The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1917-10-25

INDUSTRIAL unrest, put IL Is ulHiCult 10
find any evidence of this. Unrest is as
prevalent in districts that are not so
prosperous as in the more highly paid
camps. The problem seems to be So
Geological and educational--sociolo
cal in the sense of providing the pro-
per social influences in the communi-
ties that have leisure hours, reforms,
and large organizations, and educa-
tional in the sense of giving the work
man knowledge of how to use the
things provided for him for recrea-
tional purposes. The problem is one
of camp welfare, every camp being
distinct problem in itself 1t is i'm
possible to say whether or not music
would provide recreational desires to
the workmen of any one camp; whe-
Their there should be parks, clubs or
Y. NJ. c. AS. Camp welfare is the
problem, and this in ITSELF brings up
its own individual problems.
Dislike of Patronage.
Probably the most difficult of solu-
ton of these is whether these forms
of recreation should be company own
ed and controlled, company owned and
community controlled, or community
owned and controlled. There are ar
guments for and against all of these
methods American workmen resent
anything that savors Of patronage, to
such an extent that they will not use
the things provided for them if there
is a semblance of patronage connected
with them. Foreign labor is not so
discerning, although it must be re-
membered that many of the immi-
grants to this country have come here
! to avoid this patronage. In most of
our mining camps there are clubs,
parks and organizations of many
kinds that are company owned. This
is undoubtedly the better way, for it
is generally difficult in any community
to obtain the same things community
owned, and if it were left to the COM
munity, these improvements probably
would not be there. 1t is with the best
of intentions that one finds the heads
of departments of mining companies
on the boards of directors of local COM
munity affairs. They are doing it be-
cause they feel desire to do some
thing for the community and because
they feel that their presence on these
boards and their work will make these
organizations more valuable to the
community. There is no doubt about
the truth of this. Yet the fact that
must be considered is the light in
which the workmen receive it. Do
they regard it as patronage or do they
take it in the spirit in which it is
given?
Antagonist Toward Company Owner
ship.
! Perhaps one Of the principal reasons
for antagonism toward the company is
when the workman has to rent COM
pany house. buy at a company store
or eat at the company boarding house
play pool in the company club house
swim in the company swimming poo
and finally be buried in a compan!
coffin in the company cemetery. Al
though all of these things are provid'
ed by the company far better thar
they could ever be provided by the
workmen, grouped or individually, an(
although it seems to be for the best IN
terests of the community that they Dt
company owned and controlled, 1t Il
not difficult to see the resentment
Many camps have company stores ina
far surpass those of towns many times
their size, but it is often true that TIT
company store is regarded as one o
the methods of the company for get
ting it's money back.
/ have often wondered if the agita
, tor, should he open his heart to thos
, in charge of company affairs, coul'
give them solution of their problems
r II seems doubtful. In the first place
t he has not been talking their rea
, problems but rather has been stirrlh
2 up hatred and antagoTism in gronI
| of workmen already imbued with II
Moreover, the agitator, preaching TN
[ same thing all of the time, become
- what Mark Twain has called "chron
$ ic liar"-one who has told the same u
$ so many times that he has come to be
e lieye II himself This is true not onl
e of the agitators but also of the loca
r leaders-their judgment has becom
r warped and it is impossible to reaso
s with them. The big problem Of tn
$ mining camps today is the develop
x ment of loyalty in the sense of loyalt
g between friends. 1t is doubtful If TN
e exists in most of our camps. IL
e doubtful if loyalty between an animal
s object, the workman, and an inhnl
: mate object, the corporation, can exis
= Community Interest and Loyalty.
n If one were to search for the loyS
: men of the strike districts, he woul
e probably find them to be the bushes
: men of the community, the home own
ers. the engineers and office men an
= the bosses, all Of whom have "is
tinct interest in the community. Lo!
" a,ty. then. as we know it, might
J. defined as community interest. III
l. nroblem then seems to be the develoI
* ment OF community interest-wheth'
Of # he interest in a home, good scho