The Sisseton weekly standard. (Sisseton, Roberts County, S.D.) 1892-1929, 1920-08-27

REPORT FLAYS
STEEL BARONS
UN-aNlERlCAN CONDITIONS. NOT
EOI-SHEvISNf, CAUSED
STRIKE
Trust Gouses Public And Puts Spies
On Government as Well
as on Labor
Ey A. q. GILBERT

~.
That no~ famous report on work
ing conditions In the steel Industry
by the Interchurch World Move
ment is not radical report.
1t was made under the direction
OF prominent churchmen and signed
by them They had been asked
when the drive for church funds
started TO adopt a resolution con-
demntng the strikers. Instead of
acting thus. on financial dictation,
they voted to make careful survey
and then do the resolving.
This was the logical. honest, chris
tian thing to do; yet this simple act
of independence brought on the
movement the wrath OF the great
financial interests.
Not only We're promises OF finan-
cial support treated as scraps of
paper, but spies Of the trust follow.
ed the investigators about and desks
OF the churchmen were broken open
In the hope of destroying the report
before 1t could be made public.
These church leaders found con-
ditions OF work and living which
conflicted with the laws of God and
man. and consequently they could
not resolve against the steel strikers.
The causes of the strike,'' says
their report. clay in the hours,
wages and control OF Jobs and in
4 the manner in which all these were
fixed
'Cl.i!late control OF the plants
was vested in a small group of fin
anciers whose relation to the pro-
\ ducing force was remote. The fin
ancial groups machinery of control
gave it full knowledge of output and
| dividends but negligible information
of working and living conditions"
Thing Found
These investigators could not find
that bolshevism. OF which the kept
press had so much to say. but they
/ did find
1. That more than So per cent
OF the workers had l2-hour day in
what is probably the hardest work
in the world and about the most
dangerous. and that about half of
these 12hour men also had the
seven-day week
.. That the 12-hour day sched-
ule is compulsory. as is the 18-hour
or 24-hour or 36-hour turn which
usually accompanies this schedule.
3. That teh average steel work
er's week in 1919 was "a hours
longer than in 1914 and IL hours
longer than in 1910.
T. That In return for these hours
two thirds OF the iron and steel work
ers earn from S to 25 per cent less
than the government estimate for
IAN American standard OF living
for an average family.
$. That in its endeavor to keel
unionism out of the plants the com
iation. uses blacklists. "undercove,
men" aud labor detectives and In.
fluences the press. pulpit and police
authorities
8. Tha. the result OF this policy
is decentralization of fawily and com.
munity life; extreme congestion and
unsanitary living conditions in stee
districts: impossibillty OF nigh
school attendance or other Ameri
canisation measures; limitation O
the right Of free speech and full cit
;zenship in the steel communities.
z. That the company spies exten,
their work to all corners. the Uni
ted States government being subjec
to their activity as we'll as labor.
Wages Lower
s. That steel labor rates are tn
same or lower than In similar indus
tries, if earnings are compared OF
basis of equal hours. Comparisol
Of common labor steel earnings wit
common labor in five other majo
Industries IN the Pittsburgh distric
shows steel labor the lowest paid o
all.
8. That skilled labor was pail
wages disproportionate to the earn
'nes OF the other two-thirds. thu
binding the skilled class to the CON
CONTINUED on Page 81