Great Falls tribune., 1921-02-20
the newspaper last night the action of
the Montana Federation of Labor. If

I the newspaper last n1gnI the acLlOn OF
the Montana Federation of Labor. II
you were doing business fairly with a
man and living up to the rules that
you had agreed to, you have a right
to expect decent treatment from him.
/ want to put the case to you this way.
Suppose the Anaconda company enter
ed into agreements with your organi-
cations, all Of them, and nothwithstand-
ing that agreement did everything that
it was pessoble to do to ruin your
union. to break it up by agitation, by
arousing sentiment against you, bT
fighting you under every known condi-
ton and proposition, would you consid-
er that that was a fair deal; would
you consider that simply because We
put our name to a piece Of paper and
then went out and did everything we
could to destroy your union. we were
playing fair and square? / don't think
you would.
Now. the difficulty in the Butte sit
uation has been very largely the fact
that in a good many international or
CARNATIONS so-called, the dominating
influence has not been international in
fluence at all; that from within the
international organizations a propa-
ganda of l. W. W.isn and One Big
Enionism has been carried on. | real
ize that you cannot help that; / know
the great majority of you are not in
sympathy with it; some of you may be,
if a majority of the international or
CARNATIONS in Butte are wobbly they
should go wobbly and should declare
for the red flag and for obstruction
and anarchy and whatever else is
means, il that is what the majority of
you feel. If majority of you don't
believe in that, you should stop it. l
think the propaganda that has been
carried on by the so-called official
sheet OF the international organizations
of Butte, supported by the money OF
the international organization Of Mon
tana. has been damuable; / think the
campaign of yiIlifieation. of abuse. OF
contemplate lies, of criminal libel. OF
IRRESPONSIBLE and contemplate perfidy
that has been conducted by the Butte
Bulletin, supported by the internationa.
organizations Of this community, IS the
most disgraceful proposition that has
ever been permitted in any commun-
ity. =, ..:a,
CARNATIONS, claim to be members OF
the American Federation of Labor, and
YOU have as your chief organ one
whose purpose is the destruction Of the
American Federation of Labor. and
vet you continue to give it your money
and support Now, you are either
wobbly or you are not, and l say that
we. as employers, entering into con-
tract in good faith with the American
Federation of Labor organizations
have a grievance when the organiza-
ton that we all recognize. that we
have done business with on the square
= f.1ry around and by
virtue of the fact that we support and
recognize YOU, you become the financla!
support Of a propaganda that neans
the destruction not only of our organi-
zation, but of your own as well.
Agreements.
$50 that the position of the Anacon- |
aa company. gentlemen, is just this: IL |
we can get down to decent basis OF |
doing business with one another. one |
that is fair, we are ready to go ahead,
and il we cannot, we are ready TO
break. It is a very important matter;
and whatsoever action we take we VIII
10 what we have done i'll the past. we
viii live up to it. If we agree, we Will
continue just as we have IN the past,
to try and live up to our obligations
and expect you to live up to yours, and
II IL comes To Tue Huitil W hVAS VIZ As"SA
break. it is a break for good. can
aot outline our. position any more
,learly than that. I have not the de-
lailed knowledge that il required to
AXE up these specific matters with
you. Il
1T was suggested at meeting OF
The Butte operators the other day thar
we appoint committee consisting of
!, representative Of each Of the min
ny companies here in Butte, and that
such committee which would meet with
which represent your vari-
,us organizations, to see if We can
.traichten out some of those difficult
les. These men who will represent
he operators are men who know the
actual operation in very much greater
letail than / could possibly know 1t.
md I am sure that they are disposed
% be fair and reasonable. And again
say. that / think that with very few
EXCEPTIONS. possibly, the Anaconda sit
,ntion and the Great Falls situation
= only involved in a very general way.
The things we want to iron out are
hings principally applicable to Butte,
..T thank YOU very much"