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was overwhelming that people went to that door knowing there was a stairway there - there was a sign, “Exit” over it - and they couldn't get into the stairway because the door to it was locked. The proprietor had the key in his office. In the panic he couldn't find it. One of the mysteries always was, “How did the proprietor and his brother get out?” They did. They got out. They were there all right. They were on the top floor. If he got out by the elevators, as he presumably did, he got to the elevators and forgot about getting out the key to unlock the door. The door was not unlocked. Loft buildings always kept the doors locked in those days. It's now against the law and is a very serious infringement of the law, but it wasn't then.

There were numerous reasons in the employers' minds for keeping the door locked. First of them was the fact that there was a great deal of theft, both from the outside - persons coming up the stairs, sneaking in, picking up valuable things and going out - and the inside. It was the same reason you'd keep your apartment door locked - to prevent people from coming in. With the human race being what it is, there were always a number of employees also who walked off with materials that were valuable and had a sale value if the door was open. The last time that I made a factory inspection myself in New York I found locked doors that I reported.