The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1885-09-30
LABOR AND SILVER.

There is no class OF people in the west
| that has more at stake in the disposition
of the silver question than the miners.
The suspension Of coinage would un-
| doubtedly drive silver down to SO CENTS
and possibly lower. A decrease oil 20 per
+, cent. in the value of the output OF the
mines would compel the owners either to
shut down or to reduce wages ana other
expenses to a proportionate figure. Eithef
would be a calamity from which the entire
| silver-producing region may well pray to
be delivered. 1t is, therefore, not the
operators alone who are interested IN the
great struggle that is sure to open on the
converting OF the Forty-ninth Congress, but
their employees are as deeply interested
When the great tariff agitations occur III
PENNSYLVANIA, it is not the MANUFACTURED
who hold mass meetings and make demon
STATIONS, but the men who will suffer 10y
the shutting down OF the furnaces n'ii'
and mines. Aye, their wives, daughters
sisters, sweethearts and children JON II
the professions. 1t is this intensity OF pur
pose of the masses that has a the
Pennsylvanian. irrespective OF poiltica
bias, a protective tariff The miners
! and workingmen OF the west should TAX
example by their fellows in Pennsylvania
They should inaugurate a series OF as'ta
| tions that will reach the very doors OF
| Congress, and cause to echo and re-echo III
both halls of that body their demand thai
| silver shall hold it's place in our monetary
system as contemplated by the Consti
tuition.
PENNSYLVANIA for years by such means,
| ~sinele-handed and alone, held the country
| in thraldom. 1t succeeded in having I'M
! posed upon iron and the products OF iron a
| tariff that was almost prohibitory. And
this in the face of the vigorous opposition
of both parties in New York and the whole
of New England. Later OIL, as Ohio, Mich
igan, Illinois, Missouri and other States
developed iron deposits and built iron
works, aid came to its champions from
those States, and by this plan OF action the
Keystone State became Il hive OF industry
and the hum OF the wheels OF industry o
resounds in every valley. The tactics used
by the Pennsylvania tariff men should be
aQOpCeu ny tue LleH EHoSe c'ti vi NN'
ence are dependent upon the continued
operations OF the silver mines. The South
will Join hands with the hardy sons OF the
West in such an agitation, and the two sec
lions combined should certainly be able to
do for silver what Pennsylvania has been
able to do for the baser metal, rom.
The Miners Union should discuss this sub
ject in it's meetings and bring it's influence
to bear upon other organizations. Ii the
Knights OF Labor Of Butte should, for in
Stance, take united action upon the subject
| and in a circular letterto their sister assem-
| blies show how important to them and the
| cause of labor generally the continued coin
| age of silve is, they would undoubtedly en-
list the active support OF many assemblies
and through them weakened and uncom-
mitted Congressman. United for silver, the
w%orkingmen West OF the Missouri river
would be a power that even Congress could
not ignore. Is it not worth while to make
the effort at organizations? The suspension
OF the coinage of silver means the abso-
lutte closing down OF the mines or the cut
ting down of wages. 1t is surely worth
while to prevent either OF these calainities.