Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 234, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 September 1919 — NEW REASON FOR STRIKE. [ARTICLE]

NEW REASON FOR STRIKE.

In his testimony yesterday before the senate committee, Mr. Fitzpatrick, chairman of the strikers’ committee, said that President Wilson had tried to get for the union committee a conference with Judge Gary, but had failed. When asked by Senator Kenyon whether the president had told him so “in so many words,” Fitzpatrick said: “We saw him, and he convinced us that he had tried, and that his efforts had been fruitless.” This is merely preliminary to the following statement:

—“We feel that thia strike is necessary to sustain the authority of the President of the United States. He asked for a conference, and the head of the company which was maintaining Jin armed force in the United StatA, refused. So the men in the mills saw it was necessary to the president’s prestige,” That* ®f comae, puts an entirely new face on the situation. It nadhitherto been supposed that the only reason for the strike was Gary’s refusal to confer with Fitzpatrick, Foster and others. Now it appears that the men struck because of the insult to the president involved in Gary’s refusal. Yet Foster does not believe that there ought to be any president or government, any law or morals as we now understand them. “Prestige” would do Mr. Wilson precious little good if he were chased out of the white house by a mob bent on seizing «■ the amassed wealth” that it contained. Nor should it be forgotten, that Fitzpatrick declined to comply with the request of the president that the strike be postponed until after the conference of October 6. Surely here was a blow at the president s “prestige.” We doubt whether Mr. Wilson will appreciate the efforts of these men to “sustain” his ‘ authority.” Mr. Fitzpatrick showed an almost total ignorance of conditions in the steel industry. He confessed that he was not familiar with the scale of wages, did not know the rates of pay or the wages received T6y the various classes of workmen, had never been in the mills. He objected to the twelvehour day, though he admitted that a few of the skilled men*tfV£rk eight hours. Some of these, he confessed, may get *2O, S4O or even S6O a day, though he thought that this was “a mere pittance” considering “the way they have to earn it.” We guess it is nearer the truth to say that the strike is to “sustain the president’s prestige” than to say that ft is for the redress of grievances. —Jndianapolis News. -