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committee rejected, and I ask you to rule with the
majority of the committee and reject this amendment.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Bothe.
DELEGATE BOTHE: I yield two minutes to
Delegate Kosakowski*
DELEGATE KOSAKOWSKI: Mr. Chairman, fellow
delegates? about 40 years ago there was a terrible fire
in New York City at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. The
owner of the factory had not provided adequate fire es-
capes. Many of the employees, mainly women, who had
recently come to this country from Europe, were trapped
in the upper floors where they had to work 12 to 16 hours
a day for pitifully low wages.
This tragedy pointed out to the nation the
need of the working man and woman to have something to
say about their wages, their hours of work, and the con-
i ditions under which they worked.
The Triangle fire was a major factor leading
to the enactment by Congress in 1935 of the Wagner Act.
The Wagner Act was the Magna Carta of labor, tha
established as national policy the right of workers in |