The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-08-11
by Permission Golfers Weekly
Copyright 1901, Golfers Weekly.

the police in the district of
iron, steel and tn. Pittsburg, McKees-
port, Wellsville-a score of other places
in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana-have the
appearance Of a holiday, with stores wide
open. Gayety rather than gloom pervades
the crowds. Everybody is out in Sunday
clothes. On Pittsburg street corners
groups of men seem bent on holding up
the walls of buildings. But where is the
great mass of the strikers?
Take one of the numerous excursion
boats-now crowded daily with strikers
and their families-and sailing up the
Monongahela you will find the shores
dotted with white tents. Men fishing,
bathing, romping, men in hammocks,
men just having a frst-class lark. Some
are bachelor camps, more are family af-
fairs. These are the strikers. Camps at
McKeespert, camps at Glassport, at Con-
huence, at Monongahela City-Camp Vic
tory, Camp Resolute, camp this and
camp that. Not a man but is glad to be
idle, glad to fish and hunt, glad to be
far away from boiler and furnace and
pudding oven.
What lies beneath this holiday strike,
this fishing and camping, these high jinks
on river banks? Answer, the strike fund.
1t should be emphasized, to the credit
Of the men, that strike benefits are not
II
fOrehand, therefore, the men were warn
ed of the coming of this time, and by
circular letters, in district meetings and
at conventions were advised to save their
money. So their savings viii carry them
that is, about half of them-through
August and on Labor day ''benef1t'
money win begin.
Whence comes this strike fund? Though
benefits are not paid in summer, yet the
men who have not been called out must
contribute 10 per cent of their earnings,
regardless of month or season.
We climbed up on the cliffs on the
south side of the saffron stream called
MonOngahela, overlooking that antipodes
Of earths garden spot-Pittsburg. Smoke
could be seen belching from a hundred
chimneys, shrouding the city. On the
cliffs the tolers have made brave at
tempts 10 sleep, at least, high and dry
above the sink that is ever damp with
sweat Of brow. Up here, where there are
clumps of trees and bits Of grass, they
have bought homes-so much month in
lieu of rent to the building loan COM
pany. On the exterior of any one Of
these four-room cottages you could, with
your finger, produce the handwriting on
the wall. For the smoke is merciless, and
even Up here you sit on the grass at the
peril of smut-stained clothing.
The one great terror in the souls Of
the leaders of the steel strike is that the
men cannot be kept "out," that they
will not stick together, that they will
ignore the slogan: In union there is pow
er. What If the union men take adj
vantage Of the opportunity offered by
leisure to scrape acquaintance with the
men Of the Carnegie plants, non-unton
since the year of the Homestead strife?
What if the union men look too closely
at the prosperity of the Carnegie men,
many of whom own their homes and have
no grievances; and, above all, no fees
to pay for membership in a union, no
ASSESSING nts draining their savings to
swell a strike fund? These are the
thoughts that make the cold chills run
down the backs of the generals of the
labor army at the seat Of war.
No soul so suspicious as the workman
on strike. The manager of one of the
hoop mills announced that the striking
hands would be paid off on a certain day,
and requested the men to come in twos
and threes to avoid trouble. When the
pay day arrived, the men marched to the
works in a body, and formed a line that
extended, snakeIike two blocks back
from the cashiers Office. Their argu-
ment in acting contrary to the request
OF the company was to the effect that
In union is strength should attempts
be made to influence individual workmen.
Just a word about the half that did not
heed the warning, who did not save; the
men who now have no money to buy
or hire tents, not even pennies for fish
ing tackle; who cannot afford boat or
trolley fare to the strikers Elysian fields
up river. These are the improvident
ones; you find them in every Industrial
community, so these are deserving Of no
pity in particular. In Pittsburg they
have their nests in the alleys around
the market place. The narrow thorough
fares are lined with wooden tenements
all black with smoke, as If charcoal were
stored within. Two rooms, seldom
three, is the home not only of family,
but Of a number Of men boarders, some
times as many as thirteen or fourteen
AT night the family sleeps in the kitchen,
which is also the dining room, and the
boarders in the other room, lying on the
floor. or in hunks arranged one above
London Times.
the other, as in the Storage of a ship.
One night one of the workers in a steel
mill came home overcome with the heat
He died during the evening, and his body
lay in the kitchen all night, the wife get
ting breakfast for the fourteen boarders
just the same.
On recent day, at the headquarters
burg, President Shaffer stood between
two members of his staff, his arm aTound
the shoulders of each.
Turning to a visitor, Shaffer said:
The recognition of the rights Of all men
who work in rolling mills to organize.
This is what the Amalgamated associa-
ton is fighting for"
What must be the form of recogni-
tion?"
10 gfcr ,;,,.or
for some, but for all of the plants of the
United States Steel company"
Shaffer was ten years a preacher. His
experience as a pulpit orator now comes
In handy on the labor rostrum. In each
address to strikers, he advises the men
to acquire the church-going habit, and to
drink not. He makes frequent use of
the word "God-feaTing in conversation
his delivery of ordinary remarks Is min
isterial. His eyes have the far-awav
look. of dreamer. This new-to-fame
leader was worker before he vas minis
ter-and after. At fifteen he went to
work in rolling mill. At twenty-four
he was master of the three principal
branches-iron, steel and tin. Then he
entered the ministry. Sedentary life
broke his health. In the pulpit he could
use only brain. In the mill he could use
both brain and Drawn. So after ZEN
$500 - Ne'Si+'llcS lie went PACK TO his old
trade as boss roller. Three years ago
the Anlalgamated association elected him
to his present position. Now I'm tied to
this Office at $l5 week. he said, while
In the mill I used often to make NV
SzS day. Oh, that is nor so rnucb
Ihere.s Andy Day, the greatest roller in
the eountry-you can see him at the mill
across the river-often makes his SEQ a
day The average pay the year round
Tor all steel workers, however, Is NOT
over 50 Gav" O1