The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1901-08-30
ORE RITE BRIEF FILED.

ORE RITE BRIEF FILED.
On Wednesday the brief of the Pc
nobscot Mining company, in the
hearing before the state railroad
commission with reference to the
rates charged by the ore carrying
railroads in Minnesota, was filed
with the state railroad and ware
house commission, that company
appearing as an intervenor, being d
shipper of ore over the railroads.
The brief is document of about
twenty pages and goes into the
question as to whether the ore traf-
fic is or is not interstate commerce,
taking the negative position in op-
position to that taken by the rail-
roads. It sets forth that the road is
wholly within the state, that the ore
is locked within the state as the
property of and subject to the will
of the owner, who may bring his
own vessel or hire some other to
take it away. The owner may take
it within or out of the state, but it
is maintained that the roads are
through with it when it leaves the
dock, Their service ends with the
state. i
The brief continues that the ore
in carload lots Is not destined for
shipment out of the state, is not
billed out of the state, and its desti-
nation is the ore docks, which are
in the state. The charges for rail-
road and dock service are separate
and distinct.
No common carrier in Minnesota
or any other state has anything to
do with it, and under the same bill
it cannot be and is not shipped out
of the state. The destination of the
ore is asserted to be Two Harbors
and Duluth, and the ore is there put
into the pockets allotted to respect
i've owners until enough has been
accumulated for cargo. With it's
delivery to the owner the response
bility of the railroad ceases.
The Penobscot company is repre-
scented to be miner of ore, and it is
set forth that the lands in Minneso-
ia will approach their value in the
market "if the railroad companies,
created fostered and doing business
in the state, are not permitted to
charge rates which mean confisca
tion."
at is no WONDER" continues the
brief, that the West Duluth furnaces
are closed and that mining proper
| ty on the Vermilion and Mesaba
ranges is dead. The cause is appar-
ent, and the blow is not delivered
by or in the interest of interstate
commerce or any common carrier
engaged in interstate business"
The railroads take the position
that the ore traffic is interstate; that
it is not within the power of the
railroads to make it subject to the
state, even if they would.-Herald
| UNDER the caption, "Union Dis
respect for Other Authority" the
Iron Trade Review reviews at
length the total disregard of the
steel strikers for contracts made.
the hostility of labor leaders to
courts and to the militia organiza-
tons of the country. In its sum-
mary the Review says:
tremendous power is welded by
the leaders of large labor organiza-
tons, and to large extent it is ir
responsible power-a reversal of
the principle that greater power in
wolves greater responsibility. And
when to this rapidly increasing
power there is given the momen-
tum of intolerance of restraint and
of hostility to the very safeguards
of our institutions, the condition is
one to be viewed with grave con-
Germ While labor leaders will dis
claim all partnership with anarchy
they should have a care how they
SOW the seeds of hate and of scant
respect for law in day when the
condition of labor is better than in
any period in the worlds history.
Let them make unionism synonym
for contract keeping and order en-
forcement and they will do much
to turn the tide of popular disfavor
that has been setting in strongly
under the turbulence of recent
years."
SAMUEL GOMPERs, president of the
American Federation of Labor, has
issued circular to all afi1iating