136 ASSOCIATION OF IRON, STEEL AND TIN WORKERS [268 



which should be paid a helper to " one-third," and in case 

 of two helpers, " one-half of what the furnace makes." 

 The committee to which the resolution was referred ex- 

 pressed itself in favor of the proposition, "but," the report 

 continued. " to make it uniform through the action of this 

 'national forge would be impracticable," since all localities 

 were not " a unit upon the subject.""^ The matter was re- 

 ferred to the subordinate unions for local treatment. The 

 following year the deputies were authorized to call general 

 meetings of " fore hand " boilers, or puddlers, with a view 

 to establishing the " one-third rule " of paying help.-* No 

 definite action was taken, however, and the subject was 

 brought up at subsequent conventions of the national 

 forge.^* 



Gradually the " one-third and five per cent " rule for the 

 payment of puddlers' helpers was adopted in the various 

 districts, and in 1891 it was made a national provision." 

 A number of local unions, particularly in the sixth, or 

 western, district, protested on the ground that it reduced the 

 wages of boilers " seven and one-half per cent," but the con- 

 vention refused to reconsider the matter.^^ Uniform wage 

 rates for helpers in all departments have from time to time 

 been established. In sheet and tin mills, they were paid a 

 specified rate per turn, and until 1905 the limit of a turn's 

 work was fixed. Since then, they have been paid a piece 

 rate. In nail factories, helpers were son^etimes paid a 

 fixed rate per heat. At present, heaters' ihelpers in job- 

 bing mills receive thirty-five per cent of heaters' wages, in 



^ Vulcan Record, 1870, no. 6, p. 20. 



2« Ibid., 1 87 1, no. 8. p. 23. 



2* Ibid., 1872, no. 10, p. 43; 1875, no. 16, pp. 44, 58, 62. 



28 Proceedings. 1891, pp. 3274-3275, 3279. 



2T Ibid., pp. 3325-3326. This enactment caused ill feeling among 

 puddlers in the West and there was talk of secession. The Advisory 

 Board, in order to maintain harmony, construed the law to mean 

 "one-third and five per cent on the net earnings of the boilers" 

 rather than "on the whole output of the boiling furnace" (Pro- 

 ceedings, 1892. pp. 3849, 3857, 3952. 3984). For example, if the out- 

 put of the furnace amounted to $120. the helper would get one-third 

 of $120 or $40, plus five per cent of $80 (not $120), or $4, making a 

 total of $44 — his share of the two weeks' piece-wage. 



