The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1915-01-14


sha men on the ice fields of the county
the Consumers Company of Chicago,
by it's vice president, Charles G. Os-
borne, has sent a letter to this paper
purporting to give all the facts in
connection with the agreement Of the
company TO employ the Kenosha men.
In many important facts the state
ment of the company does not agree
with the statements that have been
made by the local officials who had
part in the plan to employ the men,
Ut is up to the people to decide just
what credence should be given to the
statements of either party. The letter
of Vice President Osborne follows:
To the Kenosha Evening News
Several articles have appeared in the
Kenosha Evening News in regard to
the employment Of Kenosha men on the
ice fields operated by the Consumers
Company, and believing that the Ke-
nosha Evening News desires to state
only the true facts in the case, l am
writing this letter in order that the
matter may be thoroughly understood
as it occurred to me.
Several weeks ago Mayor Scholey
and Sheriff elect Stahl, accompanied by
our superintendent, G.. H. Reidenbach
Of Kenosha, came into these Offices.
Mr.. Stahl and Mr. Scholey said that
they were anxious to have us employ
Kenosha men so far as we could on
the Kenosha county ice fields. Our
answer to them was that we desired to
do everything possible to help out the
situation and would do what we could.
We asked them if they could supply us
with men and they in turn very kindly
offered to open an employment agency
in the municipal Offices for purposes
of hiring men. In the course of the
conversation they asked what wages
would be paid and / said that the
wages last year had been $1.65 to $1.75
day. A general discussion took
place in regard to the method of get
ting the men, and Mr.. Stahl and Mr..
Scholey left the office at about 400
o clock well satisfied
Immediately after they left, in an
executive meeting, it was decided that
the wages this year would be $3.50 per
day. We have had requests from near
ly every town adjacent to Chicago to
put men to work, and from Milwaukee,
Madison, Kenosha, Racine and many
other towns throughout Wisconsin, in
addition to which there were many
tens of thousands unemployed in Chi
cago seeking employment.
AS soon as this decision was reached
we telephoned our local Office at Keno
sha, stating that the wages this year
would be $3.50 per day for those who
stayed through harvest, and carefully
instructed our local office to make this
plain to Mr.. Stahl and the municipal
employment bureau. Our superinten-
dent, Mr. Reidenbach carefully in
structed Mr. Stahl s son-in-law, who is
clerk of the municipal employment
bureau, and also requested him to tell
Mr.. Stahl. In addition to this every
man is given time card showing the
rate Of wages thereon. These cards
were delivered three days before any
of the men were shipped to the lakes,
to the municipal bureau. Mr.. Reiden-
bach asked Mr.. Stahl if the men were
getting their working card and Mr..
Stahl replied that they were not; that
the way the municipal bureau was
handling the matter was a better wav
and that he would give all the cards
to one of the men who would give them
to the individuals later. Mr.. Reiden.
bach also asked Mr. Stahl not to ad,
vertise the scale of wages until a
definite decision had been reached and
the printed cards had been received
showing the scale of wages to be paid
After the first shipment of men ar.
rived, we were very much surprised
to learn that the men did not know
what wages they were to get. We
told the men at once that the wages
would be as stated ON their cards and
about twenty-five of them refused to
work. Requests were made from the
Kenosha people to send out men to
take their places, and this they assur.
ell us they would do. These men did
not come out.
We regret exceedingly that any mis-
understanding should have occurred
and that these unfortunate men should
have been made to come out to the ice
fields under any false pretenses what.
soever, but as the facts stated above
we do not feel that we are response.
bic. We did everything in our power
to make the facts clearly and definite
ly understood by the local authorities
and it was only in response to over
lures from the local authorities and
their request that we employ local
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