PUBLISHERS' NOTE.
At the suggestion of many members of labor organizations,the publishers of "Homestead" have decided toset apart five per cent. of the net profits derived from thesale of the work as the nucleus of a fund for the erectionof a monument in commemoration of the battle of July6, 1892. A suitable design shown in the engravingopposite page 288 has been chosen, and it is hoped thatthe workingmen of the United States will co-operate tosecure the successful execution of the plan. Men andevents of prominence in almost all other fields of humanactivity are immortalized by enduring testimonials; but organizedlabor has practically nothing to mark its achievementsand serve as a reminder to future generations. Abetter beginning could not be made than with the heroes ofHomestead, and it is especially fitting that the firstimpetus should be given in connection with this history.Such aid as it is in their power to lend to the formationof a Homestead Monument Association and the accomplishmentof its object is cheerfully tendered by
The Publishers.
HOMESTEAD.
Carnegie·Steel Company, Limited, and the Amalgamated
Association of Iron and Steel Workers.
ARTHUR G. BURGOYNE.
1893.
by D. S. Mitchell,
in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
RAWSTHORNE ENGRAVING AND PRINTING CO.
PITTSBURGH.
INTRODUCTION.
The demand voiced by representative workingmenin the Pittsburgh district, not only on their ownaccount but on that of their brethren the world over, fora correct and impartial history of the Homestead trouble,sufficiently explains the appearance of this volume.
The importance of the theme requires no demonstration.Since labor first organized for its own protectionit has passed through no period more prolific in soul-stirringevents and significant developments than thatextending from July to November, 1892, and includingthe lock-out at the Carnegie mills, the battle with300 Pinkerton guards, the military occupation of Homestead,the trial of labor leaders on capital charges andthe ultimate collapse of the Amalgamated lodges for lackof funds to continue the struggle against non-unionism.This was a conflict of far more than local interest. Itwas watched with anxiety by both friends and foes oforganized labor on both sides of the Atlantic; it claimedthe attention of leaders of thought in all departments ofhuman activity; it stirred up the British House of Parliamentand the United States Congress, agitated thenewspaper press of both continents, became an issue inthe election for President and is said to have contributedivmore largely to the defeat of Benjamin Harrison byGrover Cleveland than any other influence.
The injection of partisan considerations into publicdiscussion of the Homestead affair led naturally to a vastamount of misrepresentation, and even at this late daythe causes and character of t