Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-04-03

asleep downstairs.
MIGRATION
Continued From First Page
lilies. and includes many re-
turned service men dividing
their time between classroom and
mill.
One of the students is Jim
Cole, 26, who has shifted from
the mills to the postal service
after getting out of the Navy.
Another is his friend. "Chuck"
Muller. Is. a former Marine. who
studies business administration
in the morning at Belmont and
then hustles to a nearby mill
where he gets 80 cents an hour
as an unskilled laborer on the
afternoon-night shift.
Both boys, are advocates of
unionism. They agree that it was
their experience in uniform
when you found out what other
people were doing" as young
Cole puts it, that is responsible
for this feeling.
Dead Against Unions"
1.-THE young people around
here who haven't been outside
the community are dead against
unions" he amplifies. They talk
about the abuses. the strikes. and
won't look at the benefits. Some
will say that if people don't like
their work they can quit.
'They listen to the older
people, too. and the old ones.
are against the unions"
Women were dropping over
like flies in last summers heat
at one Of those mills up the
road. butt they still don't want
to hear about unions" Chuck
Muller chimed in.
From the background Of 80
years at Belmont, where he now
directs flourishing adult edu-
cation department, Father Cuth-
bert Allen agrees with the con-
illusions of the young students.
He says firmly:
UNLESS there is a radical
change in sentiment, the mills
down here will not be unionized
in 20 years"
Employers Pay Fees
The labor minded priest
teaches human relations to ca
pacity classes. whose members
mostly are mill under-o officials.
Employers generally pay the IS
registration fee, which is the
total cost.
The priest chuckles, recalling
that when the classes got started
a couple of years back, mill man.
agementS sent observers to find
out what sort of indoctrination
was in vogue.
They learned that some of the
material, at least, was drawn
from papal encyclicals dealing
with labor.
An unusual development in a
predominantly non Catholic
community, the classes have
continued to grow, because, the
instructor says, the mill people
do want to improve personnel
relations
But he does not even suggest
that this has any effect on anti
union feeling.
Bloody RiOting
There was bloody rioting,
marked by two deaths, in nearby
Gastonia a quarter of a century
ago. The incident vas blamed on
Communist agitation in one of
the periodic efforts to organize
the mill workers.
Father Cuthbert says that the
Gastonia affair. which attracted
national attention, still is raised
as an argument against unionism
by its unyielding Southern foes
in and out Of the mills.
The Belmont observers feel too
that fear plays its part in sitting
budding unionism.
A union official, asking not to
be quoted by name, says that the
deadly blow suffered by unionism
was the loss of the great 1884
strike. In those days only the
ALL occupied the field and the
strike, involving thousands. took
place when employers started in
creasing work-loads by the So
called "stretch-out system" after
the minimum wage was increased
to Is cents hourly under the
NRA code.
Officials Aren't Optimistic
The workers gave in after a
otter struggle.
That was a calamity" says
tne official.
In 1851. the unions lost an
other strike.
Now both CIO and AFL are
trying to strengthen their lines.
but officials are not optimistic.
The CLOS Mr.. Kramer be-
lieves. as do young Wells and