Chapter III: Part 3

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.

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.