Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1888-02-13

Secretary Williara Martin, Of the Anal
gamated Association Of Iron and Stee
Workers, last evening sent out by the As
sociated Press the following telegram il
reference 10 the Riverside steel plan
matter:
While it is generally known and con
coded that the Knights of Labor scale has
been sigued by the Riverside Iron Com
pany, q scale much lower than the n pre-
sented by the Amalgamsted, Association o.
Iron and Steel Workers, all that glitters i:
not gold with Knights working in the
plant, as the superintendent of the tube
department of the Riverside Company sale
to q friend Of his from Pittsburg last week
in answer to a question:
"What was the trouble at the River
side ?"
well, there were two scales presented
one favoring the firm and the other TIT
men, and the firm accepted the n favor
ing them"
There is a volume in these few words fol
the Knights of Labor 10 ponder over,
though they were spoken in an overheard
conversation in a Wheeling street car. Tht
officers Of the National Iron District vert
bent on getting the mill, even at the sac
rifice of the workers wages. Loud are the
lamentations of not q few Of the men now,
however, since they find that they have
been sacrificed in order to gain power. The
scale signed by the same officers,
or at least through their efforts
for the workmen in the
Wheeling steel plant, being a little higher
than that OF the Riverside, the men in the
latter very r~ighteously demur and open re,
bellion is not improbable. A lurking desire
10 kick in the traces can be seen on the
faces Of a number of them and many man,
ifestations of condemnation could be heard
coming from the little knots of men on the
street corners of Benwood on Saturday
night.
Nor is their action approved by the
Knights Of Labor in this section, as Witness
the following resolution unanimously
adopted at the Ohio Valley Trades and
Labor Assembly's meeting here to-day:
WHEREAS, A conflict has been ~inauguI-
ated between the Knights Of Labor and the
Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel
Workers, at the Riverside steel plant, in
which a large number of members of the
latter organization have been compelled to
90 on q strike, and their places have been
filled by members OF the knights of Labor;
and
WHEREAS, The Amalgsmated Associa-
ton of Iron and Steel Workers is an organ
izstiOn long established, and whose pros
porous existence has fixed a rate of wages
Tor iron and steel workers; and
WHEREAS, It is necessary for the proper
regulation Of all matters affecting wages
fer labor in the iron and steel business,
that one labor organization should control
the trade,
Resolged, That We regard the condition
Of affairs at BenwoOd as dangerous to the
welfare of the working class, and condemn
the efforts of men who, under the guise of
a labor organization, are e~ndeavoriug to
build up their membership by pernicious
methods akin to housekeeping.
These resolutions speak for themselves,
and among the organizations that compose
the Trades Assembly and who voted for
the resolutions are fifteen aSsemb lies of tn
Knights of Labor.
The resolutions are a modification of
Others that were introduced, condemning
the action Of Messrs. Conklyn and Clark,
the Master Workman and Organizer Of
the National Iron District, and could have
passed unanimously, but they not nav
ing come in in the regular way through
an organization represented in the
Trades Assembly, and bearing the seal,
were declared out of order by the Chair.
1t a be safely said that the two men re-
fsrred to are looked upon in this vicinity
as being arch enemies Of organized labor.
The trouble at the Riverside plant proper
is over, but the product of the plant is vet
to be worked. WILLIAM MARTIN.
Secretary Of A. A. l. SIS. W.