Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1919-1980, 1921-02-01
True Story of Steel Strike

stoe are If 1919 being published and distributed
1t was this report that smashed the nterchurcn
by causing the withdrawal of financial support oy te %
kings and allied big business interests VINO atep'eo ITO
suppression ... &c ro wall
The investigation made by committee OF nne wen
known churchrnen representing eight denominations On"
included three bishops among it's members Inc pIope o
the strike and conditions steel workers was
painstaking and thorough and the evidence Suo''eo
volumnous.
Briefly summarized, the report finds that many OF Pre
dent Garys statements to wages and conditions were '
horne out by facts that the workers had no means OF making
known their grievances, that an ntolerabe system OF
espionage and backistng is in effect that conV[ol -
vested in small group of nancieers, whose kno"eoge
confined to dividends and output and negbe to labor
conditions.
Labor in the steel and iron industry divided into three
cassesa top third of skilled men, chiefly Americans rest
ing on larger third Of semskled all based tuctuatg
mass of labor promotion being on pleasure OF com
pany representatives Rates Of pay and other conditions
we're based on what accepter by common labor the
unskilled and semskiled largely immigrant labor.
Approximately onehalf the employees were SUBJECTED 70
the II hour day. and onehaf of these to the seven day week.
ess than quarter had working day Of less than ten hours
The average week all employees 68 hours from Il
To 40 hours longer than other basic industries Inc houS
were longer than in 1914 1910 and the percentage OF Il
to IA hour day workers increased
The average wage earnings of over one-third OF all
production iron and steel workers and had been Tor
years. below the level set by government experts as the
minimum of subsistence standard for families OF fVe ana
/ he
level by the government experts as the minimum Ior
comfort for families Of five Nearly three-quarters Oh
the steel workers could not earn enough for an AMERICAN
standard of living and the bulk of sed steel labor earned
less than enough for the famlys minimum exist
ence and the bulk of semsklled labor earned less than
enough for the average familys minimum comfort
The Steel Corporations arbitrary control extended not
only everything within the plants, but outside as WELL
affecting the workers citizens and the social institutions
Civil rights and free speech abrogated and personal
rights violated Racial anpathes were fomened among the
immigrants
The strike was mass movement better condi-
tons In sense there plot conspiracy Charges
of Boshevsm industrial radicam without tounda-
on and the commission finds the strikers justified and the
failure the size of the Steel Corporation the support
rendered it by employers generally by govnment agencies
and by the press Private detective agencies play part IN
constantly fomentng trouble and making life unenduraole
for the toiler who is little more than a serf
The report shows that the United States Steel Corporation
was abundanty able pay higher and provide better
working conditions for it's profits were greater than It's en-
tire payroll 1t could have paid the total wage and salary
budget second time in both 1918 and 1919 and still had
profit No increases of wages have ever been at dividend
expense.
The Steel Corporation furnishes the garng example
of industrial auocracy in America In respects it is
stronger than the government, for through its financial
connections it controls railroads and steamer lines banks
mines and allied industries, and they in turn control
congress. 1t is responsible for immigration policy
designed to keep its supply of cheap foreign labor for the
protective tariff that has created its mionares at the eX
pese of the public 1t is largely to blame for the mtarsn
which is costing the American people five million dollars
av in times of peace to furnish market for its products
Il The commission recommends that the federal govern
ment set up commission representing both sides and the
public similar the coal strike commission to adjust cond
tons in the steel industry eliminate the II hour day anc
day week readus wage rates and devise an adequate
plan for permanent free conference to regulate conduct
the future for long the causes of grievance remains
trouble is brewing for the future 1t also recommends th
federal investigation and regulation of private defective
! agencies and their connection with the Department o.
| Justice.
II The Interchurch Movement committee deserves com
mendaon for its courage in exposing the most unAmerica
of industrial autocras though its fearessness ke
the Movement This report alone jusfes the effort ant
proves worth while 1t also shows that we have churc
Headers who refuse surrender to Mammon and voice the
= ,lChristian Convictions.