The Washington herald., 1912-03-03
BERGER TN RAGE At J
STRIKE HEARING

Continued from Page one.
unless the women strikers quit shrieking
''Liarl" at the witnesses and Insulting
them in other ways. Representative
Stanley. OF Kentucky. the Steel commit
mlttee chairman. finally declared he
would see that the next striker insulting
Il witness was sent to Jail -if II took all
the power OF Congress" to do H. Repre-
sentative Wilson, OF Pennsylvania. the
Labor Committee chairman. and Mr..
Berger made statements in the morning
and Samuel Lipson. .of Lawrence. a
weaver and one OF the strikers COM
niittee, described the conditions in Law
renee and spoke OF the starvation
wages" paid TO a majority OF the em-
ployes. Six dollars a week was the
average. he declared. and oftentimes the
head OF a family Of I'VE. six. or seven
members was able to carry not more
than % or 81 home in his weekly pay
envelope.
But Ii was the afternoon session that
was lively. with LIpson again on the
stand.
Representative Pou. OF North Carolina.
tried to get him to describe the scene at
the railway station when the police and
the militia prevented the strikers chill
dren from being sent away. Lipson said
the police grabbed the children and threw
them into patrol wagons and clubbed the
mothers.
And did you really see the mothers
clubbed?" Representative Pou asked.
No" the witness replied. But I saw
them showed around and pushed in the
breasts
why did the strikers want to send
their children away from Lawrenee?".
representative Stanley, Of Kentucky. in
quired.
ITO keep them from being hurt" Lip
son replied. Il sent mine away because
one OF my children opened his eyes TO me
and said. Why do the soldiers treat peo-
pie that way? Why do they stick their
bayonets In them?' -
Would Limit Testimony.
At this point Representative Robert o.
Harris. OF the Fourteenth Massachusetts,
district, who lives at East Bridgewater.
protested against the broad character of
Lipson's examination. He asserted that
Llpson was discussing matters with.
which the Federal government could
have no concern, and requested that he
be limited to the incident Of the pre-
vention Of the chhdr,a from leaving
Lawrence. Chairman Henry declared
that the investigation involved the facts
leading up to the incident at the station.
but asked that all concerned limit their
testimony as closely as possible.
Mr.. Harris said there was present a
committee Of four. representing the city
Of Lawrence. and he introduced c. T.
Lynch. chairman OF the committee Of
SAFETY; J. T. Sullivan. city marshal: ID.
h. Murphy. city solicitor. and Robert ].
Mccartney. a Lawrence merchant Lewis
s. Cox. postmaster OF Lawrence. was on
hand 10 act as attorney for the COM
mittee.
Representative Foster. Of Illinois. ask
ed Lipson II Il were true that the strik-
ing textile workers had thousands OF
dollars deposited in the savings banks
of Lawrence.
"oh. no." cried LIpsOn in reply. How
could men getting $ or ss a week put
money in the savings banksT'
Representative Wilson, of Pennsylvan-
Ia, chairman OF the, Committee on La
Dor. and author of one OF the resolu-
tions of investigation. asked permission
at this point to interrupt Lipson's testI-
mony and put John Golden. Of FAN
River. president OF the Textile Workers
Union, on the stand. He explained that
Mr. Golden had TO lrave town last even
ing. ....-.- .
Mr. Golden started in by contradicting
the statements of Representative Ber-
ger, made at the morning session.
Calls IL Revolution.
Mr.. Berger" he said, who has never
been in Lawrence, made the statement
that the Industrial Workers Of the
World represent 1900 Of the Lawrence
mill hands, and that 1. affiliated with
the American Federation Of Labor rep
resent lust ls0 The truth OF the matter
is that when this revolution, in Law
renee occurred the official books Of the
Workers OF the World show
that the organization had just 2E7 mem
bers''
Continuing TO controvert Mr.. Berger's
Golden said that 20 per cent
OF the .2.Ooo textile workers IN Lawrence
either had left the city or had returned |
10 their jobs. Il am not good at figures"
he added. but l would like to see any
body figure out where the 1900 workers 1
that this organization claims come from
Mr.. Golden referred to the offer that 1
had been made by the American woolen !
Company to induce its employees to re-
turn TO work. This offer was described |
by Mr.. Berger at the morning session !
is' adding insult to injury" He de- |
,lared that IL would add less than 30
sents week to the wage Of a ss-a-week /
nan. But according to Mr.. Golden. the
company offered a minimum increase Of
per cent, this to go to the highest /
paid employees. with q y per cent in
,rease to those now receiving the lowest |
II want to so even further than an
of Lawrence" said Golden.
Conditions there are had enough, hut in
he textile industry in general. and in
he South in particular. conditions are
worse and wages lower than in New
England. The cotton industry is worse
han the woolen. / find there is universal
for an investigation, but Il |
hould be an investigation not alone of
he American WOolen Company. but OF
he Industry as whole, and We want
hat inquiry to be In charge Of the Com
nittee on Labor. of which Mr.. Wilson
5 chairman and in the membership. OF 1
which We have entire confidence"
Golden said the alien contract labor
aw was being violated wholesale by the
zig labor employing interests OF the
ountry. Il
Isn't 1t true" Representative Wilson
sked, that these big concerns placard
Europe with alluring posters showing
he American worklngman with bag of
old over his shoulder returning from
york to his beautiful home?'
oh, yes" replied Golden. and ] have
% doubt that some of these striking
.awrence operatives Have, kept those
osters as relies |,
Representative Campbell wanted toi
now why Golden persisted in speaking ,
Z the Lawrence strike as revolution.
neuouncpd ~ aparchfxts