New-York tribune., 1912-02-05
CENTRAL LABOR UNION
TO AID MILL STRIKE
Rival to industrial Workers OF
the World to Enter Law
renee Textile Struggle.
S0CI0L0GISTS SEEK FACTS
Haywood, at Sympathy Meeting,
Advises Retaliation if Own
ers Win, and Attacks
Governor Foss.

Lawrence. Mass. Feb. 4-The Central
Labor Union. of this city. which is affili-
ated with the American Federation of La
Dor, will enter into the fight for the sue
cess Of the strike Of more than fifteen thou
sand textile mill operatives. which has been
on for nearly a month, under the direction
Of a rival organization, the Industrial
workers of the World. This action was
decided on late to-day, at a closed meeting
of the executive committee Of the union
and representatives of dozen OF the
skilled classes Of mill operatives, when Ii
was decided to have the union try to bring
about a settlement.
In the event of failure to bring about a
favorable settlement, the Central Labor
Union is to enter actively into the conduct
of the strike and continue the fight for
the demands indefinitely. 1t was said after
the meeting that the American Federation
Of Labor stands ready to respond with
formal sanction Of the strike and active
support
Late tonight William Yates, Of New
Bedford, who has taken the leadership of
the strike for the Industrial Workers tent
porarily. said that the mill agents must
deal with the strike committee. which is
controlled by the Industrial Workers of the
World, and that any other body or bodies
which endeavor TO prevent this will be re-
garded as interlopers and without any
standing.
''We have fought this fight" he said,
''and have put our hearts and souls into
Il, and will not see some one else step in
now and take the fruits of victory from
us"
While a movement in favor of a strike
against the American Woolen Company is
being considered in places where that cor
poraton has mills. there will be no imme-
diate attempt by the leaders of the strike
to extend 1t beyond this city. This was
the statement to-day of William Yates, OF
New Bedford. who has taken charge OF the
strike following the arrest Of Joseph ].
Ettor.
Many investigators, sociological and eco
nomical, have come to Lawrence since the
strike began to study conditions. Visiting
crowded homes In some Of which two and
three families occupy single tenement,
and questioning the strikers at their meet
ing places, the investigators have COM
pared the wages which many mill workers
receive with the expenditures necessary TO
existence.
Prominent among the investigators have
been the Rev. +. NJ. Crouch of New York;
Professor Daniel Evans, of Apdover Theo-
logical Seminary, Cambridge. and Samuel
A. Stoden, of the Public Forum of the
Church OF the Ascension, New York. Mr..
StodelTs Investigations, he says, have de-
veloped the fact that there is pauper
burial in Lawrence every other day and
that practically every one is that of a mill
operative or a member OF mill operatives
family.
He says that 10 per cent of the mill work
crs die each year.
The observations of the Rev. Herbert s.
Johnson Of Boston, during two visits to
Lawrence prompted the clergyman to say:
'If the figures shown to me by the mill
owners in Lawrence covering the wages
paid the operatives are correct, the average
weekly wage is 50 "a, instead Of $s, and the
mill owners are not able TO increase the
wages at present"
Mr.. Johnson declares that the strikers are
led by revolutionary socialists, and that,
in fact, it is not the success of the strike,
but a beginning in a war between capital
and labor-a social revolution-that is
planned. He quotes Joseph ]. Ettor, the
strike leader, as saying 10 him:
'This is not a strike. II is a war, war
between classes"
Woonsocket, r. l., Feb. 4.-Protesting
against the arrest OF the strike leader, Jo-
seph j. Ettor, and the presence Of troops
in Lawrence. and predicting that the strik-
ing textile workers will be whipped back
into the mills only by the lash Of hunger"
William D. Haywood, former president Of
the Western Federation Of Miners, ad-
dressed gathering held here to-day under
the auspices Of local socialist organiza
ton.
SHOULD they be starved into submission,
the operatives can go back into the mills,
make bad cloth, put emery into the machin-'
cry and do other things to get square with
the manufacturers" said Mr. Haywood.
The speaker charged that the mill owners
have a willing tool In the Governor OF
Massachusetts. himself a manufactures,
and asserted that the 1900 soldiers now on
duty in Lawrence are uniformed drunk
ards"
II was said yesterday that the unions
plan TO bring children Of the strikers at
Lawrence Mass, to this city to be adopted
by the wives Of trade unionists while the
strike lasts. One Of the editors OF the
Italian paper in this city said large com
mittee has been organized for the purpose.
William ID. Haywood ulu not reIeT 10 the
matter at the protest meeting for the Law
renee strikers in Union Square on Satur-
day. p. j. Qunlan, one Of the speakers,
who is a member of the committee Of three
of the Church Of the Ascension which in
vestigated the laundries, said last night:
"If such a matter had taken any definite
shape Haywood would have certainly re-
ferred to it. The project would be imprac-
ticabIe Even IL the mothers of the chill
dren were not to deal witn-and they would
have good deal to say--it would cost far