In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

had no use for strikes, still less for any peaceful picketing, legal or illegal. Fines were accordingly imposed of from one to ten dollars, and several girls sent to the workhouse , there to be shut in with the most degraded of their sex. Mark you, at this time the girls had committed absolutely no acts of violence. Did you ever hear of a man’s strike which did not include scenes of riot? The Ladies Waistmakers , in their most unladylike rages, when they had known privation and want for months, committed no acts more overt than an occasional call of “scab” or a furtive pull at the alluring pu¤s of the girls who were taking the bread out of their mouths. As Mayor Gaynor himself put it, when it was all over except the shouting, “These girls have been badly treated. There isn’t one of them who has deserved more than a twenty-Wve-cent Wne.” Just here, however, was where that new, and as yet unexplained phenomenon—the twentieth-century spirit of solidarity, among women—made itself felt. The Women’s Trade Union League heard what was going on and looked into things. They found that not only had the girls a clear legal right to do picket duty, but that sympathizers might help. So they proceeded to help picket. And as speedily were they arrested. It was a real victory. Three hundred and Wfty-two shops settled with the union, granting all the debated points: Wfty-two-hour workweek; only three evenings overtime a week; no Sunday work; all disputed points to be settled, not between the individual girl and her employer, but by one Wrm in consultation with a committee of the girls themselves. And in all but fourteen instances, the agreement was made on a “closed shop” basis, a basis which, in a seasonal trade, the girls believed to be the only guarantee of a really permanent contract. Two shops have put on the union label, and friends all over the country can, by demanding it on their waist, make sure that they are helping the right girls. —Elizabeth Dutcher was a leader of the Women’s Trade Union League. Why Wisconsin Gave a Record-Breaking Vote to La Follette Louis D. Brandeis april 13, 1912 The greatest problem now before the American people is the demand for social justice and industrial democracy. Our working men enjoy political liberty, but, in the main, are subject to industrial despotism, and social injustice which, under the trusts, has become particularly oppressive. A large part of our working people are working and living under conditions inconsistent with American standards and ideals—and indeed with humanity itself. The condition of a large body of the steelworkers toiling 204 part 10 standing up for labor twelve hours a day, seven days in a week at less than living wages—while the steel trust exacted from the consumer in ten years more than $650 million in excess of a liberal return on the capital originally invested—is one of the results of industrial absolutism. It is obvious that the present conditions cannot continue. Either our people will lose their political independence or they will acquire industrial independence. We cannot exist half free and half slave. The Eight-Hour Day Will Come Robert M. La Follette july 19, 1913 The wisdom of legislation providing for an eight-hour day, not only for women but for men as well, is no longer a debatable question. All practical experience shows that shorter hours means better health and higher eªciency of employees, the quality of work and the character of the output more than o¤setting any loss from cutting down the working hours of the day. In other words, shorter hours means stronger, sounder bodies, greater physical eªciency, a higher degree of mental alertness, keener and more intelligent concentration on the machinery and material handled by the wage earner, fewer accidents, added time for home life, rest, recreation, and reading, all making strongly for moral, mental, and physical improvement. Congress has given men employed by the government or by contractors employed on government work the eight-hour day. Twelve states limit the working day of miners to eight hours in one day. The courts have held again and again that rest from labor one day in seven is “essential for health, morals, and general welfare.” The courts will ultimately hold that it is vital to the health and well-being of...

Share