The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1891-05-13
THE APATHY OF DESPAIR
Spreading Rapidly Over
the Coke Region.
The Battle Goes Against
the Strikers.
If the Men Won't Starve They
Are Not Wanted.
The Foreigners Standing Nobly
BY Their Cause.
An Enforced IdIeness i'm Other Lines
OF Work.

Ing INTO the coke region IN Oulk, and, as
an operator said today, he can turn 5000
men into the region in twenty-four
hours, but cannot shelter them.
A popularity about this wholesale i'm
portation is that the strikers are as firm
and unbroken as ever, and when directed
by the sheriff, move calmly out of their
houses, to roost on fences, or gather in
huddle to watch the imported men move
into the houses they have so recently va
Gated. Their calmness may be conf
dence of ultimate victory, but it savors
more OF the apathy OF despair
Today labor officials say there will soon
be plentiful supply of money and tents
for the most needy. but this they have
been promising for weeks. 1t is particu-
larly noted that the aid pledged from the
federation OF labor has not yet made its
appearance, and unless it soon comes it
will be everlastingiy too late.
Another thing worth observing is the
action OF the Hungarians, Poles and Ger
mans, hitherto despised ESPECIALLY the
former) by labor organizations as being
unreliable and dangerous. The foreign
element especially has made record in
the present strike as being honest, patient,
attentive and faithful to a man, too faith
| full for their own good, as they have been
| Obliged to bear the onus OF the strike
| Ninety-nine OF the evicted out of one
| hundred are foreigners and every man
| thus far killed in the region was OF other
! than American birth. Exceptions may be
| taken to this, owing to reports that the
! foreign element is to blame for the fire.
| quent riots in the regions. This may be
answered by the plain statement that OF
eleven men killed at More
wood and twenty-five wounded,
one killed at Adelaid and
all were foreign strikers and not deputy
or guard has been hurt with the excep-
ton OF scratch on the finger or face in-
| fiicted either by accident or woman.
! One can draw conclusions from the above
as to what side is the more patient and
| self-contained.
| All this does not change the fact that
| the strikers are losing ground daily,
| though the region rs whole is making q
poor showing in coke shipments. Outside
| of several pacific evictions and one occa-
sion where blackleg was obliged 10 quit
work by the strikers, all was serene today,
as activity was displayed in another line.
Leaders and men are preparing for vlg-
| orous campaign between this and Monday
and will endeavor to talk with every
worker either by mass meetings or indi-
| vidually in order TO induce them to stop
work. The effects OF this concerted move
will be known Monday. and is expected to
| produce excellent results for the strikers,
as the foreigners seem willing enough 10
! quit work when informed of the situation
| but are so closely guarded that it is almost
impossible for the strikers to reach them.
The last of the Deputies who killed the
strikers at Morewood WAS brought back
! into the region today. He is named Gil
bert, and had suddenly left for Somerset
county, where he was captured by de-
tective. A new element was introduced
today at Davidson where a number of
strikers donned white caps and forced q
| blackleg to quit work.
The following interview with Fl. c.
| Frick goes far to show what that gentle
man thinks of a strike
"What have you to say about Secretary
Parker's charge that your agents in Brad
dock particularly have used false pretense
in hiring men?"
"Mr. Parker is about through running
the business for us as he has done for the
last four or five years. That's over now"
and the coke king set his teeth and his
blue eyes snapped.
"And is there no prospect of arbitration
or compromise"
Arbitration, compromise-what foo-
ishness The time for that is passed. We
are emptying our houses and filling them
! again. Ii the men won't work, we have
no use for them"
In addition to the inconvenience suf-
- 4 a.
the coke strike, general complaint comes
today from the Mahoning and Shenango
| Valley furnaces that are estimated
to produce one-eighth of the pig
iron in this country. The furnaces
in these valleys shut down last January
for two months. but the coke strike came
upon them just as they expected TO re-
sumo, and for five months the many blast
furnaces in the valley have been dead.
Shipments of pig iron from the Shenengo
valley alone have fallen off $4,000 tons
from last years figures and the end is not
vet. The last heavy order from the val
| ley is being filled for Andrew Carnegie's
great Edgar Thomson works, for which
Sharpsvile furnaces are shipping 600 tons
daily. Furnaces from along both valleys
report their yards as bare as a ball room
| floor, with thousands OF workmen idle and
| diecontented. The operators would be
glad to resume, but the coke supply is too
weak and erratic TO be depended upon. A
resumption in the coke regions would
mean an equally great resumption in the
valleys, but neither appear imminent.
In figuring up the losses no attention
has yet been paid to the railroads, that are
really the greatest losers. Lines running
through the coke regions have missed their
! 5000 cars Of coke per week for three
months, while roads in The Shenango and
Mahoning valleys for five months have
| found q falling OFF in their shipments of
millions OF tons of coal, iron ore and the
finished article. All this loss, exclusive
Of the wages of men on every side and the
profits OF coke ard furnace and mill
operators, will present at the end row OF
| eight figures cf loss and an amount almost
beyond belief.
ScoTTDALE. May 1O-This day was the
most peaceful of any since the strike. If
it were not for few mass meetings and
the presence of armed guards one would
/ hardly believe mammoth struggle was