Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1926-02-03

G.. Pierce, head Of the corporation.
took personal interest in the boy.
After three years in the office he
spent three years at the machines
and then was advanced to the
agents Office.
He had gone ahead rapidly when
he accepted a chance to enter a
banking house, but after brief ex.
perience there he returned to mill
work. Six years of increasingly i'm.
portant duties in Fall river led to
his choice as superintendent Of the
Washington Mills in Lawrence,
which had been taken over for debts
by Frederick Aver of Lowell.
The poor boy already had risen
rar. He was made welcome in Mr..
Ayers home and after a brief court
ship he was married to the manu-.
facturer's daughter. 4
In 1900 merger Of many Of the
wooden mills in the east was consum-
mated and Mr.. Aver became president
Of the resulting American Wooden
Company. while Wood was made treas
urer Within short time he succeed
ed to the presidency. Other mills
were taken into thu Coordination from
time to time until the company had
approximately 10000 employees in New
England and New York.
Wood built in Lawrence, where the
company had $4,000 workers, the Wood
Worsted Mill, the largest Of its kind
In the world. Later he built in the
neighboring town of Andover a settle
ment Of model homes for mill work.
ers, known as Shawsheen Village. Here
he gave employees or the corporation
the opportunity to purchase their own
homes on a system Of monthly pay
ments and provided bowling green,
soccer grounds and other opportuni.
| ties for recreation.
While emphasizing at all times his
desire for friendly relations with the
corporations employees, he could not
| prevent the Lawrence workers from
! Joining with those of other mills in
that city in the great strike of 1912
which resulted in much violence and
bloodshed. As an aftermath Of the
: strike Wood was indicted for con-
4; spiracy to plant" sticks Of dynamite
! which had been found in the homes Of
several mill workers, with the inten-
ton of imputing criminal charges to
| these operatives. A Lawrence under
taker who had been convicted Of act
! ually placing the dynamite in the
/ homes had told the authorities that
| Wood and others had paid him a few
hundred dollars to do 1t. A mill build
! er named by the undertaken as one Of
| the conSpirators committed suicide aft
er being summoned to testify before
| the grand jury. The trial resulted in
| Woods acquittal.
His name appeared again in criminal
proceedings in 1920 when he and the
American Wooden Company were in
dicted by the federal grand jury in
New York for violating the Lever act
| by profiteering in the sale of wooden
cloth. Charles E. Hughes, retained as
counsel, offered a demurrer on the
| ground that piece of wooden cloth
was not an article of wearing apparel,
and Judge Mack sustained the demur-
rer and quashed the Indictment.
After the indictment several thou
| sand employees Of the company march,
ed four miles from Lawrence to
| Woods home in Andover and gave a
| demonstration of their confidence in
| him. On the night that word was re-
ceived Of Judge Mack's action the
company's employees held public cele-
brations in several mill villages and
gave Wood big reception in Shaw
sheen Village.
IL was WI. WOOu CuSlOHl OH tIc
occasion of wage Increases or de-
creases by the corporation to address
long letters of explanation to the en-
ployes. Frequently he entertained the
Lawrence operatives at his Andover
home. In December, 1919, he arous-
ed the ire of Lawrence merchants
and the gratitude Of his employees by
| charging that the merchants raised
! prices every time the mills increased
wages and declaring that unless they
desisted he would build a big COM
pany store to sell necessaries to OPP
eratives at cost.
| In letter to company employees
in response to Christmas greeting
from them In 1919 he set forth some
of his principles as follows:
"In the new social and industrial
order on which we have entered
there is no room for the selfish en-
ployer or for the selfish worker. 1t
is my firm conviction that there is
no essential antagonism between
capital and labor. Differences Of
opinion may arise but these can be
adjusted If both parties are pervad-
ed with a spirit of good will and
justice"
King Victor Emmanuel made
Wood a Cavalier of the Cross and
Crown of Italy in 1922. Wood never
cared for sports but had owned sew
eral yachts and was a member OF
two country clubs. In politics he
was a republican and in religion an
Episcopalan. He maintained homes
in Andover, Boston. Prides Crossing
on the North Shore and the island
of Cuttyhunk, not far from the place
where he was born.