TISCO WORKERS' STRUGGLES 33 founder of TISCO, as early as in 1888, wanted to draw workers for the textile mills at Nagpur and other places from many regions. Speaking of the workers of the textile mills of the Bombay Presidency he stated: "They pretty freely know when to strike and when to demand higher wages. And as they grow in strength and in the perception of their rights it is not unlikely they may prove as much a source of trouble and anxiety as the operatives -in Lancashire and elsewhere. ... Fortunately, we think, mill owners can provide against both if they bestir betimes and take all precautionary measures. Dear labour from the Konkan and elsewhere may be partially obviated by importing the cheap labour of tracts where it is well known there are large masses of the unemployed. ...A judicious admixture of Bombay men with men from U.P. would have a most wholesome effect. Just as in native ragiments they have found it advantageous to have assorted men of different races, so mill owners will find it to their great advantage in having an admixture, in a certain proportion, of operatives from Konkan and Gujarat on the one hand and Oudh and North Western Provinces on the other. ... As practically the field of the unemployed in the last named provinces is unlimited, there can be no apprehension regarding the future of labour here even if a large majority of the men of the Presidency strike work or demand more than reasonable or fair wages."2 Jamshedji's policy was clearly reflected in the territorial distribution of the 30,000 workers of TISCO. A survey among more than 600 families in 1938 showed the all-India character of the labour supply (Table I). Skilled workers were drawn from places as far as Bombay and TABLE I TERRITORIAL DISTRIBUTION OF WORKING FAMILIES OF JAMSHEDPUR (1938) Region Percentage Bihar 27.94 Bengal 11.14 CP&Berar 17.42 Madras 8.00 Orissa 11.45 Punjab 5.33 Uni ted Provices 11.61 Others 8.28 SOURCE: Bihar Labour Enquiry Committe Report (BLECR), 1941, Vol. II, p 3. Surat, and after the eruption of strikes in the 1920's the employers started engaging more and more Pathans. "By 1928 the Pathan population has appreciably increased due to the preference shown by employers to recruit this class of labour in times of labour troubles, as being the least likely to be interfered with by the striking workers".3 'The