The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1895-05-25
WHO Is RESPONSIBLE!

We would like to know who is re-
sponsible for the continuance of the
strike at Olneyville. We guess a good
many persons would like to know.
We don't consider that the manufac-
turers are responsible, nor the business
men at Olneyviile, nor His Honor the
Mayor of the city of Providence who re-
sponded to the call on his good Offices by
going over the matter with the Manu-
facturers Club.
We don't really consider that the
great mass of the thousands of strikers
are responsible. Mayor OLNEY, when
he was asked to appear before the mill
men, was assured that he would
have the backing of nine-tenths
Of the strikers in an appeal
to open the mill gates and blow the
whistles. Mayor OLNEY presented his
case, but he could not, nor could any
body else, assure the mill men that If
they opened their mills on Monday they
would not have to close them again at
any time and have another and unlocked
for strike on their hands, as has been
their experience before.
Now, what we think good many
persons would like to know is: who and
what are the men that are running this
wretched business, fooling with the in
terests of thousands of wage earners,
and playing toss with great
industries and the trade and
business of large and fourishing COM
munity-the men that are bigger and
more powerful than any Mayor, or any
club of manufacturers, or any army of
workers, or whole community, with all
its wealth and intelligence
Whom are we dealing with? To whom
should the Manufacturers Club refer
for permission TO open their gates and
guarantee that they may stay open
Who were the men that Mayor OLNEY
did not represent-the one-tenth that
somehow control the nine-tenths that
he did represent? Where is the power
that the business men of Olneyville
should appeal to to take its hand off the
throat of the community?
We don't know or we would tell our
readers and the people of the State who
may, all of them, well be concerned
about this Olneyville situation. What's
more, we confess we can't find out, al
though we may succeed later in discov-
ering the mischief makers. We have
news bureau in the spot
in Olneyyille, capable news
gathering organization thoroughly
familiar with the field, and the news
bureau can pin the man or the men we'd
like to become acquainted with. We
print in our reports, and our esteemed
contemporaries print in their reports,
that general committee" does this,
or does that, or says this or that, or
decides something or other; but who
comprise the general committed? OF
course, we know that IL is theoretically
made up from three representatives OF
every room in all the mills, but no such
large and representative committee as
this ever gets together. Instead, a
handful Of men, presumably of their
members, holds meetings, but whether
they are an executive committee
or not, or who they are,
we don't know. Who rules the hand
full, and so the general committee, and
so the industrial and business interests
of the town. the city of Providence, and
the whole commonwealth?
We commend this interesting subject
to the attention of our contemporaries
and suggest that they try 10 find out
who the boss is. We propose to keep on
hunting, but we shall not envy our con.
temporaries their success il they |
AL