Bisbee daily review., 1915-10-24
WESTERN FEDERATION
 MUST BE ELIMINATED
lContlnned from nnre 1l

(Continued from page 1J
 employed The Arizona Copper Com
 pany (the largest operator in the dis
 tricO was forced by the prospect of certain loss, to shut down it's entire Metcalf property and the conceutra. tion plant at Clifton. Wherever fore. es were reduced, married men enjoy ed preference. Prior to the European war the wage scale was based on 17 Co IS cent copper. No wage deduction was made until the European crisis in spite of the fact that copper had meantime fallen as low as IA to 15 cents.
 Following improvement in the mar ket early this year, the managers of the three operating companies adopted sliding scale or wages on the aver age monthly selling price of copper. This scale gave the employees even higher wages than they had received previously at corresponding copper prices. Contentment reigned among the employees until the arrival this summer of paid aeitators and organ izers of the Western Federation of Miners. They came absolutely unin- vited, as far as a request from any representative body of the men of the district was concerned.
 In June, July and August. secret agents of the Federation prepared the ground work of corruption in the camp. This accomplished. Guy E. Mil Ter, Executive Board Member of the Federation, half-breed Mexican named Tribolet, and an Italian who passed under the name of Goggen, op- ened campaign headquarters. They were followed by George Powell and organizers. Charles II. Mover, Presi- dent of the Western Federation Tan ko Tersich, Gutierrez De Lara and oth- CTS. This notorious band of malcon- tents gained audiences with the min CTS by promising to secure for them large increases in wages The mine managers, being aware Of impending trouble, called committees of their old employees for conference. the committees to be chosen from the va rious mining departments by the men themselves. These committees. select ed without any company influence whatever, met the three mine manag- CTS in Clifton on August 28th. They were told that no good would possibly come of utilization with the Western Federation of Miners: that the com panies reaffirmed their policy of td- vancing wages when conditions war ranted such increase. Advances en- joyed by the men in the past would be amplified in tie future but such chang es could not .he arranged while the existing agitation of the Western Fed eration prevailed and while the agita- . tors and organizers remained in the district
 The managers covenanted to deal directly with their employees as soon ! as the Western Federation influence was eliminated It was clearly ex- plained to the ,Hien that the underly- ing motive of the Federation move ment was to oust the Mexican em- ployees from the district During tine ensuing two weeks the Federation or | ganizers adopted bolder methods and by importuni4g harrassing and per scouting the men. succeeded in form. . ing a local organization of considera. i ble strength. Not until then did the companies take active measures by discharging certain ring leaders who were guilty of fragrant breaches of l discipline
 On September 11th two letters with i demands from the agitators for a con 1 ference with the Western Federation | of Miners were dispatched to each of | the three mine company managers. l The old employees of the companies J had submitted no detailed grievance i to the managers.
 The trouble was precipitated on | September 11th through the sole die tation of the Western Federation of | Miners which, acting under the lead ! ership of Guy F. Miller, called a gen . eral strike in the district At l1:0O | D. m.. the employees in the mines com . centrators and smelters of the De- troit Copper Company were called out . and forced to leave on the following l morning the employees Of the Arizona ] and Shannon companies at Clifton were ordered to cease work, and in the afternoon the smelters of the two com panies at Clifton closed down. Each and every order came from the West ern Federation of Miners Such pro-