The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1912-09-27
HOSTILE TO UNIONS.
steel Trust on Record as oppossd "a
labor OrnanlzatIona

steel Trust on Record 90 oppossd 70
Labor Organizations,
Inc congressional committee which
Investigated the United stutos Steel
corporation under resolution adopted
May i, 1911, that hud been strongly
urged before congress for several ses.
slons by the American Federation of
Labor and other reform associations.
has completed its poet and presented
1t to congress.
1t Is urged that members Of congress
be requested to supply applicants with
copies Of this remarkable document
for use in trade union and central TN.
Ion libraries From 1t these truths are
| CLEANED "A most important econom-
&c fact brought out in this iu,pstfga.
ton which has too often been over
looked is that the true measure OF a
mans work is the production per man
per day and not the mere amount OF
wage paid This important fact should
never be lost sight Of in the all i'm
portant question Of cost production
The committee states that on June
II. 1901, six weeks after the Steel cor
poration was organized and began op-
erations, Charles Steele. member of
the firm of j. r. Morgan X Co..
brought forward the following prop
Osition at a meeting of the executive
committee of the Steel corporation,
and the president was instructed To
convey it to all the presidents of the
subsidiary companies. This resolution
was extensively discussed, and it clear
ly and emphatically displays the atd-
tude Of this corporation toward la
Dor, especially organized labor Mr..
Steele's proposition reads;
THAT we are unalterably opposed
to any extension of union labor and
advise subsidiary companies to take ?
/ firm position when these questions
come up and say that they are not go
ing to recognize it-that is, any extern
sion of unions in mills where they do
not now exist; that great care should
be used to prevent trouble and that
they promptly report and confer with
this corporation
All of the evidence collected by the
committee clearly shows how Ameri-
can laborers felt after they saw the
attitude of the trust following this
declaration. They considered they
were not wanted in the works of the
United States Steel corporation, and
the process of filling their places by
hordes of laborers from southern Eu-
rope began swiftly and has continued
up to the present time. These foreign
laborers were almost entirely from ag-
ricultural localities They knew abb
soutely nothing about the manufac-
ture of iron and steel but they were
seryiceable to fight the American labor
unions.
In response to this attitude of the
steel trust toward American labor the
committee impressively reports that
"the result is that so per cent of the
unskiled lHborers are Foreigners Of
these classes With the guidance of a
skilled American foreman such crew
can work ont results in unSkilled labor
production
The profits of this system of en-
ployment go to the steel corporation
while the displaced American work
man shifts as best lie can. The com
mittee also says that the daily lives
and conditions of living Of these Ia
borers show conditions undesirable
and far below what is ordinarily I'M
derstood to be the American standard
of living among the laborers of our
country Some of the details are re-
voting, both as to sanitary ana moran
conditions Taking the ordinary fam
lily as a unit, the wages paid. even II
the head of the family is constantly
employed, are barely enough to provide
subsistence"