War At Home

The principal news item of the week is the labor troubles in Pennsylvania which culminatedin a battle Wednesday between the strikersand :he Pinkertons, in which many ives were lost. The trouble arose over a reduction of ten per cent in he wages of the workmen in the Zarnegie steel works in Homestead, LJennsylvania. Notice of the prososed reduction was given the workmen, who then hanged the president of the company in effigy. The company ordered an immediate shut down of the works, two days before the time provided by the contract under which the men were working. The company proceeded to fortify their works. Carnegie is a Republican millionaire, one of the principal donors to Republican campaign funds and his industry is one highly protected by the McKinley bill, the protection ranging from $18 to $84 per ton. Henee the reduction in wages gave the lie to the Republican claim that protection tends to raise wages. The company admit that under the old scale of wages they were making money. The next move of the company was to import 300 Pinkerton men to man their fortified works, so as to begin repairs of the work and enable them to hire new men in the place of their former workingmen. The Pinkertons proceeded up the river in a barge but were met by the locked out workingmen and their sympathizers to the number of several thousand who had assembled to prevent their landing. One of the Pinkertons opened fire onthecrowd. The Pinkertons were armed with Winchesters and the locked out men with rifles. At once a general fusilade began. The workmen hastily constructed breast works and the Pinkertons sought refuge in the hold of their boat. The workingmen secured a ten pound cannon and planted it where it could rake the barge and another cannon was placed on the opposite shore. Oil was run into the river and lighted and dynamite exploded. Oil was also sprayed over the barge by means of hose. In the meantime the tug which had towed the barge up stream had cut loose and there was no way of getting the barge out of the hot fire. The Pinkertons poured volley after volley into the ranks of the workmen. Finally the Pinkertons either became exhausted or their ammunition gave out and they ceased firing. Attempts to burn the boats still continued but were stopped by the chief officers of the steel workers association who had arrived on the scène. The Pinkertons surrendered, were disarmed and marched to the rink where they were locked in. On the way the guards placed over them got them through the mob with great difficulty. Stones were hurlecl at them, their eyes blinded with dust and one Pinkerton had his eyes put out by an umbrella in the hands of a wonian. During the fight eleven workmen and nine Pinkertons were killed and ioo wounded. The Carnegie company says it will refuse to allow union men to work in their milis. The workmen continue in possession of the milis. No property has yet been destroyed. The protective tariff seems to protect American workmen and raise their wages, doesn't it?