TRADE UNIONISM 51 



been done by organizations large and small, but out of all this endeavor 

 two types of undertakings stand out conspicuously as coming close to 

 the heart of labor and trying to correct abuses. They are trade union- 

 ism and employer's welfare work. A consideration of these two agencies, 

 in so far as they affect wage-earning women, forms the subject-matter 

 of this discussion. The two agencies represent distinct, even antagonistic 

 methods, and in fact are usually mutually exclusive. 



For about half a centur}', the trade organizations have been striving, 

 by fair means and foul, to get a voice in the conduct of the businesses in 

 which they work, for the purpose of improving their own condition. 

 The end for which they have striven is laudable. They have been call- 

 ing for sanitary workshops and living wages; for shorter hours and 

 more certainty of employment ; and all the time emphasizing their right 

 to be heard. This movement is especially deserving of notice because it 

 is a movement by the wage workers, for the wage workers — those who 

 are admitted to need help striving to help themselves. This, in theory 

 at least, is the most hopeful of all undertakings, and it is the spirit 

 that should be fostered. The working people have set up for themselves 

 a definite standard of living, which they desire to reach, when they 

 organize together in their trades. 



Whatever may be said about methods sometimes employed by the 

 trade organizations, it must be admitted that their theory of industrial 

 betterment is rational. They stand for the uplift of labor, and theirs 

 is a herculean task. They are attempting to push themselves up against 

 forces apparently conspiring to keep them down. This opposition has 

 lent a strength and militant vigor to their purpose. They hold up to 

 themselves the definite ideal of self-improvement, and the tenacity 

 with which they cling to this ideal shows the faith they have in it. A 

 more comfortable working class is their hope. They pursue their pur- 

 pose oftentimes with set teeth and clenched fists, and their zeal is an 

 inspiration in itself. They have a goal, and with steadfast purpose they 

 are striving to reach it. 



Industrial betterment of this kind tends to produce a virile body of 

 citizens, and the test of any ameliorative work must, in the last analy- 

 sis, be the effectiveness of the citizens it develops. This method of im- 

 proving conditions is only beginning to seize the imagination of women ; 

 its possibilities are only beginning to be realized, and by representative 

 bodies of women fully as much as by wage earners themselves. The 

 great majority have been slow to avail themselves of the benefits arising 

 from organization. Many of the workers feel that their stay in the 

 industrial world is temporary, and they are either indifferent to the 

 conditions under which they must work for a time, or they are un- 

 willing to subject themselves to what they frequently regard as the 

 tyranny of leaders, preferring rather to endure low wages and bad 



