Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1885-11-19
the new MOVE
Made by the EaiIsrs TO Further
Their interests In the Strike.
interesting Revelations of the Great Fight
Between Labor and Capital, Now
Nearing the End Of the
Sixth Month.

Yesterdays isaus Of the Pittsburg Com
mercisl Gazette contained most inter
estipg resume of the great strike, which,
for The past six months, has been Waged be.
tween the nailers and portion Of the feed
ers on one hand, and the manufacturers on
the other. In many respects this gigantic
struggle for supremacy has been remark
able, and the nearer it approaches to
crisis the faster it develops characteristics |
decidedly novel, The Commercial Gazette
says:
"a more determined effort has not been
wsged between the two interests for many
years In exactly thirteen days it will
have lasted
HALF YEAR,
and reconciliation seems tsrther away than
ever. The motionless wheels Of 2, 100 nail
machines with the uudisturbed dust of ak
months in their cogs, attest mournfullY to
loss OF 1915. 900 to the manufacturers OF
Pittsburg alone, aud disruptured trade
in the entire West. An army OF nearly
!, 900 idle men present spectacle seldom
seen in Industrial difficulties. The ranks
are filled out, shoulder to shoulder, with
class Of American mechanics far above the
average of those who usually participate in
the clash and jar of industrial difficulties.
Nailers are regarded as the most intelligent
and wealthiest Of all skilled laborers. In
this alone their strike is remarkable.
BoYCoTTING.
Apropos to review of the strike, CIR
culsr Just issued by the Trades Assembly
claims attention. Il has been printed,
and is nov being distributed among the
lsboring people 1t is really the most
radical movement resorted TO since the
conflict began.
THE PUDDLERs DOWNFALL.
The paper from which wa quote 1e7otes
large amount Of space to review of the
causes which led TO the downfall Of the
puddlers, sketchiDg The introduction Of
steel, and the rapid extension Of its fields
of usefulness, and the horror Of the boilers
on discovering their error in ever permit
ting it's introduction. The fruitless strug'
gle Of these men is referred to, and then
the writer says
The settlement OF the big strike in 1882
was not satisfactorily to the Wheeling
operators. They objected to several srti'
cles in the settlement, but 10 none more
than being obliged to pay the twenty five
cents extra for boiling. They were mad
and swore they would get even yet. Gin
cinnati and ST. Louis once paid an extra
of fifty cents for boiling. but that was re-
moved, and Wheeling alone was left pay.
ing higher wages than any other mauutac-
turing town. They promised to gee to it,
and they kept their promise. They are
getting even now aud feel happy over it.
HOW TIE THREAT WAS EXECUTED.
The threat was not al idle one. They
didn't waste time in considering what
should be done. Neither lid they delay
their action, as the puddlers had done. A
meeting oil the Wheeling manufacturers
was quietly held. They appointed COM
mittee to investigate the making Of steel
nails The committee went ell over Inc
country, they had experiments made under
their supervision and they came back secure
in the knowledge that they possessed the
secret, which, skillfully handled, would
bring the puddlers to their knees and show
the industrial world that while West Vir
ginis is small State and Wheeling
small city, neither'the State nor city CAPT.
talists could be trampled on wilhimpunity.
Mr. Winslow, manager OF the Troy
mills, Of Troy, n. \. had been making
steel rails as O regular product for several
| years. Steel rails had been made, but the
city being unfsvorsbly situated in refer
euce to fuel and pig iron, the management
found it necessary to find some other pro,
duet by which the output of their Bessemer
plant could be used. Steel nails was the
golden mean discovered, and the Wheeling
people in their travels saw and investigated.
They were satisfied
THIS WAS THE SECRET.
Home they rushed full Of the new plap.
The manufacturers we're called together
and the glowing report Of the committee
acted SO o spur 10 race horse.
"A company was formed, including all
nail operators, to manufacture steel nails /.
Some of the mills by their charters had no
right to invest in other corporations. Such |
q small thing SIS that could not deter these
men, urged by the motive of revenge, and
they had special State&cts passed granting
these special privileges By the time all
this had been done, though, some of them
had cooled their wrath, and when the de.
tails of the new plan were being arranged
objected to punberless propositions and
the general company fell through Some,
however, determined to persevere, and the
Riverside factory prepared itself to make
steel nails. The Bellaire mill soon fol-
lowed and two large plants in the Wheel.
ing district were started on the royal rosd
of revenge.
PUDDLERs on THE ALERT.
bat the puddlers, now that their eyes
we're open, were on the alert. They fumed
and iFetted, and threatened and over
year ago they wers able 10 f,rce into The (
Wsgescsle proposition which read:
THE price for making steel nails, when
it is harder than iron, shall be twenty COZ ,
per cent. above the price paid for euttiOg
iron nails"
This settled it once for ALL they said, !
and then laughed in the faces Of the |
operators. OF course, the Amslgamated $
Association upheld them in their demand, |
aud the association has ever since held ,
hat steel nails are harder to cut than !
ron. /
The Riverside and Bellsire mills did
lot propose to stand any such thing as THE, I
md the management of each called their
men to q consultation. They sskei the E
men If they. would ent steel nslls at the
anne price IS roa nails if the steel was
.qusllT as soft and
The SANE MONET Gould Sc MADE I
Tie lsilsrG promised that they would, aid
Tould also stand By the manufacturers if
hey yould stand by them The buddiers Il