The labor world., 1922-09-16
STRIKE !
IS REAL WORK
CONTINUED from page ~

CONTINUED from page ~
can do his own cobbling, as many
have learned to do, can have sole lea
ther for the asking.
The use of 80 automobiles owned
by strikers. is donated to the work
Of transporting strikers and relief
supplies and in return the Amalga-
mated provides for the upkeep Of
these machines. For this service
there is special slip which binds
the strike treasury to pay for gas,
oil, tires, tubes or repairs.
This relief work costs on an av-
erage Of $1,000 q week and has cost
as high as $4,000 a week, inclusive
Of the expense of conducting eight
restaurants at which. strikers and
their children are fed twice a day,
and the home relief to strikers dis
tant from restaurants. Originally
there were 1s restaurants but these
were consolidated to save expense, it
was explained.
Don't call it our strike" says Mr..
Dick, including Mr.. Derrick and him.
self in his gesture. Cali it every
body's strike. never saw anything
like it and I don't believe there ever
was anything like it. All we did was
show them the way to organize. They
organized.
Between 5000 and $500 Workers.
"Just think of it! Thirteen mills in
the valley with between 5000 and
$500 workers. A thousand of them
would not organize. This is the thou
sand who went back to work. But
for weeks these Is mills never turned
a wheel. Fifty-four hundred of them
are still holding together. Do you for
once think that any union organizer
or any dozen union organizers could
do this?"
Mr.. Dick charged that 700 workers
counted by mill managers in the val
ley are school children, many Of
whom are under. 1S years and are
working in violation of the state
54-hour law.
Mr.. Derrick said he never worries
about the outcome Of the strike. He
pointed to the two truck loads Of
collectors starting out from head
quarters, men and women bound for
the mill gates at Fall River where
friendly textile workers open their
pay envelopes and give to the Rhode,
Island strikers.
Asked how much he thought one
of the trucks would bring back. Mr..
Derrick replied, "Oh, $1,000"
One Arctic business man "a neu-
trial. asked how he accounted for
the preservation of morale over SO
long period, said:
well, during the war the cotton
textile operatives made big pay.
Some Of them spent it. Some of them
saved it. None of them liked the idea
of the 22h per cent cut In Decem-
Der, but they tolerated it. None of
them would tolerate the 20 per cent
cut and the increase from 48 to 81
hours in January. It was just: like
taking your tungsten lamp away
from you and telling you to read
with an old kerosene lamp again.
How would you feel?"
An eviction party found a family
gathered around a player piano in
the parlor with father playing and
mother and the children singing and
Deputy Sheriff LEVEL Mr.. Whitman
and his gang of ,sawmill hands, had
come to move them.
Deputy Sheriff Whitman with
| Capt. Mark p. Rancourt, the nation
al guard commander in the valley,
are the most unpopular men along
the Pawtuxet river among the strik-
ers and their sympathizers. Beyond
this circle Capt. Rancourt is regard
ed as typifying the barrier between
peace and disorder. The innocent
bystander' has the feeling that Capt.
Rancourt is an indispensable per-
son.
American Flag Displayed.
Invariably at Crompton it is found
that the American flag with the
flags of Poland are popular decora-
tions for parlor walls. At one evic-
tion the lack of belligerent spirit
was shown when children, sighting
the flag, climbed upon the furniture
and decorated it with the flags with
out objection from the sheriff or the
armed guardsmen, who "stand
around just to see that nothing hap
pens."
Everybody is very serious until
Mr.. Pope, Crompton's leading har-
monica artist, appears. Standing be-
hind a tree. he sounds ''reveille'' on
his harmonica. The children quit the
eviction scene. Away they go, traip-
sing after Mr.. Pope as if he were
the Pied Piper of Hamlin himself.
! Men and women laugh, nudge each
other and turn back to. the stream
of furniture bearers. The unfortu-
nate family's yellow and white cat
looks for a hiding place under the
household effects in the gutter. The
sheriff's mon lug and tug and sput-
! ter.
Suppose the strike. ends tomor-
row." asks Mr.. Dick, the organizer.
Suppose all these people could be
driven back to work. How long do
you think it is going to be before
the mills reach the peak of produc--
ton again? Never, with dissatisfied
help. And, I'm telling you that the
~