The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1919-10-03
Workers Demand Right Of Free
Speech, Free Assemblage and
Collective Bargaining.

the ground that the committee did
not represent his employees Later the
judge issued a long statement on the
beauties of "the open shop" which, he
said, his corporation is committed to.
The number of men who have re-
sponded to the strike call, however,
seems to have blocked the trusts
plan to make the fight Of its choosing
for the so-called "open" and against
the union shop, which the trust calls
closed" shop.
Many subsidiaries of the trust have
closed their plants, although the man
ayers are issuing statements as hope
ful as those of General Ludendorff
during the closing months Of the great
war.
Officials Of the American Sheet and
Tin Plate company at Gary, Ind,
claim they are satisfied with condi-
tions, but the strikers point to the
north star which is visible for the
first time since the plant was estab-
lished 1t is the first time the north
ern heavens failed to reflect the bright
red glow of the blast furnace, which
obstructed the view of the stars.
Cossacks Busy.
In western Pennsylvania, where the
state cossacks have a free hand to
disperse free assemblage, rioting is
common and many strikers have been
killed and injured Mayor Lysle of
MgKeesport, has denounced the strike
as "unAmerican. This official has
consistently opposed every attempt of
trade unionists in that city to hold
public meetings. In western Pennsyl-
vania the strikers claim unexpected
responses to the call, and steel Off
eials now find that the thousands of
foreigners whom they depended upon,
and who were brought to this country
for that purpose, have joined hands
with the strikers. With in ingrati-
tude that is typical of certain large
employing interests, the steel employ
ers ignore the years of labor at de-
basing conditions by these aliens and
the public is now told that only for
eigners" are on strike.
In the plants of the United States
Steel Corporation the CLOSED" shop
principle has been applied from the
birth of the steel trust. Their plants
are closed to union men. When it is
known that workman is identified
with union, be it far remote from
the steel industry, he is summarily
discharged.
The company "police" are playing
their we'll known tricks in the strike.
Their habit is to provoke disorder
among the strikers, get them angered
and then attack them. If this strike
does nothing else for America it will
spell the end of private police" and
of the use of state police to aid en-
ployers to defeat the lawful aims and
purposes of the workers. That will be
its first great blessing.
Like Hired Gunmen
The state police, in such trust
ridden state as Pennsylvania, are as
bad as hired gunner. Read this from
the Associated Press:-At Farrell
twenty state troopers (Cossacks) at
tempted to disperse a crowd of strik
ers and their sympathizers at Staun-
ton street and Greenfield avenue in
the heart of the business district. The
rioting (they thus caused) was over
in few minutes. Five or six volleys
of shot were fired by the police. The
crowd scattered and four men were
found lying in the streets"
This did not happen in Bolshevik
Russia, but in the United States of
America, where we love democracy
and justice and freedom, but where by
habit we treat violation of these sac
red maxims of human liberty as a
mere passing event We seldom give
heed to the state Of mind in which
the victims of such abuses are left,
and then we wonder what makes Boil
shevists in America.
Hits East Hard.
The strike is felt the hardest in the
heart of the steel industry from Pitts