The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1882-09-22

PITTsBUEGI, Septem her 2l.-Ihe trouble
at Homestead has been adjusted and the
men will return to work on Monday.
Critchlow and Fowlcy were both relieved
from duty.
Review OF f:,c Il reai Strik C J t,st End ed.
Pittsburgh Lsbo. Tribune.
Now that the inevitable has come, it is
no secret to state that we have suffered de-
ieat through open dissensiun in our own
ranks which was known to the manuiac-
turers from the Inauguration OF the strike
on June lst last. We are not in 4 position
to know who furnished this information 10
the manufacturers, but that they knew ii is
eyinced from the fact that the action OF the
dissension meetings OH the street corners
in Pittsburgh was made known to them
before the ink had time to dry on the
paper on which the minutes were taken.
Men who were best able to assist their hard
worked and poorly paid (for their kind OF
work fcllowworkmen i'll getting an ad-
vance OF wages were the fIst TO squeal,
and by their squealing caused our
Association, OF which the iron and
steel workers OF this country have
been Justly proud to suffer an igno-
rninious defeat. The Ir0n LIye and oher
papers who think the mechanic is well
paid if lie earns enough to barely eke out
an existence, knew whereof they spoke
when, from the lst of June, 1882, they
predicted n defeat for the AmalsaInatcd
Association through open dissensions IN
its ranks. A house divided against itself
will surely fall, is an axiom that will
apply to trades or labor organizations with
more force than to any other society. On
the other hand, with labor properly
united, as was the Amalgamatcd Assocla-
ton prior to June !, 1882, there is no
power OH earth that it cannot openly defy:
I'VE hope, then, that our sister trades and
labor organizations will profit by our de-
feat, and never enter into contest either
10 advance or resist reduction OF wages
unless those vino propose to enter
the contest are unit. Wheth-
or the markets. have a tendency
inward or downward human nature is still
the same, and no employer will give in at
either stage when he is sure that his en-
ployes, on the question for which they are
con,esting, are divided. The strike just
ended may have been inopportune, I'M
timely, unwisc, inaugurated at time when
the market was falling, and thousand and
one other things that could be heaped up
against the Amalgamatcd Association for
taking steps 10 advance the wages OF Its
members just at the time it did, but none
OF these things caused the Association to
back cut and 20 to work for what it came
out at. Want of unanimity, and that
alone, was the sole cause OF the ANAL
pamated Association suffering its first
defeat, and we hope 10 tproit by it
We have said that human nature IS the
same ut all times. And SO 1t is. 1t was
the same with our manufacturers in the
spring OF 1879, just as We were emerging
from the panic, when they tried to reduce
r.. 49, ton ~
time they said, i'll interviews and other
wise, that they could not and would not
pay more. The same arguments adduced
in this strike were adtluced then, and still
they signed the $ scale and went to work.
why? Not because the market would
not Justify it for they said that ''they
could not pay it"), but because they
found the men unit. Again III the
spring of 1880, when an advance OF
fiity cents per ton was asked for boiling,
and some other branches in proportion,
the manufacturers flatly refused to pay
them. stating that they could not afford it.
The conferees before which this was stated
adjourned, and the Amalgamated Asso-
citation prepared for Il bitter struggle, but at
the end OF one short week the advanced
scales we're signed and the strike ended.
Did they pay the advance from choice?
No. They Instituted inquiries among the
| men in the several mills and found them
unit Tor the advances asked. AT each OF
the periods named we had most OF the press,
including Grunscr, and the public against
u.s. But it availed nothing. The men
we're OF one accord, and the man
ufactnrcrs knew It. Prior TO the
amaIgamation OF the iron workers OF this
country, it was an open secret that the
manufacturers successfully used the men
In one end OF the mill to reduce the men
| In the other end, aud rice rcrsa, aud unless
the ranks are closed up, dissensions ban
ishcd and unity and harmony OF action
again restored, the same tactics will be re-
sorted to in order to reduce wages, no mat
Ter how trade is. The result Of this strike
is but an entering wedge to that which we
may expect TO follow unless immediate and
decisive steps are taken to regain thai