Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1879-04-15
A NAILER'S VOICE.
Riverside" Expresses Himself
on the Nail QuestiOn-SOme
Important Facts that Speak
for Themselves The Iron
Workers Union,

Correspondence Of the Register.
WHEELING, April IA.
We have noticed an anxiety in the
prcS OF this city in regard to the pre-
amble and resolution adopted at the
last meeting OF the Western Nail ASSo-
citation, one week ago, at Pittsburgh, Pa.
Editorials and cuttings and interviews
bearing on the subject have made their
dismal appearance 10 such an extent
that we begin To suspect II "a
put up job Ii would seem
as II the press are TO be impressed into
the service OF performing loJ which
the manufacturers are dlslncllned tO dO,
tO-wit, wholesale reduction OF the
wages of the skilled laborer (and mark
YOU, too, the skilled laborer, who has
made Wheeling what it is toyday, re-
moved throughout the continent for the
superiority OF its wares by endeayOrlng
% create feeling in the minds Of the
reading public that the skilled workmcn
of Wheeling are taking an advantage OF
our manufacturers by demanding and
obtaining more for their labor than Is
paid for similar skilled labor in the East.
Now il is a fact, well known TO EN-
plOyers and employed, that the East
cannot compete with the West IN sell
ing nails. We nailers know that Full
ton 4 Co, of the East, have
shut their mills down, and during
the last three years have had made in
Wheeling. w. Va, thousands OF kegs OF
nails whith they have bought OF our
manufacturers and sold at profit to
their customers, and that too, nOtwith-
standing a disparity in the wages paid
% skilled mechanics East and West,
disparity that has existed since nail
machines were invented and over which
no fuss has been made until the Pitts
burgh and Wheeling papers, with a
Zeal without knowledge, have chosen
% ask in the whole community
as arbitrators. We have no hesltancy
i'm taking up the glove from the arena,
flung there BY the substituted cham
pion. East Of the Alleghenies, the
skilled labOrers are not united, have no
organization, and like scared sheep ac-
rept every reduction offered, until they
have GOT so low that they are
starving 10 death. In the West
the case is different. The skilled
laborers are united and call themselves
the Amalgamated Association OF Iron,
steel and Tin Workers. They are
spIeniiply organized, are four years old
and have never known defeat, not he
cause they have hal no conflicts, Tor
their power was felt in Squeezing the
contract system in the MahOning Valley.
and in fighting the infamous Wood
Tariff bill submitted at the last session
OF Congress.
The skilled labOrers of Wheeling have
ak or seven OF these lodges; they are
members of them for the simple purpose
of Sclf-prUtection. The East have none,
cannot protect themselves. w c1".
and do not propose 10 give II away.
The supiueneSS OF the tlmld Eastern
workman has allowed them TO sink IN
the slough oi poverty, We will Ito our
level best Ia uphold the dignity Of labor
and It's wages also.
Onaofaur editors said that Mr.. Bishop,
President OF the Amalgamated AsSocia-
ton, and other leaders OF the worSlnS-
men. have tried 20 raise the wages IN
the ESt. but have failed for reasons
which are plain upon the surface
. g the Eastern owners cOuiu hvI
increase them and continue the busl-
nrSs, which is an argument for US: On
the proposition that We. in the West,
cannot compete with the Fast, for II
tbev increase WAGES in the East they
will have % shut up, presumably on
at,-Ount of Western competition, the
balderiash about the Allegheny noun
tains being a barrier 10 Eastern competi-
ton Is too thin, for thew have been
surmounted, pronounced, and practic-
alIy dismounted, for over twenty wears.
give Us something more solid than that.
But this is enough for this evening.
We know enough tO know that II We
would consent to a reduction tomorrow
thew would gre Gudy "a middlemen
inside Of ten days, and the next thing
We would hear would be that nails are
placed on the market for 81 -.
RYyEuZFnE