The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-10-27
Thousands of Men Show Sympathy
For Idaho Miners.
SPEECHES AT CINCINNATI
STRONG RESOLUTIONS WERE
READ AND ADOPTED.
Demanded That the President With
draw Troops From Occur d'Alenes
and That General Merriam and
His Subordinatss Be Court
martialed.

Cincinnati, Oct. 26.-An enormous
meeting was held tonight at Music hall,
the officers of which were members of
the Central Labor Council of Cincin-
natl, and the speakers Samuel G0mpers,
president of tine American Federation
of Labor and Edward BOyce of Butte,
! Mont. president of the Western Fed
Grafton of Miners. Fully 5000 men re-
manned during two long speeches.
The announced purpose of the meet
ing was to protest against the treat
ment Of prisoners held in the bull pen
in the Occur O. Alene region. Before the
speaking began the resolutions were
read.
The first was demand upon the
president of the United States to en-
force the constitution, especially in the
sixth section, which they claim has
been violated. The second resolution
demanded of the president the with
drawal of the United states troops
from Shoshone county. The next reso-
tuition demanded a Courtmartial of Gem
eral Merriam. and his subordinate otfi-
GERS. The last resolution was that all
the federal, military and civil officers
responsible for the alleged Illegal acts
committed by them should be held TO
the strictest accountability.
President Gompers said the present
time afforded a great opportunity for
laborfng people. This enormous at
tendance and the passage Of these res
olutions would have a far-reaching Ell
feet and would do much to relieve the
oppressed in Idaho and to bring their
oppressors to Justice
Gompers Was There.
President Gornpers said that he was
in the mountain region near the scene
of the uprising in Sh0shone county but
a few days before it occurred. By con-
versatiOn with men who knew about
the situation, he learned the condition
of affairs at Wardner, Bunker Hill and
Sullivan mines.
He vehemently denied that labor or
ganizations had anything whatever to
do with the uprising. The labor unions
had been locked out by the operators,
who went outside and brought in irl-
ferior and dangerous non-union men
and set them to- work in the mines.
These ignorant miners, unused to the
ways of the union, demanded union
prices and were denied. He related a
Story of what followed, including the
dynamiting Of the property. Some one
in the audience shouted Good.
Mfr. Gompers responded, mo. not
good. Organized labor cannot stand for
such acts of violence. Organized la
Dor is the great conservator of peace.
He described the bull pen and said
it utterly ignored the sanitary wants of
those corraIed i'm it and that 1t stinted
them in food and exposed them to the
weather II would go down i'm history
as the black hole and the Andersonville
of Idaho.
A False Charge.
He said the charge of the operators
that the violence was the work of labor
organization was maiiciousEy false. The
operators were compelled to make that
charge to screen themselves from being
/ the cause of the violence by bringing
| ignorant non-union desperadOes to take
i the place of union men. The case in
Idaho he said, is but a symptom of
militarism and despotism which net
| with prevalent favor on the part of the
CAPITALISTS and the great money pow
ers. He asked the question. How can
we preserve the liberty Of this coun-
| try?"
4 voice in the audience said: Elect
Jones'" The voice was promptly
\ squelehed.
4 After Mr. Gompersf speech Edward
Boyces president OF the Western Fed
Grafton Of Miners gave a plafns
straightforward. exhaustive history of
the troubles. covering seventeen or
eighteen years among the miners in
4 Shoshone county.
After his speech which Was finished
very late. resolutions we're adopted with
a roaring aye and then With q stand
| ing vote.