CARPENTERS QUIT WORK 77 



fere with the men I shall engage to take your 

 places. I think you make a serious mistake in 

 following blind leaders w^ho are doing you mate- 

 rial injury, for sentimental reasons ; but you must 

 decide this for yourselves. If, after sober thought, 

 any of you feel disposed to return, you can get a 

 job if there is a vacancy ; but no man who works 

 for me during this strike will be displaced by a 

 striker. You may put that in your pipes and 

 smoke it. Nelson will pay you off to-night." 



The strike was ordered for Wednesday. On 

 the morning of that day the seven carpenters 

 whom I had engaged arrived at my office ready 

 for work. I took them to the station and started 

 for Four Oaks. At a station five miles from 

 Exeter we quitted the train, hired two carriages, 

 and were driven to the farm without passing 

 through the village. 



We arrived without incident, the men had their 

 dinners, and at one o'clock the hammers and 

 saws were busy again. We had lost but one 

 half day. The two non-union men whom Nelson 

 had spoken of were also at work, and three days 

 later the spokesman of the strikers threw up his 

 card and joined our force. We had no serious 

 trouble. It was thought wise to keep the new 

 men on the place until the excitement had passed, 

 and we had to warn some of the old ones off two 

 or three times, but nothing disagreeable happened, 

 and from that day to this Four Oaks has remained 

 non-unionized. 



