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(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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The American worker was in a difficult position during the years of the Great Depression. Until labor legislation was enacted during the New Deal, American labor law granted few rights and even fewer protections to workers. The Deerfield Glassine company manufactured a special translucent paper at Monroe Bridge, a hamlet in Northwestern Massachusetts. When 20 of its workers went on strike to protest a significant cut in their wages, the response of company officials was typical. The strikers were fired, and it seems likely that other workers were hired to take their place. State police were called in to enforce order.

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