The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-09-28
BIG ATTEMPTS AT
 STRIKES FAILED
By HOLLAND

several points of view this is now spoken
 of as perhaps the most dangerous of the ventures of that kind made by en- poyes. It looked for some days as
 though a reign of terror had been estab- lshed, similar in principle but of course
 of far less magnitude, to the policy of
 terror which the German armies or their leaders undertook to utilize for the pur-
 pose of subduing Great Britain and
 France But the Pittsburg strike failed chiefly because the public did not sup port the employees in the attitude which they had taken and warmly supported the employment of military forces for the suppression of the strike.
 What had then sometimes been called the Deb's rebellion, which for a few days seemed likely to tie up Chicago and per haps paralyZe railroad transportation is also referred to- Public opinion warmly supported the attitude taken by Pres ident Cleveland, who called out the troops and within few hours after the
 soldiers appeared upon the streets of Chicago that strike was ended.
 1 So also the miners strike in the first administration of President Roosevelt seemed likely for a while, indirectly at | least to tie up American industries and deprive the people of heat for their
 homes. Public opinion did not support
 the anthracite miners in the attitude they
 took in that strike, and it was upon public opinion that President Roosevelt | relied when he took measures whereby | the issue was settled. The President s
 friends knew at the time that if this strike
 could not be ended in any other way he
 would stretch his executive power to
 the limit and in the name of the people, and through executive act take over the
 anthracite mines.
 Public opinion in Boston apparently
 has brought the issue which was begun
 by the withdrawal of the Boston police from service to an end and it was un- doubtedly due to prevailing public opin- ion, according to information received from Boston today, that the leaders oi the Central Labor union announced thai there would be no general sympathetic strike in Boston.
 Sc it is reasoned that judging by tht ! past the iron and steel employees arc l likely to meet with the same experience | which has heretofore been the unvaryins lot of labor organizations when under taking a general strike which while il | progress would seriously effect the indus I trial life of the nation. Moreover appar ently public opinion is centered upon th' statement made by labor leaders tha they are striking because Judge Gary executive head of the United States Stee $ corporation, has declined to receive them That seems a very small and trlfllns ground of grievance. Public opinion ap pears to be so forming as to make l improbable that the striking employe' i will gain popular support, at least 1T the! maintain their strike solely because rep resentation of labor were not received D! Judge Gary. Moreover, with unerrins intuition the public has pointed to ont of the points in the announced demands which labor will make, as the real caus' for the strike Labor demands that com pany unions be abolished. rms IS 0 course a direct hit at the United State Steel corporation. The various skilled artisans in that corporation, such 10 instance as the electrical workers, hay organized their own unions. and hav done it with the approval of the manage ment of the Steel corporation. Judge Gar! and others of the executive commltte have always been willing to meet th recognized heads of these various com pany unions and in fact have sometime sent for them for discussion.
 WHAT THE OBJECTION sS Apparently the objection of the leader in the iron and steel employees union oo feet to the company unions because a long as these are in existence the dlI . ficulty of unionzing the entire Unlte. Steel plants will be very great. But is not for Judge Gary or his associate to say that these company unions mus he abolished Instead the members O - fiji. give them up. At present there ar no indications that they are disposed | do this. It is evident that public opln ion is now strongly disposed to suppor these company unions believing that the have a right to exist. and that they nav r been of benefit both the members or tnes l. unions and to the United states otee ! corporation iteslf.
 Therefore, the feeling is very stron ' that public opinion, which is sometime slow to demonstrate itself, will at las ! make 1t evident that unless the iron an steel employees union can show bette | grounds for beginning a strike whlch Il contained is likely to be harmful Tor 1 time to American industry, and that, toe at the very moment when American pro duction should be speeded up 10 IL highest possibilities then the public WI not support them.
 The impression prevails near here Una there is a rift or split in the America Federation of Labor and that MT tom pers. who is president of the federatioI is fearful lest he cannot control the si. | nation. Had his advice been followed and he spoke not only as an indiVioual | hut as the president of the feoeratioi of Labor, the steel and iron strike woui' have been postponed until after th Washington conference Apparently som of his associates thought best not U .iva heed to his advice and the wonde is whether this difference of view ma! not in itself tend to impair the strengtl ! of the strikers