90

machinery, most directly subordinated to the rhythms of the production processes,
most denuded of control over their own immediate labor. They were the direct
human instruments of production in Baltimore's industry. Many would be
considered "semi-skilled," others were basically machine tenders, still others were
involved with sweated hand labor. Reflecting the diversity of Baltimore's
industrialization, operatives were engaged in many kinds of industry. The garment
industry — principally men's clothing — contained the largest number of operatives,
with 29.1% of the total; although there were large shops in this industry, its work
processes tended to be less mechanized and more labor intensive than most.
Moreover, this industry was in relative decline, with Baltimore's ranking as a center
for clothing production falling from the third to fifth during the 1920s. ™ Iron,
steel, and metal production and fabrication contained the second largest number of
operatives, with 19.2% of the total. In contrast to garments, these industries tended
to be more capital intensive, more highly mechanized, and a key growth sector of
the economy. But whether in capital intensive or labor intensive industry,
manufacturing operatives were an increasingly weighty stratum of the Baltimore
working class, and while only spottily organized, they represented the greatest
potential constituency for the labor movement.11

Those classified as laborers in the manufacturing sector, and throughout the
various sectors of the economy for that matter, were a classically unskilled stratum.
While there was variation in their work process and status, their essential job was to
do the brute-force work ancillary to the production process; they moved the raw
materials to the production site, dug the ditches, stacked the boxes, loaded the
products. They were, in prestige and income, among the most marginalized of
workers. At 22.9% of the manufacturing workforce, they were significant in
number, and they were concentrated in highly contrasting locations. Approximately
40.3% of manufacturing laborers worked in iron, steel, and metal industries, some