Alert Ladies

It was not surprising that Mrs. Gifford Pinchot, wife of the Governor of Pennsylvania, was a part of the labor news last week. She made a move to end the Passaic, N. J., textile workers' strike;* despatched a letter to Col. Charles S. H. Johnson, Vice President of the Botany Worsted Mills, conspicuous on the employers' side of the deadlock, urging him to recognize the union organization.

Mrs. Pinchot is not the only wealthy woman who knows the difference between a "scab" and a striker. Last week, readers of The Christian Century were surprised to find the name of a great lady as one who had written a letter to that religious journal. The letter:

"Sir: I want to tell you how fine I think the 'Passaic' number of The Christian Century was. I had been following the strike with great interest and had read every word I could find, but I have found nothing that seemed so impartial and clarifying and truthful as your survey of the situation.

[Signed] FLORENCE LAMONT (Mrs. Thomas W.)" North Haven, Me.

Mrs. Lamont's husband is a partner of J. P. Morgan & Co., perhaps the most eminent. The Christian Century survey took up 27 pages of solid type and tended to be sympathetic with the strikers.

*Now in its 39th week. The original leader, Albert Weisbord, lean 26-year-old dynamo from Harvard Law School, retired in August when the American Federation of Labor granted a charter to the textile workers. The A. F. of L. has not yet come any nearer settling the strike than did Mr. Weisbord.