The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1892-08-09
DANGEROUS WORK.
THAT OF THE HOMESTEAD STEEL
WORKERS.
THEY TAKE THEIR LIVES IN THEIR
HANDS WHEN THEY ENTER THE
BURNING nor sHoPs.

HANDS WHEN THEY ENTER THE
BURNING nor SHOPS.
CINCINNATI, Aug. g.-The Post pub
fishes the following from It's special
correspondent in Homestead:
" Just look at my back remarked
one Of the skilled steel.workers with
whom was talking in his home, and,
pulling down his shirt collar an inch
or so, he showed where great scars
and wounds just healing began IL
was literally cooked back that had
been broiled and scared by hot flakes
of fire thousand times. "I'ye not
been working for month now, and
yet my back is still sore. How did II
get that wayf Why, in lodging the
great flakes that came toward me a
hundred times every day of my life,
| save my face and eyes, but they
catch me on the back and you'll not
find roller in the works With we'll
| back.
Little do those unacquainted with.
the work in the Carnegie mills know
of the danger the men employed in
them undergo. II is terrible work,
With furnaces burning in a white
heat and great caldrons OF metal,
sheets Of heated steel and ponderous
machines all around, and, cinders and
burning fakes flying in every direc-
ton, it is little wonder that every day.
has its records Of accidents, and fire.
quently fatalities. The men take
their lives in their hands when
they walk into the big shop in the
mornings, and when they como out
after their days work they put II down
on the credit side Of skill, watchfulness
and good luck.
The temperature in these places Is
fearful. No one unused to 1t can
stand it ten minutes without falling.
"What is it ~ repeated q roller.
"Well, I'm safe, ! think, in saying it
will reach 120 degrees, and with some
to spare at that. am putting it at q
dead low fgure.r
| This is the kind 81 place in which
the steel workers, who are striking
against reduction Of wages, have to
work. Men who get 80 and 50. so and
less per day put in eight hours in those
places just the same as do the men
who are better paid.
/ No man knows, when he begins his
work in the morning, whether or not
he will eat supper with his family in
the evening. In the last accident Of
any consequence-for there must be
fatality to make an accident in the
Homestead mills worth noting-six
men were horribly burned and injured,
and two, Andy Keebler and John Fa-
gin, lost their lives.
As stated there are about 10 per cent.
of the skilled steel workers here who
make 500 and over per month. There
are about per cent. who make from
500 to $3.50 per month on an average.
People outside talk Of these as big
wages said a leader. "Do thew ever
stop tothink what it means Do they
count the hot, hard work and the dan
ger we face ? Let lawyer or doc
tor study hard for ten years, sacrifice
his comfort, burn the midnight oil, risk |
his life and then, after all this, enter
upon practice worth $175 a month.
Does anybody charge him with getting |
too much and rolling in wealth Think
then of what steel workers must do
before they can reach these wages. Ii
takes years and years Of work that,
wears away the life Of man. He
must be fitted by nature for the work
every man can not become skilled
steel worker he works both mind and
muscle; he must have natural execu-
tive ability to direct those under him
ne has speut years in reaching this
state Of efficiency he must be cool and
self-possessed; with thelturning Of his
hand he can spoil the cast a mo
ment's hesitation and hundreds Of dol
lars of the company's property are
ruined he must be skillful, know what
to do, how to do it and do it quickly, 1
and all this he learns only after years /,
sometimes twenty or more. k
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