A short history of Pittsburgh : 1758-1908Church, Samuel Harden
History
A short history of Pittsburgh : 1758-1908
Church, Samuel Harden
Pittsburgh (Pa.) -- History
A proclamation had also been issued by Governor Hartranft, and he had
come to Pittsburgh to address the rioters, and subsequently two or three
thousand troops were ordered by him to Pittsburgh, and were encamped
near East Liberty for several days.
Under these vigorous measures quiet was in a few days restored,
although the Committee of Public Safety continued to hold sessions and
to take steps not only to prevent any further demonstrations, but to
arrest and bring to punishment a number of the prominent rioters.
Claims for losses in the riot were made on Allegheny County in the sum
of $4,100,000, which the commissioners settled for $2,772,349.53. Of
this sum $1,600,000 was paid to the Pennsylvania Railroad, whose claim
for $2,312,000 was settled for that sum. In addition to the buildings
already specified as burned, there were 1,383 freight-cars, 104
locomotives, and 66 passenger coaches destroyed by fire. Twenty-five
persons in all were killed.
The lesson was worth all it cost, and anarchy has never dared to raise
its head in the corporation limits since that time.
XVII
The Homestead strike and riot of 1892 is another incident of false
leadership in industrial life which must be chronicled here.
For many years the Carnegie Steel Company, whose principal works were
situated at Homestead, just outside the present boundaries of the city,
had employed a large number of skilled workmen who belonged to the
Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, and had contracted
for their employment with the officers of that Association. On July 1,
1889, a three years' contract was made which was to terminate at the end
of June, 1892. The workmen were paid by the ton, the amount they
received depending on the selling price of steel billets of a specified
size which they produced. If the price of these billets advanced, the
wages they received per ton advanced proportionately. If the price
declined, their wages also declined to a certain point, called a
minimum, but a decline in the selling price below this minimum caused no
reduction in wages. The minimum was fixed in the contract at $25.00 per
ton. At the date the contract was made the market price of the billets
was $26.50 per ton.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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