The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-08-10
General Strike in Plants of the
United States Steel Corporation
to Begin Tonight.
Trust Takes Decisive Action at Nc
KeeSport- Orders the Devices
Wood Mill Removed.

PITTSBURG, Pa, Aug. 9-There were
graVely important developments in the
strike situation today.
The United States Steel corporation
moved decsively in its strike campaign
with peremptory order directing that
the. great Devices Wood plant at Nc
Keesport be dismantled and removed to
the Kiskimenetas valley.
President Gompers, of the American
Federation of Labor, after a two days
conference with President Shaffer and
his associates issued a formal statement
ton ight specifically pledging the fedora
tion to the moral and financial support
of the Amalgamated. His written review
of the train of events leading up to the
industrial quarrel sustains the course Of
the Amalgamated association and de-
claTes that nothing remains for labor but
to battle for the cause of unionism.
The official announcement OF the order
to dismantle the Devices Wood plant
came this afternoon toward the close or
an otherwise uneyentful day and its i'm
portance was such that 1t claimed the
serious consideration of both sides of
the great industrial conflict now being
waged here Persifer f. Smith, district
manager for the American Sheet Steel
company, made the formal announcement
in the following statement:
WOOD PLANT TO BE MOVED.
Il have orders from President McMur-
try, Of the American Sheet Steel COM
pany, to at once tear down the Devices
Wood plant at Mckeesport and remove
same to I[iskimenetas valley. This I
shall proceed to do Immediately"
1he publication of the order was a
great surprise and McKeesport received
It at first with doubt. Actual prepara-
tiCns were made later in the day for the
disIuantling of the mill and there is lit
tie room for doubt that 1t will be torn
DOWN and taken apart, piece by piece
The strikers heard the order In a spirit
of defiance. They simply said that 1t
showed the steel corporation was con-
Ninced that 1t could not reopen the plant
in the face of the opposition of the
AIl9lgamated association. Strike leaders
here said that the order was bluff
tha, had been worked unsuccessfully be-
fore and declined to take 1t seriously. A
repI eSentatiVe of the press showed Dis
ret Manager Smiths statement to Presi-
cent Shaffer, but after reading it he de-
cl ned to talk about it. The steel Of
ticials declined to give any reason for
tie order but 1t is openly stated here
that the pronounced sympathy of citl-
zens and city officials at McKeesport
with the strikers Is responsible tor it.
1t is also sadd that the plant Of the Ma
t;onal Tube company at McKeesport
viii be abandoned and the old Carnegie
plan for tube plant at Conneaut, Ohio,
revived. The National Tube company
had in contemplation improvements at
McHeesport of an extensive nature, but
it is now said that owing to their dis
appointment at the fact that their men
have been drawn into the Amalgamated
dispute and the policy of the people at
MCKeesport, they are seriously con-
ring a plan to remove. No official
statement on the subject could be OBJ
tained from any of the local officials.
The Devices Wood plant was founded
about forty years ago and Is one of the
best known plants in Pennsylvania. Its
yards and mills cover between twelve
ana fourteen acres; 1t has employed 12OO
men at its busiest times and it's cost is
placed at $5,OOOOOO by officials of the
steel corporation.
STATEMENT BY GOMPERS
President Gompers, of the American
Federation of Labor, was at the strike
headquarters again this afternoon with
Secretary Morrison and was closeted with
the advisory board Of the Amalgamated
association for more than three hours
Before he left the meeting he gave his
promise to support the strike, but 1t
was not until o'clock that he gave out
the following statement:
''Since the arrival Of Secretary Morri-
son, of the American Federation of La
boz, and myself, we nave been in almost
{ manual conference with the advisory
board of the tAmalgamated Association
of Iron, Tin and Steel Workers We
made thorough investigation of the
present strike Of it's members, formerly
I'm the employ Of the United States Steel
corporation and its constituent branches;
the causes which led to the strike the
present situation of the country and we
a declare hot
the position of the Amalgamated asso-
citation is absolutely justified and essen
tial to its continuance and effectiveness
as union of the workers in the trade,
as well as the protector of the rights
and interests Of It's members.
TT is true that the Amalgamated as
ISOLATION in the first conference asked
the United States Steel company to sign
the union scale of wages for all the
mills operated, owned and controlled by
that company but 1t is also true that
the request was withdrawn and one
substituted so that the union scale should
apply to those mills only in which the
members Of the Amalgamated associa-
ticn are employed; in other words
which are well known to be union mills
TRUST REFUSED TO SIGN.
This the United States Steel company
refused to concede, insisting that the
scale should apply only to those mills
which were union last year, even refus-
ing to allow two mills to be included
systematic opposition of the company,
had become non union during the year.
Even the first demand for the scale
TO he applied generally throughout the
jurisdiction of the company was COM
mendable, for the obvious reason that an
employer should be willing to pay a
uniform wage to men who perform like
work: but realizing that a demand for
those whom it did not fully represent
was perhaps out of the S%estion, the
Amagamated association modified it's
demand 10 the extent already stated.
1T appears that the company took the
position it did with an avowal that it
would not allow the extension Of the
unicn to non-unionists. Such a position
and aVowal are tantamount to declaring
that Notwithstanding the growth of the
craft. the organization had reached a
status beyond which it could not extend,
Now any one at I'll familiar with
industrial development and economic or
gan zation is aware that organized labor
advances or recedes, never stands still
IT therefore follows that If the trust
by its great wealth, can prevent the
extension and growth of the Amalga-
mated association it encompasses its dis
integraton and destruction. The only
power then standing between the trust