The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-08-24
TEXTILE WORKERS STRIKE
OYER TWENTY THOUsASD oPEG-
 ITIYES ARE ALREADY OUT.

DYER TWENTY THOUsASD OPER-
 1TIYES ARE ALREADY OUT.
 The situation in Fall River and New Bed ford-MiIi Operatives Take 'voiuntary '" vacation"-No Trouble is Anticipated at
 Present.
 [ Fall River, Mass, Aug. 23-To-night marks the commencement of the great est lockout of operatives every known . In this city, and that implies the great hst concerted lockout of textile opera lives In one center of America. No mem- Der of the manufacturers association, make any pretentions of telling how long 1t will last, for 1t is brought about " the low condition of the trade and The voluntary vacation" entered into y vote of 968 members of the weavers' Inion. With the possible exception of the Kerr, Iron Works, Conanicut and Seaconnet mills every corporation in town will remain closed until 1t IS shown that a vote of "three-fourths of the spindles represented In certain agreement, shall decide that the gates may be reopened and an opportunity offered for workers to return to their places.
 An exact statement of the number Of Idle operatives was given this after- loon, showing that, excepting the above mentioned mills, thirty-four mills, em- ,loylng 21,9 hands. with weekly pay roll of s133,475, are idle.
 It is possible that the Seaconnet may not be able to run, as 1t now hopes to do. During this lockout the weavers will receive no assistance form their hnion, as they voted to dispense with benefits by voting to take vacation be- ginning next Monday. Whether the spinners will receive benefits will be de- termined at meeting to be held next Monday night. It is not probable, how ever, thatthe funds will betouched for two or three weeks, as there are stormy times ahead, and the spinners are very conservative with their funds pn account of the great drain that has been made during the past year.
 The manufacturers will, by shutting down, avoid the necessity of support Ing those mills that were compelled to shut down on account of the strike or vacation of weavers. The Iron Works are owned by the American Printing company and will pay full wages. con- Bequently the weavers will not be or dered out; and the same fact holds good in regard to the Connecticut Mills. All of the manufacturers do not take kindly to the lockout, but inasmuch as they signed their names to an from clad agreement they feel in duty bound to close and await developments. Some of them have fair orders and would like to fill them. They will. of course, be powerful factor in securing an ear- ly resumption, despite market condi- tions. Some idea of the effect the shut ting down may have on the trade may be judged from the fact that the city contains 35 per cent. of all the cotton spindles in the whole state and 151a of all in the United States. No serious trouble is anticipted during the idleness that Is impending. As a rule the oper- atives are very orderly and inasmuch as g. portion has voted for vacation 1t is fair to presume that they will take the lockout philosophically.
 This afternoon a small but heated meeting of the Weavers' association was held for the purpose of making some provision for the striking King Philip mills. After 8 discussion lasting two hours 1t was voted to pay the strikers one weeks allowance while the vacation is on. At the next general 1t will be decided what other allow ances shall be made.
 During the discussion the represen- tatives of the strikers left the hall and crowded the corridors where the repor- ters were congregated and denounced the management of the union. They threatened to take the place of other weavers just as soon as the present vacation was over and were much an- gered because of alleged injustices on the part of the acting president.
 New Bedford, Mass, Aug. 23.-The state board of arbitration had a busy day and during the session Chairman Walcott, who is summering at Matta- poisett, agreed to meet the board h re tonight. MT. Barry this morning put in a long time with the spinners, who pretty thoroughly placed their con- ditions before him. Meanwhile MT. Warner was with Mayor Brownell and learned that officials views. Then the party adjourned to the Parker house. where the mayor played host. MT. Warner after dinner tried to find some mill managers, but everyone was at dinner. 'As near as can find out,'' said he with a smile, ''the mill men are all out of town, but suspect they are not inclined to be seen by anyone, os- pecially reporters and state arbitrators. Everywhere I am told they are out of town or at dinner. cannot seem to and them or cannot learn of any one who can. find they are all non- cOmmittal."
 MT. Warner thought the mill owners attitude, if they were trying to escape conference, was not at all proper, lnd, said he: ''If they do not show in- clination to be fair with the board the board will get up big public meeting here in New Bedford and see if they cannot be made to tell something. Re- member we have the right to subpoena witnesses to public hearing, even though we do not like to resort to such measures." MT. Barry met the Card and Pieker helD union committee in