New-York tribune., 1909-07-16

o4 tha Sorsnae, hut since that time they say.
the % to 40 cents hour for foremen mas been
taken out of the pool formed OF the Workmen
wages The workmen aver also that they nave
been compelled to deal at the company store
being peremptorily discharged If they oeaII else
where. The store is owned and operated by the
Pressed Steel Car Company in a roundabout
way. it is said. there is law IN PehhsyI' ANA
against company stores
Men said to be agents from the Hungarian
and Italian consulates at Washington visited
the strike district to-day and took statements
concerning the grievances of the workmen.
Complaint to the consulates has been made.
The Pressed Steel Car Company has been In
existence only ten years, having been lncor-
porated in 1890; nevertheless. 1t controls prac-
tically all the pressed steel car manufacturing
plants in the United States.
At the outset its preferred and common stock
amounted to only S25O00000, equal amount
of each: there were no bonds offered. For sew
eral years the company operated on that capi-
tai; then further to extend its activities 1t
issued block of $5,OOO,0OO notes in 1901, ma
turing in 1911. To date the company has paid
off all but S500OO0 of these.
Preferred dividends have been paid regularly
since the company's organization at per cent
a year, but in 1905 the common dividend was
Since then the common stockholders have had
to get along without sharing the company s
profits, the management deeming it wisest to
accumulate a comfortable bank account before
resuming dividends on their stock. In this way
the company's total surplus. which was S25SS,-
600 at the close of 1908. was brought to S6413,-
600 on December 81, 1907.
UNREST THROUGHOUT DISTRICT
Y. IabO f0
the Pittsburg district to-day is unique, tread
ing as 1t does on the heels of an apparent wave
of prosperity. Assumptions have been ordered
in all trades and men who have been without
work for many months are being employed.
On the other hand is the present unrest Of the
workmen. Solutions Of the causes leading up
TO the strikes varied.
In several instances the men claim that their
employers, taking advantage of their recent
prolonged idleness, are offering them low wages
for their work. The officials assert conditions
do not warrant higher remuneration at this
time.
Other grievances are the alleged violation Of
the eight hour workday. recognition of or
ganized labor. a controversy over the use Of So
called safety" powder for coal mine blasting
and better conditions generally.
Following is list of the threatened strikes
and the strikes now in progress:
United Mine Workers against the Pfttsburg
Coal Company over 5000 miners employed
in the mines in the Pittsburg district may go
out The men claim various violations of the
working agreement. Preside Lewis OF the
Mine Workers has been asked to arbtrste.
Steel workers. unorganized, against the
Pressed Steel Car Company About $500 men
affected. Men say wages paid are too low.
Rioting and bloodshed have resulted during this
strike and further trouble is feared
AmaIgamated Association of Iron. Steel and
Tin Workers against the American Sheet and
Tin Plate Company. a subsidiary of the United
States Steel Corporation. More than seven
thousand men. IL is estimated. are on strike
The trouble is over the open shop" policy re-
Gently declared by the company.
Tin Plate Workers Association against the
American Sheet and Tin Plate Company. At
New Castle. Penn. three thousand men quit
work to-day. The wage scale expired az mid
night and the men Joined the strike of the Anal
gamated Association.
Il is said that the tiuplate workers strike will
affect plants in different portions OF the country
adding from five thousand to ten thousand to
the ranks of the strikers. The trouble IS spread
ing 10 the Independent sheet and tinplate plants
and from present indications there is apparently
no hope of OF effort toward adjustment