The Great Steel Strike and its LessonsFoster, William Z.
History
The Great Steel Strike and its Lessons
Foster, William Z.
Steel Strike, U.S., 1919-1920; United States Steel Corporation
American 2,097 34.6
American (colored) 344 5.7
English 147 2.4
Scotch 41 .7
Welsh 28 .5
Irish 58 .9
Canadian 4 .1
German 104 1.8
French 6 .1
Swedish 79 1.3
Italian 128 2.1
Greek 23 .4
Swiss 5 .1
Norwegian 4 .1
Danish 1 .0
Hollander 1 .0
Russian 185 3.0
Lithuanian 201 3.3
Lattis 3 .0
Bohemian 3 .0
Croatian 222 3.7
Magyar 742 12.2
Slovak 930 15.3
Roumanian 7 .1
Ruthenian 82 1.3
Bulgarian 25 .4
Servian 219 3.6
Polish 246 4.0
Armenian 34 .5
Dalmatian 6 .1
Macedonian 10 .2
Hebrew 10 .2
Turkish 80 1.3
----- -----
Totals 6,075 100.0
This condition is typical of steel mills generally in the greater
Pittsburgh and Middle West districts, where the body of the industry is
located. In Clairton, of 4,600 employees, divided into 39 nationalities,
35 per cent. are Americans. On page 480 of the report of the Senate
Committee Steel Strike Hearings, appears a table covering the employees
of the Homestead Steel Works, Howard Axle Works, and Carrie Furnaces (an
industrial unit), submitted by General Manager J. S. Oursler. It shows a
total of 14,687 employees, of 54 nationality divisions. Of these
employees, 5,799, or 39.45 per cent. are stated to be American whites.
But as Mr. Oursler re-iterated in his testimony that he had classed as
Americans all those who had their citizenship papers, both these figures
should therefore be considerably reduced. Besides, it must be borne in
mind that these several tables include the office forces, bosses, etc.,
which are almost entirely American, and which were not involved in the
strike. In the steel districts in question it is exceedingly doubtful if
over 25 per cent. of the actual workers are American-born whites. How,
then, can a general strike of steel workers be anything else than
largely a strike of foreigners?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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