[7] Coats met with the strikers' representatives, including "the recently formed branch of the United Textile Workers" and the Rhode Island Mule Spinners' Association.

[8] "He was guaranteed," the Providence News reported, "that the strikers who went out unorganized and would return as a union would take the proper course in the future for presenting their grievances.

"[8] Nonetheless, in a letter published by the Providence Journal in 1904, Coats formally refused to engage in salary negotiations with union representatives: "We feel that matters of this nature can be settled much more satisfactorily among ourselves than the employment of any outside agency.

[10] Coats awaited instructions from Scotland to engage in negotiations,[11] but ultimately received approval from the board for a 10% wage increase.

"[12] While not unionized, the "carding room employees" who lead the strike received guidance from John Golden, President of the United Textile Workers of America.

[12] In January of 1910, strikers, only partially affiliated with unions, demanded that their wages not be lowered in the wake of a new labor law which limited the work week to 56 hours.

[13] Coats refused to negotiate and threatened to close the mills "indefinitely," demanding that "formal notice of any dissatisfaction [...] be presented to the management" after work resumed.

"[30] The couple were also elected members of the Corporation of the Rhode Island Hospital in 1905,[31] and Elizabeth Barnewall Coats joined the Board of Directors of the Providence District Nursing Association.

[32] During WWI, Elizabeth Barnewall Coats lead fundraising efforts for the Edith Wharton Charity in Rhode Island,[33] for example to support "orphan children and helpless aged people in Flanders"[34] and endow a 14-bed ward in tuberculosis hospitals in France.

[36] Elizabeth Barnewall Coats played an active role at the turn of the century in the leadership of the R.I. Exchange for Women's Work, which funded and managed the operations of a market for women-made goods.

[43] Much of the job consisted of creating awareness, incentives, and rules for "substituting, reducing and conserving foods,"[43] but also involved advising on the distribution of primary goods[44] and, in some instances, revoking the commercial licenses of businesses that contravened wartime regulations.