The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-09-23
MiIitancy Grows Among
the Textile Workers in
the Anthracite Regions
BY VERA BUCH.

anthracite witnessed by the strikes of silk
workers involving in some places many as seven or
eight hundred employees mostly young girls, draws at
enton forcbly to the textile industry of that region
Silk and knit goods mills producing goods Of tremen-
dous value and paying unbelevaby low wages scat
tered throughout the entire anthracite territory.
These textile mills of the anthracite illustration
of light industry following heavy one. They
into that territory in the wake of the coal mines. Two
considerations drew them there first the coseness to
fuel the source of second the existence there of
plenty of cheap labor which means in plain terms the
women and children of the coal miners families When
we consider that the textile employers of this region pay
their help seven and eight dollars week, and in
cases as low five six dollars, readily what
lnducement led them to locate in that part of the
try.
Two varieties of textile mills predominant in this
region knitting (ncluding underwear stockings sweat
ers and bathing suts) and silk the southern anthra-
cite strip reaching from Lehighton to Shamokin and
including the cities of Shenandoah Pottsve and Maha
it is the knit goods mills which
with some silk mills In the upper anthracite on the
other hand the district which from Carbonate to
Nantcoke and includes the cities of Scranton, Pttston
Plymouth and Wkes-Barre, it silk which predomin-
ates with few knitting and other sorts of textile mills
There are, according to Davisons Textile Blue Book
1925 81 knitting mills in the counties of Carbon,
Schuylk and Northumberland the southern anthracite
countless and 95 silk mills In the upper anthracite region
comprising the counties of Lackawanna and Luzerne,
there 140 silk and Is knitting mills The only
siderable textile mills outside of these two branches
the Scranton Lace Co in Scranton employing 800 people
and the Wilkes Barre Lace Mfg. Co.. with capital of
81 100000 and employing 1850.
The anthracite is only silk center but is in fact
the most important Of the entire country for
branch of the silk industry, namely silk throwing
Tounderstand the significance of these facts must
look little into the various processes of silk manufac
ture.
The first stage of broad silk manufacture is the
portaton into this counry-chiey from the Orientof
silk This silk, in long, fine, strands wound
just it from the onto spoo threads from
hahn
tain Silks like pongees which made directly from
this silk In Others silk is used for the warp
However, most silk cloths require the silk to be first
thrown" twisted before weaving. Throwing is
process by which several of the long, tenuous
fibres (Which already several of the original
combined) twisted together This gives great
durability to the silk and in in crepes
by an extra hard twist mparts special texture Of
all the silk imported into the country-whch
all the raw silk used-65 per cent is thrown
For the most part this throwing process is separate
industry carried in mills especially equipped for it.
which do nothing else. Most broad silk producers buy
silk themselves for their orders because they
better judge of the quality before the silk is thrown and
give out to throwing mills to be thrown commission
These silk mills scattered over the region not only
in the cities but in the smallest towns and villages.
Sxtyone mill units of Lackawanna and Luzerne
ties found in towns of less than 10000 inhabitants
and 81 towns of this class possess at least silk MILL
Outside of Scranton and WkesBarre, only % mills
located in towns of 10000 There is hardly viii
lage of the anthracite big enough to cluster few hun
dreds of families together around its coal NINE which
has not also silk mill, generally small and dingy.
The greatest number of workers in these mills
young girls, and most of them daughters of coal
miners While the wives of the miners do not as rule
go out to work. except in of sickness long
employment of the husband, their daughters reg
uar thing for job at the age of fourteen There
not many industries in the anthracite Outside of
the large cities, the silk mills almost the only places
where girls work.
The conditions under which these young girls are
working poor, their wages unbeevaby low. The
speedup has been universally introduced The
day longer prevails AS for wages let us look at the
hours in the cotton, wooden and silk industries This
bulletin the of doubers in silk throwing
mills for 1914 the magnificent of $3.50 per week.
These figures average for the industry large
Figures are not available for the present time and for
the anthracite region specifically. The writer would
place the average thereudgng from personal accounts
lat about So week
i The u S. Tariff Commission report mentioned above
speaks of the peaceful labor conditions and lack Of
labor troubles of the inducements for the silk
mills to locate IN the anthracite This may have bee2
true the past but recent indications would show that
these glorious (for the empoyers) days of workers
peaceful" submission to outrageous wages and cond
lions are about Witness the fine militant fight
lasting for many weeks put up this by 300 girl
employees of the Klots Throwing Co.'s plant in Carbon
dale Ga powerful 100000 corporation with branches
in twelve different localtes). Witness the snappy
struggle Of 700 young workers of several silk companies
in WilkesBarre within weeks, a struggle which
won recognition of their union and better sanitary
ditions and was followed by strike of eight or nine
hundred more silk workers in Kingston
These American young girls and youths who work
here. Whether their parents born here or in Eu
rope, they themselves American Bred with the Amer
lean pep and push, with higher standards than their
parents They showing their appreciation of or