St. Paul daily globe., 1892-07-03
TRUTH is MIGHTY
How the High Tariff Of Nc
Kinley Is Working at
Homestead, Pa.
Hedged About by Protection
Mr.. Carnegie Cuts His
Mems Wages.
A Reduction of From % to
60 Per Cent for ALI the
Employees.
Refusing to Work for Starva-
tion Wages, the Men Are
Locked Out.
A High Barbed- Wire Fence
Built All Around the
Works.
Arrangements Made to Seald
Men Who Approach too
Near "Fort Frick."
Laborers at Homestead and
Youngstown Preparing to
Vote for Cleveland.
They Are Tired Of High
|
Arrangements Made to Seald
Men Who Approach too
Near "Fort Frick."
Laborers at Homestead and
Youngstown Preparing to
Vote for Cleveland.
They Are Tired Of High
Fences, Under a High Tar
iff and Low Wages.
Special to the Globe.

Special to the Globe.
PTrrsBURG, July y>2.-The last nail was
driven today in the high fence sur
rounding the Carnegie steel works at
Homestead, and Fort Frick" is now
prepared for any attack that may be
made upon it from without. The $500
workmen, members of the Amalgamated
Association of Iron and Steel Workers,
are locked out OF the works indefinitely,
their convention having adjourned and
the firm still refusing to sign the scale
of wages. which was practically the
same as that of last year. Not an ad-
vance was asked. The scale presented
by employers throughout the country
called for reduction OF from 23 to 80
per cent all through. Not one mans
wages were to remain as they were last
year. This was a STARTER fer most of
the men, who had been told for
SO many years that when they
voted for the continuance of pro-
lection tariff they were voting to keep
up thoir wages. The Mckinley tariff
bill in particular was to TO them a world
of good. So they voted 10 keep in
power the party that made such legisla-
ton. A reporter of the GLOBE made a
complete tour of the Homestead mills
today, and found them the most per-
fectly protected works in the country.
Surrounding the entire plant Of 800
acres, which lies on the ..Monongahela
river about seven miles above Pitts
burg, there has been erected during the
past month a tight board fence, fourteen
feet high. Along the top of this fence
are four rows of barhed wire which are
connected with the immense dynamos
of the works, SO that they can be
charged heavily with electricity at a
moments notice. Every twenty-five
feet of the fence has three-inch port
hole, through which
A TvvosEnch Hose
can be run. and hot or cold water from
a double row of pipes lining the inside
of the fence can be thrown ON any one
who approaches too closely. The works
lie on both sides OF the railroad track.
and the only entrance TO the mills,
which are on the river side of the track,
is by means of large elevated bridge
about twenty-five feet above and over
the track. The entrance to the bridge
is by means of long flight of stairs di-
rectiy in front of the company's build
inn, SO that not one man can get into or
pass from the mills without being under
the scrutiny cf all in the office.
A small watch-tower ornaments the
head of the flight of steps. In
this watch.tower has been placed
one of the fourteen electric search lig hts
to be used in the mill. This one light
can be thrown SO as to illuminate the
railroad track for mile, up or down.
Cameras with flash lights have also been
placed at different parts of the mill to
take pictures of assailants so that they
may berecognized and arrested, or re-
fused work hereafter. as the company
may decide. On the river front of the
works there is a patrol kept up. On
the "wayS" made for it lies the Anne,
a steam pleasure launch that belongs to
the late Superintendent Jones. This
has been prepared, cauiked and over
hauled, to use in case of an attack from
the rear by means of skiffs, with
A Small Swivel Gun
mounted on the bow ready for action.
No fort in the country today that is not
surrounded by stone or brick walls is
better prepared to withstand siege or
attack than Fort Frick," as the men
have named. the Carnegie works at
Homestead. Watchmen have been
placed on guard at each end of the
works, Oh the railroad, and every one
the works is warned off
the track and told that the only way to !
gain access to the mill is by making |
detour by way of the county road along
the hillside, above the works that lie
farthest from the river. The men who |
live in the town are thus obliged to |
walk around the mills and lose the time |
and energy to walk at least half mile |
more than they used to when al |
lowed to walk on the track. But |
they have been saving themselves
this trouble by telling the watchman to
go to place that is hotter even than
Pittsburg in July, and keeping on their
way to work along the track, just as
usual. The new fences can't be
climed, SO the men have to use the
bridge. u has taken miles of fencing
TO enclose the works, and the job has
been we'll done, 1t has cost consider
able money, too, but then, it has given
work to great many men for whole
month. These fences present a peculiar
appearance when looked at from the
side of the hill above the works fur
thest removed from the river. On this
side is the Office, a. large, f0ur-cornered
building sf briek and stone, with