OCR Text |
Show ! 1 i I I . For First Tine in Histcry cf Ora:!zatioa the .Meet-. ; 'togs Will Be opea to tlie Putlic. What will" in all probability be the greatest national convention ever held by the Western Federation of Miners began at 9 o'clock this morning- In Odd Fellows' hall. ; , ' ' . ' It Is, a meeting: that holds the attention atten-tion of . the laboring; classes of the entire en-tire West and one that Is fraug-ht with equal lmjpor&nce to the mine owners a welL' ' ' . ' ' ' There will be by nightfall delegates here from every Bute In the Union that boasts a mfhe.v , In all. there will be fully two-hundred-and-fitty delegate here representing all that is best In the ranks of labor. . ' ; Hardly had sun up been decried when delegates began to make reparations for the opening meeting today. South Main street and Market street were crowded with the delegates on their way to the opening session. - . President Moyer Heard. ,. Amid a silence that was impressive President William Moyer addressed tho delegates. 11 thanked them for their loyalty and hoped that aU differences would be so healed and adjusted that 'not' even the scar of discontent would be observable alter the convention had come to an end. "We are striving for peace," he said. "Our motto la to live and let live."- . President Moyer then appointed the following . as a committee on credentials: creden-tials: B. L. Long, . chairman. Butte. Mont.; L. N. Nelson, Dead wood. 8. D.; J. Whelan, Sutter Creek. CaL; W. Bea ton. Mount Bicker, B. C: Ole Berg, BU-ver BU-ver City, Ida.; A. Johnson. Macole, Arts.; P. H. Millaney, Cripple Creekv Colo. Horning1 Session Ends. ' . . ; ' The rooming session in Odd Fellows' hall was then dismissed to reconvene at S p. im, or as soon thereafter the credential cre-dential committee could pass upon all credentials. -' . , r i The credential committee of seven then took up quarters in room S, In the Federation of. Liir-or . hall building where all credentials were Inspected. There is expected to be no hitch of any sort over the seating of delegates, however, how-ever, and the convention hopes to get down to work by tonight, or tomorrow, at the latest. . . - . : . ' ' A distinct innovation and a great feature fea-ture of this national convention is that all sessions : will be public and open. There will be no closed sessions behind barred doors and anyone interested may hear the discussions upon every point taken up In the twenty-one day meet of this great organization. y Attendance Zs Large. Much will be taken up at this convention. conven-tion. Every train now rrivlng brings in its quota of delegates. It is a gathering gath-ering of labor men that means much to all classes. It is the biggest convention conven-tion In the history of this powerful .organisation. .or-ganisation. The 'work of today is but the proper and usual formality. - As soon as the delegates are properly seated the sessions ses-sions will commence to hum. This will begin tomorrow at. any event. President Presi-dent Moyer will have much to say In his public opening address and it is an address that will be read) with great interest in-terest everywhere that conditions prevail pre-vail in labor and capital are forced to be pitted one against the other. Photographers Are Busy. rt Photographers Innumerable swarmed Around the big leaders today and begged for poses and groupings, but the leaders were .forced " to decline to be "snapshotted" except on the go as they were ail too busy with their multitudinous multitud-inous duties and complex affairs to be even stopped for a moment. President Moyer himself bad as many men continually con-tinually around him as there are men surrounding Gen. Oyama of the victorious victori-ous Japanese army. He was courteous to all, but there were hardly enough hours in the day for him to be able to attend to each one personally as they would have liked to monopolise his j time. But the Western Federations of Min- j ers is now virtually down to work. The reports of the various' orders so far as their financial standing Is concerned, the books of which have all been audited audi-ted within the last two weeks, will be read today and after that the real business busi-ness of the convention will begin. |