Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-01-18
MANY COTTON M|LLSCL0SED.
New BEDFORD, SacO, Lewiston and Other
Towns in New England


observation-disclosures of Men
and Women Leave Their Employ
ment as Protest Against Deep
Ont in Their Wages-Others,
P.nched by Poverty, Remain at
at Work. Unable to Bear the
Stress OF Idleness in Winter.
Ninety Thousand Operatives Are
Interested in the Outcome and
NAV Become Involved.
Boston. January IA reduction in
,5e wages of about 125,OoO operatives
emnloved in nearly $50 cotton mills in
New England, which the manufac-
tnrers decided aron as a temporary
remedy for the depression in the cot
ton goods industry of the North, went
into effect in majority of the mills
to-day.
In several mill centres, namely: New
BEDFORD. Mass, and Biddeford, Saco
and Lewiston, Maine, dissatisfaction
among the mill hands is intense and
strikes are on.
The eighteen mills of the former
oity. which give employment to about
nine thousand hands, have been shut
down because the operatives have re-
fused to accept the reduction, and the
contest thus inaugurated promises to
be one of the most stubborn in the
history of the textile industry.
The situation in New Bedford is
very gloomy. Business there had not
recovered from the depression which
followed the failure of six mill cor
poratiOns last spring.
The $500 employees at the Laconia
and Pepperell mills in Biddeford, Me-.
refused to go to work this morning
under the new schedule. and it is
thought the strike there will not be
settled easily. Some of the employees
Of York mills, of Saco, also Joined the
Bddeford movement.
The Adroscoggin mills, in Boston,
and the King Philip plant, in Fall
River were handicapped by the strike
Of number of hands, and the Queen
City mills, of Burlington, VT, have
been closed on account of a strike
which followed the posting of notices
OF reduction.
An incident at the Acushnet mills
in New Bedford, in which dirt and
stones were thrown at the managers
without doing any harm, was the
nearest approach to serious trouble.
This afternoon quiet prevailed in all
sections and the stores and streets
were almost deserted.
New Bedford, Mass, January IT,
shutdown, the most complete in the
history of the cotton mills of New Bed
ford, began this morning. Not spin
He was turning nor a loom in motion
in the factories OF the cloth corpora
.4Oho an lOul dltCl tllC usual tllllS vi
beginning work. Between 4G and so
operatives went into the Bristol mill,
and % or so into the Whitman. but
aside from these no mill made any
show of running, and these two soon
shut down. Nine corporations operat-
ing IS mills, in which upward of 5000
hands are employed, are involved in
the strike. The cut-down is uniform
all over the city, 10 per cent. The total
pay roll of these corporations is esti-
mated at $4,000 weekly.
The reduction of wages went into
operation in the cotton mills through
out the State to-day, the only excep-
tons being two small factories, whose
owners have not yet decided to cut
wages, and a few in which, owing to
their paying monthly or for similar
'eaSons, it is not convenient to make
he reduction until later. The reduc-
ion will affect to a greater or lesser
1egree the earnings of nearly 10000
operatives in this State, and those of
Knight & Goddard in Massachusetts.
Between 10000 and $4,000 more en-
ployed in Connecticut mills controlled
oy Providence agents, will be affected
also AS the aggregate earnings OF
thls army of operatives will approx
mate 100000 annually, the loss in
wages and purchasing power in conse-
Quence of the reduction to operatives
ana business men in the communities
IN which they spend their money will
De nearly round million. if the cut
averages, as expected, about 10 per
cent.
Boston. January 1.-THE $4,000 or
more skilled operatives employed In
sbout 20 of the chief cotton mills of
New England States to-day came I'M
ger new wage scale which entails a
Ieductlon of ten per cent. or more.
ms reduction will bring on in New
bedford, Mass, Lewiston and Bidde-
lofd, Me-, labor strikes which may
prove the beginning of an industrial
udItle greater in extent and more dis
dStrous in effect than any in the pre-
.ious history of cotton manufacturing
N the United States.
ne battle against the corporations
undoubtedly would have been fought
e'erywhere had not the voices of men
ana women who are ill-prepared at
ms time Of year to go into idleness
1een needed by the conservatives
AS 1t Is, the great majority of persons
mployed i'll the nine corporations in
New Bedford and one corporation
4+en IN two Maine cities will take
upon themselves the task of forcible
'ealStance to the reduction.