St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-11-24
FRICK ON TIE STAND.
He appears Before the Senate In
Vestigating Committee.


PITrsBURG, Nov. 23.-The United
States senate subcommittee. consisting
of Senator w. A. Pfetfer, of Kansas; Il
E. Gallinger, OF New Hampshire, his
son, who is clerk of the committee; n.
Dumont, of Washington, sergeant-at-
arms. and f. j. Hag, stenographer, ar
rived i'll this city from Chicago this
morning and are quartered at the Hotel
DuQqesne, where their investigation of
the Pinkert0n agency question Will be
resumed. The committee went into
session at 2 O'Clock this afternoon and
will sit tomorrow, although they do
not expect to accomplish much until
Friday. on account of the intervening
holiday.
The first witness was William Martin,
late secretary Of the Amalgamated aSSU-
citation, who gave his present occupa-
ton as 'chief of the labor bureau OF the
Carnegie Steel company" his duty be-
ing to keep Informed about wages paid
in other mills and TO aid the different
SupcrntendentS to assist labor trOuD.
les. When asked why he, left
the Amalgamated association he said
it was delicate question, but admitted
that it was largely trouble of cOmpen-
association. AS to the methods of deal
ing with strikes, he thought the Anal
gamated association about as good
as any, and they had only two
big strikes, those Of 1882 and the one
just ended. lie believed in concila-
ton, but is utterly opposed to arbtra-
ton by compulsion as impIacticaDle. In
any event, an armed force ought to be
the last resort.
ii. G. FrcK was on the stand for over
two hours, but much of his testimony
was necessarily identical with that
given before the committee. He had
employed Americans when they could
be had. About 35 per cent of their en-
plOXeS were native Americans.
1--WE base the maximum and minimum
of wages upon the selling price Of our
products and pay every two weeks. We
employ Watchmen during a suspension
OF work. from our idle employees when
possible. Our experience with shertfS
ln Lafayette, estm0reland and AL
egheny counties is that they do not
furnish protection. We employed
armed men from all over the state"
Mr. Frick then submitted copy Of
his letter to Robert A. Pinkerton, of
New York, in which he said 800 guards
would be needed to protect their prop
erly and WOrkmen, but stating that it
was not desired that they be armed.
The letter explained the plan for as
semblIng the guards at Ashtabula, o.,
to be brought by rail to McKee's Rock
and there transferred to boats. Mr.
FricK then continued as follows:
Our experience was that we could
not expect protection from the local au-
thorities. We did not employ armed
men. The guards would not have been
brought had we foreSeen such conflict.
We took every precautiOn to prevent
trouble, and this is why we conveyed
the men to the works on boats 50 they
could be landed on our own property.
I'VE have reduced wages occasionally
and advanced them further. They are
higher now and the hours are shorter
than in 1880. We went to the Pinker-
ton agency because it was the only
means OF getting men on short notice.
We have not been in the habit of en-
plOying private detectives disguised as
WOTkmen, but we have done SO as Il
means of protection. The whole trouble
arises from a lack of the enforc 3ment of
The laws.
''The officers should see that man
has Il right to work and and ali employ
er'S property protected. | do not think
compulsory arbitration would work
well. Tne wages range from Si.40 10
$l2, the average being about So. The
cost to the men in this strike in wages
was about Sl,O00,0U0, as to the loss to the
company | could not answer"
Mr. trick's testimony closed with the
statement that there was no provision
made for paying the sheritf's deputies,
and the company had to advance the
funds for this purpose.