The labor world., 1921-11-26
DOES THE ESP|ONA CE SYSTEMIN
INDUSTRY PAY IN THE LONG RuN?t
By HI. j. CONWAY.

! BY HI. j. CONWAY.
Who is more despicable than a
spy? Who sinks lower in the esti-
nation Of his associates than the in
dividual who cloaks his real purpose
to betray under the guise of fellow
ship? u
! Should these two questions be
placed before the public there is no
doubt but what the great majority
would denounce the practice with the
verdict, Monet"
| industrial espionage is confined to
America: what espionage there is in
/ Europe is a government monopoly;
no other civilized country tolerates
large scale, privately owned, labor
spying"
Yet the spy system in industry is
being maintained by the organized
| employers and recent disclosures of
| it's scope and extent have caused in
dignation and censure on the part of
those-and there ara still many-who
believe in fair play and honest deal
ings. It has alienated much sympa-
thy for the employers and it has not
succeeded in disorganizing trade
unionism.
The Interchurch World Movement
commission has made deep study
of conditions as were revealed in the
steel. industries at the time Of the
last strike and have fearlessly re-
ported the contemplate practice of
hiring workers to spy upon their fell
low men. Their report on this sub
ject caused no little stir. the effects
of which were far-reaching and have
not yet diminished.
An item appearing in a recent issue
of the Chicago Daily Tribune, refer
| ring to this subject, says:
widespread systems Of espionage
are an integral part of the anti-union
policy Of great industrial corpora
tions, according to the supplementary
report on the. steel strike of 1919.
made public by the commission Of
inquiry OF the interchurch movement.
The most important of the supple
mentary report deals with employ
'ment of spies, known as under cover
men," by the steel corporations and
the findings are backed up by hun
dreds Of original documents.
4AS oIOly VI L41O A1IClt4c" VI Ills
commission with E. H. Gary, chair
man of the board of the United States
Steel corporation, when an informal
plan for mediation in the strike was
offered, is made public for the first
time. The. commission recommends
federal investigation of labor detec-
tive agencies looking to their regula-
tion or abolition.
The spy hired by the steel conpa-
nies says the report, worked like a
workman, whispered depressing ru-
mors, stirred up racial strife, and ar
gued failure to the strikers, and "even
in his daily mailed spy reports he
advised not so much 'sluggers' as
influence by municipal authorities to
close up public meeting places"
: 1T is impossible to criticise the
present report on undercover men in
the steel strike as AN exceptional in
stance" says the foreword. Instead
it is a typical spadeful out of the sub
soil of business enterprise Indus
trial espionage is confined to Amer
lea; what espionage there is in Europe
is a government monopoly; no other
civilized country tolerates large scale,
privately owned, LABOR SPYING.
The reports cover the work Of the
labor spies in the town of Monessen,
Pa, during the steel strike. The spies
designated by code numbers such as
Z-16, x-199, No. 203, mixed with the
strikers or held jobs inside the plant
and dressed as workers.
The corporations auxiliary COM
pany professed to have hade 500 "op-
eratives'' at work in the steel strike
and the concerns Pittsburgh mana
ger told the investigator, the report
says, that many Of these men were
inside the unions, frequently as Of
fcers.
S. S. Dewson, resident manager at
Pittsburgh, of the corporation aux
iliaries company is said to have de-
clared "the corporations auxiliary had
men who were officers Of international
unions; that a member of the steel