The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1921-04-21
EASTON AND SMITH SAY
WAGE CUT UNAVOIDABLE
BUNKER HILL HEADS ISSUE A
CANDID STATEMENT TO
EMPLOYEES.

In issuing formal notice of a reduc-
ton in wages at Kellogg yesterday,
statements were issued by Stanly A.
Easton, general manager of the Bun
ker Hill & Sullivan company, and
Frank NJ. Smith, director of the Bun
ller Hill smelter explaining condi-
lions which made a reduction of the
wages necessary in order to keep the
mine and smelter in operation. These
statements follow:
Statement by Manager Easton.
"The Bunker Hill & Sullivan COM
pany has this day posted notices ad-
vising all employees that effective May
1. 1921, a reduction of IS cents per
shift will be made in the present bon
us paid to smelter employees and a re-
duction of so cents per shift made in
the bonus paid all other employees. The
present bonus now paid over the pre-
war wage or base scale being $1.25
per shift this reduction will thus
leave a bonus remaining of so cents
per shift at the smelter and IS cents
per shift for all other employees.
"a decline in the price of lead from
IL cents per pound received during
1917 to the present price of AZ cents
per pound for lead has made this bon
us curtailment necessary if operations
are to continue OF the large mines
in the west including those at Butte
and other copper producing centers,
practically all are now closed entirely
excepting three in the Occur d'Alene
district These properties have con-
tinued their operations on a normal
scale not only as to output, but as to
development work and improvements
and it is hoped that this normal scale
of work can be continued until the
extreme depression now being suffer-
ed in the metal industries is in some
degree relieved by better prices
9TH differental in the bonus paid
the smelter and other operations of
the Bunker Hill company is made ne
cessary by the following conditions
directly affecting the Bunker Hill
smelter enterprise:
81 The continued low price of lead
and the unsatisfactory state of the
lead market
"2. The scarcity OF custom ores at
the present time and the small vol
ume of business being conducted at
the smelter.
80 The necessity of competing
with other smelters where lower
wage scales are paid"
Statement by Director Smith.
1T is with the greatest regret that
the company feels the necessity for |
reducing wages at the Bunker Hill |
smelter Under present conditions |
there is no inducement to continue |
operating at all so far as market con-
ditions are concerned. The price of /
lead is below pre-war averages, and /
the cost of production is far in excess /
Of the present price Moreover. there /
is very little announcement in the /
outlook for the immediate future Ow-
ing to the lack of domestic demand |
for lead and the ever-present menace |
Of lead importation from foreign |
countries which naturally prevents |
prices from advancing. There being |
very little lead used in European |
today. the surplus foreign |
roduction-principally from Spain
is being dumped onto the New York
market and sold at prices which are
lower than the cost Of
production of American mines.
"The curtailed production Of the /
mines forces similar curtailment of
smelling operations, with correspond
ingly higher costs. The smaller the
tonnage put through the furnaces the
higher the cost per ton will be- for the
reason that there are certain fixed
charges and overhead expenses which
are practically the same regardless Of
The tonnage which the smeiter treats. J.