U.S. Labor and Work

Reporter's Account of Lynn, Massachusetts, Women's Mass Meeting--Great Shoemaker's Strike, 1860

... About noon, the procession from Lynn, consisting of about 3,500 men, preceded by a brass band, entered the village green, escorted by 500 Marbleheaders [people from Marblehead?--MF]. The sight from the hotel steps was a very interesting one. Four thousand men, without work, poor, depending partially upon the charities of their neighbors and partially upon the generosity of the tradesmen of their town, giving up a certainty for an uncertainty, and involving in trouble with themselves many hundreds of women and children, while to a certain extent the wheels of trade are completely blocked, and no immediate prospect of relief appears. Their banners flaunted bravely. Their inscriptions of 'Down with tyranny,' 'We are not slaves,' 'No sympathy with the rich,' 'Our bosses grind us,' 'We work and they ride,' 'No foreign police,'and many others of like import, read very well and look very pretty, but they don't buy dinners or clothing, or keep the men at work or the women at home about their business. By this strike $25,000 weekly is kept from circulation in Lynn alone, and who can say what the effect will be on the storekeepers, dealers in articles of home consumption, if such a state of drainage is kept up for any great length of time? ..."

"The most interesting part of the whole movement took place last evening, and will be continued tonight. I refer to the mass meeting of the binders and stitchers held by the female strikers at Liberty Hall. . . ."

"There are two classes of workers-those who work in the shops and those who work at home--the former use the machines and materials of the bosses, while the latter work on their own machines, or work by hand, furnishing their own materials. It is evident that the latter should receive higher pay than the former, and the report not having considered this fact, was subjected to severe handling. The discussion which followed was rich beyond description-the jealousies, piques and cliques of the various circles being apparent as it proceeded. One opposed the adoption of the report because, 'the prices set were so high that the bosses wouldn't pay them.' Cries of 'Put her out,' 'Shut up,' 'Scabby,' and 'Shame' arose on all sides; but, while the reporters were alarmed, the lady took it all in good part, and made up faces at the crowd. The Chairman stated that, hereafter, Pickleeomoonia boots were to be made for three cents a pair less, which announcement was received with expressions of dismay, whereupon he corrected himself, and said they were to be three cents higher; and this announcement drew forth shouts and screams of applause. 'There, didn't I say so?' said an old lady behind me. 'You shut up,' was the response of her neighbor; 'you think because you've got a couple of machines you're some; but you ain't no more than anybody else.' At this point some men peeped in at the window-'Scat, scat, and put 'em out,' soon drove them away, and the meeting went into a Committee of the Whole, and had a grand chabbering for five minutes. Two ladies, one representing the machine interest, and the other the shop girls, became very much excited, and were devoting themselves to an expose of each other's habits, when the Chairman, with the perspiration starting from every pore, said in a loud and authoritative tone of voice: 'Ladies! took at me; stop this wranglin'. Do you care for your noble cause? Are you descendants of old Molly Stark or not? Did you ever hear of the spirit of '76? [Yes, yes,

we've got it.] Well, then, do behave yourselves. There ain't nobody nowhere who will aid you if you don't show 'em that you're regular built Moll Starks over agin." [Cheers, clappings, &c.] . . .

"A proposition to march in the [wider strike] procession was the next topic which drew forth discussion. Some thought that proper minded women would better stay at home than be gadding about the streets following banners and music. To this there was some assent, but when a younger girl asked the last speaker what she meant by talking that way, when everybody in Lynn knew that she had been tagging around on the sidewalk after the men's processions the last week . . . ."

"Some of the statements were quite interesting. A Mrs. Miller said that she hired a machine on which she was able to make $6 per week-out of that she paid-for the machine, $1; for the materials, $1.50; for her board, $2; for bastings, $1;-making $5.50 in all, which left her a clear profit of only fifty cents a week. One of the bosses says, however, that if a woman is at all smart she can make $10 per week with her machine, which would be clear $3, sure. In fact, from remarks which were dropped around I judge that Mrs. Miller's estimate is rather low. The leading spirit of the meeting, Miss Clara Brown, a very bright, pretty girl, said that she called at a shop that day and found a friend of hers hard at work on a lot of linings. She asked what she was getting for them, and was told eight cents for sixty. 'Girls of Lynn,' said Clara, 'Girls of Lynn, do you hear that and will you stand it? Never, Never, NEVER. Strike, then-strike at once; demand 8 1/2 cents for your work when the binding isn't closed and you'll get it. Don't let them make niggers of you; [Shame, there are colored persons here.] I meant Southern niggers:-keep still; don't work your machines; let 'em lie still till we get all we ask, and then go at it, as did our Mothers in the Revolution.'"

"This speech was a good one; it seemed to suit all parties, and they proposed to adjourn to Tuesday night, when they would have speeches and be more orderly. Canvassing Committees were appointed to look up female strikers and to report female 'scabs.' And with a vote of thanks to the Chairman, the meeting adjourned to meet in Lyceum Hall. . . ."