New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1893-05-31
The Looms and tbs Hom:s.

a non-partisan trade journal explain
ing the scanty demand forwool, remarks
"Many Of the looms have been stopped
There are many people in this prosper
ous and happy country who do not real
ize what that simple statement means.
The loom is dispassionatc and unsuf-
fering machine 1t does not love nor
sorrow, and it has not the visible rcspon-
sibility Of father or mother for human
lives, AMI for the education and future
happiness of human beings. Yet the 81
lent loom means misery and possibly
something worse.
Several hundred looms were stoppedin
one Eastern establishment last week.
Kind-hearted employers made the an
nouncement with deep regret for they
knew, as many readers do not, what it
meant. There were three hundred fam
lilies for whom those flying looms had
provided bread and meat, clothing, shell
ter and the comforts of home. When
the looms stopped want and suffering
walked in ut each Of three hundred doors.
Loving fathers began to dread distress
for those who were dcarcr than life to
them. TcnCcr-hearted mothers dreaded
the day when the children should cry for
bread in vain. No one can tell how
much of anxiety and of suffering was
wrapped up IN the statement that the
mill was closed. Where were these pco-
pic to look for employment and means
Of livelihood! Not in their accustomed
occupation, for many other mills were
closing at the same time, and thousands
Of competent hands were compelled to
search for employment. Not i'll other
manufacturing works, for if they pos
sesscd the required skill and know ledge,
as many did not, those other employ
ments also were in trouble. In those as
we'll, many works had been obliged to
close and wait, and thousands of hands
were looking in vain for work-that is,
for shelter, food and clothing for them
selves and their dear ones. Does any
body think Of the distress and anxiety
which comes to many thousand people at
once when the looms stop? Can words
describe the WEAKNESS and the torture, as
the idle men go from place to place,
hopelessly but desperately: seeking /;
chance to keep those alive whose lives
and happiness depend upon their labor:
''The looms are stopping" means that
thousands of workers begin to trudge
from place to place with sad hearts and
hungry eyes, knowing that the market
for labor is suddenly overcrowded, and
yet driven by necessity to fight for a
chance to cain daily bread. It means
that thousands of families are cast out
from comfortable homes, the fruit of
honest industry, to live upon charity or
not at all. 1t means that vice and CRIME
gain a terrible purchase and power over
the lives of many. 1t means that souls
go down to death, under stress and temp
tation, which might have been temples
OF honor and purity and true affection
but for the stoppage of the looms.
What can be SAID of the National po-
Icy which proposes to stop looms, and
close furnaces and factories by the hun
dreds, in order that somebody may buy
things at lever cost? Is it lower cost, if
the Nation pays the happiness Of homes
by the thousand, and the honor and pu-
rity Of many lives, besides the money it
sends abroad for goods?-New York Tri-
bune.
VI. I'll