House Divided

Sprawling Kensington, Pa., centre of the U. S. hosiery industry, has seen some sad sights. It has seen its busy mills--where in the palmy days before depression and improved machinery began to displace labor, a good knitter could make $125 a week--oust workers for machines; then close themselves for lack of work.

Flourishing in the early '20s among Kensington's many busy mills was the Westmoreland, one of a chain of mills operated by Interstate Knitting Mills, Inc. Years went by, the machinery in Westmoreland's dingy red-brick building grew old, became outmoded. Last summer Interstate closed the mill. Faced with joblessness, the 500 employes decided to take it over, run it as a cooperative. They borrowed on their homes, cars, signed quick notes, and incorporated as the Hancock Knitting Mills.

Only man in the plant who did not own a share was Gus Geiges, whom they hired as general manager. Gus Geiges was an old unionist, ex-president of the C. I. O. American Federation of Hosiery Workers. All his 500 worker-owners were A. F. H. W. members. Last November they started operating.

Almost immediately, as orders failed to materialize, the owner-workers had to start laying themselves off. Last week, only 100 of them had jobs in their plant. Trouble was, with their old machines, it was difficult to compete on prices with more modern plants and still maintain union wages.

Modern machinery sometimes puts men out of work, sometimes is needed to keep them at it. Worse, the mill had no capital to lay up reserve supplies. Last week, when it looked as if the cooperators would have to close their plant, along came an order for 7,000 dozen pairs of cheap stockings. But to deliver at the price offered they would have to cut their wage scale, 10% to 20%. They took the order, cut wages.

Promptly, fellow members of A. F. H. W. put the cooperative on its "unfair list," picketed it. Said they: "The union has to defend its wage scale, even against its own members." Said the Hancock officers: "If we do, we've got to go out of business." Fuming unhappily, Gus Geiges and other old union men were forced into the great labor sin of crossing the picket line. Union members, picketed by their fellows, continued to knit away inside Hancock. At week's end the situation was taken into bickering conference.

Peace came, but more by good luck than good management. The cooperative agreed to return to its wage scale. What brought about the agreement was another windfall: a big pending order for Hancock. Gus Geiges, eyes on the bright horizon, predicted that all 500 owners would be back to work in their plant by April 1.

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