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Show CCIiTRACT LALCH AT WEST J03DAH Editor Telegram: A question of paramount interest to the general public is that concerning the Introduction of a claso of labor such as the Greeks1 and the present system by which they are employed by the management man-agement of the United State and Bingham Bing-ham Construction cots pa file at ."West , , Jordan, Utah. , No doubt there are a great many people peo-ple throughout the State who are virtually blind to the condition aa to bow these Greek are employed. Though they know that the Greek Is tiere, rtlJl they do not understand under what condition be is employed. I will now endeavor to make the matter plain to the reader of The Telegram the conditions con-ditions under which the Greek 19 employed. em-ployed. They are contracted for by an agent who it a Greek. SkUria by nam. lilt system is as follows: A Greek to get employment at either of the aforesaid ameiure at West Jordan Jor-dan must first obtain a permit or a privilege to work in said plant from Skllrla. To get tble permit the Greek applicant must pay Skliria a sum which a mount Is affected by the supply and demand of either workmen or the time of the year when application for work i made. During the winter months I proof can be gotten to show that cer- , tain Greeks hav paid as high as 823 for a permit to work. Two months ago, being March, the cost of a permit dropped to $15. After the Greek has bought bis permit from Skilris he will then take bio permit and go to the superintendent su-perintendent ot Immediate manager of the smelter. There be geta in return for it an order on the respective shift bosses and these shift bosses must then put him to work. If they should refuse to put this or these Greek to work they are endangering the possibilities of holding their Jobs, because it is ob-. ob-. llgatory upon the management of these two smelting plants to put all Greeks to work who are sent there by Skilris. If a Greek who baa been in this country long enough to understand the English language and methods of this country and refuses to have anything to do with Skilris or any agent he Is then virtually blacklisted at the United States and Bingham smeltera May , 1804. daring the proceedings of paying the men employed at the United States smelter, somewhere near 700 men were naid. Half of these men were Greeks and each Greek'o "time check" denoted a sum to be rebated to Skilris as dues, the amount of rebate ranging from $1 to $2.60, according to the kind of a Job the Greek was fortunate enough in poaeeselng. This rebate is all held out at the "company store" at West Jordan. The assertion X have made in regards to a "company store" may cause someone some-one to holler, but I will now back my assertion with the well known and irrefutable irre-futable fact existing at present. Every , man working at the Bingham or United States smelters must take a "time check." either on regular pay day or at any other time during the month, and every man working at the smelters of this place can get credit, and when his pay day comes his Indebtedness to the Booth Mercantile company Is carefully, though assiduously, held out of bis check. I have taken three "time checks" there. I owed the Booth Mercantile Mer-cantile company, very true, but I was not given the privilege of paying Booth no, I never even got a chance to see the money I had earned. So It is with every working man employed em-ployed at these two smelters. If they are Americans they are confronted with a condition most exasperating on all sides of them. In front of us we can see the Greeks crowded ahead of us by a damnable system of "contract through an agent." At our backs we have a company store, veiled beneath a technicality, techni-cality, and taking advantage of the people peo-ple and making Its profits on the system sys-tem of a "cinch" by paying the smelters a percentage on every dollar which passes pass-es .through the hands of the Booth Mercantile Mer-cantile company in payment of employes em-ployes on a "time check system." Currency Cur-rency payments ace denied the employees em-ployees and yet it is claimed that the Booth Mercantile company is not hand in hand with the company. Perhaps not a partner, but' It is In such a way that it looks the same, its effect is the same and in fact it is the same. With Greeks In front of you, the wolf of poverty on both the right and left of you, a damnable system, which Is illegal, striking you In the back, American Ameri-can workman of Utah, are you in a position to stand such systems? Murray would not stand for it; the Highland Boy smelter has no Greeks; - th. American Rennlnr com Dan v forces the Greek to get bis Job the same as an American, and you get your time on pay day in good solid bank checks, cashable cash-able anywhere. But at West Jordan you take a paper on the Booth Mercantile company, not negotiable at any place but Booth's. Still th laws of our State call for banking checks or currency. Our State laws are against company stores In any form, and our 8tate does not uphold up-hold contract foreign labor In preference to American labor. Tet these very conditions con-ditions exist; not hard to prove.,elther. Now is the time to investigate the truth of these circumstances and y- eliminate and insist upon the rights of American citizens from the pa fee of existing ex-isting circumstances. Or shall we as peaceful and honest worklngmen close our eyes to the fact tlTat we are being crowded out by s class who never Intend In-tend to make their homes permanent in America, who never will swear allegiance alle-giance to our country, yet they will take the cream of our labor, the labor that is ours, and leave us but the crust? I ay down wltb th system which allows the Greek to step ahead of an American. . A. W. CHARTER. |