Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-10-20

| his place, was informed that he would
have to look higher for the reason At
| the next step up he was informed that
! his work was not satisfactory, and
| further that his conduct did not please
| his employers. 1t was admitted that
after eleven years was late day on
| which to discover his incompetency,
| and when he demanded to know in
| what respect his conduct had been I'M
! satisfactory, he was referred still high
| er up the official ladder.
Climbing this official ladder was
hard and disagreeable business for a
| self-respecting union workingman, and
| so far as an assertion from any mem
| Der of the Bellaire steel works cor
| poration is concerned, why he was dis
missed.
| The writer asked Campbell last night
| for statement as to why he was dis
charged. He replied that he did not
| know, and that he did not expect to
ever know officially or from an author
| itative source.
Some of his fellows declared it was
his politics, and others that it was his
| insistent unionism, but all agreed
without equivocation that it could not
| honestly be because of incompetency.
If either of the surmises of his fell
| low workmen is correct, and one of
| them surely must be, it is an insult
| to the Workingmen of the Ohio valley
| and the great State of Ohio. In one
case, the right to organize is denied,
and in the other the right to hold and
propagate reasonable and popular po-
| litical beliefs is assailed and rendered
! dangerous.
| Campbell does not charge that his
dismissal is due to politics, nor on
account of his being a union man,
| but the doings of at least one Of the
| biggest men in the Bellaire Steel Com
| pany, and the articles printed in the
| Hanna organ in Bellaire, prove that
his connection with the union and his
politics had something to do with it.
Months after Campbell was dismiss
| ed from the Bellaire steel works the
| men there struck. The decision to
strike was not hastily reached. In
| 1892 they accepted a cut of 10 per cent.
! In 1898 cut of IS per cent. was en-
! forced. In 1894 further reduction of
| 10 per cent was made. In 1895 the
| men struck six weeks against Is per
cent. cut, and finally won 10 per cent.
| advance. In 1896 the wages remained
| stationary. This year the Workmen'S
! committee went to the management
and offered to accept a cut of 80 per
| cent. on account of new machinery.
| The company demanded cut of 45
| per cent, and the mems organization
! having been disrupted, they were COM
PEELED to accept it on trial. The trial
| proved decidedly discouraging. One
| Of them said yesterday that the new
| scale compelled him to handle 100 tans
more steel in the twelve-hour day,
without improved appliances, and cut
| his pay for it from 81 to $780,
| In the face of this the men struck.
Forthwith the Independent, the Hanna
| organ in Bellaire, following the lead
of the Intelligencer and other Hanna
organs, declared the strike an out
| rage. They laud the rights of en-
ployers to declare lockouts, but con-
denim strikes. Taking their inspira-
ton from Hanna, the great labor union
| crusher, they proclaim the rights of
| employers to get their work done as
| cheaply as possible, no matter what
method is employed, and without re-
gard for equity, but denounce efforts
of workmen to secure better condi-
lions, though sought through lawful
and legitimate channels
Had the Independent and some par
ticular members of the Belaire Steel
Company allowed their denunciation
| OF the strike to reach only general
terms, it would not have been a not
| able case. But instead, they drew
John Campbell into the discussion,
and made of the strike a political is
| sue. 1t was announced with Vigor and
| repetition, in spite of denials, that
Campbell had created the strike, and
had done so, not in the hope that he
might be re-employed, but to further
his political interests. How the strike
| is to help Campbell is not apparent
The strikers do not ask that he be re-
1nstated, nor is he in any way men
toned.
But the Independent is holding
Campbell up as a dangerous man, an
anarchist, breeder of disturbances,
an agitator against capital, an enemy
| of peace and good order, and asks the
NOlNiS VI DCileilic IL IS ID d Ill man
| to sit in the legislative halls of Ohio.
| One of the highest officials of the
Bellaire Steel Company and others
have gone about among business men
| and conservative citizens with similar
stories, attempting to poison their
| minds against Campbell
Last night Campbell, With his hand
lifted on high, swore before God that
| he had nothing to do with the strike.
| that he could see no way in which it
would help him personally or polite
| ally, and that he knew of no reason
| why his political enemies should cir
| culate such stories except that at the
1nstigation of Hannas lieutenants,
they had been devised with a view of
running his reputation for good citi-
| zenship.
Fortunately for John Campbell so
| long as these stories are kept within
| the sphere of his immediate acouaint-
ance they will do him no harm. He
is too well known in Bellaire for anv
sort OF calumny to find resting place
and his vote on election dav will he
largest where he is best known.
| CampbelIs nomination is not of his
own seeking, but is a result of the
| spontaneous uprising of the laboring
people OF Belmont county. His cam