The Washington times., 1901-09-23
THE SILK TRADE TROUBLES
Struggles Between the Unions and
the Employers.
Heavy LOSSES Result and Neither
side Makes "a Material Gain-Com-
mcnts of the National Association
or the Recent III-Advised Strikes.

NEW YORK. Sept. 22.-The yeal
| in the silk trade ending with Jun'
last was not a good one. The guam
tity of raw silk imported for tn,
| mills decreased from 10955.C9S pounds tC
SSS6,6I0, a reduction of more than 2,o00,oo
pounds, or about 10 per cent on the i'm.
| portations of material in the previous
/ year.
Competition was keener than ever be.
| fore, and very small margin of profit
had to be reckoncd on. Some mills sue
cumbod entirely. Few worked through
out the season on full time and had it not
! been for this shortening. of production by
, the 5000 broad looms and 1880 ribbon
looms now established In this country the
supply of manufactured silk would have
been so greatly in excess of the demand
! here, that the industry would have been
in very bad way indeed.
| Yet, strangely enough, the labor unions
chose this period of all others to make
| trouble in the silk mills. Though the
! small margin of profit at which business
has been done has offered no business in
! centive to employ the looms and spindles
| constantly, the unions, both in Pennsyl-
vania and New Jersey, seem to have done
ployers' natural desire to keep their mills
open as long as possible by atirring up
trouble among the workers and driving
the mill owners into open hostility to la
Dor organizations of any kind.
The Silk Association of America, in it's
annual review of the industry, is moved
to wonder at this remarkable attitude of
the unions and to remark on the disas-
trous effect upon employers and employed
alike which has followed union aggres-
siveness in these i'll hours for the trade
Two instances of union interference are
cited by the association. one in Pennsyl-
vania and one in New Jersey. In both the
results have been similar. .r
A silk mill in Pennsylvania employing
between 400 and 500 operatives, and with
monthly payroll of from 5000 to $1,000.
closed entirely from the middle of Janu-
ary to the middle of May this year, the
official report of the association says,
under these circumstances:
In May, 1900, nine loom fxers were en-
ployed in the mill, those most competent
receiving SIS wages per week. Eight of
these loom fixers belonged to an organiza-
tiOn formed by them within the preceding
two years In connection with the Loom
Fixers of America: the other loom fxer
would not join, although they tried to get
him in. The employers had been running
the mill for fifteen years without discrimi-
mating against either union or non-union
men, and no disturbance on account of
labor had occurred within all that time
In May, last year, the eight union loom
fixers notified their employers that they
would not work any longer with the nom
union man and would quit If they were
required to work with him. They did not
allege that the non-union man was in
competent. that there was any moral de-
feet in his character. or that he had any
contagious disease. They said they want
ed him discharged because he had work.
ed against their union.
AS business men the employers resisted
this demand. They refused to discharge
the non-union man. They asked the eight
to continue to work, conceding. however.
that If they did not Ike to work they
could nirif Thau did si.-> -lar' and the
firm set about obtaining other men 10
take the places of the eight who had vol
unfairly discharged themselves. They had
considerable difficulty in getting and
keeping a sufficient number to perform
the work properly. For the sake OF the
principle involved they persevered, how
ever. The eight loom hxers were idle
from that date so far as labor at their
regular occupation in the mill was con-
after for a year received $40 q week from
the union
That wasn't the end of the trouble. The
eight were not idle in propaganda and
the employers were equally earnest In
their resolution not to permit any labor
union to dictate whom they should EN-
ploy and whom they should not Some OF
the operatives sided with the eight ana
in the ensuing six months were unionized
into organizations. There was great
deal of disorder about the mill, and be-
lievng that the new organizations were
formed for the purpose of demanding ana
securing the unemployment of the eight
who had voluntarily resigned their JOBS.
the employers requested tEeir employees
not to attend these meetings and dis
charged several who became officers in
the organizations.
In January a committee of the opera
tives demanded the reinstatement OF the
Then a strike in every department of the
mill was started. and the mill was closed,
much to the disadvantage of every indus
try connected with 1t.
The strike lasted four months. Then
an umpire, a Judge of distinction, Sc
lected to decide this mighty question of
decision should be final Both sides We're
heard and then his decision was filed
IT was that five of the original loom fix
ers should be reinstated and four of the
not especially obnoxious to the employ
ers and the remaining two had learned
their trades in the mill. Two out of the
four had been helpers for four years to
these two.
The umpire said in his decision that he
had been guided by the desire to select
men who ''can work together in peace"
The Silk Association report summarizes
the re suits in this way: ,...
Thus ended long strike which was
vastly expensive TO those directly con-
cerned. and to others indirectly concerned.
hut which in its outcome does not ad-
te u (
fought The settlement was a comprom-
ise and can be accepted only as such.
Perhaps the contendng principles rep
resented in this struggle will be fought
out some day. to finish, but if they are
the record will be long one of woe to
human hearts. Of financial loss to both
labor and capital, and of considerable loss
10 acquired property.
THE salient features OF this particular
case may be summarized as follows:
Eight mcn out of employment as loom
ixers for one year, eight men receiving |
80 weekly from the union for one year.
lied for one year and between 400 and
500 operatives absolutely idle for over
four months; loss in wages, $4,000; a I,
number of persons insulted. a few beaten |
and more scandalized. the public peace |
broken, arrests made and fines imposed.
THE eight loom fxers who originated |
the trouble Were members of a labor |
union with the knowledge of their en- |
ployers and the employers never attempt |
ed to break their union or to discharge |
them for that cause. Yet harmony could |
be restored only by a compromise which |
designated five of the original loom fix
ers to be reinstated after the lapse of a |
year. and that the other three shall not |
he reinstated'
The silk troubles in New Jersey cited in |
the report have figured extensively in the |
1t has been tod how the en-
ployes Of one of two mills operated by J
single firm struck on the refusal of their 1