The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1878-08-28


e Of this month the iron works Of Hughes
& Patterson, Stephen Robbins & Son,
: James Rouland & Co.. the Fairhill Iron
Works and Marshall Bros & Co. agreed to
, reduce wages in the following manner:
The "puddlers" were to get three dollars
and sixty cents per ton instead OF four
dollars and twenty-five cents; the "roll-
ers" were to lie reduced forty per cent;
: the "roughers" twenty-five per cent; the
'heaters" thirty per cent; the engineers
ten per cent and the laborers TO one dollar
and ten cents day instead Of one dollar
and forty cents. By the reduction the
"puddlers" will. BIO able to earn fromseven-
teen to eighteen dollars week; the "roll-
ems" about twenty dollars week; the
"roughers" about eight dollars a week !;
the "heaters" twenty; the engineers
thirteen dollars and fifty cents, and the
"puddlers'" helpers eight dollars. The
reason the "rollers" were reduced more
than the others, the owners say, is because
their wages rose some time ago when
skilled "rollers" were very rare, and they
have not been reduced since. On the
other hand, the men say the "rollers" have
been reduced us often us other hands.
There are two reasons assigned by the
mill proprietons for the proposed rcduc-
ton. One OF them is that the wages here
are much higher than in other cities, and
j tln,g Y.a fl,n
petition. Again il is claimed that in
Philadelphia mill hands are paid by the
day, while in other cities they are paid by
the ton. ...l....
This reduction, which the mill hands
seem so determined to resist, was to go
into effect on September |, and the men
were givena week to think over the matter.
Anything like reduction met with i'll
favor with the men, however, and to-day
all the KensingtOn iron and steel rolling
mills, except Marshall Bros. Co.. whose
puddlcrs only are on strike, will have
closed doors. 1t Is claimed by the mill
owners that the reduction they ask for now
is the first for some time, while the hands
argue that it is the third one since Jan.
uary |.
In explanation Of this one Of Hughes &
PattcrsOn's hands yesterday said the men
werc, not reduced in wages for some time,
but compelled to do more work for the
same amount OF money. "At, ,lirstL&c were
asked to make four tons OF iron for the
same price rs three and half tons, and
what we now get for two OF quarter-inch
iron We used to get for one and three-Quar-
ter tons, so that il this reduction is accept
cd it will be the third one since the first OF
January. In 1872 the rollers were paid
six dollars and seventeen cents per day,
the heaters five dollars and twenty-three
cents, the helper two dollars and forty
eight cents the 'rougher' three dollars and /
six cents and the catcher one dollar and
sixty-four cents! Now we hardly get one
half as much. For my part would rather
starvc without working than work and
starve together"
That the mill owners never expected the
men to submit to the proposed reduction
without trouble is not questioned. All of
them say they expected the men to stop
work, but as they were losing money at
the old rate OF wages they do not care how
long it takes the men to bringabout con-
ciliation. Hughes & Patterson said yes
terday that they would not accept an or
der for five thousand tons OF iron and pay
their hands their old rate OF wages simply
because II will merely take money out OF
their pockets. They say that the very iron
that they manufacture can be bought in
the Philadelphia stores for what their own
iron, brings direct from the mills, The
number fmen employed in the mills, ex-
cepting the Philadelphia Iron and Steel
Company, when business is lively, amount
together to over 1850, but ut present not
mora than onc.thtrd az thnt numhnr nrn