Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1893-06-01
81 A YEAR In ADVANCE.
The Looms And The Homes.

A n~on-partlsan trade journal, ex-
planning the scanty demand for wool,
remarks: MANY of the looms have
been stopped" There are many peo-
pie in this prosperous and happy coun-
try who do not realize what that sim
pie statement a The loom is a
dispassionate and unsuifering machine.
1t does not love nor sorrow, and it has
not the visible responsibility of father
or mother for human lives, and for the
education and future happiness of
human beings. Yet the silent loom
means misery and possibly something
worse.
Several hundred looms were stopped
in one Eastern establishment last week.
kindhearted employers made the an
nouncement with deep regret, for they
knew, as many readers do not, what it
meant. There were three hundred
families for whom those flying looms
had provided bread and meat, cloth
ing, shelter and the comforts of home.
When the looms stopped want and
suffering walked in at each of three
hundred doors, Loving fathers began
to dread distress for those who were
dearer than life to them. Tender
hearted mothers dreaded the day when
the children should cry for bread in
vain. No one a tell how much of
anxiety aud of suffering was wrapped
up in the statement that the mill was.
closed.
Where were these people 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 COM
petent hands were compelled to search
for employment. Not in other manu-
featuring works, for if they possessed
the required skill and knowledge, as
many did not, those other employ
ments also were in trouble. In thos-
as well 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 themselves and their dear ones
Does anybody think of the distress and
anxiety which comes to many thous-
and people at once when the looms
stop? Can words describe the weari-
ness and the torture, as the idle men 90
from place to place, hopelessly but
desperately, seeking a 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
over crowded, and yet driven by neces-
sity to fight for a chance to earn daily
bread. 1t meal 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 terri
blepurchase and power over the lives Of
many. 1t means that souls go down
to death, under stress and temptation
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
policy which proposes to stop looms,
and close furnaces and factories by the
hundreds, in order that somebody may
buy things at lower cost? Is it lower
cost, If the Nation pays the happiness
of homes by the thousand, and the
honor and purity of many lives, be-
sides the money it sends abroad for
goods?-N. Y. Tribune.