The bee., 1901-08-15

Malakoff of the defenses had
been carried or weakly surren-
dered.
One thing should be perfectly
understood. 1t was the Anal
gamated Association that took
the aggressive. 1t is easy to ac-
cuse Messrs. Morgan and Schwab
of being ''labor crushers" and
union haters, but no evidence to
support that charge appears in
the record. The Steel Corpora
tion made distinct concessions.
1t went further than some of its
own directors thought wise or
safe. Remember, it was not a
question of continuing last years
status as regards union and nom
union mills. A change was de-
manded, and it was not by the
Corporation, but by the Associ-
alton. There was no proposal to
transfer a mill from the union to
the non-union list. The Asso-
citation could allege no such ag-
gressive action against it. In
deed, it would be to suppose Mr..
Morgan and his associates mad or
drunk if they could be thought
capable, in the present situation
of the Steel Corporation, of need
lessly provoking quarrel with
the labor union. 1t was by the
other side that the arrogant de-
mands were made. One of them
was for the uEionizing of the W.
Devices Wood mill at McKees-
port. There the Amalgamated
Association had made itself so
intolerable to the proprietors
that they had fought themselves
clear of it, and their mill was
publicly recognized, at the last
signing of the scale, as nom
union. But Shaffer insisted that
it now be ranked as union again,
and this without any evidence
that the employees wished to
Join the union. What the
Amalgamated officials desire is
power to coerce them and all
other steel-workers, and gradu-
ally to work into a position where
they will have a complete mo-
nopoly of the labor of one of the
greatest and most vital indus
tries of the country.
When such a sharp challenge
is put forth, men who believe i'm
personal liberty, in freedom both
for laborer and employer, in the
maintenance of a government
under which there shall still be
preserved individual, initiative
and free competition of muscle
and talent, cannot hesitate where
TO take their stand. 1t is now
useless to discuss side issues and
minor matters. Perhaps this at
titude of the labor union should
have been more clearly foreseen
by the Steel Corporation. Per-
haps sufficient allowance was not
made for the natural effect of a
billion dollar company on the
imagination and ambitions OF
labOr-leaders. Trust promoters
have talked eomplaeently about
-Iinexitable" com b in at ions.
Doubtless strikes are just as in
evitable. We cannot say that
the things which We like are or
dained of God, and the things
that disturb us are the work of
Satan. Perhaps also, the steel
incorporators should have re-
fiected more maturely on the GER
/
tainty that, while they were
thinking of the supremacy of
America in the manufacture of
steel, the labor unions would be
thinking only of their own SUI
premacy. But all that is now
overpast. We are confronted
with demand which stabs free
labor to the heart and holds a
dagger to the throat of property.
An insolent union, aiming at a
labor monopoly, rises up boldly
in the face of capital and says,
''It is one or the other of us
now." To that there can be but
one answer; and the struggle