Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-04-22
SPRING LABOR PROSPECTS.
A weIi-Informed Trades-Uuion MHn
Who Does Not Expect Extended
Strikes-The Iron and Coal Interests
knights of Labor Organization
Why IL WAS Formed.

Oh
Why it was Formed.
A prominent member OF the Amalga-
mated Association of Iron and Steel Work
ers has been visiting some OF the labor CEN
tres of Ohio and Pennsylvania and knows
as much about strikes, present and future,
as any man in any OF the trades. He is by
no means am agitatOr, nor is he interested
in the welfare OF the employers, except as
it affects that of the workingmen. In an
interview yesterday with REGISTER re-
porter, he expressed '.e following views
on the labor question throughout the cOun-
try:
"In nv opinion, so far as the iron work
crs are concerned there will be no trouble
whatever before the 1st of June, at which
time the Amalgamated Association and the
mill owners will meet and fix the
Prices for the Ensuing Year.
OF course, there always have been and
always will be local troubles, such as have
occurred at Homestead, near PttSburg,
and in one of the mills in Chicago. There
may be general stOppage for couple of
weeks after the lst of June, while the
scale is being arranged. Beyond that no
of trouble so far as this association is con-
cerned; and ii substantially includes all the
skilled iron labOr-rOlling mill labor,
mean-of PENNSYLVANIA, West Virginia,
Ohio, the West and the South. AS to the
prices to be demanded in the establishment
Of the scale no one can tell at pres
ent. You see the scale works in this way:
With iron at a given figure in the market,
a price for labor is established with refer
Al. =, Coll tInH HtNt tfnO.
tions of that market on graded scale. For
instance, with bar iroA at $3.50, pudding
rates at s.. % per ton. Let ii rise to S2.70,
and the pudding goes t. s. 30, or let it drop
TO 81 so, and the puddli,l nrOPs to s.. The
only chance for trouble this year may come
from an attempt of the men to gain more
favorable percentage to themselves i'll the
adoption of
New Scale.
That effort will he made and may be sue
Ccssful But if not successful do not be-
lieve there will be all extended strike
among the iron men,
From what you have seen and heard is
there to be much trouble among the iron or
coal interests this year.
LAS to the iron men, no, as the Amalga-
mated Association also practically controls
the upskilled labor, although it is no por-
tiOn of it, as to the coal miners some
trouble is apprehended. There are strikes
now in progress in the vicinity of Pitts
| burgh, in the Tuscarawas Valley of Ohio,
in the Cumberland Valley and in some
parts of Indiana. A great deal Of agitation
is exercising the minds OF the miners i'll
| the Hooking Valley region, and strong
| effort will be made to increase the rate for
mining there. They have very thick
| vein of excellent coal which can be mined
| easily, the product of which goes into the
| market in too strong competition with the
other regions. The miners elsewhere are
| very desirous of forcing the price of min
| ing up there, and will do everything in
| their power to sustain them if there is
| strike. There are numerous .Ocal Organi
cations among the miners, and notably
| very strong one with headquarters at Pitts
burgh. Besides these can be counted the
| Knights of Labor concerning which much
| has been said OF late.
What is that organization He said:
The miners first claim, in defense of
| their organization known as
The knights of Labor.
| that it was a necessity born of such sys-
| tenn of outrageous robbery and oppression
as no workingmen in the country ever la
| bored under before. They allege that pre-
| yiOus to the existence OF a protective aSSO-
| citation among them they were required TO
| remain in the damp, unwholcSOme air of
| the mines from sixteen to eighteen hours
! day that hundreds of them never saw the
sun shine for months at time; that they
| were robbed by a system OF fines and cheat
! ed by over weights until human nature
| could stand it no longer; that they were al
| ways required to mine 5000 pounds for q
ton, and if the mine cars which they were
| compelled to fill by guess, contained one
| hundred pounds less than the weight re-
! guired, they were docked from 700 to 900
| pounds; and that at some of the mines
! the men were required to deal exclusively
| at the cOmpany'S store, where a system OF
charges prevailed that kept them everlaSt-
! inglv in debt so unavailing were their ap-
pCals, and so useless their efforts for relief,
| that they were finally driven to the awful
| crime of assassination in order TO get rid OF
their most cruel and
Cnrelenting Oppressors.
| Then came into existence the miners
| union. But as that was an open society,
| whose leading spirits and active officers
were known to the public, it was not diff
| cult for the companies TO effect its destruC
ton by viCtimizng its officers and peremp-
tOrily disCharging every committee that
| came from it with n request or demand. 1t
| was succeeded by the Knights of Labor,
whose deliberations are held in secret,
| whose officers are unknown and whose de-
mands are simply signed executive COM
mittee." That this secret society has car
ried every point and been victorious since
| 1877 in every struggle with the companies,
is matter of history with us; and if its
| success has sometimes made it arbitrary
and over.exaCting, the fault may be traced
| to a vivid recollection of the old days when
the companies ruled with such high hand,
the dreaded recurrence OF which keeps the
men in compact unity