Durango semi-weekly herald., 1902-05-29
MEETING
AT THE COURT HOUSE

room. III re wss large assembly
of the mi. RS IL ! veral of the bust
ness men L cent. +. Mcconnell first
addressed the meeting. giving his
views of the situation. He said in
brief; 'As long as the business men
OF this community understand that the
miners were offered by the operators
So day. and the miners refused. they
have not the sympathy of the business
men. The statement was made that
the business meu We're not correctly
| informed of the position that the
miners took in this matter, and they
| have offered to take the business men
| into their confidence. Every man in
terested in our town is interested in
the affair at stake. Now | do not
mean to say that there is not some
chance for the miners to set them
selves right with the community
Wnen | was told that the miners
wished to meet the business men,
| told them that | would be glad to meet
the miners and see if it was not pos
| 'ible to adjust this affair. | have seen
rs many of the business men as /
could in the small space of time had
and asked them to come up here, and
discuss with you miners in calm way
md ascertain if there is not some way
in which these matters may be fixed
M that our business men may not be
| hard pressed at this time when busi-
cess has never been better, when the
7eason is promising and we have
othing to Offset the general prosper
ty except that the coal miners and
7peiators cannot adjust their bust
ness"
After this address, the men pro-
eeded to elect chairman for the
Neeting. and Mr.. Mcconnell was the
one chosen. He then spoke as fol
cws: 'If there is anything | car do
70 help adjust this affair. you may
ommand my time, even If it takes
weeks. ] want the miners to go back
TO work, the community to go along
md prosperity be the result.
Mr.. Carter was the next speaker,
Ne said in behalf of the miners: 81
an glad that the business men of the
.ity feel that they have an interest in
his, and that the general public has
an interest. We did not invoke the
business men to see to our interests
| but to see to their own. AS to this
| 80 day proposition, it has been mis-
| epresented and the attitude of the
men toward it. The system under
which the men work today is not sat
| sfactory in coal mine. 1t was tried
~ one of the mines in the neighbor-
1 hood. There was little dispute
bout wages some 60 days ago, and
32e of the newspapers stated that the
! uile would start next day The men
| 'al been out two days before ! did
ot know what they were out for. 1t
VGs stated that the mine was going to
tart on So day. | told the men that
| Ncy couldn't refuse it, and If they
uuld get the assurance that they
we're to receive SO a day they ought
o go back to work. They got that
saurance, and when they did start
eyeral of the best coalere in the dis
| net were let 'out and didn't get to
5urk. The miners then held a confer
| nee and adopted a scale After they
al adopted ii Mr.. Gehr advised them
go back to work at 30 cents ton.
he men didn't get back. Later we
eid conference here, and got this
proposition drawn up, which the peo-
pie believe we disagreed to, The
miners agree to work for SO day pro-
his for six months, and give employ
nent to the old men.
We held that opinion for several
,ays, but it seemed to be the idea that
his would be in good faith for few,
md the rest could 60 There is not
: miner in La Plata county who would
3ay that the day system of working a
oal mine is good. No business man
pf any business mind or intellect could
10 keep up to that proposition. We
lont see why the operators couldn't
have signed the agreement. They
ould have made the agreement with
he men of the mine and put them to
york, only provided we worked for the
terms we asked Strikes and demands
lave been made at all the mines and
loncessions without Mr.. Gehr knowing
anything about it. and we want the
| lNHSlntSS men " hio" hhAt 'h' 'ii'C''
nen have been in only one strike in
IS years. and in thai we were beaten.
As to my making a living off of labor
organizations. I do not. Somebody
lust be put forward in such cases as
hese. and | was chosen as chairman.
The other part of the scale says that
he wages shall be paid every two
weeks, and that eight hours shall con
stitute a days work"
Mr. Gehr then spoke: Mr.. McCon-
Il ell aud fellow citizens: The people
Of Durango have taken It upon them
solves to disparage me as an outsider
and mischief maker. and It might be
necessary TO explain the position that
hold ! am the national organizer OF
the Coal Miners union, and my bust
ness is to help the members of the
craft About one year ago the miners
OF Durango were anxious to start a
Miners union, and II was done about
last August Prior to that there were
several strikes without my sanction
We do everything in our power to
bring about peace and the best inter
, ests of the miner. We believe in con
Fciliation and arbitration. We offered
TO arhtrate our difficulties, AS Mr.
Mcconnell said. the reply was there