hours and wages, which were satisfactory to every one
concerned, though lower than the demands on these points listed in the
cloak makers' first letter.

Curiously enough, wages and hours had been left to arbitration, had never
been thoroughly considered in the whole situation before. Neither the
workers nor the employers had clearly stated what they really would stand
for on these vital points. No one, not even the most wildly partisan
figures on either side, supposed that the first demands as to wages and
hours represented an ultimatum. The debaters in the Marshall conference
now agreed on feasible terms on these points,[30] though, curiously
enough, the rates for piece-work were left to the arbitration of
individual shops. In spite of this fact, the majority of the workers are
paid by piece-work. The former clauses of the agreement relating to the
abolition of home work and of subcontracting remained practically as they
had stood before.[31] As for the idea of the preferential Union shop, it
had undoubtedly been gaining ground. Naturally, at first, appearing to
the _Vorwaerts'_ staff and to many ardent unionists as opposed to
unionism, it had now assumed a different aspect. This was the final
formulation of the preferential Union shop in the Marshall agreement:
"Each member of the Manufacturers' Association is to maintain a Union
shop, a 'Union shop' being understood to refer to a shop where Union
standards as to working conditions prevail, and where, when hiring help,
Union men are preferred, it being recognized that, since there are
differences of skill among those employed in the trade, employers shall
have freedom of selection between one Union man and another, and shall
not be confined to any list nor bound to follow any prescribed order
whatsoever.

"It is further understood that all existing agreements and obligations of
the employer, including those to present employees, shall be respected.
The manufacturers, however, declare their belief in the Union, and that
all who desire its benefits should share in its burdens."

As will be seen, this formulation signified that the Union men available
for a special kind of work in a factory must be sought before any other
men. The words "non-union man," the words arousing the antagonism of the
East Side, are not mentioned. But whether the preference of Union men is
or is not insisted on as strongly as in the Brandeis agreement must
remain a matter of open opinion.