Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1919-10-30
Ignite Men Would Have
Been Ordered Called Out
Under Original Order
Governor Frazier Has Solu-
ton.

organized Ignite miners would be
called out in North Dakota on No
vember /, said S. S. Mcdonald, pres
ident of the North Dakota Federation
of Labor, interviewed on this sub
ject today. Mr.. Mcdonald, however,
stated that there was question as
to whether the. North Dakota mine
workers would be called out, for the
reason that the mine operators Of
this state do not belong to the bitum-
mous association and therefore might
not be bound by any dealings which
this organization may have with the
United Mine Workers.
every mine of any consequence,
but one, in North Dakota is organ
ized,' said President Mcdonald.
"The Mine Workers in this state con-
troll about seventy per cent of the
total output"
Commercial production of Ignite
last year aggregated between two
and a half and three million tons.
Two-thirds of the state, or practical
ly all of the territory from James
town west of the Montana, line, re-
lies almost wholly upon native fuel.
There are in this area two or three
dozen large producing districts, with
total of more than two hundred ac-
tive mines.
Frazier Has q Solution.
Governor Frazier has a ready So
luton for the crisis with which Pres
ident Wilson's cabinet is now Crap
pling. He would "curb private
greed" establish Immediately a.proft
sharing plan, and later nationalize
the mines and turn them over to the
workers. His views, expressed in re-
sponse to request from the New
York American for a statement, are
as follows:
"The strike of coal miners would
result in a great hardship at this
time, and should by all means De
avoided. A temporary compromise
should be made pending an honest
investigation by congress with view
to bettering the miners conditions
by ultimate naturalization of the
mines. = Any basis industry whose
continuous operation. affects the life
Of the nation should not be exploited
for the profit of few. The sooner
private greed is curbed by congress,
the sooner will the present indus
! trial unrest subside.".>
Would Be "sympathetic."
| Organized miners who have been
interviewed on the subject admit that
any general strike in this state would
be largely sympathetic" in its ma
ture. Irving Matthias, secretary Of
the United Mine Workers local at
Wilton, which is the oldest and the
largest in the state, says:
"Our contract specifies that we
we shall receive whatever scale is
settled upon by the United Mine
Workers for the central competitive
field. illinois, Indiana, Kentucky,
Iowa. Should we be ordered. out
here, it will be as a sympathetic
strike with the workers in the bitum-
inous fields"
When Strike Would Come.
Mine workers generally admit that
q North Dakota strike would be cer-
tain to follow any attempt to dive-t
the product from this field into ter
ritory commonly served by the Na-
tional Coal Operators association,
with whic hthe mine workers haye
their quarter, as means Of break
ing the back Of the strike. There Ii
little possibility that this could be
done, however. as the normal pro-
duction Of North Dakota Ignite
mines in their present development
is barely sufficient to supply the home
demand. AS matters now stand, a
general strike Of North Dakota's or
ganized miners is possible, but hard
~ pro obable. 81.
MANY KILLED AND INJURED IN
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