Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-02-20
STARVATION IN NEW ENGLAND.
narrowing Scenes Among the New
RedfOrd strikers.

Up J. Moran, in Atlanta CONSTITUTIONAL
New Bedford, Mass, February Sth.
Chickens have come home 10 roost IN
New England, and they are roostng
mighty close together in this city OF
New Bedford. whose cotton-mills, paying
a l6 per cent. dividend. have Joined in
10 per cent. reduction of the wages paid
EMPLOYEES. against which the latter have
struck. Now, the employers shut them
selves up In their fine houses, toasting
their shins by anthracite fires, while their
10000 employees. out In the cold ana the
snow, are scrambling for free hsh ana
bowls of SOUP.
When the pinching began TO reach the
East there were individual reductions,
suspensions of what was called extra
force" and the other highly respsc'apie
methods by which argepaunched gen
tlemen know how to squeeze in when the
pressure becomes unbearable. THESE re-
sources exhausted the corporations Iound
the work more difficult, when thousands
had TO be included in one sWoop. IN, ne
operatives i'm the cotton manufacturing
and other industries, bound up by the
presence Of increased wages when NC
Kinley should be elected, became DoideI
i'm their legislative demands, ana caIIeu
for freedom from certain restrictions liOh
which they suffered during work hours
To offset this effort on the one hand,
and TO prepare for the crumDhng Oh
values which they had done so nucn 10
bring about. the gentlemen OF the ARK
wright Club held a meeting in Boston the
result of which was the determination
that there should be cut or ~ per cent
in the wages paid the cotton operatives,
or help" as the "anglcised' treasurers
prefer to call them. The ostehslDie - she
son for this was To equaliZe wages 10 the
scale alleged TO be paid In the south. All
AT once southern competition became
great bugaboo, and something must De
done TO get rid or II. ,,,-,,
THE GREAT STRIKE INAUGURAIhD.
The operatives of what we will here can
the Massachusetts District were o.
founded at this decision and prepared lor
resistance The chiefs or the VARIOUS
unions got together and discussed tne
situation. There was an mclplshl s'iInV
on foot in every mill in the state, out
matters were somewhat quoted uowh III
Fall River and Lowell. and II was ue-
cided that all should go 10 WORK on the
hest terms possible, contributing, now
ever TO the support OF the operatives III
New Bedford, where the battle with cor
porate greed was 10 be fought, lea on tie
one side by John +. Knowles. president OF
the Acushnet mills, which had just ue-
clared a dividend Of 16 per cent, and on
the other by the various unions INTO
which the cotton operatives are DIVIDED
The mills affected by this strike include
yarn and cloth mills The latter make a
large variety OF goods, including PRINT
cloths. narrow odd goods, sheetings, twlllS,
sateens, fancy WeaVeS lancy cottohS,
lawns. specialties, fine shirtings, double
warns cretonnes, bleached sheetings, ana
shirtings The list includes the Wamsutta
mills. 10000 spindes; Potomsh mills, lOo,-
600 spiudles; Pierce Manufacturing Com
pany's mills 60 600 spindles; the Hathaway
Manufacturing Companys plant, w wv
spindles; Grinnell Manufacturing Corpo-
ration's mills, 1900 spindies; Bristol
Manufacturing Company's mills, $1,000
spindles, and the Acushnet Mill Corpora
TONS plant 10000 spindles. The yarn
mills include those of the Bennett Manu-
featuring Corporation, 10000 spindles;
City Manufacturing Corporation, S.No
spindles: Columbia Spinning Company,
30 GOO spindles; Rowland Mills Corporation,
$4,000 spindles; Mt. Pleasant Mills Corpo-
ration. 100 spindles; New Bedford Manu-,
featuring Company, 1890 spindles, and
the Rotch Spinning Company, 6OVOO SPIN
dies. The total spindleage In New Bed
ford is upward of 100000. More than
10000 spindles are employed on cotton
is a possibility that within a short time
not one of these will be in motion.
SCENES OF DESTITUTION.
The visitor to New Bedford. therefore,
will be struck by the thousands or idle
people TO be seen on the streets. the Silent
factories, which give out no sign or IRE,
the empty 1000 houses which have been
vacated by operatives now in refuge In
other places. but, saddest of all, will he
be struck by the restitution which drives
men women. and children TO fish mar
kets and soup-houses, more like ravenous
beasts than the thrifty employee with his
deposit In the savings bank, which New
England economists have so persistently
painted to the South.
Here is one OF the richest cot
centres in the Union, where
the factory treasurer reigns like king.
where the dividends of generation have
made them prodlgal where IL was as
serted the help" was I'm Heaven when
compared with the condition OF their
southern brothers. They had been enjoy
ing that superior wages which the Ark
wright Club thought so exorbitant that II
could stand a 10 per cent. cut, and yet.
within one week after they have been
closed out they are penniless and starving!
YES. starving In this fair New England.
FOR whose benefit tariff laws have been