The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-09-05
General Strike Is
 Spreading q Little.
tContinued from Page ly

Carolinas. Occasional minor dis orders were reported in the East.
 Mediation efforts continued in Washington, but new suggestions that President Roosevelt intervene brought no developments at the Summer White House at Hyde Park.
 What Survey Shows
 Although the situation was changing hourly, after mill opening time otday a survey indicated:
 150,000 out in the South;
 100000 out in New England.
 S5,000 out in Pennsylvania.
 10000 out in other sections.
 Between 600,000 and 650,0O0 workers are employed in silk, wool en and cotton textile plants of the nation.
 Many of 15,oOO Paterson silk workers joined the strike today.
 Hundreds of pickets were ar rested throughout strike areas. Fifteen were arrested at Paterson, many others in the South.
 Violence occurred at Macon, Ga, where wild shot was fired during bitter fist fight between police, pickets and factory officials. Tear gas bombs were police weapons from New England to Alabama.
 Flying Picket Squadrons
 Flying squadrons of pickets in North and South Carolina pushed their way into mills in their drive to get new recruits. Textile leaders here have turned their offensive now to obtaining support from the bulk of 300,000 non-union factory hands.
 Clubs, stones and fists flew in many minor disorders before mill gates in the Carolinas and New England.
 North and South Carolina gover. nors threatened troop action to break up activities of picket squad- rons.
 A thousand union organizers led flying squadrons to picket mills and button-hole loyal workers. Such ac- tivities frequently flared into wild melees.
 Bands of strikers wandered from mill to mill in the Carolina Hills.
 One after another plants were closed down.
 Forced Out Of Mills
 A horde of strikers swung shout ing into Gastonia, N. C., broke their way into four mills, defied owners, turned off the power, and showed workers from their posts.
 Caldwell Ragan, treasurer of one of the mills, elbowed his way into the center of the strife, mounted a soap box and shouted:
 You men are committing a damnable, insolent outrage" :. The rowing pickets ignored him, incapacitated his plant and moved on. They said they intended to keep all of the 104 mills in Gaston county from operating. Women employees turned hys- terical as pickets battled workers in the mills at Spindale, S. C., one invader was stabbed with an ice pick. The manager of a mill was beaten in brawl at Macon, Ga. Police sent tear gas hissing toward pickets at Augusta, Ga. Three thousand strikers stormed the main gate of the Firestone Tire Fabric plant in New Bedford, Mass. They forced an outgoing shift of 600 employees to retreat into the plant and then pelted 1t with stones. A minister led one demon- stration. Police reserves drove 1000 strikers away from the Lawr- ence manufacturing company plant at Lowell, Mass. In Fall River, officers sprayed the demonstrators | with tear gas.
 The pickets tried to wrest the bombs away from the police. Francis J. German, the national strike leader in Washington, order | ed 15,000 silk workers in Paterson, N. J. to join the walkout. Mill owners said they never would sign | another contract with the United Textile workers if their employees quit.
 Charging warlike preparations on the part of the industry, German declared:
 Will Not Be Broken 'The strike will not be broken by guns and poison gas. It will be won by the sheer might of the | great cause"
 He said that 3OO,OO0 men and women already had left their jobs that thousands more would leave today and that the industry would be S5 per cent crippled by Sat- urday.
 George A. Sloan, chairman ol the Cotton Textile institute, insist ed almost simultaneously that the srike had failed. He said 1t would be ended "In a reasonably short time."
 Peter Van Horn, chairman of the silk code authority, said the walkout had failed almost com pletely in the silk, rayon and sym thetic fabric plants. German read their statements, then charged them with whistling In the dark.
 The barrage of stinging state- ments left labor and industry further apart than ever. Union heads said they would not sign a truce until hours are reduced to l 30 a week, without corresponding reduction in wages; until the union is recognized as labor's official bargaining agency and until per.