Show ON THE PICKET LINE dy acoman writer fi fae girl knitters Knit terl YORK for thirty our hours NEW I 1 have been a striker for thirty four hours I 1 have struck or higher wages shorter hours proper sanitary conditions the recognition of the united knitters union and the abolishment of child labor writes marie cooledge rask in the new york sunday world As a result I 1 bave suffered in mind and body just what any other girl or woman suffers or Is liable to suffer who strikes tor the same or similar reasons I 1 have suffered hardships in order to leam truth just as those who were with me have long suffered for what they declare to be a pie stories 0 the hardships endured by women strikers at the hands of policemen and others employed by factory owners to oppose them have been many hardly a day passes in which some new case Is not brought to light in the local police courts As a rule the sufferer can speak lit tie english in consequence the recital of her experience Is brief its full details seldom reach even the newspaper offices it they do they are overshadowed by the countless larger events which are constantly occurring in a city where the alon Is so tremendous as in greater new york the only way to lift the veil so that the public might learn whether or not the stories were born of hysteria and vivid imagination was to voluntarily place one s self in a alon to experience exactly what these girls have said they experienced therefore I 1 became this recital of my experiences Is not intended as a defense of the girls nor an attack upon the police it Is designed as a purely impersonal un biased unprejudiced account of what actually happened to me personally and what was seen and done in my presence and hearing arousing the pickets when I 1 entered the union acol quarters at new majestic hall no forsythe street manhattan I 1 was welcomed by the committee chairman and told to wait for some girls to come who could speak eng elsh I 1 noticed several rows of chairs facing the walls upon one of these lay a youth of perhaps seventeen years asleep with bis coat tor a all low others in the room had alpar antly just arisen from similar buncom fordable for table couches the chairman was busy giving instructions to several groups of young men and women all of whom looked tired and sleepy As I 1 seated myself he went over to the soundly sleeping youth and shook him vigorously come wake up time to go on duty he remarked the curly haired brown eyed stripling sighed heavily dawned yawned then promptly went fast asleep again for a few moments the chairman continued to give directions to the oth ers then turned to the boy again here you he exclaimed dont be lazy you fellows slept here last night so as to be sure to be on time this morning now when I 1 call you you dont want to get up the sleepy picket sat up and looked about belligerently gee I 1 but I 1 m tired he exclaimed then he rose stiffly stretched himself ran hla hands several times through his the girl strikers arise at 4 A M curly hair gave a bitch to his brou trou sers turned in the neck of his neg algee shirt adjusted his cap carefully before one of the mirrors which lined the sides of the ball and lounged toward the door I 1 m ready he announced to the chairman where will I 1 go As he received his orders the garla for whom I 1 had been waiting arrived they were neat and attractive they spoke fluently considering the brief time they had been in america their vocabulary was surprising the alt faculty was that I 1 could only understand about one word in six for this reason our conversation was allm cited we attended strictly to the business in hand that of detecting and intercepting it possible any strikebreakers strike breakers who might attempt to enter the closed shops and persuade them to join our ranks beginning the days activity when within a block of the shop at spring and greene streets before which we were to act as picket members 0 the union passed us constantly here and there one loitered in a doorway or in some obscure corner where it was possible tor the time being to escape the observation of the police As we reached the corner a young man stepped hastily up to one of the girls beside me chos the new girl he inquired abruptly his critical observant eyes taking in every detail ot my appear ance the girl explained rapidly in yiddish A policeman standing directly in front of the factory looked in our dl and the little group fell apart some walking down spring street and some along the greene street side of the building dack and ferth we walked tor nearly an hour the number of pickets seemed to in crease they had evidently been scattered all around the block As the morning grew late and no workers appeared the several detach ments chanced to meet at the best point of observation on spring street As we joined the others a tall young man explained tor my benefit that they might as well all return to head quarters this shop la running he remark ed the bosses must have got the workers here in an automobile before six 0 clock they 11 probably let them out about three 0 clock this afternoon I 1 ve been here since six 0 clock myself I 1 know every one of their workers it any had come along since that time id have seen them ready for the meeting by twos and threes the little body of pickets turned and slowly made its way back to the hall on forsythe street during our absence the chair man and his assistants had been dill gent fresh sawdust had been aprin sprin kled on the floor the chairs bad been arranged in anticipation of the mass meeting to occur at 10 0 clock the long counter at the rear of the hall had been brushed off and on it an aged russian had arranged a tempting array of pears rolls and pretzels five minutes after we en the hall the scene around that counter resembled a bargain sale in a department store the pickets were having their breakfast hy ten 0 clock the hall was well filled there was no unseemly noise or disorder the sociability lesem bled that of any large assembly where the majority of those present are young people interspersed here and there were a number of paerl reporting at 6 A M archal looking men with kindly faces and sad discouraged eyes who spoke no english whose memories of russia were darkened by tragedy injustice and oppression and whose bright visions of america had been shattered by the realization that the highest wages they might expect to receive for the support of their families did not exceed five or alx dollars a week so declared the strike leader indicating the elderly men by a om gesture strikers addressed in yiddish the speeches at the mass meeting were nearly all in yiddish the union secretary miss jennie hersl ley sat by me and invited mo to accompany her to the brooklyn head quarters at hall on manhattan avenue near meserole street that afternoon I 1 accepted the inalta alon miss perscley could speak eng elsh she could explain everything to me and she would know what particular girls of those present were sufficiently active union workers to warrant their pictures appearing in print she selected three girls and we five went to lunch together in the afternoon at hall the stories I 1 had heard from these girls were supported by the strike leaders according to their statement the conditions existing in the knitting mills were impossible they informed me that they frequent ly have to work well over fifty hours a week that in many instances the shops are cleaned only once a week and then it Is done by the workers themselves after closing hours on that each girl Is then ex pecked to clean the machine at which she works and to remove the grease and lint which has accumulated all about it the minimum wage they said was 4 and the maximum 10 and 11 a week the usual working hours were from 7 30 a m to 13 noon and from 12 30 p m to 6 00 p m which al lowed but halt an hour for lunch in summer the closing hour on satur day Is 1 0 clock and at other seasons ap m the demands made were for a working period of 50 hours a week a 25 per cent increase in wages for all those earning less than 10 a week a 15 per cent increase for those whose earning capacity Is from 10 to 16 a week and for those earning more than that a 10 per cent increase proper sanitary conditions in the shops the employment of no children under sixteen yeara of age j and the recognition of the union i hear music and speeches I 1 at hall about ta 1000 people were assembled thera was music followed by speeches then the crowd poured down tha stairway and out into the street nearly all turned their steps in the direction of throop avenue and koa chusko street where the long island knitting mills are located some were to act as pickets others went to look on As one looked back toward the hall the procession of young people seemed interminable the e feet waa not unlike that of an eastek day parade the procession extend ed tor blocks every one appeared pleasant every one orderly the ma bority ol 01 the girls were without hats many carried parasols light sum mer dresses and slippers with colon lal buckles were numerous jewelry even of the cheapest and most flashy variety was conspicuous by its absence the promenades aders did not go many steps beyond the actual boundaries of the mill property by twos and threes they passed down throop picket duty at 7 A M avenue around the corner and a short distance along kosciusko Kosc lusko street then turned and retraced their steps for a block along throop avenue turned again and repeated the process police ready to make arrests the undercurrent of excitement was increasing the steady march ing to and fro was growing moncton mo noton ous one of the girls called atten alon to the tact that the police were preparing to make arrests she in the patrol wagon drawn up on throop avenue just opposite the entrance to the mills every time my companion and I 1 passed or re passed a policeman made some remark designed to accelerate our steps onca I 1 pointed toward a cov ered bridge extending back to a build ing in the rear the officer was in scantly alert get out of that move along there he called I 1 was only looking at that bridge I 1 replied 1 don t care what you were look ing at he insisted you move along it I 1 have to speak to you again I 1 II 11 arrest you but I 1 have not stopped fifteen seconds I 1 retorted cant I 1 look where I 1 plea seT no you cant not around here was the reply with one accord all quickened their steps hoping to be within sight and hearing when the strikebreakers strike breakers should be rushed from the mills to the waiting automobile which had drawn up to the curb and from which a number of rough looking men bad descended someone whispered that the plain clothes men were bringing the work ers out of the mill to the automobile naturally I 1 wanted to see the pa according to his duty was quite determined that I 1 should keep back over the heads of those in front of me I 1 could see nothing until after the workers had taken their places in the automobile I 1 was sur that no attempt was made by the strikers to molest them As the automobile started away a low derisive murmur arose from the throng but that was the limit of the demon str atlon made the strikers bad determined ter mined to be orderly and the police had no chance to make arrests |