The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1899-08-29
The Coeur d'EIenes.
Idaho State Tribune.

UrOuDleS is uylnS out. Inc POpu- |
lation of the bull pen is decreas-
ing. The military outrages are
taking their place in the socio-
logical problems of the day.
Mine operators are contented to
pay the same wages paid their
former employees for much less
return. Law and order reigns
and the flag hoats-everN the Cnur
d'Alenes. All this sounds like a
sweet anthem of returning peace,
and if this were all we might ex-
pect the Bunker Hill company
and the Miners Unions to walk
hand in hand through green pas
lures, and lie down together be-
side the still waters, and the bull
pen victims sing lullaby songs to
Bartlett Sinclair, and send tok-
ems of love and adulation to
Frank Steunenberg and General
Merriam. But this is not all.
The end is yet to come. The
Ceur d'Alene district is further
from ar era of peace today than
ever before. So long as the
Western Federation of Miners
shall have an organized existence
and shall be denied recognition
by local operators will this dis
trict witness scenes of strife and
contention. All organized labor
in America is lined up against
the present order like the hordes
of Alexander against the legions
of Darius. Every condition is
portentious of unrest and dis
order. Immediately following
the riot of April 90, there was a
way open to the civil and military
officers to have brought crimin
ais to justice, vindicated the law,
and insured permanent peace.
But they were utterly void of
either good generalship or good
craftsmanship. They thirsted
for the blood of the unions, and
instead of going after the real
criminals, they instituted kind
of proceedings that sent thous-
and agents and agitators to the
other mining districts in all
parts of the country, well fortifi
ed with all the necessary argu-
ment to offset and counterbal-
ance the horror and stigma of
the crime of April 20. The des-
truction of the Bunker Hill mill
and the killing of two men was
one of the greatest crimes ever
committed in the name of labor.
But if the state and military
authorities had entered into a
contract with the organized min.
ers of the county to obscure the
enormity of the outrage and
switch the issue to other sub
jects they could not have been
more successful in providing an
irresistible counter-c claim for or
ganized labor to present to the
public. The poor short-sighted
mine owners fell into the trap
like flies around poisoned paper
They made it possible for Sena.
tor Carter of Montana and Sena
tor Heitfeld of Idaho to accom-
pany the officers of the Western
Federation of Miners to Wash
ington, and protest in the name
of justice and good government
before the president of these
United States. They made i
easy for the reform forces, the
anti trust leagues, the labor
press and organized labor every
: where to make a united protes
before the entire country. They
infused into the proposition is
sues so inimical to civil liberty
and so foreign. to the punish
ment of criminals that the Scrip
McRae press bureau, represent
ing more than seven hundred
newspapers, sent here it ables
l correspondent, who returned t.
the bureau series of articles o
the most scathing and denunci
atory character against the stat
and military authorities possibl
for him to write. Seemingl,
! everything has been done f
. sidetrack the real issue an
= strengthen the hand of the min
ers' organizations. The crime 0
!. April 90, when it stands alone
. cannot be justified or excused b.
> any living person, and If tn
. authorities had left deserving in
/ dustries and peaceable citizen
in possession of their Lawful
rights and gone after the Grim
inals in a manner demanded b.
|: the exigencies of the situation
}. it would have proven q deaf
IL blow to lawlessness in this dis
trict. would have purged th
miners unions of any crimina
elements within their ranks
l.. fOreed tho cO.OperatiOn and al