Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-04-18
and DEATH FIGHT
FOR ORGANIZED LABOR.
THE DIFFICULTIES LEADING UP
TO THE STRIKE AT HI w.
DEVICES WOOD PLANT
OF AMERICAN co.
INFLUENCE IN THE BIG TRUST
CO~MPLICATES MATTERS.

COMt>llCA1G MA cEtS
PITTSBURG, Pa, April 1.-THE Nc
Keesport trouble is the first visible
eruption of a condition that has been
developing for over a year, beginning
with the formation Of the American
Steel Sheet Company. The individual
companies that were absorbed had no
uniform plan of treating the workers.
Those in the association of the sheet
steel manufacturers employed and rec
ognized union labor. These outside
were n%on-union. The combine took in
all. When it came to a settlement Of
a scale last year the Amalgamated AS
sociation demanded that their scale be
signed for all mills. This the company
refused, claiming that in some mills the
non-union men were getting more than
scale rates and that 1t would be unfair
to cut them down to that of organized
labor. IN the meantime, or On May Is,
the non-union men signed an agreement
not to organize during the year and
providing for the wages that then ruled
should continue during the year.
The scale controversy, however. con-
tinued and finally ended In an agree
ment that the scale apply only to the
union mills. Since then the organiza-
ton has been devoting it's energies to-
ward getting the sheet mill workers IN
the non-union mills organized, and for
that purpose has considered the matter
of throwing the mills open" Mills
that are open" are those in which Or
ganized men are permitted to work
with non-union men for the purpose CT
propagating the seeds of unionism.
The formation of the United States
Steel Corporation tended to compli-
cate matters. 1t included a number Of
concerns, non-union and organized,
making manifold the difficulties of the
labor leaders. The predominance of
the Carnegie Company influence in the
new corporation did not tend to make
matters easier. The vast interests Of
the Carnegie Company were entirely
non-union and had been since the cost
ly battle at Homestead in 1892 between
the Amalgamated and the Carnegie
Steel Company, limited.
The officials of the A~malgamated AS
ISOLATION have been considering the
matter carefully. They have decided
In case of a general strike the anti
combine cry will sweep over the
try like wild fire and that there will
be an array OF public sentiment IN their
side, such as was never before arrayed
on the side Of a striking body Of men.
President Schwab, of the United
States Steel Corporation, is In Pitts
burg at the present time. He could not
be seen, however, to-day, az ne went
out on a special train this morning to
inspect the works of the Monongahela
Valley. One Of the officials of the Car
negie Company said that MIR. Schwab
had not noticed the trouble at McKees-
port, 1t being insignificant and entire
ly in the hands of the local managers
of the Steel Sheet Company. Asked
if the company knew that there was an
organization at Homestead, the official
seen, opened his eyes and replied:
mo"
The local managers of the National
Tube Company, American Steel & Wire
Company, American Steel Hoop Com
pany, American Bridge Company, and
the American Tin Plate Company refuse
to discuss the matter. They, for the
most part, will not be quoted, but say
that any talk of a general strike that
would involve the United States Steel
Corporation Is absurd. One of them,
who withheld his name, said:
Such talk on the part of the labor
leaders is wild. In the first place,
it will be impossible to organize the
men, and in the second such a condi-
ton would not be permitted to come
about. The stockholders could not af-
ford to allow that to occur"