The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-08-13
MAY CLOSE ITS MILLS
ANSWER OF RICE LAKE LUMBER
COMPANY TO DEMANDS OF
STRIKERS
IT WOULD KILL THE TOWN
Men Demand Ten Hours Work at
the Rate of Pay Now in Vogue
Company Willing TO- Give Each
Man Ten Cents a Day Additional
New Chapter in Montana Bril-
berry Case

very SASSs
EAU CLAIRE, Wis, Aug 12-(Special)
%. H. Ingram, president of the Rice
Lake Lumber company, said today that
If the men who are now on strike at Rice
Lake did not return to work Immediately
the company's mills at that place would
be closed and boarded up for good. and
the logs hereafter floated adown the Me-
nomonie river to the Chippewa, thence to
the Mississippi, to be manufactured into
lumber at either the ,Winona or Du-
buque mills of the company.
There are over $50 men involved in the
strike at Rice lake. and to close the lum-
Der plant would practically kill the two.
The Rice Lake Lumber company and the
empire Lumber company, which operate
at Rice Lake, are practically one concern.
The head offices are in this city, and O.
H. Ingram is president of both They
also have mills at Winona, Dubuque,
Hannibal, Mo-, and other places.
1t is learned from an officer of the com
pany that the state board of arbitration
has been over the ground at Rice Lake.
and, after canvassing the situation thor
oughly, has advised the men to go back
to work at the cOmpany's terms. The
wages of the men run from $1S4 to S. per
day, according to the grade Of work on
which they are engaged. The lower sum
is that paid to common laborers; the
highest is paid to the expert saw filers.
President Ingram, in an interview to-
day, said: Last spring, before starting.
the Rice Lake Lumber company in MAX
ing up its list of wages to be paid the
men, advanced them on an average Z
per cent. When the company learned
that the men were talking about demand
ing ten hours a day at the same wages
they are now getting, I authorized our
secretary, w. H. Bundy, who has charge
of the plant at Rice Lake, to say to the
men that we could not run our mill less
than eleven hours a day, owing to the
short season we are able to operate, but
that we would give them an additional 10
cents a day on account of lumber bring
ing little better price than when we
started in the spring.
We have decided to close up our mills
at Rice Lake for good unless the men ac-
cept the proposition. The water mill is
run on lease from the Knapp-Stout COM
pany. The lease expires with the close
Of this year. We had intended running
the water mill until fall, or until our clos
ing season, but on account of the disDo-
sition of the men to force us to run ten
hours we deem it best, to close it alto
gether. Unless the men sare willing to
work on the terms we have offered the
steam mill will not be run. We find we
can run our logs to our Winona or Du-
buque mills and realize about as much
out of them as to saw them at Rice Lake
The Knapp-Stout company has offered
to buy our logs, or would saw and raft
our lumber, so we can rum it to our yards
on the Mississippi. 1t may be such a
course would suit the men who have here
tofore had work there, and such a course
might suit the people of Rice Lake gen.
orally. We will decide definitely very
soon what our course will be- 80
Mr.. Ingram also said that the sawmill
companies on the line of the Omaha road,
including the Chippewa Lumber and
Boom, the North Wisconsin and Shell
Lake companies, are running eleven
hours and that wages are fixed on that
basis The Rice Lake company does not
want to change the hours at this time
0. II. Ingram is the president of the
New Richmond relief commission ap-
pointed by Gov. Scofeld.