e to me through books and periodical literature or
through personal information from those possessing special expert
knowledge. No one can ever begin to repay such a debt, but such thanks
as are possible, I offer here.

The brief historical sketch of the early trade unions is based almost
entirely upon the "History of Women in Trade Unions," Volume X, of the
"Report on the Condition of Women and Child Wage-Earners in the United
States," issued by the Commissioner of Labor, then Mr. Charles P.
Neill. Dr. John B. Andrews deals with the earlier period, and he shows
how persistent have been the efforts of working-women to benefit
themselves through collective action.

"Organization," he writes, "among working-women, contrary to the
general impression, is not new. Women, from the beginning of the
trade-union movement in this country have occupied an important place
in the ranks of organized labor. For eighty years and over, women
wage-earners in America have formed trade unions and gone on strike
for shorter hours, better pay, and improved conditions. The American
labor movement had its real beginning about the year 1825. In that
year the tailoresses of New York formed a union."

The history of women in trade unions he divides into four periods: (1)
the beginnings of organization, extending from 1825 to about 1840; (2)
the development of associations interested in labor reform, including
the beginnings of legislative activity, 1840 to 1860; (3) the
sustained development of pure trade unions, and the rise of the
struggle over the suffrage, 1860 to 1880; and (4) the impress and
educative influence of the Knights of Labor, 1881 to date, and the
present development under the predominant leadership of the American
Federation of Labor.

THE TRADE UNION WOMAN

I

EARLY TRADE UNIONS AMONG WOMEN 1825-1840

The earliest factory employment to engage large numbers of women was
the cotton industry of New England, and the mill hands of that day
seem to have been entirely native-born Americans. The first power loom
was set up in Waltham, Massachusetts, in 1814, and the name of the
young woman weaver who operated it was Deborah Skinner. In 1817 there
were three power looms in Fall River, Massachusetts; the weavers were
Sallie Winters, Hannah Borden and Mary Healy.

The first form of trade-union activity among wage-earning women in the
United States was the local strike. The earliest of these of which
there is any record