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Show THE SEARCHLIGHT Utah Copper’s Labor Policy In order that readers of the Searchlight may have a clearer picture of the underlying structure of Doug Moffat’s Company Union Snipe Hunts and the relationship of that background to the synthetic unheaval staged by that sincere pair of labor leaders—Doug Moffat and Reed Damron—we sketch briefly the basis for and the origin and growth of the hot house ‘‘labor’’ organization known as the Copper Snipe Hunt. D. C. Jackling always was an implacable enemy of collective bargaining. Even in the early days of the open pit mine he took his stand against labor unions and industrial dem- ocracy, and he foreed his aids to adopt his VIEWS. The Colonel (a courtesy title that savors of a IXentucky coloneley) had his mind set on becoming the Great Tycoon of the Copper World—a_ billionaire. The Ogquirrh moun- tains in Utah were to be the foundation of his Copper empire. To further his ambition he decided he must fight off and destroy all attempts to divert even a fraction of the enormous profits that he foresaw arising from his open pit mining operation. Little or none of those profits must fall into the hands of his employees and the people of Utah. An enterprise that should have paid the highest wages in Western America actually carried certain wage classifications below eomparable wage rates in underground mines! An industry that should have made the west side of the Salt Lake valley one of the most prosperous regions in the world gave that district instead a shanty-town economy. The exploitation of Utah’s greatest mineral resource, by design, is to leave the State only a hole in the ground. Under the Colonel’s manipulation Utah Copper Company became the reeking glutton of Western mining. Jackling, Cates, Moffat, and other Copper barons steadily expanded the ratio of net profits to wages. Early net profits ran along at about $2 for every dollar paid in wages. Then the net profit climbed steadily. Shortly before American entry into the war the net had reached better than 3 to 1. Today the best esti- mates and obtainable wages of place about the 4 to ratio 1. That employee in wages, ons who earns a hundred earns a net profit for of $4800 a year. of net means profits that an dollars a month the Copper bar- Actual figures are extremely difficult to obtain. Under the holding company technique developed by Iennecott Copper after Jackling took Utah Copper into that system, the Colonel was able to cover up most of Utah Copper’s financial transactions. He wanted no picture before the Utah pub- lic of the one-sided distribution of the production earnings of Utah Copper. He built up a tradition of giving his employees ‘brass medals as a soul-satisfying substitute for high wages. Jackling’s company entered into political intrigue and economic and social combinations with the Utah Manufacturers Association, the daily newspapers in Salt Lake, the Chamber of Commerce, Service clubs, and other outfits allied against high wage levels and collective bargaining. His lead was followed by Louie Cates and Doug Moffat when they, in turn, became the direct administrators of the Copper domain. That policy has been perfected and polished during the last few years. Today it is next to impossible to ram adverse comment affecting Utah Copper through the columns of the dailies. They doctor that news or play it down, while they play up and emphasize the preposterous claims of the Copper big shots. Many vears ago Colonel Jackling caused the ‘‘Kmployees General Committee’’ to be organized, purportedly to represent his em- ployvees, but actually to lead his workmen on their first labor Snipe Hunt at Magna and Arthur. A twin organization was born under the same auspices at Bingham. When the activities of the ‘‘Employees General Committee’’ at the mills became highly obnoxious to regulatory authority a few years ago it was ordered dis-established. Thereupon the Colonel’s viceroys and lackeys in Utah promptly organized the ‘‘Independent Association of Mill Workers’’, with a corresponding (Continued on following page) |