HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE AMALGAMATED ASSOCIATION--OPERATION OF THE SLIDING SCALE AT HOMESTEAD--SUPERINTENDENT POTTER MAKES AMICABLE SUGGESTIONS _a la_ CARNEGIE--AN ULTIMATUM FROM FRICK--HE THREATENS NON-UNIONISM AND FORTIFIES THE MILLS--LODGES HOLD A SUNDAY MORNING MEETING--BURGESS McLUCKIE'S BOLD SPEECH--"HIGH FENCES, PINKERTON DETECTIVES, THUGS AND MILITIA"--POLITICAL EXIGENCIES GIVE HOPE TO THE WORKMEN. The Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers is, with the possible exception of the Association of Window Glass Workers, the best generaled and most substantially organized labor organization in the United States. One of the fundamental principles in the doctrine of the association is to avoid and discourage strikes; and so closely has this article of faith been observed that the number of strikes officially ordered in the iron and steel industries has been small in comparison with the record of most other labor unions. The adjustment of wage scales by the association is largely the affair of the lodges. The equipment and requirements of different iron and steel mills vary considerably, and hence, each mill or kindred group of mills must have a separate scale, adjusted to its needs. It is incumbent on the lodges to report their respective scales to the association at large through the medium of an annual delegate convention. Should there be a dispute in any district, the convention passes upon the merits of the case and decides whether or not it shall be taken up by the association as a whole. If not, the usual mode of procedure is to notify the belligerent lodge or lodges to yield the disputed points. If, on the other hand, the association decides to intervene, the chief executive officers are authorized to act, and it becomes their duty to exhaust all fair means of bringing the recalcitrant mill-owners to terms, before countenancing a strike. An official order to strike commits the association to the payment of weekly benefits to the strikers.