Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1892-07-14
ected in a similar manner.


should reach the works about 8
O'Clock in the morning, but the guards
which were on duty along the river
got word of the threatened invasion
of the hated Pinkerton men and
prepared to receive them. The
barges were towed up the river by a
steamer, but long before the Pinker-
ton men had reached Homestead
thousands of workmen had gathered
on the banks of the river, ready to
give them a warm welcome. When
the boats attempted to land the
workmen broke through the fence
surrounding the mill, and, ,entrench-
ing themselves behind piled steel
billets, prepared to resist the land
ing of the detectives. Shortly before
9 O'Clock the cannon were trained
on the boats, and for several hours
an awful bombardlnent was kept up.
The news of the riot reached Pitts
burg as early as 6 O'Clock in the
morning, and thousands Of mill
workers who are now idle, pending
the conference on the scale, congre-
gated in the streets, while hundreds
of others, armed with guns and re-
volvers and well supplied with am
munition, took up the line of march
to re-enforce the Homestead men.
The Pinkertons soon found them
selves in a death trap after seven of
their men had been killed. The
fury of the mob was awful. Oil was
carried into the hold of the barges,
set on fire and the boats were burn
ed. The strikers made no effort to
destroy any of the Carnegie property.
A FEUDAL STRONGHOLD.
The riot at Homestead is the cli-
max Of a long and stubbornly con-
tested fight between Andrew Carne-
gle, the Scotch-American iron king
and the Amalgamated Association
of Iron and Steel Workers over the
question of wages. There are co.
900 members of the, Amalgamated
Association and nearly all of them
are employed in the mills in the
neighborhood of Pittsburg. Andrew
Carnegie employees plurality OF the
whole number of skilled laborers,
and practically controls the indus
try. Once year th,s Amalgamated
Association submits a scale of wages
for the ensueing twelve months and
asks all the iron masters to adopt it.
If Carnegie agrees to the scale the
weaker firms do likewise, but if he
refuses to attach his signature to the
agreement the other firms also re-
fuse and a general strike ensues.
Mr.. Carnegie began life as a poor
boy, and gathered the nucleus of his
fortune by hard work. When he
first opened his mill and started to
compete with the mills then existing,
he paid his men living wages, and
there was no complaint. But
in the proportion that he pros
pered he prosecuted the labor
ers in his employ. In late years,
by reason of the Government, fat
contracts and short-sighted generos-
T ity, he has been enabled 10 pile up
wealth at the rate Of $40, ,000, 900 a
year. 1t would be supposed that he
would pay union wages, but he has
fought the Amalgamaied Association
tooth and nail for the pact ten
years, grinding down the wages Of
his men year after year. Strikes
have come to be of yearly occurrence
at his mills, but as o. rule the men
are defeated in the long run. The
immediate causes OF the present
strike may be summed up as fol-
lows:
CAUSE OF THE STRIKE.
The appointment of II. @. Frick,
an avowed enemy Of organized labor,
as chairman of The Board Of Trus-
tees Of the Carnegie Steel Associa-
ton; the promulgation by him Of an
offensive ultimatum 4, the Amalga-
mated Association, and Tie refusal d
NJ. Carnegie himaelf y agrne . arbi.
frat Ia. Tie "a M, q sI RID tfxne