The morning call., 1892-07-15
CONFLICTING OPINIONS.
Interviews with President Hamm OF
and One Of the Strikers.

Interviews with President Hamm on d
and One Of the strikers.
Apart from the news of the terrible fight
ing and loss Of life at the mines in the
Ceur d'Alene district. great interest is
being manifested in this city as TO the prob
able issue of the affair from the fact that
many of the nOn-uniOn miners have been
recently shipped from San Francisco.
Nearly 200 men have been sent to the mines
from California. chiefly through the agency
of A. B. Jackson. the local EN- ploymeut
agent of the Bunker Hill and Sullivan Min
ing and Concentrating Company. jackson
is a very experienced mining man, aud he
was overwhelmed with applications for
work.
The local unions brought considerable
pressure 20 bear on Jackson TO try and pre-
vent his shipping any mere men, but he en-
gagged ali tie skilled miners he could find
Many OF the men sent up are married and
have families, who are very anxious rs to
their safety. Very few If any of the union
men now on strike belong TO this city or
State-most Of them are residents OF the
mining LEGALITY.
George X. Smith. one Of the union
strikers, aud member of the executive
committee Of the Miners Union. has come
down here for the purpose Of seeing John
Hays Hammond, president of the Bunker
Hill and Sullivan Company, TO see il some
reasonable settlement cannot be come 20 of
the difficulties He has also come to try
and prevent the Shipping OF nOn-union men
to the mines. lie does not think he Will
have any trouble with the latter part of his
contract, in fact he thinks in the face Of the
determined stand taken by tue miners that
1t would be difficult to get any more men to
go up there.
He made the following statement to a
CALL reporter yesterday: Il have worked
In the now destroyed Frisco mine for up
ward OF two years past. | am delegated
with full power to act for the Miners Union.
The wages are fair up at CRur d'Alene,
So 90 a day for skilled men and IS for
ShOveers and caT-pnshers. About year
ago the union demanded that these latter
also be paid 50 30 and this was granted
Since then until the trouble began the un-
deTgr0und men got So 30 dav. Then the
owners reduced the shOvelers and car
pushers down 10 S3 and added an extra
hour on the working day for all the men.
This action the owners allege was taken
on account OF the low price of silver but
this Is absurd, as the Cmur d'Alene is really
a lead district. The mines aTe lead and Sill
yer, and working in these is injurious to
health; many of the men get ieaded,' as
We call II, from time TO time and suffer
severely from the poisoning.
with regard 10 the violation Of law, we
contend that the Mine-owneTs' Association
was the first TO break il. BY the State law
OF Idaho Il Is an Offense 10 bring armed 4 men
into the State. Yet when the owners
shlpped nOn-uniOn men from Michigan, on
April -, they brought them in locked cars
under an armed guard OF 54 men. To nv
mind this action was puTposely taken TO get
our men 20 riot aud break the law, so that
the owners could call on the regular troops
to aid them IN working the mines with scab
labor. We have been made desperate and
forced into what we are doing by the own
ers. Why, when the Governor issued his
manifesto not blow had been struck.
The account OF the dOings back there as
published in The CALL, l thiuk are the
most correct | do not believe that the
twelve scab men have been killed. They
might, perhaps. have killed MOnahan, who
was the foreman of the Frisco mine for the
union men were very bitter against him.
The so cents reduction cutS NJ figure in the
cause of the lockout, but the real reason is
the determination OF tile mine-owners to
crush the life out of organized labor. Why
the miners signed and circulated i petition
all through the Northwest country asking
that the duty be taken off sllver-ead ores.
l have not been able 10 zee Mr.. Hammond
yet, but hops to do so later on. | fear We
will have trouble when the troops arrive at
the mines, rs our men are desperate. we'll
drilled and very determined. | do not say
they will attack the soldiers, but they VIII
resent any attack maze upon them and
their rights. for sure"
j. IL. Hammond was seen Yesterday by
CALL reloTter, and gave his views on the
situation as follows: 80 far as our com
pauy is concerned all our men were satisfied
until the union and ts band of az tatOrs
stirred up mischief. We are rather favera-
bly, disposed toward unonism than other
wise; many OF our best men were union men,
and think they have been sadly misguided.
To show how fair we have been, before |
left Idaho we placarded tile walls with no.
tices that we would take any miner back
union or nOn-uniOn. At the same time we
would not dis harge any man who was
useful to us simply because he was non
union. For instance, our foreman, Frank
Jenkins, is DOn-unOD man, and he Is very
popular with every body.
The men were free men in every sense
of the word. They had steady work and
good wages, were not compelled to buaId at
any house. or to purchase any goods from
any particular store We conntenauced
and recognized the union in every reasonable
way. but when it started in to dictate to Us
as to what men We should employ or dis
charge. what kind of labor we were to en-
gage-n fact. to run our business as they
wished, why. we wouldn't stand it.
81 am 10th TO believe that the news of the
last reported killing is true. | sincerely
trust it is not. 1t is too dreadful to think OF
when few short weeks ago the men were
so contented. That is, the men in our mine.
They are not the ones TO blame for the
trouble, but the men who recently came in
from Butte and other districts Our men
have been cOeTced into this thing. | hope
the men will be brought to see the folly of
their conduct without further blOodshed or
trouble. ! shall leave for the mines in a
few days"