The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1934-01-13
By WILLIS THORNTON

(Deinocrat STAFF Correspondent
DITTSBURG, Jan 13-Many
i times, during the last four
depression years, / have made
the trip through the steel dis
trict which swings along the
Ohio valley from here in an
arc toward Lake Erie.
And the sight ofythe silent steel
mills, gaunt and stark and cold,
gave me the shivers.
They do not look so today. The
old pail Of smoke hangs over the
river valley, and the glow of coke
ovens brightens the night sky. More
than AIS, 900 men are making steel
in America today.
That is within a few-odd thous-
ands of the 1929 total when pro-
duction was nearly 20 per cent Of
capacity against today's 38 per cent.
Real Benefits Here
, You can't take away from the
MIRA that the shortening of hours
and similar provisions have made it
possible to employ almost as many
1uSM 6S WOEASu at Lie eIdUO la
1929, even though production is far
lower.
In fact, steel authorities here re-
po& an actual shortage of certain
types Of highly skilled labor.
Nobody who pushed through the
crowds that thronged the down.
town canyons Of this city could
doubt that Pittsburgh has benefited
by the MIRA and the recovery pro-
gram.
Not only were Christmas sales :
above last years, but the Uni
yersity of Pittsburgh's careful
figures show . gain of 2 per cent
over 1882, even In November, be-
fore Christmas buying began.
Pittsburgh, another open shop
stronghold, has yielded to labor
much more gracefully than has De-
troit. One of the outstanding re-
suits Of MIRA in the Pittsburgh
area Is the widespread progress in
unionization in fields formerly
closed to organization.
Labor Makes Gain
/ You read much Of coal strikes,
and disputes at the Weirton steel
works, but the fact remains that
the sweeping victories of~the United
Mine Workers In the cial field elec-
TORS match the widespread prog
ress Of the American Federation of
Labor,s Amalgamated union in the
steel Industry.
/, Both these organizations have
reached peaks never before attained
in this area: In addition, there mas
been a speeding up Of the formation
of shop unions. Even the state of
Pennsylvania employees are organic
ing q union at Harrisburg.
The Amalgamated Association of
Iron, Steel and Tin Workers, headed
by the venerable Mike Tighe, works
on contracts which have sliding
scales varying according to produc-
ton, and many plants have well
coined 1t as an alternative to allow
ing radicals to get toehold.
Refuse Union Recognition
But many steel leaders have
faced the union problem In this
way: They will not recognize the
union as such. II their plant work.
ers choose a union leader as their
representative under MIRA, the in
dustrialists will deal with him, as
required by MIRA.
But they deal with him only as
the chosen representative of their
own men, not as the head of an in
ternational organization, which
they refuse to recognize as such.
And the other side Of 1t is put
by q prominent business executive
in these words: Various commu-
nistic or socialistic labor organiza-
tions are springing up, the necessity
for which ia lacking, and which
very definitely have stamped on
such moves the appearance of a
racket.
Must Dust Racketeers
! MANY employees misunderstood
the collective bargaining section of
MIRA, and that misunderstanding Is
increased deliberately by the un-
truthful and unwarranted state
ments Of labor racketeers. The Ia
Dor unions must clean house and
do away with racketeering agents.