The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-10-20
THE STRIKERS WILL
LOSE THEIR FIGHT.
Continued from first page.)

Once last winter we needed a consid-
cradle sum of money and | asked Mr..
Charlie Holt to let me have it. He did
it without making me sign a paper
I've paid him back, but that doesn't
make me forget his kindness"
When | related this incident to Mr.
B. S. Robertson, treasurer of the com
pany, he said: There are many
others who have been favored in the
same way, but who have never paid
the money back, and they are now
fighting us bitterly"
And just in this connection | should
say that one of the most peculiar fea-
lures of this strike is the absence of
personal bitterness and abuse on both
sides. One cannot stay here an hour
without finding out that the relations
that have hitherto existed between EN-
plover and employee have been pleas
ant. The strikers candidly acknowl-
edge that they have been treated well
and. to use their own language, they
have mo kick coming" for higher
wages or shorter hours.
Among the operatives that | talked
to at the Thos. NJ. Holt Mill were four
that worked under Jim May, the boss
weaver who discharged the girl Annie
Whitesell and caused the strike. All
of them denied that May was a cruel
man and harsh master, as alleged by
the strikers.
One of them, girl, said: Il have
worked at Danville, Greensboro and
other places and / never was under an
easier boss than Jim May. If he is
cruel to those under him | never knew
it. and I've been working in this mill
off and ON for the past eight years.
The other operatives who had work
ed under May talked in much the same
strain.
Never until this strike was any
such charge made against him." said
Superintendent Thompson. He de-
clined to join the union and that, no
doubt, is in large part responsible for
the charges now made against him by
the union men. / know it to be a fact
that when he was boss of a section in
the weaving room operatives were anX-
ious to work under him and no one
ever asked permission to leave his sec
ton. No charge of harsh treatment
was made to me against him until
this trouble began. If he had been as
bad a man as the strikers claim. I'm
sure | would have heard of it long be-
fore this"
MILL MEN ARE DETERMINED.
Mr.. Aft. w. Haywood, vice-president
of the company, and Mr.. B. 5. Robert
son. its secretary, discussed the situa-
ton freely. Both said the mills of
Alamance county had taken this step
deliberately and with full knowledge
of what it meant, and there would be
no back down from it, Mr.. Haywood
added:
1--WE are determined to run with non
union labor or not run at all.
'"There has never come to the office
a complaint against May. If COM
plants had been made, they would
have been investigated and the cause
of the complaint removed or May dis
charged. Then again it must be re-
membered that even now the demand
for his dismissal comes, not from the
operatives in the Thos. NJ. Holt Mill,
where May was employed, but from a
labor union composed of operatives in
all the mills at Haw River.
"Such unreasonable demands, and
the character of the men at the head
of the union compelled us to take steps
to protect our property from this or
ganization which is seeking to take it
in charge If we had to submit to the
union we would have no authority in
our own mills.
"And just here let me say that the ar
eument the strikers are using, that
they have as much right to organize
II
the Haw River mills. For not an off
Ger or stakeholder in the mills is a
member of any sort of organization
other than the church and the Masons
We are in no combination to control
prices, labor or anything else. And III
regard to our interest in our employees
I want to say this: We have operated
the mills since August without making
money in three of them, and one OF
them has been run at positive loss
in order to give our hands employ
ment."
NOBODY HAS BEEN BLACKLISTED.
ais it true, Mr.. Haywood, that the
operatives here are being blacklisted
elseWhere?"
ct is absolutely untrue that we have
blaclllisted anybody. We have not
written letter or sent a telegram
to prevent the strikers here being EN-.
ployed elsewhere. If these people fail,
ed to get employment in other mills
as they claim, it was no fault of ours
We presume it was due to the fact that
people don't like to employ strikers.
''We did not ourselves want unlor
labor because of the character OF peo
pie of whom the union is composed
There are many good men and womer
in it, but they are in the minority. Al
the worst element among the opera
tives were quick to join, and children
compose a large per cent of its mem
bership. The idea of turning the man
agement of our property over to such
hands is absurd"
"Will you be able to keep your mills
running if the strike continues fol
several weeks?"
"We can run our mills in spite OF the
strike, and we expect to do so. We
have short force now, but we vii
gradually increase it. Many of the
strikers, / understand, are already
anxious to return to work and will dt
so as soon as the pressure is removed
I