Waterbury evening Democrat., 1892-07-16
CHAIRMAN OATES VIEWS
He Thinks More Blood Will Be
Shed at Homestead.
BEYOND FEDERAL LEGISLATION.

. Report--Tho Investigation to be Con-
I tinued in Washington With Regard to
the Plnksrton Agency.
WASHINGTON, July 16.-Col. Oates,
chairman of The House Committee which
investigated the riot at Homestead, says
1t is probable that the committee will re-
port that the case is out of the reach of
Federal legislation. When interviewed,
the Colonel talked freely.
'I think, !" he said, "that we got all the
facts Of the case and went down to the
bottom of the matter. It will not take
long to prepare the report. The greatest
delay will be in getting the stenographer's
notes out, there being so much testi-
Cmony.
1--WE examined Mr. Frick and his sup
erintendent and Mr.. O'Donneu and
number of the workmen, as you have
seen. Prick is a remarkably cunning fell
low and a great manager. He has one of
the brightest lawyers have met to advise
him. The leaders of the workmen are
men Of intelligence and capacity, and
take the workmen as a body, they are the
best set of workmen I have ever come
across. The contention is not one be-
tween ignorance and power. II, is q con-
hict of strong men, the workmen being
keen, intelligent and always wide awake.
''The man who goes to Homestead with
an idea that he is going to find lot of
ragged half starved and ignorant strikers,
will have a great surprise before him. 1t
Is revelation in the way Of a community
of workingmen. They are men of thought
and action and Of Independence, They
have their homes, and the skilled work
men earn from $e5 to 1915 per moath.
The laborers get from 81 to 81 90 per day
It is not poverty stricken community by
any means. But for this unfortunate dis
agreement between the workmen and en-
ployers the situation at Homestead would
be very good. Mr.. Frick insists that the
reduction of wages is made necessary be-
cause of the reduction in the price Of steel
billets, etc. The workmen ldec1are that
the reduction Is unnecessary and that the
purpose Of it is to put more money into
the pockets of the company.
''Mr. Friok declined to tell the commit
tee what it costs per ton to produce the
steel billets. In this contest neither side
is acting on impulse. They are DELHI
crate and guided by intelligence, and
it is the meeting of two great forces"
"How do you think it will ends"
"You know how these things generally
end. Law and order must be indicated
in the long run, even if there is conflict
between the statutes and the equities Of
the case"
"Do you think there will be any further
troubled"
eyes, yes, do. think there is bound
to be more blood shed, and probably a
great deal of it. The workmen know
what they are doing and are acting upon
their calm judgment as far as the leader
ship is concerned, but they are the most
determined men you ever saw.
do oIoir To hor &I,o VIC
law with them, but insist that they are
morally right and will hold to their po-
sitions.
81 think the Carnegie people intend to
open their works with non-union men.
They will do this under the protection of
the militia and will, 1 suppose, arm their
men. AS soon as the troops have been
withdrawn the strikers will, believe, at
tempt to prevent the mills being run by
n-union men. There will then be a
fight, believe, desperate fight and a
great deal of bloodshed.
"This seems to me to be inevitable in
view of the sentiment there"
Mr.. Bynum, a member of the commit
tee, gives it as his opinion that the fight
ing was done by a few hot-heads and not
by organized labor. The cannon used by
the strikers of which there has been much
said, he stated, was an old-time affair and
could not be trained so as make it effec-
tive. 1t was an article of intimidation
and not one of danger.
Mr.. Bynum says that the Pinkerton
men had perfect right to go into Home
stead, armed or unarmed, as they were
simply citizens employed to protect the
property of the Carnegie Company, and
from what he heard from the people at
Homestead he was of the opinion that the
Pinkerton men could have landed without
being harmed in the least, if they had
gone in the day time instead of night, or
that they could have landed after the first
volley was fired if they had been men of
nerve.
The investigation will be continued in
Washington with regard to the Pinkerton
agency, and the committee hope to be able
to make a report on the Homestead por
ton of it before Congress adjourns for
this session.