Bisbee daily review., 1907-09-24
HAS HEAVY HAND
 nu pIlTTC
 UH uu!!L
Labor ExactionS Increase The Hard Times Experienced By The Camp,-Sm Mines Out Of It Entirely.

weight of the hand of unreasoning labor, and while the big mining com panies are gradually and very material ly reducing their own output, the de pending companies and small opera tors are gradually being forced out al together, as they are unable to find buyers for their ore At first they
 were put off with the excuse that cars were scarce, but recently they have
 been told that smelters did not want their ore and didn't care tC put money into copper that could not be sold
 '@The unsettled condition of the mar
 ket cannot continue" said prominent operator Matters must improve, but am unable to predict whtn or how the improvement will come. A read | justment is being worked out by nat
 ural laws and it is useless to theoriZe and speculate as to the causes that have brought about the remarkably un- settled state of affairs. There are a ] dozen contributing causes, the least of which is the attitude of the national
 administration, though from many sources that is held up as the prime factor in the universal financial dis ! turbance. Above and beyond the
 Roosevelt administration, there was a cause from the result of which the
 world is now suffering. It was this
 cause that provoked the Roosevelt at tention and attack. We may criticise
 the method employed, but we must al-
 So recognize the need and the provo cation. Out of this chaos will come or
 der. confidence and renewed prosperi- | ty. But until order is restored I see i m sar.S The machinists of Butte twice with
 in two days rejected, by an almost
 unanimous vote, the propositions of
 rue mining companies to settle the strike and permit resumption of oper. ations at all the mines. The machin-
 ists struck August l for an increase of wages from s4.50 to B. Some
 months ago the mining companies of fered them s4.75. which offer was re- fused and the strike resulted. Through the impairment Of machinery opera tions at the mines have been hampered. James Stratton of Washington, D. C., an executive officer of the Inter- national Association of Machinists, was called to Butte to bring about a set
 tlement. He had conference with
 some of the mining managers and re-
 ceived from them an offer to pay the
 men S4.75 per day and waive a time contract, which had been demanded
 from the machinists in the first place.
 The proposition was submitted to
 the machinists at special meting and
 was turned down by an almost unani-
 nous vote. The following night the matter came before them at a regular meeting and was again rejected.
 T think this is a good time to shut down all the mines," commented one of the big mine managers after the result of tle vote was conveyed to him. That is what the mining and bus mess interests fear will happen. It was expected that Stratton had author ity to order the men to return to work if he found that their demands were unreasonable; but the machinists say he has no such authority.
 As a result of the refusal of the smelters and ore buyers to take any large amount of ore from the small companies and independent operators in the Butte district, many of the &naal- -xaiaaG- -hn1-z- I114 -Ll close. while the nIitnnt from, other mines is very much restricted. Among the companies thus affected are La France Copper. East Butte Extension, Buliwhacker Mining. the Farrel Cop per, Alliance Copper, lessees in the Ophir, Amazon-Butte, East Butte and several other properties. With copper at 20 cents the small companies and l lessees could sell their ore to the smell l ters and make good profit, but at IS l cents they cannot do it, even were the | smelters willing to take the ore, which | they are not.
 The Alliance had been making good | profit from shipments of from two to | four cars per week, from which the l company had been paying running i expenses and development work. The ore being comparatively low grade, it | has been decided by the management | not to raise any mere until either the l price of copper advances or the com i pany has funds with which to build a | concentrator.
 The Farrel. which is using the Al | liance shaft during the work of cross cutting on the 200 foot level. has also | been compelled to cease work, because 1 of the shutdown of the Alliance. The | officers of both companies are confi- | dent Of the value of their ground, as 1t has been demonstrated that good ore bodies exist on the 200 ana 300 foo levels. and they believe that before | many months they will produce ore of commercial value.
 The electric manufacturing compan- | les have felt the unsetuement Of bust | ness. Orders have been reduced in | volume and the General Electric is said to have laid off some 5000 men | at it's works in Schenectady and Lynn. |
 Officials say that there has been some improvement of late and some | of the men have been recalled to work. These companies supply railroads and electric companies and the latter have | found great difficulty in raising new capital which to carry on improve mert worK
 It is understood that General Flee | tric and probably Westinghouse also is carrying already a large amount Of notes given in payment for work done. which notes could not be negotiated 1 to any advantage.
 When monetary conditions are such that these notes can be placed the I company will be in better position to go ahead with its own work It's work ing capital has been greatly reduced ! in this way.
 The constantly increasing use of electricity will prevent any great re cession in this industry For the time | being purchasers are holding back but | they win come into the market again ! 9.r~ sE n~ kf.~.f..