The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1909-01-16
WORKERS PAY DEARLY
IN PRODUCING STEEL
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est wages and work the full stint of
hours. I~Yound them in the machine
shops working 50 hours a week; at the
blast furnaces working ~ hours a day
for seven days in the week. The COM
mon laborer In aud around the mills
works 72 hours a week.
The lowest wage I found Slavs
working for was 181a cents an hour.
The wage Of common albor in the
average mill 10 is Or 1871 cents. The
day laborer around the furnaces gees
from @1.65 to $1.e8 g. day. ...
But the newcomers know nothing
Of a standard Of wages, and wnen work
is scarce they will offer to work for
less than is paid for common labor.
Such was the case of a. band of Croa-
tians who offered their services to q
firm in Pittsburg for $3.50 day.
When the superintendent heard of it
he said, MY God, what is the country
coming to? How can a man live in
Pittsbufg on $3.50 a day.? The fore
man replied. Give them rye bread. a
herring, and beer, and they are all
right: Il have known al coal opera
tor In the anthracite fields to pay
Italians and Slovaks 80. cents "a day,
and ask neither what was the country
coming to nor how they could SUBJ
slst) More, the;:Slavs: will conscious
ly cut wages in order. to. get work A
main who knows something about
blaeksmith1ng or carpentering will
work at a trade for $1.65 or sits when
the standard wage may be 81: so: They
count their money in the denomina-
tions OF the fatherland and estimate
it's value according to the old country
standards. I. have known foremen to
take advantage Of this"
mo clearer statement has come. to
my knowledge Of why the great CAPT.
tallsts favor immigration. It pays
them. And it pays not only in the
matter of wages, bue especially as i,
increases tine difficulty of effective
organization. Mr.. Roberts says:
Racial Hatred Helps Employers:
my belief is that certain employers
of. labor have reaped advantage from
racial antfpathies. The Pole and the
Lithuanian have nothing in common
and each Of chem desplses tine Slovak
Foremen know this and use thei1
knowledge when foreigners are likely
to reach a common understanding
| upon wages or conditions of labor. AL
these. conditions have helped to make
| 1t less difficult for factory operator.
| to keep open or non-union shop tr
Pittsburg, Tue constant influx OF raw
material from backward nations int
the Industries Of the ciey has hat
somewhat the same effect ais the flow
Of water az an estuary when the tide
! is rising. ALI Is eornmotion. 1t viii
continue to be so as long as the inflow
OF Slavs and Italians continues as i
aas in the last decade. But when the,
have become permanently placed ant
%their average intelligence and gras,
Of American conditions rise. raoia
prejudlces will give way to commn,
interests. When the times comes
Pittsburg will witness che rise O
stronger labor organizations than wer
ever effected by Teuton anu Kelt.'
This IS a safe prophecy, Race pre-
JUDGE is. always based on economic
motives. AS long as the white labor
ers on the Pacific Coast are in g. lit
and death struggle with the Mongol
ians for bread there will be rae
hatred between them, And organize
labor is hostile to immigration fror
Europe for the same economic reason
But as soon az the Immigrant comes U
to our standard OF living, or. organize
and demands the same wages, rae
: prejudice dissolves into thin air. !
Is the same with the negroes in, Pitts
burg. They "scabbed" in the grea
\ strike. And the whites hate them
will continue; to hate them till the
learn to stop scabbing. 81. -
/ Unions May. Get Upper Hand.
And 1t. is safe to, prophesy that: or
ean1zation. will come again to Ritts
burg and obliterate all the race line
among the workers. For the cru,
long hours and the snort pay falls .alik
on all races. And besides these thing
There are others, which draw the work
ers together, and incite to revolt.
Many work in intense neat, the iii
of machinery and the noise of oscar
ing steam. j, The congested conditio
Of most Of the plants in Pittsbur
adds to the, physical .disoonforts IL
i an sout-of-doors people; while the
ignorance of the language and !, {
modern machinery increases the ris
How many OF the slavs, Lithuariar
& and Italiars are injured in Pittsbu,
IL one year isEuot known, No reltab