24migration

The Star article ends with Galinsky released on bail, waiting for his cohorts to be brought to trail. He was expected back in court later that month. The contents of his suit case, as recorded in the police ledger, were a tweed suit jacket, a cotton white collared shirt, black slacks, worn leather shoes, an ochre tie, with matching underwear and a book. /

Following the advice sent in their father’s letters, both of Jacob’s older brothers sought experience in needlework. The middle brother earned an apprenticeship with a tailor; the eldest, failing to secure a similar position, was tutored in the evening by his younger brother. Jacob’s father was overwhelmed with anticipation of their arrival in Toronto. The workshop was always alive with news of family members arriving; his boss approached him before his sons’ arrival, asking about their work ethic. Jacob’s two eldest brothers were recruited to work in a non-unionised garment factory outside the central business district, located in St John’s Ward. It was part of a second tier of smaller garment workshops that were entrepreneurial endeavours setup to take advantage of low rent and proximity to a cheap pool of labour. The brothers’ work in Poland opened up more skilled positions for them. They were sewing seams on ladies’ serge suits, a sub-contract order from T. Eatons Company. Even with their awareness of their father’s decade of experience inToronto, they did not question the wages or work enviroment. In the end this position turned out to hold more opportunity than that of their father’s. They were upwardly mobile. St John’s Ward had been the home of the Galinskys when Jacob and his mother first arrived, before they moved further west to Kensington Market. Jacob left school before he was 16, seeking work and a trade. He had short stints selling newspapers, as a delivery boy, roofing, sweeping the shop floor of a clock factory and many other positions. It was his brothers who introduced the possibility of entering the factory as an operator. They started him at home, sewing small personal garments, easy tasks handled on the days when he had no paid work to do. When a larger contract came to the workshop his brothers spoke to their boss. Jacob got a position as a prepress, preparing garment seams to be finished by the presser.