Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-05-10
PATERSON DYE|NG
SUPREMACY HIT.
Biu silk and Rayon Center
Torn by Strife, but River
Main Factor.

pATERso N. j.. May 10
INAN.AD.-On the cof1ee-colored
waters of the Passaic River floats the
answer to the question: will Pater-
son cease to be the silk center of the
United States?"
Today this is a city of conflicting
arguments, for:
First, many dyers and finishers are
threatening, because of high wages
and the interference of labor in pro-
ductive operations" to move their
plants north to upper New York State
and New England, south to Virginia,
the Carolinas and Georgia, and west
to Pennsylvania.
Second, labor leaders are denounc-
ing this threat as gigantic bluff.
Third, officials of the Paterson
Chamber of Commerce, whose task it
Is to retain established industries.
smile blandly at the turgid. 80-mile
stream that flows through New Jersey
into New York Bay and assert that
the magical quality of its water. es-
sential to the process of dyeing, will
keep the manufacturers right where
they are.
Supremacy Unchallenged.
The supremacy of the Paterson
area, at this time. in the completion
of the queen fabric" is not to be
challenged. More than rs per cent
of the silk coming into America is
dyed in Paterson.
In addition, in recent years there
has sprung up new industry that
has brought the silk dyers into COM
petition with the dyerS and finiSherS
Of cotton That is the rayOn industry.
Vast quantities of rayOn yarns are
dyed in Paterson, although much is
given its high colorS at the plants
where it is manufactured-in Vir-
ginia, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Rhode
Island, Connecticut and Massachu-
sets.
Thus, some 80 dyeing plants, en-
ploying some $4,000 workers, are to
be found in the Paterson area. which
includes Paterson, Passaic, Clifton
Garfield, Rutherford and Lodi. The
Chamber of Commerce estimates the
investment at $40,O0O,0O0.
Yet, despite the prestige. which
Paterson enjoys as silk center, the
operators are threatening to desert
the city and tension is high.
1t is not the first time that plant
owners have announced their inten-
ton to move elsewhere. Capital and
labor have been at each others
Threats for many years in Paterson
and, with each clash, has come q
threat of closing the city's dye works
Yet the queen of fabrics" has re-
named enthroned here.
According to the Federation of Tex
tile Dyers, Finishers, Bleachers and
Printers of America, the prevailing
wages from 1893 until 1881 were from
to II cents an hour. In 1892 they
were advanced to 40 cents. Then. in
1888, came strike which shot wages
up to Sta cents, although the mini
mum N. r. A. code requirement was
only As. Last year another strike
was called and, on December 6. a
contract, running until September
1896, was signed, establishing Sc
cents as the current scale.
Relations ran smoothly until last
March, when rumbling was heard n
capitals camp. Labor charges that
then an attempt was launched to
sound out sentiment on the question
OF Scrapping the new agreement. 1t
charges also that, with production
reduced, operators with plants in
New England. Pennsylvania and
other sections, where the workers were
not organized and wages we're at
code level, made money out of closing
their Paterson plants and operating
only their out-Of-town works.
Seven Plants Closed.
Since March conditions have be-
come more critical and, up to now,
seven Paterson plants have been
closed-some through liquidation
and four have been moved out of
the city.
Anywhere from 1000 to 1000 OPP
eratives are on relief-only an esti-
mate being possible, because exact
figures bearing on the silk industry
are not available at Relief Admin
tstration headquarters.
The operators assert that half of
the $4,000 dyers have been thrown
out of work by the closing of these
ii plants; labor headquarters, ridi-
culing the assertion, places the maxi
mum number at 1900
Capitals side was terSely put by
Emanuel Shivack, counsel for the
Institute of Dyers and Printers:
I'VE are being forced to move from
Paterson. For one thing, interior
ence of the union in production re-
fleets on the management. Moreover,
down East plants operate under the
cotton code: here we are forced to