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Jim Barrett: Okay. This morning, I'm down at, uh, United Steelworkers Hall
in Homestead, and I'm talking to Mr. Martin Duffy. And, uh, we're gonna get
some of the basic information out of the way first before actually getting
into the interview. Uh, can you tell me how old you are now, Mr. Duffy?
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Martin Duffy: I'm 75, going on 76. Barrett: Okay. Duffy: December the
25th, I was 75. Going on 76 there.
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Barrett: Okay. And, uh, where were you born? Duffy: Pittsburgh. Barrett:
Okay.
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Barrett: Where at in Pittsburgh? What neighborhood?
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Duffy: Lawrenceville.
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Barrett: Okay. What did your dad do?
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Duffy: He was a blacksmith up in broad gauge. That's for the locomotives.
Barrett: Yes. Duffy: And the steelworks. Barrett: Okay.
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Barrett: And, uh, how about your mom? She just worked in the home?
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Duffy: Yeah, that's right. Barrett: Okay.
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Barrett: And what's your background, Irish-Catholic? Duffy: What? Barrett:
What's-- What's your ethnic background? Your nationality. Duffy: Oh, I'm
Irish descent. Barrett: Okay.
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Duffy: Irish descent.
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Barrett: And how about religion? Duffy: Catholic. Barrett: Okay. Did your
family have any kind of interest or involvement in politics in the area?
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Duffy: Oh, me?
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Barrett: Yeah. Or your dad?
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Duffy: No, he. He never had no interest in politics at all.
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Barrett: How about, uh. Um. Did he consider himself a Democrat or a
Republican? Duffy: [simultaneous talking] Democrat. Barrett: Okay. And has
that changed at all in your generation, or do you consider yourself. Duffy:
No. Never changed. Barrett: Okay. How long have you lived in Homestead area
then?
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Duffy: I live up in West Mifflin there now. Barrett: Okay. Duffy: I've
been up there 30 years. And Commonwealth Avenue. You have the address
there? Barrett: Yes, I
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Barrett: do. And, uh, did you live any place in, in Homestead area before
you lived there?
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Duffy: Uh, West Homestead.
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Barrett: Okay.
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Duffy: 505-- 545 West Seventh Avenue.
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Barrett: Okay. And when did you go into the mill? When did you start
working at Homestead?
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Duffy: I worked on the ____[??] Machine.
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Barrett: Okay. And when did you start there?
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Duffy: Well, '34. Barrett: Okay. Duffy: I worked there. Uh-- Oh. In the
30s, about the 30. I worked there a year or so. Then I went on the outside
for myself. Barrett: Uh huh. Duffy: Then I went back in again in 1934. I
come out in 66.
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Barrett: What kind of a business did you have when you were working for
yourself?
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Duffy: I was contracting for, uh, shingling homes. That's when I used to
put shingles on there at that one. Barrett: Okay.
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Barrett: Um, what did you do before you went into, uh, ____[??] Machine in
'34? What kind of work?
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Duffy: Oh, I was with, uh. I was foreman on a state highway on a-- around
here. Barrett: Uh huh. Duffy: And, uh, well, we worked there. We worked
different places there. You know, we put that new road through Homeville up
here. Barrett: Yeah. Duffy: From Homestead Park clean into, uh, Raleigh
Lane there and Commonwealth Avenue through Whitaker there and right down to
the junction down there. I put that road in there. Pinchot Road at that
time.
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Barrett: How long did you work on that job? How long?
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Duffy: Oh, about three years.
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Barrett: And did-- you what did you do before that?
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Duffy: I was-- I was on a police force. West Mifflin.
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Barrett: Uh huh. How long did that last one? Duffy: Oh, about five years.
Barrett: Okay.
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Duffy: I got the job on the highway. Then I quit that job up there because
I was the only policeman up there at that time.
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Barrett: Mhm.
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Duffy: It was rough.
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Barrett: Yeah, I can imagine. Yeah. Being by yourself. My dad's a
policeman in Chicago, but that's a different, uh, that's a different
situation. Um, so then you were a policeman probably in the 1920s, maybe
the late 20s-- Duffy: Yeah. Barrett: --or something like that. And what,
what did you do before that? I'm trying to get an idea of what-- What kind
of work you actually started with, say, when you were a kid.
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Duffy: Well, when I was a kid there, I, I got a a job at Kilgore Pistol
Factory. I worked there.
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Barrett: Now, where was that? Was that in Pittsburgh?
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Duffy: That used to be down here. We used to be on West Run Road and they
moved from West Run Road down to Seventh Avenue West Homestead there. And.
That's it.
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Barrett: Were you-- Were you a machinist helper then, or something like
that? Or what kind of work were you doing?
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Duffy: Down in West Run? Barrett: Yeah. Duffy: I was carpenter foreman.
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Barrett: How about in this, in this, uh, uh, pistol place where you were
working?
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Duffy: Well, I used to drill-- drill holes in there for the for the shoe
to go in between the trigger and the, uh, that shoot the cap off. Barrett:
Yeah.
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Barrett: What? When did you work at that job? Early 20s or--
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Duffy: Uh, that was. No, that was up before that. I was only about 15 or
16 years of age at that time.
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Barrett: Was that maybe during the First World War?
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Duffy: Yeah. Yeah, I was-- I was called for service there, but by the time
I got examined and everything, the war was over. Just pretty lucky.
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Barrett: Yeah, I. I think so. Yeah. Did, did your-- were your mom and dad
both born in the United States or did they were they immigrants?
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Duffy: Born in Ireland. Barrett: Born in Ireland? Duffy: Both. Both.
Barrett: Huh.
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Barrett: And when did they come? Do you have any idea?
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Duffy: Well, my mother. Mother was here before he was. I think she was.
She come here as a young girl with her brothers and, uh. Oh, I don't. I
don't know what.
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Barrett: But long before they were married then?
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Duffy: I'm married, I'm married myself for 55 years. That's quite a way
back. Barrett: Yeah. Yeah. Duffy: My. My mother died in, uh, 30, 37, I
think I.
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Barrett: Was.
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Duffy: When Dad died in January in 1923. I think it was when he died.
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Barrett: And your family home when you were still living with your mom and
dad? You lived in Pittsburgh?
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Duffy: No, no, we lived in Homestead here. Barrett: Okay.
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Barrett: And where did you live in Homestead? Duffy: Well.
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Duffy: 10th Avenue.
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Barrett: Okay.
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Duffy: I. I don't know that number anymore.
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Barrett: But above the tracks. Duffy: Yeah, but.
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Duffy: Two blocks up from Eighth Avenue up there.
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Barrett: What was that neighborhood like? Do you remember it at all?
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Duffy: Oh, was pretty good. All white. Barrett: Yeah. And.
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Barrett: But was it mixed? Uh, in terms of nationalities?
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Duffy: Yeah. Nationality, yeah.
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Barrett: Can you remember people being kind of mixed up socially? I mean,
if they did things together, uh, like parties or dances or things like
that, say would the kids be mixed up?
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Duffy: Oh yeah, almost, almost every Saturday night there when I was about
17 or 18. Almost every Saturday night, there'd be a party someplace there.
You know, one of your friends would know where to go or you know where to
go there or somebody else. Barrett: Yeah.
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Barrett: But you wouldn't if you, for example, wouldn't just be ending up
with, say, Irish Catholic kids. You'd be mixed in with all.
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Duffy: All mixed in.
Barrett: Yeah. Somebody told me that they even learned a lot of kids that
didn't speak other languages learned a few words because some of their
friends were Polish or something, you know, just to talk with them. How
many--
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Duffy: Wait. Let's see if lunch is done. Yeah.
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Barrett: How many kids in your family?
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Duffy: Let's see. There was. Well, eleven, was one, two, three, three,
three sisters and a brother and I. Five. Barrett: Okay.
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Barrett: And the-- your brothers and sisters that are still living. Are
they in the Homestead area?
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Duffy: My sisters are still living.
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Barrett: Okay.
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Duffy: The oldest ones died. My brother's dead. Brother, older brother.
He's dead too.
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Barrett: But there's still four-- Four boys alive from the family?
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Duffy: There's, uh. Let's see. One, two, two. Two sisters and me now
livin'. Still livin'. Barrett: Okay. Duffy: Two sisters and me. One. One of
the sisters in bad shape. She had a couple of heart attacks there.
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Barrett: And do they live in Homestead area?
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Duffy: No. They live in Smithfield or North Braddock at the end of North
Braddock. Right up in the Swissvale area. They-- I don't know if they cut
it off some way or another up there, and they called it North Braddock or
something like that there. They-- they live the biggest part of their life
in Swissvale. Barrett: Uh, are they married? Duffy: Yeah.
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Barrett: What did their husbands do? What occupations?
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Duffy: Well, one-- one runs a garage. Two of them, two of my sisters.
Barrett: Yeah. Duffy: Why. They're both pensioned off or they're both
pensioned off here now. One was a foreman over Carrie Furnace over there,
and the other one was worked, in the lab at Edgar Thompson, Bobby Kelly, he
worked in the lab, and Edgar Thompson there. And Mickey McConville. That's
a-- my sister is just younger than me. He was a boss over at Carrie Furnace
over there in the boiler house.
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Barrett: So both of them were connected with steel mills. Duffy: Yeah.
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Duffy: Oh, yeah.
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Barrett: How about your brothers? What did they do?
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Duffy: They. He was working for the Union Railroad, car inspector.
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Barrett: Oh, yeah. In this area?
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Duffy: Yeah, right in Homestead here. Barrett: Yeah. Duffy: Steelworks
cars that went with shipments on there, you know, going out on a line out
there. They had inspect the cars there before they went out on the road
there. Barrett: Yeah.
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Barrett: How about your other brothers? Didn't you say there-- were there
just five kids altogether?
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Duffy: Five? Barrett: Okay.
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Barrett: Then did most of your friends and relatives stay in this area?
You know, in the Pittsburgh Homestead area? Duffy: Yeah. Barrett: Yeah.
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Duffy: And uncles and aunts and everything else. Living Monessen there.
Monessen there and Pittsburgh there. And when they they died there, they--
the family took off. They took off to California there. I think there was
three or 3 or 4 of them went to California there. Never hear from them no
more. Barrett: Yeah.
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Barrett: What did people do, uh, in Homestead when they weren't working?
Let's say when you were young in the 20s. You know, what kind of
recreational activities do you remember?
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Duffy: Oh, they had ball teams, football teams.
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Barrett: Who sponsored them?
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Duffy: Well, I played on a team in 1921, 50, about 55 years ago. And it
was named Dr. Hartley's. He was a new doctor who pulled into town up there.
And we named it after him. We had some good games there and we had ball
teams there. Whitaker. Whitaker, Whitaker and Homeville and Homestead there
and West Homestead. They're all out there.
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Barrett: Each town had an--
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Duffy: And up there and, uh, right around City Farm Lane up there. They
had a store room up there and there was college and they had a serious--
had a barrels of whiskey up there in racks there, you know, come in there
and get a fifth of liquor. You could get a taste of it before you even
bought the the liquor there. Barrett: Yeah. Duffy: Bought a case of beer.
You got a bottle of wine with it, huh? Only a buck. Barrett: I'm sorry
that's changed. I wouldn't mind still having it that way.
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Duffy: I'll get one there.
Barrett: Okay.
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Duffy: In another. Another time. Up here in the steel workshop there. They
had a store up there. They bought a store up there on Eighth Avenue and
City Farm Lane. And you had to take shares out on upstairs. And there was
supposed to be for the steelworkers, you know, and take share, $5 a share.
I think it was there. My dad had 2 or 3 shares there. I think it was $15
worth of the shares he had three shares he had. And that bank went bankrupt
there. And all in a year or so there two years, something like that there
went bankrupt. And the way they got paid off there for the shares they had
there, there was burlap sacks laying all over that storeroom because I went
down with my dad there to pick it up and they had three, three sacks, half
filled up with canned stuff there, you know.
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Barrett: Yeah.
Duffy: With no labels on them. You didn't know what you was opening up.
That's honest to God truth. You didn't know what you was opening. You don't
know if you wanted a can of peas or something. You had to open a whole
bunch of them up there before you got the can of the peas.
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Barrett: Who was that that tried to open the store? Was it the
steelworkers themselves or the mill?
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Duffy: Yeah, it was the steelworkers. Barrett: Huh. Duffy: Something like
the one they run down in J&L down there. Frank Leach: You're talking about
that store room that was up on City Farm Lane, Eighth Avenue? Duffy: Yeah,
definitely. Leach: That was run by the company. That was a company store.
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Barrett: And then did you, uh, you know, why did the company do that? Why
did they want to run their own store?
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Duffy: Uh, well, the way, the way I look at it, although they went
bankrupt or some damn thing, I don't think it was anybody buying in there.
Uh, they-- they done that in, in place of donating to the men that wasn't
working. And you, you bought shares. Those that wasn't working. They bought
shares either $5 or $7 a share. And when they did go bankrupt or run out of
business, then people that was had the shares, they could come down and get
their order. Leach: Yeah. Duffy: Take it out in trade. Barrett: Yeah.
Leach: And just as he says, that's what it was like. Uh, none of the cans
had any papers or anything. Barrett: Yeah. Leach: So they just filled up
with stock. But a lot of, a lot of people, they. They got those orders on
there. Remember that check numbers? Duffy: You remember that bank that used
to be up around Dixon Street there or someplace there? Leach: Uh, one of
the, what they call the hunky bank? Duffy: No, not the hunky bank. It was
on Eighth Avenue, small bank here, right on the corner there. I think there
is some sort of a Donahue's, uh. Donahue's bar loan company or some damn
thing in there now. Leach: Oh, I can't remember. Duffy: Yeah, they had one
up there. Leach: The only, the only one I can remember was on Eighth and
Dixon Street, and that was a foreign bank. Leach: And then they moved on to
Amity Street on Eighth Avenue. Right. Right there. Where Dr. O'Malley's in
there now. They moved in there. Then they moved from there. They moved down
there. They got that big place there on Eighth Avenue. Down Street.
Barrett: Yeah. Duffy: Yeah, sure. That's the same same company. Yeah.
Barrett: The foreign. Duffy: They was incorporated in that building. They
fixed that building up where Doc-- the doctor is now. Leach: Doc O'Malley.
Duffy: Then that was their first federal savings and loan.
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Barrett: Who set up this foreign bank that you mentioned? Who was that?
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Duffy: There was a group of foreign people like Steve Popovich was one, I
think he is. Leach: Yeah. He's still living and he still got stock in it.
He's one of the officers. He's one. Duffy: He probably has 51% of it.
Barrett: Yeah.
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Barrett: Well, what did he do? Did the people that set up the bank, were
they steelworkers or--
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Duffy: Some of them was. He was. He's an undertaker. Prokopovich. Yeah.
And some of the foreign people. Leach: Well, you you know yourself, the--
the-- the foreign-- foreign people, they like to save their money, then.
Yeah. Yeah. They had a place there to save it.
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Barrett: Well, when you were either of you, when you-- When you were kids,
can you remember what relations were like between, say, a kid that was born
in the United States and spoke English and everything, and a kid that was
born with--
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Duffy: And we played with colored?
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Leach: Oh heck yeah.
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Barrett: Everything was pretty mixed then.
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Duffy: No discrimination at all.
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Leach: As well as I do. Our-- our classes even in high school was 10%
Black. Barrett: Yeah. Leach: And they all got a good education.
00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:28.000
Barrett: Were these families of of men that were working in the mill?
Leach: Yeah, that's right. Barrett: When would you-- would you have been in
school then?
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Leach: In the 20s? Barrett: Okay.
00:17:31.000 --> 00:17:54.000
Duffy: I even remember that back when they built that Homestead post
office up there, I was going to Saint Mary's School up there. Barrett: Uh
huh. Duffy: And we used to come down there at lunch time. I was only a
first or second grade. We used to come down, down on the-- after lunch,
carried our lunch at school, come down there and the men would be working
there, you know, had it all barricaded off their post office up there.
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Barrett: What were the kind of places where people got together? I mean,
was it mostly church stuff or were there fraternal organizations?
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Duffy: They used to have picnics on a Sunday during the summertime up here
where I'm living out there now. That place used to be a picnic grounds up
there. It was on a terrace like that there. And sometimes there'd be a
dozen picnics up there, beer, picnics there and everything going on up
there.
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Barrett: At one time, you mean?
00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:23.000
Duffy: Yeah. There would be a dozen, dozens of picnics.
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Barrett: Who were those groups? Just. Just groups of friends, I mean. Or
were there organizations--
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Duffy: From Rankin, Braddock and Swissvale there and Homestead there and
Homeville there and different places there, you know? Whittaker. Barrett:
Yeah. Duffy: They used to have their times on a Sunday up there. Good
times, too.
00:18:45.000 --> 00:19:01.000
Frank Leach: There wasn't too many organizations around at that particular
time. Just a group originated the affairs that they was having and invited
a number of friends to whatever occasion it was.
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Barrett: I want to ask you both about work and some other things, but
maybe I better get this basic information down on you, Mr. Leach, first.
Um, first, let me make sure I got your name right. I've got Frank Leach. L
E A C H.
00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:16.000
Leach: L E A C H.
00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:24.000
Barrett: Right. Okay. Leach: Leach. Barrett: Okay. And your home is 1628
West Street Homestead. Leach: That's right. Barrett: Okay.
00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:26.000
Leach: It's four doors down from the hospital.
00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:29.000
Barrett: Okay. How old are you right now, Mr. Leach?
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Leach: 70 years old. Barrett: Okay.
00:19:31.000 --> 00:19:37.000
Leach: My last birthday. Barrett: Okay. And where were you born? Leach:
Homestead.
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Barrett: Okay. Leach: April 14th, 1906.
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Barrett: So you've lived your whole life here?
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Leach: Yeah, that's right. Barrett: Okay.
00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:48.000
Barrett: And, uh, what about your mom and dad? Where were they born?
00:19:48.000 --> 00:20:00.000
Leach: Uh, my mother was born in Orbisonia. That's up around Mount Union.
Black Lodge. Barrett: Yes. Leach: That area up there. My father was born up
in Germantown. Carrick.
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Barrett: Okay. So both of them were born in the United States?
00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:07.000
Leach: Oh yes, definitely. Barrett: Yeah.
00:20:07.000 --> 00:20:10.000
Barrett: And no language was spoken in your home other than English.
00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:12.000
Leach: That's. That's right. Barrett: Okay.
00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:14.000
Barrett: What did your dad do?
00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:42.000
Leach: My dad is passed away. He was a manager for-- in around 1900. He
was a manager for, for this big saloon keeper up on the corner of Hazel or
City Farm Lane. Uh, Coney Stars. He was a millionaire hotel keeper, and my
dad was managing his affairs up there. Barrett: Yeah.
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Barrett: And so that wasn't a working man's saloon. That was like a big
hotel or something.
00:20:47.000 --> 00:21:08.000
Leach: It was a working, working man's saloon. And at that particular
time, where. OH4, you know, where OH4 is now, that wasn't there was a big
ball field there. Barrett: Yeah. Leach: And they had big, big affairs come
in there. And as well as the men working in the mills would come out and
get their lunch and dinners and so forth at this particular place.
00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:12.000
Barrett: So that might have been the closest saloon to the at least to
that part of the mill?
00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:25.000
Leach: Yes. And they concentrated most of their business on the affairs
that was being held at this big ball ballpark there. Barrett: Yeah. Leach:
They had some pretty big affairs and some pretty good teams from all over
the country come there.
00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:27.000
Barrett: And did your dad do that all his life?
00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:41.000
Leach: No, he-- when Coney Stars went out of business, he left I believe
he left up here and went down to Florida. Uh, my dad went out of that
business and.
00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:42.000
Barrett: But you stayed here then when you.
00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:57.000
Leach: Yeah, we stayed. Stayed here. In fact, he. He went with the
Homestead Steelworks. He went into the hard axle works. It was an axle
maker when he retired in 19-- 1930.
00:21:57.000 --> 00:22:00.000
Duffy: He had that down there. And West Street there, didn't they?
00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:11.000
Leach: Yes. That's from the river up to to Sixth Avenue. A long ways,
though, horizontal. And he was an axle maker when he retired there.
00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:15.000
Barrett: How long did he work in in that job, do you remember?
00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:26.000
Leach: Uh, well, he was. I'd say 30 some years. Yeah. 30 some years.
00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:27.000
Barrett: So when you were a kid, he was--
00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:40.000
Leach: Well, I wasn't born till 1906. Barrett: Yeah. Leach: But I wasn't
very old when, when he retired in 1930 or 31. Something like that.
00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:47.000
Barrett: How about, uh, the, um, politics and religious background of your
family? What--
00:22:47.000 --> 00:23:14.000
Leach: Well, my dad, he was one of the first school directors in West
Homestead when it was originated. And he came to came to Homestead a year
before Homestead was incorporated. And that would be, uh, 1879. And he was
one of the first volunteer firemen.
00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:18.000
Barrett: Yeah, I've seen some pictures of them. Yeah.
00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:25.000
Leach: He was, uh, first school board in West Homestead.
00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:27.000
Barrett: Was the area mostly Republican then?
00:23:27.000 --> 00:24:10.000
Leach: Uh, good. Good part of it. I'd say 90% of it was Republican at that
particular time. Barrett: Yeah. Leach: But outside of those politics, he
was never in anything. And. And I myself was in politics. Very shortly I, I
dropped out of it before it practically got started. I refused a couple of
jobs. One was for council and one was for school director and I turned them
down in-- in the 30s. But, uh, I definitely wasn't going to be a yes man. I
want to do that. I had a, had a turn, a job down.
00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:15.000
Barrett: Politics changed at some point in Homestead from Republican to
Democrat. Do either of you remember much?
00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:33.000
Leach: Yes. It had changed that the trend when Roosevelt in 1932, every--
everybody started to change their party from Republican to Democrat. And
the politicians was doing it mostly.
00:24:33.000 --> 00:24:34.000
Barrett: Yeah.
00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:37.000
Leach: To in order to get a landslide.
00:24:37.000 --> 00:24:40.000
Barrett: You mean Republicans jumping on to the Democrat?
00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:56.000
Leach: They-- the 90% went the other way. Barrett: Yeah. Yeah. Leach: In a
period of four years, I'd say in between 32 and 36. Barrett: Yeah. Leach:
They jumped from Republican and then you got almost 90% Democrats. Barrett:
Yeah.
00:24:56.000 --> 00:25:07.000
Barrett: Uh, well, if the politicians were changing just for political
reasons, you know, to make sure that they got elected, what-- what about
the people that were voting? Why did people start voting Democratic? How
did they feel about Roosevelt and things like that?
00:25:07.000 --> 00:25:14.000
Leach: Well, they thought Roosevelt was doing a wonderful thing, and
that's the reason he went in so many times.
00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:21.000
Duffy: He spoke on a lot of good things there. He spoke on good things and
the people went for him, you know? Barrett: Yeah. Duffy: Roosevelt.
Barrett: Yeah. Duffy: Went for him there.
00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:24.000
Barrett: And did people-- I'm sorry.
00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:40.000
Leach: [simultaneous talking] They filled up, they figure all the people
felt that the programs that Roosevelt created helped them all get work.
Barrett: Yeah. Leach: He originated that. What was it, the three C's?
00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:42.000
Barrett: Yeah, the Civilian Conservation Corps.
00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:48.000
Leach: That's right. Yeah. They originated that. He put so many men back
to work. He also.
00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:50.000
Duffy: Didn't he put in Social Security through there?
00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:55.000
Leach: Yes. The Social Security went in there. He repealed the liquor.
00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:56.000
Barrett: Yeah.
00:25:56.000 --> 00:26:05.000
Leach: Prohibition, prohibition. And the whole world just seemed to pick
up. Barrett: Yeah. Yeah. Leach: They-- they give him the credit for it.
00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:07.000
Barrett: Somebody told me he came here at some point.
00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:32.000
Leach: And then-- then your politicians, your politicians at that
particular time had their group of followers. Barrett: Uh huh. Leach: Like.
Like your wards in the borough. Barrett: Yeah. Leach: He knew every person
in that ward. Barrett: Yeah. Leach: So nine out of ten of them would get
those people to go down and change their registration. So you can vote for
me or vote. Vote for my party.
00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:39.000
Barrett: Do you-- Do you remember any kind of overlap between, uh, bosses
in the mill and political bosses in the community? Duffy: Yeah.
00:26:39.000 --> 00:26:44.000
Duffy: Yeah. One time down there everybody was a Catholic, you couldn't
get a job in there.
00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:45.000
Barrett: In the mill.
00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.000
Duffy: Same way over at Edgar Thompson, everybody was a Catholic couldn't
get a job.
00:26:49.000 --> 00:26:53.000
Barrett: But by your time, was that already-- Do you remember when that
changed?
00:26:53.000 --> 00:27:01.000
Duffy: [simultaneous talking] Oh, it changed, though. When was it? But
about the.
00:27:01.000 --> 00:27:02.000
Leach: [simultaneous talking] There was friction.
00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:07.000
Duffy: [simultaneous talking] Pretty close to 30 or 25 or something. I got
there around that time there.
00:27:07.000 --> 00:27:10.000
Leach: [simultaneous talking] Yes, that was the same.
00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:21.000
Duffy: Because they had they had the family affair in there. You know,
fella get to be boss there. And he brought all these uncles and aunts and
brothers and sisters and sons and everything else in there. And that was
it.
00:27:21.000 --> 00:27:22.000
Leach: [simultaneous talking] That's right. It was mostly.
00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:32.000
Duffy: [simultaneous talking] Took care of them.
Leach: [simultaneous talking] Scotch and like Welsh. English. Welsh. Which
Carnegie guess was. Wasn't he a Scotchman?
00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:33.000
Duffy: He was a Scotchman.
00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:37.000
Barrett: Yeah. Did promotion into skilled jobs go like that, too?
00:27:37.000 --> 00:27:38.000
Leach: Yeah, that's right.
00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:46.000
Duffy: The blacksmith shop was all run there by England. Barrett: Yeah.
Yeah, that's right. Duffy: Stevens.
00:27:46.000 --> 00:28:06.000
Leach: And most of those pushed out of the steelworks branched out into
political jobs in the boroughs so that they one could get favours this way
or favours that way because they-- They was doing it. Barrett: Yeah. Leach:
Yeah, they're doing it today.
00:28:06.000 --> 00:28:25.000
Duffy: Yeah. They're still-- still doing it with the schoolteachers there
now. Leach: That's right. Duffy: You notice a superintendent of school
there. You, you have a friend here and a friend there and stuff like that
there. Well, this guy wants his daughter in there. Barrett: Yeah. Duffy:
They don't. They don't figure on the education or anything. They figure on
the friend. Barrett: Yeah.
00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:38.000
Leach: For a long time, you would see the mayor of Munhall or the mayor of
West Homestead. The mayor of Homestead was all superintendents in the
plants.
00:28:38.000 --> 00:28:42.000
Barrett: Yeah. Yeah, that's what I was wondering about. That-- that kind
of stuff happened.
00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:44.000
Leach: They call them Ferguson [??].
00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:46.000
Duffy: Yeah. Yeah. Today they.
00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:55.000
Barrett: Call them. Well, would these guys. How did they. How did they run
their. Their, uh, political machine? Could they tell people in the mills,
like, what? To vote, you know? Duffy: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
00:28:55.000 --> 00:29:08.000
Duffy: Bosses told them what-- how to vote. Barrett: Yeah. Duffy: But that
was up to the individual. How to vote there when he went outside. Barrett:
Yeah. Duffy: But the boss told them how to vote. Bosses.
00:29:08.000 --> 00:29:22.000
Leach: And one-- one. Catered to the boards of of the borough and the
boards of the steel company. Got their heads together. All do this for me.
All set up for you?
00:29:22.000 --> 00:29:23.000
Duffy: All set?
00:29:23.000 --> 00:29:32.000
Barrett: Yeah. And there was never any kind of a labor candidate or
anything in in Homestead? It was always just Republican? Nobody ever tried
to--
00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:40.000
Leach: I think at one time they did have a Labor Party, that at one time
we had seven parties on our-- on our--
00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:41.000
Barrett: Well, that's a lot.
00:29:41.000 --> 00:29:57.000
Leach: Communists. Barrett: Yeah. Leach: Labor Party. Offhand, I can't
name them, but I'm pretty sure there was seven different parties. Barrett:
Yeah.
00:29:57.000 --> 00:30:57.000
Barrett: Was there a-- I didn't ask you about your nationality background,
Mr. Leach. What-- what's your-- where's your family from originally?
