Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1912-03-26

There are 10000 on strike now in West
Hoboken.
The feeling among the men ant
women employed in the textile industry
in Passaic and vicinity is bitter. Com
plants of low wages, petty persecu-
] tions n a system of fines and the
most wretched conditions have finally
forced the employees to desperate
action. They say that it is their in
tention to stay out until they win.
The employers, on the other hand,
are equally determined. They have
ley had any semblance of an organ
ization among the employees to face,
and it is the expressed intention among
the owners to close down their plants
ana keep them closed rather than to
concede any of the demands of the men
or recognize the union.
Workers Receive Small Wage.
Name? People no got names; they
got numbers" one of the striking OPP
eratives said in reply to h request for
the name of a woman who got in her
pay envelope S1.16 for seventy-one
hours work. This was said in broken
English by one OF the strikers and ex-
pressed the attitude of the men and
women now on strike.
The following are a few examples
of the pay received by the men and
women in the mills in Passaic and Vi
cinity:
K. Waseelewsky, in the Forstmann-
HUFFMAN mills, earned $3.50 on a loom
in sc hours; a woman, check number
/ ,465. in the plant of the New Jersey
Spinning Company, earned $3.50 IN 70
hours. She worked 13 hours a day
and IL hours Saturday. A man earned
$3.50 in SO hours. A earned
S1.16 in II hours on two looms in the
Gera mills. Her check number is 443.
1t was to the request for her name that
the bitter reply came. In the same
mills a woman, check No. 1886, earned
1881 in II hours.
Boris Reinstein, who came from De-
troit to organize the operatives. made
this statement to a representative of
The Star yesterday:
"They have a system of petty fines
and bonuses here that makes the
hands worse than slaves. The con-
dition the employees have been living
under here for a number of years is
almost unbelievable. There are 1000
employed out in Passaic now, and we
will get every one of the others out
If necessary to get decent living con-
ditions. There has never been an or
yanization here and the employers are
used to dealing with the men and
women Individually. This condition is
likely to make the battle harder and
longer, but the people here have stood
1t as long as they could, and are driven
to desperate measures.
VIII Try to Keep Peace.
Trouble" in answer to the question
If there might be any clash between
the strikers and ''scabs" or the police.
There will not be any trouble if we
can help it. At every meeting and at
every opportunity we get we counsel
the men to peaceful methods. We tell
them repeatedly that If they start any
trouble we will not do anything to help
them or back them up in any way.
while the employers do not rec
ognize our union we always counsel
the strikers to avoid any trouble. You
must not confuse us with tho faction
of the 1. W. W., Of which Haywood is
one of the leaders. In one of his ar
ticles recently Haywood said: If the
workers sliced some cloth or took a
bolt out of the machinery they would
brought William Woodhead, of
the Textile Trust, to the strikers
terms quicker
w do not encourage anything like
that. l repeat we have served no
tice thai the organization will not pro-
tect any men or women who will re-
sort to violence. Ours is a distinct
and separate section of the 1. w. w.
from that which counsels violence. II
there is any violence it will be started
by the other side.
1.-THE only acts of violence during the
strikes in Paterson when 120 plants
were affected was a fight between two
policemen, who got into an argument
as to the respective merits of the two
parties in the controversy. The other
section of the l.. w. W, that which is
known as the Chicago faction. is the
anarchistic element and it is they who
bring our organization into d~isrepute.
Emma Goldman and Alexander Berk-
man are associated with them and that
should tell you what they are.
"Of course, we will stand on our
rights. l told the Judge who
fined the girl Saturday that
the authorities are making a
grave error in provoking discomfort,
and I have gone to the pickets In the
various plants and given h following
warning: Stand by our legal rights,
the rights given you by the laws of
the State and nation to peacefully per-
suade scabs to keep out of the plant.
But we will not brook any interference
with these rights by any petty judge
or police official.
When the men standing neal by dur
ing the interview were asked for their
photographs, one of them said that for