The sun., 1894-01-04

Fare as BsdiT-Ths TariG is nIa-ed.
RoUTH NoRwALK. Jan. AIN proportion to
their population the towns OF Norwalk and
South Norwalk are In almost as bad condition.
owing to the hard times. as the city Of Bridge
| port, about which THE Sun told yesterday. or
the variety OF factories that constitute the i'm
dustrles Of this town and Of the town OF Nor
walk proper not more than one or two are run
ming on anything near full time, and so far as
is known. only one ls employing its usual force
OF hands. The Norwalk Mills and Lonsbury.
Blssell n Co.'S mill. manufacturers OF felt
| cloth, and dress goods. are running on very
| short time. and the worKmen are fearful that
they will be shut down entirely on very little
warning. The same condition obtains at the
various foundries In the town.
| The Union Manufacturing Company's MILL
| which had been running on short time for
three months. has now shut down entirely
and the 200 employees are all idle. There 10
some talk Of a resum ption Of work there. but
Il s said that II work 10 resumed It will be with
| a very large reduction OF wages. The people
| blame the tariff agitation for the hard times
and business depression that make necessary
the shutting down Of the factories or the re-
| duction OF forces.
| In South Norwalk the chief industry is hat
ting. There are ten large shops here. which
employ more than a thousand hands In ordi-
| nary behSO0b, NOW In6 lOICeb are TeuuCeu 10
| half that umber. and the half work on about
| one-third time The work is piece work. The
reduction means that men who were getting
| SIS week are now getting S5. Those who
were getting so q weok are now getting SO.
| and SO on. The Norwalk Clock Company Is
| also running on short time The natural con-
| sequence OF all this Is that destitution In the
two towns has increased. 1t is not possible to
give anything like "A fair estimate OF the num-
| ber OF families that are destitute. but from all
| that could be learned en- inquiry among the
| various churches and charitable orGanlza-
| tions. such as tho Kings Daughters the Soci-
| ETY. OF Christian Endeavor. and the like. 1t may
| be said that there at the present time twice
| as many destitute families as there were at
| the same time last year. So far tho Relief
| Committee OF the Selectmen have not felt the
| Increase greatly. though they are caring for
| about fifty families more than they did In De-
cember. 1892.
Some piteous cases OF destitution have como
to light within a short time. One is that OF
woman with four children, who was found in
| house on Railroad avenue. Her husband
had been thrown out OF work by the hard
times. and had gone to Long Island City to
see II he could not find employment. For
two weeks the family had subsisted on sixty
cents week, and TO get that sum everything
in the house OF any value whatever had been
pawned. even to the kitchen table. Another
family OF four had been living on stale bread
only for nearly q month. A man. his wife. and
four children were found who had lived nearly
a month on Ave cents worth OF bakers rolls q
day. These were cases that were taken care
OF by the public charities.
Tho young women members of the charitn-
bio organizations OF the churches who go
around among the poor OF the city are fre-
these While tho condition Of affairs is bad
now, IL IL not as had as 1t Is generally believed
it will DO in another month The wage earRers
OF these two towns are u provident lot OF men.
and most ofthem had money laid by to meet
emergencieS The reserve stores OF these men
very low. and unless business picks up within
avery short time they, too. will DO thrown on
for support. selectman Deskam. who was
seen by THE Sun reporter to-day. said:
ingly Fortunate considering the total number
oil men in the town who are out of employ
pected TO be, but things are getting worse in
stead Of bettor, and We can't AFFORD to do any
most charitable lot OF people The churches are
doing. nonly in relieving the distress. u the
persons who need aid at this time think we'd
be pretty well swampet"
YESTERDAY of the number Of persons who are
out OF work who in ordinary times have stendy
R. was IT soatR Soae aed
town OF Norwalk it was estimated that there
were about 800 or 5oo m9rei y, e The SI syn IRE, re-
tories in South NorwalS In one. hall a dozen
men were working: In another there were
& srht In A0i iith seventy seventy. Ave- M The Sixth one
had big sign across tho face ot the building. |
mon. who 1I is ph the Presdsnt of the % soHih Nor.
walk savings Bank, is also manufacturer OF !
bats. His shop Is one OF the largest In South |
IhSre is ,,I ne factory n the town now tha. is
week at time. then FOR two three |
days and closs again. don't believe that. |
SnE that IS bef
allowance The cause q this condition Of az
panic OF the summer. That panic. think was |
bound to come. People had been llylngye |
the tariii came i'm m ediately after it
Mr. solomon made some remarks then about |
these gentemen." he said. who prepared this |
legislation for the country Thsyars almost |
tusncies that have absolutely no interest in |
the matter / believe they have made very |
Take our own Industry, Tor example. We used
70 be able to make goods lust where they have
pettioa Of foreign manu- iscturers. These men
say we should make goods again II they put
The u.sS s5n back S.eSs sn tia, whsss fsss
understand the situation at all The. fact
Is that I2y PTlHr %. to va the ne, snsStIsnt b Of ths
goods OF foreign manufacturers began coming
into the country, and the year prior TO the
passing OF that bill there were 81. 600 dozen
stifT hats imported into this country. Up to
three years before the passage Of that bill the
dustry. We could have got along without any
tariff because the English manufacturer did |
not know how to make goods Tor the American
mar ket- They made heavy. cumbersome bats
an American wouldn't wear II you gave them
70 him. Then they came over here-the manu-
fActurers themselves, meAn-And visited our
factories and learned howto make hats for our
" It took them two or three years after their
Investigations here before they could make an
acceptable hat for an American but they did
do IL finally. and after accomplishing this they
began to undersell us. To-day they make as
fine hats Rs We make. and We are placed at a
very great disadvantage: / fully believe that
II the present Wilson bill Is passed the hat In
dustrJ in the country must suffer on account
Of Y; cannot see any help for II.
Now look for an instant how inconsistent
the bill Is We must pay 10 per cent. on oil
trimmings We use in making our hats. and the /
trim mings on hat are one-third the cost OF
all the goods used. We have 20 pay also 20
per cent. on the raw material Then We must
Day double for our labor and sell hats in COM