statement
in the "Headgear Worker," official organ of the Cloth Hat and Cap
Makers of North America, a copy of which he sent us and it was
published in Advance of July 15, 1921. Herewith the statement :

STATEMENT BY SECRETARY OF NEEDLE TRADES
WORKERS' ALLIANCE

On July 1, the Advance, official organ of the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers, reporting about the meeting of the General Executive Board
of that organization, states that

"On Saturday evening, June 11, President Hillman brought up
the matter of the Needle Trades Workers' Alliance. It was pointed out
that the conference held last December refused to accept the proposi-
tion of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers and the Journeymen Tailors'
Union for an effective amalgamation. Instead, the conference decided
to form a loose federation. In conformity with the action of the Amal-
gamated Boston Convention, the Amalgamated accepted it as a step
in the proper direction. But unfortunately the Alliance failed to func-
tion. No meeting of the Alliance has been held since its formation, and
that in spite of the great struggle of the A. C. W., which was surely
a favorable opportunity for activity on the part of the Alliance. The
Amalgamated, it was declared, cannot help taking cognizance of the
fact that the Alliance is non-existent."

In connection with this report I wish to say that on March 11,
1921, I sent a letter with a copy of the minutes to all the organiza-
tions which participiated in the conference of the N'eedle Trades Work-
ers' Alliance of America held in New York, December 9-11, 1920. The
letter wound up as follows:

"Will you kindly submit the minutes and the decisions of the
conference to your organization so that it may take immediate action
with regard to its permanent affiliation with the Alliance and the election
of three permanent representatives to serve on the executive council.

"Hoping to hear from you concerning the action of your organiza-
tion at an early date, I am, etc."

On January 5, 1921, I called together the constitution committee
that was elected at the conference ot the Needle Trades Workers' Al-
liance to organize and prepare a draft of the constitution.

Up to the present day, I did not get a reply from any one of
the organizations comprising the Needle Trades Workers' Alliance as to
the decision of their organizations with regard to the establishment of
the Alliance; nor was I informed about the election of their permanent
representatives who are to serve on the Executive Council.

M. ZUCKERMAN, Secretary.
Needle Trades Workers' Alliance of America.

The secretary's statement honestly confirms the sad fact that
the Alliance has failed to function. The Amalgamated was the only
organization at that time engaged in an industrial struggle. It is
much to be regretted that the other organizations, not. thus engaged,
failed to reply to the secretary's communication.

It is difficult to say whether we are today farther from or nearer
a needle trades organization than we were two years ago. Our at-
titude has, however, remained unchanged: We favor a compact
general organization for the workers in those trades. If we can get
it straight and direct, good and well; if we must go through the
slow process of one step at a time, we shall not shrink from it, provided
such step is actually made.

AMALGAMATED CLOTHI.NTl WORKERS OF AMERICA

AMALGAMATED BANKS

Chicago is the first city to have an Amalgamated Bank: the Amal-
gamated State Bank. Permission for its organization was granted by
the state of Illinois, April 13, 1922. A building has already been
leased at 371 West Jackson Boulevard.

When the bank is ready to assume operations it will have a capi-
talization of $200,000 and a surplus of $100,000.

There are two other labor organizations having 'banks: The
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers at Cleveland, and the Interna-
tional Association of Machinists at Washington. Those are old or-
ganizations. It is unprecedented for a young organization like the
Amalgamated to undertake such a huge task.

There is a general impression that workers are fit only for the
performance of physical tasks, under the direction of superior men;
fit only to hew wood and draw water. The compensation for the
workers is accordingly. It is the classic theory that Nature created
certain individuals to be slaves and others to be masters. Many people
in the position of masters under our scheme of society find justifica-
tion in that philosophy, though by no stretch of imagination could a
rational person be led to the belief that Nature had intended THEM
for the position of rulers over other persons.

In the past the workers were excluded from practically every-
thing outside of drudgery. It was not very long ago that the workers
were not allowed to participate in political elections. There are still
many things for which the workers are considered unfit. One of them
is banking.

Some one said that banking is an exceedingly difficult business
if it is to finance bankrupt governments, but a very simple matter if
it is only to take care of the people's business.

Every worker is a saver. There is no need of preaching thrift
to the worker. He must be thrifty or he will be unable to make ends
meet even in times of prosperity. Secretary of Labor Davis, who is
a banker, said that what the workers need is not a "living" wage but
a "saving" wage. As a banker he is accustomed to a banker's ter-
minology. The secretary said that a "living wage" means nothing.
That is true. But a "saving wage" means just as little. A "saving
wage" is, however, more real in one sense: Whether the worker gets
a, "living" or a "dying" wage he usually "saves" something. The
lowest paid workers are, relatively speaking, the greatest savers. The
small earner is so much in fear of tomorrow, the sword of uncertainty
so constantly menaces him, that he will deny himself and his family
many of the essentials of life in order to put something by for a rainy
day. Cases are known of heads of families depositing money in savings
banks on earnings of $8 a week. Every worker is a saver, whether

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 239

he can afford it or not. lie must be. He will make his clothing give
longer service, limit his amusement, or eliminate it altogether, and will
save so that unemployment or sickness may not find him entirely
helpless as soon as it comes.

Forty thousand workers, such as our membership in Chicago is,
present an army whose aggregate savings constitute a huge sum. That
jrrcat amount of money is kept in banks. The bankers pay the de-
positors a small rate of interest, use the workers' money for loans to
business men or speculation, and make big profits.

Very often the workers' money is loaned to enemies of the
workers to fight organized labor. The bankers are a tremendous
power in the "open shop" drive. They often force employers into
fighting labor and hold employers back from settling peacefully a
dispute with their employees. They do so by the power of credit which
they are in a position to give or withhold from business men. The
bankers' power of credit is backed to a very great extent by the
workers' forced savings: very often on starvation wages.

Not only do individual workers save ; the organizations, too,
must save for a rainy and especially a stormy day. The total saving
power of such a large group of workers as ours is enormous. The
workers must themselves, in their organized capacity, control that
power and place their saving's beyond the reach of the enemies of labor
for labor-crushing purposes. If the Amalgamated Bank has at its
disposal several million dollars it will mean that that amount of money
will be permanently withdrawn from those who would use it to de-
feat labor if the money were kept in employers' banks.

In other banks the workers' money is not always safe. Despite
the stringent banking laws, workers do occasionally lose their savings,
which represent great self-denial.

The Amalgamated Bank is bound to be the safest place for the
workers' money because of the watchfulness of both its friends and its
enemies. The latter will be searching for every opportunity to attack
the bank. That will be another reason for our exercising the utmost
care in the banking transactions. By adhering strictly to the banking
laws, in the enforcement of which we do not expect to be favored, and
by banishing from our activities every possible element of speculation,
the fullest protection will be afforded the workers in their savings.

It is impossible to say now in what ways the organized financial
powers of our members can be used through the Amalgamated Bank
for the promotion of the workers' cause. Our guides in determining
that will be the laws of the state of Illinois and the security of the
institution.

Chicago has again taken the initiative and set the pace. It has
added new power to the organized clothing workers. Other workers
will follow the example of our Chicago membership.

240 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

AMALGAMATED TEMPLES

April 28, 29, and 30, 1922, the New York membership celebrated
the opening of the first Amalgamated Temple in the greater city. The
former Arion Hall, in Brooklyn, which was purchased by the Amalga-
mated Center a year ago, has been completely remade internally and
converted into a veritable labor palace.

The Amalgamated now has its own homes in New York, Phila-
delphia, and Chicago.

The immediate cause of the movement towards acquiring our own
homes was the urgent housing problem which made it increasingly
difficult and more costly to accommodate our many offices. That move-
ment began in the days of prosperity, three or four years ago. It
was then, also, that the Amalgamated Temple idea was born.

The Amalgamated Temple is to be a spiritual home for the
members.

In former years the great ambition of the enlightened workers in
the clothing industry was to build up a union. That task had so
many times been attempted without success that for a long time its
achievement seemed impossible. We have finally broken down the
greatest barrier, the workers' lack of confidence in themselves, and
made the clothing workers' organization a permanent factor in the
industry.

A labor organization, like an individual, does not live on bread
alone. This is even more true of the organization than of the indi-
vidual. The individual's aspiration to better earnings and shorter
working hours is his own concern and of no interest to the community.
The organization's aspiration for the same things becomes a matter
of social interest, an appeal to idealism and high purposes, and great
sacrifices are made for it. The individual's achieving his economic
improvement means nothing to anybody outside of himself and his
family; the organization's achieving the same thing is accepted as a
new standard of life, a great step forward on the road of progress.
It is the people's forward march in an organized manner. The forma-
tion of an organization creates a new force in life. When the imme-
diate aim is attained a new one flows from it or is consciously set up
for itself by the organization. An intelligent and aggressive labor
organization must be steadily moving from one achievement to an-
other.

Thus we reached the point of Amalgamated Temples.

The Amalgamated Temple is primarily a physical home for the
organization ; a place for the sheltering of its offices and records. But
it is in addition to that also a place where the members may find in-
tellectual and spiritual stimulus, which they cannot find in their in-
dividual homes or in other institutions. They are unable to find them
in the former for obvious reasons; in the latter, because they are not
the workers' institutions.

The Amalgamated Temple is to give the worker a greater interest
in life, awaken his higher self, and thereby give greater vitality to
the organization.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT

241

AMALGAMATED TEMPLE, BROOKLYN, N. Y.

242 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

The Amalgamated Temple may not fulfill its mission to a large
extent at the beginning, 'but its purpose is as stated. Its very exist-
ence, with that end in view, will ultimately develop it to a degree
where it will serve that purpose fully.

Another Amalgamated Temple will be erected in New York, in
due time, on a site owned by the Amalgamated Center. The building
of that Temple was delayed when the industrial depression came.

The opening of the Temple in Brooklyn was a truly joyous event
in the life of the New York organization and the membership is en-
titled to congratulations.

AMALGAMATED LIBRARIES

We cannot see a child grow. He seems to be the same today as
he was yesterday. But in the course of many yesterdays and todays
the infant passes through childhood and youth into maturity. It is
only 'by comparing the child of today with that of years back that
we can visualize his growth and development.

The remaking of society follows very much the same course.
Except for rare violent changes, everything seems to be the same
from day to day, yet, almost imperceptibly, matters of concern to
laJbor are drifting ever more under labor's control. That drift is as
yet very slight, but the tendency is unmistakable. The very exist-
ence of the labor movement is a challenge to what is ; primarily indus-
trial. Labor demands control over working conditions, and fights
for it. Not absolute control. Under an industrial system of em-
ployer and employee the best that a trade union can hope for is
to share in the determination and control of working conditions.
But ev*eii that is a revolution in master-and-man relations. It gives
labor a position of power in the industry. That demand for power
is made by conservative and radical labor organizations alike.

The question of labor education is loudly calling for attention.
Little has been done so far, but the problem is forcing itself to a
place on labor's order of business. It is impossible to suppress
the problem, and sooner or later it will be granted a place. Labor
education is nothing less than a protest against the present system
of education which excludes labor. When labor education will have
succeeded, as it must in the end, it will be an education given by
labor to itself, and one radically different from the education
dispensed now by those who control it today.

Our Chicago organization has branched out into a new kind of
labor education — the library. The joint board has opened a library
at its main headquarters, with a branch at a branch headquarters.
The library is still small as it needs must be because of physical
limitations. When the Amalgamated Temple is ready to house the
library, ample quarters will be provided.

What purpose does the library serve? Is there not an abundance
of public libraries in our large cities? Is not the Amalgamated
library a duplication of effort, and, therefore, a waste?

GENERAL KNKCl'TIVK BOARD REPORT 243

Xu; the Amalgamated library is an urgent necessity; it fills a
vast gap.

There are various reasons for a labor organization providing a
library for its membership; there is one that is compelling.

The public libraries serve those who feel the need of a library
and know enough to avail themselves of it. But what about the
-•real multitudes who do not enter a library? They are the great
mass of our working population. Some of them may be illiterate;
the bulk of them are not. The union's library reaches them.

The clientele of the Amalgamated library in Chicago is still small,
but growing. That small number includes persons who had never
been in a library before. What converted them? A natural human
instinct. The non-reading member was shown by a fellow worker
in the factory a book borrowed from the Amalgamated library.
The fact that it came from his organization's library, hence from HIS
library, aroused his interest. He was too timid to go to a public
library, but this library was his own. His money helped to make it
possible. He would avail himself of its services. The member who
had not patronized libraries before comes to the young lady, who
presides over the Amalgamated library, tells her of his new experience,
and asks her to select a book for him. The librarian, who is
enthusiastic about her little kingdom, accommodates the new convert,
He takes his treasure and shares his new joy with a number of
friends. In that way he becomes, unconsciously, a missionary.

There are a number of such redeemed souls. They can never be
reached by the public library; they can be reached by their own
labor organization alone.

And those new readers continue reading, for it affords them an
interest and a pleasure they had .previously been deprived of. One
may readily see how this union labor library serves to strengthen
the worker's attachment to his organization.

The Chicago Joint Board has been a pathfinder in several respects.
It is entitled to congratulations upon the inauguration of Amalga-
mated libraries.

The stock of books covers a wide range of subjects, from fiction
through biography and philosophy to science.

New books are bought in accordance with requests received from
the members.

On the surface a labor union library might appear an unimportant
incident. In. reality it is one of the quiet, perhaps invisible, forces,
which win the souls of the people and make over society. It puts
education at the service of the people.

The New York Joint Board is the second Amalgamated body
to open a library for its members. The library is located at the
Amalgamated Temple in Brooklyn.

It is to be hoped that other Amalgamated joint boards will
follow the splendid examples of Chicago and New York.

Labor libraries will be a great force in the promotion of labor
education.

244 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENTS AT THE GENERAL OFFICE

1. ORGANIZATION DEPARTMENT

This department takes care of the organization work in the
vicinity of New York. The work is under the direction of Brother
August Bellanca, who has the assistance of twelve organizers. The
work of this department is commonly called " out-of-town" work.
A complete review of the activities of this department is given else-
where in this report.

2. FINANCE DEPARTMENT

This department is entirely administrative in character. It takes
care of the stocks, bookkeeping, and similar matters.

3. AUDITING DEPARTMENT

This department audits the books of the various local organi-
zations as well as those of the General Office.

4. RECORD AND MAILING DEPARTMENT

This department takes care of the records of our entire member-
ship, and of the mailing of our publications.

5. RESEARCH DEPARMENT

A report on the work and activities of this department is given
later.

6. EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT

This department is in charge of editing our publications: Advance
(English and French), Fortschritt, II Lavoro, Prace, Industrial
Democracy, Darbas, and Rabochy Golos,

1. EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

A detailed account of the activities of this department is con-
tained in this report.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 245

AMALGAMATED EDUCATION ACTIVITIES

Educational Director J. B. Salutsky reports as follows
on the work of the Education Department of the General Office of the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and the activities of the
local organizations:

The Boston Convention of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers
of America unanimously carried the following resolution:

''Whereas, Education is the basis of permanent and responsible
organization among the workers; and

"Whereas, The c^stallization of the class consciousness of the
workers is only possible through the education of the workers; be it

''Resolved, That a special Educational Department be organ-
ized as a part of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America,
with an education director; and be it further

''Resolved, That the object of this Educational Department be
to create educational machinery in every industrial center; and be
it further

"Resolved, That the Educational Department of our organization
be confined not only to economic and industrial instruction, but that
it also includes art, science, and culture generally; and be it further

"Resolved, That the Educational Department establish relations
with national and international bureaus of education and libraries
and other institutions akin to its own purpose and interests."

The Boston resolution has had better fate than many another re-
solution of the kind. It has actually 'been carried out, and an Educa-
tion Department, living and active in many ways, is the result of that
resolution. During the two "seasons" following the Boston Con-
vention — and education has so far largely been a seasonal trade or
art — a great deal has been attempted and some definite steps for-
ward have been made along the lines of workers' education.

THE AMALGAMATED VIEWPOINT

The Amalgamated has made a distinct contribution to the problem
of workers' -education. It ibrought in a definite philosophy or view-
point, and it laid it at the basis of the Amalgamated education
activities. In the conception of the Amalgamated, education is not
a "thing in. itself," but an organic part of the life of the union.
Paraphrasing the famous doctrine of Kosewitz that "Peace is war
carried on by other means," one might say that to the Amalgamated
"Education is organization work carried on by other means." This
viewpoint was advanced by the General Executive Board of the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America when it stated, in the
General Executive Board report to the Rochester Convention:

246 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

"It is not enough... to merely organize the workers. Organ-'
ization in itself is no end and has no meaning. . . If we content oursel-
ves with that and make no effort at higher elevation we simply con-
firm the worker in the status of a biped beast of burden. . . Material
improvements are in the very nature of things of primary impor-
tance* But when the body of the worker is more rested and better
fed, his intellect should likewise be taken care of..."

Organization is education, and education is but a variety, per-
haps a higher caliber, of the great task of organization. Workers'
education, then, is not merely education for workers. It has a larger
and deeper meaning and serves a specific task, if it is to have any
meaning at all and to be of service. Workers' education is the edu-
cation workers get nowhere else.

Accepted in the scheme of union activities as an organic parr,
workers' education must pursue, on the whole, in one way or another,
the same general ends that the union is after. The least it can do
is to prove itself serviceable to the union in all its struggles, whether
for immediate aims or for what is commonly designated as the final
goal.

The union is out for power in industry, for a share in control
of human destinies in so far as the people in the particular industry
are concerned. And the education activities must inevitably start
at the heart of the industrial problems that engage the efforts of
the union.

The union attains power in and control of industry by organiza-
tion, and worker's' education must be a part, or a variety, of the
organization task of the union.

The union is not a political party, and workers' ?ducation must
not be partisan in any narrow sense, though it cannot in the nature
of things be impartial as the union itself is not. It must be fair
and accurate. But it is workers' education, an education that wrill
enable the workers to struggle, which will equip them, individually
and collectively, for a successful stand for what is theirs. This is
not at all a narrow program. In fact, it is all-embracing. It demands
the inclusion of the sciences and the arts, of the knowledge of technique
and industrial mechanics and management, in the plan of workers'
education.

This viewpoint had been reiterated time and again, and it has
permeated every education enterprise of the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America. The work of the Amalgamated Education
Department, nationally and locally, has been an attempt to work out
the solution of this problem.

WORKERS' EDUCATION HAS TAKEN ROOT

The national machinery for educational work was established
late in the fall of 1920, (but it met with great difficulties from the outset.
The lockout of 1920-21, which consumed all the energy of the organ-
ization during the last part of 1920 and the first part of 1921, severely
interfered with the plans of the Education Department. In fact,
with the beginning of the lockout, the director in charge of the de-

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 247

partment, as well as the New York staff, were all drafted into New
York relief and strike education service, and the "department" of
education, one must realize, still consists only of the director.

However, with the return to "normalcy," or to as much of
it as the gods of the industry will tolerate, the work began to pick
up. The latter part of 1921 and the first of 1922 may be considered
decidedly successful. The idea of education has been put across, and
a survey of the year s work, nationally and locally, justifies a rather
optimistic summary. There is no more doubt that educational activ-
ities, carefulh- planned and energetically promoted, have come to
stay in the Amalgamated. They would no more be given up than
the union itself. Here and there one may still consider education a
luxury, a far-fetched "theoretical*1 proposition, even as interfering
with the "regular" work of the organization. But those are the
exceptions that prove the rule. The idea has taken root in the move-
ment.

The above, however, is not to be mistaken for an expression of
complete satisfaction with what has been accomplished. Far from it.
It is merely to say that experimenting and experience have proved
that "the thing can be done," and can be done better. Otherwise,
the task is all ahead.

TYPES OF ACTIVITY

There can be no iron-clad uniform program of workers' educa-
tion for an organization, of the size and composition of the Amal-
gamated. The fact that thirty languages are spoken, and that so
many racial varieties of enviroment are manifest in the vast mem-
bership of the organization, let alone the undesirability of bureau-
cratic uniformity, would defeat any attempt at too close regulation
and routine rule. However, allowing for as much diversity in
procedure and content as actual conditions warranted, the following
types of activities have been promoted :

1. Education for the largest possible numbers of members by
means of lectures and recreation and inspirational enterprises.

2. Group education for smaller circles of promising members,
taking the form of clubs, study groups, and Active Workers' Schools.

3. "Combining education with business," that is introducing
study and discussion in local meetings and shops.

4. Assistance in the self -training of the active operating force
of the Amalgamated, such as discussion of current events, or more
systematic activities carried on by business agents, or shop-chairmen.

5. Training of new members.

6. Publishing and promoting the union's own literature — books,
pamphlets, leaflets, and other material.

7. Developing the taste for reading by means of establishing
reading rooms and libraries, and issuing catalogues.

248 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

HOW THE NATIONAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENT FUNCTIONS

Activities along all the lines indicated above are not necessarily
undertaken as a result of the initiative or under the supervision of the
Education Department in the General Office of the organization. In
a number of cases education work had been carried on successfully
much prior to the creation of the National Education Department.
Such for instance was the education work in Chicago, where the joint
board has been running for several years, with unfailing success, its
twice-a-month educational mass-meetings and concerts. To a lesser-
degree and with less success some other cities initiated one kind
of educational work or another.

The Amalgamated program of educational activities was adopted
at a number of conferences held at the General Office, under the
direction of the general officers and with the executive heads
of the different departments participating. A number of noted edu-
cators were invited to participate in the conferences to formulate
the immediate program. The result of those education conferences
was incorporated in the "Brief Outline of Activities," which the
department circulated in the locals of the Amalgamated and later
made public. All subsequent changes in the program, or new de-
partures in activity, were in time submitted to the General Executive
Board and carried out under the supervision of the general officers.
Thus, 'the Education Department retains the valuable and vitalizing
close connection with the life, the spirit, and reality of the organiza-
tion. The education doesn't "run away" from organization.

The Education Department in the General Office consists of the
national director, who gets such technical assistance as may be re-
quired. There is, further, one education director for New York
City, and one for Rochester, in both cases working under the joint
direction of the General Office and the respective city organizations.
For Boston the department enlisted the services, for two evenings
a week, of Professor Cheskiss, a local university teacher, and the
Baltimore organization has had the good luck of securing the system-
atic co-operation of a Johns Hopkins University professor, Dr. Broadus
Mitchel. In Chicago the organization has had 110 professional service
since the local educational director left the city, in 1920. The Edu-
cation Department has no fixed budget, the organization financing
it as the work progresses. The single cities do their work on the
basis of more or less definite budgetary appropriations. Chicago
allowed $12,000 for the mass lectures and concerts in 1921. Now
York city appropriated the same amount, $12,000, for the entire
program "in 1920-21. and the present year's activities ran within the
same limits. The organization in Rochester spent between $6,000
and $7,000 for the current year, which covers the cost of a small
local weekly "Bulletin."

It is a rather difficult task to promote from the General Office
educational activities in the smaller cities, though there the need
of education work is realized most keenly. With its present very
limited equipment the national Education I>.'p;n-tin<Mit is not in a

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 249

position to be. of more than incidental assistance to the organizations
in the smaller centers. But those organizations are unable to take
proper care of themselves. The logical solution of this problem, to
satisfy the need for systematic workers' education, is to engage
traveling instructors and organizers, who will be free to stay in a
given center just as long as local conditions require. Until such
time, the scope of the possible achievement is limited by the impos-
sibility of doing more.

EDUCATIONAL SIDELINES

There are many ways, however, in which the smaller cities avail
themselves of the services of the Education Department in the Gen-
oral Office. A few may be quoted as illustrations:

1. Speakers' Service. Frequenth- requests come for speakers
needed for different occasions. In such cases speakers are supplied
and quite often speakers' tours are organized for a number of cities,
thus distributing over a number of organizations the burden of the
costs of touring speakers. Speaking tours were organized with such
noted men as William Z. Foster, Arturo Giovannitti, Scott Nearing,
Glenn E. Plumb, and a few others. William Z. Foster toured the
Amalgamated centers for over a month, covering practically every
center.

2. Services to Speakers and Organizers. One organizer wishes
to know the story of the First of May as labor's holiday. Another
needs material for a speech on the industrial situation. A third
likes to have briefly stated the "Achievements of the Amalgamated,'"
And another is worried over the relations of the Amalgamated to
the international labor movement. Again, in one city the boys and
girls are running a dramatic society and they need advice and
selected one-act plays. Elsewhere a fellow thinks he was born to
be a writer rather than a tailor, so won't the Education Department
please tell him whether it is so. Surely the department will not
refuse to supply a debating group with the right kind of material
on the "Open and Closed Shop," or on "Industrial Unionism and
Craft Unionism." The Education Department has set out to develop
a system of filing information on problems of the movement, parties,
organizations, and related topics.

3. Weekly News Letter. Twice attempts have been made to bring
out regularly a Weekly News Letter that would in succint form
give the busy organizer a bird's-eye view of events in the industry,
in the labor movement, in the country, and in the world. The first
attempt lasted over a month, and the second had to be given up
after two months, because of pressure of other work. The idea,
however, has not been abandoned, as it met with approval.

4. Leaflet Service. A few organizations asked the Education
Department to prepare for them leaflets on important questions.
This work can be standardized. It is valuable work. It will be
well to give this matter a great deal of attention. Perhaps the New
York experiment may profitably be told. There the innovation was
made to combine the ordinary handbill announcing lectures, concerts,

250 AMALGAMATED CLOTIIIXC WORKERS OF AMERK 'A

and similar events, with definite workers' education. Nearly all the
handbills were printed as folders, four or eight pages, containing
on the inside the story of the coming lecture or a story that would
help to convey the idea of interest to the organization at the moment.
Clear type, attractive display, and 'brevity, were used as well as
simple language and dignified tone. These educational handbills
were a decided success.

5. Union "Movies." With one exception these are not really
movies. Only the Boston Convention of the Amalgamated was filmed.
Otherwise the Education Department has produced stereopticon
views. The first attempt was made with the pictures General Secre-
tary-Treasurer Schlossberg brought with him from Italy, portraying
scenes in the occupation of the metal factories by the Italian workers.
Those slides were thrown on the screen while Brother Schlossberg
told of his Italian observations. The people liked them. The Educa-
tion Department has produced another 100 slides illustrating the
disarmament question, the unemployment problem, some points of
the Amalgamated history. The slides were shown a nunrber of times
at meetings in New York, Rochester, Boston, Baltimore. This is a
promising enterprise. Of course, a greater variety of topics will have
to toe covered before the illustrated lecture will occupy an equal
position with other features of Amalgamated education.

PUBLISHING THE UNION'S OWN LITERATURE

It will be gathered from the aibove that the Education Depart-
ment serves largely in an advisory capacity. This is quite natural.
It can not, and should not, dictate to the local organizations what
to do along lines of workers' education. It may advise, suggest cer-
tain forms of activity, but not prescribe. The demand must come
from the bottom, though it may be stimulated by means of publicity
and propaganda at the disposal of the General Office. However,
there is one field where the Education Department is free to take
the initiative and has every opportunity to develop an interesting
and fruitful activity. Even within the limited and timid attempts
it made during the last year the department met with encouraging
success. This is its publishing activity.

'The purposefulness of this kind of work need not be argued at
length. No one is more competent than the union to know what it
wants its people to read, and consequently to prepare the right kind
of reading matter for the union membership. With a constituency
of over 150,000 members, and probably double their number of depen-
dents, the union has a "market" that no private publishing concern
can command. It is no idle dream to speak of the union being able
actually to develop its own literature and, incidentally, bring it out
at such low cost as to make the book accessible to lowest earner.
Any book that retails at $2 can be brought out by the union for
75 cents, and if some details of appearance be dropped, at 50 cents
or less. The Education Department has not so far ventured on this
ambitious road, and the organization would have to develop the
needed machinery of production and distribution of books, but there

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 251

is nothing impossible in it. So far we have published the following
items of union literature:

1. The Rise of the Clothing Workers, by Joseph

Schlossberg, 32 pages, price 10 cents 4,000 copies

'2. Problems of Labor Organization, by Joseph Schloss-

berg, 32 pages, price 10 cents 4,000

3. Recent Developments in Trade Unionism, by George

Soule, 32 pages, price 10 cents 4,000

4. 27 Questions and Answers on the Open Shop Move-

ment, by Paul Blanshard, 24 pages, price 5 cents 8,000
o. A Proposal for an Unemployment Fund hi the Men's
Clothing Industry, by Leo Wolman, 32 pages,
price 10 cents 3.000

Some of these pamphlets are almost sold out, and others largely
so. The office has had no financial loss on their publication. They
have all aroused great interest. Thus, for instance, the Wolman
pamphlet is the cause of a constant stream of letters coming into
the office with regard to his proposal. Schlossberg's pamphlets are
in continuous demand from universities, publicists, and others.

Another of the €lepartmeiit ?s publications which met with a very
encouraging reception was the Amalgamated Calendar for 1922. The
expressions of approval that came from diverse sources were mar-
velous indeed. To quote detached sentences from a few of them
will suffice :

W. F. McCaleb, Vice-President and Manager of the Brotherhood
of Locomotive Engineers' Co-operative National Bank, writes in
part :

"I want to congratulate you on its excellence and on the terrific
lessons it carries. It is a marvelous story you report covering your
development from 1913 to the present time. In my opinion the facts
you chronicle, coupled with the illustrations, are of an extraordinarily
telling nature, well calculated to get the attention of the observer,
arouse his interest, and serve as propaganda."

Theodore Debs, writing for Gene, has this to say: ''Received. . .
the very beautiful and finely illustrated calendar, gotten out by the
Amalgamated, with thanks and appreciation. Gene wishes me to
say for him that he is delighted with your calendar, which will have
a conspicuous place in his home, and that he feels greatly honored in
your giving him first page space, an honor which he feels should have
gone to some who have given far more to the movement than he has
been able to give. Gene wishes me to say that he is deeply grate-
ful to you and to your organization and he sends to you. and through
you to all the members of your organization, his loving greetings and
wishes you all success in the splendid work you are doing in bring-
ing about a better and stronger organization of the workers."

The New York "Evening Post" devoted considerable space to
a review of what it termed as the calendar's esthetic features. It
said in part :

252 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

"Each page gives the calendar for the coming mouth and a brief
record of the events great in the history of the workers which have
happened in that month, a quotation from some famous writer on labor
matters, a poem, or a picture of some well-known painting or a sculpture
— the cold facts on the one side, the embodiment of an ideal on the
other, presented with dignity and with the esthetic sense that the de-
partment is trying to instill in the workers

"There is Walt Whitman, there is Edwin Markham, Ibsen, Tolstoy,
and Robert Blatchford, Rosa Luxemburg and Eugene V. Debs. There
are illustrations by Walter Crane, 'Art for all the people, the new
social order, with Walter Crane's best wishes'— there are photographs of
the Reds in Moscow, there is the great, thought impelling bulk of 'Le
Penseur' of Rodin, there is the Bible asking, out of Ecclesiastes:

"'What peace is there between the hyena and the devil; and what
peace between the rich and the poor?' "

"The Amalgamated Clothing Workers are beginning to enlist in-
telligence, art, and the weight of education on their side."

The latest, and so far the largest enterprise, in the field of pub-
lishing the union's own literature is the Amalgamated illustrated Al-
manac for 1923, which is in the printer's hands and will most likely
appear before the opening of the convention at Chicago. A book that
no private publisher would offer, at retail, for less than $2 is here
offered at the nominal price of 50 cents. That is aside from what the
book itself is worth and what the producing of it may mean in the
work of the union.

THREE CITIES LEADING IN AMALGAMATED WORKERS'

EDUCATION

Amalgamated organizations in three cities made definite head-
way in the educational enterprise. These three cities are the largest
centers of the men's clothing industry and the Amalgamated organ-
izations there are the strongholds of the union. The leaders in
Amalgamated workers' education are Chicago, Rochester, and New
York. Each of these cities made a definite and distinct contribution
to the problem of workers' education. Chicago succeeded in com-
bining education with recreational features on a very large scale.
Rochester met most successfully the problem of mass education.
New York not only " broke the ice" in classroom study but also dev-
eloped some very valuable methods and new approaches in the field
of group education.

CHICAGO LEADS IN MASS EDUCATION

Chicago started its educational effort earlier than the other cities,
and throughout 1920-21 and 1921-22 it continued its scheme of mass
education. That scheme consisted of a series of ten mass lectures
and rich concerts given during the season on alternate Fridays in the
spacious Ashland Auditorium (Carmen's Hall), which takes in nearly
5,000 people and is almost always packed to capacity. These Friday
evenings, started in November and continued till March, have become
red letter evenings in the life of our Chicago membership. The Chi-
cago Joint Board spared no effort to make the enterprise attractive
ami entertaining. Tin- corn-n-l part of tlie f veilings offers music by

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 253

the members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the per-
manent and fine leadership of Mr. Alexander Zukovsky, and recitals
by prominent singers, pianists, and violinists. The musical part is seri-
ously taken by the organization, and the costs of those concerts con-
stitute a large part of the growing budget of the undertaking. In
19:20 the Chicago Joint Board appropriated for the Friday evening
concerts and lectures the sum of $5,000, and in 1921 the amount was
raised to $12,000.

Wliile the concert element in these Friday evenings is given ut-
most consideration, the lecture end is by no means neglected. The
names of the speakers during the last season speak for themselves.
The ten Friday night lectures of this season were covered in the fol-
lowing manner:

1. Lincoln Steffens : "The Effect Revolutions Have on Civil-
ization."

2. Sidney Hillman : "What I Saw on My Trip to Europe."

3. Bertram G. Nelson: Dramatic recitation from Victor Hugo's
"Les Miserables."

4. Arturo Giovannitti : "Dante 600 Years Ago and Today."

5. Leo Wolman: "President Harding ?s Unemployment Con-
ference. ? '

6. Robert M. Buck: "Labor at the Crossroads."

7. Horace M. Kallen: "Labor and the Washington Disarma-
ment Conference."

8. Frederic C. Howe : "The Money Malady and the Labor Move-
ment."

9. Samuel Levin: "Anxious for Peace, Ready for War."

10. Joseph Schlossberg and Sidney Hillman : "A Memorable
Anniversary: The Paris Commune," and "The Industrial Situation
and the Outlook."

The ten Friday evening concerts and lectures do not cover all
the Chicago educational activities. Every other Friday, between the
huge concert lectures in the Ashland Auditorium, similar concert lec-
tures, though on a somewhat smaller scale, were given on the south-
west and on the northwest side. The musical part in all of these affairs
constituted at least a good half of the program, whether in time con-
sumed, money spent, or value received. And whether or not Tolstoy
is right in general when he asserts that "Music is a reactionary
force to dull the minds of the people," the theory seems to be
doubtful with regard to the Chicago Amalgamated. The meetings
were overflowing with truly proletarian enthusiasm and solidarity.
Nothing could do more to strengthen the attachment of the members
to the organization and to warm them up to it great aims.

Class Room Studies Not Developed in Chicago

Organization of class room studies for members who wanted them
was undertaken by the Chicago organization in the spring of 1921,
but no means for their promotion was provided, and they were given
up. The Chicago organization has had no special person in charge

254 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

of educational activities during the last two years. The splendid
Friday night programs were looked after by the regular staff.

Chicago Union Library a Decided Success

Quietly and unheralded the Chicago Joint Board has branched
out into a new and very promising kind of workers' education — the
establishment of a library for union members. The Education Depart-
ment supplied a selection of 1,000 books, "appetizers" as the selec-
tion was called by some one, in all fields of thought. These books
were the foundation of the library. Its real value grew out of a happy
combination of the spirit of the roughness and efficiency with which
Samuel Levin, the manager, and A. N. Fisher, former president of the
joint board, surrounded the library, and the fine touches of under-
standing and humaneness which the librarian, Beatrice Small, added.

The Chicago case is only one of a number. The Education
Department is now completing a selection of aibout 2,000 volumes
for the New York Joint Board library, which is being established
in the Amalgamated Temple in Brooklyn. The Rochester organ-
ization, which has perhaps the best headquarters accommodations, is
also considering the installation of a union library.

ROCHESTER SECONDS CHICAGO IN MASS EDUCATION

After a brief period of experimenting in educational activities
during the winter and spring of 1920, with Miss Mary Gawthorpe as
educational adviser, the Rochester Joint Board entered the field of
workers' education determined to make the thing go. Acting along the
lines of the program worked out in the General Office and laid before
the local organization by the national education director, and with
Paul Blanshard as its director, the Rochester organization proceeded
vigorously toward definite achievement. The activities in Rochester
covered a much wider range than in Chicago, the mass education being
particularly successful. Blanshard reported on this point for the year
1920-1921 as follows:

"We have held every Friday night a great educational meeting in
our large auditorium with some of the best speakers of our country
as attractions. Not more than three times during the year have we
had an audience that failed to fill the auditorium. On some occasions
we have had 2,000 people inside the auditorium and several hundred
outside. Few unions in the country have maintained such an educa-
tional meeting EVERY week and sustained the interest. The variety
of the speakers and subjects for discussion has been the cause of the
Friday night successes. Here is a partial list of speakers and subjects
that interested Amalgamated memlbers last year":

W. Z. Foster: "The Steel Strike."

Joseph Sehlossberg: "Labor in Europe," "The Spy System."
, >l Resolved. That tin* Christian Chmvh is IVm-fir'ml to

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT i>5F,

Labor," Professor J. W. Nixon, vs. Dr. Algernon Crapsey.

A. I. Shiplacoff and G. Bertelli: "The New York Lockout."
Bishop Paul Jones: "The New Leadership."
John Randolph: "The Truth about Federal Prisons."
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn: ll Women and Labor."
Superintendent of Schools Herbert Weet : "What an American
School Means to Me.'7

Clinton Howard: "The Masses, the Classes and the Asses."
Charles O. Zenkert: "The Catholic Church and Labor."
Rabbi Horace J. Wolf: "Henry Ford and the Jews."
Debate, "Resolved, That the I. W. W. Is Reactionary in Its Pol-
itical Philosophy," Charles O'Brien vs. John Randolph.
Michael Ryan: "The Truth about Ireland."
Debate, "Resolved, That Americans Should Follow in the Path
of Russia and Adopt Communism " Dennis Batt vs. Professor Dex-
ter Perkins.

Debate, "Resolved, That the Working Class of America Should
Support the Socialist Party," State Senator Edmund Seidel vs. Charles
O'Brien.

Music and Entertainment in Rochester Education

The entertainment end has not been neglected in the Rochester
enterprise. Blanshard reports :

"Mere variety in lectures, however, does not make an interesting
program for the tired worker. There must be music and entertain-
ment. We have an excellent orchestra of six pieces which plays every
Friday night from 7.30 to 8.15. And then after the lectures there
is always dancing in the smaller hall at the rear of our meeting hall.
Do the people come for dancing alone? No. We have seen to it that
no one is admitted to the dance floor unless he gets a ticket for danc-
ing at the entrance to the main auditorium before 8.30. He must hear
the lecture or he cannot dance.

Children Taken Care of

"We have the mothers at our Friday night meetings, because they
can check their children in the Story Hour room in the hall. In this
Story Hour room, Miss Fern Wall, a city school teacher, tells interest-
ing stories to about 100 children while the lecture is going on in the
main hall."

The People Appreciate Good Lectures

During the fall, winter, and spring of 1921-22 the Friday night
lectures and concerts went on with even more success. From October
to May First, these educational meetings maintained unabated interest
and spirit as did few forums of this kind in the United States. An
average attendance of 1,500 and not rarely 2,000 with hundreds more
turned back because of an overcrowded hall, was attained by no
skilful means of artificial stimulation. The people were simply given
the opportunity to spend a few hours in an environment of light, life,

256 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

and thought, and they were only too eager to avail themselves of the
opportunity. Surely, this is a crying indictment of the dullness and
unattractiveness of the official and quasi-public methods of educa-
tion. What would not the average church or public school forum
give to have people regularly and eagerly turn out en masse for a
lecture with a substantial chance of being- turned away for lack of
room in the hall !

The speakers and the topics they covered during the last season
were even nearer to the needs of workers' education than in the
preceding term. They were :

Debate, "The Open Shop," Clarence Darrow vs. Noel Sargent.

Sidney Hillman. : ' ' Europe : War Mad and Peace Weary. ' '

Arturo Giovannitti: "Art and the Workers."

Urbain Ledoux (Mr. Zero) : "Unemployment."

Debate, "Resolved, That the Socialist Rather Than the Capitalist
Organization of Society Is Essential for the Peace and Weil-Being of
Mankind," Norman Thomas vs. Professor Reeves.

Philip Randolph: "The Negro and Labor."

Debate, "Communism," Professor Perkins vs. Dennis Batt.

A. J. Muste : "Class Conscious Education."

Roger Baldwin: "Hell in West Virginia,"

Charles W. Ervin : "The Labor Press."

William E. Sweet: "Why I Oppose the Open Shop As an Amer-
ican Business Man."

Albert Rhys Williams : ' ' The Masses in the Russian Revolu-
tion."

J. B. Salutsky: "A Fighting Democracy."

Sidney Hillman: "What's Next?"

Scott Nearing : "Irrepressible America."

Frank P. Walsh: "Legislating Labor Out of Life."

Leo Krzycki : "When Labor Cares to Act."

Joseph Schlossberg : "American Labor Today."

Rochester Leads in Recreational Program

The mass meetings in Rochester lay more stress on the educa-
tional end. Yet the recreational opportunities offered the members
were not neglected. Quite the contrary. But they were offered in
a manner different from in Chicago, for example. Assisted by Miss
Edith Christensen, business agent, who was directed by the joint board
to give part of her time to this task, Education Director Paul Blan-
shard successfully developed a variety of activities, such as movies
and dramatics, hiking clubs, basket ball teams, camera clubs, and the
like. The work along these lines has ;been fairly successful, although
not as yet put into definite form.

Class Room Studies in Rochester

The Rochester members of the Amalgamated have had unusual
opportunities for workers' education offered to them by their organ-

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 257

izatioii. During the first of the education seasons covered by this
review, classes were initiated in:

Labor unionism

Public speaking

English, advanced, intermediate, and beginners'

Social problems

Women's problems

Between 250 and 300 registered for the classes, and the actual
attendance reached 150, the average class attendance being twenty-
five.

Approximately the same attendance was attracted by the Roch-
ester classes during this last session (twenty-two in the case of some).
Most of the classes had Paul Blanshard as instructor.

Other Educational Activities in Rochester

The Rochester organization has been keenly alive to the necessity
of educating the workers in the true spirit of fighting labor philosophy.
It utilized every means at its command to awaken the people to the
call of unionism. The staff of the organizatioin were never found
wanting when they saw a chance to do something real. Here are a
number of things begun in the previous winter and successfully con-
tinued this year.

1. Education by pamphlets: "Rochester realized the need of
educating the members in the practical working of the union in the
shop. How many Amalgamated shop chairmen do not know the
rules which they are supposed to enforce? How few of the members
really understand how the union works ? The educational department
in Rochester put out a little pamphlet on 'How the Union Works,'
which was widely distributed in all the shops and helped shop chair-
men in their administrative work. Every new member was given
one of these pamphlets upon payment of the initiation fee. The
pamphlet described the working of the joint board, the impartial
machinery, the grievance committee, and it told in plain English the
duties of the member in the shop."

2. A trade union calendar : For the year 1922 the Rochester
organization brought out a net, if modest, calendar, containing a
"bunch of dates" and a number of simply stated union maxims. The
calendar was given out free to new members and at a nominal price
to all other members.

3. A weekly paper: The Rochester education department also
published a small weekly educational "Bulletin" which kept the mem-
bers posted on local organization and educational activities. The
paper was distributed through shop chairmen and business agents.
It is of real service to the union and it successfully popularized the
idea of education.

4. Women's activities: The women, who constitute a majority
of the clothing workers of Rochester, were not neglected. They had
classes of their own and many social activiti«?s under the direction

258 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

of Miss Edith Christensen. Experience in Rochester has proved that
women are even more eager than men for educational development if
they are given genuine encouragement. Here are some of the topics
of lectures and discussions before a special women's group: ''Should
a Woman Obey Her Husband?" "Should a Woman Earn Her Own
Living?" "Physical Fitness," "Women and Clothes."

5. "Compulsory education" for new members: The notable
achievement of the Rochester organization along lines of education
this year is the system of training new members in the understanding
of the fundamentals of trade unionism. It is a "compulsory" system.
New members can not receive their union book unless they go through
some drilling in trade unionism. The education director,- or one of
the national organizers on the staff, talks to the class of new members.
They are given literature to read, especially selected for them and
adapted to their needs. Rochester is the first city to attempt this
sort of compulsory education for new members. It will be up to the
next city to devise a workable scheme that will also attract old mem-
bers.

6. Current events class for staff mem'bers : Another interesting
experiment in Rochester this year was made with current events
studies for business agents and other union officials. The sessions
of the staff devoted to discussion of current events went on during
several months.

The Rochester Viewpoint

"The Rochester members have kept steadily before them the real
purpose of an educational program. It is not merely to make up
the deficiencies in culture of the average worker. If that were the
sole purpose of educational work in the unions, then the members
should go to the public schools and universities.

"The workers are the rulers of the future. We are dreaming of
a day when the industrial system built upon exploitation shall be
transformed into an industrial system controlled by the worker.
Thought is the most effective weapon in bringing about that transfor-
mation. The working class of America is not now ready for the trans-
formation because we have not trained our minds sufficiently. Roch-
ester has realized the need and begun a modest program of prepara-
tion."

NEW YORK OUT FOR WORKERS' EDUCATION

New York seemed the most hopeless of all educational centers.
Somehow educational activities would not work out there, and it was
a foregone conclusion that all efforts would be futile.

Previous attempts made by the organization to start classes or
similar activities were fruitless. The impression prevailed that the
supply exceeded the demand and "there's no use trying." However,
the New York Joint Board approved of another serious attempt to
develop a system of labor education that would be worth while. In
the fall of 1920, with the general lockout staring it in the face, the

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 259

board of directors voted an appropriation of $12,000 for education
work in the city. David J. Saposs, associate author, with John R.
Commons, of the "History of Labor in the United States/' was en-
gaged to take care of the work in New York city, and extensive pre-
parations were undertaken. Study courses for Amalgamated mem-
bers were announced, and the enrollment was sufficiently encouraging
to justify optimistic expectations. Several lecture forums started
in different sections of New York proved quite successful from the
start. But only one month's time of comparative peace \vas the fate
of the educational enterprise. On December 8 the lockout of 60,000
people working in the New York market put an end to all peace-time
activities. All carefully worked out plans for systematic education
were "tabled." Education carried on during the lockout is reported
in connection with the New York lockout.

Not before the lockout was over and the organization returned to
relative "normalcy" was education work renewed. In October, 1921,
the board of directors authorized the necessary expenditures, and the
executive board of Cutters' Local 4 granted the education department
the free use of its headquarters for classes. Since then the organiza-
tion has embarked on a plan of education that exceeds all former half-
hearted expectations. Max Weinzweig was placed in charge of the
New York work and it is primarily due to his ability and stimulating
energies that the New York organization may justly pride itself on
having carried through a most ambitious program of education. The
accomplishment in New York is second to none, whether in the Amal-
gamated or in any other union.

Mass Education in New York

Started 011 a small scale, without any effective means of publicity
and badly handicapped because of lack of adequate halls, the mass
education activities nevertheless took root. Three permanent lecture
and concert forums were definitely established and thirty lectures
were given with an attendance of 100 at the beginning and 2,500
toward the end. One of the forums had exclusively English lectures,
and in two forums Jewish was the language spoken. In addition,
a number of Russian and Italian lectures were given. The speakers
were Joseph Schlossberg, A. I. Shiplacoff, J. B. Salutsky, B. C.
Yladeck, H. Rogoff, Dr. B. Hoffman, Vladimir Medem, Dr. Isaac A.
Hourwich, Albert Rhys Williams, Professor Horace M. Kallen, Profes-
sor William H. Kilpatrick, Norman Thomas, Dr. William M. Leiser-
son, Stuart Chase, Dr. Will Durant, J. L. Freeman, and Max Levin.

The list of topics may prove of interest, as an indication of what
attracts the people in New York. It included the following:

Unemployment.

Russia's Xew Economic Policy.

What's Doiiicr in Europe?

Whither Is American Labor Drifting?

Washington. Lincoln, and — Next?

Democracy and Leadership.

The Immigrant and the American Worker.

260 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OP AMERICA

American Imperialism.
The Paris Commune of 1871.
Immigration and Labor.
Lessons of the Russian Revolution.
Political Power and Economics
Emma Goldman's Russia.
The Disarmament Conference.
Labor and the New World.
Making Public Opinion in America.
Must We Change Human Nature?
The Masses in the Russian Revolution
The Challenge of Industrial Waste.

The Impartial Machinery in the Men's Clothing Industry.
Can the Present System Offer an Effective Remedy for Unem-
ployment? Debate, Scott bearing vs. Walter B. Pitkin.

Music and Pictures

The lectures were always accompanied by music recitals which
proved a very popular feature of the forums. The lecture concerts
were begun on a very small scale and became an important item in
the activities of the Amalgamated members in the different sections
of the city. A worthwhile addition was the collection of stereopticon
slides which the organization prepared. The audiences were ap-
preciative of the silent lessons of the telling pictures.

Group Education

Another feature of the New York education department was the
sending of lecturers to regular business meetings of the locals.

The idea of combining education with the regular business of
the local appealed to many locals as a means of adding interest to
their meetings and increasing their attendance. The idea appealed
to the education department as a means of reaching part of the most
active membership who are so busy with their local affairs that they
would not have the time to hear such discussions at any other time
and place. Some of those lectures were illustrated by stereopticon
slides, prepared by the national Education Department.

In three months lectures were held for fourteen different New
York locals. Some of those locals had as many as four or five
lectures. Towards the end an attempt was made to introduce the
idea of a series of lectures rather than detached talks, and several
lectures on the same tapic were scheduled before one local. With
sufficient care taken to sustain interest this phase of the work seems
to offer opportunities for developing a new kind of business and
organization meetings for the various locals, attended not only by
a larger, but by a different sort of membership.

Class Room Work

Rut perhaps the most fundamental part of the work in New
York was done in the classes of the Active Workers' School with its

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 261

branches at 44 East 12th Street, at 207 East 10th Street, and at the
Brownsville Labor Lyceum.

At the very beginning of the class work a novel series of in-
formal preliminary discussions was instituted. The plan was to
acquaint the students with the possibilities of the work and the con-
tents of the courses that were being considered. Professor Charles
A. Beard was asked to talk on "History for the Worker and the
Worker in History. " Dr. Leo Wolman explained the significance
of economics, while analyzing the President's Unemployment Con-
ference, of which he was a member. Dr. Fichhandler, education
director of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, re-
lated his experiences in workers' education, checking up on his close-
range observations of the British labor movement during his stay
in England. Jerome T. De Hunt, of the Railway Clerks, offered the
students an insight into the heart of the labor union movement, by
way of analyzing the railway labor tangle in the near-strike situation
of last October. President Sidney Hillman also addressed this group,
telling what he saw throughout Europe and Soviet Russia.

At the beginning of November regular courses were started at
the 12th Street building. The courses were announced as follows:

English, Public Speaking, Parliamentary Law. For beginners and
more advanced students. How to speak and read English. How to
write clearly, correctly and forcefully. Also practice in public speak-
ing, discussion and parliamentary law.

Theory and Practice of Trade Unionism. A study of trade
unionism in America and Europe with special emphasis on problems
of aims, leadership, organization, and methods. The A. F. of L., the
I. W. W., and independent unions in the United States. The place
of trade unions in periods of industrial instability. Plans for work-
ers' control in England, Germany, France, Italy, and Russia.

Political and Economic Organization of the United States.
History and present organization. The American party system. The
place of the President, Congress and the courts. City and state
governments. The relation between industrial interests and the
government. The effect of the capitalist system on_ democracy.
Trusts and corporations. The farmer bourgeoisie, and the agricul-
tural proletariat. The place of the trade union movement in the
political and economic structure. The state and labor.

Psychology As Related to Economics and Trade Unionism. A
thorough study of modern psychology. Discusses the relation be-
tween psychology and economics, and psychology and history. In-
cludes an analysis of the theory of evolution and its effect on the
study of human nature. Goes on to a study of social psychology and
psycho-analysis. The new psychology is Jinked with the economic-
historical work of Karl Marx and his successors and all brought to
bear on a new interpretation of the present industrial system^

These courses, the announcement continued, would be taught by
"teachers selected not only according to their learning- and scholar-
ship, but according to their knowledge of the working class, their

262 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

sympathy with our aims, and their albility to put things clearly and
interestingly." The staff included:

Professor Lindsey Rogers, Columbia University, Political Struc-
ture of the United States.

Dr. Leo Wolman, New School of Social Research, Theory and
Practice of Trade Unionism.

M. Weinzweig, New York education department, Psychology As
Related to Economics and Trade Unionism.

Nathan Fine, Chicago University, Advanced English and Public
Speaking. «|

Joseph Kaufman, Columbia University, Elementary English and
Parliamentary Law.

Registration for all the classes was:

Political Structure of the United States 42

Trade Unionism 37

Psychology 75

Advanced English 35

Elementary English 28

At the beginning of 1922 the enrollment grew to over 250 students.
In February the 300 mark was reached. At the present writing,
there are between 400 and 500 in the various classes.

An auxiliary to the school was added in the joint .board build-
ing on 10th Street. Another annex was opened at the Brownsville
Labor Lyceum. New instructors were added, including M. J. Olgin
for a literature course, J. Freeman of the " Liberator" for English,
and Max Levin as Jewish lecturer on trade unionism.

At 12th Street the class in trade unionism had a five weeks'
course. It was followed toy a new course in the labor movement by
Nathan Fine. Professor Rogers successfully completed a ten weeks'
course in the political organization of the United States. This was
followed by a five weeks' course in social and economic history of the
United States, by Professor B. B. Kendrick. The psychology and En-
glish courses continued throughout the season, some twenty-four
weeks, definitely refuting the idea that workers will not go through
a really serious period of study.

A sort of extension course in the history of civilization was given
on Sunday mornings. More than ninety members came to hear
those Sunday lectures by Professor James Harvey Robinson.

By this time a truly remarkable group of teachers was brought
together for the educational activities in New York. It is an achieve-
ment in itself to have gathered a group including such men as Profes-
sor James Harvey Robinson of the New School of Social Research,
Professor William II. Kilpatrick of Teachers' College, M. J. Olgin,
Dr. Leo Wolman, Professor Lindsey Rogers of Columbia University,
and Professor B. B. Kendrick.

A distinct step forward is the new method for teaching English.
The new system called for a change in class room, teaching arrange-
ment, and hours of work. With the present method, each student

GENERAL EXKi I T1VE BOARD REPORT 263

gets six hours' instruction in English each week under the super-
vision of two teachers.

The room in which the members do this English work would
hardly be recognized as a class room. It is a sort of library and
laboratory, or work room, combined. Instead of school room seats,
we have long tables around which the members sit in comradely
fashion.

The program calls for three hours an evening at school. For an
hour and a half regular class-room instruction is given. The second
hour and a half is spent in the laboratory under the special direction
of another teacher.

The student learns what to do in the class room, and practices
how to do it in the laboratory. Each member is assigned a special
piece of work which he is to finish before he goes home. Each student
gets a typewritten sheet in which he is told exactly what he is ex-
pected to do. Books, dictionaries, magazines, newspapers are at his
disposal for any help he may want. The second teacher is there to
assist anyone who needs help in his particular task. When the time
is up the memibers hand in their work. This is corrected by the
teacher and returned to them the next time.

The new method is very popular with the students. It has broken
down the stiffness of class room atmosphere. It has made for a
spirit of comradely co-operation. It has done away with the need
for assigning "home-work," an almost impossible task with labor
classes. And it has brought results. The improvement in the work
done by the members could be followed from week to week.

Over a Cup of Tea

Another step in breaking up the formalism of "education" as
conventionally understood was the development of a weekly "stu-
dents' get-together." Every Saturday afternoon there is a special
informal meeting to which all the Active Workers' School .-ire invited.
Refreshments are served to add to the air of informality and com-
radeship. " •'lj-7.-IV^f^

The program for Saturdays consisted of discussions of current
topies such as the "farmer bloc," the miners' strike, and European
labor happenings; of books of current interest such as "Main Street,"
of general topics such as "The American Newspaper." Several times
a series of talks on the same topic were scheduled for a number of
Saturdays. There was a series of four discussions on "What's What
in the Labor Movement," led by the national education director.
Towards the end of the season, Professor William H. Kilpatrick,
head of the department of the philosophy of education at Teachers'
College, led a series of three popular discussions of "Theories of
Life and Progress." The new method which Professor Kilpatrick used
with our students attracted wide attention and may be said to con-
stitute one of the definite contributions which New York gave to
the whole field of labor education.

" It became customary also to devote part of the Saturday after-
noons to a discussion of general educational policies and to decide

264 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

on recommendations to the students' council, consisting of three del-
egates from each class, looking after the details of the school. The
attitude of the instructors, the value of the various classes, the need
for developing further education activities among the various local*
of the New York Joint Board, and other topics of similar interest
would be considered eagerly, sometimes hotly, but always in good
spirit.

It was at these Saturday get-togethers that the students decided
not to give up education work in the spring, but to go right on
planning a new and varied program to keep the school and students
in touch throughout the summer.

Shop Chairmen and Business Agents

The comparative success of the classes and student gatherings
has been felt in more than one way. It was no doubt a determin-
ing influence in the decision by the business agents, followed one
week later by the shop chairmen, to institute an educational pro-
gram ior themselves.

The education work of the business agents, begun April 7, with
a talk by Professor Paul F. Brissenden on ' ' Problems of Labor Organ-
ization in the North West," and M. Weinzweig on "Fundamentals
for Understanding Human Nature," includes the following in its
program:

I. Bases of Modern Civilization:

(a) The nature of man: Fundamentals of psychology, in-
cluding theory of evolution and how it helps us understand human
nature.

(b) The nature of society: Fundamentals for understand-
ing our social and economic system.

(c) Man and society in history: The plain man in history.
Meaning of the materialistic interpretation of history. How the
masses lived in the past. Conditions which forced the masses to
awaken to their enslavement. Influence of the earlier movements
on our own.

II. The Labor Movement — Problems of Leadership and Organi-
zation: Aims and methods of the modern labor movement. General
examination of trade unionism in America and Europe. The A. F.
of L., I. W. W., guild Socialism. Special emphasis on problems of
principles and tactics. Meaning of democracy. Function of the
leader. Problem of organization forms. Shop control, shop steward
system. Craft unionism, industrial unionism.

III. Weekly Interpretation of Current Events: Eeview of the
happenings of the week. Summary of the most interesting articles
in American and European papers and magazines. Short summaries
(about one page) sent to all members so as to enable all to take
part in the discussion. Picture slides used wherever possible to il-
lustrate the topics.

The shop chairmen adopted substantially the same program, ex-
cept that there is added a section on the "Place of the Shop Chair-
man in the Organisation."

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 265

Developing Organization Spirit

The important thing about all the school work and educational
programs is that all emphasis is laid on the necessity for making
the work count in the life of the organization.

The students' council, and the "Bulletin" given out weekly by
the students, were instituted to develop self-reliance, initiative, and
confidence in the reality of self-government. Students were encour-
aged to help with the details necessary to make the lectures at local
meetings and the large forum lecture concerts a success. Students
in the classes would go back to their locals to report on education
activities. This, of course, helped spread to the general member-
ship the knowledge of educational opportunities offered. But per-
haps even more important was the influence this had in encouraging
the students to take a more active interest in the life of our organ-
ization, to go back to their locals and shop meetings with more in-
terest, greater activity, and deeper understanding of our immediate
difficulties and ultimate aims.

In view of the real task before us, we cannot but feel that all
labor education has merely scratched the surface. But in its own
way, New York has given definite promise. It has pointed to new
and real goals, has won over doubters to a realization of the vast
possibilities in this new born attempt to put the move in movement.

EDUCATION ACTIVITIES IN OTHER CITIES

The following may be recorded of the smaller Amalgamated
centers :

Baltimore

During 1921 and 1922 two classes were conducted, one in public
speaking and parliamentary law, and another in the history and
problems of organized labor. The attendance in both classes was
small, from ten to thirty. Whenever an outside speaker was invited
the attendance would reach 50 or 100. Dr. Broadus Mitchel of the
political economy faculty of Johns Hopkins University has been in
charge of the Baltimore classes, and it is due to his persistent effort
that the work has gone as far as it did.

Besides class work the locals had lectures and on some occasions
general gatherings of the membership were called to listen to lectures
by prominent speakers in the labor movement.

Boston

During 1921-22 two study classes for active workers have been
run under the guidance of Dr. J. J. Cheskiss of Boston University.
One class took up weekly important current events, and another class
went through the study of a carefully worked out program of prob-
lems of the labor movement. In Boston, as well as in Baltimore and
elsewhere, lectures were arranged for separate local meetings.

Cincinnati

A series of educational mass meetings and concerts, taken care
of by the education committee of the Cincinnati Joint Board, proved

266 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

very successful. Large and enthusiastic meetings turned out in
response to the call of the organization.

Milwaukee

The secretary of the Milwaukee education committee credits the
education activities with a 150 per cent increase in the attendance
at local meetings. With the aid of very good speakers the education
committee runs monthly gatherings of the entire membership. In
addition, the organization has classes in English, history of labor,
economics, and parliamentary law at the local Workers' College
founded by the A. F. of L. trades council.

Philadelphia

An attempt to start regular class room studies did not work out.
The group that had originally registered for a class in labor prob-
lems went through a course in economics, given by H. K. Herwitz of
our Research Department, and by action of the organization a regular
lecture forum took the place of the class room. Starting with Janu-
ary and ending with the last Friday in March, a series of ten lectures
was offered to good sized and appreciative audiences in the union's
own home.

Toronto

Toronto is the latest convert to the idea of workers' education
in the form of class room study. Of course, in Toronto, as in Mon-
treal and elsewhere, mass lectures and lectures before local meetings
were customary. But the idea of intensive study had not been taken
up by the organization until the Education Department moved bodily
to the city and undertook to see the thing through. The joint board
gave its support to the enterprise, and the result was a series of two
months' study courses, in a word, an Amalgamated Active Workers'
School. Its program included:

1. English and Public Speaking: The laboratory plan, twice a
Aveek, fifty students.

2. LaJbor problems : Discussion of issues and forms of organi-
zation, once a week, thirty-five students.

3. Aspects of Modern Civilization : Six extraordinary lectures :
"La'bor and the Changing World." Professor Mclver.

"The Relation of Science to Civilization," Professor H. Waste-
no vs.

'•Historical Development and Human Welfare, 1822-1922," Pro-
fessor R. Jackson.

"Must we Change Human Nature?" Professor II. Pratt.

"Changing Standards in Civilization." Professor McMillan.

"Educating Toward a New Order," Professor James Alfred
Dale.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 2«7

RESEARCH DEPARMENT

H. K. Herwitz of the Research Department summarizes herewith
the work of the department:

The Research Department was established by action of the Gen-
eral Executive Board at its meeting in New York July, 1920. In
the course of the preparation of the union's case in the action for
injunction and damages brought iby the Michaels-Stern Co. in Roch-
ester, considerable economic research work on the aims and ac-
complishments of the union since its organization was done under
the direction of Dr. Leo Wolman. It was in part an outgrowth of
this work that a permanent Reserach Department was established.

Other unions, notably the railroad unions, the United Mine
Workers, and the unions in the printing trades, have from time to
time employed statisticians and economists to prepare data in sup-
port of the union's position in arbitration proceedings or in strike
situations. In creating the Research Department as a part of the
General Office staff, the General Executive Board provided for the
continuous study of conditions in the industry and made the informa-
tion available for use at any time by the general officers and the
other departments of the union, and by the local organizations.

The Research Department collects information on industrial and
economic conditions, with particular reference to (1) the men's
clothing and related industries, (2) the cost of living, (3) wages
and employment conditions; maintains a digest and file of the
decisions made by the impartial chairmen in the clothing industry
throughout the country, provided for under the agreements between
the manufacturers and the union; prepares the economic briefs sub-
mitted by the union in wage arbitration cases, and makes the neces-
sary investigations upon which the union briefs and arguments are
based. The department is frequently called upon by the general
officers and by other departments, particularly the Editorial, Organi-
zation, and Education Departments, and for publicity work, to furnish
information in connection with their activities and to make certain
special investigations. The work at the General Office is under the
immediate charge of Harry K. Herwitz.

Shortly after its organization in July, 1920, the department as-
sisted in the preparation of the union's cases in the wage arbitra-
tions in Chicago, Rochester, Baltimore, and Boston in July and
August, 1920. A brief prepared toy Dr. Leo Wolman, chief of the
department, on an unemployment fund, was submitted to the Chi-
cago board of arbitration in support of the union's demand for un-
employment insurance based upon the action of the Boston Conven-
tion. This brief has recently been published as a pamphlet by our
Education Department.

Dr. Wolman and H. K. Herwitz, of the Research Department,

268 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

also prepared exhausitve briefs arid participated in the presentation
of the union's case in the wage arbitrations held in Chicago and in
Rochester, March and April, 1921. The union's brief in the Chicago
arbitration consisted of over 100 pages and treated of the following
subjects: Wages in the men's clothing industry in Chicago; wages
and cost of living; cost of living in Chicago; the extent of wage re-
ductions; wage reductions in the textile and oil industries; relation
between cost and wages in the Chicago clothing industry; business
conditions; the economic theory of wage liquidation; labor's share
in liquidation. Another brief dealing with conditions in Rochester
was submitted in the wage arbitration in that city.

The department also participated in the wage arbitration proceed-
ings in Rochester in October, 1921, and in Montreal in December,
1921.

The Chicago Joint Board called upon the department to prepare
a history of the Chicago organization since the 1910 strike for pre-
sentation to the delegates to the Fifth Biennial Convention. This
book, entitled "Clothing Workers of Chicago, 1910-1922" was pre-
pared under the direction of Dr. Leo Wolman with the assistance
of Miss Eleanor Mack, formerly of the General Office, H. K. Herwitz
of the Research Department, and Mr. Paul Wander. Mr. Wander
prepared part 3 of this book. The book, which has recently come
from the printers, is a volume of 425 pages.

RECORD DEPARTMENT

A. E. Kazan, director of the Record Department, gives the follow-
ing report for his department :

In October, 1919, the Record Department was established. In
adding this department to the General Office the purpose in mind
was

1. To compile statistics regarding the membership of our organi-
zation.

2. To enable the General Office, whenever necessary, to deter-

mine the membership of each of our units, as well as of the
entire organization.

3. To have at the General Office membership records showing
the payments made by our members.

4. To introduce and maintain a uniform system for the initia-
tion and suspension of members.

5. To assist our local organizations in improving their member-

ship records and in developing suitable methods for the con-
trol of the initiations, dues, and assessment payments.
The duties of a secretary of a local union in the Amalgamated
are considerably more difficult and require greater efficiency than in
most other unions. While the average membership of a local of car-
penters, machinists, bricklayers, painters, or printers is between 200

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 269

and '300, the average membership of one of our locals is over 1,100.
The number of members who join and leave our organizations is also
much higher than in other unions. In fact, some of our locals initiate
yearly fully one-third of their total membership, while most of them
add from 10 per cent to 15 per cent. Similar, but not as high, is the
number of those who drop out. Thus with a high membership in each
local which at certain times of the year is totally unemployed and
consequently unable to live up to its union obligations, and a good
portion of this membership continually changing, the secretary of one
of our locals must be thoroughly efficient and systematic. His union
office must be well equipped for any emergency in order to obtain the
best possible results. With few exceptions most of our organizations
grew up within short periods. This made the work of our local of-
fices still more difficult, and very often a local secretary was forced
to forego system and employ any method at all in order to be able to
take care of the great influx of new members.

The progress made by the Kecord Department during 1920 was
very slow. Nearly the entire year was spent in transcribing our local
records and preparing the different membership cards now in use.
In addition it also had to assist some of our local organizations in
changing their own membership records. Since the Record Depart-
ment depends entirely on the locals for its required information, it
wras evident that unless we assisted them in changing their member-
ship records we could not expect them to comply with our requests.
Those organizations that could not make the changes at their own
local offices were assisted by the Record Department, which did all
the necessary work at the General Office.

With the help of our local secretaries we introduced during the
same year a uniform system of initiating and dropping members.
Reports of changes in membership were made to the Record Depart-
ment of the General Office. This enabled us, besides making the neces-
sary changes in the files of the Record Department, also to correct our
mailing list.

To facilitate the work of the Record and Mailing Departments,
the two were combined. Duplication of names on the mailing lists
of cities where the section system of delivery is in use is, to a certain
extent, unavoidable. It is especially so in our case where we have
eight different language publications. To avoid these duplications,
a special index was prepared which acts as a clearing house for all
of our official papers. By means of this index we are in a position
to tell which publication each of our members is receiving. The index
card gives the member's name, address, and other essential informa-
tion. When his name is taken off our mailing list the card shows the
date and reason.

Besides the regular work of the Record Department, we assisted
our larger joint boards in introducing a shop system, by which they
could tell the standing of the membership in each shop. In cases where
members fail to live up to their union obligations, this system will
enable the joint boards to get in touch with these members through
the shop chairmen.

270 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

We are also gradually introducing a six-months' membership
book to take the place of the present three years' book. Judging
by the success of our1 first experience, we should have it in use in all
our local organizations within the next year.

AUDITING DEPARTMENT

Victor E. Benedict, general auditor, reports on the work of his
department as follows:

The Auditing Department has made one or more audits of the
accounts of the following joint boards and local unions since Feb-
ruary 1, 1920:

JOINT BOARDS— Baltimore, Buffalo, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleve-
land, Connecticut, Milwaukee, Montreal, New York, Phila-
delphia, Rochester, Shirtmakers (N. Y.), Toronto, and Twin
City.

LOCAL UNIONS— 4, 6, 7, 19, 22 (old accounts of Locals 10 and 12)
24, 38, 39, 61, 86, 105, 120, 144, 145, 151, 152, 154, 155, 158, 161,
167, 175, 195, 208, 210, 223, 269, 270, 271, 272, 275, 276, 279.

Special audits were made of the ;New York general lockout, Phila-
delphia strike accounts, Baltimore lockout, Cincinnati strike account,
the Greater New York Organization Committee, and the books of the
General Office.

The department has also been continuously engaged in auditing
and correcting day book sheets, cash reports, and initiation cards re-
ceived from thei various joint boards and local unions.

In addition to the normal activities, enumerated albove, the depart-
ment issued monthly comparative statements showing

1. The per capita payments of the entire organization.

2. The monthly income and expenditures of the General Office.

3. Monthly balance sheets or statements of assets, liabilities,

and net worth of General Office.

4. [Special reports for the General Executive Board, etc., etc.
The department takes care of the bonding of those officials who

handle funds; the collection of indemnities from the surety company,
and the collection of shortages from individuals. In the last two
years over $2,200 was recovered in this way.

During the first six months of 1921 almost the entire time of the
staff was taken up in assisting in the administration of the Amalga-
mated Stores in the New York lockout, and consequently no audits
were made in this period.

The staff also assisted in making a number of shop investigations
in Philadelphia: supervised the opening of the books of the Amalga-
mated Clothes System, and devoted some time to the affairs of the
New York Clothing Cutters' Credit Union.

The Auditing Department is ever watchful of the correct keeping
of the financial accounts of our organization.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 271

GENERAL OFFICERS REPRESENT
AMALGAMATED IN EUROPE

In June, 1920, the Amalgamated was invited to take part in the
Congress of the International Clothing Workers' Federation in the
month of August at Copenhagen, Denmark.

That organization was formed in 1893 at a Coongress in Zurich,
Switzerland. Since then a number of Congresses were held. The
last one before the war was held at Vienna, Austria, July, 1913.
The next Congress was to be held in 1916 at Copenhagen. The war
made that impossible. In December, 1919, a session of the Interna-
tional Bureau was held at Amsterdam, Holland, where it was decided
to call a Congress for August 15, 1920, at Copenhagen. The Interna-
tional Ladies' Garment Workers' Union was affiliated with the Fed-
eration; the Amalgamated was not.

Through Brother Benjamin Schlesinger, president of the Inter-
national Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, who attended the session,
the Bureau sent an invitation to the Amalgamated to be represented
at the Copenhagen Congress. At the meeting of the General Ex-
ecutive Board, July 7-9, 1920, at New York, the following communica-
tion froim Brother Schlesinger was read:

"I have the pleasure to inform you that in August, 1920, an
International Conference will again be held, this time in. Copenhagen,
Denmark. The temporary bureau of our International, composed of
your fellow clothing workers, Heinrich Stuehmer (Germany), Pierre
Dumas (France), Z. Flynn (England), William P. Arup (Denmark)
and T. v. d. Heeg (Holland), would very much appreciate it, if your
organization would sent one or more delegates to the Copenhagen
conference."

General Secretary-Treasurer Joseph Schlossberg was elected
delegate to the Congress. He was also instructed to study the labor
movement in the several European countries which he might have
an opportunity to visit.

Brother Schlossberg sailed for Europe on the Olympic, August 4,
1920. He represented the Amalgamated at the Copenhagen Congress,
August 15 to 18. He visited the following countries in the course
of his trip through Europe : France, Belgium, Germany, Denmark,
Sweden, Esthonia, Austria, and Italy. Brother Schlossberg returned
to New York on the Aquitania, November 20, 1920, on the eve of the
lockout struggle.

The full proceedings of the Copenhagen Congress and Brother
Schlossberg 's observations on the labor movement in European coun-
tries were published in a series of articles in Advance.

272 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

In July, 1921, the General Executive Board, at its session in
New York, authorized General President Hillman to visit European
countries and study labor conditions.

Brother Hillman sailed July 16, 1921, on the Olympic. He visited
England, France, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, and Russia. He made
a special study of conditions in the last-named country. By his cables
for aid for the Russian famine sufferers, sent from Berlin and Moscow,
Brother Hillman stimulated relief work in this country. He returned
to New York on the Rotterdam, November 4, 1921.

His impressions of Europe were published by Brother Hillman in
Advance.

Brothers Schlossberg and Hillman will make oral reports to the
convention delivering their messages more at length.

RELIEF FOR FAMINE VICTIMS IN RUSSIA

The world war destroyed millions of human lives, the flower of
humanity, and untold treasures of the world's wealth. The ruin
wrought by the war was appalling. But infinitely more so is the
war's frightful heritage, especially for Europe: Economic break-
down, industrial exhaustion, political hysteria, and international
hatred. The victors and the vanquished both have lost and are
now suffering; the difference is only one of degree. The greatest
sufferer is Russia. When the war began the Russian Czar, the bar-
barian despot of the great country, aligned himself with the Allies
and on the side of "democracy." When the war was ended, Russia,
the greatest of the Allies, was the victim of a German "peace" and
an outcast of her victorious allies.

The Russian people had sinned by taking seriously their allies'
profession of democrac}^ justice, and the rest, as the objects of the
war, and the Russian people did the only contructive piece of war
work. But that was constructive in such an unusual manner, and
so entirely out of their reckoning, that the war apologists dared
not credit the war with it. They would gladly undo the Russian
work and free the glorious war of that disgrace. But that was im-
possible.

In the midst of the war the Russian people overthew Czardoin
and established a people's government. The replacing of a monar-
chical form of government by a republican is not new in modern
history and no longer carries with it the thrill of a former age.
After Russia, Germany overthrew the Hohenzollerns and inaugurated
a republic. Except for the abolition of hereditary rule, the German
people are not aware of any difference.

Russia more than changed its form of government. It changed
its entire substance; it said the last word on that siiflbject.. One
may approve of the Russian Revolution or disapprove of it, but
all must agree that what Russia did was most amazing both in daring
and in results. For the most backward country m Europe to take
the most forward step, the most advanced position, and defend it

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 273

against a world of enemies, while that country is itself starving
and suffering, is a feat which has no parallel in all human experience.
Russia was not the only country to write real history since the be-
ginning of the war, but she did it in a manner that was unknown in
history before. Russia s boldness and determination alarmed the
misrulers of the v/orld. What they feared was not only the success
of Russia rs program in Russia — the only country in the world with
a definite program — but still more, the effect of that success upon
their own peoples. To prevent both, Russia was warred against,
blockaded, isolated, starved. Last year the climax was capped by
famine in the Volga district due to drought. Lack of irrigation in
the territory of that famous river is but one small part of the legacy
of medieval backwardness left by Czarism to Xew Russia.

In her distress Russia turned for help to her natural friends—
the organized workers of the world. That was an appeal not to
charity but to that human spirit which inspires people who suffer
to help those who suffer more. The working people responded. The
Amalgamated joined in that response. We are proud of our share in
the relief for the Russian famine victims.

Advance of August 12, 1921, published the following article :
"RELIEVE THE RUSSIAN FAMINE

"The great world war, fought in the interest of 'democracy/
has left a terrible legacy for the present and the future. The de-
feated countries are broken, crushed, and kept under the heel of the
victors. The victorious countries are groaning under the burden of
their victory. The PEOPLE of the victorious countries are paying
an awful price for their triumph : a staggering death toll, industrial
disruption, widespread unemployment, heavy taxation for prepara-
tion for the next war, and general discontent, 'besides burning and
consuming national hatred.

"All of Europe is suffering. No one knows how much longer
the sufferings will continue and what their political reflections will
be in the near future.

"The most conspicuous single figure in the bloody drama of the
last seven years has been Russia. The greatest in numerical strength
among all active participants in the war. with a population of
180,000,000; the greatest in area, with one-sixth of the globe, Russia
made the greatest single contribution to the frightful death list, and
gave the most definite, astounding, and soul-stirring response to the
Message of the war.

* ' Old, Czarist Russia perished in the world conflagration and from
its ashes New Russia has risen. Was New Russia, freed from Czarism
and striving to work out its own salvation, welcomed and encouraged
by the 'democracies' of the world? Perish the thought! The sound
instinct of selfish interests warned the 'democratic' ruling and op-
pressing classes that the spirit of New Russia was a menace to all
oppressors of the people. And the industrial czars and kings and
magnates with their huge armies fought New Russia more brutally

274 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

than they had fought Old Germany. New Russia held out all these
years and defeated the Denikins, the Kolchaks, the Yudenitches, the
Wrangels, and all others. New Russia has stood the greatest test in
all history and has won the admiration of friend and foe.

"Now Russia is facing the most formidable foe of all, Hunger.

''Enemies of Soviet Russia are maliciously charging her with
responsibility for the famine. Nothing is further from the truth.
Famine was no stranger to Old Russia. Every now and then the
world would hear of hunger in certain sections of the Russian empire.
That was due to the backwardness in which Czarist absolutism had
kept the great country. That famine-producing backwardness has
been aggravated by seven years of international and civil war — by
war, revolution, and counter-revolution.

"Old Russia and the Old World generally were responsible for
the war; the war was responsible for the revolution, and the counter-
revolutionists, the enemies of Russia's freedom, were responsible for
the drastic measures taken by New Russia in her own defense.

"If this famine is not due to Russia's unfortunate industrial and
economic backwardness, aggravated toy the events of recent years, it
must be due to the ruthless efforts of the imperialists of the world to
destroy New Russia by means of blockades and the instigation and
financing of civil wars. What an indictment of our ' civilized' world!

"It is Ibecause of the blockades and the .constant plottings
and armed warfare against Russia's constituted authorities on
the part of outsiders that Russia has been unable to secure the neces-
sary rolling stock for her railroads, the most effective famine preven-
tive. The blockade not only made it difficult to secure sufficient seed,
but made it impossible to move grain surpluses to places where there
were shortages. The blockade and unceasing warfare, which com-
pelled the feeding and maintaining of a very large and industrially
non-producing military army, made it impossible for Russia to con-
tribute to the world's wealth by producing for the international
market and to stimulate and promote the industrial activities of the
world by consuming a large part of its products.

"One-sixth of the world cannot be isolated without the rest of the
world inflicting a serious injury upon itself.

"Economists who are conscientious scientists, and public spirited
citizens who are not conscienceless politicians, agree that all indus-
trial countries are paying a heavy penalty for the policy of isolation
and persecution of Russia.

"For the imperialists of the world to charge the present govern-
ment of Russia with responsibility for the hardships and sufferings
of that country is the same as for the child slavers in :he textile mills
in the Carolinas to charge their little victims with responsibility for
their ignorance, mental and physical backwardness, and all the evils
that flow from such a state.

"The whole world is responsible for Russia's agonies today, and
it is the duty of the -whole world to come to Russia's rescue.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 275

'There was a great famine in Central Russia in 1891. So serious
was that famine that distant America generously came forward with
assistance.

"That was under the Czar's regime. The lack of food was not
due to a prolonged war or to revolution. Russia was at that time
at peace with the world, and Czardom was safe on its throne. The
famine was due entirely to the barbarism and inefficiency of Czarism.
The Czar robbed his peasants of nearly all they produced, which he
took from them in the form of taxes. Thus large quantities of grain
were exported from Russia while the peasants had hardly enough to
keep body and soul together.

11 We came to Russia's relief at that time. We took no political
inventory, and presented to the Russian government no political de-
mands in consideration for our help. We openly sympathized with
the Russian rebels and welcomed them to our shores, thus at least by
implication condemning the Romanoff regime; but we did not de-
nounce the Czar or his system while extending a helping hand to his
people. Today our government is making its help to Russia contingent
upon political concessions, which the government asking them would
not itself willingly grant if conditions were reversed.

''We refuse to help the people of Soviet Russia in the same spirit
of human fellowship as we heliped the people of Romanoff Russia.

".Immediately after the overthrow of Russian Czarism, President
Wilson, who was then creating brilliant phrases, declared that Rus-
sia was the acid test. No government, not even Wilson's, stood that
test. At that time it was necessary for one of the upper classes to
raise himself high above his class interests to appreciate the stu-
pendous efforts made by Russia and sympathize with them. But few
have raised themselves to such heights.

"Today Russia is again the acid test.

"The cry for help coming from Russia is heart-rending. But the
metropolitan press is taking it cynically. They who called upon the
nation's young men to go to France, risk their lives and ask no ques-
tions, because what they were doing was in the cause of humanity
and democracy, have no response in their hearts for the desperate
cry which is coming from starving millions in Russia. Those unfor-
tunates were entitled to sympathy when they were starving under
the Czar, but they are an Object of mockery and derision when starv-
ing without a Czar, when starving partly or wholly because of the
brutal attitude of the governments of other countries towards them.

"Russia is again the acid test. It is to be hoped that this time
the noibility of human nature will assert itself and there will be a
genuine and hearty response from the peoples of the world, including
the American people, to the call coming from Russia.

"And the Russian acid test is pai-ticularly for the workers of the
world. They must not only respond but must do so with vim, vigor,
and enthusiasm."

276 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

On August 13, 1921, the General Executive Board issued the
following call to the local organizations :

HELP FOR STARVING RUSSIA

To the Joint Boards and Local Unions,
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America.
Greeting: —

A cry of distress is coming to us from the Russian people. Our
response must be prompt and generous.

Hunger is stalking through Russia, spreading disease and death.
Relief must come forthwith.

There is not only lack of food for the hungry today, but there is
also lack of seed, which means that there will be no food next year
and perhaps for several years to come, unless we come to the rescue.

For years Russia has held the attention of the world by its icono-
clastic acts — the overthrow of Czardom and the radical reconstitution
of its own social order. Russia's acts were approved by some and dis-
approved by others.

But our duty to Russia in her present crisis stands separate and
apart from any attitude towards Russia's social and economic prin-
ciples. Those of us who may sympathize with Russia's philosophy have
an additional reason for extending a helping hand to the starving millions.
Those of us who oppose that philosophy cannot because of that refuse
to heed the call to humanity coming from that stricken country.

It is gratifying to know that a real human response is coming, and
steadily gaining in strength, from various directions. The organized
workers of the world are sending an answer of cheer and hope to Rus-
sia. Thus we learn that the workers in Germany, Russia's "natural ene-
mies," under the standards of the late world war, have taxed, themsel-
ves a day's wages for Russia. Any one familiar with the unfortunate
condition of the German workers knows what a sacrifice that is for
them. But the German workers are making that sacrifice because they
see their duty clearly.

Pope Benedict XV, head of the Catholic Church, has raised his
voice on behalf of starving Russia and appealed to the Catholic world
for help, though Russia is not a Catholic country.

Between the Socialist workers of Germany and the Pope of Rome
there are large masses of people belonging to different social classes
and holding all shades of views and opinions. Pledges of help for Rus-
sia are coming from many of them.

Duty is calling us.

We, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, are a large
organized body of workers with no small capacity for doing big things.
We have long made it a rule of our organization to give to other
deserving causes the benefit of our organized power. Never was an
appeal made to us without bringing substantial results. Our gift of
$100,000 to the striking steel workers two years ago is a conspicuous
case in point. We must act in the same spirit now.

It is true that industrial conditions today are unfavorable. But in
spite of those adverse conditions and in spite of the unemployment,
which is considerable among our members, we must rise to the occa-
sion and bring food to the suffering men, women, and children in
Russia; particularly the children; bring them food with the love and
blessings that come from the workers who give to the workers who
receive.

It was in obedience to the call of our sacred duty to Russia that
the members of the General Executive Board took up for quick action
the matter of aid for the Russian victims.

There was unanimity of opinion, and no discussion, as to our obli-
gation in this grave emergency. There was, however, considerable dis-
cussion as to the best and most effective method of discharging It.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 277

Because of the unsettled industrial conditions the General Executive
Board was unable to fix a definite sum to be contributed by this or-
ganization and assess the several local organizations with their proper
quotas. We found that in some important cases a contribution by the
members on a time basis would bring the best results, and in other
cases a flat assessment of a given amount of money would be more
advantageous. In those circumstances the General Executive Board
decided to ask the members to donate a half day's wages for the Rus-
sian famine victims. But it was definitely understood that this decision
is to serve only as a basis and a slogan for the campaign. The organ-
ization in each city is free to assess its members whichever way it
deems best in order to secure the desired results. It must be remem-
bered that the results only will count in this case, and not the formal
compliance with the appeal of the General Executive Board. It is clear
that the results in this instance means money, cash, DOLLARS; the
greater the number of dollars the more food, medicine and clothing for
the hungry, the sick and the naked in Russia. Again we emphasize
particularly the hungry, sick and naked CHILDREN. They, who have
not lived yet; they who are helpless under the best conditions; they
who constitute the world of tomorrow, the world which we all hope
will be better, freer and happier than today; they must be the especial
object of our affection and generosity.

Let us think of our own young ones here, who are the joy of our
lives, and in the name of their pure and sacred childhood help the
little ones in Russia so that they may not perish.

In order to appreciate the value of our help we are reminded by
people who have first hand knowledge of the situation that a dollar
will feed a person in Russia for a month. Let us remember it: EACH
DOLLAR MEANS THE SAVIN'G OF A HUMAN LIFE FOR A MONTH.
Dollars, dollars, and more dollars must, therefore, be our answer to
Russia's cry for help.

The General Executive Board members have taken cognizance of
the fact that funds are now being collected for various purposes, all of
them worthy. But they must not interfere with the discharge of our
sacred duty to the starving millions in Russia, both as fellow humans
and as fellow workers.

The whole world is now out of gear. Help is needed in many direc-
tions. We, American workers, are more fortunate than the workers
elsewhere, and having more we must give more.

If an element of selfishness is not a sacrilege in this sad and
solemn moment, let us be grateful for being in a position to give help
rather than ask for help. We can surely stand the pinch of parting
with a few dollars better than the suffering Russians and their children
can stand the pain of starvation.

You are asked to take up the collection of funds immediately. Send
the money to the undersigned as fast as collected, and let all funds
be in not later than October 1, 1921.

Let us go to it with a will and with enthusiasm. Let the Amal-
gamated spirit again assert itself in its full grandeur.

Long live true human solidarity!

Long live the true brotherhood of the workers of the world!

For the General Executive Board,
JOSEPH SCHLOSSBERG, General Secretary-Treasurer.

A few days later the following cable was received from President
Hillxnan. dated Berlin, Germany, August 16, 1921 :

HAD INTERVIEW WITH REPRESENTATIVE OF RUSSIAN RED
CROSS, RECEIVED FOLLOWING MESSAGE: "SITUATION RESULT-
ING FROM FAMINE IN PARTS OF RUSSIA IS SUCH THAT IT CALLS
FOR IMMEDIATE HELP. ONLY AWAKENING OF CONSCIENCE OF
WORKING PEOPLE EVERYWHERE WILL BRING ABOUT RIGHT AS-

278 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

SISTANCE." I AM THEREFORE URGING YOU TO GET IMMEDI-
ATELY IN TOUCH WITH DIFFERENT LABOR ORGANIZATIONS AND
ORGANIZE SPEEDY RELIEF. LET ONE DAY'S WORK BE DONATED
FOR START. THINGS MOST N'EEDED ARE FOOD CLOTHING
DRUGS, AND TRUCKS. URGE OUR OWN MEMBERSHIP TO LEAD
WAY. ACT QUICKLY.

Later we received another calble from President Hillman, dated
Moscow, Russia, September 17, 1921 :

MOSCOW, SEPT. 17.

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA
31 UNION SQUARE; NEW YORK.

AM REQUESTED BY KAMENEFF, CHAIRMAN FAMINE RELIEF,
IN VIEW DESPERATE NEED TO SEND ALL FOOD IMMEDIATELY.
I URGE OUR ORGANIZATION TAKE SUCH ACTION IMMEDIATELY.
GET EXPERTS TO BUY WHEAT FLOUR. BUY FOR SHIPPING. SEND
TO "ALL RUSSIAN COMMISSION." URGE SIMILAR ACTION TO ALL
LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. CABLE REPLY CARE FOREIGN OFFICE
MOSCOW.

HILLMAN.

The prolonged unemployment and the strain of raising the
$2,000,000 Lockout Resistance Fund failed to deter our members from
rallying to the G. E. B.'s call for Russia. The response was truly
inspiring.

On October 10, we made our first shipment consisting of 65,088
bushels of wheat and 1,000 cases of condensed milk. The shipment
was valued at $100,000.

On October 24 the second shipment followed. On the advice of
President Hillman this consisted largely of machinery for the manu-
facture of clothing. Besides the machinery 2,000 pairs of corduroy
pants and 2,000 mackinaws were sent from the clothing workers of
America to their fellow workers in Russia.

A third shipment, consisting almost entirely of food supplies, fol-
lowed on Novemlber 22. It included 775,000 pounds of rice, corn,
grits, sugar, lima beans, cocoa, and condensed milk.

No less than thirty cities have made their individual contribution
according to their capacity. Especial mention should be made of the
sum sent from New York. Exhausted by a six months' lockout, New
York still leads all other cities with a total gift of $68,343.12. Chicago
is a close second with $60,000, Rochester comes third with $13,000, and
Baltimore fourth with $5,000. Too much cannot be said for the spirit
displayed by the smaller centers and 'by individual locals in con-
tributing their share.

Machinery shipped by Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
to Russia is :

1 Nelson edge press machine with blower iron

10 14-lb. J. blower irons complete with stands and tubing

50 16-lb. J. blower irons complete with stands and tubing

15 18-lb. J blower irons complete with stands and tubing.

3 No. 4 power pinkers

6 No. 4 cutters

6 Nelson springs

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 279

1,000 ft. 3-8 C. I. tubing

1 N'o. 4 blower complete with pulleys, oil cups, and valve
All fittings necessary to put together 75 gas and air mixers

2 sq. ft. screening
100 bushings

25 spouts

500 3-8 springs

When the General Executive Board met in special session in NTew
York, October, 1921, only a part of the total amount had come in.
The G. E. B. voted the amount of $150,000 for Russian relief. But, as
the financial statement shows, the collections exceeded that amount.

An additional amount of $15,000 was voted for the equipment of a
hospital in Moscow. The building for the hospital was donated by the
Soviet government, but the equipment and supplies must be furnished
from the outside. Moscow is desperately in need of more medical
service and the Russian government is asking friends of the Russian
people to help. The society known as American Medical Aid for Rus-
sia lias undertaken to raise the amount of $100,000 for the hospital.
Dr. Miehailovsky of New York, on behalf of the above society, applied
to the Amalgamated for aid. In compliance with that request the
donation of $15,000 was made for an American hospital at Moscow.

.. mm

lt& Batik o

AMALGAMATED CHECK FOR $15,000 FOR EQUIPPING
MOSCOW HOSPITAL

STATEMENT OF RUSSIAN FAMINE RELIEF COLLECTIONS

To January 31, 1922
Joint Boards

Baltimore .$ 5,000.00

B°ston 2,500 00

Chicago 60,000.00

Cincinnati 500.00

Cleveland 116.00

Milwaukee 1,018,80

Montreal 3,800.00

New York 68,343.12

Philadelphia 1,000.00

Rochester 12,000.00

Toronto 1,054.67

Twin City 453.75

Shirt Makers 2,592.80

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA
Locals

30, New York 105 47

39, Chicago 500;00

51, Baltimore 200 00

86, Pittsburgh 467.76

96, Syracuse 467 27

104, Utica ; 12L80

105, St. Louis 68.50

120, Louisville 378 65

139, Philadelphia 15o!oo

145, Indianapolis * ' 99LOO

151, Milwaukee .....!!! 200.00

154, Lynn .' 4^00

174, Worcester 495 63

207, Woodbine Ss'oo

208, Vineland 392.38

210, Hamilton ' 30.70

223, Bridgeport 331.39

224, Paterson 100.00

239, New London 30.00

240, Brooklyn 444.95

24 9, London, Canada 16.80

276, Kansas City 246.95

278, Los Angeles 300.00

60, Philadelphia 25.00

General Office staff 742.30

Donations from organizations

Baltimore Conference 1,900.00

Lithuanian Tailors' Benefit Club 12.50

Donations from individuals . 122.45

Total $167,206.80

Early in April, 1922, the General Office received through Dr. D. H.
Dulbrowsky, head of the Russian famine relief work in America, a
cablegram of thanks from the president of the Central Committee of
the Russian Red Cross in Moscow, for the assistance given by the
American clothing workers' organization to the starving people in the
Volga famine district.

The cablegram is reproduced on the opposite page. Translated,
it reads:

"Inform Amalgamated: We acknowledge with thanks receipt by
Russian Red Cross your contribution to the starving of Volga from
15 of October up to February 2 amount 65,088 bushels of wheat, 1,600
sacks flour, 860 sacks of beans, 1,350 rice, 2,000 sugar, 2,000 cases
milk, 543 barrels cocoa, 34 cases clothing. Of the contributed cargo
two-thirds are distributed Samara, one-third Kazan-Orenburg regions.
We hope for continuation of such successful campaign by you for re-
lief. Will be extremely thankful for information of your future hu-
manitarian activity. With fraternal greetings, President of the Rus-
sian Red Cross.

"SOLOVIEV, 2077."

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT

281

UNION

110 f . 4o St. . Iww York; WAR 24 jgjg

28FV fUL T8

TALLINN MAR 84 1»tt

RUBREDCROS

N8WRK ( OR 0 M fiUSRGWSKY HO WEST 40 STREET )

PEREDAITE AMALGAM El TED PODTVEBJDAEM BLAGOOARNOSTQlU POLUCHENIE R03KRASKRESTOM
VASHIH SCHEDRTH POUERTVOVANI I GOLOOAIUSHIM POVOLQJA OT PIATNAOZATAGO OKTIABRU
PQ VOTOROE FEVRALIA KOLICHESTVQM 65068 BUSH£LEI SERKA 1600 MESHKOV M'JKI 860
SOBOV 1350 RI5A 2000 SAMARU 2000 1ASCHIKOV MOLOfU 543 BOCHKI KAKAO 34 IA8CNIKA
OOEJOY STOP POJERTVOVANNYE GRUSY RASPREOELENT CVE TRETI SAWARSKOM OONA TRETQ
KASAHSKOM ORENSURG5KOM RAIONAH STOP NADEEMSIA NA PROOOLJENJE STOLQ UPACNKO
NACNATOI VAH KAMPANI I POM08CHI STOP BUCEM VEStyfA PEISNATELQNY SA SOOBSCHEHiS
"DAL9NEISHCI VASHEI QUMANITARNOI AK1H TOVARISCHE8KIM PRIVETOM PREDRQSHRESTA,

207T

SOVIET RUSSIA THANKS THE AMALGAMATED

282 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OP AMERICA

A MESSAGE FROM AUSTRALIA

Herewith a letter received from the Australian Clothing Workers'
organization and the Amalgamated 's reply; this message is additional
proof of the Amalgamated 's spiritual bond with the workers in other
parts of the world:

The Federated Clothing- Trades of the Commonwealth of Australia,
Federal Council, Box 84, Trades Hall

Melbourne, 6th February, 1922.

Joseph Schlossberg, General Secretary-Treasurer,
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America,
31 Union Square, New York, N. Y., U. S. A.

Dear Comrade: —

Greetings. Acting under instructions from the above organi-
zation, I am very anxious to arrange for a chain of correspondence
between my office and the United States. I have been appointed
general secretary of the above organization, which embraces all sec-
tions of tailoring and clothing as follows : —

(1) Order or bespoke gents' and ladies' tailoring.

(2) Ready-made men's, youths/ and boys' clothing (outer gar-
ments).

(3) Shirts and pajamas.

(4) Order and ready-made dressmaking.

(5) Underclothing.

(6) Millinery and headwear (excluding felt hat makers).

(7) Waterproof clothing.

(8) Dyers and clothes cleaners.

It is my intention to advocate a forward move in Australia for
improved wages and conditions. To do this effectively it will be
absolutely necessary for me to keep in touch with the rest of the
world. It would be useless for me to retain the position without
making myself reasonably conversant with the wages and conditions
obtaining in the clothing industry, particularly in America. We have
read, with considerable interest, your journal the Advance, and I
would ask you to accept our sincere congratulations on the progress
made 'by your organization. As a matter of fact, in many respects
you stand out on your own.

We secured the forty-four-hour working week for the clothing
workers in Australia almost simultaneous with your organization. I
do not propose to deal with the clothing industry at any great length
in this communication, rather do I first desire to receive an answer
from you and then T will be most happy to give you a lengthy and
detailed account of the conditions in Australia.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 283

My organization has directed me to spare no expense in securing
from America all documents and agreements dealing with the wages
and conditions of the clothing workers, therefore, I would be ex-
tremely obliged if your organization could see its way clear to for-
ward me copies of all such documents that will be of service to me
in representing the clothing industry. Do not hesitate to inform me
of the cost and I will at once submit the amount to you. I will be
pleased to reciprocate in any way that you might suggest and as sug-
gested in the foregoing, at a later date T will give you a more lengthy
communication.

Greetings to all comrades,
With best wishes,

Yours fraternally,

(Signed) H. CARTER, General Secretary.

Mr. H. Carter, General Secretary,
The Federated Clothing Trades,
Box 84, Trades Hall,
Melbourne, Australia.

Dear Comrade : —

I have your letter of February 6, 1922.

It is indeed a pleasure to hear from organized fellow workers
in distant Australia. Your message brings you so near to us. We
feel as if you were of our immediate ranks. In fact, the very geo-
graphical distance seems to emphasize your spiritual nearness.

I thank you cordially for your congratulations. Such words of
encouragement are frequently taken as conventional formalities and
of no particular importance. To us, however, they have a special
meaning. Yours is the third message of congratulations received
by us from foreign countries since the ^winning of our great 26-weeks'
lockout struggle a year ago. The first message came from the
workers in Russia, written in the ex-Czar's throne room in Moscow;
the second, from the International Clothing Workers' Federation at
Amsterdam, Holland; now we have yours from far away Australia,
at the other end of the world. Those messages are thrillers. They
bring to us a realization of the oneness and unity of the working class
the world ever. They are particularly inspiring to us because it was
less than ten years ago that the clothing workers in Xew York and
Chicago, in the same country, were strangers to one another, and in
their ignorance and helplessness broke one anothers' strikes. It is,
therefore, a real joy for us to be consciously a part of the Interna-
tional Brotherhood of Labor. In this day of war-bred national ani-
mosities the spirit of international working class solidarity is the
great hope of the human race. We are in a position fo visualize it
with great clearness because the membership of the Amalgamated em-
braces over thirty nationalities, a league of nations of our own.

284 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

Permit me to congratulate you upon the good work done by your
organization. It is interesting to know that you have the forty-four-
hour week, as we have here, and that you secured it at the same time
we did. It would have made our joy at this new conquest more com-
plete if we had been aware of that fact three years ago. This shorter
work-week has been a great boon to the former sweatshop workers
whose working week in the past was limited only by physical endur-
ance, and was often more than seventy hours.

The lockout of a year ago mentioned above was the beginning of
the cruel "open shop" campaign conducted by the powerful em-
ployers' interests against the labor movement. The lockout was in-
augurated with the determination to destroy our organization. In
connection with that lockout a violent press campaign was conducted
against us, a large number of injunctions were secured by the em-
ployers, and actions were brought in the courts for dissolution of the
organization and several million dollars' damages. "We were de-
nounced as un-American, Bolshevists, Sovietists and in many other
ways. It took twenty-six weeks and $2,000,000, raised !by our own
members, tout we wron out.

The "open shop7' campaign is still on. The enemies of labor are
arrogant and brutal. 'They feel that the present and prolonged un-
employment has brought them the long-sought opportunity to " liqui-
date labor." Wages are cut mercilessly. Today 600,000 coal miners
answered the war upon the lahor movement by a strike in the anthra-
cite and 'bituminous fields.

Are the workers in Australia retaining the improvements secured
during the war prosperity? Our membership will appreciate any in-
formation about our fellow workers in your country, industrial, po-
litical, social. We are publishing journals in eight languages. News
from your organization will be published in all of them.

The material you ask for will be forwarded to you immediately
under separate cover. Please send us your publications.

Next May 8 we shall meet in biennial convention at Chicago.
There legislation will be enacted for the workers in the American
clothing industry. It is expected to foe the greatest convention this
industry ever saw.

With working class greetings to you and your fellow workers,
I am, |

Fraternally yours,

JOSEPH SCHLOSSBERG, General Secretary-Treasurer,

Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT

285

MILITANTS CLAIMED BY DEATH

We mournfully record here the death of four active workers for
our organization:

DAVID SODONI, Member of Local 142, New York, murdered by
a strikebreaker.

ISAAC GOLDSTEIN, Member of Local 2, New York, veteran general
organizer, died after a prolonged illness.

JOHN J. HAYES, Member and business agent of Local 181, Boston,
Mass. Died after an operation for appendicitis.

ANTON SOUKUP, Member of Local 230, Baltimore, shot by a strike-
breaker.

DAVID SODONI

Died, August 10, 1921.

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

David Sodoni was shot August 9, 1921, by Giro Vigliano, a strike-
breaker employed by Heidelberg, Wolff & Co., 644 Broadway, New
York. Sodoni died the next day at Bellevue Hospital. The following
comment was made in Adrance of August 19, 1921:

AT THE BIER OF DAVID SODONI

"The membership of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America was shocked last week by the bullet shot which sent to the
grave young David Sodoni, member of Local 142.

"A young and useful live was destroyed by a gunman.

"A young woman was made a widow; two little children were
made orphans, and a third is already an orphan while still under its
mother's heart.

''Sodom was struck down by the assassin's hand. He had no
personal quarrel with his assailant; had probably never seen him
before.

"When the gunman shot asunder the thread of Sodoni 's life, he
did so for no reason of his own, but because he was a pawn in the
battle of labor-crushing capital against organized workers. It is
through such instrumentalities that the reign of violence is carried
out against workers who are loyal to their class.

"David Sodoni is the second member of the Amalgamated Cloth-
ing Workers of America to be sent prematurely to a martyr's grave.
The other was Samuel Kapper, who was assassinated in Chicago dur-
ing the strike of 1915. Both young lives were claimed by the ruth-
less class struggle.

The man responsible for Samuel Kapper 's death went scot free.
Sodoni 's assailant is in a cell. In due time he will be brought
before the bar of justice and tried for his crime.

"But the system in obedience to which the gunman fired his shot
at a man who had done him no injury and whom he probably did
not know, will not at the same time be brought before the bar.
Whether the man who destroyed Sodom's young life is convicted or
acquitted; whether he is sent to the electric chair or to long imprison-
ment, or is set free, the system served by such creatures as he will
continue to oppress, maim, and kill those workers who have the in-
telligence and the courage to stand up for their rights. Sodoni was
not the first victim of that system, and there is no ground for hope
that he is the last.

"As we are standing with bared and bowed heads over the grave
of young Sodoni we can do nothing more befitting this solemn moment
than to pay the last tribute to the dear comrade by renewing our
struggle against the system that is responsible for his death and for
the sufferings and untimely deaths of many other workers."

Sodoni 's assailant was indicted for second degree murder by the
grand jury and is now out on bail pending trial.

Recently, an effort was made to have the indictment quashed
and the case thrown out of court. However, Judge McAvoy denied
the request to have the case dismissed, and it is now on the calendar
of the criminal court.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT

287

ISAAC GOLDSTEIN

Born, June 15, 1872— Died, February 7, 1922.

Isaac Goldstein was born in the town of. Suchovaie, Grodno
Guberna, Russia. He went to London about 1890, where he spent
five years as a worker in the tailoring industry. He was active in
radical circles, and became a member of the famous Berner Street
Club. He was also associated with the "Arbeiter Freund," a Jewish
weekly.

In 1895 Brother Goldstein came to New York where he resided
until his death. He was engaged in the tailoring industry, and was
active in the struggle of the tailors throughout an entire decade.
In the 1913 strike in New York he was one of the prominent leaders.
He was a delegate to the Nashville Convention and helped to build
the Amalgamated. He was also a delegate to all conventions of
the Amalgamated, and an active organizer since the famous 1913
general strike.

Brother Goldstein was a veteran organizer of the tailors in New
York.

Advance of February 10, 1922, said :

"By the premature death of Isaac Goldstein the Grim Reaper has
removed from our ranks one of the most militant champions in the
cause of labor and left a cruel void in our midst.

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OP AMERICA

"Isaac Goldstein, affectionately known among tens of thousands
of clothing workers in New York as 'Ike/ was a veteran organizer.
To him the labor movement was a sanctum. A labor organization
must be clean and honest; else it should not live. Thus, almost from
the day of his landing here from England, he was engaged at the
double task of organizing the clothing workers and keeping their or-
ganization clean and honest. Hard as the former task was, the latter
was infinitely harder.

11 Goldstein was a leader in every struggle of the tailors against
oppressors at the factory as well as in the union. As a result he was
barred from the Nashville Convention, to which he was sent by Local
2, along with many other delegates, who were striving for a clean
and honest organization for the clothing workers. Goldstein partici-
pated in the formation of the Amalgamated, served it as general
organizer from the first day until his sad end, and participated in
every important organization work in New York. He was a leader
in the great strike of 1913 and in every other strike and lockout
after that.

"There was no day or night, good or bad weather, for Goldstein
when duty called. On the platform at a large mass meeting, on the
picket line, at a shop meeting — everywhere Goldstein's voice rang
like a tocsin, calling uipon the workers to stand united, resist op-
pression and above all, keep their organization clean.

"When Goldstein spoke out his mind he also, literally, spoke out
his heart. He was enthused by his subject and by the rapt atten-
tion of his auditors and put his health into his address. Not infre-
quently a rousing, soul -stirring speech was followed by a few days in
the sick bed. Leaving his sick bed Goldstein continued his speeches
and continued paying with his health for them. In his work for the
labor movement Goldstein disregarded physical consequences.

"Some months ago he took to his bed for the last time. A life-
destroying cancer conquered that indomitable spirit.

"Goldstein died much too soon. He was only fifty years old.
But this heavenly .joy was his: He saw the clothing workers rise
from the sweat shop, build up a powerful organization, and elevate
themselves to a high position in life; and to that great achievement
he contributed mightily.

"To Goldstein a labor union was the means to the great goal
of complete emancipation of the workers. That was the inexhaustible
source of his inspiration.

"At Goldstein's bier we bow our heads in grief.

"With the members of the Amalgamated to whom he has given
the best that was in him, Goldstein's memory will forever remain
green."

Brother Frank Bellanca. editor of // Lavoro, official organ of the
A. C. W. of A. in Italian, paid this triibute to our departed brother:

"Isaac Goldstein, one of the most popular and most beloved
figures in the labor movement, is dead.

"In life's most oppressing and checkered events there are men
who should never disappear, especially when such men have a con-

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 289

science all moulded for duty and a life entirely devoted to the eman-
cipation of humankind.

"It seems as if he were still before us — our brave and beloved
Comrade, merry as always, affectionate, modest, and truly great.

"In 1913, when the betrayed tailors' rebellion flared up against
the infamous agreement, Goldstein was, with the deepest earnest-
ness, in the first line trenches and, together with us, he hurried from
place to place, speaking, advising, threatening.

"On the famous night when the Committee of Twenty-five decided
the prosecution of the struggle which the scorpions of Astor Place
had declared closed, and the whirling of the new life first gathered
about the Brotherhood of Tailors and then about the Amalgamated,
the warm and powerful voice of one who had never wavered and
who had never allowed uncertainties to possess him in the presence
of the cowardice of others, was heard.

"And then he went to Nashville where he knew there would be
a clash between light and darkness, between the past and the future,

"And thereafter he was in every city and in every class-trench
where his work on behalf of the proletarians7 cause as poet, speaker,
and soldier was most needed. And he was, indeed, a poet with re-
spect to the cause to which he had devoted himself as an enthusiastic
apostle and soldier. And though tired and sick there was a note in
him which stirred his being and almost gave him renewed youth : the
call to the mission to which he had pledged himself.

"Poor Goldstein! He now lies motionless in the silence and that
unmaking of the body which robs man of his mortal form.

"But not all is dead in our great Comrade. Work for good is
not mortal ; and though the body may return to mother earth, what the
man has performed in his life adds to the heritage of social conquests.

"And it is the work on behalf of the brotherhood of men, on be-
half of love and justice, in which Isaac Goldstein was active for about
thirty jrears, that will never be forgotten by us and all the workers.

" 'Only he wrho leaves behind no heritage of love' can leave behind
unmoistened eyes. But you, Goldstein, on the way to your grave, you
have a retinue of weeping souls following your hearse.

"Go, great Comrade: your mission has reached its end. From
now on the remembrance of 3'our goodness and the example of your
actions will hover over our spirit. You leave to youth and the new-
comers on the battlefields you have departed from, a heritage of un-
daunted conscience and undying spirit of sacrifice. You leave behind
you a rare example of honesty and pride in a period of moral abjura-
tions, when the greatest virtue would se?m to be indifference or a
duplicity of character, or else cowardice, in the American labor and
political movement. And above all, modest and great Comrade, in
your wake there is an example of poverty, almost indigence, after
a thirty-year period frequently troublous, never quiet, passed in the
roaring trenches of the class war in which you were apostle and
leader of one of the most powerful organized armies.

290

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OP AMERICA

"May your life, the echo of your sincere and calm word, your
poverty and your example continue to spur, guide and inspire" the
proletariat and the vanguard of the workers in their painful climb
on which we are slowly proceeding.

"Vale, Comrade!"

Isaac Goldstein was personalty known to large numbers of our
members and respected and admired for his unselfish devotion to
the cause. His early death came as a shock to everybody. Brother
'Goldstein's contribution to our movement will alwa3rs live.

JOHN J. HAYES

Born, March 29, 1875— Died, March 28, 1922.

On March 28, 1922, the Amalgamated sustained another grievous
loss in the passing of Brother John J. Hayes, long a member and an
officer of the Boston Clothing Cutters' and Trimmers' Union, Local
181, A. C, W. of A.

In December, 1920, when the Boston clothing manufacturers sought
to divide the cutters' union from the rest of the Amalgamated for
the purpose of crushing the entire movement, Brother Hayes was one
of those who took the lead in indignantly repudiating the employers'
insinuation that the cutters could be 'bought to stab the union in the
back.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 291

Brother Louis Hollander, who was in charge of the Boston work
at that time, wrote for Advance the following appreciation of the life
and services of our departed comrade :

"The Clothing Cutters' and Trimmers' Union of Boston, Local
181, A. C. W. of A., lost in John J. Hayes one of the best men and one
of the most active workers.

"At seventeen years Brother Hayes entered the clothing industry,
and for thirty long years he was engaged in that industry. He joined
the Cutters' and Trimmers' Union, then an independent organization,
on May 4, 1903, and he immediately became active in the organization
and filled an important place in the organization until he died.

"Brother Hayes held various offices in the organization. He was
recording secretary for the Cutters' and Trimmers' for a number of
years, and when the Boston Cutters and Trimmers joined the Amalga-
mated in 1919 he was elected secretary and business-agent for the
local. He was well known among the clothing cutters and loved by
them. He had the confidence of the workers as well as the manufac-
turers. He lived in Revere, Mass., and was very active in that town
in the political field. He was also active in social welfare work. He
was loved and respected by every one in the town.

"The national office placed a wreath on his grave, and was also
represented at his funeral by Organizers Salerno, Dusevica, and Hol-
lander. The Boston Joint Board and local unions also had delega-
tions, and placed wreaths on the grave of Brother John J. Hayes.

' 'The Boston Joint Board and local unions mourn their great loss
in the death of John J. Hayes."

ANTON SOUKUP

Anton Soukup, a respected member of the Amalgamated organi-
zation in Baltimore, died, like Sodoni in New York, at the hand of a
gunman hired by an employer who stopped at nothing in order to
destroy the influence of the union.

He was shot in the spine, and after a long and painful period
in the hospital died on April 7, 1922.

Brother D. S. Kohn, secretary of the Baltimore Joint Board, in
the name of the organization paid this tribute to the loyalty of Brother
Soukup :

"In the strike the Amalgamated in Baltimore is now conducting
against the contracting shop of Benda we have suffered an irretriev-
able loss in the death of Brother Anton Soukup, who died as the re-
sult of a bullet wound received while picketing the shop, which was
fired by a strikebreaker.

"While Brother Soukup was not a striker, he showed a spirit of
true unionism by helping to picket the shop that was on strike. Al-
ways an active member, his loss to the Baltimore organization and to
Local 230 will be keenly felt at all times. The Baltimore organiza-
tion extends its deepest sympathy to the bereaved family, and as-
sures them that his memory will be cherished as long as an organiza-
tion in Baltimore exists."

292 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

DONATIONS BY THE A. C. W. OF A. AND

LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS THROUGH

GENERAL OFFICE TO OUTSIDE

ORGANIZATIONS

Russian Famine Relief $167,206.80

Furriers' strike 30,000.00*

New York "Call" 6,000.00

Los Angeles Sanatorium 5,163.25

Avanti Publishing Co 4,039.08

All American Farmer & Labor Co-opera live Congress 3,000.00

Socialist Assemblymen's defense 2,880.03

Rand School of Social Science 2,000.00

Italian Chamber of Labor 1,775.00

Socialist Party 1,000.00

Amalgamated Textile Workers of America 10,225.00

International Association of Machinists 1,000.00

Jane Addams, Medical Aid for Russia 500.00

Federated Press 500.00

Naturalization Aid League 500.00

The "New Majority" 500.00

Dante Memorial 350.00

Local 348, International Association of Machinists 300.00

Railroad, Port, and Terminal Workers

International Congress of Working Women 250.00

"N'aye Welt"

Boston Labor Lyceum

"Freie Arbeiter Stimme"

Lebensfragen

Workers' Defense League

Socialist Labor Party

American Labor Alliance for Trade with Russia . . . .

"Socialist Review"

Modern School Association of North America

Kropotkin Publishing Society

The "Messenger"

The "Emancipator"

Italian Hospital

Belgian Clothing Workers

American Humanitarian Labor Alliance

Workers' Defense Union

Civil Liberties Bureau •>£• '«?

Sundry donations and tickets purchased 36'

Total . • $240,703.81

*Of this amount $15,000 was contributed by the New York Joint
Board directly to the Furriers' Union.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 293

RESERVE FUND

The question of raising a reserve fund has been before us for
a long time. On January 14, 1922, the following circular letter was
sent to the local organizations:

"To the Joint Boards and Local Unions,

1 'Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America,

" Greeting: —

"As you already know, the General Executive Board at its ses-
sion last July in Montreal, shortly after the settlement of the big
lockout fight in New York, went over the entire field of the clothing
industry. The situation was considered from every possible angle.
Industrial conditions in the country as a whole, and in our industry
In particular, were carefully examined, also the possibilities for the
near future. A great deal of time was devoted to this matter at
that session.

"As a result, the General Executive Board arrived at the unani-
mous decision that the experience of our own organization, and of all
other important labor organizations in this country, dictates the es-
tablishment of a large and substantial reserve fund.

"A labor organization of our size and responsibilities cannot
work with any degree of safety without such a fund. The interests
of the workers in this industry require it. The necessity of such a
fund has made itself felt for a long time, but because of various
activities of immediate emergency, which conditions imposed upon the
organization in all parts of the country, we were obliged to delay the
creation of such a fund from time to time. We have now reached a
point where there can be no further delay. A fund must be raised,
and as soon as possible.

"The call for such a fund was not issued by the General Executive
Board at its July session, because it was so soon after the raising
of the $2,000,000 Lockout Resistance Fund. Later, the collections
for the relief of the Russian famine sufferers, a very urgent emer-
gency, caused further delay.

"At the last meeting of the General Executive Board, in Chi-
cago, it was decided to issue the call for the Reserve Fund now and
urge all of our local unions to act upon it without any unnecessary
delay.

"The decision of the July meeting was that a $20 assessment
be levied on each member. Needless to say, this amount does not
have to lbe paid at one time. Nor does the General Executive Board
expect every local organization to raise any substantial part of it

294 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

at once. Our intention is that the $20 be divided into reasonable
parts and that each local organization take up the collection of this
assessment without delay. Wherever industrial conditions permit im-
mediate collection, that should be done. Wherever a slight delay
would be wise in order to make the collection a success, that should
be done. It is left to the judgment of the local organizations to
determine how soon the collections should begin. But they must
begin this season. The delay must not be such as to jeopardize
the fund. Because of previous unavoidable delays it is imperative
that a good part of the fund be in the organization's treasury before
this season is over, so that the membership may have that additional
sense of confidence and feeling of security which a substantial trea-
sury is in position to give.

"Please let me know immediately what action your local organi-
zation has taken.

"The General Office has provided special stamps, 'n various de-
nominations, which will be placed in the book of the member, when
making a payment into the Reserve Fund.

' ' Fraternally yours,

"JOSEPH SCHLOSSBERG
* ' General Secretary-Treasurer. ' '

The appeal met with a good response. Chicago led all markets
with a large reserve fund. New York followed Chicago and is now
raising such a fund. Boston, Rochester, Cincinnati, and other cities
have taken similar action.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT 296

CONCLUSION

The past two years were a period of fire and brimstone for the
labor movement. The open shop campaign, which gained tremen-
dous impetus from the long industrial depression, was directed
against the Amalgamated as an especial target. We never flinched.
We stood our ground.

We surrendered none of our achievements. The organization re-
mained intact, with its vigor increased by the enforced exercise of
its power in the struggles imposed upon it. Nothing in the least
was yielded by us in the forty-four-hour week or in any of the rights
achieved through years of struggle.

We were compelled to accept reductions in wages.

The power of American organized labor was not strong enough
to afford the workers protection against wage reductions during this
long period of unemployment. The best that a labor organization
could do in the circumstances was to check, as much as possible, the
efforts to force wages down — reduce the reductions to a minimum.
That we did in all cases. Were it not for their organized power the
clothing workers would ere now in the morass of the pre -Amalgamated
sweat shop conditions.

The Amalgamated appeared on the arena undar favorable indus-
trial conditions. Many asked: "Will the Amalgamated be able to
keep the clothing workers organized also when hard times come
back? It has been impossible in the past."

We were put to the test and stood it. Not only have we main-
tained our organization and standards during the long period of
unemployment; we have also successfully fought off the greatest
lockout attack ever made upon workers in any of the needle trades.

The Amalgamated is now accepted by the workers and the em-
ployers as a permanent factor in the clothing industry. This indus-
try will never return to the pre-war status, where the employers
fixed working conditions arbitrarily without the right of the workers
to a voice in determining those conditions. The Amalgamated is in
the clothing industry to stay as a watchful protector of the workers T
interests.

Having faegun as an "outlaw" organization because unaffiliated
with the official national body of the labor movement, the Amalga-
lated is now universally accepted by our organized fellow workers
a welcome member in the family of organized labor. The success
)f our organization, the winning of great and bitterly fought battles,
the inspiring achievements, the moral and financial assistance given
us to others liberally and wholeheartedly, have brought organi-
itions and leaders in the general labor movement to a realization
the character and objects of the Amalgamated and of its nseful-
less to the movement. As a result we are frequently asked to co-

296 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OP AMERICA

operate with the general labor movement. That co-operation we
give gladly. The Amalgamated has won its place of honor and
esteem in the world of labor not by the technicality or accident ofc'
official affiliation, but by its spirit, record of achievements, and prac-
ticing what it preaches.

The hardships of continued unemployment and the tremendous
strain of a six-month lockout struggle in the bulk of the eastern
markets, involving about half of the membership, have not stopped
us from giving financial assistance as in the past, and in even
greater measure. We have helped workers at nome ana in other
countries. At home, we gave financial aid on various occasions. In
other countries, we cabled $100 for the striking clothing workers
in Belgium when a call came from the secretary of the International
Clothing Workers' Federation at Amsterdam, and we gave nearly
$170,000 to help relieve the workers in Russia from their sufferings
in the famine. The total donations for the past two years aggregate
nearly a quarter of a million dollars.

We have, despite the low state of employment, made great pro-
gress in educational work. This work is now a definite and per-
manent part of our program.

We have also made the beginning of Amalgamated Temples,
Amalgamated Libraries, and Amalgamated Banks.

We greet the Fifth Biennial Convention with gratitude for our
achievements in the past and hope for greater progress in the future.
Each of the preceding conventions has been a landmark. This one,
also, is looked to by the membership with fond expectations for new
and greater activities.

The loyalty and solidarity of the Amalgamated membership
have been an inexhaustible reservoir from, which the organization has
drawn inspiration and spiritual strength in the performance of its
great tasks. That reservoir is greater today than ever before.

On this occasion we send greetings and best wishes to the entire
Labor Movement and assure them of our continued co-operation.

We have passed through the severe industrial crisis unscathed
and are ready for the new period of constructive work.

Organized Labor the world over is growing to the new situations
as they arise. We shall keep pace with it.

We salute you, delegates to the Fifth Biennial Convention of
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America! Make new history!

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD,
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America,

SIDNEY HILLMAN, General President,
JOSEPH SCHLOSSBERG, General Secretary-Treasurer,
AUGUST BELLANCA, PETEE MONAT,

HYMAN BLUMBERG, SIDNEY RISSMAN.

SAMUEL LEVIN, FRANK ROSENBLUM,

LAZARUS MARCOVITZ, MAMIE SANTORA,

ANZUINO D. MARIMPIETRI, NATHAN SIEGEL,
ABRAHAM MILLER, STEPHAN SKALA.

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

Fifth Biennial Convention

OF THE

Almalgamated Clothing Workers
of America

Chicago, Illinois, May 8-13, 1922

FIRST SESSION

Monday, May 8, 1922
10:30 A. M.

The convention was opened at
Carmen's Auditorium at 10:30 a. m.
with the "International" and other
musical selections, rendered by the
Amalgamated Band under the direc-
tion of Nick O. Berardinelli.
ADDRESS OF JOSEPH L.
GOLDMAN

JOSEPH L. GOLDMAN, chairman
of the Convention Arrangement Com-
mittee of the Chicago Joint Board,
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America: Officers and delegates to
the convention ; sisters and brothers ;
friends and guests:

In the name of the Chicago Joint
Board, we welcome you to our city,
the city that made the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America fam-
ous for its progress.

I will now introduce to you one
of the brothers who since 1910 has
been one of our best workers in the
organization. He is now the general
manager of the Chicago Joint Board,
and is a member of the General Ex-
ecutive Board, Brother Samuel
Levin. (Prolonged applause.l

ADDRESS OF SAMUEL LEVIN

SAMUEL LEVIN : Delegates to the
Fifth Biennial Convention, sisters
and brothers: "We are very happy,
indeed, after twelve years of organ-
ization and struggle, to be 100 per
cent organized in the city of Chi-
cago, and have the convention here
today. (Applause.)

The Chicago membership is proud
to receive you and greet you upon
this great occasion.

At this time, when reaction is
sweeping this country, the Chicago
Joint Board, as a young organiza-
tion, with the market organized only
three years ago, was put to a severe
test: Would the organization live
through the reaction and the open
shop campaign? We are happy to
say that Chicago has passed through
the crisis untouched, and as solid as
ever. While we were obliged to
make a retreat with respect to wages,
we have held our lines firm; our
organization and our rights have re-
mained intact. (Applause.)

298

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

We have watched the progress of
the Amalgamated in other cities.
We have followed them with keen
interest. We are happy to congratu-
late you all upon the progress made.
(Applause.)

You have stood by the general or-
ganization in everything it has un-
dertaken. The success of the organ-
ization was due to the unity in our
ranks.

We started in a helpless condition
twelve years ago. Now we are as-
suming great tasks and responsibil-
ities, protecting ourselves and help-
ing others.

The entire membership of 40,000
organized clothing workers has been
brought to the full realization of the
true mission of a labor union, and
we are proud of this achievement.
(Applause.)

At this time of great differences
of opinion, which frequently inter-
fere with the work of an organiza-
tion, we have been successful in
keeping our ranks united for the
great tasks of the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America. (Ap-
plause.) As we welcome the dele-
gates from all over the country with
brotherly love, we hope that our de-
liberations will result in even greater
unity within our organization. We
hope and expect that this spirit, pre-
vailing among the membership in
Chicago, will also prevail all through
the sessions of our convention.

We are happy to have this great
congress, this great legislative body
of the Amalgamated Clothing Work-
ers of America, in our city. We hope
that it will enact laws which will
make the organization better and
stronger. (Applause.)

We are not here to offer you the
key of the city, because the Amal-

gamated Clothing Workers of
America knows what the key of the
city means in Chicago. During the
strikes of 1910 and 1915, and other
strikes, the key of the city to the
workers meant the key to the jail,
and we want you to be free and out
of jail. (Applause.)

We have established our reputa-
tion with the labor movement and
with others of the best elements in
this country, and we feel the great
responsibility of living up to our
established reputation and holding
aloft the beacon light showing the
path to a happy future.

My friends, it gives me great pleas^
ure to welcome you to our city and
to our convention. It also gives me
great pleasure to turn over the gavel
of the convention to the man of
whom we in Chicago feel very proud.
While he serves the organization all
over the country and in Canada, he
was an apprentice here in Chicago.
I need not give him any introduc-
tion. The delegates from the other
cities know him, know his impar-
tiality as chairman, and his ability,
qualifications, and skill in organiz-
ing the workers. He not only enjoys
the respect of all our 175,000 or-
ganized clothing workers, but also
the respect of the other side who
sit with him at the council table. He
has conducted conventions in the past.
I know that the delegates will give
him as much co-operation at this
convention as they did in Boston,
Baltimore, Rochester, and New York.
With your co-operation, we feel sure
that this convention will lead to
greater progress.

It gives me great pleasure and
happiness to turn over the gavel to
the chairman, Brother Sidney Hill-
nian. (Great applause, during which
the Amalgamated Band played the
"Marseillaise.")

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

299

ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT
HILLMAN

President HILLMAN: Delegates
to this, the Fifth Biennial Conven-
tion of the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America:

I am happy indeed to welcome
here the delegates to this conven-
tion, and through you the tens of
thousands of men and women
throughout the country whom you
represent. I am happy because I am
sure that you feel the tremendous
responsibility that that large mem-
bership has placed upon us. I am
happy to welcome the delegates from
New York, Baltimore, and Boston,
and through you the 75,000 men
and women who so gloriously fought
the battle of the organization a little
more than a year ago. (Applause.)
I know that the convention joins
with me in greeting the membership
of these cities who stood on the fir-
ing line for seven months when the
very life of the organization was
attacked. I hope that the delegates
from New York, Boston, and Balti-
more will take back the greetings
from this convention and say to the
membership that we hope in the fu-
ture the organization will have the
same cause to feel confident that in
any battle those soldiers will always
stand ready to defend the organiza-
tion, no matter what the cause may
be. (Prolonged applause.)

I am happy to greet at this con-
vention the delegates from the city
that is the latest acquisition to the
organization, a market that in the
past was known as the scab market.
I am happy to greet you, representa-
tives of our 10,000 members in the
city of Rochester, and the delegates
from Canada and the other cities.
And last, but not least, I am happy
to be here again in this city. This
is the city where the greatest bat-
tles of our organization took place.
This is the city where every step was

paved with struggle and sacrifice,
yes, the sacrifice of the lives of some
of our members. I am happy to be
here and greet you representatives
of the city of Chicago, and through
you to greet the membership of the
<ity of Chicago. (Prolonged ap-
plause.) We meet here in a city
where every man and woman work-
ing in the industry is a member of
our organization. (Prolonged ap-
plause.)

My friends, we are here after two
years of struggle. We have met to
give account to the membership we
represent and to the labor movement
of ourselves and of our work for the
past two years. We are here to lay
out policies that will guide us in the
next two years. We meet at a time
when labor has been tried through-
out the world, and throughout the
country. For the last two years, the
attacks upon labor were of the most
vicious character; everything that is
vicious, everything that is corrupt
has been combined in the assault
against organized labor. The em-
ployers in this country, as well as in
other countries, have taken every ad-
vantage of the great period of un-
employment and depression. Fol-
lowing the attack on the steel work-
ers and the attack on the men who
dig the coal, we had the great attack
upon the men and women who are
engaged in other industries.

(At this point a committee of shop
chairmen and chairladies from the
coat shops of Hart, Schaffner & Marx
marched through the hall and upon
the platform bearing a large floral
ladder of progress and throwing
flowers to the delegates, while the
Amalgamated Band played the "In-
ternational." The girls were dressed
in white. A presentation speech was
made by James Cooper.)

President HILLMAN: Delegates, I
was happy to be interrupted by a
group of chairmen and chairladies

300 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

in this city, employed in the shops of
Hart, Schaffner & Marx. I want to
say to that group of men and women,
and to the men and women whom
they represent, that Chicago has
been organized by them. (Applause.)
To them and to the rank and file in
this city is due fully the apprecia-
tion for the conditions we enjoy in
this city today, and I am only sorry
that not all of them are here. I am
only sorry that I cannot meet, and
you cannot meet, every man and
woman who has participated in the
struggles of the past. Some have
left the city. Some perhaps have
left the organization, and perhaps
some time or other we will have
the privilege of meeting them again.
But, my friends, there are some
whom we will never meet, and I want
at this time to introduce to you the
two members who gave up their
lives in the struggle of 1910,
Brother Nagreckas and Brother Laz-
inskas, and I move that the conven-
tion rise in memory of these two
brothers.

(Whereupon the convention rose
in tribute to the deceased brothers.)

President HILLMAN: This is, in-
deed, the proper place for us to meet
and give account of our steward-
ship. This is the place where a
great deal has been given to make
the organization what it is today, and
we would be traitors not only to the
present but to the memories of the
past if we did not assume full re-
sponsibility to our organization and
to the work its members have given
their lives for.

My friends, in the last two years,
with this tremendous onslaught on
the labor movement, an onslaught
along the whole line, we are sorry
to say that a great number of the
labor organizations have given way.
Some of the organizations are no
more, others have lost a great deal
of their membership, and some of

them have lost the most important
rights that labor has gained in the
struggles of the past, and especially
during the war, and right after the
war.

I believe it was in this city that a
board, appointed by a President of the
United States, whohimself declared the
eight-hour day a proper right of labor,
shamefully took away the eight-hour
day from the men and women in the
shops of the railways of the United
States. Unfortunately labor was not
in a position to defend that which is
not only the right of labor, but which
is the right of every man and woman
in this country. But the struggle still
goes on. We have today the hundreds
of thousands of men who have been
forced into a strike in the mines, and
every agency of government so far has
co-operated with the mine operators
to break down the organization that
has given some protection to the hun-
dreds of thousands of men employed
in supplying fuel to the country. When
the same miners stopped a few years
ago, in order to improve the conditions
of labor, there was an Attorney-Gen-
eral ready with an injunction to drive
those men back to the mines. Today
we find that Washington is taking no
action, and it will take action only
when the mine operators call Washing-
ton to their assistance.

My friends, the labor movement is
fighting today not only for conditions
that are beneficial to labor, but
it is fighting for conditions that
will make it possible for us to go
on as a civilized country. The attack
of the employers is to destroy the
American standard of living, to destroy
the freedom of labor and the liberties
that labor enjoys, to bring about un-
restricted autocracy as far as labor is
concerned. And, delegates, you must
understand that if freedom and liberty
are taken away from labor, they will
not remain in the rest of the country.
If I am permitted to paraphrase the

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

301

saying of one of the greatest men this
country ever produced, "You cannot
have a country half free and half
slave," and the labor movement today
is fighting for freedom not only for
labor but for the country at large.
(Applause.)

My friends, how did the Amalga-
mated fare during these two years?
We have not been let alone, that you
know. You know the lockout in the
East. You know the attacks in other
places. We had the kindly interest of
the courts and twenty-four injunctions
were issued against our organization
in the last two years. We have been
sued by employers' associations up to
the total of $4,000,000. We have spent
in the battle in New York City alone
upwards of $2,000,000, and over $250,-
000 in lockouts embracing Boston and
Baltimore. In this great struggle,
while in a few skirmishes we have
suffered temporary small losses on the
fringes, while we have made some con-
cessions where we felt that the inter-
ests of the organization dictated it, I
am happy to say to you that, in
spite of the unemployment, in spite
of the depression, the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America is
stronger today than even two years
ago. (Applause.)

We meet here representing an army
which, while perhaps not complete in
numbers, is better tried than any time
before. Our financial resources are
several times larger than ever before,
and, my friends, what is even more
important is the spirit of unity and de-
termination to stand together as never
before. I hope that you delegates to
the convention will take account and
examine the reasons why we have suf-
fered less than most other organiza-
tions. In my judgment the real reason
for our strength — and I hope that the
convention will make it even stronger
— is our form of organization. It is
because we are not a craft organiza-
tion. It is because we do not permit

an individual group here or there to
assume responsibility for the organi-
zation as a whole. I know it is diffi-
cult to speak about industrial organi-
zation without the penalty of being
proclaimed by the ignorant, or by the
enemies of labor, as advocating One
Big Union, or some other things that
are made to appear very dangerous to
the labor movement.

I hope that you will not be swayed
by temporary fears, that you will not
be swayed by temporary passion. The
industrial form of organization has
been proven efficient. It protects labor,
and not only does it protect labor, but
it protects the employers who have
made up their minds to deal with la-
bor. When we agree, the agreement
holds for everybody. When we do not
agree, we fight unitedly, so that our
just cause will ultimately triumph.
The industrial form of organization
carries responsibility, responsibility to
the men and women in the industry,
and responsibility to the industry it-
self. It carries out its contract, and it
carries out its obligations. It is re-
sponsible to the community in this city,
and the community knows that no
small group will precipitate a strike in
our organization. They know that
when the organization puts its stamp
on a policy, every man and woman will
know it is all right, and it is his or
her obligation to accept that policy,
because it is the policy of the organi-
zation.

I hope that at this convention
we will do everything possible to
strengthen that unified front in our
own industry. I hope I am permitted
to express, if nothing else, at least a
hope that the same unity will be ex-
tended on a larger area. May I be
permitted to express the hope that in
the very near future the delegates
from all the needle trades will meet
in convention? (Applause.) This is
no time for division. This is the time
for unity, closer and closer unity, be-

302

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

cause the enemy stands together to
fight us, no matter what organization
we belong to.

My friends, delegates to this con-
vention, I hope that, in laying out the
policies for the organization in the
future, you will approve all our poli-
cies in the past — policies that are no
longer theoretical; policies that have
been tested in times of prosperity and
in times of depression, and as a result
of those policies you have today an or-
ganization that all of us have a right
to be proud of. I hope we will see
to it that the gains of the past are
maintained, and, aye, I hope more that
on at least one immediate proposition
this convention will state its position
in a manner that cannot possibly be
misunderstood. We must make the
problem of unemployment the immedi-
ate issue in our industry.

You passed a resolution on unem-
ployment at the Boston convention.
As long as labor accepts unemployment
as a matter of course, nothing will be
done to cure the curse of unemploy-
ment.

What is the curse of unemployment?
It is not only that you and I and the
rest of labor in other industries may
be out of work. What is more import-
ant is that the very industrial founda-
tion of the country is undermined, and
that billions and billions of dollars of
wealth are being destroyed. And why?
Because of the inefficient way industry
is run today. As long as labor,
and labor alone, pays the penalty for
unemployment, I can assure you that
the employers of labor will do nothing
to cure unemployment. Unemployment
has to be placed as a definite responsi-
bility on industry. The men and
women who are needed in industry
must not be discarded as human wreck-
age, just because there is an inefficient
way of running industry.

On this convention depends so much
in our movement that I want to im-
press upon you that it is our responsi-

bility to consider resolutions that will
lead to action.

I believe that the greatest contribu-
tion our organization has made is its
liberal attitude toward the labor move-
ment as a whole. You will read in
the financial report that for the last
two years we have donated from the
General Office alone a quarter of a
million dollars to outside movements.
It is my firm judgment that when we
start taking a selfish attitude, when
we assume the attitude that most labor
organizations do, that outside of our
own little corner we are not con-
cerned, we, and we alone, will be
the first to pay the penalty for that
attitude. (Applause.) I plead with
you to understand that the responsi-
bility of the labor movement is to aid
along lines that will be constructive
and helpful; that we are a movement of
those who have been oppressed, and
who have still a great distance to go
until we get what we are entitled
to get; and that it is our obligation
to help those who are still suffering
under the iron heel of oppression.

I want to greet you and congratulate
you, and the organization, upon the
wonderful spirit of liberality and gen-
erosity that you have exercised for the
last two years. I believe that our or-
ganization has given more than all the
other labor organizations combined —
not individuals — to help to meet the
frightful cry for help from abroad. It
is a disgrace to the labor movement
that the real help for a great suffer-
ing country came from Hoover and not
from the American Federation of
Labor. We can proudly say that, while
the labor movement as a whole has
failed in this country, this country has
given more than any other country to
the suffering needs over there, and I
hope that the organization will in the
future, and will at this convention,
find some way to help in the economic
reconstruction abroad. (Applause.)

Conditions abroad, as I knew them

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

303

six months ago, arc bordering on abso-
lute chaos. The whole of Europe is
in danger of getting into the abyss of
complete anarchy, not philosophical
anarchy, but the kind of anarchy that
allows the law of the jungle, and takes
the place of the law of civilization, im-
perfect as it may be. The reconstruc-
tion of Europe will not be accomplished
by those who are merely interested in
seeing how much they can get out of
it. Where it is all a matter of bar-
gaining, where the human element is
not taken into consideration, where
they will sacrifice 1,000,000 lives to
get $1,000,000, the spirit there prevail-
ing is not the spirit that will bring
about reconstruction. I hope that the
men and women, not only of labor, but
all of those to whom mankind is not an
empty word, a meaningless word, will
try to find a way to make their con-
tribution to those who need it.

Delegates, the most important thing
that 1 hope will come from this con-
vention is, no matter what may be our
differences of opinion, no matter how
much we may disagree on some ulti-
mates here and there, that here in the
organisation we know no other place
but the Amalgamated Clothing Work-
ers of America, and the Amalgamated
alone. (Applause.) Delegates, I be-
lieve the membership has a right to
demand of you, as far as your move-
ment is concerned, allegiance to the
Amalgamated, and no other movement
can take first place before the Amal-
gamated. (Applause.)

I hope that you will reiterate at this
time, at your convention, that there is
no room for division. Delegates, I wel-
come you again. May I not hope that
two years from now, when we meet
again, we will have cause to be proud
of ourselves? I hope that we will be
able to say that we have made our con-
tribution, and that, because of our
effort, the lot of the laboring people at
large has become better than it is today.

Let me express from the bottom of my
heart my deep welcome and greetings to

you delegates to this Fifth Biennial
Convention. (Prolonged applause.)

ELECTION OF COMMITTEE ON
CREDENTIALS

President HILLMAN: The first point
on the order of business, according to
our constitution, is the appointment of
a Committee on Credentials. The chair
recommends the following seven mem-
bers for that committee:

Joseph E. Shea, Local 4, New York.

J. Levine, Local 209, Montreal.

Jesse Montague, Local 145, Indian-
apolis.

B. Goldman, Local 15, Baltimore.

Ph. Licastro, Local 200, Eochester.

S. Smith, Local 39, Chicago.

Lilly Farsing, Local 113, Cincinnati.

It is moved and seconded that the
delegates named shall constitute the
Credentials Committee. All in favor
signify by saying aye. Contrary, no.

The motion was unanimously car-
ried.

President HILLMAN: It gives me
great pleasure, indeed, to introduce to
you one who has contributed greatly
to our organization and helped to
make possible at least a partial suc-
cess in the 1910 strike. There was a
time, in 1910, when we had to go out
and collect nickels, and at that time
there was a group of people who gave
upwards of $72,000. It is really a
pleasure for me to acknowledge our in-
debtedness to the wonderful activities
of the Women's Trade Union League.
I take great pleasure in introducing to
you the national president of the
Women's Trade Union League, who
gave much of her time, mornings, days,
evenings, and at times the whole night,
and not only gave her time, but also
financial assistance, and what was
more, the spiritual warmth that made
it possible to carry through a strike
for eighteen weeks; I take great pleas-
ure in introducing to you Mrs. Ray-
mond Robins. (Applause.)

804

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

ADDRESS OF MBS. RAYMOND
ROBINS

Mrs. ROBINS: Mr. President,
friends and fellow workers of Chicago,
and especially friends and fellow
workers of the Hart, Schaffner & Marx
group, and delegates to this greatest
labor congress in America:

I have the privilege of bidding you
welcome in the name of the National
Women's Trade Union League, with a
membership of 600,000 women and some
men. We are the women's movement
within the labor movement. As I was
listening here with you in this great
hour of your victory, I thought for the
moment, and I still think it, that not
even heaven can hold an hour more
wonderful than the hour of the setting
free of the spirit of the workers of the
clothing industry.

You just heard a reference to that
great strike of 1910. I was brought
up, friends, to pay bills, and when one
bill after another had to be met, and
there was no money in the treasury,
and tens of thousands of men and
women and children were hungry, I
went to John Fitzpatrick and I said,
"How big a bill shall I run up and
not be afraid when we have to meet
it?" He said, "Do not run a bill
bigger than $10,000, and we will put
it up to the Chicago Federation of
Labor. ' ' One week went by, and I put
up the request for $10,000 to the work-
ers of Chicago, and they gave it, and
so again another week and still another
week and still another week, until
eighteen weeks went by. And because
we had the co-operation of the Chicago
Federation of Labor, we were able to
lay the foundation for this great labor
movement in the clothing industry in
America.

I also bid you welcome as president
of the International Federation of
Working Women. 1 bid you welcome
in the name of 2,000,000 working
women of thirty-five countries in
America and Europe and Asia. (Ap-

plause.) These women workers are in
Czechoslovakia, France, Italy, Belgium,
the eastern lands, in Japan, China and
India, as well as Rumania, Greece and
elsewhere. These women have asked me
over and over again, "Is it true that
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America represents the needle trades
of America? Is it true that an organ-
ization out of the sweat shops, out of
the garment industries, can have grown
to such strength and power and under-
standing of the suffering of other
people?" And I said, "Friends, it is
true." The gifts of hundreds of thou-
sands of dollars from the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America to Europe
and the steel workers of America and
the miners of America have carried
your name the world over.

I feel that a great part of your
strength is due to' the fact that you
have come out of the depths of poverty,
and you have reached down into the
depths of the labor movement and
helped those who are suffering and
struggling. You have helped those who
have been for seventeen years my
neighbors in the 17th ward of Chicago.
We know that these flowers, this
music, the great banquet yesterday
evening in honor of the woman leader
in the great strike of 1910, in honor of
Bessie Abramowitz, now the wife of
your distinguished leader and presi-
dent, Sidney Hillman, simply meant
that we were speaking heart to heart
and mind to mind. There is one
thought that I would like to leave with
you this morning. It is the thought,
friends, that there must be a greater
interpretation of your work and your
purpose to the great outside world. I
feel that we must have a deeper re-
vealing of the spirit and purpose of
the labor movement. I want to have
you know and feel that we are part of
that great upward struggle of the
human race, and that today, in Chi-
cago, there is being linked master mind
to master mind, with the great master
minds of the past. (Applause.)

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

305

President HILLMAN: The next
speaker who will address the conven-
tion needs no introduction to our Chi-
cago membership. I believe most of
them he has met outside and inside
of the courts, I am sure that quite a
number of the Chicago members have
been on the picket line, and they know
our fighting attorney, Bill Cunnea.

Let me say to the delegates that out
of 2,000 arrests in the city of Chicago
in the 1915 strike, not a single mem-
ber went to jail from the picket line.
I take great pleasure in introducing to
you our friend and attorney, Bill
Cunnea.

ADDRESS OF WILLIAM CUNNEA

WILLIAM CUNNEA: Mr. Chair-
man, comrades of the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America: I re-
serve the privilege of an Irishman to
disobey all rules, orders and regula-
tions. The doctors have told me to
keep out of court and off platforms for
a month or two, but I could not resist
coming over here this morning. I did
not expect to be called upon, but I
came here because I wanted to see the
delegates of that great organization,
the members of whom in Chicago went
through a chaos of blood and tears on
every street, met imprisonment and met
death, and still carry the old ideal of
working class solidarity. The meet-
ings of a few years ago in the back
rooms, in streets, have culminated in
this magnificent gathering of the Fifth
Biennial Convention.

There were times when things did
not run as well and as readily and as
smoothly as they do today. When you
selected Chicago as the place for your
Fifth Biennial Convention you honored
Chicago, but remember Chicago had
honored you, because this was the bat-
tlefield of your great struggle. Men
have been shot to death within a radius
of a mile of this hall. We have seen
the police turned loose upon the pickets.
We have seen men and women battered
to the ground and we have seen them

in the morning, those who could rise,
triumphant again, ready to go in the
line, ready to fight for solidarity. You
have seen the pictures of the men who
in 1910 met death for this principle
that you today advocate. They are
with us in spirit. In 1915, again right
within a mile from where this hall is
located, at Halsted and Adams streets,
Sam Kapper, of the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America, went to
his death, leaving a widow who still
pursues the cause; and to him, in a
cemetery a few miles away, a monu-
ment was erected by the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers. There never was a
sacrifice too great in this city. At all
times you found the spirit that rallies
around men fighting shoulder to shoul-
der. The men whom you see on this
platform now, dressed up, with flowers
in their button holes, the men whom
you see now with pleasant faces greet-
ing you, I have seen in the halls sleep-
ing on benches and on tables, standing
for a few minutes in a corner, to rest
up so that at 6:30 in the morning the
picket line might be sent out again to
do a day's work.

So in the midst of this great cam-
paign, when things have rolled along
with .you, do not forget the troubles
and the trials that were undergone to
bring the Amalgamated to where it is
today. The danger to an organization
is when the organization is successful.
There is not much danger when the
organization is struggling along.

Let us hope that your deliberations
will be such that they will redound to
the credit of your organization. I
claim, with all due respect to my dear
friend, Mrs. Robins, who preceded me,
that, notwithstanding her welcome,
notwithstanding Sam Levin's welcome,
and Sidney Hillman's welcome, the
only race in the world that can give a
welcome is the race that I belong to.
Let me express in a few words the
welcome that cannot be expressed in
any other way, the old Irish saying,

306

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

"A hundred thousand welcomes to you
all." (Prolonged applause.)

President HILLMAN: It gives me
great pleasure now to introduce a
man who is known to all of you, no
matter from what part of the country
you come — the counsel of our or-
ganization in this city, Clarence
Darrow.

ADDRESS BY CLARENCE DARROW

CLARENCE DARROW: I presume
you are all anxious for us lawyers
to get through talking so you can
get down to business. I do not know
any real good reason for coming here,
except I wanted to come and I was
invited. When I first met those who
in great trouble formed this organ-
ization, we did not have any flow-
ers. When I came in today, I did
not know whether this was a wed-
ding or a funeral. (Laughter and
applause.) When I see flowers I
am generally afraid to come.

Now, we can all of us give advice.
Advice is cheap, unless you go to a
lawyer, and it really does not amount
to a great deal. I have always been
for the union. I shall always expect
to be. Not that I think union people
are any better than any others, or
that they are any wiser, or any fairer,
or better companions than any
others. I do not think they are. I
have no delusions about them. I
know them too well. I am for them
because the men who make up a
union, a real union, never had what
they ought to get. After a while,
when they get more than they ought
to, I will probably be against them.
(Laughter.)

I know that the unions have a
hard time. I know labor leaders
have a hard time. I believe that
there is no union in this country
which has had wiser, more devoted,
and more intelligent leaders than
your union has. I know that to a

large degree the success of this or-
ganization, and it has been success-
ful, is due to the wisdom of its lead-
ers. I also note that success is very
dangerous. Anybody almost can
stand grief, but very few can stand
success, and, I am always doubtful
when I see a man, or an organiza-
tion, getting too comfortable. It is
pretty hard to be well-to-do and suc-
cessful and keep your ideals. It is
pretty hard to be a labor leader and
keep your ideals. Your leaders have
done it remarkably well. I do not
know how long they will hold out,
but so far they have done well.

Now, I used to have a great deal
of advice upon cases like this, but
I have not the same assurance that
I once had. In the first place, I
know the people never take it, and
in the second place, I never know
whether it is good advice or not. I
used to think that you never got
anything unless you got the Co-op-
erative Commonwealth. I am not so
sure any more. I used to think if
we did not get the single tax we
would not get anywhere. I am not
so sure of that any more. In fact,
I am not so sure that there is any-
thing that gets you anywhere. The
main thing is to be interested in life,
to have something to do, to forget
yourself. I am inclined to think
that there is no plan that can pos-
sibly work out to perfection; that
all plans are faulty, and due to one
thing, that is the people. These you
cannot change. They are made a
certain way. They will always be
made that way and always act prac-
tically the same way. But I do
think this, that a man should have
ideals. I do not know about
myself, but I think other people
should have them. They are pretty
good things to live on. I think a
labor leader should have ideals and
I think a labor organization should
have ideals. I think that is one

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

307

thing that has made this organiza-
tion one of the best and one of the
greatest and one of the most depend-
able organizations of labor any-
where.

The union must be practical, and
it is awfully hard work to be prac-
tical and have ideals, almost as hard
as to be rich and have ideals. Any
labor leader, or any organization,
cannot get for its members all they
want. If they could, nobody else
would have anything. Even we
lawyers would have to starve or go
to work. (Laughter and applause.)
No leader of working men can get.
for the working people all that they
really ought to have. All you can
do is to get as close to it as possible
and keep working for it all the time.

Labor is governed by the same
laws that govern everybody else,
largely the law of supply and de-
mand, and it will be so governed for
many years to come, perhaps for-
ever. I know you have to be gov-
erned more or less by the condition
of trade. I know that labor unions
ought to be in a situation where they
are willing to take every advantage
to get high wages and where they
are willing to meet and discuss the
question of lower wages. After all,
you must use good judgment when
these matters come up, and as a rule
those who have the management of
the organization understand these
questions better than the rank and
file.

The ideal labor leader, to my mind,
is a man who is practical, who has
his mind fixed upon what can be
done today and tomorrow and next
week, who is willing to examine all
questions fairly in the light of the
world, as the world is today, who is
always faithful to the men he rep-
resents, and still who has a vision
large enough to work for some bet-
ter condition of society than the one
he is living in now. That is a pretty

big bill, but that is an ideal labor
leader.

Of course, a good working man,
unless he is too much of an idealist
for this world, cannot live on the
dream of a future Co-operative Com-
monwealth. You have got to have
something to eat before it comes.
Otherwise you would starve while
you are getting it. It is well enough
to have your dream, and to work
for it, and to hope for it. But in the
meantime you must have a living,
and outside of having a living, we
ought to have enough to have some
fun out of life. A man who post-
pones his pleasure until the next
world, or until the Co-operative
Commonwealth, is never apt to get
any — except in his dreams. So a
labor leader must have a vision of
the future. He must have practical
common sense to get all he can day
by day for those who are dependent
upon him and upon his energy and
his wisdom, because your life is to-
day and tomorrow and next week,
and you must live now as well as
living in your dreams.

I have always been more or less
of an idealist. I like to see people
have a vision. I like to see them
try. I want to see the Russian peo-
ple succeed in their great under-
taking. Whether they will succeed,'
nobody can tell, or how long they
will succeed nobody can tell, but I
believe that every square person
ought to wish them well and do
what they can to help them. (Great
applause.) I like to see everybody
succeed in his dreams and his
visions, and at the same time I do
not believe in postponing all that you
could get while you are living now to
a better society after you are dead.
That is just as idle.

I believe that the organization is
wise that serves the mind as well as
the body, that appeals not only to
the present, but to the future. I

308 .AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

believe your, leaders in intelligence
and vision and devotion are far be-
yond the ordinary leaders. I believe
that they know enough to keep ahead
of them the vision of a world where
labor unions will not be necessary,
and still at the same time to know
that, the only thing in the world
which can do anything for the com-
fort and happiness and the prosperity
and the well-being of the men and
women who live and work today is a
strong union. I believe that this or-
ganization, above all the organiza-
tions that I know anything about,
has that kind of a membership and
that kind of a leadership. And so I
wish you well. (Prolonged ap-
plause.)

President HILLMAN : Delegates, we
are not going to introduce all of the
speakers whose names appear on to-
day's program, because of the late
hour, but I am sure that you are as
anxious as I am to hear the man who
shares the great responsibility of car-
rying out the policies of the organiza-
tion between conventions. It is not my
intention to file complaints on behalf
of the officers to the convention, but I
want to say to you that the struggle
at times becomes very hard and the
strain seems impossible to bear. Be-
cause of that I am especially grateful
that it (has been my privilege in the
past, as I hope it will be in the future,
to share the responsibilities of the or-
ganization's work with a man whom
you have seen fit to place in the high-
est offices of the organization. He has
always been a source of inspiration to
me as well as to the others in our
arduous work, and I call him my clos-
est associate and comrade in this work,
Brother Joseph Schlossberg. I take
great pleasure in introducing Brother
Schlossberg to the convention. (Pro-
longed applause, the Amalgamated
Band playing the "Russian Hymn."

ADDRESS BY JOSEPH SCHLOSS-
BERG

Secretary-Treasurer SCHLOSS-
BERG: Brother president, delegates
and friends : I realize that this gather-
ing here today, and all the subsequent
sessions during the week, will be
closely and carefully watched by
friends and enemies ; that a great deal
depends upon the work, and, above all,
upon the spirit of this convention. I
share the feeling of all of you, the
feeling of happiness of being here, in
this city, the Bunker Hill of the Amal-
gamated Clothing Workers of Amer-
ica. (Applause.) Whenever I meet
with Brothers Levin, Rosenblum, Ma-
rimpietri, Rissman, and Skala at a
meeting of the General Executive
Board, or in Chicago, I see in the unity
and comradeship of this group the
symbol of the unity and comradeship
of the 40,000 clothing workers in this
city. It is no accident that Chicago is
BO wonderfully organized, so organized
that no industry in any city can ex-
pect to be better organized.

We are meeting here today in an
atmosphere of music and flowers,
flowers brought to us by the sweatshop
workers of yesterday. The ladder of
progress, made of flowers, was pre-
sented to us by those workers who,
with their own strength and the sup-
port given them by the members in
other cities, have made a reality of
the American right to organize and
speak freely, without paying for it by
the loss of the job; a right which,
though guaranteed by American insti-
tutions, was a dead letter for the cloth-
ing workers until the Amalgamated
came and gave it vitality. (Applause.)

My friends, after every storm a
rainbow appears, a promise that bright
weather is coming. The rainbow has
various colors, and the combination of
all of those colors gives it beauty; and
we look at the rainbow and rejoice at
its beauty. The Amalgamated Cloth-

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

309

ing Workers of America is the rain-
bow upon the industrial firmament; it
is the promise of the bright day to
oorne, a bright future for every person
who is doing honest work. That rain-
bow will never vanish until that bright
day does come. (Applause.)

That rainbow, too, includes various
colors, for we have in our organization
members with different views and opin-
ions. Upon the platform of the Amal-
gamated all honest workers, intelligent
enough to organize the industry, find
common interest and unity of purpose
and determination to fight for the com-
mon cause. (Applause.)

This convention is being held at a
time when there are many varying
views in the labor movements through-
out the world; when the workers of
the world are acquiring a new men-
tality and a new consciousness. At
this time the industrial organization of
labor must be the place where all
workers with their varying views may
find a home and shelter. Because of
that the work of this convention will
be watched with particular interest.

We have always met at our conven-
tions united. We have always left our
conventions united, and went back to
our constituents to continue building
better, higher, and stronger our mag-
nificent building, that great structure
of which we are all proud. We have
been the master builders of this glori-
ous temple of labor. (Applause.)

The question might be asked by
many on the outside, "Will this con-
vention bring like results?" It is my
hope and my conviction that we shall
leave this convention as united, and
more so, as when we left the previous
conventions. (Applause.)

There is one thing that an individual
may not be sure of, but an organization
may be, and a movement may be, and
which lies entirely within the organi-
zation's own power. That is the ca-
pacity to retain eternal youth. An or-

ganization that begins to grow old is
doomed and useless, and the sooner it
dies the better. We must see to it that
our organization remains forever young
and that the spirit which animates the
enlightened workers today does not die.
If our organization keeps pace with the
progress of the world it will always re-
main young and able to meet any sit-
uation that may arise. (Applause.)

Brother Hillman said a few compli-
mentary words about me. I do not
want to say anything which, though
perfectly correct and true, might look
like returning the compliment, but I
do say that to Brother Hillman — with
whom I have co-operated fully and
who has co-operated with me — very
much credit is due for the magnificent
spirit of this organization which has
kept it young all of these years and
which has made the great achieve-
ments possible.

We have, among others, made one
great contribution, almost immediately
after our lockout of a half a year, on
which we spent over $2,000,000, and
while many of our members were out
of work. We have made that contri-
bution to our fellow workers in Russia,
which meant more than the large
amount of nearly $200,000 that we gave
them. The spirit in which the con-
tribution was made was no less im-
portant. The spirit and the message
delivered by Brother Hillman to the
Russian workers made every dollar
that we sent them carry with it a
message of love and true human affec-
tion. We have received greetings from
those workers. Here is a message re-
ceived by this convention from Russia.
(Tremendous and prolonged applause.)

This is a message from the Rus-
sian Red Cross, in charge of the relief
work for the famine sufferers in that
country, signed by Soloviev, presi-
dent of the Russian Red Cross:

"Russian Red Cross sends greetings
to Amalgamated convention and in

310

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

name 3(3,000 famine sufferers whose
lives Amalgamated has saved thanks
devoted comrades in America who in
time of their own trouble endured ad-
ditional hardships that their brothers
might live. Need is not over nor bat-
tle against hunger yet won, but Rus-
sian comrades have taken new cour-
age from your splendid support.

"SOLOVIEV, President,
"Russian Red Cross."

(The Amalgamated orchestra struck
up Russian and Italian labor hymns
amid loud and long applause.)

Secretary - Treasurer SCHLOSS-
BERG: We have saved 36,000
human lives by our help, which was
made possible by our organized
power. We can save more. (Ap-
plause.)

We are marching onward all the
time. We desire to march on peace-
fully. We ask that we be not inter-
fered with and that no obstacles be
placed in our path. Where obstacles
are placed in our way, those who place
them, there are responsible for the con-
sequences.

The Amalgamated Clothing Workers
of America has been fortunate in hav-
ing a group of people in charge of the
affairs of the organization who have
co-operated to the fullest extent and
made continuous progress possible. On
this occasion I want to express my
personal thanks, as one who has given

many years to the movement, to
Brother Hillman (applause), with
whom I am in closest touch, to Brother
Potofsky (applause), whom all of you
jknow by name and by his work, if not
personally, and to the members of the
General Executive Board (applause)
for the magnificent spirit displayed
every time it was required and for al-
ways rising to a situation with that
spirit and co-operating in complete har-
mony. There is no doubt of the future
progress, success, and achievements of
our organization.

This is the greatest convention so
far, and I hope the next convention
will be the greatest two years from
now. Each convention in its time has
been the greatest.

Let us retain this buoyant youth of
our organization and march onward
from one achievement to another.
( Prolonged applause. )

Maurice C. Fisch, secretary of the
Convention Arrangement Committee of
the Chicago Joint Board, was intro-
duced by the chair and made a num-
ber of announcements regarding the
entertainment of delegates for the
afternoon and evening.

At 1 :30 p. m. President Hillman an-
nounced that the Committee on Cre-
dentials would meet in the afternoon,
and that the next session of the con-
vention would be held at the Oriental
Consistory Hall at 9:30 sharp the
next morning.

SECOND SESSION

Tuesday, May 9, 1922

10 A. M.

President Hillman called the second Local

session to order Tuesday, May 9, 1922, Local

10 a. m., at Oriental Consistory Hall. Local

General Executive Board Member Local

Frank Rosenblum then read telegrams Local

of greeting and good wishes for the Local

deliberations of the convention from Local

the following: Local

2, A. C. W. of A., New York.
22, A. C. W. of A., New York.
30, A. C. W. of A., Brooklyn.
36, A. C. W. of A., Baltimore.
52, A. C. W. of A., Baltimore.
59, A. C. W. of A., Baltimore.
86, A. C. W. of A., Pittsburgh.
100, A. C. W. of A., Baltimore.

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

311

Local 115, A. C. W. of A., Montreal.

Local 120, A. C. W. of A., Louisville.

Local 139, A. C. W. of A., Phila-
delphia.

Local 143, A. C. W. of A., Philadel-
phia.

Local 158, A. C. W. of A., New York.

Local 166, A. C. W. of A., Minne-
apolis.

Local 171, A. C. W. of A., Boston.

Local 178, A. C. W. of A., New York.

Local 181, A. C. W. of A., Boston.

Local 240, A. C. W. of A., Brooklyn.

Local 247, A. C. W. of A., Baltimore.

Local 248, A. C. W. of A., New York.

Local 260, A. C. W. of A., New York.

Locals 273 and 278, A. C. W. of A.,
Los Angeles.

Local 275, A. C. W. of A., Chicago.

Kxe'-ntive Board, Local 243, A. C.
W. of A.. New York.

Teddy Cohen, member Local 243, A.
C. W. of A., New York.

Executive Board, Local 246, A. C. W.
of A., New York.

Executive Board, Local 248, A. C. W.
of A., New York.

Powers Clothing Co., strikers, Eed
Bank, N. J.

Employees of Witty Bros. ' coat shop,
New York.

Vest Makers of Greater New York,
A. C. W. of A.

Striking shirtworkers of Greenpoint,
New York.

Workers of Tuxedo Shirt Co., mem-
bers of Locals 246 and 248, A. C. W.
of A., New York.

Workers of Liondale Shirt Co., Lo-
cal 248, A. C. W. of A., New York.

Pants and Kneepants Makers ' Union,
A. C. W. of A., Philadelphia.

Joint Executive Board, coat depart-
ment, A. C. W. of A., New York.

Group of Italian Workers, Boston.

Staff, Newark office, A. C. W. of A.

Employees Shop 8, Koyal Tailors, Chi-
cago.

Jack Blum, Boston.

Pantsmakers of Greater New York,
A. C. W. of A.

Workers of Lubelle Bros/ shirt fac-
tory, members of Local 248, A. C. W.
of A., New York.

Chicago Group of Tailors for Soviet
Russia, Chicago.

Oscar Smith, Rochester.

Staff, Baltimore Joint Board, A. C.
W. of A.

Boston Joint Board, A. C. W. of A.

Boston Office Staff, A. C. W. of A.

Cincinnati Joint Board, A. C. W.
of A.

Cleveland Joint Board, A. C. W. of A.

Milwaukee Joint Board, A. C. W.
of A.

A. G. Piepenhagen, Milwaukee.

Montreal Joint Board, A. C. W. of A.

New York Joint Board, A. C. W.
of A.

Philadelphia Joint Board, A. C. W.
of A.

Shirtmakers' Joint Board, A. C. W.
of A., New York.

Joint Board, Shirt and Boys' Waist
Workers' Union, A. C. W. of A., New
York.

Twin City Joint Board, A. C. W. of
A., St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Office Staff, A. C. W. of A., New
York.

"Deeply regret my inability to meet
my comrades and friends and to work
with them. I am with you in spirit
and know that your constructive ac-
tion will be a great comfort to me in
this enforced absence. Unity of pur-
pose and tolerance for all shades of
opinion so indispensable in an eco-
nomic organization of labor shall pre-
vail in our ranks. The Amalgamated
will emerge from this convention
greater than ever.

"AUGUST BELLAXCA."

"We send our hearty greetings and
congratulations to your most important
assemblage in the history of the Amal-
gamated. Hail the Amalgamated.
"H. BLUMEXREICH,
"Vice-President, Amalgamated
Center, New York."

312

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

"My heartiest wishes for further suc-
cesses fully deserved by your great
militant organization. I hope to be
with you to help you fight your fights
and to rejoice in your victories.

"DAVID PINSKI."

"Joint Board Furriers' Union greets
delegates of the Amalgamated. Your
history has been one of phenomenal
growth in spite of all obstacles. Your
pioneer achievements in the field of
collective bargaining, methods of or-
ganization, and educational work have
been a source of inspiration and guid-
ance to all labor organizations. May
your splendid work continue.

"JOINT BOARD FURRIERS'
UNION, New York."

"The executive board and the pa-
tients of the home extend their sin-
cerest good wishes to the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America at its
Fifth Biennial Convention. We wish
you success in all your undertakings
and hope you will continue to assist
those in need.

"EX-PATIENTS, TUBERCULAR

HOME OF DENVER,
"DR. A. M. BLUMBERG, Secretary."

"Amalgamated Textile Workers of
America greets its sister organization
in convention. Thousands of striking
cotton mill workers join in congratula-
tions. Your accomplishments inspire
us to fight our way forward. May
your present deliberations be as fruit-
ful of results for powerful unionism as
those of the past.

"AMALGAMATED TEXTILE
WORKERS OF AMERICA,
"RUSSELL PALMER,
General Secretary."

"Greetings to the delegates assem-
bled at the convention. Our heartiest
congratulations on the splendid and
glorious victories achieved by your or-
ganization during the last two years.
May your organization continue to be

the torch of life and inspiration for
the entire labor movement.

"FANCY LEATHER GOODS

WORKERS' UNION,
"ISIDOR LADERMAN, Manager."

"The Hebrew Sheltering and Immi-
grant Aid Society of America, HIAS,
extends to you its heartiest congratu-
lations on this occasion and wishes to
express its appreciation for the sup-
port and co-operation received from
your members.

"JOHN L. BERNSTEIN,

" President. "

1 ' Greetings and best wishes from the
United Cloth Hat and Cap Makers.
May all your deliberations be crowned
with success, paving way for additional
glorious achievements of your organ-
ization and for greater solidarity and
organized co-operation among all or-
ganizations of the needle trades.

"M. ZUOKEKMAN,
"General Secretary."

"The Naturalization Aid League ex-
tends to your delegates in convention
assembled every success in your de-
liberations. The league appreciates the
assistance you have always rendered to
the cause of naturalization and ex-
presses the hope that you will continue
in the future your generous co-opera-
tion.

"E. H. JESHURUN, Manager,
"The Naturalization League. "

"Brothers and sisters, the United
Hebrew Trades of Chicago congratulate
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America and rejoice in the splendid
success they have achieved during the
short period of their life. Our or-
ganization in the name of the trade
unions of Chicago wishes you the
greatest success in your future work.
"LEON HANOCK, Secretary,
"United Hebrew Trades."

"The Independent Workmen's
Circle solidarity entwined with you
has always stood side by side

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

313

the brave builders of the high-
spirited, well-disciplined, Amalga-
mated Clothing Workers of America.
Hundred of our members are your
members and are fighting in your
ranks since your birth the daily
struggle to wrest industrial freedom
for the clothing workers in this
country. The gains of your organiza-
tion are gains for our members, and
to a large extent are also enjoyed
by the working class, and it is with
sincere pleasure that we herewith
extent to your Fifth Biennial Con-
vention our brotherly greetings and
hearty wishes for a fruitful and suc-
cessful convention.
"INDEPENDENT WORKMEN'S
CIRCLE,

"S. EGDALL, General Sec-
retary, National Execu-
tive Committee."

"Congratulations to the indomit-
able Amalgamated Clothing Work-
ers of America upon the completion
of another two-year period of strug-
gle and triumph. Very best wishes
for the years of achievements which
lie ahead. The great spirit and
vision of the Amalgamated always
lead to victory.

"S. JOHN BLOCK."

"The Douglas Park Day and!
Night Nurses welcome the honorable
delegates to our city and congratu-
late you upon your success. We hope
that the number of workingmen's
children we are caring for in our
institution may decrease rather than
increase. The delegates are invited
to visit the institution.

"THE DOUGLAS PARK DAY
AND NIGHT NURSERY,

"1300 Independence Boulevard,
Chicago."

"With the best wishes for the suc-
cess of the convention.

"DRESS MAKERS' UNION,
LOCAL 143."

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON
CREDENTIALS

Chairman Shea of the Committee
on Credentials reported that the
committee had found the following
delegates present and duly qualified,
and recommended that they be
seated:

Local 1, Boston. Alex Cohen,
Frank Lerman, Samuel Rosnitsky,
Morris Volinsky.

Local 2, New York. Harris Cohen,
David Goldstein, Jacob Itzkowitz,
Morris Kofler, Morris Rappaport,
Max Schultz, Nathan Wertheimer.

Local 3, New York. Joe Cohen,
H.' Kalushkin, Harry Kantor.

Local 4, New York. Abraham
Beckerman, Harry Jacobson, Joseph
E. Shea, Abraham Silverman, George
Stone, Morris Weinstein.

Local 5, New York. Abraham
Hershkowitz, Bernard Lader, Samuel
Liptzin, Jacob Pollack, Benjamin
Reinisch, Samuel Zutkoff.

Local 6, Chicago. Anna Bendik,
Joseph Hadac, Frank Hubacek,
James Kucera, Vincent Sedlak,
Joseph Sibal, Charles Svetal.

Local 8, New York. Samuel Her-
man, Jacob Schwartzberg, David
Weiss.

Local 14, Rochester. Jesse Free-
man, Jacob J. Levine, William Pot-
ter, Sam Sugarman.

Local 15, Baltimore. Barney L. Gold-
man, Harry Madanick.

Local 16, New York. Morris Gold-
stein, Frank Margolies, Sam Stein.

Local 19, New York. Alex Frie-
del.

Local 22, New York. Rebecca
Felsenfeld, Sam Fisher, Yudie Kan-
nor, Ralph Prager, Saul Riger.

Local 25, Boston. William Gins-
berg, H. Weisberg.

Local 30, Brooklyn. J. Powers.

Local 36, Baltimore. Sarah Bor-
insky, Harry Cohen, Philip Rudich,
Abraham Shapiro.

314

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

Local 38, Chicago. Constantine
Bobrowski, Julius Miller, Joseph
Pyzik, Stanley Satalecki, Michael
Stefanski, Stanley Szewczyk.

Local 39, Chicago. Joe Beck,
Meyer Berson, Morris Brown, Alfred
Dolnick, Kolmon Don, Anna Fox,
Tony Mysiewicz, Benjamin Rtitledge,
Jake Sagan, Louis Schlossberg, Hy-
man Schneid, Samuel Smith, Benja-
min Weiss.

Local 40, New York. Zelig Man-
del, Hyman Novodvor.

Local 43, Brooklyn. Isidor Fader,
Joseph Leppo.

Local 50, New York. B. Gold-
scholl.

Local 51, Baltimore. Ulisse De
Domiuicis, Tommasso Romagni.

Local 54, Brooklyn. J. B. Pali-
onis, Jonas Takalauskas.

Local 55, New York. Louis Stein.
Local 58, Brooklyn. William Cer-
nis, John Kriaucevicius.

Local 61, Chicago. Al Behm,
L. Bettelheim, Reuben Block, Ben
Cooper, Jacob Kroll, Louis Waxier.

Local 63, New York. Joe Catal-
anotti, Ruffino Conti, Giovanni
Crispo, Sam La Scala, Benne Ro-
mano, Michael Romano.

Local 75, Philadelphia. Morris
Shliffer.

Local 80, New York. Abraham
Yelowitz.

Local 85, New York. Anthony
Di' Blasi, Murray Zafarana.

Local 86, Pittsburgh. H. Pittler,
B. Shear.

Local 96, Syracuse. Sidney H.
Sherry.

Local 100, Baltimore. Thomas
Truss.

Local 101, Brooklyn. Theodore
Pilger.

Local 103, New York. Peter
Visotsky.

Local 104, Utica. Frank Cesar-
one.

Local 105, St. Louis. Paul Ar-
none.

Local 110, Philadelphia. Sam
Backer.

Local 113, Cincinnati. Sam Ester-
kin, Libby Farslng.

Local 114, Baltimore. Louis
Leiderman, Max Lukman, Morris
Michaelson.

Local 115, Montreal. Stanislas
Fournier, Jean B. Sabourin.

Local 116, Montreal. H. Wise-
blatt.

Local 117, Baltimore. J. Morris
Lavy.

Local 120, Louisville. Lee Clem,
Emma Saurer.

Local 138, Philadelphia. John
Dickson.

Local 139, Philadelphia. Vin-
cenzo Cascarino, Aristodemo Cavalieri.

Local 140, Philadelphia. Hyman
Mandelbaum.

Local 141, Philadelphia. Jack
Katz.

Local 142, Brooklyn. Anthony
Belles, B. Addeo, Harry Taylor, J. A.
Valicenti.

Local 143, Philadelphia. Isaac
Kessler.

Local 144, Chicago. Anna Boro-
wiak, Martin Engh, Joe Magliano,
Max Michaelson, Anna Stanish,
Abraham Wechsler, Jim Whitman,
Jacob Zitz.

Local 145, Indianapolis. Karl
Baker, Jacob Gerson, Jesse Montague.

Local 149, South Boston. Jozas
Lekavich, Jonas Pukiavicia.

Local 151, Milwaukee. Goldie
Berg, Ida Levin.

Local 152, Chicago. (Jenevie Crooks,
Beimie Kliinboff, Louis Kuznetz, Marie
Luelir, J. Price, William Sydow.

Local 155, St. Paul. Morris Bis-
now.

Local 158, New York. Dave Horo-
witz.

Local 159, Brooklyn. I. Kagel.

Local 161, New York. Max Sohn.

Local 162, New York. Jake Covin,
Max Potash, Jack Silver.

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

315

Local l<;i;. Minneapolis. C. C. Kra-
mer.

Local 1<>7. Montreal. J. Friedman.

Local 170. Baltimore. Rose Quitt.

Local 171, Boston. D. Genovese,
Samuel Trachtenberg.

Loc*al 172, Boston. Morris Kaufman.

Local 173, Boston. Nathan Biller,
Abraham Uaizer.

Local 176, Brooklyn. H. Di Angelo,
Giuseppe Procopio.

Local 181, Boston. Alfred J. Bow-
den. Francis P. Carrol.

Local ISO. New York. Harry Yanof-
sky. Alter Weinstein.

Local 188, Cincinnati. Henry Orte-
wein.

Local 180. Cincinnati. William Brann.

Local 195. Milwaukee. Isaac Kauf-
man.

Local 200, Rochester. Julius Agress,
Sam Cino, Peter Giaugreco, Philip
Licastro.

Local 202, Rochester. Salvatore
Ciaccio, Aldo Cursi, Joseph Di Nardo,
Pietro Esposito, Pasquale Rocca.

Local 203, Rochester. B. Chernaus-
ka&

Local 204, Rochester. Sadie Adler,
Rose Cominsky, Sadie Hurley, Sara
Rickles.

Local 205, Rochester. John Kroeger,
Hyman Lifshutz, John J. McMahon.

Local 206, Rochester. Louis Borzdiu-
ski. Julius Radzewiecz.

Local 20S, Vineland. Forte Yelona.

Local 209, Montreal. I. Levine, B.
Silverman.

Local 211. Toronto. A. Temkins.

Local 216, Toronto. Sam Stolberg.

Local 218, Baltimore. Joseph G.
Robasauskas.

Local 227, Rochester. Dora Englert,
Herman Keller, Jack Lambert.

Local 230. Baltimore. Anton Pasek.

Local 233. Toronto. A. Devonish.

Local 240, New York. Sam Schaen.

Local 241, Baltimore. Isik Bayer,
David Snapper.

Local 243. New York. Stephan Pe-
tilli.

Local 240. New York. George Gooze.

Local 247, Baltimore. David Schu-
man.

Local 24S, New York. Isidor Stern,
Harry Yudell.

Local 260, New York. M. Urwand.

Local 262, Brooklyn. Morris Epstein,
Michael Rini, Sam Winter.

Local 267, Boston. Abralam Lan-
field.

Local 269, Chicago. J. Bemlokaitis,
A. Brazis, F. A. Mason, A. YaWstas.

Local 270, Chicago. Romeo
rese, Antonio Greco, Leone

Calva-
Grippo,
Ric-

Angelo Guastaferri, Salvatoy<
ciardi.

Local 271, Chicago. John E. Kelley,
Sr.. Michael J. Taylor.

Local 272, Chicago. Myer Klein.

Local 273, Los Angeles. T. F. Heinie.

Local 275, Chicago. Mabel Ashcraft,
Elnora Saner.

Local 276, Kansas City. E. F. Sand.

Local 277, Montreal. H. Auerbach.

Local 280, New York. Lorenzo De
Maria.

Baltimore Joint Board. Samuel Ru-
dow.

Boston Joint Board. A. Ramuglia.

Buffalo Joint Board. Jake Chmiel.

Chicago Joint Board. William Mc-
Kay.

Children's Clothing Trades Joint
Board, New York. Joseph Gold.

Cincinnati Joint Board. Ben Her-
man.

Cleveland Joint Board. D. Solomon.

Connecticut Joint Board. Samuel
Lavit.

Milwaukee Joint Board. Frank Ja-
guet.

Montreal Joint Board. David Wolfe.

New York Joint Board. Sam Kate.

Philadelphia Joint Board. Morris
Koslovsky.

Rochester Joint Board. A. I. Pearl-
man.

Shirtmakers' Joint Board, New York.
Alex Cohen.

Twin City Joint Board. Sander D.
Genis.

316

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

President HILLMAN: The commit-
tee has submitted a report in part. It
recommends the seating of the dele-
gates whose names have been read by
the chairman of the committee. It
wishes the following delegates to ap-
pear before the Committee on Creden-
tials this evening: J. Malkin of Local
16, H. Bernstein of Local 19, the en-
tire delegation of Local 102, Boston,
and J. Cohen of Local 162.

The committee's report was unani-
mously adopted.

President HILLMAN: The conven-
tion is now regularly constituted for
the transaction of such business as
may properly come before it. The
chair will now appoint the Committee
on Rules:

Alfred J. Bowden, chairman, Local
181, Boston; Ben Herman, secretary,
Cincinnati Joint Board; Lorenzo De
Maria, Local 280, New York; J. B.
Saborin, Local 115, Montreal; Louis
Stein, Local 55, New York ; Max Luck-
man, Local 114, Baltimore; Isaac
Kessler, Local 143, Philadelphia; P.
Visotsky, Local 103, New York; F.
•Rocca, Local 202, Rochester; and
Michael Rini, Local 262, New York.

There being no objection, these dele-
gates will constitute the Committee on
Rules.

The chair will appoint Al Benin, Lo-
cal 61, Chicago, and Louis Lederman,
Local 114, Baltimore, as sergeants-at-
arms.

I shall now call upon Brother
Schlossberg to say a few words to the
convention on a matter in which we
are all interested.

ADDRESS BY BROTHER SOHLOSS-
BERG

Secretary-Treasurer SCHLOSS-
BERG: (Prolonged applause, the
convention rising.) Fellow workers,
our convention has been a festival, just
as all previous conventions have been;
a celebration. But we are now to dis-

charge a solemn duty. In the course
of human events things happen which,
while for the moment they seem to
bring in a discordant note, serve to
emphasize the great purposes of our
movement.

Yesterday, when our Chicago brothers
opened this convention, they paid trib-
ute to two members of this organiza-
tion who gave their lives so that this
organization might live and grow. To-
day, when this convention is fully con-
stituted, when it is in session as the
parliament of the workers in the Amer-
ican clothing industry, we shall inter-
rupt our proceedings for a moment,
lower our flags, and bow our heads in
grief in memory of the brothers we
have lost.

(The convention rose in respect to
the departed brothers, while an or-
chestra directed by Alexander Zukov-
sky played Chopin's "Funeral March.")

Secretary-Treasurer SCHLOSS-
BERG: At the last convention in
Boston, two years ago, we had with us
one who gave his entire useful life to
the organization of the clothing work-
ers of this country, one who was a
constant source of inspiration to those
in whose ranks he worked. We have
lost him since then — Brother I. Gold-
stein of Local 2, New York. We miss
him today. We shall always miss him.
His place cannot be filled by anybody.
It will remain vacant.

Yesterday we paid tribute to Broth-
ers Nagreckas and Lazinskas of Local
269, Chicago, who were murdered by
enemies of labor in the great struggle
of 1910.

There was one worker in our ranks
to whom nature was cruel. She de-
prived him of the power of speech and
hearing. But with those terrible han-
dicaps he was loyal to the working
class. Samuel Kapper, a member of
Local 39, dedicated himself to the class
struggle with his whole heart and soul.
His honest and precious life was de-
stroyed by a thug who acted as a

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

317

strikebreaker in the great Chicago bat-
tle of 1915.

Last year Brother David Sodoni, a
member of Local 142, New York, was
murdered by a strikebreaker in New
York.

This year Brother Anton Soukup, a
member of Local 230, Baltimore, was
shot by a strikebreaker in Baltimore.
Such were the sacrifices made by those
brothers for this organization. They
could not have made greater sacrifices.

We have also lost since the Boston
convention another loyal worker who
was then with us, Brother John J.
Hayes, one of the officers and leaders
of the Boston Cutters' and Trimmers'
Union.

We pay sacred tribute to their mem-
ories. The cause for which human life
is sacrificed must be deserving of such
sacrifice. Let our work be a glory to
the memories of those who have made
the supreme sacrifice.

We bow our heads in grief.

(The delegates arose, bowed their
heads in solemn tribute to the departed
brothers, and the orchestra concluded
the funeral march.)

President HILLMAN: Delegates,
you will take notice that all resolu-
tions must be handed in in triplicate;
three copies of each resolution. All
the resolutions are to be given in to
Assistant General Secretary-Treasurer
Potofsky, at the rear of the platform.
There will be a limited time in which
to hand in your resolutions. After the
time limit it will require the unanimous
consent of the convention to introduce
a resolution.

I shall now introduce to you one
who has been a loyal friend of our
organization for years, and represents
a paper that has stood loyally by the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America in all its struggles. It gives
me great pleasure to introduce to you
Brother Charles W. Ervin, editor-man-
ager of the New York "Call."

ADDRESS BY CHARLES W. ERVIN

CHARLES W. ERVIN: This con-
vention has very important business to
attend to. The greetings of the New
York "Call" have already been given
to you in what service it has been
privileged to give in the last five
years, and therefore no words that I
might say would do anything but waste
your time.

For myself as an individual, I have
just a little to say, because I have
been privileged in a small way to serve
you personally. I am sorry that I can-
not pay as great a tribute to your work
as I heard paid by one of your mem-
bers at the coat makers' entertain-
ment last night. Without any attempt
at oratory, without any attempt of
any kind to create effect, he merely
told how he went to a clothing manu-
facturer in Chicago asking for a job
before the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America was formed, and
how he went to take a job after the
Amalgamated was formed.

What you will do here in the next
four days, if you do your duty, must
be conditioned on what is back there
in the shops. Men and women come
here and pay you a tribute. They may
even give you advice, or try to, but I
just want to say this: The Amalga-
mated has shown that it knew how to
run its business in the past, and will
know better than anybody else how to
run its business in the future. (Ap-
plause.)

You have helped in many outside
movements rightfully. No voice of the
working class has ever come to you in
vain appeal. You have listened and
always given. But you have been able
to give, you have been able to co-
operate, because you first took care to
have an organization that could do
that kind of work and could give that
kind of co-operation. (Applause.)

You will have differences of opinion.
You are human, and what is more, you
are alive, and as long as you are alive

318

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

and are a pulsing organization, you
must have differences of opinion. But
remember this: You have come here
to confer, and not to contend. Out of
conference, out of composite judgment,
must come measures that will be for
the weal or the woe of nearly 200,000
workers and their loved ones. What
you do here is indefinably more im-
portant than what the Congress of the
United States would do. There they
forget all about those who sent them
there. Here you must remember all
about those who sent you here.

And so, in closing, I can only say
this for the New York "Call": The
New York "Call" has been privileged
to serve your interests, your interests
as an organization.

(At this point a committee from
Cutters' and Trimmers' Local 61 of
Chicago marched up to the platform
with a large floral piece, and after
presenting same marched up into the
visitors' gallery. Prolonged applause.)

President HILLMAN: The chair
will ask Brother Rosenblum to intro-
duce the chairman of this committee
that has visited us. (Prolonged ap-
plause.)

Brother FRANK ROSENBLUM: Mr.
Chairman, delegates, and brothers and
sisters:

This group of people who have just
come before you are the cutters and
trimmers of Hart, Schaffner & Marx,
members of Local 61, from which I
have the honor to come, as well as the
manager of the Chicago Joint Board,
Brother Levin, and Brother Rissman,
who is their representative, and which
even Brother Hillman hales from, al-
though he holds no membership in the
local, holding membership in Local 39,
which he represented years back. (Ap-
plause.) Hart, Schaffner & Marx cut-
ters and trimmers in Chicago have
played a most important part in the
organization in the city. There was no
work, no matter how humble, or how
skilled, or no matter how much sacri-

fice it entailed, which they have not
been ready and willing to do. (Pro-
longed applause.) They have done the
roughest kind of work and the very
finest work of organization, and have
always accounted for themselves in a
most creditable manner.

I have had occasion to talk to
them time and time again, and I
have praised them for their work,
but I have never had an opportunity
until now to present them to the
entire organization in the light they
justly deserve. I am happy, and 1
am deeply moved that this oppor-
tunity has come. I think that all of
us here, officers, delegates, and visi-
tors, can take example from them,
from their services to the organiza-
tion,, and from their Accomplish-
ments. It may be a little narrow
for me to praise our Chicago organ-
ization, being a Chicagoan. But we
have, I believe, a most wonderful
organization, that compares well
with any group, within our union
or elsewhere, an organization that
Is militant and still versed in its
work, has discipline of the finest
form, and still has democracy in its
purest sense, an organization that
has always succeeded in accomplish-
ing the things it set out to do,
whether it be to organize the unor-
ganized, to assist our own organiza-
tions elsewhere, or to help on the
outside. A request from any or-
ganization has always been re-
sponded to in the fullest measure.
(Applause.)

We have never failed on a job.
We have always tried to do it the
best we could, and I believe we havo
fairly succeeded. If the Chicago or-
ganization is as glorious as it is, I
know of no other group that is en-
titled to more credit than those boys
right up there. (Prolonged ap-
plause, the delegates rising.)

I am especially happy to present
to you one of the original boys of

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

319

1910, active from the beginning
of our entire organization, who has
been honored by them with the office
of shop chairman, Brother Mike
Rose. He is a soldier in the ranks
who has been doing his bit. (Pro-
longed applause.)

ADDRESS OF BROTHER MIKE
ROSE

Brother ROSE: Mr. Chairman,
delegates, and visitors: I take great
pleasure in presenting to this con-
vention today, on behalf of the cut-
ters and trimmers of Hart, Schaffner
& Marx, this little token of our ap-
preciation and thankfulness to the
organization for the various things
it has accomplished for us in the
last ten years, especially in the last
four or five years.

Local 61, especially the members
from Hart, Schaffner & Marx, which
is the oldest group of that local,
have always been known as the
shock troops of the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America.

With due respect to the delegates
from all the other cities, anything the
workers of Hart, Schaffner & Marx
ever started to do, they have
seen it through, whether it was on
their own behalf, or whether it was
financial help for other organiza-
tions. Any time they were called
upon, the boys from Hart, Schaffner
& Marx were always the first ones
to go over the top.

I want to thank the delegates here
on behalf of the boys and myself for
the welcome reception they have
given us, and I hope they will enjoy
their stay in Chicago, and when they
leave the city they will remember
the reception we have given them.
(Prolonged applause.)

President HILLMAN: The chair
sympathizes with the speaker who
was interrupted, but I think there is
sufficient compensation. I am sure
that Brother Ervin enjoyed the inter-

ruption, the same as I did yester-
day. I will now call upon Brother
Ervin to continue.

CHARLES W. ERVIN: I have
talked a good many thousand times
in my life, and I never had a more,
glorious interruption than this. (Ap-
plause.)

That proves that all I said about
the Amalgamated is true. (Ap-
plause.)

For the New York "Call," I want
to say this in summing up: It has
been privileged to serve you during
my editorship. I hope it will con-
tinue to be privileged to serve you,
whether I edit it or not. And for
myself, I can promise you this: In
your struggles the only thing we
will know are your enemies and the
only enemies you have are the em-
ployers. (Applause.) As for your
administrative affairs, your internal
affairs, they are none of our busi-
ness, and never will be. (Profound
applause.)

GREETINGS FROM RUSSIA

President HILLMAN : I am sure the
delegates have enjoyed the greetings
from one who has participated time
and again in our struggles.

I have just been informed that greet-
ings have come to the convention from
the needle trades abroad.

I am very happy to call on one who
is well known to all of the delegates,
and who has always been considered a
good friend of the Amalgamated Cloth-
ing Workers of America, Brother
Shaffer.

Brother SHAFFER : The following
cablegram was received at our office,
the office of the "Forward," from onr
correspondent in Moscow:

"M. Losovsky, president of Interna-
tional Trade Union Congress, asked
me to send through the 'Forward'
greetings to the convention of the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America.

320

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

"In his greetings he expressed his
wish for unity and harmony in the
ranks of the American labor movement.
The following is his message :

" 'Unity and harmony in the ranks
of the American labor movement is
more important than all other ques-
tions. This comes first. Class con-
sciousness you may be sure will come
by itself. The bosses with their lock-
outs against the workingrnen will help
to bring it about.'

"He also expressed himself sharply
against the slanderers of Russia. He
asked to remind them that a revolu-
tion cannot be accomplished with silk
gloves."

The convention greeted the message
with prolonged applause.

President HILLMAN: It is a great
satisfaction to introduce to the conven-
tion one of the oldest friends of our
organization, a man who has always
stood with our movement. I take
pleasure in introducing Brother Robert
Minor.

ADDRESS OF ROBERT MINOR

ROBERT MINOR: Brother officers
and delegates: There is a famous ice
cream for sale on the market now. It
has a beautiful name. This is the time
of beautiful names in the markets of
capitalism. There was an ice cream
manufacturer who wanted to sell his
goods, and he knew that he had to have
a fine name for it which would bring
to the hearer visions of a happy re-
lease from the summer hot weather.
So he hit upon the glorious idea of
calling his ice cream "Eskimo Pie." He
has made, I understand, millions of
dollars out of the mere choice of a
name. That is the organization of
capitalism. Choose a good name and
you can sell anything on earth to the
American people.

Now, there is a great aggregation of
employers in this country, a tight or-
ganization, composed of something like
3,000 compact organizations, central-

ized into a national association of em-
ployers, which wishes to establish in
this country the foulest, the ugliest,
the basest system of industry that has
ever been dreamed about and feared
by human beings. What they wish to
establish, the goods which they wish to
sell to the American public, is the
sweat shop, is the unlimited work day,
and a standard of living not fit for
anything but the lower animals. What
they want to establish is the sweat
shop and slavery. But they have to
have a fine name for it, so they call it
by a name that brings to the average
person a vision of something fine and
beautiful, like "Eskimo Pie" seems to
us in hot weather, so they chose that
glorious name, the "open shop" move-
ment.

"Open," that sound fine. W. L.
Mackenzie King, who was publicity
agent for the Rockefeller institutions,
has expressed very clearly the need of
fine, high-flown names to offset their
real implication.

This open shop movement, comrades,
is perhaps ten times bigger than any
man in this hall has been able to con-
ceive it, including, of course, myself,
who knows perhaps less about the labor
movement than most of you. Com-
rades, this movement is going on
silently, but with the weight of a Jug-
gernaut. Look over the situation, and
we see the biggest strike in American
history, the coal miners' strike, which
practically amounts to a lockout. We
look over the terrible drives that are
being made to destroy unionism. We
look over the efforts to take advantage
of the unemployment that has risen to
millions in order to destroy the labor
movement, and then we have to say
from the bottom of our hearts, broth-
ers and sisters of labor, in and out of
America, now is the time for unity!
(Applause.) Unity! (Applause.) For
a united front! (Applause.) A united
front to extend as far, as far as what!
As far as civilization goes, comrades.

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

321

(Applause.) A united front that may
stretch around the world, an interna-
tional united front. (Applause.)

In the past few years, since the be-
ginning of the world war, the civiliza-
tion that we knew before has crumbled
and cracked, and rotted until, com-
rades, it is the view of many of the
wisest people in the world that this
civilization has not many more years
to run in its present form.

This period, viewed from the inter-
national capitalist point of view, is
the period of blasted hopes and broken
promises. If you cast your memory
back to the beginning of the war, and
more especially, to the beginning of the
time when the United States became a
participant in the world war, you may
remember the glowing promises that
were made of better things for labor.
When the workers started to ask for
anything, just a little improvement, a
little advance in their standards, they
were told, "Wait; wait until after the
war. After the war you can have any-
thing you want. After the war you
will be happy. After the war every
dream you have will come true."

And when the end of the war came,
the promises vanished into silence, and
the men who made them dug into their
capitalistic underground and began to
work silently, swiftly, and cruelly to
destroy every vestige of the labor
movement in America.

Comrades, in the last few years, and
more especially since the fiasco at Ver-
sailles, where the world war treaty, or
so-called peace was signed, and still
more especially at that little circus in
Genoa, the only statesmen, the only
men of sense and hope and promise
for humankind are the representatives
of the first Socialistic Republic on
earth. (Prolonged applause.)

It has become clear to the men and
women of vision that the world's
future cannot rest in the hands of those
who have ruled the earth in the past.
We know that the future of the human

race lies with another class, another
kind of men from those responsible
for the killing of 10,000,000 men in the
world war and the crippling of 30,000,-
000 more. Above all, comrades, the
workers know that the salvation of the
human race lies in organization of a
different kind from the kind that has
ruined the world in the past. The for-
ward-looking men and women of the
working class begin to realize now, as
never before, that the organization
that the world will depend upon in
the future is an organization of work-
ers and workers alone. (Applause.)

I used to think, nineteen years
ago, when I first joined a labor
union, that the workers sometimes
are short of vision. Yes, and any
worker has a right and a duty to
call attention to it — many times our
comrades lose their strength and
breadth of vision and must be re-
minded of it. We must make it
plain to the workers who have not
yet discovered it, that the labor
struggle goes on and on, beyond the
meager beginning that has as yet
been gained.

Let me remind you that with only
one land in this world where work-
ers rule, and when in the United
States, the most advanced of all
countries, only one-tenth of the
working class is organized, that
means that we are merely at the be-
ginning of the labor movement. Let
us remember that it is going further,
further, further. Let me remind you,
comrades, to ask yourselves now,
and especially on occasions where
workers come to a beautiful gather-
ing like this, to ask yourself and
answer fearlessly: "How far does
the labor movement go?"

Comrades, I have been at that
point of the globe's surface where
the labor movement has gone far-
ther than anywhere or any time be-
fore. I have been in recent times
to the city of Moscow, and in that

322

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

city I have seen something indicating
the length to which the labor move-
ment goes. I remember that that
movement which has culminated, not
in final success, but in the foremost
branch of militancy, that movement
over there has from the beginning
until now been a movement, solid-
aric with every workers' organiza-
tion in the world.

I remember when Tom Mooney
and Warren Billings were facing
death in California. They were
saved from death by whom — by Rus-
sian workers! (Applause.)

On the first of May, not many
Mays ago, I stood on the Red Square
in Moscow and saw an enormous
parade go by. It was participated
in by the strongest army now on
earth, led by Leon Trotzky. (Ap-
plause.)

In that parade, comrades, there
were banners. Yes, the Russian
brothers and sisters love flowers and
banners just as we do in this beau-
tiful convention. And those ban-
ners were strikingly illustrative of
what the labor movement in its
furthermost advance posts means for
the international working class.
Amongst those banners I got the
sight of a great, big picture, almost
the size of the curtain on this stage,
and on that portrait, as it came down
the street, I made out a great bald
head of an old veteran of the labor
movement, broken and pale and thin,
recognized now by all the workers of
the earth; and underneath that mon-
ster portrait in the parade on the
First of May in Moscow, there were
written these words, "Eugene V.
Debs, our comrade." (Great ap-
plause.) I maintain that we may
yet hope that the great wave of
newly gained inspiration that comes
from that most successful of all labor
movements, may strengthen, inspire,

and fertilize our movement every-
where.

Let us remember that at the base
of all the labor movements on earth
there lies the spirit of rebellion
against tyranny.

When we look at what has been
done, not alone in the far off other
side of the world, but in this union,
the results prove that the men of
rebellious spirit know how to build.
(Prolonged applause.)

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON
RULES

Delegate BOWDEN : The Committee
on Rules respectfully submits the fol-
lowing rules for the guidance of the
convention :

1. The convention shall be called to
order at 9 :30 a. m. and shall remain in
session until 12 :30 p. m. It shall re-
convene at 1 :30 p. m. and remain in
session until 5 p. m. We also recom-
mend that the convention adjourn to-
day, May 9, 1922, at the close of the
morning session.

2. Every delegate may speak once
on a resolution or motion before the
convention.

3. Speeches shall be limited to eight
minutes, but the time of speaking may
be extended by vote of the convention.

4. The chairman of a committee
may have ten minutes to close the de-
bate.

5. No resolution shall be received
after 1 :30* p. m., Wednesday, May 10,
1922, except upon unanimous consent
of the convention.

6. All resolutions shall bear the
name of the introducer and the title
of the organization he or she repre-
sents, and shall be In triplicate.

7. Roberts' "Rules of Order" shall
be the guide on all matters herein pro-
vided.

President HILLMAN: The commit-
tee moves the adoption of the report
Are you ready for the question?

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

323

Delegate BECKERMAN, Local 4: I
would like to know what is customary
as far as resolutions are concerned.
Are the resolutions reported to the con-
vention?

President HILLMAX: Yes. The
Committee on Resolutions brings in a
report. All resolutions are handed to
the Committee on Resolutions.

Are there any objections to these
rules? Hearing no objection, these will
be the rules governing the convention.

I will ask Brother Potofsky to state
for the convenience of the delegates
how best to handle their resolutions.
Brother Potofsky. (Prolonged ap-
plause.)

Assistant General Secretary-Treas-
urer JACOB S. POTOFSKY : We have
an office in the rear of this hall, and
delegates may have their resolutions
typed right here this afternoon, or at
the Morrison Hotel, in Room 1411. I
will be at the hotel all afternoon and
evening and the delegates who have
resolutions may bring them over there.

APPEAL FOR NATIONAL DE-
FENSE COMMITTEE
President HILLMAX : The delegates
will please make sure to bring their
resolutions in as quickly as possible.
The chair will announce the commit-
tees tomorrow morning. The chair
will now introduce a representative of
the Xational Defense Committee, who
is also a member of our organization.
I take pleasure in introducing a mem-
ber of Local 4, New York, Brother Ben
Gitlow. (Applause.)

Benjamin Gitlow addressed the con-
vention on behalf of the Xational De-
fense Committee, and asked for finan-
cial assistance for that organization.

(At this point a woman member of
the organization entered bearing
greetings to the convention and flowers
from the shop of Charles Kaufman,
Cicero, Illinois. Applause.)

The chair stated that the request of
Brother Gitlow would be referred to

the Commitee on Finance, in accord-
ance with the usual procedure

The chair called on Brother Rosen-
blum to read some more greetings to
the convention.

Brother Rosenblum read the follow-
ing letters:

"Dear Comrade Schlossberg:

"Your good letter of the 27th ult.
addressed to Gene has been received.
Please accept our thanks for your
kindness in sending copy of your
May Day issue containing his mes-
sage which will no doubt come by
a later mail.

"The kind invitation you extend
to Gene to attend the opening of
your Fifth Biennial Convention is
fully appreciated, but unfortunately
the state of his health prevents him
from doing himself that pleasure.
He had to decline the invitation to
attend the convention of the Socialist
Party at Cleveland for the same rea-
son. You will understand, of course,
that if my brother were well enough
it would be a matter of more than
ordinary satisfaction to him to at-
tend the convention and to mingle
with the delegates of the Amalga-
mated Clothing Workers. He has
been suffering from nervous exhaus-
tion and it will require some time
yet before he will have recovered his
strength sufficiently to take up his
work again in the regular way.
Meantime he is doing what he can
within the limited bounds his
strength and the orders of his phy-
sician will allow. Please return
Gene's sincerest thanks to your
committee for the kind invitation
you extend, and convey to the dele-
gates in convention assembled his
most cordial greetings and his
warmest wishes for the success of
their deliberations.

"Yours fraternally,

"THEODORE DEBS."

324 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

"Amalgamated Clothing Workers,
"Dear Comrades:

"On this the opening of your Fifth
Biennial Convention, 'Dziennik Lud-
owy' sends you greetings. The work of
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America in the past has won the ad-
miration of the labor world, not only
on account of the valiant stand taken
in battles with our common enemy, but
for the executive ability displayed by
the leaders and members in carrying
out their plans; the far-sightedness and
social consciousness manifested in deal-
ing with problems of the immediate
present, and the knowledge of the
necessity of preparing for the future;
in short, the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America may well be said
to be at once the most constructive
and the most revolutionary, in the real
sense, of all the groups of union work-
ers in America striving for a solution
of their particular problems.

"As you well know, many of our
readers and sympathizers are members
of your organization, and we are proud
to state that this is due in part at least
to the influence of 'Dziennik Ludowy/
the one Polish daily carrying the mes-
sage of enlightment to the Polish
worker. 'Dziennik Ludowy' has de-
voted its energies, not only to the
teaching of Socialism, but to the ad-
vocacy of industrial organization as
well, and at all times pointing out the
advantage of unionism such as yours,
which has for its foundation a logical
conception of the economic construction
of our society. The success of the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America has justified the advocacy of
this form of organization. We wish
you to know that we appreciate the dif-
ficulties that confront you and those
you will perhaps encounter in the
future, but we can assure you always
of our constant co-operation and sup-
port in all your endeavors.

"The working class movement of
America will no doubt watch with eager

eyes the development of your organiza-
tion, and we are confident that in this
convention, as in the past, you will
prove yourselves social constructionists
as well as class conscious workers, and
will serve as a beacon light for those
still struggling in the dark of old,
worn-out forms of unionism, unfit to
cope with the situation presented by
our modern industrialism. We trust
they will heed the lessons being taught
by you and profit by your experience.
"Again we greet you as the bright
star of unionism pointing the way.

"Fraternally yours,
"Polish People's Publishing Co.,
Chicago,

"M. SOKOLOWSKI,

" Editor. "
"LAW SCHOOL OF HABVAED

UISTIVEBSITY,
"Cambridge, Mass.

"May 2, 1922.
"My dear Mr. Schlossberg:

"I greatly appreciate the generous
invitation conveyed through you to at-
tend the Fifth Biennial Convention of
the Amalgamated. Would that I could
be present, for I should much like to
do so but it is utterly out of question.
"May I ask you, however, to convey
my greetings to the convention and my
message of good wishes for the suc-
cess of your deliberations and the con-
tinued growth of the Amalgamated —
growth in strength, in wisdom, and in
achievement. The last two years mark
a memorable chapter in your history.
Against great odds and in an atmos-
phere of unthinking hysteria you main-
tained your steady course and devoted
yourself to the solution of the great
problems of your industry. You have
achieved very much, by dealing with
facts, facing realities, and not wor-
shipping empty phrases, alive to your
responsibilities and devoted to your
superb leadership.

"The future is ahead of you, full of
unsolved difficulties. But you face
them with the momentum of a great

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

325

past and with a strong tradition of
real statesmanship. To the con-
structive achievements of the Amalga-
mated your many friends look, with
increasing measure, with real hope and
satisfaction.

"Very cordially,
"FELIX FRANKFURTER. "

Delegate LIC ASTRO, Local 200:
Brother Chairman and delegates: I
was very much surprised when the
chairman of the Credentials Com-
mittee reported the absence of Com-
rade and Brother August Bellanca, a
member of the General Executive
Board, because of illness. I take it
for granted that all of you know how
much August Belanca has done for
this organization, and one reason
that he is absent today is because of
the many sacrifices he has imposed
upon himself. The Italian delega-
tion expressed its regrets for his
not being present with, us today. We
ask the convention to join with us.

President Hillman announced that
the general officers would send
a telegram joining with the Italian
delegation in expressing the regret
of the convention that Brother Bel-
lanca was unable to be present. (Ap-
plause.) The following telegram
was accordingly sent:
"August Bellanca, New York:

"The delegates to the Fifth Bien-
nial Convention of the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America heard
with deep regret of your illness,
which has deprived them of the
pleasure of your presence and the
benefit of your co-operation. It is
painful to think that you who have
done so much for the upbuilding of
our beloved organization are now
missing at this convention, the great-
est Amalgamated convention so far
held. The ideals you have fought
for are animating this convention
and the cause you have dedicated
yourself to is promoted by it. The

delegates send you their love with
wishes for speedy and complete re-
covery. The Amalgamated needs
your continued co-operation in the
struggle for the emancipation of
labor.

"JOSEPH SCHLOSSBERG."

President Hillman then intro-
duced one of the Amalgamated's
counsel and friends, Peter Sissman, a
close associate of Clarence Darrow.

PETER SISSMAN: Delegates of
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers
of America: Please accept my heart-
iest congratulations and greetings
and welcome to our city.

You were born in an age of strike
and strife, a heroic age. I, for one,
congratulate you that you have out-
lived that heroism of starvation.
That may be beautiful to talk about,
but by experience you probably know
that the glories of starvation for sev-
eral months are hardly compensated
by all the compliments that you will
get for the rest of your days. Un-
less that sacrifice is to bring us to
a condition where it shall become
unnecessary, it is not really worth
the effort.

It is my belief that we have over-
come the necessity of the heroic
sacrifices of the past. Let us hope
that strikes are a thing of the past
for the garment workers and also
will become a thing of the past for
the working class. (Applause.)
Let us hope from now on that it will
take courage, and intelligence above
all, to understand the situation, to
recognize your right to strive for an
ideal, but also to have your feet
firmly on the ground and recognize
the immediate present.

It is your extreme good fortune
to have had a leader who is an
idealist, but who also does not for-
get what the immediate present
makes possible, and the opportunity

326

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

it presents for improvement. (Ap-
plause.)

I think you are to be congratulated
on such a leadership. I am. glad to
know that in your organization there
has been no strife, and I hope that
the progress you have made in the
past will be surpassed by the achieve-
ments you will show in the future.
(Applause.)

President HILLMAN called on
Secretary-Treasurer Charles H. Burr
of the Chicago Joint Board, who
made a number of announcements on
behalf of the Chicago Convention
Arrangement Committee. The ses-
sion then adjourned to permit the
taking of the official photograph of
the convention, and to reconvene
the next morning at 9:30.

THIRD SESSION
Wednesday, May 10, 1922

9:30 A. M.

President Hillman called the con-
vention to order at 9:30 a» m.

Brother Frank Rosenblum read
some additional communications to
the convention.

Brother A. I. Pearlman reported
for the Committee on Finance that
the financial reports had been found
correct.

President HILLMAN: It gives me
a great deal of pleasure to introduce
to you one who had the privilege not
only to investigate conditions abroad,
but also the courage to come back
and state conditions as he found
them — Captain Paxton Hibben.

ADDRESS OF CAPTAIN PAX-
TON HIBBEN

PAXTON HIBBEN: Comrades,
nothing could give me greater pleas-
ure and nothing could be a greater
honor for me, than to be introduced
to speak to this audience by Hillman
of the Amalgamated, a man who is
known all over the world as one of
the foremost leaders of organized
labor.

I want to convey to you the
thanks of the Russian Red Cross for
the wonderful things that the Amal-
gamated has done for the starving
people of Russia. You have had a

telegram read here from Soloviev,
the head of the Russian Red Cross,
thanking you; but we get in the
Russian Red Cross files every day
telegrams and letters and newspa-
pers magnificently praising the Amal-
gamated for its splendid generosity.
The people of Russia never will for-
get that you have raised $170,000
to relieve the famine, nor the ma-
chinery and the supplies you have
sent over there.

I feel that I have a certain right
to speak before this convention, not
only because I am a union man my-
self, but also because for a great
many years I have followed the
struggle of the Russian people to
achieve the freedom, not just of the
Russian workers, but of the workers
the world over.

Back in 1905, when I was in the
American embassy in Petrograd at
the time of the revolution, when the
constitution was granted to Russia,
I remember the celebration that was
held in the streets of Petrograd.
Thousands of workers and students
paraded through the streets with
their red flags for miles and miles,
and I marched with them. I remem-
ber, as they marched past the places
where some of the martyrs had given
their lives to the cause on "Bloody

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

327

Sunday," they stood bareheaded and
sang the "Marseillaise." I believed
then that freedom had come to Rus-
sia at last. But after the revolution
of 1905, we all lived to see the con-
stitution nullified, and the fruits of
that bitter and costly struggle come
to nothing — until 1917.

A short time ago, here in Chicago,
Samuel Insull, representing certain
large capitalistic interests, said on
the witness stand that the greatest
stimulus to production he had ever
known was a long line of men wait-
ing at the factory gate for work.
For a century, my friends, that
stimulus to production — of a long
line of men waiting at the factory
gate for work — has been the only
one known; a stimulus in blood, a
stimulus in suffering, a stimulus in
agony of the workers — for more pro-
duction. The whole industrial age
has produced nothing but that.

But in 1917, a new Declaration of
Independence was born to the world,
with a new vista of a future for the
workers of the world that had been
dreamed by the world's workers for
a century, but never before realized.
No matter what happens to the
present Russian government, no mat-
ter whether Soviet Russia continues
to exist or not, the fact is that the
ideal that can be summed up in a
few words — honest work, decent
food, proper quarters to live in for
the workers the world over — that
ideal has been not only enunciated,
but has been carried into effect tor
four years. That ideal will remain.
Everybody the world over knows
now that this ideal can be realized,
and everybody the world over knows
that the sooner it is done, the better.
(Applause.)

I am not belittling in any way the
fight that has been waged for a cen-
tury by organized labor in all the
countries of the world, not only in
England but here as well. I am not

belittling the things that you men
and women have done, the suffering
that you have been through, and the
long, hard road that you have been
over, step by step. Look back ten
years at your own trade and see
where you are today, and see if it
does not make you proud!

You have trod a long, hard road.
But it would have been a road for
centuries more, perhaps, if it had not
been for those men and women over
there in Russia who suddenly got tired
of the whole business and who turned
it inside out. It was they who made it
possible for everybody the world over
to see that here was a thing that could
be done. They are on the firing line.
They have borne the brunt, over there,
not only of war, but also of the things
that have followed the war: civil war,
ruin, and now famine and hunger.
They are the ones who are breaking
the ice for you and for me. They are
the ones who are standing the gaff.
You and I have had it pretty easy over
here compared to what they have had.
They have paid the penalty to make it
clear to everybody the world over that
this thing can be done, and that pen-
alty has been persecution by all the
rest of the world.

Everywhere the sinister influences of
exploitation of workers have been at
work to demonstrate the failure of the
thing that has flamed into being in
Russia. They do not care whether
Lenin or Trotzky run Russia or not. if
only they would not run a workers'
Russia. That is what they want.
They will leave Lenin and Trotzky
alone tomorrow if Tchitcherin at
Genoa will sign on the dotted line
and betray the ideals of the workers in
Russia. Xone of these exploiters of
the workers the world over give a
whoop about the personality of those
who are leading the workers' move-
ment in the world today — if they will
only give up the ideal for which they
are fighting.

328

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

You see in Lincoln Steffens' dis-
patches this morning what they are
trying to do. They say to Tchitcherin,
"Never mind, accept in principle.
Then we can talk about the details
later." My friends, Tchitcherin has
said from the very beginning, "It is
not we who must accept in principle,
but you who must accept the principle
that the workers the world over are
entitled to a decent minimum of life
and a decent minimum of conditions
of work, and when you accept that
principle, then we can talk." I say to
you men and women today, it does not
make a bit of difference whether you
agree with the Communists or not. I
do not have to be a Communist, I do
not have to be a Bolshevist to see that
the fight over there, reduced to its final
analysis, is a fight for the freedom
of the worker to dictate the terms on
which he works. And that fight, if it
is won in Russia, will be won the world
over, and the thing that you and I
have been working for all our lives,
and our fathers before us for centuries,
will have been won for the workers
everywhere.

I am not talking politics. I am only
telling you that they can only win that
fight, which is your fight and my fight,
if they have your courage behind them.
Hunger is their greatest enemy. Peo-
ple come to them with food in their
hands and say, "Give up and you can
all have all you want to eat." There
is a pressure in the very relief that is
being brought into Russia, that does
not come from you and me — a psy-
chological pressure on the Russians
to give up the thing that they fought
for all these years. And the thing that
keeps them from giving up is the
knowledge that you here are with
them, and that you will help them.
Your courage is their weapon, your
support is their armor, your belief that
they are going to win is the thing that
makes it certain that they will win.

But, men and women, the famine is

not over. Do not believe these lying
tales you read in the newspapers about
how America has fed all the starving
Russians and everybody in Russia is
eating beefsteak and onions. It is not
true. Today there are as many chil-
dren starving as there were last win-
ter and thousands upon thousands
have died. There is not going to be
enough milk for the children for
years yet to come, until Russia gets
back on its feet. Do not let them
lie to you. Don't let them "kid"
you into taking away your interest
and your courage from Russia. Now
is the hardest pull, when the trees
are green and when they over there
see spring coming everywhere, and
yet there is no food. Now is the
hardest moment for them. Now is
the moment for your help.

Last fall when I was there, little
children used to gather around the car
where we were and hold out their
hands and cry to us over and over
again, "Little uncle, give me a tiny,
tiny piece of bread." We did not have
it. How could we get the bread they
were dying for to them? But every-
one of us who saw and heard prom-
ised himself that he would take that
cry back to the men and women
workers all over America, as I bring it
to you today. I speak with the voice
of those thousands upon thousands of
children over there when I say to you,
"A little tiny piece of your bread, a
little bit of your money" — that means
life to those little children over there.

Oh, men and women, do not stop now.
You have done such a wonderful thing.
Go on with it. See them through to
the end and to the victory. Will you
do that? Will you men and women of
the Amalgamated do that? (Tremen-
dous and prolonged applause.)

DOCUMENTS FOB DELEGATES

President Hillman called the atten-
tion of the delegates to the "Report
of the General Executive Board " for

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

329

the period since the Boston Convention,
the souvenir "Clothing Workers of
Chicago, 1910-1922," prepared under
the direction of Dr. Leo Wolman of the
Amalgamated Research Department and
presented with the compliments of the
Chicago Joint Board, and the Amalga-

mated "Illustrated Almanac

pre-

pared by the Education Department,
which had been placed on their tables.
He urged that the delegates go over
the matter carefully.

REPORT OF GENERAL EXECU-
TIVE BOARD

Secretary - Treasurer SCHLOSS-
BERG: Delegates, this book, of
which each of you has received a
copy, contains the report of the Gen-
eral Executive Board for the past
two years. This is a large book,
and you are familiar with the work
of the organization during the pe-
riod; still I hope that you will all
read the report and take back with
you to the membership a complete
message of what we have done, and
what we are, in the light of our past
accomplishments, still to do.

I shall now give you only a brief
review of our work, touching upon
some of the most important points.

The past two years have been a
period of terror against the labor
movement, marked by the campaign
for what is known as the "open
shop," or, more modernly, the
"American plan" — a reign of ter-
ror for the purpose of destroying
the labor movement. In this con-
nection it might be of interest to
all within and without the labor
movement to know how this move-
mentislookedupon by liberal-minded
persons not in the labor movement.

Bishop Williams, in a sermon re-
cently given at the Cathedral of St.
John the Divine in New York, had
this to say about the open shop
campaign:

"The 'open shop' movement is a

movement to crush labor, right or
wrong. The attempt is as futile a*
sitting on, the crater of a volcano.
It inevitably will turn into a sud-
den revolution, because they at-
tempt to stifle equality of oppor-
tunity.

"Business men are 'seeing red.'
They commenced seeing red with
their drive on radicalism. They
branded everyone who had a pro-
gressive thought as a 'parlor Bol-
shevist,' and persons have been
secretly arrested by paid spies on
manufactured information and often
deported without cause.

"I invesigated several of these
cases in Detroit, and found persons
supposed to be dangerous radicals
to be but simple, ignorant foreign-
ers, unaware of what was being done
to them. It is the foulest page in
American history. The very prin-
ciples of Americanism have been un-
dermined by this hysteria and panic.
This is the work of invisible govern-
ment."

The open shop movement was
inaugurated in this country before
the war, but was suspended during
the war because of the shortage of
labor. It was renewed with greater
vigor and viciousness after the war,
particularly in the year 1920, be-
cause of the shortage of jobs.

The Amalgamated Clothing Work-
ers of America was singled out as
an especial target by the evil forces
referred to by Bishop Williams in
his sermon. As a result, we had our
great lockout struggle in New York.

The organization did all that could
honorably be done to avoid that
struggle. We did so, not only be-
cause industrial conditions were un-
favorable, but because it has always
been our policy to make progress
without violent struggles, whenever
we are permitted to do so. I can say
now that while the Amalgamated

330 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

Clothing Workers of America has
gone through a large number of
struggles, not one of them was of
our choosing; they were all forced
upon us.

The opportunity for breaking
down the organization of the cloth-
ing workers semed so favorable in
1920, and was so tempting, that no
effort made on our part to meet the
situation peacefully was of any avail.
When the fight was forced upon
us the members came to the defense
of the organization in a manner
which was amazing to both friend
and foe. It was amazing because,
after all, the clothing workers were
not organized until a few years
ago, and the general impression was
that the great achievements of the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America were due solely to the fav-
orable industrial conditions created
by the war. The general impres-
sion was, also, that with the end of
the war, the return of the soldiers,
and the shutting down of the in-
dustries which had been kept alive
by the war, the structure built up by
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers
of America would collapse. But
those who had believed so were mis-
taken; those who had fondly pro-
phesied to that effect proved to be
very poor, prophets.

The clothing workers learned not
only how to get things, but also how
to hold them, and how to use their
organized power for continuous and
permanent progress.

When our members in New York
were locked out, the General Execu-
tive Board issued a call for a $1,000,-
000 defense fund. There was gen-
eral laughter and scorn. The or-
ganization was ridiculed. The call
for $1,000,000 was taken as a fine
gesture and nothing more. There
was not a labor organization in this
country that had ever raised a

$1,000,000 fund; and here came
sweatshop workers who, but yes-
terday, did not know how to hold
together, and were dispossessed by
the thousands because they were un-
able to pay their month's rent a
week after the factory shut down,
and those very sweatshop workers
spoke of a $1,000,000 fund. The col-
lapse of the organization was ex-
pected to come with a great crash.

What was the result? We not
only raised a $1,000,000 fund; we
made it $2,000,000. To be cor-
rect, our appeal for a $1,000,000
fund to defend the organization
against the attacks of those who
sought to destroy it brought
$2,030,000. Of this amount the
members of the Amalgamated Cloth-
ing Workers of America, with 60,000
of them in the largest market locked
out of work, with the rest of the
markets partly out of work, raised
$1,948,148. The sum of $82,000
came from outside organizations (ap-
plause), making a total of $2,030,-
000. When the response to our ap-
peal became known, we knew that
we could not possibly lose. The
employers, and all who were inter-
ested in breaking up the Amalga-
mated, began ' to realize that our
$1,000,000 appeal was not an arti-
ficial gesture, that if it was a ges-
ture it was one of absolute spon-
taneity and genuineness, with real
power behind it to make good.

The great power which employers
always yield with deadly effect when
industrial conditions are favorable to
them proved to be no match for our
united strength. The employers turned
to the courts for help. They brought
forty-nine suits against us, among them
two suits for the dissolution of the
organization. Each of these forty-nine
suits carried with it a request for an
injunction. Twenty-four injunctions
were granted. In one case a judge,

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

331

granting the injunction, said : "They
(the courts) must stand at all times
as the representatives of capital."
That aroused resentment even among
some non-labor papers in the city of
Now York. That statement was
brought forth by the bitterness of the
fight to destroy our organization.

In connection with the relief work
upon which much above $1,000,000 was
spent in Now York, we organized a
system of commissary stores. We also
utilized the idle time of the locked out
workers for educational purposes. A
number of physicians in sympathy with
the cause of labor organized them-
selves to give our locked out members
medical aid; not charity; the organi-
zation paid for it, a nominal fee for
each case. These physicians were
ready to give all the medical assist-
ance necessary.

Before the lockout was instituted,
the employers emphasized their de-
mand for a reduction in wages; they
also presented other demands which,
if granted by us, would have made the
organization useless.

When the lockout fight developed, all
demands were dropped; one issue was
raised, and on that alone the fight was
waged: the elimination of the Amal-
gamated from the clothing industry.
That was the purpose of the demands
before the lockout, but it was frankly
formulated only when the struggle was
on.

After a six-month struggle, a settle-
ment, as you all know, was made upon
the terms of the Amalgamated, includ-
ing a reduction in wages, which we had
offered before the lockout was declared.
We made that offer, not because we
believed that there was any justifica-
tion for it. It is our firm conviction
that there is never justification for a
reduction of wages. But there are
many things which are unjust and
which organized labor cannot help ac-
cepting. An evil against which the en-
tire American labor movement is

powerless, we cannot expect to escape
entirely. But we refused to yield any-
thing with respect to our rights, with
respect to the power of our organiza-
tion. We suffered a wage reduction of
lf> per cent. Our rights were main-
tained. Our rights were vindicated.
That was the first time in the great
post-war onslaught of American cap-
ital upon American labor that a union
won out against such terrible odds. As
the victory in the lockout struggle of
1919 carried a message of cheer and
hope to American labor generally, our
victory in 1921 carried a like message
to the labor movement. The effect of
our victory on those essentials which
keep alive and growing the power of
organized labor was such that a re-
sponse came to us from the ex-Czar's
throne room, a message of congratula-
tion from the workers in Russia.
(Great applause.)

There is no victory of one group of
organized workers that does not help
the labor movement generally. We are,
therefore, justified in the belief that
our victory has helped to bring courage
to other workers to resist the rule of
open shop terror.

My friends, it is a great joy to us
at this time of industrial depression
and black reaction, to see organized
labor arise and say: "American labor
has gone far enough in reducing its
standards of living; in permitting its
enemies to intimidate the labor move-
ment. American labor is beginning to
recognize its rights and is standing up
for them." We see the mine workers,
who had been defeated, despite their
strength, despite their just cause; who
had been defeated by an injunction
based upon a law which had been en-
acted against profiteers and enforced
against labor — for the Lever act was
declared void as against the profiteers,
but was used to drive the miners back
into the mines under threat of im-
prisonment— we see them now stand up
for their rights. If American labor

332

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

will fight for its rights it will get them
and hold them. (Applause.)

I said before that it was our posi-
tion that wage reductions are never
justified. While there may be individ-
ual employers, who, because of com-
petition, under our industrial regime,
may find it necessary to resort to wage
reductions as a help in meeting busi-
ness rivals, the men controlling the in-
dustrial life of the nation run the
affairs of the nation in a manner
which is mapped out by them for their
own greedy and selfish purposes.

According to a big financial maga-
zine, one of the leading men in Amer-
ica said, ' ' Vigorous recovery is not de-
sired unless wages have been brought
down in all industries/' The small
man may mean it when he talks about
the desirability of business recovery
and the hope for such recovery, and
that he must reduce the wages of his
workers because of the competition
that he must meet; but those who are
pulling the strings of American in-
dustrial life have those things ar-
ranged to suit themselves, and they do
not wish complete recovery until wages
have been brought down everywhere.
And bringing down wages everywhere
means bringing down wages in organ-
ized industries, because in unorganized
industries there is no effort needed.
The employers decide what the wages
are to be tomorrow, and that becomes
the law.

It is also announced in a financial
publication that the dividends and in-
terest paid out in the year 1921 were
about double those of 1913, and 1921
was the big year of wage reductions.
Perhaps small fellows here and there
had low dividends, but the total
amount of dividends and interest about
doubled.

Wage reductions are also unjustified
because they always come at a time
when the workers can least afford them.
They come at a time of unemployment,
when earnings are already reduced by

lack of work; in the second place, the
workers M'ho get just about enough to
maintain some sort of livelihood, keep
body and soul together, are not only
deprived of the opportunity of improv-
ing and raising their standard of
living but also of the necessaries of
life. This involves a principle of
social justice and the American la-
bor movement is not strong enough
to enforce justice. The helplessness
of the whole American labor move-
ment weakens the hands of the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America. The best we could hope
for was to keep the reduction down
to a minimum. At this time of in-
dustrial depression and general reac-
tion, the function of the labor organ-
ization is somewhat different from
that at other times. In times of favor-
able industrial conditions, the union
is an engine which, kept in motion
by the fuel of the members' loyalty
and enthusiasm, pulls the workers'
standards ever upward and onward.
At a time like the present, a labor
union can only act as a brake to
hold conditions from sliding down
too rapidly. When American labor
is organized strongly enough, power-
fully enough, it will protect itself
fully at all times, and every branch
of the American labor movement will
benefit thereby.

In the course of our big fight, in-
vestigations into the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America were
announced several times. First, it
was to be a legislative investigation
by the state of New York. When
that failed to materialize, a resolu-
tion to investigate the Amalgamated
was brought into the United States
Senate by Senator Moses of New
Hampshire. A statement issued by
Senator Moses showed that it was
not to be an investigation, but a per-
secution. Then Senator Borah
brought in a resolution to make the

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

333

investigation general throughout the
entire clothing and textile industry.
But there was no investigation, al-
though the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America announced that
it would welcome and assist any
genuine investigation.

The mayor of the city of New
York made an attempt to bring
about a settlement, the state of New
York made an attempt to bring about
a settlement, but the employers were
not ready for a settlement until they
realized that further efforts to de-
stroy the Amalgamated were useless,
and then a settlement was made on
the terms that I have already de-
scribed.

I wish to direct the attention of
the delegates to one interesting docu-
ment. We have pointed with pride
to the $100,000 check which we
gave to the steel strikers as the
largest single contribution ever made
by one labor organization to another
at any time in any part of the world.
We have since made a new record
for large contributions. You will
find on Page 97 of the General Ex-
ecutive Board Report a photograph
of a check given by the General Office
to the New York Joint Board for the
amount of $238,000. We gave to
the New York Joint Board most of
the $2,000,000 fund, but this was
the largest single check. That is
an achievement to be proud of.

After the lockout, the great task
of the organization was to look over
the field throughout the United
States and Canada, and give atten-
tion to each situation which might
have been neglected during the fight.
Every city that needed attention re-
ceived it.

You have all heard before you
came to the convention, and you will
find it in this printed report, that
when agreements were renewed with
the clothing manufacturers in this

city, in Rochester, in Baltimore, and
wherever else agreements expired,
our organization maintained its in-
fluence and jurisdiction over work-
ing conditions in the clothing in-
dustry. The organized power of the
clothing workers has remained in-
tact. The right of the clothing
workers to a voice in the industry
has in some respects been strength-
ened. While we were unable to
hold all of the wages that were ours
in the past, we held all of the other
conditions, and made improvements
upon them.

We come to this convention with a
family of 148 local unions and sixteen
joint boards, in thirty-six cities, in
fourteen states and two provinces of
Canada, and with twenty-six national-
ities, outside of native-born Americans.
We publish papers in eight different
languages. And all of this great fam-
ily, speaking different languages, com-
ing from different parts of the globe,
are united in this great struggle which
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America has been carrying on since its
very inception.

There is one subject upon which we
had hoped to be able to make an en-
couraging report here, but, unfortu-
nately, it is a situation in which we
cannot move faster than our sister
organizations.

I refer to the subject of one organ-
ization of the needle trades workers.
The Amalgamated has gone on record
time and again in favor of the amalga-
ation of all organizations in what are
known as the needle trades. For that
there are sound reasons. The reason
above all others is the urgent need of
greater unity, of a more compact organ-
ization. I ask you all whether you
have time to read the whole book or
not, to read the chapter on the amal-
gamation of needle trades workers,
beginning on Page 230. I do not want
to repeat here what is said there. I
ask you to read it for yourselves. The

334

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

attitude of the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America is well known with
regard to this question. At the last
convention we took the position that we
want one united "body. We have locals
and joint boards in the Amalgamated;
we might have similar arrangements in
a general organization, in accordance
with requirements. However, we de-
clared our willingness to go with other
workers to the extent that they were
willing to go with us, even if they
were not ready to travel the whole
road in the direction of our goal.

In 1920 we received an invitation to
attend a conference for the purpose of
organizing a Needle Trades Workers'
Alliance. We accepted the invitation.
The conference was held almost on the
very day that the lockout of our New
York members was instituted, and the
effect of this group of needle trades
workers' organizations getting to-
gether at a conference for the purpose
of forming a more compact body was
such that anti-labor papers in New
York, and I suppose also in other cities,
were genuinely frightened. They an-
nounced the formation of the new or-
ganization with glaring head lines.
One paper warned the nation that this
new big body was preparing to stretch
out its "tentacles" to every part of
the country. Unfortunately, the
Needle Trades Workers' Alliance did
not get any further than the first con-
ference. We hope that better results
will be obtained in the future. Had
the Needle Trades Workers' Alliance
been able to function, it would have
found in the lockout struggle in New
York a splendid opportunity for a
promising; beginning. But despite the
opportunity the Alliance did not func-
tion. Efforts seem to be making now
to revive it. We do not know what
the next move will be, but we are
hoping for the best. It is our inten-
tion and our fixed purpose, that if the
several organizations of the needle
trades are to be brought together in a

greater and more effective unity, it
should be a real and genuine unity, a
genuine organization, able to lend its
greater power to any section of these
workers whenever they may be at-
tacked. (Applause.)

You will find in this report that a
beginning has already been made to-
ward the establishment of Amalga-
mated Temples of which we spoke at
our previous conventions. In this city
the organization has already bought a
number of buildings which will ulti-
mately be torn down and an Amalga-
mated Temple erected. In Philadelphia
our organization has its own home. In
New York, the Amalgamated Temple
has just been opened. These Amal-
gamated Temples we intend to utilize
as great educational centers for our
membership. The name "Amalgamated
Temple" was intentionally given to
these institutions so that they may
always carry a spiritual message to
the members.

There is one thing which is, in a
sense, more tangible than anything
else, and that is the Amalgamated
Bank. (Applause.)

We come to this convention with
the first Amalgamated Bank, owned
and controlled by the Amalgamated
membership, an actual fact. (Ap-
plause.) Chicago is the city that lias
set the pace. (Applause.) Permission
has been received from the state au-
thorities to organize the bank and sell
shares, and the members are already
buying shares. A place for the bank
has been leased. Our own Amalga-
mated Temple in this city will eventu-
ally house the bank. I hope that every
delegate, guest, and visitor will see the
building that was leased for our bank.

And so we have in this period of in-
dustrial depression, in this period of
deflation of labor, turned a new leaf.

Deflation of labor has been made an
American maxim by the exploiters of
the American people. Employers, how-
ever labor-hating, never dared in the

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

335

past to speak in public of wage reduc-
tions and labor deflation. Now wage
reductions have become a virtue, and
deflation of labor a principle. It was
in this period of deflation of labor,
when wages were reduced, unions
broken, workers shot down because
they dared to attempt to organize,
workers forbidden by courts to organ-
ize and unions forbidden by courts to
ask workers to join the organization ;
it was in this period that we have un-
dertaken to build up a workers' finan-
cial institution, a labor bank, a bank
with a capitalization of $200,000 and a
reserve fund of $100,000, all coming
from the pockets of workers. It is
not the bank itself, not the fact that
we will have a place to deposit our
savings, whenever we may have any,
that is so important; it is the fact
which it tells the world, primarily the
workers — that there is nothing that or-
panized workers cannot achieve for the
protection of their own interests if
they make up their minds to achieve
it. (Tremendous applause.)

We have given nearly $250,000 to
help workers outside of our ranks
after spending $2,000,000 in our own
struggle.

At this convention, as on other oc-
casions, we frankly admit without
any feeling of apology, that, while we
have done all that was possible, we
have been unable to do the impossi-
ble. We have been unable to avoid
wage reductions, and we accepted
them. But we come here with our
strength unimpaired, with our spirit
as fresh, buoyant and vigorous as it
ever was, and with positive proof that
even in this time of unfavorable con-
ditions we not only can hold what we
have achieved in better times but are
able to undertake new and great tasks.

There are a great number of very
important points which I should like
to discuss, but I have already taken
more time than I had intended to take.
There are also a number of minor de-

tails which are very instructive, and I
ask you to read them all, become fully
acquainted with the work of the or-
ganization, and draw from the achieve-
ments of the last two years of unfavor-
able conditions courage and strength
for future work.

We feel happy in the consciousness
that our organization is not growing
old, not losing its enthusiasm, that it
is gathering new spirit as it goes
along and gaining more youthful
strength as it exercises its power. Let
us all go back home from this conven-
tion to our constituents with the de-
termination of coming back two years
from now with new achievements, new
high records, new high standards, with
a new message to our fellow workers
in this country and all over the world,
as the name of the Amalgamated Cloth-
ing Workers is known throughout the
wide world.

We are here to protect the interests
of the working people, the working pop-
ulation of the clothing industry, and to
give the benefit of our strength, of our
collective wisdom, of our collective in-
telligence to all others who are strug-
gling in the interests of the working
class. (Loud applause.)

President Hillman appointed the fol-
lowing committees:

COMMITTEE ON REPORTS OF
OFFICERS

Joseph Gold, Joint Board, Children's
Clothing Workers, New York, chair-
man; Rubin Block, Local 61, Chicago;
Emma Saner, Local 120, Louisville; H.
Wiseblatt, Local 116, Montreal; Sam
Stolberg, Local 216,Toronto; D.Shnaper,
Local 241, Baltimore; Anthony Di'
Blasi, Local 85, New York; S. Katz,
Local 4, New York; Hyman Schneid,
Local 39, Chicago; Martin Engh, Local
144, Chicago; Frank Hubacek, Local 6,
Chicago; A. Ramuglia, Boston Joint
Board; John J. McMahon, Local 205,
Rochester; M. Rappaport, Local 2, New

336

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

York; A. Hershkowitz, Local 5, New
York.

COMMITTEE ON ORGANIZATION

Morris Weinstein, Local 4, New
York, chairman; Morris Koslovsky,
Philadelphia Joint Board, secretary;
M. Bisnow, Local 155, St. Paul; U. De
Dominicis, Local 51, Baltimore; Morris
Michaelson, Local 114, Baltimore;
Jacob Schwartzberg, Local 8, New
York; M. Epstein, Local 262, New
York; Benne Romano, Local 63, New
York; Alfred Dolnick, Local 39, Chi-
cago; A. Greco, Local 270, Chicago;
T. H. Heinie, Local 273, Los Angeles;
Saul Riger, Local 22, New York; S.
Liptzin, Local 2, New York; George
Gooze, Local 246, New York; Hyman
Mandelbaum, Local 140, Philadelphia.

COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS

Jacob Kroll, Local 61, Chicago, chair-
man; Morris Brown, Local 39, Chicago,
secretary; S. Ester kin, Local 113, Cin-
cinnati; Sarah Borinsky, Local 36, Bal-
timore; Tommasso Romagni, Local 51,
Baltimore; S. Stein, Local 55, New
York; J. Catalanotti, Local 63, New
York; L. Wexler, Local 39, Chicago;
C. Bobrowski, Local 38, Chicago;
Nathan Biller, Local 173, Boston; J.
Levine, Local 14, Rochester; Harry
Madanick, Local 15, Baltimore; Samuel
Herman, Local 8, New York; N. Wert-
heimer, Local 2, New York; George
Stone, Local 4, New York; B. Lader,
Local 5, New York.

The three committees named were
unanimously approved.

ALFRED DECKER & COHEN AND
KUPPENHEIMER WORKERS

President Hillman announced that a
beautiful bouquet of flowers on the
stage was presented to the convention
by the young girls who work sewing
on tickets and labels in the factories
of Alfred Decker & Cohen, and Kup-
penheimer.

At this point a large number of
cutters and trimmers from Alfred
Decker & Cohen's, and Kuppen-
heimer's shops, members of Local
61, who had paraded through the
city, marched into the hall preceded
by their band, playing the "Marseil-
laise," and presented the conven-
tion with a large floral piece, amid
great applause.

President HILLMAN: A member
of the General Executive Board,
Brother Sidney Rissman, will intro-
duce the chairman of this commit-
tee.

Brother RISSMAN: President
Hillman, delegates and guests:
These people who have entered the
hall just now are the cutters and
trimmers of Alfred Decker & Cohen,
and Kuppenheimer. Yesterday you
had the veterans of the Amalga-
mated in the city of Chicago from
the Hart, Schaffner & Marx shops.
Today we have the new army of the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America, the cutters and trimmers
and pocket sewers of Alfred Decker
& Cohen, and Kuppenheimer. I want
to state while they are in the room
that a lot of them belong to the
veterans and they stood by the organ-
ization when the task was the hard-
est, when the blackmailing system
was in effect in Chicago, and it was
pretty hard for a man working in a
non-union shop still to be loyal to
the organization. A lot of credit
is due to those who have stood by
the union at times when it was hard
to stand by it.

I want to announce that before
these cutters marched into the hall,
they pledged 100 per cent to sub-
scribe to the Amalgamated Bank.
(Prolonged applause.)

I believe that all you delegates
and friends know by this time that
anything we promise in Chicago we
fulfill (applause), and this promise

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

337

is also going to be fulfilled. I take
pleasure in introducing to you the
chairman of this shop, one of the
boys who has been a standby of our
organization and has gone through
nearly every strike we have had in
Chicago, Brother Bob Frueh.

Brother FRUEH: Brother Presi-
dent, delegates and guests: I will
not take up much of your time in
making a long speech. The only
thing I can say in behalf of the cut-
ters and trimmers of Alfred Decker
& Cohen is that we welcome you to
our city. (Applause.)

Brother RISSMAN: I want to an-
nounce that the band which has just
played is made up of boys from the
shop. I now take pleasure in in-
troducing to you Brother Tom
Penna, shop chairman of Kuppen-
heimer. (Applause.)

Brother PENNA: Brother Chair-
man, president and delegates: We
welcome you to our city. We are
very glad to have the convention
held in Chicago. We only hope and
trust that it will legislate suc-
cessfully for the working class for
the coming two years. (Applause.)

President HILLMAN: I hope the
delegates will take notice that at
this convention the rank and file is
represented in large numbers. The
rank and file is taking the trouble
to be right here at the convention
and see what the delegates are doing
in the way of legislation and other-
wise. (Applause.)

It gives me pleasure to introduce
to the convention a representative of
an institution that has in the past, at
the birth of the organization, con-
tributed a great deal to make pos-
sible the success of our organization
in the different struggles that were
confronting us. I take this oppor-
tunity to introduce to you Abraham
Cahan, editor of the "Forward."
(Applause.)

ADDRESS OF ABRAHAM CAHAX

ABRAHAM CAHAN: Mr. Chair-
man and delegates: It is a real
pleasure to stand in front of you and
to see that you are here, a living
monument to the steadfastness of
your union.

I remember the time when we had
to create a new tailor's union every
year. I remember the time when
after a great victory, at the con-
summation of a great strike, the
tailors would fail to organize just
because they were victorious. The
people in the union had not been
trained really to appreciate the
meaning of discipline, order, and
organization, and they were under
the impression that all that was
necessary was to strike and win, and
then go home. When I used to tell
them that was just the time to be-
gin to be loyal to the organization,
they failed to understand. My
words used to be lost upon them.

I had the pleasure, and I am
proud of the fact, to organize the
first tailoring union in the United
States, as far back as thirty-seven
years ago. (Applause.)

I am not a tailor myself, nor a cloak-
maker, nor a cutter, nor what we used
to call a baster, nor even a basting
puller, and you cannot imagine my
feelings in this matter. Well, later on
we had all sorts of trouble in connec-
tion with the tailoring trades in the
United States.

Thirty-two years ago, my old friend
Peter Sissman brought me here to
make a speech to the tailors of this
city. He, himself, was the founder of
the cloakmakers' union in this city. At
that time the entire trade union move-
ment was a windy sort of an affair,
nothing solid. Your presence here, and
the character of your convention, taken
in conjunction with all we know about
your struggles and victories, is a living
monument that you are not a windy

338

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

organization, but that you are on solid,
hard ground.

If you will permit me to boast a
little bit more, I am going to brag
about the institution to which I have
the pleasure and honor of belonging.
As you all know, I ain the editor of
the "Forward." The "Forward" is a
workingman's paper, a Socialist paper.
It has been connected with the move-
ment to solidify the unions since its
birth. There have been all sorts of
events in the history of that struggle,
and it gives me real pleasure and jus-
tifiable pride to recall to you some of
those. In 1910, when the tailoring
unions were still connected with the
American Federation of Labor, and Mr.
Rickert was the boss of the job, there
was a big strike in this city, and our
paper, the "Forward," sent a special
man to this city. At that time we did
not have a local edition as we have
today, but we sent a special man to
establish a local edition, temporarily,
in connection with this strike, and we
helped it become a victory. (Ap-
plause.) While the issues of the
"Forward" in those days are a great
source of pleasure to all of us, it was
at a tremendous cost and at the ex-
pense of a lot of time, and we were
happy to see that the thing came to a
happy ending, that is, a victory.

Two or three years later, three years
later, I think, the question of seceding,
or breaking away from the American
Federation of Labor, came up in the
Nashville convention. We sent down
to Nashville one of our best men,
Harry Rogoff, with instructions to go
down there and to urge the tailors to
break away from Mr. Rickert and his
gang, and establish this union. (Pro-
longed applause.)

Friends of the convention, delegates,
and officers, many of you will remem-
ber the day when we were being at-
tacked for being with you, and, as I
told Mr. Gompers, I said, "I know you,
Mr. Gompers. You are an honest man,

but you make mistakes, and one of
your mistakes is the retention of Mr.
Rickert. Why don't you throw him
out? The overall makers are good
enough for him. He has plenty of
money to pay his officers. We want
the tailors organized. And that is the
reason why we told them to break
away and secede. That is why they
did secede." (Prolonged applause.)

Some misunderstandings have taken
place, some misunderstandings of
which certain people not directly con-
nected with this organization, out-
siders, were trying to make use, but
we were not in a position to explain
matters. There was a time in New
York when there were grave dangers,
and I would be delighted to explain
the situation later on, after the con-
vention is over, for it will take a lot
of time. It is only a matter of friendly
feeling, and nothing else. We meant
nothing but co-operation and help to
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America when the Harry Cohen affair
came up.

Let me tell you, delegates, including
my old friend, Mr. Hillman, with whom
we have had some misunderstandings
in the past, that I was not in a posi-
tion to explain certain things to him.
Had I been in that position, he would
have understood that had it not been
for us the situation would be alto-
gether different in New York.

Why, one of my closest friends in
the world, Shiplacoff, who is pres-
ent here, did not agree with me. We
had many friendly fights and quarrels.
It was the "Forward" that made
Harry Cohen give up that fight. We
told him, "Unless you obey the orders
from your organization, we have no
use for you and we will fight you tooth
and nail." That is what we said to
him.

There was another thing, the Zucker-
man affair in the vest makers. He
came up to me, he is an old friend of
mine, and he was a good member of

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

339

the organization, but at that time he
wanted to be an officer without being
elected. He came up and I said, "Un-
less you come to me with a certificate
from the Amalgamated Clothing Work-
ers of America, you cannot hold that
office; as far as the ' Forward ' is con-
cerned, we will make it impossible for
you to hold office unless you do that."
And he had to give it up.

I will conclude by saying only this:
We mean to help every bona fide trade
union organization, just as we are try-
ing our best in the case of the Inter-
national Ladies' Garment Workers'
Union, and we certainly are devoted
and loyal to your organization, and
will be so and will remain so as long
as you live and we live. (Applause.)
That is the object of the "Forward."
It was established with the pennies
and the rings and watches of work-
men and working girls. It is not a
private industry any more than your
bank is a private industry. It belongs
to the working people. We are trying
to do that, but there are some cases in
which there may be two different points
of view so far as the organization is
concerned.

It gives me great pleasure to think
that Charley Ervin made a speech ex-
actly in the same tone as I make my
speech. We do not want any political
advice to be allowed in any union. I
have in my pocket a manifesto that
was published by a certain group of
people. The manifesto has a sentence
in it to this effect: "Let us bring
the fight into every union." Xo, we
say keep that fight out of every union.
That is our plea. (Applause.)

The Ladies' Garment Workers had
some difficulties in New York. There
was some trouble, some misunderstand-
ing between the joint board and Locals
1 and 9. We were trying as hard as
we could in New York somehow or
other to settle the difficulty, but it was
not successful. At the convention,
they realized the situation was getting

grave, and the president of the Inter-
national, being a nervous man, and see-
ing the lack of harmony, made up his
mind not to run again for president,
and they could not afford to let him
out. They needed him just as you need
your president, ^Ir. Hillman. I had a
long talk with Schlesinger and he
really felt that he could not stay with
that internal strife. I got them to-
gether. We talked it over. Not a
word of politics was mentioned at those
conferences, but absolute harmony.
That is the order of the day.

Instead of saying, "Bring the fight
into every union," as that manifesto
calls for, we will be saying, early and
late, "Keep political strife out of your
organization; keep it out of every
trade union."

I thank you most heartily for your
kind reception and I promise to work
for your organization, the Amalga-
mated Clothing Workers of America,
as loyally and as heartily as we have
been doing to this moment. (Ap-
plause.)

President HIKLMAN: We all appre-
ciate the advice to keep political strife
out of our organization, and what is
more, we have the power to enforce it.
(Tremendous applause, convention ris-
ing.) There is one thing that we feel is
our duty. Our first responsibility is to
the men and women, who entrusted their
very lives to us, because, after all, you
can realize what their lives would
mean, confronted by the conditions of
the sweatshop. And you want to re-
member that the Amalgamated, and the
Amalgamated alone, can keep the
sweatshop from the clothing industry.
(Applause.)

As you all know, we have responded
to the general labor movement and, I
am glad to say, co-operated with it. On
the other hand, we have accepted the
aid extended to us by that movement.
But, comrades, I am even more proud
to say that a great deal more fre-
quently have we extended aid than re-

340

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

ceived it. Yes, we have extended aid
even to those who have participated in
helping our enemies to destroy our
movement, to those whose business it
was, without mentioning any names,
to stand with the workers, but who
went over to the enemies, to their own
disgrace; to those who apparently rep-
resented the labor movement, and yet
have done everything in their power,
during our struggles, to help our en-
emies.

I am indeed very proud that I can
present to you a man who, I am sure,
considering the cause which he will
advocate to you, will get a sufficiently
large sum of money. I am very happy
to present to you the secretary of the
Chicago Federation of Labor, Edward
Nockles.

ADDRESS OF EDWARD NOCKELS

EDWAED NOCKELS, secretary of
the Chicago Federation of Labor: It
indeed is a great pleasure to appear
before the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America, especially so on
this occasion, this being your Fifth
Biennial Convention.

I well recollect the struggles of the
clothing workers years ago here in Chi-
cago when they were working under
the United Garment Workers. I well
recollect that strike and I well recol-
lect the position that the Chicago Fed-
eration was placed in, when, at a very
critical situation, and after the United
Garment Workers had notified all the
brothers and sisters on strike to come
down and get strike benefits, we were
informed at the last minute that they
had no money, whereas the day before
they told us they could meet their
obligations. Why they sent out the
notice, and why they at the last min-
ute told us they could not meet their
obligations, has not yet been answered
and remains still a mystery. I do not
know what it was done for, whether
it was to discourage or to disrupt the
strike, or whether it was a case of

giving up the fight. But notwithstand-
ing, we were compelled to meet the
situation in conjunction with the Wom-
en >s Trade Union League. We had
hurriedly to get out and solicit funds
and also build up the organization in
order to maintain the strike. As time
went on, we collected some $100,000 to
help out the strikers.

It was said to us over and over again
in those times, and especially by the
officials of the United Garment Work-
ers, "These people never pay dues.
They are tax dodgers and they will
never be of any use. That has been
their history all these years. All those
who are dues payers and believe in or-
ganization are under the United Gar-
ment Workers. These people are all
cheap people. They want cheap or-
ganization, and never will be successful
in forming an organization." It was
said that the officers of the United
Garment Workers realized the jeopardy
of their positions at their next con-
vention if these people were to be
seated from Chicago, New York, and
elsewhere, that it might mean their
elimination, and that they were not so
much concerned at the withdrawal of
those organizations as they were to
continue in control.

The result was a secession movement.
I do not believe anything else could
be done in the circumstances. And
here today we have the proof and have
had it ever since the successful revolu-
tion in the clothing industry, that the
workers in the clothing industry do
believe in organization, that they do
pay assessments, yes, and they made
the biggest contribution to the steel
workers' strike that was ever made
by an international organization in the
history of the United States. (Ap-
plause.)

You cannot destroy the organization
of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers.
You have contributed to your enemies,
and you have shown true comradeship
to the labor movement, regardless of

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

341

whether you are affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor or not.
The Amalgamated has well repaid all
the things that the Chicago Federation
of Labor has ever done, and you know
that we appreciate it. It is to be re-
gretted that John Fitzpatrick cannot
be here. I am a poor substiute for
John, but I want every one to know
that the Chicago Federation of Labor
knows the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers and appreciates the things
they have done, and thanks you most
heartily for the support that you have
given every time you are ever called
upon.

I come here also to make an appeal
for the Mooney-Billings case. The Chi-
cago Federation of Labor were pioneers
in organizing the meat packing trades;
they were the pioneers in organizing
the steel workers. They were the
pioneers in organizing the Farmer-
Labor Party, and they were pioneers
in the iMooney, Billings, Nolan, and
Weinberg agitation.

For some reason or other it is al-
leged that the Chicago Federation is
always doing some darn fool thing
and afterwards we get a panning from
the A. F. of L. for dabbling in things
they say we should not do. Neverthe-
less, we do them. We are going to do
it in the Mooney case. We have not
deserted the case. We are still in it.
We are still agitating. We will solicit
funds for the Mooney case. The Chi-
cago Federation of Labor has suc-
ceeded and has co-operated and been
helpful to the extent that every wit-
ness in the Mooney case has confessed
perjury, every one, without exception.
Yet Mooney and Billings are still in
the penitentiary.

Even the new state's attorney has
lately petitioned the governor asking
for a pardon for Mooney. I do not
know whether he will be successful.
There is no question in my mind that
the chamber of commerce, with its
$1,000,000 slush fund, has bribed the

police, the state's attorney's office,
every juror, every witness who was in
that case. There is nothing else that
can be done, but this can be done. This
case should be kept alive. Funds
should be sent from organizations to
the Mooney Defense League in order
that the propaganda can continue. We
have two innocent men in the peniten-
tiary because of the act of the courts,
the chamber of commerce, the police,
and the state's attorney, and I say it
is well worth the price for any or-
ganization to contribute to the Mooney
Defense League. Send the money to
Rena Mooney, in order that Tom
Mooney may keep his paper going, in
order that we may keep the agitation
going.

Mooney and Billings have asked for
a new trial, and that is what they are
entitled to. Therefore, if it is pos-
sible that anything can be done along
those lines, I know it will be appre-
ciated by them and by the delegates of
the Chicago Federation of Labor.

On behalf of the Chicago Federation
of Labor we welcome you to the city.
We wish you well. We hope your mem-
bership will increase and we hope to
see you affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, because the cloth-
ing industry has been revolutionized
and is justly entitled to recognition.
(Applause.)

INTRODUCTION OF RESOLUTIONS

Brother Rosenblum read by title the
following resolutions:

No. 1, Unification of unions in needle
trades, by delegation of Local 6, to
Committee on Reports of Officers.

No. 2, Sick and disability benefits,
by delegation of Local 61, to Commit-
tee on Reports of Officers.

No. 3, Wages of trimmers, by dele-
gation of Local 61, to Committee on
Miscellaneous Matters.

No. 4, Release of political prisoners,
by delegation of Local 61, to Commit-
tee on Resolutions.

342

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

iSro. 5, Unemployment fund, by dele-
gation of Local 61, to Committee on
Reports of Officers.

No. 6, Political party affiliations,
by delegation of Local 61, to Com-
mittee on Resolutions.

No. 7, Support of striking coal
miners, by delegation of Local 61, to
Committee on Resolutions.

No. 8, Recognition and aid to
Soviet Russia, by delegation of Local
61, to Committee on Russia.

No. 9, Work System, by Levine,
Silverman, Local 209; Sabourin,
Fournier, Local 115, to Committee
on Resolutions.

No. 10, Report of General Execu-
tive Board to locals and joint boards,
by Levine, Silverman, Local 209;
Fournier, Local 115; Rosenblatt,
Local 116; Friedman, Local 167,
to Committee on Reports of Officers.

No. 11, Shop delegate represen-
tation, by Levine, Silverman, Local
209; Fournier, Sabourin, Local 115;
Friedman, Local 167, to Committee
on Law.

No. 12, Impartial machinery, by
Silverman, Local 209; Fournier,
Sabourin, Local 116; Friedman,
Local 167, to Committee on Miscel-
laneous Matters.

No. 13, Expenses of delegates to
convention, by Silverman, Local 20&;
Sabourin, Fournier, Local 115;
Friedman, Local 167; Wiseblatt,
Local 116, to Committee on Law.

No. 14, Salary of organizers, by
Levine, Silverman, Local 209; Sa-
bourin, Fournier, Local 115, to Com-
mittee on Law.

No. 15, Salary of general officers,
by Levine, Silverman, Local 209;
Fournier, Local 115, to Committee
on Law.

No. 16, Organization of shirt
workers, establishment of separate
department, by Shirt Workers'
Locals 243, 246, 248, to Committee
on Organization.

No. 17, Recall of general officers,
by delegation from Locals 115, 116,
117, 209, to Committee on Law.

No. 18, Representation on Gen-
eral Executive Board, by delegation
from Shirt Workers' Locals 243, 246,
248, to Committee on Law.

No. 19, Release of political pris-
oners, by Taylor, Local 142, to Com-
mittee on Resolutions.

No. 20, Italian organizer for
bushelmen, by Urwand, Local 260,
to Committee on Organization.

No. 21, Organization of shipping
clerks, by Horowitz, Local 158, to
Committee on Organization.

No. 22, Jurisdiction of bushel-
men's local, by Urwand, Local 260,
to Committee on Organization.

No. 24, Defense of Sacco and Van-
zetti, by delegation of Local 142, to
Committee on Resolutions.

No. 24, Organization of overall
workers, by Abe Kronick, Local 178;
Overall Workers, to Committee on
Organization.

No. 25, Label, by Abe Kronick,
Local 178, to Committee on Labels.

No. 26, Organizing corporation
shops, by Powers, Local 30, to Com-
mittee on Organization.

No. 27, Recognition of Soviet
Russia, by Powers, Local 30, to Com-
mittee on Russia.

No. 28, Needle trades organiza-
tion, by delegation of Local 144, to
Committee on Reports of Officers.

No. 29, Freedom for political
prisoners, by delegation of Local
202, to Committee on Resolutions.
No. 30, Salaries of general officers,
by Robasauskas, Local 218, to Com-
mittee on Law.

No. 31, Per capita tax, by Robasaus-

kas, Local 218, to Committee on Law.

No. 32, Collective bargaining, by Ro-

basauskas, Local 218, to Committee on

Miscellaneous Matters.

The session then adjourned until
1 :30 p. m.

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

343

FOURTH SESSION
Wednesday, May 10, 1922

1:30 P. M.

The fourth session was called to
order at 1:30 p. m. by President
Hillman, who appointed the follow-
ing committees:

COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

S. D. Genis, Twin City Joint Board,
chairman; Goldie Berg, Local 151,
Milwaukee; Jacob Gerson, Local 145,
Indianapolis; B. Silverman, Local
209, Montreal; I. Kegel, Local 159,
New York; Lorenzo Di Maria, Local
280, New York; Joseph Beck, Local
39, Chicago; Elnora Sauer, Local
275, Chicago; F. A. Mason, Local
269, Chicago; A. Temkin, Local 211,
Toronto; Rose Cominsky, Local 204,
Rochester; Rebecca Felsenheld,
Local 22, New York; Joseph Mag-
liano, Local 144, Chicago.

COMMITTEE OX APPEALS AND
GRIEVANCES

Max Michaelson, Local 144, Chicago,
chairman; L. Bettelheim, Local 61, Chi-
cago, secretary; Lee Clem, Local 120,
Louisville; C. C. Kramer, Local 166,
Minneapolis; P. Rudich, Local 36, Bal-
timore; Joseph Leppo, Local 43, New
York; Stephen Petilli, Local 243, New
York; A. Silverman, Local 4, New
York; Frank Lerman, Local 1, Boston;
John Kroeger, Local 205, Rochester;
D. Solomon, Cleveland Joint Board;
Ralph Prager, Local 22, New York; H.
Kalushkin, Local 3, New York.

COMMITTEE ON FINANCE

A. I. Pearlman, Rochester Joint
Board, chairman; H. Auerbach, Local
277, Montreal, secretary; Rufino Conti,
Local 63, Xew York; Meyer Klein, Lo-
cal 272, Chicago; Ben Cooper, Local 61,
Chicago; J. J. Young, Local 262, New
York.

COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS

Jacob Kroll, Local 51, Chicago,
chairman; Morris Brown, Local 39,
Chicago, secretary; S. Esterkin,
Local 113, Cincinnati; Sarah Borin-
sky, Local 36, Baltimore; Tommasso
Romagni, Local 51, Baltimore; S.
.Stein, Local 55, New York; J. Catal-
anotti, Local 63, New York; L. Wex-
ler, Local 39, Chicago; C. Bobrow-
ski, Local 38, Chicago; Nathan Bil-
ler, Local 173, Boston; J. Levine,
Local 14, Rochester; Harry Mad-
anick, Local 15, Baltimore; Samuel
Herman, Local 8, New York; N.
Wertheimer, Local 2, New York;
George Stone, Local 4, New York;
B. Lader, Local 5, New York.

COMMITTEE ON MISCELLANEOUS
MATTERS

David Wolfe, Montreal Joint
Board, chairman; E. F. Sand, Local
276, Kansas City; A. Devonish,
Local 233, Toronto; Rose Quitt,
Local 130, Baltimore; Murray Zaf-
farino, Local 85, New York; W. M.
Cernis, Local 58, New York; H. Yan-
ofsky, Local 186, New York; F. Ce-
sarone, Local 104, New York; J. A.
Valicenti, Local 142, New York;
Marie Luehr, Local 152, Chicago;
Vincent Seelack, Local 6, Chicago;
Morris Kaufman, Local 172, Boston;
B. Chernauskas, Local 203, Roches-
ter.

All committees were approved by
the convention.

President HILLMAN: The chair
takes this opportunity to introduce
to you a representative of the Fed-
erated Press, a member of the Teach-
ers' Union of this city, a delegate to
the Chicago Federation of Labor,
Miss Lillian Herstein.

344

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

ADDRESS OF MISS HERSTEIN

Miss HERSTEIN: I have always
hoped that the time would come when
I would be able to speak to the Amal-
gamated Clothing Workers, because I
understand you have some rebel blood
in you and I like rebels. I am only
allowed five minutes and I am not go-
ing to tell you how much I love you,
but if you like the sample I hope you
will ask me to come some time and talk
to you again.

I am going to tell you a little story
I heard about your president, Mr. Hill-
man. I heard that one time when you
were celebrating one of your wage
agreements with a banquet, Mr. Hill-
man remarked that he could enjoy the
banquet a good deal more if he knew
that his fellow workers in Russia were
also being fed. At that moment a
telegram came, bringing good news
from Russia, and only then was Mr.
Hillman able to sit down with any com-
fort to the banquet.

I want to congratulate you, as an
organization, on being able to hold
your own at a time of the greatest in-
dustrial crisis America has ever
known. I have read with a great deal
of interest your last wage agreement,
and I am mighty glad the bosses did
not take away from you the liberties
which you have gained. But I know,
interpreting the spirit of the Amalga-
mated Clothing Workers, that you are
not absolutely comfortable when you
know what is going on among your
fellow workers in Russia and in the
United States.

I want to tell you how one agency
of public interest, namely, the press,
has been prostituted to the needs of
business and of the bosses.

I would like to remind you this
afternoon that there appeared in the
Chicago "Tribune" last summer a pic-
ture of men shot, supposedly in Mos-
cow, and it said, "They asked for
bread and they are given bullets." The

inference was that the peasants of
Russia had been asking Lenin and
Trotzky for bread and they were being
shot for so doing. The managing edi-
tor of the Federated Press ran down
that story, and he made the Chicago
"Tribune" admit that the picture was
not a picture of Moscow, but of Petro-
grad, and that it was taken not after
the revolution but during the war. The
Chicago "Tribune" had deliberately
lied in order to mislead the American
public on the Russian Revolution.

I want to tell you one other story
about the lies of the press. Last sum-
mer I saw a headline in the St. Louis
"Globe Democrat" which said, "Sid
Hatfield killed in detective bout." The
inference would be that Sid Hatfield
was defying the officers of the law and
was shot down. Now, the truth was
that he, himself, was an officer of the
law, and that he was shot down while
going unarmed into court by the gun-
men employed by the mine operators.

I have a firm feeling of belief in the
fineness of human nature. I haven't
the slightest doubt that if the majority
of the people in the world knew the
truth — knew the true stories of the
Russian Revolution, and knew the true
story of the clothing industry, and
knew the true story of the miners who
are out 600,000 strong— that we would
not be suffering from the industrial
evils that we are suffering from today.

We don't know one another's story.
The Federated Press is the only news-
paper agency in America that is func-
tioning in the way the Associated
Press functions, and today it is sup-
plying labor news for newspapers all
over the country.

In addition to that, the Federated
Press has established seven newspapers
in southern Illinois, owned and con-
trolled by the rank and file of the
working people. I know how joyful
that sounds to the souls of the rebel
Amalgamated, using "rebel" in the best
sense of the word.

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

345

I know that the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers, from their whole
history, have the vision to know
that the fight of one group of work-
ingmen is your fight. You showed
it when you contributed $100,000
to the steel workers. I know that
you have intelligence enough to
know that when one group of work-
ers are licked, no matter how good
your agreement is, your agreement is
jeopardized just that much. I know
also that you possess altruism.
When you are comfortable, you want
other groups of workers to be com-
fortable. I just want to have your
minds concentrated for a few min-
utes on the opportunities which the
Federated Press offers the working
people of America to spread the gos-
pel of labor all over the country.
I want you to focus your energies
and your money and your time some
day on it, and think of it as you
are sitting here. The Federated
Press offers the Amalgamated Cloth-
ing Workers an opportunity for
service. I hope you will give some
expression of your mind to the Fed-
erated Press, which is a news
agency, struggling with small funds,
and with only the energies of a few
idealistic workers to bring the mes-
sage of labor to the whole world.
(Uproarious applause.)

The workers of the H. M. Marks
Co. entered and presented President
Hillman with a basket of flowers.

It was unanimously voted to send
greetings and good wishes for the
success of the convention to the
delegates of the International Ladies'
Garment Workers' Union, in session
at Cleveland.

A number of additional telegrams
of greeting were read to the conven-
tion, and are listed later in the pro-
ceedings.

President HILLMAN: The chair will
now call upon one we are fortunate to

listen to and hear at our conventions, a
person we always hear on behalf of
poor people who are suffering persecu-
tion for their activities in the labor
movement. I take great pleasure in
introducing to you Elizabeth Gurley
Flynn, who will explain the case of

Sacco and Vanzetti.

«

ADDRESS OF ELIZABETH GUR-
LEY FLYNN

Miss FYNN: I think Comrade Hill-
man would better have said "unfortu-
nate." Unfortunately it is necessary
that we should come here to appeal to
you on behalf of the men and women
in prison. Two years ago when I
spoke to you in Boston I had never
heard, nor do I suppose any of you
had heard, the names of Sacco and
Vanzetti. Yet, at the very time we
were sitting there in convention those
two men were being arrested, at the
very time that we were gathered to-
gether the net was being drawn
around the lives and destinies of these
two Italian workers.

I am not going to attempt to tell you
their entire story. That would be im-
possible, and I presume that most of
you here at the convention have al-
ready heard the story. It is the
Mooney case of the Atlantic coast. It
is a case similar to the frame-up
against Tom Mooney, except that in this
instance the victims are two humble,
obscure Italian workers, men who
came here expecting liberty and free-
dom, expecting advantages, which they
were denied in the New England cities
and towns. They were men who did
their part in organizing the foreign-
born workers in the New England
cities. Both of these men, Sacco and
Vanzetti, were blacklisted and were
driven from town to town and were
penalized for their activities on behalf
of the foreign-born workers. But be-
cause they could not be silenced, be-
cause they refused to be broken, be-
cause they remained true to the aspira-

346

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

tions and the ideals of their foreign-
born comrades in the New England
states, they were eventually selected
for the frame-up that brought them
within the shadow of the electric chair.

We have left a period of about two
months in which to secure for these
two men a new trial. Our preliminary
motions have all been denied. Our
supplementary motions may be granted
if we are able to show sufficient new
evidence to justify the state of Mas-
sachusetts in granting a new trial,
without, at the same time, admitting
any error on its own part.

It would seem that a new trial would
be inevitable. It would seem more
particularly so because of the great
agitation that has centered and gath-
ered around this case in European coun-
tries. Most of us first heard the names
of Sacco and Vanzetti when they were
raised on the lips of the hundreds of
thousands of workers in France, in
Italy, in Germany, in England, in Bel-
gium, and in the South American coun-
tries, and in Russia, and in other dis-
tant lands. Then, for the first time,
did many workers in this country be-
gin to ask, Who are Sacco and Van-
zetti? Most people didn't even know
that they were two men. They thought
it was one man, that his first name was
Sacco and his second name Vanzetti.
It was then only that they began to
realize how these two Italian workers
had been charged with murder and
how, without one single identification,
not one single witness who came on the
witness stand to say, "Yes, this is the
man I saw fire the gun," these two
men had been convicted. In spite of
the fact that over thirty witnesses who
were there on the scene of the crime
appeared and said, "I saw the bandits
who committed the robbery and hold-
up, and these two men are not the
men/' and in spite of the fact that
both these men proved unimpeached
alibis they were convicted. Vanzetti
proved that he was in the town of

Plymouth, going about his daily occu-
pation, selling fish. Sacco was in the
office of the Italian consul in the city
of Boston securing his passport to go
back to Italy at the very hour, yes, at
the very minute that the crime was
committed. But the prosecuting attor-
ney called the attention of the jury to
the fact that the witnesses were all
Italians. "Why," he said, "they are
all of the same nationality as the men
on trial. How can you believe what
they say?" Is it any wonder that the
Italians say that this is not only a case
where prejudice against the laboring
man and prejudice against radicals
played a part, but it is a case of preju-
dice against foreign workers, that race
prejudice played a part as well?

And so, after a trial lasting six
weeks, in which there was not a vestige
of proof that these two men had ever
committed the dastardly crime of which
they were accused, the jury found them
guilty, this selected jury of business
men, frugal business men, who stayed
out for two hours having their lunch.
They wanted to have one more meal at
the expense of the state of Massachu-
setts, they spent one more hour dis-
cussing the evidence and the future
fate of these two young Italian work-
ers, and sentenced them practically to
the electric chair. Unless the workers
of America join their voices with the
workers of Europe and say, "No, it
shall not be done," it will be done.
(Uproarious applause.)

And it must not be done.

It is not only a question of these
two young men, but it is a question
even more vital than their lives and
their liberties. It is the question :
Shall a workingman, especially a for-
eign-born workingman, put his neck
into the noose, put his life into the
shadow of death if he dares to speak
the message of organization and the
message of rebellion to the foreign-
born workers in this country?

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

347

Now, comrades, some of us have
made a long, hard fight to defend
S.-KVO and Vanzetti. We took this case
when nobody had ever heard of it,
when nobody ever knew about it and
wluMi nobody cared, and we tried, in
all these long months, to raise the nec-
essary agitation, publicity, and finance
to carry it on.

We have been able to raise, through
the assistance of all the organizations
— and your organization has responded
generously, everywhere — the sum of
$00,000. But that $90,000 has all been
spent, and spent on those vitally nec-
essary tasks attached to a murder case.
I could not begin to tell you the rami-
fications, how you can follow little
clues and threads of evidence, and how
much money it costs; and how the
stenographers' bills pile up, and the
printing of those great law books that
nobody reads except the judge and the
lawyers, and how the bills pile up for
that. Xow, we have come to the point,
I am going to tell you quite frankly,
where our Sacco- Vanzetti committee is
absolutely broke. They haven't got
one single dollar at the present time.
The reason for that is that the New
England workers are all out on strike.
They were the ones who gave to us
first of all. The miners gave gener-
ously, but they, too, are all out on
strike. And we have got to fall back
on you here in the needle trades. We
have got to ask you now to give, and
to give as generously as you can, once
more. We believe we have evidence,
in fact, we are sure we have evidence
within our grasp at the present time, to
show not only that Sacco and Van-
zetti are innocent, but to show who the
guilty parties are, and to show that
the police department and the Depart-
ment of Justice knew it all the time.
( Uproarious applause. )

We believe we can demonstrate that
Sacco and Vanzetti are innocent, and
we can demonstrate it so that those
frame-ups will be impossible in the fu-

ture. But, comrades, we need your
help. I am not going to say any more
than that. I am not going to make
any long and sentimental appeal to
you. I have told you what the situa-
tion is. We have had to close down
the office of the lawyer. He has got
to do his work in his own home. AVe
haven't been able to pay the investi-
gators and the stenographers for the
last month, and if we are going to
save these men you've got to help us
do it. (Applause.)

That's all I am going to say to you,
and I am sure that's all that is nec-
essary. I hope a year from now I
won't have to come and talk about
Sacco and Vanzetti. I hope that Sacco
and Vanzetti will be able to come and
thank you themselves. (Applause.)

REPORT FOR CREDENTIALS
COMMITTEE

Assistant Secretary POTOFSKY :
The Committee on Credentials has
asked me to make a report for them.
The Committee on Credentials reported
yesterday, seating 256 delegates, repre-
senting 104 local unions from thirteen
states of the United States and two
provinces in Canada. That report was
incomplete. The committee has acted
upon the remaining credentials and
recommends the following:

An objection was filed against
Brother Bernstein, who presented a
credential from Local 19 of New York.
The objection is not against Brother
Bernstein personally. It is made on
the ground of the constitutional pro-
vision that a delegate must be a mem-
ber of the local union he represents at
the convention. Brother Bernstein is
a member of Local 5 and he was
elected a delegate by Local 19 because
he is the manager of that local union.
Under the provisions of our constitu-
tion the committee was compelled to
sustain the objection and refused to
accept his credentials.

348

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

An objection was raised against the
seating of Brother Jacob Malkin of
Local 16, New York. The committee
finds that there is not sufficient ground
to sustain the objection, and therefore
recommends the seating of Brother
Malkin.

An objection was filed against
Brother Jacob Cohen of Local 162,
New York. Brother Cohen is charged
with having been at one time a repre-
sentative of the Custom Tailors' Con-
tractors' Association. The facts re-
vealed to the committee make it im-
possible for the committee to recom-
mend the seating of Brother Cohen,
and the committee therefore reports
unfavorably on this credential.

The committee has denied the ap-
plication of Local 61. Local 61 is
entitled to six delegates and they
sent seven. The six delegates have
already been seated. The committee
recommends that inasmuch as Local
61 has already elected seven dele*
gates, the seventh delegate be seated
with a voice but no vote.

The committee further recom-
mends the seating of a delegate from
Local 102, and of Brother J. J.
Young as an additional delegate from
Local 162.

The recommendations of the com-
mittee were approved.

President HILLMAN: That com-
pletes the organization of this con-
vention. I believe it should be said,
to the great credit of the conven-
tion, that it took less than ten min-
utes to dispose of the whole report
of the Committee on Credentials.

I am happy to be able to intro-
duce to you the guest of the Gen-
eral Executive Board, invited here
on behalf of the organization to ad-
dress this convention. Whenever
we hear there is any little trouble
in the city of Milwaukee, we are
not fearful our people will be ar-
rested for no cause. I am going to

forego the privilege of introducing
Mayor Hoan myself, and I am going
to call upon General Organizer
Krzycki, who had the opportunity
of working closer with him in our
organization and otherwise than any-
one else, to introduce Mayor Hoan of
Milwaukee. (Uproarious applause.)

Organizer KRZYCKI: The chair-
man told you that I had the oppor-
tunity to work and co-operate with
Comrade Hoan, our mayor of the
city of Milwaukee. I want to say
that I not only had the opportunity
to co-operate and work with Dan
Hoan in labor matters, but it was
also my privilege, during the two
years that I had in my pocket the
key to the Milwaukee County Jail,
also to entertain the mayor in
the Milwaukee County Jail. No,
not in the same way the miners
are being entertained by the sheriff
in West Virginia! Not that way
But in a regular, hospitable, re-
spectable sort of a way.

You will recall that Sam Levin, in
greeting you in Carmen's Hall, men-
tioned among other things his deep
regret that, in the circumstances, it
was impossible for the Chicago
Joint Board to turn the keys of the
city over to the delegates to our con-
vention. But inasmuch as this is a
time when we are accustomed, as at
all conventions, to turn the keys of
a city over to the delegates, it
dawned upon us that, not far from
our home city of Chicago, there is a
place where we can do that. So we
thought that we would bring our
mayor to Chicago and give him an
opportunity to turn over to you, not
only the key of the city of Mil-
waukee, but everything that the city
of Milwaukee has, and over which
Mayor Hoan and the working class
of Milwaukee have control. (Ap-
plause.)

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

349

ADDRESS OF MAYOR DANIEL W.
HOAN

Mayor DANIEL W. HOAN: We
are much disappointed in Milwaukee
over the decision of your General
Executive Board, not to bring this
convention up to Milwaukee to look
around the city. We are so disap-
pointed about it, in fact, that the
members of the Amalgamated in
Milwaukee, and a few other good
workers and friends there, decided
the best thing to do was to send the
mayor of Milwaukee down to the
convention in Chicago. (Applause.)
Our second decision was to have me
extend to you an invitation some
time to give us your convention in
the best city in the world — Mil-
waukee. (Applause.)

I want you to know that the work-
ing class in America, practically 100
per cent, recognize in the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America, which
you represent, the most advanced, the
most aggressive, and best type of or-
ganized labor movement in America
today. We recognize it and concede it
and, therefore, we come here to receive
inspiration. We will look to you in
the future for guidance, and, while the
labor movement of Milwaukee has not
been as backward as in most other
cities, yet we are looking forward to
an advance being made in the old A.
F. of L., at least, and, therefore, we
look to you for the example.

At the present time the labor move-
ment is up against so many perplexing
problems, and such powerful opposi-
tion, that it is apparent to everybody
but an insane man that the old meth-
ods won't do any longer. If we go out
and hunt bear with a sling-shot and
find that every time we do so the bear
squeezes us to death, it is about time
to get a 44-caliber gun to hunt that
bear with. (I/aughter.) We cannot
fight with our old weapons. It has
been demonstrated, overwhelmingly,

over and over again, in the last coal
strike, in the present coal strike, and
where they had so much splendid help
from the Amalgamated, in the steel
strike. But the owners not only have
the mines; they have the courts and
the sheriffs' offices, and the police, and
everything in their power. We find the
organized labor movement in America
is right up against a stone wall and,
therefore, we have to have something
bigger and better than the old-fash-
ioned sling-shot to do business with.
(Applause.)

We have got to have a labor press
in this country, a press that will back
us up all the time in all the large
cities of America, a daily press that
will fight the battles of the working
class and help us to emancipation
from the evils of commercial slavery.
Until you get that press, the public
mind of the country will continue to
be corrupted and deceived through the
press, to your detriment.

I see that the Amalgamated has put
its shoulder to the wheel to help the
co-operative movement in America. In
the past the American co-operative
movement has been more or less of a
joke. It has been laughed at as re-
form, and all kinds of foolishness; but
the workers of Europe, of Russia, of
France, of Belgium, of Italy, England,
have all showed us that there is some-
thing more in the co-operative move-
ment than child's play. They have
showed us that out of the pitiful sav-
ings of the workingman we can com-
mence to build a commonwealth for the
future, owned and managed by the
working class. By your recent steps
to establish a bank in Chicago, you
are helping to realize that forward
step. I hope the individual members
of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers
will study the literature and will help
to boost the great co-operative move-
ment.

As to Milwaukee, there are some
things about Milwaukee that are so

350

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

far ahead of the city we are in, and
the different cities you men come from,
that we are mighty proud of the work
we have done there. First of all, there
is one thing we did which, if we had
done nothing else, justified the work-
ers of Milwaukee in participating in
political action. The city hall has,
most of the time, the sheriff's office
under its control, and that is the rea-
son that if any policeman uses his club
on the head of a worker he loses his
job, and he knows it. (Uproarious ap-
plause.)

In the communities where you fight
one another over theories, when you go
out on strike, and attempt to picket,
the policeman takes his club and jabs
it into your ribs and says, "Get out of
here." But they can't do that iu Mil-
waukee, because Milwaukee belongs to
the working class. (Applause.)

When we had the Cudahy strike,
when Brother Krzycld was under-
sheriff, the packers said, "We are
going to have some trouble and we
want some deputies." Krzycki said,
"Well, we will give you some depu-
ties," and he swore in the union men
who were on strike. (Laughter.)
We put the boys on strike under
oath, and swore them in to enforce
the law and the constitution. They
were told to go out there and not
let anybody come near that plant
to do any damage. So when some
fellows came, I suppose to take the
strikers' places, they were told to
get out and stay out. They started
to run them off, and for all we know
they are still running, away from
Milwaukee. (Laughter). We have
never had one bit of violence in any
labor strike in Milwaukee as long as
I can remember.

I wouldn't be surprised in the
near future to see the coal miners
and the railroad workers and the
steel workers, all driven into one
solid phalanx of an economic organ-

ization, go out on strike and stay out
until the steel mills, railroads, and
mines are the property of the work-
ers of the United States. When that
time comes, there should be a daily
press to back them up. There should
be within our power every possible
means of help and, in our cities and
counties, as many sheriffs and as
many chiefs of police and police
officers as possible. Our opponents
are on the job getting hold of those
things. We want everything they
are after. It doesn't make any dif-
ference whether it is the factories
or the city halls or the capitol of
the United States, we want them for
the working class; but if we don't
get after them, we won't get them.

Our hearts are with the Amalga-
mated because you are up and doing
things. You are not afraid of new
ideas. (Applause.)

A floral gift was presented to the
convention by the Scotch Woolen
Mills, followed by a speech of wel-
come by Brother Toney, shop chair-
man of the mills.

President Hillman introduced Miss
Caroline A. Lowe, representing the
General Defense Committee.

ADDRESS OF CAROLINE A. LOWE

Miss CAROLINE A. LOWE: After
spending the greater part of my time
and energy in the past five years in
attendance upon courts and jails and
penitentiaries, your convention today
thrills me through and through, and
gives me hope for the future.

Despite the joy that your con-
vention has brought to my heart, I
can see the gray walls of the federal
penitentiary at Leavenworth, and I
can hear the gong and see the gray
ghost-like forms of the prisoners as
they go dully about their work, day
after day, week after week, and year
after year. These men, for whom I
appeal to you today, have been in

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

351

the jails and the penitentiaries for
the past five years, and sixty-one of
these men are sentenced to serve
terms of from ten to twenty years. In
other words, they are sentenced to
what amounts to life sentences,
merely for the expression of opinion.
And that has happened in America.

Had these men been sentenced in
Italy, they would have been released
three years ago. Had they been con-
victed in France or in Belgium, they
would have been released in December,
1919. Had they been sentenced in Can-
ada, just north of us, they would have
been released in December, 1920; and
had they been sentenced in England,
one year is the longest term they would
have been given.

I come to you this afternoon urging
your active co-operation and your finan-
cial aid in a campaign for general am-
nesty for federal prisoners. You have
listened to appeals for general am-
nesty, including all prisoners, and I
come to you this afternoon to ask your
specific aid in a great national cam-
paign by which we are endeavoring to
secure the release of the federal po-
litical prisoners this summer, or at the
very latest not later than Christmas.

The amnesty hearing held in Wash-
ington on March 16 created a very fa-
vorable impression, we are led to be-
lieve, and has renewed interest and
called the attention of the politicians
in Washington to the fact that the de-
mand for amnesty of the federal war-
time prisoners has not ceased.

Of the 113 political prisoners con-
fined in Leavenworth, Kansas, five
were members of a tenant farmers'
union. The remaining ninety-eight
prisoners were members of the Indus-
trial Workers of the World. In the
indictments brought against these pris-
oners, there was no attempt to charge
them with overt acts involving the com-
mission of violence. Every overt act
stated in the indictments in these cases

charged one of four things : either the
circulation of literature, the circula-
tion of pamphlets, the sending of let-
ters, or the sending of telegrams. That
is the charge against these men, and
these men are solely political prisoners.

Now, at the meeting held in Wash-
ington on March 16, Major Alexander
Lanier, a leading attorney in the city
of Washington, who was appointed by
the government to read all of the tes-
timony given in Chicago against these
men, was a witness for the defense.
In his address to the House Judiciary
Committee. Major Lauier said:

"After reading 44,000 typewritten
pages of testimony in this case, I am
obliged to say that it is my firm con-
viction that these men were convicted
solely because they were leaders in a
revolutionary organization and that
the verdict was the result of wartime
hostility and prejudice."

(At this juncture President Hillman
was presented with a basket of flowers
by the Workers of Kahn Bros.)

Xow, comrades, a campaign is on,
in which we are circulating a million-
signature petition. We ask that every
one of you sign this petition, urging
general amnesty for all political pris-
oners. I also trust that you will aid
us materially in raising the $5,000 that
we must have this month to carry on
the campaign for amnesty and to fight
against the deportation of some of the
prisoners who would be turned over to
brutal and despotic governments. (Ap-
plause.)

INTRODUCTION OF RESOLUTIONS

Brother Potofsky read by title the
following resolutions:

No. 33, International affiliation, by
Robasanskas, Local 218, to Committee
on Resolutions.

No. 34, Affiliation with other labor
organizations, by Robasauskas, Local
218, to Committee on Resolutions.

352

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

No. 35, Organization work in Balti-
more, by delegation from Baltimore, to
Committee on Organization.

No. 36, Organization of women in
Cincinnati, by delegation from Cincin-
nati, to Committee on Organization.

No. 37, Organization work in Cincin-
nati, by delegation from Cincinnati, to
Committee on Organization.

No. 38, Support of striking Amalga-
mated Textile Workers, by delegation
from Cincinnati, to Committee on Fi-
nance.

No. 39, Sick benefits, by delegation
of Local 144, to Committee on Reports
of Officers.

No. 40, Eligibility of members with-
drawing from industry to hold office,
by Riger, Kainan, Proger, Local 22, to
Committee on Law.

No. 41, Wage reductions, by Riger,
Kainan, Proger, Local 22, to Commit-
tee on Miscellaneous Matters.

No. 42, Recognition of Soviet Russia,
by delegates of Local 63, to Committee
on Russia.

No. 43, Federation of independent or-
ganizations, by delegation of Local 63,
to Committee on Reports of Officers.

No. 44, Needle trades organization,
by delegation of Local 63, to Commit-
tee on Reports of Officers.

No. 45, Recognition of Soviet Russia,
by delegation of Local 39, to Committee
on Russia.

No. 46, Unemployment fund, by dele-
gation of Local 39, to Committee on
Reports of Officers.

No. 47, Education, by delegation of
Local 39, to Committee on Education.

No. 48, Amnesty for political pris-
oners, by delegation of Local 39, to
Committee on Resolutions.

No. 49, Term of office for local offi-
cers, by Max Potash, Local 162, to
Committee on Law.

No. 50, Exemption from per capita
of unemployed members, by delegation
of Local 38, to Committee on Finance.

No. 51, Special assessments, by dele-
igation of Local 38, to Committee on
Law.

No. 52, Uniform laws for local
unions, by delegation of Local 38, to
Committee on Law.

No. 53, Wages, by delegation of Lo-
cal 38, to Committee on Miscellaneous
Matters.

No. 54, Unification of labor organi-
zations, by delegation of Local 38, to
Committee on Resolutions.

No. 55, Forty-hour week, by delega-
tion of Local 38, to Committee on Res-
olutions.

No. 56, Organization of Baltimore,
by delegation of Local 51, to Commit-
tee on Organization.

No. 57, Interrelation of markets,
wages, etc., by delegation of Local 51,
to Committee on Resolutions.

No. 58, Release of political prisoners,
by delegation of Local 51, to Commit-
tee on Resolutions.

No. 59, Revision of constitution, by
delegation of Local 51, to Committee
on Law.

No. 60, Approval of action in regard
to Children's Clothing Joint Board, by
delegation of Local 51, to Committee
on Resolutions.

No. 61, Amalgamation of local
unions, by delegation of Local 51, to
Committee on Miscellaneous Matters.

No. 62, Defense of Sacco and Van-
zetti, by delegation of Local 51, to
Committee on Resolutions.

No. 63, Per capita tax, by delegation
from Montreal, to Committee on Fi-
nance.

No. 64, Special rule in strikes, by
delegation of Local 54, to Committee
on Organization.

No. 65, Shop committees, by delega-
tion of Local 270, to Committee on
Law.

No. 66, Amalgamation of needle
trades unions, by delegation of Local
270, to Committee on Reports of Offi-
cers.

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

353

No. G7a, Organization work in Mon-
treal, by delegation from Montreal, to
Committee on Organization.

No. r,71). International unity of la-
bor organizations, by Levin, Sugarman,
Local 14; Cernis, Local 58; Reiniscb,
Local 5; Berson, Fox, Local 39; Le-
vine, Local 209, to Committee on Reso-
lutions.

No. 68, Unemployment fund, by
Levin, Local 14; Cursi, Rocco, Local
202; Rickles, Local 204; Enghart,
Local 227; Lifshutz, McMahon,
Kroeger, Local 205; Pearlman,
Rochester Joint Board, to Committee
on Reports of Officers.

No. 69, Forty-hour week, by
Licastro, Giangreco, Local 200; Mor-
ley, Cominsky, Local 204; Ciaccio,
Local 202, to Committee on Resolu-
tions.

No. 70, Standards of protection,
by Levine, Local 14; Agress, Local
200, Hurley, Adler, Local 204;
Kroeger, Local 205; Borzdynski,
Local 206; Cursi, Local 202, to
Committee on Resolutions.

No. 71, Impartial machinery, by
Licastro, Giangreco, Local 200;
Hurley, Local 204; Ciaccio, Local
202, to Committee on Miscellaneous
Matters.

No. 72, Week work vs. piece work,
by Schneid, Smith, Weiss, Fox, Rut-
ledge, Local 39; Bendokaitis, Local
269, to Committee on Resolutions.

No. 73, Unification of all unionu
in needle trades, by Levin, Sugar-
man, Potter, Local 14; Berson,
Brown, Schneid, Fox, Schlossberg,
Local 39; Licastro, Local 200; Ben-
dokaitis, Local 269, to Committee on
Reports of Officers.

No. 74, Wages and working con-
ditions in various cities, .by delega-
tion of Local 63, to Committee on
Miscellaneous Matters.

No. 76, Date for holding conven-
tion, by delegates of Local 38, to
Committee on Law.

No. 77, Organization of cloth ex-
aminers and spongers, by delegates
of Local 271, to Committee on Or-
ganization.

No. 78, Sympathy to imprisoned
cigar makers, by delegation of Local
61, to Committee on Resolutions.

No. 79, Organization of sheepskin
industry, by Landfield, Local 267,
to Committee on Organization.

No. 80, Equal pay to women for
equal work, by delegation of Local
36, to Committee on Resolutions.

No. 81, Wages, by delegation of
Local 36, to Committee on Miscel-
laneous Matters.

No. 82, Establishment of Board of
Sanitary Control, by women dele-
gates, to Committee on Miscellaneous
Matters.

Nos. 83, 84, Women organizers,
by delegates of Women's Locals, to
Committee on Organization.

No. 85, Organization of custom
tailors, by delegation of Local 162,
to Committee on Organization.

No. 86, Amalgamation of unions
in needle trades, by delegation of
Local 142, to Committee on Reports
of Officers.

No. 87, Old age, sick, and dis-
ability benefits, by delegation of
Local 162, to Committee on Reports
of Officers.

No. 88, Support of striking tex-
tile workers, by delegation of Local
142, to ^Committee on Resolutions.

No. 89, Representation of locals
on joint boards, by delegation of
Local 102, to Committee on Law.

No. 90, Organization work in
Utica, by Cesarone, Local 104, to
Committee on Organization.

No. 91, Organization work in Cin-
cinnati, by Herman, Cincinnati Joint
Board, to Committee on Organiza-
tion.

No. 92, Thanks to Convention Ar-
rangements Committee, by delega-

354

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

tion of Local 4, to Committee on
Resolutions.

No. 93, Annual election for offi-
cers of local unions, by delegation
of Local 4, to Committee on Law.

No. 94, Establishment of Organ-
ization Department in East, by dele-
gation of Local 4, to Committee on
Organization.

No. 95, Organization of drivers
and helpers, by Schoen, Local 240,
to Committee on Organization.

Nos. 96, 97, Payment of wages for
legal holidays, by delegation of Local
2, to Committee on Miscellaneous
Matters.

No. 98, Unemployment fund, by
delegation of Local 2, to Committee
on Reports of Officers.

No. 99, Out-of-town organization
work, by delegation of Local 2, to
Committee on Organization.

No. 100, Organization of needle
trades, by delegation of Local 269,
to Committee on Reports of Officers.

No. 101, Officers' salaries, by delega-
tion of Local 269, to Committee on
Law.

No. 102, Methods of work, by delega-
tion of Local 2G9, to Committee on
Resolutions.

No. 103, Corporation shops, by dele-
gation of Local 269, to Committee on
Resolutions.

No. 104, Representation, by delega-
tion of Local 269, to Committee on Law.

No. 105, Form of organization, by
delegation of Local 269, to Committee
on Law.

No. 106, Affiliation, by delegation of
Local 269, to Committee on Resolutions.

No. 107, Assistance for striking shoe
workers, by Levin, Local 14 ; Lifshutz,
Local 205, to Committee on Finance.

No. 108, Lithuanian paper, by dele-
gation of Local 269, to Committee on
Miscellaneous Matters.

No. 109, Week work, by delegation
of Local 2, to Committee on Resolu-
tions.

No. 110, Appointment of organizers,
by delegation of Local 102, to Commit-
tee on Law.

No. Ill, Reports of General Execu-
tive Board to locals, by delegation of
Local 2, to Committee on Law.

No. 112, Establishment of Organiza-
tion Department jointly by General Of-
fice and New York Joint Board, by
delegation of Local 2, to Committee on
Organization.

No. 113, Editorial Department, by
delegation of Local 2, to Committee on
Resolutions.

Nos. 114, 117, Political affiliation, by
delegation of Local 63, to Committee
on Resolutions.

No. 118, Appointment of organizers,
by delegation of Local 63, to Commit-
tee on Law.

No. 120, Eastern organization cam-
paign, by delegation of Local 3, to Com-
mittee on organization.

No. 121, Preference of employment,
by delegation of Local 3, to Committee
on Miscellaneous Matters.

No. 122, Week work, by delegation
of Local 3, to Committee on Resolu-
tions.

No. 123, Unemployment fund, by del-
egation of Local 3, to Committee on
Reports of Officers.

No. 124, Pay for legal holidays, by
delegation of Local 3, to Committee on
Miscellaneous Matters.

No. 125, Eligibility for General Ex-
ecutive Board, by delegation of Local
3, to Committee on Law.

Xo. 126, Term of office, by delegation
of Local 3, to Committee on Law.

No. 127, Eligibility of general organ-
izers for General Executive Board, by
delegation of Local 5, to Committee on
Law.

No. 128, Shop stewards, by Velona,
Local 208, to Committee on Law.

No. 129, Eligibility for local offices,
by Velona, Local 208, to Committee on
Law.

The convention thereupon adjourned,
to meet at 9 :30 the following morning.

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

355

FIFTH SESSION

Thursday, May 11, 1922

9:30 A. M.

President HILLMAN called the
fifth session to order at 9:30 a. m.,
Thursday, May 11.

Assistant Secretary POTOFSKY
read messages of greeting from the
following Amalgamated organiza-
tions:

Local 110, Cutters, A. C. W. of A.,
Chicago.

Local 208, A. C. W. of A., Vine-
land, N. J.

Employees of Perlstein's, New
York.

Employees of I. & B. Cohen, New
York.

In addition, Brother Potofsky read
the following communications:

"City Central of the Young Work-
ers' League of Chicago greets the
Fifth Convention of the Amalga-
mated Clothing Workers of America
and wishes them success in the com-
mon struggle of the working class
for the control of the industries and
the conditions under which we are.
Yours for united front.

"Chicago City Central,
YOUNG WORKERS' LEAGUE
OF AMERICA."

"We greet at this opportune moment
the large and mighty organization,
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers'
union. In the time of this frightful
reaction when the whole capitalist
class used all its power to destroy the
organized strength of the workers the
Amalgamated withstood it all and
emerged if not with material gains but
certainly more determined and obsti-
nate in its antagonism against the
manufacturing class that desires to de-
stroy their union. May consciousness
of your struggle and solidarity be the
ideal of all your decisions. We wish
that the Amalgamated in the future

shall be guided by the Socialistic spirit,
as it has been in the past, with the
same aspiration toward brotherhood
among all the various branches of the
Jewish labor movement. Long live the
Amalgamated which was built up by
the large membership under the spirit-
ual guidance of the Socialist and rad-
ical parts of the Jewish labor move-
ment.

"Executive Committee,
"JEWISH SOCIALIST VERBAND."

"Heartiest greeting to your conven-
tion. May your deliberations strength-
en the duration of your great organi-
zation in its struggle for the emanci-
pation of the working class.

"JEWISH SOCIALIST LABOR
PARTY, POALE ZIOX."

"Greeting. The joint board of the
millinery union conveys its heartiest
congratulations to your convention and
wishes that all your deliberations be
crowned with success. It further ex-
presses its hope and belief that your
convention will realize the great need
of a Needle Trades Alliance and will
do its utmost to carry it into realiza-
tion in the spirit as submitted to you
in the memorandum by our General
Executive Board.

"Fraternally yours,

"JOINT BOARD, MILLINERY AND
LADIES' STRAW HAT WORKERS'
T'XIOX, UNITED CLOTH HAT
AND CAP MAKERS OF NORTH
AMERICA."

" America is watching- you. Amal-
gamation is the slogan. One foe, one
front, one victory.

"Local Pittsburgh, WORKERS'
PARTY OF AMERICA."

"Accept our heartiest congratula-
tions upon your past achievements and

356

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

may you in the future as in the past
remain the beacon light of the Amer-
ican labor movement.

"S. M. NEISTADT, State Secy.,
Socialist Party of Maryland/'

(At this point Brother Solomon pre-
sented flowers on behalf of the em-
ployees of Marx & Co. to the conven-
tion. Flowers were also presented to
Delegate Rutledge, a Negro delegate
from Marx & Co., amid great ap-
plause.)

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON LAW

Delegate McKAY reported for the
Committee on Law:

Expenses of Convention

RESOLUTION No. 13
Resolved, That the General Office
should provide the expense for the
delegates to the convention.

Committee's recommendation of
non-concurrence adopted.

Date of Convention

RESOLUTION No. 76
Resolved, That the date of the
convention be changed from the
second Monday of May to a date be-
fore the time of signing the agree-
ment with manufacturers. Usually
during the convention many impor-
tant questions are adopted, but never
installed. If before the agreement
is signed, such adoptions would be
taken under consideration.

Committee's recommendation of
non-concurrence adopted.

Recall of General Officers

RESOLUTION No. 17
Resolved, That general officers and
General Executive Board members
can be recalled on the initiation of
20 per cent of the membership, a
referendum vote to be instituted for
action.

Committee's recommendation of
non-concurrence adopted.

Representation on General Execu-
tive Board

RESOLUTION No. 18

Whereas, Our General Executive
Board today as constituted repre-
sents markets and nationalities.
While it is true that we have no con-
stitutional provision for it, we all
somehow feel that we must give rep-
resentation to Chicago, New York,
Boston, Lithuanians, Italians and
women workers in our organization.

And whereas, We understand the
importance of a General Executive
Board being constituted in a way
that it should give full expression
to all the shades of sentiment, feel-
ing, and problems that our organiza-
tion might be confronted with.

And whereas, The shirt-making in-
dustry in all its phases has peculi-
arities that are intimate only to those
who are part thereof.

And whereas, Our organization is,
we say it with pride, so big and has
so many problems to solve; be it
therefore

Resolved, That representation be
granted to the shirt makers in the
General Executive Board, to enable
them to look after the shirt-making
industry at the meeting of the Gen-
eral Executive Board where the fate
of the various problems is decided.

The committee recommended non-
concurrence.

Delegate YUDELL, Local 248, stated
that he thought the shirt workers
should be represented on the General
Executive Board. His remarks were
concurred in by Delegate COHEN.

Delegate McKAY advised against
representation on the board of any
particular group or groups.

The recommendation of the commit-
tee was adopted.

Delegate McKAY further reported
for the Committee on Law:

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

357

Uniform Laws for Local Unions

RESOLUTION No. 52
Resolution urged uniform statutes
for all local unions.

Committee recommended concur-
rence. The report of the committee
was voted down and the resolution
non-concurred in.

Per Capita Tax

RESOLUTION No. 31

Whereas, The wages of the workers
have been reduced, it is impossible to
meet the dues as heretofore; therefore
be it

Resolved, By this Fifth Biennial Con-
vention of the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America, in Chicago as-
sembled, that the per capita on member-
ship dues be reduced.

The committee recommended non-
concurrence. Recommendation adopted.

Term of Office for Local Officials

RESOLUTION No. 49
Resolved, That said officials of the
New York Joint Board, including busi-
ness agents, shall not hold office more
than one term of two years, whereby
after a period of one year such ex-
officials shall be eligible to go on the
ballot, providing that such ex-officials
do not violate Article 15, Section 9, of
the constitution.

Committee's recommendation to non-
concur adopted.

Exemption of Unemployed Members

RESOLUTION No. 50
Resolved, That the convention take
up the matter of exempting unemployed
members from dues during their period
of non-employment, at the same time
granting them full membership rights
towards the organization, and entitling
them to "out of work" stamps after
one month's time of non-employment.
Committee's recommendation of non-
concurrence adopted.

Special Assessments
RESOLUTION No. 51

Resolved, That a referendum be had
on all special assessments, and that
the collection of same shall be divided
into payments, proportionate to the
earnings of the members, as the pres-
ent system is unsatisfactory to the
majority.

Committee's recommendation of non-
concurrence adopted.

Revision of Constitution

RESOLUTION No. 59
Whereas, The present constitution of
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America does not cover all of the
cases which daily occur in the life of
the organization; therefore be it

Resolved, By this Fifth Biennial Con-
vention of the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America, in Chicago as-
sembled, that a special committee of
this convention be formed to study the
needed changes in our constitution.

The committee recommended non-
concurrence. The recommendation of
the committee was adopted.

COMMITTEE OX REPORTS OF
OFFICERS

Delegate JOSEPH GOLD reported
for the Committee on Reports of Offi-
cers, as follows :

The Committee on Reports of Offi-
cers, having had under consideration
the report of the General Executive
Board to this convention, submits the
following report and recommends its
adoption :

We congratulate the general officers
and General Executive Board on their
splendid work in behalf of the organi-
zation during the past two years. We
believe that it is a record of which
the delegates may well be proud.

The achievements of the Amalga-
mated Clothing Workers of America
during the past two years are fully as
great, if not greater, than the achieve-

358

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

ments of our organization during any
former biennial period.

Despite the general industrial de-
pression; despite the organized open
shop movement; despite the reaction-
ary spirit everywhere prevalent, the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America presents itself today a
stronger organization than it was two
years ago.

The Amalgamated was singled out
as the first organization to bear the
brunt of the attack of the open shop
movement. We were attacked simul-
taneously in New York, Baltimore, and
Boston. The General Executive Board
is to be congratulated on the steps it
took to meet the situation. It promptly
and effectively mobilized the forces of
our organization for its defense. It
provided for a $1,000,000 lockout re-
sistance fund. Thanks, in large meas-
ure, to the efficient and capable work
of our general officers and General Ex-
ecutive Board, this attack on the life
of our organization was repelled.

The Amalgamated has distinguished
itself in other activities. Our union
was the first labor organization to send
relief to the famine victims in Soviet
Russia. On August 13, 1921, the Gen-
eral Executive Board sent out an ap-
peal for help to the membership in be-
half of starving Russia.

Altogether $167,206 was collected as
a result of the appeal and supplies
were rushed across the Atlantic. The
energetic work of the General Execu-
tive Board in rushing relief to Soviet
Russia is an achievement which will
rank high in the glorious record of our
organization.

Your committee will not here attempt
to summarize the work of the General
Executive Board during the past two
years in meeting the problems pre-
sented. We believe that no brief state-
ment of ours would be adequate to re-
view their splendid work.

The great enthusiasm shown at this
convention is, we believe, a reflection

of the great work in building up the
organization which has been done.

We recommend to the delegates and
to the membership that they read the
report of the General Executive Board.
It is a long report, but it will well re-
pay everyone to read it in its entirety.
It will be found a source of great in-
spiration for the carrying on of our
work in the future.

President HILLMAN : Question is on
the motion that this statement be
adopted by the convention.

The motion was unanimously car-
ried.

COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS

Delegate KROLL reported for the
Committee on Resolutions:

Support of Striking Coal Miners

RESOLUTION No. 7

Whereas, The coal miners of this
country are waging a gigantic strike
against the mine operators, for the
recognition of the just demands of
their organization; and

Whereas, The mine operators have re-
fused even to confer with the repre-
sentatives of the miners, which is un-
deniable proof that they are determined
to crush the miners' union; therefore
be it

Resolved, That we send our message
of encouragement to the striking min-
ers in which shall be embodied an as-
surance of our moral and material sup-
port in their struggle.

Committee's recommendation for con-
currence adopted.

Equal Pay to Women for Equal
Work

RESOLUTION No. 80
Whereas, The women workers of the
clothing industry form a large percent-
age of the membership and are there-
fore a controlling factor in the in-
dustry; be it therefore
Resolved, By this Fifth Biennial Con-

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

359

vention of the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America, in Chicago as-
sembled, that the principle of "equal
pay for equal work" be enforced in all
the markets throughout the country
and that equal opportunities be given
women in the industry except in so far
as this will interfere with health and
the future welfare of the sex.

Committee's recommendation for con-
currence adopted.

Sympathy to Imprisoned Striking
Cigarmakers

RESOLUTION No. 78

Whereas, Today there are imprisoned
since last week, in Chicago, men and
women who participated in the great
Chicago cigar makers' strike three
years ago for disregarding an injunc-
tion ruling at that time; therefore it is
herewith

Resolved, That we send messages of
our deepest sympathy to those im-
prisoned for fighting in this great strug-
gle.

Committee 's recommendation for con-
currence adopted.

Approval of Action in Regard to

Children's Clothing Joint

Board

RESOLUTION No. 60

Owing to the fact that no organiza-
tion can be strong in the spirit of its
masses, if it is not a real school of
principle and honesty; therefore be it

Resolved, That the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America praise
the action of the General Executive
Board in cleaning up and reorganizing
the Children's Clothing Joint Board of
New York, and hope that the same
action will be followed in all similar
situations.

Committee's recommendation for con-
currence was adopted.

Defense of Sacco and Vanzetti

RESOLUTION No. 62
(Covering also Resolution No. 23)

Whereas, A malicious injustice has
been done to Sacco and Vanzetti, in
accusing them of murder and robbery
and convicting them on false evidence,
only because they were loyal to the
labor movement, and to the class strug-
gle; therefore be it

Resolved, That this Fifth Biennial
Convention of the Amalgamated Cloth-
ing Workers of America, in Chicago
assembled, go on record affirming our
faith in their innocence and that this
organization join its forces with all
other organizations in every effort to
gain a new trial for these victims.

The committee 's recommendation for
concurrence was adopted.

President Hillman appointed the
following committee, which was ap-
proved by the convention:

COMMITTEE ON CO-OPERATION
AND BANKING

Michael Taylor, Local 271, Chi-
cago, chairman; Abraham Wechsler,
Local 144, Chicago, secretary; Wil-
liam Braun, Local 189, Cincinnati;
Hyman Novodvor, Local 40, New
York; Aristodemo Cavalieri, Local
139, Philadelphia; Calverese Romeo,
Local 270, Chicago; Samuel Ros-
nitsky, Local 1, Boston; Albert Borz-
dinski, Local 206, Rochester; G. Pro-
copio, Local 176, New York; Isaac
Bayer, Local 241, Baltimore; Mabel
Ashcraft, Local 275, Chicago.

ADDITIONS TO COMMITTEE ON
FINANCE

President HILLMAN appointed to
the Committee on Finance Louis Kuz-
netz, Local 152, Chicago (in place of
Meyer Klein, who had been appointed
to another committee), and Hyman Lif-
shutz, Local 205, Rochester.

360

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

ECONOMIC AID TO RUSSIA

Secretary-Treasurer SCHLOSSBERG :
Delegates: We are now coming to a
subject which is of tremendous im-
portance to this convention and the
labor movement generally.

During the past two years the gen-
eral officers of this organization rep-
resented the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers in European countries, carry-
ing our message of brotherhood to our
fellow workers in other parts of the
world, and bringing their message to
us.

I had the opportunity in 1920 of
visiting several countries in Europe,
including Italy, whose labor movement
at that time held the attention of the
world.

Last year, Brother Hillman repre-
sented our organization in Europe. It
was Brother Hillman Js good fortune to
visit the country which was then and
is still occupying a position of first
importance in the world. Brother Hill-
man reached Russia at the time when
an appeal went out from that country
to the workers of the world for help
for the famine sufferers. His message
to us came just as the General Ex-
ecutive Board was addressing itself to
the membership asking for help for
Russia. Brother Hillman 's appeal came
at the moment when it was most
needed.

The result of that call you all know.
The generous response of our member-
ship thrilled every friend of the labor
movement and every friend of Russia.
All of us rejoiced at Brother Hillman 's
presence in Russia. We all wished to
see there someone fit to represent the
organized clothing workers of America,
to speak for them to our fellow workers
in that great country. Brother Hill-
man spent several weeks in Russia.
He did not apply himself to a micro-
scopic analysis of social theories and
philosophies. Brother Hillman, as a
responsible representative and leader

of organized workers, who know their
rights, know how to fight for them,
and how to get them, was interested in
understanding the situation as it is,
good or bad.

Brother Hillman went to Russia, not
for the purpose of picking flaws and
then selling articles to capitalist papers,
but for the purpose of seeing conditions
with his own eyes, so that through him
we might see the actual struggles of
our fellow workers there, and find out
in what way we can best be of serv-
ice to the Russian people in their ef-
forts to reconstruct their lives.

All of us knew well that if Brother
Hillman. had an opportunity to visit
Russia, he would bring us a true re-
port of the situation in that country.

Brother Hillman was there. He
studied conditions. He met respon-
sible leaders of the Russian people.
He familiarized himself with affairs of
that country. When Brother Hillman
returned to us, we welcomed him with
double joy, first, because he was back
with us; second, because of the re-
port from Russia which we were anxi-
ously awaiting. Brother Hillman
brought not only a report of what he
saw in Russia, of the material suffer-
ings of the people, for which the
enemies of the workers in all countries
are responsible, and their great spiritual
strength, but also brought us a definite
proposition which will enable our or-
ganization to give real and construc-
tive help to the Russian people, in a\-
dition to the help that we have already
given — help on a large scale; help on
a permanent basis; help that will not
alone feed the hungry people, but will
enable the Russian people to help them-
selves; help that will mean economic
reconstruction.

Brother Hillman has already pre-
sented his report to the General Ex-
ecutive Board. Every member of the
board was impressed with the tremen-
dous importance of the proposition

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

361

brought by him, and with its tremen-
dous possibilities. The General Ex-
ecutive Board has unanimously ap-
proved of the plan, and decided to sub-
mit it to you, through Brother Hill-
man, for your approval.

Delegates and friends, the work
which we have done, whether for our
own organization or for others, has
never been done perfunctorily or me-
chanically ; in doing our work we have
always been imbued with the great
spirit of our movement. Work done
that way brings new enthusiasm, new
spiritual strength to our organization.
It is in such a state of enthusiasm and
inspiration that the General Executive
Board decided to present this plan to
you through Brother Hillman.

It is a great personal pleasure to me
to be able to present to you on this
occasion our president, to lay before
you a plan by which we, many of
whom have been driven out of Old
Russia, will be able to give great help
to New Russia.

I say it is a great pleasure to me
as a representative of this organiza-
tion, and personally, to present to
you Brother Hillman, who will lay
before you that great plan of help
which brings to us a consciousness
of living for something worth while,
of doing things worth while, of mak-
ing actual history for the world.

I present to you our president and
beloved brother, Sidney Hillman.
(Tremendous ovation; convention
rising.)

ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT
HILLMAN

President HILLMAN: Brother
Chairman and delegates to the con-
vention: I hope that you will find
the time to give all your attention to
something that merits not only con-
sideration, but unified action. I shall
not take your time simply to report
my experiences abroad. That I have
done already. I had the privilege of

meeting you and the membership in
different cities when I returned from
abroad. I am not here even to pro-
nounce a theory or to present some-
thing that should appeal to a par-
ticular group of people. What I am
about to propose here this morning,
I believe, should meet with the unan-
imous approval, not only of this con-
vention, but of every man and
woman in our organization. I shall
go even further than that. I be-
lieve that it should receive the unani-
mous approval of every man and
woman in this great country who
desires to help the whole world along
the road to reconstruction. (Ap-
plause.)

Now, it is very unfortunate that
the great masses of people always
leave such matters to a few, taking
it for granted that it is the business
of a few to reconstruct the world. It
is this state of mind, more than any-
thing else, that made it possible for
the great war to occur. The people
in all countries depended upon a few
to determine their destinies. And
even more tragic was the fact that
the making of peace was again left
to a small group. Because of that,
the world is suffering from peace,
even more than it suffered from war.
With millions of lives and the work
of the workers of the world destroyed
during the war, even greater destruc-
tion is going on now as the result
of the peace that is no peace. It is
my firm conviction that if the peoples
of the world had not permitted a
few to manage the world and had
themselves been interested in their
own welfare, such a peace would
have been impossible.

The world has paid a tremendous
price for its indifference to these
greatest of world problems. We can
no longer correct the mistakes that
made the war possible. What has
been done since the peace was con-
cluded cannot be changed. But

362

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

there is one more opportunity for
the world to save civilization, and
that is the adoption of a real policy
of reconstruction. I plead with you,
and not only with you, but with all,
regardless of views or party, not to
permit yourselves to remain indiffer-
ent to the problems of reconstruction.
We cannot permit the few people
who have always presumed to set
policies for the world, to set the
policies of reconstruction, as they
have set the policies for war and
peace. It is my judgment that if
they do so, civilization itself may be
destroyed.

I feel now most keenly that we
must serve the interest of the people
of every country and say to the
diplomats and politicians at Genoa
that they will not be permitted to do
the things they did at Paris, and at
Berlin, and elsewhere when the war
was declared and when peace was
made. (Applause.) It is time for
the people themselves to participate
in the reconstruction of Europe, and
in that way to shape also the des-
tinies of this country.

There is only one country that is
still financially sound, but is eco-
nomically at a standstill. That coun-
try is Great Britain. Every other
country in Europe is either already
in bankruptcy or on the verge of
bankruptcy. The astounding thing
is that nothing has been done as yet
to face these problems and to start
the work that will put the people
back where they may work again
and enjoy life.

I went into Russia. I considered
it a privilege because it gave me the
opportunity to come in close contact
with Russia; not with the theories of
Bolshevism, not with the arguments
of Menshevism, not with all the petty
quarrels here and there that may be
of interest to a few but do not con-
cern the great masses of people. It
enabled me to find out what is going

on in Russia, in that country of over
100,000,000 people, in the country
that suffered before the war from a
tyrannical oppression that was never
fully understood anywhere outside
of Russia.

Nobody seems to recall that dur-
ing the war Russia lost in lives more,
perhaps, than all the other Allied
nations combined; that Russians lost
their lives, not only because of the
war, but because of the corruption
and inefficiency of their government.
People do not seem to recall that
during the war the economic life of
Russia was completely destroyed.
And after the war a most infamous
policy has been pursued by those
who were the allies of Russia during
the war. They pursued the fright-
ful policy of blockade, which meant
starvation of women and children
and the prevention of men from
working so that the country might
be fed.

It is true that, in some measure,
we are feeding the starving people
of Russia. The efforts of the Amer-
ican Relief Administration will go
down in the history of our country
as something that everybody will be
proud of, not primarily because of
what we have given, but by com-
parison with the attitude of other
countries.

While abroad during the famine
I found that the Allied countries,
especially France, took the position:
"No bread to starving children un-
less we can dictate to Russia what
kind of government Russia shall
have." My friends, this attitude
represents not allegiance to abstract
principle, but it means making a
colony of Russia, taking Russian oil,
Russian minerals, making 100,000,-
000 people slaves to groups of finan-
ciers of other countries.

My friends, I want to say to you
that my heart felt a thrill that at
least our country, in giving charity,

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

363

has not assumed the attitude of a
Shylock. I am proud of the work
done, little as it is. But, while we
are trying to feed a few children,
while we are trying to feed a few
starving people, the political atti-
tude of this country toward Russia
today is causing a great deal more
starvation than the Hoover admin-
istration can feed through charity in
Russia. (Applause.)

For some reason or other, our De-
partment of State cannot see its way
clear to give the same assurances
and safeguards to Americans who
wish to do business in Russia which
it gives to Americans who engage in
business in all other civilized coun-
tries of the world. Yet it is the same
Department of State which consid-
ered the government of Nicholas II
civilized enough to deal with, the
same Department of State for whom
the government of Turkey was civil-
ized enough to deal with, in spite of
the massacres of the Armenians and
others. I say to you that I do not
believe it is the business of any
country to regulate the conditions of
life of another country. (Applause.)
Any country has a right to resent
outside interference. We in this
country do not want to be dictated
to by anybody from the outside, and
we should not assume the position
that we have a moral right to dictate
to any other country.

There are countries in Europe
which are fooling themselves and
which think that they can triumph
on the ruins of the rest of Europe.
If Europe collapses, every country in
Europe will go under, victor and
vanquished alike. It is fortunate
that at least some countries in Eu-
rope realize today that it is about
time to call a halt on the forces of
destruction. It is about time to start
thinking about reconstruction. But
the great danger is that the peoples
are indifferent. The danger is, that

we will get some new high-sounding
phraseology, we will get some new
formulas, and it will all result in one
part of the world trying to choke the
other. When that happens, there
will be very little left in the world
worth living for. It is up to the
people in this country, as well as in
every other country, to rise and say
that the reconstruction of the world
is not merely a matter for the officers
of the State Department, but that
the lives of millions of men and
women and children are the concern
of all the people. (Tremendous ap-
plause.)

Delegates, I want to tell you that
during the time of my stay in Rus-
sia, I was ashamed to consume even
the small amount of bread I did
when I knew that children were
dying and that even I, coming there
with the sole intention of seeing
what help I could render to them on
your behalf, devoured what meant
life to children. I wanted to stay in
Russia and I wanted to get out. I
did not want to have that feeling of
personal guilt, of being, even with
the best of intentions, an accomplice
of those who, after all, history will
record as slaughterers and mur-
derers.

I tell you frankly that I would be
ready to come to you and say that
even if you can do nothing else, even
if the future of Russia is doomed,
even if there is no room for recon-
struction, none of us has a right to
go on and waste while men and
women and children are starving. I
want to draw your attention to the
children, innocent ones, not knowing
the politics of this or that Depart-
ment of State, not concerned with
the views of one group of labor or
the other group of labor, children
who by the laws of nature came into
life and being, and who are being
slaughtered — slaughtered by every-
body who is not actively participat-

364

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

ing in helping them. You do not
commit murder only when you go
out in the street and kill someone;
you commit murder when you make
it impossible for other people to live.
I will go further and say that you
commit murder if you do not do
everything in your power to make
it possible for other people to live.

We slaughter children, mumble
phrases about the brotherhood of
man, and owe allegiance, either to
Christianity, or Judaism, or Mo-
hammedanism. (Applause.) Yet
here you have a Christian world and
the greatest crime of any age is com-
mitted. (Applause.)

My friends, even if we had no
plan at all and I came to you indi-
vidually or representing an organiza-
tion, and asked you to do your part,
I feel that you would do your duty,
But I wish to say more to you. I
know this, that by charity you can
merely square your conscience; and
it should be done, if that is all that
can be done. But I know that if we
are really to help, our help must be
constructive help.

When our organization finally ac-
counts for itself to our own mem-
bers and to the labor movement of
the world, the real question after all
will be, "Have we helped the con-
structive forces that are making for
a better future, or were we just a
fine group of sentimentalists?" No
help that is not constructive is real
help. Let me tell you that when I
went into Russia I was always try-
ing to find an answer to the question,
"Is there a way for constructive
help?" When we put a man into a
shop to work, we give him a job. It
is less effort than giving him $500
in charity, and it is real help. So
I raised the question, "Can we create
something that will be of construc-
tive help to Russia?" I then put to
myself several tests. The first test
was "Can we work with the people
of Russia?" (Applause.)

You may want to do all in your
power. Your intentions may be of
the best, but if people do not want
to help themselves and accept your
help, then your intentions are use-
less. I knew that before we could
think in any terms about constructive
work for Russia, we would have to
satisfy ourselves that the people who
are in charge of the destinies of
Russia — from the point of view of
history it is immaterial whether they
are in charge rightfully or wrong-
fully— are the people through whom
and with whom we could do con-
structive work for Russia; not for
this or for the other group, but for
the whole community.

When a great conflagration strikes
a community, it disregards all petty
divisions of groups and classes. It
sweeps everything before it. The
laws of disease pay little respect to
what group people belong to, politi-
cal, social, or otherwise. Disease and
fire have their own laws, and when
the community is in danger, it is up
to all the people in the community to
fight for those who are menaced, re-
gardless of class or group. It is
this which I wish to bring to the
attention of you who are fighting the
Bolsheviks. You cannot fight the
Bolshevik government without fight-
ing the men and women and children
of Russia. (Applause.)

Let me say, especially to you dele-
gates, that not only is it against my
principle to be partisan in these mat-
ters, but I would consider myself be-
traying not only the interest of the
organization, but the interests of the
movement at large if I assumed even
mentally a position of partisanship.
Every one of us must give an account
of himself in this movement to help
make the reconstruction of Russia
possible. For it is not a question
of Russia alone. It is a question of
Europe as a whole, because Europe
cannot be reconstructed unless Rus-
sia is reconstructed.

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

365

I realize our own limitations. I
do not want to assume that we here
can do all that is necessary for Rus-
sia. Strong as we are as an organ-
ization, we are after all only a small
group of people. But I believe that
it is the responsibility of everyone,
no matter how humble, no matter
how small, individual or organiza-
tion, at a time when civilization
itself is at stake, to take a position
for or against — not for Bolshevism
or against Bolshevism — but for or
against the slaughter of millions of
people, for or against bringing life
and happiness to several hundred
million people in eastern Europe.
My friends, time has wiped out all
lines of demarcation. The terrible
forces of disease and hunger have
united all the people in Europe. Eu-
rope is only divided between the
great masses, who are looking for
hope and life, and a small imperial-
istic, militaristic clique that would
rather see the whole world go to
smash than permit the adoption of
another mode of life.

My friends, I believe that on this
question there is no division in our
organization, that there is not a man
or woman in our organization who
would not do everything possible to
help the starving people of Russia
to help themselves. (Applause.)

Again, I want to say to you that,
if a roll call were taken in this coun-
try, I have sufficient faith in the
idealism of the American people to
believe that 99 per cent would re-
pudiate the policy of this govern-
ment with reference to Russia; for
no matter under what guise, that
policy spells destruction and murder.
(Applause.) I say, my friends, that
if you cannot help Russia, please let
her alone. You did not go there and
help them overthrow the Czar. They
had to do it themselves. They had
to solve their own problem then, and
they alone will solve the problems

of reconstruction, unless there is
enough common humanity in us to
move us to help them in this great
task.

There is another test. Real help
helps the people who extend help.
I believe that a great deal of the
curse of unemployment and indus-
trial depression would have been
avoided if this country had spent
$5,000,000,000 or $10,000,000,000,
if need be, in reconstruction instead
of idly watching the wastes of wealth
resulting from unemployment.

I say I went into Russia to find
out whether anything could be done.
Today, it no longer takes so much
courage to say that one has actually
met Lenin. As a matter of fact, the
Allied powers have already invited
him to come to Genoa, but he could
not come. Now, if the respectable
prime minister of France could ex-
tend an invitation to Lenin to meet
him, then it certainly requires no
courage for me to say that I actually
met and talked with Lenin.

I tell you — it is dangerous to say
this before the convention — but I
am going to say it to you anyhow:
Unless you have the courage and the
sense to put people in charge of the
organization who will have the cour-
age and sense to take charge of the
organization, the organization is go-
ing to pay the penalty. There is no
patent medicine, right, left, center,
or any kind. It takes men and
women to build an organization and
not abstract theories. It takes warm
hearts to maintain ideals, and not
phraseology. (Applause.) It takes
good sense, first, and a great deal of
courage after that, properly to guide
an organization. I, for one, was
surprised when I went into Russia
and found order preserved even on
economic ruin. I have seen the men
in the Red Army hungry, but still
held by an ideal, giving their lives
to defend their country.

366

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

I wanted to find out what Lenin
had to say. I had three conferences
with Lenin. I spent hours with
Lenin. I can tell you that we did
not discuss revolution in the United
States, or even revolution in Russia.
We did not discuss any theories. I
was not interested to read their
treatises. I did not care about what
they thought would happen in Russia
twenty years from now. Conditions
will rise dictated by life, and not by
theoretical speculation. It is much
more important to have a proper
policy than a great deal of noise.
Policies, if sound, have a habit of ac-
cumulating more and more strength
as they go along.

Think of all the noise that has
been made against the Soviet govern-
ment. Why, that noise could have
drowned almost the whole world.
Yet the Soviet government went on
and paid the penalty; not for the
noise, but for some of their own mis-
takes, until they came to the realiza-
tion of their mistakes.

Russia is desirous of one thing,
and that is a sound policy for the
reconstruction of Russian life. I
met Lenin. I met Radek. I met the
people whom they call the Soviet of
the industrial organization. I do
not want to translate the Russian.
They have all kinds of names, names
that it takes you four weeks to learn
and one day to forget. I met the
heads of the Soviet government. I
met the other "demon," Leon
Trotzky. I have met other "evil
spirits" like Goldfarb - Petrovsky,
whom you know, and others; and I
tell you, delegates, that unless I am
wrong, I believe that they are the
proper people to deal with. Now, I
want to say to you that the statement
I make may be considered an exag-
geration. I have heard a great many
people say, "Does Hillman really be-
lieve what he says, or is it said for
effect?" If anything at all, I am not

overstating it, but I am understating
it. I believe from my contact with
the responsible people of the Russian
government — I have met men and
women in all walks of life — that I
have never met a group of people so
realistic, so practical, so courageous,
and so able to handle this greatest
of jobs as the group of people who
have charge of the destinies of the
Russian nation today. (Applause.)

The next question is, have they got
the power? They may be good peo-
ple, but if they have no power, only
poets may be interested in them. In
the history of the world the poets
will be remembered more than the
practical men, but actual life is made
by the practical men, inspired at
times by the writings of the dream-
ers. Life is made by the men who
can take hold of life and have the
power to mold it. I want to tell you
that the power of that Russian group
is greater than any group anywhere,
because it has a power that comes
from the willing co-operation of the
peoples of Russia.

I went into the clothing industry
in Russia. Quite a number of people
whom I happened to know over here
are working there. If they came
back, you would not recognize them.
There is in Russia a great under-
standing of labor, and I know I am
taking great chances of being criti-
cized here for saying that we here
haven't got that understanding.
Their purpose is not destruction.
The idea of sabotage, the idea that
it is the purpose of labor to see how
little it can do, is not found there.
It is in Russia that labor appreciates
that work is not something that one
has to undergo as a punishment, but
that work is something to be proud
of. It helps build the world, be-
cause the world is built by work and
not by the fellows who quibble in the
legal or political professions. Labor
understands its mission in Russia,

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

367

and its mission in life is to build.
There labor has learned to accept an
iron discipline, because it realizes
that no army can be successful In
this struggle for life and against its
enemies unless it is disciplined.

I believe that the government of
Soviet Russia is capable of handling
the Russian situation. There are
some things that the government of
Russia is not interested in, things
that their adherents in this country
consider very important. The gov-
ernment of Russia is very little in-
terested in this or the other "ism."
The government of Russia has a tre-
mendous amount of untold wealth.
Some of it is underground, and it
will take a great deal of effort to
bring it out. It is right there for
someone to take. All the property
today is the property of Soviet Rus-
sia. They have the capital, the in-
herent capital, not worked out. They
have the people to work, and they
have a stable and efficient govern-
ment.

I believe that any capital invested
in Russia has as many of the ele-
ments of safety as that invested in
most of the other countries of Eu-
rope. I have discussed investment
with the heads of the Soviet govern-
ment. I have gone through the fac-
tories. I confined myself to clothing
and textile factories. A great num-
ber of people have gone over to Rus-
sia, have in two days through in-
terpreters found out everything about
Russia, and have come and written
several books. Now they claim that
they are authorities on Russia. I
knew my limitations. I went to a
few factories. They have clothing
factories employing over 1,000 peo-
ple each. Over a dozen factories are
running in Moscow and Petrograd
alone. If our girls sewed on the
buttons that they are sewing, in the
time it takes them, our price com-
mittees would be busy every day.

They are turning out clothing that
could be worn right here in America.
They are running textile factories
with the latest equipment. What
they need is capital to develop their
industries. After the long confer-
ences we had, they offered conces-
sions to us, not to the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America as
such, but to a corporation which we
will organize and to which all work-
ers of all organizations and people
who believe it is their duty to help
will subscribe if they so wish.

The Russian government will turn
over to this corporation, on a part-
nership basis, nine clothing and tex-
tile factories, employing today about
7,000 people. The actual value of
the buildings, the actual value of the
property, the actual value of the
merchandise will be perhaps from
5,000,000 to 10,000,000 gold rubles,
or from $2,500,000 to $5,000,000.
All we would be asked to do is to
put into that enterprise $1,000,000.
That will make it possible for that
$5,000,000 to begin to work.

We will have under those conces-
sions many privileges. We will have
preference on orders given by the
government, preference on raw ma-
terials that we may need. We will
also have preference in doing export
business for Russia with this coun-
try, or any other country. (Ap-
plause.) Besides that, the Soviet
government guarantees the amount
of money invested, even if the busi-
ness should not be successful.

I will say to you, delegates — and
I am now speaking entirely from the
point of view of a man who has con-
sidered the proposition purely on its
merits — that I believe that this
enterprise, if conducted properly, is
bound to be successful. All we need
to do is to send over half a dozen
experts, because these tailor shops
are run today under a most efficient
system. Some of the rules may not

368

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

even be surpassed by as progressive
an organization as we are. They
are turning out today millions of
units of clothing in the factories
under the direction of the Soviet
government.

Under the concessions we shall
actually participate with the Soviet
government in operating in Russia
tailor shops and textile factories. We
may even later add such concessions
as we feel competent to handle. Our
possibilities would only be limited by
our capacity.

I want to assure you that as far
as I know, you will get the complete,
absolute co-operation of everyone in
Soviet Russia, whether they are with
the Bolsheviki or against them (ap-
plause) ; whether they believe in the
Bolshevik government or not. More
than that, you will have the kind of
co-operation from the Soviet govern-
ment that no government, outside of
Russia, I believe, will give, and that
no other interest can get inside of
Russia. (Applause.)

What I propose is this: That this
convention authorize and instruct
your General Executive Board to or-
ganize one corporation, or a number
of corporations, in this country. I
propose that we organize this cor-
poration and invite all who are will-
ing to associate themselves to join
with us. We shall make sure that
the control of the organization,
under the laws of the United States,
is so safeguarded that it will not fall
into the hands of a small group of
people. In other words, while we
are willing to have participation of
others, we want the control to be
within organized labor, so that it
will not be used as an instrument for
exploitation and exploitation only.
We want this convention to author-
ize and direct us to go ahead with
this organization. We want this
convention to subscribe a substantial
amount of money for the shares as

its investment in this corporation.
We want this convention to author-
ize the issuance of shares at $10 par,
and leave it open to every worker or
non-worker to take as many as he
feels he can in order to help Russia
and to help himself. I believe that,
if everyone subscribes to only one
share, there should be at least 100,-
000 people in this country who will
consider it a privilege to buy a share
and start this experiment in Russia.
(Tremendous applause.)

Naturally, before the actual ar-
rangements are completed, experts
from our side will make a careful
study of all of the details. The or-
ganization of these enterprises will
be run by a joint administration,
with equal representation from the
two parties.

I want the Amalgamated experi-
ence put into those industries, and
the Amalgamated energy and enthu-
siasm, and the energy and enthusi-
asm of all the people who are willing
to contribute to make it possible for
those who today are struggling
against odds that are almost in-
human, to help themselves. I hope
that this convention unanimously,
without feeling that there is any
room for division, with the kind of
enthusiasm that will not only give
hope over there, but give new hope
to ourselves, will send forth the
message that our organization has
still the courage to undertake other
enterprises that will be helpful, not
only to ourselves, but to others. I
hope that this convention, even if
only in a small way, will serve notice
that economic help from this coun-
try to Russia, or other countries, can
come through channels other than
Wall Street and the banking com-
bination. (Applause.) I believe
that it may be well to initiate a
referendum vote for the Department
of State, and find out whether we
cannot get a majority of the people

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

369

to say that they are not a party to
stopping Russia from reconstruction.
The best way to do that is not by
giving advice, but by providing the
resources that will make it possible
for Russia to go on.

Delegates, I consider it indeed a
privilege that, because of your in-
structions to the officers to investi-
gate and report on conditions abroad,
I was able to go over there. I am
happy to be able to present to you
and the membership of our organiza-
tion, and to the membership of all
labor organizations and to the Amer-
ican people, a plan that will not only
be a step in stopping famine in Rus-
sia, but that also will start the
wheels of reconstruction in Europe,
so that civilization may be saved for
the people of all lands. (Applause.)

If we do nothing else, we are at
least willing to put ourselves in the
front ranks and take the criticism —
and I know we will be criticized. I
know this proposition will be lied
about, and I know that motives that
have nothing to do with this proposi-
tion will be talked about and be
made the subject of editorials. I
know that we may be misunderstood
even by some friends, but I will tell
you that the world will never make
a step forward unless there is a
group of people who are willing to
stand the brunt, and who, when their
effort is successful, will not even be
given the credit for what they did.
A number of things that are taken
today for granted, when they were
initiated were denounced and criti-
cized by both friends and enemies,
and so often it is hard to see the
difference between friend and enemy.

But we men and women in the
clothing industry have said to our-
selves: We want to find out what
is right, what is our duty, where our
responsibility lies, and then go ahead
and let the future justify our under-
takings. If it had not been for a

few people who had the courage of
their convictions we would today be
living in the jungle, if the beasts of
prey had permitted us to live there.
It was due to the rebellious spirit of
a few that we made progress. There
are some people who are great rebels,
although they are of a quiet disposi-
tion, although they do not indulge in
high phraseology. They stand for
and do the things that carry the
human race a step forward, and they
are greater than those who have all
kinds of prescriptions and know how
to lead us overnight to the ultimate
goal. It is to the credit of our or-
ganization that we have always paid
attention to what seemed right and
were willing to await the judgment
of time.

We wish to maintain this position
of ours. The plan I propose to you
is, first of all, a humanitarian one.
After all, there must be some way
to distinguish between a human be-
ing and the beasts of prey, and I
will tell you that you could not get
a congregation of beasts as wild, as
ruthless in destruction as the con-
gregation today of those who are dis-
gracing the name of human beings.
(Applause.) Our plan is humani-
tarian. Its purpose is to save life,
to increase life, to make life happier,
and if you make life happier for one
group, you make life happier for
every group. Which all means, in
other words, that it is constructive.
Not so long ago you sent nearly
$200,000 to Russia, and it was dis-
tributed. I never had a more pro-
found emotion than when Brother
Schlossberg read the telegram from
the Red Cross stating that your dol-
lars had saved 36,000 lives. Think
of it, 36,000 lives would have been
crushed, burned out, extinguished, if
not for our little assistance.

Now, we will put in $1,000,000
from the start. The money will
come not only from our own organ-

370

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

ization. I do not want this to be
purely an Amalgamated effort. The
doors are open to all who are willing
to help and restore life in Russia.
Such persons are welcome. We will
start with $1,000,000, and that will
create wealth, and will feed those on
the bread line.

This plan, if successful, will show
a new way out, not for one group,
not only for labor, but for the whole
world. Delegates, I appeal to you in
the name of humanity, in the name
of everything that should be dear to
everybody to whom humanitarian
brotherhood has any meaning. I
hope that you will not only adopt
this proposal, but that you will let
loose a new force that will sweep
away obstacles, and by your example
encourage others to follow and send
a new message to the world that we
of labor assume another responsibil-
ity for participating in the recon-
struction of the world, so that civil-
ization may be saved for all alike.

(At this point there was a dem-
onstration by the delegates and by
the visitors lasting for nearly half
an hour, during which flowers were
thrown at President Hillman from
all parts of the hall. The cutters
from the special order houses of
Chicago marched through the hall
and presented the convention with
flowers.)

CHICAGO SPECIAL ORDER
CUTTERS

Secretary SCHLOSSBERG: These
are the cutters of the special order
houses of Chicago. I can say to them
on behalf of this convention that
every delegate here is grateful for
this wonderful demonstration of
solidarity made by the Chicago
membership ever since the arrival of
the delegates.

This convention has been one con-
tinuous, uninterrupted triumph, a
triumph in the contemplation of the

achievements of the organization, a
triumph in the harmony prevailing at
this gathering, a triumph in this
soul-stirring manifestation of loyalty
to one another. And I say to you,
Chicago members, from the bottom
of my heart, that these things that
you are doing here will give new
strength to us and when we go back
home for the daily grind in this great
struggle that we are all engaged in
we shall feel this renewed strength.
I am sorry you came somewhat
late. I am sorry that you were de-
prived of the privilege of hearing the
wonderful message brought to us by
Brother Hillman. (Tremendous ap-
plause.)

I had hoped two years ago to have
the great privilege of breathing the
air of that country from which
Brother Hillman brought his mes-
sage. But having heard Brother Hill-
man I felt the sacred touch of the
wonderful work done by more than
100,000,000 emancipated slaves,
that sacred touch which is electrify-
ing the workers all over the world.

My friends, if this convention had
done nothing more than hear
Brother Hillman's message and re-
ceive that great contribution which
that message has made to our spirit,
this convention would have been
worth while and become historic.
In the name of all the people who
were privileged to hear Brother Hill-
man, I extend thanks to him for this
great work. (Tremendous applause.)

Brothers and sisters, we may con-
gratulate ourselves upon having in
our midst, and in the front ranks
of our organization, men and women
of the great idealistic and spiritual
loftiness of Brother Hillman. It is
not only the message that he has
brought us, but the manner in which
he brought it to us. This demonstra-
tion of today, this great spiritual
achievement, is a new reassurance to

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

371

us that our organization will keep
on doing things as it has been doing
until now, and on a far greater scale
as it increases in strength, in experi-
ence, in judgment and in courage.
(Applause.)

Brother Hillman has made an ap-
peal to you for a $1,000,000 sub-
scription for this enterprise on a
perfectly safe, sound and practical
basis for the help of our fellow work-
ers in Russia, so that they may, with
our help, be able to solve their own
problems. In 1921, $1,000,000
called for by the Amalgamated
meant $2,000,000. In 1922 it will
probably mean a great deal more.
(Applause.)

If I were to give expression to all
that I feel at this great and glorious
moment, I am afraid I would have to
take up more time than Brother Hill-
man did. I shall not take up more of
your time, as I know that your feelings
are exactly like mine.

The time has come for the people of
the world, as distinguished from the
mis-rulers of the world, to do things.
And we, as part of the people of the
world, as the people in this industry,
are undertaking something now which
will add greater glory to our cause and
arouse confidence in the workers every-
where to do things. (Applause.)

I now have the pleasure of calling
upon Brother Samuel Levin, who is
known not only to the Chicago member-
ship, but to the membership through-
out the country, to read a resolution.

Brother LEVIN thereupon read the
following resolution, as a substitute for
Resolutions 8, 27, 42, 45, 116, and
132:

Economic Assistance to Russia

Whereas, Russia has suffered severe-
ly in the war and from a very exten-
sive and prolonged drought, bringing
famine and starvation in its wake with
the accompanying disease and pes-
tilence; and

Whereas, The world, and particular-
ly the United States, has been moved
to contribute generously for the relief
of the millions of starving Russians, a
response which is deserving of high
commendation and appreciation; and

Whereas, The war and the famine
have prevented for the time the eco-
nomic reconstruction of Russia; and

Whereas, The present problems of
Russia cannot be solved solely with the
aid of philanthropy or gratuitous gifts,
but by economic co-operation with Rus-
sia and the Soviet government of Rus-
sia to the end that her enormous re-
sources may once more be able to pro-
vide for her requirements; and

Whereas, We are informed that the
Soviet government is willing and de-
sirous of entering into industrial ar-
rangements for the manufacture of
clothing and for the carrying on of
other industrial enterprises in Russia ;

Now, therefore, be it hereby declared
our purpose so to join in co-operation
with the Soviet government of Russia,
and we authorize the officials of this
organization, at their discretion and
upon their judgment, to enter into ar-
rangements with the Soviet govern-
ment of Russia for the manufacture of
clothing and for carrying on such other
industrial enterprises as to them shall
seem best; that in carrying on such
work they may use such methods and
devices as may seem best, either by
the forming of a corporation, or of sev-
eral of them, either for the owning of
stock in Russian companies entirely or
in connection with the Soviet govern-
ment, or for the purpose of directly
carrying on industry in conjunction
with or without co-partnership with
the Soviet government; and for that
purpose we hereby set aside the sum
of $50,000, to be the investment of this
organization therein, and also set aside
the further sum of $10,000 for the pur-
pose of carrying on and defraying ex-
penses that may be incurred in con-
nection therewith.

372

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

Brother LEVIN: Mr. Chairman, I
move the adoption of this resolution.
(At least a hundred voices shouted,
"Second the motion.")

Delegate HERSHKOWITZ moved
that consideration of the resolution be
postponed until afternoon. The motion
was not carried.

President HILLMAN: All those in
favor of the resolution as read will
signify by saying aye.

(The motion was unanimously car-
ried. After the motion was carried a
big demonstration and loud cheering,
lasting for about ten minutes, took
place. Several of the members an-
nounced their subscription to the fund
right then and there.)

Delegate SCHNEID moved that the
address of President Hillman be pub-
lished in booklet form as the expres-
sion of the convention. (Motion
unanimously carried.)

CHICAGO CUTTERS

(At this point a delegation of Chi-
cago cutters marched into the hall.
Great enthusiasm by the convention.)

Delegate KROLL: Mr. Chairman, I
have the privilege and the pleasure of
saying to you a few words about the

men who have just walked to the con-
vention hall. These men previous to
1905 were thoroughly organized in the
city of Chicago. Then they lost their
organization. In 1910 they came back
with a splendid fight and they again
lost their organization and for the fol-
lowing nine years these men were un-
der the closest supervision regarding
their political, fraternal, and union af-
filiation. But it was these special or-
der men who in 1919 came to the front
and showed us by the straws which
way the wind was blowing. It was
they, after all, who started the move-
ment in 1919 which resulted in a com-
plete organization in the city of Chi-
cago. (Applause.)

These men bid you welcome to
Chicago and hope that while you
are legislating you will also enjoy
yourselves. While they wish and hope
that you will legislate wisely, you can
depend upon the special order men of
Chicago to go through with anything
that you decide upon at this conven-
tion, 100 per cent. (Prolonged ap-
plause. )

The session then adjourned until
2:30 p. m.

SIXTH SESSION
Thursday, May 11, 1922

2:30 P. M.

The meeting was called to order
by Brother FRANK ROSENBLUM at
2:30 p. m.

The following messages of greet-
ing were read to the convention by
Assistant Secretary Potofsky:

"The workers of J. Eisner's coat
shop extend to the officers and dele-
gates of the Amalgamated, in con-
vention assembled, their best wishes
for a successful session.

"ALFRED FRANKS,
"Shop Chairman."

"We, the Freiheit Singing Society,
greet the Fifth Biennial Convention
of the Amalgamated Clothing Work-
ers of America and hope that it will
succeed in its undertakings.

"Yours truly for United Front.
"FREIHEIT SINGING SOCIETY."

"Hebrew-American Typographical
Union No. 83, I. T. U., of New York,
sends its fraternal greetings and best
wishes for complete success in your
deliberations.

"D. DICHTER, President."

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

373

"Wishes for great achievement in
your work of organizing, educating
and liberating the workers of your
industry and thereby of the nation.
"JEWISH FEDERATION OF
WORKERS' PARTY."

"Accept greetings to your conven-
tion. May your actions prove of
value to the great task of building
up a real fighting and class-conscious
workers' movement in this country.
Your past struggles and achieve-
ments justify this confidence of all
of us in you.

"WORKERS' PARTY OF
AMERICA."

"District 8 of the Workers' Party of
America sends heartiest greetings to
the officers and delegates of the con-
vention. We greet you in the name of
militant labor and sincerely hope that
your deliberations will serve to lay the
foundation for a stronger and more
unified movement, with a greater clar-
ity of purpose that may be a source of
inspiration to the American working
class in their present severe struggles
against the encroachments of the em-
ployers.

"We hope that out of this conven-
tion will grow a movement broad
enough to embrace all workers within
your industry and create the establish-
ment of a united front against the
common enemy and ultimately lead to
the unification of all of labor's forces
capable of carrying the struggle on-
ward and forward to a complete con-
trol of all industries by the workers
through a Workers' Republic.

"EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, DIS-
TRICT NO. 8, WORKERS'
PARTY OF AMERICA,

"Charles Krumbein,
District Organizer."

CHICAGO VEST MAKERS

A delegation consisting of several
hundred people representing Local 152
marched into the convention hall, ac-

companied by a band of music, which
played various selections, including the
"Russian Hymn" and the "Marseil-
laise." The marchers bore a huge
scale, built of white carnations. At
one end of the cross beam was a black
weight with the words, "1910 — Sla-
very." At the other end, outweighing
it, was a red weight, with the legend,
"1922 — Freedom."

Chairman ROSENBLUM : Delegates,
I introduce to you Brother Glickman,
representing the vest shops of the city
of Chicago, whose workers are mem-
bers of Local 152.

Brother JOSEPH GLICKMAN: Mr.
Chairman, delegates, and friends: The
welcome with which we greet you in
the home of Local 152 is hard for me
to express. We are very happy, in-
deed, to be able to come to the first
convention that is in session in the city
of Chicago with a 100 per cent mem-
bership of the vest makers. There is
not a man or a woman in a vest shop
in the city of Chicago who does not
belong to the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers. The vest makers of this city,
and particularly the men and women
working in the Hart, Schaffner & Marx
factory, have taken part in organizing
the city of Chicago on the northwest
side. There was not a morning or a
noon or a night that those people from
the shops were not in front of the non-
union sweatshops, distributing litera-
ture and preaching and making an-
nouncements to the men and women in-
side those shops. After 1909 we were
fortunate in organizing the whole city,
and from then on every man and every
woman in the vest shops belonged to
the organization.

The se«ond group were the B. Kup-
penheimer vest makers. I will say
that if there was ever any slavery in
any place in this country, it was in the
Kuppenheimer vest shop on Blooming-
dale road. Slugging, patrol wagons,
policemen's clubs, stabbings, and shoot-
ings were the usual thing that was

374

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

heaped upon tlie membership of the or-
ganization. We are happy today to be
here as the representatives of that
shop, and with the representatives of
other shops who have learned within
the last three years the spirit of our
organization. We have a great many
nationalities in Local 162. We have a
League of Nations of our own, but they
are working in a unity of spirit, the
unity of spirit of the Amalgamated,
which is one for all and all for one.
(Applause.)

We have with us this afternoon
also representatives of Alfred Decker
& Cohen, and representative of all
the other ready-made shops, and
we ;have representatives with us this
afternoon of the special-order shops,
such as the Royal Tailors and all the
rest, and also representatives of the
contracting shops — and the worst
sweatshops in the country used to be
the contracting shops in the city of
Chicago. We are happy to be able to
say that today we are commanding
wages, we are commanding hours, and
we are commanding everything that
the Amalgamated has fought for in this
city, and we are getting it 100 per cent.
I greet you and I welcome you with
the hope that the legislation of this
convention will be such that it will
strengthen the organization to such an
extent that it will help us in the city
of Chicago to do the right thing by
the organization. I take very great
pleasure, indeed, in introducing to you
the next president of Local 152, who is
one of our shop chairmen, Brother Da-
lenka.

Mr. DALENKA: Delegates of the
convention, sisters, brothers, and
friends, and Mr. Chairman: This is
the first time in my life that I have
had the pleasure to stand on a plat-
form, before a delegation gathered
from all over the country to legislate
for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers
of America, and I want to tell you
that these happy moments are worth

everything that I have done in the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers for the
past thirteen years. We have pre-
sented a floral piece to this conven-
tion which we thought was the best
representation of conditions in Chicago
that we could possibly devise. We
have on one side the slavery which we
had in the city of Chicago in 1910 and
for some years later. From 1919 to
1922, freedom weighs on the other
side, abolishing the old slavery.

Through the representatives from all
over the country we send a message
to all the other tailors throughout the
country, telling them to stay united
under the banner of the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America. (Ap-
plause.) Take back the message from
Chicago that we are ready at any time,
with all the other tailors throughout
the country, to do our part, whatever
it is. We are here in the city of Chi-
cago, 100 per cent organized today,
and we consider that we have done
well with the officers who represent
us. (Applause.)

Chairman EOSENBLUM: Brother
Goldsmith and Brother Nelson, who are
also representatives of the Vest Mak-
ers; Union, were delegated to present
greetings to the convention, but because
our time is limited, they have declined,
so that the convention may continue
with its business.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON LAW

Maximum Salary of Organizers

RESOLUTION No. 14

Resolved, That the maximum salary
of general organizers be not more than
$65 a week.

The committee 's recommendation to
non-concur adopted.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON
REPORTS OF OFFICERS

Delegate GOLD: The Committee
on Reports of Officers reports the
following resolutions:

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

375

Report of General Executive Board
to Locals and Joint Boards

RESOLUTION No. 10

Whereas, The activities of the
General Officers and General Execu-
tive Board should be in the hands
of the membership for study, and

Whereas, Such study will afford
intelligent discussion of the activities
of the union by the membership;
therefore be it

Resolved, That not later than thirty
days before the holding of the bi-
ennial conventions a report shall be
made to all local unions and joint
boards, by the general officers and
the General Executive Board.

Committee's recommendation for
concurrence adopted.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON
ORGANIZATION

Delegate WEINSTEIN: The Com-
mittee on Organization reports the
following resolutions:

Organization of Sheepskin Coat-
Making Industry

RESOLUTION No. 79
Whereas, The sheepskin coat-mak-
ing industry has developed to a con-
siderable extent throughout this
country; and

Whereas, The workers of the cities
of Boston and St. Paul have had this
branch of the clothing industry or-
ganized for some time, but that
progress is handicapped by the fact
that many important markets of this
industry are unorganized; therefore
be it

Resolved, That the incoming G.
E. B. of the A. C. W. of A. take up
the question of the organization of
the sheepskin coat-making industry
throughout the country.

Committee's recommendation for
concurrence adopted.

Appointment of Women Organizers

RESOLUTION No. 84

Whereas, Fifty per cent of our
membership is composed of women,
especially in the smaller towns where
the percentage of women is much
greater, making it a large field for
organization work among women;
and

Whereas, We ask that in the selec-
tion and appointment of organizers
to unorganized territory preference
be given to women from our rank
and file who understand the psychol-
ogy of the working women; be it
therefore

Resolved, By this Fifth Biennial
Convention of the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America, as-
sembled in Chicago, that the various
joint boards throughout the country
recommend the most capable women
to the General Office for organizers.

Committee's recommendation for
concurrence adopted.

Organization of Women in Cincinnati
RESOLUTION No. 36

Whereas, There are about 4,000
women working in the clothing indus-
try in Cincinnati who are not organ-
ized; therefore be it

Resolved, That a woman organizer
be stationed in Cincinnati and that we,
the Women's Organization Committee,
do hereby pledge to assist her in every
way possible.

Adopted.

Organization Work in Cincinnati

RESOLUTION No. 37

Whereas. We, the clothing workers
of Cincinnati, Ohio, have noted with
greatest satisfaction and pleasure the
splendid efforts made by our general
officers to assist us to organize the
Cincinnati clothing industry; therefore
be it

376

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

Resolved, That we, the clothing work-
ers of Cincinnati, pledge ourselves to
continue to make every effort and not
to relax in our endeavor to accomplish
our goal, and we also request the Gen-
eral Office to continue to assist us as
in the past, and we are sure that in
the near future Cincinnati will join
the Amalgamated ranks 100 per cent
organized.

Committee's recommendation for con-
currence adopted.

Organization Work in Montreal

RESOLUTION No. 67a

Whereas, The Amalgamated locals in
the city of Montreal have before them
a difficult situation which requires im-
mediate steps to be taken to relieve
the present condition ; be it therefore

Resolved, That this convention in-
struct the General Executive Board to
start immediately an active and effec-
tive organization campaign in the city
of Montreal in order to organize com-
pletely the clothing workers in that
city and if necessary to call and con-
duct a general strike in order to
achieve this aim.

Referred to General Executive
Board.

Organization of Cloth Examiners
and Spongers

RESOLUTION No. 77

Whereas, The cloth examiners and
spongers are the only remaining work-
ers in the clothing industry that are
not organized; and

Whereas, They handle the raw ma-
terial and would be of great value in
times of trouble; and

Whereas, In every clothing manu-
facturing center there are cloth exam-
iners and spongers; therefore be it

Resolved, That the General Execu-
tive Board use its best effort to organ-
ize the cloth examiners and spongers.

Committee's recommendation for con-
currence adopted.

Jurisdiction of Bushelmen's Local

RESOLUTION No. 22

Whereas, The Bushelmen's Local
of Greater New York has been in
existence for the last three years;

Whereas, Other locals affiliated
with the New York Joint Board have
bushelmen as their members;

Whereas, The Cutters' Union,
Local 4 of New York, has bushelmen
under its control; and

Whereas, The 3,000 bushelmen of
Greater New York are suffering un-
told hardships due to lack of cen-
tralization; be it therefore

Resolved, That the Fifth Biennial
Convention of the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America, con-
vening in Chicago, 111., go on record
to consolidate all bushelmen, scat-
tered in different locals, under the
management of the only legally char-
tered Bushelmen's Local of Greater
New York.

Recommended referred to General
Executive Board.

Delegate LEVINE, Rochester, moved
as an amendment that the resolution
be referred to the New York Joint
Board for action.

Delegate UEWAND, New York, ob-
jected to this matter being referred
to the New York Joint Board, pointing
out that it had been referred to the
joint board before, and that no action
had been taken.

Delegate COHEN, New York, argued
that there was no reason for another
local union to be formed. He main-
tained that all bushelmen are tailors,
and as such have their place within
the local union having jurisdiction
over the tailors. He proposed that if
there were peculiar conditions con-
fronting- the bushelmen, that particu-
lar local should form a separate branch,
consisting of all the bushelmen.

Delegate WEINSTEIN, New York:
The bushelmen Brother Urwand wants
to consolidate with his local are mem-

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

377

bers of Locals Nos. 271 and 4, and have
been union men for the last twelve or
fifteen years. The local of bushelmen
was formed only two years ago. The
bushelmen who constitute the bushel-
men's union are mostly men who are
working in the stores making altera-
tions on ready-made clothing. The
bushelmen in Local 2 and Local 4 are
working in the shops and in the cut-
ting rooms where the garment is
brought back from the factory. The
bushelmen 's local was formed for the
purpose of recognizing the bushelmen 'a
work primarily in the retail stores, and
that is the reason why we have de-
cided it is no more than right that this
matter should be referred back to the
New York Joint Board for further con-
sideration.

Chairman EOSENBLUM: I think
this entire question is not a matter of
consolidating local unions, but rather
involves the question of jurisdiction.
If there is no objection, the amendment
of Brother Levine of Rochester will
stand, which is that this matter be
referred to the New York Joint Board.
So ordered.

Organization of Shipping Clerks

RESOLUTION No. 21

Whereas, The system of craft un-
ionism as a weapon in the hands of
the workers has proven a failure;
and

Whereas, The Amalgamated Cloth-
ing Workers of America, having
recognized this fact, built its organ-
ization on the basis of industrial
unionism, including all those who,
in one way or another, handle the
garment; and

Whereas, The stock and shipping
clerks are directly connected with the
industry and work side by side with
the organized cutter and bushelman;
and

Whereas, The members of Local
158, the Ticket Sewers' and Shipping

Clerks' Union of New York, have
proven themselves good, loyal union
men both in times of peace and in
times of strike or lockout; be it
therefore

Resolved, That the delegates to
the Fifth Biennial Convention, held
in Chicago in May, 1922, urge the
incoming administration to organize
these men in the markets where they
are unorganized; and be it further

Resolved, That in the markets
where a local of shipping clerks
exists, no understandings or written
agreements should be entered into
with employers whether singly or
collectively without including the
recognition of the shipping clerks as
bona fide members of the organiza-
tion entitled to its protection and the
full co-operation of the other
branches of the industry.

Adopted.

Organization Work in Cleveland

RESOLUTION No. 91

Whereas, The Cleveland Joint
Board of the A. C. W. of A. is con-
ducting an organization campaign to
organize the non-union workers in
its fold; and

Whereas, There are several thou-
sand unorganized men and women
workers in the clothing industry in
the said city who occupy an import-
ant part in the industry; and

Whereas, The rank and file of the
Cleveland organization are doing
everything and all that is in their
power to help in this work; and

Whereas, The Cleveland Joint
Board is limited in its means and
facilities to carry on the organiza-
tion work successfully; therefore be it

Resolved, That this Fifth Biennial
Convention of the A. C. W. of A.
go on record to begin a vigorous and
active organization campaign in the
city of Cleveland and continue the
activity until the work is successfully
accomplished; be it further

378

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

Resolved, That a staff of organ-
izers be appointed for the Cleveland
market to begin the said campaign
at the earliest opportunity.

Referred to General Executive
Board.

Establishment of Organization
Department in East

EESOLUTION No. 94

Whereas, For the last two years the
clothing manufacturers in the east,
especially in New York, owing to the
great unemployment in all industries
in order to evade the organization have
established themselves in other cities
on the open shop basis;

Whereas, Non-union contracting
shops have been opened in small towns
for the purpose of competing with the
organized markets;

Whereas, Owing to the great depres-
sion and unemployment a great num-
ber of scab shops have been established
in New York which are breaking down
the conditions of the organized work-
ers;

Resolved, That an Organization De-
partment in the East with a capable
man at the head of it be established
immediately and an intensive organ-
ization campaign be started so as to
bring all the workers into the fold of
the organization and to check the open
shop movement of the employers.

Adopted.

Organization of Overall Workers

RESOLUTION No. 24
Whereas, The overall industry is a
branch of the entire men's clothing
industry; and

Whereas, The A. C. W. of A. is striv-
ing to gather the workers of the men 's
clothing industry under its banner;
therefore be it

Resolved, That the Fifth Biennial
Convention of the A. C. W. of A. in-
struct the incoming general officers and
the General Executive Board that as

soon as conditions warrant, an organ-
ization campaign shall be inaugurated
among the overall workers of the coun-
try; and be it further

Resolved, That such an organization
campaign be inaugurated under the su-
pervision of a competent tradesman.

Committee's recommendation for
concurrence adopted.

Organizing of Corporation Shops

RESOLUTION No. 26
Resolved, That this convention direct
the General Executive Board to take
action against the scab corporation
shops which are undermining the con-
ditions of the workers on childrens '
clothing in Greater New York, especi-
ally in the Brownsville section.
Adopted.

Organization of Custom Tailors

RESOLUTION No. 85

Whereas, The organized custom tail-
ors of Greater New York, consisting
of approximately 10,000 or 15,000
workers;

Whereas, Local No. 162 is about to
launch an organization campaign with-
in this field; and

Whereas, It is urgent to have the
co-operation of the General Office of the
A. C. W. of A. to accomplish the same;
therefore be it

Resolved, That the General Office of
the A. C. W. of A. immediately send
organizers in order to carry out this
project successfully.

Adopted.

Italian Organizer for Bushelmen

RESOLUTION No. 20
Whereas, The 3,000 bushelmen of
Greater New York are vital factors in
the needle industry;

Whereas, Due to the present depres-
sion in the needle trade, the bushel-
men's standard of living has been
greatly reduced by the continuous cut-
ting of wages and lengthening of work-
ing hours;

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

379

Whereas, Fifty per cent of the bush-
elmen are Italian speaking; and

Whereas, One man could not possibly
cover the city of Greater New York in
order to properly organize that particu-
lar branch of the trade; therefore be it

Resolved, That the Fifth Biennial
( 'onvontion of the A. C. W. of A., con-
vening in Chicago, 111., go on record
in favor of appointing temporarily
an Italian organizer to help the pres-
ent official in his work in order to
organize all the bushelmen of
Greater New York.

Adopted.

Organization AVork in Utica

RESOLUTION No. 90

Whereas, The clothing workers of
the city of Utica, N. Y., are employed
at very low wages ;

Whereas, The employers of said city,
while united themselves, deny to the
workers the right to belong to the
union and to be represented by persons
of their own choosing; therefore be it

Resolved, That the General Execu-
tive Board continues and increases its
efforts to assist Utica in becoming a
strong link in the powerful chain of
the organized Amalgamated clothing
markets.

Adopted.

Organization Work in Baltimore

RESOLUTION No. 35
Whereas, The city of Baltimore is
one of the most important clothing cen-
ters of the United States and employed
up to 1920 over 10,000 members of the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers; and
Whereas, The industrial depression
for the last two years has caused a
number of clothing manufacturers to
go out of business, thereby throwng
thousands of members out of employ-
ment; and

Whereas, A number of clothing man-
ufacturers have taken advantage of
the conditions to lower the standards

established by the Amalgamated Cloth-
ing Workers of America, and while the
Baltimore membership has contributed
over $100,000 in assessments since Jan-
uary. 11)21, to assist the unemployed
and maintain conditions, we are now
compelled to request assistance from
the national organization ; therefore
be it

Resolved, By the Fifth Biennial
Convention, in Chicago assembled, to
assist the Baltimore organization mor-
ally and financially by starting an im-
mediate organization campaign to bring
all of the clothing workers into the
fold of the Amalgamated.

Referred to Committee on Organiza-
tion.

Organization of Baltimore

RESOLUTION No. 56

Owing to the fact that during the
industrial depression the manufactur-
ers secured advantages detrimental to
our organization; and

Whereas, The fact that many shops
are still unorganized in Baltimore, and
so are most damaging to the conditions
of the organized workers; therefore
be it

Resolved, By this Fifth Biennial
Convention of the Amalgamated Cloth-
ing Workers of America, in Chicago
assembled, that the incoming General
Executive Board start a strong cam-
paign that will assure to our organi-
zation city-wide control of the clothing
industry.

Adopted.

Organization of Shirt Workers —

Establishment of Separate

Department

RESOLUTION No. 16
Whereas, The Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America has come to life
through an urgent desire on the part of
the progressive element in the old and
stale United Garment Workers of
America to create an organization

380

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

which should not be satisfied with
limited results in the field of organiza-
tion, but should go on until every
worker in the men's and children's
clothing as well as the shirt making in-
dustry becomes a member in the army
of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers
of America; and

Whereas, Through the wonderful cam-
paign undertaken by our organization
we have become both numerically and
spiritually a leading element and in-
spiration in the labor movement; and

Whereas, The shirt workers of this
country are still left behind, as far as
organization is concerned, being spread
throughout the length and breadth of
our country by tens of thousands, suf-
fering the punishment that goes with
non-organization, long hours, small
wages, and the subduing of their very
souls to the bidding of their masters;
and

Whereas, The necessity of bringing
the message of organization to those
non-union shops would require all the
energy, time, and effort on the part of
the most devoted men in our organ-
ization and a full knowledge and ex-
perience of the peculiar and intimatfe
conditions and surroundings of the
^hirt making industry; and

Whereas, Our General Office today is
physically not in a position to follow
up and devote all the attention neces-
sary for such a tremendous task as the
undertaking of organization work in
the different cities and towns where the
shirt making industry operates; there-
fore be it

Resolved, That this Fifth Biennial
Convention go on record to create a
separate department of shirt work-
ers that shall with the aid and coun-
sel of the General Office undertake the
so-much-needed work of organization;
and be it further

Resolved, That this convention in-
struct its general officers that this work
among shirt workers should go on with

the full aid of the General Office until
we succeed.
•Adopted.

Out-of-Town Organization Work

RESOLUTION No. 99

Whereas, By reason of the many
fights that the New York organization
has gone through, such as that for the
forty-four-hour week, as well as the
recent lockout, many firms who for-
merly dealt with our organization col-
lectively as well as individually were
lately lost to our organization; and

Whereas, Many others moved out of
the city and opened shops in small
country towns around New York, which
reflect badly upon our organized
shops; be it therefore

Resolved, That the Fifth Biennial
Convention instruct the incoming Gen-
eral Executive Board to begin an en-
ergetic campaign to regain our losses
in the city as well as around New
York state.

Adopted.

Boys' Wash Suit Industry

RESOLUTION No. 187

Whereas, The boys' wash suit in-
dustry in New York is organized into
Local 169 of the Amalgamated Cloth-
ing Workers of America; and

Whereas, A great part of this in-
dustry in New York as well as in many
other cities still remains unorganized;
and

Whereas, The competition of these
unorganized shops is keenly felt on
the organized New York market; and

Whereas, It is impossible for the
Washable Sailor Suit Makers' Union
to undertake this organization cam-
paign without the help of the Gen-
eral Office; be it therefore

Resolved, That the General Office
give financial and moral support in the
organizing of the wash, suit industry
in New York as well as in the other
cities.

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

381

Referred to Eastern Organization
Department.

Establishment of Organization De-
partment Jointly by General
Office and New York
Joint Board

RESOLUTION No. 112

Whereas, At present the Organiza-
tion Department of the General Office,
A. C. W. of A., is functioning under
the supervision mostly of one individ-
ual; and

Whereas, Many concerns in the recent
fight against our organization moved
out into different towns, and the above
mentioned department is working in-
dependently of the local body; and

Whereas, The New York Joint Board
is interested in the work of the Or-
ganization Department, and should
know what becomes of firms that are
deserting our ranks; be it therefore

Resolved, That the Fifth Biennial
Convention decides to inaugurate an
Organization Department which should
be conducted by the General Office and
the New York Joint Board jointly.

Referred to Eastern Organizatiom
Department.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON
MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS

Delegate WOLFE reported the fol-
lowing resolutions:

Amalgamation of Local Unions

RESOLUTION No. 61
Owing to the fact that the ethics of
the American labor movement still fol-
low the policy of dividing and sub-
dividing local unions; and

Owing to the fact that the future of
the working class depends on the in-
dustrial character of organization;
therefore be it

Resolved, That this Fifth Conven-
tion of the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America, in Chicago as-
sembled, give instructions to the in-

coming General Executive Board to
use its influence and efforts to amal-
gamate the different local unions of the
same trade.
Adopted.

Wages of Beginners
RESOLUTION No. 53

Whereas, Tailoring is done under a
piecework system of work, where em-
ployees are paid per piece they turn
out, a new employee, who is sent out
to work on a two weeks' trial, most
often becomes the prey or victim of the
foreman or examiner.

Resolved, That we go on record fa-
voring the payment to beginners on a
week work basis during the first two
weeks of work.

Committee's recommendation of con-
currence defeated.

Establishment of a Board of Sanitary
Control

RESOLUTION No. 82
The committee reported a substitute
resolution on this subject as follows:

Resolved, That the incoming General
Executive Board shall authorize all
local organizations to establish boards
of sanitary control wherever possible.
Adopted.

Pay for Legal Holidays

RESOLUTION No. 97

Whereas, A resolution that was in-
troduced at the Boston Convention to
demand from our employers to be paid
for all legal holidays;

Whereas, This resolution was re-
ferred to the General Executive Board
for consideration, and the board did
not act until now; be it therefore

Resolved, That the Fifth Biennial
Convention instruct the incoming Gen-
eral Executive Board to put this reso-
lution in force wherever possible.

Adopted.

382

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

Wages of Trimmers

RESOLUTION No. 3

Whereas, It has been and still is
the practice in our industry to class-
ify the trimming operation in some
markets as inferior to the cutting
operation and therefore to pay the
trimmers smaller and less sufficient
wages than the cutters; and

Whereas, It is our belief that this
classification is unjustified and that
trimming like cutting requires equal
skill and experience and is an equally
important manufacturing operation;
therefore be it

Resolved, That in future negotia-
tions the utmost efforts shall be
made to increase the minimum wage
of the trimmers to equal that re-
ceived by the cutters.

Adopted.

Establishment of A. C. W. Children's
Nurseries

RESOLUTION No. 130
The committee reported a resolu-
tion asking for the foundation of
A. C. W. Children's Nurseries to take
care of children during working
hours while mothers are working.
The committee asked that the ques-
tion be referred to the incoming G.
E. B. for investigation and the estab-
lishment of nurseries if advisable
and possible.

Resolution adopted by a vote of
86 to 66.

President HILLMAN: The chair
will now take the opportunity to in-
troduce to you one whom I personally
consider an old friend of the organiza-
tion, and who represents an institution
that has done everything to be helpful
to our organization. I take pleasure
in introducing to you the editor of the
"Freiheit," Comrade M. J. Olgin.

ADDRESS OF M. J. OLGIN

M. J. OLGIN: Mr. President, friends
and comrades: I am really happy to

bring to you the greetings of the daily
"Freiheit," of the staff of the daily
"Freiheit" (applause), of the organ-
ization that is back of the daily
"Freiheit," and of the readers of the
daily "Freiheit. " I am sure that I
am speaking, not only in my own name,
but also in the name of all the large
groups of workers who are united be-
hind the "Freiheit," if I say that,
having followed the proceedings and
having observed the spirit of this con-
vention, I am sure that you have the
right to be proud of your organization,
you have a right to be proud of the
wonderful spirit of the work you are
doing, and you have a right to be
proud of the manner in which you are
paving the way for the rest of Amer-
ican labor. It is a year since I came
from that country which is leading the
rest of the world on the way of the
social revolution, from Soviet Russia.
(Applause.) I can state with full as-
surance that never, since the day when
I was present at the gatherings of the
workers in Russia, was I so thrilled
as I have been by this convention.

You have heard from your president
repeatedly that what we need is not
so much theory as work. It is a great
satisfaction to find an organization
where theory and practice coincide (ap-
plause), where practice goes along the
road outlined by theory.

Much has been said about radicalism
in this country, and much slander has
been thrown at it. But, after all, if you
wish to state briefly what the radical
trend of mind is, it is fearlessness of
thought, it is the ability to face a sit-
uation squarely and to draw conclu-
sions. It is the conclusion drawn by
the radicals of the labor movement,
observing the situation of the world,
that capitalism has outlived itself, and
that it is the task of labor to establish
n new order, based on justice, equality
and right for all. (Applause.)

There is another point which all the
radicals in the labor movement have

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

383

emphasized, and that is, not by talking
or by resolutions will you establish a
new order on the debris of the old, but
by accumulating and exercising work-
ing class power. Now, it is this which
I find in this convention.

I find the very highest ideals of pur-
pose, clarity of vision, and an enor-
mous desire to assume power and use
power. In fact, if I were to express
the spirit of this convention, and the
spirit of the organization as it is being
manifested through this convention, I
would be justified in saying that it is
power. You do not care, perhaps, to
label it; but under the able leadership
of your officers, you have done big
things, and it was one of the first rad-
icals of the labor movement who said
that one step of actual work is worth
much more than dozens of volumes of
theory. You have accomplished this.
(Applause.)

There is, I find here, the spirit of
harmony between the masses and the
leaders. It was one of the greatest
thrills to me to see the masses of the
rank and file of labor of Chicago
walking into this hall, walking in with
faith, with a strong step, with music,
and with determination, and saying,
"It is not you that are legislating for
is; it is we, altogether, who are mak-
ing the laws for ourselves. " It was
one of the greatest moments when I
saw the masses walking into this
gathering and merging themselves with
the convention, and it was also an
enormous sign of strength and of abil-
ity for me to see how you all ral-
lied around your president at the mo-
ment when he brought before you one
of the most important resolutions. It
is this spirit that is necessary for
labor everywhere in order to establish
a new order. I know very well your
many other accomplishments. My time,
unfortunately, is too brief to express
all I see in your organization. How-
ever, there is one thing which cannot
be passed in silence, and that is the

spirit of internationalism that you so
wonderfully manifested today in your
ability to co-operate in the restoration
of Russia. (Applause.)

I was born in Russia, brought up in
Russia, and earned my spurs as a revo-
lutionary fighter in Russia, and per-
haps I am able to appreciate more than
many of you what an enormous step
you have taken today in passing this
resolution and in organizing your-
selves into a body for the reconstruc-
tion of Russia. I was in Russia one
year ago, and I saw the enormous in-
justice done to Russia by the rest of
the world. I had lived in Russia un-
der the Czar, and many of you have
lived there; you know what that meant.
It was a country where nobody could
express a thought, a country where
everything was strangled. And, then,
one beautiful day the people arose and,
with one mighty stroke, they overthrew
the dynasty of the Romanoffs and made
themselves free. (Applause.) That
only shows that, although the Russian
people are patient, they could not
stand it any longer. There comes an
end to any patience of any people,
however patient. We all thought here
that that was the end, and then came
the second revolution. The Russian
people had been too much suppressed to
stand any oppression any longer. They
said to themselves that they were not
satisfied in overthrowing only the Czar.
They said that they were not satisfied
to slave for the capitalists, the peas-
ants were not satisfied to slave for the
landlords, and then they had the sec-
ond revolution. They organized Rus-
sia into Soviets. They drove out the
landlords and seized the land; they
drove the capitalists from the facto-
ries, and they introduced for the first
time in the history of the world that
wonderful new law, "He who does not
work shall not eat."

The capitalists of the world could
not stand it. The capitalists of the
world surrounded Russia with an iron

384

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

wall. I don 't blame the capitalists of
the world, because they are struggling
for their own existence and because
they know that Rusisa is an enemy to
capital, wherever it is. (Applause.)
Therefore they had to struggle against
Russia. But it is a shame, it is a hu-
miliation for organized labor, through
the mouth of its leaders, to denounce
Soviet Russia; and this, to our great
shame, was done in this country only
recently by a man who, assuming to
speak for organized labor of America,
urged the government of the United
States not to recognize Soviet Russia,
not to have anything1 to do with So-
viet Russia. Why, much more venom
and much more vituperation was spent
on Soviet Russia on the part of some
of the labor leaders than even on the
part of some of the more enlightened
groups of capitalists.

Russia needs reconstruction. And
whence will come the help for Russia
to reconstruct the country in order to
assume the new work? I went to Rus-
sia, from village to village and from
town to town. I spent six months
studying conditions, and I saw people
willing to work, and ready to work, all
disciplined people, knowing their aim
and what they were fighting for, and
ready to defend their lives and ready
to defend the things they consider
most precious. But, unfortunately, the
aftermath of the war, with the block-
ade, with the hunger, and the demor-
alizing of the economic system, makes
it necessary for the rest of the world
to come to the rescue of Russia in the
way of economic reconstruction.

Now, who is going to help Russia?
Is it going to be capital, or is it going
to be labor? Here for the first time in
the history of the last years, the Amer-
ican Amalgamated Clothing Workers
went on record as expressing the true
spirit of internationalism of labor.
The Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America are ready to start the real
work of reconstruction.

I greet you in the name of all OUT
friends and in the name of the readers
of the "Freiheit." We shall bring the
message of your wonderful achieve-
ments to all Jewish working men, and
I express the wish that your work
shall show the way to other organiza-
tions.

The world has been ruined. Only la-
bor is capable of establishing the new
order, and it is our hope that this con-
vention and the example of the Amal-
gamated Clothing Workers will show
the way to all the rest of labor, and
that from now on a new era will en-
sue in the history of the labor move-
ment in America. (Prolonged ap-
plause.)

AMALGAMATION OF NEEDLE
TRADES UNIONS

Delegate GOLD, New York, reported
that the Committee on Reports of Of-
ficers had received a number of reso-
lutions dealing with the subject of one
needle trades organization in this coun-
try and in Canada. The committee had
also received a communication from the
Cloth Hat and Cap Makers of America,
and had prepared a statement covering
all the resolutions, as follows:

Unification of Unions in the Needle
Trades

Your committee has given con-
sideration to many resolutions and
communications and recommends the
adoption of the following substitute
resolution:

Whereas, All existing unions in the
needle trades have gone on record
favoring permanent and organized
co-operation among the labor organ-
izations in these trades; and

Whereas, The action of these un-
ions is in response to the need and
tendency evidenced in all aspects of
economic life for greater unification
and consolidation; and

Whereas, Unification and consol-
idation of all of the unions in the
needle trades would result in in-

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

385

creasing the strength and power of
these organizations; and

Whereas, The consolidation of
these unions would bring about a
considerable economy of effort and
means and would release energy and
treasure now lost by reason of
duplication of activities, for further
organization work; and

Whereas, A loose federation of
unions in the needle trades with
paper functions, would not increase
the strength or the negotiating power
of the organizations federated; there-
fore be it

Resolved, That this convention
hereby record itself in favor of com-
plete consolidation of all unions in
the needle trades into an organiza-
tion with one general executive
board, one treasury and with sep-
arate departments for the branches
of the industry in which separate
unions now function; and be it
further

Resolved, That the incoming Gen-
eral Executive Board be instructed
to negotiate with the other organ-
izations in the needle tracfes for the
calling of a joint convention for the
purpose of uniting these unions into
one organization, and the incoming
General Executive Board is empow-
ered to make all necessary arrange-
ments for such convention; and be it
further

Resolved, That a copy of this reso-
lution be forwarded to the executive
boards of all organizations in the
needle trades, and published in the
labor press.

President HILLMAN: You have
heard the recommendation of the com-
mittee, which would become the posi-
tion of the organization when and if
adopted by this convention. Our posi-
tion then will be that the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America go on
record in favor of one organization in
the needle trades. (Applause.)

Delegate RIGER, Local 22, stated

that he did not favor one organization
in the needle trades, but favored a fed-
eration of the needle trades, on the
ground that the adoption of the reso-
lution would make smaller and less
powerful unions fearful of their ex-
istence.

Delegate CURSI, Local 202, spoke in
favor of the resolution.

Delegate CATALANOTTI, Local 63,
suggested an amendment that the gen-
eral officers of the Amalgamated Cloth-
ing Workers of America take action in
accordance with the resolution, if
adopted, and publish a report of their
activity within six months.

Delegate COHEN, New York, spoke
in favor of the resolution, as did Dele-
gate KOSLOVSKY.

Delegate HERSHKOWITZ, New
York, called attention to the difficulties
arising out of an attempted federation,
briefly outlining past attempts at fed-
eration and their consequent failures.

Delegate BECKERMAN, Local 4,
spoke in favor of amalgamation, but
stated that in his opinion it was in-
advisable for the Amalgamated Cloth-
ing Workers of America to lay down
the basis for such a federation or amal-
gamation. He offered, an amendment
to the effect that a blanket resolution
should be passed, referring the matter
to the General Executive Board to con-
sider and inquire into the conditions
upon which such Amalgamation could
be made.

Delegate RA^TUGLIA, Boston, spoke
in favor of the resolution, as did Dele-
gate BEIR, of Baltimore.

Delegate JACOBSON, Local 4, moved
the previous question, which was car-
ried, and Delegate GOLD was given
the floor to explain the position of the
committee.

Delegate GOLD: The committee,
while discussing this question, had but
one idea in view. It was said on the
floor of the convention that the Gen-
eral Executive Board and the general
officers did not carry out the decision

386

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

of the last convention. Now, I differ
with those statements. I say they did.
There is today a Needle Trades Alli-
ance.

But it didn 't work because it wasn >t
feasible. It was not a workable alli-
ance, and your committee today feels
that if you should make a decision of
that kind it will not work again.

The question is, is it worth while to
have an amalgamation of the needle
trades workers? Will the membership
benefit by an organization of that
kind? The answer is that we will ben-
efit. We will have obstacles. But if
the delegates of this convention will go
on record for an amalgamation, I think
the membership of the other trades are
favorable, because, if we have such an
organization, it will be a power the
employers will have to reckon with.

President HILLMAN: The general
officers and the General Executive
Board of the organization maintain the
position expressed in the resolution.

People have a right to believe that
an alliance is better than amalgama-
tion or consolidation. People also have
a right to believe that a consolidation
is not only preferable to an alliance,
but that an alliance may be actually
harmful in the needle trades. Also, we
must appreciate that we do not pro-
pose to legislate for other organiza-
tions. As far as I am concerned, I do
not even propose to go and say to the
members of other organizations what
they should think. But we should
know what we want. If we are not
going to dictate to others, surely oth-
ers ought not to dictate to us.

The needle trades are co-operating
today more than some of the federated
alliances of the American Federation
of Labor. Right in this city you have
a federation of the building trades,
with half of them working and half
of them striking, and it would be much
better for the building trades not to
fool themselves with the federation,

because in an actual struggle it did not
operate.

It has been said that if we have one
organization, whatever is done for one
group must be done for all the other
groups. There is not a single organi-
zation in the country that has uniform
rules. In our own organization we
have week work and piece work. We
have production standards and no pro-
duction standards. The Cap Makers
have week work and piece work. The
Ladies' Garment Workers have week
work on cloaks in New York and pro-
duction standards in Cleveland.

I am against an alliance because I
believe an alliance will only bring an
illusion of power and when you come
to fight you will find you have no
power. It is well for each organiza-
tion not to overestimate its power.
That is why we were against a mere
Needle Trades Alliance. But we tried
it, and any statement that the organi-
zation did not try it in good faith is
not in accord with the facts. The Al-
liance was formed when the lockout in
New York City took place. Now that
struggle is over. We came out suc-
cessful, but if we had relied on the
Alliance for the kind of help that one
is justified in expecting from an alli-
ance, there might have been a disas-
trous ending in New York City.

I am sure that every officer in every
other organization was and is honest
in trying to make the Alliance work,
but an alliance is so loose it cannot
work. If an alliance cannot work when
there is a lockout involving 70,000 peo-
ple, when will it work? Will it work
when there is no need? If an alliance
will not respond when it can be help-
ful to the members of the organization,
why have an alliance? Even the Triple
Alliance in Great Britain broke down
when a real test came, and the work-
ers in Great Britain have paid a ter-
rible penalty for playing with the word
"alliance." If the miners had known
that they could not rely on the railroad

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

387

workers and the transport workers
they would not have assumed the task
that they did assume, and they would
have brought about a settlement ac-
cording to their own power and not
according to illusory power. When you
lean upon illusory power from outside,
you destroy your own power.

Why must we a make a wrong step
because there is no opportunity to
make a right step? It is one thing to
be cautious, and another to do nothing.
I hope the convention will not instruct
the officers to play with something
which has no basis in reality, simply
to please our own notions that we have
done something.

For these reasons the General Ex-
ecutive Board recommends the adop-
tion of this resolution. (Applause.)

The committee's recommendation
was overwhelmingly adopted.

MESSAGE TO INTERNATIONAL
LADIES' GARMENT WORK-
ERS' UNION

The following telegram was sent
to the convention of the International
Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, in
session at Locomotive Engineers'
Building, Cleveland, Ohio:

"The Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America, assembled at
the Fifth Biennial Convention and
joyfully reviewing the work of the
past two years, sends greetings to
you, fellow workers. Our interests
as workers and yours are identical
and call for working class solidarity.
That is true of the entire working
class. But in the case of the needle
trades there are special conditions
dictating the formation of a close
union of all the workers. Such a
union will constitute a power which
will insure to all workers concerned
protection against any attack by the
enemy. It is our sincere hope that

that great and all-inclusive unity will
ultimately be realized.

"JOSEPH SCHLOSSBERG,
"General Secretary-Treasurer."
The convention adjourned at 5 :15 p.
m., to meet the following morning at
9:30.

CONGRATULATIONS RECEIVED

Telegrams of congratulation from
the following groups and individuals,
read at the third and fourth ses-
sions, May 10, are here listed:

Local 3, A. C. W. of A., New
York, Chas. Englander, secretary.

Local 14, A. C. W. of A., Roches-
ter.

Local 38, A. C. W. of A., Chicago.

Local 51, A. C. W. of A., Balti-
more.

Local 96, A. C. W. of A., Syracuse.
Mary Daino, secretary.

Local 102, A. C. W. of A., Boston,
Perd Genelli, secretary.

Local 105, A. C. W. of A., St.
Louis. A. Milman, secretary.

Local 141, A. C. W. of A., Phila-
delphia

Local 142, A. C. W. of A., Brook-
lyn.

Local 154, A. C. W. of A., Lynn.
S. P. Couting, president.

Local 154, A. C. W. of A., Lynn.
Nathan Gordon, organizer.

Local 155, A. C. W. of A., St. Paul.

Local 174, A. C. W. of A., Wor-
cester.

Local 200, A. C. WT. of A., Roches-
ter.

Local 202, A. C. W. of A., Roches-
ter.

Local 203, A. C. W. of A.,
Rochester.

Local 204, A. C. W. of A., Roches-
ter.

Local 205, A. C. W. of A., Roches-
ter.

Local 227, A. C. W. of A., Roches-
ter.

Local 230, A. C. W. of A., Balti-
more.

388

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

Local 248, A. C. W. of A., New
York City.

Joint Executive Board, Locals 2,
3, 5, A. C. W. of A., Brooklyn. Mesh,
secretary, Business Agents Wein-
stein, Gombino, Levine, clerk.

Joint Board of New York Chil-
dren's Clothing Workers, A. C. W.
of A., S. Margolius, secretary.

Toronto Joint Board, A. C. W. of
A., Toronto. S. P. Almazoff secre-
tary.

G. Artoni, general organizer, A. C.
W. of A.

Executive Board, Palm Beach
Workers of Greater New York.

Members of Gordon & Ferguson
Shop, St. Paul.

Employees of Bashwitz Bros.'
coat department, New York City,
Emanuel Ganz and Max Yabovitz,
shop chairmen.

Workers of Bashwitz Bros.' pants
shop, Brooklyn.

Shirt Cutters' Union Executive
Board, Local 246, A. C. W. of A.,
Harry O. Paikoff, chairman.

Chairmen of Hart, Schaffner &
Marx coat shops, Chicago, 111. Isi-
dore Wasserman, Jacob J. Schneider,
Benny Brandzel, committee.

Boston Vest Makers' Union, A. C.
W. of A., Boston, Mass.

Joe Goodman, L. D. Weinstein,
Benjamin Jacobson, Gertrude Weil
Klein, business agents, New York
Joint Board, A. C. W. of A.

Workers of 19th Street shop of
J. Friedman, New York City. Isi-
dor Chaiken, shop chairman, Sam
Rivituzo, shop chairman, Julius
Goldstein, business agent, J. Coro-
tola, business agent.

Women's Organization Committee
of Baltimore Joint Board, A. C. W.
of A., Baltimore.

Abe Simon, complaint clerk, New
York Joint Board, A. C. W. of A.

Strikers of Reuben Isaacs' shops,
Rochester.

Sara Greco, Rochester Joint Board,
A. C. W. of A.

Paul Blanshard, educational di-
rector, Rochester Joint Board, A. C.
W. of A.

Workers of J. Samuels' shop,
Brooklyn. J. Singer, chairman, M.
Singer, assistant chairman, A. Graff,
assistant chairman, Gershonovitz, as-
sistant chairman.

Louis A. Uretz, executive board
member, Local 61, A. C. W. of A.,
Chicago, 111.

Harry Markowitz, member of Bos-
ton organization, A. C. W. of A.

"Children's Crusade for Amnesty,
composed of thirty wives and chil-
dren of political prisoners is in
Washington on behalf of the hundred
and thirteen men still in prison con-
victed for expression of opinion, all
of whom have long records of serv-
ice for the working class on the
political and economic field. We have
established headquarters at 938 New
York Avenue and expect to remain here
until freedom is granted. We need
your moral and financial support and
ask that your organization make as
generous a contribution as possible for
this struggle for restoration of consti-
tutional rights.

" CHILDREN'S CRUSADE FOR
AMNESTY. "

"We, the students of the New York
Active Workers' School, tonight as-
sembled, send greetings of trust and
solidarity to the Fifth Biennial Con-
vention. We pledge ourselves to direct
our education toward the goals for
which our organization was founded.
The spirit of class consciousness which
^ave us our reason for existence will
lead the Amalgamated to further vic-
tories and keep our organization in the
vanguard of the labor movement in
America.

"THE STUDENT COMMITTEE."

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

389

"Local New York, Socialist Party,
sends hearty greetings to convention of
Amalgamated Clothing Workers. Con-
tinue your work to organize and sol-
idify the ranks, following the prin-
ciples laid down at your organiaztion.
Your organization has been the beacon
light in the labor movement. May the
American labor movement soon catch
up with you, so that the American labor
movement, united and combining their
economic and political forces, take
over the political and economic power
of government, so that there will be
one class, the working class, and the
world a safe place for the human race.

"SOCIALIST PARTY, New York
County,

"Julius Gerber, Secretary."

"Accept our heartiest congratula-
tions to your convention. We are
proud of your organization and its won-
derful achievements in spite of all the
thorns you found on your way. May
you proceed on your way of success
and come to your next convention a
member of organized revolutionary
federation of all American workers.
"Chicago City Committee,
JEWISfH FEDERATION OF
WORKERS' PARTY."

"Please convey my congratulations
and best wishes to the 1922 convention
that the Amalgamated may continue
its splendid achievements of the past.
"FRANCIS J. HAAS, Catholic
University of America,
Washington, D. C."

"The United Hebrew Trades of Bos-
ton sends its heartiest congratulations
to the officers and delegates of the
convention. Best wishes for success
and harmonious deliberations.

"CARL APPEL, Secretary."

"May your work at this convention
strengthen your organization and has-

ten the solidarity of labor and So-
cialist movement.

"SOCIALIST PARTY,
Sixth Assembly District,
Aaron Klein, Organizer."

"In behalf of the General Executive
Board of the Journeymen Tailors'
Union of America, the general mem-
bership and myself extend our hearty
good wishes for the success of your
convention. There never was a time
requiring greater care and wisdom on
the part of organized labor than today.
"THOMAS SWEENEY."

"By instructions of the Workmen's
Circle convention held at Toronto, I
am sending our hearty congratulations
to the valiant organization of workers,
who so bravely fought the battle of
the laboring men and women and suc-
ceeded in maintaining all the positions
won in the past. We hope all your
deliberations will bring happiness and
more rays of light in the life of the
toilers. On with your splendid work.
"WORKMEN'S CIRCLE,
"J. Baskin."

"I am extremely chagrined to be
unable to be among you on this occa-
sion, owing to a sprained knee from
which I am slowly and painfully con-
valescing. I ana, however, always with
you with my spirit and my love and
the deep confidence of the oneness and
invisibility of our ideal. In the name
of the Italian Chamber of Labor of
New York, I salute with pride and
comradely love the National Assembly
of the glorious Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America and each and
every soldier of its embattled hosts,
wherever they may be, in the factory,
in the office, on the picket line, in the
jails of America or in the halls of the
Russian Kremlin. We rejoice in your
exploits of the past and draw new
strength and exaltation in the assur-
ance that your indomitable, unyielding

390

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

and constructive spirit has come out
unscathed from the fierce fire of the
last two years of reaction. The banner
that you hold aloft is nevermore to be
furled. March forth with it to ever
nobler heights, always conscious that
the eyes of the workers of the world
are upon you, expecting ever new and
mightier deeds of justice and freedom,
up to the supreme achievement of the
ultimate emancipation of all mankind
from every form of economic servitude
and social thralldom. Hail the Amal-
gamated Clothing Workers of America.
Long live the international solidarity
of the working class.

"ARTURO GIOVANNITTI,
"General Secretary."

"We, the Jewish branch of the
Young Workers' League from Chicago,
greet the Fifth Convention of the A.
C. W. of A., and we hope that it will
succeed in its undertakings for a bet-
ter life and emancipation of the work-
ing class.

"N. LEVENTHAL."

"The Clothing Contractors' Associa-
tion of Boston sends you heartiest
greetings and good wishes for the suc-
cess of your Fifth Biennial Convention.
May your deliberations result in the ef-
fecting of permanent improved condi-
tions in the clothing industry and may
your future endeavors and achieve-
ments tc STen greater than those of the
past.

"MORRIS BILLER, Manager."

"The Chicago Fur Workers' Union,
Local 45, extend to the Amalgamated
convention our best wishes for their
continued success in the labor move-
ment.

"I. ISRAELSON, President,
"S. GOLDBERG, Secretary."

"Pressing professional engagements
prevent my presence at Amalgamated
convention. Please convey my greet-

ings to the organization and my sin-
cere congratulations upon the remark-
able achievements of the Amalgamated
in the short period of its existence.
The labor movement of America was
never more in need of guidance and
inspiration than at present and I
am convinced that the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers will assume the lead-
ership in the vital struggle to secure
justice, prosperity and happiness for
the workers of America. Long life and
success to the Amalgamated.

"JACOB M. MOSES, Baltimore, Md."

i

"Greetings. Accept our heartiest
congratulatory wishes for the success
of your convention. May all your de-
liberations, which aim for a stronger
and mightier organization and for a
united front against the onslaught of
our common enemy, the employer, be
crowned with success. Let this con-
vention be the guiding spirit for
greater deeds and achievements for the
interests of your membership. With
fraternal and brotherly greetings.
"CLOAK AND SUIT OPERATORS'
UNION,

"Local No. 1, I. L. G. W. TL,
"I. Steinzor, Acting Manager."

"Comradely greetings and congratu-
lations on the big work of your union
in the labor struggle.
"LABOR PUBLICATION SOCIETY,
"James H. Maurer, President."

"The executive board of the Co-op-
erative League sends greetings and best
wishes for the success of your con-
vention. As organized workers you are
helping to build a better world for the
men and women who toil. It is but
natural that the workers should throw
their first energies into a fight for
higher wages and better conditions of
labor. They are preyed upon by bank-
ers, traders, manufacturers, the rail-
roads, the mine owners, and other
agencies of profit-making business, un-

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

391

til the workers must uniio for their
own protection or go down into a state
no better than slavery.

"But the workers spend all they
earn; therefore they are consumers as
well as producers. If they are to save
themselves from the clutches of profit-
making business, they must protect
themselves from the merchants as well
as from the manufacturers. If they
win higher wages from the employers
and then turn it all back to the em-
ploying class every time they make a
purchase, how much better off are
they? The workers must combine their
purchasing power as well as their la-
bor power. Every organized town
should have its consumers' co-operative
store, its co-operative bank, and its
house for recreation and education.
This program is developing rapidly
throughout the country. Already tens

of thousands of the workers are united
in consumers' societies and they exer-
cise control over the supply of food and
other necessities of life.

"Co-operation has the power to free
the people from the bondage into which
they have fallen. The industrial
worker and the farmer together can
build up a movement that shall guar-
antee all the people peace and pros-
perity. We hope that great good may
come out of the deliberations of
your convention. May your members
through their unions and through their
co-operative societies, go forward to
victory.

"Fraternally yours,
"EXECUTIVE BOARD OF THE
CO-OPERATIVE LEAGUE,"
"J. P. Warbasse, President,
"John F. McNamee, Secretary."

SEVENTH SESSION
Friday, May 12, 1922

9:30 A. M.

President HILL-MAN called the con-
vention to order at 9 :30 a. in., Friday,
May 12.

Assistant Secretary POTOFSKY read
the following telegrams and communi-
cations to the convention :

"Twenty thousand textile workers at
Lawrence, Mass., fighting wage cut, ap-
peal to clothing workers for quick re-
lief. Have battled seven weeks on own
resources, now with back against the
wall. Funds all gone, must feed thou-
sands. Look to labor elsewhere for
help. We have always answered calls
regardless affiliations. Ask you sus-
pend rules if necessary, vote emergency
relief. Will appreciate wire reply,
word, encouragement, action taken.
"LAWRENCE STRIKE COM-
MITTEE,
"Florence Shokman, Secretary."

"The 'Spravedlnost,' the only Czecho-
slovak workingmen's daily paper pub-
lished in America, greets you and glad-
ly offers you services. We are sure
that this convention will bring strength
not only to the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America, but to the whole
labor movement.

"SPRAVEDLNOST, Chicago, 111."

"We greet you delegates of the Fifth
Convention of the Amalgamated Cloth-
ing Workers of America as a workers'
organization which will lead the work-
ing class to its final emancipation. We
wish you success in your work.
"CHICAGO FREIHEIT SINGING
SOCIETY, of the Workers'
Party of America."

"Greetings and congratulations to
the Fifth Convention of our great or-

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

ganization. May it continue the good
work of improving the conditions of
our members, ever leading them to-
gether with the entire labor movement
of the world toward the final goal,
which is the complete emancipation of
the workers.

"CHILDREN'S JACKET MAKERS'
UNION, Local 175,
"Simon Hass, Business Agent."

COMMITTEE ON LAW

Delegate McKAY, chairman, re-
ported upon the following resolutions
for the committee:

Strike Assessments

RESOLUTION No. 185
Referendum on Assessments

RESOLUTION No. 168
The committee recommended non-
concurrence on Resolutions Nos. 185
and 168. Report of committee
adopted.

Appointment of Organizers

RESOLUTION No. 118
Whereas, It is a condition of de-
cisive importance for the Amalga-
mated Clothing Workers, as for any
labor organization, not to be bound
to any political party; be it

Resolved, That no organizer be ap-
pointed if he is an organizer of a
political party.

The committee recommended non-
concurrence. Report of committee
adopted.

RESOLUTION No. 110
Resolution was to the effect that
all general organizers be appointed
by the General Executive Board.

Committee recommended non-con-
currence. Report of committee
adopted.

Reduction of Per Capita Tax

RESOLUTION No. 138

(See Resolution No. 31, Page 357,
proceedings, May 11, 1922.)

Method of Nomination of Members
of G. E. B.

RESOLUTION No. 140
Resolution proposed that candi-
dates for General Executive Board
be nominated by the locals.

Committee recommended non-con-
currence. Report of committee
adopted.

RESOLUTION No. 146
Resolution proposed that nomina-
tion for office in the Amalgamated
be by the locals.

Committee recommended non-con-
currence. Report of committee
adopted.

Referendum on Minority Report

RESOLUTIONS Nos. 149 AND 155
Resolutions advocated that minor-
ity resolutions and motions be sub-
mitted to referendum.

Committee recommended non-con-
currence. Report of committee
adopted.

Annual Election of Local Officers

RESOLUTION No. 93

Whereas, Elections for officers in
local unions are being held annually
in the vast majority of locals, with
few exceptions where the six-months
rule is still practiced; and

Whereas, It has been proven that
the six-months rule is detrimental
and curbs the efficiency of the officers
in these locals due to the short time
given them to cary out the work of
the organization; therefore be it

Resolved, That election in all the
locals in the Amalgamated be held
annually.

The committee reported favorably
and the resolution was adopted.

Re-election of Paid Officials After
Two Terms Prohibited

RESOLUTION No. 160
Resolution proposed that no paid

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

393

official except the general officers be
eligible for more than two terms.
Already acted upon, see action on

Resolution No. 49, Page 357 of Pro-
ceedings.

COMMITTEE ON ORGANIZATION

Delegate Murray Weinstein, chair-
man, reported on the following resolu-
tions, for the committee:

Organization Work in St. Louis

RESOLUTION No. 75

Whereas, The clothing industry of
St. Louis has grown in the last five
years; and

Whereas, The shops in St. Louis now
employ as many as 4,000 workers,
mostly women and girls; and

Whereas, The working conditions are
the worst in the country, and such con-
ditions are detrimental to the workers,
and a source of competition to the other
clothing markets; therefore be it

Resolved, That this convention in-
struct the General Executive Board to
do everything in its power to unionize
the clothing market of St. Louis.

Committee recommended reference to
General Executive Board. Report of
committee adopted.

Organization Campaign in Eastern
States

RESOLUTION No. 120

Resolved, That the General Office be
instructed to send a sufficient number
of organizers into the eastern states
to organize the many non-union cloth-
ing concerns in the smaller towns of
the eastern section, in order to relieve
the condition in the New York market.

Committee recommended reference to
Eastern Organization Department of
General Office when established. Rec-
ommendation of committee concurred
in.

Organization of Shipping Clerks and
Ticket Sewers

RESOLUTION No. 182

Whereas, New York has 5,000 ship-
ping clerks and ticket sewers; and

Whereas, The majority of them are
unorganized; and

Whereas, It is a physical impossi-
bility for one man to cover the great
territory of New York; be it therefore

Resolved, That the Fifth Biennial
Convention go on record as favoring
the appointment of an organizer to
help the present official of Local 158
in order thoroughly to organize this
branch of the trade.

Committee recommended reference to
General Executive Board. Recommen-
dation concurred in.

Organization Work in Buffalo

RESOLUTION No. 181

Whereas, An organization campaign
has been started in Buffalo recently to
build up a strong union of the Amal-
gamated Clothing Workers of America;
and

Whereas, To accomplish this difficult
task we have to contend with powerful
manufacturers, who have bitterly and
steadily fought and opposed every move
of the workers to organize in order to
change this state of affairs and bring
about an organization which would up-
lift the workers from the conditions of
slavery under which they are now
working; and

Whereas, The recent organization
campaign conducted in Buffalo is be-
ginning to arouse the workers and is
showing results; and

Whereas, The clothing workers of
Buffalo are largely composed of Poles
and Italians; therefore be it

Resolved, That the Fifth Biennial
Convention instruct the incoming Gen-
eral Executive Board to use all efforts
and means to organize Buffalo and to
send a Polish and Italian organizer
and give such ather assistance as

394

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

would be necessary effectively to con-
duct the organization work in Buffalo.
Committee recommended reference
to General Executive Board for special
attention by that body. Recommenda-
tion of the committee was concurred in.

Organization of Philadelphia

RESOLUTION No. 165

Whereas, During the industrial de-
pression the manufacturers secured ad-
vantages detrimental to our organiza-
tion; and

Whereas, Many shops in Philadelphia
are now not organized; and

Whereas, The fact that Philadelphia
is not fully organized places it in se-
vere competition with the organized
centers, especially New York; there-
fore be it

Resolved, That the Fifth Biennial
Convention of the Amalgamated Cloth-
ing Workers of America, in Chicago as-
sembled, instruct the incoming Gen-
eral Executive Board to start a strong
organization campaign in Philadelphia
that will assure the control of the
clothing industry, by our organization.

Committee recommended reference to
General Executive Board for special
attention. The recommendation of the
committee was concurred in.

Organization Work in Behalf of
Pant sm aker s

RESOLUTION No. 158
Whereas, Not a single convention
of the Amalgamated has passed with-
out adopting a resolution to devote spe-
cial organization work for the pants
trade throughout the country, which
undoubtedly was of advantage to the
organization at large ; and

Whereas, We recognize that such
general organization work was neces-
sary for the protection of the members
in the larger markets, but due to the
last lockout in the New York market,
the pantsmakers of Greater New York
have suffered the heaviest loss due to

the establishment of pants shops in
the suburbs of New York and nearby
states; and

Whereas, This fact not only under-
mines the condition of the pantsmakers
in the New York market, but abso-
lutely threatens the very existence of
our organization ; be it therefore

Resolved, That the convention in-
struct the general officers to make a
special study of the pantsmakers' sit-
uation ; and be it further

Resolved, That special organizers be
employed in the New York district and
nearby states who shall be assigned to
organization work for pantsmakers
only.

Committee recommended reference
to Eastern Department of General Of-
fice, when established. Recommenda-
tion of committee concurred in.

Special Rule in Strikes

RESOLUTION No. 64
Committee recommended non-concur-
rence in Resolution No. 64 on special
rule in strikes. Report of the com-
mittee was adopted.

Organization Work in California

RESOLUTION No. 143
Whereas, The conditions in Los An-
geles and the Pacific coast are such at
the present time that we deem it nec-
essary to have this convention author-
ize the sending of a general organizer
there immediately after the convention
for the purpose of straightening out
matters that may mean a great deal to
the locals of Los Angeles as well as
the Amalgamated in general ; therefore
be it

Resolved, That a general organizer
be sent to Los Angeles and the Pacific
coast at once with full power to act as
he deems best for the welfare of that
section of the country and the Amal-
gamated Clothing Workers of America
in general.

Committee recommended reference to
the General Executive Board. Recoin-

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

395

mendation of the committee concurred
in.

Out-of-Town Organization Work

RESOLUTION No. 142

Whereas, Many firms are moving out
of town in order to ha\e their work
done with non-union help and many
"corporation" shops are being estab-
lished; therefore be it

Resolved. That the General Execu-
tive Board organize the out-of-town
shops and take action against the "cor-
poration" shops.

Committee recommended reference
to Eastern Organization Department
of General Office, when established.
The recommendation of the commit-
tee was concurred in.

RESOLUTION No. 119

Whereas, A large number of chil-
dren's clothing manufacturers moved
away from New York to escape the or-
ganization, in order that the other
manufacturers shall be able to break
down our standards ; therefore be it

Resolved, That the General Execu-
tive Board shall be authorized by this
convention to immediately organize an
organization campaign against the
manufacturers who have moved, and
to do everything necessary to discour-
age other manufacturers from doing
the same thing.

Committee recommended reference to
Eastern Organization Department of
General Office, when established.
The recommendation of the commit-
tee was concurred in.

RESOLUTION No. 131

Committee recommended reference
of this resolution, relating to finan-
cial assistance in organizing Vine-
land, N. J., to General Executive
Board.

Recommendation adopted.

Corporation Shops

RESOLUTION No. 103

Whereas, The rapid growth of the
small corporation shop, especially of
the sort that have been formed in Bal-
timore, where two or four tailors who
themselves hire help work like slaves
from twelve to fifteen hours daily, is
a menace to the organization; and

Whereas, They take work from the
employers for less than the union price
and in this way take work away from
union members and weaken the organi-
zation; and

Whereas, Such a condition means a
step backward for the working class
movement ; therefore be it

Resolved, That we request our gen-
eral officers to put forth all their ef-
forts to check the development of these
shops and take energetic steps against
those already organized.

Committee recommended reference of
the resolution to the General Executive
Board. The recommendation was con-
curred in.

Organization of Drivers and Their
Helpers

RESOLUTION No. 95
Whereas, Local 240, Drivers' Union
of New York, is the only local of its
kind affiliated with the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America;

Resolved, That the A. C. W. of A.
shall start an organization campaign
throughout the country to organize the
drivers and their helpers in the cloth-
ing industry.

Committee recommended reference to
the General Executive Board. The
recommendation was concurred in.

COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS

Delegate KROLL, chairman, re-
ported for the committee.

Political Action

The committee recommended the
adoption of the following resolution

396

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

as a substitute for Resolutions Nos.
6 and 117:

SUBSTITUTE RESOLUTION

Resolved, That the General Ex-
ecutive Board shall stand instructed
to make a careful investigation of
the question of political action, and
after due deliberation make recom-
mendations for political action that
will represent the ideals, aspirations
and aims of our organization.

President HILLMAN: The recom-
mendation is that the General Execu-
tive Board make an investigation, and
if it comes to any conclusion, then it
shall recommend to the membership
what political action should be taken
in conformity with the ideals and as-
pirations of our organization.

Delegate GOLDMAN, Local 15, Bal-
timore, said that he was not in favor
of the recommendation, in that it
would cause discord in the organiza-
tion.

Delegate WEINSTEIN, Local 4, New
York, was absolutely opposed to the
resolution as presented.

Delegate WEXLER said that the la-
bor movement in this country at the
present time was facing a most serious
situation and that political action was
necessary. ,

Delegate DI BLASI, New York, urged
the convention to adopt the resolution.

Delegate BECKERMAN, New York,
spoke against the resolution, and said
that the time was not ripe for political
action.

Delegate SNAPPER called for the
previous question. (Motion carried.)

President HILLMAN: The question
will now be placed before the house.
Before placing the question, the chair
will take this opportunity to state its
position. It is very regrettable that
when propositions are brought before
the convention, certain delegates do not
confine themselves to what the resolu-
tion says, but first frame a resolution
of their own, and then oppose it be-

fore the convention. This resolution
reads that the General Executive
Board shall stand instructed to make a
careful investigation on the question of
political action, and after due delib-
eration, make recommendations to the
general organization for political action
that will represent the ideals and as-
pirations of our organization. There
is nothing in this resolution that com-
mits the convention to any existing
political party. There is nothing in
this resolution that even commits us
to follow the general labor movement,
if it takes political action. It does say
that the time has come when the labor
movement should look for a way
out in political action.
Resolution adopted.

DELEGATION OF COATMAKERS

(At this juncture a group of 1,500
coatmakers marched through the hall,
led by a band, and presented the con-
vention with a large floral piece in the
shape of an aeroplane.) ,

General Executive Board Member
SKALA: Brother Chairman, and dele-
gates : In presenting to you the coat-
makers of this city, we cannot help but
keep in mind the other groups that
came to pay their tribute to this con-
vention, day after day, ever since the
opening last Monday. These different
groups gave you a beautiful picture of
true working-class solidarity.

As I saw these men and women
standing in the rain this morning, I
saw visions pass before me, visions of
the struggles that were waged in this
industry for years and years. I saw a
vision of girls with torn dresses and
bruised arms. I saw men with band-
aged heads. I saw strikers carrying
their comrade who was almost beaten
to unconsciousness by the police. I
saw the strikers as they marched in
solemn procession to pay their last
tribute to their comrade who sacri-
ficed his life on the altar of hu-
manity. I saw the Chicago jails filled

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

397

with strikers until over 2,000 arrests
were made iii one single strike.

And as these memories came back
to me, I was wondering which was the
greater honor, whether to sit here as a
delegate to this convention and as a
member of the General Executive
Board, or to march in the ranks of
those who made this organization pos-
sible. (Applause.)

I greet you, comrades, and I am
proud to be one of this group of
workers. I take great pleasure in
introducing to you one of the coat
makers' deputies, Brother Weinstein.
(Applause.)

Brother WEINSTEIN: Brother
Chairman, delegates, and friends:
In the name of all those who were
oppressed until 1918, but who have
since been organized, in the name
of those who have struggled, fought,
suffered, and died for this organiza-
tion that we have today, I cannot ex-
press in words the feeling that I
have at the present moment.

I can only tell you that we greet
you in the name of all these people
who have been organized since 1918
and we wish you delegates a hearty
welcome and hope that your de-
liberations may strengthen the or-
ganization towards a better future
for all of us, that they will carry us
towards unity and more unity in our
organization, and hope that our
ranks shall not be divided in the
fight against the common enemy.
(Applause.)

President HILLMAN: I am sure
that the delegates to the convention
appreciate not only your presence,
but your activities and your co-
operation that have made the
achievements of the organization pos-
sible. They are confident of your
full co-operation in the future, so
that we may go on and on along the
road to further progress and achieve-
ments. I want, on behalf of the
convention, to express our gratitude

to you members of the rank and file
of our organization in this city. (Ap-
plause.)

Standards of Production

The Resolutions Committee had
referred to it six resolutions relat-
ing to standards of production, week
work, and the abolition of piece
work. The committee recommended
the adoption of the following sub-
stitute resolution:

SUBSTITUTE RESOLUTION

Resolved, That the Fifth Biennial
Convention, assembled in Chicago,
reaffirm the action of the Fourth Bi-
ennial Convention at Boston, and re-
fer it to the incoming General Execu-
tive Board.

The action of the Fourth Biennial
Convention is as follows:

"Resolved, That we recommend
the week work system with stand-
ards of production; and be it further

"Resolved, That the General Ex-
ecutive Board be empowered to in-
augurate this system as soon as pos-
sible and determine the standards as
conditions may require."

President HILLMAN: The motion
is that our old position be reaffirmed.
Are you ready for the question? All
those in favor of the motion that
the old position of the organization
shall stand as the policy of the or-
ganization will signify by saying aye.
Opposed, no. (The chair called for
a division. There were 98 votes for
and 63 against.)

Equal Pay to Women for Equal
Work

RESOLUTION No. 178

(See Resolution No. 80, Page 358,
Proceedings, May 11, 1922.)

Forty-Hour Week

The committee recommended non-
concurrence with Resolutions Nos.
69, 55, and 102.

The recommendation of the com-
mittee was adopted.

398

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

Thanking Jewish Bakers of Boston
for Assistance in Lockout

RESOLUTION No. 145

Whereas, The Jewish Bakers of
Boston voluntarily gave to the locked
out members of the Amalgamated in
Boston 3,000 rolls each day during
the long lockout struggle in that
city; and

Whereas, The contribution of the
Jewish Bakers was of material as-
sistance to the locked out members
of our organization; and

Whereas, By this action the Jewish
Bakers of Boston demonstrated their
sympathy with the Amalgamated;
and

Whereas, This expression of true
working class solidarity was a source
of great inspiration and help to our
membership; therefore be it

Resolved, That this convention ex-
tend its heartfelt thanks for the as-
sistance so generously given and
record its feeling of gratitude for the
splendid example of solidarity and
working class spirit shown by the
Jewish Bakers of Boston.

Adopted unanimously.

Affiliation with Third International

The committee recommended non-
concurrence with Resolutions Nos.
33, 106, 136, 157, and 186.

The recommendation of the com-
mittee was adopted.

Children's Clothing Joint Board

RESOLUTION No. 144
(See action on Besolution No. 60,
same subject, Page 359, Proceedings,
May 11, 1922.)

Leadership

RESOLUTION No. 141
In order to maintain the class
spirit in the organization, which is
the first condition required for the
real emancipation of the workers;
be it

Resolved, That no member shall
be nominated to leadership if he is

not known as a loyal soldier of the
class struggle.
Adopted.

International Unity of Labor
Organizations

RESOLUTION No. 67

Whereas, The whole tendency of
modern times is toward the interna-
tional co-ordination of all move-
ments and enterprises, whether they
be of labor or capital; and

Whereas, These are times of
monster combinations of capital,
over-reaching all national boundaries,
engaged in sinister attempts to de-
feat and crush the labor movement
both within each nation and on an
international scale; and

Whereas, A well-defined move-
ment to defend the sacred cause of
labor by co-ordinating our industrial
organizations on an equally broad
international scale is shown in the
communications to the Amsterdam
Trade Union International from the
Moscow International of Labor Un-
ions, inviting the former to partici-
pate in the formation of a United
Front of all the labor unions of the
world; therefore be it

Resolved, That the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers, in its Fifth Bi-
ennial Convention assembled, ex-
press its approval of the efforts for
a United Front of all the labor or-
ganizations of the world, and give its
heartiest co-operation in the fight
against organized capital.
Adopted.

COMMITTEE ON REPORTS OP
OFFICERS

Delegate GOLD, chairman, reported
for the Committee on Eeports of Offi-
cers:

Sick and Disability Benefits

The committee gave consideration to
Resolutions No. 2, 39, 87, and recom-
mended non-concurrence, believing that

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

399

it would be best at this time to refer
the matter to the local unions for such
action as they deem best.

Recommendation of the committee
adopted.

Tuberculosis Sanatorium

Resolved, That the incoming General
Executive Board be authorized to pro-
ceed immediately with the foundation
of plans for the establishment of a
sanatorium for the treatment of tuber-
cular members of our organization,
and the General Executive Board is
instructed to present a plan for the
financing of such an institution by the
levying of a special per capita tax for
its support.

President HILLMAX: The General
Executive Board feels that it is very
essential that we take care of our own
members who are disabled by con-
sumption, and therefore recommends
that something should be done im-
mediately to take such action in regard
to the establishment of a sanitarium
of our own as may be necessary.

Motion unanimously carried.

Federation of Independent Labor
Organizations

RESOLUTION Xo. 43

Whereas, The official American labor
movement, represented by the American
Federation of Labor, does not give any
support to independent labor organiza-
tions; and

Whereas, The joint efforts of the
manufacturers are used against every
union; therefore be it

Resolved, That the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America promote
a federation of all independent organ-
izations.

The committee recommended non-
concurrence on the ground that, re-
gardless of the merits of the proposi-
tion, with the attempt ^to organize a
federation of Xeedle Trades Workers
still unsuccessful there is no justifica-

tion for attempting a federation as
contemplated by the resolution.

Recommendation of the committee
adopted.

Help for Russia
RESOLUTION No. 132

The committee recommended placing
this resolution on file, as the subject
was covered by resolution on this sub-
ject adopted unanimously (Page 371,
Proceedings, May 11, 1922).

RESOLUTION No. 18-1
Resolution proposed working two
hours for the Russian children.

Committee recommended non-concur-
rence. Recommendation adopted.

COMMITTEE ON MISCELLANEOUS
MATTERS

Delegate Wolf reported for the com-
mittee:

Wage Reductions

RESOLUTION No. 41

Whereas, After years of struggle and
sacrifice the workers in the clothing
industry have succeeded in bettering
their conditions by reducing the hours
of labor and advancing their wages in
order to meet the high cost of living;
and

Whereas, Since the war ended the
employers all over the country have
been using all their efforts in every
possible way to reduce the wages of
the workers, and diminish the condi-
tions of the toilers; and

Whereas, Prevailing conditions in the
clothing industry till now forced the
organization to make compromises
with the employers and to submit
to certain reductions in wages of
the clothing workers. In order to
avoid struggles and to have our mem-
bers employed so as to keep up the
organization by making their sacri-
fices in reducing the wages of the
workers. But this act encouraged the
employers to make more demands from
the workers, and this actually became

400

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

a habit or so to say a chronic disease
where every season the employers try-
ing their utmost to reduce these wages;
be it

Resolved, That this convention go on
record and declare itself that the last
agreement made between the manufac-
turers and the union in the markets of
Chicago and Rochester, and the reduc-
tion forced upon us last year in the
New York market is the final conces-
sion given to our employers; and be it

Resolved, That this convention recom-
mend to the incoming G. E. B. that no
compromises are to be made in re-
ducing the prevailing conditions in
the organized centers of the A. C. W.
of A. that exist today and make the
employers realize that by no means we
intend to go backwards but our
aim will always be to go on forward,
improving conditions of the workers.

And in order to carry out success-
fully our determination we propose that
the incoming G. E. B. re-organize some
local unions for a better defensive pur-
pose and also carry on an agitation to
encourage our members to take a more
drastic stand against reducing wages
in our shops.

Referred to General Executive Board.

Collective Bargaining

RESOLUTIONS Nos. 32, 115, 148

Resolutions proposed abolition of
collective agreements.

Committee recommended non-concur-
rence; report of committee adopted.

Polish and Bohemian Papers to Be
Published Weekly

RESOLUTION No. 174
Whereas, The information given the
membership through our weekly publi-
cations is of great value as informa-
tion and inspiration; be it therefore
Resolved, By this Fifth Biennial Con-
vention of the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America, in Chicago as-

sembled, that the Polish and Bohemian
publications be issued, like the Ad-
vance, each week.

Referred to General Executive Board
for action.

President HILLMAN: The Bohemian
publication has been issued weekly for
several months.

Delegate KRZYCKI announced that
an invitation was extended to the dele-
gates to visit Milwaukee.

Assistant Secretary POTOFSKY an-
nounced that an amnesty petition
would be presented to the delegates
as they left the hall and suggested that
the delegates sign it.

Secretary-Treasurer SCHLOSSBERG
read the following telegram from Mos-
cow:

"Following from Moscow : 'All-Rus-
sian Jewish Publicom Organization for
Relief Workers, Ukraiiiia, White Rus-
sia, sends fraternal greetings congress
Amalgamated Union. Jewish toilers
Ukrainia, White Russia, suffered ter-
ribly from bloody bandits raised by all
capitalist governments. Shall never
forget moral, material assistance from
American workers, notwithstanding
joint disco and other obstruction.
Bloody pogroms ceased. Counter-revo-
lution conquered, thanks effort prole-
tarian Red Army. But heavy after-
math urges outside assistance in addi-
tion help rendered by workers. Soviet
government engaged fighting famine,
Volga. Workers Ukrainia, White Rus-
sia, caH upon brothers Amalgamated
for real constructive help reinstate
country, guard interests international
proletariat. Allow member presidium
Publicom Rashkes greet congress our
name and tell our needs and great
struggle. Proletarian greetings.
"Members Presidium Publicom,
"MANDELSBERG, MINLIN,
CANTOR."

The session was adjourned until 1:30
p. m.

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

401

EIGHTH SESSION
Friday, May 12, 1922

1:30 P. M.

President HILLMAN called the
eighth session to order at 1 :30 p. m.
Friday, May 12.

Assistant Secretary POTOFSKY
read telegrams of greetings from the
employees of Rogoff & Co., New York,
and from Locale Italiano, Local 202,
Rochester, A. C. W. A.

CONSTITUTION

President HILLMAN: The next
subject to take up is the constitution.
Brother Wolman will read it, section
by section. The General Executive
Board has gone over the constitution
as a whole. We are not going to read
only the changes to the delegates, but
the constitution as a whole. The draft
will not become the constitution unless
adopted by a referendum vote.

Brother Wolman read the constitu-
tion, and the delegates voted favorably
upon it, section by section.

CHICAGO PANTSMAKERS

(At this point the pantsmakers of
Chicago entered the hall in a body
and presented the convention with a
large floral piece amidst loud cheering
and applause.)

President HILLMAN: General Ex-
ecutive Board Member Marimpietri
will introduce the committee in behalf
of the pantsmakers' organization of the
city. (Applause.)

General Executive Board Member
MARIMPIETRI: Delegates and
friends, sisters and brothers, I am very
pleased, indeed, and it comes from the
bottom of my heart, to have the honor
and privilege of presenting to this con-
vention the pantsmakers of this city.
(Applause.) On the first day of the
convention a group representing the
coatmakers was introduced to you, and
then the cutters and other cutters, and
other coatmakers, and then the vest-
makers. The pantsmakers seem to be

the last, but this very group was the
first one that blew the spark into a
flame in 1910 for the wonderful revo-
lution in the garment industry. It may
be a mere coincidence, but neverthe-
less they came in the proper time in
the middle of our legislation, because
no other group has any more right to
be here than they, for they made it
possible for us to legislate for the in-
dustry. ,

I take great pleasure in introducing
to you one of the brothers who has
done much to keep together this won-
derful spirit of the pantsmakers of this
city. (Applause.)

Brother HARRY SCHEPPS : Mr.
Chairman, delegates, brothers and sis-
ters and friends: I am not going to
make a speech. I know that you have
had many delegations from various
branches of the trade. I want to say
in the name of the officers and mem-
bers of the Pantsmakers' Local 144
that we present to you this floral piece
in the form of a loving cup in appre-
ciation and love for the wonderful
work of our leaders, with Brother Hill-
man at the top.

Yesterday morning's session of the
convention was one of the greatest mo-
ments in the history of our organiza-
tion, and one that I will not forget for
a long time. I want to say to you
that I am not a veteran of this local,
for I was a member of Local 193 be-
fore joining Local 144 ; but here is one
who was in it from the beginning, and
that is Brother Spitzer. (Applause.)

Brother SPITZER: Mr. President,
officers, and delegates to the conven-
tion : I am much pleased to have the
honor at this great convention to say
a few words in the name of our pants-
makers.

We feel proud of being members of
this great organization, the Amalga-

402

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

mated Clothing Workers of America.
The pantsmakers were already intro-
duced, as they deserved to be intro-
duced, by Brother Marirnpietri. The
pantsmakers were the first ones to
have the courage to start the walkout
in the Hart, Schaffner & Marx factory,
which involved all the clothing workers
of Chicago, and through which walk-
out we are in a position to sit here to-
day and legislate for nearly 200,000
members of the great Amalgamated.

In the name of the pantsmakers, we
wish that all delegates who are here
today representing this great number
of people go back and give the mes-
sage that the Chicago people as a whole
have realized from the very beginning
the necessity of an organization, and
there is no question in our minds that
we will at all times realize the same
principle, that we are conscientious
members of a conscientious organiza-
tion.

We will do our best after the con-
vention is over to carry out every law
that is decided upon here. (Applause.)

WOMEN PIONEERS

President HILLMAN: Delegates,
there are certain notions that are ac-
cepted by the labor movement, which
examination would show to be fallacies
instead of facts. One of the notions
is that women cannot be organized.
The Chicago organization was started
by a young woman working in one of
the shops of Hart, Schaffner & Marx.
It was also started in that part of the
industry that is considered very hard
to organize, and that is the pantsmak-
ers' part of the industry.

It gives me real pleasure to present
to you the leader of the revolution of
1910, Sister Anna Shapiro, and those
who are left of the army of fourteen
seamers who walked out of the Hart,
Shaffner & Marx plant in 1910 and
started the strike that was the begin-
ning of our organization. (Prolonged
applause.)

(At this point a delegation marched
through the hall and presented the con-
vention with a floral piece.)

NEW YORK THANKS CHICAGO

General Executive Board Member
PETER MONAT: Mr. Chairman and
delegates: I ask the convention for
unanimous consent for the New York
delegation to introduce a resolution.

There being no objection the follow-
ing resolution was presented:

Whereas, Our membership in New
York was locked out by the employers
in New York, at the end of 1920, for
the purpose of breaking our organiza-
tion; and

Whereas, A struggle of many months
was required to defend the life of the
organization against powerful enemies;
and

Whereas, In that hour of our great
need the membership of the country
came to our aid; and

Whereas, Among the cities that have
come to our aid the Chicago organ-
ization made the most generous offer-
ing;

Therefore, the New York delegation
takes this opportunity on behalf of
the membership of New York to ex-
press to the delegates of all cities,
and particularly to the Chicago mem-
bership, the profoundest gratitude and
appreciation of the great help you
have given us and the fraternal spirit
in which you have done it.

Abraham Miller.

Peter Monat.

Nathan Siegel.

A. I. Shiplacoff.

Benne Romano.

I. Rappaport.

S. Zutkoff.

H. Heller.

Murray Weinstein.

A. Beckerman.

H. Jacobson.

Joseph E. Shea.

George Stone.

Abraham Silverman.

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

403

J. Goldstein.
S. Lampert.
Sam Katz.
Harris Cohen.
David Goldstein.
Jake Itzkowitz.
Morris Koffler.
Morris Rappaport.
Max Schultz.
Nathan Wertheimer.
Joe Cohen.
H. Kalushkin.
Harry Kantor.
Abraham Hershkowitz.

Bernard Lader.
Samuel Liptzin.
Jacob Pollock.

Benjamin Reinisch.

Samuel Herman.

Jacob Schwartzberg.

David Weiss.

Morris Goldstein.

Jacob Malkin.

Frank Margolis.

Sam Stein.

Zelig Mandel.

Hyman Novodvor.

Isidor Fader.

Joseph Leppo.

J. B. Palionis.

Jonas Takalauskas.

William Cernis.

John Kreaticevicus.

Joe Catalanotti.

Ruffino Conti.

Giovanni Crispo.

Sam La Scala.

Michael Romano.

Joseph Gluck.

Abraham Yelowitz.

Anthony Di' Blasi.

Murray Zafrano.

Theodore Pilger.

B. Addeo.

Anthony Belles.

Harry Taylor.

J. A. Valicenti.

David Horowitz.

I. Kagel.

Philip Kushner.

Max Sahn.

Jack Covin.
Max Potah.
Jack Silver.
Harry Yanofsky.
Walter Weinstein.
Max Schean.
M. Urwand.
Morris Epstein.
Michael Rini.
Sam Winter.
I. Young.
Lorenzo De Maria.
Joseph Gold.
Herman Bernstein.
Rebecca Felsenfeld.
Sam Fisher.
Yudie Kanor.
Ralph Prager.
Sam Riger.
Julius Powers.
B. Goldscholl.
Louis Stein.
Peter Wisotsky.
H. D. Angelo.
Giuseppe Procopio.

President HILLMAN: The chair
will take this opportunity to intro-
duce one who, while not a delegate
to this convention, is one of the men
who has the privilege to represent
one of our largest organizations, a
man who has actively participated in
the great lockout that took place in
New York City a year ago, a man
who has been at previous conven-
tions, and even before he was ac-
tively connected with our organiza-
tion has always helped the work and
the upbuilding of the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America —
Manager of the New York Joint
Board, Abraham I. Shiplacoff. (Ap-
plause.)

ADDRESS OF A. I. SHIPLACOFF

Brother SHIPLACOFF: Brother
Chairman, sisters, and brothers: I
am going to omit the introduction
of my speech, the usual introduction
of being allowed to greet, et cetera,
and I will tell you first of all that

404

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

while I am sorry for having declined
the nomination to be a delegate to
the convention, on the other hand,
I find it is quite an advantage not
to be one. In fact, it is a pretty
safe insurance policy, at least
against getting up and making fool-
ish motions. (Laughter.)

There is another advantage in be-
ing an outsider. I think that within
the last few days I probably have
been able to size up the work of the
convention more closely than some
of you people who are in the arena,
in the ring, and I think I have it
sized up right.

Barring all the little mistakes that
human beings usually make, I feel that
if the work which you have already
mapped out is carried out, this con-
vention will be not only one of the
greatest that the Amalgamated Cloth-
ing Workers of America ever had, but
probably one of the most epoch-making
conventions of any labor organization
in this country. (Applause.)

There are three things that we must
bear in mind as we leave this conven-
tion.

I believe that a very definite de-
parture has been made by this conven-
tion in establishing a precedent con-
trary to precedents that have been
established by representatives of the
"officially organized labor movement of
America."

We have heard time and again of the
representatives of labor hobnobbing
with members of a Civic Federation. I
believe we have laid the foundation
stone here this week for a new kind of
Civic Federation, a Civic Federation of
the Workers of the World, and that
Civic Federation has been established
by the fact that we have come out
with an open hand and an open mind
and an open heart to the aid of our
starving and struggling brothers and
sisters in Russia. (Applause.)

And I ask you, if we are not to come
to their aid, who is to come to their

aid? No one expected Wall Street to
help them, because Wall Street knows
pretty well that if the spirit of Rus-
sia begins to dominate the world today,
there will soon be no Wall Street in
existence. (Uproarious applause.)

The second great piece of work for
which a foundation was laid here was
the federation of the needle industry.
Those of us who are in the struggle,
in direct contact with the actual work,
are beginning to realize what a ridicu-
lous arrangement it is for each one to
be pulling his own load, whereas we
can so conveniently discard the old
one-horse car and put up a good, mod-
ern, up-to-date mode of conveyance and
carry on our work by one powerful
organization of the needle trades.

I want to assure you that no great
deed can be done without having its
effects. I can see now what a tre-
mendous effect it will have upon the
awakening of the workmen when the
cloakmakers, the waistmakers, the fur-
riers, the custom tailors, and all the
needle workers join hands with the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America in one powerful industrial or-
ganization.

Last, but not least, is our own work,
strengthening, perfecting and building
our organization as much as possible,
strengthening the weak places and
making it a real, powerful force. Let
me conclude by asking your permission,
in view of the fact that I am in a sort
of a religious environment here, to do
two things : First, I want to offer up
thanks to that invisible force that
guides the progress of human destiny
for the fact that so many of us have
the faculty of imagination. If those
of us who spent their early lives in
the sweatshops did not have the vision
to see the possibilities for labor and
abolish that curse, we would not be
where we are today. If the Russian
pioneers could not have foreseen the
future freedom for Russia, Russia to-

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

405

day would not be what it is, and I am
therefore thankful for the natural gift
that many of us possess of seeing
things with the mind's eye long before
the naked eye can see them. Second,
I want permission to pray that we, as
long as we cannot all be great, may all
be big; that we may all outgrow our
petty passions. May we take this
word from here, particularly the three
points which I have mentioned, and
carry on, carry on with a big, broad
spirit of genuine brotherly love?

In conclusion, in behalf again of the
New York membership, and I am sure
that I am expressing the thoughts and
feelings of every one of them, I beg
of you delegates to take home to your
constituency the profoundest apprecia-
tion and gratitude of the members in
New York who for twenty-seven weeks
stood the brunt of the picket lines in
the lockout, and to feel that it is you,
in your beautiful spirit, who saved the
situation for New York. (Great ap-
plause.)

President HILLMAN : The chair
takes this opportunity to present to
the convention one who I am sure is
known to all the members of the Amal-
gamated Clothing Workers of America,
who has been actively helpful in the
building of the organization — Judge
Jacob Panken of New York City. (Tre-
mendous applause.)

ADDRESS OF JACOB PANKEN

Judge PANKEN: Mr. Chairman and
comrades: In the first place, let me
give my thanks to the General Execu-
tive Board and to the convention at
large for the privilege that has been
accorded me to come to this conven-
tion and again to rub shoulders with
the representatives of the members of
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America.

I keenly feel the honor which the
invitation bespoke, and I am grateful
for it. It feels good to come into a

convention of workers; it even feels
good to hear applause and to hear a
cheer. I am not usually met by ap-
plause or a cheer when I come to court,
there is only a feeling of solemnity;
everybody rises and waits until I sit
down, and if I should not sit down for
a day, they would keep standing until
I made up my mind to sit down. The
position to which I have been elevated,
and in a large measure the Amalga-
mated Clothing Workers of America is
responsible for my elevation, has sort
of built a fence between me on the
bench and the rest of the folks in the
body of the court room.

After all, the only thing that is
worth while to the thinking, reasoning',
feeling human being is the movement,
that movement which has for its pur-
pose the upbuilding of a world in which
there should be no misery, no crime,
no poverty, the upbuilding of a world
in which judges should not be neces-
sary and in which lawyers should be
jmt to work to make clothes instead of
expounding the law. (Applause.)

Every time I have an opportunity
to come, and to get in touch with the
people, I take it. I want to feel the
heart-pulse of the masses. I want to
feel the thoughts that are transmitted
to me by the waves that emanate from
the minds of my fellow men.

When I sat here this morning and
this afternoon and pondered the delib-
erations of this convention — and I had
to ponder them — I will be frank and
admit that I was surprised when I
saw 1,500 men and women coming up
this aisle and filing past the president
and the General Executive Board, and
filling the galleries, and bringing roses
and laying them at the feet of the
organization. I was surprised when
I saw the men and women filing up this
aisle this afternoon bringing a mes-
sage of good-will, bringing not only a
message but a pledge of loyalty, a
pledge of solidarity, a pledge of fealty

406

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

to the cause of labor. I was surprised,
surprised beyond measure of words, for
I conjured up in my mind a picture to
the south of Chicago, way down in the
southland of our nation. I conjured up
in my mind a picture with long, lanky
Eosenblum in the capitol at Nashville,
Tennessee, making points of order, mak-
ing motions upon motions and being
overruled. I conjured up in mind the
picture of the men and the women
who had been relegated into the bal-
cony, into the gallery, and on a mo-
ment/s notice walked down the capi-
tol hill into a dingy room in Dun-
can Hotel, without music, without flow-
ers, without a word of welcome. And
so I saw two pictures — a picture of
hope, a picture of crusaders firing the
light and asking the masses of the
people to rally around that light, and
today I saw before me another picture,
the organized men and women in the
needle industry, responding, and who
have responded; who are not only mak-
ing a fight for a fair day's wage, for
a fair day's work, but are laying the
cornerstone for a new world, for a new
idealism, for a new principle. (Tre-
mendous applause.)

Comrades and fellow workers: I am
interested in this convention, and I
was interested in the work of the
convention this morning. I heard your
president, in discussing one proposition,
say to the delegates that "we did not
desire to be isolated." I remember
Sidney Hillman with somebody else, I
do not now recall the other, going to
the Philadelphia convention of the
American Federation ,of Labor and
knocking upon the door. And I re-
member Shiplacoff being sent across
the country to San Francisco to pre-
sent the claim of the clothing workers
of the United States. "We of the
Amalgamated have no desire to be
isolated," said the president. "Yet,
have no desire to compromise. We want
to stick by our guns. We want to

stick by the principles that animated
us when we first organized. ' '

I am interested particularly in the
the work of the convention, because
what the convention does reflects the
collective mind of the organization.
You, the spokesmen of those inar-
ticulate men and women in New
York, in Chicago, in Cleveland, in
Syracuse, in Rochester, and away
over on the Pacific Ocean, give voice
to their aspirations, give articula-
tion to their hopes in this conven-
tion.

The discussion today on one reso-
lution was to me pregnant with tre-
mendous possibilities, not only for
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers
of the World, but for the labor move-
ment in America. It has always been
the task of a pioneer to clear the
path for those who were weak, and
for those who were indifferent, and
for those who were cowardly. It
has been the business from time im-
memorial of the pioneer to go with
his scythe or sickle and cut out the
path in the underbrush, so that those
who are weak may follow. You, to-
day, the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America, by the adoption
of a resolution with reference to
political action, have laid the basis
for a movement in the United States
that will ultimately result in the
capture of the American government
by the workers, for the workers, and
in the interest of the workers. (Ap-
plause.)

You have achieved, you have ac-
complished, you have done wonders.
But my message to you this after-
noon is, "Do not be satisfied with the
achievements and. the accomplish-
ments that you have been able to get
for the Amalgamated. Life itself
does not progress, life itself does
not continue, life itself does not re-
produce itself, unless there is some
dissatisfaction, unless there is dis-
content, unless there is a striving

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

407

ever for something better, a striving
ever for something higher. In these
labor organizations the children of
discontentment are planting the
seed of a new life, of a new world.
(Applause.) The human race can-
not any more be adequately sup-
ported by the earth alone. In order
that the human race continue, in or-
der that the human race live, and
in order that the human race propa-
gate, work must be done, men must
be productive. We need co-ordina-
tion in life. We need organization.
It is the trade union, it is the labor
organization, that is preparing the
working man to take over industry,
co-ordinate it, organize it, and make
use of it for the human race.

Comrades, at this time when you
are meeting in your Fifth Conven-
tion, I want you to think back upon
the history of your organization,
ponder what is going on today, and
from the past, and from the present,
you will find the way for your ac-
tivity in the future. I for one have
no misgivings. I for one have no
doubt as to the growth, as to the
glory, as to the efficiency of this or-
ganization. I am hopeful, I know
that you are not satisfied. I know
that you do not believe in the status
quo, I know that you want to march
forward. I know that your eyes are
directed to the east where the sun
rises every morning. I know, com-
rades, that you are ready, ready to
fight, and fight the masters. This is
my message to you — fight, fight, fight
the masters who control the world,
so there is no room to fight among
yourselves. Fight, fight, fight for
a better world. Fight, fight, fight
for your future — for the future is
yours. (Tremendous applause.)

SUPPORT RUSSIAN PLAN

President HILLMAN: Delegates,
before this convention has an oppor-
tunity to adjourn, a referendum vote

is already going on on some of the
propositions taken up by the con-
vention. I am happy to read to you
a telegram from one of our local
unions in New York City, Local 161,
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America:

"Fraternal greetings to the Fifth
Biennial Convention. Brothers, we
the undersigned, wish to express our
feeling with congratulations on the
proposition of financing Russian
clothing mills. We also appeal to
all members of our organization to
put aside their political views and
support this to a successful end.
Fraternally yours,

"LAPEL MAKERS' AND
PAIRERS' UNION,
"Local 161, A. C. W. of A., Louis
Labiento, Secretary."

Even before this convention had
an opportunity to report, we already
have messages that it has expressed
the spirit and desires of our mem-
bership all over. (Applause.)

COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

Delegate GENIS, chairman, re-
ported for the Committee on Educa-
tion.

Educational Work

RESOLUTION No. 47
Whereas, The working class must
rely upon its own education in order
to attain both the immediate material
ends of labor and to further the class
consciousness and solidarity of labor
at large; and

Whereas, The working class must
rely upon its own ranks for those who
are to be its honest and efficient repre-
sentatives ; therefore be it

Resolved, That we, delegates to the
Fifth Biennial Convention of the Amal-
gamated Clothing Workers of America,
most urgently advise and will co-op-
erate in the establishment of an "Edu-
cational Institution," throughout the
Amalgamated Republic, based upon a

408

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

sound and constructive class-conscious
educational program, to be managed by
competent persons, and to have for its
ends the following goals :

1. Education primarily adapted to
train workers in order that they may
become efficient shop chairmen;

2. Education especially adapted for
the training of business officials in or-
der that they may be able more effi-
ciently to serve the organization.

3. Education at shop meetings which
is to interpret the daily occurrences
and struggles of the shop in the light
of the working class philosophy of the
capitalist system;

4. Education at mass meetings in
the form of lectures and debates which
are to further the class consciousness
and solidarity of our members;

5. Education for the militant mem-
bers of our organization which is to
consist of elementary Marxian eco-
nomics, labor history, psychology, etc.,
this work to be carried on in connec-
tion with and with the co-operation of
the official papers of our organization.

The committee recommended concur-
rence.

Delegate KATZ: I am opposed to
this resolution for the reason that if
education in the Amalgamated is nec-
essary, then it should be done in the
proper form. I believe the membership
in the West does not know what edu-
cation is necessary for the membership
in the East.

President HILLMAN : The chair de-
sires to state that the General Office
has not assumed an attitude of not
permitting joint boards to go on with
their education, if they believe that the
education of the General Office is not
adequate. We do not claim for a mo-
ment that we have the most perfect
program for educational activities, but
we do know that until the General Of-
fice started an educational campaign
in New York City, there was no edu-
cational work done in that city.
Report of committee adopted.

Education for Polish and Bohemian
Members

RESOLUTION No. 176

Committee recommendation for
reference to General Executive
Board adopted.

COMMITTEE ON REPORTS OF
OFFICERS

Delegate GOLD reported the follow-
ing substitute for a number of resolu-
tions on unemployment:

Unemployment Fund

SUBSTITUTE

Whereas, Unemployment is the most
serious evil confronting the members
of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers
of America; and

Whereas, This organization went on
record at its convention in Boston, in
1920, as favoring the creation of an
unemployment fund contributed by the
industry; and

Whereas, The agreements just signed
by this organization provide for annual
negotiations on this issue; therefore
be it

Resolved, That this organization em-
phatically reiterate its position on this
matter and instruct its general officers
to take all the steps necessary for the
establishment of such a fund.

Delegate SUGARMAN, Rochester,
was opposed to the manufacturers par-
ticipating in the unemployment fund,
and asked for an explanation as to how
the officers were going to go about
establishing the fund.

President HILLMAN : The delegates
do not seem to be satisfied with the
resolution as read, but are trying to
put up their own resolutions and pre-
sent arguments against them. The con-
vention acts only upon the resolution
read to the convention. This resolution
states that we consider it the respon-
sibility of the industries to support the
workers, or provide funds for the sup-

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

409

port of the workers, when there is un-
employment.
The resolution was adopted.

Working Hours

RESOLUTION No. 147

Whereas, The capitalist system floods
the world markets with its products
by the development of machinery and
the concentration of labor power;

Whereas, On account of long hours,
the working season is shortened, a
surplus of clothing is produced, and
thousands of our union members are
cast out of the shops; be it therefore

Resolved, That the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America, Local 54
of Brooklyn, demand that the decision
of the Boston Convention which calls
for a forty-hour week be instituted by
beginning the work for this purpose.

Committee recommended reference
to General Executive Board. Recom-
mendation adopted.

CHILDREN'S CLOTHING
SITUATION

Delegate GOLD: Your Committee on
Report of Officers after going over the
situation in the children's clothing
trade of New York City makes the
following report:

Resolved, That this convention ex-
press its whole-hearted approval and
appreciation of the determined stand
taken by the General Executive Board
in the matter of the recent children's
clothing workers' situation in New
York for the protection of the inter-
ests of the organization. It is, how-
ever, the unanimous opinion of the
committee that such matters of grave
importance to the organization as those
involved in the children's clothing
situation should not be left to per-
sons outside of our organization for
determination. We realize that the gen-
eral officers were prompted in their
action entirely by the best interests
and welfare of the organization; it is,

however, our conviction that all af-
fairs of the Amalgamated should be
dealt with by the Amalgamated alone.
We recommend to the convention ac-
cordingly.

Recommendation adopted.

COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS

Delegate KROLL reported for the
Committee on Resolutions.

Freedom for Political and Working
Class Prisoners

RESOLUTION No. 29

Whereas, A large number of work-
ers are confined in federal and state
prisons for no other crime than that
of loyalty to their class and expres-
sions of unpopular ideas; and

Whereas, A few, including Eugene V.
Debs, imprisoned for the same offense
as the others, have been pardoned; and

Whereas, Men like Jim Larkin, Tom
Mooney, Warren K. Billings, Sacco and
Vanzetti, and a large number of other
political and industrial prisoners still
languish in federal and state prisons;
therefore be it

Resolved, By the Fifth Biennial
Convention of the Amalgamated Cloth-
ing Workers of America, that we de-
mand full and complete amnesty for
all those prisoners; be it also

Resolved, That the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America co-oper-
ate with the rest of the labor move-
ment for that purpose; and be it fur-
ther

Resolved, That copies of this resolu-
tion be forwarded to the president of
the United States and to the governors
of all states where political and work-
ing class prisoners are now confined.

Brother SCHLOSSBERG: This reso-
lution takes the place of Resolutions
Nos. 4, 19, 48, 58, 134 and 177, pre-
sented to the convention on the same
subject.

Committee's recommendation for con-
currence adopted.

410

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

Message to Russia

Brother KROLL: The Committee on
Resolutions suggests that the follow-
ing cablegram be sent to the president
of the Russian Red Cross:
"To Soloviev, President, Russian Red
Cross, Moscow:

"The Fifth Biennial Convention of
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America received with great joy and
enthusiasm your message of fraternal
greetings. The convention was thrilled
by your statement that our contribu-
tion to the relief of the famine suf-
ferers has saved 36,000 lives. This
convention voted to organize a large
corporation for the purpose of helping
Russia on a large scale to reconstruct
her economic life.

"We thank you heartily for your
inspiring message. "

The delegates unanimously voted to
send the message.

Affiliation with Other Labor
Organizations

The committee had referred to it
resolutions Nos. 34 and 54 relating
to this subject. This subject was
reported on by the Committee on Re-
ports of Officers, which report has
been concurred in by the convention.
The committee therefore recom-
mended said resolutions be placed on
file.

The recommendation of the com-
mittee was adopted.

COMMITTEE ON MISCELLANEOUS
MATTERS

Delegate WOLFE reported for the
Committee on Miscellaneous Matters.
Abolition of Impartial Machinery

RESOLUTION No. 71
Whereas, Believing that as long as
there are a ruling class and a ruled
class, an economic organization must
unceasingly struggle to maintain and
wrest from the ruling class more and
more of its power every day; and

Whereas, The impartial machinery as
instituted by our organization places
all the power in the hands of the im-
partial chairman; therefore be it.

Resolved, That the Fifth Biennial
Convention instruct the General Execu-
tive Board that no future agreements*
be entered into between the Amalga-
mated Clothing Workers of America
and the employers with a clause pro-
viding for impartial machinery; and
be it further

Resolved, That the organization place
itself in a position whereby it can
perform its functions as sole guardian
of the interests of the workers in our
industry*.

RESOLUTION No. 12

Resolved, That the impartial ma-
chinery be abolished on questions of
wages, hours of labor, and discharge
of workers; and be it

Resolved, That such questions be set-
tled by both parties through negotia-
tion or stoppage of industry.

The committee recommended non-
concurrence.

Delegate SUGARMAN, Rochester,
stated that he was in favor of abolish-
ing the impartial machinery policy.

Delegate Licastro, Rochester, pointed
out some of the injustices of the im-
partial machinery.

Delegate WEINSTEIN, New York,
stated that he wanted to go on record
as favoring the impartial machinery,
and that it was the duty of the con-
vention to non-concur.

Delegate DI B>LASI also was in fa-
vor of continuing the impartial ma-
chinery.

President HILLMAN: The previous
question has been called for. All in
favor that the question shall be put,
say aye. Opposed, no. The ayes
have it.

It is very unfortunate that delegates
to the convention, at least a number
of them, still consider the convention

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

411

a place to come to and announce cer-
tain theories that they themselves will
not fight for in life.

It is a very, very peculiar situation
that this convention is asked to legis-
late to abolish the impartial machinery,
after we have made agreements in
Chicago and in Rochester for three
years. Regarding the situation in New
York, we have not abolished it. Nat-
urally, the convention can pass any
resolution, but I believe we might bet-
ter try to do away with all the foolish
notions that are so much in the way
of real constructive work in the or-
ganization. The idea that the impar-
tial machinery destroys the spirit of
the membership is ridiculous. I be-
lieve that during the convention the
contrary has been shown. I do not be-
lieve that any of the delegates will
question that there is the proper or-
ganization spirit in this city. The posi-
tion of the organization is, and I hope
will be for years to come, that it will
determine by negotiation what prob-
lems it will submit to the arbitration
machinery, but it will hold on to the
impartial machinery for the adjust-
ment of matters that come up in the
period between negotiations. I believe
that our organization has paid too
great a penalty for the lack of indi-

vidual judgment in adjustment of
complaints.

We know that we have made some
mistakes in the past, but the new
agreements have limited the power of
the impartial machinery. I still be-
lieve in this machinery, after being
personally largely responsible for its
introduction, not as a fetish, not as a
cure-all, but as a sensible way to avoid
friction on matters where there should
be no room for friction. Therefore I
hope that the convention will support
the report of the committee and non-
concur in the resolution.

(Division was called for. The
recommendation for non-concurrence
was carried by a vote of 128 to 45.)

COMMITTEE ON LABELS

President HILLMAN appointed the
following Committee on Labels :

Joseph Hadac, Local 6, Chicago,
chairman ; Alex Cohen, Local 1, Boston,
secretary; Theodore Pilger, Local 101,
Xew York, J. Miller, Local 38, Chicago,
Henry Ortibin, Local 188, Cincinnati,
H. Pittler, Local 86, Pittsburgh, Mabel
Ashcraft, Local 275, Chicago, J. Katz,
Local 141, Philadelphia, B. Goldscholl,
Local 50, New York.

The convention thereupon adjourned
until 9 :30 the following morning.

NINTH SESSION
Saturday, May 13, 1922

9:30 A. M.

President Hillman called the conven-
tion to order at 9 :30 A. M., Saturday,
May 13, 1922.

Assistant Secretary Potofsky read
messages of greeting from the follow-
ing organizations:

Local 3, A. C. W. of A., .New York
City, N. Y. Joseph Horowitz, Secre-
tary-Treasurer.

Employes of Waldman-Kelles Pants
Shop, New York City, N. Y.

"Chicago, 111.

"Heartiest congratulations to your
Fifth Biennial Convention, assembled
in this city. You are leading the labor
movement to the golden era of human
happiness.

"EXECUTIVE BOARD, 478 W. C."

"Greetings: May your strenuous
efforts and good work towards the

412

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

emancipation of the working class bear
its fruit.

"CLOAK AND SUIT TAILORS'
UNION, Local 9, I. L. G. W. U."

"Please convey to officers and dele-
gates of your convention the heartiest
greetings and congratulations from the
International Fur Workers' Union.
May your deliberations result in still
greater accomplishments for your or-
ganization and be helpful to the rest
of our movement.

"MORRIS KAUFFMAN, President,
"ANDREW WENNEIS, Secretary-
Treasurer."

"The Bakery and Confectionery
Workers' International Union of Amer-
ica, Local 169, of the Bronx, express
their deepest solidarity with you and
send you best wishes and success.

"M. RUBENSTEIN, Secretary."

COMMITTEE ON LAW

Delegate McKAY, chairman, re-
ported for the committee:

Status of Members Leaving Trade

The new constitution submitted to
the convention yesterday provides that
when members leave the trade, and are
not in the employ of the organization
they do not retain active member-
ship in the organization. They can
hold their membership, but they can-
not participate in union meetings, or in
any election, local or otherwise. When-
ever they re-enter the trade they may
come back as active members. This con-
stitutional recommendation is offered
as a substitute for the following reso-
lutions relating to the subject which
the committee asks be placed on file:

Resolution No. 183, introduced by
Local 19, New York City; Resolu-
tions Nos. 40 and 171, introduced by
Local 22; Resolution No. 125, intro-
duced by delegates of Local 3; Reso-
lutions Nos. 127 and 167, introduced
by delegates of Local 5; Resolution
No. 161, introduced by delegates of

Local 8; Resolution No. 129, intro-
duced by delegate of Local 208.

The action of the committee was con-
curred in.

Shop Delegate Representation

The committee recommends the fol-
lowing resolutions be placed on file, as
the new constitution, to be submitted
for adoption to the membership, deals
with the subject:

Resolution No. 105, introduced by
Local 269; Resolution No. 11, intro-
duced by delegates from Locals 209,
157 and 167; Resolution No. 128, in-
troduced by Delegate Velona of Local
208; Resolution No. 65, introduced
by delegates of Local 270; Resolu-
tion No. 164, introduced by Delegate
Koslovsky of Philadelphia; Resolu-
tion No. 137, introduced by delegates
of Local 138; Resolution No. 89, in-
troduced by delegates of Local 102.

The recommendation of the com-
mittee was concurred in.

Per Capita Tax

Resolution No. 63, introduced by
delegates of Montreal; Resolution
No. 175, introduced by Locals 230
and 100, were ordered placed on
file, as the new constitution approved
at the session of May 12 contained a
provision dealing with the subject.

Selection of Editor for Lithuanian
Official Paper

The committee recommended non-
concurrence in Resolution No. 153
and the committee's recommendation
was adopted.

Reports of General Executive Board
to Locals

RESOLUTION No. Ill
Whereas, The meetings of the Gen-
eral Executive Board have not been
held regularly as provided for by
article 5, 'paragraph 2, of the consti-
tution ; and

Whereas, The local unions are not
informed through written reports of

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

413

the sessions of the General Executive
Board that are to be held every three
months; therefore be it

Resolved, That the Fifth Biennial
Convention directs that meetings of
the above mentioned body be held regu-
larly and that written reports of each
session be issued to all local unions of
the A. C. W. of A.

Committee recommended reference to
incoming G. E. B. Recommendation
adopted.

COMMITTEE ON APPEALS AND
GRIEVANCES

Delegate MAX MICHAELSON, chair-
man, reported for the committee:

Appeal of Philip Shieber

The Committee on Appeals went into
the case of Brother Phillip Shieber,
formerly of Local 39, Chicago, who ap-
peals against the decision of the Gen-
eral Executive Board, which sustained
the action of the Appeal Board of the
Chicago Joint Board, that he shall
stand expelled from the organization.

The committee, after examining at
length the evidence and the testimony
presented in this case by Phillip
Shieber, and the various witnesses
called before the committee, unani-
mously agreed to sustain the decision
of the General Executive Board.

The committee is of the opinion that
Phillip Shieber shall continue to work
at the trade, if he so desires, without
interference on the part of our organ-
ization.

Delegate SCHXEID spoke on behalf
of Brother Shieber, and was replied to
by General Executive Board member
ROSENBLUM.

The report of the committee was con-
curred in.

Appeal of Max Tigerman

The Committee on Appeals and
Grievances heard the case of Brother
Max Tigerman of Local 271, Chicago,
who appealed against the decision of
the General Executive Board, which

sustains the action taken by the Ap-
peal Board of the Chicago Joint Board,
assessing him $25 and also barring him
from attendance at local meetings for
a period of six mouths on account of
not paying an assessment levied by this
local, and for slandering the organiza-
tion and its officers.

The committee listened to the testi-
mony of Brother Max Tigerman, and
also the explanation of Brothers Taylor
and McKay, and it unanimously de-
cided that the action taken was neces-
sary in order to preserve discipline in
the organization, and therefore con-
firmed the decision of the General Ex-
ecutive Board.

The committee recommendation was
adopted.

Sol. Cutler vs. Shirt Makers' Joint
Board, New York

In the case of the Shirt Makers'
Joint Board, New York, which refused
to abide by the decision of the Gen-
eral Executive Board to issue ex-Man-
ager Sol. Cutler a withdrawal card on
his application for such, the committee
heard the delegates of the Shirt Mak-
ers' Joint Board, and after examining
at length all records connected with
the case, the committee finds that Sol.
Cutler was entitled to a withdrawal
card in accordance with our constitu-
tion. We therefore recommend that
the General Executive Board be sus-
tained.

President HILL-MAN : Is there any
one to speak for the Shirt Makers'
Joint Board on this proposition?

Delegate STERN, Local 248, ex-
plained the reasons of the Shirt Mak-
ers' Joint Board in refusing to abide
by the action of the General Execu-
tive Board.

Secretary-Treasurer Schlossberg ex-
plained tjie position of the General
Executive Board.

The recommendation of the commit-
tee that the General Executive Board
be sustained was concurred in.

414

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

Appeal of Local 169 re Its
Jurisdiction

This is an appeal from the decision of
General Secretary Brother Schlossberg,
who acted as arbitrator in the juris-
dictional dispute between Locals 169
and 19. Your committee, after exam-
ining thoroughly the records and the
testimony in the case, unanimously
recommends that the decision of the
General Secretary, Brother Schloss-
berg, in the above case be sustained,
and that Local 169 be ordered by this
convention to abide by the decision.

President HILLMAN: Local 169
not being represented, we shall read a
letter from them. (Letter read.)

General Secretary Schlossberg stated
the reasons for his decision.

The recommendations of the com-
mittee were adopted.

Appeal of Brother Zorn, Local No. 1,
Boston

The Committee on Appeals and
Grievances heard Brother Zorn of
Local No. 1, Boston, who appealed
against the decision of the General
Executive Board that he shall not be
permitted to hold any office in the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America for a period of five years, as
provided by the constitution. After
listening to the lengthy explanation
and defense of Brother Zorn and his
witnesses, the committee unanimously
decided to confirm the decision of the
General Executive Board.

President HILLMAN: The commit-
tee's recommendation is that the posi-
tion of the General Executive Board
be sustained by the convention. I will
ask the delegates of Boston to ask the
convention for special permission to
hear Brother Zorn.

The Boston delegation asked permis-
sion of the convention to hear Brother
Zorn, which was granted.

President HILL M A N informed
Brother Zorn that the rules of the

convention were that fifteen minutes
would be allowed to each side to
state its position.

Brother ZORN made a lengthy de-
fense of himself lasting for half an
hour, during which he appealed to the
members not to sustain the action of
the General Executive Board.

President HILLMAN spoke for the
executive committee and stated the
position of the General Executive
Board.

The report of the committee was
adopted.

President HILLMAN : We want the
Boston delegation to understand that
they are to accept the decision of this
convention in good faith.

Delegate MICHAELSON: I have
a communication from Brother Lud-
wig, who has been found guilty and
asks for clemency.

President HILLMAN: Refer it to
the incoming General Executive Board.
Is there any objection? No objection.
So ordered.

Delegate MIOHAELSON: I have
here an appeal from Nathan Klein,
appealing from the decision of the Gen-
eral Executive Board, but he does not
state what.

Ordered placed on file.

COMMITTEE ON REPORTS OF
OFFICERS

Delegate GOLD, chairman, reported :
We have received the following recom-
mendation of the General Executive
Board :

Purchase of Building for National
Office

Resolved, That this convention au-
thorizes the General Executive Board
to purchase or build a home for the
General Office as in its judgment it
may find appropriate.

Adopted.

COMMITTEE ON LABELS

Delegate HADAC, chairman, re-
ported : The Committee on Labels con-

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

415

sidered the following resolutions : Reso-
lution No. 96, introduced by Local
5, and Resolution No. 25, introduced
by Local 178.

The committee recommends the fol-
lowing substitute for the resolutions :

Distribution of Label
SUBSTITUTE RESOLUTION

We, the Committee on Labels, after
careful consideration given to the reso-
lutions No. 25 and No. 96, reached the
conclusion that the present method of
distributing the label of the A. C. W.
of A. is sufficient. We are convinced
that the organization will be more
benefited if the energies and funds of
the organization be applied to organiz-
ing the workers in the industry who
are still unorganized than to the pro-
motion of the union label.

Recommendation of committee con-
curred in.

COMMITTEE ON LAW

Delegate McKAY reported for the
committee.

Salary of General Officers
RESOLUTION No. 15

(Resolutions Nos. 101, 30, 180, 151,
154, 139, same subject.)

Resolved, That the compensation of
the General President and General
Secretary-Treasurer be reduced to
$5,000 per year.

The committee recommended non-
concurrence in this resolution.

Delegate McKAY: I wish to an-
nounce, delegates, that this is one of
seven resolutions on the same subject.
: I read this resolution of $5,000 a
! year for the reason that the commit-
tee considers it as representative of
all introduced on the subject. If
there is a demand from the body I
will read every resolution.

At this point, General Executive
Board Member Marimpietri took the
chair.

The recommendation of the com-
mittee was adopted.

COMMITTEE ON MISCELLANEOUS
MATTERS

Delegate WOLFE, chairman, re-
ported for the committee.

Editorship of Lithuanian Official
Paper

RESOLUTION No. 108
Resolution was to the effect that
the Lithuanian locals be permitted
to recommend an editor for "Dar-
bas."

Committee's recommendation of non-
concurrence adopted.

Fixing Anniversary of Day Organiza-
tion Was Formed as Holiday

RESOLUTION No. 133

The committee recommendation of
non-concurrence was adopted.

CHICAGO SHOP CHAIRMEN

The officers and deputies of the Chi-
cago Joint Board, the office employes
of the Joint Board and the Chi-
cago shop chairmen and chairladies
marched into the hall accompanied by
the Amalgamated Band, and presented
the convention a floral piece. (Tre-
mendous applause, everybody rising.)

President HILLMAN : We have the
pleasure of having with us at the con-
vention the captains of 'the Chicago
army of the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of the World.

I will call upon General Executive
Board member, and the manager of
the Chicago Joint Board, Brother
Levin, to introduce to you the chair-
men and chairladies of the Chicago
organization who are here. (Ap-
plause. )

Brother LEVIN: (Loud applause.)
Brother President, delegates, officers of
the Chicago organization, and sisters
and brothers : Last Monday, when the
convention opened, the shop chairmen
and executives of Chicago bade you
welcome to our city. You have been here
a week. You have seen demonstration
after demonstration of workers, not

416

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

organized with a purpose, but only
with the intention of celebrating the
convention while in our city and show-
ing the delegates from other cities that
the Chicago organization is composed
of members who know the labor move-
ment and who assume the responsibili-
ties, and appreciate the importance of
the convention legislating for the
future of our organization. (Tre-
mendous applause.)

This morning we have with us the
Joint Board, the executives of all local
unions, the shop chairmen and chair-
ladies, the captains who are carrying
out the legislation adopted at conven-
tions and at the joint boards. I am
proud to say on behalf of these officers
who are with you this afternoon, that
we have here in the city an army of
executives and officers and shop chair-
men who will carry out the legislation
which has resulted from your delibera-
tions 100 per cent. (Applause.)

These are the people who have
served the labor movement, and who
not only made sacrifices for our own
industry, but who stretched out their
hands to help the steel strikers. When
the General Executive Board, at its
historical meeting, called during the
lockout in New York, asked for help,
the Chicago delegation pledged one-
half a million dollars, and it was these
captains that caused the Chicago con-
tribution to go over the top. (Ap-
plause.) It is these captains who re-
sponded in full measure in the organ-
ization's work for the relief in Russia.

Last winter, with our agreements
expiring, these officers and captains,
realizing the responsibilities to the
workers whom they represented, made
possible the collection of a reserve
fund big enough so that if we were
challenged, we would be able to take
up the challenge. (Applause.)

We have an organization in Chicago
that is united on an industrial basis,
and we have an organization such
that, when once something is taken up

and decided upon, it means that the
entire industry in the city of Chicago
is united in carrying it out. We hoped
at the opening of the convention that
the convention would be imbued with
the spirit of the Chicago organization,
and it is our good fortune on the last
day to come and say that our hopes
have come true. Today, the last day
of the convention, we are here to bid
you farewellr and we hope that you
shall take our spirit to your cities, and
with the united spirit we shall make a
stronger Amalgamated Clothing Work-
ers of America. (Loud applause.)

For the last year and a half in Chi-
cago we have been deliberating about
opening the first labor bank in this
city. We wanted to make sure that
the Amalgamated would set the pace
in this matter, as in many other labor
activities in Chicago. We thought the
matter over carefully before we de-
cided on action. In Chicago, we are
sure that once the organization de-
cides something, it is going to be here,
and it is here already. (Applause.)

This very same army, these very
same captains are the ones who co-
operate with the organization on every
subject and every project, and it is
these very same people who are
pledged to make a success of the
Amalgamated Trust and Savings Bank,
as with everything else we have under-
taken in Chicago. (Applause.)

We hope that Chicago will get the
proper co-operation, the same co-opera-
tion that Chicago is willing to give, not
only to our .own brothers and sisters,
but to the entire labor movement as
well. Here in Chicago we are prac-
tically the only organization that is
imbued with the real international
spirit.

You delegates, no doubt, have been
able to size up the people who marched
into this hall all week— people from nil
walks of life, with different beliefs and
different religions, with different ideas,
but they have all learned one thing,

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

417

and that Is the Amalgamated above
everything else. (Applause.)

My friends, this convention, with
the proceedings and with the legisla-
tion adopted to be carried out during
the next two years, will require our
united energy and united efforts to
bring them to a successful conclusion.
We shall do our best and we shall be
ready for even further opportunities.
(Tremendous applause.)

President HILLMAN: The chair
will now introduce to you the financial
secretary of the Chicago organization,
to greet the convention on behalf of
the office staff of the Chicago Joint
Board, Brother Burr. (Applause.)

Brother BURR: Mr. President and
delegates: I should like to address
the convention at this time, but I have
been talking so much all week that my
voice is gone. I want to extend to you
the greetings of the office force. I
want you to understand that here in
Chicago not only the membership
works for the organization, but every-
one who is connected with the Chi-
cago Joint Board works for the wel-
fare of the organization. Those girls
up there in the gallery work just as
conscientiously as any officer or any
one connected with the organization.
During the winter we have a series of
educational concerts and meetings, and
when these girls have done their day's
work and are asked to usher at these
meetings at night, they always respond
and never fail.

On behalf of the Band of the Amal-
gamated Clothing Workers I also ex-
tend greetings. We have fifteen of
them here with us today. (Applause.)

COMMITTEE ON BANKING AND
CO-OPERATION

Delegate TAYLOR, chairman, re-
ported for the committee.

Establishment of Banks

Whereas, The Chicago Joint Board
has organized a State Bank in the

City of Chicago, capitalized at $200,000
with a reserve of $100,000 owned and
controlled by the members of the Amal-
gamated Clothing Workers; and

Whereas, The Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America is dedicated to
the proposition of promoting activities
in the interests of the labor movement,
and extending the influence and effec-
tiveness of organized labor in various
directions; therefore be it

Resolved, That this convention ex-
tend its heartiest congratulations to the
Chicago membership upon its splendid
foresight and courage in organizing a
bank, to be owned by Amalgamated
members; and be it further

Resolved, That our local organiza-
tions and the entire membership be
called upon to do all in their power to
assure the success of the Amalgamated
Bank in Chicago ; and be it further

Resolved, That the General Execu-
tive Board be instructed to lend all
possible aid to promote the organiza-
tion of similar banking and co-opera-
tive enterprises by other local bodies
of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers
of America.

Adopted unanimously.

COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS

Delegate STONE reported for the
committee :

Thanks to Arrangement Committee

RESOLUTION No. 92
Whereas, The Arrangement Commit-
tee of Chicago has done wonderful
work for the out of town delegations
and has shown great taste and judg-
ment in making things as pleasant as
possible ;

Resolved, That the Fifth Biennial
Convention unanimously extend the
heartiest thanks for the hard work put
in to make this convention the greatest
the Amalgamated has ever had.

President HILLMAN: Motion is
made for a rising vote.

418

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

(Whereupon the convention unani-
mously arose and greeted the resolu-
tion with cheers.)

(A photograph of the convention was
then taken.)

COMMITTEE ON FINANCE

Delegate PEARLMAN, chairman, re-
ported for committee:

Requests for Financial Assistance1

There is an appeal from the New
York "Call." The committee recom-
mends favorable action and refers it
to the General Executive Board for
action.

Recommendation adopted.

Appeal made for financial assistance
by the Federated Press. The commit-
tee recommended favorable action and
referred request to the incoming Gen-
eral Executive Board.

Adopted.

Appeal made by Secretary Nockels
for financial assistance for the Mooney
case. Committee recommended refer-
ence to the General Executive Board.

Recommendation concurred in.

Young People's Socialist League. The
committee recommended a contribution
of $100.

Report of committee adopted.

Jewish Socialist Institute of North-
west Side, Chicago. The committee
recommended a donation of $100.

Adopted.

Request for financial assistance for
the Modern School Association at
Stelton, New Jersey. The committee
recommended donation of $150.

Carried.

Communication from Naturalization
Aid League for financial assistance.
Recommended favorably to the Gen-
eral Executive Board.

Recommendation concurred in.

Appeal made by the Jewish Book
Fund for Russia. The committee re-
ferred this appeal favorably to the
General Executive Board.

Recommendation concurred in.

Communication from "Labor Age"
for financial assistance. The com-
mittee recommended a donation of
$100.

Carried.

Financial assistance to the Rand
School of Social Science (Resolu-
tion No. 156). The committee rec-
ommended this to the General Ex-
ecutive Board for consideration and
recommendation.

Report of committee concurred in.

Appeal for financial assistance to the
Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid
Society (Resolution No. 114). The
committee recommended that the
matter be referred to the General Ex-
ecutive Board for favorable action.

Report of committee concurred in.

Communication from the Amalga-
mated Textile Workers of America,
also Resolutions Nos. 88 and 38, re-
questing assistance to the striking
textile workers. The committee rec-
ommended favorably on this matter
to the General Executive Board.

Report of committee concurred in.

Resolution No. 179, introduced by
Delegate Horowitz of Local 158, to give
financial assistance to the Consumptive
Relief Association of California. The
committee recommended favorably
this matter to the General Executive
Board.

Report of committee concurred in.

Communication from the Ex-Patients'
Tubercular Home, Denver, Colorado,
tasking financial assistance. The rec-
ommendation of the committee was
that $100 be given.

Carried.

Communication from Sacco-Vanzetti
Defense Committee; subject, financial
assistance. The committee recom-
mended that a donation of $1,000 be
given.

Recommendation adopted.

Resolution No. 166, asking that
financial assistance be given the
"Avanti" Publishing Company, was
recommended by the committee to be

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

419

referred to the General Executive
Board for consideration.

Recommendation of the commit-
tee was adopted.

Resolution No. 135, asking that finan-
cial assistance be given to the Workers'
Defense Union and the General De-
fense Committee of Chicago. The com-
mittee recommended favorably on
these requests to the General Execu-
tive Board.

Report of committee adopted.

Communication from the United
Hebrew Trades of Chicago. The com-
mittee recommended $300.

Report of committee adopted.

Communication from the "Mes-
senger" magazine. This is a maga-
zine of the colored workers. The rec-
ommendation was that $100 be
donated toward this magazine.

Delegate BECKERMAX amended the
recommendation of the committee, and
said that a donation of $250 should
be given.

Delegate La SCALA pointed out the
important work that this magazine was
doing for the colored workers, and
asked that a donation of $500 be
given.

Delegate PEARLMAX : The commit-
tee will accept the recommendation
that $250 be given.

President HILLMAX: The commit-
tee recommends $250. Any objec-
tion to this recommendation?

The recommendation of the commit-
tee was adopted.

Appeal by Walter B. Fogarty, United
Shoe Workers of America, and Reso-
i lution No. 107. The committee rec-
ommended that the appeal be re-
ferred to the Rochester Joint Board,
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America.

Recommendation of committee con-
curred in.

COMMITTEE ON MISCELLANEOUS
MATTERS

Delegate WOLFE, chairman, re-
ported for the committee:

Payment for Legal Holidays

RESOLUTION No. 124
Resolved, That the convention go on
record favoring presentation of a de-
mand to the manufacturers that the
workers be paid for legal holidays.

Committee recommendation to refer
to General Executive Board concurred
in.

Preference of Employment

RESOLUTION No. 121
Resolution urged that preference
in employment be given to those
directly dependent on the trade.

Committee recommendation of non-
concurrence adopted.

Jurisdiction of Operators' and
Pressers' Locals

RESOLUTION Xo. S3
Whereas, The General Executive
Board of the A. C. W. of A. estab-
lished a Pressers' Local in Greater
New York, and since the organization
of the A. C. W. of A. has held to a
policy of not permitting operators'
locals to accept pressers as members;
and

Whereas, The General Executive
Board of the A. C. W. of A. has re-
cently chartered a new Russian local
known as Local 103, and the said new
local, ever since it was chartered, has
been taking and actually forcing mem-
bers of Local 30 to leave that local and
join Local 103 contrary to the under-
standing that was made by Gen-
eral Executive Board Member Hyman
Bluniberg at the time he organized the
Children's Clothing Workers' Joint
Board; therefore be it

Resolved, That the General Execu-
tive Board of the Amalgamated Cloth-
ing Workers of America be and hereby
is requested to instruct Local 103

420

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

to abide by the understanding that was
made by a general officer of our organ-
ization and accepted by all of the locals
in the children's clothing trade.

Committee recommendation of refer-
ence to General- Executive Board
adopted.

Competition Between Cities in Matter

of Wages, Etc.
RESOLUTION No. 74
Whereas, Various standards of wages
and working systems in the different
organized cities are very detrimental
to the solidity of our organization in
its daily efforts ; therefore be it

Resolved, That this Fifth Biennial
Convention of the Amalgamated Cloth-
ing Workers of America, in Chicago as-
sembled, instruct the incoming General
Executive Board in all its new agree-
ments that one city will not be in
competition with another.

Resolutions Nos. 57 and 81 deal with
the same subject matter.

Committee recommended that Reso-
lutions Nos. 74, 57, 81 be referred to
General Executive Board. Report of
the committee adopted.

The session was then adjourned to
meet at 2:30 o'clock p. m.

TENTH SESSION
Saturday, May 13, 1922

2:00 P. M.

President Hillman presiding.
Delegate McKAY, chairman of
Committee on Law, reported:

Eligibility of Paid Officials As Mem-
bers of General Executive Board

RESOLUTION No. 162

(Also Resolutions Nos. 172, 173,
same subject.)

The committee's recommendation
of non-concurrence was adopted.

Delegate McKAY moved that Res-
olution No. 104, relating to repre-
sentation in conventions, and Resolu-
tion No. 126 on term of office, be
placed on file, as these subjects were
dealt with in new constitution.

Motion carried.

Delegate GOLDMAN of Local 15,
Baltimore: Is a motion in order?

The CHAIRMAN: Not unless you
get the unanimous consent of the
convention. Is there any objection
to granting Delegate Goldman the
floor at this time? No objection.

Delegate GOLDMAN: Mr. Chair-
man and delegates, in view of the

fact that almost three days of the
period allowed for the convention
were taken up by preliminary work,
the Baltimore delegation and I feel
that the period of the conventions
should be extended from the time
allowed now to a ten-day period.

President HILLMAN: It has been
suggested that the time of the con-
vention be extended from one week
to ten days.

Delegate GOLD, New York: I
second the suggestion if all conven-
tions are to be held at Chicago.
(Laughter.)

President HILLMAN: The way.
to do that is to legislate it and make
it compulsory. Is there any discus-
sion on the suggestion made by the
delegate from Local 15?

Delegate: RIGER, New York, spoke
against the suggestion, as it would
only serve to increase expenses.

President HILLMAN: Are there
any further remarks? Are you
ready for the question?

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

421

Delegate KATZ, New York, spoke
against the suggestion and suggested
that in the future the General Ex-
ecutive Board should arrange so that
the delegates have more time to
speak.

Delegate GENIS, St. Paul, op-
posed the motion and said that past
experience had proven that the Gen-
eral Executive Board could safely be
entrusted with the work of the or-
ganization, and it was therefore un-
necessary to extend the time of the
convention and greatly increase ex-
penses.

President HILLMAN: There is
nothing before the convention. The
delegates may initiate a referendum
vote or they may have the General
Executive Board initiate a referen-
dum vote. It is well for the dele-
gates to understand that, hard as the
officials of the convention may try,
the first few days are naturally taken
up with preparatory work. We can-
not bring any business before the
convention until the delegates are
seated, committees appointed, reso-
lutions referred to them and they
begin making reports on the resolu-
tions. Because there are too many
resolutions introduced it is impos-
sible for the delegates to give as
much time to some of the resolutions
as may be deemed necessary. It is
well, however, for the delegates to
give careful consideration to this
matter. If they so desire, they may
ask the General Executive Board to
initiate a referendum vote, or five
local unions from different states
may initiate such referendum.

Brother Miller of New York, asked
permission to present some matter
on behalf of the Boston delegation.

Permission granted.

ABRAHAM MILLER: Mr. Chair-
man, delegates and friends. I wish
to express the thanks of the Boston
delegation and also my personal

thanks to the Chicago organization
for the splendid assistance that the
organization here has rendered to
the city of Boston during the his-
toric lockout. About a year ago to-
day we were in the throes of one
of the blackest conspiracies that was
hatched in New York and Boston by
the manufacturers in order to break
up our organization. I had the
honor to take care of the Boston
situation during the lockout, and I
wish at this moment to express the
thanks to the Boston delegation for
the wonderful co-operation and sac-
rifice that was given in that strike to
us by the Chicago organization. (Ap-
plause.) I wish to read to you a
resolution signed by all the dele-
gates of the city of Boston. A copy
of this resolution will be engraved
and presented to the Chicago Joint
Board. This is the resolution (read-
ing):

Whereas, In the crisis our organ-
ization met with in the winter of
1920-21, the Boston clothing manu-
facturers attempted to smash our
union by rushing to the aid of the
New York employers in the crusade
of the latter against the Amalga-
mated for the establishment of the
so-called open shop;

Whereas, The Chicago members
were most generous in the aid given
our locked-out members, so that the
A. C. W. of A. might win the strug-
gle; be it

Resolved, That the Boston dele-
gation to this Fifth Biennial Con-
vention of the A. C. W. of A. express
their gratitude for the splendid hos-
pitality of the Chicago Joint Board
and take this opportunity to express
the sincere gratitude of the Boston
Amalgamated Clothing Workers to
the Chicago Amalgamated Clothing
Workers and our admiration of the
brotherly manner in which the great

422

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

help was given to us in the hour of

our great need.

A. J. Bowden J. Leikis

F. Carroll D. Genovese

S. Rosnitsky S. Trachtenberg

F. Lerman M. Kaufman

M. Willinsky A. Ramuglio

Wm. Ginsburg A. Landfield

A. Cohen N. Biller

H. Wiseberg A. Raiser

S. Di Pasquale H. Levin

F. Falcone B. Skerstons

A. Martini L. Hollander

M. Masselli S. Albert

S. Pukiaricia Joseph Salerno

Mr. MILLER: Mr. Chairman and
delegates, I need not say any more
except this: Had it not been for
the splendid help of the Chicago or-
ganization and of the organisations
in all other cities, our organization
in Boston would have suffered very
much. With that help we have won
out. Let everybody know that we
shall never forget the wonderful as-
sistance and real brotherly love and
solidarity of our fellow workers.
(Applause.)

President HILLMAN: It is very
regrettable that the convention is
now coming to a close and we have
not the opportunity to receive as
good and elaborate a report as we
would otherwise wish on the in-
vestigation that Brother Schlossberg
made when he was abroad and when
he came in contact with the labor
movement in different countries.
Brother Schlossberg had the oppor-
tunity especially to investigate condi-
tions of the labor movement in Italy.
I say, it is really regrettable that we
will not be able to receive a full re-
port. I take this opportunity, before
the close of the convention, to call
upon Brother Schlossberg to give the
convention a brief report of his ex-
periences with the labor movement
abroad. (Prolonged applause.)

Mr. SCHLOSSBERG: Mr. Chair-
man and delegates: I am afraid that

if you keep up the ovations at this
rate, the coming conventions will
have to last ten weeks instead of
ten days, as suggested this after-
noon. (Applause and laughter.)

Delegates and friends: I want to
submit to you now, very briefly, a
message of internationalism. If the
convention had more time I would
take more time. Now, I shall touch
but briefly upon a few of the leading
points. My observations abroad
have been published in a series of
articles in our press, whenever I had
time to write them. Some more will
be published later, those parts of
my observations which have not yet
become obsolete.

The General Executive Board, In
accordance with instructions re-
ceived by the Boston convention,
honored me with the election as
delegate to the International Cloth-
ing Workers' Congress at Copen-
hagen, August, 1920. That was my
first opportunity to see the labor
movement in Europe. For that mat-
ter, it was my first opportunity to
see Europe. I was born in Europe
and lived there a few years; but it
was not really in Europe; it was in
the pale of settlement in Russia. In
all the years I have been here, I
have been dreaming of the interna-
tional labor movement and the broth-
erhood of the workers of the world.
I read as much as a worker here
can read of the labor movement in
the various countries. I listened to
some people who came here from Eu-
ropean countries and learned what-
ever little one could learn in that
manner. I had never had an oppor-
tunity to see those movements my-
self, with my own eyes, get my im-
pressions first hand and bring them
back to you. I was, therefore, grate-
ful for the opportunity to go to the
other side and come in personal
touch with the European labor move-

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

423

ment. There I met with very pleas-
ant surprises, and also with painful
disappointments. My first disap-
pointment in connection with the
trip was right here, when the British
representatives in this country re-
fused to honor the passport given to
me by the government of the United
States, recommending me, through
that passport, to admission to Eng-
land, and I had to cancel my ticket
and go to Europe by another way.

I attended the conference of the
clothing workers at Copenhagen.
That was the first gathering of an in-
ternational character in this industry
since the war. The one before that
was held in Vienna in 1913, the year
before the war. The next congress
was to be held in 1916, but the war
made it impossible. It was quite
thrilling to me to meet the represen-
tatives of the different countries so
soon after the war. The internation-
alism that one of us finds in Europe
is at least in one respect different
from the internationalism which we
have here. We have in our conven-
tion here an international family,
representatives from all the differ-
ent nationalities, but they are all
workers living in this country with
whom we meet every day in the year.
A.t the Copenhagen congress I came
in contact with representatives from
various countries, who had come
from their several countries and
later went back from the congress to
their respective countries. That in-
ternationalism is, therefore, in a
sense a more real one. It was very
pleasant to meet with the represen-
tatives of the different countries and
legislate with them for the clothing
industry in all of those European
countries. This Clothing Workers'
Federation is of great value to the
European workers. It was my im-
pression that the relationship among
the clothing workers in the several

countries in Europe is somewhat
similar to the relationship among
the several clothing markets in
America. So are the geographical
distances. Thus, the international
organization is perhaps as necessary
for the European workers as our
own organization is here for the
workers in the different cities, to
co-ordinate and supervise the work
of our organization in the different
parts of the country.

The congress at Copenhagen
adopted resolutions in favor of In-
dustrial unionism in the full sense
of that term. Industrial unionism
is much more general and more
firmly established in the European
labor movements than in this coun-
try. The congress also adopted
resolutions in various other respects
to strengthen and make more ef-
fective the organization work in the
clothing industry. In Europe, the
clothing industry is very backward,
as compared with the clothing in-
dustry here. There are few factories
of the kind we have here. The de-
velopment of machinery has not
reached the stage that it has here,
and there is still very much home
work. In some cases the bulk of
the membership consists of home
workers. They come into a store,
something as journeymen tailors do
here, take a few garments home and
make them there. These workers
are often compelled to have their
wives and children help them in
their work at their homes, because
the earnings of the father are not
enough to feed his family, without
the aid of the other members of the
.family. The International Congress
passed resolutions demanding the
abolition of home work. Home work
in Europe is not like the home work
we had known here in the past.
Here only some minor operations
were done at home; in Europe the

424

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

whole garment is made at home. It
was quite a revelation for the Euro-
pean workers to learn that we here
have large factories, that home work
has practically been completely
eliminated, that we have the forty-
four hour week and that we speak
of such large memberships and such
large sums of money. It was very
interesting to see the representatives
from the different countries, which
had been at each other's throats a
short time before, meeting in con-
ference to legislate for their common
interests. The hatred and animosity
and human bitterness engendered by
the war, which had poisoned the
human minds everywhere, were still
there. They had not been eliminated
by the various peace treaties but a
conscientious effort was made on
the part of everybody to overcome
those obstacles. Human prejudices
and international hatred engendered
and developed in the course of cen-
turies asserted themselves when the
war broke out and it was no easy
task for the teachings of interna-
tional labor solidarity, teachings
which make their appeal to the mind
and to reason, to subdue those deep-
rooted, centuries old, mutual hatreds,
which were so deep in the blood of
those people. The hopeful sign was
that a real effort was made on the
part of everybody to work in the
spirit of human brotherhood.

There were a number of things
done by the congress that were en-
couraging, and held out hope for
the future; there were other things
that were not encouraging. Among
the latter was the hostile attitude
toward Russia. The Russian cloth-
ing workers were not invited to the
congress, and it was impossible to
get the congress to adopt a resolu-
tion in favor of Russia, who was at
that time blockaded by her enemies.

From Copenhagen I went to other

parts of Europe. I went up north,
and came to Reval, which had been
a part of Russia before the war, and
which has since become the capitol
of a so-called self-determining repub-
lic, Esthonia. You know, the peace
treaty at Versailles was very demo-
cratic. The makers of the treaty
left it to each country to determine
its own boundaries, and Esthonia
was allowed the principle of self-de-
termination. This principle actually
means that the country can do noth-
ing without the permission of the
allies. I saw "self-determination"
there. While I have been and still
am a very firm believer in self-
determination, I must say that if
self-determination is what I saw in
Esthonia, I think the less the world
has of it the better off it will be.
(Applause.)

In Reval I met with friends and
enemies of Russia. I was so close
to Russia that I was practically in
Russia. Russia has its official rep-
resentatives in Reval, and there were
many people coming from Russia and
going back there. Thei people I
most met with were against Russia,
as those who were for Russia were
exceedingly cautious with strangers.
I heard hair-raising stories about
Soviet Russia. One of the men who
talked to me was staying at the hotel
where I was stopping and was wait-
ing for the time that the allies would
overthrow the Russian government
and give him back his factory. He
is still waiting. (Laughter and ap-
plause.) That man told me of the
great work the had done in the
revolutionary movement under the
Czar. He was at that time a large
employer. The Soviet government
deprived him of the opportunity to
continue serving himself as an em-
ployer of labor, and he is highly
dissatisfied. I have heard many ter-
rible stories. I listened attentively

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

425

to all of them. I did not attempt to
discount any of them. It was those
stories, told me there by the enemies
of Russia, that convinced me of the
necessity of the workers of the world
coming to the defense of Russia. If
the history of Russia is ever written
by true historians, and they record
those stories as I heard them, they
will draw an indictment against the
civilized world for having forced
people who had unselfishly made
the greatest sacrifices for Russia's
freedom, to commit those alleged
acts of cruelty in the defense of
their country's right to live. Those
stories strengthened my conviction
of the necessity of standing by Rus-
sia in her trials and tribulations.

I had hoped to be in Russia and
see conditions for myself. Hav-
ing been unable to enter Russia I
went back. I was in Germany, in
France, in Italy, and in Austria. I
do not want to take up much time
to give you my observations in all
those countries. I shall tell you
what I saw in Italy. I came there
when the workers occupied the fac-
tories in order to forestall a lockout.
(Applause.)

I was in Paris and Lille studying
the labor movement in France. I was
fortunate to get in touch with com-
rades who facilitated my investiga-
tions and I was able to get a great
deal of information, which was pub-
lished in our papers. While there I
heard of what was going on in Italy.
I decided to go down to Italy and
see what had really happened. In
the train, on the other side of the
Franco-Italian frontier, an American
manufacturer was among my travel-
ing companions. Recognizing me as
an American, he began talking. He
was engaged in some manufacturing
line in Italy and one of his factories
was seized, so that he was quite in-
terested in the situation there.
(Laughter.) It was his firm opinion

that all that was necessary in order
to solve the industrial problem in
Italy was to take out the labor
leaders and shoot them. If the lead-
ers were shot, there would be peace
and order and security and safety
and happiness in Italy. But the
government had no backbone, and
didn't have the courage to shoot the
leaders of the labor movement. As
the train was speeding on, we passed
by one place. I had not noticed it,
but my companion called my atten-
tion to it. He said, "See this?"
There was a shipyard and a red flag
was flying over the building. (Up-
roarious applause and laughter.)
And he said, "You see, they have
seized it and they put the red flag
there." And before I had a chance
to catch my breath, we reached
another place, and again there was
a red flag over a factory. (Uproari-
ous applause.) And the manufac-
turer said, "You see, here is another
one." (Laughter and applause.)
And so the poor man nearly col-
lapsed with heartache (laughter)
from the sight of those red flags
on the factories. The man was won-
dering how the government per-
mitted all that. The red flags kept
on growing in number and my com-
panion was telling me how un-
reliable the government was. He
wanted to know, "Why do we pay
taxes if the government does not
protect us?"

I arrived at Rome. During my
three month trip through Europe, I
had many thrills. An American who
does not know Europe gets many
unexpected sensations in Europe. I
had traveled through different coun-
tries and cities and found new im-
pressions everywhere, but no city in
the world impressed me as Rome did.

It is an old city. It is a beautiful
city. When I entered old Rome and
saw the names on the street signs

426

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

and palaces and other buildings and
recognized names of persons and in-
stitutions recorded in history, names
of the great men of the ages; when
I thought that those people were
walking on the very spot where I
was, and when I passed by those
palaces and other buildings, and
when I came to the Coliseum, that
famous Coliseum of which we have
all read, and to the Arch of Titus,
and other monuments of past ages,
I read the history of the human race.
I visualized the people of those ages
walking through the same streets, I
almost saw them alongside of me. I
was in an atmosphere and in a state
of mind where I realized the con-
tinuity of the human race.

When you come to the ancient
Roman Forum and look at those old
ruins, in which the famous orations
were delivered, you can almost hear
them. Then you begin to feel that
you are a link in the long, human
chain and can trace your lineage
back to the beginning of history.
Then you begin to feel that you are
a living part of the past ages, and
that the past ages live in you. Then
you can also give full play to your
imagination and see the generations
that will follow us and be a direct
continuation of ourselves and we
shall live in them.

It was those impressions that re-
mained strongest with me. Then I
was able to understand why Rome
was called the Eternal City.

I arrived at Rome on Sunday. Mon-
day morning the Italian comrades
took me into one of the metal fac-
tories, which was occupied by the
workers. I was welcomed as a rep-
resentative of American labor, and
when I told them that we had many
Italian members in our organization,
I was doubly welcome. The secretary
of the metal workers' union gave
me a letter, the only key to open
the gates of the factory with.

(Laughter.) With my Italian com-
rades I landed in front of the fac-
tory, which looked very attractive
because of the fine red flag which
adorned the building and the red
sentinel who was keeping watch.
(Applause.) I handed my letter to
the gatekeeper; he took it to the
chairman of the factory council.
The chairman, with a few members
of the council, came out to receive
me. They did not know me. It
was not to me the honor was ex-
tended. The letter said that I rep-
resented a big and progressive labor
organization in America. They
opened the gates wide and took us
into the office. They called the
whole council to meet us. It hap-
pened to be at the lunch hour, so
the council took us into an impro-
vised dining room. The workers
were there eating lunch prepared for
them by their wives on the factory
premises. The council then took us
through the factory. The first thing
that attracted my attention was a
series of inscriptions on the walls,
including also the Soviet emblem.
(Applause.) The most prominent of
the inscriptions was: "He who does
not work, neither shall he eat." (Ap-
plause.)

The members of the council
showed me all departments of the
factory, and explained to me how
they were running the factory. Here
is one instance: There was a certain
kind of raw material of which they
had more than they needed, but they
were short in coal, so they arranged
with the general organization of the
metal workers, which had taken an
inventory of the stocks of the various
occupied factories throughout the
country, to take off their hands the
surplus raw material and give them
coal in return. They got the coal
and operated the factory. The coun-
cil showed me stocks of foodstuffs
sent them by the peasant Socialist

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

427

co-operatives. They also showed me
their wonderful discipline. There
was a bulletin board near the factory
gate on which was posted the name
of every workingman who had neg-
lected his duty, came in late without
sufficient excuse, or who had not
done his work properly. Nominal
fines were imposed for the moral ef-
fect. And the moral effect was
there. The workers were reminded
by inscriptions on the walls, in large
type, that they were responsible for
the success of the factory and they
must not fall down on the job. And
they didn't fall down on the job.

On that day conferences were
going on with the employers. A set-
tlement was reached, the workers
received important concessions and
the next morning the employer was
allowed to come into the factory.
(Laughter.)

A great deal has been said all
over the world in criticism of the
settlement made by the Italian metal
workers. My attitude during that
trip through Europe was that while
I have my definite opinion of the af-
fairs of the labor movement, and
while I have definite views on cer-
tain subjects in Europe, I was an ob-
server only. Knowing how little we
know of conditions in Europe, and
also how little the workers in Eu-
rope know of the labor movement in
America, and how faulty our judg-
ment of them is and their judgment
of us is, I did not undertake to judge
them. I mingled with all of them,
the rights and the lefts and the cen-
trists. I mingled with all the groups
and gathered information everywhere
but did not undertake to judge
whether they acted right or wrong.
I ' left that entirely to the Italian
workers themselves.

In the articles which I wrote for
"Advance" I explained both sides,
those who favored holding the fac-

tories and those who favored a set-
tlement. While I do not undertake
to pass judgment on the above mat-
ter, I can say this with a clear con-
science: In Italy, more so than in
other countries in Europe, there is
a real and genuine labor movement.
The movement may make mistakes,
but it is capable of learning from its
own mistakes and striving to correct
them. When I came into that occu-
pied metal factory and saw the
young girls there, workers in that
factory, with the crosses hanging
down from their necks, and doing
their share in protecting the factory
against possible attack and working
in every respect along with their
fellow workers, I knew that the in-
fluence and power of the labor move-
ment, capable of inspiring loyalty
and full co-operation in those work-
ers, was not superficial, but that the
movement was real, and deep-rooted
in the workers' hearts and souls.
(Applause.)

The workers of the world may be
proud of the labor movement in
Italy.

There are as many alignments in
the Italian labor movement as any-
where else in the world. You have
rights, centers and lefts, revolution-
ists, reformists and clerical unions,
but when a general working class
situation arises they act unitedly. I
had the pleasure of seeing one such
demonstration on the 14th of Octo-
ber, 1920. A committee, including
representatives of all factions, was
formed for the purpose of promoting
the interests of Russia. That com-
mittee proclaimed a general strike
of two hours for October 14, from
4 o'clock to 6 o'clock in the evening.
When 4 o'clock came, the entire in-
dustrial life came to a standstill.
Every worker left his place of work
and came to the various meetings
to give expression to the demand

428

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

of the Italian laboring men upon the
Italian government to recognize
Soviet Russia. (Applause.) I was
then in Milan. When I walked
through the streets I saw several
groups of soldiers hidden in places
where they could not be observed,
ready to rush upon the workers and
shoot them down. When I saw the
workers of all trades carrying out
that great demonstration without
giving those soldiers the slightest
chance to fire upon them, I knew
that the Italian movement was a real
movement and with perfect disci-
pline. There were raids upon the
labor movement made by the Fas-
cisti, raids upon Socialist papers and
union headquarters. But they were
planned and carried out secretly,
when the workers were unprepared.

There is also in Italy the wonder-
ful peasant co-operative body, the
Socialist peasant co-operatives, with
nearly 1,000,000 members.

Of Italy I could speak at very great
length and never get tired of speak-
ing. I still feel in me the inspira-
tion of the Italian labor movement.
But I promised to be brief because of
lack of time.

From Italy I went to Austria.
There I saw another picture, a pic-
ture of hunger and death imposed
upon the country by the war and the
peace that followed it. There I saw
people dying of starvation while
walking the streets of the beautiful
city. I had never seen anything like
that before. I had never seen multi-
tudes of people in whose faces you
read hunger. I saw them there.

But in the same city I saw another
thing, which holds out hope for the
future. The vice-mayor of the city,
a Socialist, whose term of office was
expiring about that time, took me
through several institutions main-
tained by an organization for the
workers' children. The salutation in
those institutions is "Friendship,"

instead of "Good morning," or "Good
evening." The vice-mayor told me
that the Italian labor movement took
hundreds of those children, placed
them in the Riveria, gave them the
best care and kept them for several
months, according to the needs of
each child. The child that was in
the worst physical condition was kept
longer than the child in better con-
dition. The Italian workers gave
them the best possible care, and
when the children regained their
health, they were sent back and
others taken in their places. I was
told that it was the intention of that
organization to arrange for an inter-
change of visiting children among
the several countries. When condi-
tions improve in Austria, the Aus-
trian labor movement will invite
Italian children to visit them; chil-
dren will be sent to Italy to play
with Italian children, and the same
will be done with other countries.
Thus, the children in each country
will grow up with personal love for
the children of every other country.
And if another war should come, the
new generation will say, "We cannot
fight those who were our comrades
in childhood." This, my Austrian
friend said, will build up a new in-
ternational— the international of
sacred and pure childhood and will
make its contribution towards mak-
ing war impossible in the future.
(Applause.) When I saw that, I
said to myself, "So long as faith
in the nobility of human nature is so
powerful that even under such ter-
rible conditions as those under which
the Viennese people are living, or
rather, slowly dying, they can still
dream of bringing up the new genera-
tion in that sacred spirit which will
make the future safe for the people,
then there is hope that the people
will ultimately take the affairs of the
world in their own hands, and there
may be no more wars." And there is

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

429

hope that as those people take a
greater share of the problems of the
world into their own hands for solu-
tion, they will take all of the world's
problems into their own hands and
give us a better world, a beautiful
world, a world safe for every honest
man and woman willing to help in
doing the world's work. (Continu-
ous and uproarious applause ensued
for a period of three-quarters of an
hour.)

President HILLMAN: The next
order of business is nominations for
thirteen members of the General Ex-
ecutive Board, general secretary-
treasurer and general president.
The chair will ask General Execu-
tive Board Member Rosenblum to
open nominations for president.

Delegate SCHWARTZBERG: If I
have the permission of the chair be-
fore nominations are made, I would
like to make a motion.

President HILLMAN: What is the
motion?

Mr. SCHWARTZBERG: My mo-
tion is this: Brother Schlossberg's
report seems to me to be one of the
most masterly and interesting re-
ports delivered before this conven-
tion, and therefore I move that this
report be printed and that it be dis-
tributed to the general membership.

President HILLMAN: You heard
the motion. If there is no objection,
it will be so ordered. (Applause.)

Chairman ROSENBLUM: Nomi-
nations are now in order for the
office of general president of the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America.

(Whereupon from all portions of
the floor of the convention, cries of
"Hillman" arose, and at least 100
delegates demanded the floor simul-
taneously, each shouting, "Hill-
man.")

Chairman ROSENBLUM: I will
recognize Brother Genis.

Delegate GENIS: Can a member
speak on the nominations?

Chairman ROSENBLUM: No, no
speech-making.

Delegate GENIS: Then I nomi-
nate Brother Sidney Hillman. (Pro-
longer and uproarious applause.)

Chairman ROSENBLUM: Are
there any other nominations?

(Prolonged and uproarious ap-
plause ensued, together with at least
50 delegates demanding the floor,
each moving that nominations for
general president be closed.)

Delegate LEVINE: I move we
make the nomination of Brother Hill-
man unanimous.

(Wild and continuous cheering
and applause ensued for a period of
one hour.)

Chairman ROSENBLUM: There
being no other nominations for the
office of president, the chair will de-
clare that Brother Sidney Hillman
has been nominated for the office of
general president of the Amalga-
mated Clothing Workers of the
World by unanimous vote. (Up-
roarious applause.)

President HILLMAN: The next in
order is the nomination for the office
of general secretary-treasurer of
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America.

(Cries of "Schlossberg" came from
all portions of the room, and dele-
gates from all portions of the hall
demanded recognition by the chair,
moving that nominations be closed
and the nomination of Brother
Schlossberg be made unanimous.)

President HILLMAN: Are there
any further nominations? (No re-
sponse.) Brother Schlossberg has
been unanimously chosen as the
nominee for the office of general sec-
retary-treasurer of the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America. (Pro-
longed applause.)

President HILLMAN: The chair
wants to draw your attention to the

430

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

fact that there will be nomina-
tions for thirteen members of the
General Executive Board. The dele-
gates are requested not to stand up
during the time of these nominations.
All the names suggested will be taken
down by the secretary. Now, please
stand up, just one at a time, and
don't mention the name until you are
recognized by the chair. We want
one nomination at a time and then
you will carefully listen to what the
assistant secretary will read off, and
if a name was omitted it will be
added to the list. Each nominee
must have at least twenty seconds.
There will be no speeches.

(Whereupon President Hillman
appointed tellers to count the vote,
and the following persons were nomi-
nated as members of the General
Executive Board.)

NOMINATIONS

August Bellanca, Local 63, New
York City, N. Y.

Hyman Blumberg, Local 36, Bal-
timore, Md.

Samuel Levin, Local 61, Chicago,
111.

Lazarus Marcovitz, Local 172, Bos-
ton, Mass.

Anzuino D. Marimpietri, Local 39,
Chicago, 111.

Abraham Miller, Local 8, New
York City, N. Y.

Peter Monat, Local 262, Brooklyn,
N. Y.

Sidney Rissman, Local 61, Chi-
cago, 111.

Frank Rosenblum, Local 61, Chi-
cago, 111.

Mamie Santora, Local 170, Balti-
more, Md.

Nathan Siegel, Local 2, New York
City, N. Y.

Stephan Skala, Local 6, Chicago,
111.

Abraham Beckerman, Local 4,
New York City, N. Y.

J. A. Bekampis, Local 58, Brook-
lyn, N. Y.

Frank Bellanca, Local 63, New
York City, N. Y.

Anthony Capararo, Local 63, New
York City, N. Y.

Alex Cohen, Local 3, New York
City, N. Y.

Ruffino Conti, Local 63, New York
City, N. Y.

Aldo Cursi, No. 202, Rochester,
N. Y.

Philip De Luca, Local 51, Balti-
more, Md.

Anthony Di Blasi, Local 85, Brook-
lyn, N. Y.

Joseph Gold, Local 5, New York
City, N. Y.

Emilo Grandinetti, Local 270, Chi-
cago, 111.

Harris Heller, Local 5, New York
City, N. Y.

Louis Hollander, Local 2, New
York City, N. Y.

Morris Koslovsky, Local 75, Phila-
delphia, Pa.

Jacob Kroll, Local 61, Chicago,
111.

Leo Krzycki, Local 151, Mil-
waukee, Wis.

Philip Licastro, Local 200, Roches-
ter, N. Y.

Abraham I. Pearlman, Local 14,
Rochester, N. Y.

Benne Romano, Local 63, New
York City, N. Y.

Stanley Satalecki, Local 38, Chi-
cago, 111.

Abraham I. Shiplacoff, Local 5,.
New York City, N. Y.

Gustav A. Strebel, Local 96, Syra-
cuse, N. Y.

Philip Weiner, Local 5, New York
City, N. Y.

Murray Weinstein, Local 4, New
York City, N. Y.

President HILLMAN: The chair
will take this opportunity to give the
delegates a few minutes' time to con-
sider where they want to meet the
next time. Now just do your think-

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

431

ing. Brother Fisch will in the mean-
time make an announcement.

(Entertainment plans for the eve-
ning were announced by M. C. Fisch,
secretary of the Arrangement Com-
mittee.)

President HILLMAN: There is
very little time left and I am sure
the delegates would like to hear a
few words from one, who, while not
always on the platform, you meet at
the conventions, at the General Office;
one who, at all times, is in touch
with every movement of our organ-
ization, and one whom I can hardly
conceive our organization to be with-
out. Delegates, I take great pleasure
in introducing to you Brother Jacob
Potofsky. (Prolonged and uproari-
ous applause ensued for a period of
one-half hour.)

Mr. POTOFSKY: Brother Chair-
man, delegates and friends: Most of
you delegates know that I am not
much of a speaker, so please keep or-
der and give me a chance. (Laugh-
ter.) Since the chair has called
upon me to say a few words, I just
want to express my sentiments on
this convention. This, the Fifth Con-
vention of the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America, has been the
most glorious convention, the great-
est convention ever held by the Amal-
gamated Clothing Workers of Amer-
ica. (Prolonged applause.) It has
been the most glorious, both in spirit
and in achievements. No other con-
vention can claim such a record, such
a wonderful spirit and such demon-
strations as we have had here during
this week.

Before the convention opened
there were rumors and gossip of
what would take place at the Amal-
gamated convention. People made
prophecies. There were those who
spoke about dissension in our ranks,
about breakups and about this and
about that. But this convention has
proved to be one of the most har-

monious conventions that was ever
held in the history of the Amalga-
mated Clothing Workers of America.
(Applause.)

There is one more thing that I
want to say, and that is about Chi-
cago. I remember twelve years ago,
in 1910, when the seamers, whom
you saw here yesterday afternoon,
first marched out of shop No. 5, no
one dreamed that there was ever
going to be such an organization as
we have today in Chicago. (Ap-
plause.) And even in 1915, after
the great strike of twelve weeks, the
complete organization of Chicago
was still a dream; the same in
1916. But today we have an army
of 40,000 members in Chicago. We
are all proud of Chicago, and of the
wonderful reception they have given
to the delegates from the various
cities. The arrangements made
could not possibly be any better.
The reception in Chicago, the daily
demonstrations and the splendid ar-
rangements have all contributed
towards the harmonious spirit and
successful deliberations of this con-
vention.

(At this juncture Brother Potofsky
was showered with flowers from all
parts of the room.)

I thank you heartily for your trib-
ute. (Prolonged applause.)

President PULLMAN: The chair
will call upon Sister Santora.

MAMIE SANTORA: Brother
Chairman, delegates and friends: As
I am the only woman on the General
Executive Board, I feel a little bit
conceited to be called upon by our
president to address you. As one
from the ranks of the workers, who
knows the conditions which we have
had to face during the past two years,
especially the great lockout which
took place in the city of New York,
depriving 65,000 men and women of
their support, the many injunctions
that were issued against us, the use-

432

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

less fight for the dissolution of our
organization, I am proud of our
organization. (Applause.) It was
the spirit of solidarity that brought
us together here where we may con-
gratulate ourselves and feel happy.

I hope that at the next convention
we shall have something new to be
proud of, something more beneficial.
I also want to bring one thing to the
delegates' minds, and that is this:
When you leave this hall remember
that our future success depends upon
the same solidarity of the working
class which has made our success in
the past. I would like to talk more
but I have instructions from our
president to talk only a few minutes.
(Applause.)

President HILLMAN: Secretary-
Treasurer Peter Monat of the New
York Joint Board, a member of the
General Executive Board, will now
address the convention.

PETER MONAT: Mr. Chairman,
delegates and friends. There is one
thing we must bear in mind, that the
hour is late, twenty minutes of five.
I want to say, at the closing of the
convention, that from the time we
gathered here for the opening of the
convention last Monday, this has
been the greatest week, I believe, in
the life of everyone here today. Only
ten or twelve years ago we had slav-
ery, and today we are celebrating
our freedom. I was personally de-
sirous to be present in the city and
attend the convention, the city that
was so notorious in the past for its
slavery in the clothing industry and
so famous in the present for the ac-
complishments and the establish-
ments of new conditions which our
organization has brought about. I
want to say right now that the work
carried on by the Chicago organiza-
tion has shown its absolute efficiency
and also the courageous way of
doing things. The work of arrang-
ing the convention and the giving the

delegates all the accommodations
and everything that goes with that
was splendid, and on behalf of the
New York delegation, and I believe
on behalf of everybody, particularly
New York, who can not forget the
assistance you gave us in the time of
our lockout, we thank you. I hope
two years from now we will have the
convention in New York to celebrate.
(Applause.)

President HILLMAN: Brother
Marcovitz will speak to you for just
two minutes.

LAZARUS MARCOVITZ: Mr.
Chairman and delegates: I will not
speak on the harmony and the spirit
that prevailed at this convention. You
all know that. I want to remind the
delegates that all that we have
achieved at this convention will
mean nothing unless every one of
us, when we return back to the vari-
ous cities, take our posts and do the
things we must do. I am sure that
every one of us will do his full
share, so that when we meet at the
next convention we may have reason
to be proud of our new accomplish-
ments. (Applause.)

President HILLMAN: Brother
Blumberg of Baltimore will now
speak to you.

HYMAN BLUMBERG: Mr. Chair-
man and delegates, while sitting here
at this convention, I, as an official of
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers
of America, saw the reward and re-
ceived the only reward that an offi-
cial, in my judgment, can possibly
hope for. I happen to be a veteran
in the clothing industry.. For over
twenty-five years I have spent every
day of my life in the ranks of the
clothing workers, and there come to
my mind the days when I first started
working in the clothing industry.
Those were the days when the oper-
ator owned his own machine, the
days when the operator paid for the
use of his electric power and when

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

433

the presser bought his gasoline stove
in order to heat the iron that he was
working with. And in those days
it seemed to be impossible that the
clothing workers would ever elevate
themselves to the standard of living,
the standard of brotherhood, and
the height of understanding their
rights and their power that we have
reached today. That was made pos-
sible only when the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America was
substituted for the defunct United
Garment Workers in 1914. (Ap-
plause.) The start was made in
1914, because it is common knowl-
edge to all the older members of the
union, those who worked in the
clothing industry twenty years prior
to 1914, that not a single step of
advancement was made for the cloth-
ing workers until that day. Since
that time we have continually gone
forward, and forward and forward.
While there have been various rea-
sons put forth, such as the spirit of
the Amalgamated and everything else,
as the reason for the advancement,
as I understand it, in my meetings
with the different people in different
cities, I know that the most im-
portant reason for the advancement
of the tailors has been that spirit of
co-operation that exists among the
rank and file and active members
of the union. And may I take ad-
vantage of this opportunity to say
that having been selected from the
ranks of the workers for a position of
honor and trust in the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America, it is
my conviction that the success of
our organization has been due to the
wholehearted co-operation given us.
I know that I have received such co-
operation, first, from the Baltimore
boys who brought me out in 1915
(applause), and second, when I was
asked by the president of this union
to come to New York and direct, in
a small way, some of the smaller

details that Brother Hillman person-
ally did not have time to attend to,
I received wholehearted co-operation
in every city where I was sent, to
do, in my small way, everything to
bring about a successful termination
of the different issues. While I am
speaking I take the opportunity to
ask the delegates from the various
cities that I may visit on behalf of
the organization to give their full
co-operation in the interests of the
clothing workers in the shops, leav-
ing everything else out but the in-
terests of the workers in whose name
we all speak. (Uproarious applause.)

President HILLMAN: I am sure
the delegates will want to hear be-
fore the adjournment of this conven-
tion once more from one who, while
a member of the General Executive
Board, is in charge of a large part
of our organization in Chicago and
its vicinity, and I again take great
pleasure in introducing to you, and
for the last time at this convention,
Brother Rosenblum. (Applause.)

FRANK ROSENBLUM: Brother
Chairman, fellow delegates, sisters
and brothers; I am not going to make
a speech. We have but eight min-
utes before adjourning and there
are a few members of the board the
president wants to call on. I do
want to repeat and reiterate the sen-
timents expressed by Brother Potof-
sky. I think this convention has
been the most glorious and the rich-
est in achievements and in spirit of
all the conventions ever held. I con-
gratulate you all for the work done.
I will also take this occasion to con-
gratulate my own organization, as I
think it has done wonderfully well in
entertaining you. (Applause.) This
convention will be long remembered
in the history of the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America. I
hope and trust that future conven-
tions will be just as splendid and

434

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

rich in results as this convention has
been. -(Applause.)

President HILLMAN: Brother
Miller from New York City. (Up-
roarious applause.) ,

ABRAHAM MILLER: I shall not
speak about the glorious accomplish-
ments and achievements of the Amal-
gamated Clothing Workers of Amer-
ica, and I don't want to repeat what
has already been said, but I want at
this moment to say that it is indeed
a privilege and a pleasure to have
the opportunity to say just a few
words at the conclusion of this con-
vention. I have had the honor to
say a few words at the close of every
convention, including the one that
was held in Nashville, and now 1
want to express the hope that when
we return to our respective cities
we shall not forget the sheafs of
resolutions that we decided upon,
particularly those resolutions that
dealt with organization work on the
Atlantic coast or in the East. I hope
that the city of Baltimore, and New
York, Boston, and all other cities
in the East will be in a position at
the next convention, which will be
the tenth anniversary of the Amal-
gamated Clothing Workers of Amer-
ica, to claim as Chicago does today
the distinction of having a 100 per
cent organization. (Applause.)

President HILLMAN: I will call
on Brother Marimpietri.

ANZUINO MARIMPIETRI: Broth-
er President, delegates and friends:
I wish you sincerely good-bye until
we meet again. (Applause.)

President HILLMAN: If votes
were taken for the best spech, I am
sure you would carry off the honors.
I will call upon Brother Rissman.
(Applause.)

SIDNEY RISSMAN: Mr. Chair-
man and delegates, I want to take the
opportunity at this moment to con-
gratulate the city of New York for
the victory they had a year ago, and

upon the splendid fight they have
put up. I also want to congratulate
the city of Boston for the splendid
fight they put up, and I want to con-
gratulate the delegates as a whole
for the splendid spirit and the be-
havior shown at this convention.
And I also want to congratulate our
general officers and the delegates for
the resolutions that have been
passed here, especially the one that
is going to be a landmark in the
history of the world, and that is that
great proposition that our interna-
tional president has presented to us
and that has been adopted at this
convention with reference to Rus-
sia. (Applause.) I only hope that
the things that we placed on record
at this convention will be carried out
so that when we meet again, two
years from today, we will be able to
report much more progress than
we have been able to report at this
convention.

I wish you all farewell and I
know you will take back the spirit
of this convention to your cities.
(Applause.)

President HILLMAN: I regret I
am not in a position to introduce a
member of the board who has given
a great deal of his life to the organ-
ization. I regret exceedingly that I
am unable to introduce to you
Brother August Bellanca, a member
of the General Executive Board (ap-
plause), but I am sure that the best
wishes of all of us will go to him.
The chair will now appoint a com-
mittee of five tellers who are to
gather in New York City to count
the refendum vote cast for the sev-
eral candidates for oflice. The chair
will appoint Delegate Joe Catalanotti,
of Local No. 63, of New York; Dele-
gate Harry Cohen of Local No. 36,
Baltimore; Delegate Reuben Block,
of Local No. 61, Chicago; Delegate
John McMahon, of Local 205,
Rochester, and Delegate S. Stol-

THE CONVENTION PROCEEDINGS

435

berg, of Local 216, Toronto. When
the vote comes in they will all come
to New York, count the ballots, and
announce who were elected. Are
there any objections to the appoint-
ments? If not, the appointments
stand.

The next order of business will be
nominations for the city where the
convention is to be held.

(The city of New York was
selected as the next convention city.)

President HILLMAN: Delegates,
we are going to adjourn the conven-
tion in a few minutes and I will call
for just a few words by the secretary
of our organization, and there will
be a few words by the chairman, and
the convention will stand adjourned.

Brother SCHLOSSBERG: This
convention has been a great spiritual
symphony. This convention has been
characterized as the greatest of all
conventions we have ever held. Each
convention, at the time it was held,
was the greatest convention. But
we are now setting new standards.
We all feel that we owe a great deal
to the Chicago organization for the
contribution it has made, for the
spirit that has prevailed at this con-
vention. The Chicago organization
has shown something inspiring to the
membership. It was a revelation.
The membership here has come in
personal and physical contact with
the representatives from the various
cities, and they have brought a new
message to this convention. The
greatest thing demonstrated here,
among all of the great things, in-
cluding the plan submitted to us by
Brother Hillman, which was so en-
thusiastically accepted, was the splen-
did spirit of unity which has taken
hold of all of us, overcoming all
obstacles. Differences of opinion
have not prevented unity in action.

We are about to close a convention
which marks the beginning of a new

epoch in our organization. We shall
come back, two years from now, to a
convention that will be the tenth an-
niversary of this organization. We
want to be able to look back upon
two years of activity and results
and achievements that should be in
complete harmony with the constant
progress made by us. So let these
two years that are ahead of us open
new fields for us and develop new
power in our organization, and let
us come to New York two years from
now with a new message to our mem-
bers, to the labor movement in this
country, and to the labor movement
of the world, in keeping with the
conditions as they will be then, as
we have done today, at this conven-
tion, in keeping with the conditions
of today. We leave this convention
with even greater unity than we ever
had before. Let us all remember
that in our work, unity in purpose,
unity in action is the thing that de-
termines our success. (Prolonged
applause.)

President HILLMAN: A few min-
utes more and this convention will
stand adjourned. I want to take
this opportunity to thank the dele-
gates for their co-operation with the
presiding officer. I want to thank
you for all you have done to help in
the work of the organization. I do
not feel that I should dwell much
on what has been done. I do not
know if much has been done. It
will depend largely on whether the
policies laid down by this convention
are carried out. What I want to
urge upon you at this time, delegates,
is to go back to your localities and
bring into life what the convention
has decided.

I want to extend to you the wish
of peace, success, and the hope that
you will return to the cities ready
for the every-day struggle, so that
we may come to New York City two

436 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

years from now with a record of (Whereupon the Fifth Biennial

achievements that the organization Convention of the Amalgamated

will have reason to be proud of. Clo Workers of America ad-

This the Fifth Biennial Conven-
tion, now stands adjourned, to re- Burned to meet two years hence in
convene in New York City two years New York City.)
from now.

Proposed New Constitution of the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America

This constitution was acted upon seriatum at the eighth session, Friday, May

12, 1922, and was ordered submitted for adoption at referendum

vote to the membership :

ARTICLE 1
NAME AND JURISDICTION

Section 1. This body shall be known
as the AMALGAMATED CLOTHING
WORKERS OF AMERICA. In it
alone is vested the power to establish
local unions and joint boards and to it
is reserved the right to finally de-
termine and adjust all matters of gen-
eral importance to the welfare of any
members thereof.

Section 2. All legislative powers
shall be reserved to the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America duly con-
vened in session ; except as hereinafter
provided for, its executive and judi-
cial powers, when not in session, shall
be vested in the General Executive
Board.

ARTICLE 2
HEADQUARTERS

Section 1. The headquarters of the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America shall be in the city of New
York, X. Y.

ARTICLE 3
GENERAL CONVENTION

Section 1. The Amalgamated Cloth-
ing Workers of America shall meet
biennially in general convention on the
second Monday in May at ten (10)
A. M., at the place chosen by the last
convention and ratified by referendum
vote.

Section 2. On motion of five (5)
local unions, no two of which shall be
of the same state or province, the place
for holding the convention may be
changed by a general vote, a two-
thirds majority to decide. A special

convention may be called in the same
manner.

Section 3. Local unions shall be
entitled to representation in conven-
tions on their average membership for
which they pay per capita tax during
the twenty-four (24) months ending
January 31st immediately preceding
the convention, and new local unions
on their average membership from the
date of their organization. Representa-
tion shall be on the following basis :
One (1) delegate for each local union
of one hundred (100) members or less,
and one (1) additional delegate for
every additional five hundred (500)
members or majority fraction thereof.
Each joint board shall be entitled to
one (1) delegate. A joint board dele-
gate to convention must be a member
of one of the locals affiliated with the
joint board in that city.

Section 4. All local unions and joint
boards shall be notified by the general
secretary-treasurer sixty (60) days
before the biennial convention takes
place, to elect the number of delegates
they are entitled to on the basis of
representation.

Section 5. Delegates shall be elected
at a special meeting of the local unions,
or joint boards, by ballot, and a plural-
ity vote shall constitute an election.
No person shall be eligible as a dele-
gate unless a member of the Amal-
gamated Clothing Workers of Amer-
ica, who shall have been a member in
good standing of the local union he
represents for at least one year im-
mediately preceding the date on which
said election is held. Where a local
union or joint board has not been in

438

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

existence for a full year immediately
preceding the date on which the con-
vention is held, the candidate must be
a member in good standing of said
local union or a local union affiliated
with said joint board from the date
of its organization. An equal num-
ber of alternates may be elected
at the same time and in the same
manner. In case of death, resignation,
inability or other disqualification of a
delegate the alternate having the
highest number of votes at the elec-
tion shall succeed to the vacancy and
become the delegate.

No member shall be eligible as a
delegate to the convention who has not
worked in the industry for at least
one (1) year preceding the date on
which the convention is held. Employ-
ment by the organization is considered
working in the industry.

Section 6. Delegates shall establish
their right to seats in the convention
by credentials signed by the presiding
officer and the secretary of the local
union or joint board and stamped with
the seal of the local union or joint
board. Delegates must present to the
credentials committee their union
books showing that they have met all
the obligations of the organization with
respect to their eligibility as delegates.

Section 7. Duplicate credentials shall
be forwarded to the general secretary-
treasurer by the secretary of the local
union or joint board not later than the
fifteenth (15th) day of April next pre-
ceding the convention.

Section 8. No local union shall be
entitled to representation at the bien-
nial convention unless the per capita
tax and assessments are paid up to
the first day of March preceding the
convention, nor unless the local union
has been organized at least four (4)
months prior to the convention.

Section 9. A quorum for the trans-
action of business shall consist of two-
thirds ' of the delegates attending the
convention.

Section 10. The convention shall be
governed by the following order of
business, unless suspended by a two-
thirds majority:

ORDER OF BUSINESS :

1. Call to order by general presi-
dent.

Immediately upon calling the con-
vention to order, and before addresses
of welcome are made, the General
Executive Board shall recommend a
credentials committee of five for ap-
proval of the convention. That com-
mittee, as soon as approved by the con-
vention, shall withdraw to pass upon
the credentials presented, and shall
submit a report before the first session
adjourns.

2. Report of credentials committee.

3. Roll call.

4. Report of officers.

5. Reading of minutes.

6. Appointment of necessary com-
mittees.

7. Report of committees.

8. Unfinished business.

9. New business.

10. Nomination of officers

11. Selection of place for next con-
vention.

12. Good and welfare.

13. Adjournment.

ARTICLE 4
REFERENDUM VOTE

Section 1. Amendments to this con-
stitution adopted at the convention
shall become law when approved by a
majority vote of the general member-
ship. The general secretary-treasurer
shall submit all changes made by the
convention to a referendum vote within
thirty (30) days after the close of
(the convention.

Section 2. Between conventions any
local union may propose amendments
to the constitution and if five (5) other
local unions, no two of which shall be
of the same state or province, second
the same, the general secretary-treas-

PROPOSED NEW CONSTITUTION

439

mvr shall submit the proposition to a
vote of the general membership, and if
approval by a majority of the members
voting it shall become law.

Section 3. The General Executive
Board may submit questions to a
referendum vote of the general mem-
bership. A two-thirds majority is
necessary to decide the questions so
submitted.

Section 4. When a referendum vote
is ordered each local union shall call
a special meeting and the vote shall
be by ballot. In each locality where
there is a joint board, the joint board
shall supervise the referendum elec-
tion of all locals affiliated with it.
Each member shall be required to pre-
sent at this referendum election his
dues and assessment book and the book
shall be stamped in some manner ap-
propriate to indicate that the member
has voted. The General Executive
Board has authority to supervise all
referendum elections.

Section 5. The president and record-
ing secretary of the local union or joint
board shall record the vote and send
the record after it has been counted,
under their signatures and the seal of
the local union or joint board, to the
general secretary-treasurer.

Section 6. The general secretary-
treasurer shall issue a referendum bal-
lot, when ordered, within two (2)
weeks, and the vote of local unions
must be received within thirty (30)
days from date of issue of any referen-
dum call. The result of the referen-
dum shall be published in tabulated
form in the official publications of the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America.

ARTICLE 5
GENERAL OFFICERS

Section 1. The general officers of
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America shall consist of a general
president and a general secretary-treas-
urer. The General Executive Board

shall consist of fifteen members, in-
cluding the two general officers.

S<M tion 2. The General Executive
Board shall have quarterly meetings
and such special meetings as may be
deemed necessary.

Section 3. All officers shall be nom-
inated by convention and elected by
referendum. Candidates for offices
must receive seconds of at least twenty
(20) delegates of the convention in
order to be nominated.

Section 4. The convention shall elect
a committee of five (3) to count the
votes of this referendum.

Section 5. No member shall be elig-
ible as a general officer unless at least
one (1) year a member in good stand-
ing of the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America.

GENERAL PRESIDENT
Section 6. The general president
shall preside over all sessions of the
i-ouventiou, attend to disputes between
employers and employes, adjust differ-
ences between local organizations, per-
form necessary organizing and other
work usual to the office of general
president. He shall sign all official
documents when satisfied that they
are correct. He shall at the end of
each week submit to the general sec-
retary-treasurer an itemized statement
of all moneys expended by him in the
interests of the International Union
during that week.

Section 7. The general president
shall receive as compensation the sum
of seven thousand five hundred dol-
lars ('$7.500) per annum, and shall
hold no other remunerative office.

GENERAL SECRETARY-TREASURER
Section 8. The general secretary-
treasurer shall keep a correct record
of the proceedings of the convention
and publish it in pamphlet or book
form, preserve all important docu-
ments, papers, books, etc.. all letters
received by him and copies of letters
sent on business of the Amalgamated

440

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

Clothing Workers of America. He
shall be custodian of the seal of the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America. He shall conduct all corre-
spondence of the Amalgamated Cloth-
ing Workers of America, and lay the
same regularly before the General Ex-
ecutive Board and be subject to their
direction. He shall receive all moneys
due the Amalgamated Clothing Work-
ers of America, giving his official re-
ceipt therefor. He shall keep a cor-
rect account of all financial business
of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers
of America. He shall deposit in the
name of the organization all funds be-
longing to the organization in a duly
established state or national bank (or
banks) approved by the General Ex-
ecutive Board, or invest said funds in
such securities as will be approved by
the General Executive Board. He shall
give bonds in an amount fixed by the
General Executive Board in a first
class surety company, the cost of the
bonds to be paid from the funds of the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America. He shall submit to the con-
vention a report of all moneys received
and paid out by him, together with
any other information of importance to
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America. The general secretary-treas-
urer shall have charge of the distribu-
tion of the label.

Section 9. The general secretary-
treasurer shall act as secretary of the
General Executive Board. He shall
receive all applications for charters,
and shall issue the same when ap-
proved by the General Executive
Board. He shall have power to hire
such clerical help as shall be neces-
sary to carry on the business of the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America.

Section 10. The general secretary-
treasurer shall receive as compensation
the sum of seven thousand five hun-
dred dollars ($7,500) per annum, and
shall hold no other remunerative office.

Section 11. The general secretary-
treasurer shall keep separate and item-
ized accounts of expenditures made in
behalf of the organization. All bills
of organizers and general officers must
be fully itemized.

GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD

Section 12. The General Executive
Board shall decide all points of law
arising under the jurisdiction of the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America, also claims, grievances and
appeals. Such decision shall stand
until the next general or special con-
vention of the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America, when, if not re-
versed, it shall be final. The General
Executive Board shall have general
supervision over the affairs of the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America. The General Executive Board
shall present a report to the biennial
convention, and may include therein
such recommendations as they deem to
be in the interests of the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America.

Section 13. The General Executive
Board shall elect from its members a
finance committee consisting of three,
which shall have supervision over the
finances of the organization.

Section 14. Vacancies on the Gen-
eral Executive Board shall be filled
in the following manner: The Gen-
eral Executive Board shall nominate
not less than two (2) candidates for
each vacancy and submit their names
to a referendum vote. The one re-
ceiving the highest number of votes
shall be elected to fill existing vacancy.

Section 15. The General Executive
Board shall have power to institute a
change in the form of organization in
any locality, subject to the approval
of the membership in that locality.

ARTICLE 6

FINANCE

Section 1. All local unions shall
pay in advance to the general secre-
tary-treasurer a per capita tax of fifty

PROPOSED NEW CONSTITUTION

441

(50) cents per month for each mem-
ber, or a corresponding sum in weekly
installments,

Section 2. The general secretary-
treasurer shall, upon receipt of per
capita, issue weekly or monthly stamps.
these stamps to be placed in the official
due book of the members of the Amal-
gamated Clothing Workers of Amer-
ica, as a receipt for the per capita tax
paid. When the dues or assessments
of a member are received by a local
union, said local union shall make an
entry thereof in a book kept for that
purpose.

Section 3. All assessments shall
take precedence over per capita tax.

Section 4. No bills shall be paid by
the general office unless authorized
by the General Executive Board.

Section 5. All orders for due stamps
and supplies other than labels, must be
accompanied by check, express or post
office money order.

Section 6. Every member of the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America shall subscribe for one of the
official journals of the organization,
the subscription for it to be paid at the
same time and in the same manner
as the weekly or monthly per capita
tax, as is provided for in section one
of this article.

Section 7. Whenever a joint board
or local union decides to levy an as-
sessment or tax upon its membership,
it shall immediately notify the gen-
eral office of that fact, and give full
particulars in connection with such as-
sessment or tax.

Section 8. The general office shall
provide a uniform assessment or tax
stamp to be used by all local organiza-
tions for such collections. No local
organization shall collect an assessment
or tax without issuing a stamp to
serve as a receipt for the payments
made by the member. Local unions or
joint boards shall purchase those
stamps from the general office, which
shall sell them at cost

So "tioii 9. All payments of such
assessment or tax shall be entered in
the day book and recorded on the
member's ledger cards or ledger pages
in the same manner as the payment
of dues is recorded, and the stamp, as
provided by Section 8, shall be affixed
and cancelled in the space provided
therefor in the members' dues books.
No joint board or local union shall
print its own stamps for the above
purpose.

ARTICLE 7
TRIALS AND APPEALS

Section 1. Any member of the Amal-
gamated Clothing Workers of Amer-
ica may prefer charges against any
other member or officer of the Amal-
gamated Clothing Workers of America.
Such a charge must be submitted in
writing to the recording secretary of
the local organization of which the
accused is a member.

Section 2. Upon receipt of such
charge the secretary of the local or-
ganization shall refer it to the execu-
tive board or grievance 'board of the
local organization for investigation.

Section 3. The accused shall have
the right in person or through at-
torney (said attorney to be a member
in good standing of the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America) to ques-
tion all witnesses and to present evi-
dence bearing on the charges.

Section 4. The board shall, in ex-
ecutive session, consider all of the evi-
dence on the charges, shall determine
the guilt or innocence of the accused
upon each charge, and report its find-
ings to the local organization.

Section 5. If any member is dis-
satisfied with the decision of the local
organization, he may appeal to the
joint board within thirty (30) days.
If still dissatisfied, he may appeal to
the General Executive Board within
thirty (30) days.

Section 6. Any appeal from the de-
cision of the General Executive Board

442

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

may be brought before the next gen-
eral convention, provided the appeal is
filed with the general secretary-treas-
urer within thirty (30) days after rul-
ing is made.

ARTICLE 8
PROPERTY

Section 1. All general or joint board
or local union officers shall deliver to
their successors all properties and
moneys of the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America, local union or
joint board, and shall not be released
from their bonds until they have done
so. Any officer or member found guilty
of appropriating funds of the Amal-
gamated Clothing Workers of America
shall be expelled and legally prose-
cuted.

Section 2. Any officer or member of
the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America who illegally supplies or
issues, or aids in illegaly supplying or
issuing, the union label, shall, upon
conviction thereof, be legally prose-
cuted by the General Executive Board,
and shall be barred from membership
in the Amalgamated Clothing Workers
of America.

ARTICLE 9
RULES GOVERNING USE OF UNION LABEL

Section 1. Subject to the approval
of the General Executive Board the
label shall be granted to any firm enter-
ing into an agreement with the Amal-
gamated Clothing Workers of America.

Section 2. The general secretary-
terasurer of the Amalgamated Cloth-
ing Workers of America shall be cus-
todian of the label.

ARTICLE 10
ADMISSION OF LOCAL UNIONS

Section 1. A local union may be or-
ganized by seven or more persons em-
ployed in the clothing industry.

Section 2. They shall apply to the
general secretary-treasurer for a char-
ter, and shall send six dollars and
fifty cents ($6.50) for charter fee and
seal. On receipt of the charter fee and

after approval by the General Execu-
tive Board the general secretary-treas-
urer shall forward the charter to the
new local union.

Section 3. Each local union may
make its own by-laws, provided that
they do not conflict with this consti-
tution or the by-laws of this organiza-
tion.

ARTICLE 11

DUTIES OF LOCAL UNIONS AXD
JOINT BOARDS

Section 1. Each local union or joint
board shall hold regular meetings at
least once a month.

Section 2. Each local union shall
maintain labor bureaus, hold lectures,
maintain friendly relations with other
labor organizations, and do all in its
power to strengthen and promote the
labor movement.

Section 3. Where there are two or
more local unions of the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America in any
city or locality, they shall form a joint
board; said joint board shall transact
all such business for the local unions
as may be provided in its by-laws
which must not conflict with the con-
stitution of the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America. Such joint board
shall be chartered by the General Ex-
ecutive Board.

Section 4. The local officers shall
produce the books of the local union or
joint board when demanded by a gen-
eral officer. Failure to do so within
twenty-four (24) hours shall hold the
local officers or union or joint board
liable to suspension by the General
Executive Board.

Section 5. The general secretary-
treasurer shall prepare all necessary
books and forms for the use of local
unions and joint boards which shall
purchase them.

Section 6. All printing for the gen-
eral office and local organizations shall
be done in strictly union shops, and
shall bear the union label.

Section 7. Local organizations desir-

PROPOSED NEW CONSTITUTION

443

ing financial assistance from one an-
other shall send their appeals to the
general secretary-treasurer. In no case
shall a local organization appeal di-
rectly to another local organization.

ARTICLE 12

OFFICERS OF LOCAL UNIONS —
THEIR DUTIES

Section 1. The officers of a local
organization shall consist of a presi-
dent, vice-president, recording secre-
tary, treasurer, sergeant-at-arms, three
trustees, three members of finance
committee, an executive board of at
least seven members, and a corre-
spondent for the official paper. Local
organizations may, if they so desire,
elect one member to act as secretary-
treasurer, said officer to combine the
duties of financial secretary and the
treasurer.

Section 2. No member shall be eligible
to any office in the local union unless
at least six (6) months a member in
good standing, except in the case of a
newly organized local union.

Section 3. It shall be the duty of
the president to preside at all meet-
ings of the organization, sign all or-
ders on the treasurer authorized by the
body, enforce the rules laid down in
this constitution, and transact other
business usual to the office of presi-
dent.

Section 4. It shall be the duty of
the vice-president to perform the duties
of the president in the event of his
absence. -Upon the death, removal or
resignation of a president, the vice-
president becomes president until the
next regular election.

Section 5. It shall be the duty of
the recording secretary to keep a cor-
rect account of the proceedings of the
organization, which shall include a re-
port of the treasurer, the receipts and
disbursements, as well as the number
of each voucher issued. He shall keep
a special book, in which shall be re-
corded the names of all persons re-

jected, suspended or expelled, specify-
ing the offense on which each action
was taken; conduct the correspondence
of the organization, keep copies of it
on file and perform such other duties
as the organization may direct. He
shall read all documents and corre-
spondence for the organization and
keep them on file for future reference.
He shall have charge of the seal of the
organization and attach it to all docu-
ments requiring authentication.

Section 6. It shall be the duty of
the financial secretary of each local
organization to keep a record of all
finances, to collect money cine to the
organization, to deposit such collec-
tions with the treasurer, and to take
receipt therefor. He shall prepare and
send monthly to the general secretary-
treasurer a list of all members initi-
ated, transferred, dropped or with-
drawn during the period for which re-
port is made. He shall draw all or-
ders for money on the treasurer, at-
testing the same by signature, draw
up quarterly financial reports and sub-
mit the same to the local organization.
He shall on demand of the auditor of
the General Executive Board, produce
his books for examination. At the
close of his term of office he shall turn
over to his successor all books and
other property belonging to the or-
ganization.

Section 7. The treasurer shall re-
ceive all moneys from the financial
secretary, giving receipt therefor. The
moneys received must be deposited im-
mediately in such bank as the organiza-
tion may direct in the name and num-
ber of the local organization. He shall
pay all bills by check.

Section 8. The treasurer shall re-
port in writing, at each regular meet-
ing of the local organization, the money
received, paid out, and the amount still
on deposit; and deliver to his suc-
cessor in office all moneys and other
property of the organization.

Section 9. All officers, shop chair-

444

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

men and employes of the joint board
or local unions, either directly handling
or entrusted with the safe keeping of
funds, shall be bonded by the general
office, the premiums of such bonds to
be paid for by the respective joint
boards or local unions. The amount
of these bonds shall in every case be
large enough to fully indemnify the
organizations upon proof of loss.

Section 10. It shall be the duty of
the sergeant-at-arms to maintain order,
inspect the membership books, and per-
form such other duties as are usual to
the office.

Section 11. It shall be the duty of
the board of trustees to supervise the
funds and property of the organization,
and, together with the treasurer, as-
sume charge of all surplus money. At
least two members of the board shall
countersign all checks drawn by the
treasurer on account of the organiza-
tion.

Section 12. It shall be the duty of
the finance committee to examine all
bills presented to the organization, to
examine at the end of each quarter
the accounts of the organization and
submit a full report to the local or-
ganization.

Section 13. The executive board
shall be composed of at least seven
members. They shall transact all busi-
ness of the organization when it is not
in session, adopt measures in the in-
terests of the organization and recom-
mend such action to the organization
as they may deem necessary for its-
interests. All acts of the executive
board shall be subject to ratification
by the organization.

ARTICLE 13

MEMBERSHIP

Section 1. A candidate, male or fe-
male, for membership in the Amalga-
mated Clothing Workers of America,
must be not less than sixteen (16)
years of age and must be employed in
the clothing industry.

Section 2. No local union or joint

board shall charge new members an
initiation fee higher than ten dollars
($10).

Section 3. No person who has been
suspended or expelled by a local union
shall be eligible for membership until
all matters are settled to the satisfac-
tion of the local union having the griev-
ance against the person.

Section 4. No member of the Amal-
gamated Clothing Workers of America
can be a member of more than one
local union at the same time.

Section 5. Persons working at the
trade in towns where there are not
enough to form a local union, or where
a local union has lapsed, shall be al-
lowed to join the nearest local union.

Section 6. No foreman or forewoman
or any other representative of the em-
ployer shall be eligible to membership
in the Amalgamated Clothing Workers
of America.

Section 7. No person who has been
an employer or who has worked as
foreman or contractor or in any other
capacity as employer's representative
shall be eligible for office, of whatever
description, local or otherwise, for five
years following the date of his sever-
ance of any of the aforesaid relation-
ship.

Section 8. Any member of the Amal-
gamated Clothing Workers of America
leaving the trade and not in the em-
ploy of the organization shall have no
right to participate in any of the
activities of the organization while he
is out of the trade and while he is not
in the employ of the organization.

Section 9. The dues or assessment
card or book, in which are placed the
stamps showing receipt of such pay-
ments, shall be considered the property
of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers
of America.

ARTICLE 14

MEMBERS IN ARREARS — REINSTATEMENT
Section 1. Members who are em-
ployed all or part of the time must
pay dues in advance. Working mein-

PROPOSED NEW CONSTITUTION

445

bers are not in good standing who o\ve
one month's dues.

Section 2. Members three months in
arrears shall stand suspended from all
rights and privileges of membership.
If after three months more the mem-
ber fails to meet his or her obligation,
the name will be dropped from the
roll. Provided the member is not noti-
fied by the local organization by regis-
tered mail to the last known address
at least one week before that he will
be dropped from the roll.

Section 3. Any member who has
been dropped from the roll can be re-
instated only by paying the regular
initiation fee, together with all the
money due the organization at the time
his name was dropped from the roll,
unless otherwise decided by local union
or joint board.

ARTICLE 15
WITHDRAWAL OF MEMBERS
Section 1. Any member in good
standing for at least six months desir-
ing to leave the country or quit the

trade and able to prove his intention
to the satisfaction of the organization,
shall be allowed to withdraw from
membership by paying all debts to date
of withdrawal and by surrendering his
membership book or card to the local
union or joint board.

Section 2. A member receiving a
withdrawal card loses all rights and
privileges of membership in the Amal-
gamated Clothing Workers of America,
and is exempted from paying dues and
assessments. In the event of his re-
joining the organization within one
(1) year, he shall begin paying dues
from the date of his rejoining.

Section 3. A member rejoining his
local union on a withdrawal card after
one (1) year shall be treated as a new
member.

ARTICLE 16
CLEARANCE CARD

Section 1. Any member desiring to
travel and transfer his membership
shall apply to his local organization for
a clearance card for a stated time not
to exceed three (3) months.

APPENDICES

MEMBERSHIP

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS
OF AMERICA

July, 1915 - July, 1921

July, 1915 38,000

July, 1916 48,000

July, 1917 57,000

July, 1918 81,000

July, 1919 138,000

July, 1920 177,000

July, 1921 143,000

The figures do not include members on
strike, locked out, or those who have been un-
employed for a considerable period and who
are therefore in arrears.

iii

MEMBERSHIP

AMALGAMATED-CLOTHING WORKERS-OF-AMERICA
JULY 1.1915- JULY 1.19E1

180,000

180,000

iv

DISTRIBUTION OF MEMBERSHIP

CHANGE IN PERCENTAGE OF MEMBERS

IN PRINCIPAL MARKETS

1919 1921

Now York

44.3 41.5

Chicago

21.7 28.0

Rochester

5.8 6.1

Baltimore

6 4 4.3

Other Markets

21.8 20.1

100.0 100.0

J

DISTRIBUTION -OF-MEMBERSHIP

CHANGE

IN PERCENTAGE-OF- MEMBERS- IN -PRINCIPAL-MARKETS

•1Q1Q-1921-

vi

MEMBERSHIP

BY PRINCIPAL MARKETS

NEW YORK
CHICAGO

anm ROCHESTER

I I BALTIMORE

OTHER MARKETS
TOTAL

28*0
6.1
4.3

20.1
100.0

CHICAGO

NEW YORK

ROCHESTER

BALTIMORE
OTHER MARKETS

Til

EMPLOYMENT IN MEN'S CLOTHING
INDUSTRY 1914-1921

The chart on the following page shows the course of employment
in the men's clothing industry during the entire period that the Amal-
gamated has been in existence, namely, from June, 1914, up to and
including December, 1921. The figures are for New York state only,
which includes, however, the two large markets of New York and
Rochester, as well as a number of smaller clothing centers. The
chart is based upon figures published monthly by the " Labor Market
Bulletin" of the New York State Industrial Commission, giving the
number of workers on the payroll.

It will be observed in examination of the chart that there are in
general five important periods to be considered. Employment during
the year June, 1914, to May, 1915, was affected not only by seasonal
considerations but also by the industrial depression which prevailed
at that time throughout the country. Beginning, however, about
August of 1915 and from then until late in 1918 there is a steady in-
crease in the number of workers employed in the men's clothing in-
dustry in New York state. This increase reflected improvement in
general business conditions which resulted from the influx of war
orders. The men's clothing industry, however, did not expand as
rapidly as did other industries during this period, because while there
was an increase in the amount of work resulting from the manufac-
ture of uniforms, there was on the other hand a falling off in the
amount of civilian clothing manufactured.

With the coming of the armistice there was a sharp drop in the
number of workers employed in the men's clothing industry. The
drop in New York state was in part accentuated by the lockout in
New York City which lasted from the middle of November to some
time in June, 1919.

The chart shows a very great increase of workers employed in
the men's clothing industry during 1919 and early 1920, culminating
in April of that year when the first effects of the coming depression
were noted. It is significant, however, to note that although there
was undoubtedly considerable expansion of the industry in 1919, the
expansion was not as srreat as might be indicated by comparing Janu-
ary, 1919, and April, 1920. The New York State Industrial Commis-
sion reports that in January, 1919, there were only about 70 per cent
as many workers employed in the industry in New York state, on the
basis of figures from representative factories, as were employed in
June, 1914, before the war. At the time of the greatest expansion,
namely, April, 1920, the number of workers in the men's clothing
industry was approximately 17 per cent greater than it was before

viii

the war. The expansion in the men's clothing industry was much
less than among other industries or for industry as a whole.

Beginning with May, 1920, there was a continued reduction in
the number of workers employed in the industry because of the in-
dustrial depression. The low point was reached in December, 1920,
when the number was undoubtedly lessened by the New York manu-
facturers in declaring a lockout. In 1921, as the Rochester industry
gradually recovered from the depressed conditions of 1920, and as
there were more and more settlements in the New York market, the
number of workers employed increased. With the settlement of the
lockout in June, 1921, and the coming on of the fall manufacturing
season, there was a marked increase in the number of workers em-
ployed in the industry. Hence in August, September, and October,
1921, the number of workers in the men's clothing industry was
slightly larger than in June, 1914. In the latter part of 1921, as the
work for the fall manufacturing season was finished, there was a
slight reduction in the number of workers employed.

It should be borne in mind in considering these figures that they
are based upon the number of workers employed. Part-time em-
ployment or overtime is not reflected in these figures. One of the
serious problems of the industry is "unemployment within employ-
ment7'— that is to say, part-time employment. If it were possible to
to secure data showing overtime payments when the industry was
busy, and decreased payments due to part-time employment when the
industry was slack, variations in the growth would be much more
marked and the drop from the high point of April, 1920, to the low
point in December, 1920, would be much greater than appears in the
chart. The chart on page xi, relating to seasonal variations in em-
ployment, shows the relation of the variations in the total payroll to
the changes in the number of workers employed. It will be there
noted that wages rise faster than does the number of workers em-
ployed during the busy periods, and. on the other hand fall much more
sharply than the number of workers employed in slack periods.

ix

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SEASONAL VARIATIONS IN EMPLOYMENT

The chart on page xi shows seasonal variations in the number
of workers employed and the average payroll during the year July,
1913, to June, 1914, inclusive. The figures upon which the chart
is based were collected by the United States Bureau of Labor Sta-
tistics from 133 shops (mostly inside shops) employing on the average
slightly more than 17,000 workers. The reason this year is selected
is that the data collected are not affected by abnormal conditions re-
sulting from war, nor do they represent a period characterized by the
general prosperity amounting to a boom that occurred in 1919, nor
was there an industrial depression as we had in 1914-15 and in 1920-21.
The figures of 1913-14 are therefore admirably adapted to show the
change, due primarily to seasonal considerations.

Examination of the chart will disclose that we have plotted not
only the change in the number of workers employed but also the aver-
age weekly payroll. It will be observed that while these two curves
move in the same general direction, the variations in the amount of
payroll are very much greater than the change in the number of
workers employed. The reason for this is obvious. During the busy
season there is an increase in payroll disproportionate to the increase
in the number of workers, because of payment for overtime. On the
other hand, during the slack periods the reduction in the number of
workers employed is much less than the reduction in their average
earnings. Many of the workers are retained on the payrolls and are
employed only part time. The result is a much sharper fall in earn-
ings than in the volume of employment.

xi

xii

EFFECT OF INDUSTRIAL DEPRESSION OF
1920-21 ON EMPLOYMENT

On the following page will be found a chart showing the effect
of the recent industrial depression upon the men's clothing industry.
The sudden drop in the amount of employment in the men's clothing
industry in New York state, and the partial recovery which has since
occurred, are shown graphically.

As the chart shows, the peak of employment was reached in April,
1920, and the first signs of the depression were disclosed by the reduc-
tion of the number of workers employed during May and June, 1920,
when there is normally an increase in the number of workers due to
the beginning of manufacturing for the fall season. The decline reached
the low point in December, 1920. At that time most of the Rochester
concerns had not yet begun their manufacturing for the spring season
of 1921, although the season ordinarily begins about December 1 and
sometimes even earlier. The low point in December, 1920, also sig-
nalizes the practical closing down of the men's clothing industry in
New York City because of the lockout which started in that month.

With the beginning of operations in Rochester and the increase
of manufacturing in New York City resulting from an increasing
number of settlements of manufacturers with the union, there was,
as indicated on the chart, an increase in the number of workers em-
ployed. However, it is of interest to note that during February and
March — the two months when there is normally the greatest activity
in the men's clothing industry during the spring manufacturing sea-
son— only about 75 per cent as many workers were employed in New
York state as were employed in June, 1914.

During the year 1921 there was continued recovery so that in
August, September, and October, during the period of the fall season,
there were practically the same num'ber of workers employed as in
June, 1914. More recently there has been a slight drop due to seasonal
factors.

xiii

EMPLOYMENT-MEN'S CLOTHING INDUSTRY

20 NEW YORK STATE < ,25

JANUARYJ9ZO-DECEMBERJ92I
BY MONTHS

10

30

20

AS REPORTED BY
NEW YORK STATE INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION

JUNE 19 14 = IOO

NO

THE INDUSTRIAL DEPRESSION

IN THE

MEN'S CLOTHING INDUSTRY

NUMBERof WORKERS- REPORTED-EMPIOYED

100

80

30

20

xiv

HOURS IN MEN'S CLOTHING INDUSTRY,

1911-1922

The chart on the opposite page shows Ilic progress made since
1911 in reducing the number of working hours in a full-time week
In 1911 the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 86 per
cent of all workers in the men's clothing industry were working 54
hours or more. Moreover, at that time, when labor was weak in the
industry, there was no penalty imposed upon the manufacturer when
he worked his employees overtime, so that the full-time week
reported by the bureau did not necessarily represent the actual con-
ditions then prevailing.

The only workers who worked less than 54 hours in 1911 were
the cutters, some of whom had the 48-hour week.

With the growth of organization in the industry there has been
consistent progress in reducing hours in a full-time week. In August,
1914, the U. S. Bureau of Lalbor Statistics found that hours had
generally been reduced in the industry. At that time for approxim-
ately half the workers the standard number of hours was from 51
to 54. In many establishments the 52-hour week prevailed. Only 8
per cent of the workers, mainly cutters, worked 48 hours a week.

A third investigation made by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in
January, 1919, showed the industry on a 48 -hour basis. The govern-
ment then reported 85 per cent working 48 hours a week, and only
15 per cent over 48 hours. This represents conditions just before
the Amalgamated was able to put in effect the standard 44-hour
week.

There has been no report by the U. S. Bureau of Lafoor Statistics
on hours of labor in the men's clothing industry since 1919. How-
ever, an investigation made in December, 1921, by the New York
State Industrial Commission in that state, which includes the large
clothing centers of New York and Rochester and a number of
smaller clothing markets, showed that virtually all of the workers
had the 44-hour week standard. The commission's figures include
all persons employed in the manufacture of men's clothing, i. e.,
foremen and superintendents, as well as cutters and tailors, and
are not strictly comparable with the older figures which related to
workers on "productive labor" only. The commission reports
approximately 14 per cent working more than 44 hours. Many of
these are undoubtedly foremen and superintendents, whi]e the
others are workers in non-union shops. Eighty-six per cent of all
workers on men's clothing: had the 44-hour week in December, 1921,
whereas in January, 1919, approximately the same number had the
48-hour week.

In all the shops under agreement with the Amalgamated the 4-1-
hour week prevails. The report of the New York State Industrial
Commission for December, 1921 shows conclusively that the workers
in the men's clothing industry have, despite the depression and the
open shop movement, been able to retain the lar^e gains in the im-
provement of working conditions which came after January, 191!).

44 HOURS 48 OVER48HRS. 51-BUT 54 OVER 54-HRS. 57-HOURS

OR LESS HOURS BUT UNDER-51 UNDER 54 HOURS BUT-UNDER-STAND-OVER

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xvl

RELATIVE CHANGES IN AVERAGE WEEKLY
EARNINGS, NEW YORK STATE, 1919 - 1921

In the accompanying chart are shown relative changes in average
weekly earnings of workers employed in the men's clothing industry
and relative changes of average weekly earnings in all industries in
New York State 'beginning from January, 1919 to January, 1922. The
chart is based upon the figures collected monthly by the New York
State Industrial Commission and published in the Labor Market Bul-
letin.

Examination of the chart shows that the earnings of the workers
in the men's clothing industry rose much more rapidly than did the
earnings of the workers in all industries in New York in the period of
January, 1919 to March, 1920. The clothing industry was one of the
first industries to feel the effects of the depression, and in May, 1920,
the earnings of the workers in the men's clothing industry fell, while
the earnings for all workers in other industries in the state were still
rising, although <but slightly. In the last half of 1920, the earnings of
the workers in the men's clothing industry fell relatively below the
average weekly earnings of the workers in all industries. As the in-
dustrial depression became more general, there was a decrease in the
average earnings of all workers, in part because of wage reductions
and also because of part-time employment, so that at the close of 1921
the average weekly earnings of all workers in New York State, on
which reports were received by the New York State Industrial Com-
mission, were approximately 5 per cent higher than the average for
the year 1919.

The drop in the average weekly earnings in the men's clothing
industry was largely as a result of the large amount of part time em-
ployment during the latter part of 1920 and the early part of 1921,
when the depression in the clothing industry was most severe. Since
then, because of increased employment, earnings in the men's clothing
industry, relatively speaking, have risen and in January, 1922, were
approximately 15 per cent higher than the average during the year
1919.

On the basis of the figures of the New York State Industrial Com-
mission, the relative earnings of the clothing workers have 'been main-
tained to a larger extent than have average earnings for all industries
in the State.

ivii

xviii

STRIKES AND LOCKOUTS

In the tables following is given the record of strikes and lockouts
from April 1, 1920, to March 31, 1922. There were 203 strikes and
lockouts during this period, of which 117 were terminated by an agree-
ment between the employers and the union. In fifty-nine other cases
strikes were discontinued either ^because the manufacturer went out
of business or the strike was called off by the union. There are at
present, April 1, 1922, twenty-seven strikes pending.

The record of strikes and lockouts for the past two years shows
a larger number than for the two previous years. This is accounted
for, largely, by the increase in the number of lockouts by employers
who attempted to put into effect the * ' open shop. ' ' There were forty-
four lockouts in the men's clothing industry as the manufacturers'
contribution to the open shop movement.

The largest number of strikes concerned the question of wages
and hours. Many of these industrial disturbances resulted from an
attempt to put1 into effect arbitrary reductions in wages by manufac-
turers. A number of these cases were really moves for an "open
shop," though the direct demands were for reduction in wages and
an increase in hours of work.

Analyzing the data from the standpoint of the number of workers
involved, it will be observed that the general lockout in New York
and Boston of December, 1920, involved more than 70 per cent of all
workers engaged in strikes or locked out during the past two years.
In addition, this general lockout involved slightly over 1,000 workers
in Baltimore.

Also, as a result of the general lockout in New York, there was a
strike involving about 6,000 workers in Philadelphia because firms in
that city were attempting to do "unfair" work for firms in New
York and were thus helping the New York manufacturers who had
instituted a lockout. The general lockout in New York therefore ac-
counts for between 75 and 80 per cent of all the members of the Amal-
gamated involved in strikes and lockouts during the past two years.

Except for the strikes in Buffalo and Hamilton, where respectively
1,500 and 1.400 workers were involved, in no other strike have more
than 500 persons been involved. In fact, most of the strikes were
in smaller shops affecting 100 to 200 workers.

SUMMARY OF STRIKES AND LOCKOUTS
April 1, 1920 - April 30, 1922

Total number strikes and lockouts 203

Settled 117

Discontinued 69

Pending 27

Number cities in which strikes or lockouts occured 41

Total number of people involved 98,777

New York 73,017

Boston 7,056

Philadelphia 6,977

Baltimore 1,806

39 Other Cities 9,922

Number settled by direct negotiation 106

Number settled by arbitration 11

By Cause

Wages and hours 63

Open shop and lockout 44

Unfair work 32

Discrimination and discharge 18

For recognition of union 16

Violation of agreement 4

Miscellaneous 26

Total 20 1

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II llll

INJUNCTIONS

The number of proceedings for injunctions against the Amalga-
mated increased in the same proportion as did strikes and lockouts
during the past two years. Forty-nine separate suits were begun for
injunctions against the Amalgamated. In New York alone fifteen
suits for injunctions were filed as a result of the general lockout, and
in Boston five firms participating in the general lockout asked for in-
junctions. Damages to the astounding sum of $3,875,000 were asked.
As the table shows, virtually all of these demands for damages were
confined to the proceedings started in New York City. Of the total
amount, damages in the relatively small amount of $110,000 were
asked for by firms other than those located in New York.

In twenty-four cases a temporary injunction was granted.
Twenty-one of these applications for temporary injunctions were
granted at the first hearing of the cases, while three requests for
temporary injunctions originally denied were subsequently granted.
In seventeen cases the requests for temporary injunctions were denied.

Very few suits for injunctions were pressed for trial. Of the four
cases where decision had been made on request to grant a permanent
injunction, in only two cases were these injunctions granted and in
the other two cases the request was denied. In twenty-three cases the
suits have been discontinued. In eight of these cases temporary in-
junctions had been granted. The number of cases brought to final
trial is particularly significant. They indicate, as well as figures may
indicate, the value to the manufacturer in time of strike or lockout
of a temporary injunction as a weapon against the workers. Long
before the case can be reached for trial on its merits the temporary
injunction has served whatever purpose it was intended to serve when
applied for, and the case is withdrawn. by the manufacturer before a
trial may be had.

Although damages for $3,875,000 were asked, up to date no
verdict for damages has been awarded.

xxxi

SUMMARY OF INJUNCTIONS
April 1, 1920 - April 30, 1922

Number of suits begun 49

Temporary injunctions granted 24*

Temporary injunctions denied 17*

Cases filed — no action taken 10

Otherwise disposed of 1

Permanent injunctions granted 2

Permanent injunctions denied

Suits for injunctions discontinued 23

Injunction suits now pending 22

Temporary injunctions pending 15

Other cases pending 7

Total damages asked for J3.87C.OOO

Damages awarded None

Number of cities in which cases were started 17

'In three cases a temporary injunction was orijrinally denied but later granted

xxxli

Remarks

Stipulation accept-
ed, Judge Waite,

2/9/21

Referred to master
for further hearing

Stipulation filed
4/7/21, before San-
derson

Stipulation in lieu
of injunction ac-
cepted by De Cour-
cy 8/16/21, and re-
ferred to master
For hearing

Stipulation in lieu
af injunction filed
2/28/21 ; referred to
naster for hearing

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xxxviii

AGREEMENTS

Two hundred and nine firms employing approximately 125,000
workers and operating plants in twenty-four eities had agreements
with the Amalgamated Clothing Workers as of April 1, 1922. In the
tables following is given a list of such agreements now in force. In
addition there were a number of informal agreements between local
organizations arid manufacturers which are not included in the above
figures. Despite the lockout in New York, Boston, and Baltimore,
there has been no material" change in the number of workers affected
by agreements in April 1, 1922, as compared to April 1, 1920. What
slight changes have taken place have in part resulted from the liquida-
tion of manufacturing firms such as Strouse Bros, in Baltimore, which
employed upwards of 1,000 workers, and the contraction in the in-
dustry due to the industrial depression.

There have been some changes in the form of the arrangement
between the Amalgamated and manufacturers. For example, two
3^ears ago there was in existence an agreement with the Clothing
Manufacturers' Association of Boston. This association is now vir-
tually out of existence and all of our agreements in the Boston market
are with individual firms. On the other hand, two years ago, all of
our agreements with shirt manufacturers in New York City were
with individual concerns. Early this year a new agreement was
negotiated with the Shirt Manufacturers' Association, consisting of
thirty-six firms employing directly 1,800 workers. In Chicago, the
new agreement just signed, which goes into effect May 1, is with the
Chicago Industrial Federation of Clothing Manufacturers and includes
all firms formerly members of the National Wholesale Tailors' Asso-
ciation, the Wholesale Clothiers' Association, and certain other firms
listed under the head of independent firms. The agreement with
Hart, Schaffner & Marx is, as formerly, a separate one. In New York,
the former association was virtually re-organized after the settlement
of the lockout in June, 1921. At the present writing seventeen firms
are dealing with us through the Clothing Manufacturers' Association
of New York, Inc. Other firms, formerly members of this associa-
tion, have individual agreements with us. Early in April, 1922, the
Clothing Manufacturers' Association of New York, Inc., announced
that on June 1 it would withdraw as the agency for making agree-
ments between the Amalgamated and the seventeen manufacturers at
the present time members of the association.

XXX IX

AGREEMENTS IN FORCE APRIL 1, 1922 BETWEEN THE

AMALGAMATED CLOTHING WORKERS OF AMERICA

OR ITS LOCAL UNIONS AND MANUFACTURERS'

ASSOCIATIONS OR INDEPENDENT FIRMS

City Association or Firm Afe°

pie Date of
ted Beginning

Date of
Expiration

Baltimore 225 Contract Shops 3,500 At present

Indefinite

22 Inside Shops 1,450 "

Henry Sonneborn & Co., Inc. 2,500 1/2/21

5/31/22

Loston Independent Firms 5,500

Barron Anderson Co.
Beacon Clothing Co.

7/26/22
At present

7/26/23
Indefinite

Bedford Clothing Co.
T. Berman
Max Berry
Billings-Johnson Co.
Boston Tailoring

operating
6/1/21
Jan. 1922
Jan. 1922
Apr. 1921
At present

6/1/22
Jan. 1923
Jan. 1923
Apr. 1922
Indefinite

Boylston Tailoring
Central Clothing Co.
Commonwealth Clothing Co.
Corvin Swartz, Inc.
Cromwell Littlefield

operating
Jan. 1922
Feb. 1922
Jan. 1922
1/15/22
1/12/22

Jan. 1923
Feb. 1923
Jan. 1923

1/5/23
1/12/23

D. V. S.
Federal Clothing Co.
Feldberg Pants

1/12/22
2/2/22
At present

1/12/23
2/2/23
Indefinite

operating

Fidelity Clothing Co.

1/25/22

1/25/23

Filene

At present

Indefinite

operating

Gale & Kent

««

Goldberg Bros.

««

S. Goldberg

«<

Gorfinkle

••

Ed. Goldman Co. (Sheepskin)

"

Goldsmith

••

Haymarket Clothing Co.

Apr. 1921

Apr. 19?2

H C H Pants

At present

Indefinite

operating

Jacob Falkson & Co.

May 1921

May 1922

Kalish

At present

Indefinite

operating

Knopf Mfg. Co. (Sheepskin)

"

M

Liberty Clothing Co.

1/13/22

1/13/23

Leventhal & Sugrarman

At present

Indefinite

operating

A. H. Matz

"

"

Mason & Jacobs

Jan. 1922

Jan. 1923

L. Miller Co.
Monarch Clothing Co.

2/11/22
Apr. 1921

2/11/23
Anr. 1922

Murray & McMahan

1/22/22

1/22/23

Oppenheim Bros.

At present

Indefinite

operating

Pilgrim Clothing Co.

Feb. 1922

Feb. 1923

Royalty Clothing Co.

2/2/22

2/2/23

Rogers-Snow Co.

Dec. 1921

Dec. 19?2

Samet & Wasserman

At present

Indefinite

operating

Shenkel & Son

"

««

Simon Coat (Sheepskin)

"

««

Singer-Snow Co.

May 1921

May 1922

A. Shuman Company

June 1921

June 192?

Six Little Tailors

1/13/22

1/13/23

Steinroth

At present

Indefinite

operating

Sullivan Bros.

"

««

Superior Clothing Co.

2/25/22

2/25/23

Trimont Clothing Co.

1/1/22

1/1/23

United Tailoring

At present

Indefinite

operating

Universal Clothing Co.

"

««

Chas. Wagner

1/12/22

1 /12/f"

Tom Wilson Co.

Tan. 1922

.Tar)". 1923

Bushelman Department Stores

At r»re=#>nt

Indefinite

xl

City

.

Association or Firm

People
Affected

Date of
Beginning

Date of
Expiration

'Chicago National Wholesale Tailors 7,028 12/22/19 4/fcl/U

A. E. Anderson
Banner Tailoring Co.
M. Born & Co.
Briede & Rogovsky
Chicago Kahn Bros.
Chicago Tailoring Co.
Churchill & Co.
Continental Tailoring Co.
D'Ancona & Co.
J. C. Gorman & Co.
M. G. Harris & Co.
International Tailoring Co.
Lamm & Co.
Lukone Tailoring Co.
Majestic Tailors
Marks Tailoring Co.
H. M. Marks & Co.
Meyer & Co.
Murphy Bros.
Mutual Tailoring Co.
E. V. Price & Co.
Progress Tailoring Co.
Regent Tailors
Rose & Co.
Ed. Rose & Co.
Royal Tailors
Schoenbrun & Co.
Scotch Woolen Mills
A. L. Singer & Co.
E. E. Strauss & Co.
Strauss Bros.
J. L. Taylor & Co.
H. Wartell & Sons
Whitney Tailoring Co.

Wholesale Clothiers' Assn. 10,925 12/22/19 4/81/22

L. Abt & Sons
Cohn Rissman Co.
Daube Rosenthal & Co.
Alfred Decker & Cohn
Ederheimer Stein Co.
Granert & Rothschild
Hirsh, Wick wire Co.
Chas. Kaufman Bros.
Kuh, Nathan & Fischer
Kuppenheimer & Co.
Leopold, Solomon & Elsendrath
Liebman, Philipson & Wolf
H. M. Lindenthal & Sons
Mayer Bros.
Rosemvald & Weil
Schoenberg Bros.
Schoenfeld Yatter & Co.
J. Schwartz & Sons
Sheahan, Kohn Co.
S. Simon & Co.
S. Spitz & Sons
Stein, Spiesberger & Erman
Stern, Mayer Co.

Independent Firms 22,000 12/22/19 4/31/22

Acme Tailoring System
A. Adelman
Alschuler-Dreyer Co.
American Clothing Co.
American Tailors
Art Tailors
Babson Bros.
Barnett, Ira & Co.
Becker Latin
Becker-Mayer-Becker
Bernstein
Best Tailoring Co.

*Agreement with Hart, Schaffner & Marx, National Wholesale Tailors' Assn., Wholesale
Clothiers Assn., and the rest pf the Chicago Market renewed, to be effective from May 1,
192? to April 80, 1025, «

xli

City

Association or Firm

People
Affected

Date of
Beginning

Date of

Exi iration

'Chicago Independent Firm*
(continued) Blair & Ca*

Blecha,

Bloomenthal & rr-.il

Breyer Brothers

Breyer-Meyer Co.

Broccolo Bros., Inc.

Chicago Custom Garment Co.

Clubfellow Tailoring Co.

Cohn, A. H. & Co.

Cohn Bros.

Cohen, I.

Continental Clothing Co.

Cooper Smith Co.

Cosenza, Sam

Diamond Tailoring Co.

Dorr-Alan Custom Garment Co.

Elias, A. J. & Co.

Elman, H. A. & Co.

Faultless Tailoring Co.

Feldman Bros.

Feldman, M. & Sons

Fogel Bros.

Gerard Tailors

Getzoff, Fred

Goldman Tailoring Co.

Grant Tailoring Co.

Grossman Bros.

Gunkel & Novy Co.

Guszkowski, Harry, Co.

Guthman Bros.

Harris Freeman & Co.

Hamburg, Bert & Co.

Harris, Jos. & Co.

Hart, Schaffner & Marx

Heyman, G. & S. Co.

Hoffman & Potter

Holz, M. & Co.

Hub, The (H. C. Lytton & Co.)

Ideal Clothing Co.

Isadore, Irving, Co.

Joint Tailors Corp.

Keystone, The. Tailoring Co.

Klein, S. & Co.

Kling Bros.

Knapp Co., B. & A.

Koski Tailoring Co.

Langendorf Clothing Co.

Leeds Woolen Mills

Prosterman & Branson

Levy, Max & Co.

Lewis Bros.

Lewis-Sime-Cohen

Lieberman & Starr

Lincoln Tailoring Co.

Lipman & Lipman

Maier-Lavaty Co.

Marks & Brown

Marver & Graffman

Midland Custom Pants Works

Midwestern Tailoring Co.

Montyband Co.

Morgenthau Bros.

National Custom Gar. Workers

Newman & Co.

North American Tailoring Co.

Oxford Hand Tailoring Co.

People's Tailoring Co.

Perfection Clothing Co.

Perlstein Co., The

Personal Service Tailoring Co.

Pike, W. J. & Co.

Platke Bros. Co.

Rosenthal Tailoring Co.

•Agreement with Hart, Schaffner A Marx, National Wholesale Tailors' Assn., Wholesale
Clothiers' Assn., and the rest of the Chicago Market renewed to b« effective from May 1.
1922 to April 80, 1928,

xiii

City

Association

or Firm

People
Affected

Date of
1 Beginning

Date of

Expiratioi

tChicago
(continued)

Independent Firms

Rothschild, M. L.

& Co.

Ruhwiedel & Behrens

Samuels Clothing Mfg. Co.

Samuels Tailoring Co.

Shaunberg Tailoring Co.

Scheyer & Co.

Sell Bros. Co.

Shea-Aaron & Co.

Shieldtex

Samuel S. Simon Co.

Sitron, A. & Co.

Square Tailoring Co.

Stagg Tailoring Co.

Standard Apparel Co.

Standard Custom Garment Co.

Statenback

Steinberg, B.

Suffrin, David

Sumner, L. & Son

Tailors Service Co.

Turner Bros.

Union Woolen Mills Co.

United Custom Garment Workers

Wallen-Hass & Bererer

Wabash Tailoring
Weihe-Haffler
Weisbach Bros.
Western Uniform
Williams, S. D.
Witkowsky, J.
Wozniak & Co.
Yatter, Samuel &

Co.

Co.

Co.

Exclusive Spongers and Examiners
Michael-Kohn
United Sponging Co.
H. Selz & Son
Improved Sponpring Co.
R. Hoffman & Co.
Empire Sponging Co.

250 Contract shops

Cincinnati American Art Tailoring Co.*

A. Block, & Co.
Frieberg Clothing Co.
Globe Tailoring Co.*

60 9/25/19 4/30/22

200 9/25/19 4/30/22

60 11/8/19 4/30/22

300 9/15/19 6/30/22

Cleveland Manufacturers' Assn.

Cohen Bros. & Halle (incl. cont.) 80

Douglas Tailoring Co. 100

Modern Tailors (incl. cont.) 65

National Tailors 100

Scotch Woolen Mills 90

3/1/22

3/1/23

Independent Firms

*Alert Clothing

10

"

*De Luxe

12

"

*Liberty

30

"

•Mitchell

R

" '

•Nobby

30

" '

"Superior

18

Hamilton *Farrar Co.

10

At present Indefinite

operating

Firth Co., Ltd.

97

8/19/21 4/30/22

tAgreement with Hart. Schaffner & Marx, National Wholesale Tailors' Assn., Wholesale
Clothiers Assn., and the rest of the Chicago Market renewed to be effective from May 1,
1922 to April 30, 1925.

"Agreement renewed to be effective May 1, 1922 to April SO, 1925.

xliii

City

Association or Firm , u.lt

Date of Date of
Beginning Expiration

Indianapolis

August Julian Tailoring Co.

6/30/19 6/30/22

tKahn Tailoring Co. 700

•'

Leon Tailoring Co. 25

Feb. 1922

Kansas City

Midwest Tailoring Co. 75

At present Indefinite

operating

Kansas City Custom 125

At present Indefinite

Garment Co.

operating

Los Angeles

R. Fierman 20
Singer & Silverberg 44

12/20/21 12/30/22
12/2/21 12/2/22

Universal Tailoring Co. 39

10/22/21 10/22/22

Louisville

*M. Cohen 30

At present Indefinite

operating

'Mann's Vest Shop 28

«

*Sherman Clothing Co. 300

Lynn

17 Merchant Tailors 150

1/26/22 1/26/23

Milwaukee

David Adler & Sons Clothing Co 700

8/1/19 May 1922

I. Barnett 40

1/10/20 Feb. 1923

English Woolen Mills 65

8/1/19 May 1922

Friend & Marks Clothing Co.

8/1/19

Lehrmann Aarons Clothing Co 100

8/1/19

Moritz & Winter Clothing Co 175

8/1/19

Ottenstein Bros. & Webber 30

7/1/19

Scottish Woolen Mills 30
Harry Simon & Son 25

1/5/20 12/31/23
1/10/20 Feb. 1923

Zucker & Weinshell Mfg. Co. 70

8/1/19 May 1922

*8 contract shops 175

Aug. 1919 May 1922

Montreal

Clothing Manufacturers' Assn.

Christie Clothing

6/1/21 5/31/22

Fashion Craft

" ••

Fels & Lippe

44 "

Freedman Co. 250

" ••

B. Gardner & Co. 300

" "

Gariepy & Frank 35

" "

S. Gold 25

" ••

S. Kellert & Son 300

<• «

S. Levinson Son & Co. 250

«« «

J. W. Peck 250

« «

Rubinstein Bros. 70

"

Independent Firms

*Kaplan Samuelson Co.

" •«

Robinson Co. 70

" ••

Sterling Clothing Co. 150

" •'

H. Vineberg 250

** «•

7 Firms 205

«« «•

4 contract shops 115

New York Clothing Manufacturers' Assn.

Mark L. Abrahams & Bros.
Cohen & Lang
Driesen, Meyer & Oransky
Eisenberg & Settel
Empire Novelty Clothing Co.
Frankenstein Bros.
J. Friedman & Co., Inc.
Ferdinand Kuhn Co.
Lipps Brothers

2052

6/3/21

5/31/22

fAgreement renewed to be effective from May 1, 1922 to April 30, 1925.
*Mutual Understanding

xliv

City

Association

or Firm

People
Affected

Date of
Beginning

Date of

Expiration

New York Clothing
(continued) Samuel

Manufacturers' Assn.
W. Peck & Co.

Samuel Rosenthal & Bros
Schwartz & Jaffee. Inq.
J. Skolny & Co.
Steinfeld Tailoring Co.
Ben Wiener & Co.
Zeeman & Grossman
Ulman Brothers

80 Independent Inside Shops
818 Contract Shops
30 Palm Beach Shops

Shirt Manufacturers* Assn.

Abrams & Marcus
Alexander & Co., Inc.
Alperin. Strauss & Co.
American Shirt Co.
Atkin & Hartman
Auerbach & Sons, M.
Beacon Shirt Co.
Berger Shirt Co., Harry
Breslin Shirt Co.
Broom & Newman
Cohen & Son, Jacob
Dexter Shirt Co.
Drew & Lipke
Dryfoos, Arthur L.
Finkelstein, Hyman
Freezer & Son, J.
Goldstein & Co., A.
Herman Co., Joseph
Leaser & Oppenheimer, Inc.
Lieberman & Co., David
Liondale Shirt Co.
Luery & Co., J.
Lustberg, Nast & Co.
Noveck & Co., S.
Rochelle Co., H. S.
Rosen & Co., M. H.
Rotary Shirt Co.
Savada Bros.
Shirtcraft Co., The
Silberstein & Sons, J. D.
Silver & Kramer
S. & W. Shirt Co.
Tuxedo Shirt Co.
Unterberg & Co., I.
Wallach & Co.
Westchester Shirt Co.

75 contract shops
4 independent inside shops

Children's Clothing

157 inside shops
347 contract shops

3C50

28552

2000

1800

1/16/22

1/31/21

3000
120

2/1/22

2/1/23

10000 At present Indefinite

operating

Norwich

*Blue Star Overall Co.

*Durable Pants Co.
*Kadish Brothers & Levy

15

At present Indefinite
operating

Philadelphia

*102 Contract Shops
*23 Inside Shops
*Snellenberg

1500
700
600

1/1/22

Rest of Season

Pittsburgh 23 Firms

(Contractors) (17 in Contractors' Assn.)

350 3/1/22

3/1/23

*Verbal union understanding

xlv

City

Association or Firm

People
Affected

Date of
Beginning

Date of
Expiration

fRochester

Clothiers' Exchange

(Including Contractors)

August Bros.
L. Black & Co.

150
325

5/30/20

5/30/22

Dinkelspiel

100

««

"

Goodman & Suss

600

«

••

Hershberg Co.

110

"

Hickey Freeman

1000

«•

L. Holtz & Son

110

M

Knopf & Sons

100

M

Lears, Prinz & Mandel

85

••

Levy Bros, and Adler, Inc.

1200

••

McGraw, Benjamin & Hayes

200

"

Rosenberg Bros.

2150

«'

Steefel-Strauss & Connor

5

"

Stein-Bloch Company

1250

"

Independent Firms

Bieber Clothing Co. (Contr.)

100

At present

Indefinite

Lefkowitz & Levine (Contr.)

75

operating

*National Clothing Co.

200

"

"

St. Louis

*Karp's Pants Shop

35

At present

Indefinite

operating

'Perfect Clothing Co.

25

St. Paul

Gordon & Ferguson

165

June, 1919

12/31/22

and

S. A. Green

16

"

••

Minneapolis

H. Harris & Co.

60

"

"

B. W. Harris Mfg. Co.

40

"

"

Northern Fur Co.

18

••

"

M. L. Rothschild

10

"

"

St. Paul Garment Mfg. Co.

55

J. T. Schuster
Slavin Fur Company

8
20

June, 1919

12/31/22

Tailor Lee

20

"

••

Twin City Costume Garment Co.

35

Feb. 1921

Indefinite

Western Mfg. Co.
T. W. Stevenson Co.

15
18

June, 1919

12/31/22

Syracuse

Dolan Ferrie

300

10/17/21

7/1/23

*N. Peters Co.

60

At present

Indefinite

(except cutting room)

operating

*Wm. Rossman Co.

50

Toronto

Clothing Manufacturers' Assn.

2500

At present

Indefinite

Beauchamp & How

operating

Berger Tailoring Co.
House of Hobberlin
W. R. Johnston & Co.
S. King & Sons
Lowndes Co.
North American Tailors
Punchard Birrell
Randall & Johnston
Regent Tailors
Rex Tailoring
M. Stone Mfg.

Independent Firms
Empire Clothing Co.
J. J. Follett
Toronto Clothing

tAgreement renewed to be effective from May 1, 1922 to April 30. 1925.
•"Verbal union understanding

xlvi

City

Association or Firm

People
Affected

Date of
Beginning

Date of

Expiration

Utica

Rubin & Comisky

45

8/24/21

Indefinite

*Vineland T. Belsh

20

At present Indefinite

operating

Cutlers

40

< <

Elm Clothing Co.

150

«

Margolin & Co.

35

• •

Vineland Coat Co.

99

' •

Vineland Trouser Co.

40

'Verbal union understanding

SUMMARY OF AGREEMENTS
April 1, 1922

City

No. Firms

No. People
Affected

Baltimore

248

7450

Boston

5500

430

40000

18

1495

26

2720

New York

1217

49174

Philadelphia

12<5

2800

19

7980

Toronto

15

2500

15 Other Centers

75

3875

Total 24 cities . ...

2227

12344!

The agreements included in the tables are only those of which there is record in the
national office. Many informal agreements between local organizations and manufacturers
have not been considered in compiling the above statistics.

DECISIONS OF THE IMPARTIAL
ARBITRATION MACHINERY

In all of the important clothing markets the agreements entered
into between the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and in-
dividual manufacturers, or with associations or groups of manufac-
turers, provide for the establishment of impartial arbitration ma-
chinery for the review of cases of discipline and discharge, adjust-
ment of grievances, and interpretation of provisions of the agreements.

In the table following are given the cases decided by the various
impartial boards, classified to indicate the type of questions which
have arisen and have been brought to these boards for adjudication.
In all the markets, about two thousand cases have been formally
decided by these labor adjustment boards during the past two years.

The largest single group of cases involved review of discipline
already imposed upon workers or cases where charges had been made
and authority to impose disciplinary action requested. There were
862 such cases, and in 169 cases the worker was discharged. On the
other hand, in 136 cases it was found that the worker was not at fault
and he was reinstated with pay for the time lost while suspended
from work. In 346 cases the impartial chairman found that discharge
was too severe a penalty and the worker was reinstated to his former
position, losing, however, pay for the time during which he was
suspended. In six cases the union itself and not the employer was
asked to impose discipline. And in 183 cases the worker was "other-
wise disciplined" - placed on probation, reprimanded, required to
apologize, etc.

It will be noted in examining the table, that those cases involving1
the discipline of the "shop chairman," who is the representative of
the workers in the shop, are grouped separately. The reason for this
is that the shop chairman, because of his official position, is reeard^d
as having a special status and ordinarily the employer may not take
summary action with respect to disciplining him. In case n complaint
is lodged against the shop chairman, either because of l-n* action as
shop representative or as a worker no disciplinary action is taken
until the trade board has had an opportunity to review the case and
to impose discipline, The specie1 status Driven the shop chairman
is for the purpose of adding to the dignity of the position as a re-
presentative of the union workers in the shop.

The second largest croup of cases concerns the adjustment of
wa^es and of -piece work rates. ~Wa<res for week workers, earning
"norms" to serve as a basis for pi^c^ worV rates, and piece work
rates are in the first instance fixed bv direct negotiation between
the union and the employer. In some houses a price committee, con-
sisting of representatives of the union and the employer is regularly
constituted to perform this function. However, in certain cases

xlviii

(though comparatively few) no agreements on wages and rates were
secured, and the trade board was asked to make decision. The
number of cases of this kind for all markets was 192. A much
larger group of cases concerning wages is included under the general
head "protection of earnings." By that is meant the adjustment of
week wages or piece work rates in line with the principle established
that the workers' earnings may not be diminished by reason of a
change initiated by management. There were approximately 400
cases of this kind decided in the various markets during the past two
years and they included cases arising out of changes in specifications,
changes in the basis of payment from week to piece, transfer from
one shoip to another or from one operation to another, and payment
for time lost by the worker because of mis-management on the part
of the employer or his agent. Another important group of wage
cases concerns the adjustment of rates or of wages to the standard
of the prevailing rate or the market level. There were 140 of these
cases involving the standardization of earnings for the same effort
and skill throughout the market.

In the table under the heading "Production Standards" have
been included only those cases involving the fixing and defining of
standards and classifications. Cases where failure to obtain the
standard or to follow specifications were cited as a cause for discipline
are included under discipline of workers above and are omitted here.

A^out one-sixth of all the eases involved the worker's right to
the job and are included under a general head in the table of "Em-
ployment." In all cases the union worker is entitled to preference in
hiring, discharge, transfer from shop to shop, promotion, etc. Cases
involving these questions are included under "Preference." A
second important right of the worker is that he share in the work
of his section equally with the other workers during slack periods,
and that he be subject to no greater lay-off than his fellows. The
number of cases involving the rights of the worker in the administra-
tion of lay-offs, division of work and similar matters may be found
in the table under the heading ' ' Administration of Lay-Offs. ' ' There
were 95 of such cases, or about one-third of all "employment" cases.

Another important right of the worker is that he shall not be
deprived of any work normally done by him or his section or his shop.
Any action taken which results in sending eleswhere work ordinarily
done by a particular worker or his section lessens that worker's oppor-
tunities to remain employed and thus affects earnings. Cases of this
kind of which there were 71 from 1920 to 1922 adjusted by the im-
partial machinery in all the markets are included under the head
"Workers' Claim to the Work."

Under the head "Working Conditions" are included cases dealing
with home work, sanitation, etc. Of the 21 cases, many of them
relate to home work in Rochester. In that city the agreement of 1920
provided for abolition of home work on May 1, 1921, and a number of
cases arose when the change was put into effect.

In seven cases under the head, "Union Activities", the questions
involved were the right of the union to distribute notices in the shops,
collect dues and carry on other union activities during working hours.

xlix

DECISIONS— April 1, 1920 - March 31, 1922.

Subject

Baltimor-

Chicago
Trade
Board

Chicago
HS&M.
Trade
Board

Montreal

New
York

Roche stei

Total

DISCIPLINE OF
WORKERS
By disposition of case:
Discharged

1

3

74

56

5

6

25

1G9

Reinstated without pay
for full or part time
suspended

3

135

151

4

14

39

34U

Reinstated with pay
for time lost or credit
on lay off

44

81

4

7

1S6

Request to discipline
worker denied

14

'

7

1

23

Union ordered to im-
pose proper discipline

4

2

6

Otherwise disciplined

2

90

54

1

5

31

183

Charge:*

Failure to meet union
obligations

11

3

1

16

Refusal to do work as
directed
(dispute re specifica-
tions)

29

95

2

126

Low Production

f-:

41

40

2

4

9

N

Poor Work

1

62

45

2

9

20

189

r- -.
Insubordination

36

16

3

4

6

65

Improper language and
conduct

4

54

51

1

10

21

141

Absence without leave,
notice, or permission

19

12

1

2

84

Poor attendance or
habitual tardiness

2

12

12

3

1

SO

Miscellaneous

18

21

O

4

14

S9

DISCIPLINE OF EM-
PLOYER OR HIS
AGENTS
Discharge or suspen-
sion of foreman

•

5

1

1

Fine, apology.demotion,
transfer, reprimand,
removal from office

34

12

1

2

16

I
65

1

Request for discipline
denied

2

2

i

4

*Cases in which vor* «rs are rited for discipline because of stoppage are
general head "Stoppages and Lockouts."

included under the

Subject

Baltimore

Chicago
Trade
Board

Chicago
H S & M
Trade
Board

Montreal

New
York

Rochester

Total

DISCIPLINE OF SHOP
CHAIRMAN
As shop chairman

30

13

3

6

62

As worker

11

6

2

1

1

21

By disposition of case :
Discharged

4

1

1

6

Reinstated with pay
for time lost or re-
quest for discipline de-
nied

14

1

1

1

2

19

Reinstated without pay
for lost time

3

1

1

1

6

Removed from position
as shop chairman

6

5

1

2

14

Otherwise disciplined

14

12

1

1

28

WAGES: EARNINGS
Piece work rates fixed

11

70

15

2

58

1B6

Other rates

'

16

16

3

36

Protection of earnings
(Section and individual)
Change from week
to piece

3

34

3

30

.

70

Change in specifica-
tions

5

77

29

2

54

167

Payment for time lost

2

13

10

1

1

4

SI

Other

9

n

u

4

2

18

62

Pay for overtime, holi-
days, vacation, etc.

20

3

23

Miscellaneous
Adjustments for indi-
viduals — wage rates or
earnings

',
'
3

23

31

11

68

I

Restriction on indivi-
dual bargaining

i

I

15

1

3

.19

Manufacturers' respon-
sibility for contractors'
v/aeres

1

1

1

2

Method of payment

1

5

5

Adjustment to market
level or prevailing rate

I
3

!

74

13

1

3

4(5

140

Subject

Baltimore

Chicago
Trade
Board

Chicago
II S & M
Trade
Board

Montreal

New
York

Rochester

Total

PRODUCTION STAND-
ARDS: Fixing and de-
fining standards and
specifications

21

24

37

3

2

23

110

HOURS OF WORK

1

4

2

7

EMPLOYMENT
Preference in hiring:,
discharge, etc.

1

51

20

1

2

11

86

Administration of lay-
offs, division of work,
etc.

6

45

22

1

6

16

96

Reduction of working
force, abolition of
shop, etc.

2

16

6

1

4

7

36

Worker's right to job
after sickness or other
absence

18

8

4

1

2

32

Miscellaneous

6

4

2

11

10

33

WORKERS' CLAIM TO
THE WORK
Diversion of work to
non-union workers and
non-nnion firms

1
2

!

20

6

1

1

2

32

Diverting work from
one section to another
or one contractor to
another

5

2

7

1

15

Diverting work from
inside to contract shop

19

•

5

1

24

1

WORKING CONDI-
TIONS
Regulation of home
work

1

7

7

Apprentices

1

5

3

I

1

1

10

|

Other working con-
ditions

1

3

i

I

4

UNION ACTIVITIES
Collection of dues and
other funds, and other
union activity

1

4

3

!

!
I
!

7

JURISDICTION OF
MANAGEMENT
Transfer of work ot
workers and changes
in operation

! 2

!

I
!
12

1

13

1

!

1

1

i

!
!

13

I
40

!

Other

' o

I
9

9

!

1

3

i
i 24
f

lii

Subject

Baltimore

Chicago
Trade
Board

Chicago
H S& M
Trade
Board

Montreal

New
York

Rochester

Total

STATUS OF PARTIES
UNDER AGREEMENT
Workers

2

8

5

2

17

Union Officials

1

1

2

Manufacturers' respon-
sibility for contractors'
wages and workers
(included under wages)

3

•

4

Employers and agents

1

4

2

7

PROCEDURE AND
IMPARTIAL
MACHINERY
Including right to hold
garments for investi-
gation

'

10

11

2

3

27

Stoppages and lockouta 1

i |

76

32

2

24

139*

*This includes 111 CSBPR in which stoppage is given as cnnse for discipline

DISCIPLINE comprises all forms of penalties, imposed on or asked for workers, union
officials, or employers, including discharge, suspension, removal from office, probation,
reprimand, transfer, fines, etc.

DISCIPLINE OF WORKERS covers all cases in which penalty is asked for or imposed on
the workers by the employer. In the table are given the charges against the workers
for which discipline is asked.

DISCIPLINE OF SHOP CHAIRMAN includes all cases of penalty asked for or imposed
on the shop chairman, either as a worker or as a union official.

DISCIPLINE OF EMPLOYER OR HIS AGENTS includes all cases in which penalty is asked
by the union for the employer or his agents, including contractors.

WAGES: EARNINGS includes all cases dealing with (1) fixing of rates; (2) the protection
of earnings, i. e., adjustment of rates to maintain customary earnings when changes
are made by management in methods and specifications, or because of loss to worker
resulting from errors by management; (3) adjustment of rates to market standard or
prevailing rate ; (4) payment for overtime, holidays, etc. ; (5) miscellaneous cases
including methods of payment, review of individual bargaining, etc.

PRODUCTION includes all cases in which standards and specifications are fixed and interpreted.

EMPLOYMENT covers all cases involving the right of the worker with regard to hiring,
discharge, transfer, lay-offs, etc.

WORKERS' CLAIM TO THE WORK comprises all cases where the worker, his section, or
shop, is deprived of work to which he or it is properly entitled.

WORKING CONDITIONS covers cases dealing with home work, apprentices, sanitation, and
other working conditions.

UNION ACTIVITIES includes all cases relating to the activity of the union in the shop.

JURISDICTION OF MANAGEMENT involves cases defining the right of the employer to
initiate changes in operation methods, transfer of work or workers, except where other-
wise indicated.

STATUS OF PARTIES includes cases in which is determined whether workers, union officials
or employers or their agents come within the scope of the agreement, and are pi'operly
under the jurisdiction of the Impartial Machinery.

PROCEDURE AND IMPARTIAL MACHINERY includes all cases relating to procedure
such as right to hold for investigation ; method of initiating discipline, etc.

INDEX

INDEX

Abowitz, J., 96.

Abrahams, Henry, 107.

Abrahams, M. L., 79.

Abrahams & Co., 79.

Abramowitz, Bessie, 304.

Abramowitz, Celia, 87, 96.

Addeo, B., 314.

Adler, Sadie, 315.

Advance, 71, 207, 236, 271, 272, 282,
427; quoted, 20-22, 26-27, 32, 44-
45, 52-54, 66-70, 70-71, 80-81, 112-
115, 121-125, 171-172, 175-176, 191-
192, 198-199, 273-275, 291.

Advisory board, 33.

Affiliation with other labor organiza-
tions, 410.

Agreements, Baltimore, 109-112; Bos-
ton, 99-101, 106; Chicago, 138-
141; Cincinnati, 175; Cleveland,
167; Kansas City, 183; Louisvilln,
177; Montreal, 211; New York,
7, 10, 13, 33, 35, 82, 98; New York
shirtmakers, 208-209; Philadel-
phia, 116; Rochester, 151-153,
161-165; Syracuse, 193; Twin
Cities, 184; administration of,
137, 140, 152; table, xxviii-xlvi.

Agress, Julius, 162, 315.

Akron, Ohio, 168.

Albert, S., 108.

Alfred Decker & Colin, 336.

Algus, H. J., 235.

Allen, M., 199.

Allentown, Pa., 187.

Alliance of Needle Trades Workers,
231-237, 334, 355.

Allied Shoe Workers of Boston, 107.

Allin, B., 120.

Alonge, Frank, 85.

Amalgamated Band, 135, 297, 298, 308,
310.

Amalgamated Banks, 238-239, 296, 334,

417.
Amalgamated Children's Nurseries,

382,
Amalgamated Libraries, 133, 242-243,

254, 296.
Amalgamated Temples, 119, 133, 240-

242, 296, 334.
Amalgamated Textile Workers of

America, 312.
Amalgamated women, 112-115, 176,

178, 185.

Amalgamation of local unions, 381.
Amalgamation of needle trades

unions, 230-237, 301, 333, 384-387.
American, New York, quoted, 235.
American Art Tailoring Co., 175.
American Federation of Labor, 114,

123, 125, 147, 160, 175, 176, 177,

231, 235, 261, 341.
American Men's and Boys' Clothing

Manufacturers' Association, 7.
American plan, 5, 182, 191.
Amols, Alexander, 96.
Amsterdam, Holland, 124-125, 271.
Antell, L., 96.
Antin, Benjamin, 96.
Apprenticeship, regulation, 153.
Arbitration, Baltimore, 109-110, 112;

Boston, 99-100; Chicago, 130-133,

141; Montreal, 211-212; New

York, 13, 33, 82-83; New York

shirtmakers, 208; Rochester, 153-

154, 157-159, 163; Toronto, 214.
Arcario, M., 86.
Arlauskilnie, Mrs. M., 162.
Arnone, Paul, 182, 183, 221, 222, 314.
Artoni, G., 86, 115, 120, 190, 193, 194,

213.

Arup, William P., 271.
Ashcraft, Mabel, 315, 411.

Ivi

INDEX

Assessments, Lockout Resistance
Fund, 30-31; Reserve Fund, 293-
294; Russian famine relief, 276-
280; strike, 392.

Assistance from sister organizations,
Akron, 168; Boston, 106-108; Lon-
don, 216-217; Louisville, 178;
Pittsburgh, 175; Rochester, 160.

Audet, E. J., 213, 217.

Auditing Department, 270.

Auerbach, H., 315, 343.

Australia, message from, 282-284.

Austria, 428-429.

B

Baccaro, John, 162.

Backer, Sam, 314.

Bag and Burlap Workers, Boston, 307.

Bainbridge, Isaac, 213, 215, 216.

Baker, Karl, 181, 314.

Baker, Ray Stannard, 73.

Baldwin, Roger, 256.

Baltimore, Md., 109-116, 143, 379.

Baltimore Clothing Manufacturers'

Association, 118,

Bandler, William A., 23, 52, 78-80.
Bankers, 6.

Barnes, Charles B., 73.
Baroff, Abraham, 234.
Barrash, L., 87.
Barres, E., 108.
Barron-Anderson Co., 106.
Barry, J., 190.
Bash, Harry, 85.
Bashwitz, Sol, 79.
Basolis, Giuseppe, 191.
Batt, Dennis, 255, 256.
Battle, George Gordon, 78.
Bauer, Jacob, 162.
Baum, Louis, 85.
Bayer, Isik, 315, 385.
Bayonne, N. J., 187.
Beard, Charles A., 261.
Bebchick, M., 103.
Beck, Joe, 314, 343.
Beckerman, Abraham, 313, 323, 385,

396, 419, 430.

Beginners, wages of, 153, 183, 381.
Behm, Al., 314, 316.

Uekampis, J. A., 430.

Belfast, Me., 106.

Bell, George L., 53.

Bellanca, August, 86, 115, 120, 18G,

221, 222, 223, 234, 311, 325, 430.
Bellanca, Dorothy Jacobs, 87, 112,

115, 190, 195.

Bellanca, Frank, 86, 115, 120, 288, 430.
Belles, Anthony, 314.
Bendik, Anna, 313.
Bendokaites, J., 315.
Benedict, Victor, 86, 270.
Benjamin, M., 108.
Berardinelli, Nick O., 135, 297.
Piercovitch, Attorney, 211.
Berg, Goldie, 314, 343.
Berger, Raphael, & Wile, 191.
Berkowitz, J., 199.
Berman, Ely, 186.
Bernhardt, Business Agent, 170.
Bernheimer, C. L., 78.
Bernstein, Brother, 347.
Bernstein, H., 85, 120.
Bernstein, Ida, 162.
Bernstein, R., 213.
Berson, Meyer, 314.
Bertelli, G., 255.
Bettelheim, L., 314, 343.
Bigelow, Herbert C., 135.
Bijur, Judge, 43, 44, 50.
Biller, Nathan, 315, 336.
Billings, Warren K., 322, 341.
Billings & Johnson, 106.
Billis, Anthony, 85.
Bing, Alexander H., 88.
Binghamton, N. Y., organization work,

186, 191-192.

Bisnow, Morris, 314, 336.
Blankenhorn, Heber, 86.
Blanshard, Paul, 160, 190, 254, 256,

257.

Blatchford, Robert, 252.
Blaustein, L., 96.
Block, Reuben, 314, 335, 434.
Block, S. John, 313.
Bloom, Harry, 151.
Bloom, Simon, 96.
Blumberg, Hyman, 111, 115, 116, 207,

213, 215, 221, 222, 223, 430, 432-

433.

INDEX

Ivii

Blume, J'., 108.

ISlunianreich, F., 87.

Blumenreich, H., 223, 311.

Blumenreich, M., 87.

Bober Bros., 189.

Bobrowski, Constantino, 314, 336.

Bohemian and Polish papers to be
published weekly, 400.

Bohrer, Frank, 151.

Bolander, C. N., 235.

Borah, William E., 50, 51, 52, 53.

Borinsky, Sarah, 112, 313, 336.

Borzdinsky, Louis, 315.

Boschi, T., 213.

Boston, Mass., 2, 27, 31, 61, 99-108,
111, 112, 127, 131, 141, 143, 160,
167, 170, 175, 207, 224, 248, 250,
265, 267, 290, 291, 294, 302.

Boston Clothing Manufacturers' Asso-
ciation, 99-106, 118.

Bowden, Alfred J., 104, 105, 315. 316.

Boys' wash suit industry, 380.

Braun, William, 315.

Brazis, A., 315.

Bridgeport, Conn., organization work,
187, 190.

Brissenden, Paal, 264.

Broncato, Frank, 85.

Brown, Herbert, 178.

Brown, Morris, 314, 336.

Bruere, Robert W., 86.

Bruno, Concetto, 151.

Bruscato, Charles, 162.

Buck, Robert M., 253.

Buckner, Emory R., 151.

Buciish, J. M., 71.

Buffalo, N. Y., organization work,
193-194, 393.

Burns, Allen T., 73, 160.

Burns, Lyle J., 181.

Burr, Charles H., 415.

Bushelmen, Italian organizer, 378.

Bushelmen's local, jurisdiction, 376.

Cacici, Tina, 86, 87, 106, 120, 190, 194,

209.

Cahan, Abraham, 86, 337-339.
Calabrese, Mary, 169.

California, Los Angeles, 185-186; or-
ganization work, 394.

Call, New York, 202, 206, 317; quoted,
13.

Calvarese, Romeo, 315.

Cambridge, Mass., 151.

Camden, N. J., 187.

Canada, 106; Hamilton, 215; London,
215-217; Montreal, 210-213, 236;
Sherbrooke, 217; Toronto, 214-
215, 266; organization conference,
209.

Canadian Brotherhood of Railroad
Employees, 216-217.

Canadian Organization Conference,
209.

Cancellieri, Frank, 190, 195, 221, 222.

Canton, Ohio, 163.

Capraro, Anthony, 86, 106, 190, 195,
430.

Caracciolo, Tony, 169.

Carlozzi, Joe, 169.

Caroselli, J., 108.

Carrol, Francis P., 104, 315.

Carter, H., 282-284.

Cascarino, Vincenzo, 314.

Catalanotti, J., 85, 223, 314, 336, 385,
434.

Cavaliere, Aristodemo, 120, 314.

Chamber of Commerce of the United
States, 41.

Cernis, William, 314, 343.

Cesarone, Frank, 314, 343.

Chapas, J., 162.

Charkoffsky, Herman, 169.

Charters, cancelled, 228; issued, 227.

Charts, statistical, and graphs, ii-xvii.

Chase, S., 259.

Chernauskas, B., 315, 343.

Cheskiss, J. J., 248, 265.

Chicago, 1, 2, 30, 31, 50, 109, 116, 126-
143, 154, 157, 175, 180, 182, 184,
193, 231, 238, 239, 241, 242, 243,
245, 248, 252-254, 267, 278, 294,
297-298, 304, 305-306, 318-319, 329,
334, 336-337, 340-341, 370, 372, 373,
396-397, 401-403, 415; convention
at, 297-436.

Chicago Federation of Labor, 304,
340.

INDEX

Children's Clothing Workers' Joint
Board, New York, 196-207, 359,
398, 409.

Children's Crusade for Amnesty, 388.

Chmiel, Jake, 315.

Christenson, Edith, 256, 258.

Ciaccio, Salvatore, 162, 315.

Cigar Makers, Boston, 107; sympathy
to imprisoned, 359.

Cincinnati, Ohio, organization work,
170-175, 265, 375.

Cino, Sam, 315.

Cirito, J., 85.

Cities, list of, organized, 228.

Clark, Pauline, 190.

Clem, Lee, 314, 343.

Cleveland, Ohio, organization work,
166-169, 238, 377.

Cloak and suit workers, 107.

Closed shop, 13.

Cloth examiners and spongers, organ-
ization, 376.

Cloth Hat and Cap Makers of North
America, 237.

Clothiers' Exchange, Rochester, 54,
143, 151, 155, 156, 161, 162.

Clothing Trade Association, 7.

Coatmakers' delegation, Chicago, 396.

Coco, Frank, 106, 190, 195.

Cohen, Abe, 151.

Cohen, Alex., Boston, 108, 313, 411.

Cohen, Alex., New York, 315, 430.

Cohen, B., 108.

Cohen, Barney, 169.

Cohen, Charles, 86.

Cohen, Goldman, & Co., 7, 8, 9, 100,
189.

Cohen, Harris, 313, 376, 385.

Cohen, Harry, Baltimore, 313, 434.

Cohen, Harry, New York, 199, 201,
202-205, 206.

Cohen, Jacob, 348.

Cohen, Joe, 313.

Cohen, Lippman, 204.

Cohn-Hlmmel, 194.

Coleman Emil, 162.

Collective bargaining, Baltimore, 109-
112; Boston, 99; Chicago, 130-
143; Cleveland, 167; Montreal,
211-213; New York, 7-13, 78-85;

St. Paul, 184; shirtmakers, 208;
Syracuse, 193; Toronto, 214;
agreements, xxxviii-xlvi; decis-
under, xlvii-lii; proposed aboli-
tion, 400.

Columbia Tailoring Co., 174.

Cominsky, Rose, 162, 315, 343.

Commissary stores in New York lock-
out, 88-89.

Committee of Tellers, 434.

Committee on Appeals and Griev-
ances, 343, 413.

Committee on Co-operation and Bank-
ing, 359, 417.

Committee on Credentials, 303, 313,
347.

Committee on Education, 343, 407.

Committee on Finance, 326, 343, 359,
418.

Committee on Labels, 411, 414.

Committee on Law, 356, 374, 392, 412,
415, 420.

Committee on Miscellaneous Matters,
343, 381, 399, 410, 415, 419.

Committee on Organization, 336, 375,
393.

Committee on Reports of Officers,
335, 357, 374, 398, 408, 414.

Committee on Resolutions, 336, 358,
395, 409, 417.

Committee on Rules, 316, 322.

Commons, John R., 259.

Competition between markets in
wages, 10, 21, 35, 153, 420.

Connecticut, Bridgeport, 187, 190;
Colchester, 187; New Haven,
187, 190; New London, 187, 190;
Norwich, 187, 190; Stamford, 187.

Connelly, John, 107.

Constitution, revision of, 357, 401;
proposed new draft, 437-445.

Contant, Victor, 151.

Conti, Ruffino, 87, 314, 343, 430.

Contract shops, Baltimore, 111.

Contractors, power to change, 10, 35.

Contractors, relations with, 83.

Convention, Baltimore, 109; Boston,
3, 141, 302; Chicago, 297-436:
Nashville, 406; New York chosen

INDEX

lix

for next, 435; date of, 356; ex-
penses of, 356.

Cooper, Bon, 314, 343.

Co-operative Tailor Shop, 178.

Copenhagen, Denmark, 271, 422-424.

Corona, L. I., 207.

Corporation shops, 378, 395.

Country shops, 186-190.

Covin, Jake, 314.

Crane, Irving, 16, 17.

Crane, Walter, 252.

Crapsey, Algernon S., 255.

Craton, Ann Washington, 106, 120,
173, 175, 179, 180, 190, 191, 193.

Crispo, Giovanni, 314.

Crooks, Cenevieve, 314.

Crystal, Harry, 120, 221, 222.

Cunnea, William A., 305-306.

Currick, Samuel, 80.

Cursi, Aldo, 159, 161, 193, 194, 195,
315, 385, 430.

Custom tailors, organization, 378.

Cutler, Sol, vs. New York Shirt Mak-
ers' Joint Board, 413.

Daily Nevvs Record, New York, quot-
ed, 187-1S9.

Daily standards of production, 21.
Dale, James A., 266.
Dalenka, Mr., 374.
Darrow, Clarence, 256, 306-308.
Davis, James J., 238.
De Angelo, A , 85.
De Biase, Anthony, 85.
Debs, Eugene V., 252, 322.
Debs, Theodore, 251, 323.
De Dominicis, Ulisse, 115, 314, 336.
Degus, Bill, 162.
De Hunt, Jerome T., 261.
Deitz, Samuel, 151.
Delehanty, Justice, 73.
De Leon, Solon, 96.
De Luca, Philip, 120, 430.
Denattia, Tony, 162.
Denikin, 274.
De Sabino, 108.
I.*e Sur, 168.
Devonish, A., 315, 343.
Di Angelo, H , 315.

Diamond, Benjamin, 96.

Diamond, E. I., 96.

Di' Blasi, Anthony, 314, 335, 396, 410,

430.

Dickson, John, 314.
Di Maria, Lorenzo, 315, 316, 343.
Di Nardo, Joseph, 162, 315.
Discipline, power to, 10, 35, 137, 163.
Discharge, power to, 21, 29, 137, 161.
Discharge, safeguards against unjust,

3jl, 140, 152, 163.
1'mitrov, 121.
Dolan-Ferrie Co., 193.
Dolnick, Alfred, 314, 336.
Dominion Clothing Co., 213.
Don, Koltnon, 314.
Donations to other movements, 292,

302.

Doser, Brother, 162.
Douglas Tailoring Co., 166-168.
Lriscoll, Jeremiah, 107.
Drivers and helpers, organization,

395.

Dubinsky, A., 112.
Dubovsky, B., 96.
Dumas, P., 271.
Dummer, Paul, 162.
Dunmore Clothing Co., 203-205.
Dunningan, Harry J., 151.
Duquette, Business Agent, 217.
Durant, Will, 259.

Dusevica, Martin, 106, 120, 195, 291.
Dutchess Pants Co., 190.

Eastern Organization Department,
378.

Eastern states, organization cam-
paign, 393.

Eastern Woolen Mills, 185.

Edelsack, B., 96.

Eclelsteia, M., 221, 222.

Edlavitch, Dora, 112.

Education activites, 245-266; exten-
sion, 407; for Polish and Bohem-
ian members, 408; in New York
lockout, 89-96; pamphlets issued
by Education Department,
251.

Elson, L., 216, 217.

Ix

INDEX

Egg Harbor, N. J., 187.

Emmet, Boris, 112.

Employment office, Chicago, 139.

Eneborg, K. G., 285.

Engh, Martin, 314, 335.

Englander, Charles, 85.

Englert, Dora, 162, 315.

Epstein, Morris, 85, 315, 336.

Epstein, S., 96.

Equal division of work, 137, 152, 153,

163.
Equal pay to women for equal work,

109, 358, 397.
Erlanger, Justice, 59.
Ervin, Charles W., 86, 202, 205, 206,

256, 317-319.
Esposito, Pietro, 315.
Essenson, S. J., 96.
Esterkin, Sam, 171, 314, 336.
Evening Post, New York, quoted, 66,

251-252.
Examiners, final, not to be covered by

agreement, 137.

Fader, Isidor, 314.

Falcone, F., 108.

Falkson & Co., 105, 106.

Falls City Clothing Co., 179.

Fancy Leather Goods Workers' Union,
312.

Farsing, Lilly, 303, 314.

Fasone, S., 85.

Federated Press, 344-345.

Federation of independent labor or-
ganizations, 399.

Feinberg, B., 88.

Feinberg, Louis, 86.

Feitelson, L., 86.

Feidmaa, W., 96.

Felsenfeld, Rebecca, 313, 343.

Ferguson, J., 190.

Feuerstein, H., 96.

Fichandler, Alexander, 261.

Fiegro, H. J., 25.

Financial assistance, requests for,
323, 328-325, 340-341, 344-345, 345-
347, 350-351, 361-372, 388, 418.

Fine, Nathan, 262.

Finkelstein, Frank, 86.

Finkelstein, Joseph, 86.

Fiorello, G., 209.

Fisch, Maurice C., 126, 310.

Fisher, Sam, 313.

Fishman & Fishman, 189.

Fitzgerald, B., 162.

Fitzpatrick, John, 341.

Flasinski, Peter, 162.

Fleischauer, George, 151.

Flynn, Elizabeth Gurley, 255, 345-347.

Flynn, Z., 271.

Forster, Leo, 151.

Forty-hour week, 397, 409.

Forty-eight-hour week, 15, 137, 161.

Forty- four-hour week, 2, 3, 82, 138,

153, 164, 184, 282.
Forward, New York, 202, 337-339.
Foster, William Z., 88, 120, 121, 249,

254.

Fournier, Stanislas, 314.
Fox, Anna, 314.
Francato, Michael, 151.
Frank, Alois B., 146, 151.
Frank & Lochner, 194.
Frank & Sons, 189.
Frankel, Philip, 166.
Frankfurter, Felix, 33, 145, 151, 324.
Freeman, N'ew York, quoted, 65.
Freeman, J. L., 259, 262.
Freeman, Jesse, 313.
Friedel, Alex., 313.
Friedman, J1., 315.
Friedman, J. P., 85, 221, 222.
Friedman, Louis, 169.
Friedman & Co., 55, 70, 71, 73, 74
Frieman, M. H., 79.
Frueh, Brother, 337.
Fruhauf, Henry, 80.

Galinsky, S., 151.

Gawthorpe, Mary, 254.

Genelli, F., 10S.

General Defense Committee, o50.

General Executive Board, 28, 30, 108,
115, 130, 132, 149, 205, 209, 231,
245, 267, 272, 276, 277, 279, 293,
422; method of nominating, 392;

INDEX

nominations for, 430; paid offi-
cials on, 420; reports to locals,
375, 412; representation on, 356.

General membership, votes of, 218-223.

Genoral Office, 171, 271; departments
at, 244; building for, 414.

General officers, election, 218-223;
nominations, 429; recall, 356; sal-
ary, 415.

Genis, Sander D., 183, 315, 343, 407,
421, 429.

Genovese, C., 162.

Genovese, D., 108, 315.

Gerson, Jacob, 181, 314, 343.

Giangreco, Peter, 315.

Ginsberg, William, 313.

Giovannitti, Arturo, 86, 195, 249, 253,
256, 389.

Gitchell, Byres H., 11, 15, 16, 52, 53.

Gitlow, Benjamin, 323.

Glasgow, Maude, 96.

Glassburg, J., 96.

Glassman, J., 96.

Giickman, Joseph, 373.

Glickman & Baccaro, 166.

Globe, New York, quoted, 49, 142.

Globe-Democrat, St. Louis, quoted,
344.

Globe Tailoring Co., 175.

Gloucester, Mass., 106.

Goc, Jan, 162.

Gold, Joseph, 85, 207, 221, 222, 315,
335, 357, 374, 384, 385, 398, 408,
409, 414, 420, 430.

Gold Bros., 210.

Goldberg, M., 177.

Goldberg & Sons, 176, 177, 178.

Goldblatt, M., 86.

Golden Rule Shop, 172-174.

Goldman, Barney, 112, 303, 313, 396,
420.

Goldman, E., 96.

Goldman, Joseph L., 297.

Goldman, Sam, 162.

Goldscholl, B., 314, 411.

Goldsmith, Broth3r, 374.

Goldstein, David, 313.

Goldstein, Isaac, 86, 96, 120, 190, 285,
287, 288-290.

Goldstein, M., 96.

Goldstein, Morris, 313.

Gompers, Samuel, 176.

Goodman & Rothschild, 194.

Gooze, George, 315, 336.

Cordon, Harry A., 16, 38, 70, 71.

Gordon, Nathan, 195.

Gordon <5 Ferguson Co. 184.

Gorenstein, Max, 107.

Gosin, R., 93.

Gottlieb, A., 96.

Graff, M., 79.

Grandinetti, Emilio, 172, 175, 430.

Graphs, statistical, and charts, ii-xvii.

Grassi, E., 190.

Graves, Edward, 107.

Greco, Antonio, 86, 190, 315, 336.

Greco, John, 162.

Green, S., 184.

Green, Swift & Co., 215.

Greenberg, H., 85, 87.

Greetings to convention, 310-313, 319-

320, 355-356, 372-373, 387-392, 411-

412.

Grippo, Leone, 315.
Groll, M., 93.
Grossman, Louis, 126.
Grossman, W., 79.
Guastaferri, Angelo, 315.

H

Hadac, Joseph, 313, 411, 414.

Hamburger, Isaac, & Sons, 111.

Hamilton, Canada, organization, 215.

Hamlin, Max, 107.

Hammers, George, 86.

Harburger, Irving, 86.

Harding, Warren G., 41.

Harris & Harris Co., 184.

Harrisburg, Pa., 187.

Hart, Schaffner, & Marx, 54, 133, 142,

143, 299, 318, 373, 402; trade

board, 109.
Hatfield, 3id, 344.
Hauer, Madge, 162.
Haverhill, Mass., 195.
Haverty, Thomas F., 104.
Hayes, J. J., 104, 285, 290-291, 317.
Haymarket affair, 126.

Ixii

INDEX

Headgear Worker, New York, quoted,

237.

Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant
Aid Society, 312.

Heckert, 121.

Heidelberg & Wolf, 15.

Heifferman, S., 86.

Heinie, T. P., 315, 336.

Held, Adolph, 88.

Heller, Harris, 85, 108, 221, 222, 430.

Henderson, Gerald, 151.

Henry, William, 181.

Herald, Akron, quoted, 168.

Herdfeldsr, Fred. D., 151.

Herman, Ben, 315, 316.

Herman, Samuel, 313, 336.

Hershman, Cantor, 93.

Hershkowitz, Abraham, 90, 207, 313,
336, 372, 385.

Herstein, Lillian, 344-345.

Herwitz, Harry K., 86, 133, 212, 267,
268.

Hibben, Paxton, 326-328.

Hillman, Sidney, 12, 15, 17, 24, 48, 52,
55, 86, 111, 115, 116, 120, 132, 135,
138, 143, 146, 151, 156, 161, 179,
180, 181, 194, 203, 209, 213, 215,
233, 234, 237, 253, 256, 261, 272,
277, 278, 299-303, 339, 361-370, 386,
396, 397, 410-411, 414, 420, 421,
429, 435-436.

Hingham, Mass., 106.

Hiring, freedom of, 10, 20, 35, 152, 161,
162.

Hitchman Coal & Coke Co., decision,
57, 73.

Hoan, Daniel W., 181, 349-350.

Hoffman, B., 259.

Hogan, P., 108..

Holiday on anniversary of founding
of organization, 415.

Holidays, legal, pay for, 137, 381, 419.

Hollander, Louis, 167, 169, 195, 291,
430.

Holtz, Max, 155, 160.

Home work, abolition of, 153.

Horowitz, Dave, 314.

Hotchkiss, Willard E., 36, 37, 38, 156.

Hourwich, Isaac, 259.

Howard, C., 255.

Howard, Earl Dean, 7;'..

Howat, Alexander, 135.

Howe, Frederic C., 253.

Hubacek, Frank, 313, 335.

Hudson, N. Y., organization work, 186.

Hugh, J. W., 169.

Huntingtou, Frank, 184.

Hurley, Sadie, 162, 315.

Hylan, John F., 49, 78.

Ibsen, Henrik, 252.

Ideal Clothing Co., 191-192.

Illinois, Chicago, 1, 2, 30, 31, 50, 109,
116, 126-143, 154, 157, 175, 180,
182, 184, 193, 231, 238, 239, 241,
242, 243, 245, 248, 252-254, 267,
278, 294, 297-298, 304, 305-306,
318-319, 329, 334, 336-337, 340-341,
370, 372, 373, 396-397, 401-403, 415.

II Lavoro, 115; quoted, 288-290.

Impartial machinery, abolition of, 410;
restored in New York, 82.

Increased production, 211-212.

Independent Workmen's Circle, 107,
312-313. .

Indiana, Indianapolis, 179-181.

Indianapolis, 179-181.

Individual bargaining, 29.

Individual contracts, 73-75.

Indivdual records of production, 10,
35.

Individual standards of production,
10.

Industrial unionism, 301.

Industrial Workers of the World, 113,
143, 261.

Ingoglia, A., 86.

Injunctions, Akkron, 168; Cincinnati,
170; Montreal, 213; New York,
54-59; table of, xxx-xxxvii.

Insull, Samuel, 327.

International Association of Machin-
ists, 238.

International Clothing Workers' Fed-
eration, 124, 125; conference at
Copenhagen, 422-424.

International congratulations, 120-125.

INDEX

Ixiii

International Council of Trade and
Industrial Unions, 121, 123, 125.

International Federation of Working
Women, 304.

International Fur Workers' Union, 232,
233, 234, 412.

International Hod Carriers, Boston,
107.

International Journeymen Tailors'
Union, 232, 233, 234, 389.

International Ladies' Garment Work-
ers' Union, 96, 107, 231, 233, 234,
271, 387, 345.

International unity of labor organiza-
tions, 398.

lorio, A., 108.

Iron City Trades Council, Pittsburgh,
Pa., 175.

Irving, Bessie, 107.

Isovitz, Hyman, 175.

Italy, 425-428.

Itzkowitz, Jacob, 313.

Jackson, R., 266.

Jacobson, Barney, 86.

Jacobson, Harry. 85, 313, 385.

Jager, Henry, 86.

Jaguet, Frank, 315.

Jersey City, N. J.. 187.

Jewish Bakers' Union, Boston, 107;
thanks to, 398.

Jewish Socialist Federation, Boston,
107.

Johannsen, Anton, 115, 175, 179, 181,
184, 185.

Jones, Paul, 255.

Julian, August, Co., 180.

Jurisdiction, bushelmen's local, 376;
Local 169, appeal on, 414; opera-
tors' and pressers' local, 419.

Kahn, A., 85.

Kahn, R., 96.

Kahn Tailoring Co., 180, 181.

Kallen, Horace M., 253, 259.

Kalushkin, H., 85, 313, 343.

Kaunor, Yudie, 313.

Kansas City, Mo., organization, 183.

Kansas City Custom Garment Co.,

183.

Kantor, Harry, 313.
Kaplan, Max, 235.
Kapper, Samuel, 286, 305, 316.
Katz, H. S., 96.
Katz, Jack, 314, 411.
Katz, Samuel, 85, 86, 315, 335, 421.
Kaufman, Isaac, 315.
Kaufman, Joseph, 265.
Kaufman, Morris, 315, 343.
Kaufman, Morris, Fur Workers'

Union, 235, 412.
Kazan, A. E., 86, 89, 268.
Kegel, I., 314, 343.
Keller, Herman, 162, 315.
Kelley, John E., Sr., 315.
Kelly, Florence, 73.
Kendrick, B. B., 262.
Kentucky, Louisville, 176-179.
Kenyon, William S., 52.
Kessler, Isaac, 314, 316.
Kilpatrick, William H., 259, 262, 263.
King, W. L. Mackenzie, 320.
Kingston, N. Y., 186.
Kirschbaum Co., 119.
Kirstein, Louis E., 146.
Klavans, Morris, 112.
Klein, Myer, 315, 343.
Klimboff, Bennie, 314.
Koffler, Morris, 86, 313.
Kolchak, 274.
Kolchin, Morris, 209.
Koleta, John J., 151.
Kosewitz, 245.

Koslovsky, Morris, 315, 336, 430.
Kramer, C. C., 315, 343.
Kramer, Morris, 169.
Krasowski, Bennie, 162.
Kriaucevicius, John, 314.
Kroeger, John, 315, 343.
Kroll, Jack, 126, 169, 170, 172, 179,

180, 181, 183, 185, 314, 336, 358,
372, 395, 409, 410, 430.

Krzycki, Leo, 86, 115, 120, 169, 179,

181, 182, 183, 184, 185, 194, 195,
256, 348, 400, 430.

Ixiv

Kuppenheimer, B., 336, 373.
Kurzen Bros., 184.
Kuznetz, Louis, 314, 359.
Kwitney, Ben, 180, 181.

Label, distribution of, 415.

Labor League, Boston, 107.

Labor Lyceum, Boston, 107.

Labowitz, L., 108.

Lader, Bernard, 86, 313, 336.

Ladra, Florence, 162.

Laffey, John R., 181.

La Guardia, Fiorello, 86.

Lambert, Jack, 315.

Lamport, Arthur M., 78.

Lanfield, Abraham, 108, 315.

Lapin, Edward, 112.

La Scala, Sam, 314, 419.

Lashinsky, I. M., 96.

Lavit, Samuel, 315.

Lavy, J. Morris, 314.

Lawrence Strike Committee, 391.

Lazinskas, Charles, 300, 316.

Leadership, 398.

Lederman, Louis, 112, 314, 316.

Ledoux, Urbain, 256.

Lefkowitz, Samuel, 234.

Leiserson, William M., 7, 8, 11, 12, 15,

32-40, 53, 71, 73, 83, 99, 109, 112,

131, 133, 152, 153, 155, 157, 159,

160, 166, 211, 213, 259.
Lekavich, Jozas, 314.
Lenin, Nikolai, 327, 366.
Leon Tailoring Co., 180.
Le Pinto, J., 96.
Leppo, Joseph, 86, 314, 343.
Lerman, Frank, 108, 313, 343.
Levin, Ida, 314.
Levin, Max, 259.
Levin Samuel, 126, 129, 135, 138, 184,

213, 221, 222, 223, 253, 254, 297-

298, 371, 415, 430.
Levine, Harry, 169.
Levine, I., 303, 315.
Levine, J., 87.
Levine, Jacob J., 162, 313, 336, 376,

429.

Levine, L., 86.

Levy, H., 120.

Levy, Harry, 161.

Levy, Julius, 79.

Levy, Moe, 86.

Lewiston, Me., 106.

Licastro, Philip, 303, 315, 430.

Lichtenstein, J., 96.

Lifshitz, Hyman, 162.

Lifshitz, J., 189.

Lifshitz, William, 96.

Lifshutz, Hyman, 315, 359.

Liftman Bros., 184.

Lindsay, Katharine, 86, 87, 190, 195.

Liptzin, Samuel, 313, 336.

Liquidation of labor, 3.

Lithuanian paper, editorship, 412, 415.

Lo Bruto, P., 190, 209.

Local officers, annual election, 392.

Locals, uniform laws for, 357.

Lockout Resistance Fund, 28, 132,
179, 186, 224, 278, 293, 301, 309,
330, 402, 421.

Lockouts and strikes, xviii-xxix; see
also names of individual towns
and states; to be avoided during
life of agreement, 152, 163.

Logis, J. A., 221, 222.

London, Canada, organization, 215-
217.

Los Angeles, Calif., organization, 185-

186.
Losovsky, M., 121, 319.

Lotz, Gustave, 151.

Louisville, Ky., organization, 176-179.

Lowe, Caroline A., 350-351.

Lowenthal, Max, 86, 151.

Lubin, S., 96.

Luckman, Max, 314, 316.

Luehr, Marie, 314, 343.

Luxemburg, Rosa, 252.

Lynn, Mass., 195.

M

Machinery, introduction of, 10, 35, 137.
Mack, Eleanor, 268.
Madanick, Harry, 120, 169, 194, 221,
222, 313, 336.

. Li-i.l, LJonjamiii, 86.

ano, Joe, 314, 313.
.an, S. L., 96.

Maine, Belfast, luU; Lewiston, iuG.
Malkin, Jacob, 348.
Management, freedom of, 137, 152,

161.

Mancina, Elvira, 151.
Mandel, Zelig, 314.
Mandelbaum, Hyman, 314, 336.
Manufacturers' Industrial Associa-
tion, 25.

Marcovitz, H., 108.
Marcovitz, Lazarus, 169, 209, 210, 212,

213, 215, 216, 217, 221, 222, 223,

430, 432.

Marcus, J. S., 78.
Margolies, Frank, 86, 313.
Margolis, S., 199.
Marimpietri, Anzuino D., 138, 221, 222,

223, 401, 430, 434.
Markham, Edwin, 252.
Marks, H. M., 345.
Marks, L., 174.
Marshall, Louis, 33.
Marx, Karl, 261.
Maryland, Baltimore, 27, 31, 50, 109-

116, 131, 143, 160, 167, 207, 224,

248, 250, 265, 267, 291.
Masline, Frank, 162.
Mason, F. A., 315, 343.
Massachusetts, Boston, 2, 27, 31, 61,

99-108, 111, 112, 127, 131, 141, 143,

160, 167, 170, 175, 207, 224, 248,

250, 265, 267, 290, 291, 294, 302;

Cambridge, 151; Gloucester, 106;

Haverhill, 195; Hingham, 106;

Lynn, 195; Springfield, 187, 189;

Worcester, 195.
Masselli, M., 108.
Mathieu, T., 213, 217.
Matiosaitis, I., 86.
Maurer, James H., 390.
Maxwell, A., 108.
May Day, 224-227.
Maynard, Fred, 162.
Maynard, James, 151.

INDEX

.\\ oy,

:Jridc, Sylvester, 107.
McCaleb, \V. F., 251
McCechan, Mr., 88.
Mclver, Professor, 2M.
McKay, William, 315, 356, 392, 412,

415, 420.

McAlahon, John J., 315, 335, 434.
McMillan, Professor, 266.
McNamee, John F., 391.
Mecca, J. N., 120.
Medem, Vladimir, 86, 259.
Medical relief in New York lockout,

96-98.

Members leaving trade, status of, 412.
Menken, Fred, 86.
Messina, J., 199.
Meyer. A. W., 132, 138.
Michael, Anthony, 112.
Michaels, Stern & Co., 143, 146, 151,

267.
Michaels-Stern Cutters' Co-operative

Association, 146.

Michaelson, Max, 314, 343, 413, 414.
Michaelson, Morris, 314, 336.
Michailovsky, Dr., 279.
Mid-West Tailoring Co., 183.
Mikite, M., 162.
Milch, Jacob, 88.
Miller, Abraham, 105, 106, 108, 195,

221, 222, 421, 430, 434.
Miller, B., 108.
Miller, C., 108.
Miller, Joseph, 162.
Miller, Julius, 314, 411.
Miller & Co., 111.
Miller Clothing Co., 210.
Million Dollar Defense Fund, 28, 132,

179, 186, 224, 278, 293, 301, 309,

330, 402, 421.

Millis, H. A., 53, 109, 131, 133.
Milton Ochs Co., 170.
Milwaukee, Wis., organization, 381-

182, 265.

Minneapolis, organization, 183-185.
Minneapolis Trades and Labor As-
sembly, 185.
Minnesota, Minneapolis, 183-185; St.

Paul, 183-185.

Ixvi

INDEX

Minnesota Banker, quoted, 41.

Minor, Robert, 320-322.

Missouri, Kansas City, 183; St. Louis,

182483.

Missouri Pants Co., 182.
Mitchel, Broadus, 248, 265.
Molinari, Ralph, 162.
Moll, Simon, 162.
Monat, Peter, 85, 86, 221, 222, 223,

430, 432.

Montague, Jesse, 180, 181, 303, 314.
Montreal, Canada, organization, 210-

213, 376.

Mooney, Thomas J., 322, 341, 347.
Morristown, N. J., 187.
Moscow, Russia, 120, 121-125, 279,

319-320.

Moses, George H., 47, 49, 50, 51.
Moses, Jacob M., 54, 73, 99, 109, 112,

390.

Mosher, A. R., 216, 217.
Movitz, M., 108.
Mullenbach, James, 99, 109.
Muste, A. J., 86, 256.
Mysiewicz, Tony, 314.

N

Naber, F., 161.

Nagreckas, Frank, 300, 316.

Nash, A., Tailoring Co., 172-174.

Nashua, N. H., 106.

Nason, John, 107.

National Association of Manufactur-
ers, 41.

National Education Department, 244-
266.

National Federation of Clothing Man-
ufacturers, 36, 110.

National Reserve Fund, 135, 179, 293-
294.

National Tailoring Co., 169.

National Wholesale Tailors' Associa-
tion, 133.

Nationality of members, 227.

Naumberg, W., 80.

Nearing, Scott, 249, 256, 260.

Needle Trades Amalgamation, 230-
237, 301, 333, 384-387.

Needle Trades Workers' Alliance,
231-237, 334, 355.

Neistein, B., 120.

Nelson, Bertram G., 253.

Nelson, Brother, 374.

Nemser, A., 96.

N'emzer, H., 85.

Neville, A. 169.

New Brunswick, N. J., 187.

New Hampshire, Nashua, 106.

New Haven, Conn., organization work,
187, 190.

New Jersey, Bayonne, 187; Camden,
187; Egg Harbor, 187; Jersey
City, 187; New Brunswick, 187;
Nugent, 190; Passaic, 187, 190;
Paterson, 187; Plainfield, 187;
Raritan, 187; Red Bank, 187,
189; Rutherford, 187; Trenton,
187, 190; Vineland, 88, 174, 187,
190; Woodbine, 187, 189.

New London, Conn., organization
work, 187, 190.

New Republic, New York, quoted, 84-
85.

New York, Binghamton, 186, 191-193;
Buffalo, 193-194, 393; Hudson,
186; Kingston, 186; New York, 7-
98, 99, 100, 108, 111, 112, 116, 124,
132, 154, 155, 160, 167, 186, 187,
189, 190, 193, 194, 207, 224, 240,
243, 247, 248, 250, 252, 254, 258-
265, 278, 294, 299, 330, 376, 377,
381, 435; Poughkeepsie, 186, 190,
191; Port Chester, 186; Roches-
ter, 50, 71, 109, 116, 131, 133, 143-
165, 166, 193, 248, 250, 252, 254,
267, 278, 294; Syracuse, 192-193;
Troy, 186, 190, 191, 207; Utica,
186, 191, 194-195, 379.

New York City, 7-98, 99, 100, 108, 111,
112, 116, 124, 132, 154, 155, 160,
167, 186, 187, 189, 190, 193, 194,
207, 224, 240, 243, 247, 248, 250,
252, 254, 258-265, 278, 294, 299,
330, 376, 377, 381, 435.

New York Clothing Manufacturers'
Association, 7, 8, 9, 12, 15, 16, 17,
19, 23, 26, 51, 52, 79, 118.

i:\DEX

Ixvii

Nitzberg, M , Go, m

NLum, J. W., 255.

Nockels, Edward, 340.

Nolan, Ed., 341.

Norwich, Conn., organization work,

187, 190.

Novodvor, Hymaii, 87, 314.
Novy, Albert, 112.
Nugent, X1. J., 190.

O'Brien, Charles, 255.

O'Connor, Julia, 107.

Officers, general, election, 218-223;
nominations, 429; recall, 356;
salary, 415.

Official publications, 229.

Officials, paid, prohibition of three
terms, 392.

Ogburn, William F., 73.

Ohio, Akron, 168; Canton, 168; Cin-
cinnati, 170-175, 265, 375; Cleve-
land, 166-169, 238, 377.

O'Keefe, Daniel, 151.

Olgin, M. J., 262, 382-384.

Oliver, John, 169.

O. B. C. Co., 193.

One Big Union, 235.

Open shop, 5, 40, 73, 74, 85, 101, 105,
106, 107, 171, 173, 184, 213, 226,
239, 284, 320, 329.

Orenstein, M. E., 96.

Organization, Baltimore, 109-116;
Binghamton, 191-192; Boston, 99-
108; Buffalo, 193-194; Canadian
Organization Conference, 209;
Chicago, 126-143; Cincinnati, 170-
175; Cleveland, 166-169; Hamil-
ton, 215; Indianapolis, 179-181;
Kansas City, 183; London, 215-
217; Los Angeles, 185-186; Louis-
ville, 176-179; Massachusetts, 195;
Milwaukee, 181-182; Minneapolis..
183-185; Montreal, 210-213; New
York, 7-98; New York shirtmak-
ers, 207-209; Philadelphia, 116-
120; Pittsburgh, 175-176; Roches-
ter, 143-165; St. Louis, 182-183;

St. Paul, 183-185; Sherbrooke,
.. racuse, 192-193; Toronto,
214-215; Utica, 194-195.

Organizers, appointment of, 392; max-
imum salary, 374; women, 375.

Orr, Futina, 169.

Orteweiu, Henry, 315, 411.

Out-of-town movement, 186-190; org-
anization, 380, 395.

Oviatt, 159.

Overall workers, organization, 378.

Overtime, pay and one-half for, 138,
153.

Pailer, E., 96.

Painters and Decorators, Boston, 107.

Palionas, J. B., 314.

Pamphlets issued by National Educa-
tion Department, 229, 251.

Panetta, Louis, 151.

Panken, Jacob, 86, 405-407.

Pantsmakers, organization, 394.

Parente, Patsey, 162.

Paris, France, 226, 425.

Parrone, Frank, 162.

Pasek, Anton, 315.

Pashikoff, P., 87.

Passaic, N. J., 187, 190.

Paterson, N. J., 187.

Peak wages, leveling, 137.

Pearlman, A. I., 151, 155-156, 157, 159,
160, 161, 193, 221, 222, 223, 315,
326, 343, 418, 419, 430.

Peavy Bros., 106.

Penna, Brother, 337.

Pennsylvania, Allentown, 187; Har-
risburg, 187; Perkasie, 187; Phili-
delphia, 207, 116-120, 190, 240,
266, 394; Pittsburgh, 175-176;
Pottsville, 187; Schuylkill Coun-
ty, 217; Scranton, 187.

Peppel, Louella, 169.

Per capita tax, 412; reduction of, 392.

Perkasie, Pa., 187.

Perkins, Dexter, 255, 256.

Perlman, I., 86, 87.

Peskoff, William, 86.

Ixviii

INDEX

Peters, Mayor, 108.
Petilli, Stephen, 315, 343.
Philadelphia, organization, 207, 116-

120, 190, 240, 266, 394.
Piece work, 10, 11, 15, 18, 19, 35, 110,

137, 138-139, 157-159.
Piepenhagen, A. G., 182.
Pignone, J., 108.
Pilger, Theodore, 314, 411.
Pincus, Max, 86.
Pinski, David, 200, 312.
Pio, A., 85, 190.
Pitkin, W., 260.
Pittler, H., 314, 411.
Pittsburgh, Pa,, organization, 175-176.
Flainfield, N. J., 187.
Plotkin, J. B., 96.
Plotkin, Morris, 86.
Plumb, Glenn E., 249.
Podsiallo, Victor, 162.
Polish and Bohemian papers to be

published weekly, 400.
Political action, 395-396.
Political prisoners, freedom for, 323,

350-351, 409.

Pollack, Jacob, 85, 313.
Pollard, Jack, 85, 86.
Port Chester, N. Y., 186.
Portnoy, J., 199.

Poughkeepsie, N. Y., 186, 190, 191.
Potash, Max, 314.
Potofsky, Jacob S., 86, 233, 234, 323,

347, 351, 355, 391, 400, 401, 411,

431.

Potter, William, 161, 313.
Pottsville, Pa., 187.
Powell & O'Brien, 151.
Powers, J., 190, 313.
Prager, Ralph, 313, 343.
Pratt, H., 266.

Preamble to constitution, 43-45.
Preference in employment, 139-140,

153, 162, 419.

Press, official, of Amalgamated Cloth-
ing Workers of America, 229.
Price, George M., 96.
Price, J., 314.
Procopio, Giuseppe, 315.

Provinces, Canadian, in Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America, 228.
Pukevich, J., 10*8.
Pukiavicia, Jonas, 314.
Pyzik, Joseph, 314.

Quitt, Rose, 315, 343.

Rabkin, E., 86.

Rabinoff, Sophia, 96.

Rachin, J., 108.

Radek, Karl, 366.

Radgik, B., 96.

Raizer, Abraham, 315.

Radzewiecz, Julius, 315.

Raincoat makers, 187.

Ramuglia, Anthony, 108, 151, 195, 315,
335, 385.

Randolph, Philip, 255, 256.

Ranetta, Louis, 162.

Rankin, Mildred, 106, 115, 193, 195.

Raphael, H., 80.

Rappaport, Morris, 85, 313, 335.

Raritan, N. J., 187.

Reagan, M. J., 76, 77.

Recognition of union, 82, 138, 151-152,
162.

Record Department, 268-270.

Red Bank, N. J1., 187-189.

Reeves, Professor, 256.

Referendum, on acts of Boston con-
vention, 218-223; on assessments,
392; on children's clothing work-
ers' reorganization, 199-200; on
minority reports, 392.

Reich, S., 87.

Reichert, Business Agent, 175.

Reinisch, Benjamin, 313.

Reinstein, Boris, 121.

Reiser, A., 108.

Reiss, G., 96.

Relief work during New York lock-
out, 86-89; medical, 96-98.

Research Department, 267-268.

INDEX

Ixix

Reserve Fund, national, 135, 179, 293-

294.

Rhodes & Ripley, 106.
Ricciardi, Salvatore, 315.
Richardson, Nettie, 179, 181, 182, 185.
Rickles, Sarah, 162, 315.
Riger, Saul, 313, 336, 385.
Rini, Antonio, 86.
Rini, Michael, 315, 316.
Rinkoff, S., 96.
Ripley, William Z., 7, 33, 146.
Rissman, Sidney, 126, 138, 175, 181,

182, 183, 194, 213, 221, 222, 223,

336, 337, 430, 434.
Riskowitz, M., 221, 222.
Ritter, I., 96.
Rinkin, M., 96.
Rizzo, Mile, 151.
Robasauskas, Joseph G., 315.
Robins, Mrs. Raymond, 303-305.
Robinson, James Harvey, 262.
Robinson Clothing Co., 210, 211.
Rocca, Pasquale, 162, 315, 316.
Rochester, N. Y., organization, 50, 71,

109, 116, 131, 133, 143-165, 166,

193, 248, 250, 252, 254, 267, 278,

294.

Roclenbeck, Adolph, 146, 150, 151.
Rodgers, Peter, 162.
Rogers, Lindsey, 262.
Rodin, Auguste, 252.
Roewer & Bearack, 108.
Rogers Peet & Co., 71.
Rogoff, Harry, 259.
Romagni, Tomasso, 112, 314, 336.
Romano, Benne, 85, 221, 222, 314, 336,

430.

Romano, Michael, 314.
Roosevelt, Theodore, 40.
Rose, Daniel, 151, 162.
Rose, Mike, 319.
Rosen, Charles, 162.
Rosen, M., 108.
Rosenberg, Joseph, 96.
Rosenblatt. Joseph, 92, 93.
Rosenblum, Frank, 120, 126, 138, 169,

170, 175, 178, 179, 194, 213, 215,

221, 222, 223, 323, 341, 372, 377,

413, 429, 430, 433-434.

Rosenthal, Max, 86, 108.

Rosenthal, S., 79, 80.

Rosenzweig, L., 162.

Rosmer, 121.

Rosnitsky, Samuel, 313.

Ross, James, 178.

Rossum, Sophia, 96.

Roten, Adolph, 112.

Rothenberg, Morris, 202, 205, 206.

Rothschild & Co., 184.

Rotkin, M., 96.

Rotondo, John, 151.

Rovinsky, A., 96.

Rubin, Harry, 86.

Rudich, Philip, 313, 343.

Rudow, Samuel, 112, 116, 315.

Russia, conditions, 424-425; economic
aid to, 360-372, 399, 407; famine
relief, 135, 179, 181, 272; messages
from, 120-121, 309-310, 319-320;
message to, 410.

Russian Red Cross, 309-310, 326, 410.

Rutherford, N. J., 187.

Rutledge, Benjamin, 314, 356.

Ryan, M., 255.

Sabourin, Jean B., 314, 316.

Sacco, Nicola, 345-347, 359.

Sagan, Jake, 314.

St. Louis, Mo., organization, 182-183.

St. Paul, Minn., organization, 183-185.

St. Paul Garment Co., 184.

Sala, G., 86, 190.

Salerno, J., 108, 195, 291.

Salutsky, J. B., 89, 245, 256, 259.

Sand, E. F., 315, 343.

Sanitary control, 153; board of, 381.

Santillo, John, 169.

Santora, Mannie, 169, 221, 222, 223,

430, 431.

Saposs, David J., 90, 96, 259.
Sargent, N., 256.
Satalecki, Stanley, 314, 430.
Saurer, Elnora, 315, 343.
Saurer, Emma, 176, 178, 314, 335.
Schaeo, Sam, 315.
Schepps, Harry, 401.

Ixx

INDEX

Schlesinger, Benjamin, 234, 235, 271.

Schlisky, Josef, 93.

Schloss Bros., 111.

Schlossberg, Joseph, 48, 86, 115, 120,
121, 159, 181, 203, 250, 253, 254,
256, 259, 308-310, 316, 329, 360,
422-429, 435.

Schlossberg, Louis, 314.

Schnall, Sol, 86.

Schneid, Hyman, 314, 335, 413.

Schultz, Max, 86, 313.

Schuman, Dave, 112, 315.

Schusler, J., 184.

Schuylkill County, Pa, 217.

Schutz, N., 96.

Schwager, A. M., 96.

Schwartz & Jaffee, 111.

Schwartzberg, Jacob, 313, 336, 429.

Sfhwatt, H., 96.

Scotland Woolen Mills, 214.

Scranton, Pa., 187.

Seager, Henry R., 73.

Secular, I., 85.

Sedlak, Vincent, 313, 343.

Seidel, Antonnetta, 169.

Seidel, Edmund, 255.

Seligman, Edwin R. A., 73.

Senewitz, N., 162.

Senter, Meyer, 86.

Serio, Stephen, 161.

Seven points, New York, 9, 13, 35.

Shapiro, Abraham, 313.

Shapiro, Anna, 402.

Shapiro, Hilda, 120.

Sharman, Dr., 213.

Shaw, S. Adelaide, 174.

Shea, Joseph E., 86, 190, 223, 303, 313.

Shear, B. 314.

Sheckman, B., 108.

Sheepskin coat industry, organiza-
tion, 375.

Shepherd, Anna, 178.

Sherbrooke, Canada, organization,
217.

Sherman, Albert, 162.

Sherry, Sidney H., 314.

Shieber, Philip, appeal of, 413.

Shiplocoff, A. I., 85, 115, 255, 259, 403-
405, 430.

Shipping clerks, organization, 377,
393.

Shirt makers, organization depart-
ment, 379; progress, 207-209.

Shliffer, Morris, 314.

Shop delegate representation, 412.

Sibal, Joseph, 313.

Sick and disability benefits, 398.

Siegel, Martin, 86.

Siegel, Nathan, 221, 222, 223, 430.

Silien, Millie, 162.

Silver, I., 199.

Silver, Jack, 314.

Silverman, Abraham, 86, 313, 343.

Silverman, B., 315, 343.

Silvio, N., 162.

Simpson, Milton, 190.

Singer & Silverberg, 185.

Singer & Snow, 106.

Sissman, Peter, 325-326.

Skala, Stephan, 138, 221, 222, 223,
396, 430.

Skolny, J., 79.

Smith, J., 96.

Smith, Samuel, Chicago, 303, 314.

Smith, Samuel, New York, 86.

Snapper, David, 112, 315, 335, 396.

Snellenburg Clothing Co., 116.

Snyder, Leroy E., 156.

Snyder, William, 162.

Socialist Party, 356, 389.

Society Brand shop, 210.

Sodoni, David, 285, 286, 317.

Sohn, Max, 314.

Sokolowski, M., 324.

Solomon, Brother, 356.

Solomon, D., 169, 315, 343.

Solovieo, 280, 310, 410.

Sonneborn, Henry, & Co., 109, 110,
111, 112.

Sonneborn, Siegmund, 112.

Soukup, Anton, 285, 291, 317.

Soule, George, 71, 73, 83.

Special assessment, 357.

Special order cutters, Chicago, 370.

Specialty Clothing Co., 203, 204, 205.

Spector Clothing Co., 210.

Spitz, Jacob J., 151.

Spitz, Manager, 167.

INDEX

Ixxi

Spitzer, Brother, 401.

Spravedlnost, Chicago, 391.

Springfield, Mass., 187, 189.

Spy system, 42-43.

Stag Tailoring Co., 146.

Stalone, N., 108.

Stamford, Conn., organization work,

W.

Standard Woolen Mills, 185.
Standards of production, 21, 82, 139,

164, 397; daily, 21; individual, 10,

35.

Stanish, Anna, 314.
S.arr, H., 108.
States in Amalgamated Clothing

Workers of America, 228.
Stefanski, Michael, 314.
Stevens, Lincoln, 328.
Stein, Fred A., 151.
Stein, Louis, 314, 316.
Stein, M., & Co., 111.
Stein, Sam, 313, 336.
Steinito, Isidor, 86.
Stephens L., 253.
Sterling, Thomas, 53.
Stern, Arthur L., 146.
Stern, Isidor, 315, 413.
Sternberg, L., 96.
Stevenson, Archibald E., 52, 79.
Stokes, Rose P., 86.
Stolberg, Sam, 315, 335, 434.
Stone, George, 86, 313, 336, 417.
Stopek, Michael 162.
Stores & Schaefer Co., 174.
Strause, S.. 80.
Strebel, Gustav A., 151, 159, 161, 175,

193, 194, 195, 213, 215, 430.
Streiffer, W., 96.
Strike assessments, 392.
Strikes, special rule in, 394.
Strikes and lockouts, xviii-xxix; see

also names of individual towns

and states; to be avoided during

life of agreement, 152, 163.
Strouse, Eli B., 110.
Strouse Bros., 109, 110.
Stuehmer, Heinrich, 271.
Subkis, J., 96.
Sugarrnan Sam, 313, 410.

Suss, August, 151.

Sussman, I., 85.

Sussman, P., 96.

Svetal, Charles, 313.

Swartz, J. 79.

Sweeney, Thomas, 233, 235, 389.

Sweet, William E., 256.

Sydow, William, 314.

Syracuse, N. Y., organization, 192-193.

Szewczyk, Stanley, 314.

Szold, Robert, 86, 151.

Takalauskas, Jonas, 314.

Talbot Clothing Co., 100.

Task system, 21, 29.

Taylor, Harry, 314.

Taylor, Michael J., 315, 417.

Tchitcherin, George, 327, 328.

Temkin, A., 315, 343.

Term of office, 357, 392.

Thanks, to arrangement committee,

417; Boston to Chicago, 421; to

Jewish bakers of Boston. 398;

New York to Chicago, 402.
Third International, affiliation with,

proposed, 398.
Thomas, Mark, i69.
Thomas, Norman, 256, 259.
Thomas, William, 162.
Ticket sewers, organization, 393.
Tiffany Co., 189.
Tigerman, Max, appeal of, 413.
Tillman, I. R., 96.
Times, New York, quoted, 235.
Tolstoy, Leo, 252.
Toney, Brother, 350.
Tornatore, Vincenzina, 151.
Toronto, Canada, organization, 214-

215.

Toronto Clothing Manufacturers' As-
sociation, 215.

Tovey, Business Agent, 214.
Trachtenberg, Samuel, 198, 315.
Trials, Boston, 61, 108; Chicago, 126-

129; New York, 44-45, 54-66, 70-

73; Rochester, 143-151.
Trenton, N. J., 187, 190.
Tribune, Chicago, quoted, 14-15, 344.

Ixxii

INDEX

Trimmers, wages, 382.

Trotzky, Leon, 322, 327, 366.

Troy, N. Y., organization, 186, 190,

191, 207.

Truss, Thomas, 314.
Tuberculosis sanitarium, Los Angeles,

185, 399.

Tufts, James H., 73, 131, 132, 133.
Turok, S., 108.
Twin City Garment Manufacturing

Co., 184.
Typographical Union, Boston, 107;

Rochester, 160.
Tziperovich, 121.

Valicenti, J. A., 314, 343.

Van der Heeg, T., 271.

Van Siclen, Justice, 62, 66.

Vanzetti, Bartolomeo, 345-347, 359.

Velleman, Aaron, 107.

Velona, Forte, 86, 190, 191, 315.

Vineberg, H., & Co., 210, 213.

Vineland, N. J., 88, 174, 187, 190.

Visotsky, Peter, 314, 316.

VJadeck, B. C., 86, 202, 205, 206, 259.

Volinsky, Morris, 313.

Vorse, Mary Heaton, 66, 86, 93, 112.

Unemployed members, exemption, 357.

Unemployment, 7, 110, 129, 184, 214.

Unemployment fund, 129, 131-132, 138,
164, 302, 408.

Uniform laws for locals, 357.

Union dues, obligation to pay, recog-
nized, 163.

Union Health Center, 96.

Union shop, 82.

United Boot and Shoe Workers, Bos-
ton, 107; Rochester, 160.

United Cloth Hat and Cap Makers,
Boston, 107; of North America,
231, 233, 234, 355.

United Garment Workers of America,
100, 105, 113, 143, 146, 147, 148,
151, 172, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178,
182, 190, 193, 194, 207, 232, 267,
340.

United Hebrew Trades, Boston, 107.

United Leather Goods Workers, Bos-
ton, 107.

United Shirt Manufacturers, 208.

Unitad States Direct Clothing Co.,
175, 176.

Universal Tailoring Co., 185.

Upholsterers' Union, Boston, 107.

Urwand, M., 315, 376.

Utica, N. Y., organization, 186, 191,
194-195, 379.

Utica Boys' Clothing Co., 194.

Uvillier, I., 96.

Uzaraki, Thomas, 221, 222, 223.

w

Wage reductions, policy toward, 399-
400; requested by employers, 29,
82, 83, 137, 156, 161, 208, 212, 215.

Wages, joint determination of, 82.

Wagner, Katherine, 169.

Wahl, Jacob, 151.

Walcoff, Philip, & Co., 80.

Wald, Lillian D., 90.

Wall, Fern, 255.

Walsh, Frank P., 86, 92, 256.

Walter, Blue Co., 217.

Wander, Paul, 268.

War, 2.

War Labor Board, 7.

Warbasse, James P., 391.

Warshaw, Rachel, 179.

Wartovitz, A., 108.

Wasteneys, H., 266.

Watkins, 121.

Waxman, Max, 178.

Wechsler, Abraham, 314.

Week work, 21.

Weet, Herbert, 255.

Wehnert, Elmer, 161.

Weill, Samuel, 161.

Weinberg, Israel, 341.

Weinstein, Alter, 315, 397.

Weinstein, Murray, 86, 313, 336, 375,
376, 393, 396, 410, 430.

Weintraub, Anna, 96.

Weinzweig, Max, 259, 262, 264.

Weir, William, 213.

Weisberg, H., 313.

INDEX

Ixxiii

Weiss, Benja.nin, 314.

Weiss, David, 86, 313.

Weissman, Moe, 86.

Wener, Samuel, Co., 209.

Wenneis, Andrew, 235, 412.

Wenstrup, J. B., 172.

Wernow, Mark, 92.

Wertheimer, Nathan, 85, 86, 120, 190,
191, 313, 336.

Western Woolen Mills, 185.

Wexler, Louis, M4, 336, 396.

White, Luther C., 102, 103.

Whitman, James, 314.

Whitman, Walt, 252.

Wholesale Clothiers' Association of
Chicago, 133.

Wiener, Philip, 207, 223, 430.

Wile, H., & Co., 194.

Wilensky, M., 108.

Williams, Albert Rhys, 256, 259.

Williams, Bishop, 329.

Williams, Gertrude, 86.

Wilner, Benjamin, 126.

Winetskaya, Maria, 93.

Winter, Sam, 315.

Wisberg, H., 108.

Wisconsin, Milwaukee, 181-182, 265.

Wiseblatt, H., 314, 335.

Wolf, Horace J., 255.

Wolfe, David, 86, 315, 343, 381, 399,
410, 415, 419.

Wolman, Leo, 86, 131, 132, 133, 138,
151, 157, 212, 253, 261, 262, 267.

Women, organization, 375; in Cincin-
nati, 375; organizers, appointment
of, 375.

Women, International Federation of
Working, 304.

Women's Trade Union League, 303,

304.

Woodbine, N. J., 187, 189.
Worcester, Mass., 195.
Workers' Party, 355, 373, 389.
Working hours, 409.
Workmen's Circle, 389.
World, New York, quoted, 50.
Wrangel, 274.
Wray, W. R., 216.

Yakstas, A., 315.
Yanofsky, Harry, 315, 343.
Yanofsky, P., 108.
Yelowitz, Abraham, 314.
Yelowitz, J., 85.
Young, J. J., 343, 348.
Yudell, Harry, 315.
Yudenitch, 273.

Zaccaro, M., 86.

Zaffarino, Murray, 314, 343.

Zaffiro, Business Agent, 170.

Zaritsky, M., 235.

Zavesky, Frank J., 169.

Zeit. New York, 200.

Zeman, Anton, 127.

Zenkert, Charles O., 255.

Zinn, Paul, 86.

Zitz, Jacob, 314.

Zorn, Brother, appeal of, 414.

Zubovitch, Z., 85.

Zuckerman, Max, 235, 237, 312.

Zukovsky, Alexander, 253, 316.

Zutkoff, Samuel, 313.

BINDING SECT. Ant i o

HD Amalgamated Clothing Workers

6515 of America
C6A7 General executive board

1922 report and proceedings

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