Part 1: Work: 1900-1910

Work: 1900-1910

A

The wire mills and the sugar refineries were the largest employers in 1910. Of the 366 workers listed, 36% of them worked at the wire mills and 34% of them worked at the sugar refineries. General laborer were 4%, followed by  coal dock workers, saloon owners, workers at the various railroads, grocery store and boarding house owners, and various other trades.

In 1910, the purchasing power of 1 dollar was the equivalent of $24.31 in 2016 dollars; the price of a quart of milk was 8.4 cents; a dozen eggs cost 33 cents, flour was 3.6 cents per pound, a round steak was 17 cents per pound.  (7) By 1910, the average family of 5 in the northern mid-west had an annual income of $200-400, with food costs rising from $322 in 1900 to $432 in 1910. with rent being the next biggest expense. (8)  

Depending upon when the various shifts started, one can imagine Market Street morning and evening filled with workers heading to and from work. A few would have headed north, toward the Cyclone fence factory at Sand street, or the Thomas Brass Foundry on the lakeshore at Madison. Some 277 workers would have headed south toward the National envelope factory that had just opened in 1904, to the US Sugar refinery and the wire mill further south. On the way home, worker would have passed the saloons clustered mainly in the 700’s of Market Street, near the intersection of Market and Gulf. In 1906 American Steel proposed closing its north gate “to keep men off Market Street,” forcing them to use the west gate from North Chicago, but it is unclear that this was fully implemented. (10)

in 1906, it was estimated that Waukegan factories paid $41,000 per week in wages. “Statistics show that an average of about $4,000 is sent out of town each week by the workingmen in money orders, checks ad by other means. From this it would appear that the remainder, or about $37,000 remains each week in the city. Probably 10,000 human beings have to live on this sum. The factories which make up the main part of Waukegan’s payroll are as follows: AS&W, $26,000, Warner, $10,000, Thomas Brass & Iron, $1,900, WH Dow, $900, Wilder-Manning Tanning, $600 (11)

The first decade of the 20th century was not without organized labor and various strike actions. These actions remained relatively small in scale, and of short duration, though they give a sense of a certain organized militancy. In October 1903, it was announced with some optimism that a new factory would soon open in Waukegan employing up to 400 hands. The United States Envelope Company had purchased land south of the Oakwood Cemetery from the American Steel company, and planned to move their factory from Milwaukee into a new facility. (12) But even before the new building was complete, the construction workers walked off the job in August of 1904 in protest of one steam-fitter with the wrong union affiliation. (13) The objectionable worker was withdrawn within a few days and work resumed. (14)

Various carpenters and laborers throughout the city went on strike in the spring of 1903, demanding an increase in rate from 37 ½ cents per hour to 40 cents per hour, tying up about 40 active jobs in town. Union membership at the time was estimated at 119 for carpenters and 95 laborers. (15)

Eight men walked off the job at EJ&E, elevating the tracks, in July 1905, demanding higher pay. “Before the walkout they were receiving $1.40 per day of 10 hours. They demand $1.50 or an increase of 10 cents a day.” (16)

Harvesting ice in the winter months, once dominated by “hobos” and “tramps” and “bums” from Chicago, become in the early years of the century a more organized business, dominated by “trusts,” Both the trusts and the independent organization had arrangements with local boarding houses which housed the workers at $4 per week, and the competition for good worker led to some competition in the quality of the boarding house food. Still, ice harvester “gets from $1.25 to $2.25. The average wage is $1.75 per day,” for a “steady man.” (17)

By 1909, optimism in Waukegan’s future was high. Flush with new roads and rails line and electric trolley lines connecting the town to Wisconsin in the north and Chicago to the south, the local newspaper proudly boasted that Waukegan “has most brilliant future of any in state and will grow beyond vision of the most optimistic.” (18)

B. American Steel & Wire

The large firm, an outgrowth of the older Washburn and Moen, was soon absorbed, along with Cyclone Fencing, into US Steel. JP Morgan had bought out Andrew Carnegie’s steel company and several other smaller steel concerns creating US Steel in March, 1901, creating the world’s first billion-dollar company. (Carnegie did quite well by the deal, overtaking Rockefeller at the time, briefly, as the richest man in the world. In March of 1901, he agreed to give $25,000 to Waukegan for the building of a library, which still stands today on the corner of Washington and Sheridan streets.)

US Steel was non-union at the time of its formation. Workers had few rights.  A few weeks before Christmas in 1903, the company announced a general cut in wages. “The cut averages about 12 percent. Men who were getting $60 a month are cut to $50. The machinist are cut from 31 ½ cents to 2 cents an hour (?). The galvanizers are cut from 1 cent to 3 cents per ton (?). The reduction affects the entire force, it is said. The laborers will probably drop from 15 and 17 cents an hour to the old scale of 14 ½ cents” (19) Whomever did not receive a pay cut in December was given a 10 per cent cut in January.(20)

For workers, the non-union US Steel was difficult, dangerous work. Accidents were common. In 1907, it was estimated “that 536,165 Americans are killed or maimed every year in American industry,” many of them in the heavy industries of steel mills. (21)

Still, there was a demand for workers, as economic expansion generally continued. In 1907 the wire mill was so active as to cry out for men. “Foremen are hiring every fit man who comes to the wire mill gates and howling for more working timber, as they need every man they can get, and it is a fact that men are scarce in this city.” (22)

In 1907, wire mill employees at “general or non-productive labor” were given a ten percent raise. “Wages for non-producing labor varies from 15 to 25 cents per hour.” (23)

C. The American Sugar Refinery/ The Corn Products Refining Company

The American Sugar Refinery at the far south end of Market Street had a particularly troubled history.

It had started out as separate firms, The Illinois Sugar Refining Company, Warner Sugar and the Corn Products Refining Company, which combined under American Sugar.

Optimism was high in the first years of the 20th century. Refining corn and beets into sugars and calf meal had been a big business in Illinois in the previous century. There were large refining plants as nearby as Pekin and Peoria.

The “old starch works” was being upgraded and converted into the Warner Starch Works in 1902. After rebuilding and re-modelling, hopes were high for processing 3000 to 5000 bushels a day. (24) By Mid-September, 100 men were working on upgrading the facility, “the work is being rushed with the greatest possible haste and at the very outside it is hoped that the plant will be opened for business by January 1st [1903].” (25)

Meanwhile, just south of the Warner plant, work started in the late spring of 1903 on the Corn Products Refining plant, hoping for an August opening, employing well over 350 hands. (26). A strike by mill hands that July demanding union recognition slowed construction slightly. (27)

Warner, too had some small labor trouble that summer also, when “about a dozen” steam-fitters walked off the job, protesting they did not receive the raise to 35 cents an hour from 30 as hoped. The company remained firm and promised that “nothing would be done and that the men would not be taken back.”  (28)

The Illinois Sugar Refining Company, considered part of the sugar “trust” also operated in the plants south of Market. The largest of the concerns, it hoped in August of 1903 to employ over 500 men when fully operational and to increase its capacity to 20,000 bushels a day from 18,000. This plant alone expected to use 400 tons of coal per day. Running night and day, “the factory is to turn out glucose, starch, feed and feed products as well as the new product syrups.” (29) The company hoped to be operating by December, 1903, and a direct challenge to the independent Warner, who had just completed “one of the finest plants in the world.” (30)

In the midst of this heated competition, the Corn Products Company was to close “indefinitely.”  In December of 1903. “word arrived here for the local officers to grind out every bit of corn they have in the steeps as fast as possible and to close the plant down completely” due to a particularly “dull” market. (31) Such market fluctuations may have been common, and how much over-production may have played is also to be considered.

On a Wednesday evening at 6:30 in February of 1904, tragedy struck the Warner plant. The dry starch house exploded with a concussion felt for miles around, and a fire “discernible a distance of fifteen miles.” (32) Debris “hurled into trees and telegraph wires half a block on every side, and the ground between was covered with sections and bits of the brick walls and with the iron beams of the roof of the buildings . The concussion shook the entire town breaking many windows . It demolished the Chicago House, a boarding house standing a block away from the starch building . Many of the occupants of this house were thrown to the floor” (33) Three workers died and many more were injured.  “Daniel Haney, Jacob Spies and Peter Kosick were the unfortunate men who lost their lives in the disaster. Coroner Taylor held the inquest Monday. Haney’s body was not recovered until nine o’clock Saturday evening and was located only after eight feet of water had been pumped from the pit of the submerged pump room.” Jacob Spies may have been working in the room where the explosion occurred, and was decapitated; his body was identified by his landlady by a button she recognized on his shirt. Peter Kosick may have died of exposure in the frigid February air as panicked workers tried to carry the wounded Kosick  on a plank up South Street to Marion toward the hospital. (34)

Within a few weeks, plans were already in place to begin rebuilding. The plant was heavily insured. (34) While clearing debris the Saturday after the explosion,  a fourth body was discovered, though there was difficulty confirming his identity.  Thomas Raudzus had just started working at the plant hours before the explosion, and was missing and unaccounted for, though his name did not turn up on timesheets. (35)

By September, the “with the exception of the syrup house the entire plant of the Warner sugar refinery is in full operation, running a day and night force. There are now about 300 hands at work and when the syrup house resumes day and night the number of employees will reach 500.” (36)

By 1906, American Sugar, combined with the Corn Products Refining Company were re-building and boasting that their new plant at the southern end of Market street would be “the largest and best sugar refinery in the world...equipped with the best and most modern machinery….superintended by men who are in the front ranks of their profession, the plant will be a wonder and will make Waukegan the greatest corn grinding center in the world.” When open, it was estimated the plant would employ 1,000. (37)

Even during the construction phase, in the spring of 1906, small labor controversies tarnished these high hopes. 25 carpenters walked off the job in protest on non-union lumber deliveries from the nearby Dow mills north of Market street. Bricklayers and machinists threatened to join the walk-out, which gives a hint of the strength and organization of union-movements at the time, though the success of their protest is unclear. (38)

Companies still had enormous power at the time. A year later, in July 1907, firemen at the Corn Products plant walked out, also demanding higher wages. “New men were installed in their places and serious trouble was feared.” (39) The labor unrest continued into August, with fifty workers walking out one Saturday morning. One man, Andrew Charlie, was beaten by his fellow workers when he refused to quit work early, at noon. He was met outside the plant gates at 12:30. It was unclear at the time the reason for the walk-out, with speculation in the press that they were “striking merely for a day off and a chance to get drunk. All were foreigners,” it was also noted. A crowd of sympathizers and onlookers gathered, some with bats and bricks, though they dispersed after the police arrived and arrested six as “ring-leaders,” two for the assault of Charlie. The two were charged $50 and the other 4 fined $25 each, which were stiff fines for the time. (40)

Despite these occasional labor agitation and market fluctuations, the refinery continued to grow. In Jan of 1907, construction of a new $75,000 Dextrine plant was announced, adding to the Corn Products Refining Company’s boast as “the largest sugar refining plant in the world.” (41) “Dextrin is used for sizing cloth and for the manufacture of glue and mucilage.” (42)

In the spring of 1909, Corn Products Refining Company announced plans for a dramatic expansion into the candy market, with a floating of a $10,000,000 bond for the construction of a new plant north of the coal docks. (43, 44) This expansion was despite the report at the end of the year showing declining profits, due in part to the high price of corn and the cut in prices for its own products. (45)

The year did not end well for the Corn Products Refinery. In early December of 1909, another explosion this time in “dust house” caused by “spontaneous combustion” of accumulated dust, causing considerable damage to that structure and the adjacent dextrin plant, but no loss of life.  A nearby Northwestern fireman “is reported to have been blown through the window of the engine cab by the force of the explosion, but escaped without serious injury.” A cart driver packed near the dextrin plant narrowly missed falling glass, as did his horse, which was led away unharmed but trembling with fright. (42)

As with the explosion of 1904, injured workers sued the company for damages, but the company argued successfully that the workers had “assumed liability,” since they knew that the work was dangerous when they took their jobs and therefore the company could not be held accountable. (46)

Notes

(8) (Retail Prices, 1890 to 1911: Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 105 Part 1)

(9) Lake County Independent and Waukegan Weekly Sun, Jan 13, 1911, p1

(10) To keep men off market street, March 23, 1906, Libertyville Independent, p1

(11) What Waukegan factories pay Lake County Independent, Jan 19, 1906, P8

(12) Lake County Independent, Oct 30, 1903, p4

(13) Lake County Independent, August 26, 1904, p4

(14) Lake County Independent, September 2, 1904, p8

(15) Expected Strike is on, Lake County Independent, April 24, 1903, p1

(16) Lake County Independent, July 28, 1905, P4

(17) American Hobo crowed out by emigrant ice harvesters, Lake County Independent and Waukegan weekly Sun, March 1, 1907, p.1

(18) Waukegan a Thriving Village, Lake County Independent and Waukegan Weekly Sun, April 9, 1909, p 8

(19) Lake County Independent, Dec 11, 1903, p4

(20) Lake County Independent, Jan 8, 1904, p4

(21) Making steel and Killing Men, William Hard, Everybody’s Magazine, Nov, 1907; (The Muckrakers, editors Arthur and Lila Weinberg, Capricorn books, NY, 1964)

(22) Waukegan Plants cry out for men Lake County Independent and Waukegan weekly Sun, April 7, 1907, p.1

(23) Wire Mill men get raise, Libertyville Independent, p 12, Jan 4, 1907

(24) Lake County Independent, Sept 26, 1902, p4

(25) Lake County Independent, Sept 10, 1902, p4

(26) Lake County Independent, May 22, 1903, p4

(27) Lake County Independent, July 3, 1903, p4

(28) Lake County Independent, Aug 21, 1903, p1

(29) Lake County Independent, Aug 13, 1903, p1

(30) Lake County Independent, Nov 27, 1903, p1

(31) Libertyville Independent, Dec 25, 1903, p4

(32) Terrific Waukegan Explosion, Libertyville Independent, Feb 26, 1904, p1

(33) BIG PLANT WRECKED, True Republican, Sycamore, Ill., February 27, 1904

(34) Inquest over fire victims Libertyville Independent, March 4, 1904, p1

(35) Libertyville Independent, March 11, 1904, p1

(36) Libertyville Independent, Sept 2, 1904, p8

(37) Largest Refinery in World, Lake County Independent, May 18, 1906, P8

(38) Carpenters Walk Out, Lake County Independent and Waukegan Weekly Sun, May 8, 1906, P8

(39) Trouble not settled, Lake County Independent and Waukegan weekly Sun, July 5, 1907, p.14

(40) Refinery Laborers on strike, Lake County Independent and Waukegan weekly Sun, Aug 23, 1907, p.1

(41) New plant is to be started, Lake County Independent and Waukegan Weekly Sun January 18, 1907, p6

(42) Dust explosion in refinery plant, Lake County Independent and Waukegan Weekly Sun Dec 10, 1909, p1

(43) Corn Products to Manufacture Baking Powder and Candy near Waukegan, Lake County Independent and Waukegan Weekly News, April 30, 1909, p 12

(44) Corn Products to Manufacture Candy, Lake County Independent and Waukegan Weekly Sun, Fri June 11, 1909, p 1

(45) Report of the Corn Products Company, Lake County Independent and Waukegan Weekly Sun Dec 10, 1909, p8

(46) Settling for the refinery injuries, Lake County Independent and Waukegan Weekly Sun, Friday May 2, 1913, P1

Appendix

(9) Lake County Independent and Waukegan Weekly Sun, Jan 13, 1911, p1

Washington DC, Jan 10—(Special to the Sun)—By the figures of the thirteenth census, Waukegan’s population is now 16,069.

Jan 13, 1911

 (10) To keep men off market street, March 23, 1906, Libertyville Independent, p1

To keep men off market street

American Steel and Wire Company objects to its hands passing through Waukegan’s “levee” on the way to work.

Urged by the alleged necessity of keeping the men off market street and by an order to reduce the time-keeping force, the heads of the Waukegan plant of the American steel and wire company will in a short time issue orders that all of their employees shall enter the works through the west gate, which is beyond tenth street and in north Chicago.

At the same time it is reported that the force of watchmen will be reduced and a pensioner placed at the north gate to the yards, which will then be used only for teams that are obliged to enter.

As most of the two thousand employees have used the north gate ever since the mills have been in operation, and as the gate is nearer town, a howl is anticipated but it will do no good, as the orders have been issued.

March 23, 1906

(11) What Waukegan factories pay Lake County Independent, Jan 19, 1906, P8

What Waukegan factories pay

It is estimated that all the factories of Waukegan pay each week $41,000 to the workmen who keep the wheels of the mills going. Statistics show that an average of about $4,000 is sent out of town each week by the workingmen in money orders, checks ad by other means. From this it would appear that the remainder, or about $37,000 remains each week in the city. Probably 10,000 human beings have to live on this sum. The factories which make up the main part of Waukegan’s pay roll are as follows:

AS&W, $26,000

Warner, $10,000

Thomas Brass & Iron, $1,900

WH Dow, $900

Wilder-Manning Tanning, $600

Jan 19, 1906

(12) Lake County Independent, Oct 30, 1903, p4

Waukegan now has the assurance of a new factory. The concern, the location of which is a certainty, is the United States Envelope Company, which has bought for its factory site ten acres of the American Steel and Wire Company’s property. The tract is located south of Oakwood cemetery, an ideal factory site. Upon this tract a factory will be built at once, the work to be rushed as rapidly as possible. At the outset the factory will employ four hundred hands and it is the company’s intention to make the Waukegan plant its main western factory. Mr Logan of Worechester, who is the manager of the company will move the Milwaukee plant here and direct the work of establishing the new industry in Waukegan.

Oct 30, 1903

(13) Lake County Independent,  August 26, 1904, p4

A complete strike of all workmen on the new plant of the US Envelope Company  south of the cemetery was called Wednesday morning as a result of action taken Tuesday evening by the Waukegan Trade and Labor Council and the following tradesmen were affected  in that they did not go to work Wednesday: 30 carpenters, 20 bricklayers, 45 laborers, 5 teamsters. Representatives of the union declare that the tie-up will remain until the contractors discharge one man, a steamfitter who is a member of the National organization and not the international order, the latter being the only union recognized by the American Federation of Labor under whose jurisdiction the local unions exist.

August 26, 1904

(14) Lake County Independent,  September 2, 1904, p8

Following upon a decision of the Thomas & Smith Company of Chicago to withdraw its objectionable steam fitter from the job at the factory of the United States Envelope Company and substitute a United Associates man as demanded by the local Trades and Labor Council Thursday morning the hundred men who walked out Wednesday returned to their work. Their return and the withdrawal of the National man is generally regarded in labor circles as the happy termination of what might have been an interminable struggle.

September 2, 1904

(15) Expected Strike is on, Lake County Independent, April 24, 1903, p1

Expected Strike is on

Carpenters and Contractors fail to arbitrate

In accordance with the decision reached by the Carpenter’s union to have it men strike on Monday unless the contractors’ association granted the raise demanded of 40 cents per hour, instead of what the contractors agreed to pay, 37 ½ cents , a general strike of carpenters and laborers went into effect Monday morning in Waukegan.

No carpenter or member of the laborer’s union employed in buildings in the city reported for work, and the carpenter work on from $175,000 to $200,000 worth of work is tied up pending adjustment of the trouble. In all about forty jobs are affected.

While the outlook is very dubious, a feeling prevailed among the contractors that an adjustment will be made by the last of the week.

There are some jobs in the city which are not stopped altogether, as the masons union has not as yet entered into the controversy, and their work will for the present continue.

In all there are 119 members of the carpenter’s union and 95 members of the laborer’s union. All of these, with the exception of those employed on four odd jobs where the owners are doing their own work are affected by the walk-out.

As all of the unions of Waukegan are affiliated into one central organization, with the exception of the bricklayer’s union, if the strike is not adjusted in a short time it is said that a general tie-up of all classes of organized labor will take place.

The contractors in Waukegan who are affected by the strike are as follows: PL Austin & Son, Andrew Ryckman, J E Minott, J A Sutherland, John Powell, Elmer Hines, J E Hale, N Hausmann, George Breau, Dave Clark, Tobias Jensen.

April 24, 1903

(16) Lake County Independent, July 28, 1905, P4

Eighty men, Italians, Austrians and Poles, walked out on a strike Saturday morning from work on the elevation of the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern tracks at North Chicago, and declare that they will not return to the important engineering job until they receive a pledge of more pay. Before the walkout they were receiving $1.40 per day of 10 hours. They demand $1.50 or an increase of 10 cents a day.

July 28, 1905

(17) American Hobo crowed out by emigrant ice harvesters, Lake County Independent and Waukegan weekly Sun, March 1, 1907, p.1

American Hobo crowed out by emigrant ice harvesters

While the trust ice companies are frantic for men with whom the ice can be harvested, the independent companies announce that their houses will be filled in ten days at the most if the weather keeps up, and all this is the result of a clever battle that the independents have waged.

In the kitchens of their boarding houses at the lakes. In other words, they have fought the trust ice concerns through the stomachs of the ice harvesters, and have won.

The battle is one of the most peculiar and stirring on record and would furnish material for a comic opera were not the situation in some respects so serious.

How the trust works it

the so-called trust ice companies are said to demand of their boarding house keepers, to whom they rent the boarding and rooming concessions, that they charge not more than $4 a week. From this $4 per man per week come many things, additional demands of the trust companies, it is said, such as so much per plate for feeding the men a certain grade of food, and many other things that finally result, as one of the ice men puts it, “in darn poor grub for the men.”

and in the meantime--

The independents have been putting up their men with such side dishes as pickled pigs feet and other delicacies until it would be hard indeed to pry a man off the independent companies’ fields.

Thus scarcity of labor is the cause that is publicly assigned for the delay of the ice harvest when in reality the two ice factions have been fighting a kitchen battle.

new kind of ice harvester

The emigrant has now invaded the ife fields. That is the newest.

He is forcing that good old farce comedy character, the tramp and the hobo, from the ice fields of Lake county, forcing him to take a back seat, working harder than he and with less kicks.

In former times, the lodging houses and barrel joints of Chicago were rounded up for ice harvesting labor. While they are still made use of, many ice men for the first time this year found that their supply consisted of emigrants, green horns, fresh from the old countries.

it is claimed that they make better workmen. They are shorter and not so long in the back as the American and can therefore stand most work in the ice houses.

As a matter of fact, next year the bums and hobos of Chicago will be closed out at the Illinois and Wisconsin lakes and the emigrant, as in so many other places, will be seen in his stead.

An ice harvester gets from $1.25 to $2.25. The average wage is $1.75 per day. This is for a steady man.

March 1, 1907

(18) Waukegan a Thriving Village, Lake County Independent and Waukegan Weekly Sun, April 9, 1909, p 8

Waukegan a Thriving Village

Even least sanguine can see in developments in and about Waukegan that city has most brilliant future of any in state and will grow beyond vision of the most optimistic

That Waukegan has the most sanguine prospects and possibilities of any city in the northern part of the state is easily seen even by the man who does not make a practice of seeing the donut instead of the hole in it.

New developments that come every day lead inevitably to the conclusion that “you can’t keep Waukegan down” and the latest improvements for the city and for the North Shore in prospect is the coming up before the city council of so called “Douglas” or the “Grow” road in the spring…

New Route for road

This time the new road will come up with a brand new right of way that will increase its importance to the city at large, it is probable, while at the same time not endangering it at all as an interurban line.

The new route as far as can be learned by hints will be to te city limits on the lake shore from Kenosha as at first planned, up Dewey Avenue at the city limits to North Avenue by whatever streets are most convenient, and down North Avenue into the city along the old familiar route.

The new route will do away with the objectionable Madison Street trestle proposed the last time the road came before the city council with a proposition….

April 9, 1909

(19) Lake County Independent, Dec 11, 1903, p4

The general order for a cut in wages in the wire mills controlled by United States Steel corporation has reached Waukegan, affecting several hundred men. The cut averages about 12 percent. Men who were getting $60 a month are cut to $50. The machinist are cut from 31 ½ cents to 2 cents an hour (?). The galvanizers are cut from 1 cent to 3 cents per ton (?). The reduction affects the entire force, it is said. The laborers will probably drop from 15 and 17 cents an hour to the old scale of 14 ½ cents, from which they were raised about a year ago.

Dec 11, 1903

(20) Lake County Independent, Jan 8, 1904, p4

The employees of the local steel mills as well as others in other mills of the trust received as their new year’s present notice that the second cut of ten percent on salaries was effective from date. A short time ago the cut of ten percent was applied to part of the employees but the second cut applies to all those not affected at that time. In other words, a cut of ten percent has been made on every employee of this and other mills, including the heads of departments, ordinary laborers and even the highest men at the different mills, as well as the entire office forces of the different places.

Jan 8, 1904

(21) Making steel and Killing Men, William Hard, Everybody’s Magazine, Nov, 1907; (The Muckrakers, editors Arthur and Lila Weinberg, Capricorn books, NY, 1964)

The American Institute of Social Service tells us that 536,165 Americans are killed or maimed every year in American industry.

Nov, 1907

(22) Waukegan Plants cry out for men Lake County Independent and Waukegan weekly Sun, April 7, 1907, p.1

Waukegan Plants cry out for men

Steel and Wire Mill especially finds dearth of help and laborers are at premium

The American steel and wire company is suffering from two wants:

The want of men and the want of cars.

Wire products are being shipped out in any kind of cars available and the shippers are calling for more every hour in the day, as they can not get the products off their hands fast enough to fill the record-breaking flood of orders.

On the other hand, foremen are hiring every fit man who comes to the wire mill gates and howling for more working timber, as they need every man they can get, and it is a fact that men are scarce in this city.

April 7, 1907

(23) Wire Mill men get raise, Libertyvill Independent, p 12, Jan 4, 1907

Wire Mill men get raise

Beginning today, all of the men employed at general or non-productive labor in the plants of the United States Steel Corporation, which includes the Waukegan plant of the American Steel and Wire Company, receive a rais of 10 per cent in wages.

The wages for non-producing labor varied from 15 to 25 cents per hour.

Jan 4, 1907

(24) Lake County Independent, Sept 26, 1902, p4

Contrary to information furnished last week, it develops the old starch works plant which was sold to A H Kerstine is not to be used as a match factory, but as a starch works. The place will no doubt be hereafter known as the Warner starch works. This name is not fully decided upon, but the organization will no doubt fix upon that title. Following the completion of the organization, the remodeling of the factory will be commenced at once. In its present shape and equipment the plant is unbalanced and not in shape for best results. This will be remedied at the outset by rebuilding and re-arranging, a process which will occupy about ninety days. This work will be commenced during the present week, and when done will give the plant a capacity for handling from 3000 to 5000 bushels per day.

Sept 26, 1902

(25) Lake County Independent, Sept 10, 1902, p4

The new machinery for the starch works has all been contracted for and a provision is that it be delivered as soon as possible. There are now one hundred men at work in the factory tearing out the old machinery and getting ready to start remodeling the plant. The work is being rushed with the greatest possible haste and at the very outside it is hoped that the plant will be opened for business by January 1st.

Sept 10, 1902

(26) Lake County Independent, May 22, 1903, p4

The old sugar refinery, the big plant of the Corn Products Company, just south of the Warner Starch works, will be in operation on or before Aug 1 this year. The plant will be operated to its full capacity and the task of getting the big factory into shape will be started at once. The company, when running full time, employees about 350 men, and it is expected that even more than this number will be used when things get to running nicely.

May 22, 1903

(27) Lake County Independent, July 3, 1903, p4

A strike of fifteen millwrights and carpenters at the Waukegan plant of the Corn Products company Monday is said to be the first move in a labor war against the big company. Business agent Samson called the men out on orders from Chicago. It was expected to open the works within a month, but the strike may cause a change of plans. A demand for union recognition at all the company’s plants is said to be the cause of the trouble.

July 3, 1903

(28) Lake County Independent, Aug 21, 1903, p1

Monday about a dozen steam fitters of the Warner starch works put on their coats and left the plant because as one of their number stated, they had not been granted a raise from 30 to 35 cents an hour. Tuesday they sent a committee to interview manager Saenger, but he told them that nothing would be done and that the men would not be taken back. The order to strike according to one of the number came from the local union.

Aug 21, 1903

(29) Lake County Independent, Aug 13, 1903, p1

Monday morning the Illinois Sugar Refinery began grinding and in another week 500 hands will be employed, there being about 300 now at work. The factory is to turn out glucose, starch, feed and feed products as well as the new product syrups. The capacity of the plant has been slightly increased ad when things are running full blast they will grind 20,000 bushels per day, whereas the capacity was formerly about 18,500. The plant will use about 400 tons of coal a day. The company is to make a syrup now being extensively advertised and the new feature of the business is to be pushed considerably. In the force will be employed about a dozen girls, whose work will be labeling syrup bottles, etc. The plant will run day and night and persons on the inside state that it is not to be run for a short time, as formerly, but that it will be kept going continuously.

Aug 13, 1903

(30) Lake County Independent, Nov 27, 1903, p1

The Illinois Sugar Refinery will start up full force Dec 1. Between 450 and 500 men will be employed. The announcement that the plant will resume means that the trust is ready to start its fight against the independent factory in the city, the Warner Starch Works. The latter concern has gone ahead putting up one of the finest plants in the world and evidently getting ready to compete with the trust. Recent announcements from the trust said that the trust was about to begin to fight the independent concern and it is therefore evident that the plant here will operate as long as does the Warner concern, in hopes of making the path of the new concern harder.

Nov 27, 1903

(31) Libertyville Independent, Dec 25, 1903, p4

After operating since November 20 and with the appearance when the plant resumed that it would keep

running indefinitely, the old sugar refinery, the local plant of the Corn Products company, is again to

close “indefinitely.” Last week word arrived here for the local officers to grind out every bit of corn they

have in the steeps as fast as possible and to close the plant down completely. A particularly dull market

is attributed to the cause of the shut down.

Dec 25, 1903

(32) Terrific Waukegan Explosion, Libertyville Independent, Feb 26, 1904, p1

Terrific Waukegan Explosion

Partly wrecks huge Sugar Refinery Kills Three and Injures Many

Fire follows disaster

An explosion distinctly felt in Libertyville and surrounding towns and as far west as Long Grove occurred in Waukegan Wednesday evening about 6:30, in the dry starch powder house of the Warner Sugar Refining Company.

Three bodies have been recovered at the time the Independent goes to press (Thursday noon) and a reporter has just returned from the scene of the disaster with information that debris is being removed with expectation of finding more. A dozen men injured have been removed, none of them is believed fatally.

Following the explosion flames shot skyward discernible a distance of fifteen miles and for an hour the Independent was besieged with inquires by telephone from surrounding towns seeking nature of the explosion and fire and where located. It was as if a heavy door had been closed with great force, dishes rattled and buildings trembled. In Waukegan the concussion was terrific, shaking the entire city, breaking windows and in houses a block away from the refinery occupants were thrown to the floor.

According to Supt. Ambrose the explosion was the result of spontaneous combustion in a starch machine in one corner of the powder house. The machine was made of iron and consisted of two large interlocking wheels between which the starch was ground to powder. The force of the explosion was sufficient to blow the roof from the building and to crumble the walls into fragments. As it chanced only one man was near the machine at the time—Jacob Spies—whose body was recovered from the ruins. He was probably killed instantly.

Fire department reinforced

The fire department of Waukegan was reinforced later by apparatus from North Chicago, Zion City ad the fire department of the American Steel and Wire Company, whose plant is one-half mile south of the Warner factory. The explosion occurred in the northwest corner of the building that stood between the new seven-story syrup plant and the table starch building. The latter building was totally destroyed with its contents. The efforts of the firemen were directed to saving the buildings that adjoined the table house on the south, and in the course of three hours the fire appeared to be under control.

Loss a half million

The loss Thursday morning is estimated at a half million dollars, covered by insurance.

The Warner plant consists of five buildings, the north one being a seven story structure called the refinery. Just south of that is the dry powder starch building in which the explosion occurred. South of this is the west starch building, which was saved by the fire walls between. To the north and east are the cooper shop and the strip house. The plant is independent of the so-called trust.

The products of the plant include glucose, grape sugar, corn syrup, jellies, starches, corn oil, oil cake, corn meal and gluten feed. It has a capacity of 25,000 bushels a day, and was one of the largest of its kind in the country. It had a private water system and fire department of its own, with supply pipes from Lake Michigan and a capacity of 8,000,000 gallons daily.

Feb 26, 1904

(33) BIG PLANT WRECKED, True Republican, Sycamore, Ill., February 27, 1904

BIG PLANT WRECKED

Sugar Refinery Ruined by Dust Explosion—Three Killed—Many Injured. Waukegan, Ill, Feb. 25.

A terrific explosion of starch dust at 6:30 o’clock last evening wrecked two huge structures at the plant of the Warner Sugar Refining company in this city, and resulted in death and injury to workingmen. Three bodies have been taken from the ruins, two of which have been identified. One man is missing and a dozen or more are injured. The estimated property loss is $ 1,000,000 . The dead are John Cusack , Jacob Spies and an unidentified man. Jacob Lambert is missing. So great was the force of the explosion that the debris was hurled into trees and telegraph wires half a block on every side, and the ground between was covered with sections and bits of the brick walls and with the iron beams of the roof of the buildings. The concussion shook the entire town, breaking many windows. It demolished the Chicago house, a boarding house standing a block away from the starch building. Many of the occupants of this house were thrown to the floor. The building in which the explosion occurred was the powder starch house of the plant. Its wreck was complete. No less great was the damage to the dry kilns to the south, the walls of which crumbled away, leaving the expensive machinery and the cars of starch piled in a tangled heap within . To add to the disaster fire broke out, and because of the breaking of the large private water main which supplied the fire protection to the plant it spread almost unchecked to the table house , still farther south . For hours hundreds of residents of the suburb stood in the vicinity viewing the brilliant spectacle which the burning ruins furnished

February 27, 1904

(34) Inquest over fire victims Libertyville Independent, March 4, 1904, p1

Inquest over fire victims; Fire preceded explosion. Three fatalities were all; Plant to rebuild

As a result of the terrible explosion and fire at the Warner Sugar Refining plant in Waukegan Wednesday evening of last, a detailed account of which was in our last issue three men were killed and a dozen injured. Daniel Haney, Jacob Spies and Peter Kosick were the unfortunate men who lost their lives in the disaster. Coroner Taylor held the inquest Monday. Haney’s body  was not recovered until nine o’clock Saturday evening and was located only after eight feet of water had been pumped from the pit of the submerged pump room.

In connection with the identification of the remains of Jacob Spiess, it is of interest to know that a collar button was the means through which he was identified. His body was so badly charred that at first it was thought that no identification of the remains could be made. Even the man’s head was not with the remainder of the body and not until the landlady where Spiess boarded was called upon the scene was there any way of determining who the person was. At once she started to look in the charred clothing for buttons and recalled that he wore a peculiar collar button. She found this on the back of the body and was so sure of having seen Spiess wear it that the identification was made.

Some believe that had the excited men who thought they were helping Peter Kosick looked better to his care he might have lived, at least for a considerable time. It seems after he had been removed from the burning building, he was placed on a plank which was placed on the shoulders of some men and in this manner he was carried up South Avenue and down Marion Street to Browning Avenue. It was there that Dr Watterson saw the weird procession and asked where they were going with him. The man told the men carrying him that unless he was put in a warm place at once he would die from exposure and he was taken into a store. The doctor says that the man’s arms were entirely bare and hanging down to either side of the plank and that a greater part of his body was uncovered. While the burns and other injuries were of course bad, the doctor says that the biting cold upon the man’s exposed body was extremely dangerous in itself.

Fire before explosion

One of the important things established at the inquest was that the fire preceded and was the cause of the explosion. Could the insurance companies establish that the explosion occurred and fire ensued their liability would cover only actual fire damage.

The jury’s verdict covered this point. It was:

As to Daniel Haney “as a result of the injuries received in the explosion at the Warner Sugar Refinery.”

As to Jacob Spiess “As a result of burns.”

As to Peter Kosick “As a result of burns and personal injuries.”

Continuing further the verdict says:

“It is the juries opinion that the explosion was caused by a fire, which started in the brock kiln building at the said plant.”

The insurance on the plant is $805,350 placed in 88 companies. The London Lloyds carry $134,850 of the amount, the New England Llyods $65,000, the other companies having from $1000 to $15000 each.

CM Warner, the president of the company states the wrecked building will be rebuilt at once, preliminaries now being in course of arrangement.

March 4, 1904

(35) Libertyville Independent, March 11, 1904, p1

The remains of the fourth victim of the Warner Sugar Refinery were found Saturday morning by a gang of men who have been at work digging in the debris. It is supposed to be the body of Thomas Raudzus, though nothing beyond the fact that a man of that name is missing and that a man hired and taken into the mill by night foreman Wallace Bailey just before the fire links the few blackened bones found in the ruins with the missing Raudzus. No such name as Raudzus appears on the factory time sheets. In view of the frightful experience he passed through, foreman Bailey has lost all recollection of the name given by the man he hired, though he thinks the first name was Tony. Bailey’s testimony and that of Mike Sammon who discovered the body was all that was taken before the coroner’s jury. The verdict was that the supposed Thomas Raudzus came to his death by fire at the Warner Sugar Refinery Feb 24, 1904.

March 11, 1904

(36) Libertyville Independent, Sept 2, 1904, p8

With the exception of the syrup house the entire plant of the Warner sugar refinery is in full operation, running a day and night force. There are now about 300 hands at work and when the syrup house resumes day and night the number of employees will reach 500.

Sept 2, 1904

(37) Largest Refinery in World, Lake County Independent, May 18, 1906, P8

Largest Refinery in World

Before another month or two Waukegan will have in operation the largest and best sugar refinery in the world. Equipped with the best and most modern machinery, in fine buildings, superintended by men who are in the front ranks of their profession, the plant will be a wonder and will make Waukegan the greatest corn grinding center in the world.

The refinery will include the Warner plant and the old Illinois Refining company’s plant. The old Illinois plant is to be remodeled and repaired and the finest machinery is to be installed in it.

The Warner is also to be repaired and new machinery will be placed in it.

The two will be run in connection and make the largest refinery in the world….

The two plants will employ at least 1,000 men and their output will be enormous. So will the shipments of corn that they will receive and the freightage of the city will be greatly increased.

May 18, 1906
 

(38) Carpenters Walk Out, Lake County Independent and Waukegan Weekly Sun, May 8, 1906, P8

Carpenters Walk Out

Carpenters to the number of twenty-five figured in a walk out at the Corn Products Refining Company today when lumber alleged to have been hauled by non-union teamsters was brought from the Dow mills.

The business agents of the union threatened to pull off machinists and bricklayers to double the number if the hauling continued.

There is much feeling among union men against the so-called “scabs.” The work is being done on the old refinery which is being brought into shape for speedy operation.

The superintendent of the Corn Products Refining Company would not alk when called up.

The walk out comes as a result of a resolution that went into effect with union men June 4 that they would not handle goods delivered by non-union teamsters after that date.

There are twenty-five carpenters and above a hundred machinists and bricklayers on the work at the refinery, which is under contract to the Gindeles.

May 8, 1906

(39) Trouble not settled, Lake County Independent and Waukegan weekly Sun, July 5, 1907, p.14

Trouble not settled

Trouble over their rates of wages led to a walk-out of firement at the Corn Products Refining Company plant at the foot of Market street.

Tuesday new men were installed in their places and serious trouble was feared so much that precautions were taken by the factory heads.

The matter is not yet adjusted.

July 5, 1907

(40) Refinery Laborers on strike, Lake County Independent and Waukegan weekly Sun, Aug 23, 1907, p.1

Refinery Laborers on strike

Six of the ring leaders are arrested and must pay heavy fines

Had beaten up man who refused to join strike

Fifty refinery laborers walked out saturday morning for no assigned reason--wish to get (?)

Had a single brick been thrown from the midst of three hundreds laborers at Market street and South avenue saturday night a riot would have been precipitated that might have torn up the city and taxerd the police resources.

As it was, police chief Tyrrell and assistant chief Hicks handled the matter with such coolness that although many of the laborers were armed with stones, bottles, sticks and knives, not an attempt was made at resistance when the police arrested six of the group and hustled them off to jail.

Refinery laborers amuck

Men in the mob were laborers at the Corn Products Refining plant, augmented by others on their way home from work.

Fifty Corn Products laborers struck work saturday morning. The cause is not stated and can not be learned.

When interviewed this morning, an official of the plant stated that he did not know the cause of the strike except that the men had quit, and that he did not believe they knew themselves, striking merely for a day off and a chance to get drunk. All were foreigners.

“They were all back looking for their old jobs this morning,” he said, “and they will be taken in gradually, a few of the more peaceable being taken back this morning. Others will have to wait now.”

Six were arrested

The six who were arrested are:

Dan Kuss, Kennard street

Mike Smith, Kennard street

Alle Anna, Oak street

Jin Cusz (?), Kennard street

Cuse Dan (?), Oak street

Turks and natives of the islands in the mediterranean were the ring leaders in the strike, and the assault for which the six were arrested.

One man beaten up

The police invaded the mob because Andrew Charlie had been beaten up, he stated, by the six arrested because he would not quit work at noon and join the striker.

He was caught outside the gates of the plant at twelve-thrity and although sick was given a severe mauling, and upon being released went uptown to get the police.

Police on the scene of riot

When Chief Tyrrell and assistant chief Hicks reached Market street and South avenue at six-thirty in the afternoon with the warrant for the arrest of the six thugs they found three hundred men lined up in the street.

The ffty laborers had inflamed their comrades as they came out of the wire mills and the refinery from work and the gang was augmented by curiosity seekers and sensation mongers. Not one tenth of the mob had any interest in the matters at issue.

Andrew Charlie pointed out the men [who] assaulted him and the chief of police and his aide ordered them to surrender, which they did. The mob was then dispersed.

many in it had stones in their coat pockets and in their hands, sticks, bricks, bats and some were even armed with knives, it is said. The men did not appear so that no arrests were made.

However, if the passions of the fifty and their comrades had ever broken the barriers of the law, it is a matter of uncertainty where the affair would have ended.

The six are fined

To demonstrate the seriousness with which the rioting was regarded, two of the six who beat Charlie were fined $50 and costs, while the remaining four were fined $25 and costs each.

The police believe the lesson will be a lasting one.

Aug 23, 1907

(41) New plant is to be started, Lake County Independent and Waukegan Weekly Sun January 18, 1907, p6

New plant is to be started

(from Wednesday’s Sun)

Plans have been completed and ground broken for the new $75,000 dextrine plant that the Corn Products Refining Company is to erect as a substantial addition to its Waukegan plant.

The proposed plant was announced exclusively in the Sun some time ago but the plans have just been put to use.

Waukegan now has the largest sugar refining plant in the world.

January 18, 1907

(42) Dust explosion in refinery plant, Lake County Independent and Waukegan Weekly Sun Dec 10, 1909, p1

Dust explosion in refinery plant

An explosion thought to have been caused by starch dust in a heated condition or spontaneous combustion completely wrecked the dust house, connected with the entire plant at the Corn Products Refining Company’s plant at 11:20 Thursday morning, estimated damage being about $5,000.

Though a miracle no one was killed or injured although several were employed in the building.

The dust house is a total wreck, the damage to the dextrin plant being confined chiefly to broken windows. No one was injured. The reason there was no fatalities was because there were no employees in the dust house at the time the explosion took place. A watchman at the refinery declares that there was a series of explosions. The reports were defeating and nearby buildings were shaken, window glass being broken by the shock.

The dextrin plant is a five-story building constructed of tile and brick. It is located in the center of a series of buildings at the refinery and is near the lake at the south side of the little street running east from the end of Walnut street, between the building. It is isolated from the other buildings, the dust house which adjoins to the south being the only building which is close to it. The explosion did not do much injury to the dextrin plant beyond the blowing out of nearly all the windows. There were about seven men employed in the department, none of whom were injured.

Those in the building were:

J Alwood, foreman

John Mike

Joe Mike

Charles Pete

George Louis

These men were uninjured in the explosion.

The dust house which was completely wrecked was constructed of tile and reinforced concrete and was used to collect the dust which results from the treatment of the corn and potato starch, which is used for the manufacture of the various dextrin products. “Where there are large quantities of dust there is always danger of explosion from spontaneous combustion,” said an official at the plant this morning. “Spontaneous combustion is the only cause which could be assigned until a further investigation can be made.”

Dextrin is used for sizing cloth and for the manufacture of glue and mucilage. The company’s officials have used every precaution to minimize the danger from explosions, one of the precautions being to isolate the plant as much as possible. Automatic sprinklers saved the buildings from being damaged by fire. Waukegan firemen who were sent down to aid in fighting the fire were not able to render any assistance as the small fire which started was put out by the company’s own fire department.

A northwestern fireman on a switch engine is reported to have been blown through the window of the engine cab by the force of the explosion, but escaped without serious injury. Ed Gartley, a driver for the United States Express Company had a narrow escape, as he was near the south wall of the doxtrine plant just at the time of the explosion, his wagon being showered with falling glass he was uninjured and his horse was not struck.

Napoleon Johnson, a machinist, kept his horse in a small barn located just south of the dust house. Quantities of brick and tile fell upon the roof of the stable crashing through at a point near where the horse was tied. When the frightened animal was led out of the stable, it was shaking from fright but not hurt. Two men, who held clerical positions had narrow escapes as they were in dextrin plan t when the explosion took place. They were not hurt but severely shocked by the force of the explosion.

The explosion, which occurred at 11:20 was with such violence that it shook all the buildings for blocks around. The clock in the timekeeper’s office a stopped.

The Waukegan fire department was called but no water was thrown on the buildings as the automatic sprinkler with which the building is equipped had put the fire out.

Dec 10, 1909

(43) Corn Products to Manufacture Baking Powder and Candy near Waukegan, Lake County Independent and Waukegan Weekly News, April 30, 1909, p 12

Corn Products to Manufacture Baking Powder and Candy near Waukegan

Another dramatic development in Waukegan’s industrial progress came Saturday with reports that the Corn Products Company, which is the glucose trust, is having surveys made and gathering data for the possible location of a new plant very probably to make candy and baking powder on the flats owned by the company north of the harbor….

April 30, 1909

(44) Corn Products to Manufacture Candy, Lake County Independent and Waukegan Weekly Sun, Fri June 11, 1909, p 1

Corn Products to Manufacture Candy

Issue of $10,000,000 Bonds is authorized, half to devote to candy proposition. Local plant now makes candy of Fancy Chocolate Kind. Expansion possible in Waukegan industry.

The following, coupled with the fact that the local plant is now manufacturing chocolates of a costly variety, shows that Waukegan’s chances for a Corn Products candy plant are excellent.

The Corn Products Refining Company, according to present plans will begin paying the full rate of 7 percent annually on the preferred stock at the next quarterly period in July. The directors, it may be stated, will hold their regular meeting June 20, when a dividend of 1 ¾ per cent is expected to be declared. The board intends to provide for the payment of back dividends amounting to 5 percent on the senior shares. The latter may be paid in a lump sum to the stock holders.

Action taken Wednesday at the special meeting of the stockholders authorizing the issue of $10,000,000 5 percent twenty-five year bonds will permit the directors to finance the company’s new construction and improvement work. Earnings, as shown by  the annual report have been and still are more than ample to take care of the dividends at the full rate. Only $5,000,000 of the new bonds have been issued. These were sold to Speyer and Co of New York some time ago and that firm of bankers announced yesterday that the entire amount has been disposed of to investors.

It is officially announced that the Corn Products Refining company will go into the manufacture of candy. The point has been settled definitely. The new venture will be conducted on a large scale, as the company has all of the natural resources and appliances for the purpose.

The company’s principle rivals will be National Candy Company and the National Biscuit Company. Although it is not generally known, the latter concern is a large manufacturer of candy. In some quarters it is even larger than that of the former company.

Fri June 11, 1909

(45) Report of the Corn Products Company, Lake County Independent and Waukegan Weekly Sun Dec 10, 1909, p8

Report of the Corn Products Company

Low price of corn and own reduction in rates said to have cilitated against profits—new can plants give local company capacity for taking care of its products—stocks are listed entirely

That the profits of the Corn Products Refining Company have been materially affected by the high price of corn and by the reduction it has made from time to time in the prices of its own products in order to meet competition is evident from the report of the company made in the New York stock exchange in its application to list….(?)…ings of $295,805 for the year ending cent sinking fund bonds. (?)

Profits for the operations for the six months up to Aug 31, 1909 show average monthly net earnings of $187,208 as compared with average earnings of $295,805 for the year ending Feb 27, 1909; (?)$_96,439 to 1908., and $4__,902 for the first year after the company’s incorporation. The decrease for the six months is at the rate of …to Feb 28, 1910 in order to show profits equal to those of the last year.

Authority was granted to the Corn Products Refining Company on Wednesday to list its total authorized issue of $10,000,000 first mortgage 25 year 5 per cent sinking fund bonds. Of the issue $5,000,000 are now outstanding being issued for the building of the Argo plant. The rest $1,989,000 are issuable only in exchange for the company’s outstanding debenture bonds at par and the remainder for acquisitions and improvements.

Besides the new plant at Argo, in which the first unit of 20,000 bu daily capacity was put in operation a few weeks ago, the company has recently erected can plants at Devenport, La and Grabnite city, Ill

Dec 10, 1909

(46) Settling for the refinery injuries, Lake County Independent and Waukegan Weekly Sun, Friday May 2, 1913, P1

Settling for the refinery injuries

Fear that if the law were to be declared invalid court might not give damages

In former blasts here victims got nothing—company settling with victims.

Despite the fact that the settlements made with some of the victims seem rather small under the circumstances James G Welch, a Waukegan attorney who is attending to the claims of several of the refinery blast victims does not think that any of the victims will seek to test the constitutionality of the recently passed Workmen’s compensation act on the grounds that they might be able to recover larger damages by carrying their cases into court and seeking to secure larger damages.

“These men are willing to be guided by precedent,” he said. “On a former occasion when the local refinery blew up, some of the injured employees filed damage suits as the compensation act had not been passed. The court who was on the bench here at the time ruled that they were not entitled to any damages on the grounds of assumed liability. He pointed out that these workmen knew the danger when they went to work at the plant and by accepting the conditions they assumed the risk of injury in case an explosion took place. They were not given a penny damages.

“Now, if a test case were to be made of the compensation act and if it were  to be declared invalid the workmen at the local refinery would be obliged to adapt the old plan of suing for damages and they would stand the chance of getting nothing if the court were to hold again that they assumed the liability when they consented to work in the plant.”

Some of the victims in the blast have made settlements with the company. One of these is harry Veach who has settled for $500. Another of the victims has settled for something over $2400. He says the injuries he received in the explosion prevent him from doing many kinds of work and for that reason he intends to buy a team of horses and do all kinds of teaming work.

Some of the other victims have investigated the situation, it is said, and have found that their only hope lies in settling with the refinery people under the terms provided in the compensation act, despite the fact that everyone concedes that the amount of damages in the case of the blast victims is not nearly large enough.

Friday May 2, 1913