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themselves, believing in their own superiority.
At any rate, it was a very difficult strike. It had looked like nothing at all at first. I dispatched some conciliators up there, but they couldn't do anything. More and more people were out. It was a very large mill and gave big employment in the community. The only problem was not the wages or hours that were being paid according to the code, but union membership and union representation. The owners had fired two or three of the officers of the alleged union for one reason or another, but really because they were leaders of the union. They would not have a union in the mill. They said that it was known to be their policy that they would have no union and no dealing with unions. So that when these people joined a union, they fired them. Whereupon a great many others walked out in protest and in sympathy.
It proved to be very difficult. Our conciliators could get nowhere with the employer. He wouldn't meet with the union. I don't think he was even very willing to meet the conciliators, but he did. He wouldn't talk to anybody from the union or to anybody from the international union. He wouldn't talk to Emil Rieve, the head of the International Hosiery Workers. He's one of the mildest, most well-informed, and most persuasive, intelligent and agreeable of men to
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