The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-03-24
lSnecial to The Herald.D

Especial to The Herald.)
Butte. Mont, March 2S.-Not in all
the worlds history of newspaper max
ing can be found parallel for the ex
traordinary situation which has exist
ed in Montana during the last six
weeks and more. Perhaps no city in
the world has ever undergone the ex-
perience of waking up one morning to
find all of its newspapers suddenly sus-
pended and their offices closed; that
has been the experience of Butte. Many
former Montanans now residents of
Utah will be interested in learning that
the shutdown is nearly at an end.
Early in February the pressmen de-
manded of the publishers an Increase
in their scale of wages. The publishers
refused to accede to the demand, and
four of the biggest papers in the Rocky
mountain region entered into an IRON
clad agreement to resist the preSsmen s
demands; under no circumstances was
one newspaper to resume unless all OF
the others also had arrived at settle
ment with the men. The newspapers
involved were the Butte Miner, the
Butte Inter- Mountain. the Butte Even
ing News and the Anaconda Standard,
the latter having Butte for its chief
field. although being published in Ana
COnda. tWenty-Seyen miles away.
While the strike was, in the begin
ming, a strike of pressmen, the publish
ers decided to dispose of the case of the
printers as well as the pressmen at one
time, and announced a reduction to the
old scale that was in effect before the
May, 1905. raise.
Printers Demands Overturned.
After a time the pressmen signified
readiness to reCede from their position,
and expressed a desire to return to
work. The printers. however, insisted
on retaining their scale, and the situ-
alton remained the same. The word
now is that the international president
of the union. James NJ. Lynch. has de-
clared the Butte unions demands eX-
orbitant and has instructed the men to
return 10 work at the scale that pre-
vailed prior to May. 1906, which is s. for
day and $3.50 for night work. a three
year agreement has been entered into
between the publishers and the men,
and the expectation is that publication
viii be resumed early next week. The
adjustment of the trouble is regarded
rs Il complete victory for the pub
{i-horS
II was tn contention of the employees
that the Increased cost of living iusti-
fed Them in asking for an advance in
wages. The publishers admitted that
The cost of living had probably in
creased. but maintained that the rev.
tuucs of the newspapers had not: that
the price of advertising space remained
the same as well as the price of circu-
i3tiOu. that if the demand for more pay
were granted, the Butte papers would
be placed at an immense disadvantage
i'm competition with papers i'm other
lar... no L,
Advertisers Suffer Most
While the newspapers have suffered
great Inconvenience and have lost much
i'm the way Of political influence and
prestige. the decentralization of their
news service and general business and
editorial organization. they have not
been hard hit financially. for all of
them. with one exception, have been
conducted at a loss for many years
The men have lost thousands Of dollars
i'm wages. but the brUnt of the burden
Of the newspaper shutdown was borne
by the advertisers.
II is d fact. VOucIed for by the high
est authorities. that i'm many instances
the mercantile business has fallen off
- per cent. and cases are not rare
where the decline in volume has been
Il high as 80 per cent. The merchants
ascribe this unsd tisfactory state of af-
fairs solely to the fac that there were
no newspapers in which to advertise.
GTeas esta blishments like ConneITS
Hennessy's, Symons', and many others
made it a practice to carry full-page
advertisements in all of the papers al
most daily, and often they carried dou-
BILE pages. The women of Butte did
their shopping almost entirely by the
guidance furnished by the newspaper
Tu~sar
evening the housewives eagerly and
closely studied the offerings of the
business houses. and made UP their
minds accordingly. When the news
papers came no longer the women
ceased TO shop. and the inevitable re-
suit was a tremendous slump i'm sales.
The merchant suffered the conse-
qUences, likewise the people.
Theatres Are Hard Hit.
Everybody is governed TO a greater
or lesser extent in the selection of his
place of amusement by the newspaper
criticisms of plays and operas; every
body reads the advertisements that set
forth the bills at the various theatres.
It is on the trustworthy testimony of
the theatrical managers themselves
that their business in Butte has suf
fered a decrease of fully so per cent
SihCc tiic newspapers CiOSSu lltiI uOOIS.
The stimulant of criticism and COM
ment was absent, the public began to
lapse into 4 state of fOrgetfulness, and
the fact that this or that attraction
was the card at this or that theatre was
overlooked. Inasmuch as Butte is ad-
mittedly one Of the best show towns"
in America. it is not difficult to under
stand that the box Office receipts
show ed anything but a satisfactory
condition.
a.,