| OCR Text |
Show i STATEMENTS ARE MISLEADING. I "Western Labor Union on Efforts of Eailroads to Attract Settlers. While the railroad companies are and have been spending thousands and tens of thousands of dollars in induce ptoplo in the east and rni,!r!L west to or-me to the northwest and seek new t himies. the Western Labor Union is working just as strenuously, hut not si ending so much money, to prevent the coming of men without means to the northwest. The Western Labor Union alleges that there are hundreds or' thousands of idle men now in the ncrthwest looking and beggins far work, and it also says there are not the opoprtunities for farmers in this ' I country the railway officials allege. i These statements are set fo-rh in :i circular issued March 5, sinned by Daniel McDonald, president, and Clarence Clar-ence Smith, secretary of the Western West-ern Labor Union. The circular is addressed ad-dressed to "Ilonu'seekers ant! Working People in the East and Middle West," and reads r.s follows: "The transportation companies, and especially the Great Northern Railroad company, is advertising extensively in the eastern ami middle western states, for the purpose of inducing horneseek-ers, horneseek-ers, settlers and working people to emigrate emi-grate to Montana. Idaho. Washington and other northwestern states. In is-niueh is-niueh as these advertisements are falsr and misleading in character, and nothing noth-ing less than criminal in their effect, the Western Labor Union considers it .i duty to state briefly the real indust.-:u! conditions in the west and northwest. "If the plain truth were known, there would be no incentive for settlers, homeseekers or working people to -JO-Tiii west to improve their conditions. "There is not a desirable tract of un-taken un-taken land in the northwest that will ! ( not require hundreds, and in most case thousands, of dollars to make it pro- ! duetive. The statement that the north- f w.est is a boundless tract of rich, pro- duetive ami fruitful land open to settlement, set-tlement, and only awaiting the magic touch of the poverty-stricken farmer from the east to make it yield forth in i abundance all the best products of the farm, is just as false as it is well-sounding. well-sounding. If the railroad officials who make these statements, and advertise them, were given their just deserts. : they would be considered as criminals and treated as such. Their advertisements advertise-ments will bring years of hardships, . privation and suffering to those who ' accept them as truth, and who come ' west in the expectation of securing homes or employment. ""We have no desire to sive a set- back to the development of Qtir coun- try's resources. These resources are t limitless to men of capital. But to the ! farmer without means and the labor ing man there is not the slightest in- . ducement to come west. I "In Butte, in the Cripple Creek dis- I trict. in the Coeur d'Alenes, in British j Columbia, on the Pacific coast, and in the agricultural communities every- ' I where in the west, there are hundreds j f and thousands of idle men. If the west j afforded such exceptional opportunities f to homeseekers, settlers and working f men. these able-bodied and Industrious I people would not be found in hundreds I and thousands begging for a chance to f earn a mere living. x ' . "Do not believe these flattering state- ments about the west. They are delib- I erate lies, malicious and criminal In ef- S feet, and spread by the transportation j companies simply for the purpose of in- i I creasing the arning3 of their roads, f To add a few greasy dollars to their J," already large dividends, these railroad companies are willing to take your last f money for tickets, and then leave you j (perhaps with families) homeless and without resources, in a country already over-run with idle labor. t "Do not be deceived." f |
