The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1896-03-10
LOOMS ARE SILENT.
Cause of the Decline in the Wooden
Mill Industry.
AT ROCKVILLE, CONNECTICUT.
The situation is Encouraging, and it Ntay
Become SO IN Other Parts Of the coun-
try-opsrNtlves Working but One Day
awssk-whRt Wooden Merchants Say.
EStets OF the Wilson BIZ.

NEW 1Olkht MuTCu V'-1HS ITChs
publishes the following: The scene Of
the most staggering blow delivered to
the wooden industry In the last few
months Is Rockville, Conn.,, where the
five mills OF that place are now running
ut such a rate that each employee is
given only one days work In each
week. Even this is being done at O loss
to the owners, but the misery that will
follow soon, when the mills may be
shut down entirely, Is past all reckon
ing.
There have been 1900 operatives en-
ployed in the five large mills at Rock
Vile. About week ago 400 OF these
were laid or. The rest OF the hands
were divided among the Rock. Hocka.
nun, American. New England and
Springville mills The division OF the
employs hardly had been made when
the manufacturers were Obliged to an
nounce that owing 10 the lack OF busi-
moss II would be necessary to shut down
on about 80 per cent OF the looms.
The operatives were divided Into two
shifts, and they are now to work on
alternate weeks for the short time that
the work Is to hold out. Instead OF
working flfty-eIght hours per week, as
heretofore, they are to have only forty
hours per week. AS matter of fact,
when II is figured out. each operative
under the system now In vogue or
equally distributing the work, will have
only one days work each week.
There are In Rockville at the present
time 400 skilled working people who are
without work and without any-prospect
OF getting any; among 100 people who
have work there is not one earning
enough money to keep body and soul
together. When the mills shut down
entirely they will be without employ
ment in place where It Is impossible
for them 10 find anything else to do,
There will be no use OF their going to
another part of the country to look for
work in mills, for Rockville was the
most prosperous individual manufAc-
| turing centre In the country.
They are, TO all present appearances,
TO find themselves on the verge OF pau-
perism, and the solution OF their sorry
plight will have to be worked out by
each sufferer individually. How 1t Will
be done is puzzle.
Duc TO the Senate.
81 had hoped" said a well known
wooden merchant OF this city yesterday,
that we would be able to stave of the
crisis forsa longer period. but all hope
in that direction has vanished. and you
may say In the Press without fear OF
being conrtadlcted that by the first Of
April there will be comparatively few
looms working in this country. II Is
all due to the failure OF Congress to
take action on the DlnEley relief bill.
| Manufacturers know what this means,
and they are all prepared to suspend.
During the thirty yeRry in which l
have been Identified with the wooden
business remember only one previous
occasion on which the supply OF I'M
consumed goods. for which there was no
demand. was greater than II is at the
present time.
THE manner In which we are suffer-
| ing is forcibly illustrated by the fact
that the Rockville mills are almost en-
tlrely suspended. These mills manu-
| featured the finest class and highest
grade OF goods turned out anywhere
| in this country. The mills were famous
even In some foreign countries.
THAT there is no demand for these
goods shows how We are suffering from
foreign competition. This is proven by
the Imports last year of shoddy. The
quantity OF that stun that was brought
Into this country last year was exactly
! fifteen times greater than II was any
wooden trade. And, mind you. this was
not manufactured goods, but the bare.
nasty. dirty stun that was brought
| her to be made up In sweatshops. We
have imported shoddy before, to he
sure, but never In my experience have
| seen such nasty stun as came into
this country In 1895.
mo; whatever rny OF hope there was
for the trade has been blasted by the
action or Inaction OF Congress. There
is no hope for two years to come"
Mr.. FolIetrs Views.
George FOllett. who has been In the
wooden goods business for more than
half n century. and who has an office
| in the Wool Exchange building, said:
AFTER spending nifty years in the
wooden goods business. must confess
that | do not pretend 10 know half as
much about II rs n great many men
| who have been in the trade for much
shorter time. But there is one incOn-
| troVertibie fnct from which there Is no
| getting away, and that Is that now Il
y pays ranchmen better to raise sheep
| for their mutton than 1t does for their
yield of wool The wooden Industry In
this country was getting on nicely I'M
der the Mckinley tariff, and that the
1
RIGS here did not prosper Is blamahle
to the detrimental operation OF the re-
vIsed thrift schedule as embodied In
the Wilson bill. As matters stand Mt
present. can see no remedy for the ex-
isting condition. apart from whatever
action may be taken by the next Con-
gress."
]. a. Holmes, senior member of the
firm OF II. Pauendahl & Co., No. 20
Leonard street. had some emphatic
views on the question.
ut seems to me" he said, that there
has been altogether too much impor-
lance given to this DlnElcy bill. OF
course, had It passed Congress and re-
ccived the Presidents signature It
would have given the trade chance 10
recuperate. But II IL always well TO
look TO the original cause. The wooden
trade received its fell blow when the
| Mckinley tariff was wiped out and
the Wilson bill substituted for II. That
Is the whole thing In n few words"
Ten Families Homeless.
PITTSBURGH. Pm. March 0.-An
enst end fire at 1870 o'clock this morn
ing destroyed block OF the houses on
AurIlIn street. rendering ten families