The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1903-02-20
Defends the Union and the
Right of Organization in
a Great Speech.
ATTENDANCE is LARGE
Eloquent Chicago Advocate Places the
Blame for the Strike on Operators
Determination to Prove Them
selves Masters.

listened to the closing argument Of
President Baer for the miners today
occupied the federal court room to
listen to the closing address by Clar-
ence S. barrow of Chicago, as attor-
ney for the United Vim Workers.
This is to be the closing argument be-
fore submission of the case.
Mr.. barrow in opening made a COM
pimentary reference to the patience
of the commission, reviewed the strike
and all the sufferings it entailed as a
result, the operators refusal to give
the men more money, and said:
Then this afternoon the man more re-
sponSible than any other comes before
this Commission and says he Will do exactly
that which the men demanded nine
months before and which they in their
pidity refused. Why did not Mr.. Bear go
to Mr.. John! Mitchell nine months ago as
he came to this commission today?
They. can do just as they please about
recognizing the union. # they do not rec.
ogniZe it, 1T is because they are blind and
they want to bump up against it some
more. 1t is here to stay and the burden
is on them and not upon us.
There Is neither the power nor the dis
position in this court I take it to destroy
the union: And If these agents of the
Almighty blunder along still a few more
years and possibly after a while they
will know it is here and recognize it
themselves.
Uniform Wage Statements.
Passing to the wage statements, Mr..
barrow said the operators lag been
deceived by their own accountants, n
that Mr.. Baer had put the mems pay
at least 80 or 40 or SO per cent. too
high.
Then he added an offer:
If at the end of all this time and labor
he is willing to give us 5 or 10 per cent
above the figures he says correctly repre-
spnf MI 90 Vo n orc yya will hn oil n tn foln
1t. From the beginning of this strike I'M
til the end the operators have never given
out a correct figure or made a statement
that would stand the light of day for a
single moment when they talked to the
public.
I lave had a computation made cover
Ing the wages paid by every company that
has filed schedules, and in Mr.. Baer's
company only about q third of the men
got over $500 in 1901. Only "a per cent of
all of the Readings skilled orkm get
and IS per cent of all the men who appear
as contract miners get less han $500 a
year.
God knows that the conditions in this
country and in the mining region are not
so good that men will be content to sit
down and earn $500 a year.
Must Free Children.
Passing on Mr.. Darrow analysed the
statements of the other companies and
said the figures were 10 to Is per cent.
" g ~ Nl1S st. "bSNS EStk ~ IN
Reading were the lowest Of all.
Turning to the mine laborers, he said,
more that forty out Of every thousand
were killed every year, to say nothing
of the manned who were turned out
under the beneficient laws of Pennsyl-
vania to the almshouses and highways
and byWays,
These laborers last year got 1898
each. Princely wages, and yet they
were told that all was peace and joy
and happiness in the anthracite region
until Mr.. Mitchell came"
In discussing child labor, Mr.. Darrow
said:
result in getting rid of this disgraceful
child labor in Pennsylvania, then 1 think
the people may well say it has been a
failure. This custom has grown up be-
cause there is money in it, and the indus
tries of Pennsylvania are dependent on it.
The evidence shows that every one of
children. Is there any man SO blind that
he does not know why the anthracite re-
gion is dotted with silk mills. They went
there because the miners were there.
Every mill In that region is a testimony
to the fact that wages are so low-you sell
your boys to be slaves Of the breaker and
your girls to be slaves in the mills.
Wien these railroad presidents were
finally called to book before the president
/. of the United States one Of them shed
tears because the mine workers allowed
g THESE DOyS W JOll IN III dlllLdllOIlS, Uc-
cause they thought this bred disobedience
to law. The railroad presidents shed tears
because the mine workers were spelling
the souls of these poor children, and yet
ne was willing to take the earnings of
these same infants that he and his family
might be richer because of their toll.
These babies know their friends. There
is not one of these children SO ignorant.
not one Of them so lost to natural instincts
that he does not know who loves him.
There is not one that would not run from
81 - ~, live, ~rn-fIart n thu nrnp - ring nf
John Mitchell, and they are right. I
have no doubt he loves children. Neither
have I any doubt that the wolf loves
mutton. These men make a living out Of
these children, and If they can do nothing
else in this region, this infamy should
end. These little children get s165 a year.
Causes of the Strike.
Mr.. barrow discussed the causes of
the strike. The responsibility for a coal
famine, he said, rested with those who
We're responsible for. the strike. He be-
lieved the strike due to the blind, au-
tocratic, stupid spirit of the operators
They believed the issue was who should
be master? operators or men, and con-
cluded:
II say neither should be master of
the other"
Mr.. barrow then took up Mr.. Baer's
sliding scale proposition made yester-
day. He said If Mr.. Baer believed he
att1o plOpo0lllOil, Il
proposed to show it was rot such. He
said a 1 per cent raise on each S cents
sof the added price, as suggested by
Mr.. Baer, would give the operators 31h
per cent increase in profits, and the
miners only " per cent increase in
wages on a $3.50 basis. Mr.. Darrow's
remarks on the proposition plainly in
dictated the miners will fatty reject. the
proposition.
Reverting to the cause of the strike,
MI. Darrow quoted from the replies
of the operators last spring, when they
refused to treat with the organization.
He said labor leaders hesitate to call.
a strike, because they know it means
distress and suffering. He wanted the
.captains Of industry to know that
it was better for the men to treat with
them than to have the men go to pet
ty feudal tyrants,'' who are under them
in authority, for the purpose of getting
just treatment. 1t would be better for
Industry and for the country to have
the heads of the coal companies and
-the representative s of the men face to
face. rather than to have the Individual
workers go to the u~nder-boss. If the
boss does not like what the miner says,
he throws the latter out.
Arbitration. Mr.. barrow said. is the