Democratic Sentinel, Volume 6, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 June 1882 — LABOR STRIKES. [ARTICLE]

LABOR STRIKES.

Pittsburgh, Pa., June 1. The great strike of the iron-workers was inaugurated to-day. Twenty thousand men and boys who yesterday added to the wealth of the community by good, honest work are to-day idle consumers. Yesterday, this vast army of producers earned fully $80,000; to-day they squandered part of it. A strange stillness prevails throughout the city. Clouds of impenetrable smoke no longer hang over the town. The strike brushed them away as if by magic, leaving a clear sky and bright sunlight seldom witnessed in Pittsburgh. All the thirty-odd iron mills in the two cities are idle, with one single exception—the Union Mills of Carnegie Bros. A Co. Thousands of men, arrayed in best apparel, all day long paraded the streets, talking, laughing and squandering their money. The strikers are quiet abd orderly. They have the sympathy of the public, and will commit no breach of the peace unless goaded by desperation to turn the tide of public sentiment against them. Speculation as to the final result of the strike continues. Both sides are sanguine of success, and both expreaa a determination to fight till it gains the victory. Very few persons think the strike will last long. Our manufacturers cannot very well afford a long period of idleness. It would bring disaster to their business and result in driving trade to other localities. Milwaukee, Wis., June 1. The great strike of the iron-workers began here to-day. The press statement that the order to go out had been postponed for a fortnight seems to have been unfounded. The word came from Pittsburgh at a late hour last evening, and at midnight the works of the North Chicago Rolling Mill Company, at Bay View, were closed, with the exception of the rail mill, which will run until Saturday. The principal furnaces are now being blown out The strike throws 2,000 men out of employmeyt at Bay View alone, and a number have been ordered out of the city foundries by the union.

Cleveland, Ohio, June 1. No less than 15,000 men will be affected by the lockout or strike which began at Youngstown to-day. As a matter of course the mines will close when there is no longer a demand for coal, and with the furnaces closed the demand for coal must cease. The manufacturers claim that to grant the demands of the workmen would be to operate the mills at a loss to the company. Both sides are equally firm, and, from appearances, the strike may last a year. It is worthy of remark that no bitterness whatever exists between the men and their employers. Wheeling, W. Va., June 1. All the nail mills of this city shut down today, and expect to remain closed for an indefinite period. There appears to be no disposition whatever on the part of the manufacturers to start them until the situation has radically changed. They express themselves as resolutely determined not to pay the advance in wages asked. Chicago, June 2. A squad of white and colored employes of the Joliet Iron and Steel Company, who took the place of strikers along the Chicago docks, left the city about 5 o'clock last evening on an Alton accommodation train. When Brighton Park was reached, a party of armed stranger*, numbering nearly fifty, made a raid on the coaches, placed the engineer in peril of his life, and knocked the conductor down with a stone. Those of the Joliet laborers who could be identified were dragged out and mercilessly beaten. In the confusion Judge Pillsbury, of Pontiac, 111., was shot through the groin. He was brought to the city, and at the latest advices his left leg was paralyzed. The train was detained half an hour, and when it was allowed to proceed the strangers emptied their revolvers into the air and disappeared in small squads down Arclier road. One of the raiders was shot, but was taken away by his comrades.