Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1913-01-23
INDUSTRIAL NOTES


An effort will be made by the A. F.
of l.. to discourage immigration of
laborers from the eastern and south
ern parts of Europe during the next
year or TWO inorder to make it pos
sible to organize the workers in the
iron and steel mills. Largely because
of the influx of masses of workers
from the cheap labor countries Of Eu-
rope, and the herding together of
many nationalities with racial and re-
ligiouS prejudices, great difficulty has
been experienced in spreading the
doctrine of unionism in the mills to
the great satisfaction and profit of
the Steel Trust, which has assiduous-
ly cultivated every form of rivalry
and bigotry in order to maintain the
slavish conditions that exist. Several
years ago the chief executive official
of the Amalgamated Association of =.
Iron and Steel Workers was urged TO
get in touch with the International
Secretariat and the Socialist organi-
cations on the continent of Europe
and enlist their services to counter
act the false reports that were
spread broadcast Ito entice workers to
America, but nothing was done in
the matter, with the result that immi-
graion continued Steadily and organi-
cation has been impossible While
restriction of immigration may. be
theoretically wrong in the minds of
idealists- on. the ohe side and pluto
Gratis on the other (also reason from
different viewpoints) still there
doesn't seem to be any other way in
which to organize the enslaVed labor
ers of the mills except by reducing
the source of supply while the work
is being done. 1t is a practical prob
lem, not a theory, that confronts or
ganized labor Of this country, and I'm
ion Officials are justified in making
a determined effort to defeat the
Steel Trusts campaign of exploita-
ton even though some abstract prin-
ciples are fractured.
President J..J. Kirby, of the Ma
tiopal Association of Manufacturers,
after raving against bOycotting, strik-
ing, etc, for 10, these many years, has
evidently joined the boycott brigade.
In mis- personal organ, American In
dustries, Kirby quotes an editorial in
Leslie's Weekly, placing the blame
for the cause of the prevailing unrest
upon political agitation by demagog-
ic politicians and ATTACKS on our
captains of industry by the yellow
press and muckraking magazines, "a
and then says the conditions will
change only as advertisers withdraw
support from newspapers and other
publications which seek circulation
oh hot
of the real welfare of the people and
especially damaging to the interests
of those who support them with their
advertising" So the little red headed
runt of Dayton would go even farther
than labor boycotters. He would boy
colt his neighbors for merely harb6r-
ing ideas differing from his own,
something that labor men rarely do.
AT. of L. officials have sent out
hurry call to all state, central, and
local bodies to write or wire the Sen
ators and Representatives from their
districts to support the Booker con-
Wet labor bill, which passed the house
and is now before the Senate Judici-
airy Committee. The measure provides
that the laws of states and territories
relating o convic-made. products shall
govern the same when they are
bought into such states and territor-
les in the same manner as those man
ufactured therein.
Secretary Morrison reports that
while the average membership of the
A. F. Of L. for the fiscal year ending
Sept. 80, 1912, was 1,770OO0, the aver
age advanced during the first quar-
ter of this year October, November
and December) to 1,904,0 an in
creas of $4,000 over last years aver
age. = Morrison thinks that this total
will be maintained and increased con-
siderably before the Seattle conven-
ton meets. T.
Poor old Mexico has plenty of trou-
BILE Not only are the revolutionary
bands in half a dozen sections of the
country keeping the Mader0 govern
ment in constant hot water, but the
miners N many places and railway
employes4by the thousands are on
strike. The promises of President Ma
dero that he would ameliorate the
conditions of labor, like the usual pre-
tentions of all politicians, have dis
solved into thin air.
The New Jersey Supreme Court has
just rendered an important decision
in which the right of trade union
to expel member is upheld. The Hat
Trimmers' Union of Orange, N. j.,
dropped a woman member for refus-