With the organization of the “=Knights of Labor=” in 1869, and the “=American Federation of Labor=” the position of woman in the American labor movement became more firmly established, as both federations made it one of their principal objects “to secure for both sexes equal pay for equal work.” They also appointed special committees to investigate the conditions of working women, and to organize them for concerted action. Other potent factors arising in this line were the “=National Consumers’ League=” and the “=Women’s Trade Union League=.” The founding of the first federation was due to efforts to better the conditions of women in department stores. In 1890 a group of saleswomen of New York City pointed to the fact that girls in fashionable department stores were receiving wages too low to allow them a decent living. They also complained that these girls were forced to stand from ten to fourteen hours a day, and that sanitary conditions in the cloak and lunch rooms were such as to endanger health and life. While the plan of these saleswomen, to unite all women clerks of the city into a labor union, failed, their complaints, however, attracted the attention of a number of influential ladies interested in philanthropic efforts. They investigated the charges against the department stores, and what they discovered made them resolve that conditions demanded radical changes. In May, 1890, they called a mass meeting of prominent women and proposed a constructive plan for raising the standard in shop conditions, not by =blacklisting= any firm guilty of bad conduct, but by =white-listing= those firms which treated their employees humanely. “We can make and publish,” so the presiding lady said, “a list of all the shops where employees receive fair treatment, and we can agree to patronize only those shops. By acting openly, and publishing our White List we shall be able to create an immense public opinion in favor of just employers.” In other words, it was by the spirit of praise rather than condemnation that these ladies sought to stimulate stores to raise their standards. Adopting the name “=Consumers’ League of New York=,” the society organized on January 1, 1891, and published its first White List. It was a disappointingly small one, as it contained the names of only eight firms. Still more disappointing was the indifference of the many hundred other firms toward this reform movement. But soon enough these firms found that the League had also introduced into the New York Assembly a bill which became known as the “Mercantile Employers Bill.” It aimed to regulate the employment of women and children in all mercantile establishments, and to place all retail stores, from the smallest to the largest, under the inspection of the State Factory Department.