Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1884-09-16

On the Recent Secession Of Bal
mont Lodge.
Secretary Martins vews---What' Steel
Man Has to Say---The Differ
enee in Cutting Steel and
Iron Nails.

The secession Of Belmont Lodge from the
Amalgamation produced as lively COM
motion in Pittsburg as here. The papers
are discussing it and the officials of the Or
der are canyassing it. One Of the papers
says:
az think there must be mistake in the
name of the lodges, said Secretary Martin
Yesterday afternoon. '1f it were
Victoria Lodge, of the Labelle works, |
wouldn't have been surprised for their boil
ers in that mill received notice some time
ago that they would no longer be needed.
We haven't heard a single word OF COM
plant in Belmont Lodge and there are
some of the best men in the association in
it Besides / don't know that they have
adopted steel in the Belmont mill and those
resolutions don't say So"
"How do you account for the trouble!
why the boilers want the nailers to de-
mand 20 per cent. advance IN wages Tor
working steel nails and the nailers won't do
it. There is clause in our law this year
that nailers shall demand 20 per cent.
advance for cutting steel when it is harder
than iron.
THE QUESTION IN DISPUTE
is whether the steel from which the nails
arc made is harder than iron. My own
opinion is that it is harder, but the question
is still undecided"
Who is supposed to decide such ques-
TONI
That is left to the nailers themselves;
nobody can decide it but the men who cut
the nails. The Amalgamated Association
cannot do it"
what will Ire the effect Of this on the
Association
II don't think it will amount to anything.
That lodge has about l25 or $50 members,
the great majority of whom are boilers and
helpers. But there are some tinishers
among them and as long as there are ten
members who want to retain the charter the
lodge can be kept up. Those resolutions
have the appearance of spite work. They
are evidently gotten up by the boilers and
helpers who will be thrown out of employ
ment by the use Of steel and whom we
would therefore lose anyhow. So it makes
very little difference to the Association
whether these,,go now or not No; | do not
think Belmont lodge is likely to be followed
in this matter by any otbSrs.
40 you think yourself that the nailers
ought to demand 20 per cent advance for
working steelY'
TO be honest and candid think they
ought. Twenty per cent is little enough
Some manufacturers may use soft steel, but
nails made of that are not marketable
Steel is harder to work than iron, and ought
to command more money. think 20 per
cert IS little enough Besides, mailer cant
make as many with steel as with iron, and
bis wages are diminished on that account"
STEEL MANS VIEWS.
NO, sir, it will not stop with Belmont
Lodge. This is the beginning of big rup-
ture in the Amalgamated Association"
The speaker was an official in one Of the
Wheeling district companies that has gone
extensively into steel nail making, gentle
man who is we'll informed, impartial and
thoroughly reliable. Those puddlers are
trying to prevent tae manufacturers from
making nails from steel, and they can no
more succeed than they can fly. Their
plan YVES TO have the nailers demand
a 20 per cent. advance for work
ing steel. If that is conceded it
would be impossible to make steel nails at
all. The nailers are very well satisfied
with their wages and do not care to be
made cats paw for the benefit Of the pud-
dlers A short time ago they struck at the
Benwood mill where it was proposed to
make steel nails altogether and the works
shut down at once. Since that time they
have notified the manager that they are
ready TO go to work at his old prices and
the mill is likely to start up within few
DAYS. The manufacturers of iron nails
we have good reason to think, are working
with The puddlers in this fight. They see
that the steel nail Is fast taking the place
of the iron nail in the market, and making
SERIOUS INRoADs IN THEIR TRADE
in all parts of the country, and this is one of
the means they are taking TO defend them.
selves. But the nailers will not strike. 1t
is true that the steel is harder to work than
iron. The iron plate seems to slip of as
soon as the blade touches it. With steel the
knife has to cut its way through, and there
is more of a jar on the arm Of the mailer. 1t
is also true that in given time man can
make more nails of iron than of steel, but
that will be remeded after while by reduc-
ing the weight of the steel nail. In the
Riverside and Bellaire works, where steel
was first introduced, some of the mems
wages fell perhaps as much as 20 per cent;
that was because ofthe quality Of the steel
and the want of experience in making it.
Still they could not strike for higher wages,
because they appreciated the fact that the
market is in their favor. They will have
steady work when the iron rs;l mills are
idle. The steel nail is undoubtedly the nail
of tie future, and when the facilities for
making it are improved, as they undoubted
ly will be, the men will make higher wages
at present rates than they have ever re.
ceiyed for making nails of iron"
Ill 4, T..