Yet Another Textile Factory Fire

In Baltimore today, there was yet another fire at a textile factory. Surprise, surprise, the primary employees at the Hopkins Tailoring Company and the surrounding business were women. While the 25 women in the building that was set ablaze did manage to escape without serious harm, several were forced to crawl along a ledge to safety. Unfortunately, the 200-plus women from the surrounding business panicked and fled into the street, where they greatly impeded the work of the firefighters with their sheer numbers. Coming just days after the deadly blaze in New York, this rash of textile fires is greatly imperiling working class women.

Even more disturbing is the public response, however. The article reporting this in the Washington Times seemed much more concerned that the chief of the Fire Department has to go home ill than that 25 women's lives were put in jeopardy. As if the lives of 25 women are completely unimportant when compared to the exertion of a statist dog. This cannot stand! We as a society are responsible for the lives of our workers, be they men or women, and must work to protect them. We must demand serious action be taken, to stop these sorts of accidents and prevent any more lives from being threatened. We must act to remind the Capitalists we are people too and that we won't lay down our lives for their profit.

A failure to respond to this developing string of conflagrations of women's workplaces will just serve to embolden the Capitalists already exploiting these women. They will attempt to get by with the minimum safety features necessary, as money spent on safety doesn't go into their pocket books. Thus, a decisive response is necessary to remind Management they need us, and if we aren't happy, nothing will be made. To that end we must speak out, and organize committees to inform our individual employers of our demands for safer working environments. If we don't, I fear this will just keep on happening, possibly with dire consequences. To that end, talk with your coworkers, comrades, decide what needs done and do it as a cohesive unit. Together we have the power and can prevent this type of tragedy. Together we can build a better tomorrow. Together we can be truly free. No Gods, No Masters!

Girls In Factory Creep On Ledges To Escape Flames [The Washington Times]

Fire Devastates New York State Capitol

In what is becoming a rather sad trend here, it is time to cover yet another devastating fire.  This time, a massive fire occurred yesterday morning at the New York State Capitol in Albany.  The cost of the damages in the fire is thought to exceed $5,000,000.  In comparison, the whole building has a relative cost of $27,000,000.  This does not include the immeasurable cost of the loss of important records, papers, and books consumed by the fire.

The fire began shortly after 2 a.m. yesterday morning on the northwest side of the building in the Assembly library and quickly spread across the capitol's west side, devastating the State Library.  The New York Tribune stated that more than 600,000 volumes were archived in the library that occupied the heavily hit third and fourth floors.  The assembly chamber itself was only lightly affected by flames but smoke and water damage was high.  A large brass and crystal chandelier in the Assembly chamber was destroyed when it crashed to the floor, demolishing many Assemblymen's desks as a result.  The Senate chamber suffered light smoke and water damage.

The state legislature will be meeting in the Albany city hall until the capitol can be repaired to the point that it can be reoccupied.

The fire and water, in addition to damaging a number of offices of New York state officials (like the lieutenant Governor, the State Lunacy Commission, and the State Treasurer), caused significant structural damage.  In particular, the large tower on the building's heavily damaged southwest corner caved in.

Governor John Dix released a statement yesterday on the disaster:

It is an appalling disaster.  I consider the destruction of the state library a national loss.  Fortunately the copies of Abraham Lincoln's emancipation proclamation and General Washington's farewell address were removed not long ago from the library to the safe in Commissioner Draper's office.

Repair work is expected to begin as soon as the Legislature approves making plans and contracts, according to the State Architect Franklin Ware.  Work began on the construction of the capitol in 1867 but the legislature didn't use the building until 1879.  Ultimately, the building cost two and half times the Capitol building in Washington.

The only known victim of the fire is night watchman Samuel Abbott, a Civil War veteran, who is still missing.

Early speculation as to the cause of the fire is centered around "defective insulation of an electric light wire near a book case in the Assembly library", according to Dwight Goewey, a 17 year old proofreader who discovered the fire.

Link: Capitol at Albany Swept By Flames [The New York Tribune]
Link: $5,000,000 Fire Damages New York Capitol [The Bisbee Daily Review]

The Army is Revolting!

According to the Washington Times, an attempted mutiny by the Mexico City garrison has taken place. While the Diaz government fervently denies this, it could not have come at a worse time for the state. While Diaz's new cabinet had been announced and the Mexican congress is set to meet on Saturday to discuss the new reform program, the Public doesn't seem to care. If anything, violence is up with increased numbers of bridges destroyed and communication throughout the north of the country disrupted. There are even reports, vehemently denied by the Diaz government of course, that the capital of Sonora has now fallen to the freedom fighters.

All this points to a government that has completely lost touch with its people. Even the Army can no longer be trusted to prop up Diaz. But why is this? Has the Army finally realized that Diaz does not care about them? That all Diaz cares about it his own power? That if the Army joins with the freedom fighters they can set Mexico free from oppressions boot heel? The ambivalence of the Mexican people towards the state, and I would venture towards any state, just shows their readiness to accept an anarchist system. The people of Mexico no longer see the State as either legitimate or needed. If anything, this time of insurrection and violence has helped prepare the people for anarchism by proving to them how useless the state even is!

While this newfound rebellious attitude of the Army may be a good thing, it must be used carefully. The Army must realize it has no need for a state, that it should set Mexico free from all governments and let the people live their lives unfettered. But if the Army should seek to assert its own power, the situation could get much worse. The campesinos could end up just trading one dictator for another. Only time will tell what route the Army will take, but hopefully they will listen to the will of the Mexican people and give the people of Mexico back their world, and disband all states. Solidarity with our comrades in Mexico!

Diaz Now Fears Mutiny Of Troops [The Washington Times]

Labor to Push for More Fire Protection at NYC Factories

Labor groups in New York City are planning to march to protest for better working conditions, particularly more fire protection, as city officials investigate the cause of Saturday's blaze that killed at least 143 and prepare for the burial of those victims who could not be identified.

The investigators have so far determined that the fire started due to a lit match or cigarette, but it may have spread due to an explosion of cleaning compound kept near the ignition source.  This explosion may have spread the fire beyond what workers near the source of the fire could control. Additional scrutiny is being given to an interior stairwell that could have been used by works to exit the burning factory.  While the stairwell itself was sufficient fireproof as to eliminate the need for external fire escapes, the doors to it were not, composed of flammable wood.  Worse, the doors may have been locked to prevent workers from stealing scraps of clothing when they left work every day. 

However, these violations had not been reported prior to the fire and were not found by either the Bureau of Buildings nor the Board of Sanitary Control of the cloak, waist, and suit trade.  This contrasts with the more than 13,000 buildings in Manhattan and the Bronx where fire code violations had been found during a recent sweep by inspectors.  District Attorney Charles Whitman placed blame for the tragedy on the Bureau of Buildings while Manhattan borough president George McAneny defended Bureau Superintendent Miller and his assistant, stating that no complaint had been made on the Asch Building.  According to the New York Tribune, Miller's assistant, Albert Ludwig said that the improper inspections were due to the "inadequate force at the bureau's disposal."

D.A. Whitman also pointed at the State Labor Commission as another source of blame for the tragedy.  The commission has the responsibility of overseeing the safety of factory employees in New York state.  A commission inspection of the Asch Building occurred as recently as February 27.  The state inspector found the building to be in good condition, and even if violations were found, the State Commissioner told the Tribune that the State Labor Commission can only issue recommendations and has no enforcement power.

While the finger pointing continues at the local and state level and plans for an April grand jury develop, labor activists and suffragists in New York City are planning a protest and general strike later this week as the city plans to bury the victims of the fire who could not be identified.  They plan to protest for new laws to provide for more fire protection for factory employees.

As of this morning, the Red Cross Fund for the families of the victims of Saturday's fire has risen to $15,000, including a $5,000 donation from Andrew Carnegie.

Link: Labor to Demand Fire Protection [The Washington Times]
Link: Seek to Fix Blame for Disaster and To Avert a Worse One [New York Tribune]

Murder in New York

Today the District Atorney Whitman firmly assigned blame for the death of 143 women on the State Labor Superintendent John Williams. This comes just months after a lackey for Mr. Williams office okayed the layout of the factory as safe and legal, despite all the obvious dangers that lead to this tragedy.

While Mr. Whitman is on the right track he has not as of yet made the final connection. Yes, Mr Williams is responsible for these deaths. But so are the capitalists for building the factory, so are the statists who allowed such a nation to exist that would let this happen, and so are we all for not opposing the capitalists before now. We are all responsible, some more than others that is true, but nonetheless we all have blood on our hands and we all have the moral duty to help prevent such a tragedy from happening again!

The conditions on the inside were obviously dangerous. Any fool could see that, so why did Mr Williams office approve this building? More than likely a few backs were scratched, a few palms greased, and business as usual took place in New York City. This is capitalism, pure and simple. For a price the rules put in place to keep the workers quiet are circumvented. For a price the capitalists are allowed to do as they will. For a price 143 women are allowed to die. This is capitalism. Take a good long look, comrades. You talk of your freedoms, you talk of your rights. But when push comes to shove they don't mean a thing, because for a few dollars worth of hush money capitalist pigs can murder 143 women.

These women made the ultimate sacrifice for the capitalist pigs. They shouldn't have had to, but they did. So how do we prevent this from happening again? We can change the building regulations, or the labor laws, or even remove the industry entirely, but it will still happen. It will still happen because this is how capitalism works. Anything can be done for the right price, even ignoring the rules. If we truly wish to prevent another tragedy of this magnitude, we must attack the root of the problem. We must attack the capitalists. Only by removing the capitalists who exploit these workers and the statists that allowed them to do so can we make these women's deaths have a meaning. Only by removing capitalism and statism can we prevent the exploitative circumstances from cropping back up. Only by having an anarchist system free of capitalism can we all be free. That is what we must do. Only through this course are we able to assuage our fears about this type of tragedy. Only via this course can we truly be free. Anarchy and Equality, comrades.

Probe of Factory Fire Horror Begun Along Every Line  [The Washington Times]

Terror and Heroism as 142 die in NYC Factory Fire

Horror struck New York City just before closing time yesterday as a fire broke out on the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors of the Asch Building, home to the Triangle Waist Company.  According to one of its owners, Max Blanck, in a statement to the press this morning, 750 people were employed by the company, two-thirds of them women between the ages of eighteen and thirty.  Of those, 142 were confirmed dead by Coroner Weston at the Charities Department dock on East 26th Street.  Of the 100 or so bodies that had arrived at the morgue by 10pm, 33 remain unidentified.  The Triangle Waist Company produced shirtwaists, a popular type of buttoned down, women's blouse.

The horrific tragedy, the worst fire disaster since the Slocum steamboat burned on the east river on June 15, 1904, began at 4:40pm yesterday afternoon as the factory began to file past the cashiers to pick up their pay.  The fire broke out on the eighth floor of the building and, thanks to the many flammable materials in the factory, quickly spread to the ninth and tenth floors.  Due to a horrible oversight and potentially gross negligence, only one fire escape to an interior courtyard was available to those in the factory and that was made less than adequate by poor design and the fact that the windows to the fire escape were barred.  Many of the workers, most of them Jewish or Italian immigrants, escaped via two elevators.

However, these escapes provided too little relief to the raging inferno that ingulfed the factory.  Many victims died clawing their way to these meager escapes and at least 50 resorted to another means of relief, the windows facing Washington Place.  At least one woman, Bertha Weintrup, survived the fall from a 10th floor window, however the rest were not so lucky.  On-lookers in Washington Place were gripped by the horror of watching woman after woman, many with clothes ripped off during the mad scramble to escape the flames, some even on fire, fall to their deaths.  In one case, a woman who escaped via the elevators was struck and killed by a falling body as she left the burning building.  Some women who tried to flee the flames via the windows managed to climb out on to a ledge at the base of the windows, but ultimately lost their grip or were accidentally pushed by the throng on panic-stricken women behind them.

The lone fire escape in the interior of the building was not much comfort.  Due to poor design, the escapes stairs ended at the buildings second floor.  Worse still was the fact that every window facing the fire escape from the eighth floor down as closed.  The mass of men and women who tried to use the escape forced many to either leap of 25 feet from the base of the escape or use a series of wires at the second floor level to crawl over to one of the open windows to safety.  Unfortunately, only six or seven of the 50 or so people who tried this method of the escape succeeded.  Many fell to the courtyard below where some either drowned in the six feet of water that quick filled the airshaft or impaled themselves on metal spikes that topped a concrete dividing wall.  The crush of humanity on the fire escape forced many to make life or death decision before it could be properly thought out.

Amidst the tragedy and horror of the fire, heroes did rise up.  A group of law students in an adjacent building managed to carry ladders up the School of Law and Commerce of the New York University in Washington Square.  They, along with firemen, used the ladders to bridge the gap between the two buildings, allowing at least 50 women to escape the flames.  Many others lost their lives as well as the crush of people trying to save themselves knocked them off the ladder, landing in the flooded courtyard below.  The effort had to be suspended after flames reached the university building.  More ladders were found in the building and these allowed women on the roof of the Asch Building to be rescued.  In another case of heroism, a man only identified as Gregory took control of an elevator abandoned on the ground floor by its operator and made at least ten trips to the tenth floor, carry 30 women on each trip.  Gregory slipped back into the crowd surrounding the building before he could be interviewed by the press. In another case, a patrolman managed to catch a small boy who had lept from an eighth floor window.

While victims continue to be identified in the East 26th Street morgue, authorities are promising a thorough investigation both into the cause of the fire and into why so many people died in the fire or trying to escape it.  While the former has not be speculated on, both Fire Chief Croker and borough president George McAneny stated that the lack of proper fire escapes and sprinkler systems contributed to the massive loss of life.   Coroner Holtzhauser told the New York Tribune:

I am going to find out who is responsible for this carnage and put the blame where it belongs.  It is awful to think that these poor girls went to work this morning, being carried up the elevators, only to finish their work by being taken from the building dead and mutilated.

Borough President McAneny stated that he would look into whether any complaints had been made about inadequate fire escapes for the building.  "If this structure where a fireproof loft building, as I have been told, fire escapes were not compulsory.  If, however, it was a factory building, then to comply with the law there should have been fire escapes."  Fire Chief Croker was more adamant about fire safety violations inside the building:

This calamity is just what I have been predicting.  There were no outside fire escapes on this building.  I have been advocating and agitating that fire escapes be put on building just such as this.  This large loss of life is due to this neglect.

The building did have one other means of escape, a stairwell in back of the building.  Chief Croker stated that the door to the stairway was closed.  A pile of bodies six feet high was found on the other side.  He believes that if this stairwell had been used by those trying escape the fire, the death toll would not have been nearly as high.

The owners of the company that was destroyed by the fire, the Triangle Waist Co.'s Max Blanck and Issac Harris in a statement issued to the press this morning, stated that they were still missing several relatives due to the fire, like Blanck's brother-in-law Jacob Bernstein and cousin William Selzer and Harris's niece Esther.

Veronica Stirnitzke should provide an opinion piece on the fire tomorrow.

Link: More than 140 Die as Flames Sweep Through Three Stories of Factory Building in Washington Place [The New York Tribune]
Link: Thousands Fight to Claim Fire Victims [The Washington Times]
Link: 150 Perish in Most Sickening Holocaust [The Bisbee Daily Review]
Link: 142 Die when Shirtwaist Factory Burns [The Washington Herald]

Does Diaz really know?

According to the Bisbee Review, yesterday the cabinet to President Diaz resigned in its entirety, with the exception of Limantour. The freedom fighters have long been complaining about the lack of representation n the cabinet. Until now, the same individuals have been filling these posts for many years. The fact that the presidential cabinet understands the gravity of a situation Diaz seems to be ignoring just serves to underline the self-servedness of the Diaz state. The cabinet members understood they need to step down to please the people, and having a true love for their country and people, they did. Diaz, on the other hand, appears to be concentrating merely on his own power, not giving a single thought to the wishes of his people.

While it has long been known that the Diaz government uses extensive amounts of propaganda, in light of these current resignations, the question of how much Diaz knows must be asked. The latest case of misinformation about the conflict has arisen from an engagement in Sonora. According to an American whiteness, when federal troops assaulted a reinforced free position, they were beaten back quite harshly, and ultimately retreated. After the federals retreated, the free position was then abandoned. This of course was counted as a victory by the Diaz government. But is Diaz really aware of this event in its entirety? Or just in the reported result? Given Diaz's lack of support for ending this conflict in any way other than the sword, it leads me to believe that he is only being told the manipulated truth, and as such is not responding to reality.

To fix this, the freedom fighters need to concentrate on information management. Instead of just fighting the federals they need to be putting out newspapers, telling the people what is really going on. In the end this is what will ultimately convince the masses, as well as Diaz, that their cause is just and appropriate. Additional support from outside Mexico might even be possible given the spread of good information. As long as you let Diaz do all the talking, comrades, you will always be evil, but the moment you start participating in the conversation you will be seen for the wondrous sight you are: as true freedom loving people who love Mexico.

]Cabinet of Diaz Resigns But No Decision Is Made [The Bisbee Daily Review]