Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-10-08

motion Of employees for merit. In an
other letter I will give you a list Of
prominent men who have worked for
days wages in the Calumet and Hecla
mine. You will find them all over the
country Thomas F. Cole. who has
entire charge of the interests Of the
steel trust in this part of the country.
began his career here on wages of So
a week, and Mr.. MacNaughton, the
general manager, once worked for so
cents day.
The company assists and encourages its
employees to buy it's own stock and nearly
half the miners are Shareholders. 1t also
leases lots to those who wish to build
their own homes. If house owners leave
the city they have the option of selling
their property to some other emplOye or
to the company itself upon per cent
basis. The company carries half page
in the Calumet evening paper, where any
house owner who wishes to sell or any
employe who wishes to buy can publish
an advertisement at the company's ex-
pense.
The lights. water, paving street sprin-
king and fire department are paid for en-
tirely by the company.
There is a compulsory insurance system
in which every employe is required to in
vest a certain per cent Of his wages
monthly, but for every dollar paid by the
lar into the fund. This fund, which, &C
cording to the last statement, now
amounts to 1914 1000. is in charge of a COM
mittee of employees. who have invested 1t
in the stock Of the Calumet and Hecla
Company. and the dividends have always
been sufficient to pay all death and dis
ability charges.
Thus you will see that the government
of Calumet is eminently paternal. and. al
though autocratic and sometimes arbi-
trary, it is benevolent and just.
The number Of employees averages about
1850, and, as / have said, nearly all of
them are foreigners.
The City and It's Environs.
The town is two miles wide and nine
miles long. 1t lies in three townships and
two counties. while on either side of 1t are
two villages named Laurium and Red
Jacket. They are organized like other
villages in Michigan, and many Of the Of
ficials and employees Of the mining COM
pany prefer to live within their limits for
various reasons. the chief of which is that
they can obtain title to real estate in the
villages, which they cannot do In Calumet.
The company does not require its en-
ployes to live in its town, but 1t will not
permit any one else to live there.
There is only one store in Calumet for
a population of $4,000 people. 1t does not
belong to the company, but the proprietor
understands its policy and regulates his
prices accordingly. Most of the trading.
however, is done in the villages, where the
merchants are as independent as they are
In Detroit or Chicago and can charge
whatever they like. Red Jacket has a
large number Of saloons which are well
patronized by employees the mine who
cannot get liquor in .eir own town.
Laurium is purely a residence town, with
very few business houses.
The company does moi attempt to con-
| troll affairs in either village. although its
| officials naturally exercise much influence
there.
The Benevolent Despot.
James MacNaughton, general manager
of the company, autocrat. dictator and
benevolent despot, was born on the
ground, and entered the employment OF
the Calumet and Hecla Company when
he was sixteen years old. at wages OF
80 cents a day His first Job was to
operate a brake of the machinery which
HOSTS the ore from the mines. Later
| he drifted away from the company and
| finally settled down in the Iron MountatH
mine on the Menominee range, which