Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1885-02-14

Bsawecn the Mil Owners and lsoisxs.
Yesterday afternoon conference betsesH
4 committee Of IA i manufacturers and
commiifee OF boilers Ess held At the once
Of the Benwood nail works on FOartefnta
street. Samuel Laughlin pFesided. and Ar.
0'Neal. . pnddlsr. was Insde secretary. Inc
time Of The meeting was entirely taken up
with an informal discussion OF the sltuetlon,
with . view of clearing the ground Tor
more definite action in the future.
As is well known, The price Of pudding
here Is S5.T5, as sgsiDst s. so 1t Pitts
burrh. and $3.e5, $3.75 and $3.50 at yAri-
ous eastern points. The low price IN the
east has practically excluded Wheeling
manufacturers from entering the market an
that direction, and they have been forced 70
conhne themselves almoSl exclusively TO
The vest snd southwest The manuiaciu-
rers are fully as anxious 10 have the price
nut down, in order that they may be able 70
better compete with eastern manufacturer,
"A the puddlers are 70 see the steel nall
driven from the trade. The question OF q
reduction in pudding therefore, is one OF
mutual benefit on each side, and il remains
to 20 sdi1st the price as to make It talr ana
lust 10 the interests Of al.
Talking with leading manufactures last
evening, be said:
with the price Of muck bar at 81 per
ton, as il is at present, and with steel oiIlets
at $29. so per Ion, iron nails. running nine
teen kegs to the ton, cost about 81 AZ before
thew 20 to the machine, and steel nails,
running twenty-five or twenty-five and ahalt
kegs to the ton, in ike manner cost but
$l.35 Der key. Here is difference Of seTen
cents per key, or, say, $l.50 per ton. In
favor ofthe steel nail. Now, to put iron On
an equality with steel, We claim that the
uice of pudding should be put down to,
say 81 per ton, With CORE
spouding reduction in rolling. This
would not only enable rs TO compete
with, or undersell the steel nail mauufac-
turers, bat wosld allow Us to assume the
offensive IN the East, and these two objects
attained, / am sure our puddlers would have
something ike steady work. If this re-
duction IS not brought about We will, IN
self protection, be obliged to engage IN the
making of steel nails, and the result viii De
that pnddlers will have little or no work at
at any price. The men hesitate, and nat
uralIy, to see their wages go down in this
way. but II they are to be better OH by the
change, why not make it2 They can gain
something BY discharTing their third hands
and working only with helper, as they do
in the East, and they even
might make six heats instead
of Eve, as they have been in
the habit of doing. / know the members
Of the Amalgamated hesitate to take ans
action until the regular time of fixing the
scale. in June, but June may be too late;
We may be forced to cut steel nails long be-
tore that tine, and, if so, viii not care Q
snap about the price Of pudding.
While this reduction oSpuddling TO ~ 0O
may be q contamination devoutiy to be
wished for by the manufacturers, there Is no
doubt but the boilers will look upon itat
being entirely too steep. They are willing
10 meet the manufacturers upon tair ano
reasonable grounds, but it is doubtful il
they would ratify such q cut as the one pro
posed. However, nothing definite has yet
been done by either party, but future
meeting will undoubtedly throw much ad
ditiopaf light on the subject and remove OBJ
staeles now in the way,
There seems to be trouble now between
the pailers and boilers because the latter
claim that the former should stand BY them
in this their hour Of need by helping them
to fight the manufacturers. The naiiers, on
the other hand, claim that they have not re-
ceived raise while the card rate has been
advanced three times and that all other de
partments have. Now that there is some
talk of proposed reduction in the price Of
making nails, the boilers have asserted that
should such reduction be attempted they
will not make any offer of assistance to pre-
vent it, and so the two departments are al
loegerheads. To-day the nailers will hold
a special meeting at McLain's Hall, brit the
exact object could not be discovered, al
dough it is said that they will take meas
ures to protect themselves shoulda reduc-
ZION in the price of mailing be attempted.