Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1912-12-06

Right Of Mining Corpora
tions to Force Men to Live
at Company Houses Is at
Issue.
Capital News Special service)


the principle involved in the suit to
recover damages begun by Kate
Laughlin, widow OF Mullan, with the
Federal Mining and Smelling COM
pany. its president. Harry L. Day. and
numerous employees such as office men,
shift bosses, ETC., named as defendants
is simply that Of personal liberty. and
whether the big corporation officers
and their under -officers have q better
right to the enjoyment of personal lib
erty than the miner and the mucker.
Upon the decision Of the courts In this
case depends the action OF hundreds
and thousands Of men In northern Ida
no In the future. Likewise the future
Of hundreds of individuals, many OF
them women, will be effected. and in
many cases the boarding houses Of
which they are proprietors Will,
through lack of patronage, no longer
stand as their means of making a living
for themselves and the little children
dependent on them. If a mining COM
pany, lumber company or other con-
Germ employing large numbers of men
may say where their employees must
board or lodge, and Of whom they must
buy all their supplies, they will COM
pei their employees to board and lodge
at places provided by and maintained
by themselves, or to buy their clothing
and other necessities at the stores
owned and operated by the companies.
| Following the labor troubles in the
Occur d'Alene section. for number
of years the mine owners or operators
| gave preference to married men in
hiring miners. This practice has been
less pronounced of late years, and in
the case of some of the big mines, has
been almost abandoned. The reason
is plain. The unmarried man must
have boarding and lodging house,
and the mining company maintains
place held to be good enough for him.
| Whether 1t Is or not, he Is likely to
decide that 1t is, If lie is admonished
that the tenure of his job depends up
on his eating and sleeping at the
company boarding house. If he looks
upon the money that he earns by hon
est toll as his own, and feels that he
has a right to spend it where he
pleases. and If he exercises that right,
| he is soon out of job.
| Great Solicitude Shown.
The unmarried man is not alone in
the predicament presented by the con-
dition shown. however. The business
like corporations, many Of them, have
anticipated the needs of the married
men, as WELL They catch him COM
ing and going, too. In the town where
he is employed is store where al
most everything mining mans family
may need is kept, and 1t isn't long at
ter he gets job till he is informed
fhox tn Oh &c Nd N
to trade. The solicitude with which
the information is impaired is easy to
account for.
In the case pending, the United
stores company is made a defendant
in the suit brought by Kate Laughlin
in which she asks damages for the
loss occasioned by the destroying OF
her business, and a perpetual injunc-
ton to restrain the defendants from
interfering with her business by COM
pelling her boarders to leave her place
Nobody knows who the United Stores
company is. 1t owns big store In
Mullan. and it is good thing for the
miner employed by the Federal COM
pany, which owns the Morning mine
to trade there. He knows it is, because
he hears the shift bosses say SO. He
follows the tip and finds that the en-
ploying company also knows the store
is a good place to trade, and that the
company is anxious to see the stor,
succeed; one evidence Of its solicitudt
in this direction is given in the fac
that the amount the miner owes the
store at the end of the month has beer
known to be taken out of his wages
before he receives his check. Previou.
to that time, he probably was no
aware that the Federal company wa.
an authorized collection agency, OF
that It's employees had a right to sub
tract any part of his wages withou
authorization, or without due process!
of law. AS the miner, as rule, is any
thing but a deadbeat, he may feel som,
slight resentment at thus being treated
as one. He is wise, however, IL h,
chokes his resentment, and does no
intrude upon the meditations of tn,
shift boss or others higher up in tn,
company with unavailing complaints
Store<eepers Have Grievance.
But 1t is not the miners alone tina
are interested in this test case nor ar
the proprietors Of boarding and lodging
houses the only other class effected
Competition is as essential In the Coeu
d Alenes as elsewhere for the benefit .
the whole people. Independent store
keepers are kicking, and their right t,
kick Is manifest
The United Stores company main
tains a store at Burke. as well as n
Mullan-ths same United Stores com
pany, ostensibly. With the principa
mines Of the canyon owned by the Fed
eral company-the Hercules and Heel,
are exceptions, but the Hercules Il
owned in part by Harry L. Day. presi
dent Of the Federalvit follows, and 4
more than coincidence that the marie,
employees OF the Federal mines ant
Hercules trade at the United Store
compAny's store. Others who hav,
tried to maintain stores in Burke hav'
been driven out, and competition
etifled. The result need not be told