Evening star., 1934-09-23
S1,OOO,0DO ADAy
ESTIMATED COST
Of TEXTILES STRIKE
Many Lose, but Some Gain,
by WaIkout, Economic
Survey Reveals.
COTTON MILLS HEDGE
ON FUTURES MARKET
Business Men Protect Interests
by Using Mart Facilities.
Prices Are Steady.
BY the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
NEW YORK.-A survey of economic
factors in the general textile strike
indicates it is costing" roughly ST.
100000 each working day.
Those "costs" can be found in:
Wages lost by strikers and those
forced out Of work by closed mills.
Payments to militiamen by States.
Wages of special guards paid by
mills, cities and counties.
Cost of munitions.
Damage to property.
Interest on the investment in closed
mills.
Loss on Cancelled orders.
War chest" expenditures by both
sides.
Losses to allied industries such as
transportation.
But while some individuals are seen
as losing" a certain amount daily,
others are seen as gaining that same
amount.
Strikers Lose Pay.
The estimated 423,000 employees not
receiving weekly pay envelopes as a
result of the strike lose the amount
| that would have been in those enve-
| lopes.
While there is some dispute over
the exact wages paid to textile work
ers. the Bureau of Labor Statistics
| shows cotton textile workers received
a weekly average pay of S10.97 in
June, the last date for which figures
are available. For all textile workers,
union officials have figured an average
| of SIS a week. The figures are based
on eurtailed working conditions.
| Guardsmen Gain.
| A recent survey showed States were
paying roughly $4,000 a day to about
1000 militiamen in the field at that
time. States lost" but guardsmer
had Just that much extra. State pay
ments for munitions go into pockets
of manufacturers. One manufacturer
of guns and gas bombs told Senate
committee his business has increased
to 10 per cent since the beginning
of the strike.
So far as the cotton textile indus
try itself is concerned, officials OBJ
serving the situation closely believe
little actual economic damage is
| being done at the moment. The
longer the strike, however, the more
serious the situation might become.
Cotton Prices Steady.
Stocks of raw cotton on hand,
which cannot be utilized because of
closed mills, are not classed as a
| liability because cotton deteriorateS
little and most of the mills have
| placed hedges in the cotton futures
market to insure against wide price
| changes.
Gray goods, which has no futures
market, has been hedged by some
mills in the cotton futures market.
Such hedging is more risky, according
to some operators, because prices on
cotton and gray goods do not always
tend to move together. Gray goods
is a basic product of mills in an
unfinished state.
But since the strike started gray
goods prices have strengthened and
cotton prices have been steady.
The inventory of cotton goods dur
ing the Summer before the strike was
figured at four to eight weeks of
production by those in the trade, and
at the beginning of the third week
of the strike it was given by compe-
tent observers at four to six weeks.
Untitled Orders.
| There was a dent made in in
ventories the week before the strike
because of a rush of buying orders
from those who believed the strike
would sharply curtail production.
One bright spot seen by indus
trialists is a backlog of untitled Or
ders. They contend the mills not
working now eventually will turn out
most of these orders.
Railroads, trucks and boats also
are partially marking time, so far
as textile shipping is concerned, but
those in the trade believe they even
tually will get the business.