one or the other half of his audience would rise and leave. With low wages,
of course, the workers could not get a perspective on their battle. They
were prisoners in Belfast. They never had money enough even for the
two-hour trip to Dublin. Rail rates are high. Excursions almost unknown.
Then came the war. At that time wages were:

"Spinners and preparers, $3.00 a week.

"Weavers and winders, $3.08 a week.

"General laborers, $4.00 a week.

"But how much did it cost to feed a family of five? Seven dollars a week.
The workers had to get the difference. They couldn't without organization.
With hunger at their heels, they forgot prejudices. Catholics began to go
to meetings in Orange halls. Protestants attended similar meetings in
Hibernian assembly rooms; at a small town near Belfast there was a recent
labor procession in which one-half of the band was Orange and the other
half Hibernian, and yet there was perfect harmony. Other unions than ours
were at work. For instance, the Irish Transport and General Workers' union
began to gather men under the motto chosen from one of Thomas Davis' songs:

"Then let the orange lily be a badge, my patriot brother,
The orange for you, the green for me, and each for one another.'

"What happened? Take our union for example. From 400 in 1914, the
membership mounted to 40,000 in 1919--that is the number represented today
in the Irish Textile Federation. With the growth in strength the federation
made out its cost-of-living budget, and presented its case to the Linen
Trade Employers. At last the federation succeeded in obtaining this rate: