The city of Chicago is once again the scene of a bitter war between labor and capital. Antagonism of this extent is not frequently seen in the United States. About forty thousand tailors of both sexes are now striking in Chicago. The outbreak of strikes is in various branches of the tailoring industry. Some of the strikes have been marked by bloodshed, but such determination and certainty of the justice of the cause, as is characteristic of the strike of tailors and girls employed in tailoring concerns, is rarely met. Something must really have bothered the employees of tailoring firms to make them resort to the final means--the strike--and to keep it up with all their strength. The thing that is most important is the fact that girls are leaders in this strike--girls, in fact, who were most exploited by their employers, and who were abused on every occasion. Not only were their earnings miserable in proportion to the standard of living in this country, but, in addition to that, they were persecuted at every opportunity by the 2foremen and "bosses". Some of these men even considered their girls as a means of satisfying their sensual desires and treated them as slaves. Girls younger than the law allowed were hired for work, and of course they were paid miserably and were overburdened with heavy and unhealthful work.

An outbreak had to come sooner or later. When a strike burst out in one firm, Hart, Schaffner and Marx, reverberations were soon heard in other firms. Masses of tailors poured out upon the streets because exploitation and immoral conditions of work existed everywhere. It was shown here, however, that the fight of labor with capital is not conducted on equal basis: the employees have moral justice on their side, but the employers are protected by the police, the courts, and the money paid hirelings to safeguard their interests. During the first of this war, tens if not hundreds of striking tailors and girl employees were clubbed by the police. The courts will undoubtedly mete out a fine against the "guilty strikers" for "disturbing the peace". The employers, on the other hand, looked through windows behind 3expensive drapes and rubbed their hands in contentment at the thought that their workers were being abused by the police and packed into jails....

What is worse, it was shown in this strike, as it has been shown in all others, that the goal of solidarity of the laboring masses is still far off and that the worst enemy of organized labor is...the unenlightened laborer himself. At times abusive words and even revolver bullets served as a reply to strikers who were calling upon their fellow workers to cease working for the time being, so that the victory of labor might be greater and more definite. Working women who had been abused in the same manner, but who did not want to strike, ridiculed their striking sisters and cast aspersions upon them. How could organized workers hope for victory in the face of such conditions and such a lack of solidarity of the laboring masses? If numerous groups of strikebreakers had not appeared to take the place of the striking workers, violence would have been unnecessary. The police could not have shown off their brutality and would have been unable to pack the despairing strikers into 4jails. The battle would soon have been won. The employers would have been compelled to lose the economic war if they had not been assisted by the strikebreakers, because they would have had no pretext to summon the police or appeal to the courts against the strikers. Then the strikers, by sitting peacefully at home, without as much as even coming out on the street, would have been victorious.

Capital is adequately organized and prepared to conduct a war with labor. It stands behind the protective walls of gold, militia, police, and courts. Besides, it has the advantage of combination, whether open or secret. If one firm is occupied with a strike and is conducting a war against organized labor, the capitalist of another firm comes to its aid because he knows that, if this particular factory loses, the cause of other firms will be lost. An occurrence of that type would spell defeat to capital. The employees should adhere to such tactics. If they were organized as strongly as capital is at present, there would be no power strong enough to defeat them.

The violent acts of smashing windows in factories, destroying buildings or tools, and fighting in the streets with strikebreakers and with police--these are not the kinds of fighting that assure victory, sad experience and facts teach one that in localities where such disturbances are most numerous the workers gain least. The disturbances usually end with strikers wounded and many of the more impetuous and fiery of them in prison. In addition to that, the opinion of the general public, which was at first sympathetic to the strikers' cause, is turned against them, and thus capital triumphs. The goal is not attained and there is very little profit for the workers.

It is necessary to have a strong labor organization to counteract powerful and well-organized capital. The leaders of labor, instead of inciting the strikers to violence and riots, would do better if they dedicated their time to enlightening the people and organizing them into one great and powerful body, which could actually face capital on an equal basis. There is strength in labor, it can be victorious; but this strength must be used 6wisely, so that victory can be assured these knights of labor--victory without harm to the innocent.

The working people should be taught, not at a time when they come out on strike unprepared, but before--when they are working and have more peaceful times. A laborer, not being protected by police, courts, or money, must resort to organizing the labor vote in elections so that his friends, not his enemies, will be selected for public offices.

In any event, the tailors' strike in Chicago will bring about certain benefits to the working class: it will point out their shortcomings to them and encourage labor to organize more firmly against organized capital.