The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1912-03-02
COMMITTEEMAN
TOLD OF WRONGS
=, IN CLOTH MILLS
Strikers, Some of Them
l. Children, Lay Bare
50 Conditions.
Continued from First PageD

Continued from First Page)
pound. Eggs cost about 30 cents pei
dozen; bread is l. cents a loaf; butter ID
40 cents a pound.
But we don't use much butter" he
continued. Il buy a sort of molasses,
and we make out with that
In broken English Lpson recounted
the march of the Italian WOrkmen to
draw their pay.
They were walking along in line" he
said. They were singing. They sang
q song that they were going to get
bread for their children and that they
would get shoes for the barefoot MEM
bers of their families; that they would
have underwear And then Waterman
for tho mill turned the water on them
and they were beaten back"
"Why did you striker
because | could not make a living
for my wife and four children. am
wages were 50 or $40 a week"
Tut there was no much slack time in
Lawrence that sometimes | got only 50
and 81, and we had 10 live on that g.
myself and wife and my children.
Under BeIger's direction LipsUn re-
viewed the cost of the necessities of
life in Lawrence.
I'VE don't eat meat every day. said
lipSon In reply to II question, I'VE cant
afford it. It's d holiday when we get
11cat, especially for the children. When
we have short wages we have to live
on bread and water"
1iDsun said that when the MaSSachu-
sets law cut the hours of labor in the
mills from fifty-5tX to Gifty-fOdr hours a
week, the wages Of The operatives were
cut down and the machines in the mills
.'Speeded up" to force the same amount
or work in the shorter time. This
caused the strike. When the original
demand was made on the company the
men were told. he said, that they
could either go back to work or get
ont "
The spectators leaned forward eager
~ as in voice that carried a mine of
suppressed excitement and wealth of
pity, Lipsin exclaimed:
'Carmella, stand up"
From the back row of the huddipd
group sweet faced, pallid little slX-
tecn-year-old arose. She looked not
more than twelve years old but bore
In her great black eyes all the sorrow
of womanhood.
1.-TWO years ago" began Lipson, in
his pathetiCallY humorous Jewish dia-
lect. this girl went to work in the
mills. She had beautiful head of hair,
but three weeks after she went to
work the machines were speeded up so
iaSt that her hair was caught and al
most torn off
"Shc has been under the doctors care
eyer since. But she has been working
N the mills. too, because her father
- a poor man and has seven in the
FAMILY. She must work to get food.
Slack Time.
Last summer her father, who earns
usually about 81 week. worked hard
but the mills were on slack time, and
his day was short. One week he got
only $2.SS. So CarmeIla had to go back
to work"
Lipson told the story of the killing
of John Ramey, striker bayonetted
bS militiamen. Then his broken
tongue gave forth the story of the
Italian workers charged with rioting.
"The Italians went to draw their
pay and their pay was not what they
expected he said "Thcy became
excited. They sang a song. 1t was
a song mad" up about the strike
They sang that they must have bread
FOR their children; that they must
have shoes for the little ones whose
feet had none; that they must have
underwear for their babies The
bosses thought that by turning them
out they could stop the excitement
and the Waterman turned the water
on them. Then they called in the pO-
nc" and iircmen and hired them to
do these things"
tho Lawrence mills astounded the com
mtteo. When the hearing was recessed
Tor luncheon the members, particularly
anlnng the Democrats, were aroused
over the tale and were Clamoring for
more information.
Some 200 spectators filled the big COM
mittec room when Congressman VIII
son opened the hearing. The executive
council of the A: +. of L., headed by
President Samuel Gompers and Presi-
dent Golden, of the Textile Workers
Union, were among those present
Accompanying the strikers and the
strike children" were Commissioner Of
Police c. +. Lynch, City Solicitor d. r.
Murphy, Clark Garter, William M. Stew
art. r.. ]. Mccartney, and other Off
Gals of Lawrence.
While Wilson outlined in a plain.
clear statement. the facts regarding
the holding up of the children who were
being sent from the strike-rldden city.
the "childrCn of Lawrence" with the
strikers committee, headed by Con-
gresham Berger. foCkcd into the room.
The children, dressed in their poor
sunday best" in most cases frayed
and patched, filtered through the spec
tators, and under Berger's direction
took their seats Immediately before the
committees table. with Josephine LiSS
at one end of the line and little four
other. The children seemed dazed by
the bigneSS of the occasion.
American workers. remarked Ber-
ger as the slim, stunted little ones
lined up.
lust in front Of them sat little ten
Year-old Bob Henry. jr., son of the
chairman of the committee. Many mis-
took him for one of the child strikers
although all of the latter were year.
older.
When the children were asked to
stand to have a picture taken Con-
gresham Ames interrupted:
There are two delegations from
Lawrence" he suggested DO yol
went both in this piCturC?'
Yes we do" said Berger: II thinl