Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1860-01-20
cry at the Pemberton Mills Year Ago.

S4Hery at the Pemberton Mills a Year Ago.
Acorrespondent sends the New York Herald
fes following resolutions adopted by portion
Of TIE operatives Mt the PembertOn Mills, while
on estrike about year ago, and for sympa-
tht1ng with which strike the correspondent
was discharged from a situation in the mills:
L. ReSoired, That we, the spinners Of the
frune or ring spinning on the Pemberton Mill
CUPoration, have long enough endured the
L prices for our hard labor-wages which
9 too low to live by, rs we cannot meet our
Sun for the necessities of life with such con-
temptible compensation for our labor as has
IN paid us for the past year.
2. ReSOIred, That we respectfully solicit a
pablo investigation of the facts of the case
s,d public exposure of the oppression and
0fanny, abuse and Obscenity which have been
lsrpetrated upon the female department of the
Kemberton spinning room, from time to time,
oy crInglng tools of a mOnopOlSt corporation
3 ReSolred. That such language, and such
obscene behavior, such malicious abuse as we
have endured from time to time, perpetrated
upon Us BY the menials and slave drivers in
1igh and low places, placed over Us to drive
and hunt down in our labor, from early
snOrning until late at night, is more appro-
pirate t0 the baTbarOuS or dark ages than the
enlightened age of the nineteenth century;
yeS, more appropriate to the slave drivers of
the negroes OF the South than to the tyrannical
imOnop lists of an enlightened community who
seek 10 make the condition of the white labor
rers at the North worse than that Of the slaves
.of the south.
! 8 Res0|rtd, 1t is our firm belief, that if our
veondition and grievances could be fully ex-
posed. and tho tools Of tyrants fully unmask ed
before the eye of generous public n furious
Indignation would spontaneously burst from
every candid and unprejudiced mind
=. ReSOired, That such abuses, such vile
fand oppressive means have been resorted to-
to still persist i'll crushing our every right and
sJust demand into a perfect annihilatiOn are
t"p much for brute creation to withstand
and much more for white and intelligent
community.
6- Rcsoired, That it is these wrongs, and
this vile tyrannical oppression, combined with
hIncompetency of government, and wages so low
that negro slavery is far preferable and death
Sweet rather than continued durfn nee vile
~ = RsSof'ed, That we believe generous and
sJuSt public will sympathze and investigate our
affairs and our conditions; and also after such
-investigation. every candid and unprejudiced
s1ndIvIdual, black, yes, even the deSpiSed ne
EgrocS of an abolition community, rs well as the
white Anglo Saxon, both high and low will
~render the verdict, viz: that such abuse. and
fsUch oppression and wrongs. such mean. con-
,rtemptible tyranny over us, in the shape of
ffncaklng. cringing tools to the meanest tyran-
nlral dynasty that exists in the manufacturing
world AZ large, have driven us to this revolt or
Estrlke, for our rights, and for Justice, at this
a1nclcment season of the year.
y RcyOIred, That unless a different state of
= affairs exists i'll the future, both in regard TO
wages and in the mode of government over u.s.
o. that we Will die on our strike rather than sub
init TO such heinOus and outrageous injustice
from the Pemberton tyrants
Q. RtS1fred. That in the language of not.d
tI-SlaveTy agltatOr, in regard to the perpetl-
alton of the Federal Union, that we also say
that under these circumstances that now exist
and have existed between us and our employ
ers. let the former union and the present slide
forever. before they shall any longer enslave
and abuse
10. RcSoired, That we hereby tender our
heartfelt thanks and sincere gratitude to the
members Of the Niagara Engine Company, for
their generous disposition To aid Us by opening
their hall for our benefit
u. RsSo5red, That the above resolutions are
. the unanimous sentiments of the Pemberton
rSme Spinning operatives; also, that the same
are autho lied by us to be printed in one or
more of the public presses in this CITY
LAWRENCE. Feb. II, 1859
The correspondent says: The poor slaves
werc not successful in their strike They were
'cld that If they would not submit to their
present wages and situation. the owners would
stop the whole mill, as they could not afford to
pay any more for their labor By this threat
the most OF the operatives were driven to sub
init, but n few of the most useful never return
Ell to work. and still remain alive as witnesses
"i The tyranny and abuse of the masters placed
over them. now see it stated in the papers
that this Pemberton CORPORATION has been do.
mc n very successful business the past year
hlch lncluteS the time the poor operatives
truck Tor living wages having made $50 900
for the owners"