Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-08-14


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All is quiet along the Ohio tonight
and calm has settled over the strike
situation In Wheeling and her neigh
boring towns of Bellaire, Benwood,
bridgeport and Martins Ferry. There
is neither disorder nor excitement.
Sensational fictions have been sent out
by correspondents of some outside
east and west. telling of
"mobs of strikers" turbulent crowds
on the streets" and similar purely
faneiful happenings In and about
Wheeling.
As a matter OF fact. all of the towns
above named are more quiet than
usual. There Is ever less drunkenness
fewer brawls and a smaller number OF
arrests than usual. Saloon men COM
plain of poor business The streets
are quieter than on ordinary days.
The great local plants, which form a
part of the United States Steel Cor
poration, are all idle; not n wheel
turning, save In the steel making de-
partment at the Riverside, and the
blast furnace at Bellaire. Were It not
for the independent mills, which are
running as usual, the towns in this i'm
mediate vicinity would have a Sabbath
day aspect.
This Is not n battle with brick-bats
and guns as weapons, but has, thus far,
been fought with the keen blades of ar
gument, persuasion and logic. No mill
worker refusing to join the Associa-
ton has at this writing suffered, or
been threatened with bodily injury;
not a shot has beer fired not even a
gun displayed. But how the Associa-
ton men have argued. reasoned and
pleaded with the n%on-union workmen
to join them. The measure Of their
success is shown by the %stoppage of all
the United States Steel Corporations
plants in this locally.
The mill owners and the manage
ment are. and have been steadily pur-
suing the policy of silence. Repairs
are being made in the Aetna-Standard
mills at Bridgeport and extensions are
being constructed. In the other idle
plants there are also necessary repairs
to be made and advantage will be TAX
en- Of the situation to complete them.
Work is steadily progressing OF the
| construction of the new Riverside ex-
tension, which promises to be larger
than .hs parent mill.
That Is the situation here In q nut
shell. The men seem puzzled at the
inaction OF the owners and the owners
~surprized at the physical quiescence OF
| the Association men. The incidents OF
the day in the different local towns are
fully given below. 1t Is largely, as
was once remarked by a great man, "a
situation OF %innocuous de~suetude."
One OF the most enthusiastic meet
ings ever held in Martins Ferry by the
laboring people, was the open meeting
in the Star theatre last evening, al
though the notice Of the meeting had
only been announced OF Monday even
ing. The theatre down stairs was pack
ed, and the gallery was comfortably
filed. Early in the evening the union
men commenced to gather, and at sew
en- o'clock a drum corps livened up the
crowd in front OF the theatre. The
crowd was far beyond expectations,
and the interest shown by the business
men and those not belonging to unions
was most gratifying to the Amalgamar-
ed men, under whose auspices the
meeting was held. As the crowd gath
cred, they were treated to music on the
piano. and at $3.50 Vice President Wal
ter Larkins called the meeting to ord
er and In part said: That 1t was not
necessary for him to go into detail as
to why this meeting had been called,
as all we'll knew that such meetings
strengthens the organization. | am
often asked the question, Why are you
wanting to compel %non-union men to
Join your union? The answer is this:
The United States Steel Corporation
has combined, and this corporation is
trying to degrade the working men, and
the Amalgamation's object was to up-
lift the laboring people and place them
in better conditions. You read in the
-wspaper that the trust is going to
move all their mills to Vandergrift, Pa,
and say to the men il you don't work
we will move the mills, and the Anal
gamation seeing this, at their last con-
vention, fully realizing the conditions
In these %non-union mills, decided to Or
ganize all mills, but the Sheet Steel
Company said that we had no right to
organize men whom we did not con-
trol. In 1861 the people of the north
said the southern slaves should be free.
and. In 1901, the Amalgamated Associa-
ton said the northern slaves should be
free. The conditions to-day in some OF
the non-union mills would almost cur
die the blood Of any man who loves lib
erty, and these men should be free. He