New-York tribune., 1921-10-01
Mills in the Philadelphia
District Turning Out
Goods Half OF Normal
Output With Green Hands
Eron, a Special Correspondent

PHILADELPHIA Sept. 30.-In spite
Of the strike of full-fashioned hosiery
workers, which has been in effect since
January 1 and shows no sign of ending,
the full fashioned mills in the Phila-
delphia district are now turning out
fully 80 per cent of their normal out
put and their production is constantly
increasing, according to r. L. ?. Reif
sneider, of the National Association of
Hosiery and Unde rWear Manufacturers,
who is in close touch with the mill
managements. The estimate is based
OH the fact that the fourteen large
mills affected by the strike have sue
ceeded in training learners in such
numbers that they are able to operate
% or 80 per cent of tl.eir machines,
and that the smaller mills unaffected
by the strike are operating two shifts.
THE net result of these conditions" ;"
said Mr.. Reifsnetler, "is that the dis
trict as a whole is turning out approx
mately half as much fulifashioned ho-
siery as it produced with single shift
in ali the mills in the days before the
strike
Both sides in the strike have settled
down for a test of strength which is
ference in the closing days of August,
.
Moffet, United States Commissioner Of
Cancellation of The United States De-
partment of Labor, ended without re-
suit after several days of hot discus
sion, and no further attempts at con-
citation are expected Immediately. The
manufacturers are embittered against
the strikers and feel that they can get
their business going at full clip with
out further dealings with them.
The mills face the problem OF teach
ing new men to knit. Just how long
it takes to train knitter is ques-
ton, but it is considered that six
months is fair period of training, at
the end of which a new man may be
expected to work with fair speed and
efficiency. The strike has now lasted
nine months, and the learners taken
on during that period, aided by expert
enced non-union knitters, have now
reached the point where they can turn
out nearly onethird as many stockings
as o conplete. fully-trained force
Manufacturers in the Philadelphia
district profess to be little worried by
the threats of other producing centers
to take away their supremacy in the
tull-fashioned hosiery field 1t takes
too long for new mills to get started,
they say. and before any new district
can get fully Under way they can re-
nabllitate them selves, in spite Of the
strike.
German competition is not reg rde d
by the manufacturers as serious per-
manent menace, although for the mo-
ment it appears that a large quantity
Of German goods is on the market.
: he demand for full fashioned
hosiery, especially for The womens silk
variety. seems virtually as strong as
ever. Whether it viii diminish in the
near future depends to some extent
upon the seriousness with which Amer
lcan women take the decree of the
Paris dressmakers that skirts are to
be worn longer AT present the women
seem to be extremely reluctant to con-
+. rm, and the more optimistic hosiery
men declare that, once having felt the
freedom of short skirts, they will never
so back to the old conservative STYLES.
At any rate, the demands for the sleek
hose that are made necessary by short
skirts have not yet fallen off and tn
mills are doing their best to supply
them