The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-07-10
may not be received by the public Th

| may not be received by the public. The
statement, in part, says:
''The workingmeu at Homestead, or at
| any other of the hundreds of mills organ
lied into the Amalgamated association,
have no desire to dictate the wages they
shall receive; and they see no good reason
why they should not exercise the privilege
| of engaging with their employers in a con-
ference through which the rate of wages
of organized labor is fixed The working
men are now, AS they always have been,
prepared to meet the representatives of the
COP pany and discuss the provisions CON
tanned in the scale submitted by them. II
the conferences already held failed to
bring about settlement, it can not be
said that this was the fault of the work
ingmen.
'"rhe scale under which the men at
Homestead were working was arranged in
July of 1889 The rate OF wages was fixed
according to the selling price of AKA Besse-
mer steel billets, wages advancing and de-
clining with the selling price of the arti
cles. 1t was provided that the minimum
should be S25 Complaint is made that
no minimum should have been insisted
upon. It is the experience of the iron
and steel workers that some precaution is
necessary to protect themselves from be-
ing reduced to an extremely low rate OF
pay, by the acceptance by the manufac-
turers of scales below the current rates;
as the workingmen do not sell the pro-
duct, there must be point where the re-
duction of wages by reason of low-fgured
scales shall cease,
"An attempt is made to lead the public
into the belief that the number of men
affected by the reduction is few. Here 1t
becomes necessary to impress Oh the public
mind the fact that there are three distinct
propositions contained in the dispute
namely, "A reduction in the minimum, an
other reduction in the prOportionate rate
of pay Uhus making a double redUctiou),
and that the scale shall terminate on Dec.
81, 1893, instead of June 30, 1894. 1t must
be understood that while all these propo-
sitions do not affect the whole of the
Homestead workmen, few of the $500 en-
ployes at that place escape being affected
by one or more of the provisions. 1t might
be said that instead of the company's pro-
posal altering the condition OF employment
of 325, the changes are general, and the
whole number are involved.
"In arranging scales of wages to govern
iron and steel workers there are inuumer-
able things which must receive attention,
if justice must prevail. The intricacies
referred TO are such AS to render 1t liable
that erroneous views may be drawn by
those not familiar with the trade. From
the discussion in the public press there
can be no legitimate reason why the
Carnegie company should deny their
workmen a conference, where
the things of which they complain could
be analyZed, and if found unjust, made
right. The men can make no fairer
than this Ii argument and
honest reasoning were substituted for re-
serve and coldness of manner as seen in
the company's present attitude, there can
be reason to expect an end of this state of
affairs. There are none who regret the |
l. s i
more than those whom the Carnegie COM |
Dany charge with having been instru- !
mental in bringing them about. We are
willing TO allow the public to judge, after /
Jhe evidence is all IN, whether these |
charges are true or not"