New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-03-20
LITTLE FALLS INQUIRY
SHOWS BAD CONDITIONS
Houses Unsanitary and Over
crowded: Wages Inadequate,
Labor Department Reports.
MAY CONTINUE THE PROBE
Investigation of Wages and
Cost Of Living Among
Mohawk Valley Textile
Workers Urged.

Albany. March l9-The need OF a thor
ough investigation Of wages and cost Of
living among the textile workers Of the
Mohawk Valley is the conclusion reached
by the State Labor Department, which
has been investigating the strike OF the
textile workers at Little Falls
Among other conclusions reached as a
result Of the Labor Department investi-
cations at Little Falls are:
That most OF the houses in which the
workers live are old and almost all are
without modern cOnVeniences.
That bathrooms are entirely absent.
That in many cases food supplies are
kept I'm sleeping rooms
That ventilation In living quarters and
sleeping rooms is always bad. either due
IN the ignorance Of the occupants or To
other causes.
THAT oyercrowdlng is the rule.
That the average weekly wage for
nearly 20 per cent of the mon workers just
prior To the strike amounted TO 81 or less
and that nearly 30 per cent Of the women
workers during the same period received
- ~ per week or less.
That in the settlement of the strike
wages were restored 10 the lever before
the dispute. with possibly some Increases
for piece workers I'm the adjustment or
rates but that the final settlement made
but little. if any. change from conditions
as 10 wages.
This investigation is sufficient" says
the Labor Departments report. ito make
one conclusion inescapable. namely. that
existing conditions present a problem
which il of public concern. and which
therefore demands further investigation.
Reports Of police oppression and bru-
tally during the strike which lasted from
October .. 1912. 10 January 6, 1913. were
greatly exaggerated. the report declares.
The Labor Department investigated con
ditions because. the report says. one OF
the main reasons alleged by the workers
FOR their resistance To any reduction in
wages was that wages were already low
and that they could not live on less than
than they had been getting.
Facts were brought out in the investiga-
ton OF the cost and manner Of living.
Monthly rents averaged from 81 10 IS
Discussing the STANDARD OF living" the
report declares that the mass OF mill
operatives in Little Falls. and especially
the unskilled and seml-skilled workers,
are no longer American born. nor even
English. German or irish Slowly at first
then more RAPIDLY the report continues
came the sloyak the Pole. the italian.
81. Rutheuian and the Lithuanian. and.
n smaller numbers. representatives, OF
other southern European nations.
THE houses which they occupy are FOR
the greater pat either two or three story
frame structures. Some Of them are To-
Gated directly over "A canal while others
are on the banks of the river. the canal.
or "a creek. which flows through the
ucirhborh,od. one st ~ stairs some
times serves two houses. each occupied
bv one or more households. In many
houses leaks bon poorly shingled roofs
make dry rooms impossible. while ere
vases in the walls allow cold winds or
blown snow 10 enter.
Family privacy is thing largely un-
known to the textile workers Of Little
Falls. This cannot be credited TO a low
moral standard among these people. Tor
phvsiclans who visit them TESTIFY to
relatively high standard OF morals