The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-02-26
SPARROW'S POINT,
SCHWAB EMPIRE,
is UNORCANIzED
Puts Over w a g e Cuts
by Degrees
By JOSEPH MANLEY.

Baltimore, Maryland, to one or q
gastronomic turn of mind, recalls vi
.sions Of oysters while to one inclined
to literature, it stands for the rapier
like wit of Henry L. Mencken and the
poetry of Edgar Allen Poe; being the
home of the former and the burial
place Of the latter. Baltimore, to the
revolutionist, suggests modern Ameri-
can methods of capitalist exploita-
ton; for close to the city proper, at
Sparrow's Point is the famous, or in
Z famous, steel plant of Charles M.
{ Schwab.
~This steel plant is one of the most
modern in the world; its methods of
exploiting the workers, it's use of
skilled labor-saving machinery and
manner of providing homes" for its
employees are the very latest. The
plant is situated on a peninsula that
juts out into the bay. This peninsula
also provides accommodation to the
company town" which houses thou
sands of the steel workers.
Schwab's Little Empire.
Except for roundabout road, the
only entry to this company town"
and plant is by street car or train,
both of which run over trestle built
on piles driven into the surrounding
water The steel company dicks or
cops usually inspect" all who get of
both street car or train in this pri-
vately owned domain. The writer
ran this gauntlet during the days of
the steel organizing campaign and
found town of several thousand
steel slaves buying their homes" and
groceries from the same man
Charles Schwab. The big general
store, the churches and the school are
all dominated by the Bethlehem Steel
corporation.
This corporation has introduced
scientific method of cutting wages.
Every other month or so for almost
the past year, small cuts of l per cent
or 2 per cent on every ton of steel
produced by the steel worker has
been inaugurated. This was to avoid
arousing the men by sharp reduc-
ton and to make the cumulative re-
duction still greater. This strategy
has been successful for the company.
= as.- Ways Of Cutting Wages.
However, they are not content with
merely a reduction of the workers
tonnage price. Now they are engaged
in the Introduction of machinery that
will tend to eliminate the few remain
ing and relatively high priced and
highly skilled men in the industry.
Mechanical doublers operated by COM
mon labor making $500 or $500 per
day, in place of the skilled doubler
making $1,000 or $14.O0 per day, is an
accomplished fact.
These mechanical doubling ma
chimes are apparently successful and
will, no doubt, be introduced thruout
the industry. Representative from
other steel plants at Woodlawn, Pa;
Weirton. w. Va; McKeesport, Pa;
and Canonsburg, Pa, have been close
ly watching the operation of these
mechanical doublers and all indica-
tons point to their introduction into
these respective plants.
Only Hope is Left Wing.
What proposal has mike" Tighe
to make against this destruction of
this last vestige of skill in the steel
industry upon which "his" union is
based? Not Tighe, but the left wing,
yes, the revolutionists in the Anal
gamated Association of Iron, Steel
and Tin Workers, see this revolution
in the steel industry. It is they who
possess the vision and ability to or
ganize such plants as the one at Spar
rows Point, Maryland