Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-22
STORY OF HOMESTAKE NINE
Place Where 2,700 Miners Work Ten
Hours Daily.
OWNED BY HEARST ESTATE
Mine That Has Paid $25, 900, 900 In
Dividends and is Still an
Open Shop.


| distressing picture of the conditions
| under which miners are working In a town
owned bodily by William r. Hearst. It
| is alleged that the Hearst estate owns and
controls the Homestake mine. which is tho
life of the place and that while Mr.. Hearst
Is advocating the eight-hour law in tho
east, his own miners are being worked ten
hours in South Dakota.
The dispatch says:
Some 200 union miners in the Hearst
Homestake mine in deep fog. deeper
than that created by their powder blasts
on the lower levels. They cannot compre-
bend why the Hearst propaganda of eight
hours and union shop. set forth in a
plank In his New York platform and as
advocated in his bills in Congress. cannot
be introduced in the Homestake For years
they have been cropping for a solution, con-
fdent that the Hearst interest is in control
of the mine, but tirhe only makes the puzzle
more intricate.
The 700 only number but n trife more
than one-fourth of the payroll. That list,
including all above and under ground.
counts 2,I0. Thus II is that 1900 non-union
men, including office men, mill men.
chine men, all eligible for membership in
the union, are working to create Hearst
estate profits. OF the .. 700 about 800 are
miners OF the miners, 800 are non-union
men.
The Hearst eight-hour agitation in Con-
gress and the eght-hour plank in the New
York platform may represent Hearsts pos
icy in the east, but here in Leadville tho
corporation from which the Hearst estate
derives a princely revenue insists on ten
hours day. the wage is the union scale
that is, the union scale that is paid in Col
orado and Butte for eight hours.
The dscredted Amalgamated Copper pays
its miners IN Butte the same wage for eight
hours that the Hearst Homestake pays for
ten hours. The schedule is $3.50 "A day for
miners and s. for helpers Engineers get
81 a day. Laborers below ground draw So
and above ground $3.50.
The Homestake never was unionized. For
twenty-eght years ii has stood for the
open shop. While not aggressively oppos-
ing the Western Federation of Miners, the
corporation has always kept open door for
non-union men.
Too Weak to Strike.
There have been no strikes, for the
Homestake has seen to 1t that the union
was never strong enough to force the Is
sue The union has accepted the situation
and has confined it's activities to petitions
and the building up of membership. But
despite this activity the union membership
shows no growth in ten years. In TACT the
membership has been reduced in that time.
Several years ago a petition was made for
eight-hour shifts. This was promptly re-
fused The union, after an investigation or
membership, found 1t was not prepared to
precipitate a struggle.
About the same time posters were issued
by the Homestake which read:
You don't have to belong to union 10
work in the Homestake." Since then the
union has been the defensive. Its
strength was further Slapped by the import
ing of hundreds Of Slavs, Firms Huns and
Italians. Seventy per cent OF the miners
are now foreigners, and but few of these
are members of the union. They have ac-
copied conditions without murmur WhlIe
the eight-hour agitators have been driven
out Americans, Irish and English are dis
| appearing from the Homestake. There are
| foreign Shift bosses who can scarcely speak
English. American miners dislike 10 Work
under them.
Agitators Barred.
The Homestake requires recommends
ton from miners and laborers. Their char
acter is investigated and If in the past
they are found to have been agitators there
is no work for them. Americans resent the
recommendation rule. 1T is good
| thing" they say, "for us to carry around
recommendation for the privilege of going
into the Homestake and risking our lives
| for the benefit of the company They don't
ask for your pedigree in any other camp
| This element, called white men, sooner
or later drift into the eight-hour belt In
| Montana Colorado and Idaho.
All other mine owners in the Hills follow
| the policy of the Homestake. The time
| and wage schedules are the same and the
| open shop prevails.
The union pays sick benefit of 81 week
| 10 members Men in broken health ana
those threatened with illness gladly become
members but the able, young men stay
financial condition of the union is not
fiouriShing.
The Homestake is Incorporated in CALI
fornia and has a capital stock or sZ5,o"o,-
COO All but portion of the stock Is
owned by Hearst, Haggin and the Ievls
estate. The Hearst estate owns the largest
interest The mine has paid more imam
S25 600 900 in dividends. The net annual
profits are between 100000 and $1,sooUo
Six per cent is paid on the stock which Is
now quoted around 90.