The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-05-30
Conditions in GastOnia Mills

week; Dass Ajrudge, .spooler, S12
per week, 80 years in the mills, 5
children; Inez Rowland, spinner, 81
years in the mill (since II years
old, S13 per week, supports ill
mother and father, husband dead;
Henry Wineberger, spooler, S11 per
week, II years in mill; Sally Wine
berger, $40 per week, 10 years in
mill.
These wages represent the aver
age, not the young girls between IA
and IS years of age who work IL
hours day in the mills for less
than S. per week; $13 per week is
considered a high wage.
Forbidden to Nurse Baby.
A statement given to me by Daisy
Mcdonald, now in New York, speak
ing on conditions in the south, gives
a revealing, and, in most ways typ
zeal, picture of family life ard the
sanctity of the home in the south
ern cotton mill town. She writes:
81 have worked in mills for Is years
and was living at Loray (Loray is
the mill village of Manville-Jenkes
at Gastonia; it is Familiarity called
Greasy Corner by. the strikers
X. R.) at the time of the birth of
my baby, which was Jan. Il, 1925,
my husband being the only support
of my family at the time he was
discharged from the Loray mill on
account of having only one leg, the
other being amputated two years be-
fore on account Of tuberculosis of
the bone. When he was discharged
my baby was five weeks old. 1t was
two weeks before l got work and l
had to go in the mill to work when
my baby was seven weeks old and
was not allowed the privilege to go
out of the mill to nurse my baby at
8 and 8 o'clock. Therefore / was
compelled to put my baby on a bot
tie, this being at the Myers mill,
South Gastonia. I moved back to
Loray and went to work there. NY
daughter was old enough to work
then and they laid her off, and this
left me nine to support on 1920
per week. My house rent was S1.50,
furniture, 81; lights, so to IS cents
per week; insurance on my family,
S1.25 per week; wood, one week,
1920; the next week, coal, $1.75.
The rest I had to support nine and
when the strike came of course ]
came out with the rest" -.
Speed-up Saps Strength.
This is typical story of family
life among the mill hands of North
Carolina. Dozens more could be
told equaling this in the picture it
gives Of poverty. But this poverty
in itself did not precipitate the
strike situation. This was brought
about directly by the institution of
a crude and brutal speed-up on top
OF the already starvation wages and
12-hour day. The machines were
increased two and three times in
speed, making the words doubling
up" and TRIPPING up" a common
place among the mill hands. The
speed-up began in the Manville-
Jenkes mill about year ago. The
workers, already drained Of their
stamina, cursed with disease, exist
ing on "sow belly" and corn bread,
found the speed-up more than they
could bear. More than one worker
has told me how after leaving the
mill at night he would sit down
near the mill gate in order to gain
the strength to walk home after the
~ hours of speed up, and how, after
getting home, they would stagger
to the bed and lie there like a
wounded animal until morning. Of
ten workers, due to the combination
Of starvation and speed-up, faint Oil
the job, uneable to last out the IL
hours.
(Thc next article will deal with
the strike situation.)