, 1880-03-07

The results Of the strikes were:
uhsuccessful 'Ago
Success full. !o
Partially successful .... ......................
Result unknown.
| Still pending ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.
/, Total. 1853
| In the history Of the various strikes In
! Massachusetts that at the mills OF the Sails
bury corporation in 1852 is reported as re-
narkable because OF the slight cause, the
class Of persons engaged in it, and the Sc
| rlous results. The employees at the mills
were all Americans, all members Of families
long resident in the town. The rules Of the
| mills had never been strict. Nominally the
mills opened at S &. IN. and closed at z p. m,
with rests Of half an hour for breakfast and
one hour for dinner. It was the custom,
however, to give the operatives fifteen min
utes each halliday for lunch. This had been
the custom for thirty years. This privilege
for lunch was greatly abused: Men would
go out Of the mills In the forenoon
on private business, and frequently the
fifteen minutes absence was extended to an
hour. In April, 1854, the agent Of the mill
resigned, and new agent took charge, and
AC3 OA may 0At SAfV AOlA~O sAA%AS %AtAo AAA4AAA
time, or privilege, would be abolished, the
new rule to take effectthe next day. The next
day one hundred men left the mills at the
usual lunch-time, and, on their return, were
discharged. The village was greatly excited.
The whole population had grown up with
the mills, and they all sided with the opera
tives Public meetings were held and speeches
| made. 4 committee was appointed to ask of
the Directors restoration Of the luncheon
privilege The Directors refused to inter-
fere. The female operatives struck work.
The poet Whittier, who then resided near
the mills, prepared the series OF resolu-
t1ons which were adopted demonstrating
against the sudden abolition Of a
ti'ne-honored privilege. The corporation,
however, refused to yield To add to the
excitement the flannel mills at Amesbury, n
neighboring village, aE this time also abol-
ished the luncheon privilege. The original
trivial disagreement rapidly grew into open
war between the villagers and the mill-own-
ers. The mills after while resumed work
with foreign help. The opposition so serious
ly interfered with their business that for
many years they suffered financial embarrass-
ments. Finally, not one person Of the orig
inal native population was connected with
the mills; they had all removed elsewhere to
obtain work, and the industrial population of
the town was wholly changed.
This report contains "a history Of the
famous struggle of thu "Crispins for the
mastery and control OF the shoe manufact-
ures OF the State, and also Of the several
serious strikes at the textile mills at Fall
River. From the review of the entire fifty
years. history of strikes, the first and most
Obvious conclusion is, that Strikes generally
prove powerless to benefit the condition Of
the wage-class." The strikes have been so
uniformly unsuccessful that the strikers
have been left sin exactly the same posi-
ton, SO far as concerned the point at issue,
that they occupied at the beginning" This
result is about the same as in England. An
other result stated is, that " Strikes tend to de-
prive the strikers Of work." The strikes Of
the Crispin organization caused the manu-
facturers to remove their business to other
towns, and some to leave the State. The
strike at North Adams in 1871 directly
caused the introduction Of Chinese labor, to
the permanent displacement OF white work
nen. Another result has been the gradual
substitution Of other methods for mule-spin~
ming in cotton factories. Mr.. Wright ex-
plains this by saying:
holds the key to the situation. If successful. he
often has It IN his power to stop the mill And
It ts noticeable that the chief strikes In the text
lie trades have arisen among the spinnerS But
the mule is gradually disappearing, the number
in our largest factories being 43 per cent less
than In 1884,
To this may be added the successful inven-
ton known as the "Clements Attachment"
"A simple machine which takes the cotton in
the seed, gins it, and spins it into slivers, and
even into yarn, and does this on the cotton-
field. The manufacturers can hereafter, OBJ
tain their cotton in the shape IF yarn at a
cost but little exceeding the cost OF baled
cotton, thus enabling them to dispense with
spinning altogether.
Another conclusion drawn from this his
tory Of the strikes is, that they "lead to i'm
providence and are demoralizing in their
effect upon the workingman." In the varf-
GUS Fall River strikes the enormous sum of
81, ,4oo, 900 in wages was voluntarily forfeited
by the fdleness of the operatives. This does
not include the large sums contributed by
sympathizers in other cities. The whole was
wasted, for no permanent advantage was Sc
cured. Loss in wages without any material
benefit accruing to Offset it Is the rule. The t
same sum Of money applied to well-directed I
projects Of self-help might have accom- |
plfshed much. The spinners alone In the |
Fall River strike Of 1879 deprived themselves |
of sum sufficient to have established four !
cooperative provision stores, each with an IT. |
vested capital Of S25, 900. Theamount Of wages
lostby the operatives at Fall River during 1870
would have erected mill Of 25,ooo spfndles
equipped it with the necessary machinery
and given it a sufficient working capital. The
report gives several estimates as to how long
a striker, if successful, must work at the ad-
vanced wages to recover the sums lost while
idle. The report says:
Suppose he Strikes for per cent increase: As
suming the weekly wage to be per cent o. t. 1nat
Or working year, it will take him one ano tnree
hfths years to make up,for one montn Wafss
lost; three and one-fifth years tor tEo months,
lost: four and four-fifths years Tor three m9nIns
lost; and 60 On. Let us apply sucn caiEuM.aun XII.
10 the tall River vacation" or 1910. 1u1s WIZ
against 10 per cent reduction. and the oneIaIl'ts
lost eight weeks wages Had the result oeen l9
their favor 1t would have taken cocn enp!ote
one and sx-tenths years, at the desre1 1Ats, "