made between the packers and the unions, fixing wages and conditions of employment. The strike of 1904 grew out of the inability of the packers and the unions to reach an understanding satisfactory to both parties relative to such an agreement. It appears that in the month of May, 1904, the agreements for the previous year having expired, the unions asked for a new agreement covering all the employees and fixing the minimum compensation for unskilled labor at 20 cents an hour. This demand was later reduced to 18 cents an hour. The employers, who had before assented to such a minimum for the unskilled laborers in certain departments, refused to allow it to apply to the laborers of all departments. During the months of May and June a reduction of 1 or 2 cents an hour was made in the pay of unskilled laborers.

After the failure of several attempts to reach an understanding, the strike began on July 12, 1904, nearly all the employees going out at noon on that day. Notwithstanding the great shortage of labor that resulted, the packing houses continued in operation, the work being done by foremen and by strike-breakers.

During the week following the 12th negotiations were carried on between the labor leaders and representatives of the packers, and an agreement was finally reached for the submittal of all differences to arbitration.

By the terms of this agreement the strikers were to return to work at once and the packers were to employ them as rapidly as possible. On July 22 the men reported at the packing houses as usual to go to work, only to be again called out an hour or two later, the charge being made by the labor leaders that the packers had been guilty of unfair discrimination in reemploying the workmen. After this second walk out the employers refused to carry on further negotiations with the labor organizations and continued to operate their plants with such nonunion labor as they could secure. In Chicago, at least, the strikers of all races appear to have been true to their unions. It is stated that the packers made a special effort through appeals to the Polish women to induce the men of this race to return to their work; but this attempt to split the forces of the strikers along racial lines was not attended with success. The many Bohemians employed in the industry held out, with the Irish, Germans, and other workmen, as long as the strike continued. Of the men employed as strikebreakers the great majority appear to have been negroes and recent immigrants. The negroes were probably the most important element numerically. Of the foreign-born workers a large proportion were Italians and Greeks.

The employment of Greeks as strike-breakers supplied the occasion for a boycott, by the labor forces and their allies, of the Greek merchants who, to the number of about three hundred, had at the time established themselves in business, chiefly as fruit and candy dealers, in and about Chicago. These merchants, suffering severely from the boycott, sought, through the Greek consul and their priests, to dissuade their countrymen from working in opposition to the strikers. Efforts to this end were, however, unavailing, and the Greek laborers continued in the employ of the packers until the end of the strike, at which time many of them left in a body for another part

of the country. Many of the strike-breakers were brought into Chicago by the trainload or carload from other cities and in the case of the negroes, from the South. Their employment was occasionally attended by violence on the part of the union workmen and their sympathizers, but order was, in general, better preserved than at many strikes involving interests of like importance. It is stated that there were actually fewer arrests of union workmen. while the strike was on than under normal conditions of employment. After the abortive attempt at a settlement already referred to the strike dragged on for a number of weeks, the contest everywhere going against the strikers. The packers appear to have had but little difficulty in securing labor at any of the chief centers of the industry. At Kansas City the strike is reported to have caused very little trouble; and even at Chicago, where the strikers exerted all their energies and where the struggle was most severe, the issue seems hardly to have been open to doubt. During the latter part of the strike the packers were resolute in their refusal to concede or to arbitrate or even to treat with the strikers except as individuals. Finally, on the 9th of September, the labor leaders surrendered, and the men went back to work at terms dictated by the packers.

It is stated that the majority of the strike-breakers left the yards as soon as they found that they were required to equal in efficiency the former employees, and that most of the latter were soon back at work.

The strike of 1904 appears to have been ill advised and, upon the whole, poorly conducted. Had the labor leaders elected to abide by the terms of the agreement reached on July 20, and had the difficulties arising upon the 22d been submitted to arbitration as was provided for in the agreement, it seems probable that organized labor in the industry would have secured a substantial benefit. The packers, considering the second walk out in the light of a breach of faith on the part of the workers, thereafter refused to enter into agreements with the strikers, and there being at the time an excess of unemployed labor in the market, were able to carry on their business without serious difficulty. The defeat of the unions was, as has been said, complete. Since 1904, while the unions of the skilled workers of the industry have continued to exist, they have had no agreements with the principal packing houses. The body of unskilled laborers has remained, for the most part, wholly unorganized.

THE IMMIGRANT AND ORGANIZED LABOR.

The following table shows, by general nativity and race of individual, affiliation with trade unions of males 21 years of age or over, in the households studied, who are working for wages:

TABLE 61.-Affiliation with trade unions of males 21 years of age or over who are working for wages, by general nativity and race of individual.

The foregoing table is chiefly of interest in showing that a very small proportion of any class of employees are affiliated with trade unions, only 2.5 per cent of the total foreign-born, 4.3 per cent of the native-born of foreign father, and 5.1 per cent of native-born whites of native father being members of, or connected with, labor organizations. In striking contrast with this general showing, it is seen, however, that 33.3 per cent of the North Italians and 19.2 per cent of the English of foreign birth are affiliated with trade unions, these comparatively high proportions of the races mentioned being due to the fact that they are more extensively employed in the Chicago plants and are engaged there in the occupations which are still unionized.

The following table shows the per cent of males 21 years of age or over, in the households studied, who were working for wages and who were affiliated with trade unions. The exhibit is by locality and by general nativity and race of individual.

TABLE 62.-Per cent of males 21 years of age or over working for wages who are affiliated with trade unions, by locality and by general nativity and race of individual.

(STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

[This table includes only races with 20 or more males reporting in each of two or more localities. The totals, however, are for all races.]

The above table shows a very small proportion of either native or foreign-born employees to be affiliated with labor organizations, although in each locality, excepting Kansas City, a considerably smaller percentage of foreign-born, as compared with native-born, are members of trade unions. In Kansas City only 0.8 per cent of foreignborn are trade unionists but no native-born. Upon comparing the totals, it is seen that the employees in Chicago, both of native and foreign birth, are more extensively affiliated with labor organizations than in either of the other two localities. With the exception of the Germans in Kansas City, who show only 1.9 per cent of their number to be members of labor organizations, practically no interest among the employees in trade unionism is shown in that city. On the other hand, none of the Germans in South Omaha are connected with unions, while 4.8 per cent of the persons native-born of native father, 2.5 per cent of the Bohemians and Moravians, and 1.7 per cent of the Poles in that city are labor unionists.

The relation between period of residence and interest in labor unions is set forth in the following table, which shows according to years in the United States and race of individual affiliation with trade unions of foreign-born males 21 years of age or over, in the households studied, who were working for wages:

TABLE 63.-Affiliation with trade unions of foreign-born males 21 years of age or over who are working for wages, by years in the United States and race of individual.

(STUDY OF HOUSEHOLDS.)

[This table includes only races with 200 or more males reporting. The total, however, is for all foreign-born.]

Although the proportions in any case in the above table are small, yet they clearly show an increased tendency toward affiliation with labor organizations according to extension of residence in the United States, 0.9 per cent of the total with a residence of less than five years being members of trade unions, as compared with 2.7 per cent of a residence from five to nine years, and 3.2 per cent with a residence of ten years or over. In the case of Bohemians and Moravians and Croatians, however, which are the only two races reporting in sufficient numbers for the computation of percentages, a tendency in the opposite direction is shown, the proportion of each race of the longer period of residence who are affiliated with trade unions being smaller as compared with the proportion shown by those who have been in the United States less than five years.

Since the strike in 1904 in Chicago, with the exception of the teamsters' union, the large packing houses have refused to treat with organized labor. This has resulted in the majority of employees losing interest in their various organizations, which loss of interest has been accompanied with a corresponding decrease in membership. By the more conservative and better-informed members of these unions it is said that the possibility of organizing the labor of the industry as it once was is very remote. The more recent immigrants to this country are not equally distributed by races in each of the several unions that are in any way connected with the packing industry; for example, in the cattle butchers' union the Bohemians largely predominate over any other of the more recent. immigrant races, while in the hog butchers' and sheep butchers' organizations the Poles have a larger representation than the Bohemian and other races. With the exception of the two races just mentioned, the representatives of other races who are members of these unions are so