The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1922-01-21
JUGGLING FIRE SUFFERERS.

misguided long enough.
JUGGLING FIRE SUFFERERS.
The railroad administration is set
Ting fire claims with people at Clo-
quet and the big lumber interests there
on basis Of 40 and so per cent It
was supposed at the time the attor-
neys for the administration stopped a
trial in district court and invited coun-
sci for the plaintiffs to confer on an
offer the government might make that
all sufferers in the fire zone would
be treated alike.
We find now that the administra-
tion is not settling with the people
outside of Cloquet on an equitable
basis at all. 1t has divided a part of
the fire-swept territory into five zones
and settlements are offered in one
zone on basis as low as Is per cent
Of the loss sustained, IS per cent in
another, and so on up to so per cent.
The five zones cover an area Of IA
square miles which is only % per
cent of the territory destroyed by
fire. The total area burned in Ct.
Louis county was 467 miles and in
Carlton county, 81 miles, total Of
521 miles.
The tender of the government for
settlement on a basis of so per cent
covers but IA per cent Of the burned
area; on the basis Of 25 per cent,
but per cent of the destroyed area,
and IS, 40 and As per cent, for 25
square miles or less than, :, per cent
Of that area. The sufferers in - per
cent Of the area in which were located
some Of the best farms in northeast.
crn Minnesota are offered nothing by
the administration for the great loss
they sustained which is said to amount
to nearly $8,000,00O. The attorneys
for the administration have even re-
fused to settle in considerable Of the
area where the courts have already
held the railroads liable.
The Wcyerhausers at Cloquet were
given 40 per cent on their loss. A
few farmers have been offered
amounts ranging from 25 to so per
cent, but the greater number in the
district, the people who were least
able to bear the loss, are to be left
in the cold entirely. No tender is
made for the loss of life or for per-
sonal injuries sustained.
The money that the railroad admin
istration offers to but small number
of the fire sufferers is to be taken
from the revolving fund set aside by
the government to pay claims arising
from government operation during the
war. All money unused and remaining
in that fund after all claims are paid
is to Returned over to the roads. Rail.
ROAD attorneys are handling the fire
cases. They are evidently attempting
to get the powerful litigants out of
the way by settling with them. The
weaker ones, they calculate, are not in
position to finance legal contro-
versy through the courts. They are
through, so far as the railroad inter-
ests are concerned. These farmers
have not had crop in three years
ard last years crop was practically
lost for want Of decent prices. The
roads want any surplus money left in
the government fund for their own
purposes. That is all there is to it.
Friends Of Senator Kellogg were
prompt to give him credit for the
settlement" Of the fire cases when
announcement was first made that
"all cases would be adjusted out of
COURT They may now render great
service to the poor settlers and farm
ors of this district if they can induce
the senator to see to it that the ad-
ministration at Washington gives the
most obscure victim of that great fire
the same treatment that was given to
the most powerful interests in the dis
trict
If the, Weyerhausers who lost their
mills and lumber were paid. on a basis
of 40 per cent and the big men en-
plcyed by them at Cloquet who lost
their homes in the fire were all paid
SO per cent of the loss they sustained,
then there is no reason on earth INV
the humblest settler in the district
who lost his all in the same fire should
not be paid on at least an equal basis.
That is the only fair and square thing
10 do. =
->-- -
Governor Preus wants a law and
order Sunday. He should be the first
to observe it by curbing the lawle.s-
ness Of his troops in St. Paul.
Il -0-- ..'3