The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1914-11-12
AUSTRALIA NOW UNDER LABOR
UNION RULE.

Engineering and Mining JournaD
The labor unions of Australia have
got about everything they want. Hav-
ing captured the governments of the
several states some years ago, they
are In official control of things and can
dictate much as to what employers
may and may not do. The hours of
labor are fixed and the rates of the
wages. Also, the quantity of work
that any man may do. The hours for
quitting at non time and at the end
of the day and the recess for tea in
the afternoon are named and there
may be no deviation from them. l.
matters not if the stevedores loading
a ship have only one more bar of cop
per to put aboard when the gong
strikes at the end of the day; the ship
waits for the next day. And so on.
Yet there seem to be some discord-
ant notes in the situation, some things
that are not wholly to the satisfaction
of the unions. A paragraph in re-
cent letter from a correspondent in
Sydney, reveals something of this. He
writes:
Broken Hill is operating on part
time, believe, and the unions seer
to be having everything their own
way. They have nice class CD o.
men there. AS the troops were leav-
ing the town they were hooted and
ieered by the miners who failed to re-
spond to the call for volunteers
"Some of the causes and effects OF
strikes here are so ridiculous that j
wish I dared to write an article about
them. Some day will, but at pres
emf I dare not even refute the state
ment made in our leading morning pa
ner of Yesterday that there were men
IN Chicago earning but 10c ana lo'
per day. and that farm laborers were
being offered $1.2O per week"
} we opine that the leading mornine
, naper of Sydney, N. S. w, has no.
heard about the $9-per-day plumbers
of Butte Mont.
Our sydney correspondent remark'
; further, "There is one thing, hoWeVe"
! that I can say for Australia. Certain
, w it is great country" 1t IS, n
, doubt that very thing and the Ions
} neriod of prosperity that has latei!
t been enjoyed has permitted SOM
: things to come about
5 If Australia has been afflicted IN re-
e cent years by a series of its olo-t'hl
1 drouehts. things might have been III
!, ferent Not even labor unions CIV
/. huff successfully against the laws
4 nature. The shadow of the grea' wa
has been teaching some lessons
n Australia. as elsewhere. In an otIic'7
: report of the Walaroo & Moonta Mih
:. Inc and Smelling company date
e Adelaide. September 15 1914, IL Is sa'
i that "Notice having been given oy III
" purchasers of our copper of suspense"
of the contract, 1t became lmperdt'N
- conserve the funds available u IN
II company in order to provide lor III
: nrrning operations and other VET
> nocessarv to keep the mines in such
ona,t,on az TO be able to resume wor
,s with as little delay as possiole WE
J. the situation warranted such
- course" Consequently the mines AZ
70 sne,ting works were closed about -
ID middle of August, However TINS "
: not suit the state government wn''
Is wanted to keep the men ernP,'Se
"a ftar some communication oef"ee
III the government and the company .
"a arranp ement was made wherein u
r government undertook to advance
n the the company 50 per cent of the th'
~ uaIra Of copper on all metals shipp'
= or produced. At the same time u
"a employes Of the company agreed %
- n ner cent retention Of their saiari
! ana wages as fund to assist in NEE
Ing any loss that might be sustain