The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1900-192?, 1902-04-19

| JIlS IdDOIlllS Glass; IL WOu1u result
the same, he said. The unions would
win out and the industrial conditions
throughout the country would go on
as good or better than before.
He then dwelt upon the fact that
the present industrial conditions
make labor organizations an absolute
necessity, in order that they may re-
ceive justice.
Referring to the conditions as exist
ing in this county, Mr.. Mcdonald
discussed the Business Mems
association recently organized in
this city and read the resolutions
adopted by it. He said
that the resolutions adopted by the
association, stating that outsiders had
come to this county unsolicited and
organized unions was the worst he
had ever seen. He wondered if it was
absolutely necessary for a man who
was thinking of coming to Flathead
county to first apply for a permit
from the association. He would also
like to know if the members of the
association waited for permission to
come here.
The resolution stating that the
unionizing of Kalispell would cripple
the industrial conditions throughout
the county, was also taken up by Mr..
Mcdonald who spoke of the different
avocations of the residents, and de-
clared that instead of Gripping them
unions would benefit them by increas-
ing the pay of the wage Garner and
thus put more money in circulation
That the efforts of the association
and especially the Lumbermen's
Board OF Trade to suppress the
unions had met with little success
was demonstrated, he said, by the
fact that at the present time there
were over 1900 members belonging
to the unions in this county, and at
that they had only been in existence
but a few months.
Referring to the numbering indus
try, he spoke of the conditions pre-
vailing in the Missoula district.
where, at first, each mill owner had
liked his own wage scale, with the
result that the employees were receiv-
ing very small compensation for their
work. The union had remedied this
and at the present time there was not
non-union mill in the district, while
the wages paid were the highest in
the state. The conditions there and
In Flathead county are practically
the same, and neither county has the
advantage over the other.
Referring to the matter of stump
age, he said that in the Missoula dis
trict the lumbermen pay from So to
81 per thousand, while in this county
stumpage is from so cents to S1.5O
per thousand, with wages higher in
Missoula than here.
He had investigated the matter of
freight rates and found that freight
from Kalispell was only cents per
100 pounds higher here than else
where. The difference in wages and
stumpage was marked and would
| greatly overbalance the difference in
freight.
There is no necessity, he said, for
misunderstanding between the
| unions and the Business Mems asso-
citation in this county, and if he could
prevent it there would be none. If it
did come, he promised that the asso-
citation would be responsible and not
\ the union. He spoke of the instance
| of the smelter strike in Anaconda
last spring when only his good offices
prevented general shut down of the
smelters, which would have resulted
in a general depression throughout
the state.
In regard to the story in circula
ton that he had come here to shut
Flathead lumber from Butte markets
he denied it, and spoke of the efforts
made in the past meetings of the
Montana Trades and Labor council
to unionize the county The minutes
of the past two or three meetings
would show that the matter had beer
brought up and acted upon each
time
He averred that the unions OF
Montana had done more for the lum
y
other body, and to support his claim
he referred to the fact that previous
to the acts of the Butte union, al
finish used on buildings in that city
had come from outside states. TAX
ing cognizance of this state of af
fairs, the Butte unions demanded o
contractors that Montana woods bt
used for finishing, and it was through
this step that the industry was aideC
to assume its present hugh proper
tions.
Mr.. Mcdonald reiterated his state
ment that there is no need for an,
trouble or disagreement in thi
county; but if it did come, it would
be fought to a finish. The union b,
said, would be fair enemies, but the.
would fight to the last gasp. We dom
propose, he said, to strip ourselves o
our rights as freemen, but would re