The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-12-15
CHARGE THAT STEEL
 COMPANIES FIGHT UNION CONTRACTORS
Testimony at Inquiry Shows Firms Were Forced Out of Business for Employing
 Union Labor
By Associated Press

New York. December 14.-Testimony that the Bethlehem Steel company, ths United States Steel corporation and manufacturers of fabricated steel are blocking building operations in New York and other cities by attempting to force their "open snop' policy upon builders who employ union men was heard today by the joint legislative committee investigat ting the alleged building trust
 Enforcement of the "open shop principle in steel construction in New York and Philadelphia it was testified is merely the opening wedge" of ths system which was to be extended throughout the country. Despite per- sonal appeals to Eugene Grace. presi- dent of the Bethlehem Steel company. and Charles NJ. Schwab chairman of
 the board, Paul Starrett, president of
 the George A. Fuller Co.,, and Louis
 Horowitz, president of the Thompson
 starrett Co.,, two of the largest con
 struction companies in the United
 States. testified they were unable to
 purchase structural steel direct for
 erection under union shop conditions.
 They declared they had been virtuaI-
 ly driven out of the steel erection busi-
 ness because of their employment os
 union men and had to have all their
 structural work done by members ot
 the Iron league of New York or the
 National Erectors association, thus in- creasing the cost of construction work. ALLEGED OPEN SHOP" Besides inquiring into the alleged i "open shop" domination of steel manu- lecturers, the committee also began
 an inquiry into the alleged combina- ton of bridge builders and structural
 steel workers organization, the Bridgs Builders and Structural socIety--w hich includes in it's membership the Ameri- can Bridge company, subsidiary of
 the United States Steel corpora ton, and the Bethlehem Steel Bridge com- pany.
 George Clifford secretary of ths
 society, admitted it's 20 members had a system of exchanging bids and that it's book of rules contained pro- visions whereby estimates could by re- vised to meet outside competition. Hs said Vice President Earle of the Beth- lehem Bridge Steel company is head oe
 the society.
 The National Association of Steel Fabrcators also was brought under 1 the committees fire while Mir. Clifford was on the stand. as he was acting secretary of tho organization. Despits l the denial of the witness that the or- ganization was not formed to deal
 mainly with labor conditions" Samuel l untermyer, the committees counsel.I | read extracts from it's minutes show-l 1 ing it had been supporting the open
 shop" movement.
 ls interiocked in the association, Mr, l Clifford said, was the structural so-l
 ciety, the Structural Steel society. ths National Erectors association and the I American Erectors association. The or-f l ganizations included in their members -t l ship virtually all of the bridge and
 structural steel manufacturers of the | country.
 l Minutes of the association disclosed | that Walter Drew, attorney for the National Erectors' association, had ap~ | peared before steel fabricators and | told of the open shop tidal wave just l now sweeping the country, and urged employers to consolidate the ground l being gained" but warned them not to l take advantage of the present break 1 in their favor and cut wages"