Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-09-26
FITZPATRICK GIVES
HISTORY Of PLAN To
ORGANIZE INDUSTRY
He Declares WaIkout Could
Not Be Stopped Even If
Corporation Received Men,
Charges Brutality

WASHINGTON, Sept. 25.-Even
should the United States Steel cor
poration consent to meet represent
atives of the, men, the nation wide
strike of steel workers could not
now be called off in the opinion of
John Fitzpatrick, chairman of the
strikers committee, as expressed to-
day at the opening of the senate Ia
Dor committees investigation of the
strike
1.-The $4,000 men on strike" Fitz-
patrick declared, "are going to de-
mand from the United States gov
ernment justice, decent justice"
Senate investigation of the ma
tion-wide strike of steel workers to
determine whether remedial action
can be taken by the federal govern
ment was opened today with John
Fitzpatrick, chairman of the unior
committee conducting the strike,
as the first witness before the edu-
cation and labor committee.
Fitzpatrick was accompanied by
William NJ. Rubin, counsel for the
steel strikers, who, at the outset
Ct the hearing, asked what assur.
ance had been given by Judge FL
bert H. garv, chairman of the board
of the United States Steel corpora
ton, that he would appear before
the committee next Wednesday.
Senator Kenyon replied that
Judge Gary had telephoned him
that he would be present Wednesday
and added that until that time we
VIII not question his being here"
Mr. Rubin requested that the COM
mittee place in the. record cores
pondence between Joseph P. Tumul-
ty, secretary to the president; Sam
tel Gompers. president of the Amer
lean Federation of Labor, and Chair
man Fitzpatrick, regarding efforts
tc postpone the strike. Senator
Kenyon asked Mr.. Rubin to read
the kilograms and letters, which al
ready have been published!
Mr.. Fitzpatrick opened his state
nent with what he said was a brief
history of labor conditions in the
steel industry
History of Industry
With the creation of the steel
corporation a campaign was begun
with the object of pushing organ
lied workers out of the mills" he
said. "a great sum Of money,
don't know whether it was $4,000
600 or $20,O00,O0O, was appropriated.
lii recent years labor has begun to
realize the tremendous importance
CT the steel industry and it's in
fiuence on other industries. While
We were getting the eight-hour day
and better working conditions else.
where, the steel mills still operated
with very long hours and with
wages below the proper fire. Labor
understood when the necessity of
organizing the steel industry for
the purpose of controlling it's eff
feet on the others an. dat the two
last conventions of the american
Federation of Labor the step was
authorized"
Mr.. Fitzpatrick said representa-
tIves of .twenty-four international
unions affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor in Chicago about
a year ago, and elected a campaign
committee to organize y the steel
workers. Samuel Gompers was elect
ed chairman and William z. Foster
secretary. Men and money, said the
chairman, were assembled, but funds
were so limited that the initial eff
forts were confined to the Calumet
district, including Chicago and Gary,
Indiana.
THE men in the steel mills he
continued, "were looking for relief.
They had no hope. They responded
i'm large numbers and it was only a
short time until we had a very sue
cessful organization"
No Unionism in Mills
Up to that time there had been
no unionism in the steel mills?" ask
ed Chairman Kenyon.
NO" Fitzpatrick replied. about
corporation was resorting to every
effort to force action on the part of
the men or of the labor organization
to spread. their influence. They an
nounced establishment of the eight
hour day and we knew that was an
effort to prevent our organization"
Senator Jones, Democrat, New Mex
leo, asked whether the employees had
made application to the American
Federation of Labor for organiza-
zion. and also asked whether the
movement was initiated by the Amer.
lean Federation of Labor or the
workmen.
''The American ederation of Labor
initiated the movement" Fitzpatrick
replied.
Was there no movement of the
men inviting the organizations" asked
Senator Jones.
Rotten Apple Comparison
mo, only as the men met in diff
fe1ent localities and expressed their
desires"
why was it incumbent on the
American Federation of Labor to or
ganize the steel Industry" Senator
jones' asked.
ut was a bad spot in the industrial
situation" Fitzpatrick replied.
cit was to the whole industrial sit
uation what one rotten apple would
be to a barrel. In the steel industry
the hours are long, the wages small
and the treatment-you can't de-
scribe the treatment"
Low wages and bad working con-
ditio1.s in the steel industry, Fitz-
patrick said, led other large employ
ers to consider imposing similar con-
ditions on tncir employees, and SO,
for the benefit of organized workmen
everywhere in. the country, organiza-
ton of the steel industry was deem
ed essential by the leaders of the
10 Loy.