Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1889-07-12

\ sGAMCASTER, PA, July IL, 1889.


The war is on between the Carnegie
4 Kpeople and the Amalgamated associa-
Hon. Carnegie is reported to have a
ni1lion and a half of dollars laid away
d - pay the cost Of his end ofthe struggle
md the Amalgamated are supposed TO
3 have over q hundred thousand dollars
\ salted down for their side beside a full
: body of assessable workmen to call upon
when their funds get low. The other
8 NAllegheny iron mills have generally got
Z ln out of the rain and signed the Anal
eamated scale, and look AT the fight
much ms Betsy did on the one between
her husband and the bear. II the com
<E5any wins, the scale of wages will fall
all around and IL the men win, the Car
negies will have no advantage over
what they are now striving to get.
Upon the surface their position
looks to be sound. Their adver-
tisement shows that by the wages
they propose To pay, their labor
will receive a handsome reward but
this reward Is based upon the assump-
3 tion that the product of the mills will
be maintained at the high water mark
( Of the month of May. And at this mark
II Is supposed that il can he held If the
workmen accept the wages proposed,
which are less per ton than is paid else
where but greater in the total because
of the greater product. The reason for
the belief that the mills can be kept full
AOf work Is very simple, when IL is noted
that they pay less per ton for their labor
!. than their competitors and of course can
Afford to sell for less price per ton
consequently they will get all the trade
and their competitors will dry up.
The result of this situation VIII be that
the Carnegie firm will he doing all the
business and that the workmen at other
4 factories will he out of their jobs and
I when this is the position of affairs, tn,
Carnegies can put the price of skilled
labor where they please. There will b,
1 over supply of it, and the price will &c
down. The idea of the labor association
is to keep up the price Of labor, even
where its rewards are excessive because
I Of the greater product of improved ma,
chinery, in order that mills that do not
have this labor-saving machinery may
I be kept In the market and may be ena.
abled to continue to employ their work.
men. Ii is understood that there is a
certain amount Of the steel product tha,
the market requires the Carnegies pro
pose to supply the whole of il TO the cx
+ tent Of their capacity, being enabled T.,
do so by machine dispensing labor but
s here the labor association puts in bar
8 saying you must pay as much per toi
q Oh your product for the labor ON IL, n,
do your competitors, whom IL is our in
terest to protect aud maintain.
IL Is u very interesting issue and tn,
right of il is not entirely clear. UpoI
the one hand il may ie said that MAJ
who can make two tons of steel In ON,
mill i'm the time and with the labor tha
would make but one ton in another
4 ought not receive as much per ton Ia
..... -.,., ..-' III the other, and the manufac
tuyer ought 10 reap the benefit of hi,
superior capital aud facilities. And thai
seems to be a sound proposition, in lin,
with the natural evolution of material
Interests. To kick against il seems like
the old kick against the steam engin,
and every great improvement in material
development. But on the other hand i,
ts clear enough that the steel-workers
who will Ike thrown out of employment
by the machinery, are interested il
7 stopping OF delaying the process if they
can the machinery in this case bciDl
especially designed To do away will
s labor. There is no other virtue in il
9 A smaller number of men do the work o.
larger number and the machiner,
that enables them TO do il il patented
and is the special property of the on,
firm of steel-makcrs. Here the interest,
of the workmen and of the other manu-
facturers are allied, Ia avoid the fruit of
m exclusive advantage given to another
by the patent laws of the country. II is
m artificial aid upon one side resisted
by u banded opposition on the other
Il Is the Carnegies and the patent laws
against all the other steel interests OF
Allegheny ; and which should win
Shall we declare for that the cheapened
manufacture is in the interest of the
country? But then how much will th,
manufacture he cheapened if patent
protected monopoly commands the husi.
ness from which all competitors are
driven out? We incline 10 think that
the interests of the country are this time
with the labor association.
Catching Criminals.