After the decision of the leaders, after the breaking of the conference,
the cloak makers who had settled gave fifteen per cent of their wages to
support those standing out for the closed shop, and volunteered to give
fifty per cent. The _Vorwaerts_ headed a subscription list with $2000 for
the strikers, and collected $50,000. A furore for the closed shop arose.
Young boys and bearded old men and young women came to the office and
offered half their wages, three-quarters of their wages. One boy offered
to give all his wages and sell papers for his living. Every day the
office was besieged by committees, appointed by the men and women in the
settled shops, asking to contribute to the cause more than the percentage
determined by the Union. These were men and women accustomed to enduring
hardships for a principle, men and women who had fought in Russia, who
were revolutionists, willing to make sacrifices, eager to make
sacrifices. Their blind faith was the backbone of the strike.
This furore was continuing when, in the third week in August, the loss of
contracts by the manufacturers and the general stagnation of business due
to the idleness of 40,000 men and women, normally wage-earners, induced a
number of bankers and merchants of the East Side to bring pressure for a
settlement of the strike.
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