Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1921-09-27
women that he had called out upon the

strike began to go to pieces.
The first break came at the Locke
Mills. where more than 300 went in
dividually to the superintendent and
applied for work.
Serious friction and fighting devel-
opcd between those who returned to
work and an element of stl ikers who
sought to prevent them from working
1t became necessary to send troops
to Concord in order to protect those
who wanted to return TO work and
Governor Morrison emphatically stat
ed that while he would have nothing
to do with industrial disputes, the en-
tire power OF North Carolina would
protect any and al men who wanted
to exercise their right to work.
Since that time the strikers, with the
exception of a small contingent of the
worst element, have returned to work
at the same wages ard under the same
conditions as when the ctrike was
pulled.
There are no longer any questions
about wages or hours, and so COM
pletcly has the strike failed that dur
ing the past two weeks the entire eff
forts of the union has been towards
getting the mills to re-emp!oy certain
radical members.
Those who walked out on June !
have been fighting to get back the Jobs
which they left.
The strike was called upon the
grounds that excessive reduction in
wages had been made and while the
strikers no longer make any such
claims, | wish to give the following
facts:
The wages in the cotton mills of the
south were advanced much faster dur
ing the boom than those of northern
mills and the reduction was, therefore,
greater during the decline.
Use highest reduction made by any
Of the mills affected by the strike was
80 per cont. and one of the groups had
only reduced SO per cent. The mills
affected by the strike, moreover, had
not reduced their wage scales as much
as other mills in the south.
The operatives of the southern mills
live in comfortable cottages in the mill
villages, paying a rent of from 90 to
% cents per room per week with lights
and water furnished free, and upon the
wages that they were receiving at the
time Of the strike they could live much
! better than the operatives of the New
England mills who do not live in mill
villages and have to pay high rents.
The contention that the workers
would starve upon the wages that they
were receiving entirely disappeared
following publicity showing, through a
comparison of commodity prices, that
the cost of living had declined more
than the reduction in wages.
The results of the strike may be Civ
en- as follows:
The United Textile Workers collect
ed from the cotton mill operatives an
amount alleged to be in excess of
| $3.50, 900 and have kept same in spite of
the strenuous efforts of the strikers to
get back part of it.
The operatives in Charlotte Con-
cord -Eannapolis lost more than 81
100000 in wages during the strike.
/ The merchants and business men of
| those cities lost the business that
would have come to them through the
| distribution of the $2,000,000 in wages.
| Many small merchants around the
mills are bankrupt by reason of the
credit that they extended to the busi'
ness managers of the union and to in
dividual strikers.
! No class of people has ever been
more imposed unon than the cotton
mill operatives of Charlotte, Concord
! and Kannapolis, and they have suffer
| ed severely because they trusted the
union organizers who represented that,
! if they would pay regular dues they
would be supported in idlencSs when
ever they chose to strike.
All but about 300 of the 5000 strikers
are now back in the mills at the same
wages and under the same conditions
MS at the time of the strike, and all
but n few Of the remainder arc striv-
ing to get the mills to allow them 10
return.
There were no just grounds for the
strike, and it was the most complete
failure among Il long list of failures
that have resulted from the manage
m,nt of strikers by Thomas i. Nc
MahUn.
Mr.. Mcmahon Representing Labor.
shall cndcavOr, in my own way, t.
place the case of the mill workers OF
the southland before YOU in such z
way that ut least you will investigate
for Yourselves and see if such state
mcntS as | make are facts. II no
facts, then | should be held up to pub
lie scorn and forced by that scorn tc
quit the labor movement. on th'
other hand, if they are true in all gen
Cral essentials, then Il hue and cry
should be raised against those rcspon'
sible for such un- American condition:
as are allowed to continue for the sol'