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The Chinese American garment industry.

Article Excerpt
Benjamin Fee, also known as H. T. Chang, was the China-born son of a San Francisco interpreter. He immigrated to California in the early 1920s. During the 1930s he became a labor organizer on the West Coast. This piece was published in the April 10 and 11, 1935 issues of Chung Sai Yat Po. At the time Fee was working as union organizer for the ILGWU trying to organize Chinatown garment factories. He failed, but his effort was a prelude to Jennie Matyas' successful attempt two years later Fee moved to New York in the late 1930s. After World War II he became a business agent for an ILGWU local having many Chinese members.--HML

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The garment industry is the primary industry for the Chinese in San Francisco. According to city government statistics, there are 54 garment shops in Chinatown. During the peak season in spring, the number of garment workers hired is as high as 1,200. Assuming that each worker is responsible for the support of three dependents, then roughly 5,000 Chinatown residents, or close to half of Chinatown's population (11,000), rely directly or indirectly on the industry. Yet this important industry is beginning to decline, going the same way as the laundry business and agriculture. It is a problem that anyone who is concerned with the future welfare of the Chinese community cannot afford to ignore. It is for the purpose of alerting all...