Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1893-10-17
.THE FLINT GLASS WAR.
PREDICTIONS THAT THE MANUFACTURERS
MEETING WILL FAIL.
A Glass Worker and a Manufacturer Give Theil
Views Factory *" Started Non
Union.

HN
Few in this city familiar with the
flint glass situation has any idea that
the effort of the United States Glass
Company to array all the manufacturers
In the country against the Glass Work
ers' Union will amount to much, and it
is freely predicted by glass work
ers that the meeting Of manufacturers
proposed to be held in Pitts
burg this week will be a failure.
From the tenor of the Pittsburg papers
the matter is viewed In about the same
light up there, the call for the meet
ing being generally ''sized up" as a lit
tie scheme Of the U. S. Company to
have the independent manufacturers
aid the irst-named corporation ia its
fight with union labor.
A reporter for the r EGIsTER was dis
cussing the N after with a glass worker
yesterday, when he said,-
81 don't think the call for a meetinh
by the United States Company has been
examined in the right light. To my
mind the real object the Company has
in view is to put the independent man
ufacturers in the same hole the United
States Company dug for themselves.
After cuttin z loose from the Union and
compelling the men TO call a strike, the
United States Company at one blow cut
- 81 ohanR all tic akilffu n DrNdn vNQra
at a season when they should be hard
at work. The independent manufac-
turers, not entangled in this manner,
are working along, supplying their Gus
toners with fresh goods, able to fill all
orders. and have 3 fairly good outlook
for the season. As a result, the U. S.
Company finds It's trade is going else
where, and it became necessary to study
up some plan to shut down the indie
pendent factories. 1t was probably
thought this could be best brought
about by calling q meeting and giving
the independent people q song and
dance but l think the independents
can see as far through a wall as any
one, and will not be caught mapping.
II there Is a meeting held, depend upon
il, 1t will be mainly made Up
OF L. S. Company representatives. OF
course, II the Company a make the
independent manufacturers believe a
fight with the union just az this mo-
ment would be a good thing, then all
the factories would stand on the same
footing, and the u. S. Company would
have scored a point in that, and another
point in stopping production in rival
| factories. l think the factories now
running union will continue to do So"
An independent manufacturer is
quoted as follows in yesterdays Pitts
burg POST
Suppose" he said, "that the United
States glass company was successful in
| its fight and knocked out the union,
what position would the rest OF the
| union firms be in? Why this: The
United States company would be opera
ting cheaper than we could, and by
virtue, as well, Of its large production
and widespread ramifcations would OBJ
tain a grasp on the market that would
| practically control the trade. All this
it could do to-day; but when it has its
plants concentrated at G~lassport, by
which IL will save considerably all
around, besides making money on its
houses and land 1t will be in still better
position to prosecute the game Of grab
all"
The only hope for the rest Of the
union manufacturers Is In defeating the
effort of the United States Glass Com
pany toward non-unioHism. They rec
- H. Al ,,rf0n yrfoo IfsN for f4a
labor is a potent factor in maintaining
a uniform market price for the product,
and IL is stated that those manufactur-
| ers, so far from lending themselves TO
the plans Of the United States Glass
Company, will help the Flints to win
their fight In order that the check on
| the cost of production through the
union rates may be continued. The
United States Glass Company is already a
bette noir TO the rest Of the trade, and
II it succeeds In non-unionizing it's
plants, will create something akin to a
revolution in the business. The mann
facturers want 10 prosecute their bust
ness without anything Of that kind, and
so will help to defeat the Vaccinations
OF the tableware trust" For these
reasons the meeting this week is ex-
pected to END In a dZzle.
There are already indications that
the United States Glass Company will
be left to make the fight alone. 1t was
learned yesterday that one Of the other
| four firms that had joined it in the
struggle had started up on the union
terms. 1t is said that the other three
will follow suit.
Information from Pittsburg last night
stated the United States Company had
iuaugurated its attempt TO operate It's
South Eighteenth Street plant non
union. At the Office it is stated that
eight shops are in operation, employing
fifty men, and that the firm had secured
all the men it needed and a number had
been turned away. Some police were
| on duty around the plant, but there was
no crowd, and so far as could be learned
none of the loiterers were strikers.
Wire screens have been put up at all
windows. The firm states that ii does
not fear any violence from its former
employees, but there is a rough element
on the South Side which might take
advantage of the present strike to cre-
ate disorder.
Officials Of the American Flint Glass
Workers Onion say that the United
States Glass Company will never eur
any men from the Rochester Tumbler
Company. For years" they said, 1.-THE
United States Glass Company has been
fighting the Rochester firm bitterly
through our union, and it is not proba-
BILE that the latter will turn about and
help it's rival now that the latter is in
- dgeC au1tgas