The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1917-08-08
MISS RANKIN SAYS
COPPER TRUST WILL
ATTEMPT HER RUIN


CONTINUED from First PaEe)
stand. I couldn't remain deaf to the
AEoniEinE appeals that were coming
hourly. BY post and wire, that I do
something"
Couldn't Get HELD.
Just how Jeanette Rankin tried to
yet the influence of the Government
from the President down and how
one department after another turned
y deaf ear to her entreaties Is one
of the most dramatic stories of this
years Congress.
In the background of the picture
are thousands OF striking miners,
deserted mines, lawlessness reign
ing supreme, reputable citizens be-
ing deported into the desert, and an
Ggitstor being lynched.
In the foreground, to whom this
great mass Of working mep are look
ing for relief, 10 the only woman
member OF Congress. trying, single
handed, TO answer their appeals for
help.
II had been struggling for weeks
to get some action" Miss Rankin told
me, 'and no one would listen. They
didn't think things were as bad out
there as pictured them and besides
Il was a long way off. Finally one
night at midnight a messenger boy
brought 4 telegram It was frantic,
desperate appeal The miners ex-
pected violence, they said. Would the
Government do nothing to prevent it?
Put Off Too Long.
At went directly to the telephone
and called the Secretary of Labor. He
told me to see him in the morning.
All the next day l endeavored to get
his ear. It wasn't until the following
day at noon, that I was permitted
to talk to him By that time I had
received word that masked men had
lynched q man and that terror was
everywhere.
Now, of course. it's easy enough
to call a man q member of the I. W.
w. Formerly It used to be the fash
ion to call anyone who didn't agree
with you on labor questions a So
cialist. Then socialism got quite re-
spectacle and the corporation crowd
had to have q new epIthet
They'll probably call me a SYM
pathizer OF the I. W. W. because I
, object to the lynching OF Little.
MY sister, who has just been visit
ing me, knew personally, many OF
the men who were deported at Bisbee
She lived in the same house with one
of them. No milder little man ever
lived, she told me. He was just q
plain working man, and not connected
with the 1. W. W. in any way. But
any man who strikes, any man who
complains of working conditions must
go, and II there isn't any other way.
the corporation gunner and thugs
will put them out OF the way.
Tells History q Strike
since the sth OF June 1S 900 miners
have been on strike in Butte Al
4. though they do not ell belong to vhe
same labor organisations, they are
all agreed on striking. The climax
came when 100 men were burned to
death in the mines for the lack Of
simple safety devices.
AS the funeral procession Of one
after another of the charred bodies
went down the street, more and more
men dropped their tools and left
their work.
THE production OF ore has decreas-
ed more than half. The nations entire
preparation for war IL being imperil-
ed by this one privileged, self-center-
ed corporation. The Government may
control the smelters and the factories,
but what good are the shelters and
the factories when the mines are shut
down and labor troubles are shutting
off the supply Of cOpper7
The average individual doesn't
think that copper is very necessary In
his daily life, perhaps, but when you
come to think that every telephone
talk we have. every telegram we re-
ceive, depends on copper. then 1t
brings these troubles In Butte and
Bisbee directly home to US.
Ryan Asked For Time.
81 wired John D. Ryan. the copper
king, at Butte, at Chicago, at New
York, and Washington. The only re-
ply l got was Monday afternoon when
q woman employee in the Washington
office called me on the telephone and
asked me to do nothing until 1 heard
from Mr. Ryan. I told her that
must speak Tuesday noon or not at
all.
II would have liked to have seen
John D. Ryan. ! would have liked to
have asked him personally. TO abolish
the 'rustling card or blacklist: to
grant an Interview with the grievance
committee OF the miners, and 10 agree
90 recognize q bona fide labor union
when it was organized. Mr.. Ryan
forced me to take the other course,
and now, OF course, the fEht is on.
IT tried to see President Wilson. He
referred me to Secretary of Labor.
That gentleman declared there was
no legal way TO cope with the situA-
tion. Ny representative was told by
the representative OF the Attorney
General that he had come to a goat
house 10 get wool I then took the
matter to Congress"