Omaha daily bee., 1885-10-08


"You knew that we couldn't accept
your new system. You accuse us OF bad
Iropping. 1t true we don't give that
work the time needed. But If we did,
we d earn less than we do now, and in
the end would be sure to starvc. Pay us
more and wen prop better, well spend
every hour at the timberng you want.
Won YOU make some other arrange
mentg 10 get work done it must be paid
Tor. Look at what you have done now,
cut down the price of the cars and then
pretend to make 1t equal by paying us
in part for the t.mberng. Even If that
was true yon d be stealing from us all
the same, for the propping would always
take us II longer me. But what makes
us mad is that it $ not even true, the
e, mpany doesn't make up our loss, 1T
simply puts two centlmcs per car in its
own pocket"
Eyes, yes it's true" said the other
delegates on seeing MIR Hennebeau make
q violent gesture as il to interrupt him.
However, Mahon prevented the direc
tor from speaking. Now he was launched
and words come freely. For some mo-
mcnts he had listened to himself i'll sur
prise as 1t was II stranger speaking. They
were the thoughts gathered together
deep down in his heart, things which he
had not even known to be there, and
NUiCll Cstlllt lOIlll Ill ~ DuISl VI puSStOlls
He spoke OF their misery the hard labor,
the beast-like life, the wives and little
ones ut home crying of hunger. dc men,
toned the last disastrous pay day when
almost the whole salary had been taken
from them for proppins and fines. Did
they wish to kill themY
"Then, Monsieur director" said he in
concluding, I'VE have come to tell you
that we prefer starving at once, rather
than to work without earning bread to
eat We have lett the mines and will
only go back when the company accepts
our conditions. 1t wanted TO lower tho
price of the cars and pay in part Tor tho
timbering. We want things to remain us
they were, and also five centimes more
per car. Now it is for you to decide if
you are for justice and work"
That's it," cried some of the men.
Hes said our idea. We only ask tor
what right.
Others, without speahing, approved
with energetic mods.
The luxurious room, filled with its gild
ings, embroidGrieS and mysterious heaps
OF antiquities, had all disappeared; they
no longer even ielt the soft carpet which
was crushed beneath their heavy boots.
ALLOW me to reply" cried Mr.. Hennc-
bau, who had now become angry. "In
the first place, 1t is not true that the COM
pany gains two ccntimes per car on the
new mode of salary. | II show the figures
il you wish"
A confused discussion followed. The
director, to try and divide them, appeal
ed TO Peters, who, stammering some un-
Ineligible words, reTeated further in
the background Levaque, on the con-
trary, was among the most aggressive,
cOnnrming everything, even that of
which he was ignorant. The heavy mur-
mur of their voices was drowned among
the tapestries OF that oven-like room.
IF you all talk at once" said Mr..
Hennebeau, ''we will never understand
each other"
He had again become the calm ruler
who gives an order and intend to have it
respected. He constantly watched
Anton, endeavoring once or twice to
draw him out of the forbidding silence
in which he was buried. So abandoning
the discussion about tho two centimes,
he suddenly broke forth:
"Now, tell the truth, you are obeying
some one s instructions. 1t is pest now
which has blown upon the workmen and
corrupted the best OF them. l need no
confession. see very well that you are
changed, you who until now were so
peaccablo. Have they not promised you
more butter than bread, telling you that
l.
you have already joined the lnterna-
tional, that army OF robbers whose
dream is the destruction of So
ciety."
Then Anton interrupted him:
"1 on are mistaken, Monsieur director.
NOta coal man of Monston has adhered.
But, ii you push them too far, perhaps
all the mines will enroll themselves 1t
depends on the company"
From that moment the fight was carried
on between MIR. Hcnnebeau and Anton,
as though the other miners were not even
there.
The company is good to its men; you
are wrong to threaten 1t. Only this year
il has spent three hundred thousand
france in building houses, without speak
ing of the pensions, the coal and the
medicine which it gives away, You seem
intelligent, for IN IL few months you have
become one OF our most clever wOrkmen.
Would you not do better to think over
these truths, than to associate yourself
with people of bad reputation? Yes, |
wish TO speak of Rasseneur, whom we
were compelled to discharge in order to
save our miners from his socialist rot.
You are always ut his house, and he must
have advised you to organize that saping
fund. That we would allow willingly If
it was only IL saving fund, but if it be-
came missile against us, IL reserve fund
with which to pay the expenses OF war, l
must add that the company insist upon
having control of it.
Anton allowed him to continue, look
ing straight into his eyes while he nerv-
ously bit his lips. He smiled at the last
sentence, answering simply:
This is still anew imposition of which
Monsieur director has spoken to us.
But unhappily our wish is that the com
pany should occupy itself less with MS,
and instead of playing the roll of bene-
factor, that it should show itself Just in
giving us that which belongs to us, the
gain of which it robs us. Is it honor
able for them to let workmen de of hun
ger to save the dividends of the stock
holders. Monsieur director cannot hon
estly deny that the new system has only
been started as n means of cutting down
the salaries, and that which angers us is
that when the company is forced to be
economical it always begins on the work
man" -...H
"Ah! here it s,, cried Mr. Hennebcau.
81 was waiting for the accusation that it
lived by the sweat of a famished people.
How can you talk such nonsense You
ought to know what enormous risks tho
stockholders run in the business. A
mine all equipped costs from fifteen hun
dred thousand francs to two millions;