The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-03-04
1.-THE TEMPER OF
 THE STEEL WORKERS
How Democracy Is Choked In Pittsburg District Results of the Overthrow of the Unions-Condi- tions that Make for Radi- calism.


 tions that Make for Radi-
 calism.
 (John A. Fitch.)
 Exclusive Service The Survey Press
 Bureau.)
 "Ninety-nine per cent. of the men are socialists. if by that you mean one who hates a capitalist" said a fine workingman of genuine breeding whom I grew to know in Pittsburgh. This attitude is the outcome of a feel ing that has been slowly making headway since 1892 when H. c. Prick sent the armed Pinkerton guards to drive the striking workmen off the company's premises at Homestead.
 Under common conditions working men develop common feelings with respect to some of the more funda! mental questions of their lives. This is especially true in crisis when was true in 1892 at Homestead and again in February 1908 when with the mills operating on barely one-fourth time the Carnegie Steel Company cut from 10 to 30 per cent. the wages of men who were not, during those
  The lengthening of the working day, the choking of Democratic institu- tions, and the coercive sway of the employers. have worked out more than a well organized industrial ma chine. The flashes of indignation have died away often but each time the embers have glowed a little red der.
 The steel worker sees on every side evidence of an irresistible power; it tells him what wages he may expect must work. If he protests. he is ig- nored or rebuked. If he talks it over with his fellow workmen. he is likely to be discharged. That the overwhelming majority of steel work CTS are bitter toward their employers, no one who has mingled with them enough to catch their spirit can de- ny.
 Among the English speaking work CTS, from the standpoint of their att titude toward their work. there are among them enthusiasm is forgotten. They are the older men who have waited, for a revival of something like Democracy in western Pennsylvania. But Hope deferred maketh the heart sick" The years have done eyed on world from which the brightness is gone.
 This group, while numerically strong, is small compared with the whole body of employees. Among the degrees of hopes. A few have been financially so successful as to be measurably independent and cores pondingly indifferent to conditions in the industry. Among the highly skilled men there is considerable ward to an old age spent in comfort I talked with some who had purchas- ed farms and intended moving into them. If these men are hopeful they are so as individuals. and their ac- tion of an individual not social, problem. There is nothing in the at titudef of this group that gives prom ise of Improvement of the labor con- ditions.
 A majority of the workmen feel and that of the community together launched against the opposing pow CTS, that their industrial freedom is to be won. There is still a firm belief the mills will be unionized. The ar gument is logical. The situation is growing intolerable the workmen say; there is a limit to human endurance and when that point is reached the men will rise as one, organize and
  not they hold, be safely refused.
 But years have gone by since un- ionism. was overthrown and every twelve months has seen the control of the employers grow more nearly absolute. Under such conditions, so- ciaism is making headway. This comes from a turning away from a political organization Nthat has invited the support of workingmen. yet fail- ed to interest itself in any important
 
 workmen were once convinced that there existed a possibility of the Cleo tion of the Socialist candidates, there would follow more than a landslide, it would be an avalanche.
 The last group I approach with hes any statement of fact that runs coun- ter to their own experiences. There is a group of workmen in the steel district whose social hope involves physical resistance. How widely they may prevail I do not know but it of the most intelligent should hold the view, that the only way out of the situation, is through an appeal to force. A father in his sons pres ence told me about his long life as a workman ard he discussed the pres ent industrial situation with a face flushed with indignation. I asked what in their Judgment would be the outcome. The father said There is no way out.' But the son cried out through set teeth "Yes! there is d way out, and it is through an armed revolution"
 Some will deny the existence of any injustice in the institutions of society, that may not be remedied by individ- ual effort. have heard a minister. a man of rare talents, say that there need be no suffering among the work ing people, because !. a single Vest ern state. he alleged there is enough unused land to provide sustenance for them all if they would leave the cities. I have been assured that it is impossible for any great injustice to exist because the workmen can al- ways quit their job. If these stato- ments were true the best they offer is a way of escape while the real evil is not attacked. But they assume a mo- bility on the part of labor that can not exist. The movement of dissat- isfied city workmen to the farms, would be impossible without greatly increased immigration, in order to fill the places of those who leave. Af- ter the last vacant farm was appro- priated the supporters of this remedy would have to seek another cure.
 To be effective, the right-to-quit theory would have to be accompanied by absolute mobility on the part of labor. But a married man cannot jeopardize the interests of his family by leaving the known for the un- known Home means much fo hin,