Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-08-28
!. ". " PLOTS
TO FORCE MINES
TO Us. CONTROL
Butte's Disastrous Lessons
With Wobblies Being
Investigated. y
{By BENZ. q. ling.

Butte. Mont. Aug. 25.-(By Maii1
IL and conferred In this mining town
nearly all the Industrial strife that
for several months has crippled the
no, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona,
and that had iedsto lyAchings Of ]. ".
w leaders, deportations of Nv, ".
members, and charged that. this rev
financed by German g6ld.
From Butte, tWobbly. orators and
agitators have penetrated the copper
regions Of the west, stirring pp
strikes.
In Butte the /. w. WIS have waged
their i aght t. brsak Up nsr sns ns o.a . West,
an the international Union Of Nine,
tMill and Smelter Workers,
In their fight against the mine
owners. the /. w. WIS have sought
Ito wreck every organization affiliated
with the American Federation of La
Dor. This hat become a three-cor-
nered fight between the a; f. of Z.
unions. the "Wobbhes," and h min
ing magnates.
RHsuLT:-At the moment Of the
governm ept's@ large demand for oop-
Der. the: output has been seriously
curtailed by strikes.
An Indication of the intensity of
feeling n wass evidenced here an the
iynehing of Frank Little. a fortnight
ago. II. w. w: leader. Y
The /. w. W. leaders called out
i2s000 miners here, though less than
one-thtrd of them were affiliated with
strikers left to take Jobs in mining
camps elsewhere or to work In har-
vest fields
AS is the |. w. W. custom. no de-
mands were made before the men
walked out. Later the leaders pre-
ssn.ed their dsma9ds ana orgaR s,ss
Workers Union. !ofacials Of this or
ganization strenuously deny tbs an !,
Nv. w. group but all the "Wohbliea'
belong to this union and are active IN
Its leadership.
The demands OF the miners are:
Abolition Of the rulstling card,
establishment Of a fiat 90 a day
wage, elimination Of the aiding
scale, better working conditions.
The rustling card Is the prineipa1
contention. Leaders say this merely
Iis a variation Of tho black list.
A rustltng card .is given 2 miner
been acted upon f~avorably: To gel
sthis. card he must tell where he h
worked during the previous two years
Y, and other facts about, himself, giving
REASONS for being out of a job.
The Specuiator mine disaster II
which ITO men lost their lives, Jun'
8, added to unrest among h min
The living cost in Butte, AWAY,
high. has risen over SO per cent II
the last year. Wages OF miners hav'
; gone up 18 per cent.
> Since the strike wal called. thu
big mining companies, notably tn
Anaconda and the Great Butte, hav'
..1i2B~and 80 ,cents'a day. =
I Their offer tfs based on a siidinl
9 scale depending upon 1.-THE marke
e price Of copper. When COPPER !
? selling, for between Is and ~ cents
{ pound the miners would-get a mint
mum wage of ~ a day. while when !
B Is selling for s23 cents. a pound tn
y miners would get $4.75 q day and 81
on up to $6-a day.
b Miners here say that merchant
have raised their prices whenever tn
t miners got a wage increase.
". II, Rogers, federal mediator
/ trying to settle the strike. advised ]
t WV. members to Join the A. f. of I
e union and go back to work.
i This aroused the 4. w. WIS to
3 bitter attack on Rogers and on Presl
d dent Wilson.
i They insist they want the govern
ment to take v the mines. The
+ say ifxthis IS done. copper can be sol
e for less than Is cents a pound an
the miners can get SO "a day for at
: hours work,