The Benson signal. [volume] (Benson, Cochise County, Ariz.) 1915-1921, 1915-10-30
WESTERN FEEDER ATION MUST Be ELIDfIN-
ATED DECLARE MANAGERS IN STATEMENT

/ class or LABOR were the mining com
panies enabled to undertake work III
the district. Ore bodies were small
| in comparison with those OF other
| camps in the state and scattered over
| a wide area. Today the Morenc1
miner can deliver only two and half
| tons of ore for his days work In
| camps more recently developed and
! in which the Introduction of more
| economic methods Of extracting and
handling ore is possible, six to ten
! tons Of ore per day is the average
per man. At the present time, the
! average grade of ore mined in the
/ C1ifton-Morenci district is continually
| falling. This results in higher costs
/ per pound of copper.
! Secret agents for the Western FED
Grafton OF Miners entered the district
| early this year when, on account OF
/ the European war, the companies
! were confronted with the necessity
| of striving to aid their employees in
| the face of decreased output. This
i was necessarily attended by q reduc-
! ton in wages. The Shannon Com
pany had been compelled TO shut
| down entirely. The Detroit Com
pany seeking to avoid the suffering
| bound to result from shutdown, en-
| pIoyed as many men as possible, cur
/ ting down the hours OF work for IN
/ diyidual workmen in order to increase
the number Of employed. The Ar1-
IONA Copper Company - the largest
] operator in the district--was forced
by the prospect OF certain loss, to the
shit down Of its entire Metcalf prop
erty and the concentrating plant at
Clifton. Wherever forces were re-
duced married employees enjoyed pre-
| ference. Prior to the European war,
the wage scale was based on IL to
ia cent cope No was reduction
was made until the European crisis
il spite of the fact that copper had
/ meantime fallen as low as Ia to 10
cents.
Following improvement in the mar
ket early this year, the managers OF
the three operating companies
adopted a sliding scale of wages on
the average monthly selling price OF
copper This scale gave the en-
ployees even higher wages than they
had received previously at CORE
/ sponding copper prices. Content
ment reigned among the employees
until the arrival this summer OF paid
agitators and organizers of the West
ern Federation Of Miners. They came
| absolutely unlimited, as far as re
I quest from any representative BODY
/ of the men of the district was con-
cerned 9
In June, July and August, secret
agents of the Federation prepared the
ground work Of corruption in the
camp, This accomplished, Guy E.
Miller, executive board member Of
! the Federation. !. haffbreed Mexican
named Tribolet; and an Italian who
passed under the name of Goggen,
opened campaign Headquarters They
were followed by George Powell, an
organizer; Charles II Meyer presi-
dent OF the Western Federation;
Tanko Terzieh, Csuitierez DeLara and
others. This notorious band Of NAL
contents gained audience with the
miners by promising to secure for
them large increases wages. The
mine managers, being aware Of I'M
pending trouble, called committees Of
their old employees for conferences,
i the committees to be chosen from
the various lining departments by
] the men themselves. These COM
mtttees, selected without any com,
pany influence whatsoever, met the
three mine managers in Clifton on
August 23th. They were told that no
secl would possibly come Of affili-
alton with the Western Federation Of
Miners; that the companies reaffirm-
ed their policy Of advancing wages
when conditions warranted such in
crease. Advances enjoyed by the
!, men in. the past would be amplified
in the future but such changes could
not be. arranged while the existing
agitation OF the Western Federation
prevailed and while. the agitatols ard
organizers remained n tbs district.
(! The managers coyenanted to deal
directly with their employees as soon
as the Western Federation influence
was eliminated. It was clearly eX,
claimed to the men that the underlying