It was among the outside sympathizers that the keenest regret was felt over the failure of the strike. Messrs. Powderly, Devlin, Wright and other high officers of the K. of L. deplored the collapse, and here and there K. of L. men took occasion to lay the blame on the shoulders of Samuel Gompers and his associates in the management of the Federation.
Hugh O'Donnell gave his opinion of the ending of the strike in the appended letter to the Pittsburgh Leader:
"Editor Leader:—In reply to your request for an expression of opinion concerning the action of the men at Homestead in declaring the strike off, I can say but little at the present time. Owing to the fact that, certain of my acts in that most memorable struggle are sub judice, I am not in a position to criticize the acts of my late associates. Great battles are rarely, if ever, fought as planned. The world has never witnessed before so much suffering and sacrifice for a cause. The action of the three thousand laborers and mechanics who came out with our men on pure principle alone is unexampled in the history of labor struggles.
"But to the men in the Lawrenceville and Beaver Falls mills too much praise cannot be given. Their loyalty and steadfastness to the principles for which they were contending should never be forgotten. Out of consideration for them I regret that the Homestead struggle should have terminated in the manner in which it did.
Hugh O'Donnell.
"Allegheny county jail, November 21."
Secretary Lovejoy contented himself with assuring the newspapers that the surrender would have no effect on the cases of the strikers under arrest, as far as the Carnegie firm was concerned.
On Monday the Advisory board disbanded and the dissolution of the workingmen's once great and powerful organization was complete.
The battle for the preservation of the integrity of this body had been fought at a fearful cost. The outlay on the side of the Carnegie Company has never been made known, but it cannot have fallen short of $250,000. The workmen, in the course of twenty weeks of idleness, lost $850,000 in wages, and the expense to the state of maintaining the militia at Homestead was about $500,000. In round numbers then, the total cost of the strike to all parties involved, allowing for the pay of deputy sheriffs, the expense of court trials and the relief funds, may be set down at two million dollars, an enormous sum to be paid for the gratification of Mr. Frick's desire to get rid of unions and unionism. Inasmuch, however, as but a small portion of this amount came out of the coffers of the Carnegie Company, Mr. Frick had no reason to feel dissatisfied. His victory was in reality, a cheap one. Had he not precipitated a bloody conflict by shipping Pinkertons to Homestead and in this way secured the support of the entire military force of Pennsylvania, there is no telling how long the strike might have been continued and how heavy the loss that might have been inflicted on the firm by the stoppage of operations.
DISCUSSING THE SURRENDER.
The last restraint having been removed, hundreds of men who had been active among the strikers now thronged the mill office and besieged the officials with applications for positions. Superintendent Schwab began receiving the applicants at 9 o'clock on Monday morning. At that hour about 500 men were in line. The men were admitted in groups of five and those who were not black-listed as dangerous rioters received permits authorizing them to file their applications with the superintendents of the various departments. The line of waiting ones kept constantly growing and it was not until 4 o'clock that Mr. Schwab and his assistants were enabled to wind up their labors. Unfortunately the number of vacancies was so small that but few of the old employees could be accommodated by the superintendents, and fully 2,500 men were left to keep the wolf from the door as best they could, without the assurance of early employment. The prospect confronting these unfortunates was disheartening in the extreme. Most of them were already embarrassed in consequence of their long idleness. Rent and taxes were unpaid, the endurance of grocers and butchers was exhausted, and with winter at hand and no money in sight to purchase the necessaries of life, what was to become of these destitute workingmen and their families?
The Amalgamated Association came at once to the relief of its own members, a large number of whom were on the blacklist, by voting the payment of $6 a week to each as long as he should be out of employment. The ordinary financial resources of the lodges would not have justified this step, but contributions continued to come in and the special necessity for relief now exhibited was recognized by union workingmen everywhere.