P R E F A C

 The Ladies Handbag Industry was founded in this country some fifty
years ago Pnd entirely mo.nrned. by imported craftsmen. It continued for
many years as a craft trade and only of quite recent years had it evolved
into one of mass production with an increasingly large use of machinery,

 Prosperous for years, alr:ost beyond belief, net returns to owners
very large, workraen or craftsmen earring $150 $200 and in many cases
$300 weekly it is not difficult to understand the mental condition that
came into leing, when machinery case u,.cn the horizon, mass production
threatened, labor became restive, and finally the depression arriving
with its consequent loss of profits0 To all of these factors can be
ascribed the unrest that existed when I.I.R,A. was placed upon the statute
books, but notwithstanding the disagreeing view points all had a belief
that a Code was necessary, and would prove as it later did, of great
benefit.

 Reviewing the eighteen months I spent with the Ladies Handbag In-
dustry and its Code Authority as its Administration Member, looking back
over the other industries, some ten in number, to which I was accredited,
I realize today the outstanding quality of the work done by the Handbag
Group.

 Perhaps other industries gathered more complete data, such for in-
stance millinery and L!en's Hats, but none better welded together con-
flicting interests, none accomplished more in finding the common ground
upon which to stand then did this sorely beset handbag Group.

 Beginning with the days immediately preceding the enactment of the
I.I.R.A. hearts and minds of industry were filled with malice, hatred, and
all uncharitable-ess. This st-,.te of mind. continued throughout the code
negotiation period rnd did not .isqppear until some three months after the
code went into operation, and the last months of the Code era found man-
ufacturers more cohesive, more thoughtful in their relations with each
other, more inclined to look at their problems from the view point of in-
dustry at large.

 I would not have it believed that the millennium arrived but certain
it is a degree of intelligence was injected into what had been a purely
selfish outlook and all bade fair to profit accordingly.

 In those l-st days one eould feel in the air the different atmosphere
that pervaded deliberations, one trade organization had come into being
instead of several who hitherto had been at each others throats, and from
what I was told by a number of manufacturers the industry at the end of its
first code year was able to show at least some financial statements in
black ink, the first in several years,

 Close study has been made of records in our files as well as those of
the code authority in New York. Many things stated are of necessity based
upon my own recollections, but checked with officials of the late code
authority, and I believe the following chapters represent a fairly com-
prehensive history of this code.


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