The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1917-07-19

product of the mines was badly need
ed by Great Britain. Now we are
confronted by similar unpatriotic
move on the part of the leaders of Il
certain section of our own metal min
ers.
Needless to say, the highest officials
of organized labor have given assur-
ance of their cooperation in maintain
ing our productive units at their high
est capacity during the war. The
strikes in the metal mining industry
are not of their making, but are en-
glneered by. the two most violent la
Dor groups in the country, the former
Western Federation of Miners and the
Industrial Workers of the World.
When these two unions came together
in Butte three years ago, the Butte
district had its first suspension of OPP
erations on account of labor troubles.
1t had always been one of the highest
paid districts in the world, and ami
cable relations existed between the
employers and the miners. That first
suspension was not due to differences
between the companies and the men,
but was an inter- union fight between
the I. w. w. and the Western Fedora
ton. The latter lost it's radical ele-
ment to the newer organization, owing
to the conservative character of it's
local, the Butte Miners Union. The
utrnppla with thai w w radical ala-
ment resulted in the dynamiting of
Miners Union hall and the disruption
of the local union. Butte mining COM
panies declined to make any agree
ment with the |. w. WIS, and Butte
went on the open-shop basis. Since
that time there have been no general
strikes until the present /. w. w.
movement. The trail of violence and
murder that has followed the entrance
of the Industrial Workers of the World
and the Western Federation of Miners
(now the International Union of Mine
Mill and Smelter Workers) in practi-
cally every district into which they
have gone has caused the mine opera
tors everywhere to decline to deal with
either of these organizations as repre-
sentative of their men. !
Miners, generally speaking, are get
ting the highest wages ever paid in |
the industry-copper miners, especial
ly. These are PAID on sliding scale, |
this profits sharing plan being similar
to that in the tin plate industry, the |
employers and. workers in which |
agreed in recent conference not to |
the administration with |
strikes during the progress of the war.
Such patriotic sentiments, however,
do not animate the |. w. w. organi-
zation.
Metals are needed to win the war.
But from nearly every mining district /
come reports of strike, strike, strike.
If continued, the result will mean |
stoppage of metal production. How
long can the soldiers of our country
and those of our allies afford to be |
without Shells bullets, bayonets, rifles, /
artillery, special alloys and the myriad
of accessories into which enter the
products of the mines
Only lately has the layman realized
that mining is an essential industry
for the winning Of the war. How long
will this gripping behind the-line of
our soldiers be tolerated Must we
actually sacrifice thousands of soldier
lives before we can appreciate the eff
feet of the limited production of his
? 1t is apparent to all that
the soldier and the workman behind
the soldier must have enough to eat.
But can soldiers fight with their
stomachs alone Is the necessity
for tools too complex problem to be
fully realized by the mind of the re-
public
The soldier needs food and clothing.
but also oil, coal, copper, iron, nickel,
lead, zinc, aluminium, tungsten, molyb.
denum, graphite and a host of other
minerals and metals to keep
the machinery of war going. 4 Shall
we supply these continuously or wait
until a shortage in some of these es-
sentials has caused our troops to re-
Iinquish hard won ground and then be
to sacrifice thousands OF
lives to regain the territory that might
have been held If we had the supplies
on hand Shall we think too late
The mining industry cannot be re-
stricted without seriously handicap
ping our chance of military success
What Is happening in the copper in
Llustry may, and probably WILL be ex-
tended to the lead, zinc and iron re-
yions Does the country realize that
the Butte district, the most intensive
mining district in the world, is practi-
cally idle through the activities of the
Industrial Workers of the World; that
the great smelling and refining works
at Anaconda and Great Falls will soon
suspend most If not all their produce
ton of copper and zinc; that Bisbee,
the home of the Phelps Dodge and
other copper interests, heretofore prac-
tically free from labor disturbances.
has had its production cut in half by I
the ]. w. WIS effort to take control I
Of these operations through it's newly ,
organized Metal Mine Workers Indus
trial Union The Clifton Morenci
|