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Friday January 14, 1916
East Youngstown, Ohio - Steel Strike Settled with 10 Percent Wage Increase

From the January 12th edition of the Decatur Herald of Illinois:

EAST YOUNGSTOWN STRIKE IS SETTLED
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Men Vote to Accept Company's Offer
of 10 Per Cent Increase in Wages
and to Return.
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FLYNN'S CHARGES DENIED
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Grand Jury Investigates Trouble and Calls
Employers and Union Leaders.
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Militia patrolling burned district.
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YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio, Jan. 12.-Fred Croxton, of Columbus, O., mediator, sent here to adjust the wage disputes in this district, announced last night that the strike of tube workers at the plant of the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co., had been declared off.

The men, at a mass meeting last night, voted to accept the company's offer of an increase in wages amounting approximately to ten per cent and voted to return to work Wednesday.

Charges Denied.

John D. Rockefeller, Jr., in a telegram received here late Tuesday denied charges made by Thomas H. Flynn, general organizer for the American Federation of Labor, that the Rockefeller interests were in any way interested in the proposed merger of big independent steel interests or were indirectly responsible for the rioting in East Youngstown last Friday.

Flynn's Assertion.

Mr. Flynn in his statement which was issued here Monday night, charged that the riot was part of a scheme to depress the value of stock of the Youngstown Sheet and Tube company, so that control could be obtained and a merger affected with several other companies in which the Colorado Fuel and Iron Co. was to be included. When the telegram was received, Mr. Flynn at once replied that he would, if Mr. Rockefeller desired, submit to him the source of his information.

Ruins of G. V. Hamory & Co. banking house,
set on fire by strikers or sympathizers.
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Grand Jury Busy.

The grand jury which is investigating the strike at the plant of the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co., and the rioting which took place last Friday, during which drink-crazed mobs looted and burned practically every place of business in East Youngstown, was resumed Tuesday. Henry Ballard assistant attorney general of Ohio, arrived Tuesday to assist in the investigation and prosecution of the cases.

The probe will be thorough, according to Mr. Ballard. The grand jury will also inquire into the riot, especially endeavoring to ascertain if it was inspired by any person, corporation or foreign government.

Subpoenas Issued.

Subpoenas were issued Tuesday for appearance of James A Campbell, president of the tube company; Thomas H. Flynn, of Pittsburgh; C. S. Robinson, vice president; W. C. Reily, general superintendent, and J. Mitchel Wolz, formerly postoffice inspector at Pittsburgh and now safety director of the company. John Graney, president of the Youngstown labor council, and Joseph Murphy , a local labor leader, will also appear then.

Plants Resume.

Announcement was made last night by Major General W. D. Trick of the Republic Iron and Steel Co., that the company's plant at Lansingville, near here, will resume in full Wednesday. The strike originated at that point and affected 7,000 men. All employes will be granted a ten per cent increase, it was announced.

The East Youngstown and Struthers plants of the company resumed in all departments Tuesday, according to an official announcement which said that 2,500 of the 11,000 employes had returned.

Sixty property owners whose places of business were destroyed by fire in East Youngstown met Tuesday afternoon and decided to present claims to the insurance companies in an effort to recover damages. The property owners represented claims aggregating $200,000.

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SOURCE
The Decatur Herald
(Decatur, Illinois)
-Jan 12, 1916
https://www.newspapers.com/image/87572632/

IMAGES
Youngstown Steel Strike, Ruins, The Decatur Herald, IL, Jan 12, 1916
Youngstown Steel Strike, Ruins 2, The Decatur Herald, IL, Jan 12, 1916
https://www.newspapers.com/image/87572632/

See also:

The American Labor Year Book, 1916
Rand School of Social Science, 1916
https://books.google.com/books?id=vZ41AQAAMAAJ
"Youngstown."
https://books.google.com/books/reader?id=vZ41AQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcove...

Men and Steel
by Mary Heaton Vorse
Labour Publishing Company, 1922
(Note: my copy is 1922 edition, link is 1920 edition.)
https://archive.org/stream/mensteel00vors#page/n5/mode/2up
"Youngstown"
https://archive.org/stream/mensteel00vors#page/38/mode/2up

In East Youngstown life is scraped down to the bone: there are the mills, there are the workers-and formerly there were the saloons. There is nothing else. Here are no fine houses, only the steel workers' dwellings. Most of them are ugly frame buildings, climbing muddy streets.

In East Youngstown you realize that men are here not to live but to tend the mills. Humanity is dwarfed; the machines which make the industry are exalted. In East Youngstown is nothing but steel; there is a pillar of cloud by day and there is a saffron glare in the sky by night that forever reminds you of this...

In 1916 the discontent welled over. From one day to another Youngstown was on strike. No one knew why; there were no leaders. From one day to another men quit work and streamed down the streets. The mills stopped. There was rioting. Strikers were killed. Houses were burned. The strike flared up like a furnace blast. Like the fire of the blast furnace their discontent has never gone out.

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Homestead Strike Song - Performed by Pete Seeger
Lyrics: http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/folk-song-lyrics/Homestead_Strike.htm

Now the man that fights for honor,
none can blame him.
May luck attend wherever he may roam.
And no son of his will ever live
to shame him.
Whilst Liberty and Honor rule our Home.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuM_YYA2rYA width:560 height:315]