As to the numbers of women trade unionists, we have very imperfect statistics upon which to base any finding.  If the statistics kept by the Labor Bureau of the state of New York can be taken as typical of conditions in other parts of the country, and they probably can, the proportion of women unionists has not at all kept pace with the increasing numbers of men organized.  In 1894 there were in that state 149,709 men trade unionists, and 7,488 women.  In 1902 both had about doubled their numbers—­these read:  men, 313,592; women, 15,509.  By 1908, however, while there were then of men, 363,761, the women had diminished to 10,698.  Since then, we have to note a marked change, beginning with 1910, and continuing ever since.  In 1913 the unionized men reached 568,726, and the women 78,522.  The increase of men in the organized trades of the state during the twelvemonth preceding September 30, 1913, was twenty per cent., while of women it was one hundred and eleven per cent.  This enormous increase, more than doubling the entire union strength among women, is mainly due to the successful organization in the garment trades in New York City.

So far there has been no adequate investigation covering the activities of women in the labor world during the last or modern period.  We know that after the panic of 1893, which dealt a blow to trade unionism among men, the movement among women was almost at a standstill.  We may feel that the international unions have failed to see the light, and have mostly fallen far short of what they might have done in promoting the organization of women workers; but we must acknowledge with thankfulness the fact that they have at least kept alive the tradition of trade unionism among women, and have thus prepared the way for the education and the organization of the women workers by the women workers themselves.

As to legislation, the steady improvement brought about through the limitation of hours, through modern sanitary regulations, and through child-labor laws, has all along been supported by a handful of trade-union women, working especially through the national organizations, in which, as members, they made their influence felt.

There were always brave souls among the women, and chivalrous souls, here and there among the men, and the struggles made to form and keep alive tiny local unions we shall probably never know, for no complete records exist.  The only way in which the ground can be even partially covered is by a series of studies in each locality, such as the one made by Miss Lillian Matthews, through her work in San Francisco.

In this connection it must be remembered that those uprisings among women of the last century, were after all local and limited in their effects and range.  Most of them bore no relation to national organization of even the trade involved, still less to an all-embracing, national labor organization, such as the American Federation of Labor.  In these earlier stages, when organization of both men and women was mainly local, women’s influence, when felt at all, was felt strongly within the locality affected, and it is therefore only there that we hear about it.