The Romance of Norwalk

Just before 5 on the morning of February 12, 1885, the C. E. Doty factory on lower Main st., occupied by the Co¬ operative Hat Co. and the South Norwalk Hat Co., burst into flames and was totally destroyed with all its contents. The building adjoining, owned by O. E. Wilson and A. E. Austin and used as a hat box factory by A. E. Reed was also destroyed. A number believed the fire to be incendiary as two suspicious characters were noted on the scene a short time before the fire. Others held to the opinion that the fire broke out near the flue for heating irons. The date of February 25, 1885, foretold the near end of the strike for at that time the Crofut and Knapp Co. reopened with a full organization, Factory No. 1 which had been closed for fourteen weeks. Up to this date the com- HATTING 283 pany had concentrated its efforts in Factory No. 2. The entire factory was now running as in normal times, the work¬ ers being a combination of union men who felt that they had better work in an open shop than starve, and hatters who came to Norwalk from elsewhere. The middle of March, after the strike had been in progress four months, found: A. Solmans reopening his factory; an open shop in the former Coffin Hurlbut and Co. building, now taken over by John W. Green of Danbury; Crofut and Knapp Co. augmenting its force; Adams Brothers working along in good shape. The employers and employees came to terms the beginning of April, the following announcement appear¬ ing in The Sentinel under date of April 16, 1885: “By an arrangement made between Messrs. Crofut and Knapp and A. Solmans and the Hatters Societies, the diffi¬ culties between them have been settled, after a contest of nearly five months, by a recognition of the union by the man¬ ufacturers, and now but one of the five factories, Adams Brothers, remains independent. Concessions have been made by both parties to the contest. The struggle has been a long and costly one to both employers and employees, in¬ volving a direct loss of at least $250,000 with indirect det¬ riment to the city of a much larger amount, as well as considerable suffering and sacrifice. At present the hatting business is dull and it will probably be some time before full work will be obtained in the factories, but when trade does revive, may it be brisk enough to enable all to repair, to a large extent, their losses.” And so ended the strike of 1884. In the fall of 1885 eleven men from this city, hat manu¬ facturers, took part in a move fostered by the National As¬ sociation of Fur Hat Finishers and Makers, “to establish and maintain harmonious relations between the manufactur¬ ers and their employes and promote the best interests of both parties.” It was planned to form some sort of association which would look out for the interests of both employers and employes. Hat manufacturers in the states of Massa¬ chusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Pennsyl- ROMANCE OF NORWALK 284 vania were asked to join. At a convention called in New \ ork city, October 28, 1885, 63 manufacturers were present, representing the greater part of the capital invested in the fur hat business in this country. Eleven manufacturers from this town were present. Unfortunately there was a strong note of opposition to the movement in New Jersey among the hat makers. The impetus of the movement lagged and finally died. For many years after the trouble in 1884 and 1885 in Norwalk, the hatting industry prospered. Manufacturers made a good profit; the workers earned good wages. Dur¬ ing the first years of the 20th century, business was un¬ usually brisk. STRIKE OF 1909 In the year 1909, Norwalk suffered a second big hat strike, a very serious one which threatened to cripple the industry, and which lasted almost a year. The Guyer Hat Co. of Boston started the trouble; the union hatters finished it. The main bone of contention was the refusal of the hat manufacturers, following certain actions of the union, to recognize the union label. Although the strike dragged on for nearly 12 months, it never came to a definite end, but rather “petered out,” some of the hatters going out of town; others remaining in the union and taking work in open shops. As a result of the strike, the Crofut and Knapp Hat Co., became an open shop and has so remained to this day, al¬ though the majority of the other local hat factories are union shops. It seems that the Guyer Hat Company of Boston was granted a lower scale of wages by the union for a little branch hat factory which it contemplated opening on Ca¬ therine st., Philadelphia. Shortly after the opening of this shop which employed only six men, the Guyer Hat Co. de¬ cided to open a large factory in Philadelphia, just a few streets from the little branch. So far so good. But after the opening, it was discovered that the Guyer Hat Co. in- HATTING 285 tended paying wages in its new factory equal in amount to the low wages granted the company by the union for the establishment of its small branch factory. The Union an¬ nounced that the Guyer Hat Co. had violated its existing contract in Boston and forthwith the use of the union label was denied it. At that time the use of the union label in hats was more or less of a necessity to the hat manufactur¬ ers. Following this action, all the union hatters walked out of the Philadelphia shops, without waiting for a settlement of the trouble or even bothering to give notice, although it had been previously agreed that the union would never call out its men without warning the manufacturers, ten days in advance. The manufacturers retaliated at a meeting held in New York city at the Hotel Knickerbocker, Janu¬ ary 15, 1909, when they banded together, defied the union to take away the use of its label and announced that hence¬ forth, they wouldn’t use the union label. As a result, the hat industry immediately found itself in the worst tie-up in years. Seventy-five factories employing no less than 25,000 workers were affected, and in the Crofut and Knapp Co. in this city, 700 hatters ceased work. Janu¬ ary 1 6, 1909, 75 men employed in the John H. Wolthausen plant on Woodward ave., this city, walked out. In Dan¬ bury, 4,000 workers were already at home, waiting with idle hands for a settlement agreeable to themselves. Two days later the Hat Manufacturing association meeting in New York announced that most of the employers through¬ out the country would institute open shops; that there were some 20,000 strikers out, but that there were plenty of “scabs.” At the time it was said that the union had set aside $400,000 to fight the strike, which it was estimated would cost the country more than $1,000,000. Many of the hatters who walked out when told to do so, did not know the reason of the strike. Their wages and hours remained untouched and they could not see why they should not go to work. However, they belonged to 286 ROMANCE OF NORWALK the union and their loyalty forced them out. Local em¬ ployers announced they would wait two weeks for the union men to return and if they had not done so by that time, open shop would be declared. February 9, finding the union still obdurate, the Crofut and Knapp Co. decided upon the open shop as previously warned. When the C. and K. threw open its doors on that event¬ ful morning, to the accompaniment of catcalls and mutter- ings from the crowds of strikers gathered in the streets, John Cavanagh, who was then general manager of the com¬ pany and mayor of the city of Norwalk, was discovered at his old bench, curling hats. With him were Philip Knapp, then vice president and Superintendent Joseph L. O’Brien. All three of them, expert hat curlers, were taking the places of certain of the strikers who had left the plant with their tools a few days before. The C. and K. company, which was at the time in the midst of its spring trade, announced that it intended to fill all orders in keeping with promises made in a big advertising campaign upon which thousands of dollars had already been spent. Efforts were then being made by the company to obtain outside help. Trimmers and binders were needed badly, for the rest of the factory was some 600 hats ahead of the trimming and binding de¬ partment. John Cavanagh was instrumental in securing twelve women experts in this phase of the work from Phil¬ adelphia, Pa. They were scheduled to arrive in Norwalk, February 16, 1909. An interesting story is connected with their entrance to our city. Previous to their arrival, Mr. Cavanagh had made ar¬ rangements with a couple in Union Park to house the girls and the woman had made all the necessary plans. How¬ ever, the night before the delegation arrived, a group of union trimmers called on the good lady, and threatened to burn her home and the loss of a job to her husband, should she dare to take in the girls. Meantime, Mr. Cavanagh was engineering the arrival of the girls. It was not thought safe for them to come into Norwalk by train. As a con- HATTING 287 sequence they had been instructed to travel only as far as Stamford by train, where they were to disembark and take the trolley to Norwalk. This they did, being met in Nor¬ walk by Mr. Cavanagh, and safely escorted to Union Park.