The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1908-03-19
TEN PERCENT CUT
Positive Notice OF Reduction OF
Wages In Lowell Mills
OTHERS TO FOLLOW SUIT
Indications that Operatives AT Fall
River. Whore Sliding Scale Exists,
viii Receive Less waTcs-Chsnges
May Aztec, le5, 600 Workers

Rosiou. March ia general rrduc
thou IN The wages Of the cotton mlll %
-rstlyes of The north will be- made the
latter part Of the month aud following
weeks, according TO mill men ia this city
aud Ia several leading textile centres
Definite announcement that the pres
ent wage scale would be lowered has
been expected for some time, In view OF
the fact that on Feb, IA Il was strongly
intlmated In mill circles here that a cut
would have 20 be- made.
Notices were posted Ia all the cotton
mills Of Lowell yesterday, on receipt OF
the instructions from the head offices
here. Informing the coco operatives
that wages viii be reduced TO average
10 percent. beginning March 30. The
mills Ia lowell are owned by the Apple.
ton. Boot, Lawrence, Massachusetts,.
Merrmac. Hamilton and suffolk cor
poratlons. All manufacture cloth eS-
cept the Lawrence Manufacturing
company, which makes hosiery aud un-
defwear
With the exception OF the Stark mills
at Manchester, n, H., which announced
Tuesday that a reduction OF about sper
cent will be made in the wages OF their
1900 employees, the Lowell mills are the
first In the cotton Industry In New Eng
land TO give positive notice OF a cut
II Is understood that practically all
,he cotton mills In northern New Eng
land will post notices during the next
few days announcing a reduction
In southern New England there Is
some uncertainty AS 10 the time a cut
will be made. In Fall River sliding
scale agreement exists between the
Manufacturers association and the Tex
tile Council, and under its terms no
change can he made until May % The
agreement Is based upon the average
margin between the cost Of cotton In
the New York market and the selling
price OF standard 2s-lnch 6ixGI print
cloths. the agreement being renewed
al the end Of six months
The last agreement became effective
on Nov. % 1907. Since that time the
margin has steadily fallen of, indicat-
ing that the 25,O00 operatives in the
association mills In Fan River VIII re
ceive less wages next month. Under
the present arrangement the average |
between the prices Of cotton and stand |
ard print cloths governs the wage rate |
In the six months following the period |
in which the averages are computed.
The Fall River system affects direct.
ly the mills In that city, East Taunton
and other places, so that manufacturers
of goods other than print cloths now
usually make their changes IN wage
schedules without regarding cOndi-
tlons there
Manufacturers give as reasons for the
change in wages the depression In the
cloth market, the high cost of cotton
and lower prices for goods. They also
say that the existing wage schedules
are the highest paid since the Civil war.
Many OF the mills will continue to cur.
tail production until business improves.
The cotton mills IN New England
$40 out of 1900 In the United
States. OF 100000 cotton operatives in
the country the New England mills EN-
ploy at the present time about 10000,
a slight reduction from the number at
work last year. Fall River has 10000
operatives Lowell 10000, New Bed.
ford 10000, Manchester. n. H., 1900,
Rhode Island 10000 and Lewiston, Me-.
$500.