steel
mills of Illinois, and a large proportion of the sheet, tin, and iron
hoop mills of the country. In 1900 there began to be whisperings of a
gigantic consolidation in the steel industry. The Amalgamated officials
were alarmed. In any such combination the Carnegie Steel Company, an old
enemy of unionism, would easily be first and would, they feared, insist
on driving the union out of every mill in the combination. Then it
occurred to President Shaffer and his associates that it might be a
propitious time to press for recognition while the new corporation was
forming. Anxious for public confidence and to float their securities,
the companies could not afford a labor controversy.

Accordingly, when the new scales were to be signed in July 1901, the
Amalgamated Association demanded of the American Tin Plate Company that
it sign a scale not only for those mills that had been regarded as union
but for all of its mills. This was agreed, provided the American Sheet
Steel Company would agree to the same. The latter company refused, and a
strike was started against the American Tin Plate Company, the American
Sheet Steel Company, and the American Steel Hoop Company. In conferences
held on July 11, 12, and 13 these companies offered to sign for all tin
mills but one, for all the sheet mills that had been signed for in the
preceding year and for four other mills that had been non-union, and for
all the hoop mills that had been signed for in the preceding year. This
highly advantageous offer was foolishly rejected by the representatives
of the union; they demanded all the mills or none. The strike then went
on in earnest. In August, President Shaffer called on all the men
working in mills of the United States Steel Corporation to come out on
strike.

By the middle of August it was evident that the Association had made a
mistake. Instead of finding their task easier because the United States
Steel Corporation had just been formed, they found that corporation
ready to bring all its tremendous power to bear against the
organization. President Shaffer offered to arbitrate the whole matter,
but the proposal was rejected; and at the end of August the strike was
declared at an end.

The steel industry was apparently closed to unionism.[70]

(5) _Legislation, Courts, and Politics_

While trade unionism was thus on the whole holding its ground against
the employers and even winning victories and recognition, its influence
on Nat