Abilene weekly reflector., 1901-08-22

trouble. The reopening of the Mon
essen mill is believed to be the first
Of series of.aggressive moves on the
part Of the steel corporation. Prepa-
rations are known to be in progress
for reopening the Star tin mills in
this city and for increasing the force
at the Lindsay & McCutcheon mills,
and it is thought to be only matter
Of time before the strongholds Of the
strikers, like Newcastle, McKeesport,
Wheeling, Bellaire and Mingo juno
tion will be invaded. The strikers
deny that any real progress has been
made at either Monessen or Painters,
and say that they are not to be fright
ened by the burning Of lot of coal
and the mere operation Of machinery.
They say that skilled men cannot be
secured outside Of their ranks and
that none of their men are deserting
despite claims to the contrary. The
managers of the Painter mills claim
part of their two new crews is made
up of old employees who have come
back to work. At the Clark mill,
where the ten-inch was started for
the first time yesterday and where
everything except small eight-inch
mill is now being operated, it is as
serted that more skilled men are Of
fering their services than can be ac-
commodated. Fifty more were taken
on there yesterday, bringing the total
force up to 6OO 1t was claimed that
there were 200 men at work in the
Painter mills and that 80 Of them
were skilled.
The greatest fight in this district is
for mastery at the Duquesne mills of
the Carnegie company. Both sides
are working secretly, The Amalga-
mated association to extend its or
ganization and strength among the
workers and the steel company to
block any plan to get the men out.
Neither side has shown its strength
yet and it is impossible to get any
line on the ultimate result. The
claims made privately on either side
are conflicting. The Amalgamated
organizers assert that they have Sc
cured strong position in the prop
erty and that when the word is given |
It will be shut down. The managers
of the mills admit that the strikers
have some friends in the mills, but
express absolute confidence in their |
ability to keep the entire plant in
operation. Coal and iron police care
fully guard the property, admitting |
none except employees, and they in
turn are watched by secret pckets OF
the strikers.
Assistant Secretary NJ. F. Tighe re-
turned from the west yesterday and
was closeted for several hours with |
President Shaffer. He was given n
very enthusiastic reception by his as
sociates and returns a stronger figure |
in the organization than when he de-
parted. Discussing his report, Mr..
Shaffer said: "All that Mr. Tighe told
me was that in the papers last week
and there was nothing aside from
this. The Chicago mill men who re-
mained at work are now no longer |
members of the organization. They
are not entitled to trial and will
have none. They are at liberty
to act as they see fit now, but if they |
90 out they will do so on their own
responsibility. We will do nothing
about the matter from this time. On
the whole the strike is going on very |
well. We are getting out more men
every day and will continue to do so.
The fight is hardly begun yet. There
will be plenty of trouble for the trust,
before long if they keep on in their
present course. There has been no
effort on anyone's part toward peace,
and there will be none on our part
again. As to the situation in Du-
quesne, all I can say is that there has
been no strike ordered in that mill as
vet. | said last week that when we
were ready that mill would be at
tended to-"
The men of the Pennsylvania works
of the National Tube company in this
city joined the strikers last night
and It is expected that the force in
the Frankstown plant will follow
them to-day. The total number OF
men added to the army of strikers by
x.,sI1 In obont S00