New-York tribune., 1906-10-23
HEARST"S SLAVES.

Mr. Hearst certainly ought to send 'speclai
commissioner of his enterprising newspaper
trust to investigate the conditions or lapor al
the Homestake mine, In South Dakota. his
great energy in revealing and denounclng the
system under which he alleged ignorant 1or-
eigners were employed in the PennsylVanla
coal mines. and union laborers Disseminated
against, and company stores used as lnsuu-
ments of extortion, and employees kept In sort
of slavery. is not forgotten. Surely his heart
must beat as warmly for his own suffering
employees in South Dakota as for the workers
in the coal measures! South Dakota is, indeed,
q long way off, but distance is no OBSTACLE 10
reformatory zeal which makes deeds, not
words" its motto, and advertises that 1t VIII
spare no expense to serve the common peo-
ple.'
Many rumors about the methods Of the Home
stake mine, in which the Hearst family are
largely interested, have reached New YORK,
suggesting that Mr.. Orator Hearst had two
tones to his voice, and was much more devoted
to union labor at election time in New York
than throughout the year in South Dakota.
1.-The New York World" yesterday published
more detailed account of conditions at Lead
than had before appeared with a picture OF
the Hearst Mercantile Company's store, at
which the miners are expected to spend their
wages 1.-The World" says that the Homestake
has issued posters reading: 'You don't have to
belong to q union to work in the Homestake';
that it is persistenty managed as an open
shop" and that the union element is not al
lowed to predominant. OF about twenty-seven
hundred men employed only seven hundred are
union men, The miners work ten hours day,
while the same wages are paid for eight hours
work at Butte by the Amalgamated Copper
Company, which, as everybody knows from Mr..
Hearst's frequent diatribes, is dominated by
H. II. Rogers and Standard Oil interests. AS
candidate for Governor on the platform OF
hostility to trust fnanciers and friend of
union labor Mr.. Hearst cutsa sorry figure work
ing his men longer hours than the Copper Trust.
Practically all the land outside the small town
site at Lead belongs to the Homestake, and
the miners build houses on it subject to or
ders to vacate and leave their Improvements
on ninety days notice. Thus the workers are
kept in a convenient state of subjectiOn and
discouraged from agitation and strikes. All
the lawyers of the place are corporation law
yers," in that they do more or less business
for the Homestake or the Hearst Mercantile
Company and are not disposed to bring suits
for poor miners who happen to be injured at
their work. 1t is as hard TO collect damages
from the Hearst mining interests as from the
Hearst newspaper corporations, and no work
man who wishes to hold his job will testify in
OI ID
There is nothing very astonishing about this.
It is the old familiar story of the heartless cor
poration exploiting human beings. We have
read it time and time again in the Hearst
newspapers, with a different local color. Such
exploitation is highly shocking to Mr.. Hearst
in a New York factory or a Pennsylvania coal
measure. He does not seem to find it so bad
in q South Dakota mine or California orange
grove. Mr.. Hearst is not running for Gov
ernor in South Dakota, and the Western Fed
Grafton of Miners is not a strong political fac
tor in New York, though when its members
are accused of murder in Idaho Mr.. Hearst
finds it useful to picture them here as martyrs
to the trusts for the purpose Of arouslng class
hatred. Probably Mr.. Hearst has some cor
poration device by which he will attempt to
escape responsibility for his own open shop,
company store long hours and denial Of free
dom to his workers. But, judged by the stand
ard which he would apply to Mr.. Hughes, if
he discovered the Republican candidate to be
a stockholder In coal company, is it posi-
BILE to regard Mr.. Hearst as anything but an
enemy Of organized labor and a slave driver,
fattenng on the work Of human beings chained
by clever corporation devices to his service?