Board of Arbitration and the Trade Board of Hart, Schaffner & Marx, the Chicago Industrial Federation of Clothing Manufacturers, United Garment Workers and the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America

In 1910 the clothing industry was made up of many small tailor shops, the Chicago Wholesale Clothiers Association (an organization of large firms) and Hart, Schaffner and Marx, the one big firm which refused to join the Association. As competition forced the smaller shops out of independent existence, many of them turned to contract work for the larger shops. Finally, Hart, Schaffner and Marx withdrew all their work from the contractors and opened inside shops, employing over 8,000 workers.

This was the signal for both groups to try to reduce their labor costs and the worker was caught in the middle. Almost without exception they were recent immigrants from several European nations who had learned their trade at home and had no other skill. They were without a common language, unable to speak English and had no knowledge of industrial conditions in America. Few of them were organized in a trade union, the work was seasonal in character and an abundant supply of labor was available so that the worker's earnings were low and his hours excessive.

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