USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lawrence > Immigrant city: Lawrence, Massachusetts, 1845-1921 > Part 9
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29. Lawrence Journal, Feb. 25, June 23, 1888; The Evening Tribune, June 12,
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DECADES OF DESPAIR, 1890-1912
The Irish continued to plague the French Canadians, with whom they had had so many fights in the 1880's. Life for the im- migrant habitants in Lawrence was particularly difficult. People called them dirty and germ-laden; they did not have the same chance as the Germans or Irish to get city jobs; the newspapers scorned and ridiculed them. Between 1899 and 1906 the French newspaper Le Progrès carried at least thirty articles complaining about the Irish, a third of which were based on religious antagonism and another third on political friction. The basis for the religious conflict was the issue of whether bishops in predominantly Canadian districts should be Canadian or Irish. Le Progrès protested for example, that while the Canadians comprised two-thirds of the diocese of Portland and three-fifths of Manchester, New Hampshire, they had no high church officials in those cities except a great vicar who was part Irish at that. It warned that the clergy was driving Canadians to apostasy by tyrannically suppressing the French language. In politics it accused the "democrats irlandais" of bribing Canadian leaders in order to get Canadian votes. To solve this problem Le Progrès urged its readers to get naturalized and join the Republican party in a bloc.
Le Progrès was sensitive about slights and insults, real and imaginary. When the Board of Health put Doctor Magee instead of Doctor Beauchamp in charge of all smallpox patients, the news- paper accused the two Irishmen on the board of not being able to see "further than their prejudice permitted them." Le Progrès assumed that errors made by Irish city officials in French names were intentional. It was also unhappy about Irish domination of Catholic societies, particularly the Catholic Foresters. On one oc- casion, however, Le Progrès gave this grudging tribute to its enemy: "What an admirable race are these Irish! What fire! What assur- ance! What confidence! .. . they doubt nothing, and no one doubts them."30
1890, Dec. 23, 30, 1899, Jan. 12, Mar. 12, 1900; Anzeiger und Post, Jan. 13, 1900.
30. See reference to Le Progrès in Donald B. Cole, "Lawrence, Massachusetts: Immigrant City, 1845-1912" (Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, 1956), pp. 173-75. More important references are Le Progrès, May 12, June 9, 1899, Jan. 25, 1901, June 3, 1902, Mar. 30, 1905; The Evening Tribune, June 16, July 21, 1890.
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IMMIGRANT CITY
The trouble between the Jews and the French was economic. Le Progrès attacked the Jewish peddlers for capturing the confi- dence of the naïve Canadians and pictured them swarming into Essex, Common, Broadway, and Hampshire Streets and threatening the French sections. The French, whom others had attacked for bearing germs, now insisted that the dirty Jewish junk shops were the sources of "spotted fever."31
When Le Progrès praised the "heroic battle for liberty" of the Boers and attacked Rhodes scholarships, the French Canadians were in the strange position of supporting the Irish against the British. Their feeling, however, was entirely anti-British and not pro-Irish. Almost pathetically Le Progrès told its readers that they need not fear comparison with the British and pointed out the glories of the age of Louis XIV and the contributions of the French to American history. While admiring British perseverance, it con- demned British materialism.32
Although the earlier immigrants and natives fought each other, they joined together against the new arrivals. "When intoxicated," said the Tribune, "these people go along the streets insulting and abusive to law-abiding citizens." Whether they were "cheap foreigners" stealing vegetables on their way to the Glen Forest Park on the river or "drink-frenzied foreigners" accosting women, the natives and the earlier immigrants did not like them. The Tele- gram, always anti-immigrant, said: "These Italians should be taught a severe lesson. Our gates have been thrown open to them, but they should not be allowed to perpetrate the old country habits which have made their fair land the bloodiest in Europe."
Much of the opposition was simply prejudice against a strange people. While the Tribune did not find it "entirely pleasant to contemplate the change that is going on in the character of the immigration," Le Progrès more bluntly stated that "these immi- grants .. . belong to a less desirable class." The Anzeiger und Post feared that the new immigrant would become a public ward. When a Chinese tried to violate the immigration act, the headline read, "Sly Chinaman caught," and when a Chinese-native marriage failed, the Tribune commented on "the failure of mixing races."
31. Le Progrès, Feb. 7, 1902, May 14, 1903, April 5, 1906.
32. Ibid., April 12, 1901, April 8, 1902.
91
DECADES OF DESPAIR, 1890-1912
The Lawrence press frequently repeated the traditional stories about the Chinese: they did not bathe; they killed two hundred children a year from special towers; they were superstitious about cockroaches; they loved watermelon; they gambled; and they smoked opium. To the Lawrence newspapers they were "Celes- tials," "Chinks," or "Pigtail Laundrymen." The French Canadians called the Jews "sheenies" and the Catholic Literary Society held up Shylock as the typical Jew. "Shakespeare's indomitable pen," said one member, "has painted ... [Shylock] in all the loathing of his basest nature ... ," and others commented on the Jew's "low cunning," his "base individuality," and his "hard, icy intel- lectuality." The Irish hated all other immigrants, particularly the Italians. Typical was Davy Roach, who "had a well known aversion" to "Dagoes," "Celestials," and Armenians.33
Because of its native-immigrant friction Lawrence had long opposed immigration, but the feeling did not become vocal until the decades of despair after 1890. The arguments then fore- shadowed those used by restrictionists in 1912. The Tribune, un- happy about the "forty-two Dagos" who came to Lawrence as strike breakers in 1891, proclaimed three years later that "the pro- tection which mill workers in Lawrence need is protection from foreigners who thus pauperize labor." Although the Lawrence Central Labor Union voted in 1902 only to keep paupers and criminals out and to punish violators of the contract labor law, nine of its member unions wanted much stronger restriction. Le Progrès and the Anzeiger und Post feared the increased use of child labor as well as violations of the contract labor law. Both the Journal and the Tribune pointed out the inconsistency of free trade in labor and protection for goods. The "protectionist manufac- turer," according to the Journal, demanded the right "to import from the markets of the world the cheapest labor that can be got, while for the products of the factory he claim[ed] the most rigid protection." Harbingers of 1912!34
33. The Evening Tribune, April 14, May 2, 8, 1890, Jan. 20, Feb. 7, April 18, June 12, Sept. 9, 1891, Aug. 4, 1893, Jan. 2, 1894, Jan. 16, 1895, June 27, 1896, Nov. 15, 1897, June 8, 1899, July 17, 1900, Sept. 2, 1902; Sunday Sun, July 30, 1905, Mar. 4, July 29, 1905, Aug. 4, 1907; Le Progrès, June 14, 1904, Anzeiger und Post, Dec. 31, 1910.
34. The Evening Tribune, June 13, 1891, May 29, 1894; Committee on Im- migration, United States Senate, Report on the Bill (H.R. 12199) to Regulate
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IMMIGRANT CITY
An unforeseen result of the antipathy toward the southeastern Europeans was the way in which it helped the immigrants who had arrived between 1870 and 1890. Just as the French-Canadian arrival strengthened the position of the Irish, so now the south- eastern Europeans increased the Canadians' security. The immi- grant cycle was operating and they were no longer at the bottom. The publication of Le Progrès in 1890 symbolized their new strength. "Le petit Jimmy" Cloutier was now prominent in politics and every one knew about the French Cooperative, the Lafayette Court of Foresters, and the Congrégation Des Dames of Saint Anne's.
Amidst the flood of anti-immigrant feeling, a strong under- current of good sense and tolerance held firm. The Tribune con- demned those who would restrict immigration, "many of whom would not be here if the doctrine they now preach had been prac- ticed half a century ago." When the Tribune showed that the "same treatment now accorded Russian Jews and the later classes of immigrants" was once the "portion of the Irish [and] . . . Germans," they were underscoring the cyclical nature of prejudice in Lawrence. A member of the Central Labor Union said that constant immigration meant new ideas for the country and recalled that many remarkable men had once been immigrant criminals. And the Anzeiger und Post denounced the "Jingoes and Nativists" who wanted to "surround our land with a Chinese wall and let no one else in." Occasional references to "intelligent" Swedes, "pro- gressive" Lithuanians, "fine-looking Italian maidens," "intelligent- looking" Italian boys, and the "great Hebrew race" helped prevent more serious explosions.35
The economic side of ethnic friction in Lawrence hinged on the alleged violation of the 1885 law forbidding the importation of contract labor. During a federal investigation two Lawrence workers testified that they had been part of English groups to which
the Immigration of Aliens into the United States . .. , 57 Congress, 2 Session, Doc. 62 (Washington, 1902), p. 347; Le Progrès, May 31, 1904, Mar. 29, 1906; Anzeiger und Post, Dec. 16, 1905, May 12, 1906; Lawrence Journal, April 12, 1882.
35. The Evening Tribune, July 28, 1892, Aug. 23, 1901, Oct. 5, 1903; Law- rence Journal, Feb. 24, 1883; Anzeiger und Post, June 2, Dec. 8, 1906; Sunday Sun, Nov. 21, 1909.
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DECADES OF DESPAIR, 1890-1912
agents had promised jobs in America. James Denby said that the following advertisement back in Yorkshire had attracted him: "Wanted for America-five hands for drawing, six spinning. . .. Families preferred having four or more girls. Wages from three shillings two pence. . . . " Though the agent promised to pay for the passage of the whole family, Denby later denied that the law had been violated, rationalizing that none of the transactions had been person to person. The pattern of advertisement, inducement, and group passage, was repeated in the case of George Foster. Although Andover mills, not Lawrence, were the guilty parties in each instance, Denby and Foster did later move to Lawrence.
But there were frequently direct references to Lawrence. The Tribune spoke of "inducements held out to" workers and of the "almost forgotten alien contract labor law. .. . " Le Progrès said flatly that the Arlington and Wood companies had "taken a con- tract with Europe to rid her of her worker surplus" and the Anzeiger called the contract law a "farce." The Immigration Commission heard testimony from two union officials, two clergy- men, and one mill officer that a Lawrence company had advertised in Europe for worsted workers, but found the evidence to be second hand. One informant, for example, had a cousin in Glasgow who had seen pictures of the mills, and an Italian clergyman "under- stood" that promises of ten-dollar wages had appeared in English and Italian newspapers. All agreed that the corporations had agents in Boston to corral labor from the ships.
The workers particularly feared the use of imported labor against them in strikes. When the Arlington woolsorters struck in 1891, they cabled Bradford, England, urging sorters not to come. Striking Pacific engravers actually sent a representative to Brad- ford to forestall the coming of other strike breakers. The owners succeeded, however, in importing scab labor in 1902 to break up a spinners and doffers strike and also sent a group from Lawrence to end a strike in Camden, Maine. It is obvious why immigrants feared immigration and the corporations' use of it.36
36. Lawrence Journal, Aug. 25, 1888; Testimony Taken by the Select Com- mittee of the House of Representatives to Inquire into the Alleged Violation of the Laws Prohibiting the Importation of Contract Laborers. .. , 50 Congress, 1 Session, House Doc. 572 (Washington, 1888), pp. 578-91; The Evening Tribune, Feb. 9, 1894, Nov. 24, 1897; Le Progrès, Mar. 29, 1906; Anzeiger und Post,
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IMMIGRANT CITY
But in spite of their fears the immigrants had turned against the corporations in a major way only once during the half century before 1890; that was in the Pacific strike of 1882. When they rose in mass protest twice within eight short years (1894-1902), it showed how desperate they had become. The Washington Mills strike, which began in February, 1894, originated in a wage re- duction. As in 1882, the strikers raised relief money, but this time it was insufficient and they had to return to work in May. Even more than in 1882 the immigrant played a leading role, with the part of the Armenians and Italians particularly decisive. "Our Armenian friends," as the strikers called them, voted to stay out six months if necessary, joined the Textile Workers Union, and paraded. In a like manner the Italians, most of whom spoke no English, went on strike and joined in parades. Because of their loyalty, the Armenians and Italians, once "distrusted as 'cheap foreign laborers,'" became the "heroes" of the fight, and during the parade of February 17 "the most flattering reception was re- served" for them. But among them there were fights between strikers and scabs. The Germans were still important, and when their weavers voted to return to work, the strike ended. As in 1882 the Canadians stayed out of the struggle, many of them returning to Canada.37
In the Washington strike of 1902 the Germans held the un- disputed lead, particularly at the start when they demanded a 20 per cent raise and the abolition of the premium system. The newly arrived Franco-Belgians, who later helped to organize the strike of 1912, were among the first to go out. To appeal to them and others, labor agitators made speeches in German, French, and Polish. But all immigrants did not support the strike. The Anzeiger und Post, in urging the Germans to return to their jobs, argued that they lacked funds and that Asian scabs might replace them. Furthermore, it begged the German workers not to be responsible for the suffering of thousands in an economic disaster. And the parish calendar at Saint Mary's presented the Irish view
May 12, 1906, July 6, 1907; Immigration Commission, "Community A," pp. 770-73; Strike at Lawrence, pp. 81-82, 257, 396. For strike breakers see The Evening Tribune, May 29, 1891, April 12, 15, May 4, 1892, Jan. 16, 1902; Anzeiger und Post, Feb. 23, 1901; Sunday Sun, Mar. 20, 1910.
37. The Evening Tribune, Feb. 10, 12, 13, 15-17, 23, Mar. 14, April 17, 25, May 5, 1894; The Lawrence Sentinel, Mar. 30, 1894.
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DECADES OF DESPAIR, 1890-1912
that in the end only the workers would suffer. As a result of the immigrant split the strike ended with only a slight concession in the premium system in May of the same year. Unlike the two earlier strikes this one was generally unpopular. The newspapers called some of the strike leaders "extremists" and others "red button Socialists." The earlier immigrants, particularly the Irish, were now so well established that they were beginning to oppose strikes. Another harbinger of 1912!38
By 1912, then, the formation of the immigrant city was com- plete. Of the 86,000 inhabitants in 1910, 74,000 were either born abroad or had foreign-born parents. Since 1905 Lawrence had had the highest proportion of immigrants in its population of any city in the state. The immigrant cycle had made a complete revolution as the Irish, once the despised shanty dwellers of 1850, were now in complete control of the city's politics and were in many ways indistinguishable from the natives. Less prominent but well established were the British and German immigrants al- ready four decades in the city. And while the French Canadians were still insecure, they now had immigrants below them on both the social and economic scales. Since 1890 the southeastern Europeans had doubled the city's population, thereby creating the much-deplored slums and drastically lowering the intellectual standards of the city. Anti-Irish-Catholic nativism had its last great splurge in the A.P.A. lectures of 1894 and was then sub- merged by the attacks against the newcomers. During the decades after the Civil War, Lawrence made great progress as the Irish rose to power and the city's leaders tried in every way to make it the model city that the founders had intended. Even nativism was less brutal than in the 1850's. The problems of Lawrence after 1890 were too much for its leaders, and the city entered the black decades in which poverty and anti-immigrant feeling were more severe than in the 1870's and 1880's. As wages dropped and men lost their jobs, the misery led to the strikes of 1894 and 1902. A decade later it would bring about the strike of 1912.
But terms "decades of promise" and "decades of despair" are not absolute because they depend wholly upon the immigrant's
38. Both The Evening Tribune and the Anzeiger und Post felt the Germans were the key to the strike. The Evening Tribune, April 18, 26, May 1, 6, 7, 9, 1902; Anzeiger und Post, April 19, 26, May 3, 1902.
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IMMIGRANT CITY
search for security. While the trembling jobless habitant of the 1880's did not see the hope of those years, his wage-earning son may not have felt the despondency of 1910. When the immigrant felt secure, he believed in the promise of the city, when insecure, there was only black despair. Before going on to the strike of 1912 we must determine just how successful the immigrant felt he had been in finding security in Lawrence. By studying the city's history we have placed the strike of 1912 in its historical perspec- tive, but we still have not looked at the immigrant's life from his own point of view.
The strike observers who painted such a doleful picture of notorious Lawrence in 1912 would probably look at the city dif- ferently after reading its pre-strike history, but they would not necessarily change their minds. While they would be surprised by the model town of 1850 and the decades of promise after the Civil War, they would insist that the decades of despair confirmed their views. The immigrant cycle, they would say, might have given hope and a better life to some after 1865, but it also meant misery for the thousands of immigrants who doubled the city's population after 1890. And furthermore, they would point out, the cycle brought with it recurring episodes of the most savage intolerance. But the narrative of the years down to the strike does not tell the whole or even the most important story. While hinting at the immigrants' efforts to find security, the narrative fails to determine whether he believed he had found it. Even the most miserable shanty Irishman or Neapolitan Italian may have found his own forms of security in Lawrence, and if so, the 1912 strike ob- servers' concept of the city was completely false. During the seven long decades from the building of the dam to the strike the immi- grant sought security in many places. To these places-the home, the mill, and the club-we must go. And before we are through we must also determine whether the immigrant found the deepest form of security that his new country offered-the sense of be- longing, of being an American.
Part Two The Search for Security, 1845-1912
CHAPTER VI
Security in the Family
No immigrant could succeed alone in Lawrence. While some may have talked of individualism, they all needed and sought for help. For most immigrants-conditioned by the peasant tradi- tions of Europe and Canada-it was natural to look first to the family. Since many came to Lawrence alone, they tried desperately to maintain ties with their families back home. Duncan Wood, the Lawrence travel agent, appealed to them with this notice:
A Word in Season
Remember
The Promise
You Made to
Father or Mother
To Forward Small Parcels From Lawrence to
Your Home
When Leaving The Old Country
at Very Low Rates
And Receiving
Their Blessing:
"God bless you! I will never for- get You."
You can Now
Redeem That Promise
By Sending Some Article as a Xmas [sic] Present I am Now Prepared
Make the Hearts of the
Old Folks at Home Rejoice Picture Your
Good Old Mother or Father opening a Parcel from You in this Country, and exclaiming With Tears of Joy in their eyes
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IMMIGRANT CITY
"God Bless Them. I knew
they would not forget me." Duncan Wood
Forwarder
of Foreign Parcels 499 Essex Street., Lawrence.
For those with wives and children across the sea the desire to keep the ties unbroken was even greater. Just before the strike about one married immigrant mill worker in eight had a wife in the old country. The earlier arrivals-the Irish, English, Germans, and Canadians-almost invariably had their wives with them, but over a quarter of the most recent immigrants had their wives back home. No matter what nationality, the longer an immigrant had been here the less likely he was to have his wife abroad. Less than 5 per cent of those here ten years were without their wives.1
The immigrant responded faithfully to his obligations by making visits home. J. T. Murphy, a travel agent, advertised in 1861:
Old Black Star Line-Liverpool to Lawrence Adults $19, Children under 12 $14, Infants under 1 $3 New York and Liverpool Steamship 3rd Class $30 Cabin $75 Bills of Exchange in any amount payable in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales.
In 1884 the Cunard Line charged only $15 for steerage passage to Ireland from Boston. The Irish, not content with individual trips, formed an excursion club to raise money for a group voyage. Ital- ians often went home for the winter to participate in festivals and to avoid the cold as well as to see their families. And Canadians, not facing the dangers of an ocean voyage, were frequent visitors. One-sixth of all immigrant workers in Lawrence had made at least one trip home by 1912, and about one-third of those who had been here over ten years had made such a trip home. Half of the French Canadians, a quarter of the English, and a sixth of the Germans and Irish had visited their old homes. Even a few of the southeastern
1. Lawrence Journal, Jan. 13, 1883; Immigration Commission, "Woolen and Worsted Goods in Representative Community A," Immigrants in Industry, Part 4: Woolen and Worsted Goods Manufacturing, II, Immigration Commission, Reports, X, 61 Congress, 2 Session, Doc. 633 (Washington, 1911), pp. 781-82. For more details see Donald B. Cole, "Lawrence, Massachusetts: Immigrant City, 1845-1912" (Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, 1956), Table VII, p. 391.
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SECURITY IN THE FAMILY
Europeans had already made a trip back. Since these statistics re- fer only to visits and not to permanent returns, they show how tenaciously the immigrant held on to his family abroad.2
The great majority of immigrants faced the equally difficult task of holding their families together in the new and forbidding world. Family spirit did not develop easily when a dozen other households within earshot destroyed privacy. It was maintained with difficulty when boarders and roomers shared the table and the bed. A mother could hardly bring up her children properly when all had to work in the mills, and young people could not be kept at home. When the son found a job while his father was unemployed, it was disastrous to old-world discipline. For the daughter the utter lack of privacy was demoralizing. Bathing in the sink, living in a home where every room was a bedroom, sharing sleeping quarters with male roomers, knowing that every word she uttered was public, all combined to dull the feeling of family unity.
The French Canadians in particular found life difficult for their families. Le Progrès complained that fathers neglected their children while they gambled, drank, and sought "long hours of sleep, and short hours of work." Children, accustomed to the pure country air and the simple joys of rural life, became ill in the infectious atmosphere about the machines or joined gangs of "toughs" who roamed the streets. They no longer respected parental authority and after they married they forgot their vows. But even so, the French newspapers stated that the only way to save their traditions was to start with the family in which the parents could read the old stories around the fire. The Canadians, indeed all immigrants, knew how hard it was to hold a family together, but they also realized how essential it was for their security. The
2. The Lawrence Sentinel, April 6, 1861; Lawrence Morning News, June 11, 1884; The Evening Tribune, May 1, 1897; Amy A. Bernady, "The Aliens Rush Home," Immigration Restriction League, Scrapbook of Clippings, 1907, Widener Library, Harvard; The Strike at Lawrence, Mass. Hearings before the Com- mittee on Rules of the House of Representatives . . . 1912, 62 Congress, 2 Ses- sion, House Doc. 671 (Washington, 1912), p. 367; Immigration Commission, "Community A," p. 783. Percentage having visited home: 17.2 per cent of all immigrant workers; 6.1 per cent of those here under five years; 19.1 per cent of those here five to ten years; 31.6 per cent of those here over ten years; 27 per cent of the English; 16 per cent of the Irish and Germans. See Cole, "Lawrence," Table VIII, p. 392.
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