Durango semi-weekly herald., 1902-05-12
JOHN L. GEHR ON
THE STRIKE SITUATION

note an article headed, The Coal
Strike Situation" We believe The
Herald wishes to be fair. and shall
take advantage of their kindly offer
Of space for reply
In the first place We wish to call
the attention of The Herald's readers
TO the fact that the men of the City
champion, Porter and Perns Peak
mines ceased work voluntarily-no
call, or command having been given
by the officials of any union-this in
Itself will refute the assertion that
the men of those mines were unwill-
ing to suspend work, and in fact
proves that there must have been a
local cause for such action.
| The Herald rightly says that there
can be no excuse advanced for an or
Ter for men to quit work before
placing their demands In writing. and
| giving the operators a certain length
Of time to answer. and we need maxi
10 excuse Tor any such action. There
S not an operator in the Durango
| coal fields who can truthfully say that
| ne or his company was ignorant of the
| nature of our demands. On the first
| lay of April the miners and operators
met and discussed the provisions of
| the schedule which the miners desire
to have adopted, but on account of
the absence of Messrs. Porter and
Herr, the operators asked for thirty
lays grace, and promised in the
| meantime to do everything possible
10 secure a full meeting of operators
20 go into conference with ther min
ers, and also intimated that they
would adopt our scale of wages, with
possibly some modification. 1t was
our intention to reach Durango on the
last day of April, but on account of
collision west of La Veta, did not
reach Durango until the morning of
May lst, AMI did not know there was
strike until afternoon. So much for
our part in not ordering the men to
cease work in this vicinity on May
lst.
1t may be that our manner of set
ing forth our side of the question is
lame, but we are sure the Herald"
will throw the veil of charity over
any errors of grammar, or compost
lion which coal miner may make.
We only claim to 6e truthful plain,
and fair in any statement made by us.
Now. as to the latest developments
we have to his say: After we had been
assured by the operators on the even
ing of May 9TH that they would meet
with us on the morning of May Sth,
they failed to attend our meeting, but
sent one of their number to our meet
ng to make a proposition by word ire
member not in writing) offering $500
per day for mining coal.
1t is probable that but few of the
readers of The Herald understand, or
could be made to understand the view
the coal miners take in this matter.
One thing is certain. If such a sys-
EN- were adopted fully one-half of
the miners of this field would be
thrown out OF employment at the
mines. Boys who aid their parents
in keeping the wolf from the door.
old men who have lived amongst you
for years, and who have through in
dustry and frugality and industry
managed to build them little homes,
would be driven forth to compete
with the strong in other and strange
places. and in fact only, the strong,
skillful miner, (and most subservi-
ent.) could hope to find employment
in this field. We hold that such a
system would not even prove salts
factory to the operators-for they
would insist on having certain num-
ber of tons mined-in fact would
have to either raise prices to the con-
sumer or go out of business.
We also invite investigation, and
if the miners tell us the TRUTH, (and
we have found them to be fully as
:. reliable as some other people,) those
who investigate will find that while
some men make good wages, in one
mine particularly, there are many who
have not made $500 per day during
the busy season. The public must re
| member that winter is the miners
harvest time, that as a rule the sum
| mer is good for only half time. Some
may say let them move where there
| is work-or learn some other trade.
| Every man to his trade" and every
trade pay enough to keep the worker.
should be the policy followed by the
I American toiler
| We are now going TO make an as
sertion: The average wages for coal
miners who remain in this field, will
not amount to $3.50 per day the year
through-investigat Those who con
| demn the miners at present would
commit suicide rather than do such
work for such wages.
To finish while some criticism has
been leveled at us, we take it in good
nature; but as some other poor devil
of an organizer may drop in upon
you some day, we bespeak a little
charity for him; he has been selected
by his fellow workers to act as their
business agent, and why not? Relig-
ious, political and fraternal bodies
have agents to look after the work
corporations have their attorneys, and
organized workmen must also have
men to look after their business af
fairs. What is accepted as a matter
of course when practiced by other
bodies should not be condemned when
made use of by the toilers. We have
rights, we are just beginning to find
it out. aud we shall follow by assert
ing those rights. JOHN l.. GEHR.