The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-05-17


"a ao f,,e IVORY the surpIus dividing up with the
miners There are fully 80 other miners AROUND
the town waiting for the beginning o. opera
lions ia the new slope. Nearly all OF tnsse ae
knights of Labor who work In conjunction
with the miners OF Newcastle and other places
In forcing their win on the company.
In describing the necessity Tor enanse III wy
system OF employing men, from tue Ia.
uoip. of view. superintendent Williams salo.
ssThe men have constantly and unreasonaDy
raised the rate Of mining, aud they have oe-
r,,fved rs of the right of hiring and discnarg.ns
whom we please. Ii Is an absolute heeessasy
when ron are employing 200 or 30 men 70 nass
strict rules OF discipline, and to be abe 70 en-.
force them This power cannot exist wi'nou'
the power 70 discharge man VINO disoDeys
orders. rcuiects his work, or does 1t bsaty ano
csrelessly. We must also have the power OF
discharging bad men; men who are constantly
rsfsiur 4 disturbance instead OF attending 70
their work.
saThe deprivation Of this right means an abso-
Yuts money loss TO the company, for one mans
NEGLECT causes loss OF efficiency In long nne
of men. For instance, at q mine formerly
superintended, / found that the coal was MOI
SornI,,c out :. fast as It ought, and the breasts
were 20 filed with coal that the miners were
hampcred and delayed I'm working. The trouble
Law with the drivers. They were not getting out
the coal a fast as they could reasonably nave
Aone IL ought to have discharged those men,
Int knew that II did the matter would come
M before the union, committee
would call on me 10 reinstate them
and II refused there would be strike. linen
the mine would probably be idle for some time
and / should In the end have to suffer the
humiliation OF reinstating the men. The only
alternative was TO put mp with those men Inc
result was that not only did the company faii 70
ret ont OF the drivers the amount OF service ior
which IL was paying, but there was corresponds
ing loss on the miners work and ON the outside
work. From that resulted less returns on the
operating expenses OF the railroad and bunkers
and DELAY in loading ships Thus the loss went
ell along the line.
aThe system Of dividing up is another evil
result of the workmcns dictatioD. IL l hire
John Jones to work In certain place he WORKS
there perhaps two weeks and then the committee
says he must give John Smith turn, because
Smith is idle for the time being. smith may
not be az good man as Jones, may not DO the
work az well or as carefully, but must let him
DO Jones' work. This system Is destructive to
discipline, a. 1t has the same ehcct-requiring
M TO employ men whom we do not want. simply
because the union wills 1t.
ssTbe claim that should give q reason for
discharging q man simply means that / am to
stand trial before the miners for every discharge
That alone Is humiliatlng TO man. He must
70 TO miners meeting and give an explanation
OF This actions as superintendent. It simply
comes to this. That / must either not
discharge q man or must eat crow after
wards by taking him back under peril OF q
strike. As TO discharging men because they are
leaders In the union, have not done 1t and
would not do IL except under express orders to
do, for II would provoke constant trouble and
thus get me bad name as an employer.
1.-THE almost inyariablc answer OF the miners
a nf 3tn rf<xn4 70. y and
charge men is that we wish to discriminate in
favor OF our pets and against the leaders of the
unions, or union men generally. Well, have
no favorites and never had My father was
mine superintendent in the East and / have
been employed In mines all my life SO that
ought TO know something about the customs OF
the business and never yet knew any superin-
tendent who hired or discharged men from ia
voritism. IL would not be business. II you
find man is good workman, always on hand
when working hours begin, does his work as re
- directed TO do IL, you are not going TO dis
charge him. But II he proves himself an idle
mischief.maker, who win neither work himself
nor let other men work, you want TO get rid of
him and do not want to be forced to retain him
By the threat of strike These are the consid-
erations which count with Us. Otherwise. we
don't care whether q man is q Baptist, Metho-
dist or Presbyterian, or whether he gets drunk
or plays cards all Sunday, whether he Ia
Knight OF Labor or q Knight of Pythias, If he
only shows up flor work regularly on Monday
morning.
"Neither are we fighting labor organizations.
II We can deal with our own employees as a body
on matters which generally concern them, we
would rather do It, mean on such matters as
liking the scale OF wages, or the hours OF
labor II is far more satisfactory
- settle such matters with a committee than
with each man individually. But when want
asingle man to do a small piece OF work, want
10 DO able to say 70 him, sPll give you dollar
10 do 90 and So and II he agrees, let that end II.
But, ~ II is. the committee wants to dictate who
shall do 1t and TO arrange with me how much
he shall be paid. To arrange such a small mat
ter with q committee is a waste of time and
trouble and Is entirely unnecessary.
Personally, should be sorry TO see our old
men leave, for one naturally becomes attached
70 body OF men among whom he has lived and
worked for 80 long. Outside of labor matters
they are good, law-abiding class OF men, One
can safely leave ones door unlocked at night,
and disorder or quarreling are almost unknown.
6ome OF the men get drunk now and them but
they are otherwise az respectable body of men
- you can find in any mining camp In the
country"