United labor bulletin., 1914-02-14
THE ISSUES AT CALUMET
By PETER CLARK M.cFARLANE in Golfers Weekly


operate, but it produced considerably
more rock and an appreciable increase in
pay. If a man carried complaint above
the head of his petty boss, it was the
petty boss's version that was usually
accepted, and the man often thought he
was punished or imposed on for hi,
temerity. He might find himself unex-
plainedly transferred from n nice cool
stope on the tenth level, 1000 feet be-
low ground, to nice hot one on the
fifty-eighth level, nearly a mile farther
down.
Approaching Moment of Combustion.
Gradually dissatisfaction grew-witn
wages, with hours and with conditions.
with the machine and with the method
OF supervision. Under the autocratic
management of the mines, in which the
executive office named a price and fixed
a condition, the workman must take the
price and accept the condition or cease
to be employed. All this dissatisfaction
was necessarily smothered but it rum
bled unabated in the cavernous depths
Of the mines. An index of its growing
volume was the reception accorded the
organizers OF the Western Federation OF
Miners.
After previous failures, five small To-
Gals OF the Federation We're launched.
and OIL July last they had grown into
membership OF 5000. according to
union figures, which l see no reason for
disputing
Another index may be the generally
admitted fact that in the last five years
a number of the best miners, estimated
at 5000, or. including their families.
some 10000 persons, had gradually re-
moved from the community. The strik-
ers say this removal was caused by the
bad conditions in the mines. The mine
owners say it was caused by the fear
OF strike.
On Thursday. July -. the strike be-
came effective. The strikers drove the
non-strikers from the works and were
in absolute possession. Not a ton of
rock was raised-the tie-up was com
plete.
1 The demands Of the strikers were:
An cighi-hour day. 50 minimum wage
for underground workers, and an in
crease of Is cents a day for surface
workcrs; the abolition of the one. man
drill aud recognition Of the union.
Within few WEEKS. behind the line,
Of the National Guard. the companic,
were getting back their non.union men
and bringing in carloads Of workmcu
from the outside. II was also announced
that the union men would be received
without discrimination. providing the,.
surrendered their union cards aud re.
nounced their union afnliation. except a.
to those who had been guilty Of ari- Of
violence again-t the company propcrt,
or employee
Something Deeply Wrong IN Mines.
Tie strikers numbered 1000 out Of
ls.s0o. Today the mines have lO.0o6
men at work -two-thirds Of a working
forcc-and yet only few hundred %
the actual union men have returned 10
work Three thousand or So have left
the district hut the main body holds its
rank- unbrokcn. The men went out with
the usual enthusiasm. Six months have
passed. Some Of them have been killed;
some OF them have been beaten: some
have been arrcstcd and then beaten while
helpless prisoners cn route TO Jail; all
have been disappointed; they have
passed through terrible calamity. they
have seen the president OF the national
union assaulted. treated with mdignity.
and deported from the town in which
they believe he had as good legal right
to be a. James MacNaughton They
! have suhsistcd upon relief OF 81 per
week. plus an additional dollar Tor each
member Of the family; thcv have heard
I sAms
longer; many OF them are living in COM
pany houses. from which thcy are liable
TO be cvictcd. and some Of them have all
ready received notice OF such eviction
even the winter attacks them.
And yet they hang on. hope on-each
one OF them a human document Witness
ing his conviction that something is still
deeply wrong in the mines at Calumet:
each one plea that the workman's
tongue shall not be torn out by the root
nor his lips forever sealed-that the
, mine may have u voice.
The deportation OF Meyer was an &C,
of outlawry. nothing less. hold no
brief for the man. but he had consti.
tntionai right to be in the copper coun-
try. He was assaulted violently lie
was shot. probably accidentally. He was
forcibly dcported, and this was not the
act of ignorant foreigners but of repre-.
sentative citizens-prcsumably ut any
rate. since they were able TO command
the services a two deputies in the pay
of the county. They were men who
should have set the best example of self
control and obedience to the law. and
they set the worst
The grand jury OF Houghton county
has just returned twcnty-nine indict-
ments against Western Federation off