Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1879-06-03
THE IRON SITUATION.
THE GREAT LOCKOUT AT PITS
BURGH.
A Conference Held Yesterday-A Body Of
Puddlers Visit Running Establishments
The Issues lnyOyed-Steel
Versus lron-lmpOrted Labor,

in the city, with one exception, art
closed to-day. In January last the
sriotified the puddlers thai
owing to the high wages paid here, they
could not compete with Eastern and
Western firms, and that deduction in
wages would have TO be made June lst
at which time the five dollar per tor
contract would expire. A committee o.
the manufacturers will meet the pud
dlers at o'clock this afternoon, wher
the difficulties will be discussed.
Result ns the Conference.
PrTsBURGH, tune 2.-The committees
held a conference this afternoon at
which q propoiition was made by the
manufacturers 10 submit the matter to
arbitration, but the representatives OF
the workmcn not being authorized to
act on the proposition, the meeting was
adjourned till tomorrow afternoon.
The Amalgamated Association includes
boilers, heaters, rollers, catchers and
helpers, and if the lockout continues
nearly $4,000 men and boys will be
thrown out OF employment.
From Yesterday Pittsburgh Telegraph.
The long threatened lockout between
the iron manufacturers and the puddlers
and boilers has begun. How long it will
last and who will derive a benefit from
it, isa question pregnant with issues OF
vast importance to Pittsburgh. n
prominent iron manufacturer and a
man whose knowledge of the business is
broad and accurate, said this morning:
There are two things that appear to be
bound up in this contest. One is the
introduction Of outside tabor and the
other is the question OF temporary lease
of lie or the immediate COmpartive
death OF the iron business. BY the death
of the iron business / mean that iron
will he superseded by steel. This, as is
well known. is being rapidly done now,
but this strike will hasten the change at
least five years. Such things as horse
shoes, horse shoe bars, cotton ties,
straps, and hundred other articles that
are now Pittsburgh's iron specialties
will be made OF steel. Sheet iron and
other specialties will also be superseded
by steel. This is because steel can be
produced to-day rs cheap as the better
grades of iron. The introduction OF
steel will not affect the lower grades OF
iron Srticles, upon which there. is little
or no profit, but will contine its inroads
almost entirely to such articles as are
now the specialties from which our
manufacturers now derive the greater
portion OF their profits. This Is some
thing that the manufacturers have
been trying to have put off tor
as long a time as possible, owing
TO the large amount Of capital
already invested in iron producing ma
chinery and works. The question of
bringing in outside skilled labor is also
assuming formidable proportions, said
the same authority. All the leading
iron workers unions of England have,
in their constitutions, what is called an
"emigratiOn clause" This clause pro-
vides that ii any member OF the Union
wishes 10 emigrate TO the United States,
or elsewhere, he is entitled to from ca
to e7 to pay his passage and expenses
10 his new field of labor. At the pres
eut time there are great number Of
men idle in England because they are
crowded out. There is a plethora of
them, and if the manufactures OF Pitts
burgh desired to do So, they could have
eighteen hundred puddlers here ready
for work inside of three weeks. Our
manufacturers do not desire this at all.
They want their old men to work, and
wish 20 see them do well, but if it be-
comes apparent that the men who
live here will not work at wages which
the manufacturers can afford TO pay
them, then there will have to be a
change
The most important event of to-day
will be the action Of the conference OF
manufacturers and employees this alter
noon. 1t is not generally known, even
among those most concerned, that a
conference has been arranged, but such
is the case. 1t is not known who first
proposed or asked for the conference,
but it grew out of a conversation be-
tween one of the leading members of the
Amalgamated Association aud a prOmi-
neut manufacturer, after the meeting OF
the Amalgamated Association of Iron
and Steel Workers which was held ON
Saturday afternoon. Those who Will
take part in the conference will be
Mcssrs. Il. +. Jones, III. W. Oliver and
L. VI. Carnegie, the committee i'm charge
of the manulacturer's side OF the case,
and committee OF the iron workers, OF
whom Joseph Bishop will be one. 1t
will take place at half-past > o'cOCk in
the office of the Iron Age
4 leading manufacturer says that the
combination of manufacturers is strong,
er now than ever before. Every iron
firm which has union puddlers in It's
employ, pledged its honor To leave the
negotiation of affairs entirely in the
hands of the Committee, and not tC
make any compromise with the men on
their own account. On the other hand
the iron workers are not acting now as
they have done on similar occasions be.
fore During the great strikes OF past
wears, iron workers never attempted JC
stop the steel workers from going on as
usual, but now they are ordering them
10 come out as well as the others,
This morning body of puddlers ant
boilers, from a hundred and fifty To 6
hundred and seventy-fve in number
marched out Liberty street, down tC
Penn avenue, and then out to HuSSey
Howe x Co.'S steel works. The firm
has sixteen puddlerS, who were all al
work, Us were their other men, and tn,
strikers ordered them to stop work
They refused to stop in the middle o
the day, but in all probability will stoI
tonight. The strikers, it is said, ther
started ior Clark 4 Co.'S mill, sayin:
they intended to stop Clark smen also
The stoppage among the mills Is al
most universal. Not mill on the SOutl
Side has puddler at work. The lowe
mill OF Lewis, Oliver 4 Phillips is a
work with It's heaters and rollers, and |
possible it will continue at work for sew
| eral days. The upper mill Is reporte,
TO be at work under an arrangement
with the heaters and rollers TO the etleC
that if they were allowed to stop wor
on Decoration Day and Saturday, the
would work on to-day and tomorrow t
make up for it.
Chess, Smythe x Co. are idle with tn
/ axaap+io., Df tbair tapl- mill