fell on
San Francisco, the earthquake and fire. Well indeed did the members
stand the test. Like their fellow-unionists, the waitresses, they
made such good use of their trade-union solidarity, and showed such
courage, wisdom and resource, that the union became even more to the
laundry-workers than it had been before this severe trial of its
worth. Two-thirds of the steam laundries had been destroyed, likewise
the union headquarters. Yet within a week all the camps and bread
lines had been visited, and members requested to register at the
secretary's home, and called together to a meeting.

Temporary headquarters were found and opened as a relief station,
where members were supplied with clothing and shoes. Within another
week the nine laundries that had escaped the fire resumed work, the
employes going back under the old agreement.

By the time the next April came round nine of the burnt laundries were
rebuilt, all on the most modern scale as to design and fittings, and
equipped with the very newest machinery. But still there were only
eighteen steam laundries to meet all San Francisco's needs, and
therefore business was very brisk. So in April, 1907, it seemed good
to the union leaders to try for better terms when renewing their
agreement. When they made their demand for the eight-hour day as well
as for increased wages, the proprietors refused, and eleven hundred
workers went out, the entire working force of fourteen laundries. The
other four laundries, with but two hundred workers altogether, had the
old agreement signed up, and kept on working. The strike lasted eleven
weeks, and cost the union over $24,000. Meanwhile the Conciliation
Committee of the Labor Council, after many conferences and much effort
succeeded in arranging a compromise, the working week to be fifty-one
hours, with a sliding scale under which the eight-hour day would
be reached in April, 1910. Work before seven in the morning was
prohibited, all time after five o'clock was considered overtime,
and must be paid for at time-and-a-half rate. The passing of the
eight-hour law in May, 1911, suggested to some ingenious employers a
method of getting behind their own agreement, at least to the extent
of utilizing their plant to the utmost. They accordingly proposed to
free themselves from any obligation to pay overtime, as long as the
eight consecutive hours were not exceeded. The leaders of the union
saw the danger lurking under this suggestion, in