The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-01-12
SHELTON STRIKE
ocontinued from Page 1o

command. and questioning the mo- tives of the business men and officials who are trying to bring the strike to
 a close, Arturo Giovannitti advocate of the Industrial Workers or the World, reused the strikers and host of sympathizers to enthusiasm at a big meeting in the Sterling Opera house, Derby, yesterday afternoon- ss.AH the strikes that were really worth while have left some wreckage and ruin around said 6ae. You can't
 win anything by staying home to sleep said be, ssor by reading your |. Bible over again. That's all very well, but it doesnst win strikes. If one or
 two of you get into. the clutches or the
 so-calIed law and order. then so much the better, for those who are left. for it will develop in them a, spirit of re- volt against the conditions that make |1 such a thing possible
 Giovannitti was one of several IspealSers at thesmass meeting. Hum E dreds of strikers attended. and there
 were many women in the audience. City officials, members of the var1-
 ous civic org anizations of Shelton end
 Derby, Judge Dillon of the Shelton
 court, members of the police and spe-
 cia1 constabu1ary maintained during
 the strike, and even a sprinlxling of the CsBrien guards who walked up
 by twos and threes from the Blumen-
 thai mills, attended the big demon stratior. Many who could not be provided with seats did not enter the
 theater.
 Shortly after 2:3o the meeting was
 called to order by Michael Dumas. 9
 W. W, employed in the Speciality s Weaving company. By that time
 people were standing many of them
 women-in the top gallery. while
 standing room in the balcony and
 nain floor was at premium.
 Matilda Rabinowitz, the strike lead CT. was most successful in working
 her auditors to enthusiasm. She bit-
 ter1y assailed the Shelton and Derby
 merchants for their activities in try
 ing to settle the strike. She c1assed
 hem with the strike breakers inn ported by B1unentha1 for she said
 hey were trying to defeat the ends
 for which the strike was called. Their interest," she averred, was selfish. They
 felt their business falling off. and
 wanted the strike settled. not in the
 interfest of the workers, but in their
 own interest.
 Thomas J. Powers of Providence was the first speaker, following an intro ductory address by Chairman Dumas
 MT. Power is textile worker. and the secretary of the Providence local of the | W. w, textile workers
 He launched into an attack upon the capi taifstic class and upon politi- } cal parties as exemp1if1ed in the gov ernnent Of the country If George Washington or Ben Franklin could walk into Shelton today said he. they would be forced to admit that the war Of the revolution was fail+
 He criticized the statesmen of the country as whole, as being densely Ignorant of economies sTgnorance in sathis. branch of learning is as zconmon men who work in the gutter, :" said he. The duty of the statesmen is to keep 1 in touch with the people of the coun- try, said he, but from the attitude of some of the statesmen of the vicinity, 5 said he,z it would appear that it was the duty Of the statesmen to keep the ! people at work
 Referring to the conditions of the ; textile workers in shelton, with efil
 ciency engineers standing behind them with stop watches. checking up their every move in the desperate effort to speed up the workers, he said that the uer familiar with conditions would l be justified in believing the people Of the BlumenthaI mills if they did ] rots strike, were either dead or dy- ing. I Matilda Ra binowftz quickly captur- ! ed her audience. A frai1 dinainutiye ] woman of gir1ish appearance, but with 1 big dark eyes that flashed fire as she attacked the Shelton and Derby ner- chants for their attitude, which she said was altogether selfish.
 She began by apo1ogizfng to the good people of the community who might have come to the meeting out of curiosity. She said she feared the 4I w w speakers had disappointed I them None had come to the stage
 with stiletto in his teeth They
 carried no guns, nor did they bring
 with them bombs with sputtering Hi fuses.
 s.But my aim. said she, ..fs not to Espeak to those who exploit. but to 8Ethose who are exploited. I am not of 1lie I. W. w. in these parts It s makes not a particle of difference to
 me whether they like me in shelton, or not.
 .sThe Shelton people may not like me here, but am here to stay-,' I Taking up the B1umentha1 strike she said if was manifestation of the Revolutionary movement which the I. 4 ". w. represents.
 ;ls ssAnd with this revolutionary move
 ment, said Miss Rabinowitz, i've Irecognize no country and we recog- nize no flag She said the foreigner ! and the American are brothers in the 5 misery and degradation and terrible stiff erings of poverty. Then she spoke T Of the respectable element of the .fconmunity that sought to bring tho strike to an end,s and told of the death of Connecticut man, John i Brown.
 John Brown went to the gallows.
 He was sent there by the same re-
 spectacle mob, if you please, that to- f day says, in Shelton and in Derby, that the I. w. w. organizer ought to
 be tarred and feathered and run out of town But if I am, taken out of I shelton today, said she, "sfx or eight, Tor ten twelve others will come here, and if they are driven out of I town, there will be a hundred tn take i their places, and to speak to the work l CTS just as we speak today She said that persecution of the strikers would only strengthen their cause.
 Then she said the best elem ent'' in. Shelton and Derby is trying to fake the pIaces of fheF FarIev strike