The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-06
STRIKE ENDS
IN ENGLAND 800 MILLS WE'RE IDLE.
Something Like I6O,0OO Operators Left Thelr Work and for Seven Weeks They Were in
 IdIemeaa
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.

The great strike in the cotton fac- tories of Lancaster, England. has been happily terminated after seven weeks of likeness for 500 cotton mills, repre- senting capital of a quarter of a bill lion dollars. 40,0O0.0o0 spindles and Ss0,00o looms. writes William B. Curtis in the Chicago Record Herald. About 1eo,0o0 operatives left their work and went for seven weeks without wages;
 Interested in fse sGRs Snd MsFe indirectly The Manchester papers, in summing up the results. estimate that zOO.O0O men, women and children suf- fered acute distress, 60o.00O suffered more or less privation, the loss of wages during the seven weeks was about $b,OO0,00 to the operatives, and ufacturers. More than a million dol lars was paid out by the several unions as relief funds to their mem- beEs:
 were considerable, as above estimated, they were not nearly as great as those that have occurred during. previous strikes. Inded it Is estimated that all the many that have taken place since the Lancashire cotton industry. became of importance.
 There was a strike in 1878, which which lasted six weeks another in 1892, which lasted twenty weeks. but spindles in the district and sO.OOO
 The strike of 1892 resulted in what is known as the Brooklands agree ment, under which both the employers and employed agreed to give three months notice of any change in wages or regulations and permit q full and free discussion before final action on affAF nf innnFfanna nnnHaFnfnR either side. Since that date wages have been advanced an average of IS per cent all around, and there have last July, owing to the depression of business and low prices, the manufac- turers announced a horizontal reduc- roll throughout the entire cotton dis trict to take effect in October The multitude of unions composed of oper- atives of the different branches of the business held metings and sent com mittees to conferences with the Cotton Manufacturers Association, and with each other, and the pros and cons, and thoroughly thrashed out The manu- lecturers submitted schedules showing the falling off in prices, and in the de- mand for their goods; the. operatives submitted statements showing the in- creases in the cost of living. in rents and food, and everything else except clothing.
 AILer LnlS 0lSCuBSlOn the Bpinner6, who are the strongest in number of all the classes of factory operatives agreed to accept the reduction, pro yided 1t was postponed until the lst of January, and to this the manufactur- CTS consented. But the other unions refused to concur.
 It Is probable that they would have consented had 1t not been for repre- manufacturing districts of England, who implored them not to yield for fear that reduction of wages in the followed by similar reductions throughout the United Kingdom Un- der this influence all of the unions ex- ture for peace. and a strike was de- clared. It is suspected that nearly all of the members of the Manufacturers Association were willing to shut down compelled them to do so. because their warehouse were already filled with goods for which there was no demand. The market was very dull and there was no prospect of immediate improve ment. The strike gave them an op- portunity to reduce their stocks. to re- provements which could not has oc- cured if the mills had continued run ming. In that respect the mill owners enjoyed considerable advantage from the strike, and the alleged loss of s35,000,000 is almost entirely ficti- tious because it Is merely an estimate of the amount of profits that might have been derived If every mill had been running full time during the period of the strike and its output sold at last years prices.
 As is invariably the case. the. strik- CTS suffered most. They were not pre- pared for such an emergency, For six months most of the mills had been working for thirty-two instead of fifty six hours a week. and a large majority of the 16O,000 operatives had been liv- Ing on half rations. Many of them had already been compelled to dip in- to their savings bank deposits, and most of them are without any pro- vision for rainy days. The maximum wage paid in the Manchester district is S6 shillings of $9 week for men nen 1nI while those who arc Iess ltilIfS,I and fortunate receive all the way down the scale-some of them only 50 cents a day. Although living is much cheaper in England than in the United States 1t is not possible to save much money on those wages.