Rose Slayton Interview 3

JUDITH HELFAND: Why? (laughter)

ROSE SLAYTON: I thought she... You know my two granddaughters? People ask them if they are. They've got olive-y skin and brown eyes.

GEORGE STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: That's God's chosen people, the Jews.

STONEY: The - are there - were there many Jews around here?

SLAYTON: No. You know a Jew's not gonna work in no mill! (laughter)

HELFAND: How come?

SLAYTON: Huh?

HELFAND: How come?

SLAYTON: But, uh, now (clears throat) where [Jill?] works is a Jew, but he's got a good job in there.

STONEY: Where are they gonna work?

SLAYTON: Uh, Jill works for Dixie.

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: She's got a good job.

STONEY: Yeah, yeah.

SLAYTON: She's got a good job.

STONEY: Well, you were telling me about these women who (break in audio) in the mill.

SLAYTON: Uh-huh.

STONEY: Could you tell me about that again?

SLAYTON: Well, he wouldn't let 'em wear socks; they had to wear hose.

STONEY: Who's that, Mister...?

SLAYTON: Mr. Dilling. And you know, it wasn't no pantyhose. It was old hose you had to come up here and put a garter around that. (laughter) You remember that, old garters? Cut your legs? And, uh, they had to wear hose, and had to wear a dress. They couldn't wear pants. And so they come in, was gonna wear the socks, and this one woman had a pair of hose on and a pair of socks. And he sent this here one girl back, Marie Lynn. He sent her back, 'cause she come in there, one time sh-she had socks on, and didn't have hose on.

STONEY: Why did you think he did that?

SLAYTON: I don't know. I've often wondered that. Now they wear shorts in there. Wear shorts, I mean shorts! (laughter)

HELFAND: Before you were listing it, you said you couldn't wear this and you couldn't wear this and you couldn't -

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm.

HELFAND: - wear this.

SLAYTON: Right.

HELFAND: Could you do that again, what you - list what you couldn't wear, and then talk about it?

SLAYTON: I don't think I would. I don't think I would. In fact, if I had to go over that again - [it was young?] - I don't believe I'd pay no attention to it. But they all got together, you know. It was gonna come in like that. Then finally he let 'em wear socks. Then s- it wasn't too many wear pants when I retired. But I think that's people's own privilege, wear what they want to.

STONEY: When you first started working in the mills, what did you wear? How did you dress?

SLAYTON: You had to wear a dress. They didn't wear pants then, wear pants then.

STONEY: And when did that change?

SLAYTON: Let's see... Oh, Lord, that was back in, uh, '30s, way back, way back in the '30s, '37 or something like that. But everybody wore a dress then. They didn't wear pants.

STONEY: Well, with that kind of thing -

SLAYTON: But I think it's - I think lots of it was on account of the men, that the superintendent had lots to do with it. I think it was that. I know they said that one old feller up yonder, Ragan, they said he was awful religious.

STONEY: Well, we've talked to Mr. Ragan, uh, Mr. Robert Ragan, who's the son of [Cordele?] Ragan, you know, who h-had the mill.

SLAYTON: Ones that used to own it.

STONEY: That's right. And he was telling us that he was under the impression it was - people thought it was un-Christian to have a union.

SLAYTON: That Mr. Miller was a superintendent.

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm.

STONEY: Do you think - do you know why Mr. Ragan would think that workers would - that, uh, workers would think it was un-Christian to have a union?

SLAYTON: I wouldn't say. I don't know. But they sold that mill. They sold that mill, mm-hmm. But they say, uh, his daddy was a good man. They say he was a good man. It's like Mr. Smyre. Mr. Smyre said it. Uh, they said that he was a good man. He said people back during the Depression, they'd go up there, lived up here on, uh, Airline, and said that he would give them money to go buy food. But he had such a 00:05:00mean old superintendent. (laughter)

STONEY: Well, now, when women had trouble in the mills, where you were talking about, what could they do about it?

SLAYTON: They couldn't do nothin'. I've heard Rob say that the women, uh, used to bring their, uh, babies and put 'em in boxes. I've heard him say that. I never did see nothin' like that.

STONEY: That was before your time.

SLAYTON: Yeah.

STONEY: How did the women nurse their babies when -

SLAYTON: W-

STONEY: - you were coming along?

SLAYTON: Well, they used to let 'em come home and go back, but finally they stopped that. Finally they stopped that.

STONEY: Well, then, what did they do?

SLAYTON: You mean about the babies? I don't know. I don't know, but I remember this here one woman, she used to bring hers. And I, I remember that. 00:06:00But most people now, they bottle, put 'em on the bottle.

STONEY: They bottle, yeah.

SLAYTON: Yeah.

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

HELFAND: I wonder, are there... When people didn't like what was going on, like with the socks, you know, what were other instances when, when either the women or people in the village were angry about some sort of rule? What - how would they try to, uh, counter it, like with the socks?

SLAYTON: Well, they didn't like it. They didn't like it, because they wouldn't let 'em wear socks. They didn't like it.

STONEY: Well, now, if - you had a husband who could kind of take up for you in the mill. (laughs) What did women do who didn't have a husband in the mill to take up for 'em?

SLAYTON: Well, mostly when I worked they had husbands. They had husbands. Then, if they would do something to their wives, they'd just go tell the boss man about it, boss man, or... But now this was a little old section hand what I 00:07:00had to work with, and he wasn't married. He never was married. But I know when my daughter got married, he always liked her, and he bought her some of the prettiest crystals. (laughs) And he went and told her one time, said, "I'll tell you right now," said, "your daddy don't let nobody run over him." (laughter) Robert's a big man, tall, big.

STONEY: But women - could women protest, or anybody else, if they didn't like what the section hand was doing?

SLAYTON: They was afraid to say anything. They was afraid. No, you couldn't say too much in the mill, mm-mm. 00:08:00But you had to work hard. I'll have to say that.

STONEY: Now, we've been, we've been reading some of the letters, uh, from (clears throat) an organizer named Paul Christopher. He was writing about that. And he said one of the reasons that he started the union in Shelby was because women were being mistreated in the mill.

SLAYTON: Paul Christopher. Seem like I've heard of him. Paul Christopher. Seem like I've heard of him.

STONEY: In '34, he was only 24, but he was a very bright young fella, who had started in the mills at 16, I think it was, finished high school, worked in the mills, went to Clemson for two years, had to drop out, went back in the mills, and at 24 he started, uh, organizing for this 00:09:00big, uh, strike we're talking about.

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

HELFAND: He organized first for a union, right? Not for a strike, right?

SLAYTON: Rob's brother, he's 84, and he's still living. Now, he can tell you plenty. He can tell you plenty. But now he's got Alzheimer's. Started about six months ago. And he had the best memory of anybody I've ever seen.

STONEY: Mm-hmm. And then Alzheimer's -

SLAYTON: Yeah, uh-huh.

STONEY: - it just went. That's a shame.

SLAYTON: Uh-huh. Never would've thought that would happen to him.

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: And he'd sit and look at television, you know. He could tell you everything they said. He had a wonderful memory.

STONEY: Hmm. Well, that's a mystery. You know, that disease is just - nobody can figure out anything about it.

SLAYTON: Well, used to you didn't hear tell of nothing like that -

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: - much, only when one did they said, "Well, he's gone crazy." (laughter)

STONEY: That's right. Uh, whatever it was called, it's, it's, it's rough.

SLAYTON: It sounds better, Alzheimer's. (laughter)

STONEY: I guess, yes. I have a great friend who's that way now, and I just can't believe it. He's still quite young looking. And he'll come with his wife to a party, and it's only when you speak to him that you realize that he's just not hardly there.

SLAYTON: Well, sometime they're OK. He is.

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: Then again, he's not.

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: Then again, he's not. I know his wife told me, said that he said, well, said, "Rob died when he was 84," and said, "I believe I'm gonna die." He's 84.

STONEY: Mm.

SLAYTON: And said mom lived till she was 85, and his 00:11:00grandmother was 99. They're long livers.

HELFAND: Can you show Rose that picture with the Ranlo sign on it one more time?

STONEY: Mm-hmm. Yeah, this is a -

HELFAND: The one on the bottom.

STONEY: Yeah.

HELFAND: That's the real critical one -

STONEY: Yeah, yeah.

HELFAND: - for her.

STONEY: This is this big Labor Day parade in Gastonia, and -

SLAYTON: Now, this was up there on Main Street, wasn't it?

STONEY: That's right.

SLAYTON: Yes. Mm-hmm.

STONEY: Do you recognize the place?

SLAYTON: That's a clock.

STONEY: Yeah.

SLAYTON: That's a clock. That used to be up on the square. Mm-hmm. And I believe that was that old motel back over there.

STONEY: Let's see... This was the bank building.

SLAYTON: That's on Main Street -

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: - the bank building. But -

STONEY: Uh, no, this is a bank building, and this was the old post office that's moved now.

SLAYTON: That - I thought that post office was still up there.

STONEY: No, we were just up there yesterday and comparing it -

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm, they built a new one.

STONEY: Yeah, we're comparing this picture -

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm.

STONEY: - with the thing.

SLAYTON: But it used to be a big old motel over there, yeah.

HELFAND: What do you think about all those people from your town marching behind a banner that says Ranlo -

SLAYTON: I wonder if it was hot. (laughter) Let's see, this is - yeah, Ranlo. Mm-hmm. But I imagine that was lots of other people besides Ranlo.

STONEY: Oh, yes. You see -

SLAYTON: Yes.

STONEY: - when they ended up in the park, you see how many people were there.

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm.

STONEY: Just thousands.

SLAYTON: Was this at, uh, Loray, this?

STONEY: This was, this was in -

SLAYTON: [Stiff?].

STONEY: - 1934.

SLAYTON: [Stiff?], mm-hmm.

STONEY: After this Labor Day parade -

SLAYTON: Yeah.

STONEY: - they all walked down to the park.

SLAYTON: Uh-huh.

STONEY: Uh, this is Lineberger Park.

SLAYTON: Yeah, right over here.

STONEY: And you see each local had its sign.

SLAYTON: Yes, mm-hmm.

STONEY: So there were lots of people who were out that day.

SLAYTON: Yeah.

STONEY: And the next day, they didn't go back to work.

SLAYTON: Yeah, (laughs) I knew that. I remember that.

STONEY: Almost every mill in -

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm.

STONEY: - Gaston County -

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm.

STONEY: - was closed that next day, and closed for about three weeks.

SLAYTON: Yeah, they closed 'em down.

STONEY: What did you do during that time?

SLAYTON: Me? I went up to Cherryville with my sisters. That's the one's, you know, in the hospital.

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: I went up there.

HELFAND: What'd you do up there?

SLAYTON: Well, her husband, you know, he had a pretty good job up there.

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: And, uh, so I just stayed there till, uh, Rob he came up there and got me.

STONEY: What does he say -

SLAYTON: You know, that, that was awful back then, wasn't it?

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: That was awful. That's like slavery.

STONEY: Why do you say it was like slavery?

SLAYTON: Well, the way they treated people.

HELFAND: C-can she say that again? I was crackling the paper.

STONEY: Uh, why do you say that?

SLAYTON: Way they treated people? Well, I just thought... Well, I - they just treated people bad. That's it.

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: You know how they treated people back - I've read about how they done people back in slavery time.

STONEY: Mm-hmm. Are you suggesting that, uh, textile workers were kind of like slaves?

SLAYTON: Yeah, yeah. The way they done 'em. But you know, it was worse years and years back. I've heard people talk about, you know, before I ever thought about working in a mill. I've heard people say things.

STONEY: You're right, we've, we've talked with some people older than you who started working in the mills at nine and ten -

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm.

STONEY: - and evidently it was worse, yes.

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm. Uh, I remember Rob saying that they had to carry the water in the mill in buckets for people to drink. I imagine they used the same dipper for all of 'em to drink out of, [bound to?]. Mm-hmm.

STONEY: Hmm.

SLAYTON: I've heard him say that about at Mount Holly at a mill over there.

STONEY: When you moved into this village, did you have, uh, running water?

SLAYTON: No. No. It was outside. You had to go outside and get it.

STONEY: Did you have a well?

SLAYTON: Well, the water come from the mill, come from the mill. So after they sold these houses, people began, you know, to put in septic tanks, and put in 00:16:00running water. But still, there are some bad places, you know, looks bad, and some looks better than others.

STONEY: I want to get this, because this is - everybody's interested in old cars, and we've got a lot of pictures of old cars, you see. So we've got a lot of pictures. I made it, uh - I made a film in 1953 for the Ford Motor Company -

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm.

STONEY: - about old cars. And, you know, they're still playing that. It's funny, people have a fascination with old cars. You were telling me about -

SLAYTON: Uh, Mr. Holland, he was a card room boss. Now, he had a car. And old Mr. Dilling, he had one. (laughter) And John Paxton had one. And they said he was gonna buy a car, John Paxton. He went over and asked old man Dilling could he buy a car. Rob said, "I'll tell you right now, I'd do without a car 00:17:00before I'd go and ask anybody could I buy a car." Them's the only two in all these years. Streets here was dirt, dirt.

STONEY: You mean you had to ask Mr. Dilling to -

SLAYTON: Ri- now, I don't know why that old fellerdone that, but he did. He went over and ask him.

STONEY: He wasn't trying to borrow money?

SLAYTON: No, uh-uh. He just went over and asked him could he buy a car. (laughter)

STONEY: Wow. Do you re- recognize this fella here?

SLAYTON: I don't know. Who is he?

STONEY: Well, Russell and his wife say that that's him.

SLAYTON: Russell? Now, he was young. That was when we were married. That was over there at, uh, [Priscilla?], over here at Ra- Ranlo.

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: And that's Russell.

STONEY: That's...

SLAYTON: Uh, that right there looked like Earl [Cammer?].

STONEY: Yeah, they said - that's what they said, yeah.

SLAYTON: Uh-huh, yeah.

STONEY: Uh-huh.

SLAYTON: That (inaudible) - he's in a rest home.

STONEY: Uh-huh.

SLAYTON: He's got Alzheimer's. But little old Russell, he don't look as much like hisself as Earl Cammer.

STONEY: And we've got some movie footage in which, uh, Mr. Moore, uh, found his own father.

SLAYTON: Sure enough.

STONEY: Yeah, with a hat on and all of that.

SLAYTON: Uh-huh.

STONEY: Yeah.

SLAYTON: Uh-huh. Everybody had hats and caps on then.

STONEY: Yeah, that's true.

SLAYTON: I remember when they wore them kind.

STONEY: Oh, those boaters, yes.

SLAYTON: (laughter) Sailors. I remember that. Did Russell s- know anybody else on here?

STONEY: I think that's only the ones - only ones he pointed out.

SLAYTON: Yeah, that's Earl Cammer, mm-hmm.

STONEY: Yeah.

SLAYTON: Now, he's up in his eighties -

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: - way on up in the eighties.

HELFAND: Are these people that she's always known that were part of the union? I mean, is this surprising?

STONEY: Are you surprised at the - all these people who were joining in the union? Did you know that there was that many people involved?

SLAYTON: No, I didn't - I didn't really know it was that many. Mm-mm, I didn't know.

HELFAND: I mean, the people in her community, George.

SLAYTON: Well, it was a bunch of 'em there, wasn't it?

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: Look like a convention.

STONEY: Well, that's kind of what it was. (laughter) You see, this was the people from your town.

SLAYTON: That kind of looks like that 00:20:00little old feller Clark, used to live over yonder. You know, people change so much.

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: But you know, that still looks like Main Street, the whole block.

STONEY: Yes, we went over and compared it. You know, they planted some trees along here -

SLAYTON: Yes, yes.

STONEY: - and makes it...

SLAYTON: Yeah, that's not been too long -

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: - many years ago.

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: And, and the railroad. They put that - they waited too late to put -

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: - that over there. (laughs)

STONEY: It's funny, we were over there, and with Mr. Moore, who was showing us where the parade went, because he was in the parade -

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm.

STONEY: - and one of the merchants came out. One of the businessmen came out, one -

SLAYTON: Who, Snyder? (laughter) That old -

STONEY: I can't remember who it was, but he -

SLAYTON: He had... He had a store up there, Snyder's. I reckon it's about one of the oldest stores up there -

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: - and [Belk's?] and -

STONEY: Yeah.

SLAYTON: - [Eford's?].

STONEY: Well, he came up and he said, "Where are all those people? We don't 00:21:00have all those people up here now?" (laughs)

SLAYTON: Don't nobody go up there much no more. They go to the mall.

HELFAND: Is she surprised that so many people from her own town came out?

STONEY: Are you, you surprised by the number of people -

SLAYTON: Yes, I am.

STONEY: - from your own town there?

SLAYTON: I didn't think it was that many. Mm-mm.

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: Well, see, people didn't have cars then. But I think they'd go on a truck.

STONEY: Well, we talked to Claude this morning, and he said - I mean, sorry - uh, we talked to Russell this morning -

SLAYTON: Uh-huh.

STONEY: - and he said they walked.

SLAYTON: Walked. I mean, like if they'd go off, off -

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: - but they walk up there. Yeah, they walked up there.

STONEY: Yeah.

SLAYTON: But I never was up there. I never was up there. That's where they had their meetings.

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: Did Russell belong?

STONEY: Yes.

SLAYTON: Did he? They must not have found it out at the mill. (laughter)

STONEY: He w- he said that, uh, he played music at the meetings. He was a drummer, and played the mouth organ there.

SLAYTON: I know - I gotta ask somebody else did he play the drums. He might've, but I never did -

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: - know of that. He could've.

STONEY: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: Could've. I -

STONEY: And played the harmonica, too.

SLAYTON: I wonder if he went to school over here, at Ranlo.

STONEY: I'm not sure.

SLAYTON: I wonder if he went to school up there. But I know he'll want to see that movie. (laughter)

STONEY: Well, we were showing him - we were showing him that movie today -

SLAYTON: Uh-huh.

STONEY: - of him, of -

SLAYTON: Yeah.

STONEY: And he, he, he could hear himself play.

SLAYTON: Yeah.

STONEY: Yeah.

SLAYTON: Well, he must. I never did know of it.

STONEY: Yeah, uh-huh.

SLAYTON: I never did know Russell.

STONEY: Yeah, yeah.

SLAYTON: But now I think his wife, I think she can play all - piano some.

STONEY: Yeah.

SLAYTON: [She?] (inaudible).

STONEY: Oh, and, uh, one of his granddaughters played for us this morning.

SLAYTON: Did she?

STONEY: And played very well, yeah.

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm. Uh, I think they have four grandchildren.

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm, four grandchildren. But now I've been knowin' his wife all her life.

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: Well, Russell ever since I was married.

STONEY: Yeah.

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm. He used to live here. Sold his house and built his house -

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: - over there.

HELFAND: So was this a secret?

STONEY: This, uh, this organization, did you know about it at the time?

SLAYTON: Yeah, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Yeah, I told you about that man was up there one night, and gave him a little piece [of fat meat?]. (laughter) I (inaudible) 00:24:00tell him that. Said he dropped it right down [yonder?], said an ant grabbed it and run off with it. (laughter)

STONEY: No, no, you, you have to - I didn't get that story. What did you say?

SLAYTON: He... I think they was gonna give some food away up there. I think [that's what it?]. And he was a mess anyhow. So we're sitting out there on the porch, and he came down the road and stopped and said he'd been up there. And, uh, Rob asked him did he give any food. He said, "Well, they gave me a piece of little fatback meat," and said "I dropped it down there," and said, "An ant grabbed it and run off with it." (laughter) But I think they had to pay dues, didn't they? I don't imagine they paid much.

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: They couldn't.

STONEY: Hmm.

SLAYTON: They couldn't.

STONEY: And you, you said something about handbills.

SLAYTON: Let's see, handbills...

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

HELFAND: Leaflets.

STONEY: Leaflets they handed out.

SLAYTON: Oh, yeah, they'd do that over here, you know, the -

STONEY: They did what?

SLAYTON: The, the union, you know, would stand on the outside, you know, and they'd give out leaflets. And, uh, so if you'd go up in there, and boss man would see you with a leaflet, they didn't like it. They didn't like it. I know one time they was over there, and so I got one of 'em, and so this here woman was with me. She said, "You better not go up there with..." I said, "I want to see what's on it." But I didn't take it up in the mill. I didn't take it up in the mill. But they tell me they like that now. You'd better not talk about union in these mills.

STONEY: Well, let me show you what that leaflet might've looked like. We have one here that was 00:26:00- dates from the time, I think.

HELFAND: Mm-hmm.

STONEY: Yeah, let's see if we don't have it here. No?

HELFAND: Keep on going.

STONEY: OK. Here.

HELFAND: There.

STONEY: That's a leaflet from 1934.

SLAYTON: No more juggling around. (laughter) That's all.

STONEY: What, that...?

SLAYTON: Employers have been discharged, workers because they have joined the union. That, that's true.

STONEY: Could you stop - start there and read it for us?

SLAYTON: I don't like to read out loud.

STONEY: Well, try.

SLAYTON: Mm-mm.

HELFAND: Please?

(pause)

SLAYTON: Well...

STONEY: Let me read it to you -

SLAYTON: Yeah.

STONEY: - and see what you say, OK?

SLAYTON: You know, I never would read out -

STONEY: OK.

SLAYTON: - loud at school.

STONEY: Ah.

HELFAND: But did you read it to yourself?

STONEY: Oh, yes.

HELFAND: What do you think of it?

SLAYTON: It's right. Go ahead and read it.

STONEY: OK. And I'll stop, and you can comment. "To all textile workers, official notice: The hour for final action is at hand. We have exhausted every method of getting relief from intolerable conditions." 00:28:00What did they mean by that?

SLAYTON: I don't know.

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: What is that?

STONEY: It says, "No more boards and no more juggling around. No more tricks and no more waiting with - while government boards give us the runaround." What happened was that the government said they had a right to join a union, and then the officers got fired -

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm.

STONEY: - and then they appealed to these government boards, and these -

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm.

STONEY: - government boards delayed and delayed and delayed, and sent the, the notices to the employers, and so everybody knew about it, you see.

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm.

STONEY: And that's what they mean about getting -

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm.

STONEY: - jerked around. So they, they're striking because they're just desperate. "We have been patient while our people have been starved and exploited. We have suffered the stretch out until we can endure no more." What did they mean by "the stretch out"?

SLAYTON: That's giving more people work, more on our job, you know? Like if they was running machineries, like they'd run three or four slubbers, they'd 00:29:00give 'em extra, but no more pay.

STONEY: I see. Did that happen to you?

SLAYTON: No, I didn't run that. That -

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: - was in the card room.

STONEY: "Employment is at the lowest level since the code was approved." That is when the 1933 - in July 1933 the code came in, and the employers were supposed to limit their machine operation to 80 hours, and so they just speeded it up, you see, so they could make more, and then they, they put everybody on short time. You remember short time?

SLAYTON: Yes, mm-hmm. I remember that.

STONEY: Well, that, that was a hard thing.

SLAYTON: Three days, some two days and some not at all, uh, they didn't run at all.

STONEY: And then in - "Employers have discharged workers because they've 00:30:00joined our union."

SLAYTON: That's right. They certainly did.

STONEY: That happened? "We have tried to negotiate, but employers still will not negotiate. Finally, our great national convention voted a strike order." That is, they sent a lot of people to New York. They met from all over the country. And it was the Southerners who said, "Look, we've been fooling around with this too long, and we gotta come out." In fact, the people from Alabama were out before that convention. The Alabama textile workers came out in J- in the middle of July. And we've interviewed some of those people.

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm.

STONEY: Um, "From all textile states, the cry was alike: there was no way but 00:31:00to strike. The hour is at hand. Be ready. Organize for action. Organize for victory. Down the line, send the battle call: now or never. We shall do no more talking. Now we act. There must be solidarity. There must be discipline, every man in his place, and a task for every man to do." Now you see how old-fashioned this is?

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm.

STONEY: What would it say now?

SLAYTON: I just don't know.

STONEY: I can tell you what it'll s- it would say there must be solidarity, there must be discipline, every man and woman in his or her place. (laughter) You see, more than half the people in the factories then, in the mills, were women.

SLAYTON: Yes, that's right. Over half. Over half. And they always had the 00:32:00hardest job. That's true.

STONEY: And the thing that still bewilders me is that just yesterday we're talking to Mr. Moore, and I said, "What did the women do in the strike?" He says, "Oh, at least half of the people on strike were women. Oh, they did this, that..." I said, "Did they ever come to meetings?" "Oh yes, they came to meetings." "Did they ever speak?" "No, they didn't speak."

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm.

STONEY: "Did they ever take leadership?" "No, they never take leadership." (laughter)

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm. I reckon they went by the Bible that women keep silence in the church and ask their husbands. (laughter)

STONEY: Well, now, that doesn't happen now. You've got women preachers.

SLAYTON: Yes, mm-hmm. Yeah, that's right. And women deacons.

STONEY: That's right. That's changed. And you have women union organizers, too.

SLAYTON: Yeah. And, uh, [let's?] - you know, a man is the ruler of the house. I said, "He may be ruler of the house because he worked and kept his family 00:33:00up, but his wife had to work, he wasn't [offered?]." (laughter) That's what I told my daughter.

STONEY: Yeah. Well, one of the things I've noticed in working with the textile workers is that you people knew two-salary families long before it got to be something for the, for the '80s. And so it's - maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me that men took a little more responsibility for families than in other...

SLAYTON: Back then, yes.

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm, that - yeah, that's right. But it really was. It was more women worked than it was men -

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: - men. [Per?] - had more jobs for women. And lord, it used to be so linty in there, but you know, it's not no more.

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: It's not no more. Whenever I retired, it wasn't no lint.

STONEY: Describe what it was like when you first started working in there.

SLAYTON: Lord, you'd have lint all over you, be on the floor. But they got those things now that sucks it all up.

STONEY: Hmm. What - how did you do then? Did you wear a mask?

SLAYTON: No. But they finally - you had to wear earplugs in some - like, weaving, you know, like -

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: - where's that's so much noise. You had to wear earplugs.

STONEY: But nothing like that when you first worked in the mill.

SLAYTON: No, mm-mm. That's right.

STONEY: Well, we go on with this, uh, thing here: "Be ready for the strike call when it comes. It will come soon. We're united in - we are united in purpose. We are united in the strength of our great cause. When the call is issued, act in unity and on the minute. Yours for solidarity and victory, Special Strike Committee, the United Textile Workers of America." And that 00:35:00was, that was issued from Washington in 1934.

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm. But I tell you, it's lots of difference in the mills now than it was back then. All of it's modern inside now.

STONEY: Mm-hmm. But the people who work there tell me it's still a hard job.

SLAYTON: Yeah. Yes, yes. That's the truth. I heard a girl say other day, said that she just gave up her job, said, "It's got so hard," said, "I just give it up."

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: Said, "I couldn't sleep at night."

STONEY: Well, we've been talking with some of the people up at Kannapolis, for example, who are organizing up there.

SLAYTON: I bet they can tell you lots up there.

STONEY: They've been trying to do something about it.

SLAYTON: Yeah.

STONEY: Yeah.

SLAYTON: They've been telling it on TV.

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: Up there at Kannapolis.

STONEY: When you see that on TV, how do you feel?

SLAYTON: Well, I just hope they win, when I see 'em. (laughter) I hope they win.

STONEY: How do you think your neighbors feel?

SLAYTON: Some of my neighbors? I don't know. I've never heard them talk anything much about that. She's such a bad Republican down there, you can't talk much to her. (laughter) She is, mm, mm, mm, mm.

STONEY: Do you take much part in politics?

SLAYTON: Well, I used to vote all the time. I didn't vote last year because, you know, uh, I was sick, couldn't get around at all - I mean the last election. That's when I had that diabetes so bad. And, uh - but I always vote. Now, [Gyp?], Russell's wife, works over there. She went told me one 00:37:00time (inaudible) went over there and voted, and she came back, she said, "I'm going to go over there and kill your vote." (laughter) So that -

STONEY: Do, do you remember if, uh, uh, your superintendent had anything to do with pe- how people voted?

SLAYTON: Yes, he did. But I, I do think that, uh, h-he was a Democrat. If I'm not mistaken, I think he was. But you know, mostly people like that won't tell you, won't tell you. But I think he was. That's been years and years ago.

STONEY: Did Mr. Dilling check up on how people voted?

SLAYTON: I don't think so. But he checked up on about everything else. (laughter)

STONEY: We've heard about in some mills they did, but...

SLAYTON: Well, you know, I have heard people say, boy, they worked, they'd tell them how to vote, but that's one good thing: you can vote and don't nobody know about it. Don't nobody know about it.

HELFAND: I wonder when she got - when, when Rose got that, what she thought.

STONEY: (inaudible)?

HELFAND: Since now that you read it, yeah.

STONEY: Yeah. When you read this, uh, what does that bring to mind?

SLAYTON: Hard times. Hard times. And lots of that's right on there, too.

STONEY: What's particularly right?

SLAYTON: For everybody be treated right.

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: I think that... Makes no difference what, in textiles or other jobs. But that'll never be. I don't think. Do you?

STONEY: Not unless we fight for it.

SLAYTON: (pause) So the hour's at hand. (pause) Uh, [Bob Barr?] belonged to the union. He belonged to the union.

STONEY: Which union was that?

SLAYTON: I don't know. He drove one of these here tractor trailers is what he done. Let's see, I forget that company he worked for. It wasn't up yonder at Sherwood, wasn't up... It was another... I just can't think.

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: It's been a long time ago.

STONEY: Sure. OK, I think we've -

HELFAND: OK.

STONEY: - I think we've gone... I wanted to make sure we got some, some of her flowers.

M1: Before you go anywhere -

HELFAND: OK.

M1: - are you going to be appearing in (inaudible)...

(break in audio)

SLAYTON: Clint[on?] was coming out of the church carrying his [ball?]. (laughter)

STONEY: That make you feel a little cynical? But, uh -

M1: Why don't you ask a few of the appropriate questions?

STONEY: OK.

HELFAND: And you can also read that, that -

STONEY: OK, I'll read this first.

M1: And then (inaudible) -

STONEY: OK -

M1: - (overlapping dialogue; inaudible).

STONEY: - all right, mm-hmm. OK, this is a... This is a leaflet that dates from August 1934, just before this big general strike.

SLAYTON: I don't know whether I can answer all of them questions or not. I don't know (overlapping dialogue; inaudible).

M1: (overlapping dialogue; inaudible) laying on the table.

HELFAND: Um...

M1: Do you remember if you were holding that up or was it laying down?

STONEY: I think I had it like this.

M1: All right, OK.

STONEY: Uh, it says - I'm just gonna read it -

HELFAND: I'm sorry, I'm not comfortable yet. OK.

STONEY: You don't have to answer it. I'm just gonna -

SLAYTON: Yeah.

STONEY: - read [that to?]... OK?

HELFAND: Mm-hmm.

STONEY: It says, "To all textile workers, official notice: The hour for final action is at hand. We have exhausted every method of getting relief from intolerable conditions. No more boards, no more juggling around. No more tricks, and no more waiting while government boards give us the runaround." What was happening was that they would organize, and then the officials, the officers of the unit, get fired, and they'd organize again, (laughter) and they'd get fired again.

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm.

STONEY: And they would protest, because the government said at that time that they had a right to join a union, and the employers had no right to discharge them for being a member of the union. So they'd appeal to these government boards, and it would take months and months and months, and meanwhile they were out of work, and starving. So that's what they meant by getting, getting 00:42:00jerked around like that.

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm.

STONEY: "We have been patient while our people have been starved and exploited. We have suffered the stretch out until we can endure no more." Now, what did they mean by the stretch out?

SLAYTON: That stretch out? Putting more work on 'em.

STONEY: OK. Uh, "Employment is at the lowest level since the code was a- approved." Now, their code was approved in June of 1933, and just before that they, they ran the machines, you know, as much as they could to, to make a, a big, uh, bunch of goods. So they got ahead of the code. (laughter) And then after that, they speeded up the machinery, because they were limited to eighty, to eighty hours of operation.

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm.

STONEY: So they speeded up their machinery. And then, of course, they only had two or three days a week. You know what short time was?

SLAYTON: Well, let's see, back then it was - sometime you'd get two days, sometime three, but mostly two. But now they did speed that up. They did do that, so they'd get more yarn off.

STONEY: When you had short time, you made six, seven dollars, maybe.

SLAYTON: You mean a week. Sometime not that much.

STONEY: Well then you had to pay for house rent.

SLAYTON: Yes, a dollar a week.

STONEY: And you had to pay for your lights and water?

SLAYTON: No, no.

HELFAND: George, when you finish reading that.

M1: Yeah.

STONEY: OK. OK. Uh, "Employers have discharged workers because they have joined our union."

SLAYTON: They did.

STONEY: "We have tried to negotiate, but employers will not negotiate. Finally, our great national convention voted a strike order." They went up to New York to meet with the textile workers from New England and decided that they all had to come out together. "Finally, our great national convention voted a strike order. From all textile states, the cry was alike: there was no way out but to strike. The hour is at hand. Be ready. Organize for action. Organize for victory. Down the line, send the battle cry: now or never. We shall do no more talking. Now we act. There must be solidarity. There must be discipline, every man in his place and a task for every man to do." Now, today that'd 00:45:00be different; they'd say every, every man and woman.

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm.

STONEY: "Be ready for the strike call when it comes. It will come soon. We are united in purpose. We are united in the strength of our great cause. When the call is issued, act in unity and on the minute." They wanted everybody to come out at once so that the employers could see that they could win, and that's why they were doing a general strike. "Yours for solidarity and victory," signed by the Special Strike Committee, United Textile Workers of America, Strike Headquarters, Carpenter's Building, Washington, D.C. So that's what all that was about.

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm. But you know, when these mills go down here on short time, that hurts Gaston County. That hurts.

STONEY: You've heard some much- merchants say that.

SLAYTON: Yeah, yeah, it hurts. It hurts. I hope that never happened again. 00:46:00Things are back like they was then. People wouldn't stand for it, it'd be a war. You know it? I believe it would.

STONEY: Mm-hmm. Well, I suspect if you had a superintendent like you have, that might be.

SLAYTON: (laughter) Mr. Dilling. King Dilling.

STONEY: Yeah. He was a dilly, wasn't he? (laughter)

SLAYTON: Yes, he was. Yes, he was.

STONEY: Mr. Dilling. So many people have told us about him.

SLAYTON: I tell you, people was - they was just afraid to say anything about him. That was it. Just like that Mr. Miller up yonder. They said -

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: - he was like that. Then it might've been lots that I never did hear about.

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: Never did hear about.

STONEY: Well, if you had your life to live over again, what would you do?

SLAYTON: I'd want a good education and get me a good job, and wait till I was about 30 to get married. (laughter) Or maybe never!

STONEY: Maybe never?

SLAYTON: Yes.

STONEY: Wait a minute.

SLAYTON: That's what I told Dr. Albright over there - my granddaughter was with me over there one day, and she was getting married in June. I said to Dr. Albright, I said, "Lord, if I was her, I wouldn't never get married." He said, "Ms. Slayton, you ought to not say that." He said, "Yes," said, "you got married." I said, "Yes, but I didn't know what I was getting into." (laughter) But I had a good husband.

STONEY: Yeah.

SLAYTON: I had a good husband. But times was awful hard. Times was hard. People didn't have many clothes back then, shoes.

HELFAND: Respond to the sock story.

STONEY: Mm-hmm. Oh, yes.

M1: (inaudible) Jason (inaudible) still.

STONEY: You were telling me about Mr. Dilling and the, the way - what women were allowed to wear in the factory.

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm. Well, they had to wear a dress, had to wear hose. They couldn't wear socks. They couldn't wear pants. He sent one girl home one morning because she didn't have no hose on. But finally, they began to wear pants and socks without hose.

STONEY: Well, when that woman went home, got sent home, what did, what did the other women do?

SLAYTON: Well, they knew if they'd come in there like that they'd be sent 00:49:00home. She worked on a morning shift, and she lived right back up here, and so she had to come home.

HELFAND: I thought you said the next day they all came in in socks.

SLAYTON: Well, they did later on. They did later on. That was after. That was after the war. See, after the war, people began to do things that they hadn't done before. And finally the people was quitting over here, quitting, and so Mr. Smyre, he got another man to come in there, and he moved out of the house and moved over yonder.

STONEY: OK.

M1: I just want to get -

HELFAND: Can you just show her one of the - can you -

STONEY: Yeah.

HELFAND: - show her the Ranlo picture?

STONEY: OK.

M1: Yeah, let me just get set for that. OK, go.

STONEY: See, this is the main street. Do you know -

SLAYTON: Yeah.

STONEY: - recognize this?

SLAYTON: That town, on Main Street, Gastonia.

STONEY: In Gastonia, that's right.

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm.

STONEY: And you see the people from Ranlo right up there in the parade.

SLAYTON: No, I don't see any I know. Ran- I see Ranlo...

HELFAND: Um, George -

SLAYTON: You know, you forget people's faces back when they're young -

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: - when you get old.

STONEY: Mm-hmm. When was the last time you saw this many people in Gastonia?

SLAYTON: Oh, I've seen lots of people. You mean lately? At the fish fry. (laughter) I was going up to my daughter's and oh, you know, they have that every year -

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: - up there? Catfish... But I've seen that many up there.

STONEY: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

M1: Dad?

STONEY: Yeah. (break in audio) Well, that's why we were so interested in Mr. Moore, because he said he had a car -

SLAYTON: Did he?

STONEY: - and he took a whole bunch of people up there -

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm.

STONEY: - and he had two signs on each side of the car.

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm. Where does he live? Over at Ranlo?

(break in audio)

M1: OK, I need her to hold that picture.

HELFAND: OK -

STONEY: OK.

HELFAND: - all right, let's (inaudible)...

M1: OK.

STONEY: Yeah, yeah.

HELFAND: So George, why don't you say - point to it and say, "Isn't it amazing" -

M1: Yeah, that's what you were doing.

HELFAND: - "that..." You were saying, "Isn't it something that all these people from your town...?"

STONEY: Well, you see, this is downtown Gastonia, and I'm just amazed to see so many people out on this day.

SLAYTON: There's lots of children in there, too.

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: I see children.

STONEY: And lots of women (inaudible).

SLAYTON: Yes, women, mm-hmm.

STONEY: Yeah, all dressed up.

SLAYTON: Yes.

STONEY: When you went downtown, did you always dress up?

SLAYTON: I always put on the best I had when I went anywhere, (laughter) like shopping, doctor's -

STONEY: Mm, yeah.

SLAYTON: - office, but -

STONEY: Yeah.

SLAYTON: - people back then didn't go to the doctor. They didn't go shopping much, because they didn't have nothing to shop with.

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: Didn't have no money.

STONEY: Yeah. Well, after that parade they ended up in Lineberger Park, and all of these people were there.

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm.

STONEY: Did you have any idea this many people were involved in...?

SLAYTON: No, I didn't, Labor Day.

STONEY: That's right.

SLAYTON: Labor Day. But this man right here with his mouth open, seemed like I kind of recognize him.

STONEY: You see all the signs back here.

SLAYTON: Yes, mm-hmm. Says, "Line up with the AFL. Come on," it says on that one side.

STONEY: Let's see if you recognize this man.

SLAYTON: Yeah, Albert. That's Albert.

STONEY: Albert Hinson.

SLAYTON: Albert Hinson. I don't know anybody else on there.

HELFAND: Tell her - point to him and say that's why we came here.

STONEY: Well, you see, this is particularly why we came here, because -

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm.

STONEY: - we - you told us that Albert Hinson lived in this house before -

SLAYTON: Yes, he used to live here.

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: And I believe he was drinking that day when he was up here if he was laying in yonder up on the bed. (laughter) And I know his wife was in here.

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: Fixin' -

HELFAND: Could you point [in?] -

SLAYTON: - somethin'...

HELFAND: - and say, "This is why we came to Ranlo specifically, because he's the (inaudible) organizer, you know, he's so important"?

STONEY: Well, Albert Hinson was one of the few organizers, and -

SLAYTON: He was the only one around here, I...

STONEY: Mm-hmm. And we actually have some newsreel footage of him, and he was working in the mill, and he's also an organizer here.

SLAYTON: Mm-hmm.

STONEY: And so we particularly wanted to find out what happened to him, what kind of a guy he was.

SLAYTON: Well, you know, they were good people, him and his wife and them three boys.

STONEY: Well, now, if he had a wife and three boys, he must've had, uh, a lot of courage to do this.

SLAYTON: Yeah, and she, uh, she worked, too.

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: Mrs. Hinson worked.

STONEY: She worked in the mill.

SLAYTON: Yes, mm-hmm.

STONEY: Where does he get his ability to speak? Because we have on the newsreel he was speaking very, very well.

SLAYTON: I don't know. I don't know. I wouldn't know.

STONEY: Was he a leader in the church?

SLAYTON: I don't know whether he went to church then or not, but I know, uh, he used to go to church after he left here, after he got older, for I know he went to church up there where we went. I know. And, uh, finally he was in a... You know, he used to be in the Army.

STONEY: I didn't know this, no.

SLAYTON: And I think he was, uh, uh, in a VA hospital -

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: - I think. Then he died.

STONEY: We're hoping to get hold of his son.

SLAYTON: He's got three. They ought to be living -

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: - some - well, maybe down South Carolina -

STONEY: Hmm.

SLAYTON: - or over in Charlotte.

STONEY: Yeah. We hope to find him.

HELFAND: One more question, George. On the picture, ask if he ever went back into the mills.

STONEY: What happened to Albert Hinson after the strike?

SLAYTON: I don't think he had no job. They got shut of him.

STONEY: Yeah. Thank you. OK.

M1: (inaudible).

HELFAND: Sure.

STONEY: OK.

M1: Roll the bars.

STONEY: OK, just -

HELFAND: We're gonna be quiet for just 30 seconds.

M1: We just need 30 seconds of the sound of the kitchen.

(room tone)

(break in audio)

STONEY: Uh, Jamie?

JAMIE: Yeah.

STONEY: Uh, let me do a rehearsal.

JAMIE: OK.

STONEY: Just with me. Here we come. OK. Oh, such pretty flowers. How'd you decide about this?

SLAYTON: My husband put that pot there.

STONEY: Uh-huh.

SLAYTON: I'd have liked it better if it had some more of these in there.

STONEY: Uh-huh. That's nice.

SLAYTON: Which way are we...?

STONEY: Round this way. And your crepe myrtle's still got some blossoms on it.

SLAYTON: Yeah, I've still got some (inaudible).

STONEY: Uh-huh. Is all this, uh, yours or your neighbors?

SLAYTON: That's (inaudible).

STONEY: Oh, she's done a nice job, too, hasn't she?

SLAYTON: Yes.

STONEY: That's pretty.

SLAYTON: Yeah, that'll bloom.

STONEY: Yeah, uh-huh.

SLAYTON: You know, right there's something I like, little brown ones.

STONEY: Oh, they're beautiful, aren't they?

SLAYTON: Uh-huh.

(break in audio)

M1: Rolling.

STONEY: OK. How did you get this?

SLAYTON: I, I been cutting that back.

STONEY: Yeah.

SLAYTON: Yeah.

STONEY: Yeah.

SLAYTON: I was (inaudible) [around this-a-way?].

STONEY: Uh-huh. God, it's so beautifully planned out here.

SLAYTON: (inaudible) spring.

STONEY: Uh-huh.

SLAYTON: Where do they want us to go?

STONEY: We're going right around over in here.

SLAYTON: (inaudible).

STONEY: That's really fancy. Hello. (laughs) We'll go in here.

M2: See you there, Grandma.

SLAYTON: OK.

STONEY: This, uh - tell us about - tell me about these flowers.

SLAYTON: Well, the yellow ones is marigolds, and, uh, the white ones and the purple ones is [venustas].

STONEY: Do you raise those from seed?

SLAYTON: Yes, uh-huh, but I had them there last year, and so they came out.

STONEY: Mm-hmm.

SLAYTON: But I bought these (inaudible).

STONEY: Those barrels, uh, they rot out fast, don't they?

SLAYTON: Yes, they do.

STONEY: Yeah. We've tried out in - we'll just go around this way now.

SLAYTON: But now that's something that's pretty -

STONEY: Uh-huh.

SLAYTON: - in the spring (inaudible) that's -

STONEY: Oh, yes.

SLAYTON: - that's beautiful.

STONEY: Uh-huh, yeah.

SLAYTON: We'll go down the walk.

STONEY: Yeah, yeah, we'll just go down the walk now and sit on the front porch. Yeah, we'll sit, sit on the rocker here. Ah.

(break in audio)

SLAYTON: And, uh, he didn't ever go in the house. I said, "Rob, how come you (inaudible)?" He said, "Well, I don't want people passing through, look at that old man sitting on the porch and his wife a-mowin' grass." 01:00:00(laughter) But see, he had...