It was enough for a cloak-maker to ask me for a
job with the Antomir accent to be favorably recommended to one
of my foremen. A number of the men who received special
consideration and were kept working in my shop in the slack
seasons, when my force was greatly reduced, were
fellow-townspeople of mine. This had been going on for several
years, in fact, till gradually an Antomir atmosphere had been
established in my shop, and something like a family spirit of
which I was proud. We had formed a Levinsky Antomir Benefit
Society of which I was an honorary member and which was made
up, for the most part, of my own employees
All this, I confess, was not without advantage to my business
interests, for it afforded me a low average of wages and
safeguarded my shop against labor troubles. The Cloak-makers'
Union had again come into existence, and, although it had no real
power over the men, the trade was not free from sporadic conflicts
in individual shops. My place, however, was absolutely immune
from difficulties of this sort--all because of the Levinsky Antomir
Benefit Society
If one of my operatives happened to have a relative in Antomir, a
women's tailor who wished to emigrate to America, I would
advance him the passage money, with the understanding that he
was to work off the loan in my employ.
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