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fiosTexcMsfrefy m'Nottinghami' antf
require a higher gn&e of skill to
manipulate than any machinery thaF
has ever come under my notice. They
are enormous in size and are so ex
pensive that it has always been cus
tomary to operate them 20 hours per
day, two men working each loom in
alternate night and day shitfs.
In addition to the requirements of
9 skilled operators, great hardships is
necessarily enforced on the weavers,
or twisthands, as they are termed, by
the condition of atmosphertessential
to the successful working of the ma
chines, as the thousands of strings
and threads are remarkably sensitive
to humid and dry air fluctuations, and
even though the temperature be in
the 90's, all mill windows must often
be kept closed tight and frequently
the thermometer will register 120 de
grees in the alleys In which the men
toil.
Unlike most imported workers, lace
makers have always enjoyed a High
standard of living, as even 30 and 40
years ago. when the cost of living was
negligible as compared to what it is
now, they were as highly paid h
England as they are in Americano
day, while their working conditions
have deteriorated through speeding
up methods and increasingly strin
gent discipline.
When the lace industry was first
brought over, as described, along
with the male weavers came design
ers, draughtsmen, pattern' readers,
etc., and female threaders and wind
ers, highly developed technical skill
being necessary in all branches. A
few years ago some worker invented
a machine which automatically read
the patterns, and his fellow workers,
0 the pattern readers, who were among
the highest paid men in the Industry,
were immediately discharged and
left to work out their own destiny,
capitalism having no further use for
their services. Now the old skilled
weavers, the pioneers of American
activity their line, are also being
picked out and told to go to hell!
fiad tney chewed tobacco arotwd
some campfire in the 60's, this glor
ious country woujd have rewarded
their achievement with pensions,, but
seeing that they have done nothing
more noble than to educate the ris
ing young American generation, the
latter must necessarily adhere strictly
to rules of the present system and
scab on their teachers. To sum up,
the merits of the situation are as fol
lows: The Zion City lace workers
were induced by agents of capitalism, j
by glowing promises of a brilliant f u- (
ture, with permanent employment In t
strict accordance with their union ,
principles, to qmigrate to the com
munity in which they now reside. J
They have become good American j
citizens, have raised families and
have acquired homes wHich, by de
cree of the Marshall Field octopus,
must now be sacrificed. Their
bridges were all burned behind them
years ago, they have nowhere else to
go, no means of earning a living: only
in the trade to which they have de
voted their honest and useful Hfe en
ergies. The subservient courts of
Lake county, finding these lace
makers In the industrial gutter, hate
administered to them a swift legal '
kick in the form of a most scurrilous1
Injunction. Is this a fitting reward for
lives of self-sacrificing effort?
The government of the United
States officially recognized, the factr
that these lace makers were bringing
with them a' new industry at the time '
of their-importation by allowing them r
to be brought to this country under
contract! It not the U. S, govern-
ment morally responsible? Is not the c
state of Illinois morally responsible
also that the lace workers of Zion
City at least get a square deal? Wrru
E. Dunn, 2204 Lovell av.
ifa-ROUDCING MR. DOGFISH. s
Is the dogfish a salt water or a fresh
water fish? Is it good to eat? Are 1
there dogfish in the great lakes?;
Fisherman.
There are dogfish and dogfish3
S'
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