Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-07-07
Carnegie and labor

Carnegie and Labor
The war between Carnegie and bis men
is the strongest kind of evidence of the
falsity of the republican doctrine that
protection is boon or benefit to labor.
If anybody in this whole land is benefited
by protection it is the Per nsylvania iron
king whose congratulations from his lux
urious Scotland home were among the
first to reach Harrison on his nomination.
Yet how much of his benefit does Car
negie bestow upon his menH On the
contrary, he deliberately plans q war
upon the men who have made him all he
is, plans his campaign as carefully and
as skillfully as great general preparing
for long seige and spends more in fort
ihcations than would be involved in the
fair remuneration he refuses his men.
From the very first Carnegie had no idea
that his 5000 men would accent the
reduced scale he presented to them, and
he proposes to displace the old employees
with men who will work for the wages
offered, and who will not be governed nv
trades unions. The great Homestead
plant, with its expensive yards and end
less tracks, covering nearly 400 acres, has
been enclosed by an almost tight board
fence, which is fully nine feet high.
Along the top of this fence are poisoned
fangs, three strands of barbed wire.
which, when the war begins, will
be charged with electricity, and cannot
therefore, be touched. Inside of this
fence are now being constructed double
rows of gas and water pipe. At the
main entrance and just inside the ponder
GUS gates have been erected two subs.an-
tial water plugs. Cook houses are being
built within the enclosure. Sleeping ar
rangements have been made for the work.
men, who are to he imported and an en-
closed platform running from the railroad
station over the high fence and into the
works has been built. The old railroad
station house has been moved from its
from what is evidently expected to be the
scene of strife. This covered platform
it is explained, will enable the COMPANY
to bring in workmen when the threatened
lockout occurs, and the men brought in
can be taken from the train into the bar
racks about the works without being seen
W Hna
places they will take. The cook houses,
the sleeping arrangements the gas and
water pipes will, it is argued, enable the
'scabs" to remain within the SECURE in
closure so long as their services are re-
CURED or until the strike is completely
broken. The large fire plugs at the
main entrance, with a pressure of 400
pounds to the square inch, are to be used
1t is claimed, to protect the workmen
against any assault that may be made
from the outside.
The scale proposed to the workmen, it
is claimed by the GARAGES. will not lessen
the earning capacity of the men to whom
it is offered. 1t is intended the Carnegies
say, only to equalize wages and to give
the firm its rightful share of the profits
that result from improved facilities. The
workmen, on the other hand, claim that
the new scale will reduce their wages
from 10 to 40 per cent. They are mem,
bers of the Amslgamated association,
and say they will fight the
new scale to the end. The present
acting head Of the Carnegie interests, 81.
G. Frick. is known as an aggressive lop-
poRent of trade unions. and 1t is believed
the new scale is offered as much with a
view to making the plant nonunion as to
secure lower wages
No wonder the weekly paper pub
lished in Rock Island divorced itself from
the City Labor Congress when it pro-
claimed itself for protection. The inter
es.s Of labor and protection are as differ
ent as day and night, as the Carnegie
fight shows. The only way labor can get
protection is to organize and to stand up
bravely ard fight Misrepresentation, lust
as the Tri>City Labor Congress is fighting
misrepresentation and as Carnegie's three
hundred are fighting for their rights.