Mohave County miner., 1899-12-23
Capital and Labor.

Capital and labor are still at war.
The details of strike here, a lock out
there, demand for an advance in
wages from committee of some labor
union furnishes a goodly portion of
important reading matter in our daily
journals and magazines, with no hope
of arriving at any solution of this most
difficult and disturbing problem.
There is nothing in the commercial
world more timid than capital, and
very few things more uncertain than
organized labor. Where time is the es-
sence OF a contract, the contractor as
sumes great risk. He may cause a
strike by not complying with the de-
mand of an advance of wages, or his
men may be ordered to walk out in
sympathy in order to bring to terms
some other contractor who is operating
in an entirely different line. To the
writer it appears that the employer
and the employees interests are identi-
cal and there is some reason in beIiev-
ing that in the not very distant future
amicable relations will exist between
them.
For an illustration / will take the
Miners union and the mine owner.
have some knowledge of both sides of
the question and am absolutely GER
tain that if the foundation of a miners
union was skilled labor, and the scale
of wages graduated, and instead of try
ing to have every laborer who works in
or about a mine become a member of
union, require the applicant first to
be taken on probation, say three
months; then if the applicant has
proved himself to be miner, he should
be admitted to full membership, and
his certificate should state that John
Doe is first class miner, class A, 50
per day, or class C, 3s per day, as the
case may be.
The committee to pass upon the
value of the members labor should
themselves be intelligent, first class
miners. They should take into con-
sideration the price Of the metal mined
transportation, cost of supplies, etc,
and fit the wage rate of each member
every three months. There is no rea-
son why some first class single handed
hammer men should not earn 70 per
day, while there are some men, mem
bers of a union in good standing, who
are worth less than q per day. A uni,
form scale of wages such as has been
and is now in vogue in miners unions
must necessarily produce bar to the
intelligent miners receiving recogni.
tion and reward for skilful and honor.
able labor.
The reason is obvious. Under the
present system first class miner who
knows how to put in his shots to the
best advantage, knows how to catch
up running or swelling ground, how To
timber, etc, is certainly worth more to
the mine owner than new beginner
but the very worst feature of the whole
system for the miner is the lack Of in,
centive. There is nothing to encour,
age the thorough miner to do his best
and there is no reason why the new be
ginner should try to advance in hi.
new profession. There is no more rea
son in having uniform wage for min
ers than there is in having a uniform
value on all horses. A miners union
founded upon the principles that
have outlined and controlled by min
ers who desire to be fair, will soon find
that when one of their members pre-
sents his certificate to the manager OF
mine who desires to employ more
miners, and if his certificate calls fol
So per day the chances are ten to one
that the manager would prefer to have
a 5S man than to have 50 man. There
would be chance for progression al
along the line and the 30 man this yeal
may be in the 50 class next year.
When the miners unions are once
established on these lines there will bt
no questions asked by the manager
when the applicant presents his Ger,
tificate. All miners cannot expect tc
reach the top, but those who are
able, capable and willing, should not
be held down by an arbitrary, uniform
scale of fwages.-Western Mining World
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