The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1909-07-12
BIC TRUST RULES
WITH IRON HAND
Steel Corporations Sordid Power Re-
veals Story of Corrupt Politics,
and Social Decentralization
BY J. v. KNIGHT.


II PITTSBURG. Pa, July l2.-f the
h billion-dollar steel trust annihilates
the tin workers remnant OF the Anal
\ gamated Association OF Iron and Steel
II Workers this summer. as seems
n likely. IL viii have carried out pro
gram OF decentralization comparatively
small TO what II has done to the city
OF Pittsburg In the 10 years since j.
\ Pierpont Morgan breathed life into
the United States Steel corporation.
This great American city has been
at the mercy OF this. the worlds great
est trust. for decade. IL has been a
soulless, sordid rule; rule without
morals, degrading TO community OF
nearly a million souls.
Today no community in the world
shows such a picture OF poverty and
sQualor beside wealth and luxury as
does Pittsburg.
Social ruin has been wrought on
the people here by long working
hours. poor wages and unsanitary
surroundings.
Economic ruin through corrupt
politics. popular ignorance the high
steel tariff, the suppression OF la
Dor unions. misgovernment with of
fetal forgetfulness OF public welfare,
For all this. the people have the
trust To thank In 1907 he trust )
gross profits were $i92,s47 800. while
its wage account was but $3.50 S25.-
s22. For every dollar the wage
earners In the big trust mills here
made for themselves. they made
more than dollar for the trust,
Social neglect is perhaps the most
noticeable thing the trust is to blame
for in keeping the people miserable.
The 12-hour day is another.
Life Today at Homestead,
IL you want TO see how the trust
treats its -men.- Homestead
miles up the Monongahela river from
Pittsburg proper. with the biggest
steel mill in the world. will show you
A strange people these are. Walk
Ing down the narrow street which d.
vides the mills from the little houses,
you see half dozen nations repre-
sented in the grimy ranks
OF the 7000-odd trust workers IN
Homestead. more than half came from
Russia Roumania and Austria. Two
thousand are native white persons
and the rest a mixture Of other Euro
pean races.
or course, the steel trust. when II
took charge Of the mammoth mill 10
years ago. began TO cut down ex-
penses. The taxation item was Il big
one. But the trust got around that
easily enough. II hit on a plan to
make Its workers pay the taxes
Here's the way the trust bosses went
about It,
They drew an imaginary line be-
tween the mill property and the peo-
pies homes.
"On this side of the line" the trust
said. we own our property. Wen
call IL separate town and name II
Munhall
"On the other side OF the line the
men own their homes. so we'll call
that town Homestead"
Munhall levies taxes on the mill
property to suit the trust Home
stead levies taxes on the homes OF
the people-also to suit the trust.
In Munhall the tax rate is eight. and
Dne-hait mills; the trust pays $4,000
taxes.
In Homestead the rate II Is mills
and the trust pays only 1000 taxes
here.
Trust Votes Its Employees.
But the trust doesn't stop its ex-
ploitation Of the men In mills and
mill towns alone. II mixes in stale
politics, and its browning act was the
power II gave Senator Boies Penrose,
is best friend, In Pennsylvania.
For decades Allegheny county and
Pittsburg were without real politi-
cal boss, though In a boss-ridden state.
Quay. in his day of rule, couldn't alb
soluteiy control Pittsburg. Neither
could Chris Magee nor VIM. Flynn nor
pther big politicians.
Yet with the direct aid OF the steel
trust Penrose today is political pro-
prietor Of Pittsburg.
Here is how the steel trust helps
Penrose:
During the 1908 campaign there
we're candidates for the legislature
who were going TO vote Penrose in
or Penrose out OF the United States
senate. The Penrose candidates in
the mill territory were opposed to To-
cal option, which was the issue in
Homestead The majority OF the mill
men wanted to control and minimize
the saloon evil.
It's a long way from the senate In
Washington to the steel trust work