life and death. The workers could not live on the wages they were receiving and the coal operators recognized that circumstances alter cases, and willingly or unwillingly granted the workers' request. Our Local No. 66, Bonnaz Embroiderers' Union, feels it necessary to follow the example of the miners. But Our agreement, containing the old scale of wages, expires at the end of July. the high prices of food compelled us to invite our employers to a conference and request an increase of wages. We explained to them that we have no desire to break the agreement. Since the last agreement was signed the situation has changed so much and our workers have been affected so badly by the rising cost of living that a change in the scale of wages must be made to meet the new conditions, or else we were perilously near losing control over the workers. The last season was a very prosperous one for the embroidery manufacturers. There is also a scarcity of labor. These reasons, together with the famine prices of foodstuffs, moved the employers at the conference table to grant an increase of about 20 per cent. in order to avoid friction and trouble in the trade. Now, however, is the slack time and the employers are taking advantage of this and trying to cut down the wages they raised some time ago. The workers are employed only for about two or three days in the week, and every cent counts in the present hard times. So far our union has successfully resisted all such attacks and our members are quite satisfied with the result. There are a few "smart" employers who threaten that they will not renew the agreement with the union, pretending that we have not stuck to the letter of the old agreement. But we do not take them seriously. Yet we have made all due preparations for a possible struggle. Our local has with great success carried through an assessment proposition for $3 and $5, respectively, for every member. We have in our small local a membership of 600, and in our local treasury nearly $4,500. On July 15 we shall call on our employers to sign the new agreement. We are looking confidently to the future. We have no doubt that our employers will keep up peaceful relations with us in the future as in the past. OSSIP WOLINSKY, Manager. THE THINKER Back of the beating hammer By which the steel is wrought, Back of the workshop's clamor The seeker may find the Thought. The Thought that is ever master Of iron and steam and steel, That rises above disaster And tramples it under heel! The drudge may fret and tinker, Or labor with lusty blows,. But back of him stands the Thinker, The clear-eyed man who knows; For into each plow or sabre, Each piece and part and whole, Must go the Brains of Labor Which gives the work a soul! Back of the motor's humming, Back of the cranes that swing, Watching through stress and strain, There is the Mind which plans them— Back of the brawn, the Brain! Might of the roaring boiler, Force of the engine's thrust, Strength of the sweating toiler, Greatly in these we trust. But back of them stands the Schemer, The Thinker who drives things through; Back of the Job-the Dreamer, Who's making the dream come true! -From the "Sphinx Talks." SEE OUTSIDE BACK COVER FOR DETAILS HOW TO BECOME A REGULAR SUBSCRIBER OF THE LADIES' GARMENT Worker anD GET THIS JOURNAL MAILED TO YOUR HOME ADDRESS. Montreal, Canada, Cloak Cutters.. 20. New York Waterproof Garment Workers.. 21. Newark, N. J., Cloak and Suitmakers. OFFICE ADDRESS 121 E. 18th St., New York City .244 S. 8th St., Philadelphia, Pa. .9 W. 21st St., New York City .1023 E. Baltimore St., Baltimore, Md. 114 Bergenline Ave., Union Hill, N. J. .133 2nd Ave., New York City .38 Causeway St., Boston, Mass. .352-19th Ave. .228 Second Ave., New York City Cutters.....7 W. 21st St., New York City 1701 Pitkin Ave., Brooklyn, N. Y. .241 Tremont St., Boston, Mass. 37 Prince Arthur, E. Montreal, Canada 194 Spadina Ave., Toronto, Canada .40 N. 9th St., Philadelphia, Pa. .33 Union Square, New York City 1815 W. Division St., Chicago, Ill. 1178 Cadieux, Montreal, Canada .20 E. 13th St., New York City .103 Montgomery St., Newark, N. J. .83 Hollock St., New Haven, Conn. .231 E. 14th St., New York City .241 Tremont St., Boston, Mass. 22. New Haven Conn., Ladies' Garment Workers.. BOOT & SHOE .16 W. 21st St., New York City .314 Superior Ave., Cleveland, Ohio .314 Superior Ave., Cleveland, Ohio 153-15th Ave., Seattle, Wash. .314 Superior Ave., Cleveland, Ohio Labor Temple, Winnipeg, Man. 414 Warner Building, Bridgeport, Conn. 414 Warner Building, Bridgeport, Conn. .228 Second Ave., New York City .241 Tremont St., Boston, Mass. .314 Superior Ave., Cleveland, Ohio 12 Parmelee Ave., New Haven, Conn. (CONTINUED ON INSIDE BACK COVER) Named shoes are frequently made in Non-Union factories WORKERS UNION DO NOT BUY ANY SHOE UNION STAMP Factory no matter what its name, unless it bears a plain All shoes without the UNION Do not accept any excuse for absence of the UNION STAMP BOOT AND SHOE WORKERS' UNION 246 Summer Street, Boston, Mass. JOHN F. TOBIN, Pres. CHAS. L. BAINE, Sec'y-Treas. Our cloak, skirt and reefer makers of New York have addressed to the manufacturers a request for an increase in wages. Elsewhere in this issue of the LADIES' GARMENT WORKER we publish the text of the letter addressed to the Cloak, Suit and Skirt Manufacturers' Protective Association by our International Union and the Joint Board of New York, on June 16th, Not for pleasure or because of any wish to seek "trouble" do the cloakmakers ask for an increase of 20 per cent. in wages. Making trouble does not pay them. Not for any mere desire to worry the manufacturers and cause them aggravation have the cloakmakers made this request. They are only too eager to work, but they insist that their work shall afford them a living. They have felt compelled to make this move because the unprecedented rise in the cost of living has made it almost impossible for them to exist with the earnings determined a year ago. Were cloakmakers mere machines and were prices advanced on electric power, lubricants and other requisites necessary to keep the machines in good order, the manufacturers would not hesitate to pay the bill of increased charges. They would not wait until the machines were worn out and ruined. The cloakmakers are not machines but human beings with living, throbbing hearts. While the manufacturers understand the dumb requirements of the lifeless machines they should have no difficulty in understanding the loud and intelligently uttered requests of the cloakmakers. Their requests are loud and insistent because in their homes poverty prevails and their wives and children cry aloud for relief. The cloakmakers want the manufacturers to listen to and understand these cries no less than the dumb requirements of their machines. Last year the cloakmakers of New York obtained a wage increase of six per cent, after a strike of fourteen weeks duration. They are not eager now for another strike; but when they hand over their earnings to their housewives and the latter try to exchange them for bread, meat and other necessaries, the supply is only about one-half the quantity and quality of last year. What could be bought last year for 70 cents, costs one dollar this year. Then the landlords clamor for higher rents and other people in similar positions follow their example. This reduction in supplies clearly means a reduction in wages, although not directly through the fault of the employers. And the cloakmakers, therefore, ask that the employers shall make good the defficiencies and injury caused to them even though neither of the parties are to blame. At the time the agreement with the Association was drawn up last summer, neither we nor the manufacturers dreamt that our people would find themselves in their present critical position. Who could foresee the great change that has come over the life of this country? Had we known it we should nowise have entered upon a three-year agreement. We don't believe that the manufacturers would have insisted on it. While concluding the agreement of 1916 the manufacturers agreed that the cloakmakers were entitled to an increase of wages corresponding to the then cost of living. The agreement was being framed with the condition in view that the workers should enjoy a certain standard of living. But the increase of last year has now turned practically into a decrease of wages, and the standard of living has been greatly reduced. That means that the condition then in view has changed, requiring a corresponding change in the provision of the agreement relating to wages. We hope that the manufacturers will respond to our request in the spirit in which it has been presented to them and that the matter will be adjusted satisfactorily to both parties. The agreement of 1916 does not provide for arbitration. Our members will recollect the opposition of the manufacturers to the principle of arbitration. They seemed to imagine that by agreeing to arbitration they would betray a weakness. We hope, however, that as there has been a change in the personnel of the management of the Association, there has been likewise a change in the attitude of the Association to arbitration. Should both parties be unable to agree in conference, we hope that the question will be submitted to arbitration. NEXT SEASON'S PROSPECTS OF OUR INDUSTRY Opinions differ in regard to the prospects of our trade for the coming season. It is difficult to foresee exactly how a war we are conducting on the other side of the Atlantic, thousands of miles away, will affect the economic life of the country, and particularly our industry. There are two leading opinions. One-that there will be a very good season. Our country is rich and prosperous. The Allies spend here hundreds of millions of dollars. The millions we have given and are giving them in loans are mostly left here in exchange for our merchandise, for our work. The billions of our own Liberty Loan will practically remain in our country. All this must fertilize our economic soil. Industry will swing upward to a high level of prosperity. A great deal of free money will be di |