The Whitefish pilot. [volume] (Whitefish, Mont.) 1904-current, 1910-01-13

You boys" he said in his slow. dis
tinct voice, have made up your minds
to quit at 10 o'clock because some.
body told you you ought to be getting
more pay and raise was refused
Well. this is 4 free country. and every
mans right to sell his labor where
he likes and at what price he likes is
guaranteed him by the constitution.
II you want to walk out Of here you
are free to do SO. but If you take my
advice
See here" interrupted one of the
leaders roughly. pushing to the front
1--WE amt aslin' 10 advice from you
nor no one else. What we want is
money. Do we get that raise or don't
we? If We do. all right: if we don't,
we quit here and now. and that's all
there is to it,
A nurmur of approval greeted this
u!timatum.
NO." answered the superintendent.
Il amt going to leave you in doubt
about it for Il minute. You don't get
It,"
'"Tllcn shut up!" ordered the man.
I'VE amt goin' to lose our time lis
TENN to no cheap talk. We've voted
to quit and all talk is off,
"All right" retorted Smith. "Con-
slider you've all quit. Now. that being
the case. you have heaps of time on
an indefinite period unless you have
provided jobs for yourselves in antic-
ipation of this. I've got something
I'd like to say to you. Those who
don't want to hear me don't have to.
AS l said. this is free country"
Go ahead. Jimsyw cried voice in
the crowd. you're all right! You've
always given us Il square deal"
II hope So" he replied. land one
square deal deserves another"
Jaw. come on, fellowsv" admonished
the leader. "We're not kids. A strikes
a strike. This amt no debatin' be-,
and we don't belong to no mutual ad-
miration society," '.-e....
Some of the men turned away. but
others voiced the view that a hearing
ought to be given to the superintendent
since he wished to speak to them. and.
seeing that their fellows remained, the
others soon returned.
II haven't got lot to say. and I'm
no preacher" he continued. What
want to give you is not lecture Oh
what you've got to do--that's your
business-but an explanation in your
mi Mt m t0n
other people haven't told you and that
you evidently don't know. Please let
me get through. then you do as you
like. don't have to tell you that the
rate of pay is governed. like every
thing else. by the law Of supply and
demand. What is the situation today
We have had rush work for several
weeks. and the docks here and all
along the water front are choked up
with freight. But back of this. al
though you may not know it, the rail
roads everywhere are laying off freight
cars, mills are laying off men. and
signs point to Il serious slump in bust
ness all over the country, which will
reach here soon. The indications are
that in the natural course of things
during the coming winter there won't
be work for more than half Of you
and that you'll need badly all the
spare coin you can save now. Yet you
chose this very time to demand an in
crease from the company and give it
eighteen hours notice, including twelve
nonwOrking hours. in which to think it
over. l don't call that a square deal.
whatever you may think about it.
Now. the country towns are full Of
men anxious to get jobs, and the com
pany. Notwithstanding the short no.
tice. is fully prepared for a strike. In
that shed yonder are 5000 cots, put
there during last night. and provision
has been made to feed 1900 men for
several days. Captain Williams
An outburst of curses and yells greet
ed this mention Of the presidents name
with cries Of I'VE know Williamsv'
Captain Williams" went on the su-
perintendent calmly. says that any
man who goes out on strike now will
never enter the employ Of the line
again in this or any other port. And
I'll see personally to 1t that he doesn't.
This man here said strike had been
decided on. but anybody who wants to
stay and wOrl: instead of making a
fool Of himself by quitting will be