ABSTRACT
In the early nineties nothing in the experience or education of young people not in labor circles prepared them to understand the movement among working people for labor organization. The girls had real grievances, for which they blamed their forewoman. Among women, the more or less ephemeral character of much of their work, their frequent change of occupation, and marriage, all operate against permanency. Frequent and prolonged conferences at the settlement with Minnie and Lottie, her equally intelligent companion, and with many others, inevitably led to some action on an part; and long anticipating the Women’s Trades Union League, the people took the initiative in organizing a union at the time of a strike in the cloak trade. The imagination of New Yorkers has been fired from time to time by young working women who have had no little influence in helping to rouse public interest in labor conditions.
