The Meeker Herald

GREAT STRIKE IN ENGLAND
COTTON MILLS ARE SHUT DOWN
The McKinley Law Causes a Reduction in Wages Which the Spinners Say that they Cannot Stand.

Thanks in a great measure to the McKinley law, which has practically closed the ports of the United States to English cotton manufacturers, Great Britain has been plunged into what promises to be the biggest war between capital and labor ever waged in that country. The movement has been developing for some time, but has been precipitated by a cut of 5 per cent. in the wages of operatives, which even now border on the starvation point, being 3 shillings for sixty hours' work. As a result cotton mills employing 16,000,000 spindles, in round numbers, were shut down on the 5th. This number is about 30 per cent. of the total in England, and those in a position to know assert that within a week at the latest nearly all, if not all, the mills in England will be idle.

One of the leaders of the operatives says: "The battle is now on, and it remains to be seen whether organized capital is stronger than organized labor. For many long years we have submitted to oppression, but the worm has turned. We have in the Amalgamated Association of Cotton Spinners a membership of over 24,000, and the card and blowing room operatives, whose employment is necessarily contingent upon the working of the spinners, have in their union an aggregate membership of 25,000 more.

"These unions combined have a reserve fund of £20,000, which will be drawn on in the present struggle as fully as needed. Besides this sum careful arrangements and assessments have been made and we can safely count upon an inflow into the treasury of nearly £3,500 weekly. Two thousand members will remain at their spindles during the lock-out, and each of these will contribute four shillings a week to our relief fund.

"With our funds so ample and the future so fully provided for, I cannot see how our struggle for existence can fail of success. Efforts at arbitration, which have been in operation for many weeks, have fallen flat, and a compromise is not looked for. Our demands are simple and just, and will be insisted upon to the uttermost. Not only the United States, but European nations have fixed a high tariff against England's cotton manufacturers, and whatever the result may be, the output will be greatly reduced and the operatives will follow the example of the Welsh tin workers and emigrate to the United States, where expert labor will be paid the highest market price."

The Masters' union has been unfortunate in its lock-outs heretofore. Twice previously it has failed to induce its members to act in unison. The operatives were very sanguine of speedy success when they quit work Saturday. They made no demonstration about the mills, but went quietly to their homes. The spinners even talked of dispensing with the doling out of "strike pay" for the first fortnight, as they themselves have been preparing for the lock-out. The card-room hands, however, are not so well fixed and want the "strike pay" to commence immediately. Their reserve fund is not so ample as that of the spinners. The promises of support from various sources, however, are ample, and with their own funds the strikers are confident of their ability to continue the struggle for months.