Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1916-01-27

/ to investigate the explosion. The Ed
with the misery and degradation
wrought in Youngstown 10y poverty,
| Hanson declared his conviction that
low wages had nothing to do with it
Have you or your society ever
made an Investigation to determine
the cost of living for steel workers."
Hanson was asked.
"We have not" he replied. "We
have never felt that the poverty here
was caused by low wages. ! have
been sure that the wages were high
enough. The heads of the steel com
panies are progressive, high-minded
men. In investigating applications
for charity we find that practically
all of the cases of restitution can be
accounted for by bad management or
drink.
'After Hanson's attention had been
directed to the excessive infant NOR
| tality, the wretched sanitary and
housing conditions, and the fact that
a man working three days week,
during much of the time, for $1.92 or
$3.50 day could not possibly support
his family, he admitted that wages
had something to do with it and
agreed that an investigation should
/ be conducted to determine the re1a-
ton between restitution and wages.
| The report sets forth several fam
lily budgets of workers interviewed by
| the writer showing that the men In
| terviewed were in debt to the grocer
and butcher and could not meet the
family expenses.
Discussing the labor policy Of the
Steel Corporation and the Independent
manufacturers. who follow its lead,
the report says:
/ Two Men-one Job.
"The maintenance Of an industrial
force that during half the time is
twice as large as the force that can
| be utilized must be attributed to
something worse than disorganized
and anarchistic conditions in the steel
| industry. It must be attributed to the
! deliberate policys Of the steel corpora
ton and those who follow its lead of
maintaining two men for every job in
order that the workers shall have no
lhoice between accepting the wages
offered and starving.
after the business revival Of last
| summer and fall, the Youngstown
Sheet and Tube Company let a con-
| ract for large extension to its plant.
| inserted in the contract was a clause
hat the contractor should not pay
more for unskilled labo rthan was be-
ng paid by the company. For while
he steel workers are recruited from
immigrants with large families, which
| hahn them to the community In
which they settle, and to whichNhome-
| building schemes with the installment
| eature rivet them still more securely.
| construction workers are migratory
md able to take advantage of every
| Increase in the demand for labor. The
steel company feared the contagion of
higher wages. But they could not
'onceal from their employees the fact
| that unskilled labor was in demand.
"This realization came to men who
| had Iabored to the point of exhaustion
ten or twelve hours day; who had
| lived in squalid, crowded rooms where
their families suffered with then, and
their babies died; whip faced endless
debts and misery, or ran from them
and found escape in whiskey; ITO
whom leisure meant the enforced leis-
ure of part-time employment, with
fear, starvation and the shame Of
charity as its Accomplishments.
'sThey became aware that, for the
first time in years, they might quit
their employment without facing star
walton; that they might stand on their
feet as free men and defy the boss;
that they might register their protest
and give vent to the resentments that
for so long had been smothered by
the pangs Of hunger and the fear Of
starvation.
This was the realization that
prompted the strike. It was the
amazing new consciousness that more
than one man wanted their services,
that gave them courage as they
crowded about the bridge leading to
the company's plant at East Youngs-
town on that Friday evening.
What followed the massacre by
company guard swas the action Of a
mob flaming with resentment and in
furiated by the sight Of blood and the
death or wounding of their compan-
ions. All the rebellion and bitterness
of years famed up, and among those
- had saturated themselves with
whiskey or rum in celebration Of the
Greek Catholic Christmas, the lust for |
destruction knew no bounds"
Strike Won.
Summing up the strike, the report |
SAYS:
Your investigator finds that the
strike at the Republic Iron. and Steel,
and the Youngstown Sheet and Tube
plants won ten per cent increase In
wages not only for Il, 500 strikers, but
for all OF the employees Of the Steel
Corporation, so that it will eventually
benefit directly nearly 100000 men,"
Neither the strike at the Republic
plant or at that Of the Youngstown /
Sheet and Tube plant was instigated
Or in any way directly brought about
by the American Federation OF Labor.
although the campaign begun three
years ago by the American Fedora
lion OF Labor with the object Of reach
ng the unskiIled and helpless steel
workers with the message Of organi-I
.ation undoubtedly had considerable
influence.
After the strike began at the Re-
'ublic plant, organizers for the Fed
ration were sent to YOUNGSTOWN ana