The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-05-18

representatives Of the miners in this waoas
trouble vasfaerdey had the following 10 say.
at seems III at C. j. smith II satisfied since ne
rot his ccIorld slaves here. He says that .as
company Is NIT opposed TO labor organ iIaso..
and that Ito ssItinn win be beneficial 70 organ
ized labor. md that labor organizations:
like Other mass, sometimes DO wfous,
suppose from this that ne
admit that N anaxers sometimes MAKE ihlssAs
and when thsy do the men can naIuy A..
blamed for proceeding themselves AZ i.I - ~.
Franklin niries are concsfneo' A., Va. o,,,o,s ~
them that were ops rated previous 10 sep'emoeI,
1soo. becsuse N the fact that there Is nre IN
them. Asto vvsaat le terms dead work, IL Is notn-
ing more han IL necessary 70 " ovas "a 49,. 49,.
to reach ( o coal, Gnd Franklin u lousy P.ao
tically ew Geld. making 2 args smo .i,;. y.
this dead work Necessary. Inc rae. INA. ~ 40 .
new feld : not .sI to the Knights OF Labor,
but to the negligence of the management. ni1 Ia
was the en- ase OF he desh 'uction OF the oto
mines. as car, he showh by all the miners VINO
worked II ere prev ous to Septe. mDsr, IoN.
"But tn respons sbility for tia oss..ucon M, n,
the mines IL not material. TIA n 80, 90
have to suffer ANYHOW. Tho colo. 'ed men are
here and the white men viii have - SURRENDER
their opportunity for making hvtug uniess
the people of this country do as the ,Peopie Va
Watcher Iowa, did few years ago. IN
quest them to return to where they ca We no'
and through their sheriff. w. B. Arlns.r'n =,
Eave them all a cigar each ana rsceiSs,
return belt of cartridges and revolver. -.
"Nr. Smith claims that only 40 per cent %
the capscity OF the Newcastle and "a per GEN.
Of the Franklin has been produced. NOW, nao
these and all other mines been WORKED 10 tnen
full capacity, what would they have dons win
The coal7 Would consumers have useo more
hecsuse non-uniou men mined it, He says
uuuober of knight. of Labor came to the COM
pany and proposed TO sign the con-
tract for a year, and afterwards repuoi-
sted this proposition. This, l suppose, refers
to the Newcastle men. Corey made similar re-
marks in April when he was endeavoring 70 nAse
the miners sign the contract. put ne couio nos
srbstantiate his statements in the presencS Oh
the men he claimed had made the proposircn.
Could the miners make 81 per day a. Mr.. Smfta
claims, they all would in a short time be
rich and retire from active service. Inis
isgreat doctrine to presch to starving COM
munity In a place where the stores are over
stocked with goods and the people have no
money with which to buy. He says the men are
blind to refuse to sign the contract Is 1t neces
gary in this country for a man TO sign contract,
giving his employer the right to dictate to him
| in all things, at all times, as mis-
whims or caprices make him feel dis
posed2 Is it necessary to sign a contract
giving an employer the right to retain from
mans wages any amount he or any one else
may claim to be due him, withou. any recourse
tothe laws of your country? Chatter slavery
would be preferable to such a condition rs that
aMr. Smith further states that when the results
| of the steady work are seen, the laboring men
will be glad to have an opportunity TO sign sucn
| a contract. VIII the consumer purchase any
more coal then than now? And II not, wnat
will increase the employment suppose the
same increase will follow as in other places
| where slave labor comes into competition with
free labor in this country, TO abolish wnlcn, we
are told, a protective tariff was established.
sOn April last, at Mr.. Coreys request, the
Newcastle miners submitted to him in writing
the following propositions az basis OF settle
meat of the pending difficulty:
".First-That strikes and suspensions of work
on the part of the employees shall not be allowed
unless ten days notice in writing shau have
been given to the superintendent by the officers
| of the knights of Labor; and no employe shall
| quit the employ OF the company without giving
| three days notice.
"'second-In case of any grievance between
the men and the company. the same shall be
submitted to arbitration.
"'Third-That all matters between the men
and the company shall be reduced to writing.
"sFourth-That the wages shall be adjusted
on sliding scale to be governed by the market
price of coal, and no employe to be allowed to
remain away from his work longer than two
days without consent of the person in charge
" 1t was further agreed, in order to protect the
company interest,", tnAt an EN- plOye . Woik Wos
not to be measured-that Is he was to receive no
pay-unless the work be performed according to
specified agreements; and in regard to the
amount of labor to be performed, az they are
working piece-work the more man works, the
more pay he receives. Another section pro-
vided for the division Of work when the mines
were running slack; and the 18th OF each month
was to be payday for the previous month.
"The company wanted to override the laws OF
the state in relation to landlord and tenant, but
the men thought these laws were sufficient and
would not go beyond them. Mr.. Corey asked
several questions, reducing them to wr ting, and
Mey are now in our possession, to-
pethcf with copy OF the answers.
He wanted to know II man could be employed
without the consent of the party in charge, and
was answered in the negative. Another ques-
ton was, who do you propose shall run the
minesr And was told that the company would
be expected to run the mines. Yet Mr.. Smith
saws that the men wanted to run the mines
and have those employed the superintendent
did not want They did, however, deny the
superintendent the right to discharge faithful
workmen, whom he wanted to discharge simply
because they had too much Independence to
allow him to dictate to them when not at
work. A reduction of Is per cent In
wages was agreed to on the LIST Of April a. soon
as the company requested It, and the only OBJ
ject the company has in making the fight n to