Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-11-25
PEACE IN HATTERS'
LABOR WAR AT TER
I FOUR YEARS. WAIT
Rnmmell Firm Reported to
Have Restored Union Label
by Agreement.
BATTLE OVER THIS ISSUE
STARTED GREAT STRIKE
Clash Which Caused Great In
jury to Industry in This
] Section.


is engrossing the attention of EN-
ployer and employed about this time.
The j. Rummell Company, of this
city, manufacturers of felt hats has
it is understood, had restored to it
the right to the use of the union
label, and certain former members
of the Hatters' Union, who refused
to go out when the strike was or
dered. will upon the payment of
fines, have tine union card restored
to them. The recognition of the
union label by the Rummell Company
is reciprocated by the Hatters' Union
in permitting the return to the union
fold of certain men who elected to
stand by the company when the
strike was ordered: 1t is a case of
give and take, an apparently mu-
lually satisfactory compromise.
Lyons MS An Arbiter.
It is said that Morris Lyons, at
one time employed in the blocking
department of the Rummell factory,
and an officer in the Hatters' Union,
was instrumental in bringing the,
at one time, warning factions to-
gether. Mr.. Lyons. at present a resi-
dent of Orange, is in comfortable
financial circumstances He is a
union man in every sense of the word.
yet loyal to those by whom he was
once employed.
When the strike began the manu-
facturers got together and entered
into an agreement to fight the union.
Each firm deposited a sum of money,
to be forfeited in the event of this
compact being violated. The period
for which this agreement was to re-
main in force and effect has expired
and each firm is free to act as it
deems fit.
Proposition Voted Upon.
The proposition of the Rummell
company has been voted upon in
meetings called to consider it by the
makers and the finishers and the hat
trimmers, and, unless the unforeseen
happens, the Rummell concern may
use the label and certain hatters will.
be reinstated to membership in the
several branches of the Hatters'
Union.
The new arrangement will go into
effect ON December 1, unless a decid-
ed change takes place in the mean
time.
For fully month President Chris.
topher Donegan. of the Newark
Union, Secretary James Byrne and
others have been at work on the case
and, while no definite information
can be obtained from either of these
sources or from the Rummell COM
pany, the situation is said to be
about as herein described:
beginning of the Trouble.
The hating trouble. which COM
fTenced soon after the holidays
early in 1909 and continued ten.
months affected the districts of New
UI.
delphia. The action of the manufac-
tnrers in refusing to continue the
use of the union label precipitated
the ruinous cessation of work, and in
Orange more than twenty-five hun
dred union people, including about
six hundred girls and women en-
ployed as trimmers, were intimately
concerned with the outcome of the
bitter struggle which involved the ex-
istence of the union.
With the exception of the Trimble
Hat Company. in South Jefferson
street, and the Brennan shop, in
North Centre street, Orange, all the
factories in that city which had been
using the union label closed their
doors to the union people, as the re-
/. moval of the label marked the tenn
porary suspension, by the manufac-
turers. of the union organization of
makers. finishers and trimmers the
last named comprising the women
lmportations of non-union workmen
and strike-brealSers created a bitter
feud and SO seriously was the peace
of the city of Orange threatened by
clashes of the rival groups that VIII
lam Harrigan, then sheriff of Essex
county, sent scores OF deputies to the
vicinity of the Orange shops to pre-
vent disorder, and the police DEPART
ment of the city also shared the re-
sponsibility of maintaining an out
ward peace between the warning fac
tions
Arrests Were Frequent.
There were frequent arrests but lit
tie serious disorder and the contest
continued along, costing both sides
thousands of dollars and loss of valu-
able trade, which departed from the
hating centre. The county's expense
for deputies also scared up to the
$4,000 mark, while many novelties in
hats worked their way from foreign
shores.
In the summer of 1909 John Frank
lin Fort, then Governor sought to
get the employers and work folk in
harmony, but these efforts were fruit
less, and in August. on the return of
former Judge Thomas A. Davis from
Europe the well-known Orange man,
alarmed at the havoc that was sap
ping the yitals of the business COM
munity, and bringing untold misery
to the valley" section, where the
hating wages We're the backbone of
the little family incomes, started ne
gotiations with the hat manufactur-
ers and the union women and men.
The task was tedious and delicate
one, but during October the jurist
secured agreements in writing, depu-
tizing him to negotiate the difficulties
and. after many conferences, the two
sides to the controversy signed the
articles of agreement that terminated
the fight and laid out plan of action
for the future, whereby no strikes nor
'1ockouts" would be ordered; no en-
ployees dismissed and no arbitrary ac-
ton taken by either side until board
OF arbitration would have opportunity
to pass upon questions at issue be-
tween the bosses" and employees.
This salutary action was soon con-
Cured in by all sides, and late in No
vember the troubles were settled and
the union label restored to the fac
tories.
The board of arbitration included
Robert N. Drew for the bosses; John
A. Moffitt. the national president of
the United Hatters OF North America,
froptinuci ON Pngr Column 50