Reid Roach Interview 1



REID ROACH: Would you be interested in what kind of plants is out here?

JAMIE STONEY: Sure. Tell me all about your plants.

ROACH: This is -- this is a white dogwood, our white birthday (inaudible) I keep it watered because it's just been set out about 5 or 6 months. This is a -- rhododendron.

JAMIE STONEY: Do you have much trouble keeping stuff alive in the heat?

ROACH: Hard to (inaudible). Have to keep 'em watered. This is a -- this is (inaudible), this one. That's a rare (inaudible). -- because they re-seed themselves. Now this over here is azalea and rhododendron. One of these rhododendrons are pink and the other one's lavender. And the azaleas is all 00:02:00kind of colors. We've got 'em in all kind of colors - white, pink.

JAMIE STONEY: How long ago did you plant them?

ROACH: What say?

JAMIE STONEY: How long ago did you plant them?

ROACH: Ah, these are several years old. I keep 'em watered because it's dry here and they're used to having -- (inaudible) rhododendron, and it's used to more water than we have here. And this tree here is a Japanese magnolia. It's one of the first things that booms in the spring with big pink blossoms. And it's one of the first things that blooms in the spring.

WILDSOUND OF TRAFFIC WRECK

JAMIE STOTENY: Somebody just had an accident.

ROACH: (inaudible)?

JAMIE STONEY: Somebody just had an accident at the intersection. See?

ROACH: They had a bad accident up there the other day.

JAMIE STONEY: Well, I just heard a good one right there.

ROACH: Yeah. I had one there about last August or September. I pulled out the street and a Volkswagen tried to run over me. (laughs) (inaudible) -- and all these small-leaf things are azalea and they're all different colors.

JAMIE STONEY: This yard must look beautiful in the spring.

ROACH: Oh, yeah, it's really beautiful.

JAMIE STONEY: Sort of what they call a riot of color.

ROACH: I've had right good luck with 'em because I've kept 'em watered and, ah, and I haven't lost any to amount to anything. This -- this tree right here is English dogwood. It blooms in the spring with a white blossom on it. That's a white ash. That comes from the river. It's what you call "grandpa's grey beard," you know. (inaudible) This is a Judas bush, redbud. This -- this tree 00:05:00right here is an American holly. It come from the river. It's wild and I set it out when it was about a foot high.

JAMIE STONEY: Did you go down to the river and dig it up yourself?

ROACH: Yeah. And right on around this a-way, I, ah, I'm rooting some plants here. This is, ah, oh, shucks. I can't think of what it's called. (inaudible) 00:06:00This is a jade plant. Now I'm rooting those to sell.

JAMIE STONEY: I saw the big jade plant you have up on your porch.

ROACH: Yeah, that's the big one. That's where those come from. Now this -- this plant right in here where I'm watering, that's sweet shrubs off the river, right in here. And that big tree over there, that one is a buckeye come from the river.

JAMIE STONEY: My wife should have come down with me. She's got a lot of succulents and, ah --

ROACH: This -- this multiplies a lot. I set out a small bunch there and it's about 10-foot square now. It multiplies and it has -- it's the only flower I know of that's brown, the blossom is brown.

JAMIE STONEY: Well, maybe you can answer a question. All the way driving in here we were smelling what smelled to me like honeysuckle, but all I saw was 00:07:00kudzu. Does kudzu have an aroma?

ROACH: Gardenia's got a special smell of its own, is all that I know of. That's a gardenia in the middle of the yard out there (inaudible).

JAMIE STONEY: When we were driving down on Route 5, all on both sides of the road you'd have kudzu, and, ah, a lot of times we'd smell a rather sweet, almost a honeysuckle type smell --

ROACH: Well, it may be that they have -- it has a smell. I don't know that.

JAMIE STONEY: It smelled sweet.

ROACH: I don't know much about it. Well, honeysuckle, I've got 'em growing on my fence all the way around the place here.

ROACH: This is impatiens. Right along here is impatiens. The (inaudible), I 00:08:00keep it trimmed off of the tree. It goes up the tree and kills it.

JAMIE STONEY: Yeah.

ROACH: So I keep that trimmed. I built a rock circle around here and put (inaudible) in it and, like I say, I trim it off. When I first came here, that tree -- I don't know -- about -- couldn't have been over 15 or 18 inches in diameter, and it's grew that much since 1939.

JAMIE STONEY: You mean there's a tree in this yard you didn't plant?

ROACH: Huh?

JAMIE STONEY: This is the first tree in this yard you didn't plant?

ROACH: Yeah. That's the only one I showed you that I didn't plant, yes. This one was put on the lot before I bought the lot. This house was built in 1939. Ah, and those (inaudible) out there are volunteer on the fence? (inaudible) I 00:09:00did have a wisteria vine on this tree and I cut it down because it was ruining the tree. (clears throat) This is a regular, regular (inaudible), the sewing kind, this little tree. Has little oranges on it about that big. I have, I think, about 15 kinds.

GEORGE STONEY: Oh, those are so pretty. (inaudible)

ROACH: (inaudible)

GEORGE STONEY: Okay. Mr. Roach, tell us how you -- how you got into the mills when you were young.

ROACH: Ah, I went to, ah, Rock Hill Print & Finishing Company in April the 15th, 1931. The company that I worked for before going there closed March the 15th, 1931. And at the time there was four persons in Rock Hill that people could get a job at the plant. There was a city manager, Phil Goodman, and the mayor, Barney Johnson, and Dr. Stephens, the company doctor, and Ned Marshall, a oil dealer. And at that time I'd purchased a small house from Mr. Marshall and a month later I was out of a job, and I told him that I couldn't make the 00:11:00payments unless I had some work. So he, ah, told me that -- to report to the plant, that they would give me a job over there. And I reported and there was about 300 people standing on the lawn at the time, and the -- the man that hired me was Mr. J.J. Adams, the foreman in the white department. He came out and, ah, and called my name and told me to come on and go in the plant. They didn't even have a -- a personnel department at that time. And, ah, from that time on, I worked in the white department, the first shift, for 50 year. And I did all the jobs that was operated in that department, but my real job was stocking inventory man for New York. I made a report to New York once a week of the 00:12:00goods, white goods, that was in inventory in the plant at that time. And at one time (clears throat) I took my stock by estimation and New York decided at one time that they wasn't satisfied with my estimation. So they had the night, ah, crew to run four rolls of cloth, ah, and put the tickets in without the yardage. In the morning when I came in, they told me that New York wanted me to estimate the yardage on those four rolls to see how close my estimation was. And, ah, I, ah, went in and took out a little card, my pencil and started writing the yardage down for each roll. And every roll was a different kind of cloth. Some 00:13:00of it was voile. Some of it was percale. Some of it was sheeting that they knap and that they -- I wrote all those yardages down for each roll and added them and handed 'em to the foreman. And he said, "That's impossible." I said, "What you mean it's impossible?" He says, "You can't -- can't nobody do that." I says, "Well," I said, "I've been doing it for years and I know I'm close, but I don't know how close." And I said, "How much -- how close am I?" And he held up four fingers and he said, "Just four yards." I said, "That ought to prove then that my estimation is right." Well, the cloth was run on rolls and stacked on two rolls to a skid and piled in lines as many as three high, and it -- it, ah -- when I'd take inventory I wouldn't look at the tickets. I'd estimate the 00:14:00rolls in the lines, the number of rolls and the size and set that down and go for another. And, ah, ah, if we got below 10 million yards, we thought we were low and, ah, sometimes it run as much as 14 million yards in the plant of white goods already bleached.

GEORGE STONEY: Would you tell me how old you were when you first started working and how far you got in school?

ROACH: Ah, when I first started working? You mean at the plant or --

GEORGE STONEY: No. When you first started -- when --

ROACH: I was -- at 10 years old I was plowing in the field some of the roughest country around, and I was working cotton and corn and garden stuff. And, ah, 00:15:00after that, why, I drove a wholesale truck for Reed Company. And, ah, they would take orders a day ahead -- the man would take orders a day ahead and, ah, I would, ah, load the truck the next morning by the orders that he had taken, and I would, ah, deliver the goods and collect either checks or cash, mostly cash. People then paid cash. At some times I would collect from chiefs(?) of the company in Great Falls as much as $300 in silver, because Great Falls paid off in odd dollars and silver. So I'd have to have a special bag to carry it in. I never was held up, but I was permitted to carry a gun. So -- but, ah, 00:16:00my, ah -- sometimes my job, I could get through pretty quick and other times it took me till late in the afternoon or first part of the night to get through. And they would check me in as I returned to the wholesale place.

INT: Do you remember how much you were making before the New Deal came in and then what happened when Roosevelt came in?

ROACH: Ah, I went to work -- I was making $12 a week with Reed Company. And I went to work in the bleachery in 1931 for 20 cents an hour and worked for 65 hour. And my check, when I worked a full week, was $13.20. Of course, it wasn't any tax deductions then, you know. I (clears throat) got by with the -- the NRA came in, why, we -- I think the wages increased to, ah, 32 or 35 cents, 00:17:00in the neighborhood of that. And we finally decided that (clear throat) only way we could deal with the company would be to organize and that we would -- that way, we could bargain for, ah, wages, job security and seniority and all the things that amounted to more benefits for the people. And I was active in the organizing. I signed up people when they passed the books to us through the fence at the plant. And it was four or six weeks we had a majority of the plant signed up. And the election was held in, ah, April of 194--'47, I believe. I'm 00:18:00not sure about the date, but anyway -- no, it wasn't then because the war was going on and the war was over in '47. Ah, so, ah, we, ah -- pretty easy to sign the people up and I was very active in the -- the, ah, signing up of people. And the, ah, National Labor Relations Board called for an election and we were, 00:19:00ah, slated to have the election. And at one time -- I don't know whether I ought say this or not, but one time I took some cloth to a department and the general manager was in that department and I, ah, deposited the cloth for them to run in that department. And he walked to me and said, "Reed, I want -- want you to be here when we hold a election and I'm expecting you to vote against the union." And I couldn't say a word, because I didn't know -- I knew he knew that I'd been signing up people. And he, ah, walked off and I went back down to my department and, ah, and the foreman was there. And I said, "Boy, I'll tell you," I said, "I feel like I'm up against it." I said, "I believe Mr. Greer's putting the pressure on me to vote against the union." I said, "He know good and well that I been signing people up." And I said, "I don't know what the 00:20:00outcome is going to be." Well, about 10 minutes I missed the foreman. So he, ah, went up to Mr. Greer's office and told him that I said that he thought he was putting the pressure on me. He come back downstairs where I's working, and he said, "Mr. Greer wants to see you in his office right away." I said, "Okay." I said, "What do he want?" "I'm not sure, but" he says, "he said for you to come up there right away." I walked into his office and spoke to him. He said, "Well, Roach," he said, "I hear that you think I'm putting the pressure on you to keep you from voting for the union." I says, "Mr. Greer," I said, "that's just the way I feel." He said, "Well, I want you to know that that's not the way I feel about it." I said, "Well," I said, "that's the way I took it." I 00:21:00said, "Now, Mr. Greer," I said, "I want to tell you," I said, "I've always been truthful in this plant 'n people that I worked for." I said, "Now the man that hired me is in the next door office there." I said, "If you want to ask him if I've ever made any misstatements or told any falsehoods, call him out." He says, "No, sir, I don't need to call him out." He says, ah, says, "That part doesn't bother me." I said, "Okay." I said, "Let's me and you come to a complete understanding about the, ah, textile workers' union because," I said, "I was slated to go to the Army just before the election. And it happened the 35-year limit come out just before the election. So I didn't -- got a 2A." 00:22:00And, ah, he -- he said, ah, "Well, I want to tell you one thing." He said, "For your honesty and way that, ah, you've approached me and you thought that I was pressuring you," he said, "I want to tell you I think -- respect you more than anybody in this plant that I know of." He said, "I" -- he said, "You are a real man" and said, "You don't have to worry about anything that I think about you." And from that on, he and I were as good a friends as anybody could be. He always had the best respect for me and I did him. So he -- (clears throat) treated me just like that I hadn't -- wasn't going to vote for the union, as far as that was concerned.

GEORGE STONEY: Now tell us what you did in the union?

ROACH: Sir?

GEORGE STONEY: Tell us what you did in the union.

F1: What did you do in the union?

ROACH: Oh, I was president at first, the local's first president, and the reason -- I run for a second term. The reason I wasn't elected, ah, we had a financial secretary was an alcoholic, and I spent my time and all the effort that I could to get that fellah out of office, to hold office in the union, because it wasn't satisfactory for that kind of a person to have an office then. And, of course, I had a run-in with the executive board. There was 7 people and, ah, over that, because he was in the executive board. And a couple of the other people that was on the executive board, they were indulgious, too. So 00:24:00they kind of took up for him, and -- but I lost that election on account of that. And then the next year after that I was elected recording secretary and I served as recording secretary for 12 year. And I wrote up the minutes for the meetings, executive board meetings and everything. And, ah, finally I, ah, give up running for office in the union and, of course, I always respected everything that the union done. And, ah, during 1956, the company disagreed on some of the things that unions demands, and they put the pressure on. And finally the union 00:25:00went out on strike, but they had -- we were out 13 weeks and, ah, the national unions sent in supplies that we used that made a grocery, commissary out of our union hall, and everybody was issued staples -- sugar, flour and, ah, that kind of thing -- potatoes and everything. Union furnished it and we, ah, survived all right. We didn't -- didn't have a great lot, but we had enough to get by. And, ah, the 13 weeks, we had a -- a meeting and, ah, decided that we wasn't -- wasn't gaining anything by staying out. Went back for about what we came out 00:26:00for, except we had more rights in the negotiations that we did before we went out. And, ah, after that the negotiations with the company were, ah, on an even keel. We didn't have any -- any more, ah, real disagreements with the company. And --

GEORGE STONEY: Let's go back to 1934. Do you remember what happened in 1934 with the big strike when all the plants came out? In 1934, do you remember what happened then when all the plants came out?

ROACH: Well, the National Guard from here was sent to the plants, I think to Union and other towns around. And some of our boys from our local had to serve 00:27:00in the National Guard at these places. And, by the way, they put -- in '56, they put the National Guard at Rock Hill Printing & Finishing. The reason that, ah -- the main reason that they did, we had -- they, ah -- they were hauling goods, ah, by freight and by truck from the plant. And it was a truck was loading goods and a crew of the strikers went 'round to the opposite side of the plant where they were loading and were gonna upturn the truck. And, ah, they, ah, ah -- within 15 minutes, they had the National Guard out and they set up machine guns in the street and on top of the building and, ah, of course, the 00:28:00lawn then was right up to the front door. And the people were crowded on the sidewalk and there was houses in front of the thing. And they -- the people in front allowed the people to congregate in their yard, but they couldn't, you know, get on the Bleacher(?) property. In one instance that I know of -- I don't remember the boy's name, but anyway, he was standing with feet off of the -- off of the curb like this, his toes sticking over, and the National Guard captain told him to move back. He didn't move and the, ah, private was -- had a bayonet on his rifle, he -- he first told him, he says, "Stick him." And he said -- he held up a little bit. He says, ah, ah, "I said stick him!" And he 00:29:00made a stab at him and the boy grabbed the bayonet like this and pushed it away from him. When he pulled it out, it just split his hand open. And the sheriff, Moss at the time for York County, he took him into the plant and up to the managers and they moved him out of Rock Hill. He didn't -- he didn't stay. I think they moved him somewhere up in North Carolina. I don't remember the fellah's name, but, anyway, that took place. (clears throat)

INT: Well, that was '56, wasn't it?

ROACH: And, ah -- yes, '56. And, ah, we had, ah

GEORGE STONEY: We're going to have to change tapes just a minute.

ROACH: Ok.

F1: Reed?

ROACH: Yes ma'am.

F1; When he asked you a question, answer just the question.

(background conversation, inaudible)