The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-09-23
by ". W. Jermane, washlnsto

Pueblo, Col, Sept. 21.--'sWatch our
smoke" Is the motto Of this city. 1t is
sufficiently appropriate, for that is the
thing most easy to watch. Black inn
penetrable, vast plume 1t pours from the
cluster Of stacks to the south Of the city,
and envelopes the whole in a spreading
pail. But in Pueblo no one thinks about
smoke as nuisance. To those people 1t
stands as the symbol of the great iron in
dustry, the greatest and almost the only
plant Of the sort in the west. Out IN the
arid desert, watered by irrigation alone,
the smoke Of Pueblo means the develop
ment of native resources, and commercial
independence of the east. Pueblo is the
Pittsburg Of the west. 1t is grimy, dusty
and useful Its one great plant makes
steel rails, wire, bolts, nuts and every
thing needed for commercial and railroad
purposes. 1t uses, the coal Of the state,
and the iron taken from Colorado mines
marketed west of Kansas iCty. The plant
is valued at $30,O00,0O0 and the proprietors
are just investing $15,0oO,O0o more in adj
ditional facilities. The comm ercial west
is proud Of Pueblo.
The Rockefellers and Goulds have just
bought these steel mills. They want them
as an adjunct to their railroad enterprises.
The mills are not in the trust and they
help to keep down prices.
The city of Pueblo is incidental to the
mills. It is a city set down in the middle
of a vast, cherries desert. 1t never rains
here, or not enough to- mention. But the
Arkansas river flows by, and from 1t
water is taken in bitches and pipes and
put upon the land Everything that is
grown depends upon artificial watering.
Sometimes the river runs so low that the
mills are hard put to it to get all the
water they need, and to provide against
this contingency they have built a large
artificial lake where water is stored for
their particular use. The city claims a
population of 10000; altho the last federal
census gives less. The hotels are Of the
useful rather than the ornamental sort
they purvey the neeessaries rather than
the 1uxuries OF life. etsa
Strikes and labor troubles are not COM
mon in Pueblo. Local pride and remote
ness from the east where labor Is more
strongly organized, seem to be the rea-
son for this condition. The 1000 men en-
ployed in the steel works have lower
scale Of wages than the men in Chicago
and Pittsburg, and work longer hours.
The mills run day and night and the men
are divided into twelve hour shifts. There
has been some agitation In favor Of q
shorter work day, but nothing has yet
come Of it. The mills do not recognize
the unions, tho they do not discriminate
against union labor. The men are dealt
with as lnQlVlOuaIS, ana no committees
will be received. Several hundred negroes
are employed, and they work alongside
the whites.
The Pueblo mills are technically known
as the &C., F. & l." Here everybody
knows what these letters mean, the Col
orado Fuel and Iron company. The G. F..
& I. dominates everything. 1t owns the
| railroads.! the irrigation water, the mines
of coal near by, and about all the best real
estate in the city. Under it's wing are
run large system Of company stores"
something like those which have been the
curse of the Pennsylvania coal fields,
and the 1000 employees Of the Pueblo
mills are kept poor by the system. The
men are kept in debt to the company
which continues to give them credit so
long as they are employed in the mills
But one variation OF the company store
system has been discovered and put into
operation here, which adds to the fat div
idends Of the proprietors and incidentally
violates the federal laws. This is the
practice which prevails of issuing scrip
which the men may use in Her Of money
to make purchases at the stores. The
men take the scrip for wares and discount
it for IS cents on dollar to the people
of the city. 1t is said that the company
is strong enough to defy the federal law
which would tax such scrip 10 per cent,
and the state statute which prohibits it
entirely.