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Show The Market and the Mines ! , J; The real friends, sib well as the enemies of i 1 the Miners' union, drew a sigh of relief Vheh Choy j heard that the peace of Qoldfield was to bo but A ', tressed by the bayonets cf Uncle Sam. Impelled ! ; H i by hidden forces the situation In Nevada's great- est gold camp was drifting toward the breakers of I I 1 1 crime and bloodshed Those who could read the - I j language of prophecy shuddered as they foresaw It; the elemental passions of men, loosed by some ( I I hideous atrosity, vent their fury upon the inno- 1 . cent as well as the guilty. It is especially grati- f 1 1 1 fying to the real friends of the miners that Fed- i h eral intervention took place before the labor con- ''jj-i troversy reached a deadlock. With the troops as 1 1 ; impartial guardians of the peace the union will be ; " j permitted to use every legitimate weapon and, f ' ; , if it Is defeated, it can only attribute its defeat Ij Iff 1 1 i to the fact that other men fcund the conditions of ji im'i labor neither so unfair nor so objectionable as I jfl Bj the spokesmen of the strikers have represented ?j &j ; them. And even a defeat, .will do less injury to. tl Ij "! tlio cause of labor unionisrii than some crime, k' . JI ' matters not whether cpmmifcted by desperate par-j par-j jfj asitos of the union or by "detectives" of the mine" I n ii owners, which would cause civilization to pale J 8 and stand aghast at its horror, jjj P The real issue at Goldfleld has been adroitly ! jj concealed, not only from the world, but from the IH mass of the strikers. Fully a year ago Goodwin's rflj j Weekly on this page ventured the opinion that fffj ' ; . industrial peace In this camp could never be Ijl j more than an armed truce until the restrictions on Hj ; I ore stealing were abolished, or the- organized ore Itl , thieves driven out of the union and the district. J . It is no political principle, nor entirely love o raj , ' mlfe and contention, that has caused every triv-11 triv-11 4' inl complaint to be made the pretext for a walkout, HI 3 Thinking men do not act without adequate mo HI jfj tives. The real object behind every strike and HI ' j every miners' indignation meeting has been to got j ;r rid of the change houses. Assay the motives of r ij 4f the agitator and you get not a trace of altruism; , ' not a color of philanthropy, but 100 per cent of H ij j ,ol Must a product so like the wealth-greed of the I!! 1 J plutocrat fhat the most refined analysis discloses Ijj !l no essential difference, jij f In a camp like Goldfleld comparatively fe miners have access to ore that is worth stealing. 31 ij How is it, then, that a weak minority can sway , g ' ' the majority and control the union to its own '! , , undoing? How is it that office-holders, few in IS number, control conventions and dominate polltl-U polltl-U : cal parties? Politics is their business and they H j i make it pay. The average member of a labor H j j - union looks to the organization for certain genii gen-ii eral benefits such as the maintenance of wages and restriction of hours. He nas no particular incentive to fight for doritrol of the union. "My wages and hours are satisfactory," he tolls himself, him-self, "and why should I waste my time and money in trying to extend my influence?" He does not attend the meetings regularly and when he does attend ho accepts without question the state-" ments of those who are more familiar than himself him-self with the business in hand. The "high grader," grad-er," on the contrary, has the strongest kind of ah incentive to dominate the union. To him it is more than an instrument for keeping wages up and hours down. He cares little about hours and less about wages. The union, as" the "high grader" grad-er" secretly regards it, Is a club with which to prop open the door to wealth, or, on occasion, to swat the man who interferes with his income. To use this club he must control it.- It is, therefore, the "high grader" who attends every meeting, makes the speeches, proclaims most vociferously his loyalty to Jabor and . speeds Ills money most lavishly before elections. His nfdbhods are esseri Oiilly those of the- corrupt officeholder in partisan politics. . and. the . method works out successfully tyi both cases. Far from realizing that they are dupes the men-to whom the union is. an ertfl, not a means, accept sincerely the justice of the "grievances" which the "high graders" discovei at appropriate times and unwittingly play another an-other man's game to their own sorrow. yC Since the last contract between the union ana mine owners of Goldfleld was" signed" there has not been a disagreement that could not have been settled quietly In a few days to the mutual sajLis faction of the contracting parties; there has not been a disagreement that would not have been sei ' Hod quietly if there had been no change houses. It has been the aim of the "high graders" who rule the union to harass and annoy the employers" until un-til they sign a new contract with change houses .eliminated. Instead of yielding to this pressure the mine owners have taken the bull by the horns and invoked the military powers with the purpose pur-pose of eliminating the "high graders." That they may be temporarily successful is now prob able, but those who are familiar with the history of high grade camps will not venture-tlie prediction predic-tion that ore stealing will bo stopped permanently. permanent-ly. Despite the breaking qf . the union and thb "card system" at Cripple Creek "high grading" is said to be practiced more boldly than. ever. This form of dishonesty seems to be inherent in human nature and manifests itself among non-unionists and unhindered by smelter embargoes. p te The more remarkable because of the obstacles with which it has had to contend is the Goldfleld Con.'s annual report to stockholders. The tonnage ton-nage amounted to 31,838,075 and yielded a profit to the company of $1,700,357.99. Of the total 8,-'713,096 8,-'713,096 tons were milled and the rest smelted. -Imposing as are these figures they represent only a percentage of what the Consolidated properties will do in a year unhampered by labor troubles and unhindered by smelter embragoes. J6 & Owners of Utah stocks are still thanking their stars that conditions are no worse. Prices have lingered around a certain minimum so long that the brokers are justified In assuring their pat-"rens pat-"rens that "the bottom has been reached at last". Taking it for granted that stocks are as low as they are likely to be quite a number of modestly-, financed folks wage earners and salary drawers are buying the dividend payers in small blocks and discretely putting the certificates in the bottoms bot-toms of their trunks. It is safe to say" that these trunk-planted' stocks will stay there until the iirtr provement of the market forces them to blossom out'as bull offerings, ,- ., :. v |