The Women’S Trade Union Leagues in Great Britain and the United States of America 9780231898218

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S T U D I E S IN HISTORY, ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC L A W Edited by the FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY NUMBER 489

THE WOMEN'S TRADE UNION LEAGUES IN GREAT BRITAIN AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY

GLADYS BOONE

THE WOMEN'S TRADE UNION LEAGUES IN

GREAT BRITAIN AND

T H E U N I T E D STATES OF AMERICA BY

GLADYS BOONE

AMS PRESS NEW YORK

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY STUDIES IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES 489

The Series was formerly known as Studies in History, Economics and Public Law.

Reprinted with the permission of Columbia University Press From the edition of 1942, New York First AMS EDITION published 1968 Manufactured in the United States of America

Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: 68-58549

AMS PRESS, INC. New York, N.Y. 10003

Œo ROSE

SIDGWICK

FOREWORD IN Miss Gladys Boone's history of Women's Trade Union Leagues of Great Britain and the United States we find an absorbingly interesting record of that special women's movement within the larger labor movement, created and supported by others than actual trade-union women so that such working women, while finding a place within the trade-union movement, might find at the same time their place as citizens of the country. Because of this fundamental work of the Women's Trade Union League of America, and its activities for the citizenship of women through the 19th Amendment, working women have found the organization a tremendous help in establishing beneficial labor legislation for women. A s I read Miss Boone's account of the English Women's Trade Union League, there is brought to my mind the vivid picture of Mary Macarthur as she stood before the convention of the Women's Trade Union League of America, telling the story of the " black country " of England: The women chain makers standing at their forges as they made by hand the huge chains used in and about machinery, particularly in the seafaring industry; the extremely hard work, the long hours, the meager pay; how those women wept, and could not believe it, when told that the League had been able to establish for them a minimum wage. Similar stories can be told of conditions in both England and the United States. A s William English Walling pointed out in his argument in favor of creating such a League in the United States at the Boston convention of the American Federation of Labor in 1903, the earnings of a great many working women in the United States were as low as $289 a year. The exploiting of the working women on the one hand and the discrimination against them on the other tended to keep them working long hours with very low pay, and in both countries the League became a haven for the working women 7

8

FOREWORD

because they found for the first time that there were people in other walks of life who understood and sympathized with them. Above all, the League gave women a chance to express themselves, and in other respects pointed the way to a better life through trade union organization. T h e working women benefited greatly through the allies who associated themselves with the National W o m e n ' s Trade Union League and with the local Leagues. I could name many leading women of the country, women whose names will never be forgotten, but Miss Boone has chronicled all this in her report. T h e woman who was the president of the National League for so many years, who did such inspired work in the League, who encouraged working women to speak for themselves and to organize into trade unions, is Mrs. Raymond Robins. Always in the forefront, always understanding, always working, day and night, to further the cause of the trade union movement for working women, Mrs. Robins stands first in the notable group of women associated with the movement. I would like to give here a quotation f r o m one of her speeches which illustrates more eloquently than I can do Mrs. Robins' great g i f t of interpretation of the movement. I am happy to find this in Miss Boone's report: Today, as yesterday, where there is no vision the people perish and today, as yesterday, the spirit must be born to see the vision, to hold it, to live and die for it. To release and set free this spirit, . . . to bring hope, faith, courage to those held in bondage and crushed under the weight of wrong and to give them the message, " To you, too, has been given dominion over life," this is our task. Let us qualify ourselves for the task undertaken and by establishing self-government in the workshop, help win this next step in the human struggle for liberty and social justice. T h a t is the spirit instilled into the National W o m e n ' s Trade Union League by Mrs. Raymond Robins. It is no narrow interpretation; it is as wide as life, and all working women may

FOREWORD

9

bless Mrs. Robins for having opened for them the door to this vision. The League has always believed in and worked for two functions of the working women: One is the trade union movement for self-expression and self-help, and the other is the pressure for legislation to underpin the trade union movement. I feel that Miss Boone has brought this out very well in her interesting chronicle of the League from its earliest days to the present. With other working women, I am indebted to Miss Boone for writing this history. MARY DIRECTOR, W O M E N ' S UNITED STATES

BUREAU

D E P A R T M E N T OF LABOR

ANDERSON

AUTHOR S PREFACE IN writing this study of the Women's Trade Union Leagues, I believe that my contacts with the labor movements of both Great Britain and the United States give an adequate basis of experience for the task. That experience has included three years' service, from 1923 to 1926, as Executive Secretary of the Women's Trade Union League of Philadelphia. Earlier, in the years 1917 to 1919, I had been tutor to a Workers' Educational Association class in Birmingham, England, and after becoming a resident of the United States, I taught at a Workers' Educational Association Summer School in O x f o r d . I hope, also, that the study may make its contribution to international understanding, and so help, however modestly, to carry out the purpose of the Rose Sidgwick Memorial Fellowship, of which I was the first recipient, in 1919. Material for the history has been gathered from various and widely scattered sources, many of them unpublished. Labor officials and officers and members of the Leagues in both countries have been generous in helping in my search for data. It is impossible to mention them all by name, but I should like to record here my gratitude for all the help I have received and to thank those w h o have made special contributions. In England, Miss Gertrude Tuckwell, former President of the League, was very kind in adding her personal reminiscences to the somewhat scanty documentary accounts of the League which are still in existence. Mr. George Woodcock, Research Officer of the Trades Union Congress, made available the material at Transport House, and Mr. E. S. Cartwright, of O x ford, read the chapter on the English phases in manuscript. In the United States, I have had access to the files in the National Office of the League, and Miss Elisabeth Christman has been most generous in helping me to piece together scraps of source material and in giving explanations and comments. 11

12

AUTHOR'S

PREFACE

Miss Ethel Smith has read part of the manuscript and Miss Mary Dreier and Miss Christman have read all of it and have made valuable suggestions. I am deeply grateful to the late Professor Seager for his encouragement in the early stages of the project, and to Professor Wolman and Professor Brissenden for suggestions given in the later stages of preparation of the manuscript. Finally, to my aunt, Mrs. G. S. Roberts and her family in England, I owe grateful thanks for their patience in giving me opportunities to write during a succession of summers. GLADYS SWEET BRIAB, VIRGINIA, AUGUST, 1941

BOONE

CONTENTS CHAPTER I I INTRODUCTION

15

C H A P T E R II The Women's Trade Union League in Great Britain

20

C H A P T E R III Background and Origins of the National Women's Trade Union League of America 43 CHAPTER

IV

T h e National Women's Trade Union League of America: Early Days, 1903-1913

64

CHAPTER V T h e National Women's Trade Union League of America, 1913-1929. Promotion of Legislation: International Congresses: Training of Women Trade Union Leaders

m

CHAPTER

VI

The National Women's Trade Union League of America, 1913-1929. Organization of Women into Trade Unions: T h e League at its Twenty-fifth Anniversary 155 CHAPTER VII The League since 1929

190 CHAPTER VIII

A Footnote to the History

222 APPENDICES

APPENDIX

I—GREAT

BRITAIN

Statistics on Workers in Industry and Membership of Working Class Organizations 233 APPENDIX I I — U . S .

A.

Occupations of Women. 1910, 1920, 1930 APPENDIX I I I — U . S .

238

A.

A g e Distribution of Occupied Women

239 13

14

CONTENTS

APPENDIX

IV—U.

S.

A.

E s t i m a t e s of N u m b e r s of W o m e n in T r a d e U n i o n s APPENDIX V — U .

S.

A.

S o m e Financial R e p o r t s of the N a t i o n a l W o m e n ' s T r a d e U n i o n L e a g u e of A m e r i c a APPENDIX

VI—U.

S.

241

243

A.

Constitutions (1903, 1907, 1936) of the N a t i o n a l W o m e n ' s Trade U n i o n L e a g u e of A m e r i c a

250

BIBLIOGRAPHY

265

C I T A T I O N S OF S T A T U T E S A N D C A S E S

269

INDEX

273

CHAPTER

I

INTRODUCTION THE Women's Trade Union Leagues in Great Britain and the United States, organized to try to raise the economic status of women wage-earners, have been a part of both the labor and the feminist movements. Both movements have faced problems which have been among the most controversial issues of economic and social history in the past century and a half. Those issues are no less controversial today. Today also, labor movement and feminist movement are meeting new challenges which make their successes equivocal and their future uncertain. The problems faced by women today, especially those created by the policies of the fascist governments in Europe, were recognized by the Woman's Centennial Congress which met in New Y o r k in November, 1940. 1 This Centennial Congress, representing seventeen women's organizations, was called by the National Woman's Suffrage Association to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the " Woman's Rights " movement in the United States. The anniversary is dated from the first World Anti-Slavery Congress which was held in London in 1840. That Congress refused to admit the eight American women sent as delegates, explaining that " God's clear intention " would be violated if " promiscuous female representation be allowed." T h e group of delegates immediately decided to call a convention on their return to the United States, to discuss the whole question of women's status. It took eight years to prepare the ground for that convention, which eventually met at Seneca Falls, N . Y . , in 1848, but from that time on women were to be found organizing and fighting for their " rights " in many fields. They struggled for political suffrage, for civil and judicial equality and for opportunities for education. A few of the leaders of the women's cause became interested 1 Report of Woman's Centennial Congress, November, 1940, esp. pp. 129134 (Woman's Centennial Congress, N. Y . C . ) , 1941.

>5

l6

THE

WOMEN'S

TRADE

UNION

LEAGUES

in the special problems of women wage-earners, and we find the w o m a n ' s movement and the labor movement meeting at certain points. F o r instance, S u s a n B . A n t h o n y and Elizabeth C a d y Stanton, two of the conveners of the gathering at Seneca F a l l s , were delegates to the National L a b o r Congress of 1 8 6 8 . T h e last century has seen the feminist movement attaining some of its aims, but commentators point out that old controversies have revived or taken on new f o r m s in recent years. W i n i f r e d Holtby, in her book on " Women and a Changing C i v i l i z a t i o n , " published in 1 9 3 4 , said, " T h e economic slump has re-opened the question of woman's right to earn.

The

political doctrine of the corporative State in Italy and G e r m a n y has inspired new pronouncements upon the function of

the

woman citizen. . . . T h e problems which the feminists of the nineteenth century thought to solve along the lines of

ra-

tionalism, individualism and democracy present new difficulties in an age of mysticism, community and authority."

2

E v e n in

the United States, where women have so f a r held most of their gains, old controversies are easily aroused. T h e y flared up again when wide-spread unemployment brought renewed opposition to the employment of women, especially of those w h o were married. W h e n the results of the Unemployment Census taken in November, 1 9 3 7 , were published, they indicated that women w o r k e r s f o r m e d a larger percentage of the " g a i n f u l l y employed " than in 1 9 3 0 , and also that the percentage of women looking f o r w o r k w a s greater than it ever had been previously.* T h i s aroused general discussion of whether women were displacing men in employment and whether or not they should be sent back to the home. M o r e o v e r , in the general field of civil and 2 Winifred Holtby, Women and a Changing Civilization (London, John Lane, 1934), p. 7. 3 Census of Partial Employment, Unemployment, and Occupations, 1937, John D. Biggers, Administrator (Washington, D. C , U. S. Government Printing Office, 1938).

INTRODUCTION

17

judicial rights, the vexed question of what constitutes " equality " is still a live issue. If the future of the feminist movement seems to hang in the balance today, there is also a similar uncertainty about the development of the labor movement. In all countries where the " factory system " has grown and capitalistic control of industry has brought inequality of bargaining power between employer and individual worker, the " labor movement" has had certain common features. Workers have organized into unions for collective bargaining and have brought pressure for legislation to improve their wages and working conditions. But today, under the pressure of totalitarian economics and of war, the older forms of the labor movement have disappeared from most of the countries of Europe. And it would seem that everywhere an underlying challenge to some of the forms and policies of trade unionism is inherent in recent technical and institutional developments of industry. The greater use of electrical power, the invention of new and more automatic machines, the rapid introduction of " substitute " goods open possibilities which can only be suggested here. It seems safe to assume that we must look forward to further displacement of the older crafts and skills and that the labor movement will be under the necessity of changing its set-up and policies to meet new conditions. Again, the great centralization which we find in some fields of industry, particularly in transportation and public utilities, makes an interruption in their services a greater menace to the convenience and even to the safety of the public, and leads to efforts to prohibit the use of the strike weapon. That tendency appears to be growing as concentration proceeds and also as larger areas of production come under governmental control. Under all these circumstances, it is difficult to foresee what will be the future status of the labor movement in the remaining capitalist democracies, especially as war, and the fear of war, tend to bring fundamental changes in their economy.

l8

THE

WOMEN'S

TRADE

UNION

LEAGUES

The fact that, despite the accomplishments of the past century, the labor movement and the women's movement continue to be controversial issues gives particular timeliness to a study of the work of the Women's Trade Union Leagues— a work which has cut across both fields. However wary one must be of any final judgment, it may be hoped that the record of such facts as are available, and an appraisal of the accomplishments of the leagues in the light of the aims they have set for themselves may be of use to future investigators. That hope is re-inforced by an opinion expressed in a recent report of the Women's Bureau of the U. S. Department of Labor on Women in the United States. In listing some important phases omitted from its own study of women's economic status, it suggested that a complete picture must include " the activities and influences of women's national and international organizations of various types." * Whatever may be one's judgment of its relative importance, a history of the work of the leagues seems to be a necessary part of this picture. In relating this history, it has seemed best to let the records of the organizations speak for themselves as far as possible. Before presenting them in detail, it may be well to summarize a few points about the aims and set-up of the leagues. The major purpose of both the Women's Trade Union League of Great Britain and the National Women's Trade Union League of America has been to try to raise women's economic status by helping to organize them into trade unions. Membership in both leagues has been open to any individuals accepting their purposes: unions have had group affiliation with the Leagues on the same basis. Among the individual members have been wage-earners and also women of independent means, who usually became aware of the problems of the industrial group through a general interest in the whole status of women as individuals and as citizens. In this way, the leagues have " cut across the classes." This fact has been important from 4 Women's Bureau, U . S. Department of Labor, Bulletin No. 155, 1937, p. 4.

INTRODUCTION

19

the point of view of the leagues' aim to act as interpreter o f the labor point o f view to women in general. A t the same time it has raised certain problems because the leagues have aspired to act as aids or auxiliaries to the trade-union movement although their status has not been that o f chartered unions. T h e reasons w h y a special women's g r o u p to act in conjunction with the labor movement has been considered necessary are given in some detail in the body of this history, but a f e w may be mentioned here. T h o u g h all wage-workers share certain problems of insecurity and inequality of bargaining power with employers, w o m e n have had to meet special difficulties. T h e s e arise partly f r o m the fact that the m a j o r i t y of them are f o u n d in the less-skilled, lower-wage occupations, partly f r o m their status as women.

When

women

have tried to meet

their

problems by organization, they have found some unions closed to them and others indifferent to their needs. A l s o , employed women as a g r o u p are y o u n g e r than employed men. T h e i r industrial life tends to be shorter and more interrupted. T h e s e facts make the development of leadership more difficult. T h e larger part of the material which follows concerns the efforts of

the National

Women's Trade Union

League

of

A m e r i c a to deal with these problems. But a summary history of the L e a g u e in Great Britain has been included, not only f o r its intrinsic interest, but because of the similarity in the f o r m and methods o f the two organizations. T h e following chapter will deal with the British L e a g u e which, founded in ante-dated its American prototype by thirty years.

1874,

CHAPTER THE

WOMEN'S

TRADE

IN G R E A T

II UNION

LEAGUE

BRITAIN

" I am not quite sure whether the Women's Trade Union League of England is your grandmother or your granddaughter, because the idea of the League first came from America. It was founded by a printing woman because of her visit to America and later your League was the outcome of

our League."

MARY MACARTHUR,

at the 79/9 Convention of the National Women's Trade Union League of America, in Philadelphia.

IN 1873, Mrs. Emma Paterson, founder of the Women's Trade Union League in England, came over to the United States of America on a honeymoon trip. She had always been interested in political and industrial questions, had served a brief apprenticeship as a bookbinder and had acted as assistantsecretary of the Working Men's Club and Institute, and as Secretary of the Women's Suffrage Association, assisting Miss Emily Faithfull in her campaign for promoting " Women's Printing Societies." In New York, Mrs. Paterson was much impressed by " some successful unions . . . consisting of and managed by working-women, of which the two largest were the Parasol and Umbrella Makers' Union and the Women's Typographical Society." 1 Her faith in the ability of women to organize for the improvement of their industrial conditions was confirmed and she returned fired with the idea of urging her countrywomen to form trade unions. Her first step was to publish a series of articles in the " Labour News " exposing the sweated condition of female labor and recommending organization as the remedy.2 The second was to call a conference of " sympathetic ladies and gentlemen " which met in July, 1 Barbara Drake, Women in Trade Unions (London, Labour Research Department Report, 1920), p. 10. See also, S. & B. Webb, The History of Trade Unionism (2nd ed., London, Longmans, Green & Co., 1920), pp. 336337, note. 2 Women's Protective and Provident League, First Annual Report, 1S75.

TRADE

UNION

LEAGUE

IN GREAT BRITAIN

21

1 8 7 4 and which included Canon Kingsley, Arnold Toynbee, the Reverend Stewart Headlam and Harriet Martineau and also two influential trade unionists, M r . George Shipton, Secretary of the London Trades Council and Mr. King, Secretary of the London Society of Journeymen Bookbinders. The Conference resulted in the formation of the " Women's Protective and Provident League," f o r the promotion of trade unions among working women. State of organization among women League was formed, 1874

workers,

when

the

The general state of public opinion about trade unions may be gauged from the fact that the words " Trade Union " were deliberately omitted from the title of the organization, in fear " lest storms of opposition would be aroused " and it was not until 1890 that " Women's Trade Union League " became its official name.' When the League was founded there was very little organization among women workers. Except for the Lancashire cotton unions (claiming 15,000 women in 1 8 7 6 ) , men's unions definitely excluded women or made no attempt to organize them. In an earlier period, women, together with semi-skilled and unskilled workers, had played a conspicuous part in the great outburst of 1 8 3 3 - 3 4 which had led to the formation of that amazingly vocal and active but short-lived organization, " The Grand National Consolidated Trades Union of Great Britain and Ireland." A f t e r its collapse, little was heard of women's unions although more and more women were encroaching on the sphere of men's work as new machines were introduced and labor became more and more subdivided. From 1 8 5 0 to 1870, the Trade Union Movement had adopted the general policy of fostering craft unions among the highly skilled workers and of limiting its demands to immediate gains in wages and improvements in working conditions. There was little evidence of concerted action or of the machinery for it 3 The Women's Trades Union Review, April 1891 to January 1894, p. 14. [See bibliography.]

22

THE

WOMEN'S

TRADE

UNION

LEAGUES

until the Trades Union Congress was formed in the years 18681871. However, in the early '70's, coincidently with a period of booming trade, a fresh wave of labor unrest broke over the country, sweeping in even the agricultural laborers. There was a new sense of solidarity between all workers, skilled and unskilled. The new society to foster organization among women was born therefore at a timely moment. Legislation The decade of the seventies was also a period of activity in the sphere of legislation, stimulated by the grant of the franchise to urban workers by the electoral reform act of 1867. The unions were waging a great fight to legalize their position and safeguard themselves from danger of prosecution for " Conspiracy in Restraint of T r a d e " , aims which were achieved by the legislation of 1871 to 1876.4 They also sought to pass a " Short Hours " act to extend existing legal restrictions on female labor, and this phase of activity is instructive as to the methods of the men unionists. The campaign for the Short Hours Bill of 1872 was initiated by the Spinners' Associations which did not include women members. In the textile industry, men had learned that their own working hours depended on those of women and children employed in the same mills and they were fighting for themselves " behind the women's petticoats." The " feminists" of the time (including Mrs. Paterson), opposed the movement as an attack on the personal liberties of working women, and the opposition to the bill was backed by the Women's Suffrage Society. The Short Hours Bill of 1872 failed to pass, but the Factory Act of 1874 reduced working hours for women and children from sixty to fifty-seven a week. However, as a result of the strong opposition voiced before the Royal Commission of 1876, the amend4 The Trade Union Act, 1871; The Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act, 1875; The Trade Union Amendment Act, 1876. See G. D. H. Cole, Short History of the British Working Class Movement (2nd ed., N e w York: Macmillan, 1927), Vol. II, p. 104 and pp. 116-118.

TRADE

UNION

LEAGUE

IN GREAT

BRITAIN

23

ing act o f 1878 only improved administration and granted n o further reduction of hours. 5

Early policy of the League, 1874-86 D u r i n g the twelve years that M r s . Paterson was the m o v i n g spirit in the W o m e n ' s Provident and Protective L e a g u e

its

general policy w a s to f o r m separate W o m e n ' s Societies and to oppose special legislation f o r women, whether it was a matter o f restricting their hours or excluding them f r o m certain occupations. T h e L e a g u e originally set out with a disclaimer o f " a n y v i e w s of antagonism towards the employers of

female

labor as a class," deprecated the strike as " rash and mistaken action " and advocated a revision of the work-contract only " in those cases in which its terms appear unreasonable and u n j u s t to the dispassionate third party, the consumer . . . ( w h o ) is certainly not interested in adding artificially to . . . cost." ' T h e w a y in which these policies came to be modified is an instructive chapter in the League's history. Mrs. Paterson's first plan was to f o r m a National U n i o n of W o r k i n g W o m e n , " to accustom the women to the idea of organization " (a plan that was later on to become the basis for the National Federation of W o m e n W o r k e r s ) . A general union including various trades w a s formed in Bristol, but the London

Committee

considered

that separate

societies

were

more practicable. M a k i n g a first assault on her o w n trade, M r s . Paterson formed a Society of W o m e n Employed in Bookbinding which immediately enrolled about 300 members. A t

the

end of the first year, 1874-75, w o r k i n g with the very meagre resources of about £ 80 ($400)

as its income, the

League

had to its credit three women's unions in London and two in the provinces. 7 5 B. L. Hutchins and A. Harrison, A History of Factory Legislation (3rd ed., London, P. S. King & Sons, 1926), pp. 186-199. See also, Cole, op. cit.. Vol. II, pp. 126-127 6 Women's Protective & Provident League, First Annual Report, 1875. 7 Ibid.

24

THE

WOMEN'S

TRADE

UNION

LEAGUES

Although the Bristol "National Union of Working W o m e n " was immediately affiliated to the Trades Union Congress as a bona fide trade union, the League's first requests for representation were refused as those of " some middle-class ladies." By 1876, however, Mrs. Paterson and another woman delegate were allowed to represent the London women's unions of Bookbinders, Upholstresses and Shirt and Collar Makers and the Congress pledged itself to support the women's movement. Next year, the League instituted a " women's conference " during the annual meeting of the Trades Union Congress where the delegates were invited to participate in a discussion of the special problems of organizing women. Trades

Union Congress

and the women's

movement

T h e discussions about unionization and legislation in the Trades Union Congress and elsewhere during these early years provided some entertaining examples of the muddled and inconsistent reasons which some of the men trade unionists used in support of their opposition to the entrance of women into industry and against recognizing them by helping in their organization. While the blacksmiths urged a Bill to exclude women from their trade where they " were exposed to the grossest possible language and c o n d u c t " — a statement which seems something of a reflection on themselves—a chairmaker complained that " when he himself was thoroughly exhausted, his daughter could still go on." W h e n women were introduced into a cotton mill as mule-spinners, the local spinners' unions ordered women piecers or assistants to cease work, in jobs where women had been employed for half a century, because " the surroundings were totally unsuited to maintaining that feminine modesty of thought and behaviour which it is the duty of everyone to encourage and protect." Women were accused of being poor prospects for trade unionists " because of their unfortunate tendency to lean for advice upon males," but on the other hand, if they consistently pushed a demand for the appointment of women factory inspectors, their persistence was

TRADE

UNION

LEAGUE

IN GREAT BRITAIN

25

interpreted as " feminine unreasonableness and obstinacy." Many of the leaders still hoped that women could be driven out of industry. Henry Broadhurst, Secretary of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress, speaking in support of Factory Legislation, said, " They (the men) had the future of their country and children to consider, and it was their duty as men and husbands to use their utmost efforts to bring about a condition of things, where their wives should be in their proper sphere at home, instead of being dragged into competition for livelihood against the great and strong men of the world." A Birmingham delegate was definitely opposed to organizing women because " organization meant recognition." * On the whole, however, trade unionists were willing to attack the problem by insisting on organization which should protect the standard of life of both men and women. The Trades Union Congress stood by its resolution of 1876 to support the women's movement and the League had the active co-operation of many of the important unions and trade councils. A t the same time, the League's investigations led its members to realize most keenly that women were open to the charge of undercutting men's wages and that this was the root of an antagonism which often expressed itself in unreasonable terms. During the period of Mrs. Paterson's leadership, the League established thirty or forty women's unions in Great Britain but their membership was small and few of them enjoyed a long life. It had been demonstrated that women could organize and show remarkable qualities of leadership but that it was difficult to hold their societies together. The most successful societies joined the men's unions and Mrs. Drake estimates that in 1886, the combined membership of women's societies was about 2,500, while the woman membership of the cotton unions had doubled itself to reach 30,000 in the ten-year period.' 8 Barbara Drake, op. cit., pp. 14-21. 9 Ibid., p. 22.

26

THE

WOMEN'S

TRADE

UNION

LEAGUES

A t the time of Mrs. Paterson's death in 1886, a new understanding of the problems of women in industry had been reached both by the League and the Trades Union Congress. The League had acquired a realistic attitude about the difficulties of organizing women and " had grown cautious in advising men trade unionists to withdraw their restrictions on female labour, without sufficient security that women would be strong enough to observe trade union conditions and not allow themselves to be used as blacklegs." 10 Women had spoken eloquently in the Congress of their industrial problems and there was a growing trade union sentiment in favor of helping them organize. The League had provided funds for the work of organizers and had found meeting places other than the public house which was often the headquarters of the men's societies. It had thus helped the women to stand on their own feet and brought out their latent qualities of leadership. Second period of the League: support of legislation; open men's unions to women

effort to

During the second period of the League's history, from 1886 to 1903, its policy was mainly directed to supporting protective legislation and trying to open the men's unions to women members. The leadership of the League had fallen to the lot of Lady Dilke and, in her husband, Sir Charles Dilke, the women workers had an able and indefatigable Parliamentary spokesman. The League, now convinced that legislation had not proved a serious handicap on women's labor, turned its attention to extending legislative protection to new classes of workers. The change in policy was signally marked by the campaign to aid the laundresses, many of whom were working 14 to 16 hours a day, in an effort to get laundries included in the Factory Bill of 1891. This campaign was unsuccessful, but hours of work in laundries were limited to 60 per week in 1895. It was always the League which took the initiative in demanding women's representation on Parliamentary Committees and 1 0 Ibid., p. 23.

TRADE UNION

LEAGUE

IN G R E A T

BRITAIN

2J

R o y a l Commissions appointed to consider working conditions, and its members were accepted as spokesmen for the women workers of the country. The early years of this period, like the years of the infancy of the League, were marked by a new wave of labor unrest which swept into the union ranks workers who had previously been untouched by organization. 1 1 The great London dock strike of 1 8 8 9 was almost simultaneous with the smaller but no less dramatic walk-out of the women employed in making lucifer matches. Mrs. Besant's startling articles in the " Link " roused public opinion on their behalf—even an indifferent middle-class was shocked by the contrast between wages of 4 shillings to 8 shillings a week and dividends of 22 per cent— and the L e a g u e raised £ 43

so many measures, yet the interests of working women were involved to a greater or less extent in all of them. However, she recommended that for the future, the League should divide its legislative program into two parts: first, measures directly a part of the labor program, and second, general good citizenship legislation which should have endorsement but not active work. Among the measures for which League representatives had actively lobbied and appeared at hearings were the WagnerPeyser Act, passed June 1933, to establish an adequate system of public employment offices; extension of the scope of the Civil Service L a w ; and repeal of Section 2 1 3 of the Economy Act. The last-named required Government personnel officers reducing staffs to dismiss first those married persons whose husbands or wives were also under Civil Service. A study made by the Women' Bureau in 1935 showed that the effect of this section had been to throw out of work a disproportionate number of women, especially in the lower pay groups. Until the passage of the Social Security Act in 1935, the League worked with other organizations to try to secure the re-enactment of a Federal Maternity and Infancy Law. It was felt that the maternal and child welfare provisions of the Social Security L a w dealt adequately with this matter. 23 The League was also continuously active in securing appropriations for the Federal Women's Bureau and the Children's Bureau. The Convention of 1936 passed a resolution re-affirming the League's opposition to the proposed " Equal Rights " amendment to the United States constitution, and stringent criticism of the Woman's Party was also expressed in the discussion on a resolution of protest against efforts to do away with minimum wage laws. 24 Miss Winslow reported that the League had participated with other organizations in hearings on the amendment before Congress, the opposition being led by League 23 See titles I, IV, X, V (parts 1-4) and V I of the Social Security Law. 24 N. W . T. U. L. Convention, 1936, Proceedings, pp. 88-90. Cf. supra, Chapter V, pp. 137-141.

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representatives in 1931 and 1933. In 1934, the office also circularized each member of the new Congress. The struggle over the amendment came to a height in the spring of 1938 when it was actually brought to the floor of the Senate though no final vote was taken there.25 In February, the opponents of the measure organized " The Campaign Committee of 500 Against the Equal Rights Amendment," with Miss Dorothy Straus, representing the National League of Women Voters, as Chairman. Among prominent members of the League on the organizing body were Rose Schneiderman, Mabel Leslie, Frieda Miller and Pauline Newman. Miss Newman expressed the opposition of the League at the hearing before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on February 7. Her parting shot was, " I charge the proponents of this legislation with being numerically insignificant, industrially ignorant, politically highly theoretical, and socially quite muddled." 26 The Subcommittee, after two tie votes reported out the amendment without endorsement. International Relations The conflict of philosophy and method concerning " Equal Rights " continued in the international sphere as well as on the national front. Opposition to the program of the group which had formed the " Open-door International" in Berlin in 1929 took Elisabeth Christman to the 1931 meeting of the International Labour Organization. She went as an " unofficial observer " and the funds for her trip were raised by a member of the League. 27 One of the main points at issue on the Conference agenda was a proposal—which was eventually defeated—to exempt women in managerial and supervisory positions from the operation of the night-work convention and to change the hours of work. Because it was thought that this might raise the whole question of special legislation for women, 25 N. Y. Times, March 27, 1938. 26 Ibid., February 8, 1938. See also issues of Feb. 10 and 28, and Mar. 22. 27 N . W . T. U . L. Convention, 1936, Proceedings, pp. 41-43.

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Miss Christman carried to M . Albert Thomas, then Director of the I. L . O., a letter f r o m President Green affirming the A . F . of L . ' s support of such legislation and a joint letter f r o m eleven national women's organizations. T h e latter stated, " O u r experience has shown, and competent investigations have proved, that special laws f o r women do not discriminate against them, but are rather a means toward securing greater equality between women and men. " O u r attitude is representative of the thought and experience of the women of the United States, with the exception of one g r o u p — t h e proponents of the ' Equal R i g h t s ' amendment, which is like in f o r m and character to the Equal Rights Treaty circulated in Europe. O u r position of favoring special legislation f o r women in industry is that of the leading women's organizations and of organized labor." T h e League's unofficial connection with the International Labour Office preceded official action by the United States. In 1933, the Government sent a delegation of observers, headed by M a r y Anderson, to the I. L . O. Conference. 2 8 Miss Anderson recommended that the United States join the I. L . O . and in A u g u s t , 1934, the President, acting on a resolution o f Congress, accepted membership in the organization. T h e " peace planks " in the League's platform were somewhat changed at the Convention of 1936. Article 6, " T h e outlawry of w a r , " w a s changed to " International co-operation to abolish w a r " and Article 7, " Closer affiliation of women workers of all countries," became Article 5, " Co-operation with trade union women of other countries." 2 ' In carrying out its peace program the L e a g u e has continued to be one of the co-operating organizations of the National Committee on the Cause and Cure of W a r . T h e Executive Board, in 1 9 3 1 , sent a letter to President Hoover, urging the appointment of a 28 Miss Anderson's outstanding services to women workers were given recognition recently by Smith College, which conferred upon her the honorary degree of LL.D., on June 16, 1941. 29 Ibid., p. 99.

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woman to the Disarmament Conference held in Geneva in February, 1932, and submitting the names of Jane Addams, and Judge Florence E. Allen. The President appointed Dr. Mary E. Woolley, a League member. A m o n g the Convention resolutions passed in 1936 was one commending President Roosevelt for his " policy looking towards amity and understanding between the Americas." Another resolution pledged the League to " carry on a continuous campaign of education and organization against all war preparations and war propaganda." A third favored Government ownership of all munitions and engines of war, " to the end that the profits be eliminated from war." 80 Early in 1938, the Chairman of the Peace and International Relations Committee sent out a letter reminding local branches of their obligations under the League program. Following the thirteenth conference on the Cause and Cure of W a r , the Executive Board had recommended support of increased appropriations for the State Department. The Board also supported revision of the Neutrality A c t to allow the President, in case of war in violation of any treaty to which the United States was a party, to remove the arms embargo from all except treaty-breakers. A third point was support of the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Program. In this connection Margaret F . Stone, Chairman of the International Relations Committee, appeared for the National League at the March 15 hearing before the Committee for Reciprocity Information on the British Trade Agreement. The general argument of her brief was that a revival of international trade would increase employment and raise living standards for the workers of the United States. Figures were quoted from the 1935 Census of Manufactures to show that of the ten industries paying their workers the highest wages, eight, including automobiles, petroleum refining and agricultural implements, were not protected by high tariffs. O f the industries paying below average 30 Ibid.,

pp. 96-97.

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wages, a majority of them, for example shirt-making and glove-manufacturing, had high tariffs. Organization: Relations with unions In all phases of the League's work, one is led back to the fundamental problem of organizing women workers, where in spite of changing conditions, the League continued to face the same difficulties of the apathy of the great mass of women workers, the lack of interest of many of the unions and the impossibility of undertaking broad scale organization projects on its own initiative." A t various times, League officers pressed the question of representation of women on the Executive Council of the A . F . of L . and urged that a general campaign of organization should be undertaken among women. Speaking to the A . F . of L . Convention in 1933, at a time when she estimated that less than a quarter of a million of the five and a half million women in industry were members of trade unions, Miss Elisabeth Christman reminded the group that there were large opportunities to recruit membership, both for well-established unions and in new fields. For example, she said there were 460,000 women in textile mills; 700,000 women were eligible to the Retail Clerks Protective Association and 113,000 to the Journeymen Barbers; 284,000 women were engaged in the manufacture of electrical goods and 435,000 employed in hotels and restaurants. Miss Christman also went on to say, " I believe we shall have to make some structural change in our present Trade Union set-up. While I fully recognize the value of craft unions, I am in sympathy with the idea now being advanced here and there of a great need for the functional union in such many-sided industries as rubber, textile, automobile, meat packing, for example." ' 2 Later in the Convention, Miss Christman, as a delegate from the International Glove Workers' Union of America, proposed the following 31 Ibid., pp. 113-114, Report of Committee on Organization. 32 A. F. of L. Convention, 1933, Proceedings, pp. 162-164.

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resolution, . . . " While the organized workers are now challenged to deal with industry-wide problems for which the existing structure and methods of organization were not originally designed, be i t ' Resolved, that to study and advise on the united action of the trade unions and on the growth of organization in industries not hitherto fully organized, a strategy board of seven men and women representative of the main groups of industries be appointed by the President of the American Federation of L a b o r ' . " " On this and on other resolutions concerning Federal Labor Unions, the Committee on Resolutions merely re-stated the policy of the A . F . of L., saying that it could not interfere in the structure of trade unions. The Committee report and a minority report by President Howard, of the International Typographical Union, were referred back to the Executive Council—which was to call a conference of interested unions. In January, 1 9 3 5 , Miss Schneiderman and Miss Christman again conferred with Mr. William Green on the subject of organizing women workers, citing the rubber and automobile industries as being ripe for such work. They proposed that the A . F . of L . consider a monthly grant to the League, sufficient to finance at least three women organizers. Mr. Green said that was not possible but asked f o r suggestions for three organizers who might be added to the staff of the A . F . of L . itself. In April, Agnes Johnson O'Connor, a shoe worker by trade, was assigned to Akron, Ohio, to organize the women in the rubber industry, and she was kept on the staff until December of the same year. With the A . F . of L . as a body, it was the same old story of interest aroused with difficulty and maintained only sporadically. Meanwhile the developments within the structure of the labor movement, described earlier in this chapter—the setting up of the Committee f o r Industrial Organization—were opening up new possibilities of organization, and at the same 33Ibid., p. i n .

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time creating new difficulties for the League, which had always tried to operate as an aid of the A. F. of L. Members of the League and of its Executive Board, were divided between A. F. of L. and C. I. O. unions, and there arose the problem of affiliation of new groups to the League and of giving help to the C. I. O. as it became a rival of the older organization. Though the final decision of the League's Executive Board was to assist in organizing any group which appealed to them for help, yet, " certain opportunities for service will become increasingly delimited for us unless and until the present division in the labor movement resolves itself." " Such success as the League achieved in the field of organization came in particular projects, some undertaken in connection with an individual union. It also continued to plough the ground for seeds of trade unionism by doing an educational job with groups that were either neglected or not yet ready for organization. Very often, it is possible to trace a connection between these two phases of activity, as will be seen in some of the examples which follow. While the 1929 Convention was in session, the League was in the midst of its " Southern Campaign." This continued until towards the end of 1932, when depression caused curtailment of the budget. Miss Matilda Lindsay, who had been in charge of the work, resigned as Vice-President of the National League in September of that year. Speaking at the 1936 Convention, Mr. Francis J . Gorman, then First Vice-President of the United Textile Workers thanked the League for its co-operation and material support in efforts to organize the southern textile workers. And the League Bulletin of July, 1 9 3 1 , recorded a resolution of the Virginia State Federation of Labor in appreciation of Miss Lindsay's " untiring and unremitting . . . efforts to help the strikers " in Danville, in the winter of Miss Lindsay worked in Danville for nearly eight months preceding the strike of 4,000 workers at the Riverside and Dan 34 N. Y. Women's Trade Union League, Annual Report, 1937-1938, p. 1.

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River Cotton Mills, which was called on September 29, 1930. A t the beginning of the year, the workers were given a cut of ten per cent, and the company union which functioned in the mills gave them no opportunity to protest. A committee of workers was sent to Richmond to ask President Green, of the American Federation of Labor, to send organizers into Danville. Mr. Francis J . Gorman took charge for the United Textile Workers, and, at their request, Miss Lindsay was sent by the National Women's Trade Union League. Eight months were spent in efforts to organize the workers and, at the same time, to secure a peaceful settlement of the dispute. But key workers who joined the union were dismissed by the management. B y the end of the summer, 2,000 workers had lost their jobs, and a strike was finally called on September 29. The National League's office in Washington was used as strike headquarters by the United Textile Workers, and the League assumed responsibility for girl strikers who were selected in Danville by Miss Lindsay and sent to various cities to raise money. They collected $ 1 , 0 0 0 at the Convention of the American Federation of Labor in Boston. The League itself relayed to the strikers $5,728.77 which had come in from diverse sources and took a major share in organizing relief. Efforts had been made to obtain mediation of the dispute before the strike occurred, and after it was called, Governor Pollard offered his services. Miss Lindsay, with a committee of strikers, went to see the Governor. But the company said it had nothing to mediate, so these efforts failed. It was a difficult situation, for the textile industry was suffering from economic depression, and the workers, for their part, had few resources. Miss Lindsay was mainly concerned with keeping up the morale of the strikers. T w o commissaries were established, and great efforts were made to man the picket lines, which because of the location of the mills had to be stationed at seventeen different points. The county authorities asked for troops and they arrived, one thousand strong, at Thanksgiving. Many strikers were arrested, but there was only one convic-

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t i o n — f o r the mild offence of throwing an apple core. Around Christmas time, eviction notices were served on some of the workers who lived in company houses. T h e League was unsuccessful in obtaining relief f o r the workers f r o m the Red Cross, but g i f t s poured into it f o r a Christmas party to be arranged f o r the strikers and their families. Miss M a r y Dreier, of the N e w Y o r k League, headed a committee which collected contributions, and President Green sent Miss Annabelle Glenn, of the A . F . of L . office, to help Miss Lindsay in Danville. T w o days before Christmas the party was held in a huge tobacco warehouse. It was jammed with the 1 5 , 0 0 0 people—half of them children—who came to celebrate. While the morale of the strikers appeared high at this point, the strike was actually nearing its end. J a n u a r y was a month of bitter weather, and the relief problem became increasingly difficult. On January 29, the strike was called off. 3 5 It failed of its immediate objects, but in a larger sense it was a part of a large-scale and continuous struggle to establish collective bargaining in the textile industry. T h e struggle developed into a general strike in the industry in 1 9 3 4 . Shortly a f t e r the end of the Danville strike, in March, 1 9 3 1 , the League held a Southern industrial conference, planned as the first of a series, but the only one held before the work was curtailed. The subject of the Greensboro, North Carolina, meeting was " Industrial P e a c e — H o w Achieved ? " and the hope was to educate public opinion on the merits of the trade union agreement and industrial arbitration. A m o n g the speakers were Frank P . Graham, President of the University of North Carolina, Mr. W . C. Birthright, member of the Southern Organizing Committee of the A . F . of L . , and Colonel Raymond Robins, who spoke on " Community Benefits Through Democratic Management of Industry." In the autumn of 1 9 3 4 , the National League took an active part in the general strike of the textile workers, to which 35 N. W . T. U. L. Convention. 1936, Proceedings, pp. 32-34. Report of Miss Matilda Lindsay to the Executive Board of the N. W. T. U. L. (League files.)

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reference has been made. The United Textile Workers asked the League office to take charge of the organization of a National Citizens' Committee to arouse public opinion on the issues of the strike and to raise funds for relief. In September the League sent out a mimeographed Bulletin stating that the workers' grievances were low wages, aggravated by the " stretch-out; " the use by employers of all kinds of subterfuges to defeat the provisions of the Code; and dismissal of workers for joining the union in spite of the guarantees of Section 7 A of the N. I. R. A . S i x months later another Bulletin made known developments after the strike was called off at the end of September, on the appointment by President Roosevelt of a special mediation board, headed by John G. Winant, then Governor of N e w Hampshire. The second Bulletin summarized the preliminary report on wages and hours in the textile industry published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the report on investment and profits published by the Federal Trade Commission. Complaints pouring in to the Textile Labor Relations Board, set up on the recommendation of Governor Winant's Mediation Board, showed that the workers felt that as yet little had been done to remedy their specific grievances. 86 T w o of the local leagues were particularly concerned in the general textile strike. The Birmingham, Alabama, League reported to the Convention of 1936, " we made trips through the strike area, achieving the doubtful distinction of having machine guns turned on us, with directions to leave town in five minutes." The Huntsville Committee was formed during the strike and made a new experiment in organization by setting up a Junior League, made up of about 500 boys and girls ranging from six to fifteen years of age. Its purpose was to inform members about the history and principles of the labor movement. 87 36 N . W . T. U. L. Convention, 1936, Proceedings, pp. 33-35. N . W. T. U. L. Mimeographed Bulletin, Sept. 13, 1934, and Mar. 30, 1935. 37 N . W . T. U . L. Convention, 1936, Proceedings, p. 62 and pp. 70-71.

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A s far as has been possible with depleted treasuries and reduced staffs, both national and local leagues have continued to meet calls for assistance whether they came from old established unions or from groups who were beginning to think of trade unionism as a help to the solution of their problems. Until it was dissolved in 1935, largely owing to financial difficulties, the Philadelphia League continued to be active throughout the State, as well as in Philadelphia itself. Chicago and New Y o r k , the two largest leagues, have been able to carry on a considerable amount of organization and educational work and to provide headquarters for new and struggling groups. Chicago reported to the 1936 Convention that the millinery workers who were on strike in 1929 and again in 1933 used the league office, and that the burlap bag workers, who were finally taken into the Upholsterers' Union, were meeting weekly at the office in 1936. A note in the Life and Labor Bulletin for March, 1930, stated that Chicago had furnished speakers in the drive to bring women into the Plate Printers and Die Stampers Union which had voted to admit them at its convention in the previous year. Slowly, as circumstances dictated, unions continued to open their doors to women, and the league w a s usually ready to take any opportunity thus offered. Both Chicago and N e w Y o r k took an active part in the struggles which served to restore the position and power of the International Ladies Garment Workers' Union, and the National League assigned Miss Sadie Reisch to help them in a strike in Toronto, Canada. Both these locals and the National continued to work on the difficult problems of domestic employees. Most of the December, 1931, Life and, Labor Bulletin was devoted to this subject, and " Help Wanted," a pamphlet by Miss Cara Cook, Secretary, summarized three bills to protect domestic workers introduced into the N e w Y o r k legislature of 1939 by the local league. Miss Helen Blanchard's year of successful work with New Y o r k hotel employees, described in the local league report for 1938 to 1939, suggests the possibility that the seeds of organi-

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zation may bear fruit long a f t e r they are planted. A s early as 1924, weekly meetings of hotel chambermaids were being held at the league headquarters, but, for obvious reasons, progress in unionization was very slow and difficult, and more headway w a s made in legislative protection. Organization drives were renewed in the 1930's, and at the end of her year o f w o r k with the N e w Y o r k Hotel Trades Council, the League organizer could report that the workers had secured contracts with thirty-two hotels. In its campaign to organize the beauty parlor workers, the N e w Y o r k League, in 1938-1939, used two " organizers-intraining," one a waitress and one a " beautician," who later attended the B r y n M a w r Summer School. This experiment in training f o r leadership was made possible by a special g i f t and gave opportunity for a close tie-up between the league's w o r k in organization and education. Workers'

Education:

Training

for

leadership

A f t e r the closing of the " Training School for A c t i v e W o r k e r s in the L a b o r M o v e m e n t " in 1926, the National League did not carry on a program of formal education. However, the Secretary's report to the 1936 Convention stressed the necessity for education of leaders and organizers, and a National Education Committee, set up by resolution of the delegates, prepared suggestions for an educational program for local leagues. These were sent out as a mimeographed bulletin in the following September and were supplemented, a year later, by further suggestions from the National Office f o r leagues with no paid staff. In recent years, Chicago and N e w Y o r k have been the only local leagues having a regular program of classes for workers. T h e report of the C h i c a g o League to the 1936 Convention said that 1929 saw the end of a ten-year period of joint work with the Schools Committee of the Chicago Federation of Labor. T h e Federation then instituted a new policy of having special classes in the public schools. F o r the next few years the L e a g u e

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carried on some work by itself, arranging a lecture course on problems growing out of unemployment in 1932 and 1933. The following year it co-operated with the Government's program under the W o r k s Progress Administration and other agencies. In 1937, the Chicago Federation of Labor and the league again combined their plans, arranging that classes should be held in the league building and that Agnes Nestor should be in charge. 38 The New Y o r k League continued with its general program of classes and added new experiments. Its report to the 1936 Convention said that greater efforts had been made to relate its program to activity in the labor movement. In 1930 a Training Course for Active Women Trade Unionists was inaugurated under the direction of Dr. Elsie Glück. Students were recommended by their local unions and were given league scholarships for the term of twenty weeks. In 1934, the league classes were opened to men, and in the following year the tuition fee was dropped for all classes. A f t e r Dr. Glück became educational director in the summer of 1934 a full program of day classes for unemployed workers was offered and continued until Dr. Glück resigned in 1936. 39 The league's Annual Report for 1938 to 1939 showed that a Public A f f a i r s Training Course had been started and said that twenty of the fifty-five students registered had been able to do steady and successful work. A total student body of two hundred and twenty-five, recruited from forty-nine different unions, was reported. In Chicago and N e w Y o r k , the Leagues began to use the radio for discussion of public issues affecting workers. Both the Chicago and New Y o r k Leagues have also continued to hold annual regional conferences on problems of the labor movement, the New Y o r k League reporting to the 1936 Con38 Bulletin of Division of Labor Standards, U. S. Department of Labor, December, 1937, p. 13. 39 Dr. Glück later became Chairman of the Education Committee of the National League.

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vention that the conference of the previous year had one hundred representatives from forty-five unions. The league groups in Wisconsin, St. Louis and Kansas City joined in the Chicago conferences and the New Y o r k meetings included the groups from New England, so that these regional conferences compensated in a measure for the lack of a National Convention between 1929 and 1936. For the 1936 Convention, the last one held by the League to date, a special educational feature was arranged as had been done in 1929. Three sessions were devoted to a series of topics formulated previously by a committee under the chairmanship of Marion H. Hedges, Research Director of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the general subject being " Workers and Their Government in the Machine A g e . " The delegates were given a fifty-page syllabus dealing specially with " Women Workers " and prepared from data collected by the Women's Bureau. The efforts of the League to educate its own members and also to make the public aware of issues affecting women workers are closely connected with the question of leadership. Addressing the Convention on " Workers and Their Government," Miss Josephine Roche, then Assistant Secretary of the United States Treasury, said, " Almost the first stimulus given to me to interest myself in the problems of industry came through this organization, and particularly through your great leader, Mary Dreier." 40 Mrs. Roosevelt's active participation in the work of the New Y o r k League has been referred to earlier, and her desire to give public approval to the work of the organization was shown again by her entertainment of fifteen of the N e w Y o r k and Alabama delegates at the White House, as her guests for the period of the Convention. 41 League members of long-standing have continued to receive important public appointments. In April, 1937, Rose Schneiderman succeeded Maud Swartz as Secretary of the New Y o r k 40 N. W. T. U. L. Convention, 1936, Proceedings, p. 68. 41 See N. Y. Times and Washington Post, May 5, 1936.

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State Department of Labor. 42 In the fall of 1939, she acted as adviser to the regional conference of the International Labor Office in Havana, while Mary Winslow, legislative representative of the League, was one of the United States delegates, and the only woman delegate. 48 Miss Winslow is also the representative of the United States on the Inter-American Commission of Women. Frieda S. Miller, formerly Director of the Division of Women and Children, was promoted to the office of New Y o r k State Industrial Commissioner in August, 1938, and her appointment was finally confirmed by the State Senate on May 2, 1939. 44 Miss Miller has also represented the United States at meetings of the International Labor Office in Geneva and in Santiago, Chile. T h e Report of the New Y o r k League to the 1936 Convention mentioned a unique appointment of a different kind. It stated that Sadie Reisch Bludinger, who had been organizer for the N e w Y o r k League for seven years, had become the only woman manager of a local for the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union. W h a t may be said of the younger members of the League? Is the organization at present offering them an opportunity to show initiative and exercise leadership, comparable to that of earlier years? The importance of this question, probably the most important internal problem faced by the League, was recognized at the Convention of 1936. In her presidential report, speaking of unionization, Miss Schneiderman said, " Should we not re-examine our wares . . . and evolve new organization techniques which will capture the minds and hearts of the young men and women outside of our ranks ? . . . W e must realize that youth is attracted by youth and that brings up the necessity for the training of our young men and women for leadership." 42 N. Y. Times, April 2, 1937. 43 N. W . T . U. L., Life and Labor Bulletin, No. 8, January, 1940. (The National League Office, which had issued only occasional mimeographed bulletins since 1932, started a monthly mimeographed series in 1939.) 4AN. Y. Times, May 3, 1939-

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W h e n the time came during the Convention for nomination o f members of the Executive Board, the question of encouraging younger members of the L e a g u e in leadership was discussed. M r s . M a r y Halas of Chicago made a special point of this by nominating Marion Burns, President of the K a n s a s C i t y League, on the understanding that she herself would refuse re-nomination. 45 Despite this recognition, there was a good deal of dissatisfaction among the younger members w h o attended the Convention. Some of them felt that the older members monopolized discussion of the issues. Some were dissatisfied because proposals for changes in the National Y o u t h A c t were referred to the incoming Executive Board, f o r fear, so they thought, of embarrassing the Roosevelt administration. Y o u n g e r members felt that League offices tended to be held by a closed corporation of " members w h o have been with us since the inception o f the movement." " O n the other side of the ledger, it should be recorded that the N e w Y o r k League has shown enough vitality to attract a considerable group of younger members, and some of its educational experiments have already been discussed. T h e revival o f the Washington, D . C. L e a g u e (disbanded in 1 9 3 0 ) , which was re-constituted as a committee in 1935, and received a local league charter in 1939, has been largely the w o r k of a group o f younger members. T h e District of Columbia branch has paid particular attention to the " s e r v i c e " workers. It has helped to establish a union of laundry w o r k e r s and one o f domestic employees. W h e n asked by the W o m e n ' s A u x i l i a r y 45 The following changes had occurred on the Executive Board since the Convention of 1929: In July, 1930, the Board elected Miss Irma Hochstein of the Milwaukee League to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Mrs. Sarah Green. In March, 1933, Miss Mary E. Dreier became Vice-President, in place of Miss Matilda Lindsay who had resigned in the previous September, and Miss Mollie Dowd of Birmingham, Alabama, became a member of the board. When Miss Hochstein resigned in 1934, Mrs. Raymond Robins, now resident in Florida, was elected to the vacancy. 46 The views stated in this paragraph were privately expressed to the author.

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of the Redcaps' Union to help the railroad porters, it published a four-page folder on their problems and testified on their behalf before the Wages and Hours Division of the United States Department of Labor. 4 1 Although a number of the older branches (both local leagues and committees) have disappeared or diminished in importance in recent years, the tradition established by the League of being a leader of " the women's movement within the labor movement" or alternatively, " the labor group within the women's movement" has been strong enough to bring in requests to the National Office for the formation of new branches.48 The policy has been to refuse new charters unless there was good prospect of permanency. As in the case of Washington, D. C., some of the older branches have been reorganized. The New Jersey State League was started in 1935 by members of the New Y o r k League. In some cities, such as Toledo, Ohio (listed in the Secretary's Report to the 1936 Convention as reorganized in 1 9 3 4 ) , there is now no local branch but a small group continues membership in the National League. At the end of 1939, the National Office listed sixteen branches.49 Of these, only New York, Boston and Chicago have paid officers. The Secretary of the New York League, Miss Cara Cook, in her Annual Report for 1938-1939, said, " In evaluating the work of the League, we should constantly bear in mind its composition. Our membership ranges from First Avenue to Park Avenue, from political left to right, from A . F . of L . to C. I. O. The minimum program on which such an organization can move forward is at times very minimum! If under these circumstances, we are able to steer an 47 Information from the officers of the District of Columbia League and from " The Banner," November, 1939. 48 N. W. T. U. L. Convention, 1936, Proceedings, Secretary's Report, p. 22. 49 Beaver Dam, Wis.; Birmingham, Ala.*; Bloomington-Normal, 111.; Boston*; Chicago*; Huntsville, Ala.; Illinois*; Kansas City, Mo.*; KelsoLongview, Wash.*; New Jersey*; Racine, Wis.; St. Louis*; Washington, D. C.*; Waukesha, Wis.; Worcester, Mass. [The branches marked * are Leagues, the others are Committees.]

220

THE

WOMEN'S

TRADE

UNION

LEAGUES

objective course, performing practical, rather humble tasks that benefit working women in small ways . . . then we may feel justified in asking your continued support." It seems unquestionable that most of the problems tackled by the League are continuing ones which, though they change in form, do not admit of any permanent or final solution. The period which opened in 1929 has seen the League achieving some success in its major aim of acquainting new groups of women with the principles of trade unionism and keeping the labor movement as a whole alive to the necessity of organizing women. In this field, the split between the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations has brought difficulties reminiscent of those which had to be faced earlier, for example in the Lawrence strike of 1 9 1 2 , when leadership was taken by the Industrial Workers of the World. The problem of dual unionism is more fundamental today because of its wider scope. The League's own membership is divided between A . F . of L . and C. I. O. Though the Executive Board has made the decision that the League's general policy is to assist any group which appeals for aid in organization work, it is undoubtedly hampered by the division in the labor movement. In the years of economic depression which began in 1929, the leagues were faced with urgent calls for aid from women who were unemployed. They felt obliged to divert some of their energies from the task of organization to helping in the provision of immediate measures of relief and to bringing the plight of unemployed women to public attention. The " New D e a l " period, inaugurated by President Roosevelt's administration in 1933, offered new opportunities for League leadership. A s in the days of the first World War, many women who had had training within the League were called to public service—in the administration of the National Industrial Recovery Act—on Minimum Wage Boards—in Departments of Labor. The League's pioneer efforts to increase international understanding were also recognized by appoint-

T H E LEAGUE S I N C E I 9 2 9

221

ment of some of its leaders as government representatives to the International Labor Office. In the past, the League has shown that it can adapt itself to changing conditions. The tasks which it set out to accomplish, of keeping the labor movement aware of the needs of women workers and of interpreting those needs to women in general, are by no means ended. The Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor as yet has no woman member, nor do women appear to be playing a large part in the inner councils of the Congress of Industrial Organizations. There is still need for interpretation of workers' problems to other groups.50 The work to be done continues to demand the spirit of the pioneer, a spirit which has been shown by the League in the past. Its continued life as an organization would seem to depend on the extent to which it can adapt itself to changing conditions and develop leadership among the younger workers. 50 The need is enhanced in a period of national emergency such as the present

CHAPTER VIII A FOOTNOTE TO T H E HISTORY THE work of the Women's Trade Union Leagues has been such as to require that it should be described in detail to give adequate basis for judgment of its place and importance. This " footnote " attempts to give a summary appraisal, bringing together conclusions which have been suggested in previous chapters of the history. The introduction pointed out that in trying to meet the special needs of women wage-earners, the work of the leagues had cut across both the labor movement and the feminist movement. Without attempting the impossible task of making any final judgment upon those movements, it seems permissible to take for granted that under the present economic system the right of workers to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing is an essential of the democratic process. No less an essential is the right of women to demand equality before the law and opportunities for education and employment under conditions which meet their particular needs. It may also be assumed that since in a dynamic society no permanent solution of the " labor problem " or the " woman problem " is possible, organized effort to meet new situations as they arise is a necessity. Granting these general assumptions, we may then try to appraise the work of the leagues within the limits of their own expressed aims. Even within these limits, one meets the difficulty that there are no altogether reliable and objective tests of success. Judgment is relatively easier in the case of the British League, because of the nature of the material available, and because its history is now a closed chapter. Such conclusions as seemed justified have already been expressed. Therefore, though it is hoped that the similarities and differences between the organizations in the two countries may give a broader basis for judgment, the material which follows will refer mainly to the National Women's Trade Union League of America. 222

A FOOTNOTE

TO T H E

HISTORY

223

In judging its record, the reader may find it useful to have before him a summary of the purposes of the League as stated at various times, and also some excerpts which show the range of opinion expressed by commentators on its achievements. A s it appeared in the Constitution of 1936, the " platform " calls f o r : 1. Organization of workers into trade unions. 2. The shorter work week in order to spread employment and increase the individual worker's leisure. 3. A standard of living commensurate with the nation's productive capacity. 4. Equal pay for equal work regardless of sex or race. 5. Cooperation with trade union women of other countries. 6. International co-operation to abolish war. 1 Article II of the Constitution states: The purposes of the National Women's Trade Union League of America shall be to serve the interests of wage-earning women through organization of workers into trade unions, collective agreements between trade unions and employers, legislation for the workers' economic and social good, workers' education and interpretation of labor problems to the public . . . In carrying out its purposes, the aim . . . shall be: T o provide a common meeting ground for women of all groups who indorse the principles of democracy and wish to see them applied to industry. T o develop leadership among the women workers, inspiring them with a sense of personal responsibility for the conditions under which they work. T o secure for girls and women equal opportunity with boys and men in trades and technical training. T o secure the representation of women on industrial tribunals and public boards and commissions. The League has also claimed a dual role as interpreter. " The Women's Trade Union League has constituted what may be 1 See Appendix V I for Constitutions of 1903, 1907 and 1936.

224

THE

WOMEN'S

TRADE

UNION

LEAGUES

termed the woman's movement within the labor movement . . . T h e labor movement as a whole looks to us to be spokesman f o r woman's interest; and women's organizations everywhere ask of us an interpretation of the problem of the woman w h o works. . . . " 2 T h o u g h the League has developed new tactics and policies in the course of its history, its m a j o r purposes have remained the same. O n the other hand, a wide range of opinion has been expressed on its general achievements and on its status during various phases of its development. W r i t i n g shortly a f t e r the close of the first W o r l d W a r which had seen a great g r o w t h in the prestige of the labor movement, Professor Emilie J. Hutchinson, in her book on " W o m e n ' s W a g e s , " said, " W i t h the advent of the National W o m e n ' s T r a d e Union League . . . the organization of women workers on a national scale may be said to have begun. . . . Such success as attended the huge strikes in the sewing trades in 1 9 1 0 - 1 9 1 1 was in large measure due to the backing of the National League and the local branches, especially in N e w Y o r k and Chicago. T o incessant calls for help in time of strike, or in the task of organizing, the League has responded generously with moral and financial support. It is probably not too much to say that to the League should be credited the strongest single influence in the marked g r o w t h of trade unionism among women, especially since 1 9 1 1 . " 3 O n another aspect of the League's work, P r o f e s s o r Daugherty states, ( i t ) " was one of the pioneers in workers' education." 4 A t the other end of the scale are the views expressed by Miss Gladys Meyerand. Miss Meyerand, writing on " W o m e n ' s Organizations," in the Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, made the following statements: " Another indictment of 2 N . W. T. U. L. Convention, 1924, Proceedings, p. 2 (Convention Call). 3 E. J. Hutchinson, Women's Wages (N. Y.: Columbia University Press, 1919), PP. ISI-IS4

4 C. R. Daugherty, Labor Problems in American Industry (Houghton Mifflin, 3rd impression, 1936), p. 619.

A F O O T N O T E TO T H E H I S T O R Y

225

women's organizations, especially in the United States, has of late been advanced by observers who claim that their preponderantly leisure class membership has served indirectly if not directly to block any attempt at economic or political realignment. The working class women's organizations have in a majority of countries been numerically weaker and less articulate in voicing their objectives, a situation which has been fostered by the paternalistic attitude of upper class women who seek through their more powerful organizations to secure certain benefits for the workers but to prevent any essential change in their status. Such critics usually cite the National Women's Trade Union League as an example. This organization, founded in 1903, from the first included in its membership not only women's representatives of trade unions but leisure class women interested in educational and philanthropic activities for workers. Women members of the trade union movement in Europe hold that the American organization places a mistaken emphasis on the women's movement within the ranks of labor instead of on the working class as a whole." 6 Miss Nancy Adam, Woman Officer of the Trades Union Congress, was asked by the writer to comment on this view, as Great Britain was the only " European " country in which a Women's Trade Union League had existed. She said, " The views expressed . . . are very biased indeed. While it is true that the Trade Union League was run in the main by middle class women, I do not agree that (they) were out to prevent any essential change in the status of women workers." 8 A Swiss observer, writing of the " allies " (or non-union members) in the American League, said that while their membership had brought attacks upon it, trade unions have not been popular among the upper classes so that only those who genuinely support them have become League members. She also pointed out that the allies have conceived their function as 5 Gladys Meyerand, " Women's Organizations," Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences (Macmillan, 1935), Vol. X V , p. 465. 6 Letter from Miss Nancy Adam, dated August 4, 1038.

226

THE

WOMEN'S

TRADE U N I O N

LEAGUES

helping the workers to help themselves and so have gradually withdrawn from leadership.7 The development of leadership was considered by Miss Louise Spaeth to have been the major function of the League. 8 In her view the League has accomplished this by providing education for women workers and by giving them contact with forceful personalities of their own sex. She remarks that since 1922, League officers have usually been of the labor group, and cites the large number of public offices held by active members of the organization. The opinions expressed on the League's accomplishments suggest not only differences in the points of view of the commentators themselves but also some of the difficulties met in any attempt at objective appraisal. The problem would be greatly simplified if one could give a statistical measure of success in " organizing women into trade unions." But since unions rarely keep their membership rolls according to sex, the number of women in them can only be estimated, and there is no means of measuring the number organized by or with the help of the League. 8 Again, membership figures of the National and local leagues in the United States are not officially published and in any case, would not give a reliable test of success in this aim, which is primarily to get women into the appropriate union for their occupation rather than to induce them to become members of the League. Also, it is impossible to measure exactly the League's achievements in workers' education and in legislation, partly because it has frequently cooperated with other organizations in these fields. Nevertheless, the record of the League, as Professor Wolman says of trade unionism in general, shows that its " power . . . has often (manifested) itself in forms that are difficult to express in 7 Emmi Walder, Die Beteilung der Frau an der amerkanischen Gewerkschafts-Bewegung (Weinfelden, 1926), p. 7. 8 Louise M. Spaeth, The Women's Trade Union League and Leadership (Thesis for M. A. degree, Columbia University, 1925, unpublished). 9 See Appendix III.

A F O O T N O T E TO T H E H I S T O R Y

227

10

terms of membership." Unions have acknowledged their indebtedness to the League for help in organizing, often by making substantial contributions to its funds. The fact that among the contributors have been unions which did not have women in their trades suggests that its work has been considered of service to the labor movement as a whole. Whenever possible it has co-operated with the established unions, but it has also struggled against their indifference to women's problems and has fought to open the doors of those which refused to admit women to membership. It has provided meeting places for new and weak organizations and has helped to educate recruits to trade unionism. In a broad sense, all of its work has been educational, and we would agree that the development of leadership has proved to be one of its most important functions. Not only has this been carried on through formal classes, but activities within the League itself have provided opportunities for the exercise of initiative and talents for organization. A very large proportion of active members has been called upon to take positions of public importance and many have acknowledged their debt to training in the League. This has been true of both the worker and the " ally " group. The workers have had opportunity to come in contact with women active in other fields, and the allies have been able to acquire first-hand knowledge of industrial problems. The fact that membership in the League has been open both to wage-earners and to anyone else who accepts its aims has been a source of strength in its role as interpreter. Ally members have been instrumental in getting general publicity for the cause of workers when they were exploited and denied their judicial rights. Not only that, but the record should show critics of the " founding philanthropists" that while Mrs. Robins was President and many allies held office, the National and local leagues gave to unions some of their most effective 10 Leo Wolman, Ebb and Flow in Trade Bureau of Economic Research, 1936), p. 3.

Unionism

(N. Y. National

228

THE

WOMEN'S

TRADE

UNION

LEAGUES

aid in strikes and organizing campaigns. The League's membership basis has also enabled it to be a channel through which women workers, even though they ceased to be " gainfully employed," could continue activity in the labor movement. In spite of these advantages, the League's set-up has brought problems which have tended to grow as it passed beyond the early pioneer stage. T h e very spread of trade unionism among unskilled workers on the one hand and professional and white collar workers on the other restricts the possibility of blazing new trails. A n d that in turn reduces the cogency of an appeal for financial support which has always been given most generously for unique enterprises such as the " Training School for Active Workers in the Labor Movement." Also, unlike a trade union, the League does not offer its members direct economic advantages or insurance benefits. Loyalty to it depends largely on a broad interest in the labor movement as a whole. A n d here again the growth of workers' educational enterprises, some of them fostered by the League, and of other labor groups with specific purposes tends to lessen the appeal of an organization such as the League. Since 1929, when economic depression cut off some of its financial support, it has had a hard struggle for existence, and at the time of writing ( 1 9 4 0 ) , only the New Y o r k , Boston and Chicago Leagues have paid officers. Even in this period, the New Y o r k League has expanded its educational activities and has continued to carry on organizing work. The leagues have always used a great deal of voluntary help, but it is very difficult to organize workers into trade unions without full-time and experienced officers. Recently also, the division of labor groups between the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations has added to the difficulties. Nevertheless, trade unionism among women is growing. A s contrasted with Miss Christman's estimate of 250,000 in 1933, a recent study of individual unions yielded an estimate of 800,000 as the total number of women union

A FOOTNOTE

TO T H E

HISTORY

229

11

members. Whatever may be the League's role in the future, its history shows that it may be credited with laying the essential foundations for the spread of organization among women. As compared with the situation when the League was founded, at the turn of the century, women are also playing a much larger part as officers of unions. No complete data are available, but Miss Christman recently compiled a partial list which included two women secretaries of national unions and eighteen members of general executive boards. Twenty-seven women secretaries of central labor unions were listed, one secretary of a state federation of labor and two hundred and seventy-three officers of local unions. The number of women officers of unions is, however, still small in proportion to membership in the unions. In the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, with about seventy-five per cent of its members women, Miss Rose Pesotta is the only woman among the twenty members of the General Executive Board. A similar situation exists in the Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union where women constitute about half the membership. Women are not found in the Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor nor in the Executive Board of the Congress of Industrial Organizations. Neither group has made provision for a section, comparable to the Woman's Section of the British Trades Union Congress, nor for any officer to take charge of women's special interests. In spite of obvious differences in environment, many parallels may be drawn between the purposes and history of the Women's Trade Union Leagues in Great Britain and the United States. Both Leagues have tried to arouse the labor movement to the need for organizing women workers and have presented the problems of women in industry to other women and to the general public. They have provided meeting 11 Labor Research Association, Trade Union Facts (New York: International Publishers, 1939), pp. 39-42. (The study was made by Miss Mae H. Pritchard in 1937.) See also, The Woman Wage Earner: Her Situation Today (Women's Bureau Bulletin, No. 172, 1939).

23O

THE

WOMEN'S

TRADE

UNION

LEAGUES

places for young and struggling organizations and have been training grounds for women leaders. Both Leagues have pioneered in many fields as new needs arose, and both have tended to hand over some of their functions to other groups after the pioneering stage has ended. In Great Britain, the League finally bequeathed all of its functions to other organizations, some of them organizations of its own creation. The Woman's Section of the Trades Union Congress took over the task of representing the interests of organized women workers and helping to introduce new groups to the principles of trade unionism. The Labour Party offered a channel through which women workers could express their political interests if they so desired. The Co-operative Movement provided for a large section of the working-class population as consumers. The Workers' Educational Association and the Labour Colleges offered opportunities for education to men and women workers alike. There are differences, as well as similarities, between the situation in Great Britain and the United States. Whatever may be true in the future, the American labor movement is not now as closely integrated as its British prototype. At present it does not seem to have developed adequate institutions for carrying on those functions which have been undertaken by the National Women's Trade Union League. The League is concerned both with the right of workers to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing and with the right of women to demand equality before the law and opportunities for education and employment under conditions which meet their particular needs. At the beginning of this chapter, the assumption was made that the recognition of these rights is essential to a democratic process. In so far as the League has helped towards this recognition, it must be valued for its contribution to the extension of that process.

APPENDICES

233

APPENDICES

A P P E N D I X (CHAPTER

I

II)—GREAT TABLE

BRITAIN

I

NUMBERS ENGAGED I N INDUSTBT—GREAT BRITAIN

Adapted from Statistical Abstract jor the United Kingdom, 1933, p. 94. FEMALES

Total occupied...

1881

1891

1901

1911

mi

3,887,000

4,489,000

4,763,000

5,424,000

5,701,000

Total aged 10 yrs. and over 11,454,000 13,061,000 14,980,000 16,789,000 18,483,000 MALES

Total occupied . . .

8,851,000 10,010,000 11,548,000 12,930,000 13,656,000

Total aged 10 yrs. and over 10,627,000 12,038,000 13,790,000 15,445,000 16,496,000 Figures to nearest 1,000.

APPENDICES

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APPENDICES APPENDIX

IV

ESTIMATES OF N U M B E R S OF W O M E N I N TRADE U N I O N S , U . S . A .

Accurate statistics on the number of women in trade unions are not available for the United States. Many unions do not have records of their membership by sex. Massachusetts publishes figures for the State from reports made by local unions giving separate totals for men and women, but there are no comparable governmental records for the country as a whole. The following estimates are taken from various sources. PROFESSOR W O L M A N ' S E S T I M A T E OF FEMALE M E M B E R S H I P OF AMERICAN U N I O N S , 1 9 1 0 AND

1920 MEMBERSHIP

Total Actors Bookbinders Boot and Shoe Workers Box Makers Brewery Workers Cigar Makers Cloth Hat and Cap Makers Clothing Workers, Amalgamated Electrical Workers Fur Workers Garment Workers, United Glove Workers Hatters Hotel Employees I. W. W. (Chicago) I. W. W. (Detroit) Ladies' Garment Workers Laundry Workers Leather Goods Workers, Fancy Leather Workers Machinists Meat Cutters Musical and Theatrical Union Musicians .' Paper Makers Paper Mill Workers Photo Engravers Post Office Clerks, National Federation Post Office Clerks, United Potters, Operative

1910 76,748 3,771 5,500 400 550 4,000 200

20,000 365 2,015 2,000 345 11,122 2,000

150 4,000 24 250 3 70 500 100

1920 396,900 3,900 9,200 15,000 200 7,000 2,500 70,000 14,000 3,600 32,000 700 2,000 5,600 67,700 6,200 200 3,000 500 5,400 2,800

3,000 2,600 1,500

24 2

APPENDICES

Membership 1910

Powder Workers Printing Pressmen Pulp and Paper Mill Workers Railroad Telegraphers Railway Clerks

100 1,500

Retail Clerks Shoe Workers' Protective Shoe Workers, United Tailors Teachers, American Federation of Labor...

2,100

960 62 300 800

Textile Workers, Amalgamated Textile Workers, United Tobacco Workers Travelers' Goods Workers Typographical Union

5,955 2,460 25 621

Vaudeville Artists Weavers, Cloth White Rats

2,500 2,000

mo

1,500 1,000 2,500 35,000 2,900 8,000 13,000 2,000 5,200 15,000 40,000 6,500 2,200 3,500

The above figures are taken from Leo Wolman's The Growth of Trade Unions, 1880-1923 (N. Y.: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1924), pp. 98-99. In the same study, Professor Wolman estimates that 1.5 per cent of all women wage-earners were organized in 1910 and 6.6 in 1920. In manufacturing industries, the figures for women were 52 per cent in 1910 and 18.3 per cent in 1920 as compared with 11.6 per cent for men and women in 1910 and 23.2 in 1920. No estimate of female membership in trade unions is given in Professor Wolman's Ebb and Flow in Trade Unionism, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research in 1936. Theresa Wolf son (The Woman Worker and the Trade Unions, N. Y.: International Publishers, 1926, pp. 213-214) gives a total of 206/77 women members of trade unions in 1924. This figure was obtained from the A. F. of L. Research Department and is not precisely comparable with Professor Wolman's totals, as they include groups outside the A. F. of L. Elisabeth Christman, speaking at the A. F. of L. Convention in 1933, estimated that there were then about 250,000 women members of trade unions. (See A. F. of L. Convention, 1933, Proceedings, pp. 162-164.) (Estimate for Manufacturing Industries.) Mae H. Pritchard, in a thesis for the degree of M.A. at Columbia University, 1937, estimated the total number of women organized in all trade unions as 800ß00. Labor Research Association, using this as a basis, gave a similar estimate for 1939. (See Labor Research Association, Trade Union Facts, N. Y.: International Publishers, 1939, pp. 39-40.)

APPENDICES APPENDIX

243 V

SOME F I N A N C I A L REPORTS OF THE NATIONAL

WOMEN'S

TRADE U N I O N LEAGUE OF AMERICA AUDITOR'S

R E P O R T

NATIONAL W O M E N ' S TRADE U N I O N LEAGUE OP AMERICA

Cash Receipt* and Disbursements for the Two Ending April SO, 19tl RECEIPTS

Yean

1910-1921

1919-19t0

Cash in Bank and on Hand—Beginning of Year .. $ 236.65 Donations: First International Congress of Working Women Individual 19.08157 Union 2,615.90 Flower and Feather Workers 100.00 Carola Woerishoffer Fund—New York 100.00 Fund for Printing Proceedings Int. Congress . . . 220.00 New York League—Special Drive Percentage... Dues—Union 530.00 Dues—Members at large 217.00 Dues—Committee 30.00 Income Tax 3,069.49 Per Capita Tax 39.78 Rent—Glove Workers Union 330.00 Rent—Life and Labor 420.00 Lije and Labor — Subscriptions Received by General Office 169.00 Interest on Certificate oj Deposit Miscellaneous Sales 82.75 Refund on Mission to Europe by Delegates Educational Department—Special Short Course... 316.50 Loans : Dorothea Dreier Mrs. Raymond Robins (Cash only, total indebtedness April 30th, 1921, $5,861.83) 500.00 Miss Emma Steghagen 500.00 Continental and Commercial National Bank... 50.00

$ 6,571.90

$28,068.94

$51,916.99

9,164.79 26,92731 1,351.00 100.00 220.00 16225 595.75 288.00 2,927.78 252.20 360.00 70.00 221.50 27.50 36.80 130.00 1,000.00 1,916.99 850.00

244

APPENDICES Disbubsements

First International Congress of Working Women— Expenses Y.W.C. A.—Cash advanced to Foreign Delegates —International Congress $ 1,592.00 Educational Department—Expenses 14,531.78 Salaries—General 3,990.72 Printing and Stationery 838.07 Traveling Expense»—General 736.27 Legislation and Publicity Expenses 2,050.15 Convention Expenses Financial Campaign Expenses Executive Board Expenses Interest on Loan 56.78 Auditing Expense 100.00 Telegraph and Telephone 343.97 Postage 248.03 Rent 1,170.00 New York Office Expense 783.49 Office Fixtures and Supplies 274.75 Mrs. Raymond Robins—On Account of Loan 200.00 Subscriptions Remitted to Life and Labor 172.50 Educational Department—Special Short Course .. 315.26 Insurance and Surety Bond 25.00 Advertising 42.75 Exchange 15.78 Express and Storage 89.56 Loan—International Congress of Working Women Luncheons, Prizes and Miscellaneous 31.81 Life and Labor—Shelving and Repairs 61.12 Moving Expenses 40.36 Affiliations—Women's Joint Legislative Congress.. 10.00 Mary Anderson—Balance due European Trip 35.00 Cash in Bank and on Hand—End of Year

$11,186.00 14,529.17 6,206.93 1,252.31 3,347.50 2,116.11 3,330.45 3,139.47 460.65 25.43 150.00 417.11 204.15 785.00 580.00 484.44 2,705.71 91.29 47.50 18.91 80.98 400.00 121.23

$27,755.15 313.79

$51,680.34 236.65

$28,068.94

$51,916.99

245

APPENDICES L I F E AND LABOR Cash Receipts

and Disbursements for the Two Years Ending April SOth, 1921 RECEIPTS

76.60

S 508.12

SUBSCRIPTIONS

635.25

746.76

SALES TO NON-SUBSCBIBEBS

163.95

121.47

100.00 22.00 20.00 27.00

110.00 22.00 24.00 17.10

CASH IN

BANK—Beginning of Year

$

ADVERTISING :

Shoe Dealers Advertising Company International Broom and Whisk Makers Union J . L. Lynch SUSTENTATION F U N D NATIONAL

WOMEN'S

TRADE

UNION

LEAGUE

or

— Advances made during period to finance magazine AMERICA

7,500.00

5,865.00

$8,544.80

$7,414.45

$1,805.00 1,088.33

$1,441.00 856.01

DISBURSEMENTS SALARIES :

S. C. Rippey V. Smillie E . Cawley

252.00

COMMISSIONS

25.00

PRINTING MAGAZINE

3,962.32

3,560.65

160.00

121.00

POSTAGE—CIRCULARIZING PHOTO SERVICE

14.25

35.00

MAGAZINE ARTICLES

380.00

600.00

RENT

420.00

70.00

COPYRIGHT F E E S

2.00

BINDING VOLUMES INTERNATIONAL P R E S S LABOR D U E S OFFICE E X P E N S E S STATIONERY, LITERATURE, E T C

9.00

3.00

40.30

331.92

200.26

60.50

$8,358.94

$7,337.85

185.86

76.60

$8,54450

$7,414.45

C A S H IN B A N K — E N D OF YEAR

(Source, Proceedings

12.00 83.75

of Convention, 1922, pp. 18-20.)

246

APPENDICES T R E A S U R E R ' S

R E P O R T

COMPARATIVE F I N A N C I A L

STATEMENT

Assets Cash in Bank and on Hand Catherine Whitehead Miller Trust Fund Accounts Receivable Office Fixtures, Library and Inventory Prepaid Expenses, Convention Liabilities Accounts Payable Trust Funds General Fund—Excess of Assets over Liabilities..

COMPARATIVE I N C O M E

Income Donations—Individual Donations—Union Dues—Members at Large Dues—Union Affiliations Committee Fees Per Capita Tax—New Basis Per Capita Tax—Old Annual Quota—Old Basis Miscellaneous

AND E X P E N S E

1926 $4,630.69 15.67 1.337 3 9 2.677.19 213.32

1915 $5,131.01 14257 1.636.99 2.42158

$8,874.26

$9,332.15

$1,121.01 15.67

$ 611.27 14257

1,136.68 7,737.58

753.84 8.578.31

$8,874.26

89.332.15

ACCOUNT

1926-1926

19l4-19tS

$27,456.83 1.120.00 1,556.33 240.00 10.00 1.550.00

$34,402.00 1.115.00 2.022.60 100.00

20.65

710.00 15136 1.300.00 186.65

$31,953.81

$39,987.61

Educational Department, Labor Institute $2,487.78 Finance Department 8.672.54 Field Department 1.339 83 Legislative and Publicity 4.497.69 Administrative—Salaries 8.74452 Administrative—Allowance, Alice Henry 1.300.00 Administrative—Printing and Stationery, including Life and Labor Bulletin 1.884.62 Executive Board Meetings 652.85 Labor Institute Convention 442.90 International Committee on Oriental R e l a t i o n s . . . 27.85

$ 4.985.74 10.250.65 2.39356 6.570.22 8.208.59 1.885.00

$32,344.23 390.42

$42,045.35 2.057.74

Expenses

Expenses in Excess of Income (Source, Proceedings

of Convention, 1926, pp. 11-12.)

2.140.69 324.21 2.677.20

APPENDICES REPORT

OF

247

SECRETARY-TREASURER

COMPARATIVE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

1929 $9,940.07 185.49 133.00 3,306.13

1928 $10,46635 282.95 82.00 2,840.36

$13,564.69

$13,671.66

Assets Cash in Bank and on Hand Trust Fund Cash Accounts Receivable Office Fixtures, Library, and Inventory Liabilities Accounts Payable Loans Trust Fund

$ 460.64

$

42137

185.49

282.95

646.13 12,918.56

70432 12,967.34

$13,564.69

$13,671.66

General Fund—Excess of Assets over Liabilities..

COMPARATIVE INCOME AND E X P E N S E ACCOUNTS

Income Donations—Individuals Donations—Unions Dues—Members-at-Large Dues—Union Affiliations Per Capita Tax Subscriptions to Bulletin Miscellaneous Expenses Educational Department Finance Department Field Department Legislative Department Administrative—Salaries Administrative—General Executive Board Members' Expenses Conventions and Conferences Interest on Loans Income in Excess of Expenses

1928-1929 $17,219.00 1,900.00 1,670.00 260.00 1,710.00 36.72 140.61

1927-1928 $20,824.00 1,688.00 1,734.00 225.00 1,096.00 1650 2453

$22,936.33

$25,608.03

$ 4,287.42 1,108.72 1,023.51 483.69 9,488.10 4,347.92 691.67 1,554.08

$ 2,066.72 1,700.22 17336 633.79 8,160.30 3,73832 564.17 63.55 67.50

$22,985.11 48.78 •

$17,167.93 8,440.10

* Expenses in excess of income. (Source, Proceedings of Convention, 1929, p. 16.)

248

APPENDICES COMPARATIVE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

19S6 Cash on Deposit and on Hand $4,422.47 Accounts Receivable 12939 Office Fixtures, Library, and Inventory . . 812.93 Geneva Conference of the International Labour Office Pan-Pacific Women's Conference Catherine W. Miller Fund 197.55 M t . Vernon Liquidating Trust Participating Certificate to be issued 107.84

1936 $2,190.64 399.72 1,007.05

1982 $1,73359 1,032.00 1,77936

87.84 20.00 250.69

114.95 20.00 667.97

$5,670.18 Liabilities Accounts Payable S 409.68 Notes Payable 190.00 Accrued Salaries 90.00 Geneva Conference of the International Labour Office Credit Balance 10.42 Pan-Pacific Women's Conference Catherine W. Miller Fund 197.55

$3,955.94

$5,34757

$

5639 250.00 45.00

$ 469.52 1,500.00

8754 21.27 20.00 250.69

114.95 20.00 667.97

897.65

731.19

2,772.44

4,772.53

3,224.75

2,575.13

$5,670.18

$3,955.94

$5,347.57

General Fund, Excess of Assets over Liabilities

COMPARATIVE INCOME AND E X P E N S E ACCOUNTS

Income Donations—Individuals Donations—Unions Dues—Members Union Affiliations Per Capita Tax

$ 6,637.26 948.70 1,15950 215.00 968.00 25.00 3.45 Bulletin Subscriptions and Literature Sales 54.24 Interest Earned

$3,77339 $ 9,989.50 455.00 277.00 1,082.00 1,49950 215.00 210.00 760.00 1,213.00 5.00 115.82 16.11 12.22 30.19

$10,011.15

$6,336.69 $13317.04

APPENDICES

249

Expenses

Educational Department * S 3,024.52 342.52 Field Department Administrative—Salaries $5,983.06 55,57457 10,579.83 3,672.10 Administrative—General 1,450.54 1,762.51 48.71 906.38 42.29 Conventions and Conferences 100.00 Joint Gifts—Local Leagues 12.00 Tax, Members-at-Large, Local Leagues .. 4.00 27.00 Tax, District Unemployment Insurance 19.23 Fund 294.21 Executive Board Meeting 221.15 Interest on Loans 6238 Nat'l Committee, Cause and Cure of War 100.00 $8,571.21

$7,67758 $17,97851

* Note : Educational Field Department expenses included in Administrative Department. (Source, Proceedings of Convention, 1936, pp. 26-28.)

250

APPENDICES

APPENDIX VI C O N S T I T U T I O N S OF T H E N A T I O N A L W O M E N ' S T R A D E

UNION

L E A G U E OF A M E R I C A

A . The Constitution of the Woman's Trade Union League (Adopted in Faneuil Hall, Boston, November 17-19, 1903) Object The object of the Woman's Trade Union League shall be to assist in the organization of women wage workers into trade unions. Membership Any person may be admitted to membership who will declare himself or herself willing to assist those trade unions already existing, which have women members, and to aid in the formation of new unions of women wage workers. Any member may be admitted to the Annual Conference by the endorsement of a majority of the Executive Board. Those who have attended any Annual Conference shall be eligible to all succeeding Conferences. Officers The officers shall consist of President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer, with the usual duties of these officers. Executive Board The Executive Board shall consist of the four officers and five other members. The majority of the Executive Board shall be women who are, or have been, trade unionists in good standing, the minority, of those well known to be earnest sympathizers and workers for the cause of trade unionism. The Executive Board shall have full power to act subject to the Conferences. A majority of the Executive Board shall constitute a quorum. Two-thirds of the Executive Board may grant permission to organize local leagues or committees under the authority of the Executive Board. Annual

Conference

The Annual Conference shall be held at the time and place of the meeting of the American Federation of Labor, whenever possible. Dues The dues shall be one dollar a year, payable in advance.

APPENDICES

25I

Amendments A majority of those present at any Conference shall have authority to amend the Constitution. B. The Constitution of the National Women's Trade Union League (as adopted by the Convention of 1907, in Norfolk, Virgina) ARTICLE

I

Name The name of this organization shall be The National Women's Trade Union League. ARTICLE

II

Object The object of this organization shall be to promote the national interests related to the trade organization of women and assist the Local and State Women's Trade Union Leagues engaged in the organization of women into trades unions to be affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. ARTICLE

III

Membership Section 1. The membership of the National Women's Trade Union League shall consist of Local and State Women's Trade Union Leagues ; members at large and affiliated organizations. Section 2. A State League shall consist of at least seven affiliated Local Women's Trade Union Leagues. A Local League shall consist of at least seven members. Section 3. Local Women's Trade Union Leagues whose members are admitted by a two-thirds majority vote and whose executive boards consist of a majority of Trade Unionists in good standing and that are engaged in assisting trade unions whose membership includes women workers and in aiding the formation of new unions in all trades where women are employed shall be eligible to membership in the National League. Applications for membership must be indorsed by the National President and Secretary-Treasurer before being accepted. Section 4. Any trade unionist in good standing residing in a state in which there is no Local Women's Trade Union League

252

APPENDICES

shall become a member of this organization by declaring herself or himself in sympathy with its object and by sending signed application blank. Section 5. Affiliating organizations shall become members of the National Women's Trade Union League by endorsing the object and by sending application blank signed by its President and Secretary, accompanied by dues. Section 6. Applications for membership at large and applications for affiliated organizations shall be endorsed by the National President and Secretary-Treasurer before being accepted. Section 7. Organizations not affiliated with the National Unions of their own locals, or organizations in a state of dissension are ineligible to membership. ARTICLE

IV

Officers Section 1. The officers shall consist of President, Vice-President and Secretary-Treasurer. Section 2. Officers shall be elected to serve two years. Section 3. The president shall perform the usual duties of the office. When the Executive Board is not in session, the president, in conjunction with the Secretary-Treasurer, shall perform all the duties of the league. It shall be the duty of the president to call together the Executive Board at intervals as occasion demands. Section 4. The Secretary-Treasurer shall have charge of the funds of the League, which shall be paid out only upon warrants signed by the president. The Secretary-Treasurer shall send out notices by July 15th to the effect that the annual dues are payable by September 1st. The Secretary-Treasurer shall have charge of all correspondence of the League and shall be under the direction of the President. ARTICLE

V

Executive Board Section 1. The Executive Board shall consist of the three officers and three representatives, two of whom must be trade unionists, of each State or Local League.* •Amended, 1911, to read in part: The Executive Board shall consist of the five officers (President, two vice-Presidents, Secretary and Treasurer) and six members elected at large.

APPENDICES

253

Section 2. The majority of the Executive Board shall be trade unionists in good standing. Section 3. The number of the Executive Board present shall constitute a quorum after due notification has been given. Section 4. Each local League shall fill vacancies in its own representation. Section 5- The Executive Board shall elect the Fraternal Delegate to the American Federation of Labor each year. ARTICLE

VI

Elections Section 1. The President, Vice-President and Secretary-Treasurer shall be elected by ballot at the National Conference to serve for two years. Section 2. Each Local League shall elect three representatives to serve for two years on the National Board and shall notify the National Secretary of such election at least sixty days before the conference.* •Amended, 1911, to conform with Article V . ARTICLE

VII

Dues Section 1. The dues of State and Local Leagues shall be ten cents a member, payable sixty days before the National Conference. The dues for an individual shall be one dollar a year payable in advance. The presentation of a Trade Union Card showing paidup membership is a substitute for annual dues. The dues of an affiliated organization shall be $1.00 to $5.00, according to membership and at the option of the Executive Board. Section 3. Only those organizations and members whose dues have been paid for the ensuing year shall be entitled to vote at the National Conference. ARTICLE

VIII

Meeting Section 1. The time of the National Conference shall be the last week in September, and the place shall be determined by the Executive Board.

254

APPENDICES

Section 2. Local Leagues shall appoint one delegate with vote to every twenty-five members, or fraction thereof up to five hundred members, and after that one to every fifty. If any Local League cannot send its full representations, giving satisfactory excuse to the National Executive Board, the number of delegates attending shall have full number of votes. Section 3. State Women's Trade Union Leagues shall be given one delegate with one vote. Section 4. In order to encourage interest in forming Local Leagues, members at large shall be given one vote each at the National Conference. Section 5. Affiliated organizations shall be entitled to one delegate with one vote. Section 6. The National officers, members of the Executive Board, Delegates and members at large shall constitute the National Conference and are entitled to vote at such conference. ARTICLE

IX

Amendments Two-thirds of those present and entitled to vote at any National Conference shall have power to amend this constitution, sixty days' notice having been given to each State and Local League. T H E P L A T F O R M OF T H E N A T I O N A L W O M E N ' S TRADE U N I O N

LEAGUE

Organization of all workers into trade unions. Equal pay for equal work. Eight-hour day. A minimum wage scale. Full citizenship for women, and All principles embodied in the economic program of the American Federation of Labor. C. Constitution of the National Women's Trade Union League of America (as revised by the Convention of 1936, Washington, D. C.) PLATFORM

W e believe that the natural resources and productive capacity of this country, democratically administered, provide a full and

APPENDICES

255

satisfying life for all our people. But political democracy must be accompanied by industrial democracy. To that end we establish the following platform: r. Organization of workers into trade unions. 2. The shorter work week in order to spread employment and increase the individual worker's leisure. 3. A standard of living commensurate with the nation's productive capacity. 4. Equal pay for equal work regardless of sex or race. 5. Cooperation with trade union women of other countries. 6. International cooperation to abolish war. ARTICLE

I—NAME

The name of this organization shall be the National Women's Trade Union League of America. ARTICLE I I — P U R P O S E S AND

FUNCTIONS

The purposes of the National Women's Trade Union League of America shall be to serve the interests of wage-earning women through organization of workers into trade unions, collective agreements between trade unions and employers, legislation for the workers' economic and social good, workers' education, and interpretation of labor problems to the public. The functions of the National League shall be to deal with national aspects of problems affecting wage-earning women, to develop local and state trade union leagues and committees as hereinafter described, and to assist such state and local groups in the performance of their functions. In carrying out its purposes, the aim of the National Women's Trade Union League shall be: T o provide a common meeting ground for women of all groups who indorse the principles of democracy, and wish to see them applied to industry. To develop leadership among the women workers, inspiring them with a sense of personal responsibility for the conditions under which they work. T o secure for girls and women equal opportunity with boy? and men in trades and technical training. T o secure the representation of women on industrial tribunals and public boards and commissions.

256

APPENDICES ARTICLE

III—MEMBERSHIP

Section 1. The membership of the National Women's Trade Union League of America shall consist o f : (a) Local Women's Trade Union Leagues. (b) State Women's Trade Union Leagues. ( c ) Committees of the National Women's Trade Union League. (d) Members-at-large. ( e ) Affiliated National and International Unions, State Federations of Labor and National Women's Auxiliaries to Trade Unions. Sec. 2. (a) Local Women's Trade Union Leagues shall consist of at least twenty-five members, representing at least three trade unions affiliated to the American Federation of Labor. The executive board must consist of a majority of women trade unionists in good standing. After investigation by a national representative the President and Secretary-Treasurer shall have authority to issue a charter upon the payment of a fee of $5 to any such Local League, provided its application for membership has been approved by the National Executive Board. Local Leagues are urged to affiliate with the various central bodies in their localities chartered by the American Federation of Labor. No Local League, State League or National Committee shall charge less than two dollars per member annually for dues. The secretary of each Local League shall submit to the National Secretary-Treasurer on forms furnished by her, a monthly report of members, donors, affiliations, receipts, expenditures and liabilities, and a resume of work done. Each Local League, State League and National Committee shall have its accounts audited at the close of each fiscal year, which shall be December 31st, and a copy of this audit shall be sent to the National Secretary-Treasurer, provided, however, the Local League, State Leagues and National Committees having receipts totalling more than $4,000 per year shall have said audit made by a Certified Public Accountant. It shall be part of the order of business of every general and board meeting of Local Leagues, State Leagues and National Committees to present the latest official report of the National activities, as reported by the National Secretary-Treasurer, especially as contained in the minutes of the Executive Board meetings. (b) A State Women's Trade Union League may be organized in any State. The basis for membership shall be: Direct member-

APPENDICES

257

ship, Local Leagues, National Committees, women's unions, central labor bodies, local women's auxiliaries to trade unions and union label leagues. The Executive Board must consist of a majority of women trade unionists in good standing. The State League shall pay a charter fee of $5 and receive a charter from the National Women's Trade Union League. The Secretary of each State Women's Trade Union League shall submit to the National Secretary-Treasurer on forms furnished by her a monthly report of members, donors, affiliations, receipts, expenditures, liabilities, and a resume of work done. (c) A Committee of the National Women's Trade Union League may be formed by a group of seven or more people in a locality for the purpose of providing contacts in that locality with the knowledge and approval of the National Executive Board and under its direct supervision. It is understood, however, that organizing as a National Committee is preliminary to the formation of a local Women's Trade Union League, subject to the approval of the National Executive Board and under its direct supervision. (d) No Local League, State League or National Committee may borrow without security any sum or sums in excess of two hundred ($200) dollars without the written consent of the National President and Secretary. e) No Local League, State League or National Committee may incur salary indebtedness in excess of two hundred and fifty ($250) dollars without written approval from the National Executive Board, after investigation by a National officer. ( f ) No Local League, State League or National Committee shall undertake any national financial relief, or other kind of national work, for national or international unions, without the approval of the officers of the National Women's Trade Union League. Any funds so collected must be sent to the office of the National League for transmittal to the union for which the money was collected. (g) Any trade unionist in good standing or any person who would be eligible as an allied member of a Local League, State League or National Committee, shall be eligible to membership in the National League as a member at large, upon declaration of sympathy with its purposes and indorsement of its platform ac-

258

APPENDICES

companied by a signed application blank. Application to be subject to the approval of the National President and Secretary-Treasurer. (h) National and International Unions, State Federations of Labor, and National Women's Auxiliaries to men's unions shall be eligible to membership in the National League. Applications for membership are to be subject to the approval of the National President and the Secretary-Treasurer. (i) A Local Women's Trade Union League, State League or National Committee, may be dissolved and its charter recalled by by the National President and the Secretary-Treasurer with the consent of the Executive Board for any of the following reasons : Inactivity, financial mismanagement, or adoption of local policy contrary to the National platform. Such action shall be taken only after investigation by the National Executive Board. Sec. 3. The Constitution and By-laws of Local Leagues, State Leagues and National Committees must conform to the Constitution of the National Women's Trade Union League, and shall be subject to the approval of the National President and SecretaryTreasurer. ARTICLE

IV—OFFICERS

Section 1. The officers shall consist of a President, a VicePresident, and a Secretary-Treasurer. T w o of the three officers must be trade unionists in good standing. Sec. 2. T o be eligible for election as a National officer or a member of the National Executive Board, it is necessary to have been a member of a Local League for at least two years and to have served as an officer or executive board member of her Local League. Sec. 3. The President shall be the chief executive officer and shall enforce the laws, decide all constitutional questions, shall be ex-officio member of all boards and committees of the National. With the Secretary-Treasurer she shall appoint all organizers, suspend and revoke charters of refractory or inactive locals with the consent of the National Executive Board, appoint all committees not otherwise provided for, nominate candidates for vacant offices, preside over conventions, be chairman of the National Executive Board, report in detail to the National Executive Board and shall perform such other duties as this constitution may prescribe.

APPENDICES

259

Sec. 4. T h e Vice-President shall perform all duties of the National President in case of death, resignation or removal from office of the National President until the expiration of the unexpired term. T h e Vice-President shall when called upon by the National President perform such duties as may be assigned to her. Sec. 5. The Secretary-Treasurer shall keep all records of conventions and of the National Executive Board, receive, receipt and account for all moneys, pay all authorized bills, conduct all correspondence, keep the register of membership, be ex-officio member of all boards and committees, local and national, issue all credentials, make a triennial report to the convention, submit all accounts to auditors, engage such clerical assistance as may be deemed necessary, perform such other duties as the constitution or the National Executive Board may assign and be responsible to the National Executive Board. T h e funds of the League shall be paid out with checks signed by the Secretary-Treasurer. The Secretary-Treasurer shall send notices in regard to the payment of per capita tax. Sec. 6. T h e Secretary-Treasurer shall be bonded, amount of bond to be not less than five thousand dollars ($5000). ARTICLE V — E X E C U T I V E

BOARD

Section 1. T h e Executive Board shall consist and six members elected at large. A majority of Board must be trade unionists in good standing. curring in the Executive Board between elections by the Board.

of the officers the Executive Vacancies ocshall be filled

Sec. 2. T h e National Executive Board shall meet at least once a year. Additional meetings may be called by the President, as well as by the majority of the Board, the total number not to exceed four meetings a year. A copy of the minutes of the National Executive Board meetings shall be sent to each Local League, State League and National Committee, immediately after the meeting, to be read to the Local Leagues. Expenses of National Executive Board members for board meetings and conventions are to be paid out of the national treasury. T h e authority of the convention shall be vested in the Executive Board between conventions.

2ÔO

APPENDICES

Sec. 3. When due notification of a meeting of the Executive Board has been given, five members shall constitute a quorum, provided that there be a majority of trade unionists present. Sec. 4. The National Executive Board shall select delegates to the annual convention of the American Federation of Labor and of Trades and Labor Congress of Canada. In the case of other conventions, the President and Secretary-Treasurer may appoint a qualified representative to represent the National League officially. Sec. 5. The Executive Board shall have the authority to investigate the standing or work of any Local League, State League, or National Committee at any time. ARTICLE V I — E L E C T I O N S

Section 1. The President, the Vice-President, the SecretaryTreasurer and six other members of the Executive Board shall be nominated and elected by ballot at the National Convention under the supervision of some person or persons designated by the convention for the purpose. The ballots shall be preserved by the Secretary-Treasurer until the next general election. Any vacancies occurring between conventions shall be filled by the Executive Board, always in accordance with the provisions of the constitution insuring a majority of trade unionists. Officers and members of the Executive Board shall assume office sixty days after the election, and shall serve three years or until their successors are elected. Sec. 2. The Secretary-Treasurer shall within thirty days of the election of the officers and the six members of the Executive Board notify the secretary of each Local League, State League and National Committee, and all affiliated organizations of such election. ARTICLE V I I — P E R

CAPITA T A X , AFFILIATIONS AND D U E S

Section 1. (a) The per capita tax to the National League from Local Leagues, State Leagues and National Committees shall be on the basis of fifty cents annually for each member and contributor and affiliated organization; provided that where a member is also a contributor only one tax be levied.

2ÔI

APPENDICES

(b) The dues of members-at-large shall be two dollars annually for active membership, five dollars for contributing membership, and ten dollars for sustaining membership. (c) The dues of affiliated National and International Unions, State Federations of Labor and National Women's Auxiliaries to trade unions shall be five dollars annually. Sec. 2. The per capita tax of all Local Leagues, State Leagues and National Committees must be paid in full to the beginning of the month prior to that in which the convention is held in order that their delegates to that convention may be seated and entitled to vote. ARTICLE

VIII—NATIONAL INTERSTATE

CONVENTIONS

AND

CONFERENCES

Section 1. The conventions of the National Women's Trade Union League shall be held triennially. In the interim special conventions shall be called by the President if requested by the National Executive Board or by a majority of the Local Leagues, State Leagues and National Committees. The place for holding conventions shall be determined by the Executive Board of the National League after consultation with the Local Leagues, State Leagues and National Committees. In the event of changed conditions which constitute good and sufficient reasons in the minds of a majority of the National Executive Board, the time and place of the convention may be determined by the Board, with the consent and approval of the Local Leagues, State Leagues and National Committees. Sec. 2. The membership of the convention shall consist of the following: (a) The three officers and the other six members of the Executive Board with one vote each. (b) Each Local League, State League and National Committee shall be entitled to send one delegate with one vote for every twenty-five members or major fraction thereof up to two hundred members, and after that one to very fifty members. (c) In order to encourage interest in forming Local Leagues, State Leagues and National Committees, members-at-large shall be given voice, but no vote.

2Ô2

APPENDICES

( d ) Each affiliated organization shall be entitled to send one delegate with one vote, provided, however, that the organization has been affiliated at least three months prior to the convention. Sec. 3. T h e Local and State Leagues and National Committees shall be encouraged to hold Interstate Conferences. ARTICLE

IX—STRIKES

In entering a strike the National and L o c a l and State L e a g u e s and National Committees shall be governed by the following r u l e s : Section 1.

T h e National President and

Secretary-Treasurer

shall take the responsibility in a strike where there is no L o c a l League, State League or National Committee, and shall n o t i f y the National Executive Board of the action taken. Sec. 2. In an industrial struggle among women workers in a city where there is no Local League, the nearest Local L e a g u e , State League or National Committee shall get into communication with the National League before taking any action. Sec. 3. W h e n a Local League, State League or National Committee receives a request for assistance from any union planning a strike, the Local League, State L e a g u e or National C o m mittee, before giving co-operation may ask that such a union state its grievances and permit two representatives of the Local League, State League, or National Committee to attend its E x e c u t i v e Meetings, and notice of such representation shall consist of a resolution passed by the Executive Committee of the U n i o n requesting assistance of the Local League, State League or National Committee. Sec. 4. W h e n a Local League, State League or National Committee has definite relationship with any local strike, such Local League, State League or National Committee shall report immediately to the National League that such action has been taken, and all the facts at hand shall be submitted and a full report of the situation be given to the National League. Sec. 5. W h e n a Local League, State League or National Committee is approached with reference to a strike, a f t e r securing full information as to plans, the Local League, State L e a g u e or National Committee shall take no part until a f t e r calling an Executive Board meeting and appointing a committee to have charge of the strike.

APPENDICES

263

Sec. 6. Definite plans for Local Leagues, State Leagues and National Committees to follow in time of strike: (a) Organization and direction of public opinion. (b) Assistance in picketing. (c) Securing fair play in the courts. (d) To help in the raising of funds from unions and allies. (e) Where workers are unorganized to help in the formation of trade union organization. ARTICLE

X—REPRESENTATIVES

Credentials bearing the national seal and the signature of at least one of the national officers must be presented by any representative of the National League appearing in its name. A R T I C L E X I — C H A R G E S AND A P P E A L S

Section 1. Charges as hereinafter provided may be made against any officer of the League or against any Local League, State League or National Committee, or member-at-large on any of the following grounds: (a) Violation of the provisions of this constitution or of any properly enacted amendment thereto, by-law or rule; (b) Neglect of any duty imposed on any Local League, State League or National Committee; (c) Conduct which is injurious to the purposes and objects of the League. Sec. 2. Charges against officers of the National League, or against Local Leagues, State Leagues, National Committees, or members-at-large must be made in writing and delivered to the National Secretary. She shall refer the same to the National President and the National Executive Board for hearing. The complainant, the defendant and the witnesses shall be served with copies of the charges and notices to appear before the National Executive Board at a time and place not unreasonable for the defendant, at least ten days before the hearing shall take place. If the National Executive Board cannot conveniently act it may designate a committee consisting of three of its members to act in its place. It is provided, however, that no person who shall be the accuser or who shall be intimately connected with the situation involved

264

APPENDICES

shall be eligible to sit on such trial committee or on the Executive Board during such trial. Sec. 3. The decision on such charges shall be rendered by the National Executive Board or the committee hereinbefore referred to, which shall have the power to suspend or expel said officer or member, revoke the charter of or otherwise properly discipline said National League officer, Local League, State League, National Committee or member-at-large. Such decisions shall not require the confirmation of the National Convention, and shall be communicated to the defendant, as well as to the complainant, within one week after the rendition thereof, personally or by registered letter. Sec. 4. If either party shall feel aggrieved by such decision, an appeal may be taken to the next National Convention provided notice of the intention to appeal is served by the aggrieved party within thirty days from the date of receiving notification of the decision of the National Executive Board. The decision of this National Convention shall be final. Pending the meeting of the Convention, the decision of the National Executive Board shall remain in full force and effect. Sec. 5. Charges against any member for any cause whatever may not be withdrawn without the consent of the accused. Sec. 6. Any member of a Local League, State League or National Committee who shall feel aggrieved by a decision of a trial committee of the said Local or State League or National Committee, shall have the right to appeal to the National Executive Board provided notice of said intentional appeal is given to the Board and to the Local or State League or National Committee within thirty days after the decision is rendered. A decision of the Executive Board may be appealed from to the next National Convention. ARTICLE

XII—AMENDMENT

This Constitution can be amended only at the regular session of the Convention, by a majority vote.

BIBLIOGRAPHY BIBLIOGRAPHICAL N O T E

THE primary source of material for both the Women's Trade Union League of Great Britain and the National Women's Trade Union League of America has been the reports of the organizations themselves. In the case of the British League, which went out of existence in 1921, the only material available is at Transport House, London, headquarters of the Trades Union Congress, and in the library of the London School of Economics. In the United States, publications of the National Women's Trade Union League have been made available by the office of the National League. Proceedings of the Conventions from 1909 through 1936 are printed. Some reports of local leagues have been printed: others have been typed or given verbally at Conventions: there is no complete file of these reports. An additional problem in getting a complete record has been the fact that on two occasions the National League offices and its records have been damaged by fire. Since the Leagues have been a part of both the labor movement and the feminist movement, the scope of " background" material is very wide, but only those books and reports which have proved directly useful are included in this bibliography. T w o major sources for material on American women in industry and in the labor movement in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are J. R. Commons, Documentary History of American Industrial Society (1910: 10 volumes), and the U. S. Government Report on condition of women and child wage-earners in the United States, Washington, D. C. (1910-1913: 19 volumes). The Women's Trade Union League was partly instrumental in starting the Senate inquiry which led to the Report, and Volume X incorporates a statement furnished by Miss Helen Marot, the Secretary of the New Y o r k League, on "Conditions in 1911." Articles from both these sources were compiled for the League by Miss Ruth Delzell and printed first in Life and Labor, and later as a pamphlet, The Early History of Women Trade Unionists of America. Miss Edith Abbott's book Women in Industry, first published in 1909, gives extracts from many contemporary documents beginning with the colonial period and is a valuable source of information. Citations to statutes and cases mentioned in the text are given as an addition to the bibliography, for ease of reference and to avoid over-burdening the text with footnotes. SOURCES FOR THE H I S T O R Y OF THE B R I T I S H LEAGUE

A.

Publications

of the League and related

(CHAPTER

II)

organisations

Women's Trade Union League, Annual Reports and Balance Sheets, 1921.

London.

The Women's Trades Union Review (to 1894). The Women's Trade Union Review (after 1894). 265

1875-

266

BIBLIOGRAPHY

(This was the Quarterly Report of the W. T . U. L., edited by Gertrude Tuckwell. The earliest copy at Transport House, London, is April 1891 to January 1894.) National Federation of Women Workers, 10th Report and Balance Sheets, 1918 and 1919. London. National Union of General Workers, Women Workers Section, First Report and Balance Sheet, 1921. London. B.

Other Sources

Anderson, Adelaide Mary. Women In The Factory, An Administrative Adventure, New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1922. Blainey, J. The Woman Worker and Restrictive Legislation, London, J. W. Arrowsmith, 1928. Cole, G. D. H. A Short History of the British Working Class Movement, N. Y . : Macmillan, 3 volumes, 1927-1930. Drake, Barbara. Women in Trade Unions, London: Labor Research Department Report, 1920. Hamilton, Mary Agnes. Mary Macarthur, A Biographical Sketch, London: Leonard Parsons, 1925. Hutchins, B. L. and Harrison, A. A History of Factory Legislation, 3rd ed., London: P. S. King & Son, 1926. Rathbone, Eleanor F. The Disinherited Family, A plea for the endowment of the family. London: Edward Arnold and Co., 1924. Strachey, Ray. The Cause: A Short History of the Women's Movement in Great Britain. Löndon: G. Bell & Sons, 1928. Webb, S. and B. The History of Trade Unionism, 2nd ed.; London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1920. SOURCES FOR THE HISTORY OF THE A M E R I C A N

A.

LEAGUE

Publications of the National and Local Leagues

National Women's Trade Union League of America, Convention Proceedings, 1909-1936. , Convention, 1929, Official Program. Annual Reports of local leagues. The Union Labor Advocate, Chicago, 1906-1911. (From 1906-1908 the Chicago League edited a " Women's Department" in this Journal: in 1908, the National League took it over.) Life and Labor, Monthly magazine, published by the National Women's Trade Union League, 1911-1921. Life and Labor Bulletins, 1921—. Pamphlets and Handbooks issued by the National Women's Trade Union League.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

B.

267

Other Sources

Abbott, Edith.

Women in Industry, N. Y . : Appleton, 1926.

Adamic, Louis.

Dynamite, N. Y . : Viking Press, 1931.

A . F. of L. Conventions, Proceedings. A . F. of L. History, Encyclopedia, Reference Book, 1919, 1924. Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. 1910-1922. (Chicago, 1922.)

Clothing Workers 0} Chicago,

Annals (The), of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. CXIII, May, 1929- No. 232. Baker, E. F. Protective Labor Legislation, Columbia University Press, 1905. Benham, Elisabeth D. The Woman Wage Earner: Her Situation Today. U. S. Dept. of Labor, Women's Bureau, Bulletin No. 172, 1939. Boone, G. Labor Laws in Twelve Southern States, N. Y . : National Consumers' League, 1934. Brissenden, Paul F. Earnings of Factory Workers, 1899 to 1927, United States Bureau of the Census, Monograph X, 1929. , The I. W. W.: A Study of American Syndicalism, N. Y . : Columbia University Press, 1919. Breckinridge, Sophonisba P. Women in the Twentieth Century: Their Political, Social and Economic Activities. (Recent Social Trends Monographs), N. Y . : McGraw Hill, 1933. Budish, J. M. and Soule, George. The New Unionism in the Clothing Industry, N. Y . : Harcourt, Brace and Howe, 1920. C. I. O. Convention, Proceedings, 1938 and 1939. Commons, John R. and Associates, History of Labor in the United States, N. Y . : Macmillan, 1921-1935, I V Volumes. Commons, John R., Documentary History of American Industrial Society, Cleveland, 1910, 10 volumes. Daugherty, C. R. Labor Problems in American Industry, N. Y . : Houghton Mifflin, 1936 and 1938. Delzell, Ruth. The Early History of Women Trade Unionists of America, pamphlet reprinted from articles in Life and Labor, N. W. T. U. L., 1919. (Compiled from Senate Document 645 and Documentary History of American Industrial Society.) Gompers, Samuel. Seventy Years of Life and Labor, An Autobiography, N. Y . : Dutton, 1925. Hapgood, N., ed. Henry, Alice.

Professional Patriots, N. Y . : Boni, 1927.

The Trade Union Woman, N. Y . : Appleton, 1915.

, Women and the Labor Movement, N. Y . : Doran, 1933. Holtby, Winifred. Lane, 1934.

Women and a Changing Civilisation, London: John

Hughes, Gwendolyn S.

Mothers in Industry, N. Y . : New Republic, 1925.

268

BIBLIOGRAPH Y

Hutchins, Grace.

Women Who Work, N. Y . : International Publishers, 1994.

Hutchinson, E. J.

Women's Wages, N. Y . : Columbia University Press, 1919.

I. F . T . U . Report of Congress held at Vienna, 1923. Many Countries. Labor Research Association. Publishers, 1939.

Trade

Union

Facts,

Working N. Y . :

Women in International

, Labor Fact Book, N. Y . : International, 1936. Levine, Louis.

The Women's Garment Workers,

N. Y . : Huebsch, 1924.

National Woman's P a r t y : Capitol Hill, Washington, D. C.

Publications.

Pidgeon, Mary E. Women in the Economy of the United States of America, A Summary Report, Washington: U. S. Government Printing Office,

1937. Smith, Ethel M. 1909.

Towards Equal Rights, National League of Women Voters,

Spaeth, Louise M. The Women's Trade Union League Thesis for M. A . Degree, Columbia University, 1925.

and

Leadership,

Senate Document No. 645: 61 st Congress, Second Session. Report on condition of women and child wage-earners in the United States, 1910I9I3> ' 9 volumes. Stewart, Estelle. Handbook of American Trade Unions, U. S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin No. 506 (1929 edition). Bulletin No. 618 (1936 edition). U . S. Department of Labor, Division of Labor Standards, (Bulletins and " Labor Standards.")

Publications.

Walder, Emmi. Die Beteilung der Frau an der amerikanischen schafts-Bewegung, Weinfelden, 1926.

Gewerk-

Webb, John N. and Bevis, Joseph C. Facts About Unemployment, Washington, W . P. A . Administration, Social Problems, No. 4. U. S. Printing Office, 1940. Wolfson, Theresa. The Woman Worker International Publishers, 1926.

and the Trade

Unions, N . Y . :

Wolman, Leo. Ebb and Flow in Trade Unionism, N. Y . : National Bureau of Economic Research, 1936. , The Growth of American Trade Unions, 1880-1923, N. Y . : National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc., 1924. Women's Bureau, U. S. Department of Labor, Publications. The publications of the Women's Bureau (Bulletins, Reports, Newsletters and the bi-monthly magazine " T h e Woman W o r k e r " ) are the most important source for background material on women workers. Women in the Modem World, the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, V o l C X I I I , May, 1929, No. 232. Women Who Work, Division of Women in Industry, N. Y . : D e p t of Labor Special Bulletin, April, 1922.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

269

Women Workers and the Labor Supply, N. Y . : National Industrial Conference Board, 1936. Study Number 220. REFERENCES FOR C H A P T E R I I

( G R E A T B R I T A I N ) ON A C T S OF P A R L I A M E N T

A N D O F F I C I A L REPORTS

Chapter II, p. 22

p. 26

Factory Act of 1874. 37 and 38 Vict., c. 44. A n A c t to make better Provision for improving the Health of Women, Young People and Children employed in Manufactures. (Repealed 1878). Royal Commission of 1876. Report of Commissioners appointed to inquire into the working of the Factory and Workships Acts with a view to their consolidation of amendment. H. C., 1876, X X I X , X X X * Factory Act of 1878. 41 and 42 Vict., c. 16. A n Act to Consolidate and amend the Law relating to Factories and Workshops. (Repealed 1901.) Factory Act of 1891. 54 and ss Vict., c. 75. An A c t to amend the Law relating to Factories and Workshops. (Repealed 1901.) Factory Act of 1695. 58 and 59 Vict., c. 37. A n Act to amend and extend the Law relating to Factories and Workshops. (Repealed 1901.) (Laundries not included until 1895. Women 14 hours per day, 60 per week) Factory and Workshop Consolidation Act, 1901. 1 Edw. V I I , c. 22. Report of the Select Committee on Home Work, 246 of 1908.

p. 33

p. 35 p. 39

Report of Board of Trade Enquiry into Earnings and Hours, 1909. Trade Boards Act, 1909. 9 Edward V I I , c. 22. National Health Insurance Act, 1911. 1 and 2 George V , c. 55. Restoration of Pre-War Practices Act, 1919. 9 and 10 George I V , c. 4a.

* Roman numerals refer to bound volumes in British Museum.

270

BIBLIOGRAPHY ( W o r k e r s could proceed at law against employers w h o refused to restore same. Restoration obligatory for one year.) Representation of the People Act, 1918. 8 George V , c. 64. REFERENCES

( E X C E P T FOR C H A P T E R

II)

(in order of appearance Chapter I I I , p. 47 p. 56

ON

in

STATUTES AND

CASES

text)

New Hampshire ( S t a t e o f ) lo-hour law, 1847. N e w Hampshire, Laws 1847, ch. 488. New York ( S t a t e o f ) L a w providing for women factory inspectors, 1890. L a w s of 1890, ch. 398. (amending first inspection act, Laws of 1886, ch. 409.)

p. 61

Massachusetts (State of) io-hour day, 6o-hour week law for women and children in factories, 1874. Massachusetts, Laws 1874, ch. 221. Massachusetts State Supreme Court. Validation of above, 1879. Case: Commonwealth v. Hamilton Manufacturing Company. 120 Mass. 383. Illinois. 8-hour day, 48 hour week law for women and children, 1893. L a w s of 1893, Factories and Workshops, Sec. 5. Illinois State Supreme Court. (Invalidation of above) 1895. Ritchie v. People, 155 111. 98 (40 N. E „ 454) (1895).

Chapter I V , p. 100

p. 102

Chapter V, p. 113

New York ( S t a t e o f ) . Factory Investigation Commission, 1911. See H i s t o r y of Labor Legislation for W o m e n in T h r e e States, W o m e n ' s Bureau Bulletin No. 661 (1932), p. 78. Massachusetts (State of). L a w reducing hours of labor for women f r o m 56 t o 54 a week, 1911, effective J a n u a r y 1912. L a w s , 191:, ch. 484. Illinois ( S t a t e o f ) . L a w extending io-hour day limit to almost all women's occupations, 1911. L a w s 1911, p. 328. ( A m e n d i n g Laws 1909, p. 212.) (Mechanical or mercantile establishment, or factory, or laundry, or hotel, or telegraph or telephone

BIBLIOGRAPHY

p. 142

271

establishment or office thereof, or any place of amusement... or transportation or public utility... or public institution) 111. Code. 1935, ch. 48, Sec. 26. Sheppard—Towner Maternal and Infant Welfare Act, 1921. 42 U. S. Stat. 224 (1921). Cable Act (Sept. 22, 1922) giving independent citizenship to women. 42 U. S. Stat. 1021 (1922).

Chapter VI, p. 155

Sherman Anti-Trust Act, 1890. 26 U. S. Stat. 209 (1890). Clayton Act, 1914. 38 U. S. Stat. 780 (1914).

Chapter VII, p. 191 NatiotuU Industrial Recovery Act, 1933. 48 U. S. Stat. 19s (1933). National Labor Relations Act, 1935. 49 U. S. Stat. 449 (1935). Schechter Case (declaring N. I. R. A. unconstitutional). Schechter Poultry Corporation v. United States, 29s U. S. 495 (1935). p. 200 Illinois Minimum Wage Law, 1933. Acts of 1933, p. 597. (Law of 1935)—Acts of 1935, p. 840. New York Minimum Wage Law, 1933. Supplement to Cahill's Consolidated Laws, 1931-1935, Act 19, Chap. 32. p. 201 Held unconstitutional in Morehead v. People, ex rel. Tipaldo, 298 U. S. 587, 56 Sup. Ct. 918 (1936). N. Y. Minimum Wage Law, 1937.* Laws, 1937, ch. 276. p. 202 N. Y. State 48-hour Law. (point re weekly half-holiday) N. Y. Session laws, 1927, ch. 453. N. Y. Court of Appeals decision, 1929. (that employers were not compelled to give women employees weekly half-holiday if they utilized the 78 hours overtime permitted in the law) People of the State of N. Y. v. Elite Steam Laundry, Inc., 226 A. D. 35 (1929). N. Y. State Byrne-Killigrew Act (Unemployment Insurance), 1935. Laws, 1935, ch. 468.

272

BIBLIOGRAPHY

p. 203 Wagner-Peyser Act, 1933. (Public Employment offices.) 48 U. S. Stat 113-117 (1933). (Federal) Social Security Act. 1935. 49 U. S. Stat 620 (1935). * Passed April 1937, after U. S. Supreme Court had declared constitutional Minimum Wage Law of State of Washington, in March 1937. West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish, 300 U. S. 379 (1937).

INDEX A Abbott, Edith, quoted, 62 Abbott, Grace, 72; quoted, 147 Absorption of the League by the Trades Union Congress, igai, 40-42 Adam, Nancy, quoted, 225 Adelmond, Charlotte, 201 American Federation of Labor, 43, 53, 54-55, 58, 68, 70, 73, 75, 83, 93, 103, 106, 107, 111-112, 115, 116,121, 128, 131, 132, 134, 135, 13». 140, 142-143, 148, 156, 157-158, 159, 160, 162, 166n, 167-170, 173, 176-177, 191,192-193, 205, 207, 206, 209, 210, 220, 221, 228, 229 Addams, Jane, 63, 64, 133, 206 Adkins Case (Adkins v. Children's Hospital), 141, 141n, 143, 148, 169, 201

Advisory Council of the Secretary of Labor, 121 Allen-A Company, 182 Allen, Judge Florence E., 206 Ally members of League, 79, 82, 84, 100, 146, 148, 153, 162, 227-228 Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, 89, 98, 160n, 192, 193n, 195, 229 American Peace Society, 75 Anderson, Edward, 95 Anderson, Mary, 115, 116, 117, 120, 123, 124, 129, 162, 163, 177, 182183, 205. 205n Anderson, Will, 36 Andrews, Elmer F., 202 Anthony, Susan B„ 16, 50, 66 Asiatic workers, 75 Associated Industries of New York, 136-137 Associated Waist and Dress Manufacturers, 82, 83 Attacks on the League and Opposition to its Policies, 134-141 Auxiliary, see Women's Auxiliary Avery, Mrs. Rachel Foster, 81-82 B Baer, Gertrud, 126 Bagley, Sarah, 47 Bail, for strikers, 79, 162 Bakery and Confectionery Workers Union, 166-167, 171, 187

Baltimore League, 164 Barbers' International Union (Journeymen), 55, 160, 171, 187 Barbers (women), 169 Barnum, Gertrude, 65, 72 Bamum, Judge, 65 Barry, Mrs. Leonora, 53, 59 Beauty parlor workers, 187, 201, 214 Beginning of a national labor movement: Relation of women to the unions, 48-51 Bell, Mrs. Harrison. 129 Belmont, Mrs. O. H. P., 79, 80 Bemberg plant, strike at. 179 Benefits (trade union), 55, 68, 74 Bensley, Martha; tee Bruere, Martha Bensley Besant, Mrs. Annie, 27, 27n Biddle, Mrs. George, 81 Birmingham, Alabama, League, 212 Birthright, W C.211 Blanchard, Helen, 201, 213 Bludinger, Sadie Reisch, 151, 213,217 Board of Trade Inquiry into Earnings and Hours, 33 Bondfield, Margaret, 30, 40, 91, 124 Boot and Shoe Workers Union, and contributions to League, 107 Borchardt, Selma, 187 Borky, Rena, 80 Boschek, Anna, 126 Boston. Central Labor Union of, 65, 71 Boston League, 151, 172, 190, 194, 228 Boston Transcript, (the) 59 Bouvier, Jeanne, 126 Bowers. A. P., 160 Bowen, Margaret, 178-180 Brandeis, Louis, 81 Breckinridge, Sophonisba P.. 91 Brewery Workers, United, 87 Brissenden, Paul F., 62, 62n Broadhurst, Henry, 25 Brook Farm. 46 Brookwood Labor College, 119,119n, 171, 184 Bruere. Martha Bensley, 79, 109 Bryn Mawr College Summer School for Women Workers, 118, 153, 174, 177, 186, 214 Bunning, Stuart, 40 Burke, Mrs. Mary, 54 Burleson, Post-master General, 165 273

274

INDEX

Burniaux, Hélène, 132 Bums, Agnes, (Agnes Burns Wieck) 163. 183 Bums, Marion, 218

Cable Act, 142 Cabrini, Signora Casartelli, 127 Canadian Trades and Labor Congress, 124-125 Candy Workers' League of Philadelphia, 167 Carey, Matthew, 46 Camer, Lucy P., 176 Carpenters and Joiners, United Brotherhood, and contributions to League, 107 Casey, Josephine, 66, 67 " C a u s e and Cure of War," Conferences on the, 133, 206; National Committee on, 205 Central Committee for Women's Unemployment, Great Britain, 36 Central Labor Unions, 65, 71, 88, 103-105, 213; and League, 71 Chain-making industry, 33-34 Changes in Officers: Internal Organization of the League, 143154 Cheney, Charles, 140 Chicago Daily Socialist, 84, 90 Chicago Federation of Labor, 71, 91, 93-97, 119, 161, 214-215 [The] Chicago Garment-workers Strike, i g i o - i g n , 88-98 Chicago League, 88-98, 112, 113, 119, 182, 184, 186, 190, 195, 200, 213, 214-215, 228 Chicago, School of Civics and Philanthropy, and League School, 117 Chicago Trade Union College, 119 Chicago, University of, and League School, 117 Chicago University Settlement, 57 Child Labor, 53, 65, 125 Child Labor Amendment to U. S. Constitution, 136, 142, 143, 202 Christman, Elisabeth, 115, 121, 124, 129, 132, 139, 149, 168, 171, 174, 176, 190, 194, 198, 204, 207, 208, 228-229; becomes National League Secretary, 145 Cigar Makers, 49; International Union of, 48, 49, 164 Civil War, see War between the States

Clark, Mrs. Sue Anislie, 103n. 105106 Clayton Act, 155, 161, 166 Clerical workers, 187 Cloak and Suit Makers, 85 Cloth H a t and Cap Makers, 76; Union. 189 Clothing Industry, men's, 88-98, 111; women's, 71, 77-85, 99, 196-197 " C o d e s of Fair Competition;" tee National Industrial Recovery Act Coffin, Jo, 168 Cohen, Joseph E., 84 Clothing Workers of America, Amalgamated ; see Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America Cohn, Fannia, 117, 124 Coman, Katherine, 90 Commissaries; see Commissary Stores Commissary Stores, 93, 94, 210 Committee for Industrial Organization, 192-193, 208-209 Compensation Service, New York League, 144 Conboy, Mrs. Sara A., 100, 101, 104, 105, 140, 176 Condon, Maggie, 57 Congress of Industrial Organizations, 193-194, 220, 221, 228, 229 Constitution, of League in Great Britain, 27-28; of League in the United States, 44,100,106, 110, 223 Consumers' League, National, 66, 112, 112n, 115, 116, 142; of Illinois, 182; of New York, 57, 112, 112n, 200 [The] Convention Handbook: Conditions in trades employing women, 75-76 [The] Convention of 1939: The League's Twenty-fifth Anniversary, 187-189 Conventions of National Women's Trade Union League, 68-70, 73-76, 77, 80, 100-101, 107-110, 113. 143145, 149, 150-151, 173-174, 187-189, 190, 217-218 Cook, Cara, 213, 219 Coolidge, Calvin, 139 Co-operative Movement, 230 Co-operative Societies, Great Britain, 41 Copper miners, 182-183 Copyholders (women), 167 Corset Workers, 65. 88 Cotton industry, Great Britain, 44, 45; United States, 72, 175

275

INDEX

Cotton unions (Great Britain), 25, 29, 45 Council of National Defense, 120, 120-121. 156 Cracker industry, 171 Craft unions, (unionism) 55, 150, 158, 192 Crain, Kate, 153 Cramp's shipyard, strike at, 172 Cumberland, Maryland, Central Labor Union of, 163 D Daily Worker (the), 181 Danbury Hatters' Case, (Loewe v. Lawlor), 155n, 161 Danville, Virginia, strike at, 209-211 Darrow, Clarence S., 96, 97 Daugherty, Professor C. R., quoted, 224 Daughters of St. Crispin, 50 Dearborn Independent (the), 136 Deneen, Governor of Illinois, 112 Derry, Mrs. Katherine, 124-125, 125n Detective agencies, 164, 183 Difficulties of organizing women workers, 28-30 Dilke, Ladv, 26, 30, 32 Dilke, Sir Charles, 26. 33, 36 " Dilution " of labor, 37, 156 Dingman, Mary, 126 Disarmament, 127; Conference, 206 Disney, George A., 176 Dix, Governor of New York State, 100 Domestic Service Workers, 213, 218 Donnelly, Michael, 57 Donovan, Mary, 64 Douglas, Paul H., 125n, 184 Dover, New Hampshire, strike at, 45 Dowd, Mollie, 218n Drake, Barbara, estimates of union membership, 1886, 25 Dreier, Dorothea, 146 Dreier, Margaret, see Robins, Mrs. Raymond Dreier, Mary E., 77-81, 129, 131, 133, 194, 195, 201, 202. 211. 216. 218n Dual unionism, 112, 158, 220 Dubinsky, David, 197 Duchene, Madame Gabrielle, 123 Dutcher, Elizabeth, 79 E Early policy of the League, 187486, 23-24

Earnings; see Wages Education, League and, 119-120; of workers; see Workers' Education Education, Work for General, 119120 Educational work of the League, 181-186

Effers, Mary, 80 Efforts to open men's unions to women, 165-171 Eight-hour Day, 61, 73, 115, 125 Eight-hour Law(s), see Eight-hour Day Electrical Workers, International Brotherhood, Telephone Operators' Department of, 108, 165 Elevated Railway Clerks, 67, 76 Emergency Work Bureau, New York City, 196 Emerson, Zelie, 95 " Equal pay for equal work," 37, 38, 50, 52, 53, 54, 59, 67, 73, 156 " Equal Rights," for men and women, 17, 139 " Equal Rights " Amendment to the United States Constitution, 137141, 203-204, 205 Ettor, Joseph J., 102-104 A decisive Executive Board Meeting, May, 1910, 86-87 Experiments in dealing with the problems of women workers, 87-88 F Factory Act(s), British, 22-23, 25, 26 Factory Inspectors, women, 56 Fall River, Massachusetts, women's strike at, 51 Faneuil Hall. Boston, 43 Federal (labor) union(s), 208; women's, 87, 168-169 Female Improvement Society for the City and County of Philadelphia, 46 Female Labor Reform Associations, 46-47 Feminist movement, 15-17, 18, 46, 49, 63, 222; see also, " E q u a l r i g h t s " and Suffrage, Women's Field, Amy Walker, 184 Finances, of League in Great Britain, 23, 27, 42; of League in the United States, 86. 100-101,107,110, 117-118, 145-149, 190-191, 190n, 228 Fire Protection Laws. 99-100

276

INDEX

First National Convention, 1907: Mrs. Raymond Robins, President, 68-70 FiUgerald, Annie, 70 FiUpatnck, John, 71, 94, 95-96 Flynn, Eliiabeth Gurley, 104 Ford, MiflB, Secretary of the Leeds 8ociety of Workwomen, quoted, 28-29 Forsyth, Anne, 122 Founders, of League in Great Britain, 20-21; of League in the United States, 43, 63, 64-65 Fourth National Convention of League, 1913,107-110 Fox, Mrs. C. Beresford, 132 Franklin, Stella M , 86, 90, 98. 100 Frayne, Hugh, 167 Freitas, Mrs. Maiy, 64 Friedman, Ernestine, 124 Fries, Brigadier-General, 136 Functions of the League, 71-73 G Garment trades; tee Clothing industry Garment Workers Union of America, United, 90, 93, 94, 97-98, 160, 160n, 193n, 195 General Legislative Work of the Leagues, 141-143 Gillespie, Mabel, 100, 104, 107, 120, 147 Giovannitti, Arturo, 103, 104 Glantztoff mill, strike at, 178 Glenn, Annabelle, 211 Glove Workers' Union, International, 70, 145, 149, 195 Glück, Elsie, 201, 215, 215n Golden, Clinton, 172 Golden, John, 102, 103, 105, 107 Gompers, Samuel, 43, 70, 78, 83, 84, 107, 121, 123, 156, 158, 160-162,165, 170, 173 Gorman, Francis J., 209, 210 Graham, Frank P., 211 Grand National Consolidated Trade Union of Great Britain and Ireland, 21 Greeley, Horace, 46 Green, Mrs. Sarah, 126, 218n Green, William, 177, 180, 205, 208, 210, 211

H Halas, Mrs. Mary, 168, 218 Hamilton, Mary Agnes, quoted, 3031, 33

Handbooks, of League Conventions, 75-76, 101, 173-174 Haney, Mary, 164 Harding, Warren G., 127, 131 Harlan, Dr. Rolvbt, 180 Harriman, Mrs. J . Borden, 80 Hart, Schaffner and Marx, 88. 91, 93, 95, 96; Trade agreement. 97-98 Haywood, William, (Bill), 104 Headlam, the Reverend Stewart, 21 Hebrew Trades, United, 78 Hedges, Marion H., 216 Hennesey, Hannah, 70, 73, 73n Henrotin, Mrs. Charles, 65 Henry, Alice, 55, 67, 87, 98, 118, 119, 150 Herstein, Lillian, 173, 184 Hill, Helen (Mrs. F. P. Miller), 118 Hillman, Sidney, 89 Hoagland, Merica E., 140 Hochstein, Irma, 218n Hodge, George, 66 Hoffman, Alfred F., 178 Holland, James P., 135 Holly, William H., 182-183 Holtby, Winifred, quoted, 16 Home-Work, Industrial, 62, 76, 98, 109, 198, 202 Hoover, Herbert C„ 139, 205 Horton, Governor, 180 Hosiery workers, 182 Hotel and Restaurant Industry, Minimum Wage in, 201; employees, 213-214 Housewives Industrial League, 172 Howard, Charles P., 208 Hulburd, Mrs. Anna K., 96-97 Hull House, 57, 91 Huntsville Committee, of League, 212 Hutcheeon, William, 192 Hutchinson, Professor Emilie J., quoted, 224 I Illinois Joint Committee on Industrial Standards, 200 Illinois League, 112 Illinois State Federation of Labor, 71, 183 Immigrants, 72, 88-89; League for Protection of, 72 Independent Labour Party, 35. 41 Industrial Council of New York State, 120 Industrial Revolution and effect on women's work, 44-45, 61-62

INDEX Industrial unions, (unionism), 150, 158, 192-193 Industrial Workers of the World, 102, 102n, 220 Institute on Trade Union Organization, 173 International Conference of Women, 1915, 121 International Congresses) of Working Women, 40, 123-133, 134-135, 146 International Federation of Trade Unions, 128, 129, 129n, 130, 131, 134, 135 International Federation of Working Women, 127-132, 135, 154 International Labor Conference (s), of League of Nations, 123, 125, 126^127, 128, 141; see also International Labor Office International Labor Office, 40, 126, 127, 130, 204-205, 217, 221 International Labour Organization; see International Labor Office International Relations, 204-207 Inter - American Commission of Women, 189, 217 Inter-State Conferences, 1907, 6768 Inter-State Conferences (of League) 67-68, 73, 115, 184 Inter-State Conventions; see InterState Conferences Introduction of the League to unions, workers and women's organizations, 64-66 Irvine, the Rev. Alexander, 80 Johnson, Agnes, 129 Johnson, General Hugh R., 197 Johnson, Margaret, 77 Joint Board of Sanitary Control, in Women's Clothing Industry, 85,99 Jones, Margie, 70 Jones, " Mother," 81 Jones, Senator W. Clyde, 113 Kansas City, Industrial Council of, 159 Kansas City League, 159, 185 Keenan, Edward, 160 Kehew, Mrs. Mary Morton, 64 Kenney, Mary; see O'Sullivan, Mary Kenny

277

King, Mr., Secretary of the London Society of Journeyman Bookbinders, 21 Kingsley, Canon, 21 Kjelsberg, Betzy, 126 Klein, Sanuel, 197 Klueg, Mrs. Grace B„ 171-172 Knefler, Mrs. D. W., 74, 87, 100 Knights of Labor, 52-54, 57, 59, 70 Knights of St. Crispin, 50 Kyrk, Hazel, 184, 200

Label(s); see Union label and National Industrial Recovery Act Labor Colleges, in the United States, 118, 119, 185; see also Brookwood Labor College Labor Legislation, 61, 102; in Great Britain, 22-23,26-27,35,39; League (U. S. A.) and, 74, 112-116, 119120, 136-143, 160, 199-205; "protective," 49-50, 54, 61, 130, 137141, 169-170 Labor Mission to England and France, 1918, League represented on, 121 Labor movement, beginnings on a national scale, 48-51; general situation in, 155-159, 191-194; Leagues and, 15, 17-19, 4042, 111-112, 117, 137, 152, 154, 173, 220-221, 222, 229-230; problems of women in, 21-22, 24-26, 28-30, 58-63, 130 Labor Party, in U. S. A., 75, 75n Labour Colleges, in Great Britain, 41, 230 Labour Party, in Great Britain, 35, 38, 39, 41, 134, 230 Labour Supply Committee, in Great Britain, 38 Ladies Garment Workers International Union, 77, 88, 109, 117, 158, 159, 175, 189, 192, 193n, 195, 198, 213, 229 Lamont, Mrs. T. W„ 153n Lancashire cotton unions, 21, 29 Landers, S. L., 93, 95 Laundry Workers, 51-52, 55-56, 108109, 218; International Union of, 56 Lawrence, Massachusetts, textile strike in, 101-107, 220 Lawrence, Susan, 35 [The] Lawrence Textile Strike, 1912, 101-106

278

INDEX

Leadership, the Leagues and its development, 25. 38, 40, 41-42, 110, 116-118. 154, 188-189, 214-218, 221, 226, 227 [ T h e ] League and the Strike, 84-86 League School; see Training School for Active workers in the Labor Movement [ T h e ] League starts a " W o m e n ' s Department" in the Union Labor Advocate of Chicago, 66-67 Legislation, 22-23 Legislation: Female Labor Ref o r m Associations; T h e first lo-hour law, 46-47 Legislative W o r k , 112-116 Legislative work of the League after 1929, 199-204 Lemlich, Clara, 78 Leonard, Louise, 176 Leslie, Mabel, 139, 140, 176, 204 Lewis, Augusta, 48 Lewis, John L., 192 Life and Labor, 98-99, 142 Life and Labor, January, 1 9 1 1 , 98-100 Life and Labor Bulletin, 138, 171, 172, 174-175, 182, 188, 190, 213 Lindsay, Katherine, 164 Lindsav, Matilda, 119, 150-151, 153, 169, 171, 174, 176, 177-178. 180, 209-211, 218n Lindstrom, Ellen, 43 Link, the, 27 Local branches of League, 64, 65, 73, 143, 145-147, 150-151, 151n. 152153, 154, 190, 194-196, 199-202, 206, . 219, 219n Local committees of National League; see Local branches; sec also under place names Local Leagues; see Local branches of League; see also under place names L o c a l organizations of women, 55-58 Loewe v. Lawlor; see Danbury Hatters Lorwin, Dr. Lewis, 185 Lowell, Josephine Shaw, 56 Lowell. Massachusetts, women's strike at, 45 Lowell (Massachusetts) Female Labor Reform Association. 46 Lvnn, Massachusetts, women's strike at. 50

M McClellan, Mayor, 80 McDowell, Mary E., 57, 64, 65, 66, 68. 101 McGrady, Edward F., 178 McMahon, Thomas F., 174 Macarthur, Mary, 28, 30-40, 43, 67, 73, 74, 126, 167 Macdonald, Lois, 176 Mack, Judge Julian, 72 Mahony, Hannah, (Mrs. Nolan), 56 Maloney, Elizabeth, 113 Manicom, Kate, 127 Marot, Helen, 64, 70, 79, 80, 107 Martineau, Harriet, 21, 44-45 M a r y Macarthur becomes Secretary, 1903, 30-32 Massachusetts Minimum Wage Commission, 120 Matthews, May, 108, 164-165 Mattox, Mary, 180 Maxwell, Mrs. Lucia R., 136 Maynard, Mr. and Mrs. A. K., 186 Mead, Professor G. H., 91 Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America, Amalgamated, 57 Medinah Temple Labor Bureau. 96 Meigs, Mrs. Dorothy E., 147-148 Melish, John Howard. 80 Merriam, Alderman, 95 Meyerand, Gladys, quoted, 224-225 Mever, Carl, 96, 97 Millinery Workers, 192, 195, 213 Mill villages, 178 Miller, Frieda S., 119, 129, 201, 204, 217 Milwaukee League, 200 Mine Workers of America. United, 80. 81. 107. 191-192 Minimum Wage, Legislation and Boards. Leagues and, 73, 109, 114, 141, 200-201, 220; in Oregon, 116, 142; in Washington, D.C.. 141,169 Mitchell, John, 80 Mittelstadt. Louisa, 100, 117 Morgan. Anne, 74, 80 Morgenthau, Mrs. Henry, 79 Morrison, Frank, 107 Mullaney, Kate, 52 MuIIenbach. James, 94 Mullen, William, 43 Murphy, John J., 81 N National Association of turers, 136, 140, 157

Manufac-

279

INDEX National Child Labor Committee, 142 National Committee on Women-inIndustry, 130 National Federation of Women Workers, of Great Britain, 23, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37-38, 39, 40, 42, 74, 87, 124, 167 National Industrial Recovery Act, 191, 191n, 196-199, 202, 212, 220; Labor Advisory Board of, 197, 198; Regional Compliance Board of Chicago, 198 National Insurance Act of 1911, in Great Britain, 35 National Labor Union, congress of, 16, 50. 52 National Labor Relations Act, 191, 191 n National League of Women Voters, 140. 204 National Tailors' Association, 95, 96 National Union of General Workers, 40 National Youth Act, 218 Nestor, Agnes, 65-66, 70, 75, 81, 87, 90, 94, 100, 107, 115, 119, 120, 120121, 124, 129, 145, 145n, 171, 195, 198, 200, 215 New Bedford League, 151 " New Deal," 220 New England (Bell) Telephone Company, 108, 165 New England Workingmen's Association, 46, 47 New Leader (the), 181 Newman. Pauline, 129, 166-167, 181, 201, 202. 204 New Tasks for the League after 1929, 194-199 New York Call, 82 New York Conference for Unemployment Insurance, 202 New York {Daily) Tribune, 46, 47 New York Evening Journal, 82 New York League, 64, 87-88, 112, 149, 151, 152-153, 172, 184, 185-186, 190, 200-202, 213-214, 214-215, 228 New York State Department of Labor, 200, 216-217, 217n New York State Factory Investigating Commission, 100 New York World. 80 Nicholes, Anne, 66, 70, 71, 91 Nineteenth (Women's Suffrage) Amendment to U. S. Constitution, 141-142 Nockels, Edward, 97

Nolan, Mrs. Hannah, 56 Noren, Robert, 90, 93 Norfolk Convention of National Women's Trade Union League of America, 68-70 Northwestern University, and League School. 117 O O'Brien, John R., 43 O'Connor, Agnes Johnson, 206 O'Connor, Julia, 108, 124, 164-165 O'Day, Mrs. Daniel, 145 O'Day, Hannah, 57 Offterdinger Cigar Company, 164 O'Grady, James, 43 Olander, Victor, 184, 195 Olmstead, Magistrate, 79 Open-door International, 204-205 O'Reilly, Leonora, 56, 64, 7&-80, 120, 121, 124 Organization of women workers, problems of, 21-22, 23-26, 28-30, 48. 58-62, 109-110, 130, 148-149,159, 162, 188, 207-209 Organization: Relations with unions, 207-214 O'Sullivan, Mrs. Mary Kenney, 43, 54. 67. 70, 73 Outbreak of war, (the), 1914: new problems for women workers, 36-39 " Outlawry of War," 130-131, 133-134 P Packing Workers, women, 57-58 Pan-American Union, 139 Pan-Pacific Women's Conference, 133 Park, Mrs. Maud Wood, 136, 140 Paterson. Mrs. Emma, 20-21, 22, 2324, 25-26, 43 Peace, League work for, 121, 121n, 130-131, 133-134, 206-206 Pelham, Mrs. L. D., 90 Perkins, Frances, 187, 194 Pesotta, Rose, 198, 229 Pfanstill, Rose, 68 Philadelphia, Central Labor Union of, 160 Philadelphia League, 152, 160, 166167, 172, 181, 190, 213 Phillips, John A., 160, 160n Phillips, Marion, 129 Another pioneer effort: The International Congress of Working Women, 123-134

28O

INDEX

Pioneer organizations among women, 46 Plate Printers, Die Stampers and Engravers, International Union,213 Pollard, Governor, 210 Porto Rico, 197-198 Potter, Frances Squire, 86, 98 Powderly, Terence V., 52 Pratt, C. O., 81 President(s) of League, 64, 69, 143145, 187-189 Printers, 48; see also Typographical Union Problems of women as workers and potential trade unionists, 58-62 Proportional Representation, League experiment with, 143

Q Quick, Nelle A., 100 Quimby, Mrs. C. N. M., 47 Quincy, Mining Company, strike at, 183 R Raff, Yetta, 80 Railway Women's Guild, 38 Rankin, Mildred, 163, 164 Rantoul, Lois B., 124 Rauh, Ida, 70, 79-80 Rayon industry, 175; workers, 180 Reciprocal Trade Agreements, League support of, 206-207 Red International of Labor Unions (Moscow), 128-129, 158 Reeve, Karl, 181 Reisch, Sadie, see Bludinger, Sadie Reisch Relation of the League to the Unions: Meeting of the Executive Board of the National League, 1912,106-107 Relations of the League with the American Federation of Labor and with Central Labor Unions, 70-71 Relations of the League with Unions, 159-165 Rembaugh, Bertha, 84 " Report on Condition of Women and Child Wage-earners in the United States," 101, 115 Representation of the People Act, 39 Restoration of Pre-War Practices Act, 39 Richie, J. M„ 166

Rickert, Thomas A., 90, 93, 94, 96, 97 Riverside and Dan River Cotton Mills, 209-210 Robins, Colonel Raymond, 211 Robins, Margaret Dreier (Mrs. Raymond), 59, 68, 69-70, 71, 73, 75-76, 81, 90, 94, 95-97, 100-101, 107, 109, 113, 116, 120, 121, 124, 126, 12», 131-133, 134-135, 139, 143, 145, 160161, 177, 180, 187, 189, 218n, 227228 Roche, Josephine, quoted, 216 Roosevelt, Franklin Delano, 191,206, 212, 220 Roosevelt, Eleanor (Mrs. Franklin D.), 153n, 196, 197, 216 Roosevelt, Theodore, 66 Rouse, Mrs. Mary F., 172 Roxbury Carpet Weavers, 65, 71 Royal Commission of 1876, 22 Rubber Industry, 208 S San Francisco Examiner, 55 Sanville, Florence, 160 Schechter Case, 199, 271 Schneiderman, Rose, 79-80, 99, 100, 109, 123, 124, 129, 139, 145, 159, 176-177, 181, 187-189, 194, 197-199, 204, 208, 216-217 Schoenbrunn Conference; see International Congress of Women Schweichler, Margarethe, 73 Scott, Melinda, 74, 88, 100, 107, 109, 115, 120, 121, 161 Scott, Marsden, 167 [ T h e ] Second Biennial Convention, 1909, 73-75 Second period of the League: support of legislation; effort to open men's unions to women, 26-28

Seligman, Professor E. R. A., 78 Seneca Falls, N . Y., " Women's Rights" Convention, 15, 16, 50 Shapiro, Annie, 88 Shaw, George Bernard, 79 Shaw, Dr. Anna Howard, 80 Shepherd, Miriam G., 126, 146-147 Sherwin, Belle, 176 Shipton, George, Secretary of the London Trades Council, 21 Shirtwaist-makers, strike of, 77-85,91 Simkhovitch, Mary K., 78 Simms, Florence, 124 Sitomer Case, 84-85, 85n Smith, Alexia, 151, 153-154

INDEX

Smith, Alfred E„ 139 Smith, Ethel M., 110, 116, 131, 137, 138, 141, 142-143, 150, 168, 175,176, 194 Smith, Hilda W., 185 Snowden, Mrs. Philip, 91 Somerville, Althea, 86 Southern Campaign, of League, 149, 159, 174-181, 188, 209-212 Southern Summer School for Workers, 177 Spaeth, Louise, 226 Spies, in industry, see Detective agencies Springfield League, 113 St. Louis League, 73, 184 Standing Joint Committee of Industrial Women's Organizations, 38, 124, 128 Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, 16, 50-51 Starr, Ellen Gates, 90, 92-93, 163 State of organization among women workers, when the League was formed, 1874, 21-22 Steel Workers Organizing Committee, 192 Steghagen, Emma, 71, 87, 90, 95, 126, 145 Stevens, Doris, 139 Stewart, Luther C„ 168 Stewart, Mrs. Ella S„ 73 Stillman, Corabel, 176, 177, 180 Stockyard workers, 57-58; Labor Council, 164 Stoetzel, Gertrude, 67 Stokes, Rose Pastor, 80 Stone, Huldah J., 47 Stone, Margaret F., 206 Straight, Mrs. Willard (Mrs. L. K. Elmhirst), 162 Strasser, President, 49 Straus, Dorothy, 204 " Stretch-out " system, 178, 212 Strike-breakers (Blacklegs), 26, 49, 58, 79, 92, 165 Strikes, 27, 34, 34-35, 45, 51-52, 55-56, 65, 71, 73-86, 88-98, 101-106, 108109, 158, 162-164, 178-181, 182-183, 209-211, 211-212 Stychova, Landova, 126 Suffrage, Women's, 39, 51, 53, 62, 6667, 70, 80, 98, 144, 189; Amendment to U. S. Constitution, 140141; Associations for, 73, 74, 80, 81-82, 140-141 Summer Camp, of Chicago League, 186

281

Sutherland, Justice, 142 Swartz, Mrs. Maud O'Farrell, 124, 126, 129, 129-130, 133, 144n, 144145, 173, 174, 189, 216-217 Sweated trades, 33, 67, 88-89, 98 T Tar bell, Ida M., 78, 87 Telephone operators, 108, 164-165 Ten-hour day, 46, 47, 61; Illinois Law, 113; Massachusetts Law, 61 Ten-hour Laws, see Ten-hour day Textile industry, 174-175; workers, 46-47, 65, 76; general strike in, 211-216; strike in Danville, 209211; in Lawrence, 101-106; in New Bedford, 151 Textile Workers Union, National, 158, 178, 181 Textile Workers Union, United, 102, 105, 158, 174, 177-178, 181, 192, 209, 210, 212 Third Convention of the League, 1911, 100-101 Third period of the League, 190621: The National Federation of Women Workers, 33-36 Thomas, M. Albert, 205 Thompson, Mrs. Mary Gordon, 163164 Ting, Miss, 132 Toynbee, Arnold, 21 Trade Boards Act, 33, 35 Trade Union Colleges, see Labor Colleges Trades Union Congress, 22, 24-26,32, 33, 37, 40, 41; women's conference, 24; Women's Section of General Council, 40, 229, 230 Trades Union Congress and the women's movement, 24-26 Trade Union Educational League, 158-159 Trade Union Unity League, 159,159n Training School for Active Workers in the Labor Movement, 1913-1926, 116-118 Training School for Active Workers in the Labor Movement, 109, 116118, 146, 149, 185, 188, 214 Trautman, W. E., 104 " Treasury Agreement," in Great Britain, 37, 38 Triangle Waist Company, 77; fire at, 99-100, 189 Tri-City League, 184

282

INDEX

Tuckwell, Gertrude, 30, 32, 33 Typographical Union(s), 48; International, 167, 172, 192 U Unemployment, Census of, 1937, 16; estimates of, 1933, 191; International Congresses of Working Women and, 125, 127; League efforts to deal with, 194-196, 220; President's Commission on, 157 Union Label League, 55, 57, 160 Union Labor Advocate, 66-67, 70n, 71. 74, 74n, 82, 98 Unions, woman officers of, 229; woman membership of, 207, 228229 United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, 212 United States Chamber of Commerce, 136 United States Children's Bureau, 115n, 142, 203 United States Department of Labor, 74, 115, 156; Wage and Hour Division of, 219; Women in Industry Service, 115-116, 122 United States Supreme Court, 116, 141-142, 143, 169, 199, 201 United States Women's Bureau, 18, 66, 116,120,135, 138n, 139-140, 142, 177, 198, 199, 203, 216 Upholsterers' International Union, 195, 213 [The] "Uprising of the ao.ooo," 1909, 77-83 Van de Vaart, Mrs., 72 Van Kleeck, Mary, 115-116, 173 Verband Kaufmannischer Weiblicher Angestellten, 73 Versailles, Treaty of, 40 Virginia State Federation of Labor, 209 W Waage, Senator Johann, 96 Wages, of women workers, 27, 28, 29, 31, 35, 39, 62, 62n, 65, 87, 89, 197198, 200-201; League Symposium on, 184; tee alto Minimum wage Wälder, Emmi, 225-226, 228n Wald, Lillian D.. 64 Walling, William English, 43. 63 War between the States, 48, 175

War Emergency Workers' National Committee, in Great Britain, 36,37 War Labor Board, 121, 156 War-time Appointments, 120-122 Washington, D. C., Committee, of League, 116, 164, 218 Washington, D. C., League, 218-219 Weeks, John F„ 136 Webb, Sidney, 29 Wertheim, Elsa, 182 We, Tiung Zung, 126 Weyl, Bertha Poole, 79 White Goods Workers, 109; Union, 189 Whitehead, Myrtle (Mrs. M. W. Miller), 117, 163 Whitman Company, 167 Whitney, Eli, 44 Wilson, Gail, 151 Wilson, Mona, 30 Wilson, T. A., 180 Wilson, Woodrow, 40, 120, 123 Winant, John G.. 212 Winslow, Mary N„ 199, 202-204. 217 Wisconsin State Federation of Labor, 151, 153-154 Woeriohoffer, Carola, 79, 85 Wolman, Leo, quoted, 226-227 Woman's Centennial Congress, 1941, 15 Woman Patriot (the), 134-135 Woman's Party, National, 137-141, 203 " Woman's Rights" movement, see Equal Rights, Feminist movement. Suffrage, Women's Women's Auxiliary (trade union), 55, 171, 172, 172n, 173, 218-219 Women chiefly active in local organizations, 51-52 Women's Clubs, General Federation of, 65, 115,188; Illinois Federation of, 65-66, 96-97 Women's Co-operative Guild, 38, 41 Women in Early American Factories, 44-45 Women in the American Federation of Labor, 54-55 Women in the Knights of Labor, 52-54 Women's International Conference^); «ee International Congresses) of Working Women Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, 130 Women's Joint Congressional Committee, 136, 136n, 142, 199

INDEX

Women's Labour League, in Great Britain, 38 Women's Municipal League of New York, 72 Women's Pan-American Congress, 129 Women's Protective and Provident League, 21, 23 Women's Suffrage, 1918: International Labor Conference, 1919, 39-40 Women's Trade Union League and its functions, The, 63 Women's Work and War, 122 Woolley, Dr. Mary E., 206 Work with Women's Auxiliaries: Handbook on Organization, 171-181 Workers' Education, Promotion of other forms of, 118-119

283

Workers' Education: Training for leadership, 214-221 Workers' Educational Association, 41, 230 Workers' Education Bureau of America, 119, 119n Workers' Education, the League and, 110, 112, 116-119, 154, 181-186, 214-221 " Working Women's Society," 56 World Anti-Slavery Congress, London, 1840, 15 World War, 36-39, 115, 120-122, 188, 220 Wright, Dr. Helen, 184 Y Yarros, Dr. Rachelle 8., 90 Young Women's Christian Association, 115, 124, 139, 177, 188