April 1. 1913. 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



365 



THE RUBBER TRADE IN AKRON. 



By a Resident Corresl>ondcnl. 



A GENERAL SURVEY OF THE SIX WEEKS' STRIKE. 



TliE strilve in tlie Akron rubber trade, nienlion of which 

 was made in the March number, which arose in the 

 J-'irestone Tire & Rubber Co. through a dispute over 

 wages, due to a new schedule for tire tinishers, spread rapidly 

 throu.sjh tiie Firestone company, and later through the other 

 rubber companies in .Akron until almost two-thirds of the 

 rubber employes in .Akron had quit work. These quit work 

 for various reasons, a small minority on account of some al- 

 leged grievance in regard to wages, a large number in 

 sympathy with the few who claimed a grievance, and prob- 

 ably a still greater number cither through fear or because 

 of their work bemg dependent upon that of some other 

 person who was on a strike, and consequently the material 

 could not be supplied to them. 



To secure recruits from other companies, the strikers had 

 large parades, part of the time headed by a small band and 

 a number of women, which continually marched around the 

 rubber factories, using every form of argument and invective 

 to try to get recruits. At first, this action was peaceable 

 and practically no opposition was offered by the city police 

 or county sheriff's office, or by the rubber manufacturers, 

 but wlien this matter of marching in a body failed to secure 

 recruits, the strikers became unruly and tried to force the 

 employes who were still working, cither by threats or actual 

 bodily harm, to leave their employment. The various rubber 

 companies had prepared for this by erecting board fences 

 around each of their plants and had guards on duty inside 

 the fences. 



Then the citizens of .Akron formed a "Citizens" Welfare 

 Association" and tried to get the strikers to go back to 

 work, subject to a reconsideration of whatever grievances 

 they might have by the rubber companies at a later time, 

 but this the strikers refused to do. 



A rubber worker who left the factory with the intention 

 of striking was hustled down town and, without any explana- 

 tion whatever, was generally induced to sign an application 

 to the I. W. W., whereupon he paid the initial fee and was 

 given a red ribbon, and to all practical intents and purposes 

 was a regular member of the I. W. W. -As soon as many 

 of the workmen understood the real purpose of this organ- 

 ization and their former methods of conducting strikes, they 

 ceased to wear the red ribbons and took no part in their 

 matters whatever. 



The I. W. W. then commenced their chain picketing, which 

 consisted of a long single file of men marching very close 

 together at some opportune place, generally the entrance 

 to one of the rubber factories, up one side of the street and 

 down the other, so that tlie chain remained unbroken, per- 

 suading any person who happened to pass to join them, 

 and if they could not be reached by persuasion, they hurled 

 the worst form of invective, and if they could not be reached 

 in this manner, would grab their dinner baskets, and scatter 

 the contents upon the streets. At other times, the men 

 themselves would be grabbed and hustled along rudely, and 

 sometimes beaten. This form of picketing became a menace 

 because some of the leaders of the I. \V. W. not only en- 

 couraged open violence and disrespect of law and order, but 

 took any means whatever necessary to make their strike 

 effective, not excepting personal violence, injury to property 

 and sabotage. At this point, many of the rubber workers 

 who had not gone on the strike became fearful lest they 

 would receive bodily harm. 



The Citizens' .Association, which up to this time had been 

 formed wholly for persuasive methods of securing an end 

 to tlie strike, now took the form of a Citizens' Police .Asso- 



ciation, and approximately 1,000 able-bodied men were sworn 

 in and furnished with a policeman's badge and a club, and 

 the use of about fifty automobiles was given to the city 

 for rapid reconnoitering. The city was placed under martial 

 law by the sheriff, and the citizens' police, together with the 

 city police and deputy sheriffs, were placed wherever needed, 

 many going on duty at five o'clock in the morning. Parading 

 and general picketing was prohibited and, after several 

 claslies witli the citizens' police and the city police, it was 

 efloctivcly stopped. Then guerilla warfare was started 

 throughout the city, where lone workmen were held up and 

 beaten by strikers. This was broken up by means of a 

 large number of automobiles, manned by four or five police- 

 men rapidlj- reconnoitering from one point to another where 

 strikers or rubber workers were apt to be, especially at the 

 time the workers were going to work or when thej' were 

 coming from work. A large number of slater's tacks were 

 thrown upon the streets and a number of these automobiles 

 had punctured tires, but instead of frightening the owners 

 of the automobiles it only made them more determined and 

 more vigilant. Forty or fifty undesirable persons who had 

 come to Akron during the strike, and who had no known 

 means of support, were ordered out of town and they left 

 immediately. This seemed to have the effect of completely 

 stopping the guerilla w^arfare. 



During the first week or ten days of the strike, the rubber 

 factories fully supplied all their branch offices with tires and 

 all kinds of rubber goods to fully protect their trade against 

 any bad results which might come from the strike. They 

 provisioned their plants, and offered any man who did not 

 desire to go home necessary sleeping quarters and meals. 

 A great many meals were served to the employes, but not 

 many took advantage of the sleeping provisions offered, as 

 they felt safe to go to their homes from work and to return 

 to work in the morning. 



Before the Citizens' Police Association was formed, the 

 mayor of Akron, believing the militia necessary, asked the 

 governor of tlio state to provide militia, which was refused. 

 This compelled the citizens to give aid to the police of the 

 city of .Akron and the sheriff of Summit county, each of 

 oni had been very vigilant and effective, cautious and 

 careful, yet firm; and the fact that there was practically 

 no blood sl'.ed in the whole strike where thousands of men 

 were out of employment, is due largely to the foresight of 

 the mayor in closing the saloons for over two weeks, and 

 to the efficiency of the Akron police and the sheriff of 

 -Summit county and his deputies, backed by the Citizens' As- 

 sociation and the good common sense and high intelligence 

 of the Akron rubber employes. 



There were several elements in this strike which stood 

 out prominently. The first is that whatever dissatisfaction 

 existed arose chiefly from a cut in wages. With few ex- 

 ceptions, the Akron rubber worker is contented with the 

 working condition of the various factories, the one complaint 

 being that a system of payment is used whereby a man is 

 paid for his work and that he must "hustle" to earn what 

 he feels is his day's wage. Secondly, the strike had a very 

 depressing effect upon the stock of the various rubber com- 

 panies and on business in general, which, however, is gradu- 

 ally recovering. Third, practically all the buildings of the 

 rubber factories have been built within the last six years, 

 and light, fire protection, space for working, toilets, hospital 

 service and everything necessary for the convenience of 

 an employe have been provided better probably than in 

 nine-tenths of the factories in the United States in any line. 



.Another fact which stands out pre-eminently is that these 

 immense organizations for the production of rubber goods 

 have been built up chiefly within the last six years. Six 

 years ago, the majority of the superintendents knew every 



