﻿106 



II^DIANA UNIVEESITY 



Meanwhile the channeler runners, who were then unorgan- 

 ized, had asked for an advance in wages, and on May 16, 1903, 

 the employers proposed a more comprehensive scale than had yet 

 been considered. The employers believed that this scale would 

 be accepted, and arranged to resume operations on May 18, but 

 such a small number of men appeared ready to work, that the 

 shut-down was of necessity continued. 



Mr. McCormack and Mr. Schmidt, the State Labor Commis- 

 sioners, now undertook to bring about a better understanding be- 

 tween employers and employees, by means of direct negotiations 

 between them. Hitherto, the proposals made by the employers 

 had been given to the general public, and direct dealings with 

 the workmen had been avoided. Now, however, the members of 

 the employers' association agreed to deal with their respective 

 employees, though not with representatives of the unions as such, 

 lest this should amount to a recognition of organized labor. The 

 employers' association accordingly drew up a list of names, 

 chiefly of non-union employees, with committees from which they 

 would meet for negotiation. This proposition the unions very 

 naturally rejected. 



NoAV ensued a series of public mass meetings, originating 

 among disinterested parties, but tending to hinder rather than 

 to further an adjustment, owing to the rather extravagant claims 

 made, and to the feeling aroused thereby. In the temporary 

 absence of the Labor Commissioners, the negotiations were car- 

 ried on by Mr. Cal Wyatt, a general organizer of the American 

 Federation of Ijabor, but all efforts to bring about a settlement 

 were for a time fruitless. Finally, through the efforts of the 

 Bedford Commercial Club, employers and w^orkmen met for 

 the first time on June 11, and it was agreed that each oper- 

 ator should meet separately committeemen representing his own 

 employees. After a series of such conferences, separate votes were 

 taken on the question of the adoption of the scale proposed by 

 the employers. All the unions at length voted favorably, and on 

 Monday, June 29, 1903, work was resumed in all the quarries 

 and mills of the Bedford district. The basis of the settlement 

 was the scale proposed by the employers on May 16, 1903, with 

 only slight modifications. In order to show the increase of wages 

 during the period of organization (only a small part of which 

 increase, however, is attributable to the work of the unions), 

 the scale of 1903 is given alongside that obtaining in March, 

 1900.3* 



3*Tnd. Labor Com., IV, 53. 



