396 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
work at a profit, and they know that as soon as they refuse to give rebates much of their trade will go elsewhere. Thus it is evident that there is an outside and an inside force at work to compel the masters to live up to the rules of their own organiza- tion or disband.
After long discussion and debate the masters agreed in com- mittee to recommend as a basis of agreement and compromise to settle the strike upon the following terms: The hours of labor should be ten every day but Saturday. The shops should close at I P. M. on Saturdays during the months of June, July, August, and September, and at 4 p. M. on Saturday the rest of the year. The men were to receive only pro rata pay for overtime for the first hour, and fifty cents for every additional hour or fraction thereof. No overtime work would be asked of the men except during "sharpening." The holiday demanded by the journey- men would be granted, provided that hereafter the journeymen would choose for their outing the same day as the one provided for the masters in the constitution of their association, in order that the shops would not have to be closed on two different days. This report of the committee was unanimously agreed upon by the masters in meeting. And the committee was instructed to appear before the assembled journeymen and pre- sent their recommendations as agreed upon. The committee appeared before the journeymen the next day, and, after pre- senting arguments in its favor, the recommendation was read and the committee retired.
In a few minutes the journeymen reported to them through a committee of five that the recommendations of the masters had been considered in detail and rejected in toto. The nine-hour day was the chief thing that the journeymen were determined to win. The committee of the masters, having power to act, pro- posed further concessions, which amounted to conceding all of the demands of the journeymen, but deferring the time when they should go into operation. They argued that their patrons would suffer much inconvenience unless sufficient time was given to acquaint them of the new schedule. Accordingly they agreed to settle the strike on the following basis: That the hours of
