Omaha daily bee., 1920-01-04

EN-. In my previous article, 1 nave
from above to the employer.
or in his policy of opposition. Ee
has never treated 'em rough quite
Nthe contrary, as shall show in
o.her articles-but upon the ques-
ton of unionization and collective
bargaining he has been aiamant.
The workers also recognize this
as the crux CT the problem. | cid
not find much complaint of wages
! at Gary, for average wages Of all
employees since 1914 have increased
from $2.93 a day to $6.27 per day,
ll14 per cent. This increase corre-
spends roughly with the increase in
the cost of living. There are also a
considerable number of workr,en at
Gary, especially Of the higher grades.
who 1--we at low rentals in company
Ihouscs or who own their own homes
and some who have been assisted by
| the corporation n buying stock.
These men for the most part did net
strike at all.
asked one group of strikers what
1t was, then, that they wanted. Ev-
e-y one of them had been working in
the Gary mills; every one OF them
spoke English well-two were OF
! pure American stock, one was OF
Dutch ancestry. two Irish, one Eng
lsh. two Serbian, three Polish.
Striking for Freedom"
Since l am trying to show exactly
how the strike looks from below, ]
an going to put down exactly the
answer I got:
1--WE are striking for freedom"
"What do you mean by freedoms" !"
ASKED.
"WelI, the righ. to have our CT
eanizations, the right to employ rer--
resentatives to act for us, just as tl,e
Steel corporation does, and the right
to bargain collectively with the, ein-
ployers for our labor" \
found this group OF men very in
telligent. They told me that it had
been the settled policy of the Steel
corporation from the beginning tc
fight unionism, and one of them
handed me a publication containing
a copy of aresolution passed by the
Steel corporation on June II, 1901
six weeks after its organization
(Which I have since verified: it ap
pears IN the reports of the United
States Bureau of Labor, as follows
That we are unalterab1y opposed
TO any extension OF union labor, and
advise subsidiary companies to take
firm position when these questions
come tip, and say that they are not
going to recognize it, that is. any eX-
tersion of unions IN mills where they
do not now exist, that great care
should be taken to prevent troIblc
and that they promptly report and
confer with this corporation"
While Judge Gary testified before
the senate committee that men were
mot discharged for belonging to I'M
ions, the strikers not only assert
here at Gary, but witnesses from the
Pennsylvania mills asserted before
the senate committee that many
such discharges had been made.
"Oh. the foreman doesn't say,
You're a union man, get out But
every movement, every whisper II.
the mill is known. If we have
meeting. we know there is spy itl-
side, or else the foreman or other Of
fcials. come and stand outside the
hall, and watch the men go in. Let
man try to get the workers together,
try to organize, and some day he'll
get his pink slip because he's had an
accident, or for one of hundred
small excuses"
Whatever may be the instructions
from Judge Gary, this is what the
strikers everywhere in the steel dis
tricts believe. Indeed, the second de-
mand of the II that they made when
they struck reads thus:
Reinstatement of men discharged
for union activities with pay for time
lost"
Foreigners and Unionism.
Another thing they believe. is that
foreigners of so many nationalities,
who are now accused of causing
most of the trouble, were deliber-
ately brough: in by the employers in
order to make organization impos-
sible. The difficulties inc the way OF
,unionizing ignorant men speaking 20
or so different languages are, Of
course, almost insarmountable. But
the company denies this" said.
"Of course they do-but look at
this advertisement"
And they handed me copy of ar
advertisement in the Pittsburgh Ga
zette-Times Of July IA, 1909 (Which
also verihed).
"Wanted-Sixty tip-house men,
timers, catchers and helpers to
work in open shops; Syrians, Poles
and Roumanians preferred; steady
employment and good wages to men