The Goldfield news. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1904-1911, 1907-12-07
doLDFIELD ASSERTS HERSELF

GOLDFIELD ASSERTS HERSELF
THz CONFLICT. long existing and seemingly irsDesstsas between the
a breach has mn . pass that will not and cannot be healed.
The miners Of Goldheld are nut 0 n strike, the mines ire closed m United
States troops are upon the ground.
The situation is painful; but it is the logcal-the inevitable result o a long
series o abuses which thu business mel m mine owners u m CAM "a per
mttedt themselves to Observation-Disclosures until realizing that further acquiesence
step they Sc long shrank from and postponed, Of declaring their industrial indie
pndsncs and taking up the fight against the Miners union and lighting it. Il
The final decision to ignore the Miners union in the operations of the Gold
and painful consideration Of cost.
From its first discovery, it was the dedre Of tho mine operators Of this dis
trct to have aoldnsld . union camp N Il employ in mines non but union men,,
amnassd With tho western Federation 4 Miners. From the first thu business
mems Of the camp encouraged the unionzing Of every craft Operators AND ui-
ness mon wanted the highest scale Of wages and have paid a scale that has never
before been known Of throughout the country. or in any other mining camp n
the world, and these wages have been paid without a murmur In fact wages
and hours never have been q question between employer n employee N 0oidneio'
The miners Of thu camp we're the most skilled TO Be found; the foreign element
found it easier to handle heir men through tn union a Al entity nan 70 treat
with Thorn as individuals Never until the trike II last spring. eliminating =
long series II labor disputes. "a there ver serious though that aoldhed might
ever become other than . strictly union camp n suggestion would n0' ave
But as time wsntb BY, it can. to be realised that the local branch of the
Western Federation Of Miners was not devottng itself to its fundamental pr-
poses 81 projecting til members and seeking to better their welfare, but that it
had resolved itself into ! uanpontcal organization, sociansdc and anarchst1c
in spirit and principle whose end was the destruction Of all property rights and
the lsvsnng Of all mon to = common property basis; and that instead of building
up its purpose was to tear down. Its haunted tenent vas that there wal nothing
in common between employer and employed. with the practical application Of in
juing the interests Of employer Whenever and wherever opportunity presented.
Tho wen defined and announced purpose Of the Miners union raj . bring about
the hnal determination II the mine owning adstocracy' and the connscaton Of
the mines by the .'msn who made them'
TO the anl accomplishment Of this purpose the Federation ssnt into this
camp its most able, radicals n determined leaders, mon n Ia seems service In
other mining camps ana who had directed affairs IN other "labo vars They
were pronounced socialists. opposed to all settled conditions Of society and who
wre lot opposed to the use of violence in the accomplishment Of their ends.
These men have kept the Goldheld district in q constant state Of unresta and tr
mol. They have engendered bitterness and class hatred and encouraged the
violation Of law. They w been overbearing dctatotal and insdent, and es
sayed TO run the camp and rule it with a iron hand. They took it upon them
selves as dicMtors % say who should and who should not be permitted to come
intotM his camp to mine or to engage in business Anyone who had shown indie
pendence in the conduct Of his business elsewhere and had not exhibited the
proper difference 10 them rs the lord Of labor, we're NETS at the edge Of the camp
and forced to turn back. Many a man, upright and respected, who sought Gold
field as hsp place Of residence and operation was considered by the inquiston and
gun notice to leave camp under penalty Of death, and many another man who
had acquired residence and interests in Godfeh and in some way incurred the
dspleasure Of the union wal deporMd and forced % abandon his family and his
of coercion They sneaked upon their victims in the night tore them from their
families, perhaps. and marched them out Of town, beating and kicking them at
every sMp, or prodding them with sticks AM guns, AMI in many instances tortur.
ing them until they fell in their tracks. In fact many a man has entirely disap
mnious Of the law, and there las neer been q single arrest or conviction Of a
union thug for deportauons So much for the crime and terror these men have
brought into this camp
But the hndustdalc conditions these labor autocratsh have brought about have
camp /, almost destroyed and Goldfed has become a district to be Stunned by
every man with a dollar to invest It Is impossible TO a business man to engage
in any pursuit without the possibility Of calculating ahead. A merchant cannot
lay n a stock of goods and establish credit unless he has n assurance of what his
less u can figure out III probable futureo of hist investment But with n strike
following another, with mines closing down and the current of business inter
ruped At frequent and unexpected times upon the merstp retxt or n pretext
at all except to .Iaseh hell and keep it popping" there was only M inevitable
result, and that was ruin to all business and mining enterprises-complet and IT.
retnevable ruin Because # thesein suferable labor disputes forced upon the COM
munity by professional aeitators in their intent to destroy an conhscate, Gold
field has become as a lepros colony to investors It is impossible to interest a
cent # new money in the camp. Stocks have shunk to . fraction Of their true
value and money is constantly being withdrawn The failure Of two Of Gold
fields banks Ii directly attributable 20 this intermtnabe turmoil and agitation
investors aud brokers is attributable to the same cause The town is being de-
populated, and many houses and business rooms ire vacant whereas, only a
year Of more age. before the last big strike, the town as full of overlooking
with . happy and prosperous people