The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-04-25
TuE LAnOR QuESTIoS.


THE LABOR QUBTION.
What Car be Maid from an Operative
AiAhdpoiBt Among the ITOH Workers.
Edil0b Iu,snitsatsrl
As | see mach said upon both sides in
your columns aud those Of other papers
about the wages Of operatives in nall mills
aud factories that is not true, aud many
theories advanced that seem to me moor
rect, would like TO beg room enough to
give my views upon tbs subject. have
had quite large experience In iron work
Ing, and know something about the way
iron Is worked In different parts Of the
country, and will not make any state.
acnB that don't know 10 be correct !
believe the interests uf the OWners and Of
their operatives are closely connected, and
trust that haVetOO much common sense
TO allow any prejIdiros In favor OF myOwn
class " influence mo 10 advise them 10
adopt q course which would be injurious
81 the tue interests Of their employers.
II the owners can't make money they
can't long hirB their operatives. The queS-
ton now is, whether they arG payingtheir
men more than they can afford TO do, and
whether q reduction Of wages will help
them any. II IL claimed that the mills
west Oi the Alleghaniea are paying more
than lhOsg east, and that the differences
are 80 enormous that our wages must come
down. In the frat place lot Us sec what
this difference Is. ~ you cannot spare the
space u take up Gll thg items Of wages, i will
only examine into one Oi them-Lhe one
where tho discrepancy between the east
nri west Is the greatest, and that Is the
item oil
PUDDING.
It's Blid that pudding at the East Il
s. IS por ton, aud ~ the West S. W per
ton. Nuw this statement, To start with, Ii
not true, Or only partially true. There ia
only one section Ot the country where
pudding Is done lor'S! IS, aud that is
Ma sachusetts, the place most remote from
the coal mines In all othCr parts VI the
East the prices rapgn from 50 30 to 81 %,
Yet thG statement IS made Us II all the
country excepting our section was getting
it, pudding done for s. 10, We VIII now
compare, however, the - 90 per ton oil
Western rUnnsy lvanla with the y IS per
ton Of Massachusetts,. 10 begin with,
Massachusetts likes It's furnaces with
lump ore, Pennsylvania with ground ore
and clay. A Massachusetts furnace yields
in muck bars the full weight Of pig iron
charged, aud u grin thereon OF Iroin u
per cent additional, this gain coming
from the lump Urn used, \ Pennsy lvanla
furnace yields in muck bars Unly about VI
per cent Of the pig iron charged. There il
therefore differences in the yield Of about
~ per cent. As tho puddler IL paid
for the yield, not for the charge
the Pcnnsy lvHniH puddler gets paid Tor ten
per cent less iron lhan the Massachusetts,
puddler, on every charge of the furnace,
THIS consideration ~ once strikes off ten
per cent from his 50 90 per ton, and re.
duceS IL to 81 30 per ton, for the same
amount OF iron wulke das In Massachusetts
The next consideration Is that in AlaSsa.
ChusGtiS charcoal lurge Ciuder is supplied
to the puddlurS, which answers two pur-
poses 1t makes the iron come quickly,
aud It makes bottom. The result Of this
is that in nj my eases pudding furnace
will run u week without having more than
scrap iron bottom made, Finally the irons
used Ia Massachusetts arU chiefly Manhat-
tan, Thomas aud GlendOn, irons which
work with great quiUknea5, and tend also
W IlIhG NllGll ONu uulAbNAH AhN
OF using charcoal Cinder and the above
named irons are that the Massachusetts
puddier regularly and uniformly gets out
his nix heats per day twelve heats in
double turnl, knocks of at an early hour,
and throws down his tools to 60 home to
his family, instead Of running ont only
five heats in what is really the full time
for iair days work, and getting out a
sixth heat, il he does it at all, by stealing
tho time which really belongs to him for
rest aud association with his family, and
then after that, staying an hour longer to
make bottom for his furnaces. Is Il not
clear that the Western puddler is here
doing an amount OF labor ertrd, which is
fully equal to 81 90 per ton more than the
Massachusetts pudder gets, and fairly re.
duCes his pay, for the same amount OF
work done, from 81 so per ton, as arrived
ut above, to s. 81 per ton.
BOILING AXD rupDMoo
willhere say that the statement which
was made in one ofour papers few DAYS
since that iron is boiled at tho West aud
only pudUed ut the East, isnOt true. The
iron Is worked Ut tho Last Just us well as
it is ut the West, 1t comes quicker for
reasons given above. 1t isn't true either,
rs stated in the same article that nailers
have to cut any better mills at tho West
than at the East, and that anything that
has head and point will pass inspection
in an Eastern factory. don't think the
workingmen gain anything by such mis-.
representations. We have sufficiently
good ground TO stand upon, il we stick to
tho truth, and it is bad policy TO make
statements that wont stand investigation.
The figures | have given reduced the
wages OF the Western puddler TO s. 80 per
ton, W. compared with the wages Of 81 IS
paid by the Massachusetts, manufacturers,
who are 400 miles away from the nearest
coal mines That is they are 20 cents per
ton more. Now appeal to any reason.
able man il it isn't worth IS cents per ton
more to swelter before pudding furnace
under the blazing suns, aud in the MAS.
matte summer atmosphere OF Western
Pennsylvania and Virginia than il is
in the cool aud temperate climate OF MasSa.
chusults2 UnderNn atmospheric heat 20
great that allwho eau afford il, leave the
district entirely during the heated season,
our brave puddlers aud other mill hands
stand up to their work before the glowing
iurnaces, aud over the clustering heat Of
the white hot balls and bars, dogEedly and
untlmchingly doing their duty. Is not this
worth 10 cents per ton more than to do
the same work in the comfortable mills Of
Massachusetts ..
TuE COAL QUESTION.
But the question next TO be answered
is whether this 20 cents per ton is not
sufficient to put our Western mAnufac-
tuUers ut disadvantage as compared with
other mills. Although tho operatives may
fully earn the extra pay, will they not
cripple the manufacturers in takiag it,
Unless our Western mills have some de.
Cided advantages over tho Eastern ones
they can't ptfoJd 70 pay this extra 20 cents
per ton even il 'tlie men do fairly earn it,
Most OF our Western mills stand BY the
side Of coal mine, and the COS! q the