The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-03-28
TEXTILE TROUBLE.
Massachusetts State Arbitration Board
 Acts to Avert Strike.

Acts to Avert Strike.
 Lowell, Mass, March 27.-Acting un- der the law the state board of arbi- tration and conciliation to-day formal fly requested the mill agents and the tex tile council of this city to submit the question of a wage increase in the cot ton mills of the city to arbitration, as means of averting a general strike next Monday. Both sides have the re- quest under consideration and an early, and perhaps an immediate reply is ex- pected, as the time is now growing short within which steps can be taken to check a more or less general abandon ment of work by employees of the corpo- rations. Very slight hope, however, is entertained by the citizens of Lowell that the state boards request will be granted. The mill agents repeatedly have expressed their opinion that wage increase is impossible, and the textile council having in view last years result of civic board of arbitra- tion has said since receiving the re- quest that it did not case to be trapped like last year.
 Messrs. Palmer. Barry and Reed of the state board are happy in the knowl- edge that the request has formally been reviewed by both sides and the same within a few hours considered.
 Replies will be forwarded to either MT. Palmer who is the Lowell member of the board, or to Secretary Supple, whose name is signed to this request
 The state board of arbitration arrived here this morning and immediately went into session with the mill agents after paying a call on Mayor Howe In the afternoon the board met the execu- tive committee of the textile council At both these meetings the offer of arbitra- tion was made.
 Publicly, what was said and done at either meeting was not made known, and apart from the offer of the state board of arbitration to intervene, the situation in Lowell is no better than last night, and, if anything, it is worse.
 Anxiety is everywhere felt, for strike, provided the mill agents at- tempt to run the mills, is expected to bring more trouble than the city has seen in all her industrial history of more thanAfour- years.
 To-day, in view of the formal strike declaration last night, grocers and pro- vision dealers began posting notices that business hereafter must be done on cash basis; boarding house keepers intinated that boarders must pay in advance, and proprietors of mercantile establishments, especially department Estores, spoke of reducing the number of lclerks in their employ.
 Significant of what the future might Iproduce, the police officers were notified at roll call to-day that they must ar- range for quick information and Espeedy response to police signal.
 During the day the knowledge of the fact that the state board had submitted some sort of application to both sides caused the report to spread that com promise offer of possibly of 5 per cent. increase had been made.
 The agents quickly denied this. but the labor men, while non-committal, added to the perplexity by declaring that they would not "get trapped as they were last year. The reply was in Iterpreted to mean that, while an offer had been made, the labor men wanted a guarantee to insure good faith.
 When the mill gates tonight poured forth thousands Of operatives, after their days labors, it became an &C., cepted fact that light was breaking through the clouds. Men thronged the streets in the evening and when they heard that the offer was simply one to submit to arbitration the disappoint ment was bitter.
 That the operatives are suspicious of arbitration Is explained by referring to last years incident On eve of almost the strike a committee of citizens in- tervened and after an all day and night session persuaded the textile council to call off the strike on the prornise of doing its utmost to obtain an increase in wages.
 Operatives now say that after the strike was called off the citizens com mittee abandoned it's task and dissolv- ed. Since then the mills have been rushed, some of them night and day, with orders, hiring all the help that applied and accepting contracts, it is claimed at rising prices. And all this time the operatives have received no promise oe more wages. Months ago the labor union, feeling bitter at the course Of events. deposed every union officer who in any way was identified with the calling off of last years strike.
 The textile council to-day is deter mined to strike in loyalty to it's subor- dinate unions. Thas is why the coun- cil says shat 10 per cent. increase must be declared on penalty of a strike.
 The state board of arbitration has carefully gone over the ground to con- vince the council that arbitration was used last year, and that arbitration under the law would bring a decision based on evidence.