92 ASSOCIATION OF IRON, STEEL AND TIN WORKERS [224 



district scales proved unsatisfactory. Two objections were 

 offered to it : first, the Pittsburgh district could not always 

 effect a settlement, and other districts were left in an uncer- 

 tain state ; and again, the Pittsburgh district had the entire 

 burden of the struggle, while all the others received equal 

 benefits.^" The convention of 1882 enacted that all district 

 scales for iron mills should be referred to a national " scale 

 convention," which should convene immediately before the 

 stated convention. The scale convention was composed 

 of the president, secretary, vice-presidents and delegates 

 elected by the district conventions."' The scales were still 

 to be presented to the manufacturers in separate district 

 conferences, by conference committees, appointed by the 

 national president.-^ 



As ratified by the first scale convention which met in 

 April, 1883, the price for puddling in the fifth district scale 

 was $6.00 per ton — fifty cents above the Pittsburgh price — 

 and the prices for finishing mills were likewise higher than 

 the Pittsburgh scale." The same puddling rate of $6.00 

 was adopted for the third district, and for finishing mills 

 prices were fixed at ten per cent above Pittsburgh, the dif- 

 ferential desired in 1881. The attempt to maintain prices 

 higher than Pittsburgh, in both districts, met with failure. 

 The third district was disorganized, and failed to enforce 

 the scale generally. In the fifth district only four mills 

 signed the district scale, and the agreement finally reached 

 practically called for the Pittsburgh scale of prices.'* 



The scale adopted by the 1884 convention was again uni- 

 form, except for the boiling differential of twenty-five cents 

 in the Wheeling district.^^ This scale became generally 



20 Proceedings, 1882, p. 799. 



21 Ibid., pp. 961-962. 



22 Constitution, 1882, art. 10. pp. 22-24. 



23 Proceedings, 1883. pp. 1082, 1197-1199. 



2* Proceedings, 1884. pp. 1346-1348, 1420-1423. An attempt was 

 made to secure the Wheeling rate of $5.75, but it could not be ob- 

 tained. 



26 Proceedings, 1884, pp. 1333-1335 ; Scales, 1884-1885. The manu- 

 facturers, the year previous, did not meet with district committees 

 for the first, second, fourth, and sixth districts, but with a general 

 committee of the scale convention (Proceedings, 1883, p. 1078). 



