The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1920-09-09

LAWRENCE. Mass. Sept. o.
Thousands OF families here are near
the starvation point because OF the
great wool strike. They have cS-
hausted their savings In the weeks or
enforced idlcness. Their credit has
evnposated. Some Of them have gone
TO other cities to seck work. Some
have gone back to Europe. Others
walk the streets here hoping that
each day will bring the end OF tho
strike.
This Isn't their strike. They didn't
vote to STRIFE. They wanted To work.
They wanted to produce clo:h for
clothes.
This strike was called by the Am
crlcan Wooden Co. The leader of tho
strike Is William NJ. Wood. president
OF the company.
This. the largest wooden cloth man
ufacturinE center in America. has
Ind many strikes. Two may be com-
pared. both lasting for several weeks.
and both costing workers and the
public q lot OF hard earned money.
The other noted wool strike hap
pened In 1912. ON January H. 1912,
about 1900 wooden mills workers
struck. The immediate cause of that
strike was a reduction In wages. due
to the state Law reducing working
hours OF women aud children work
ers. That strike was engineered by
the l.. W. w. IL resulted In an in
crease In wages OF from 5 per cent
for the skilled workers to rs per zen
for the unslllled.
Tile wooden workers strike OF 1919
was the girst big I. w. W. outburst In
America. The wool strike OF 1920 In
the largest wholesale lockout ever
pulled off in the wooden industry.
The l. W. w. struck against wage
reductions. Then the average wage
for all wooden operatives here was
less than tii a week.
Now II Il w. VI. w. striking agains;
a reduction or profits. Last year the
profits were tl5,bi3,414. The Amerl-
can Wooden company Increased It's
net income Si6 per cent for 1918 over
1914 The net increase in common
stock earnings was STA per cent. In
1918 the earnings per share OF com
mon stock were si3.s6; in the year
ending December 81, 1918, these
earnings were t3s.ss. This II after
allowance has been made Tor pre-
ferred dividends.
''Ti,is has been a good year" Wood
told his stockholders, "dni 1890
ought to be Ms prosperous for u.s."
Wood Invited Investigation.
Then Wood made u mistake. lie
HVaDAAN hNN ~ htNNA " "
piOSai OF his profit making prJyrain.
we are earning ~ i-2 per PM
abusc cost" Wood claimed. Guvern-
nient accountants set TO work on the
comr0ny's books. They found MARY
things. Among them was the evil
dence that the wooden trust garnered
IS per cent profit above cost. They
also learned that this profit was made
despite the enormous salaries and
commissions paid Wood aud his AS
sociates. Woods commission amount
ed to s515,4s2,
The governments case was handled
by Assistant Attorney II. s. smythe.
Smythe said; THE American Wool
en company dominates the trade In
this country. The department feels
that II has unearthed one OF the most
Important cases OF profiteerlng ever
known since the amendment OF the
Layer act went into effect"
Smythe gave the evidence his in
yertigators Ind found. Here are u
few instances:
Made 500 Per Cent Profit.
Profit per yard OF certain
style OF straight worHted In 1919
was 30 cents; In 1920 IL was 3i.37.
Another style profit rose from
cents In 1919 10 si.9s In
another style profit jumped
from Al ccnta to- sl.33 within the
year.
Another was 81 cents last
year. but the profit this yea was
ti.S0.
These are only a few examples
selected haphaznrd, showing an
average increase OF over 800 per
what a chapter Of world ane,iIah and