The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-10-20
THE STRIKERS WILL
LOSE THEIR FIGHT
The Strike Was UntimeIy
and lIl-Advised.
SIDE OF THE MILL MFN
SIDE OF THE MILL MEN
They Declare That They Have Black.
listed Nobody.
CONFIDENT OF THEIR ABILITY TO WIN
Labor Organizations Sure to Come in the South
as They Have Elsewhere and Mill Men
Cannot Crush Them Out if
Properly Managed.
Especial to News and observer.)

"s~hesSONa
Especial to News and Observer.)
Haw River, n. c., Oct 19.-One does
not have to stay here long to learn
that there are two sides to the strike
question.
The strikers side gave in my dis
patch from here yesterday Today has
been spent interviewing mill owners,
superintendent and non-union opera
tlVes. Also | have talked with a num-
Der OF men who were once in the un-
ion but who have drawn out and are
now at work in the mills These have
given me the other side of the ques-
ton.
The mill owners say they knew sew
eral months ago that their operatives
We're organizing, but that they offered
no objection and would never have in
terfered had not unreasonable de-
mands been made.
Superlntendents and bosses now at
work in the mills declare that after
the formation of a union it was diff
1lcult to maintain discipline among the
operatives while at work and conse-
quently the production was reduced
and its cost increased. The strike
originated, they think, in a most
1iagrant violation of rules by a young
girl operative.
Those who have drawn out of the
union say they did so because they
were convinced that, under it's present
management, no good could come from
OF lt--only annoyance to the mill
owners and trouble for the operatives
Both non-union operatives and those
who have withdrawn from the union
tell of threats and pressure brought to
bear upon them by union men to make
them quit their jobs and join the un-
ion. Even while [ sat in the office of
the company a man came to ask pro-
lection, saying that he feared bodily
harm from the strikers. Another man,
Burwell Summerlin, who came here
from Danvllle to take a place in the
Granite Mills, is sleeping in the mill
and his meals are carried to him, be-
cause he fears to go upon the streets
at night. He was met on his arrival
here, he says, and threatened by a
number of the strikers. Today when
a new man, named NOEL. arrived from
Gibsonville, two armed deputies were
at the depot to meet him.
GUARDED BY ARMED MEN.
In every mill that I visited I found
Winchester rifles put there to protect
operative and property, and at night
the mills are guarded by armed men,
We do not look for any attempt at
violence" Superintendent Wm j.
Thompson, of the Thomas M. Holt
Mill said, ''but there have been so
many threats that we think it well, as
a precaution, to be prepared"
The strikers, on the other hand, deny
that they are making threats. They
admit that they have approached Sum-
merlin and others now at work and
tried to pursuade them to join the un-
ion. Failing in that, they have argued
to them that they ought not to take the
place of a striker, and that this has
been construed as a threat. They add,
these strikers do, that every member
of the union has taken a solemn obli-
cation mot to drink drop of whiskey
as long as this trouble lasts and to
refrain from violence or threats of
violence against persons and prop
erty.''
In spite of this denial, however, a
number of non-union operatives told
me that they had been threatened, and
others had heard of threats to whip
them, alleged to have been made by
union men. One of the operatives at
the Thos. M. Holt Mill said the worst
thing those at work had to contend
against was the cry of ''scab,' from the
union girls and women, whenever tney
see non-union operative.
Then there are many rumors coming
to the company's office to the effect
that strikers are planning to take the
non-llnion men out and whip them,
and heap other indignities upon them.
"T have heard of these threats" said
Superintendent Thompson of the
Granite Mills. 'but I've never been
able to trace them to any responsible
source. know it to be a fact, though,
that the strikers are going around
among operatives, trying to scare
they by saying: We are going to
win the day, and when we do no non
union operative can get work.
THE UNION TRIED TO DICTATE.
One of the men who has withdrawn
from the union is M. A. Clark, a boss
carder. He said he joined the union
because he feared he would lose his
job if he didn't join, but the union was
managed in such bad manner that he
soon became convinced tnat no good
could come from it.
Il will give you an instance, he add