The Holly chieftain., 1898-10-28

iuT hiS wiring ibutciidis, 1 dIu TELL
ing my people at home something about
the labor troubles here, but upon my
life l don't know how to put tn, thing
fairly. can't see the need of union
Intervention in the Occur d'Alene. Do
you know what the miners grievances
are?"
"i'll be domned II l do" Mike re-
piled, without hesitation. ave was do
in well. Every man was gettin' his
three dollars, or his three and half, or
his four dollars day, accordin' to what
h. could arm, and we knew no betther
than be firms with the men that ped
us our wages. That's how ii was whin
f-st come. Twas the age av inno-
cence with us; the lion an the lamb
was lyin' down together, and there
wasn't man av us suspicioned what a
set of robbers and iron-heeled oppres-
sors thin mine-owners was till the
brotherhood in Butte cast their eye on
us in the par'lous shtate we was in.
LUX at thin sons av toll over there,
says they, in darkest Idyho, sellin'
thimselves for what wages the mo-
nop'lists chooses to fling them, and not
dollar comm into the union! Wen
at.ind to that they says. And they
put up convarsion fund for to carry
the goshpel into Idyho; yes. and good
thing they med av it, too. They set
up the union in our midst, and they
med thimselves the priests, and gev out
the law, and gethered the off'rin's.
They cursed US this wan, and they
cursed us that wan, and most partic'ler
they cursed him that wouldn't put up
his money and come into the tint av
meetin'."
Darcie began to laugh. Its the
trut' I'm tellin' ye," Mike insisted hot
ly. though yell get different tale
I'm givin' it straight, the way hare it.
IT'S the game they've worked in every
new camp betuxt the Black Hills an
| the coast.
"Th.re wasn't a miner come into the
Cor de Lane but they nabbed him for
convart; and If he belonged to no
union, an wouldn't be pershuaded, they
put their shpise on him, and med his
bread bitter to him by livery mane par
secution they could lay their hand to.
There was moighty few stud out against
them dunno fwhere I'd be now an
l hadn't been me own mine-owner,
workin' contrac' wild meself. But
they ped me more than wan visit, an
they toiled and shweated wild me for to
| jine them.
"'Fwhat do ! want wild union?' l
says. I'm me own union, heads and
hands as God made me. And / niver
yet seen the time whin me head
couldn't set me hands to work.. and
me hands couldn't keep me head willis,
was doin' it. And If can't find work
in the Cor de Lane says l, I'll lay me
two feet to the road till I'll come where
II is.'
"And they tould me was bought by
the labor-devourers, and they had their
eye on me for wan that was sowin'
treason and settin' bad example.
Kape your eye on me all ye want,
l says, yell find me neither maxim
nor meddlin'. And any man that follies
nv example, he'll be doin' his work and
nindin' his business, and kapin' his
carcass out av Peg-leg's saloon
"Begorl I've seen fellys, that five
dollars w'u'd buy all they was worth
in the world, walk into Peg-leg's wild
months wages in their clothes, and
put down twinty-dollur piece, and call
for drinks for the crowd, and domn
the change! Av the unions could put
some sinse into them, and tache them
they can't ate their cake and have 1t
too, or thramp it into the mire, and
thin bawl for the next mans that's
saved his, why, they'd be doin' some
good"
Darcie pushed back his papers and
took up his cigar, swinging about in
his chair that he might follow Mikes
movements, as the latter talked, and
cut "whangs" out of an old bootleg
with that multifarious tool. his pocket
knife.
1t was the evening of the day after
the visit Of the manager and his daugh-
ter to the Black Dwarf. Darcie had
been noticeably idle in the tunnel all
day. and, to Mikes thinking, more
than usually silent; and as soon as the
table was cleared after supper in the
cabin, he began walking and ponder
irg, and finally seated himself with his
writing-case before him, as if to free
his mind on paper.
But what was the final hitch
When did the worm conclude to turn ~
he inquired.
"Manin' by the worrum--"
"The mine-owners, 1 should say"
well, ye're right. The worrum
was maxim money along first, yell
understand; and a man will suffer a
dale in his proide on his principles so
long as his pockets doin' well. But
there come change in that afther
awhile. The smelters began to squeeze
them; an betune the returns an the
unions interference t was rocky road
for the mine-owners.
"The ould scale nv wages, as 1 was
tellin' ye, was three for shovelers an
trammers, three an half for skilled
men underground, and timber-men
and shaft -men was gettin' four. But
whin the union begun to lay the law on
us, it was three an half, they said
every man underground was to get, nc
matter what he c'u'd arm.
"The managers gev in at the first
though not widout big kick, on ac.
count nv the injustice to their best
men. They said there'd be throuble
an there was. Whin the timber-men
found themselves reduced to the same
as shovelers, they wint out. and the
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