The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 75, July 1971 - April, 1972 Page: 189
566 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Gospel of Wealth Goes South
to supervise overall operations, Kirby hurried to New York City and
other eastern financial centers to obtain funds. In the meantime, pay-
rolls went unpaid and failure to meet credit obligations resulted in
curtailment of commissary purchases except on a cash basis. The
workers, unpaid except for the customary commissary checks, remained
quiescent until mid-September, 19o3, when men at the company's
Beaumont plant walked out because of non-payment of the payroll
and demanded that a weekly payday be honored." The strike, if in-
deed the walkout of only a few hours duration can be so dignified,
resulted in no gain for the workers and elicited expressions of public
sympathy only for the company. The Beaumont Enterprise commented
that the strikers "acted hastily in quitting their work merely upon
the behest of an agitator or two .. ." and warned that the "good
people of Beaumont cannot afford to see the Kirby Lumber Company
treated unkindly. . . ." Responsible citizens, the paper continued,
should act to prevent further disturbances because the company could
easily move its mills to the pineries at no loss to itself but at a con-
siderable loss of income to the city." The Industrial Era, a local Negro
newspaper, reported that according to the company's Beaumont man-
ager the weekly payday demand came from "negro gamblers and a
parasite class which does not thrive on monthly payments." Like the
Enterprise, the Negro paper warned its readers of the danger that the
company might move out of Beaumont to a point where it could
"live cheaper, get labor cheaper, sell . . . lumber for more money,
[and] get . . . logs at the mills." Kirby, the paper finally admonished,
"is looking to see where the Negro stands in this strike and who he
is and who belongs to the gang. We are all known and don't forget
that.""1
Not all of the seventy-three men involved in the walkout were
allowed to return to their jobs and company officers later commended
the manager's blacklist with the observation, "If in this you are
persecuting some innocent parties who were not in the cause, it could
not be helped and will put them to thinking about labor unions.""
Labor difficulties continued to plague the company, however, and
a number of workers at Silsbee and Bessmay left their jobs because
wages earned in August remained unpaid by the first days of October.
'oF. M. Aldridge to Kirby, September 23, 19go, Kirby Papers.
"Beaumont Enterprise, September 17, 19go3.
"Industrial Era, [September, 19o3]. Undated clipping in Kirby Papers.
"Aldridge to J. F. Stunkel, September 23, 19go3, Kirby Papers.189
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 75, July 1971 - April, 1972, periodical, 1972; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101201/m1/201/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.