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About Will Maupin's weekly. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1911-1912 | View Entire Issue (March 17, 1911)
RULE OfCAPITAL. How Democracy Is Choked In Pittsburg District. TEMPER OF STEEL WORKERS. Overthrow of the Unions Has Result ipd, in . Conditions That Make For j: -.Radicalism How an Intolerable Sit ouatron;jMay Be Changed. By JOHN A. FITCH in Survey. : "Ninety-nine per cent of the men are Socialists," if by that you mean one who hates a capitalist," said a fine working man of genuine breeding whom I grew to know in Pittsburg. This attitude Is the outcome of a feeling that has been slowly making headway since 1892 when II: C. Frick sent the armed Pinkerton guards to drive the strik ing workmen off the company prem ises at Ilomestead. Under common conditions working men develop common feelings with re spect to some of the more fundamen tal questions of their lives. This is es pecially true in a crisis when minor differences are forgotten. It was true in 1892 at Ilomestead, and it was so again in February, 1908, when, with the mills operating on barely one fourth time, the Carnegie Steel com pany cut from 10 to 30 per cent the wages of men who were not during those months earning enough to live on. The lengthening of the working day, the choking of democratic insti tutions and the coercive sway of the employers have worked out more than a well organized industrial machine. The flashes of Indignation have died away often, but each time the embers have glowed a little redder. The steel worker sees on every side evidence of an irresistible power. It tells him what wages he may expect to receive and where and when he must work. If he protests he is ignored or rebuked. If he talks it over with his fellow workmen he is likely to he dis charged. That the overwhelming ma jority of steel workers are bitter to ward their employers no one who has mingled with them enough to catch their spirit can-deny. Among the English speaking work ers, from the standpoint of their atti tude toward their work, there are four classes. In a certain element among them enthusiasm is forgotten. They are the older men who have waited for a revival of something like democracy In western Pennsylvania. But "hope deferred maketh the heart sick." The years have done their work. These men look dull eyed on a world from which the brightness is gone. This group, while numerically strong. . la small compared with the whole body of employees. Among-the most there exist varying kinds and degrees of hopes. A majority of the workmen feel that It is only through their efforts and that of the community together launch ed against the opposing powers that their Industrial freedom is to lie won. There Is still a firm belief on the part of many that some day the mills will be unionized. The argument is logical. The situation is growing intolerable, the workmen say; there is a limit to human endurance, and when that point is reached the men will rise as one, organize and make their demands, which. then cannot, they hold, be safe ly refused. . But years have gone by since union ism was overthrown, and every twelve . month has seen the control of the employers grow more nearly absolute. Under such conditions socialism is making headway'. This comes1 from a turning, away fromjwUtcal organic ::. !!: n t.'k.it fii'.s invited !'.' : r.;-'- s '. of v:iii-:cii:;;i;si'!!, y;r fsiilod to intetw.l it .;! f in ;niy Important legislation for their benefit.. If the workmen were once convinced that there existed a possibility of the election of the So cialist candidates there would follow more than a landslide; it would be an avalanche. The last group 1 approach with hesi tancy, for many regard as sensational any statement of fact that runs coun ter to their own experiences. There is a group of workmen in the steel district whose social hope involves physical resistance. 'How widely they may prevail I do not know, but it seemed to me significant, that some of the most intelligent should hold the view that the only way out of the sit uation is through an appeal to force. Some will deny the existence of any injustice in the institutions of society that may not be remedied by individ ual effort. Those who defend existing condi tions in the steel mills also resort to the "high wage" theory. But men are not recompensed according to the degree of risk involved in their trades. At best it is possible to determine a class risk, not an individual one, and Hie workman's problem is individual. But were a man to consider himself recompensed by high wages for long hours and lack of touch with the world and for extreme danger society is not thereby recompensed. There must be time in the home for the de relopment of a sentiment not wholly concerned with bread winning and for the rearing of children strong in body and mind. - There are three ways in which con ditions may be changed through op position interposed by the workers trade unionism, politics, revolution. Through either one or other of these there is bound to- be a revolution ere long that shall have as its goal the restoration of democracy to the steel workers. New York Printers' Unions. There are twenty-one unions of the printing trades in New York city with a membership of" over 25,000. Maimed Miner Gets $10,000 Verdict. For the loss of his right hand, both eardrums and sight of one eye Adam Gelone, a miner, was awarded $10,000 damages by the federal grand jury in the United States circuit court in New York city recently. The trial had been in progress be fore Judge Chatfield for three days, and the jury was out only a short time. The I.ehigh Valley Coal com pany wns the defendant. Oelone was in a mine accident in which a number of men were killed by a blast of dyna mite at Mahanoy City, Pa. Gelone was the only man in the place who escaped alive. Inducements Wanting. "Why does Willie Smifkins refuse to be a good boy just before Christmas?" "Because," answered the boy who always knows the answer, "he belongs to one of those families that believes in giving none except useful presents." Washington Star. The American Way. Microbe on Apple Why is yonder man eating in such a tremendous hurry? Microbe on Pear Appointment with his doctor. He is taking treatment for indigestion during his- lunch hour, you know! Puck. Tlio Maid's Excuse. Pearl I am shocked at you! The idea of l'irting with a perfect stran ger! Ruby But, dear, he isn't a perfect stranger. If lie were perfect he wouldn't -fllft. Chicago News. ' I Lincoln ade in Lincoln i s fNtgs?:-. 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