Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1910-02-17

row Of thirty lathes lined up
against the wall; the center Of the
shop being occupied by planers and
shapsrs. AT the farther end OF the
shop milling machines. drill presses,
slotters, moving at high speed, were
arranged in a regular line. A suffo-
eating air covered all, the windows
being slightly lowered and this in the
month of June. was given ia charge
of a labor boss. fellow speaking
broken English in the grunting per-
petual hurry up. you speak Ger
mani" yes" At my positive an
swer he gave sigh of relief. Hang
your coat on the wall very quick. :"
So after / got a move. you are
lucky, very lucky that one of my men
quit" the foreman told me in Ger
man. .'The ungrateful dog. he was
getting $1.05 per day. doing practic-
ally nothing, holding the same job
that you are going to have" / shook
my head in sympathy. He showed
me a. truck to convey the finished
stock from the machine shop to the
assembly room below; at the same
time giving me full instructions and
regulations of the company. The
fines for breaking certain rules, also
he strongly cautioned me not to talk
and to be sure my reward for ali
these would be big silver dollar (
day. All! how my chest swefled with
pride! Just think of the good time.
l could have with these $500 pei
week after paying for my board
laundry and shave. No wonder the.
don't like men that chew. smoke o:
drink. Why. they would spend al
that's left after paying their bills OIL
a 'riotous living" OF course the fores
man told me the encouraging fact
that if 1 stayed with the company
long enough, say n8easly two OF
three years, we'll, may get an in
crease. .
So / started on my job of carrying
stock. l looked at the 70 oddNma
chinists, all young men, nohe~pver
thirty. The speed of their machines.
the movement Of their bodies and
hands performing certain operations
that reminded me Of the whirl of
cotton loom, 80 fast None of them
looked around but with the corners
of their eyes were watching the
movements Of the foreman. have
seen the rats looking the same way
when embarrassed by the cat. But
why not, they were rats-human
rats, the rats of the industry. the flu
ture respectable strike breakers"
| heard loud talking at my right.
In turning around. / saw the fore
man gesticulating. l wheeled my
truck toward a pile Of crank shaft
SO as to be near and see what 1t was
all about. T he trouble was at one
Of the brass lathes-that turns
brass bushiRgs. 1t seemed that the
poor fellow who runs that machine,
had made two bushings less than his
output. You see they were supposed
to turn out SO much work. OF course
. they allowed you to run more II you
could, but not less, as they have the
tailor and the limit system. OF which
will speak later. When / ap-
preached, the following conversation
was going on. the foreman having
the platform: You told me that
you are a first class Hachinist. We
pay you 20 cents per hour for good
and quick work. We give you first
class pay, but you are not first
class man. SO from now on you will
get 10 cents per hour. and If you
don't like it get to hell out Of here"
l expected the man to strike the fore
man and then pick up his tools and
go, but 10! he meekly started his
machine, saying only alright, sir. ;"
The foreman turned around and eyed
me. 'tYou get move on you. :"
/ did. l had to move quick. Per
haps he would cut nay salary down
from ten cents to eight cents an
everything is possible in an open
shop. The influences OF. the open
shop are degrading ones; poison
GUS atmosphere. These fellows
working there have been made what
they are through serial Of lessons
Of industrial prostitution. You can
not call them men. You cannot
classify them with human beings;
even If they are bipeds,. looking at
them and sizing them up every one
of them; l ask myself the question,
''Will they ever revolt?"
Now as to the methods employed
in hiring, the National Metal Grades
Association have organized a society
Of respectable strike-breakers. re-
cruited from their shops, and called
the National Metal Trades Employ
ees' Association They are kept on
the books of the employment bureau
and when a strike is called in their
shop they are the first to go. Some
of them have carde-"Union cards
SO as to spy on a bona fide Union
and report them to headquarters.
Now, suppose that strike is de-
clared in Chicago in one OF the
Metal Trade shops and the rate is
thirty-seven cents per hour; the
strike breakers, members Of the Ma
tional Metal Trades Association, gets
the first so days, the top wages of
81 cents per hour. After that they
get thirty-three and one-third cents
an hour. OF course, they are sup
posed to get "a cents. but part of it
goes to maintain the employment