ssed a law reducing the hours of women and children from 56 a week to 54. The employers decided to cut wages proportionately. The difference to the factory owners was negligible, but the workers were already at the starving point. Their motto was, “Better to starve fighting, than to starve working.” One thing that was very unique to the Lawrence Textile strike was all of the different people involved. There were at least 30 different nationalities speaking 45 different languages. Only eight per cent of the mill was native-born.Each textile mill was trying to dominate the industry. They had first made the weavers attend to two looms instead of one. Then they gradually increased the speed of the machines. But most importantly, each man was being forced to work harder and do more per day. For the workers, it became and exhausting battle. Wages did advance slowly over the years, but not as much as the cost of living. The Lawrence Textile workers had never been organized. They had a few skilled workers in the American Federation of Labor, but not enough to strike. A different union came in to help them. It was the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). The IWW had been trying to organize Lawrence for almost ten years. As the strike continued, the workers’ families started to go hungry. Supporters of the strike donated some food, but it was not enough for everyone to eat. In order to feed the children, the workers sent them to live with families in New York and Philadelphia. As one group of children was leaving Lawrence, the police arrested and beat them and their mothers. The nation was outraged. A congressional investigation was begun.Fearing all of the negative publicity, the mill owners settled the strike and met all the union demands. Soon every mill in New England raised wages from five to twenty per cent.The efforts of labor unions to get better wages and working conditions has been bloody. Fea...
