Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-09-28

a cent The agents who called on the
individual members met with the same
proposition.
II there was any mistake made by
the union men it was made by the
committee that visited the locals and
the agents who waited on the individ-
uals in accepting their donations on
condition; but was it mistake when
they firmly believed at the time that
the conditions would be compiled with
And we still believe If those bids had
been opened in the presence of the
whole committee, the result would
have been different.
1.-THE charge of Reputation is abso.
lutely false, for it is impossible to con.
tinue our payments to this fund and
be consistent with union principles.
Respectfully submitted,
~. w. Kitto,
President Assembly.
George ]. Barnum,
Chm Soliciting Com.
I'D. ]. Gallagher,
Secretary Assembly.
81. Lightner,
President Committee"
Mr.. Reese's Decision.
The letter from Mr.. Reese giving
his decision regarding the affair is
as follows
"Albia, Iowa, June 20, 1905.
"Mr. j. w. Kitto, President of the OF.
tumwa Trades and Labor Assembly,
"Mr. ]. B. Sax, Chairman Ways and
Means Committee, Ottumwa Hos.
pital Association,
"Mr. Henry Phillips, Secretary and
Treasurer Phillips Coal Co., Ottum.
wa.
Gentlemen: Having agreed at
your solicitation to act as arbitrator
in the dispute between you regarding
the disposition of certain funds held
by Mr.. Phillips and claimed by Mr..
Kitto in benalf of the miners at Rut.
ledge, and claimed by Mr.. Sax in. be.
half of the Ottumwa Hospital asso.
citation, I desire to say that / do not
like the unpleasant task OF deciding
this question, for l realize that some
of you will be disappointed with my
decision and l assume the RESPONSE
bility and the criticisms which will
necessarily follow only because l am
firm believer in the principle of ar
bitration. I am sorry that it was i'm
possible to give you an opportunity to
submit your respective sides OF this
controversy by oral argument. but
you are aware that / came to Ottum-
wa once for this purpose but on &C.
count Of misunderstanding you were
deprived of the opportunity that in
tended to give you, hence am COM
PEELED to decide the question at issue
from the written evidence submitted,
which includes letter from Mr. Phil
lips stating that he Is no party to the
dispute except as custodian of the
funds in question and is only waiting
authority to turn them over where
they properly belong, letter from Mr..
Sax setting forth the position as view
ed from the standpoint of the hospital
association and letter from Mr. Kitto
inclosing written article which was
published in the Ottumwa Courier on
Monday, November 81, 1904, and sign
ed by ]. w. Kitto, president of Trades
and Labor Assembly; George j. Bar
mum, chairman soliciting committee;
D. j. Gallagher, secretary of commit
tee, and L. Ligh':ner, president of the
committee. Said article sets forth the
evidence in this case from the stand.
point of the Rutledge miners and the
trades unionists of Ottumwa affiliated
with the Trades Assembly.
Money Goes to Association.
Hence presume that all the evi
dence in the case is now before me
and after examining the same very
carefully, find the following to be the
facts:
During the latter part of 1903, the
citizens of Ottumwa decided to erect
a nee, hospital building and all the
people were invited to contribute to
this cause and the laboring men of
Ottumwa. through their central body,
the Trades Assembly, took an active
part in this movement and agreed to
contribute to the cause by taking up
subscriptions among the various labor
unions of Ottumwa. 1t SO appears
that those members of the Trades AS
sembly who were taking an active
part in this movement made an hon
est effort to have the executive COM
mittee of the Hospital association
pledge themselves to have the work
performed on the new building by
union labor, for it appears from the
evidence before me, that shortly be-
fore the subscriptions were solicited,
committee headed by Mr. Kitto ap.
peared before the executive commit.
tee Of the Hospital association and
presented resolution to this effect
If this resolution Lad been adopted
by said executive committee
then l would hold that the
money now held by Mr.. Phil
lips, the amount being S62.84, should
be returned to the men who subscrib
ed it, but l find from the evidence
that the hospital committee pointed
out to the committee headed by Mr.
kitto that to adopt this resolution
would place the Hospital association
in a very embarrassing position and