The following table gives the distribution by trades of the women trade-unionists, together with the total membership of all unions:

NUMBER AND FEMALE MEMBERSHIP OF TRADE UNIONS WITH FEMALE MEMBERS AND NUMBER AND TOTAL MEMBERSHIP OF ALL UNIONS, BY TRADES, 1904 AND 1907.

[From Report by the Labor Department of the Board of Trade on Trade Unions in 19051907, pp. xx, lxix, 2–79.]

a In unions which admit both male and female members the exact numbers of each sex are often not known, but the numbers stated in the table are approximately correct.

A comparison of the figures for 1907 with those for 1904 reveals the greatest growth in the number of female members to have been in the textile trades, a gain of 61,031 being recorded. But it should be

remembered in this connection that there are 654,782 women in the textile industries, or 39.8 per cent of the total of female workers in all industries in the United Kingdom. (a) And on the other hand it may be noted that women trade-unionists in all the branches of the clothing trade increased by less than 2,000 between 1904 and 1907, and that the total female membership in these unions in 1907 was only 6,045, or only slightly over 1 per cent of the total number of female workers (478,509) engaged in the various grades of clothing manufacture in 1904, which is the latest year for which total figures are available (")—and this includes only those working in factories or workshops, not the outworkers who are supposed to clog organization in the clothing trades. Therefore it will be seen that the women's trade-union movement has not as yet made more than a slight appreciable headway in this branch of industry, where, according to the census of 1901, a little over 60 per cent of the employed are women.

As regards individual trades, the only group worthy of note as having shown a substantial rise in membership is that of the shop assistants' unions, whose female membership rose without a break from 327 in 1896 to 1,609 in 1901, and to 3,747 in 1904, while in 1907 it reached 5,076. The difference in totals of membership is further accounted for by a slight general increase all along the line, also by the fact of the formation of the National Federation of Women Workers and by the increase of female membership in unions of employees of public authorities from 929 in 1904 to 4,690 in 1907.

At every factory where inquiry about the disposal of the nonunion element among organized operatives was made the same answer was received: No very radical measures are taken to eliminate or convert the nonunionist, and yet the cases of disturbance or of nonunion labor in case of strikes are exceedingly rare. If organization be started in a trade, generally the majority of the workers are swept along on the wave of enthusiasm, and the others are won over gradually. In the event of a nonunion worker entering the factory after the formation of a trade union, pressure of organization both in the factory and after hours at home is brought to bear for conversion, with few instances of failure.

In one mill the refusal of the men workers to help adjust the machinery of nonunion women as they were accustomed to do for the trade-unionist sisters led several operatives to join the union, for on piecework loss of time is coincident with loss of the shilling, and the good will and the helping hand of the fellow-worker is worth more than the trade union levy. In some places there is a nonunion mill "Annual Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories and Workshops, 1907, p. 190.

in the midst of an otherwise organized trade community. The scale of pay at this nonunion mill in one place was the same as at the other mills where the women were members of mixed trade unions. 66 But," said a stanch trade-unionist," although they get the benefit of our uniform list of prices for piecework, because no employer cares to advertise that he cuts under what is accepted by the manufacturer's association for this district, those workers get fines and deductions enough practiced on them to cover the tax any union could make." How long this pacific attitude toward the nonunionist will continue is hard to tell.

A significant statement was made by the secretary of an important association which has over 100,000 members, a large proportion of whom are females. According to this official, appeals to nonunionists to join the association had met with indifferent success, and the failure of negotiations for an advance of wages was, in his opinion, traceable to the knowledge possessed by the employers that a fair proportion of their employees were outside the association. He claimed that the nonunionists had shared in the benefits obtained through the union without incurring any responsibility, and in times of difficulty had deserted the union and had even gone so far as to band themselves together to defeat the aims of their coworkers, and that it was impossible to fight with much chance of success if every three organized workers were compelled to find funds for two unorganized workers who were without funds. The conclusion had been reached, therefore, that if the nonunionists would not voluntarily share in the cost and work involved in trying to improve their condition of labor and their wages the association would have to take steps to compel them to do so.

RESULTS OF ORGANIZATION OF WOMEN WORKERS.

AID SECURED THROUGH LEGAL PROCEEDINGS.

While the weakness of numbers in women's organizations is conceded by the most optimistic of women trade-unionists, the record of the organizations along lines of benefit to the workers, not merely included in sick benefit and strike pay, is excellent. The secretary of the National Federation of Women Workers stated that after they had succeeded in organizing the operatives in a branch of the tin box manufacture, the girls would come to the meetings with hands mutilated or with evidence of minor flesh cuts, and not one of them had any idea of their claim upon the employer for compensation. Their inclusion under the British Workmen's Compensation Act had to be explained to them, and while it was beyond the time limit for

instituting proceedings in most of the cases of injuries, (") the legal department of the Women's Trade Union League took up several of the cases and, in two instances, obtained compensation for the loss of fingers, the firm preferring to settle rather than suffer the notoriety incident to lawsuits based on the disregard of the Workmen's Compensation Act in such a precarious trade as theirs.

Among the workers in certain ammunition factories, too, there was found to exist at the time of the organization of the women workers absolute ignorance of the interpretation of the compensation act, and representatives of the Women's Trade Union League have since successfully conducted legal proceedings for them when necessary.

The National Amalgamated Union of Shop Assistants, Warehousemen, and Clerks has a legal department of its own, and its effective operation demonstrates some benefits that union affiliations can bring to the woman worker.

Following is a summary of the cases dealt with by the legal department of this union as shown by the report of the union covering the year 1907:

CASES DEALT WITH BY THE LEGAL DEPARTMENT OF THE NATIONAL AMALGAMATED UNION OF SHOP ASSISTANTS, WAREHOUSEMEN, AND CLERKS, 1907.

In 1902, by parliamentary pressure and popular agitation, the Shop Assistants' Union secured the passage of the Shop Seats Act.

"Proceedings for the recovery under this act of compensation for an injury shall not be maintainable unless notice of the accident has been given as soon as practicable after the happening thereof and before the workman has voluntarily left the employment in which he was injured, and unless the claim for compensation with respect to such accident has been made within six months from the occurrence of the accident causing the injury, or, in case of death, within six months from the time of death.-British Workmen's Compensation Act, 1906, section 2.

It is estimated that by the provision of relief from constant standing on the part of sales clerks thus obtained the forms of ailment which are greatly aggravated by such work as shop assistants have to do have been lessened one-third.

In 1904 the union drew up and presented through its parliamentary representative the shop hours bill, which provided for a 72-hour maximum of weekly labor for all shop assistants. This bill also contained provisions regarding the Sunday closing of shops, the prohibition of employing children under 14 years of age, sanitary conditions, ventilation, and sanitary conveniences, and was in short designed to give to persons in shops some of the protection which existing laws had thrown about persons employed in factories and workshops.

The act, which is known as the Shop Assistants' Charter, became a law, but the hours clause has been found defective in operation, since the nature of the distributive trade is such that there is no economic advantage to the employer in opening the shop earlier than 8 a. m. or 8.30 a. m., and therefore the closing hour was pushed further and further along until without really violating the weekly limit of hours of labor the employer was keeping his shop assistants at work late into the night. The union leaders again appealed to Parliament for more stringent regulation of the closing hours for shops, and on May 1, 1907, the labor member representing them submitted the following notice in the House of Commons: "That in the opinion of this House, more drastic legislation with regard to the closing of shops and the hours of shop assistants is required;" and the home secretary, in his reply to this motion, stated that “ case had been made out for an amending bill." This bill is drawn on the same general lines as the Shop Hours Act of 1904, except for two corrective principles:

a

1. The first of these principles is the demand for a 60-hour maximum. The reasonableness of this demand is evident in a glance of comparison with the regulation of the working week under the factory acts. The period of employment for young persons and women in nontextile factories and workshops is limited by the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, to the hours between 6 a. m. and 6 p. m., or 7 a. m. and 7 p. m., or 8 a. m. and 8 p. m. In textile factories 2 hours must be allowed for meals (one of them before 3 p. m.), and work must not be carried on for more than 4 hours without an interval of one-half hour for meals. In nontextile factories and workshops 11⁄2 hours must be allowed for meals (one of them before 3 p. m.), and work must not be carried on for more than 5 hours without an interval of one-half hour for meals. In textile factories, when the period of employment begins on Saturday at 6 a. m., that period