The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1929-10-21
SINCLAIR LEWIS
PAINTS LIFE OF
BLOODY MARION
Famous Author Tells Vivid
Story of Troubles in
Textile Area.
fContinued from Page One.l


ings dumped into the gutter in
front Of the place where had been
home.
For two families the eviction was
grave matter. Illness failed to
stay the hand Of the officers, al
though the order provides for spe-
ciaI consideration Of those families
thus afflicted.
1.-THE families Of Henry TetheroW
and J. A. Valentine were evicted.
strikers said, contrary to orders Oh
MAGISTRATE Bismark Caps, who
signed the eviction writ. Valentine
4-vear-old daughter was said to be
seriously i'll with smallpox, against
which this state has no quarantine
laws"
Strike Is Settled
Well. then, there were the Marion
strikers and their families, who,
without having to work, were re-
catyine enough food to keep from
absolutely starving, who had $40 a
month houses and such old clothes
as people happened to give them.
With such luxury as this, prob
ably foreigners would have gone on
Ioafing forever. But these strikers
were authentic 100 per cent Amer
leans and they want to get back to
work. So on Sept. 10 the strike was
settled on this basis:
The hours were to be reduced to
ffty-fve hours a week; wages were
to be increased at the pleasure OF
the Marion Manufacturing Com
pany and since then they have
complied honorably with this by
increasing wages 5 per cent, which
must be a tremendous help to a man
making less than $13 week-and
there was to be no discrimination
against men who at thta time be-
longed to the union.
1t is the third clause, regarding
discrimination against union mem
bers, which has created trouble.
Union men say that in the Marion
Manufacturing Company all union
members have been Disseminated
against. The employers say that it
is just a coincidence.
A telegram from John Peel, from
Marion, just has come to interrupt
me. 1t says: Carver, one of
wounded, died at noon" That
makes six. instead of five, killed by
the volley of the sheriff's deputies.
Why Not Shoot All?
I saw Carver in the hospital.
He was very thin and yellow; he
looked under-nouriShed; he was very
courteous to me, a stranger.
He is dead now. He is one prob
lem that we need not solve in Marion.
Isn't it unfortunate that the ninble
guns Of the sheriff's deputies did
not get all of those misplaced 600
who work for the Marion Manufac-
turing Company? Then, like Mr..
Carver, they would none of them
have any more problems.
To continue where I left off when
the telegram came in, the employers
at the Marion Manufacturing Com
pany say that it is just a coinci-
dence that they have not rehired
the men who were most prominent
in union affairS-that it is because
these men have proved, upon scien-
tific investigation of their careers,
not to be so brilliant as a mill
worker ought to be if you are going
to force a salary of S13 week upon
him.
Whichever of these sides Is right,
there arose discomfort among the
workers who had not been taken
back into the mills. So Bill Ross,
left in charge of the strike for the
U. T. w, planned to call a strike
in the Marion Manufacturing Com
pany, presumably with the thought
Of a later strike in the Clinch1eld
mills
Sheriff Is Called
The date Of the calling Of the
strike was vaguely set for Oct. 2,
because Mr.. Baldwin, president Of
the Marion Manufacturing Com
pany, had been called away and
the strikers, in their inconsiderate
way. waited until he returned. They
wanted to see II he would not
rather settle the whole business in
stead of having another pocket
edition Of hell on earth.
But on Oct. /, the superintendent
Of the mill, Adam Hunt. worried
by the rumors Of trouble, called in