The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1904-05-20

tremendous traffic of the lakes, that
therefore affects directly the prosper
ity of every state bordering on the
Great Lakes-cOmprising populat-
iorieof 81 900. 900 persons. leaving out
OF account the states tributary to the
Great Lakes but not touching them,
such as Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and
the Dakotas-a strike having adverse
effects so far reaching at this would
be serious matter even il there were
just grievances to warrant it.
But in point of fact there are no
such grievances in this strike. The
reason for the strike is nothing more
than the refusal of the vessel owners
to submit to an arbitrary demand for
an advance of wages in the face Of
conditions that point to the dullest
season in lake shipping that has been
known for some years. Moreover,
coupled with this demand was the
demand that no member Of the
masters and pilots association should
be discharged during the season for
any cause whatever without pay for
the full season both for him and for
the man who took his place. The
Lake Carriers association, the organ
ization of vessel owners, has at all
times been willing to deal with the
masters and pilots union in the be-
lief that satisfactory adjustments
could be made by collective bargain
ing. The consequence is that the
union has secured a practical mon
opoly of the business. But instead
of using their power with moderation
and an intelligent sense Of business
conditions and limitations they have
proceeded to exact terms that make
it less costly for the vessel owners to
tie up their boats than to operate
them. The owners offered the same
scale as that of last year, a scale that
was extremely liberal in view Of
present shipping prospects, but the
offer was refused and negotiations
were broken off.
"There was in this action and, for
that matter, in any serious demand
for an advance Of wages, not to men.
tion the extraordinary attempt to
fine the owners for discharging unfit
men, an emphatic want tf common
business sense, all the more remark
able in that it was displayed by a
body of men whose duties would sug-
gest them as above the average in
intelligence. If anything is clear it
is that this is likely to be dull sea-
son. There has been a marked cur
tailment in demand and there Is a
marked decline in prices. In certain
lines of business disaster can only be
avoided by reductions in the wage
scales. Employees will have to choose
between partial curtailment OF
wages or no wages at all. On the
lakes there is every prospect OF a
lighter movement of freight OF all
kinds owing to the slackness of bust
ness in general and especially is a
lighter movement of ore and Of grain
expected. knowledge Of these con.
ditions was within as easy reach OF
the masters and pilots as OF the
owners. But instead of realizing
that they were fortunate in being
able to maintain last years scale the
masters and pilots have thrown their
weight into the balance against nat.
ural forces of recovery from temper.
arily adverse commercial conditions
Instead of using the powerful lever
of the lake trade to restore condition:
under which an advance In wages
might be looked for they have
chosen to aggravate the burden an6
to retard recovery"
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