The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1916-02-10
HIGH WAGES At BUTTE
S|LENCED AC|TATORS
BUTTE's PEACE AND PROSPERITY
HAS DRIVEN SOCIALISTS
TO COVER.
Butte Correspondence Engineering
and Mining JournaD

tbutte correspondence Engineering
and Mining JournaD
Butte companies made voluntary
raise in wages January IA when the
following notice was posted at all the
properties of the Anaconda company
in Butte, Anaconda and Great Falls:
1.-THE Anaconda Copper Mining com
pany, in view of improved metal-mar-
ket conditions, has decided that with
out altering any existing contract or
obligation, it will, as long as the av-
erage price of copper remains 20 cents
per pound or more, increase rs cents
per day the wages of all employees
subject to the present profit-sharing
or sliding wage scale at the mines in
Butte and the reduction works at An
aconda and Great Falls, the price of
copper to be determined in the same
way and by the same quotations ex-
tending over the same periods as at
present computed"
This increase is made effective as of
January l. 1916, but shall apply only
to wage settlements made on or after
January 15 1916 The increase affects
the wages of $4,000 men employed by
the Anaconda, Butte & Superior,
North Butte, Elm Orlu and Timber
Butte companies, that have made SIM
liar announcements to their employees.
This raise in the wage scale of Butte
miners will mean a total increase in
Buttes payroll of $130,S7S per month.
The rate prevailing in December was
81 per day for miners. AS long as the
price of copper remains above 20 cents
it will be $425.
No Union Recognized.
1t is particularly significant that the
raise came as a voluntary one on the
part of the companies involved 1t is
now year and a half since the labor
troubles and dissensions in the ranks
Of the men that put an end to the
power of the Western Federation of
Miners in Butte. The companies had
no part in the inception of those la
part of the miners themselves against
the tyranny of the men who controll-
ed the union. These divisions led the
companies to take an Independent
stand They could not recognize one
faction of the men without mourning
the enmity of the other and it ended
by recognizing none and allowing the
men to belong to any union or no
union, as they chose. 1t was at that
time that the companies announced
that in spite of the divisions in the
labor ranks, the old agreement made
with the unions as to a sliding scale
would be adhered to. When the war
in Europe started and copper went
down to II cents per pound, and the
production was curtailed SO per cent,
the Anaconda and other Butte COM
panies maintained the $3.50 per day
wage scale. In the entire United
States it is safe to say there can not
be found today better satisfied, more
loyal and more contented army Of en-
pfoyes than those of the great mining
companies of the Butte district. They
are beginning to realize that the cor
poration is not acting on those mar
row selfish lines that usually are cred
tied to corporations by the labor agita-
tors. Socialism has received blow
in Butte by this last voluntary wage
increase that means it's death knell.
The contrast this winter with former
winters in Butte is most marked;
there are no soup houses nor bread
lines; charity organizations have lit
tie trouble caring for the poor of the
community.