The Connecticut labor news., 1923-11-17

(Continued from Page One.) To- b. their mills at the f. o. b. Pitts burgh price.
 Chicago is a large steel producing center The largest mill in the United States and also the mill of lowest cost of production is located at Gary, Indiana, in the suburbs of Chicago. The second largest mill is located at South Chicago. Under the Pitts burgh Plus" system, steel produced price "plus" the freight from Pitts burgh to Chicago. If Chicago fab ricator or manufacturer bought car load of steel at either of these mills and hauled 1t away in his own trucks, the price would include $6.8o per ton unearned freight from Pittsburgh
 Approximately seventy per cent of all agricultural implements used in the United States are manufactured within a radius of one hundred and fifty miles of Chicago. These manu- lecturers purchasing their steel from Chicago mills must pay the freight from Pittsburgh, which they include in their selling price and pass on to the farmer. A large percentage of the farming implements shipped into your state comes from the Chicago district, which means your farmers are forced to pay the plus" the same as farmers in Illinois, North Dakota or California buying the same kind of farming implements from manufac- turers in the Chicago district.
 It must be obvious to you, there are. seriously affected by this practice and they, together with your indus tries, will continue to suffer as long as Pittsburgh Plus" remains undis- turbed.
 A determined effort is being made to end this vicious prcatice. It had it's origin, naturally, in the west, which is more seriously affected than your section of the country because of the greater difference in freight rates. Four mid-western states-Ill- inois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wiscon- sin-have appropriated, in the aggre gate, the sum of $55,ooo to combat this practice. A great deal of money has been spent by mid-western manu- lecturers who were seriously affected by 1t. The four states Tn question formed "The Associated States Op- posing Pittsburgh Plus" as an organ izat1on to serve as medium tor ef- forts De1nS made to end t11S eXdCt1On, and invited other states to join with them, this invitation entailing no financial obligation.
 The south was first invited to join, because the south, next to the west, is most seriously affected, being de- nied the advantages of the great steel production at Birmingham, Alabama, because of an arbitrary differential of S per ton on steel charged there, despite the fact that Birmingham is at least as low-cost, and probably lower-cost point of production than Pittsburgh.
 The legislatures of II wid-western and southern states have adopted resolutions of protest directed against this practice and g states have, through their governors or attorneys general, joined in this movement.
 The movement Is not sectional. An attempt has been made to obscure the real issue involved by intimations that this is fight of the west against the east. This is not true. While hte campaign against the practice started in the west and expanded first by action of western and southern states, this was only because these two sections were more seriously af- fected.
 Several influential newspapers in the east have recognized this fact Strong expressions of disapproval of Pittsburgh Plus" have emanated