1892 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
The  Homestead  Embeoglio. 
Scene  of  the  Conflict. — Eight  miles  southeast  of 
Pittsburg,  Pa.,  up  the  Monongahela  River,  is  the  thriv¬ 
ing  town  of  Homestead,  which  has  just  come  into  un¬ 
enviable  world-wide  notoriely,  owdng  to  one  of  the 
bloodiest  conflicts  that  have  ever  occurred  in  this  coun¬ 
try  between  the  forces  of  capital  and  labor.  The  place 
situated  on  high  land,  contains  a  population  of  about 
12,000,  all  of  whomare  directly  or  indirectly  dependent 
for  a  livelihood  on  the  steel  works  or  mills  located 
there  and  belonging  to  the  Carnegie  Steel  Company, 
Limited,  which  recently,  with  a  capital  of  $25,000,000, 
assumed  charge  of  the  vast  iron  interests  of  Carnegie 
brothers  and  of  several  cognate  concerns  in  which  they 
were  pecuniarily  interested,  the  Carnegies  still  retain¬ 
ing  a  controlling  interest  in  the  organization.  Owing 
to  the  recent  introduction  of  expensive  labor-saving 
machinery  at  the  Homestead  works,  the  number  of 
men  employed  there  has  lately  been  somewhat  dim¬ 
inished,  but  at  the  latest  date  they  amounted  to  3,800. 
Their  wages  ranged  from  $2  to  as  high  as  $10  per  day. 
The  company  has  also  other  large  establishments  at 
Duquesne,  Braddock,  Pittsburg,  Beaver  Falls,  Scotia 
and  in  several  places  in  the  coke  region.  In  the  ag¬ 
gregate  it  is  the  largest  iron  business  in  the  world, 
and  employs  about  30,000  men.  The  Homestead  works 
cover  GOO  acres,  the  machinery  alone  cost  over  $1,000,- 
000,  and  the  monthly  pay  roll  is  upwards  of  $200,000. 
Andrew  Carnegie,  founder  of  the  mills,  built  up 
Homestead,  and  the  company  now  owns  row  after 
row  of  neat,  well  built  cottages  inhabited  by  the 
operatives.  Many  of  the  latter  have  also  built  and  own 
handsome  dwellings  of  their  own. 
The  Cause  and  Preparations. — The  Amalgamated 
Association  of  Iron  and  Steel  Workers  of  the  United 
States  claims  to  have  a  membership  of  over  40,000,  and 
has  a  balance  of  upwards  of  $250,000  in  bank  and  hun¬ 
dreds  of  thousands  more  in  reserve,  and  is  one  of  the 
strongest  and  wealthiest  labor  organizations  in  the 
country  The  skilled  men  in  all  the  Carnegie  Com¬ 
pany's  works,  as  well  as  in  most  of  the  other  large 
iron  and  steel  works  throughout  the  country,  belong 
to  it.  Three  years  ago  the  men  at  the  Homestead  mills' 
struck  for  better  terms,  and,  as  they  were  prepared 
to  resist  the  Sheriff  and  prevent  the  employment  of 
non-union  hands  and  the  Carnegies  had  made  no  ar¬ 
rangements  to  oppose  them,  the  men  triumphed  and 
secured  a  very  favorable  sliding  scale  of  wages,  which 
was,  perforce,  adopted  in  similar  works  elsewhere.  It 
provided  for  a  settlement,  per  ton,  for  three  years, 
based  on  the  selling  price  of  steel  billets,  the  minimum 
basis  being  $25  per  ton  ;  that  is,  no  matter  how  much 
the  market  price  ran  below  $25,  payments  were  to  be 
made  on  the  basis  of  that  figure  ;  while  if  the  market 
price  was  higher,  prices  had  to  go  up  accordingly.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  billets,  it  is  stated,  have  been  selling 
for  several  months  at  $22  to  $22.50  per  ton,  while  set¬ 
tlements  have  been  made  on  the  basis  of  $25,  and,  of 
course,  the  loss  has  fallen  on  the  company  in  the  way 
of  diminution  of  profits.  Moreover,  it  is  alleged  that 
the  expensive  new  machinery  lately  introduced  in  the 
mills,  has  greatly  facilitated  the  manufacture  of  bil¬ 
lets,  and  therefore  enabled  the  men  to  make  more 
money  at  the  same  expenditure  of  time  and  labor,  and, 
as  no  other  mills  have  such  machinery,  those  who 
profited  by  it  at  Homestead  were  able  to  make  higher 
wages  than  any  similar  class  of  workmen  elsewhere. 
Some  time  ago,  in  anticipation  of  the  termination  of 
the  three  years’  scale  of  wages  on  June  30,  the  Car¬ 
negie  Company  gave  notice  that,  instead  of  renewing 
it,  it  would  make  a  reduction  in  the  minimum  scale 
from  $25  to  $23  per  ton,  and  would  change  the  date  of 
the  expiration  of  the  scale  each  year  from  June  30  to 
January  1,  and  also  that  in  all  its  works  where  new 
machinery  had  been  introduced,  increasing  the  output 
andconsequen’ly  the  earnings  of  the  workmen,  a  reduc¬ 
tion  wouid  be  made  on  tonnage  rates  equivalent  to  12 
per  cent.  Out  of  the  3,800  employees  at  Homestead,  it 
is  affirmed  by  the  company  that  only  300  would  be 
affected  by  the  change,  and  that  their  wages  would  be 
fully  up  to  those  of  any  similar  class  elsewhere.  The 
workers,  on  the  other  side,  presented  to  the  company 
a  scale  which  differed  slightly  from  the  old  one.  Sub¬ 
stantially  they  insisted  on  no  reduction  in  wages,  and 
on  the  old  date  for  the  termination  of  the  scale.  In  the 
latter  case,  the  company  declared  that  it  wished  to 
calculate  prospective  operations  and  outlays  at  the 
beginning  of  the  year,  whereas  the  men  insisted  that  if 
a  dispute  arose  in  midwinter,  they  would  be  at  a  great 
disadvantage.  No  agreement  could  be  reached,  and 
both  sides  began  to  prepare  for  a  conflict. 
The  company  fixed  on  June  24  as  the  last  day  open 
to  the  workers  f<>r  accepting  the  scale  as  an  organized 
body  ;  after  that  they  were  to  be  treated  as  individuals. 
It  surrounded  its  works  with  a  stout,  sheet-iron-backed, 
loop-holed  stockade  nine  feet  high,  suru  ounted  by 
three  strands  of  barbed  wire  fence  to  be  charged  with 
an  electric  current  strong  enough  to  dispose  of  all  who 
should  attempt  to  carry  the  works  by  storm.  Here 
and  there  all  over  the  grounds  have  been  erected  huge 
towers  commanding  views  of  the  surrounding  country. 
All  means  of  ingress  or  egress  have  been  cut  off  with 
two  well  fortified  exceptions. 
The  Crisis. — Mr.  H.  C.  Frick,  the  President  of  the 
Carnegie  Company,  a  man  of  wonderful  executive  abil¬ 
ity  and  iron  resolution,  who  won  a  complete  triumph 
during  the  coke  strike  a  fewT  years  ago.  having  incurred 
the  bitterest  hatred  of  the  workers,  was  bung  in  effigy, 
and  in  retaliation  the  company  ordered  an  immediate 
shut-down  two  days  before  the  expiration  of  the  con¬ 
tract  under  which  the  men  were  working,  and  peremp¬ 
torily  refused  to  treat  with  them  any  longer  as  an 
organization  upon  any  terms,  although  willing  to 
employ  all  who  might  abandon  the  union,  except  the 
ringleaders.  The  Sheriff  of  Allegheny  County,  having 
been  unable  to  afford  an  adequate  guard  for  the  works 
and  to  protect  non-union  men  against  the  old  workers, 
arrangements  were  made  with  the  Pinkertons  to 
supp  y  a  body  of  300  men  armed  with  Winchesters  to 
defend  the  works.  These  collected  secretly  from 
Chicago,  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  at  Pittsburg, 
and  on  Tuesday,  July  5,  were  towed  during  the  night 
on  two  of  the  company’s  fortified  barges  up  to  Home¬ 
stead,  with  the  expectation  that  they  could  be  landed 
and  occupy  the  works  before  their  opponents  could 
offer  any  effective  resistance.  In  this  they  were  dis¬ 
appointed. 
The  Conflict. — When  the  Pinkertons  arrived  at  their 
destination,  about  4.30  A.  M.,  on  July  6,  they  found 
the  banks  of  the  river  strongly  guarded  against  them, 
and  promiscuous  firing  began  at  once,  though  there  is 
a  dispute  as  to  which  side  fired  the  first  shot.  The 
workers  soon  procured  additional  arms  from  neigh¬ 
boring  places,  and  after  two  hours’  combat  the  Pinker¬ 
tons’  ammunition  began  to  give  out.  Meanwhile  about 
half  a  dozen  men  had  been  killed  outright  on  each 
side,  and  from  20  to  30  more  or  less  severely  wounded. 
Two-thirds  of  the  Pinkertons  being  “new  hands,”  soon 
got  thoroughly  cowed  and  demoralized,  and  hence¬ 
forth  only  sought  safe  hiding  places.  The  towing 
steamer,  having  gone  off  to  Pittsburg  with  some  of 
the  wounded,  the  two  barges  with  their  human 
freight  were  left  helpless  at  the  mercy  of  the  mob,  and 
the  steamer’s  return  was  prevented  by  the  threats  of 
the  men  stationed  on  both  sides  of  the  river.  Mean¬ 
while  the  Homesteaders  became  terribly  exasperated 
at  the  death  and  wounds  of  so  many  of  their  comrades, 
and  tried  to  destroy  the  boats  by  hurling’  dynamite 
cartridges  on  them,  and  pouring  oil  on  the  river  higher 
up  and  setting  it  on  fire  in  order  to  ignite  the  boats 
and  insure  a  holocaust  of  their  opponents  as  the  flaming 
fluid  struck  the  vessels.  Their  efforts,  however,  were 
ineffective,  and  so  the  contest  raged,  almost  entirely 
on  the  side  of  the  men,  till  about  six  in  the  evening. 
Two  flags  of  truce  run  up  by  the  terrified  Pinkertons 
during  the  day,  had  been  shot  down,  but  at  the  earnest 
supplication  of  the  leaders,  the  Homesteaders  respected 
the  third,  and  accepted  the  surrender  of  the  Pinker¬ 
tons  with  all  their  arms  and  ammunition,  promising 
them  personal  protection  from  violence.  On  their  way 
through  the  town,  however,  the  wounded,  exhausted 
and  demoralized  men,  guarded  on  both  sides  by  their 
captors,  were  assailed  by  the  mob  of  men,  women  and 
children  on  all  sides,  and  beaten  and  outraged  in  the 
most  cruel,  shocking  and  dastardly  manner.  Not  one 
escaped  unwounded.  During  the  night  they  were  con¬ 
fined  in  the  opera  house,  and  next  day  taken  to  Pitts¬ 
burg  whence  they  were  sent  to  their  respective  homes, 
the  saddest  and  most  humiliated  lot  of  mercenaries 
that  ever  set  forth  to  conquer  and  crawled  home  van¬ 
quished. 
Action  of  State  Militia. — On  the  defeat  and  de¬ 
parture  of  the  Pinkertons,  the  Sheriff  of  Allegheny 
County,  on  the  urgent  demand  of  the  Carnegie  Com¬ 
pany,  again  tried  to  raise  a  posse  comitatus  by  issuing 
summonses  to  a  multitude  of  Pittsburgers,  but  through 
fear  or  sympathy,  service  against  the  Homesteaders 
was  so  unpopular  that  only  a  beggarly  handful  of 
Falstaffian  recruits  answered  his  call,  and  he  declared 
his  inability  to  handle  the  riotous  workers.  Then 
Governor  Pattison,  who  had  previously  twice  refused 
to  call  out  the  State  militia  until  the  efforts  of  the 
county  officials  should  prove  abortive,  on  the  re¬ 
iterated  demand  of  the  Sheriff  called  out  two 
brigades  of  State  troops,  and  on  Monday,  July  11. 
6,000  infantrymen,  each  supplied  with  100  ball  car¬ 
tridges  and  all  backed  by  Gatling  guns,  three  troops  of 
cavalry  and  two  batteries  of  artillery,  under  General 
Snowden,  quietly  and  unexpectedly  took  possession 
of  the  chief  strategic  positions  around  the  mills  and 
elsewhere  in  the  town  before  the  citizens  had  time 
to  realize  the  situation.  It  was  intended  to  welcome 
them  with  bands  and  acclamation  in  order  to  con¬ 
ciliate  their  good-will;  but  General  Snowden  forbade 
any  display  of  the  kind  so  gruffly  and  peremptorily  as 
to  show  thdt  the  troops  had  come  for  business  not 
pleasure.  Many  of  them  from  Philadelphia  and  other 
industrial  centers  belong  to  trade  unions,  and  doubt¬ 
48 1 
less  sympathize  with  the  Homesteaders;  but  military 
discipline  prevents  fraternization,  and  will  no  doubt,  in 
case  of  turbulence,  induce  all  to  render  effective  ser¬ 
vice  and  strict  obedience  to  the  commands  of  their 
officers.  At  the  opening  of  the  trouble  the  Home¬ 
steaders’  Advisory  Committee  in  charge  of  the  move¬ 
ment,  secuied  from  their  fellow  workmen,  the  town 
officials,  the  appointment  of  a  large  number  of  special 
constables  whose  main  duty  it  has  been  to  keep  and 
drive  away  non-union  men  and  to  this  end  make  things 
unpleasant  for  strangers  generally.  On  Wednesday, 
July  13,  some  of  these  bumptuously  arrested  and 
maltreated  several  respectable  visitors  and  next  day 
General  Snowden  detailed  the  “  Fighting  Fifteenth,” 
composed  mostly  of  non-sympathetic  countrymen 
from  northern  Pennsylvania,  to  patrol  the  town  and 
suppress  the  tin-badged  specials.  Since  then  the 
military  have  been  in  absolute  control  of  the  place, 
and  complete  order  has  been  maintained.  A  House 
Congressional  Committee  is  now  investigating  the 
trouble  and  the  Pinkerton  organization  ;  and  a  Senate 
Committee  will  thrash  the  same  straw  next  week. 
Prospects  Ahead. — President  Frick  declares  that 
the  mills  will  soon  be  in  operation  by  non-union  work¬ 
men.  He  says  not  over  1,000  of  the  old  hands  belong 
to  the  Amalgamated  Association,  and  that  many  of 
these  and  most  of  the  others  will  return  to  work  when 
protection  is  assured.  Already  it  is  said  large  num¬ 
bers  have  been  engaged  in  other  places  and  will  be  at 
the  works  in  a  few  days.  Some  have  set  briskly 
to  work  already.  In  no  case  will  union  men  be  again 
employed,  and  compromise  and  arbitration  are  alike 
out  of  the  question.  The  men  say  that  they  will 
keep  quiet  while  the  soldiers  remain,  but  that  after 
their  departure  the  “scabs”  must  go.  Already  the 
Carnegie  men  at  the  Pittsburg  works,  though  they  had 
just  signed  a  favorable  scale,  have  struck  through 
sympathy,  and  those  in  other  establishments  of  the 
company  are  likely  to  follow  the  example.  All  labor 
organizations  throughout  the  country  look  upon  Frick’s 
action  as  a  deliberate  attempt  to  crush  their  system, 
and  sympathize  with  the  workmen.  The  funds  of  the 
latter  are  ample  for  needs  for  some  weeks  and  they 
can  raise  $1,000,000  more.  If  not  settled  soon,  the 
trouble  may  spread  to  other  iron  works  and  other 
industrial  organizations.  There  is  much  talk  of  boycot¬ 
ting  Carnegie  steel  and  iron.  Then  the  building  and 
mechanical  trades  would  refuse  to  use  them  and  the 
rail  and  river  transportation  men  would  scorn  to 
handle  them.  This  might  lead  to  other  strikes  and 
widespread  trouble,  demoralization  and  distress.  A 
heavy  bill  has  already  been  run  up  against  Allegheny 
County,  which  must  pay  for  all  damages  done  through 
her  inability  to  suppress  riot.  As  a  single  instance, 
she  must  pay  $10,000  for  the  two  barges  burnt  by  the 
rioters  after  the  surrender  of  the  Pinkertons.  The 
cost  of  keeping  the  present  fi-rce  in  the  place  is  put  at 
$22,000  a  day.  It  is  believed  that  the  bulk  of  the 
troops  will  be  dismissed  in  a  week  in  the  absence  of 
further  turbulence;  but  probably  the  Fifteenth  and 
Sixteenth  Regiments,  composed  mainly  of  country¬ 
men,  will  be  kept  there  some  time  longer.  Altogether 
the  embroglio  has  been  hitherto  wholly  calamitous 
and  probably  the  end  is  far  off. 
Business  Bits. 
The  Asplnwall  Manufacturing  Company,  formerly  of  Three  Rivers, 
Mich.,  will  soon  remove  to  Jackson,  Mich.  This  firm  has  long  manu¬ 
factured  potato  planters,  and  it  has  also  In  training  a  potato  digger 
that  will  some  day  prove  popular. 
The  French  are  making  great  progress  In  the  use  ot  compressed  air 
for  mechanical  purposes.  It  is  forced  from  the  compressors  through 
rubber  tubes  all  about  the  town,  turning  small  machines  at  a  light 
cost.  It  is  also  used  for  cooling  purposes. 
Have  you  written  to  James  McCreery  &  Co.,  of  this  city,  about  those 
remnants  of  dress  goods?  Haven’t?  Why  not?  We  guess  you  must 
belong  to  that  class  of  folks  who  “  don't  know  a  good  thing  when  they 
see  It.”  8ee  here  now!  The  R.  N.-Y.  knows  you  can  get  genuine  bar¬ 
gains  on  these  line  goods.  We  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  Bale  be¬ 
yond  a  desire  to  have  our  readers  enjoy  a  good  thing.  We  have  urged 
readers  to  buy  Breed’s  weeder  and  numberless  other  tools,  plants, 
etc,,  because  we  knew  they  were  helpful  things.  In  just  the  same  way 
we  advise  you  to |write  for  prices  on  these  goods.  Don’t  wait,  but  do 
it  now. 
Potato  Diggers  —Every  year  we  are  asked  many  questions  about 
tools  for  digging  potatoes.  Digging  by  hand  Is  slow  and  costly  work. 
Some  quick,  active  men  will  dig  twice  as  many  bushels  In  a  given  time 
as  others,  but  we  believe  the  dally  average  is  getting  lower  and  that 
potato  digging  Is  becoming  a  "lost  art.”  Tools  that  get  potatoes  out  of 
the  ground  are  of  two  classes— those  that  simply  throw  them  out  with 
little  effort  to  separate  them  from  stones  and  dirt,  and  those  that  make 
a  feature  of  sifting  out  the  earth  and  leaving  the  tubers  on  top  of  the 
ground.  The  first  are  plows  with  prongs  behind  the  plow  share  so  that 
the  earth  may  fall  between  the  prongs  and  the  potatoes  roll  off 
them  to  the  ground.  These  plows  get  the  potatoes  out,  but  cover  some 
of  them  up  again,  and  it  Is  necessary  to  harrow  over  the  field  in  order 
to  get  them  all.  The  genuine  potato  digger  Is  big  and  strong  enough  to 
take  up  all— tubers,  vines,  earth  and  stones— carry  all  up  to  a  seive 
and  shake  out  all  but  the  tubers.  This  requires  complicated  machinery 
and  great  force,  consequently  these  diggers  are  far  more  ex¬ 
pensive  than  the  plows.  Some  of  the  latter  that  do  excellent  work  are 
the  “  Planet  Jr.,”  the  “Shaker,”  made  by  Deere  Bros.,  Moline,  Illinois 
and  the  Hudson,  by  S.  Terry  Hudson,  Itlverhead  N.  Y.  The  two  most 
successful  diggers  are  the  “  Hoover  ”  (Hoover  &  Prout,  Avery,  Ohio,) 
and  the  Pruyn,  (Pruyn  M’f’g.  Co..  Hooslck  Falls,  N.  Y.)  With  less  than 
15  acres  of  potatoes  we  should  not  think  it  wouid  pay  to  buy  a  high- 
priced  digger,  unless  one  can  secure  digging  work  from  neighboring 
farmers. 
