New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-09-03
The Sinews of War
Butte, Worlds Leading Copper Centre, Tied Up
Three Months by l. w. W. and Prospects for
Settlement Are Still Remote
BY Theodore Nj. Knappen

BUTTE, Mont, Aug. 27.-The Stars
and Stripes hy bravely over half hum
dred mine shafts in Butte. The nu-
merous banners give an almost festal
appearance TO this stubborn and erratic
mining camp. built under. over and
around the mines. But there Is no JOY
here. The flags are not the symbol Of
industrial tasks we'll done for the ad-
vancement and glory of the nation. No
man in this rough community, set in
the midst Of Jagged ridges and peaks
on the top Of the continent, boasts Of
Butte to-day.
Butte, the generous and brave, mu-
nifcent Of money and soldiers for the
national cause, has failed miscrably as
producer in time OF national need,
and the future is as grim as the mine
| SCARED mountain behind.
Big, strong men wander idly and
aimlessly through the streets, roost
with impartiality on fences, curbs and
bank steps, or flock to the saloons,
/ which are now places Of quiet, gloomy
or bitter talk, instead of the roaring
ginmlls OF shouting, laughing, coarse
and profanc hilarity they were once
upon a time.
Occasionally a platoon OF soldiers
marches by, giving a suggestion of eff
cient force in the background that con-
trasts strangely with the undisciplined
appearance OF the red-necked, SLOUGH
hated policemen, who stand awkwardly
at the corners or 5aunter along the
! streets.
Butte Shamefaced
Nobody boasts that the mines Of
Butte have excsvated more material
than was taken from the Panama
Canal. Nobody can get up enough
! local pride to tell you the moving
stories of the tragic battles for wealth
and power that have been fought here
by the Clarks, the Days, the Heinzes,
the Ryans-battles that have had their
far effects in Wall Street and in the
Capitol at Washington.
Nobody cares to tell you Of the
enormous tonnage that the mines were
won't to supply TO the railroads beyond
that of any city in America Of its class,
AMI there are no vivacious raconteurs
in the saloons to relate the evil deeds
that were done in Butte in the days
OF abandon and profigscy. The great
strike is on, and prohibition has been
decreed. Business depression now.
The gloom OF dryneu ahead.
Up to July l the Anaconda Copper
Mining Company. the colossus that be-
strides and burrows under the city
commonly called The Company"-snd
all the other mines hereabo Us were
producing 3O,OoO,ooo pounds Of copper
a month-half as much as all Germany
produces in year. Roughly speaking,
one-hfth Of all the copper mined IN the
United States, and near one-sxth or
the worlds entire output, was hoisted
from these mines. Here $4,000 men
worked in three shifts in mines OF
copper, silver and zinc. To-day tney
ar. mostly idle-many OF them nave
been idle for almost three months.
Nobody has am idea when the mines
will resume. AS their savings 1hde
away the men gradually leave for
other camps, business becomes duiler
and duller and the feeling among those
/ who remain more and more bitter.
what has brought about this ruinous
| condition?
Chiefly the ]. ". ". Give that or
eanization credit for having struck the
| United States A harder blow than Ger
many has yet given it,
Tragedy Started Trouble
The trouble began when w men
we're asphyxiated in consequence OF
fro in the North Butte mine on june
2 though this is not company" mine.
This awful calamity filled the miners
with dread. II gave them appalling
proof Of the dangers that beset tSem
in their work. II reopened the wounds
n old labor troubles and brought TO
a head long repressed agitations for
better pay and better working eondi-
tions. -
The miners. worked upon ny unseru,
pulous agitators. felt in a blind sort OF
way that their dead called upon ' them
to be avenged. For three years The
Company" had had its own way VIII, W,an
the miners proper. The miners unions,
had quarreiled among themselves and
with "The Company" and had gone 10
p,eces. although most other trade
unions, in or out OF the mines, pecamc
stronger than ever.
So, though lacking an orsaniza.'on;:
the miners and muckersIor par %
tbsr,--struck without warning on June
70 II is said that the |. ". W. had al
ready planned a strike for June 49,
-. ryyav this was the golden OPP