davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-03-30
Upstate B0lsheuiks
Are in Union

Babcock is believer in Bolshe-
vlsm. He is an avowed supporter of
Lenine and Trotzky "The Bolshevik
government of Russia is still grow
ing stronger after one year of fierv
trial. he said in a recent issue of
The Labor News" land it is even
reaching out into neighboring coun-
tries with brother hands to spread
the blessed rule of liberty. If the
Bolshevlk government made mistakes
1t never in a thousand years could
commit the sum of crimes involved
IN causing such a war as the world
has just suffered-a war for which
the worlds capitalism is to blame.
The tales of Lenine and Trotzkv be-
ing bribed by Germany are we'll
known to be malicious and ingenious
misrepresentation by those who set
them forth, but many shallow people
eagerly follow them, although Lenne
and Trotzky should have their admi-
ration and support. Time, however,
will reveal the truth Time is likely
to show these same charges of arson,
rape and assassination against Work
mems and Soldiers councils arising
in Germany and Spain or in any
other nation utterly regardless of
reason or fact. Our plutocrat mas
ters never scrupled consistently or
otherwise"
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-03-30
As the Future Appears
To the Socialist

I'm trying always to take rea-
sonable and scientific viewpoint it
seems to me that we are unable to
see very far ahead excepting on
broad general principles. For in
stance, it appears to be inevitable
that labor will agitate unconsciously
rather than premeditatedly for a
greater and still greater share of
the value of its products until, as in
the case Of the railroad, industry
after industry breaks down and gov
eminent operation and ownership
lntervenes in order to keep industry
functioning. Taking this broad gen
eral view it is Idle to speculate as
to the precise direction that labor
Will move next. Psychological fac
tors as we'll as material necessities
may inspire movements Of which we
little dream to-day. | am not so
much concerned with beatifc visions
of what we would like to see real
lzed as IN the stern necessities which
we must recognize in order to es-
cape serious social friction or pos
sibly violent revolution. And it is
because | realize that the workers
have more to lose by violence than
other classes that | am opposed to
everything that leads, even indi-
rectly to violence where violence
can be evaded. 1t seems clear to
me that since the large majority
OF wage workers are still pressed
closely for daily necessities, while at
the same time they read of the
10000 or more new millionaires
made by this war, and while the
inequalities Of life are more appar-
ent than ever before, the one safe
attitude for every lover of his kind
and for every true American to take
is to help in the social readiust
ment by such degrees as shall in
volve the least jar. In other words.
we want to conserve all that is good
IN the old while we are making the
transition to the new. But we must
not forget that, aside from it's being
right or wrong, change is inevitable
and we are not friends of our race
If we blindly oppose change as
such
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-03-30
Unity Filth
Farmers Declared

The new party announces that
workers in agriculture, the funda-
mental industry of civilization,
whether farm owners or employees.
are entitled to just as fair hours
and pay as the most favored labor
union members, and the organized
dairymen arc recognized as being
brothers and fellow workers in this
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-03-30

War brought prosperity to Water
town. 1t also brought in it's train a
spirit OF unrest among the working
classes. The New York Air Brake
Company, the leading industry here,
Which is the second largest manufac-
turer of railway airbrake equipment,
went into the munitions business on
a giant scale, building several large
war plant units, where it turned out
huge amounts of shells and other
war-making devices, both for the
Allies and the United States.
In its search for skilled and un-
skilled labor to operate the war
plants the company combed the coun-
try. 1t had to compete in it's search
for labor with the thousand and one
other munition concerns seeking men.
1t imported approximately 5000
workers. Many came from the farms
of the surrounding country. Others
came from the large industrial CEN
tres. The newcomers from the in
dustrlal centres brought with them
many of the radical ideas of the new
labor movement and transmitted
them to the old workers. SO long as
there was plenty of work nothing
happened. But when the war ended
and the war business halted, necessi
tatlng the turning off of the huge
surplus of workers, trouble began.
For a time Watertown was a CITY
full of unemployed. Most of the float
ers have since left for other more
promising fields of employment, but
the spirit of unrest remained behind,
and now Watertown, three hundred
miles away from the great centre of
congested population, has been
thrown into the turmoil of labor
war.
Watertown's predicament is inter
estlng, for it is symptomatic. 1t is
what is happening in many other
small towns and cities the country
over. The labor party is we'll organ
lied and has plenty of funds. It has
It's own newspaper. 1t has brought
IN leaders from other cities. 1t has
several hundred pickcts thrown about
the air brake company, urging what
labor calls "scabs" to join the move
ment
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-03-30


human tide of war work
ers at the munitions plants seemed
as inevitable as the action of the
sea. From every state in the
Union men and women gravitated
here to embark on the great advent
ure Of making smokeless powder
in those epic days when the future
of humanity was being tested on
the battlefelds of Europe. And
Immediately after the last shot of
the war had been fired the drift
of human labor was irresistibly in
the reverse direction.
For four months the outpouring
of plain men and women who met
the Teutonic challenge during the
war by producing in the plants of
E. l. du Pont de Nemours & Co.
40 per cent of the powder used by
the Allied nations has gone on.
Now, as the unscrambling is about
completed the personnel in the mu-
milton plants has been reduced to
the minimum necessary to take care
of the motionless machinery, which
became scrap when the armistice
was signed.
Types of laborers in the NUM-
ton plants were as diverse as Amer
lean labor itself. A cross section
of all American labor would have
corresponded with the classification
in the du Pont war plants. Con-
trasts in personality rubbed elbows
in the factories of destructive pow
der, and all of them in the period
that is just closing were confronted
with the task of somersaulting back
into peace activities. Professors
and hoboes, women workers holding
their first jobs and highly. skilled
mechanics, white collar men and
rough and ready fellows of the
lumber camp type were attracted
to the war plants while the fighting
lasted, and poured out for the most
part in the subsequent weeks of
unwinding.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-03-30
Future Plans Of
Du Points .A,caited

Several thousand workers have
remained around Wilmington to rest
and wait for the du Points to spring
some great surprise about new
peace activities which will give them
work. Many have asked for eur
Tough" without pay, so that they
will remain eligible for bonuses and
divisions of stock which come after
continuous service. Any announce
ment by the, company of extensions
OF activities is received by the camp
followers as news of the profoundest
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-03-30
Shutting Labor
During adjustment

rs the government began dras-
tcally to cancel its orders for arms
and ammunition a great shuffling
of labor began. In the relentless
human scramble many thousands
were dropped from the payrolls, yet
they were not all turned out into the
street. The toy factories, the cor
set plants, the automobile factories
and the various others which had
been discouraged during the war i'm
mediately took advantage of the op-
portunity to get workers and to re-
sumo normal activity.
Tens of thousands were dropped
with little warning by the war
plants, but the transcription into
peace industry took care of all but
1880. Of these many were "float-
ers," and they drifted away from
Bridgeport as soon as the lure of
fantastic wages and continuous over
time became a fact of the past.
Moreover, many of the workers who
we're grinding out the implements of
war we're women and children, who
went into the war plants to help out
in the emergency. When the crisis
passed they were ready to return
to their households and to the
schools. After the various factors
in the readjustment operated, sur
plus Of $500 workers remained I'M
cared for, and it is estimated that
that number Of persons who desire
jobs are without work to-day. In
the Bridgeport ordnance district,
which includes all of Connecticut
and western Massachusetts, the
army of unemployed has reached
10000.
Perhaps from 10000 to $4,000 are
engaged in the factories of Bridge
port at present. AT its peak the
Remington Arms plant employed
only $4,000. Although the latter's
personnel capacity is small COM
pared with the aggregate capacity of
the rest of the factories, it would
be more than ample to save the stu
alton.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-03-30
Cancellation
Unsuccessful

ederal and state authorities or
labor matters have moved to brine
the company and strikers together
but without results, so far. A hear
ing has already been held, attended
by a labor conciliator from Wash.
lngton, at which the labor men pre-
sented their case. The leaders of
the labor movement here threaten
II they are successful in this strike
to unlonize completely all of Water
towns Industries. Steps will be
taken to organize retail clerks.
walters, factory workers of all
kinds, to the end that labor will hold
the whip hand here.
Feeling runs high between the
recalcltrant workers and the man
agement of the air brake COM
pany, but so far the strike has been
conducted without violence. For a
time the strikers conducted their
plcketlng campaign with such fer
vor that the company finally ap-
pealcd to the court and obtained
an injunction preventing the men
who are out from intimidating
workers desirious of continuing
their vocation. But the union men
have continued picketing.
At the hearing before represent
atlves of the Federal War Labor
Board here the attorney for the
strikers summed up the case of the
workers thus: "Our grievances are
as to wages, hours. women's work
and discrimination" Completely
analysed, the strike has resolved it.
self into struggle for more pay,
for shorter hours and the union
ization of WATERFOWL. So far
neither side shows any signs Of be-
ing willing to compromise. The
company has yet to present it's case
to the Federal representatives.
Out of the chaos of the strike
movement has been brought forth
the idea Of the labor party in
Watertown, on the grounds as set
forth in the preamble of the new
organization, that eve feel that since
the wellbeing of our whole nation
rests upon the welfare of our work
ers, we, the workers of Watertown.
are persuaded that the time has
come to join our brothers every
where in the formation of a politi
cal party that shall express our
needs, and, so far as lies within our
power, establish them firmly in the
forms and processes of law. We,
appeal to our brothers and
sisters in every line Of useful work.
whether an employee or small pro-
prietor in shop, store, field, Office,
transportation or communication
service, to join us in this effort to OBJ
tain larger, freer and better life
for the people
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-03-30
The Search for
The Ideal Product

The officials of the company seek
out these rumors with genuine inter
est, perhaps hoping to get a good
suggestion in that way. But they
have denied all of them categori-
cally. The local plant managers say
the company is not yet prepared to
disclose its plans for the future. Of
ficers of the company at the execu-
tive offices assert they are still in
the dark, cropping in the expert
mental stage. Ideas come from
every part of the country, and reg
ular shifting process has been de-
veloped. Many of the suggestions
are not found practicable. Some
are not adapted to the needs of the
plants. Others could not be made
comparatively and others are not re-
garded as marketable.
In the cost plus days of the war
production was the thing. Now pro-
duction, in the view of the Reming-
ton Arms executives, is justified
only in so far as the product would
be salable at a profit. The ideal
product, they say, would be one of a
sufficiently wide appeal to keep all
of the thirteen units and the full
labor capacity of the emergency
plant employed. The company off
Gals declare that they have not
decided what they will do.
One important factor that is re-
tarding the transition to peace work
in large plants, such as the Reming-
ton Arms, is the colossal accounting
task incident to a winding up of &C
counts with the government. Inf
mite detail complexities the company's
job of submitting claims to the gov
eminent and likewise delays decision
by the government Much of the
machinery in the Remington Arms
plant was owned by the government
and much by the company. 1t is
difficult to segregate values and own
ership equitably; and the settlement
of payments is also made labyrinthal
by the fact that several systems of
payment-straight contracts, cost
plus contracts, premium and penalty
contracts-were in vogue. Until
these things are concluded the COM
pany feels that it is unable to give
it's undivided attention to the prob
lens that lie ahead
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-03-30
Financial Bureau
STAFF Correspondence

BRIDGEPORT, March 29.-The
X future of Bridgeport is being
~ decided in New York. The d.
rectors of the Remington Arms
Union Metallic Cartridge Company,
who meet in the Woolworth Build
;ng. are the men who must make the
crucial choice. Whether this stra-
teqic centre in the industrial battle
line shall turn to peace and plenty
or whether it's vitality shall be
sappad by protracted unemployment
depends on the policy that these men
adopt.
Bridgeport is looking to the ma
tion's metropolis with anxious eyes.
But that is not because the city de-
ponds on one industry for its susie
nance. Quite the contrary. There
are 100 manufacturing plants here,
and when the town criers assert that
virtually everything except furni
ture and agricultural implements is
made here they are not far from the
truth.
The war brought worldwide fame
to Bridgeport, but only three impor-
tant new manufacturing plants.
When the signing of the armistice
transformed the most essential prod
uct of war into a non-essential
Bridgeport faced serious readjust-
ment. While the great conflict last
ed sixty factories here made war
commodities exclusively and rs per
cent of the remaining plants were
partly on a war basis.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-03-30
Where the Munition
Workers Hare Gone

The farmers who, in quest of the
gold and the thrill that were the
war workers reward, abandoned
their COWS and chickens and small
holdings during the conflict are now
back on the farm, planting for the
next harvest-in some cases the
first in four or five years. The
movement from the munition plants
to the soil has reached large pro-
portions, and should have an influ-
ence on the supply of food. The
farmer who spent a few years dodg-
ing explosions may be expected to
be more energetic and less pro-
vincial than the traditional agrarian.
In many instances the savings of
the rustics during their career in
industrialism were large enough to
pay off their mortgages and to free
them to reap the full rewards of
their agrarian efforts.
Moreover, the school teachers who
found in the powder plants their
niche in. the great warmaking
scheme are now back IN the coun-
try districts, instructing in the
three "R's' instead of grinding out
powder destined during the war to
produce dead Germans. Perhaps
their return is helping to overcome
the nationwide shortage of school
masters and schoolma' ms which was
reported during the emergency
period. And so, too, the village cob
blers who turned to powder making
are back at their old benches. and
the thousands of other miscellane-
Gus workers from the small towns
who ran away from their humdrum
activities and limited opportunities
to the plants that produced NUM-
lions and fantastic wages are back
again at their accustomed posts.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-03-30

Meantime, while the strictly wal
plants have been trying to catch ur
with the political facts, the norma
factories of Bridgeport, which hac
suspended their peace work to make
the sinews of war, have already
gone far in the transition to peace
conditions. Several of the larger in
dustries are expanding, and none of
the larger factories is closed down,
The Raybestos Company, makers of
asbestos, are now constructing a big
plant, which will double their pro-
ductive capacity. The hardware.
machine, tool, corset, graphophone,
automobile and textile factories are
especially active.
Those visitors whose knowledge of
Bridgeport was obtained in pictur-
esque magazine articles are disap-
pointed Oh discovering that this is
mot city that was The hotels
are turning away guests because of
lack of accommodations. There is
still a shortage Of apartments and
houses here, although it is true that
there is less crowding in the ROOM
ing places where the munitions
workers gathered. New building
never caught up with the shortage
here during the war, and industrial
rehabilitation has only made the
need slightly less intense. Eight hun
dred new government houses will be
available beginning April l and the
weeks following.
The gain in workers during the
war was at least 10000. The total
population of the city rose to 1872,
600 in 1918, compared with 10000
in 1914. The volume of business done
by the telephone company doubled
during the war. And, as the life of
the city has been geared at less
intense pace, the telephone traffic
has dropped 80 per cent.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-03-30
Back to the Old
Jobs again

Likewise, the workers in the non
essential ndustries-interior dec
orators, engravers, jewelry workers
and the whole category of toilers
whose occupations were ASSOCIATED
from the job of winning the war.
and who therefore, out of economic
necessity, patriotism and the opera
ton of the work-or-tight principle,
filtered into the war plants, are in
many instances now back plying
once more their accustomed trades
which recaptured their lost pres
tige after the matching of FIGHT.
ing stamina on the fields of France
was over
Perhaps the greatest numbers in
the army of munition makers were
recruited from the ranks of skilled
mechanics and unskilled laborers-
distractions behind which are those
bundles of contradictions which
comprise human souls. 1t is more
difficult to trace their reabsorption
into peace time pursuits. The turn
over of unskilled labor-particu-
lariy in times like the present of
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-03-30
WutertOlln
City. in Heart of Upstate
Agricultural Region, Seething With
Industrial Unrest-The War Boom
Brought Prosperity and Labor Ills

gone to other fields. The city is
prosperous and suffering among the
poor is less than in normal times.
The Labor News" is the organ
of the labor men of WATERFOWL and
the Socialists. It is edited by O. A.
Babcock, an eX-Methodist, hailing
from st. Lawrence county, all ideal
list and a Socialist of the Fabian
school. Here is his creed in his own
words:
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-03-30
Organized Workers
Are Restiue

Organized labor is FESTIVE, but it's
leaders admit that if the large war
plants which are all but idle now, as
they are finishing up their last or
ners, start manufacturing CONNER
cal products unemployment will
cease TO trouble the city. The mem
bers of the local branch Of the In
ternational Association Of Machin-
lets, which is the most powerful
labor organization here, are plan
n'ng to offer their own solution if
tnc manufacturers lag after May
10. They are now busily recruiting
new members and purpose to de-
mand progressive shortening of
hours Of employment to spread the
opportunity for work to all who seek
jobs.
samuel Lavit, business agent of
tne union and leader of the strike
'asS summer, told The Tribune that
sne union will demand a forty-four
hour week by May Is, and q contin-
uons shortening Of the hours Of
'apor until unemployment ceases. He
said that the union felt that the city
administration had erred grievously
. falling actively to support the
VI0Jeft recently before tho a4a%.
sIsiaturc to make harbor i'm
ployensnts at Bridgeport, which
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-03-30

Thousands of Munition Workers. After
the Cessation of Work for the Gov
eminent, Have Now Returned to
the PlacesW hence They Came

is large. Even in war time, when
labor was so previously scarce that
a worker would be discharged only
for single offence in the du Pont
plants, according to the men-the
offence of carrying lighted matches
In powder factories for the second
time-the labor turnover was be-
tween II and 20 per cent a month.
Most of the miscellaneous work
ers were transferred to other large
industrial plants in other districts,
whose activity did not wither away
when the guns ceased firing. The
du Pont company turned it's elabo-
rately organized labor department,
which had stretched out a dragnet
for workers in various parts of the
country during the war, into a job
seeking agency after the armistice
was signed. Moreover, the company
invited representative of large en-
ployers of labor to visit its plants
and interview its workers who were
about to be discharged.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-03-30
From Guns to
PIoughshares

Another hating factor at Bridge
port is the fact that, although agree
ment has been reached regarding
the settlements of most pending con-
tracts, no payments have been made
as yet. Within the limits Of the
city 100000 square feet of floor
space lie idle. All but 100000 square
feet Of this are in the Remington
Arms and Liberty Ordnance Com
pany plants. At it's peak the Rem
ington Arms employed $4,000 men
and women. Now there are $500
on the payroll, finishing work in
process. The skeleton of the larger
organization remains almost intact,
however, and is ready to build up a
large personnel.
The Union Metallic Cartridge
Company, which is owned by the
Remington Arms, merely expanded
it's plant during the war. 1t did not
create II alter 1914. Therefore, it is
now reverting to its pre-war occu-
patton Of producing sporting ammu-
milton and making ammunition to
meet the peace needs of this and
other governments. The U. M. c..
forces have just completed the last
war order Of shells for the govern
ment and arc now engaged in load
ing them.
The Liberty Ordnance Company,
which was built during the war,
now lies idle and, according to Off
GERS Of the ordnance department, the
owners Of the property will place it
on sale next month. At present, the
government is using it as storage
place. Until just before the signing
of the arnisticc, the American Can
Company operated the works for the
government at 81 a year.
The third large war plant was
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-03-30
After the Soaps
OF "Capitnlisic" Press

In another connection Babcock
wrote: when we come to our own
reconstruction, unless there is a
marked change and the people are
given something from the big papers,
then, when our people are disillu-
stoned finally and we awaken sud-
denly, and we have, as Roosevelt
threatened in 1912, our own replica
of the French Revolution, the mob
will seek not so much the heads of
the rulers as the heads of big bust
ness and of the owners and editors
of the big capitalistic newspapers"
Babcock is one of the leaders of the
labor movement here and has the
support of the union organization.