Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-08-15
Amalgamated officials Not in a Hurry
to Move Against the
IMPORTATION OF TIN WORKERS
Immigrant officials Are Now Watching Mr.;
Niedringhaus.
OFFICIAL CHANGES In FLINT SCALES

Amalgamated headquarters to see if some
thing could not be done to stop it.
The Amalgamated officials, however, are
proceeding slowly. They have plenty Of
facts now to prove the position they have
taken and feel that they have given Mr..
| Niedringhaus sufficient assurance that he
can be furnished with all the competent
workers he needs, unless he desires to will
fully violate the law and bring foreign peo.
pie here for the sake of economy.
1t is proposed now to let Mr. Niedring-
haus alone until he brings the foreign work.
men here. They will be intercepted and
held while proceedings will be instituted
against him, not by the Amalgamated off.
cials, but by the immigrant inspectors, who
have now become interested in the matter.
EVIDENCE PREPARED FOR USE.
The facts gathered by the Amalgamated
\Association will he used against Niedring.
haus as evidence that the manufacture OF
tin is not a new industry in this country,
nor is it necessary to import men to do the
work he has to do.
The labor people who are opposing the
importation feel that they now have the de-
|
will have the matter stopped if they are
compelled to appeal to Mckinley himself
They say Mckinley could not afford to al
low Mr. Niedringhaus to import these
workmen after the part they induced the
| working people to take in securing the
passage of the Mckinley bill The contro-
versy is getting decidedly interesting and
there is no telling where it will end.
John Watson Evans, a gentleman from
the tin districts of Wales, but now residing
in the Southside, gives freely his sentiments
concerning Mr.. Niedringhaus and the
Welsh. He says: "To me, an old, ex-
perienced hand in all the branches of tin
manufacturing, and well acquainted with
all the principal tin workers of Wales, Mr..
Niedringhaus' views and plans regarding
the importation of Welsh workers are
laughable, and even absurd If the gentle
man intends employing 600 people in all to
work his tin plate mandatory, and will
import only 60 from England and Wales,
the natural inference is that he will employ
$40 unskilled individuals in conjunction
with the 60 skilled foreigners to run his
plant. Probably he thinks that a few hun
dred Italian or Hungarian navvies will suf-
flee to make up the number, for, indeed, it
seems to me, by the manner in which the
magnates and monopolists of this country
think it is equal to any responsible and
skilled employment.
WHERE THE EMPLOYER MAY BE WRONG.
cor Mr.. Niedringhaus may intend to fill
the deficiency by iron workers from differ
ent iron rolling mills. But if he does, even
with this last mentioned idea, he is laboring
under great error. With such force he
cannot turn his rolls and put tin on the
bank. Making iron and making tin are two
entirely different processes, and few are the
iron workers who can be of any use in the
manufacturing of tin. There are numerous
branches in the tin mill that require
mans closest attention and undivided labor
for from 10 to 30 years before he can be
proficient workman. And L venture to say
that in the employment of 600 men in a tin
plant over three-fourths of them must be
practical, skilled hands; indeed, scores of
them having been at such labor since they
were small boys.
'In this connection would say that Mr..
Niedringhaus and Mr.. William Williams,
proprietor of the prominent Wooster Tin
Works of Swansea, s. W., differ very much
in their opinions. The other day, while the
latter was lamenting the effects of the Nc
Kinley bill upon the Welsh tin plate in
terest, and predicting a general future
gloom, he said he was afraid he would have
to remove his plant to the United States.
But said he, If L do, L will take all my
hands with me, as l cannot make tin in
America with the labor that is there
HUNDREDS OF TINwoRKERS HERE.
t'Of course, Mr.. Williams, living in
Wales, was ignorant of the vast number Of
tinworkers that are in this country en-
ploved at other duties, and for that reason
can be easily excused for his error But
Mr.. Niedringhaus is one of our prominent
politicians and tin magnates, and ought to
know more about our iron and tinworkers
If it will require him to employ about 45O
practical tinworkers at his plant, it is a
well-known fact that he has no need to send
for them from across the ocean. There are
more than enough here already, and as good
furnacemen, doublers, bchindmen and roll
ers as ever handled tools
81 am at a loss to know why Mr.. Med
ringhaus wants to import 60 workmen from
Wales while there are hundreds here that
would like to be employed by him and led
away from other avocations. The general
impression is that an idea prevails that the
emigrants from abroad would hastily lump
at new positions in this country for a
meager compensation; in other words, that
they could easier be transposed into black
sheep than the tinworkers that are citizens
of this country and familiar with our prices
of labor. But if any tin magnate
soon abandon it after irving
his experiment upon the Welsh workers
While the Welsh take pride in being loyal
and law-abiding citizens, they are the first
to stand for the rights of labor, and never
yield to the schemes and tyranny ofmonopo-
lists. While l would be glad to see all my
country people enjoying the blessings of
this my noble adopted country, hope no
tin workers from South Wales will be in
duced here by Mr.. Niedringhaus, until he
finds employment for those that are here
now"
AN EXPERT ON THE SUBJECT.
A prominent tin plate manufacturer who
has become interested in the present contro-
versy said Yesterday: Under the head
line Labor in Tin Mills, in the Anerioan
Manufacturer of the 9TH, these sentences
occur: 1T is amusing to one who has ever
investigated the possibility of securing
skilled tin house workers in this country to
notice with what unanimity each man of
the latter class claims to be the only one in
the United States who thoroughly under
stands the manipulation of tin plate in all
its branches, and to see how little some
really know outside of the particular work
they did in Wales, even if they know that.
LAS an example of the perfect correct
ness of the foregoing, and with the blunder-
ing, slipshod statements made by parties
whoprofess knowledge of everything con-
nected with the production of tin plate,
what is required and whom and what we
have here with US necessary to enable us to
run the business, is the following morceau
by Mr.. A. T. Rollins, as published to-day.
He is quoted as saying that he could pick
up enough men to run dozen tin plate