New-York tribune., 1912-02-19
STRIKE CHILDREN HAPPY
Unions Here Deny Parents at
awrenCe Were IntimIdated.
coI sWEETzER DENOUNCED
naclared at Meeting Youngsters
Came to New York of Their
Own Free Will,

,,.,,bsrs of the committee of the Indus
u =, Tt-orsers of the World and the Italian
sI.to,ist Federation, which arranged to
-. the children of the Lawrence strikers
- Now York. met yesterday at No. l57 East
sS,b street and denounced the militia at
Z = - as,rance. especially Colonel Sweetzer
80 vebemently denied his statements in
rotincation to William Yates, strike
- that he believed some of the Law
I.noa narents had been intimidated into
snowlng their children to leave them' ana
"a that Colonel Sweetzer could not pre-
,,ent the children from coming here II they
80 70 come and their parents were
willing. .,....
n was the intention of the committee
,,asferday to have the children on EXHIBIT
q the largest hall in the city on next Sat
,s,dsc where they would be treated to a
-.o,.inz picture show, unless another con-
.,resnf of Lawrence children arrived on
,hst day. when this demonstration would
;. nostponed. While the committee denies
that the children are being exploited to
,rake propaganda, II is not disputed that
,heir coming was seized on as an oppor-
,nnity TO make collections and get conui-
bptlons in different ways for the strike
fund.
LIST of the names and addresses OF
the nersons here who took charge of the
children last Saturday was mailed by Mrs.
Iobn Sloan, of the committee, to the De-
partment of Education last evening. AS
q rule one child was allotted TO one fam
ily. A rev took two, and man In Ne"
Rochelle took charge of three of the Law
renee children She said the idea that any
one professed to believe that parents IN
Lawrence had been intimidated into allow
ing their children to come here made her
Indignant.
1--WE took no children unless the parents
were willing to let them come and he
children were willing" she said. I rall
10 see how Colonel Sweetzer could pre-
vent US from bringing any more children
under such circumstances. One would
think we were kidnapping the children. "A
false story probably was started when
Mary Sloan ran away from home when the
first children came The children had even
a voice when they came here in choosing
the persons they liked to adopt them
There is nothing haphazard about IT.
In order to show that matters were man
aged Systematically. she exhibited a num-
ber of cards Of Identification. one of which
each child had to carry, and of blank print
cd forms to be filled in by those taking
charge Of the children. The former con-
tanned the names and ages Of the children
the names and addresses Of their parents
and other details.
A number of the strikers from Lawrence
who came here with the children last Sat
urday were at the meeting, and reported
that they had gone 10 the places where the
Lawrence children were living in this city
and found them TO be satisfied. They viii
return to Lawrence to-day and make this
report to the parents.
The American Federation Of Labor, II is
charged, is trying TO bring about settle
ment on behalf OF a small body Of the
skilled workers which. II has organized,
while the unskilled are by far in the ma
iority and are under the wing Of the In
dustrial Workers Of the World. which is
conducting the strike.
Some letters were shown, written to their
parents by the children Of the strikers
which the Lawrence members of the com
mittee will deliver. One Of these letters,
scribbled on a card By a little Polish boy,
reads as follows:
II no want to go back home, because ]
am very happy here
]. Witowski, oEs OF the Lawrence men,
said that the children had been sending
small sums Of money. which they received
since they came here, to Ineir parents.
John Sherman, aIso from Lawrence, said
that some of the people in New York who
had taken charge OF Lawrence children
and were better off than the rest had each
sent S to the parents Of the children they
took charge of.