The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-07-15
STRUGGLE BETWEEN AMALGAMAT-
ED ASSOCIATION AND EN-
PLOYERS BEGINS
sHAFFER IS CONFIDENT
Hoop, Steel and Tin Plate Work
ers in Pittsburg Will Join
Striking Forces
Today
SHOW OF STRENGTH

dent ShatferS strike order issued last
night to the Amalgamated association
members in the employ Of the American
Steel Hoop company, the American Sheet
Steel company and the American Tin
Plate company will be obeyed, and tie
great struggle between the Amalgdmated
| association and the steel companies will
| be on in earnest tomorrow.
In the union mills of the three com
| panies against which strike has been
| declared it is predicted that not a wheel
| will turn tomorrow. An effort will be
made also to close down some Of the
/ union mills of the companies and
to cripple the rest. The Amalgamated
people are very sanguine of success
1.-The strike was not of our own seek
| ing" said President Shaffer today. 1T
was forced upon us. We are not con-
tending for wages, but for principle-for
self preservation. The tin and sheet peo-
pie will not be able to turn a single
wheel tomorrow. We have our forces
| thoroughly organized, and there will be
some surprises in store. have not heard
today from a single lodge in answer TO
my strike order, but an answer is not
necessary. The order will be promptly
obeyed by all our men, But there will
be no trouble. Labor organizations have
changed. The Amalgamated association
is not the association it was twenty years
! ago, not even five years ago. The men
are more TedulIy COHlTOl1euJ III ldCl, We
have our men under control"
Developments today indicate that Pitts
burg is going to be pretty lively strike
center The most int crest attaches TO
the Painter mill, on the South side
| and to that of Lindsay & McCutcheon,
in Allegheny. Both mills are controlled
by the American Steel Hoop company,
and have hitherto been aggressiVely non
union, and much depended upon the ac-
tion taken by the men In these plants.
The employees of both mills held open
| meetings today and both decided to strike
tomorrow. The Painter mill employs
about AGO men and the Lindsay & Nc
Cutcheon mdll about 500.
JENKS rs CONFIDENT
I. w. jerks, manager of the American
Steel Hoop company, said tonight he had
I heard Of the attempt to be made to tie
up the two mills, but he had heard
such strike talk for several months pre-
Vious. Mr.. jerks said both mills would
resume tomorrow morning as usual.
The fight at the Painter mill is to be
made the fight of the strike. Both sides
will make stubborn resistance. If the
Amalgamated people can close this mill
they believe they will have won the
greater part of the strike. The mill Is
not only an important one. but the Steel
Hoop company has for years succeeded.
in thwarting the efforts made to uniopize
1t.
President Shaffer was asked today If he
had set q time when, If no settlement
having been effected, he would extend the
strike to all the subsidiary companies of
the United States Steel corporation. He
said he must decline to make his plans
known at present.
1t may be said, however, on the strength
Of reliable information, that the strike
within it's present limits is intended mere
ly as q show of strength.
At the conference last week the repre-
sentatives Of the steel corporation were
repeatedly warned that the association
was much stronger than they knew They
were even told of the organization of
mills Of which they had no knowledge.
But the steel men would not believe that
the association was as strong as 1t was
claimed to be. Thus, it is believed. to be
the first purpose of the association to
show It's strength by confning the strike
to three companies. When that show of
| strength has been made, whatever it may
prove to be- the association expects the
| companies to ask for another conference.
If the companies show no inclination to
make a settlement the striSe will be
extended to three more companies II
the trust will not yield then the strike
will be extended to such independent COM
panies as sell their finished products or
raw material to companies against which
a strike has been declared. Should the
strike attain such proportions 1t would
be likely to go still further The Anal
gamated association and the Federation
of Labor two years ago formed secret
alliance, it is claimed, when it was agreed
that the association when on strike could
also call out the steel men of the Fedora
ton The latter has organizations In
many mills whose workmen are not ell
gible to membership in the association.
NEGOTIATIONS DECLARED OFF.
In describing the conclusion of the con-
! ference in the Hotel Lincoln on Satur-
! day afternoon, President Shaffer said
that after the final proposition of the
| manufacturers had been taken up and
| by courtesy on the part of the workers,
| had been discussed there was a painful
silence for about five minutes. The
workers waited for some further remark
on the part of the manufacturers and
the latter appeared to be waiting for
remark from the workers. Finally one
of the manufacturers committee broke
! the silence by saying:
"Wen, / guess there is no further use
in waiting for other developments. The
men have nothing to offer and the manu-
facturers have gone as far as they can
in justice to themselves"
President Shaffer replied that he ac>
corded with this view. If the manu-
| facturers had no other proposition to Of
fer, it was useless to remain. Each
side arose to leave. Warner Ames.
president of the American Steel Hoop
| company, said then:
''I am sorry that our friendly relations
| in the past should have to be broken in
this way We have done all in our
power to meet this trouble in an amicable
manner. With this breac-. once opened,
it must be understood tnat the onus
is on the side of the Amalgamated asso-
citation and the public will Understand
| this
While keenly regretting the break in
| the peaceful relations between the Or
ganization and the manufacturers, Presi-
dent Shaffer said that there seemed no
other course to pursue. His offer to the
Hoop company to reconstruct the scale
for cotton tie and hoop mills, was one
of the most important sacrifices that had
ever been offered by the association. He
doubted if the settlement could have
been made on that oasis without a great
deal of trouble, but the committee felt
willing to make this concession to pre-
serve peace Again, in the offer to
exclude the tin plate mills, the hoop
mills and the sheet mills from all fur
ther difficulties with plants owned by
the United States Steel corporation.