The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-06-04
THOUSANDS IDLE.
The Big Steel Mills at South
Chicago Shut Down.
About 3, 800 WOrkmen Laid Off
Indefinitely.
MYSTERY OVER ACTION
The Blow Came Like a Bolt
From a Clear Sky.
Officials Refuse to Explain Fail
ure'S Cause.
FEDERAL STEEL TRUST
likely to Close Down Its Other
Three Mills,
Throwing Out Is, 900 at Joliet,
Bay City and LOrain.

Chicago, June 4-Three departments
Of the Illinois steel works closed Sunday
morning in South Chicago throwing
5000 men out of work The depart
ments of the big concern that quit work
are:
Open hearth furnace, employing 1000
men.
Plate mills, employing 600 men.
Slab mills employing 500 men.
Gas houses, employing 400 men,
No explanation was given to the men
with the order. The closing of the mills
and the furnaces is ror an indefinite
time. No previous intimation of the
action was given by the company, and
many of those who are usually in close
touch with it's affairs say they had not
the least inkling that such action on
the part of the company was likely to
take place
The stock of the Federal steel slipped
down a point on the market Saturday.
and for while it looked as if there
would be slump. Other industrials
went to the support of the declining
market, which was being led in it's ten
dency to weakness by the Federal steel
and nothing notable happened.
The plants of the Illinois Steel COM
pany are the most important of the
properties absorbed by the combination
known as the Federal Steel company
located at Lorain, Ohio, but they are
insignificant in capacity and the num-
Der of men employed when compared
with the five great mills of the Illinois
Steel company. These five mills are To-
Gated at South Chicago the Union
Works in Chicago, the mills at Joliet
and the great plant at Bay View,
suburb of Milwaukee When absorbed
by the Federal Steel company the Hi
nofs Steel company had $18.656, ,635 in
capital stock.
The Illinois Steel company EMPLOYS
an army of men in its different plants
and a shutdown of all the constituent
properties of the Federal Steel company
If such a move follows the closing of
the South Chicago mills, will be keenly
felt by the thousands of workmen who
depend on the plants for a livelihood
If $500 men are to be affected by the
South Chicago shutdown, it is safe to
! assume that at least Is 900 men Will be
/ thrown out of employment if the mills
at Joliet Bay View and Lorain are also
| closed.
| The Illinois Steel company before it's
| absorption by the Federal Steel com
pany, was a consolidation of the North
! Chicago Rolling Mill company, the
Union Steel company and the Joliet
! Steel company. In it's five plants there
are seventeen blast furnaces. four Bes-
] semer converting departments, and
! open hearth steel works, comprising all
| the modern appliances for the manu-
facture of iron and steel. John w.
Gates, whose exploits in connection with
| American Wire and Steel are fresh in
! the public mind. was the president of
} the Illinois Steel company when it was
| made a part of the Federal Steel COM
pany. The earnings of the united Fed
eraI Steel properties for the year end
| ing December, 81, 1898, after all eX-
penses and fixed charges had been paid
| were estimated at about $4,000 900. The
fixed charges are approximately 1882,
$50 per annum.
One of the minor officers of the Illi-
nois Steel company said he was not
surprised that nothing was known o1
the action of the company by the Chi
cago officers of it. He said that Presi-
dent z. II. Gary is supreme in the Fed
eral Steel and few others connected
with it have any previous knowledge.
president Gary is a czar." he said
when he gives the word the Other
officers simply obey him and ask nc
questions. The Federal Steel is nearly
ar autocracy as the government of {
big corporation can be-"
Whether other departments of thu
Illinois Steel company are to close alst
is a matter of conjecture. The raj
mill and the blast furnace are no
affected by the order.
The wor<men employed in the mills