Bisbee daily review., 1905-03-02
COPPER QUEEN EMPLOYEES IN FALSE LIGHT
 Neville Makes Bad Break at Phoenix STATEMENT DETRIMENTAL ID MEN AND CAMP

practice and custom of the company is so universally known that II seems incredible that any one could make the statement above quoted by the gentleman from Cochise. Again, the Review learns by conversation with employees of the company that they have never been approached in any manner, shape or form, with a sug- gestion that they should do their trad ing with the Copper Queen Store. The Review is also informed by Mir W. H. Brophy, the manager of the Copper Queen Store Department for this com pany, that there are men in the em- ploy of the company who never in their life for the past ten years traded single dollar at the Copper Queen Store. This is, of course, an excep- ton. A majority of the Copper Queen lemployes no doubt trade at the Cop per Queen Store, likewise seventy-fiye per cent of the remainder of the pop lulation both at Douglas and at Bis bee. Many employees of the company trade there and pay cash for every item when it is delivered at their door and receive their check at the end of the month for the full amount of wages due. The Copper Queen Store is not feared by the employees of this company. It was established
 by Prof. Douglas many years ago with the idea of giving the employees of this company the necessaries of life, at a small margin of profit, and this is the rule that the management at the pres ent day is strictly required to follow, as witnessed a short time ago when the head of the Phelps-Dodge Go. or dered the freight rate reduced on the
 necessaries of life from Fl Paso to
 Douglas and Bisbee, and instructed
 the store managers to give their em' lployes the benefit in the reduction of
 the goods.
 The Review submits these state lments as the facts, so that the people
 of the territory at large and the mem lbers of the legislature in particular Imay know that the gentleman from ICochise has misrepresented the condi
 tions as they exist, either through ig Inorance, or a willfuI desire to make lthe conditions in this county appear Unpleasant for the working man.
 Regarding the giving of meat or
 ders to the Mexican laborers for the purchase of fresh meat from the
 butcher shops, this practice has been
 in effect in Bisbee and Douglas for al
 ways. The Copper Queen stores, un
 like most stores operated by mining
 companies in this territory, have nc butcher shop in connection. Instead
 several butcher shops thrive and flour 'ish in both places. These shops will mot trust this class of employees foI .meat desired during the month and take chances on collecting the bill al lpay day. Orders are given on the
 butchers by the request of the Mexi can employees for beef, in the sum oi twenty-five cents each day, and at the end of the month the Copper Queen Store pays the butcher bills, deduct ling, as we are told by one of the butchers in Bisbee, 10 per cent fol , collection fee and the expenses en . tailed on the store for keeping the ac l count. We have never heard any , complaint from the butchers, and tht , orders on butchers during the mOntf . are only issued at the request of Mex , ican employees. Mexican laborers, al l a rule, usually live up to the limit O - their income, whatever that income
 may be, but the Review knows of in stances in Bisbee where certain Mex ican employees always draw at the ent 5 of the month, a check for cash rang
 ing from $40 to $50, after their pun ? ,chases at the Copper Queen Stor have been deducted.
 The Review publishes these state ments as the simple facts. They cal not be contradicted. The Reviev ? wants the miners, the smeltermen an
 itimbermen to know that Cochise cour . ty is the best county in Arizona IL where they can earn their livelihoo
 at eight hours labor, with the bes
 wages in the territory, and more tha e one big mercantile institution wher r. they can buy the necessaries of Tiff IT for cash, or have them charged if the e see fit, just as cheap as anywhere i IT Arizona, regardless of the statement n of the senior member of the Legisli 'e ture from this county, which the R IT. view is charitable enough to assum - tFor fha ffr,a I.afnO uaa unado fhrOr0