﻿OOLITIC LI^IESTOXE IXDUSTKY 



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each firm, whose duty it should be to collect the dues from the 

 union members there employed and to try to settle differences 

 arising between the men and their employers. This was clearly 

 a step in the direction of strengthening the union. A central 

 labor union, however, organized at Bedford while the strike was 

 still unsettled, is now the regularly constituted means of arbi- 

 trating disputes, and the functions of the shop steward liaA^e on 

 that account become less important than they were expected to 

 be. The central body has as yet done nothing, there having been 

 no disputes to bring before it. 



The results of the strike upon the union spirit appear to have 

 been rather discouraging. Though there have been some addi- 

 tions to the unions, these have probably been more than counter- 

 balanced by the suspensions for delincjuency in payment of dues. 

 These delinquencies, it is true, are usually made up during the 

 summer months, but the general condition ol union labor in Bed- 

 ford at present does not promise any considerable progress in 

 unionism in the near future. Even the American Federation of 

 Labor, formerly a leading force in Bedford labor circles, is ad- 

 mitted to be in a veiw poor condition. The attitude of the em- 

 ployers is almost universally one of opposition to unions, and the 

 general public manifests \ery little interest in them. 



While the strike was in progress, production in the Bedford 

 district was practically at a standstill. At the same time orders 

 were piling up, and building in various parts of the country was 

 being delayed. The work on the federal building at Indianapolis 

 was very seriously hindered through the inability of the Bedford 

 producers to get even mill blocks ciuarried to send to their cus- 

 tomers. 



Except in cases of emergency, contractors Avere generally 

 very lenient with the Bedford companies. Had they insisted on 

 the prompt filling of their orders the outcome of the strike might 

 have been somewhat different. In fact, most companies are said 

 to have had strike clauses in their contracts, by which they es- 

 caped the payment of damages for non-fulfillment of contract. 

 Many orders cancelled during the strike, or refused by the Bed- 

 ford producers on account of it, w^ere filled by the producers of 

 the Bloomington and northern districts, and some of this trade 

 appears to have been lost permanently to the Bedford producers. 



In general the results of the strike were not so one-sided as 

 is usually claimed. It is true that only a few classes of workmen 



3' Indianapolis News, May 9, 1903. 



