The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-07-25
THE ROOT OF COLORADO'S TROUBLE
How It Came to Pass That Smelter Operations Were
Brought to Standstl as the Result Of Failure to
Agree to the Spirit Of the Eight-Hour Rule.

| the state, notices were posted ANNOUNCE
| ing that none of their men would be
required to work more than eight hours
| per day. No reference was made in the
notices to the question of wages. The
men were permitted to work eight, II
or 16 hours as they chose, and upon
them was thrown the entire RESPONSE
bility OF disobeying the law if it was
| to be ignored. 1t was argued that the
men had an inalienable right to. work
| as long as they pleased so long as no
| compulsion was used. and that with
| the cooperation of the men the pro-
| visions of the eight-hour law might be
| evaded
| trust was followed two days later by
| the posting of new scale of wages an
nouncing an advance of about 10 per
| cent. on an hourly basis. This advance,
| it was stated by the trust management,
| was made with no reference to the
! eight-hour situation and was actuated
| solely by the desire to give the men
share of increased profits under irnprov
ing business conditions.
Whether the trust wished to keep the
smelters running is doubtful Vice
President Sewall said after the strike
had been declared that the shut down
would have been necessary within
question about wages and hours. The
strike in the Occur d'Alene mines had
cut short the supply of lead ores, and
without these, it is claimed, continu I'd
operation was undesirable Further
more the occasion furnished an oppor-
tunty for the newly-organized combi-
alton to test it's strength. If the trust
was to pay interest on a capitalization
representing many times the value of
its plants, it must have power to fix the
wages of labor, determine treatment
charges and to a certain extent to bols-
| ter up the price of bullion. The strug-
| gle was accepted by the management
as inevitable and the gauntlet was
| thrown down to the workmen.
The Men stood Out.
With many misgivings as to the out
| come, but with firm belief in the justice
| of their demands, the men determined
TO stand out for an eight-hour day and
the same wages per day as they had
been receiving for 10 to 10 hours work
AT the trust smelter in Durango the
men walked out June 2. At all the
other trust smelters in the state work
stopped June Is. No disturbances of
any kind occurred. The men agreed to
blow out the furnaces and protect the
property of the company. The man
ayers agreed not to import foreign la
Dor. On each side there was a mani
fest disposition to treat the other with
entire fairness.
in Denver and at the Guggenheim
smelter in Pueblo. At the Argo no re-
duction in wages had been made in 1893
and the men accepted proposition
from the management to continue to
work at the same rate per hour for
eight hours that they had been recev-
ing for longer day. This was consd-
erably better than the scale offered by
the trust. The Guggenheims offered an
advance varying from 161a to 50 per
cent. and this, after several days. dis
cussion, was accepted by the men.
David II. Moffat of Denver, however
was the hero of the hour At the Me-
tallic Extraction company's works in
Florence, a cyanide plant of which Mr.
Moffat is the principal owner, an eight
hour scale was put in force June | and
the men were given the same pay for
days work that they had received I'M
der the old schedule.
The effect of the strike upon the bust
ness of the state was immediate and
! disastrous. Colorado's great industry
was crippled Production was cur
| tailed in all mines shipping ores of
smelling grade and many hundreds Of
miners forced to join the ranks of the
unemployed already filled to the over
| flowing by the idle Smeltermen. Stag
of business, and the people of the state
| awoke to the seriousness of the condi-
| tons that confronted them.
From every side came demands and
| appeals for a settlement. The life of ii
| great commonwealth appeared to be at
stake. vast structure of interdepen-
| dent industries was lettering under
| blow dealt by company incorporated
| in New Jersey. The people We're receiv-
| ing an object lesson in the might of
centralized capital and the lesson has
produced lasting impression.
Trying to Settle 1t.
Governor Thomas was the first to
propose a seemingly practicable solu-
| ton for the difficulty. He appointed a
| board of arbitration to hear the argu-
ments of operators and men, pass upon
the merits of their contentious and sub
nit to them recommendations which it
was hoped both sides would accept
President E. T. Jeffrey of the Denver
& Rio Grande railroad was made chair
man of the board and other equally
representative men were appointed
members. Under various pretexts,
however, the officers of the trust re-
fused to submit their side of the dis
pute to the board, which finally dropped
out of sight without having reached
any definite conclusion. The state
board of arbitration also took up the
matter, Dut met with but little more
success. In both instances the men
were anxious to state their case, meet
the representatives of the trust and
adopt means to reach a settlement that
would be acceptable to both sides. The
trust from the first played a waiting
game. 1t insisted that there was moth
ing to arbitrate. 1t absolutely refused
to recognize the unions, though con-
senting to confer with the men as in
| dividuals. 1t finally announced its de-
termination to take no action whatever
until the Constitutionality of the eight
hour law should be passed upon by the
supreme court of the state.
Carried Into Court.
To settle the validity of the law a
test case was brought in the courts
Thomas A. Morgan was employed by
William f. Sweeney under terms that
violated the provisions of the eight
hour law. Both men, as had been pre-
vlously arranged, We're arrested and
brought up for trial The case was car