The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1913-08-25

! While there are places in the West
whore wages are little higher the
Michigan copper miner can save more
money than the men In those better
paid locations because he lives much
cheaper. Take It from Bsbee as an
example. a man paws as much for
one months fuel there as he would in
Michigan for IA year lie pays more
for water in a month than he would
i'm Michigan for twelve. Wood is car
ricd TO the homes i'm small bundles on
the backs Of burrOs and you can put
a dollars worth i'm the wOOdbox be-
hind the stove. Every thing else is
high. Green stufs are excessively
costly due to the distance they have
90 bc shipped. Everything costs more,
and when one talks of ice That's
prohibited luxury. almost
It's even So at nearly all the west
ern camps. Rents are much higher
in all of them and the class OF dwell
ings do not compare with the homes
Of the Michigan miners.
We have seen them and We know
all about il, We have priced provis-
ions and meats and we know that all
things entering into the list are much
higher than i'm Michigan SO that the
Michigan miner really saves more
money than can his western prototype.
And the banks of the copper country
prove il. We know The number Of
savings accounts are very large and
the savings accounts are the accumu-
1t.
= fine one and does credit To the thrift
of the labor of that district.
Deep Mines Are Temperate.
It's hard work, this mining hut not
So hard as IL used To be nor is it SO
dangerous as i'm the old days. There
are more convcnienccs now. and bet
ter means for the safety of men, and,
as we have stated. Michigan. has al
ways taken the lead in equipment. our
mines are hot. All mines are when
they so deep into the earth. but the
shafts of the Michigan copper mines
are not 50 hot as those of the west.
The reason is this: The rocks of the
Michigan mines describe "A great are
beneath the cold waters of Lake SUI
perior. These rocks are an excellent
conductor of heat or cold, so that the
cold bottom of tho lake is communicate
cd to the mines. Were it not for this
fact it would be well nigh impossible
to work at such depths as does ths
Michigan miner. We have been in
many western shafts much hotter than
any i'm the Michigan peninsula and
they were not so deep as the Michigan
old ones. Many of the western mines
ere located at an altitude of 5000 feet
above the sea level. That's a pretty
fair average of the principal western
copper camps. and there's Il great dit
ference in the rarity Of the air as com
pared with Loo feet above sea level
When it comes To location with ref
crcncc to atmospheric. aud all other
conditions Michigan offers much more
than any other camp of which We
know
This Michigan district went ON
peacefully for half century, it's
workingmen being thrifty, the best fed
the best dressed of any mining dis
trict anywhere. II was happy in its
Individuality and its progrcssivcness.
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Danger in Federation.
In an unluclly day many of the min
ers were attracted by the agents OF
the Western Fedora ton of Miners, who
ingcniously. according to their system.
aowcd the seeds of dscord and grad
ually worked the men into believing
the union would bc a great blessing
for them would they accept It, II isn't
hard to stir up trouble even in the
most contcnted household From
little spark "A great connagrdtiou can
hc started aud finally these men who
live upon the troubles of others sue
ceedcd in getting a fight started. Their
real object was To unionize the men,
they having unsuCCessfully been try
ing to accomplish this for many years
ia the Michigan district They didn't
care - moot about the wages. What
they wanted was To place twenty
thousand men on their books that they
might bC assessed for dues and eX-
trae, because that's the way these fell
lows make their living. aud it has been
"A mighty good living, too ON" can
readily see what n dnc stroke of busi-
ness there would result from getting
all these Michigan men organized so
they could be drawn upon whenever
there was need of money by this or
SANITATION. aud it's needs arc many,
and it's calls multitudinous.
That was the purpose of all this in
condiary talk and all this rough house
business started with the beginning Of
the trouble in the copper district. The
Michigan state troops put a sudden
stop TO this sort or rufianism, which
rather upset the calculations of the
Fellows who thought they could ter
rorizc the mining district into COM
plying with their demands. But this
is y pretty substantial. law-abiding
people. ana not given TO such infrac-
tions az these bulies sought To car
~ on.
The whole affair was an attempt II
a holdup Of the miners themselves, and
some of them are commencing to dis
cover how they were being mislCd.
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