Montana labor news., 1935-12-12
A. c. M. Company Mine
Foreman REEVES Old
Slave Driving Tactics
of Speeding Up Being
Intensified in Mines--Men Laid
Off Because Company MOI
Making Enough Profit Out of
Their Labor.

Yesterday nearly 100 miners re-
porting for work at the Mountain Con
Mine discovered that their time was in.
Upon inquiring why, they were in
formed THAT their contract had not
paid This is a new Inauguration of
the contemplate slave driving tactics
that brought on the strike of 1884 in
Butte.
Not MAKING HER PAY" means
that the miner has not extracted the
company's ore cheap enough, also hat
possibly as a dividend maker his pow
ers have been exhausted by these
greedy and ignorant slave drivers. To
prove this we will cite the record of a
few victims.
No. /. Judging by his work num-
Der as evidence, he has worked at least
20 years in the Butte Mines. His Of
Tense was that he couldn't maintain
the insane pace which the company is
in a position to demand due to the
fact that there are plenty of men
LOOKING THROUGH THE
CRACKS IN THE FENCE" in spite
of lying assertions that there is an
acute shortage OF miners in Butte.
No. 2. A man who has spent at least
II years in the Butte Mines. His Of
tense was that the ore which he ex-
tracted, during the four shifts which he
was allowed to work in the place, cost
this company possibly 5 cents a ton
more than demanded by the impossible
price set by the contract.
No. 3. This victim was II years in
the Butte mines. He wa allowed to
work ten shifts after many months Of
rustling. This man was working in a
place where the ore body was wide and
the grade was at least 6 per cent cop
per. His contract price was 5 cents
per cubic foot, which in order for
him to make days pay" or $4.75, de-
manded that he deliver the ore for 50
cents per ton. This was on the $500
foot level OF the Mountain Con Mine,
where the temperature is about 95 de-
grees in the shade, and it was all
shade, also AIR" just about devoid Of
Oxygen. Due to these conditions this
man didn't make quite four dollars a
day in his contract, which by the rules
Of simple arithmetic means that the
rock cost about rs cents per ton for
labor to produce it. Incidently rock Of
this grade contains copper alone, which
at present prices, is worth $40 per
ton. In other words the A. c. M. only
made $6.45 per ton on the many tons
produced by the worker per shift in
stead OF the 500 which they demanded.
This mans children will probably have
no visit from Santa Claus this coming
Christmas, while the SNUG %hyprocrite
who has to use such tactics to hold his
LOB and earn promotion will doubtless
bow low and thump his craw in some
place Of worship on Christmas Day.
No, A. This victim was IS years in
the Butte Mines, and had been four
shifts on the job, after recovering from
an injury which he sustained while
previously attempting to Make Her
Pay This mans %offense was hat the
rock cost about 8 cents more per ton
than the price which the slave drivers
demanded.
Space does not permit giving the his
tory Of the other cases, but the ones
cited are typical. We cannot under
stand how a company which breaches
peace and good will could have the
audacity to stand for such cheap prac-
%tices, nor can we understand how any
man with the ethical sense of even a
Zulu or a Hottentot could continue in
an executive capacity for such a COM
pany.
Subitted by
AHIArE nnt rrArrnAr