Mohave County miner., 1916-08-19
MINERS SECRETARY
 FAR FROM SINECURE
IFron ostman seetion DsiIy Minsr.I

IFrom OatmAn Section Daily Minsr.l
 If there is any job in the United
 States that is not the financial har-
 vest that people ignorant of the facts
 think it is, it is that of secretary of
 Miners union. It is no more so in
 Oatman than elsewhere, but the finan-
 cial burdens of the position are worse
 anywhere just when the labor demand
 is a little slack, which has been the
 case here during .Tulv and August.
 The trouble all lies Tn the fact that
 members of the union arrive in camp
 fiat broke and must have money to
 pay for meals. Straightway they go to the Miners secretary and make a
 ''touch" of -four bits" or as much as they can. Sometimes they say they will pay it back; other times they do not say so but do pay it back. Gen erally, however, it cuts no ice whether they promise or not they do not do so and the Miners secretary is per sonally loser of scores of small loans and donations he is called upon to make each and every month that he nOldS the position.
 And it does not apply exclusively to times when labor demand is slack. When there is a big demand for tbor that means the coming of hosts of men. They cannot get money until payday and to tn sec etary they hie themselves for small personal loan to tide them over.
 It is hard for a secretary to refuse these requests. He is always humane and sometimes easy. One is merely an advanced stage of the other. Whichever he is, if he can save any money out of his salary, he is a bet ter financier than any known in New ada or Arizona and besides he must be secretary at some place like Tus- carora, too far from railways for miners to go.
 The man who seeks the office of secretary sometimes has 2 family de- pendent upon him. If not it costs him about the same to live. for he has his personal needs. It takes actual, financiering to take care of either. as any person who has ever held the position can testify. Many have re- signed after trying it.
 That his position in that respect is worse than that of a secretary of any other labor organization in the west does not admit of debate. There is 10 other union of such large member ship and so get-at-able by the tran sient broke miner. Worse still almost any man can carry a Miners union card, for the rules of unionism and apprenticeships have not been well de- fined in past years in any western camp. Muckers who never bruised the end of a drill in their lives and probably never will, carry Western Federation cards and have done so for a generation off and on. Plenty of others, who in other trades would | have to serve three to five years to get a journeymen's card, get one in a short while from the Miners upion. That makes a large percentage of Sle floating male population of the west eligible to make touch on the first secretary of a miners union they meet.
 Another classification could still be made, 1t too comprises the ones in good standing and those not in good stand ing. The latter are surprisingly num- erous, but they never let a little red tape like that stand in the way when they are hungry. Nor does the sec retary ever mention it or think of mentioning it when he is forced to to the wants of his fel- lows in distress. If he can afford to do so he simply helps his unfortunate comrade along and hopes for the time when his loan can be repaid and that the said comrade can pay up his back dues to the "goOd standing" rating once more. Generally it is cheaper to join all over again. The unions are not sticklers for form, but get all in they can and keep them by the most feasible method.
 Not infrequently the secretary is asked for money when he hasn't nickel in his pockets. This does not mean in Oatman any more than every where. He borrows of the first man he sees. He always repays. He does not wait to get the money back from the second party to pay the third par ty but pays and generally that ends it.
 All of which is given to show that there are some snaps that are not sinecures, provided the word "snap" means 'writing" job and not