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... f Amalgamated tyranny (they could not be trained for and moved into better jobs) as they were of Frick's [Carnegie's manager] hard labor policies. The unskilled lived wretchedly... where houses had no running water and no sanitation facilities. The 12 hour day (and Frick's speed-up) led to fatigue... the newcomers did not like the older immigrants, but they liked Frick less-and they went out on strike when the Amalgamated Association did (Baker 115).
Frick had been moved into Carnegie's position of authority as he took over the running of the Steel Mill. '... in 1892 steel magnate Andrew Carnegie and his company chairman Henry Clay Frick launched an all-out assault on the Amalgamated Iron, Steel and Tin Workers, a craft union affiliated with the AFL' (Jones 618). Carnegie and Frick had agreed that the union must be broken and each worker must be hired as an individual. The sliding pay scale was meant to replace union wages.
This offer was rejected and all the employees went out on strike. Carnegie had left for Scotland, and as some claim, to go into hiding, while he left Frick in charge of the mill. Frick was a hard manager with no claim to Carnegie's philosophy regarding the workingman. His bottom line was profit. With the closure of the steel mill, Frick called in Pinkerton guards to protect the plant.
They were unable to disembark from their boats, as they came under striker's rifle fire. The standoff ended with the Pinkerton agents being run out of town. 'July 6 - 8 -According to the Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, nine Homestead workers and five Pinkertons were killed in the battle, or were 'fatally injured'' (Demarest 126). Now, the strikers guarded the mill, the town, and the access roads. This was the climate and the conditions at Homestead when the Governor of Pennsylvania called up the National Guard. During their armed occupation of Homestead, Frick hired scab laborers, and the starving workers gave up their fight.
Carnegie's steel mill resumed operation with scab labor and the locked out workers were not rehired. Yellen states, 'The company issued eviction notices to all locked-out men occupying company-owned houses, whether the rent was being paid or not' (92). 'Carnegie justified breaking up of the union as 'democratic'... as the vast majority of the employees are non-union [the unskilled workers] the minority must give place to the majority. '... and with that 'Carnegie sailed off on a long vacation in Scotland'' (Meltzer 97). On his arrival he sent Frick a note, 'we will approve of anything you do.
We are with you to the end' (Meltzer 98). When the strike was broken, Frick replied, 'We had to teach our employees a lesson and we have taught them one they will never forget' (Meltzer 103). 'The few that were able to get their jobs back found their pay cut as much as 60 %. It was the lowest pay of any mill in the industry (Meltzer 104). The union was broken and Carnegie went on to make millions. The working conditions continued to deteriorate and Yellen states, 'The earnings of the miners exceeded those of the steel laborers by two full days' pay a week. While the workmen in the steel industry sank into a state of slavery, the Carnegie Steel Company grew rapidly, accumulated more and more wealth, transformed itself into the United States Steel Corporation, and with its monopoly on steel productions, established itself at the very heart of American capitalism' (100).
Meltzer contends that Carnegie's ' essay on the rights of workers would indict Carnegie for hypocrisy in years to come. 'To expect that one dependent upon his daily wage for the necessaries of life will stand peaceably and see a new man employed in his stead is to expect much... There is an unwritten law among the best workmen: Thou shall not take thy neighbor's job'' (83). Carnegie was reviled in newspapers and magazines. Meltzer quotes the 'St. Louis Post-Dispatch 'Ten thousand 'Carnegie Public Libraries' would not compensate the country for the direct and indirect evils resulting from the Homestead lockout.
Say what you will of Frick, he is a brave man. Say what you will of Carnegie, he is a coward, and gods and men hate cowards'' (105). Carnegie explained his position regarding the strike in his autobiography. Burton writes quoting Carnegie, '... but as my appearance on the scene would have implied Mr.
Frick's virtual deposition and he had begged me not to do this, I remained abroad'... this remained Carnegie's position to the end. His views on the only sensible way to treat striking workmen had been expressed in his 'forum ' article of 1886 and never changed... 'We would talk matters over and give and take, always keeping our old men, for manufacturers never need employ new ones'' (413). Carnegie describes in his autobiography some of the many good things he did for the workingmen. When the men complained of the cost of food, he helped them to set up a co-operative. To enable them to get coal at a cheaper price, he arranged that coal be delivered to their houses at the same price the company paid (Carnegie 250).
The company offered to set up a separate trust fund and pay each man 6 % on his saving (Carnegie 251). Later, after he retired from business and started his philanthropic giving he established a pension fund for those who needed help in their old age or had suffered injury in an accident (Carnegie 256). Joseph Wall states that Carnegie 'set up the Carnegie Relief Fund, $ 4, 000, 000, to provide pensions and health programs for his former employees in the twelve plants he had owned' (Baker 125). Carnegie ' had sympathy for the suffering worker, but when the decision had to be made between the striker and the steel man's property, he was a capitalist first and a humanitarian afterward' (Swetman 93). Carnegie promoted education of the working man to understand their struggles with capitol, but as...
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Research essay sample on Yellen States the Carnegie Frick
