Evening journal., 1898-01-18
BIG STRIKE NOW ON.
Cotton Operatives In New
Bedford Are All Out.
STONES ARE THROWN At ONE MILL.
The Manufacturers Deem 10 a Lockout.
Textile Men Everywhere Are Greatly
Ineerested-Action Taken at
other Places.

BOSTON Jan. 18.-The fight between
employer and employee in the New
England cotton mills Is on. and what
IL VIII lead zap 10 cannot now be told
The great corporations in New Bedford
are silent, and thousands Of operatives
are idle, while here and there discon-
tent cropped out all day the most Sc
rious being at Biddeford, Me-. where
5000 persons refused to work thus clos
ing two mills, and at Lewiston, where
one mill was crippled by 400 weavers
staying out The general wage cutdown
Is estimated to affect 125. 600 persons in
about $50 mills, although these mills
had previously adopted the new sched-
ule and several others had given notice
Of immediate reductions. Here and
there dissatisfaction was brought to the
notice Of agents and overseers over
minor grievances, and in most cases
these were either remedied or an in
quiry promised.
The textile operatives everywhere are
intensely interested in the New Bedford
struggle. for there the test Of strength
and endurance viii come, and upon the
outcome win depend the question Of an
industrial battle the entire length and
breadth Of the New England states.
The chief point IN this battle will be
discipline and the first command of
organized labor brought well nigh per-
fect obedience. Yesterday passed quite
peacefully but one incident is in some
quarters feared ASA forerunner of the
odds the strikers will take II driven to
desperation. There was missile throw
ing around the gates of one mill, which
apparently was done by persons who
"a ffttrf fffI 4rfa -
of the first move and thus emphasized
the jokes they cracked at the expense
Of a mill official.
From the point OF view of the mill
owner the New Bedford situation is
now a lockout. Intervention by the
state board Of arbitration this week is
hardly likely TO be allowed, and no
overt act on the part Of the strikers and
no attempt to open a mill is expected
for number of days. The New Bed
ford strikers will receive strike money
from operatives elsewhere, but the sum
total viii be reserved until a protract-
ed battle brings on want and hardship,
which the union viii then try to relieve.
All the New Bedford mills opened at
bell time. as usual When no help came
in, lights went out speed stopped, over
seers and second hands prepared to
make everything snug. and mill gates
were closed indefinitely The labor un-
ions did little work except TO carry out
plans Of campaign which will be devel-
oped only as faint hearted weavers seek
70 return to work.
OF the other strikes little has devel-
oped in them as yet to forecast the fu-
ture. The Laconia and Pepperell mill
workers in Biddeford struck because
they We're anxious to- while the weav-
] ers In the Androscoggan mill, the Lew
iston. simply took matters into their
own hands regardless Of other depart
| ments. These two strikes. while on
identical issues. viii serve only as mi
nor fights along the line, unless the
strike fever grows and they become the
nucleus OF a general fight in Maine cit
les One other minor fight now on is
that at Burlington, VT, where the
J Queen City mills shut down indefinitely
because the operatives refused point
blank to accept the reduction. This
trouble, however, began number of
days ago, but reached the acute stage
yesterday. Taking the days events
throughout New England, it may con-
| servatively be said that things came ia
| pass just as expected It is the imme-
diate future which awakens apprehen-
sion