conditions imposed upon women, who were now entering the wage-earning
occupations in considerable numbers. He assisted the sewing-women of
all branches to form what was practically a city federation of women's
unions, the first of its kind. One committee was authorized to send to
the Secretary of War a protest against the disgracefully low prices
paid for army clothing. Matthew Carey was also held responsible,
rightly or wrongly, for an uprising in the book-binding establishments
of New York.

All this agitation among workers and the general public was having
some effect upon the ethical standards of employers, for a meeting of
master book-binders of New York disowned those of their number
who paid "less than $3 a week." An occasional word of support and
sympathy, too, filters through the daily press. The _Commercial
Bulletin_ severely criticized the rates the Secretary of War was
paying for his army clothing orders, while the _Public Ledger_ of
Philadelphia, speaking of a strike among the women umbrella sewers
of New York, commented thus: "In this case we decidedly approve the
turn-out. Turning out, if peaceably conducted, is perfectly legal, and
often necessary, especially among female laborers."

The next year we again find Matthew Carey helping the oppressed
women. This time it is with a letter and money to support the ladies'
Association of Shoe Binders and Corders of Philadelphia, then on
strike. Shoe-binding was a home industry, existing in many of the
towns, and open to all the abuses of home-work.

Lynn, Massachusetts, was then and for long after the center of
the shoe trade, and the scene of some of the earliest attempts of
home-workers to organize.