The Cecil Whig., 1882-05-20

TIE STRIKE AT THE MCCULLOUGH CJ.8
IRON WORKS.


Considerable excitement las been car s
ed here this w,,h. ly lIcrtcd strike
of the cmpl"ycs OF thr Mccullough Iron
Company. at North East. Numerous
aud conflicting accounts Of the trouble
have been circulated. both upon tie
streets and through tbr columns OF the
Wilmington dailics, some al them being
very wide of the true facts Of the case
\ representative of the Wig visited the
scene Of the trouble, ard from the var
Gus and conflicting accounts Of the origin
of the trouble Cleaned the following,
which may be relied upon as a true state
mcnt of the cause of the dissatisfaction
among tn" men. and their consequent re-
fusal to work :
The trouble is confined entirely to Il e
forge department. where comparatively,
a small per centagc ut the whole number
of men employed are engaged. The men
are paid by the ton for refining the iron.
averaging about $40. Two hundre d
and sixty pounds of crude iron constitut-
ed one charge or heat, and from this the
operator and his helper are required to
produce 236 lbs of refined iron. Gener-
ally the iron when withdrawn from the
furnace uveIrUnS this weight little:
and at the beginning of March last the
men asked either to he paid for this over
weight or the price per ton increase
twenty-five cents The manager there
upon decided to aCceilc to the irst-nam-
cd proposition for month, as Il tIisl. which
was done and each furnace credited with
the full amount Of iron produced. in
stead of 3:;6 lbs. as before This plan
proved unsatisfactory to the company,
and at the end of the month the clerks
were directed to return to tile old system
and hereafter credit the men with 236 lbs.
per charge. This change, through some
misunderstanding or other, was not com
munlcated to the men, and they entered
upon another month under the impression
that the system of full weights would | c
continued.
When the end of the month and pay
day came. whiclfiS usually the 1Oth. and
they discovered that the reduction had
been made. they at once and without
ceremony, on W Wednesday morning quit
work. The whole number of men in
cludcd in the strike will not number
more than lOrty.-thou@h if it should
continue lUr three or four DAYS mOle
other departments Of the works viii he
compelled to suspend for want of the
material produced in the forgeS. Some
few OF the men Yesterday prepared their
furnaces for a resumption OF work to.
day. and number OF others have de
clared their intention to 90 to work again
on Monday: while small proportion of
them Will perhaps not return at all. 1t
is however, generally thought there, that
the trouble will end with this week. and
that all the furnaces viii bG in operation
early next week.
The accounts of paradeS, drunkenness.
and disorder given by some of the daily
papers were entire eNaggerations. as every
thing has been quiet and the men per
fectly orderly throuGhout. Neither does
there appear to be il feeling among the
men toward the Company to any extent.
the whole thing being viewed in the light
of Misunderstanding which will bc
early adjusted. The Company has al
ways been noted FOX its liberal dealing
with its employees, and in this instance
will not depart from this rule. Even
while this is being read, the difficulty
may lave been fully adjusted.