Idle Answer

Francis J. Gorman, captain of Labor's greatest host, last week sat in Washington and counted the first week's results of his national textile strike. Of some 700,000 cotton, woolen, silk and rayon workers whom he had called to idleness, about 375,000 were "out"--because they had answered his call or because they feared to work. In the two great textile areas, New England with 225,000 workers and the mid-South with 340,000 workers, the strike was respectively about 60% and 40% effective.

Many a skirmish had been required to net Leader Gorman this result. At Warren, R. I., 1,000 strikers stormed a mill after a policeman struck a union official. At Augusta, Ga., two Enterprise Mill pickets were wounded and one killed when a policeman, trampled by strikers, fired from the ground. At Bridgeport, Pa., strikers forced entrance to a mill, broke a woman's leg. At Greenville, S. C. one man and four women were clubbed, kicked and mauled in scrimmages with deputies. At Fall River, Mass., Radical Ann Burlak. "The Red Flame,'' was forbidden to hold a meeting. In New Bedford, Mass. 3,000 pickets attacked the main gate of the Firestone Tire Fabric plant, showered windows with stones, forced 600 workers to retreat into the mill for safety. At Trion, Ga. a deputy sheriff and a non-union man were killed in a battle between strikers and deputies.

The most dramatic skirmishes were on a front between Gastonia, N. C. and Greenville, S. C. where strikers organized flying squads operating by automobile, dashed from mill to mill, intimidating workers, occasionally breaking in, driving out workers, smashing windows, sometimes machinery. Net result: 300 mills closed in North and South Carolina. Secondary result: Governors of both states called out National Guardsmen to protect life and property.

But guardsmen could not be everywhere. Most deadly battle occurred at Honea Path, a mill town in South Carolina. There a flying squad of strikers tried to prevent workers from entering the Chiquola Mill. The workers argued for nearly an hour, suddenly started shooting, killed six strikers, wounded 15. Three days later a crowd of 5,000 strikers and strike sympathizers assembled on the field of battle. Amid shouts of "Amen!" and "Praise the Lord!" the Rev. James Myers of Manhattan, Industrial Secretary of the Federal Council of Churches, delivered the funeral oration. "These men," he cried, "were instruments of Jesus Christ in His work of love. . . . They died to make industry Christian. ... It is a test of Christian unselfishness to join a labor union. . . ."

Thus was war made in the field while in Washington peace made much slower progress. Chairman Lloyd Kirkham Garrison of the National Labor Relations Board, in a letter to President Roosevelt, washed his hands of the strike, urged the appointment of a special board to investigate facts, arbitrate if requested. Promptly the President named three peacemakers:

John Gilbert Winant, Republican Governor of New Hampshire, for many years a champion of measures to shorten working hours, set minimum wages, provide workmen's compensation, forbid child labor.

Marion Smith, son of Georgia's late Hoke Smith, himself a prominent Atlanta lawyer, and chairman of the Atlanta regional labor board.

Raymond Vail Ingersoll, Borough President of Brooklyn, who has acted as an arbitrator in labor disputes for the cloak & suit and the knit-goods industries, who served as chairman of New York's minimum wage board when Frances Perkins was New York's Commissioner of Labor.

These three hurried to Washington to begin their job of peacemaking. The United Textile Workers complained that mill owners were overworking the "stretch-out," were refusing to bargain collectively. The employers complained that they could not afford to meet the union's demand of 40 hours pay for 30 hours work.

Already the textile code forbids unreasonable "stretch-out," and requires collective bargaining. As for higher wages and shorter hours, an NRA investigation recently resulted in a report that the indus-try could not afford them under present conditions.

Nonetheless the new Textile Board did not despair of success, for conditions had changed during the first seven days of the strike. Mr. Gorman had won a number of successes and was more ready to make peace. Said he: "We have demonstrated that we can stop the wheels of the textile industry. . . . The mills are closed. We can keep them closed indefinitely."

If these words were a pardonable exaggeration, it was nevertheless true that he had made a great demonstration. Henceforth, especially in the South, his organizers will not have to prove to workers that United Textile Workers is powerful enough to close hundreds of mills. Mr. Gorman had made his point and to continue the strike longer could not win him much more. In fact there were some indications that although the strike seemed to be gaining momentum in New England, it had passed its peak in the South. Protected by guardsmen and deputies, some mills in the Carolinas which had been forced to close by flying squadrons of strikers, began to reopen, their workers to return to work when promised protection.

Leader Gorman offered to submit the questions at issue to arbitration by the new Textile Labor Board, on condition that all mills first closed. Thereby he stood to gain two more prizes: 1) if all the mills closed it would make literally true his boast that "we can stop the wheels of the textile industry," would make his demonstration of power more convincing; 2) if the issues were submitted to arbitration the union would be certain to win some concessions.

As the first week of his great demonstration closed, Leader Gorman said: "We make this arbitration proposal now so that further murder of our fellow-workers can be avoided. . . . We have shown the way. It is a way that has been open always. The only thing that has stood in the way has been the arrogance of the employers."

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