in the conference.  All these men, with the exception of their attorney, Mr. London, had cut and sewed on the benches of the garment trade.  On the other side of the table sat the ten representatives of the manufacturers, some of them men of wide culture and learning, versed in philosophies, and prominent members of the Ethical Society, some of them New York financiers who had come from East Side sweat shops.  Perhaps the most eager opponent of the closed shop in their body was a cosmopolitan young manufacturer, a linguist and “literary” man, interested in “style” from every point of view, who had introduced into the New York trade from abroad a considerable number of the cloak designs now widely worn throughout America.  This man felt the keenest personal pride in his output.  He is said at one time to have remarked, "Le cloak c’est moi" And, bizarre as it may seem to an outsider, a really sincere reason of his against accepting workmen on the recommendation of the Union was that the cloak manufacturer as an artist should adopt toward his workers “the attitude of Hammerstein to his orchestra.”  One of the manufacturers had been a strike leader in 1896.  “Your bitterest opponent of fourteen years ago sits on the same side of the table with you now,” said one of the older cloak makers, in a deep, intense voice, as the men took their places.

Mr. Brandeis opened the conference with these words:  “Gentlemen, we have come together in a matter which we must all recognize is a very serious and an important business—­not only to settle this strike, but to create a relation which will prevent similar strikes in the future.  That work is one which, it seems to me, is approached in a spirit that makes the situation a very hopeful one, and I am sure, from my conferences with counsel of both parties[27] and with individual members whom they represent, that those who are here are all here with that desire.”

Up to a certain point in the conference, which lasted for three days, this seemed to be true.  The manufacturers agreed to abolish home work, to abolish subcontracting, to give a weekly half-holiday, besides the Jewish Sabbath, during June, July, and August, and to limit overtime work to two hours and a half a day during the busy season, with no work permitted after half past eight at night, or before eight in the morning.  Beyond this, the question of hours was left to arbitration.  Also, the question of wages was left to arbitration.

The last subject to be dealt with at the Brandeis conference was the general method of enforcing agreements between the Manufacturers’ Association and the Union.  It was in this discussion that the question of the closed shop and the open shop came before the conference.