Bisbee daily review., 1921-08-04


 servative wisdom that has charac.
 terized the deliberations and actions
 of your representative committee of the past
 Urges Square Deal"
 Tt has been my one ambition for 1 a number of years to establish firmly
 here the broad policy of the square deal for everyone. Not alone for the
 workmen, but also for the foremen, the bosses and the company. The
 adoption of thls constitution, and the
 delegation of the powers enumerated
 therein to the employees, is not for
 the purpose of overriding the authori-
 ty Of our foremen and bosses. If any one has such an idea, let that idea be ! dissipated now, for such is not the case. The adoption of this constitu- ] tion is for the purpose of assisting in
 the enforcement of the square deSP | for all. As long as men are employed
 in numbers for any task it will be necessary to have others supervise 1 the work. With an organization like
 ours, foremen and bosses are abso- | lutely essential for the efficient and economical conduct of the work. These foremen and bosses must be given authority and they are held re- | sponsible for the proper use of that l authority. It is the duty of the com pany to see that the employe is paid la living wage. It is likewise as much , the duty of the employe to earn that wage. And it is the duty of the fore men and bosses to see that he does earn it.
 You and I are dealing with prop erty that does not belong to us. It is our property, and we are, therefore, all the more responsible for it. This property belongs to the shareholders of the company, and their interest should be considered first We are in duty as honest men, to protect their interest, having the assurance of past experience in our relations with the owners that if we do our part faithful Fly. our rightful interests will in turn be protected.
 Difficulties Outlined
 We have been, and are now, pass ing through a period of readjustment after the war. which has been most trying to all of us. Trying to the con- pany because it has until recently, since the close of hostilities, maintain ed operations notwithstanding It's in- ability to sell it's product, thus mak- ing it necessary to borrow large sums of money to carry on the work it has had under way. It has been exceed ingly trying to the company because, finally, of it's inability to finance these large expenditures longer, it has been necessary to lay off large num- bers of men, materially reGuctA Its supervisory force. and thus practical ly break up the splendid organization which had been built up in the past
 "This has been, also a trying pc riod for our employees. Many of them, of necessity, have been laid off and those remaining at\ work have had their wages materially reduced with in the present year. The recent dis continuance of production necessitat- ed shifting many men for years accus- toned to stoping and repair work to development work, drifting and rais- ing, with which they were not famil- far This has resulted in decreased efficiency, thus creating a trying s;t- uation for both the men and bosses alike
 Likewise the shareholders, the owners of the property, have suffered as much as, if not more than, the rest of us, for the dividends paid to those who have their money invested in the property have been reduced to almost nothing and the value of their stock has declined to the lowest point in the history of the company.
 ,... Living Costs Cut
 How much longer this period of depression will last. it is impossible now to predict. The one favorable thing to the people of this district is the fact that during this period of depression there has been an earnest attempt made to keep living costs down, which has resulted in lower prices for the necessities of life here than could be found in any other part of the state. And during this year, especially. a material reduction has been made in the cost of living. A large part of the high priced mer- chandise on hand a year ago has been disposed of by our merchants at prices much below~cost, and with,new stocks more recently and more advan- tageously purchased. they are in pc sition to keep prices down to the pres. ent level. if not lower them still further. and stih realize a reasonable profit, to which they are entitled, in the conduct of their business. "For number of years our wage scale has been based upon the selling price of our product, the passing point being on a quotation of 15c to 16c per pound of copper. If the price of cop per dropped below 15c, there was no Corresponding reduction in wages, but if it went above 16c, the daily wage was increased 10c and 15c al ternately for each one cent increase. Likewise salaries were increased 2.5c | of the base rate for each 1 cent in- | crease in the price above 16c. During | the period of the war, and for some | time thereafter, the prices of all cOm- 1 modities were abnormally high, in- I