Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-08-02
TO SETTLE STRIKES.

Captain Jones Wants n Board of Arbitration
How They Are TO work-EngIish CapI.
tai Is Not Needed Here.
Captain William r. Jones. General Man.
ager of the Edgar Thomson Steel Works,
left last evening for Milwaukee, Wis, to
purchase several engines for use at the
Braddock mills. While at the Union sta
tion waiting for the limited express, the
Captain dropped out of his usual taciturn
mood and unburdened his mind of num-
ber of questions that are agitating the in
dustrial world at present. In speaking of
the strikes and lockouts among the iron
workers, he suggested a plan which he
claimed would prevent any further strug-
giles of this kind between capital and labor.
The Captain said:
prove disastrous to both the employer and en-
ployes, Is to have a board of arbitration In this
State, something similar to the one now in ex-
istence in New York State. / would like to
see the board composed of five men, composed
of such as form the judiciary of the State.
Whenever crowd of employees become dissat-
isfied with their wages or treatment and can
not SETTLE the matter satisfactorily with their
employers, they must refer 1t to the
board. The latter will be clothed
with the authority to inspect the books of
the employer, ana IL IL Is q QQeSSlOu Oh wages,
let them decide what is fair and equitable. In
large manufacturing establishments this could
be done very easily. Say for instance that the
employer be allowed 10 per cent profit on what
be turns out or has invested In his plant. They
would also take into consideration what skill
is required to do a certain class of work and
base the wages accordingly. In some mills
there are men receiving as high as 5000 and
5000 per year. They are supposed to do man.
ual labor but by the introduction Of new ma
chinery their labor is cut down almost to
nothing Ifthe board of arbitration was in ex-
istence these men would be cut down to about
5000 per year, and the difference given to the
poor laboring hands who now receive less than
81 80 per day.
Laws should be passed making It compulsory
to refer all these labor questions to the board
and their decision must settle the matter. Any
violation or non-acceptance of their decision
upon the part of both employer and employe
would be made penal offense. II an employe
is not satisfied with the way the case is settled,
then he has no alternative but to quit and go
elsewhere. 1 think this would be far better
than to organize strike by which both sides
lose time and money they never regain. The
scheme works all right in New York State and
there is no reason why 1t should not work here.
Speaking of the general outlook for rail-
has received for rails, the Captain called the
prospects very bright. The many recent
failures of mercantile interests, he said,
caused a very shaky condition of affairs,
and if so many failures had occurred within
the same time 10 years ago they would have
caused panic.
Captain Jones is much opposed to invest
ments of English capital in American
manufactures. He says there is plenty of
American capital here 10 take care of every
thing, and every scheme the English started
in this country, for some reason, fell
through.