go ASSOCIATION OF IRON, STEEL AND TIN WORKERS [_222 



up for mills doing special work or having equipment pecu- 

 liar to themselves. For example, a steel rail mill of 

 Chicago, because of exceptional automatic machinery, had a 

 special agreement for the workmen.^- Carnegie Brothers' 

 ^lant at Pittsburgh was given a special scale for rolling ; 

 this was designed to cover mills of similar character, but 

 separate contracts for specialty mills were made between 

 the manufacturers and the workmen.^' The employers in 

 the same competitive district were placed on an equal basis, 

 the same prices being granted those having similar equip- 

 ment. 



In addition to the lodges governed by a district scale, 

 there were a few lodges, outside any district, which were 

 supervised directly by the national officials. These lodges 

 followed as closely as possible the prices of the nearest com- 

 petitive district, or agreed to a differential on the basis of 

 the Pittsburgh scale, as for instance, the Birmingham, Ala- 

 bama, agreement in 1882. 



By 1885 the Iron, Steel and Tin Workers had obtained a 

 uniform national scale for nearly all of the branches of 

 their membership. This scale applied west of the moun- 

 tains only, and was arranged in conference with the West- 

 ern Iron Association. The union was never recognized by 

 the Eastern manufacturers as a group, and a scale for the 

 East could not be maintained. The Western scale, then, 

 may be regarded as a uniform scale for the effective juris- 

 diction of the Association. 



From the outset, there had been tendencies toward a uni- 

 form price in the several district scales of the union. The 

 Pittsburgh district had long set the pace in the price for 

 boiling throughout the trade. The prices for boiling in 

 other districts were generally expressed in terms of a dif- 

 ferential from Pittsburgh prices.'* The third district — 



"Proceedings. 1884, p. 1320. This plant was the South Chicago 

 Bessemer Works. The men had been working on a per diem rate ; 

 the output increased from 150 to 300 tons, and the men struck for a 

 tonnage scale. 



i!« Proceedings, 1881, Appendix; Pittsburgh Scales of Prices, 1884- 

 1885, p. 18. 



"Proceedings, 1880, pp. .408, 459, .^ppcndices; 1882. p. 799. 



