Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 August 1901 — STEEL MEN JUSTIFY REFUSAL. [ARTICLE]

STEEL MEN JUSTIFY REFUSAL.

South Chicago Men Issue Address Explaining Why 1 hey Do Not Strike. Employes of the Illiuoi* Steel Company's plant at South Chicago have issued a statement in which they give their reasons for refusing to answer the call of President T. J. Shaffer to strike in sympathy with the Eastern steel workers. They contend that they have a contract with the Illinois Steel Company and that under the laws of the Amalgamated Association they were not permitted to break it. They also assert that Vice President W.‘ C. Davis had supported them in their refusal to strike. The statement declares that the nun have always been stanch unionists, and that their present course is in keeping .with the fundamental principles of trades unions. The ruling of President M. M. Garland made in 1897 when a number of rail straighteners in South Chicago went out on strike in the face of an agreement with the company is cited, as also is a ruling of President Shaffer in 1898 when the International Tin Plate Workers' Association asked the Amalgamated Association to enter into a defensive alliance with it.

Shaffer's answer was to the effect that his organization stood for the observance of contracts, and that it would not enter into any alliance, either offensive or <lf>fensive. which would obligate it to violate any of its contracts with employers. '1 he recent statement of President Mitchell of the United Mine Workers', in which he mentioned instances where the constitution of a union hail been ignored so that a contract with employers might be carried out is also quoted as showing that the denunciations of labor organizations against the South Chicago men are unwarranted. The statement concludes as follows: " Ihe principles of union labor are as dear to us as to any men in the country who earn their living by honest toil, but we do not think we should be expected to violate every rule of business integrity aui.LpersonaL honor for a matter of s-nti-inent. for this is a time when we must not let our sympathy get away with our better judgment. It may not be generally known, but the fact is we were supported by our district vice president, W. C. Davis. in our action in refusing to strike.’’