The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-08-30
CAROLINA Mill
WORKERS START
/. FOR cleveland
(Continued from Paqe Onel


Workers Conference at Charlotte on
Oct. II and 10, continues and gains
momentum. The bosses thought that
the Imprisonment and persecution
of the leaders of the N. 7. w. U.
would stop the growth of the union,
but they were mistaken. Since the
Bessemer City Conference the union
has extended its organization and
its influence to additional thousands
of mill workers.
Can't Be Stopped.
Every member Of the N. 7. W. U.
and the l. l. D. is working day and
night for the freedom of the defend
ants, but whether or not Manville-
Jenckes is able to railroad them to
electrocution or imprisonment this
work will go on without stopping.
No amount Of brutality, persecution
or terrorism can stop it.
District of the n. T. w. IT,"
said Oehler, sis active in territory
covering five states with over 300
900 textile workers. Their wages
are miserably low-averaging $12.83
for $500 hour week, according to
the latest figures of the 1929 Census
of Manufacturers. Actually very
large percentage get only $40 or less
per week, and in Georgia less. In
North Carolina the average wage is
S13.28 per week; in Mississippi,
$1,000 Over 10 per cent of them are
so restless, so discontinued with con-
ditions that they constitute per-
manent floating population, always
looking for new jobs hoping that at
some other mill, things will not be
so bad.
Women On Night Shift.
"Women work on the II and IL
hour night shift in every Southern
State. About 35 per cent of the
women work at night. In North
Carolina the law requires that chill
dren be IA years of age before they
go to work and if they have finished
the .4th grade in school they can
work so hours per week. Actually
everyone admits that there is no
attention paid to the law. The au-
thorities complacently state that
there is no means Of enforcing the
law or Furnishing violations. There
are plenty of members Of the Youth
Section of the N. T. ". U. who are
10, Il, and y years old who have
been working in the mills. They are
militant unionists too. You should
hear them singing the union songs
they have made up themselves to the
tunes of old mountain folk songs.
We'll never, no we'll never, let our
leaders diei' is the refrain of one.
These children are stunted by mall
nutrition and hard work. The death
rate from pellagra increased 80 per
cent in the past six months in North
Carolina-458 deaths from this dread
disease due to malnutrition. This is
one of the first fruits of the stretch
out and starvation wages. We charge
the mill owners with the murder Of
these 459 workers who died in this
state during the past SIX months,
of pellagra. is it any exaggeration
to say that the mill owners hands
arc red with the blood of these mill
slaves? No!
More Work, Less Pay.
"What is this stretch-out? 1t is
simple. A worker is given more
machines or more sides 20 run with
OFT increasing his pay ana in most
cases with a wage cut. In >he wrods
of one workers: eve were making
S25 to $50 a week running to 8
looms. Now we are running 10 to
II looms and getting SIS to $50 g
week. This is more than any man,
let alone woma9, can stand. IT
just wears you out" Another work
er Jestifies, 81 used to run : twister
frames and made as high as $50.
But when the stretch-out cane I had
to run II frames and get only SIG
to SIS per week"
"The mill workers get an average
annual wage of about $3.50, while
the officials receive salaries of $685.
600 to 100000. Such is Hooverian
prosperity"
"Here you have some of the
reasons for the IA strikes since
March. All except the Loray strike
and the Marion strike were spon-
taneous. The Southern workers are
in revolt. Without leadership, with
out militant union, they cannot win
against the organized power of the
bosses.
- New Union Leads.
"The N. T. w. u. will organize
and lead these workers in a general
movement of struggle which will be
initiated by the Southern Textile
Workers Conference on October ~
and 13. We hope that by that time
our comrades will be free to help
lead this struggle to victory. At
thissconference the demands of the
union will be formulated and these
demands will be made upon the
bosses.
Between the Bessemer City Con-
ference on July % and the N. T. w.
u. picnic and ]. j.. D. conference
last Sunday at Mt. Holly, there have
been exactly 118 meetings held by
the N. T. w. U. and the I. Z. d,
jointly, in this immediate territory,
including meetings at the w. l. R.