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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/36032-8.txt b/36032-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a0e5806 --- /dev/null +++ b/36032-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8337 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Steel Strike and its Lessons, by +William Z. Foster + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Great Steel Strike and its Lessons + +Author: William Z. Foster + +Release Date: May 5, 2011 [EBook #36032] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT STEEL STRIKE AND *** + + + + +Produced by Odessa Paige Turner, Barbara Kosker and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + THE + GREAT STEEL STRIKE + AND ITS LESSONS + + + by + + + WILLIAM Z. FOSTER + + + + +THE GREAT STEEL STRIKE AND ITS LESSONS + + + + +[Illustration: PENNSYLVANIA LAW AND ORDER State Police driving peaceful +citizens out of business places, Clairton, Pa. _Photo by +International_] + + + + +THE GREAT STEEL STRIKE AND ITS LESSONS + + + + +BY +WILLIAM Z. FOSTER + + + + +INTRODUCTION BY +JOHN A. FITCH + + + + +NEW YORK +B. W. HUEBSCH, INC. +MCMXX + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY B. W. HUEBSCH, INC. +PRINTED IN U. S. A. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +Half a million men are employed in the steel industry of the United +States. At a period in which eight hours is rapidly coming to be +accepted as the standard length of the working day, the principal mills +in this industry are operating on a 12-hour work schedule, and many of +their workmen are employed seven days in every week. These half million +men have, for the most part, no opportunity to discuss with their +employers the conditions of their work. Not only are they denied the +right of bargaining collectively over the terms of the labor contract, +but if grievances arise in the course of their employment they have no +right in any effective manner to take up the matter with their employer +and secure an equitable adjustment.[1] The right even of petition has +been at times denied and, because of the organized strength of the steel +companies and the disorganized weakness of the employees, could be +denied at any time. + +The right of workers in this country to organize and to bargain +collectively is unquestioned. On every hand the workers are exercising +this right in order to protect and advance their interests. In the steel +mills not only is the right generally denied but the attempt to exercise +it is punished by expulsion from the industry. Through a system of +espionage that is thoroughgoing and effective the steel companies know +which of their employees are attending union meetings, which of them are +talking with organizers. It is their practice to discharge such men and +thus they nip in the bud any ordinary movement toward organization. + +Their power to prevent their employees from acting independently and in +their own interest, extends even to the communities in which they live. +In towns where the mayor's chair is occupied by company officials or +their relatives--as was the case during the 1919 strike in Bethlehem, +Duquesne, Clairton and elsewhere--orders may be issued denying to the +workers the right to hold meetings for organizing purposes, or the +police may be instructed to break them up. Elsewhere--as in Homestead, +McKeesport, Monessen, Rankin and in Pittsburgh itself--the economic +strength of the companies is so great as to secure the willing +cooperation of officials or to compel owners of halls and vacant lots to +refuse the use of their property for the holding of union meetings. + +One who has not seen with his own eyes the evidences of steel company +control in the towns where their plants are located will have difficulty +in comprehending its scope and power. Social and religious organizations +are profoundly affected by it. In many a church during the recent +strike, ministers and priests denounced the "agitators" and urged the +workmen in their congregations to go back to the mills. Small business +men accepted deputy sheriffs' commissions, put revolvers in their belts +and talked loudly about the merits of a firing squad as a remedy for +industrial unrest. + +For twenty or more years in the mill towns along the Monongahela--since +1892 in Homestead--the working men have lived in an atmosphere of +espionage and repression. The deadening influence of an overwhelming +power, capable of crushing whatever does not bend to its will, has in +these towns stifled individual initiative and robbed citizenship of its +virility. + +The story of the most extensive and most courageous fight yet made to +break this power and to set free the half million men of the steel mills +is told within the pages of this book by one who was himself a leader in +the fight. It is a story that is worth the telling, for it has been told +before only in fragmentary bits and without the authority that comes +from the pen of one of the chief actors in the struggle. + +Mr. Foster has performed a public service in setting down as he has the +essential facts attendant upon the calling of the strike. The record of +correspondence with Judge Gary and with President Wilson indicates +clearly enough where responsibility for its occurrence lies. It answers +the question also of who it was that flouted the President--the strike +committee that refused to enter into a one sided truce, or Judge Gary, +who would not accept Mr. Wilson's suggestion that he confer with a union +committee, but who was willing to take advantage of the proposed truce +to undermine and destroy the union. + +This thoughtful history, remarkably dispassionate upon the whole, +considering the fact that the author was not only an actor in the events +he describes but the storm center of a countrywide campaign of +slanderous falsehood, is an effective answer to those whose method of +opposing the strike was to shout "Bolshevism" and "Revolution." Not thus +are fomenters of revolution accustomed to write. It is this very quality +which will make the book of great value both to the student and to the +labor organizer. Never before has a leader in a great organizing +campaign like the one preceding the steel strike sat down afterward to +appraise so calmly the causes of defeat. Explanations of failure are +common, usually in the form of "alibis." Mr. Foster has been willing to +look the facts steadily in the face and his analysis of the causes of +the loss of the strike--laying the responsibility for it at the doors of +the unions themselves--cannot fail to be helpful to every union leader, +no matter what industry his union may represent. On the other hand his +account of such a feat as the maintenance of a commissary adequate to +meet the needs of the strikers at a cost of $1.40 per man is suggestive +and encouraging to the highest degree. This achievement must stand as a +monument to the integrity and practical ability of the men who conducted +the strike. + +It is with no purpose of underwriting every statement of fact or of +making his own every theory advanced in the book that the writer +expresses his confidence in it. It is because the book as a whole is so +well done and because the essential message that it conveys is so true, +that it is a pleasure to write these words of introduction. Other books +have been written about the steel industry. Some have concerned +themselves with metallurgy, others with the commercial aspects of steel +manufacture, and still others with certain phases of the labor problem. +This book is different from all the others. It sets forth as no other +book has, and as no other writer could, the need of the workers in this +great basic industry for organization, and the extreme difficulty of +achieving this essential right. It shows also in the sanity, good +temper, and straightforward speech of the author what sort of leadership +it is that the steel companies have decreed their workers shall not +have! + + JOHN A. FITCH. + _New York, June 4, 1920._ + +FOOTNOTE: + +[1] See for example Judge Gary's testimony before the Senate Committee +investigating the steel strike--October 1, 1919, pp. 161-162, of +committee hearings. He told of a strike which occurred because a +grievance remained unadjusted after a committee of the workers had tried +to take it up with the management. The president of the company involved +was for crushing the strike without knowing what the grievance was or +even of the existence of the committee. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + + INTRODUCTION v + + CHAPTER + + I. THE PRESENT SITUATION 1 + + The strike--"Victory" of the employers--Industrial + democracy abroad, industrial serfdom at home--What + the workers won--The outlook. + + II. A GENERATION OF DEFEAT 8 + + The urge for mastery--Democratic resistance--The + Homestead strike--The strikes of 1901 and 1909-- + The Steel Trust victorious. + + III. THE GIANT LABOR AWAKES 16 + + A bleak prospect--Hope springs eternal--A golden + chance--Disastrous delay--The new plan--A lost + opportunity--The campaign begins--Gary fights + back. + + IV. FLANK ATTACKS 28 + + A sea of troubles--The policy of encirclement--Taking + the outposts--Organizing methods--Financial systems-- + The question of morale--Johnstown. + + V. BREAKING INTO PITTSBURGH 50 + + The flying squadron--Monessen--Donora--McKeesport-- + Rankin--Braddock--Clairton--Homestead--Duquesne--The + results. + + VI. STORM CLOUDS GATHER 68 + + Relief demanded--The Amalgamated Association moves--A + general movement--The conference committee--Gompers' + letter unanswered--The strike vote--Gary defends steel + autocracy--President Wilson acts in vain--The strike call. + + VII. THE STORM BREAKS 96 + + The Steel Trust Army--Corrupt officialdom--Clairton-- + McKeesport--The strike--showing by districts--A + treasonable act--Gary gets his answer. + + VIII. GARYISM RAMPANT 110 + + The White Terror--Constitutional Rights denied-- + Unbreakable solidarity--Father Kazincy--The Cossacks + --Scientific barbarity--Prostituted courts--Servants + rewarded. + + IX. EFFORTS AT SETTLEMENT 140 + + The National Industrial Conference--The Senate + committee--The red book--The Margolis case--The + Interchurch World Movement. + + X. THE COURSE OF THE STRIKE 162 + + Pittsburgh district--The railroad men--Corrupt + newspapers--Chicago district--Federal troops at Gary + --Youngstown district--The Amalgamated Association-- + Cleveland--The Rod and Wire Mill strike--The Bethlehem + plants--Buffalo and Lackawanna--Wheeling and Steubenville + --Pueblo--Johnstown--Mob rule--The end of the strike. + + XI. NATIONAL AND RACIAL ELEMENTS 194 + + A modern Babel--Americans as skilled workers--Foreigners + as unskilled workers--Language difficulties--The Negro + in the strike--The race problem. + + XII. THE COMMISSARIAT--THE STRIKE COST 213 + + The Relief organization--Rations--System of distribution + --Cost of Commissariat--Steel Strike Relief Fund--Cost of + the strike to the workers, the employers, the public, the + Labor movement. + + XIII. PAST MISTAKES AND FUTURE PROBLEMS 234 + + Labor's lack of confidence--Inadequate efforts--Need of + alliance with miners and railroaders--Radical leadership + as a strike issue--Railroad shopmen, Boston police, miners, + railroad brotherhood strikes--Defection of Amalgamated + Association. + + XIV. IN CONCLUSION 255 + + The point of view--Are trade unions revolutionary?--Camouflage + in social wars--Ruinous dual unionism--Radicals should + strengthen trade unions--The English renaissance--Tom Mann's + work. + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + Pennsylvania Law and Order _Frontispiece_ + + FACING PAGE + + National Committee Delegates 38 + + Strike Ballot 78 + + Cossacks in Action 122 + + Mrs. Fannie Sellins, Trade Union Organizer 148 + + Steel Trust Newspaper Propaganda 188 + + John Fitzpatrick 216 + + A Group of Organizers 244 + + + + +THE GREAT STEEL STRIKE AND ITS LESSONS + + + + +THE GREAT STEEL STRIKE AND ITS LESSONS + + + + +I + +THE PRESENT SITUATION + + THE STRIKE--"VICTORY" OF THE EMPLOYERS--INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY + ABROAD, INDUSTRIAL SERFDOM AT HOME--WHAT THE WORKERS + WON--THE OUTLOOK + + +The great steel strike lasted three months and a half. Begun on +September 22, 1919, by 365,600 men quitting their places in the iron and +steel mills and blast furnaces in fifty cities of ten states, it ended +on January 8, 1920, when the organizations affiliated in the National +Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers voted to permit the +100,000 or more men still on strike to return to work upon the best +terms they could secure. + +The steel manufacturers "won" the strike. By forcing an unconditional +surrender, they drove their men back to the old slavery. This they +accomplished in their wonted and time-honored way by carrying on a reign +of terror that outraged every just conception of civil and human rights. +In this unholy task they were aided by a crawling, subservient and +lying press, which spewed forth its poison propaganda in their behalf; +by selfish and indifferent local church movements, which had long since +lost their Christian principles in an ignominious scramble for company +favors; and by hordes of unscrupulous municipal, county, state and +federal officials, whose eagerness to wear the steel collar was equalled +only by their forgetfulness of their oaths of office. No suppression of +free speech and free assembly, no wholesale clubbing, shooting and +jailing of strikers and their families was too revolting for these Steel +Trust[2] hangers-on to carry out with relish. With the notable exception +of a few honorable and courageous individuals here and there among these +hostile elements, it was an alignment of the steel companies, the state, +the courts, the local churches and the press against the steel workers. + +Upon the ending of the strike the steel workers got no direct +concessions from their employers. Those who were able to evade the +bitter blacklist were compelled to surrender their union cards and to +return to work under conditions that are a shame and a disgrace. They +were driven back to the infamous peonage system with its twelve hour +day, a system which American steel workers, of all those in the world, +alone have to endure. In England, France, Italy and Germany, the steel +workers enjoy the right of a voice in the control of their industry; +they regularly barter and bargain with their employers over the +questions of hours, wages and working conditions; they also have the +eight hour day. One must come to America, the land of freedom, to find +steel workers still economically disfranchised and compelled to work +twelve hours a day. In this country alone the human rights of the steel +workers are crushed under foot by the triumphant property rights of +their employers. + +Who can uphold this indefensible position? Are not our deposits of coal +and iron immeasurably greater, our mills more highly developed, our +labor force more numerous and more skilled than those of any other +country? Who then will venture to assert that American workingmen are +not entitled to exercise all the rights and privileges enjoyed by +European workingmen? If the steel workers of England, or France, or +Italy, or Germany can practice collective bargaining, why not the steel +workers of America? And why should the steel workers here have to work +twelve hours daily when the eight hour day obtains abroad? + +There are a hundred good reasons why the principles of collective +bargaining and the shorter workday should prevail in the steel industry +of America, and only one why they should not. This one reason is that +the industry is hard and fast in the grip of absentee capitalists who +take no part in production and whose sole function is to seize by hook +or crook the product of the industry and consume it. These parasites, in +their voracious quest of profits, know neither pity nor responsibility. +Their reckless motto is "After us the deluge." They care less than +naught for the rights and sufferings of the workers. Ignoring the +inevitable weakening of patriotism of people living under miserable +industrial conditions, they go their way, prostituting, strangling and +dismembering our most cherished institutions. And the worst of it is +that in the big strike an ignorant public, miseducated by employers' +propaganda sheets masquerading under the guise of newspapers, applauded +them in their ruthless course. Blindly this public, setting itself up as +the great arbiter of what is democratic and American, condemned as +bolshevistic and ruinous the demands of almost 400,000 steel workers for +simple, fundamental reforms, without which hardly a pretense of freedom +is possible, and lauded as sturdy Americanism the desperate autocracy of +the Steel Trust. All its guns were turned against the strikers. + +In this great struggle the mill owners may well claim the material +victory; but with just as much right the workers can claim the moral +victory. For the strike left in every aspiring breast a spark of hope +which must burn on till it finally bursts into a flame of +freedom-bringing revolt. For a generation steel workers had been +hopeless. Their slavery had overwhelmed them. The trade-union movement +seemed weak, distant and incapable. The rottenness of steel districts +precluded all thought of relief through political channels. The +employers seemed omnipotent. But the strike has changed all this. Like +a flash the unions appeared upon the scene. They flourished and expanded +in spite of all opposition. Then boldly they went to a death grapple +with the erstwhile unchallenged employers. It is true they did not win, +but they put up a fight which has won the steel workers' hearts. Their +earnest struggle and the loyal support, by money and food, which they +gave the strikers, have forever laid at rest the employers' arguments +that the unions are cowardly, grafting bodies organized merely to rob +and betray the workers. Even the densest of the strikers could see that +the loss of the strike was due to insufficient preparation; that only a +fraction of the power of unionism had been developed and that with +better organization better results would be secured. And the outcome is +that the steel workers have won a precious belief in the power of +concerted action through the unions. They have discovered the Achilles' +heel of their would-be masters. They now see the way out of their +slavery. This is their tremendous victory. + +No less than the steel workers themselves, the whole trade-union +movement won a great moral victory in the steel strike and the campaign +that preceded it. This more than offsets the failure of the strike +itself. The gain consists of a badly needed addition to the unions' thin +store of self-confidence. To trade-union organizers the steel industry +had long symbolized the impossible. Wave after wave of organizing effort +they had sent against it; but their work had been as ineffectual as a +summer sea lapping the base of Gibraltar. Pessimism regarding its +conquest for trade unionism was abysmal. But now all this is changed. +The impossible has been accomplished. The steel workers were organized +in the face of all that the steel companies could do to prevent it. Thus +a whole new vista of possibilities unfolds before the unions. Not only +does the reorganization of the steel industry seem strictly feasible, +but the whole conception that many of the basic industries are immune to +trade unionism turns out to be an illusion. If the steel industry could +be organized, so can any other in the country; for the worst of them +presents hardly a fraction of the difficulties squarely vanquished in +the steel industry. The mouth has been shut forever of that insufferable +pest of the labor movement, the large body of ignorant, incompetent, +short-sighted, visionless union men whose eternal song, when some +important organizing project is afoot, is "It can't be done." After this +experience in the steel industry the problem of unionizing any industry +resolves itself simply into selecting a capable organizer and giving him +sufficient money and men to do the job. + +The ending of the strike by no means indicates the abandonment of the +steel workers' battle for their rights. For a while, perhaps, their +advance may be checked, while they are recovering from the effects of +their great struggle. But it will not be long before they have another +big movement under way. They feel but little defeated by the loss of the +strike, and the trade unions as a whole feel even less so. Both have +gained wonderful confidence in themselves and in each other during the +fight. The unions will not desert the field and leave the workers a +prey to the demoralizing propaganda of the employers, customary after +lost strikes. On the contrary they are keeping a large crew of +organizers at work in an educational campaign, devised to maintain and +develop the confidence the steel workers have in themselves and the +unions. Then, when the opportune time comes, which will be but shortly, +the next big drive will be on. Mr. Gary and his associates may attempt +to forestall the inevitable by the granting of fake eight hour days, +paper increases in wages and hand-picked company unions, but it is safe +to say that the steel workers will go on building up stronger and more +aggressive combinations among themselves and with allied trades until +they finally achieve industrial freedom. So long as any men undertake to +oppress the steel workers and to squeeze returns from the industry +without rendering adequate service therefor, just that long must these +men expect to be confronted by a progressively more militant and +rebellious working force. The great steel strike of 1919 will seem only +a preliminary skirmish when compared with the tremendous battles that +are bound to come unless the enslaved steel workers are set free. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[2] Throughout this book the term "Steel Trust" is used to indicate the +collectivity of the great steel companies. It is true that this is in +contradiction to the common usage, which generally applies the term to +the United States Steel Corporation alone, but it is in harmony with the +facts. All the big steel companies act together upon all important +matters confronting their industry. Beyond question they are organized +more or less secretly into a trust. This book recognizes this situation, +hence the broad use of the term "Steel Trust." It is important to +remember this explanation. Where the writer has in mind any one company +that company is named. + + + + +II + +A GENERATION OF DEFEAT[3] + + THE URGE FOR MASTERY--DEMOCRATIC RESISTANCE--THE HOMESTEAD + STRIKE--THE STRIKES OF 1901 AND 1909--THE STEEL TRUST + VICTORIOUS + + +The recent upheaval in the steel industry was but one link in a long +chain of struggles, the latest battle in an industrial war for freedom +which has raged almost since the inception of the industry. + +The steel manufacturers have always aggressively applied the ordinary, +although unacknowledged, American business principles that our +industries exist primarily to create huge profits for the fortunate few +who own them, and that if they have any other utility it is a matter of +secondary importance. The interests of society in the steel business +they scoff at. And as for their own employees, they have never +considered them better than so much necessary human machinery, to be +bought in the market at the lowest possible price and otherwise handled +in a thoroughly irresponsible manner. They clearly understand that if +they are to carry out their policy of raw exploitation, the prime +essential is that they keep their employees unorganized. Then, without +let or hindrance, wages may be kept low, the work day made longer, +speeding systems introduced, safety devices neglected, and the human +side of the industry generally robbed and repressed in favor of its +profit side; whereas, if the unions were allowed to come in, it would +mean that every policy in the industry would first have to be considered +and judged with regard to its effects upon the men actually making steel +and iron. It would mean that humanity must be emphasized at the expense +of misearned dividends. But this would never do. The mill owners are +interested in profits, not in humanity. Hence, if they can prevent it, +they will have no unions. Since the pioneer days of steel making their +policy has tended powerfully on the one hand towards elevating the +employers into a small group of enormously wealthy, idle, industrial +autocrats, and on the other towards depressing the workers into a huge +army of ignorant, poverty-stricken, industrial serfs. The calamity of it +is that this policy has worked out so well. + +Against this will-to-power of their employers the steel workers have +fought long and valiantly. In the early days of the industry, when the +combinations of capital were weak, the working force skilled, +English-speaking and independent, the latter easily defended themselves +and made substantial progress toward their own inevitable, even if +unrecognized goal of industrial freedom; but in later years, with the +growth of the gigantic United States Steel Corporation, the displacement +of skilled labor by automatic machinery and the introduction of +multitudes of illiterate immigrants into the industry, their fight for +their rights became a desperate and almost hopeless struggle. For the +past thirty years they have suffered an unbroken series of defeats. +Their one-time growing freedom has been crushed. + +At first the fight was easy, and by the later '80's, grace to the +activities of many unions, notable among which were the old Sons of +Vulcan, the Knights of Labor and the Amalgamated Association of Iron, +Steel and Tin Workers, considerable organization existed among the men +employed in the iron and steel mills throughout the country. The +Amalgamated Association, the dominating body, enjoyed great prestige in +the labor movement generally. It consisted almost entirely of highly +skilled men and paid little or no attention to the unskilled workers. In +the heyday of its strength, in 1891, it numbered about 24,000 members. +Its stronghold was in the Pittsburgh district. Its citadel was +Homestead. During the period of its greatest activity some measure of +democracy prevailed in the industry, and prospects seemed bright for its +extension. + +But about that time Andrew Carnegie, grown rich and powerful, began to +chafe uneasily under the restrictions placed upon his rapacity by his +organized employees. He wanted a free hand and determined to get it. As +the first step towards enshackling his workers he brought into his +company that inveterate enemy of democracy in all its forms, Henry C. +Frick. Then the two, Carnegie and Frick, neither of whom gave his +workers as much consideration as the Southern slave holder gave his +bondmen--for chattel slaves were at least assured sufficient food, warm +clothes, a habitable home and medical attendance--began to war upon the +union. They started the trouble in Homestead, where the big mills of the +Carnegie Company are located. In 1889 they insisted that the men accept +heavy reductions in wages, write their agreements to expire in the +unfavorable winter season instead of in summer, and give up their union. +The men refused, and after a short strike, got a favorable settlement. +But Carnegie and Frick were not to be lightly turned from their purpose. +When the contract in force expired, they renewed their old demands, and +thus precipitated the great Homestead strike. + +This famous strike attracted world-wide attention, and well it might, +for it marked a turning point in the industrial history of America. It +began on June 23, 1892, and lasted until November 20 of the same year. +Characterized by extreme bitterness and violence, it resulted in +complete defeat for the men, not only in Homestead, but also in several +other big mills in Pittsburgh and adjoining towns where the steel +workers had struck in support of their besieged brothers in Homestead. +This unsuccessful strike eliminated organized labor from the mills of +the big Carnegie Company. It also dealt the Amalgamated Association of +Iron, Steel and Tin Workers a blow from which it has not yet recovered. +It ended the period of trade-union expansion in the steel industry and +began an era of unrestricted labor control by the employers. At +Homestead Carnegie and Frick stuck a knife deep into the vitals of the +young democracy of the steel workers. + +Recuperating somewhat from the staggering defeat at Homestead, the +Amalgamated Association managed to retain a firm hold in the industry +for a few years longer. Its next big setback, in 1901, was caused by the +organization of the United States Steel Corporation. Foreseeing war from +this monster combination dominated by the hostile Carnegie interests, +the union, presided over at that time by Theodore J. Shaffer, decided to +take time by the forelock and negotiate an agreement that would extend +its scope and give it a chance to live. But the plan failed; the +anti-union tendencies of the employers were too strong, and a strike +resulted. At first the only companies affected were the American Tin +Plate Company, the American Sheet Steel Company and the American Steel +Hoop Company. Finally, however, all the organized men in all the mills +of the United States Steel Corporation were called out, but to no avail; +after a few weeks' struggle the strike was utterly lost. + +The failure of the 1901 strike broke the backbone of the Amalgamated +Association. Still, with characteristic trade-union tenacity, it +lingered along in a few of the Trust plants in the sheet and tin section +of the industry. Its business relations with the companies at this stage +of its decline, according to the testimony of its present President, M. +F. Tighe, before the Senate Committee investigating the 1919 strike, +consisted of "giving way to every request that was made by the companies +when they insisted upon it." But even this humble and pliant attitude of +the once powerful Amalgamated Association was intolerable to the haughty +steel kings. They could not brook even the most shadowy opposition to +their industrial absolutism. Accordingly, early in the summer of 1909, +they served notice upon the union men to accept a reduction in wages and +give up their union. It was practically the same ultimatum delivered by +Carnegie and Frick to the Homestead men twenty years before. With a last +desperate rally the union met this latest attack upon its life. The +ensuing strike lasted fourteen months. It was bitterly fought, but it +went the way of all strikes in the steel industry since 1892. It was +lost; and in consequence every trace of unionism was wiped out of the +mills not only of the United States Steel Corporation, but of the big +independent companies as well. + +Although the union was not finally crushed in the mills until the strike +of 1909, the steel mill owners were for many years previous to that time +in almost undisputed control of the situation. During a generation, +practically, they have worked their will unhampered; and the results of +their policy of unlimited exploitation are all too apparent. For +themselves they have taken untold millions of wealth from the industry; +for the workers they have left barely enough to eke out an existence in +the miserable, degraded steel towns. + +At the outbreak of the World war the steel workers generally, with the +exception of the laborers, who had secured a cent or two advance per +hour, were making less wages than before the Homestead strike. The +constant increase in the cost of living in the intervening years had +still further depressed their standards of life. Not a shred of benefit +had they received from the tremendously increased output of the +industry. While the employers lived in gorgeous palaces, the workers +found themselves, for the most part, crowded like cattle into the filthy +hovels that ordinarily constitute the greater part of the steel towns. +Tuberculosis ran riot among them; infant mortality was far above normal. +Though several increases in wages were granted after the war began, +these have been offset by the terrific rise in the cost of living. If +the war has brought any betterment in the living conditions of the steel +workers, it cannot be seen with the naked eye. + +The twelve hour day prevails for half of the men. One-fourth work seven +days a week, with a twenty-four hour shift every two weeks. Their lives +are one constant round of toil. They have no family life, no opportunity +for education or even for recreation; for their few hours of liberty are +spoiled by the ever-present fatigue. Furthermore, working conditions in +the mills are bad. The men are speeded up to such a degree that only the +youngest and strongest can stand it. At forty the average steel worker +is played out. The work, in itself extremely dangerous, is made still +more so by the employers' failure to adopt the necessary safety devices. +Many a man has gone to his death through the wanton neglect of the +companies to provide safeguarding appliances that they would have been +compelled to install were the unions still in the plants.[4] Not a +trace of industrial justice remains. The treatment of the men depends +altogether upon the arbitrary wills of the foremen and superintendents. +A man may give faithful service in a plant for thirty years and then be +discharged offhand, as many are, for some insignificant cause. He has no +one to appeal to. His fellow workers, living in constant terror of +discharge and the blacklist, dare not even listen to him, much less +defend his cause. He must bow to the inevitable, even though it means +industrial ruin for him and his family. + +Such deplorable conditions result naturally from a lack of unionism. It +is expecting too much of human nature at this stage of its development +to count on employers treating their employees fairly without some form +of compulsion. Even in highly organized industries the unions have to be +constantly on guard to resist the never-ending encroachments of their +employers, manifested at every conceivable point of attack. For the +workers, indeed, eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. Hence +nothing but degradation for them and autocracy for their employers may +be looked for in industries where they are systematically kept +unorganized and thus incapable of defending their rights, as is the case +in the steel industry. This system of industrial serfdom has served the +steel barons well for a generation. But it is one the steel workers will +never accept. Regardless of the cost they will rebel against it at every +opportunity till they finally destroy it. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[3] Students desiring a full account of the early struggles of the steel +unions are advised to read Mr. John A. Fitch's splendid book, "The Steel +Workers." + +[4] The practice of the different steel companies varies with respect to +safety devices. Some of them are still in the dark ages that all were in +a few years ago, with reckless disregard of human life. Others have made +some progress. Of these the U. S. Steel Corporation is undoubtedly in +the lead, for it has installed many safety appliances and has safety +committees actively at work. At best, however, steel making is an +exceedingly dangerous industry and the risk is intensified by the great +heat of the mills and the long hours of work--the twelve hour day and +the seven day week--which lead inevitably to exhaustion. + + + + +III + +THE GIANT LABOR AWAKES + + A BLEAK PROSPECT--HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL--A GOLDEN CHANCE + --DISASTROUS DELAY--THE NEW PLAN--A LOST OPPORTUNITY--THE + CAMPAIGN BEGINS--GARY FIGHTS BACK + + +From just previous to, until some time after the beginning of the world +war the situation in the steel industry, from a trade-union point of +view, was truly discouraging. It seemed impossible for the workers to +accomplish anything by organized effort. The big steel companies, by +driving the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers from +the mills, had built up a terrific reputation as union crushers. This +was greatly enhanced by their complete defeat of Labor in the memorable +strikes of the structural iron workers, the lake sailors, the iron +miners, and the steel workers at McKees Rocks in 1909, Bethlehem in 1910 +and Youngstown in 1915-16. It was still further enhanced by their +blocking every attempt of the individual trades to re-establish +themselves, and by the failure of the A. F. of L. steel campaign, +inaugurated by the convention of 1909, to achieve even the slightest +tangible results. The endless round of defeat had reduced almost to zero +the trade unions' confidence in their ability to cope with the militant +and rapacious steel manufacturers. + +But as the war wore on and the United States joined the general +slaughter, the situation changed rapidly in favor of the unions. The +demand for soldiers and munitions had made labor scarce; the Federal +administration was friendly; the right to organize was freely conceded +by the government and even insisted upon; the steel industry was the +master-clock of the whole war program and had to be kept in operation at +all costs; the workers were taking new heart and making demands--already +they had engaged in big strike movements in the mills in Pittsburgh +(Jones and Laughlin Company), Bethlehem and Birmingham (U. S. Steel). +The gods were indeed fighting on the side of Labor. It was an +opportunity to organize the industry such as might never again occur. +That the trade union movement did not embrace it sooner was a calamity. + +The writer was one of those who perceived the unparalleled opportunity. +But being at that time Secretary-Treasurer of the committee organizing +the packing industry I was unable to do anything substantial in the +steel situation until the handing down of Judge Alschuler's decision +giving the packing house workers the eight hour day and other vital +concessions enabled me to slacken my efforts in that important movement. +Immediately thereafter, on April 7, 1918, I presented a resolution to +the Chicago Federation of Labor requesting the executive officers of the +American Federation of Labor to call a general labor conference and to +inaugurate thereat a national campaign to organize the steel workers. +The resolution was endorsed by twelve local unions in the steel +industry. It was adopted unanimously and forwarded to the A. F. of L. +The latter took the matter up with the rapidly reviving Amalgamated +Association, and the affair was slowly winding along to an eventual +conference, with a loss of much precious time, when the resolution was +resubmitted to the Chicago Federation of Labor, re-adopted and sent to +the St. Paul convention of the A. F. of L., June 10-20, 1918. It +follows: + + +RESOLUTION #29 + + WHEREAS, the organization of the vast armies of + wage-earners employed in the steel industries is vitally + necessary to the further spread of industrial democracy in + America, and + + WHEREAS, Organized Labor can accomplish this great + task only by putting forth a tremendous effort; therefore, + be it + + RESOLVED, that the executive officers of the A. F. + of L. stand instructed to call a conference during this + convention of delegates of all international unions whose + interests are involved in the steel industries, and of all + the State Federations and City Central bodies in the steel + districts, for the purpose of uniting all these + organizations into one mighty drive to organize the steel + plants of America. + +The resolution was adopted by unanimous vote. Accordingly, a number of +conferences were held during the convention, at which the proposed +campaign was discussed and endorsed. The outcome was that provisions +were made to have President Gompers call another conference, in Chicago +thirty days later, of responsible union officials who would come +prepared to act in the name of their international unions. This involved +further waste of probably the most precious time for organizing work +that Labor will ever have. + +From past events in the steel industry it was evident that in the +proposed campaign radical departures would have to be made from the +ordinary organizing tactics. Without question the steel workers' unions +have always lacked efficiency in their organizing departments. This was +a cardinal failing of the Amalgamated Association and it contributed as +much, if not more than anything else to its downfall. If, when in its +prime, this organization had shown sufficient organizing activity in the +non-union mills, and especially by taking in the unskilled, it would +have so intrenched itself that Carnegie and his henchman, Frick, never +could have dislodged it. But, unfortunately, it undertook too much of +its organization work at the conference table and not enough at the mill +gates. Consequently, more than once it found itself in deadly quarrels +with the employers over the unionization of certain mills, when a live +organizer working among the non-union men involved would have solved the +problem in a few weeks. + +Nor had the other unions claiming jurisdiction over men employed in the +steel industry developed an organizing policy equal to the occasion. +Their system of nibbling away, one craft at a time in individual mills, +was entirely out of place. Possibly effective in some industries, it was +worse than useless in the steel mills. Its unvarying failure served only +to strengthen the mill owners and to further discourage the mill +workers and Organized Labor. It is pure folly to organize one trade in +one mill, or all trades in one mill, or even all trades in all the mills +in one locality, when, at any time it sees fit to do so, the Steel Trust +can defeat the movement by merely shutting down its mills in the +affected district and transferring its work elsewhere, as it has done +time and again. It was plain, therefore, that the proposed campaign +would have to affect all the steel mills simultaneously. It would have +to be national in scope and encompass every worker in every mill, in +every steel district in the United States. + +The intention was to use the system so strikingly successful in the +organization of the packing industry. The committee charged with +organizing that industry, when it assembled, a year before, to begin the +work, found three possible methods of procedure confronting it, each +with its advocates present. It could go along on the old, discredited +craft policy of each trade for itself and the devil take the hindmost; +it might attempt to form an industrial union; or it could apply the +principle of federating the trades, then making great headway on the +railroads. The latter system was the one chosen as the best fitted to +get results at this stage in the development of the unions and the +packing industry. And the outcome proved the wisdom of the decision. In +the steel campaign the unions were to be similarly linked together in an +offensive and defensive alliance. + +But all this relates merely to the shell of the plan behind Resolution +No. 29. Its breath of life was in its strategy; in the way the +organization work was to be prosecuted. The best plans are worthless +unless properly executed. The idea was to make a hurricane drive +simultaneously in all the steel centers that would catch the workers' +imagination and sweep them into the unions _en masse_ despite all +opposition, and thus to put Mr. Gary and his associates into such a +predicament that they would have to grant the just demands of their men. +It was intended that after the Chicago conference a dozen or more +general organizers should be dispatched immediately to the most +important steel centers, to bring to the steel workers the first word of +the big drive being made in their behalf, and to organize local +committees to handle the detail work of organization. In the meantime +the co-operating international unions were to recruit numbers of +organizers and to send them to join the forces already being developed +everywhere by the general organizers. They should also assemble and pay +in as quickly as possible their respective portions of the fund of at +least $250,000 to be provided for the work. The essence of the plan was +quick, energetic action. + +At the end of three or four weeks, when the organizing forces were in +good shape and the workers in the mills acquainted with what was afoot, +the campaign would be opened with a rush. Great mass meetings, built up +by extensive advertising, would be held everywhere at the same time +throughout the steel industry. These were calculated to arouse hope and +enthusiasm among the workers and to bring thousands of them into the +unions, regardless of any steps the mill owners might take to prevent +it. After two or three meetings in each place, the heavy stream of men +pouring into the unions would be turned into a decisive flood by the +election of committees to formulate the grievances of the men and +present these to the employers. The war was on; the continued operation +of the steel industry was imperative; a strike was therefore out of the +question; the steel manufacturers would have been compelled to yield to +their workers, either directly or through the instrumentality of the +Government. The trade unions would have been re-established in the steel +industry, and along with them fair dealing and the beginnings of +industrial democracy. + +The plan was not only a bold one, but also under the circumstances the +logical and practical one. The course of events proved its feasibility. +The contention that it involved taking unfair advantage of the steel +manufacturers may be dismissed as inconsequential. These gentlemen in +their dealings with those who stand in their way do not even know the +meaning of the word fairness. Their workers they shoot and starve into +submission; their competitors they industrially strangle without +ceremony; the public and the Government they exploit without stint or +limit. The year before the campaign began, 1917, when the country was +straining every nerve to develop and conserve its resources, the United +States Steel Corporation alone, not to mention the many independents, +after paying federal taxes and leaving out of account the vast sums that +disappeared in the obscure and mysterious company funds, unblushingly +pocketed the fabulous profit of $253,608,200. + +It now remained to be seen how far the unions would sustain such a +general and energetic campaign. The fateful conference met in the New +Morrison Hotel, Chicago, August 1-2, 1918. Samuel Gompers presided over +its sessions. Representatives of fifteen international unions were +present. These men showed their progressive spirit by meeting many +difficult issues squarely with the proper solutions. They realized fully +the need of co-operation along industrial lines, from the men who dig +the coal and iron ore to those who switch the finished products onto the +main lines of the railroads. Plainly no trade felt able to cope +single-handed with the Steel Trust; and joint action was decided upon +almost without discussion. Likewise the conference saw the folly of +trying to organize the steel industry with each of the score of unions +demanding a different initiation fee. Therefore, after much stretching +of constitutions, the international unions, with the exception of the +Bricklayers, Molders and Patternmakers (who charged respectively $7.25, +$5.00 and $5.00), agreed to a uniform initiation fee of three dollars, +one dollar of which was to be used for defraying expenses of the +national organization work. + +At the same meeting the National Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel +Workers was formed. It was made to consist of one representative from +each of the co-operating international unions. Its given function was to +superintend the work of organization. Its chairman had to be a +representative of the A. F. of L. Mr. Gompers volunteered to fill this +position; the writer was elected Secretary-Treasurer. Including later +additions, the constituent unions were as follows: + + International Brotherhood of Blacksmiths, Drop-Forgers + and Helpers + + Brotherhood of Boilermakers and Iron Ship Builders + and Helpers of America + + United Brick and Clay Workers + + Bricklayers', Masons' and Plasterers' International + Union of America + + International Association of Bridge, Structural and + Ornamental Iron Workers + + Coopers' International Union of North America + + International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers + + International Brotherhood of Foundry Employees + + International Hod Carriers', Building, and Common + Laborers' Union of America + + Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin + Workers + + International Association of Machinists + + International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter + Workers + + United Mine Workers of America + + International Molders' Union of North America + + Patternmakers' League of North America + + United Association of Plumbers and Steam Fitters + + Quarry Workers' International Union of North America + + Brotherhood Railway Carmen of America + + International Seamen's Union of America + + Amalgamated Sheet Metal Workers' International Alliance + + International Brotherhood of Stationary Firemen and + Oilers + + International Union of Steam and Operating Engineers + + International Brotherhood of Steamshovel and Dredgemen + + Switchmen's Union of North America. + +This group of unions, lined up to do battle with the Steel Trust, +represents the largest body of workers ever engaged in a joint movement +in any country. Their members number approximately 2,000,000, and +comprise about one-half of the entire American Federation of Labor. + +So far, so good. The conference had removed the barriers in the way of +the campaign. But when it came to providing the large sums of money and +the numerous crews of organizers that were immediately and imperatively +needed to insure success, it failed dismally. The internationals +assessed themselves only $100 apiece; they furnished only a corporal's +guard of organizers to go ahead with the work; and future reinforcements +looked remote. + +This was a facer. The original plan of a dashing offensive went to smash +instanter, and with it, likewise, the opportunity to organize the steel +industry. The slender resources in hand at once made necessary a +complete change of strategy. To undertake a national movement was out of +the question. The work had to be confined to the Chicago district. This +was admittedly going according to wrong principles. The steel industry +is national in scope and should be handled as such. To operate in one +district alone would expose that district to attacks, waste invaluable +time and give the employers a chance to adopt counter measures against +the whole campaign. It meant playing squarely into Mr. Gary's hands. But +there was no other way out of the difficulty. + +The writer had hoped that the favorable industrial situation and the +organization of the packing industry, which had long been considered +hopeless, would have heartened the trade-union movement sufficiently for +it to attack the steel problem with the required vigor and confidence. +But such was not the case. The tradition of defeat in the steel industry +was too strong,--thirty years of failure were not so easily forgotten. +Lack of faith in themselves prevented the unions from pouring their +resources into the campaign in its early, critical days. The work in the +Chicago district was undertaken, nevertheless, with a determination to +win the hearty support of Labor by giving an actual demonstration of the +organizability of the steel workers. + +During the first week of September the drive for members was opened in +the Chicago district. Monster meetings were held in South Chicago, Gary, +Indiana Harbor and Joliet--all the points that the few organizers could +cover. The inevitable happened; eager for a chance to right their +wrongs, the steel workers stormed into the unions. In Gary 749 joined at +the first meeting, Joliet enrolled 500, and other places did almost as +well. It was a stampede--exactly what was counted upon by the movers of +Resolution #29. And it could just as well have been on a national scale, +had the international unions possessed sufficient self-confidence and +given enough men and money to put the original plan into execution. In a +few weeks the unions would have been everywhere firmly intrenched; and +in a few more the entire steel industry would have been captured for +trade unionism and justice. + +But now the folly of a one-district movement made itself evident. Up to +this time the steel barons, like many union leaders, apparently had +viewed the campaign with a skeptical, "It can't be done" air. But +events in Gary and elsewhere quickly dissipated their optimism. The +movement was clearly dangerous and required heroic treatment. The +employers, therefore, applying Mr. Gary's famous "Give them an extra cup +of rice" policy, ordered the basic eight hour day to go into effect on +the first of October. This meant that the steel workers were to get +thereafter time and one half after eight hours, instead of straight +time. It amounted to an increase of two hours pay per day but the actual +working hours were not changed. It was a counter stroke which the +national movement had been designed to forestall. + +Although this concession really spelled a great moral victory for the +unions its practical effect was bad. Just a few months before the United +States Steel Corporation had publicly announced that, come what might, +there would be no basic eight hour day in the steel industry. Its sudden +adoption, almost over night, therefore, was a testimonial to the power +of the unions. But this the steel workers as a whole could not realize. +In the Chicago district, where the campaign was on, they understood and +gave the unions credit for the winning; but in other districts, where +nothing had been done, naturally they believed it a gift from the +companies. Had the work been going on everywhere when Mr. Gary attempted +this move, the workers would have understood his motives and joined the +unions _en masse_,--the unions would have won hands down. But with +operations confined to one district he was able to steal the credit from +the unions, partially satisfy his men, and strip the campaign of one of +its principal issues. No doubt he thought he had dealt it a mortal +blow. + + + + +IV. + +FLANK ATTACKS + + A SEA OF TROUBLES--THE POLICY OF ENCIRCLEMENT--TAKING THE + OUTPOSTS--ORGANIZING METHODS--FINANCIAL SYSTEMS--THE + QUESTION OF MORALE--JOHNSTOWN + + +Pittsburgh is the heart of America's steel industry. Its pre-eminence +derives from its splendid location for steel making. It is situated at +the point where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers join their murky +waters to form the Ohio, this providing excellent water transportation. +Immense deposits of coal surround it; the Great Lakes, the gateway to +Minnesota's iron ore, are in easy reach; highly developed railway +facilities make the best markets convenient. In the city itself there +are only a few of the larger steel mills; but at short distances along +the banks of its three rivers, are many big steel producing centers, +including Homestead, Braddock, Rankin, McKeesport, McKees Rocks, +Duquesne, Clairton, Woodlawn, Donora, Midland, Vandergrift, +Brackenridge, New Kensington, etc. Within a radius of seventy-five miles +lie Johnstown, Youngstown, Butler, Farrell, Sharon, New Castle, +Wheeling, Mingo, Steubenville, Bellaire, Wierton and various other +important steel towns. The district contains from seventy to eighty per +cent. of the country's steel industry. The whole territory is an amazing +and bewildering network of gigantic steel mills, blast furnaces and +fabricating shops. + +It was into this industrial labyrinth, the den of the Steel Trust, that +the National Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers moved its +office on October 1, 1918, preparatory to beginning its work. Success in +the Chicago district had made it imperative to overcome the original +tactical blunder by extending the campaign, just as quickly as possible, +to a national scope. + +The outlook was most unpromising. Even under the best of circumstances +the task of getting the enormous army of steel workers to thinking and +acting together in terms of trade unionism would be tremendous. But the +disastrous mistake of not starting the campaign soon enough and with the +proper vigor multiplied the difficulties. Unfavorable winter weather was +approaching. This was complicated by the influenza epidemic, which for +several weeks suspended all public gatherings. Then came the end of the +war. The workers had also just been given the basic eight hour day. All +these things tended to still them somewhat and to weaken their interest +in organization. What was left of this interest was almost entirely +wiped out when the mills, dependent as they were on war work, began to +slacken production. The workers became obsessed with a fear of hard +times, a timidity which was intensified by the steel companies' +discharging every one suspected of union affiliations or sympathies. +And to cap the climax, the resources of the National Committee were +still pitifully inadequate to the great task confronting it. + +But worst of all, the steel companies were now on the _qui vive_. The +original plan had been conceived to take them by surprise, on the +supposition that their supreme contempt for Labor and their conceit in +their own power would blind them to the real force and extent of the +movement until it was too late to take effective counteraction. And it +would surely have worked out this way, had the program been followed. +But now the advantage of surprise, vital in all wars, industrial or +military, was lost to the unions. Wide awake and alarmed, the Steel +Trust was prepared to fight to the last ditch. + +Things looked desperate. But there was no other course than to go ahead +regardless of obstacles. The word failure was eliminated from the +vocabulary of the National Committee. Preparations were made to begin +operations in the towns close to Pittsburgh. But the Steel Trust was +vigilant. It no longer placed any reliance upon its usual methods--its +welfare, old age pension, employees' stockholding, wholesale discharge, +or "extra cup of rice" policies--to hold its men in line, when a good +fighting chance to win their rights presented itself to them. It had +gained a wholesome respect for the movement and was taking no chances. +It would cut off all communication between the organizers and the men. +Consequently, its lackey-like mayors and burgesses in the threatened +towns immediately held a meeting and decided that there would be no +assemblages of steel workers in the Monongahela valley. In some places +these officials, who for the most part are steel company employees, had +the pliable local councils hurriedly adopt ordinances making it unlawful +to hold public meetings without securing sanction; in other places they +adopted the equally effective method of simply notifying the landlords +that if they dared rent their halls to the American Federation of Labor +they would have their "Sunday Club" privileges stopped. In both cases +the effect was the same--no meetings could be held. In the immediate +Pittsburgh district there had been little enough free speech and free +assembly for the trade unions before. Now it was abolished altogether. + +At this time the world war was still on; our soldiers were fighting in +Europe to "make the world safe for democracy"; President Wilson was +idealistically declaiming about "the new freedom"; while right here in +our own country the trade unions, with 500,000 men in the service, were +not even allowed to hold public meetings. It was a worse condition than +kaiserism itself had ever set up. This is said advisedly, for the German +workers were at least permitted to meet when and where they pleased. The +worst they had to contend with was a policeman on their platform, who +would jot down "seditious" remarks and require the offenders to report +next day to the police. I remember with what scorn I watched this system +in Germany years ago, and how proud I felt to be an American. I was so +sure that freedom of speech and assembly were fundamental institutions +with us and that we would never tolerate such imposition. But now I have +changed my mind. In Pennsylvania, not to speak of other states, the +workers enjoy few or no more rights than prevailed under the czars. They +cannot hold meetings at all. So far are they below the status of pre-war +Germans in this respect that the comparative freedom of the latter seems +almost like an unattainable ideal. And this deprival of rights is done +in the name of law and patriotism. + +In the face of such suppression of constitutional rights and in the face +of all the other staggering difficulties it was clearly impossible for +our scanty forces to capture Pittsburgh for unionism by a frontal +attack. Therefore a system of flank attacks was decided upon. This +resolved itself into a plan literally to surround the immediate +Pittsburgh district with organized posts before attacking it. The +outlying steel districts that dot the counties and states around +Pittsburgh like minor forts about a great stronghold, were first to be +won. Then the unions, with the added strength, were to make a big drive +on the citadel. + +It was a far-fetched program when compared with the original; but +circumstances compelled it. An important consideration in its execution +was that it must not seem that the unions were abandoning Pittsburgh. +That was the center of the battle line; the unions had attacked there, +and now they must at least pretend to hold their ground until they were +able to begin the real attack. The morale of the organizing force and +the steel workers demanded this. So, all winter long mass meetings were +held in the Pittsburgh Labor Temple and hundreds of thousands of +leaflets were distributed in the neighboring mills to prepare the +ground for unionization in the spring. Besides, a lot of noise was made +over the suppression of free speech and free assemblage. Protest +meetings were held, committees appointed, investigations set afoot, +politicians visited, and much other more or less useless, although +spectacular, running around engaged in. These activities did not cost +much, and they camouflaged well the union program. + +But the actual fight was elsewhere. During the next several months the +National Committee, with gradually increasing resources, set up +substantial organizations in steel towns all over the country except +close in to Pittsburgh, including Youngstown, East Youngstown, Warren, +Niles, Canton, Struthers, Hubbard, Massillon, Alliance, New +Philadelphia, Sharon, Farrell, New Castle, Butler, Ellwood City, New +Kensington, Leechburg, Apollo, Vandergrift, Brackenridge, Johnstown, +Coatesville, Wheeling, Benwood, Bellaire, Steubenville, Mingo, +Cleveland, Buffalo, Lackawanna, Pueblo, Birmingham, etc. Operations in +the Chicago district were intensified and extended to take in Milwaukee, +Kenosha, Waukegan, De Kalb, Peoria, Pullman, Hammond, East Chicago, +etc., while in Bethlehem the National Committee amplified the work +started a year before by the Machinists and Electrical Workers. + +Much of the success in these localities was due to the thoroughly +systematic way in which the organizing work was carried on. This merits +a brief description. There were two classes of organizers in the +campaign, the floating and the stationary. Outside of a few traveling +foreign speakers, the floating organizers were those sent in by the +various international unions. They usually went about from point to +point attending to their respective sections of the newly formed local +unions, and giving such assistance to the general campaign as their +other duties permitted. The stationary organizers consisted of A. F. of +L. men, representatives of the United Mine Workers, and men hired +directly by the National Committee. They acted as local organizing +secretaries, and were the backbone of the working force. The floating +organizers were controlled mostly by their international unions; the +stationary organizers worked wholly under the direction of the National +Committee. + +Everywhere the organizing system used was the same. The local secretary +was in full charge. He had an office, which served as general +headquarters. He circulated the National Committee's weekly bulletin, +consisting of a short, trenchant trade-union argument in four languages. +He built up the mass meetings, and controlled all applications for +membership. At these mass meetings and in the offices all trades were +signed up indiscriminately upon a uniform blank. But there was no "one +big union" formed. The signed applications were merely stacked away +until there was a considerable number. Then the representatives of all +the trades were assembled and the applications distributed among them. +Later these men set up their respective unions. Finally, the new unions +were drawn up locally into informal central bodies, known as Iron and +Steel Workers' councils. These were invaluable as they knit the movement +together and strengthened the weaker unions. They also inculcated the +indispensable conception of solidarity along industrial lines and +prevented irresponsible strike action by over-zealous single trades. + +A highly important feature was the financial system. The handling of the +funds is always a danger point in all working class movements. More than +one strike and organizing campaign has been wrecked by loose money +methods. The National Committee spared no pains to avoid this menace. +The problem was an immense one, for there were from 100 to 125 +organizers (which was what the crew finally amounted to) signing up +steel workers by the thousands all over the country; but it was solved +by the strict application of a few business principles. In the first +place the local secretaries were definitely recognized as the men in +charge and placed under heavy bonds. All the application blanks used by +them were numbered serially. They alone were authorized to sign +receipts[5] for initiation fees received. Should other organizers wish +to enroll members, as often happened at the monster mass meetings, they +were given and charged with so many receipts duly signed by the +secretaries. Later on they were required to return these receipts or +three dollars apiece for them. The effect of all this was to make one +man, and him bonded, responsible in each locality for all paper +outstanding against the National Committee. This was absolutely +essential. No system was possible without this foundation. + +The next step was definitely to fasten responsibility in the transfer of +initiation fees from the local secretaries to the representatives of the +various trade unions. To do so was most important. It was accomplished +by requiring the local secretaries to exact from these men detailed +receipts, specifying not only the amounts paid and the number of +applications turned over, but also the serial number of each +application. Bulk transfer of applications was prohibited, there being +no way to identify the paper so handled. + +The general effect of these regulations was to enable the National +Committee almost instantly to trace any one of the thousands of +applications continually passing through the hands of its agents. For +instance, a steel worker who had joined at an office or a mass meeting, +hearing later of the formation of his local union, would go to its +meeting, present his receipt and ask for his union card. The secretary +of the union would look up the applications which had been turned over +to him. If he could not find one to correspond with the man's receipt he +would take the matter up with the National Committee's local secretary. +The latter could not deny his own signature on the receipt; he would +have to tell what became of the application and the fee. On looking up +the matter he would find that he had turned them over to a certain +representative. Nor could the latter deny his signature on the detailed +receipt. He would have to make good. + +To facilitate the work, district offices were established in Chicago +and Youngstown. Organizers and secretaries held district meetings +weekly. Local secretaries at points contiguous to these centers reported +to their respective district secretaries. All others dealt directly with +the general office of the National Committee. + +It will be recalled that the co-operating unions, at the August 1-2 +conference, agreed that the sum of one dollar should be deducted from +each initiation fee for organization purposes. The collection of this +money devolved upon the National Committee and presented considerable +difficulty. It was solved by a system. The local secretaries, in turning +over to the trades the applications signed up in their offices or at the +mass meetings, held out one dollar apiece on them. For the applications +secured at the meetings of the local unions they collected the dollars +due with the assistance of blank forms sent to the unions. Each week the +local secretaries sent reports to the general office of the National +Committee, specifying in detail the number of members enrolled and +turned over to the various trades, and enclosing checks to cover the +amounts on hand after local expenses were met. These reports were duly +certified by the representatives of the organizations involved, who +signed their names on them at the points where the reports referred to +the number of members turned over to their respective bodies. The whole +system worked well. + +Practical labor officials who have handled mass movements understand the +great difficulties attendant upon the organization of large bodies of +workingmen. In the steel campaign these were more serious than ever +before. The tremendous number of men involved; their unfamiliarity with +the English language and total lack of union experience; the wide scope +of the operations; the complications created by a score of international +unions, each with its own corps of organizers, directly mainly from +far-distant headquarters; the chronic lack of resources; and the need +for quick action in the face of incessant attacks from the Steel +Trust--all together produced technical difficulties without precedent. +But the foregoing systems went far to solve them. And into these systems +the organizers and secretaries entered whole-heartedly. They realized +that modern labor organizations cannot depend wholly upon idealism. They +bore in mind that they were dealing with human beings and had to adopt +sound principles of responsibility, standardization and general +efficiency. + +But another factor in the success of the campaign possibly even more +important than the systems employed was the splendid morale of the +organizers. A better, more loyal body of men was never gathered together +upon this continent. They knew no such word as defeat. They pressed on +with an irresistible assurance of victory born of their faith in the +practicability of the theory upon which the campaign was worked out. + +[Illustration: NATIONAL COMMITTEE DELEGATES + +YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO MEETING, Aug. 20, 1919.--Standing, left to +right: F. P. Hanaway, _Miners_; D. Hickey, _Miners_; C. Claherty, +_Blacksmiths_; R. J. Barr, _Machinists_; H. F. Liley, _Railway Carmen_; +R. L. Hall, _Machinists_; R. T. McCoy, _Molders_; R. W. Beattie, +_Firemen_; J. W. Morton. _Firemen_; P. A. Trant, _Amalgamated +Association_. Seated, left to right: E. Crough, J. D. Cannon, _Mine, +Mill and Smelter Workers_; F. J. Hardison, _Blacksmiths_; J. Manley, +_Iron Workers_; Wm. Hannon, _Machinists_; John Fitzpatrick, _Chairman_; +Wm. Z. Foster, _Sec.-Treasurer_; C. N. Glover, _Blacksmiths_; T. C. +Cashen, _Switchmen_; D. J. Davis, _Amalgamated Association_.] + +The organization of workingmen into trade unions is a comparatively +simple matter when it is properly handled. It depends almost entirely +upon the honesty, intelligence, power and persistence of the organizing +forces. If these factors are strongly present, employers can do little +to stop the movement of their employees. This is because the hard +industrial conditions powerfully predispose the workers to take up any +movement offering reasonable prospects of bettering their miserable lot. +All that union organizers have to do is to place before these +psychologically ripe workers, with sufficient clarity and persistence, +the splendid achievements of the trade-union movement, and be prepared +with a comprehensive organization plan to take care of the members when +they come. If this presentation of trade unionism is made in even +half-decent fashion the workers can hardly fail to respond. It is +largely a mechanical proposition. In view of its great wealth and latent +power, it may be truthfully said that there isn't an industry in the +country which the trade-union movement cannot organize any time it sees +fit. The problem in any case is merely to develop the proper organizing +crews and systems, and the freedom-hungry workers, skilled or unskilled, +men or women, black or white, will react almost as naturally and +inevitably as water runs down hill. + +This does not mean that there should be rosy-hued hopes held out to the +workers and promises made to them of what the unions will get from the +employers once they are established. On the contrary, one of the first +principles of an efficient organizer is never, under any circumstances, +to make promises to his men. From experience he has learned the extreme +difficulty of making good such promises and also the destructive +kick-back felt in case they are not fulfilled. The most he can do is to +tell his men what has been done in other cases by organized workingmen +and assure them that if they will stand together the union will do its +utmost to help them. Beyond this he will not venture. And this position +will enable him to develop the legitimate hope, idealism and enthusiasm +which translates itself into substantial trade-union structure. The wild +stories of extravagant promises made to the steel workers during their +organization are pure tommyrot, as every experienced union man knows. + +The practical effect of this theory is to throw on the union men the +burden of responsibility for the unorganized condition of the +industries. This is as it should be. In consequence, they tend to blame +themselves rather than the unorganized men. Instead of indulging in the +customary futile lamentations about the scab-like nature of the +non-union man, "unorganizable industries," the irresistible power of the +employers, and similar illusions to which unionists are too prone, they +seek the solution of the problem in improvements of their own primitive +organization methods. + +This conception worked admirably in the steel campaign. It filled the +organizers with unlimited confidence in their own power. They felt that +they were the decisive factor in the situation. If they could but +present their case strongly enough, and clearly enough to the steel +workers, the latter would have to respond, and the steel barons would be +unable to prevent it. A check or a failure was but the signal for an +overhauling of the tactics used, and a resumption of the attack with +renewed vigor. At times it was almost laughable. With hardly an +exception, when the organizers went into a steel town to begin work, +they would be met by the local union men and solemnly assured that it +was utterly impossible to organize the steel mills in their town. "But," +the organizers would say, "we succeeded in organizing Gary and South +Chicago and many other tough places." "Yes, we know that," would be the +reply, "but conditions are altogether different here. These mills are +absolutely impossible. We have worked on them for years and cannot make +the slightest impression. They are full of scabs from all over the +country. You will only waste your time by monkeying with them." This +happened not in one place alone, but practically everywhere--illustrating +the villainous reputation the steel companies had built up as union +smashers. + +Side-stepping these pessimistic croakers, the organizers would go on to +their task with undiminished self-confidence and energy. The result was +success everywhere. The National Committee can boast the proud record of +never having set up its organizing machinery in a steel town without +ultimately putting substantial unions among the employees. It made +little difference what the obstacles were; the chronic lack of funds; +suppression of free speech and free assembly; raises in wages; +multiplicity of races; mass picketing by bosses; wholesale discharge of +union men; company unions; discouraging traditions of lost local +strikes; or what not--in every case, whether the employers were +indifferent or bitterly hostile, the result was the same, a healthy and +rapid growth of the unions. The National Committee proved beyond +peradventure of a doubt that the steel industry could be organized in +spite of all the Steel Trust could do to prevent it. + +Each town produced its own particular crop of problems. A chapter apiece +would hardly suffice to describe the discouraging obstacles overcome in +organizing the many districts. But that would far outrun the limits of +this volume. A few details about the work in Johnstown will suffice to +indicate the tactics of the employers and the nature of the campaign +generally. + +Johnstown is situated on the main line of the Pennsylvania railroad, +seventy-five miles east of Pittsburgh. It is the home of the Cambria +Steel Company, which employs normally from 15,000 to 17,000 men in its +enormous mills and mines. It is one of the most important steel centers +in America. + +For sixty-six years the Cambria Company had reared its black stacks in +the Conemaugh valley and ruled as autocratically as any mediæval baron. +It practically owned the district and the dwellers therein. It paid its +workers less than almost any other steel company in Pennsylvania and was +noted as one of the country's worst union-hating concerns. According to +old residents, the only record of unionism in its plants, prior to the +National Committee campaign, was a strike in 1874 of the Sons of Vulcan, +and a small movement a number of years later, in 1885, when a few men +joined the Knights of Labor and were summarily discharged. The +Amalgamated Association, even in its most militant days, was unable to +get a grip in Johnstown. That town, for years, bore the evil reputation +of being one where union organizers were met at the depot and given the +alternative of leaving town or going to the lockup. + +Into this industrial jail of a city the National Committee went in the +early winter of 1918-19, at the invitation of local steel workers who +had heard of the campaign. A. F. of L. organizer Thomas J. Conboy was +placed in charge of the work. Immediately a strong organization spirit +manifested itself--the wrongs of two-thirds of a century would out. It +was interesting to watch the counter-moves of the company. They were +typical. At first the officials contented themselves by stationing +numbers of bosses and company detectives in front of the office and +meeting halls to jot down the names of the men attending. But when this +availed nothing, they took the next step by calling the live union +spirits to the office and threatening them with dismissal. This likewise +failed to stem the tide of unionism, and then the company officials +applied their most dreaded weapon, the power of discharge. This was a +dangerous course; the reason they did not adopt it before was for fear +of its producing exactly the revolt they were aiming to prevent. But, +all else unavailing, they went to this extreme. + +Never was a policy of industrial frightfulness more diabolically +conceived or more rigorously executed than that of the Cambria Steel +Company. The men sacrificed were the Company's oldest and best +employees. Men who had worked faithfully for ten, twenty or thirty years +were discharged at a moment's notice. The plan was to pick out the men +economically most helpless; men who were old and crippled, or who had +large families dependent upon them, or homes half paid for, and make +examples of them to frighten the rest. The case of Wm. H. Seibert was +typical; this man, a highly skilled mechanic, had worked for the Cambria +Company thirty years. He was deaf and dumb, and could neither read nor +write. He was practically cut off from all communication with his fellow +workers. Yet the company, with fiendish humor, discharged him for being +a union agitator. For every worker, discharge by the Cambria Company +meant leaving Johnstown, if he would again work at his trade; for most +of them it brought the severest hardships, but for such as Seibert it +spelled ruin. With their handicaps of age and infirmities, they could +never hope to work in steel mills again. + +For months the Company continued these tactics.[6] Hundreds of union men +were thus victimized. The object was to strike terror to the hearts of +all and make them bow again to the mastery of the Cambria Steel Company. +But the terrorists overshot the mark. Human nature could not endure it. +They goaded their workers to desperation and forced them to fight back, +however unfavorable the circumstances. The National Committee met in +Johnstown and ordered a ballot among the men. They voted overwhelmingly +to strike. A committee went to see Mr. Slick, the head of the Company, +who refused to meet it, stating that if the men had any grievances they +could take them up through the company union. + +This company union played a large part in the drama of Johnstown. It was +organized late in 1918 to forestall the trade unions. Such company +unions are invariably mere auxiliaries to the companies' labor-crushing +systems. They serve to delude the workers into believing they have some +semblance of industrial democracy, and thus deter them from seeking the +real thing. They consist merely of committees, made up for the most part +of hand-picked bosses and "company suckers." There is no real +organization of the workers. The men have no meetings off the property +of the companies; they lack the advice of skilled trade unionists; they +have no funds or means to strike effectively; they are out of touch with +the workers in other sections of the industry. Consequently they have +neither opportunity to formulate their grievances, nor power to enforce +their adjustment. And little good would it do them if they had, for the +lickspittle committees are always careful to see that they handle no +business unless it relates to "welfare" work or other comparatively +insignificant matters. + +Company unions are invariably contemptible. All of them are cursed with +company dictation, and all of them lack the vivifying principles of +democratic control; but it is doubtful if a more degraded specimen can +be found anywhere than that of the Cambria Steel Company. Without a +murmur of protest it watched the company abolish the basic eight hour +day late in 1918. Nor did it raise a finger to help the multitude of +unfairly discharged union men. It habitually pigeonholed all real +grievances submitted to it. But what else could be expected of a +committee from which the company boldly discharged every man who dared +say a word for the workers? + +By referring the men's grievances to the despised company union, Mr. +Slick only added fuel to the fire. A strike loomed threateningly, but +just as it was about to break, Mr. Slick lost his job, presumably +because of his unsuccessful labor policy. He was supplanted by A. A. +Corey, Jr., formerly general superintendent of the Homestead Steel +Works. Thinking perhaps the change in personnel might involve a change +in policy, the committee approached Mr. Corey. He, too, refused to meet +with it, stating publicly that the management would not deal with the +representatives of outside organizations, but would take up the men's +grievances, either through the company union, or "through any other +accredited committee selected by the men in any way that is agreeable to +them from among their own number." The last proposition was acceptable, +and with joy the men held big open mass meetings of union and non-union +men, and elected their committee. But their joy was short-lived. Mr. +Corey, unashamed, wrote the committee that he had acted hastily before, +and said, "I have had no previous experience with arrangements in the +nature of collective bargaining, but a careful survey of this plan +(company union), which I have since had time to make, convinces me that +it makes full and complete provision for every contingency which can +arise between the company and its employees." And then to make the men +like this bitter medicine, the Company discharged an active member of +the committee. All these events consumed many weeks and wore away the +late winter and early spring months. + +Mr. Corey's double-dealing provoked a fresh strike crisis; but by heroic +measures the organizers repressed it. At all times a strike in Johnstown +alone against the united steel companies was considered a move of +desperation, a last resort to be undertaken only because nothing else +could be done. But now relief was in sight. Spring was at hand and the +national movement fast coming to a head. Its committees were knocking at +the doors of the steel companies. The exposed and invaluable Johnstown +position had to be held until this main army could come up and relieve +it. So the Johnstown workers were told that they must refrain from +counter-attacking, that they had to take all the blows heaped upon them +and hold their ground at all costs. + +And right nobly they did it. In spite of the bitterest hardships they +built up and developed their organizations. In this they were +unwittingly but powerfully aided by the company union. Several weeks +before the big strike the officials took the hated general committee to +Atlantic City, wined them and dined them and flattered them, as usual, +and then had them adopt a set of resolutions condemning the national +movement of the steel workers and endorsing long hours, low wages and +heavier production as the remedy for prevailing bad conditions. This +betrayal was the last straw. It provoked intense resentment among the +men. Whole battalions of them, the most skilled and difficult in the +plant to organize, walked down and joined the unions in protest. Almost +3000 enrolled the week after the resolutions were adopted. But it was +always thus. Every move that the Cambria made the unions turned to their +advantage. They outgeneraled the Company at every turn. + +It was almost pitiful to watch the later antics of the haughty and +hitherto unchallenged Cambria Company, humbled in its own town by its +own workers. A few weeks before Labor day the unions, innocently +presuming the mills would be closed as usual on that day, decided to +have a parade. Then the strategical experts of the Company became +active. A warning was issued that every man marching in the parade would +be summarily discharged. The unions would not brook this unwarranted and +cold-blooded attack. They promptly sent word to the Company that if a +single man was discharged the whole plant would be stopped the next day. +It was a clear-cut issue, and Johnstown held its breath. When Labor day +came the city saw the biggest demonstration in its history. Fifteen +thousand organized workers defied their would-be masters and marched. +The Company swiftly backed water. And the next day not a man was +discharged. It was a victory well worth the heroic efforts and suffering +of the previous eight months. + +When the great strike broke on September 22 the Johnstown workers went +into the fight almost one hundred per cent. organized, and with about +the same percentage of grievances. So few men were left in the plant +that the Company had to ask the unions to give them help to shut down +their furnaces, and to keep the fire protection in operation. All the +power of the great corporation, which had made $30,000,000 the year +before, could not forestall the unions. It had no arrow in its quiver +that could strike fear to the hearts of its workers; no trick in its +brain pan that could be substituted for industrial democracy. + +And Johnstown was only one point in the long battle line. Its +experiences were but typical. Each steel town had its own bitter story +of obstacles encountered and overcome. Youngstown, Chicago, Bethlehem, +Cleveland, Wheeling, Pueblo, Buffalo and many other districts, each put +up a hard fight. But one by one, despite all barriers, steel towns all +over the country were captured for unionism. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[5] As a side light on organizing methods, it may be noted that the +temporary receipts were red, white and blue cards. The patriotic +foreigners were proud to carry these emblematic cards pending the time +they got their regular cards. More than one man joined merely on that +account. + +[6] In its war against unionism the Cambria Steel Company held nothing +sacred, not even the church. During the campaign the Reverend George +Dono Brooks, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Johnstown, took an +active part, speaking at many meetings and generally lending +encouragement to the workers. For this crime the company punished him by +disrupting his congregation and eventually driving him from the city, +penniless. + + + + +V + +BREAKING INTO PITTSBURGH + + THE FLYING SQUADRON--MONESSEN--DONORA--McKEESPORT--RANKIN + --BRADDOCK--CLAIRTON--HOMESTEAD--DUQUESNE--THE RESULTS + + +The time was now ripe for a great drive on Pittsburgh, a district which +had been the despair of unionism for a generation. The new strategy of +the National Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers was +succeeding. Pittsburgh had been surrounded by organized posts, +established during the winter. The Chicago district had also been held. +The committee's finances were improving. The crew of organizers was +larger and more enthusiastic than ever. The mills were operating +stronger and stronger. And spring was here. The movement was now ready +for a tremendous effort to capture Pittsburgh, and thus overcome, as far +as might be, the original mistake of not starting the campaign soon +enough and everywhere at the same time. This done, it would put the work +squarely upon the essential national basis. So the assault was ordered +on the stronghold of the Steel Trust. + +First free speech and free assembly had to be established; for the towns +about Pittsburgh were still closed tight against the unions. During the +winter incessant attempts had been made to break the embargo by +political methods, but without avail. In vain a special convention of +all the unions in Western Pennsylvania had appealed to the Governor for +assistance. For a moment the federal Department of Labor displayed a +languid interest and sent a dozen men to investigate conditions. But +until this day their report has never appeared. In answer to inquiries, +the Secretary of Labor is reported to have said that "its publication at +this time would be inadvisable." That may be one reason, and another may +be that the Department, in its eager cooperation with Attorney General +Palmer, in deporting hundreds of workingmen without trials, is so busy +that it hasn't time to attend to such trifles as the wholesale +suppression of constitutional rights in Pennsylvania. + +But in seeking relief no appeal was made to the courts to set up the +rights of the unions. This was for two reasons. First, it would involve +such a loss of time that the chance to organize the steel workers would +have passed long before any decision could be secured. Then, again, +there was no faith that the courts of Pennsylvania would be just, and +the National Committee had no money to carry the fight higher. The +unions conceived their rights to speak and assemble freely too well +established to necessitate court sanction at this late date. Hence, they +determined to exercise them, peacefully and lawfully, and to take the +consequences. At Atlantic City, where the A. F. of L. was in convention, +a dozen presidents of international unions in the steel campaign +expressed their willingness to enter the steel districts, to speak on +the streets, and to go to jail if necessary. + +To carry on the difficult and dangerous free speech fight, and to +oversee generally the organization of the immediate Pittsburgh district, +a special crew of organizers was formed. This was known as "The Flying +Squadron," and was headed by J. L. Beaghen, A. F. of L. organizer and +President of the Pittsburgh Bricklayers' Union. The following brief +references to the fights in the various towns will illustrate the forces +at play and the methods employed. + +Monessen, forty miles from Pittsburgh on the Monongahela river, the home +of the Pittsburgh Steel Company and several other large concerns, and +notorious as the place where organizer Jeff. Pierce got his death blow +in a previous campaign, was the first point of attack. Wm. Feeney, +United Mine Workers' organizer and local secretary in charge of the +district for the National Committee, superintended operations. Several +months previously the Burgess of Monessen had flatly refused to allow +him to hold any meetings in that town. So he was compelled to operate +from Charleroi, several miles away. But as soon as spring peeped the +question was opened again. He called a meeting to take place square in +the streets of Monessen on April 1st. The Burgess forbade it with +flaming pronunciamentos and threatened dire consequences if it were +held. But Feeney went ahead, and on the date set marched 10,000 union +miners from the surrounding country into Monessen to protest the +suppression of free speech and free assembly. Mother Jones,[7] James +Maurer, President of the Pennsylvania Federation of Labor, Philip +Murray, President of District No. 5, U. M. W. A., Mr. Feeney, the writer +and others spoke. The demonstration was a huge success. Public opinion +was clearly on the side of the steel workers, and the Burgess had to +recede from his dictatorial attitude and allow them to exercise their +constitutional rights. This they hastened to do with gusto. The affair +established the unions in the big mills of Monessen. + +In Donora, an important steel town a few miles down the river from +Monessen, and part of organizer Feeney's district, the fight was not so +easily won. The United States Constitution provides that not even +Congress may pass laws abridging the rights of free speech and free +assembly; but in Pennsylvania the Constitution is considered a sort of +humorous essay; hence the lickspittle Donora council, right in the face +of the steel campaign, passed an ordinance forbidding public meetings +without the sanction of the Burgess, which sanction, of course, the +unions could not get. But nothing deterred, the indomitable Feeney hired +a couple of lots on the edge of the town and held meetings there. The +company officials left nothing undone to break up these gatherings. They +held band concerts and ball games at the same hour, and set dozens of +their bosses and police to picket the meetings. But it was no use; the +workers attended and joined the unions in droves. + +This lasted a couple of months. And all the while a local paper was +villainously assailing Feeney. Finally, the steel company agents got the +business men to sign an ultimatum to Feeney, demanding that he leave the +district at once. Feeney took this matter up with his miners, and they +decided that not he, but they, would quit Donora. Organized solidly, +they easily put a strict boycott on the town, and it was not long before +the same business men, with their trade almost ruined, made a public +apology to Feeney, and ousted their own officials who had been +responsible for the attack. + +Naturally these events heartened the steel workers. They organized very +rapidly, and soon had a majority of the men in the mills--a large plant +of the American Steel and Wire Company. They also became a big factor in +the local fraternal associations, which controlled all the halls; and +suddenly the Lithuanian Society deposed its President, who was friendly +to the steel company, and voted to give its hall to the unions, permits +or no permits. In the face of this situation the Burgess reluctantly +granted sanction for union meetings. And thus free speech and free +assembly were established in the benighted town of Donora, and with +them, almost complete organization of the steel workers. + +But the heart of the conspiracy against free speech and free assembly +was in McKeesport, twenty miles from Pittsburgh. When the organizers +tried to hold meetings in that city they could hire no halls without +the Mayor's permission, and this the latter, George H. Lysle, stubbornly +refused to give. He feared a revolution if the staid A. F. of L. unions +were permitted to meet; but the Socialist party and other radical +organizations went ahead with their gatherings without opposition. The +truth was that he knew the unions would organize the workers if they +could but get their ear, and this he determined to prevent. Nor would he +shift from his autocratic position. Appeals by the organizers to the +Federal government, the Governor and the local city council were alike +fruitless. No meetings could be held in McKeesport. And the officials of +all the steel towns along the Monongahela river, drawing inspiration +from the little despot, Lysle, took the same stand. Free speech and free +assembly were stifled in the whole district. + +The Federal authorities being so active setting the outside world aright +that they could find no time or occasion to correct the most glaring +abuses at home, the unions resolved to attend to the free speech and +free assembly matter themselves. Knowing that Lysle could knife the +workers' rights only so long as he was allowed to work in the dark, they +determined to drag him into the daylight and let the public judge of his +deeds. They would hold meetings on the streets of McKeesport in spite of +him; give him a few hundred test court cases to handle, and finally find +out whether the A. F. of L. is entitled to the same rights as other +organizations. + +The fight opened as soon as the weather permitted. May 18 was the date +set for the first meeting. The Mayor stormed and threatened all +concerned with instant arrest; but the preparations went on just the +same. When the fated day arrived thousands turned out to hear the +speakers. But the Mayor, failing to defend his course, dared not molest +the meeting. After this, meetings were held on the streets each Sunday +afternoon, always in the face of the Mayor's threats, until eventually +the latter, seeing that he was the laughing stock of the city and that +the street meetings were organizing hundreds of the workers, +shame-facedly granted the following niggardly permit for meetings: + + CITY OF McKEESPORT. + + Department of Police. + McKeesport, Pa., July 7, 1919. + + Mr. Reddington, + Chief of Police, + McKeesport, Pa., + + Dear Sir: + + This is to certify that the McKeesport Council + of Labor has permission to hold a mass meeting in + Slavish Hall on White Street on July 8, 1919. + + Permission is granted subject to the following conditions, + and also subject to police regulation. + + (1st) That no speaker shall talk in any other + languages, except the English language. + + (2nd) That a list of the speakers be submitted + to the Mayor before the meeting is held. + + Very truly yours, + (Signed) Geo. H. Lysle + Mayor + +Disregarding the three provisions of this contemptible document, the +unions held their meetings under the auspices of the A. F. of L. (not of +the McKeesport Council of Labor), had their speakers talk in whatever +languages their hearers best understood, and submitted no list to Lysle. +Then the big steel companies rushed to the aid of the hard-pressed +Mayor. All the while they had discharged every man they could locate who +had either joined the unions or expressed sympathy with them, but now +they became more active. As each meeting was held they stationed about +the hall doors (under the captaincy of Mr. William A. Cornelius, Manager +of the National Tube Company's works) at least five hundred of their +bosses, detectives, office help, and "loyal" workers to intimidate the +men who were entering. About three hundred more would be sent into the +hall to disrupt the meetings. And woe to the man they recognized, for he +was discharged the next morning. The organizers, running the gauntlet of +these Steel Trust gunmen, carried their very lives in their hands. + +Under these hard circumstances few steel workers dared to go to the +meetings or to the union headquarters. But the organizations grew +rapidly nevertheless. Every discharged man became a volunteer organizer +and busied himself getting his friends to enroll. A favorite trick to +escape the espionage was to get a group of men, from a dozen to fifty, +to meet quietly in one of the homes, fill out their applications, and +send them by a sister or wife to the union headquarters--the detectives +stationed outside naturally not knowing the women. Conditions in the +local mills were so bad that not even the most desperate employers' +tactics could stop the progress of the unions. McKeesport quickly became +one of the strong organization points on the river. + +Sweeping onward through the Pittsburgh district, the unions gained great +headway by the collapse of the petty Czar of McKeesport, for all the +little nabobs in the adjoining steel towns felt the effects of his +defeat. Rankin fell without a blow. A few months before the hall had +been closed there by the local board of health, when the Burgess refused +to act against the unions. But now no objections were made to the +meetings. Braddock also capitulated easily. At a street meeting held in +the middle of town against the Burgess' orders, organizers J. L. +Beaghen, R. L. Hall, J. C. Boyle, J. B. Gent and the writer were +arrested. The Burgess, however, not wishing to meet the issue, found it +convenient to leave town, and the Acting Burgess, declaring in open +court that he would not "do the dirty work of the Burgess," postponed +the hearings indefinitely. That settled Braddock. + +Burgess Williams of North Clairton, chief of the Carnegie mill police at +that point, swore dire vengeance against the free speech fighters should +they come to his town. But the National Committee, choosing a lot owned +by its local secretary on the main street of North Clairton, called a +meeting there one bright Sunday afternoon. But hardly had it started +when, with a great flourish of clubs, the police broke up the gathering +and arrested organizers J. G. Brown, J. Manley, A. A. Lassich, P. H. +Brogan, J. L. Beaghen, R. L. Hall, and the writer. Later all were fined +for holding a meeting on their own property. But the Burgess, learning +that the speaker for the following Sunday was Mother Jones of the +Miners' Union, and that public sentiment was overwhelmingly against him, +decided not to fight. Instead he provided a place on the public commons +for open air meetings. The contest resulted in almost all of the local +steel workers joining the unions immediately. + +In Homestead, however, that sacred shrine of Labor, the unions had to +put up a harder fight. The Burgess there, one P. H. McGuire, is a +veteran of the great Homestead strike, and for many years afterwards led +the local fight against the Carnegie Steel Company. But he has now fully +recovered from his unionism. He has made peace with the enemy. It was in +the early winter of 1918 that the unions first tried to hold meetings in +his town. But they were careful to make tentative arrangements for a +hall before asking a permit from McGuire. The latter stated flatly that +there would be no union meetings in Homestead, saying no halls could be +secured. "But," said the organizers, "we have already engaged a hall." +The next day the rent money was returned with the explanation that a +mistake had been made. Later the unions managed to sneak by the guard of +the ex-union man Burgess and hold a meeting or two--said to be the first +since the Homestead strike, twenty-six years before--but nothing +substantial could be done, and the fight was called off for the winter. + +During the big spring drive on Pittsburgh the Flying Squadron turned +its attention to Homestead as soon as the McKeesport and many other +pressing situations permitted. Mass meetings were held on the main +streets. At first the Burgess, with a weather eye on McKeesport, did not +molest these; but when he saw the tremendous interest the steel workers +showed and the rapidity with which they were joining the unions, he +attempted to break up the meetings by arresting two of the organizers, +J. L. Beaghen and myself. At the trial McGuire, as magistrate, was shown +that his ordinance did not cover street meetings. "But," said he, "it's +the best we've got, and it will have to do." He fined the defendants, +and a day or two later had an ordinance adopted to his liking. Such +trifles don't worry the executives in steel towns. + +But such an enormous crowd assembled to witness the next street meeting +that McGuire had to agree to permit hall meetings. No sooner were they +attempted however, than he broke his agreement. He would allow no +languages other than English to be spoken--the object being to prevent +the foreign workers from understanding what was going on. Of course all +other organizations in Homestead could use what tongues they pleased. +The unions balked, with the result that more street meetings were held +and Mother Jones, J. G. Brown, R. W. Reilly and J. L. Beaghen were +arrested. Public indignation was intense; thousands marched the streets +in protest; the unions grew like beanstalks. And so the affair went on +till the great strike broke on September 22. + +That curse of the campaign since its inception, the lack of resources, +bore down heavily on the work in the crucial summer months just before +the strike. At least one hundred more men should have been put in the +field to take advantage of the unparalleled opportunity. But the +National Committee could not beg, borrow or steal them. The organizers +in the various localities fairly shrieked for help, but in vain. +Especially was the need keenly felt in the big drive on Pittsburgh. +Instead of eight or ten men, which was all that the Flying Squadron +could muster, there ought to have been at least fifty men delegated to +the huge task of capturing the score of hard-baked steel towns on +Pittsburgh's three rivers. The consequence was that the work everywhere +had to be skimped, with disastrous effects later on in the strike. In +those towns where the unions did get started lack of help prevented +their taking full advantage of the situation. And then some towns had to +be passed up altogether, although the men were infected with the general +fever for organization and were calling for organizers. It was +impossible to send any one to either Woodlawn or Midland, both very +important steel towns. Even the strategic city of Duquesne, with its +enormous mills and blast furnaces, could not be started until three +weeks before the strike. + +Duquesne is just across the river from McKeesport and only four miles +from Homestead. It gave the organizers a hot reception. Its Mayor, James +S. Crawford, is President of the First National Bank. His brother is +President of the Port Vue Tinplate Company. Besides being Mayor, Mr. +Crawford is city Commissioner, President of the city council, Director +of Public Safety, and Magistrate. He makes the laws, executes them and +punishes the violators. He is a true type of Pennsylvania steel town +petty Kaiser and exercises his manifold powers accordingly. + +So eager was the Mayor, popularly known as "Toad" Crawford, to give the +world a demonstration of Steel Trust Americanism that he challenged the +organizers to come to his town. He even offered to meet in personal +combat one of the men in charge of the campaign. Of course he +insultingly refused to grant permits for meetings. The organizers, who +could not hire an office in the place, so completely were the property +owners dominated by the steel companies, managed to lease a couple of +lots in an obscure part of town. But when they attempted to hold a +meeting there Mr. Crawford jailed three of them, J. L. Beaghen, J. +McCaig, and J. G. Sause. The next day he fined them each $100 and costs. + +Rabbi Wise of New York was the speaker billed for the following Sunday. +But the Steel Trust Mayor forbade his meeting. And when it was proposed +to have Frank Morrison, with whom Crawford boasted a slight +acquaintance, confer with him about the situation, he declared, "It +won't do you any good. Jesus Christ himself could not speak in Duquesne +for the A. F. of L!" It so happened that Rabbi Wise was unable to come +to Pennsylvania for his scheduled lectures on behalf of the steel +workers, and the organizers held the Duquesne meeting themselves. +Crawford had his whole police force on hand and immediately arrested the +speakers, Mother Jones, J. L. Beaghen and the writer. Forty-four steel +workers, all the jail would hold, were arrested also, for no other +reason than attending the meeting. Organizer J. M. Patterson, who had +nothing to do with the gathering, was thrown into jail merely for trying +to find out what bail we were held for. The next day the organizers were +each fined $100 and costs, and the rest from $25 to $50 apiece.[8] In +sentencing Mr. Beaghen, Mayor Crawford declared that nothing would be +more pleasurable than to give him 99 years, and then be on hand when he +got out to give him 99 more. + +The Mayor was going it strong; but he was riding fast to a hard fall. +The unions were planning to bring to Duquesne some of the most prominent +men in the United States and to give Crawford the fight of his life, +when the outbreak of the great strike swamped them with work and +compelled them to turn their attention elsewhere.[9] + +Whatever its general disadvantages, in some respects, at least, the +free speech fight was very good for the unions. For one thing, it served +wonderfully well to infuse the necessary hope and confidence into the +steel workers. So tremendous had been the manifestations of the Steel +Trust--its long record of victory over the trade unions, its vast wealth +and undisputed political supremacy, its enormous mills and furnaces--so +tremendous had been all these influences that they had overcome the +individual workers with a profound sense of insignificance and +helplessness, and practically destroyed all capacity for spontaneous +action. What the steel men needed to rouse them from their lethargy was +a demonstration of power from outside, a tangible sign that there was +some institution through which they could help themselves. Throughout +the campaign this consideration was borne in mind, and bands and other +spectacular methods of advertising were used to develop among the steel +workers a feeling of the greatness and power of the unions. Nor were +these methods unsuccessful. Most effective of all, however, was the free +speech fight in Pennsylvania. That gave the unions a golden opportunity +to defeat the Steel Trust so easily and spectacularly that the steel +workers couldn't help but be encouraged thereby. They simply had to cast +in their lot with a movement able to defeat so handily their autocratic +masters. And once they came in they felt the utmost confidence in their +leaders, the men they had seen jailed time and again for fighting their +battle. + +In consequence of The Flying Squadron's heroic battles in the immediate +Pittsburgh district the whole campaign was put practically upon a +national basis, where it should have been at the start. Almost every +steel centre in America was being organized simultaneously. Members were +streaming into the co-operating unions by thousands. The entire steel +industry was on the move. Perhaps it may be fitting to introduce at this +point an official digest of the general report of the number of men +organized by the National Committee during the whole campaign. The +report covers the period up to January 31, 1920, but almost all of the +men were enrolled before the strike started on September 22. + + GENERAL REPORT + on + 250,000 members enrolled by the National Committee for + Organizing Iron and Steel Workers during the + American Federation of Labor Organizing + Campaign in the Steel Industry, from + August 1, 1918, until January + 31, 1920. + + _By Localities_ _By Trades_ + + South Chicago 6,616 Blacksmiths 5,699 + Chicago Heights 569 Boilermakers 2,097 + Misc. Chicago Dist 3,871 Brick & Clay Workers 187 + Pittsburgh 8,970 Bricklayers 581 + Johnstown 11,846 Coopers 138 + Butler 2,519 Electrical Workers 8,481 + Monessen & Donora 8,665 Foundry Employees 2,406 + New Castle 2,710 Hod Carriers 2,335 + Homestead 3,571 Iron, Steel & Tin Wkrs. 70,026 + Braddock & Rankin 4,044 Iron Workers 5,829 + Clairton 2,970 Machinists 12,406 + McKeesport 3,963 Metal Polishers 349 + Gary 7,092 M. M. & Smelter Wkrs. 15,223 + Indiana Harbor 4,654 Mine Workers 1,538 + Joliet 3,497 Moulders 1,382 + Milwaukee 681 Pattern Makers - + Waukegan 1,212 Plumbers 1,369 + DeKalb 332 Quarry Workers 725 + Aurora 242 Railway Carmen 5,045 + Pullman 4,073 Seamen - + Kenosha 585 Sheet Metal Workers 377 + Hammond 1,102 Stationary Engineers 2,194 + Wheeling Dist. 5,028 Stationary Firemen 5,321 + Farrell & Sharon 3,794 Steam Shovelmen 2 + Cleveland 17,305 Switchmen 440 + Sparrows Point 93 Unclassified 12,552 + Brackenridge & Natrona 2,110 + East Pittsburgh 146 + East Liverpool 50 + Warren & Niles 474 + Minnesota Dist. 185 + Pueblo 3,113 + Coatesville 828 + Steubenville Dist. 4,108 + Birmingham Dist. 1,470 + Canton & Massillon 5,705 + Vandergrift 1,986 + Buffalo & Lackawanna 6,179 + Youngstown 19,040 + Peoria 984 + Decatur 320 + ------- ------- + _Total by Localities_ 156,702 _Total by Trades_ 156,702 + +This report includes only those members actually signed up by the +National Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers, and from whose +initiation fees $1.00 apiece was deducted and forwarded to the general +office of the National Committee. It represents approximately 50 to 60 +per cent. of the total number of steel workers organized during the +campaign, and is minimum in every respect. + +The report does not include any of the many thousands of men signed up +at Bethlehem, Steelton, Reading, Apollo, New Kensington, Leechburg and +many minor points which felt the force of the drive but where the +National Committee made no deductions upon initiation fees. In Gary, +Joliet, Indiana Harbor, South Chicago and other Chicago District points +the National Committee ceased collecting on initiation fees early in +1919, hence this report makes no showing of the thousands of men signed +up in that territory during the last few months of the campaign. +Likewise, at Coatesville and Sparrows' Point, during only a short space +of the campaign were deductions made for the National Committee. Many +thousands more men were signed up directly by the multitude of local +unions in the steel industry, that were not reported to the National +Committee. These do not show in this calculation. Nor do the great +number of ex-soldiers who were taken into the unions free of initiation +fees--in Johnstown alone 1300 ex-soldier steel workers joined the unions +under this arrangement. Of course no accounting is here included for the +army of workers in outside industries who became organized as a result +of the tremendous impulse given by the steel campaign. + +In view of these exceptions it may be conservatively estimated that well +over 250,000 steel workers joined the unions notwithstanding the +opposition of the Steel Trust, which discharged thousands of its +workers, completely suppressed free speech and free assembly in +Pennsylvania and used every known tactic to prevent the organization of +its employees. + + WM. Z. FOSTER, + Secretary-Treasurer + National Committee for Organizing + Iron & Steel Workers. + + Certified by + Enoch Martin + Auditor, District No. 12 + United Mine Workers of America. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[7] Throughout the latter part of the organizing campaign and the first +two months of the strike, Mother Jones lent great assistance to the +steel workers. This veteran organizer (she testified in court to being +89 years old) of the United Mine Workers labored dauntlessly, going to +jail and meeting the hardships and dangers of the work in a manner that +would do credit to one half her age. + +[8] Relative to this meeting there occurs the following dialogue on page +508 of the report on the Senate Committee's Hearings on the Steel +Strike: + +Senator Sterling. "Was Mr. Foster here prior to the strike?" + +Mr. Diehl (Gen. Manager Duquesne Works, Carnegie Steel Co.). "Yes; he +was here trying to hold a meeting, but the meeting was not held." + +The Chairman. "What happened to the meeting?" + +Mr. Diehl. "Well, we simply prohibited it." + +And naturally so. Mr. Diehl and other company officials shut off +meetings in the halls and on the lots of their towns just as readily as +they would have done had attempts been made to hold them in the mill +yards. + +[9] Now that the strike is over and spring is again at hand, the unions +have resumed the battle for free speech and assembly in Duquesne and +promise to fight it to a conclusion. + + + + +VI + +STORM CLOUDS GATHER + + RELIEF DEMANDED--THE AMALGAMATED ASSOCIATION MOVES--A GENERAL + MOVEMENT--THE CONFERENCE COMMITTEE--GOMPERS' LETTER + UNANSWERED--THE STRIKE VOTE--GARY DEFENDS STEEL AUTOCRACY + --PRESIDENT WILSON ACTS IN VAIN--THE STRIKE CALL + + +Surging forward to the accomplishment of the "impossible," the +organization of the steel industry, the twenty-four co-operating +international unions found themselves in grips with the employers long +before they were strong enough to sustain such a contest. It is almost +always so with new unions. In their infancy, when their members are +weak, undisciplined and inexperienced, and the employers are bitterly +hostile and aggressive, is exactly the time when they must establish +principles and adjust grievances that would test the strength of the +most powerful unions. Inability to do so means dissolution, either +through a lost strike or by disintegration. Following in the wake of the +newly formed steel workers' unions came a mass of such difficulties +requiring immediate settlement. The demand for relief from the evils of +long hours, low wages and miserable working conditions was bad enough; +but infinitely more serious was the need to take care of the army of men +discharged for union membership. Thousands of these walked the streets +in the various steel towns clamoring for protection. And the men on the +job demanded it for them. Nor could these appeals be ignored. Whether +they deemed the occasion propitious or not, the steel workers' unions, +on pain of extinction, had to act in defence of their harassed +membership. + +So bad was the situation by early spring that, lacking other means of +relief, local strikes were threatening all over the country. To allow +these forlorn-hope walkouts to occur would have meant disintegration and +disaster to the whole campaign. They had to be checked at all costs and +the movement kept upon a national basis. Therefore, the National +Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers called a general +conference of delegates of steelworkers' unions of all trades through +the entire industry, to take place in Pittsburgh, May 25, 1919. The +object was to demonstrate to the rank and file how fast the national +movement was developing, to turn their attention to it strongly, and +thus hearten them to bear their hardships until it could come to their +assistance. + +Right in the face of this general movement of all the trades the +Amalgamated Association made a bid for separate consideration by the +steel companies. By instruction of its convention, President Tighe wrote +the following letter to Mr. Gary: + + Convention Hall, Louisville, Ky., May 15, 1919 + Honorable Elbert H. Gary, Chairman, + Executive Officers, United States Steel Corporation, + Hoboken, N. J. + + _Dear Sir_: + + The Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers + of North America, in National Convention assembled, have by + resolution, instructed the undersigned to address you as + Chairman of the Executive Officers of the United States + Steel Corporation on a matter which in the opinion of the + representatives of the Amalgamated Association of Iron, + Steel and Tin Workers, is of vital importance to the + Corporation you have the honor to represent and to the + Amalgamated Association. + + As you no doubt are aware, there is a serious disturbing + element in the industrial world at the present time, a great + spirit of unrest has spread over our common country. It is + becoming more and more acute, and there is no telling when + or where the storm clouds will break. It is the judgment of + the representatives of the Amalgamated Association that it + is the patriotic duty of all good citizens to use their + every effort to stem the tide of unrest, if possible. + + The Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers + have admitted many thousands of the employees of the United + States Steel Corporation into their organization; these + members are asking that they be given consideration by the + Corporation you are the Honorable Chairman of, in their + respective crafts and callings, and also that as law-abiding + citizens who desire the privilege of having their + representatives meet with the chosen representatives of the + Corporation you represent, to jointly confer on questions + that mutually concern both. + + Sincerely believing that the granting of their request on + your part will not only be the means of allaying that + unrest, but will also promote and insure that harmony and + co-operation that should at all times exist between employer + and employee to the end that all will share in the glorious + triumphs so lately achieved in the war and thereby add still + more to the lustre and glory of our common country. + + Trusting that you will give this request on the part of the + aforesaid employees of your Corporation your most earnest + consideration, I await your pleasure. + + M. F. TIGHE, International President + Hotel Tyler, Louisville, Ky. + +To this letter Mr. Gary replied as follows: + + UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION + + Chairman's Office, + New York, May 20th, 1919 + + Mr. M. F. Tighe, + International President, + Amalgamated Association of + Iron, Steel and Tin Workers, + Pittsburgh, Pa. + + _Dear Sir_: + + I have read with interest your letter of May 15th inst. I + agree that it is the patriotic duty of all good citizens to + use their efforts in stemming the tide of unrest in the + industrial world whenever and wherever it exists. + + As you know, we do not confer, negotiate with, or combat + labor unions as such. We stand for the open shop, which + permits a man to engage in the different lines of + employment, whether he belongs to a labor union or not. We + think this attitude secures the best results to the + employees generally and to the employers. + + In our own way, and in accordance with our best judgment, + we are rendering efficient patriotic service in the + direction indicated by you. + + With kind regards, I am, + + Yours respectfully, + E. H. GARY, Chairman + +The Amalgamated Association's action threatened the existence of the +general movement, but Mr. Gary's refusal to deal with its officials kept +them in the fold. Where the principle of solidarity was lacking outside +pressure served the same end. It would be interesting to hear the +Amalgamated Association officials explain this attempt at desertion. + +At the conference of May 25 there assembled 583 delegates, representing +twenty-eight international unions in eighty steel centers, the largest +gathering of steel worker delegates in the history of the industry. The +reports of the men present made it clearly evident that action had to be +taken to defend the interests of their constituents. Consequently, +disregarding the rebuff given the Amalgamated Association by Mr. Gary, +the conference, which was only advisory in character, adopted the +following resolution: + + +RESOLUTION + + WHEREAS, We have now arrived at a point in our + nation-wide campaign where our organizations control great + numbers of the workers in many of the most important steel + plants in America, and + + WHEREAS, Various officials of the iron and steel + industry, including Judge Gary, Charles Schwab, and other + heads of these gigantic corporations have expressed their + solicitude for the welfare of the workers in this industry, + and + + WHEREAS, They have been continuously quoted as + defenders of the rights of the workers in industry, and + + WHEREAS, The corporations, to block our progress, + are organizing company unions, discharging union men + wholesale and otherwise trying to break up our organization, + thus compelling us to take action to escape destruction, + therefore be it + + RESOLVED, That it be the will of this conference + that a joint effort be made by all unions affiliated with + the National Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers + to enter into negotiations with the various steel companies + to the end that better wages, shorter hours, improved + working conditions and the trade-union system of collective + bargaining be established in the steel industry; and be it + further + + RESOLVED, That this resolution be submitted for + action to the National Committee for Organizing Iron and + Steel Workers at its next meeting in Washington, D. C., May + 27. + +Two days later the National Committee met in Washington and adopted this +resolution. The following were appointed as a conference committee to +have charge of the preliminary negotiations with the steel companies: +Samuel Gompers, Chairman of the National Committee; John Fitzpatrick, +Acting Chairman; D. J. Davis, Amalgamated Association; Edw. J. Evans, +Electrical Workers; Wm. Hannon, Machinists; Wm. Z. Foster, Railway +Carmen. As the first approach, Mr. Gompers addressed the following +letter to Mr. Gary, requesting a conference: + + AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR + + The Alamac Hotel, + Atlantic City, N. J., June 20, 1919 + + Mr. Elbert H. Gary, Chairman, + Board of Directors, U. S. Steel Corporation, + New York, N. Y. + + _Dear Sir_: + + Of course you are aware that upon the request of a number of + men in the employ of the United States Steel Corporation, + and realizing the need of it, the convention of the American + Federation of Labor decided to respond and give such + assistance as is possible in order to bring about more + thorough organization of the workers in the iron and steel + industry, particularly those employed by your Corporation. + + A campaign of organization was begun in June, 1918, and + within that period we have secured the organization of more + than 100,000 of the employees in the iron and steel + industry. The prospects for the complete organization are, I + am informed, exceedingly bright. + + Of course, knowing the policy of the Organized Labor + movement I have the honor in part to represent, we aim to + accomplish the purposes of our labor movement; that is, + better conditions for the toilers, by American methods, and + American understandings, not by revolutionary methods or the + inauguration of a cataclysm. + + We believe in the effort of employer and employees to sit + down around a table and, meeting thus, face to face, and + having a better understanding of each other's position in + regard to conditions of labor, to hours, standards, etc., + and after reaching an amicable understanding to enter into + an agreement for collective bargaining that is to cover + wages, hours of labor, conditions of employment, etc. + + At the Atlantic City convention of the American Federation + of Labor just closed, the committee reported upon the + progress made, and I am instructed and authorized to suggest + to you whether you will consent to hold a conference with a + committee representing not only the iron and steel workers + who are organized, but representing the best interests of + the unorganized men in the employ of your Corporation. The + names of the committee I am asking you to meet are: + + Assistant President Davis, Amalgamated Iron and Steel and + Tin Workers. + + William Hannon, member executive board, International + Association of Machinists. + + Edward Evans, representing International Brotherhood of + Electrical Workers. + + Wm. Z. Foster, secretary of the National Committee for + Organizing Iron and Steel Workers and representing the + Brotherhood of Carmen of America. + + John Fitzpatrick, president Chicago Federation of Labor. + + If you can advise me at your early convenience that the + request contained in this letter meets with your approval + and that a conference can be held, I am sure I shall be + additionally appreciative. + + Kindly address your reply, which I trust may be favorable, + to the American Federation of Labor Building, Washington, D. + C. + + Respectfully yours, + SAMUEL GOMPERS, + President American Federation of Labor + +This letter was sent during the A. F. of L. convention at Atlantic City. +About the same time Mr. Gompers resigned the chairmanship of the +National Committee and appointed in his stead John Fitzpatrick, hitherto +Acting Chairman. Mr. Fitzpatrick has been President of the Chicago +Federation of Labor for many years. He is a horseshoer by trade and one +of America's sterling union men. Possessed of a broad idealism, +unquestioned integrity, a magnetic personality and a wide knowledge of +trade-union practice, his services were beyond value as Chairman of the +committees that carried on the organization work in the steel and +packing industries. He is now taking an active part in the launching of +the new Labor party. + +To Mr. Gompers' courteous letter Czar Gary did not deign to reply. This +was bad. It looked like war. But the unions had no alternative; they had +to go ahead. Conditions in the steel industry were so unbearable that +they had to exert their utmost power to right them, come what might. +Therefore, after waiting several weeks for word from Mr. Gary, the +National Committee met, gave the situation profound consideration, and +adopted the following resolution: + + +RESOLUTION + + WHEREAS, Working conditions in the steel industry + are so intolerable and the unrest arising therefrom so + intense that they can only be remedied by the application of + the principles of collective bargaining; and, + + WHEREAS, All efforts have failed to bring about a + conference between the heads of the great steel corporations + and the trade unions, representing many thousands of + organized steel workers, for the purpose of establishing + trade union conditions in the steel industry; therefore, be + it + + RESOLVED, That the National Committee for + Organizing Iron and Steel Workers recommends to its 24 + affiliated unions that they take a strike vote of their + local unions throughout the steel industry; and, be it + further + + RESOLVED, That a special meeting be held in the + Pittsburgh Labor Temple, July 20th, at 10 A. M., of + representatives of all the co-operating international unions + for the purpose of taking action on this matter. + +The National Committee meeting of July 20th, called in accordance with +the above resolution, approached the situation from every possible angle +and with the keenest sense of responsibility. But it had to recognize +that the matter was wholly in the hands of Mr. Gary and his associates. +The resolution to take a strike vote of the men was re-adopted. Also the +following general demands, based on accurate surveys of the situation, +and subject to revision over the conference table, were formulated: + + 1. Right of collective bargaining + + 2. Reinstatement of all men discharged for union activities + with pay for time lost + + 3. Eight hour day + + 4. One day's rest in seven + + 5. Abolition of 24-hour shift + + 6. Increases in wages sufficient to guarantee American + standard of living + + 7. Standard scales of wages in all trades and + classifications of workers + + 8. Double rates of pay for all overtime after 8 hours, + holiday and Sunday work + + 9. Check-off system of collecting union dues and assessments + + 10. Principles of seniority to apply in the maintenance, + reduction and increase of working forces + + 11. Abolition of company unions + + 12. Abolition of physical examination of applicants for + employment + +So plain, fair and equitable are these demands that to reasonable +people they require no defence. The only explanation they might need +relates to #9 and #12. The check-off was to apply only to the mining end +of the steel industry, and the abolition of the physical examination was +to put a stop to the rank discrimination practiced by the companies +through their medical departments. + +A month was allowed in which to take the vote. Each trade looked after +its own members, with the National Committee voting those men who were +enrolled but not yet turned over to their respective unions, and in some +cases the unorganized also. Enthusiasm was intense. The steel workers +saw a glimmer of hope and welcomed with open arms the opportunity to +right their crying wrongs. When the vote was tabulated in Youngstown, +Ohio, on August 20, it was found that every trade had voted +overwhelmingly for a strike in case no settlement could be reached. +Whole districts voted to a man in the affirmative. Of all the thousands +of ballots cast in Homestead, Braddock, Rankin, McKeesport, Vandergrift, +Pittsburgh and Monessen not one was in the negative. Donora produced one +"no" vote, with the great Youngstown, Chicago and Cleveland districts +about the same. Everywhere the sentiment was practically unanimous to +make a stand. The vote was calculated conservatively at 98 per cent. for +a strike. The Conference Committee was accordingly instructed to request +a conference with the heads of the United States Steel Corporation and +the big independent companies, and if at the end of ten days no such +meeting had been arranged, to set the strike date. [Illustration: +STRIKE BALLOT] + +Taking no further chances on unanswered letters, the Committee bearded +Mr. Gary in his lair at 71 Broadway. He was in but refused to meet the +Committee, requesting that its proposition be submitted in writing. The +Committee thereupon sent him the following request for a conference: + + New York, August 26, 1919 + Hon. Elbert H. Gary, Chairman Finance Committee, + United States Steel Corporation, + 71 Broadway, New York City + + _Dear Sir:_ + + During a general campaign of organization and education + conducted under the auspices of the American Federation of + Labor, many thousands of men employed in the iron and steel + industry made application and were enrolled as members of + the various organizations to which they were assigned. + + This work has been carried on to a point where we feel + justified in stating to you that we represent the sentiment + of the vast majority of the employees in this industry, and, + acting in behalf of them, we solicit of you that a hearing + be given to the undersigned Committee, who have been + selected by the duly accredited representatives of the + employees, to place before you matters that are of vital + concern to them, and concerning hours of labor, wages, + working conditions and the right of collective bargaining. + + The committee called at your office at 3 P. M., Tuesday, + August 26, and requested a conference. We were advised by + your messenger that you wished to be excused from a personal + interview at this time and requested us to have our business + in writing and whatever matters we wished to submit would + be taken up by yourself and your colleagues and given + consideration. + + Therefore we are submitting in brief the principal subjects + that we desired to have a conference on. The committee has + an important meeting in another city on Thursday next and + will leave New York at 5 o'clock on August 27, 1919. May we + respectfully request that your answer be sent before that + time to Mr. John Fitzpatrick, Continental Hotel, Broadway + and Forty-first Street, New York City. + + Very truly yours, + John Fitzpatrick + D. J. Davis + Wm. Hannon + Edw. J. Evans + Wm. Z. Foster + Committee + +To this letter Mr. Gary replied as follows: + + UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION + + Office of the Chairman, + New York, August 27, 1919 + Messrs. John Fitzpatrick, David J. Davis, William + Hannon, Wm. Z. Foster, Edw. J. Evans, Committee + + _Gentlemen_: + + Receipt of your communication of August 26 instant is + acknowledged. + + We do not think you are authorized to represent the + sentiment of a majority of the employees of the United + States Steel Corporation and its subsidiaries. We express no + opinion concerning any other members of the iron and steel + industry. + + As heretofore publicly stated and repeated, our Corporation + and subsidiaries, although they do not combat labor unions + as such, decline to discuss business with them. The + Corporation and subsidiaries are opposed to the "closed + shop." They stand for the "open shop," which permits one to + engage in any line of employment whether one does or does + not belong to a labor union. This best promotes the welfare + of both employees and employers. In view of the well-known + attitude as above expressed, the officers of the Corporation + respectfully decline to discuss with you, as representatives + of a labor union, any matter relating to employees. In doing + so no personal discourtesy is intended. + + In all decisions and acts of the Corporation and + subsidiaries pertaining to employees and employment their + interests are of highest importance. In wage rates, living + and working conditions, conservation of life and health, + care and comfort in times of sickness or old age, and + providing facilities for the general welfare and happiness + of employees and their families, the Corporation and + subsidiaries have endeavored to occupy a leading and + advanced position among employers. + + It will be the object of the Corporation and subsidiaries to + give such consideration to employees as to show them their + loyal and efficient service in the past is appreciated, and + that they may expect in the future fair treatment. + + Respectfully yours, + E. H. GARY, Chairman + +In a last effort to prevail upon Mr. Gary to yield his tyrannical +position, the committee addressed him this further communication: + + New York City, Aug. 27, 1919. + Hon. Elbert H. Gary, Chairman + Finance Committee, United States Steel Corporation, + 71 Broadway, New York, N. Y. + + _Dear Sir_: + + We have received your answer to our request for a conference + on behalf of the employees of your Corporation, and we + understand the first paragraph of your answer to be an + absolute refusal on the part of your corporation to concede + to your employees the right of collective bargaining. + + You question the authority of our committee to represent the + majority of your employees. The only way by which we can + prove our authority is to put the strike vote into effect + and we sincerely hope that you will not force a strike to + prove this point. + + We asked for a conference for the purpose of arranging a + meeting where the questions of wages, hours, conditions of + employment, and collective bargaining might be discussed. + Your answer is a flat refusal for such conference, which + raises the question, if the accredited representatives of + your employees and the international unions affiliated with + the American Federation of Labor and the Federation itself + are denied a conference, what chance have the employees as + such to secure any consideration of the views they entertain + or the complaints they are justified in making. + + We noted particularly your definition of the attitude of + your Corporation on the question of the open and closed + shop, and the positive declaration in refusing to meet + representatives of union labor. These subjects are matters + that might well be discussed in conference. There has not + anything arisen between your Corporation and the employees + whom we represent in which the question of "the closed shop" + has been even mooted. + + We read with great care your statement as to the interest + the Corporation takes in the lives and welfare of the + employees and their families, and if that were true even in + a minor degree, we would not be pressing consideration, + through a conference, of the terrible conditions that exist. + The conditions of employment, the home life, the misery in + the hovels of the steel workers is beyond description. You + may not be aware that the standard of life of the average + steel worker is below the pauper line, which means that + charitable institutions furnish to the pauper a better + home, more food, clothing, light and heat than many steel + workers can bring into their lives upon the compensation + received for putting forth their very best efforts in the + steel industry. Surely this is a matter which might well be + discussed in conference. + + You also made reference to the attitude of your Corporation + in not opposing or preventing your employees from joining + labor organizations. It is a matter of common knowledge that + the tactics employed by your Corporation and subsidiaries + have for years most effectively prevented any attempt at + organization by your employees. We feel that a conference + would be valuable to your Corporation for the purpose of + getting facts of which, judging from your letter, you seem + to be misinformed. + + Some few days are still at the disposal of our committee + before the time limit will have expired when there will be + no discretion left to the committee but to enforce the + decree of your employees whom we have the honor to + represent. + + We submit that reason and fairness should obtain rather than + that the alternative shall be compulsory upon us. + + Surely reasonable men can find a common ground upon which we + can all stand and prosper. + + If you will communicate with us further upon this entire + matter, please address your communication to the National + Hotel, Washington, D. C. where we will be Thursday and + Friday, August 28 and 29. + + Very truly yours, + + JOHN FITZPATRICK + D. J. DAVIS + WM. HANNON + EDW. J. EVANS + WM. Z. FOSTER + Committee + +No reply came to the last letter. Mr. Gary, behind the smoke screen of +his hypocrisies about the "open shop," was determined to have the strike +go on. But the committee, fully conscious of the tremendous +responsibility resting upon it, was equally decided to exhaust every +possible means of adjustment before things came to a rupture. The +committeemen went to Washington, appeared before the Executive Council +of the A. F. of L., and received its endorsement and praise for the +manner in which the campaign had been conducted. + +Mr. Gompers was delegated by the Council to go with the committee to +present the matter to President Wilson, and to request him to arrange a +conference with the steel people. + +When President Wilson was informed of the true situation in the steel +industry, that all the men were asking for was a conference at which to +present their grievances--absolutely no other demand having been made +upon Mr. Gary--he immediately admitted the justice of the committee's +position. He stated frankly that he was entirely out of sympathy with +employers who refused to meet with representatives of their workers for +the purpose of bargaining collectively on labor conditions, and he +definitely agreed to use all his influence privately to have Mr. Gary +alter his decision and to arrange the conference. In order to give him a +chance to work the unions withheld the setting of the strike date. + +A week passed, with no word from the President. Conditions in the steel +industry were frightful. The companies, realizing the importance of +striking the first blow, were discharging men by the thousands. The +unions could wait no longer. They had to move or be annihilated. On +September 4, the National Committee met and sent to President Wilson, +who was on his ill-starred trip through the West advocating the League +of Nations, the following telegram, in the meantime calling a meeting of +the Presidents of all the international unions co-operating in the steel +campaign to consider the critical situation: + + + Washington, September 4, 1919 + Honorable Woodrow Wilson, + President of the United States, + Indianapolis, Ind., _en route_ + + The Executive Committee representing the various + international unions in the iron and steel industry met + today to consider the awful situation which exists in many + of the iron and steel industry centres. The coercion, the + brutality employed to prevent men and unions from meeting in + halls engaged, upon private property, in the open air, the + thuggery of the Corporations' emissaries, the wholesale + discharge of numbers of men for no other reason than the one + assigned, that they have become members of the unions, have + brought about a situation such that it is exceedingly + difficult to withhold or restrain the indignation of the men + and the resistance they declare it is their purpose to + present. The Executive Committee, relying upon the case as + presented to you last week and your earnest declaration to + endeavor to bring about a conference for the honorable and + peaceful adjustment of the matters in controversy, have thus + far been enabled to prevail upon the men not to engage in a + general strike. We cannot now affirm how much longer we will + be able to exert that influence; but we urge you, in the + great work in which you are engaged, to give prompt + attention to this most vital of issues; for if the men can + no longer be restrained it is impossible to foretell what + the future may hold in store for an industrial crisis which + may ensue and frustrate the project which you have worked at + for a peaceful and honorable adjustment of industrial + affairs in our country. A meeting of all the Presidents of + the twenty-four international unions in the steel industry + has been called to take place on Tuesday, September 9th in + Washington, D. C. to take such action as they deem + necessary. May we not have your reply on or before that time + as to whether or not a conference with the Steel Corporation + is possible. + + SAMUEL GOMPERS + JOHN FITZPATRICK + D. J. DAVIS + WM. HANNON + EDW. J. EVANS + WM. Z. FOSTER + +The international presidents met on September 9. A telegram from +Secretary Tumulty was laid before them, to the effect that President +Wilson had not yet been successful in arranging the requested +conference; that he was somewhat discouraged, but was continuing his +efforts. The general opinion took this to be final, that Mr. Gary had +definitely refused the President's request. But in order to make +assurance doubly sure and to convince all involved that everything +possible had been done to avert a break, the following further telegram +was sent to Mr. Wilson, over the objections of some who felt it was +practically asking him to declare the strike: + + Washington, September 9, 1919 + + Honorable Woodrow Wilson, + President of the United States, + St. Paul Hotel, + St. Paul, Minnesota + + Secretary Tumulty's telegram of September fifth to Samuel + Gompers was read today at the meeting of the presidents of + the twenty-four international unions in the steel industry, + and given the most careful consideration. After a long and + earnest discussion of it the undersigned were instructed to + wire you requesting a more definite statement as to the + possibility of an early conference being arranged by your + efforts between the heads of the United States Steel + Corporation and of the unions involved. Large numbers of men + are being discharged and otherwise discriminated against and + abused, and it will be impossible to hold our men much longer + from defending themselves by striking unless some genuine + relief is vouchsafed them. Our meeting will remain in session + here for forty-eight hours awaiting your reply before taking + final action. Please send answer to John Fitzpatrick, + Chairman of National Committee, American Federation of Labor + Building, Washington, D. C. + + JOHN FITZPATRICK + M. F. TIGHE + WM. HANNON + WM. Z. FOSTER + +On the day following Secretary Tumulty's answer was laid on the table +before the meeting, practically repeating what his first telegram had +said. It held out no definite hope for a conference, neither did it +suggest any alternative.[10] Clearly the unions had to act. President +Gompers and others had warned of the great power of the Steel Trust and +the eagerness with which the employing class would unite to give +Organized Labor a heavy blow in the steel industry. The union +representatives keenly realized the gravity of the situation and their +heavy responsibilities. It was in this frame of mind that they could see +no honorable way out of the difficulty except to strike. Accordingly +President Tighe of the Amalgamated Association moved that the strike be +set for September 22. His motion was unanimously adopted. The die was +cast. After telegraphing the strike order broadcast, the union men +scattered to their respective posts to organize the walkout. + +Then came a bolt from the blue. Next morning the newspapers carried a +telegram from Secretary Tumulty to President Gompers requesting that the +strike be held off until after the Industrial conference, beginning +October 6. The committeemen could hardly believe their eyes, because the +telegram they had received from Mr. Tumulty had said absolutely nothing +about postponing the strike. Besides, since the President had asked Mr. +Gary privately to grant his workers the conference they were seeking, +and so gave him an opportunity to decline without publicity, it was +incredible that he would publicly make a request upon the unions which +involved their destruction, and which they would have openly to refuse, +thus putting them in a bad light and giving their opponents a powerful +weapon. But all doubts were set at rest by this communication from Mr. +Gompers: + + AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR + + Washington, D. C., Sept. 11, 1919 + + Mr. John Fitzpatrick, Chairman, + National Committee For Organizing Iron + and Steel Workers, + Washington, D. C. + + _Dear Mr. Fitzpatrick_: + + This morning I received a telegram as follows: + + Dickinson, N. Dak., Sept. 10, 1919 + Hon. Samuel Gompers, + President American Federation of Labor, + Washington, D. C. + + In view of the difficulty of arranging any present + satisfactory mediation with regard to the steel situation, + the President desires to urge upon the steel men, through + you, the wisdom and desirability of postponing action + of any kind until after the forthcoming Industrial conference + at Washington. + + J. P. TUMULTY. + + You are aware of the reason which prevented my + participating further, the past few days, in the conferences + with the representatives of the various national + and international unions involved in this question. + + In transmitting the above to you (which I am doing + by long distance telephone from New York) I want to + express the hope that something can be done without + injury to the workers and their cause to endeavor to + conform to the wish expressed by the President; that + even though the corporations may endeavor to provoke + the men to action, that they may hold themselves in + leash and under self-control, consciously demonstrating + their stamina and willingness to abide by the justice of + their cause and that their rights will be finally protected. + + Fraternally yours, + SAMUEL GOMPERS, + President + American Federation of Labor + +Upon the receipt of this letter a meeting of the National Committee was +at once called to consider the situation. And a serious one it was +indeed. Before the Committee lay two requests to postpone the strike; +one from President Wilson, clear and categoric; the other from Mr. +Gompers, qualified by the hope that it could be done "without injury to +the workers and their cause." To deny these powerful requests meant to +be accused, in the first instance, of hasty and disloyal action, and in +the second, of practical revolt against the officials of the A. F. of L. +It would be to start the strike under the handicap of an unduly hostile +public opinion. Yet to grant them meant ruin complete. + +Conditions in the steel industry were desperate. Everywhere the +employers were making vigorous attacks on the unions. From Chicago, +Youngstown, Newcastle, Steubenville, Wheeling, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and +many other points large numbers of men were being thrown out of work +because of their union membership. Johnstown was a bleeding wound. In +the towns along the Monongahela river thousands of discharged men walked +the streets, and their number was daily being heavily increased. + +In the face of this situation it would have been folly to have the steel +workers abandon their strike preparations, even if it could have been +done. It was like asking one belligerent to ground arms in the face of +its onrushing antagonist. The employers gave not the slightest sign of a +truce. Long before anything could be hoped for from the Industrial +conference, they would have cut the unions to pieces, had the workers +been foolish enough to give them the opportunity. + +This the steel workers were determined not to do. Immediately after the +story got abroad that the strike might be postponed, they met in their +unions and notified the National Committee that they were going to +strike on September 22, regardless of anything that body might do short +of getting them definite concessions and protection. Many long weary +months they had waited patiently, under the urgings of the organizers, +for a chance to redress their grievances. And now when they had built +their organizations; taken their strike vote; received their strike call +and were ready to deliver a blow at their oppressors, the opportunity of +a generation was at hand, and they were not going to see it lost. They +would not postpone indefinitely, and in all likelihood break up +altogether, the movement they had suffered so much to build, in the +vague hope that the Industrial conference, which they had no guarantee +would even consider their case, and which was dominated by their arch +enemies, Gary and Rockefeller, would in some distant day do something +for them. Their determination to have the strike go on was intensified +by the constant ding-donging of the Steel Trust propaganda in the mills +to the effect that the A. F. of L. unions were cowardly and corrupt; +that they would make no fight for the steel workers, and that a +postponement of the strike would be proof positive that they had sold +out. Under such circumstances the workers could not consent to the +withholding of the strike. Practically all the steel districts in the +country solemnly warned the National Committee that they would strike on +September 22, in spite of any postponement that was not based on +positive assurances that justice would be done. The control of the +situation was in the hands of the rank and file. + +The field secretaries and organizers present at the National Committee +meeting, men intimately acquainted with actual conditions, emphasized +the impossibility of postponement. Many of them, among whom were some of +the best and most conservative men in the whole campaign, declared that +an attempt to delay the strike, merely upon the strength of possible +action by the Industrial conference, would result in the swift +destruction of the movement under the worst of circumstances. The +workers would be bound to consider it a gigantic sell-out and to act +accordingly. As for themselves, they declared they would have nothing to +do with it, and would be compelled to present their resignations the +minute a motion to postpone prevailed. Dozens of them took this stand. + +To the National Committee two courses were open: (1) It could postpone +the strike with the absolute certainty that it would break the steel +movement by so doing, because the strike would have gone ahead anyway in +a series of wild, uncontrolled, leaderless revolts, waged in an +atmosphere fatally charged with accusations of cowardice and graft. In +all probability the A. F. of L. would suffer one of the worst defeats in +its history, and gain such an evil reputation among the steel workers +that it could not approach them for many years, if ever, with an +organization project. Or (2) it could go ahead with the strike, with a +fighting chance to win. In any event, even if the strike were lost, it +would be through a clean fight and the honor of the movement would be +preserved. The steel workers would be convinced that everything possible +had been done for them. Thus the unions would retain their confidence +and be enabled to re-organize them at an early date. + +Between certain, ignominious defeat and possible victory, or at the +worst honorable failure, the National Committee had only one choice. +Practically all the delegates present were of the opinion that the +strike had to go on. But some had to wire their international offices to +cancel their instructions to vote for postponement. On September 18, D. +J. Davis, Assistant President of the Amalgamated Association moved that +September 22 be reaffirmed as the strike date. This was carried.[11] +Then the Conference Committee addressed a long letter to President +Wilson, explaining in detail the situation as the union men saw it and +outlining the reasons for not postponing the strike. The letter closed +as follows: + + Mr. President, delay is no longer possible. We have tried to + find a way but cannot. We regret that for the first time + your call upon Organized Labor cannot meet with favorable + response. Believe us the fault is not ours. If delay were no + more than delay, even at the cost of loss of membership in + our organizations, we would urge the same to the fullest of + our ability, notwithstanding the men are set for an + immediate strike. But delay here means the surrender of all + hope. This strike is not at the call of the leaders, but + that of the men involved. Win or lose, the strike is + inevitable and will continue until industrial despotism will + recede from the untenable position now occupied by Mr. Gary. + We have faith in your desire to bring about a conference and + hope you will succeed therein. We fully understand the + hardships that meanwhile will follow and the reign of terror + that unfair employers will institute. The burden falls upon + the men, but the great responsibility therefor rests upon + the other side. + +After agreeing that all settlements made with the employers should cover +all trades, and sending a letter to the independent steel companies +inviting conferences with them, the meeting adjourned and the organizers +and delegates left to make good the following strike call, of which +200,000 copies, in seven languages, had been scattered broadcast +throughout the entire steel industry: + + STRIKE SEPTEMBER 22, 1919 + + The workers in the iron and steel mills and blast furnaces, + not working under union agreements, are requested not to go + to work on September 22, and to refuse to resume their + employment until such time as the demands of the + organizations have been conceded by the steel corporations. + + The union committees have tried to arrange conferences with + the heads of the steel companies in order that they might + present our legitimate demands for the right of collective + bargaining, higher wages, shorter hours and better working + conditions. But the employers have steadfastly refused to + meet them. It therefore becomes our duty to support the + committees' claims, in accordance with the practically + unanimous strike vote, by refusing to work in the mills on + or after September 22, until such time as our just demands + have been granted. And in our stoppage of work let there be + no violence. The American Federation of Labor has won all + its great progress by peaceful and legal methods. + + IRON AND STEEL WORKERS! A historic decision confronts us. If + we will but stand together now like men our demands will + soon be granted and a golden era of prosperity will open for + us in the steel industry. But if we falter and fail to act + this great effort will be lost, and we will sink back into a + miserable and hopeless serfdom. The welfare of our wives and + children is at stake. Now is the time to insist upon our + rights as human beings. + + STOP WORK SEPTEMBER 22 + + NATIONAL COMMITTEE + FOR ORGANIZING IRON AND STEEL WORKERS. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[10] Out of courtesy to the President the National Committee has never +made public these telegrams. + +[11] After he had been made fully acquainted with the situation Mr. +Gompers said before the Senate Committee on Education and Labor, +investigating the steel strike: (Hearings, page 109) "Notwithstanding +what any of the officials of the trade unions would have done, +regardless of what the Committee would have done, the strike would have +occurred anyway, a haphazard, loose, disjointed, unorganized strike, +without leadership, without consultation, without advice. It was simply +a choice whether the strike would take place under the guidance and +leadership of men who have proven their worth, or under the leadership +of some one who might spring up for the moment." + + + + +VII + +THE STORM BREAKS + + THE STEEL TRUST ARMY--CORRUPT OFFICIALDOM--CLAIRTON--McKEESPORT + --THE STRIKE--SHOWING BY DISTRICTS--A TREASONABLE ACT--GARY + GETS HIS ANSWER + + +As the memorable twenty-second of September approached a lurid and +dramatic setting developed for the beginning of the great steel strike. +Everywhere the steel companies made gigantic preparations to crush their +aspiring workers back to slavery. The newspapers shrieked revolution. +The whole country was a-tremble with anxiety and apprehension. + +Pittsburgh was the storm center. There, in its stronghold, the Steel +Trust went ahead with strike-breaking measures unprecedented in +industrial history. It provisioned and fortified its great mills and +furnaces, surrounding them with stockades topped off with heavily +charged electric wires, and bristling with machine guns. It assembled +whole armies of gunmen. Brute force was to be used in breaking the +solidarity of the workers. Said the New York _World_ editorially +September 22: "In anticipation of the steel strike, what do we see? In +the Pittsburgh district thousands of deputy sheriffs have been recruited +at several of the larger plants. The Pennsylvania State Constabulary +has been concentrated at commanding points. At other places the +authorities have organized bodies of war veterans as special officers. +At McKeesport alone 3,000 citizens have been sworn in as special police +deputies subject to instant call. It is as though preparations were made +for actual war." + +Along the Monongahela river from Pittsburgh to Clairton, a distance of +twenty miles, there were not less than 25,000 armed men in the service +of the Steel Trust. In the entire Pittsburgh district, practically all +the petty parasites who prey upon the steel workers--the professional +and small business men--had been sworn in as deputies and furnished +firearms to defend their great overlord, to whom they all do +unquestioning service no matter how dirty the job. During the strike +Sheriff Haddock of Allegheny county stated to the Senate Committee +investigating the strike that there were 5,000 deputy sheriffs and 5,000 +strikers in his jurisdiction, or one deputy for each striker. His totals +should have been multiplied by at least ten in each case; 50,000 +deputies and 50,000 strikers would have been well below the mark. It is +noteworthy that although the danger of an uprising in the Pittsburgh +district was widely advertised no appeal was made for troops, nor was +there even any talk of an appeal. The reason was that the Steel Trust +had a vast army of its own, officered by its own officials, and it +needed no outside help. + +Western Pennsylvania is controlled body and soul by the Steel Trust. The +whole district has the psychology of a company-owned town. All authority +centers in the steel industry. From there practically every institution +takes its orders. Local governmental agencies are hardly more than +public service departments of the Steel Trust. Their officials, city, +county, state and federal, obey the mandates of the steel magnates just +about as readily and naturally as do the superintendents and mill +bosses. No less than the latter they felt it to be their duty to break +the strike by whatever means their masters told them to use. + +With the approach of the strike these lackey officials hastened _en +masse_ to the aid of the Steel Trust. Sheriff Haddock, besides swearing +in an army of guards and turning them over to the steel companies to +carry out their plan of terrorism, issued a flaming proclamation +practically setting up martial law and making it a riotous assembly for +three steel workers to meet together. Next day, September 21, the +organizers tried to hold a meeting in North Clairton--with the Burgess' +permission, and at a place on the public commons especially set aside by +the authorities for union meetings. About 3,000 steel workers gathered +to hear the speakers. Everything was going as peacefully as a Sunday +school picnic, when suddenly a troop of State Constabulary appeared upon +the scene, and without a word of warning, rode full tilt into the crowd, +clubbing and trampling men and women indiscriminately. They tore down +and threw in the mud the American flag floating above the speakers' +stand. Scores were arrested (including organizers J. B. Etchison and P. +H. Brogan) and held for heavy bonds on charges of rioting.[12] Many +were seriously injured, but fearing to report their cases to the doctors +and thus court arrest, as the latter were nearly all deputies, they +cured themselves as best they could. This crying outrage was perpetrated +under the authority of the Sheriff's proclamation. It was endorsed and +lauded by Governor Sproul, than whom the Steel Trust has no more willing +champion. + +At the same hour as the Clairton outrage a similar attack was made on +the workers at Glassport, adjoining McKeesport. Not being allowed to +meet at the latter city the organizers had leased a plot of ground in +Glassport and had been holding regular meetings there, with the full +sanction of the local authorities. For the meeting in question they had +an official permit. But just as it was about to begin the State +Constabulary broke it up in true Cossack fashion, almost riding down the +Burgess in so doing. They arrested all they could seize. These were held +as rioters under bail of from $1,000 to $3,000 each. The venal +Pittsburgh papers screamed about the outbreaks that had been crushed by +the gallant State police, and praised them for their bravery in facing +the "rioting mobs." + +Despite all these terroristic methods the Steel Trust could not break +the will of its workers. On September 22 they struck throughout the +entire industry with a discipline and universality that will be +remembered so long as steel is made in America. On Tuesday, the +twenty-third, 304,000 had quit their posts in the mills and furnaces. +All week their ranks were augmented until by September 30, there were +365,600 on strike. It was a magnificent effort for freedom, and twice as +big a strike as this country had ever known. By cities and districts, +the numbers of strikers were as follows: + + Pittsburgh 25,000 + Homestead 9,000 + Braddock 10,000 + Rankin 5,000 + Clairton 4,000 + Duquesne & McKeesport 12,000 + Vandergrift 4,000 + Brackenridge 5,000 + New Kensington 1,100 + Apollo 1,500 + Leechburg 3,000 + Donora & Monessen 12,000 + Johnstown 18,000 + Coatesville 4,000 + Youngstown district, + including Youngstown, E. Youngstown, + Struthers, Hubbard, Niles, Canton, + Alliance, Massillon, Warren, Farrell, + Newcastle, Sharon, Butler, etc. 70,000 + Wheeling district 15,000 + Cleveland 25,000 + Steubenville district 12,000 + Chicago district, + including Gary, Joliet, DeKalb, + South Chicago, Indiana Harbor, East + Chicago, Hammond, Evanston, Sterling, + Peoria, Milwaukee, etc. 90,000 + Buffalo district 12,000 + Pueblo 6,000 + Birmingham 2,000 + 5 Bethlehem Plants 20,000 + ------- + Total 365,600 + +The shut-down was almost complete. Throughout the country the industry +was stricken with paralysis. On an average the strike was at least 90 +per cent. effective. In the great Chicago district practically all the +men struck, hamstringing the big plants in the various steel towns of +that section, Gary, Joliet, Indiana Harbor, South Chicago, etc. The +holding of the organizations in this district for a year, in the face of +Steel Trust opposition, by the organizers under Secretary Evans, and +later, De Young, was one of the most notable achievements of the whole +campaign. When the pent-up force was finally released it swept the +district like a flood, leaving hardly a wheel turning anywhere. + +Youngstown is another place where great difficulties had been +encountered in the organizing work, the workers being deeply discouraged +by recently lost local strikes, and the authorities at some points so +hostile that it was impossible to hold meetings in the strategic places. +But so widespread was the discontent at the miserable working +conditions, and so well had the district crew of organizers under +Secretaries McCadden and Hammersmark done their work that when the +strike clarion sounded, the masses of steel workers responded almost to +a man. Trust plants and "independents" alike had to shut down. The steel +working population of the entire Mahoning Valley went on holiday. It was +a clean walkout. In the outer Youngstown district, as established by the +National Committee system, the companies, by the use of desperate +tactics, succeeded in keeping some of their men at work; in Sharon, +Farrell and Newcastle probably twenty per cent refused to obey the +strike call. But in Canton and Massillon, John Olchon and the other +organizers brought all the important mills to a dead stop. + +Without exception, the enormous Cleveland mills and furnaces shut down +tight. In Johnstown the Cambria Company was so hard hit that, swallowing +its pride, it had to ask the hated unions for a detachment of workers to +protect its plants. The Buffalo district men struck almost 100 per +cent., after a bitter organizing campaign and an eight months' free +speech fight. The Wheeling and Steubenville districts' steel mills and +blast furnaces were abandoned altogether by their crews. In Coatesville +and Birmingham, the response was poor, in the first locality because of +insufficient organization; and in the second because of discouragement +due to a lost local strike the year before. But in far away Colorado, +the steel workers, hearkening to the voice of freedom abroad in the +land, expressed their contempt for the company-union slavery of John D. +Rockefeller, Jr., by tieing up every department in his big Pueblo +mills. + +In the immediate Pittsburgh district, though here more strenuously +opposed by the Steel Trust, the strike ranged from 75 to 85 per cent. +effective. That it did not go as strong as other districts was purely +because of the denial, by the companies and the authorities, of the +workers' rights to meet and to organize. In the "Black Valley" section +of the district, comprising the towns lying along the Allegheny river, +Apollo, Vandergrift, Leechburg, Brackenridge, Natrona and New +Kensington, and notorious as the scene of the brutal murder of organizer +Mrs. Fannie Sellins, the strike went 90 per cent. or better; but in the +Monongahela river section it was not so good. Of the steel towns in that +district, Donora and Monessen took the lead with a 100 per cent. strike. +Due to the terrorism prevailing exact figures were almost impossible to +get for the other towns, but according to the best information +procurable they averaged about as follows; Clairton 95, Braddock 90, +Homestead 80, Rankin 85, McKeesport 70, and Duquesne 50 per cent. In +Pittsburgh itself all the larger mills and furnaces, except those of the +Jones and Laughlin Company, either suspended operations altogether or +lost heavily of their employees during the first two days of the strike. +The Jones and Laughlin men had been profoundly discouraged by a lost +strike two years previously, and had responded poorly to the organizers' +efforts. But when they saw the magnitude of the strike they took heart +somewhat, and by strenuous efforts in a rapid fire campaign, the +organizers had at least 60 per cent. of them on strike by the end of the +first week. + +In the plants of the Bethlehem Steel Company the strike did not become +effective until September 29. The cause was to be found in local +conditions. In the early spring of 1918, before the National Committee +began its campaign, ruthless exploitation by the company had resulted in +a strike of machine shop employees. The National War Labor Board settled +the strike, erecting a shop organization to handle grievances. In the +meantime the National Committee came into the field and began active +operations. Up till this time the organized movement, led by David +Williams and Patrick Duffy, had been confined principally to the +Machinists, Electrical workers and a few other skilled trades; but now +it spread to the main body of the employees. To head it off the company +proposed to the National Committee that a Rockefeller union be set up in +the plants. Naturally this was unacceptable. Then they offered to sign +an agreement covering all their shipyard employees if the organization +of their steel plants was given up, feeling no doubt that the shipyard +boom was only temporary. For the National Committee, John Fitzpatrick +spurned this shameful trade, and the organization campaign went on--with +the shipyard men getting their agreement later on just the same. + +Technically the employees of the Bethlehem Company should have struck +under the first strike call, as they had no union agreement; but being +tied up with futile negotiations under their "collective bargaining" +arrangement, they did not get out until the twenty-ninth. When they did +strike the response was not so good. A fair average for the plants in +South Bethlehem, Steelton, Reading, Lebanon and Sparrows' Point would +be a 50 per cent. strike. + +On the whole the strike affected practically the entire industry, +seventy important steel centres being involved. About the only mills of +consequence to escape it were those located at Midland, Woodlawn, Lorain +and Duluth. And the only reason for this was lack of sufficient +organizers to cover them. It is noteworthy that the strike followed +strictly the lines of organization. In hardly a single instance did the +unorganized go out spontaneously, even though they had previously been +clamoring for the unions to help them. This tends to show how completely +the steel companies dominated their unorganized workers and how hard it +was for the latter to act in concert. + +For the most part the great walkout was concentrated on the smelting and +rolling branches of the steel industry. It had been the original +intention to make the movement thoroughly industrial, taking in all the +workers from those who mine the coal and iron to those who transfer the +finished products to the railroad lines. But insufficient resources +compelled the modification of this program, and forced the unions to +confine their work principally to the blast furnaces and rolling mills. +However, where the company mines or fabricating works lay close to the +general plants, or were part of them, the essentially industrial +character of the campaign manifested itself and these departments were +organized along with the rest. In various places, including Gary, +Chicago, Homestead, etc., bridge, car, and other fabricating shops were +an integral part of the drive. The iron miners working close in to +Birmingham responded to some extent, but a big defeat of the local +metal trades in the mills a couple of years previously held them back +from making a strong demonstration. The coal miners struck in several +places. In Johnstown, 2,000 of them working in the Cambria Steel +Company's mines organized during the campaign, became affiliated with +the local mill workers' council, and walked out 100 per cent. on the +historic twenty-second of September. + +Although the United States Steel Corporation was recognized as the arch +enemy of the unions, the strike was not directed against it alone. Every +iron and steel mill and furnace in the country not working under union +agreements was included. This meant at least 95 per cent. of the +industry, because the only agreements of any consequence were between +some of the smaller companies and the Amalgamated Association. A number +of these concerns were affected also, their agreements relating only to +skilled workers, and the plants having to close when the laborers +struck. This occurred quite extensively in the Cleveland, Youngstown and +Pittsburgh districts. + +Considering the large number of them involved and their traditions of +isolated action, the unions displayed reasonably good solidarity in +going "over the top" against the Steel Trust. The battle line was far +from perfect, however. Much harm was done the morale of the strikers by +local unions here and there that were under the sway of ignorant +blockheads or designing tools of the bosses, refusing to recognize the +National Committee's strike call and insisting upon getting instructions +from their own headquarters, meanwhile scabbing it in the mills. And +the worst of it was that sometimes it was difficult, or even impossible +to have the necessary instructions issued. + +Far more serious than this, however, was the action of the executive +officers of the International Union of Steam and Operating Engineers. +Just as the strike was about to begin President Snellings and Secretary +Comerford sharply condemned it by letter and through the press, urging +their men to stay at work upon the flimsy pretext that the President's +industrial conference would attend to their interests. Roused to +indignation by this cold-blooded course, the local unions of engineers, +almost without exception, repudiated their international misleaders and +stuck with the rest of the steel workers. After President Gompers had +been quoted in the newspapers as pledging the support of the A. F. of L. +to the strike (two days after it started) and Labor generally had shown +its determination to stick by the steel workers, the officers of the +Engineers' international were compelled to publicly endorse the strike. +But throughout its duration they nevertheless privately encouraged their +strategically situated tradesmen to return to work, thus doing +incalculable harm when the strikers had begun to weaken a little. This +plain case of official scabbery was inspired by a jurisdictional dispute +between the engineers and the electrical workers over the disposition to +be made of electrical crane-men signed up in the campaign. Because they +could not have their unreasonable way in the matter, the officials of +the engineers deliberately knifed the strike and lent aid and comfort +to the bitterest opponents of Organized Labor on this planet. To such +extremes will union men go in internecine wars over trade demarcations. + +But in spite of opposition, blundering and treachery, the steel workers +had spoken. Mr. Gary was answered. Previous to the strike, he declared +that the unions represented only an insignificant minority of his men, +the great bulk of his working force being satisfied. He compelled the +Committee to show its credentials. Result: 365,600 steel workers laid +down their tools. This estimated total has never been disputed by the +steel companies. Here and there, in some individual town or district, +they pointed out a figure occasionally as being excessive; but although +importuned by newspaper men to do so, they never ventured to issue a +statement of the number on strike at all points. The reason was that +they feared to print the grand total which even their lying press bureau +would have to admit. Word came to the Committee from reliable sources +that the steel manufacturers considered the union figure well within the +real total. + +While not accurately ascertainable, the number of Mr. Gary's employees +actually taking part in the strike may be closely approximated. Mr. Gary +stated to the Senate Committee that the total number employed by the +United States Steel Corporation in the departments affected by the +strike was 201,065. Against this number should be checked off about half +of the total number of strikers, or 182,500. This is based upon the +theory that the official U. S. Steel Corporation plants form +approximately 50 per cent. of the industry, and that the strike was +just as effective against them as against those of any other company. It +is not asserted that these figures are absolutely accurate; but they +will serve to indicate that the claim of a 90 per cent. strike in the +plants of the Steel Corporation is a fair one. It is exceedingly +doubtful if as many as 10 per cent. of Mr. Gary's employees remained at +their posts and failed to heed the strike call. Fully 125,000 of them +were members of the unions before the strike started, and most of the +rest would have been also, had they dared brave the anger of their +bosses. + +The great steel strike thoroughly exposed the hypocrisies of Mr. Gary +and his ilk that in some mysterious way labor policies and conditions in +the steel industry depend upon the wishes of the body of the workers. It +made plain that in the autocratic system now prevailing the democratic +principles of majority and minority do not enter. It is a case pure and +simple of the absolute sway of property rights over human rights. A +handful of social parasites hidden away in Wall street, with no other +interest in the steel industry than to exploit it, settle arbitrarily +the vital questions of wages, hours and working conditions, while the +enormous mass of the workers, actual producers whose very lives are +involved, have no say whatsoever. No matter how bitter their grievances, +when they raise their voice to ask redress, they are discharged, +blacklisted, starved, beaten, jailed and even shot, until they bend the +knee again and yield to the will of their industrial masters. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[12] In this connection occurred one of the finest incidents in the +strike: Wm. J. Brennan, an able, conscientious attorney of Pittsburgh, +and one of the counsel who defended the Homestead strikers in 1892, went +to Clairton to get the "rioters" released on bonds. But such a state of +terror existed that no one dared to go their bail. Thereupon, Mr. +Brennan himself, without knowing a single one of the defendants, but +smarting under the injustice of it all, pledged his entire property +holdings, amounting to $88,000, to get them set free. + + + + +VIII + +GARYISM RAMPANT + + THE WHITE TERROR--CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS DENIED--UNBREAKABLE + SOLIDARITY--FATHER KAZINCY--THE COSSACKS--SCIENTIFIC + BARBARITY--PROSTITUTED COURTS--SERVANTS REWARDED + + +It was the misfortune of the steel strike to occur in the midst of the +post-war reaction, which still persists unabated, and which constitutes +the most shameful page in American history. Ours are days when the +organized employers, inspired by a horrible fear of the onward sweep of +revolution in Europe and the irresistible advance of the labor movement +in this country, are robbing the people overnight of their most precious +rights, the fruits of a thousand years of struggle. And the people, not +yet recovered from war hysteria and misled by a corrupt press, cannot +perceive the outrage. They even glory in their degradation. Free speech, +free press, free assembly, as we once knew these rights, are now things +of the past. What poor rudiments of them remain depend upon the whims of +a Burleson, or the rowdy element of the American Legion. Hundreds of +idealists, guilty of nothing more than a temperate expression of their +honest views, languish in prison serving sentences so atrocious as to +shock the world--although Europe has long since released its war and +political prisoners. Working class newspapers are raided, denied the use +of the mails and suppressed. Meetings are broken up by Chamber of +Commerce mobs or thugs in public office. The right of asylum is +gone--the infamous Palmer is deporting hundreds who dare to hold views +different from his. The right of the workers to organize is being +systematically curtailed; and crowning shame of all, workingmen can no +longer have legislative representatives of their own choosing. In a +word, America, from being the most forward-looking, liberty-loving +country in the world, has in two short years become one of the most +reactionary. We in this country are patiently enduring tyranny that +would not be tolerated in England, France, Italy, Russia or Germany. Our +great war leaders promised us the New Freedom; they have given us the +White Terror. + +Realizing full well the reactionary spirit of the times, the steel +companies proceeded safely to extremes to crush the steel strike, dubbed +by them an attempt at violent revolution. To accomplish their end they +stuck at nothing. One of their most persistent and determined efforts +was to deprive the steel workers of their supposedly inalienable right +to meet and talk together. Throughout the strike, whenever and wherever +they could find municipal or court officials willing to do their +bidding, the steel barons abolished the rights of free speech and free +assembly, so precious to strikers. Few districts escaped this evil, but +as usual, Pennsylvania felt the blow earliest and heaviest. Hardly had +the strike started when the oily Schwab prohibited meetings in +Bethlehem; the Allegheny and West Penn Steel Companies did the same at +Natrona, jailing organizer J. McCaig for "inciting to riot"; in the +Sharon-Farrell district the steel workers, denied their constitutional +rights in their home towns, had to march several miles over into Ohio +(America they called it) in order to hold their meetings. + +Along the Monongahela river the shut-down was complete. Following +Sheriff Haddock's proclamation and the "riots" at Clairton and +Glassport, it was only a few days until the city and borough officials +had completely banned strike meetings in all the territory from +Charleroi to Pittsburgh. The unions' free-speech, free-assembly victory +of the past summer was instantly cancelled. For forty-one miles through +the heart of America's steel industry, including the important centers +of Monessen, Donora, Clairton, Wilson, Glassport, McKeesport, Duquesne, +Homestead, Braddock, Rankin, etc., not a meeting of the steel workers +could be held. Even in Pittsburgh itself meetings were prohibited +everywhere except in Labor Temple. The steel-collared city officials +never could quite muster the gall to close Labor's own building--or +perhaps because it is so far from the mills and so poorly situated for +meetings they felt it to be of no use to the strikers. Thus the Steel +Trust gave its workers a practical demonstration of what is meant by the +phrase, "making the world safe for democracy." + +Not only were mass meetings forbidden, but so also were regular business +meetings under the charters of the local unions. To test out this +particular usurpation, Attorney W. H. Rubin, then in charge of the +strike's legal department and possessed of a keener faith in +Pennsylvania justice than the Strike committee had, keener probably than +he himself now has, prayed the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas to +enjoin Mayor Babcock and other city officials from interfering with a +local union of the Amalgamated Association holding its business meetings +on the south side of the city where its members lived and where several +large mills are located. At the hearing the Mayor and Chief of Police +freely admitted that there had been no violence in the strike, and even +complimented the men on their behavior, but they feared there might be +trouble and so forbade the meetings. The honorable Judges Ford and +Shafer agreed with them and denied the writ, saying among other things: + + It is the duty of the Mayor and Police Department to + preserve the peace, and it must be sometimes necessary for + that purpose to prevent the congregating in one place of + large numbers of people such as might get beyond the control + of the Police Department, and it must be left to the + reasonable discretion of the officers charged with keeping + the peace when such intervention is made. + +In other words, the sacred right of the workers to meet together depends +upon the arbitrary will of any politician who may get into the office +controlling the permits. Shortly before Judges Ford and Shafer handed +down this noble conception of free assembly, Judge Kennedy of the +Allegheny County Court, ruling on the appeal of Mother Jones, J. L. +Beaghen, J. M. Patterson and Wm. Z. Foster in the Duquesne free speech +cases of several weeks prior to the strike, had this to say: + + It cannot be questioned that the object of these + meetings--increasing the membership in the American + Federation of Labor--is a perfectly lawful one, but the + location of the meetings in the Monongahela valley, built up + as it is for mile after mile of an unbroken succession of + iron and steel mills, and thickly populated with iron + workers, many of whom obviously are not members of this + association, and among whom, on both sides, there are, in + all probability, some who upon the occasion of meetings such + as these purported to be, might through excitement + precipitate serious actions of which the consequences could + not be foreseen and might be disastrous, presents questions + which are sufficient to cause the court to hesitate before + interfering with the exercise of discretion on the part of + the Mayor in refusing to permit such meetings at this time. + +The Court is still hesitating to interfere with Mayor Crawford's +tyranny, and the defendants had to pay $100 and costs each for trying to +hold a meeting on ground they had leased. One would think that the +remedy in the case conjured out of thin air by the learned judge (for in +the thousands of meetings held in the steel campaign he cannot point to +one incident of violence) would be for the local authorities to provide +ample police protection to insure order. But no, in Pennsylvania the +thing to do is to set aside the constitutional rights of the workers. +Would such action be taken in the case of members of a Chamber of +commerce? Wouldn't the governor, rather, order out the state troops, if +necessary, to uphold their right of assembly? + +In the hope of getting some relief, or at the least some publicity about +the unbearable situation, a committee of 18 local labor men, +representing the largest trade unions in Western Pennsylvania, went to +Washington and presented to the Allegheny County congressional +delegation a petition expressing contempt for the judges and other +officials in their part of the State and asking Congress to give them +the justice these men refused to mete out. Surely, the Allegheny County +congressmen were exactly the ones to bring the Steel Trust to time. With +a grand flourish they introduced a resolution into the House calling for +an investigation--then they forgot all about it. + +The official tyranny and outlawry along the Monongahela was so bad that +the Pennsylvania Federation of Labor had to voice its protest. On +November 1-2 it held a special convention in Pittsburgh, attended by +several hundred delegates. A resolution was adopted demanding that +protection be given the rights of the workers, and that if the +authorities failed to extend this protection, "the Executive Council of +the Pennsylvania Federation of Labor shall issue a call for a State-wide +strike, when in its judgment it is necessary to compel respect for law +and the restoration of liberty as guaranteed by the Constitution of the +United States and of the State of Pennsylvania." For this action +President Jas. H. Maurer of the Federation was hotly assailed and even +menaced with lynching by the lawless business interests. + +By some inexplicable mental twist the ex-union man Burgess of Homestead +eventually allowed the unions to hold one mass meeting each week--to +this day the only ones permitted in the forty-one miles of Monongahela +steel towns. They were under the supervision of the State police. At +each meeting a half dozen of these Cossacks, in full uniform, would sit +upon the platform as censors. Only English could be spoken. As the +saying was, all the organizers were permitted to talk about was the +weather. When one touched on a vital strike phase a Cossack would yell +at him, "Hey, cut that out! You're through, you--! Don't ever come back +here any more." And he never could speak there again. + +Judging from past experiences the strike in the Pittsburgh district +should have been impossible under such hard circumstances. With little +or no opportunity to meet for mutual encouragement and enlightenment, +the strikers, theoretically, should have been soon discouraged and +driven back to work. But they were saved by their matchless solidarity, +bred of a deep faith in the justice of their cause. In the black, +Cossack-ridden Monongahela towns there were thousands of strikers who +were virtually isolated, who never attended a meeting during the entire +strike and seldom if ever saw an organizer or read a strike bulletin, +yet they fought on doggedly for three and one-half months, buoyed up by +a boundless belief in the ultimate success of their supreme effort. Each +felt himself bound to stay away from the mills, come weal or come woe, +regardless of what the rest did. These were mainly the despised +foreigners, of course, but their splendid fighting qualities were a +never-ending revelation and inspiration to all connected with the +strike. + +Through the dark night of oppression a bright beacon of liberty gleamed +from Braddock. There the heroic Slavish priest, Reverend Adelbert +Kazincy, pastor of St. Michel's Roman Catholic church, bade defiance to +the Steel Trust and all its minions. He threw open his church to the +strikers, turned his services into strike meetings, and left nothing +undone to make the men hold fast. The striking steel workers came to his +church from miles around, Protestants as well as Catholics. The +neighboring clergymen who ventured to oppose the strike lost their +congregations,--men, women and children flocked to Father Kazincy's, and +all of them stood together, as solid as a brick wall. + +Reverend Kazincy's attitude aroused the bitterest hostility of the steel +companies. They did not dare to do him bodily violence, nor to close his +church by their customary "legal" methods; but they tried everything +else. Unable to get the local bishop to silence him, they threatened +finally to strangle his church. To this the doughty priest replied that +if they succeeded he would put a monster sign high up on his steeple: +"This church destroyed by the Steel Trust," and he would see that it +stayed there. When they tried to foreclose on the church mortgage, he +promptly laid the matter before his heterogeneous congregation of +strikers, who raised the necessary $1200 before leaving the building and +next day brought in several hundred dollars more. Then the companies +informed him that after the strike no more Slovaks could get work in +the mills. He told them that if they tried this, he would do his level +best to pull all the Slovaks out of the district (they are the bulk of +the mill forces) and colonize them in the West. The promised blacklist +has not yet materialized. + +Father Kazincy and the clergymen who worked with him, notable among whom +was the Reverend Molnar, a local Slavish Lutheran minister, constituted +one of the great mainstays of the strike in their district. They are men +who have caught the true spirit of the lowly Nazarene. The memory of +their loyal co-operation will long live green in the hearts of the +Pittsburgh district steel strikers. + +A description of the repressive measures taken by the Steel Trust +against its workers during the early period of the strikes necessarily +relates almost entirely to Western Pennsylvania. With few exceptions, +the other districts were in a deadlock. So tightly were the mills shut +down that the companies could hardly stir. It took them several weeks to +get their stricken fighting machinery in motion again. But it was +different in Western Pennsylvania, in what we call the greater +Pittsburgh district; that has always been the key to the whole industry, +and there, from the very first, the steel companies made a bitter fight +to control the situation and to break the strike. The tactics used there +are typical in that they came to be universally applied as the strike +grew older, the degree of their application depending upon the amount of +control exercised by the Steel Trust in the several localities. + +To carry on the terror so well begun by the suppression of free speech +and free assembly, the Steel Trust turned loose upon the devoted +strikers in Western Pennsylvania the great masses of armed thugs it had +been recruiting since long before the strike. These consisted of every +imaginable type of armed guard, official and unofficial, except +uniformed troops. There were State Constabulary, deputy sheriffs, city +police, city detectives, company police, company detectives, private +detectives, coal and iron police, ordinary gunmen, armed +strike-breakers, vigilantes, and God knows how many others. These +legions of reaction, all tarred with the same brush--a servile, +mercenary allegiance to the ruthless program of the Steel Trust--vied +with each other in working hardships upon the steel workers. In this +shameful competition the State Constabulary stood first; for downright +villainy and disregard of civil and human rights, these so-called +upholders of law and order easily outdistanced all the other plug-uglies +assembled by the Steel Trust. They merit our special attention. + +The Pennsylvania State Constabulary dates from 1905, when a law was +enacted creating the Department of State Police. The force is modelled +somewhat along the lines of the Royal Irish Constabulary and the +Canadian Northwest Mounted Police. The men are uniformed, mounted, +heavily armed and regularly enlisted. For the most part they consist of +ex-United States army men. At present they number somewhat less than the +amount set by law, 415 officers and men. Their ostensible duty is to +patrol the poorly policed rural sections of the state, and this they do +when they have nothing else to take up their time. But their real +function is to break strikes. They were organized as a result of the +failure of the militia to crush the anthracite strike of 1902. Since +their inception they have taken an active part in all important +industrial disturbances within their jurisdiction. They are the heart's +darlings of Pennsylvania's great corporations. Labor regards them with +an abiding hatred. Says Mr. Jas. H. Maurer (_The Cossack_, page 3): + + The "English Square" is the only open-field military + formation of human beings that has ever been known to + repulse cavalry. All other formations go down before the + resistless rush of plunging beasts mounted by armed men, mad + in the fierce excitement induced by the thundering gallop of + charging horses. A charge by cavalry is a storm from + hell--for men on foot. A cavalry-man's power, courage and + daring are strangely multiplied by the knowledge that he + sits astride a swift, strong beast, willing and able to + knock down a dozen men in one leap of this terrible rush. + Hence, the Cossacks, the mounted militiamen--for crushing + unarmed, unmounted groups of men on strike. + +But the State Police do not confine themselves merely to the crude +business of breaking up so-called strike riots. Their forte is +prevention, rather than cure. They aim to so terrorize the people that +they will cower in their homes, afraid to go upon the streets to +transact necessary business, much less to congregate in crowds. They +play unmercifully upon every fear and human weakness. They are skilled, +scientific terrorists, such as Czarist Russia never had. + +On a thousand occasions they beat, shot, jailed or trampled steel +workers under their horses' hoofs in the manner and under the +circumstances best calculated to strike terror to their hearts. In +Braddock, for instance, a striker having died of natural causes, about +two hundred of his fellows assembled to accompany the body to the +cemetery. To stop this harmless demonstration all the State Police +needed to do was to send a word to the union. But such orderly, +reasonable methods do not serve their studied policy of frightfulness. +Therefore, without previously informing the strikers in any way that +their funeral party was obnoxious, the Cossacks laid in wait for the +procession, and when it reached the heart of town, where all Braddock +could get the benefit of the lesson in "Americanism," they swooped down +upon it at full gallop, clubbing the participants and scattering them to +the four winds. + +Similar outrageous attacks occurred not once, but dozens of times. Let +Father Kazincy speak of his experiences: + + Braddock, Pa., Sept. 27, 1919 + W. Z. Foster, + Pittsburgh, Pa., + + _Dear Sir_: + + The pyramidal impudence of the State Constabulary in denying + charges of brutal assaults perpetrated by them upon the + peaceful citizens of the borough of Braddock prompts me to + send a telegram to the Governor of Pennsylvania, in which I + have offered to bring forth two specific cases of bestial + transgression of their "calling." + + On Monday last at 10 A. M. my congregation, leaving + church, was suddenly, without any cause whatever, attacked + on the very steps of the Temple of God, by the Constables, + and dispersed by the iron-hoofed Huns. Whilst dispersing + indignation and a blood frenzy swayed them, a frenzy + augmented by that invisible magnetic force, the murmuring, + raging force of 3,000 strong men. One could feel that + helpless feeling of being lifted up by some invisible force, + forced, thrown against the flux of raging, elemental passion + of resentment, against the Kozaks of this State. + + Nevertheless, it was the most magnificent display of + self-control manifested by the attacked ever shown anywhere. + They moved on, with heads lowered and jaws firmly set, to + submit. Oh, it was great; it was magnificent. They, these + husky, muscle-bound Titans of raw force walked home ... only + thinking, thinking hard. Oh, only for one wink from some + one, would there be a puddle of red horseblood mixed with + the human kind. + + But no. We want to win the strike. We want to win the + confidence of the public. + + Tuesday afternoon the little babies of No. 1 were going to + the school. They loitered for the school bell to summon + them. And here come Kozaks. They see the little innocents + standing on the steps of the school-house, their parents on + the opposite side of the street. What a splendid occasion to + start the "Hunkey's" ire. Let us charge their babies--that + will fetch them to an attack upon us. + + They did. But the "Hunkey" even at the supreme test of his + cool-headedness, refused to flash his knife to save his + babies from the onrush of the cruel horses' hoofs. + + I am relating to you, Mr. Foster, things as they happened. + You may use my name in connection with your charges against + the Constabulary. + + Sincerely yours, + REV. A. KAZINCY, + 416 Frazier St., + Braddock, Pa. + + +[Illustration: COSSACKS IN ACTION + +Brutal and unprovoked assault upon Rudolph Dressel, Homestead, Pa., +Sept. 23, 1919. + +_Photo by International_] + +Governor Sproul paid no attention to Father Kazincy's protest, nor did +he to a long letter from Jas. H. Maurer, reciting shocking brutalities +fully authenticated by affidavits--unless it was to multiply his public +endorsements and praises of the State Police. + +A favorite method of the Constables was to go tearing through the +streets (foreign quarter), forcing pedestrians into whatever houses they +happened to be passing, regardless of whether or not they lived there. +Read these two typical affidavits, portraying a double outrage: + + STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA } + COUNTY OF ALLEGHENY } SS. + + Before me, the undersigned authority, personally appeared + John Bodnar, who being duly sworn according to law deposes + and says that he lives at 542 Gold Way, Homestead, Pa., that + on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 1919, at about 2 P. M. he + went to visit his cousin on Fifth Avenue, Homestead, Pa.: + that he did in fact visit his cousin and after leaving the + house of his cousin was accosted on the street by a member + of the State Police who commanded him, the deponent, to + enter a certain house, which house was not known to the + deponent; that deponent informed said State Policeman that + he, deponent, did not live in the house indicated by the + State Policeman; nevertheless, the said State Policeman + said, "It makes no difference whether you live in there or + not, you go in there anyhow"; thereupon in fear of violence + deponent did enter the said house, which house was two doors + away from the house of the cousin of deponent; that after a + time deponent came out of the house into which he had been + ordered, thereupon the same State Policeman returned and + ordered deponent to re-enter the house aforesaid and upon + again being informed by deponent that he, the deponent, did + not live in said house, the said State Policeman forthwith + arrested the deponent and brought him to Homestead police + station, and at a hearing at said station before the burgess + was fined the sum of nine dollars and sixty-five cents, + which amount was paid by deponent. + + JOHN BODNAR + + Sworn to and subscribed before me + this first day of October, 1919. + A. F. Kaufman, Notary Public. + +Here is what happened in the house into which Bodnar was driven: + + STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA } + COUNTY OF ALLEGHENY } SS. + + Before me, the undersigned authority, personally appeared + Steve Dudash, who being duly sworn according to law deposes + and says that he resides at 541 E. 5th Ave., Homestead, Pa.; + that on Tuesday September 23, 1919, in the afternoon of said + day, his wife, Mary Dudash, was severely scalded, burned, + and injured by reason of a sudden fright sustained when a + State Policeman forced John Bodnar into the home of the + deponent and his wife, Mary Dudash; that said Mary Dudash, + the wife of the deponent, was in a very delicate condition + at the time of the fright and injury complained of, caused + by the State Police and that on Sunday, Sept. 28, 1919, + following the date in question, namely the 23rd, the said + Mary Dudash, wife of deponent, gave birth to a child; that + on account of the action of the State Police in forcing John + Bodnar with terror into the home of deponent and his wife, + Mary Dudash, she, the said Mary Dudash, wife of the + deponent, has been rendered very sick and has suffered a + nervous collapse and is still suffering from the nervous + shock sustained, on account of the action of the State + Police, above referred to. + + STEVE DUDASH + + Sworn to and subscribed before me + this first day of October, 1919 + A. F. Kaufman, Notary Public. + +When on a mission of terrorism the first thing the State Troopers do is +to get their horses onto the sidewalks, the better to ride down the +pedestrians. Unbelievable though it may seem, they actually ride into +stores and inner rooms. Picture the horror a foreign worker and his +family, already badly frightened, at seeing a mounted policeman crashing +into their kitchen. The horses are highly trained. Said an N. E. A. news +dispatch, Sept. 26th, 1919: + + Horses of the Pennsylvania State Constabulary are trained + not to turn aside, as a horse naturally will do, when a + person stands in its way, but to ride straight over any one + against whom they are directed. Lizzie, a splendid black + mare ridden by Trooper John A. Thorp, on duty at Homestead, + uses her teeth as well as her heels when in action. Her + master will sometimes dismount, leaving Lizzie to hold a + striker with her strong jaws, while he takes up the pursuit + of others on foot. + +If this is thought to be an overdrawn statement, read the following +affidavit: + + Butler, Pa., October 3, 1919 + + I, Jacob Sazuta, + 21 Bessemer Ave., + Lyndora, Pa. + + Commenced work for the Standard Steel Car Company in + September, 1913, as laborer. About October 1916 was promoted + to car fitter in the erection department; in February, 1919, + was then taken and placed as a wheel roller, and I worked in + this capacity until August 6th, 1919 [the date the steel + strike began there]. + + On August 25, after receiving my pay, I was standing looking + in a store window, when State Trooper No. 52 rode his horse + upon me, THE HORSE STEPPING ON MY LEFT FOOT. Trooper No. 52 + ordered me to move on, BUT AS THE HORSE WAS STANDING ON MY + FOOT I COULD NOT MOVE. He then struck me across the head + with his club, cutting a gash in the left side of my head + that took the doctor three stitches to close up the wound. + After hitting me with his club, he kept chasing me with his + horse. + + JACOB SAZUTA + + Sworn and subscribed before me + this third day of October, 1919. + E. L. Cefferi, Notary Public. + +A few affidavits, and extracts from affidavits, taken at random from +among the hundreds in possession of the National Committee, will +indicate the general conditions prevailing in the several districts: + + Clairton, Pa. + + John Doban, Andy Niski and Mike Hudak were walking home + along the street when the State Police came and arrested the + three, making ten holes in Mike Hudak's head. Were under + arrest three days. Union bailed them out, $1,000.00 each. + + * * * * * + + Butler, Pa., Oct. 3, 1919. + + I, James Torok, Storekeeper, + 103 Standard Ave., + Lyndora, Pa., + + On about August 15, 1919, I saw State Troopers chase a + crippled man who could not run as fast as his horse, and run + him down, the horse bumping him in the back with his head, + knocked him down. Later three men were coming to my store to + buy some things; the State Troopers ran their horses right + on them and chased them home. One of the men stopped and + said: "I have to go to the store," and the Trooper said: + "Get to hell out of here, you sons -- ----, or I will kill + you," and started after them again, and the people ran home + and stayed away from the store. + + JAMES TOROK + + Sworn to and subscribed before me + this 3rd day of October, 1919. + E. L. Peffer, Notary Public. + + * * * * * + + Homestead, Pa. + + ... two State Policemen made a forcible entry into the home + of deponent, Trachn Yenchenke, at 327 Third Ave, Homestead, + Pa., and came to the place where deponent was asleep, kicked + him and punched him, and handled him with extreme violence + and took deponent without any explanation, without + permitting deponent to dress, dragged him half naked from + his home to waiting automobile and conveyed him against his + will to the Homestead Police Station.... Fined $15.10. + + TRACHN YENCHENKE. + + * * * * * + + Monessen, Pa. + + ... Concetta Cocchiara, 8 months advanced in a state of + pregnancy, was out shopping with her sister. Two State + Policemen brusquely ordered them home and when they did not + move fast enough to suit, followed them home, forced himself + into the house and struck affiant with a stick on the head + and grabbed her by the hair and pulled her from the kitchen + and forced her into a patrol wagon and took her to the + borough jail.... Sworn to before Henry Fusarini, Notary + Public, October 11, 1919. + + * * * * * + + Newcastle, Pa. + + John Simpel, + 1711 Morris Ave., + Newcastle. + + On Sept. 22, about 5.30 P. M. he was walking along + towards his home on Moravia Street. Hearing shots fired he + stopped in the middle of the street and was instantly struck + by bullets three times, one bullet going through his leg, + one through his finger, while the third entered his back and + went through his body, coming out through his abdomen. The + shots were fired from inside the gates of the Carnegie Steel + Company's plant. Mr. Simpel believes the shots were fired + from a machine gun, because of their rapid succession. He + fell on the ground and lay there for about ten minutes, + until he was picked up by a young boy.... He is now totally + disabled. He has a wife and a child and is 48 years of + age.... + + JAS. A. NORRINGTON, Secretary. + + * * * * * + + Farrell, Pa. + + ... There were four men killed here, one in a quarrel in a + boarding house and three by the Cossacks. Half a dozen were + wounded, one of them a woman. She was shot in the back by a + Cossack, while on her way to the butcher shop.... + + S. COATES, Secretary. + +Many hundreds of similar cases could be cited. In the steel strike a +score were killed, almost all on the workers' side; hundreds were +seriously injured, and thousands unjustly jailed. To the State +Constabulary attaches the blame for a large share of this tyranny. The +effect of their activities was to create a condition in Western +Pennsylvania, bordering on a reign of terror. Yet it is extremely +difficult to definitely fasten their crimes upon them. No matter how +dastardly the outrage, when the Steel Trust cracks its whip the local +authorities and leading citizens come forth with a mass of affidavits, +"white-washing" the thuggery in question, and usually sufficing to cast +serious doubts on the statements of the few worker witnesses courageous +enough to raise their voices. What is to be thought of the following +incident? + +Testifying before the Senate Committee investigating the strike, Mr. +Gompers related how, in an organizing campaign in Monessen, Pa. several +years ago, A. F. of L. organizer Jefferson D. Pierce was bludgeoned by +Steel Trust thugs, receiving injuries that resulted in his death. Mr. +Gompers had his facts straight. Yet the very next day, Mr. Gary, +testifying before the same Committee, produced a sworn statement from +the son of Mr. Pierce containing the following assertions: + + I was with my father the night he received his injuries in + Monessen, Pa., and wish to state very emphatically that his + injury was not caused by any one connected with the United + States Steel Corporation. On the contrary, it was caused by + a member of the I. W. W. organization from out of town, who + was sent there at the time to create trouble, as the I. W. + W. organization was then trying to gain control of the + organizing situation. I wish again most emphatically to + refute Mr. Gompers' statement that this injury was caused by + some one connected with the United States Steel Corporation. + +Upon being questioned, Mr. Gary "thought" that Mr. Pierce is employed at +Worcester, Mass. by the American Steel and Wire Company, a subsidiary of +the U. S. Steel Corporation. + +Fortunately, however, in the steel strike the photographer secured a +proof of State Police brutality which the most skilled Steel Trust +apologists cannot explain away--a picture of the typically vicious +assault upon Mr. R. Dressel, a hotel keeper of 532 Dickson St. (foreign +quarter), Homestead, Pa. I quote from the latter's statement in +connection therewith: + + I, Rudolph Dressel, of the aforesaid address, do hereby make + this statement of my own volition and without solicitation + from any one. That on the 23rd day of September I was + standing in front of my place of business at the aforesaid + address and a friend of mine, namely, Adolph Kuehnemund, + came to visit and consult me regarding personal matters. As + I stood as shown in the picture above mentioned with my + friend, the State Constabulary on duty in Homestead came + down Dickson St. They had occasion to ride up and down the + street several times and finally stopped directly in front + of me and demanded that I move on. Before I had time to + comply I was struck by the State Policeman. (The attitude of + said Policeman is plainly shown in the aforesaid picture, + and his threatening club is plainly seen descending towards + me.) + + My friend and I then entered my place of business and my + friend a few minutes afterwards looked out on the street + over the summer doors. The policeman immediately charged him + and being unable to enter my place of business on horseback, + dismounted and entered into my place of business on foot. + + My friend being frightened at what had happened to me + retired to a room in the rear of my place of business. The + Policeman entered this room, accompanied by another State + Police, and without cause, reason or excuse, struck my + friend and immediately thereafter arrested him. I was + personally present at his hearing before Burgess P. H. + McGuire of the above city, at which none of the aforesaid + policemen were heard or even present. Burgess asked my + friend what he was arrested for, and my friend referred to + me inasmuch as he himself did not know. The Burgess + immediately replied, "We have no time to hear your + witnesses," and thereupon levied a fine of $10.00 and costs + upon him. My friend having posted a forfeit of $25.00, the + sum of $15.45 was deducted therefrom. + +The State Constabulary were sent, unasked for, into the quiet steel +towns for the sole purpose of intimidating the strikers. The following +took place at the meeting of the Braddock Borough Council, October 6: + + Mr. Verosky: (County detective and council member) "Mr. + Chairman, the citizens of the borough wish to know by whose + authority the State Constabulary was called into Braddock to + take up their quarters here and to practically relieve the + police of their duties, by patrolling the streets on foot, + mounted, and always under arms." + + Mr. Holtzman: (President of Council) "I surely do not know + who called them into town, but were I the Burgess, I would + make it my business to find out, in view of the fact that + the Constabulary is neither wanted nor needed here." + + Mr. Verosky: "Well, in that case, the Burgess may throw some + light on the subject." + + Mr. Callahan: (Burgess) "The question comes to me as a + surprise and I am sure that I don't know by whose authority + the Constabulary was called in." + +Everything was calm in Braddock until the State Police came in. Then the +trouble began. It was the same nearly everywhere. The arrival of these +men was always the signal for so-called riots, and wholesale clubbing, +shooting and jailing of strikers. + +Great praise has been poured upon the State Constabulary for their +supposedly wonderful bravery and efficiency, because a few hundred of +them, scattered thinly through a score of towns, have been able +apparently to overawe many thousands of strikers. But the credit is +undeserved. In strikes they always form, in point of actual weight, an +insignificant part of the armed forces arrayed against the strikers. For +instance, in a steel town, during the strike, there would usually be a +dozen or so State Police and from 3,000 to 4,000 deputy sheriffs, +company police, etc. The latter classes of gunmen make up the body of +the real repressive force; the State Police are merely raiders. It is +their particularly dirty job to harass the enemy; to break the strike +by scientifically bulldozing the strikers in their homes and on the +streets. Thus they are thrown into the limelight, while the company +thugs remain in comparative obscurity. + +The State Police feel reasonably sure of their skins when carrying on +their calculated campaigns of terrorism, for behind them are large +numbers of armed guards of various sorts ready to spring to their +support at an instant's notice, should the workers dare to resist them. +Besides, they know they have _carte blanche_ to commit the greatest +excesses, since the highest state officials, not to speak of local +courts and other authorities, give them undivided support. They are +above the law, when the rights of the workers are concerned. Moreover, +they realize fully that they can depend upon trade-union leaders to hold +the strikers in check from adopting measures of retaliation. Few of them +are hurt during their depredations. Once in a while, however, they drive +their victims to desperation and get themselves into trouble. + +For example, a few days after a fight in Farrell, Pa., that cost the +strikers two dead and a dozen seriously wounded, the local secretary +there, S. Coates, was on his way to Ohio to hold a meeting, when the +delivery truck upon which he was riding overturned, rendering him +unconscious. He woke up in a Sharon hospital. The six beds adjoining his +were occupied by Cossacks, injured in the riot started by themselves in +Farrell. The public knew nothing of their injuries, it being the regular +thing to suppress such facts, in order to surround the dreaded Cossacks +with a reputation for invulnerability. The way the latter "get even" +for their casualties is to victimize and outrage as many workers as they +think necessary to balance the score. But such methods cannot go on +indefinitely. It will be marvellous, indeed, if some day the State +Constabulary, with their policy of deliberate intimidation, are not the +means of causing riots such as this country has not yet experienced in +labor disputes. Not always will the unions be able to hold their men as +steady in the face of brutal provocation as they did in the recent steel +strike. + +Hand in glove with the Cossacks in their work of terrorizing +Pennsylvania's steel towns went the less skilful but equally vicious +company police, gunmen, deputy sheriffs, etc., many of whom, ex-service +men, disgraced their uniforms by wearing them on strike duty. Nor were +the city police, save for a few honorable exceptions here and there, +appreciably better. As for the police magistrates, almost to a man they +seconded unquestioningly the work of the sluggers. In fact, all the +forces of "law and order" in Western Pennsylvania, official and +unofficial, worked together like so many machines--in the interest of +their powerful master, the Steel Trust. + +Many of the armed guards were murderous criminals; penitentiary birds +scraped together from the slums of the great cities to uphold Garyism by +crushing real Americanism. They took advantage of the strike situation +and the authority vested in them to indulge in an orgy of robbery and +thievery. Dressed in United States army uniforms and wearing deputies' +badges, they even robbed strikers in broad daylight on the main +streets. And if the latter dared to protest they were lucky not to be +beaten up, jailed and fined for disorderly conduct. The strike +committees have records of many such cases. And worse yet, more than one +striker was robbed while he was in jail. Liberty bonds and cash +disappeared frequently. To lose watches, knives, etc., was a common +occurrence. + +Picketing was out of the question, although, like many other liberties +denied the steel strikers, it is theoretically permitted under the laws +and court rulings of Pennsylvania. Strikers foolhardy enough to attempt +it were usually slugged and arrested. Even the right to strike was +virtually overthrown. The practice was for several company and city +police, without warrants, to seek a man in his home, crowd in and demand +his return to work. Upon refusal he would be arrested and fined from $25 +to $100 for disorderly conduct. Then he would be offered his money back, +if he would agree to be a scab. This happened not once, but scores, if +not hundreds of times. Like practices were engaged in almost everywhere. +In Monessen State Police and other "peace officers" would regularly +round up batches of strikers before the mill gates. Those that agreed to +go to work were set free; the rest were jailed. Many were kept overnight +in an old, unlighted building and threatened from time to time with +hanging in the morning, if they would not become scabs. This was +particularly terrifying, as the strikers, mainly foreigners knowing +little of their supposed legal rights, had very good reason to think +that State Police, as well as armed thugs, would go to any extreme +against them. In Pittsburgh itself, the decisive question asked petty +prisoners in the police courts was, "Are you working?" Those who could +show that they were strike-breakers were released forthwith; while those +who admitted being on strike were usually found guilty without further +questioning. Throughout the whole district, to be a scab was to be a +peaceable, law abiding citizen; to be a striker was criminal. + +The courts put every obstacle in the way of the strikers getting +justice. In those towns where it was possible to get lawyers at all no +courtesies were extended the representatives of the men. They were +denied the right of cross-examination; could not get the necessary +papers for appeals, and in some cases were actually ordered out of +court. Attorney Roe was arrested in McKeesport for attempting to confer +with a dozen of his clients in a private hall. The strikers were held +under excessive bail and fined shamefully for trivial charges, to +disprove which they were often denied the right to produce witnesses. +The following quotations from a report by J. G. Brown, formerly +president of the International Union of Timber Workers, who was a +general organizer in the Pittsburgh district and later director of the +legal department of the National Committee, will give an indication of +the situation and some of the reasons therefor: + + ... The next day came the strike. The jails swarmed with + arrested strikers. This was especially true in the Soho + district of Pittsburgh, where are located the main entrances + of the National Tube Works, and the Jones and Laughlin + Company's plants. In the afternoon two organizers who were + walking down the street in this section were taken to jail, + held without bail on charges of being "suspicious persons." + Information was given to us that only the Supt. of Police + had authority to fix bail. He could not be located. Indeed, + that these men were arrested at all was learned only through + the newspapers. They were not allowed to communicate with + their friends or attorneys. Attorney Brennan eventually + found the Chief of Police and went bail for the men. + + Deciding to utilize the right of picketing, which the laws + of the state permit, a group of men were chosen for this + work, captains assigned and stationed at the entrances of + the mills in Soho. No sooner had they arrived there than + they were hustled right on to jail, which was already filled + to overflowing. Many were convicted on disorderly conduct + charges; others were warned of dire things in store for + them, and all were advised to return to their work in the + mills. + + Many women and young girls were among the victims of police + brutalities in the Soho district. Located in this section + were only city policemen; the State Constabulary did not + "work" much within the city limits. Much wonder was created + by the undiminishing brutality of the Soho police. The + Central Labor Council of Pittsburgh tried to have the City + Council inaugurate an investigation of the shameful state of + affairs, but nothing could be done. + + Shortly after the strike was called off the Pittsburgh + papers carried a story to the effect that the city policemen + working in the Soho district had been "paid" $150 each by + the National Tube Co. It was stated also that the same men + were paid a like amount by the Jones and Laughlin Company. + This explains, perhaps, why justice was so blind in this + section. + + On the opposite side of the Monongahela river, where the + Jones and Laughlin Company has other immense works the + police were equally bad, the police magistrate even worse. + The Police Commissioner was boss of the situation. And now + come the Pittsburgh papers with the story that this very + Commissioner, Peter P. Walsh, has made application to be + retired from the Pittsburgh police force on half pay in + order that he might accept the appointment as chief of the + mill police of the Jones and Laughlin Company. The half pay + allowance gives, according to reports, $1800 per year. The + new position Mr. Walsh is to fill is popularly understood to + carry with it a salary of $5000 per year.... The Central + Labor Council is making an effort to have this matter + investigated, but without serious hope of success. + +When a labor committee demanded that Mayor Babcock of Pittsburgh +investigate the situation, the honorable gentleman refused. He admitted +that the action of the steel companies was ill-advised; the money should +have been given to the pension fund, instead of to a few men; however, +the matter was now past history, and there was nothing to be added to +the fair name of Pittsburgh by airing it in public. The Mayor admitted, +though, that he would object to having labor unions raise funds to pay +policemen to favor them during strikes. So reason public officials in +the steel districts. + + * * * * * + +Suppression of the rights of free speech and free assembly; gigantic +organized campaigns of outlawry by the State Police and armies of +selected plug-uglies; subornation and intimidation of city, county, +state and federal officials and police; prostitution of the +courts--these are some of the means used to crush the strike of the +steel workers, and to force these over-worked, under-paid toilers still +deeper into the mire of slavery. And the whole monstrous crime was +hypocritically committed in the name of a militant, 100 per cent. +Americanism. + + + + +IX + +EFFORTS AT SETTLEMENT + + THE NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL CONFERENCE--THE SENATE COMMITTEE + --THE RED BOOK--THE MARGOLIS CASE--THE INTERCHURCH WORLD + MOVEMENT + + +Upon October 6 the National Industrial Conference opened its sessions in +Washington, D. C. This body was called together by President Wilson to +make an effort to solve the pressing labor difficulties confronting the +country, and was the one, pending whose deliberations the steel workers +had been asked to postpone their strike. It was a three-party +arrangement, Capital, Labor and the Public being represented. Naturally +it was only advisory in character; and under the rules adopted all +action taken, not relating merely to methods of procedure, had to have +the endorsement of all three sections, each of which voted as a unit in +accordance with the majority sentiment of its members. + +The Conference met in the midst of a tense situation. The steel industry +was almost completely paralysed; the miners were just about to launch +their national general strike; the railroaders were in a foment of +discontent, and many other large and important sections of workers were +demanding better conditions. Capital and Labor were arrayed against +each other as never before. Both appeared determined to fight; Capital +in a bitter, revengeful spirit to oust Labor from the favorable position +won during the war, and Labor in a decided effort to hold what it had +and to make more winnings to offset the rapidly mounting cost of living. +The United States seemed upon the brink of an industrial war. + +From the beginning the touchstone of the Conference, the measure by +which all its activities were gauged, was the steel strike. It was clear +that its attitude towards this great issue would settle its general +policy. This was felt by all parties to the Conference, even though some +hated the thought. The labor delegation, headed by Samuel Gompers, +precipitated matters by introducing, by previous arrangement with the +National Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers, the following +resolution: + + WHEREAS, The Nation-wide strike now in progress in + the steel industry of America affects not only the men and + women directly concerned, but tends to disturb the relations + between employers and workers throughout our industrial + life; and + + WHEREAS, This conference is called for the purpose + of stabilizing industries and bringing into being a better + relation between employers and employees; and + + WHEREAS, Organized Labor wishes to manifest its + sincere and fair desire to prove helpful in immediately + adjusting this pending grave industrial conflict; therefore, + be it, + + RESOLVED, That each group comprising this + conference select two of its number and these six so + selected to constitute a committee to which shall be + referred existing differences between the workers and + employers in the steel industry for adjudication and + settlement. Pending the findings of this committee, this + conference requests the workers involved to return to work + and the employers to re-instate them in their former + positions. + +This resolution provoked a storm of opposition from the reactionary +employers, who, headed by Mr. Gary (ironically seated with John D. +Rockefeller, Jr., as a representative of the Public) insisted that the +Conference ignore the steel strike situation altogether, its purpose +being, according to them, not the settlement of existing disputes, but +the formulation of principles and plans which would provide for the +prevention of such disputes in the future. Finally, seeing that if they +insisted upon their resolution it would wreck the Conference, the +workers held it in abeyance temporarily and submitted the following: + + The right of wage earners to organize without + discrimination, to bargain collectively, to be represented + by representatives of their own choosing in negotiations and + adjustments with employers in respect to wages, hours of + labor and relations and conditions of employment, is + recognized. + +Such a mild proposition as this would hardly meet with serious +opposition in a similar conference in any other important country than +ours. All over Europe it would be far too conservative to fit the +situation. In England, for example, the British Industrial Conference +recently adopted the following: + + The basis of negotiation between employers and work people + should, as is presently the case in the chief industries of + the country, be the full, frank acceptance of the employers' + organizations on the one hand, and trade unions on the other + as the recognized organizations to speak and act on behalf + of their members. + +And just across our border, in Canada, this advanced conception was +formulated but a few months before: + + On the whole we believe the day has passed when any employer + should deny his employees the right to organize. Employers + claim that right for themselves and it is not denied by the + workers. There seems to be no reason why the employer should + deny like rights to those who are employed by him. Not only + should employees be accorded the right of organizing, but + the prudent employer will recognize such organization and + will deal with the duly accredited representatives thereof + in all matters relating to the interests of the employees + when it is fairly established to be representative of them + all. + +But Mr. Gary and his associates care nothing about the reputation of +America as a progressive, liberty-loving country. They have their +prerogatives, and they intend to exercise them, cost what it may. They +organize as they see fit and pick out such representatives as they will; +but by virtue of their economic strength they deny to their workers +these same rights. So they voted down Labor's collective bargaining +resolution, and at the same time the one providing for a settlement of +the steel strike. The employers insisted upon absolute rule by +themselves. + +This action discredited the Conference, and sentenced it to dissolution. +By its refusal to meet the great steel strike issue the Conference +showed that it had neither the will nor the power to settle industrial +disputes. Labor, openly denied the fundamental right of organization, +could no longer sit with it. The workers' representatives, therefore, +took the only honorable course left to them; they withdrew, allowing the +whole worthless structure to collapse. Said Mr. Gompers in his final +speech: + + Gentlemen, I have sung my swan song in this conference. You + have, by your action--the action of the employers' + group--legislated us out of this conference. We have nothing + further to submit; and with a feeling of regret we have not + been enabled with a clear conscience to remain here longer. + We have responsibilities to employees and workers and those + dependent upon them. We must fulfill these obligations. + +Thus ingloriously ended the Conference upon which the steel workers had +been asked to hang all their hopes. Even with powerful organizations +intact and with their industry almost entirely at a standstill, the +latter could get no consideration from it. What, then, would have been +their fate if they had postponed the strike? With their forces +shattered, half of their men being on strike and the rest at work +thoroughly disgusted, they would have been helpless and unable to strike +in any event. They would have been absolutely at the mercy of the +employers. And any one who may imagine that the latter would have done +anything short of giving the steel workers their _coup de grace_ at the +Conference is an optimist indeed. The steel strike was a clean fight +and an honorable defeat for Labor. Its bad effects will soon wear off. +But it would have been a ruinous calamity, with ineradicable harm, had +the strike been postponed for the sake of the ill-fated Industrial +Conference. + + * * * * * + +Pursuant to a resolution adopted by the Senate on September 23, in the +white heat of the strike excitement, the Committee on Education and +Labor was instructed to investigate the steel strike and to report back +to the Senate as soon as possible. Accordingly this Committee held +sittings in Washington and Pittsburgh, hearing about one hundred +witnesses all told. Its active members were Senators Kenyon (Chairman), +McKellar, Walsh (Mass.), Sterling and Phipps. + +For the workers Samuel Gompers, John Fitzpatrick, M. F. Tighe and many +organizers and strikers testified, setting forth in detail the +grievances and demands of the men. For the steel companies came the +usual crop of strike-breakers and company officials, pliable city +authorities and business men from the steel towns. The star witness was +Judge Gary, who presented practically the entire case for the whole +steel industry. It is noteworthy that with the exception of one minor +hothead, the so-called "independents" made no defense before the +committee. They left it all to their master, the United States Steel +Corporation. + +Mr. Gary was a good witness. Not for him were the antiquated blusterings +of a "divine-right" Baer or a "public-be-damned" Vanderbilt. He used the +modern method,--a mass of silky hypocrisies and misrepresentations for +the public, to cover up the mailed fist he has for his workers. He was +suave, oily, humble, obliging, persuasive, patriotic. He pictured the +steel industry as a sort of industrial heaven and the U. S. Steel +Corporation as a beneficent institution, leading even the trade-union +movement in reform work. + +Inasmuch as Mr. Gary's peculiar notions of the "open shop," minority +rule by the unions, etc., set forth afresh by him at the strike +hearings, are discussed quite generally throughout this book, there is +no need to review them again here. We will note his testimony no more +than to give the facts of the death of Mrs. Fannie Sellins, of whose +murder he was so anxious to clear the Steel Trust. + +Mrs. Fannie Sellins was an organizer for the United Mine Workers of +America, stationed in the notorious, anti-union Black Valley district +along the Allegheny river. An able speaker, and possessed of boundless +courage, energy, enthusiasm and idealism, she was a most effective +worker. Due largely to her efforts many thousands of miners and +miscellaneous workers in this hard district were organized. She was the +very heart of the local labor movement, which ranked second to none in +Pennsylvania for spirit and progress. When the steel campaign began, +Mrs. Sellins threw herself whole-heartedly into it. She worked +indefatigably. More than any other individual she was responsible for +the unionization of the big United States Steel Corporation mills at +Vandergrift, Leechburg and New Kensington, as well as those of the +so-called independent Allegheny and West Penn Steel Companies at +Brackenridge. The results secured by her will compare favorably with +those of any other organizer in the whole campaign. + +By her splendid work in behalf of the toilers Mrs. Sellins gained the +undying hatred of the untamed employers in the benighted Black Valley +district. Open threats were made to "get" her. The opportunity came on +August 26, 1919, when she was deliberately murdered under the most +brutal circumstances. + +The miners of the Allegheny Coal and Coke Company were on strike at West +Natrona. The mine is situated in the mill yard of the Allegheny Steel +Company and furnishes fuel for that concern. All was going peacefully +when a dozen drunken deputy sheriffs on strike duty, led by a mine +official, suddenly rushed the pickets, shooting as they came. Joseph +Strzelecki fell, mortally wounded. Mrs. Sellins, standing close by, +rushed first to get some children out of danger. Then she came back to +plead with the deputies, who were still clubbing the prostrate +Strzelecki, not to kill him. What happened then is told in the _New +Majority_ (Chicago) of September 20: + + ---- ----, the mine official, snatched a club and felled the + woman to the ground. + + This was not on company ground, but just outside the fence + of a friend of Mrs. Sellins. + + She rose and tried to drag herself toward the gate. + + ---- shouted: "Kill that -- -- -- -- -- --!" + + Three shots were fired, each taking effect. + + She fell to the ground, and ---- cried: "Give her another!" + + One of the deputies, standing over the motionless and + silent body, held his gun down and, without averting his + face, fired into the body that did not move. + + An auto truck, in waiting, was hurried to the scene and the + body of the old miner thrown in; then Mrs. Sellins was + dragged by the heels to the back of the car. Before she was + placed in the truck, a deputy took a cudgel and crushed in + her skull before the eyes of the throng of men, women and + children, who stood in powerless silence before the armed + men. Deputy ---- picked up the woman's hat, placed it on his + head, danced a step, and said to the crowd: "I'm Mrs. + Sellins now." + +Thus perished noble Fannie Sellins: shot in the back by so-called peace +officers. And she 49 years old, a grandmother, and mother of a boy +killed in France, fighting to make the world safe for democracy. + +Many people witnessed this horrible murder. The guilty men were named +openly in the newspapers and from a hundred platforms. Yet no one was +ever punished for the crime. Witnesses were spirited away or +intimidated, and the whole matter hushed up in true Steel Trust fashion. +A couple of deputies were arrested; but they were speedily released on +smaller bonds than those often set for strikers arrested for picketing. +Eventually they were freed altogether. + +The killing of Mrs. Sellins, right in the teeth of the strike as it was, +lent much bitterness to the general situation. Rightly or wrongly, the +steel workers, almost to a man, felt that this devoted woman was a +martyr to their cause. + +[Illustration: MRS. FANNIE SELLINS, TRADE UNION ORGANIZER + +Killed by Steel Trust gunmen, West Natrona, Pa., Aug. 26, 1919.] + +Upon November 8, the Senate Committee, having completed its hearings, +made public its report. This document is a strange mixture of +progressive and reactionary principles. In some respects, especially +where it grants, however confusedly, the right of collective bargaining +and the eight hour day, it is just and meets the situation; but in other +respects it is so unfair to the workers' cause as to be grotesque. For +one thing it shoulders upon the unions the entire responsibility for the +failure to postpone the strike, choosing to disregard completely the +clearly established fact that the steel companies were discharging men +so fast that for the unions it was a case of strike or perish. In fact, +the report ignores altogether the bitter grievance of men being +discharged for union membership. Mr. Gary had said that this practice +was not engaged in, and that apparently settled it so far as the +Committee was concerned,--the testimony of dozens of victimized workers +(with thousands more available) to the contrary notwithstanding. Other +sins of the Steel Trust, the suppression of free speech and free +assembly, etc., were passed over lightly; but the alleged virtues of its +housing and welfare plans were very highly lauded. + +Nowhere are the workers more ruthlessly robbed and exploited by their +employers than in the steel industry. Speaking recently in Brooklyn on +the subject of profiteering, Mr. Basil Manly, formerly Joint Chairman of +the National War Labor Board, cited Page 367 of the Treasury report as +showing one steel company "earning" $14,549,952 in 1917 on a capital of +$5,000, or a profit of 290,999 per cent. As the department conveniently +suppresses all details, it is impossible to learn the name of this +company or how it made such fabulous profits. On the same page appeared +another steel company with a profit rate of 20,180 per cent. Speaking of +the United States Steel Corporation's returns, which of course were +garbled so that no outsider could understand them, Mr. Manly said: + + For this reason I am unable to tell you, on the basis of the + Treasury Department's figures, what the net income of the + Steel Corporation is, but on the basis of its own published + report I can tell you that in two years, 1916 and 1917, the + net profits of the Steel Corporation, after payment of + interest on bonds and after making allowance for all charges + growing out of the installation of special war facilities, + amounted to $888,931,511. This is more by $20,000,000 than + the total capital stock of the Steel Corporation (which is + $868,583,600). In other words, in 1916 and 1917 every dollar + of the capital stock of the Steel Corporation was paid for + in net profits. In this connection it should be remembered + that when the Steel Corporation was formed its entire + $500,000,000 worth of common stock represented nothing but + water. + +The other steel companies did as well or better, proportionately. W. +Jett Lauck, acting on behalf of the railroad workers, submitted figures +to the United States Railroad Labor Board (A. P. dispatches May 19, +1920) showing that during the years 1916-18 the Bethlehem Steel +Corporation "earned" average annual profits of $29,000,000, or six times +its pre-war average. In 1916 its profits amounted to 146 per cent. on +its capital stock. Our Johnstown friend, the Cambria Steel Company, in +1916-17 cleaned up $50,000,000 on $45,000,000 capital stock; while the +Lackawanna, Republic, Colorado Fuel and Iron, Jones and Laughlin, +Crucible, etc., companies made similar killings. + +As against useless, non-producing drones getting these millions, the +great mass of workers actually operating the industry were receiving the +beggarly wages of from 42 to 48 cents per hour. They had received no +increase for a year before the strike, notwithstanding the skyrocketing +cost of living. Yet the Senate Committee could discover no discontent at +this condition nor see any injustice in it. Upon page 10 of its report +appears the startling statement that "The question of wages is not +involved in this controversy." Forty-two cents per hour would hardly buy +cigars for these smug, well-fed gentlemen; still they would have us +conclude that it is enough for a steel worker to raise a family upon. + +The fact is, of course, that an increase in wages was a cardinal demand +of the strikers, even though the Senate Committee did not get to learn +of it.[13] And so great was the steel workers' need for more money that +the strike had scarcely ended when the United States Steel Corporation, +followed soon after by the "independents," granted its lesser skilled +help 10 per cent. increase in wages, and promised "an equitable +adjustment" to the widely advertised small minority of highly paid men. + +Part of the strike-breaking strategy of the Steel Trust was to alienate +public sympathy from the strike by denouncing it as an incipient +revolution which had to be put down at all costs. Public opinion was +already violently inflamed against everything savoring no matter how +slightly of radicalism, and it was not difficult for the reactionary +newspapers to make the steel strike unpopular, even as they had, under +various pretexts, the movements of the miners and railroad men of the +period. One weapon they used extensively against the steel strike was an +almost forgotten pamphlet, "Syndicalism," written by Earl C. Ford and +myself eight years ago. + +Throughout the hearings the investigating senators went along with this +Steel Trust propaganda, which was not so surprising considering the fact +that of the five active committee men, one was a steel magnate, and +three others typical Bourbons. By playing up the "little red book" they +systematically fed the newspapers with the sensationalism they wanted +and which the steel companies desired them to get. I was called before +the Committee and gruffly ordered to express my opinion on the doctrines +in the booklet. In reply, I stated that the steel movement had been +carried on according to the strictest trade-union principles. It was +overseen by the National Committee, consisting of twenty-four +presidents of large international unions. As secretary of this committee +I had necessarily worked under the close scrutiny of these men and +dozens of their organizers--not to speak of the highest officials in the +American Federation of Labor. Yet none of these trade unionists, keen +though they be to detect and condemn unusual practices and heresy in the +ranks, had found fault with the character of my work. Nor could the crew +of detectives and stool pigeons of the steel companies and Department of +Justice, who had dogged my footsteps for a year past, cite a single word +said, a thing done, or a line written by me in the entire campaign which +would not measure up to most rigid trade-union standards. I contended +that my private opinions were immaterial as they did not and could not +enter into the organizing work or the strike. + +But the nation-wide head hunt of the radicals was on in full cry, and +the Senators had a good blood scent. They would follow it to the end. +They insisted that I express my opinion upon the wage system, the state, +morality, patriotism, marriage, etc. Finally, in a last effort to +protect the interests of the 2,000,000 men, women and children affected +by the strike, I stated that if the vulture press, which was bound to +misrepresent what I said, was removed from the room, I would be glad to +oblige the Senators with a frank expression of my views upon any +subject. But this simple fairness to the steel workers and their +families they denied. The newspapers were clamoring for red meat, and +the Senators seemed determined they should have it. Having made my +protest and my prediction, I was compelled to yield; but the first +newspapers on the streets proved the soundness of my fears. My answers +were garbled and twisted against both the steel movement and me. + +Then there was the Margolis case. I charge that to be a deliberate +frame-up against the steel strike. To prove the Steel Trust's contention +that the strike was a desperate revolutionary _coup_, engineered by men +seeking to destroy our civilization generally, somewhat more was +required than merely an eight year old booklet. The thing had to be +brought down to date and a far-reaching plot constructed. Hence the +Senate Committee dragged in Mr. Margolis and made him a scapegoat. Mr. +Margolis is a well known Anarchist attorney of Pittsburgh. He has the +reputation of having served ably as counsel for several trade-union +organizations, and has a wide circle of acquaintances among labor men. +The Senate Committee selected him as the man who had organized, with my +hearty support and co-operation, the real force behind the strike, the +I. W. W.'s, Anarchists and Bolshevists. + +Now the fact is that Mr. Margolis had nothing whatever to do, officially +or unofficially, with the policies or management of either the +organizing campaign or the strike. He had no connection with the Strike +committee; nor did he ever even speak at a union meeting of steel +workers during the whole movement in question. If he wrote an article in +some radical paper, or spoke to a meeting of Russian workmen in +Youngstown, endorsing the strike, as is said, he did it purely as an +individual sympathizer acting upon his own initiative. Mr. Margolis +freely stated this on the stand, and every union official in Pittsburgh +knew it to be the case. So did the investigating Senators; but it the +better served their purpose to enlarge upon Mr. Margolis' activities, in +the hope that his radical reputation would lend color to the plot theory +which they were laboring so hard to establish, and which was so +advantageous to the Steel Trust. + +In their final report the Senators continued their plot "evidence" and +insinuations, so persistently worked up all through their hearings. They +ignored highly important testimony tending to put the movement in its +right light as a strictly trade-union affair, and gave prominence to +everything to the contrary. They elevated unheard-of I. W. W.'s into +powerful strike leaders and surrounded the most ordinary comings and +goings with revolutionary mystery. Where they lacked facts they cast +suspicion, leaving a vicious daily press to draw its own conclusions. + +Although they expressed great concern for the sufferings of the public +in strikes, and advocated the establishment of an industrial tribunal to +prevent them in the future, the worthy Senators, nevertheless, +recommended no means to end the steel strike. So far as they were +concerned, apparently they were willing to have the steel strike fought +to a conclusion. At one of the Senate Committee hearings, John +Fitzpatrick, Chairman of the National Committee, agreed to arbitration. +But later Mr. Gary gave an emphatic "No" to this proposition. Mr. Gary's +wishes usually had decisive weight with the Senators, so the matter was +settled. + +On October 1-3, 1919, a national conference called by the Industrial +Relations Department of the Interchurch World Movement met at the Hotel +Pennsylvania in New York and adopted a resolution providing for a full +investigation of the steel strike, then a burning public question. Under +the terms of this resolution the Industrial Relations Department set up +an independent Commission of Inquiry, composed of representative +churchmen from all over the country who should be responsible for +carrying out the investigation. This Commission consisted of Bishop +Francis J. McConnell (Methodist), Chairman, Dr. Daniel A. Poling +(Evangelical), vice-Chairman, Dr. John McDowell (Presbyterian), Mrs. +Fred Bennett (Board of Foreign Missions), Dr. Nicholas Van Der Pyl +(Congregational), Dr. Alva W. Taylor (Disciples), and Mr. Geo. W. +Coleman (Baptist). + +In order to commit the investigation of technical data to the hands of +trained men, the Industrial Relations Department obtained the services +of the Bureau of Industrial Research, New York, which, besides its own +researches, obtained the co-operation of various other scientific +agencies and organized a staff of field workers whose principal members +were: Mr. George Soule, Mr. David J. Saposs, Miss Marian D. Savage, Mr. +Marion K. Wisehart and Mr. Robert Littell. A member of the Bureau of +Industrial Research, Mr. Heber Blankenhorn, had charge of the field work +and later acted as Secretary to the Commission of Inquiry, which held +hearings in Pittsburgh, Chicago, and other steel centres. + +The Interchurch World Movement, representing as it does the organized +Protestant millions of America, is a conservative and respectable body, +if there is such in this country. Yet when it stepped upon the toes of +the Steel Trust by starting the investigation it found itself soon +classed among the revolutionaries. Persistent rumors were sent +broadcast, and even newspaper stories, to the effect that the +Commission's investigators were "Bolsheviks" and that the Interchurch +World Movement was permeated with "anarchists." This hampered the work +greatly, especially among employers. Finally a threat of legal action +was necessary against a large commercial organization which had +circulated the rumors officially. It eventually retracted in full. As +for the workers, they gave the fullest co-operation to the +investigation. + +Impressed by the scientific methods and apparent desire to get at the +truth of the strike situation manifested in the Interchurch +investigation--which stood in striking contrast to the slipshod, +haphazard system, "red" mania, and violent partiality towards the steel +companies shown by the Senate Committee,--the strike leaders decided to +ask the Commission to undertake a settlement of the strike by mediation, +which the Commission had the power to do under the resolution creating +it. The workers' representatives felt that no stone should be left +unturned to get a settlement, and that if the powerful Interchurch +movement stirred in their behalf possibly Mr. Gary would be dislodged +from his position. + +Consequently, John Fitzpatrick, Chairman of the National Committee, put +before Mr. Blankenhorn a plan for the settlement of the strike by +mediation. Mr. Blankenhorn felt, however, that it might be better to +recommend that the Commission move independently, rather than as merely +representing the strikers, and submitted the following plan, which was +adopted by the Commission: + + 1. To mediate in behalf of all the steel workers, both those + on strike and those who had gone back to work. + + 2. That the purpose of the mediation should be to establish + a new deal in the steel industry rather than merely to end + the strike. + + 3. That the ending of the strike should be arranged solely + with a view to giving the new deal the best possible chance. + +On December 1, the National Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel +Workers met and formally accepted this proposition of mediation. What +happened next is told in an official statement to the writer of this +book: + + On December 5 a committee from the Commission, consisting of + Bishop McConnell, Dr. Poling and Dr. McDowell, called on Mr. + Gary with the purpose of, first, ascertaining if he would + accept their office as mediators; next, of proposing their + plan of mediation and pressing the acceptance of it by the + employers; and, finally, of ordering the men back to work, + the strike leaders to step out of the situation, and the + Commission to set up a permanent mediation body to bring + about a conference between employers and employees in the + steel industry. There was the feeling in the Commission that + extraordinary concessions had been made by the leaders of + the strike and that any reasons advocated by the employers + for not accepting the mediation plan would have to be + weighty. + + Mr. Gary received the Commission courteously and after + minutely cross-examining them concerning the "anonymous" + report of the presence of "Bolsheviks" among them, he heard + the Commission to the extent of learning the first step in + their proposal. He made his reply immediately, an absolute + refusal of arbitration or mediation. The Commission + therefore never had any opportunity to present the + authorized acceptance of the mediation plan by the other + side and in no sense conveyed to Mr. Gary the extent of the + concessions which the strikers were then willing to make. + Mr. Gary, however, clearly understood that acceptance of the + mediation plan would mean that the men would all return to + work at once. + + Mr. Gary based his refusal on the grounds that any dealings + which in any way involved representatives of the men then on + strike would be an acceptance of the closed shop, sovietism, + and the forcible distribution of property. Mr. Gary said + that if the Commission represented the men who had gone back + to work, those men were content; if the Commission + represented the men who had not gone back to work, those men + are nothing but red radicals whom the plants did not want + anyway. He said that there was absolutely no issue for + discussion with the U. S. Steel Corporation. + + The Commission presented its viewpoint on the advisability + of mediation at great length and with insistence. Mr. Gary + did not in any respect modify his immediate decision. + + The Commission felt it necessary therefore to drop the plan + and transmitted the following to the National Committee: + + + December 6, 1919 + + Memorandum for Mr. Fitzpatrick: + + The independent Commission of Inquiry, instituted by the + Interchurch World Movement to investigate the steel strike, + received on December 2 a communication marked + "confidential," dealing with an official action taken by the + National Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers, + signed by Mr. Fitzpatrick and Mr. Foster. + + On December 5, members of the Commission informally + conversed with Mr. Gary for two hours, proposing to plan a + new basis of relations in the steel industry, with an ending + of the strike best calculated to further better relations. + They offered to act as mediators both on behalf of the men + still on strike, whose leaders were to order them back and + then step out of the situation, and on behalf of still + dissatisfied men who had nevertheless returned to work. + + Mr. Gary refused to confer with these representatives of the + churches as mediators in behalf of any interests represented + by you in the strike, on the ground that the men still out + were Bolshevist radicals who were not wanted in the mills + and who would not be taken back. + + And as to mediating in behalf of any other interests, Mr. + Gary said that the men were contented and that "there is no + issue." + + I am requested to communicate the above information to you + by the Chairman of the Commission of Inquiry. + + Very truly yours, + H. BLANKENHORN. + +At the time this book goes to press the findings and recommendations of +the Commission have not yet been made public. + +This made the sixth attempt of the National Committee to settle the +steel controversy--not to mention the individual effort of the +Amalgamated Association. They were: (1) The letter from Mr. Gompers to +Mr. Gary requesting a conference; (2) the visit to his office of the +National Committee conference committee, equipped with the power to set +a strike date; (3) the appeal to President Wilson to arrange a +conference; (4) Organized Labor's resolution in the National Industrial +Conference to have that body select an arbitration board; (5) The offer +of arbitration by John Fitzpatrick while testifying before the Senate +Committee; and, (6) the Interchurch mediation incident. + +But they were all futile. Mr. Gary's policy is the time-honored one of +all tyrants, rule or ruin. The unions had no option but to fight, and +this they did to the best of their ability. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[13] There seemed to be many important things of which this committee +had never heard. For instance, when in my testimony I referred to Lester +F. Ward, Senator Sterling innocently inquired who he was. He had +apparently never even heard of this eminent American sociologist, who +was perhaps the greatest scholar ever born in the western hemisphere, +and whose name is honored by scientific minds the world over. And what +makes Senator Sterling's ignorance the more inexcusable is that he was +actually holding office in Washington at the same time that Professor +Ward was carrying on his brilliant studies in that very city. For one +who stresses so much his 100 per cent. Americanism as does the Senator +it is indeed a sad showing not to be familiar with this great native +product. + + + + +X + +THE COURSE OF THE STRIKE + + PITTSBURGH DISTRICT--THE RAILROAD MEN--CORRUPT NEWSPAPERS + --CHICAGO DISTRICT--FEDERAL TROOPS AT GARY--YOUNGSTOWN + DISTRICT--THE AMALGAMATED ASSOCIATION--CLEVELAND--THE ROD + AND WIRE MILL STRIKE--THE BETHLEHEM PLANTS--BUFFALO AND + LACKAWANNA--WHEELING AND STEUBENVILLE--PUEBLO--JOHNSTOWN + --MOB RULE--THE END OF THE STRIKE. + +Although the Steel strike was national in scope and manifested the same +general, basic tendencies everywhere, nevertheless it differed enough +from place to place to render necessary some indication of particular +events in the various districts in order to convey a clear conception of +the movement as a whole. It is the purpose of this chapter to point out +a few of these salient features in the several localities and to draw +some lessons therefrom. + +In the immediate Pittsburgh district, due to the extreme difficulties +under which the organizing work was carried on and the strike +inaugurated, the shut-down was not so thorough as elsewhere. +Considerable numbers of men, notably in the skilled trades, remained at +work, and the mills limped along, at least pretending to operate. This +was exceedingly bad, Pittsburgh being the strategic centre of the +strike, as it is of the industry, and the companies were making +tremendous capital of the fact that the mills there were still producing +steel. Accordingly, the National Committee left no stone unturned to +complete the tie-up, already 75 per cent. effective. But under the +circumstances, with meetings banned and picketing prohibited, it was out +of the question to reach directly the men who had stayed at work. The +key to the situation was in the hands of the railroad men. + +Operating between the various steel plants and connecting them up with +the main lines, there are several switching roads, such as the Union +Railroad and the McKeesport and Monongahela Connecting Lines. They are +the nerve centers of the local steel industry. If they could be struck +the mills would have to come to a standstill. The National Committee +immediately delegated organizers to investigate the situation. These +reported that the body of the men in the operating departments were +organized; that they had no contracts with the steel companies, and that +they were ready for action, but awaiting co-operation from their +respective national headquarters. + +Consequently, the National Committee arranged a conference in Washington +with responsible representatives of the Brotherhoods and laid the +situation before them. In reply they stated that their policy was +strictly to observe their contracts wherever they had such, and that +their men would be forbidden to do work around the mills not done by +them prior to the strike. It was up to the men on the non-contract roads +and yards to decide for themselves about joining the strike. We informed +them then that the situation was such, with the men scattered through +many locals, that merely leaving it up to them was insufficient; it +would be impossible for them to act together without direct aid and +encouragement from their higher officials. We made the specific request +that each of the organizations send a man into Pittsburgh to take a +strike vote of the men in question, who are all employees of the steel +companies. They took the matter under advisement; but nothing came of +it, although long afterwards, when the opportune moment had passed, +organizer J. M. Patterson of the Railway Carmen (also of the Trainmen) +was authorized to take a strike vote. Thus was lost the chance to close +down these strategic switching lines and with them, in all likelihood, +several big mills in the most vital district in the entire steel +industry. + +Throughout the strike zone general disappointment was expressed by the +steel workers at the apparent lack of sympathy with their cause shown by +the officials of the Brotherhoods. The steel workers, bitterly oppressed +for a generation and fighting desperately towards the light in the face +of unheard-of opposition, turned instinctively for aid to their closely +related, powerfully organized fellow workers, the railroad men. And the +latter could easily have lent them effective, if not decisive assistance +without violating a contract or in any way endangering their standing. +It was not to be expected that the trunk line men, working as they were +under government agreements, would refuse to haul the scab steel; but +there were many other ways, perfectly legitimate under current +trade-union practice and ethics, in which help could have been given; +yet it was not. From Youngstown and elsewhere the railroad men who did +go on strike in the mill yards complained with bitterness that they were +neglected and denied strike benefits, and that the rule that no road man +should do work around the mills not customary before the strike was +flagrantly violated. Usually the rank and file were strongly disposed to +assist the hard-pressed steel workers, and they could have everywhere +wonderfully stiffened the strike, but the necessary encouragement and +cooperation from the several headquarters was lacking. Truth demands +that these unpleasant things be set down. Labor can learn and progress +only through a frank acknowledgment and discussion of its weaknesses, +mistakes and failures. + +In addition to all their other handicaps the Pittsburgh district +strikers had to contend with a particularly treacherous local press. +Everywhere our daily papers are newspapers only by courtesy of a +misapplied term. They are sailing under false colors. Pretending to be +purveyors of unbiased accounts of current happenings, they are in +reality merely propaganda organs, twisting, garbling and suppressing +facts and information in the manner best calculated to further the +interests of the employing class. The whole newsgathering and +distributing system is a gigantic mental prostitution. Consequently, +considering the issues involved, it was not surprising to see the big +daily papers take such a decided stand against the steel workers. +Everywhere in steel districts the papers were bad enough, but those in +the Pittsburgh district outstripped all the rest. They gave themselves +over body and soul to the service of the Steel Trust. + +From the first these Pittsburgh papers were violently antagonistic to +the steel workers. Every sophistry uttered by Mr. Gary to the effect +that the strike was an effort to establish the "closed shop," a bid for +power, or an attempt at revolution, the papers echoed and re-echoed _ad +nauseum_. They played up the race issue, virtually advising the +Americans to stand together against the foreigners who were about to +overwhelm them. They painted the interests of the country as being +synonymous with those of the steel companies and tried to make +Americanism identical with scabbery. For them no further proof of one's +patriotism was needed than to go back to the mills. Every clubbing of +strikers was the heroic work of the law-abiding against reckless mobs. +Strike "riots" were manufactured out of whole cloth. For instance, when +the senators investigating the strike were visiting the Homestead mills, +a couple of strike-breakers quarreling with each other, several blocks +away, fired a shot. An hour later screaming headlines told the startled +populace of Pittsburgh that "STRIKERS SHOOT AT SENATORS" and "MOB +ATTACKS SENATE COMMITTEE." Even the stand-pat senators had to protest +that this was going it too strong. + +In revenge for an alleged dynamiting in Donora, Pa., the authorities +swooped down upon the union headquarters, arrested 101 strikers present, +including organizer Walter Hodges, and charged them with the crime. +Since there was not a shred of evidence against the accused, they were +all eventually discharged. Then the Donora _Herald_, which forever +yelped that the organizers advocated violence, had this to say: + + One of the reasons we have sedition preached in America is + because we have grand juries like that at Washington (Pa.) + this week which ignored the dynamiting cases. Possibly the + biggest mistake of all was made in not using rifles at the + time instead of turning the guilty parties over to the very + sensitive mercies of the grand jury. + +But the journalistic strike-breaking master-stroke was an organized +effort to stampede the men back to work by minimizing the strike's +effectiveness. First the papers declared that only a few thousands of +Pittsburgh's steel workers went out. Then they followed this for weeks +with stories of thousands of men flocking back to the mills. Full page +advertisements begged the men to go back; while flaming headlines told +us that "MEN GO BACK TO MILLS," "STEEL STRIKE WANING," "MILLS OPERATING +STRONGER," "MORE MEN GO BACK TO WORK," etc. It became a joke, but the +patient Pittsburgh people couldn't see it. Said Wm. Hard in the +_Metropolitan_ for February, 1920: + + "Mr. Foster," I said, "I am going to be perfectly frank with + you. I know your strike's a fizzle of course, but I know + more. I not only take pains to read the telegraphic + dispatches of the news from the managers of the steel mills, + but I keep the clippings. I have the history of your strike + in cold print. Hardly anybody struck anyhow, in most places, + except some foreigners; and then they began at once to go + back in thousands and thousands and new thousands every day + for months. If you claim there were 300,000 strikers, I + don't care. I've counted up the fellows that went back to + work, and I've totalled them up day by day. They're a little + over 4,800,000. So you're pretty far behind." + +But despite everything--the suppression of free speech and free +assembly, Cossack terrorism, official tyranny, prostitution of the +courts, attacks from the lying press, and all the rest of it--the steel +workers in the immediate Pittsburgh district (comprising the towns along +the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers from Apollo to Monessen) made a +splendid fight. The very pressure seemed to hold them the better +together. Their ranks were never really broken, the strike being +weakened only by a long, costly wearing-away process. The stampede back +to work, so eagerly striven for by the employers, did not materialize. +In the beginning of the strike the Pittsburgh district was the weakest +point in the battle line; at the end it was one of the very strongest. + + * * * * * + +The Chicago district struck very well, but it weakened earlier than +others. This was because the employers scored a break-through at Indiana +Harbor and Gary, particularly the latter place, which shattered the +whole line. + +Gary, the great western stronghold of the United States Steel +Corporation, was the storm center of the Chicago district at all times. +Hardly had the organization campaign begun in 1918, when the Gary +_Tribune_ bitterly assailed the unions, accusing them of advocating +evasion of the draft, discouragement of liberty bond sales, and general +opposition to the war program. These lies were run in a full page +editorial in English, and repeated in a special eight page supplement +containing sixteen languages, a half page to each. Many thousands of +copies were scattered broadcast. Other attacks in a similar vein +followed. It was a foul blast straight from the maw of the Steel Trust. +Incidentally it created a situation which shows how the steel men +control public opinion. + +The new unions immediately boycotted the _Tribune_. Result: the Gary +_Post_, somewhat friendly inclined, doubled its circulation at once. The +_Post_ then became more friendly; whereupon, it is alleged, a leading +banker called the editor to his office and told him that if he did not +take a stand against the unions his credit would be stopped, which would +have meant suspension within the week. That very day the _Post_ joined +the _Tribune's_ campaign of abuse. Apparently the _Post's_ youthful +editor had learned a new wrinkle in journalism. + +The Steel Trust did all it could to hold Gary from unionizing; but when +the strike came the walkout was estimated to be 97 per cent. At first +everything went peacefully, but the Steel Corporation was watching for +an opportunity to get its strategic Gary mills into operation. The +occasion presented itself on October 4, when strikers coming from a +meeting fell foul of some homeward bound scabs. Local labor men declare +the resultant scrimmage "did not make as much disturbance as ordinarily +would occur in a saloon when two or three men were fighting." It was a +trivial incident--a matter for the police. Only one man was injured, and +he very slightly. But the inspired press yelled red murder and pictured +the hospitals as full of wounded. The militia were ordered in. The +unions offered to furnish 700 ex-service men to enforce law and order; +but this was rejected. Later the militia were transferred to Indiana +Harbor; on October 6, a provisional regiment of regular troops, under +command of General Leonard Wood, came to Gary from nearby Fort Sheridan, +and martial law was at once proclaimed. The Steel Corporation now had +the situation in hand; and the Gary strike was doomed. + +Grave charges were voiced against the misuse made of the Federal troops +in Gary. John Fitzpatrick writes me as follows, basing his statements +upon reliable witnesses: + + Now we have military control, the city of Gary being placed + under martial law. The strike leaders and pickets were + arrested by the soldiers and put to work splitting wood and + sweeping the streets. This was most humiliating, because the + camp was across the street from the city hall and in the + most frequented part of the city. + + When street-sweeping here did not break their spirits, these + men were taken to the back streets, where they had their + homes and where their own and the neighbor's children + watched them through the windows. + + The so-called foreigners have great respect for law and + authority, especially military authority, which plays such a + big part in their native environments. The U. S. Steel + Corporation did not fail to take advantage of this. In the + first place they gave out the impression that the letters + "U. S." in the corporation's name indicated that it was + owned by the U. S. Government, and that the Government + soldiers being in town meant that any one interfering with + the steel company's affairs would be deported or sent to + Fort Leavenworth. + + Then a mill superintendent would take a squad of soldiers + and go to the home of a striker. The soldiers would be lined + up in front of the house; the superintendent would go in. He + would tell John that he came to give him his last chance to + return to work, saying that if he refused he would either go + to jail or be deported. Then he would take John to the + window and show him the row of soldiers. John would look at + the wife and kids and make up his mind that his first duty + was to them; that was what the strike was for anyway. So he + would put on his coat and go back to the mills. Then the + superintendent would go to the next house and repeat the + performance. + +Such tactics, coupled with spectacular midnight raids to "unearth" the +widely advertised "red" plotters,--conveniently ignored until the +strike,--the suppression of meetings, limitations on picketing, and the +hundred forms of studied intimidation practiced by the soldiery, in a +few weeks broke the backbone of the strike. And while the regular troops +operated so successfully and systematically against the workers in Gary, +the militia did almost as well in Indiana Harbor, where the strike also +cracked. + +The great reactionary interests which backed General Wood for the +Republican presidential nomination, including the Steel Trust, are +giving him boundless credit for breaking the steel strike in Gary. +Consequently there are many workers who believe the whole affair was +staged to further his political fortunes. If not, how did it happen that +the militia, who could have handled the situation easily, were sent out +of Gary to make room for his regulars? And why was it that before there +was a sign of trouble General Wood had formed his provisional regiment, +shipped it from Fort Dodge to Fort Sheridan, and made other active +preparations to invade Gary? And then, how did it come that he took +charge of the situation in person, when at best it was only a colonel's +job? In fact, how about the whole wretched business? Was it merely a +political stunt to give General Wood the publicity that came to him for +it? + +The collapse at Gary and Indiana Harbor affected adversely South Chicago +and almost the whole Chicago district. Worse still, it weakened the +morale everywhere; and thus undermined, the strike rapidly +disintegrated. By the middle of November, district secretary De Young +reported that all the mills in the district, except those in Joliet and +Waukegan, were working crews from 50 to 85 per cent. of normal, +although, due to green hands and demoralized working forces, production +averaged considerably lower. And the situation gradually grew worse. +Joliet and Waukegan, however, held fast to the end, making a fight +comparable with that of the men in Peoria and Hammond, who had gone out +several weeks before September 22. It was at the latter place that +police and company guards brutally shot down and killed four strikers on +September 9. + + * * * * * + +In the immediate Youngstown district the strike was highly effective, +hardly a ton of steel being produced anywhere for several weeks. This +was due largely to the walkout of the railroad men employed in the mill +yards, who acted on their own volition. Many of these belonged to the +Brotherhoods, and others to the Switchmen's Union, while some were +unorganized; but all struck together. Then they held joint mass +meetings, got an agreement from the A. F. of L. unions that they would +be protected and represented in any settlement made, and stuck loyally +to the finish. They were a strong mainstay of the strike. + +The weakening of the strike began about November 15. In a number of +plants, notably those of the Trumbull Steel Company and the Sharon Steel +Hoop Company, the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers +had agreements covering the skilled steel making trades, but when the +laborers struck these skilled men had to quit also. The break in the +district came when the Amalgamated Association virtually forced the +laborers back to work in these shops in order to get them in operation. +This action its officials justified by the following clause in their +agreements: + + It was agreed that when a scale or scales are signed in + general or local conferences, said scales or contracts shall + be considered inviolate for that scale year, and should the + employees of any departments (who do not come under the + above named scales or contracts) become members of the + Amalgamated Association during the said scale year, the + Amalgamated Association may present a scale of wages + covering said employees, but in case men and management + cannot come to an agreement on said scale, same shall be + held over until the next general or local conference, and + all men shall continue work until the expiration of the + scale year. + +Relying upon their rights under this clause, the companies naturally +refused to give the laborers any consideration whatever until the end of +the scale year. This meant that the latter were told to work and wait +until the following June, when their grievances would be taken up. The +result was disastrous; the laborers generally lost faith in the +Amalgamated Association, feeling that they had been sacrificed for the +skilled workers. They began to flock back to work in all the plants. +Then men in other trades took the position that it was foolish for them +to fight on, seeing that the Amalgamated Association was forcing its men +back into the mills. A general movement millward set in. By December 10 +the strike was in bad shape. In passing it may be noted that in +Pittsburgh and other places where it had contracts, the Amalgamated +Association took the same action, with the same general results, +although not so extensive and harmful as in the Youngstown district. In +Cleveland the charters were taken from local unions that refused to +abide by this clause. + +The other trades affiliated with the National Committee protested +against the enforcement of the clause. They declared it to be invalid, +because it violated trade-union principles and fundamental human +rights. Seeing that no consideration was given the laborers under the +agreement, their right to strike should have been preserved inviolate. +It verged upon peonage to tie them up with an agreement that gave them +no protection yet deprived them of the right to defend themselves. These +trades freely predicted that to enforce the clause would break the +strike in the Youngstown district, as it was altogether out of the +question to ask men who had been on strike two months (especially men +inexperienced in unionism) to resume work upon such conditions. But all +arguments were vain; the Amalgamated Association officials were as +adamant. They held their agreements with the employers to be sacred and +to rank above any covenants they had entered into with the co-operating +trades. They would enforce them to the letter--the interests of the +laborers, the mechanical trades, and even the strike itself, to the +contrary notwithstanding. Being a federated body, the National Committee +had to bow to this decision and stand by, helpless, while its effects +worked havoc with the strike. + +Into Youngstown, in common with all the other districts, armies of scabs +were poured. It was the policy of the United States Steel Corporation to +operate, or at least to pretend to operate its mills, regardless of +cost. So all the "independents" had to do likewise. Word came to the +National Committee of several companies which, rather than try to run +with the high-priced, worthless strike-breakers, would have been glad +either to settle with the unions or to close their plants. But they were +afraid to do either; Gary had said "Operate," and it was a case of do +that or risk going out of business. + +The demand for scabs was tremendous. Probably half the strike-breaking +agencies in the country were engaged in recruiting them. Thousands of +negroes were brought from the South, and thousands of guttersnipe whites +from the big northern cities. But worst of all were the skilled steel +workers from outlying sections. There were many of such men who went on +strike in their own home towns, sneaked away to other steel centres and +worked there until the strike was over. Then they would return to their +old jobs with cock-and-bull stories (for the workers only) of having +worked in other industries, thus seeking to escape the dreaded odium of +being known as scabs. These contemptible cowards, being competent +workers, wrought incalculable injury to the strike everywhere, +especially in the Youngstown district. + +The Youngstown authorities, to begin with, were reasonably fair towards +the strikers; but as the strike wore on and the steel companies and +business men became desperate at the determined resistance of the +workers, they began to apply "Pennsylvania tactics." In Youngstown and +East Youngstown, Mayors Craver and McVey prohibited meetings, "the +object of which is discussion of matters pertaining to prolonging the +strike."[14] On November 22, district secretary McCadden, and organizers +John Klinsky and Frank Kurowsky were arrested in East Youngstown, +charged with criminal syndicalism and held for $3,000 bonds each. Later +a whole local union, No. 104 Amalgamated Association, was arrested in +the same town for holding a business meeting. "Citizens' committees" +were formed, and open threats made to tar and feather all the organizers +and drive them out of town. But the steel companies were unable to +inflame public opinion sufficiently for them to venture this outrage. + +Afterward the organizers were discharged; and in releasing the men +arrested for holding a business meeting, Judge David G. Jenkins said: + + I regard the ordinance (E. Youngstown anti-free assembly) as + a form of hysteria which has been sweeping the country, + whereby well-meaning people, in the guise of patriots, have + sought to preserve America even though going to the extent + of denying the fundamental principles upon which Americanism + is based, and free assemblage is one of those fundamentals. + +In the principal outlying towns of the Youngstown district, namely +Butler, Farrell, Sharon, Newcastle and Canton, the strikers were given +the worst of it. The first four being Pennsylvania towns, no specific +description of them is necessary. Suffice it to say that typical Cossack +conditions prevailed. In Canton it was not much better. The companies +turned loose many vicious gunmen on the strikers. The mayor was removed +from office and his place given to a company man; and a sweeping +injunction was issued against the strikers, denying them many +fundamental rights.[15] The district, nevertheless, held remarkably +well. + +Cleveland from the first to the last was one of the strong points in +the battle line. On September 22 the men struck almost 100 per cent. in +all the big plants, and until the very end preserved a wonderful +solidarity. Under the excellent control of the organizers working with +Secretary Raisse there was at no time a serious break in the ranks, and +when the strike was called off on January 8, at least 50 per cent. of +the men were still out, with production not over 30 per cent. of normal. +Thousands of the men refused to go back to the mills at all, leaving +them badly crippled. + +The backbone of the Cleveland strike was the enormous mills of the +American Steel and Wire Co. This calls attention to the fact that, as a +whole, the employees of this subsidiary of the U. S. Steel Corporation +made incomparably a better fight than did the workers in any other +considerable branch of the steel industry. Long after the strike had +been cracked in all other sections of the industry, the rod and wire +mill men of Cleveland, Donora, Braddock, Rankin, Joliet and Waukegan +stood practically solid. Even as late as December 27, only twelve days +before the end, the companies were forced to the expedient of assembling +a rump meeting in Cleveland of delegates from many centres, for the +purpose of calling off the strike. But the men voted unanimously for +continuation under the leadership of the National Committee. When the +strike was finally ended, however, they accepted the decision with good +grace, because they were penetrated with the general strike idea and +realized the folly of trying alone to whip the united steel companies. + +The remarkable fight of the rod and wire mill men was due in large +measure to the peculiar circumstances surrounding their organization. +These are highly important and require explanation: The regular system +used by the National Committee resulted usually in organization from the +bottom upward; that is, in response to the general appeals made to the +men in the great mass meetings, ordinarily the first to join the unions +were the unskilled, who are the workers with the least to lose, the most +to gain, and consequently those most likely to take a chance. Gradually, +as the confidence of the men developed, the movement would extend on up +through the plants until it included the highest skilled men. Given time +and a reasonable opportunity, it was an infallible system. It was far +superior to the old trade-union plan of working solely from the top +down, because the latter always stopped before it got to the main body +of the men, the unskilled workers. + +The "bottom upward" system was used with the rod and wire mills, the +same as with all others. But while it was operating the skilled men who +had been attracted to the movement in Joliet, Donora and Cleveland +started a "top downward" movement of their own. They sent committees to +all the large rod and wire mills in the country, appealing to the +skilled men to organize. These committeemen, actual workers and +acquainted with all the old timers in the business, could do more real +organizing in a day with their tradesmen than regular organizers could +in a month. Hardly would they go into a locality, no matter how +difficult, than they would at once inspire that confidence in the +movement which is so indispensable, and which takes organizers so long +to develop. The result was a "top downward" movement working +simultaneously with the "bottom upward" drive, which produced a high +degree of organization for the rod and wire mill men. + +A great weakness of the strike was the failure of many skilled workers +to participate therein. This tended directly to aid the employers, and +also to discourage the unskilled workers, who looked for their more +expert brothers to take the lead in the strike as well as in the regular +shop experiences. The explanation has been offered that this aloofness +was because the skilled men are "unorganizable." But this is a dream. In +the mills controlled by it, the Amalgamated Association (which is really +a skilled workers' union) has thousands of them in its ranks, most of +whom earn higher wages than employees of similar classes in the Trust +mills. If the proper means to organize them could have been applied, the +skilled workers would have been the leaders in the late strike, instead +of generally the scabs. The same thing done in the rod and wire mills +should have been done in all the important sections of the industry, +blast furnaces, open hearths, sheet, tin, rail, plate, tube mills, etc. +Committees of well-known skilled workers in these departments should +have been sent forth everywhere to start movements from the top to meet +the great surge coming up from the bottom. Had this been done, then Gary +with all his millions could not have broken the strike. The tie-up would +have been so complete and enduring that a settlement would have been +compulsory. + +But it was impossible; the chronic lack of resources prevented it. With +the pitifully inadequate funds and men at its disposal, all the National +Committee could do was to go ahead with its general campaign, leaving +the detail and special work undone. It is certainly to be hoped that in +the next big drive this committee system will be extensively followed. +It is the solution of the skilled worker problem, and when applied +intelligently in connection with the fundamental "bottom upward" +movement, it must result in the organization of the industry. + + * * * * * + +In the Bethlehem Steel Company's plants the strike was not very +effective. This was due principally to the failure of previous strikes +and to general lack of organization. In Reading and in Lebanon there had +been strikes on for many weeks before the big walkout. The workers' +ranks there were already broken. In Sparrows' Point likewise several +departments had been on strike since May 3. Not more than 500 men, +principally laborers and tin mill workers, responded to the general +strike call; but they made a hard fight of it. In Steelton the men had +been very strongly organized during the war; but the error was made of +putting all the trades into one federal union. Then when the craft +unions insisted later that their men be turned over to them, the +resultant resistance of the members, and especially of the paid +officers, virtually destroyed the organization. When the strike came +only a small percentage struck, nor did they stick long. + +Speaking of the strike in the main plant at Bethlehem, Secretary +Hendricks says: + + The strike was called September 29, and about 75 per cent. + of the men responded. These were largely American workers. + The Machinists, which comprise about 40 per cent. of the + total workers, were the craft most involved. In the mill and + blast furnace departments, the response was among the + rollers, heaters, and highly skilled men generally, which + led to the complete shut-down of these departments. The + molders practically shut the foundries down. Electrical + workers, steamfitters, millwrights, and general repairmen + responded well. The patternmakers did not go out. + +The first break came a week later. It was charged largely to the steam +engineers, who heeded the strike-breaking advice of their international +officials and returned to work. Another factor was the failure of +support from the railroad men on the inter-plant system. Had these two +bodies of men been held in line by their officers, the Bethlehem strike +would have been a success. + +In the Bethlehem situation too much reliance was placed in the skilled +trades; more attention should have been given to the organization of the +real fighting force, the unskilled workers. Another mistake was to have +allowed the strikes to take place in Reading, Lebanon and Sparrows' +Point. Even a tyro could see that they had no hope of success. Those +men could easily have been held in line until the big strike, to the +enormous strengthening of the latter. The National Committee had little +to do with the Bethlehem situation before the strike, the movement +developing to a great extent independently. + +Nowhere in the strike zone was there a more bitter fight than in the +Buffalo district, which was directed by organizers Thompson and +Streifler. All the important plants were affected, but the storm +centered around the Lackawanna Steel Company. This concern left nothing +undone to defeat its workers. For eight months it had prevented any +meetings from being held in Lackawanna, and then, when the workers broke +through this obstruction and crowded into the unions, it discharged +hundreds of them. This put the iron into the workers' hearts, and they +made an heroic struggle. So firm were their ranks that when the general +strike was called off on January 8, they voted to continue the fight in +Lackawanna. But this was soon seen to be hopeless. + +Much company violence was used in the Lackawanna strike. The New York +State Constabulary and the company guards, of a cut with their odious +Pennsylvania brethren, slugged, shot and jailed men and women in real +Steel Trust style. Many strikers were injured, and two killed outright. +One of these, Joseph Mazurek, a native-born American, was freshly back +from the fighting in France. Lackawanna was just a little bit of an +industrial hell.[16] + +As a strike measure the Lackawanna Steel Company evicted many strikers +from the company houses. In Braddock, Rankin, Homestead, Butler, +Wierton, Natrona, Bethlehem and many other places, the companies put +similar pressure upon their men, either evicting them or foreclosing the +mortgages on their half-paid-for houses. Threats of such action drove +thousands back to work, it being peculiarly terrifying to workers to +find themselves deprived of their homes in winter time. Where evictions +actually occurred the victims usually had to leave town or find crowded +quarters with other strikers. The much-lauded housing schemes of the +steel companies are merely one of a whole arsenal of weapons to crush +the independence of their workers. No employer should be permitted to +own or control the houses in which his men live. + + * * * * * + +The Wheeling district is noted as strong union country. The +"independent" mills therein had provided the main strength of the +Amalgamated Association for several years prior to this movement; but +the Trust mills were still unorganized. Under the guidance of National +Committee local secretary J. M. Peters, however, these men, in the mills +of Wheeling, Bellaire, Benwood and Martin's Ferry, were brought into the +unions. On September 22 they struck 100 per cent., completely closing +all the plants. They held practically solid until the first week in +December, when they broke heavily. + +The immediate cause of this break merits explanation. The National +Committee, at the outset of the strike, organized a publicity +department, headed by Mr. Edwin Newdick, formerly of the National War +Labor Board. In addition to getting out strike stories for the press, +many of which were written by the well-known novelist, Mary Heaton +Vorse, this department assembled and issued in printed bulletin form +statistical information relative to the progress and effectiveness of +the strike. The steel companies, through spies in the unions, +newspapers, etc., disputed this information, telling the strikers that +they were being victimized as the mills in all districts except their +own were in full operation, and advising them to send out committees to +investigate the situation. + +It was a seductive argument and many were deceived by it. Consequently, +quite generally, such committees (usually financed and chaperoned by the +local Chambers of Commerce) went forth from various localities. Of +course, they returned the sort of reports the companies wished. Much +harm was done thereby. The Steubenville district suffered from the lying +statement of such a committee, the strikers having made a winning fight +up till the time it was made public, the middle of November. But nowhere +was the effect so serious as in the Wheeling district. + +The Wheeling committee was headed by one Robert Edwards, widely known +for years as an extreme radical. It visited many points in the steel +industry, taking its figures on steel production and strike conditions +from employers' sources, and completely ignoring national and local +strike officials everywhere. The ensuing report pictured the steel +industry as virtually normal. Although he had been recently expelled +from the Amalgamated Association Edwards still had great influence with +the men, and his report broke their ranks. In future general strikes +drastic disciplinary measures should be taken to forestall the +activities of such committees. + + * * * * * + +Of the 6500 men employed by the Colorado Fuel and Iron Co. in its Pueblo +mills, 95 per cent. walked out on September 22. When the strike was +called off three and one-half months later not over 1500 of these had +returned to their jobs. Production was below 20 per cent. of normal. +Locally the tie-up was so effective that on January 9, at the biggest +labor meeting in Pueblo's history, National Committee local secretary W. +H. Young and the other organizers had to beg the men for hours to go +back to work. These officials knew that the great struggle had been +decided in the enormous steel centers of the East (Pueblo being credited +with producing only two per cent. of the nation's steel) and that it +would be madness for them to try to win the fight alone. + +The heart of the Pueblo strike was opposition to the Rockefeller +Industrial Plan, in force in the mills. This worthless, tyrannical +arrangement the men could not tolerate and were determined to contest to +the end. Realizing the minor importance of the Pueblo mills in the +national strike, the men offered at the outset to waive all their +demands pending its settlement, provided the company would agree to meet +with their representatives later to take up these matters. But this was +flatly refused; it was either accept the Rockefeller Plan or fight, even +though 98 per cent. of the men had voted to abolish it. + +Shortly after this incident John D. Rockefeller, Jr., gained much +favorable comment and pleasing publicity by his glowing speech about +industrial democracy and the right of collective bargaining, delivered +at the National Industrial Conference at Washington, D. C. He was hailed +as one of the country's progressive employers. But when the striking +Pueblo workers wired him, requesting that he grant them these rights, he +referred them to Mr. Welborn, President of the C. F. and I. Company, +well knowing that this gentleman would deny their plea. + +The strike was markedly peaceful throughout, no one being hurt and +hardly any one arrested. But on December 28, the state militia were +suddenly brought in, ostensibly because of an attack supposed to have +been made two days previously upon Mr. F. E. Parks, manager of the +Minnequa works. The public never learned the details of this mysterious +affair which served so well to bring in the troops. Nor was the +"culprit" ever located, although large rewards were offered for his +capture. + + * * * * * + +The Johnstown strike was so complete that for eight weeks the great +Cambria Steel Co., despite strenuous efforts, could not put a single +department of its enormous mills into operation. Every trick was used +to break the strike. The Back-To-Work organization[17] labored +ceaselessly, holding meetings and writing and telephoning the workers to +coax or intimidate them back to their jobs. Droves of scabs were brought +in from outside points. But to no effect; the workers held fast. Then +the company embarked upon the usual Pennsylvania policy of terrorism. + +I, personally, was the first to feel its weight. I was billed to speak +in Johnstown on November 7. Upon alighting from the train I was met by +two newspaper men who advised me to quit the town at once, stating that +the business men and company officials had held a meeting the night +before and organized a "Citizens' Committee," which was to break the +strike by applying "Duquesne tactics." Beginning with myself, all the +organizers were to be driven from the city. Disregarding this warning, I +started for the Labor Temple; but was again warned by the newspapermen, +and finally stopped on the street by city detectives, who told me that +it would be at the risk of my life to take a step nearer the meeting +place. I demanded protection, but it was not forthcoming. I was told to +leave. + +[Illustration: STEEL TRUST NEWSPAPER PROPAGANDA Pittsburgh _Chronicle +Telegraph_, October 6, 1919.] + +In the meantime, Secretary Conboy arriving upon the scene, the two of us +started to the Mayor's office to protest, when suddenly, in broad +daylight, at a main street corner in the heart of the city, a mob of +about forty men rushed us. Shouldering me away from Mr. Conboy, they +stuck guns against my ribs and took me to the depot. While there they +made a cowardly attempt to force me to sign a Back-To-Work card, which +meant to write myself down a scab. Later I was put aboard an eastbound +train. Several of the mob accompanied me to Conemaugh, a few miles out. +The same night this "Citizens' Committee," with several hundred more, +surrounded the organizers in their hotel and gave them twenty-four hours +time to leave town. The city authorities refused to stir to defend them, +and the following day organizers T. J. Conboy, Frank Hall, Frank +Butterworth, and Frank Kurowsky were compelled to go. Domenick Gelotte, +a local organizer of the miners, refused to depart and was promptly +arrested. Up to this time the strike had been perfectly peaceful. The +shut-down was so thorough that not even a picket line was necessary. + +The mob perpetrating these outrages (duly praised by the newspapers as +examples of 100 per cent. Americanism) was led by W. R. Lunk, secretary +of the Y. M. C. A., and H. L. Tredennick, president of the chamber of +commerce. This pair freely stated that the strike could never be broken +by peaceful means, and that they were prepared to apply the necessary +violence, which they did. Of course, they were never arrested. Had they +been workers and engaged in a similar escapade against business men, +they would have been lucky to get off with twenty years imprisonment +apiece. + +After a couple of weeks the organizers returned to Johnstown. Their +efforts at holding the men together were so fruitful that the Cambria +Company, in its own offices, organized a new mob to drive them out +again. But this time, better prepared, they stood firm. On November 29, +when the fresh deportation was to take place, Secretary Conboy demanded +that Mayor Francke give him and the others protection. He offered to +furnish the city a force of 1000 union ex-service men to preserve law +and order. This offer was refused, and the Mayor and Sheriff reluctantly +agreed to see that peace was kept. They informed the business men's mob +that there was nothing doing. It was a tense situation. Had the +threatened deportation been attempted, most serious trouble would surely +have resulted. + +In the meantime numbers of the State Constabulary had been sent into +town (the city and county authorities denying responsibility for their +presence) and they terrorized the workers in their customary, brutal +way. Eventually the result sought by all this outlawry developed; a +break occurred in the ranks of the highly-paid, skilled steel workers. +Although small at first, the defection gradually spread as the weeks +rolled on, until, by January 8, about two-thirds of the men had returned +to work. + + * * * * * + +Considered nationally, strike sentiment continued strong until about the +middle of the third month, when a feeling of pessimism regarding the +outcome began to manifest itself among the various international +organizations. Consequently, a meeting of the National Committee was +held in Washington on December 13 and 14, to take stock of the +situation. At this meeting I submitted the following figures: + + _Men on Strike_ _Men on Strike_ + _District_ _Sept. 29_ _Dec. 10_ + Pittsburgh 25,000 8,000 + Homestead 9,000 5,500 + Braddock-Rankin 15,000 8,000 + Clairton 4,000 1,500 + Duquesne-McKeesport 12,000 1,000 + Vandergrift 4,000 1,800 + Natrona-Brackenridge 5,000 1,500 + New Kensington 1,100 200 + Apollo 1,500 200 + Leechburg 3,000 300 + Donora-Monessen 12,000 10,000 + Johnstown 18,000 7,000 + Coatesville 4,000 500 + Youngstown district 70,000 12,800 + Wheeling district 15,000 3,000 + Cleveland 25,000 15,000 + Steubenville district 12,000 2,000 + Chicago district 90,000 18,000 + Buffalo 12,000 5,000 + Pueblo 6,000 5,000 + Birmingham 2,000 500 + Bethlehem Plants (5) 20,000 2,500 + ------- ------- + 365,600 109,300 + + Estimated production of steel, 50 to 60 per cent. of normal + capacity. + +Owing to the chaotic conditions in many steel districts, it was +exceedingly difficult at all times to get accurate statistics upon the +actual state of affairs. Those above represented the very best that the +National Committee's whole organizing force could assemble. The +officials of the Amalgamated Association strongly favored calling off +the strike, but agreed that the figures cited on the number of men still +out were conservative and within the mark. The opinion prevailed that +the strike was still effective and that it should be vigorously +continued. + +On January 3 and 4, the National Committee met in Pittsburgh. At this +gathering it soon became evident that the strike was deemed hopeless, +so, according to its custom when important decisions had to be made, the +National Committee called a special meeting for January 8, all the +international organizations being notified. The situation was bad. +Reliable reports on January 8 showed the steel companies generally to +have working forces of from 70 to 80 per cent., and steel production of +from 60 to 70 per cent. of normal. Possibly 100,000 men still held out; +but it seemed merely punishing these game fighters to continue the +strike. They were being injured by it far more than was the Steel Trust. +There was no hope of a settlement, the steel companies being plainly +determined now to fight on indefinitely. Therefore, in justice to the +loyal strikers and to enable them to go back to the mills with clear +records, the meeting adopted, by a vote of ten unions to five, a +sub-committee's report providing that the strike be called off; that the +commissaries be closed as fast as conditions in the various localities +would permit, and that the campaign of education and organization of the +steel workers be continued with undiminished vigor. + +At this point, wishing to have the new phase of the work go ahead with a +clean slate, I resigned my office as Secretary-Treasurer of the National +Committee. Mr. J. G. Brown was elected to fill the vacancy. The +following telegram was sent to all the strike centers, and given to the +press: + + The Steel Corporations, with the active assistance of the + press, the courts, the federal troops, state police, and + many public officials, have denied steel workers their + rights of free speech, free assembly and the right to + organize, and by this arbitrary and ruthless misuse of power + have brought about a condition which has compelled the + National Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers to + vote today that the active strike phase of the steel + campaign is now at an end. A vigorous campaign of education + and reorganization will be immediately begun and will not + cease until industrial justice has been achieved in the + steel industry. All steel strikers are now at liberty to + return to work pending preparations for the next big + organization movement. + + John Fitzpatrick + D. J. Davis, + Edw. J. Evans, + Wm. Hannon, + Wm. Z. Foster. + +The great steel strike was ended. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[14] Youngstown _Vindicator_, November 24, 1919. + +[15] No history of the movement in the Youngstown district could be +complete without some mention of the assistance rendered the workers by +Bishop John Podea of the Roumanian Greek Catholic church, Youngstown, +and Rev. E. A. Kirby, pastor of St. Rose Roman Catholic church of +Girard, Ohio. Usually the churchmen (of all faiths) in the various steel +towns were careful not to jeopardize the fat company contributions by +helping the unions. But not these men. They realized that all true +followers of the Carpenter of Nazareth had to be on the side of the +oppressed steel workers; and throughout the entire campaign they +distinguished themselves by unstinted co-operation with the unions. The +service was never too great nor the call too often for them to respond +willingly. + +[16] In connection with this matter it is interesting to note that after +the strike had ended the union men entered suits against the steel +companies for heavy damages. Up to the present writing the Lackawanna +Steel Company, realizing the indefensibility of the outrages, has made +out-of-court settlements to the extent of $22,500. + +[17] These Back-To-Work organizations were formed in many steel towns; +their purpose was to recruit scabs. They were composed of company +officials, business men and "loyal" workers. The companies furnished the +wherewithal to finance them. + + + + +XI + +NATIONAL AND RACIAL ELEMENTS + + A MODERN BABEL--AMERICANS AS SKILLED WORKERS--FOREIGNERS AS + UNSKILLED WORKERS--LANGUAGE DIFFICULTIES--THE NEGRO IN THE + STRIKE--THE RACE PROBLEM + + +In order to prove its charge that the purpose of the steel strike was +contrary to the spirit of our institutions, the Steel Trust's great +propaganda organization never ceased asserting, (1) that the strike was +a movement of foreigners, (2) that the Americans in the mills were +opposed to it for patriotic reasons and were taking no part therein. The +vicious press made much capital of these allegations, using them heavily +against the strike. Now let us see how much truth there was in them: + +1. Unquestionably the foreign-born were in the majority among the +strikers; but how could it be otherwise in view of the fact that they +make up the bulk of the working force in the industry? The following +table, submitted to the Senate Committee by Mr. A. F. Diehl, General +Manager of the Duquesne Works of the Carnegie Steel Co., illustrates +this fact:[18] + +RECAPITULATION OF NATIONALITIES, AS OF AUG. 1ST, 1919, FOR TOTAL PLANT, +DUQUESNE WORKS + + _Nationality_ _Total_ _Per cent._ + + American 2,097 34.6 + American (colored) 344 5.7 + English 147 2.4 + Scotch 41 .7 + Welsh 28 .5 + Irish 58 .9 + Canadian 4 .1 + German 104 1.8 + French 6 .1 + Swedish 79 1.3 + Italian 128 2.1 + Greek 23 .4 + Swiss 5 .1 + Norwegian 4 .1 + Danish 1 .0 + Hollander 1 .0 + Russian 185 3.0 + Lithuanian 201 3.3 + Lattis 3 .0 + Bohemian 3 .0 + Croatian 222 3.7 + Magyar 742 12.2 + Slovak 930 15.3 + Roumanian 7 .1 + Ruthenian 82 1.3 + Bulgarian 25 .4 + Servian 219 3.6 + Polish 246 4.0 + Armenian 34 .5 + Dalmatian 6 .1 + Macedonian 10 .2 + Hebrew 10 .2 + Turkish 80 1.3 + ----- ----- + Totals 6,075 100.0 + +This condition is typical of steel mills generally in the greater +Pittsburgh and Middle West districts, where the body of the industry is +located. In Clairton, of 4,600 employees, divided into 39 nationalities, +35 per cent. are Americans. On page 480 of the report of the Senate +Committee Steel Strike Hearings, appears a table covering the employees +of the Homestead Steel Works, Howard Axle Works, and Carrie Furnaces (an +industrial unit), submitted by General Manager J. S. Oursler. It shows a +total of 14,687 employees, of 54 nationality divisions. Of these +employees, 5,799, or 39.45 per cent. are stated to be American whites. +But as Mr. Oursler re-iterated in his testimony that he had classed as +Americans all those who had their citizenship papers, both these figures +should therefore be considerably reduced. Besides, it must be borne in +mind that these several tables include the office forces, bosses, etc., +which are almost entirely American, and which were not involved in the +strike. In the steel districts in question it is exceedingly doubtful if +over 25 per cent. of the actual workers are American-born whites. How, +then, can a general strike of steel workers be anything else than +largely a strike of foreigners? + +2. Regarding the alleged non-participation of Americans in the movement: +Although in many districts where the strike was practically 100 per +cent. effective, the Americans struck almost to a man with the other +workers and fought gamely to the finish, nevertheless it must be +admitted that in the main, when compared with the foreigners,[19] they +made a poor showing. To begin with they organized slowly; then they +struck reluctantly and scatteringly; and finally, they showed little +tenacity as strikers. But this general sluggishness originated, however, +not in patriotic objections to the movement or lack of sympathy with its +aims; but chiefly because the Americans, as skilled workers, were +naturally slower and less determined in action than the foreigners, or +unskilled workers. + +In the steel industry the most skilled men are to be found in those +trades actually engaged in the making and rolling of iron and +steel--the melters, puddlers, shearmen, rollers, roughers, heaters, +Bessemer blowers, etc. These men are paid upon a tonnage basis and +generally receive considerably higher wages than the mechanical +tradesmen--bricklayers, machinists, boilermakers, riggers, firemen, +engineers, electrical workers, blacksmiths, etc., who build, maintain +and generally operate the plants. It is among the favored tonnage +trades that the Americans are especially intrenched. + +In the old days these highly skilled workers took the initiative in the +struggle for human rights in the steel industry--the mechanical trades +and unskilled workers playing a very minor part. Homestead was one of +their great battles, only 752 of the 3800 men employed being union +members in good-standing. They were then bold, militant and tenacious as +bull dogs. But since those times they have been defeated so often, due +to a weakening of their proportional strength and strategical position, +that they have lost much of the independent spirit which once +characterized them. They now fear the power of the Steel Trust; they +dread its pitiless blacklist; they hesitate to put in jeopardy their +comparatively good jobs, which they secured only after long years of +service in minor positions, and which, once lost, are so hard to regain. +They want better conditions now as much as they ever did, but they lack +the self-confidence to fight for them. All through the campaign their +attitude, barring the exceptions here and there, was to wait until the +lesser skilled men had so far perfected the organization as to make it +seem safe for them to join it. When the strike came the unskilled +workers led the way; then came the mechanical trades; with the +aristocratic steel workers bringing up the rear. But in scurrying back +to scab in the mills, the order was just the reverse. This was the +experience in virtually every section of the industry. + +It would be wrong, however, to say that the failure of American workers +to participate more heartily in the movement was due solely to their +favored position in the industry. To some extent race prejudice also +came into play, especially in those districts where the organization had +not yet reached far enough up into the plants to include the skilled +workers. Everywhere American-born workingmen, unfortunately, are prone +to look with some suspicion, if not contempt and hatred, upon +foreigners, whom they have been taught to believe are injuring their +standard of living. The companies made the most of this. Dubbing the +walkout a "hunky" strike, they told the Americans that if it succeeded +the latter would have to give over to the despised foreigners all the +good jobs and shop privileges they enjoyed. Their slogan was "Don't let +the 'hunkies' rule the mills." They openly circulated handbills inciting +to race war. The following, from Elwood, Pa., where a National Tube +Company plant is located, is typical: + + WAKE UP AMERICANS!! + + ITALIAN LABORERS, organized under the American + Federation of Labor are going to strike Monday and are + threatening workmen who want to continue working. + + These foreigners have been told by labor agitators that if + they would join the union they would get Americans' jobs. + + They are being encouraged by ITALIAN MERCHANTS, who are in + sympathy with them. ARE YOU GOING TO SLEEP AND LET MOB RULE + THREATEN THE PEACE OF OUR TOWN? + +In towns where often the foreign population is three-fourths of the +whole, such propaganda was most inflammatory. The newspapers did all +they could to make it more so. They solemnly warned of the danger of a +foreign uprising and advised a campaign of militant, 100 per cent. +Americanism; which meant, on the one hand for the local authorities, +gunmen, and business men to set up a reign of terror, and on the other, +for the workers all to go back to work at once. The courts and so-called +peace officers did their part. They jailed, clubbed and shot the +foreigners and left the Americans, even if they were strikers, in +comparative immunity. Nothing was left undone to create a race issue, +and it is not surprising that many American workers, unorganized and +ignorant, were mislead by this and inveigled back to the mills. + +It has been charged that the unions neglected the American steel workers +and concentrated upon the organization of the foreigners. If anything, +the reverse is true; for by far the weight of the appeal made was to the +English speaking elements. Every piece of literature put out stressed +heavily the English language. Of twenty-five National Committee district +and local secretaries, only three were born in Europe; of a dozen +Amalgamated Association organizers, not one spoke anything but English, +and of the crew as a whole, over 80 per cent. were American born. By its +very nature such an organizing force had to make strong appeal to the +American workers. In fact, the foreigners constantly insisted upon this, +because, strangers in a strange land, they always crave and seek +American co-operation in their union movements. That this co-operation +was not more in evidence in the steel campaign was the cause of much +bitter complaint among them. + + * * * * * + +But if the Americans and skilled workers generally proved indifferent +union men in the steel campaign, the foreign, unskilled workers covered +themselves with glory. Throughout the whole affair they showed an +understanding discipline, courage and tenacity of purpose that compared +favorably with that shown in any organized effort ever put forth by +workingmen on this continent. Beyond question they displayed trade-union +qualities of the very highest type. Their solidarity was unbreakable; +their fighting spirit invincible. They nobly struggled onward in the +face of difficulties that would try the stoutest hearts. They proved +themselves altogether worthy of the best American labor traditions. +Thousands of them were intending to return to Europe shortly and +apparently had slight reason to establish good conditions here; but they +fought on, many spending their little savings during the strike, and +thus postponing indefinitely the long-looked-for trip to the homelands. + +This attitude of the foreign workers is a bitter pill for the Steel +Trust. For many years it had scoured the countries of Eastern and +Southern Europe, and packed its mills with poor, dispirited, ignorant +immigrants of three score nationalities, in the hope that it was finally +supplanting its original crew of independent American and Western +European workmen by a race of submissive, unorganizable slaves. And for +a long time this shameful policy worked well. Wages sank to nowhere; +conditions became unspeakably wretched; every strike of the old-time, +organized workers was smothered by an avalanche of job-hungry +immigrants.[20] But now these foreigners are waking up; in consequence +of hard economic conditions, a better acquaintance with our language and +institutions, an inherent class solidarity, the example of union men in +other industries, and the social upheavals in Europe, these men are +opening their eyes; and they are fast taking their place in the very +front rank of the working class fighters for industrial liberty. And now +the Steel Trust, discovering that its hoped-for-scabs are in truth +highly rebellious workingmen, is making the welkin ring with +inconsistent denunciation of the "revolutionary foreigners," with whom +just a short while ago it was so anxious to crowd its plants. The biter +has been very badly bitten. + +For the unions the nationality problem was serious throughout the entire +campaign--the employers had worked for years to make it an insoluble +one. Something of the situation may be gleaned when it is recalled that +the steel industry comprises hundreds of mills, scattered through a +dozen states, and employing half a million workers. These speak dozens +of widely differing languages, worship through many mutually +antagonistic religions, and are moved by numberless racial and national +animosities. Yet the National Committee, with the skimped resources it +had in hand, had to and did weld together this vast polyglot, +heterogeneous mass into a voluntary organization, kept it thinking +alike, and held it in strong discipline for months in the face of the +bitter opposition of the Steel Trust, which sought in every conceivable +way to divide the workers by playing upon their multiplicity of fears +and prejudices. + +In accomplishing this huge task the first requisite was to overcome the +language difficulty sufficiently to permit the message of trade unionism +to be brought forcefully to the many diverse elements. Because doing so +would have rendered the meetings ruinously cumbersome and unwieldy, it +was out of the question to utilize all the languages or any considerable +number of them; so the plan was followed of using only the predominant +ones; the theory being that if the large bodies of workers speaking them +could be reached, they in turn would find means to influence the +minorities speaking other languages. + +As the various foreign groups tend strongly to colonize in certain +districts, the basic languages spoken in a given plant, regardless of +how many nationalities work therein, ordinarily number not more than +four or five, including always English, usually a couple of the Slavic +tongues (Slavish, Polish, Russian, Croatian, Lithuanian, Serbian, etc.), +often Hungarian, and occasionally Italian, Roumanian or Greek. For +example, among the fifty-four nationalities in the big Homestead plants, +the principal languages spoken are, in the order of their numerical +importance, English, Slavish, Russian, Hungarian and Polish. Move these +predominate language groups and you move the whole working force; that +was the system in the steel campaign. Seldom was a piece of literature +issued, even for national circulation, with as many as six languages +upon it; the vitally important strike call had but seven, while four was +the customary number. + +About twenty-five organizers who spoke these predominating languages +were put in the field. Great care was taken by the A. F. of L., National +Committee and co-operating unions to select reliable, level-headed men +of influence and standing among their respective peoples, men who could +be depended upon to go along with the general program, and not to work +upon some destructive side-issue of their own. Besides, efforts were +made to take every possible advantage of the fact that practically all +the foreign workers have some slight smattering of English. Accordingly, +the English-speaking organizers were coached to get rid of all +trade-union technical expressions and to confine their talks to +fundamentals; to speak slowly, distinctly, and in the simplest, even +"pidjinized" terms, to illustrate the whole with sign language, and to +follow out a system of repetition and restatement that was bound to make +their meaning plain to the most unknowing. Such talks, while not +calculated to stir the emotions, made clear the situation and were +greatly appreciated by the foreigners, thousands of whom, during the +steel campaign, for the first time felt the pleasure and encouragement +of understanding the despairingly difficult English spoken from a +platform. The steel workers' meetings were schools in practical +Americanization.[21] + +With the language problem solved in even this imperfect way, the +persistent advocacy of labor union principles, backed up by a few +thoroughgoing, common-sense systems of organization, did the rest. +Gradually the great armies of linguistically, religiously, racially +divided steel workers were united into the mighty force which threw +itself against the Steel Trust. In the main the foreign workers were +simple, sincere, earnest minded folk, naturally disposed to co-operative +effort. While the individualistic, sophisticated American workers all +too often attended the ball games and filled the pool rooms, the +foreigners packed the union meeting halls. Their worst fault was a +woeful unacquaintance with trade-union methods. This the organizers +diligently labored to overcome by patient instruction and a faithful +attendance to their duties. The general result was that the foreign +workers developed a confidence in the organizers and a loyalty to the +unions, which not even the heavy shock of the loss of the strike has +been able to destroy. + + * * * * * + +The indifference, verging often into open hostility, with which negroes +generally regard Organized Labor's activities, manifested itself +strongly in the steel campaign. Those employed in the industry were +extremely resistant to the trade-union program; those on the outside +allowed themselves to be used freely as strike-breakers. + +According to the Immigration Commission's Report, which furnished the +latest official figures (period 1907-08), 4.7 per cent. of the total +number of steel industry employees at that time were negroes, most of +whom were located in the Alabama and Maryland districts. Since then, +however, considerable additions to their numbers have been made, and in +many northern mills will be found groups of them, ranging in strength +from 1 to 20 per cent. of the whole working force. They work mostly at +hard, rough, unskilled labor, especially in the blast furnace +department. + +Generally speaking, these bodies of negroes took small part in the +movement. In certain districts, notably Cleveland and Wheeling, it is +true that they organized 100 per cent. and struck very creditably; but +in most places, and exactly those where their support was needed the +worst, they made a wretched showing. Consider the situation, for +instance, in the Homestead Steel Works. In these plants (including the +Carrie Furnaces at Rankin), of the 14,687 employees, 1,737 are negroes. +Making deductions for office forces, bosses, etc., this would make them +from 12 to 14 per cent. of the actual workers, a most important factor +indeed. During the organizing campaign, of all these men, only eight +joined the unions. And of these but one struck. He, however, stayed +loyally to the finish. The degree of this abstention from the movement +may be gauged when it is recalled that of the white unskilled workers in +the same plants at least 75 per cent. joined the unions, and 90 per +cent. struck. + +Throughout the immediate Pittsburgh district, where the unions operated +under such great handicaps and had to rely so much on the initiative of +the individual workers, the same condition prevailed. In Duquesne, of +344 negroes employed, not one struck; in Clairton, of 300, six joined +the unions and struck for two weeks. Of the several hundred working in +the Braddock plants, not one joined a union or went on strike; and a +dozen would cover those from the large number employed in the mills in +Pittsburgh proper who walked out with the 25,000 whites on September 22. +Similar tendencies were shown in the Chicago, Youngstown, Buffalo, +Pueblo, Sparrows' Point and other districts. In the entire steel +industry, the negroes, beyond compare, gave the movement less +co-operation than any other element, skilled or unskilled, foreign or +native. + +Those on the outside of the industry seemed equally unsympathetic. +National Committee secretaries' reports indicate that the Steel Trust +recruited and shipped from 30,000 to 40,000 negroes into the mills as +strike-breakers. Many of these were picked up in Northern cities, but +the most of them came from the South. They were used in all the large +districts and were a big factor in breaking the strike. The following +statement illustrates some of the methods used in securing and handling +them: + + Monessen, November 23, 1919 + + Eugene Steward--Age 19--Baltimore, Md. + + My native place is Charleston, South Carolina. + + I arrived in Monessen on Wednesday, November 19. There were + about 200 of us loaded in the cars at Baltimore; some were + white; and when we were loaded in the cars were told that we + were being taken to Philadelphia. + + We were not told that a strike was in progress. We were + promised $4.00 a day, with the understanding that we should + be boarded at $1.00 a day. + + When we took the train a guard locked the doors so that we + were unable to get out, and no meals were given us on the + way, although we were promised board. + + We were unloaded at Lock 4 and had a guard placed over us, + and were then marched into the grounds of the Pittsburgh + Steel Products Co. We were then told to go to work, and when + I found out that there was a strike on I got out. They + refused to let me out at the gate when I protested about + working, and I climbed over the fence, and they caught me + and compelled me to go back and sign a paper and told me + that I would have to go to work. I told them that I would + not go to work if they kept me there two years. I was placed + on a boat. There were about 200 other people there. The + guards informed me that if I made any attempt to again run + away that they would shoot me. I got a rope and escaped, as + I will not work to break the strike. + + his + Eugene X Steward + mark + + Witness Jacob S. McGinley + +Few, however, of the imported negro strike-breakers showed the splendid +spirit of this unlettered boy. Most of them seemed to take a keen +delight in stealing the white men's jobs and crushing their strike. They +clashed badly with the pickets, where picketing was allowed. And between +them and the white strike-breakers many murderous encounters occurred in +the mills, although the companies were very careful to suppress news of +these outbreaks. + +So serious was the race situation in the steel strike that the National +Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers requested President +Gompers to arrange a conference between prominent negro leaders and +trade-union officials, to the end that the proper remedies may be +indicated. The need for action looking towards better relations between +whites and blacks in the industrial field should be instantly patent; +for there can be no doubt but that the employing class, taking advantage +of the bitter animosities of the two groups, are deliberately attempting +to turn the negroes into a race of strike-breakers, with whom to hold +the white workers in check; on much the same principle as the Czars used +the Cossacks to keep in subjection the balance of the Russian people. +Should they succeed to any degree it would make our industrial disputes +take on more and more the character of race wars, a consummation that +would be highly injurious to the white workers and eventually ruinous to +the blacks. + +For the tense situation existing the unions are themselves in no small +part to blame. Many of them sharply draw the color line, thus feeding +the flames of race hatred. This discriminatory practice is in direct +conflict with the fundamental which demands that all the workers be +organized, without regard to sex, race, creed, politics or nationality. +It injures Labor's cause greatly. Company agents harp upon it +continually, to prevent negroes from joining even the organizations +willing to take them in. This was the case in the steel campaign. +Moreover these same company agents cited this discriminatory practice +most effectively to induce thousands of outside colored workers to come +into the industry as strike-breakers. Such a condition cannot be allowed +to persist. But to relieve it the unions will have to meet the issue +honestly and broad-mindedly. They must open their ranks to negroes, make +an earnest effort to organize them, and then give them a square deal +when they do join. Nothing short of this will accomplish the desired +result.[22] + +This action by the unions will be a step in the right direction, but it +alone will not solve the vexed problem. The best negro leaders must join +heartily in destroying the pernicious anti-union policies so deeply +rooted among their people. It is a lamentable fact, well known to all +organizers who have worked in industries employing considerable numbers +of negroes, that there is a large and influential black leadership, +including ministers, politicians, editors, doctors, lawyers, social +workers, etc., who as a matter of race tactics are violently opposed to +their people going into the trade unions. They look upon strike-breaking +as a legitimate and effective means of negro advancement. Time and +again, they have seen their people, by use of it, readily work their way +into trades and industries previously firmly sealed against them by the +white workers' and white employers' prejudices. Nor can they see any +wrong in thus taking advantage of the white man, who has so brutally +oppressed them for centuries. On the contrary, they consider it a +justified retaliation. They are in a race war. Inasmuch as the steel +strike resulted in more negroes being in the industry than was the case +before, they look upon the outcome as a victory. For these elements, and +they are numerous and powerful among negroes, the color line clauses in +the union constitutions are meat and drink; such leaders don't want them +abolished,--they make too strong an argument against the unions. + +Consider the situation faced by the unions in the campaign to organize +the Chicago packing houses in 1917-18. The negroes in this industry are +a strong factor (numbering 14,000 of a total of some 65,000 employees), +and the unions were determined to organize them. But no sooner had +organizers begun the work than they met the firm opposition of the negro +intelligencia above-noted. These warned their people to have nothing to +do with the movement, as their interest lay in working with the packers +to defeat the unions. They said that was how the negroes came into the +packing industry, and that was how they would progress in it. + +Naturally, they repeated the accusations about white men not taking +negroes in their unions, a charge which was not true in the packing +industry. The organizers replied by launching a vigorous campaign to get +them into the unions. Then the propaganda was sent forth that the only +reason the whites were willing to take the blacks into their locals was +because the latter, being in a minority, could exert no control; that +the whites would not dare to give them a local of their own, etc. This +was met by the establishment of a negro local of miscellaneous workers +in a convenient neighborhood. Then the Jim Crow cry was raised that the +whites wanted the blacks to herd by themselves. This the organizers +answered by insisting that a free transfer system be kept up between the +white and black locals. These were affiliated with the basic +organization of the industry, the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher +Workmen of North America. + +But even this did not satisfy; the anti-union propaganda went on +undiminished and with tremendous effect. It is true that some +far-sighted negro intellectuals defended the unions; but they were as +men crying in the wilderness; the others prevailed. And although the +unions kept a crew of negro organizers in the field, and won many +concessions for the packing house workers, including the eight hour day, +right of collective bargaining, large increases in wages, 40 hour weekly +guarantee, retroactive pay, seniority rights, etc., they have never +succeeded in organizing the negroes. + +They know little of the race problem in industry who declare that it can +be settled merely by the unions opening their doors to the negroes. It +is much more complex than that, and will require the best thought that +conscientious whites and blacks can give it. The negro has the more +difficult part to solve, in resisting the insidious efforts of +unscrupulous white employers and misguided intellectuals of his own race +to make a professional strike-breaker of him. But I am confident that he +will win out and will take his place where he belongs in the industrial +fight, side by side with the white worker. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[18] Senate Committee Steel Strike Hearings, page 532. + +[19] In steel industry usage (followed in this book unless otherwise +noted) the term "foreigners" applies chiefly to the nationalities of the +later immigrations, including the Slavic races, Roumanians, Bulgarians, +Hungarians, Greeks, Italians and others from Eastern and Southern +Europe. These are the so-called "hunkies." The peoples of the earlier +immigrations--the English, Irish, Scotch, Welsh, Germans and +Scandinavians--who speak our language, hold good jobs, and are generally +well established, are not exactly considered Americans, but they are +rarely called foreigners. + +[20] The brazen frankness with which this policy was carried out is +illustrated by the following advertisement, which appeared in the +Pittsburgh _Gazette-Times_, July 15, 1909, during the big steel strike +of that time: + + MEN WANTED--Tinners, catchers and helpers to work in open + shops. Syrians, Poles and Roumanians preferred. Steady + employment and good wages to men willing to work. Fare paid + and no fees charged. + + +[21] During the great organization drive in the Chicago packing houses +in 1917-18, this method was used for several months in the large local +union of car builders and repairmen, fully 90 per cent. of whom, born in +Eastern Europe, were supposedly non-English-speaking. As a result they +acquired such confidence in their ability to use the language that they +dropped the customary practice of translating all their business into +several languages and took to using English only. + +[22] The Miners, Building Laborers and several other unions are taking +the lead in this direction and are getting good results. Negroes are +joining their ranks in considerable numbers and are proving themselves +to be excellent union men. + + + + +XII + +THE COMMISSARIAT--THE STRIKE COST + + THE RELIEF ORGANIZATION--RATIONS--SYSTEM OF DISTRIBUTION + --COST OF COMMISSARIAT--STEEL STRIKE RELIEF FUND--COST OF + THE STRIKE TO THE WORKERS, THE EMPLOYERS, THE PUBLIC, THE + LABOR MOVEMENT + + +In all strikes the problem of keeping the wolf from the door is a +pressing one. Usually it is met by the unions involved paying regular +benefits of from $5.00 to $15.00 per week to each striker. But in the +steel strike this was out of the question.[23] The tremendous number of +men on strike and the scanty funds available utterly forbade it. To have +paid such benefits would have required the impossible sum of at least +$2,000,000 per week. Therefore, the best that could be done was to +assist those families on the brink of destitution by furnishing them +free that most basic of human necessities, food. Ordinarily in strikes +the main body of men are able to take care of themselves over an +extended period. The danger point is in the poverty-stricken minority. +From them come the hunger-driven scabs who so demoralize and discourage +the men still out. Hence, to take care of this weaker element was +scientifically to strengthen the steel strike, and to make the best use +of the resources available. + +The great mass of strikers and their incomplete organization making it +manifestly impossible for each union to segregate and take care of its +own members, the internationals affiliated with the National Committee +(with the two exceptions noted) pooled their strike funds and formed a +joint commissariat.[24] They then proceeded to extend relief to all +needy strikers, regardless of their trades or callings, or even +membership or non-membership in the unions. To get relief all that was +necessary was to be a steel striker and in want. This splendid +solidarity and rapid modification of trade-union tactics and +institutions to meet an emergency is probably without a parallel in +American labor annals. + +The commissariat was entirely under the supervision and direction of the +National Committee. Its national headquarters was in Pittsburgh, with a +sub-district in Chicago. Goods were shipped from these two points. In +Pittsburgh they were bought and handled through the Tri-State +Co-operative Association, with National Committee employees making up +the shipments. In Chicago the same was done through the National +Co-operative Association. As Bethlehem, Birmingham, Pueblo and a few +other strike-bound towns lay beyond convenient shipping distance from +the two distributing points, the men in charge there were sent checks +and they bought their supplies locally. + +The General Director of the commissariat was Robert McKechan, business +manager of the Central States Wholesale Co-operative Association. He was +paid by the Illinois Miners, District No. 2. He was ably assisted by A. +V. Craig (Ass't. Director), Enoch Martin (Auditor--also paid by Illinois +miners), Wm. Orr (Warehouse Manager), and E. G. Craig. Secretary De +Young was in charge of the Chicago sub-district. The local distributing +centres were operated altogether by National Committee local secretaries +and volunteer strike committees, with an occasional paid assistant. + +All told, 45 local commissaries were set up throughout the strike zone. +This elaborate organization was created and put in motion almost over +night. Within a week after Mr. McKechan arrived in Pittsburgh, he and +officials of the National Committee had devised the commissary +system--with hardly a precedent to go by,--organized its nation-wide +machinery, and started the first shipment _en route_ to the many strike +centres. To break in this machinery, a small pro rata of provisions, +based upon the number of men on strike, was sent to each place. The +following week this was doubled, and each succeeding week it was +increased to keep pace with the growing need. It finally developed into +a huge affair. Few strikers had to be turned away for lack of food, and +these only for a short while until the necessary additional stuff could +be secured from the shipping points. Throughout the fourteen weeks it +was in operation the commissariat, despite the tremendous difficulties +it had to contend with, worked with remarkable smoothness. It was one of +the greatest achievements of the entire steel campaign. + +[Illustration: JOHN FITZPATRICK _Chairman, National Committee for +Organizing Iron and Steel Workers._] + +The wide extent of the relief work made it necessary to develop the most +rigid simplicity and standardization in the apportionment of food to the +strikers. Hence, only two sizes of rations could be used; one for +families of five or less, and the other for families of six or more. +These were varied from time to time, always bearing in mind the cooking +facilities of the strikers and the many food likes and dislikes of the +various nationalities. To facilitate the carrying away of the food and +to make it last the better, two commissary days were held each week, in +each locality. The rations were listed on large posters (white for +families of five or less, and green for families of six or more) which +were prominently displayed in the local commissaries in order that the +strikers could see exactly how much provisions they were entitled to. +The following are typical rations: + + FAMILIES OF FIVE OR LESS + + First Half Week Second Half Week + + Potatoes 15 lbs. Bread 4 loaves + Bread 4 loaves Tomatoes 1 can + Tomatoes 1 can Corn 1 can + Peas 1 can Peas 1 can + Navy beans 4 lbs. Red beans 4 lbs. + Oatmeal 1 box Kraut 2 cans + Bacon 1 lb. Dry salt meat 1 lb. + Coffee 1 lb. Syrup 1 can + Milk 1 can + + FAMILIES OF SIX OR MORE + + First Half Week Second Half Week + + Potatoes 10 lbs. Potatoes 10 lbs. + Bread 5 loaves Bread 5 loaves + Tomatoes 1 can Tomatoes 1 can + Corn 1 can Corn 1 can + Peas 1 can Peas 1 can + Navy beans 5 lbs. Kraut 2 cans + Oatmeal 2 boxes Red beans 5 lbs. + Bacon 1 lb. Dry salt meat 1 lb. + Coffee 1 lb. Milk 1 can + Milk 1 can Syrup 1 can + +It was not contended that these rations were enough to sustain +completely the recipients' families; but they helped mightily. Few, if +any, went hungry. Single men in need received a half week's rations to +last the week. The greatest care was taken to have the supplies of the +best quality and in good condition. Whatever the unions gave they wanted +the strikers to understand was in the best spirit of brotherly +solidarity.[25] + +The provisions were distributed strictly according to the following card +system: + +1. Identification card: An applicant requesting relief would be referred +to a credentialed volunteer relief committee. If this committee deemed +the case a needy one, it would issue the striker an identification card. +This he was required to show when dealing at the commissary. + +2. Record card: In addition, the relief committee would write out the +data of the case upon a record card and turn it over to the local +secretary in charge of the commissary, who would keep it on file. + +3. Commissary card: When the applicant presented his identification card +at the commissary, the local secretary, referring to the record card on +file, would make him out a commissary card, white or green, accordingly +as his family was of five or less, or six or more members. This +commissary card entitled him to draw supplies. + +The commissary card had a stub attached. When a striker got his first +half week's supplies, this stub would be detached and retained by the +commissary clerk. Upon his next visit the body of the card would be +taken up. Two important purposes were served by this collection of the +commissary cards--rather than having permanent cards and merely punching +them. First, the canceled cards being sent to the commissariat national +headquarters, it proved conclusively that the strikers had actually +received the provisions shipped to the district; and second, by +compelling the strikers to get new commissary cards each week, it +enabled the local secretaries to keep in close touch with those on the +relief roll. + +To lighten the load upon the many inexperienced men working in the +various commissaries, a special effort was made to do as much of the +technical work as possible in the main offices of the National +Committee. Otherwise the commissariat could not possibly have succeeded. +This consideration was a prime factor in restricting the buying of +provisions to Pittsburgh, Chicago and the fewest practical number of +outlying points. It also caused the adoption of the package system, all +bulk goods, except potatoes, being prepared for delivery before leaving +the warehouses. Likewise, the local bookkeeping was simplified to the +last degree. In fact, for the most part the secretaries in charge of the +commissaries hardly needed books at all. The whole system checked itself +from the central points. + +As an example of its working, let us suppose that the allotment of a +certain town was 1000 rations. Accordingly, there would be shipped to +that place exactly enough of each article to precisely cover the +allotted number of rations. Then, if the secretary simply saw to it that +he got what he was charged with and issued his supplies carefully in the +right proportions, the whole transaction would balance to a pound, with +hardly a scratch of a pen from him. The bookkeeping was all done at the +general offices. The latter's assurances that each striker had received +his proper ration and that the right number of rations had been issued +were, in the first place, the ration posters hanging on the walls of the +commissary; and in the second, the returned canceled commissary cards. +Barring an occasional slight disruption from delayed shipments, spoiled +goods, shortages, and a little carelessness here and there, the system +worked very well. + +The commissariat was in operation from October 26 until January 31, +three weeks after the strike had ended. It was continued through this +extra period in order to help to their feet the destitute strikers who +had fought so nobly. Probably nothing done by the unions in the entire +campaign won them so much good will with the steel workers as this one +act. + +The total cost of operating the commissariat was $348,509.42. The +significance of this figure stands out when it is reduced to a per man +basis. At the strike's start there were 365,600 men out, and at its +finish about 100,000. Considering that few serious breaks occurred until +the eighth to tenth weeks, a fair average for the whole period would be +about 250,000. Accordingly, this would give (disregarding the three +weeks after January 8) a total relief cost of a fraction less than $1.40 +per man for the entire fifteen weeks of the strike, or about one day's +strike benefits of an ordinary union. Reduced to a weekly basis, it +amounts to but 9-1/3 cents for each striker. Just how unusually small +this sum is may be judged from the fact that the International Molders' +Union paid the few men it had on strike regular benefits of $9.00 per +week after the first week. The fact is that, except for a small, +impoverished minority, the steel workers made their long, hard fight +virtually upon their own resources.[26] + +To help finance the commissariat the American Federation of Labor was +requested to issue a general appeal for funds, which it did. Then, to +add force to this call, the National Committee recruited and put in the +field a corps of solicitors, including among others, Anton Johannson, J. +D. Cannon, J. W. Brown, J. G. Sause, Jennie Matyas and G. A. Gerber. At +a meeting in Madison Square Garden on November 8 a collection of +$150,000 was taken up. Many local unions, notably those of Altoona, Pa., +gave half their local treasuries and assessed their members one day's +pay each. The Marine Engineers, local 33 of New York, contributed +$10,000; the International Fur Workers' Union $20,000; the International +Ladies Garment Workers' Union, $60,000; and the Amalgamated Clothing +Workers of America, $100,000. All these donations were highly +praiseworthy, but especially the last one mentioned, because the +organization making it is not affiliated to, nor even in good grace +with, the A. F. of L. + +The total amount collected and turned over to the National Committee was +$418,141.14. This more than covered the entire cost of the commissariat, +leaving $69,631.42 to be applied to other expenses. Thus, taking them as +a whole, the co-operating international unions in the National Committee +were not required to pay a penny to the feeding of the strikers and +their families. The commissariat was a monument to the solidarity of +Labor generally with the embattled steel workers. + +Naturally, the employers bitterly hated the commissaries. They sneered +at the quantity and quality of the food given out by them, and in many +places printed handbills in several languages advising the strikers to +go at once to union headquarters and demand strike benefits in cash. And +by the same token, the strikers held the commissaries in high esteem. +The foreign-born among them especially, would stand around watching +with never-ceasing wonder and enthusiasm the stream of men and women +coming forth laden with supplies. To them there was something sacred +about the food. Many of them in desperate circumstances had to be +practically compelled to accept it; not because they felt themselves +objects of charity, but because they thought others needed help worse +than they. They conceived the whole thing as a living demonstration of +the solidarity of labor. The giving of the food produced an effect upon +their morale far better than could have come from the distribution of +ten times its value in money. The commissariat enormously strengthened +the strikers. Without it the strike would have collapsed many weeks +before it did. Unions in future great walkouts will do well to study the +steel strike commissary plan. + + * * * * * + +Strikes, even the smallest, affect so many people in so many ways that +it is difficult under the best of circumstances to compile accurate data +upon their cost. In the case of the steel strike it is next to +impossible to do so. The great number of steel companies and the armies +of men involved; the wide scope of the strike; the condition of outlawry +in many steel districts; the fact that the strike was lost; the workers' +numerous nationalities and imperfection of organization--all these and +various other factors make it exceedingly difficult, at least at this +early date, to give more than a hint of the strike's cost. + +In the steel strike, as in all others, the burden of suffering fell to +the workers' lot. To win their cause they gave freely of their lives, +liberty, blood and treasure. A poll of the National Committee local +secretaries yields the following list of strike dead: + + Buffalo 2 + Chicago 1 + Cleveland 1 + Farrell 4 + Hammond 4 + Newcastle 2 + Pittsburgh 1 + West Natrona 2 + Wheeling 1 + Youngstown 2 + -- + Total 20 + +The killed were all on the strikers' side, except two. The above list +properly includes Mrs. Fannie Sellins. But it does not include the +scores of scabs who, because of their own or other incompetent workers' +ineptness, were roasted, crushed to death, or torn to pieces in the +dangerous steel-making processes during the strike. Although the steel +companies were exceedingly alert in suppressing the names of these +ignoble victims to their greed, it is a well-known fact that there were +many of them. There was hardly a big mill anywhere that did not have +several to its account. + +How many hundreds of strikers were seriously injured by being clubbed +and shot will never be known, because most of them, especially in +Pennsylvania, healed themselves as best they might. With good grounds +they feared that disclosing their injuries to doctors would lead to +their arrest upon charges of rioting. The number of arrested strikers +ran into the thousands. But so orderly were the strikers that few +serious charges could be brought against them. They were jailed in +droves and fined heavily mostly for minor "offenses." Except in Butler, +Pa., where a score of strikers were arrested for stopping a car of scabs +on the way to work (framed-up by the State Police) and sent to the +penitentiary, no strikers anywhere in the whole strike zone received +heavy jail sentences. Considering the terrific provocations offered the +men and the extreme eagerness with which the courts punished them, this +remarkable record is an eloquent testimonial to their orderliness.[27] +Of course, the companies did not neglect to avail themselves of the +heartless blacklist. Just now hundreds of their former employees, denied +work and forced to break up their homes and leave town, are +criss-crossing the country looking for opportunities to make new starts +in life. + +As for the cost to the strikers in wages, the Philadelphia _Public +Ledger_ of January 10, two days after the strike was called off, carried +a special telegram from Pittsburgh, stating (authority not quoted) that +the wage loss in that district was $48,005,060.35, specified as +follows: + + + Clarksburg, W. Va. $310,000.00 + Wheeling District 6,100,000.00 + Donora 1,200,000.00 + Steubenville dist. 2,260,000.00 + Youngstown 15,500,000.00 + Monessen 2,660,000.00 + Brackenridge 450,000.00 + New Kensington 375,000.00 + McKeesport 597,869.00 + Port Vue 900,000.00 + Sharon-Farrell 1,250,000.00 + New Castle 705,000.00 + Homestead 737,840.00 + Duquesne 55,030.00 + Johnstown 5,712,321.35 + Ellwood City 35,000.00 + Butler 1,450,000.00 + Aliquippa 10,000.00 + Pittsburgh 5,715,000.00 + Sharpsburg, Ætna 435,000.00 + Vandergrift 357,000.00 + Clairton 165,000.00 + Rankin 375,000.00 + Braddock 650,000.00 + +To the above, the New York _Herald_ of January 12 editorially adds an +estimate of $39,000,000 for steel districts other than Pittsburgh, +making a grand total of $87,000,000 as the strikers' wage loss. But +these figures, bearing the earmarks of Steel Trust origin, are too low. +On the basis of the minimum figures of an average of 250,000 strikers +for 90 working days (actual strike length 108 days) at $5.00 per day per +man, we arrive at a total of $112,500,000.00, or $450.00 per average +striker. Doubtless these figures are also too low, but they will serve +to indicate the tremendous sums of money the already poverty-stricken +steel workers were willing to sacrifice in order to change the +conditions which Mr. Gary so glowingly paints as ideal. + +The loss to the steel companies must have been enormous. Without doubt +it runs into several hundred millions of dollars. The items going to +make up this huge bill are many and at this time impossible of accurate +estimate. There must have been not only a complete cessation of profits +during the strike period, but also a vast outlay of money to finance the +strike-breaking measures, such as maintaining scores of thousands of +gunmen to guard the plants; paying rich graft to employment offices and +detective agencies for recruiting armies of scabs, who, receiving high +strike wages, idled for weeks around the plants, shooting craps, playing +cards, pitching quoits, and absolutely refusing to work; keeping on the +payroll great staffs of office workers with nothing to do, and high paid +skilled workers doing the work of common laborers; corrupting police and +court officials to give the strikers the worst of it, etc., etc. +Besides, there should be added the cost of repairing the great injuries +done the furnaces by their sudden shutting down, this item alone +amounting to many millions of dollars. But a more important factor than +all, perhaps, in counting the cost of the strike to the companies was +the serious injury done to their wonderful producing organization by the +permanent loss of thousands of competent men who have quitted the +industry; the dislocation of many thousands more from jobs for which +they were well fitted and the substitution in their places of green men; +the lowering of the men's morale generally, due to disappointment and +bitterness at the loss of the strike, etc. We may depend upon it that +the companies, following out their policy of minimizing the strike's +effects, will so juggle their financial and tonnage statements as to +make it impossible for years to figure out what it really cost them, if +it can ever be done. + +The cost to the people at large is indicated by the New York Sun, quoted +by the _Literary Digest_, January 31, 1920, as follows: + + There was the loss to the railroads not only in freights + from the steel plants, but in freights from general mills + and factories which, failing to get their steel supplies, + could not maintain their production and fulfill their own + deliveries. There was the loss in wages in such mills and + factories due to that failure to get their material on which + their wage-earners could work. There was the loss in such + communities to trade folk whose customers thus had their + spending power reduced by the steel strike.--Hence this loss + of steel tonnage begins at once to widen until the loss + eventually could be figured in the billions. + +For the privilege of having an autocracy in the steel industry the +American people pay not only huge costs in unearned dividends each year, +but also, occasionally, such monster special charges as the above. +Garyism is an expensive luxury. + +The foregoing figures and statements merely serve to point out the +immensity of the steel strike by indicating its approximate cost to the +strikers, the steel companies, and the public. Admittedly they are but +loose estimates, based upon scanty data. Absolute accuracy is not +claimed for them. The expenditures of the labor movement in the campaign +can be more closely calculated, although they, too, are far from +definite. They fall into three general classes: (1) those by the general +office of the National Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers; +(2) those by the A. F. of L. and co-operating international steel trades +unions not through the office of the National Committee; (3) those by +local steel workers' councils and unions from their own treasuries. Of +these the latter may be eliminated as impossible of estimation, there +being so many local organizations involved and the after-strike +conditions so unfavorable to statistics gathering. They were a minor +element of expense compared to the other two, which we will try to +approximate as closely as may be. + +1. From the beginning of the steel campaign, August 1, 1918, until +January 31, 1920, the total net disbursements of the National Committee +for all purposes, after making deductions for refunds, transfers, etc., +amounted to $525,702.72. This stretch of time may be divided into two +parts: (a), Organizing period, from August 1, 1918, until September 22, +1919--during which time virtually all the 250,000 men enrolled in the +campaign (see end of Chapter VII) had joined the unions; (b), Strike +period, from September 22, 1919, until January 31, 1920--during which +time the heavy special strike expenses were incurred. This period is +extended three weeks past the date of the strike's close, because the +commissariat was still in operation and other important strike expenses +were going on. + +The total net disbursements made by the National Committee during the +organizing period were $73,139.66, which amounts to a small fraction +over 29 cents for each of the 250,000 men organized. The total net +disbursements of the National Committee during the strike period were +$452,563.06, or $1.81 for each of the 250,000 average strikers. Adding +these two figures together gives $2.10 as the cost to the National +Committee of organizing each steel worker and taking care of him during +the whole strike. + +2. The disbursements of the National Committee covered general +organizing and strike expenses, such as commissary, legal, rent, +printing, salaries, etc. The A. F. of L. and the co-operating +international unions also incurred heavy expenses upon their own +account, whose chief items were for keeping organizers in the field, +paying strike benefits, and making lump donations to strike-bound local +unions. At this date these expenditures may be only approximated. + +For the above bodies almost the sole expense during the organizing +period was for maintaining organizers. Forty would be a fair average of +the number of these men actually kept at the steel industry work. In the +earlier part of the campaign the number was far less; in the later part, +considerably more. The cost of maintaining them per month may be set at +not more than $400.00 each, for salaries and general expenses. Thus, for +the 13-3/4 months of the organizing period the expense to the A. F. of +L. and co-operating unions for this item would be about $220,000, or 88 +cents per man organized. This is a top figure. + +During the strike period, on an average, 75 organizers were kept in the +field by these bodies. Due to increases in wages, etc., their upkeep +should be calculated at about $500.00 per month each. For 4-1/4 months, +September 22 to January 31, our strike period, this would amount to +$159,375. To this should be added $100,000, which according to reports +received approximates what the organizations paid in strike benefits and +donations direct to their strikers and not through the office of the +National Committee. This would make their total expenditures for the +strike period $259,375, or slightly less than $1.04 per striker. Adding +together the amounts for the organizing period and the strike period, we +arrive at a grand total of $479,375, or $1.92 per man, spent during the +entire campaign by the A. F. of L. and co-operating internationals. + +The figures for the A. F. of L. and co-operating internationals are +estimates,--the constant shifting of organizers during the campaign, +their widely varying rates of pay, etc., making accuracy impossible. But +from my knowledge of what went on I will venture that the figures cited +are close enough to the reality to give a fair conception of this class +of expenditures. + +Combining the National Committee expenditures with those of the A. F. of +L. and co-operating unions, we arrive at the following totals: + + ORGANIZING PERIOD: + _Expenditures_ _Per Man_ + By Nat. Com. $ 73,139.66 $.29 + By A. F. L. & Unions 220,000.00 .88 + ------------------------- ------------- + Total cost of organizing work $293,139.66 $1.17 + + STRIKE PERIOD: + By Nat. Com. $452,563.06 $1.81 + By A. F. L. & Unions 259,375.00 1.04 + ------------------------- ------------ + Total cost of strike $711,938.06 $2.85 + + WHOLE CAMPAIGN: + Total cost to Nat. Com., ------------------------- ------------ + A. F. L. & Unions $1,005,007.72 $4.02 + +In order to approximate more closely the actual cost of the campaign to +the A. F. of L. and the twenty-four co-operating internationals forming +the National Committee, the total of $479,375, figured in a previous +paragraph as their independent expenditures, must be increased by +$101,047.52, the amount they contributed directly to the National +Committee for organizing and for strike expenses during the course of +the campaign;[28] making a grand total outlay for them of $580,422.52. +This in turn should be reduced by $118,451.23, the amount in the +National Committee treasury on January 31, 1920. Against the remaining +$461,971.29 must be checked off what the steel workers paid into these +organizations in initiation fees and dues. + +Inasmuch as the co-operating internationals received directly $1.00 to +$2.00 (mostly the latter) from the initiation fees of the approximately +250,000 steel workers signed up during the campaign, not to speak of +thousands of dollars in per capita tax from armies of dues payers over a +period of many months, it is safe to say that their net outlay of +$461,971.29 would be nearly if not altogether offset by their income. It +is true that some of the organizations, like the Miners and the A. F. of +L. itself made large expenditures, with little return; and that others, +like the Structural Iron Workers, broke about even; while the +Amalgamated Association put a huge sum in its treasury. All things +considered, taking the twenty-four organizations as a whole, one is not +much wrong in saying that so far as their national treasuries were +concerned, the great movement of the steel workers, including the +organizing campaign and the strike, was, financially speaking, just +about self-sustaining. + +Was the steel strike, then, worth the great suffering and expenditure of +effort that it cost the steel workers? I say yes; even though it failed +to accomplish the immediate objects it had in view. No strike is ever +wholly lost. Even the least effective of them serve the most useful +purpose of checking the employers' exploitation. They are a protection +to the workers' standards of life. Better by far a losing fight than +none at all. An unresisting working class would soon find itself on a +rice diet. But the steel strike has done more than serve merely as a +warning that the limit of exploitation has been reached; it has given +the steel workers a confidence in their ability to organize and to fight +effectively, which will eventually inspire them on to victory. This +precious result alone is well worth all the hardships the strike cost +them. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[23] Exceptions to this were the cases of the Molders' and Coopers' +Unions. These organizations were compelled by constitutional +requirements to pay regular strike benefits. But they included only a +very small percentage of the total number of strikers. + +[24] The commissariat was suggested by John Fitzpatrick, as a result of +his experiences in the Chicago Garment Workers' strike of a decade ago. + +[25] In addition to the regular commissaries, the local organizations, +grace to their own funds or occasional donations from their +international unions, had relief enterprises of various sorts, such as +soup kitchens, milk, clothes, rent and sickness funds. In Monessen and +Donora the strikers actually served a big turkey dinner on Thanksgiving +Day. Strikers paid five cents a plate for all they wished to eat. +Sympathizers donated liberally according to their means. But the +commissary system was the main source of strike relief. + +[26] It is true, as noted above, that several other unions besides the +Molders and Coopers made occasional contributions to their strike-bound +locals, but when measured against the vast armies of strikers, these +funds dwindled almost into insignificance. + +[27] This was largely because the men were sober. In fact, prohibition +helped the steel campaign in several important respects; (1) because +having no saloons to drown their troubles in, the workers, clear-headed, +attended the union meetings and organized more readily; (2) when the +strike came they did not waste their few pennies on liquor and then run +back to work in the old way; they bought food with them and stayed on +strike; (3) being sober, they were the better able to avoid useless +violence and to conduct their strike effectively. + +[28] This sum represents the actual cash given by these affiliated +organizations directly to the National Committee throughout the entire +movement. It divides itself as follows: + + Blacksmiths $ 6,273.28 + Boilermakers 10,448.92 + Bricklayers 4,199.05 + P. & S. Iron Workers 7,335.78 + Coopers 907.76 + Electrical Workers 6,138.80 + Engineers 100.00 + Firemen 2,395.53 + Foundry Employees 1,030.51 + Hod Carriers 1,350.00 + Iron, Steel and Tin Workers 11,881.81 + Machinists 16,622.33 + Mine, Mill, Smelter Workers 3,583.53 + Mine Workers 2,600.00 + Molders 4,199.05 + Pattern Makers 615.52 + Plumbers 2,581.04 + Quarry Workers 412.50 + Railway Carmen 10,448.30 + Seamen 3,081.04 + Switchmen 4,115.52 + Sheet Metal Workers 100.00 + Steam Shovelmen 627.25 + ----------- + Total $101,047.52 + + + + +XIII + +PAST MISTAKES AND FUTURE PROBLEMS + + LABOR'S LACK OF CONFIDENCE--INADEQUATE EFFORTS--NEED OF + ALLIANCE WITH MINERS AND RAILROADERS--RADICAL LEADERSHIP AS + A STRIKE ISSUE--MANUFACTURING REVOLUTIONS--STRIKES: + RAILROAD SHOPMEN, BOSTON POLICE, MINERS, RAILROAD YARD AND + ROAD MEN--DEFECTION OF AMALGAMATED ASSOCIATION + + +In preceding chapters I have said much about the injustices visited upon +the steel workers by the steel companies and their minions; the mayors, +burgesses, police magistrates, gunmen, State Police, Senate Committees, +etc. But let there be no mistake. I do not blame the failure of the +strike upon these factors. I put the responsibility upon the shoulders +of Organized Labor. Had it but stirred a little the steel workers would +have won their battle, despite all the Steel Trust could do to prevent +it. + +By this I mean no harsh criticism. On the contrary, I am the first to +assert that the effort put forth in the steel campaign was wonderful, +far surpassing anything ever done in the industry before, and marking a +tremendous advance in trade-union tactics. Yet it was not enough, and it +represented only a fraction of the power the unions should and could +have thrown into the fight. The organization of the steel industry +should have been a special order of business for the whole labor +movement. But unfortunately it was not. The big men of Labor could not +be sufficiently awakened to its supreme importance to induce them to sit +determinedly into the National Committee meetings and to give the +movement the abundant moral and financial backing so essential to its +success. Official pessimism, bred of thirty years of trade-union failure +in the steel industry, hung like a mill-stone about the neck of the +movement in all its stages. + +At the very outset this pessimism and lack of faith dealt the movement a +fatal blow. When the unions failed to follow the original plan of the +campaign (outlined in Chapter III) to throw a large crew of organizers +into the field at the beginning and thus force a settlement with the +steel companies during war time, as they could easily have done, they +made a monumental blunder, one for which Organized Labor will pay +dearly. Notwithstanding all their best efforts in the long, bitter +organizing campaign and the great strike, the organizers could not +overcome its effects. It was a lost opportunity that unquestionably cost +the unionization of the steel industry. + +And the same pessimism which caused this original deadly mistake made +itself felt all through the steel campaign, by so restricting the +resources furnished the National Committee as to practically kill all +chance of success. Probably no big modern trade-union organizing +campaign and strike has been conducted upon such slender means. +Considering the great number of men involved, the viciousness of the +opposition and the long duration of the movement (18 months), the +figure cited in the previous chapter as covering the general expenses, +$1,005,007.72, is unusually low. It amounts to but $4.02 per man, or +hardly a half week's strike benefits for each. Compared to the sums +spent in other industrial struggles, it is proportionally insignificant. +For example, in the great coal miners' strike in Colorado, begun +September 23, 1913, and ended December 10, 1914, the United Mine Workers +are authoritatively stated to have spent about $5,000,000.00 As there +were on an average about 12,000 strikers, this would make the cost +somewhere about $400.00 per man involved. And in those days a dollar was +worth twice as much as during the steel strike. Had a fraction of such +amounts been available to the steel workers they would have made +incomparably a better fight. + +The unions affiliated with the National Committee have at least two +million members. Even if they had spent outright the total sum required +to carry on the organizing campaign and strike it would not have +strained them appreciably. But they did not spend it, nor any +considerable part of it. In the previous chapter we have seen that with +donations from the labor movement at large, and initiation fees and dues +paid in by the steel workers, the movement was virtually self-sustaining +as far as the co-operating unions were concerned--taking them as a +whole. Now, in the next campaign, all that must be different. The unions +will have to put some real money in the fight. Then they may win it. + +When I say that there was a shortage of resources in the steel campaign +I include particularly organizers from the respective international +unions. Of these there were not half enough. Often the National +Committee had to beg for weeks to have a man sent in to organize a local +union, the members for which it had already enrolled. Hundreds of local +unions suffered and many a one perished outright for want of attention. +Whole districts had to be neglected, with serious consequences when the +strike came. + +Moreover, the system used by many internationals in handling their +organizers was wrong. They controlled them from their several general +headquarters, shifting them around or pulling them out of the work +without regard to the needs of the campaign as a whole. This tended to +create a loose, disjointed, undisciplined, inefficient organizing force. +It was indefensible. Now, in the next drive there are two systems which +might be used. (1) The international unions could definitely delegate a +certain number of organizers to the campaign and put them entirely under +the direction of the National Committee. This was the plan followed by +the A. F. of L., the Miners, and the Railway Carmen. It worked well and +tended to produce a homogeneous, well-knit, controllable, efficient +organizing force. (2) The organizers definitely assigned to the steel +campaign by the internationals could be formed into crews, each crew to +be controlled by one man and charged with looking after the needs of its +particular trade. The Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, Machinists, and +Electrical Workers used this system to some extent. A series of such +crews, working vertically along craft lines while the National +Committee men worked horizontally along industrial lines, would greatly +strengthen the general movement. When the strike came it would not only +be an industrial strike but twenty-four intensified craft strikes as +well. Of the two systems, the first is probably the better, and the +second, because of the individualism of the unions, the more practical. +Either of them is miles superior to the plan of controlling the field +organizers from a score of headquarters knowing very little of the real +needs of the situation. + +But more than men and money, the steel workers in their great fight +lacked practical solidarity from closely related trades. In their +semi-organized condition they were unable to withstand alone the +terrific power of the Steel Trust, backed by the mighty capitalistic +organizations which rushed to its aid. They needed from their organized +fellow workers help in the same liberal measure as Mr. Gary received +from those on his side. And help adequate to the task could have come +only by extending the strike beyond the confines of the steel industry +proper. + +When the steel unions end their present educational campaign and launch +the next big drive to organize the steel workers (which should be in a +year or two) they ought to be prepared to meet the formidable employer +combinations sure to be arrayed against them by opposing to them still +more formidable labor combinations. The twenty-four unions should by +then be so allied with the miners' and railroad men's organizations that +should it come to a strike these two powerful groups of unions would +rally to their aid and paralyse the steel industry completely by +depriving it of those essentials without which it cannot operate, fuel +and rail transportation. How effective such assistance would be was well +indicated by the speedy and wholesale shutting down of steel mills, +first during the general strike of bituminous miners in November and +December of 1919, and then during the "outlaw" railroad strike in April, +1920. With such a combination of allied steel, mine and railroad workers +confronting them, there is small likelihood that the steel companies (or +the public at large) would consider the question of the steel workers' +right to organize of sufficient importance to fight about. Mr. Gary +might then be brought to a realization that this is not Czarist Russia, +and that the men in his mills must be granted their human rights. + +That the miners and railroaders have sufficient interests at stake to +justify their entrance into such a combination no union man of heart +will attempt to deny. Not to speak of the general duty of all unionists +to extend help to brothers in trouble, the above-mentioned groups have +the most powerful reasons of their own to work for the organization of +the steel industry. The United States Steel Corporation and so-called +"independent" steel mills are the stronghold of industrial autocracy in +America. Every union in the labor movement directly suffers their evil +effects in lower wages, longer hours and more difficult struggles for +the right to organize than they otherwise would have. No union will be +safe until these mills are under the banner of Organized Labor. Beyond +question the organization of the steel workers would tremendously +benefit the miners and railroaders. The latter cannot possibly do too +much to assist in bringing it about. It is their own fight. + +For the miners and railroad men to join forces with the steel workers +would mean no new departure in trade-unionism. It would be merely +proceeding in harmony with the natural evolution constantly taking place +in the labor movement. For instance, to go no further than the two +industries in question, it is only a few years since the miners +negotiated agreements and struck, district by district. Even though one +section walked out, the rest would remain at work. And as for the +railroaders, they followed a similar plan upon the basis of one craft or +one system. Each unit of the two industries felt itself to be virtually +a thing apart from all the others when it came to common action against +the employers. It was the heyday of particularism, of craft unionism +complete. And anyone who did not think the system represented the acme +of trade-union methods was considered a crank. But both groups of +organizations are fast getting away from such infantile practices. We +now find the miners striking all over the country simultaneously, and +the railroad men rigging up such wide-spreading combinations among +themselves that soon a grievance of a section hand in San Diego, +California will be the grievance of an engineer in Bangor, Maine. The +man who would advocate a return to the old method of each for himself +and the devil take the hindmost would be looked upon today, to say the +least, with grave suspicion. + +During the recent steel strike the National Committee tried to arrange a +joint meeting with the officials of the miners and railroad brotherhoods +to see if some assistance, moral if nothing else, could be secured for +the steel workers. But nothing came of it. In the next big drive, +however, these powerful organizations should be allied with the steel +workers and prepared to give them active assistance if necessary. And in +the tuning and timing of movements to permit of such a condition, so +that no lots, legal or contractual, need be cut across, there are +involved no technical problems which a little initiative and +far-sightedness on the part of the labor men in control could not +readily overcome. + +In order to cover up their own inveterate opposition to Organized Labor +in all its forms and activities, and to blind the workers to the real +cause of the defeat, namely lack of sufficient power on the employees' +side, great employing interests caused to be spread over the whole +country the statement that the steel strike failed because of radical +leadership, and that if such "dangerous" men as John Fitzpatrick and +myself had not been connected with it everything would have been lovely. +They were especially severe against me for my "evil" influence on the +strike. But somehow their propaganda did not seem to strike root among +labor men, especially those who were backing the steel campaign. The +workers are getting too keen these days to let the enemy tell them who +shall or shall not be their officials; and when they see one of these +officials made the target of bitter attack from such notorious interests +as the Steel Trust they are much inclined to feel that he is probably +giving them a square deal. + +As for myself, and I know John Fitzpatrick took the same position +regarding himself, I was willing to resign my position on the National +Committee the very instant it was indicated by those associated with me +that my presence was injuring the movement. I felt that to be my duty. +But to the last, that indication never came. When I finally resigned as +Secretary-Treasurer on January 31, it was entirely of my own volition. + +The avalanche of vituperation and personal abuse was started several +months before the strike, when a traitor labor paper in Pittsburgh (one +of the stripe which lives by knifing strikes and active unionists for +the employers) published articles containing quotations from the "red +book," and the other stuff later bruited about in the daily press. To +hear this sheet tell it, the revolution was at hand. Immediately after +the articles appeared I sent copies to the presidents of all the +twenty-four co-operating unions, with the result that almost all of +these officials wrote me, advising that I pay no attention to these +attacks, but continue with my work. They seemed to consider it something +of a compliment to be so bitterly assailed from such a quarter. Again, +at the very moment when President Gompers was dictating his letter to +Judge Gary asking for a conference (long after the above-mentioned +attacks) I stated that possibly too much prominence for me in the +movement might attract needless opposition to it and I offered to resign +from the conference committee which handled all negotiations concerning +the steel strike. But my objections were over-ruled and I was continued +on the committee. Moreover, at any time in the campaign a word from the +executive officers of the A. F. of L. would have brought about my +resignation. This they were aware of for months before the strike. All +of which indicates that the men responsible for the organizations in the +movement were satisfied that it was being carried on according to +trade-union principles, and also that in consideration of the Steel +Trust's murderous tactics in the past it was a certainty that if the +opposition had not taken the specific form it did, it would have +manifested itself in some other way as bad or worse. It was to be +depended upon that some means would have been found to thoroughly +discredit the movement. + +This conviction was intensified by the unexampled fury with which each +important move of Labor during the past year has been opposed, not only +by employers but by governmental officials as well. All through the war +the moneyed interests watched with undisguised alarm and hatred the +rapid advance of the unions; but they were powerless to stop it. Now, +however, they are getting their revenge. The usual method of defeating +such movements during this period of white terrorism is to attach some +stigma to them; to question the legitimacy of their aims, and then, when +the highly organized and corrupted press has turned public sentiment +against them, to crush them by the most unscrupulous means. It makes no +difference how mild or ordinary the movement is, some issue is always +found to poison public opinion against it. + +The first important body of workers to feel the weight of this +opposition was the railroad shopmen. The Railroad Administration having +dilly-dallied along with their demands for several months, these +under-paid workers, goaded on by the mounting cost of living, finally +broke into an unauthorized strike in the early summer of 1919. This +almost destroyed the organizations. Officials who ought to know declared +that at one time over 200,000 men were out. Naturally the press roundly +denounced them as Bolsheviki. Upon a promise of fair treatment they +returned to work. When the matter finally came to President Wilson for +settlement, he declared that to raise wages would be contrary to the +Government's policy of reducing the cost of living, and requested that +the demands be held in abeyance. This statement was a Godsend to all the +reactionary elements, who used it to break up wage movements everywhere. +Thus came to grief the effort of the shopmen. Up to May, 1920, they have +secured no relief whatsoever. + +Next came the affair of the Boston police in September, 1919. This +developed from an effort of typically conservative policemen to +organize. The strike was deliberately forced by the action of State +politicians, inspired by big business, in cold-bloodedly discharging a +number of the officers of the new union and stubbornly refusing to +re-instate them. When the inevitable strike occurred they labelled it +not merely an attempted revolution, but a blow at the very foundations +of civilization. The press did the rest. The strike was buried beneath a +deluge of abuse, misrepresentation and vilification. + +[Illustration: A GROUP OF ORGANIZERS + +Standing, left to right: W. Searl, F. Wilson, A. V. Craig, M. +Mestrovich, E. Martin, J. M. Peters, R. W. Beattie, J. Moskus, S. +Coates, J. Manley, _Striker_, T. A. Harris, E. O. Gunther, B. J. Damich, +_Striker_, C. Foley, M. Bellam, T. A. Daley, _Striker_, W. Z. Foster. +Seated, left to right: J. Lenahan, F. J. Sweek, J. Klinsky, F. +Wiernicki, I. Liberti, A. DeVerneuil, C. Claherty, J. N. Aten, J. W. +Hendricks, S. Rokosz, R. W. Reilly, J. A. Norrington, F. Kurowsky, J. G. +Brown, G. W. Troutman, J. E. McCadden, W. Murphy, S. T. Hammersmark.] + +Then came the coal miners in November, 1919. During the war this body +of men sent fully 60,000 members to the front in France. They bought +untold amounts of liberty bonds and worked faithfully to keep the +industries in operation. But no sooner did they make demand for some of +the freedom which they thought they had won in the war than they found +themselves crowded into a strike, and their conservative, old-line, +trade-union leaders harshly assailed as revolutionists. For instance, +said Senator Pomerene:[29] + + Years ago the American spirit was startled because a + Vanderbilt had said, "The public be damned." But Vanderbilt + seems to have no patent on the phrase, or if he had it is + being infringed today by men who have as little regard for + the public welfare as he himself had. There is no difference + in kind between him and a Foster, who, aided by the extreme + Socialist and I. W. W. classes of the country, aims to + enlist under his leadership all the iron and steel workers + of a nation and to paralyze industry, or a Lewis (President + of the United Mine Workers of America), who, to further his + own ambitions, aided as he was by the same elements, calls + 400,000 men out of the mines and says to the public, "Freeze + or starve." + +The Government condemned the strike as "unjustifiable and unlawful" and +invoked against it the so-called Lever law. This law, a war measure +against food and fuel profiteers, was, when up for adoption, distinctly +stated by its author, Representative Lever, and by Attorney General +Gregory, as not applying to workers striking for better conditions.[30] +Moreover, since the armistice it had fallen into disuse,--as far as +employers were concerned; but upon the strength of it the miners' strike +was outlawed, Federal Judge Anderson issuing an injunction which +commanded the union officials to rescind the strike order and to refuse +all moral and financial assistance to the strikers. Rarely has a labor +union found itself in so difficult a situation. The only thing that +saved the miners from a crushing defeat was their splendid organization +and strategic position in industry. On November 11, after the union +officials had agreed to rescind the strike order, the Philadelphia +_Public Ledger_ expressed an opinion widely held when it said: + + The truth of the matter is that we all "got it wrong" on + this coal situation. This is the time to say in entire + frankness that _the Government handled the situation with + the tact, timeliness and conciliatory spirit of a German war + governor jack-booting a Belgium town into docility_. + +And now we have the unauthorized strike of the Railroad yard and road +men; this is clearly an outbreak of workers exasperated on the one hand +by a constantly increasing cost of living, and on the other by dilatory +methods of affording relief. The orthodox tactics are being employed to +break it. The Lever law, disinterred from the legislative graveyard to +beat the miners, has been galvanized into life again and is being used +to jail the strike leaders. This is not all, however. Probably there +never was a big strike in this country more spontaneous and unplanned +than the one in question. But that does not worry our Department of +Justice; it has just announced to a credulous world that the whole +affair is a highly organized plot to overthrow the Government. Within +the hour I write this (on April 15) I read in the papers that I have +been singled out by Attorney-General Palmer as one of the strike +leaders. Eight-column headlines flare out the charge, "PALMER BLAMES +FOSTER FOR RAIL STRIKE," etc.[31] + +To Mr. Palmer's "penny dreadful" plot, the local newspapers add lying +details of their own. The Pittsburgh _Leader_, for instance, recites _in +extenso_ how I returned from the West in disguise to Pittsburgh several +days ago--presumably after a trip plotting with Mr. Palmer's wonderful +revolutionaries, who not only can bring whole industries to a standstill +by a wave of the hand, but can do it in such a manner that although many +thousands of workers are "in the know" the Department of Justice never +gets to hear about it until the strikes have occurred. + +Now the fact is that I have been so busy writing this book that I have +hardly stirred from the house for weeks. Since the steel strike ended I +have not been beyond the environs of Pittsburgh. Moreover, I do not know +a solitary one of the men advertised as strike leaders, nor has there +been any communication whatsoever between us. I have not attended any +strike meetings, nor have I even seen a man whom I knew to be a striker. +But of course such details are irrelevant to the Department of Justice +and the newspapers. The latter boldly announce that it is officially +hoped that Mr. Palmer's charges will stampede the men back to work.[32] +In fact that is their aim. These charges are a strike-breaking measure, +pure and simple, and have no necessary relation to truth.[33] + +Similar instances might be multiplied to illustrate the extreme +virulence of the attacks on Labor in late struggles--how the press +manufactured the general strikes in Seattle and Winnipeg into young +revolutions; and how even when Mr. Gompers announced some time back that +the American Federation of Labor would continue its customary political +policy of "rewarding its friends and punishing its enemies," the scheme +was denounced in influential quarters as an attempt to capture the +Government and set up a dictatorship of the proletariat. But enough. The +steel strike was a drive straight at the heart of industrial autocracy +in America; it could expect to meet with nothing less than the most +desperate and unscrupulous resistance. If the issue used against the +strike had not been the charge of radical leadership, we may rest +assured there would have been another "just as good." The next movement +will have to win by its own strength, rather than by the vagaries of a +newspaper-created public opinion. + +But a far more pressing problem even than any of those touched upon in +the foregoing paragraphs is the one involved in the attitude of the +Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers toward the steel +campaign. This organization withdrew from the National Committee +immediately after the strike was called off, and it has apparently +abandoned trying, at least for the time being, to organize the big steel +mills. Thus the whole campaign is brought to the brink of ruin, because +the Amalgamated Association has jurisdiction over about 50 per cent. of +the workers in the mills, including all the strategic steel-making +trades, without whose support the remainder cannot possibly win. Unless +it can be brought back to the fold, the joint movement of the trades in +the steel industry will almost certainly be broken up, to the great glee +of Mr. Gary and his associates. + +This action was in logical sequence to the position taken through the +campaign by several of the Amalgamated Association's general officers. +From the beginning, they considered the movement with pessimism, often +with hostility. It received scant co-operation from them. As related in +Chapter VI, they tried to get a settlement with the U. S. Steel +Corporation right in the teeth of the general movement; and their +financial support was meager, to say the least.[34] For a few weeks +during the strike movement, when victory seemed near, they displayed +some slight enthusiasm; but this soon wore off and they adopted a policy +of "saving what they could." They were exceedingly anxious to call off +the strike many weeks before its close, and went about the country +discouraging the men and advising them to return to work. And even +worse, they attempted to make separate settlements with the steel +companies. The following proposed agreement, presented to (and refused +by) the Bethlehem Steel Corporation at Sparrows' Point when the strike +was not yet two months old, tells its own story: + + + November 19th, 1919. + + Agreement entered into between the Bethlehem Steel Company + of Sparrows' Point, Maryland, and its employees, governing + wages and conditions in the Sheet and Tin mills, and Tin + House Department. + + 1. It is agreed that the wages and conditions agreed upon + between the Western Sheet and Tin Plate Manufacturers' + Association and the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel + and Tin Workers, as agreed upon in the Atlantic City + Conference, June, 1919, will be the prices and conditions + paid to the employees in the above-mentioned departments. + + 2. That the company will also agree to the re-instatement of + all their former employees, such as seek employment without + any discrimination. + + 3. The above Agreement to expire June 30th, 1920. + +During the strike the general officers of the Amalgamated Association +never tired of telling how sacred they considered their contracts with +the employers, and did not hesitate to jeopardize the strike by living +up to them most strictly. But when it came to their obligations to the +other trades it was a different story. They well knew, when they tried +to make separate settlements with the U. S. Steel and Bethlehem +Companies, that they were violating solemn agreements which they had +entered into with the other trades in the industry, not to speak of +fundamental principles of labor solidarity. + +The national officials in question looked with undisguised jealousy upon +the growth to importance of other unions in the industry where their own +organization had operated alone so long. They lost no love on the +National Committee. In fact more than one of their number seemed to take +particular delight in placing obstructions in its way. If they wanted +to see the steel industry organized they certainly showed it in a +peculiar manner. A goodly share of my time--not to speak of that of +others--was spent plugging the holes which they punched through the +dike. And apparently they always had the hearty support of their fellow +officers. It is only fair to say, however, that the lesser officials and +the rank and file of the Amalgamated Association strongly favored the +National Committee movement and gave it their loyal cooperation. + +As a justification for the Amalgamated Association officials' action in +quitting the joint campaign, word is being sent through the steel +industry that henceforth that organization will insist upon its broad +jurisdictional claims and become an industrial union in fact, taking +into its ranks and protecting workers of all classes in the steel +industry. But no one familiar with the Amalgamated Association will take +this seriously. It is a dyed-in-the-wool skilled workers' union, and has +been such ever since its foundation forty-five years ago. Its specialty +is the "tonnage men," or skilled iron and steel making and rolling +trades proper. All its customs, policies and instincts are inspired by +the interests of this industrial group. It has never looked after the +welfare of the mechanical trades and the common laborers, even though +for the past few years it has claimed jurisdiction over them. In its +union mills it is the regular thing to find only the tonnage men covered +by the agreements, no efforts whatever being made to take care of the +other workers. It is true that during the recent campaign, due to the +stimulus of the National Committee, laborers were taken in; but of the +way they were handled, probably the less said the better. The incidents +related in Chapter X are typical. + +That the men now at the head of the Amalgamated Association will upset +these craft practices and revolutionize their organization into a bona +fide, vigorous industrial union is incredible to those who have seen +them in action. But even if the miracle happened, even if they got rid +of their mid-nineteenth century ideas and methods, adopted modern +principles and systems, and put on the sweeping campaign necessary to +organize the industry, it would not solve the problem. The other unions +in the steel industry are not prepared to yield their trade claims to +the Amalgamated Association, and any serious attempt by that +organization to infringe upon them would result in a jurisdictional +quarrel, so destructive as to wreck all hope of organizing the industry +for an indefinite period. The unions would be so busy fighting among +themselves that they would have no time, energy or ambition to fight the +Steel Trust. + +Progress and organization in the steel industry are to be achieved not +by splitting the ranks and dividing the forces, but by consolidating and +extending them. The only rational hope in the situation lies in a firm +federation of all the trades in the industry, allied with the miners and +railroad men in such fashion that they will extend help in case of +trouble. The steel workers are fast recovering from their defeat. The +educational campaign is getting results, and the work should be made a +permanent institution until the industry is organized. For the +Amalgamated Association to desert the field now is suicidal. It is +worse; it is a crime against the labor movement. It will break up the +campaign and throw the steel workers, helpless, upon the mercy of Gary +and his fellow exploiters. Organized Labor should not permit it. The +time is past when a few short-sighted union officials can block the +organization of a great industry. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[29] Quoted from _The Coopers' Journal_ for February, 1920. + +[30] For important details, see article entitled "The Broken Pledge," by +Samuel Gompers, in the _American Federationist_, January, 1920. + +[31] Pittsburgh _Post_, April 15, 1920. + +[32] Pittsburgh _Chronicle-Telegraph_, April 15, 1920. + +[33] In connection with this matter I promptly called Mr. Palmer a liar, +a statement which was widely carried by the press. Our would-be tyrant +swallowed it. In the situation two courses were open to him: If his +accusations against me were true, under his own interpretation of the +Lever law he was duty-bound to arrest me; and if they were not true, +common justice demanded that he admit the incorrectness of the +statements he had sent flying through the press, attacking me. But he +has done neither. And in the meantime I have been subjected to a storm +of journalistic abuse. For example, says the Donora, Pa. _Herald_ of +April 16: "Wm. Z. Foster seems determined to have that little revolution +if he has to get out and start one himself. About the best remedy for +that bird would be one of those old-fashioned hangings." + +One can readily imagine how quickly the wheels of justice would have +whirled and how speedily the editor would have been clapped into jail +were such an incitement to murder printed in a labor journal. But When +the case in point was called to the attention of the Pittsburgh +officials of the Department of Justice they could do nothing about it. +Nor could those of the Post Office Department, although the Donora +_Herald_ circulates through the mails. Similarly the county and state +officials could see no cause for action. Finally the opportunities for +relief sifted down to a libel suit. And what chance has a workingman in +such a suit against a henchman of the Steel Trust in the heart of +Pennsylvania's black steel district? + +[34] In the report included at the end of Chapter VI, the Amalgamated +Association is shown to have enrolled 70,026 members during the +campaign. But, for the reasons cited, the figure is far too low. +President Tighe gave a better idea of the number when, testifying before +the Senate Committee, he said (Hearings, page 353) that the secretary +had told him "that he had already issued in the neighborhood of 150,000 +dues cards," and could not get them printed fast enough. For each man of +this army of members, the national headquarters of the Amalgamated +Association received two dollars. Yet in return the officials in charge, +throughout the entire movement, gave the National Committee directly +only $11,881.81 to work with. Of this, $3,881.81 was for organizing +expenses, and $8,000.00 was to feed and furnish legal help to the great +multitudes of strikers, half of whom were members of the Amalgamated +Association. What strike help was extended in other directions was +correspondingly scanty. The balance of the funds taken in is still in +its treasury. + + + + +XIV + +IN CONCLUSION + + THE POINT OF VIEW--ARE THE TRADE UNIONS REVOLUTIONARY + --CAMOUFLAGE IN SOCIAL WARS--RUINOUS DUAL + UNIONISM--RADICALS SHOULD STRENGTHEN TRADE UNIONS--THE + ENGLISH RENAISSANCE--TOM MANN'S WORK + + +For those progressives who will look upon the steel campaign from an +evolutionary standpoint--that is by a comparison with past +experiences--it will stand out in its true light as marking a great +advance in trade-union methods and practices. It is true that the unions +in the campaign made many mistakes, quarreled seriously among +themselves, and put forth only a fraction of their real strength; but +when one considers that they substituted a group of twenty-four unions +for individual action in other campaigns; established a standard +initiation fee instead of the multitude that existed before; adopted +modern methods of organizing in place of the antiquated system +previously prevailing; organized a joint commissariat, carried on a +successful organizing campaign and waged a great strike together, one +must admit that a tremendous stride forward has been made. The +conclusion is bound to be optimistic and full of enthusiasm for the +future. + +But unfortunately there are large bodies of progressives who do not +judge from the evolutionary viewpoint when it comes to trade unionism. +These range all the way from the mildest liberals and friends of Labor +to the most extreme I. W. W.'s. They form an influential group. Theirs +is the idealistic method; more or less clearly, these elements hold in +their mind's eye a smooth-running, intelligent, imaginary "one big +union." This they use as an inelastic criterion by which to judge the +trade unions. And the natural result is that, even in such cases as the +steel campaign, the unions cut a sorry figure. Their weaknesses are +unduly emphasized; their progressive innovations lose their import and +seem but make-shift imitations of the real thing. The conclusions are +necessarily pessimistic. The true significance of the epoch-making +movement is lost. This viewpoint is so general and its consequences so +far-reaching and detrimental, not only to the steel unions but to the +whole labor movement, that perhaps a discussion of it may not be amiss +at this point. + +For many years radicals in this country have almost universally +maintained that the trade unions are fundamentally non-revolutionary; +that they have no real quarrel with capitalism, but are seeking merely +to modify its harshness through a policy of mild reform. They have been +pictured as lacking both the intelligence to want industrial freedom and +the courage to demand it. And so often have these ideas been repeated, +so slight has been the inquiry into their soundness, that they have come +to be accepted in a large degree by virtually the entire left wing of +the labor movement. To these ideas, more than anything else, is due the +current idealistic labor pessimism, the unsympathetic attitude toward, +and general lack of understanding of, the trade unions. + +Yet their falsity is readily apparent when one takes into consideration +the real situation. It is an indisputable fact that the trade unions +always act upon the policy of taking all they can get from their +exploiters. They even overreach themselves sometimes, as a thousand lost +strikes eloquently testify. Their program is directly anti-capitalistic. +But let me quote from a booklet, written by myself several years ago, +entitled, "Trade Unionism; The Road To Freedom," page 18: + + It is idle to say that the trade unions will rest content + with anything short of actual emancipation. For they are as + insatiable as the veriest so-called revolutionary unions. In + the measure that their strength increases, so do their + demands. They have sent wages up: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 + dollars per day, and hours down: 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, per + day with all kinds of other concessions sandwiched in + between. And now they are more radical in their demands than + ever before in their history. Permanently satisfied trade + unions under capitalism would be the eighth wonder of the + world, outrivalling in interest the famous hanging gardens + of Babylon. They would be impossible. With its growing + power, Organized Labor will go on winning greater and + greater concessions, regardless of how profound they may be. + It is purest assumption to state that the trade unions would + balk at ending the wages system. + +So far as the tendency of their demands is concerned, there can be no +question about that to anyone who will look at them squarely; the trade +unions may be depended upon always to check exploitation through the +wages system as far as their power enables them. The big question is +whether or not they will be able to develop enough power to stop this +exploitation altogether. As for me, I am confident that they will. In +every country they are constantly adding to and solidifying their ranks; +building ever more gigantic and militant combinations and throwing them +athwart the exploiter's path. It is safe to say that if they cannot +finally stop him it will be because it does not lie within the realms of +possibility for the working class to produce a sufficiently powerful +organization. + +Why, then, have these strongly anti-capitalistic qualities been so long +and generally ignored and the trade unions considered merely as +palliative bodies? In my opinion it is because they, like various other +aggressive social movements, have more or less instinctively surrounded +themselves with a sort of camouflage or protective coloring, designed to +disguise the movement and thus to pacify and disarm the opposition. This +is the function of such expressions as, "A fair day's pay for a fair +day's work," "The interests of Capital and Labor are identical," etc. In +actual practice little or no attention is paid to them. They are for +foreign consumption. The fact that those who utter them may actually +believe what they say does not change the situation a particle. Most +movements are blind to their own goals anyway. The important thing is +the real trend of the movement, which is indisputably as I have stated +above, on the one hand constantly expanding organization, and on the +other constantly increasing demands. The trade unions will not _become_ +anti-capitalistic through the conversion of their members to a certain +point of view or by the adoption of certain preambles; they _are_ that +by their very makeup and methods. The most that can be done is to +clarify their aims and intensify their efforts towards freedom. + +If the trade unions instinctively throw dust in the eyes of their +enemies, they do it for an altogether worthy purpose, the elevation of +the standard of well-being for the mass of the people. In the case of +the capitalist class we see the same principle applied to an utterly +vicious end. The whole trend of the great employing interests is to set +up an oligarchy of wealthy parasites, neither toiling nor spinning, yet +for whom the whole body of workers would be compelled to labor in +degradation and poverty. And if unopposed, they would not only bring +about this condition, but in so doing would rob the people of every +right they have--free speech, free press, free assemblage, legislative +representation, trial by jury, and all the rest. But do they openly avow +their purpose? Most assuredly not, for they know that powerful though +they are they would be swept away by a wave of popular opposition. +Therefore, through their newspapers and innumerable other propaganda +agencies, they proceed to cover up their nefarious schemes of +exploitation and oppression with hypocritical cloaks of patriotism, +religion, benevolence, and the like. Their practice is one thing, their +preaching something entirely different. Thus we have Garys and +Rockefellers actually enslaving their workers by the most brutal +methods and at the same time seeking to convince the public that what +they are trying to do is to protect these workers from union domination, +to preserve to them their sacred right to work for whomever they please, +etc. Men such as these are knifing America and doing it in the name of +100 per cent. Americanism. They are social camouflagers par excellence. + +The question may be pertinently asked, why, if camouflage is such a +potent weapon in social as well as military warfare, should the true +nature and tendency of the trade unions be pointed out, thus stripping +the movement of its philosophic protection and leaving it bare before +its enemies? The answer is that the camouflage works both ways; it +deceives friends as well as enemies. It has thus to a great extent cost +the unions the support of the whole left wing of the labor movement. Its +advantages are outweighed by its disadvantages. + +In what I have called the left wing of the movement there are large and +ever-increasing numbers of workers and sympathizers who refuse to face +the prospect of a society forever based upon the wage system. They +demand an organization that is making for its abolition and the +substitution therefor of a system of industrial justice. If they were to +look sharply, they would see that the trade-union movement is traveling +faster than any other body toward the end they wish to reach. But +unfortunately, looking sharply is not their method. They habitually +attach too much importance to surface indications and not enough to real +results. They go almost entirely by preambles and manifestoes. +Consequently, taking the trade-union slogans at their face value and +finding them altogether unsatisfactory, they turn their backs upon the +trade-union movement and give support to the organizations which have +the sort they want, the I. W. W., the W. I. I. U., etc. + +This belief, that the trade unions are inherently conservative bodies, +is the basis of the strong conviction that they are hopeless and that +they must be supplanted by a new organization, aiming to abolish the +wage system. The conception is found in some degree or other among +virtually all radicals. And it has done incalculable harm to the unions. +It has cost them the support of thousands of militants, of the best and +most intelligent that the working class produces. These might have done +a wonderful work; but their time and energies have been worse than +wasted in trying to build up organizations such as the I. W. W. When one +considers that the life of nearly every labor union depends upon the +activities of a very small fraction of its membership, it is clear that +this constant drain upon its best blood must have seriously hindered the +advance of the trade-union movement. Many have complained at the slow +progress it has made; but the marvel is rather that it has been able to +progress at all. + +This devitalizing drain must be stopped, and the great body of +progressives and radicals won over to a whole-hearted support of the +trade unions. I consider this one of the most important tasks +confronting the labor movement. But it can be accomplished only by +driving home to these elements the patent facts that the trade unions +are making straight for the abolition of capitalism and that they are +going incomparably faster towards this goal than any of the much +advertised, so-called revolutionary unions, in spite of the latter's +glittering preambles. They must be taught that the weaknesses of the +trade unions are but the weaknesses of the working class, and that as +the latter gradually improves in education and experience, the unions +will correspondingly take on higher forms and clearer aims. You cannot +have perfect organizations with imperfect workers to build upon. In a +word, the progressives must be won over from the idealistic and utopian +to the evolutionary point of view. + +Indeed, it must be granted that insistence upon the real goal and +tendency of trade unionism will provoke the capitalist class into +greater opposition against the movement. But this will be trebly offset +by the added support which the unions will get from the large numbers of +militants who now stand apart from them because of lack of +understanding. The power of even a few such men, proceeding +intelligently along practical lines, is one of the marvels of the labor +movement. It may be confidently expected, therefore, that when the many +thousands of these, now indifferent or hostile, begin to work together, +setting up their own press and systematically furthering amalgamation +and federation projects to bring the unions into closer cooperation, +initiating and prosecuting organizing campaigns, retiring to private +life such officials as now find themselves at the head of the +Amalgamated Association, etc., vast changes for the better are bound to +occur in the labor movement. + +The trade unions have cost the workers untold efforts to build, and in +the main they seem loath to give them up, despite the blandishments of +utopian dual unions. Apparently, it is through the old unions that the +workers will eventually achieve their industrial freedom, save, perhaps, +in such cases as the United Garment Workers, where conditions in the +organization were so utterly hopeless that there was nothing to do but +form a new body, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers. But this was an +exceptional case. Most of the unions are moving steadily onward and +upward, and they have an unshakable grip upon the workers in their +respective spheres. This being so, the logical thing to do is +systematically to set about improving and strengthening them. If this is +done, then, instead of the wild, desperate, dualistic outbreaks and +strikes, which have characterized the American labor movement for years, +and done it incalculable harm, the discontented rank and file will find +relief through an orderly and rapid progress within the folds of the +organizations they already have. The sooner these facts are recognized +the better for American Labor. + +During the past few years much has been said about the wonderful +progress being made by the English trade-union movement. This, I venture +to assert, is due largely, if not altogether, to the absence among the +radicals of England of the idealistic, dualistic attitude towards the +unions which exists so widely here, and which has produced the I. W. W. +and its great body of sympathizers. The English radicals have a better +conception than ours of the trade unions; for, flesh and blood of the +labor movement, they pit their policies and energies against the +conservatives, and win. They are the ones who are writing the +highly-praised programs, and driving onward the great wage movements. +They are practical and constructive. Unlike so many of our radicals they +do not waste their time and strength in empty, pessimistic criticism of +the trade unions, and in vain, foolhardy attempts to tear the whole +labor structure to pieces and to reconstruct it according to the dream +of Daniel De Leon. + +In England the turning point came ten years ago when she felt the great +wave of sentiment for revolutionary unionism then sweeping the world. +The question was whether this movement should realize its aims through +the old unions or by starting new ones. The existing unions were +notoriously conservative. Several of our leading radicals had said they +were even more hopeless than our own organizations and strongly urged +the formation of an English I. W. W. But fortunately, Tom Mann and his +colleagues, with a deeper knowledge of trade unionism, were able to +forestall this movement and to direct the strong stream of progressive +thought and energy into the old unions. The result was magical. Within +two years the great and successful strikes of the transport workers, +railroaders and miners had occurred, and the renaissance of the English +labor movement was assured. British workingmen will never realize the +invaluable service which Tom Mann rendered them in saving England from +an I. W. W. dual movement, with its tremendous waste of power and its +weakening effect upon the trade unions. + +How long are American progressives going to continue deceiving +themselves with the words of high-sounding preambles? When are they +going to quit chasing rainbows and settle down to real work? These are +important considerations indeed. The hour when our militants generally +adopt English methods, and turn their whole-hearted attention to +building up and developing the trade-union movement,--that hour will be +the dawn of a new day for American Labor. + + +THE END + + + + +--------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the | + | original document have been preserved. | + | | + | Typographical errors corrected in the text: | + | | + | Page 55 Monogahela changed to Monongahela | + | Page 86 convine changed to convince | + | Page 92 acordingly changed to accordingly | + | Page 101 Joilet changed to Joliet | + | Page 103 Brackenbridge changed to Brackenridge | + | Page 107 struck changed to stuck | + | Page 125 depondent changed to deponent | + | Page 137 Brennon changed to Brennan | + | Page 146 Leechburgh changed to Leechburg | + | Page 153 childen changed to children | + | Page 205 resistent changed to resistant | + | Page 209 compaign changed to campaign | + | Page 233 affiiliated changed to affiliated | + | Page 246 in changed to it | + | Page 255 tweny changed to twenty | + | Page 260 tre changed to the | + | Page 262 advertized changed to advertised | + +--------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Steel Strike and its Lessons, by +William Z. 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Foster + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Great Steel Strike and its Lessons + +Author: William Z. Foster + +Release Date: May 5, 2011 [EBook #36032] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT STEEL STRIKE AND *** + + + + +Produced by Odessa Paige Turner, Barbara Kosker and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<div class="img"> +<img border="0" src="images/cover.jpg" width="45%" alt="Book Cover" /><br /> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h1>THE GREAT STEEL STRIKE<br /> +AND ITS LESSONS</h1> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<div class="img"><a name="frontis" id="frontis"></a> +<a href="images/frontis.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/frontis.jpg" width="85%" alt="Pennsylvania Law and Order" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">PENNSYLVANIA LAW AND ORDER<br /> +State Police driving peaceful citizens out of business places, Clairton, Pa.</p> +<p style="padding-left: 5%;"><i>Photo by International</i></p> +</div> + + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h1>THE<br /> + GREAT STEEL STRIKE<br /> +AND ITS LESSONS</h1> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + + + +<h4> BY</h4> +<h2>WILLIAM Z. FOSTER</h2> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + + +<h3>INTRODUCTION BY<br /> + JOHN A. FITCH</h3> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h4> NEW YORK<br /> + B. W. HUEBSCH, <span class="smcap">Inc.</span><br /> + MCMXX</h4> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h5> +COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY B. W. HUEBSCH, <span class="smcap">Inc.</span><br /> +PRINTED IN U. S. A.</h5> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>INTRODUCTION</h2> +<br /> + +<p>Half a million men are employed in the steel industry of the United +States. At a period in which eight hours is rapidly coming to be +accepted as the standard length of the working day, the principal mills +in this industry are operating on a 12-hour work schedule, and many of +their workmen are employed seven days in every week. These half million +men have, for the most part, no opportunity to discuss with their +employers the conditions of their work. Not only are they denied the +right of bargaining collectively over the terms of the labor contract, +but if grievances arise in the course of their employment they have no +right in any effective manner to take up the matter with their employer +and secure an equitable adjustment.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> The right even of petition has +been at times denied and, because of the organized strength of the steel +companies and the disorganized weakness of the employees, could be +denied at any time.</p> + +<p>The right of workers in this country to organize and to bargain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span> +collectively is unquestioned. On every hand the workers are exercising +this right in order to protect and advance their interests. In the steel +mills not only is the right generally denied but the attempt to exercise +it is punished by expulsion from the industry. Through a system of +espionage that is thoroughgoing and effective the steel companies know +which of their employees are attending union meetings, which of them are +talking with organizers. It is their practice to discharge such men and +thus they nip in the bud any ordinary movement toward organization.</p> + +<p>Their power to prevent their employees from acting independently and in +their own interest, extends even to the communities in which they live. +In towns where the mayor's chair is occupied by company officials or +their relatives—as was the case during the 1919 strike in Bethlehem, +Duquesne, Clairton and elsewhere—orders may be issued denying to the +workers the right to hold meetings for organizing purposes, or the +police may be instructed to break them up. Elsewhere—as in Homestead, +McKeesport, Monessen, Rankin and in Pittsburgh itself—the economic +strength of the companies is so great as to secure the willing +cooperation of officials or to compel owners of halls and vacant lots to +refuse the use of their property for the holding of union meetings.</p> + +<p>One who has not seen with his own eyes the evidences of steel company +control in the towns where their plants are located will have difficulty +in comprehending its scope and power. Social and religious organizations +are profoundly affected by it. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span>In many a church during the recent +strike, ministers and priests denounced the "agitators" and urged the +workmen in their congregations to go back to the mills. Small business +men accepted deputy sheriffs' commissions, put revolvers in their belts +and talked loudly about the merits of a firing squad as a remedy for +industrial unrest.</p> + +<p>For twenty or more years in the mill towns along the Monongahela—since +1892 in Homestead—the working men have lived in an atmosphere of +espionage and repression. The deadening influence of an overwhelming +power, capable of crushing whatever does not bend to its will, has in +these towns stifled individual initiative and robbed citizenship of its +virility.</p> + +<p>The story of the most extensive and most courageous fight yet made to +break this power and to set free the half million men of the steel mills +is told within the pages of this book by one who was himself a leader in +the fight. It is a story that is worth the telling, for it has been told +before only in fragmentary bits and without the authority that comes +from the pen of one of the chief actors in the struggle.</p> + +<p>Mr. Foster has performed a public service in setting down as he has the +essential facts attendant upon the calling of the strike. The record of +correspondence with Judge Gary and with President Wilson indicates +clearly enough where responsibility for its occurrence lies. It answers +the question also of who it was that flouted the President—the strike +committee that refused to enter into a one sided truce, or Judge Gary, +who would not accept Mr. Wilson's suggestion that he confer with a union +committee, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span>but who was willing to take advantage of the proposed truce +to undermine and destroy the union.</p> + +<p>This thoughtful history, remarkably dispassionate upon the whole, +considering the fact that the author was not only an actor in the events +he describes but the storm center of a countrywide campaign of +slanderous falsehood, is an effective answer to those whose method of +opposing the strike was to shout "Bolshevism" and "Revolution." Not thus +are fomenters of revolution accustomed to write. It is this very quality +which will make the book of great value both to the student and to the +labor organizer. Never before has a leader in a great organizing +campaign like the one preceding the steel strike sat down afterward to +appraise so calmly the causes of defeat. Explanations of failure are +common, usually in the form of "alibis." Mr. Foster has been willing to +look the facts steadily in the face and his analysis of the causes of +the loss of the strike—laying the responsibility for it at the doors of +the unions themselves—cannot fail to be helpful to every union leader, +no matter what industry his union may represent. On the other hand his +account of such a feat as the maintenance of a commissary adequate to +meet the needs of the strikers at a cost of $1.40 per man is suggestive +and encouraging to the highest degree. This achievement must stand as a +monument to the integrity and practical ability of the men who conducted +the strike.</p> + +<p>It is with no purpose of underwriting every statement of fact or of +making his own every theory advanced in the book that the writer +expresses his confidence in it. It is because the book as a whole is so +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span>well done and because the essential message that it conveys is so true, +that it is a pleasure to write these words of introduction. Other books +have been written about the steel industry. Some have concerned +themselves with metallurgy, others with the commercial aspects of steel +manufacture, and still others with certain phases of the labor problem. +This book is different from all the others. It sets forth as no other +book has, and as no other writer could, the need of the workers in this +great basic industry for organization, and the extreme difficulty of +achieving this essential right. It shows also in the sanity, good +temper, and straightforward speech of the author what sort of leadership +it is that the steel companies have decreed their workers shall not +have!</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">John A. Fitch.</span></p> +<p class="noin" style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>New York, June 4, 1920.</i></p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTE:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> See for example Judge Gary's testimony before the Senate +Committee investigating the steel strike—October 1, 1919, pp. 161-162, +of committee hearings. He told of a strike which occurred because a +grievance remained unadjusted after a committee of the workers had tried +to take it up with the management. The president of the company involved +was for crushing the strike without knowing what the grievance was or +even of the existence of the committee.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<br /> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="75%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="12%"> </td> + <td class="tdl" width="76%"> </td> + <td class="tdr" width="12%" style="font-size: 80%;">PAGE</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"></td> + <td class="tdl smcap">Introduction</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_v">v</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr" style="font-size: 80%;">CHAPTER</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">I.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">The Present Situation</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdl">The strike—"Victory" of the employers—Industrial democracy abroad, + industrial serfdom at home—What the workers won—The outlook.</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">II.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">A Generation of Defeat</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_8">8</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdl">The urge for mastery—Democratic resistance—The Homestead + strike—The strikes of 1901 and 1909—The Steel Trust victorious.</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">III.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">The Giant Labor Awakes</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_16">16</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdl">A bleak prospect—Hope springs eternal—A golden + chance—Disastrous delay—The new plan—A lost opportunity— The + campaign begins—Gary fights back.</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">IV.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">Flank Attacks</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_28">28</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdl">A sea of troubles—The policy of encirclement—Taking the + outposts—Organizing methods—Financial systems —The question of + morale—Johnstown.</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">V.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">Breaking into Pittsburgh</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_50">50</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdl">The flying squadron—Monessen—Donora—McKeesport + —Rankin—Braddock—Clairton—Homestead— Duquesne—The results.</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span>VI.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">Storm Clouds Gather</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Relief demanded—The Amalgamated Association moves —A general + movement—The conference committee— Gompers' letter unanswered—The strike + vote—Gary defends steel autocracy—President Wilson acts in vain —The + strike call.</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">VII.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">The Storm Breaks</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_96">96</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdl">The Steel Trust Army—Corrupt + officialdom—Clairton—McKeesport—The strike—showing by + districts—A treasonable act—Gary gets his answer.</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">VIII.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">Garyism Rampant</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdl">The White Terror—Constitutional Rights denied— Unbreakable + solidarity—Father Kazincy—The Cossacks—Scientific + barbarity—Prostituted courts—Servants rewarded.</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">IX.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">Efforts at Settlement</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_140">140</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdl">The National Industrial Conference—The Senate committee—The red + book—The Margolis case—The Interchurch World Movement.</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">X.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">The Course of the Strike</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_162">162</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Pittsburgh district—The railroad men—Corrupt + newspapers—Chicago district—Federal troops at Gary —Youngstown + district—The Amalgamated Association—Cleveland—The Rod and Wire Mill + strike—The Bethlehem plants—Buffalo and Lackawanna—Wheeling and + Steubenville—Pueblo—Johnstown—Mob rule—The end of the strike.</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">XI.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">National and Racial Elements</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_194">194</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdl">A modern Babel—Americans as skilled workers— Foreigners as unskilled + workers—Language difficulties —The Negro in the strike—The race problem.</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span>XII.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">The Commissariat—The Strike Cost</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_213">213</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdl">The Relief organization—Rations—System of distribution —Cost + of Commissariat—Steel Strike Relief Fund—Cost of the strike to the workers, the + employers, the public, the Labor movement.</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">XIII.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">Past Mistakes and Future Problems</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_234">234</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Labor's lack of confidence—Inadequate efforts—Need of alliance + with miners and railroaders—Radical leadership as a strike issue—Railroad + shopmen, Boston police, miners, railroad brotherhood strikes—Defection of Amalgamated + Association.</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrp">XIV.</td> + <td class="tdl smcap">In Conclusion</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_255">255</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdl">The point of view—Are trade unions revolutionary?—Camouflage in + social wars—Ruinous dual unionism—Radicals should strengthen trade + unions—The English renaissance—Tom Mann's work.</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="65%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Illustrations"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="75%">Pennsylvania Law and Order</td> + <td class="tdr" width="25%"><a href="#frontis"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr" style="font-size: 75%;">FACING PAGE</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">National Committee Delegates</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#imagep038">38</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Strike Ballot</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#imagep078">78</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cossacks in Action</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#imagep122">122</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Mrs. Fannie Sellins, Trade Union Organizer</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#imagep148">148</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Steel Trust Newspaper Propaganda</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#imagep188">188</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">John Fitzpatrick</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#imagep216">216</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">A Group of Organizers</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#imagep244">244</a></td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[Pg xiv]</a></span> +<br /> + +<h2>THE GREAT STEEL STRIKE AND ITS LESSONS</h2> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>THE GREAT STEEL STRIKE AND ITS LESSONS</h2> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h2>I</h2> + +<h2>THE PRESENT SITUATION</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang" style="margin-left: 2em;">THE STRIKE—"VICTORY" OF THE EMPLOYERS—INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY +ABROAD, INDUSTRIAL SERFDOM AT HOME—WHAT THE WORKERS +WON—THE OUTLOOK</p></div> +<br /> + +<p>The great steel strike lasted three months and a half. Begun on +September 22, 1919, by 365,600 men quitting their places in the iron and +steel mills and blast furnaces in fifty cities of ten states, it ended +on January 8, 1920, when the organizations affiliated in the National +Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers voted to permit the +100,000 or more men still on strike to return to work upon the best +terms they could secure.</p> + +<p>The steel manufacturers "won" the strike. By forcing an unconditional +surrender, they drove their men back to the old slavery. This they +accomplished in their wonted and time-honored way by carrying on a reign +of terror that outraged every just conception of civil and human rights. +In this <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>unholy task they were aided by a crawling, subservient and +lying press, which spewed forth its poison propaganda in their behalf; +by selfish and indifferent local church movements, which had long since +lost their Christian principles in an ignominious scramble for company +favors; and by hordes of unscrupulous municipal, county, state and +federal officials, whose eagerness to wear the steel collar was equalled +only by their forgetfulness of their oaths of office. No suppression of +free speech and free assembly, no wholesale clubbing, shooting and +jailing of strikers and their families was too revolting for these Steel +Trust<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> hangers-on to carry out with relish. With the notable exception +of a few honorable and courageous individuals here and there among these +hostile elements, it was an alignment of the steel companies, the state, +the courts, the local churches and the press against the steel workers.</p> + +<p>Upon the ending of the strike the steel workers got no direct +concessions from their employers. Those who were able to evade the +bitter blacklist were compelled to surrender their union cards and to +return to work under conditions that are a shame and a disgrace. They +were driven back to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span>infamous peonage system with its twelve hour +day, a system which American steel workers, of all those in the world, +alone have to endure. In England, France, Italy and Germany, the steel +workers enjoy the right of a voice in the control of their industry; +they regularly barter and bargain with their employers over the +questions of hours, wages and working conditions; they also have the +eight hour day. One must come to America, the land of freedom, to find +steel workers still economically disfranchised and compelled to work +twelve hours a day. In this country alone the human rights of the steel +workers are crushed under foot by the triumphant property rights of +their employers.</p> + +<p>Who can uphold this indefensible position? Are not our deposits of coal +and iron immeasurably greater, our mills more highly developed, our +labor force more numerous and more skilled than those of any other +country? Who then will venture to assert that American workingmen are +not entitled to exercise all the rights and privileges enjoyed by +European workingmen? If the steel workers of England, or France, or +Italy, or Germany can practice collective bargaining, why not the steel +workers of America? And why should the steel workers here have to work +twelve hours daily when the eight hour day obtains abroad?</p> + +<p>There are a hundred good reasons why the principles of collective +bargaining and the shorter workday should prevail in the steel industry +of America, and only one why they should not. This one reason is that +the industry is hard and fast in the grip of absentee capitalists who +take no part in production <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>and whose sole function is to seize by hook +or crook the product of the industry and consume it. These parasites, in +their voracious quest of profits, know neither pity nor responsibility. +Their reckless motto is "After us the deluge." They care less than +naught for the rights and sufferings of the workers. Ignoring the +inevitable weakening of patriotism of people living under miserable +industrial conditions, they go their way, prostituting, strangling and +dismembering our most cherished institutions. And the worst of it is +that in the big strike an ignorant public, miseducated by employers' +propaganda sheets masquerading under the guise of newspapers, applauded +them in their ruthless course. Blindly this public, setting itself up as +the great arbiter of what is democratic and American, condemned as +bolshevistic and ruinous the demands of almost 400,000 steel workers for +simple, fundamental reforms, without which hardly a pretense of freedom +is possible, and lauded as sturdy Americanism the desperate autocracy of +the Steel Trust. All its guns were turned against the strikers.</p> + +<p>In this great struggle the mill owners may well claim the material +victory; but with just as much right the workers can claim the moral +victory. For the strike left in every aspiring breast a spark of hope +which must burn on till it finally bursts into a flame of +freedom-bringing revolt. For a generation steel workers had been +hopeless. Their slavery had overwhelmed them. The trade-union movement +seemed weak, distant and incapable. The rottenness of steel districts +precluded all thought of relief through political channels. The +employers <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>seemed omnipotent. But the strike has changed all this. Like +a flash the unions appeared upon the scene. They flourished and expanded +in spite of all opposition. Then boldly they went to a death grapple +with the erstwhile unchallenged employers. It is true they did not win, +but they put up a fight which has won the steel workers' hearts. Their +earnest struggle and the loyal support, by money and food, which they +gave the strikers, have forever laid at rest the employers' arguments +that the unions are cowardly, grafting bodies organized merely to rob +and betray the workers. Even the densest of the strikers could see that +the loss of the strike was due to insufficient preparation; that only a +fraction of the power of unionism had been developed and that with +better organization better results would be secured. And the outcome is +that the steel workers have won a precious belief in the power of +concerted action through the unions. They have discovered the Achilles' +heel of their would-be masters. They now see the way out of their +slavery. This is their tremendous victory.</p> + +<p>No less than the steel workers themselves, the whole trade-union +movement won a great moral victory in the steel strike and the campaign +that preceded it. This more than offsets the failure of the strike +itself. The gain consists of a badly needed addition to the unions' thin +store of self-confidence. To trade-union organizers the steel industry +had long symbolized the impossible. Wave after wave of organizing effort +they had sent against it; but their work had been as ineffectual as a +summer sea lapping the base of Gibraltar. Pessimism <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>regarding its +conquest for trade unionism was abysmal. But now all this is changed. +The impossible has been accomplished. The steel workers were organized +in the face of all that the steel companies could do to prevent it. Thus +a whole new vista of possibilities unfolds before the unions. Not only +does the reorganization of the steel industry seem strictly feasible, +but the whole conception that many of the basic industries are immune to +trade unionism turns out to be an illusion. If the steel industry could +be organized, so can any other in the country; for the worst of them +presents hardly a fraction of the difficulties squarely vanquished in +the steel industry. The mouth has been shut forever of that insufferable +pest of the labor movement, the large body of ignorant, incompetent, +short-sighted, visionless union men whose eternal song, when some +important organizing project is afoot, is "It can't be done." After this +experience in the steel industry the problem of unionizing any industry +resolves itself simply into selecting a capable organizer and giving him +sufficient money and men to do the job.</p> + +<p>The ending of the strike by no means indicates the abandonment of the +steel workers' battle for their rights. For a while, perhaps, their +advance may be checked, while they are recovering from the effects of +their great struggle. But it will not be long before they have another +big movement under way. They feel but little defeated by the loss of the +strike, and the trade unions as a whole feel even less so. Both have +gained wonderful confidence in themselves and in each other during the +fight. The unions will not desert the field and leave the workers <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>a +prey to the demoralizing propaganda of the employers, customary after +lost strikes. On the contrary they are keeping a large crew of +organizers at work in an educational campaign, devised to maintain and +develop the confidence the steel workers have in themselves and the +unions. Then, when the opportune time comes, which will be but shortly, +the next big drive will be on. Mr. Gary and his associates may attempt +to forestall the inevitable by the granting of fake eight hour days, +paper increases in wages and hand-picked company unions, but it is safe +to say that the steel workers will go on building up stronger and more +aggressive combinations among themselves and with allied trades until +they finally achieve industrial freedom. So long as any men undertake to +oppress the steel workers and to squeeze returns from the industry +without rendering adequate service therefor, just that long must these +men expect to be confronted by a progressively more militant and +rebellious working force. The great steel strike of 1919 will seem only +a preliminary skirmish when compared with the tremendous battles that +are bound to come unless the enslaved steel workers are set free.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTE:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Throughout this book the term "Steel Trust" is used to +indicate the collectivity of the great steel companies. It is true that +this is in contradiction to the common usage, which generally applies +the term to the United States Steel Corporation alone, but it is in +harmony with the facts. All the big steel companies act together upon +all important matters confronting their industry. Beyond question they +are organized more or less secretly into a trust. This book recognizes +this situation, hence the broad use of the term "Steel Trust." It is +important to remember this explanation. Where the writer has in mind any +one company that company is named.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>II</h2> + +<h2>A GENERATION OF DEFEAT<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang" style="margin-left: 2em;">THE URGE FOR MASTERY—DEMOCRATIC RESISTANCE—THE HOMESTEAD +STRIKE—THE STRIKES OF 1901 AND 1909—THE STEEL TRUST +VICTORIOUS</p></div> +<br /> + +<p>The recent upheaval in the steel industry was but one link in a long +chain of struggles, the latest battle in an industrial war for freedom +which has raged almost since the inception of the industry.</p> + +<p>The steel manufacturers have always aggressively applied the ordinary, +although unacknowledged, American business principles that our +industries exist primarily to create huge profits for the fortunate few +who own them, and that if they have any other utility it is a matter of +secondary importance. The interests of society in the steel business +they scoff at. And as for their own employees, they have never +considered them better than so much necessary human machinery, to be +bought in the market at the lowest possible price and otherwise handled +in a thoroughly irresponsible manner. They clearly understand that if +they are to carry out their policy of raw exploitation, the prime +essential <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>is that they keep their employees unorganized. Then, without +let or hindrance, wages may be kept low, the work day made longer, +speeding systems introduced, safety devices neglected, and the human +side of the industry generally robbed and repressed in favor of its +profit side; whereas, if the unions were allowed to come in, it would +mean that every policy in the industry would first have to be considered +and judged with regard to its effects upon the men actually making steel +and iron. It would mean that humanity must be emphasized at the expense +of misearned dividends. But this would never do. The mill owners are +interested in profits, not in humanity. Hence, if they can prevent it, +they will have no unions. Since the pioneer days of steel making their +policy has tended powerfully on the one hand towards elevating the +employers into a small group of enormously wealthy, idle, industrial +autocrats, and on the other towards depressing the workers into a huge +army of ignorant, poverty-stricken, industrial serfs. The calamity of it +is that this policy has worked out so well.</p> + +<p>Against this will-to-power of their employers the steel workers have +fought long and valiantly. In the early days of the industry, when the +combinations of capital were weak, the working force skilled, +English-speaking and independent, the latter easily defended themselves +and made substantial progress toward their own inevitable, even if +unrecognized goal of industrial freedom; but in later years, with the +growth of the gigantic United States Steel Corporation, the displacement +of skilled labor by automatic machinery and the introduction of +multitudes <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>of illiterate immigrants into the industry, their fight for +their rights became a desperate and almost hopeless struggle. For the +past thirty years they have suffered an unbroken series of defeats. +Their one-time growing freedom has been crushed.</p> + +<p>At first the fight was easy, and by the later '80's, grace to the +activities of many unions, notable among which were the old Sons of +Vulcan, the Knights of Labor and the Amalgamated Association of Iron, +Steel and Tin Workers, considerable organization existed among the men +employed in the iron and steel mills throughout the country. The +Amalgamated Association, the dominating body, enjoyed great prestige in +the labor movement generally. It consisted almost entirely of highly +skilled men and paid little or no attention to the unskilled workers. In +the heyday of its strength, in 1891, it numbered about 24,000 members. +Its stronghold was in the Pittsburgh district. Its citadel was +Homestead. During the period of its greatest activity some measure of +democracy prevailed in the industry, and prospects seemed bright for its +extension.</p> + +<p>But about that time Andrew Carnegie, grown rich and powerful, began to +chafe uneasily under the restrictions placed upon his rapacity by his +organized employees. He wanted a free hand and determined to get it. As +the first step towards enshackling his workers he brought into his +company that inveterate enemy of democracy in all its forms, Henry C. +Frick. Then the two, Carnegie and Frick, neither of whom gave his +workers as much consideration as the Southern slave holder gave his +bondmen—for chattel slaves were at least assured sufficient food, warm +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>clothes, a habitable home and medical attendance—began to war upon the +union. They started the trouble in Homestead, where the big mills of the +Carnegie Company are located. In 1889 they insisted that the men accept +heavy reductions in wages, write their agreements to expire in the +unfavorable winter season instead of in summer, and give up their union. +The men refused, and after a short strike, got a favorable settlement. +But Carnegie and Frick were not to be lightly turned from their purpose. +When the contract in force expired, they renewed their old demands, and +thus precipitated the great Homestead strike.</p> + +<p>This famous strike attracted world-wide attention, and well it might, +for it marked a turning point in the industrial history of America. It +began on June 23, 1892, and lasted until November 20 of the same year. +Characterized by extreme bitterness and violence, it resulted in +complete defeat for the men, not only in Homestead, but also in several +other big mills in Pittsburgh and adjoining towns where the steel +workers had struck in support of their besieged brothers in Homestead. +This unsuccessful strike eliminated organized labor from the mills of +the big Carnegie Company. It also dealt the Amalgamated Association of +Iron, Steel and Tin Workers a blow from which it has not yet recovered. +It ended the period of trade-union expansion in the steel industry and +began an era of unrestricted labor control by the employers. At +Homestead Carnegie and Frick stuck a knife deep into the vitals of the +young democracy of the steel workers.</p> + +<p>Recuperating somewhat from the staggering <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>defeat at Homestead, the +Amalgamated Association managed to retain a firm hold in the industry +for a few years longer. Its next big setback, in 1901, was caused by the +organization of the United States Steel Corporation. Foreseeing war from +this monster combination dominated by the hostile Carnegie interests, +the union, presided over at that time by Theodore J. Shaffer, decided to +take time by the forelock and negotiate an agreement that would extend +its scope and give it a chance to live. But the plan failed; the +anti-union tendencies of the employers were too strong, and a strike +resulted. At first the only companies affected were the American Tin +Plate Company, the American Sheet Steel Company and the American Steel +Hoop Company. Finally, however, all the organized men in all the mills +of the United States Steel Corporation were called out, but to no avail; +after a few weeks' struggle the strike was utterly lost.</p> + +<p>The failure of the 1901 strike broke the backbone of the Amalgamated +Association. Still, with characteristic trade-union tenacity, it +lingered along in a few of the Trust plants in the sheet and tin section +of the industry. Its business relations with the companies at this stage +of its decline, according to the testimony of its present President, M. +F. Tighe, before the Senate Committee investigating the 1919 strike, +consisted of "giving way to every request that was made by the companies +when they insisted upon it." But even this humble and pliant attitude of +the once powerful Amalgamated Association was intolerable to the haughty +steel kings. They could not brook even the most shadowy opposition to +their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>industrial absolutism. Accordingly, early in the summer of 1909, +they served notice upon the union men to accept a reduction in wages and +give up their union. It was practically the same ultimatum delivered by +Carnegie and Frick to the Homestead men twenty years before. With a last +desperate rally the union met this latest attack upon its life. The +ensuing strike lasted fourteen months. It was bitterly fought, but it +went the way of all strikes in the steel industry since 1892. It was +lost; and in consequence every trace of unionism was wiped out of the +mills not only of the United States Steel Corporation, but of the big +independent companies as well.</p> + +<p>Although the union was not finally crushed in the mills until the strike +of 1909, the steel mill owners were for many years previous to that time +in almost undisputed control of the situation. During a generation, +practically, they have worked their will unhampered; and the results of +their policy of unlimited exploitation are all too apparent. For +themselves they have taken untold millions of wealth from the industry; +for the workers they have left barely enough to eke out an existence in +the miserable, degraded steel towns.</p> + +<p>At the outbreak of the World war the steel workers generally, with the +exception of the laborers, who had secured a cent or two advance per +hour, were making less wages than before the Homestead strike. The +constant increase in the cost of living in the intervening years had +still further depressed their standards of life. Not a shred of benefit +had they received from the tremendously <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>increased output of the +industry. While the employers lived in gorgeous palaces, the workers +found themselves, for the most part, crowded like cattle into the filthy +hovels that ordinarily constitute the greater part of the steel towns. +Tuberculosis ran riot among them; infant mortality was far above normal. +Though several increases in wages were granted after the war began, +these have been offset by the terrific rise in the cost of living. If +the war has brought any betterment in the living conditions of the steel +workers, it cannot be seen with the naked eye.</p> + +<p>The twelve hour day prevails for half of the men. One-fourth work seven +days a week, with a twenty-four hour shift every two weeks. Their lives +are one constant round of toil. They have no family life, no opportunity +for education or even for recreation; for their few hours of liberty are +spoiled by the ever-present fatigue. Furthermore, working conditions in +the mills are bad. The men are speeded up to such a degree that only the +youngest and strongest can stand it. At forty the average steel worker +is played out. The work, in itself extremely dangerous, is made still +more so by the employers' failure to adopt the necessary safety devices. +Many a man has gone to his death through the wanton neglect of the +companies to provide safeguarding appliances that they would have been +compelled to install were the unions still in the plants.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>Not a +trace of industrial justice remains. The treatment of the men depends +altogether upon the arbitrary wills of the foremen and superintendents. +A man may give faithful service in a plant for thirty years and then be +discharged offhand, as many are, for some insignificant cause. He has no +one to appeal to. His fellow workers, living in constant terror of +discharge and the blacklist, dare not even listen to him, much less +defend his cause. He must bow to the inevitable, even though it means +industrial ruin for him and his family.</p> + +<p>Such deplorable conditions result naturally from a lack of unionism. It +is expecting too much of human nature at this stage of its development +to count on employers treating their employees fairly without some form +of compulsion. Even in highly organized industries the unions have to be +constantly on guard to resist the never-ending encroachments of their +employers, manifested at every conceivable point of attack. For the +workers, indeed, eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. Hence +nothing but degradation for them and autocracy for their employers may +be looked for in industries where they are systematically kept +unorganized and thus incapable of defending their rights, as is the case +in the steel industry. This system of industrial serfdom has served the +steel barons well for a generation. But it is one the steel workers will +never accept. Regardless of the cost they will rebel against it at every +opportunity till they finally destroy it.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Students desiring a full account of the early struggles of +the steel unions are advised to read Mr. John A. Fitch's splendid book, +"The Steel Workers."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> The practice of the different steel companies varies with +respect to safety devices. Some of them are still in the dark ages that +all were in a few years ago, with reckless disregard of human life. +Others have made some progress. Of these the U. S. Steel Corporation is +undoubtedly in the lead, for it has installed many safety appliances and +has safety committees actively at work. At best, however, steel making +is an exceedingly dangerous industry and the risk is intensified by the +great heat of the mills and the long hours of work—the twelve hour day +and the seven day week—which lead inevitably to exhaustion.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>III</h2> + +<h2>THE GIANT LABOR AWAKES</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang" style="margin-left: 2em;">A BLEAK PROSPECT—HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL—A GOLDEN CHANCE +—DISASTROUS DELAY—THE NEW PLAN—A LOST OPPORTUNITY—THE +CAMPAIGN BEGINS—GARY FIGHTS BACK</p></div> +<br /> + +<p>From just previous to, until some time after the beginning of the world +war the situation in the steel industry, from a trade-union point of +view, was truly discouraging. It seemed impossible for the workers to +accomplish anything by organized effort. The big steel companies, by +driving the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers from +the mills, had built up a terrific reputation as union crushers. This +was greatly enhanced by their complete defeat of Labor in the memorable +strikes of the structural iron workers, the lake sailors, the iron +miners, and the steel workers at McKees Rocks in 1909, Bethlehem in 1910 +and Youngstown in 1915-16. It was still further enhanced by their +blocking every attempt of the individual trades to re-establish +themselves, and by the failure of the A. F. of L. steel campaign, +inaugurated by the convention of 1909, to achieve even the slightest +tangible results. The endless round of defeat had reduced almost to zero +the trade unions' confidence in their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>ability to cope with the militant +and rapacious steel manufacturers.</p> + +<p>But as the war wore on and the United States joined the general +slaughter, the situation changed rapidly in favor of the unions. The +demand for soldiers and munitions had made labor scarce; the Federal +administration was friendly; the right to organize was freely conceded +by the government and even insisted upon; the steel industry was the +master-clock of the whole war program and had to be kept in operation at +all costs; the workers were taking new heart and making demands—already +they had engaged in big strike movements in the mills in Pittsburgh +(Jones and Laughlin Company), Bethlehem and Birmingham (U. S. Steel). +The gods were indeed fighting on the side of Labor. It was an +opportunity to organize the industry such as might never again occur. +That the trade union movement did not embrace it sooner was a calamity.</p> + +<p>The writer was one of those who perceived the unparalleled opportunity. +But being at that time Secretary-Treasurer of the committee organizing +the packing industry I was unable to do anything substantial in the +steel situation until the handing down of Judge Alschuler's decision +giving the packing house workers the eight hour day and other vital +concessions enabled me to slacken my efforts in that important movement. +Immediately thereafter, on April 7, 1918, I presented a resolution to +the Chicago Federation of Labor requesting the executive officers of the +American Federation of Labor to call a general labor conference and to +inaugurate thereat a national campaign to organize the steel workers. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>The resolution was endorsed by twelve local unions in the steel +industry. It was adopted unanimously and forwarded to the A. F. of L. +The latter took the matter up with the rapidly reviving Amalgamated +Association, and the affair was slowly winding along to an eventual +conference, with a loss of much precious time, when the resolution was +resubmitted to the Chicago Federation of Labor, re-adopted and sent to +the St. Paul convention of the A. F. of L., June 10-20, 1918. It +follows:</p> + +<p class="cen">RESOLUTION #29</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Whereas</span>, the organization of the vast armies of +wage-earners employed in the steel industries is vitally +necessary to the further spread of industrial democracy in +America, and</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Whereas</span>, Organized Labor can accomplish this great +task only by putting forth a tremendous effort; therefore, +be it</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Resolved</span>, that the executive officers of the A. F. +of L. stand instructed to call a conference during this +convention of delegates of all international unions whose +interests are involved in the steel industries, and of all +the State Federations and City Central bodies in the steel +districts, for the purpose of uniting all these +organizations into one mighty drive to organize the steel +plants of America.</p></div> + +<p>The resolution was adopted by unanimous vote. Accordingly, a number of +conferences were held during the convention, at which the proposed +campaign was discussed and endorsed. The outcome was that provisions +were made to have President Gompers call another conference, in Chicago +thirty days later, of responsible union officials who would <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>come +prepared to act in the name of their international unions. This involved +further waste of probably the most precious time for organizing work +that Labor will ever have.</p> + +<p>From past events in the steel industry it was evident that in the +proposed campaign radical departures would have to be made from the +ordinary organizing tactics. Without question the steel workers' unions +have always lacked efficiency in their organizing departments. This was +a cardinal failing of the Amalgamated Association and it contributed as +much, if not more than anything else to its downfall. If, when in its +prime, this organization had shown sufficient organizing activity in the +non-union mills, and especially by taking in the unskilled, it would +have so intrenched itself that Carnegie and his henchman, Frick, never +could have dislodged it. But, unfortunately, it undertook too much of +its organization work at the conference table and not enough at the mill +gates. Consequently, more than once it found itself in deadly quarrels +with the employers over the unionization of certain mills, when a live +organizer working among the non-union men involved would have solved the +problem in a few weeks.</p> + +<p>Nor had the other unions claiming jurisdiction over men employed in the +steel industry developed an organizing policy equal to the occasion. +Their system of nibbling away, one craft at a time in individual mills, +was entirely out of place. Possibly effective in some industries, it was +worse than useless in the steel mills. Its unvarying failure served only +to strengthen the mill owners and to further <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>discourage the mill +workers and Organized Labor. It is pure folly to organize one trade in +one mill, or all trades in one mill, or even all trades in all the mills +in one locality, when, at any time it sees fit to do so, the Steel Trust +can defeat the movement by merely shutting down its mills in the +affected district and transferring its work elsewhere, as it has done +time and again. It was plain, therefore, that the proposed campaign +would have to affect all the steel mills simultaneously. It would have +to be national in scope and encompass every worker in every mill, in +every steel district in the United States.</p> + +<p>The intention was to use the system so strikingly successful in the +organization of the packing industry. The committee charged with +organizing that industry, when it assembled, a year before, to begin the +work, found three possible methods of procedure confronting it, each +with its advocates present. It could go along on the old, discredited +craft policy of each trade for itself and the devil take the hindmost; +it might attempt to form an industrial union; or it could apply the +principle of federating the trades, then making great headway on the +railroads. The latter system was the one chosen as the best fitted to +get results at this stage in the development of the unions and the +packing industry. And the outcome proved the wisdom of the decision. In +the steel campaign the unions were to be similarly linked together in an +offensive and defensive alliance.</p> + +<p>But all this relates merely to the shell of the plan behind Resolution +No. 29. Its breath of life was in its strategy; in the way the +organization work was to be prosecuted. The best plans are <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>worthless +unless properly executed. The idea was to make a hurricane drive +simultaneously in all the steel centers that would catch the workers' +imagination and sweep them into the unions <i>en masse</i> despite all +opposition, and thus to put Mr. Gary and his associates into such a +predicament that they would have to grant the just demands of their men. +It was intended that after the Chicago conference a dozen or more +general organizers should be dispatched immediately to the most +important steel centers, to bring to the steel workers the first word of +the big drive being made in their behalf, and to organize local +committees to handle the detail work of organization. In the meantime +the co-operating international unions were to recruit numbers of +organizers and to send them to join the forces already being developed +everywhere by the general organizers. They should also assemble and pay +in as quickly as possible their respective portions of the fund of at +least $250,000 to be provided for the work. The essence of the plan was +quick, energetic action.</p> + +<p>At the end of three or four weeks, when the organizing forces were in +good shape and the workers in the mills acquainted with what was afoot, +the campaign would be opened with a rush. Great mass meetings, built up +by extensive advertising, would be held everywhere at the same time +throughout the steel industry. These were calculated to arouse hope and +enthusiasm among the workers and to bring thousands of them into the +unions, regardless of any steps the mill owners might take to prevent +it. After two or three meetings in each place, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>the heavy stream of men +pouring into the unions would be turned into a decisive flood by the +election of committees to formulate the grievances of the men and +present these to the employers. The war was on; the continued operation +of the steel industry was imperative; a strike was therefore out of the +question; the steel manufacturers would have been compelled to yield to +their workers, either directly or through the instrumentality of the +Government. The trade unions would have been re-established in the steel +industry, and along with them fair dealing and the beginnings of +industrial democracy.</p> + +<p>The plan was not only a bold one, but also under the circumstances the +logical and practical one. The course of events proved its feasibility. +The contention that it involved taking unfair advantage of the steel +manufacturers may be dismissed as inconsequential. These gentlemen in +their dealings with those who stand in their way do not even know the +meaning of the word fairness. Their workers they shoot and starve into +submission; their competitors they industrially strangle without +ceremony; the public and the Government they exploit without stint or +limit. The year before the campaign began, 1917, when the country was +straining every nerve to develop and conserve its resources, the United +States Steel Corporation alone, not to mention the many independents, +after paying federal taxes and leaving out of account the vast sums that +disappeared in the obscure and mysterious company funds, unblushingly +pocketed the fabulous profit of $253,608,200.</p> + +<p>It now remained to be seen how far the unions <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>would sustain such a +general and energetic campaign. The fateful conference met in the New +Morrison Hotel, Chicago, August 1-2, 1918. Samuel Gompers presided over +its sessions. Representatives of fifteen international unions were +present. These men showed their progressive spirit by meeting many +difficult issues squarely with the proper solutions. They realized fully +the need of co-operation along industrial lines, from the men who dig +the coal and iron ore to those who switch the finished products onto the +main lines of the railroads. Plainly no trade felt able to cope +single-handed with the Steel Trust; and joint action was decided upon +almost without discussion. Likewise the conference saw the folly of +trying to organize the steel industry with each of the score of unions +demanding a different initiation fee. Therefore, after much stretching +of constitutions, the international unions, with the exception of the +Bricklayers, Molders and Patternmakers (who charged respectively $7.25, +$5.00 and $5.00), agreed to a uniform initiation fee of three dollars, +one dollar of which was to be used for defraying expenses of the +national organization work.</p> + +<p>At the same meeting the National Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel +Workers was formed. It was made to consist of one representative from +each of the co-operating international unions. Its given function was to +superintend the work of organization. Its chairman had to be a +representative of the A. F. of L. Mr. Gompers volunteered to fill this +position; the writer was elected Secretary-Treasurer. Including later +additions, the constituent unions were as follows:</p> + +<p class="noin" style="margin-left: 2em;"> +International Brotherhood of Blacksmiths, Drop-Forgers and Helpers<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> +Brotherhood of Boilermakers and Iron Ship Builders and Helpers of America<br /> +United Brick and Clay Workers<br /> +Bricklayers', Masons' and Plasterers' International Union of America<br /> +International Association of Bridge, Structural and Ornamental Iron Workers<br /> +Coopers' International Union of North America<br /> +International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers<br /> +International Brotherhood of Foundry Employees<br /> +International Hod Carriers', Building, and Common Laborers' Union of America<br /> +Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers<br /> +International Association of Machinists<br /> +International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers<br /> +United Mine Workers of America<br /> +International Molders' Union of North America<br /> +Patternmakers' League of North America<br /> +United Association of Plumbers and Steam Fitters<br /> +Quarry Workers' International Union of North America<br /> +Brotherhood Railway Carmen of America<br /> +International Seamen's Union of America<br /> +Amalgamated Sheet Metal Workers' International Alliance<br /> +International Brotherhood of Stationary Firemen and Oilers<br /> +International Union of Steam and Operating Engineers<br /> +International Brotherhood of Steamshovel and Dredgemen<br /> +Switchmen's Union of North America.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>This group of unions, lined up to do battle with the Steel Trust, +represents the largest body of workers ever engaged in a joint movement +in any country. Their members number approximately 2,000,000, and +comprise about one-half of the entire American Federation of Labor.</p> + +<p>So far, so good. The conference had removed the barriers in the way of +the campaign. But when it came to providing the large sums of money and +the numerous crews of organizers that were immediately and imperatively +needed to insure success, it failed dismally. The internationals +assessed themselves only $100 apiece; they furnished only a corporal's +guard of organizers to go ahead with the work; and future reinforcements +looked remote.</p> + +<p>This was a facer. The original plan of a dashing offensive went to smash +instanter, and with it, likewise, the opportunity to organize the steel +industry. The slender resources in hand at once made necessary a +complete change of strategy. To undertake a national movement was out of +the question. The work had to be confined to the Chicago district. This +was admittedly going according to wrong principles. The steel industry +is national in scope and should be handled as such. To operate in one +district alone would expose that district to attacks, waste invaluable +time and give the employers a chance to adopt counter measures against +the whole campaign. It meant playing squarely into Mr. Gary's hands. But +there was no other way out of the difficulty.</p> + +<p>The writer had hoped that the favorable industrial situation and the +organization of the packing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>industry, which had long been considered +hopeless, would have heartened the trade-union movement sufficiently for +it to attack the steel problem with the required vigor and confidence. +But such was not the case. The tradition of defeat in the steel industry +was too strong,—thirty years of failure were not so easily forgotten. +Lack of faith in themselves prevented the unions from pouring their +resources into the campaign in its early, critical days. The work in the +Chicago district was undertaken, nevertheless, with a determination to +win the hearty support of Labor by giving an actual demonstration of the +organizability of the steel workers.</p> + +<p>During the first week of September the drive for members was opened in +the Chicago district. Monster meetings were held in South Chicago, Gary, +Indiana Harbor and Joliet—all the points that the few organizers could +cover. The inevitable happened; eager for a chance to right their +wrongs, the steel workers stormed into the unions. In Gary 749 joined at +the first meeting, Joliet enrolled 500, and other places did almost as +well. It was a stampede—exactly what was counted upon by the movers of +Resolution #29. And it could just as well have been on a national scale, +had the international unions possessed sufficient self-confidence and +given enough men and money to put the original plan into execution. In a +few weeks the unions would have been everywhere firmly intrenched; and +in a few more the entire steel industry would have been captured for +trade unionism and justice.</p> + +<p>But now the folly of a one-district movement made itself evident. Up to +this time the steel barons, like many union leaders, apparently had +viewed the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>campaign with a skeptical, "It can't be done" air. But +events in Gary and elsewhere quickly dissipated their optimism. The +movement was clearly dangerous and required heroic treatment. The +employers, therefore, applying Mr. Gary's famous "Give them an extra cup +of rice" policy, ordered the basic eight hour day to go into effect on +the first of October. This meant that the steel workers were to get +thereafter time and one half after eight hours, instead of straight +time. It amounted to an increase of two hours pay per day but the actual +working hours were not changed. It was a counter stroke which the +national movement had been designed to forestall.</p> + +<p>Although this concession really spelled a great moral victory for the +unions its practical effect was bad. Just a few months before the United +States Steel Corporation had publicly announced that, come what might, +there would be no basic eight hour day in the steel industry. Its sudden +adoption, almost over night, therefore, was a testimonial to the power +of the unions. But this the steel workers as a whole could not realize. +In the Chicago district, where the campaign was on, they understood and +gave the unions credit for the winning; but in other districts, where +nothing had been done, naturally they believed it a gift from the +companies. Had the work been going on everywhere when Mr. Gary attempted +this move, the workers would have understood his motives and joined the +unions <i>en masse</i>,—the unions would have won hands down. But with +operations confined to one district he was able to steal the credit from +the unions, partially satisfy his men, and strip the campaign of one of +its principal issues. No doubt he thought he had dealt it a mortal +blow.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>IV.</h2> + +<h2>FLANK ATTACKS</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang" style="margin-left: 2em;">A SEA OF TROUBLES—THE POLICY OF ENCIRCLEMENT—TAKING THE +OUTPOSTS—ORGANIZING METHODS—FINANCIAL SYSTEMS—THE +QUESTION OF MORALE—JOHNSTOWN</p></div> +<br /> + +<p>Pittsburgh is the heart of America's steel industry. Its pre-eminence +derives from its splendid location for steel making. It is situated at +the point where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers join their murky +waters to form the Ohio, this providing excellent water transportation. +Immense deposits of coal surround it; the Great Lakes, the gateway to +Minnesota's iron ore, are in easy reach; highly developed railway +facilities make the best markets convenient. In the city itself there +are only a few of the larger steel mills; but at short distances along +the banks of its three rivers, are many big steel producing centers, +including Homestead, Braddock, Rankin, McKeesport, McKees Rocks, +Duquesne, Clairton, Woodlawn, Donora, Midland, Vandergrift, +Brackenridge, New Kensington, etc. Within a radius of seventy-five miles +lie Johnstown, Youngstown, Butler, Farrell, Sharon, New Castle, +Wheeling, Mingo, Steubenville, Bellaire, Wierton and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>various other +important steel towns. The district contains from seventy to eighty per +cent. of the country's steel industry. The whole territory is an amazing +and bewildering network of gigantic steel mills, blast furnaces and +fabricating shops.</p> + +<p>It was into this industrial labyrinth, the den of the Steel Trust, that +the National Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers moved its +office on October 1, 1918, preparatory to beginning its work. Success in +the Chicago district had made it imperative to overcome the original +tactical blunder by extending the campaign, just as quickly as possible, +to a national scope.</p> + +<p>The outlook was most unpromising. Even under the best of circumstances +the task of getting the enormous army of steel workers to thinking and +acting together in terms of trade unionism would be tremendous. But the +disastrous mistake of not starting the campaign soon enough and with the +proper vigor multiplied the difficulties. Unfavorable winter weather was +approaching. This was complicated by the influenza epidemic, which for +several weeks suspended all public gatherings. Then came the end of the +war. The workers had also just been given the basic eight hour day. All +these things tended to still them somewhat and to weaken their interest +in organization. What was left of this interest was almost entirely +wiped out when the mills, dependent as they were on war work, began to +slacken production. The workers became obsessed with a fear of hard +times, a timidity which was intensified by the steel companies' +discharging every one suspected of union affiliations or <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>sympathies. +And to cap the climax, the resources of the National Committee were +still pitifully inadequate to the great task confronting it.</p> + +<p>But worst of all, the steel companies were now on the <i>qui vive</i>. The +original plan had been conceived to take them by surprise, on the +supposition that their supreme contempt for Labor and their conceit in +their own power would blind them to the real force and extent of the +movement until it was too late to take effective counteraction. And it +would surely have worked out this way, had the program been followed. +But now the advantage of surprise, vital in all wars, industrial or +military, was lost to the unions. Wide awake and alarmed, the Steel +Trust was prepared to fight to the last ditch.</p> + +<p>Things looked desperate. But there was no other course than to go ahead +regardless of obstacles. The word failure was eliminated from the +vocabulary of the National Committee. Preparations were made to begin +operations in the towns close to Pittsburgh. But the Steel Trust was +vigilant. It no longer placed any reliance upon its usual methods—its +welfare, old age pension, employees' stockholding, wholesale discharge, +or "extra cup of rice" policies—to hold its men in line, when a good +fighting chance to win their rights presented itself to them. It had +gained a wholesome respect for the movement and was taking no chances. +It would cut off all communication between the organizers and the men. +Consequently, its lackey-like mayors and burgesses in the threatened +towns immediately held a meeting and decided that there would be no +assemblages of steel workers in the Monongahela <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>valley. In some places +these officials, who for the most part are steel company employees, had +the pliable local councils hurriedly adopt ordinances making it unlawful +to hold public meetings without securing sanction; in other places they +adopted the equally effective method of simply notifying the landlords +that if they dared rent their halls to the American Federation of Labor +they would have their "Sunday Club" privileges stopped. In both cases +the effect was the same—no meetings could be held. In the immediate +Pittsburgh district there had been little enough free speech and free +assembly for the trade unions before. Now it was abolished altogether.</p> + +<p>At this time the world war was still on; our soldiers were fighting in +Europe to "make the world safe for democracy"; President Wilson was +idealistically declaiming about "the new freedom"; while right here in +our own country the trade unions, with 500,000 men in the service, were +not even allowed to hold public meetings. It was a worse condition than +kaiserism itself had ever set up. This is said advisedly, for the German +workers were at least permitted to meet when and where they pleased. The +worst they had to contend with was a policeman on their platform, who +would jot down "seditious" remarks and require the offenders to report +next day to the police. I remember with what scorn I watched this system +in Germany years ago, and how proud I felt to be an American. I was so +sure that freedom of speech and assembly were fundamental institutions +with us and that we would never tolerate such imposition. But now I have +changed my <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>mind. In Pennsylvania, not to speak of other states, the +workers enjoy few or no more rights than prevailed under the czars. They +cannot hold meetings at all. So far are they below the status of pre-war +Germans in this respect that the comparative freedom of the latter seems +almost like an unattainable ideal. And this deprival of rights is done +in the name of law and patriotism.</p> + +<p>In the face of such suppression of constitutional rights and in the face +of all the other staggering difficulties it was clearly impossible for +our scanty forces to capture Pittsburgh for unionism by a frontal +attack. Therefore a system of flank attacks was decided upon. This +resolved itself into a plan literally to surround the immediate +Pittsburgh district with organized posts before attacking it. The +outlying steel districts that dot the counties and states around +Pittsburgh like minor forts about a great stronghold, were first to be +won. Then the unions, with the added strength, were to make a big drive +on the citadel.</p> + +<p>It was a far-fetched program when compared with the original; but +circumstances compelled it. An important consideration in its execution +was that it must not seem that the unions were abandoning Pittsburgh. +That was the center of the battle line; the unions had attacked there, +and now they must at least pretend to hold their ground until they were +able to begin the real attack. The morale of the organizing force and +the steel workers demanded this. So, all winter long mass meetings were +held in the Pittsburgh Labor Temple and hundreds of thousands of +leaflets were distributed in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>neighboring mills to prepare the +ground for unionization in the spring. Besides, a lot of noise was made +over the suppression of free speech and free assemblage. Protest +meetings were held, committees appointed, investigations set afoot, +politicians visited, and much other more or less useless, although +spectacular, running around engaged in. These activities did not cost +much, and they camouflaged well the union program.</p> + +<p>But the actual fight was elsewhere. During the next several months the +National Committee, with gradually increasing resources, set up +substantial organizations in steel towns all over the country except +close in to Pittsburgh, including Youngstown, East Youngstown, Warren, +Niles, Canton, Struthers, Hubbard, Massillon, Alliance, New +Philadelphia, Sharon, Farrell, New Castle, Butler, Ellwood City, New +Kensington, Leechburg, Apollo, Vandergrift, Brackenridge, Johnstown, +Coatesville, Wheeling, Benwood, Bellaire, Steubenville, Mingo, +Cleveland, Buffalo, Lackawanna, Pueblo, Birmingham, etc. Operations in +the Chicago district were intensified and extended to take in Milwaukee, +Kenosha, Waukegan, De Kalb, Peoria, Pullman, Hammond, East Chicago, +etc., while in Bethlehem the National Committee amplified the work +started a year before by the Machinists and Electrical Workers.</p> + +<p>Much of the success in these localities was due to the thoroughly +systematic way in which the organizing work was carried on. This merits +a brief description. There were two classes of organizers in the +campaign, the floating and the stationary. Outside of a few traveling +foreign speakers, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>floating organizers were those sent in by the +various international unions. They usually went about from point to +point attending to their respective sections of the newly formed local +unions, and giving such assistance to the general campaign as their +other duties permitted. The stationary organizers consisted of A. F. of +L. men, representatives of the United Mine Workers, and men hired +directly by the National Committee. They acted as local organizing +secretaries, and were the backbone of the working force. The floating +organizers were controlled mostly by their international unions; the +stationary organizers worked wholly under the direction of the National +Committee.</p> + +<p>Everywhere the organizing system used was the same. The local secretary +was in full charge. He had an office, which served as general +headquarters. He circulated the National Committee's weekly bulletin, +consisting of a short, trenchant trade-union argument in four languages. +He built up the mass meetings, and controlled all applications for +membership. At these mass meetings and in the offices all trades were +signed up indiscriminately upon a uniform blank. But there was no "one +big union" formed. The signed applications were merely stacked away +until there was a considerable number. Then the representatives of all +the trades were assembled and the applications distributed among them. +Later these men set up their respective unions. Finally, the new unions +were drawn up locally into informal central bodies, known as Iron and +Steel Workers' councils. These were invaluable as they knit the movement +together and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>strengthened the weaker unions. They also inculcated the +indispensable conception of solidarity along industrial lines and +prevented irresponsible strike action by over-zealous single trades.</p> + +<p>A highly important feature was the financial system. The handling of the +funds is always a danger point in all working class movements. More than +one strike and organizing campaign has been wrecked by loose money +methods. The National Committee spared no pains to avoid this menace. +The problem was an immense one, for there were from 100 to 125 +organizers (which was what the crew finally amounted to) signing up +steel workers by the thousands all over the country; but it was solved +by the strict application of a few business principles. In the first +place the local secretaries were definitely recognized as the men in +charge and placed under heavy bonds. All the application blanks used by +them were numbered serially. They alone were authorized to sign +receipts<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> for initiation fees received. Should other organizers wish +to enroll members, as often happened at the monster mass meetings, they +were given and charged with so many receipts duly signed by the +secretaries. Later on they were required to return these receipts or +three dollars apiece for them. The effect of all this was to make one +man, and him bonded, responsible in each locality for all paper +outstanding against the National Committee. This was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>absolutely +essential. No system was possible without this foundation.</p> + +<p>The next step was definitely to fasten responsibility in the transfer of +initiation fees from the local secretaries to the representatives of the +various trade unions. To do so was most important. It was accomplished +by requiring the local secretaries to exact from these men detailed +receipts, specifying not only the amounts paid and the number of +applications turned over, but also the serial number of each +application. Bulk transfer of applications was prohibited, there being +no way to identify the paper so handled.</p> + +<p>The general effect of these regulations was to enable the National +Committee almost instantly to trace any one of the thousands of +applications continually passing through the hands of its agents. For +instance, a steel worker who had joined at an office or a mass meeting, +hearing later of the formation of his local union, would go to its +meeting, present his receipt and ask for his union card. The secretary +of the union would look up the applications which had been turned over +to him. If he could not find one to correspond with the man's receipt he +would take the matter up with the National Committee's local secretary. +The latter could not deny his own signature on the receipt; he would +have to tell what became of the application and the fee. On looking up +the matter he would find that he had turned them over to a certain +representative. Nor could the latter deny his signature on the detailed +receipt. He would have to make good.</p> + +<p>To facilitate the work, district offices were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>established in Chicago +and Youngstown. Organizers and secretaries held district meetings +weekly. Local secretaries at points contiguous to these centers reported +to their respective district secretaries. All others dealt directly with +the general office of the National Committee.</p> + +<p>It will be recalled that the co-operating unions, at the August 1-2 +conference, agreed that the sum of one dollar should be deducted from +each initiation fee for organization purposes. The collection of this +money devolved upon the National Committee and presented considerable +difficulty. It was solved by a system. The local secretaries, in turning +over to the trades the applications signed up in their offices or at the +mass meetings, held out one dollar apiece on them. For the applications +secured at the meetings of the local unions they collected the dollars +due with the assistance of blank forms sent to the unions. Each week the +local secretaries sent reports to the general office of the National +Committee, specifying in detail the number of members enrolled and +turned over to the various trades, and enclosing checks to cover the +amounts on hand after local expenses were met. These reports were duly +certified by the representatives of the organizations involved, who +signed their names on them at the points where the reports referred to +the number of members turned over to their respective bodies. The whole +system worked well.</p> + +<p>Practical labor officials who have handled mass movements understand the +great difficulties attendant upon the organization of large bodies of +workingmen. In the steel campaign these were more <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>serious than ever +before. The tremendous number of men involved; their unfamiliarity with +the English language and total lack of union experience; the wide scope +of the operations; the complications created by a score of international +unions, each with its own corps of organizers, directly mainly from +far-distant headquarters; the chronic lack of resources; and the need +for quick action in the face of incessant attacks from the Steel +Trust—all together produced technical difficulties without precedent. +But the foregoing systems went far to solve them. And into these systems +the organizers and secretaries entered whole-heartedly. They realized +that modern labor organizations cannot depend wholly upon idealism. They +bore in mind that they were dealing with human beings and had to adopt +sound principles of responsibility, standardization and general +efficiency.</p> + +<p>But another factor in the success of the campaign possibly even more +important than the systems employed was the splendid morale of the +organizers. A better, more loyal body of men was never gathered together +upon this continent. They knew no such word as defeat. They pressed on +with an irresistible assurance of victory born of their faith in the +practicability of the theory upon which the campaign was worked out.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep038" id="imagep038"></a> +<a href="images/imagep038.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep038.jpg" width="85%" alt="National Committee Delegates" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">NATIONAL COMMITTEE DELEGATES</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Youngstown, Ohio Meeting</span>, Aug. 20, 1919.—Standing, left to +right: F. P. Hanaway, <i>Miners</i>; D. Hickey, <i>Miners</i>; C. Claherty, +<i>Blacksmiths</i>; R. J. Barr, <i>Machinists</i>; H. F. Liley, <i>Railway Carmen</i>; +R. L. Hall, <i>Machinists</i>; R. T. McCoy, <i>Molders</i>; R. W. Beattie, +<i>Firemen</i>; J. W. Morton, <i>Firemen</i>; P. A. Trant, <i>Amalgamated +Association</i>. Seated, left to right: E. Crough, J. D. Cannon, <i>Mine, +Mill and Smelter Workers</i>; F. J. Hardison, <i>Blacksmiths</i>; J. Manley, +<i>Iron Workers</i>; Wm. Hannon, <i>Machinists</i>; John Fitzpatrick, <i>Chairman</i>; +Wm. Z. Foster, <i>Sec.-Treasurer</i>; C. N. Glover, <i>Blacksmiths</i>; T. C. +Cashen, <i>Switchmen</i>; D. J. Davis, <i>Amalgamated Association</i>.</p> +</div> + + +<p>The organization of workingmen into trade unions is a comparatively +simple matter when it is properly handled. It depends almost entirely +upon the honesty, intelligence, power and persistence of the organizing +forces. If these factors are strongly present, employers can do little +to stop the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>movement of their employees. This is because the hard +industrial conditions powerfully predispose the workers to take up any +movement offering reasonable prospects of bettering their miserable lot. +All that union organizers have to do is to place before these +psychologically ripe workers, with sufficient clarity and persistence, +the splendid achievements of the trade-union movement, and be prepared +with a comprehensive organization plan to take care of the members when +they come. If this presentation of trade unionism is made in even +half-decent fashion the workers can hardly fail to respond. It is +largely a mechanical proposition. In view of its great wealth and latent +power, it may be truthfully said that there isn't an industry in the +country which the trade-union movement cannot organize any time it sees +fit. The problem in any case is merely to develop the proper organizing +crews and systems, and the freedom-hungry workers, skilled or unskilled, +men or women, black or white, will react almost as naturally and +inevitably as water runs down hill.</p> + +<p>This does not mean that there should be rosy-hued hopes held out to the +workers and promises made to them of what the unions will get from the +employers once they are established. On the contrary, one of the first +principles of an efficient organizer is never, under any circumstances, +to make promises to his men. From experience he has learned the extreme +difficulty of making good such promises and also the destructive +kick-back felt in case they are not fulfilled. The most he can do is to +tell his men what has been done in other cases by organized workingmen +and assure them that if they will stand <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>together the union will do its +utmost to help them. Beyond this he will not venture. And this position +will enable him to develop the legitimate hope, idealism and enthusiasm +which translates itself into substantial trade-union structure. The wild +stories of extravagant promises made to the steel workers during their +organization are pure tommyrot, as every experienced union man knows.</p> + +<p>The practical effect of this theory is to throw on the union men the +burden of responsibility for the unorganized condition of the +industries. This is as it should be. In consequence, they tend to blame +themselves rather than the unorganized men. Instead of indulging in the +customary futile lamentations about the scab-like nature of the +non-union man, "unorganizable industries," the irresistible power of the +employers, and similar illusions to which unionists are too prone, they +seek the solution of the problem in improvements of their own primitive +organization methods.</p> + +<p>This conception worked admirably in the steel campaign. It filled the +organizers with unlimited confidence in their own power. They felt that +they were the decisive factor in the situation. If they could but +present their case strongly enough, and clearly enough to the steel +workers, the latter would have to respond, and the steel barons would be +unable to prevent it. A check or a failure was but the signal for an +overhauling of the tactics used, and a resumption of the attack with +renewed vigor. At times it was almost laughable. With hardly an +exception, when the organizers went into a steel town to begin work, +they would be met by the local union <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>men and solemnly assured that it +was utterly impossible to organize the steel mills in their town. "But," +the organizers would say, "we succeeded in organizing Gary and South +Chicago and many other tough places." "Yes, we know that," would be the +reply, "but conditions are altogether different here. These mills are +absolutely impossible. We have worked on them for years and cannot make +the slightest impression. They are full of scabs from all over the +country. You will only waste your time by monkeying with them." This +happened not in one place alone, but practically +everywhere—illustrating the villainous reputation the steel companies +had built up as union smashers.</p> + +<p>Side-stepping these pessimistic croakers, the organizers would go on to +their task with undiminished self-confidence and energy. The result was +success everywhere. The National Committee can boast the proud record of +never having set up its organizing machinery in a steel town without +ultimately putting substantial unions among the employees. It made +little difference what the obstacles were; the chronic lack of funds; +suppression of free speech and free assembly; raises in wages; +multiplicity of races; mass picketing by bosses; wholesale discharge of +union men; company unions; discouraging traditions of lost local +strikes; or what not—in every case, whether the employers were +indifferent or bitterly hostile, the result was the same, a healthy and +rapid growth of the unions. The National Committee proved beyond +peradventure of a doubt that the steel industry could be organized in +spite of all the Steel Trust could do to prevent it.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>Each town produced its own particular crop of problems. A chapter apiece +would hardly suffice to describe the discouraging obstacles overcome in +organizing the many districts. But that would far outrun the limits of +this volume. A few details about the work in Johnstown will suffice to +indicate the tactics of the employers and the nature of the campaign +generally.</p> + +<p>Johnstown is situated on the main line of the Pennsylvania railroad, +seventy-five miles east of Pittsburgh. It is the home of the Cambria +Steel Company, which employs normally from 15,000 to 17,000 men in its +enormous mills and mines. It is one of the most important steel centers +in America.</p> + +<p>For sixty-six years the Cambria Company had reared its black stacks in +the Conemaugh valley and ruled as autocratically as any mediæval baron. +It practically owned the district and the dwellers therein. It paid its +workers less than almost any other steel company in Pennsylvania and was +noted as one of the country's worst union-hating concerns. According to +old residents, the only record of unionism in its plants, prior to the +National Committee campaign, was a strike in 1874 of the Sons of Vulcan, +and a small movement a number of years later, in 1885, when a few men +joined the Knights of Labor and were summarily discharged. The +Amalgamated Association, even in its most militant days, was unable to +get a grip in Johnstown. That town, for years, bore the evil reputation +of being one where union organizers were met at the depot and given the +alternative of leaving town or going to the lockup.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>Into this industrial jail of a city the National Committee went in the +early winter of 1918-19, at the invitation of local steel workers who +had heard of the campaign. A. F. of L. organizer Thomas J. Conboy was +placed in charge of the work. Immediately a strong organization spirit +manifested itself—the wrongs of two-thirds of a century would out. It +was interesting to watch the counter-moves of the company. They were +typical. At first the officials contented themselves by stationing +numbers of bosses and company detectives in front of the office and +meeting halls to jot down the names of the men attending. But when this +availed nothing, they took the next step by calling the live union +spirits to the office and threatening them with dismissal. This likewise +failed to stem the tide of unionism, and then the company officials +applied their most dreaded weapon, the power of discharge. This was a +dangerous course; the reason they did not adopt it before was for fear +of its producing exactly the revolt they were aiming to prevent. But, +all else unavailing, they went to this extreme.</p> + +<p>Never was a policy of industrial frightfulness more diabolically +conceived or more rigorously executed than that of the Cambria Steel +Company. The men sacrificed were the Company's oldest and best +employees. Men who had worked faithfully for ten, twenty or thirty years +were discharged at a moment's notice. The plan was to pick out the men +economically most helpless; men who were old and crippled, or who had +large families dependent upon them, or homes half paid for, and make +examples of them to frighten the rest. The case of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>Wm. H. Seibert was +typical; this man, a highly skilled mechanic, had worked for the Cambria +Company thirty years. He was deaf and dumb, and could neither read nor +write. He was practically cut off from all communication with his fellow +workers. Yet the company, with fiendish humor, discharged him for being +a union agitator. For every worker, discharge by the Cambria Company +meant leaving Johnstown, if he would again work at his trade; for most +of them it brought the severest hardships, but for such as Seibert it +spelled ruin. With their handicaps of age and infirmities, they could +never hope to work in steel mills again.</p> + +<p>For months the Company continued these tactics.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> Hundreds of union men +were thus victimized. The object was to strike terror to the hearts of +all and make them bow again to the mastery of the Cambria Steel Company. +But the terrorists overshot the mark. Human nature could not endure it. +They goaded their workers to desperation and forced them to fight back, +however unfavorable the circumstances. The National Committee met in +Johnstown and ordered a ballot among the men. They voted overwhelmingly +to strike. A committee went to see Mr. Slick, the head of the Company, +who refused to meet it, stating that if the men had any grievances they +could take them up through the company union.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>This company union played a large part in the drama of Johnstown. It was +organized late in 1918 to forestall the trade unions. Such company +unions are invariably mere auxiliaries to the companies' labor-crushing +systems. They serve to delude the workers into believing they have some +semblance of industrial democracy, and thus deter them from seeking the +real thing. They consist merely of committees, made up for the most part +of hand-picked bosses and "company suckers." There is no real +organization of the workers. The men have no meetings off the property +of the companies; they lack the advice of skilled trade unionists; they +have no funds or means to strike effectively; they are out of touch with +the workers in other sections of the industry. Consequently they have +neither opportunity to formulate their grievances, nor power to enforce +their adjustment. And little good would it do them if they had, for the +lickspittle committees are always careful to see that they handle no +business unless it relates to "welfare" work or other comparatively +insignificant matters.</p> + +<p>Company unions are invariably contemptible. All of them are cursed with +company dictation, and all of them lack the vivifying principles of +democratic control; but it is doubtful if a more degraded specimen can +be found anywhere than that of the Cambria Steel Company. Without a +murmur of protest it watched the company abolish the basic eight hour +day late in 1918. Nor did it raise a finger to help the multitude of +unfairly discharged union men. It habitually pigeonholed all real +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>grievances submitted to it. But what else could be expected of a +committee from which the company boldly discharged every man who dared +say a word for the workers?</p> + +<p>By referring the men's grievances to the despised company union, Mr. +Slick only added fuel to the fire. A strike loomed threateningly, but +just as it was about to break, Mr. Slick lost his job, presumably +because of his unsuccessful labor policy. He was supplanted by A. A. +Corey, Jr., formerly general superintendent of the Homestead Steel +Works. Thinking perhaps the change in personnel might involve a change +in policy, the committee approached Mr. Corey. He, too, refused to meet +with it, stating publicly that the management would not deal with the +representatives of outside organizations, but would take up the men's +grievances, either through the company union, or "through any other +accredited committee selected by the men in any way that is agreeable to +them from among their own number." The last proposition was acceptable, +and with joy the men held big open mass meetings of union and non-union +men, and elected their committee. But their joy was short-lived. Mr. +Corey, unashamed, wrote the committee that he had acted hastily before, +and said, "I have had no previous experience with arrangements in the +nature of collective bargaining, but a careful survey of this plan +(company union), which I have since had time to make, convinces me that +it makes full and complete provision for every contingency which can +arise between the company and its employees." And then to make the men +like this bitter medicine, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>Company discharged an active member of +the committee. All these events consumed many weeks and wore away the +late winter and early spring months.</p> + +<p>Mr. Corey's double-dealing provoked a fresh strike crisis; but by heroic +measures the organizers repressed it. At all times a strike in Johnstown +alone against the united steel companies was considered a move of +desperation, a last resort to be undertaken only because nothing else +could be done. But now relief was in sight. Spring was at hand and the +national movement fast coming to a head. Its committees were knocking at +the doors of the steel companies. The exposed and invaluable Johnstown +position had to be held until this main army could come up and relieve +it. So the Johnstown workers were told that they must refrain from +counter-attacking, that they had to take all the blows heaped upon them +and hold their ground at all costs.</p> + +<p>And right nobly they did it. In spite of the bitterest hardships they +built up and developed their organizations. In this they were +unwittingly but powerfully aided by the company union. Several weeks +before the big strike the officials took the hated general committee to +Atlantic City, wined them and dined them and flattered them, as usual, +and then had them adopt a set of resolutions condemning the national +movement of the steel workers and endorsing long hours, low wages and +heavier production as the remedy for prevailing bad conditions. This +betrayal was the last straw. It provoked intense resentment among the +men. Whole battalions of them, the most skilled and difficult in the +plant to organize, walked down and joined the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>unions in protest. Almost +3000 enrolled the week after the resolutions were adopted. But it was +always thus. Every move that the Cambria made the unions turned to their +advantage. They outgeneraled the Company at every turn.</p> + +<p>It was almost pitiful to watch the later antics of the haughty and +hitherto unchallenged Cambria Company, humbled in its own town by its +own workers. A few weeks before Labor day the unions, innocently +presuming the mills would be closed as usual on that day, decided to +have a parade. Then the strategical experts of the Company became +active. A warning was issued that every man marching in the parade would +be summarily discharged. The unions would not brook this unwarranted and +cold-blooded attack. They promptly sent word to the Company that if a +single man was discharged the whole plant would be stopped the next day. +It was a clear-cut issue, and Johnstown held its breath. When Labor day +came the city saw the biggest demonstration in its history. Fifteen +thousand organized workers defied their would-be masters and marched. +The Company swiftly backed water. And the next day not a man was +discharged. It was a victory well worth the heroic efforts and suffering +of the previous eight months.</p> + +<p>When the great strike broke on September 22 the Johnstown workers went +into the fight almost one hundred per cent. organized, and with about +the same percentage of grievances. So few men were left in the plant +that the Company had to ask the unions to give them help to shut down +their furnaces, and to keep the fire protection in operation. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>All the +power of the great corporation, which had made $30,000,000 the year +before, could not forestall the unions. It had no arrow in its quiver +that could strike fear to the hearts of its workers; no trick in its +brain pan that could be substituted for industrial democracy.</p> + +<p>And Johnstown was only one point in the long battle line. Its +experiences were but typical. Each steel town had its own bitter story +of obstacles encountered and overcome. Youngstown, Chicago, Bethlehem, +Cleveland, Wheeling, Pueblo, Buffalo and many other districts, each put +up a hard fight. But one by one, despite all barriers, steel towns all +over the country were captured for unionism.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> As a side light on organizing methods, it may be noted that +the temporary receipts were red, white and blue cards. The patriotic +foreigners were proud to carry these emblematic cards pending the time +they got their regular cards. More than one man joined merely on that +account.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> In its war against unionism the Cambria Steel Company held +nothing sacred, not even the church. During the campaign the Reverend +George Dono Brooks, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Johnstown, +took an active part, speaking at many meetings and generally lending +encouragement to the workers. For this crime the company punished him by +disrupting his congregation and eventually driving him from the city, +penniless.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>V</h2> + +<h2>BREAKING INTO PITTSBURGH</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang" style="margin-left: 2em;">THE FLYING SQUADRON—MONESSEN—DONORA—McKEESPORT—RANKIN +—BRADDOCK—CLAIRTON—HOMESTEAD—DUQUESNE—THE RESULTS</p></div> +<br /> + +<p>The time was now ripe for a great drive on Pittsburgh, a district which +had been the despair of unionism for a generation. The new strategy of +the National Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers was +succeeding. Pittsburgh had been surrounded by organized posts, +established during the winter. The Chicago district had also been held. +The committee's finances were improving. The crew of organizers was +larger and more enthusiastic than ever. The mills were operating +stronger and stronger. And spring was here. The movement was now ready +for a tremendous effort to capture Pittsburgh, and thus overcome, as far +as might be, the original mistake of not starting the campaign soon +enough and everywhere at the same time. This done, it would put the work +squarely upon the essential national basis. So the assault was ordered +on the stronghold of the Steel Trust.</p> + +<p>First free speech and free assembly had to be established; for the towns +about Pittsburgh were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>still closed tight against the unions. During the +winter incessant attempts had been made to break the embargo by +political methods, but without avail. In vain a special convention of +all the unions in Western Pennsylvania had appealed to the Governor for +assistance. For a moment the federal Department of Labor displayed a +languid interest and sent a dozen men to investigate conditions. But +until this day their report has never appeared. In answer to inquiries, +the Secretary of Labor is reported to have said that "its publication at +this time would be inadvisable." That may be one reason, and another may +be that the Department, in its eager cooperation with Attorney General +Palmer, in deporting hundreds of workingmen without trials, is so busy +that it hasn't time to attend to such trifles as the wholesale +suppression of constitutional rights in Pennsylvania.</p> + +<p>But in seeking relief no appeal was made to the courts to set up the +rights of the unions. This was for two reasons. First, it would involve +such a loss of time that the chance to organize the steel workers would +have passed long before any decision could be secured. Then, again, +there was no faith that the courts of Pennsylvania would be just, and +the National Committee had no money to carry the fight higher. The +unions conceived their rights to speak and assemble freely too well +established to necessitate court sanction at this late date. Hence, they +determined to exercise them, peacefully and lawfully, and to take the +consequences. At Atlantic City, where the A. F. of L. was in convention, +a dozen presidents of international unions in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>the steel campaign +expressed their willingness to enter the steel districts, to speak on +the streets, and to go to jail if necessary.</p> + +<p>To carry on the difficult and dangerous free speech fight, and to +oversee generally the organization of the immediate Pittsburgh district, +a special crew of organizers was formed. This was known as "The Flying +Squadron," and was headed by J. L. Beaghen, A. F. of L. organizer and +President of the Pittsburgh Bricklayers' Union. The following brief +references to the fights in the various towns will illustrate the forces +at play and the methods employed.</p> + +<p>Monessen, forty miles from Pittsburgh on the Monongahela river, the home +of the Pittsburgh Steel Company and several other large concerns, and +notorious as the place where organizer Jeff. Pierce got his death blow +in a previous campaign, was the first point of attack. Wm. Feeney, +United Mine Workers' organizer and local secretary in charge of the +district for the National Committee, superintended operations. Several +months previously the Burgess of Monessen had flatly refused to allow +him to hold any meetings in that town. So he was compelled to operate +from Charleroi, several miles away. But as soon as spring peeped the +question was opened again. He called a meeting to take place square in +the streets of Monessen on April 1st. The Burgess forbade it with +flaming pronunciamentos and threatened dire consequences if it were +held. But Feeney went ahead, and on the date set marched 10,000 union +miners from the surrounding country into Monessen to protest the +suppression of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>free speech and free assembly. Mother Jones,<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> James +Maurer, President of the Pennsylvania Federation of Labor, Philip +Murray, President of District No. 5, U. M. W. A., Mr. Feeney, the writer +and others spoke. The demonstration was a huge success. Public opinion +was clearly on the side of the steel workers, and the Burgess had to +recede from his dictatorial attitude and allow them to exercise their +constitutional rights. This they hastened to do with gusto. The affair +established the unions in the big mills of Monessen.</p> + +<p>In Donora, an important steel town a few miles down the river from +Monessen, and part of organizer Feeney's district, the fight was not so +easily won. The United States Constitution provides that not even +Congress may pass laws abridging the rights of free speech and free +assembly; but in Pennsylvania the Constitution is considered a sort of +humorous essay; hence the lickspittle Donora council, right in the face +of the steel campaign, passed an ordinance forbidding public meetings +without the sanction of the Burgess, which sanction, of course, the +unions could not get. But nothing deterred, the indomitable Feeney hired +a couple of lots on the edge of the town and held meetings there. The +company officials left nothing undone to break up these gatherings. They +held band concerts and ball games at <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>the same hour, and set dozens of +their bosses and police to picket the meetings. But it was no use; the +workers attended and joined the unions in droves.</p> + +<p>This lasted a couple of months. And all the while a local paper was +villainously assailing Feeney. Finally, the steel company agents got the +business men to sign an ultimatum to Feeney, demanding that he leave the +district at once. Feeney took this matter up with his miners, and they +decided that not he, but they, would quit Donora. Organized solidly, +they easily put a strict boycott on the town, and it was not long before +the same business men, with their trade almost ruined, made a public +apology to Feeney, and ousted their own officials who had been +responsible for the attack.</p> + +<p>Naturally these events heartened the steel workers. They organized very +rapidly, and soon had a majority of the men in the mills—a large plant +of the American Steel and Wire Company. They also became a big factor in +the local fraternal associations, which controlled all the halls; and +suddenly the Lithuanian Society deposed its President, who was friendly +to the steel company, and voted to give its hall to the unions, permits +or no permits. In the face of this situation the Burgess reluctantly +granted sanction for union meetings. And thus free speech and free +assembly were established in the benighted town of Donora, and with +them, almost complete organization of the steel workers.</p> + +<p>But the heart of the conspiracy against free speech and free assembly +was in McKeesport, twenty miles from Pittsburgh. When the organizers +tried to hold meetings in that city they could <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>hire no halls without +the Mayor's permission, and this the latter, George H. Lysle, stubbornly +refused to give. He feared a revolution if the staid A. F. of L. unions +were permitted to meet; but the Socialist party and other radical +organizations went ahead with their gatherings without opposition. The +truth was that he knew the unions would organize the workers if they +could but get their ear, and this he determined to prevent. Nor would he +shift from his autocratic position. Appeals by the organizers to the +Federal government, the Governor and the local city council were alike +fruitless. No meetings could be held in McKeesport. And the officials of +all the steel towns along the Monongahela river, drawing inspiration +from the little despot, Lysle, took the same stand. Free speech and free +assembly were stifled in the whole district.</p> + +<p>The Federal authorities being so active setting the outside world aright +that they could find no time or occasion to correct the most glaring +abuses at home, the unions resolved to attend to the free speech and +free assembly matter themselves. Knowing that Lysle could knife the +workers' rights only so long as he was allowed to work in the dark, they +determined to drag him into the daylight and let the public judge of his +deeds. They would hold meetings on the streets of McKeesport in spite of +him; give him a few hundred test court cases to handle, and finally find +out whether the A. F. of L. is entitled to the same rights as other +organizations.</p> + +<p>The fight opened as soon as the weather permitted. May 18 was the date +set for the first <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>meeting. The Mayor stormed and threatened all +concerned with instant arrest; but the preparations went on just the +same. When the fated day arrived thousands turned out to hear the +speakers. But the Mayor, failing to defend his course, dared not molest +the meeting. After this, meetings were held on the streets each Sunday +afternoon, always in the face of the Mayor's threats, until eventually +the latter, seeing that he was the laughing stock of the city and that +the street meetings were organizing hundreds of the workers, +shame-facedly granted the following niggardly permit for meetings:</p> + + <div class="blockquot"> <p class="cen">CITY OF McKEESPORT.</p> + + <p class="right"> + <span style="padding-right: 8em;">Department of Police.</span><br /> + <span style="padding-right: 2em;">McKeesport, Pa., July 7, 1919.</span></p> + + <p class="noin">Mr. Reddington,<br /> Chief of Police,<br /> McKeesport, + Pa.,</p> + + <p class="noin">Dear Sir:</p> + + <p>This is to certify that the McKeesport Council of Labor + has permission to hold a mass meeting in Slavish Hall on + White Street on July 8, 1919.</p> <p>Permission is granted + subject to the following conditions, and also subject to + police regulation.</p> + + <p>(1st) That no speaker shall talk in any other languages, + except the English language.</p> + + <p>(2nd) That a list of the speakers be submitted to the + Mayor before the meeting is held.</p> + + <p class="right"> + <span style="padding-right: 8em;">Very truly yours,</span><br /> + <span style="padding-right: 4em;">(Signed) Geo. H. Lysle</span><br /> + <span style="padding-right: 4em;">Mayor</span></p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>Disregarding the three provisions of this contemptible document, the +unions held their meetings under the auspices of the A. F. of L. (not of +the McKeesport Council of Labor), had their speakers talk in whatever +languages their hearers best understood, and submitted no list to Lysle. +Then the big steel companies rushed to the aid of the hard-pressed +Mayor. All the while they had discharged every man they could locate who +had either joined the unions or expressed sympathy with them, but now +they became more active. As each meeting was held they stationed about +the hall doors (under the captaincy of Mr. William A. Cornelius, Manager +of the National Tube Company's works) at least five hundred of their +bosses, detectives, office help, and "loyal" workers to intimidate the +men who were entering. About three hundred more would be sent into the +hall to disrupt the meetings. And woe to the man they recognized, for he +was discharged the next morning. The organizers, running the gauntlet of +these Steel Trust gunmen, carried their very lives in their hands.</p> + +<p>Under these hard circumstances few steel workers dared to go to the +meetings or to the union headquarters. But the organizations grew +rapidly nevertheless. Every discharged man became a volunteer organizer +and busied himself getting his friends to enroll. A favorite trick to +escape the espionage was to get a group of men, from a dozen to fifty, +to meet quietly in one of the homes, fill out their applications, and +send them by a sister or wife to the union headquarters—the detectives +stationed outside naturally not knowing the women. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>Conditions in the +local mills were so bad that not even the most desperate employers' +tactics could stop the progress of the unions. McKeesport quickly became +one of the strong organization points on the river.</p> + +<p>Sweeping onward through the Pittsburgh district, the unions gained great +headway by the collapse of the petty Czar of McKeesport, for all the +little nabobs in the adjoining steel towns felt the effects of his +defeat. Rankin fell without a blow. A few months before the hall had +been closed there by the local board of health, when the Burgess refused +to act against the unions. But now no objections were made to the +meetings. Braddock also capitulated easily. At a street meeting held in +the middle of town against the Burgess' orders, organizers J. L. +Beaghen, R. L. Hall, J. C. Boyle, J. B. Gent and the writer were +arrested. The Burgess, however, not wishing to meet the issue, found it +convenient to leave town, and the Acting Burgess, declaring in open +court that he would not "do the dirty work of the Burgess," postponed +the hearings indefinitely. That settled Braddock.</p> + +<p>Burgess Williams of North Clairton, chief of the Carnegie mill police at +that point, swore dire vengeance against the free speech fighters should +they come to his town. But the National Committee, choosing a lot owned +by its local secretary on the main street of North Clairton, called a +meeting there one bright Sunday afternoon. But hardly had it started +when, with a great flourish of clubs, the police broke up the gathering +and arrested organizers J. G. Brown, J. Manley, A. A. Lassich, P. H. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>Brogan, J. L. Beaghen, R. L. Hall, and the writer. Later all were fined +for holding a meeting on their own property. But the Burgess, learning +that the speaker for the following Sunday was Mother Jones of the +Miners' Union, and that public sentiment was overwhelmingly against him, +decided not to fight. Instead he provided a place on the public commons +for open air meetings. The contest resulted in almost all of the local +steel workers joining the unions immediately.</p> + +<p>In Homestead, however, that sacred shrine of Labor, the unions had to +put up a harder fight. The Burgess there, one P. H. McGuire, is a +veteran of the great Homestead strike, and for many years afterwards led +the local fight against the Carnegie Steel Company. But he has now fully +recovered from his unionism. He has made peace with the enemy. It was in +the early winter of 1918 that the unions first tried to hold meetings in +his town. But they were careful to make tentative arrangements for a +hall before asking a permit from McGuire. The latter stated flatly that +there would be no union meetings in Homestead, saying no halls could be +secured. "But," said the organizers, "we have already engaged a hall." +The next day the rent money was returned with the explanation that a +mistake had been made. Later the unions managed to sneak by the guard of +the ex-union man Burgess and hold a meeting or two—said to be the first +since the Homestead strike, twenty-six years before—but nothing +substantial could be done, and the fight was called off for the winter.</p> + +<p>During the big spring drive on Pittsburgh the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>Flying Squadron turned +its attention to Homestead as soon as the McKeesport and many other +pressing situations permitted. Mass meetings were held on the main +streets. At first the Burgess, with a weather eye on McKeesport, did not +molest these; but when he saw the tremendous interest the steel workers +showed and the rapidity with which they were joining the unions, he +attempted to break up the meetings by arresting two of the organizers, +J. L. Beaghen and myself. At the trial McGuire, as magistrate, was shown +that his ordinance did not cover street meetings. "But," said he, "it's +the best we've got, and it will have to do." He fined the defendants, +and a day or two later had an ordinance adopted to his liking. Such +trifles don't worry the executives in steel towns.</p> + +<p>But such an enormous crowd assembled to witness the next street meeting +that McGuire had to agree to permit hall meetings. No sooner were they +attempted however, than he broke his agreement. He would allow no +languages other than English to be spoken—the object being to prevent +the foreign workers from understanding what was going on. Of course all +other organizations in Homestead could use what tongues they pleased. +The unions balked, with the result that more street meetings were held +and Mother Jones, J. G. Brown, R. W. Reilly and J. L. Beaghen were +arrested. Public indignation was intense; thousands marched the streets +in protest; the unions grew like beanstalks. And so the affair went on +till the great strike broke on September 22.</p> + +<p>That curse of the campaign since its inception, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>the lack of resources, +bore down heavily on the work in the crucial summer months just before +the strike. At least one hundred more men should have been put in the +field to take advantage of the unparalleled opportunity. But the +National Committee could not beg, borrow or steal them. The organizers +in the various localities fairly shrieked for help, but in vain. +Especially was the need keenly felt in the big drive on Pittsburgh. +Instead of eight or ten men, which was all that the Flying Squadron +could muster, there ought to have been at least fifty men delegated to +the huge task of capturing the score of hard-baked steel towns on +Pittsburgh's three rivers. The consequence was that the work everywhere +had to be skimped, with disastrous effects later on in the strike. In +those towns where the unions did get started lack of help prevented +their taking full advantage of the situation. And then some towns had to +be passed up altogether, although the men were infected with the general +fever for organization and were calling for organizers. It was +impossible to send any one to either Woodlawn or Midland, both very +important steel towns. Even the strategic city of Duquesne, with its +enormous mills and blast furnaces, could not be started until three +weeks before the strike.</p> + +<p>Duquesne is just across the river from McKeesport and only four miles +from Homestead. It gave the organizers a hot reception. Its Mayor, James +S. Crawford, is President of the First National Bank. His brother is +President of the Port Vue Tinplate Company. Besides being Mayor, Mr. +Crawford is city Commissioner, President of the city <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>council, Director +of Public Safety, and Magistrate. He makes the laws, executes them and +punishes the violators. He is a true type of Pennsylvania steel town +petty Kaiser and exercises his manifold powers accordingly.</p> + +<p>So eager was the Mayor, popularly known as "Toad" Crawford, to give the +world a demonstration of Steel Trust Americanism that he challenged the +organizers to come to his town. He even offered to meet in personal +combat one of the men in charge of the campaign. Of course he +insultingly refused to grant permits for meetings. The organizers, who +could not hire an office in the place, so completely were the property +owners dominated by the steel companies, managed to lease a couple of +lots in an obscure part of town. But when they attempted to hold a +meeting there Mr. Crawford jailed three of them, J. L. Beaghen, J. +McCaig, and J. G. Sause. The next day he fined them each $100 and costs.</p> + +<p>Rabbi Wise of New York was the speaker billed for the following Sunday. +But the Steel Trust Mayor forbade his meeting. And when it was proposed +to have Frank Morrison, with whom Crawford boasted a slight +acquaintance, confer with him about the situation, he declared, "It +won't do you any good. Jesus Christ himself could not speak in Duquesne +for the A. F. of L!" It so happened that Rabbi Wise was unable to come +to Pennsylvania for his scheduled lectures on behalf of the steel +workers, and the organizers held the Duquesne meeting themselves. +Crawford had his whole police force on hand and immediately arrested the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>speakers, Mother Jones, J. L. Beaghen and the writer. Forty-four steel +workers, all the jail would hold, were arrested also, for no other +reason than attending the meeting. Organizer J. M. Patterson, who had +nothing to do with the gathering, was thrown into jail merely for trying +to find out what bail we were held for. The next day the organizers were +each fined $100 and costs, and the rest from $25 to $50 apiece.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> In +sentencing Mr. Beaghen, Mayor Crawford declared that nothing would be +more pleasurable than to give him 99 years, and then be on hand when he +got out to give him 99 more.</p> + +<p>The Mayor was going it strong; but he was riding fast to a hard fall. +The unions were planning to bring to Duquesne some of the most prominent +men in the United States and to give Crawford the fight of his life, +when the outbreak of the great strike swamped them with work and +compelled them to turn their attention elsewhere.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>Whatever its general disadvantages, in some <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>respects, at least, the +free speech fight was very good for the unions. For one thing, it served +wonderfully well to infuse the necessary hope and confidence into the +steel workers. So tremendous had been the manifestations of the Steel +Trust—its long record of victory over the trade unions, its vast wealth +and undisputed political supremacy, its enormous mills and furnaces—so +tremendous had been all these influences that they had overcome the +individual workers with a profound sense of insignificance and +helplessness, and practically destroyed all capacity for spontaneous +action. What the steel men needed to rouse them from their lethargy was +a demonstration of power from outside, a tangible sign that there was +some institution through which they could help themselves. Throughout +the campaign this consideration was borne in mind, and bands and other +spectacular methods of advertising were used to develop among the steel +workers a feeling of the greatness and power of the unions. Nor were +these methods unsuccessful. Most effective of all, however, was the free +speech fight in Pennsylvania. That gave the unions a golden opportunity +to defeat the Steel Trust so easily and spectacularly that the steel +workers couldn't help but be encouraged thereby. They simply had to cast +in their lot with a movement able to defeat so handily their autocratic +masters. And once they came in they felt the utmost confidence in their +leaders, the men they had seen jailed time and again for fighting their +battle.</p> + +<p>In consequence of The Flying Squadron's heroic battles in the immediate +Pittsburgh district the whole campaign was put practically upon a +national basis, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>where it should have been at the start. Almost every +steel centre in America was being organized simultaneously. Members were +streaming into the co-operating unions by thousands. The entire steel +industry was on the move. Perhaps it may be fitting to introduce at this +point an official digest of the general report of the number of men +organized by the National Committee during the whole campaign. The +report covers the period up to January 31, 1920, but almost all of the +men were enrolled before the strike started on September 22.</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="80%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 082"> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="4">GENERAL REPORT</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="4">on</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="4">250,000 members enrolled by the National Committee for</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="4">Organizing Iron and Steel Workers during the</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="4">American Federation of Labor Organizing</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="4">Campaign in the Steel Industry, from</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="4">August 1, 1918, until January 31, 1920.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><i>By Localities</i></td> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><i>By Trades</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">South Chicago</td> + <td class="tdrp" width="10%">6,616</td> + <td class="tdl" width="40%">Blacksmiths</td> + <td class="tdr" width="10%">5,699</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Chicago Heights</td> + <td class="tdrp">569</td> + <td class="tdl">Boilermakers</td> + <td class="tdr">2,097</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Miscellaneous Chicago Districts</td> + <td class="tdrp">3,871</td> + <td class="tdl">Brick & Clay Workers</td> + <td class="tdr">187</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Pittsburgh</td> + <td class="tdrp">8,970</td> + <td class="tdl">Bricklayers</td> + <td class="tdr">581</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Johnstown</td> + <td class="tdrp">11,846</td> + <td class="tdl">Coopers</td> + <td class="tdr">138</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Butler</td> + <td class="tdrp">2,519</td> + <td class="tdl">Electrical Workers</td> + <td class="tdr">8,481</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Monessen & Donora</td> + <td class="tdrp">8,665</td> + <td class="tdl">Foundry Employees</td> + <td class="tdr">2,406</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">New Castle</td> + <td class="tdrp">2,170</td> + <td class="tdl">Hod Carriers</td> + <td class="tdr">2,335</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Homestead</td> + <td class="tdrp">3,571</td> + <td class="tdl">Iron, Steel & Tin Workers</td> + <td class="tdr">70,026</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Braddock & Rankin</td> + <td class="tdrp">4,044</td> + <td class="tdl">Iron Workers</td> + <td class="tdr">5,829</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Clairton</td> + <td class="tdrp">2,970</td> + <td class="tdl">Machinists</td> + <td class="tdr">12,406</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">McKeesport</td> + <td class="tdrp">3,963</td> + <td class="tdl">Metal Polishers</td> + <td class="tdr">349</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Gary</td> + <td class="tdrp">7,092</td> + <td class="tdl">M. M. & Smelter Workers</td> + <td class="tdr">15,223</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Indiana Harbor</td> + <td class="tdrp">4,654</td> + <td class="tdl">Mine Workers</td> + <td class="tdr">1,538</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Joliet</td> + <td class="tdrp">3,497</td> + <td class="tdl">Moulders</td> + <td class="tdr">1,382</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Milwaukee</td> + <td class="tdrp">681</td> + <td class="tdl">Pattern Makers</td> + <td class="tdr">-</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Waukegan</td> + <td class="tdrp">1,212</td> + <td class="tdl">Plumbers</td> + <td class="tdr">1,369</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>DeKalb</td> + <td class="tdrp">332</td> + <td class="tdl">Quarry Workers</td> + <td class="tdr">725</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Aurora</td> + <td class="tdrp">242</td> + <td class="tdl">Railway Carmen</td> + <td class="tdr">5,045</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Pullman</td> + <td class="tdrp">4,073</td> + <td class="tdl">Seamen</td> + <td class="tdr">-</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Kenosha</td> + <td class="tdrp">585</td> + <td class="tdl">Sheet Metal Workers</td> + <td class="tdr">377</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Hammond</td> + <td class="tdrp">1,102</td> + <td class="tdl">Stationary Engineers</td> + <td class="tdr">2,194</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Wheeling District</td> + <td class="tdrp">5,028</td> + <td class="tdl">Stationary Firemen</td> + <td class="tdr">5,321</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Farrell & Sharon</td> + <td class="tdrp">3,794</td> + <td class="tdl">Steam Shovelmen</td> + <td class="tdr">2</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cleveland</td> + <td class="tdrp">17,305</td> + <td class="tdl">Switchmen</td> + <td class="tdr">440</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Sparrows Point</td> + <td class="tdrp">93</td> + <td class="tdl">Unclassified</td> + <td class="tdr">12,552</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Brackenridge & Natrona</td> + <td class="tdrp">2,110</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">East Pittsburgh</td> + <td class="tdrp">146</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">East Liverpool</td> + <td class="tdrp">50</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Warren & Niles</td> + <td class="tdrp">474</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Minnesota District</td> + <td class="tdrp">185</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Pueblo</td> + <td class="tdrp">3,113</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Coatesville</td> + <td class="tdrp">828</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Steubenville District</td> + <td class="tdrp">4,108</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Birmingham District</td> + <td class="tdrp">1,470</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Canton & Massillon</td> + <td class="tdrp">5,705</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Vandergrift</td> + <td class="tdrp">1,986</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Buffalo & Lackawanna</td> + <td class="tdrp">6,179</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Youngstown</td> + <td class="tdrp">19,040</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Peoria</td> + <td class="tdrp">984</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Decatur</td> + <td class="tdrp" style="text-decoration: underline"> 320</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdr" style="text-decoration: underline"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"><i>Total by Localities</i></td> + <td class="tdrp">156,702</td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Total by Trades</i></td> + <td class="tdr">156,702</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>This report includes only those members actually signed up by the +National Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers, and from whose +initiation fees $1.00 apiece was deducted and forwarded to the general +office of the National Committee. It represents approximately 50 to 60 +per cent. of the total number of steel workers organized during the +campaign, and is minimum in every respect.</p> + +<p>The report does not include any of the many thousands of men signed up +at Bethlehem, Steelton, Reading, Apollo, New Kensington, Leechburg and +many minor points which felt the force of the drive but where <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>the +National Committee made no deductions upon initiation fees. In Gary, +Joliet, Indiana Harbor, South Chicago and other Chicago District points +the National Committee ceased collecting on initiation fees early in +1919, hence this report makes no showing of the thousands of men signed +up in that territory during the last few months of the campaign. +Likewise, at Coatesville and Sparrows' Point, during only a short space +of the campaign were deductions made for the National Committee. Many +thousands more men were signed up directly by the multitude of local +unions in the steel industry, that were not reported to the National +Committee. These do not show in this calculation. Nor do the great +number of ex-soldiers who were taken into the unions free of initiation +fees—in Johnstown alone 1300 ex-soldier steel workers joined the unions +under this arrangement. Of course no accounting is here included for the +army of workers in outside industries who became organized as a result +of the tremendous impulse given by the steel campaign.</p> + +<p>In view of these exceptions it may be conservatively estimated that well +over 250,000 steel workers joined the unions notwithstanding the +opposition of the Steel Trust, which discharged thousands of its +workers, completely suppressed free speech and free assembly in +Pennsylvania and used every known tactic to prevent the organization of +its employees.</p> + +<div style="margin-left: 55%; margin-right: 5%;"> +<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">Wm. Z. Foster</span>,<br /> +Secretary-Treasurer<br /> +National Committee for Organizing<br /> +Iron & Steel Workers</p></div> + +<p class="noin"> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Certified by</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Enoch Martin</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Auditor, District No. 12</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">United Mine Workers of America.</span><br /> +</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Throughout the latter part of the organizing campaign and +the first two months of the strike, Mother Jones lent great assistance +to the steel workers. This veteran organizer (she testified in court to +being 89 years old) of the United Mine Workers labored dauntlessly, +going to jail and meeting the hardships and dangers of the work in a +manner that would do credit to one half her age.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Relative to this meeting there occurs the following +dialogue on page 508 of the report on the Senate Committee's Hearings on +the Steel Strike: +</p><p class="noin"> +Senator Sterling. "Was Mr. Foster here prior to the strike?" +</p><p class="noin"> +Mr. Diehl (Gen. Manager Duquesne Works, Carnegie Steel Co.). "Yes; he +was here trying to hold a meeting, but the meeting was not held." +</p><p class="noin"> +The Chairman. "What happened to the meeting?" +</p><p class="noin"> +Mr. Diehl. "Well, we simply prohibited it." +</p><p class="noin"> +And naturally so. Mr. Diehl and other company officials shut off +meetings in the halls and on the lots of their towns just as readily as +they would have done had attempts been made to hold them in the mill +yards.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Now that the strike is over and spring is again at hand, +the unions have resumed the battle for free speech and assembly in +Duquesne and promise to fight it to a conclusion.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>VI</h2> + +<h2>STORM CLOUDS GATHER</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang" style="margin-left: 2em;">RELIEF DEMANDED—THE AMALGAMATED ASSOCIATION MOVES—A GENERAL +MOVEMENT—THE CONFERENCE COMMITTEE—GOMPERS' LETTER +UNANSWERED—THE STRIKE VOTE—GARY DEFENDS STEEL +AUTOCRACY—PRESIDENT WILSON ACTS IN VAIN—THE STRIKE CALL</p></div> +<br /> + +<p>Surging forward to the accomplishment of the "impossible," the +organization of the steel industry, the twenty-four co-operating +international unions found themselves in grips with the employers long +before they were strong enough to sustain such a contest. It is almost +always so with new unions. In their infancy, when their members are +weak, undisciplined and inexperienced, and the employers are bitterly +hostile and aggressive, is exactly the time when they must establish +principles and adjust grievances that would test the strength of the +most powerful unions. Inability to do so means dissolution, either +through a lost strike or by disintegration. Following in the wake of the +newly formed steel workers' unions came a mass of such difficulties +requiring immediate settlement. The demand for relief from the evils <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>of +long hours, low wages and miserable working conditions was bad enough; +but infinitely more serious was the need to take care of the army of men +discharged for union membership. Thousands of these walked the streets +in the various steel towns clamoring for protection. And the men on the +job demanded it for them. Nor could these appeals be ignored. Whether +they deemed the occasion propitious or not, the steel workers' unions, +on pain of extinction, had to act in defence of their harassed +membership.</p> + +<p>So bad was the situation by early spring that, lacking other means of +relief, local strikes were threatening all over the country. To allow +these forlorn-hope walkouts to occur would have meant disintegration and +disaster to the whole campaign. They had to be checked at all costs and +the movement kept upon a national basis. Therefore, the National +Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers called a general +conference of delegates of steelworkers' unions of all trades through +the entire industry, to take place in Pittsburgh, May 25, 1919. The +object was to demonstrate to the rank and file how fast the national +movement was developing, to turn their attention to it strongly, and +thus hearten them to bear their hardships until it could come to their +assistance.</p> + +<p>Right in the face of this general movement of all the trades the +Amalgamated Association made a bid for separate consideration by the +steel companies. By instruction of its convention, President Tighe wrote +the following letter to Mr. Gary:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="right">Convention Hall, Louisville, Ky., May 15, 1919<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> +<p class="noin">Honorable Elbert H. Gary, Chairman,<br /> +Executive Officers, United States Steel Corporation,<br /> +Hoboken, N. J.</p> + +<p class="noin"><i>Dear Sir</i>:</p> + +<p>The Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers +of North America, in National Convention assembled, have by +resolution, instructed the undersigned to address you as +Chairman of the Executive Officers of the United States +Steel Corporation on a matter which in the opinion of the +representatives of the Amalgamated Association of Iron, +Steel and Tin Workers, is of vital importance to the +Corporation you have the honor to represent and to the +Amalgamated Association.</p> + +<p>As you no doubt are aware, there is a serious disturbing +element in the industrial world at the present time, a great +spirit of unrest has spread over our common country. It is +becoming more and more acute, and there is no telling when +or where the storm clouds will break. It is the judgment of +the representatives of the Amalgamated Association that it +is the patriotic duty of all good citizens to use their +every effort to stem the tide of unrest, if possible.</p> + +<p>The Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers +have admitted many thousands of the employees of the United +States Steel Corporation into their organization; these +members are asking that they be given consideration by the +Corporation you are the Honorable Chairman of, in their +respective crafts and callings, and also that as law-abiding +citizens who desire the privilege of having their +representatives meet with the chosen representatives of the +Corporation you represent, to jointly confer on questions +that mutually concern both.</p> + +<p>Sincerely believing that the granting of their request <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>on +your part will not only be the means of allaying that +unrest, but will also promote and insure that harmony and +co-operation that should at all times exist between employer +and employee to the end that all will share in the glorious +triumphs so lately achieved in the war and thereby add still +more to the lustre and glory of our common country.</p> + +<p>Trusting that you will give this request on the part of the +aforesaid employees of your Corporation your most earnest +consideration, I await your pleasure.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">M. F. Tighe</span>, International President</p> +<p class="noin">Hotel Tyler, Louisville, Ky.</p></div> + +<p>To this letter Mr. Gary replied as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="cen">UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION</p> + +<p class="right">Chairman's Office,<br /> New York, May 20th, 1919</p> + +<p class="noin">Mr. M. F. Tighe,<br /> +International President,<br /> +Amalgamated Association of<br /> +Iron, Steel and Tin Workers,<br /> +Pittsburgh, Pa.</p> + +<p class="noin"><i>Dear Sir</i>:</p> + +<p>I have read with interest your letter of May 15th inst. I +agree that it is the patriotic duty of all good citizens to +use their efforts in stemming the tide of unrest in the +industrial world whenever and wherever it exists.</p> + +<p>As you know, we do not confer, negotiate with, or combat +labor unions as such. We stand for the open shop, which +permits a man to engage in the different lines of +employment, whether he belongs to a labor union or not. We +think this attitude secures the best results to the +employees generally and to the employers.</p> + +<p>In our own way, and in accordance with our best <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>judgment, +we are rendering efficient patriotic service in the +direction indicated by you.</p> + +<p>With kind regards, I am,</p> + +<p class="right">Yours respectfully,<br /> <span class="smcap">E. H. Gary</span>, Chairman</p></div> + +<p>The Amalgamated Association's action threatened the existence of the +general movement, but Mr. Gary's refusal to deal with its officials kept +them in the fold. Where the principle of solidarity was lacking outside +pressure served the same end. It would be interesting to hear the +Amalgamated Association officials explain this attempt at desertion.</p> + +<p>At the conference of May 25 there assembled 583 delegates, representing +twenty-eight international unions in eighty steel centers, the largest +gathering of steel worker delegates in the history of the industry. The +reports of the men present made it clearly evident that action had to be +taken to defend the interests of their constituents. Consequently, +disregarding the rebuff given the Amalgamated Association by Mr. Gary, +the conference, which was only advisory in character, adopted the +following resolution:</p> + + +<p class="cen">RESOLUTION</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Whereas</span>, We have now arrived at a point in our +nation-wide campaign where our organizations control great +numbers of the workers in many of the most important steel +plants in America, and</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Whereas</span>, Various officials of the iron and steel +industry, including Judge Gary, Charles Schwab, and other +heads of these gigantic corporations have expressed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>their +solicitude for the welfare of the workers in this industry, +and</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Whereas</span>, They have been continuously quoted as +defenders of the rights of the workers in industry, and</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Whereas</span>, The corporations, to block our progress, +are organizing company unions, discharging union men +wholesale and otherwise trying to break up our organization, +thus compelling us to take action to escape destruction, +therefore be it</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Resolved</span>, That it be the will of this conference +that a joint effort be made by all unions affiliated with +the National Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers +to enter into negotiations with the various steel companies +to the end that better wages, shorter hours, improved +working conditions and the trade-union system of collective +bargaining be established in the steel industry; and be it +further</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Resolved</span>, That this resolution be submitted for +action to the National Committee for Organizing Iron and +Steel Workers at its next meeting in Washington, D. C., May +27.</p></div> + +<p>Two days later the National Committee met in Washington and adopted this +resolution. The following were appointed as a conference committee to +have charge of the preliminary negotiations with the steel companies: +Samuel Gompers, Chairman of the National Committee; John Fitzpatrick, +Acting Chairman; D. J. Davis, Amalgamated Association; Edw. J. Evans, +Electrical Workers; Wm. Hannon, Machinists; Wm. Z. Foster, Railway +Carmen. As the first approach, Mr. Gompers addressed the following +letter to Mr. Gary, requesting a conference:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="cen">AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR</p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> + +<p class="right">The Alamac Hotel,<br /> Atlantic City, N. J., June 20, 1919</p> + +<p class="noin">Mr. Elbert H. Gary, Chairman,<br /> Board of Directors, U. S. +Steel Corporation,<br /> New York, N. Y.</p> + +<p class="noin"><i>Dear Sir</i>:</p> + +<p>Of course you are aware that upon the request of a number of +men in the employ of the United States Steel Corporation, +and realizing the need of it, the convention of the American +Federation of Labor decided to respond and give such +assistance as is possible in order to bring about more +thorough organization of the workers in the iron and steel +industry, particularly those employed by your Corporation.</p> + +<p>A campaign of organization was begun in June, 1918, and +within that period we have secured the organization of more +than 100,000 of the employees in the iron and steel +industry. The prospects for the complete organization are, I +am informed, exceedingly bright.</p> + +<p>Of course, knowing the policy of the Organized Labor +movement I have the honor in part to represent, we aim to +accomplish the purposes of our labor movement; that is, +better conditions for the toilers, by American methods, and +American understandings, not by revolutionary methods or the +inauguration of a cataclysm.</p> + +<p>We believe in the effort of employer and employees to sit +down around a table and, meeting thus, face to face, and +having a better understanding of each other's position in +regard to conditions of labor, to hours, standards, etc., +and after reaching an amicable understanding to enter into +an agreement for collective bargaining that is to cover +wages, hours of labor, conditions of employment, etc.</p> + +<p>At the Atlantic City convention of the American Federation +of Labor just closed, the committee <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>reported upon the +progress made, and I am instructed and authorized to suggest +to you whether you will consent to hold a conference with a +committee representing not only the iron and steel workers +who are organized, but representing the best interests of +the unorganized men in the employ of your Corporation. The +names of the committee I am asking you to meet are:</p> + +<p>Assistant President Davis, Amalgamated Iron and Steel and +Tin Workers.</p> + +<p>William Hannon, member executive board, International +Association of Machinists.</p> + +<p>Edward Evans, representing International Brotherhood of +Electrical Workers.</p> + +<p>Wm. Z. Foster, secretary of the National Committee for +Organizing Iron and Steel Workers and representing the +Brotherhood of Carmen of America.</p> + +<p>John Fitzpatrick, president Chicago Federation of Labor.</p> + +<p>If you can advise me at your early convenience that the +request contained in this letter meets with your approval +and that a conference can be held, I am sure I shall be +additionally appreciative.</p> + +<p>Kindly address your reply, which I trust may be favorable, +to the American Federation of Labor Building, Washington, D. +C.</p> + +<p class="right"> +Respectfully yours,<br /> +<span class="smcap">Samuel Gompers</span>,<br /> +President American Federation of Labor</p></div> + +<p>This letter was sent during the A. F. of L. convention at Atlantic City. +About the same time Mr. Gompers resigned the chairmanship of the +National Committee and appointed in his stead John Fitzpatrick, hitherto +Acting Chairman. Mr. Fitzpatrick has been President of the Chicago +Federation of Labor for many years. He is a horseshoer by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>trade and one +of America's sterling union men. Possessed of a broad idealism, +unquestioned integrity, a magnetic personality and a wide knowledge of +trade-union practice, his services were beyond value as Chairman of the +committees that carried on the organization work in the steel and +packing industries. He is now taking an active part in the launching of +the new Labor party.</p> + +<p>To Mr. Gompers' courteous letter Czar Gary did not deign to reply. This +was bad. It looked like war. But the unions had no alternative; they had +to go ahead. Conditions in the steel industry were so unbearable that +they had to exert their utmost power to right them, come what might. +Therefore, after waiting several weeks for word from Mr. Gary, the +National Committee met, gave the situation profound consideration, and +adopted the following resolution:</p> + + +<p class="cen">RESOLUTION</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Whereas</span>, Working conditions in the steel industry +are so intolerable and the unrest arising therefrom so +intense that they can only be remedied by the application of +the principles of collective bargaining; and,</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Whereas</span>, All efforts have failed to bring about a +conference between the heads of the great steel corporations +and the trade unions, representing many thousands of +organized steel workers, for the purpose of establishing +trade union conditions in the steel industry; therefore, be +it</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Resolved</span>, That the National Committee for +Organizing Iron and Steel Workers recommends to its 24 +affiliated unions that they take a strike vote of their +local unions throughout the steel industry; and, be it +further</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Resolved</span>, That a special meeting be held in the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>Pittsburgh Labor Temple, July 20th, at 10 A. M., of +representatives of all the co-operating international unions +for the purpose of taking action on this matter.</p></div> + +<p>The National Committee meeting of July 20th, called in accordance with +the above resolution, approached the situation from every possible angle +and with the keenest sense of responsibility. But it had to recognize +that the matter was wholly in the hands of Mr. Gary and his associates. +The resolution to take a strike vote of the men was re-adopted. Also the +following general demands, based on accurate surveys of the situation, +and subject to revision over the conference table, were formulated:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p> 1. Right of collective bargaining</p> + +<p> 2. Reinstatement of all men discharged for union activities +with pay for time lost</p> + +<p> 3. Eight hour day</p> + +<p> 4. One day's rest in seven</p> + +<p> 5. Abolition of 24-hour shift</p> + +<p> 6. Increases in wages sufficient to guarantee American +standard of living</p> + +<p> 7. Standard scales of wages in all trades and +classifications of workers</p> + +<p> 8. Double rates of pay for all overtime after 8 hours, +holiday and Sunday work</p> + +<p> 9. Check-off system of collecting union dues and assessments</p> + +<p>10. Principles of seniority to apply in the maintenance, +reduction and increase of working forces</p> + +<p>11. Abolition of company unions</p> + +<p>12. Abolition of physical examination of applicants for +employment</p></div> + +<p>So plain, fair and equitable are these demands that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>to reasonable +people they require no defence. The only explanation they might need +relates to #9 and #12. The check-off was to apply only to the mining end +of the steel industry, and the abolition of the physical examination was +to put a stop to the rank discrimination practiced by the companies +through their medical departments.</p> + +<p>A month was allowed in which to take the vote. Each trade looked after +its own members, with the National Committee voting those men who were +enrolled but not yet turned over to their respective unions, and in some +cases the unorganized also. Enthusiasm was intense. The steel workers +saw a glimmer of hope and welcomed with open arms the opportunity to +right their crying wrongs. When the vote was tabulated in Youngstown, +Ohio, on August 20, it was found that every trade had voted +overwhelmingly for a strike in case no settlement could be reached. +Whole districts voted to a man in the affirmative. Of all the thousands +of ballots cast in Homestead, Braddock, Rankin, McKeesport, Vandergrift, +Pittsburgh and Monessen not one was in the negative. Donora produced one +"no" vote, with the great Youngstown, Chicago and Cleveland districts +about the same. Everywhere the sentiment was practically unanimous to +make a stand. The vote was calculated conservatively at 98 per cent. for +a strike. The Conference Committee was accordingly instructed to request +a conference with the heads of the United States Steel Corporation and +the big independent companies, and if at the end of ten days no such +meeting had been arranged, to set the strike date. </p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep078" id="imagep078"></a> +<a href="images/imagep078.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep078.jpg" width="45%" alt="Strike Ballot" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">STRIKE BALLOT</p> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>Taking no further chances on unanswered letters, the Committee bearded +Mr. Gary in his lair at 71 Broadway. He was in but refused to meet the +Committee, requesting that its proposition be submitted in writing. The +Committee thereupon sent him the following request for a conference:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right">New York, August 26, 1919</p> + +<p class="noin">Hon. Elbert H. Gary, Chairman Finance Committee,<br /> +United States Steel Corporation,<br /> +71 Broadway, New York City</p> + +<p class="noin"><i>Dear Sir:</i></p> + +<p>During a general campaign of organization and education +conducted under the auspices of the American Federation of +Labor, many thousands of men employed in the iron and steel +industry made application and were enrolled as members of +the various organizations to which they were assigned.</p> + +<p>This work has been carried on to a point where we feel +justified in stating to you that we represent the sentiment +of the vast majority of the employees in this industry, and, +acting in behalf of them, we solicit of you that a hearing +be given to the undersigned Committee, who have been +selected by the duly accredited representatives of the +employees, to place before you matters that are of vital +concern to them, and concerning hours of labor, wages, +working conditions and the right of collective bargaining.</p> + +<p>The committee called at your office at 3 <span class="smcap">P. M.</span>, +Tuesday, August 26, and requested a conference. We were +advised by your messenger that you wished to be excused from +a personal interview at this time and requested us to have +our business in writing and whatever matters we wished to +submit would be taken up by yourself and your colleagues and +given consideration.</p> + +<p>Therefore we are submitting in brief the principal <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>subjects +that we desired to have a conference on. The committee has +an important meeting in another city on Thursday next and +will leave New York at 5 o'clock on August 27, 1919. May we +respectfully request that your answer be sent before that +time to Mr. John Fitzpatrick, Continental Hotel, Broadway +and Forty-first Street, New York City.</p> + +<div style="margin-left: 50%; margin-right: 20%;"><p class="noin">Very truly yours,<br /> + John Fitzpatrick<br /> + D. J. Davis<br /> + Wm. Hannon<br /> + Edw. J. Evans<br /> + Wm. Z. Foster<br /> + Committee</p></div></div> + +<p>To this letter Mr. Gary replied as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="cen">UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION</p> + +<p class="right">Office of the Chairman,<br /> +New York, August 27, 1919</p> + +<p class="noin">Messrs. John Fitzpatrick, David J. Davis, William Hannon, Wm. Z. +Foster, Edw. J. Evans, Committee</p> + +<p class="noin"><i>Gentlemen</i>:</p> + +<p>Receipt of your communication of August 26 instant is +acknowledged.</p> + +<p>We do not think you are authorized to represent the +sentiment of a majority of the employees of the United +States Steel Corporation and its subsidiaries. We express no +opinion concerning any other members of the iron and steel +industry.</p> + +<p>As heretofore publicly stated and repeated, our Corporation +and subsidiaries, although they do not combat labor unions +as such, decline to discuss business with them. The +Corporation and subsidiaries are opposed to the "closed +shop." They stand for the "open shop," which permits one to +engage in any line of employment <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>whether one does or does +not belong to a labor union. This best promotes the welfare +of both employees and employers. In view of the well-known +attitude as above expressed, the officers of the Corporation +respectfully decline to discuss with you, as representatives +of a labor union, any matter relating to employees. In doing +so no personal discourtesy is intended.</p> + +<p>In all decisions and acts of the Corporation and +subsidiaries pertaining to employees and employment their +interests are of highest importance. In wage rates, living +and working conditions, conservation of life and health, +care and comfort in times of sickness or old age, and +providing facilities for the general welfare and happiness +of employees and their families, the Corporation and +subsidiaries have endeavored to occupy a leading and +advanced position among employers.</p> + +<p>It will be the object of the Corporation and subsidiaries to +give such consideration to employees as to show them their +loyal and efficient service in the past is appreciated, and +that they may expect in the future fair treatment.</p> + +<p class="right" style="padding-right: 4em;"> +<span style="padding-right: 6em;">Respectfully yours,</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">E. H. Gary</span>, Chairman</p></div> + +<p>In a last effort to prevail upon Mr. Gary to yield his tyrannical +position, the committee addressed him this further communication:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right">New York City, Aug. 27, 1919.</p> + +<p class="noin">Hon. Elbert H. Gary, Chairman<br /> +Finance Committee, United States Steel Corporation,<br/> +71 Broadway, New York, N. Y.</p> + +<p class="noin"><i>Dear Sir</i>:</p> + +<p>We have received your answer to our request for a conference +on behalf of the employees of your Corporation, and we +understand the first paragraph of your answer to be an +absolute refusal on the part of your <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>corporation to concede +to your employees the right of collective bargaining.</p> + +<p>You question the authority of our committee to represent the +majority of your employees. The only way by which we can +prove our authority is to put the strike vote into effect +and we sincerely hope that you will not force a strike to +prove this point.</p> + +<p>We asked for a conference for the purpose of arranging a +meeting where the questions of wages, hours, conditions of +employment, and collective bargaining might be discussed. +Your answer is a flat refusal for such conference, which +raises the question, if the accredited representatives of +your employees and the international unions affiliated with +the American Federation of Labor and the Federation itself +are denied a conference, what chance have the employees as +such to secure any consideration of the views they entertain +or the complaints they are justified in making.</p> + +<p>We noted particularly your definition of the attitude of +your Corporation on the question of the open and closed +shop, and the positive declaration in refusing to meet +representatives of union labor. These subjects are matters +that might well be discussed in conference. There has not +anything arisen between your Corporation and the employees +whom we represent in which the question of "the closed shop" +has been even mooted.</p> + +<p>We read with great care your statement as to the interest +the Corporation takes in the lives and welfare of the +employees and their families, and if that were true even in +a minor degree, we would not be pressing consideration, +through a conference, of the terrible conditions that exist. +The conditions of employment, the home life, the misery in +the hovels of the steel workers is beyond description. You +may not be aware that the standard of life of the average +steel worker is below the pauper line, which means that +charitable institutions <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>furnish to the pauper a better +home, more food, clothing, light and heat than many steel +workers can bring into their lives upon the compensation +received for putting forth their very best efforts in the +steel industry. Surely this is a matter which might well be +discussed in conference.</p> + +<p>You also made reference to the attitude of your Corporation +in not opposing or preventing your employees from joining +labor organizations. It is a matter of common knowledge that +the tactics employed by your Corporation and subsidiaries +have for years most effectively prevented any attempt at +organization by your employees. We feel that a conference +would be valuable to your Corporation for the purpose of +getting facts of which, judging from your letter, you seem +to be misinformed.</p> + +<p>Some few days are still at the disposal of our committee +before the time limit will have expired when there will be +no discretion left to the committee but to enforce the +decree of your employees whom we have the honor to +represent.</p> + +<p>We submit that reason and fairness should obtain rather than +that the alternative shall be compulsory upon us.</p> + +<p>Surely reasonable men can find a common ground upon which we +can all stand and prosper.</p> + +<p>If you will communicate with us further upon this entire +matter, please address your communication to the National +Hotel, Washington, D. C. where we will be Thursday and +Friday, August 28 and 29.</p> + +<div style="margin-left: 60%; margin-right: 10%;"> +<p class="noin"> +Very truly yours,<br /> + <span class="smcap">John Fitzpatrick</span><br /> + <span class="smcap">D. J. Davis</span><br /> + <span class="smcap">Wm. Hannon</span><br /> + <span class="smcap">Edw. J. Evans</span><br /> + <span class="smcap">Wm. Z. Foster</span><br /> + Committee</p></div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>No reply came to the last letter. Mr. Gary, behind the smoke screen of +his hypocrisies about the "open shop," was determined to have the strike +go on. But the committee, fully conscious of the tremendous +responsibility resting upon it, was equally decided to exhaust every +possible means of adjustment before things came to a rupture. The +committeemen went to Washington, appeared before the Executive Council +of the A. F. of L., and received its endorsement and praise for the +manner in which the campaign had been conducted.</p> + +<p>Mr. Gompers was delegated by the Council to go with the committee to +present the matter to President Wilson, and to request him to arrange a +conference with the steel people.</p> + +<p>When President Wilson was informed of the true situation in the steel +industry, that all the men were asking for was a conference at which to +present their grievances—absolutely no other demand having been made +upon Mr. Gary—he immediately admitted the justice of the committee's +position. He stated frankly that he was entirely out of sympathy with +employers who refused to meet with representatives of their workers for +the purpose of bargaining collectively on labor conditions, and he +definitely agreed to use all his influence privately to have Mr. Gary +alter his decision and to arrange the conference. In order to give him a +chance to work the unions withheld the setting of the strike date.</p> + +<p>A week passed, with no word from the President. Conditions in the steel +industry were frightful. The companies, realizing the importance of +striking the first blow, were discharging men by the thousands. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>The +unions could wait no longer. They had to move or be annihilated. On +September 4, the National Committee met and sent to President Wilson, +who was on his ill-starred trip through the West advocating the League +of Nations, the following telegram, in the meantime calling a meeting of +the Presidents of all the international unions co-operating in the steel +campaign to consider the critical situation:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="right">Washington, September 4, 1919</p> + +<p class="noin">Honorable Woodrow Wilson,<br /> +President of the United States,<br /> +Indianapolis, Ind., <i>en route</i></p> + +<p>The Executive Committee representing the various +international unions in the iron and steel industry met +today to consider the awful situation which exists in many +of the iron and steel industry centres. The coercion, the +brutality employed to prevent men and unions from meeting in +halls engaged, upon private property, in the open air, the +thuggery of the Corporations' emissaries, the wholesale +discharge of numbers of men for no other reason than the one +assigned, that they have become members of the unions, have +brought about a situation such that it is exceedingly +difficult to withhold or restrain the indignation of the men +and the resistance they declare it is their purpose to +present. The Executive Committee, relying upon the case as +presented to you last week and your earnest declaration to +endeavor to bring about a conference for the honorable and +peaceful adjustment of the matters in controversy, have thus +far been enabled to prevail upon the men not to engage in a +general strike. We cannot now affirm how much longer we will +be able to exert that influence; but we urge you, in the +great work in which you are engaged, to give prompt +attention to this most vital of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>issues; for if the men can +no longer be restrained it is impossible to foretell what +the future may hold in store for an industrial crisis which +may ensue and frustrate the project which you have worked at +for a peaceful and honorable adjustment of industrial +affairs in our country. A meeting of all the Presidents of +the twenty-four international unions in the steel industry +has been called to take place on Tuesday, September 9th in +Washington, D. C. to take such action as they deem +necessary. May we not have your reply on or before that time +as to whether or not a conference with the Steel Corporation +is possible.</p> + +<div style="margin-left: 60%; margin-right: 10%;"> +<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">Samuel Gompers</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">John Fitzpatrick</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">D. J. Davis</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Wm. Hannon</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Edw. J. Evans</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Wm. Z. Foster</span></p></div> +</div> + +<p>The international presidents met on September 9. A telegram from +Secretary Tumulty was laid before them, to the effect that President +Wilson had not yet been successful in arranging the requested +conference; that he was somewhat discouraged, but was continuing his +efforts. The general opinion took this to be final, that Mr. Gary had +definitely refused the President's request. But in order to make +assurance doubly sure and to convince all involved that everything +possible had been done to avert a break, the following further telegram +was sent to Mr. Wilson, over the objections of some who felt it was +practically asking him to declare the strike:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="right"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>Washington, September 9, 1919</p> + +<p class="noin">Honorable Woodrow Wilson,<br /> +President of the United States,<br /> +St. Paul Hotel,<br /> +St. Paul, Minnesota</p> + +<p>Secretary Tumulty's telegram of September fifth to Samuel Gompers was +read today at the meeting of the presidents of the twenty-four +international unions in the steel industry, and given the most careful +consideration. After a long and earnest discussion of it the undersigned +were instructed to wire you requesting a more definite statement as to +the possibility of an early conference being arranged by your efforts +between the heads of the United States Steel Corporation and of the +unions involved. Large numbers of men are being discharged and otherwise +discriminated against and abused, and it will be impossible to hold our +men much longer from defending themselves by striking unless some +genuine relief is vouchsafed them. Our meeting will remain in session +here for forty-eight hours awaiting your reply before taking final +action. Please send answer to John Fitzpatrick, Chairman of National +Committee, American Federation of Labor Building, Washington, D. C.</p> + +<div style="margin-left: 60%; margin-right: 10%;"> +<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">John Fitzpatrick</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">M. F. Tighe</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Wm. Hannon</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Wm. Z. Foster</span> +</p></div></div> + +<p>On the day following Secretary Tumulty's answer was laid on the table +before the meeting, practically repeating what his first telegram had +said. It held out no definite hope for a conference, neither did it +suggest any alternative.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> Clearly the unions had to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>act. President +Gompers and others had warned of the great power of the Steel Trust and +the eagerness with which the employing class would unite to give +Organized Labor a heavy blow in the steel industry. The union +representatives keenly realized the gravity of the situation and their +heavy responsibilities. It was in this frame of mind that they could see +no honorable way out of the difficulty except to strike. Accordingly +President Tighe of the Amalgamated Association moved that the strike be +set for September 22. His motion was unanimously adopted. The die was +cast. After telegraphing the strike order broadcast, the union men +scattered to their respective posts to organize the walkout.</p> + +<p>Then came a bolt from the blue. Next morning the newspapers carried a +telegram from Secretary Tumulty to President Gompers requesting that the +strike be held off until after the Industrial conference, beginning +October 6. The committeemen could hardly believe their eyes, because the +telegram they had received from Mr. Tumulty had said absolutely nothing +about postponing the strike. Besides, since the President had asked Mr. +Gary privately to grant his workers the conference they were seeking, +and so gave him an opportunity to decline without publicity, it was +incredible that he would publicly make a request upon the unions which +involved their destruction, and which they would have openly to refuse, +thus putting them in a bad light and giving their opponents a powerful +weapon. But all doubts were set at rest by this communication from Mr. +Gompers:</p> + +<p class="cen"> +AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p> + +<p class="right">Washington, D. C., Sept. 11, 1919</p> +<p class="noin">Mr. John Fitzpatrick, Chairman,<br /> +National Committee For Organizing Iron<br /> +and Steel Workers,<br /> +Washington, D. C.<br /></p> + +<p class="noin"><i>Dear Mr. Fitzpatrick</i>:<br /></p> + +<p>This morning I received a telegram as follows:</p> + +<p class="right">Dickinson, N. Dak., Sept. 10, 1919</p> +<p class="noin">Hon. Samuel Gompers,<br /> +President American Federation of Labor,<br /> +Washington, D. C.</p> + +<p>In view of the difficulty of arranging any present +satisfactory mediation with regard to the steel situation, +the President desires to urge upon the steel men, through +you, the wisdom and desirability of postponing action +of any kind until after the forthcoming Industrial conference +at Washington.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">J. P. Tumulty</span>.</p> + +<p>You are aware of the reason which prevented my +participating further, the past few days, in the conferences +with the representatives of the various national +and international unions involved in this question.</p> + +<p>In transmitting the above to you (which I am doing +by long distance telephone from New York) I want to +express the hope that something can be done without +injury to the workers and their cause to endeavor to +conform to the wish expressed by the President; that +even though the corporations may endeavor to provoke +the men to action, that they may hold themselves in +leash and under self-control, consciously demonstrating +their stamina and willingness to abide by the justice of +their cause and that their rights will be finally protected.</p> + +<div style="margin-left: 60%; margin-right: 10%;"> +<p class="noin">Fraternally yours,<br /> +<span class="smcap">Samuel Gompers</span>,<br /> +President<br /> +American Federation of Labor<br /> +</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>Upon the receipt of this letter a meeting of the National Committee was +at once called to consider the situation. And a serious one it was +indeed. Before the Committee lay two requests to postpone the strike; +one from President Wilson, clear and categoric; the other from Mr. +Gompers, qualified by the hope that it could be done "without injury to +the workers and their cause." To deny these powerful requests meant to +be accused, in the first instance, of hasty and disloyal action, and in +the second, of practical revolt against the officials of the A. F. of L. +It would be to start the strike under the handicap of an unduly hostile +public opinion. Yet to grant them meant ruin complete.</p> + +<p>Conditions in the steel industry were desperate. Everywhere the +employers were making vigorous attacks on the unions. From Chicago, +Youngstown, Newcastle, Steubenville, Wheeling, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and +many other points large numbers of men were being thrown out of work +because of their union membership. Johnstown was a bleeding wound. In +the towns along the Monongahela river thousands of discharged men walked +the streets, and their number was daily being heavily increased.</p> + +<p>In the face of this situation it would have been folly to have the steel +workers abandon their strike preparations, even if it could have been +done. It was like asking one belligerent to ground arms in the face of +its onrushing antagonist. The employers gave not the slightest sign of a +truce. Long before anything could be hoped for from the Industrial +conference, they would have cut the unions to pieces, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>had the workers +been foolish enough to give them the opportunity.</p> + +<p>This the steel workers were determined not to do. Immediately after the +story got abroad that the strike might be postponed, they met in their +unions and notified the National Committee that they were going to +strike on September 22, regardless of anything that body might do short +of getting them definite concessions and protection. Many long weary +months they had waited patiently, under the urgings of the organizers, +for a chance to redress their grievances. And now when they had built +their organizations; taken their strike vote; received their strike call +and were ready to deliver a blow at their oppressors, the opportunity of +a generation was at hand, and they were not going to see it lost. They +would not postpone indefinitely, and in all likelihood break up +altogether, the movement they had suffered so much to build, in the +vague hope that the Industrial conference, which they had no guarantee +would even consider their case, and which was dominated by their arch +enemies, Gary and Rockefeller, would in some distant day do something +for them. Their determination to have the strike go on was intensified +by the constant ding-donging of the Steel Trust propaganda in the mills +to the effect that the A. F. of L. unions were cowardly and corrupt; +that they would make no fight for the steel workers, and that a +postponement of the strike would be proof positive that they had sold +out. Under such circumstances the workers could not consent to the +withholding of the strike. Practically all the steel <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>districts in the +country solemnly warned the National Committee that they would strike on +September 22, in spite of any postponement that was not based on +positive assurances that justice would be done. The control of the +situation was in the hands of the rank and file.</p> + +<p>The field secretaries and organizers present at the National Committee +meeting, men intimately acquainted with actual conditions, emphasized +the impossibility of postponement. Many of them, among whom were some of +the best and most conservative men in the whole campaign, declared that +an attempt to delay the strike, merely upon the strength of possible +action by the Industrial conference, would result in the swift +destruction of the movement under the worst of circumstances. The +workers would be bound to consider it a gigantic sell-out and to act +accordingly. As for themselves, they declared they would have nothing to +do with it, and would be compelled to present their resignations the +minute a motion to postpone prevailed. Dozens of them took this stand.</p> + +<p>To the National Committee two courses were open: (1) It could postpone +the strike with the absolute certainty that it would break the steel +movement by so doing, because the strike would have gone ahead anyway in +a series of wild, uncontrolled, leaderless revolts, waged in an +atmosphere fatally charged with accusations of cowardice and graft. In +all probability the A. F. of L. would suffer one of the worst defeats in +its history, and gain such an evil reputation among the steel workers +that it could <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>not approach them for many years, if ever, with an +organization project. Or (2) it could go ahead with the strike, with a +fighting chance to win. In any event, even if the strike were lost, it +would be through a clean fight and the honor of the movement would be +preserved. The steel workers would be convinced that everything possible +had been done for them. Thus the unions would retain their confidence +and be enabled to re-organize them at an early date.</p> + +<p>Between certain, ignominious defeat and possible victory, or at the +worst honorable failure, the National Committee had only one choice. +Practically all the delegates present were of the opinion that the +strike had to go on. But some had to wire their international offices to +cancel their instructions to vote for postponement. On September 18, D. +J. Davis, Assistant President of the Amalgamated Association moved that +September 22 be reaffirmed as the strike date. This was carried.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> +Then the Conference Committee addressed a long letter to President +Wilson, explaining in detail the situation as the union men saw it and +outlining the reasons for not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>postponing the strike. The letter closed +as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Mr. President, delay is no longer possible. We have tried to +find a way but cannot. We regret that for the first time +your call upon Organized Labor cannot meet with favorable +response. Believe us the fault is not ours. If delay were no +more than delay, even at the cost of loss of membership in +our organizations, we would urge the same to the fullest of +our ability, notwithstanding the men are set for an +immediate strike. But delay here means the surrender of all +hope. This strike is not at the call of the leaders, but +that of the men involved. Win or lose, the strike is +inevitable and will continue until industrial despotism will +recede from the untenable position now occupied by Mr. Gary. +We have faith in your desire to bring about a conference and +hope you will succeed therein. We fully understand the +hardships that meanwhile will follow and the reign of terror +that unfair employers will institute. The burden falls upon +the men, but the great responsibility therefor rests upon +the other side.</p></div> + +<p>After agreeing that all settlements made with the employers should cover +all trades, and sending a letter to the independent steel companies +inviting conferences with them, the meeting adjourned and the organizers +and delegates left to make good the following strike call, of which +200,000 copies, in seven languages, had been scattered broadcast +throughout the entire steel industry:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="cen">STRIKE SEPTEMBER 22, 1919</p> + +<p>The workers in the iron and steel mills and blast furnaces, +not working under union agreements, are requested not to go +to work on September 22, and to refuse <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>to resume their +employment until such time as the demands of the +organizations have been conceded by the steel corporations.</p> + +<p>The union committees have tried to arrange conferences with +the heads of the steel companies in order that they might +present our legitimate demands for the right of collective +bargaining, higher wages, shorter hours and better working +conditions. But the employers have steadfastly refused to +meet them. It therefore becomes our duty to support the +committees' claims, in accordance with the practically +unanimous strike vote, by refusing to work in the mills on +or after September 22, until such time as our just demands +have been granted. And in our stoppage of work let there be +no violence. The American Federation of Labor has won all +its great progress by peaceful and legal methods.</p> + +<p>IRON AND STEEL WORKERS! A historic decision confronts us. If +we will but stand together now like men our demands will +soon be granted and a golden era of prosperity will open for +us in the steel industry. But if we falter and fail to act +this great effort will be lost, and we will sink back into a +miserable and hopeless serfdom. The welfare of our wives and +children is at stake. Now is the time to insist upon our +rights as human beings.</p> + +<p>STOP WORK SEPTEMBER 22</p> + +<p class="cen"><span class="smcap">National Committee<br /> for Organizing Iron and Steel +Workers.</span></p></div> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Out of courtesy to the President the National Committee +has never made public these telegrams.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> After he had been made fully acquainted with the situation +Mr. Gompers said before the Senate Committee on Education and Labor, +investigating the steel strike: (Hearings, page 109) "Notwithstanding +what any of the officials of the trade unions would have done, +regardless of what the Committee would have done, the strike would have +occurred anyway, a haphazard, loose, disjointed, unorganized strike, +without leadership, without consultation, without advice. It was simply +a choice whether the strike would take place under the guidance and +leadership of men who have proven their worth, or under the leadership +of some one who might spring up for the moment."</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>VII</h2> + +<h2>THE STORM BREAKS</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang" style="margin-left: 2em;">THE STEEL TRUST ARMY—CORRUPT +OFFICIALDOM—CLAIRTON—McKEESPORT—THE STRIKE—SHOWING BY +DISTRICTS—A TREASONABLE ACT—GARY GETS HIS ANSWER</p></div> +<br /> + +<p>As the memorable twenty-second of September approached a lurid and +dramatic setting developed for the beginning of the great steel strike. +Everywhere the steel companies made gigantic preparations to crush their +aspiring workers back to slavery. The newspapers shrieked revolution. +The whole country was a-tremble with anxiety and apprehension.</p> + +<p>Pittsburgh was the storm center. There, in its stronghold, the Steel +Trust went ahead with strike-breaking measures unprecedented in +industrial history. It provisioned and fortified its great mills and +furnaces, surrounding them with stockades topped off with heavily +charged electric wires, and bristling with machine guns. It assembled +whole armies of gunmen. Brute force was to be used in breaking the +solidarity of the workers. Said the New York <i>World</i> editorially +September 22: "In anticipation of the steel strike, what do we see? In +the Pittsburgh district thousands of deputy sheriffs have been recruited +at several of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>larger plants. The Pennsylvania State Constabulary +has been concentrated at commanding points. At other places the +authorities have organized bodies of war veterans as special officers. +At McKeesport alone 3,000 citizens have been sworn in as special police +deputies subject to instant call. It is as though preparations were made +for actual war."</p> + +<p>Along the Monongahela river from Pittsburgh to Clairton, a distance of +twenty miles, there were not less than 25,000 armed men in the service +of the Steel Trust. In the entire Pittsburgh district, practically all +the petty parasites who prey upon the steel workers—the professional +and small business men—had been sworn in as deputies and furnished +firearms to defend their great overlord, to whom they all do +unquestioning service no matter how dirty the job. During the strike +Sheriff Haddock of Allegheny county stated to the Senate Committee +investigating the strike that there were 5,000 deputy sheriffs and 5,000 +strikers in his jurisdiction, or one deputy for each striker. His totals +should have been multiplied by at least ten in each case; 50,000 +deputies and 50,000 strikers would have been well below the mark. It is +noteworthy that although the danger of an uprising in the Pittsburgh +district was widely advertised no appeal was made for troops, nor was +there even any talk of an appeal. The reason was that the Steel Trust +had a vast army of its own, officered by its own officials, and it +needed no outside help.</p> + +<p>Western Pennsylvania is controlled body and soul by the Steel Trust. The +whole district has the psychology of a company-owned town. All authority +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>centers in the steel industry. From there practically every institution +takes its orders. Local governmental agencies are hardly more than +public service departments of the Steel Trust. Their officials, city, +county, state and federal, obey the mandates of the steel magnates just +about as readily and naturally as do the superintendents and mill +bosses. No less than the latter they felt it to be their duty to break +the strike by whatever means their masters told them to use.</p> + +<p>With the approach of the strike these lackey officials hastened <i>en +masse</i> to the aid of the Steel Trust. Sheriff Haddock, besides swearing +in an army of guards and turning them over to the steel companies to +carry out their plan of terrorism, issued a flaming proclamation +practically setting up martial law and making it a riotous assembly for +three steel workers to meet together. Next day, September 21, the +organizers tried to hold a meeting in North Clairton—with the Burgess' +permission, and at a place on the public commons especially set aside by +the authorities for union meetings. About 3,000 steel workers gathered +to hear the speakers. Everything was going as peacefully as a Sunday +school picnic, when suddenly a troop of State Constabulary appeared upon +the scene, and without a word of warning, rode full tilt into the crowd, +clubbing and trampling men and women indiscriminately. They tore down +and threw in the mud the American flag floating above the speakers' +stand. Scores were arrested (including organizers J. B. Etchison and P. +H. Brogan) and held for heavy bonds on charges of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>rioting.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> Many +were seriously injured, but fearing to report their cases to the doctors +and thus court arrest, as the latter were nearly all deputies, they +cured themselves as best they could. This crying outrage was perpetrated +under the authority of the Sheriff's proclamation. It was endorsed and +lauded by Governor Sproul, than whom the Steel Trust has no more willing +champion.</p> + +<p>At the same hour as the Clairton outrage a similar attack was made on +the workers at Glassport, adjoining McKeesport. Not being allowed to +meet at the latter city the organizers had leased a plot of ground in +Glassport and had been holding regular meetings there, with the full +sanction of the local authorities. For the meeting in question they had +an official permit. But just as it was about to begin the State +Constabulary broke it up in true Cossack fashion, almost riding down the +Burgess in so doing. They arrested all they could seize. These were held +as rioters under bail of from $1,000 to $3,000 each. The venal +Pittsburgh papers screamed about the outbreaks that had been crushed by +the gallant State police, and praised them for their bravery in facing +the "rioting mobs."</p> + +<p>Despite all these terroristic methods the Steel <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>Trust could not break +the will of its workers. On September 22 they struck throughout the +entire industry with a discipline and universality that will be +remembered so long as steel is made in America. On Tuesday, the +twenty-third, 304,000 had quit their posts in the mills and furnaces. +All week their ranks were augmented until by September 30, there were +365,600 on strike. It was a magnificent effort for freedom, and twice as +big a strike as this country had ever known. By cities and districts, +the numbers of strikers were as follows:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 119"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="85%">Pittsburgh</td> + <td class="tdr" width="15%">25,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Homestead</td> + <td class="tdr">9,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Braddock</td> + <td class="tdr">10,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Rankin</td> + <td class="tdr">5,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Clairton</td> + <td class="tdr">4,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Duquesne & McKeesport</td> + <td class="tdr">12,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Vandergrift</td> + <td class="tdr">4,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Brackenridge</td> + <td class="tdr">5,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">New Kensington</td> + <td class="tdr">1,100</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Apollo</td> + <td class="tdr">1,500</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Leechburg</td> + <td class="tdr">3,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Donora & Monessen</td> + <td class="tdr">12,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Johnstown</td> + <td class="tdr">18,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Coatesville</td> + <td class="tdr">4,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Youngstown district, including Youngstown, E. Youngstown, Struthers, Hubbard, + Niles, Canton, Alliance, Massillon, Warren, Farrell, Newcastle, Sharon, Butler, etc.</td> + <td class="tdrb">70,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Wheeling district</td> + <td class="tdr">15,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cleveland</td> + <td class="tdr">25,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Steubenville district</td> + <td class="tdr">12,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Chicago district, including Gary, Joliet, DeKalb, South Chicago, Indiana Harbor, + East Chicago, Hammond, Evanston, Sterling, Peoria, Milwaukee, etc.</td> + <td class="tdrb">90,000<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Buffalo district</td> + <td class="tdr">12,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Pueblo</td> + <td class="tdr">6,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Birmingham</td> + <td class="tdr">2,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">5 Bethlehem Plants</td> + <td class="tdr" style="text-decoration: underline;"> 20,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Total</td> + <td class="tdr">365,600</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>The shut-down was almost complete. Throughout the country the industry +was stricken with paralysis. On an average the strike was at least 90 +per cent. effective. In the great Chicago district practically all the +men struck, hamstringing the big plants in the various steel towns of +that section, Gary, Joliet, Indiana Harbor, South Chicago, etc. The +holding of the organizations in this district for a year, in the face of +Steel Trust opposition, by the organizers under Secretary Evans, and +later, De Young, was one of the most notable achievements of the whole +campaign. When the pent-up force was finally released it swept the +district like a flood, leaving hardly a wheel turning anywhere.</p> + +<p>Youngstown is another place where great difficulties had been +encountered in the organizing work, the workers being deeply discouraged +by recently lost local strikes, and the authorities at some points so +hostile that it was impossible to hold meetings in the strategic places. +But so widespread was the discontent at the miserable working +conditions, and so well had the district crew of organizers under +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>Secretaries McCadden and Hammersmark done their work that when the +strike clarion sounded, the masses of steel workers responded almost to +a man. Trust plants and "independents" alike had to shut down. The steel +working population of the entire Mahoning Valley went on holiday. It was +a clean walkout. In the outer Youngstown district, as established by the +National Committee system, the companies, by the use of desperate +tactics, succeeded in keeping some of their men at work; in Sharon, +Farrell and Newcastle probably twenty per cent refused to obey the +strike call. But in Canton and Massillon, John Olchon and the other +organizers brought all the important mills to a dead stop.</p> + +<p>Without exception, the enormous Cleveland mills and furnaces shut down +tight. In Johnstown the Cambria Company was so hard hit that, swallowing +its pride, it had to ask the hated unions for a detachment of workers to +protect its plants. The Buffalo district men struck almost 100 per +cent., after a bitter organizing campaign and an eight months' free +speech fight. The Wheeling and Steubenville districts' steel mills and +blast furnaces were abandoned altogether by their crews. In Coatesville +and Birmingham, the response was poor, in the first locality because of +insufficient organization; and in the second because of discouragement +due to a lost local strike the year before. But in far away Colorado, +the steel workers, hearkening to the voice of freedom abroad in the +land, expressed their contempt for the company-union slavery of John D. +Rockefeller, Jr., by tieing up every department in his big Pueblo +mills.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>In the immediate Pittsburgh district, though here more strenuously +opposed by the Steel Trust, the strike ranged from 75 to 85 per cent. +effective. That it did not go as strong as other districts was purely +because of the denial, by the companies and the authorities, of the +workers' rights to meet and to organize. In the "Black Valley" section +of the district, comprising the towns lying along the Allegheny river, +Apollo, Vandergrift, Leechburg, Brackenridge, Natrona and New +Kensington, and notorious as the scene of the brutal murder of organizer +Mrs. Fannie Sellins, the strike went 90 per cent. or better; but in the +Monongahela river section it was not so good. Of the steel towns in that +district, Donora and Monessen took the lead with a 100 per cent. strike. +Due to the terrorism prevailing exact figures were almost impossible to +get for the other towns, but according to the best information +procurable they averaged about as follows; Clairton 95, Braddock 90, +Homestead 80, Rankin 85, McKeesport 70, and Duquesne 50 per cent. In +Pittsburgh itself all the larger mills and furnaces, except those of the +Jones and Laughlin Company, either suspended operations altogether or +lost heavily of their employees during the first two days of the strike. +The Jones and Laughlin men had been profoundly discouraged by a lost +strike two years previously, and had responded poorly to the organizers' +efforts. But when they saw the magnitude of the strike they took heart +somewhat, and by strenuous efforts in a rapid fire campaign, the +organizers had at least 60 per cent. of them on strike by the end of the +first week.</p> + +<p>In the plants of the Bethlehem Steel Company <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>the strike did not become +effective until September 29. The cause was to be found in local +conditions. In the early spring of 1918, before the National Committee +began its campaign, ruthless exploitation by the company had resulted in +a strike of machine shop employees. The National War Labor Board settled +the strike, erecting a shop organization to handle grievances. In the +meantime the National Committee came into the field and began active +operations. Up till this time the organized movement, led by David +Williams and Patrick Duffy, had been confined principally to the +Machinists, Electrical workers and a few other skilled trades; but now +it spread to the main body of the employees. To head it off the company +proposed to the National Committee that a Rockefeller union be set up in +the plants. Naturally this was unacceptable. Then they offered to sign +an agreement covering all their shipyard employees if the organization +of their steel plants was given up, feeling no doubt that the shipyard +boom was only temporary. For the National Committee, John Fitzpatrick +spurned this shameful trade, and the organization campaign went on—with +the shipyard men getting their agreement later on just the same.</p> + +<p>Technically the employees of the Bethlehem Company should have struck +under the first strike call, as they had no union agreement; but being +tied up with futile negotiations under their "collective bargaining" +arrangement, they did not get out until the twenty-ninth. When they did +strike the response was not so good. A fair average for the plants in +South Bethlehem, Steelton, Reading, Lebanon and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>Sparrows' Point would +be a 50 per cent. strike.</p> + +<p>On the whole the strike affected practically the entire industry, +seventy important steel centres being involved. About the only mills of +consequence to escape it were those located at Midland, Woodlawn, Lorain +and Duluth. And the only reason for this was lack of sufficient +organizers to cover them. It is noteworthy that the strike followed +strictly the lines of organization. In hardly a single instance did the +unorganized go out spontaneously, even though they had previously been +clamoring for the unions to help them. This tends to show how completely +the steel companies dominated their unorganized workers and how hard it +was for the latter to act in concert.</p> + +<p>For the most part the great walkout was concentrated on the smelting and +rolling branches of the steel industry. It had been the original +intention to make the movement thoroughly industrial, taking in all the +workers from those who mine the coal and iron to those who transfer the +finished products to the railroad lines. But insufficient resources +compelled the modification of this program, and forced the unions to +confine their work principally to the blast furnaces and rolling mills. +However, where the company mines or fabricating works lay close to the +general plants, or were part of them, the essentially industrial +character of the campaign manifested itself and these departments were +organized along with the rest. In various places, including Gary, +Chicago, Homestead, etc., bridge, car, and other fabricating shops were +an integral part of the drive. The iron miners working close in to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>Birmingham responded to some extent, but a big defeat of the local +metal trades in the mills a couple of years previously held them back +from making a strong demonstration. The coal miners struck in several +places. In Johnstown, 2,000 of them working in the Cambria Steel +Company's mines organized during the campaign, became affiliated with +the local mill workers' council, and walked out 100 per cent. on the +historic twenty-second of September.</p> + +<p>Although the United States Steel Corporation was recognized as the arch +enemy of the unions, the strike was not directed against it alone. Every +iron and steel mill and furnace in the country not working under union +agreements was included. This meant at least 95 per cent. of the +industry, because the only agreements of any consequence were between +some of the smaller companies and the Amalgamated Association. A number +of these concerns were affected also, their agreements relating only to +skilled workers, and the plants having to close when the laborers +struck. This occurred quite extensively in the Cleveland, Youngstown and +Pittsburgh districts.</p> + +<p>Considering the large number of them involved and their traditions of +isolated action, the unions displayed reasonably good solidarity in +going "over the top" against the Steel Trust. The battle line was far +from perfect, however. Much harm was done the morale of the strikers by +local unions here and there that were under the sway of ignorant +blockheads or designing tools of the bosses, refusing to recognize the +National Committee's strike call and insisting upon getting instructions +from their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>own headquarters, meanwhile scabbing it in the mills. And +the worst of it was that sometimes it was difficult, or even impossible +to have the necessary instructions issued.</p> + +<p>Far more serious than this, however, was the action of the executive +officers of the International Union of Steam and Operating Engineers. +Just as the strike was about to begin President Snellings and Secretary +Comerford sharply condemned it by letter and through the press, urging +their men to stay at work upon the flimsy pretext that the President's +industrial conference would attend to their interests. Roused to +indignation by this cold-blooded course, the local unions of engineers, +almost without exception, repudiated their international misleaders and +stuck with the rest of the steel workers. After President Gompers had +been quoted in the newspapers as pledging the support of the A. F. of L. +to the strike (two days after it started) and Labor generally had shown +its determination to stick by the steel workers, the officers of the +Engineers' international were compelled to publicly endorse the strike. +But throughout its duration they nevertheless privately encouraged their +strategically situated tradesmen to return to work, thus doing +incalculable harm when the strikers had begun to weaken a little. This +plain case of official scabbery was inspired by a jurisdictional dispute +between the engineers and the electrical workers over the disposition to +be made of electrical crane-men signed up in the campaign. Because they +could not have their unreasonable way in the matter, the officials of +the engineers deliberately knifed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>the strike and lent aid and comfort +to the bitterest opponents of Organized Labor on this planet. To such +extremes will union men go in internecine wars over trade demarcations.</p> + +<p>But in spite of opposition, blundering and treachery, the steel workers +had spoken. Mr. Gary was answered. Previous to the strike, he declared +that the unions represented only an insignificant minority of his men, +the great bulk of his working force being satisfied. He compelled the +Committee to show its credentials. Result: 365,600 steel workers laid +down their tools. This estimated total has never been disputed by the +steel companies. Here and there, in some individual town or district, +they pointed out a figure occasionally as being excessive; but although +importuned by newspaper men to do so, they never ventured to issue a +statement of the number on strike at all points. The reason was that +they feared to print the grand total which even their lying press bureau +would have to admit. Word came to the Committee from reliable sources +that the steel manufacturers considered the union figure well within the +real total.</p> + +<p>While not accurately ascertainable, the number of Mr. Gary's employees +actually taking part in the strike may be closely approximated. Mr. Gary +stated to the Senate Committee that the total number employed by the +United States Steel Corporation in the departments affected by the +strike was 201,065. Against this number should be checked off about half +of the total number of strikers, or 182,500. This is based upon the +theory that the official U. S. Steel Corporation plants form +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>approximately 50 per cent. of the industry, and that the strike was +just as effective against them as against those of any other company. It +is not asserted that these figures are absolutely accurate; but they +will serve to indicate that the claim of a 90 per cent. strike in the +plants of the Steel Corporation is a fair one. It is exceedingly +doubtful if as many as 10 per cent. of Mr. Gary's employees remained at +their posts and failed to heed the strike call. Fully 125,000 of them +were members of the unions before the strike started, and most of the +rest would have been also, had they dared brave the anger of their +bosses.</p> + +<p>The great steel strike thoroughly exposed the hypocrisies of Mr. Gary +and his ilk that in some mysterious way labor policies and conditions in +the steel industry depend upon the wishes of the body of the workers. It +made plain that in the autocratic system now prevailing the democratic +principles of majority and minority do not enter. It is a case pure and +simple of the absolute sway of property rights over human rights. A +handful of social parasites hidden away in Wall street, with no other +interest in the steel industry than to exploit it, settle arbitrarily +the vital questions of wages, hours and working conditions, while the +enormous mass of the workers, actual producers whose very lives are +involved, have no say whatsoever. No matter how bitter their grievances, +when they raise their voice to ask redress, they are discharged, +blacklisted, starved, beaten, jailed and even shot, until they bend the +knee again and yield to the will of their industrial masters.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTE:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> In this connection occurred one of the finest incidents in +the strike: Wm. J. Brennan, an able, conscientious attorney of +Pittsburgh, and one of the counsel who defended the Homestead strikers +in 1892, went to Clairton to get the "rioters" released on bonds. But +such a state of terror existed that no one dared to go their bail. +Thereupon, Mr. Brennan himself, without knowing a single one of the +defendants, but smarting under the injustice of it all, pledged his +entire property holdings, amounting to $88,000, to get them set free.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>VIII</h2> + +<h2>GARYISM RAMPANT</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang" style="margin-left: 2em;">THE WHITE TERROR—CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS DENIED—UNBREAKABLE +SOLIDARITY—FATHER KAZINCY—THE COSSACKS —SCIENTIFIC +BARBARITY—PROSTITUTED COURTS—SERVANTS REWARDED</p></div> +<br /> + +<p>It was the misfortune of the steel strike to occur in the midst of the +post-war reaction, which still persists unabated, and which constitutes +the most shameful page in American history. Ours are days when the +organized employers, inspired by a horrible fear of the onward sweep of +revolution in Europe and the irresistible advance of the labor movement +in this country, are robbing the people overnight of their most precious +rights, the fruits of a thousand years of struggle. And the people, not +yet recovered from war hysteria and misled by a corrupt press, cannot +perceive the outrage. They even glory in their degradation. Free speech, +free press, free assembly, as we once knew these rights, are now things +of the past. What poor rudiments of them remain depend upon the whims of +a Burleson, or the rowdy element of the American Legion. Hundreds of +idealists, guilty of nothing more than a temperate expression of their +honest views, languish in prison serving sentences so atrocious as to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>shock the world—although Europe has long since released its war and +political prisoners. Working class newspapers are raided, denied the use +of the mails and suppressed. Meetings are broken up by Chamber of +Commerce mobs or thugs in public office. The right of asylum is +gone—the infamous Palmer is deporting hundreds who dare to hold views +different from his. The right of the workers to organize is being +systematically curtailed; and crowning shame of all, workingmen can no +longer have legislative representatives of their own choosing. In a +word, America, from being the most forward-looking, liberty-loving +country in the world, has in two short years become one of the most +reactionary. We in this country are patiently enduring tyranny that +would not be tolerated in England, France, Italy, Russia or Germany. Our +great war leaders promised us the New Freedom; they have given us the +White Terror.</p> + +<p>Realizing full well the reactionary spirit of the times, the steel +companies proceeded safely to extremes to crush the steel strike, dubbed +by them an attempt at violent revolution. To accomplish their end they +stuck at nothing. One of their most persistent and determined efforts +was to deprive the steel workers of their supposedly inalienable right +to meet and talk together. Throughout the strike, whenever and wherever +they could find municipal or court officials willing to do their +bidding, the steel barons abolished the rights of free speech and free +assembly, so precious to strikers. Few districts escaped this evil, but +as usual, Pennsylvania felt the blow earliest and heaviest. Hardly had +the strike <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>started when the oily Schwab prohibited meetings in +Bethlehem; the Allegheny and West Penn Steel Companies did the same at +Natrona, jailing organizer J. McCaig for "inciting to riot"; in the +Sharon-Farrell district the steel workers, denied their constitutional +rights in their home towns, had to march several miles over into Ohio +(America they called it) in order to hold their meetings.</p> + +<p>Along the Monongahela river the shut-down was complete. Following +Sheriff Haddock's proclamation and the "riots" at Clairton and +Glassport, it was only a few days until the city and borough officials +had completely banned strike meetings in all the territory from +Charleroi to Pittsburgh. The unions' free-speech, free-assembly victory +of the past summer was instantly cancelled. For forty-one miles through +the heart of America's steel industry, including the important centers +of Monessen, Donora, Clairton, Wilson, Glassport, McKeesport, Duquesne, +Homestead, Braddock, Rankin, etc., not a meeting of the steel workers +could be held. Even in Pittsburgh itself meetings were prohibited +everywhere except in Labor Temple. The steel-collared city officials +never could quite muster the gall to close Labor's own building—or +perhaps because it is so far from the mills and so poorly situated for +meetings they felt it to be of no use to the strikers. Thus the Steel +Trust gave its workers a practical demonstration of what is meant by the +phrase, "making the world safe for democracy."</p> + +<p>Not only were mass meetings forbidden, but so also were regular business +meetings under the charters of the local unions. To test out this +particular <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>usurpation, Attorney W. H. Rubin, then in charge of the +strike's legal department and possessed of a keener faith in +Pennsylvania justice than the Strike committee had, keener probably than +he himself now has, prayed the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas to +enjoin Mayor Babcock and other city officials from interfering with a +local union of the Amalgamated Association holding its business meetings +on the south side of the city where its members lived and where several +large mills are located. At the hearing the Mayor and Chief of Police +freely admitted that there had been no violence in the strike, and even +complimented the men on their behavior, but they feared there might be +trouble and so forbade the meetings. The honorable Judges Ford and +Shafer agreed with them and denied the writ, saying among other things:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>It is the duty of the Mayor and Police Department to +preserve the peace, and it must be sometimes necessary for +that purpose to prevent the congregating in one place of +large numbers of people such as might get beyond the control +of the Police Department, and it must be left to the +reasonable discretion of the officers charged with keeping +the peace when such intervention is made.</p></div> + +<p>In other words, the sacred right of the workers to meet together depends +upon the arbitrary will of any politician who may get into the office +controlling the permits. Shortly before Judges Ford and Shafer handed +down this noble conception of free assembly, Judge Kennedy of the +Allegheny County Court, ruling on the appeal of Mother Jones, J. L. +Beaghen, J. M. Patterson and Wm. Z. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>Foster in the Duquesne free speech +cases of several weeks prior to the strike, had this to say:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>It cannot be questioned that the object of these +meetings—increasing the membership in the American +Federation of Labor—is a perfectly lawful one, but the +location of the meetings in the Monongahela valley, built up +as it is for mile after mile of an unbroken succession of +iron and steel mills, and thickly populated with iron +workers, many of whom obviously are not members of this +association, and among whom, on both sides, there are, in +all probability, some who upon the occasion of meetings such +as these purported to be, might through excitement +precipitate serious actions of which the consequences could +not be foreseen and might be disastrous, presents questions +which are sufficient to cause the court to hesitate before +interfering with the exercise of discretion on the part of +the Mayor in refusing to permit such meetings at this time.</p></div> + +<p>The Court is still hesitating to interfere with Mayor Crawford's +tyranny, and the defendants had to pay $100 and costs each for trying to +hold a meeting on ground they had leased. One would think that the +remedy in the case conjured out of thin air by the learned judge (for in +the thousands of meetings held in the steel campaign he cannot point to +one incident of violence) would be for the local authorities to provide +ample police protection to insure order. But no, in Pennsylvania the +thing to do is to set aside the constitutional rights of the workers. +Would such action be taken in the case of members of a Chamber of +commerce? Wouldn't the governor, rather, order out the state troops, if +necessary, to uphold their right of assembly?</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>In the hope of getting some relief, or at the least some publicity about +the unbearable situation, a committee of 18 local labor men, +representing the largest trade unions in Western Pennsylvania, went to +Washington and presented to the Allegheny County congressional +delegation a petition expressing contempt for the judges and other +officials in their part of the State and asking Congress to give them +the justice these men refused to mete out. Surely, the Allegheny County +congressmen were exactly the ones to bring the Steel Trust to time. With +a grand flourish they introduced a resolution into the House calling for +an investigation—then they forgot all about it.</p> + +<p>The official tyranny and outlawry along the Monongahela was so bad that +the Pennsylvania Federation of Labor had to voice its protest. On +November 1-2 it held a special convention in Pittsburgh, attended by +several hundred delegates. A resolution was adopted demanding that +protection be given the rights of the workers, and that if the +authorities failed to extend this protection, "the Executive Council of +the Pennsylvania Federation of Labor shall issue a call for a State-wide +strike, when in its judgment it is necessary to compel respect for law +and the restoration of liberty as guaranteed by the Constitution of the +United States and of the State of Pennsylvania." For this action +President Jas. H. Maurer of the Federation was hotly assailed and even +menaced with lynching by the lawless business interests.</p> + +<p>By some inexplicable mental twist the ex-union man Burgess of Homestead +eventually allowed the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>unions to hold one mass meeting each week—to +this day the only ones permitted in the forty-one miles of Monongahela +steel towns. They were under the supervision of the State police. At +each meeting a half dozen of these Cossacks, in full uniform, would sit +upon the platform as censors. Only English could be spoken. As the +saying was, all the organizers were permitted to talk about was the +weather. When one touched on a vital strike phase a Cossack would yell +at him, "Hey, cut that out! You're through, you—! Don't ever come back +here any more." And he never could speak there again.</p> + +<p>Judging from past experiences the strike in the Pittsburgh district +should have been impossible under such hard circumstances. With little +or no opportunity to meet for mutual encouragement and enlightenment, +the strikers, theoretically, should have been soon discouraged and +driven back to work. But they were saved by their matchless solidarity, +bred of a deep faith in the justice of their cause. In the black, +Cossack-ridden Monongahela towns there were thousands of strikers who +were virtually isolated, who never attended a meeting during the entire +strike and seldom if ever saw an organizer or read a strike bulletin, +yet they fought on doggedly for three and one-half months, buoyed up by +a boundless belief in the ultimate success of their supreme effort. Each +felt himself bound to stay away from the mills, come weal or come woe, +regardless of what the rest did. These were mainly the despised +foreigners, of course, but their splendid fighting <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>qualities were a +never-ending revelation and inspiration to all connected with the +strike.</p> + +<p>Through the dark night of oppression a bright beacon of liberty gleamed +from Braddock. There the heroic Slavish priest, Reverend Adelbert +Kazincy, pastor of St. Michel's Roman Catholic church, bade defiance to +the Steel Trust and all its minions. He threw open his church to the +strikers, turned his services into strike meetings, and left nothing +undone to make the men hold fast. The striking steel workers came to his +church from miles around, Protestants as well as Catholics. The +neighboring clergymen who ventured to oppose the strike lost their +congregations,—men, women and children flocked to Father Kazincy's, and +all of them stood together, as solid as a brick wall.</p> + +<p>Reverend Kazincy's attitude aroused the bitterest hostility of the steel +companies. They did not dare to do him bodily violence, nor to close his +church by their customary "legal" methods; but they tried everything +else. Unable to get the local bishop to silence him, they threatened +finally to strangle his church. To this the doughty priest replied that +if they succeeded he would put a monster sign high up on his steeple: +"This church destroyed by the Steel Trust," and he would see that it +stayed there. When they tried to foreclose on the church mortgage, he +promptly laid the matter before his heterogeneous congregation of +strikers, who raised the necessary $1200 before leaving the building and +next day brought in several hundred dollars more. Then the companies +informed him that after the strike no <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>more Slovaks could get work in +the mills. He told them that if they tried this, he would do his level +best to pull all the Slovaks out of the district (they are the bulk of +the mill forces) and colonize them in the West. The promised blacklist +has not yet materialized.</p> + +<p>Father Kazincy and the clergymen who worked with him, notable among whom +was the Reverend Molnar, a local Slavish Lutheran minister, constituted +one of the great mainstays of the strike in their district. They are men +who have caught the true spirit of the lowly Nazarene. The memory of +their loyal co-operation will long live green in the hearts of the +Pittsburgh district steel strikers.</p> + +<p>A description of the repressive measures taken by the Steel Trust +against its workers during the early period of the strikes necessarily +relates almost entirely to Western Pennsylvania. With few exceptions, +the other districts were in a deadlock. So tightly were the mills shut +down that the companies could hardly stir. It took them several weeks to +get their stricken fighting machinery in motion again. But it was +different in Western Pennsylvania, in what we call the greater +Pittsburgh district; that has always been the key to the whole industry, +and there, from the very first, the steel companies made a bitter fight +to control the situation and to break the strike. The tactics used there +are typical in that they came to be universally applied as the strike +grew older, the degree of their application depending upon the amount of +control exercised by the Steel Trust in the several localities.</p> + +<p>To carry on the terror so well begun by the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>suppression of free speech +and free assembly, the Steel Trust turned loose upon the devoted +strikers in Western Pennsylvania the great masses of armed thugs it had +been recruiting since long before the strike. These consisted of every +imaginable type of armed guard, official and unofficial, except +uniformed troops. There were State Constabulary, deputy sheriffs, city +police, city detectives, company police, company detectives, private +detectives, coal and iron police, ordinary gunmen, armed +strike-breakers, vigilantes, and God knows how many others. These +legions of reaction, all tarred with the same brush—a servile, +mercenary allegiance to the ruthless program of the Steel Trust—vied +with each other in working hardships upon the steel workers. In this +shameful competition the State Constabulary stood first; for downright +villainy and disregard of civil and human rights, these so-called +upholders of law and order easily outdistanced all the other plug-uglies +assembled by the Steel Trust. They merit our special attention.</p> + +<p>The Pennsylvania State Constabulary dates from 1905, when a law was +enacted creating the Department of State Police. The force is modelled +somewhat along the lines of the Royal Irish Constabulary and the +Canadian Northwest Mounted Police. The men are uniformed, mounted, +heavily armed and regularly enlisted. For the most part they consist of +ex-United States army men. At present they number somewhat less than the +amount set by law, 415 officers and men. Their ostensible duty is to +patrol the poorly policed rural sections of the state, and this they do +when they have nothing else to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>take up their time. But their real +function is to break strikes. They were organized as a result of the +failure of the militia to crush the anthracite strike of 1902. Since +their inception they have taken an active part in all important +industrial disturbances within their jurisdiction. They are the heart's +darlings of Pennsylvania's great corporations. Labor regards them with +an abiding hatred. Says Mr. Jas. H. Maurer (<i>The Cossack</i>, page 3):</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The "English Square" is the only open-field military +formation of human beings that has ever been known to +repulse cavalry. All other formations go down before the +resistless rush of plunging beasts mounted by armed men, mad +in the fierce excitement induced by the thundering gallop of +charging horses. A charge by cavalry is a storm from +hell—for men on foot. A cavalry-man's power, courage and +daring are strangely multiplied by the knowledge that he +sits astride a swift, strong beast, willing and able to +knock down a dozen men in one leap of this terrible rush. +Hence, the Cossacks, the mounted militiamen—for crushing +unarmed, unmounted groups of men on strike.</p></div> + +<p>But the State Police do not confine themselves merely to the crude +business of breaking up so-called strike riots. Their forte is +prevention, rather than cure. They aim to so terrorize the people that +they will cower in their homes, afraid to go upon the streets to +transact necessary business, much less to congregate in crowds. They +play unmercifully upon every fear and human weakness. They are skilled, +scientific terrorists, such as Czarist Russia never had.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>On a thousand occasions they beat, shot, jailed or trampled steel +workers under their horses' hoofs in the manner and under the +circumstances best calculated to strike terror to their hearts. In +Braddock, for instance, a striker having died of natural causes, about +two hundred of his fellows assembled to accompany the body to the +cemetery. To stop this harmless demonstration all the State Police +needed to do was to send a word to the union. But such orderly, +reasonable methods do not serve their studied policy of frightfulness. +Therefore, without previously informing the strikers in any way that +their funeral party was obnoxious, the Cossacks laid in wait for the +procession, and when it reached the heart of town, where all Braddock +could get the benefit of the lesson in "Americanism," they swooped down +upon it at full gallop, clubbing the participants and scattering them to +the four winds.</p> + +<p>Similar outrageous attacks occurred not once, but dozens of times. Let +Father Kazincy speak of his experiences:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right">Braddock, Pa., Sept. 27, 1919</p> + +<p class="noin">W. Z. Foster,<br /> +Pittsburgh, Pa.,</p> + +<p class="noin"><i>Dear Sir</i>:</p> + +<p>The pyramidal impudence of the State Constabulary in denying +charges of brutal assaults perpetrated by them upon the +peaceful citizens of the borough of Braddock prompts me to +send a telegram to the Governor of Pennsylvania, in which I +have offered to bring forth two specific cases of bestial +transgression of their "calling."</p> + +<p>On Monday last at 10 <span class="smcap">A. M.</span> my congregation, leaving +church, was suddenly, without any cause whatever, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>attacked +on the very steps of the Temple of God, by the Constables, +and dispersed by the iron-hoofed Huns. Whilst dispersing +indignation and a blood frenzy swayed them, a frenzy +augmented by that invisible magnetic force, the murmuring, +raging force of 3,000 strong men. One could feel that +helpless feeling of being lifted up by some invisible force, +forced, thrown against the flux of raging, elemental passion +of resentment, against the Kozaks of this State.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, it was the most magnificent display of +self-control manifested by the attacked ever shown anywhere. +They moved on, with heads lowered and jaws firmly set, to +submit. Oh, it was great; it was magnificent. They, these +husky, muscle-bound Titans of raw force walked home ... only +thinking, thinking hard. Oh, only for one wink from some +one, would there be a puddle of red horseblood mixed with +the human kind.</p> + +<p>But no. We want to win the strike. We want to win the +confidence of the public.</p> + +<p>Tuesday afternoon the little babies of No. 1 were going to +the school. They loitered for the school bell to summon +them. And here come Kozaks. They see the little innocents +standing on the steps of the school-house, their parents on +the opposite side of the street. What a splendid occasion to +start the "Hunkey's" ire. Let us charge their babies—that +will fetch them to an attack upon us.</p> + +<p>They did. But the "Hunkey" even at the supreme test of his +cool-headedness, refused to flash his knife to save his +babies from the onrush of the cruel horses' hoofs.</p> + +<p>I am relating to you, Mr. Foster, things as they happened. +You may use my name in connection with your charges against +the Constabulary.</p> + +<div style="margin-left: 55%; margin-right: 10%;"> +<p class="noin">Sincerely yours,<br /> +<span class="smcap">Rev. A. Kazincy</span>,<br /> +416 Frazier St., Braddock, Pa.</p></div></div> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep122" id="imagep122"></a> +<a href="images/imagep122.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep122.jpg" width="85%" alt="Cossacks in Action" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">COSSACKS IN ACTION<br /> +Brutal and unprovoked assault upon Rudolph Dressel, Homestead, Pa., Sept. 23, 1919.</p> +<p style="padding-left: 5%;"><i>Photo by International</i></p> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>Governor Sproul paid no attention to Father Kazincy's protest, nor did +he to a long letter from Jas. H. Maurer, reciting shocking brutalities +fully authenticated by affidavits—unless it was to multiply his public +endorsements and praises of the State Police.</p> + +<p>A favorite method of the Constables was to go tearing through the +streets (foreign quarter), forcing pedestrians into whatever houses they +happened to be passing, regardless of whether or not they lived there. +Read these two typical affidavits, portraying a double outrage:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="noin">STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA }<br /> +COUNTY OF ALLEGHENY } SS.</p> + +<p>Before me, the undersigned authority, personally appeared +John Bodnar, who being duly sworn according to law deposes +and says that he lives at 542 Gold Way, Homestead, Pa., that +on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 1919, at about 2 <span class="smcap">P. M.</span> he +went to visit his cousin on Fifth Avenue, Homestead, Pa.: +that he did in fact visit his cousin and after leaving the +house of his cousin was accosted on the street by a member +of the State Police who commanded him, the deponent, to +enter a certain house, which house was not known to the +deponent; that deponent informed said State Policeman that +he, deponent, did not live in the house indicated by the +State Policeman; nevertheless, the said State Policeman +said, "It makes no difference whether you live in there or +not, you go in there anyhow"; thereupon in fear of violence +deponent did enter the said house, which house was two doors +away from the house of the cousin of deponent; that after a +time deponent came out of the house into which he had been +ordered, thereupon the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>same State Policeman returned and +ordered deponent to re-enter the house aforesaid and upon +again being informed by deponent that he, the deponent, did +not live in said house, the said State Policeman forthwith +arrested the deponent and brought him to Homestead police +station, and at a hearing at said station before the burgess +was fined the sum of nine dollars and sixty-five cents, +which amount was paid by deponent.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">John Bodnar</span></p> + +<p class="noin">Sworn to and subscribed before me<br /> +this first day of October, 1919.<br /> +A. F. Kaufman, Notary Public.</p></div> + +<p>Here is what happened in the house into which Bodnar was driven:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="noin">STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA }<br /> +COUNTY OF ALLEGHENY }SS.</p> + +<p class="noin">Before me, the undersigned authority, personally appeared +Steve Dudash, who being duly sworn according to law deposes +and says that he resides at 541 E. 5th Ave., Homestead, Pa.; +that on Tuesday September 23, 1919, in the afternoon of said +day, his wife, Mary Dudash, was severely scalded, burned, +and injured by reason of a sudden fright sustained when a +State Policeman forced John Bodnar into the home of the +deponent and his wife, Mary Dudash; that said Mary Dudash, +the wife of the deponent, was in a very delicate condition +at the time of the fright and injury complained of, caused +by the State Police and that on Sunday, Sept. 28, 1919, +following the date in question, namely the 23rd, the said +Mary Dudash, wife of deponent, gave birth to a child; that +on account of the action of the State Police in forcing John +Bodnar with terror into the home of deponent and his wife, +Mary <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>Dudash, she, the said Mary Dudash, wife of the +deponent, has been rendered very sick and has suffered a +nervous collapse and is still suffering from the nervous +shock sustained, on account of the action of the State +Police, above referred to.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Steve Dudash</span></p> + +<p class="noin">Sworn to and subscribed before me<br /> +this first day of October, 1919<br /> +A. F. Kaufman, Notary Public</p></div> + +<p>When on a mission of terrorism the first thing the State Troopers do is +to get their horses onto the sidewalks, the better to ride down the +pedestrians. Unbelievable though it may seem, they actually ride into +stores and inner rooms. Picture the horror a foreign worker and his +family, already badly frightened, at seeing a mounted policeman crashing +into their kitchen. The horses are highly trained. Said an N. E. A. news +dispatch, Sept. 26th, 1919:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Horses of the Pennsylvania State Constabulary are trained +not to turn aside, as a horse naturally will do, when a +person stands in its way, but to ride straight over any one +against whom they are directed. Lizzie, a splendid black +mare ridden by Trooper John A. Thorp, on duty at Homestead, +uses her teeth as well as her heels when in action. Her +master will sometimes dismount, leaving Lizzie to hold a +striker with her strong jaws, while he takes up the pursuit +of others on foot.</p></div> + +<p>If this is thought to be an overdrawn statement, read the following +affidavit:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right">Butler, Pa., October 3, 1919</p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> + +<p class="noin">I, Jacob Sazuta,<br /> +21 Bessemer Ave.,<br /> +Lyndora, Pa.</p> + +<p>Commenced work for the Standard Steel Car Company in +September, 1913, as laborer. About October 1916 was promoted +to car fitter in the erection department; in February, 1919, +was then taken and placed as a wheel roller, and I worked in +this capacity until August 6th, 1919 [the date the steel +strike began there].</p> + +<p>On August 25, after receiving my pay, I was standing looking +in a store window, when State Trooper No. 52 rode his horse +upon me, THE HORSE STEPPING ON MY LEFT FOOT. Trooper No. 52 +ordered me to move on, BUT AS THE HORSE WAS STANDING ON MY +FOOT I COULD NOT MOVE. He then struck me across the head +with his club, cutting a gash in the left side of my head +that took the doctor three stitches to close up the wound. +After hitting me with his club, he kept chasing me with his +horse.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Jacob Sazuta</span></p> + +<p class="noin">Sworn and subscribed before me<br /> +this third day of October, 1919.<br /> +E. L. Cefferi, Notary Public.</p></div> + +<p>A few affidavits, and extracts from affidavits, taken at random from +among the hundreds in possession of the National Committee, will +indicate the general conditions prevailing in the several districts:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right">Clairton, Pa.</p> + +<p>John Doban, Andy Niski and Mike Hudak were walking home +along the street when the State Police came and arrested the +three, making ten holes in Mike <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>Hudak's head. Were under +arrest three days. Union bailed them out, $1,000.00 each.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right">Butler, Pa., Oct. 3, 1919.</p> + +<p class="noin">I, James Torok,<br /> +Storekeeper,<br /> +103 Standard Ave., +<br />Lyndora, Pa.,</p> + +<p>On about August 15, 1919, I saw State Troopers chase a +crippled man who could not run as fast as his horse, and run +him down, the horse bumping him in the back with his head, +knocked him down. Later three men were coming to my store to +buy some things; the State Troopers ran their horses right +on them and chased them home. One of the men stopped and +said: "I have to go to the store," and the Trooper said: +"Get to hell out of here, you sons — ——, or I will kill +you," and started after them again, and the people ran home +and stayed away from the store.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">James Torok</span></p> + +<p class="noin">Sworn to and subscribed before me<br /> +this 3rd day of October, 1919.<br /> +E. L. Peffer, Notary Public.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right">Homestead, Pa.</p> + +<p>... two State Policemen made a forcible entry into the home +of deponent, Trachn Yenchenke, at 327 Third Ave, Homestead, +Pa., and came to the place where deponent was asleep, kicked +him and punched him, and handled him with extreme violence +and took deponent without any explanation, without +permitting deponent to dress, dragged him half naked from +his home to waiting automobile and conveyed him against his +will to the Homestead Police Station.... Fined $15.10.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Trachn Yenchenke.</span></p></div> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right">Monessen, Pa.</p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> + +<p>... Concetta Cocchiara, 8 months advanced in a state of +pregnancy, was out shopping with her sister. Two State +Policemen brusquely ordered them home and when they did not +move fast enough to suit, followed them home, forced himself +into the house and struck affiant with a stick on the head +and grabbed her by the hair and pulled her from the kitchen +and forced her into a patrol wagon and took her to the +borough jail.... Sworn to before Henry Fusarini, Notary +Public, October 11, 1919.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right">Newcastle, Pa.</p> + +<p class="noin">John Simpel,<br /> +1711 Morris Ave.,<br /> +Newcastle.</p> + +<p>On Sept. 22, about 5.30 <span class="smcap">P. M.</span> he was walking along +towards his home on Moravia Street. Hearing shots fired he +stopped in the middle of the street and was instantly struck +by bullets three times, one bullet going through his leg, +one through his finger, while the third entered his back and +went through his body, coming out through his abdomen. The +shots were fired from inside the gates of the Carnegie Steel +Company's plant. Mr. Simpel believes the shots were fired +from a machine gun, because of their rapid succession. He +fell on the ground and lay there for about ten minutes, +until he was picked up by a young boy.... He is now totally +disabled. He has a wife and a child and is 48 years of +age....</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Jas. A. Norrington</span>, Secretary.</p></div> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right">Farrell, Pa.</p> + +<p>... There were four men killed here, one in a quarrel in a +boarding house and three by the Cossacks. Half a dozen were +wounded, one of them a woman. She <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>was shot in the back by a +Cossack, while on her way to the butcher shop....</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">S. Coates</span>, Secretary.</p></div> + +<p>Many hundreds of similar cases could be cited. In the steel strike a +score were killed, almost all on the workers' side; hundreds were +seriously injured, and thousands unjustly jailed. To the State +Constabulary attaches the blame for a large share of this tyranny. The +effect of their activities was to create a condition in Western +Pennsylvania, bordering on a reign of terror. Yet it is extremely +difficult to definitely fasten their crimes upon them. No matter how +dastardly the outrage, when the Steel Trust cracks its whip the local +authorities and leading citizens come forth with a mass of affidavits, +"white-washing" the thuggery in question, and usually sufficing to cast +serious doubts on the statements of the few worker witnesses courageous +enough to raise their voices. What is to be thought of the following +incident?</p> + +<p>Testifying before the Senate Committee investigating the strike, Mr. +Gompers related how, in an organizing campaign in Monessen, Pa. several +years ago, A. F. of L. organizer Jefferson D. Pierce was bludgeoned by +Steel Trust thugs, receiving injuries that resulted in his death. Mr. +Gompers had his facts straight. Yet the very next day, Mr. Gary, +testifying before the same Committee, produced a sworn statement from +the son of Mr. Pierce containing the following assertions:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>I was with my father the night he received his injuries in +Monessen, Pa., and wish to state very emphatically <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>that his +injury was not caused by any one connected with the United +States Steel Corporation. On the contrary, it was caused by +a member of the I. W. W. organization from out of town, who +was sent there at the time to create trouble, as the I. W. +W. organization was then trying to gain control of the +organizing situation. I wish again most emphatically to +refute Mr. Gompers' statement that this injury was caused by +some one connected with the United States Steel Corporation.</p></div> + +<p>Upon being questioned, Mr. Gary "thought" that Mr. Pierce is employed at +Worcester, Mass. by the American Steel and Wire Company, a subsidiary of +the U. S. Steel Corporation.</p> + +<p>Fortunately, however, in the steel strike the photographer secured a +proof of State Police brutality which the most skilled Steel Trust +apologists cannot explain away—a picture of the typically vicious +assault upon Mr. R. Dressel, a hotel keeper of 532 Dickson St. (foreign +quarter), Homestead, Pa. I quote from the latter's statement in +connection therewith:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>I, Rudolph Dressel, of the aforesaid address, do hereby make +this statement of my own volition and without solicitation +from any one. That on the 23rd day of September I was +standing in front of my place of business at the aforesaid +address and a friend of mine, namely, Adolph Kuehnemund, +came to visit and consult me regarding personal matters. As +I stood as shown in the picture above mentioned with my +friend, the State Constabulary on duty in Homestead came +down Dickson St. They had occasion to ride up and down the +street several times and finally stopped directly in front +of me and demanded that I move on. Before I had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>time to +comply I was struck by the State Policeman. (The attitude of +said Policeman is plainly shown in the aforesaid picture, +and his threatening club is plainly seen descending towards +me.)</p> + +<p>My friend and I then entered my place of business and my +friend a few minutes afterwards looked out on the street +over the summer doors. The policeman immediately charged him +and being unable to enter my place of business on horseback, +dismounted and entered into my place of business on foot.</p> + +<p>My friend being frightened at what had happened to me +retired to a room in the rear of my place of business. The +Policeman entered this room, accompanied by another State +Police, and without cause, reason or excuse, struck my +friend and immediately thereafter arrested him. I was +personally present at his hearing before Burgess P. H. +McGuire of the above city, at which none of the aforesaid +policemen were heard or even present. Burgess asked my +friend what he was arrested for, and my friend referred to +me inasmuch as he himself did not know. The Burgess +immediately replied, "We have no time to hear your +witnesses," and thereupon levied a fine of $10.00 and costs +upon him. My friend having posted a forfeit of $25.00, the +sum of $15.45 was deducted therefrom.</p></div> + +<p>The State Constabulary were sent, unasked for, into the quiet steel +towns for the sole purpose of intimidating the strikers. The following +took place at the meeting of the Braddock Borough Council, October 6:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Mr. Verosky: (County detective and council member) "Mr. +Chairman, the citizens of the borough wish to know by whose +authority the State Constabulary was called into Braddock to +take up their quarters here and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>to practically relieve the +police of their duties, by patrolling the streets on foot, +mounted, and always under arms."</p> + +<p>Mr. Holtzman: (President of Council) "I surely do not know +who called them into town, but were I the Burgess, I would +make it my business to find out, in view of the fact that +the Constabulary is neither wanted nor needed here."</p> + +<p>Mr. Verosky: "Well, in that case, the Burgess may throw some +light on the subject."</p> + +<p>Mr. Callahan: (Burgess) "The question comes to me as a +surprise and I am sure that I don't know by whose authority +the Constabulary was called in."</p></div> + +<p>Everything was calm in Braddock until the State Police came in. Then the +trouble began. It was the same nearly everywhere. The arrival of these +men was always the signal for so-called riots, and wholesale clubbing, +shooting and jailing of strikers.</p> + +<p>Great praise has been poured upon the State Constabulary for their +supposedly wonderful bravery and efficiency, because a few hundred of +them, scattered thinly through a score of towns, have been able +apparently to overawe many thousands of strikers. But the credit is +undeserved. In strikes they always form, in point of actual weight, an +insignificant part of the armed forces arrayed against the strikers. For +instance, in a steel town, during the strike, there would usually be a +dozen or so State Police and from 3,000 to 4,000 deputy sheriffs, +company police, etc. The latter classes of gunmen make up the body of +the real repressive force; the State Police are merely raiders. It is +their particularly dirty job to harass the enemy; to break the strike +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>by scientifically bulldozing the strikers in their homes and on the +streets. Thus they are thrown into the limelight, while the company +thugs remain in comparative obscurity.</p> + +<p>The State Police feel reasonably sure of their skins when carrying on +their calculated campaigns of terrorism, for behind them are large +numbers of armed guards of various sorts ready to spring to their +support at an instant's notice, should the workers dare to resist them. +Besides, they know they have <i>carte blanche</i> to commit the greatest +excesses, since the highest state officials, not to speak of local +courts and other authorities, give them undivided support. They are +above the law, when the rights of the workers are concerned. Moreover, +they realize fully that they can depend upon trade-union leaders to hold +the strikers in check from adopting measures of retaliation. Few of them +are hurt during their depredations. Once in a while, however, they drive +their victims to desperation and get themselves into trouble.</p> + +<p>For example, a few days after a fight in Farrell, Pa., that cost the +strikers two dead and a dozen seriously wounded, the local secretary +there, S. Coates, was on his way to Ohio to hold a meeting, when the +delivery truck upon which he was riding overturned, rendering him +unconscious. He woke up in a Sharon hospital. The six beds adjoining his +were occupied by Cossacks, injured in the riot started by themselves in +Farrell. The public knew nothing of their injuries, it being the regular +thing to suppress such facts, in order to surround the dreaded Cossacks +with a reputation for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>invulnerability. The way the latter "get even" +for their casualties is to victimize and outrage as many workers as they +think necessary to balance the score. But such methods cannot go on +indefinitely. It will be marvellous, indeed, if some day the State +Constabulary, with their policy of deliberate intimidation, are not the +means of causing riots such as this country has not yet experienced in +labor disputes. Not always will the unions be able to hold their men as +steady in the face of brutal provocation as they did in the recent steel +strike.</p> + +<p>Hand in glove with the Cossacks in their work of terrorizing +Pennsylvania's steel towns went the less skilful but equally vicious +company police, gunmen, deputy sheriffs, etc., many of whom, ex-service +men, disgraced their uniforms by wearing them on strike duty. Nor were +the city police, save for a few honorable exceptions here and there, +appreciably better. As for the police magistrates, almost to a man they +seconded unquestioningly the work of the sluggers. In fact, all the +forces of "law and order" in Western Pennsylvania, official and +unofficial, worked together like so many machines—in the interest of +their powerful master, the Steel Trust.</p> + +<p>Many of the armed guards were murderous criminals; penitentiary birds +scraped together from the slums of the great cities to uphold Garyism by +crushing real Americanism. They took advantage of the strike situation +and the authority vested in them to indulge in an orgy of robbery and +thievery. Dressed in United States army uniforms and wearing deputies' +badges, they even robbed strikers in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>broad daylight on the main +streets. And if the latter dared to protest they were lucky not to be +beaten up, jailed and fined for disorderly conduct. The strike +committees have records of many such cases. And worse yet, more than one +striker was robbed while he was in jail. Liberty bonds and cash +disappeared frequently. To lose watches, knives, etc., was a common +occurrence.</p> + +<p>Picketing was out of the question, although, like many other liberties +denied the steel strikers, it is theoretically permitted under the laws +and court rulings of Pennsylvania. Strikers foolhardy enough to attempt +it were usually slugged and arrested. Even the right to strike was +virtually overthrown. The practice was for several company and city +police, without warrants, to seek a man in his home, crowd in and demand +his return to work. Upon refusal he would be arrested and fined from $25 +to $100 for disorderly conduct. Then he would be offered his money back, +if he would agree to be a scab. This happened not once, but scores, if +not hundreds of times. Like practices were engaged in almost everywhere. +In Monessen State Police and other "peace officers" would regularly +round up batches of strikers before the mill gates. Those that agreed to +go to work were set free; the rest were jailed. Many were kept overnight +in an old, unlighted building and threatened from time to time with +hanging in the morning, if they would not become scabs. This was +particularly terrifying, as the strikers, mainly foreigners knowing +little of their supposed legal rights, had very good reason to think +that State Police, as well as armed thugs, would <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>go to any extreme +against them. In Pittsburgh itself, the decisive question asked petty +prisoners in the police courts was, "Are you working?" Those who could +show that they were strike-breakers were released forthwith; while those +who admitted being on strike were usually found guilty without further +questioning. Throughout the whole district, to be a scab was to be a +peaceable, law abiding citizen; to be a striker was criminal.</p> + +<p>The courts put every obstacle in the way of the strikers getting +justice. In those towns where it was possible to get lawyers at all no +courtesies were extended the representatives of the men. They were +denied the right of cross-examination; could not get the necessary +papers for appeals, and in some cases were actually ordered out of +court. Attorney Roe was arrested in McKeesport for attempting to confer +with a dozen of his clients in a private hall. The strikers were held +under excessive bail and fined shamefully for trivial charges, to +disprove which they were often denied the right to produce witnesses. +The following quotations from a report by J. G. Brown, formerly +president of the International Union of Timber Workers, who was a +general organizer in the Pittsburgh district and later director of the +legal department of the National Committee, will give an indication of +the situation and some of the reasons therefor:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>... The next day came the strike. The jails swarmed with +arrested strikers. This was especially true in the Soho +district of Pittsburgh, where are located the main entrances +of the National Tube Works, and the Jones and Laughlin +Company's plants. In the afternoon two <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>organizers who were +walking down the street in this section were taken to jail, +held without bail on charges of being "suspicious persons." +Information was given to us that only the Supt. of Police +had authority to fix bail. He could not be located. Indeed, +that these men were arrested at all was learned only through +the newspapers. They were not allowed to communicate with +their friends or attorneys. Attorney Brennan eventually +found the Chief of Police and went bail for the men.</p> + +<p>Deciding to utilize the right of picketing, which the laws +of the state permit, a group of men were chosen for this +work, captains assigned and stationed at the entrances of +the mills in Soho. No sooner had they arrived there than +they were hustled right on to jail, which was already filled +to overflowing. Many were convicted on disorderly conduct +charges; others were warned of dire things in store for +them, and all were advised to return to their work in the +mills.</p> + +<p>Many women and young girls were among the victims of police +brutalities in the Soho district. Located in this section +were only city policemen; the State Constabulary did not +"work" much within the city limits. Much wonder was created +by the undiminishing brutality of the Soho police. The +Central Labor Council of Pittsburgh tried to have the City +Council inaugurate an investigation of the shameful state of +affairs, but nothing could be done.</p> + +<p>Shortly after the strike was called off the Pittsburgh +papers carried a story to the effect that the city policemen +working in the Soho district had been "paid" $150 each by +the National Tube Co. It was stated also that the same men +were paid a like amount by the Jones and Laughlin Company. +This explains, perhaps, why justice was so blind in this +section.</p> + +<p>On the opposite side of the Monongahela river, where <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>the +Jones and Laughlin Company has other immense works the +police were equally bad, the police magistrate even worse. +The Police Commissioner was boss of the situation. And now +come the Pittsburgh papers with the story that this very +Commissioner, Peter P. Walsh, has made application to be +retired from the Pittsburgh police force on half pay in +order that he might accept the appointment as chief of the +mill police of the Jones and Laughlin Company. The half pay +allowance gives, according to reports, $1800 per year. The +new position Mr. Walsh is to fill is popularly understood to +carry with it a salary of $5000 per year.... The Central +Labor Council is making an effort to have this matter +investigated, but without serious hope of success.</p></div> + +<p>When a labor committee demanded that Mayor Babcock of Pittsburgh +investigate the situation, the honorable gentleman refused. He admitted +that the action of the steel companies was ill-advised; the money should +have been given to the pension fund, instead of to a few men; however, +the matter was now past history, and there was nothing to be added to +the fair name of Pittsburgh by airing it in public. The Mayor admitted, +though, that he would object to having labor unions raise funds to pay +policemen to favor them during strikes. So reason public officials in +the steel districts.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Suppression of the rights of free speech and free assembly; gigantic +organized campaigns of outlawry by the State Police and armies of +selected plug-uglies; subornation and intimidation of city, county, +state and federal officials and police; prostitution of the +courts—these are some of the means <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>used to crush the strike of the +steel workers, and to force these over-worked, under-paid toilers still +deeper into the mire of slavery. And the whole monstrous crime was +hypocritically committed in the name of a militant, 100 per cent. +Americanism.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>IX</h2> + +<h2>EFFORTS AT SETTLEMENT</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang" style="margin-left: 2em;">THE NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL CONFERENCE—THE SENATE COMMITTEE +—THE RED BOOK—THE MARGOLIS CASE—THE INTERCHURCH WORLD +MOVEMENT</p></div> +<br /> + +<p>Upon October 6 the National Industrial Conference opened its sessions in +Washington, D. C. This body was called together by President Wilson to +make an effort to solve the pressing labor difficulties confronting the +country, and was the one, pending whose deliberations the steel workers +had been asked to postpone their strike. It was a three-party +arrangement, Capital, Labor and the Public being represented. Naturally +it was only advisory in character; and under the rules adopted all +action taken, not relating merely to methods of procedure, had to have +the endorsement of all three sections, each of which voted as a unit in +accordance with the majority sentiment of its members.</p> + +<p>The Conference met in the midst of a tense situation. The steel industry +was almost completely paralysed; the miners were just about to launch +their national general strike; the railroaders were in a foment of +discontent, and many other large and important sections of workers were +demanding <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>better conditions. Capital and Labor were arrayed against +each other as never before. Both appeared determined to fight; Capital +in a bitter, revengeful spirit to oust Labor from the favorable position +won during the war, and Labor in a decided effort to hold what it had +and to make more winnings to offset the rapidly mounting cost of living. +The United States seemed upon the brink of an industrial war.</p> + +<p>From the beginning the touchstone of the Conference, the measure by +which all its activities were gauged, was the steel strike. It was clear +that its attitude towards this great issue would settle its general +policy. This was felt by all parties to the Conference, even though some +hated the thought. The labor delegation, headed by Samuel Gompers, +precipitated matters by introducing, by previous arrangement with the +National Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers, the following +resolution:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Whereas</span>, The Nation-wide strike now in progress in +the steel industry of America affects not only the men and +women directly concerned, but tends to disturb the relations +between employers and workers throughout our industrial +life; and</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Whereas</span>, This conference is called for the purpose +of stabilizing industries and bringing into being a better +relation between employers and employees; and</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Whereas</span>, Organized Labor wishes to manifest its +sincere and fair desire to prove helpful in immediately +adjusting this pending grave industrial conflict; therefore, +be it,</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Resolved</span>, That each group comprising this +conference select two of its number and these six so +selected to constitute a committee to which shall be +referred <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>existing differences between the workers and +employers in the steel industry for adjudication and +settlement. Pending the findings of this committee, this +conference requests the workers involved to return to work +and the employers to re-instate them in their former +positions.</p></div> + +<p>This resolution provoked a storm of opposition from the reactionary +employers, who, headed by Mr. Gary (ironically seated with John D. +Rockefeller, Jr., as a representative of the Public) insisted that the +Conference ignore the steel strike situation altogether, its purpose +being, according to them, not the settlement of existing disputes, but +the formulation of principles and plans which would provide for the +prevention of such disputes in the future. Finally, seeing that if they +insisted upon their resolution it would wreck the Conference, the +workers held it in abeyance temporarily and submitted the following:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The right of wage earners to organize without +discrimination, to bargain collectively, to be represented +by representatives of their own choosing in negotiations and +adjustments with employers in respect to wages, hours of +labor and relations and conditions of employment, is +recognized.</p></div> + +<p>Such a mild proposition as this would hardly meet with serious +opposition in a similar conference in any other important country than +ours. All over Europe it would be far too conservative to fit the +situation. In England, for example, the British Industrial Conference +recently adopted the following:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The basis of negotiation between employers and work people<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> +should, as is presently the case in the chief industries of +the country, be the full, frank acceptance of the employers' +organizations on the one hand, and trade unions on the other +as the recognized organizations to speak and act on behalf +of their members.</p></div> + +<p>And just across our border, in Canada, this advanced conception was +formulated but a few months before:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>On the whole we believe the day has passed when any employer +should deny his employees the right to organize. Employers +claim that right for themselves and it is not denied by the +workers. There seems to be no reason why the employer should +deny like rights to those who are employed by him. Not only +should employees be accorded the right of organizing, but +the prudent employer will recognize such organization and +will deal with the duly accredited representatives thereof +in all matters relating to the interests of the employees +when it is fairly established to be representative of them +all.</p></div> + +<p>But Mr. Gary and his associates care nothing about the reputation of +America as a progressive, liberty-loving country. They have their +prerogatives, and they intend to exercise them, cost what it may. They +organize as they see fit and pick out such representatives as they will; +but by virtue of their economic strength they deny to their workers +these same rights. So they voted down Labor's collective bargaining +resolution, and at the same time the one providing for a settlement of +the steel strike. The employers insisted upon absolute rule by +themselves.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>This action discredited the Conference, and sentenced it to dissolution. +By its refusal to meet the great steel strike issue the Conference +showed that it had neither the will nor the power to settle industrial +disputes. Labor, openly denied the fundamental right of organization, +could no longer sit with it. The workers' representatives, therefore, +took the only honorable course left to them; they withdrew, allowing the +whole worthless structure to collapse. Said Mr. Gompers in his final +speech:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Gentlemen, I have sung my swan song in this conference. You +have, by your action—the action of the employers' +group—legislated us out of this conference. We have nothing +further to submit; and with a feeling of regret we have not +been enabled with a clear conscience to remain here longer. +We have responsibilities to employees and workers and those +dependent upon them. We must fulfill these obligations.</p></div> + +<p>Thus ingloriously ended the Conference upon which the steel workers had +been asked to hang all their hopes. Even with powerful organizations +intact and with their industry almost entirely at a standstill, the +latter could get no consideration from it. What, then, would have been +their fate if they had postponed the strike? With their forces +shattered, half of their men being on strike and the rest at work +thoroughly disgusted, they would have been helpless and unable to strike +in any event. They would have been absolutely at the mercy of the +employers. And any one who may imagine that the latter would have done +anything short of giving the steel workers their <i>coup de grace</i> at the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>Conference is an optimist indeed. The steel strike was a clean fight +and an honorable defeat for Labor. Its bad effects will soon wear off. +But it would have been a ruinous calamity, with ineradicable harm, had +the strike been postponed for the sake of the ill-fated Industrial +Conference.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Pursuant to a resolution adopted by the Senate on September 23, in the +white heat of the strike excitement, the Committee on Education and +Labor was instructed to investigate the steel strike and to report back +to the Senate as soon as possible. Accordingly this Committee held +sittings in Washington and Pittsburgh, hearing about one hundred +witnesses all told. Its active members were Senators Kenyon (Chairman), +McKellar, Walsh (Mass.), Sterling and Phipps.</p> + +<p>For the workers Samuel Gompers, John Fitzpatrick, M. F. Tighe and many +organizers and strikers testified, setting forth in detail the +grievances and demands of the men. For the steel companies came the +usual crop of strike-breakers and company officials, pliable city +authorities and business men from the steel towns. The star witness was +Judge Gary, who presented practically the entire case for the whole +steel industry. It is noteworthy that with the exception of one minor +hothead, the so-called "independents" made no defense before the +committee. They left it all to their master, the United States Steel +Corporation.</p> + +<p>Mr. Gary was a good witness. Not for him were the antiquated blusterings +of a "divine-right" Baer or a "public-be-damned" Vanderbilt. He used the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>modern method,—a mass of silky hypocrisies and misrepresentations for +the public, to cover up the mailed fist he has for his workers. He was +suave, oily, humble, obliging, persuasive, patriotic. He pictured the +steel industry as a sort of industrial heaven and the U. S. Steel +Corporation as a beneficent institution, leading even the trade-union +movement in reform work.</p> + +<p>Inasmuch as Mr. Gary's peculiar notions of the "open shop," minority +rule by the unions, etc., set forth afresh by him at the strike +hearings, are discussed quite generally throughout this book, there is +no need to review them again here. We will note his testimony no more +than to give the facts of the death of Mrs. Fannie Sellins, of whose +murder he was so anxious to clear the Steel Trust.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Fannie Sellins was an organizer for the United Mine Workers of +America, stationed in the notorious, anti-union Black Valley district +along the Allegheny river. An able speaker, and possessed of boundless +courage, energy, enthusiasm and idealism, she was a most effective +worker. Due largely to her efforts many thousands of miners and +miscellaneous workers in this hard district were organized. She was the +very heart of the local labor movement, which ranked second to none in +Pennsylvania for spirit and progress. When the steel campaign began, +Mrs. Sellins threw herself whole-heartedly into it. She worked +indefatigably. More than any other individual she was responsible for +the unionization of the big United States Steel Corporation mills at +Vandergrift, Leechburg and New Kensington, as well as those of the +so-called <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>independent Allegheny and West Penn Steel Companies at +Brackenridge. The results secured by her will compare favorably with +those of any other organizer in the whole campaign.</p> + +<p>By her splendid work in behalf of the toilers Mrs. Sellins gained the +undying hatred of the untamed employers in the benighted Black Valley +district. Open threats were made to "get" her. The opportunity came on +August 26, 1919, when she was deliberately murdered under the most +brutal circumstances.</p> + +<p>The miners of the Allegheny Coal and Coke Company were on strike at West +Natrona. The mine is situated in the mill yard of the Allegheny Steel +Company and furnishes fuel for that concern. All was going peacefully +when a dozen drunken deputy sheriffs on strike duty, led by a mine +official, suddenly rushed the pickets, shooting as they came. Joseph +Strzelecki fell, mortally wounded. Mrs. Sellins, standing close by, +rushed first to get some children out of danger. Then she came back to +plead with the deputies, who were still clubbing the prostrate +Strzelecki, not to kill him. What happened then is told in the <i>New +Majority</i> (Chicago) of September 20:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>—— ——, the mine official, snatched a club and felled the +woman to the ground.</p> + +<p>This was not on company ground, but just outside the fence +of a friend of Mrs. Sellins.</p> + +<p>She rose and tried to drag herself toward the gate.</p> + +<p>—— shouted: "Kill that — — — — — —!"</p> + +<p>Three shots were fired, each taking effect.</p> + +<p>She fell to the ground, and —— cried: "Give her another!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>One of the deputies, standing over the motionless and +silent body, held his gun down and, without averting his +face, fired into the body that did not move.</p> + +<p>An auto truck, in waiting, was hurried to the scene and the +body of the old miner thrown in; then Mrs. Sellins was +dragged by the heels to the back of the car. Before she was +placed in the truck, a deputy took a cudgel and crushed in +her skull before the eyes of the throng of men, women and +children, who stood in powerless silence before the armed +men. Deputy ——picked up the woman's hat, placed it on his +head, danced a step, and said to the crowd: "I'm Mrs. +Sellins now."</p></div> + +<p>Thus perished noble Fannie Sellins: shot in the back by so-called peace +officers. And she 49 years old, a grandmother, and mother of a boy +killed in France, fighting to make the world safe for democracy.</p> + +<p>Many people witnessed this horrible murder. The guilty men were named +openly in the newspapers and from a hundred platforms. Yet no one was +ever punished for the crime. Witnesses were spirited away or +intimidated, and the whole matter hushed up in true Steel Trust fashion. +A couple of deputies were arrested; but they were speedily released on +smaller bonds than those often set for strikers arrested for picketing. +Eventually they were freed altogether.</p> + +<p>The killing of Mrs. Sellins, right in the teeth of the strike as it was, +lent much bitterness to the general situation. Rightly or wrongly, the +steel workers, almost to a man, felt that this devoted woman was a +martyr to their cause.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep148" id="imagep148"></a> +<a href="images/imagep148.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep148.jpg" width="85%" alt="Mrs. Fannie Sellins" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">MRS. FANNIE SELLINS, TRADE UNION ORGANIZER<br /> +Killed by Steel Trust gunmen, West Natrona, Pa., Aug. 26, 1919.</p> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>Upon November 8, the Senate Committee, having completed its hearings, +made public its report. This document is a strange mixture of +progressive and reactionary principles. In some respects, especially +where it grants, however confusedly, the right of collective bargaining +and the eight hour day, it is just and meets the situation; but in other +respects it is so unfair to the workers' cause as to be grotesque. For +one thing it shoulders upon the unions the entire responsibility for the +failure to postpone the strike, choosing to disregard completely the +clearly established fact that the steel companies were discharging men +so fast that for the unions it was a case of strike or perish. In fact, +the report ignores altogether the bitter grievance of men being +discharged for union membership. Mr. Gary had said that this practice +was not engaged in, and that apparently settled it so far as the +Committee was concerned,—the testimony of dozens of victimized workers +(with thousands more available) to the contrary notwithstanding. Other +sins of the Steel Trust, the suppression of free speech and free +assembly, etc., were passed over lightly; but the alleged virtues of its +housing and welfare plans were very highly lauded.</p> + +<p>Nowhere are the workers more ruthlessly robbed and exploited by their +employers than in the steel industry. Speaking recently in Brooklyn on +the subject of profiteering, Mr. Basil Manly, formerly Joint Chairman of +the National War Labor Board, cited Page 367 of the Treasury report as +showing one steel company "earning" $14,549,952 in 1917 on a capital of +$5,000, or a profit of 290,999 per <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>cent. As the department conveniently +suppresses all details, it is impossible to learn the name of this +company or how it made such fabulous profits. On the same page appeared +another steel company with a profit rate of 20,180 per cent. Speaking of +the United States Steel Corporation's returns, which of course were +garbled so that no outsider could understand them, Mr. Manly said:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>For this reason I am unable to tell you, on the basis of the +Treasury Department's figures, what the net income of the +Steel Corporation is, but on the basis of its own published +report I can tell you that in two years, 1916 and 1917, the +net profits of the Steel Corporation, after payment of +interest on bonds and after making allowance for all charges +growing out of the installation of special war facilities, +amounted to $888,931,511. This is more by $20,000,000 than +the total capital stock of the Steel Corporation (which is +$868,583,600). In other words, in 1916 and 1917 every dollar +of the capital stock of the Steel Corporation was paid for +in net profits. In this connection it should be remembered +that when the Steel Corporation was formed its entire +$500,000,000 worth of common stock represented nothing but +water.</p></div> + +<p>The other steel companies did as well or better, proportionately. W. +Jett Lauck, acting on behalf of the railroad workers, submitted figures +to the United States Railroad Labor Board (A. P. dispatches May 19, +1920) showing that during the years 1916-18 the Bethlehem Steel +Corporation "earned" average annual profits of $29,000,000, or six times +its pre-war average. In 1916 its profits amounted to 146 per cent. on +its capital stock. Our <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>Johnstown friend, the Cambria Steel Company, in +1916-17 cleaned up $50,000,000 on $45,000,000 capital stock; while the +Lackawanna, Republic, Colorado Fuel and Iron, Jones and Laughlin, +Crucible, etc., companies made similar killings.</p> + +<p>As against useless, non-producing drones getting these millions, the +great mass of workers actually operating the industry were receiving the +beggarly wages of from 42 to 48 cents per hour. They had received no +increase for a year before the strike, notwithstanding the skyrocketing +cost of living. Yet the Senate Committee could discover no discontent at +this condition nor see any injustice in it. Upon page 10 of its report +appears the startling statement that "The question of wages is not +involved in this controversy." Forty-two cents per hour would hardly buy +cigars for these smug, well-fed gentlemen; still they would have us +conclude that it is enough for a steel worker to raise a family upon.</p> + +<p>The fact is, of course, that an increase in wages was a cardinal demand +of the strikers, even though the Senate Committee did not get to learn +of it.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> And so great was the steel workers' need for more <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>money that +the strike had scarcely ended when the United States Steel Corporation, +followed soon after by the "independents," granted its lesser skilled +help 10 per cent. increase in wages, and promised "an equitable +adjustment" to the widely advertised small minority of highly paid men.</p> + +<p>Part of the strike-breaking strategy of the Steel Trust was to alienate +public sympathy from the strike by denouncing it as an incipient +revolution which had to be put down at all costs. Public opinion was +already violently inflamed against everything savoring no matter how +slightly of radicalism, and it was not difficult for the reactionary +newspapers to make the steel strike unpopular, even as they had, under +various pretexts, the movements of the miners and railroad men of the +period. One weapon they used extensively against the steel strike was an +almost forgotten pamphlet, "Syndicalism," written by Earl C. Ford and +myself eight years ago.</p> + +<p>Throughout the hearings the investigating senators went along with this +Steel Trust propaganda, which was not so surprising considering the fact +that of the five active committee men, one was a steel magnate, and +three others typical Bourbons. By playing up the "little red book" they +systematically fed the newspapers with the sensationalism they wanted +and which the steel companies desired them to get. I was called before +the Committee and gruffly ordered to express my opinion on the doctrines +in the booklet. In reply, I stated that the steel movement had been +carried on according to the strictest trade-union principles. It was +overseen by the National Committee, consisting of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>twenty-four +presidents of large international unions. As secretary of this committee +I had necessarily worked under the close scrutiny of these men and +dozens of their organizers—not to speak of the highest officials in the +American Federation of Labor. Yet none of these trade unionists, keen +though they be to detect and condemn unusual practices and heresy in the +ranks, had found fault with the character of my work. Nor could the crew +of detectives and stool pigeons of the steel companies and Department of +Justice, who had dogged my footsteps for a year past, cite a single word +said, a thing done, or a line written by me in the entire campaign which +would not measure up to most rigid trade-union standards. I contended +that my private opinions were immaterial as they did not and could not +enter into the organizing work or the strike.</p> + +<p>But the nation-wide head hunt of the radicals was on in full cry, and +the Senators had a good blood scent. They would follow it to the end. +They insisted that I express my opinion upon the wage system, the state, +morality, patriotism, marriage, etc. Finally, in a last effort to +protect the interests of the 2,000,000 men, women and children affected +by the strike, I stated that if the vulture press, which was bound to +misrepresent what I said, was removed from the room, I would be glad to +oblige the Senators with a frank expression of my views upon any +subject. But this simple fairness to the steel workers and their +families they denied. The newspapers were clamoring for red meat, and +the Senators seemed determined they should have it. Having made my +protest and my prediction, I was compelled <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>to yield; but the first +newspapers on the streets proved the soundness of my fears. My answers +were garbled and twisted against both the steel movement and me.</p> + +<p>Then there was the Margolis case. I charge that to be a deliberate +frame-up against the steel strike. To prove the Steel Trust's contention +that the strike was a desperate revolutionary <i>coup</i>, engineered by men +seeking to destroy our civilization generally, somewhat more was +required than merely an eight year old booklet. The thing had to be +brought down to date and a far-reaching plot constructed. Hence the +Senate Committee dragged in Mr. Margolis and made him a scapegoat. Mr. +Margolis is a well known Anarchist attorney of Pittsburgh. He has the +reputation of having served ably as counsel for several trade-union +organizations, and has a wide circle of acquaintances among labor men. +The Senate Committee selected him as the man who had organized, with my +hearty support and co-operation, the real force behind the strike, the +I. W. W.'s, Anarchists and Bolshevists.</p> + +<p>Now the fact is that Mr. Margolis had nothing whatever to do, officially +or unofficially, with the policies or management of either the +organizing campaign or the strike. He had no connection with the Strike +committee; nor did he ever even speak at a union meeting of steel +workers during the whole movement in question. If he wrote an article in +some radical paper, or spoke to a meeting of Russian workmen in +Youngstown, endorsing the strike, as is said, he did it purely as an +individual sympathizer acting upon his own initiative. Mr. Margolis +freely <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>stated this on the stand, and every union official in Pittsburgh +knew it to be the case. So did the investigating Senators; but it the +better served their purpose to enlarge upon Mr. Margolis' activities, in +the hope that his radical reputation would lend color to the plot theory +which they were laboring so hard to establish, and which was so +advantageous to the Steel Trust.</p> + +<p>In their final report the Senators continued their plot "evidence" and +insinuations, so persistently worked up all through their hearings. They +ignored highly important testimony tending to put the movement in its +right light as a strictly trade-union affair, and gave prominence to +everything to the contrary. They elevated unheard-of I. W. W.'s into +powerful strike leaders and surrounded the most ordinary comings and +goings with revolutionary mystery. Where they lacked facts they cast +suspicion, leaving a vicious daily press to draw its own conclusions.</p> + +<p>Although they expressed great concern for the sufferings of the public +in strikes, and advocated the establishment of an industrial tribunal to +prevent them in the future, the worthy Senators, nevertheless, +recommended no means to end the steel strike. So far as they were +concerned, apparently they were willing to have the steel strike fought +to a conclusion. At one of the Senate Committee hearings, John +Fitzpatrick, Chairman of the National Committee, agreed to arbitration. +But later Mr. Gary gave an emphatic "No" to this proposition. Mr. Gary's +wishes usually had decisive weight with the Senators, so the matter was +settled.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>On October 1-3, 1919, a national conference called by the Industrial +Relations Department of the Interchurch World Movement met at the Hotel +Pennsylvania in New York and adopted a resolution providing for a full +investigation of the steel strike, then a burning public question. Under +the terms of this resolution the Industrial Relations Department set up +an independent Commission of Inquiry, composed of representative +churchmen from all over the country who should be responsible for +carrying out the investigation. This Commission consisted of Bishop +Francis J. McConnell (Methodist), Chairman, Dr. Daniel A. Poling +(Evangelical), vice-Chairman, Dr. John McDowell (Presbyterian), Mrs. +Fred Bennett (Board of Foreign Missions), Dr. Nicholas Van Der Pyl +(Congregational), Dr. Alva W. Taylor (Disciples), and Mr. Geo. W. +Coleman (Baptist).</p> + +<p>In order to commit the investigation of technical data to the hands of +trained men, the Industrial Relations Department obtained the services +of the Bureau of Industrial Research, New York, which, besides its own +researches, obtained the co-operation of various other scientific +agencies and organized a staff of field workers whose principal members +were: Mr. George Soule, Mr. David J. Saposs, Miss Marian D. Savage, Mr. +Marion K. Wisehart and Mr. Robert Littell. A member of the Bureau of +Industrial Research, Mr. Heber Blankenhorn, had charge of the field work +and later acted as Secretary to the Commission of Inquiry, which held +hearings in Pittsburgh, Chicago, and other steel centres.</p> + +<p>The Interchurch World Movement, representing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>as it does the organized +Protestant millions of America, is a conservative and respectable body, +if there is such in this country. Yet when it stepped upon the toes of +the Steel Trust by starting the investigation it found itself soon +classed among the revolutionaries. Persistent rumors were sent +broadcast, and even newspaper stories, to the effect that the +Commission's investigators were "Bolsheviks" and that the Interchurch +World Movement was permeated with "anarchists." This hampered the work +greatly, especially among employers. Finally a threat of legal action +was necessary against a large commercial organization which had +circulated the rumors officially. It eventually retracted in full. As +for the workers, they gave the fullest co-operation to the +investigation.</p> + +<p>Impressed by the scientific methods and apparent desire to get at the +truth of the strike situation manifested in the Interchurch +investigation—which stood in striking contrast to the slipshod, +haphazard system, "red" mania, and violent partiality towards the steel +companies shown by the Senate Committee,—the strike leaders decided to +ask the Commission to undertake a settlement of the strike by mediation, +which the Commission had the power to do under the resolution creating +it. The workers' representatives felt that no stone should be left +unturned to get a settlement, and that if the powerful Interchurch +movement stirred in their behalf possibly Mr. Gary would be dislodged +from his position.</p> + +<p>Consequently, John Fitzpatrick, Chairman of the National Committee, put +before Mr. Blankenhorn a plan for the settlement of the strike by +mediation. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>Mr. Blankenhorn felt, however, that it might be better to +recommend that the Commission move independently, rather than as merely +representing the strikers, and submitted the following plan, which was +adopted by the Commission:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>1. To mediate in behalf of all the steel workers, both those +on strike and those who had gone back to work.</p> + +<p>2. That the purpose of the mediation should be to establish +a new deal in the steel industry rather than merely to end +the strike.</p> + +<p>3. That the ending of the strike should be arranged solely +with a view to giving the new deal the best possible chance.</p></div> + +<p>On December 1, the National Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel +Workers met and formally accepted this proposition of mediation. What +happened next is told in an official statement to the writer of this +book:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>On December 5 a committee from the Commission, consisting of +Bishop McConnell, Dr. Poling and Dr. McDowell, called on Mr. +Gary with the purpose of, first, ascertaining if he would +accept their office as mediators; next, of proposing their +plan of mediation and pressing the acceptance of it by the +employers; and, finally, of ordering the men back to work, +the strike leaders to step out of the situation, and the +Commission to set up a permanent mediation body to bring +about a conference between employers and employees in the +steel industry. There was the feeling in the Commission that +extraordinary concessions had been made by the leaders of +the strike and that any reasons advocated by the employers +for not accepting the mediation plan would have to be +weighty.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>Mr. Gary received the Commission courteously and after +minutely cross-examining them concerning the "anonymous" +report of the presence of "Bolsheviks" among them, he heard +the Commission to the extent of learning the first step in +their proposal. He made his reply immediately, an absolute +refusal of arbitration or mediation. The Commission +therefore never had any opportunity to present the +authorized acceptance of the mediation plan by the other +side and in no sense conveyed to Mr. Gary the extent of the +concessions which the strikers were then willing to make. +Mr. Gary, however, clearly understood that acceptance of the +mediation plan would mean that the men would all return to +work at once.</p> + +<p>Mr. Gary based his refusal on the grounds that any dealings +which in any way involved representatives of the men then on +strike would be an acceptance of the closed shop, sovietism, +and the forcible distribution of property. Mr. Gary said +that if the Commission represented the men who had gone back +to work, those men were content; if the Commission +represented the men who had not gone back to work, those men +are nothing but red radicals whom the plants did not want +anyway. He said that there was absolutely no issue for +discussion with the U. S. Steel Corporation.</p> + +<p>The Commission presented its viewpoint on the advisability +of mediation at great length and with insistence. Mr. Gary +did not in any respect modify his immediate decision.</p> + +<p>The Commission felt it necessary therefore to drop the plan +and transmitted the following to the National Committee:</p> + +<p class="right">December 6, 1919</p> + +<p class="noin">Memorandum for Mr. Fitzpatrick:</p> + +<p>The independent Commission of Inquiry, instituted by the +Interchurch World Movement to investigate the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>steel strike, +received on December 2 a communication marked +"confidential," dealing with an official action taken by the +National Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers, +signed by Mr. Fitzpatrick and Mr. Foster.</p> + +<p>On December 5, members of the Commission informally +conversed with Mr. Gary for two hours, proposing to plan a +new basis of relations in the steel industry, with an ending +of the strike best calculated to further better relations. +They offered to act as mediators both on behalf of the men +still on strike, whose leaders were to order them back and +then step out of the situation, and on behalf of still +dissatisfied men who had nevertheless returned to work.</p> + +<p>Mr. Gary refused to confer with these representatives of the +churches as mediators in behalf of any interests represented +by you in the strike, on the ground that the men still out +were Bolshevist radicals who were not wanted in the mills +and who would not be taken back.</p> + +<p>And as to mediating in behalf of any other interests, Mr. +Gary said that the men were contented and that "there is no +issue."</p> + +<p>I am requested to communicate the above information to you +by the Chairman of the Commission of Inquiry.</p> + +<div style="margin-left: 60%; margin-right: 10%;"> +<p class="noin">Very truly yours,<br /> +<span class="smcap">H. Blankenhorn</span>.</p></div></div> + +<p>At the time this book goes to press the findings and recommendations of +the Commission have not yet been made public.</p> + +<p>This made the sixth attempt of the National Committee to settle the +steel controversy—not to mention the individual effort of the +Amalgamated Association. They were: (1) The letter from Mr. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>Gompers to +Mr. Gary requesting a conference; (2) the visit to his office of the +National Committee conference committee, equipped with the power to set +a strike date; (3) the appeal to President Wilson to arrange a +conference; (4) Organized Labor's resolution in the National Industrial +Conference to have that body select an arbitration board; (5) The offer +of arbitration by John Fitzpatrick while testifying before the Senate +Committee; and, (6) the Interchurch mediation incident.</p> + +<p>But they were all futile. Mr. Gary's policy is the time-honored one of +all tyrants, rule or ruin. The unions had no option but to fight, and +this they did to the best of their ability.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTE:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> There seemed to be many important things of which this +committee had never heard. For instance, when in my testimony I referred +to Lester F. Ward, Senator Sterling innocently inquired who he was. He +had apparently never even heard of this eminent American sociologist, +who was perhaps the greatest scholar ever born in the western +hemisphere, and whose name is honored by scientific minds the world +over. And what makes Senator Sterling's ignorance the more inexcusable +is that he was actually holding office in Washington at the same time +that Professor Ward was carrying on his brilliant studies in that very +city. For one who stresses so much his 100 per cent. Americanism as does +the Senator it is indeed a sad showing not to be familiar with this +great native product.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>X</h2> + +<h2>THE COURSE OF THE STRIKE</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang" style="margin-left: 2em;">PITTSBURGH DISTRICT—THE RAILROAD MEN—CORRUPT NEWSPAPERS +—CHICAGO DISTRICT—FEDERAL TROOPS AT GARY—YOUNGSTOWN +DISTRICT—THE AMALGAMATED ASSOCIATION—CLEVELAND—THE ROD +AND WIRE MILL STRIKE—THE BETHLEHEM PLANTS—BUFFALO AND +LACKAWANNA—WHEELING AND STEUBENVILLE—PUEBLO— JOHNSTOWN—MOB +RULE—THE END OF THE STRIKE.</p></div> +<br /> + +<p>Although the Steel strike was national in scope and manifested the same +general, basic tendencies everywhere, nevertheless it differed enough +from place to place to render necessary some indication of particular +events in the various districts in order to convey a clear conception of +the movement as a whole. It is the purpose of this chapter to point out +a few of these salient features in the several localities and to draw +some lessons therefrom.</p> + +<p>In the immediate Pittsburgh district, due to the extreme difficulties +under which the organizing work was carried on and the strike +inaugurated, the shut-down was not so thorough as elsewhere. +Considerable numbers of men, notably in the skilled trades, remained at +work, and the mills limped along, at <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>least pretending to operate. This +was exceedingly bad, Pittsburgh being the strategic centre of the +strike, as it is of the industry, and the companies were making +tremendous capital of the fact that the mills there were still producing +steel. Accordingly, the National Committee left no stone unturned to +complete the tie-up, already 75 per cent. effective. But under the +circumstances, with meetings banned and picketing prohibited, it was out +of the question to reach directly the men who had stayed at work. The +key to the situation was in the hands of the railroad men.</p> + +<p>Operating between the various steel plants and connecting them up with +the main lines, there are several switching roads, such as the Union +Railroad and the McKeesport and Monongahela Connecting Lines. They are +the nerve centers of the local steel industry. If they could be struck +the mills would have to come to a standstill. The National Committee +immediately delegated organizers to investigate the situation. These +reported that the body of the men in the operating departments were +organized; that they had no contracts with the steel companies, and that +they were ready for action, but awaiting co-operation from their +respective national headquarters.</p> + +<p>Consequently, the National Committee arranged a conference in Washington +with responsible representatives of the Brotherhoods and laid the +situation before them. In reply they stated that their policy was +strictly to observe their contracts wherever they had such, and that +their men would be forbidden to do work around the mills not done <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>by +them prior to the strike. It was up to the men on the non-contract roads +and yards to decide for themselves about joining the strike. We informed +them then that the situation was such, with the men scattered through +many locals, that merely leaving it up to them was insufficient; it +would be impossible for them to act together without direct aid and +encouragement from their higher officials. We made the specific request +that each of the organizations send a man into Pittsburgh to take a +strike vote of the men in question, who are all employees of the steel +companies. They took the matter under advisement; but nothing came of +it, although long afterwards, when the opportune moment had passed, +organizer J. M. Patterson of the Railway Carmen (also of the Trainmen) +was authorized to take a strike vote. Thus was lost the chance to close +down these strategic switching lines and with them, in all likelihood, +several big mills in the most vital district in the entire steel +industry.</p> + +<p>Throughout the strike zone general disappointment was expressed by the +steel workers at the apparent lack of sympathy with their cause shown by +the officials of the Brotherhoods. The steel workers, bitterly oppressed +for a generation and fighting desperately towards the light in the face +of unheard-of opposition, turned instinctively for aid to their closely +related, powerfully organized fellow workers, the railroad men. And the +latter could easily have lent them effective, if not decisive assistance +without violating a contract or in any way endangering their standing. +It was not to be expected that the trunk line men, working as they were +under <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>government agreements, would refuse to haul the scab steel; but +there were many other ways, perfectly legitimate under current +trade-union practice and ethics, in which help could have been given; +yet it was not. From Youngstown and elsewhere the railroad men who did +go on strike in the mill yards complained with bitterness that they were +neglected and denied strike benefits, and that the rule that no road man +should do work around the mills not customary before the strike was +flagrantly violated. Usually the rank and file were strongly disposed to +assist the hard-pressed steel workers, and they could have everywhere +wonderfully stiffened the strike, but the necessary encouragement and +cooperation from the several headquarters was lacking. Truth demands +that these unpleasant things be set down. Labor can learn and progress +only through a frank acknowledgment and discussion of its weaknesses, +mistakes and failures.</p> + +<p>In addition to all their other handicaps the Pittsburgh district +strikers had to contend with a particularly treacherous local press. +Everywhere our daily papers are newspapers only by courtesy of a +misapplied term. They are sailing under false colors. Pretending to be +purveyors of unbiased accounts of current happenings, they are in +reality merely propaganda organs, twisting, garbling and suppressing +facts and information in the manner best calculated to further the +interests of the employing class. The whole newsgathering and +distributing system is a gigantic mental prostitution. Consequently, +considering the issues involved, it was not surprising to see the big +daily papers take such a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>decided stand against the steel workers. +Everywhere in steel districts the papers were bad enough, but those in +the Pittsburgh district outstripped all the rest. They gave themselves +over body and soul to the service of the Steel Trust.</p> + +<p>From the first these Pittsburgh papers were violently antagonistic to +the steel workers. Every sophistry uttered by Mr. Gary to the effect +that the strike was an effort to establish the "closed shop," a bid for +power, or an attempt at revolution, the papers echoed and re-echoed <i>ad +nauseum</i>. They played up the race issue, virtually advising the +Americans to stand together against the foreigners who were about to +overwhelm them. They painted the interests of the country as being +synonymous with those of the steel companies and tried to make +Americanism identical with scabbery. For them no further proof of one's +patriotism was needed than to go back to the mills. Every clubbing of +strikers was the heroic work of the law-abiding against reckless mobs. +Strike "riots" were manufactured out of whole cloth. For instance, when +the senators investigating the strike were visiting the Homestead mills, +a couple of strike-breakers quarreling with each other, several blocks +away, fired a shot. An hour later screaming headlines told the startled +populace of Pittsburgh that "STRIKERS SHOOT AT SENATORS" and "MOB +ATTACKS SENATE COMMITTEE." Even the stand-pat senators had to protest +that this was going it too strong.</p> + +<p>In revenge for an alleged dynamiting in Donora, Pa., the authorities +swooped down upon the union headquarters, arrested 101 strikers present, +including <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>organizer Walter Hodges, and charged them with the crime. +Since there was not a shred of evidence against the accused, they were +all eventually discharged. Then the Donora <i>Herald</i>, which forever +yelped that the organizers advocated violence, had this to say:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>One of the reasons we have sedition preached in America is +because we have grand juries like that at Washington (Pa.) +this week which ignored the dynamiting cases. Possibly the +biggest mistake of all was made in not using rifles at the +time instead of turning the guilty parties over to the very +sensitive mercies of the grand jury.</p></div> + +<p>But the journalistic strike-breaking master-stroke was an organized +effort to stampede the men back to work by minimizing the strike's +effectiveness. First the papers declared that only a few thousands of +Pittsburgh's steel workers went out. Then they followed this for weeks +with stories of thousands of men flocking back to the mills. Full page +advertisements begged the men to go back; while flaming headlines told +us that "MEN GO BACK TO MILLS," "STEEL STRIKE WANING," "MILLS OPERATING +STRONGER," "MORE MEN GO BACK TO WORK," etc. It became a joke, but the +patient Pittsburgh people couldn't see it. Said Wm. Hard in the +<i>Metropolitan</i> for February, 1920:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Mr. Foster," I said, "I am going to be perfectly frank with +you. I know your strike's a fizzle of course, but I know +more. I not only take pains to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>read the telegraphic +dispatches of the news from the managers of the steel mills, +but I keep the clippings. I have the history of your strike +in cold print. Hardly anybody struck anyhow, in most places, +except some foreigners; and then they began at once to go +back in thousands and thousands and new thousands every day +for months. If you claim there were 300,000 strikers, I +don't care. I've counted up the fellows that went back to +work, and I've totalled them up day by day. They're a little +over 4,800,000. So you're pretty far behind."</p></div> + +<p>But despite everything—the suppression of free speech and free +assembly, Cossack terrorism, official tyranny, prostitution of the +courts, attacks from the lying press, and all the rest of it—the steel +workers in the immediate Pittsburgh district (comprising the towns along +the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers from Apollo to Monessen) made a +splendid fight. The very pressure seemed to hold them the better +together. Their ranks were never really broken, the strike being +weakened only by a long, costly wearing-away process. The stampede back +to work, so eagerly striven for by the employers, did not materialize. +In the beginning of the strike the Pittsburgh district was the weakest +point in the battle line; at the end it was one of the very strongest.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The Chicago district struck very well, but it weakened earlier than +others. This was because the employers scored a break-through at Indiana +Harbor and Gary, particularly the latter place, which shattered the +whole line.</p> + +<p>Gary, the great western stronghold of the United <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>States Steel +Corporation, was the storm center of the Chicago district at all times. +Hardly had the organization campaign begun in 1918, when the Gary +<i>Tribune</i> bitterly assailed the unions, accusing them of advocating +evasion of the draft, discouragement of liberty bond sales, and general +opposition to the war program. These lies were run in a full page +editorial in English, and repeated in a special eight page supplement +containing sixteen languages, a half page to each. Many thousands of +copies were scattered broadcast. Other attacks in a similar vein +followed. It was a foul blast straight from the maw of the Steel Trust. +Incidentally it created a situation which shows how the steel men +control public opinion.</p> + +<p>The new unions immediately boycotted the <i>Tribune</i>. Result: the Gary +<i>Post</i>, somewhat friendly inclined, doubled its circulation at once. The +<i>Post</i> then became more friendly; whereupon, it is alleged, a leading +banker called the editor to his office and told him that if he did not +take a stand against the unions his credit would be stopped, which would +have meant suspension within the week. That very day the <i>Post</i> joined +the <i>Tribune's</i> campaign of abuse. Apparently the <i>Post's</i> youthful +editor had learned a new wrinkle in journalism.</p> + +<p>The Steel Trust did all it could to hold Gary from unionizing; but when +the strike came the walkout was estimated to be 97 per cent. At first +everything went peacefully, but the Steel Corporation was watching for +an opportunity to get its strategic Gary mills into operation. The +occasion presented itself on October 4, when strikers coming from a +meeting <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>fell foul of some homeward bound scabs. Local labor men declare +the resultant scrimmage "did not make as much disturbance as ordinarily +would occur in a saloon when two or three men were fighting." It was a +trivial incident—a matter for the police. Only one man was injured, and +he very slightly. But the inspired press yelled red murder and pictured +the hospitals as full of wounded. The militia were ordered in. The +unions offered to furnish 700 ex-service men to enforce law and order; +but this was rejected. Later the militia were transferred to Indiana +Harbor; on October 6, a provisional regiment of regular troops, under +command of General Leonard Wood, came to Gary from nearby Fort Sheridan, +and martial law was at once proclaimed. The Steel Corporation now had +the situation in hand; and the Gary strike was doomed.</p> + +<p>Grave charges were voiced against the misuse made of the Federal troops +in Gary. John Fitzpatrick writes me as follows, basing his statements +upon reliable witnesses:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Now we have military control, the city of Gary being placed +under martial law. The strike leaders and pickets were +arrested by the soldiers and put to work splitting wood and +sweeping the streets. This was most humiliating, because the +camp was across the street from the city hall and in the +most frequented part of the city.</p> + +<p>When street-sweeping here did not break their spirits, these +men were taken to the back streets, where they had their +homes and where their own and the neighbor's children +watched them through the windows.</p> + +<p>The so-called foreigners have great respect for law <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>and +authority, especially military authority, which plays such a +big part in their native environments. The U. S. Steel +Corporation did not fail to take advantage of this. In the +first place they gave out the impression that the letters +"U. S." in the corporation's name indicated that it was +owned by the U. S. Government, and that the Government +soldiers being in town meant that any one interfering with +the steel company's affairs would be deported or sent to +Fort Leavenworth.</p> + +<p>Then a mill superintendent would take a squad of soldiers +and go to the home of a striker. The soldiers would be lined +up in front of the house; the superintendent would go in. He +would tell John that he came to give him his last chance to +return to work, saying that if he refused he would either go +to jail or be deported. Then he would take John to the +window and show him the row of soldiers. John would look at +the wife and kids and make up his mind that his first duty +was to them; that was what the strike was for anyway. So he +would put on his coat and go back to the mills. Then the +superintendent would go to the next house and repeat the +performance.</p></div> + +<p>Such tactics, coupled with spectacular midnight raids to "unearth" the +widely advertised "red" plotters,—conveniently ignored until the +strike,—the suppression of meetings, limitations on picketing, and the +hundred forms of studied intimidation practiced by the soldiery, in a +few weeks broke the backbone of the strike. And while the regular troops +operated so successfully and systematically against the workers in Gary, +the militia did almost as well in Indiana Harbor, where the strike also +cracked.</p> + +<p>The great reactionary interests which backed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>General Wood for the +Republican presidential nomination, including the Steel Trust, are +giving him boundless credit for breaking the steel strike in Gary. +Consequently there are many workers who believe the whole affair was +staged to further his political fortunes. If not, how did it happen that +the militia, who could have handled the situation easily, were sent out +of Gary to make room for his regulars? And why was it that before there +was a sign of trouble General Wood had formed his provisional regiment, +shipped it from Fort Dodge to Fort Sheridan, and made other active +preparations to invade Gary? And then, how did it come that he took +charge of the situation in person, when at best it was only a colonel's +job? In fact, how about the whole wretched business? Was it merely a +political stunt to give General Wood the publicity that came to him for +it?</p> + +<p>The collapse at Gary and Indiana Harbor affected adversely South Chicago +and almost the whole Chicago district. Worse still, it weakened the +morale everywhere; and thus undermined, the strike rapidly +disintegrated. By the middle of November, district secretary De Young +reported that all the mills in the district, except those in Joliet and +Waukegan, were working crews from 50 to 85 per cent. of normal, +although, due to green hands and demoralized working forces, production +averaged considerably lower. And the situation gradually grew worse. +Joliet and Waukegan, however, held fast to the end, making a fight +comparable with that of the men in Peoria and Hammond, who had gone out +several weeks before September 22. It was at <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>the latter place that +police and company guards brutally shot down and killed four strikers on +September 9.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>In the immediate Youngstown district the strike was highly effective, +hardly a ton of steel being produced anywhere for several weeks. This +was due largely to the walkout of the railroad men employed in the mill +yards, who acted on their own volition. Many of these belonged to the +Brotherhoods, and others to the Switchmen's Union, while some were +unorganized; but all struck together. Then they held joint mass +meetings, got an agreement from the A. F. of L. unions that they would +be protected and represented in any settlement made, and stuck loyally +to the finish. They were a strong mainstay of the strike.</p> + +<p>The weakening of the strike began about November 15. In a number of +plants, notably those of the Trumbull Steel Company and the Sharon Steel +Hoop Company, the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers +had agreements covering the skilled steel making trades, but when the +laborers struck these skilled men had to quit also. The break in the +district came when the Amalgamated Association virtually forced the +laborers back to work in these shops in order to get them in operation. +This action its officials justified by the following clause in their +agreements:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>It was agreed that when a scale or scales are signed in +general or local conferences, said scales or contracts shall +be considered inviolate for that scale year, and should the +employees of any departments (who do not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>come under the +above named scales or contracts) become members of the +Amalgamated Association during the said scale year, the +Amalgamated Association may present a scale of wages +covering said employees, but in case men and management +cannot come to an agreement on said scale, same shall be +held over until the next general or local conference, and +all men shall continue work until the expiration of the +scale year.</p></div> + +<p>Relying upon their rights under this clause, the companies naturally +refused to give the laborers any consideration whatever until the end of +the scale year. This meant that the latter were told to work and wait +until the following June, when their grievances would be taken up. The +result was disastrous; the laborers generally lost faith in the +Amalgamated Association, feeling that they had been sacrificed for the +skilled workers. They began to flock back to work in all the plants. +Then men in other trades took the position that it was foolish for them +to fight on, seeing that the Amalgamated Association was forcing its men +back into the mills. A general movement millward set in. By December 10 +the strike was in bad shape. In passing it may be noted that in +Pittsburgh and other places where it had contracts, the Amalgamated +Association took the same action, with the same general results, +although not so extensive and harmful as in the Youngstown district. In +Cleveland the charters were taken from local unions that refused to +abide by this clause.</p> + +<p>The other trades affiliated with the National Committee protested +against the enforcement of the clause. They declared it to be invalid, +because it <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>violated trade-union principles and fundamental human +rights. Seeing that no consideration was given the laborers under the +agreement, their right to strike should have been preserved inviolate. +It verged upon peonage to tie them up with an agreement that gave them +no protection yet deprived them of the right to defend themselves. These +trades freely predicted that to enforce the clause would break the +strike in the Youngstown district, as it was altogether out of the +question to ask men who had been on strike two months (especially men +inexperienced in unionism) to resume work upon such conditions. But all +arguments were vain; the Amalgamated Association officials were as +adamant. They held their agreements with the employers to be sacred and +to rank above any covenants they had entered into with the co-operating +trades. They would enforce them to the letter—the interests of the +laborers, the mechanical trades, and even the strike itself, to the +contrary notwithstanding. Being a federated body, the National Committee +had to bow to this decision and stand by, helpless, while its effects +worked havoc with the strike.</p> + +<p>Into Youngstown, in common with all the other districts, armies of scabs +were poured. It was the policy of the United States Steel Corporation to +operate, or at least to pretend to operate its mills, regardless of +cost. So all the "independents" had to do likewise. Word came to the +National Committee of several companies which, rather than try to run +with the high-priced, worthless strike-breakers, would have been glad +either to settle with the unions or to close their plants. But they were +afraid to do <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>either; Gary had said "Operate," and it was a case of do +that or risk going out of business.</p> + +<p>The demand for scabs was tremendous. Probably half the strike-breaking +agencies in the country were engaged in recruiting them. Thousands of +negroes were brought from the South, and thousands of guttersnipe whites +from the big northern cities. But worst of all were the skilled steel +workers from outlying sections. There were many of such men who went on +strike in their own home towns, sneaked away to other steel centres and +worked there until the strike was over. Then they would return to their +old jobs with cock-and-bull stories (for the workers only) of having +worked in other industries, thus seeking to escape the dreaded odium of +being known as scabs. These contemptible cowards, being competent +workers, wrought incalculable injury to the strike everywhere, +especially in the Youngstown district.</p> + +<p>The Youngstown authorities, to begin with, were reasonably fair towards +the strikers; but as the strike wore on and the steel companies and +business men became desperate at the determined resistance of the +workers, they began to apply "Pennsylvania tactics." In Youngstown and +East Youngstown, Mayors Craver and McVey prohibited meetings, "the +object of which is discussion of matters pertaining to prolonging the +strike."<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> On November 22, district secretary McCadden, and organizers +John Klinsky and Frank Kurowsky were arrested in East Youngstown, +charged with criminal syndicalism and held for $3,000 bonds each. Later +a whole local <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>union, No. 104 Amalgamated Association, was arrested in +the same town for holding a business meeting. "Citizens' committees" +were formed, and open threats made to tar and feather all the organizers +and drive them out of town. But the steel companies were unable to +inflame public opinion sufficiently for them to venture this outrage.</p> + +<p>Afterward the organizers were discharged; and in releasing the men +arrested for holding a business meeting, Judge David G. Jenkins said:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>I regard the ordinance (E. Youngstown anti-free assembly) as +a form of hysteria which has been sweeping the country, +whereby well-meaning people, in the guise of patriots, have +sought to preserve America even though going to the extent +of denying the fundamental principles upon which Americanism +is based, and free assemblage is one of those fundamentals.</p></div> + +<p>In the principal outlying towns of the Youngstown district, namely +Butler, Farrell, Sharon, Newcastle and Canton, the strikers were given +the worst of it. The first four being Pennsylvania towns, no specific +description of them is necessary. Suffice it to say that typical Cossack +conditions prevailed. In Canton it was not much better. The companies +turned loose many vicious gunmen on the strikers. The mayor was removed +from office and his place given to a company man; and a sweeping +injunction was issued against the strikers, denying them many +fundamental rights.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> The district, nevertheless, held remarkably +well.</p> + +<p>Cleveland from the first to the last was one of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>strong points in +the battle line. On September 22 the men struck almost 100 per cent. in +all the big plants, and until the very end preserved a wonderful +solidarity. Under the excellent control of the organizers working with +Secretary Raisse there was at no time a serious break in the ranks, and +when the strike was called off on January 8, at least 50 per cent. of +the men were still out, with production not over 30 per cent. of normal. +Thousands of the men refused to go back to the mills at all, leaving +them badly crippled.</p> + +<p>The backbone of the Cleveland strike was the enormous mills of the +American Steel and Wire Co. This calls attention to the fact that, as a +whole, the employees of this subsidiary of the U. S. Steel Corporation +made incomparably a better fight than did the workers in any other +considerable branch of the steel industry. Long after the strike had +been cracked in all other sections of the industry, the rod and wire +mill men of Cleveland, Donora, Braddock, Rankin, Joliet and Waukegan +stood practically solid. Even as late as December 27, only twelve days +before the end, the companies were forced to the expedient of assembling +a rump meeting in Cleveland of delegates from many centres, for the +purpose of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>calling off the strike. But the men voted unanimously for +continuation under the leadership of the National Committee. When the +strike was finally ended, however, they accepted the decision with good +grace, because they were penetrated with the general strike idea and +realized the folly of trying alone to whip the united steel companies.</p> + +<p>The remarkable fight of the rod and wire mill men was due in large +measure to the peculiar circumstances surrounding their organization. +These are highly important and require explanation: The regular system +used by the National Committee resulted usually in organization from the +bottom upward; that is, in response to the general appeals made to the +men in the great mass meetings, ordinarily the first to join the unions +were the unskilled, who are the workers with the least to lose, the most +to gain, and consequently those most likely to take a chance. Gradually, +as the confidence of the men developed, the movement would extend on up +through the plants until it included the highest skilled men. Given time +and a reasonable opportunity, it was an infallible system. It was far +superior to the old trade-union plan of working solely from the top +down, because the latter always stopped before it got to the main body +of the men, the unskilled workers.</p> + +<p>The "bottom upward" system was used with the rod and wire mills, the +same as with all others. But while it was operating the skilled men who +had been attracted to the movement in Joliet, Donora and Cleveland +started a "top downward" movement of their own. They sent committees to +all the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>large rod and wire mills in the country, appealing to the +skilled men to organize. These committeemen, actual workers and +acquainted with all the old timers in the business, could do more real +organizing in a day with their tradesmen than regular organizers could +in a month. Hardly would they go into a locality, no matter how +difficult, than they would at once inspire that confidence in the +movement which is so indispensable, and which takes organizers so long +to develop. The result was a "top downward" movement working +simultaneously with the "bottom upward" drive, which produced a high +degree of organization for the rod and wire mill men.</p> + +<p>A great weakness of the strike was the failure of many skilled workers +to participate therein. This tended directly to aid the employers, and +also to discourage the unskilled workers, who looked for their more +expert brothers to take the lead in the strike as well as in the regular +shop experiences. The explanation has been offered that this aloofness +was because the skilled men are "unorganizable." But this is a dream. In +the mills controlled by it, the Amalgamated Association (which is really +a skilled workers' union) has thousands of them in its ranks, most of +whom earn higher wages than employees of similar classes in the Trust +mills. If the proper means to organize them could have been applied, the +skilled workers would have been the leaders in the late strike, instead +of generally the scabs. The same thing done in the rod and wire mills +should have been done in all the important sections of the industry, +blast furnaces, open hearths, sheet, tin, rail, plate, tube mills, etc. +Committees <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>of well-known skilled workers in these departments should +have been sent forth everywhere to start movements from the top to meet +the great surge coming up from the bottom. Had this been done, then Gary +with all his millions could not have broken the strike. The tie-up would +have been so complete and enduring that a settlement would have been +compulsory.</p> + +<p>But it was impossible; the chronic lack of resources prevented it. With +the pitifully inadequate funds and men at its disposal, all the National +Committee could do was to go ahead with its general campaign, leaving +the detail and special work undone. It is certainly to be hoped that in +the next big drive this committee system will be extensively followed. +It is the solution of the skilled worker problem, and when applied +intelligently in connection with the fundamental "bottom upward" +movement, it must result in the organization of the industry.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>In the Bethlehem Steel Company's plants the strike was not very +effective. This was due principally to the failure of previous strikes +and to general lack of organization. In Reading and in Lebanon there had +been strikes on for many weeks before the big walkout. The workers' +ranks there were already broken. In Sparrows' Point likewise several +departments had been on strike since May 3. Not more than 500 men, +principally laborers and tin mill workers, responded to the general +strike call; but they made a hard fight of it. In Steelton the men had +been very strongly organized during the war; but the error was made of +putting all the trades <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>into one federal union. Then when the craft +unions insisted later that their men be turned over to them, the +resultant resistance of the members, and especially of the paid +officers, virtually destroyed the organization. When the strike came +only a small percentage struck, nor did they stick long.</p> + +<p>Speaking of the strike in the main plant at Bethlehem, Secretary +Hendricks says:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The strike was called September 29, and about 75 per cent. +of the men responded. These were largely American workers. +The Machinists, which comprise about 40 per cent. of the +total workers, were the craft most involved. In the mill and +blast furnace departments, the response was among the +rollers, heaters, and highly skilled men generally, which +led to the complete shut-down of these departments. The +molders practically shut the foundries down. Electrical +workers, steamfitters, millwrights, and general repairmen +responded well. The patternmakers did not go out.</p></div> + +<p>The first break came a week later. It was charged largely to the steam +engineers, who heeded the strike-breaking advice of their international +officials and returned to work. Another factor was the failure of +support from the railroad men on the inter-plant system. Had these two +bodies of men been held in line by their officers, the Bethlehem strike +would have been a success.</p> + +<p>In the Bethlehem situation too much reliance was placed in the skilled +trades; more attention should have been given to the organization of the +real fighting force, the unskilled workers. Another mistake was to have +allowed the strikes to take place in Reading, Lebanon and Sparrows' +Point. Even a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>tyro could see that they had no hope of success. Those +men could easily have been held in line until the big strike, to the +enormous strengthening of the latter. The National Committee had little +to do with the Bethlehem situation before the strike, the movement +developing to a great extent independently.</p> + +<p>Nowhere in the strike zone was there a more bitter fight than in the +Buffalo district, which was directed by organizers Thompson and +Streifler. All the important plants were affected, but the storm +centered around the Lackawanna Steel Company. This concern left nothing +undone to defeat its workers. For eight months it had prevented any +meetings from being held in Lackawanna, and then, when the workers broke +through this obstruction and crowded into the unions, it discharged +hundreds of them. This put the iron into the workers' hearts, and they +made an heroic struggle. So firm were their ranks that when the general +strike was called off on January 8, they voted to continue the fight in +Lackawanna. But this was soon seen to be hopeless.</p> + +<p>Much company violence was used in the Lackawanna strike. The New York +State Constabulary and the company guards, of a cut with their odious +Pennsylvania brethren, slugged, shot and jailed men and women in real +Steel Trust style. Many strikers were injured, and two killed outright. +One of these, Joseph Mazurek, a native-born American, was freshly back +from the fighting in France. Lackawanna was just a little bit of an +industrial hell.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>As a strike measure the Lackawanna Steel Company evicted many strikers +from the company houses. In Braddock, Rankin, Homestead, Butler, +Wierton, Natrona, Bethlehem and many other places, the companies put +similar pressure upon their men, either evicting them or foreclosing the +mortgages on their half-paid-for houses. Threats of such action drove +thousands back to work, it being peculiarly terrifying to workers to +find themselves deprived of their homes in winter time. Where evictions +actually occurred the victims usually had to leave town or find crowded +quarters with other strikers. The much-lauded housing schemes of the +steel companies are merely one of a whole arsenal of weapons to crush +the independence of their workers. No employer should be permitted to +own or control the houses in which his men live.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The Wheeling district is noted as strong union country. The +"independent" mills therein had provided the main strength of the +Amalgamated Association for several years prior to this movement; but +the Trust mills were still unorganized. Under the guidance of National +Committee local secretary J. M. Peters, however, these men, in the mills +of Wheeling, Bellaire, Benwood and Martin's Ferry, were brought into the +unions. On September 22 they struck 100 per cent., completely closing +all the plants. They held practically solid <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>until the first week in +December, when they broke heavily.</p> + +<p>The immediate cause of this break merits explanation. The National +Committee, at the outset of the strike, organized a publicity +department, headed by Mr. Edwin Newdick, formerly of the National War +Labor Board. In addition to getting out strike stories for the press, +many of which were written by the well-known novelist, Mary Heaton +Vorse, this department assembled and issued in printed bulletin form +statistical information relative to the progress and effectiveness of +the strike. The steel companies, through spies in the unions, +newspapers, etc., disputed this information, telling the strikers that +they were being victimized as the mills in all districts except their +own were in full operation, and advising them to send out committees to +investigate the situation.</p> + +<p>It was a seductive argument and many were deceived by it. Consequently, +quite generally, such committees (usually financed and chaperoned by the +local Chambers of Commerce) went forth from various localities. Of +course, they returned the sort of reports the companies wished. Much +harm was done thereby. The Steubenville district suffered from the lying +statement of such a committee, the strikers having made a winning fight +up till the time it was made public, the middle of November. But nowhere +was the effect so serious as in the Wheeling district.</p> + +<p>The Wheeling committee was headed by one Robert Edwards, widely known +for years as an extreme radical. It visited many points in the steel +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>industry, taking its figures on steel production and strike conditions +from employers' sources, and completely ignoring national and local +strike officials everywhere. The ensuing report pictured the steel +industry as virtually normal. Although he had been recently expelled +from the Amalgamated Association Edwards still had great influence with +the men, and his report broke their ranks. In future general strikes +drastic disciplinary measures should be taken to forestall the +activities of such committees.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Of the 6500 men employed by the Colorado Fuel and Iron Co. in its Pueblo +mills, 95 per cent. walked out on September 22. When the strike was +called off three and one-half months later not over 1500 of these had +returned to their jobs. Production was below 20 per cent. of normal. +Locally the tie-up was so effective that on January 9, at the biggest +labor meeting in Pueblo's history, National Committee local secretary W. +H. Young and the other organizers had to beg the men for hours to go +back to work. These officials knew that the great struggle had been +decided in the enormous steel centers of the East (Pueblo being credited +with producing only two per cent. of the nation's steel) and that it +would be madness for them to try to win the fight alone.</p> + +<p>The heart of the Pueblo strike was opposition to the Rockefeller +Industrial Plan, in force in the mills. This worthless, tyrannical +arrangement the men could not tolerate and were determined to contest to +the end. Realizing the minor importance of the Pueblo mills in the +national strike, the men offered <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>at the outset to waive all their +demands pending its settlement, provided the company would agree to meet +with their representatives later to take up these matters. But this was +flatly refused; it was either accept the Rockefeller Plan or fight, even +though 98 per cent. of the men had voted to abolish it.</p> + +<p>Shortly after this incident John D. Rockefeller, Jr., gained much +favorable comment and pleasing publicity by his glowing speech about +industrial democracy and the right of collective bargaining, delivered +at the National Industrial Conference at Washington, D. C. He was hailed +as one of the country's progressive employers. But when the striking +Pueblo workers wired him, requesting that he grant them these rights, he +referred them to Mr. Welborn, President of the C. F. and I. Company, +well knowing that this gentleman would deny their plea.</p> + +<p>The strike was markedly peaceful throughout, no one being hurt and +hardly any one arrested. But on December 28, the state militia were +suddenly brought in, ostensibly because of an attack supposed to have +been made two days previously upon Mr. F. E. Parks, manager of the +Minnequa works. The public never learned the details of this mysterious +affair which served so well to bring in the troops. Nor was the +"culprit" ever located, although large rewards were offered for his +capture.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The Johnstown strike was so complete that for eight weeks the great +Cambria Steel Co., despite strenuous efforts, could not put a single +department <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>of its enormous mills into operation. Every trick was used +to break the strike. The Back-To-Work organization<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> labored +ceaselessly, holding meetings and writing and telephoning the workers to +coax or intimidate them back to their jobs. Droves of scabs were brought +in from outside points. But to no effect; the workers held fast. Then +the company embarked upon the usual Pennsylvania policy of terrorism.</p> + +<p>I, personally, was the first to feel its weight. I was billed to speak +in Johnstown on November 7. Upon alighting from the train I was met by +two newspaper men who advised me to quit the town at once, stating that +the business men and company officials had held a meeting the night +before and organized a "Citizens' Committee," which was to break the +strike by applying "Duquesne tactics." Beginning with myself, all the +organizers were to be driven from the city. Disregarding this warning, I +started for the Labor Temple; but was again warned by the newspapermen, +and finally stopped on the street by city detectives, who told me that +it would be at the risk of my life to take a step nearer the meeting +place. I demanded protection, but it was not forthcoming. I was told to +leave.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep188" id="imagep188"></a> +<a href="images/imagep188.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep188.jpg" width="55%" alt="Steel Trust Newspaper Propaganda" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">STEEL TRUST NEWSPAPER PROPAGANDA Pittsburgh <i>Chronicle +Telegraph</i>, October 6, 1919.</p> +</div> + +<p>In the meantime, Secretary Conboy arriving upon the scene, the two of us +started to the Mayor's office to protest, when suddenly, in broad +daylight, at a main street corner in the heart of the city, a mob <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>of +about forty men rushed us. Shouldering me away from Mr. Conboy, they +stuck guns against my ribs and took me to the depot. While there they +made a cowardly attempt to force me to sign a Back-To-Work card, which +meant to write myself down a scab. Later I was put aboard an eastbound +train. Several of the mob accompanied me to Conemaugh, a few miles out. +The same night this "Citizens' Committee," with several hundred more, +surrounded the organizers in their hotel and gave them twenty-four hours +time to leave town. The city authorities refused to stir to defend them, +and the following day organizers T. J. Conboy, Frank Hall, Frank +Butterworth, and Frank Kurowsky were compelled to go. Domenick Gelotte, +a local organizer of the miners, refused to depart and was promptly +arrested. Up to this time the strike had been perfectly peaceful. The +shut-down was so thorough that not even a picket line was necessary.</p> + +<p>The mob perpetrating these outrages (duly praised by the newspapers as +examples of 100 per cent. Americanism) was led by W. R. Lunk, secretary +of the Y. M. C. A., and H. L. Tredennick, president of the chamber of +commerce. This pair freely stated that the strike could never be broken +by peaceful means, and that they were prepared to apply the necessary +violence, which they did. Of course, they were never arrested. Had they +been workers and engaged in a similar escapade against business men, +they would have been lucky to get off with twenty years imprisonment +apiece.</p> + +<p>After a couple of weeks the organizers returned to Johnstown. Their +efforts at holding the men <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>together were so fruitful that the Cambria +Company, in its own offices, organized a new mob to drive them out +again. But this time, better prepared, they stood firm. On November 29, +when the fresh deportation was to take place, Secretary Conboy demanded +that Mayor Francke give him and the others protection. He offered to +furnish the city a force of 1000 union ex-service men to preserve law +and order. This offer was refused, and the Mayor and Sheriff reluctantly +agreed to see that peace was kept. They informed the business men's mob +that there was nothing doing. It was a tense situation. Had the +threatened deportation been attempted, most serious trouble would surely +have resulted.</p> + +<p>In the meantime numbers of the State Constabulary had been sent into +town (the city and county authorities denying responsibility for their +presence) and they terrorized the workers in their customary, brutal +way. Eventually the result sought by all this outlawry developed; a +break occurred in the ranks of the highly-paid, skilled steel workers. +Although small at first, the defection gradually spread as the weeks +rolled on, until, by January 8, about two-thirds of the men had returned +to work.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Considered nationally, strike sentiment continued strong until about the +middle of the third month, when a feeling of pessimism regarding the +outcome began to manifest itself among the various international +organizations. Consequently, a meeting of the National Committee was +held in Washington on December 13 and 14, to take stock of the +situation. At this meeting I submitted the following figures:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="70%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 216"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="40%"> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> +</td> + <td class="tdc" width="30%"><i>Men on Strike</i></td> + <td class="tdc" width="30%"><i>Men on Strike</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc"><i>District</i></td> + <td class="tdc"><i>Sept. 29</i></td> + <td class="tdc"><i>Dec. 10</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Pittsburgh</td> + <td class="tdc"> 25,000</td> + <td class="tdc"> 8,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Homestead</td> + <td class="tdc"> 9,000</td> + <td class="tdc"> 5,500</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Braddock-Rankin</td> + <td class="tdc"> 15,000</td> + <td class="tdc"> 8,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Clairton</td> + <td class="tdc"> 4,000</td> + <td class="tdc"> 1,500</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Duquesne-McKeesport</td> + <td class="tdc"> 12,000</td> + <td class="tdc"> 1,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Vandergrift</td> + <td class="tdc"> 4,000</td> + <td class="tdc"> 1,800</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Natrona-Brackenridge</td> + <td class="tdc"> 5,000</td> + <td class="tdc"> 1,500</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">New Kensington</td> + <td class="tdc"> 1,100</td> + <td class="tdc"> 200</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Apollo</td> + <td class="tdc"> 1,500</td> + <td class="tdc"> 200</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Leechburg</td> + <td class="tdc"> 3,000</td> + <td class="tdc"> 300</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Donora-Monessen</td> + <td class="tdc"> 12,000</td> + <td class="tdc"> 10,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Johnstown</td> + <td class="tdc"> 18,000</td> + <td class="tdc"> 7,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Coatesville</td> + <td class="tdc"> 4,000</td> + <td class="tdc"> 500</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Youngstown district</td> + <td class="tdc"> 70,000</td> + <td class="tdc"> 12,800</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Wheeling district</td> + <td class="tdc"> 15,000</td> + <td class="tdc"> 3,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cleveland</td> + <td class="tdc"> 25,000</td> + <td class="tdc"> 15,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Steubenville district</td> + <td class="tdc"> 12,000</td> + <td class="tdc"> 2,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Chicago district</td> + <td class="tdc"> 90,000</td> + <td class="tdc"> 18,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Buffalo</td> + <td class="tdc"> 12,000</td> + <td class="tdc"> 5,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Pueblo</td> + <td class="tdc"> 6,000</td> + <td class="tdc"> 5,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Birmingham</td> + <td class="tdc"> 2,000</td> + <td class="tdc"> 500</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Bethlehem Plants (5)</td> + <td class="tdc" style="text-decoration: underline;"> 20,000</td> + <td class="tdc" style="text-decoration: underline;"> 2,500</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdc">365,600</td> + <td class="tdc">109,300</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" colspan="3">Estimated production of steel, 50 to 60 per cent. of normal + capacity.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Owing to the chaotic conditions in many steel districts, it was +exceedingly difficult at all times to get accurate statistics upon the +actual state of affairs. Those above represented the very best that the +National Committee's whole organizing force could assemble. The +officials of the Amalgamated Association strongly favored calling off +the strike, but agreed that the figures cited on the number of men still +out were conservative and within the mark. The opinion prevailed that +the strike was still effective and that it should be vigorously +continued.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>On January 3 and 4, the National Committee met in Pittsburgh. At this +gathering it soon became evident that the strike was deemed hopeless, +so, according to its custom when important decisions had to be made, the +National Committee called a special meeting for January 8, all the +international organizations being notified. The situation was bad. +Reliable reports on January 8 showed the steel companies generally to +have working forces of from 70 to 80 per cent., and steel production of +from 60 to 70 per cent. of normal. Possibly 100,000 men still held out; +but it seemed merely punishing these game fighters to continue the +strike. They were being injured by it far more than was the Steel Trust. +There was no hope of a settlement, the steel companies being plainly +determined now to fight on indefinitely. Therefore, in justice to the +loyal strikers and to enable them to go back to the mills with clear +records, the meeting adopted, by a vote of ten unions to five, a +sub-committee's report providing that the strike be called off; that the +commissaries be closed as fast as conditions in the various localities +would permit, and that the campaign of education and organization of the +steel workers be continued with undiminished vigor.</p> + +<p>At this point, wishing to have the new phase of the work go ahead with a +clean slate, I resigned my office as Secretary-Treasurer of the National +Committee. Mr. J. G. Brown was elected to fill the vacancy. The +following telegram was sent to all the strike centers, and given to the +press:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The Steel Corporations, with the active assistance of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> +press, the courts, the federal troops, state police, and +many public officials, have denied steel workers their +rights of free speech, free assembly and the right to +organize, and by this arbitrary and ruthless misuse of power +have brought about a condition which has compelled the +National Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers to +vote today that the active strike phase of the steel +campaign is now at an end. A vigorous campaign of education +and reorganization will be immediately begun and will not +cease until industrial justice has been achieved in the +steel industry. All steel strikers are now at liberty to +return to work pending preparations for the next big +organization movement.</p> + +<div style="margin-left: 60%; margin-right: 10%;"> +<p class="noin">John Fitzpatrick,<br /> +D. J. Davis,<br /> +Edw. J. Evans,<br /> +Wm. Hannon,<br /> +Wm. Z. Foster.</p></div></div> + +<p>The great steel strike was ended.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Youngstown <i>Vindicator</i>, November 24, 1919.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> No history of the movement in the Youngstown district +could be complete without some mention of the assistance rendered the +workers by Bishop John Podea of the Roumanian Greek Catholic church, +Youngstown, and Rev. E. A. Kirby, pastor of St. Rose Roman Catholic +church of Girard, Ohio. Usually the churchmen (of all faiths) in the +various steel towns were careful not to jeopardize the fat company +contributions by helping the unions. But not these men. They realized +that all true followers of the Carpenter of Nazareth had to be on the +side of the oppressed steel workers; and throughout the entire campaign +they distinguished themselves by unstinted co-operation with the unions. +The service was never too great nor the call too often for them to +respond willingly.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> In connection with this matter it is interesting to note +that after the strike had ended the union men entered suits against the +steel companies for heavy damages. Up to the present writing the +Lackawanna Steel Company, realizing the indefensibility of the outrages, +has made out-of-court settlements to the extent of $22,500.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> These Back-To-Work organizations were formed in many steel +towns; their purpose was to recruit scabs. They were composed of company +officials, business men and "loyal" workers. The companies furnished the +wherewithal to finance them.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>XI</h2> + +<h2>NATIONAL AND RACIAL ELEMENTS</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang" style="margin-left: 2em;">A MODERN BABEL—AMERICANS + AS SKILLED WORKERS— FOREIGNERS AS UNSKILLED WORKERS—LANGUAGE + DIFFICULTIES—THE NEGRO IN THE STRIKE—THE RACE PROBLEM</p></div> +<br /> + +<p>In order to prove its charge that the purpose of the steel strike was +contrary to the spirit of our institutions, the Steel Trust's great +propaganda organization never ceased asserting, (1) that the strike was +a movement of foreigners, (2) that the Americans in the mills were +opposed to it for patriotic reasons and were taking no part therein. The +vicious press made much capital of these allegations, using them heavily +against the strike. Now let us see how much truth there was in them:</p> + +<p>1. Unquestionably the foreign-born were in the majority among the +strikers; but how could it be otherwise in view of the fact that they +make up the bulk of the working force in the industry? The following +table, submitted to the Senate Committee by Mr. A. F. Diehl, General +Manager of the Duquesne Works of the Carnegie Steel Co., illustrates +this fact:<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p> + +<p class="cen"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> +RECAPITULATION OF NATIONALITIES, AS OF AUG. 1ST, 1919,<br />FOR TOTAL PLANT, DUQUESNE WORKS</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="65%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png220"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="50%"> <i>Nationality</i></td> + <td class="tdc" width="25%"><i>Total</i></td> + <td class="tdc" width="25%"><i>Per cent.</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">American</td> + <td class="tdc">2,097</td> + <td class="tdc"> 34.6 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">American (colored)</td> + <td class="tdc"> 344</td> + <td class="tdc"> 5.7 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">English</td> + <td class="tdc"> 147</td> + <td class="tdc"> 2.4 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Scotch</td> + <td class="tdc"> 41</td> + <td class="tdc"> .7 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Welsh</td> + <td class="tdc"> 28</td> + <td class="tdc"> .5 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Irish</td> + <td class="tdc"> 58</td> + <td class="tdc"> .9 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Canadian</td> + <td class="tdc"> 4</td> + <td class="tdc"> .1 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">German</td> + <td class="tdc"> 104</td> + <td class="tdc"> 1.8 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">French</td> + <td class="tdc"> 6</td> + <td class="tdc"> .1 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Swedish</td> + <td class="tdc"> 79</td> + <td class="tdc"> 1.3 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Italian</td> + <td class="tdc"> 128</td> + <td class="tdc"> 2.1 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Greek</td> + <td class="tdc"> 23</td> + <td class="tdc"> .4 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Swiss</td> + <td class="tdc"> 5</td> + <td class="tdc"> .1 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Norwegian</td> + <td class="tdc"> 4</td> + <td class="tdc"> .1 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Danish</td> + <td class="tdc"> 1</td> + <td class="tdc"> .0 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Hollander</td> + <td class="tdc"> 1</td> + <td class="tdc"> .0 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Russian</td> + <td class="tdc"> 185</td> + <td class="tdc"> 3.0 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Lithuanian</td> + <td class="tdc"> 201</td> + <td class="tdc"> 3.3 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Lattis</td> + <td class="tdc"> 3</td> + <td class="tdc"> .0 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Bohemian</td> + <td class="tdc"> 3</td> + <td class="tdc"> .0 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Croatian</td> + <td class="tdc"> 222</td> + <td class="tdc"> 3.7 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Magyar</td> + <td class="tdc"> 742</td> + <td class="tdc"> 12.2 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Slovak</td> + <td class="tdc"> 930</td> + <td class="tdc"> 15.3 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Roumanian</td> + <td class="tdc"> 7</td> + <td class="tdc"> .1 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Ruthenian</td> + <td class="tdc"> 82</td> + <td class="tdc"> 1.3 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Bulgarian</td> + <td class="tdc"> 25</td> + <td class="tdc"> .4 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Servian</td> + <td class="tdc"> 219</td> + <td class="tdc"> 3.6 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Polish</td> + <td class="tdc"> 246</td> + <td class="tdc"> 4.0 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Armenian</td> + <td class="tdc"> 34</td> + <td class="tdc"> .5 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Dalmatian</td> + <td class="tdc"> 6</td> + <td class="tdc"> .1 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Macedonian</td> + <td class="tdc"> 10</td> + <td class="tdc"> .2 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Hebrew</td> + <td class="tdc"> 10</td> + <td class="tdc"> .2 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Turkish</td> + <td class="tdc" style="text-decoration: underline;"> 80</td> + <td class="tdc" style="text-decoration: underline;"> 1.3 </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Totals</td> + <td class="tdc">6,075</td> + <td class="tdc">100.00</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>This condition is typical of steel mills generally in the greater +Pittsburgh and Middle West districts, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>where the body of the industry is +located. In Clairton, of 4,600 employees, divided into 39 nationalities, +35 per cent. are Americans. On page 480 of the report of the Senate +Committee Steel Strike Hearings, appears a table covering the employees +of the Homestead Steel Works, Howard Axle Works, and Carrie Furnaces (an +industrial unit), submitted by General Manager J. S. Oursler. It shows a +total of 14,687 employees, of 54 nationality divisions. Of these +employees, 5,799, or 39.45 per cent. are stated to be American whites. +But as Mr. Oursler re-iterated in his testimony that he had classed as +Americans all those who had their citizenship papers, both these figures +should therefore be considerably reduced. Besides, it must be borne in +mind that these several tables include the office forces, bosses, etc., +which are almost entirely American, and which were not involved in the +strike. In the steel districts in question it is exceedingly doubtful if +over 25 per cent. of the actual workers are American-born whites. How, +then, can a general strike of steel workers be anything else than +largely a strike of foreigners?</p> + +<p>2. Regarding the alleged non-participation of Americans in the movement: +Although in many districts where the strike was practically 100 per +cent. effective, the Americans struck almost to a man with the other +workers and fought gamely to the finish, nevertheless it must be +admitted that in the main, when compared with the foreigners,<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> they +made a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>poor showing. To begin with they organized slowly; then they +struck reluctantly and scatteringly; and finally, they showed little +tenacity as strikers. But this general sluggishness originated, however, +not in patriotic objections to the movement or lack of sympathy with its +aims; but chiefly because the Americans, as skilled workers, were +naturally slower and less determined in action than the foreigners, or +unskilled workers.</p> + +<p>In the steel industry the most skilled men are to be found in those +trades actually engaged in the making and rolling of iron and steel—the +melters, puddlers, shearmen, rollers, roughers, heaters, Bessemer +blowers, etc. These men are paid upon a tonnage basis and generally +receive considerably higher wages than the mechanical +tradesmen—bricklayers, machinists, boilermakers, riggers, firemen, +engineers, electrical workers, blacksmiths, etc., who build, maintain +and generally operate the plants. It is among the favored tonnage trades +that the Americans are especially intrenched.</p> + +<p>In the old days these highly skilled workers took the initiative in the +struggle for human rights in the steel industry—the mechanical trades +and unskilled workers playing a very minor part. Homestead was one of +their great battles, only 752 of the 3800 men employed being union +members in good-standing. They were then bold, militant and tenacious as +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>bull dogs. But since those times they have been defeated so often, due +to a weakening of their proportional strength and strategical position, +that they have lost much of the independent spirit which once +characterized them. They now fear the power of the Steel Trust; they +dread its pitiless blacklist; they hesitate to put in jeopardy their +comparatively good jobs, which they secured only after long years of +service in minor positions, and which, once lost, are so hard to regain. +They want better conditions now as much as they ever did, but they lack +the self-confidence to fight for them. All through the campaign their +attitude, barring the exceptions here and there, was to wait until the +lesser skilled men had so far perfected the organization as to make it +seem safe for them to join it. When the strike came the unskilled +workers led the way; then came the mechanical trades; with the +aristocratic steel workers bringing up the rear. But in scurrying back +to scab in the mills, the order was just the reverse. This was the +experience in virtually every section of the industry.</p> + +<p>It would be wrong, however, to say that the failure of American workers +to participate more heartily in the movement was due solely to their +favored position in the industry. To some extent race prejudice also +came into play, especially in those districts where the organization had +not yet reached far enough up into the plants to include the skilled +workers. Everywhere American-born workingmen, unfortunately, are prone +to look with some suspicion, if not contempt and hatred, upon +foreigners, whom they have been taught to believe are injuring their +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>standard of living. The companies made the most of this. Dubbing the +walkout a "hunky" strike, they told the Americans that if it succeeded +the latter would have to give over to the despised foreigners all the +good jobs and shop privileges they enjoyed. Their slogan was "Don't let +the 'hunkies' rule the mills." They openly circulated handbills inciting +to race war. The following, from Elwood, Pa., where a National Tube +Company plant is located, is typical:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="cen">WAKE UP AMERICANS!!</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Italian Laborers</span>, organized under the American +Federation of Labor are going to strike Monday and are +threatening workmen who want to continue working.</p> + +<p>These foreigners have been told by labor agitators that if +they would join the union they would get Americans' jobs.</p> + +<p>They are being encouraged by ITALIAN MERCHANTS, who are in +sympathy with them. ARE YOU GOING TO SLEEP AND LET MOB RULE +THREATEN THE PEACE OF OUR TOWN?</p></div> + +<p>In towns where often the foreign population is three-fourths of the +whole, such propaganda was most inflammatory. The newspapers did all +they could to make it more so. They solemnly warned of the danger of a +foreign uprising and advised a campaign of militant, 100 per cent. +Americanism; which meant, on the one hand for the local authorities, +gunmen, and business men to set up a reign of terror, and on the other, +for the workers all to go back to work at once. The courts and so-called +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>peace officers did their part. They jailed, clubbed and shot the +foreigners and left the Americans, even if they were strikers, in +comparative immunity. Nothing was left undone to create a race issue, +and it is not surprising that many American workers, unorganized and +ignorant, were mislead by this and inveigled back to the mills.</p> + +<p>It has been charged that the unions neglected the American steel workers +and concentrated upon the organization of the foreigners. If anything, +the reverse is true; for by far the weight of the appeal made was to the +English speaking elements. Every piece of literature put out stressed +heavily the English language. Of twenty-five National Committee district +and local secretaries, only three were born in Europe; of a dozen +Amalgamated Association organizers, not one spoke anything but English, +and of the crew as a whole, over 80 per cent. were American born. By its +very nature such an organizing force had to make strong appeal to the +American workers. In fact, the foreigners constantly insisted upon this, +because, strangers in a strange land, they always crave and seek +American co-operation in their union movements. That this co-operation +was not more in evidence in the steel campaign was the cause of much +bitter complaint among them.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>But if the Americans and skilled workers generally proved indifferent +union men in the steel campaign, the foreign, unskilled workers covered +themselves with glory. Throughout the whole affair they showed an +understanding discipline, courage and tenacity of purpose that compared +favorably <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span>with that shown in any organized effort ever put forth by +workingmen on this continent. Beyond question they displayed trade-union +qualities of the very highest type. Their solidarity was unbreakable; +their fighting spirit invincible. They nobly struggled onward in the +face of difficulties that would try the stoutest hearts. They proved +themselves altogether worthy of the best American labor traditions. +Thousands of them were intending to return to Europe shortly and +apparently had slight reason to establish good conditions here; but they +fought on, many spending their little savings during the strike, and +thus postponing indefinitely the long-looked-for trip to the homelands.</p> + +<p>This attitude of the foreign workers is a bitter pill for the Steel +Trust. For many years it had scoured the countries of Eastern and +Southern Europe, and packed its mills with poor, dispirited, ignorant +immigrants of three score nationalities, in the hope that it was finally +supplanting its original crew of independent American and Western +European workmen by a race of submissive, unorganizable slaves. And for +a long time this shameful policy worked well. Wages sank to nowhere; +conditions became unspeakably wretched; every strike of the old-time, +organized workers was smothered by an avalanche of job-hungry +immigrants.<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> But now <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>these foreigners are waking up; in consequence +of hard economic conditions, a better acquaintance with our language and +institutions, an inherent class solidarity, the example of union men in +other industries, and the social upheavals in Europe, these men are +opening their eyes; and they are fast taking their place in the very +front rank of the working class fighters for industrial liberty. And now +the Steel Trust, discovering that its hoped-for-scabs are in truth +highly rebellious workingmen, is making the welkin ring with +inconsistent denunciation of the "revolutionary foreigners," with whom +just a short while ago it was so anxious to crowd its plants. The biter +has been very badly bitten.</p> + +<p>For the unions the nationality problem was serious throughout the entire +campaign—the employers had worked for years to make it an insoluble +one. Something of the situation may be gleaned when it is recalled that +the steel industry comprises hundreds of mills, scattered through a +dozen states, and employing half a million workers. These speak dozens +of widely differing languages, worship through many mutually +antagonistic religions, and are moved by numberless racial and national +animosities. Yet the National Committee, with the skimped resources it +had in hand, had to and did weld together this vast polyglot, +heterogeneous mass into a voluntary organization, kept it thinking +alike, and held it in strong discipline for months in the face of the +bitter opposition of the Steel Trust, which sought in every conceivable +way to divide the workers by playing upon their multiplicity of fears +and prejudices.</p> + +<p>In accomplishing this huge task the first requisite <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>was to overcome the +language difficulty sufficiently to permit the message of trade unionism +to be brought forcefully to the many diverse elements. Because doing so +would have rendered the meetings ruinously cumbersome and unwieldy, it +was out of the question to utilize all the languages or any considerable +number of them; so the plan was followed of using only the predominant +ones; the theory being that if the large bodies of workers speaking them +could be reached, they in turn would find means to influence the +minorities speaking other languages.</p> + +<p>As the various foreign groups tend strongly to colonize in certain +districts, the basic languages spoken in a given plant, regardless of +how many nationalities work therein, ordinarily number not more than +four or five, including always English, usually a couple of the Slavic +tongues (Slavish, Polish, Russian, Croatian, Lithuanian, Serbian, etc.), +often Hungarian, and occasionally Italian, Roumanian or Greek. For +example, among the fifty-four nationalities in the big Homestead plants, +the principal languages spoken are, in the order of their numerical +importance, English, Slavish, Russian, Hungarian and Polish. Move these +predominate language groups and you move the whole working force; that +was the system in the steel campaign. Seldom was a piece of literature +issued, even for national circulation, with as many as six languages +upon it; the vitally important strike call had but seven, while four was +the customary number.</p> + +<p>About twenty-five organizers who spoke these predominating languages +were put in the field. Great care was taken by the A. F. of L., National +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>Committee and co-operating unions to select reliable, level-headed men +of influence and standing among their respective peoples, men who could +be depended upon to go along with the general program, and not to work +upon some destructive side-issue of their own. Besides, efforts were +made to take every possible advantage of the fact that practically all +the foreign workers have some slight smattering of English. Accordingly, +the English-speaking organizers were coached to get rid of all +trade-union technical expressions and to confine their talks to +fundamentals; to speak slowly, distinctly, and in the simplest, even +"pidjinized" terms, to illustrate the whole with sign language, and to +follow out a system of repetition and restatement that was bound to make +their meaning plain to the most unknowing. Such talks, while not +calculated to stir the emotions, made clear the situation and were +greatly appreciated by the foreigners, thousands of whom, during the +steel campaign, for the first time felt the pleasure and encouragement +of understanding the despairingly difficult English spoken from a +platform. The steel workers' meetings were schools in practical +Americanization.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> + +<p>With the language problem solved in even this imperfect way, the +persistent advocacy of labor union principles, backed up by a few +thoroughgoing, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>common-sense systems of organization, did the rest. +Gradually the great armies of linguistically, religiously, racially +divided steel workers were united into the mighty force which threw +itself against the Steel Trust. In the main the foreign workers were +simple, sincere, earnest minded folk, naturally disposed to co-operative +effort. While the individualistic, sophisticated American workers all +too often attended the ball games and filled the pool rooms, the +foreigners packed the union meeting halls. Their worst fault was a +woeful unacquaintance with trade-union methods. This the organizers +diligently labored to overcome by patient instruction and a faithful +attendance to their duties. The general result was that the foreign +workers developed a confidence in the organizers and a loyalty to the +unions, which not even the heavy shock of the loss of the strike has +been able to destroy.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The indifference, verging often into open hostility, with which negroes +generally regard Organized Labor's activities, manifested itself +strongly in the steel campaign. Those employed in the industry were +extremely resistant to the trade-union program; those on the outside +allowed themselves to be used freely as strike-breakers.</p> + +<p>According to the Immigration Commission's Report, which furnished the +latest official figures (period 1907-08), 4.7 per cent. of the total +number of steel industry employees at that time were negroes, most of +whom were located in the Alabama and Maryland districts. Since then, +however, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>considerable additions to their numbers have been made, and in +many northern mills will be found groups of them, ranging in strength +from 1 to 20 per cent. of the whole working force. They work mostly at +hard, rough, unskilled labor, especially in the blast furnace +department.</p> + +<p>Generally speaking, these bodies of negroes took small part in the +movement. In certain districts, notably Cleveland and Wheeling, it is +true that they organized 100 per cent. and struck very creditably; but +in most places, and exactly those where their support was needed the +worst, they made a wretched showing. Consider the situation, for +instance, in the Homestead Steel Works. In these plants (including the +Carrie Furnaces at Rankin), of the 14,687 employees, 1,737 are negroes. +Making deductions for office forces, bosses, etc., this would make them +from 12 to 14 per cent. of the actual workers, a most important factor +indeed. During the organizing campaign, of all these men, only eight +joined the unions. And of these but one struck. He, however, stayed +loyally to the finish. The degree of this abstention from the movement +may be gauged when it is recalled that of the white unskilled workers in +the same plants at least 75 per cent. joined the unions, and 90 per +cent. struck.</p> + +<p>Throughout the immediate Pittsburgh district, where the unions operated +under such great handicaps and had to rely so much on the initiative of +the individual workers, the same condition prevailed. In Duquesne, of +344 negroes employed, not one struck; in Clairton, of 300, six joined +the unions and struck for two weeks. Of the several hundred <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>working in +the Braddock plants, not one joined a union or went on strike; and a +dozen would cover those from the large number employed in the mills in +Pittsburgh proper who walked out with the 25,000 whites on September 22. +Similar tendencies were shown in the Chicago, Youngstown, Buffalo, +Pueblo, Sparrows' Point and other districts. In the entire steel +industry, the negroes, beyond compare, gave the movement less +co-operation than any other element, skilled or unskilled, foreign or +native.</p> + +<p>Those on the outside of the industry seemed equally unsympathetic. +National Committee secretaries' reports indicate that the Steel Trust +recruited and shipped from 30,000 to 40,000 negroes into the mills as +strike-breakers. Many of these were picked up in Northern cities, but +the most of them came from the South. They were used in all the large +districts and were a big factor in breaking the strike. The following +statement illustrates some of the methods used in securing and handling +them:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="right">Monessen, November 23, 1919</p> + +<p>Eugene Steward—Age 19—Baltimore, Md.</p> + +<p>My native place is Charleston, South Carolina.</p> + +<p>I arrived in Monessen on Wednesday, November 19. There were +about 200 of us loaded in the cars at Baltimore; some were +white; and when we were loaded in the cars were told that we +were being taken to Philadelphia.</p> + +<p>We were not told that a strike was in progress. We were +promised $4.00 a day, with the understanding that we should +be boarded at $1.00 a day.</p> + +<p>When we took the train a guard locked the doors so that we +were unable to get out, and no meals were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>given us on the +way, although we were promised board.</p> + +<p>We were unloaded at Lock 4 and had a guard placed over us, +and were then marched into the grounds of the Pittsburgh +Steel Products Co. We were then told to go to work, and when +I found out that there was a strike on I got out. They +refused to let me out at the gate when I protested about +working, and I climbed over the fence, and they caught me +and compelled me to go back and sign a paper and told me +that I would have to go to work. I told them that I would +not go to work if they kept me there two years. I was placed +on a boat. There were about 200 other people there. The +guards informed me that if I made any attempt to again run +away that they would shoot me. I got a rope and escaped, as +I will not work to break the strike.</p> + +<div style="margin-left: 60%; margin-right: 10%;"> +<p> his<br /> +Eugene X Steward<br /> + mark</p></div> + +<p class="noin">Witness Jacob S. McGinley</p></div> + +<p>Few, however, of the imported negro strike-breakers showed the splendid +spirit of this unlettered boy. Most of them seemed to take a keen +delight in stealing the white men's jobs and crushing their strike. They +clashed badly with the pickets, where picketing was allowed. And between +them and the white strike-breakers many murderous encounters occurred in +the mills, although the companies were very careful to suppress news of +these outbreaks.</p> + +<p>So serious was the race situation in the steel strike that the National +Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers requested President +Gompers to arrange a conference between prominent negro leaders and +trade-union officials, to the end that the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>proper remedies may be +indicated. The need for action looking towards better relations between +whites and blacks in the industrial field should be instantly patent; +for there can be no doubt but that the employing class, taking advantage +of the bitter animosities of the two groups, are deliberately attempting +to turn the negroes into a race of strike-breakers, with whom to hold +the white workers in check; on much the same principle as the Czars used +the Cossacks to keep in subjection the balance of the Russian people. +Should they succeed to any degree it would make our industrial disputes +take on more and more the character of race wars, a consummation that +would be highly injurious to the white workers and eventually ruinous to +the blacks.</p> + +<p>For the tense situation existing the unions are themselves in no small +part to blame. Many of them sharply draw the color line, thus feeding +the flames of race hatred. This discriminatory practice is in direct +conflict with the fundamental which demands that all the workers be +organized, without regard to sex, race, creed, politics or nationality. +It injures Labor's cause greatly. Company agents harp upon it +continually, to prevent negroes from joining even the organizations +willing to take them in. This was the case in the steel campaign. +Moreover these same company agents cited this discriminatory practice +most effectively to induce thousands of outside colored workers to come +into the industry as strike-breakers. Such a condition cannot be allowed +to persist. But to relieve it the unions will have to meet the issue +honestly and broad-mindedly. They must open their ranks to negroes, make +an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>earnest effort to organize them, and then give them a square deal +when they do join. Nothing short of this will accomplish the desired +result.<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p> + +<p>This action by the unions will be a step in the right direction, but it +alone will not solve the vexed problem. The best negro leaders must join +heartily in destroying the pernicious anti-union policies so deeply +rooted among their people. It is a lamentable fact, well known to all +organizers who have worked in industries employing considerable numbers +of negroes, that there is a large and influential black leadership, +including ministers, politicians, editors, doctors, lawyers, social +workers, etc., who as a matter of race tactics are violently opposed to +their people going into the trade unions. They look upon strike-breaking +as a legitimate and effective means of negro advancement. Time and +again, they have seen their people, by use of it, readily work their way +into trades and industries previously firmly sealed against them by the +white workers' and white employers' prejudices. Nor can they see any +wrong in thus taking advantage of the white man, who has so brutally +oppressed them for centuries. On the contrary, they consider it a +justified retaliation. They are in a race war. Inasmuch as the steel +strike resulted in more negroes being in the industry than was the case +before, they look upon the outcome as a victory. For these elements, and +they are numerous and powerful among negroes, the color <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>line clauses in +the union constitutions are meat and drink; such leaders don't want them +abolished,—they make too strong an argument against the unions.</p> + +<p>Consider the situation faced by the unions in the campaign to organize +the Chicago packing houses in 1917-18. The negroes in this industry are +a strong factor (numbering 14,000 of a total of some 65,000 employees), +and the unions were determined to organize them. But no sooner had +organizers begun the work than they met the firm opposition of the negro +intelligencia above-noted. These warned their people to have nothing to +do with the movement, as their interest lay in working with the packers +to defeat the unions. They said that was how the negroes came into the +packing industry, and that was how they would progress in it.</p> + +<p>Naturally, they repeated the accusations about white men not taking +negroes in their unions, a charge which was not true in the packing +industry. The organizers replied by launching a vigorous campaign to get +them into the unions. Then the propaganda was sent forth that the only +reason the whites were willing to take the blacks into their locals was +because the latter, being in a minority, could exert no control; that +the whites would not dare to give them a local of their own, etc. This +was met by the establishment of a negro local of miscellaneous workers +in a convenient neighborhood. Then the Jim Crow cry was raised that the +whites wanted the blacks to herd by themselves. This the organizers +answered by insisting that a free transfer system be kept up between the +white and black locals. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>These were affiliated with the basic +organization of the industry, the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher +Workmen of North America.</p> + +<p>But even this did not satisfy; the anti-union propaganda went on +undiminished and with tremendous effect. It is true that some +far-sighted negro intellectuals defended the unions; but they were as +men crying in the wilderness; the others prevailed. And although the +unions kept a crew of negro organizers in the field, and won many +concessions for the packing house workers, including the eight hour day, +right of collective bargaining, large increases in wages, 40 hour weekly +guarantee, retroactive pay, seniority rights, etc., they have never +succeeded in organizing the negroes.</p> + +<p>They know little of the race problem in industry who declare that it can +be settled merely by the unions opening their doors to the negroes. It +is much more complex than that, and will require the best thought that +conscientious whites and blacks can give it. The negro has the more +difficult part to solve, in resisting the insidious efforts of +unscrupulous white employers and misguided intellectuals of his own race +to make a professional strike-breaker of him. But I am confident that he +will win out and will take his place where he belongs in the industrial +fight, side by side with the white worker.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Senate Committee Steel Strike Hearings, page 532.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> In steel industry usage (followed in this book unless +otherwise noted) the term "foreigners" applies chiefly to the +nationalities of the later immigrations, including the Slavic races, +Roumanians, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Greeks, Italians and others from +Eastern and Southern Europe. These are the so-called "hunkies." The +peoples of the earlier immigrations—the English, Irish, Scotch, Welsh, +Germans and Scandinavians—who speak our language, hold good jobs, and +are generally well established, are not exactly considered Americans, +but they are rarely called foreigners.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> The brazen frankness with which this policy was carried +out is illustrated by the following advertisement, which appeared in the +Pittsburgh <i>Gazette-Times</i>, July 15, 1909, during the big steel strike +of that time: +</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="noin"><span class="smcap">Men Wanted</span>—Tinners, catchers and helpers to work +in open shops. Syrians, Poles and Roumanians preferred. +Steady employment and good wages to men willing to work. +Fare paid and no fees charged.</p></div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> During the great organization drive in the Chicago packing +houses in 1917-18, this method was used for several months in the large +local union of car builders and repairmen, fully 90 per cent. of whom, +born in Eastern Europe, were supposedly non-English-speaking. As a +result they acquired such confidence in their ability to use the +language that they dropped the customary practice of translating all +their business into several languages and took to using English only.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> The Miners, Building Laborers and several other unions are +taking the lead in this direction and are getting good results. Negroes +are joining their ranks in considerable numbers and are proving +themselves to be excellent union men.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>XII</h2> + +<h2>THE COMMISSARIAT—THE STRIKE COST</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang" style="margin-left: 2em;">THE RELIEF ORGANIZATION—RATIONS—SYSTEM OF DISTRIBUTION +—COST OF COMMISSARIAT—STEEL STRIKE RELIEF FUND —COST OF +THE STRIKE TO THE WORKERS, THE EMPLOYERS, THE PUBLIC, THE +LABOR MOVEMENT</p></div> +<br /> + +<p>In all strikes the problem of keeping the wolf from the door is a +pressing one. Usually it is met by the unions involved paying regular +benefits of from $5.00 to $15.00 per week to each striker. But in the +steel strike this was out of the question.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> The tremendous number of +men on strike and the scanty funds available utterly forbade it. To have +paid such benefits would have required the impossible sum of at least +$2,000,000 per week. Therefore, the best that could be done was to +assist those families on the brink of destitution by furnishing them +free that most basic of human necessities, food. Ordinarily in strikes +the main body of men are able to take care of themselves over an +extended period. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>danger point is in the poverty-stricken minority. +From them come the hunger-driven scabs who so demoralize and discourage +the men still out. Hence, to take care of this weaker element was +scientifically to strengthen the steel strike, and to make the best use +of the resources available.</p> + +<p>The great mass of strikers and their incomplete organization making it +manifestly impossible for each union to segregate and take care of its +own members, the internationals affiliated with the National Committee +(with the two exceptions noted) pooled their strike funds and formed a +joint commissariat.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> They then proceeded to extend relief to all +needy strikers, regardless of their trades or callings, or even +membership or non-membership in the unions. To get relief all that was +necessary was to be a steel striker and in want. This splendid +solidarity and rapid modification of trade-union tactics and +institutions to meet an emergency is probably without a parallel in +American labor annals.</p> + +<p>The commissariat was entirely under the supervision and direction of the +National Committee. Its national headquarters was in Pittsburgh, with a +sub-district in Chicago. Goods were shipped from these two points. In +Pittsburgh they were bought and handled through the Tri-State +Co-operative Association, with National Committee employees making up +the shipments. In Chicago the same was done through the National +Co-operative Association. As Bethlehem, Birmingham, Pueblo and a few +other <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>strike-bound towns lay beyond convenient shipping distance from +the two distributing points, the men in charge there were sent checks +and they bought their supplies locally.</p> + +<p>The General Director of the commissariat was Robert McKechan, business +manager of the Central States Wholesale Co-operative Association. He was +paid by the Illinois Miners, District No. 2. He was ably assisted by A. +V. Craig (Ass't. Director), Enoch Martin (Auditor—also paid by Illinois +miners), Wm. Orr (Warehouse Manager), and E. G. Craig. Secretary De +Young was in charge of the Chicago sub-district. The local distributing +centres were operated altogether by National Committee local secretaries +and volunteer strike committees, with an occasional paid assistant.</p> + +<p>All told, 45 local commissaries were set up throughout the strike zone. +This elaborate organization was created and put in motion almost over +night. Within a week after Mr. McKechan arrived in Pittsburgh, he and +officials of the National Committee had devised the commissary +system—with hardly a precedent to go by,—organized its nation-wide +machinery, and started the first shipment <i>en route</i> to the many strike +centres. To break in this machinery, a small pro rata of provisions, +based upon the number of men on strike, was sent to each place. The +following week this was doubled, and each succeeding week it was +increased to keep pace with the growing need. It finally developed into +a huge affair. Few strikers had to be turned away for lack of food, and +these only for a short while until the necessary additional stuff could +be secured <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>from the shipping points. Throughout the fourteen weeks it +was in operation the commissariat, despite the tremendous difficulties +it had to contend with, worked with remarkable smoothness. It was one of +the greatest achievements of the entire steel campaign.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep216" id="imagep216"></a> +<a href="images/imagep216.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep216.jpg" width="48%" alt="John Fitzpatrick" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">JOHN FITZPATRICK <i>Chairman, National Committee for +Organizing Iron and Steel Workers.</i></p> +</div> + + + +<p>The wide extent of the relief work made it necessary to develop the most +rigid simplicity and standardization in the apportionment of food to the +strikers. Hence, only two sizes of rations could be used; one for +families of five or less, and the other for families of six or more. +These were varied from time to time, always bearing in mind the cooking +facilities of the strikers and the many food likes and dislikes of the +various nationalities. To facilitate the carrying away of the food and +to make it last the better, two commissary days were held each week, in +each locality. The rations were listed on large posters (white for +families of five or less, and green for families of six or more) which +were prominently displayed in the local commissaries in order that the +strikers could see exactly how much provisions they were entitled to. +The following are typical rations:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="80%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 243"> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="4">FAMILIES OF FIVE OR LESS</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">First Half Week </td> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">Second Half Week </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="25%">Potatoes</td> + <td class="tdlp" width="25%">15 lbs.</td> + <td class="tdl" width="25%">Bread</td> + <td class="tdl" width="25%"> 4 loaves</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Bread</td> + <td class="tdlp"> 4 loaves</td> + <td class="tdl">Tomatoes</td> + <td class="tdl"> 1 can</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Tomatoes</td> + <td class="tdlp"> 1 can</td> + <td class="tdl">Corn</td> + <td class="tdl"> 1 can</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Peas</td> + <td class="tdlp"> 1 can</td> + <td class="tdl">Peas</td> + <td class="tdl"> 1 can</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Navy beans</td> + <td class="tdlp"> 4 lbs.</td> + <td class="tdl">Red beans</td> + <td class="tdl"> 4 lbs.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Oatmeal</td> + <td class="tdlp"> 1 box</td> + <td class="tdl">Kraut</td> + <td class="tdl"> 2 cans</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Bacon</td> + <td class="tdlp"> 1 lb.</td> + <td class="tdl">Dry salt meat</td> + <td class="tdl"> 1 lb.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Coffee</td> + <td class="tdlp"> 1 lb.</td> + <td class="tdl">Syrup</td> + <td class="tdl"> 1 can</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Milk</td> + <td class="tdlp"> 1 can</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="4"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>FAMILIES OF SIX OR MORE</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">First Half Week </td> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2">Second Half Week </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Potatoes</td> + <td class="tdlp">10 lbs.</td> + <td class="tdl">Potatoes</td> + <td class="tdl">10 lbs.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Bread</td> + <td class="tdlp"> 5 loaves</td> + <td class="tdl">Bread</td> + <td class="tdl"> 5 loaves</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Tomatoes</td> + <td class="tdlp"> 1 can</td> + <td class="tdl">Tomatoes</td> + <td class="tdl"> 1 can</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Corn</td> + <td class="tdlp"> 1 can</td> + <td class="tdl">Corn</td> + <td class="tdl"> 1 can</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Peas</td> + <td class="tdlp"> 1 can</td> + <td class="tdl">Peas</td> + <td class="tdl"> 1 can</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Navy beans</td> + <td class="tdlp"> 5 lbs.</td> + <td class="tdl">Kraut</td> + <td class="tdl"> 2 cans</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Oatmeal</td> + <td class="tdlp"> 2 boxes</td> + <td class="tdl">Red beans</td> + <td class="tdl"> 5 lbs.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Bacon</td> + <td class="tdlp"> 1 lb.</td> + <td class="tdl">Dry salt meat</td> + <td class="tdl"> 1 lb.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Coffee</td> + <td class="tdlp"> 1 lb.</td> + <td class="tdl">Milk</td> + <td class="tdl"> 1 can</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Milk</td> + <td class="tdlp"> 1 can</td> + <td class="tdl">Syrup</td> + <td class="tdl"> 1 can</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>It was not contended that these rations were enough to sustain +completely the recipients' families; but they helped mightily. Few, if +any, went hungry. Single men in need received a half week's rations to +last the week. The greatest care was taken to have the supplies of the +best quality and in good condition. Whatever the unions gave they wanted +the strikers to understand was in the best spirit of brotherly +solidarity.<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p> + +<p>The provisions were distributed strictly according to the following card +system:</p> + +<p>1. Identification card: An applicant requesting relief would be referred +to a credentialed volunteer relief committee. If this committee deemed +the case a needy one, it would issue the striker an identification card. +This he was required to show when dealing at the commissary.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>2. Record card: In addition, the relief committee would write out the +data of the case upon a record card and turn it over to the local +secretary in charge of the commissary, who would keep it on file.</p> + +<p>3. Commissary card: When the applicant presented his identification card +at the commissary, the local secretary, referring to the record card on +file, would make him out a commissary card, white or green, accordingly +as his family was of five or less, or six or more members. This +commissary card entitled him to draw supplies.</p> + +<p>The commissary card had a stub attached. When a striker got his first +half week's supplies, this stub would be detached and retained by the +commissary clerk. Upon his next visit the body of the card would be +taken up. Two important purposes were served by this collection of the +commissary cards—rather than having permanent cards and merely punching +them. First, the canceled cards being sent to the commissariat national +headquarters, it proved conclusively that the strikers had actually +received the provisions shipped to the district; and second, by +compelling the strikers to get new commissary cards each week, it +enabled the local secretaries to keep in close touch with those on the +relief roll.</p> + +<p>To lighten the load upon the many inexperienced men working in the +various commissaries, a special effort was made to do as much of the +technical work as possible in the main offices of the National +Committee. Otherwise the commissariat could not possibly have succeeded. +This consideration was a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>prime factor in restricting the buying of +provisions to Pittsburgh, Chicago and the fewest practical number of +outlying points. It also caused the adoption of the package system, all +bulk goods, except potatoes, being prepared for delivery before leaving +the warehouses. Likewise, the local bookkeeping was simplified to the +last degree. In fact, for the most part the secretaries in charge of the +commissaries hardly needed books at all. The whole system checked itself +from the central points.</p> + +<p>As an example of its working, let us suppose that the allotment of a +certain town was 1000 rations. Accordingly, there would be shipped to +that place exactly enough of each article to precisely cover the +allotted number of rations. Then, if the secretary simply saw to it that +he got what he was charged with and issued his supplies carefully in the +right proportions, the whole transaction would balance to a pound, with +hardly a scratch of a pen from him. The bookkeeping was all done at the +general offices. The latter's assurances that each striker had received +his proper ration and that the right number of rations had been issued +were, in the first place, the ration posters hanging on the walls of the +commissary; and in the second, the returned canceled commissary cards. +Barring an occasional slight disruption from delayed shipments, spoiled +goods, shortages, and a little carelessness here and there, the system +worked very well.</p> + +<p>The commissariat was in operation from October 26 until January 31, +three weeks after the strike had ended. It was continued through this +extra period in order to help to their feet the destitute <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>strikers who +had fought so nobly. Probably nothing done by the unions in the entire +campaign won them so much good will with the steel workers as this one +act.</p> + +<p>The total cost of operating the commissariat was $348,509.42. The +significance of this figure stands out when it is reduced to a per man +basis. At the strike's start there were 365,600 men out, and at its +finish about 100,000. Considering that few serious breaks occurred until +the eighth to tenth weeks, a fair average for the whole period would be +about 250,000. Accordingly, this would give (disregarding the three +weeks after January 8) a total relief cost of a fraction less than $1.40 +per man for the entire fifteen weeks of the strike, or about one day's +strike benefits of an ordinary union. Reduced to a weekly basis, it +amounts to but 9-1/3 cents for each striker. Just how unusually small +this sum is may be judged from the fact that the International Molders' +Union paid the few men it had on strike regular benefits of $9.00 per +week after the first week. The fact is that, except for a small, +impoverished minority, the steel workers made their long, hard fight +virtually upon their own resources.<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p> + +<p>To help finance the commissariat the American Federation of Labor was +requested to issue a general appeal for funds, which it did. Then, to +add force to this call, the National Committee recruited and put in the +field a corps of solicitors, including among others, Anton Johannson, J. +D. Cannon, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>J. W. Brown, J. G. Sause, Jennie Matyas and G. A. Gerber. At +a meeting in Madison Square Garden on November 8 a collection of +$150,000 was taken up. Many local unions, notably those of Altoona, Pa., +gave half their local treasuries and assessed their members one day's +pay each. The Marine Engineers, local 33 of New York, contributed +$10,000; the International Fur Workers' Union $20,000; the International +Ladies Garment Workers' Union, $60,000; and the Amalgamated Clothing +Workers of America, $100,000. All these donations were highly +praiseworthy, but especially the last one mentioned, because the +organization making it is not affiliated to, nor even in good grace +with, the A. F. of L.</p> + +<p>The total amount collected and turned over to the National Committee was +$418,141.14. This more than covered the entire cost of the commissariat, +leaving $69,631.42 to be applied to other expenses. Thus, taking them as +a whole, the co-operating international unions in the National Committee +were not required to pay a penny to the feeding of the strikers and +their families. The commissariat was a monument to the solidarity of +Labor generally with the embattled steel workers.</p> + +<p>Naturally, the employers bitterly hated the commissaries. They sneered +at the quantity and quality of the food given out by them, and in many +places printed handbills in several languages advising the strikers to +go at once to union headquarters and demand strike benefits in cash. And +by the same token, the strikers held the commissaries in high esteem. +The foreign-born among them <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>especially, would stand around watching +with never-ceasing wonder and enthusiasm the stream of men and women +coming forth laden with supplies. To them there was something sacred +about the food. Many of them in desperate circumstances had to be +practically compelled to accept it; not because they felt themselves +objects of charity, but because they thought others needed help worse +than they. They conceived the whole thing as a living demonstration of +the solidarity of labor. The giving of the food produced an effect upon +their morale far better than could have come from the distribution of +ten times its value in money. The commissariat enormously strengthened +the strikers. Without it the strike would have collapsed many weeks +before it did. Unions in future great walkouts will do well to study the +steel strike commissary plan.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Strikes, even the smallest, affect so many people in so many ways that +it is difficult under the best of circumstances to compile accurate data +upon their cost. In the case of the steel strike it is next to +impossible to do so. The great number of steel companies and the armies +of men involved; the wide scope of the strike; the condition of outlawry +in many steel districts; the fact that the strike was lost; the workers' +numerous nationalities and imperfection of organization—all these and +various other factors make it exceedingly difficult, at least at this +early date, to give more than a hint of the strike's cost.</p> + +<p>In the steel strike, as in all others, the burden of suffering fell to +the workers' lot. To win their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>cause they gave freely of their lives, +liberty, blood and treasure. A poll of the National Committee local +secretaries yields the following list of strike dead:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="45%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 250"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="85%">Buffalo</td> + <td class="tdr" width="15%">2</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Chicago</td> + <td class="tdr">1</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Cleveland</td> + <td class="tdr">1</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Farrell</td> + <td class="tdr">4</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Hammond</td> + <td class="tdr">4</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Newcastle</td> + <td class="tdr">2</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Pittsburgh</td> + <td class="tdr">1</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">West Natrona</td> + <td class="tdr">2</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Wheeling</td> + <td class="tdr">1</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Youngstown</td> + <td class="tdr" style="text-decoration: underline;"> 2</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Total</td> + <td class="tdr">20</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>The killed were all on the strikers' side, except two. The above list +properly includes Mrs. Fannie Sellins. But it does not include the +scores of scabs who, because of their own or other incompetent workers' +ineptness, were roasted, crushed to death, or torn to pieces in the +dangerous steel-making processes during the strike. Although the steel +companies were exceedingly alert in suppressing the names of these +ignoble victims to their greed, it is a well-known fact that there were +many of them. There was hardly a big mill anywhere that did not have +several to its account.</p> + +<p>How many hundreds of strikers were seriously injured by being clubbed +and shot will never be known, because most of them, especially in +Pennsylvania, healed themselves as best they might. With good grounds +they feared that disclosing their injuries <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>to doctors would lead to +their arrest upon charges of rioting. The number of arrested strikers +ran into the thousands. But so orderly were the strikers that few +serious charges could be brought against them. They were jailed in +droves and fined heavily mostly for minor "offenses." Except in Butler, +Pa., where a score of strikers were arrested for stopping a car of scabs +on the way to work (framed-up by the State Police) and sent to the +penitentiary, no strikers anywhere in the whole strike zone received +heavy jail sentences. Considering the terrific provocations offered the +men and the extreme eagerness with which the courts punished them, this +remarkable record is an eloquent testimonial to their orderliness.<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> +Of course, the companies did not neglect to avail themselves of the +heartless blacklist. Just now hundreds of their former employees, denied +work and forced to break up their homes and leave town, are +criss-crossing the country looking for opportunities to make new starts +in life.</p> + +<p>As for the cost to the strikers in wages, the Philadelphia <i>Public +Ledger</i> of January 10, two days after the strike was called off, carried +a special telegram from Pittsburgh, stating (authority not quoted) that +the wage loss in that district was $48,005,060.35, specified as +follows:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="50%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 251"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="50%"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>Clarksburg, W. Va.</td> + <td class="tdr" width="50%">$ 310,000.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Wheeling District</td> + <td class="tdr">6,100,000.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Donora</td> + <td class="tdr">1,200,000.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Steubenville district</td> + <td class="tdr">2,260,000.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Youngstown</td> + <td class="tdr">15,500,000.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Monessen</td> + <td class="tdr">2,660,000.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Brackenridge</td> + <td class="tdr">450,000.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">New Kensington</td> + <td class="tdr">375,000.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">McKeesport</td> + <td class="tdr">597,869.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Port Vue</td> + <td class="tdr">900,000.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Sharon-Farrell</td> + <td class="tdr">1,250,000.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">New Castle</td> + <td class="tdr">705,000.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Homestead</td> + <td class="tdr">737,840.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Duquesne</td> + <td class="tdr">55,030.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Johnstown</td> + <td class="tdr">5,712,321.35</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Ellwood City</td> + <td class="tdr">35,000.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Butler</td> + <td class="tdr">1,450,000.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Aliquippa</td> + <td class="tdr">10,000.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Pittsburgh</td> + <td class="tdr">5,715,000.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Sharpsburg, Ætna</td> + <td class="tdr">435,000.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Vandergrift</td> + <td class="tdr">357,000.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Clairton</td> + <td class="tdr">165,000.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Rankin</td> + <td class="tdr">375,000.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Braddock</td> + <td class="tdr">650,000.00</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>To the above, the New York <i>Herald</i> of January 12 editorially adds an +estimate of $39,000,000 for steel districts other than Pittsburgh, +making a grand total of $87,000,000 as the strikers' wage loss. But +these figures, bearing the earmarks of Steel Trust origin, are too low. +On the basis of the minimum figures of an average of 250,000 strikers +for 90 working days (actual strike length 108 days) at $5.00 per day per +man, we arrive at a total of $112,500,000.00, or $450.00 per average +striker. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>Doubtless these figures are also too low, but they will serve +to indicate the tremendous sums of money the already poverty-stricken +steel workers were willing to sacrifice in order to change the +conditions which Mr. Gary so glowingly paints as ideal.</p> + +<p>The loss to the steel companies must have been enormous. Without doubt +it runs into several hundred millions of dollars. The items going to +make up this huge bill are many and at this time impossible of accurate +estimate. There must have been not only a complete cessation of profits +during the strike period, but also a vast outlay of money to finance the +strike-breaking measures, such as maintaining scores of thousands of +gunmen to guard the plants; paying rich graft to employment offices and +detective agencies for recruiting armies of scabs, who, receiving high +strike wages, idled for weeks around the plants, shooting craps, playing +cards, pitching quoits, and absolutely refusing to work; keeping on the +payroll great staffs of office workers with nothing to do, and high paid +skilled workers doing the work of common laborers; corrupting police and +court officials to give the strikers the worst of it, etc., etc. +Besides, there should be added the cost of repairing the great injuries +done the furnaces by their sudden shutting down, this item alone +amounting to many millions of dollars. But a more important factor than +all, perhaps, in counting the cost of the strike to the companies was +the serious injury done to their wonderful producing organization by the +permanent loss of thousands of competent men who have quitted the +industry; the dislocation of many thousands more from jobs for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>which +they were well fitted and the substitution in their places of green men; +the lowering of the men's morale generally, due to disappointment and +bitterness at the loss of the strike, etc. We may depend upon it that +the companies, following out their policy of minimizing the strike's +effects, will so juggle their financial and tonnage statements as to +make it impossible for years to figure out what it really cost them, if +it can ever be done.</p> + +<p>The cost to the people at large is indicated by the New York Sun, quoted +by the <i>Literary Digest</i>, January 31, 1920, as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>There was the loss to the railroads not only in freights +from the steel plants, but in freights from general mills +and factories which, failing to get their steel supplies, +could not maintain their production and fulfill their own +deliveries. There was the loss in wages in such mills and +factories due to that failure to get their material on which +their wage-earners could work. There was the loss in such +communities to trade folk whose customers thus had their +spending power reduced by the steel strike.—Hence this loss +of steel tonnage begins at once to widen until the loss +eventually could be figured in the billions.</p></div> + +<p>For the privilege of having an autocracy in the steel industry the +American people pay not only huge costs in unearned dividends each year, +but also, occasionally, such monster special charges as the above. +Garyism is an expensive luxury.</p> + +<p>The foregoing figures and statements merely serve to point out the +immensity of the steel strike by indicating its approximate cost to the +strikers, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>steel companies, and the public. Admittedly they are but +loose estimates, based upon scanty data. Absolute accuracy is not +claimed for them. The expenditures of the labor movement in the campaign +can be more closely calculated, although they, too, are far from +definite. They fall into three general classes: (1) those by the general +office of the National Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers; +(2) those by the A. F. of L. and co-operating international steel trades +unions not through the office of the National Committee; (3) those by +local steel workers' councils and unions from their own treasuries. Of +these the latter may be eliminated as impossible of estimation, there +being so many local organizations involved and the after-strike +conditions so unfavorable to statistics gathering. They were a minor +element of expense compared to the other two, which we will try to +approximate as closely as may be.</p> + +<p>1. From the beginning of the steel campaign, August 1, 1918, until +January 31, 1920, the total net disbursements of the National Committee +for all purposes, after making deductions for refunds, transfers, etc., +amounted to $525,702.72. This stretch of time may be divided into two +parts: (a), Organizing period, from August 1, 1918, until September 22, +1919—during which time virtually all the 250,000 men enrolled in the +campaign (see end of Chapter VII) had joined the unions; (b), Strike +period, from September 22, 1919, until January 31, 1920—during which +time the heavy special strike expenses were incurred. This period is +extended <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>three weeks past the date of the strike's close, because the +commissariat was still in operation and other important strike expenses +were going on.</p> + +<p>The total net disbursements made by the National Committee during the +organizing period were $73,139.66, which amounts to a small fraction +over 29 cents for each of the 250,000 men organized. The total net +disbursements of the National Committee during the strike period were +$452,563.06, or $1.81 for each of the 250,000 average strikers. Adding +these two figures together gives $2.10 as the cost to the National +Committee of organizing each steel worker and taking care of him during +the whole strike.</p> + +<p>2. The disbursements of the National Committee covered general +organizing and strike expenses, such as commissary, legal, rent, +printing, salaries, etc. The A. F. of L. and the co-operating +international unions also incurred heavy expenses upon their own +account, whose chief items were for keeping organizers in the field, +paying strike benefits, and making lump donations to strike-bound local +unions. At this date these expenditures may be only approximated.</p> + +<p>For the above bodies almost the sole expense during the organizing +period was for maintaining organizers. Forty would be a fair average of +the number of these men actually kept at the steel industry work. In the +earlier part of the campaign the number was far less; in the later part, +considerably more. The cost of maintaining them per month may be set at +not more than $400.00 each, for salaries and general expenses. Thus, for +the 13-3/4 months of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>organizing period the expense to the A. F. of +L. and co-operating unions for this item would be about $220,000, or 88 +cents per man organized. This is a top figure.</p> + +<p>During the strike period, on an average, 75 organizers were kept in the +field by these bodies. Due to increases in wages, etc., their upkeep +should be calculated at about $500.00 per month each. For 4-1/4 months, +September 22 to January 31, our strike period, this would amount to +$159,375. To this should be added $100,000, which according to reports +received approximates what the organizations paid in strike benefits and +donations direct to their strikers and not through the office of the +National Committee. This would make their total expenditures for the +strike period $259,375, or slightly less than $1.04 per striker. Adding +together the amounts for the organizing period and the strike period, we +arrive at a grand total of $479,375, or $1.92 per man, spent during the +entire campaign by the A. F. of L. and co-operating internationals.</p> + +<p>The figures for the A. F. of L. and co-operating internationals are +estimates,—the constant shifting of organizers during the campaign, +their widely varying rates of pay, etc., making accuracy impossible. But +from my knowledge of what went on I will venture that the figures cited +are close enough to the reality to give a fair conception of this class +of expenditures.</p> + +<p>Combining the National Committee expenditures with those of the A. F. of +L. and co-operating unions, we arrive at the following totals:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="90%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 258a"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl smcap" width="37%"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>Organizing Period:</td> + <td class="tdl" width="20%"> </td> + <td class="tdl" width="20%"> </td> + <td class="tdc" width="3%"> </td> + <td class="tdl" width="10%"> </td> + <td class="tdl" width="10%"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><i>Expenditures</i></td> + <td class="tdc"> </td> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><i>Per Man</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">By Nat. Com.</td> + <td class="tdr">$73,139.66</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdc"> </td> + <td class="tdr">$.29</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">By A. F. L. & Unions</td> + <td class="tdr" style="border-bottom: .5pt black solid;">220,000.00</td> + <td class="tdr" style="border-bottom: .5pt black solid;"> </td> + <td class="tdc"> </td> + <td class="tdr" style="border-bottom: .5pt black solid;">.88</td> + <td class="tdr" style="border-bottom: .5pt black solid;"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Total cost of orgnizing work</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdr">$293,139.66</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdr">$1.17</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl smcap">Strike Period:</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">By Nat. Com.</td> + <td class="tdr">$452,563.06</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdr">$1.81</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">By A. F. L. & Unions</td> + <td class="tdr" style="border-bottom: .5pt black solid;">259,375.00</td> + <td class="tdr" style="border-bottom: .5pt black solid;"> </td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdr" style="border-bottom: .5pt black solid;">1.04</td> + <td class="tdr" style="border-bottom: .5pt black solid;"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Total cost of strike</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdr">$711,938.06</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdr">$2.85</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl smcap">Whole Campaign:</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Total cost to Nat. Com.,<br />A. F. L. & Unions</td> + <td class="tdr" style="border-top: .5pt black solid;"> </td> + <td class="tdrb" style="border-top: .5pt black solid;">$1,005,007.72</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdr" style="border-top: .5pt black solid;"> </td> + <td class="tdrb" style="border-top: .5pt black solid;">$4.02</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>In order to approximate more closely the actual cost of the campaign to +the A. F. of L. and the twenty-four co-operating internationals forming +the National Committee, the total of $479,375, figured in a previous +paragraph as their independent expenditures, must be increased by +$101,047.52, the amount they contributed directly to the National +Committee for organizing and for strike expenses during the course of +the campaign;<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> making a grand total <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>outlay for them of $580,422.52. +This in turn should be reduced by $118,451.23, the amount in the +National Committee treasury on January 31, 1920. Against the remaining +$461,971.29 must be checked off what the steel workers paid into these +organizations in initiation fees and dues.</p> + +<p>Inasmuch as the co-operating internationals received directly $1.00 to +$2.00 (mostly the latter) from the initiation fees of the approximately +250,000 steel workers signed up during the campaign, not to speak of +thousands of dollars in per capita tax from armies of dues payers over a +period of many months, it is safe to say that their net outlay of +$461,971.29 would be nearly if not altogether offset by their income. It +is true that some of the organizations, like the Miners and the A. F. of +L. itself made large expenditures, with little return; and that others, +like the Structural Iron Workers, broke about even; while the +Amalgamated Association put a huge sum in its treasury. All things +considered, taking the twenty-four organizations as a whole, one is not +much wrong in saying that so far as their national treasuries were +concerned, the great movement of the steel workers, including the +organizing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>campaign and the strike, was, financially speaking, just +about self-sustaining.</p> + +<p>Was the steel strike, then, worth the great suffering and expenditure of +effort that it cost the steel workers? I say yes; even though it failed +to accomplish the immediate objects it had in view. No strike is ever +wholly lost. Even the least effective of them serve the most useful +purpose of checking the employers' exploitation. They are a protection +to the workers' standards of life. Better by far a losing fight than +none at all. An unresisting working class would soon find itself on a +rice diet. But the steel strike has done more than serve merely as a +warning that the limit of exploitation has been reached; it has given +the steel workers a confidence in their ability to organize and to fight +effectively, which will eventually inspire them on to victory. This +precious result alone is well worth all the hardships the strike cost +them.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Exceptions to this were the cases of the Molders' and +Coopers' Unions. These organizations were compelled by constitutional +requirements to pay regular strike benefits. But they included only a +very small percentage of the total number of strikers.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> The commissariat was suggested by John Fitzpatrick, as a +result of his experiences in the Chicago Garment Workers' strike of a +decade ago.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> In addition to the regular commissaries, the local +organizations, grace to their own funds or occasional donations from +their international unions, had relief enterprises of various sorts, +such as soup kitchens, milk, clothes, rent and sickness funds. In +Monessen and Donora the strikers actually served a big turkey dinner on +Thanksgiving Day. Strikers paid five cents a plate for all they wished +to eat. Sympathizers donated liberally according to their means. But the +commissary system was the main source of strike relief.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> It is true, as noted above, that several other unions +besides the Molders and Coopers made occasional contributions to their +strike-bound locals, but when measured against the vast armies of +strikers, these funds dwindled almost into insignificance.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> This was largely because the men were sober. In fact, +prohibition helped the steel campaign in several important respects; (1) +because having no saloons to drown their troubles in, the workers, +clear-headed, attended the union meetings and organized more readily; +(2) when the strike came they did not waste their few pennies on liquor +and then run back to work in the old way; they bought food with them and +stayed on strike; (3) being sober, they were the better able to avoid +useless violence and to conduct their strike effectively.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> This sum represents the actual cash given by these +affiliated organizations directly to the National Committee throughout +the entire movement. It divides itself as follows: +</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="70%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png 260"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="75%">Blacksmiths</td> + <td class="tdr" width="25%">$ 6,273.28</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Boilermakers</td> + <td class="tdr">10,448.92</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Bricklayers</td> + <td class="tdr">4,199.05</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">P. & S. Iron Workers</td> + <td class="tdr">7,335.78</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Coopers</td> + <td class="tdr">907.76</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Electrical Workers</td> + <td class="tdr">6,138.80</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Engineers</td> + <td class="tdr">100.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Firemen</td> + <td class="tdr">2,395.53</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Foundry Employees</td> + <td class="tdr">1,030.51</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Hod Carriers</td> + <td class="tdr">1,350.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Iron, Steel and Tin Workers</td> + <td class="tdr">11,881.81</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Machinists</td> + <td class="tdr">16,622.33</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Mine, Mill, Smelter Workers</td> + <td class="tdr">3,583.53</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Mine Workers</td> + <td class="tdr">2,600.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Molders</td> + <td class="tdr">4,199.05</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Pattern Makers</td> + <td class="tdr">615.52</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Plumbers</td> + <td class="tdr">2,581.04</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Quarry Workers</td> + <td class="tdr">412.50</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Railway Carmen</td> + <td class="tdr">10,448.30</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Seamen</td> + <td class="tdr">3,081.04</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Switchmen</td> + <td class="tdr">4,115.52</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Sheet Metal Workers</td> + <td class="tdr">100.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Steam Shovelmen</td> + <td class="tdr" style="text-decoration: underline;"> 627.25</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Total</td> + <td class="tdr">$101,047.52</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>XIII</h2> + +<h2>PAST MISTAKES AND FUTURE PROBLEMS</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang" style="margin-left: 2em;">LABOR'S LACK OF +CONFIDENCE—INADEQUATE EFFORTS—NEED OF +ALLIANCE WITH MINERS AND RAILROADERS—RADICAL LEADERSHIP AS +A STRIKE ISSUE—MANUFACTURING REVOLUTIONS—STRIKES: +RAILROAD SHOPMEN, BOSTON POLICE, MINERS, RAILROAD YARD AND +ROAD MEN—DEFECTION OF AMALGAMATED ASSOCIATION</p></div> +<br /> + +<p>In preceding chapters I have said much about the injustices visited upon +the steel workers by the steel companies and their minions; the mayors, +burgesses, police magistrates, gunmen, State Police, Senate Committees, +etc. But let there be no mistake. I do not blame the failure of the +strike upon these factors. I put the responsibility upon the shoulders +of Organized Labor. Had it but stirred a little the steel workers would +have won their battle, despite all the Steel Trust could do to prevent +it.</p> + +<p>By this I mean no harsh criticism. On the contrary, I am the first to +assert that the effort put forth in the steel campaign was wonderful, +far surpassing anything ever done in the industry before, and marking a +tremendous advance in trade-union tactics. Yet it was not enough, and it +represented only a fraction of the power the unions should and could +have thrown into the fight. The organization of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>the steel industry +should have been a special order of business for the whole labor +movement. But unfortunately it was not. The big men of Labor could not +be sufficiently awakened to its supreme importance to induce them to sit +determinedly into the National Committee meetings and to give the +movement the abundant moral and financial backing so essential to its +success. Official pessimism, bred of thirty years of trade-union failure +in the steel industry, hung like a mill-stone about the neck of the +movement in all its stages.</p> + +<p>At the very outset this pessimism and lack of faith dealt the movement a +fatal blow. When the unions failed to follow the original plan of the +campaign (outlined in Chapter III) to throw a large crew of organizers +into the field at the beginning and thus force a settlement with the +steel companies during war time, as they could easily have done, they +made a monumental blunder, one for which Organized Labor will pay +dearly. Notwithstanding all their best efforts in the long, bitter +organizing campaign and the great strike, the organizers could not +overcome its effects. It was a lost opportunity that unquestionably cost +the unionization of the steel industry.</p> + +<p>And the same pessimism which caused this original deadly mistake made +itself felt all through the steel campaign, by so restricting the +resources furnished the National Committee as to practically kill all +chance of success. Probably no big modern trade-union organizing +campaign and strike has been conducted upon such slender means. +Considering the great number of men involved, the viciousness of the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>opposition and the long duration of the movement (18 months), the +figure cited in the previous chapter as covering the general expenses, +$1,005,007.72, is unusually low. It amounts to but $4.02 per man, or +hardly a half week's strike benefits for each. Compared to the sums +spent in other industrial struggles, it is proportionally insignificant. +For example, in the great coal miners' strike in Colorado, begun +September 23, 1913, and ended December 10, 1914, the United Mine Workers +are authoritatively stated to have spent about $5,000,000.00 As there +were on an average about 12,000 strikers, this would make the cost +somewhere about $400.00 per man involved. And in those days a dollar was +worth twice as much as during the steel strike. Had a fraction of such +amounts been available to the steel workers they would have made +incomparably a better fight.</p> + +<p>The unions affiliated with the National Committee have at least two +million members. Even if they had spent outright the total sum required +to carry on the organizing campaign and strike it would not have +strained them appreciably. But they did not spend it, nor any +considerable part of it. In the previous chapter we have seen that with +donations from the labor movement at large, and initiation fees and dues +paid in by the steel workers, the movement was virtually self-sustaining +as far as the co-operating unions were concerned—taking them as a +whole. Now, in the next campaign, all that must be different. The unions +will have to put some real money in the fight. Then they may win it.</p> + +<p>When I say that there was a shortage of resources in the steel campaign +I include particularly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>organizers from the respective international +unions. Of these there were not half enough. Often the National +Committee had to beg for weeks to have a man sent in to organize a local +union, the members for which it had already enrolled. Hundreds of local +unions suffered and many a one perished outright for want of attention. +Whole districts had to be neglected, with serious consequences when the +strike came.</p> + +<p>Moreover, the system used by many internationals in handling their +organizers was wrong. They controlled them from their several general +headquarters, shifting them around or pulling them out of the work +without regard to the needs of the campaign as a whole. This tended to +create a loose, disjointed, undisciplined, inefficient organizing force. +It was indefensible. Now, in the next drive there are two systems which +might be used. (1) The international unions could definitely delegate a +certain number of organizers to the campaign and put them entirely under +the direction of the National Committee. This was the plan followed by +the A. F. of L., the Miners, and the Railway Carmen. It worked well and +tended to produce a homogeneous, well-knit, controllable, efficient +organizing force. (2) The organizers definitely assigned to the steel +campaign by the internationals could be formed into crews, each crew to +be controlled by one man and charged with looking after the needs of its +particular trade. The Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, Machinists, and +Electrical Workers used this system to some extent. A series of such +crews, working vertically along craft lines while the National +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>Committee men worked horizontally along industrial lines, would greatly +strengthen the general movement. When the strike came it would not only +be an industrial strike but twenty-four intensified craft strikes as +well. Of the two systems, the first is probably the better, and the +second, because of the individualism of the unions, the more practical. +Either of them is miles superior to the plan of controlling the field +organizers from a score of headquarters knowing very little of the real +needs of the situation.</p> + +<p>But more than men and money, the steel workers in their great fight +lacked practical solidarity from closely related trades. In their +semi-organized condition they were unable to withstand alone the +terrific power of the Steel Trust, backed by the mighty capitalistic +organizations which rushed to its aid. They needed from their organized +fellow workers help in the same liberal measure as Mr. Gary received +from those on his side. And help adequate to the task could have come +only by extending the strike beyond the confines of the steel industry +proper.</p> + +<p>When the steel unions end their present educational campaign and launch +the next big drive to organize the steel workers (which should be in a +year or two) they ought to be prepared to meet the formidable employer +combinations sure to be arrayed against them by opposing to them still +more formidable labor combinations. The twenty-four unions should by +then be so allied with the miners' and railroad men's organizations that +should it come to a strike these two powerful groups of unions <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>would +rally to their aid and paralyse the steel industry completely by +depriving it of those essentials without which it cannot operate, fuel +and rail transportation. How effective such assistance would be was well +indicated by the speedy and wholesale shutting down of steel mills, +first during the general strike of bituminous miners in November and +December of 1919, and then during the "outlaw" railroad strike in April, +1920. With such a combination of allied steel, mine and railroad workers +confronting them, there is small likelihood that the steel companies (or +the public at large) would consider the question of the steel workers' +right to organize of sufficient importance to fight about. Mr. Gary +might then be brought to a realization that this is not Czarist Russia, +and that the men in his mills must be granted their human rights.</p> + +<p>That the miners and railroaders have sufficient interests at stake to +justify their entrance into such a combination no union man of heart +will attempt to deny. Not to speak of the general duty of all unionists +to extend help to brothers in trouble, the above-mentioned groups have +the most powerful reasons of their own to work for the organization of +the steel industry. The United States Steel Corporation and so-called +"independent" steel mills are the stronghold of industrial autocracy in +America. Every union in the labor movement directly suffers their evil +effects in lower wages, longer hours and more difficult struggles for +the right to organize than they otherwise would have. No union will be +safe until these mills are under the banner of Organized Labor. Beyond +question the organization <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>of the steel workers would tremendously +benefit the miners and railroaders. The latter cannot possibly do too +much to assist in bringing it about. It is their own fight.</p> + +<p>For the miners and railroad men to join forces with the steel workers +would mean no new departure in trade-unionism. It would be merely +proceeding in harmony with the natural evolution constantly taking place +in the labor movement. For instance, to go no further than the two +industries in question, it is only a few years since the miners +negotiated agreements and struck, district by district. Even though one +section walked out, the rest would remain at work. And as for the +railroaders, they followed a similar plan upon the basis of one craft or +one system. Each unit of the two industries felt itself to be virtually +a thing apart from all the others when it came to common action against +the employers. It was the heyday of particularism, of craft unionism +complete. And anyone who did not think the system represented the acme +of trade-union methods was considered a crank. But both groups of +organizations are fast getting away from such infantile practices. We +now find the miners striking all over the country simultaneously, and +the railroad men rigging up such wide-spreading combinations among +themselves that soon a grievance of a section hand in San Diego, +California will be the grievance of an engineer in Bangor, Maine. The +man who would advocate a return to the old method of each for himself +and the devil take the hindmost would be looked upon today, to say the +least, with grave suspicion.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>During the recent steel strike the National Committee tried to arrange a +joint meeting with the officials of the miners and railroad brotherhoods +to see if some assistance, moral if nothing else, could be secured for +the steel workers. But nothing came of it. In the next big drive, +however, these powerful organizations should be allied with the steel +workers and prepared to give them active assistance if necessary. And in +the tuning and timing of movements to permit of such a condition, so +that no lots, legal or contractual, need be cut across, there are +involved no technical problems which a little initiative and +far-sightedness on the part of the labor men in control could not +readily overcome.</p> + +<p>In order to cover up their own inveterate opposition to Organized Labor +in all its forms and activities, and to blind the workers to the real +cause of the defeat, namely lack of sufficient power on the employees' +side, great employing interests caused to be spread over the whole +country the statement that the steel strike failed because of radical +leadership, and that if such "dangerous" men as John Fitzpatrick and +myself had not been connected with it everything would have been lovely. +They were especially severe against me for my "evil" influence on the +strike. But somehow their propaganda did not seem to strike root among +labor men, especially those who were backing the steel campaign. The +workers are getting too keen these days to let the enemy tell them who +shall or shall not be their officials; and when they see one of these +officials made the target of bitter attack from such notorious interests +as the Steel Trust they are much inclined to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>feel that he is probably +giving them a square deal.</p> + +<p>As for myself, and I know John Fitzpatrick took the same position +regarding himself, I was willing to resign my position on the National +Committee the very instant it was indicated by those associated with me +that my presence was injuring the movement. I felt that to be my duty. +But to the last, that indication never came. When I finally resigned as +Secretary-Treasurer on January 31, it was entirely of my own volition.</p> + +<p>The avalanche of vituperation and personal abuse was started several +months before the strike, when a traitor labor paper in Pittsburgh (one +of the stripe which lives by knifing strikes and active unionists for +the employers) published articles containing quotations from the "red +book," and the other stuff later bruited about in the daily press. To +hear this sheet tell it, the revolution was at hand. Immediately after +the articles appeared I sent copies to the presidents of all the +twenty-four co-operating unions, with the result that almost all of +these officials wrote me, advising that I pay no attention to these +attacks, but continue with my work. They seemed to consider it something +of a compliment to be so bitterly assailed from such a quarter. Again, +at the very moment when President Gompers was dictating his letter to +Judge Gary asking for a conference (long after the above-mentioned +attacks) I stated that possibly too much prominence for me in the +movement might attract needless opposition to it and I offered to resign +from the conference committee which handled all negotiations concerning +the steel strike. But my objections were over-ruled and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>I was continued +on the committee. Moreover, at any time in the campaign a word from the +executive officers of the A. F. of L. would have brought about my +resignation. This they were aware of for months before the strike. All +of which indicates that the men responsible for the organizations in the +movement were satisfied that it was being carried on according to +trade-union principles, and also that in consideration of the Steel +Trust's murderous tactics in the past it was a certainty that if the +opposition had not taken the specific form it did, it would have +manifested itself in some other way as bad or worse. It was to be +depended upon that some means would have been found to thoroughly +discredit the movement.</p> + +<p>This conviction was intensified by the unexampled fury with which each +important move of Labor during the past year has been opposed, not only +by employers but by governmental officials as well. All through the war +the moneyed interests watched with undisguised alarm and hatred the +rapid advance of the unions; but they were powerless to stop it. Now, +however, they are getting their revenge. The usual method of defeating +such movements during this period of white terrorism is to attach some +stigma to them; to question the legitimacy of their aims, and then, when +the highly organized and corrupted press has turned public sentiment +against them, to crush them by the most unscrupulous means. It makes no +difference how mild or ordinary the movement is, some issue is always +found to poison public opinion against it.</p> + +<p>The first important body of workers to feel the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>weight of this +opposition was the railroad shopmen. The Railroad Administration having +dilly-dallied along with their demands for several months, these +under-paid workers, goaded on by the mounting cost of living, finally +broke into an unauthorized strike in the early summer of 1919. This +almost destroyed the organizations. Officials who ought to know declared +that at one time over 200,000 men were out. Naturally the press roundly +denounced them as Bolsheviki. Upon a promise of fair treatment they +returned to work. When the matter finally came to President Wilson for +settlement, he declared that to raise wages would be contrary to the +Government's policy of reducing the cost of living, and requested that +the demands be held in abeyance. This statement was a Godsend to all the +reactionary elements, who used it to break up wage movements everywhere. +Thus came to grief the effort of the shopmen. Up to May, 1920, they have +secured no relief whatsoever.</p> + +<p>Next came the affair of the Boston police in September, 1919. This +developed from an effort of typically conservative policemen to +organize. The strike was deliberately forced by the action of State +politicians, inspired by big business, in cold-bloodedly discharging a +number of the officers of the new union and stubbornly refusing to +re-instate them. When the inevitable strike occurred they labelled it +not merely an attempted revolution, but a blow at the very foundations +of civilization. The press did the rest. The strike was buried beneath a +deluge of abuse, misrepresentation and vilification.</p> + +<div class="img"><a name="imagep244" id="imagep244"></a> +<a href="images/imagep244.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/imagep244.jpg" width="85%" alt="A Group of Organizers" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">A GROUP OF ORGANIZERS</p> +<p>Standing, left to right: W. Searl, F. Wilson, A. V. Craig, M. +Mestrovich, E. Martin, J. M. Peters, R. W. Beattie, J. Moskus, S. +Coates, J. Manley, <i>Striker</i>, T. A. Harris, E. O. Gunther, B. J. Damich, +<i>Striker</i>, C. Foley, M. Bellam, T. A. Daley, <i>Striker</i>, W. Z. Foster. +Seated, left to right: J. Lenahan, F. J. Sweek, J. Klinsky, F. +Wiernicki, I. Liberti, A. DeVerneuil, C. Claherty, J. N. Aten, J. W. +Hendricks, S. Rokosz, R. W. Reilly, J. A. Norrington, F. Kurowsky, J. G. +Brown, G. W. Troutman, J. E. McCadden, W. Murphy, S. T. Hammersmark.</p> +</div> + +<p>Then came the coal miners in November, 1919. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>During the war this body +of men sent fully 60,000 members to the front in France. They bought +untold amounts of liberty bonds and worked faithfully to keep the +industries in operation. But no sooner did they make demand for some of +the freedom which they thought they had won in the war than they found +themselves crowded into a strike, and their conservative, old-line, +trade-union leaders harshly assailed as revolutionists. For instance, +said Senator Pomerene:<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Years ago the American spirit was startled because a +Vanderbilt had said, "The public be damned." But Vanderbilt +seems to have no patent on the phrase, or if he had it is +being infringed today by men who have as little regard for +the public welfare as he himself had. There is no difference +in kind between him and a Foster, who, aided by the extreme +Socialist and I. W. W. classes of the country, aims to +enlist under his leadership all the iron and steel workers +of a nation and to paralyze industry, or a Lewis (President +of the United Mine Workers of America), who, to further his +own ambitions, aided as he was by the same elements, calls +400,000 men out of the mines and says to the public, "Freeze +or starve."</p></div> + +<p>The Government condemned the strike as "unjustifiable and unlawful" and +invoked against it the so-called Lever law. This law, a war measure +against food and fuel profiteers, was, when up for adoption, distinctly +stated by its author, Representative Lever, and by Attorney General +Gregory, as not applying to workers striking for better conditions.<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>Moreover, since the armistice it had fallen into disuse,—as far as +employers were concerned; but upon the strength of it the miners' strike +was outlawed, Federal Judge Anderson issuing an injunction which +commanded the union officials to rescind the strike order and to refuse +all moral and financial assistance to the strikers. Rarely has a labor +union found itself in so difficult a situation. The only thing that +saved the miners from a crushing defeat was their splendid organization +and strategic position in industry. On November 11, after the union +officials had agreed to rescind the strike order, the Philadelphia +<i>Public Ledger</i> expressed an opinion widely held when it said:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The truth of the matter is that we all "got it wrong" on +this coal situation. This is the time to say in entire +frankness that <i>the Government handled the situation with +the tact, timeliness and conciliatory spirit of a German war +governor jack-booting a Belgium town into docility</i>.</p></div> + +<p>And now we have the unauthorized strike of the Railroad yard and road +men; this is clearly an outbreak of workers exasperated on the one hand +by a constantly increasing cost of living, and on the other by dilatory +methods of affording relief. The orthodox tactics are being employed to +break it. The Lever law, disinterred from the legislative graveyard to +beat the miners, has been galvanized into life again and is being used +to jail the strike leaders. This is not all, however. Probably there +never was a big strike in this country more spontaneous and unplanned +than the one in question. But <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>that does not worry our Department of +Justice; it has just announced to a credulous world that the whole +affair is a highly organized plot to overthrow the Government. Within +the hour I write this (on April 15) I read in the papers that I have +been singled out by Attorney-General Palmer as one of the strike +leaders. Eight-column headlines flare out the charge, "PALMER BLAMES +FOSTER FOR RAIL STRIKE," etc.<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p> + +<p>To Mr. Palmer's "penny dreadful" plot, the local newspapers add lying +details of their own. The Pittsburgh <i>Leader</i>, for instance, recites <i>in +extenso</i> how I returned from the West in disguise to Pittsburgh several +days ago—presumably after a trip plotting with Mr. Palmer's wonderful +revolutionaries, who not only can bring whole industries to a standstill +by a wave of the hand, but can do it in such a manner that although many +thousands of workers are "in the know" the Department of Justice never +gets to hear about it until the strikes have occurred.</p> + +<p>Now the fact is that I have been so busy writing this book that I have +hardly stirred from the house for weeks. Since the steel strike ended I +have not been beyond the environs of Pittsburgh. Moreover, I do not know +a solitary one of the men advertised as strike leaders, nor has there +been any communication whatsoever between us. I have not attended any +strike meetings, nor have I even seen a man whom I knew to be a striker. +But of course such details are irrelevant to the Department of Justice +and the newspapers. The latter boldly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>announce that it is officially +hoped that Mr. Palmer's charges will stampede the men back to work.<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> +In fact that is their aim. These charges are a strike-breaking measure, +pure and simple, and have no necessary relation to truth.<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p> + +<p>Similar instances might be multiplied to illustrate the extreme +virulence of the attacks on Labor in late struggles—how the press +manufactured the general strikes in Seattle and Winnipeg into young +revolutions; and how even when Mr. Gompers announced some time back that +the American Federation of Labor would continue its customary political +policy of "rewarding its friends and punishing its <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>enemies," the scheme +was denounced in influential quarters as an attempt to capture the +Government and set up a dictatorship of the proletariat. But enough. The +steel strike was a drive straight at the heart of industrial autocracy +in America; it could expect to meet with nothing less than the most +desperate and unscrupulous resistance. If the issue used against the +strike had not been the charge of radical leadership, we may rest +assured there would have been another "just as good." The next movement +will have to win by its own strength, rather than by the vagaries of a +newspaper-created public opinion.</p> + +<p>But a far more pressing problem even than any of those touched upon in +the foregoing paragraphs is the one involved in the attitude of the +Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers toward the steel +campaign. This organization withdrew from the National Committee +immediately after the strike was called off, and it has apparently +abandoned trying, at least for the time being, to organize the big steel +mills. Thus the whole campaign is brought to the brink of ruin, because +the Amalgamated Association has jurisdiction over about 50 per cent. of +the workers in the mills, including all the strategic steel-making +trades, without whose support the remainder cannot possibly win. Unless +it can be brought back to the fold, the joint movement of the trades in +the steel industry will almost certainly be broken up, to the great glee +of Mr. Gary and his associates.</p> + +<p>This action was in logical sequence to the position taken through the +campaign by several of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>Amalgamated Association's general officers. +From the beginning, they considered the movement with pessimism, often +with hostility. It received scant co-operation from them. As related in +Chapter VI, they tried to get a settlement with the U. S. Steel +Corporation right in the teeth of the general movement; and their +financial support was meager, to say the least.<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> For a few weeks +during the strike movement, when victory seemed near, they displayed +some slight enthusiasm; but this soon wore off and they adopted a policy +of "saving what they could." They were exceedingly anxious to call off +the strike many weeks before its close, and went about the country +discouraging the men and advising them to return to work. And even +worse, they attempted to make separate settlements with the steel +companies. The following proposed agreement, presented to (and refused +by) the Bethlehem Steel Corporation at Sparrows' Point when the strike +was not yet two months old, tells its own story:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="right"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>November 19th, 1919.</p> + +<p>Agreement entered into between the Bethlehem Steel Company +of Sparrows' Point, Maryland, and its employees, governing +wages and conditions in the Sheet and Tin mills, and Tin +House Department.</p> + +<p>1. It is agreed that the wages and conditions agreed upon +between the Western Sheet and Tin Plate Manufacturers' +Association and the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel +and Tin Workers, as agreed upon in the Atlantic City +Conference, June, 1919, will be the prices and conditions +paid to the employees in the above-mentioned departments.</p> + +<p>2. That the company will also agree to the re-instatement of +all their former employees, such as seek employment without +any discrimination.</p> + +<p>3. The above Agreement to expire June 30th, 1920.</p></div> + +<p>During the strike the general officers of the Amalgamated Association +never tired of telling how sacred they considered their contracts with +the employers, and did not hesitate to jeopardize the strike by living +up to them most strictly. But when it came to their obligations to the +other trades it was a different story. They well knew, when they tried +to make separate settlements with the U. S. Steel and Bethlehem +Companies, that they were violating solemn agreements which they had +entered into with the other trades in the industry, not to speak of +fundamental principles of labor solidarity.</p> + +<p>The national officials in question looked with undisguised jealousy upon +the growth to importance of other unions in the industry where their own +organization had operated alone so long. They lost no love on the +National Committee. In fact more than one of their number seemed to take +particular delight <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>in placing obstructions in its way. If they wanted +to see the steel industry organized they certainly showed it in a +peculiar manner. A goodly share of my time—not to speak of that of +others—was spent plugging the holes which they punched through the +dike. And apparently they always had the hearty support of their fellow +officers. It is only fair to say, however, that the lesser officials and +the rank and file of the Amalgamated Association strongly favored the +National Committee movement and gave it their loyal cooperation.</p> + +<p>As a justification for the Amalgamated Association officials' action in +quitting the joint campaign, word is being sent through the steel +industry that henceforth that organization will insist upon its broad +jurisdictional claims and become an industrial union in fact, taking +into its ranks and protecting workers of all classes in the steel +industry. But no one familiar with the Amalgamated Association will take +this seriously. It is a dyed-in-the-wool skilled workers' union, and has +been such ever since its foundation forty-five years ago. Its specialty +is the "tonnage men," or skilled iron and steel making and rolling +trades proper. All its customs, policies and instincts are inspired by +the interests of this industrial group. It has never looked after the +welfare of the mechanical trades and the common laborers, even though +for the past few years it has claimed jurisdiction over them. In its +union mills it is the regular thing to find only the tonnage men covered +by the agreements, no efforts whatever being made to take care of the +other workers. It is true that during the recent campaign, due to the +stimulus of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>the National Committee, laborers were taken in; but of the +way they were handled, probably the less said the better. The incidents +related in Chapter X are typical.</p> + +<p>That the men now at the head of the Amalgamated Association will upset +these craft practices and revolutionize their organization into a bona +fide, vigorous industrial union is incredible to those who have seen +them in action. But even if the miracle happened, even if they got rid +of their mid-nineteenth century ideas and methods, adopted modern +principles and systems, and put on the sweeping campaign necessary to +organize the industry, it would not solve the problem. The other unions +in the steel industry are not prepared to yield their trade claims to +the Amalgamated Association, and any serious attempt by that +organization to infringe upon them would result in a jurisdictional +quarrel, so destructive as to wreck all hope of organizing the industry +for an indefinite period. The unions would be so busy fighting among +themselves that they would have no time, energy or ambition to fight the +Steel Trust.</p> + +<p>Progress and organization in the steel industry are to be achieved not +by splitting the ranks and dividing the forces, but by consolidating and +extending them. The only rational hope in the situation lies in a firm +federation of all the trades in the industry, allied with the miners and +railroad men in such fashion that they will extend help in case of +trouble. The steel workers are fast recovering from their defeat. The +educational campaign is getting results, and the work should be made a +permanent institution until the industry is organized. For the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>Amalgamated Association to desert the field now is suicidal. It is +worse; it is a crime against the labor movement. It will break up the +campaign and throw the steel workers, helpless, upon the mercy of Gary +and his fellow exploiters. Organized Labor should not permit it. The +time is past when a few short-sighted union officials can block the +organization of a great industry.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Quoted from <i>The Coopers' Journal</i> for February, 1920.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> For important details, see article entitled "The Broken +Pledge," by Samuel Gompers, in the <i>American Federationist</i>, January, +1920.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Pittsburgh <i>Post</i>, April 15, 1920.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> Pittsburgh <i>Chronicle-Telegraph</i>, April 15, 1920.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> In connection with this matter I promptly called Mr. +Palmer a liar, a statement which was widely carried by the press. Our +would-be tyrant swallowed it. In the situation two courses were open to +him: If his accusations against me were true, under his own +interpretation of the Lever law he was duty-bound to arrest me; and if +they were not true, common justice demanded that he admit the +incorrectness of the statements he had sent flying through the press, +attacking me. But he has done neither. And in the meantime I have been +subjected to a storm of journalistic abuse. For example, says the +Donora, Pa. <i>Herald</i> of April 16: "Wm. Z. Foster seems determined to +have that little revolution if he has to get out and start one himself. +About the best remedy for that bird would be one of those old-fashioned +hangings." +</p><p class="noin"> +One can readily imagine how quickly the wheels of justice would have +whirled and how speedily the editor would have been clapped into jail +were such an incitement to murder printed in a labor journal. But When +the case in point was called to the attention of the Pittsburgh +officials of the Department of Justice they could do nothing about it. +Nor could those of the Post Office Department, although the Donora +<i>Herald</i> circulates through the mails. Similarly the county and state +officials could see no cause for action. Finally the opportunities for +relief sifted down to a libel suit. And what chance has a workingman in +such a suit against a henchman of the Steel Trust in the heart of +Pennsylvania's black steel district?</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> In the report included at the end of Chapter VI, the +Amalgamated Association is shown to have enrolled 70,026 members during +the campaign. But, for the reasons cited, the figure is far too low. +President Tighe gave a better idea of the number when, testifying before +the Senate Committee, he said (Hearings, page 353) that the secretary +had told him "that he had already issued in the neighborhood of 150,000 +dues cards," and could not get them printed fast enough. For each man of +this army of members, the national headquarters of the Amalgamated +Association received two dollars. Yet in return the officials in charge, +throughout the entire movement, gave the National Committee directly +only $11,881.81 to work with. Of this, $3,881.81 was for organizing +expenses, and $8,000.00 was to feed and furnish legal help to the great +multitudes of strikers, half of whom were members of the Amalgamated +Association. What strike help was extended in other directions was +correspondingly scanty. The balance of the funds taken in is still in +its treasury.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>XIV</h2> + +<h2>IN CONCLUSION</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang" style="margin-left: 2em;">THE POINT OF VIEW—ARE THE TRADE UNIONS REVOLUTIONARY +—CAMOUFLAGE IN SOCIAL WARS—RUINOUS DUAL +UNIONISM—RADICALS SHOULD STRENGTHEN TRADE UNIONS—THE +ENGLISH RENAISSANCE—TOM MANN'S WORK</p></div> +<br /> + +<p>For those progressives who will look upon the steel campaign from an +evolutionary standpoint—that is by a comparison with past +experiences—it will stand out in its true light as marking a great +advance in trade-union methods and practices. It is true that the unions +in the campaign made many mistakes, quarreled seriously among +themselves, and put forth only a fraction of their real strength; but +when one considers that they substituted a group of twenty-four unions +for individual action in other campaigns; established a standard +initiation fee instead of the multitude that existed before; adopted +modern methods of organizing in place of the antiquated system +previously prevailing; organized a joint commissariat, carried on a +successful organizing campaign and waged a great strike together, one +must admit that a tremendous stride forward has been made. The +conclusion is bound to be optimistic and full of enthusiasm for the +future.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span>But unfortunately there are large bodies of progressives who do not +judge from the evolutionary viewpoint when it comes to trade unionism. +These range all the way from the mildest liberals and friends of Labor +to the most extreme I. W. W.'s. They form an influential group. Theirs +is the idealistic method; more or less clearly, these elements hold in +their mind's eye a smooth-running, intelligent, imaginary "one big +union." This they use as an inelastic criterion by which to judge the +trade unions. And the natural result is that, even in such cases as the +steel campaign, the unions cut a sorry figure. Their weaknesses are +unduly emphasized; their progressive innovations lose their import and +seem but make-shift imitations of the real thing. The conclusions are +necessarily pessimistic. The true significance of the epoch-making +movement is lost. This viewpoint is so general and its consequences so +far-reaching and detrimental, not only to the steel unions but to the +whole labor movement, that perhaps a discussion of it may not be amiss +at this point.</p> + +<p>For many years radicals in this country have almost universally +maintained that the trade unions are fundamentally non-revolutionary; +that they have no real quarrel with capitalism, but are seeking merely +to modify its harshness through a policy of mild reform. They have been +pictured as lacking both the intelligence to want industrial freedom and +the courage to demand it. And so often have these ideas been repeated, +so slight has been the inquiry into their soundness, that they have come +to be accepted in a large degree by virtually the entire left wing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>of +the labor movement. To these ideas, more than anything else, is due the +current idealistic labor pessimism, the unsympathetic attitude toward, +and general lack of understanding of, the trade unions.</p> + +<p>Yet their falsity is readily apparent when one takes into consideration +the real situation. It is an indisputable fact that the trade unions +always act upon the policy of taking all they can get from their +exploiters. They even overreach themselves sometimes, as a thousand lost +strikes eloquently testify. Their program is directly anti-capitalistic. +But let me quote from a booklet, written by myself several years ago, +entitled, "Trade Unionism; The Road To Freedom," page 18:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>It is idle to say that the trade unions will rest content +with anything short of actual emancipation. For they are as +insatiable as the veriest so-called revolutionary unions. In +the measure that their strength increases, so do their +demands. They have sent wages up: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 +dollars per day, and hours down: 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, per +day with all kinds of other concessions sandwiched in +between. And now they are more radical in their demands than +ever before in their history. Permanently satisfied trade +unions under capitalism would be the eighth wonder of the +world, outrivalling in interest the famous hanging gardens +of Babylon. They would be impossible. With its growing +power, Organized Labor will go on winning greater and +greater concessions, regardless of how profound they may be. +It is purest assumption to state that the trade unions would +balk at ending the wages system.</p></div> + +<p>So far as the tendency of their demands is concerned, there can be no +question about that to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span>anyone who will look at them squarely; the trade +unions may be depended upon always to check exploitation through the +wages system as far as their power enables them. The big question is +whether or not they will be able to develop enough power to stop this +exploitation altogether. As for me, I am confident that they will. In +every country they are constantly adding to and solidifying their ranks; +building ever more gigantic and militant combinations and throwing them +athwart the exploiter's path. It is safe to say that if they cannot +finally stop him it will be because it does not lie within the realms of +possibility for the working class to produce a sufficiently powerful +organization.</p> + +<p>Why, then, have these strongly anti-capitalistic qualities been so long +and generally ignored and the trade unions considered merely as +palliative bodies? In my opinion it is because they, like various other +aggressive social movements, have more or less instinctively surrounded +themselves with a sort of camouflage or protective coloring, designed to +disguise the movement and thus to pacify and disarm the opposition. This +is the function of such expressions as, "A fair day's pay for a fair +day's work," "The interests of Capital and Labor are identical," etc. In +actual practice little or no attention is paid to them. They are for +foreign consumption. The fact that those who utter them may actually +believe what they say does not change the situation a particle. Most +movements are blind to their own goals anyway. The important thing is +the real trend of the movement, which is indisputably as I have stated +above, on the one hand constantly expanding <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>organization, and on the +other constantly increasing demands. The trade unions will not <i>become</i> +anti-capitalistic through the conversion of their members to a certain +point of view or by the adoption of certain preambles; they <i>are</i> that +by their very makeup and methods. The most that can be done is to +clarify their aims and intensify their efforts towards freedom.</p> + +<p>If the trade unions instinctively throw dust in the eyes of their +enemies, they do it for an altogether worthy purpose, the elevation of +the standard of well-being for the mass of the people. In the case of +the capitalist class we see the same principle applied to an utterly +vicious end. The whole trend of the great employing interests is to set +up an oligarchy of wealthy parasites, neither toiling nor spinning, yet +for whom the whole body of workers would be compelled to labor in +degradation and poverty. And if unopposed, they would not only bring +about this condition, but in so doing would rob the people of every +right they have—free speech, free press, free assemblage, legislative +representation, trial by jury, and all the rest. But do they openly avow +their purpose? Most assuredly not, for they know that powerful though +they are they would be swept away by a wave of popular opposition. +Therefore, through their newspapers and innumerable other propaganda +agencies, they proceed to cover up their nefarious schemes of +exploitation and oppression with hypocritical cloaks of patriotism, +religion, benevolence, and the like. Their practice is one thing, their +preaching something entirely different. Thus we have Garys and +Rockefellers <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span>actually enslaving their workers by the most brutal +methods and at the same time seeking to convince the public that what +they are trying to do is to protect these workers from union domination, +to preserve to them their sacred right to work for whomever they please, +etc. Men such as these are knifing America and doing it in the name of +100 per cent. Americanism. They are social camouflagers par excellence.</p> + +<p>The question may be pertinently asked, why, if camouflage is such a +potent weapon in social as well as military warfare, should the true +nature and tendency of the trade unions be pointed out, thus stripping +the movement of its philosophic protection and leaving it bare before +its enemies? The answer is that the camouflage works both ways; it +deceives friends as well as enemies. It has thus to a great extent cost +the unions the support of the whole left wing of the labor movement. Its +advantages are outweighed by its disadvantages.</p> + +<p>In what I have called the left wing of the movement there are large and +ever-increasing numbers of workers and sympathizers who refuse to face +the prospect of a society forever based upon the wage system. They +demand an organization that is making for its abolition and the +substitution therefor of a system of industrial justice. If they were to +look sharply, they would see that the trade-union movement is traveling +faster than any other body toward the end they wish to reach. But +unfortunately, looking sharply is not their method. They habitually +attach too much importance to surface indications and not enough to real +results. They go <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span>almost entirely by preambles and manifestoes. +Consequently, taking the trade-union slogans at their face value and +finding them altogether unsatisfactory, they turn their backs upon the +trade-union movement and give support to the organizations which have +the sort they want, the I. W. W., the W. I. I. U., etc.</p> + +<p>This belief, that the trade unions are inherently conservative bodies, +is the basis of the strong conviction that they are hopeless and that +they must be supplanted by a new organization, aiming to abolish the +wage system. The conception is found in some degree or other among +virtually all radicals. And it has done incalculable harm to the unions. +It has cost them the support of thousands of militants, of the best and +most intelligent that the working class produces. These might have done +a wonderful work; but their time and energies have been worse than +wasted in trying to build up organizations such as the I. W. W. When one +considers that the life of nearly every labor union depends upon the +activities of a very small fraction of its membership, it is clear that +this constant drain upon its best blood must have seriously hindered the +advance of the trade-union movement. Many have complained at the slow +progress it has made; but the marvel is rather that it has been able to +progress at all.</p> + +<p>This devitalizing drain must be stopped, and the great body of +progressives and radicals won over to a whole-hearted support of the +trade unions. I consider this one of the most important tasks +confronting the labor movement. But it can be accomplished only by +driving home to these elements the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span>patent facts that the trade unions +are making straight for the abolition of capitalism and that they are +going incomparably faster towards this goal than any of the much +advertised, so-called revolutionary unions, in spite of the latter's +glittering preambles. They must be taught that the weaknesses of the +trade unions are but the weaknesses of the working class, and that as +the latter gradually improves in education and experience, the unions +will correspondingly take on higher forms and clearer aims. You cannot +have perfect organizations with imperfect workers to build upon. In a +word, the progressives must be won over from the idealistic and utopian +to the evolutionary point of view.</p> + +<p>Indeed, it must be granted that insistence upon the real goal and +tendency of trade unionism will provoke the capitalist class into +greater opposition against the movement. But this will be trebly offset +by the added support which the unions will get from the large numbers of +militants who now stand apart from them because of lack of +understanding. The power of even a few such men, proceeding +intelligently along practical lines, is one of the marvels of the labor +movement. It may be confidently expected, therefore, that when the many +thousands of these, now indifferent or hostile, begin to work together, +setting up their own press and systematically furthering amalgamation +and federation projects to bring the unions into closer cooperation, +initiating and prosecuting organizing campaigns, retiring to private +life such officials as now find themselves at the head of the +Amalgamated Association, etc., vast <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>changes for the better are bound to +occur in the labor movement.</p> + +<p>The trade unions have cost the workers untold efforts to build, and in +the main they seem loath to give them up, despite the blandishments of +utopian dual unions. Apparently, it is through the old unions that the +workers will eventually achieve their industrial freedom, save, perhaps, +in such cases as the United Garment Workers, where conditions in the +organization were so utterly hopeless that there was nothing to do but +form a new body, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers. But this was an +exceptional case. Most of the unions are moving steadily onward and +upward, and they have an unshakable grip upon the workers in their +respective spheres. This being so, the logical thing to do is +systematically to set about improving and strengthening them. If this is +done, then, instead of the wild, desperate, dualistic outbreaks and +strikes, which have characterized the American labor movement for years, +and done it incalculable harm, the discontented rank and file will find +relief through an orderly and rapid progress within the folds of the +organizations they already have. The sooner these facts are recognized +the better for American Labor.</p> + +<p>During the past few years much has been said about the wonderful +progress being made by the English trade-union movement. This, I venture +to assert, is due largely, if not altogether, to the absence among the +radicals of England of the idealistic, dualistic attitude towards the +unions which exists so widely here, and which has produced the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>I. W. W. +and its great body of sympathizers. The English radicals have a better +conception than ours of the trade unions; for, flesh and blood of the +labor movement, they pit their policies and energies against the +conservatives, and win. They are the ones who are writing the +highly-praised programs, and driving onward the great wage movements. +They are practical and constructive. Unlike so many of our radicals they +do not waste their time and strength in empty, pessimistic criticism of +the trade unions, and in vain, foolhardy attempts to tear the whole +labor structure to pieces and to reconstruct it according to the dream +of Daniel De Leon.</p> + +<p>In England the turning point came ten years ago when she felt the great +wave of sentiment for revolutionary unionism then sweeping the world. +The question was whether this movement should realize its aims through +the old unions or by starting new ones. The existing unions were +notoriously conservative. Several of our leading radicals had said they +were even more hopeless than our own organizations and strongly urged +the formation of an English I. W. W. But fortunately, Tom Mann and his +colleagues, with a deeper knowledge of trade unionism, were able to +forestall this movement and to direct the strong stream of progressive +thought and energy into the old unions. The result was magical. Within +two years the great and successful strikes of the transport workers, +railroaders and miners had occurred, and the renaissance of the English +labor movement was assured. British workingmen will never realize the +invaluable service which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>Tom Mann rendered them in saving England from +an I. W. W. dual movement, with its tremendous waste of power and its +weakening effect upon the trade unions.</p> + +<p>How long are American progressives going to continue deceiving +themselves with the words of high-sounding preambles? When are they +going to quit chasing rainbows and settle down to real work? These are +important considerations indeed. The hour when our militants generally +adopt English methods, and turn their whole-hearted attention to +building up and developing the trade-union movement,—that hour will be +the dawn of a new day for American Labor.</p> +<br /> + +<h3>THE END</h3> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<div class="tr"> +<p class="cen"><a name="TN" id="TN"></a>Transcriber's Note</p> +<br /> + +Some inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in +the original document has been preserved.<br /> +<br /> +Typographical errors corrected in the text:<br /> +<br /> +Page 55 Monogahela changed to Monongahela<br /> +Page 86 convine changed to convince<br /> +Page 92 acordingly changed to accordingly<br /> +Page 101 Joilet changed to Joliet<br /> +Page 103 Brackenbridge changed to Brackenridge<br /> +Page 107 struck changed to stuck<br /> +Page 125 depondent changed to deponent<br /> +Page 137 Brennon changed to Brennan<br /> +Page 146 Leechburgh changed to Leechburg<br /> +Page 153 childen changed to children<br /> +Page 205 resistent changed to resistant<br /> +Page 209 compaign changed to campaign<br /> +Page 233 affiiliated changed to affiliated<br /> +Page 246 in changed to it<br /> +Page 255 tweny changed to twenty<br /> +Page 260 tre changed to the<br /> +Page 262 advertized changed to advertised<br /> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Steel Strike and its Lessons, by +William Z. 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Foster + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Great Steel Strike and its Lessons + +Author: William Z. Foster + +Release Date: May 5, 2011 [EBook #36032] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT STEEL STRIKE AND *** + + + + +Produced by Odessa Paige Turner, Barbara Kosker and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + THE + GREAT STEEL STRIKE + AND ITS LESSONS + + + by + + + WILLIAM Z. FOSTER + + + + +THE GREAT STEEL STRIKE AND ITS LESSONS + + + + +[Illustration: PENNSYLVANIA LAW AND ORDER State Police driving peaceful +citizens out of business places, Clairton, Pa. _Photo by +International_] + + + + +THE GREAT STEEL STRIKE AND ITS LESSONS + + + + +BY +WILLIAM Z. FOSTER + + + + +INTRODUCTION BY +JOHN A. FITCH + + + + +NEW YORK +B. W. HUEBSCH, INC. +MCMXX + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY B. W. HUEBSCH, INC. +PRINTED IN U. S. A. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +Half a million men are employed in the steel industry of the United +States. At a period in which eight hours is rapidly coming to be +accepted as the standard length of the working day, the principal mills +in this industry are operating on a 12-hour work schedule, and many of +their workmen are employed seven days in every week. These half million +men have, for the most part, no opportunity to discuss with their +employers the conditions of their work. Not only are they denied the +right of bargaining collectively over the terms of the labor contract, +but if grievances arise in the course of their employment they have no +right in any effective manner to take up the matter with their employer +and secure an equitable adjustment.[1] The right even of petition has +been at times denied and, because of the organized strength of the steel +companies and the disorganized weakness of the employees, could be +denied at any time. + +The right of workers in this country to organize and to bargain +collectively is unquestioned. On every hand the workers are exercising +this right in order to protect and advance their interests. In the steel +mills not only is the right generally denied but the attempt to exercise +it is punished by expulsion from the industry. Through a system of +espionage that is thoroughgoing and effective the steel companies know +which of their employees are attending union meetings, which of them are +talking with organizers. It is their practice to discharge such men and +thus they nip in the bud any ordinary movement toward organization. + +Their power to prevent their employees from acting independently and in +their own interest, extends even to the communities in which they live. +In towns where the mayor's chair is occupied by company officials or +their relatives--as was the case during the 1919 strike in Bethlehem, +Duquesne, Clairton and elsewhere--orders may be issued denying to the +workers the right to hold meetings for organizing purposes, or the +police may be instructed to break them up. Elsewhere--as in Homestead, +McKeesport, Monessen, Rankin and in Pittsburgh itself--the economic +strength of the companies is so great as to secure the willing +cooperation of officials or to compel owners of halls and vacant lots to +refuse the use of their property for the holding of union meetings. + +One who has not seen with his own eyes the evidences of steel company +control in the towns where their plants are located will have difficulty +in comprehending its scope and power. Social and religious organizations +are profoundly affected by it. In many a church during the recent +strike, ministers and priests denounced the "agitators" and urged the +workmen in their congregations to go back to the mills. Small business +men accepted deputy sheriffs' commissions, put revolvers in their belts +and talked loudly about the merits of a firing squad as a remedy for +industrial unrest. + +For twenty or more years in the mill towns along the Monongahela--since +1892 in Homestead--the working men have lived in an atmosphere of +espionage and repression. The deadening influence of an overwhelming +power, capable of crushing whatever does not bend to its will, has in +these towns stifled individual initiative and robbed citizenship of its +virility. + +The story of the most extensive and most courageous fight yet made to +break this power and to set free the half million men of the steel mills +is told within the pages of this book by one who was himself a leader in +the fight. It is a story that is worth the telling, for it has been told +before only in fragmentary bits and without the authority that comes +from the pen of one of the chief actors in the struggle. + +Mr. Foster has performed a public service in setting down as he has the +essential facts attendant upon the calling of the strike. The record of +correspondence with Judge Gary and with President Wilson indicates +clearly enough where responsibility for its occurrence lies. It answers +the question also of who it was that flouted the President--the strike +committee that refused to enter into a one sided truce, or Judge Gary, +who would not accept Mr. Wilson's suggestion that he confer with a union +committee, but who was willing to take advantage of the proposed truce +to undermine and destroy the union. + +This thoughtful history, remarkably dispassionate upon the whole, +considering the fact that the author was not only an actor in the events +he describes but the storm center of a countrywide campaign of +slanderous falsehood, is an effective answer to those whose method of +opposing the strike was to shout "Bolshevism" and "Revolution." Not thus +are fomenters of revolution accustomed to write. It is this very quality +which will make the book of great value both to the student and to the +labor organizer. Never before has a leader in a great organizing +campaign like the one preceding the steel strike sat down afterward to +appraise so calmly the causes of defeat. Explanations of failure are +common, usually in the form of "alibis." Mr. Foster has been willing to +look the facts steadily in the face and his analysis of the causes of +the loss of the strike--laying the responsibility for it at the doors of +the unions themselves--cannot fail to be helpful to every union leader, +no matter what industry his union may represent. On the other hand his +account of such a feat as the maintenance of a commissary adequate to +meet the needs of the strikers at a cost of $1.40 per man is suggestive +and encouraging to the highest degree. This achievement must stand as a +monument to the integrity and practical ability of the men who conducted +the strike. + +It is with no purpose of underwriting every statement of fact or of +making his own every theory advanced in the book that the writer +expresses his confidence in it. It is because the book as a whole is so +well done and because the essential message that it conveys is so true, +that it is a pleasure to write these words of introduction. Other books +have been written about the steel industry. Some have concerned +themselves with metallurgy, others with the commercial aspects of steel +manufacture, and still others with certain phases of the labor problem. +This book is different from all the others. It sets forth as no other +book has, and as no other writer could, the need of the workers in this +great basic industry for organization, and the extreme difficulty of +achieving this essential right. It shows also in the sanity, good +temper, and straightforward speech of the author what sort of leadership +it is that the steel companies have decreed their workers shall not +have! + + JOHN A. FITCH. + _New York, June 4, 1920._ + +FOOTNOTE: + +[1] See for example Judge Gary's testimony before the Senate Committee +investigating the steel strike--October 1, 1919, pp. 161-162, of +committee hearings. He told of a strike which occurred because a +grievance remained unadjusted after a committee of the workers had tried +to take it up with the management. The president of the company involved +was for crushing the strike without knowing what the grievance was or +even of the existence of the committee. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + + INTRODUCTION v + + CHAPTER + + I. THE PRESENT SITUATION 1 + + The strike--"Victory" of the employers--Industrial + democracy abroad, industrial serfdom at home--What + the workers won--The outlook. + + II. A GENERATION OF DEFEAT 8 + + The urge for mastery--Democratic resistance--The + Homestead strike--The strikes of 1901 and 1909-- + The Steel Trust victorious. + + III. THE GIANT LABOR AWAKES 16 + + A bleak prospect--Hope springs eternal--A golden + chance--Disastrous delay--The new plan--A lost + opportunity--The campaign begins--Gary fights + back. + + IV. FLANK ATTACKS 28 + + A sea of troubles--The policy of encirclement--Taking + the outposts--Organizing methods--Financial systems-- + The question of morale--Johnstown. + + V. BREAKING INTO PITTSBURGH 50 + + The flying squadron--Monessen--Donora--McKeesport-- + Rankin--Braddock--Clairton--Homestead--Duquesne--The + results. + + VI. STORM CLOUDS GATHER 68 + + Relief demanded--The Amalgamated Association moves--A + general movement--The conference committee--Gompers' + letter unanswered--The strike vote--Gary defends steel + autocracy--President Wilson acts in vain--The strike call. + + VII. THE STORM BREAKS 96 + + The Steel Trust Army--Corrupt officialdom--Clairton-- + McKeesport--The strike--showing by districts--A + treasonable act--Gary gets his answer. + + VIII. GARYISM RAMPANT 110 + + The White Terror--Constitutional Rights denied-- + Unbreakable solidarity--Father Kazincy--The Cossacks + --Scientific barbarity--Prostituted courts--Servants + rewarded. + + IX. EFFORTS AT SETTLEMENT 140 + + The National Industrial Conference--The Senate + committee--The red book--The Margolis case--The + Interchurch World Movement. + + X. THE COURSE OF THE STRIKE 162 + + Pittsburgh district--The railroad men--Corrupt + newspapers--Chicago district--Federal troops at Gary + --Youngstown district--The Amalgamated Association-- + Cleveland--The Rod and Wire Mill strike--The Bethlehem + plants--Buffalo and Lackawanna--Wheeling and Steubenville + --Pueblo--Johnstown--Mob rule--The end of the strike. + + XI. NATIONAL AND RACIAL ELEMENTS 194 + + A modern Babel--Americans as skilled workers--Foreigners + as unskilled workers--Language difficulties--The Negro + in the strike--The race problem. + + XII. THE COMMISSARIAT--THE STRIKE COST 213 + + The Relief organization--Rations--System of distribution + --Cost of Commissariat--Steel Strike Relief Fund--Cost of + the strike to the workers, the employers, the public, the + Labor movement. + + XIII. PAST MISTAKES AND FUTURE PROBLEMS 234 + + Labor's lack of confidence--Inadequate efforts--Need of + alliance with miners and railroaders--Radical leadership + as a strike issue--Railroad shopmen, Boston police, miners, + railroad brotherhood strikes--Defection of Amalgamated + Association. + + XIV. IN CONCLUSION 255 + + The point of view--Are trade unions revolutionary?--Camouflage + in social wars--Ruinous dual unionism--Radicals should + strengthen trade unions--The English renaissance--Tom Mann's + work. + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + Pennsylvania Law and Order _Frontispiece_ + + FACING PAGE + + National Committee Delegates 38 + + Strike Ballot 78 + + Cossacks in Action 122 + + Mrs. Fannie Sellins, Trade Union Organizer 148 + + Steel Trust Newspaper Propaganda 188 + + John Fitzpatrick 216 + + A Group of Organizers 244 + + + + +THE GREAT STEEL STRIKE AND ITS LESSONS + + + + +THE GREAT STEEL STRIKE AND ITS LESSONS + + + + +I + +THE PRESENT SITUATION + + THE STRIKE--"VICTORY" OF THE EMPLOYERS--INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY + ABROAD, INDUSTRIAL SERFDOM AT HOME--WHAT THE WORKERS + WON--THE OUTLOOK + + +The great steel strike lasted three months and a half. Begun on +September 22, 1919, by 365,600 men quitting their places in the iron and +steel mills and blast furnaces in fifty cities of ten states, it ended +on January 8, 1920, when the organizations affiliated in the National +Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers voted to permit the +100,000 or more men still on strike to return to work upon the best +terms they could secure. + +The steel manufacturers "won" the strike. By forcing an unconditional +surrender, they drove their men back to the old slavery. This they +accomplished in their wonted and time-honored way by carrying on a reign +of terror that outraged every just conception of civil and human rights. +In this unholy task they were aided by a crawling, subservient and +lying press, which spewed forth its poison propaganda in their behalf; +by selfish and indifferent local church movements, which had long since +lost their Christian principles in an ignominious scramble for company +favors; and by hordes of unscrupulous municipal, county, state and +federal officials, whose eagerness to wear the steel collar was equalled +only by their forgetfulness of their oaths of office. No suppression of +free speech and free assembly, no wholesale clubbing, shooting and +jailing of strikers and their families was too revolting for these Steel +Trust[2] hangers-on to carry out with relish. With the notable exception +of a few honorable and courageous individuals here and there among these +hostile elements, it was an alignment of the steel companies, the state, +the courts, the local churches and the press against the steel workers. + +Upon the ending of the strike the steel workers got no direct +concessions from their employers. Those who were able to evade the +bitter blacklist were compelled to surrender their union cards and to +return to work under conditions that are a shame and a disgrace. They +were driven back to the infamous peonage system with its twelve hour +day, a system which American steel workers, of all those in the world, +alone have to endure. In England, France, Italy and Germany, the steel +workers enjoy the right of a voice in the control of their industry; +they regularly barter and bargain with their employers over the +questions of hours, wages and working conditions; they also have the +eight hour day. One must come to America, the land of freedom, to find +steel workers still economically disfranchised and compelled to work +twelve hours a day. In this country alone the human rights of the steel +workers are crushed under foot by the triumphant property rights of +their employers. + +Who can uphold this indefensible position? Are not our deposits of coal +and iron immeasurably greater, our mills more highly developed, our +labor force more numerous and more skilled than those of any other +country? Who then will venture to assert that American workingmen are +not entitled to exercise all the rights and privileges enjoyed by +European workingmen? If the steel workers of England, or France, or +Italy, or Germany can practice collective bargaining, why not the steel +workers of America? And why should the steel workers here have to work +twelve hours daily when the eight hour day obtains abroad? + +There are a hundred good reasons why the principles of collective +bargaining and the shorter workday should prevail in the steel industry +of America, and only one why they should not. This one reason is that +the industry is hard and fast in the grip of absentee capitalists who +take no part in production and whose sole function is to seize by hook +or crook the product of the industry and consume it. These parasites, in +their voracious quest of profits, know neither pity nor responsibility. +Their reckless motto is "After us the deluge." They care less than +naught for the rights and sufferings of the workers. Ignoring the +inevitable weakening of patriotism of people living under miserable +industrial conditions, they go their way, prostituting, strangling and +dismembering our most cherished institutions. And the worst of it is +that in the big strike an ignorant public, miseducated by employers' +propaganda sheets masquerading under the guise of newspapers, applauded +them in their ruthless course. Blindly this public, setting itself up as +the great arbiter of what is democratic and American, condemned as +bolshevistic and ruinous the demands of almost 400,000 steel workers for +simple, fundamental reforms, without which hardly a pretense of freedom +is possible, and lauded as sturdy Americanism the desperate autocracy of +the Steel Trust. All its guns were turned against the strikers. + +In this great struggle the mill owners may well claim the material +victory; but with just as much right the workers can claim the moral +victory. For the strike left in every aspiring breast a spark of hope +which must burn on till it finally bursts into a flame of +freedom-bringing revolt. For a generation steel workers had been +hopeless. Their slavery had overwhelmed them. The trade-union movement +seemed weak, distant and incapable. The rottenness of steel districts +precluded all thought of relief through political channels. The +employers seemed omnipotent. But the strike has changed all this. Like +a flash the unions appeared upon the scene. They flourished and expanded +in spite of all opposition. Then boldly they went to a death grapple +with the erstwhile unchallenged employers. It is true they did not win, +but they put up a fight which has won the steel workers' hearts. Their +earnest struggle and the loyal support, by money and food, which they +gave the strikers, have forever laid at rest the employers' arguments +that the unions are cowardly, grafting bodies organized merely to rob +and betray the workers. Even the densest of the strikers could see that +the loss of the strike was due to insufficient preparation; that only a +fraction of the power of unionism had been developed and that with +better organization better results would be secured. And the outcome is +that the steel workers have won a precious belief in the power of +concerted action through the unions. They have discovered the Achilles' +heel of their would-be masters. They now see the way out of their +slavery. This is their tremendous victory. + +No less than the steel workers themselves, the whole trade-union +movement won a great moral victory in the steel strike and the campaign +that preceded it. This more than offsets the failure of the strike +itself. The gain consists of a badly needed addition to the unions' thin +store of self-confidence. To trade-union organizers the steel industry +had long symbolized the impossible. Wave after wave of organizing effort +they had sent against it; but their work had been as ineffectual as a +summer sea lapping the base of Gibraltar. Pessimism regarding its +conquest for trade unionism was abysmal. But now all this is changed. +The impossible has been accomplished. The steel workers were organized +in the face of all that the steel companies could do to prevent it. Thus +a whole new vista of possibilities unfolds before the unions. Not only +does the reorganization of the steel industry seem strictly feasible, +but the whole conception that many of the basic industries are immune to +trade unionism turns out to be an illusion. If the steel industry could +be organized, so can any other in the country; for the worst of them +presents hardly a fraction of the difficulties squarely vanquished in +the steel industry. The mouth has been shut forever of that insufferable +pest of the labor movement, the large body of ignorant, incompetent, +short-sighted, visionless union men whose eternal song, when some +important organizing project is afoot, is "It can't be done." After this +experience in the steel industry the problem of unionizing any industry +resolves itself simply into selecting a capable organizer and giving him +sufficient money and men to do the job. + +The ending of the strike by no means indicates the abandonment of the +steel workers' battle for their rights. For a while, perhaps, their +advance may be checked, while they are recovering from the effects of +their great struggle. But it will not be long before they have another +big movement under way. They feel but little defeated by the loss of the +strike, and the trade unions as a whole feel even less so. Both have +gained wonderful confidence in themselves and in each other during the +fight. The unions will not desert the field and leave the workers a +prey to the demoralizing propaganda of the employers, customary after +lost strikes. On the contrary they are keeping a large crew of +organizers at work in an educational campaign, devised to maintain and +develop the confidence the steel workers have in themselves and the +unions. Then, when the opportune time comes, which will be but shortly, +the next big drive will be on. Mr. Gary and his associates may attempt +to forestall the inevitable by the granting of fake eight hour days, +paper increases in wages and hand-picked company unions, but it is safe +to say that the steel workers will go on building up stronger and more +aggressive combinations among themselves and with allied trades until +they finally achieve industrial freedom. So long as any men undertake to +oppress the steel workers and to squeeze returns from the industry +without rendering adequate service therefor, just that long must these +men expect to be confronted by a progressively more militant and +rebellious working force. The great steel strike of 1919 will seem only +a preliminary skirmish when compared with the tremendous battles that +are bound to come unless the enslaved steel workers are set free. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[2] Throughout this book the term "Steel Trust" is used to indicate the +collectivity of the great steel companies. It is true that this is in +contradiction to the common usage, which generally applies the term to +the United States Steel Corporation alone, but it is in harmony with the +facts. All the big steel companies act together upon all important +matters confronting their industry. Beyond question they are organized +more or less secretly into a trust. This book recognizes this situation, +hence the broad use of the term "Steel Trust." It is important to +remember this explanation. Where the writer has in mind any one company +that company is named. + + + + +II + +A GENERATION OF DEFEAT[3] + + THE URGE FOR MASTERY--DEMOCRATIC RESISTANCE--THE HOMESTEAD + STRIKE--THE STRIKES OF 1901 AND 1909--THE STEEL TRUST + VICTORIOUS + + +The recent upheaval in the steel industry was but one link in a long +chain of struggles, the latest battle in an industrial war for freedom +which has raged almost since the inception of the industry. + +The steel manufacturers have always aggressively applied the ordinary, +although unacknowledged, American business principles that our +industries exist primarily to create huge profits for the fortunate few +who own them, and that if they have any other utility it is a matter of +secondary importance. The interests of society in the steel business +they scoff at. And as for their own employees, they have never +considered them better than so much necessary human machinery, to be +bought in the market at the lowest possible price and otherwise handled +in a thoroughly irresponsible manner. They clearly understand that if +they are to carry out their policy of raw exploitation, the prime +essential is that they keep their employees unorganized. Then, without +let or hindrance, wages may be kept low, the work day made longer, +speeding systems introduced, safety devices neglected, and the human +side of the industry generally robbed and repressed in favor of its +profit side; whereas, if the unions were allowed to come in, it would +mean that every policy in the industry would first have to be considered +and judged with regard to its effects upon the men actually making steel +and iron. It would mean that humanity must be emphasized at the expense +of misearned dividends. But this would never do. The mill owners are +interested in profits, not in humanity. Hence, if they can prevent it, +they will have no unions. Since the pioneer days of steel making their +policy has tended powerfully on the one hand towards elevating the +employers into a small group of enormously wealthy, idle, industrial +autocrats, and on the other towards depressing the workers into a huge +army of ignorant, poverty-stricken, industrial serfs. The calamity of it +is that this policy has worked out so well. + +Against this will-to-power of their employers the steel workers have +fought long and valiantly. In the early days of the industry, when the +combinations of capital were weak, the working force skilled, +English-speaking and independent, the latter easily defended themselves +and made substantial progress toward their own inevitable, even if +unrecognized goal of industrial freedom; but in later years, with the +growth of the gigantic United States Steel Corporation, the displacement +of skilled labor by automatic machinery and the introduction of +multitudes of illiterate immigrants into the industry, their fight for +their rights became a desperate and almost hopeless struggle. For the +past thirty years they have suffered an unbroken series of defeats. +Their one-time growing freedom has been crushed. + +At first the fight was easy, and by the later '80's, grace to the +activities of many unions, notable among which were the old Sons of +Vulcan, the Knights of Labor and the Amalgamated Association of Iron, +Steel and Tin Workers, considerable organization existed among the men +employed in the iron and steel mills throughout the country. The +Amalgamated Association, the dominating body, enjoyed great prestige in +the labor movement generally. It consisted almost entirely of highly +skilled men and paid little or no attention to the unskilled workers. In +the heyday of its strength, in 1891, it numbered about 24,000 members. +Its stronghold was in the Pittsburgh district. Its citadel was +Homestead. During the period of its greatest activity some measure of +democracy prevailed in the industry, and prospects seemed bright for its +extension. + +But about that time Andrew Carnegie, grown rich and powerful, began to +chafe uneasily under the restrictions placed upon his rapacity by his +organized employees. He wanted a free hand and determined to get it. As +the first step towards enshackling his workers he brought into his +company that inveterate enemy of democracy in all its forms, Henry C. +Frick. Then the two, Carnegie and Frick, neither of whom gave his +workers as much consideration as the Southern slave holder gave his +bondmen--for chattel slaves were at least assured sufficient food, warm +clothes, a habitable home and medical attendance--began to war upon the +union. They started the trouble in Homestead, where the big mills of the +Carnegie Company are located. In 1889 they insisted that the men accept +heavy reductions in wages, write their agreements to expire in the +unfavorable winter season instead of in summer, and give up their union. +The men refused, and after a short strike, got a favorable settlement. +But Carnegie and Frick were not to be lightly turned from their purpose. +When the contract in force expired, they renewed their old demands, and +thus precipitated the great Homestead strike. + +This famous strike attracted world-wide attention, and well it might, +for it marked a turning point in the industrial history of America. It +began on June 23, 1892, and lasted until November 20 of the same year. +Characterized by extreme bitterness and violence, it resulted in +complete defeat for the men, not only in Homestead, but also in several +other big mills in Pittsburgh and adjoining towns where the steel +workers had struck in support of their besieged brothers in Homestead. +This unsuccessful strike eliminated organized labor from the mills of +the big Carnegie Company. It also dealt the Amalgamated Association of +Iron, Steel and Tin Workers a blow from which it has not yet recovered. +It ended the period of trade-union expansion in the steel industry and +began an era of unrestricted labor control by the employers. At +Homestead Carnegie and Frick stuck a knife deep into the vitals of the +young democracy of the steel workers. + +Recuperating somewhat from the staggering defeat at Homestead, the +Amalgamated Association managed to retain a firm hold in the industry +for a few years longer. Its next big setback, in 1901, was caused by the +organization of the United States Steel Corporation. Foreseeing war from +this monster combination dominated by the hostile Carnegie interests, +the union, presided over at that time by Theodore J. Shaffer, decided to +take time by the forelock and negotiate an agreement that would extend +its scope and give it a chance to live. But the plan failed; the +anti-union tendencies of the employers were too strong, and a strike +resulted. At first the only companies affected were the American Tin +Plate Company, the American Sheet Steel Company and the American Steel +Hoop Company. Finally, however, all the organized men in all the mills +of the United States Steel Corporation were called out, but to no avail; +after a few weeks' struggle the strike was utterly lost. + +The failure of the 1901 strike broke the backbone of the Amalgamated +Association. Still, with characteristic trade-union tenacity, it +lingered along in a few of the Trust plants in the sheet and tin section +of the industry. Its business relations with the companies at this stage +of its decline, according to the testimony of its present President, M. +F. Tighe, before the Senate Committee investigating the 1919 strike, +consisted of "giving way to every request that was made by the companies +when they insisted upon it." But even this humble and pliant attitude of +the once powerful Amalgamated Association was intolerable to the haughty +steel kings. They could not brook even the most shadowy opposition to +their industrial absolutism. Accordingly, early in the summer of 1909, +they served notice upon the union men to accept a reduction in wages and +give up their union. It was practically the same ultimatum delivered by +Carnegie and Frick to the Homestead men twenty years before. With a last +desperate rally the union met this latest attack upon its life. The +ensuing strike lasted fourteen months. It was bitterly fought, but it +went the way of all strikes in the steel industry since 1892. It was +lost; and in consequence every trace of unionism was wiped out of the +mills not only of the United States Steel Corporation, but of the big +independent companies as well. + +Although the union was not finally crushed in the mills until the strike +of 1909, the steel mill owners were for many years previous to that time +in almost undisputed control of the situation. During a generation, +practically, they have worked their will unhampered; and the results of +their policy of unlimited exploitation are all too apparent. For +themselves they have taken untold millions of wealth from the industry; +for the workers they have left barely enough to eke out an existence in +the miserable, degraded steel towns. + +At the outbreak of the World war the steel workers generally, with the +exception of the laborers, who had secured a cent or two advance per +hour, were making less wages than before the Homestead strike. The +constant increase in the cost of living in the intervening years had +still further depressed their standards of life. Not a shred of benefit +had they received from the tremendously increased output of the +industry. While the employers lived in gorgeous palaces, the workers +found themselves, for the most part, crowded like cattle into the filthy +hovels that ordinarily constitute the greater part of the steel towns. +Tuberculosis ran riot among them; infant mortality was far above normal. +Though several increases in wages were granted after the war began, +these have been offset by the terrific rise in the cost of living. If +the war has brought any betterment in the living conditions of the steel +workers, it cannot be seen with the naked eye. + +The twelve hour day prevails for half of the men. One-fourth work seven +days a week, with a twenty-four hour shift every two weeks. Their lives +are one constant round of toil. They have no family life, no opportunity +for education or even for recreation; for their few hours of liberty are +spoiled by the ever-present fatigue. Furthermore, working conditions in +the mills are bad. The men are speeded up to such a degree that only the +youngest and strongest can stand it. At forty the average steel worker +is played out. The work, in itself extremely dangerous, is made still +more so by the employers' failure to adopt the necessary safety devices. +Many a man has gone to his death through the wanton neglect of the +companies to provide safeguarding appliances that they would have been +compelled to install were the unions still in the plants.[4] Not a +trace of industrial justice remains. The treatment of the men depends +altogether upon the arbitrary wills of the foremen and superintendents. +A man may give faithful service in a plant for thirty years and then be +discharged offhand, as many are, for some insignificant cause. He has no +one to appeal to. His fellow workers, living in constant terror of +discharge and the blacklist, dare not even listen to him, much less +defend his cause. He must bow to the inevitable, even though it means +industrial ruin for him and his family. + +Such deplorable conditions result naturally from a lack of unionism. It +is expecting too much of human nature at this stage of its development +to count on employers treating their employees fairly without some form +of compulsion. Even in highly organized industries the unions have to be +constantly on guard to resist the never-ending encroachments of their +employers, manifested at every conceivable point of attack. For the +workers, indeed, eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. Hence +nothing but degradation for them and autocracy for their employers may +be looked for in industries where they are systematically kept +unorganized and thus incapable of defending their rights, as is the case +in the steel industry. This system of industrial serfdom has served the +steel barons well for a generation. But it is one the steel workers will +never accept. Regardless of the cost they will rebel against it at every +opportunity till they finally destroy it. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[3] Students desiring a full account of the early struggles of the steel +unions are advised to read Mr. John A. Fitch's splendid book, "The Steel +Workers." + +[4] The practice of the different steel companies varies with respect to +safety devices. Some of them are still in the dark ages that all were in +a few years ago, with reckless disregard of human life. Others have made +some progress. Of these the U. S. Steel Corporation is undoubtedly in +the lead, for it has installed many safety appliances and has safety +committees actively at work. At best, however, steel making is an +exceedingly dangerous industry and the risk is intensified by the great +heat of the mills and the long hours of work--the twelve hour day and +the seven day week--which lead inevitably to exhaustion. + + + + +III + +THE GIANT LABOR AWAKES + + A BLEAK PROSPECT--HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL--A GOLDEN CHANCE + --DISASTROUS DELAY--THE NEW PLAN--A LOST OPPORTUNITY--THE + CAMPAIGN BEGINS--GARY FIGHTS BACK + + +From just previous to, until some time after the beginning of the world +war the situation in the steel industry, from a trade-union point of +view, was truly discouraging. It seemed impossible for the workers to +accomplish anything by organized effort. The big steel companies, by +driving the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers from +the mills, had built up a terrific reputation as union crushers. This +was greatly enhanced by their complete defeat of Labor in the memorable +strikes of the structural iron workers, the lake sailors, the iron +miners, and the steel workers at McKees Rocks in 1909, Bethlehem in 1910 +and Youngstown in 1915-16. It was still further enhanced by their +blocking every attempt of the individual trades to re-establish +themselves, and by the failure of the A. F. of L. steel campaign, +inaugurated by the convention of 1909, to achieve even the slightest +tangible results. The endless round of defeat had reduced almost to zero +the trade unions' confidence in their ability to cope with the militant +and rapacious steel manufacturers. + +But as the war wore on and the United States joined the general +slaughter, the situation changed rapidly in favor of the unions. The +demand for soldiers and munitions had made labor scarce; the Federal +administration was friendly; the right to organize was freely conceded +by the government and even insisted upon; the steel industry was the +master-clock of the whole war program and had to be kept in operation at +all costs; the workers were taking new heart and making demands--already +they had engaged in big strike movements in the mills in Pittsburgh +(Jones and Laughlin Company), Bethlehem and Birmingham (U. S. Steel). +The gods were indeed fighting on the side of Labor. It was an +opportunity to organize the industry such as might never again occur. +That the trade union movement did not embrace it sooner was a calamity. + +The writer was one of those who perceived the unparalleled opportunity. +But being at that time Secretary-Treasurer of the committee organizing +the packing industry I was unable to do anything substantial in the +steel situation until the handing down of Judge Alschuler's decision +giving the packing house workers the eight hour day and other vital +concessions enabled me to slacken my efforts in that important movement. +Immediately thereafter, on April 7, 1918, I presented a resolution to +the Chicago Federation of Labor requesting the executive officers of the +American Federation of Labor to call a general labor conference and to +inaugurate thereat a national campaign to organize the steel workers. +The resolution was endorsed by twelve local unions in the steel +industry. It was adopted unanimously and forwarded to the A. F. of L. +The latter took the matter up with the rapidly reviving Amalgamated +Association, and the affair was slowly winding along to an eventual +conference, with a loss of much precious time, when the resolution was +resubmitted to the Chicago Federation of Labor, re-adopted and sent to +the St. Paul convention of the A. F. of L., June 10-20, 1918. It +follows: + + +RESOLUTION #29 + + WHEREAS, the organization of the vast armies of + wage-earners employed in the steel industries is vitally + necessary to the further spread of industrial democracy in + America, and + + WHEREAS, Organized Labor can accomplish this great + task only by putting forth a tremendous effort; therefore, + be it + + RESOLVED, that the executive officers of the A. F. + of L. stand instructed to call a conference during this + convention of delegates of all international unions whose + interests are involved in the steel industries, and of all + the State Federations and City Central bodies in the steel + districts, for the purpose of uniting all these + organizations into one mighty drive to organize the steel + plants of America. + +The resolution was adopted by unanimous vote. Accordingly, a number of +conferences were held during the convention, at which the proposed +campaign was discussed and endorsed. The outcome was that provisions +were made to have President Gompers call another conference, in Chicago +thirty days later, of responsible union officials who would come +prepared to act in the name of their international unions. This involved +further waste of probably the most precious time for organizing work +that Labor will ever have. + +From past events in the steel industry it was evident that in the +proposed campaign radical departures would have to be made from the +ordinary organizing tactics. Without question the steel workers' unions +have always lacked efficiency in their organizing departments. This was +a cardinal failing of the Amalgamated Association and it contributed as +much, if not more than anything else to its downfall. If, when in its +prime, this organization had shown sufficient organizing activity in the +non-union mills, and especially by taking in the unskilled, it would +have so intrenched itself that Carnegie and his henchman, Frick, never +could have dislodged it. But, unfortunately, it undertook too much of +its organization work at the conference table and not enough at the mill +gates. Consequently, more than once it found itself in deadly quarrels +with the employers over the unionization of certain mills, when a live +organizer working among the non-union men involved would have solved the +problem in a few weeks. + +Nor had the other unions claiming jurisdiction over men employed in the +steel industry developed an organizing policy equal to the occasion. +Their system of nibbling away, one craft at a time in individual mills, +was entirely out of place. Possibly effective in some industries, it was +worse than useless in the steel mills. Its unvarying failure served only +to strengthen the mill owners and to further discourage the mill +workers and Organized Labor. It is pure folly to organize one trade in +one mill, or all trades in one mill, or even all trades in all the mills +in one locality, when, at any time it sees fit to do so, the Steel Trust +can defeat the movement by merely shutting down its mills in the +affected district and transferring its work elsewhere, as it has done +time and again. It was plain, therefore, that the proposed campaign +would have to affect all the steel mills simultaneously. It would have +to be national in scope and encompass every worker in every mill, in +every steel district in the United States. + +The intention was to use the system so strikingly successful in the +organization of the packing industry. The committee charged with +organizing that industry, when it assembled, a year before, to begin the +work, found three possible methods of procedure confronting it, each +with its advocates present. It could go along on the old, discredited +craft policy of each trade for itself and the devil take the hindmost; +it might attempt to form an industrial union; or it could apply the +principle of federating the trades, then making great headway on the +railroads. The latter system was the one chosen as the best fitted to +get results at this stage in the development of the unions and the +packing industry. And the outcome proved the wisdom of the decision. In +the steel campaign the unions were to be similarly linked together in an +offensive and defensive alliance. + +But all this relates merely to the shell of the plan behind Resolution +No. 29. Its breath of life was in its strategy; in the way the +organization work was to be prosecuted. The best plans are worthless +unless properly executed. The idea was to make a hurricane drive +simultaneously in all the steel centers that would catch the workers' +imagination and sweep them into the unions _en masse_ despite all +opposition, and thus to put Mr. Gary and his associates into such a +predicament that they would have to grant the just demands of their men. +It was intended that after the Chicago conference a dozen or more +general organizers should be dispatched immediately to the most +important steel centers, to bring to the steel workers the first word of +the big drive being made in their behalf, and to organize local +committees to handle the detail work of organization. In the meantime +the co-operating international unions were to recruit numbers of +organizers and to send them to join the forces already being developed +everywhere by the general organizers. They should also assemble and pay +in as quickly as possible their respective portions of the fund of at +least $250,000 to be provided for the work. The essence of the plan was +quick, energetic action. + +At the end of three or four weeks, when the organizing forces were in +good shape and the workers in the mills acquainted with what was afoot, +the campaign would be opened with a rush. Great mass meetings, built up +by extensive advertising, would be held everywhere at the same time +throughout the steel industry. These were calculated to arouse hope and +enthusiasm among the workers and to bring thousands of them into the +unions, regardless of any steps the mill owners might take to prevent +it. After two or three meetings in each place, the heavy stream of men +pouring into the unions would be turned into a decisive flood by the +election of committees to formulate the grievances of the men and +present these to the employers. The war was on; the continued operation +of the steel industry was imperative; a strike was therefore out of the +question; the steel manufacturers would have been compelled to yield to +their workers, either directly or through the instrumentality of the +Government. The trade unions would have been re-established in the steel +industry, and along with them fair dealing and the beginnings of +industrial democracy. + +The plan was not only a bold one, but also under the circumstances the +logical and practical one. The course of events proved its feasibility. +The contention that it involved taking unfair advantage of the steel +manufacturers may be dismissed as inconsequential. These gentlemen in +their dealings with those who stand in their way do not even know the +meaning of the word fairness. Their workers they shoot and starve into +submission; their competitors they industrially strangle without +ceremony; the public and the Government they exploit without stint or +limit. The year before the campaign began, 1917, when the country was +straining every nerve to develop and conserve its resources, the United +States Steel Corporation alone, not to mention the many independents, +after paying federal taxes and leaving out of account the vast sums that +disappeared in the obscure and mysterious company funds, unblushingly +pocketed the fabulous profit of $253,608,200. + +It now remained to be seen how far the unions would sustain such a +general and energetic campaign. The fateful conference met in the New +Morrison Hotel, Chicago, August 1-2, 1918. Samuel Gompers presided over +its sessions. Representatives of fifteen international unions were +present. These men showed their progressive spirit by meeting many +difficult issues squarely with the proper solutions. They realized fully +the need of co-operation along industrial lines, from the men who dig +the coal and iron ore to those who switch the finished products onto the +main lines of the railroads. Plainly no trade felt able to cope +single-handed with the Steel Trust; and joint action was decided upon +almost without discussion. Likewise the conference saw the folly of +trying to organize the steel industry with each of the score of unions +demanding a different initiation fee. Therefore, after much stretching +of constitutions, the international unions, with the exception of the +Bricklayers, Molders and Patternmakers (who charged respectively $7.25, +$5.00 and $5.00), agreed to a uniform initiation fee of three dollars, +one dollar of which was to be used for defraying expenses of the +national organization work. + +At the same meeting the National Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel +Workers was formed. It was made to consist of one representative from +each of the co-operating international unions. Its given function was to +superintend the work of organization. Its chairman had to be a +representative of the A. F. of L. Mr. Gompers volunteered to fill this +position; the writer was elected Secretary-Treasurer. Including later +additions, the constituent unions were as follows: + + International Brotherhood of Blacksmiths, Drop-Forgers + and Helpers + + Brotherhood of Boilermakers and Iron Ship Builders + and Helpers of America + + United Brick and Clay Workers + + Bricklayers', Masons' and Plasterers' International + Union of America + + International Association of Bridge, Structural and + Ornamental Iron Workers + + Coopers' International Union of North America + + International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers + + International Brotherhood of Foundry Employees + + International Hod Carriers', Building, and Common + Laborers' Union of America + + Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin + Workers + + International Association of Machinists + + International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter + Workers + + United Mine Workers of America + + International Molders' Union of North America + + Patternmakers' League of North America + + United Association of Plumbers and Steam Fitters + + Quarry Workers' International Union of North America + + Brotherhood Railway Carmen of America + + International Seamen's Union of America + + Amalgamated Sheet Metal Workers' International Alliance + + International Brotherhood of Stationary Firemen and + Oilers + + International Union of Steam and Operating Engineers + + International Brotherhood of Steamshovel and Dredgemen + + Switchmen's Union of North America. + +This group of unions, lined up to do battle with the Steel Trust, +represents the largest body of workers ever engaged in a joint movement +in any country. Their members number approximately 2,000,000, and +comprise about one-half of the entire American Federation of Labor. + +So far, so good. The conference had removed the barriers in the way of +the campaign. But when it came to providing the large sums of money and +the numerous crews of organizers that were immediately and imperatively +needed to insure success, it failed dismally. The internationals +assessed themselves only $100 apiece; they furnished only a corporal's +guard of organizers to go ahead with the work; and future reinforcements +looked remote. + +This was a facer. The original plan of a dashing offensive went to smash +instanter, and with it, likewise, the opportunity to organize the steel +industry. The slender resources in hand at once made necessary a +complete change of strategy. To undertake a national movement was out of +the question. The work had to be confined to the Chicago district. This +was admittedly going according to wrong principles. The steel industry +is national in scope and should be handled as such. To operate in one +district alone would expose that district to attacks, waste invaluable +time and give the employers a chance to adopt counter measures against +the whole campaign. It meant playing squarely into Mr. Gary's hands. But +there was no other way out of the difficulty. + +The writer had hoped that the favorable industrial situation and the +organization of the packing industry, which had long been considered +hopeless, would have heartened the trade-union movement sufficiently for +it to attack the steel problem with the required vigor and confidence. +But such was not the case. The tradition of defeat in the steel industry +was too strong,--thirty years of failure were not so easily forgotten. +Lack of faith in themselves prevented the unions from pouring their +resources into the campaign in its early, critical days. The work in the +Chicago district was undertaken, nevertheless, with a determination to +win the hearty support of Labor by giving an actual demonstration of the +organizability of the steel workers. + +During the first week of September the drive for members was opened in +the Chicago district. Monster meetings were held in South Chicago, Gary, +Indiana Harbor and Joliet--all the points that the few organizers could +cover. The inevitable happened; eager for a chance to right their +wrongs, the steel workers stormed into the unions. In Gary 749 joined at +the first meeting, Joliet enrolled 500, and other places did almost as +well. It was a stampede--exactly what was counted upon by the movers of +Resolution #29. And it could just as well have been on a national scale, +had the international unions possessed sufficient self-confidence and +given enough men and money to put the original plan into execution. In a +few weeks the unions would have been everywhere firmly intrenched; and +in a few more the entire steel industry would have been captured for +trade unionism and justice. + +But now the folly of a one-district movement made itself evident. Up to +this time the steel barons, like many union leaders, apparently had +viewed the campaign with a skeptical, "It can't be done" air. But +events in Gary and elsewhere quickly dissipated their optimism. The +movement was clearly dangerous and required heroic treatment. The +employers, therefore, applying Mr. Gary's famous "Give them an extra cup +of rice" policy, ordered the basic eight hour day to go into effect on +the first of October. This meant that the steel workers were to get +thereafter time and one half after eight hours, instead of straight +time. It amounted to an increase of two hours pay per day but the actual +working hours were not changed. It was a counter stroke which the +national movement had been designed to forestall. + +Although this concession really spelled a great moral victory for the +unions its practical effect was bad. Just a few months before the United +States Steel Corporation had publicly announced that, come what might, +there would be no basic eight hour day in the steel industry. Its sudden +adoption, almost over night, therefore, was a testimonial to the power +of the unions. But this the steel workers as a whole could not realize. +In the Chicago district, where the campaign was on, they understood and +gave the unions credit for the winning; but in other districts, where +nothing had been done, naturally they believed it a gift from the +companies. Had the work been going on everywhere when Mr. Gary attempted +this move, the workers would have understood his motives and joined the +unions _en masse_,--the unions would have won hands down. But with +operations confined to one district he was able to steal the credit from +the unions, partially satisfy his men, and strip the campaign of one of +its principal issues. No doubt he thought he had dealt it a mortal +blow. + + + + +IV. + +FLANK ATTACKS + + A SEA OF TROUBLES--THE POLICY OF ENCIRCLEMENT--TAKING THE + OUTPOSTS--ORGANIZING METHODS--FINANCIAL SYSTEMS--THE + QUESTION OF MORALE--JOHNSTOWN + + +Pittsburgh is the heart of America's steel industry. Its pre-eminence +derives from its splendid location for steel making. It is situated at +the point where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers join their murky +waters to form the Ohio, this providing excellent water transportation. +Immense deposits of coal surround it; the Great Lakes, the gateway to +Minnesota's iron ore, are in easy reach; highly developed railway +facilities make the best markets convenient. In the city itself there +are only a few of the larger steel mills; but at short distances along +the banks of its three rivers, are many big steel producing centers, +including Homestead, Braddock, Rankin, McKeesport, McKees Rocks, +Duquesne, Clairton, Woodlawn, Donora, Midland, Vandergrift, +Brackenridge, New Kensington, etc. Within a radius of seventy-five miles +lie Johnstown, Youngstown, Butler, Farrell, Sharon, New Castle, +Wheeling, Mingo, Steubenville, Bellaire, Wierton and various other +important steel towns. The district contains from seventy to eighty per +cent. of the country's steel industry. The whole territory is an amazing +and bewildering network of gigantic steel mills, blast furnaces and +fabricating shops. + +It was into this industrial labyrinth, the den of the Steel Trust, that +the National Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers moved its +office on October 1, 1918, preparatory to beginning its work. Success in +the Chicago district had made it imperative to overcome the original +tactical blunder by extending the campaign, just as quickly as possible, +to a national scope. + +The outlook was most unpromising. Even under the best of circumstances +the task of getting the enormous army of steel workers to thinking and +acting together in terms of trade unionism would be tremendous. But the +disastrous mistake of not starting the campaign soon enough and with the +proper vigor multiplied the difficulties. Unfavorable winter weather was +approaching. This was complicated by the influenza epidemic, which for +several weeks suspended all public gatherings. Then came the end of the +war. The workers had also just been given the basic eight hour day. All +these things tended to still them somewhat and to weaken their interest +in organization. What was left of this interest was almost entirely +wiped out when the mills, dependent as they were on war work, began to +slacken production. The workers became obsessed with a fear of hard +times, a timidity which was intensified by the steel companies' +discharging every one suspected of union affiliations or sympathies. +And to cap the climax, the resources of the National Committee were +still pitifully inadequate to the great task confronting it. + +But worst of all, the steel companies were now on the _qui vive_. The +original plan had been conceived to take them by surprise, on the +supposition that their supreme contempt for Labor and their conceit in +their own power would blind them to the real force and extent of the +movement until it was too late to take effective counteraction. And it +would surely have worked out this way, had the program been followed. +But now the advantage of surprise, vital in all wars, industrial or +military, was lost to the unions. Wide awake and alarmed, the Steel +Trust was prepared to fight to the last ditch. + +Things looked desperate. But there was no other course than to go ahead +regardless of obstacles. The word failure was eliminated from the +vocabulary of the National Committee. Preparations were made to begin +operations in the towns close to Pittsburgh. But the Steel Trust was +vigilant. It no longer placed any reliance upon its usual methods--its +welfare, old age pension, employees' stockholding, wholesale discharge, +or "extra cup of rice" policies--to hold its men in line, when a good +fighting chance to win their rights presented itself to them. It had +gained a wholesome respect for the movement and was taking no chances. +It would cut off all communication between the organizers and the men. +Consequently, its lackey-like mayors and burgesses in the threatened +towns immediately held a meeting and decided that there would be no +assemblages of steel workers in the Monongahela valley. In some places +these officials, who for the most part are steel company employees, had +the pliable local councils hurriedly adopt ordinances making it unlawful +to hold public meetings without securing sanction; in other places they +adopted the equally effective method of simply notifying the landlords +that if they dared rent their halls to the American Federation of Labor +they would have their "Sunday Club" privileges stopped. In both cases +the effect was the same--no meetings could be held. In the immediate +Pittsburgh district there had been little enough free speech and free +assembly for the trade unions before. Now it was abolished altogether. + +At this time the world war was still on; our soldiers were fighting in +Europe to "make the world safe for democracy"; President Wilson was +idealistically declaiming about "the new freedom"; while right here in +our own country the trade unions, with 500,000 men in the service, were +not even allowed to hold public meetings. It was a worse condition than +kaiserism itself had ever set up. This is said advisedly, for the German +workers were at least permitted to meet when and where they pleased. The +worst they had to contend with was a policeman on their platform, who +would jot down "seditious" remarks and require the offenders to report +next day to the police. I remember with what scorn I watched this system +in Germany years ago, and how proud I felt to be an American. I was so +sure that freedom of speech and assembly were fundamental institutions +with us and that we would never tolerate such imposition. But now I have +changed my mind. In Pennsylvania, not to speak of other states, the +workers enjoy few or no more rights than prevailed under the czars. They +cannot hold meetings at all. So far are they below the status of pre-war +Germans in this respect that the comparative freedom of the latter seems +almost like an unattainable ideal. And this deprival of rights is done +in the name of law and patriotism. + +In the face of such suppression of constitutional rights and in the face +of all the other staggering difficulties it was clearly impossible for +our scanty forces to capture Pittsburgh for unionism by a frontal +attack. Therefore a system of flank attacks was decided upon. This +resolved itself into a plan literally to surround the immediate +Pittsburgh district with organized posts before attacking it. The +outlying steel districts that dot the counties and states around +Pittsburgh like minor forts about a great stronghold, were first to be +won. Then the unions, with the added strength, were to make a big drive +on the citadel. + +It was a far-fetched program when compared with the original; but +circumstances compelled it. An important consideration in its execution +was that it must not seem that the unions were abandoning Pittsburgh. +That was the center of the battle line; the unions had attacked there, +and now they must at least pretend to hold their ground until they were +able to begin the real attack. The morale of the organizing force and +the steel workers demanded this. So, all winter long mass meetings were +held in the Pittsburgh Labor Temple and hundreds of thousands of +leaflets were distributed in the neighboring mills to prepare the +ground for unionization in the spring. Besides, a lot of noise was made +over the suppression of free speech and free assemblage. Protest +meetings were held, committees appointed, investigations set afoot, +politicians visited, and much other more or less useless, although +spectacular, running around engaged in. These activities did not cost +much, and they camouflaged well the union program. + +But the actual fight was elsewhere. During the next several months the +National Committee, with gradually increasing resources, set up +substantial organizations in steel towns all over the country except +close in to Pittsburgh, including Youngstown, East Youngstown, Warren, +Niles, Canton, Struthers, Hubbard, Massillon, Alliance, New +Philadelphia, Sharon, Farrell, New Castle, Butler, Ellwood City, New +Kensington, Leechburg, Apollo, Vandergrift, Brackenridge, Johnstown, +Coatesville, Wheeling, Benwood, Bellaire, Steubenville, Mingo, +Cleveland, Buffalo, Lackawanna, Pueblo, Birmingham, etc. Operations in +the Chicago district were intensified and extended to take in Milwaukee, +Kenosha, Waukegan, De Kalb, Peoria, Pullman, Hammond, East Chicago, +etc., while in Bethlehem the National Committee amplified the work +started a year before by the Machinists and Electrical Workers. + +Much of the success in these localities was due to the thoroughly +systematic way in which the organizing work was carried on. This merits +a brief description. There were two classes of organizers in the +campaign, the floating and the stationary. Outside of a few traveling +foreign speakers, the floating organizers were those sent in by the +various international unions. They usually went about from point to +point attending to their respective sections of the newly formed local +unions, and giving such assistance to the general campaign as their +other duties permitted. The stationary organizers consisted of A. F. of +L. men, representatives of the United Mine Workers, and men hired +directly by the National Committee. They acted as local organizing +secretaries, and were the backbone of the working force. The floating +organizers were controlled mostly by their international unions; the +stationary organizers worked wholly under the direction of the National +Committee. + +Everywhere the organizing system used was the same. The local secretary +was in full charge. He had an office, which served as general +headquarters. He circulated the National Committee's weekly bulletin, +consisting of a short, trenchant trade-union argument in four languages. +He built up the mass meetings, and controlled all applications for +membership. At these mass meetings and in the offices all trades were +signed up indiscriminately upon a uniform blank. But there was no "one +big union" formed. The signed applications were merely stacked away +until there was a considerable number. Then the representatives of all +the trades were assembled and the applications distributed among them. +Later these men set up their respective unions. Finally, the new unions +were drawn up locally into informal central bodies, known as Iron and +Steel Workers' councils. These were invaluable as they knit the movement +together and strengthened the weaker unions. They also inculcated the +indispensable conception of solidarity along industrial lines and +prevented irresponsible strike action by over-zealous single trades. + +A highly important feature was the financial system. The handling of the +funds is always a danger point in all working class movements. More than +one strike and organizing campaign has been wrecked by loose money +methods. The National Committee spared no pains to avoid this menace. +The problem was an immense one, for there were from 100 to 125 +organizers (which was what the crew finally amounted to) signing up +steel workers by the thousands all over the country; but it was solved +by the strict application of a few business principles. In the first +place the local secretaries were definitely recognized as the men in +charge and placed under heavy bonds. All the application blanks used by +them were numbered serially. They alone were authorized to sign +receipts[5] for initiation fees received. Should other organizers wish +to enroll members, as often happened at the monster mass meetings, they +were given and charged with so many receipts duly signed by the +secretaries. Later on they were required to return these receipts or +three dollars apiece for them. The effect of all this was to make one +man, and him bonded, responsible in each locality for all paper +outstanding against the National Committee. This was absolutely +essential. No system was possible without this foundation. + +The next step was definitely to fasten responsibility in the transfer of +initiation fees from the local secretaries to the representatives of the +various trade unions. To do so was most important. It was accomplished +by requiring the local secretaries to exact from these men detailed +receipts, specifying not only the amounts paid and the number of +applications turned over, but also the serial number of each +application. Bulk transfer of applications was prohibited, there being +no way to identify the paper so handled. + +The general effect of these regulations was to enable the National +Committee almost instantly to trace any one of the thousands of +applications continually passing through the hands of its agents. For +instance, a steel worker who had joined at an office or a mass meeting, +hearing later of the formation of his local union, would go to its +meeting, present his receipt and ask for his union card. The secretary +of the union would look up the applications which had been turned over +to him. If he could not find one to correspond with the man's receipt he +would take the matter up with the National Committee's local secretary. +The latter could not deny his own signature on the receipt; he would +have to tell what became of the application and the fee. On looking up +the matter he would find that he had turned them over to a certain +representative. Nor could the latter deny his signature on the detailed +receipt. He would have to make good. + +To facilitate the work, district offices were established in Chicago +and Youngstown. Organizers and secretaries held district meetings +weekly. Local secretaries at points contiguous to these centers reported +to their respective district secretaries. All others dealt directly with +the general office of the National Committee. + +It will be recalled that the co-operating unions, at the August 1-2 +conference, agreed that the sum of one dollar should be deducted from +each initiation fee for organization purposes. The collection of this +money devolved upon the National Committee and presented considerable +difficulty. It was solved by a system. The local secretaries, in turning +over to the trades the applications signed up in their offices or at the +mass meetings, held out one dollar apiece on them. For the applications +secured at the meetings of the local unions they collected the dollars +due with the assistance of blank forms sent to the unions. Each week the +local secretaries sent reports to the general office of the National +Committee, specifying in detail the number of members enrolled and +turned over to the various trades, and enclosing checks to cover the +amounts on hand after local expenses were met. These reports were duly +certified by the representatives of the organizations involved, who +signed their names on them at the points where the reports referred to +the number of members turned over to their respective bodies. The whole +system worked well. + +Practical labor officials who have handled mass movements understand the +great difficulties attendant upon the organization of large bodies of +workingmen. In the steel campaign these were more serious than ever +before. The tremendous number of men involved; their unfamiliarity with +the English language and total lack of union experience; the wide scope +of the operations; the complications created by a score of international +unions, each with its own corps of organizers, directly mainly from +far-distant headquarters; the chronic lack of resources; and the need +for quick action in the face of incessant attacks from the Steel +Trust--all together produced technical difficulties without precedent. +But the foregoing systems went far to solve them. And into these systems +the organizers and secretaries entered whole-heartedly. They realized +that modern labor organizations cannot depend wholly upon idealism. They +bore in mind that they were dealing with human beings and had to adopt +sound principles of responsibility, standardization and general +efficiency. + +But another factor in the success of the campaign possibly even more +important than the systems employed was the splendid morale of the +organizers. A better, more loyal body of men was never gathered together +upon this continent. They knew no such word as defeat. They pressed on +with an irresistible assurance of victory born of their faith in the +practicability of the theory upon which the campaign was worked out. + +[Illustration: NATIONAL COMMITTEE DELEGATES + +YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO MEETING, Aug. 20, 1919.--Standing, left to +right: F. P. Hanaway, _Miners_; D. Hickey, _Miners_; C. Claherty, +_Blacksmiths_; R. J. Barr, _Machinists_; H. F. Liley, _Railway Carmen_; +R. L. Hall, _Machinists_; R. T. McCoy, _Molders_; R. W. Beattie, +_Firemen_; J. W. Morton. _Firemen_; P. A. Trant, _Amalgamated +Association_. Seated, left to right: E. Crough, J. D. Cannon, _Mine, +Mill and Smelter Workers_; F. J. Hardison, _Blacksmiths_; J. Manley, +_Iron Workers_; Wm. Hannon, _Machinists_; John Fitzpatrick, _Chairman_; +Wm. Z. Foster, _Sec.-Treasurer_; C. N. Glover, _Blacksmiths_; T. C. +Cashen, _Switchmen_; D. J. Davis, _Amalgamated Association_.] + +The organization of workingmen into trade unions is a comparatively +simple matter when it is properly handled. It depends almost entirely +upon the honesty, intelligence, power and persistence of the organizing +forces. If these factors are strongly present, employers can do little +to stop the movement of their employees. This is because the hard +industrial conditions powerfully predispose the workers to take up any +movement offering reasonable prospects of bettering their miserable lot. +All that union organizers have to do is to place before these +psychologically ripe workers, with sufficient clarity and persistence, +the splendid achievements of the trade-union movement, and be prepared +with a comprehensive organization plan to take care of the members when +they come. If this presentation of trade unionism is made in even +half-decent fashion the workers can hardly fail to respond. It is +largely a mechanical proposition. In view of its great wealth and latent +power, it may be truthfully said that there isn't an industry in the +country which the trade-union movement cannot organize any time it sees +fit. The problem in any case is merely to develop the proper organizing +crews and systems, and the freedom-hungry workers, skilled or unskilled, +men or women, black or white, will react almost as naturally and +inevitably as water runs down hill. + +This does not mean that there should be rosy-hued hopes held out to the +workers and promises made to them of what the unions will get from the +employers once they are established. On the contrary, one of the first +principles of an efficient organizer is never, under any circumstances, +to make promises to his men. From experience he has learned the extreme +difficulty of making good such promises and also the destructive +kick-back felt in case they are not fulfilled. The most he can do is to +tell his men what has been done in other cases by organized workingmen +and assure them that if they will stand together the union will do its +utmost to help them. Beyond this he will not venture. And this position +will enable him to develop the legitimate hope, idealism and enthusiasm +which translates itself into substantial trade-union structure. The wild +stories of extravagant promises made to the steel workers during their +organization are pure tommyrot, as every experienced union man knows. + +The practical effect of this theory is to throw on the union men the +burden of responsibility for the unorganized condition of the +industries. This is as it should be. In consequence, they tend to blame +themselves rather than the unorganized men. Instead of indulging in the +customary futile lamentations about the scab-like nature of the +non-union man, "unorganizable industries," the irresistible power of the +employers, and similar illusions to which unionists are too prone, they +seek the solution of the problem in improvements of their own primitive +organization methods. + +This conception worked admirably in the steel campaign. It filled the +organizers with unlimited confidence in their own power. They felt that +they were the decisive factor in the situation. If they could but +present their case strongly enough, and clearly enough to the steel +workers, the latter would have to respond, and the steel barons would be +unable to prevent it. A check or a failure was but the signal for an +overhauling of the tactics used, and a resumption of the attack with +renewed vigor. At times it was almost laughable. With hardly an +exception, when the organizers went into a steel town to begin work, +they would be met by the local union men and solemnly assured that it +was utterly impossible to organize the steel mills in their town. "But," +the organizers would say, "we succeeded in organizing Gary and South +Chicago and many other tough places." "Yes, we know that," would be the +reply, "but conditions are altogether different here. These mills are +absolutely impossible. We have worked on them for years and cannot make +the slightest impression. They are full of scabs from all over the +country. You will only waste your time by monkeying with them." This +happened not in one place alone, but practically everywhere--illustrating +the villainous reputation the steel companies had built up as union +smashers. + +Side-stepping these pessimistic croakers, the organizers would go on to +their task with undiminished self-confidence and energy. The result was +success everywhere. The National Committee can boast the proud record of +never having set up its organizing machinery in a steel town without +ultimately putting substantial unions among the employees. It made +little difference what the obstacles were; the chronic lack of funds; +suppression of free speech and free assembly; raises in wages; +multiplicity of races; mass picketing by bosses; wholesale discharge of +union men; company unions; discouraging traditions of lost local +strikes; or what not--in every case, whether the employers were +indifferent or bitterly hostile, the result was the same, a healthy and +rapid growth of the unions. The National Committee proved beyond +peradventure of a doubt that the steel industry could be organized in +spite of all the Steel Trust could do to prevent it. + +Each town produced its own particular crop of problems. A chapter apiece +would hardly suffice to describe the discouraging obstacles overcome in +organizing the many districts. But that would far outrun the limits of +this volume. A few details about the work in Johnstown will suffice to +indicate the tactics of the employers and the nature of the campaign +generally. + +Johnstown is situated on the main line of the Pennsylvania railroad, +seventy-five miles east of Pittsburgh. It is the home of the Cambria +Steel Company, which employs normally from 15,000 to 17,000 men in its +enormous mills and mines. It is one of the most important steel centers +in America. + +For sixty-six years the Cambria Company had reared its black stacks in +the Conemaugh valley and ruled as autocratically as any mediaeval baron. +It practically owned the district and the dwellers therein. It paid its +workers less than almost any other steel company in Pennsylvania and was +noted as one of the country's worst union-hating concerns. According to +old residents, the only record of unionism in its plants, prior to the +National Committee campaign, was a strike in 1874 of the Sons of Vulcan, +and a small movement a number of years later, in 1885, when a few men +joined the Knights of Labor and were summarily discharged. The +Amalgamated Association, even in its most militant days, was unable to +get a grip in Johnstown. That town, for years, bore the evil reputation +of being one where union organizers were met at the depot and given the +alternative of leaving town or going to the lockup. + +Into this industrial jail of a city the National Committee went in the +early winter of 1918-19, at the invitation of local steel workers who +had heard of the campaign. A. F. of L. organizer Thomas J. Conboy was +placed in charge of the work. Immediately a strong organization spirit +manifested itself--the wrongs of two-thirds of a century would out. It +was interesting to watch the counter-moves of the company. They were +typical. At first the officials contented themselves by stationing +numbers of bosses and company detectives in front of the office and +meeting halls to jot down the names of the men attending. But when this +availed nothing, they took the next step by calling the live union +spirits to the office and threatening them with dismissal. This likewise +failed to stem the tide of unionism, and then the company officials +applied their most dreaded weapon, the power of discharge. This was a +dangerous course; the reason they did not adopt it before was for fear +of its producing exactly the revolt they were aiming to prevent. But, +all else unavailing, they went to this extreme. + +Never was a policy of industrial frightfulness more diabolically +conceived or more rigorously executed than that of the Cambria Steel +Company. The men sacrificed were the Company's oldest and best +employees. Men who had worked faithfully for ten, twenty or thirty years +were discharged at a moment's notice. The plan was to pick out the men +economically most helpless; men who were old and crippled, or who had +large families dependent upon them, or homes half paid for, and make +examples of them to frighten the rest. The case of Wm. H. Seibert was +typical; this man, a highly skilled mechanic, had worked for the Cambria +Company thirty years. He was deaf and dumb, and could neither read nor +write. He was practically cut off from all communication with his fellow +workers. Yet the company, with fiendish humor, discharged him for being +a union agitator. For every worker, discharge by the Cambria Company +meant leaving Johnstown, if he would again work at his trade; for most +of them it brought the severest hardships, but for such as Seibert it +spelled ruin. With their handicaps of age and infirmities, they could +never hope to work in steel mills again. + +For months the Company continued these tactics.[6] Hundreds of union men +were thus victimized. The object was to strike terror to the hearts of +all and make them bow again to the mastery of the Cambria Steel Company. +But the terrorists overshot the mark. Human nature could not endure it. +They goaded their workers to desperation and forced them to fight back, +however unfavorable the circumstances. The National Committee met in +Johnstown and ordered a ballot among the men. They voted overwhelmingly +to strike. A committee went to see Mr. Slick, the head of the Company, +who refused to meet it, stating that if the men had any grievances they +could take them up through the company union. + +This company union played a large part in the drama of Johnstown. It was +organized late in 1918 to forestall the trade unions. Such company +unions are invariably mere auxiliaries to the companies' labor-crushing +systems. They serve to delude the workers into believing they have some +semblance of industrial democracy, and thus deter them from seeking the +real thing. They consist merely of committees, made up for the most part +of hand-picked bosses and "company suckers." There is no real +organization of the workers. The men have no meetings off the property +of the companies; they lack the advice of skilled trade unionists; they +have no funds or means to strike effectively; they are out of touch with +the workers in other sections of the industry. Consequently they have +neither opportunity to formulate their grievances, nor power to enforce +their adjustment. And little good would it do them if they had, for the +lickspittle committees are always careful to see that they handle no +business unless it relates to "welfare" work or other comparatively +insignificant matters. + +Company unions are invariably contemptible. All of them are cursed with +company dictation, and all of them lack the vivifying principles of +democratic control; but it is doubtful if a more degraded specimen can +be found anywhere than that of the Cambria Steel Company. Without a +murmur of protest it watched the company abolish the basic eight hour +day late in 1918. Nor did it raise a finger to help the multitude of +unfairly discharged union men. It habitually pigeonholed all real +grievances submitted to it. But what else could be expected of a +committee from which the company boldly discharged every man who dared +say a word for the workers? + +By referring the men's grievances to the despised company union, Mr. +Slick only added fuel to the fire. A strike loomed threateningly, but +just as it was about to break, Mr. Slick lost his job, presumably +because of his unsuccessful labor policy. He was supplanted by A. A. +Corey, Jr., formerly general superintendent of the Homestead Steel +Works. Thinking perhaps the change in personnel might involve a change +in policy, the committee approached Mr. Corey. He, too, refused to meet +with it, stating publicly that the management would not deal with the +representatives of outside organizations, but would take up the men's +grievances, either through the company union, or "through any other +accredited committee selected by the men in any way that is agreeable to +them from among their own number." The last proposition was acceptable, +and with joy the men held big open mass meetings of union and non-union +men, and elected their committee. But their joy was short-lived. Mr. +Corey, unashamed, wrote the committee that he had acted hastily before, +and said, "I have had no previous experience with arrangements in the +nature of collective bargaining, but a careful survey of this plan +(company union), which I have since had time to make, convinces me that +it makes full and complete provision for every contingency which can +arise between the company and its employees." And then to make the men +like this bitter medicine, the Company discharged an active member of +the committee. All these events consumed many weeks and wore away the +late winter and early spring months. + +Mr. Corey's double-dealing provoked a fresh strike crisis; but by heroic +measures the organizers repressed it. At all times a strike in Johnstown +alone against the united steel companies was considered a move of +desperation, a last resort to be undertaken only because nothing else +could be done. But now relief was in sight. Spring was at hand and the +national movement fast coming to a head. Its committees were knocking at +the doors of the steel companies. The exposed and invaluable Johnstown +position had to be held until this main army could come up and relieve +it. So the Johnstown workers were told that they must refrain from +counter-attacking, that they had to take all the blows heaped upon them +and hold their ground at all costs. + +And right nobly they did it. In spite of the bitterest hardships they +built up and developed their organizations. In this they were +unwittingly but powerfully aided by the company union. Several weeks +before the big strike the officials took the hated general committee to +Atlantic City, wined them and dined them and flattered them, as usual, +and then had them adopt a set of resolutions condemning the national +movement of the steel workers and endorsing long hours, low wages and +heavier production as the remedy for prevailing bad conditions. This +betrayal was the last straw. It provoked intense resentment among the +men. Whole battalions of them, the most skilled and difficult in the +plant to organize, walked down and joined the unions in protest. Almost +3000 enrolled the week after the resolutions were adopted. But it was +always thus. Every move that the Cambria made the unions turned to their +advantage. They outgeneraled the Company at every turn. + +It was almost pitiful to watch the later antics of the haughty and +hitherto unchallenged Cambria Company, humbled in its own town by its +own workers. A few weeks before Labor day the unions, innocently +presuming the mills would be closed as usual on that day, decided to +have a parade. Then the strategical experts of the Company became +active. A warning was issued that every man marching in the parade would +be summarily discharged. The unions would not brook this unwarranted and +cold-blooded attack. They promptly sent word to the Company that if a +single man was discharged the whole plant would be stopped the next day. +It was a clear-cut issue, and Johnstown held its breath. When Labor day +came the city saw the biggest demonstration in its history. Fifteen +thousand organized workers defied their would-be masters and marched. +The Company swiftly backed water. And the next day not a man was +discharged. It was a victory well worth the heroic efforts and suffering +of the previous eight months. + +When the great strike broke on September 22 the Johnstown workers went +into the fight almost one hundred per cent. organized, and with about +the same percentage of grievances. So few men were left in the plant +that the Company had to ask the unions to give them help to shut down +their furnaces, and to keep the fire protection in operation. All the +power of the great corporation, which had made $30,000,000 the year +before, could not forestall the unions. It had no arrow in its quiver +that could strike fear to the hearts of its workers; no trick in its +brain pan that could be substituted for industrial democracy. + +And Johnstown was only one point in the long battle line. Its +experiences were but typical. Each steel town had its own bitter story +of obstacles encountered and overcome. Youngstown, Chicago, Bethlehem, +Cleveland, Wheeling, Pueblo, Buffalo and many other districts, each put +up a hard fight. But one by one, despite all barriers, steel towns all +over the country were captured for unionism. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[5] As a side light on organizing methods, it may be noted that the +temporary receipts were red, white and blue cards. The patriotic +foreigners were proud to carry these emblematic cards pending the time +they got their regular cards. More than one man joined merely on that +account. + +[6] In its war against unionism the Cambria Steel Company held nothing +sacred, not even the church. During the campaign the Reverend George +Dono Brooks, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Johnstown, took an +active part, speaking at many meetings and generally lending +encouragement to the workers. For this crime the company punished him by +disrupting his congregation and eventually driving him from the city, +penniless. + + + + +V + +BREAKING INTO PITTSBURGH + + THE FLYING SQUADRON--MONESSEN--DONORA--McKEESPORT--RANKIN + --BRADDOCK--CLAIRTON--HOMESTEAD--DUQUESNE--THE RESULTS + + +The time was now ripe for a great drive on Pittsburgh, a district which +had been the despair of unionism for a generation. The new strategy of +the National Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers was +succeeding. Pittsburgh had been surrounded by organized posts, +established during the winter. The Chicago district had also been held. +The committee's finances were improving. The crew of organizers was +larger and more enthusiastic than ever. The mills were operating +stronger and stronger. And spring was here. The movement was now ready +for a tremendous effort to capture Pittsburgh, and thus overcome, as far +as might be, the original mistake of not starting the campaign soon +enough and everywhere at the same time. This done, it would put the work +squarely upon the essential national basis. So the assault was ordered +on the stronghold of the Steel Trust. + +First free speech and free assembly had to be established; for the towns +about Pittsburgh were still closed tight against the unions. During the +winter incessant attempts had been made to break the embargo by +political methods, but without avail. In vain a special convention of +all the unions in Western Pennsylvania had appealed to the Governor for +assistance. For a moment the federal Department of Labor displayed a +languid interest and sent a dozen men to investigate conditions. But +until this day their report has never appeared. In answer to inquiries, +the Secretary of Labor is reported to have said that "its publication at +this time would be inadvisable." That may be one reason, and another may +be that the Department, in its eager cooperation with Attorney General +Palmer, in deporting hundreds of workingmen without trials, is so busy +that it hasn't time to attend to such trifles as the wholesale +suppression of constitutional rights in Pennsylvania. + +But in seeking relief no appeal was made to the courts to set up the +rights of the unions. This was for two reasons. First, it would involve +such a loss of time that the chance to organize the steel workers would +have passed long before any decision could be secured. Then, again, +there was no faith that the courts of Pennsylvania would be just, and +the National Committee had no money to carry the fight higher. The +unions conceived their rights to speak and assemble freely too well +established to necessitate court sanction at this late date. Hence, they +determined to exercise them, peacefully and lawfully, and to take the +consequences. At Atlantic City, where the A. F. of L. was in convention, +a dozen presidents of international unions in the steel campaign +expressed their willingness to enter the steel districts, to speak on +the streets, and to go to jail if necessary. + +To carry on the difficult and dangerous free speech fight, and to +oversee generally the organization of the immediate Pittsburgh district, +a special crew of organizers was formed. This was known as "The Flying +Squadron," and was headed by J. L. Beaghen, A. F. of L. organizer and +President of the Pittsburgh Bricklayers' Union. The following brief +references to the fights in the various towns will illustrate the forces +at play and the methods employed. + +Monessen, forty miles from Pittsburgh on the Monongahela river, the home +of the Pittsburgh Steel Company and several other large concerns, and +notorious as the place where organizer Jeff. Pierce got his death blow +in a previous campaign, was the first point of attack. Wm. Feeney, +United Mine Workers' organizer and local secretary in charge of the +district for the National Committee, superintended operations. Several +months previously the Burgess of Monessen had flatly refused to allow +him to hold any meetings in that town. So he was compelled to operate +from Charleroi, several miles away. But as soon as spring peeped the +question was opened again. He called a meeting to take place square in +the streets of Monessen on April 1st. The Burgess forbade it with +flaming pronunciamentos and threatened dire consequences if it were +held. But Feeney went ahead, and on the date set marched 10,000 union +miners from the surrounding country into Monessen to protest the +suppression of free speech and free assembly. Mother Jones,[7] James +Maurer, President of the Pennsylvania Federation of Labor, Philip +Murray, President of District No. 5, U. M. W. A., Mr. Feeney, the writer +and others spoke. The demonstration was a huge success. Public opinion +was clearly on the side of the steel workers, and the Burgess had to +recede from his dictatorial attitude and allow them to exercise their +constitutional rights. This they hastened to do with gusto. The affair +established the unions in the big mills of Monessen. + +In Donora, an important steel town a few miles down the river from +Monessen, and part of organizer Feeney's district, the fight was not so +easily won. The United States Constitution provides that not even +Congress may pass laws abridging the rights of free speech and free +assembly; but in Pennsylvania the Constitution is considered a sort of +humorous essay; hence the lickspittle Donora council, right in the face +of the steel campaign, passed an ordinance forbidding public meetings +without the sanction of the Burgess, which sanction, of course, the +unions could not get. But nothing deterred, the indomitable Feeney hired +a couple of lots on the edge of the town and held meetings there. The +company officials left nothing undone to break up these gatherings. They +held band concerts and ball games at the same hour, and set dozens of +their bosses and police to picket the meetings. But it was no use; the +workers attended and joined the unions in droves. + +This lasted a couple of months. And all the while a local paper was +villainously assailing Feeney. Finally, the steel company agents got the +business men to sign an ultimatum to Feeney, demanding that he leave the +district at once. Feeney took this matter up with his miners, and they +decided that not he, but they, would quit Donora. Organized solidly, +they easily put a strict boycott on the town, and it was not long before +the same business men, with their trade almost ruined, made a public +apology to Feeney, and ousted their own officials who had been +responsible for the attack. + +Naturally these events heartened the steel workers. They organized very +rapidly, and soon had a majority of the men in the mills--a large plant +of the American Steel and Wire Company. They also became a big factor in +the local fraternal associations, which controlled all the halls; and +suddenly the Lithuanian Society deposed its President, who was friendly +to the steel company, and voted to give its hall to the unions, permits +or no permits. In the face of this situation the Burgess reluctantly +granted sanction for union meetings. And thus free speech and free +assembly were established in the benighted town of Donora, and with +them, almost complete organization of the steel workers. + +But the heart of the conspiracy against free speech and free assembly +was in McKeesport, twenty miles from Pittsburgh. When the organizers +tried to hold meetings in that city they could hire no halls without +the Mayor's permission, and this the latter, George H. Lysle, stubbornly +refused to give. He feared a revolution if the staid A. F. of L. unions +were permitted to meet; but the Socialist party and other radical +organizations went ahead with their gatherings without opposition. The +truth was that he knew the unions would organize the workers if they +could but get their ear, and this he determined to prevent. Nor would he +shift from his autocratic position. Appeals by the organizers to the +Federal government, the Governor and the local city council were alike +fruitless. No meetings could be held in McKeesport. And the officials of +all the steel towns along the Monongahela river, drawing inspiration +from the little despot, Lysle, took the same stand. Free speech and free +assembly were stifled in the whole district. + +The Federal authorities being so active setting the outside world aright +that they could find no time or occasion to correct the most glaring +abuses at home, the unions resolved to attend to the free speech and +free assembly matter themselves. Knowing that Lysle could knife the +workers' rights only so long as he was allowed to work in the dark, they +determined to drag him into the daylight and let the public judge of his +deeds. They would hold meetings on the streets of McKeesport in spite of +him; give him a few hundred test court cases to handle, and finally find +out whether the A. F. of L. is entitled to the same rights as other +organizations. + +The fight opened as soon as the weather permitted. May 18 was the date +set for the first meeting. The Mayor stormed and threatened all +concerned with instant arrest; but the preparations went on just the +same. When the fated day arrived thousands turned out to hear the +speakers. But the Mayor, failing to defend his course, dared not molest +the meeting. After this, meetings were held on the streets each Sunday +afternoon, always in the face of the Mayor's threats, until eventually +the latter, seeing that he was the laughing stock of the city and that +the street meetings were organizing hundreds of the workers, +shame-facedly granted the following niggardly permit for meetings: + + CITY OF McKEESPORT. + + Department of Police. + McKeesport, Pa., July 7, 1919. + + Mr. Reddington, + Chief of Police, + McKeesport, Pa., + + Dear Sir: + + This is to certify that the McKeesport Council + of Labor has permission to hold a mass meeting in + Slavish Hall on White Street on July 8, 1919. + + Permission is granted subject to the following conditions, + and also subject to police regulation. + + (1st) That no speaker shall talk in any other + languages, except the English language. + + (2nd) That a list of the speakers be submitted + to the Mayor before the meeting is held. + + Very truly yours, + (Signed) Geo. H. Lysle + Mayor + +Disregarding the three provisions of this contemptible document, the +unions held their meetings under the auspices of the A. F. of L. (not of +the McKeesport Council of Labor), had their speakers talk in whatever +languages their hearers best understood, and submitted no list to Lysle. +Then the big steel companies rushed to the aid of the hard-pressed +Mayor. All the while they had discharged every man they could locate who +had either joined the unions or expressed sympathy with them, but now +they became more active. As each meeting was held they stationed about +the hall doors (under the captaincy of Mr. William A. Cornelius, Manager +of the National Tube Company's works) at least five hundred of their +bosses, detectives, office help, and "loyal" workers to intimidate the +men who were entering. About three hundred more would be sent into the +hall to disrupt the meetings. And woe to the man they recognized, for he +was discharged the next morning. The organizers, running the gauntlet of +these Steel Trust gunmen, carried their very lives in their hands. + +Under these hard circumstances few steel workers dared to go to the +meetings or to the union headquarters. But the organizations grew +rapidly nevertheless. Every discharged man became a volunteer organizer +and busied himself getting his friends to enroll. A favorite trick to +escape the espionage was to get a group of men, from a dozen to fifty, +to meet quietly in one of the homes, fill out their applications, and +send them by a sister or wife to the union headquarters--the detectives +stationed outside naturally not knowing the women. Conditions in the +local mills were so bad that not even the most desperate employers' +tactics could stop the progress of the unions. McKeesport quickly became +one of the strong organization points on the river. + +Sweeping onward through the Pittsburgh district, the unions gained great +headway by the collapse of the petty Czar of McKeesport, for all the +little nabobs in the adjoining steel towns felt the effects of his +defeat. Rankin fell without a blow. A few months before the hall had +been closed there by the local board of health, when the Burgess refused +to act against the unions. But now no objections were made to the +meetings. Braddock also capitulated easily. At a street meeting held in +the middle of town against the Burgess' orders, organizers J. L. +Beaghen, R. L. Hall, J. C. Boyle, J. B. Gent and the writer were +arrested. The Burgess, however, not wishing to meet the issue, found it +convenient to leave town, and the Acting Burgess, declaring in open +court that he would not "do the dirty work of the Burgess," postponed +the hearings indefinitely. That settled Braddock. + +Burgess Williams of North Clairton, chief of the Carnegie mill police at +that point, swore dire vengeance against the free speech fighters should +they come to his town. But the National Committee, choosing a lot owned +by its local secretary on the main street of North Clairton, called a +meeting there one bright Sunday afternoon. But hardly had it started +when, with a great flourish of clubs, the police broke up the gathering +and arrested organizers J. G. Brown, J. Manley, A. A. Lassich, P. H. +Brogan, J. L. Beaghen, R. L. Hall, and the writer. Later all were fined +for holding a meeting on their own property. But the Burgess, learning +that the speaker for the following Sunday was Mother Jones of the +Miners' Union, and that public sentiment was overwhelmingly against him, +decided not to fight. Instead he provided a place on the public commons +for open air meetings. The contest resulted in almost all of the local +steel workers joining the unions immediately. + +In Homestead, however, that sacred shrine of Labor, the unions had to +put up a harder fight. The Burgess there, one P. H. McGuire, is a +veteran of the great Homestead strike, and for many years afterwards led +the local fight against the Carnegie Steel Company. But he has now fully +recovered from his unionism. He has made peace with the enemy. It was in +the early winter of 1918 that the unions first tried to hold meetings in +his town. But they were careful to make tentative arrangements for a +hall before asking a permit from McGuire. The latter stated flatly that +there would be no union meetings in Homestead, saying no halls could be +secured. "But," said the organizers, "we have already engaged a hall." +The next day the rent money was returned with the explanation that a +mistake had been made. Later the unions managed to sneak by the guard of +the ex-union man Burgess and hold a meeting or two--said to be the first +since the Homestead strike, twenty-six years before--but nothing +substantial could be done, and the fight was called off for the winter. + +During the big spring drive on Pittsburgh the Flying Squadron turned +its attention to Homestead as soon as the McKeesport and many other +pressing situations permitted. Mass meetings were held on the main +streets. At first the Burgess, with a weather eye on McKeesport, did not +molest these; but when he saw the tremendous interest the steel workers +showed and the rapidity with which they were joining the unions, he +attempted to break up the meetings by arresting two of the organizers, +J. L. Beaghen and myself. At the trial McGuire, as magistrate, was shown +that his ordinance did not cover street meetings. "But," said he, "it's +the best we've got, and it will have to do." He fined the defendants, +and a day or two later had an ordinance adopted to his liking. Such +trifles don't worry the executives in steel towns. + +But such an enormous crowd assembled to witness the next street meeting +that McGuire had to agree to permit hall meetings. No sooner were they +attempted however, than he broke his agreement. He would allow no +languages other than English to be spoken--the object being to prevent +the foreign workers from understanding what was going on. Of course all +other organizations in Homestead could use what tongues they pleased. +The unions balked, with the result that more street meetings were held +and Mother Jones, J. G. Brown, R. W. Reilly and J. L. Beaghen were +arrested. Public indignation was intense; thousands marched the streets +in protest; the unions grew like beanstalks. And so the affair went on +till the great strike broke on September 22. + +That curse of the campaign since its inception, the lack of resources, +bore down heavily on the work in the crucial summer months just before +the strike. At least one hundred more men should have been put in the +field to take advantage of the unparalleled opportunity. But the +National Committee could not beg, borrow or steal them. The organizers +in the various localities fairly shrieked for help, but in vain. +Especially was the need keenly felt in the big drive on Pittsburgh. +Instead of eight or ten men, which was all that the Flying Squadron +could muster, there ought to have been at least fifty men delegated to +the huge task of capturing the score of hard-baked steel towns on +Pittsburgh's three rivers. The consequence was that the work everywhere +had to be skimped, with disastrous effects later on in the strike. In +those towns where the unions did get started lack of help prevented +their taking full advantage of the situation. And then some towns had to +be passed up altogether, although the men were infected with the general +fever for organization and were calling for organizers. It was +impossible to send any one to either Woodlawn or Midland, both very +important steel towns. Even the strategic city of Duquesne, with its +enormous mills and blast furnaces, could not be started until three +weeks before the strike. + +Duquesne is just across the river from McKeesport and only four miles +from Homestead. It gave the organizers a hot reception. Its Mayor, James +S. Crawford, is President of the First National Bank. His brother is +President of the Port Vue Tinplate Company. Besides being Mayor, Mr. +Crawford is city Commissioner, President of the city council, Director +of Public Safety, and Magistrate. He makes the laws, executes them and +punishes the violators. He is a true type of Pennsylvania steel town +petty Kaiser and exercises his manifold powers accordingly. + +So eager was the Mayor, popularly known as "Toad" Crawford, to give the +world a demonstration of Steel Trust Americanism that he challenged the +organizers to come to his town. He even offered to meet in personal +combat one of the men in charge of the campaign. Of course he +insultingly refused to grant permits for meetings. The organizers, who +could not hire an office in the place, so completely were the property +owners dominated by the steel companies, managed to lease a couple of +lots in an obscure part of town. But when they attempted to hold a +meeting there Mr. Crawford jailed three of them, J. L. Beaghen, J. +McCaig, and J. G. Sause. The next day he fined them each $100 and costs. + +Rabbi Wise of New York was the speaker billed for the following Sunday. +But the Steel Trust Mayor forbade his meeting. And when it was proposed +to have Frank Morrison, with whom Crawford boasted a slight +acquaintance, confer with him about the situation, he declared, "It +won't do you any good. Jesus Christ himself could not speak in Duquesne +for the A. F. of L!" It so happened that Rabbi Wise was unable to come +to Pennsylvania for his scheduled lectures on behalf of the steel +workers, and the organizers held the Duquesne meeting themselves. +Crawford had his whole police force on hand and immediately arrested the +speakers, Mother Jones, J. L. Beaghen and the writer. Forty-four steel +workers, all the jail would hold, were arrested also, for no other +reason than attending the meeting. Organizer J. M. Patterson, who had +nothing to do with the gathering, was thrown into jail merely for trying +to find out what bail we were held for. The next day the organizers were +each fined $100 and costs, and the rest from $25 to $50 apiece.[8] In +sentencing Mr. Beaghen, Mayor Crawford declared that nothing would be +more pleasurable than to give him 99 years, and then be on hand when he +got out to give him 99 more. + +The Mayor was going it strong; but he was riding fast to a hard fall. +The unions were planning to bring to Duquesne some of the most prominent +men in the United States and to give Crawford the fight of his life, +when the outbreak of the great strike swamped them with work and +compelled them to turn their attention elsewhere.[9] + +Whatever its general disadvantages, in some respects, at least, the +free speech fight was very good for the unions. For one thing, it served +wonderfully well to infuse the necessary hope and confidence into the +steel workers. So tremendous had been the manifestations of the Steel +Trust--its long record of victory over the trade unions, its vast wealth +and undisputed political supremacy, its enormous mills and furnaces--so +tremendous had been all these influences that they had overcome the +individual workers with a profound sense of insignificance and +helplessness, and practically destroyed all capacity for spontaneous +action. What the steel men needed to rouse them from their lethargy was +a demonstration of power from outside, a tangible sign that there was +some institution through which they could help themselves. Throughout +the campaign this consideration was borne in mind, and bands and other +spectacular methods of advertising were used to develop among the steel +workers a feeling of the greatness and power of the unions. Nor were +these methods unsuccessful. Most effective of all, however, was the free +speech fight in Pennsylvania. That gave the unions a golden opportunity +to defeat the Steel Trust so easily and spectacularly that the steel +workers couldn't help but be encouraged thereby. They simply had to cast +in their lot with a movement able to defeat so handily their autocratic +masters. And once they came in they felt the utmost confidence in their +leaders, the men they had seen jailed time and again for fighting their +battle. + +In consequence of The Flying Squadron's heroic battles in the immediate +Pittsburgh district the whole campaign was put practically upon a +national basis, where it should have been at the start. Almost every +steel centre in America was being organized simultaneously. Members were +streaming into the co-operating unions by thousands. The entire steel +industry was on the move. Perhaps it may be fitting to introduce at this +point an official digest of the general report of the number of men +organized by the National Committee during the whole campaign. The +report covers the period up to January 31, 1920, but almost all of the +men were enrolled before the strike started on September 22. + + GENERAL REPORT + on + 250,000 members enrolled by the National Committee for + Organizing Iron and Steel Workers during the + American Federation of Labor Organizing + Campaign in the Steel Industry, from + August 1, 1918, until January + 31, 1920. + + _By Localities_ _By Trades_ + + South Chicago 6,616 Blacksmiths 5,699 + Chicago Heights 569 Boilermakers 2,097 + Misc. Chicago Dist 3,871 Brick & Clay Workers 187 + Pittsburgh 8,970 Bricklayers 581 + Johnstown 11,846 Coopers 138 + Butler 2,519 Electrical Workers 8,481 + Monessen & Donora 8,665 Foundry Employees 2,406 + New Castle 2,710 Hod Carriers 2,335 + Homestead 3,571 Iron, Steel & Tin Wkrs. 70,026 + Braddock & Rankin 4,044 Iron Workers 5,829 + Clairton 2,970 Machinists 12,406 + McKeesport 3,963 Metal Polishers 349 + Gary 7,092 M. M. & Smelter Wkrs. 15,223 + Indiana Harbor 4,654 Mine Workers 1,538 + Joliet 3,497 Moulders 1,382 + Milwaukee 681 Pattern Makers - + Waukegan 1,212 Plumbers 1,369 + DeKalb 332 Quarry Workers 725 + Aurora 242 Railway Carmen 5,045 + Pullman 4,073 Seamen - + Kenosha 585 Sheet Metal Workers 377 + Hammond 1,102 Stationary Engineers 2,194 + Wheeling Dist. 5,028 Stationary Firemen 5,321 + Farrell & Sharon 3,794 Steam Shovelmen 2 + Cleveland 17,305 Switchmen 440 + Sparrows Point 93 Unclassified 12,552 + Brackenridge & Natrona 2,110 + East Pittsburgh 146 + East Liverpool 50 + Warren & Niles 474 + Minnesota Dist. 185 + Pueblo 3,113 + Coatesville 828 + Steubenville Dist. 4,108 + Birmingham Dist. 1,470 + Canton & Massillon 5,705 + Vandergrift 1,986 + Buffalo & Lackawanna 6,179 + Youngstown 19,040 + Peoria 984 + Decatur 320 + ------- ------- + _Total by Localities_ 156,702 _Total by Trades_ 156,702 + +This report includes only those members actually signed up by the +National Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers, and from whose +initiation fees $1.00 apiece was deducted and forwarded to the general +office of the National Committee. It represents approximately 50 to 60 +per cent. of the total number of steel workers organized during the +campaign, and is minimum in every respect. + +The report does not include any of the many thousands of men signed up +at Bethlehem, Steelton, Reading, Apollo, New Kensington, Leechburg and +many minor points which felt the force of the drive but where the +National Committee made no deductions upon initiation fees. In Gary, +Joliet, Indiana Harbor, South Chicago and other Chicago District points +the National Committee ceased collecting on initiation fees early in +1919, hence this report makes no showing of the thousands of men signed +up in that territory during the last few months of the campaign. +Likewise, at Coatesville and Sparrows' Point, during only a short space +of the campaign were deductions made for the National Committee. Many +thousands more men were signed up directly by the multitude of local +unions in the steel industry, that were not reported to the National +Committee. These do not show in this calculation. Nor do the great +number of ex-soldiers who were taken into the unions free of initiation +fees--in Johnstown alone 1300 ex-soldier steel workers joined the unions +under this arrangement. Of course no accounting is here included for the +army of workers in outside industries who became organized as a result +of the tremendous impulse given by the steel campaign. + +In view of these exceptions it may be conservatively estimated that well +over 250,000 steel workers joined the unions notwithstanding the +opposition of the Steel Trust, which discharged thousands of its +workers, completely suppressed free speech and free assembly in +Pennsylvania and used every known tactic to prevent the organization of +its employees. + + WM. Z. FOSTER, + Secretary-Treasurer + National Committee for Organizing + Iron & Steel Workers. + + Certified by + Enoch Martin + Auditor, District No. 12 + United Mine Workers of America. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[7] Throughout the latter part of the organizing campaign and the first +two months of the strike, Mother Jones lent great assistance to the +steel workers. This veteran organizer (she testified in court to being +89 years old) of the United Mine Workers labored dauntlessly, going to +jail and meeting the hardships and dangers of the work in a manner that +would do credit to one half her age. + +[8] Relative to this meeting there occurs the following dialogue on page +508 of the report on the Senate Committee's Hearings on the Steel +Strike: + +Senator Sterling. "Was Mr. Foster here prior to the strike?" + +Mr. Diehl (Gen. Manager Duquesne Works, Carnegie Steel Co.). "Yes; he +was here trying to hold a meeting, but the meeting was not held." + +The Chairman. "What happened to the meeting?" + +Mr. Diehl. "Well, we simply prohibited it." + +And naturally so. Mr. Diehl and other company officials shut off +meetings in the halls and on the lots of their towns just as readily as +they would have done had attempts been made to hold them in the mill +yards. + +[9] Now that the strike is over and spring is again at hand, the unions +have resumed the battle for free speech and assembly in Duquesne and +promise to fight it to a conclusion. + + + + +VI + +STORM CLOUDS GATHER + + RELIEF DEMANDED--THE AMALGAMATED ASSOCIATION MOVES--A GENERAL + MOVEMENT--THE CONFERENCE COMMITTEE--GOMPERS' LETTER + UNANSWERED--THE STRIKE VOTE--GARY DEFENDS STEEL AUTOCRACY + --PRESIDENT WILSON ACTS IN VAIN--THE STRIKE CALL + + +Surging forward to the accomplishment of the "impossible," the +organization of the steel industry, the twenty-four co-operating +international unions found themselves in grips with the employers long +before they were strong enough to sustain such a contest. It is almost +always so with new unions. In their infancy, when their members are +weak, undisciplined and inexperienced, and the employers are bitterly +hostile and aggressive, is exactly the time when they must establish +principles and adjust grievances that would test the strength of the +most powerful unions. Inability to do so means dissolution, either +through a lost strike or by disintegration. Following in the wake of the +newly formed steel workers' unions came a mass of such difficulties +requiring immediate settlement. The demand for relief from the evils of +long hours, low wages and miserable working conditions was bad enough; +but infinitely more serious was the need to take care of the army of men +discharged for union membership. Thousands of these walked the streets +in the various steel towns clamoring for protection. And the men on the +job demanded it for them. Nor could these appeals be ignored. Whether +they deemed the occasion propitious or not, the steel workers' unions, +on pain of extinction, had to act in defence of their harassed +membership. + +So bad was the situation by early spring that, lacking other means of +relief, local strikes were threatening all over the country. To allow +these forlorn-hope walkouts to occur would have meant disintegration and +disaster to the whole campaign. They had to be checked at all costs and +the movement kept upon a national basis. Therefore, the National +Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers called a general +conference of delegates of steelworkers' unions of all trades through +the entire industry, to take place in Pittsburgh, May 25, 1919. The +object was to demonstrate to the rank and file how fast the national +movement was developing, to turn their attention to it strongly, and +thus hearten them to bear their hardships until it could come to their +assistance. + +Right in the face of this general movement of all the trades the +Amalgamated Association made a bid for separate consideration by the +steel companies. By instruction of its convention, President Tighe wrote +the following letter to Mr. Gary: + + Convention Hall, Louisville, Ky., May 15, 1919 + Honorable Elbert H. Gary, Chairman, + Executive Officers, United States Steel Corporation, + Hoboken, N. J. + + _Dear Sir_: + + The Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers + of North America, in National Convention assembled, have by + resolution, instructed the undersigned to address you as + Chairman of the Executive Officers of the United States + Steel Corporation on a matter which in the opinion of the + representatives of the Amalgamated Association of Iron, + Steel and Tin Workers, is of vital importance to the + Corporation you have the honor to represent and to the + Amalgamated Association. + + As you no doubt are aware, there is a serious disturbing + element in the industrial world at the present time, a great + spirit of unrest has spread over our common country. It is + becoming more and more acute, and there is no telling when + or where the storm clouds will break. It is the judgment of + the representatives of the Amalgamated Association that it + is the patriotic duty of all good citizens to use their + every effort to stem the tide of unrest, if possible. + + The Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers + have admitted many thousands of the employees of the United + States Steel Corporation into their organization; these + members are asking that they be given consideration by the + Corporation you are the Honorable Chairman of, in their + respective crafts and callings, and also that as law-abiding + citizens who desire the privilege of having their + representatives meet with the chosen representatives of the + Corporation you represent, to jointly confer on questions + that mutually concern both. + + Sincerely believing that the granting of their request on + your part will not only be the means of allaying that + unrest, but will also promote and insure that harmony and + co-operation that should at all times exist between employer + and employee to the end that all will share in the glorious + triumphs so lately achieved in the war and thereby add still + more to the lustre and glory of our common country. + + Trusting that you will give this request on the part of the + aforesaid employees of your Corporation your most earnest + consideration, I await your pleasure. + + M. F. TIGHE, International President + Hotel Tyler, Louisville, Ky. + +To this letter Mr. Gary replied as follows: + + UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION + + Chairman's Office, + New York, May 20th, 1919 + + Mr. M. F. Tighe, + International President, + Amalgamated Association of + Iron, Steel and Tin Workers, + Pittsburgh, Pa. + + _Dear Sir_: + + I have read with interest your letter of May 15th inst. I + agree that it is the patriotic duty of all good citizens to + use their efforts in stemming the tide of unrest in the + industrial world whenever and wherever it exists. + + As you know, we do not confer, negotiate with, or combat + labor unions as such. We stand for the open shop, which + permits a man to engage in the different lines of + employment, whether he belongs to a labor union or not. We + think this attitude secures the best results to the + employees generally and to the employers. + + In our own way, and in accordance with our best judgment, + we are rendering efficient patriotic service in the + direction indicated by you. + + With kind regards, I am, + + Yours respectfully, + E. H. GARY, Chairman + +The Amalgamated Association's action threatened the existence of the +general movement, but Mr. Gary's refusal to deal with its officials kept +them in the fold. Where the principle of solidarity was lacking outside +pressure served the same end. It would be interesting to hear the +Amalgamated Association officials explain this attempt at desertion. + +At the conference of May 25 there assembled 583 delegates, representing +twenty-eight international unions in eighty steel centers, the largest +gathering of steel worker delegates in the history of the industry. The +reports of the men present made it clearly evident that action had to be +taken to defend the interests of their constituents. Consequently, +disregarding the rebuff given the Amalgamated Association by Mr. Gary, +the conference, which was only advisory in character, adopted the +following resolution: + + +RESOLUTION + + WHEREAS, We have now arrived at a point in our + nation-wide campaign where our organizations control great + numbers of the workers in many of the most important steel + plants in America, and + + WHEREAS, Various officials of the iron and steel + industry, including Judge Gary, Charles Schwab, and other + heads of these gigantic corporations have expressed their + solicitude for the welfare of the workers in this industry, + and + + WHEREAS, They have been continuously quoted as + defenders of the rights of the workers in industry, and + + WHEREAS, The corporations, to block our progress, + are organizing company unions, discharging union men + wholesale and otherwise trying to break up our organization, + thus compelling us to take action to escape destruction, + therefore be it + + RESOLVED, That it be the will of this conference + that a joint effort be made by all unions affiliated with + the National Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers + to enter into negotiations with the various steel companies + to the end that better wages, shorter hours, improved + working conditions and the trade-union system of collective + bargaining be established in the steel industry; and be it + further + + RESOLVED, That this resolution be submitted for + action to the National Committee for Organizing Iron and + Steel Workers at its next meeting in Washington, D. C., May + 27. + +Two days later the National Committee met in Washington and adopted this +resolution. The following were appointed as a conference committee to +have charge of the preliminary negotiations with the steel companies: +Samuel Gompers, Chairman of the National Committee; John Fitzpatrick, +Acting Chairman; D. J. Davis, Amalgamated Association; Edw. J. Evans, +Electrical Workers; Wm. Hannon, Machinists; Wm. Z. Foster, Railway +Carmen. As the first approach, Mr. Gompers addressed the following +letter to Mr. Gary, requesting a conference: + + AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR + + The Alamac Hotel, + Atlantic City, N. J., June 20, 1919 + + Mr. Elbert H. Gary, Chairman, + Board of Directors, U. S. Steel Corporation, + New York, N. Y. + + _Dear Sir_: + + Of course you are aware that upon the request of a number of + men in the employ of the United States Steel Corporation, + and realizing the need of it, the convention of the American + Federation of Labor decided to respond and give such + assistance as is possible in order to bring about more + thorough organization of the workers in the iron and steel + industry, particularly those employed by your Corporation. + + A campaign of organization was begun in June, 1918, and + within that period we have secured the organization of more + than 100,000 of the employees in the iron and steel + industry. The prospects for the complete organization are, I + am informed, exceedingly bright. + + Of course, knowing the policy of the Organized Labor + movement I have the honor in part to represent, we aim to + accomplish the purposes of our labor movement; that is, + better conditions for the toilers, by American methods, and + American understandings, not by revolutionary methods or the + inauguration of a cataclysm. + + We believe in the effort of employer and employees to sit + down around a table and, meeting thus, face to face, and + having a better understanding of each other's position in + regard to conditions of labor, to hours, standards, etc., + and after reaching an amicable understanding to enter into + an agreement for collective bargaining that is to cover + wages, hours of labor, conditions of employment, etc. + + At the Atlantic City convention of the American Federation + of Labor just closed, the committee reported upon the + progress made, and I am instructed and authorized to suggest + to you whether you will consent to hold a conference with a + committee representing not only the iron and steel workers + who are organized, but representing the best interests of + the unorganized men in the employ of your Corporation. The + names of the committee I am asking you to meet are: + + Assistant President Davis, Amalgamated Iron and Steel and + Tin Workers. + + William Hannon, member executive board, International + Association of Machinists. + + Edward Evans, representing International Brotherhood of + Electrical Workers. + + Wm. Z. Foster, secretary of the National Committee for + Organizing Iron and Steel Workers and representing the + Brotherhood of Carmen of America. + + John Fitzpatrick, president Chicago Federation of Labor. + + If you can advise me at your early convenience that the + request contained in this letter meets with your approval + and that a conference can be held, I am sure I shall be + additionally appreciative. + + Kindly address your reply, which I trust may be favorable, + to the American Federation of Labor Building, Washington, D. + C. + + Respectfully yours, + SAMUEL GOMPERS, + President American Federation of Labor + +This letter was sent during the A. F. of L. convention at Atlantic City. +About the same time Mr. Gompers resigned the chairmanship of the +National Committee and appointed in his stead John Fitzpatrick, hitherto +Acting Chairman. Mr. Fitzpatrick has been President of the Chicago +Federation of Labor for many years. He is a horseshoer by trade and one +of America's sterling union men. Possessed of a broad idealism, +unquestioned integrity, a magnetic personality and a wide knowledge of +trade-union practice, his services were beyond value as Chairman of the +committees that carried on the organization work in the steel and +packing industries. He is now taking an active part in the launching of +the new Labor party. + +To Mr. Gompers' courteous letter Czar Gary did not deign to reply. This +was bad. It looked like war. But the unions had no alternative; they had +to go ahead. Conditions in the steel industry were so unbearable that +they had to exert their utmost power to right them, come what might. +Therefore, after waiting several weeks for word from Mr. Gary, the +National Committee met, gave the situation profound consideration, and +adopted the following resolution: + + +RESOLUTION + + WHEREAS, Working conditions in the steel industry + are so intolerable and the unrest arising therefrom so + intense that they can only be remedied by the application of + the principles of collective bargaining; and, + + WHEREAS, All efforts have failed to bring about a + conference between the heads of the great steel corporations + and the trade unions, representing many thousands of + organized steel workers, for the purpose of establishing + trade union conditions in the steel industry; therefore, be + it + + RESOLVED, That the National Committee for + Organizing Iron and Steel Workers recommends to its 24 + affiliated unions that they take a strike vote of their + local unions throughout the steel industry; and, be it + further + + RESOLVED, That a special meeting be held in the + Pittsburgh Labor Temple, July 20th, at 10 A. M., of + representatives of all the co-operating international unions + for the purpose of taking action on this matter. + +The National Committee meeting of July 20th, called in accordance with +the above resolution, approached the situation from every possible angle +and with the keenest sense of responsibility. But it had to recognize +that the matter was wholly in the hands of Mr. Gary and his associates. +The resolution to take a strike vote of the men was re-adopted. Also the +following general demands, based on accurate surveys of the situation, +and subject to revision over the conference table, were formulated: + + 1. Right of collective bargaining + + 2. Reinstatement of all men discharged for union activities + with pay for time lost + + 3. Eight hour day + + 4. One day's rest in seven + + 5. Abolition of 24-hour shift + + 6. Increases in wages sufficient to guarantee American + standard of living + + 7. Standard scales of wages in all trades and + classifications of workers + + 8. Double rates of pay for all overtime after 8 hours, + holiday and Sunday work + + 9. Check-off system of collecting union dues and assessments + + 10. Principles of seniority to apply in the maintenance, + reduction and increase of working forces + + 11. Abolition of company unions + + 12. Abolition of physical examination of applicants for + employment + +So plain, fair and equitable are these demands that to reasonable +people they require no defence. The only explanation they might need +relates to #9 and #12. The check-off was to apply only to the mining end +of the steel industry, and the abolition of the physical examination was +to put a stop to the rank discrimination practiced by the companies +through their medical departments. + +A month was allowed in which to take the vote. Each trade looked after +its own members, with the National Committee voting those men who were +enrolled but not yet turned over to their respective unions, and in some +cases the unorganized also. Enthusiasm was intense. The steel workers +saw a glimmer of hope and welcomed with open arms the opportunity to +right their crying wrongs. When the vote was tabulated in Youngstown, +Ohio, on August 20, it was found that every trade had voted +overwhelmingly for a strike in case no settlement could be reached. +Whole districts voted to a man in the affirmative. Of all the thousands +of ballots cast in Homestead, Braddock, Rankin, McKeesport, Vandergrift, +Pittsburgh and Monessen not one was in the negative. Donora produced one +"no" vote, with the great Youngstown, Chicago and Cleveland districts +about the same. Everywhere the sentiment was practically unanimous to +make a stand. The vote was calculated conservatively at 98 per cent. for +a strike. The Conference Committee was accordingly instructed to request +a conference with the heads of the United States Steel Corporation and +the big independent companies, and if at the end of ten days no such +meeting had been arranged, to set the strike date. [Illustration: +STRIKE BALLOT] + +Taking no further chances on unanswered letters, the Committee bearded +Mr. Gary in his lair at 71 Broadway. He was in but refused to meet the +Committee, requesting that its proposition be submitted in writing. The +Committee thereupon sent him the following request for a conference: + + New York, August 26, 1919 + Hon. Elbert H. Gary, Chairman Finance Committee, + United States Steel Corporation, + 71 Broadway, New York City + + _Dear Sir:_ + + During a general campaign of organization and education + conducted under the auspices of the American Federation of + Labor, many thousands of men employed in the iron and steel + industry made application and were enrolled as members of + the various organizations to which they were assigned. + + This work has been carried on to a point where we feel + justified in stating to you that we represent the sentiment + of the vast majority of the employees in this industry, and, + acting in behalf of them, we solicit of you that a hearing + be given to the undersigned Committee, who have been + selected by the duly accredited representatives of the + employees, to place before you matters that are of vital + concern to them, and concerning hours of labor, wages, + working conditions and the right of collective bargaining. + + The committee called at your office at 3 P. M., Tuesday, + August 26, and requested a conference. We were advised by + your messenger that you wished to be excused from a personal + interview at this time and requested us to have our business + in writing and whatever matters we wished to submit would + be taken up by yourself and your colleagues and given + consideration. + + Therefore we are submitting in brief the principal subjects + that we desired to have a conference on. The committee has + an important meeting in another city on Thursday next and + will leave New York at 5 o'clock on August 27, 1919. May we + respectfully request that your answer be sent before that + time to Mr. John Fitzpatrick, Continental Hotel, Broadway + and Forty-first Street, New York City. + + Very truly yours, + John Fitzpatrick + D. J. Davis + Wm. Hannon + Edw. J. Evans + Wm. Z. Foster + Committee + +To this letter Mr. Gary replied as follows: + + UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION + + Office of the Chairman, + New York, August 27, 1919 + Messrs. John Fitzpatrick, David J. Davis, William + Hannon, Wm. Z. Foster, Edw. J. Evans, Committee + + _Gentlemen_: + + Receipt of your communication of August 26 instant is + acknowledged. + + We do not think you are authorized to represent the + sentiment of a majority of the employees of the United + States Steel Corporation and its subsidiaries. We express no + opinion concerning any other members of the iron and steel + industry. + + As heretofore publicly stated and repeated, our Corporation + and subsidiaries, although they do not combat labor unions + as such, decline to discuss business with them. The + Corporation and subsidiaries are opposed to the "closed + shop." They stand for the "open shop," which permits one to + engage in any line of employment whether one does or does + not belong to a labor union. This best promotes the welfare + of both employees and employers. In view of the well-known + attitude as above expressed, the officers of the Corporation + respectfully decline to discuss with you, as representatives + of a labor union, any matter relating to employees. In doing + so no personal discourtesy is intended. + + In all decisions and acts of the Corporation and + subsidiaries pertaining to employees and employment their + interests are of highest importance. In wage rates, living + and working conditions, conservation of life and health, + care and comfort in times of sickness or old age, and + providing facilities for the general welfare and happiness + of employees and their families, the Corporation and + subsidiaries have endeavored to occupy a leading and + advanced position among employers. + + It will be the object of the Corporation and subsidiaries to + give such consideration to employees as to show them their + loyal and efficient service in the past is appreciated, and + that they may expect in the future fair treatment. + + Respectfully yours, + E. H. GARY, Chairman + +In a last effort to prevail upon Mr. Gary to yield his tyrannical +position, the committee addressed him this further communication: + + New York City, Aug. 27, 1919. + Hon. Elbert H. Gary, Chairman + Finance Committee, United States Steel Corporation, + 71 Broadway, New York, N. Y. + + _Dear Sir_: + + We have received your answer to our request for a conference + on behalf of the employees of your Corporation, and we + understand the first paragraph of your answer to be an + absolute refusal on the part of your corporation to concede + to your employees the right of collective bargaining. + + You question the authority of our committee to represent the + majority of your employees. The only way by which we can + prove our authority is to put the strike vote into effect + and we sincerely hope that you will not force a strike to + prove this point. + + We asked for a conference for the purpose of arranging a + meeting where the questions of wages, hours, conditions of + employment, and collective bargaining might be discussed. + Your answer is a flat refusal for such conference, which + raises the question, if the accredited representatives of + your employees and the international unions affiliated with + the American Federation of Labor and the Federation itself + are denied a conference, what chance have the employees as + such to secure any consideration of the views they entertain + or the complaints they are justified in making. + + We noted particularly your definition of the attitude of + your Corporation on the question of the open and closed + shop, and the positive declaration in refusing to meet + representatives of union labor. These subjects are matters + that might well be discussed in conference. There has not + anything arisen between your Corporation and the employees + whom we represent in which the question of "the closed shop" + has been even mooted. + + We read with great care your statement as to the interest + the Corporation takes in the lives and welfare of the + employees and their families, and if that were true even in + a minor degree, we would not be pressing consideration, + through a conference, of the terrible conditions that exist. + The conditions of employment, the home life, the misery in + the hovels of the steel workers is beyond description. You + may not be aware that the standard of life of the average + steel worker is below the pauper line, which means that + charitable institutions furnish to the pauper a better + home, more food, clothing, light and heat than many steel + workers can bring into their lives upon the compensation + received for putting forth their very best efforts in the + steel industry. Surely this is a matter which might well be + discussed in conference. + + You also made reference to the attitude of your Corporation + in not opposing or preventing your employees from joining + labor organizations. It is a matter of common knowledge that + the tactics employed by your Corporation and subsidiaries + have for years most effectively prevented any attempt at + organization by your employees. We feel that a conference + would be valuable to your Corporation for the purpose of + getting facts of which, judging from your letter, you seem + to be misinformed. + + Some few days are still at the disposal of our committee + before the time limit will have expired when there will be + no discretion left to the committee but to enforce the + decree of your employees whom we have the honor to + represent. + + We submit that reason and fairness should obtain rather than + that the alternative shall be compulsory upon us. + + Surely reasonable men can find a common ground upon which we + can all stand and prosper. + + If you will communicate with us further upon this entire + matter, please address your communication to the National + Hotel, Washington, D. C. where we will be Thursday and + Friday, August 28 and 29. + + Very truly yours, + + JOHN FITZPATRICK + D. J. DAVIS + WM. HANNON + EDW. J. EVANS + WM. Z. FOSTER + Committee + +No reply came to the last letter. Mr. Gary, behind the smoke screen of +his hypocrisies about the "open shop," was determined to have the strike +go on. But the committee, fully conscious of the tremendous +responsibility resting upon it, was equally decided to exhaust every +possible means of adjustment before things came to a rupture. The +committeemen went to Washington, appeared before the Executive Council +of the A. F. of L., and received its endorsement and praise for the +manner in which the campaign had been conducted. + +Mr. Gompers was delegated by the Council to go with the committee to +present the matter to President Wilson, and to request him to arrange a +conference with the steel people. + +When President Wilson was informed of the true situation in the steel +industry, that all the men were asking for was a conference at which to +present their grievances--absolutely no other demand having been made +upon Mr. Gary--he immediately admitted the justice of the committee's +position. He stated frankly that he was entirely out of sympathy with +employers who refused to meet with representatives of their workers for +the purpose of bargaining collectively on labor conditions, and he +definitely agreed to use all his influence privately to have Mr. Gary +alter his decision and to arrange the conference. In order to give him a +chance to work the unions withheld the setting of the strike date. + +A week passed, with no word from the President. Conditions in the steel +industry were frightful. The companies, realizing the importance of +striking the first blow, were discharging men by the thousands. The +unions could wait no longer. They had to move or be annihilated. On +September 4, the National Committee met and sent to President Wilson, +who was on his ill-starred trip through the West advocating the League +of Nations, the following telegram, in the meantime calling a meeting of +the Presidents of all the international unions co-operating in the steel +campaign to consider the critical situation: + + + Washington, September 4, 1919 + Honorable Woodrow Wilson, + President of the United States, + Indianapolis, Ind., _en route_ + + The Executive Committee representing the various + international unions in the iron and steel industry met + today to consider the awful situation which exists in many + of the iron and steel industry centres. The coercion, the + brutality employed to prevent men and unions from meeting in + halls engaged, upon private property, in the open air, the + thuggery of the Corporations' emissaries, the wholesale + discharge of numbers of men for no other reason than the one + assigned, that they have become members of the unions, have + brought about a situation such that it is exceedingly + difficult to withhold or restrain the indignation of the men + and the resistance they declare it is their purpose to + present. The Executive Committee, relying upon the case as + presented to you last week and your earnest declaration to + endeavor to bring about a conference for the honorable and + peaceful adjustment of the matters in controversy, have thus + far been enabled to prevail upon the men not to engage in a + general strike. We cannot now affirm how much longer we will + be able to exert that influence; but we urge you, in the + great work in which you are engaged, to give prompt + attention to this most vital of issues; for if the men can + no longer be restrained it is impossible to foretell what + the future may hold in store for an industrial crisis which + may ensue and frustrate the project which you have worked at + for a peaceful and honorable adjustment of industrial + affairs in our country. A meeting of all the Presidents of + the twenty-four international unions in the steel industry + has been called to take place on Tuesday, September 9th in + Washington, D. C. to take such action as they deem + necessary. May we not have your reply on or before that time + as to whether or not a conference with the Steel Corporation + is possible. + + SAMUEL GOMPERS + JOHN FITZPATRICK + D. J. DAVIS + WM. HANNON + EDW. J. EVANS + WM. Z. FOSTER + +The international presidents met on September 9. A telegram from +Secretary Tumulty was laid before them, to the effect that President +Wilson had not yet been successful in arranging the requested +conference; that he was somewhat discouraged, but was continuing his +efforts. The general opinion took this to be final, that Mr. Gary had +definitely refused the President's request. But in order to make +assurance doubly sure and to convince all involved that everything +possible had been done to avert a break, the following further telegram +was sent to Mr. Wilson, over the objections of some who felt it was +practically asking him to declare the strike: + + Washington, September 9, 1919 + + Honorable Woodrow Wilson, + President of the United States, + St. Paul Hotel, + St. Paul, Minnesota + + Secretary Tumulty's telegram of September fifth to Samuel + Gompers was read today at the meeting of the presidents of + the twenty-four international unions in the steel industry, + and given the most careful consideration. After a long and + earnest discussion of it the undersigned were instructed to + wire you requesting a more definite statement as to the + possibility of an early conference being arranged by your + efforts between the heads of the United States Steel + Corporation and of the unions involved. Large numbers of men + are being discharged and otherwise discriminated against and + abused, and it will be impossible to hold our men much longer + from defending themselves by striking unless some genuine + relief is vouchsafed them. Our meeting will remain in session + here for forty-eight hours awaiting your reply before taking + final action. Please send answer to John Fitzpatrick, + Chairman of National Committee, American Federation of Labor + Building, Washington, D. C. + + JOHN FITZPATRICK + M. F. TIGHE + WM. HANNON + WM. Z. FOSTER + +On the day following Secretary Tumulty's answer was laid on the table +before the meeting, practically repeating what his first telegram had +said. It held out no definite hope for a conference, neither did it +suggest any alternative.[10] Clearly the unions had to act. President +Gompers and others had warned of the great power of the Steel Trust and +the eagerness with which the employing class would unite to give +Organized Labor a heavy blow in the steel industry. The union +representatives keenly realized the gravity of the situation and their +heavy responsibilities. It was in this frame of mind that they could see +no honorable way out of the difficulty except to strike. Accordingly +President Tighe of the Amalgamated Association moved that the strike be +set for September 22. His motion was unanimously adopted. The die was +cast. After telegraphing the strike order broadcast, the union men +scattered to their respective posts to organize the walkout. + +Then came a bolt from the blue. Next morning the newspapers carried a +telegram from Secretary Tumulty to President Gompers requesting that the +strike be held off until after the Industrial conference, beginning +October 6. The committeemen could hardly believe their eyes, because the +telegram they had received from Mr. Tumulty had said absolutely nothing +about postponing the strike. Besides, since the President had asked Mr. +Gary privately to grant his workers the conference they were seeking, +and so gave him an opportunity to decline without publicity, it was +incredible that he would publicly make a request upon the unions which +involved their destruction, and which they would have openly to refuse, +thus putting them in a bad light and giving their opponents a powerful +weapon. But all doubts were set at rest by this communication from Mr. +Gompers: + + AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR + + Washington, D. C., Sept. 11, 1919 + + Mr. John Fitzpatrick, Chairman, + National Committee For Organizing Iron + and Steel Workers, + Washington, D. C. + + _Dear Mr. Fitzpatrick_: + + This morning I received a telegram as follows: + + Dickinson, N. Dak., Sept. 10, 1919 + Hon. Samuel Gompers, + President American Federation of Labor, + Washington, D. C. + + In view of the difficulty of arranging any present + satisfactory mediation with regard to the steel situation, + the President desires to urge upon the steel men, through + you, the wisdom and desirability of postponing action + of any kind until after the forthcoming Industrial conference + at Washington. + + J. P. TUMULTY. + + You are aware of the reason which prevented my + participating further, the past few days, in the conferences + with the representatives of the various national + and international unions involved in this question. + + In transmitting the above to you (which I am doing + by long distance telephone from New York) I want to + express the hope that something can be done without + injury to the workers and their cause to endeavor to + conform to the wish expressed by the President; that + even though the corporations may endeavor to provoke + the men to action, that they may hold themselves in + leash and under self-control, consciously demonstrating + their stamina and willingness to abide by the justice of + their cause and that their rights will be finally protected. + + Fraternally yours, + SAMUEL GOMPERS, + President + American Federation of Labor + +Upon the receipt of this letter a meeting of the National Committee was +at once called to consider the situation. And a serious one it was +indeed. Before the Committee lay two requests to postpone the strike; +one from President Wilson, clear and categoric; the other from Mr. +Gompers, qualified by the hope that it could be done "without injury to +the workers and their cause." To deny these powerful requests meant to +be accused, in the first instance, of hasty and disloyal action, and in +the second, of practical revolt against the officials of the A. F. of L. +It would be to start the strike under the handicap of an unduly hostile +public opinion. Yet to grant them meant ruin complete. + +Conditions in the steel industry were desperate. Everywhere the +employers were making vigorous attacks on the unions. From Chicago, +Youngstown, Newcastle, Steubenville, Wheeling, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and +many other points large numbers of men were being thrown out of work +because of their union membership. Johnstown was a bleeding wound. In +the towns along the Monongahela river thousands of discharged men walked +the streets, and their number was daily being heavily increased. + +In the face of this situation it would have been folly to have the steel +workers abandon their strike preparations, even if it could have been +done. It was like asking one belligerent to ground arms in the face of +its onrushing antagonist. The employers gave not the slightest sign of a +truce. Long before anything could be hoped for from the Industrial +conference, they would have cut the unions to pieces, had the workers +been foolish enough to give them the opportunity. + +This the steel workers were determined not to do. Immediately after the +story got abroad that the strike might be postponed, they met in their +unions and notified the National Committee that they were going to +strike on September 22, regardless of anything that body might do short +of getting them definite concessions and protection. Many long weary +months they had waited patiently, under the urgings of the organizers, +for a chance to redress their grievances. And now when they had built +their organizations; taken their strike vote; received their strike call +and were ready to deliver a blow at their oppressors, the opportunity of +a generation was at hand, and they were not going to see it lost. They +would not postpone indefinitely, and in all likelihood break up +altogether, the movement they had suffered so much to build, in the +vague hope that the Industrial conference, which they had no guarantee +would even consider their case, and which was dominated by their arch +enemies, Gary and Rockefeller, would in some distant day do something +for them. Their determination to have the strike go on was intensified +by the constant ding-donging of the Steel Trust propaganda in the mills +to the effect that the A. F. of L. unions were cowardly and corrupt; +that they would make no fight for the steel workers, and that a +postponement of the strike would be proof positive that they had sold +out. Under such circumstances the workers could not consent to the +withholding of the strike. Practically all the steel districts in the +country solemnly warned the National Committee that they would strike on +September 22, in spite of any postponement that was not based on +positive assurances that justice would be done. The control of the +situation was in the hands of the rank and file. + +The field secretaries and organizers present at the National Committee +meeting, men intimately acquainted with actual conditions, emphasized +the impossibility of postponement. Many of them, among whom were some of +the best and most conservative men in the whole campaign, declared that +an attempt to delay the strike, merely upon the strength of possible +action by the Industrial conference, would result in the swift +destruction of the movement under the worst of circumstances. The +workers would be bound to consider it a gigantic sell-out and to act +accordingly. As for themselves, they declared they would have nothing to +do with it, and would be compelled to present their resignations the +minute a motion to postpone prevailed. Dozens of them took this stand. + +To the National Committee two courses were open: (1) It could postpone +the strike with the absolute certainty that it would break the steel +movement by so doing, because the strike would have gone ahead anyway in +a series of wild, uncontrolled, leaderless revolts, waged in an +atmosphere fatally charged with accusations of cowardice and graft. In +all probability the A. F. of L. would suffer one of the worst defeats in +its history, and gain such an evil reputation among the steel workers +that it could not approach them for many years, if ever, with an +organization project. Or (2) it could go ahead with the strike, with a +fighting chance to win. In any event, even if the strike were lost, it +would be through a clean fight and the honor of the movement would be +preserved. The steel workers would be convinced that everything possible +had been done for them. Thus the unions would retain their confidence +and be enabled to re-organize them at an early date. + +Between certain, ignominious defeat and possible victory, or at the +worst honorable failure, the National Committee had only one choice. +Practically all the delegates present were of the opinion that the +strike had to go on. But some had to wire their international offices to +cancel their instructions to vote for postponement. On September 18, D. +J. Davis, Assistant President of the Amalgamated Association moved that +September 22 be reaffirmed as the strike date. This was carried.[11] +Then the Conference Committee addressed a long letter to President +Wilson, explaining in detail the situation as the union men saw it and +outlining the reasons for not postponing the strike. The letter closed +as follows: + + Mr. President, delay is no longer possible. We have tried to + find a way but cannot. We regret that for the first time + your call upon Organized Labor cannot meet with favorable + response. Believe us the fault is not ours. If delay were no + more than delay, even at the cost of loss of membership in + our organizations, we would urge the same to the fullest of + our ability, notwithstanding the men are set for an + immediate strike. But delay here means the surrender of all + hope. This strike is not at the call of the leaders, but + that of the men involved. Win or lose, the strike is + inevitable and will continue until industrial despotism will + recede from the untenable position now occupied by Mr. Gary. + We have faith in your desire to bring about a conference and + hope you will succeed therein. We fully understand the + hardships that meanwhile will follow and the reign of terror + that unfair employers will institute. The burden falls upon + the men, but the great responsibility therefor rests upon + the other side. + +After agreeing that all settlements made with the employers should cover +all trades, and sending a letter to the independent steel companies +inviting conferences with them, the meeting adjourned and the organizers +and delegates left to make good the following strike call, of which +200,000 copies, in seven languages, had been scattered broadcast +throughout the entire steel industry: + + STRIKE SEPTEMBER 22, 1919 + + The workers in the iron and steel mills and blast furnaces, + not working under union agreements, are requested not to go + to work on September 22, and to refuse to resume their + employment until such time as the demands of the + organizations have been conceded by the steel corporations. + + The union committees have tried to arrange conferences with + the heads of the steel companies in order that they might + present our legitimate demands for the right of collective + bargaining, higher wages, shorter hours and better working + conditions. But the employers have steadfastly refused to + meet them. It therefore becomes our duty to support the + committees' claims, in accordance with the practically + unanimous strike vote, by refusing to work in the mills on + or after September 22, until such time as our just demands + have been granted. And in our stoppage of work let there be + no violence. The American Federation of Labor has won all + its great progress by peaceful and legal methods. + + IRON AND STEEL WORKERS! A historic decision confronts us. If + we will but stand together now like men our demands will + soon be granted and a golden era of prosperity will open for + us in the steel industry. But if we falter and fail to act + this great effort will be lost, and we will sink back into a + miserable and hopeless serfdom. The welfare of our wives and + children is at stake. Now is the time to insist upon our + rights as human beings. + + STOP WORK SEPTEMBER 22 + + NATIONAL COMMITTEE + FOR ORGANIZING IRON AND STEEL WORKERS. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[10] Out of courtesy to the President the National Committee has never +made public these telegrams. + +[11] After he had been made fully acquainted with the situation Mr. +Gompers said before the Senate Committee on Education and Labor, +investigating the steel strike: (Hearings, page 109) "Notwithstanding +what any of the officials of the trade unions would have done, +regardless of what the Committee would have done, the strike would have +occurred anyway, a haphazard, loose, disjointed, unorganized strike, +without leadership, without consultation, without advice. It was simply +a choice whether the strike would take place under the guidance and +leadership of men who have proven their worth, or under the leadership +of some one who might spring up for the moment." + + + + +VII + +THE STORM BREAKS + + THE STEEL TRUST ARMY--CORRUPT OFFICIALDOM--CLAIRTON--McKEESPORT + --THE STRIKE--SHOWING BY DISTRICTS--A TREASONABLE ACT--GARY + GETS HIS ANSWER + + +As the memorable twenty-second of September approached a lurid and +dramatic setting developed for the beginning of the great steel strike. +Everywhere the steel companies made gigantic preparations to crush their +aspiring workers back to slavery. The newspapers shrieked revolution. +The whole country was a-tremble with anxiety and apprehension. + +Pittsburgh was the storm center. There, in its stronghold, the Steel +Trust went ahead with strike-breaking measures unprecedented in +industrial history. It provisioned and fortified its great mills and +furnaces, surrounding them with stockades topped off with heavily +charged electric wires, and bristling with machine guns. It assembled +whole armies of gunmen. Brute force was to be used in breaking the +solidarity of the workers. Said the New York _World_ editorially +September 22: "In anticipation of the steel strike, what do we see? In +the Pittsburgh district thousands of deputy sheriffs have been recruited +at several of the larger plants. The Pennsylvania State Constabulary +has been concentrated at commanding points. At other places the +authorities have organized bodies of war veterans as special officers. +At McKeesport alone 3,000 citizens have been sworn in as special police +deputies subject to instant call. It is as though preparations were made +for actual war." + +Along the Monongahela river from Pittsburgh to Clairton, a distance of +twenty miles, there were not less than 25,000 armed men in the service +of the Steel Trust. In the entire Pittsburgh district, practically all +the petty parasites who prey upon the steel workers--the professional +and small business men--had been sworn in as deputies and furnished +firearms to defend their great overlord, to whom they all do +unquestioning service no matter how dirty the job. During the strike +Sheriff Haddock of Allegheny county stated to the Senate Committee +investigating the strike that there were 5,000 deputy sheriffs and 5,000 +strikers in his jurisdiction, or one deputy for each striker. His totals +should have been multiplied by at least ten in each case; 50,000 +deputies and 50,000 strikers would have been well below the mark. It is +noteworthy that although the danger of an uprising in the Pittsburgh +district was widely advertised no appeal was made for troops, nor was +there even any talk of an appeal. The reason was that the Steel Trust +had a vast army of its own, officered by its own officials, and it +needed no outside help. + +Western Pennsylvania is controlled body and soul by the Steel Trust. The +whole district has the psychology of a company-owned town. All authority +centers in the steel industry. From there practically every institution +takes its orders. Local governmental agencies are hardly more than +public service departments of the Steel Trust. Their officials, city, +county, state and federal, obey the mandates of the steel magnates just +about as readily and naturally as do the superintendents and mill +bosses. No less than the latter they felt it to be their duty to break +the strike by whatever means their masters told them to use. + +With the approach of the strike these lackey officials hastened _en +masse_ to the aid of the Steel Trust. Sheriff Haddock, besides swearing +in an army of guards and turning them over to the steel companies to +carry out their plan of terrorism, issued a flaming proclamation +practically setting up martial law and making it a riotous assembly for +three steel workers to meet together. Next day, September 21, the +organizers tried to hold a meeting in North Clairton--with the Burgess' +permission, and at a place on the public commons especially set aside by +the authorities for union meetings. About 3,000 steel workers gathered +to hear the speakers. Everything was going as peacefully as a Sunday +school picnic, when suddenly a troop of State Constabulary appeared upon +the scene, and without a word of warning, rode full tilt into the crowd, +clubbing and trampling men and women indiscriminately. They tore down +and threw in the mud the American flag floating above the speakers' +stand. Scores were arrested (including organizers J. B. Etchison and P. +H. Brogan) and held for heavy bonds on charges of rioting.[12] Many +were seriously injured, but fearing to report their cases to the doctors +and thus court arrest, as the latter were nearly all deputies, they +cured themselves as best they could. This crying outrage was perpetrated +under the authority of the Sheriff's proclamation. It was endorsed and +lauded by Governor Sproul, than whom the Steel Trust has no more willing +champion. + +At the same hour as the Clairton outrage a similar attack was made on +the workers at Glassport, adjoining McKeesport. Not being allowed to +meet at the latter city the organizers had leased a plot of ground in +Glassport and had been holding regular meetings there, with the full +sanction of the local authorities. For the meeting in question they had +an official permit. But just as it was about to begin the State +Constabulary broke it up in true Cossack fashion, almost riding down the +Burgess in so doing. They arrested all they could seize. These were held +as rioters under bail of from $1,000 to $3,000 each. The venal +Pittsburgh papers screamed about the outbreaks that had been crushed by +the gallant State police, and praised them for their bravery in facing +the "rioting mobs." + +Despite all these terroristic methods the Steel Trust could not break +the will of its workers. On September 22 they struck throughout the +entire industry with a discipline and universality that will be +remembered so long as steel is made in America. On Tuesday, the +twenty-third, 304,000 had quit their posts in the mills and furnaces. +All week their ranks were augmented until by September 30, there were +365,600 on strike. It was a magnificent effort for freedom, and twice as +big a strike as this country had ever known. By cities and districts, +the numbers of strikers were as follows: + + Pittsburgh 25,000 + Homestead 9,000 + Braddock 10,000 + Rankin 5,000 + Clairton 4,000 + Duquesne & McKeesport 12,000 + Vandergrift 4,000 + Brackenridge 5,000 + New Kensington 1,100 + Apollo 1,500 + Leechburg 3,000 + Donora & Monessen 12,000 + Johnstown 18,000 + Coatesville 4,000 + Youngstown district, + including Youngstown, E. Youngstown, + Struthers, Hubbard, Niles, Canton, + Alliance, Massillon, Warren, Farrell, + Newcastle, Sharon, Butler, etc. 70,000 + Wheeling district 15,000 + Cleveland 25,000 + Steubenville district 12,000 + Chicago district, + including Gary, Joliet, DeKalb, + South Chicago, Indiana Harbor, East + Chicago, Hammond, Evanston, Sterling, + Peoria, Milwaukee, etc. 90,000 + Buffalo district 12,000 + Pueblo 6,000 + Birmingham 2,000 + 5 Bethlehem Plants 20,000 + ------- + Total 365,600 + +The shut-down was almost complete. Throughout the country the industry +was stricken with paralysis. On an average the strike was at least 90 +per cent. effective. In the great Chicago district practically all the +men struck, hamstringing the big plants in the various steel towns of +that section, Gary, Joliet, Indiana Harbor, South Chicago, etc. The +holding of the organizations in this district for a year, in the face of +Steel Trust opposition, by the organizers under Secretary Evans, and +later, De Young, was one of the most notable achievements of the whole +campaign. When the pent-up force was finally released it swept the +district like a flood, leaving hardly a wheel turning anywhere. + +Youngstown is another place where great difficulties had been +encountered in the organizing work, the workers being deeply discouraged +by recently lost local strikes, and the authorities at some points so +hostile that it was impossible to hold meetings in the strategic places. +But so widespread was the discontent at the miserable working +conditions, and so well had the district crew of organizers under +Secretaries McCadden and Hammersmark done their work that when the +strike clarion sounded, the masses of steel workers responded almost to +a man. Trust plants and "independents" alike had to shut down. The steel +working population of the entire Mahoning Valley went on holiday. It was +a clean walkout. In the outer Youngstown district, as established by the +National Committee system, the companies, by the use of desperate +tactics, succeeded in keeping some of their men at work; in Sharon, +Farrell and Newcastle probably twenty per cent refused to obey the +strike call. But in Canton and Massillon, John Olchon and the other +organizers brought all the important mills to a dead stop. + +Without exception, the enormous Cleveland mills and furnaces shut down +tight. In Johnstown the Cambria Company was so hard hit that, swallowing +its pride, it had to ask the hated unions for a detachment of workers to +protect its plants. The Buffalo district men struck almost 100 per +cent., after a bitter organizing campaign and an eight months' free +speech fight. The Wheeling and Steubenville districts' steel mills and +blast furnaces were abandoned altogether by their crews. In Coatesville +and Birmingham, the response was poor, in the first locality because of +insufficient organization; and in the second because of discouragement +due to a lost local strike the year before. But in far away Colorado, +the steel workers, hearkening to the voice of freedom abroad in the +land, expressed their contempt for the company-union slavery of John D. +Rockefeller, Jr., by tieing up every department in his big Pueblo +mills. + +In the immediate Pittsburgh district, though here more strenuously +opposed by the Steel Trust, the strike ranged from 75 to 85 per cent. +effective. That it did not go as strong as other districts was purely +because of the denial, by the companies and the authorities, of the +workers' rights to meet and to organize. In the "Black Valley" section +of the district, comprising the towns lying along the Allegheny river, +Apollo, Vandergrift, Leechburg, Brackenridge, Natrona and New +Kensington, and notorious as the scene of the brutal murder of organizer +Mrs. Fannie Sellins, the strike went 90 per cent. or better; but in the +Monongahela river section it was not so good. Of the steel towns in that +district, Donora and Monessen took the lead with a 100 per cent. strike. +Due to the terrorism prevailing exact figures were almost impossible to +get for the other towns, but according to the best information +procurable they averaged about as follows; Clairton 95, Braddock 90, +Homestead 80, Rankin 85, McKeesport 70, and Duquesne 50 per cent. In +Pittsburgh itself all the larger mills and furnaces, except those of the +Jones and Laughlin Company, either suspended operations altogether or +lost heavily of their employees during the first two days of the strike. +The Jones and Laughlin men had been profoundly discouraged by a lost +strike two years previously, and had responded poorly to the organizers' +efforts. But when they saw the magnitude of the strike they took heart +somewhat, and by strenuous efforts in a rapid fire campaign, the +organizers had at least 60 per cent. of them on strike by the end of the +first week. + +In the plants of the Bethlehem Steel Company the strike did not become +effective until September 29. The cause was to be found in local +conditions. In the early spring of 1918, before the National Committee +began its campaign, ruthless exploitation by the company had resulted in +a strike of machine shop employees. The National War Labor Board settled +the strike, erecting a shop organization to handle grievances. In the +meantime the National Committee came into the field and began active +operations. Up till this time the organized movement, led by David +Williams and Patrick Duffy, had been confined principally to the +Machinists, Electrical workers and a few other skilled trades; but now +it spread to the main body of the employees. To head it off the company +proposed to the National Committee that a Rockefeller union be set up in +the plants. Naturally this was unacceptable. Then they offered to sign +an agreement covering all their shipyard employees if the organization +of their steel plants was given up, feeling no doubt that the shipyard +boom was only temporary. For the National Committee, John Fitzpatrick +spurned this shameful trade, and the organization campaign went on--with +the shipyard men getting their agreement later on just the same. + +Technically the employees of the Bethlehem Company should have struck +under the first strike call, as they had no union agreement; but being +tied up with futile negotiations under their "collective bargaining" +arrangement, they did not get out until the twenty-ninth. When they did +strike the response was not so good. A fair average for the plants in +South Bethlehem, Steelton, Reading, Lebanon and Sparrows' Point would +be a 50 per cent. strike. + +On the whole the strike affected practically the entire industry, +seventy important steel centres being involved. About the only mills of +consequence to escape it were those located at Midland, Woodlawn, Lorain +and Duluth. And the only reason for this was lack of sufficient +organizers to cover them. It is noteworthy that the strike followed +strictly the lines of organization. In hardly a single instance did the +unorganized go out spontaneously, even though they had previously been +clamoring for the unions to help them. This tends to show how completely +the steel companies dominated their unorganized workers and how hard it +was for the latter to act in concert. + +For the most part the great walkout was concentrated on the smelting and +rolling branches of the steel industry. It had been the original +intention to make the movement thoroughly industrial, taking in all the +workers from those who mine the coal and iron to those who transfer the +finished products to the railroad lines. But insufficient resources +compelled the modification of this program, and forced the unions to +confine their work principally to the blast furnaces and rolling mills. +However, where the company mines or fabricating works lay close to the +general plants, or were part of them, the essentially industrial +character of the campaign manifested itself and these departments were +organized along with the rest. In various places, including Gary, +Chicago, Homestead, etc., bridge, car, and other fabricating shops were +an integral part of the drive. The iron miners working close in to +Birmingham responded to some extent, but a big defeat of the local +metal trades in the mills a couple of years previously held them back +from making a strong demonstration. The coal miners struck in several +places. In Johnstown, 2,000 of them working in the Cambria Steel +Company's mines organized during the campaign, became affiliated with +the local mill workers' council, and walked out 100 per cent. on the +historic twenty-second of September. + +Although the United States Steel Corporation was recognized as the arch +enemy of the unions, the strike was not directed against it alone. Every +iron and steel mill and furnace in the country not working under union +agreements was included. This meant at least 95 per cent. of the +industry, because the only agreements of any consequence were between +some of the smaller companies and the Amalgamated Association. A number +of these concerns were affected also, their agreements relating only to +skilled workers, and the plants having to close when the laborers +struck. This occurred quite extensively in the Cleveland, Youngstown and +Pittsburgh districts. + +Considering the large number of them involved and their traditions of +isolated action, the unions displayed reasonably good solidarity in +going "over the top" against the Steel Trust. The battle line was far +from perfect, however. Much harm was done the morale of the strikers by +local unions here and there that were under the sway of ignorant +blockheads or designing tools of the bosses, refusing to recognize the +National Committee's strike call and insisting upon getting instructions +from their own headquarters, meanwhile scabbing it in the mills. And +the worst of it was that sometimes it was difficult, or even impossible +to have the necessary instructions issued. + +Far more serious than this, however, was the action of the executive +officers of the International Union of Steam and Operating Engineers. +Just as the strike was about to begin President Snellings and Secretary +Comerford sharply condemned it by letter and through the press, urging +their men to stay at work upon the flimsy pretext that the President's +industrial conference would attend to their interests. Roused to +indignation by this cold-blooded course, the local unions of engineers, +almost without exception, repudiated their international misleaders and +stuck with the rest of the steel workers. After President Gompers had +been quoted in the newspapers as pledging the support of the A. F. of L. +to the strike (two days after it started) and Labor generally had shown +its determination to stick by the steel workers, the officers of the +Engineers' international were compelled to publicly endorse the strike. +But throughout its duration they nevertheless privately encouraged their +strategically situated tradesmen to return to work, thus doing +incalculable harm when the strikers had begun to weaken a little. This +plain case of official scabbery was inspired by a jurisdictional dispute +between the engineers and the electrical workers over the disposition to +be made of electrical crane-men signed up in the campaign. Because they +could not have their unreasonable way in the matter, the officials of +the engineers deliberately knifed the strike and lent aid and comfort +to the bitterest opponents of Organized Labor on this planet. To such +extremes will union men go in internecine wars over trade demarcations. + +But in spite of opposition, blundering and treachery, the steel workers +had spoken. Mr. Gary was answered. Previous to the strike, he declared +that the unions represented only an insignificant minority of his men, +the great bulk of his working force being satisfied. He compelled the +Committee to show its credentials. Result: 365,600 steel workers laid +down their tools. This estimated total has never been disputed by the +steel companies. Here and there, in some individual town or district, +they pointed out a figure occasionally as being excessive; but although +importuned by newspaper men to do so, they never ventured to issue a +statement of the number on strike at all points. The reason was that +they feared to print the grand total which even their lying press bureau +would have to admit. Word came to the Committee from reliable sources +that the steel manufacturers considered the union figure well within the +real total. + +While not accurately ascertainable, the number of Mr. Gary's employees +actually taking part in the strike may be closely approximated. Mr. Gary +stated to the Senate Committee that the total number employed by the +United States Steel Corporation in the departments affected by the +strike was 201,065. Against this number should be checked off about half +of the total number of strikers, or 182,500. This is based upon the +theory that the official U. S. Steel Corporation plants form +approximately 50 per cent. of the industry, and that the strike was +just as effective against them as against those of any other company. It +is not asserted that these figures are absolutely accurate; but they +will serve to indicate that the claim of a 90 per cent. strike in the +plants of the Steel Corporation is a fair one. It is exceedingly +doubtful if as many as 10 per cent. of Mr. Gary's employees remained at +their posts and failed to heed the strike call. Fully 125,000 of them +were members of the unions before the strike started, and most of the +rest would have been also, had they dared brave the anger of their +bosses. + +The great steel strike thoroughly exposed the hypocrisies of Mr. Gary +and his ilk that in some mysterious way labor policies and conditions in +the steel industry depend upon the wishes of the body of the workers. It +made plain that in the autocratic system now prevailing the democratic +principles of majority and minority do not enter. It is a case pure and +simple of the absolute sway of property rights over human rights. A +handful of social parasites hidden away in Wall street, with no other +interest in the steel industry than to exploit it, settle arbitrarily +the vital questions of wages, hours and working conditions, while the +enormous mass of the workers, actual producers whose very lives are +involved, have no say whatsoever. No matter how bitter their grievances, +when they raise their voice to ask redress, they are discharged, +blacklisted, starved, beaten, jailed and even shot, until they bend the +knee again and yield to the will of their industrial masters. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[12] In this connection occurred one of the finest incidents in the +strike: Wm. J. Brennan, an able, conscientious attorney of Pittsburgh, +and one of the counsel who defended the Homestead strikers in 1892, went +to Clairton to get the "rioters" released on bonds. But such a state of +terror existed that no one dared to go their bail. Thereupon, Mr. +Brennan himself, without knowing a single one of the defendants, but +smarting under the injustice of it all, pledged his entire property +holdings, amounting to $88,000, to get them set free. + + + + +VIII + +GARYISM RAMPANT + + THE WHITE TERROR--CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS DENIED--UNBREAKABLE + SOLIDARITY--FATHER KAZINCY--THE COSSACKS--SCIENTIFIC + BARBARITY--PROSTITUTED COURTS--SERVANTS REWARDED + + +It was the misfortune of the steel strike to occur in the midst of the +post-war reaction, which still persists unabated, and which constitutes +the most shameful page in American history. Ours are days when the +organized employers, inspired by a horrible fear of the onward sweep of +revolution in Europe and the irresistible advance of the labor movement +in this country, are robbing the people overnight of their most precious +rights, the fruits of a thousand years of struggle. And the people, not +yet recovered from war hysteria and misled by a corrupt press, cannot +perceive the outrage. They even glory in their degradation. Free speech, +free press, free assembly, as we once knew these rights, are now things +of the past. What poor rudiments of them remain depend upon the whims of +a Burleson, or the rowdy element of the American Legion. Hundreds of +idealists, guilty of nothing more than a temperate expression of their +honest views, languish in prison serving sentences so atrocious as to +shock the world--although Europe has long since released its war and +political prisoners. Working class newspapers are raided, denied the use +of the mails and suppressed. Meetings are broken up by Chamber of +Commerce mobs or thugs in public office. The right of asylum is +gone--the infamous Palmer is deporting hundreds who dare to hold views +different from his. The right of the workers to organize is being +systematically curtailed; and crowning shame of all, workingmen can no +longer have legislative representatives of their own choosing. In a +word, America, from being the most forward-looking, liberty-loving +country in the world, has in two short years become one of the most +reactionary. We in this country are patiently enduring tyranny that +would not be tolerated in England, France, Italy, Russia or Germany. Our +great war leaders promised us the New Freedom; they have given us the +White Terror. + +Realizing full well the reactionary spirit of the times, the steel +companies proceeded safely to extremes to crush the steel strike, dubbed +by them an attempt at violent revolution. To accomplish their end they +stuck at nothing. One of their most persistent and determined efforts +was to deprive the steel workers of their supposedly inalienable right +to meet and talk together. Throughout the strike, whenever and wherever +they could find municipal or court officials willing to do their +bidding, the steel barons abolished the rights of free speech and free +assembly, so precious to strikers. Few districts escaped this evil, but +as usual, Pennsylvania felt the blow earliest and heaviest. Hardly had +the strike started when the oily Schwab prohibited meetings in +Bethlehem; the Allegheny and West Penn Steel Companies did the same at +Natrona, jailing organizer J. McCaig for "inciting to riot"; in the +Sharon-Farrell district the steel workers, denied their constitutional +rights in their home towns, had to march several miles over into Ohio +(America they called it) in order to hold their meetings. + +Along the Monongahela river the shut-down was complete. Following +Sheriff Haddock's proclamation and the "riots" at Clairton and +Glassport, it was only a few days until the city and borough officials +had completely banned strike meetings in all the territory from +Charleroi to Pittsburgh. The unions' free-speech, free-assembly victory +of the past summer was instantly cancelled. For forty-one miles through +the heart of America's steel industry, including the important centers +of Monessen, Donora, Clairton, Wilson, Glassport, McKeesport, Duquesne, +Homestead, Braddock, Rankin, etc., not a meeting of the steel workers +could be held. Even in Pittsburgh itself meetings were prohibited +everywhere except in Labor Temple. The steel-collared city officials +never could quite muster the gall to close Labor's own building--or +perhaps because it is so far from the mills and so poorly situated for +meetings they felt it to be of no use to the strikers. Thus the Steel +Trust gave its workers a practical demonstration of what is meant by the +phrase, "making the world safe for democracy." + +Not only were mass meetings forbidden, but so also were regular business +meetings under the charters of the local unions. To test out this +particular usurpation, Attorney W. H. Rubin, then in charge of the +strike's legal department and possessed of a keener faith in +Pennsylvania justice than the Strike committee had, keener probably than +he himself now has, prayed the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas to +enjoin Mayor Babcock and other city officials from interfering with a +local union of the Amalgamated Association holding its business meetings +on the south side of the city where its members lived and where several +large mills are located. At the hearing the Mayor and Chief of Police +freely admitted that there had been no violence in the strike, and even +complimented the men on their behavior, but they feared there might be +trouble and so forbade the meetings. The honorable Judges Ford and +Shafer agreed with them and denied the writ, saying among other things: + + It is the duty of the Mayor and Police Department to + preserve the peace, and it must be sometimes necessary for + that purpose to prevent the congregating in one place of + large numbers of people such as might get beyond the control + of the Police Department, and it must be left to the + reasonable discretion of the officers charged with keeping + the peace when such intervention is made. + +In other words, the sacred right of the workers to meet together depends +upon the arbitrary will of any politician who may get into the office +controlling the permits. Shortly before Judges Ford and Shafer handed +down this noble conception of free assembly, Judge Kennedy of the +Allegheny County Court, ruling on the appeal of Mother Jones, J. L. +Beaghen, J. M. Patterson and Wm. Z. Foster in the Duquesne free speech +cases of several weeks prior to the strike, had this to say: + + It cannot be questioned that the object of these + meetings--increasing the membership in the American + Federation of Labor--is a perfectly lawful one, but the + location of the meetings in the Monongahela valley, built up + as it is for mile after mile of an unbroken succession of + iron and steel mills, and thickly populated with iron + workers, many of whom obviously are not members of this + association, and among whom, on both sides, there are, in + all probability, some who upon the occasion of meetings such + as these purported to be, might through excitement + precipitate serious actions of which the consequences could + not be foreseen and might be disastrous, presents questions + which are sufficient to cause the court to hesitate before + interfering with the exercise of discretion on the part of + the Mayor in refusing to permit such meetings at this time. + +The Court is still hesitating to interfere with Mayor Crawford's +tyranny, and the defendants had to pay $100 and costs each for trying to +hold a meeting on ground they had leased. One would think that the +remedy in the case conjured out of thin air by the learned judge (for in +the thousands of meetings held in the steel campaign he cannot point to +one incident of violence) would be for the local authorities to provide +ample police protection to insure order. But no, in Pennsylvania the +thing to do is to set aside the constitutional rights of the workers. +Would such action be taken in the case of members of a Chamber of +commerce? Wouldn't the governor, rather, order out the state troops, if +necessary, to uphold their right of assembly? + +In the hope of getting some relief, or at the least some publicity about +the unbearable situation, a committee of 18 local labor men, +representing the largest trade unions in Western Pennsylvania, went to +Washington and presented to the Allegheny County congressional +delegation a petition expressing contempt for the judges and other +officials in their part of the State and asking Congress to give them +the justice these men refused to mete out. Surely, the Allegheny County +congressmen were exactly the ones to bring the Steel Trust to time. With +a grand flourish they introduced a resolution into the House calling for +an investigation--then they forgot all about it. + +The official tyranny and outlawry along the Monongahela was so bad that +the Pennsylvania Federation of Labor had to voice its protest. On +November 1-2 it held a special convention in Pittsburgh, attended by +several hundred delegates. A resolution was adopted demanding that +protection be given the rights of the workers, and that if the +authorities failed to extend this protection, "the Executive Council of +the Pennsylvania Federation of Labor shall issue a call for a State-wide +strike, when in its judgment it is necessary to compel respect for law +and the restoration of liberty as guaranteed by the Constitution of the +United States and of the State of Pennsylvania." For this action +President Jas. H. Maurer of the Federation was hotly assailed and even +menaced with lynching by the lawless business interests. + +By some inexplicable mental twist the ex-union man Burgess of Homestead +eventually allowed the unions to hold one mass meeting each week--to +this day the only ones permitted in the forty-one miles of Monongahela +steel towns. They were under the supervision of the State police. At +each meeting a half dozen of these Cossacks, in full uniform, would sit +upon the platform as censors. Only English could be spoken. As the +saying was, all the organizers were permitted to talk about was the +weather. When one touched on a vital strike phase a Cossack would yell +at him, "Hey, cut that out! You're through, you--! Don't ever come back +here any more." And he never could speak there again. + +Judging from past experiences the strike in the Pittsburgh district +should have been impossible under such hard circumstances. With little +or no opportunity to meet for mutual encouragement and enlightenment, +the strikers, theoretically, should have been soon discouraged and +driven back to work. But they were saved by their matchless solidarity, +bred of a deep faith in the justice of their cause. In the black, +Cossack-ridden Monongahela towns there were thousands of strikers who +were virtually isolated, who never attended a meeting during the entire +strike and seldom if ever saw an organizer or read a strike bulletin, +yet they fought on doggedly for three and one-half months, buoyed up by +a boundless belief in the ultimate success of their supreme effort. Each +felt himself bound to stay away from the mills, come weal or come woe, +regardless of what the rest did. These were mainly the despised +foreigners, of course, but their splendid fighting qualities were a +never-ending revelation and inspiration to all connected with the +strike. + +Through the dark night of oppression a bright beacon of liberty gleamed +from Braddock. There the heroic Slavish priest, Reverend Adelbert +Kazincy, pastor of St. Michel's Roman Catholic church, bade defiance to +the Steel Trust and all its minions. He threw open his church to the +strikers, turned his services into strike meetings, and left nothing +undone to make the men hold fast. The striking steel workers came to his +church from miles around, Protestants as well as Catholics. The +neighboring clergymen who ventured to oppose the strike lost their +congregations,--men, women and children flocked to Father Kazincy's, and +all of them stood together, as solid as a brick wall. + +Reverend Kazincy's attitude aroused the bitterest hostility of the steel +companies. They did not dare to do him bodily violence, nor to close his +church by their customary "legal" methods; but they tried everything +else. Unable to get the local bishop to silence him, they threatened +finally to strangle his church. To this the doughty priest replied that +if they succeeded he would put a monster sign high up on his steeple: +"This church destroyed by the Steel Trust," and he would see that it +stayed there. When they tried to foreclose on the church mortgage, he +promptly laid the matter before his heterogeneous congregation of +strikers, who raised the necessary $1200 before leaving the building and +next day brought in several hundred dollars more. Then the companies +informed him that after the strike no more Slovaks could get work in +the mills. He told them that if they tried this, he would do his level +best to pull all the Slovaks out of the district (they are the bulk of +the mill forces) and colonize them in the West. The promised blacklist +has not yet materialized. + +Father Kazincy and the clergymen who worked with him, notable among whom +was the Reverend Molnar, a local Slavish Lutheran minister, constituted +one of the great mainstays of the strike in their district. They are men +who have caught the true spirit of the lowly Nazarene. The memory of +their loyal co-operation will long live green in the hearts of the +Pittsburgh district steel strikers. + +A description of the repressive measures taken by the Steel Trust +against its workers during the early period of the strikes necessarily +relates almost entirely to Western Pennsylvania. With few exceptions, +the other districts were in a deadlock. So tightly were the mills shut +down that the companies could hardly stir. It took them several weeks to +get their stricken fighting machinery in motion again. But it was +different in Western Pennsylvania, in what we call the greater +Pittsburgh district; that has always been the key to the whole industry, +and there, from the very first, the steel companies made a bitter fight +to control the situation and to break the strike. The tactics used there +are typical in that they came to be universally applied as the strike +grew older, the degree of their application depending upon the amount of +control exercised by the Steel Trust in the several localities. + +To carry on the terror so well begun by the suppression of free speech +and free assembly, the Steel Trust turned loose upon the devoted +strikers in Western Pennsylvania the great masses of armed thugs it had +been recruiting since long before the strike. These consisted of every +imaginable type of armed guard, official and unofficial, except +uniformed troops. There were State Constabulary, deputy sheriffs, city +police, city detectives, company police, company detectives, private +detectives, coal and iron police, ordinary gunmen, armed +strike-breakers, vigilantes, and God knows how many others. These +legions of reaction, all tarred with the same brush--a servile, +mercenary allegiance to the ruthless program of the Steel Trust--vied +with each other in working hardships upon the steel workers. In this +shameful competition the State Constabulary stood first; for downright +villainy and disregard of civil and human rights, these so-called +upholders of law and order easily outdistanced all the other plug-uglies +assembled by the Steel Trust. They merit our special attention. + +The Pennsylvania State Constabulary dates from 1905, when a law was +enacted creating the Department of State Police. The force is modelled +somewhat along the lines of the Royal Irish Constabulary and the +Canadian Northwest Mounted Police. The men are uniformed, mounted, +heavily armed and regularly enlisted. For the most part they consist of +ex-United States army men. At present they number somewhat less than the +amount set by law, 415 officers and men. Their ostensible duty is to +patrol the poorly policed rural sections of the state, and this they do +when they have nothing else to take up their time. But their real +function is to break strikes. They were organized as a result of the +failure of the militia to crush the anthracite strike of 1902. Since +their inception they have taken an active part in all important +industrial disturbances within their jurisdiction. They are the heart's +darlings of Pennsylvania's great corporations. Labor regards them with +an abiding hatred. Says Mr. Jas. H. Maurer (_The Cossack_, page 3): + + The "English Square" is the only open-field military + formation of human beings that has ever been known to + repulse cavalry. All other formations go down before the + resistless rush of plunging beasts mounted by armed men, mad + in the fierce excitement induced by the thundering gallop of + charging horses. A charge by cavalry is a storm from + hell--for men on foot. A cavalry-man's power, courage and + daring are strangely multiplied by the knowledge that he + sits astride a swift, strong beast, willing and able to + knock down a dozen men in one leap of this terrible rush. + Hence, the Cossacks, the mounted militiamen--for crushing + unarmed, unmounted groups of men on strike. + +But the State Police do not confine themselves merely to the crude +business of breaking up so-called strike riots. Their forte is +prevention, rather than cure. They aim to so terrorize the people that +they will cower in their homes, afraid to go upon the streets to +transact necessary business, much less to congregate in crowds. They +play unmercifully upon every fear and human weakness. They are skilled, +scientific terrorists, such as Czarist Russia never had. + +On a thousand occasions they beat, shot, jailed or trampled steel +workers under their horses' hoofs in the manner and under the +circumstances best calculated to strike terror to their hearts. In +Braddock, for instance, a striker having died of natural causes, about +two hundred of his fellows assembled to accompany the body to the +cemetery. To stop this harmless demonstration all the State Police +needed to do was to send a word to the union. But such orderly, +reasonable methods do not serve their studied policy of frightfulness. +Therefore, without previously informing the strikers in any way that +their funeral party was obnoxious, the Cossacks laid in wait for the +procession, and when it reached the heart of town, where all Braddock +could get the benefit of the lesson in "Americanism," they swooped down +upon it at full gallop, clubbing the participants and scattering them to +the four winds. + +Similar outrageous attacks occurred not once, but dozens of times. Let +Father Kazincy speak of his experiences: + + Braddock, Pa., Sept. 27, 1919 + W. Z. Foster, + Pittsburgh, Pa., + + _Dear Sir_: + + The pyramidal impudence of the State Constabulary in denying + charges of brutal assaults perpetrated by them upon the + peaceful citizens of the borough of Braddock prompts me to + send a telegram to the Governor of Pennsylvania, in which I + have offered to bring forth two specific cases of bestial + transgression of their "calling." + + On Monday last at 10 A. M. my congregation, leaving + church, was suddenly, without any cause whatever, attacked + on the very steps of the Temple of God, by the Constables, + and dispersed by the iron-hoofed Huns. Whilst dispersing + indignation and a blood frenzy swayed them, a frenzy + augmented by that invisible magnetic force, the murmuring, + raging force of 3,000 strong men. One could feel that + helpless feeling of being lifted up by some invisible force, + forced, thrown against the flux of raging, elemental passion + of resentment, against the Kozaks of this State. + + Nevertheless, it was the most magnificent display of + self-control manifested by the attacked ever shown anywhere. + They moved on, with heads lowered and jaws firmly set, to + submit. Oh, it was great; it was magnificent. They, these + husky, muscle-bound Titans of raw force walked home ... only + thinking, thinking hard. Oh, only for one wink from some + one, would there be a puddle of red horseblood mixed with + the human kind. + + But no. We want to win the strike. We want to win the + confidence of the public. + + Tuesday afternoon the little babies of No. 1 were going to + the school. They loitered for the school bell to summon + them. And here come Kozaks. They see the little innocents + standing on the steps of the school-house, their parents on + the opposite side of the street. What a splendid occasion to + start the "Hunkey's" ire. Let us charge their babies--that + will fetch them to an attack upon us. + + They did. But the "Hunkey" even at the supreme test of his + cool-headedness, refused to flash his knife to save his + babies from the onrush of the cruel horses' hoofs. + + I am relating to you, Mr. Foster, things as they happened. + You may use my name in connection with your charges against + the Constabulary. + + Sincerely yours, + REV. A. KAZINCY, + 416 Frazier St., + Braddock, Pa. + + +[Illustration: COSSACKS IN ACTION + +Brutal and unprovoked assault upon Rudolph Dressel, Homestead, Pa., +Sept. 23, 1919. + +_Photo by International_] + +Governor Sproul paid no attention to Father Kazincy's protest, nor did +he to a long letter from Jas. H. Maurer, reciting shocking brutalities +fully authenticated by affidavits--unless it was to multiply his public +endorsements and praises of the State Police. + +A favorite method of the Constables was to go tearing through the +streets (foreign quarter), forcing pedestrians into whatever houses they +happened to be passing, regardless of whether or not they lived there. +Read these two typical affidavits, portraying a double outrage: + + STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA } + COUNTY OF ALLEGHENY } SS. + + Before me, the undersigned authority, personally appeared + John Bodnar, who being duly sworn according to law deposes + and says that he lives at 542 Gold Way, Homestead, Pa., that + on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 1919, at about 2 P. M. he + went to visit his cousin on Fifth Avenue, Homestead, Pa.: + that he did in fact visit his cousin and after leaving the + house of his cousin was accosted on the street by a member + of the State Police who commanded him, the deponent, to + enter a certain house, which house was not known to the + deponent; that deponent informed said State Policeman that + he, deponent, did not live in the house indicated by the + State Policeman; nevertheless, the said State Policeman + said, "It makes no difference whether you live in there or + not, you go in there anyhow"; thereupon in fear of violence + deponent did enter the said house, which house was two doors + away from the house of the cousin of deponent; that after a + time deponent came out of the house into which he had been + ordered, thereupon the same State Policeman returned and + ordered deponent to re-enter the house aforesaid and upon + again being informed by deponent that he, the deponent, did + not live in said house, the said State Policeman forthwith + arrested the deponent and brought him to Homestead police + station, and at a hearing at said station before the burgess + was fined the sum of nine dollars and sixty-five cents, + which amount was paid by deponent. + + JOHN BODNAR + + Sworn to and subscribed before me + this first day of October, 1919. + A. F. Kaufman, Notary Public. + +Here is what happened in the house into which Bodnar was driven: + + STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA } + COUNTY OF ALLEGHENY } SS. + + Before me, the undersigned authority, personally appeared + Steve Dudash, who being duly sworn according to law deposes + and says that he resides at 541 E. 5th Ave., Homestead, Pa.; + that on Tuesday September 23, 1919, in the afternoon of said + day, his wife, Mary Dudash, was severely scalded, burned, + and injured by reason of a sudden fright sustained when a + State Policeman forced John Bodnar into the home of the + deponent and his wife, Mary Dudash; that said Mary Dudash, + the wife of the deponent, was in a very delicate condition + at the time of the fright and injury complained of, caused + by the State Police and that on Sunday, Sept. 28, 1919, + following the date in question, namely the 23rd, the said + Mary Dudash, wife of deponent, gave birth to a child; that + on account of the action of the State Police in forcing John + Bodnar with terror into the home of deponent and his wife, + Mary Dudash, she, the said Mary Dudash, wife of the + deponent, has been rendered very sick and has suffered a + nervous collapse and is still suffering from the nervous + shock sustained, on account of the action of the State + Police, above referred to. + + STEVE DUDASH + + Sworn to and subscribed before me + this first day of October, 1919 + A. F. Kaufman, Notary Public. + +When on a mission of terrorism the first thing the State Troopers do is +to get their horses onto the sidewalks, the better to ride down the +pedestrians. Unbelievable though it may seem, they actually ride into +stores and inner rooms. Picture the horror a foreign worker and his +family, already badly frightened, at seeing a mounted policeman crashing +into their kitchen. The horses are highly trained. Said an N. E. A. news +dispatch, Sept. 26th, 1919: + + Horses of the Pennsylvania State Constabulary are trained + not to turn aside, as a horse naturally will do, when a + person stands in its way, but to ride straight over any one + against whom they are directed. Lizzie, a splendid black + mare ridden by Trooper John A. Thorp, on duty at Homestead, + uses her teeth as well as her heels when in action. Her + master will sometimes dismount, leaving Lizzie to hold a + striker with her strong jaws, while he takes up the pursuit + of others on foot. + +If this is thought to be an overdrawn statement, read the following +affidavit: + + Butler, Pa., October 3, 1919 + + I, Jacob Sazuta, + 21 Bessemer Ave., + Lyndora, Pa. + + Commenced work for the Standard Steel Car Company in + September, 1913, as laborer. About October 1916 was promoted + to car fitter in the erection department; in February, 1919, + was then taken and placed as a wheel roller, and I worked in + this capacity until August 6th, 1919 [the date the steel + strike began there]. + + On August 25, after receiving my pay, I was standing looking + in a store window, when State Trooper No. 52 rode his horse + upon me, THE HORSE STEPPING ON MY LEFT FOOT. Trooper No. 52 + ordered me to move on, BUT AS THE HORSE WAS STANDING ON MY + FOOT I COULD NOT MOVE. He then struck me across the head + with his club, cutting a gash in the left side of my head + that took the doctor three stitches to close up the wound. + After hitting me with his club, he kept chasing me with his + horse. + + JACOB SAZUTA + + Sworn and subscribed before me + this third day of October, 1919. + E. L. Cefferi, Notary Public. + +A few affidavits, and extracts from affidavits, taken at random from +among the hundreds in possession of the National Committee, will +indicate the general conditions prevailing in the several districts: + + Clairton, Pa. + + John Doban, Andy Niski and Mike Hudak were walking home + along the street when the State Police came and arrested the + three, making ten holes in Mike Hudak's head. Were under + arrest three days. Union bailed them out, $1,000.00 each. + + * * * * * + + Butler, Pa., Oct. 3, 1919. + + I, James Torok, Storekeeper, + 103 Standard Ave., + Lyndora, Pa., + + On about August 15, 1919, I saw State Troopers chase a + crippled man who could not run as fast as his horse, and run + him down, the horse bumping him in the back with his head, + knocked him down. Later three men were coming to my store to + buy some things; the State Troopers ran their horses right + on them and chased them home. One of the men stopped and + said: "I have to go to the store," and the Trooper said: + "Get to hell out of here, you sons -- ----, or I will kill + you," and started after them again, and the people ran home + and stayed away from the store. + + JAMES TOROK + + Sworn to and subscribed before me + this 3rd day of October, 1919. + E. L. Peffer, Notary Public. + + * * * * * + + Homestead, Pa. + + ... two State Policemen made a forcible entry into the home + of deponent, Trachn Yenchenke, at 327 Third Ave, Homestead, + Pa., and came to the place where deponent was asleep, kicked + him and punched him, and handled him with extreme violence + and took deponent without any explanation, without + permitting deponent to dress, dragged him half naked from + his home to waiting automobile and conveyed him against his + will to the Homestead Police Station.... Fined $15.10. + + TRACHN YENCHENKE. + + * * * * * + + Monessen, Pa. + + ... Concetta Cocchiara, 8 months advanced in a state of + pregnancy, was out shopping with her sister. Two State + Policemen brusquely ordered them home and when they did not + move fast enough to suit, followed them home, forced himself + into the house and struck affiant with a stick on the head + and grabbed her by the hair and pulled her from the kitchen + and forced her into a patrol wagon and took her to the + borough jail.... Sworn to before Henry Fusarini, Notary + Public, October 11, 1919. + + * * * * * + + Newcastle, Pa. + + John Simpel, + 1711 Morris Ave., + Newcastle. + + On Sept. 22, about 5.30 P. M. he was walking along + towards his home on Moravia Street. Hearing shots fired he + stopped in the middle of the street and was instantly struck + by bullets three times, one bullet going through his leg, + one through his finger, while the third entered his back and + went through his body, coming out through his abdomen. The + shots were fired from inside the gates of the Carnegie Steel + Company's plant. Mr. Simpel believes the shots were fired + from a machine gun, because of their rapid succession. He + fell on the ground and lay there for about ten minutes, + until he was picked up by a young boy.... He is now totally + disabled. He has a wife and a child and is 48 years of + age.... + + JAS. A. NORRINGTON, Secretary. + + * * * * * + + Farrell, Pa. + + ... There were four men killed here, one in a quarrel in a + boarding house and three by the Cossacks. Half a dozen were + wounded, one of them a woman. She was shot in the back by a + Cossack, while on her way to the butcher shop.... + + S. COATES, Secretary. + +Many hundreds of similar cases could be cited. In the steel strike a +score were killed, almost all on the workers' side; hundreds were +seriously injured, and thousands unjustly jailed. To the State +Constabulary attaches the blame for a large share of this tyranny. The +effect of their activities was to create a condition in Western +Pennsylvania, bordering on a reign of terror. Yet it is extremely +difficult to definitely fasten their crimes upon them. No matter how +dastardly the outrage, when the Steel Trust cracks its whip the local +authorities and leading citizens come forth with a mass of affidavits, +"white-washing" the thuggery in question, and usually sufficing to cast +serious doubts on the statements of the few worker witnesses courageous +enough to raise their voices. What is to be thought of the following +incident? + +Testifying before the Senate Committee investigating the strike, Mr. +Gompers related how, in an organizing campaign in Monessen, Pa. several +years ago, A. F. of L. organizer Jefferson D. Pierce was bludgeoned by +Steel Trust thugs, receiving injuries that resulted in his death. Mr. +Gompers had his facts straight. Yet the very next day, Mr. Gary, +testifying before the same Committee, produced a sworn statement from +the son of Mr. Pierce containing the following assertions: + + I was with my father the night he received his injuries in + Monessen, Pa., and wish to state very emphatically that his + injury was not caused by any one connected with the United + States Steel Corporation. On the contrary, it was caused by + a member of the I. W. W. organization from out of town, who + was sent there at the time to create trouble, as the I. W. + W. organization was then trying to gain control of the + organizing situation. I wish again most emphatically to + refute Mr. Gompers' statement that this injury was caused by + some one connected with the United States Steel Corporation. + +Upon being questioned, Mr. Gary "thought" that Mr. Pierce is employed at +Worcester, Mass. by the American Steel and Wire Company, a subsidiary of +the U. S. Steel Corporation. + +Fortunately, however, in the steel strike the photographer secured a +proof of State Police brutality which the most skilled Steel Trust +apologists cannot explain away--a picture of the typically vicious +assault upon Mr. R. Dressel, a hotel keeper of 532 Dickson St. (foreign +quarter), Homestead, Pa. I quote from the latter's statement in +connection therewith: + + I, Rudolph Dressel, of the aforesaid address, do hereby make + this statement of my own volition and without solicitation + from any one. That on the 23rd day of September I was + standing in front of my place of business at the aforesaid + address and a friend of mine, namely, Adolph Kuehnemund, + came to visit and consult me regarding personal matters. As + I stood as shown in the picture above mentioned with my + friend, the State Constabulary on duty in Homestead came + down Dickson St. They had occasion to ride up and down the + street several times and finally stopped directly in front + of me and demanded that I move on. Before I had time to + comply I was struck by the State Policeman. (The attitude of + said Policeman is plainly shown in the aforesaid picture, + and his threatening club is plainly seen descending towards + me.) + + My friend and I then entered my place of business and my + friend a few minutes afterwards looked out on the street + over the summer doors. The policeman immediately charged him + and being unable to enter my place of business on horseback, + dismounted and entered into my place of business on foot. + + My friend being frightened at what had happened to me + retired to a room in the rear of my place of business. The + Policeman entered this room, accompanied by another State + Police, and without cause, reason or excuse, struck my + friend and immediately thereafter arrested him. I was + personally present at his hearing before Burgess P. H. + McGuire of the above city, at which none of the aforesaid + policemen were heard or even present. Burgess asked my + friend what he was arrested for, and my friend referred to + me inasmuch as he himself did not know. The Burgess + immediately replied, "We have no time to hear your + witnesses," and thereupon levied a fine of $10.00 and costs + upon him. My friend having posted a forfeit of $25.00, the + sum of $15.45 was deducted therefrom. + +The State Constabulary were sent, unasked for, into the quiet steel +towns for the sole purpose of intimidating the strikers. The following +took place at the meeting of the Braddock Borough Council, October 6: + + Mr. Verosky: (County detective and council member) "Mr. + Chairman, the citizens of the borough wish to know by whose + authority the State Constabulary was called into Braddock to + take up their quarters here and to practically relieve the + police of their duties, by patrolling the streets on foot, + mounted, and always under arms." + + Mr. Holtzman: (President of Council) "I surely do not know + who called them into town, but were I the Burgess, I would + make it my business to find out, in view of the fact that + the Constabulary is neither wanted nor needed here." + + Mr. Verosky: "Well, in that case, the Burgess may throw some + light on the subject." + + Mr. Callahan: (Burgess) "The question comes to me as a + surprise and I am sure that I don't know by whose authority + the Constabulary was called in." + +Everything was calm in Braddock until the State Police came in. Then the +trouble began. It was the same nearly everywhere. The arrival of these +men was always the signal for so-called riots, and wholesale clubbing, +shooting and jailing of strikers. + +Great praise has been poured upon the State Constabulary for their +supposedly wonderful bravery and efficiency, because a few hundred of +them, scattered thinly through a score of towns, have been able +apparently to overawe many thousands of strikers. But the credit is +undeserved. In strikes they always form, in point of actual weight, an +insignificant part of the armed forces arrayed against the strikers. For +instance, in a steel town, during the strike, there would usually be a +dozen or so State Police and from 3,000 to 4,000 deputy sheriffs, +company police, etc. The latter classes of gunmen make up the body of +the real repressive force; the State Police are merely raiders. It is +their particularly dirty job to harass the enemy; to break the strike +by scientifically bulldozing the strikers in their homes and on the +streets. Thus they are thrown into the limelight, while the company +thugs remain in comparative obscurity. + +The State Police feel reasonably sure of their skins when carrying on +their calculated campaigns of terrorism, for behind them are large +numbers of armed guards of various sorts ready to spring to their +support at an instant's notice, should the workers dare to resist them. +Besides, they know they have _carte blanche_ to commit the greatest +excesses, since the highest state officials, not to speak of local +courts and other authorities, give them undivided support. They are +above the law, when the rights of the workers are concerned. Moreover, +they realize fully that they can depend upon trade-union leaders to hold +the strikers in check from adopting measures of retaliation. Few of them +are hurt during their depredations. Once in a while, however, they drive +their victims to desperation and get themselves into trouble. + +For example, a few days after a fight in Farrell, Pa., that cost the +strikers two dead and a dozen seriously wounded, the local secretary +there, S. Coates, was on his way to Ohio to hold a meeting, when the +delivery truck upon which he was riding overturned, rendering him +unconscious. He woke up in a Sharon hospital. The six beds adjoining his +were occupied by Cossacks, injured in the riot started by themselves in +Farrell. The public knew nothing of their injuries, it being the regular +thing to suppress such facts, in order to surround the dreaded Cossacks +with a reputation for invulnerability. The way the latter "get even" +for their casualties is to victimize and outrage as many workers as they +think necessary to balance the score. But such methods cannot go on +indefinitely. It will be marvellous, indeed, if some day the State +Constabulary, with their policy of deliberate intimidation, are not the +means of causing riots such as this country has not yet experienced in +labor disputes. Not always will the unions be able to hold their men as +steady in the face of brutal provocation as they did in the recent steel +strike. + +Hand in glove with the Cossacks in their work of terrorizing +Pennsylvania's steel towns went the less skilful but equally vicious +company police, gunmen, deputy sheriffs, etc., many of whom, ex-service +men, disgraced their uniforms by wearing them on strike duty. Nor were +the city police, save for a few honorable exceptions here and there, +appreciably better. As for the police magistrates, almost to a man they +seconded unquestioningly the work of the sluggers. In fact, all the +forces of "law and order" in Western Pennsylvania, official and +unofficial, worked together like so many machines--in the interest of +their powerful master, the Steel Trust. + +Many of the armed guards were murderous criminals; penitentiary birds +scraped together from the slums of the great cities to uphold Garyism by +crushing real Americanism. They took advantage of the strike situation +and the authority vested in them to indulge in an orgy of robbery and +thievery. Dressed in United States army uniforms and wearing deputies' +badges, they even robbed strikers in broad daylight on the main +streets. And if the latter dared to protest they were lucky not to be +beaten up, jailed and fined for disorderly conduct. The strike +committees have records of many such cases. And worse yet, more than one +striker was robbed while he was in jail. Liberty bonds and cash +disappeared frequently. To lose watches, knives, etc., was a common +occurrence. + +Picketing was out of the question, although, like many other liberties +denied the steel strikers, it is theoretically permitted under the laws +and court rulings of Pennsylvania. Strikers foolhardy enough to attempt +it were usually slugged and arrested. Even the right to strike was +virtually overthrown. The practice was for several company and city +police, without warrants, to seek a man in his home, crowd in and demand +his return to work. Upon refusal he would be arrested and fined from $25 +to $100 for disorderly conduct. Then he would be offered his money back, +if he would agree to be a scab. This happened not once, but scores, if +not hundreds of times. Like practices were engaged in almost everywhere. +In Monessen State Police and other "peace officers" would regularly +round up batches of strikers before the mill gates. Those that agreed to +go to work were set free; the rest were jailed. Many were kept overnight +in an old, unlighted building and threatened from time to time with +hanging in the morning, if they would not become scabs. This was +particularly terrifying, as the strikers, mainly foreigners knowing +little of their supposed legal rights, had very good reason to think +that State Police, as well as armed thugs, would go to any extreme +against them. In Pittsburgh itself, the decisive question asked petty +prisoners in the police courts was, "Are you working?" Those who could +show that they were strike-breakers were released forthwith; while those +who admitted being on strike were usually found guilty without further +questioning. Throughout the whole district, to be a scab was to be a +peaceable, law abiding citizen; to be a striker was criminal. + +The courts put every obstacle in the way of the strikers getting +justice. In those towns where it was possible to get lawyers at all no +courtesies were extended the representatives of the men. They were +denied the right of cross-examination; could not get the necessary +papers for appeals, and in some cases were actually ordered out of +court. Attorney Roe was arrested in McKeesport for attempting to confer +with a dozen of his clients in a private hall. The strikers were held +under excessive bail and fined shamefully for trivial charges, to +disprove which they were often denied the right to produce witnesses. +The following quotations from a report by J. G. Brown, formerly +president of the International Union of Timber Workers, who was a +general organizer in the Pittsburgh district and later director of the +legal department of the National Committee, will give an indication of +the situation and some of the reasons therefor: + + ... The next day came the strike. The jails swarmed with + arrested strikers. This was especially true in the Soho + district of Pittsburgh, where are located the main entrances + of the National Tube Works, and the Jones and Laughlin + Company's plants. In the afternoon two organizers who were + walking down the street in this section were taken to jail, + held without bail on charges of being "suspicious persons." + Information was given to us that only the Supt. of Police + had authority to fix bail. He could not be located. Indeed, + that these men were arrested at all was learned only through + the newspapers. They were not allowed to communicate with + their friends or attorneys. Attorney Brennan eventually + found the Chief of Police and went bail for the men. + + Deciding to utilize the right of picketing, which the laws + of the state permit, a group of men were chosen for this + work, captains assigned and stationed at the entrances of + the mills in Soho. No sooner had they arrived there than + they were hustled right on to jail, which was already filled + to overflowing. Many were convicted on disorderly conduct + charges; others were warned of dire things in store for + them, and all were advised to return to their work in the + mills. + + Many women and young girls were among the victims of police + brutalities in the Soho district. Located in this section + were only city policemen; the State Constabulary did not + "work" much within the city limits. Much wonder was created + by the undiminishing brutality of the Soho police. The + Central Labor Council of Pittsburgh tried to have the City + Council inaugurate an investigation of the shameful state of + affairs, but nothing could be done. + + Shortly after the strike was called off the Pittsburgh + papers carried a story to the effect that the city policemen + working in the Soho district had been "paid" $150 each by + the National Tube Co. It was stated also that the same men + were paid a like amount by the Jones and Laughlin Company. + This explains, perhaps, why justice was so blind in this + section. + + On the opposite side of the Monongahela river, where the + Jones and Laughlin Company has other immense works the + police were equally bad, the police magistrate even worse. + The Police Commissioner was boss of the situation. And now + come the Pittsburgh papers with the story that this very + Commissioner, Peter P. Walsh, has made application to be + retired from the Pittsburgh police force on half pay in + order that he might accept the appointment as chief of the + mill police of the Jones and Laughlin Company. The half pay + allowance gives, according to reports, $1800 per year. The + new position Mr. Walsh is to fill is popularly understood to + carry with it a salary of $5000 per year.... The Central + Labor Council is making an effort to have this matter + investigated, but without serious hope of success. + +When a labor committee demanded that Mayor Babcock of Pittsburgh +investigate the situation, the honorable gentleman refused. He admitted +that the action of the steel companies was ill-advised; the money should +have been given to the pension fund, instead of to a few men; however, +the matter was now past history, and there was nothing to be added to +the fair name of Pittsburgh by airing it in public. The Mayor admitted, +though, that he would object to having labor unions raise funds to pay +policemen to favor them during strikes. So reason public officials in +the steel districts. + + * * * * * + +Suppression of the rights of free speech and free assembly; gigantic +organized campaigns of outlawry by the State Police and armies of +selected plug-uglies; subornation and intimidation of city, county, +state and federal officials and police; prostitution of the +courts--these are some of the means used to crush the strike of the +steel workers, and to force these over-worked, under-paid toilers still +deeper into the mire of slavery. And the whole monstrous crime was +hypocritically committed in the name of a militant, 100 per cent. +Americanism. + + + + +IX + +EFFORTS AT SETTLEMENT + + THE NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL CONFERENCE--THE SENATE COMMITTEE + --THE RED BOOK--THE MARGOLIS CASE--THE INTERCHURCH WORLD + MOVEMENT + + +Upon October 6 the National Industrial Conference opened its sessions in +Washington, D. C. This body was called together by President Wilson to +make an effort to solve the pressing labor difficulties confronting the +country, and was the one, pending whose deliberations the steel workers +had been asked to postpone their strike. It was a three-party +arrangement, Capital, Labor and the Public being represented. Naturally +it was only advisory in character; and under the rules adopted all +action taken, not relating merely to methods of procedure, had to have +the endorsement of all three sections, each of which voted as a unit in +accordance with the majority sentiment of its members. + +The Conference met in the midst of a tense situation. The steel industry +was almost completely paralysed; the miners were just about to launch +their national general strike; the railroaders were in a foment of +discontent, and many other large and important sections of workers were +demanding better conditions. Capital and Labor were arrayed against +each other as never before. Both appeared determined to fight; Capital +in a bitter, revengeful spirit to oust Labor from the favorable position +won during the war, and Labor in a decided effort to hold what it had +and to make more winnings to offset the rapidly mounting cost of living. +The United States seemed upon the brink of an industrial war. + +From the beginning the touchstone of the Conference, the measure by +which all its activities were gauged, was the steel strike. It was clear +that its attitude towards this great issue would settle its general +policy. This was felt by all parties to the Conference, even though some +hated the thought. The labor delegation, headed by Samuel Gompers, +precipitated matters by introducing, by previous arrangement with the +National Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers, the following +resolution: + + WHEREAS, The Nation-wide strike now in progress in + the steel industry of America affects not only the men and + women directly concerned, but tends to disturb the relations + between employers and workers throughout our industrial + life; and + + WHEREAS, This conference is called for the purpose + of stabilizing industries and bringing into being a better + relation between employers and employees; and + + WHEREAS, Organized Labor wishes to manifest its + sincere and fair desire to prove helpful in immediately + adjusting this pending grave industrial conflict; therefore, + be it, + + RESOLVED, That each group comprising this + conference select two of its number and these six so + selected to constitute a committee to which shall be + referred existing differences between the workers and + employers in the steel industry for adjudication and + settlement. Pending the findings of this committee, this + conference requests the workers involved to return to work + and the employers to re-instate them in their former + positions. + +This resolution provoked a storm of opposition from the reactionary +employers, who, headed by Mr. Gary (ironically seated with John D. +Rockefeller, Jr., as a representative of the Public) insisted that the +Conference ignore the steel strike situation altogether, its purpose +being, according to them, not the settlement of existing disputes, but +the formulation of principles and plans which would provide for the +prevention of such disputes in the future. Finally, seeing that if they +insisted upon their resolution it would wreck the Conference, the +workers held it in abeyance temporarily and submitted the following: + + The right of wage earners to organize without + discrimination, to bargain collectively, to be represented + by representatives of their own choosing in negotiations and + adjustments with employers in respect to wages, hours of + labor and relations and conditions of employment, is + recognized. + +Such a mild proposition as this would hardly meet with serious +opposition in a similar conference in any other important country than +ours. All over Europe it would be far too conservative to fit the +situation. In England, for example, the British Industrial Conference +recently adopted the following: + + The basis of negotiation between employers and work people + should, as is presently the case in the chief industries of + the country, be the full, frank acceptance of the employers' + organizations on the one hand, and trade unions on the other + as the recognized organizations to speak and act on behalf + of their members. + +And just across our border, in Canada, this advanced conception was +formulated but a few months before: + + On the whole we believe the day has passed when any employer + should deny his employees the right to organize. Employers + claim that right for themselves and it is not denied by the + workers. There seems to be no reason why the employer should + deny like rights to those who are employed by him. Not only + should employees be accorded the right of organizing, but + the prudent employer will recognize such organization and + will deal with the duly accredited representatives thereof + in all matters relating to the interests of the employees + when it is fairly established to be representative of them + all. + +But Mr. Gary and his associates care nothing about the reputation of +America as a progressive, liberty-loving country. They have their +prerogatives, and they intend to exercise them, cost what it may. They +organize as they see fit and pick out such representatives as they will; +but by virtue of their economic strength they deny to their workers +these same rights. So they voted down Labor's collective bargaining +resolution, and at the same time the one providing for a settlement of +the steel strike. The employers insisted upon absolute rule by +themselves. + +This action discredited the Conference, and sentenced it to dissolution. +By its refusal to meet the great steel strike issue the Conference +showed that it had neither the will nor the power to settle industrial +disputes. Labor, openly denied the fundamental right of organization, +could no longer sit with it. The workers' representatives, therefore, +took the only honorable course left to them; they withdrew, allowing the +whole worthless structure to collapse. Said Mr. Gompers in his final +speech: + + Gentlemen, I have sung my swan song in this conference. You + have, by your action--the action of the employers' + group--legislated us out of this conference. We have nothing + further to submit; and with a feeling of regret we have not + been enabled with a clear conscience to remain here longer. + We have responsibilities to employees and workers and those + dependent upon them. We must fulfill these obligations. + +Thus ingloriously ended the Conference upon which the steel workers had +been asked to hang all their hopes. Even with powerful organizations +intact and with their industry almost entirely at a standstill, the +latter could get no consideration from it. What, then, would have been +their fate if they had postponed the strike? With their forces +shattered, half of their men being on strike and the rest at work +thoroughly disgusted, they would have been helpless and unable to strike +in any event. They would have been absolutely at the mercy of the +employers. And any one who may imagine that the latter would have done +anything short of giving the steel workers their _coup de grace_ at the +Conference is an optimist indeed. The steel strike was a clean fight +and an honorable defeat for Labor. Its bad effects will soon wear off. +But it would have been a ruinous calamity, with ineradicable harm, had +the strike been postponed for the sake of the ill-fated Industrial +Conference. + + * * * * * + +Pursuant to a resolution adopted by the Senate on September 23, in the +white heat of the strike excitement, the Committee on Education and +Labor was instructed to investigate the steel strike and to report back +to the Senate as soon as possible. Accordingly this Committee held +sittings in Washington and Pittsburgh, hearing about one hundred +witnesses all told. Its active members were Senators Kenyon (Chairman), +McKellar, Walsh (Mass.), Sterling and Phipps. + +For the workers Samuel Gompers, John Fitzpatrick, M. F. Tighe and many +organizers and strikers testified, setting forth in detail the +grievances and demands of the men. For the steel companies came the +usual crop of strike-breakers and company officials, pliable city +authorities and business men from the steel towns. The star witness was +Judge Gary, who presented practically the entire case for the whole +steel industry. It is noteworthy that with the exception of one minor +hothead, the so-called "independents" made no defense before the +committee. They left it all to their master, the United States Steel +Corporation. + +Mr. Gary was a good witness. Not for him were the antiquated blusterings +of a "divine-right" Baer or a "public-be-damned" Vanderbilt. He used the +modern method,--a mass of silky hypocrisies and misrepresentations for +the public, to cover up the mailed fist he has for his workers. He was +suave, oily, humble, obliging, persuasive, patriotic. He pictured the +steel industry as a sort of industrial heaven and the U. S. Steel +Corporation as a beneficent institution, leading even the trade-union +movement in reform work. + +Inasmuch as Mr. Gary's peculiar notions of the "open shop," minority +rule by the unions, etc., set forth afresh by him at the strike +hearings, are discussed quite generally throughout this book, there is +no need to review them again here. We will note his testimony no more +than to give the facts of the death of Mrs. Fannie Sellins, of whose +murder he was so anxious to clear the Steel Trust. + +Mrs. Fannie Sellins was an organizer for the United Mine Workers of +America, stationed in the notorious, anti-union Black Valley district +along the Allegheny river. An able speaker, and possessed of boundless +courage, energy, enthusiasm and idealism, she was a most effective +worker. Due largely to her efforts many thousands of miners and +miscellaneous workers in this hard district were organized. She was the +very heart of the local labor movement, which ranked second to none in +Pennsylvania for spirit and progress. When the steel campaign began, +Mrs. Sellins threw herself whole-heartedly into it. She worked +indefatigably. More than any other individual she was responsible for +the unionization of the big United States Steel Corporation mills at +Vandergrift, Leechburg and New Kensington, as well as those of the +so-called independent Allegheny and West Penn Steel Companies at +Brackenridge. The results secured by her will compare favorably with +those of any other organizer in the whole campaign. + +By her splendid work in behalf of the toilers Mrs. Sellins gained the +undying hatred of the untamed employers in the benighted Black Valley +district. Open threats were made to "get" her. The opportunity came on +August 26, 1919, when she was deliberately murdered under the most +brutal circumstances. + +The miners of the Allegheny Coal and Coke Company were on strike at West +Natrona. The mine is situated in the mill yard of the Allegheny Steel +Company and furnishes fuel for that concern. All was going peacefully +when a dozen drunken deputy sheriffs on strike duty, led by a mine +official, suddenly rushed the pickets, shooting as they came. Joseph +Strzelecki fell, mortally wounded. Mrs. Sellins, standing close by, +rushed first to get some children out of danger. Then she came back to +plead with the deputies, who were still clubbing the prostrate +Strzelecki, not to kill him. What happened then is told in the _New +Majority_ (Chicago) of September 20: + + ---- ----, the mine official, snatched a club and felled the + woman to the ground. + + This was not on company ground, but just outside the fence + of a friend of Mrs. Sellins. + + She rose and tried to drag herself toward the gate. + + ---- shouted: "Kill that -- -- -- -- -- --!" + + Three shots were fired, each taking effect. + + She fell to the ground, and ---- cried: "Give her another!" + + One of the deputies, standing over the motionless and + silent body, held his gun down and, without averting his + face, fired into the body that did not move. + + An auto truck, in waiting, was hurried to the scene and the + body of the old miner thrown in; then Mrs. Sellins was + dragged by the heels to the back of the car. Before she was + placed in the truck, a deputy took a cudgel and crushed in + her skull before the eyes of the throng of men, women and + children, who stood in powerless silence before the armed + men. Deputy ---- picked up the woman's hat, placed it on his + head, danced a step, and said to the crowd: "I'm Mrs. + Sellins now." + +Thus perished noble Fannie Sellins: shot in the back by so-called peace +officers. And she 49 years old, a grandmother, and mother of a boy +killed in France, fighting to make the world safe for democracy. + +Many people witnessed this horrible murder. The guilty men were named +openly in the newspapers and from a hundred platforms. Yet no one was +ever punished for the crime. Witnesses were spirited away or +intimidated, and the whole matter hushed up in true Steel Trust fashion. +A couple of deputies were arrested; but they were speedily released on +smaller bonds than those often set for strikers arrested for picketing. +Eventually they were freed altogether. + +The killing of Mrs. Sellins, right in the teeth of the strike as it was, +lent much bitterness to the general situation. Rightly or wrongly, the +steel workers, almost to a man, felt that this devoted woman was a +martyr to their cause. + +[Illustration: MRS. FANNIE SELLINS, TRADE UNION ORGANIZER + +Killed by Steel Trust gunmen, West Natrona, Pa., Aug. 26, 1919.] + +Upon November 8, the Senate Committee, having completed its hearings, +made public its report. This document is a strange mixture of +progressive and reactionary principles. In some respects, especially +where it grants, however confusedly, the right of collective bargaining +and the eight hour day, it is just and meets the situation; but in other +respects it is so unfair to the workers' cause as to be grotesque. For +one thing it shoulders upon the unions the entire responsibility for the +failure to postpone the strike, choosing to disregard completely the +clearly established fact that the steel companies were discharging men +so fast that for the unions it was a case of strike or perish. In fact, +the report ignores altogether the bitter grievance of men being +discharged for union membership. Mr. Gary had said that this practice +was not engaged in, and that apparently settled it so far as the +Committee was concerned,--the testimony of dozens of victimized workers +(with thousands more available) to the contrary notwithstanding. Other +sins of the Steel Trust, the suppression of free speech and free +assembly, etc., were passed over lightly; but the alleged virtues of its +housing and welfare plans were very highly lauded. + +Nowhere are the workers more ruthlessly robbed and exploited by their +employers than in the steel industry. Speaking recently in Brooklyn on +the subject of profiteering, Mr. Basil Manly, formerly Joint Chairman of +the National War Labor Board, cited Page 367 of the Treasury report as +showing one steel company "earning" $14,549,952 in 1917 on a capital of +$5,000, or a profit of 290,999 per cent. As the department conveniently +suppresses all details, it is impossible to learn the name of this +company or how it made such fabulous profits. On the same page appeared +another steel company with a profit rate of 20,180 per cent. Speaking of +the United States Steel Corporation's returns, which of course were +garbled so that no outsider could understand them, Mr. Manly said: + + For this reason I am unable to tell you, on the basis of the + Treasury Department's figures, what the net income of the + Steel Corporation is, but on the basis of its own published + report I can tell you that in two years, 1916 and 1917, the + net profits of the Steel Corporation, after payment of + interest on bonds and after making allowance for all charges + growing out of the installation of special war facilities, + amounted to $888,931,511. This is more by $20,000,000 than + the total capital stock of the Steel Corporation (which is + $868,583,600). In other words, in 1916 and 1917 every dollar + of the capital stock of the Steel Corporation was paid for + in net profits. In this connection it should be remembered + that when the Steel Corporation was formed its entire + $500,000,000 worth of common stock represented nothing but + water. + +The other steel companies did as well or better, proportionately. W. +Jett Lauck, acting on behalf of the railroad workers, submitted figures +to the United States Railroad Labor Board (A. P. dispatches May 19, +1920) showing that during the years 1916-18 the Bethlehem Steel +Corporation "earned" average annual profits of $29,000,000, or six times +its pre-war average. In 1916 its profits amounted to 146 per cent. on +its capital stock. Our Johnstown friend, the Cambria Steel Company, in +1916-17 cleaned up $50,000,000 on $45,000,000 capital stock; while the +Lackawanna, Republic, Colorado Fuel and Iron, Jones and Laughlin, +Crucible, etc., companies made similar killings. + +As against useless, non-producing drones getting these millions, the +great mass of workers actually operating the industry were receiving the +beggarly wages of from 42 to 48 cents per hour. They had received no +increase for a year before the strike, notwithstanding the skyrocketing +cost of living. Yet the Senate Committee could discover no discontent at +this condition nor see any injustice in it. Upon page 10 of its report +appears the startling statement that "The question of wages is not +involved in this controversy." Forty-two cents per hour would hardly buy +cigars for these smug, well-fed gentlemen; still they would have us +conclude that it is enough for a steel worker to raise a family upon. + +The fact is, of course, that an increase in wages was a cardinal demand +of the strikers, even though the Senate Committee did not get to learn +of it.[13] And so great was the steel workers' need for more money that +the strike had scarcely ended when the United States Steel Corporation, +followed soon after by the "independents," granted its lesser skilled +help 10 per cent. increase in wages, and promised "an equitable +adjustment" to the widely advertised small minority of highly paid men. + +Part of the strike-breaking strategy of the Steel Trust was to alienate +public sympathy from the strike by denouncing it as an incipient +revolution which had to be put down at all costs. Public opinion was +already violently inflamed against everything savoring no matter how +slightly of radicalism, and it was not difficult for the reactionary +newspapers to make the steel strike unpopular, even as they had, under +various pretexts, the movements of the miners and railroad men of the +period. One weapon they used extensively against the steel strike was an +almost forgotten pamphlet, "Syndicalism," written by Earl C. Ford and +myself eight years ago. + +Throughout the hearings the investigating senators went along with this +Steel Trust propaganda, which was not so surprising considering the fact +that of the five active committee men, one was a steel magnate, and +three others typical Bourbons. By playing up the "little red book" they +systematically fed the newspapers with the sensationalism they wanted +and which the steel companies desired them to get. I was called before +the Committee and gruffly ordered to express my opinion on the doctrines +in the booklet. In reply, I stated that the steel movement had been +carried on according to the strictest trade-union principles. It was +overseen by the National Committee, consisting of twenty-four +presidents of large international unions. As secretary of this committee +I had necessarily worked under the close scrutiny of these men and +dozens of their organizers--not to speak of the highest officials in the +American Federation of Labor. Yet none of these trade unionists, keen +though they be to detect and condemn unusual practices and heresy in the +ranks, had found fault with the character of my work. Nor could the crew +of detectives and stool pigeons of the steel companies and Department of +Justice, who had dogged my footsteps for a year past, cite a single word +said, a thing done, or a line written by me in the entire campaign which +would not measure up to most rigid trade-union standards. I contended +that my private opinions were immaterial as they did not and could not +enter into the organizing work or the strike. + +But the nation-wide head hunt of the radicals was on in full cry, and +the Senators had a good blood scent. They would follow it to the end. +They insisted that I express my opinion upon the wage system, the state, +morality, patriotism, marriage, etc. Finally, in a last effort to +protect the interests of the 2,000,000 men, women and children affected +by the strike, I stated that if the vulture press, which was bound to +misrepresent what I said, was removed from the room, I would be glad to +oblige the Senators with a frank expression of my views upon any +subject. But this simple fairness to the steel workers and their +families they denied. The newspapers were clamoring for red meat, and +the Senators seemed determined they should have it. Having made my +protest and my prediction, I was compelled to yield; but the first +newspapers on the streets proved the soundness of my fears. My answers +were garbled and twisted against both the steel movement and me. + +Then there was the Margolis case. I charge that to be a deliberate +frame-up against the steel strike. To prove the Steel Trust's contention +that the strike was a desperate revolutionary _coup_, engineered by men +seeking to destroy our civilization generally, somewhat more was +required than merely an eight year old booklet. The thing had to be +brought down to date and a far-reaching plot constructed. Hence the +Senate Committee dragged in Mr. Margolis and made him a scapegoat. Mr. +Margolis is a well known Anarchist attorney of Pittsburgh. He has the +reputation of having served ably as counsel for several trade-union +organizations, and has a wide circle of acquaintances among labor men. +The Senate Committee selected him as the man who had organized, with my +hearty support and co-operation, the real force behind the strike, the +I. W. W.'s, Anarchists and Bolshevists. + +Now the fact is that Mr. Margolis had nothing whatever to do, officially +or unofficially, with the policies or management of either the +organizing campaign or the strike. He had no connection with the Strike +committee; nor did he ever even speak at a union meeting of steel +workers during the whole movement in question. If he wrote an article in +some radical paper, or spoke to a meeting of Russian workmen in +Youngstown, endorsing the strike, as is said, he did it purely as an +individual sympathizer acting upon his own initiative. Mr. Margolis +freely stated this on the stand, and every union official in Pittsburgh +knew it to be the case. So did the investigating Senators; but it the +better served their purpose to enlarge upon Mr. Margolis' activities, in +the hope that his radical reputation would lend color to the plot theory +which they were laboring so hard to establish, and which was so +advantageous to the Steel Trust. + +In their final report the Senators continued their plot "evidence" and +insinuations, so persistently worked up all through their hearings. They +ignored highly important testimony tending to put the movement in its +right light as a strictly trade-union affair, and gave prominence to +everything to the contrary. They elevated unheard-of I. W. W.'s into +powerful strike leaders and surrounded the most ordinary comings and +goings with revolutionary mystery. Where they lacked facts they cast +suspicion, leaving a vicious daily press to draw its own conclusions. + +Although they expressed great concern for the sufferings of the public +in strikes, and advocated the establishment of an industrial tribunal to +prevent them in the future, the worthy Senators, nevertheless, +recommended no means to end the steel strike. So far as they were +concerned, apparently they were willing to have the steel strike fought +to a conclusion. At one of the Senate Committee hearings, John +Fitzpatrick, Chairman of the National Committee, agreed to arbitration. +But later Mr. Gary gave an emphatic "No" to this proposition. Mr. Gary's +wishes usually had decisive weight with the Senators, so the matter was +settled. + +On October 1-3, 1919, a national conference called by the Industrial +Relations Department of the Interchurch World Movement met at the Hotel +Pennsylvania in New York and adopted a resolution providing for a full +investigation of the steel strike, then a burning public question. Under +the terms of this resolution the Industrial Relations Department set up +an independent Commission of Inquiry, composed of representative +churchmen from all over the country who should be responsible for +carrying out the investigation. This Commission consisted of Bishop +Francis J. McConnell (Methodist), Chairman, Dr. Daniel A. Poling +(Evangelical), vice-Chairman, Dr. John McDowell (Presbyterian), Mrs. +Fred Bennett (Board of Foreign Missions), Dr. Nicholas Van Der Pyl +(Congregational), Dr. Alva W. Taylor (Disciples), and Mr. Geo. W. +Coleman (Baptist). + +In order to commit the investigation of technical data to the hands of +trained men, the Industrial Relations Department obtained the services +of the Bureau of Industrial Research, New York, which, besides its own +researches, obtained the co-operation of various other scientific +agencies and organized a staff of field workers whose principal members +were: Mr. George Soule, Mr. David J. Saposs, Miss Marian D. Savage, Mr. +Marion K. Wisehart and Mr. Robert Littell. A member of the Bureau of +Industrial Research, Mr. Heber Blankenhorn, had charge of the field work +and later acted as Secretary to the Commission of Inquiry, which held +hearings in Pittsburgh, Chicago, and other steel centres. + +The Interchurch World Movement, representing as it does the organized +Protestant millions of America, is a conservative and respectable body, +if there is such in this country. Yet when it stepped upon the toes of +the Steel Trust by starting the investigation it found itself soon +classed among the revolutionaries. Persistent rumors were sent +broadcast, and even newspaper stories, to the effect that the +Commission's investigators were "Bolsheviks" and that the Interchurch +World Movement was permeated with "anarchists." This hampered the work +greatly, especially among employers. Finally a threat of legal action +was necessary against a large commercial organization which had +circulated the rumors officially. It eventually retracted in full. As +for the workers, they gave the fullest co-operation to the +investigation. + +Impressed by the scientific methods and apparent desire to get at the +truth of the strike situation manifested in the Interchurch +investigation--which stood in striking contrast to the slipshod, +haphazard system, "red" mania, and violent partiality towards the steel +companies shown by the Senate Committee,--the strike leaders decided to +ask the Commission to undertake a settlement of the strike by mediation, +which the Commission had the power to do under the resolution creating +it. The workers' representatives felt that no stone should be left +unturned to get a settlement, and that if the powerful Interchurch +movement stirred in their behalf possibly Mr. Gary would be dislodged +from his position. + +Consequently, John Fitzpatrick, Chairman of the National Committee, put +before Mr. Blankenhorn a plan for the settlement of the strike by +mediation. Mr. Blankenhorn felt, however, that it might be better to +recommend that the Commission move independently, rather than as merely +representing the strikers, and submitted the following plan, which was +adopted by the Commission: + + 1. To mediate in behalf of all the steel workers, both those + on strike and those who had gone back to work. + + 2. That the purpose of the mediation should be to establish + a new deal in the steel industry rather than merely to end + the strike. + + 3. That the ending of the strike should be arranged solely + with a view to giving the new deal the best possible chance. + +On December 1, the National Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel +Workers met and formally accepted this proposition of mediation. What +happened next is told in an official statement to the writer of this +book: + + On December 5 a committee from the Commission, consisting of + Bishop McConnell, Dr. Poling and Dr. McDowell, called on Mr. + Gary with the purpose of, first, ascertaining if he would + accept their office as mediators; next, of proposing their + plan of mediation and pressing the acceptance of it by the + employers; and, finally, of ordering the men back to work, + the strike leaders to step out of the situation, and the + Commission to set up a permanent mediation body to bring + about a conference between employers and employees in the + steel industry. There was the feeling in the Commission that + extraordinary concessions had been made by the leaders of + the strike and that any reasons advocated by the employers + for not accepting the mediation plan would have to be + weighty. + + Mr. Gary received the Commission courteously and after + minutely cross-examining them concerning the "anonymous" + report of the presence of "Bolsheviks" among them, he heard + the Commission to the extent of learning the first step in + their proposal. He made his reply immediately, an absolute + refusal of arbitration or mediation. The Commission + therefore never had any opportunity to present the + authorized acceptance of the mediation plan by the other + side and in no sense conveyed to Mr. Gary the extent of the + concessions which the strikers were then willing to make. + Mr. Gary, however, clearly understood that acceptance of the + mediation plan would mean that the men would all return to + work at once. + + Mr. Gary based his refusal on the grounds that any dealings + which in any way involved representatives of the men then on + strike would be an acceptance of the closed shop, sovietism, + and the forcible distribution of property. Mr. Gary said + that if the Commission represented the men who had gone back + to work, those men were content; if the Commission + represented the men who had not gone back to work, those men + are nothing but red radicals whom the plants did not want + anyway. He said that there was absolutely no issue for + discussion with the U. S. Steel Corporation. + + The Commission presented its viewpoint on the advisability + of mediation at great length and with insistence. Mr. Gary + did not in any respect modify his immediate decision. + + The Commission felt it necessary therefore to drop the plan + and transmitted the following to the National Committee: + + + December 6, 1919 + + Memorandum for Mr. Fitzpatrick: + + The independent Commission of Inquiry, instituted by the + Interchurch World Movement to investigate the steel strike, + received on December 2 a communication marked + "confidential," dealing with an official action taken by the + National Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers, + signed by Mr. Fitzpatrick and Mr. Foster. + + On December 5, members of the Commission informally + conversed with Mr. Gary for two hours, proposing to plan a + new basis of relations in the steel industry, with an ending + of the strike best calculated to further better relations. + They offered to act as mediators both on behalf of the men + still on strike, whose leaders were to order them back and + then step out of the situation, and on behalf of still + dissatisfied men who had nevertheless returned to work. + + Mr. Gary refused to confer with these representatives of the + churches as mediators in behalf of any interests represented + by you in the strike, on the ground that the men still out + were Bolshevist radicals who were not wanted in the mills + and who would not be taken back. + + And as to mediating in behalf of any other interests, Mr. + Gary said that the men were contented and that "there is no + issue." + + I am requested to communicate the above information to you + by the Chairman of the Commission of Inquiry. + + Very truly yours, + H. BLANKENHORN. + +At the time this book goes to press the findings and recommendations of +the Commission have not yet been made public. + +This made the sixth attempt of the National Committee to settle the +steel controversy--not to mention the individual effort of the +Amalgamated Association. They were: (1) The letter from Mr. Gompers to +Mr. Gary requesting a conference; (2) the visit to his office of the +National Committee conference committee, equipped with the power to set +a strike date; (3) the appeal to President Wilson to arrange a +conference; (4) Organized Labor's resolution in the National Industrial +Conference to have that body select an arbitration board; (5) The offer +of arbitration by John Fitzpatrick while testifying before the Senate +Committee; and, (6) the Interchurch mediation incident. + +But they were all futile. Mr. Gary's policy is the time-honored one of +all tyrants, rule or ruin. The unions had no option but to fight, and +this they did to the best of their ability. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[13] There seemed to be many important things of which this committee +had never heard. For instance, when in my testimony I referred to Lester +F. Ward, Senator Sterling innocently inquired who he was. He had +apparently never even heard of this eminent American sociologist, who +was perhaps the greatest scholar ever born in the western hemisphere, +and whose name is honored by scientific minds the world over. And what +makes Senator Sterling's ignorance the more inexcusable is that he was +actually holding office in Washington at the same time that Professor +Ward was carrying on his brilliant studies in that very city. For one +who stresses so much his 100 per cent. Americanism as does the Senator +it is indeed a sad showing not to be familiar with this great native +product. + + + + +X + +THE COURSE OF THE STRIKE + + PITTSBURGH DISTRICT--THE RAILROAD MEN--CORRUPT NEWSPAPERS + --CHICAGO DISTRICT--FEDERAL TROOPS AT GARY--YOUNGSTOWN + DISTRICT--THE AMALGAMATED ASSOCIATION--CLEVELAND--THE ROD + AND WIRE MILL STRIKE--THE BETHLEHEM PLANTS--BUFFALO AND + LACKAWANNA--WHEELING AND STEUBENVILLE--PUEBLO--JOHNSTOWN + --MOB RULE--THE END OF THE STRIKE. + +Although the Steel strike was national in scope and manifested the same +general, basic tendencies everywhere, nevertheless it differed enough +from place to place to render necessary some indication of particular +events in the various districts in order to convey a clear conception of +the movement as a whole. It is the purpose of this chapter to point out +a few of these salient features in the several localities and to draw +some lessons therefrom. + +In the immediate Pittsburgh district, due to the extreme difficulties +under which the organizing work was carried on and the strike +inaugurated, the shut-down was not so thorough as elsewhere. +Considerable numbers of men, notably in the skilled trades, remained at +work, and the mills limped along, at least pretending to operate. This +was exceedingly bad, Pittsburgh being the strategic centre of the +strike, as it is of the industry, and the companies were making +tremendous capital of the fact that the mills there were still producing +steel. Accordingly, the National Committee left no stone unturned to +complete the tie-up, already 75 per cent. effective. But under the +circumstances, with meetings banned and picketing prohibited, it was out +of the question to reach directly the men who had stayed at work. The +key to the situation was in the hands of the railroad men. + +Operating between the various steel plants and connecting them up with +the main lines, there are several switching roads, such as the Union +Railroad and the McKeesport and Monongahela Connecting Lines. They are +the nerve centers of the local steel industry. If they could be struck +the mills would have to come to a standstill. The National Committee +immediately delegated organizers to investigate the situation. These +reported that the body of the men in the operating departments were +organized; that they had no contracts with the steel companies, and that +they were ready for action, but awaiting co-operation from their +respective national headquarters. + +Consequently, the National Committee arranged a conference in Washington +with responsible representatives of the Brotherhoods and laid the +situation before them. In reply they stated that their policy was +strictly to observe their contracts wherever they had such, and that +their men would be forbidden to do work around the mills not done by +them prior to the strike. It was up to the men on the non-contract roads +and yards to decide for themselves about joining the strike. We informed +them then that the situation was such, with the men scattered through +many locals, that merely leaving it up to them was insufficient; it +would be impossible for them to act together without direct aid and +encouragement from their higher officials. We made the specific request +that each of the organizations send a man into Pittsburgh to take a +strike vote of the men in question, who are all employees of the steel +companies. They took the matter under advisement; but nothing came of +it, although long afterwards, when the opportune moment had passed, +organizer J. M. Patterson of the Railway Carmen (also of the Trainmen) +was authorized to take a strike vote. Thus was lost the chance to close +down these strategic switching lines and with them, in all likelihood, +several big mills in the most vital district in the entire steel +industry. + +Throughout the strike zone general disappointment was expressed by the +steel workers at the apparent lack of sympathy with their cause shown by +the officials of the Brotherhoods. The steel workers, bitterly oppressed +for a generation and fighting desperately towards the light in the face +of unheard-of opposition, turned instinctively for aid to their closely +related, powerfully organized fellow workers, the railroad men. And the +latter could easily have lent them effective, if not decisive assistance +without violating a contract or in any way endangering their standing. +It was not to be expected that the trunk line men, working as they were +under government agreements, would refuse to haul the scab steel; but +there were many other ways, perfectly legitimate under current +trade-union practice and ethics, in which help could have been given; +yet it was not. From Youngstown and elsewhere the railroad men who did +go on strike in the mill yards complained with bitterness that they were +neglected and denied strike benefits, and that the rule that no road man +should do work around the mills not customary before the strike was +flagrantly violated. Usually the rank and file were strongly disposed to +assist the hard-pressed steel workers, and they could have everywhere +wonderfully stiffened the strike, but the necessary encouragement and +cooperation from the several headquarters was lacking. Truth demands +that these unpleasant things be set down. Labor can learn and progress +only through a frank acknowledgment and discussion of its weaknesses, +mistakes and failures. + +In addition to all their other handicaps the Pittsburgh district +strikers had to contend with a particularly treacherous local press. +Everywhere our daily papers are newspapers only by courtesy of a +misapplied term. They are sailing under false colors. Pretending to be +purveyors of unbiased accounts of current happenings, they are in +reality merely propaganda organs, twisting, garbling and suppressing +facts and information in the manner best calculated to further the +interests of the employing class. The whole newsgathering and +distributing system is a gigantic mental prostitution. Consequently, +considering the issues involved, it was not surprising to see the big +daily papers take such a decided stand against the steel workers. +Everywhere in steel districts the papers were bad enough, but those in +the Pittsburgh district outstripped all the rest. They gave themselves +over body and soul to the service of the Steel Trust. + +From the first these Pittsburgh papers were violently antagonistic to +the steel workers. Every sophistry uttered by Mr. Gary to the effect +that the strike was an effort to establish the "closed shop," a bid for +power, or an attempt at revolution, the papers echoed and re-echoed _ad +nauseum_. They played up the race issue, virtually advising the +Americans to stand together against the foreigners who were about to +overwhelm them. They painted the interests of the country as being +synonymous with those of the steel companies and tried to make +Americanism identical with scabbery. For them no further proof of one's +patriotism was needed than to go back to the mills. Every clubbing of +strikers was the heroic work of the law-abiding against reckless mobs. +Strike "riots" were manufactured out of whole cloth. For instance, when +the senators investigating the strike were visiting the Homestead mills, +a couple of strike-breakers quarreling with each other, several blocks +away, fired a shot. An hour later screaming headlines told the startled +populace of Pittsburgh that "STRIKERS SHOOT AT SENATORS" and "MOB +ATTACKS SENATE COMMITTEE." Even the stand-pat senators had to protest +that this was going it too strong. + +In revenge for an alleged dynamiting in Donora, Pa., the authorities +swooped down upon the union headquarters, arrested 101 strikers present, +including organizer Walter Hodges, and charged them with the crime. +Since there was not a shred of evidence against the accused, they were +all eventually discharged. Then the Donora _Herald_, which forever +yelped that the organizers advocated violence, had this to say: + + One of the reasons we have sedition preached in America is + because we have grand juries like that at Washington (Pa.) + this week which ignored the dynamiting cases. Possibly the + biggest mistake of all was made in not using rifles at the + time instead of turning the guilty parties over to the very + sensitive mercies of the grand jury. + +But the journalistic strike-breaking master-stroke was an organized +effort to stampede the men back to work by minimizing the strike's +effectiveness. First the papers declared that only a few thousands of +Pittsburgh's steel workers went out. Then they followed this for weeks +with stories of thousands of men flocking back to the mills. Full page +advertisements begged the men to go back; while flaming headlines told +us that "MEN GO BACK TO MILLS," "STEEL STRIKE WANING," "MILLS OPERATING +STRONGER," "MORE MEN GO BACK TO WORK," etc. It became a joke, but the +patient Pittsburgh people couldn't see it. Said Wm. Hard in the +_Metropolitan_ for February, 1920: + + "Mr. Foster," I said, "I am going to be perfectly frank with + you. I know your strike's a fizzle of course, but I know + more. I not only take pains to read the telegraphic + dispatches of the news from the managers of the steel mills, + but I keep the clippings. I have the history of your strike + in cold print. Hardly anybody struck anyhow, in most places, + except some foreigners; and then they began at once to go + back in thousands and thousands and new thousands every day + for months. If you claim there were 300,000 strikers, I + don't care. I've counted up the fellows that went back to + work, and I've totalled them up day by day. They're a little + over 4,800,000. So you're pretty far behind." + +But despite everything--the suppression of free speech and free +assembly, Cossack terrorism, official tyranny, prostitution of the +courts, attacks from the lying press, and all the rest of it--the steel +workers in the immediate Pittsburgh district (comprising the towns along +the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers from Apollo to Monessen) made a +splendid fight. The very pressure seemed to hold them the better +together. Their ranks were never really broken, the strike being +weakened only by a long, costly wearing-away process. The stampede back +to work, so eagerly striven for by the employers, did not materialize. +In the beginning of the strike the Pittsburgh district was the weakest +point in the battle line; at the end it was one of the very strongest. + + * * * * * + +The Chicago district struck very well, but it weakened earlier than +others. This was because the employers scored a break-through at Indiana +Harbor and Gary, particularly the latter place, which shattered the +whole line. + +Gary, the great western stronghold of the United States Steel +Corporation, was the storm center of the Chicago district at all times. +Hardly had the organization campaign begun in 1918, when the Gary +_Tribune_ bitterly assailed the unions, accusing them of advocating +evasion of the draft, discouragement of liberty bond sales, and general +opposition to the war program. These lies were run in a full page +editorial in English, and repeated in a special eight page supplement +containing sixteen languages, a half page to each. Many thousands of +copies were scattered broadcast. Other attacks in a similar vein +followed. It was a foul blast straight from the maw of the Steel Trust. +Incidentally it created a situation which shows how the steel men +control public opinion. + +The new unions immediately boycotted the _Tribune_. Result: the Gary +_Post_, somewhat friendly inclined, doubled its circulation at once. The +_Post_ then became more friendly; whereupon, it is alleged, a leading +banker called the editor to his office and told him that if he did not +take a stand against the unions his credit would be stopped, which would +have meant suspension within the week. That very day the _Post_ joined +the _Tribune's_ campaign of abuse. Apparently the _Post's_ youthful +editor had learned a new wrinkle in journalism. + +The Steel Trust did all it could to hold Gary from unionizing; but when +the strike came the walkout was estimated to be 97 per cent. At first +everything went peacefully, but the Steel Corporation was watching for +an opportunity to get its strategic Gary mills into operation. The +occasion presented itself on October 4, when strikers coming from a +meeting fell foul of some homeward bound scabs. Local labor men declare +the resultant scrimmage "did not make as much disturbance as ordinarily +would occur in a saloon when two or three men were fighting." It was a +trivial incident--a matter for the police. Only one man was injured, and +he very slightly. But the inspired press yelled red murder and pictured +the hospitals as full of wounded. The militia were ordered in. The +unions offered to furnish 700 ex-service men to enforce law and order; +but this was rejected. Later the militia were transferred to Indiana +Harbor; on October 6, a provisional regiment of regular troops, under +command of General Leonard Wood, came to Gary from nearby Fort Sheridan, +and martial law was at once proclaimed. The Steel Corporation now had +the situation in hand; and the Gary strike was doomed. + +Grave charges were voiced against the misuse made of the Federal troops +in Gary. John Fitzpatrick writes me as follows, basing his statements +upon reliable witnesses: + + Now we have military control, the city of Gary being placed + under martial law. The strike leaders and pickets were + arrested by the soldiers and put to work splitting wood and + sweeping the streets. This was most humiliating, because the + camp was across the street from the city hall and in the + most frequented part of the city. + + When street-sweeping here did not break their spirits, these + men were taken to the back streets, where they had their + homes and where their own and the neighbor's children + watched them through the windows. + + The so-called foreigners have great respect for law and + authority, especially military authority, which plays such a + big part in their native environments. The U. S. Steel + Corporation did not fail to take advantage of this. In the + first place they gave out the impression that the letters + "U. S." in the corporation's name indicated that it was + owned by the U. S. Government, and that the Government + soldiers being in town meant that any one interfering with + the steel company's affairs would be deported or sent to + Fort Leavenworth. + + Then a mill superintendent would take a squad of soldiers + and go to the home of a striker. The soldiers would be lined + up in front of the house; the superintendent would go in. He + would tell John that he came to give him his last chance to + return to work, saying that if he refused he would either go + to jail or be deported. Then he would take John to the + window and show him the row of soldiers. John would look at + the wife and kids and make up his mind that his first duty + was to them; that was what the strike was for anyway. So he + would put on his coat and go back to the mills. Then the + superintendent would go to the next house and repeat the + performance. + +Such tactics, coupled with spectacular midnight raids to "unearth" the +widely advertised "red" plotters,--conveniently ignored until the +strike,--the suppression of meetings, limitations on picketing, and the +hundred forms of studied intimidation practiced by the soldiery, in a +few weeks broke the backbone of the strike. And while the regular troops +operated so successfully and systematically against the workers in Gary, +the militia did almost as well in Indiana Harbor, where the strike also +cracked. + +The great reactionary interests which backed General Wood for the +Republican presidential nomination, including the Steel Trust, are +giving him boundless credit for breaking the steel strike in Gary. +Consequently there are many workers who believe the whole affair was +staged to further his political fortunes. If not, how did it happen that +the militia, who could have handled the situation easily, were sent out +of Gary to make room for his regulars? And why was it that before there +was a sign of trouble General Wood had formed his provisional regiment, +shipped it from Fort Dodge to Fort Sheridan, and made other active +preparations to invade Gary? And then, how did it come that he took +charge of the situation in person, when at best it was only a colonel's +job? In fact, how about the whole wretched business? Was it merely a +political stunt to give General Wood the publicity that came to him for +it? + +The collapse at Gary and Indiana Harbor affected adversely South Chicago +and almost the whole Chicago district. Worse still, it weakened the +morale everywhere; and thus undermined, the strike rapidly +disintegrated. By the middle of November, district secretary De Young +reported that all the mills in the district, except those in Joliet and +Waukegan, were working crews from 50 to 85 per cent. of normal, +although, due to green hands and demoralized working forces, production +averaged considerably lower. And the situation gradually grew worse. +Joliet and Waukegan, however, held fast to the end, making a fight +comparable with that of the men in Peoria and Hammond, who had gone out +several weeks before September 22. It was at the latter place that +police and company guards brutally shot down and killed four strikers on +September 9. + + * * * * * + +In the immediate Youngstown district the strike was highly effective, +hardly a ton of steel being produced anywhere for several weeks. This +was due largely to the walkout of the railroad men employed in the mill +yards, who acted on their own volition. Many of these belonged to the +Brotherhoods, and others to the Switchmen's Union, while some were +unorganized; but all struck together. Then they held joint mass +meetings, got an agreement from the A. F. of L. unions that they would +be protected and represented in any settlement made, and stuck loyally +to the finish. They were a strong mainstay of the strike. + +The weakening of the strike began about November 15. In a number of +plants, notably those of the Trumbull Steel Company and the Sharon Steel +Hoop Company, the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers +had agreements covering the skilled steel making trades, but when the +laborers struck these skilled men had to quit also. The break in the +district came when the Amalgamated Association virtually forced the +laborers back to work in these shops in order to get them in operation. +This action its officials justified by the following clause in their +agreements: + + It was agreed that when a scale or scales are signed in + general or local conferences, said scales or contracts shall + be considered inviolate for that scale year, and should the + employees of any departments (who do not come under the + above named scales or contracts) become members of the + Amalgamated Association during the said scale year, the + Amalgamated Association may present a scale of wages + covering said employees, but in case men and management + cannot come to an agreement on said scale, same shall be + held over until the next general or local conference, and + all men shall continue work until the expiration of the + scale year. + +Relying upon their rights under this clause, the companies naturally +refused to give the laborers any consideration whatever until the end of +the scale year. This meant that the latter were told to work and wait +until the following June, when their grievances would be taken up. The +result was disastrous; the laborers generally lost faith in the +Amalgamated Association, feeling that they had been sacrificed for the +skilled workers. They began to flock back to work in all the plants. +Then men in other trades took the position that it was foolish for them +to fight on, seeing that the Amalgamated Association was forcing its men +back into the mills. A general movement millward set in. By December 10 +the strike was in bad shape. In passing it may be noted that in +Pittsburgh and other places where it had contracts, the Amalgamated +Association took the same action, with the same general results, +although not so extensive and harmful as in the Youngstown district. In +Cleveland the charters were taken from local unions that refused to +abide by this clause. + +The other trades affiliated with the National Committee protested +against the enforcement of the clause. They declared it to be invalid, +because it violated trade-union principles and fundamental human +rights. Seeing that no consideration was given the laborers under the +agreement, their right to strike should have been preserved inviolate. +It verged upon peonage to tie them up with an agreement that gave them +no protection yet deprived them of the right to defend themselves. These +trades freely predicted that to enforce the clause would break the +strike in the Youngstown district, as it was altogether out of the +question to ask men who had been on strike two months (especially men +inexperienced in unionism) to resume work upon such conditions. But all +arguments were vain; the Amalgamated Association officials were as +adamant. They held their agreements with the employers to be sacred and +to rank above any covenants they had entered into with the co-operating +trades. They would enforce them to the letter--the interests of the +laborers, the mechanical trades, and even the strike itself, to the +contrary notwithstanding. Being a federated body, the National Committee +had to bow to this decision and stand by, helpless, while its effects +worked havoc with the strike. + +Into Youngstown, in common with all the other districts, armies of scabs +were poured. It was the policy of the United States Steel Corporation to +operate, or at least to pretend to operate its mills, regardless of +cost. So all the "independents" had to do likewise. Word came to the +National Committee of several companies which, rather than try to run +with the high-priced, worthless strike-breakers, would have been glad +either to settle with the unions or to close their plants. But they were +afraid to do either; Gary had said "Operate," and it was a case of do +that or risk going out of business. + +The demand for scabs was tremendous. Probably half the strike-breaking +agencies in the country were engaged in recruiting them. Thousands of +negroes were brought from the South, and thousands of guttersnipe whites +from the big northern cities. But worst of all were the skilled steel +workers from outlying sections. There were many of such men who went on +strike in their own home towns, sneaked away to other steel centres and +worked there until the strike was over. Then they would return to their +old jobs with cock-and-bull stories (for the workers only) of having +worked in other industries, thus seeking to escape the dreaded odium of +being known as scabs. These contemptible cowards, being competent +workers, wrought incalculable injury to the strike everywhere, +especially in the Youngstown district. + +The Youngstown authorities, to begin with, were reasonably fair towards +the strikers; but as the strike wore on and the steel companies and +business men became desperate at the determined resistance of the +workers, they began to apply "Pennsylvania tactics." In Youngstown and +East Youngstown, Mayors Craver and McVey prohibited meetings, "the +object of which is discussion of matters pertaining to prolonging the +strike."[14] On November 22, district secretary McCadden, and organizers +John Klinsky and Frank Kurowsky were arrested in East Youngstown, +charged with criminal syndicalism and held for $3,000 bonds each. Later +a whole local union, No. 104 Amalgamated Association, was arrested in +the same town for holding a business meeting. "Citizens' committees" +were formed, and open threats made to tar and feather all the organizers +and drive them out of town. But the steel companies were unable to +inflame public opinion sufficiently for them to venture this outrage. + +Afterward the organizers were discharged; and in releasing the men +arrested for holding a business meeting, Judge David G. Jenkins said: + + I regard the ordinance (E. Youngstown anti-free assembly) as + a form of hysteria which has been sweeping the country, + whereby well-meaning people, in the guise of patriots, have + sought to preserve America even though going to the extent + of denying the fundamental principles upon which Americanism + is based, and free assemblage is one of those fundamentals. + +In the principal outlying towns of the Youngstown district, namely +Butler, Farrell, Sharon, Newcastle and Canton, the strikers were given +the worst of it. The first four being Pennsylvania towns, no specific +description of them is necessary. Suffice it to say that typical Cossack +conditions prevailed. In Canton it was not much better. The companies +turned loose many vicious gunmen on the strikers. The mayor was removed +from office and his place given to a company man; and a sweeping +injunction was issued against the strikers, denying them many +fundamental rights.[15] The district, nevertheless, held remarkably +well. + +Cleveland from the first to the last was one of the strong points in +the battle line. On September 22 the men struck almost 100 per cent. in +all the big plants, and until the very end preserved a wonderful +solidarity. Under the excellent control of the organizers working with +Secretary Raisse there was at no time a serious break in the ranks, and +when the strike was called off on January 8, at least 50 per cent. of +the men were still out, with production not over 30 per cent. of normal. +Thousands of the men refused to go back to the mills at all, leaving +them badly crippled. + +The backbone of the Cleveland strike was the enormous mills of the +American Steel and Wire Co. This calls attention to the fact that, as a +whole, the employees of this subsidiary of the U. S. Steel Corporation +made incomparably a better fight than did the workers in any other +considerable branch of the steel industry. Long after the strike had +been cracked in all other sections of the industry, the rod and wire +mill men of Cleveland, Donora, Braddock, Rankin, Joliet and Waukegan +stood practically solid. Even as late as December 27, only twelve days +before the end, the companies were forced to the expedient of assembling +a rump meeting in Cleveland of delegates from many centres, for the +purpose of calling off the strike. But the men voted unanimously for +continuation under the leadership of the National Committee. When the +strike was finally ended, however, they accepted the decision with good +grace, because they were penetrated with the general strike idea and +realized the folly of trying alone to whip the united steel companies. + +The remarkable fight of the rod and wire mill men was due in large +measure to the peculiar circumstances surrounding their organization. +These are highly important and require explanation: The regular system +used by the National Committee resulted usually in organization from the +bottom upward; that is, in response to the general appeals made to the +men in the great mass meetings, ordinarily the first to join the unions +were the unskilled, who are the workers with the least to lose, the most +to gain, and consequently those most likely to take a chance. Gradually, +as the confidence of the men developed, the movement would extend on up +through the plants until it included the highest skilled men. Given time +and a reasonable opportunity, it was an infallible system. It was far +superior to the old trade-union plan of working solely from the top +down, because the latter always stopped before it got to the main body +of the men, the unskilled workers. + +The "bottom upward" system was used with the rod and wire mills, the +same as with all others. But while it was operating the skilled men who +had been attracted to the movement in Joliet, Donora and Cleveland +started a "top downward" movement of their own. They sent committees to +all the large rod and wire mills in the country, appealing to the +skilled men to organize. These committeemen, actual workers and +acquainted with all the old timers in the business, could do more real +organizing in a day with their tradesmen than regular organizers could +in a month. Hardly would they go into a locality, no matter how +difficult, than they would at once inspire that confidence in the +movement which is so indispensable, and which takes organizers so long +to develop. The result was a "top downward" movement working +simultaneously with the "bottom upward" drive, which produced a high +degree of organization for the rod and wire mill men. + +A great weakness of the strike was the failure of many skilled workers +to participate therein. This tended directly to aid the employers, and +also to discourage the unskilled workers, who looked for their more +expert brothers to take the lead in the strike as well as in the regular +shop experiences. The explanation has been offered that this aloofness +was because the skilled men are "unorganizable." But this is a dream. In +the mills controlled by it, the Amalgamated Association (which is really +a skilled workers' union) has thousands of them in its ranks, most of +whom earn higher wages than employees of similar classes in the Trust +mills. If the proper means to organize them could have been applied, the +skilled workers would have been the leaders in the late strike, instead +of generally the scabs. The same thing done in the rod and wire mills +should have been done in all the important sections of the industry, +blast furnaces, open hearths, sheet, tin, rail, plate, tube mills, etc. +Committees of well-known skilled workers in these departments should +have been sent forth everywhere to start movements from the top to meet +the great surge coming up from the bottom. Had this been done, then Gary +with all his millions could not have broken the strike. The tie-up would +have been so complete and enduring that a settlement would have been +compulsory. + +But it was impossible; the chronic lack of resources prevented it. With +the pitifully inadequate funds and men at its disposal, all the National +Committee could do was to go ahead with its general campaign, leaving +the detail and special work undone. It is certainly to be hoped that in +the next big drive this committee system will be extensively followed. +It is the solution of the skilled worker problem, and when applied +intelligently in connection with the fundamental "bottom upward" +movement, it must result in the organization of the industry. + + * * * * * + +In the Bethlehem Steel Company's plants the strike was not very +effective. This was due principally to the failure of previous strikes +and to general lack of organization. In Reading and in Lebanon there had +been strikes on for many weeks before the big walkout. The workers' +ranks there were already broken. In Sparrows' Point likewise several +departments had been on strike since May 3. Not more than 500 men, +principally laborers and tin mill workers, responded to the general +strike call; but they made a hard fight of it. In Steelton the men had +been very strongly organized during the war; but the error was made of +putting all the trades into one federal union. Then when the craft +unions insisted later that their men be turned over to them, the +resultant resistance of the members, and especially of the paid +officers, virtually destroyed the organization. When the strike came +only a small percentage struck, nor did they stick long. + +Speaking of the strike in the main plant at Bethlehem, Secretary +Hendricks says: + + The strike was called September 29, and about 75 per cent. + of the men responded. These were largely American workers. + The Machinists, which comprise about 40 per cent. of the + total workers, were the craft most involved. In the mill and + blast furnace departments, the response was among the + rollers, heaters, and highly skilled men generally, which + led to the complete shut-down of these departments. The + molders practically shut the foundries down. Electrical + workers, steamfitters, millwrights, and general repairmen + responded well. The patternmakers did not go out. + +The first break came a week later. It was charged largely to the steam +engineers, who heeded the strike-breaking advice of their international +officials and returned to work. Another factor was the failure of +support from the railroad men on the inter-plant system. Had these two +bodies of men been held in line by their officers, the Bethlehem strike +would have been a success. + +In the Bethlehem situation too much reliance was placed in the skilled +trades; more attention should have been given to the organization of the +real fighting force, the unskilled workers. Another mistake was to have +allowed the strikes to take place in Reading, Lebanon and Sparrows' +Point. Even a tyro could see that they had no hope of success. Those +men could easily have been held in line until the big strike, to the +enormous strengthening of the latter. The National Committee had little +to do with the Bethlehem situation before the strike, the movement +developing to a great extent independently. + +Nowhere in the strike zone was there a more bitter fight than in the +Buffalo district, which was directed by organizers Thompson and +Streifler. All the important plants were affected, but the storm +centered around the Lackawanna Steel Company. This concern left nothing +undone to defeat its workers. For eight months it had prevented any +meetings from being held in Lackawanna, and then, when the workers broke +through this obstruction and crowded into the unions, it discharged +hundreds of them. This put the iron into the workers' hearts, and they +made an heroic struggle. So firm were their ranks that when the general +strike was called off on January 8, they voted to continue the fight in +Lackawanna. But this was soon seen to be hopeless. + +Much company violence was used in the Lackawanna strike. The New York +State Constabulary and the company guards, of a cut with their odious +Pennsylvania brethren, slugged, shot and jailed men and women in real +Steel Trust style. Many strikers were injured, and two killed outright. +One of these, Joseph Mazurek, a native-born American, was freshly back +from the fighting in France. Lackawanna was just a little bit of an +industrial hell.[16] + +As a strike measure the Lackawanna Steel Company evicted many strikers +from the company houses. In Braddock, Rankin, Homestead, Butler, +Wierton, Natrona, Bethlehem and many other places, the companies put +similar pressure upon their men, either evicting them or foreclosing the +mortgages on their half-paid-for houses. Threats of such action drove +thousands back to work, it being peculiarly terrifying to workers to +find themselves deprived of their homes in winter time. Where evictions +actually occurred the victims usually had to leave town or find crowded +quarters with other strikers. The much-lauded housing schemes of the +steel companies are merely one of a whole arsenal of weapons to crush +the independence of their workers. No employer should be permitted to +own or control the houses in which his men live. + + * * * * * + +The Wheeling district is noted as strong union country. The +"independent" mills therein had provided the main strength of the +Amalgamated Association for several years prior to this movement; but +the Trust mills were still unorganized. Under the guidance of National +Committee local secretary J. M. Peters, however, these men, in the mills +of Wheeling, Bellaire, Benwood and Martin's Ferry, were brought into the +unions. On September 22 they struck 100 per cent., completely closing +all the plants. They held practically solid until the first week in +December, when they broke heavily. + +The immediate cause of this break merits explanation. The National +Committee, at the outset of the strike, organized a publicity +department, headed by Mr. Edwin Newdick, formerly of the National War +Labor Board. In addition to getting out strike stories for the press, +many of which were written by the well-known novelist, Mary Heaton +Vorse, this department assembled and issued in printed bulletin form +statistical information relative to the progress and effectiveness of +the strike. The steel companies, through spies in the unions, +newspapers, etc., disputed this information, telling the strikers that +they were being victimized as the mills in all districts except their +own were in full operation, and advising them to send out committees to +investigate the situation. + +It was a seductive argument and many were deceived by it. Consequently, +quite generally, such committees (usually financed and chaperoned by the +local Chambers of Commerce) went forth from various localities. Of +course, they returned the sort of reports the companies wished. Much +harm was done thereby. The Steubenville district suffered from the lying +statement of such a committee, the strikers having made a winning fight +up till the time it was made public, the middle of November. But nowhere +was the effect so serious as in the Wheeling district. + +The Wheeling committee was headed by one Robert Edwards, widely known +for years as an extreme radical. It visited many points in the steel +industry, taking its figures on steel production and strike conditions +from employers' sources, and completely ignoring national and local +strike officials everywhere. The ensuing report pictured the steel +industry as virtually normal. Although he had been recently expelled +from the Amalgamated Association Edwards still had great influence with +the men, and his report broke their ranks. In future general strikes +drastic disciplinary measures should be taken to forestall the +activities of such committees. + + * * * * * + +Of the 6500 men employed by the Colorado Fuel and Iron Co. in its Pueblo +mills, 95 per cent. walked out on September 22. When the strike was +called off three and one-half months later not over 1500 of these had +returned to their jobs. Production was below 20 per cent. of normal. +Locally the tie-up was so effective that on January 9, at the biggest +labor meeting in Pueblo's history, National Committee local secretary W. +H. Young and the other organizers had to beg the men for hours to go +back to work. These officials knew that the great struggle had been +decided in the enormous steel centers of the East (Pueblo being credited +with producing only two per cent. of the nation's steel) and that it +would be madness for them to try to win the fight alone. + +The heart of the Pueblo strike was opposition to the Rockefeller +Industrial Plan, in force in the mills. This worthless, tyrannical +arrangement the men could not tolerate and were determined to contest to +the end. Realizing the minor importance of the Pueblo mills in the +national strike, the men offered at the outset to waive all their +demands pending its settlement, provided the company would agree to meet +with their representatives later to take up these matters. But this was +flatly refused; it was either accept the Rockefeller Plan or fight, even +though 98 per cent. of the men had voted to abolish it. + +Shortly after this incident John D. Rockefeller, Jr., gained much +favorable comment and pleasing publicity by his glowing speech about +industrial democracy and the right of collective bargaining, delivered +at the National Industrial Conference at Washington, D. C. He was hailed +as one of the country's progressive employers. But when the striking +Pueblo workers wired him, requesting that he grant them these rights, he +referred them to Mr. Welborn, President of the C. F. and I. Company, +well knowing that this gentleman would deny their plea. + +The strike was markedly peaceful throughout, no one being hurt and +hardly any one arrested. But on December 28, the state militia were +suddenly brought in, ostensibly because of an attack supposed to have +been made two days previously upon Mr. F. E. Parks, manager of the +Minnequa works. The public never learned the details of this mysterious +affair which served so well to bring in the troops. Nor was the +"culprit" ever located, although large rewards were offered for his +capture. + + * * * * * + +The Johnstown strike was so complete that for eight weeks the great +Cambria Steel Co., despite strenuous efforts, could not put a single +department of its enormous mills into operation. Every trick was used +to break the strike. The Back-To-Work organization[17] labored +ceaselessly, holding meetings and writing and telephoning the workers to +coax or intimidate them back to their jobs. Droves of scabs were brought +in from outside points. But to no effect; the workers held fast. Then +the company embarked upon the usual Pennsylvania policy of terrorism. + +I, personally, was the first to feel its weight. I was billed to speak +in Johnstown on November 7. Upon alighting from the train I was met by +two newspaper men who advised me to quit the town at once, stating that +the business men and company officials had held a meeting the night +before and organized a "Citizens' Committee," which was to break the +strike by applying "Duquesne tactics." Beginning with myself, all the +organizers were to be driven from the city. Disregarding this warning, I +started for the Labor Temple; but was again warned by the newspapermen, +and finally stopped on the street by city detectives, who told me that +it would be at the risk of my life to take a step nearer the meeting +place. I demanded protection, but it was not forthcoming. I was told to +leave. + +[Illustration: STEEL TRUST NEWSPAPER PROPAGANDA Pittsburgh _Chronicle +Telegraph_, October 6, 1919.] + +In the meantime, Secretary Conboy arriving upon the scene, the two of us +started to the Mayor's office to protest, when suddenly, in broad +daylight, at a main street corner in the heart of the city, a mob of +about forty men rushed us. Shouldering me away from Mr. Conboy, they +stuck guns against my ribs and took me to the depot. While there they +made a cowardly attempt to force me to sign a Back-To-Work card, which +meant to write myself down a scab. Later I was put aboard an eastbound +train. Several of the mob accompanied me to Conemaugh, a few miles out. +The same night this "Citizens' Committee," with several hundred more, +surrounded the organizers in their hotel and gave them twenty-four hours +time to leave town. The city authorities refused to stir to defend them, +and the following day organizers T. J. Conboy, Frank Hall, Frank +Butterworth, and Frank Kurowsky were compelled to go. Domenick Gelotte, +a local organizer of the miners, refused to depart and was promptly +arrested. Up to this time the strike had been perfectly peaceful. The +shut-down was so thorough that not even a picket line was necessary. + +The mob perpetrating these outrages (duly praised by the newspapers as +examples of 100 per cent. Americanism) was led by W. R. Lunk, secretary +of the Y. M. C. A., and H. L. Tredennick, president of the chamber of +commerce. This pair freely stated that the strike could never be broken +by peaceful means, and that they were prepared to apply the necessary +violence, which they did. Of course, they were never arrested. Had they +been workers and engaged in a similar escapade against business men, +they would have been lucky to get off with twenty years imprisonment +apiece. + +After a couple of weeks the organizers returned to Johnstown. Their +efforts at holding the men together were so fruitful that the Cambria +Company, in its own offices, organized a new mob to drive them out +again. But this time, better prepared, they stood firm. On November 29, +when the fresh deportation was to take place, Secretary Conboy demanded +that Mayor Francke give him and the others protection. He offered to +furnish the city a force of 1000 union ex-service men to preserve law +and order. This offer was refused, and the Mayor and Sheriff reluctantly +agreed to see that peace was kept. They informed the business men's mob +that there was nothing doing. It was a tense situation. Had the +threatened deportation been attempted, most serious trouble would surely +have resulted. + +In the meantime numbers of the State Constabulary had been sent into +town (the city and county authorities denying responsibility for their +presence) and they terrorized the workers in their customary, brutal +way. Eventually the result sought by all this outlawry developed; a +break occurred in the ranks of the highly-paid, skilled steel workers. +Although small at first, the defection gradually spread as the weeks +rolled on, until, by January 8, about two-thirds of the men had returned +to work. + + * * * * * + +Considered nationally, strike sentiment continued strong until about the +middle of the third month, when a feeling of pessimism regarding the +outcome began to manifest itself among the various international +organizations. Consequently, a meeting of the National Committee was +held in Washington on December 13 and 14, to take stock of the +situation. At this meeting I submitted the following figures: + + _Men on Strike_ _Men on Strike_ + _District_ _Sept. 29_ _Dec. 10_ + Pittsburgh 25,000 8,000 + Homestead 9,000 5,500 + Braddock-Rankin 15,000 8,000 + Clairton 4,000 1,500 + Duquesne-McKeesport 12,000 1,000 + Vandergrift 4,000 1,800 + Natrona-Brackenridge 5,000 1,500 + New Kensington 1,100 200 + Apollo 1,500 200 + Leechburg 3,000 300 + Donora-Monessen 12,000 10,000 + Johnstown 18,000 7,000 + Coatesville 4,000 500 + Youngstown district 70,000 12,800 + Wheeling district 15,000 3,000 + Cleveland 25,000 15,000 + Steubenville district 12,000 2,000 + Chicago district 90,000 18,000 + Buffalo 12,000 5,000 + Pueblo 6,000 5,000 + Birmingham 2,000 500 + Bethlehem Plants (5) 20,000 2,500 + ------- ------- + 365,600 109,300 + + Estimated production of steel, 50 to 60 per cent. of normal + capacity. + +Owing to the chaotic conditions in many steel districts, it was +exceedingly difficult at all times to get accurate statistics upon the +actual state of affairs. Those above represented the very best that the +National Committee's whole organizing force could assemble. The +officials of the Amalgamated Association strongly favored calling off +the strike, but agreed that the figures cited on the number of men still +out were conservative and within the mark. The opinion prevailed that +the strike was still effective and that it should be vigorously +continued. + +On January 3 and 4, the National Committee met in Pittsburgh. At this +gathering it soon became evident that the strike was deemed hopeless, +so, according to its custom when important decisions had to be made, the +National Committee called a special meeting for January 8, all the +international organizations being notified. The situation was bad. +Reliable reports on January 8 showed the steel companies generally to +have working forces of from 70 to 80 per cent., and steel production of +from 60 to 70 per cent. of normal. Possibly 100,000 men still held out; +but it seemed merely punishing these game fighters to continue the +strike. They were being injured by it far more than was the Steel Trust. +There was no hope of a settlement, the steel companies being plainly +determined now to fight on indefinitely. Therefore, in justice to the +loyal strikers and to enable them to go back to the mills with clear +records, the meeting adopted, by a vote of ten unions to five, a +sub-committee's report providing that the strike be called off; that the +commissaries be closed as fast as conditions in the various localities +would permit, and that the campaign of education and organization of the +steel workers be continued with undiminished vigor. + +At this point, wishing to have the new phase of the work go ahead with a +clean slate, I resigned my office as Secretary-Treasurer of the National +Committee. Mr. J. G. Brown was elected to fill the vacancy. The +following telegram was sent to all the strike centers, and given to the +press: + + The Steel Corporations, with the active assistance of the + press, the courts, the federal troops, state police, and + many public officials, have denied steel workers their + rights of free speech, free assembly and the right to + organize, and by this arbitrary and ruthless misuse of power + have brought about a condition which has compelled the + National Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers to + vote today that the active strike phase of the steel + campaign is now at an end. A vigorous campaign of education + and reorganization will be immediately begun and will not + cease until industrial justice has been achieved in the + steel industry. All steel strikers are now at liberty to + return to work pending preparations for the next big + organization movement. + + John Fitzpatrick + D. J. Davis, + Edw. J. Evans, + Wm. Hannon, + Wm. Z. Foster. + +The great steel strike was ended. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[14] Youngstown _Vindicator_, November 24, 1919. + +[15] No history of the movement in the Youngstown district could be +complete without some mention of the assistance rendered the workers by +Bishop John Podea of the Roumanian Greek Catholic church, Youngstown, +and Rev. E. A. Kirby, pastor of St. Rose Roman Catholic church of +Girard, Ohio. Usually the churchmen (of all faiths) in the various steel +towns were careful not to jeopardize the fat company contributions by +helping the unions. But not these men. They realized that all true +followers of the Carpenter of Nazareth had to be on the side of the +oppressed steel workers; and throughout the entire campaign they +distinguished themselves by unstinted co-operation with the unions. The +service was never too great nor the call too often for them to respond +willingly. + +[16] In connection with this matter it is interesting to note that after +the strike had ended the union men entered suits against the steel +companies for heavy damages. Up to the present writing the Lackawanna +Steel Company, realizing the indefensibility of the outrages, has made +out-of-court settlements to the extent of $22,500. + +[17] These Back-To-Work organizations were formed in many steel towns; +their purpose was to recruit scabs. They were composed of company +officials, business men and "loyal" workers. The companies furnished the +wherewithal to finance them. + + + + +XI + +NATIONAL AND RACIAL ELEMENTS + + A MODERN BABEL--AMERICANS AS SKILLED WORKERS--FOREIGNERS AS + UNSKILLED WORKERS--LANGUAGE DIFFICULTIES--THE NEGRO IN THE + STRIKE--THE RACE PROBLEM + + +In order to prove its charge that the purpose of the steel strike was +contrary to the spirit of our institutions, the Steel Trust's great +propaganda organization never ceased asserting, (1) that the strike was +a movement of foreigners, (2) that the Americans in the mills were +opposed to it for patriotic reasons and were taking no part therein. The +vicious press made much capital of these allegations, using them heavily +against the strike. Now let us see how much truth there was in them: + +1. Unquestionably the foreign-born were in the majority among the +strikers; but how could it be otherwise in view of the fact that they +make up the bulk of the working force in the industry? The following +table, submitted to the Senate Committee by Mr. A. F. Diehl, General +Manager of the Duquesne Works of the Carnegie Steel Co., illustrates +this fact:[18] + +RECAPITULATION OF NATIONALITIES, AS OF AUG. 1ST, 1919, FOR TOTAL PLANT, +DUQUESNE WORKS + + _Nationality_ _Total_ _Per cent._ + + American 2,097 34.6 + American (colored) 344 5.7 + English 147 2.4 + Scotch 41 .7 + Welsh 28 .5 + Irish 58 .9 + Canadian 4 .1 + German 104 1.8 + French 6 .1 + Swedish 79 1.3 + Italian 128 2.1 + Greek 23 .4 + Swiss 5 .1 + Norwegian 4 .1 + Danish 1 .0 + Hollander 1 .0 + Russian 185 3.0 + Lithuanian 201 3.3 + Lattis 3 .0 + Bohemian 3 .0 + Croatian 222 3.7 + Magyar 742 12.2 + Slovak 930 15.3 + Roumanian 7 .1 + Ruthenian 82 1.3 + Bulgarian 25 .4 + Servian 219 3.6 + Polish 246 4.0 + Armenian 34 .5 + Dalmatian 6 .1 + Macedonian 10 .2 + Hebrew 10 .2 + Turkish 80 1.3 + ----- ----- + Totals 6,075 100.0 + +This condition is typical of steel mills generally in the greater +Pittsburgh and Middle West districts, where the body of the industry is +located. In Clairton, of 4,600 employees, divided into 39 nationalities, +35 per cent. are Americans. On page 480 of the report of the Senate +Committee Steel Strike Hearings, appears a table covering the employees +of the Homestead Steel Works, Howard Axle Works, and Carrie Furnaces (an +industrial unit), submitted by General Manager J. S. Oursler. It shows a +total of 14,687 employees, of 54 nationality divisions. Of these +employees, 5,799, or 39.45 per cent. are stated to be American whites. +But as Mr. Oursler re-iterated in his testimony that he had classed as +Americans all those who had their citizenship papers, both these figures +should therefore be considerably reduced. Besides, it must be borne in +mind that these several tables include the office forces, bosses, etc., +which are almost entirely American, and which were not involved in the +strike. In the steel districts in question it is exceedingly doubtful if +over 25 per cent. of the actual workers are American-born whites. How, +then, can a general strike of steel workers be anything else than +largely a strike of foreigners? + +2. Regarding the alleged non-participation of Americans in the movement: +Although in many districts where the strike was practically 100 per +cent. effective, the Americans struck almost to a man with the other +workers and fought gamely to the finish, nevertheless it must be +admitted that in the main, when compared with the foreigners,[19] they +made a poor showing. To begin with they organized slowly; then they +struck reluctantly and scatteringly; and finally, they showed little +tenacity as strikers. But this general sluggishness originated, however, +not in patriotic objections to the movement or lack of sympathy with its +aims; but chiefly because the Americans, as skilled workers, were +naturally slower and less determined in action than the foreigners, or +unskilled workers. + +In the steel industry the most skilled men are to be found in those +trades actually engaged in the making and rolling of iron and +steel--the melters, puddlers, shearmen, rollers, roughers, heaters, +Bessemer blowers, etc. These men are paid upon a tonnage basis and +generally receive considerably higher wages than the mechanical +tradesmen--bricklayers, machinists, boilermakers, riggers, firemen, +engineers, electrical workers, blacksmiths, etc., who build, maintain +and generally operate the plants. It is among the favored tonnage +trades that the Americans are especially intrenched. + +In the old days these highly skilled workers took the initiative in the +struggle for human rights in the steel industry--the mechanical trades +and unskilled workers playing a very minor part. Homestead was one of +their great battles, only 752 of the 3800 men employed being union +members in good-standing. They were then bold, militant and tenacious as +bull dogs. But since those times they have been defeated so often, due +to a weakening of their proportional strength and strategical position, +that they have lost much of the independent spirit which once +characterized them. They now fear the power of the Steel Trust; they +dread its pitiless blacklist; they hesitate to put in jeopardy their +comparatively good jobs, which they secured only after long years of +service in minor positions, and which, once lost, are so hard to regain. +They want better conditions now as much as they ever did, but they lack +the self-confidence to fight for them. All through the campaign their +attitude, barring the exceptions here and there, was to wait until the +lesser skilled men had so far perfected the organization as to make it +seem safe for them to join it. When the strike came the unskilled +workers led the way; then came the mechanical trades; with the +aristocratic steel workers bringing up the rear. But in scurrying back +to scab in the mills, the order was just the reverse. This was the +experience in virtually every section of the industry. + +It would be wrong, however, to say that the failure of American workers +to participate more heartily in the movement was due solely to their +favored position in the industry. To some extent race prejudice also +came into play, especially in those districts where the organization had +not yet reached far enough up into the plants to include the skilled +workers. Everywhere American-born workingmen, unfortunately, are prone +to look with some suspicion, if not contempt and hatred, upon +foreigners, whom they have been taught to believe are injuring their +standard of living. The companies made the most of this. Dubbing the +walkout a "hunky" strike, they told the Americans that if it succeeded +the latter would have to give over to the despised foreigners all the +good jobs and shop privileges they enjoyed. Their slogan was "Don't let +the 'hunkies' rule the mills." They openly circulated handbills inciting +to race war. The following, from Elwood, Pa., where a National Tube +Company plant is located, is typical: + + WAKE UP AMERICANS!! + + ITALIAN LABORERS, organized under the American + Federation of Labor are going to strike Monday and are + threatening workmen who want to continue working. + + These foreigners have been told by labor agitators that if + they would join the union they would get Americans' jobs. + + They are being encouraged by ITALIAN MERCHANTS, who are in + sympathy with them. ARE YOU GOING TO SLEEP AND LET MOB RULE + THREATEN THE PEACE OF OUR TOWN? + +In towns where often the foreign population is three-fourths of the +whole, such propaganda was most inflammatory. The newspapers did all +they could to make it more so. They solemnly warned of the danger of a +foreign uprising and advised a campaign of militant, 100 per cent. +Americanism; which meant, on the one hand for the local authorities, +gunmen, and business men to set up a reign of terror, and on the other, +for the workers all to go back to work at once. The courts and so-called +peace officers did their part. They jailed, clubbed and shot the +foreigners and left the Americans, even if they were strikers, in +comparative immunity. Nothing was left undone to create a race issue, +and it is not surprising that many American workers, unorganized and +ignorant, were mislead by this and inveigled back to the mills. + +It has been charged that the unions neglected the American steel workers +and concentrated upon the organization of the foreigners. If anything, +the reverse is true; for by far the weight of the appeal made was to the +English speaking elements. Every piece of literature put out stressed +heavily the English language. Of twenty-five National Committee district +and local secretaries, only three were born in Europe; of a dozen +Amalgamated Association organizers, not one spoke anything but English, +and of the crew as a whole, over 80 per cent. were American born. By its +very nature such an organizing force had to make strong appeal to the +American workers. In fact, the foreigners constantly insisted upon this, +because, strangers in a strange land, they always crave and seek +American co-operation in their union movements. That this co-operation +was not more in evidence in the steel campaign was the cause of much +bitter complaint among them. + + * * * * * + +But if the Americans and skilled workers generally proved indifferent +union men in the steel campaign, the foreign, unskilled workers covered +themselves with glory. Throughout the whole affair they showed an +understanding discipline, courage and tenacity of purpose that compared +favorably with that shown in any organized effort ever put forth by +workingmen on this continent. Beyond question they displayed trade-union +qualities of the very highest type. Their solidarity was unbreakable; +their fighting spirit invincible. They nobly struggled onward in the +face of difficulties that would try the stoutest hearts. They proved +themselves altogether worthy of the best American labor traditions. +Thousands of them were intending to return to Europe shortly and +apparently had slight reason to establish good conditions here; but they +fought on, many spending their little savings during the strike, and +thus postponing indefinitely the long-looked-for trip to the homelands. + +This attitude of the foreign workers is a bitter pill for the Steel +Trust. For many years it had scoured the countries of Eastern and +Southern Europe, and packed its mills with poor, dispirited, ignorant +immigrants of three score nationalities, in the hope that it was finally +supplanting its original crew of independent American and Western +European workmen by a race of submissive, unorganizable slaves. And for +a long time this shameful policy worked well. Wages sank to nowhere; +conditions became unspeakably wretched; every strike of the old-time, +organized workers was smothered by an avalanche of job-hungry +immigrants.[20] But now these foreigners are waking up; in consequence +of hard economic conditions, a better acquaintance with our language and +institutions, an inherent class solidarity, the example of union men in +other industries, and the social upheavals in Europe, these men are +opening their eyes; and they are fast taking their place in the very +front rank of the working class fighters for industrial liberty. And now +the Steel Trust, discovering that its hoped-for-scabs are in truth +highly rebellious workingmen, is making the welkin ring with +inconsistent denunciation of the "revolutionary foreigners," with whom +just a short while ago it was so anxious to crowd its plants. The biter +has been very badly bitten. + +For the unions the nationality problem was serious throughout the entire +campaign--the employers had worked for years to make it an insoluble +one. Something of the situation may be gleaned when it is recalled that +the steel industry comprises hundreds of mills, scattered through a +dozen states, and employing half a million workers. These speak dozens +of widely differing languages, worship through many mutually +antagonistic religions, and are moved by numberless racial and national +animosities. Yet the National Committee, with the skimped resources it +had in hand, had to and did weld together this vast polyglot, +heterogeneous mass into a voluntary organization, kept it thinking +alike, and held it in strong discipline for months in the face of the +bitter opposition of the Steel Trust, which sought in every conceivable +way to divide the workers by playing upon their multiplicity of fears +and prejudices. + +In accomplishing this huge task the first requisite was to overcome the +language difficulty sufficiently to permit the message of trade unionism +to be brought forcefully to the many diverse elements. Because doing so +would have rendered the meetings ruinously cumbersome and unwieldy, it +was out of the question to utilize all the languages or any considerable +number of them; so the plan was followed of using only the predominant +ones; the theory being that if the large bodies of workers speaking them +could be reached, they in turn would find means to influence the +minorities speaking other languages. + +As the various foreign groups tend strongly to colonize in certain +districts, the basic languages spoken in a given plant, regardless of +how many nationalities work therein, ordinarily number not more than +four or five, including always English, usually a couple of the Slavic +tongues (Slavish, Polish, Russian, Croatian, Lithuanian, Serbian, etc.), +often Hungarian, and occasionally Italian, Roumanian or Greek. For +example, among the fifty-four nationalities in the big Homestead plants, +the principal languages spoken are, in the order of their numerical +importance, English, Slavish, Russian, Hungarian and Polish. Move these +predominate language groups and you move the whole working force; that +was the system in the steel campaign. Seldom was a piece of literature +issued, even for national circulation, with as many as six languages +upon it; the vitally important strike call had but seven, while four was +the customary number. + +About twenty-five organizers who spoke these predominating languages +were put in the field. Great care was taken by the A. F. of L., National +Committee and co-operating unions to select reliable, level-headed men +of influence and standing among their respective peoples, men who could +be depended upon to go along with the general program, and not to work +upon some destructive side-issue of their own. Besides, efforts were +made to take every possible advantage of the fact that practically all +the foreign workers have some slight smattering of English. Accordingly, +the English-speaking organizers were coached to get rid of all +trade-union technical expressions and to confine their talks to +fundamentals; to speak slowly, distinctly, and in the simplest, even +"pidjinized" terms, to illustrate the whole with sign language, and to +follow out a system of repetition and restatement that was bound to make +their meaning plain to the most unknowing. Such talks, while not +calculated to stir the emotions, made clear the situation and were +greatly appreciated by the foreigners, thousands of whom, during the +steel campaign, for the first time felt the pleasure and encouragement +of understanding the despairingly difficult English spoken from a +platform. The steel workers' meetings were schools in practical +Americanization.[21] + +With the language problem solved in even this imperfect way, the +persistent advocacy of labor union principles, backed up by a few +thoroughgoing, common-sense systems of organization, did the rest. +Gradually the great armies of linguistically, religiously, racially +divided steel workers were united into the mighty force which threw +itself against the Steel Trust. In the main the foreign workers were +simple, sincere, earnest minded folk, naturally disposed to co-operative +effort. While the individualistic, sophisticated American workers all +too often attended the ball games and filled the pool rooms, the +foreigners packed the union meeting halls. Their worst fault was a +woeful unacquaintance with trade-union methods. This the organizers +diligently labored to overcome by patient instruction and a faithful +attendance to their duties. The general result was that the foreign +workers developed a confidence in the organizers and a loyalty to the +unions, which not even the heavy shock of the loss of the strike has +been able to destroy. + + * * * * * + +The indifference, verging often into open hostility, with which negroes +generally regard Organized Labor's activities, manifested itself +strongly in the steel campaign. Those employed in the industry were +extremely resistant to the trade-union program; those on the outside +allowed themselves to be used freely as strike-breakers. + +According to the Immigration Commission's Report, which furnished the +latest official figures (period 1907-08), 4.7 per cent. of the total +number of steel industry employees at that time were negroes, most of +whom were located in the Alabama and Maryland districts. Since then, +however, considerable additions to their numbers have been made, and in +many northern mills will be found groups of them, ranging in strength +from 1 to 20 per cent. of the whole working force. They work mostly at +hard, rough, unskilled labor, especially in the blast furnace +department. + +Generally speaking, these bodies of negroes took small part in the +movement. In certain districts, notably Cleveland and Wheeling, it is +true that they organized 100 per cent. and struck very creditably; but +in most places, and exactly those where their support was needed the +worst, they made a wretched showing. Consider the situation, for +instance, in the Homestead Steel Works. In these plants (including the +Carrie Furnaces at Rankin), of the 14,687 employees, 1,737 are negroes. +Making deductions for office forces, bosses, etc., this would make them +from 12 to 14 per cent. of the actual workers, a most important factor +indeed. During the organizing campaign, of all these men, only eight +joined the unions. And of these but one struck. He, however, stayed +loyally to the finish. The degree of this abstention from the movement +may be gauged when it is recalled that of the white unskilled workers in +the same plants at least 75 per cent. joined the unions, and 90 per +cent. struck. + +Throughout the immediate Pittsburgh district, where the unions operated +under such great handicaps and had to rely so much on the initiative of +the individual workers, the same condition prevailed. In Duquesne, of +344 negroes employed, not one struck; in Clairton, of 300, six joined +the unions and struck for two weeks. Of the several hundred working in +the Braddock plants, not one joined a union or went on strike; and a +dozen would cover those from the large number employed in the mills in +Pittsburgh proper who walked out with the 25,000 whites on September 22. +Similar tendencies were shown in the Chicago, Youngstown, Buffalo, +Pueblo, Sparrows' Point and other districts. In the entire steel +industry, the negroes, beyond compare, gave the movement less +co-operation than any other element, skilled or unskilled, foreign or +native. + +Those on the outside of the industry seemed equally unsympathetic. +National Committee secretaries' reports indicate that the Steel Trust +recruited and shipped from 30,000 to 40,000 negroes into the mills as +strike-breakers. Many of these were picked up in Northern cities, but +the most of them came from the South. They were used in all the large +districts and were a big factor in breaking the strike. The following +statement illustrates some of the methods used in securing and handling +them: + + Monessen, November 23, 1919 + + Eugene Steward--Age 19--Baltimore, Md. + + My native place is Charleston, South Carolina. + + I arrived in Monessen on Wednesday, November 19. There were + about 200 of us loaded in the cars at Baltimore; some were + white; and when we were loaded in the cars were told that we + were being taken to Philadelphia. + + We were not told that a strike was in progress. We were + promised $4.00 a day, with the understanding that we should + be boarded at $1.00 a day. + + When we took the train a guard locked the doors so that we + were unable to get out, and no meals were given us on the + way, although we were promised board. + + We were unloaded at Lock 4 and had a guard placed over us, + and were then marched into the grounds of the Pittsburgh + Steel Products Co. We were then told to go to work, and when + I found out that there was a strike on I got out. They + refused to let me out at the gate when I protested about + working, and I climbed over the fence, and they caught me + and compelled me to go back and sign a paper and told me + that I would have to go to work. I told them that I would + not go to work if they kept me there two years. I was placed + on a boat. There were about 200 other people there. The + guards informed me that if I made any attempt to again run + away that they would shoot me. I got a rope and escaped, as + I will not work to break the strike. + + his + Eugene X Steward + mark + + Witness Jacob S. McGinley + +Few, however, of the imported negro strike-breakers showed the splendid +spirit of this unlettered boy. Most of them seemed to take a keen +delight in stealing the white men's jobs and crushing their strike. They +clashed badly with the pickets, where picketing was allowed. And between +them and the white strike-breakers many murderous encounters occurred in +the mills, although the companies were very careful to suppress news of +these outbreaks. + +So serious was the race situation in the steel strike that the National +Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers requested President +Gompers to arrange a conference between prominent negro leaders and +trade-union officials, to the end that the proper remedies may be +indicated. The need for action looking towards better relations between +whites and blacks in the industrial field should be instantly patent; +for there can be no doubt but that the employing class, taking advantage +of the bitter animosities of the two groups, are deliberately attempting +to turn the negroes into a race of strike-breakers, with whom to hold +the white workers in check; on much the same principle as the Czars used +the Cossacks to keep in subjection the balance of the Russian people. +Should they succeed to any degree it would make our industrial disputes +take on more and more the character of race wars, a consummation that +would be highly injurious to the white workers and eventually ruinous to +the blacks. + +For the tense situation existing the unions are themselves in no small +part to blame. Many of them sharply draw the color line, thus feeding +the flames of race hatred. This discriminatory practice is in direct +conflict with the fundamental which demands that all the workers be +organized, without regard to sex, race, creed, politics or nationality. +It injures Labor's cause greatly. Company agents harp upon it +continually, to prevent negroes from joining even the organizations +willing to take them in. This was the case in the steel campaign. +Moreover these same company agents cited this discriminatory practice +most effectively to induce thousands of outside colored workers to come +into the industry as strike-breakers. Such a condition cannot be allowed +to persist. But to relieve it the unions will have to meet the issue +honestly and broad-mindedly. They must open their ranks to negroes, make +an earnest effort to organize them, and then give them a square deal +when they do join. Nothing short of this will accomplish the desired +result.[22] + +This action by the unions will be a step in the right direction, but it +alone will not solve the vexed problem. The best negro leaders must join +heartily in destroying the pernicious anti-union policies so deeply +rooted among their people. It is a lamentable fact, well known to all +organizers who have worked in industries employing considerable numbers +of negroes, that there is a large and influential black leadership, +including ministers, politicians, editors, doctors, lawyers, social +workers, etc., who as a matter of race tactics are violently opposed to +their people going into the trade unions. They look upon strike-breaking +as a legitimate and effective means of negro advancement. Time and +again, they have seen their people, by use of it, readily work their way +into trades and industries previously firmly sealed against them by the +white workers' and white employers' prejudices. Nor can they see any +wrong in thus taking advantage of the white man, who has so brutally +oppressed them for centuries. On the contrary, they consider it a +justified retaliation. They are in a race war. Inasmuch as the steel +strike resulted in more negroes being in the industry than was the case +before, they look upon the outcome as a victory. For these elements, and +they are numerous and powerful among negroes, the color line clauses in +the union constitutions are meat and drink; such leaders don't want them +abolished,--they make too strong an argument against the unions. + +Consider the situation faced by the unions in the campaign to organize +the Chicago packing houses in 1917-18. The negroes in this industry are +a strong factor (numbering 14,000 of a total of some 65,000 employees), +and the unions were determined to organize them. But no sooner had +organizers begun the work than they met the firm opposition of the negro +intelligencia above-noted. These warned their people to have nothing to +do with the movement, as their interest lay in working with the packers +to defeat the unions. They said that was how the negroes came into the +packing industry, and that was how they would progress in it. + +Naturally, they repeated the accusations about white men not taking +negroes in their unions, a charge which was not true in the packing +industry. The organizers replied by launching a vigorous campaign to get +them into the unions. Then the propaganda was sent forth that the only +reason the whites were willing to take the blacks into their locals was +because the latter, being in a minority, could exert no control; that +the whites would not dare to give them a local of their own, etc. This +was met by the establishment of a negro local of miscellaneous workers +in a convenient neighborhood. Then the Jim Crow cry was raised that the +whites wanted the blacks to herd by themselves. This the organizers +answered by insisting that a free transfer system be kept up between the +white and black locals. These were affiliated with the basic +organization of the industry, the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher +Workmen of North America. + +But even this did not satisfy; the anti-union propaganda went on +undiminished and with tremendous effect. It is true that some +far-sighted negro intellectuals defended the unions; but they were as +men crying in the wilderness; the others prevailed. And although the +unions kept a crew of negro organizers in the field, and won many +concessions for the packing house workers, including the eight hour day, +right of collective bargaining, large increases in wages, 40 hour weekly +guarantee, retroactive pay, seniority rights, etc., they have never +succeeded in organizing the negroes. + +They know little of the race problem in industry who declare that it can +be settled merely by the unions opening their doors to the negroes. It +is much more complex than that, and will require the best thought that +conscientious whites and blacks can give it. The negro has the more +difficult part to solve, in resisting the insidious efforts of +unscrupulous white employers and misguided intellectuals of his own race +to make a professional strike-breaker of him. But I am confident that he +will win out and will take his place where he belongs in the industrial +fight, side by side with the white worker. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[18] Senate Committee Steel Strike Hearings, page 532. + +[19] In steel industry usage (followed in this book unless otherwise +noted) the term "foreigners" applies chiefly to the nationalities of the +later immigrations, including the Slavic races, Roumanians, Bulgarians, +Hungarians, Greeks, Italians and others from Eastern and Southern +Europe. These are the so-called "hunkies." The peoples of the earlier +immigrations--the English, Irish, Scotch, Welsh, Germans and +Scandinavians--who speak our language, hold good jobs, and are generally +well established, are not exactly considered Americans, but they are +rarely called foreigners. + +[20] The brazen frankness with which this policy was carried out is +illustrated by the following advertisement, which appeared in the +Pittsburgh _Gazette-Times_, July 15, 1909, during the big steel strike +of that time: + + MEN WANTED--Tinners, catchers and helpers to work in open + shops. Syrians, Poles and Roumanians preferred. Steady + employment and good wages to men willing to work. Fare paid + and no fees charged. + + +[21] During the great organization drive in the Chicago packing houses +in 1917-18, this method was used for several months in the large local +union of car builders and repairmen, fully 90 per cent. of whom, born in +Eastern Europe, were supposedly non-English-speaking. As a result they +acquired such confidence in their ability to use the language that they +dropped the customary practice of translating all their business into +several languages and took to using English only. + +[22] The Miners, Building Laborers and several other unions are taking +the lead in this direction and are getting good results. Negroes are +joining their ranks in considerable numbers and are proving themselves +to be excellent union men. + + + + +XII + +THE COMMISSARIAT--THE STRIKE COST + + THE RELIEF ORGANIZATION--RATIONS--SYSTEM OF DISTRIBUTION + --COST OF COMMISSARIAT--STEEL STRIKE RELIEF FUND--COST OF + THE STRIKE TO THE WORKERS, THE EMPLOYERS, THE PUBLIC, THE + LABOR MOVEMENT + + +In all strikes the problem of keeping the wolf from the door is a +pressing one. Usually it is met by the unions involved paying regular +benefits of from $5.00 to $15.00 per week to each striker. But in the +steel strike this was out of the question.[23] The tremendous number of +men on strike and the scanty funds available utterly forbade it. To have +paid such benefits would have required the impossible sum of at least +$2,000,000 per week. Therefore, the best that could be done was to +assist those families on the brink of destitution by furnishing them +free that most basic of human necessities, food. Ordinarily in strikes +the main body of men are able to take care of themselves over an +extended period. The danger point is in the poverty-stricken minority. +From them come the hunger-driven scabs who so demoralize and discourage +the men still out. Hence, to take care of this weaker element was +scientifically to strengthen the steel strike, and to make the best use +of the resources available. + +The great mass of strikers and their incomplete organization making it +manifestly impossible for each union to segregate and take care of its +own members, the internationals affiliated with the National Committee +(with the two exceptions noted) pooled their strike funds and formed a +joint commissariat.[24] They then proceeded to extend relief to all +needy strikers, regardless of their trades or callings, or even +membership or non-membership in the unions. To get relief all that was +necessary was to be a steel striker and in want. This splendid +solidarity and rapid modification of trade-union tactics and +institutions to meet an emergency is probably without a parallel in +American labor annals. + +The commissariat was entirely under the supervision and direction of the +National Committee. Its national headquarters was in Pittsburgh, with a +sub-district in Chicago. Goods were shipped from these two points. In +Pittsburgh they were bought and handled through the Tri-State +Co-operative Association, with National Committee employees making up +the shipments. In Chicago the same was done through the National +Co-operative Association. As Bethlehem, Birmingham, Pueblo and a few +other strike-bound towns lay beyond convenient shipping distance from +the two distributing points, the men in charge there were sent checks +and they bought their supplies locally. + +The General Director of the commissariat was Robert McKechan, business +manager of the Central States Wholesale Co-operative Association. He was +paid by the Illinois Miners, District No. 2. He was ably assisted by A. +V. Craig (Ass't. Director), Enoch Martin (Auditor--also paid by Illinois +miners), Wm. Orr (Warehouse Manager), and E. G. Craig. Secretary De +Young was in charge of the Chicago sub-district. The local distributing +centres were operated altogether by National Committee local secretaries +and volunteer strike committees, with an occasional paid assistant. + +All told, 45 local commissaries were set up throughout the strike zone. +This elaborate organization was created and put in motion almost over +night. Within a week after Mr. McKechan arrived in Pittsburgh, he and +officials of the National Committee had devised the commissary +system--with hardly a precedent to go by,--organized its nation-wide +machinery, and started the first shipment _en route_ to the many strike +centres. To break in this machinery, a small pro rata of provisions, +based upon the number of men on strike, was sent to each place. The +following week this was doubled, and each succeeding week it was +increased to keep pace with the growing need. It finally developed into +a huge affair. Few strikers had to be turned away for lack of food, and +these only for a short while until the necessary additional stuff could +be secured from the shipping points. Throughout the fourteen weeks it +was in operation the commissariat, despite the tremendous difficulties +it had to contend with, worked with remarkable smoothness. It was one of +the greatest achievements of the entire steel campaign. + +[Illustration: JOHN FITZPATRICK _Chairman, National Committee for +Organizing Iron and Steel Workers._] + +The wide extent of the relief work made it necessary to develop the most +rigid simplicity and standardization in the apportionment of food to the +strikers. Hence, only two sizes of rations could be used; one for +families of five or less, and the other for families of six or more. +These were varied from time to time, always bearing in mind the cooking +facilities of the strikers and the many food likes and dislikes of the +various nationalities. To facilitate the carrying away of the food and +to make it last the better, two commissary days were held each week, in +each locality. The rations were listed on large posters (white for +families of five or less, and green for families of six or more) which +were prominently displayed in the local commissaries in order that the +strikers could see exactly how much provisions they were entitled to. +The following are typical rations: + + FAMILIES OF FIVE OR LESS + + First Half Week Second Half Week + + Potatoes 15 lbs. Bread 4 loaves + Bread 4 loaves Tomatoes 1 can + Tomatoes 1 can Corn 1 can + Peas 1 can Peas 1 can + Navy beans 4 lbs. Red beans 4 lbs. + Oatmeal 1 box Kraut 2 cans + Bacon 1 lb. Dry salt meat 1 lb. + Coffee 1 lb. Syrup 1 can + Milk 1 can + + FAMILIES OF SIX OR MORE + + First Half Week Second Half Week + + Potatoes 10 lbs. Potatoes 10 lbs. + Bread 5 loaves Bread 5 loaves + Tomatoes 1 can Tomatoes 1 can + Corn 1 can Corn 1 can + Peas 1 can Peas 1 can + Navy beans 5 lbs. Kraut 2 cans + Oatmeal 2 boxes Red beans 5 lbs. + Bacon 1 lb. Dry salt meat 1 lb. + Coffee 1 lb. Milk 1 can + Milk 1 can Syrup 1 can + +It was not contended that these rations were enough to sustain +completely the recipients' families; but they helped mightily. Few, if +any, went hungry. Single men in need received a half week's rations to +last the week. The greatest care was taken to have the supplies of the +best quality and in good condition. Whatever the unions gave they wanted +the strikers to understand was in the best spirit of brotherly +solidarity.[25] + +The provisions were distributed strictly according to the following card +system: + +1. Identification card: An applicant requesting relief would be referred +to a credentialed volunteer relief committee. If this committee deemed +the case a needy one, it would issue the striker an identification card. +This he was required to show when dealing at the commissary. + +2. Record card: In addition, the relief committee would write out the +data of the case upon a record card and turn it over to the local +secretary in charge of the commissary, who would keep it on file. + +3. Commissary card: When the applicant presented his identification card +at the commissary, the local secretary, referring to the record card on +file, would make him out a commissary card, white or green, accordingly +as his family was of five or less, or six or more members. This +commissary card entitled him to draw supplies. + +The commissary card had a stub attached. When a striker got his first +half week's supplies, this stub would be detached and retained by the +commissary clerk. Upon his next visit the body of the card would be +taken up. Two important purposes were served by this collection of the +commissary cards--rather than having permanent cards and merely punching +them. First, the canceled cards being sent to the commissariat national +headquarters, it proved conclusively that the strikers had actually +received the provisions shipped to the district; and second, by +compelling the strikers to get new commissary cards each week, it +enabled the local secretaries to keep in close touch with those on the +relief roll. + +To lighten the load upon the many inexperienced men working in the +various commissaries, a special effort was made to do as much of the +technical work as possible in the main offices of the National +Committee. Otherwise the commissariat could not possibly have succeeded. +This consideration was a prime factor in restricting the buying of +provisions to Pittsburgh, Chicago and the fewest practical number of +outlying points. It also caused the adoption of the package system, all +bulk goods, except potatoes, being prepared for delivery before leaving +the warehouses. Likewise, the local bookkeeping was simplified to the +last degree. In fact, for the most part the secretaries in charge of the +commissaries hardly needed books at all. The whole system checked itself +from the central points. + +As an example of its working, let us suppose that the allotment of a +certain town was 1000 rations. Accordingly, there would be shipped to +that place exactly enough of each article to precisely cover the +allotted number of rations. Then, if the secretary simply saw to it that +he got what he was charged with and issued his supplies carefully in the +right proportions, the whole transaction would balance to a pound, with +hardly a scratch of a pen from him. The bookkeeping was all done at the +general offices. The latter's assurances that each striker had received +his proper ration and that the right number of rations had been issued +were, in the first place, the ration posters hanging on the walls of the +commissary; and in the second, the returned canceled commissary cards. +Barring an occasional slight disruption from delayed shipments, spoiled +goods, shortages, and a little carelessness here and there, the system +worked very well. + +The commissariat was in operation from October 26 until January 31, +three weeks after the strike had ended. It was continued through this +extra period in order to help to their feet the destitute strikers who +had fought so nobly. Probably nothing done by the unions in the entire +campaign won them so much good will with the steel workers as this one +act. + +The total cost of operating the commissariat was $348,509.42. The +significance of this figure stands out when it is reduced to a per man +basis. At the strike's start there were 365,600 men out, and at its +finish about 100,000. Considering that few serious breaks occurred until +the eighth to tenth weeks, a fair average for the whole period would be +about 250,000. Accordingly, this would give (disregarding the three +weeks after January 8) a total relief cost of a fraction less than $1.40 +per man for the entire fifteen weeks of the strike, or about one day's +strike benefits of an ordinary union. Reduced to a weekly basis, it +amounts to but 9-1/3 cents for each striker. Just how unusually small +this sum is may be judged from the fact that the International Molders' +Union paid the few men it had on strike regular benefits of $9.00 per +week after the first week. The fact is that, except for a small, +impoverished minority, the steel workers made their long, hard fight +virtually upon their own resources.[26] + +To help finance the commissariat the American Federation of Labor was +requested to issue a general appeal for funds, which it did. Then, to +add force to this call, the National Committee recruited and put in the +field a corps of solicitors, including among others, Anton Johannson, J. +D. Cannon, J. W. Brown, J. G. Sause, Jennie Matyas and G. A. Gerber. At +a meeting in Madison Square Garden on November 8 a collection of +$150,000 was taken up. Many local unions, notably those of Altoona, Pa., +gave half their local treasuries and assessed their members one day's +pay each. The Marine Engineers, local 33 of New York, contributed +$10,000; the International Fur Workers' Union $20,000; the International +Ladies Garment Workers' Union, $60,000; and the Amalgamated Clothing +Workers of America, $100,000. All these donations were highly +praiseworthy, but especially the last one mentioned, because the +organization making it is not affiliated to, nor even in good grace +with, the A. F. of L. + +The total amount collected and turned over to the National Committee was +$418,141.14. This more than covered the entire cost of the commissariat, +leaving $69,631.42 to be applied to other expenses. Thus, taking them as +a whole, the co-operating international unions in the National Committee +were not required to pay a penny to the feeding of the strikers and +their families. The commissariat was a monument to the solidarity of +Labor generally with the embattled steel workers. + +Naturally, the employers bitterly hated the commissaries. They sneered +at the quantity and quality of the food given out by them, and in many +places printed handbills in several languages advising the strikers to +go at once to union headquarters and demand strike benefits in cash. And +by the same token, the strikers held the commissaries in high esteem. +The foreign-born among them especially, would stand around watching +with never-ceasing wonder and enthusiasm the stream of men and women +coming forth laden with supplies. To them there was something sacred +about the food. Many of them in desperate circumstances had to be +practically compelled to accept it; not because they felt themselves +objects of charity, but because they thought others needed help worse +than they. They conceived the whole thing as a living demonstration of +the solidarity of labor. The giving of the food produced an effect upon +their morale far better than could have come from the distribution of +ten times its value in money. The commissariat enormously strengthened +the strikers. Without it the strike would have collapsed many weeks +before it did. Unions in future great walkouts will do well to study the +steel strike commissary plan. + + * * * * * + +Strikes, even the smallest, affect so many people in so many ways that +it is difficult under the best of circumstances to compile accurate data +upon their cost. In the case of the steel strike it is next to +impossible to do so. The great number of steel companies and the armies +of men involved; the wide scope of the strike; the condition of outlawry +in many steel districts; the fact that the strike was lost; the workers' +numerous nationalities and imperfection of organization--all these and +various other factors make it exceedingly difficult, at least at this +early date, to give more than a hint of the strike's cost. + +In the steel strike, as in all others, the burden of suffering fell to +the workers' lot. To win their cause they gave freely of their lives, +liberty, blood and treasure. A poll of the National Committee local +secretaries yields the following list of strike dead: + + Buffalo 2 + Chicago 1 + Cleveland 1 + Farrell 4 + Hammond 4 + Newcastle 2 + Pittsburgh 1 + West Natrona 2 + Wheeling 1 + Youngstown 2 + -- + Total 20 + +The killed were all on the strikers' side, except two. The above list +properly includes Mrs. Fannie Sellins. But it does not include the +scores of scabs who, because of their own or other incompetent workers' +ineptness, were roasted, crushed to death, or torn to pieces in the +dangerous steel-making processes during the strike. Although the steel +companies were exceedingly alert in suppressing the names of these +ignoble victims to their greed, it is a well-known fact that there were +many of them. There was hardly a big mill anywhere that did not have +several to its account. + +How many hundreds of strikers were seriously injured by being clubbed +and shot will never be known, because most of them, especially in +Pennsylvania, healed themselves as best they might. With good grounds +they feared that disclosing their injuries to doctors would lead to +their arrest upon charges of rioting. The number of arrested strikers +ran into the thousands. But so orderly were the strikers that few +serious charges could be brought against them. They were jailed in +droves and fined heavily mostly for minor "offenses." Except in Butler, +Pa., where a score of strikers were arrested for stopping a car of scabs +on the way to work (framed-up by the State Police) and sent to the +penitentiary, no strikers anywhere in the whole strike zone received +heavy jail sentences. Considering the terrific provocations offered the +men and the extreme eagerness with which the courts punished them, this +remarkable record is an eloquent testimonial to their orderliness.[27] +Of course, the companies did not neglect to avail themselves of the +heartless blacklist. Just now hundreds of their former employees, denied +work and forced to break up their homes and leave town, are +criss-crossing the country looking for opportunities to make new starts +in life. + +As for the cost to the strikers in wages, the Philadelphia _Public +Ledger_ of January 10, two days after the strike was called off, carried +a special telegram from Pittsburgh, stating (authority not quoted) that +the wage loss in that district was $48,005,060.35, specified as +follows: + + + Clarksburg, W. Va. $310,000.00 + Wheeling District 6,100,000.00 + Donora 1,200,000.00 + Steubenville dist. 2,260,000.00 + Youngstown 15,500,000.00 + Monessen 2,660,000.00 + Brackenridge 450,000.00 + New Kensington 375,000.00 + McKeesport 597,869.00 + Port Vue 900,000.00 + Sharon-Farrell 1,250,000.00 + New Castle 705,000.00 + Homestead 737,840.00 + Duquesne 55,030.00 + Johnstown 5,712,321.35 + Ellwood City 35,000.00 + Butler 1,450,000.00 + Aliquippa 10,000.00 + Pittsburgh 5,715,000.00 + Sharpsburg, AEtna 435,000.00 + Vandergrift 357,000.00 + Clairton 165,000.00 + Rankin 375,000.00 + Braddock 650,000.00 + +To the above, the New York _Herald_ of January 12 editorially adds an +estimate of $39,000,000 for steel districts other than Pittsburgh, +making a grand total of $87,000,000 as the strikers' wage loss. But +these figures, bearing the earmarks of Steel Trust origin, are too low. +On the basis of the minimum figures of an average of 250,000 strikers +for 90 working days (actual strike length 108 days) at $5.00 per day per +man, we arrive at a total of $112,500,000.00, or $450.00 per average +striker. Doubtless these figures are also too low, but they will serve +to indicate the tremendous sums of money the already poverty-stricken +steel workers were willing to sacrifice in order to change the +conditions which Mr. Gary so glowingly paints as ideal. + +The loss to the steel companies must have been enormous. Without doubt +it runs into several hundred millions of dollars. The items going to +make up this huge bill are many and at this time impossible of accurate +estimate. There must have been not only a complete cessation of profits +during the strike period, but also a vast outlay of money to finance the +strike-breaking measures, such as maintaining scores of thousands of +gunmen to guard the plants; paying rich graft to employment offices and +detective agencies for recruiting armies of scabs, who, receiving high +strike wages, idled for weeks around the plants, shooting craps, playing +cards, pitching quoits, and absolutely refusing to work; keeping on the +payroll great staffs of office workers with nothing to do, and high paid +skilled workers doing the work of common laborers; corrupting police and +court officials to give the strikers the worst of it, etc., etc. +Besides, there should be added the cost of repairing the great injuries +done the furnaces by their sudden shutting down, this item alone +amounting to many millions of dollars. But a more important factor than +all, perhaps, in counting the cost of the strike to the companies was +the serious injury done to their wonderful producing organization by the +permanent loss of thousands of competent men who have quitted the +industry; the dislocation of many thousands more from jobs for which +they were well fitted and the substitution in their places of green men; +the lowering of the men's morale generally, due to disappointment and +bitterness at the loss of the strike, etc. We may depend upon it that +the companies, following out their policy of minimizing the strike's +effects, will so juggle their financial and tonnage statements as to +make it impossible for years to figure out what it really cost them, if +it can ever be done. + +The cost to the people at large is indicated by the New York Sun, quoted +by the _Literary Digest_, January 31, 1920, as follows: + + There was the loss to the railroads not only in freights + from the steel plants, but in freights from general mills + and factories which, failing to get their steel supplies, + could not maintain their production and fulfill their own + deliveries. There was the loss in wages in such mills and + factories due to that failure to get their material on which + their wage-earners could work. There was the loss in such + communities to trade folk whose customers thus had their + spending power reduced by the steel strike.--Hence this loss + of steel tonnage begins at once to widen until the loss + eventually could be figured in the billions. + +For the privilege of having an autocracy in the steel industry the +American people pay not only huge costs in unearned dividends each year, +but also, occasionally, such monster special charges as the above. +Garyism is an expensive luxury. + +The foregoing figures and statements merely serve to point out the +immensity of the steel strike by indicating its approximate cost to the +strikers, the steel companies, and the public. Admittedly they are but +loose estimates, based upon scanty data. Absolute accuracy is not +claimed for them. The expenditures of the labor movement in the campaign +can be more closely calculated, although they, too, are far from +definite. They fall into three general classes: (1) those by the general +office of the National Committee for Organizing Iron and Steel Workers; +(2) those by the A. F. of L. and co-operating international steel trades +unions not through the office of the National Committee; (3) those by +local steel workers' councils and unions from their own treasuries. Of +these the latter may be eliminated as impossible of estimation, there +being so many local organizations involved and the after-strike +conditions so unfavorable to statistics gathering. They were a minor +element of expense compared to the other two, which we will try to +approximate as closely as may be. + +1. From the beginning of the steel campaign, August 1, 1918, until +January 31, 1920, the total net disbursements of the National Committee +for all purposes, after making deductions for refunds, transfers, etc., +amounted to $525,702.72. This stretch of time may be divided into two +parts: (a), Organizing period, from August 1, 1918, until September 22, +1919--during which time virtually all the 250,000 men enrolled in the +campaign (see end of Chapter VII) had joined the unions; (b), Strike +period, from September 22, 1919, until January 31, 1920--during which +time the heavy special strike expenses were incurred. This period is +extended three weeks past the date of the strike's close, because the +commissariat was still in operation and other important strike expenses +were going on. + +The total net disbursements made by the National Committee during the +organizing period were $73,139.66, which amounts to a small fraction +over 29 cents for each of the 250,000 men organized. The total net +disbursements of the National Committee during the strike period were +$452,563.06, or $1.81 for each of the 250,000 average strikers. Adding +these two figures together gives $2.10 as the cost to the National +Committee of organizing each steel worker and taking care of him during +the whole strike. + +2. The disbursements of the National Committee covered general +organizing and strike expenses, such as commissary, legal, rent, +printing, salaries, etc. The A. F. of L. and the co-operating +international unions also incurred heavy expenses upon their own +account, whose chief items were for keeping organizers in the field, +paying strike benefits, and making lump donations to strike-bound local +unions. At this date these expenditures may be only approximated. + +For the above bodies almost the sole expense during the organizing +period was for maintaining organizers. Forty would be a fair average of +the number of these men actually kept at the steel industry work. In the +earlier part of the campaign the number was far less; in the later part, +considerably more. The cost of maintaining them per month may be set at +not more than $400.00 each, for salaries and general expenses. Thus, for +the 13-3/4 months of the organizing period the expense to the A. F. of +L. and co-operating unions for this item would be about $220,000, or 88 +cents per man organized. This is a top figure. + +During the strike period, on an average, 75 organizers were kept in the +field by these bodies. Due to increases in wages, etc., their upkeep +should be calculated at about $500.00 per month each. For 4-1/4 months, +September 22 to January 31, our strike period, this would amount to +$159,375. To this should be added $100,000, which according to reports +received approximates what the organizations paid in strike benefits and +donations direct to their strikers and not through the office of the +National Committee. This would make their total expenditures for the +strike period $259,375, or slightly less than $1.04 per striker. Adding +together the amounts for the organizing period and the strike period, we +arrive at a grand total of $479,375, or $1.92 per man, spent during the +entire campaign by the A. F. of L. and co-operating internationals. + +The figures for the A. F. of L. and co-operating internationals are +estimates,--the constant shifting of organizers during the campaign, +their widely varying rates of pay, etc., making accuracy impossible. But +from my knowledge of what went on I will venture that the figures cited +are close enough to the reality to give a fair conception of this class +of expenditures. + +Combining the National Committee expenditures with those of the A. F. of +L. and co-operating unions, we arrive at the following totals: + + ORGANIZING PERIOD: + _Expenditures_ _Per Man_ + By Nat. Com. $ 73,139.66 $.29 + By A. F. L. & Unions 220,000.00 .88 + ------------------------- ------------- + Total cost of organizing work $293,139.66 $1.17 + + STRIKE PERIOD: + By Nat. Com. $452,563.06 $1.81 + By A. F. L. & Unions 259,375.00 1.04 + ------------------------- ------------ + Total cost of strike $711,938.06 $2.85 + + WHOLE CAMPAIGN: + Total cost to Nat. Com., ------------------------- ------------ + A. F. L. & Unions $1,005,007.72 $4.02 + +In order to approximate more closely the actual cost of the campaign to +the A. F. of L. and the twenty-four co-operating internationals forming +the National Committee, the total of $479,375, figured in a previous +paragraph as their independent expenditures, must be increased by +$101,047.52, the amount they contributed directly to the National +Committee for organizing and for strike expenses during the course of +the campaign;[28] making a grand total outlay for them of $580,422.52. +This in turn should be reduced by $118,451.23, the amount in the +National Committee treasury on January 31, 1920. Against the remaining +$461,971.29 must be checked off what the steel workers paid into these +organizations in initiation fees and dues. + +Inasmuch as the co-operating internationals received directly $1.00 to +$2.00 (mostly the latter) from the initiation fees of the approximately +250,000 steel workers signed up during the campaign, not to speak of +thousands of dollars in per capita tax from armies of dues payers over a +period of many months, it is safe to say that their net outlay of +$461,971.29 would be nearly if not altogether offset by their income. It +is true that some of the organizations, like the Miners and the A. F. of +L. itself made large expenditures, with little return; and that others, +like the Structural Iron Workers, broke about even; while the +Amalgamated Association put a huge sum in its treasury. All things +considered, taking the twenty-four organizations as a whole, one is not +much wrong in saying that so far as their national treasuries were +concerned, the great movement of the steel workers, including the +organizing campaign and the strike, was, financially speaking, just +about self-sustaining. + +Was the steel strike, then, worth the great suffering and expenditure of +effort that it cost the steel workers? I say yes; even though it failed +to accomplish the immediate objects it had in view. No strike is ever +wholly lost. Even the least effective of them serve the most useful +purpose of checking the employers' exploitation. They are a protection +to the workers' standards of life. Better by far a losing fight than +none at all. An unresisting working class would soon find itself on a +rice diet. But the steel strike has done more than serve merely as a +warning that the limit of exploitation has been reached; it has given +the steel workers a confidence in their ability to organize and to fight +effectively, which will eventually inspire them on to victory. This +precious result alone is well worth all the hardships the strike cost +them. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[23] Exceptions to this were the cases of the Molders' and Coopers' +Unions. These organizations were compelled by constitutional +requirements to pay regular strike benefits. But they included only a +very small percentage of the total number of strikers. + +[24] The commissariat was suggested by John Fitzpatrick, as a result of +his experiences in the Chicago Garment Workers' strike of a decade ago. + +[25] In addition to the regular commissaries, the local organizations, +grace to their own funds or occasional donations from their +international unions, had relief enterprises of various sorts, such as +soup kitchens, milk, clothes, rent and sickness funds. In Monessen and +Donora the strikers actually served a big turkey dinner on Thanksgiving +Day. Strikers paid five cents a plate for all they wished to eat. +Sympathizers donated liberally according to their means. But the +commissary system was the main source of strike relief. + +[26] It is true, as noted above, that several other unions besides the +Molders and Coopers made occasional contributions to their strike-bound +locals, but when measured against the vast armies of strikers, these +funds dwindled almost into insignificance. + +[27] This was largely because the men were sober. In fact, prohibition +helped the steel campaign in several important respects; (1) because +having no saloons to drown their troubles in, the workers, clear-headed, +attended the union meetings and organized more readily; (2) when the +strike came they did not waste their few pennies on liquor and then run +back to work in the old way; they bought food with them and stayed on +strike; (3) being sober, they were the better able to avoid useless +violence and to conduct their strike effectively. + +[28] This sum represents the actual cash given by these affiliated +organizations directly to the National Committee throughout the entire +movement. It divides itself as follows: + + Blacksmiths $ 6,273.28 + Boilermakers 10,448.92 + Bricklayers 4,199.05 + P. & S. Iron Workers 7,335.78 + Coopers 907.76 + Electrical Workers 6,138.80 + Engineers 100.00 + Firemen 2,395.53 + Foundry Employees 1,030.51 + Hod Carriers 1,350.00 + Iron, Steel and Tin Workers 11,881.81 + Machinists 16,622.33 + Mine, Mill, Smelter Workers 3,583.53 + Mine Workers 2,600.00 + Molders 4,199.05 + Pattern Makers 615.52 + Plumbers 2,581.04 + Quarry Workers 412.50 + Railway Carmen 10,448.30 + Seamen 3,081.04 + Switchmen 4,115.52 + Sheet Metal Workers 100.00 + Steam Shovelmen 627.25 + ----------- + Total $101,047.52 + + + + +XIII + +PAST MISTAKES AND FUTURE PROBLEMS + + LABOR'S LACK OF CONFIDENCE--INADEQUATE EFFORTS--NEED OF + ALLIANCE WITH MINERS AND RAILROADERS--RADICAL LEADERSHIP AS + A STRIKE ISSUE--MANUFACTURING REVOLUTIONS--STRIKES: + RAILROAD SHOPMEN, BOSTON POLICE, MINERS, RAILROAD YARD AND + ROAD MEN--DEFECTION OF AMALGAMATED ASSOCIATION + + +In preceding chapters I have said much about the injustices visited upon +the steel workers by the steel companies and their minions; the mayors, +burgesses, police magistrates, gunmen, State Police, Senate Committees, +etc. But let there be no mistake. I do not blame the failure of the +strike upon these factors. I put the responsibility upon the shoulders +of Organized Labor. Had it but stirred a little the steel workers would +have won their battle, despite all the Steel Trust could do to prevent +it. + +By this I mean no harsh criticism. On the contrary, I am the first to +assert that the effort put forth in the steel campaign was wonderful, +far surpassing anything ever done in the industry before, and marking a +tremendous advance in trade-union tactics. Yet it was not enough, and it +represented only a fraction of the power the unions should and could +have thrown into the fight. The organization of the steel industry +should have been a special order of business for the whole labor +movement. But unfortunately it was not. The big men of Labor could not +be sufficiently awakened to its supreme importance to induce them to sit +determinedly into the National Committee meetings and to give the +movement the abundant moral and financial backing so essential to its +success. Official pessimism, bred of thirty years of trade-union failure +in the steel industry, hung like a mill-stone about the neck of the +movement in all its stages. + +At the very outset this pessimism and lack of faith dealt the movement a +fatal blow. When the unions failed to follow the original plan of the +campaign (outlined in Chapter III) to throw a large crew of organizers +into the field at the beginning and thus force a settlement with the +steel companies during war time, as they could easily have done, they +made a monumental blunder, one for which Organized Labor will pay +dearly. Notwithstanding all their best efforts in the long, bitter +organizing campaign and the great strike, the organizers could not +overcome its effects. It was a lost opportunity that unquestionably cost +the unionization of the steel industry. + +And the same pessimism which caused this original deadly mistake made +itself felt all through the steel campaign, by so restricting the +resources furnished the National Committee as to practically kill all +chance of success. Probably no big modern trade-union organizing +campaign and strike has been conducted upon such slender means. +Considering the great number of men involved, the viciousness of the +opposition and the long duration of the movement (18 months), the +figure cited in the previous chapter as covering the general expenses, +$1,005,007.72, is unusually low. It amounts to but $4.02 per man, or +hardly a half week's strike benefits for each. Compared to the sums +spent in other industrial struggles, it is proportionally insignificant. +For example, in the great coal miners' strike in Colorado, begun +September 23, 1913, and ended December 10, 1914, the United Mine Workers +are authoritatively stated to have spent about $5,000,000.00 As there +were on an average about 12,000 strikers, this would make the cost +somewhere about $400.00 per man involved. And in those days a dollar was +worth twice as much as during the steel strike. Had a fraction of such +amounts been available to the steel workers they would have made +incomparably a better fight. + +The unions affiliated with the National Committee have at least two +million members. Even if they had spent outright the total sum required +to carry on the organizing campaign and strike it would not have +strained them appreciably. But they did not spend it, nor any +considerable part of it. In the previous chapter we have seen that with +donations from the labor movement at large, and initiation fees and dues +paid in by the steel workers, the movement was virtually self-sustaining +as far as the co-operating unions were concerned--taking them as a +whole. Now, in the next campaign, all that must be different. The unions +will have to put some real money in the fight. Then they may win it. + +When I say that there was a shortage of resources in the steel campaign +I include particularly organizers from the respective international +unions. Of these there were not half enough. Often the National +Committee had to beg for weeks to have a man sent in to organize a local +union, the members for which it had already enrolled. Hundreds of local +unions suffered and many a one perished outright for want of attention. +Whole districts had to be neglected, with serious consequences when the +strike came. + +Moreover, the system used by many internationals in handling their +organizers was wrong. They controlled them from their several general +headquarters, shifting them around or pulling them out of the work +without regard to the needs of the campaign as a whole. This tended to +create a loose, disjointed, undisciplined, inefficient organizing force. +It was indefensible. Now, in the next drive there are two systems which +might be used. (1) The international unions could definitely delegate a +certain number of organizers to the campaign and put them entirely under +the direction of the National Committee. This was the plan followed by +the A. F. of L., the Miners, and the Railway Carmen. It worked well and +tended to produce a homogeneous, well-knit, controllable, efficient +organizing force. (2) The organizers definitely assigned to the steel +campaign by the internationals could be formed into crews, each crew to +be controlled by one man and charged with looking after the needs of its +particular trade. The Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, Machinists, and +Electrical Workers used this system to some extent. A series of such +crews, working vertically along craft lines while the National +Committee men worked horizontally along industrial lines, would greatly +strengthen the general movement. When the strike came it would not only +be an industrial strike but twenty-four intensified craft strikes as +well. Of the two systems, the first is probably the better, and the +second, because of the individualism of the unions, the more practical. +Either of them is miles superior to the plan of controlling the field +organizers from a score of headquarters knowing very little of the real +needs of the situation. + +But more than men and money, the steel workers in their great fight +lacked practical solidarity from closely related trades. In their +semi-organized condition they were unable to withstand alone the +terrific power of the Steel Trust, backed by the mighty capitalistic +organizations which rushed to its aid. They needed from their organized +fellow workers help in the same liberal measure as Mr. Gary received +from those on his side. And help adequate to the task could have come +only by extending the strike beyond the confines of the steel industry +proper. + +When the steel unions end their present educational campaign and launch +the next big drive to organize the steel workers (which should be in a +year or two) they ought to be prepared to meet the formidable employer +combinations sure to be arrayed against them by opposing to them still +more formidable labor combinations. The twenty-four unions should by +then be so allied with the miners' and railroad men's organizations that +should it come to a strike these two powerful groups of unions would +rally to their aid and paralyse the steel industry completely by +depriving it of those essentials without which it cannot operate, fuel +and rail transportation. How effective such assistance would be was well +indicated by the speedy and wholesale shutting down of steel mills, +first during the general strike of bituminous miners in November and +December of 1919, and then during the "outlaw" railroad strike in April, +1920. With such a combination of allied steel, mine and railroad workers +confronting them, there is small likelihood that the steel companies (or +the public at large) would consider the question of the steel workers' +right to organize of sufficient importance to fight about. Mr. Gary +might then be brought to a realization that this is not Czarist Russia, +and that the men in his mills must be granted their human rights. + +That the miners and railroaders have sufficient interests at stake to +justify their entrance into such a combination no union man of heart +will attempt to deny. Not to speak of the general duty of all unionists +to extend help to brothers in trouble, the above-mentioned groups have +the most powerful reasons of their own to work for the organization of +the steel industry. The United States Steel Corporation and so-called +"independent" steel mills are the stronghold of industrial autocracy in +America. Every union in the labor movement directly suffers their evil +effects in lower wages, longer hours and more difficult struggles for +the right to organize than they otherwise would have. No union will be +safe until these mills are under the banner of Organized Labor. Beyond +question the organization of the steel workers would tremendously +benefit the miners and railroaders. The latter cannot possibly do too +much to assist in bringing it about. It is their own fight. + +For the miners and railroad men to join forces with the steel workers +would mean no new departure in trade-unionism. It would be merely +proceeding in harmony with the natural evolution constantly taking place +in the labor movement. For instance, to go no further than the two +industries in question, it is only a few years since the miners +negotiated agreements and struck, district by district. Even though one +section walked out, the rest would remain at work. And as for the +railroaders, they followed a similar plan upon the basis of one craft or +one system. Each unit of the two industries felt itself to be virtually +a thing apart from all the others when it came to common action against +the employers. It was the heyday of particularism, of craft unionism +complete. And anyone who did not think the system represented the acme +of trade-union methods was considered a crank. But both groups of +organizations are fast getting away from such infantile practices. We +now find the miners striking all over the country simultaneously, and +the railroad men rigging up such wide-spreading combinations among +themselves that soon a grievance of a section hand in San Diego, +California will be the grievance of an engineer in Bangor, Maine. The +man who would advocate a return to the old method of each for himself +and the devil take the hindmost would be looked upon today, to say the +least, with grave suspicion. + +During the recent steel strike the National Committee tried to arrange a +joint meeting with the officials of the miners and railroad brotherhoods +to see if some assistance, moral if nothing else, could be secured for +the steel workers. But nothing came of it. In the next big drive, +however, these powerful organizations should be allied with the steel +workers and prepared to give them active assistance if necessary. And in +the tuning and timing of movements to permit of such a condition, so +that no lots, legal or contractual, need be cut across, there are +involved no technical problems which a little initiative and +far-sightedness on the part of the labor men in control could not +readily overcome. + +In order to cover up their own inveterate opposition to Organized Labor +in all its forms and activities, and to blind the workers to the real +cause of the defeat, namely lack of sufficient power on the employees' +side, great employing interests caused to be spread over the whole +country the statement that the steel strike failed because of radical +leadership, and that if such "dangerous" men as John Fitzpatrick and +myself had not been connected with it everything would have been lovely. +They were especially severe against me for my "evil" influence on the +strike. But somehow their propaganda did not seem to strike root among +labor men, especially those who were backing the steel campaign. The +workers are getting too keen these days to let the enemy tell them who +shall or shall not be their officials; and when they see one of these +officials made the target of bitter attack from such notorious interests +as the Steel Trust they are much inclined to feel that he is probably +giving them a square deal. + +As for myself, and I know John Fitzpatrick took the same position +regarding himself, I was willing to resign my position on the National +Committee the very instant it was indicated by those associated with me +that my presence was injuring the movement. I felt that to be my duty. +But to the last, that indication never came. When I finally resigned as +Secretary-Treasurer on January 31, it was entirely of my own volition. + +The avalanche of vituperation and personal abuse was started several +months before the strike, when a traitor labor paper in Pittsburgh (one +of the stripe which lives by knifing strikes and active unionists for +the employers) published articles containing quotations from the "red +book," and the other stuff later bruited about in the daily press. To +hear this sheet tell it, the revolution was at hand. Immediately after +the articles appeared I sent copies to the presidents of all the +twenty-four co-operating unions, with the result that almost all of +these officials wrote me, advising that I pay no attention to these +attacks, but continue with my work. They seemed to consider it something +of a compliment to be so bitterly assailed from such a quarter. Again, +at the very moment when President Gompers was dictating his letter to +Judge Gary asking for a conference (long after the above-mentioned +attacks) I stated that possibly too much prominence for me in the +movement might attract needless opposition to it and I offered to resign +from the conference committee which handled all negotiations concerning +the steel strike. But my objections were over-ruled and I was continued +on the committee. Moreover, at any time in the campaign a word from the +executive officers of the A. F. of L. would have brought about my +resignation. This they were aware of for months before the strike. All +of which indicates that the men responsible for the organizations in the +movement were satisfied that it was being carried on according to +trade-union principles, and also that in consideration of the Steel +Trust's murderous tactics in the past it was a certainty that if the +opposition had not taken the specific form it did, it would have +manifested itself in some other way as bad or worse. It was to be +depended upon that some means would have been found to thoroughly +discredit the movement. + +This conviction was intensified by the unexampled fury with which each +important move of Labor during the past year has been opposed, not only +by employers but by governmental officials as well. All through the war +the moneyed interests watched with undisguised alarm and hatred the +rapid advance of the unions; but they were powerless to stop it. Now, +however, they are getting their revenge. The usual method of defeating +such movements during this period of white terrorism is to attach some +stigma to them; to question the legitimacy of their aims, and then, when +the highly organized and corrupted press has turned public sentiment +against them, to crush them by the most unscrupulous means. It makes no +difference how mild or ordinary the movement is, some issue is always +found to poison public opinion against it. + +The first important body of workers to feel the weight of this +opposition was the railroad shopmen. The Railroad Administration having +dilly-dallied along with their demands for several months, these +under-paid workers, goaded on by the mounting cost of living, finally +broke into an unauthorized strike in the early summer of 1919. This +almost destroyed the organizations. Officials who ought to know declared +that at one time over 200,000 men were out. Naturally the press roundly +denounced them as Bolsheviki. Upon a promise of fair treatment they +returned to work. When the matter finally came to President Wilson for +settlement, he declared that to raise wages would be contrary to the +Government's policy of reducing the cost of living, and requested that +the demands be held in abeyance. This statement was a Godsend to all the +reactionary elements, who used it to break up wage movements everywhere. +Thus came to grief the effort of the shopmen. Up to May, 1920, they have +secured no relief whatsoever. + +Next came the affair of the Boston police in September, 1919. This +developed from an effort of typically conservative policemen to +organize. The strike was deliberately forced by the action of State +politicians, inspired by big business, in cold-bloodedly discharging a +number of the officers of the new union and stubbornly refusing to +re-instate them. When the inevitable strike occurred they labelled it +not merely an attempted revolution, but a blow at the very foundations +of civilization. The press did the rest. The strike was buried beneath a +deluge of abuse, misrepresentation and vilification. + +[Illustration: A GROUP OF ORGANIZERS + +Standing, left to right: W. Searl, F. Wilson, A. V. Craig, M. +Mestrovich, E. Martin, J. M. Peters, R. W. Beattie, J. Moskus, S. +Coates, J. Manley, _Striker_, T. A. Harris, E. O. Gunther, B. J. Damich, +_Striker_, C. Foley, M. Bellam, T. A. Daley, _Striker_, W. Z. Foster. +Seated, left to right: J. Lenahan, F. J. Sweek, J. Klinsky, F. +Wiernicki, I. Liberti, A. DeVerneuil, C. Claherty, J. N. Aten, J. W. +Hendricks, S. Rokosz, R. W. Reilly, J. A. Norrington, F. Kurowsky, J. G. +Brown, G. W. Troutman, J. E. McCadden, W. Murphy, S. T. Hammersmark.] + +Then came the coal miners in November, 1919. During the war this body +of men sent fully 60,000 members to the front in France. They bought +untold amounts of liberty bonds and worked faithfully to keep the +industries in operation. But no sooner did they make demand for some of +the freedom which they thought they had won in the war than they found +themselves crowded into a strike, and their conservative, old-line, +trade-union leaders harshly assailed as revolutionists. For instance, +said Senator Pomerene:[29] + + Years ago the American spirit was startled because a + Vanderbilt had said, "The public be damned." But Vanderbilt + seems to have no patent on the phrase, or if he had it is + being infringed today by men who have as little regard for + the public welfare as he himself had. There is no difference + in kind between him and a Foster, who, aided by the extreme + Socialist and I. W. W. classes of the country, aims to + enlist under his leadership all the iron and steel workers + of a nation and to paralyze industry, or a Lewis (President + of the United Mine Workers of America), who, to further his + own ambitions, aided as he was by the same elements, calls + 400,000 men out of the mines and says to the public, "Freeze + or starve." + +The Government condemned the strike as "unjustifiable and unlawful" and +invoked against it the so-called Lever law. This law, a war measure +against food and fuel profiteers, was, when up for adoption, distinctly +stated by its author, Representative Lever, and by Attorney General +Gregory, as not applying to workers striking for better conditions.[30] +Moreover, since the armistice it had fallen into disuse,--as far as +employers were concerned; but upon the strength of it the miners' strike +was outlawed, Federal Judge Anderson issuing an injunction which +commanded the union officials to rescind the strike order and to refuse +all moral and financial assistance to the strikers. Rarely has a labor +union found itself in so difficult a situation. The only thing that +saved the miners from a crushing defeat was their splendid organization +and strategic position in industry. On November 11, after the union +officials had agreed to rescind the strike order, the Philadelphia +_Public Ledger_ expressed an opinion widely held when it said: + + The truth of the matter is that we all "got it wrong" on + this coal situation. This is the time to say in entire + frankness that _the Government handled the situation with + the tact, timeliness and conciliatory spirit of a German war + governor jack-booting a Belgium town into docility_. + +And now we have the unauthorized strike of the Railroad yard and road +men; this is clearly an outbreak of workers exasperated on the one hand +by a constantly increasing cost of living, and on the other by dilatory +methods of affording relief. The orthodox tactics are being employed to +break it. The Lever law, disinterred from the legislative graveyard to +beat the miners, has been galvanized into life again and is being used +to jail the strike leaders. This is not all, however. Probably there +never was a big strike in this country more spontaneous and unplanned +than the one in question. But that does not worry our Department of +Justice; it has just announced to a credulous world that the whole +affair is a highly organized plot to overthrow the Government. Within +the hour I write this (on April 15) I read in the papers that I have +been singled out by Attorney-General Palmer as one of the strike +leaders. Eight-column headlines flare out the charge, "PALMER BLAMES +FOSTER FOR RAIL STRIKE," etc.[31] + +To Mr. Palmer's "penny dreadful" plot, the local newspapers add lying +details of their own. The Pittsburgh _Leader_, for instance, recites _in +extenso_ how I returned from the West in disguise to Pittsburgh several +days ago--presumably after a trip plotting with Mr. Palmer's wonderful +revolutionaries, who not only can bring whole industries to a standstill +by a wave of the hand, but can do it in such a manner that although many +thousands of workers are "in the know" the Department of Justice never +gets to hear about it until the strikes have occurred. + +Now the fact is that I have been so busy writing this book that I have +hardly stirred from the house for weeks. Since the steel strike ended I +have not been beyond the environs of Pittsburgh. Moreover, I do not know +a solitary one of the men advertised as strike leaders, nor has there +been any communication whatsoever between us. I have not attended any +strike meetings, nor have I even seen a man whom I knew to be a striker. +But of course such details are irrelevant to the Department of Justice +and the newspapers. The latter boldly announce that it is officially +hoped that Mr. Palmer's charges will stampede the men back to work.[32] +In fact that is their aim. These charges are a strike-breaking measure, +pure and simple, and have no necessary relation to truth.[33] + +Similar instances might be multiplied to illustrate the extreme +virulence of the attacks on Labor in late struggles--how the press +manufactured the general strikes in Seattle and Winnipeg into young +revolutions; and how even when Mr. Gompers announced some time back that +the American Federation of Labor would continue its customary political +policy of "rewarding its friends and punishing its enemies," the scheme +was denounced in influential quarters as an attempt to capture the +Government and set up a dictatorship of the proletariat. But enough. The +steel strike was a drive straight at the heart of industrial autocracy +in America; it could expect to meet with nothing less than the most +desperate and unscrupulous resistance. If the issue used against the +strike had not been the charge of radical leadership, we may rest +assured there would have been another "just as good." The next movement +will have to win by its own strength, rather than by the vagaries of a +newspaper-created public opinion. + +But a far more pressing problem even than any of those touched upon in +the foregoing paragraphs is the one involved in the attitude of the +Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers toward the steel +campaign. This organization withdrew from the National Committee +immediately after the strike was called off, and it has apparently +abandoned trying, at least for the time being, to organize the big steel +mills. Thus the whole campaign is brought to the brink of ruin, because +the Amalgamated Association has jurisdiction over about 50 per cent. of +the workers in the mills, including all the strategic steel-making +trades, without whose support the remainder cannot possibly win. Unless +it can be brought back to the fold, the joint movement of the trades in +the steel industry will almost certainly be broken up, to the great glee +of Mr. Gary and his associates. + +This action was in logical sequence to the position taken through the +campaign by several of the Amalgamated Association's general officers. +From the beginning, they considered the movement with pessimism, often +with hostility. It received scant co-operation from them. As related in +Chapter VI, they tried to get a settlement with the U. S. Steel +Corporation right in the teeth of the general movement; and their +financial support was meager, to say the least.[34] For a few weeks +during the strike movement, when victory seemed near, they displayed +some slight enthusiasm; but this soon wore off and they adopted a policy +of "saving what they could." They were exceedingly anxious to call off +the strike many weeks before its close, and went about the country +discouraging the men and advising them to return to work. And even +worse, they attempted to make separate settlements with the steel +companies. The following proposed agreement, presented to (and refused +by) the Bethlehem Steel Corporation at Sparrows' Point when the strike +was not yet two months old, tells its own story: + + + November 19th, 1919. + + Agreement entered into between the Bethlehem Steel Company + of Sparrows' Point, Maryland, and its employees, governing + wages and conditions in the Sheet and Tin mills, and Tin + House Department. + + 1. It is agreed that the wages and conditions agreed upon + between the Western Sheet and Tin Plate Manufacturers' + Association and the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel + and Tin Workers, as agreed upon in the Atlantic City + Conference, June, 1919, will be the prices and conditions + paid to the employees in the above-mentioned departments. + + 2. That the company will also agree to the re-instatement of + all their former employees, such as seek employment without + any discrimination. + + 3. The above Agreement to expire June 30th, 1920. + +During the strike the general officers of the Amalgamated Association +never tired of telling how sacred they considered their contracts with +the employers, and did not hesitate to jeopardize the strike by living +up to them most strictly. But when it came to their obligations to the +other trades it was a different story. They well knew, when they tried +to make separate settlements with the U. S. Steel and Bethlehem +Companies, that they were violating solemn agreements which they had +entered into with the other trades in the industry, not to speak of +fundamental principles of labor solidarity. + +The national officials in question looked with undisguised jealousy upon +the growth to importance of other unions in the industry where their own +organization had operated alone so long. They lost no love on the +National Committee. In fact more than one of their number seemed to take +particular delight in placing obstructions in its way. If they wanted +to see the steel industry organized they certainly showed it in a +peculiar manner. A goodly share of my time--not to speak of that of +others--was spent plugging the holes which they punched through the +dike. And apparently they always had the hearty support of their fellow +officers. It is only fair to say, however, that the lesser officials and +the rank and file of the Amalgamated Association strongly favored the +National Committee movement and gave it their loyal cooperation. + +As a justification for the Amalgamated Association officials' action in +quitting the joint campaign, word is being sent through the steel +industry that henceforth that organization will insist upon its broad +jurisdictional claims and become an industrial union in fact, taking +into its ranks and protecting workers of all classes in the steel +industry. But no one familiar with the Amalgamated Association will take +this seriously. It is a dyed-in-the-wool skilled workers' union, and has +been such ever since its foundation forty-five years ago. Its specialty +is the "tonnage men," or skilled iron and steel making and rolling +trades proper. All its customs, policies and instincts are inspired by +the interests of this industrial group. It has never looked after the +welfare of the mechanical trades and the common laborers, even though +for the past few years it has claimed jurisdiction over them. In its +union mills it is the regular thing to find only the tonnage men covered +by the agreements, no efforts whatever being made to take care of the +other workers. It is true that during the recent campaign, due to the +stimulus of the National Committee, laborers were taken in; but of the +way they were handled, probably the less said the better. The incidents +related in Chapter X are typical. + +That the men now at the head of the Amalgamated Association will upset +these craft practices and revolutionize their organization into a bona +fide, vigorous industrial union is incredible to those who have seen +them in action. But even if the miracle happened, even if they got rid +of their mid-nineteenth century ideas and methods, adopted modern +principles and systems, and put on the sweeping campaign necessary to +organize the industry, it would not solve the problem. The other unions +in the steel industry are not prepared to yield their trade claims to +the Amalgamated Association, and any serious attempt by that +organization to infringe upon them would result in a jurisdictional +quarrel, so destructive as to wreck all hope of organizing the industry +for an indefinite period. The unions would be so busy fighting among +themselves that they would have no time, energy or ambition to fight the +Steel Trust. + +Progress and organization in the steel industry are to be achieved not +by splitting the ranks and dividing the forces, but by consolidating and +extending them. The only rational hope in the situation lies in a firm +federation of all the trades in the industry, allied with the miners and +railroad men in such fashion that they will extend help in case of +trouble. The steel workers are fast recovering from their defeat. The +educational campaign is getting results, and the work should be made a +permanent institution until the industry is organized. For the +Amalgamated Association to desert the field now is suicidal. It is +worse; it is a crime against the labor movement. It will break up the +campaign and throw the steel workers, helpless, upon the mercy of Gary +and his fellow exploiters. Organized Labor should not permit it. The +time is past when a few short-sighted union officials can block the +organization of a great industry. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[29] Quoted from _The Coopers' Journal_ for February, 1920. + +[30] For important details, see article entitled "The Broken Pledge," by +Samuel Gompers, in the _American Federationist_, January, 1920. + +[31] Pittsburgh _Post_, April 15, 1920. + +[32] Pittsburgh _Chronicle-Telegraph_, April 15, 1920. + +[33] In connection with this matter I promptly called Mr. Palmer a liar, +a statement which was widely carried by the press. Our would-be tyrant +swallowed it. In the situation two courses were open to him: If his +accusations against me were true, under his own interpretation of the +Lever law he was duty-bound to arrest me; and if they were not true, +common justice demanded that he admit the incorrectness of the +statements he had sent flying through the press, attacking me. But he +has done neither. And in the meantime I have been subjected to a storm +of journalistic abuse. For example, says the Donora, Pa. _Herald_ of +April 16: "Wm. Z. Foster seems determined to have that little revolution +if he has to get out and start one himself. About the best remedy for +that bird would be one of those old-fashioned hangings." + +One can readily imagine how quickly the wheels of justice would have +whirled and how speedily the editor would have been clapped into jail +were such an incitement to murder printed in a labor journal. But When +the case in point was called to the attention of the Pittsburgh +officials of the Department of Justice they could do nothing about it. +Nor could those of the Post Office Department, although the Donora +_Herald_ circulates through the mails. Similarly the county and state +officials could see no cause for action. Finally the opportunities for +relief sifted down to a libel suit. And what chance has a workingman in +such a suit against a henchman of the Steel Trust in the heart of +Pennsylvania's black steel district? + +[34] In the report included at the end of Chapter VI, the Amalgamated +Association is shown to have enrolled 70,026 members during the +campaign. But, for the reasons cited, the figure is far too low. +President Tighe gave a better idea of the number when, testifying before +the Senate Committee, he said (Hearings, page 353) that the secretary +had told him "that he had already issued in the neighborhood of 150,000 +dues cards," and could not get them printed fast enough. For each man of +this army of members, the national headquarters of the Amalgamated +Association received two dollars. Yet in return the officials in charge, +throughout the entire movement, gave the National Committee directly +only $11,881.81 to work with. Of this, $3,881.81 was for organizing +expenses, and $8,000.00 was to feed and furnish legal help to the great +multitudes of strikers, half of whom were members of the Amalgamated +Association. What strike help was extended in other directions was +correspondingly scanty. The balance of the funds taken in is still in +its treasury. + + + + +XIV + +IN CONCLUSION + + THE POINT OF VIEW--ARE THE TRADE UNIONS REVOLUTIONARY + --CAMOUFLAGE IN SOCIAL WARS--RUINOUS DUAL + UNIONISM--RADICALS SHOULD STRENGTHEN TRADE UNIONS--THE + ENGLISH RENAISSANCE--TOM MANN'S WORK + + +For those progressives who will look upon the steel campaign from an +evolutionary standpoint--that is by a comparison with past +experiences--it will stand out in its true light as marking a great +advance in trade-union methods and practices. It is true that the unions +in the campaign made many mistakes, quarreled seriously among +themselves, and put forth only a fraction of their real strength; but +when one considers that they substituted a group of twenty-four unions +for individual action in other campaigns; established a standard +initiation fee instead of the multitude that existed before; adopted +modern methods of organizing in place of the antiquated system +previously prevailing; organized a joint commissariat, carried on a +successful organizing campaign and waged a great strike together, one +must admit that a tremendous stride forward has been made. The +conclusion is bound to be optimistic and full of enthusiasm for the +future. + +But unfortunately there are large bodies of progressives who do not +judge from the evolutionary viewpoint when it comes to trade unionism. +These range all the way from the mildest liberals and friends of Labor +to the most extreme I. W. W.'s. They form an influential group. Theirs +is the idealistic method; more or less clearly, these elements hold in +their mind's eye a smooth-running, intelligent, imaginary "one big +union." This they use as an inelastic criterion by which to judge the +trade unions. And the natural result is that, even in such cases as the +steel campaign, the unions cut a sorry figure. Their weaknesses are +unduly emphasized; their progressive innovations lose their import and +seem but make-shift imitations of the real thing. The conclusions are +necessarily pessimistic. The true significance of the epoch-making +movement is lost. This viewpoint is so general and its consequences so +far-reaching and detrimental, not only to the steel unions but to the +whole labor movement, that perhaps a discussion of it may not be amiss +at this point. + +For many years radicals in this country have almost universally +maintained that the trade unions are fundamentally non-revolutionary; +that they have no real quarrel with capitalism, but are seeking merely +to modify its harshness through a policy of mild reform. They have been +pictured as lacking both the intelligence to want industrial freedom and +the courage to demand it. And so often have these ideas been repeated, +so slight has been the inquiry into their soundness, that they have come +to be accepted in a large degree by virtually the entire left wing of +the labor movement. To these ideas, more than anything else, is due the +current idealistic labor pessimism, the unsympathetic attitude toward, +and general lack of understanding of, the trade unions. + +Yet their falsity is readily apparent when one takes into consideration +the real situation. It is an indisputable fact that the trade unions +always act upon the policy of taking all they can get from their +exploiters. They even overreach themselves sometimes, as a thousand lost +strikes eloquently testify. Their program is directly anti-capitalistic. +But let me quote from a booklet, written by myself several years ago, +entitled, "Trade Unionism; The Road To Freedom," page 18: + + It is idle to say that the trade unions will rest content + with anything short of actual emancipation. For they are as + insatiable as the veriest so-called revolutionary unions. In + the measure that their strength increases, so do their + demands. They have sent wages up: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 + dollars per day, and hours down: 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, per + day with all kinds of other concessions sandwiched in + between. And now they are more radical in their demands than + ever before in their history. Permanently satisfied trade + unions under capitalism would be the eighth wonder of the + world, outrivalling in interest the famous hanging gardens + of Babylon. They would be impossible. With its growing + power, Organized Labor will go on winning greater and + greater concessions, regardless of how profound they may be. + It is purest assumption to state that the trade unions would + balk at ending the wages system. + +So far as the tendency of their demands is concerned, there can be no +question about that to anyone who will look at them squarely; the trade +unions may be depended upon always to check exploitation through the +wages system as far as their power enables them. The big question is +whether or not they will be able to develop enough power to stop this +exploitation altogether. As for me, I am confident that they will. In +every country they are constantly adding to and solidifying their ranks; +building ever more gigantic and militant combinations and throwing them +athwart the exploiter's path. It is safe to say that if they cannot +finally stop him it will be because it does not lie within the realms of +possibility for the working class to produce a sufficiently powerful +organization. + +Why, then, have these strongly anti-capitalistic qualities been so long +and generally ignored and the trade unions considered merely as +palliative bodies? In my opinion it is because they, like various other +aggressive social movements, have more or less instinctively surrounded +themselves with a sort of camouflage or protective coloring, designed to +disguise the movement and thus to pacify and disarm the opposition. This +is the function of such expressions as, "A fair day's pay for a fair +day's work," "The interests of Capital and Labor are identical," etc. In +actual practice little or no attention is paid to them. They are for +foreign consumption. The fact that those who utter them may actually +believe what they say does not change the situation a particle. Most +movements are blind to their own goals anyway. The important thing is +the real trend of the movement, which is indisputably as I have stated +above, on the one hand constantly expanding organization, and on the +other constantly increasing demands. The trade unions will not _become_ +anti-capitalistic through the conversion of their members to a certain +point of view or by the adoption of certain preambles; they _are_ that +by their very makeup and methods. The most that can be done is to +clarify their aims and intensify their efforts towards freedom. + +If the trade unions instinctively throw dust in the eyes of their +enemies, they do it for an altogether worthy purpose, the elevation of +the standard of well-being for the mass of the people. In the case of +the capitalist class we see the same principle applied to an utterly +vicious end. The whole trend of the great employing interests is to set +up an oligarchy of wealthy parasites, neither toiling nor spinning, yet +for whom the whole body of workers would be compelled to labor in +degradation and poverty. And if unopposed, they would not only bring +about this condition, but in so doing would rob the people of every +right they have--free speech, free press, free assemblage, legislative +representation, trial by jury, and all the rest. But do they openly avow +their purpose? Most assuredly not, for they know that powerful though +they are they would be swept away by a wave of popular opposition. +Therefore, through their newspapers and innumerable other propaganda +agencies, they proceed to cover up their nefarious schemes of +exploitation and oppression with hypocritical cloaks of patriotism, +religion, benevolence, and the like. Their practice is one thing, their +preaching something entirely different. Thus we have Garys and +Rockefellers actually enslaving their workers by the most brutal +methods and at the same time seeking to convince the public that what +they are trying to do is to protect these workers from union domination, +to preserve to them their sacred right to work for whomever they please, +etc. Men such as these are knifing America and doing it in the name of +100 per cent. Americanism. They are social camouflagers par excellence. + +The question may be pertinently asked, why, if camouflage is such a +potent weapon in social as well as military warfare, should the true +nature and tendency of the trade unions be pointed out, thus stripping +the movement of its philosophic protection and leaving it bare before +its enemies? The answer is that the camouflage works both ways; it +deceives friends as well as enemies. It has thus to a great extent cost +the unions the support of the whole left wing of the labor movement. Its +advantages are outweighed by its disadvantages. + +In what I have called the left wing of the movement there are large and +ever-increasing numbers of workers and sympathizers who refuse to face +the prospect of a society forever based upon the wage system. They +demand an organization that is making for its abolition and the +substitution therefor of a system of industrial justice. If they were to +look sharply, they would see that the trade-union movement is traveling +faster than any other body toward the end they wish to reach. But +unfortunately, looking sharply is not their method. They habitually +attach too much importance to surface indications and not enough to real +results. They go almost entirely by preambles and manifestoes. +Consequently, taking the trade-union slogans at their face value and +finding them altogether unsatisfactory, they turn their backs upon the +trade-union movement and give support to the organizations which have +the sort they want, the I. W. W., the W. I. I. U., etc. + +This belief, that the trade unions are inherently conservative bodies, +is the basis of the strong conviction that they are hopeless and that +they must be supplanted by a new organization, aiming to abolish the +wage system. The conception is found in some degree or other among +virtually all radicals. And it has done incalculable harm to the unions. +It has cost them the support of thousands of militants, of the best and +most intelligent that the working class produces. These might have done +a wonderful work; but their time and energies have been worse than +wasted in trying to build up organizations such as the I. W. W. When one +considers that the life of nearly every labor union depends upon the +activities of a very small fraction of its membership, it is clear that +this constant drain upon its best blood must have seriously hindered the +advance of the trade-union movement. Many have complained at the slow +progress it has made; but the marvel is rather that it has been able to +progress at all. + +This devitalizing drain must be stopped, and the great body of +progressives and radicals won over to a whole-hearted support of the +trade unions. I consider this one of the most important tasks +confronting the labor movement. But it can be accomplished only by +driving home to these elements the patent facts that the trade unions +are making straight for the abolition of capitalism and that they are +going incomparably faster towards this goal than any of the much +advertised, so-called revolutionary unions, in spite of the latter's +glittering preambles. They must be taught that the weaknesses of the +trade unions are but the weaknesses of the working class, and that as +the latter gradually improves in education and experience, the unions +will correspondingly take on higher forms and clearer aims. You cannot +have perfect organizations with imperfect workers to build upon. In a +word, the progressives must be won over from the idealistic and utopian +to the evolutionary point of view. + +Indeed, it must be granted that insistence upon the real goal and +tendency of trade unionism will provoke the capitalist class into +greater opposition against the movement. But this will be trebly offset +by the added support which the unions will get from the large numbers of +militants who now stand apart from them because of lack of +understanding. The power of even a few such men, proceeding +intelligently along practical lines, is one of the marvels of the labor +movement. It may be confidently expected, therefore, that when the many +thousands of these, now indifferent or hostile, begin to work together, +setting up their own press and systematically furthering amalgamation +and federation projects to bring the unions into closer cooperation, +initiating and prosecuting organizing campaigns, retiring to private +life such officials as now find themselves at the head of the +Amalgamated Association, etc., vast changes for the better are bound to +occur in the labor movement. + +The trade unions have cost the workers untold efforts to build, and in +the main they seem loath to give them up, despite the blandishments of +utopian dual unions. Apparently, it is through the old unions that the +workers will eventually achieve their industrial freedom, save, perhaps, +in such cases as the United Garment Workers, where conditions in the +organization were so utterly hopeless that there was nothing to do but +form a new body, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers. But this was an +exceptional case. Most of the unions are moving steadily onward and +upward, and they have an unshakable grip upon the workers in their +respective spheres. This being so, the logical thing to do is +systematically to set about improving and strengthening them. If this is +done, then, instead of the wild, desperate, dualistic outbreaks and +strikes, which have characterized the American labor movement for years, +and done it incalculable harm, the discontented rank and file will find +relief through an orderly and rapid progress within the folds of the +organizations they already have. The sooner these facts are recognized +the better for American Labor. + +During the past few years much has been said about the wonderful +progress being made by the English trade-union movement. This, I venture +to assert, is due largely, if not altogether, to the absence among the +radicals of England of the idealistic, dualistic attitude towards the +unions which exists so widely here, and which has produced the I. W. W. +and its great body of sympathizers. The English radicals have a better +conception than ours of the trade unions; for, flesh and blood of the +labor movement, they pit their policies and energies against the +conservatives, and win. They are the ones who are writing the +highly-praised programs, and driving onward the great wage movements. +They are practical and constructive. Unlike so many of our radicals they +do not waste their time and strength in empty, pessimistic criticism of +the trade unions, and in vain, foolhardy attempts to tear the whole +labor structure to pieces and to reconstruct it according to the dream +of Daniel De Leon. + +In England the turning point came ten years ago when she felt the great +wave of sentiment for revolutionary unionism then sweeping the world. +The question was whether this movement should realize its aims through +the old unions or by starting new ones. The existing unions were +notoriously conservative. Several of our leading radicals had said they +were even more hopeless than our own organizations and strongly urged +the formation of an English I. W. W. But fortunately, Tom Mann and his +colleagues, with a deeper knowledge of trade unionism, were able to +forestall this movement and to direct the strong stream of progressive +thought and energy into the old unions. The result was magical. Within +two years the great and successful strikes of the transport workers, +railroaders and miners had occurred, and the renaissance of the English +labor movement was assured. British workingmen will never realize the +invaluable service which Tom Mann rendered them in saving England from +an I. W. W. dual movement, with its tremendous waste of power and its +weakening effect upon the trade unions. + +How long are American progressives going to continue deceiving +themselves with the words of high-sounding preambles? When are they +going to quit chasing rainbows and settle down to real work? These are +important considerations indeed. The hour when our militants generally +adopt English methods, and turn their whole-hearted attention to +building up and developing the trade-union movement,--that hour will be +the dawn of a new day for American Labor. + + +THE END + + + + +--------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the | + | original document have been preserved. | + | | + | Typographical errors corrected in the text: | + | | + | Page 55 Monogahela changed to Monongahela | + | Page 86 convine changed to convince | + | Page 92 acordingly changed to accordingly | + | Page 101 Joilet changed to Joliet | + | Page 103 Brackenbridge changed to Brackenridge | + | Page 107 struck changed to stuck | + | Page 125 depondent changed to deponent | + | Page 137 Brennon changed to Brennan | + | Page 146 Leechburgh changed to Leechburg | + | Page 153 childen changed to children | + | Page 205 resistent changed to resistant | + | Page 209 compaign changed to campaign | + | Page 233 affiiliated changed to affiliated | + | Page 246 in changed to it | + | Page 255 tweny changed to twenty | + | Page 260 tre changed to the | + | Page 262 advertized changed to advertised | + +--------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Steel Strike and its Lessons, by +William Z. 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