185] JURISDICTION 53 



a similar short-lived organization, "The United Nailers, 

 Rollers and Heaters of the United States."*^ 



The Nailers, during their existence as a separate organi- 

 zation, had anything but smooth sailing. Failing in an at- 

 tempt at a conference with the Western Nail Association, 

 unsuccessful in the maintenance of a wage scale, in fre- 

 quent bickerings with the recalcitrant nail feeders, they 

 turned for protection back to the Amalgamated. When the 

 twenty-three delegates met in Pittsburgh, June i, 1886, not 

 a voice opposed the proposition to apply for readmission. 

 The Amalgamated met in June, and nine of the nailers pre- 

 sented the petition, " most respectfully " begging " your 

 honorable body to allow us to return to the protecting wing 

 of the Amalgamation," and to it was appended a long list 

 of names. The request was granted, not quite unanimously, 

 and the Amalgamated undertook to settle the nailers' strike 

 then in progress. A compromise scale was effected and 

 signed, and after the bitter feeling between the nailers and 

 feeders subsided, the nail feeders were likewise gradually 

 reorganized. 



Factional feeling and internal strife were rampant through- 

 out the nineties. At different times the puddlers manifested 

 a rebellious spirit, though no definite action was taken. 

 Roll turners/^ tin-plate workers,*^ wire drawers," rod-mill 

 men,*'^ each in turn, threatened the union with secession and 

 the formation of separate organizations. These "Judases," 

 says Vice-President Larkin, " appear in times of trouble," 

 when the union is facing a reduction. In 1892, when the 

 conflict with the Carnegie Steel Company was at its hottest, 

 some finishers, principally in the mills of Pittsburgh and 

 Youngstown, in an effort to dodge the strike tax for the 

 enforcement of the closed shop, formed a short-lived fmish- 

 ers' union called "The National Union of Iron and Steel 



" Ibid., September 5, 1885. 



*' Proceedings, 1894, p. 4564. 



*3 Proceedings, 1895, pp. 4808-4812. 



** Ibid., pp. 4812-4813. 



*3 Proceedings, i8i>9, pp. 5626-5627. 



