The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-07-19
QUIET RE|GNS IN
STRIKE DISTRICT
At Plant Of Pressed Steel Car
Company
THE SITUATION Is UNIQUE
Civic Association Asks for Double-Bar-
relied Injunction Against Strikers
and Operators of Plant A.
fected-T axpayers' Suit.

| Pfttsburg. July 1S.-The turmoil and ex-
element and general sense of imminent
uprising and riot which have pervaded
McKees Rocks and the immediate vicn-
ity of the plant of the Pressed Steel Car
company for the past week gave way to
peace and unbroken quiet.
The workingmen's settlement at Pres
ton, which for days has had the appear
ance of an entrenched camp thrown UP
at the gates Of a barricaded city, was gay
with the Sunday hnery of the wives and
children of the strikers who focked to
and from church or loitered at play by the
river side while the men sat at ease on
their doorsteps smoking and enjoying inn
prumptu alfresco concerts furnished by
harmonious and accordeons
At the various gates of the mile-square
stcckade, inclosing the various shops of
the con pany, groups of deputy sherffs
still stood guard, but the streets. which
fer days had been patrolled by the grim
looking troopers of the state constabu-
larry, were left entirely free of guards.
Truce Declared.
On both sides there seemed to be feel
ing that truce had been declared. and
that If resort was had to violence 1t would
he only after the attempt by the Public
Defense association to complete an arbi-
tratior of the trouble had failed.
The move of the association, which is a.
non-partisan civic organization, formed
to further public interests by invoking ac-
ton by the courts. is believed to be unique
IN the annals of labor disputes
The association seeks to enioin the
strikers from trespassing upon. damag-
ing or destroying the property of the
company. and to enjoin the company from
discharging the striking employees, or from
importing strikebreakers to take their
places.
The ground taken by the association is
that inasmuch as the entire expense OF
the strike is being borne by the taxpayers
they should have some say as to whether
or not the strike continue a day or a
year. The law of the state is such that
In the event of the plant of the Pressed
! Steel Car company being dynamited or
destroyed by fire or seriously damaged
by the strikers. the loss would fall neither
on the company nor the strikers but upon
Tue county.
The proceedings are in the nature of a
. taxpayers suit. Pending the decision the
court is asked to prohibit practices likely
to incite to violence
Hearing Tomorrow.
A hearing on the case will probably be
held Tuesday
suspension of violence by the strikers
has caused change Of sentiment In their
favor, and the public now looks upon the
simultaneously marching out of nearly
5000 men not bound together by any labor
organization as significant of the exis-
tence of conditions that had become in
tolerable. There are endless stories of
oppression and tyranny being told and the
documentary evidence furnished by the
strikers in the form of pay envelopes
bearing the number of hours of service
rendered and money paid, eloquently re-
flutes the assertion made by the officials
of the company that II cents an hour con-
stituted the minimum wage paid to any
employe.
The chief grievance of the strikers how
ever, is not the smalness of the rate per
hour, but the lack OF a fixed hourly
rate.