Homestead : $b A complete history of the struggle of July, 1892, between the Carnegie-Steel Company, Limited, and the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel WorkersBurgoyne, Arthur Gordon
History
Homestead : $b A complete history of the struggle of July, 1892, between the Carnegie-Steel Company, Limited, and the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers
Burgoyne, Arthur Gordon
Homestead Strike, Homestead, Pa., 1892
Mr. Carnegie has frequently challenged public notice by acts of
philanthropy. He has given free baths and a free library to his native
town of Dunfermline, a histological annex, known as the Carnegie
laboratory to Bellevue Hospital, New York; a free library and music hall
to Allegheny City; a free library and music hall, costing more than
$1,000,000, to Pittsburgh; a free library to Edinburgh, Scotland, and
similar donations to Braddock and other places where he has business
interests. He has a fondness for literature, has written several books,
of which "Triumphant Democracy; or Fifty Years' March of the Republic"
is the most pretentious, and at one time controlled eighteen English
newspapers in the Radical interest. Mr. Carnegie married late in life
and has since maintained establishments in New York and at Cluny Castle,
Scotland, rarely visiting his mills.
Estimates of Andrew Carnegie's character vary widely. To those
associated with him in business he is known as a firm and considerate
friend, quick to discern ability and generous in rewarding it. As
an employer of labor he bore a high reputation for liberality and
sympathetic regard for the well-being of his employees until the
occurrence of the trouble at Homestead in 1892. How far he was
personally chargeable with responsibility for Mr. Frick's iron-handed
policy in that affair has never been positively determined; but it is
certain that the relentless spirit shown by Mr. Frick cost Mr. Carnegie
much of his popularity.
The connection of Henry Clay Frick with the Carnegie iron and steel
industries, did not begin until Andrew Carnegie had reached the zenith
of his success. Mr. Frick, however, had already carved his way to wealth
along a different line, and was himself a millionaire. His success
was gained in coke, and he came to be known as "the Coke King." Coke
is indispensable to the manufacture of steel, but for a long time its
production remained a separate industry. The Connellsville region, lying
about fifty miles south of Pittsburgh, was occupied by a number of small
producers, whose cut-throat mode of competition was highly advantageous
to the steel men. Starting with small holdings, Mr. Frick gradually
increased his territory and the number of his ovens until he obtained
a practical monopoly of the Connellsville production and was able to
dictate terms to consumers. He further strengthened his grip on the
trade by investing heavily in coal lands and thus acquiring an unlimited
source of supply for his ovens.
Mr. Carnegie perceived the rich possibilities of a union between the
steel and coke industries, and, in 1882, bought a half interest in the
Frick Coke Company for $1,500,000. Six years later, on the death of
one of his partners, he induced the coke king to enter the Carnegie
Company, and the interests thus combined have since been, to all intents
and purposes, a unit.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account