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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (June 5, 1959)
o qOO o O o CO o O o n O . SiihYete Price 10 Cents O Tribune m. 2nd SECTION) MEDFORD, OREGON. FRIDAY. JUNE 5. 1959 10 Paget 8 14X1. "ma l"J'.JB" -J?- ell Massachusetts Town Glad To Be Rid of Textile Industry; Doesn't Want It Back Editor' not: MinuHNt cul). labor are locked in a. iOaeee:J battle in the Sooth's texti$ ieef try. The actual ttthtinr U aiaf the TWUA andthe Harrifegff derion Cotton Mills. What (JsS the loos like to a town consist than "breeding place" of textile nniofitf OThU is the subject of another in a series on the Henderson itrlStf fld its lmnlli-.tinn. t2CS XSTR1C, M -tCti- The 'Soutffc wn4 our textile in dustry. Thy tot st. X bop fttj'f atisfied. (Sto statement Is board ecJUJtW in, Lawrence, By etc Dew TJW Cettespendeat its Imputations. lfcitt Doitft "breeding n e tfSSt. ST--" r s -w-Wx. A- Xr v- . 'a v.; " ' ' 'x -Ufa. - i . v, V" "' ' ' - - - - - ' - i r - . i ICS MAM Marlon JIte jhlki, UUknrf. mental muriyal niS 3&1Ie$ agtt Ur il b fa& Into Arctic gfitdo SSgitM i V Kttal Air Materiel Cestde3&3&t&$l4t M )nttdd to kwp a man aMalirjf IcapwttaW rf e0to. Travelivgcmtnp&fitQtiM l eo ' OSB. k utiM'o'Mii . .XS.n . oaA isWlwn)Haiir Cm ... EV'S Greater&ty&. . . Sk& in TUVV CAREFRE3 Oaf it lW to magnesium me. itaatKfk. ffteiMirtMl. aottt. resistant vinyl covgfeg$ iM Jat 4 tb lack C damp cloth. tt1 ABUVf PROUD! Sild dfeStl f : smooth, rounded i ,ttjsj Msj a open. Koomr, luxunoicS lMkV MsKff family vacation, nees Um fiatera Blue, Dover White, Skfft CH, Bnaatt tJt Oaf Grey- Handsome mMSekCtc Kfm 4r, r1 Teft. Come in today and(i$U eaf MhfMt ttaft f aw Samsonite Silhouette isjfijto S & h Gmt Stamps o Ir5 n mm o o Luggage Repairs L '314 EAST MAIN ground" before World War I. In those years, was the larsjeit woolen and worsted center In th world Today, not a major mill Is left. Lawrence does not want thera beck. This city of 7,000 Is close to completing an eight -year recovery program. At a pak. textile mills here employed 40,000 persons. When the last of its major textile mills fold ed in 1952, the town plunged into depression, More than 23,000 were un employed. What followed was pfogram of diversification which has brought in more than 70 different firms with more than 20,000 jobs. Unemployment now is down to 3,000, with many of the unemployed being listed as "chronic jobless." Other Slrills Evident There are plenty of skilled former textile workers around, doing a variety o jobs. The younger group, many of them women who were highly-skilled menders, have moved into new jobs. The sprawling Westinghouse plants in the area took several tiyjusand. and later reported the women menders were "very qufck" to pick up the dexterity needed for assem bling small parts. Most of the older textile workirj, thi veteran loom specialists, retired. The mid dle age group took anything it could find. They are run Aiaj) elevators, working as Janitors, driving taxis. Mayor Thomas J. Buckley, key figure in the city's emet ine "operation bootstrap" re covery program, admits Law rence might accept new tex tile industry if it was forth coming, but with one big qualification. Buckley, who himself work ed in the mills as e boy, said, "We would take any good firm," heavily emphasizing the "good." Another Official Agrees John P. O'Malley. full-time director of the city's indus trial redevelopment commit tee, agrees. " We have a more stable industry now, e more diversi fied economy. Our economy now overrides strikes and we don't have any of them. "Our unemployed today are mostly unskilled workers. If a skilled man is walking the streets today, there's some thing wrong with him." Ralph D. Arivelle business agent of the local Textile Workers of America AFL-CIO Union sums up in two expres sive words and a shrug: ' "What's left? "I know what's happening in the South. It happened here. A company gives wage increases. It feels it should get increased production. Southern Manufacturers rec ognize organized workers have more chance of gaining through organization. They called it 'encroachment' here. The companies feel they should fight unions. They fear them. But the union only goes iis tor what it feels the work er need and deserve. That's all there is to it." tftue feeding Ground Labor organizations used Lawrence as a textile union breeding ground before World War I. Workers struck for the first time' in 1912, following organization by the Industrial Workers of the World. One woman was killed when police fired on e mob at the , height of a violent seven month strike. The workers won a major victory and for the first time estab lished collective bargaining in the industry. The second major Lawrence was in 1919. It lasted six weeks. Workers struck, seek ing pay hikes of 12.5 per cent. The mills eventually paid in creases of 25 to 35 per cent. Workers won all concessions in a brief 1921 strike. The biggest walkouts came in 1931. In February, the mill hands returned after a short strike in which nothing was gained. Workers Lost Strike In October, in protest against wage cuts, the work ers joined the National Tex tile Workers Union. Manu facturers, who had agreed to early demands, refused any concessions after the workers' demanded even more. The strikers finally returned to work without any concessions at all and soon were given another 10 per cent cut. Against this backdrop, de terioration of Lawrence's tex tile industry began. It was gradual, brought on by rising costs and increasing compe tition, mostly from overseas but also from the South. Com peting mills with lower costs were able to undercut the Lawrence mill prices and gradually force them out of business. . Most of the region's largest mills did not transfer to the South. They were liquidated on the spot. Mill machinery including thousands of looms were left here. Much of the equipment, too old to save, has been sledged to scrap metal - - a mute, rusting reminder of what once was the textile in dustry in Lawrence. WW Ike Mgfidlaoire FE(0)-IPI3F? Mi MM mam m mm, m - . . . . Ill & f RIGIDAIRE QU1CKUIE ICE TRAYS 99c eo. Corns in . . . talcs advantags ef this valus and see a Frigidairs FI0ST-PI00F demonstration. The "FROSTPROOF" principle is NOT just iiit marie defrosting. It means NO Frost Duild-up what soever! No frost in the refrigerator section , no frost in the freezer section. And, no frost in FrigU daire FROST-PROOF freezers. That means NO DE FROSTING ... no frost-locked foods . . . no freef corer-up of labels ... no frost to steal apace or cut efficiency! FlTSiSiTI7!- """HrT-l il ' IT'S MEW! T&d first ral advancement Since (faaoje freezing began. Yaiim anui LOW PRICES! Portland Set for Rose Festival, Centennial Show Portland - (WD - The city of Portland was just about all set today for its Rose Festival and this year's added attrae-tibn-the 100-day Oregon Cen tennial Exposition. Next Wednesday is the key day for both events. That's the day the queen of the 1959 Rose Festival will be crown ed and also the day for the opening of the Centennial Ex position in north Portland. The Rose Festival this year again will feature the South west Park blocks center. The fun-filled Merrykhana parade will start things off Tuesday night with the grand floral parade on Saturday, June 13. High Moon Opening But the one they're really talking about is the Centen nial Exposition. At high noon next Wednes day Gov. Mark Hatfield will press a button, a rocket burst will be touched off and there will be a 100-gun salute. . The old P-I building south of the Interstate bridge was converted into the Centennial center. And officials today pronounced all major con struction work completed. "We're in the cleanup stage," said John Hyatt, Expo sition operations director. "Not even the weather can stop us now," he said. Mural Left Alone They're calling the Centen nial Exposition the biggest show on the West Coast since the San Francisco World's Fair. The Centennial Commission has decided to leave a 500-foot mural done by a local studio as it is. Some had objected that it was too drab; but others preferred the subdued colors. It's located on the east end of the main building. . As for rain, the Commission is prepared. It brought $30,000 worth of rain insurance Wednesday. If one-tenth of an inch of rain should fall in Portland between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. either Friday, Satur day or Sunday of the opening week the state would get $10, 000 for each day it happened. Portland-TOPD-The Bureau of Land Management said today a weed for which there are no known methods of control has invaded Malheur . and Baker counties in eastern Oregon. The weed is called Medusa-head tyegrass. Graduation Slffis .'aiod.Canlsf. . LARGE SELECTION See Our Graduation Gift Tables . FREEZING WITHOUT FROSTING FtlEEl fragrance CCLOGW ; Juif far wetching dtmenitratio ef frigrdoire Ipplimces sfl er l Jubilee. 12 . . . in FElIGIDAinE FROST PROOF FOOD FREEZERS! And leokl . . feed's easy to freeze, easy to star, easy to findl Qetck treating tfcreegnewt wit resf-trsef f ercee Air Ceeliag fie fcig eeer-skstves Mni JeiceCee Dhseeter SKea-Orf leaker fee kelky 3-Year Peed S4bee War ranty ate lYeer Preeeefl Warranty ales Vf est fte toctiea flea Yours for only $4.11 a week $y QQOS 16 cu. ft. with your freezer, not ever 10 years eld "lO of popular make and In good operating condition. FP-130 IS cu. ft. 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