Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-06-02
GATES ARE OPENED
And Many Of the Lowell Strik-
ers Return to Work.
Mills Claim 80 to so Per Cent
Strikers Claim Less.
Credit and Rent to Be Refused Those
Holding Out.

Lowell. Mass, June LATTER nine
weeks of idleness the Massachusetts,
Boot, Merrimac, fremont and Suffolk,
Appleton and Hamilton Corporations
resumed the manufacturing of cotton
goods, today, with fully 80 per cent. of
the usual working force Figures
made public by mill agents through
Agent w. S. Southworth, secretary of
the Cotton Manufacturers Association,
tend to show that the efforts of the
Textile Council to enforce the demands
for a 10 per cent. increase in wages
will fail
The Council, however, claims that the
strike has just begun; that the past
nine weeks suspension has been n
lockout on the part of the agents, and
that the test. today, was simply that
which was anticipated, Monday, April
|. when the strike order was to have
been effective. had it not been fore
stalled by the agents on the preceding
Saturday.
The officers of the union in which are
concentrated the skilled crafts do not
admit that the strike has been broken
during the day or that the mills can
continue to run. They say that even
If 80 per cent. of the operatives return
to work it is simply the general force
of the unSkilled. The agents in their
statement. however, say that they base
their figures on loom production.
All the corporations ran during the
day with appearance of customary ac-
tiVity Over the city soft coal smoke
passed in dense clouds, evidence to dis
al 81 ~
men that by striking they would COM
pei the agents to rely wholly upon wa
ter power. Some Of the firemen struck,
but the number was SO insignificant
that the vacancies were filled without
difficulty. No objection was offered to
the return of the mill help to their
work and at no gate was any but the
best feeling manifested by those going
in and those staying out.
Thousands of operatives with the
tools of their craft and dinner pals
showed uD at the gates at the opening
hour and hundreds returned home
lacking, apparently, the desire to be
among the first to break the strike. At
noon the crowds about the gates We're
larger and more people went in.
The agents in the forenoon said that
40 per cent. of the operatives had gone
in. The council officials Immediately
replied that only 10 per cent. of the I'M
skilled and less than per cent of the
skilled labor had responded to the in
vitation to resume work. In the after
noon. Mr.. SouthWorth said:
About one-fifth more operatives re-
ported for work at noon than went in
in the morning. The trouble is now to
balance departments so as to find en-
poyment for all that came in. We are
all pleased with the situation"
IL is known for a fact that in the
Prescott mill, one OF the mills of the
Massachusetts Corporation i06 out of
400 looms ran all day. The Merrimac
mills are believed to be in the best con-
dition of any and the fremont and Suf-
folk are a good second. On the Boot,
which usually employees $500, about 700
went in. In the Hamilton, which has a
PRINT works, and the Appleton mills,
the conditions are not definitely known.
The Textile Council officers are very
bitter in their talk against these de-
serters and have blacklisted them all.
Thirteen tixers in the Appleton and Il
additional desertions, today, make y
fiXers that the union claims to have ac-
counted for.
During the day announcement was
made by merchants who had been
trusting operatives for the past nine
weeks that they would refuse to give
credit now that there was an oppor-
tunity for men to return to work.
A. {. Wheelock. the owner of 500
tenements, occupied by about $500 peo-
pie, has begun notifying tenants that
he will evict all who do not go to work
now that work is offered Mr. Wheelock
said that he has already lost $4,000 in
rents.
The local unions will have the roll
call at $50 in the morning. The Textile
Council will then issue a general state
ment of the situation from its stand
point and at 10 o'clock, Agent South
worth will give out a statement for the
mill agents.