Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-11-12
BY RHErA cH1LDE DoRR.

By RHETA CHILDE DOkNhs
Copyright. 1917. by the New York Evening MALL
When I got on tho train to leave
Russia for the United States the first
familiar face / saw was that OF Mr.
Daniel Cheshire, mill owner and OPP
orator of Petrograd. I'm going home
to England to enlist" he said. as we
shook hands.
what have you done with your
mills?' asked.
II have left them to the Tavarishi,
replied Mr.. Cheshire. II thought ]
might a. we'll"
Daniel Cheshire ID not the only large
manufacturer who has abandoned his
with the situation created BY the Rus.
sian revolution and the taking over by
the working people OF the control OF
industry. Others have given up the
struggle, and many more probably Will
follow their example. But Mr.. Che
shire's story know at first hand. HIS
abandonment of his mills is full OF
significance. partly because OF the Inn
portance of his branch OF manufacture
ing and partly because his act may
hasten the day when, through sheer
lack of the necessities of life, the Rus-
sian people will cease pursuing their
utopian dream and will content Them
selves with a government which. al
though still capitalistic, will rescue
them from starvation and ruin
Not All Snow and Ice in Russia.
Those who think of Russia as a land
of snow and ice will be interested to
learn that In Turkestan and Transcau-
casia, ~ well a. In other provinces Of
the south and east. they raise millions
seeds Of which originally came from
America Those who think that every
Russian peasant does nothing but farm
will be surprised to hear that nearly
million Russians work In textile mills.
principally cotton textiles.
When cotton spinning and weaving
began In Russia the mill owners, IN
most cases. sent to England Tor their
scendants Of some Of these Englishmen
still live and still manage cotton mills
in Russia. The Cheshire family is
case in point The original Cheshire
came out from Manchester In the 1S40's
to manage a small cotton spinning fac
tory in Petrograd.
1t was in one of the Cheshire cotton
mills that got the most intimate view
of what becomes of industry when the
workers own their tools. Perhaps 1t
would be fairer to say, when the work.
ers seize their tools. Some day, per-
hapS, they will find out how to own
them honestly, and then they will use
them wisely and for the common good.
Workers Sleep on the JOB.
1t was a happy accident that first
led me into a Cheshire cotton mill.
After being refused permission to in
spect the big munition works to which
1 applied-refused by the workers
committee. not by the proprietors-I
wandered through the Eiborg district
of Petrograd until ] found another
given me by the minister of labor
worked better. and I was shown into
the general office Of the plant. 1t was
big. modern, up-to-date ONCE, fur-
nished with the usual desks. files safes
and the like. but to remind me that /,
was in revolutionary Russia the walls
were decorated with many red flags
and banners inscribed with white-let-
Tered notices and declarations.
The head of the workmen's commit
tee, who came forward to meet me,
looked little doubtful about letting
me go through the mill. but just then
the door opened and a strapping young
Englishman came in.
See the works." said he "Of course
you may. I'd like nothing better than
to show my mills just now to news
paper people. / call them my mills yet
but only for joke
He said something in Russian to the
workman. who shrugged his shoulders
and stood aside, and Mr.. Cheshire and
j went into the nearest mill room. 1t
was Storeroom, as a matter OF fact,
the receiving room for the huge bales
OF coarse yarn spun in another mill
The bales were soft and made excellent
beds. fact that was not overlooked
Tor two tired Russian millworkers re.
posed blissfully on a pile Of bales as
we passed through, sleeping the sleep
Of the just.
Cannot Discharge Employees.
cannot order them back to their
work.? I asked.
''Oh. can order them" was the re-
ply. But II they choose not to go
that would ae, make e .. me look rather
You could discharge them. couldn't
you?" / countered.
~ certainly could not" declared Mr..
employee until the shop Committee has
sat on the case and decided that it does
not want the man or woman in the
mill. All / can do is to make my COM
plants to the committee and ask it to
act"
We passed into a print room still
discussing the committee. I asked Mr..
Cheshire if 1t was true that these work.
mems committees were highly paid men
who performed no service to their en-
ployers and still received their regular
pay.
1T is true" he replied. Then he went
on to tell me the following story:
The work we do in this room is
something a little unusual in Russia
Few mills have these machines as yet,
and our product is almost the only cot
ton goods OF the kind possible to buy
in Russian markets since the war. Be
fore that great deal of 1t was i'm
ported from England and Germany
Naturally it is scarce at present and
not long ago one of our men complain
ed that he couldn't buy 1t at ALL
or course. you cannot l told him,
because these mills are turning out
very little of it Go into the print room
and see for yourself how many machines
are idle for lack of workers. And
then / made him this offer, for he was
member of the committee: Let me
have four men of your committee back
to work on these machines and I will
guarantee that you will soon be able
to buy the goods you want
We'll, he agreed, and he got the rest
of the committee to agree. and got the
men back. But what do you think
those four men demanded? They said
that they had been doing hard mental
work on the committee for two months
and they thought before they went back
to the machines they ought to have a
months vacation with pay
Il did draw the line there I told
them I'd close the works first But
since then l understand that the COM
mittee has begun to discuss the two
months on and one month of as a flu
ture policy. They say that mental work
they call committee meetings mental
works much harder than physical
labor"
The committees have created an
eight-hour day in this particular in