Montana labor news., 1934-07-26

Inc AldCOlud 0Ollpdily Is up 10 It's
old tricks of using fire and dynamite
to break the present strike in Butte.
Those who remember the days of 1917
and 1918 need not be told Of the num-
Der of times the Company has re-
sorted to such tactics. These methods
are only resorted to when the corpora
ton sees that it is whipped and has
no just cause to win. The constant
refusal of the Anaconda Copper Min
ing Company to arbitrate the present
strike, even at the request Of Govern
ment Officials has placed it in a bad
light with the Government and the
citizens of Montana. The refusal Of
officers of the law to frame strikers
has ired the Corporation lackeys, Dan
Kelly and the rest, and their only hope
is to frame circumstances that will
force the Governor to send Militia to
Butte and break the solidarity of the
Union movement. The highly paid Of
flee boys have not the foresight to see
that times are changing. They are old
men who only remember and live in
the past. They can remember the
success they had with fire and dyna-
mite over a decade ago and they are
foolish enough to believe that the
methods used in "the good old days"
can be used with like success in this
day and age. They represent a dying
cause and generation and are to be
pitied. They are to be pitied for their
minds have not kept pace with the
rapid movements of the world in our
present day. They are to be pitied
for they have bungled even their an
tiquated plans, no doubt through their
senility.
The Steward Fire.
First of all, consider the charges
made in the case Of the Steward fire.
The building in the Steward yard was
fired on July p. The property was
we'll protected by gunner in the en-
ploy Of the Company and is sur
rounded by a high fence. No one
could gain access to the building with
out climbing the fence and had any
one attempted such a feat they would
have been seen by the protectors OF
private property employed by the
Anaconda Company at SIS per day.
How any picket, carrying cans OF
gasoline could have climbed such a
fence and not been challenged by the
gunner is more than the average
mind can understand. Yet the au-
thors of the movie-thriller fiction APP
pearing in the Standard, think the
people Of Montana simple-minded
enough to believe it possible and
probable.
The Parrot Fire.
The second fire discussed was the
ice house at the Parrot mine. The
firemen were called by phone to come
to the scene. Upon arrival the fire
men could not gain entrance to the
property. They were warned not to
scale the fence as a charged wire
circled the yard. They had to wait
over a minute until a Waterman I'M
locked the gate and let them in. Ii
the firefighters could not gain access
to the property after being called to
the blaze, how could a picket gain en-
trance without being observed. The
tale is foolish enough to be ludicrous
This building is inaccessible to any
highway and it would have been i'm
possible for anyone to gain admit
lance to fire it. Such tales, by their
very foolishness seem to be the day
dreaming Of a senile mind that is be-
wildered and muddled by the change
OF events in the past two years. They
are the wild lies Of a little boy, sur
prised behind the woodshed taking hi.
first smoke. His helplesseness and be-
wilderment makes his excuses unbe.
lievable.
1t is also interesting to note that
the buildings burned were unused anC
~valueless to the Company. They were
no doubt insured and the Company
will collect insurance on property fol
which it had no further use. The
burning Of these buildings, eve by
outsiders would have been Of value tc