Bulletin of the Department of Labor, Vol. 8

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Excerpt from Bulletin of the Department of Labor, Vol. 8: January, 1897While a history of the boot and shoe industry would be replete with forcible illustrations of the causes which give rise to the demand for peaceable methods of settling disputes, as well as the Obstacles which tend to make it difficult to satisfy both sides, there is, nevertheless, no reliable record Of such matters prior to 1860. On February 22 of that year the shoe workers in Lynn, Mass, engaged in one of the most memorable strikes in the history of the industry. The questions at issue could have been easily adjusted by arbitration, but the applica tion of this principle to the settlement of labor troubles was little thought of in those days. It remained for the period following the late war to witness the completion of the transition which had been going on in the industry and which finally led to a more intelligent consideration Of trade matters. It was about 1868 that the old hand method of production and the Old-fashioned 14 by 12 shoemakers' shops were forced to give way to the improved machine and the modern fac tory system, and the hitherto independent shoemaker became gradually transformed into a machine operator or feeder. Under the Old system he was practically his own master, his tools and his workshop were his own, and he could work or play at his pleasure. But under the new order of things he took another man for his master, he owned neither tools nor workshop, and his freedom to play was curtailed.With the factory system came great subdivision Of labor. By the Old method Of manufacture one man performed all or a greater portion Of the work, but under the new order his efi'orts were restricted to the accomplishment of a single part. With the division of labor came the need for grading the work and regulating the price that was to be paid for doing it. As might be supposed, this proved to be a difficult task. The manufacturers desired to Obtain whatever benefits there were to be derived from the introduction of improved machinery, but the work men were not at all anxious to encourage them in their efforts. The inability Of the latter to Obtain what they considered to be their just dues in this respect finally led to the formation of the organization known as the Knights of St. Crispin.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.