Omaha daily bee., 1898-01-18
Great Labor Struggle is Now On in New
England.
TEST OF sTRENGTHMADE AT NfwBEDFoRD
Ten Thousand workmen Idle Mt that
point-Not n Spindle Turning
Operatives at other Points
60 Aid Financially.


FIVE or thirty into the Whitman but aside
from these no mill made any show of run
ming, and these two soon shut down. Nine
corporations, operating eighteen mills, In
which upward Of 5000 hands are employed.
are involved in the strike. The total pay
roll OF these corporations is estimated at
$40, 900 weekly.
Both manufacturers and operatives seemed
to be we'll prepared for the strike and the
situation was treated in a very matter OF
fact manner by both sides Only at the
Acushnet mill gates did any disturbance oc-
cur and that did not prove serious, although
the managers were jeered loudly and some
frozen dirt and sticks were thrown. Eoon
after the starting hour the lights went out
on the different floors and the crowd outside
yelled with delight.
The crowd, good natured up to this time,
began to manifest bitterness toward the mill
officials, who, as they left the building TO
euter the office were greeted with shower
of frozen earth and small stones. Superin-
tendent Knowles came to the gate and was
given a hustling. He retreated into the Of
fee. A good natured crowd of operatives
gathered at the main entrance to the Bristol
mill. Between forty and fifty operatives had
entered the mill through hole in the fence
and at the usual hour the speed was started.
After running less than an hour the mill
was shut down.
In one or two of the ether mills the ma
chlnery was started but no work was done.
At o'clock whatever help had entered the
factories had come out and the tie-up was
complete.
BOSTON, Jan. 1.-THE $4,000 or more
skilled operatives employed in about seventy
Of the chief cotton mills OF New England
states will today come under the sweeping
order of a new wage scale wlich entails
reduction of 10 per cent or more This re-
ducton will bring on in New Bedford, Mass,
Lewiston and Biddef2rd, Me, labor strikes
which may prove the beginning Of an IN
dCstrial battle greater in extent and more
disastrous in effect than any in the prev-us
history OF cotton manufacturing in the Uni,ed
States.
The blttle against the corporations un-
doubtedly would have been fought every
WhCro had not the voice of men and women
who are ill-preplred at this time of year to
90 into illeness been needed by .he con-
seryatives, AS it is. the great majority of
persons employed in nine corporations in
New Bedford, and one corporation each in
two Maine cities, will take upon themselves
the task of forcible resistance tc the reduc-
ton. In New Bedford, tle nine corporations
represent twenty-five mills, giving means OF
| livelihood to nearly 10000 people.
| The strikers will be directed by the labor
unions, the lead being taken by the Mule
| Spuners' uEion, the national executive COM
mittee of which has sanctioned the strike OF
opposition and promised financial aid. The
! spinners and weavers, nre practically t3e
| only branches of operatives which have main
tained organization. One striking feature OF
| the preliminary agitation against the cut
| down and the strike talk WIS the plea of the
national labor bodies interested, that no
| strikes be begun except at New Bedford
| and Lowell, and asking that all strength be
| concentrated on the former place. Lowell
| operatives held in abeyance III decision to
| strike, pledgng their support to the other
city. The strikes in the other places men
| toned have yet to be officially sanctioned by
| the governing labor body.
CANADIANS GOING HOME.
There is one fea:ure of the labor troubles
| and cutdowno which may manifest itself, and
| that is the return to their Canalt-n homes
| by hundreds of families who speak French
| who flock to the states in winter to secure
! employment.
Following is an estimate of tae number Of
operatives affected by the cu.down, but the
| actual result will scarcely be seen until the
new schedule of wages is tried: knight,
| Goddard &c Chase mills in Massachusetts,,
| Rhode Island and Connecticut 10000; Lowell
! mills, Is 900; Lewiston. 5000; Fall River,
| 900; Biddefor1 and Saco, 1000; other Maine
mills, 1000; Nashua, 5000; New Hampshire,
other than Manchester and Nashua, 5000;
Worcester county, 5000; Holyoke. 10000; Yer
mont, 10000; miscellaneous 5000.
| On january the reduction took effect In
mills employing about S5 900 hands, The re-
ductjon today affected the cotton mills OF
| Name, Rhode lShlnQy connecticut, the mills
| OF New Bedford, Lowell and large number
of smaller places in this state and New
| Hampshire. The Atlantic & Pacific corpora
| tiun of Lawrence and probably the other cot
! ton mills there, and in one or two places
elsewhere, will make a cut next Monday.
| The cut amounts to about 10 per cent in
many places, but in several centers it Is
| II 10 per cent, and even higher, while in u
few email mills it is only about per cent.
The New Bedford strikers viii be sup
| ported financially by the operatives in other
! centers, and it is said they are prepared to
| hold out until spring. The national organ
| i2aticn of textile unions nas also voted to
! support the New Bedford strike. 1t is esti-
| mated that the reduction means a loss Of
| between $4,000 and $S5000 a week to the
| wage earners in the six states, and the ad-
| ditional loss to strikers in the various CEN
! ters If they remain idle even for Il short
| time will swell this amount to much larger
| figure.
| BOSTON, Jan. IA reduction in the
| wages of nbout 1875 900 operatives employed
| in nearly 100 cotton mills in New England
| which the manufacturers decided on Il
temporary remedy for depression in the cotton
| goods industry of the north went into ef
| feet in a majority of the mills today In
| several mills, namely, New Bedford and
| Bid1efCrd, Saco and Lewiston, Me, disEats-
| Fiction among the mill hands is intense and
| strikes nre on. The eighteen mills of the
| former city, which give employment to about
| 10000 hands, have been smut down because
| the operatives have refused to accept the re-
! duction and the contest thus iraugurated
| promises to be one of the mcst 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 corporations last spring The $500 en-
| ployes at the BacOn.n and Pepperell mills in
| Biddeford, Me-, refused to go to work this
morning under the new schedule and 1t is
| thought that the strike there will not be
! settled easily. Some Of the employees of the
| York mills OF Saco also Joined the Biddeford
| movement
The Andrcscogin mills in Boston am the
! King Philip plant in Fall River. were handi-
capped by strike Of number of hands and
| the Queen City mills Of Burlington, Vt, have
] been closed on account of the strike which
followed the posting OF notices of a reduc-
| tion.
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
un1 the stores and streets were almCst de-
| serted.
| BIDDEFORD Ne, Jan. 17.-Eyery depart
ment of the PeppereH and Laconia mills in
| this city and all the departments Of the