The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1902-10-14
A POOR EXCUSE.

Minneapolis Journal: One of the
anthracite presidents remarked, upor
arriving in New York, after the con
ference with the president that the
great difficulty in securing an agree
ment in the anthracite coal fields was
that the operators were a responsible
body, whereas the miners were ir
responsible. The latter, the railway
man said, would not keep their con
tracts. He asserted that after the
settlement of 1900 there were numer.
Gus local strikes and that Mitchell
was not able to keep his men at work.
1t would be useless to make an agree.
ment with him, because there was nd
guaranty for the observance Of the
terms Of the contract.
This railway owner touched on
what is admittedly one Of the great
causes of friction between employers
and employees. It is for that rea-
son that the incorporation of labor
unions has been advocated, and
where compulsory arbitration exists,
as in Australia, Incorporation is COM
pu1sory. But without undertaking to
say whether the men would observe
a contract in this case it is notable
that John Mitchell stood like a rock
at indianapolis in July against a SYM
pathetic strike of the bituminous min
ers, which would have involved the
violation of contracts made by dis
trict organizations.
for October, by Ralph M. Easley, sec
rotary of the National Civic Fedora
ton, sets forth the progress that has
been made in responsibility by Amer
lean labor unions, and cites some no
table cases of joint agreements. The
first system Of regular annual cor
ferences and agreements was institut-
ed in the pig iron industry in 1865.
IN 1875 the Amalgamated Association
of Iron and Steel Workers extended
the joint agreement to other depart
ments of the trade, and annual agree
ments have ever since been made, ex-
cept on two or three notable occa-
sions. The next successful agreement
was the well-known n Sc success
fully made by Senator Hanna be-
tween the operators and operatives
of the bituminous coal mines of Ohio,
after a strike ove wages.
The first really national experiment,
however, was the agreement made
between the National Stove Manufac-
turers' Defense association and the
Iron Moulders' Union of North Amer
lea in 1856. This wasathe outcome Of
long strike won by the employers,
who, to avoid future trouble. propcs.
ed annual joint conferences. Since
then this industry has had. only two
of any consequence. Through
the hard work of President Ernest
Fox of the Iron Moulders unicn, the
have been taught that contracts
must be lived up to- The remarkable
thing about these agreements is that
in only a few of them does the union
to restrict employment to
union men. They have learned that
is impossible and unneces-
sary.
Last summer the American News
Publishers association made
five-year agreement with the Inter-
national Typographical union and the
Printing Pressmen's union. The In
formation Longshoremen's association
is an organization that is thoroughly
responsible. The, Dock Managers
association knews that it can count
the longshoremen. A notable en-
of a contract was that re-
quired of the Milwaukee brewers by
President Gompers of the American
of Labor, who ruled that
the employers had kept their agree
ment, and that the men must keep
theirs. Fred w. Underwood, formerly
Of Minneapolis. now president of the
Erie road, says that he is a believer
contracts between organized labor
and employers. Sympathetic strikes,
one of the, bad phases of labor organi-
cation in the past, are becoming OBJ
At Indianapolis, John Mitchell
opposed the proposed sympathetic|
strike as such, as well as because it
involved violations of contracts.