STRIKE OF WORKGIRLS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 675, 27 November 1909, Page 5

STRIKE OF WORKGIRLS.

IN 'NEW YORK, (fiy Telegraph,—Press Association.—Copyright.) i ■>'■■■. . ' Now York, November 25. In response to tho exhortatims of . Mr. Samuel.Gompors, president of tho American...Fed-, eration of Labour, twenty thousand, workigirls and. blouse makers' of Now York struok for'shorter hour 6 and higher .. wages. Tho employers made concessions. '' l :y '/.A !•/''■ NEW YORK'S; CLOTHING INDUSTRY. It is estimated that in .thirty years' time ,the population .of New York ,City, at the pre'sent: rati) of increase,'will exceed' that of London. This is, possible because of • tho • rapid mirth. in the oity and; its: neighbourhood of important industries, which are able to absorb a large proportion of the Jewish and Italian immigrants ;that: enter the' United . States by way of New York., • The congested East Sido, with its . population of 800,000 _Jews .and' .perhaps an equal number of, Italians, is almost entirely engaged in l the making-up of_ woollen and cotton goods, and supplies one-half of tho whole country.;. The .dry goods . district "covers an area rff, from three; to four square miles, in-, eluding; Broadway from City Hall Park to 34th Street..:;' '■■■. '= :.V

■ Tho 'strike 'would::affect' / only., tho . workers in the 'cheaper lines ', of manufacture—those who:work from Bra.mi'tiH 6 p.m., at a rato of pay averaging from, three, to seven dollars jier week. The. woollen . trade in New York (Sty has passed ,from .Jewish, to■ Italian control—a fact. that is', frequently, cited, m•: evidence- of Italian thrift and industry,-and as an' argument in their favour as immigrants. Several of the larger dry goods stores'employ from favo thousand to eignt thousand women and girls, and meet only local while. eaoh of the huge warehouses, of which there is a very large number in the city, .employs hundreds of travellers, who cover every inch'of United States and Canadian, territory.