120 ASSOCIATION OF IRON, STEEL AND TIN WORKERS [252 



claimed the restriction was unjust, especially as it applied 

 to sheets of all sizes, gauges, or weights. By 1902 the union 

 had raised the limit to nine heats, or 135 pairs, on three- 

 turn, and ten heats, or 150 pairs, on two-turn mills.-- This 

 met the requirements of mills working sheets 30 or more 

 inches wide and 104 inches long, as no greater number of 

 sheets of such large size could be produced in one turn of 

 eight hours. But when smaller sheets were worked, such 

 as 24 by 72 inches and up to 28 by 96 inches, it was often 

 the case that the men turned out the limit of 135 pairs in 

 about seven hours, so that a mill would be idle an hour or 

 more between each turn, or three or four hours in a day. 

 Manufacturers asked that the limit be increased that they 

 might be put on a parity with non-union mills, particularly 

 those of the American Sheet Steel Company, in which the 

 workmen operated the rolls practically for the full eight 

 hours for each turn and in which no limit was placed on 

 output.-^ It was pointed out also that even in union mills 

 the men voluntarily violated the scale limit.^* 



The chief objection made by the manufacturers, however, 

 has been that the limitation endangered the chilled rolls. 



22 Western Scales of Prices, 1902-1903, p. 29, foot-note 4. By this 

 time, the three-turn system was practically universal in sheet mills. 



23 It has been shown by employers that average earnings per day 

 were greater in non-union mills than in union plants. Piece rates 

 were identical in both classes of mills, and working conditions were 

 said to be similar. The greater earnings by non-union workmen 

 was due to the fact that they made more heats and therefore their 

 output was larger. The average daily earnings as given by one em- 

 ployer for four months in 1902 was $2.56 in union mills, and $2.67 

 in non-union mills ; for the same period in 1903, earnings were $2.68 

 in union plants and $2.76 in non-union plants. Average daily earn- 

 ings were 4.3 per cent higher in non-union than in union mills in the 

 first instance, and 2.9 per cent in the second. A non-union employer 

 showed that in a period of seven weeks in 1903 the average number 

 of pairs rolled per turn was 152.55, or 13 per cent over the limit set 

 by the union. In case of narrow iron and very light gauges, the 

 number of pairs rolled per turn frequently exceeded 200. The price 

 for rolling the lighter gauges is greater than that for rolling the 

 heavy gauges, but the weight is relatively less, and consequently 

 earnings are less. For the detailed statistics, see Eleventh Special 

 Report of Commissioner of Labor, 1904, pp. 249-255; Proceedings, 

 1904. pp. 6909-6914. 



2* Proceedings, 1903, pp. 6720-6721 ; 1904, p. 6909 ff. 



