The New York herald., 1874-12-08
ANOTHER STRIKE.
Fifteen Thousand Pittsburg Pud-
dlers Leave Work.
The Manufacturer Terms Per.
emptorily Refused.
THE DIFFICULTY EXPLAINED

the strikers being puddlers OF iron ore In the vast
iron mills OF Pttsburg. At least 15,OCO men are
out or employ yment by the strike and 500 pudding
furnaces are standing idle That the reader may
understand the origin and reason Of this war be-
tween the manufacturers and iaborers 1t is neces-
sary to commence at the beginning. When the
reaction arising from the sudden prosperity felt
during the war commenced to be felt, an agree.
ment was entered into between the manufacturers
and puddlers by which the price TO be paid for
work should depend upon the card prices OF
iron This has been adhered to up to the
present time with but slight variation.
and In consequence OF its terms the pudders
were paid 50 per ton on the card rate owing to
the panic and the great depression that followed,
the manufacturers say that these figures for pud-
ding render 1t impossible to continue running.
Under the sliding scale, the lowest point at which
reduction OF wages follows a reduction OF price
in iron Is when the price reaches three cents. At
the present time iron can be bought at two and
half cents, while the price OF pudding still remains
at So The manufacturers claim, therefore, that
the sliding scale IS unfair, in view OF Its not reach
ing below three cents; but even did 1t operate
when suoh low prices are reached, the proportion
OF deduction In price TO that OF wages Is not equal
For under 1t. with iron at a selling price OF So per
ton, the price OF boiling would still be So 10
tnereupon.
ULTMATUM OF THE MANUFACTURERS
The manufacturers proposed to- the puddlers
their uitimatum as follows. giving them thirty
days wherein to accept the proposition, and in
the event Of their failure to do SO they were TO
shut down the mills -
On scale e three to ys cents per pound for iron
iwO and half cents. Tses, a Inc
Would maze boiling III 50 per ton agreeing I That When
prices Of iron advances to over three csntsay
operative and the price Of boiling shall be 50 tom
The manufacturers made no demand that the
arrangement should be permanent, but asked only
that 1t be kept In force until the present strin-
gency OF the market and times has relaxed, which
would probably be no longer than the 1st Of
March, after which, II the price OF iron should go
above three cents, the old card rates would be re-
sumed.
MANUFACTURERS AND PUDDLERs IN COUNCIL.
On Saturday last. with the hope OF avoiding
strike, the folio wing manufacturers met deega-
tion OF puddiers:-F. d. Wood Co.; Rogers &
Co., J. Painter 1 Son, Philips, Nimick ! Co.;
Class, Neely 60. ;Zug CO., Reese, GRAF Woods;
Snoenberger 4 Co.. Carnegie. Kloman Co.;
ForYe
Iron Company, and the Plttsburg Bolt Company.
the puades nen and there rsecsed the ,ns
own, which was to the effect that they were
willing to drop fifty cents instead Of one dollar
This was to be done by continuing the card on
down to two and a-half cents. The manufacturers
refused, claiming that It was the understandlng
wnen the card was established that. when iron
went below three cents lthe card) was to be re-
adjusted and the same ii It went above i've cents
During sunday on ali.the street corners OF South
Pittsburg could be seen knots Of laDorers discus
''As THE LOCKOUT WORKS CLOSED
! This morning broke gloomiy. with drizzng
their way as usual to the mills On reaching tnelr
accustomed places of employment all seemed de-
naces ana an air Of chness and desertion gen.
orally pervaded the premises. AZ the American
States seventyswo We're blown OUT
| throwing out OF employment over 400 men. As
each furnace uses on an average 1000 bushels or
coal per day the consumption OF this article in
this mill alone amounted to $4,000 bushels daily.
Taking into consideration the families OF these
men ana others DEPENDENT upon them, there are
more than 800 persons without means OF support.
| The pudding department OF J. Painter q Sons,
! day, throwing out OF employment o05 pudders and
helpers Some sixty miners, employed to mine
The The firm nave enouoh muck IRON in stock to run
Twenry.nve furnaces OF Reese Gran Woods are
idle, with over 200 men out or work, and with
nothnR laid by to nelp them through the winter.
the pudding department OF the CLINTON and
Millvale Mills were closed, and some $50 or 400
men will be discharged IN e9ch mill. Both mills
used some ninety furnaces, from which the fires
Twenty-three furnaces OF Lewis Bailey Dalzell
stopped operations, throwing some ninety-two
men out Ol employment. lnlS urn TeluSeu tnlS
morning an Eastern order for 900 tons. It could
not be dlled, except at loss OF 81 ton At pres
ent prices.
! Byers 4 Mccullough employ so pudders and 400
other hands. This 1rm are memcers OF the Asso-
ciation. and VIII abide by It's action, They Will
most likely shut down on saturday night.
Twenty furnaces or Chess Smytne Co. also
suspended this morning.
Shoenoerger Co.'s $50 employees were dis
charged from their works. leaving all their fur
naces, twenty-ntLe in number, closed.
The mills enumerated here comprise but small
portion oil those which suspended operations, and
the number OF men out OF work may be safely set
down at 1000. The mill owners say It now rests
with the puddlers TO say whether the lockout
shall continue not. They are satisfied that they
nave done all that was In their power to avert the
lockout, but they Will keep tue furnaces closed
till the strikers accept a reduction.
A statement by puddler Of the earnings is that
for eleven days work ne had puddled IL tons IL cwt.
OF iron, iof which his gross receipts we're $66 80.
Out OF this he paid bis helper 81 40 per ton, $40 49,
leaving him $39 80 for the two weeks work. This
does not, they say, represent an average OF q
years WORK, as there are unavoidable losses Of
time for breakages, furnace days, &c, which re-
duces them to 240 or 260 working days per year.
Their annual earnings they place at from $500 TO
$500.